him, should be saved by him with an everlasting salvation.
Now, if an uninspired man had put this construc- tion upon the passage, we should consider the inter- pretation as forced. But when an inspired Apostle, not once or twice only, but repeatedly, quotes this passage in this very sense ; and not in an incidental way only, as it were by accommodation, but in a way of solid argumentation ; we cannot doubt but that, in putting this construction upon the words, we express the mind of the Holy Ghost. St. Paul shews from these words, that the way of salvation is simply by faith in Christ : " Therein," that is, in the Gospel, " is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith ; as it is written, The just shall live by faith d." Again, in another epistle, he takes occasion from these words to shew, that salvation is by faith alone, without the deeds of the law : " That no man is justi- fied by the law in the sight of God, it is evident ; for, The just shall live by faith6." In another epistle, he quotes the whole passage, to shew that, as our entrance into the way of salvation is by faith, so must also our continuance in it be : " Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come, will come, and will not tarry. Now the just shall live by faith : but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them that draw back unto perdition ; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul*."
I conceive that the large and comprehensive view of this passage is that which we ought to take ; and that it will properly give occasion for me to mark, I. The evil of unbelief —
It was in reference to those who rejected his testi- mony, and who, by rejecting it, would perish, that the prophet said, " Behold, his soul which is lifted up is
d Rom. i. 17. e Gal. iii. 11.
f Heb. x. 36 — 39. The 37th and 3Sth verses are quoted from Habakkuk, exactly according to the translation of them in the Sep- tuagint.