Chapter 3

Many persons contend that we must love God and do certain duties, or we cannot be saved. This is preaching ourselves. It is preaching the love of man as the cause of his salvation, instead of the love of God. And while thus preaching, they will perhaps at the same time tell the sinner that God is his enemy. But will the sinner's love make God his friend--will it cause his Creator to love him? No; right the reverse of this is the doctrine of Christ. "We love God because he first loved us." If we deny God's _first_ love to the sinner, we then destroy the very _cause_ by which _alone_ the sinner can be made to love God. If we make men believe that God is their enemy and hates them, then we use all the means in our power to drive them from the bosom of their Father, and keep them in darkness and sin.

The sinner, in this situation, can never be made to serve God, only by being driven to it by terror, the same as some wretched slave is made to cower and submit in fear and dread to some revengeful tyrant. But this is not the service God requires. He requires a service which is delightful, and in which his creature feels an abundant reward. We grant that men, under the first covenant, were called upon to fear God. The reason of this obvious, when we reflect that God had covenanted to bestow certain blessings upon them, providing they would do their duty. If they failed, then he would execute the temporal judgments upon them, which the law points out, and threatens. Under this covenant men had just as much reason to fear, as they were liable to transgress it.

But when an angel announced the dawn of a better covenant; he said "fear not, for behold I bring you glad tidings of great joy." In this is nothing to be feared. All the fear lies in the first, and thunders out to ever sinner, "cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them?" But John, speaking in view of the second covenant, says, "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." The _first_ covenant is founded on works, and is _conditional_;--but the _second_ is founded on the immutable promise of God, and is _unconditional_. In the law, we are commanded _to do_ according to the reasonableness of its requirements; but in the gospel we are exhorted _to believe_ in view of evidence and fact. And as no man can believe, or disbelieve what he pleases, therefore conditions are excluded.

What is the meaning of gospel? It is good tidings of great joy. It is life and immortality brought to light at the appearing of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has abolished death by giving us the assurance of a resurrection from corruption to incorruption and glory. It is news. In view of news, what is the first thing necessary? Answer, _belief_. It is impossible to work news; therefore the gospel is not of works. In the law, the first requirement is _to do_;--but in the gospel the first requirement is _to believe_. The law-covenant is therefore temporary, fallible and uncertain; but the gospel-covenant is eternal, infallible, and in all things well ordered and sure. The _first_ rests on the obedience of the creature, but the _second_ on the promises of Jehovah. Paul therefore calls it a better covenant established upon _better_ promises.

Perhaps someone may feel disposed to ask--whether faith is all that is necessary? We reply that it is the cause which produces its effect. Paul answers this question thus--"We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law, Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea we establish the law." Here let the question be asked;--how do we establish the law by _faith_? Answer, "Faith will have its perfect work." But what is that perfect work, which faith produces? Ans. Faith works love in the soul; and if we love God, we will keep his commandments. And _faith, love_ and _keeping_ the commandments are the three exercises, that form the christian character. Faith is the foundation; works are not. We cannot begin to build on works. Instead of being the _first_, they are the _last_ christian grace. They are the visible _effects_ of an inward, living faith.

Faith and faith _only_ is the seed rooted and grounded in the truth, and (to use a Bible figure) it becometh a tree, and produces all the fruits of the spirit-love, joy, meekness, temperance, long-suffering, forbearance. This is what the apostle calls the "righteousness of faith" in contradistinction to "the righteousness of the law," produced by fear. Paul compares faith to a good olive tree. "The Jews through unbelief were broken off," and "thou (the Gentile) standest by faith." Jesus says; "if ye have faith as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove." Here, in parable, faith is represented as removing mountains of sin. He further says--"Thy _faith_ hath made thee whole";--not thy works. Paul exclaims, "Faith works by love, purifies the heart and overcomes the world." John says, "and this is the victory that overcometh the world even our faith."

