But this is certainly a groundless assumption. For faith may be a holy act, and yet the holiness of faith may not be the ground or procuring cause of the believer's justification. It is unquestionably true that repentance and love, which are required as conditions of salvation, are holy acts; but does it thence follow that the Christian is saved on the ground of his repentance and love? Paul, Peter and John performed many acts of holy obedience. But did they procure the blessings of forgiveness and the divine favor by their obedience? Did their salvation cease to be of grace, because they had done good works? Instead of this, did they not feel their dependence for all spiritual blessings on the grace of Christ more and more strongly, as they advanced in sanctification? And when the saints attain to perfect holiness and dwell in the world above, will they not see and acknowledge more than ever before, that their salvation from the beginning to the end is to be ascribed, not to their own holiness, but to the free grace of God through the blood of Christ? Their holiness is itself an essential part of their salvation. And it belongs to the very nature of holiness in redeemed sinners, to abandon all ideas of justification and eternal life on account of their own worthiness, and to regard the work of Christ as the meritorious cause of all the good they receive. This, I say, belongs to the very nature of holiness. So that wherever holiness exists and is active in those who have sinned, there all thought of self-righteousness, or justification by works, will be renounced, and salvation be considered as wholly gratuitous. Here then our doctrine of gratuitous justification rests on a sure basis. Only let sinners be sanctified - let them be illuminated by the divine Spirit, and repent, and exercise a holy faith in Christ, and they will be sure to adopt the doctrine of Paul, that justification is not by works, but by grace; they will adopt and hold fast this essential doctrine, which is taught so clearly in the word of God, and so fully confirmed by the ever-growing convictions of their own sanctified hearts.

There is a class of writers who represent justification and sanctification to be identical. When it is said, that "by the obedience

of one, many were made righteous," they understand the meaning to be, that many were made inwardly righteous, or holy. But it is evident that, when the Apostle speaks of our being made righteous by the obedience of Christ, and of our being justified through his death, he puts our being justified or made righteous in opposition to our being condemned, or held to suffer punishment. Accordingly, the essential thing intended by our justification is, our being forgiven, or exempted from punishment. When God justifies the ungodly, he frees them from suffering the penalty of the law; that is, he treats them as though they were personally just or holy. When he sanctifies them, he makes them just or holy. The prominent thing in one case relates to their condition as exposed to punishment for sin; in the other case, it relates to their character as sinful. The one may be called a measure of divine government, or an act of God as Lawgiver and Judge; the other as a work of God's Spirit in the heart. Although they always go together, so that every one who is justified is sanctified, and every one who is sanctified is justified, still they are in their nature distinct, and they are so represented in Scripture. Believers are justified through Christ's propitiatory sacrifice, so that nothing will ever be laid to their charge; and they are sanctified by the Holy Spirit, that is, are conformed to the moral image of God, and fitted for heavenly blessedness. In the language of an excellent writer," Both these are found in the same subject. Justification and sanctification should be always discriminated; but they must never be disunited. Where they are not distinguished, a religious system cannot be clear; and where they are divided, it can never be safe. Where they are not distinguished, law and gospel, free-will and free-grace, the merit of man and the righteousness of Christ, run into a mass of confusion. And where they are divided, Pharisaic pride, or Antinomian presumption, will be sure to follow. - Be it remembered then, that one regards something done for us, the other, something done in us. The one is a relative, the other a personal change. The one a change in our state, the other in our nature. The one is perfect at once, the other is gradual. The one is derived from the obedience of our Saviour,

the other from his. Spirit. The one gives us a title to heaven, the other a meetness for it."

The question has been much agitated, whether on the first act of faith a man receives a real and final justification; whether a full forgiveness of all his sins and his final acceptance with God are sure to him as soon as he believes.

In regard to this, there are two representations of Scripture to be particularly noticed. The first is found in those passages which declare that every one who believes is pardoned, and shall be saved; that there is no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus. This representation is often made, and is made in language so plain, that its meaning cannot be easily misunderstood. Unless every one who truly believes in Christ is really forgiven, — unless he is delivered from a state of condemnation, and introduced into a state of favor with God, and entitled to eternal life, the promises to him who believes are evidently deceptive. The other representation of Scripture to be noticed is, that our final salvation depends on our perseverance in faith and obedience to the end of life. "He that endureth to the end, shall be saved." Eternal life is promised to those, "who, by patient continuance in well-doing, seek for glory, honor, and immortality." And believers are told, that if they draw back, they cannot obtain final salvation. All texts of this kind imply, that continuance in well doing is an indispensable condition of our final acceptance. And such a condition is thought to militate against the doctrine, that forgiveness and eternal life are made sure to sinners, as soon as they exercise faith in Christ.

