bath, as it was certainly the main end of its institution. While the Sabbath was made for man; for his benefit and interest; it was so in the way of its being first made holy to the Lord. And Divine worship, in like manner, is the appropriate work, and habitual occupation, of the blessed in heaven. It is but rarely in Scripture that heaven is exhibited as a scene of instruction; but how often as a scene of worship? The most natural, we may say, and certainly the most common representation of its inhabitants, is that of a great assembly of adoring worshippers, all in the attitude, and all in the act of rendering honour and glory, thanksgiving and praise, to Him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb. We have, in fact, only to take a Sabbath congregation, and according to a scale corresponding to the magnitude of the subject, multiply its numbers, purify and elevate its character, and inflame its devotion, in order to have the most scriptural image of heaven which it is possible to have here below. But while resembling, how superior the worship of the upper sanctuary to that of the lower! How dull, frigid, and inharmonious, at the best, the worship of the church upon earth. But in the celestial state, how will the heavenly temple resound with the loud and melodious hallelujahs of the great congregation; loud as the sound of many waters, and melodious as the voice of harpers, harping with their harps-not one voice wanting, not one discordant. But in fine, in the heavenly state, we shall be engaged in the exercise of holding com

munion. The Sabbath-day is a day of fellowship; fellowship with one another, but especially with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. And what is heaven, but a state of high, holy, and blest society; where fellowship in all its forms, and in their most perfect degree, shall be enjoyed, without measure, and without end? When you come to heaven, Christians, you shall, in the highest sense of the terms, 66 come to the general assembly and church of the first-born, whose names are written in heaven, and to an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to God the Judge of all, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant."

Is the heavenly state a Sabbath state, then how should those, in the words of Matthew Henry, who love Sabbaths long for heaven, and how should those who long for heaven love Sabbaths? Most suitable it certainly is, Christians, at once to your characters and hopes, that you should value and improve Sabbathdays, and Sabbath ordinances as the means, and look forward to, and desire heaven as the end of your spiritual life and being. Your Sabbath on earth will soon be over; your last Lord's-day will soon arrive; but rejoice in the prospect that is set before you of a state where worshipping assemblies never break up, and Sabbaths have no end. In the meantime, therefore, improve your few and transient Sabbath opportunities upon earth, as preparatory to the everlasting Sabbath which you expect to enjoy with God and the Lamb above. Biggar.

D. S.

we have been in the habit of disregarding. To know our errors is infinitely important; and the Bible is the immediate source of all moral and spiritual excellence. What a mercy that we have such a volume in our possession! and what a lamentable thing that it should be so often neglected! Did we but search its sacred records as we ought, we might hope to arise from our slumbers, and enjoy the rich influences of the Spirit, to renew and sanctify our souls.

But to insure these favours, we must devoutly consider the High Priest of our profession, Jesus Christ, in whom we have eternal redemption, and inexhaust

ible treasures of grace. We must cling to his dear cross, contemplate his great sacrifice, witness his agony and bloody sweat, and see him turn toward us with a look of pity and reconciliation. We must give him our hearts, that they may be purified; our wants, that he may plead them in the presence of his Father; our souls, our spirits, our bodies, that they may be his, and employed in the celebration of his praise. Then our condition would begin to improve; our convictions of sin would be deep and genuine; our repentance towards God would be truly evangelical; our faith in the Redeemer would be lively and productive; our various efforts would be made in the strength of Divine grace; and the prospect of our being wholly renewed would brighten continually. O the importance of having our attention entirely directed to Christ! O the sweetness of a Saviour's love shed abroad in our hearts! Let us, then, think of him more in earnest; seek him night and day, and give no sleep to our eyes, nor slumber to our eye-lids, until we experience the re-animating and soul-cheering influence of his presence.

We must, moreover, enter our closets, shut our doors about us, and pray; looking to Jesus, to his blood, to his righteousness, to his infinite merit.

