IV.

SALVATION AND SEALING.

AITH in the promise and in the person of

Jesus Christ is that which secures salvation to us; the enduement of the Holy Spirit is that which gives us power in laboring for the salvation of others. The word on which we rest for the one blessing is, "Verily, verily, I say unto you he that believeth on me hath everlasting life;" the word on which we rest for the other blessing is, "Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you." And we find in Scripture that there are two seals for attesting these two promises:

"He that hath received

is testimony hath set

to his seal that God is true." John 3: 33.

"After that ye believed ye were sealed with the

Holy Spirit of Promise." Eph. 1: 13..

Very simple and beautiful is the way of faith as described in the first of these texts. To believe

is the first

Faith simply

what God says concerning his Son requirement for obeying the Gospel. believes what God has declared, and accepts what he has done for us through the redemption of his Son. And here is the sharp distinction between him that believeth and him that believeth not. God has borne witness to his Son that he is the Christ. "Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?" asks John; but "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God," says the same apostle. Such is the great gulf between faith and unbelief. declared that we have life in his

Again, God has

Son and in him

alone. "And this, is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son." But says the Scripture once more, “He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son;" while on the contrary, "he that receiveth his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true,"

Now we cannot emphasize the fact too strongly, that it is faith in the Son of God and faith only by which we are saved. Feeling may act very powerfully in connection with the Spirit's work in us, but it is faith alone that can appropriate Christ's work for us. And in no way can we so honor God as by taking his promise, "He that believeth on the Son hath life," and stamping it with the signet of our faith-"That is true." Not because we have proved it or felt it, but because God has said it, is our assurance. "Said I not unto thee that if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldst see the glory of God?" asks Jesus. Our order would have been, let me first see and then I will believe. But trust is never so simple and genuine as when it is blind, and has nothing to rest on but the bare word of God. Faith and reason are like the two compartments of an hour-glass; the one can only be full when the other is empty. That is to say, faith is at its best when it has nothing of proof or reason to rest upon, but grounds its assurance absolutely in the testimony of the Lord; and it is at its least when it believes only because of clear demonstration. Whatever of evidence or emotion therefore comes in as proof, de

tracts just so much from faith's simplicity, and from our full share in the benediction, "Blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed."* Again and again the Scriptures declare that he that believeth on the Son hath eternal life hath it, that is, in germ and embryo, as one has the harvest who has the seed from which it springs. The words of Scripture are called indeed "the incorruptible seed." To receive and credit the word of God concerning his Son is therefore to receive life or regeneration. "Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever." †

Thus in the beginning it was those that "gladly received the word" that were baptized and added to the church. All this puts weighty emphasis on the duty we have been urging, of sealing God's promises with our hearty and confident amen. And we would commend a faith that even seems audacious, like that of the sturdy Covenanter, Robert Bruce, who requested as he was dying, that his finger might be placed on one of God's strong promises, as though to challenge the Judge

F

of all with it as he should enter his presence.* As we stand face to face with the Word we cannot be too bold.

There is again another sealing which is mentioned in the Scriptures, and which supplements this as a divine testimony to the fact of acceptance. "After that ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise,"† says Paul writing to the Ephesians. There are many allusions in Scripture to this transaction, and the general tenor of these references indicates that it is a special enduement of the Spirit subsequent to that regeneration of the Spirit which takes place when one believes. Such is the inference in the epistle to the Corinthians where the apostle, addressing those who have been established in the promises of God, adds, "Who hath also sealed us and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." As our faith authenticates the Lord's promise by setting to it our yea and amen, the Holy Spirit now authenticates us as the sons of God by giving to

A sublime instance of this boldness of faith is given by Dr. John Brown, in his Horae Subsecivae, of a Scotch woman who was asked on her death-bed, "What would you say if God, after all he has done, should let you drop into hell?" She replied, "E'en as He likes; but if He does He'll lose mair than I'll do."

+ Eph. 1: 13. Spirit of Promise."

"In whom having also believed ye were sealed with the Holy (Revised Version.)

2 Cor. 1: 22.