Those who submit to be saved by grace through faith, and condescend to accept eternal life as the gift of God. The sinner, hearing the glad message of reconciliation, relies upon it, as the word of Him, who cannot lie; renounces all other grounds of dependence; confides in the promises given to him through Jesus Christ; and thus gradually finds his guilty fears and doubts removed. With the heart he believeth unto righteousness; and believing, he rejoiceth with joy unspeakable, and full of glory. There is yet one further particular to be noticed.

5. The righteousness of God was witnessed by the law and the prophets.

This method of justifying the sinner was no new discovery. It was now manifested. By the preaching of the Gospel, the knowledge of it was more clearly revealed, and more widely diffused. But, from the first intimation of mercy, the way of reconciliation between God and the sinner had ever continued the same. The original promise of the seed of the woman which should, bruise the serpent's head, virtually comprehended the substance of that doctrine which the apostle in this passage so fully unfolds. Abraham believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness*. The rites and sacrifices of the ceremonial law represented and

*Gen. xv. 6.

prefigured the same method of justification. The offerers, by typically transferring their guilt upon the innocent victims, were taught to look for remission and acceptance by faith in the blood of that Lamb of God, who should take away the sin of the world. Every additional disclosure of the spirituality, the extent, and the aweful sanctions of the moral law, bore testimony to the righteousness of God which is by faith, by confirming the impossibility of a sinner's being justified by the works of the law. The prophets testified the same truth. To Christ give all the prophets witness, that through his name, whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins*. When Isaiah declares, In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel he justified and shall glory: By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many: When Jeremiah, speaking of the righteous Branch, whom the Lord should raise up to the house of David, adds, And this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our Righteousness: When the prophet Habakkuk asserts, that The just shall live by his faith: In these, and numerous other passages, which might be adduced, they bear witness to that method of justification, which is revealed in the Gospel from faith to faith; which no

* Acts, x. 43.

+ Isaiah, xlv. 25. liii. 11. Jer. xxiii. 6. Hab. ii. 4.

longer enveloped beneath typical representations and obscure predictions, is written in characters so plain, that he may run, which readeth it: Justification by faith only, through the mercies of God and the merits of our great Redeemer.

Such, my brethren, is the righteousness of God. Such is the method, which infinite wisdom has revealed for the Justification of a sinner; a method, at once so reasonable and excellent in itself, so conducive to the glory of God, so accommodated to the necessities of man, that it challenges universal acceptation, and leaves the sinner, who rejects it, without excuse.

But does it meet with that universal acceptation to which it is entitled? Is this doctrine received, embraced, valued, in a manner proportionate to its great importance? What is the case with ourselves? Have we fled for refuge to lay hold of this hope set before us? Under a deep conviction of our vileness, our apostacy, and our guilt, have we abandoned every idea of justifying ourselves, in the whole or in part, by our obedience to the divine law? Are we looking with a single eye, and with an humble affiance unto Jesus, that he may deliver us from the wrath to come? Are his sufferings and obedience the one foundation, on which all our hopes of pardon and acceptance are fixed? In a word, with the apostle,

D

do we count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord; and are we desirous only that we may win Christ and be found in him, not having our righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith?*

These are questions highly offensive to our natural pride; to that self-justifying spirit which is inherent in fallen man; which ever prompts him to turn away with disgust from the humbling doctrines of grace, and urges him to the presumptuous attempt of establishing his own righteousness. But they are questions, to which we must satisfactorily reply, before any Scriptural hopes can be entertained, that we have as yet even entered on the way of salvation. A cordial acceptance of the free gift of Justification, is the commencement of true religion in the soul. For what is true religion? It is communion with God. It is confidence in his paternal love. It is delight in his ordinances. It is admiration of his great perfections. But these things cannot exist together with an unhumbled heart. Till the sinner submits himself unto the righ teousness of God, the breach which sin has made remains unclosed. The wrath of God

* Phil. iii. 8, 9.

abideth on him. What communion, then, can he have with the Almighty? With what confidence can he look up to God as a reconciled father? What delight can he experience in religious ordinances? With what admiration can he contemplate the divine perfections? Can he glorify that holiness, which he refuses to acknowledge? Can he adore that mercy, which he disdains to accept? He may form to himself some notions of religion. He may presume to stand before God on his own merits. He may think to conciliate the favour of Heaven by services of his own invention. But such sacrifices are an abomination to the Lord. So long as the sinner forbears to come in the appointed way, in self-renunciation, in humble acceptance of the proffered mercy through faith in the crucified Redeemer; the Lord will not respect his offering.

Suffer me, then, my brethren, to be urgent with you on this point. Does God propose to invest you with so great a gift, the gift of righteousness, and can you decline his grace? Does he freely offer to blot out all your iniquities; to reconcile you to himself; to give you a name and a place among his children; and will you reject his offer? Reflect on the madness of such a conduct. Reflect on your utter need of the blessing, which you thought