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and performed the obedience.-The fufferings of the holy Jefus, those dreadful fufferings of the Son of God and Lord of glory, confidered in connection with his confummate obedience to the preceptive part of the law, which, for the fuperexcellency of it, is called THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GODthefe, including all that the righteous but broken law requires, being accepted by the Judge and imputed to finners, are the united caufe and the only ground of their full difcharge. This-let me indulge the pleafing idea, and repeat the precious truth-this, without any addition, of any fort whatever, is that work for the fake of which the wretched finner is pronounced juft and adjudged to life, by Him who is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity. By this obedience the law is honoured, and eternal juftice completely fatisfied. Jehovah declares himfelf well pleafed with it, and treats as his children all thofe that are found in it.

That we are not juftified by a perfonal, but by an imputed righteoufnefs, appears from the fcripture with fuperior evidence. There the doctrine is taught in the plainest terms; there the important truth is fet in the ftrongest light. It was in this way, that Jehovah juftified the Father of the faithful; to the confideration of which notable example of divine grace and free acceptance, Paul referred his Jewish brethren for their conviction, and for the inftruction of all who fhould at any time enquire after the methods of grace.-Abraham was the renowned progenitor of the Ifraelitifh nation; and he was honoured with that exalted character, THE FRIEND OF GOD. His refignation and faith, his obedience and piety, ftand on everlasting record. Few, among all the faints, ever manifefted fo cheer

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ful a fubmiffion to the divine will, or fo unreferved a confidence in the divine promife. No fooner did the true God fignify his will to Abraham, that he fhould leave his native country and his father's houfe, than he obeyed; and went out, not knowing

bither he went.* No fooner did the Great Poffeffor of heaven and earth intimate his fovereign pleafure, that he should facrifice his only fon, his Ifaac, whom he loved, than he readily fubmitted; though the heavenly mandate was quite unprece dented, and the thought of performing it enough, one would think, to aftonifh and confound him. Yet thefe acts of obedience, though highly pleafing to God, and fuch as will be had in everlasting remembrance, were neither the caufe, nor the condi tion, of his juftification. They, indeed, afforded' the nobleft teftimony that his faith was genuine," and his piety real; and, in that fenfe, he was jufti fied, or declared righteous, by his works. But they were far from being placed to his account in the article of divine acceptance. For if Abraham werë juftified by his own works, though amazingly great, and in one inftance quite unparalleled; he hath whereof to glory, in comparison with others, who come far fhort of that elevated pitch of obedience® to which he arrived. But though he might, on that fuppofition, have gloried before his fellowcreatures, yet not before God. For what faith the feripture? Abraham believed the promife of God, concerning the Meffiah and the work to be accomplifhed by him, and it was counted unto him for righteoufnefs. Nor was the method of divine proceeding, in the juftification of this illuftrious pa

*Gen. xii. 1. Heb. xi. 8.
James ii, 21-25.

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triarch, any way fingular. In this refpect he had no exclufive privilege. For it is added, Now it was Hot written, in the ancient fcriptures, for his fake alone, that it, the work of a dying and rifing Redeemer, was imputed to him; but for us alfo, whether Jews or Gentiles, to whom it shall be imputed,. if we believe on Him that raifed up Jefus our Lord from the dead. For they which be of faith, are bleffed. with faithful Abraham*.-Now if a perfon of fuch victorious faith, exalted piety, and amazing obedi ence as he was, did not obtain acceptance with God on account of his own duties, but by an imputed righteoufnefs; who fhall pretend to an intereft inthe heavenly bleffing, in virtue of his own fincere. endeavours, or pious performances ?-performances, not fit to be named, in comparison with those. that adorned the conduct and character of JEHOVAH'S FRIEND.

The apoftle having fhown in what way the Fa ther of the chofen tribes was juftified before the King immortal; and having intimated, that the patriarch was confidered as an ungodly perfon, as one who had no good works, when the Lord imputed righteoufnefs to him, in order to his final acceptance; to illuftrate and confirm the momentous truth, he prefents his reader with a defcription that David gives of the truly bleffed man. And how

does the royal Pfalmift defcribe him? To what does he attribute his acceptance with God? to an inherent, or to an imputed righteoufnefs? Does he reprefent him as attaining the happy state, and as enjoying the precious privilege, in confequence of performing fincere obedience, and of keeping

*Rom. iv. 2, 3, 22, 23, 24. Gal. iii. 6, 7, 8, 9.

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the law to the best of his power? No fuch thing. His words are, Bleffed are they whofe iniquities are forgiven, and whofe fins are covered. Bleed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute fin.-The bleffed man is here described as one who is, in himfelf, a polluted creature, and a guilty criminal. As one who, before grace made the difference, was on a level with the rest of mankind; equally unworthy, and equally wretched: and the facred penman informs us, that all his bleffednefs arifes from an imputed righteoufnefs. For what else can be intended by thofe remarkable words, with which he introduces the evangelical declaration? Even as David defcribeth the blefedness of the man-what man? Why he to whom the Lord imputeth righteoufnefs without works. The righteoufnefs here intended, cannot be understood of a perfon's own obedience; because it is exprefsly faid to be without works. His own virtues and duties, however excellent, contribute nothing toward it. No; it is perfect in itself, and entirely detached from every thing which he either has done, or can do.-The phrafeology of the infpired writer is very remarkable. He does not only fpeak of bleffednefs, as the result of an imputed righteousness; but he defcribes the obedience which is thus applied to the finner, as being without works. This he does, more ftrongly to affert the truth he defends, and more effectually to secure the honour of grace. Righte oufness imputed righteousness without the law: righteoufnefs without works. Such was the language. of Paul; fuch was the doctrine that he preached; and fuch was the faith of the primitive church. Now, alas, the phrases are cashiered as obsolete,

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and are become offenfive; fo offen five, that their frequent ufe is confidered, by the generality of thofe who call themselves chriftians, as a certain indication of an enthusiastic turn of mind. And, as the language is difapproved by multitudes in the prefent age; fo the fentiment expreffed by it is dif carded with contempt, as offering an infult to com-" mon fenfe. But, however much the doctrine of imputed righteoufnefs may be defpifed as abfurd, or abhorred as licentious, by any of our modern profeffors; it is evident that the great apoftle confidered it as intimately connected with the happinefs of mankind, and esteemed the bleffing as the only folid basis of all our hope, and of all our comfort.

Having feen what Paul fays concerning the juf tification of Abraham, and the application he makes of that description which David gives of the blef fed man; let us now confider, what was the foundation of his own hope of eternal felicity, and on what righteoufnefs he relied. Of these particulars the infallible teacher informs us in the following paffage: Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but lofs, for the excellency of the knowledge of Chrift Jefus my Lord. For whom I have fuffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Chrift, and be found in Him; not having mine own righte oufnefs, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Chrift, the righteousness which is of God by faith. In this context the apoftle relates his own experience. In thefe words he declares what was the frame of his mind, and what were his views with regard to the doctrine of justification. Here he prefents himself as a guide

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