THE BISHOP OF OSSORY'S ANSWER TO THE QUESTION,

"WHAT IS BELIEVING ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST?"

THERE lies before us a volume on "The Nature and Effects of Faith," by Dr. O'Brien, formerly Divinity lecturer in the University of Dublin, now Bishop of Ossory. It is described as "an attempt to explain and establish the doctrine of justification by faith." The ten Sermons comprising the body of the work, were originally designed chiefly for students, but among other merits, they are admirable for this, that they are not of a character which would unfit them for the instruction of an ordinary congregation. The accompanying notes are scholarly, and display talent and attainments of no common order. The objects of our Magazine would not be promoted by a review of the volume; and we will not be understood as endorsing all the sentiments advanced in it, when we express unfeigned gratitude that such a witness to the truth should have been raised up, at the present time, and in the Church of which the distinguished author is a prelate. We may, moreover, be allowed to express the hope of seeing an American edition of the work, and shall rejoice if the extracts which follow prove the means of directing to it the attention of some friends of evangelical truth, who can procure its republication.

The immediate object of this notice is to introduce a quotation in which the author answers the question at the head of this article-a question, surely, of unspeakable

moment, since the Ambassador of Christ replies to the demand of the awakened sinner, What must I do to be saved? "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved." What is it to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Doubtless many are saved by faith, who could give no satisfactory answer to the question; nay, who would give a very incorrect answer, if they gave any. But this would not show that correct views are of little importance to believers, either on their own account, or for the sake of those whom they seek to lead to the Saviour. There are, probably, few of us who have not suffered from vague and conflicting definitions of these apparently simple terms, which first bewildered us when we were inquiring the way of salvation, and which afterwards overclouded our enjoyment of salvation.

No individual's opportunities of observation would warrant him in speaking positively of the general practice of preachers; but we are not alone in saying that of the preachers, regarded as evangelical, to whom we have listened, a majority hesitate to commit themselves to the simple declaration of the apostle, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved," without encumbering it with conditions, or so qualifying the terms, as to leave the hearer at a loss to know whether salvation is of grace or of works. There are some indeed, who, in their anxiety to avoid everything that limits the freeness of the gospel, or obscures its terms, run into the opposite error, and speak of faith as though it were nothing more than an assent to the truth of the history of Jesus of Nazareth, or to certain propositions concerning his incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. In both of these classes of error, as Dr. O'Brien well remarks, the plain statements of the word of God are modified from a fear of the consequences to which it is supposed to lead. "Both, therefore, require,

and both equally, to be denounced as presumptuous attempts to supply safe-guards which God has seen fit to omit."

Rising far above the cold and mechanical systems which represent the faith of the gospel as a mere intellectual assent to certain facts and doctrines, we find among those whom we must recognize as earnest ministers, through whose instrumentality many souls have been led to the cross, a mode of speaking of faith, which may mislead in a way which they are very far from designing. Their aim may be to lead the sinner to a simple and undivided confidence in the Saviour of sinners; but their definitions of faith leave the living and loving object of it out of view. In their definitions, though not in their intention, belief of truth is substituted for faith in the true One. We would not assuredly undervalue the proclamation of the truth, which leads the way to faith in the true One, but it becomes us to be careful lest we place anything between the soul and Him in whom we have eternal life- careful, therefore, how we deal with the saving principle which unite us to Him, "believing on the Lord Jesus Christ," "faith in Him, in His name, and in His blood."

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The force of such expressions may find illustration in the use of similar forms in ordinary life; so that they who know what is meant by faith in a promise, know what is meant by faith in the gospel; they who know what is meant by faith in a remedy, know what is meant by faith in the blood of the Redeemer; they who know what is meant by faith in a physician, in an advocate, or in a friend, know what the Scriptures mean to express when they speak of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." But," as our author remarks, "if there be a doubt about the meaning of a word used in Scripture, the question must be ultimately determined by an appeal to Scripture itself;" and it is the result

of his examination of the use of this word in the New Testament, that we desire to submit to our readers.

"The Bible is, as you know, a book of a cast so little formal and didactic, that you can hardly expect to find there regular definitions of the terms employed in it, but must be content, for the most part, to collect their meaning from their use. Of the examination required in the present case, I can, of course, give but an outline; but it will, I hope, be defective in few points which there can be any difficulty in supplying.

When, for example, we find our Lord addressing his disciples, "Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, should He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith !” You can have no doubt, I presume, of the sense in which he employs the word faith. No one can, I suppose, question that He means by it that confidence in God's protection, which their observation of His care for the lowest part of His creation ought to imprint on the hearts of His children, who should feel that they are objects of far warmer love, and of far tenderer care. A glance at the whole passage will show that it is designed to condemn, in God's children, all that unreasonable solicitude about life and its wants, in which they are so prone to indulge; to banish a doubtful mind concerning our necessities by the recollection that our heavenly Father knoweth that we have need of these things; to dispel all vain anxieties and too curious care, not merely by the depressing reflection that they can really do nothing for us, but by the more cheerful thought that we are better than those animals which are harrassed by no such anxieties, and can exercise no such care, and for which He who is our Father, amply provides. You will see, that in the reproof which I have quoted, it is so little the purpose of the Lord to charge those to whom He speaks with igno

rance of God's providential care, or disbelief of it, that, on the contrary, the justice of His reproof of their want of faith rests chiefly on the impossibility of their being ignorant, or doubting those facts upon which confidence in God ought to be grounded.

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Again, when the wild alarm to which they all gave way at the approach of danger, draws from him the rebuke, Why are ye so fearful, O ye of little faith? or why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith? or where is your faith?" we have plain instances of a similar use of the term. The rebuke is here addressed to all the apostles; but, upon another occasion, there is recorded a touch ing reproof of one of them in particular, which furnishes a clear example of the same kind. One of the evangelists relates that upon a stormy night, when His disciples were in the midst of the sea, tossed with the waves, the Lord. was seen coming to them, walking on the sea; that wher. He drew nigh to the ship and made himself known to them, Peter entreated that he might be commanded to go down to Him on the water; and that being commanded, His ardent follower at once went down. But when he saw himself surrounded by the dangers which he had voluntarily encountered, his heart died within him. His confidence in his Lord's power and in his love, was strong enough to make him dare peril, but too weak to keep him tranquil when it came; "and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord save me! and immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him, and said unto him, O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" And to these striking instances, to fix the sense of the word, your own memory will probably add others of the same class.

Now on the other hand, look at any of those instances of faith which draw forth the Lord's gracious approbation, and analyze the state of mind which he commends. Take,