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to any other imaginable Caufe. Faith therefore, if it prefumes to arrogate this exalted Prerogative, or if it pretends to the leaft Part in this important Bufinefs, is a facrilegious Ufurper.-To the current Language; as when David prays, Purge me with Hyffop, and I fhall be clean; as when GOD is called our Fear †, our Hope 1, our Joy . In thefe Places, the Inftrument is put for the Agent, the Act for the Object. So, in the Paffage before Us, the Act of Faith is put for the Object of Faith. It must be understood, not abfolutely, but as fome Divines fpeak, objectively, inftrumentally, relatively.

Ther. In the Name of Wonder, what can You mean by this Heap of harsh and obfcure Expreffions! Let me entreat You, Afpafio, to speak in your own Style, not in the grim Dialect of Aquinas. I have an irreconcilable Averfion to these scholaftic Terms. They are the Barbarifms of Divinity. I know but one Ufe, they are fitted to serve; that is, to perplex and puzzle a Caufe, You cannot maintain. Somewhat like the Liquor, which a certain Fifh, when closely pursued, is faid to emit: by which the Water is darkened, and the Foe eluded.

Alp.

*Pfal. li. 7. Purge me with Hyffop; that is, with the Blood of Atonement, fprinkled by the Bunch of Hyffop.

This is one of the moft puny and defpicable Plants. It is placed, by Solomon, in the very loweft Clafs of Vegetables. Might not the HOLY GHOST intend to denote, by this typical Image, the beggarly and infignificant Nature of Faith, confidered in itself? Which becomes refpe&table and efficacious, only by what it borrows; only by what it receives. See i Kings iv. Heb. ix. 19.

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+ Gen. xxxi. 42, 53. Pfal. lxxi. 5. Jer. xiv. 8..

|| Pfal. xliii. 4.

Afp. This, Theron, is the Meaning of our uncouth Phrafes: It is not Faith itself, which juftifies; but that Righteousness, which Faith continually views which Faith delightfully apprehends; and on which it finally terminates.

To be plainer ftill-We are juftified by Faith, in the fame Mariner, as We are fed by the Hand, or nourished by the Mouth. Neither the Hand nor the Mouth are the Cause of our Sustenance, but Inftruments only, that of conveying it, this of receiving it *If an Apoftle affirms, We are juftified by Faith: Faith itself declares, In the LORD I have Righteoufnefs. Put thefe Paffages together, and You will have the true Senfe of our Doctrine, and the true Doctrine of the Gospel.

When Themiftocles fled from the Perfecution of his own Countrymen, what recommended Him to the Protection of King Admetus ?—Not his Name; that was obnoxious-Not his Actions; they had been hoftile-But the Perfon of the young Prince; whom the diftreffed Refugee caught up in his F 2 Arms;

Though I am entirely of Theron's Mind, and can by no means admire our Scholaftic Divines, or their logical Terms; yet a Remark from Paraus, couched in this Style, is fo pertinent to the Purpose, and fo full an Explication of the Point, that it would be an Injury to the Caufe, not to make it a Part of my Notes. And fome Readers, I apprehend, not much acquainted with this old-fashioned hoary Dialect, may be well enough pleafed to view a Specimen: and like it, as they do the Ruft of a Medal, merely for its Uncouthness and Antiquity.

Faith juftifies, fays my Author, not effectively, as "working an habitual Righteoufnefs in Us; not materially, as though it were itfelf the conftituent Caufe "of our Juftification; but it juftifieth objectively, as it apprehendeth CHRIST; and inftrumentally, as it applieth his Righteoufnefs."

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Arms; and, charged with these Credentials, prefented Himself to the royal Parent *-So, Faith recommends to GOD, and justifies the Soul, not for itself, or its own Worth; but on Account of what it embraces, what it prefents, and what it pleads.

Ther. Is not this a fanciful Diftinction †, and an exceffive Refinement? Has it any Foundation in Scripture?

Afp. It is implied in almost all the Representations of CHRIST, and all the Defcriptions of Faith, which occur in the facred Writings..

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CHRIST is likened to Clothing; and Believers are faid to have put on CHRIST. Now, it cannot be the Act of putting on, that covers our Bodies, or keeps them warm; but the commodious Garment, which is wore.-He is compared to Bread: I am the Bread of Life ||. Shall we say? It is the Act of Eating, which strengthens the Constitution, and recruits our Spirits. No furely; but the Food eaten and digefted. CHRIST was typefied by the City of Refuge $; and Sinners, by the obnoxious Man

flayer.

