the sole, spring, and fountainhead. For as in his death he stood and suffered in our room for sin, and thereby acquired both the right and the power to set humanity free from the condemnation of God, and its consequent bondage in sin; so by his resurrection he was raised in our behalf to be the head of a new creature, or spiritual seed, who derive from him a divine nature, and grow up continually to his likeness. Quickened by his Spirit, they are enabled to put off and bury, as it were, in the tomb, the body of sin and corruption which they naturally bear about with them, and to cultivate the graces of that heavenly life, which alone can prepare them for the inheritance of his kingdom. So that we have here, in the higher region of the spiritual life, the doing over again of what took place in the lower sphere of Noah's temporal life; we have the inward experience of a salvation working itself out by a destruction of the powers and elements of evil,-breaking up the old constitution of nature, purging away its defilements, and bringing to naught its malice and enmity, that the holy seed of a divine nature may have room to live, and grow, and bring forth fruit to perfection. You have only, therefore, to look to what was done in the one case, and learn what you have reason to expect, or are called to do in the other. Would you fain spare and cherish the lusts of the old man of corruption? Remember for your warning how God spared not the old world, but doomed its corrupt inhabitants in one mass to the gulf of perdition. Seems it too formidable a task, and one well-nigh hopeless, for you to contend with the giant forces that are against you? Remember for your encouragement, how. God sunk in his devouring flood the mighty men of old; the men of renown, who warred with his church and wasted it, till they had brought it to the brink of ruin, yet even then were found neither too many nor too strong to be made monuments of ruin. Or, does it appear strange, almost incredible, that your heart should be made the subject of a work, which concentrates upon itself the peculiar regard and gracious operations of Godhead, while thousands are left entire strangers to it, and that the instrument by which it is effected, the word of life, should even be to them the occasion of death and condemnation? Behold Noah and his little household alone preserved amid the wreck of a whole world, preserved too by faith in a word of God, which carried in its bosom the doom of myriads of their fellow-creatures, and so converting that which to others was a minister of vengeance, into an element of peace and safety to them. And doubt not, that what was then done in the outward field of providence and for the sake of a temporal preservation, shall be ever finding its parallel in the things which concern that hidden work of grace, by which an elect seed are ripened and prepared for the habitations of glory.

Substantially the same line of reflection might be pursued in reference to the other facts already noticed of Old Testament history. But in doing so, it is necessary to keep prominently in view the real nature and object of the respective transactions. For example, the deluge must be considered, not in all its circumstances

of minute detail, but in the grand purpose for which it was sent, as a sort of baptism to Noah, or outward ordinance, by means of which, through faith in the word of God, he found deliverance from the dangers to which he was exposed, and reached a condition of peace and safety. This is precisely what baptism is designed to do for the spiritual life, as an instituted means by which, through faith in the word of God, there is represented, sealed, and applied, such an interest in Christ as secures deliverance from the power of sin, inherent in fallen flesh, and renders the soul free to exercise itself in newness of life to God. These are the great lines of the resemblance, and little good can be done by pushing the matter more into detail. Indeed, it is scarcely possible to do so without confounding things which essentially differ, and losing sight of the main points of agreement. Thus, the ark may be, and most commonly is, viewed as representing the church, in which God's faithful people ride secure amid the swelling waves and perilous storms of life. And for general purposes the representation may be liable to no objection, as the truth embodied in it is certainly accordant with the word of God. Yet it is not strictly accurate; the real typical bearings of the subject are to some extent lost sight of, and others substituted in their place; for it contemplates the waters of the deluge as having the same aspect to Noah, that they had to the wicked-as the grand source of danger, from which he needed protection and deliverance. This is not, as we have seen, the correct and scriptural view of the subject, which represents the waters and the ark as together constituting the means of his salvation. And when the connexion between the ark and the church, thus faulty at the commencement, is pursued into the many minor points of resemblance, which are to be found in our older. writers;-as when its being anointed with pitch is supposed to have foreshadowed the sprinkling of the church with Christ's blood-the length of time it was in being built, the slow increase of the church in gathering the whole number of the saved-its being formed of many trees closely seamed together, and properly dressed, the church's being composed of many members, sanctified and knit together by the Spirit-its having one door but many rooms, the church's having one Saviour and that Saviour many functions:when the connexion is drawn. out into these and similar points of resemblance, the groundless and fanciful nature of the connexion only becomes the more clear and palpable. The light in which Scripture unfolds the subject, is in no degree chargeable with such conceits; nor will there be any danger of falling into them, if we keep steadily in view the great principle in God's spiritual government, which it was the primary object of the deluge to develope in regard to the present safety and well-being of his church, and which it is equally the object of baptism to develope in regard to the higher sphere of the spiritual and divine life..

