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every one of you to some such serious inquiry as the following: "Since the curse of God is pronounced against every one that continueth not in all things that are written in the Book of the Law to do them, how shall I escape it? Can I, by any artifice, elude the justice of God, or may I suppose that he will falsify his

word to save such a rebel as I am? Can I restore the divine law that obedience, which I have withheld from it? Will my penitential tears wash away the past transactions of my life? Or my firm resolutions to amend my ways carry me to that degree of purity which the perfect God requires ?" The more earnestly such inquiries are made by any sinner, who has not paid much attention to the gospel method of salvation, the more will he find his difficulties increase; and the more he strives to render to God the obedience which is due to him, the more will he perceive his debt accumulate. His fallen nature, ever desirous of indulgence, will, in one instance or other, shew its power; and pride, or passion, or covetousness, or envy, will mingle with, and defile the very best of his performances. If blest with a tender conscience, he may weep in secret over his sins and defects; but, still, he will sin again, and be constrained to cry out, "Lord, save, or I perish. Lord, have mercy

upon me, and deliver me from the power of thy wrath." Would to God, my Brethren, such a cry were uttered from your hearts; for then would the Gospel, which I have the honour to deliver to you, be "glad tidings of great joy;" then would you listen, with the most earnest attention, to that method of saving sinners, which God has revealed; and with the most unfeigned gratitude, with wonder, love, and adoration, acknowledge his wisdom and goodness, and accept of his salvation.

The sum of the matter is this. You have broken the law of God in numberless instances, and the sentence pronounced by divine justice, for any thing you can do to avert it, must be executed upon you. "But," says the God of Mercy, "I will not insist upon your destruction. I will save you, and yet preserve my justice, truth, and holiness, inviolate; I therefore commission my Apostle thus to make known my mercy unto you."-" 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 the 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 (or, failed of attaining) the glory of God; being justified freely by his grace,

through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 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, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.

In discoursing upon this passage, I purpose taking the following particulars into consideration:

I. The meaning of the term Justification, II. The nature of the redemption, which is given in Christ Jesus.

III. In what sense we are to understand the righteousness of God; and then,

IV. I shall conclude with an application of the subject to the state of my Hearers.

1st. I am to consider the signification of the word Justification. To justify is a term be. longing to courts of judicature, and is used to imply the acquittal of any person from a crime wherewith he is charged. It is, indeed, gene. rally used, when, upon a proper investigation of the circumstances of the case, and upon a careful examination of the witnesses, the supposed criminal is found to be not guilty of the offence, upon which he is pronounced by the Judge to be a just or righteous man. Now,

as it happens that all the persons, who are arraigned before the Bar of God are really guilty

(for “there is none righteous, no not one"), we must understand the Apostle's expression with some degree of latitude, and must carefully examine the whole of what he has written on this subject, that we may ascertain, as accurately as possible, his precise meaning. What is said in the beginning of the fourth chapter of this Epistle will, I think, help us to this explanation." To him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness,

even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works; saying, "Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Hence we may understand that justification

signifies an acquittal from guilt. It is the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God. It amounts to a declaration from the judge of all the earth, that the sinner shall be accepted, as though he were really a just man. But, if the Lord be thus pleased to justify the ungodly; if, in this respect, he act to the common laws of equity, which

contrary

only justify the righteous, how, it may be asked, does he proceed with rectitude? and how can he be a God of truth, since he has affirmed in the most positive manner, that sin shall not go unpunished? To give a satisfactory answer to these questions, I am led to the second head of my discourse, in which I engaged to set forth the nature of the redemption, which is given us in Christ Jesus; for as it is written, v. 26. "God can be just, and yet the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus;" and v. 24, "We are justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus."

The history of Jesus Christ is, or should be, well known to all, who profess and call themselves Christians; and every one, who has but paid the smallest attention to the word of God, and the doctrine of our Church, will, I presume, allow, that the salvation of sinners is effected through the merits of the Redeemer; but, though there be a general knowledge among Christians of this important and comfortable truth, yet many mistakes are apt to arise among them prejudicial to the glory of the Saviour, as well as to their own happiness. One of the principal of these arises from the notion that they must do something to render themselves deserving of the mercy of God, forgetting, or not regarding the signification of this expression, "we are

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