God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" What! a sinless martyr forsaken by God in his dying hour! A man who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth; who spent his whole life in self-denying acts for the service of God, and the good of his fellow creatures; to be forsaken by God at last! Is that the way God treats his faithful servants? Was any other martyr, even though not sinless, ever thus deserted in the hour of trial? No! It is then that God's presence has always cheered and comforted them the most; and enabled them to rejoice even in the midst of their dying agonies. Never did any martyr but one exclaim at such a time, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" And yet out of them all he alone was "holy, harmless, undefiled," absolutely "without sin." Why was this? There can be but one answer-He was made sin for us; he hung upon the cross as our substitute; he took upon himself the whole load of human guilt, and bound it so closely to him, that for the time it became by imputation his own, and he thus presented himself before God to answer for, and to expiate, it all. The punishment due to that sin was separation from the presence and favour of God; and therefore did the Father judicially withdraw from his expiring Son all sensible tokens of his gracious presence, just as he would have done, had that Son really committed the sins for which he was then atoning.* "Oh the glorious nature of that exchange," exclaimed a martyred reformer, "the sinless one is condemned, and the guilty goes free; the blessing bears the curse, and the cursed is blessed; the life dies, and the dead live; the glory is overwhelmed in darkness, and he who knew nothing but confusion of face is clothed with glory."

* The miraculous darkness, which overspread the whole earth at that time, was no doubt a sign of the spiritual desertion Jesus was then suffering. There is a remarkable saying recorded of an Eastern astronomer; who, knowing nothing of what was happening at Jerusalem, and not being able to account for the darkness by an eclipse (which could not possibly occur at that time) or any other natural cause, declared, that either God must be suffering, or some one, with whom God sympathised.

LECTURE XIV.

JUSTIFICATION.

"Sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved." Acts xvi. 30, 31.

SOME of you might be surprised, that no notice was taken in our last Lecture of those numerous passages of Scripture, in which pardon and salvation are connected with good works; especially as Unitarians lay so much stress upon them. But these more properly come under the head of Justification; inasmuch as they concern, not the fact of the Atonement, but the way in which each individual is to obtain an interest in it. A person, who holds the doctrine of Justification by Works, may believe in the Atonement, just as much as one who holds the doctrine of Justification by Faith. The Church of Rome for instance, pronounces every one accursed, who does not hold both the Atonement and Justification by Works. Suppose we admitted, that pardon was offered to us solely on condition of repentance and reformation, there would still remain the question, Was not an Atonement necessary to render such an offer consistent with God's majesty and holiness? The question, however, in that case, would be a very unimportant one; all our business would then be to fulfil the conditions required. But if Scripture teaches us, that we can only be saved by having an interest in Christ's Atonement, that we can only obtain an interest in it by faith, and that a belief in the doctrine of the Atonement is an essential part of that saving faith, then the question becomes one of the most vital importance. And this is what we have now to consider. We want a full scriptural answer to the inquiry, "What must I do to be saved?

It is evident, that the Apostle's reply, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved," only throws us back upon Scripture, to learn what "believing on him" means; or in other words, to learn what we are to believe about him. Perhaps the shortest, and at the same time most comprehensive, statement of this, is that in 1 John, v. 1. "Whosoever believeth, that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God." Unita

rians lay great stress on this and such like passages, to prove that, even if the doctrines of the Trinity, Atonement, &c., be true, a belief in them can not be necessary to salvation They argue, and very justly, that if a man "believes that Jesus is the Christ," he must be "born of God," and therefore he must be saved, whatever else he may believe or disbelieve. But now suppose the Philippian jailor had said to Paul and Silas, “Oh yes, I'll believe anything that will save me, and I'll believe any thing that you tell me: I'm perfectly willing to be baptised directly, and profess my belief that Jesus is the Christ, if it will save me"-what would have been their answer? Why no doubt they would have told him, that such a faith as that was no faith at all, and could do him no good; that he could'nt believe Jesus to be the Christ with the heart, until he knew what "the Christ" meant; that it was impossible for him to believe on the Lord Jesus savingly, until he knew who Jesus was, and what he had done, and why he was to believe on him; for that saving faith was, not a mere belief or acknowledgment of certain words, but a personal and spiritual acceptance of Jesus as our Saviour, a thankful embracing of God's mercy as it is offered to us in the gospel. Therefore, after they had allayed his first agony of terror by assuring him that there was a way of salvation for him through the Saviour they preached, it naturally follows "And they spake unto him the word of the Lord": that is, they preached the gospel to him; they unfolded the plan of salvation in the person and work of Jesus Christ. This being done, he was allowed to express his faith by being baptised with all his bouse: and by that faith, it is evident from the account, he was saved.

