to be shed upon the cross, to the blood of the sacrifice, with which Moses ratified the Jewish law, by sprinkling it on the people and on the altar of God. In instituting the Supper, Christ uses the remarkable expression, "This is the blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, for the remission of sins." As Moses had given a law to the Israelites, so had Christ given a law to the whole world, which is intimated in the phrase, "shed for many." The Mosaic law contained provision for the remission of sin, at least for its ceremonial remission, in which the mercy of God was symbolized and assumed in the sin-offerings; so now, though sacrifices were done away, yet the death of Christ might be considered as a perpetual memorial of the same thing. Besides, there is an evident allusion, in this form of words, to the most explicit prophecy there is in the old dispensation or the new. "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant which I made with their fathers, in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. But this is the cove nant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be

their God, and they shall be my people.

no more teach every man his neighbour,

:

And they shall

and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." This is the new and uni

versal covenant, which Christ ratified with his blood, containing the promise of the pardon of sin; but the condition of the pardon of sin, in this and all other cases, is a moral reformation. God's law must be received and obeyed. Such, then, is the connection of the death of Christ with the pardon of sin; it does not directly procure it, nor could any sacrifice, under any circumstances, but is instrumental in procuring that moral renovation, of which forgiveness of sins is the necessary

consequence.

Nor is the forgiveness of sins of much consequence, without moral renovation. The parent stands ready to pardon his repentant son, if he will return to the path of his duty. Society is sufficiently merciful to forgive the whole mass of the vicious who darken the moral atmosphere of this world. But the difficulty does not lie here. It lies in producing in them such a moral change as shall make forgiveness for the past of any avail. Accordingly, but a small part of the work of Christ consisted in his death; and had he not been a teacher, his death would have accomplished nothing for the salvation of man. The only salvation for man is, to be inwardly regenerated; that, Christ's death, without his doctrines, could not have effected. "The flesh," says

he, "profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life." Such is the general representation of the New Testament. Christ died to give efficacy to his doctrines, and thus to promote our spiritual improvement. "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed by corruptible things, such as silver and gold, from your vain conversation re

ceived by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot." The moral purpose of Christ's death is still more explicitly stated in another place. "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works." It is not so much remission, as moral renovation, from which remission, with a merciful God, follows of course, that was the purpose of his mission.

Let us now sum up the results to which we have been led by this discussion. The first is, that the doctrine of the Trinity has no connection with the Atonement. The second is, that sacrifices have no intrinsic efficacy to take away sin, but were only symbolic of penitence on the part of man, and mercy on the part of God. The third is, that the death of Christ was not a literal sacrifice in any sense. The fourth is, that it is called a sacrifice from its moral effect upon the world, answers the same symbolic purpose, and in as far as it is efficacious in the moral regeneration of the world, it does what sacrifices could not do, reconciles an offending world to God.

LECTURE XII.

WHAT IS SAVING FAITH IN CHRIST?

ROMANS, X. 9.

IF THOU SHALT CONFESS WITH THY MOUTH THE LORD JESUS, AND SHALT BELIEVE IN THY HEART THAT GOD HATH RAISED HIM FROM THE DEAD, THOU SHALT BE SAVED.

It is the object of this lecture to examine the nature of a saving faith in Christ. Salvation is said in the New Testament to be the consequence of faith in Christ. Now what was, and what is the nature of this faith,—what must we believe concerning Christ in order to be saved? This is a most interesting topic, for it is the point where the doctrine of the Trinity passes over from a speculative into a practical doctrine. It is often said of us, and to us, that we are infidels; that we do not believe in Christ, and he who does not believe in Christ is an infidel, and is lost; has no hope of salvation. We bow with all meekness to this sweeping condemnation, knowing that it is of little consequence to be judged by man's judgment. From that judgment we appeal to the Scriptures. We profess to believe in Christ, and according to the best of our judgments, we do believe in him. But to believe in Christ, we are told, is to believe that he is God. Not to believe.

that he is God, is to reject him and to be an infidel. We say that a saving faith in Christ has no relation to his nature, but only to the fact that God sent him, that all he taught has the authority of God, confirmed by the fact that God raised him from the dead. The whole question turns on the true definition of faith in Christ. The Trinitarian affirms that it is to believe that Christ was God; the Unitarian, that he was sent by God. I have already, I hope, shown to your satisfaction, that the Scriptures do not represent him to have been God. To be consistent with themselves, they cannot represent it to be necessary to believe that he was God. I shall therefore go over the principal passages which define faith in Christ, and from them gather what it was. I shall then show how that faith is sufficient for salvation. I shall first bring forward what he said of himself, and then what his Apostles said of him.

There is one passage, which, if it stood alone, would be almost enough to settle this matter, in Christ's last prayer with his disciples. "This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." To know, in this connection, means to recognize, to believe in, and likewise to live in such a manner as to be answerable to their faith. Now if a man believes the Father to be the only true God, he cannot believe Jesus Christ to be God at all. He is shut out of Deity by the very terms of the proposition. Nor is it, according to the articles of this creed, necessary to believe that he was God. Eternal life did not depend on believing that he was