VII.

WHAT SHALL I DO TO BE SAVED?

As I have said, generally speaking, nothing can be more vague than the prevailing ideas about salvation, and where they are not vague they are usually erroneous. As, for instance, in the Athanasian Creed, whosoever will be saved ' means doubtless 'saved' from eternal torment, as it always does in the Roman and High Churches; and, indeed, if it meant anything else, the priestly power would have no standing ground; as in its first principle Sacerdotalism is a professed intervention between man and a Being, or doom he has reason to dread. But 'salvation,' as deliverance from hell, is as much an 'evangelical' doctrine as it is a Romish one. Ask any ordinary Evangelical Churchman or Dissenter what he means by being saved, and if candid he will say, 'I mean that if I were to die I should not go to hell but to heaven.' Mr.

Edward White has recently said, 'Salvation signifies being literally saved alive; saved from destruction of body and soul in hell; saved from being burned up like chaff in unquenchable fire.'*

From this I totally differ, and understand the New Testament to mean by salvation, not deliverance from punishment, but deliverance from evil; ; in fact, a holy life, changed thoughts, practices, and habits. I shall be told that I am confounding different things, and that I make no distinction between salvation, justification, and sanctification; and I confess that I do make no such distinction as is commonly made; not because I do not understand the distinction, but because I reject it. I reject the common notion of justification; that which is called legal justification-the imputation of righteousness where none exists. This sort of justification obtains nowhere, not in earthly law; for a man is only 'justified' by his fellows when he is acquitted of any charge brought against him, and a man is only justified in the sight of heaven when he abandons wicked works. That is to say, justification is being made righteous, and not being called righteous, as sanctification is being made * Life in Christ, ch. xviii.

holy. Justification has the same relation to sanctification as righteousness has to holiness. Both are steps in the same life, differing only in degree. So we regard salvation, justification, and sanctification as all but synonymous, and justification as something different from forgiveness, with which it is often confounded; repentance and forgiveness being, if we may use the term, episodes in the Christian career, but salvation or justification embraces the whole tenour of the spiritual life.

We shall still find, however, that many Evangelicals are with us thus far-that salvation is the rectification of the life. They will admit that it is from sin we are to be saved; and yet even then we are met by another mistake. They speak of sin being taken away. They say truly that sin is the despoiler of human life and the chronic burden of the world, and that man wants deliverance from sin, and, in fact, has a Saviour from sin. But then they speak of sin as though it were a substance which could be transferred from one locality or from one person to another, instead of a course of conduct or a state of mind which is to be repented of and abandoned. For the divine spirit does not, in spite of human

nature, eradicate sin, but it co-operates with the human in its endeavour to free itself from sinful habits and practices; or, to put it more correctly, the human must co-operate with the divine by repentance and obedience. So a Saviour is not one who is sinless instead of man, nor one who bears the punishment of sin for man, but one who enables man to abandon sin.

The Evangelicals will, however, most likely say that if the actual condition of human beings in a future state is an open question, and if the real meaning of salvation is not grasped by them, the terms upon which salvation is to be obtained here or hereafter are plain enough, and that is 'that a man must accept or rely upon the atonement of Christ.' This expression accepting the atonement' or 'accepting Christ' is itself strange enough, for what is actually sought is that Christ should accept us, and not we Him. And further, whatever may be the purpose and meaning of atonement, even from the evangelical point of view, it is understood to be something which God has accepted, and does not depend for its power upon our acquiescence. I admit, without attempting to explain, that Christ is called the propitiation, and men may be benefited by that

mystical work which is thus designated, but they are not called upon to interfere in it.

But I shall still be pressed with the question, 'What is to be our relation to Christ, and in what way are we to refer to Him in order to be saved?' In a word, 'What shall we do?' Then probably they will answer themselves and say, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.' And then if I ask what they mean by believing they will probably tread the same round of meaningless assertion and say, 'Accept the atonement.' I, too, am willing enough to say, in the words of the apostle, 'Believe and be saved.' But what do I mean by "believe' if not evangelicalism? I say unhesitatingly that to me believe is synonymous with obey, and that otherwise it is without force or effect. A mere creed has no power to save or elevate. Resolution, action, obedience alone can do that. No doubt I shall be accused of forcing a meaning upon a word of undoubted simplicity, but such is not the case; for I might fairly base my argument upon the meaning of the word, but I prefer to take a wider and more impregnable ground. First of all I will give my definition, and then support and illustrate it by numerous and incontrovertible instances.