no, no," cried Freeborn, "that is deplorable doctrine: it is quite
opposed to the gospel, it is anti-Christian. We are justified by faith
only, apart from good works."

"I am in an Article lecture just now," said Charles, "and Upton told us
that we must make a distinction of _this_ kind; for instance, the Duke
of Wellington is Chancellor of the University, but, though he is as much
Chancellor as Duke, still he sits in the House of Lords as Duke, not as
Chancellor. Thus, although faith is as truly fruitful as it is faith,
yet it does not justify as being fruitful, but as being faith. Is this
what you mean?"

"Not at all," said Freeborn; "that was Melancthon's doctrine; he
explained away a cardinal truth into a mere matter of words; he made
faith a mere symbol, but this is a departure from the pure gospel: faith
is the _instrument_, not a _symbol_ of justification. It is, in truth, a
mere _apprehension_, and nothing else: the seizing and clinging which a
beggar might venture on when a king passed by. Faith is as poor as Job
in the ashes: it is like Job stripped of all pride and pomp and good
works: it is covered with filthy rags: it is without anything good: it
is, I repeat, a mere apprehension. Now you see what I mean."

"I can't believe I understand you," said Charles: "you say that to have
faith is to seize Christ's merits; and that we have them, if we will but
seize them. But surely not every one who seizes them, gains them;
because dissolute men, who never have a dream of thorough repentance or
real hatred of sin, would gladly seize and appropriate them, if they
might do so. They would like to get to heaven for nothing. Faith, then,
must be some particular _kind_ of apprehension; _what_ kind? good works
cannot be mistaken, but an 'apprehension' may. What, then, is a true
apprehension? what _is_ faith?"

"What need, my dear friend," answered Freeborn, "of knowing
metaphysically what true faith is, if we have it and enjoy it? I do not
know what bread is, but I eat it; do I wait till a chemist analyzes it?
No, I eat it, and I feel the good effects afterwards. And so let us be
content to know, not what faith _is_, but what it _does_, and enjoy our
blessedness in possessing it."

"I really don't want to introduce metaphysics," said Charles, "but I
will adopt your own image. Suppose I suspected the bread before me to
have arsenic in it, or merely to be unwholesome, would it be wonderful
if I tried to ascertain how the