object.' [Dr. Hopkins.]But, when we mean faith in Chrift, is it natural to fay, faith that is in Chrift? If this had been the meaning, it doubtless would have been expressed in the active, and not in this paffive manner. Certainly no words could be used to establish the fenfe to be the faith of Chrift, more indifputably, than thofe frequently used by Paul.

This argument has been used in favor of the believer's faith, that fince the apostle 'always means the faith of the believer, when he fays men are juftified by faith, except in thefe few places, it feems to be doing • violence to thofe, to understand them in quite a different fenfe.'-But, it is taken wholly upon fuppofition, that the apoftle means the faith of the believer in thofe other places; the ftrength of this argument lies, in forcing a fenfe a fenfe upon fome paffages which are lefs exprefs, and, from them, concluding against others, which are as exprefs as words can make them; this is reverfing the establifhed rule of finding how an author uses a word; which is, to take the paffages in which the word is ufed moft definitely, and from them determine its sense where it is used more freely.

Again, it is faid, that to fay the faith of Chrift, the faith of the Son of God, or faith that is in Chrift, &c. is a very obfcure and unusual way to exprefs the obedience and righteoufnels of Chrift.'-But to fome people, faith does not seem an obscure and unufual, or an improper word whereby to ex

prefs the covenant righteousness of Chrift. It is faid, moreover, that this phrase must be * understood to mean the faith of the believ

er, in a number of other places; the following are inftances of it, Acts iii. 16. Through 'faith in his name. In the original it is, Through the faith of his name. Rom, iii. 26. The juftifier of him that believeth in Fefus. In the original it is, Him who is of the faith of Jefus,-But what evidence is there, that Peter and John meant their own faith, when they fay, And his name, through the faith. of his name, hath made this man ftrong? Why may they not be understood to mean as they faid, that the lame man was healed by the name, or through the faith of the name of Fefus Chrift; which is faith the evidence of things. not feen? And the other paffage, Him who, is of the faith of Jefus, is a phrase similar to that of Rev. xiv. 12, and evidently intends, as there, him who keeps the word of God, and the teftimony of Jefus Chrift.

In the epifle to the Galatians, Chriff's faith and the believer's faith are both mentioned in one text; and they are fo clearly diflinguished, the one as being the ground of our juftification, and the other as merely the circumstance; that, were it not for the ftrongbent of the human mind to felfrighteoufnefs, it would feem impoffible that, in this manner, by fubftituting the one for the other, the doctrine of the apoftle could be so strangely, mittaken and perverted. See chap. ii, 16. Knowing that a man is not justified by the zworks of the law, but by the faith of Jefus

Chrift, even we have believed in Jefus Chrift; that we might be justified by the faith of Chrift, and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law fhall no flesh be justified.This is a clear statement of the glorious doctrine. We have believed in Fefus Chrift, that we might be justified by the faith of Chrift. This was the profeffion of evangelical Paul. How different from the modern profeffion! Some people who would be thought evangelical, are careful to vary from this profeffion only as it refpects the faith of Chrift; and can find it agreeable to their own views of the way of juftification, by a fmall amendment like this: We have believed in Jefus Chrift, that we migh be justified by believing in Chrift.

Believing in Chrift is neceffary, doubtless, to our being juftified by Chrift; but to subftitute our own faith for the faith of Chrift, and in this way feeking to be juftified, is not believing in Chrift; it is merely believing in our own faith. This way feems fo right to a man, that he can easily pass over the grofs abfurdity. We eat bread, and are fupported; not by the act of eating, but by the bread we eat-we run to a house, and are protected from the ftorm; not by our running, but by the house into which we enter-the brood gather themselves under the hen, and are warmed, nurtured, and fecured from the bird of prey; not by their coming thither, but by the parent wings of the fowl. Thus the weak and defenceless flock, hovering to ShiJoh, before the ftorm and tempeft, are faved" by the Lord God of Ifrael, under whose wings

they are come to truft. Chriftian profeffors were not, formerly, fo reluctant in admitting Paul's conftruction of this doctrine. Caftalio, in giving the fenfe of Acts xxvi. 18. writes, Qui, quia in fidem meam venerunt, fancti facti funt. Becaufe they have come into my faith,

&c.

Though a variety of terms are used in the fcriptures, to exprefs the ground of the fpecial divine favour towards finners, it is understood, that one and the fame thing is ever intended. Ifaiah fays, By his knowledge fhall my righteous fervant juftify many. Ifai, Ïiii. 11. As the Father, on the one hand had, from 'the beginning, ordained his Son to the work of redemption-as he had entrusted him with this work-as he always upheld him in "the execution of this work-as he had declared him, from the excellent glory, to be ' his beloved Son, in whom he was well pleas'ed-and as he commanded the world to hear him the Father, in a law fenfe, knew,, 'or acknowledged, publicly, the Son, as a righteous and faithful party in the covenant. So, on the other hand, as the Son, early, accepted the Father's propofal of the 'work of redemption as he received into his heart, his Father's law, the law of redemption-as he came into the world, in a body prepared for him, at the time appointed, by the Father-as he always did 'those things that pleased the Father-and as he was always obedient as a Son, and was always faithful as a fervant, in his fulfilling all righteousness, or all the duties

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* which he had covenanted to do-he did, properly, in a law ftyle, know the Father, as his Father and his God, as a faithful party in the covenant; in whom he trufted, and on whofe oath he relied, for the promised ' reward. His death was the most illuftrious inftance of his knowledge or experience of fidelity in the covenant work of redemp tion." [Avery.]

The knowledge which the Father had of the Son, and the knowledge which the Son had of the Father, is the everlasting righteousness; which, by the death and refurrection of Chrift, is brought in, and laid as the foundation in Zion. As the Father knoweth me, fays the Son, even so know I the Father; and I lay down my life for my sheep. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. John x. 15—18.— His laying down his life, in obedience to the commandment which he had received, proves his love to his Father-it is the highest demonstration of filial duty, for which he is worthy of parental love; and it is on the account of this knowledge, that the Father loves him.

It is plain, therefore, that his knowledge, by which he fhall juftify many, means the fame as his righteousness, for the fake of which the Lord is well pleafed. And fince Chrift has gone through the work, and fince the Father

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