DISCOURSE XXXVIII.

BAPTIST W. NOEL, M. A.

THE Hon. and Rev. Baptist Wriothesley Noel was born in Leigthmont, Scotland, July 10, 1799; and through both his parents is connected with the flower of North Britain's nobility. After graduating with distinction at Cambridge University, and for a short time engaging in the legal profession, he became the subject of renewing grace, and, devoting himself to the ministry, was ordained a clergyman of the Established Church of England, and in 1826 became minister of St. John's Chapel, in Bedford Row, London.

For twenty-two years Mr. Noel continued the faithful and affectionate pastor of the congregation of St. John's Chapel; but in the year 1848 he seceded from the Established Church, and united with the Baptist denomination by being baptized into the fellowship of the John Street Church, London. Not long after, he came to the pastorate of this same church, which position he has since filled with eminent

success.

For several years previous to his separation from the Church of England, Mr. Noel had borne his bold and uncompromising testimony against some of the leading tractarian opinions then becoming rife, as also against certain tendencies of the times, in the established communion, which he regarded as prolific of manifold evils.

Becoming more and more convinced that a course of action consistent with his conscientious convictions demanded his secession, the step was taken at however great a sacrifice. He had been appointed Chaplain to Queen Victoria, had possessed favor in high quarters, and might have anticipated almost any position of honor and emolument; but all this he cheerfully forsook from convictions of imperative duty. The grounds of these convictions he has given at length in his two principal works, "The Union of Church and State," and an "Essay on Christian Baptism." The following, from Mr. Stevens's Letters from Europe, will give an idea of Mr. Noel's personal appearance:

"Mr. Noel is a tall but slight and very 'genteel' looking personage; he comes of an old English'noble stock,' as his title indicates, and he is here with quite a circle of titled ladies of his kindred. His features are very symmetrical, and present a really beautiful profile. He is not very clerical in his appearance, and wears light checkered pantaloons; he has light hair, light blue eyes, and, in fine, the general aspect of a good, rather than a great man. I have been much pleased with him in this respect-in committees, where, amid the petty fastidiousness and superfluous details of men who would show their business-talent more by creating difficulties than by controlling them, he was always intent on giving a practical and sensible direction to the business in hand, and had always a benign suggestion for any abrupt

outbreak of temper. Baptist Noel is one of the best and most agreeable men I have met in Paris. He appears to be not older than forty-five years."

Mr. Noel is not a man of masculine mind; he is rarely either original or profound; but his matter is always above mediocrity, and its excellence is more equally sustained than that of the great majority of other popular preachers. If he never dazzles by brilliancies, he never suffers the attention to flag by descending to common-place observations.

Dr. Tyng says of him, in his "Recollections of England:"

"He is certainly a most interesting and delightful preacher; altogether extempoporaneous; mild and persuasive in his manner, yet sufficiently impressive, and sometimes powerful, having a very clear and consistent flow of thought; decidedly evangelical in doctrine, though less deep and instructive in doctrine than I had expected. His great beauty of appearance, his soft, and gentle, and musical voice, and his dignity of manner in the pulpit, add also much to his power as a preacher. There is no cause for wonder in the popularity of such a man, so devoted, humble, and faithful, among all who love the truth of the gospel. There is no clergyman in London, I think, who has greater influence in the religious community, and certainly no one whose ministry and character unite more valuable properties and qualifications." On ordinary occasions, Mr. Noel's sermons are said to be characterized by a uniform excellence. Those who go to hear him, in the expectation of meeting with something strange or startling, will be assuredly disappointed. His eloquence is like the course of a calm river, gentle, and musical in its flow. From the moment he commences his sermon, until its conclusion, embracing usually about an hour, or an hour and a quarter, there is not the slightest impediment or interruption. And his voice is seldom raised above the pitch in which he commences; but then it is too musical, and too gently modulated, to be monotonous. His sentences are carefully constructed, and remarkably smooth. His action is slight and graceful, and such as might be supposed from a man of his disposition.