It is a certain fact, that none of these salutary effects are ascribed to human works. The apostles in no instance say, that _works_ purify the heart, or overcome the world--or that this is the victory, even your _works_; The whole is ascribed to _faith_; because that is the living tree on which the good fruits grow. Works are, in scripture, called fruits. "By their _fruits_ ye shall know them"--that is by their _works_. "A good tree cannot bring forth evil _fruit_." To carry out this figure, we would remark that, fruit can have no existence till the tree is first produced. Therefore in a gospel sense, no good works, acceptable to God, can be produced without a true and living faith. The apostle declares, "without faith it is impossible to please God." The gospel being good tidings, or news, are you satisfied that thing necessary? I presume all denominations will assent to the fact, that faith is the first religious exercise of the creature. We shall then obey the command of the apostle, and "contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints."

But asks the reader, what matter is it which is first in order, whether _love, faith_ or _works_? I reply that it is a matter of vast importance, and without understanding this fact, we cannot come to the knowledge of the truth, even though we should be ever learning. If these three christian graces _faith, love_ and _works_, are preached in a confused and mixed manner, we cannot arrive at a true understanding of a gospel salvation, neither can we tell the difference between law and gospel. The law is of works, and the gospel is of faith. And no man can fulfill the spirit of the law without faith in the gospel. When the sinner exercises faith in the love and goodness of God in freely giving him eternal life, which infinitely transcends all other blessings--that moment faith works love in his heart, and causes him to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He then loves God because God first loved him. And when the sinner loves God, he is passed from death unto life, and that love is the fulfillment of the law.

We are now led to see the consistency of faith being the first step. It is the very _cause_ that produces _love_ to God, and _love_ induces us to keep the commandments. "Faith works by love," and "if ye love me," says Jesus, "ye will keep my commandments."

We will now introduce an example, which will plainly show the distinction between the law and gospel and in what manner they affect the sinner. Suppose a king sentences six of his subjects to imprisonment during life, and commands them to spend their days in hard labor. They are put in confinement, refuse to obey his commands-- refuse to labor, and in the midst of their miseries curse his name. They are now in disobedience under the condemnation of the law.

The king says to his only Son, I love those subjects and I covenant with you to set them free in three years. The Son says, Father I delight to do thy will. Let me go and reveal to them, the glad tidings of this covenant promise. The king answers--my Son, in the fullness of time I will send you. Let them remain, one year, under the law. But says the Son, they are now transgressing your law, and need instruction. The king replies, I will send my servant to enforce that law. Let him go and inform the prisoners, that I am angry with them for their conduct; and if they will obey my commands, and labor faithfully, they shall have excellent food and good clothing as a reward. But if they will not comply, they shall be chained, and kept on bread and water as a punishment for their disobedience.

The servant goes and delivers to them this message. Three of those subjects, for fear of the punishment and in _hope_ of the reward, obey the king, and outwardly respect his commands, but perhaps have little, or no love for him. (Here we see the righteousness of the law which is not acceptable to God.) They accordingly receive, day by day, the promised reward. But the other three prisoners despise these conditions and refuse to obey. They are chained, fed on bread and water, and meet their deserts.

Here, then, are six prisoners laboring under the law, and groaning in bondage with no hopes of deliverance. The law knows of no deliverance --no redemption. It simply serves as a school master to teach them the difference between right and wrong--to teach them the will of the king, and thus prepare them to receive a better covenant, which is to be revealed to them by the king's Son. But under the covenant they now are, they have no motives to prompt them to obedience, but the _fear_ of punishment and the _hope_ of reward. In our next, this will be fully illustrated.

SERMON VI

"For what if some did not believe, shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid; yea let God be true, but every man a liar." Romans iii:3, 4.

We resume the argument, in this discourse, concerning those prisoners brought forward in our last. We left them in bondage under the sentence of the law with no hopes of deliverance. The first year rolls away. The king says, my son, the time has come--go, and reveal my love to the prisoners by bringing the promise of their redemption to light. The son flies on wings of love, enters the prison and exclaims--I bring you good tidings of great joy. My father, the king, is your friend. He loves you; and that love has induced him to proclaim your liberation as a free gift. He has promised (and he cannot lie) that in two years from this day you shall be free. This covenant, so far as concerns its fulfillment, is unconditional. Believe, and you will be saved, by faith in the promise, from your present fears, and condemnation under the law.

