law and therefore it is true, that "the law was not made for a righteous man," 1 Tim. i.-This then is that true Christian liberty, even our faith: which does not give us occasion to sit down at ease, or live as we list, but is so ordained, that no one might have any need of the law, or of works, unto righteousness and salvation.

Let this be considered as the first power of faith. We will now speak of the second. For this also belongs to faith to have the most high and holy thoughts of him. in whom it believeth: that is, to hold him as true, and worthy to be trusted. Nor is there any honour equal unto that estimation of truth and justice, in which we hold him, in whom we fully confide. What can we ascribe unto any one more honourable than truth, justice, and complete and perfect goodness? On the other hand, it is the greatest of all reproaches to speak of any one as a liar, and dishonest, or even to suspect him; which we in reality do, when we do not believe him.

Thus the soul, while it steadfastly believes in God promising, holds him to be true and just: than which opinion, no greater homage can be paid him. The highest worship of God, is to ascribe unto him truth, righteousness, and whatever we would ascribe unto one in whom we fully confide! This worshipper, is prepared to do all the will of God; he sanctifies his name; he submits himself to be dealt with as it shall seem pleasing unto God; because, he leans entirely upon his promises, not doubting, but that as he is all truth, righteousness, and wisdom, he will manage, order, and do all things for the best. And does not such a soul by this his faith, yield obedience unto God in all things? What precept is there which such an obedience does not abundantly fulfil? What fulfilment can be more perfect than universal obedience? And this obedience is really yielded, not by works, but by faith only!

On the other hand, what rebellion, what impiety must it be ! What greater contempt can be put upon God, than not to believe him when he promises! What is it else but to hold him a liar; or, at least, to doubt,

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his truth! That is, for a man to attribute truth unto himself, but lying and vanity unto God! In so doing, does he not deny God altogether, and set up himself in his heart for a self-worshipping idol? And what think ye works can avail done in this impious state of heart, be they never so evangelical and apostolical? Righteously therefore hath God included all, not in wrath, not in lust, but in unbelief: lest those, who imagine that they fulfil the law by their chaste and kind works of the law, (which are at best but moral or political virtues,) should presume to expect that they should be therefore saved, when they are all the while included under the sin of unbelief, and must either seek the mercy, or be damned by the justice of God!

But when God sees that truth is ascribed unto him, and that he is honoured by the faith of our heart with all that honour which is due unto him, he in return honours us by imputing unto us truth and righteousness because of this faith only. For it is faith that makes truth and righteousness, by ascribing unto God his own; and in return God rewards that our righteousness with glory! For it is true and just to hold God true and just; and to ascribe this unto him, and confess it, is to be true and just according to 1 Sam. ii., "Whosoever honoureth me I will glorify him, but they that despise me shall be accounted nought." So Paul, Rom. iv., saith of Abraham, that his faith was counted unto him for righteousness; because, by it he gave full glory to God: and it shall, for the same reason, be imputed unto us for righteousness also, if we believe.

The third power of this most precious faith is that which couples the soul to Christ as a spouse to her husband: by which sacred union, as Paul teacheth, Christ and the soul are made one flesh and if they be one flesh, and there be a true marriage, yea, by far the most perfect of all marriages, consummated between them (for all human marriages are but the faintest representation of this,) then it follows, that all which belongs to each, both good and evil, becomes common to both. So

that, whatever Christ possesses, the believing soul may lay claim to, and glory in, as her own; and whatever belongs to the soul, Christ takes upon himself as his.

Now let us only meditate on these things compared together, and we shall find them to be unspeakable. Christ is full of grace, life, and salvation; the soul' is full of sin, death, and damnation. Here, let faith come in between, and it shall come to pass that the sin, death, and hell are laid upon Christ; and his grace, life, and salvation, made the portion of the soul! For he, as the husband, must take unto himself, together with the spouse, all that she brings with her; and impart unto her, all that he possesses. For he who freely gives her his body and himself, how can he not give her all things that are his! And he who takes unto himself the body of his spouse, how can he not take with her all things that are hers!

