others left, that they were still to sleep on in eternal unconsciousness. But such was not the fact. He had been a teacher, professing to have been sent by God. In the name of God he had commanded men to repent, he had given them a perfect rule of life, and in himself a perfect model of humanity. He had promised immortality to his followers, and taught that man is immortal. "I am the resurrection and the life," he had said. "Whosoever liveth and believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live." The resurrection of Christ, under these circumstances, was not an isolated fact. It had a bearing on all he had taught. It was a seal, that all he had taught in the name of God was true, for God would not have raised an impostor from the dead, nor by raising Christ given sanction to doctrines which were not true. Christ himself expressed the bearing of his resurrection upon his mission in one of his interviews with his disciples after that event. "And he said unto them, thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead. the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached, in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem, and ye are witnesses of these things." Accordingly, the first thing the Apostles did, was to bear witness to his resurrection; and they founded on this fact his claim to the faith and obedience of the world. Peter, in his speech to Cornelius and his friends, states the authority upon which he comes to preach to him the Gospel; and it is, that God had raised Christ, in whose name he preached, from the dead. "Him hath God raised up, and showed him

openly, not unto all the people, but unto witnesses, chosen before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is he, which is ordained to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that, through his name, whosoever believeth in him, shall receive remission of sins."

I trust it is unnecessary to make any further quotations from the Scriptures, to show that the belief which is represented in the New Testament to have been cherished in Christ, and to have been sufficient for salvation, had nothing at all to do with his nature. It embraced only his official relations to God and to men, and his official relation was proved by his resurrection, according to the words of the Apostle Peter. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." His resurrection is the foundation of our hope, because it confirmed his promises to his followers. Faith in him is faith in God through him. "He that believeth in me, believeth not in me, but on him who hath sent me." He believes that God will do all things which he has promised through Christ; as it is expressed by Peter in another part of the same epistle, from which we have just quoted: "Who by him do believe in God, who raised him from the dead, and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God." Such are the uniform declarations of Scripture, and such is the meaning of that passage which I quoted at

the commencement of this lecture. "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." Such, then, was and is a saving faith in Christ. I shall proceed to show that this agrees with facts and the nature of the case. The spiritual salvation of Christians may be illustrated by the temporal salvation which the first believers experienced through Christ. Jesus warned his followers that Jerusalem was soon to be destroyed, and charged them as soon as they should see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, they should flee to the mountains, and were not to turn back and take their clothes. All who believed in Christ did so, and ecclesiastical historians tell us that when Jerusalem was taken there was not a single Christian within its walls. They all fled to a small town by the name of Pella, beyond the Jordan, where the Jerusalem Church flourished for many ages. They were saved by their faith, not the believing Christ to be this or that by nature, but by believing that he was inspired to foretell the truth. And no matter if they had thought him to be Jehovah himself, their faith would have profited them nothing, unless it had induced them to do what he had commanded.

Just so it is with faith in a more enlarged, spiritual sense. Men can be saved by faith, only so far as they are led by it to act, as far as it influences their conduct. Men can be saved by faith in Christ only so far as it leads them to do his commandments. No matter if a man believes that Jesus of Nazareth was the Infinite

Jehovah, if he does nothing in consequence of that faith, it cannot save him. No matter if he believes in an infinite atonement, made by an infinite being, his sins cannot be forgiven, unless he repents and forsakes them. A man can be saved from sin by Christ, only so far as he is persuaded by him to abandon sin. And he who is led to abandon sin, and lead a holy and religious life by his faith in Christ, has a saving faith in him, whatever he may think of his nature.

The relation in which Christ stands to us and God, is that of Mediator. He comes to reconcile us to God, on the condition of repentance and obedience. Our appropriate faith in him, then, is as Mediator. And it is a sufficient faith, the only faith which corresponds to facts. If I believe in him as that God, between whom and me he mediates, I only introduce confusion into my religious ideas, without adding any authority to his message. Jesus is our Teacher, and our appropriate faith in him is as our Teacher. If we insist on believing that he is God, we add nothing to the force of his instructions, because he professes to have received his doctrines from God. We introduce confusion into our own ideas, by making him to be God, and to derive his doctrines from God at the same time. The only way in which we can be benefitted by our faith in him as a Teacher, is to be persuaded to do his commandments. We gain nothing by substituting Christ in the place of God. We displace God, and lose the Mediator. We want God in the place of God, and we want the Mediator in the place of the Mediator. Be

sides, there is no magic in any species of faith. It will produce effects according to its nature. The faith of Christians is not on the nature of Christ, for that is not a practical truth, let him be what he might; it is on what he taught; not what he is, but what they are, and may be, and must become. To have a saving faith in Christ, is not to believe him to be this or that, but to believe in the great practical truths which he taught. To believe in Christ, is to believe in God; not because he was God, but because he taught us the most glorious truths concerning God; that he is our Father, and loves us with a parent's affection; that he hears our prayers and grants our requests; that he is ready to pardon us if we are penitent, to aid us in every good endeavour. He has taught in himself what is the true end and greatness of our being. His sermon on the mount is an epitome of all human duty. And he has told us that he who heareth these sayings, and doeth them, buildeth his house upon a rock;" his hope shall never fail. If we have faith in him to do as he has commanded us, we are saved. To believe in Christ is to believe in immortality, for he taught it, and proved it by rising from the dead himself. The faith in immortality is the most ennobling that can be cherished by the human. mind. The anticipation of a resurrection from the dead, raises man from a death of sin to a life of holiness. He who believes in the divine mission of Christ, believes in retribution, for he has so taught us: "They who have done good shall rise to the resurrection of life, and they who have done evil to the resurrection of