In him is laid up for us that supplement to our nature which we shall find the need of sooner or later; and that it cannot be countervailed by any assistance from the creatures, or any improvement of our own faculties: for we were made to be happy only in God; and all our labours and hopes, while we do not thirst after our deified state,— to partake as truly of God as we do of flesh and blood, to be glorified in his nature, as we have been dishonoured in our own,—are the labours and hopes of those who utterly mistake themselves.

The divine wisdom knew what was our proper consolation, though we did not. What does more obviously present itself in the Saviour of the world than a union of man with God? A union attended with all the propriety of behaviour that we are called to as candidates of the Spirit; such as walking with God in singleness of heart, perfect self-renunciation, and a life of sufferings. A union which submitted to the necessary stages of our progress; where the divine life was hid for the most part in the secret of the soul till death; in the state of separation comforted the soul, but did not raise it above the intermediate region of Paradise; at the resurrection clothed the body with heavenly qualities and the powers of immortality; and at last raised it to the immediate presence and right hand of the Father.

Christ is not only God above us, which may keep us in awe, but cannot save; but he is Immanuel, God with us, and in us. As he is the Son of God, God must be where he is; and as he is the Son of man, he will be with mankind: the consequence of this is, that in the future age "the tabernacle of God will be with men," and he will show them his glory; and at present he will dwell in their hearts by faith in his Son.-Sermons, vol. ii, pp. 533, 534.

SECTION III.

His Righteousness.

His divine righteousness belongs to his divine nature, as he is O wv, He that existeth" over all, God blessed for ever;" the Supreme, the Eternal; "equal with the Father, as touching his Godhead, though inferior to the Father as touching his manhood." Now this his eternal, essential, immutable holiness; his infinite justice, mercy, and truth; in all which He and the Father are one.

But I do not apprehend that the divine righteousness of Christ is immediately concerned in the present question. I believe few, if any, do now contend for the imputation of this righteousness to us. Whoever believes the doctrine of imputation, understands it chiefly, if not solely, of his human righteousness.

The human righteousness of Christ belongs to him in his human nature; as he is the "Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." This is either internal or external. His internal righteousness is the image of God stamped on every power and faculty of his soul. It is a copy of his divine righteousness, so far as it can be imparted to a human spirit. It is a transcript of the divine purity, the divine justice, mercy, and truth. It includes love, reverence, resignation to his Father; humility, meekness, gentleness; love to lost mankind, and every other holy and heavenly temper; and all these in the highest degree, without any defect, or mixture of unholiness.

It was the least part of his external righteousness that he did nothing amiss; that he knew not outward sin of any kind, neither was "guile found in his mouth;" that he never spoke one improper word, nor did one improper action. Thus far it is only a negative righteousness

though such a one as never did, nor ever can, belong to any one that is born of a woman, save himself alone. But even his outward righteousness was positive too: he did all things well in every word of his tongue, in every work of his hands, he did precisely the "will of Him that sent him." In the whole course of his life he did the will of God on earth as the angels do it in heaven. All he acted and spoke was exactly right in every circumstance. The whole and every part of his obedience was complete. "He fulfilled all righteousness."

But his obedience implied more than all this: it implied not only doing, but suffering; suffering the whole will of God, from the time he came into the world, till "he bore our sins in his own body upon the tree;" yea, till having made a full atonement for them, "he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost." This is usually termed the passive righteousness of Christ; the former, his active righteousness. But as the active and passive righteousness of Christ were never in fact separated from each other, so we never need separate them at all, either in speaking or even in thinking. And it is with regard to both these conjointly that Jesus is called "The Lord our righteousness." Sermons, vol. i, pp. 170, 171.

SECTION IV.

His imputed Righteousness.

Look through all the world, and all the men therein are either believers or unbelievers. The first thing, then, which admits of no dispute among reasonable men, is this: To all believers the righteousness of Christ is imputed; to unbelievers it is not.

But when is it imputed? When they believe in that very hour the righteousness of Christ is theirs. It is imputed to every one that believes, as soon as he believes:

faith and the righteousness of Christ are inseparable. For if he believes according to Scripture, he believes in the righteousness of Christ. There is no true faith, that is, justifying faith, which hath not the righteousness of Christ for its object.

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But in what sense is this righteousness imputed to believers? In this: all believers are forgiven and accepted, not for the sake of any thing in them, or of any thing that ever was, that is, or ever can be done by them, but wholly and solely for the sake of what Christ hath done and suffered for them. I say again, not for the sake of any thing in them, or done by them, of their own righteousness or works: "Not for works of righteousness which we have done, but of his own mercy he saved us." By grace ye are saved, through faith,-not of works, lest any man should boast;" but wholly and solely for the sake of what Christ hath done and suffered for us. We are "justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ." And this is not only the means of our obtaining the favour of God, but of our continuing therein. It is thus we come to God at first; it is by the same we come unto him ever after. We walk in one and the same new and living way till our spirit returns to God.

But perhaps some will object, "Nay, but you affirm that faith is imputed to us for righteousness." St. Paul affirms this over and over; therefore I affirm it too. Faith is imputed for righteousness to every believer; namely, faith in the righteousness of Christ; but this is exactly the same thing which has been said before; for by that expression I mean neither more nor less than that we are justified by faith, not by works; or that every believer is forgiven and accepted merely for the sake of what Christ has done and suffered.

But is not a believer invested or clothed with the righteousness of Christ? Undoubtedly he is. And accord

ingly the words above recited are the language of every believing heart:

"Jesus, thy blood and righteousness

My beauty are, my glorious dress."

That is, for the sake of thy active and passive righteousness I am forgiven and accepted of God.

But must not we put off the filthy rags of our own righteousness before we can put on the spotless righteousness of Christ? Certainly we must; that is, in plain terms, we must repent before we can believe the gospel. We must be cut off from dependance upon ourselves before we can truly depend upon Christ. We must cast away all confidence in our own righteousness, or we cannot have a true confidence in His. Till we are delivered from trusting in any thing that we do, we cannot thoroughly trust in what he has done and suffered. First, we receive the sentence of death in ourselves; then we trust in Him that lived and died for us.

But do not you believe in inherent righteousness? Yes, in its proper place; not as the ground of our acceptance with God, but as the fruit of it; not in the place of imputed righteousness, but as consequent upon it. That is, I believe God implants righteousness in every one to whom he has imputed it. I believe "Jesus Christ is made of God unto us sanctification," as well as "righteousness;" or, that God sanctifies, as well as justifies, all them that believe in him. They to whom the righteousness of Christ is imputed, are made righteous by the Spirit of Christ; are renewed in the image of God, "after the likeness wherein they were created, in righteousness and true holiness."

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But do not you put faith in the room of Christ, or of his righteousness? By no means: I take particular care to put each of these in its proper place. The righteousness