of the king, and thus prepare them to receive a better covenant, which is to be revealed to them by the king's son. But under the covenant they now are, they have no motives to prompt them to obedience, but the fear of punishment and the hope of reward. In our next, this will be fully illustrated.

SERMON IV.

SALVATION BY FAITH.

[Continued.]

WE resume the argument, in this discourse, concerning those prisoners brought forward in our last. We left them in bondage under the sentence of the law, with no hopes of deliverance. The first year rolls away. The king says, My son, the time has come; go, and reveal my love to these prisoners, by bringing the promise of their redemption to light. The son flies on wings of love, enters the prison and exclaims; I bring you good tidings of great joy. My father, the king, is your friend. He loves you; and that love has induced him to proclaim your liberation as a free gift. He has promised (and he cannot lie), that in two years from this day you shall be free. This covenant, so far as concerns its fulfilment, is unconditional. Believe, and you will be saved, by faith in the promise, from your present fears and condemnation under the law.

Those stubborn prisoners see a sufficiency of evidence to believe the promise. They exercise unshaken faith, in this second covenant between the father and son. This faith works by love in their hearts, and purifies them from disobedience.

Their souls melt in view of the love and goodness of the king, revealed to them by his son. In fine, they love him because he first loved them. They are now saved by faith in his promise, from not only all their miseries and sorrows, but from their disobedience, and look forward with joy, to the day of redemption. Here we perceive the "righteousness of faith," which far exceeds the "righteousness of the law." They now delight to obey the king, because they are under the influence of love.

Here let the question be asked, are these three men to be let out of prison, at the appointed time, because they believe the promise or love and obey the king? They are not. Their redemption depended on the truth and faithfulness of the king's promise, which he made to his son, and that promise would have been fulfilled, even if it had not been revealed to them, till the day of their deliverance. They are not to be set free, as a reward for their faith, love, and obedience. They have great peace and joy in believing that promise. They are in the happy enjoyment of a salvation by faith, and that is all the reward they deserve, or have reason to expect. We here perceive, that these three men are made to establish the law of their king, by faith, in the good news he sent them by his son, which is to them a gospel. We now see the propriety of the

apostle's language. "We conclude that a man is justified by faith, without the deeds of the law. Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid; yea, we establish the law." We also perceive, that these three men are not to be liberated from prison, because they believe the promise, or love and obey the king. But on the contrary, it is the king's love and promise to them which sets them free.

But let

Let us now notice the other three prisoners. One says, I do not believe that we shall ever be released from prison. It is too good news to be true. Well, shall his unbelief make the king's promise of none effect? The king forbid; yea let the king be true, but that man a liar. it be remembered that he cannot be proved a liar, unless he is liberated. Would you now go and tell that man, Sir, because you will not believe, you shall never come forth from prison? But do you not perceive that by so doing, you would give the king the lie? It would be saying that his promise was good for nothing, unless the man would believe it. It would be contending that the unbelief of this prisoner will make the king's promise of none effect.

The other two prisoners exclaim, we believe this second covenant, but it must bear some resemblance to the first, which is conditional. We believe that we shall get out of this prison, if we

continue to serve the king as we have heretofore, by keeping his commandments. Here are two

men, trusting in the first covenant for deliverance. They are depend

They are trusting in the law. ing on their own love and faithfulness to the king for redemption, and not on the king's love, promise, and faithfulness to them. Here then we see the righteousness of the law in those two prisoners; in another we see the effect of unbelief; and in those three who remained disobedient under the first covenant, we see the righteousness which is of faith, when they heard the glad tidings of redemption in the second covenant.

At length the day of their redemption dawns. They are all brought to the knowledge of the truth. Those three prisoners, who were saved by faith in the promise, during those two years of suspense, now find their faith lost in certainty. Their salvation by faith has come to an end. And so has the unbelief, condemnation, and doubtings of the other three prisoners. In one word, the belief and unbelief of the six are lost in knowledge, and they burst out in songs of deliverance. So we perceive that a salvation by faith, and a condemnation in unbelief, can last no longer than till we come to the knowledge of the truth in eternity.

Let us now apply this to the Scriptures. Man sinned, and not only involved himself in guilt and