JUSTIFICATION OF THE SINNER BEFORE GOD. (A Discourse delivered by Dr. Tafel before the Brethren of the New Church in Germany, at their General Meeting held at Stutgard, December 27th, 1850. Translated from the German by the Editor.) 66 (Concluded from page 289.) BUT if it is Faith which opens heaven to man, and if it is the simple acknowledgment and confession of Him as declared by Peter in Matt. xvi., upon which the Lord builds His church, it becomes a matter of the greatest importance to answer the following questions: What is Faith in its origin? Whence does it come? and where is its seat in the human mind? These are questions in respect to which the old creeds and confessions of the Evangelical Church give various answers. For the Latin text of the Apology of the Augsburgh Confession says, at p. 68: The Faith which justifies is not only a knowledge of the history of Christ, but a belief in the promise, in which, without any merit on our part, for the sake of Christ, the forgiveness of sins and justification are offered to us." Whereas the German text says on the contrary:- "The Faith that makes us pious and righteous before God, does not alone consist in this, that I know the history of Christ; that is, when He was born, when He suffered, &c. (for all this the devils also know); but Faith consists in the certainty, or it is a heart-felt confidence, that I with my entire heart hold the promise of God as certain and true, by which, without any merit on my part, forgiveness of sins, grace, and all salvation are offered through the Mediator Christ." In the Latin text, therefore, Faith is described as an assent of the understanding; but in the German text, it is represented as a heart-felt confidence. But this confidence is only then effective and capable of bringing forth good fruits, when it is not rooted in self-love, but when it is grounded in a heart void of selfish affections, and consequently, in pure and disinterested love. But in this case faith cannot, as the "Apology" teaches, be placed before love, much less can it be placed in opposition to love and its works. For in this case it is a faith which merely affects the understanding, and also a merely fallacious confidence which does not truly affect the heart. Whereas we must here agree with Swedenborg, who, as the herald of the New Church, says in his "True Christian Religion," &c. :-"That the universal principle of faith on the part of man is that he should believe on the Lord; for by "believing on Him, he hath conjunction with Him, and by conjunction, "salvation. To believe on Him is to have confidence that He will 66 66 6 save, and because none can have such confidence but he who leadeth a "good life, therefore this is also implied by believing on Him. To "this purpose the Lord testified in John- This is the will of the Father, that every one that believeth on the Son may have ever'lasting life,' vi. 46; and in another place; He that believeth on "the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son "shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth on him.' iii. 36.”— (T. C. R. 2.) 66 6 66 : In like manner in the "Arcana Coelestia," where we read as follows:"The understanding is that which proceeds from the will, and which "manifests the will in a certain visible form; in like manner faith I proceeds from charity, and manifests charity in a sort of form. Hence “it is evident that the external of the will is the understanding, and "that the external of charity is faith; or what is the same thing, the “internal of the understanding is the will, and the internal of faith is charity. Wherefore to advance from an external principle to principles more interior, is to advance from faith in the understanding to "faith in the will; consequently from faith to charity. * * It is "to be observed that by faith, when it is distinguished from charity, is "meant truth, such as is the truth of doctrine, or such as it is in the "Confession of Truth, which is called the Apostle's Creed, and this according to the sense in which it is commonly understood in the "church. For to have faith in truths is believed to be that faith which saves; there are few that know that faith is trust and confidence, and 66 among those few still only few who know that trust or confidence is "derived from charity, and that it cannot have place with any one who "doth not live the life of charity."-A. C. 3868. 66 66 66 Again" Faith in the understanding hath little of power to be confided, inasmuch as truth, which is an object of faith, derives its "power from good which belongs to charity." In this sense John also says:-"Whosoever believeth that Jesus is "the Christ is born of God; and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we "love the children of God, when we love God and keep His command"ments; for His commandments are not grievous; for whatsoever is "born of God overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is it that "overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of "God?" (1 John v. 1-5.) Again,-" We know that whosoever is "born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth "himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not." (v. 18.) Hence it is that we receive, through faith rooted in love, power to become the children of God, according to what is said in John,-“ As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of “God, even to them that believe in His name, who are born of God." (i. 12.) But it depends upon our continuance in obedience, whether we retain this faith, and abide in Him, who is "its Author and Finisher," as the branch abides in the vine, (John xv. 4.) and thus employ the power received from Him; for only he that shall endure to the end shall be saved; (Matt. xxiv. 13; Mark xiii. 13.) and only to him that overcometh, and who keepeth the Lord's works unto the end (Rev. ii. 16.) does the Lord promise all the felicities of heaven. (Rev. ii. 7, 11, 17, 26; iii. 5, 12, 21.) God will declare no one as just, whose faith does not continue and grow unto the end, and is active through love, bringing forth fruits worthy of God. For the Lord himself declares that "a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit; for every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire." (Matt. vii. 18.) It is said, that faith is a germ or seed from which love and its fruits must necessarily follow. But according to the apostle-" Faith comes by hearing, or preaching, and hearing by the Word of God." (Rom. xi. 17.) The Word of God, therefore, is the seed which is sown in the earth. (Matt. xiii.) But here the quality of the