Page images
PDF
EPUB

our own, than the excellent LETTERS of Mr RoMAINE which we have given in the present selection. The Letters were all addressed to friends, for whose spiritual welfare the author cherished a deep interest; and they were therefore designed to communicate comfort, or counsel, or direction; for resolving the doubts, or relieving the perplexities to which the Christian is exposed. To dissipate these doubts and perplexities, which he well knew originated most frequently in a self-righteous spirit, he continually directs their believing view to Jesus Christ. And well knowing that the manifestations of the love and grace of our heavenly Father, revealed to the soul by the blessed Saviour, could alone dispel the fears and the jealousies of nature, his constant aim was to point their eye, and direct. their steps, to "the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world.” And thus, by the simple reliance of faith on the all-sufficient atonement and perfect righteousness of Christ, he directed them to find that peace and hope which could alone sustain their souls in the serenity of their confidence towards God, and to obtain those spiritual communications of grace, which could alone nourish the divine life within them, and carry them forward in a progressive course of sanctification and holiness, to render them meet for heaven. Richly experiencing these consolations and hopes in his own soul, and knowing the alone source from whence they were derived, the doctrine of the cross became the subject of his constant meditation, and the name of Jesus the much-loved theme on which he delighted to expatiate. Amidst all his difficul

ties and perplexities, his confidence was stayed with the assurance that "the Lord reigneth ;" and, by judging Him faithful who had promised, he maintained in his soul a rejoicing hope of eternal life, through his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It was thus that he maintained a perennial and unfading communion with God—that he daily and habitually rejoiced in the light of his reconciled countenance—that his gratitude and love were sustained in a strong and invariable glow-and that his sanctification and holiness were promoted. And no one can peruse the following Letters, without perceiving that the doctrines of free grace are doctrines according to godliness-that they serve no less to aliment the love and the obedience, than the peace and the joy of the believer-and that justification by faith in the Saviour's righteousness alone, forms not only the surest ground of hope, but the best security for an humble and holy devotedness of life to God.

INTRODUCTORY ESSAY

TO A

TREATISE ON THE FAITH AND INFLUENCE

07

THE GOSPEL.

BY THE REV. ARCHIBALD HALL.

It is remarkable, that our Saviour, after foretelling the destruction of Jerusalem, and giving the assurance that He will speedily come to avenge His elect, makes this solemn and awakening inquiry: "Nevertheless, when the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth ?" We cannot so far dive into the unrevealed secrets of prophecy, as to affirm how much, or how little, of analogy there is between the destruction of Jerusalem and the final dissolution of our world. It is impossible, in reading the woes and denunciations of our Saviour upon this subject, to rid ourselves of the impression, that there is a general resemblance between these two events. Both of them are described under the figure of the coming of the Son of man. At both of them there is a work of vengeance to be done, and a fell manifestation given of God's wrath against the finally and obstinately impenitent. In both an old economy is entirely swept away, and a new order of things emerges from the ruins

of it. But there is one point of the comparison, at which, instead of a likeness, we believe it to be the general apprehension of Christians, that there must be a strong dissimilarity. We are apt to look forward to a mighty spread and revival of the gospel in the latter days. Ere the day of judgment shall arrive, we count on the restoration of Jews, and the flocking in of Heathens, and the consummation of a great moral triumph over the world's blindness and depravity; and, in short, a whole species visibly awakened from the lethargy of nature, and turned, intently turned, on the things of eternity. Now, we dispute not that in our book of prophecy there is a warrant for all these expectations. But the difficulty is, how to find an adjustment between these high millennial hopes on the one hand; and on the other, the sudden and overwhelming surprise wherewith the last day is to come on an unbelieving world. If it be as applicable to the breaking up of our globe as it was to the breaking up of Jerusalem, that its coming is to be as a thief in the night, and that it shall bear with it a sudden destruction, on men steeped in the delusion of all around them being peace and safety, and that, wholly given over to earthliness, they shall be caught at unawares, while "eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage,”—if it be really true, that it is in the midst of holiday enjoyments, and among the songs of mirth and revelry, that the sound of the last trumpet shall be heard, and the Judge is to descend with the authority of a sudden arrest on all the pursuits and frivolities of a then unthinking generation, may it

not, after all, be true of this His latter visitation, as it was of His former one, that when the Son of man cometh He shall not find faith upon the earth?

Now we shall leave the difficulty where we found it-and instead of devising explanations for other men and other ages, let us try to ascertain in how far the rebuke of the Saviour is applicable to ourselves.

But ere we proceed, let us, in explanation of the term faith, advert to the wide distinction which obtains between the popular imagination of what it is, and the apostle's definition of what it is. The common conception about it is, that it consists in a correct apprehension of the truths of theology —or soundness of belief as opposed to error of belief. It appears to be a very prevalent impression, that faith lies in our judging rightly of the doctrines of the Bible-or that we have a proper understanding of them. And, in this way, the privileges annexed to faith in the New Testament, are very apt to be regarded as a sort of remuneration for the soundness of our orthodoxy. Heaven is viewed as a kind of reward, if not for the worth of our doings, at least for the worth and the justness of our dogmata. Under the old economy, eternal life was held out as a return to us for right practice. Under the new economy, is it conceived by many, that it is held out to us as a return for right thinking. Figure two theologians to be listed, the one against the other, in controversy. He who espouses error is estimated to be a heretic, and wanting in the faith. He who espouses truth, is estimated to be a sound believer, so that his faith

« PreviousContinue »