We

must plead what he is, what he has done, what he has suffered, and what he has promised. In this sacred place we must remain, till our whole hearts are engaged, our very souls lie prostrate, and we feel unable to leave without a blessing from on high. We must reflect on the beauties of holiness, and the felicities of heaven. We must entreat the Saviour to manifest himself according to his gracious declaration. We must beg the Spirit to purify our polluted hearts, and entirely possess them. We must pray the Father to grant us a pleasing and an abiding sense of his unchangeable love. And while thus secretly engaged in communion with God and ourselves, we must remember our iniquities, and fully confess them; our daily mercies, and pour out our hearts in grateful acknowledgments; our follies, our offences, our corruptions, yea, our total depravity; and in the recollection that Christ is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption, call upon our souls and all that is within us to bless and praise his holy name. And when the period arrives, which seems to render it

necessary that we should suspend this solemn and transforming exercise, we must be prepared for the attacks of Satan and his emissaries, and proceed with care and circumspection, until we can again retire to examine our hearts, and commune with our exalted Redeemer. O how great are our deficiencies! We can recite many portions of Scripture; converse with propriety on spiritual subjects; attend public meetings for exhortation and prayer, and discover on those occasions more than ordinary zeal; but how do we feel in retirement? are not our secret devotions oftentimes exceedingly short and feeble, cold and dull, heartless and unbelieving? Then, shall we not, O shall we not repair to our closets, determined, by the grace and strength of Jehovah, to obtain a renewed sense of forgiveness, and a more satisfactory acquaintance with ourselves, with Christ, and his salvation?

Alas!

And we must furthermore remember the necessity of perseverance. There must be a going to the closet, from day to day, from week to week, from month to month, and from year to year. It may well be considered a great thing to be really a Christian. The exercises above described seem very laborious, and the necessity of their being continued in the manner just stated makes them appear to us still more so; but why do they appear to be laborious? Ah, is it not because we are carnal, and in love with the objects of sense? When do we find it burdensome to be engaged in what affords us gratification? The mere form of religion is a tiresome thing; but let us only secure its constraining and omnipotent power, and feel that Christ is the fairest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely, and then the exercises of the closet will be ease, joy, and satisfaction. It is possible to become so accustomed to a spiritual element as to feel inconvenience in breathing any other. O, the advantages arising from a habit of devotion; what liberty, what elevation, what dignity, what bliss it occasions! Then let us maintain the conflict, continue the struggle, press to the throne, pray with all prayer, watch and pray without ceasing; that we may gather up the stumbling-blocks, destroy animosities, live in unity, and constrain the enemies of the cross to exclaim, "See how these Christians love." This is the way to obtain the blessed and copious influences of the Holy Spirit; to

enlighten, to convince, to convert, to comfort, to establish, to render the Gospel of Christ the power of God unto salvation. This is, therefore, the way to destroy the kingdom of Satan, to ex

tend the borders of Zion, to warm our spiritual atmosphere; and to fill our hearts, our temples, yea the whole earth, with the glory of God. March 4th, 1838.

Most solemn and searching is the question of Job in answer to Bildad, "How should man be just with God,' or before Him? And if he contend with him in law or argument, "he cannot answer him one of a thousand." Whether he condescend to question us, we cannot reply; or if he exhibit charges against us, we have scarcely an excuse or extenuation to make. And if we pursue the inquiry with Eliphaz, we must ask, "What is man, that he should be clean? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous ?" So formed and constituted, he cannot be righteous before God; for "the heavens are not clean in his sight. How much more abominable and filthy is man, who drinketh iniquity like water?" then, we are naturally so unrighteous and impure, so guilty, and so justly condemned, let us, with all imaginable eagerness, inquire after, if we have not already found, a better righteousness than our own. And if that righteousness is provided in the Gospel, and is so strongly pressed upon our acceptance, why not renounce our own, so aptly compared to "filthy rags," that we may be adorned with the heavenly robe, in which we may appear holy and accepted in the sight of God himself?

