nothing but wilful ignorance could misunderstand the inevitable conclusion. And yet the case of Abraham is very far from standing alone. David likewise uttered many prophecies respecting the predicted Saviour, and the blessings of his gospel. Nor is his testimony wanting as to the method of our justification before God. "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.”* And St. Paul informs us, that this is "imputing righteousness without works." But Isaiah was perhaps inspired with the most distinct and full views of Evangelical truth; and his language on the present subject is, Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength......In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." Jeremiah too, speaking of Christ, says, This is his name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness," xxiii. 6.

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Let us now proceed with our inquiries, and see, "how man is made just with God," according to the decisions and authority of the New Testament.

Two entire Epistles, those to the Romans and to the Galatians, are chiefly written to establish our free justification by faith in Christ. St. Paul proves in the first and second chapters of his epistle to the Romans, the utter guilt of Gentiles and of Jews. He further tells us with what motive he did this; "That every mouth may be stopped, and

*Psalm xxxii. 1, 2.

Isaiah xlv. 24, 25.

+ Rom. iv. 6.

all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”*

If the God of Truth, then, is to be credited, it is wholly unscriptural to depend upon obedience to any law, wholly or in part, and whether that law be ceremonial or moral. Nay, in proportion as we understand the spiritual nature of that law, it convicts us of guilt, and proclaims to us our need of forgiveness.

The justness of this interpretation is still further confirmed by a passage in the epistle to the Galatians; "The Scripture hath concluded all under sin, (hath shut them up as in a prison,) that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our school-master to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." + Such declarations shew the absurdity and the wickedness of seeking our justification in any way except by the mercy of God in Christ, and they also expose our ignorance of the nature and design of the law.

But this point is enforced most clearly in Rom. iii. 21-24. "But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe; for there is no difference, for

all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus." A variety of expression is here used, and an almost tautologous repetition of assertion is made, which puts the question beyond all reasonable doubt. "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.”* The inference is as logical, as the soundest reasoning can make it. The only system that excludes boasting is justification by faith only for once admit any deed of the law, any human righteousness, as the ground of our acceptance with God, and we have reason for glorying in ourselves.

This Apostle expressed himself to the same effect in his epistle to the Galations: "We who are Jews "by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, know"ing that a man is not justified by the works of "the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we "have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be "justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the "works of the law: For by the works of the law "shall no flesh be justified. ii. 15, 16. "Behold, "I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, "Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify

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again to every man that is circumcised, that he "is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become "of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified "by the law: ye are fallen from grace." v. 2—4.

Rom. iii. 27, 28.

Surely, if testimony, and divine, unerring testimony, can establish any point of doctrine, it has been proved, that man is made just with God by faith only. We are accounted righteous in the sight of God, when with the heart we believe in Jesus Christ. Our justification is free, and wholly gratuitous, and undeserved by us. It is originally received by faith, and it is subsequently continued and maintained in the very same way. It is procured for us by the humanity, the obedience, and the sufferings of our all-perfect surety: and by this most stupendous contrivance, the hindrances that have been named are all removed. The holiness of God is not barely satisfied by the death of his Son: it is exalted in the eyes of all in heaven and in earth, according to that prophecy in Isaiah: "The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness' sake: he will magnify the law and make it honourable." xlii. 21. The Lawgiver himself obeys his own precepts, and, when broken, endures their curse: and thus, in a manner honourable to himself and to his law and government, "redeems us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." While mercy is exercised even unto the most free and gracious and unlimited extent, justice triumphs, truth is fulfilled, and holiness displayed. Sin is pardoned, and is yet branded with infamy. Bowels of compassion, worthy of Him, whose name is love, yearn over us, and he still manifests himself to be the Holy One, and by no means clears the guilty. You here get an insight into that most glorious declaration in the Epistle to the Romans : Whom God hath set forth to be a "propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare

"his righteousness for the remission of sins that are 'past; to declare, I say, at this time his righteous"ness: (see, how earnest the Apostle is in enforcing "this truth) that he might be just, and the justifier "of him who believeth in Jesus." iii. 25, 26.

We no longer ask, in fearful suspense, "How should man be just with God?" For we can now exclaim in devout exultation: "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died; yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.'

To those of you who fully see your condemnation, these statements convey the most cheering intelligence. You have no plea of merit to offer, no righteousness of your own on which to trust: but you are commanded to "believe on him who justifieth the ungodly:" and in his cross "Mercy and truth meet together; righteousness and peace kiss each other." Every unbelieving fear is thus dissipated : the most suspicious jealousy is also calmed, and the Lord is "A just God, and (yet) a Saviour." "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost."+

These statements, strong as they are, are attempted to be set aside by the Church of Rome.

A false construction, for instance, is sometimes put on the following passage in St. James; (in reference to the case of Abraham.) "Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by