repentance teacheth me not that the law is good, and I evil, but is a light that the Spirit of God hath given me, out of which light, repentance springeth.

"Then the same Spirit worketh in mine heart trust and confidence to believe the mercy of God. and his truth, that he will do as he hath promised; which belief saveth me. And immediately out of that trust springeth love towards the law of God again. And whatsoever a man worketh of any other love, it pleaseth not God, nor is that love godly.

Now love doth not receive this mercy, but faith only, out of which faith love springeth; by which love I pour out again upon my neighbour that goodness which I have received of God by faith. Hereof ye see that I cannot be justified without repentance, and yet repentance justifieth

me not.

And hereof ye see that I cannot have a faith to be justified and saved, except love spring thereof immediately; and yet love justifieth me not before God. For my natural love to God again doth not make me first see and feel the kindness of God in Christ, but faith through preaching. For we love not God first, to compel him to love again; but he loved us first, and gave his Son for us, that we might see, love, and love again, saith St. John in his first epistle. Which love of God to usward, we receive by Christ through faith, saith Paul.

"And this example have I set out for them in divers places, but their blind Popish eyes have no power to see it, covetousness hath so blinded them. And when we say, faith only justifieth us, that is to say, receiveth the mercy wherewith God justifieth us and forgiveth us, we mean not faith which hath no repentance, and faith which hath no love unto the laws of God again and unto good works, as wicked hypocrites falsely belie us. For then, how should we suffer as we do, all misery, to call the blind and ignorant unto repentance and good works, which now do but consent unto all evil, and study mischief all day long, for all their preaching the justifying of good works."

The church of Rome, in her zeal for the doctrine of the efficacy of human merit, labours to overthrow the doctrine of justification by faith, by teaching that faith, as a virtue including every other grace, is an efficient and meritorious cause of our obtaining acceptance with God and the pardon of sins-thus faith is exalted into a work, the worth and dignity of which merits salvation. In holy Scripture faith is often put for the object of faith. Thus faith is said to be "accounted for righteousness," because it receives and relies on Christ and his righteousness. Thus our Lord often attributed that to the faith of those who applied to him for benefits, which only belongs to himself, "that faith might be honoured and encouraged, that its necessity might be made prominent, and

men might be directed how to obtain the benefit. Thus he says, Thy faith hath made thee wholenot, I have made thee whole; Thy faith hath saved thee-not, I have saved thee. Christ notices not his own power and grace, but the faith of the applicant, and thus teaches his hearers a twofold lesson; showing them, not only that he is the giver of the blessing, but that faith is the means of their receiving it. His own honour is secured for it is the very property of faith in him to give all the glory to his name." Faith in Christ considered in itself in the best is imperfect, and cannot merit the pardon of sin and eternal life; had this been the ground or cause of justification, the best would have just reason for despondency. When, therefore, Scripture tells us that "we are justified by faith," the meaning is, that faith is not the meritorious cause, but the appointed condition, or way, by which we attain to an interest in the righteousness or merit of Christ, by which alone we are accepted of God. "We are justified by faith," says one; "that is, by the righteousness of Christ, the benefit whereof unto our justification, we are made partakers of by faith, as the only grace which accepts of the promise, and gives us assurance of the performance. He that looked to the brazen serpent and was cured, might truly be said to be healed by his looking on, though this action was no proper cause working the cure by any efficacy or dignity of itself;

but was only a necessary condition required of them that would be healed, upon the obedient observance whereof, God would show them favour. So he that looketh on Christ, believing in him, may truly be said to be saved and justified by faith, not as for the worth, and by the efficacy of that act of his, but as it is the condition of that promise of grace, that must necessarily go before the performance of it to us, upon our obedience whereunto God is pleased of his free grace to justify us." * "It is," says the judicious

Hooker, "a childish cavil wherewith in the matter of justification our adversaries do so greatly please themselves, exclaiming, that we tread all Christian virtues under our feet, and require nothing in Christians but faith; because we teach that faith alone justifieth: whereas, by this speech we never meant to exclude either hope or charity from being always joined as inseparable mates with faith in the man that is justified: or works from being added as necessary duties required at the hands of every justified man; but to show that faith is the only hand which putteth on Christ unto justification; and Christ the only garment, which being so put on, covereth the shame of our defiled natures, hideth the imperfection of our works, preserveth us blameless in the sight of God, before whom, otherwise, the weakness of our faith were cause sufficient to make us

* Pemble's Works, p. 160, fol.

culpable, yea, to shut us from the kingdom of heaven, where nothing that is not absolute can

enter.

The objection usually alleged against the doctrine of justification by faith, from the apparent contradiction in the statements of St. James and St. Paul, will be noticed in a subsequent chapter. The doctrine, "that we are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by faith, and not for our own works or deservings," is "very full of comfort" to those who feel their guilt as sinners. The gospel of Christ calls not upon such to do works to merit the blessing, but says to them, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved;" it assures them, that however unworthy in themselves, yet that placing their sole trust in the Saviour, and pleading his merits with God, he will for Christ's sake accept and bless them. Believing this doctrine, and realizing the comfort of it, such will be anxious to abound in good works, and to reach the highest standard of moral excellence. True faith, which unites to Christ and obtains righteousness and every blessing from him, purifieth the heart and worketh by love,— "it is," as it is excellently observed, "no lazy or languid thing, but a strong ardent breathing for, and thirsting after, divine grace and righteous

it doth not only pursue an ambitious pro

*Hooker on Justification.