If,

Interesting and hopeful is the case of those who are brought to see that there is no hope in themselves, and that the law of God can do nothing for them but to convince and condemn them; when in fact the law acts the part of a faithful schoolmaster "to lead them to Christ." Let each reader, if brought thus far in the way of mercy, adopt, without hesitation or fear, the language of our excellent Watts

"No more, my God, I boast no more
Of all the duties I have done;
I quit the hopes I held before,
To trust the merits of thy Son."

The writer will not attempt any new definition of his subject, because the old

It

one is perfectly clear and satisfactory. Justification is an act of God's free grace and favour. In this act he pardons our sins, and accepts us as righteous in his sight, and this he does for the sake of the righteousness of Christ; and this is imputed to us, and received by faith alone. "It stands opposed," says an eminent writer, "to condemnation. is the absolving a man from a charge; acquitting him when accused, and pronouncing him righteous." It has ever been considered as a law term; so that when a person has been arraigned in a court of justice, tried and acquitted, he is by the court openly pronounced righteous, and absolved from all liability to punishment. It is, therefore, an act of pure jurisdiction. It is not to be confounded with regeneration; for it is not to make a person righteous, but to declare that he is righteous, and by the decision of a judge. Hence, the Redeemer is represented as saying to "the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves;" like persons who are pardoned and set at liberty. Is. xlix. 9.

In the economy of mercy, we must consider that God, as the sovereign Father, is the author of our justification. If any charge be laid against "God's elect," the apostle repels the assault by saying, "It is God that justifieth." God may be said to justify by his judicial power and authority, since he is the justifier of him who believes in Jesus: while Christ is exalted as a Prince and a Saviour, has a dispensing power, for he gives repentance and remission of sins. The Divine Spirit, in applying the righteousness of Christ, is represented as sharing in the great transaction; hence we are said to be "justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."

Our state as sinners before our justification must, in every instance, be a state of sin, and guilt, and condemnation.

Both Jews and Gentiles are all under sin, so that "all the world are become guilty before God," and, therefore, being under the curse of the law, we are subjected to his righteous judgment. But when a believer becomes united to Christ by faith, he has a participation in his righteousness; for Isaiah affirms, that in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified." For their sins being imputed to him, he legally transferred their debts to himself, and undertook to discharge them: "The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all;" so that on our union with him by faith, his perfect obedience is imputed to us, as though we had performed it ourselves. For

God made him to be sin, i. e., a sinoffering, "who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." And this is but one act on the part of our Sovereign Judge; for it is not a progressive work, like sanctification, but it is completed at once, and is for ever sure and irrevocable. Both the moving cause of our justification, and the channel through which it comes, are happily stated by St. Paul, Rom. iii. 24, "Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus Christ." How glorious is the grace! how full, how consummate the redemption!

If it be asked, "What are the leading or essential parts of our justification?" the reply is, pardon and acceptance. For if our "old man is crucified with Christ," then he that is thus dead is freed, or justified, from sin.

And so

according to the glory of Divine grace, we are made "accepted in the Beloved." In the pardon of sin we see how God completely absolves the sinner from all condemnation. For, on our union to Christ, the apostle assures us, that "there is therefore no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." It must be the satisfaction and merit of Christ alone that secures the inestimable blessing of entire absolution. And this full and free pardon prepares the way for the enjoyinent of all other covenant blessings. Hence the promise runs in these terms: "I will be merciful to their unrighteousness; and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more."

