1

could reveal it. In the writings of Mofes and the prophets, indeed, we meet with fome glimmerings of it; fome few rays of gofpel-light were reflected back from the Sun of Righteoufnefs, through the dark medium of 3 or 4000 years, and fhone upon the minds of the Jews, in the facrifices, and other fignificant types of the law, and in the prophecies of the Old Teftament writers; and hence the apoftle fays, that the righteousness of God is witneffed by the law and the prophets, Rom. iii. 21. but it is in the gospel alone that it is explicitly and fully revealed; in the gofpel alone it is propofed in full glory, as a proper object for a distinct, particular and explicit faith.

And hence you may easily see the strong and ftriking connection of the text. You may connect this fentence, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith, with the firft part of a foregoing text, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Chrift; and then the fense will be, "No wonder I am not afhamed of the gospel of Chrift among Jews or Gentiles, and even in Rome itself; for it makes a moft glorious and important discovery, in which they are all concerned; a discovery which the Jews, with all the advantages of the law and the prophets, could not clearly make; a discovery which the Greeks, with all their learning and philofophy, and the Romans, with all their power and improvements, could not fo much as guefs at; and that is the discovery of a complete God-like righteoufnefs, by which the guilty fons of men of every nation under heaven, may obtain juftification from all their fins; a righteoufnefs which is a fufficient foundation for the hopes of finners, and gives the moft majeftic and amiable view of the great God; a righteoufnefs, without which Jews and Gentiles, and even the Romans in the height of empire, muft unavoidably, irreparably, univerfally, and eternally perish, in promifcuous ruin." Such a glorious and divine righteousness does the neglected and defpifed gofpel reveal; fuch a benevolent, gracious, and reviving dif

covery does it make; and who would be afhamed of fuch a gofpel! "For my part," fays St. Paul, "I am not afhamed of it, but would boldly publifh it unto kings and emperors, to fages and philofophers; and whatever fufferings I endure for its fake, ftill I glory in fo good a cause, and would spend and be spent in its fervice."

Or we may join this clause, For therein is the righteoufness of God revealed from faith to faith, with the laft part of the preceding verfe, For it is the power of God unto falvation, &c. and then the connection will run thus: "The gospel of Chrift, fo deftitute of all carnal and fecular recommendations, is fufliciently recommended to univerfal acceptance by this, that it is the only powerful and efficacious expedient for the falvation of all fuch as believe it, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. And no wonder it is attended with this di-. vine power and efficacy, for in it, and in it only, the righteousness of God by faith is revealed to the faith and acceptance of a guilty world. No religion but that of a Mediator, can provide or propofe fuch a righteousness; and yet, without fuch a righteousness, no finner, whether Jew or Gentile, can be faved: and, on the other hand, the revelation of fuch a righteoufnefs directly tends to promote the important work of falvation, as it encourages the defpairing finner, and infpires him with vigour and as it lays a foundation for the honourable communication of the influences of the Holy Spirit, without which this work can ne-. ver be effected."

I hope these things are fufficient to give you a view of the fenfe and connection of the text. And there is only one thing I would repeat and illuftrate before I proceed to a methodical profecution of my fubject; and that is, That the righteoufnefs of God, or the righteousness of Chrift, on account of which we are juftified, fignifies the obedience and fufferings of Jefus Chrift, to anfwer the demands of the law, which we had broken; or, as it is ufually expreffed, "his active

and

and paffive obedience." He obeyed the law, and endured its penalty, as the furety or fubftitute of finners; that is, he did all this, not for himself, but for them, or in their ftead. This is a matter of fo much importance, that you should by all means rightly understand it; and I hope it is now fufficiently plain without enlarging upon it, though I thought it neceffary to repeat it.

My thoughts on this interesting subject I intend to difpofe in the following order:

I. I fhall briefly explain to you the nature of juftifying faith, and fhew you the place it has in our juf

tification.

II. I fhall fhew, that no righteousness but that which the gospel reveals is fufficient for the juftification of a finner: And,

III. I fhall evince that it is the gofpel only which reveals fuch a righteousness.

I. I am to explain to you the nature of juftifying faith, and fhew you the place it has in our juftifica

tion.

