or believes that the promise is made to him. On this point the early Reformed and Lutheran theologians were agreed in teaching that when the sinner exercises saving faith He believes that for Christ's sake he is pardoned and accepted of God. In other words, that Christ loved him and gave Himself for him. We have already seen that the " Heidelberg Catechism," 1 the symbol- ical book of so large a portion of the Reformed Church, declares saving faith to be " Certa fiducia, a Spiritu Sancto per evange- lium in corde meo accensa, qua in Deo acquiesco, certo statuens, non solum aliis, sed mihi quoque remissionem peccatorum aeternam, justitiam et vitam donatam esse, idque gratis, ex Dei misericordia, propter unius Christi meritum." In the " Apology of the Augs- burg Confession of the Lutheran Church " it is said,2 " Nos prae- ter illam fidem [fidem generalem] requirimus, ut credat sibi quis- que remitti peccata." Calvin says,8 " Gratiae promissione opus est, qua nobis testificetur se propitium esse Patrem : quando nee aliter ad eum appropinquare possumus, et in earn solam reclinare
cor hominis potest Nunc justa fidei definitio nobis consta-
bit, si dicamus esse divinae erga nos benevolentiae firmam certain - que cognitionem, quaa gratuitae in Christo promissionis veritate fundata, per Spiritum Sanctum et revelatur mentibus nostris et cordibus obsignatur." " Hie praecipuus fidei cardo vertitur, ne quas Dominus offert misericordiae promissiones, extra nos tantum veras esse arbitremur, in nobis minime : sed ut potius eas intus
complectendo nostras faciamus In summa, vere fidelis non
est nisi qui solida persuasione Deum sibi propitium benevolumque patrem esse persuasus, de ejus benignitate omnia sibi pollicetur : nisi qui divinae erga se benevolentiaa promissionibus fretus, indu- bitatam salutis expectationem praesumit."
This is strong language. The doctrine, however, is not that faith implies assurance. The question concerns the nature of the object seen, not the clearness of the vision ; what it is that the soul believes, not the strength of its faith. This Calvin himself elsewhere beautifully expresses, saying, " When the least drop ot faith is instilled into our minds, we begin to see the serene and placid face of our reconciled Father ; far off and on high, it may be, but still it is seen." A man in a dungeon may see only a ray of light streaming through a crevice. This is very different from broad daylight. Nevertheless, what he sees is light. So what
1 xxi. ; Niemeyer, Collectio Confessionum, Leipzig, 1840, p. 434.
2 v. 60; Hase, Libri Symbolici, Leipzig, 1846, p. 172.
8 Institutio, lib. in. ii. 7, 16; edit. Berlin, 1834, vol. i. pp. 357, 364.
102 part m. Ch. xvl — faith.
the penitent sinner believes is, that God for Christ's sake is recon- ciled to him. It may be with a very dim and doubtful vision, he apprehends that truth ; but that is the truth on which his trust
is stayed.
Proof of this Doctrine.
This is involved in the appropriation of the general promise of the Gospel. The Scriptures declare that God is love ; that He set forth his Son to be a propitiation for sin ; that in Him He is reconciled ; that He will receive all who come to Him through Christ. To appropriate these general declarations, is to believe that they are true, not only in relation to others, but to ourselves ; that God is reconciled to us. We have no right to exclude our- selves. This self-exclusion is unbelief. It is refusing to talse of the waters of life, freely offered to all.
Gralatians ii. 20.
Accordingly the Apostle in Galatians ii. 20, says, " 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." The object of the Apostle's faith, therefore, the truths which he believed, and faith in which gave life to his soul, were, (1.) That Christ is the Son of God ; (2.) That He loved him ; (3.) That He gave Him- self for him. The faith by which a believer lives, is not specifi- cally different in its nature or object from the faith required of every man in order to his salvation. The life of faith is only the continued repetition, it may be with ever increasing strength and clearness, of those exercises by which we first receive Christ, in all his fulness and in all his offices, as our God and Saviour. " Qui fit ut vivamus Christi fide ? quia nos dilexit, et se ipsum tradidit pro nobis. Amor, inquam, quo nos eomplexus est Christus, fecit ut se nobis coadunaret. Id implevit morte sua : nam se ipsum tradendo pro nobis, non secus atque in persona
nostra passus est Neque parum energiae habet pro me :
quia non satis fuerit Christum pro mundi salute mortuum repu- tare, nisi sibi quisque effectum ac possessionem hujus gratia? pri- vatim vindicet," l
It is objected to this view of the case that by the " love of God," or " of Christ," in the above statement, is not meant the general benevolence or philanthropy of God, but his special, elect- ing, and saving love. When Paul said he lived by the faith of Christ who loved him, and gave Himself for him, he meant some-
1 Calvin t» loco.