parable from it : " You will walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."]
2. But methinks I hear the voice of an objector —
[Some one, perhaps, is saying, ' A fine easy way to heaven indeed ! Only believe ; and you may live as you will, and be sure of heaven at the last!' But this objection will never be urged by one who knows what faith really is. Were it a mere assent to any set of truths, we might well be alarmed at the virtue assigned to it. But it is a grace, which contains in it the seed of all other graces. We speak of a living, not a dead faith : and a living faith will as surely be productive of holiness, both of heart and life, as the light of the sun will dispel the shadows of the night.
But the objector will say, that our whole statement is con- trary to the Holy Scriptures ; since our blessed Lord, in answer to one who had asked him, " Good Master, what shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?" replied, " If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." The same answer will I give, if, like that inquirer, you are determined to save yourselves by your doings. But then, remember, you must keep them all, and. perfectly too, and from the first to the latest moment of your existence. But if, in one instance, even though it be in thought only, you fail, the law will curse you to all eternity ; as it is written, " Cursed is every one that conti- nueth not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them." And if you will not rest your hopes on such an obedience as this, then is there no other refuge for you but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor any other hope of acceptance for you than through faith in him. But if you still wish to adhere to the commandments, know that " this is God's com- mandment, that ye believe in his Son Jesus Christ™ ;" and that there is no commandment in the Decalogue more peremp- torily given than this ; since it is expressly declared, that " if you obey it, you shall be saved : and if you obey it not, you shall be damned."]
3. Let me not close the subject without a few- words to one, as an approver —
[It is truly delightful to think, that, however hostile the heart of man is to this doctrine, there are some who cordially approve it. Beloved brother, whoever thou art, who em- bracest it from thy heart, I congratulate thee from my inmost soul. For, in relation to all other works, a self-righteous man can never tell whether he has a sufficiency of them to justify him before God. To his latest hour he must be in fearful
m 1 John iii. 23.