This, fays Plutarch, was a Custom peculiar to that Country; was reckoned the most folemn Method of fupplicating Favour; and feldom met with a Repulfe. To which I may add, It is a Cuttom which Chriftians should imitate, in all their Addresses to the GOD and FATHER of our LORD JESUS CHRIST. When thus used, thus improved, it will never fail of Success.

+ Dr. Gill thought it no fanciful Diftinction, when He fo judicioufly observed; Faith is an A or Duty of the Soul, but does not justify as fuch. It is a Grace of the SPIRIT, but does not juftify as fuch. But We are juftified by Faith, as it looks to, apprehends, and embraces CHRIST's Righteoufnefs for our Juftification. Gal. iii. 27. John vi. 35 § Numb xxxv. 13.

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flayer. Who, if He fled to one of those privileged Abodes; and there remained, was fafe. No Profecution against Him could be valid: He had nothing to fear from the Avenger of Blood. In this Cafe, was it the bare Act of Flying, which fcreened the Criminal? By no means: this conveyed Him to a Place of Security. But the Place itself was his Sanctuary, his Afylum, his Safeguard.

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Faith is ftyled, A receiving of CHRIST *: As many as received Him, to them gave He Power, to them He granted the Privilege, and the high Prerogative, to become the Sons of GOD. The Office of Faith is, according to this Definition, not to contribute its Quota, much lefs to depofit the whole Sum, but to take and use the ineftimable Gift.Faith is called, A Locking unto JESUS + ; in Allufion, I fuppofe, to the famous Expedient, provided for the wounded Ifraelites 1. Our crucified LORD was prefigured, by the brazen Serpent'; our Guilt, by the Stings of the fiery Serpents; and our Faith, by looking to the miraculous Remedy. Did the healing Power, I would ask, refide in the mere Act of viewing? No: but in the Emblem of

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John i. 12. See alfo Ram. v. 17. Where a Critic of accurate Judgment, and delicate Tafte (though little known in England) makes this Remark on the Word Aaulavorles, Non juftificat Actus fumendi, quatenus eft Actus; fed illud quod fumitur aut apprehenditur. BENGELIUS in loc His Annotations on the New Teftament are comprised in a small Quarto Volume. They prefent the Reader with many refined Obfervations, on the Elegancies of the Style, and Sublimity of the Doctrines. They are a Pattern of the concife Manner; they gratify our Appetite, yet keep Us hungry and craving; and, which is the crowning Excellency, they all along indicate a Heart warm and glowing with the Love of its Subject. Numb. xxi. 8.

+ Heb. xii. 2.

dying SAVIOUR, elevated on the Pole, and ordained for the Recovery of the People. Here all the Efficacy was lodged. From hence it was all derived. The Action of the Eye, like the Office of Faith, was only to fetch home, and apply the fanative Virtue.

Ther. Suppofe all You advance, to be true; and all You maintain, to be folid; what is the Advantage of fuch a Diftin&tion?

Afp. Much. It preferves, unfhared and inviolate, the Honour of GOD our SAVIOUR. It eftablifhes, on an immoveable Foundation, the Hope and the Comfort of a Chriftian.An Inftance, which lately occurred, will explain my Meaning. A certain Writer, treating of that tremendous Day, when GOD will arife to adminifter eternal Judgment; when He will come to be avenged of his unfaithful Servants, and to deftroy his avowed Enemies; exhorts Us All to labour after a living Faith-" which alone, fays He, can "carry Us fafe to the Harbour, amidst the univer"fal Deluge of Woe, which is going to overflow "the Earth."

This Exhortation, You fee, afcribes every Thing to an Act of our own; to Man's Faith, not to the REDEEMER's Righteousness. This, therefore, muft greatly difhonour the all-fufficient REDEEMER, and his infinite Merit.-As this Act of our own is confeffedly imperfect and changeable, it affords but a crazy Bottom, on which to embark our everlasting Interefts. A Confideration, which muft damp our Joy, and often fill Us with uneafy Sufpicions. Whereas, let CHRIST be the Veffel of Preservation and Conveyance; let Faith fig

nify

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