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something more than what is merely negative; he would have been approved of, as having fulfilled the righteousness of the law, and accordingly would have been adjudged to the reward of it. So Christ, our second surety, (in whose justification all who believe in him, and whose surety he is, are virtually justified,) was not justified till he had done the work the Father had appointed him, and kept the Father's commandments through all trials; and then in his resurrection he was justified. When he that had been put to death in the flesh was quickened by the spirit, 1 Pet. iii. 18, then he that was manifest in the flesh was justified in the spirit, 1 Tim. ii. 16; but God, when he justified him in raising him from the dead, did not only release him from his humiliation for sin, and acquit him from any further suffering or abasement for it, but admitted him to that eternal and immortal life, and to the beginning of that exaltation that was the reward of what he had done. And indeed the justification of a believer is no other than his being admitted to communion in or participation of the justification of this head and surety of all believers; for as Christ suffered the punishment of sin, not as a private person, but as our surety; so when after this suffering he was raised from the dead, he was therein justified, not as a private person, but as the surety and representative of all that should believe in him; so that he was raised again not only for his own, but also for our justification, according to the apostle, Rom. iv. 25, Who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification.' And therefore it is that the apostle says, as he does in Rom. viii. 34, Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again." ""**

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How Justification is by Faith-and by Faith alone.

"I humbly conceive we have

been ready to look too far to find out what that influence of faith in our justification is, or what is that dependence of this effect on faith, signified by the expression of being justified by faith, overlooking that which is most obviously pointed forth in the expression, viz. that, the case being as it is, (there being a mediator that has purchased justification,) faith in this mediator is that which renders it a meet and suitable thing, in the sight of God, that the believer, rather than others, should have this purchased benefit assigned to him. There is this benefit purchased, which God sees it to be a more meet and suitable thing, that it should be assigned to some than others, because he sees them differently qualified; that qualification wherein the meetness to this benefit, as the case stands, consists, is that in us by which we are justified. If Christ had not come into the world and died, &c. to purchase justification, no qualification whatever in us could render it a meet or fit thing that we should be justi fied: but the case being as it now stands, viz. that Christ has actually purchased justification by his own blood for infinitely unworthy creatures, there may be some certain qualification found in some persons, that, either from the relation it bears to the mediator and his merits, or on some other account, is the thing that in the sight of God renders it a meet and condecent thing, that they should have an interest in this purchased benefit, and which if any are destitute of, it renders it an unfit and unsuitable thing that they should have it. The wisdom of God in his constitutions doubtless appears much in the fitness and beauty of them, so that those things are established to be done that are fit to be done, and that these things are connected in his constitution that are agreeable one to another: So God justifies a believer according to his revealed constitution, without doubt, because

he sees something in this qualification that, as the case stands, renders it a fit thing that such should be justified; whether it be because faith is the instrument, or as it were the hand, by which he that has purchased justification is apprehended and accepted, or because it is the acceptance itself, or whatever. To be justified, is to be approved of God as a proper subject of pardon, and a right to eternal life; and therefore, when it is said that we are justified by faith, what else can be understood by it, than that faith is that by which we are rendered approvable, fitly so, and indeed, as the case stands, proper subjects of this benefit?

This is something different from faith's being the condition of justification, only so as to be inseparably connected with justification: so are many other things besides faith; and yet nothing in us but faith renders it meet that we should have justification assigned to us." *** "As there is no body but what will allow that there is a peculiar relation between Christ and his true disciples, by which they are in some sense in Scripture said to be one; so I suppose there is no body but what will allow, that there may be something that the true Christian does on his part, whereby he is active in coming into this relation or union, some act of the soul of the Christian, that is the Christian's uniting act, or that which is done towards this union or relation (or whatever any please to call it) on the Christian's part: Now faith I suppose to be this act." ***** "And thus it is that faith justifies, or gives an interest in Christ's satisfaction and merits, and a right to the benefits procured thereby, viz. as it thus makes Christ and the believer one in the acceptance of the supreme Judge. It is by faith that we have a title to eternal life, because it is by faith that we have the Son of God, by whom life is. The Apostle John in these words, 1 John, VOL. II.-Ch. Adv.

