SERMON VI

The righteousness of Jesus infinitely sufficient for the justification of all who embrace it.

ROMANS x, 4.

For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

THE wisdom of man is frequently baffled, and his power defeated in attempting to accomplish his most favorite schemes. A thousand designs, conceived in his imagination, are never realized, either through want of skill in the contrivance, or ability for the execution. But the Eternal Mind is restrained by no bounds, nor embarrassed in its operations either by difficulties, or opposition. "With God nothing is impossible. The counsel of the Lord standeth forever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations." Does his sovereignty propose a particular plan as eligible in itself, and calculated to advance the majesty of his name, his wisdom readily devises the means, and his power infallibly secures the accomplishment. He beholds the end from the beginning; he surveys at one thought principles with their remotest consequences, and knows the best means for effecting the best designs. With what majesty do his perfections break forth in the

creation, and redemption of our world?-He speaks, and it is done; the different ranks of being, animate and inanimate, rise into existence, and assume the station prescribed them; confusion gives place to order, darkness yields before the approaching light, and from the formless unsightly mass, creation rises fair at the voice of the Creator. He speaks again, and a work inconceivably more arduous is accomplished; the world is redeemed from that ruin into which it was plunged; the divine glory appears most illustrious where it had been most obscured, and an open door is presented for the return of apostate, miserable man. And he saw, exclaims the inspired, seraphic Isaiah, "and he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore his arm brought salvation and his righteousness it sustained him": He has conciliated the seemingly jarring attributes. of Deity; he has preserved in perfect harmony mercy and truth, righteousness and peace, while good will is announced to us.. "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh; he gave him to be the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.”

In the verse immediately preceding our text the apostle exposes the folly of the Jews in attempting to establish their own righ

teousness for justification; he maintains that acceptance with the Father on the foundation of human works was utterly impossible; that the very expectation of attaining this end arose from ignorance of God; from misapprehensions of his justice in taking vengeance on transgression; from imperfect views of his law in its purity, requiring a perfect, perpetual obedience under the penalty of death; he argues also, that this fond attachment to their own services proceeded from their ignorance of the suitableness, and sufficiency of that righteousness which had been accomplished by the infinitely glorious Redeemer. "For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God." He then adds with peculiar emphasis in the verse which we have read, "For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."

The righteousness of Christ usually sig nifies his active obedience, his fulfilment of the divine law in its preceptive part; but in the present instance it must be considered in a sense more extensive; as comprehending both his active and passive obedience; his enduring the penalty, no less than fulfilling the precept of the moral law; in short, the righteousness here mentioned includes all that he accomplished for our pardon, and

acceptance; for our redemption from that wrath to which we were exposed, and our title to that glory which we had altogether forfeited.

On a late occasion I endeavored to prove that salvation is not to be expected by the covenant of works; that no flesh can be justified with Jehovah by their moral excellence, or attainments. But this inspired oracle promulges a different method for our acceptance; a method more august in itself, more honorable to each perfection of Deity, and more suitable to the present circumstances of man; it exhibits the eternal Son as "finishing transgression, and thus becoming the end of the law for righteousness to all the chosen." And while we humbly aim at illustrating the excellence, the allsufficiency of this redemption, may a ray of Messiah's glory beam on every understanding; may his rich, unequalled, unmerited love captivate and constrain every heart in this assembly.

The Lord Jesus may be pronounced the end of the law for righteousness, because,

1. He freely obeyed the precept, and endured the penalty of the law. His whole life from its commencement in Bethlehem to its consummation on Calvary was a course of the most cheerful, uninterrupted obedience to the will of his Father. Every duty which was incumbent upon him as man and mediator, whether in a private, or social, or

religious capacity, he discharged with constant fidelity, and unspotted perfection. As a child he cheerfully submitted to the authority of his parents; as a son of Abraham, and consequently included within the Jewish pale be received the seal of circumcision; as a member of the Gentile church, and the author of the christian dispensation, he submitted to the ordinance of baptism; as a man, indulging the finer feelings of the human heart, he went about doing good; he relieved such as were in circumstances of wretchedness, and mingled his tears with the disconsolate mourner; as a subject of the Roman government he paid tribute, and thus rendered unto Cesar the things that were Cesar's; as the prophet of his church he diligently instructed the multitude and preached righteousness in the great congregation; as the high priest of our profession he offered up fervent prayers and intercessions for the people: he sought mercy in behalf even of his betrayers and murderers: Father, he affectionately expostulates, Father forgive them for they know not what they do ; as a king he displayed his almighty power, and royal prerogatives by performing a series of miracles the most splendid, alternately feeding the hungry, healing the diseased, raising the dead, and casting out devils from the bodies of those that were possessed. He thus upon all occasions obeyed the law in its most rigorous requirements. It was his