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warded?"

And the excellent and learned bishop Beveridge

remarks, "If we cannot but be accounted sinners for all our works, how can we be accounted as righteous for any of them? especially considering that whatsoever we have or are, is God's; our souls, bodies, estates, time, parts, gifts, all is God's; and therefore whatsoever we do, we are bound to do it for him, seeing whatsoever we have, we have received from him. What therefore, if I should fast my body into a skeleton, and pray my tongue, and hear my ears, to their very stumps? What though I should water my couch continually with my tears, fasten my knees always to the earth by prayer, and fix my eyes constantly into heaven by meditation? What though I should give everything I have to my poor distressed neighbours, and spend each moment of my time in the immediate worshipping of my glorious Maker? Would any of this be more than I am bound to do? Should not I still be an unprofitable servant? And if I can do no more than is my duty unto God, how can I merit anything by what I do for him? How can he be indebted unto me for my paying of what I owe to him?" + With this agrees the scripture, "Can a man be profitable unto God, as he is that is wise may be profitable unto himself?" a "If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?" b But you may, perhaps, say, "What is to be done? Are not repentance and amendment all that the sinner can offer?" But is this all that God is bound to require and accept? Besides, this is not all; for the sinner can also suffer the penalty. You may, however, have tried this; you may, perhaps, have left off many sins, and begun many neglected duties; you may have watched, and prayed, and read, and fasted, and wept; but, do you feel at peace with God? And, if not, why not? The reason is this; you know that you bring no satisfaction for past sin, and that you are utterly unable to do anything worthy of God's acceptance. You can now feel that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not; " and also feel that "therefore by the deeds of the law," that is, by works

a Job xxii. 2.

b Job xxxv. 7.
*Disc. on Justification, s 7.

c Eccles. vii. 20.

you

+ Bishop Beveridge on the Thirty-nine Articles, art. xi. p. 292, 293.

with such imperfect obedience as a fallen creature could bestow, how could any transgression of it be defined? Supposing we are at liberty to call in question the threat annexed to the law by taking allowance for one sin, what is that sin? And, if for one sin, why not for two, or three, or more? If we could thus suppose that God would overlook one transgression of his law, we might reasonably conclude that he would overlook more; and who could decide where we were to stop? And would not this give to man the power to dispense with the law of God at plea sure, and thus, in fact, to abrogate it? For, if once the right of judging be taken out of God's hands, there will be no end of pleading for transgression; no fear of it; no sense of good and evil; no submission to God's authority; and hence no obedience. It is therefore just in God to enact a perfect law, and to annex condemnation to the least transgression of it.*

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How, then, brethren, do you, who have been guilty of innumerable transgressions, expect to fare in the judgment-day? "How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?" a Of God it is said, "Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth ?" b "Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?" c What then, have even the best of men to offer to God worthy of his acceptance? Is it works? Alas! we have none-none that can stand God's test, or satisfy his justice! Consider what may appear the best action in your lives; examine it by the rule of the law, as it extends to the thoughts and intents of the heart; in the matter or manner, principle or end, be assured you will find some defect. Let the pious and learned Hooker speak upon this head, "The best things we do have something in them to be pardoned. How, then, can we do anything meritorious, and worthy to be re

b Job iv. 18, 19.

e Job xxv. 5, 6.

a Job xxv. 4. The substance of the latter part of this paragraph is taken from the Preface to the late Rev. H. Venn's "Complete Duty of Man."

