My father, the king, is your
friend. He loves you; and that love has induced him to proclaim your
liberation as a free gift. He has promised (and he cannot lie) that in
two years from this day you shall be free. This covenant, so far as
concerns its fulfillment, is unconditional. Believe, and you will be
saved, by faith in the promise, from your present fears, and
condemnation under the law.

Those stubborn prisoners see a sufficiency of evidence to believe the
promise. They exercise unshaken faith in this second covenant between
the father and son. This faith works by love in their hearts, and
purifies them from disobedience. Their souls melt in view of the love
and goodness of the king revealed to them by his son. In fine, they
love him because he first loved them. They are now saved by faith in
his promise from not only all their miseries and sorrows, but from
their disobedience, and look forward with joy to the day of
redemption. Here we perceive the "_righteousness of faith_," which far
exceeds the "_righteousness of the law_." They now delight to obey the
king because they are under the influence of love.

Here let the question be asked--are these three men to be let out of
prison at the appointed time because they believe the promise, or love
and obey the king? They are not. Their redemption depended on the
truth and faithfulness of the king's promise which he made to his son,
and that promise would have been fulfilled, even if it had not been
revealed to them till the day of their deliverance. They are not to be
set free as a reward for their _faith, love and obedience_. They have
great peace and joy in believing that promise. They are in the happy
enjoyment of a salvation by faith, and that is all the reward they
deserve, or have reason to expect. We here perceive that these three
men are made to establish the law of their king by faith in the good
news he sent them by his son, which is to them a gospel. We now see
the propriety of the apostle's language--"We conclude that a man is
justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Do we then make void
the law through faith? God forbid; yea we establish the law." We also
perceive that these three men are not to be liberated from prison
because they believe the promise, or love and obey the king. But on
the contrary it is the king's love and promise to them which sets them
free.

Let us now notice the other three prisoners. One says I do not believe
that we s