You fee I do not propofe to explain the general nature of faith, as it has for its object the word of God in general; but only under that formal notion, as it has a peculiar inftrumentality in our juftification. When I mentioned the term juftification, it occurs to my mind that fome of you may not understand it; and for the fake of fuch, I would explain it. You cannot but know what it is to be pardoned, or forgiven, after you have offended; and it must be equally plain to you what it is to be loved, and received into favour, by a person whom you have offended; and these two things are meant by juftification: when you are juftified, God pardons or forgives you all your fins; and he receives you again into his love and favour, and gives you a title to everlasting happiness. I hope this important point is now fufficiently plain to you all; and I return to obferve, that I intend to confider faith at prefent, only under that formal notion,

as

as we are juftified by it; and in that view it is evi-: dent that the Lord Jefus, as a Saviour who died for finners, is its peculiar object. Hence a juftifying faith is fo often defcribed in fcripture in fuch terms as thefe; Believing in Chrift, faith in his blood, &c. and the righteousness of Christ, by which we are juftified, is called the righteoufnefs of faith, the righteoufnefs which is of God. by faith, &c. Therefore a juftifying faith in Chrift includes these two things-a full perfuafion of the truth of that method of falvation through the righteoufness of Jefus Chrift, which the gospel reveals-and a hearty approbation of and confent to that method of falvation.

(I.) A juftifying faith includes a full perfuafion of the truth of that method of falvation through the righteoufnefs of Jefus Chrift, which the gofpel reveals.

Faith, in its general nature, is the belief of a thing upon the teftimony of another. A divine faith is the belief of a thing upon the teftimony of God; and confequently faith in Chrift must be the belief of the teftimony of God concerning him in the gofpel. Hence faith is faid to be a receiving the witness of God, which he hath teftified of his Son; and unbelief, on the other hand, is the not believing the record which God gave of his Son. 1 John v. 9, 10. Now St. John tells us, that the substance of the record or teftimony, which God hath given of his Son, is this: That God hath given unto us eternal life; and this life is in his Son, verfe 11. that is, "God in the gospel teftifies, that he has established and revealed a method of beftowing immortal life and bleffedness upon guilty finners, who were juftly condemned to everlasting death. And he farther teftifies, that it is only in and through his Son Jefus Chrift that this life and bleffednefs can be obtained; it is only through him that it can be hoped for; and nothing appears but horror and defpair from every other quarter. Now faith is a firm, affecting perfuafion of the truth of this gracious and important teftimony. And as the foundation of all is, that Jefus Chrift is the Son

of

of God, the true Meffiah, promifed as the Saviour of finners; hence it is, that believing that Jefus is the Chrift, the Son of God, &c. is fo frequently the definition of faith.

The scheme of falvation through Jefus Chrift, fuppofes that all are finners, expofed to condemnation, and unable to make fatisfaction for their offences, or merit the divine favour by any thing they can do or fuffer; and reprefents the Lord Jefus as fubftituting himself in the place of the guilty, bearing the punishment due to their fin, and obeying the law of God in their ftead; and it reprefents our injured Sovereign as willing to be reconciled to fuch of his guilty creatures, on this account; but then that, in order to en joy the bleffings of righteousness, they muft, as guilty, helpless finners, place their whole dependance upon it, and plead it as the only ground of their juftification; and that, though they must abound in good works, yet they must not make these in the leaft the ground of their hopes of pardon and acceptance. This is the fubftance of the teftimony of God in the gofpel: this teftimony has been repeatedly published in your ears; and if you have believed with a juftifying faith, you have yielded a full affent to this teftimony; you are thoroughly convinced, and deeply fenfible that these things are true, and you can cheerfully venture your eternal all upon the truth of them. You are convinced that this Jefus is indeed the only Saviour; that his righteousness is alone fufficient, and to the entire exclufion of every other righteousness in point of juftification. Such a faith may appear a very eafy thing to a careless, impenitent finner, who has imbibed this belief from his earliest days, and found no more difficulty in it than in learning his creed, or affenting to a piece of hiftory. But a perfon of this character is not at all the subject of a faving faith; it is the poor felfcondemned penitent, broken-hearted finner, that is capable of fuch a faith: and truly it is no eafy matter to him for one that fees his fins in all their aggravaVOL. III. tions,

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