But now suppose he had said, “"You tell me, that the word Christ' means 'anointed;' that it is customary amongst the Jews for a person to be consecrated to the office of a Prophet, a Priest, or a King, by the ceremony of anointing him, that is pouring oil upon his head; and therefore, that Jesus is called the Christ, because he is appointed by God to be our Prophet, Priest, and King; our Prophet to teach us, our Priest to atone and intercede for us, our King to reign over us. Now I believe, that he is our Prophet, and perhaps our King also; but I cannot believe that he is our Priest, or at least in such a sense as that he has offered up an atoning sacrifice for our sins, through which alone we can be pardoned and be received into God's favour; nor can I believe on him as our great God and Saviour.' I fully admit that he is the Christ, and heartily believe on him, but not exactly in the same sense that you do." What would Paul and Silas have answered? Would they have said, Well, we don't insist on such theological niceties; if you believe on Jesus as the Christ according to your own view of it, you are a Christian, and we may waive all

minor differences? No! indeed. They would have told him, that the object of his faith might be a Christ of his own imagination, but it was not the Christ whom they were sent to preach, it was not the Christ whom God had sent to be the Saviour of sinners, it was not the Christ who was pre ordained before the foundation of the world, it was not the Christ who had been held up to the eye of faith in type and prophecy ever since the fall of Adam, nor was it the Christ whose name was the only one under heaven given among men whereby any can be saved. They would have told him in fact, that with such views he did not believe Jesus to be the Christ, and that unless he felt his need of such a Saviour as they preached, and was willing to accept him in all his offices, he had neither part nor lot in the matter.

The question therefore as to what it is necessary to believe about Jesus, in order to be saved, has been virtually answered in the preceding Lectures. We have there shown, that the Christ was the only-begotten Son of God, made flesh, and sent into the world to be a sacrifice, propitiation, ransom, or atonement for sin. If this be the fact, of course no one, who denies it, can believe that Jesus is "the Christ," nor in consequence have any interest in his salvation, Constantly bear this in mind, and it will throw light upon most of those texts, which Unitarians bring forward to prove that a man may believe almost anything, and yet be a Christian.*

But in order to understand thoroughly what is saving faith, we must not only know what we are to believe, but also how we are to believe; in other words, we must know the nature of faith, as well as its object. Might not some member of the Philippian jailor's family, or other person present, have believed every word of what Paul and Silas said, as much as he did, and yet not have been saved by it? Undoubtedly he might. Then what would have been the difference between these two men? It could not have been in the object of their faith, because they both believed exactly the same, their creeds were alike: it could only be in the nature of their faith, that is, in the way in which they believed those truths. One

* Mr. Barker argues, that it can only be necessary to receive Jesus as our Prophet; because he himself says, "The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor." Luke iv. 18. But does it follow, because Jesus here declares himself anointed to be a prophet, that he therefore could not be anointed to be any thing else as well? Besides, what gospel did Jesus preach? Why that he came "to give his life a ransom for many," and to shed his blood for the remission of sins." And this gospel he preached still more fully by the mouth of his inspired apostles. Therefore they, who deny this, reject Jesus in his prophetical, just as much as in his priestly, office. The meaning of "the Christ" altogether depends upon what the work was, which God sent his Son to perform: and this, we hope, has been already sufficiently shown.

would be a dead, and the other a living, faith. A dead faith may be quite orthodox; "the devils believe:" saving faith therefore must be something more than orthodox.

This may be illustrated by the case of two men, who have fallen into the water. A person throws out a rope to them, assuring them, that if they will lay hold of it, he will pull them safely on shore. Both of them believe him; neither of them doubt either the strength of the rope, or the person's power and willingness to draw them out of the water. But one of them feels that he is sinking, knows that he cannot swim ashore himself, sees that there is no other possible way of being saved, and therefore thankfully lays hold of the rope, and is drawn safely to land. The other does not feel that he is in any danger, fancies himself able to swim ashore, or from some cause or other has such a dislike to being drawn out by the rope, that he keeps putting it off, until he sinks for the last time, and is drowned. Now observe, if the creed of the saved man had not been orthodox with regard to the person on shore and the rope that was thrown out to him—if he had not believed that there was such a rope, or if he had not thought it strong enough to bear him, or if he had disbelieved either the power or willingness of the person, who held the rope, to pull him out, he would not have laid hold of it, and consequently, with all his desire to be saved, he would have been drowned. But although an orthodox creed was absolutely necessary to his safety, yet the case of the other man showed that something more was necessary; for his creed too was orthodox, and yet he was drowned.

So it may be with two persons, who both believe the facts of the gospel-suppose the Philippian jailor and another person present on the occasion. The jailor was convinced of sin, made to feel his danger, and desired to be saved from it. As Paul and Silas preached the gospel to him, the Spirit of God carried it with power to his heart; he was enabled spiritually to discern it, and to see how exactly suitable it was to his own case he felt that what they said must be true, for it was as the voice of God speaking pardon and peace to his soul. He saw that in no other way could such a guilty sinner as himself be received into the favour of a holy God, he believed that in that way he would be accepted, "and he rejoiced, believing in God." Again, he felt that, notwithstanding all his desire to show his gratitude to God for such stupendous mercy in giving his only Son to die for him, he was utterly weak and unable to do any thing good of himself; but in the gospel was provided not only pardon for the past, but also grace for the future; in Christ he found a Saviour not only from the guilt, but also from the power, of sin: and thus he had the assurance of a growing victory now over the world, the flesh, and the