earth must be considered, whether it is of such a nature that the seed of God's Word can strike deep roots in it, and whether it can receive nourishment, or whether it be devoured by the fowls of heaven, or wither, or be choked by thorns. (See Matt. xiii. 8.) Faith, therefore, is a germ which does not always grow, and when it does grow, meets with various fates, according to the quality of the ground and the circumstances and influences which operate upon it. At first it is a mere faith of the memory, which strikes but few roots, and this only when there is some suitable ground in the heart. As, however, the truths which constitute faith, are increased and aggregated together, so as to receive confirmation and strength, it becomes then an intellectual faith, or is raised from the memory into the understanding; but only in so far as these truths are practised in relation to God and the things of His kingdom, does faith strike its roots into the inmost soul of man, when love and charity come from God, and make it a truly living faith, and thereby a justifying and saving faith. It was, therefore, as contrary to the nature of the subject as it is contrary to the Scripture and its principles, when the creeds and confessions not only separated justifying faith from love and its works, but even placed them in direct opposition to one another. For faith is not appropriated to us, and it can become no germ out of which any thing good can be developed, so long as it is not rooted N. S. NO. 142.-VOL. XII. 2 P in the heart, consequently, in love; and the Scriptures nowhere place justifying and saving faith in opposition to love and the works of love, arising from the keeping of the Ten Commandments, but always unites them. Whereas the Augsburgh Confession, Art. xxiv. p. 25, teaches "that we receive grace from God by faith and not by works." And again more fully in the Apology, p. 74, where we read as follows: "Only by faith in Christ, and not by love, nor for the sake of love 'and good works do we receive forgiveness of sins, although love "follows where faith is." : In like manner in the Formula Concordia, at p. 684, we read : 66 That a poor sinful man is justified before God; that is, absolved "and delivered from all his sins, and from the judgment of well"deserved condemnation, and is adopted as a child and an heir of eternal "life without any merit or worthiness, and without any works, past, present, or future, from pure grace, solely on account of the merit and "obedience and bitter sufferings, and death, and resurrection of Christ, "whose obedience is imputed to us as righteousness." Now, here no mention is made of faith, as in the Augsburgh Confession and its Apology, but of the obedience of Christ, which is said to be imputed to us as righteousness. And no investigation is made as to what is meant by the apostle when he speaks of faith and of the works of the law; nor is any inquiry made as to the object and scope of the epistle to the Romans, but every thing is taken from its connexion, and explained according to preconceived opinions, without considering the statements of the same, and of other apostles, yea, of the Lord himself, which are of a contrary tendency. It was, therefore, with right that the Roman Catholic divines, at the Diet of Augsburgh, opposed the 4th Article of the Augsburgh Confession, by opposing to it a great number of Scripture passages, which prove, that to please God and to attain to eternal life, depends on a life of love and of good works, as Dan. iv. 24; Matt. v. 7, xxii. 37, xxv. 35; Luke vi. 35, 38, xi. 41; John v. 29; Rom. ii. 6: 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3, 8, 13; James ii. 24; 1 Pet. iv. 8. It was afterwards, with all justice, declared by those opposed to this doctrine of faith alone, that many Scripture declarations are directly in opposition to such a dogma; such as Matt. xix. 16-19; Mark x. 17; Luke x. 25-28, xviii. 18, &c., where the Lord expressly declares to the Jews, when they asked Him what they must do to inherit eternal life, that they must keep the moral law, or the Ten Commandments, and at the same time gave them to understand, that "they had the power to And all this is in perfect harmony with the teaching of the "Apostle Paul, when he says:-God will render to every man according "to his deeds, to them who by patient continuance in well doing, seek "for glory and honour, and immortality, eternal life; but unto them "that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every soul "of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile; "but glory, honour, and peace to every man that worketh good." (Rom. ii. 6-10.) Now all this, as every unbiassed mind can readily see, lies in the very nature of the subject. For as the Lord himself is essential purity, holiness and happiness; it must needs follow, that we can only become partakers of the happiness which comes from Him in proportion as we become inwardly pure and holy, through receiving and appropriating the gifts of His Spirit. Hence He himself says:-"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God;" (Matt. v. 8.) and the apostles teach the same. Thus Paul says:-" God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation, through sanctification of the spirit, and belief of the truth." (2 Thes. ii. 13.) Again:-"Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord." (Heb. xii. 14.) Wherefore, let us, beloved brethren, unremittingly strive after this object of pure and undefiled religion, and employ all diligence to make our calling and election sure; (2 Peter i. 10.) and to this end let us often read in the Word of the Lord, and meditate upon its truths. In this way we can behold ourselves every day and every hour as in a mirror, and pray to the Lord to discover to us our secret evils, and to awaken within us an abhorrence against them; and we can reject one evil after another, and thus become filled with His spirit, and with the love of every thing good from Him, and in this manner bear fruit to the glory of His holy name. LONG SERMONS. WHY will not preachers learn the universally-acknowledged truth, that long sermons are not so effective as short ones, or those of moderate length! Why will they continue to weary their hearers with tedious discourses drawn out to an hour's length or more, when the same matter condensed into a half-hour's sermon would be far more useful and impressive, as it would be certainly much more interesting! Half an hour is long enough for an ordinary discourse; and even a systematic lecture should seldom, if ever, exceed forty-five minutes. It was the rule of a |