the throne of grace; and we may be assured that, since Christ has made peace through the blood of his cross, "the heavens" shall be no more over our head as "brass," but we shall receive freely the dew of God's blessing, "the former and the latter rain in their season; "7 those blessed influences from above, after which the weary souls of awakened sinners incessantly gasp! This is, indeed, that free love and grace, in which the souls of believers rejoice! This is the blessed pledge of their acceptance with God, begetting in them lively hopes of a happy immortality, through the delightful anticipations thereof, which it yields to them in their present life! In heaven, this divine acceptance is the not imputing of sin: in the souls of believers, it is the reconciliation of their once rebellious natures to "goodness, righteousness, and truth!"8

6 Deut. xxviii. 23.

7 Jer. v. 24.

8 Eph. v. 9

SECTION XI.

CHAP. iv. ver. 1-8.

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH PROVED FROM THE EXAMPLE OF ABRAHAM, AND THE WORDS OF DAVID.

In this chapter St. Paul supports his grand doctrine of justification by faith by a new and powerful argument derived from the example of Abraham; and the course of the apostle's argument may be briefly exhibited as follows: Abraham, as the father of the faithful, is the pattern of justification to all his spiritual seed, or children. Now it is certain that Abraham was justified, not by works, but by believing the promise concerning Christ. It follows, therefore, that all the seed of Abraham are so justified.

It is to the second of these points, viz. that Abraham was justified, not by works, but by believing the promise concerning Christ, that our attention is directed in the first eight verses of the chapter, which form the subject of the present section.

What shall we then say that Abraham, our father as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath

whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now 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.1

In the passage before us, the apostle appears to assume that his countrymen at Rome would bring forward the example of Abraham, as strongly in favour of the merit of works. What shall we say then that Abraham our father hath found BY, or ACCORDING TO, the flesh? This is the order in which the words are placed in the original, and, taken in this order, their purport would seem to be, What hath Abraham our father found, either by being circumcised in the flesh, or by his own righteousness and works? And I am rather inclined to think, with some expositors, that we should regard the greater part of the second verse as a continuation of the objection put into the mouths of the Jews, who go on to say, For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory. Here it is that I suppose St. Paul to in

1 Ver. 1-8.

terrupt the objection, and to commence his answer, by saying, But not before God.* And having thus emphatically reminded the objectors that, under any supposition whatever, there could not be any thing whereof to glory before God, the apostle now goes on to show that their supposition with regard to Abraham was utterly devoid of foundation, seeing that he was clearly justified, not by works, but by faith.

For what saith the Scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. These words occur in the fifteenth chapter of Genesis.2 "The Lord," as we are there told, "brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness." Now it is evident that, in this and other instances of Abraham's faith, recorded in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, there was a simple reliance on the promise of God, and on his perfections as engaged to perform it. And it is equally evident that all

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boasting" must indeed be "excluded" by a faith such as this; a faith which derives its origin and support wholly from the power of divine grace, and which, by looking simply to the truth, the faithfulness, and the all-sufficiency of Jehovah, ascribes the glory of all to him, from whom all proceeds. 3 See Chap. iii. 27.

*Note 11.

2 Gen. xv. 5, 6.

We may infer, also, from the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, (where it is said of all the elder believers, that they "all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them,") that Abraham looked habitually to that promised Seed, "in whom all the families of the earth were to be blessed," and who is wrapped up, so to speak, in all the other promises, as the foundation and the root of them all. Abraham embraced, by faith, the promise of the great Deliverer; and therefore it was that his faith was counted to him for righteousness; seeing that he was thereby made partaker of that "righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe." And does not all this plainly show that it was by means of his faith that Abraham was accepted and dealt with as righteous before God, and not on the ground of his works? *

Now to him that worketh, continues St. Paul, (strengthening his argument by a new illustration, and applying it to all believers,) 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. By him that worketh, the apostle describes the person who works in order that he may claim a

4 Heb. xi. 13.

6 Chap. iii. 22.

5 Gen. xii. 3.

* Note 12.