incarnate Son of God, which has fixed the wondering and adoring admiration of angels and of men, been vainly accomplished, and that by an omniscient, all-wise, and beneficent Being. No! my dear Mr. Stately, the supposition is utterly impossible. The adorable Redeemer cannot be robbed of the smallest portion of that divine meritoriousness by which He saves his people from everlasting death, but at the fearful hazard of the immortal soul! But to accept the atonement of Christ to the extent only of supplying our own deficiencies, and rejecting the rest;—to receive His heavenly grace simply to atone for the excess of our sins over our visionary mèrits, while we falsely imagine that the latter will assist in blotting out our transgressions; and to believe that, in such degree, the Saviour's blood is not required-this is, indeed, to rob God of His glory, but at the desperate peril of the soul. No! my friend, the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin,'

and alone cleanseth us. Human merit is a crafty device of Satan;-a delusion of the devil, to insnare and destroy his wretched victims, who suffer themselves to be taken captive at his will.

"Let me beg of you to listen," said this Christian instructor, turning over the leaves of his Bible, "to what St. Paul declares of his pretensions to save him, in the third chapter of Philippians. The apostle of the Gentiles, so honoured of God, so zealous, so holy, thus expresses himself on this subject:

""Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

"Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

* 1 John i. 7.

"Concerning zeal, persecuting the Church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

"But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

"Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,

"And be found in Him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:

"That I may know Him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;

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If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.'*

Here, then," observed Mr. Gracelove," you behold a man, consecrated to his sacred office of apostle by the revelation to him of the very presence of his Lord and Saviour; who, if any one could boast of his works, and apply them in the way of a personal, meritorious righteousness, in substitution, or in aid of the sacrifice of Christ, was the very being to do so; yet absolutely disclaiming, without the smallest reserve, every notion of his own merit, as a ground, or even as an aiding cause, of his salvation. He regarded his own righteousness as 'filthy rags;' nay, with a still stronger term of loathing and abhorrence. He ascribed all the honour and glory of his redemption to his divine Lord and Master, who had died for him, as for all penitent believers; and who is risen again to justify him from all things from which he could not be justified, as the apostle well knew, by the law of Moses. The unqualified renunciation, therefore, thus made by the apostle, we are as strictly bound to * Phil. iii. 4—11.

make ourselves, if we would possess the same living faith, and the same undying hope."

"Am I then to understand," said Mr. Stately, with a tone and look of anxious inquiry,-still inclined to justify himself on the pharisaical principle of personal righteousness," that good works go for nothing; that they are not to be considered; that the deeds of the law, the fulfilment of the commandments, are a matter of no importance; and that, if we have only faith in Christ, our salvation is secure ?"

"By no means," rejoined his christian friend. 'Faith without works is dead;' simply because, for one reason, in the absence of the latter, there is no evidence whatever, neither can there be any existence, of a saving faith. But though the fulfilment of every particle of the law contains not a grain of human merit, in the eyes of the Supreme Being, yet are good works absolutely necessary, as a test that our faith is sound, and grounded in the heart. They are required as the best proof that we do, indeed, lay hold of the righteousness of the Saviour, on account of which alone we are accepted and justified before God. Besides being a test of faith, works are required as a test of obedience also; for He that enjoined faith to be cherished in the soul, as a principle of life, hath said also, 'Keep the commandments;'-hath likewise said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind;' and, thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.'*

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"The devils, we are told, 'believe and tremble,' but they neither fear God nor man; neither can they keep His commandments; and we know that 'without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' While, therefore, St. Paul declares that by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight,' he also adds-'Do we then make void the law through + Heb. xii. 14.

*Matt. xxii. 37, 39.

faith?

God forbid yea, we establish the law.'*

For what says the apostle in his Epistle to Titus-'This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works.' +

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Justification by faith," continued our friend, "is the great, and saving doctrine of the Bible. Like a golden thread it runs through every page of the New Testament. But as I have already remarked, the apostle meant a living not a dead faith. Hear again what St. Paul says, in his Epistle to the Galatians

Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ; even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.'

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Farther on, in the same chapter, the apostle declares— "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

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"I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.'‡

"Turning to the Epistle to the Romans, we find the same apostle still enforcing this evangelical scriptural doctrine, where he says― The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.'§ This sublime truth is, indeed, the all-absorbing universal theme of his meditations. It embodies the strength of his deep and devout convictions, and directs the spirit of his instructions to all his converts throughout the whole of his writings."

* Rom. iii. 20, 31.

Gal. ii. 16-21.

↑ Titus iii. 8.

§ Rom. vi. 23.

"These are, doubtless, powerful and convincing illustrations of the great principle you so zealously advocate," exclaimed the sick man ; " and I feel the deepest gratitude towards you for your truly Christian kindness in bringing them so forcibly to my notice, under my present solemn circumstances, when I require all the consolation that a benevolent mind can offer to me. I can only account for the fact of such strong passages never having struck my mind before, from the consideration of the worldly and carnal life I have been living; so full of danger, as it has been, to my soul, and especially in closing my eyes to the great truths of the Gospel. Nevertheless, well do I remember," he continued, "one solemn text of Scripture, and with striking vividness of recollection at the present moment, which I heard proposed as the subject of discourse, some years ago, in London, at the Temple Church. The words are of most solemn import; the warning voice which uttered them is that of our blessed Lord; and the awful announcement, contained in the last six words, thrilling to the hearts of all that hear or read them.

66 6 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.'*

"Oh my friend!" ejaculated Mr. Stately, with tears in his eyes, "how does my conscience now upbraid, and condemn me, for the stifled convictions of my mind on that occasion. The impression, for the moment, was deep, although more of alarm than of obedient faith. It weighed on my spirits during the remainder of the day, but on the following morning I was as cold, as worldly, and as heartless as ever. Oh, Mr. Gracelove," he added, "if there be, indeed, but few' that be saved, how * Matt. vii. 13, 14.