66

sure to all the seed: not to that only which is of "the law, but that which is of the faith of Abra"ham, who is the father of us all."1 "Isaac and "Jacob were heirs with him of the same promise." "These all died in faith, not having received the "promises; but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them'; " and confessed that they were strangers and pil"grims on the earth." "These all, having ob“tained a good report through faith, received not "the promise: God having provided some better thing for us; that they without us might not be "made perfect."2 Beyond doubt the promise of a Saviour, given immediately after the fall, and renewed to Abraham, was intended. The oath sworn unto Abraham is by the apostle thus referred to: "Wherein God, willing more abundantly to show "unto the heirs of promise, the immutability of "his counsel, confirmed it with an oath; that, by "two immutable things in which it was impossible "for God to lie, we might have a strong consola"tion who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us." 3

66

4

Job indeed is not mentioned expressly among those who "obtained a good report by faith:" but the manner in which he is spoken of by Ezekiel, and by the apostle James; with the strong and decided testimonies borne by him and his friends to the grand truths of revelation; 5 leave no doubt in the considerate mind, in what way he "was righteous before God."

Rom. iv. 1-5, 9—25.

'Heb. vi. 12—18.

Heb. xi. 13, 40.

4

Ez. xiv. 14, 20. Jam. v. 11.

› Job. xiv. 4. xv. 14-16. xix. 25-27. xxv. 1. xlii. 6, 8, 14, 18.

'Even in the idolatrous days of Ahab and Jezebel, when the covenant was forsaken, and the 'altars of God overthrown, there were seven thou'sand in Israel, who had not bowed their knees to 'Baal.'!

The apostle, speaking of this company, says, "What saith the answer of God to him"-Elijah? F "have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who "have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. "Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election of grace; " and if it be of grace it is no more of works." 2 Whatever construction be put on the word election, (for that is not in our present subject,) it is plain that these were reserved by grace, and not of works: "It was therefore by faith, that it might "be by grace."3 But his Lordship's argument requires it to have been of nature, and by works, else it wholly falls to the ground.

When" the Seed of the woman" had been promised, a dispensation of mercy and grace entered: the anticipated effects of his future incarnation, righteousness, and redemption, as the Surety of the new covenant, began to be experienced; and all believers, in every age and nation, have been saved in and by him. Thus our article teaches us: Both in the Old and New Testament, everlasting life is offered to mankind by Christ, who is the only Mediator between God and man, being both 'God and man.'4 This is further explained in the Homily: This is the Christian faith, which these holy men had, and we also ought to have. And

Ref. 7. 2 Rom. xi. 1-6.

3 Rom, iv. 16.

Art. vii.

'although they were not named Christian men, yet 'it was a Christian faith that they had; for they 'looked for all benefits of God the Father, through 'the merits of his Son Jesus Christ, as we now do. "This difference is between them and us, that they 'looked when Christ should come, and we be in 'the time when he is come. Therefore saith St.

Augustine, The time is altered and changed but 'not the faith: for we have both one faith in one 'Christ. The same holy Ghost also that we have ' had they, saith St. Paul.'1

By faith must be here' (in the eleventh of He'brews) meant, not faith in Christ exclusively, 'but a species of faith, varying in different men, according to the different means afforded them of knowing and practising their duty. . . .The gen'tiles were "a law unto themselves," and their 'faith consisted in believing that a compliance with "that law was acceptable to the Deity. . . .Calvin ' acknowledges that the word faith is used in scrip'ture in various senses.' 2

This account of the faith of those who lived before Christ is totally different from that stated above in the quotation from the Homily. All those persons, however, who are mentioned in Hebrews had either immediate revelation, or traditional or written revelation, concerning the promised Saviour: but does the scripture once mention the faith of those who had no revelation of any kind? or intimate that faith consists in believing, that

4

Homily on Faith. Part. 2.

2

Note, Ref. 102, 103.

'compliance with a law was acceptable to the Deity? Or are any called believers, " to whom "the word of God did not come?" Faith, in the common use of words, must be crediting some testimony or proposition, or relying on some promise; and cannot mean the reasonings, imaginations, or conclusions of a man's own mind. Divine faith is "the belief of the truth," or of "the sure testimony of God," and relying on his faithful promises. Faith,' says Hooker, being properly and 'strictly taken, it must needs have reference to 'some uttered word as the object of belief.'2 But, without some kind or degree of revelation, what ' uttered word' has faith to rest on ? Faith," says the apostle, "comes by hearing, and hearing "by the word of God."-Calvinists, as well as other men, most readily acknowledge that the word faith is used in various senses in scripture: but believing our own reasonings or conjectures is not one of these various senses.-The case of the gentiles will require a separate discussion. The case of the fathers, before the coming of Christ, having been so clearly stated, from the scriptures and our articles and homilies, it is needless to answer the quotations adduced against us from Justin Martyr,3 Irenæus, and Tertullian;5 in which a widely different account indeed is given of it. Scarcely a hint is found in them concerning the promises of" the Seed of the woman, who should "bruise the serpent's head;" "the Seed of Abra

'Ps. xix. 7. 2 Thess. ii. 13.

'Ref. 295.

'Note, Hooker. Ref. 127.

Ref. 318, 319.

Ref. 302, 303.

"ham, in whom all the families of the earth should "be blessed;" of "Shiloh, to whom the gathering "of the people should be." No intimation is given of the Lord's revealing himself to Noah, to Abraham, or the patriarchs; of any promises or commands given to them; or any miraculous interpositions in their favour. The accepted sacrifices of Abel, and Noah, and Abraham, all typical of " the "Lamb slain from the foundation of the world," are passed over in profound silence. Even the institution of circumcision," the seal of the righ"teousness of faith," to Abraham and his seed, is wholly unnoticed. All contained in St. Paul's epistles, and in other parts of the New Testament, on these subjects, is overlooked in the same unaccountable manner. It is not intimated concerning Abraham even that " he saw the day of Christ, and was glad :" or that "prophets and kings had "desired to see the days which the disciples of Jesus

saw, and to hear the things which they heard, "but had not heard them."1 Could it be. supposed that the writers had ever seen or read, either the book of Genesis, or the New Testament? The quotations then are made, not against Calvinists, but against the scriptures; against the articles and homilies of our church; and against his Lordship's own statement of justification. Now such methods of refuting Calvinism in that large sense, in which his Lordship attempts it, will tend eventually to prove, that it cannot be done without losing sight both of the Bible and the Prayer Book.

'Luke x. 24. John viii. 56. 1 Pet. i. 10-12.