Those stubborn prisoners see a sufficiency of evidence to believe the promise. They exercise unshaken faith in this second covenant between the father and son. This faith works by love in their hearts, and purifies them from disobedience. Their souls melt in view of the love and goodness of the king revealed to them by his son. In fine, they love him because he first loved them. They are now saved by faith in his promise from not only all their miseries and sorrows, but from their disobedience, and look forward with joy to the day of redemption. Here we perceive the "_righteousness of faith_," which far exceeds the "_righteousness of the law_." They now delight to obey the king because they are under the influence of love.

Here let the question be asked--are these three men to be let out of prison at the appointed time because they believe the promise, or love and obey the king? They are not. Their redemption depended on the truth and faithfulness of the king's promise which he made to his son, and that promise would have been fulfilled, even if it had not been revealed to them till the day of their deliverance. They are not to be set free as a reward for their _faith, love and obedience_. They have great peace and joy in believing that promise. They are in the happy enjoyment of a salvation by faith, and that is all the reward they deserve, or have reason to expect. We here perceive that these three men are made to establish the law of their king by faith in the good news he sent them by his son, which is to them a gospel. We now see the propriety of the apostle's language--"We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea we establish the law." We also perceive that these three men are not to be liberated from prison because they believe the promise, or love and obey the king. But on the contrary it is the king's love and promise to them which sets them free.

Let us now notice the other three prisoners. One says I do not believe that we shall ever be released from prison. It is too good news to be true. Well, shall his unbelief make the king's promise of none effect? The king forbid; yea let the king be true, but that man a liar. But let it be remembered that he cannot be proved a liar unless he is liberated. Would you now go and tell that man-sir, because you will not _believe_, you shall never come forth from prison? But do you not perceive that by so doing you would give the king the lie? It would be saying that his promise was good for nothing unless the man would believe it. It would be contending that the unbelief of this prisoner will make the king's promise of none effect.

The other two prisoners exclaim--we believe this _second_ covenant, but it must bear some resemblance to the first which is conditional. We believe that we shall get out of this prison if we continue to serve the king as, we have heretofore, by keeping his commandments.-- Here are two men trusting in the _first covenant_ for deliverance. They are trusting in the law. They are depending on their own _love and faithfulness_ to the king for redemption, and not on the king's _love, promise and faithfulness_ to them. Here then we see the righteousness of the law in those two prisoners; in another we see the effect of unbelief; and in those three who remained disobedient under the first covenant, we see the righteousness which is of faith when they heard the glad tidings of redemption in the second covenant.

At length the day of their redemption dawns. They are all brought to the knowledge of the truth. Those three prisoners, who were saved by faith in the promise during those two years of suspense, now find their faith lost in certainty. Their salvation, by faith has come to an end. And so has the unbelief, condemnation and doubtings of the other three prisoners. In one word--the _belief and unbelief_ of the six are lost in knowledge, and they burst out in songs of deliverance So we perceive that a salvation by faith, and a condemnation in unbelief can last no longer than till we come to the knowledge of the truth.

Let us now apply this to the scriptures. Man sinned, and not only involved himself in guilt and misery, but was sentenced to that very death with which God threatened him--"Dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." Here was the end of the first covenant, and the termination of all the miseries of life. It is evident from revelation as well as reason that man at death drops to a state of insensibility, and knows no more till he is made alive in Christ, who is himself the second covenant. The language of scripture is, the dead know not any thing--they sleep--and the apostle (in 1 Cor. xv Chap.) reasons that if there be no resurrection, then there will be no future existence-- that they which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished--that preaching was vain--faith was also vain, and that the christians were yet in their sins. On such language as this, I can put no other construction than that the resurrection is our salvation and eternal life, our deliverance from sin and imperfection. Under the first covenant the resurrection in Christ was not revealed to the human family, and they remained of course under the sentence of condemnation with no hopes of a future existence. "By the offense of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation." Obedience to the law was enforced by threatenings on the one hand, and promises of temporal rewards on the other, which were communicated to the fathers by the prophets.

