condition in order to their warrant to receive and rest upon Christ for salvation; for that warrant consists in the free calls, the gracious invitations,-and the express commands, of the Gospel, which speaks to sinners, as such, and to every sinner individually, saying, as Paul said to the Philippian gaoler, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and THOU SHALT be saved.'

PROP. XXIX. We are justified by faith only, simply because it is by faith, and by no other grace, that we believe the truth concerning Christ, and rely on Him alone for salvation as He is freely offered to us in the Gospel.

The exclusive instrumentality, and peculiar prerogative, which is ascribed to faith, in connection with our justification, when it is said that we are justified 'by faith only,' is sufficiently explained and established by proving, first, that the only ground of our acceptance with God is the finished work, or vicarious righteousness, of Christ; and secondly, that the only grace by which we rely or rest on that ground, as it is revealed in Scripture, is faith, considered as a cordial belief of the truth concerning Christ, and a confiding trust in Him for our personal salvation. If it were acknowledged, that we are justified by the work of Christ only, and that this must be the sole and immediate ground of our faith and hope, there would be little need of any nice metaphysical distinctions respecting the nature of faith, in order to prove that we are justified by faith only;' for that faith, whatever it be, by which we receive and rest on Christ alone for our acceptance with God, would be seen to be the only means of our Justification. It may involve a spiritual apprehension, and a cordial approbation, of the truth, as well as a mere intellectual belief of it; and it may be associated from the first with some measure of desire, trust, grati

tude, love, and hope, as well as immediately followed by these kindred graces, without affecting the truth of the statement, that we are justified 'by faith only;' for that statement relates,-not to the simple or complex nature of faith, but to its sole instrumentality as the means of justification; and if neither faith itself, nor any of the other graces by which it is accompanied or followed, forms any part of our justifying righteousness, we have only to ascertain what that is, which unites us to Christ, and makes us partakers of His righteousness. There can be no doubt that, in Scripture, a special connection is established between Justification and Faith, such as does not subsist between Justification and any other grace; the reason of this is obvious, if that privilege is immediately apprehended and appropriated when a sinner so believes the truth concerning Christ as to rely on His righteousness only for salvation. (9)

and

It is true that 'forgiveness of sins,' which is included in Justification, is frequently connected, in Scripture, with repentance as well as with faith; as when we read of John preaching the 'baptism of repentance for the remission of sins,' and of 'repentance and remission of sins being preached in Christ's name among all nations.' 'Except ye repent,' said our Lord, 'ye shall all likewise perish;' 'Repent ye, therefore, and be converted,' said Peter, 'that your sins may be blotted out.' But the repentance which is meant is not mere remorse of conscience, or sorrow on account of sin; it is a thorough change of mind and heart, and it includes faith, or 'a lively apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ.' Repentance, in this sense, is necessary to salvation; but it is the faith which is included in it that unites us to Christ, and makes us partakers of His justifying righteousness. This is the special and peculiar function of faith only.

But the fact that it is connected in Scripture with repentance, and that both are declared to be necessary to salvation, is sufficient to show that they are constituent elements of that great spiritual change which is described as a second birth,' and 'a new creation;' and as this change must be effected in the case of every sinner who is pardoned and accepted of God, our inquiry would be incomplete, did we not rise, from the consideration of the special function and office of faith in justifying, to that of the more general and comprehensive question, respecting the connection which subsists between Justification and the Work of the Holy Spirit.

LECTURE XV.

JUSTIFICATION; ITS RELATION TO THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.

HERE is, perhaps, no more subtle or plausible error,

THER

on the subject of Justification, than that which makes it to rest on the indwelling presence, and the gracious work, of the Holy Spirit in the heart. It is a singularly refined form of opposition to the doctrine of Justification by the imputed righteousness of Christ, for it merely substitutes the work of one divine Person for that of another; and it is plausible, because it seems to do homage to the doctrine of Grace, by ascribing to the presence and operation of the Holy Spirit the production of faith, and all the effects which are ascribed to it, whether these belong to our Justification or to our Sanctification. It is the more difficult to expose and refute error, when it presents itself in this apparently spiritual form, than when it comes before us in its grosser and more common shape, as a doctrine of justification by works, because it involves some great truths which are held as firmly by those who advocate, as by those who abjure, the Protestant doctrine of Justification. Yet, subtle and plausible as it is, and difficult as it may be to disentangle the error from the partial truth which is involved in it, nothing can be more unscriptural in itself, or more pernicious to the souls of men, than the substitution of the gracious work of the Spirit in us, for the vicarious work

of Christ for us, as the ground of our pardon and acceptance with God; for if we are justified solely on account of what Christ did and suffered for us, while He was yet on the earth, we may rest, with entire confidence, on a work which has been already 'finished-on a righteousness which has been already wrought out, and already accepted of God on behalf of all who believe in His name, -and we may immediately receive, on the sure warrant of His word, the privilege of Justification as a free gift of God's grace through Christ, and as the present privilege of every believer, so as at once to have 'joy and peace in believing.' Whereas, if we are justified on the ground of the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we are called to rest on a work, which, so far from being finished and accepted, is not even begun in the case of any unrenewed sinner; and which, when it is begun in the case of a believer, is incipient only, often interrupted in its progress by declension and backsliding,-marred and defiled by remaining sin,-obscured and enveloped in doubt by clouds and thick darkness, and never perfected in this life, even according to the low standard of a relaxed law, if that law is supposed to require any definite amount of personal holiness in heart and life. For these reasons, it is of the utmost practical importance, to conceive aright, both of the Mediatorial work of Christ, and of the internal work of His Spirit, in the relation which they bear to each other, under the scheme of Grace and Redemption: and with the view of aiding the serious inquirer in doing so, we lay down the following propositions.

PROP. XXXI. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are revealed as concurring together in the whole purpose and plan of man's redemption; but as sustaining, each of them, a distinct office, and undertaking a different