A great and distinctive feature in the preaching of the Rev. Baptist Noel, is his frequent use of scriptural quotations. These, whatever be the topic of his discourse, are most felicitously introduced, and he excels in the clear presentation of the cardinal doctrines of divine truth. It is a frequent remark, that no one could sit any great length of time under the ministry of Mr. Noel, without becoming conversant with the leading truths of the gospel. The following is as favorable a specimen of his discourses as it has been our good fortune to meet.

THE FAITH THAT SAVES THE SOUL.

"Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood."-Ro., iii. 25.

THE original cause of the justification of a sinner, is the absolute mercy of God; the meritorious cause of a sinner's justification is the obedience and the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ; and the instru mental cause of a sinner's justification is faith in that Redeemer. There is but one original cause— -which is mercy; there is but one meritorious cause-and that is redemption by Christ; and there is but one instru

mental cause-and that is faith in Christ. "Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood."

Let us look to God the Spirit, who alone can make his own word profitable, while we consider what is the nature of justifying faith, the extent to which it justifies, and the manner in which it justifies. The whole statement is very simple, but it is of great moment to every single person of this congregation. It is of the last consequence to us, that we not only know what the faith is, but have it. It is of the utmost moment to you and me, that we have this faith; and it is my object, in the simple exposition which may follow these words, to lead you, as an instrument in the hands of the great God, not only to know what justifying faith is, but to have it.

Let us think, first, what it is not: because this may enable us the more clearly to observe what it is.

The faith, of which the apostle speaks in these words, through which Christ becomes a propitiation for any individual sinner, is not a belief in the truth of the fact, that Christ is come, or that the New Testament is a divinely inspired revelation of that fact and its consequences. Because, faith in Christ is evidently trust in Christ; it is the meaning of the word. No man can pretend to have faith in Christ, and not trust Christ; just as a person could not pretend to have faith in his physician, and not trust his physician. But a person may believe in the truth that Christ is come, and may believe that the New Testament reveals that fact, its character and its consequences, and yet have no trust in Christ, and therefore not have the "faith in his blood," which is spoken of here.

It is not, further, a belief in the truth of all the principal doctrines of the gospel. This is a step beyond the last; for there are many persons that do credit the gospel to be a revelation from God, and yet know little of the doctrines it contains; nay, reject most of its doctrines. But a person may reject none of them-may admit in terms their truth, see the proofs of them in the Scripture, and maintain them all, and yet that person may have no faith in Christ. Because, Christ has come to offer salvation to us as sinners; but it is obvious that a person may credit the truth of these doctrines and not trust in Christ to save his soul. And if so, he is an unbeliever; he disbelieves that Christ has come to save his soul. He may be destitute of all trust in Christ, and yet believe the great facts of the gospel, to a certain degree and in a certain sense. And this faith is that which is possessed by fallen spirits, who know very well the great truths of the gospel, and are busily engaged in opposing them in the world. That which a man only shares with the great enemies of God and man, can not be the faith which saves.

The same remarks will apply to this further stage-the state of a person, who believes that Christ Jesus is able and willing to save others, but does not believe in Christ as about to save him. For this also he shares with fallen beings. "The devils believe and tremble" when they

think that Christ has come to save others, but has not come to save them; and this belief, instead of teaching them to love Christ, only embitters their hatred. It may do so with a sinful man, and consequently is not that trust in Christ which will save him.

And again, to believe in our own personal safety through Christ is, on the other hand, not justifying faith. Because, many an ignorant and criminal enthusiast has believed this, while his whole life was one of disobedience to God's commands, and of manifest enmity to God. To believe that we are personally safe, that we are the elect of God through Christ, that we are through Christ children of God, and the favorites of heaven, and sure of being saved, may be to believe a falsehood—a mere delusion. It may be, that the person who has this belief, is none of those things. And it is obvious that if the great enemy of souls could desire any thing respecting one of his miserable captives, he would mostly desire this; that while he is living in his sins, and posting down to destruction, he should be perfectly persuaded that he was one of God's elect, a child of God and an heir of glory through Christ; be cause, that delusion would prevent repentance, and would, more than any thing else, deepen and perpetuate his sleep of sin.