Besides these exemplifications, however, of the twofold process of which we have spoken, the one already past in the finished work of Christ, and the other continually proceeding in the present ex

perience of believers, there is another and final one yet to be expected, when Christ shall come to, avenge the cause of his elect, and, putting down all adverse authority and rule, shall exalt them to reign with him in perpetual blessedness and glory. For to the very last, and in nothing more, indeed, than in its last great acts, the work of God in behalf of his church shall bear the character of a redemption from the powers of evil; its final termination and successful issue shall not only be co-eval with, but be accomplished through the destruction of the flesh and all its lusts, the overthrow of the powers of antichrist, the abolition of death, and the utter extirpation of all the forms and instruments of evil, which Satan has been so long employing against the life and blessedness of the saints. For that glorious era, the church of the redeemed, both in heaven and on earth, now waits and longs; for that even sentient nature, as the apostle testifies, may be said to sigh and groan, conscious as she is through all her parts of the sore burden and oppression of evil, and unable to attain to settled peace, or to yield her proper increase to God, until the manifestation of the sons of God in their destined freedom and glory. On this sublime and animating prospect, however, we shall not enter here, as the things which concern it will fall more naturally to be considered afterwards in connexion with other parts of the divine. economy. But the thought of what has been done in the like kind during the ages that are past, and of what is even now in progress in the history of every child of God, should be ever used by the church to beget in her the more assured faith of what is still to come, and prepare for the last issues of the work of God. Blessed is he, in whom this faith shall be found, when the Son of man cometh to finish his work in righteousness, and so watcheth as to keep his garments unstained, and his soul ready to meet the bridegroom.

SECTION FOURTH.

THE ROOT OF LIFE AND BLESSING IN THE SAVED-FAITH.

We have seen how the family of man branched itself from the first into two grand divisions, the one holding of God, the other of the serpent; consequently of opposite feelings and interests, and growing, the one to be heirs of salvation, the other of destruction. The original and primary ground of this difference stood, as previously stated, in the election of God. It was necessary, however, that the grace of election should discover itself in some fundamental and distinguishing principle, on the part of those who were the subjects of it, separating them by a broad and certain line of demarkation from the rest of mankind, and rendering them fit to be partakers of the benefits provided for them by the grace of God. What is this ground-principle? No sincere inquirer can have any hesitation in answering, faith.

No sooner does the electing grace of God appear, choosing out a portion of Adam's family to occupy a peculiar relation to him