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v. 12, He that hath the Son, hath life,' seems evidently to have respect to those words of Christ that he gives an account of in his gospel, chap. iii. 36. He that believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life.' And in the same places that the scripture speaks of faith as the soul's receiving or coming to Christ, it also speaks of this receiving, or coming to, or joining with Christ, as the ground of an interest in his benefits: To as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God. Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life.' And there is a wide difference between its being looked on suitable that Christ's satisfaction and merits should be theirs that believe, because an interest in that satisfaction and merit is but a fit reward of faith, or a suitable testimony of God's respect to the amiableness and excellency of that grace; and it is only being looked on suitable that Christ's satisfaction and merits should be theirs, because Christ and they are so united, that in the eyes of the Judge they may suitably be looked upon and taken as one.

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"From these things we may learn in what manner faith is the only condition of justification and salvation: for though it be not the only condition, so as alone truly to have the place of a condition in an hypothetical proposition, in which justification and salvation are the consequent, yet it is the condition of justification in a manner peculiar to it, and so that nothing else has a parallel influence with it; because faith includes the whole act of unition to Christ as a Saviour. The entire active uniting of the soul, or the whole of what is called coming to Christ, and receiving of him, is called faith in Scripture; and however other things may be no less excellent than faith, yet it is not the nature of any other graces or virtues directly to close with Christ as 2 X

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LETTER VIII.

My dear Timothy,

Having given you my opinion and advice in regard to the devotional parts of publick worship, I now propose to say a little on the momentous subject of preaching the word of God. I by no means propose to enter into a full discussion of this topick, any more than I did of that which I treated of in my last three letters. You have already read, and heard, and thought a great deal, about the composition and delivery of sermons, and a proper course of publick preaching. In relation to points on which I suppose that you probably need no information or advice from me, I shall say little or nothing; and yet I shall not forbear to touch any point on which I think that I may suggest something that may be useful; something which my experience may have taught me is more important than it may appear to one, who has but just entered the school of experiencethe school in which alone many things that deserve a special regard, can ever be learned.

In my present letter, I have it in view to recommend that your preaching be conducted on a general plan or method, well digested, or clearly defined in your own mind. Of such a plan or method, I propose to offer you some assistance in forming an outline; which, if it be rightly drawn, you will find highly advantageous in several respects. It will help you much in the ready choice of the most proper

texts and subjects for publick discussion-often the source of great perplexity and loss of time to young preachers; it will keep you from omitting any thing which ministerial fidelity requires you to explain or inculcate; it will give an inte resting and useful variety to your publick discourses; and from all these causes it will tend to promote the edification, as well as the gratification of the people of your charge. The want of such a plan as that which I contemplate, or the neglect of adhering to it, if it has been formed, is often the chief reason that ministers of the gospel are far less acceptable and useful in their pulpit addresses than they would otherwise be. They confine themselves to a few topicks, to the omission of others not less important than those which they discuss; and hence they not only neglect a part of their duty, but there is a sameness and a degree of repetition in all their discourses, which render them destitute of interest-notwithstanding all that they say may be both true in itself and of the deepest import. It was once remarked of a clergyman of this class, that the whole of his preaching might be described in the two first couplets of the ABC verses in the New England Primer"In Adam's fall We sinned all: Thy life to mend,

This book attend."

A very dull preacher can never be a good one. The charge of dulness will, I know, be brought at last, by those who hate the truth, against almost every minister who preaches it faithfully; but for this very reason, we ought to be the more careful that the charge may never be made with justice, so that those who love the truth may be able to refute slander and prevent its influence.

Your general plan or method of preaching cannot fail to be a right one, if it is that of the apostle Paul; and if it be any other than that, it will certainly be erroneous or de

fective. Remember then, that if you live long enough to do it, you are to declare the whole counsel of God. Have this, therefore, distinctly in view from the very first, and let it influence you in making all your arrangements, and in all the sermons which you compose. Look over the whole system of theological truth, so far as it has a bearing on Christian practice-and such a bearing almost every part may have, in a greater or less degree-and say to yourself, "this whole system I am, first and last, to endeavour to bring fairly before my people." It is manifest, however, that the accomplishment of this design will require a considerable length of time; and therefore, after having fixed your purpose and resolved that every sermon that you preach shall in the end go to the completion of your plan, it will deserve your serious consideration in what manner you can best fill it up, so as eventually to render each particular discourse a proper constituent part of the whole. Let me illustrate this by an incident which fell under my observation the other day. I was passing by a spot in the country on which a provident and skilful master builder was preparing to erect a very handsome house. Nothing but the foundation of the house was as yet laid; but I found that he had on the ground, or near, it, a very large part of all the materials which were eventually to find a place in the structure, and that some of them were nearly or entirely prepared to be put up. Now, in sermonizing, imitate this master builder. My illustration may indeed be defective, inasmuch as your sermons may not be intended to be ever put up, in the exact form of a system of doctrinal and practical theology; but it holds in this, that all the component parts of such a system shall, some ten or twelve years hence, be prepared and at hand; so that you could find among them materials, out of which, with