warded?" * And the excellent and learned bishop Beveridge remarks, "If we cannot but be accounted sinners for all our works, how can we be accounted as righteous for any of them? especially considering that whatsoever we have or are, is God's; our souls, bodies, estates, time, parts, gifts, all is God's; and therefore whatsoever we do, we are bound to do it for him, seeing whatsoever we have, we have received from him. What therefore, if I should fast my body into a skeleton, and pray my tongue, and hear my ears, to their very stumps? What though I should water my couch continually with my tears, fasten my knees always to the earth by prayer, and fix my eyes constantly into heaven by meditation? What though I should give everything I have to my poor distressed neighbours, and spend each moment of my time in the immediate worshipping of my glorious Maker? Would any of this be more than I am bound to do? Should not I still be an unprofitable servant? And if I can do no more than is my duty unto God, how can I merit anything by what I do for him? How can he be indebted unto me for my paying of what I owe to him?" + With this agrees the scripture, "Can a man be profitable unto wise may be profitable unto himself?" a "If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?”₺ But you may, perhaps, say, "What is to be done? Are not repentance and amendment all that the sinner can offer?" But is this all that God is bound to require and accept? Besides, this is not all; for the sinner can also suffer the penalty. You may, however, have tried this; you may, perhaps, have left off many sins, and begun many neglected duties; you may have watched, and prayed, and read, and fasted, and wept; but, do you feel at peace with God? And, if not, why not? The reason is this; you know that you bring no satisfaction for past sin, and that you are utterly unable to do anything worthy of God's acceptance. You can now feel that "there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not; " and you also feel that "therefore by the deeds of the law," that is, by works

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God, as he is that is

e Eccles. vii. 20.

+ Bishop Beveridge on the Thirty-nine Articles, art. xi. p. 292, 293.

you see how God "hath made him to be sin" that is, a sin-offering, "for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." a And this, in order "that he might be just," that is, a holy God in hating, and a righteous God in punishing sin, "and" yet "the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus," that is, might also show himself to be a merciful God in pardoning it. "For if there had been a law given which could have given life, verily righteousness should have been by the law. But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." "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 that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Thus the law is honoured because justification proceeds on the ground of a righteousness which meets and satisfies its demands. And this is what is meant by the imputed righteousness of Christ, viz., the sinner is pardoned and accepted from regard to what Christ has done and suffered in his behalf. For, Christ being God as well as man, there is an infinite value in his obedience unto death; so that the law could not be more honoured than by the obedience of such a person, nor justice be more fully satisfied even by the everlasting punishment of the whole human race. This wonderful plan of redemption displays, on part of God, a just regard to his holy law, and also a merciful regard to sinful man. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other."d

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From these remarks you see how "Christ hath merited to make us just "but" (to use the words of Hooker), "as a medicine which is made for health doth not heal by being made, but

a 2 Cor. v. 21.

b Gal. iii. 21, 22.
d Ps. lxxxv. 10.

c Rom. viii. 3, 4.

The bishop of St. Asaph (Dr. T. V. Short) thus relates the account given by a Hindoo as to the effect produced upon his mind by the gospel: "When I listened to a Christian teacher, he told me of Jesus, the Son of Mary, who had come down from his Father in heaven to die for sinners. This was what I needed. The God of the Christian hated the sin, but he spared the sinner; and I fled to Jesus, and found peace." (Bishop Short's "What is Christianity?" c. ii. p. 19. J. W. Parker, 1844.)

are past," that is, sins committed before the coming of Christ, "through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time" the time of gospel dispensation-the time since the coming of Christ, "his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

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c

Here the doctrine of justification is plainly stated. Do you ask, "What is justification?" It is the acquittal from the charge of guilt. It is the opposite of condemnation; as we read, "It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth?" The justification of an innocent person is the pronouncing him to be just or righteous, on the ground of his own good conduct; as we read, "They shall justify the righteous, and condemn the wicked;" and again, "By justifying the righteous, by giving him according to his righteousness." But how can a sinner, who is confessedly guilty of many transgressions, be justified? How can he be pronounced and treated as righteous, when it is written, "I will not justify the wicked;" and, "He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are an abomination to the Lord"? How, then, can a righteous God, who respects his own holy law, justify "the ungodly and the sinner"? On the ground of the propitiation and righteousness of Christ. He has paid the penalty due to man's transgressions; as it is written, "The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all;"g and "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us ;" and again, "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree;" and again, "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God."* Moreover, as man could not fulfil the law, and thus obtain eternal life, Christ has himself fulfilled the law, and has thus obtained a title to eternal life for as many as by faith receive him as their Saviour; as it is written, "By the obedience of one" that is, Christ, "shall many be made" or be constituted (xaraσranoora), that is, accounted and treated as "righteous;" and "Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.” m Thus

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m Rom. x. 4. See also Phil. iii. 9. and Heb. x. 9, 10.

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