words be clearer to prove that faith is considered to justify not as an instrument, but as a symbol; it is to do nothing, but it is to "say," to "express,” to “ascribe," to glory, to warn, to bring good tidings.

In like manner in the third part of the same Homily: "The very true meaning of this proposition or saying, We be justified by faith only (according to the meaning of the old ancient authors) is this, We put our faith in Christ, that we be justified

dearly beloved Son, our only Redeemer, Saviour, and Justifier, Jesus Christ; so that the true understanding of this doctrine, we be justified freely by faith without works, or that we be justified by faith in Christ only, is not, that this our own act to believe in Christ, or this our faith in Christ, which is within us, doth justify us," let it be observed, we are told what the words do not mean,-in what sense it is not true that faith justifies, viz., not by having any real merit; it would have been natural then to have gone on to say in what sense faith does justify. Instead, however, of thus closing with the words, and sifting their meaning, well understanding they are the emblem of a principle, not a literal statement, the writer continues:-"but the true understanding and meaning thereof is, that, although we have faith, hope, charity, repentance, dread and fear of God within us, and do never so many good works thereunto, yet we must renounce the merit of all our said virtues, of faith, hope, charity, and all our other virtues and good deeds which we either have done, shall do, or can do, as things that be far too weak and insufficient, and imperfect, to deserve remission of our sins, and our justification; and therefore we must trust only in God's mercy, and that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour, Christ Jesus, the Son of God once offered for us upon the Cross." It must be recollected that Melanchthon, vide note p. 211, calls justification by faith, Paulina figura.

by Him only" Justification by faith only is here said to be a saying; consider how astonished and pained we should be, were the doctrine of the Atonement or of Christ's divinity said to be a proposition, saying, or form of speaking.

This last mentioned title is actually given it in another passage:-" This form of speaking use we, in the humbling of ourselves to God, and to give all the glory to our Saviour Christ, who is best worthy to have it.”

Enough has now been said upon the symbolical office of faith. If more were needed, it might be further observed, that such a view of it is congenial to the tone of thought which the Continental Reformers discover in other matters. As they considered prayers as lectures, Absolutions as declarations, the Eucharistic Commemoration as a visible

1

Again : "Because faith doth directly send us to Christ for remission of our sins, and that by faith given us of God we embrace the promise of God's mercy and of the remission of sins, (which thing none other of our virtues or works properly doth,) therefore Scripture useth to say, that faith without works doth justify." Here is the reason for saying "faith only," and not "love only," or "obedience only," because faith directly "sendeth us to," or preaches "Christ." Observe, too, that still, as in the former cases, the Homily does not so much affirm that faith only does justify, "but is said to justify." Elsewhere faith is compared to John the Baptist, who "did put the people from him, and appointed them unto Christ." Was St. John an instrument, or but a preacher? "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance," &c.

memento, Mystical Rites as edifying exhibitions, (which they certainly are also,) so they regarded faith as the symbol of justification. Of course this is not the highest view of the doctrine; and our own Homilies, in another portion of the Book, go on to the higher, according to which it is an instrument, as has been shown. Well would it have been if all Protestant divines had done the same; but others, following out the view which was more peculiarly their patrimony as Protestants, have ended in the notion that justification is the feeling of satisfaction which belief in God's mercy inspires, and nothing

more.

To sum up what has been said :—the question has been in what sense faith only justifies, for that it is necessary to our justification, all parties allow I answer, it justifies only, in two ways, as the only inward instrument, and as the only symbol. Viewed as an instrument, it unites the soul to Christ through the Sacraments; viewed as a symbol it shows forth the doctrine of free grace. Hence it is the instrument of justification after Baptism; it is a symbol both before and after 1.

The reader will find several statements contained in this and in the 4th and 6th Lectures, more or less confirmed by Waterland (on Justification, Works, vol. ix). The strict Protestant and the Catholic views concerning justification by faith may be contrasted thus. On both sides the following points are believed, and as succeeding in the same order :-1.

That the inward grace of God is the first cause of faith. 2. That faith, so created, is mere faith. 3. That love (ayάπŋ, charitas) is afterwards imparted. They differ in this, that the Catholic identifies regeneration with the third of these three stages, and the Protestant with the first; the Catholic makes justification coincident with the third, and the Protestant with the second. The Catholic makes mere faith the preliminary condition, the Protestant the instrument of justification. The Catholic makes love the token of regeneration, (1 John iv. 7.) and the Protestant mere faith. The Catholic considers regeneration a gift of the Spirit, not promised except under the Gospel; the Protestant as common to all who have any holiness, or insight into the spiritual world, or perform any obedience. The Catholic holds, 1. mere faith: 2. justification and regeneration together: 3. fides formata. The Protestant, 1. regeneration: 2. mere faith, (fides abstracta): 3. justification: 4. fides concreta, i. e. formata.

LECTURE XI.

ON THE NATURE OF JUSTIFYING FAITH.

HEB. XI. 1.

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

AFTER considering the office of faith, it fitly follows to inquire what it is, both in itself, and as existing in the regenerate. This I propose now to do, and in doing it shall have the guidance of a text, which approaches as nearly as any statement in Scripture to a formal definition. Our Church has no where defined faith. The Articles are entirely silent; and though the Homilies contain many popular descriptions, they present, as is natural, nothing consistent and accurate.

Religious faith is "the substance," or the realizing of what as yet is not seen, but only "hoped for;" it is the making present what is future. Again it is "the evidence" of what is not seen, that is, the ground or medium of proof, on or