faith works love in his heart, and causes him to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. He then loves God because God first loved him. And when the sinner loves God, he is passed from death unto life, and that love is the fulfilment of the law.

We are now led to see the consistency of faith being the first step. It is the very cause that produces love to God; and love induces us to keep the commandments. "Faith works by love," and "If ye love me," says Jesus, "ye will keep my commandments."

We will now introduce an example, which will plainly show the distinction between the law and gospel, and in what manner they affect the sinner. Suppose a king to sentence six of his subjects to imprisonment during life, and to command them to spend their days in hard labor. They are put in confinement, refuse to obey his commands, refuse to labor, and, in the midst of their miseries, curse his name. They are now in disobedience under

the condemnation of the law.

The king says to his only son, I love those subjects, and I covenant with you to set them free in three years. The son says, Father, I delight to do thy will. Let me go and reveal to them the glad tidings of this covenant promise. The king answers, My son, in the fulness of time I

will send you. Let them remain, one year, under the law. But, says the son, they are now transgressing your law, and need instruction. The king replies, I will send my servant to enforce that law. Let him go and inform the prisoners, that I am angry with them for their conduct; and if they will obey my commands, and labor faithfully, they shall have excellent food and good clothing as a reward. But if they will not comply, they shall be chained, and kept on bread and water, as a punishment for their disobedience.

The servant goes and delivers to them this message. Three of those subjects, for fear of the punishment and in hope of the reward, obey the king, and outwardly respect his commands, but perhaps have little or no love for him. [Here we see the righteousness of the law, which is not acceptable to God.] They accordingly receive, day by day, the promised reward. But the other three prisoners despise these conditions and refuse to obey. They are chained, fed on bread and water, and meet their deserts.

Here, then, are six prisoners laboring under the law, and groaning in bondage, with no hopes of deliverance. The law knows of no deliverance, no redemption. It simply serves as a schoolmaster, to teach them the difference between right and wrong, to teach them the will

of the king, and thus prepare them to receive a better covenant, which is to be revealed to them by the king's son. But under the covenant they now are, they have no motives to prompt them to obedience, but the fear of punishment and the hope of reward. In our next, this will be fully illustrated.

SERMON IV.

SALVATION BY FAITH.

[Continued.]

WE resume the argument, in this discourse, concerning those prisoners brought forward in our last. We left them in bondage under the sentence of the law, with no hopes of deliverance. The first year rolls away. The king says, My son, the time has come; go, and reveal my love to these prisoners, by bringing the promise of their redemption to light. The son flies on wings. of love, enters the prison and exclaims; I bring you good tidings of great joy. My father, the king, is your friend. He loves you; and that love has induced him to proclaim your liberation as a free gift. He has promised (and he cannot lie), that in two years from this day you shall be free. This covenant, so far as concerns its fulfilment, is unconditional. Believe, and you will be saved, by faith in the promise, from your present fears and condemnation under the law.

Those stubborn prisoners see a sufficiency of evidence to believe the promise. They exercise unshaken faith, in this second covenant between the father and son. This faith works by love in their hearts, and purifies them from disobedience.

Their souls melt in view of the love and goodness of the king, revealed to them by his son. In fine, they love him because he first loved them. They are now saved by faith in his promise, from not only all their miseries and sorrows, but from their disobedience, and look forward with joy, to the day of redemption. Here we perceive the "righteousness of faith," which far exceeds the righteousness of the law." They now delight to obey the king, because they are under the influence of love.

Here let the question be asked, are these three men to be let out of prison, at the appointed time, because they believe the promise or love and obey the king? They are not. Their redemption depended on the truth and faithfulness of the king's promise, which he made to his son, and that promise would have been fulfilled, even if it had not been revealed to them, till the day of their deliverance. They are not to be set free, as a reward for their faith, love, and obedience. They have great peace and joy in believing that promise. They are in the happy enjoyment of a salvation by faith, and that is all the reward they deserve, or have reason to expect. We here perceive, that these three men are made to establish the law of their king, by faith, in the good news he sent them by his son, which is to them a gospel. We now see the propriety of the