the creature be, he is bound to obey his Creator, whether in a ftate of nature or grace, glory or damnation. And though perfection be not attainable in this life, yet it is the faints duty, as well as that of others, Matth. v. ult. Be ye perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. So every coming fhort of that perfection is their fin, needing to be taken away by Chrift's blood.

And thus men daily break the commands of God in thought, word, and deed; which is the only poffible way of tranfgreffing the divine law; and our doing fo in thefe refpects fhews the equity of that charge which the Lord has against every man, Beheld, thou haft done evil, as thou couldft, Jer. iii. 5.

IV, I fhall now confirm the point, That perfection is not attainable in this life.

1.1 he fcripture attefts, that there is no man without fin, 1 Kings viii. 46. For there is no man that finneth not; and that in many things we offend all, Jam. iii. 2. If any fet up for it in himfelf, the Spirit of God fays, he deceives himself, 1 John i. 8, See an unanswerable queftion, Prov, xx. 9. Who can fay, I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my fin? 2. The beft have a corrupt as well a gracious principle, making the fpiritual combat, never ending till death give the feparating ftroke, Gal. v. 17. For the flesh lufteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh and these are contrary the one to the ther; fo that ye cannot do the things that ye would.

3. We are taught always to pray for pardon, Forgive us our debts but finless creatures need no pardons. This clearly fhews, that all fin, and fo come fhort of perfect obedience.

4. Lafly, Confider the fpirituality of the law, and its extent, with human weaknefs, and you will fee this clearly. And hence it is that pertectionists are ftrangers to the fpirituality of the law: for if they rightly viewed it, they would be far

from dreaming of having attained to perfection, which never a mere man did in this life.

Object. Noah was perfect, Gen. vi. 9*. Job perfect,

In order to illuftrate the character of Noah as a righteous and perfect man, and to fhew the fignification of these epithets, it will not be improper to fubjoin the following note, taken from a manufcript work of the author's, which he left prepared for the prefs, and has been esteemed by proper judges, both at home and abroad, a work of very great learning and merit, but has not yet been printed, entitled, A new tranflation of the first twenty-three chapters of Genefis, with notes explanatory and critical, according to the principles of the Hebrew accentuation, as delivered in his treatise, entitled, Tractatus ftigmologicus Hebræo-Biblicus, printed at Amsterdam in 1738.

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Gen. vi. 9. Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations. "As for Noah; [being] a righteous man, he was found; in his generations: q. d. found; [found] in his generations. A found man is a man of integrity and godly fimplicity, wholly for God, entire in his obedience, keeping himself uncorrupted and unfpotted from the world, in which he lives. Such a man was Noah ; and fuch he was, in both the generations wherein he lived, before and after the flood. Thus his character confifts of two parts: He was a found man, and perfevered to the end in his foundnefs. And both these are traced to their common fpring-head, namely, his righteous ftate. Being righteous by faith, a juftified man; he was a found man, in true holinefs of heart and life; and a perfe pering man: Agreeable to which is that of the prophet, Hab. ii. 4. The righteous in (i. e. by) his faith, fhall live. Tzaddik, an adjective righteous, a fubftantive a righteous one, is derived from the root Tzadak, in the form Pihel (Tziddek), as appears by the Dagefch forte in it. Tzadak (Kal) is not to be reputed righ teous; that agrees not to it, chap. xxxviii. 26. nor to do righteously; that agrees not to it, Job ix. 20. Pfal. xix. 10.: but to be righteous, which agrees to it every where. Only it is to be obferved, that being righteous is fometimes understood fimply of exifting righteous, as Gen. xxxviii. 26. Pfal. xix. 1c. fometimes of appearing righteous, as Job ix. 20. xiii. 18. & xl. 3. Pfal. li. .; and this agreeable to the fcripture-ftyle in other cafes, as Mat. v. 45. That ye may be (i. e. appear to be) the children of your Father. To ftate the formal notion of righteoufnefs fignified by this root, it is to be obferved, that it is ufed of men, as Gen. xxxviii. 26. Job ix. 20. of God himself, Pfal. li. g. of his laws, Pfal. xix. 10.; and once it occurs in Niphal, Nitzdak, which as a neuter verb of being (as Gen. i. 15.) is to become righteous, and is ufed of God's fanctuary, viz. Dan, viii. 14. And it shall become righteous, the fanctuary, i. e. in fuch a flate or condition as, by God's appointinent, it ought to be in. From all which it appears,