Should any anxious reader inquire, "What sins are forgiven on being justified?" the answer, from Psalm ciii. 3, is most cheering and delightful: The Lord "forgiveth all thine iniquities." And

thus the Psalmist, whether he considered his past or his present sins, on his sincere confession of them, could look up to God and say, "Thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin." As to future sins, our exemption from future wrath is provided for by not imputing to us; "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will

not impute sin." And this is very consistent with the fact, that every believer will pray for the pardon of every fresh transgression of which he knows he has been guilty. The reason is plain; his commission of sin subjects him to the fatherly anger of God, and hence he will pray for the removal of his fresh contracted guilt. His language, at such times, must be like David's, " Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great;" and " Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation." This proves that where salvation has been bestowed, the joy of it may be lost, and by penitent prayer it may be restored. In the pardon of sin, we naturally consider the removal of its guilt from the conscience; for guilt is nothing less than our actual liability or exposure to everlasting wrath. For, according to the apostle, all who live in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, become "by nature the children of wrath, even as others." But on being justified, there is no more condemnation; for the obligation to punishment being now taken away, can never return again; and though our occasional transgressions may provoke our gracious God to withdraw the sense of former pardon, the pardon itself cannot be revoked, for St. Paul distinctly assures us, that "the gifts and calling of God are without repentance."

Acceptance is the next branch of our subject; for all who are forgiven are accounted righteous in their person in the sight of God; they become the objects of unceasing favour and grace; and hence are entitled to everlasting life. The apostle, in the fifth chapter of Romans, reasons delightfully on these topics, which the reader will do well to consult. The sum of all this is, that if, "when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life; and that as sin hath reigned unto death, even so grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord." And it is as clear as reason and Scripture

can make it, that our acceptance can only be through the righteousness of Christ imputed to us; for Jeremiah styles him, "The Lord our righteousness." Now the righteousness of the Son of God must be the meritorious cause of our acceptance, and this must consist in the infinite dignity of his person, in the holiness of his human nature, in his perfect obedience to the law, and in the satisfaction he made to the law by his death. Becoming, therefore, our surety, his righteousness is in reality considered as our own; we are treated as righteous, for we are made "the righteousness of God in him." With respect to the imputation of the Saviour's righteousness, we are assured, that " God imputeth righteousness without works." He accounts, or reckons it to us, as if we had personally obeyed the law, and satisfied the demands of his justice. Hence his righteousness is "unto all, and upon all, that believe ;" and then, of course, their character, their security, their happiness, must be developed. "That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit: blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Here it is proper to observe, that the Gospel becomes the external or instrumental cause of our justification; for "therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith;" and the gift of this righteousness is proposed for our acceptance. Who, then, has any reason to be ashamed of the Gospel of Christ?

Now let the reader further remark, that this doctrine, this gift of the Redeemer's righteousness, must be apprehended, received, and enjoyed, by faith alone. This is the internal or instrumental cause of our justification. Faith has been happily termed "the hand that receives and applies the righteousness of Christ, whereby we are justified." It is surely a gross error to suppose that repentance can be any condition of, or in any way instrumental in, our pardon and acceptance, for it is remarkable, that we are never said to be justified by repentance, but alone by faith; for "a man is not

justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ." Gal. ii. 16. We are led to accept the gift of righteousness freely, without money or price; and, therefore, says St. Paul, "it is of faith, that it might be by grace." But, then, it is not in the grace of faith itself, nor in any subsequent exercise of it, that we can establish any claim to a free and glorious righteousness; it is only in the order of means to an end. For "to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted, or imputed for righteousness;" that is, says Doddridge, "is placed to his account, or to the purpose of his being accepted, and treated by God as righteous.'

As to the distinction between saving and justifying faith, it seems a distinction without a difference; for all the characters and offices of Christ must be interesting to the believer. Hence he will adopt the prevailing sentiment of the apostle: "To be found in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith."

"Yes, and I must and will esteem

All things but loss for Jesus' sake-
O may my soul be found in him,
And of his righteousness partake."

From this important doctrine, thus briefly but scripturally stated, we may surely learn, that all boasting is excluded; that good works, which flow in every instance from saving faith, are fruits and evidences of its reality; they adorn the profession of the Gospel, stop the mouth of adversaries, and glorify God. Finally, what a topic of hope and joy to the Christian, and of fear and alarm to the sinner, is the language of Isaiah!

"Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength: even to him shall men come; and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed." Then assuredly it is the language of fidelity and love to say to the sinner, "Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way."

R. S. A.