were they to do any thing either to merit, or to increase its efficacy : they were simply to look unto the serpent, as God's ordinance for their recovery. Here then we behold a further mystery. Never from the foundation of the world was the way of salvation more plainly, more fully, or more intelligibly de- clared, than in this simple method of obtaining the desired blessing. Salvation is only and entirely by faith in Christ. The direction which Christ himself gives us by the Prophet Isaiah, is this : "Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none elseg." And when he sent forth his disciples to preach his Gospel, he espe- cially charged them to declare, that " he who believed, should be saved; and he who believed not, should be damnedV Many other things indeed he requires of his people : he requires that they should repent, in order to evince that they truly desire mercy ; and that they should obey, in order to manifest that they have obtained mercy ; but both their repentance and obe- dience are carefully excluded from the office of justifying : justification is invariably declared to be by faith alone. "It is by faith in order that it may be by grace1:" and, when we have learned how much the Israelites did for the healing of their bodies, then we shall know how much our own works are to pro- cure the healing of our souls. In this view the type before us is singularly instructive : it is so plain, that it is obvious to the meanest apprehension; so comprehensive, that nothing can be added for the elucidation of it ; and so authenticated, that scep- ticism itself cannot doubt either its reference or its accom- plishment.]
3. The effect produced — [If any despised the remedy, they died : whereas not a single instance occurred, throughout all the camp of Israel, of any person resorting to it in vain. However desperate his state was, however distant he might be from the serpent, or how- ever indistinctly he beheld it, the effect was still the same ; every person who looked to it as God's ordinance for the healing of his wounds, was healed by it ; he was healed immediately, and he was healed perfectly. The man that can see no mystery here, is blind indeed. We may defy the ingenuity of men or angels to devise any means whereby the efficacy of faith in Christ should be more clearly ascertained. Plain indeed is that declaration of St. Paul, " All that believe, are justified from all things k:" but, plain as it is, it does not so forcibly strike the mind, as does the typical representation in our text. All the questions that can arise respecting the nature and the
e Isai. xlv. 22. h Mark xvi. 16.
» John hi. 15. with Rom. iv. 16. and xi. 6. and Eph. ii. 8, 9.
k Acts xiii. 39.
VOL. II. k