self, than faith appears also as the immediate link of connexion between the elect seed and God, and the main element of distinction between them and others. It was faith, as we are expressly told in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and as the Old Testament history itself implies, which successively distinguished Abel, Enoch, and Noah, from so many around them, and secured the acceptance of their services with God. Guided by faith, they were each led to worship him in their day and generation according to his own instituted method, in preference to the open contempt of divine things, on the one hand, and the different forms of will-worship, on the other, which were embraced by the children of apostacy. Besides this exercise of faith common to them all, Noah gave a further and very eminent manifestation of it, in relying on the word of God concerning the deluge, and making suitable preparation for it. It was simply his faith on that occasion which rendered the water of the deluge so very different a thing to him from what it was to the rest of mankind, and in its effects so precisely opposite. And by his faith thus exercised in regard to the deluge, it is expressly said in the Hebrews, that he "became heir (or, acquired possession) of the righteousness, which is by faith." The same virtually is said of Abel with respect to his exercise of faith in presenting a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, "he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts," viz. by a visible sign from heaven betokening his acceptance of these on account of the faith in which they were offered. Although the same words are not used, yet unquestionably the same idea is expressed in regard to the faith of Enoch, when it is declared, that before his translation he had the testimony of Heaven, that he pleased God; for this he could have had on no other ground, than his being accounted righteous before God. The cause of man's alienation from God's favour, and expulsion from the tree of life, was sin; and the way of righteousness was of necessity the only channel through which access could be found to the privileges that were lost. But now that sin had entered with its flowing fountain of corruption, and its fearful load of condemnation, no righteousness such as God would accept was attainable by man, excepting through faith; in other words, the righteousness was necessarily of God's, not of man's providing; and the whole that man could do in the matter was to rest in humble, childlike faith upon the word and operation of God. Now, this faith, we are told, was possessed by Abel, Enoch, and Noah, who by means of it were respectively admitted to a place in the favour and communion of God. But the person in whose history this principle of the divine administration was to receive its brightest manifestation, whose local habitation even, and entire course, were to stand peculiarly identified with it, is Abraham, named on this account "the father of the faithful." In the case of the earlier patriarchs, the doctrine of "righteousness through faith" is too clearly written to admit of any doubt concerning it; but in the case of Abraham it is the grand idea which discovers itself, the central principle around which all the particulars of his VOL. I.-16

life group themselves, and which meets us at every turn of his eventful history. With him, therefore, it may more fitly be connected, than with any other individual in patriarchal times. The facts of the case may be summed up in a short compass. Abraham is called by God, when residing with his father's family on the plains of Mesopotamia, to go forth to another land, which was to be given him and his seed for an inheritance, the land, as it was afterwards expressly declared, of Canaan; and for a seed to occupy this land, and inherit in connexion with it the peculiar blessing of Heaven, he was to become the head of a numerous offspring, in multitude like the stars of heaven, and the sand upon the sea-shore, and so singularly honoured by God, that through them blessing was to be communicated to all the nations of the earth. These important benefits were at first intimated to Abraham by a word of promise; they were afterwards, with no material alteration, made the terms of a covenant; and finally, that covenant was confirmed by the solemn oath of God, (Gen. xii., xv., xvii., xxii.) That the benefits thus promised and guarantied to Abraham were special tokens of divine favour, such as could be conferred only upon one in nearest fellowship with God, is evident on the slightest reflection -they bespoke him to be in a state of perfect reconciliation with Heaven; nor is it less evident, that they were altogether gifts of grace, depending first for their offer on the sovereign goodness, and thereafter for their fulfilment on the power and faithfulness of God. Abraham was to be throughout a recipient; he had simply to believe the word of God, and wait in expectation for the promised good. And there, indeed, the chief difficulty stood; for the things promised were not merely so far above the reach of any power he personally had to possess them, but so much even above the line of God's ordinary working in providence, that it seemed to the eye of reason like extravagance to believe them possible. He did believe, however, "and his faith was counted to him for righteousness, (Gen. xv. 6.)

So far all is perfectly plain, and looking thus simply at the record of God's dealings toward him, we see in Abraham a beautiful and striking exemplification of that great gospel-principle, according to which God justifies the ungodly through faith. This is the use made of it in the Epistle to the Hebrews, and again at more length in the 4th chap. of the Epistle to the Romans. The promises given to Abraham were such as clearly to indicate, that he was in a justified condition, or received by God into a state of favour and acceptance. But these promises were given, when he was like other men, a sinner, nay, like his kindred, chargeable to some extent with the pollutions of idolatry; and yet, instead of calling him to work out a title by deeds of righteousness to the blessings promised, they are conferred at once, and what he has simply to do is to believe the word of promise. Faith in that word, not any righteousness of his own, nor any pretensions to it, is the sole connecting link between him and the blessings he is to inherit. And what is this but the cardinal principle on which, in the dis