Here then is brought to light a most sweet view, not of communion only, but of a saving warfare, of victory, of salvation and redemption! For, since Christ is God and man, and such a person as never has sinned, never dies, nor is damned, nay, never can sin, die, or be damned; and since his righteousness, life, and salvation are unconquerable, eternal, and omnipotent; since, I say, such a person has, by the wedding-ring of faith, made the sin, death, and hell of his spouse common to himself, yea, his own; and acts and suffers under them as if they were his own, and as if he himself had sinned, la bouring, dying, and descending into hell, that he may overcome them all; and since, sin, death, and hell, could not swallow up him, it is of necessity certain, thất, in the stupendous conflict, they are all swallowed up by him. For his righteousness is greater than all sin, his life is stronger than all death, his salvation more powerful than all hell!

Thus the believing soul, by the pledge of faith in Christ her spouse, becomes free from all sins, secure from death, safe from hell, and endowed with the eternal righteousness, life, and salvation of her husband Christ. Thus Christ presents unto himself a spouse without spot

or wrinkle, and all glorious through his cleansing her with the washing in the word of life; that is, by faith in the word of life, righteousness, and salvation. And thus he betroths her unto himself in faith, in mercy, in lovingkindnesses, in righteousness, and in judgment: as Hosea saith, chap. ii. a

Who then can fully enter into the greatness of this royal marriage? Who can comprehend the riches of the glory of this grace? where this rich and holy husband Christ, takes unto wife this poor, miserable, sinful harlot, redeeming her from all her evils, and adorning her with all his saving benefits! It is impossible now, that her sins should destroy her, for they have all been laid upon Christ, and swallowed up in him; and she has that righteousness in Christ her husband, which she may glory in as her own, and may, with confidence, set against all her sins, yea, against death and hell; and say, 'If I have sinned, yet, my Christ has not sinned in whom I believe: all whose are mine, and mine are his :' as in the Canticles, "My beloved is mine and I am his." This is what Paul saith, 1 Cor. xv., "Thanks be unto God, who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord: that is, the victory over sin and death, as he there shews, "The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law."

From these things, you may again understand why it is, that so much is attributed to faith ;— that it alone fulfils the law, and justifies without any works whatever. For you see that the first commandment, in which it is said, Thou shalt worship one God, can be fulfilled only by faith. For if thou thyself wert nothing else but good works from the sole of the foot even unto the head, yet thou wouldst not be righteous, nor wouldst thou worship God, nor fulfil the first commandment. For God cannot be worshipped, unless there be ascribed unto him truth and the glory of all goodness, as they ought to be ascribed and this no works can do, but the faith of the heart only. For it is not by working, but by believing, that we glorify God and confess him to be true. On this account it is, that faith alone is the righteousness of a

Christian man, and the fulfilment of all the commandments: for he who fulfils this first commandment, fulfils all the rest without any laborious working.

And moreover, works, as they are things insensible, cannot possibly glorify God, although they may be done, (if done in faith,) to the glory of God. But we are not now inquiring into the quality of the works that are done, but into the person who does them, who produces the works and glorifies God:-and this is, the faith of the heart, the head and substance of all our righteousness. Therefore, the doctrine which teaches that the commandments are to be fulfilled by works, is blind and perilous: for the commandments must be fulfilled before any work is done, and works must follow that fulfilment : as we shall presently hear.

But, in order that we may behold more fully this grace which our inward man hath in Christ, it must be known, that God, under the Old Testament, sanctified unto himself every first-born male. And the first birth was always pre-eminently esteemed, and held in twofold honour above the rest, both in the priesthood and in the kingdom. For the first-born brother was priest, and lord, over all the rest. Under which figure Christ was shadowed forth, the true and only begotten Son of God the Father and the Virgin Mary, the true king and priest; not according to the flesh, and this world, for his kingdom is not of this world; he reigns and consecrates in heavenly and spiritual things, which are righteousness, truth, wisdom, peace, salvation, &c. Not that all things in earth and hell are not subject to him also, (else how could he preserve and save us from them) but his kingdom does not consist in these things, nor is it of them. Neither does his priesthood consist in the external pomp of robes and gestures, (as that earthly priesthood of Aaron was, and as our ecclesiastical priesthood is in the present day,) but in spiritual things; in which, by an invisible office in heaven, he intercedes for us before God, and there offers up himself, and does all those things which pertain unto a priest: as Paul describes him unto the Hebrews under the figure of Melchizedec. Nor does