Jobi. 8. Ans. They and all faints have a gofpel-perfection, which is a perfection of parts. They had a

that the formal notion of righteousness is conformity to the law given concerning the fubject, as concerning men or the fanctuary, or to the eternal idea of righteousness, in the mind of God, as in the cafe of God himself and his laws. Tziddek (Pik.) and Hitzṣ dik (Hiph.) are both active, and found to justify or make righteous, the action in Kal being the complement of both, as chap. viii. 14. But the difference lies here. In no form whatsoever doth this verb import a moral or real change: but in Pihel it fignifies manifeftatively, in Hiphil, declaratively. In Pihel it occurs five times, and accordingly fignifies to fhew one righteous, or to make appear righteous. Job xxxiii, 32. I have defired to fhew the righteous, viz. as one fhews a thing that is hid, by taking away the cover. Thus Jerufalem fhewed Sodom and Samaria righteous, Ezek. xvi. 51. 52. namely, comparatively righteous, the holiness of Jerufalem being gone, which, while it lafted, quite darkened them. And fo the back fliding Ifrael, Jer. iii. 11. fhewed her own foul righteous: from the treacherous Judab; namely, as a fervant running away from a mafter whom he hath ferved but a fhort while, fhews his deferting of him juft, by an old fervant's running away from the fame mafter, at length. Thus understand the ground of Elihu's anger against Job, chap. xxxii. 2. His ferving his foul righteous; from God, i. e. his juftifying himself in his grievous complaints, from the way and manner of the Lord's dealing with him. Hereto agrees Hitztaddek (Hithp. the relative of Pih.), which is to fhew one's felf righteous, occurring only Gen. xliv. 16. What (i. e. how) how shall we fhew ourselves righteous. Comp. Luke xvi. 15. & xx. 20. Thus expound Rev. xxii. 11, And the righteous, let him fhew himself righteous ftill, namely, by continuing in the practice of good works. And this is the juftifi cation the apostle James writes of, to his own countrymen (Jam. i. 1.), who, knowing the manner of their own language, were in no hazard of miftaking his meaning. Now Tzaddik, being immediately derived from Tziddek, formally denotes one appearing righteous; the holy language hereby teaching, that whether righteouinefs be imputed or inherent, it muft needs fine forth, not only from the divine appointment, but from the nature of the thing, as a light muft needs give light. And to carry along this notion of the word, I write it, righteous. Mean while, fince there is a falfe as well as a true appearance of righteousness, one may fee how Solomon might forbid a man to be righteous much, Eccl. vii. 16. mcaning it of the mere appearance or fhew of righteoufnefs, from the notation of the word. Accordingly he adds, ibid. And do not (Tühlbaccam) make thyself wife; for which compare Luke xx. 20. Should feign the njelves just men, which in Hebrew would be expreffed by Huziaddek, to fhew, or make one's felf to appear, righteous. VOL. II.

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comparative perfection; that is, they were more holy and circumfpect than many others. But that

