is so often described in scripture in such terms as these; Believ ing in Christ, faith in his blood, &c. and the righteousness of Christ, by which we are justified, is called the righteousness of faith, the righteousness which is of God by faith, &c. Therefore a justifying faith in Christ includes these two things-a full persuasion of the truth of that method of salvation through the righteousness of Jesus Christ, which the gospel reveals-and a hearty approbation of and consent to that method of salvation.

(I.) A justifying faith includes a full persuasion of the truth of that method of salvation through the righteousness of Jesus Christ which the gospel reveals.

A

Faith, in its general nature, is the belief of a thing upon the testimony of another. A divine faith is the belief of a thing upon the testimony of God; and consequently faith in Christ must be the belief of the testimony of God concerning him in the gos pel. Hence faith is said to be a receiving the witness of God, which he hath testified 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 testimony, which God hath given of his Son, is this: That God hath given unto us eternal life; and this life is in his Son, verse 11. that is, "God in the gospel testifies, that he has established and revealed a method of bestowing immortal life and blessedness upon guilty sinners, who were justly condemned to everlasting death. And he farther testifies, that it is only in and through his Son Jesus Christ that this life and blessedness can be obtained; it is only through him that it can be hoped for; and nothing appears but horror and despair from every other quarter. Now faith is a firm, affecting persuasion of the truth of this gracious and important testimony. And as the foundation of all is, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the true Messiah, promised as the Saviour of sinners; hence it is, that believing that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, &c. is so frequently the definition of faith.

T

The scheme of salvation through Jesus Christ, supposes that all are sinners, exposed to condemnation, and unable to make satisfaction for their offences, or merit the divine favour by any thing they can do or suffer; and represents the Lord Jesus as substituting himself in the place of the guilty, bearing the punishment due to their sin, and obeying the law of God in their stead; and it represents our injured Sovereign as willing to be reconciled to such of his guilty creatures, on this account; but

then that, in order to enjoy the blessings of righteousness, they must, as guilty, helpless sinners, place their whole dependance upon it, and plead it as the only ground of their justification; and that, though they must abound in good works, yet they must not make these in the least the ground of their hopes of pardon and acceptance. This is the substance of the testimony of God in the gospel this testimony has been repeatedly published in your ears; and if you have believed with a justifying faith, you have yielded a full assent to this testimony; you are thoroughly convinced, and deeply sensible that these things are true, and you can cheerfully venture your eternal all upon the truth of them. You are convinced that this Jesus is indeed the only Saviour; that his righteousness is alone sufficient, and to the entire exclusion of every other righteousness in point of justification. Such a faith may appear a very easy thing to a careless, impenitent sinner, who has imbibed this belief from his earliest days, and found no more difficulty in it than in learning his creed, or assenting to a piece of history. But a person of this character is not at all the subject of a saving faith; it is the poor self condemned penitent, broken-hearted sinner, that is capable of such a faith and truly it is no easy matter to him for one that sees his sins in all their aggravations, the divine law, and the righteous severity of divine justice; one that finds the lusts and prejudices of his heart rising against this method of salvation as foolishness, and as giving an intolerable mortification to his pride and vanity; for such a one to believe, is not an easy matter; it is the working of God's mighty power. Eph. i. 19. But,

(II.) A justifying faith more peculiarly includes a hearty ap probation of and consent to this method of salvation by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.

To believe the gospel as a true history; to believe it as a true theory or speculation, with a languor, an indifferency, or a disaffection of heart, this indeed is the common popular faith of our country, and it generally prevails where the profession of christianity is become fashionable; but alas! it is not that faith by which we can be justified and saved. A hearty approbation of the way of salvation through Christ; a willing, delightful dependance of the whole soul upon his righteousness; a free vigorous choice of it, and a cheerful consent to all the terms of the gospel; this is essential to such a faith. It is the greatest incongruity to suppose that it is sufficient to believe the gospel with

a lukewarm indifferency, or a careless unaffecting assent; or that our faith in Christ should be merely the act of a constrained, necessitated soul. He is the beloved Son of God, in whom he is well-pleased; and we must be well-pleased with him 100, before we can expect salvation by him. To receive a scheme which God has so much at heart, a scheme, for the accomplishment of which Jesus bled and died; a scheme on which our everlasting life depends, and without which we are undone forever; to receive such a scheme with a languid assent, what profaneness! what impiety!

