righteousness of faith.

The great error of any who read the Bible, consists in supposing there
is but one salvation. But there are two. The _first_ is a special
salvation by belief in the promise, and the second is our eternal
salvation beyond the grave, where we shall be brought to the knowledge
of the truth involved in the promise, and to _know_ shall be life
eternal. Faith shall then be lost in certainty. Now if we disbelieve
the record will that make it false? No; our unbelief cannot alter the
fact. Let the record then be proclaimed to every creature--saying God
has promised and given you eternal life in Christ before the world
began, and calls upon all to believe it. But suppose they should all
reject it saying we do not believe one word of it, would their
_unbelief_ make the promise or record false? No. Would not then the
record prove true? It would. Then the whole world would, of course,
receive that eternal life which is promised and given them in Christ.
No, says the objector, they will not believe. But can their unbelief
make God's promise of none effect? Can it put that truth out of
existence and make it a falsehood? We would ask the objector, what
will they not believe? Answer; they will not believe that God has
given them eternal life in his Son. Very well,--then the whole amount
of the objection is that God has given them eternal life in Christ,
but they will not believe it, and because they will not believe it,
they never shall obtain it! Then we must contend (if they never obtain
it) that it was never given to them, and if not given, then the record
is false; because the record declares that God has given them eternal
life in his Son. It then follows that their unbelief can make the
faithfulness of God without effect by rendering the word, he has
given, false.