LETTEllS. 219 



of our primitive disobedience in the stead of man. The 

 atonement was infinite, because God's justice is infinite ; 

 and nothing but such an atonement could have saved 

 the fallen race. 



The death of Christ then takes away the stain of ori- 

 ginal sin, and gives man at least the p^^wer of attain- 

 ing eternal bliss. Still, our salvation is conditional, and 

 we have certain requisitions to comply with ere we can be 

 secure of heaven. The next question then is. What are 

 the conditions on which we are to be saved ? The word 

 of God here comes in again in elucidation of our duty ; 

 the chief point insisted upon is, that we should keep 

 God's Law contained in the Ten Commandments : but as 

 the omission or breach of one article of the two tables 

 is a crime just of as great magnitude as the original 

 sin, and entails the penalty on us as much as if we had 

 infringed the whole ; God, seeing our frailty, provided a 

 means of efi'ecting our salvation, in which nothing should 

 be required of us but reliance on his truth. God sent 

 the Saviour to bear the weight of our sins ; he, therefore, 

 requires us to believe implicitly, that through his blood 

 we shall be accepted. This is the succedaneum which 

 he imposed in lieu of the observance of the moral law. 

 Faith ! Believe, and ye shall be saved. — He requii^es 

 from us to throw ourselves upon the Redeemer, to look 

 for acceptance through him alone, to regard ourselves as 

 depraved, debased, fallen creatures, who can do nothing 

 worthy in his sight, and who only hope for mercy through 

 the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Faith is the founda- 

 tion stone : Faith is the superstructure ; Faith is all 

 in all. — " By Faith are ye saved ; by Faith are ye 

 justified." 



How easy, my dear Neville, are the conditions God 

 imposes upon us ! He only commands us to feel the tie 

 of common gratitude, to trust in the mediation of his Son, 

 and all shall be forgiven us. And shall our pride, our 

 deluded imaginations, our false philosophy, interfere to 

 blind our eyes to the beauties of so benevolent, so benign 

 a system! — Or shall earthly pleasures engross all our 

 thoughts, nor leave space for a care for oui souls ! — God 