But fince no falfe appearance can take place before the Lord, in all cafes wherein God teftifies of one righteous, the appearance must be understood to be true, as the thing really is: and fo it is in this cafe, of Noah. Hitzdik (Hiph.) is once ufed intranfitively, viz. Dan. xii. 3. every where elfe tranfitively. The object of it, in its intranfitive ufe, is the conjugate noun Tz'dakah understood, as Gen. iii. 6. and it is q. d. to righteous righteousness, i. e. to do righteously. So the formal fignification of it, agreeing thereto in its twofold ufe, is to make righteous. The fenfe whereof, in the intranfitive ufe, is, according to what is already remarked, to de righteously, Dan. xii. 3. They that make righteous, of the many; i. e. Those who do righteoufly, of the many, ver. 2. comprehending all, and divided into two forts, those that do righteously, and thefe that do not fo. But in the tranfitive ufe, the fenfe of it, is not to make righteous, by infusing of righteoufaefs into a perfon, making a moral real change on him, as is manifeit from Exod. xxiii. 7. I will not make righteous, an unrighteous one. Prov. xvii. 15. lf. v. 23. This word is never fo used. On the contrary, the only proper perfonal object of it is Tzaddik, a righteous one, righ tous, and appearing righteous, antecedently to the action thereby fignified. Deut. xv. 1. They hall make righteous, even the righteous one. So Kings viii. 32. 2 Chron. vi. 23. for to make righteous a righteous one. So the true fenfe of it is to make righteous, to declare or pronounce ri ̧hteous; which natively follows on the back of the action fignified by Pihel, namely heaving righteous, and occupies the first and primary fignification of Kal And this is the juftification Paul treats of. This phrafe of making righteous the righteous, is ufed in the matter of the juftification of a hinner before the Lord, If. liii. 11. In bis knowing; make righ tcous a righteous one, fhall my fervant; 10 the many. The conftruction and fenfe of which words is, q. d. In his being known to the many; my fervant fhall justify any righteous one to them, as in which few words, there is (1) The auther or efficient cause of juftification, viz. Jefus Chrill the Father's fervant, fitting judge. Comp. John v. 22. Mat. ix. 6. Acts v. 31. (2.) The object, the elett, all the elect, the many for whom Chrift died, ver, Lav (13.) The character in which they ftand before him, one by one, to be julified, viz. righteous, and appearing righteous. This is nowife incontient with the juflifying of the ungodly, Rom. iv. 5. if one confiders, (4.) How they come to be righteous before him, viz. his knowing, i, e. by the faith of him, whereby the foul is united to Chrit, and thereby hath communion with him in his righteoulnefs, and fo appears righteous, in the borrowed garments, before the throne. And for this faith, they are deb.ors to free grace, as well as for the rightcoufnels: for the word knowing, though

in

they were not legally and abfolutely perfect, is clear from Noah's drunkennefs, and job's impatience. And where is the faint whofe hiftory we have att any length in fcripture, but we fee their imperfections recorded, to ftain the pride of all glory?

But is it not faid, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit fin? 1 John iii. 9. Anf. The meaning is not, that the faints do not fin at all; but that they do not commit fin with the full confent of the will; do not take pleasure and delight in it; do not make a trade of it, as unregenerate perfons do; and do not commit the fin unto death, 1 John v. 17. 18.

Object. But feeing it is impoffible to yield perfect obedience to the law, how is it confiftent with the juftice and wifdom of God to require of us that which we are not able to perform?

Anf. The laws of God are both poffible and juft; and there is no duty now required of us which he did not endow us with ftrength in our creation to perform. Yet in our fallen and corrupted estate, perfect obedience is become impracticable through

active in its form, is paffive in its fenfe, as is clear from the conftruction of the words, In his knowing to the many, fhewing the faith to be the faith of God's elect, Tit. i. 1. The infinitive active, or gerund, is used for the paffive frequently, which phrafeology our own language bears, as Gen. iv. 13. Pfal. xlii. 4. & cxix. 4. (5.) The time of their justification; not from eternity, but in the very inftant of their believing, In his knowing. (6.) The nature of juftification, viz. a declaring or pronouncing righteous, according to what is really found, and judicially imputed or reckoned, (Jatzdik tzaddik) He shall make righteous a righteous one. (7) The free accefs which all have to this privilege. For the words are not in vain ranged in this order; In his knowing; my fervani, fall make righteous a righteous one, &c. This is a general truth, Whofoever will know Chrift fhall be righteous, and legally made righteous, before the Lord: though in the mean time, 'tis the many only, who will know him eventually. Tamim, found. The import of this word is whole and entire, all of a piece, unblemished: So by it is exprefled a whole day, Joth. x. 13. and the quality of a facrifice as without blemish, in the ordinary tyle of the law, as Lev. i. 3. and fo is applied to God's work, Deut. xxxii. 4. and his way, 2 Sam. xxii. 31.

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