Scriptures which receive their authority from that divine inspiration by which they were given. "Holy Scripture," rightly says the Church of England,"containeth all things necessary to salvation; so that whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of the faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." And, therefore, while she adopts three ancient summaries of Christian doctrine, as presenting the truth in a form at once connected and condensed, she declares not that they are to be believed, because Christian antiquity has presented them as the legitimate and authorized interpretation of obscure and difficult texts, but because "they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture."

Third. What, then, according to the Scripture, is the faith once delivered to the saints, for which it is our duty to contend?

It was to be expected that in a perfect system some parts should be subordinate, and thus, though not less true, yet, comparatively, less important. It was to be expected, likewise, that in such a system, some great principle, some central truth, should be evidently apparent, about which all the rest should be harmoniously adjusted. Every reader of the New Testament, simply and honestly desiring to find there the truth of God, must soon be made conscious that such uniting principles, such foundation-doctrines, not only exist there, but that they are presented under this very character. Let him hear what the angel said to Joseph: "Thou shalt call his name Jesus; for he shall save his people from their sins." Let him hear what the angel said to the shepherds: "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." His name, which was to be characteristic, was not to be derived, surely, from other than the principal object of his mission; and that name is Saviour, and that object is salvation. Why was his birth declared by a celestial visitant to constitute "good tidings of great joy?" Because he was to teach us a purer virtue, or even to unfold to us the fact of immortal existence? Nay, but the same theme is presented," For unto you is born a Saviour." And thus is it in the text. It is not obscurely intimated by the employment of the word "faith," for its object, truth; and the rather, as the Apostle first speaks of his general subject, which he terms, "the common salvation," and then points out the particular branch of the subject on which it was necessary that he should lay stress, namely, an earnest contention for the faith.

This, however, is decided by the Apostle Paul in that well-known passage in which he speaks of the demands of Jews and Greeks, and of the way in which he responded to them. "For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling-block, and unto the Greeks foolishness; but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ

the power of God, and the wisdom of God." And if other evidence be wanted, let us take the Epistle to the Galatians; ascertain its grand subject; and then hear what the Apostle says in the commencement: Though we, or an angel from heaven, or any man, preach any other Gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."

66

Christ crucified, the Saviour who is of God to be made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,-salvation through his atonement and intercession, implying forgiveness of sins and spiritual regeneration, to be received by penitent sinners through the exercise of a living faith in him,-these constitute the cardinal doctrines of the Gospel. With these, the others are so necessarily connected, that let these be granted, in their own proper meaning, and none of the rest can be successfully denied. With these, therefore, we have those of the Sacred Trinity,—of the natural guilt and sinfulness of man,—of atonement for sin by the sacrificial death of Christ,-the justification of a sinner by the grace of God through faith in the blood of Christ, the regeneration and sanctification of the soul by the power of the Holy Ghost,-the resurrection of the dead,-and eternal judgment all are included in "the faith once delivered unto the saints." Fourth. We have now to inquire, For what design was this faith delivered, and wherein consists its value?

66

The question is too important to be answered by the mere statement of human opinion, especially as a distinct reply may be gathered from the word of God. Take, then, such texts as these, and you will at once perceive their bearing on the subject before us:- "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,"-thus setting it forth to the view of the camp, that the dying might obediently look and live,even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." For this reason does our Lord command that the Gospel be preached in all the world, and to every creature, that perishing man might believe and live. It is, therefore, said, that God "would have all men to be saved, and to come to the knowledge of the truth." It is thus plainly taught that it is the will of God that the blessings of redemption, in connexion with distinct statements of the method by which they have been procured, and of the way in which they are to be received, should be made known to men, that thus they might be induced to seek after God. So again :-"God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation." It was this same view of the subject that led St. Paul to exclaim elsewhere, "So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the Gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth." All this is exceedingly plain. Salvation is most mercifully provided for men, and they are to

be called to accept it, and glorify God their Saviour. So far as our own obligations and duties are concerned, we are continually to remember that it is God's will to save men by faith in Christ, and that, in order to this, Christ must be preached unto them. We have nothing to do with the question, How will God deal with them that are without? The Judge of all the earth will do right. But the truth is made known to men, that men might be saved. The faith is committed to the church for the salvation of the world.

And it is in this that the value of the deposit appears,—its immediate connexion with the salvation of men. It is easy, indeed, to shut out God and eternity from human thought, and, regarding man merely in his physical, his social, his temporal aspects, to infer from them a standard by which to judge of the wisdom and value of any course of action that may be proposed. But this is downright infidelity, and infidelity without the honesty of distinct avowal. The questions to be decided are, first, Have we a revelation from God?—and this, if we be Christians, we at once admit,—and then, what does that revelation say concerning man? And now our task is easy. Here is the book. The "lively oracles" have spoken, and we are bound by their

answer.