a little skilful fitting, you might actually pat together a complete and comely fabrick. In this very manner some of the best theological fabricks that the world has ever seen, have in fact been framed.—The parts, by the junction of which they were formed, were originally prepared in the shape of sermons. Nor have I yet quite done with my similitude. The doors and windowsashes of a house are among the last things that are put in their proper places, in the finishing of a building. Yet I found that the architect to whom I have referred, had these parts in a state of almost perfect preparation, while as yet the foundation of the house was not fully laid. In like manner, if you are "a wise master builder," you will at the very entrance on your work, prepare and almost finish some of the most important parts of that system of evangelical truth, the completion of which you contemplate, although their proper places in the system would be nearer to the end than to the beginning.

Now, to drop my illustration, and yet to pursue the thought that I have last suggested, it seems to me that every minister of the gospel, after laying such a plan as I have described, and while it is never out of sight, ought in the early part of his ministry, to preach very frequently, and indeed chiefly, on those great truths and doctrines of the gospel, in which the conversion of sinners and the edification of the people of God are most immediately concerned. Through the whole course of our ministry, indeed, the essentials of religion, and the truths which are ordinarily blessed to promote practical piety, are to be most insisted on. But a young minister ought, I think, to do more of this, than one who is farther advanced in age and standing. For this opinion. I have several reasons.--It will tend to penetrate his mind most deeply and thoroughly, with solicitude for the salvation of souls, and

thus make him regard this, habitually and feelingly, as the great object of all his ministrations. It will also give him, in the view of the world, that decided character as a friend of evangelical truth and experimental piety, free from every thing that is doubtful or equivocal, which it is of great use to possess, and in which every minister of the gospel may and ought to appear, from the time that he enters the pulpit. And in addition to all, it will secure for him the confidence and affection of all the pious part of his charge. It will call forth a warm effusion of their gratitude to God, for having bestowed upon them an ascension gift of their Saviour, in a pastor after his own heart,-for whose success they will earnestly pray, and whose labours they will encourage and assiduously endeavour to render effectual.

Your dwelling chiefly on the essential parts of gospel truth and practical piety, agreeably to what I have now recommended, will not be inconsistent, if rightly managed, with a considerable degree of variety in your preaching; to which, as already hinted, you ought constantly to have a regard. The fundamentals of religion, although their number is not great, are still numerous enough to allow you frequently to change your subject. They moreover consist, severally, of a number of distinct parts, and their aspect upon character and practice may be greatly diversified; so that, if you treat them skilfully, you may not only increase your variety but your usefulness likewise. And by making it your main object at one time to prove and illustrate doctrines, and at another, to inculcate Christian practice, and at all times your earnest endeavour to bring home every thing you say to the heart and conscience, you will certainly keep clear of that unpleasant and drowsy sameness, which it is so desirable to avoid. Beside, it will not be inconsistent with the course

I have recommended, if now and then you choose a topick, at once of an entertaining and instructive kind, out of the general track that has been delineated. This, while it will add to your variety, will raise you in the estimation of your hearers, by showing them that your general strain of address is a matter of choice and not of necessity.That you are able to handle various subjects, and are ready to do it as often as duty will permit.

You cannot, I apprehend, fail to see that the plan I have advised you to adopt, will greatly facilitate your choice of texts, as the ground of discourse. You will only have to consider and determine what topick it will be most suitable to sefect for your next sermon, and then to choose the text from which it may most naturally be derivedIf you are still at a loss, you may reduce your subject to its proper head in the Confession of Faith or Catechisms; and there you will find, among the proof texts, some one that will be completely adapted to your purpose.

I cannot conclude what I have to say on a general plan or method of preaching, without earnestly recommending that a part of it consist of a course of catechetical lectures. In the churches of Scotland and Holland, in their very best days, this kind of publick address and instruction was made indispensable; and the benefit of it was great and apparent. The common people were so grounded in the great doctrines of the Protestant reformation, that they were not liable to be "carried about by every wind of doctrine;" and what was still better, they were nourished up to "the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ." Many of them were among the best informed and the most eminently pious and prac tical Christians, that have ever adorned the profession of Christianity since the days of the apostles; and very much of all this was to be

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