they presented to the eye were mere earthly forms, which bore no resemblance to these divine and spiritual graces and multitudes have gazed, with admiration kindling into rapture, on the productions of the artist, who at the same time had no taste for the virtues described by the Apostle. Religion is a thing essentially different from a regard to classic elegance; not indeed that it is opposed to it, for, as it refines the heart, it may be supposed to exert a favourable influence on the understanding, and by correcting the moral taste, to give a still clearer perception of the sublime and the beautiful. It is greatly to be questioned, however, whether religion has not received more injury than benefit from the fine arts; whether men have not become carelessly familiar with the more awful realities of truth, by the exhibition of the poet, the painter, and the engraver; and whether they have not mistaken those sensibilities which have been awakened by a contemplation of the more tender and touching scenes of revelation, as described upon the canvas or the marble, for the emotions of true piety. Perhaps the "Paradise Lost" has done very little to produce any serious concern to avoid everlasting misery; "The Descent from the Cross" by Rubens, or the " Transfiguration" by Raphael, as little, to draw the heart to the great objects of Christianity. Innumerable representations, and many of them very splendid productions too, have been given of Faith, Hope, and Charity; and doubtless by these means many kindly emotions have been called for awhile into exercise, which, after all, were nothing but a transient effect of the imagination upon the feelings.

It is of vast consequence that we should recollect that no affections are entitled to the character of religion, but such as are excited by a distinct perception of revealed truth. It is not the emotion awakened by a picture presented to the eye, nor by a sound addressed to the ear, but by the contemplation of a fact, or a statement, laid before the mind, that constitutes piety. We now proceed to the subject of this chapter.

FAITH is the belief of testimony, accompanied, if the testimony be delivered by a living individual, by a disposition to depend upon his veracity; and, if it relate to something in which we are interested, with an expectation of the fulfilment of the promise. In reference to spiritual things, it means a firm persuasion of the truth of what God has revealed in his word. "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen : or, as the passage is rendered by some, "Faith is the confidence of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." It is a belief, not only that the Bible is true, but of the truth contained in the Bible: it is not merely a perception of the evidences of Christianity, as a divine revelation, but also a perception of the truth of its doctrines. General faith, means a belief of all that God has revealed in the Scriptures, whether it be invitation or promise command or threatening, prophecy or history; and it is this that the Apostle, describes in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Faith in Christ, or justifying faith, relates to that part of the divine word which testifies concerning the person and work of the Redeemer. Saving belief takes into its view everything contained in the

Word of God, but its special object is the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world: just as the eye of a condemned criminal, at the place of execution, beholds the assembled multitude, the fatal tree, and the messenger whom he sees hastening with the reprieve; but it is on the latter that his view is fixed with the greatest steadiness and delight. Faith in Christ, then, is a full persuasion of the truth of the glorious Gospel concerning Him, accompanied by a full confidence in his veracity, and an expectation of the fulfilment of his word. It is not a mere notion, a purely intellectual act; but certainly implies an exercise of the will. It is the belief of something spoken by a living person, and necessarily involves a confidence in his veracity; it is something interesting to us, and must contain expectation. Hence it is represented by the Apostle as synonymous with the act of committing the soul into the hands of Christ. "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him." If it were a purely intellectual act, how could it be the subject of command or the matter of duty? For can that which is exclusively mental contain either moral good or evil? If faith be purely intellectual, must not unbelief, its opposite, be the same? But it is said, that as the disposition influences the judgment, and leads to either faith or unbelief, according to the state of the heart, the moral excellence of one, and the turpitude of the other, arises from its cause. But is not the Scripture most explicit in its condemnation of unbelief, as evil in itself; and in its commendation

of faith, as morally excellent? The question is not what is the meaning of the term faith, as employed by metaphysicians, but as employed by the Apostles; and this meaning can be gathered only from their writings, in which many terms are employed with a signification somewhat different to that in which they are employed in ordinary discourse. Justification, for instance, in reference to ordinary affairs, means the act of declaring an accused person to be innocent of the charge brought against him; but, as the term is used by the sacred writers, means nothing more than treating a person acknowledged to be guilty, as righteous, for the sake of the righteousness of Christ.

Faith is not that which constitutes the ground of our acceptance with God, but which places us upon that ground; it is not our justifying righteousness, but that which unites us to Christ, and appropriates his righteousness to ourselves. It is true that a different view seems to be given by the Apostle, when he says, quoting the Old Testament expression, "Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness." It would seem from hence, and so it has been contended, that his faith was accepted in lieu of his obedience, as the matter of his righteousness, and the ground of his acceptance with God. But a more correct translation of the passage will rectify this mistake, and prevent what must be considered a fundamental error on the very important doctrine of justification by faith. "Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him 'to,' ' in order to,' or 'towards,' his

justification." It is not, then, for our faith, but by it, that we are justified: faith, as an act of ours, is no more the meritorious ground of our justification than any other of our performances; for, if it were, we should still be justified by works,-as faith is as much a work as penitence. The Apostle is suffi-' ciently explicit on this head, where he says, "But now the righteousness of God without law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." "To him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned towards justification." "By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

Great efforts have been made by the opponents of the imputation of Christ's righteousness to believers for their justification, and especially by M'Knight, to overturn this doctrine, by the aid of the text we are now considering. This critic thought he had found in this passage a triumphant proof that our own faith, or act of believing, and not Christ's obedience unto death, constitutes our justifying righteousness, in lieu of our own good works. It is a little remarkable that so acute a critic should have overlooked the force of the Greek preposition (E), not only as established by other scholars, but by himself: for in his preliminary Essay on the meaning of Greek Particles, which he has prefixed to his Exposition of the Epistle to the Romans, although he gives fourteen different but harmonious renderings of this preposition, the meaning of "for,” or, “in lieu of," has no place. We have "concerning," "in order to," "towards," but not "for:" and yet he has given it this meaning in the text.