None of these things can be the justifying faith of which our text speaks. But justifying faith is—

The trust which a sinner feels in Christ, to save him from hell, as a divine Saviour, in the method he has revealed, by his atoning sacrifice, and by his sanctifying Spirit.

This is justifying faith. Let us briefly illustrate its various characteristics.

We must see that the Lord
Because, my brethren, Christ

It must be a trust in Christ to save us. Jesus Christ is able and willing to save us. is come for this purpose. It is this blessing he offers to us, as ruined sinners. He has assured you and me that he is able and willing to save us. It is the purpose for which he died-for which the Bible has been written; and to disbelieve that, would be to disbelieve one of the very principal truths that he has revealed, the principal act he came to accomplish; and would be, not faith, but unbelief. To disbelieve that, is not trust in Christ, but distrust of him; and no one can suppose that he has justifying faith in Christ while he disbelieves one of the principal things revealed concerning him. As we have seen, to disbelieve that, is to be in the condition of rebellious and apostate spirits; and that is not the trust that he will bless. On the contrary, to believe that he is willing and able to save us, notwithstanding all our guilt, in the midst of all our dangers, with the sentence of God's law pronounced against us, in the face of an obedience required which we can not pay, in the sight of a disobedience which merits eternal death-that is the trust he asks from us all. The eternal Son of God demands of every one of you, and of me, that we do individually trust him to save us.

If we

It is, in the next place, a trust in him to save us from hell. should trust Christ to save us from any thing less, this would not be to credit the great truth revealed concerning him. We do in fact deserve to perish; we are on our road to perdition, till that blessed moment when we believe on Christ; God's law condemns us, and gracious as he is, he will certainly execute the sentence of his law; from that Christ has undertaken to save us; and to disbelieve that, is, again I say, to be an unbeliever. It is not to trust him, but to want trust in him; it is not faith, but unbelief; and he who should believe any thing else of Christ, but should not believe that he is able and willing to save him from hell-from eternal wrath-from all the consequences of his transgression would not be a believer in Christ. But if we should actually perish without Christ, and he has come to save us from perishing, as his word continually declares, then we deserve it; for the Almighty could not inflict upon us that which we do not merit. Hence, to believe that Christ is able and willing to save us from hell, is to believe that we deserve it; and it implies the conviction on our parts, that we are lost without him, that there is no method of salvation but in him, that he alone stands between us and everlasting ruin, that if God gave us our desert individually, we individually should perish. This is what faith in Christ implies; and if any man denies that of himself, does not own it, questions it, puts the thought aside, does not explicitly and solemnly confess it to himself and God, he may rest assured that he has no faith in Christ. He may believe other things respecting Christ; but the great truth that he has come to save him from eternal ruin, that man rejects.

I say, again, that justifying faith is the persuasion that Christ is able and willing to save us from hell, as a divine Saviour. Because, he can not save us in any other capacity. If Christ were a mere man, his obedience and his sufferings could no more save us, than the obedience and sufferings of any martyr, like Paul, or like Bradford. Christ's obedience and sufferings would be no more rational a foundation for our hope, were he but a man, than the obedience and sufferings of other holy men; and if we were to expect to be saved by Christ as a man, instead of exercising the faith he looks for, we should be unbelievers still. For the truth is, that his love passes all knowledge, as his merit passes all knowledge, because as incarnate God he died in our stead. And hence, if we were to deny this of him, we should deny the principal truth concerning him. We may call ourselves Christians after denying it, but we have altered not one truth-as men pretend-we have altered the whole truth respecting the gospel; fundamentally altered it; changed the whole character of a sinner's trust; swept away at one fell blow all those powerful motives we have to obedience and love; sentenced man, as the consequence of that denial, to perpetual disobedience and enmity to God. And that men call altering one