sonal exertions; because he is a sinner, and the law of God condemns him to death for every transgression of it. Should he therefore ever acquire a righteousness in which he may appear blameless before his Creator, he must have it by some other means. And where is he to look for such a righteousness? Should he apply to the angels, they have none to spare; and that which they have is secured to them by infinite goodness. And to which of the saints will he turn? They have all their righteousness from God; none to communicate to others. But they can refer him, as I now direct you, to Jesus, who "is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."+ To make this righteousness known is the grand and peculiar design of the gospel: "for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, the just shall live by faith." "It is of faith," as the same Apostle assures us, "that it may be of grace." Because it is of the nature of faith, to receive all it wants as mere favor; and to bring nothing done by the believer as a recommendation to God. "Be it known unto you you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him, all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law. For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."§ Our justifying righteousness then is the righteousness of Gon, as it is called here, and elsewhere; because it is the work of "God manifest in the Gal. iii. 10. + Rom. x. 4. Rom. i. 17. and iv. 16. flesh,' "* and because it satisfies his justice to the full, and is perfectly agreeable to his will and good pleasure in all particulars. And the Holy Spirit has borne this testimony concerning it in prophecy: "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable."+ Had God repealed his law, or lowered its demands to the capabilities of fallen creatures, what should we have thought of the law in such a case; and where would have been its honours? But God has rather chosen: (0 the unsearchable riches of his wisdom and grace!) to send his only Son in our flesh, to fulfil the law, and to bear its curse; to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness and by this plan he has given eternal stability to his righteous law, stamped its awful sanction with terrible majesty, and shed a glory upon it, which the perfect obedience of all his creatures must have failed to reach. Observe therefore, that when you believe in Jesus, his righteousness, which is the righteousness of God, becomes yours; for it is imputed to you for your particular justification. "Being justified by faith you have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." The righteousness of Christ has perfectly satisfied the divine justice; and there is good reason why it should satisfy the conscience of every believer. You may say to me, explain this to us more particularly. I shall therefore endeavour to do this according to the Scriptures, and with plainness of speech, that you may understand, and not incur the danger of those, who mistake the foun * 1 Tim. iii. 16. † Isa xlii. 21. Dan. ix. 24. § Rom. v. 1. dation of Christian hope. I consider the whole life of Christ on earth, so far as he was man, and in a moral point of view, as vicarious; that is, as being in the place of those whom he represented. His spotless human nature, his blameless conversation in fulfilling every moral precept, and terminating with an accursed death, in which "he bare the sins of many, and put them away by the sacrifice of himself;"*-all this I consider as constituting that "righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, unto all and upon all them that believe;"+-that " obedience of one, by which many are made righteous." We may distinguish between the purity of his nature, and the holiness of his life, his active, and his passive obedience, that our views of the riches of his grace, and his transcendent excellencies may be enlarged: yet these are parts of one entire whole, forming that all-perfect righteousness, by which alone we are justified before God. And though the atonement, or propitiation for our sins by his death, be often mentioned separately, the imputation of righteousness is invariably implied. Of this we have a striking proof in the use which the Apostle makes of the following quotation from the thirty-second Psalm: "Blessed are they, whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." We might suppose that the Apostle meant only to prove, that every believer is blessed with the forgiveness of his sins through the propitiation which Christ has made. But he declares that David here "describeth the blessedness of the man to whom God imputeth righteousness without works."§ The *Heb, ix. 26. Rom. iii, 22. Rom, v. 19. Rom. iv.6 same Apostle asserts, that we are "justified by his blood, and, when enemies, were reconciled to God by the death of his Son,"* because the shedding of his blood, and his death were the finishing parts of that glorious work of vicarious obedience, which he had undertaken, and by these sin was for ever removed out of the way. His laying down his life was at the commandment of his Father; and consequently was a part of his righteousness. Having agreed to bear, and to answer for the sins of his people, it was a righteous thing in him to endure the penalty, or to bleed and die for them. Thus, He, who "thought it not robbery to be equal with God,-being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. "For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared; though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the Author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him."ş When this consummation approached, the scene was most astonishing and appalling. For "his soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground." The cup then set * Rom. v. 9, 10. + John x. 18. Phil. ii. 8. Heb. ii. 10. and v. 7. || Matt. xxvi. 38. Luke xxii. 44. E before him was a cup of horror dreadful beyond all conception. For it contained the wrath due to the iniquities that were laid upon him. But he drank it off, because it was his Father's will, with which his own was in perfect agreement. And, instead of that cup, he now presents all believers with one that overflows with joy and salvation, for which they ascribe "glory and dominion for ever and ever unto him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood. The same doctrine is evidently taught by our Lord, where he sets forth himself under the metaphor of food. "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. -For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed."+ By the flesh and blood of Christ we may understand the whole human nature, including; the soul, in which he fulfilled all righteousness, and closed his gracious undertaking with the atonement through his blood. Our eating and drinking are acts of faith, preceded by a hungering and thirsting after righteousness and peace, which the Holy Spirit has excited, and which Christ alone can satisfy, as the children of God can testify from their own experience. For he says, "I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst." We find in Christ inexhaustible supplies, in all particulars suited to our wants; so that there is no spiritual blessing, nor any thing we can desire, that is proper for us, but as soon as we come to Christ by faith, we obtain it. In Christ believers have righteousness and strength.§ He is the Light of the world; the resurrection, * Rev. i. 5. + John vi. 53. John vi. 35. § Isa. xlv. 24. |