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If you have ever truly believed in Jesus Christ, my brethren, it has not been the languid act of a cold, impenitent, unwilling heart, but your whole souls have exerted their utmost vigour in it, and it has been the most cheerful, animated act of your whole lives. It is true, necessity had no small influence in the case. You saw, you felt yourselves lost forever without this righteousness; you saw no other way of escape or safety; you found yourselves shut up to the faith and it was this sense of your necessity that first set you upon seeking after Christ, and turned your thoughts towards this method of salvation. But when God shined into your hearts, to give you the light of the knowledge of his glory in the face of Jesus Christ, when you received the first glances of his glorious righteousness, and heard, as with new ears, the offer of it in the gospel, stand, and pause, and recollect what were your sentiments, and the temper of your heart in that important and memorable hour. Was not their language, "Blessed Jesus! till now I have been blindly seeking after thee from a servile principle, not from the agreeable constraint of love, but from the painful compulsion of fear, horror, and necessity; not because I desired thee on account of thine own excellency, but because I was desirous to be saved from hell, though it should be by an unacceptable hand. I have been striving to work up my reluctant heart to a compliance with thy gospel, not because I saw thy glory, but merely because I must perish forever if I rejected it. But now, when I see thy glory, O thou lovely Saviour, I long and languish for thee, and cheerfully receive thee, because I love thee. Salvation itself is endeared to me, by the thought that it comes from thy dear hand. I place all my dependance on thy righteousness, because I see it is all illustrious and amiable, and secures the glory of God, which I have tenderly at heart, as well as my salvation. I now most cheerfully consent to the

method of salvation revealed in the gospel, not only because I I see it is a scheme well must, but because I choose to do so. ordered in all things, and sure, and therefore it is all my salvation and all my desire. I would not only be saved, but I would be saved by thee, blessed Jesus! I am willing, I am desirous, that thou, and not I, should have the glory of it. I would rather see thy grace honoured than my own vanity and pride flattered, and therefore I cheerfully renounce my own righteousness, and count it but dross and dung, in comparison of thine, which I embrace with all my heart. Pardon is sweet to a guilty criminal; salvation is sweet to a perishing soul; but O! pardon by thy righteousness, salvation through thy grace, this is doubly sweet." Such, my brethren, has been, and such still is the language of your hearts, if you have ever received the righteousness of Christ by faith.

And hence it follows, that faith supposes the supernatural illumination of the mind and renovation of the heart, by the power of divine grace. Alas! while nature is left in its original darkness and depravity, it has no such views of the way of salvation through Christ, nor any such delight in it. There are many, I am afraid, that secretly wonder what peculiar wisdom and grace there should be in the gospel, and why God should commend it so highly, and saints should be in raptures when they speak of it; for as for their part, they can discover no such great matters it. Their hearts are cold and careless about it, or form insurrections against it. The way of salvation through the righteousness of Christ is something quite unnatural and mortifying to the sinful sons of men; they have no relish for it, nor aptitude or inclination to seek salvation in this way; it is much more natural for them to choose some other, though it should be much more painful. They will submit to the heaviest penances and bodily austerities; they will afflict themselves with fasting; they will drudge at the duties of religion, in order to work out a righteousness of their own; and they are as fond of the covenant of works to obtain life, as if it had never been broken. But tell them of a free salvation, purchased by Jesus Christ, and offered in the gospel; tell them that it is only on account of his righteousness they can be pardoned, and that all their personal good works, however necessary for other purposes, must all stand for nothing in this affair; they are amazed, and wonder what you mean it is strange unintelligible doctrine to them, and their hearts rise against it. Hence many a believer has found that it

was easier for him to work up his heart to any thing than to believe in Jesus Christ, and that God alone could enable him to do this. But, when God works in him the work of faith with power, he opens his understanding to see a surprising glory in the mediatorial scheme of salvation, and gives him a heart to relish it: and without this, no external recommendations of this scheme, no speculative conviction in its favour, can gain the cordial approba. tion of the sinner.

I shall now endeavour, in a few words, to shew you the peculiar place which faith has in our justification. You may observe then, that as the righteousness of Christ is the peculiar ground of our justification, so the grace of faith has a peculiar reference to that righteousness; it is, as it were, the bent of the soul towards that particular object. Repentance has sin for its object; love the intrinsic glory and communicated goodness of the divine nature; charity and justice have a reference to man; and none of these objects are the proper grounds of our justification; and consequently none of these graces which terminate upon them can have any direct concurrence in it. But our justifying righteousness is the immediate, direct object of faith; and therefore faith must have a special instrumentality in our justification.

And if we recollect what has been said about the nature of faith, there will appear a peculiar propriety in conferring this honour upon it. It is certainly fit we should believe in him who is our Saviour; and it would be absurd to apply to him in that character, while we suspect him for an impostor. It is fit we should approve of the righteousness by which we are justified, and heartily consent to that scheme by which we are saved. And, on the other hand, it would be highly preposterous that we should be justified and saved by a Saviour, and in a way we despise or disgust. These considerations shew not only the wisdom, but the grace of the constitution. Approve of the Saviour, and you 'shall be saved; trust in his righteousness, and you shall be justi'fied; consent to the covenant of grace, and you shall inherit all its blessings; and could you desire lower or easier terms? This approbation, this trust, this consent is faith and now, I hope, 'you see the peculiar place it has in our justification. Let us now proceed,

II. To shew you that no righteousness but that which the gospel reveals is sufficient for the justification of a sinner.