See, then, what that answer is. You know that man is mortal; that his pleasures and pains are rapidly hastening to what, as to the present world, is their final termination. If the Bible be the word of God, so soon as man leaves the world, a new state of existence commences. There is for him "the inheritance of the saints in light;" or there is, in the awful words of the compassionate and weeping Saviour, whose agony and bloody sweat, whose cross and passion, all tell us that he would aggravate no description beyond the sad reality,—there is, even in His words, "the damnation of hell," "where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." Let us strongly conceive of these indubitable facts. Let the glories of heaven pass before us, pure, undecaying, and everlasting. Think of man living thus for ever in the immediate presence of the God of truth, holiness, and love. Conceive of the enjoyment which such a state affords; of the advancement of which, in such a state, man is capable. And then place before yourselves the terrible alternative: the eternal punishment; the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels; the blackness of darkness for ever; the remorse, the rage, the despair, the intolerable, irremovable anguish. Put the case fairly before your mind. Put it honestly, and you cannot put it too strongly. If these things be so, there is a standard of value at once furnished. Every thing is valuable as it tends—and in the proportion in which it tends to deliver man from that dreadful misery, and to assure him of that glorious happiness. We have a right to demand this concession from the infidel himself. Not in mathematics is there a more evident truth, or a more complete demonstration. If our premises be true,—and the profession

of the Christian religion implies the acknowledgment of them,-then are our conclusions certain.

As Christians then, we now assert the infinite value of the Gospel, as intended to rescue man from everlasting misery, and to bring him to a complete and endless felicity. And we have a right to say that, compared with this, every thing else is most trifling and insignificant. The Saviour and Judge has solemnly decided that it shall profit a man nothing to gain the whole world, if he lose his own soul. What is it to him that you have instructed him in all science; that you have imparted every worldly comfort and pleasure; what is it all to him in the day that he dies without God, and lifts up his eyes in hell, being in torment? What can you promise in this world that may even be mentioned at the same time with the ecstasies of the disembodied spirit" carried by angels into Abraham's bosom ;" or with the enjoyments which the entire man, raised from the dead, his very body refined and glorified, shall derive from the contemplation of truth,present, unclouded, effulgent, eternal truth,-and from fellowship with infinite, unchanging goodness and purity? By means of the faith once delivered unto the saints, all these blessings may be ours for ever; and when we can find terms for the adequate expression of the value of the end, then shall we be able to express the value of the

means.

There is another view of the subject. It is a fact that the defence and spread of this truth have often called for great efforts and costly sacrifices; and even for what has been termed a great waste of life. Now, does the value of the work justify the expenditure that it evidently requires? Think of the noble army of martyrs, whether under Pagan or under Papal Rome. Recollect that a word would have saved them. They refused to speak it. Was it folly, or was it wisdom? Or bring it to our own times, and instead of imagining cases for the trial of principles, take such as are of actual occurrence. Take some Missionary station. Crowds of ignorant Pagans are there, and already is there an infant church rising in the midst of them. But the climate is unhealthy. The Christian Timothies who go there, full of health and hope, labour a while, and rejoice in their success, and then they die. They plant the standard on the ramparts; they shout for joy to see it floating in triumph; and then they perish in the breach. Do we doubt the prudence of all this?-But before we decide, let us view another case. It shall be that of a General to whom the safety of his troops is dear, but to whom the conduct of the war is committed. The plan of the campaign is before him. If he can accomplish his objects, he is sure of ultimate success. But first of all there is a fortress that must be reduced. He may not leave it in his rear, nor may he remain where he is. The reduction of that one fortress is necessary for the success of every other movement. Defeat here is defeat in every thing. He yields to what he believes to be a stern

necessity. He sets his troops in motion, and before his own banner waves on the citadel, and tells that the place has changed masters, more lives are sacrificed than a whole century of Missionary enterprise would require. And shall we mention the objects of military prowess in the same hour with those which make the martyr welcome the stake, and cause the Missionary to exclaim, "Neither count I my life dear to myself, that I may finish my course with joy ;"-objects which brought the Son of God from heaven, and made him say, in the prospect of sufferings inconceivable by man, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished?"-We again say, Is the Christian religion true? If, indeed, we have followed cunningly-devised fables, we may admire the zeal of the Missionary, and the courage of the martyr; but we shall smile at their folly, and pity their weakness. But grant us our premises,—allow that this book is from God,—and then, this faith delivered unto the saints is the power of God unto salvation: and in comparison with the salvation of the Gospel, all worldly splendour fades, all earthly grandeur becomes insignificant.

Here we might rest. But though this is the strength of our cause, and the ground on which it is our duty to stand, yet to that cause justice is not done unless we proceed a step farther. The whole scheme of Providence, we should remember, is directed by our Lord Jesus Christ. "All power," said he, "is given unto me, in heaven and in earth." "The government is on his shoulders." He is "Prince of the kings of the earth;" "King of kings, and Lord of lords." Nor are these vain words. Recall to your recollection the often-repeated text, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you;" and ask your coolest judgment what principle the latter portion establishes, if the words themselves are to stand among "the true sayings of God?" And then, connect with them the explicit declaration of St. Paul," But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." And thus does the value of "the faith once delivered unto the saints" come to us under another aspect,-in comparison of the other, secondary and subordinate,-but yet in all other respects, momentously important,-its connexion with the temporal well-being of mankind.

Very briefly can this be noticed at present; but justice to the truth demands that it be not overlooked.

Recollect, then, the personal influence of the faith. He who truly embraces it, is reconciled to God, and, in the solemn language of Scripture, is become "the habitation of God through the Spirit." Violent and unholy passions are now subdued. The man is raised from his earthliness, the faculties of his nature are expanded and strengthened, and he begins to be sacredly familiar with the most ennobling objects. The direct tendency of Christian truth is to enlighten the under