The Portland daily press., 1874-09-28

such a life is exhibited in the character Of il
lustrious and worthy men among the Gentiles
before the Christian era, or more completely
because based upon an express revelation, by
the Jewlsh patrlarehS aud prophets, but life
begotten, directed and wholly fashioned by a
faith, whose object is person. The life that
l now live in the flesh l live In or by faith,
namely, that of the Son of God. A new light
had burst forth upon the world
Nayi He who is and has ever been the lioht
Of the world had now become incarnate amongst
men,-had personally appeared as the worlds
illumination. The only begotten Son of God
had manifested himself to men as the Way,
the Truth, the Life Faith, therefore. which
before grope1 with uncertain step and little
light amidst the conceptions of the inner con-
seriousness or the phenomena of the outer world
for its true object, now discerned and planted
itself at once upon the Rock of Ages. The
were explained and goriously fulfilled ia the
advent and incarnation of the Son of God in
the person of Jesus Christ, and thus henceforth.
whether for Jews or Gentiles, faith, to be a
true and worthy faith, must be Christian
faith.
1 will not pause to further justify this faith,
or in other words to review those facts and
circumstances whereby it is established that
Jesus Christ is what He claims to be, and
wherein the Christian faith and the Christian
church are built. We know what st. Paul
once was-the bltterest enemy and prosecutor of
the name and cause of Christ and we know
what he subsequently became, though il cost
him the loss of all that the world holds dea Arrest.
-one who could say of himself in the fullest
sense, 1.-THE life that l nOD live in the flesh L
live by the faith of the Son of God" There
was proof enough to convince and transform
such man, and there is enough to convince
any who will open their hearts to receive the
blessed truth of the Gospel.
III. But there is none other than the GREAT
central fact of the Gospel, namely, the love of
God towards men in giving His only berotten
Son for their sake, and the love of Christ in
offering Himself a ransom for their sins, that
could or can beget such a life as that of st.
Paul. The life that | now live in the flesh I
live by the faith of the Son of God. aoho loyed
me and gaze himself for me- Here was the
great copstraining, prevailing motive. The Son
of God thus humbled himself, thus suffered
thus dled, because he loved me, chiefest of
sinners though am. 1t was the love of Christ
thus conceived of as manifesting itself in the
extreme of self-sacrifice for mans salvation,
and thus realized as stretching forth its al
mighty arm for his own individual salvation
that constrained and compelled st. Paul, and
that has constrained and compelled every other
Christian saint and martyr to devote himself
soul and body, living sacrifice to Christ The
sacrifice and death of Christ are the springs of
that life which is ''hid with Christ in God"
And such they cannot but be to every one
whose faith has grasped their import and their
motive.
Is our life in the flesh that which is begotten
and sustained by such a faith? If it is, the
fact cannot but be as manifest. as that the
covetous man is seeking money, or the amb-
tlous man place or fame, and our claim to that
effect can be justified as ST. Paul could Justify
such declaration respecting himself. That
we are named with the name of Christ, are
enrolled amongst His followers, and profess
allegiance to Him the church records can show
But there is another record kept on high.
wherein is exhibited what master we are serv-
ing, what is our supreme object of desire and
affection, what is is the life we are actively
living, and by that record we shall be judged.