soever."

"Whosoever believeth on the

Son shall not perish, but have everlasting life." And what is it to believe on Christ? It is to rest on him for salvation independently of all human merit or demerit, and totally irrespective, said a great man of the present day, of all human performances, whether antecedaneous, concomitant, or subsequent.

Our adorable Lord said to one of his beloved and called ones" I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth on me shall never die. Believest thou this?" He asked Martha whether she believed the truth of this, or not; and if she answered in the affirmative, she could not, with any propriety, call her own interest in this great salvation into question, because she must be amongst the number-the whomsoever. He that

* John 11.

believeth in me, though he were dead. dead in trespasses and sins, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. It is probable that this also means whosoever liveth, or is a partaker of a new and spiritual life in regeneration, and lives a life of faith on the Son of God, continuing in the exercise of faith, shall never perish, nor fall into that spiritual decay which many do who live on their frames, on their experience, and on their feelings; and, like the fool, "fold their hands together, and eat their own flesh."* Martha, though cumbered with many things, was right in this point, and bore an honourable testimony to the truth. The Lord said to Eliphaz, the Temanite-" My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath." That great saint was wrong in many parti

Eccles. 4.

culars, but this was the honourable testiof the Lord himself, that he had spomony ken of him the thing that was right; and so did Martha, notwithstanding all her unbecoming cares. She answered-" Yes, Lord; I believe this-I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God, which should come into the world."

All have not the same clear view of Christ; but the brazen serpent in the wilderness was an effectual remedy to the stung Israelite who looked at it, though the faculty of seeing had been ever so weak: "So the weakest faith, if genuine, is as saving as the strongest, because its object is the same." MEwen on the Types.

But there are many who think they have not felt a sufficient degree of remorse for sins committed by them, nor yet that broken heart which they read of; but as all have not the same clear views of Christ, so all have not the same clear view of sin-" It

D

believeth in me, though he were dead. dead in trespasses and sins, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, shall never die. It is probable that this also means whosoever liveth, or is a partaker of a new and spiritual life in regeneration, and lives a life of faith on the Son of God, continuing in the exercise of faith, shall never perish, nor fall into that spiritual decay which many do who live on their frames, on their experience, and on their feelings; and, like the fool, "fold their hands together, and eat their own flesh."* Martha, though cumbered with many things, was right in this point, and bore an honourable testimony to the truth. The Lord said to Eliphaz, the Temanite-" My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath." That great saint was wrong in many parti

* Eccles. 4.

culars, but this was the honourable testimony of the Lord himself, that he had spoken of him the thing that was right; and so did Martha, notwithstanding all her unbecoming cares. She answered-" Yes, Lord; I believe this-I believe that thou art the Christ the Son of God, which should come into the world."

All have not the same clear view of Christ; but the brazen serpent in the wilderness was an effectual remedy to the stung Israelite who looked at it, though the faculty of seeing had been ever so weak: "So the weakest faith, if genuine, is as saving as the strongest, because its object is the same." M'Ewen on the Types.

But there are many who think they have not felt a sufficient degree of remorse for sins committed by them, nor yet that broken heart which they read of; but as all have not the same clear views of Christ, so all have not the same clear view of sin-" It

D

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