But God has in these latter days spoken unto us by his Son, and through him revealed the second covenant in which he "gave him the heathen for an inheritance, and the utter most parts of the earth for a possession," and declared him to be the resurrection and life of the world. If in the divine counsels no Christ had been provided, the human family it appears would have remained in eternal slumber. They would have known but one covenant, which would have rewarded and punished them according to their deeds, and consigned them to the regions of the dead. "But since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead."

God saw fit to keep the human family for four thousand years under the first covenant, without the knowledge of eternal life through the resurrection of the dead. But it was, at length, "made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Yes, he first brought it to light, and through his apostle declared "In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began, but hath in due time manifested his word through preaching." This promise of eternal life, all men are called upon to believe. The moment they believe, they are saved by faith, and are at peace; and they that doubt are damned--they are already under condemnation. But shall their unbelief make God's promise of eternal life of none effect? God forbid; yea let God be true but every man a liar. "For he hath concluded them all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all."

We have now noticed the two covenants--the _law and gospel_--have pointed out the distinction between them--shown that all _conditions_ are confined to the law, and that the gospel is _unconditional_, and justly requires our faith and confidence. We will now bring to view the scripture doctrine of salvation by faith, and show that divine truth must have an existence before we can be called upon to believe.

All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is based upon eternal and unchanging truth. Truth is one of the attributes of Jehovah and the unshaken pillar that supports the throne of eternity. In truth and righteousness he governs the world, and by an omnipotent arm wields the destinies of men. Truth is the sun of divine revelation pouring its beams on intelligent creation and calling upon all men to believe. If a man assert that which does exist, it is a truth; but if he assert that which does not exist, it is a falsehood. Whatever has an existence in the compass of reality is a truth to be believed, and whatever has no such existence is a falsehood not to be believed. It is beyond the power of man to create one solitary divine truth. All that he can do is to declare the existence of that which may be hidden from others, or relate some circumstances respecting that which does absolutely exist. An absolute truth must, therefore, be presented to the understandings of men before they can be called upon to believe it, or before they can be called believers for embracing it, or _unbelievers_ for rejecting it. No man can be an unbeliever for rejecting that which does not exist.

We now commence plain argument by using great plainness of speech. In preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ truth must be the foundation. If then truth must exist before men can be called upon to believe, the question arises what is that truth which the second covenant reveals for the belief of mankind? Answer, it is the record God hath given of his Son. But what is the _record_? Let John answer--"this is the record, God hath given us _eternal life_, and this life is in his Son." It then follows that we are to believe that God has given us eternal life in his Son before the world began, and unchangeably promised it. Paul says--"In hope of eternal life which God that cannot lie promised before the world began." If we believe the record, we are in the scriptures recognized as _believers_ and are saved by faith, and will of course exhibit in our life and conversation the righteousness of faith.

The great error of any who read the Bible, consists in supposing there is but one salvation. But there are two. The _first_ is a special salvation by belief in the promise, and the second is our eternal salvation beyond the grave, where we shall be brought to the knowledge of the truth involved in the promise, and to _know_ shall be life eternal. Faith shall then be lost in certainty. Now if we disbelieve the record will that make it false? No; our unbelief cannot alter the fact. Let the record then be proclaimed to every creature--saying God has promised and given you eternal life in Christ before the world began, and calls upon all to believe it. But suppose they should all reject it saying we do not believe one word of it, would their _unbelief_ make the promise or record false? No. Would not then the record prove true? It would. Then the whole world would, of course, receive that eternal life which is promised and given them in Christ. No, says the objector, they will not believe. But can their unbelief make God's promise of none effect? Can it put that truth out of existence and make it a falsehood? We would ask the objector, what will they not believe? Answer; they will not believe that God has given them eternal life in his Son. Very well,--then the whole amount of the objection is that God has given them eternal life in Christ, but they will not believe it, and because they will not believe it, they never shall obtain it! Then we must contend (if they never obtain it) that it was never given to them, and if not given, then the record is false; because the record declares that God has given them eternal life in his Son. It then follows that their unbelief can make the faithfulness of God without effect by rendering the word, he has given, false.