But in reality, is there any inconsistency between these two representations of Scripture? May it not be true, that forgiveness and eternal life are secured to us as soon as we really believe in Christ, and yet, that in order to have eternal life, we must be faithful unto death? If both of these may be true; that is, if we may be certainly pardoned and our names written in heaven on our first becoming believers, and if our continuing to be believers to the end of life is yet required as a condition of our being finally saved, then clearly these things are not inconsistent with

each other. In order to make out an inconsistency between them, you must make out a case in which one of them is true, and the other not true;· a case in which a man really believes so as to be entitled to the promise of salvation, and yet does not finally persevere in believing. The fact, that forgiveness and eternal life are promised on different conditions, occasions no difficulty, if a compliance on our part with one of these conditions implies that there will certainly be a compliance with all the other conditions. A promise may very properly and consistently be made to us of a free and full salvation on our first believing in Christ, while yet we are told that we must persevere in faith and holiness in order to be saved, on supposition that our first believing in Christ has a sure connection with our perseverance in faith and holiness. The question then is, whether such perseverance is made certain to every one who believes. I think it evident from Scripture, that this is the case. But the proof of this must be postponed to a subsequent Lecture. What I now say is, that supposing this to be true, no one can pretend that the two classes of texts above-mentioned are inconsistent with each other.

But you ask, why believers are told that they must persevere in faith and holiness in order to be saved, if their perseverance is made certain by the first act of their faith. On this supposition, you inquire, why believers are so frequently told that they must persevere in order to be saved. I answer first; they are told this, because it is a truth, and a very important truth,—and none the less important, because it is made certain. Secondly; they are told this, because they are moral agents, and must be influenced to a holy life by suitable motives; and one of the motives to influence them to persevere is, that they cannot be saved without perseverance; just as it is a motive with men to repent, that they must repent in order to be saved. The necessity of perseverance constitutes a motive; and as perseverance is none the less necessary, so the motive from that necessity is none the less powerful, because perseverance is made certain,-considering that it is made certain in such a way as not to interfere at all with our free moral agency.

This might all be illustrated by an appeal to facts. Who that truly believes in Christ, and has a full persuasion that all true believers will persevere, is prevented by that persuasion from feeling the importance of persevering, or from the diligent use of his faculties in the work of persevering, or from earnest prayer that God would give him grace to persevere ?

Here one more question must be briefly considered. If our full and final justification, that is, our full and final forgiveness and acceptance with God is made certain to us on our first believing in Christ, then where is the necessity or propriety of our praying for forgiveness in our subsequent life? Why should we go over the work of confessing sin and seeking pardon, when a full and final pardon was secured by the first act of faith?

I reply, first, that every real Christian is led by his own rectified feelings to confess his sins, to have sorrow for them, and to pray daily for pardon, whatever hope or assurance he may have that he is in a justified state. And such confession, sorrow and prayer are conformed to the precepts of God's word and to the recorded example of his prophets and apostles, and must therefore be considered as just and right, whatever speculative difficulties may attend the subject.

I reply, secondly, that the full and final forgiveness which are secured to us as soon as we believe, is secured in its proper connection and order, that is, in its connection with continued faith and • prayer; and though it is certainly secured, it is not secured and cannot be enjoyed out of this connection. The continuance of faith and prayer is as really necessary to our reaping the blessings of a full forgiveness, as faith or prayer was necessary to our forgiveness at first. When we depart from God and transgress his law, it is not possible that we should taste the joys of pardoned sin and have peace with God-in other words, that we should sensibly or really enjoy forgiveness, without the renewed exercise of repentance, faith and prayer. Without this, we could no more attain to the enjoyment of the blessings involved in forgiveness, than we could attain to the blessedness of being with Christ in heaven without holiness. As the fact, that heaven is secured to