him* i. e. that we might be accepted of God as righteous, being considered as by faith united to him, and interested in his righteousness and grace. In testimony of which, God expressly requires, that every sinner should sue out his pardon In Christ's name +, and should present himself before him as one that Has obtained redemption through Christ's blood, and is accepted in the beloved, Who of God is made unto us righteousness §; A scheme utterly inconsistent with that of our being justified and saved by any erit or excellence in faith, considered as an act of atonement made by us, by which the guilt of our offences is cancelled, and our pardon bought by us.. It is yet more apparent, 2. That "Faith can confer no obligation upon God to bestow on us eternal blessedness;" in which view also our salvation through it must appear to be by grace. That eternal blessedness is designed for every believing soul, is, through the divine goodness, as apparent, as that faith itself is ever required in scripture. But can we say of eternal life, that it is the wages of faith? I much question, whether it. could have been claimed as wages due to us on account of our obedience, had that obedience been perfect in its kind and degree: Nor do I think it could with any confidence have been expected, unless God had been pleased by a gracious covenant. to promise it: Otherwise, all that the completest obedience. could have claimed, would only have been favour continued, or at most favour increasing, during the time in which we continued to behave ourselves well. Much less then can we imagine,: that when we had once broken the law of God, faith, though for the future attended with the most perfect efficacy, and produc-: tive of the most steady course of obedience in all after-instances, could give us any such claim. Least of all then can we have any room to pretend it, on account of a faith which operates in so imperfect a manner, and produces an holiness so sadly defective in many instances, as we must acknowledge our own to be. That we should be admitted into the glorious presence of God, and be fixed in a state of immutable security and felicity, where sin and sorrow shall no more invade us, but where God will ap-. point for us salvation itself for walls and bulwarks ||, is so glorious a triumph of the divine goodness; that the soul which knows itself, and attentively looks on this far more exceeding and eternal * 2 Cor. v. 21. † Luke xxiv. 47. Ephes. i. 6, 7. § 1 Cor. i. 30. | Isai. xxvi. 1. VOL II. 4 B weight of glory, is astonished and humbled in the views of it, and finds it no small stretch of faith, to be able to believe, that God does indeed intend it for so sinful a creature: So far is the believer from arrogating any thing of this kind to himself, as if his own faith had any degree of merit or excellence proportionable to it. But we must observe once more, to complete the argument, 3. That "there had been no room to mention faith at all in this affair, had not God graciously contrived such a method of salvation, and done that to effect it, which none but himself could do." Faith receives our Lord Jesus Christ; it is its great office, and its great glory to do it. But how could it have received him, unless he had been given? And how could he have been given in this view, but by the appointment of the Father, in concurrence with his own free and most gracious consent?— Faith apprehends and submits to the gospel plan of salvation by the obedience and sufferings of the Son of God; yea, it not only submits to it, but rejoices and glories in it. But who could have exhibited, who could have contrived, who could have executed such a plan, unless it had been formed and determined in the counsels of eternal love?-Admit faith to be ever so voluntary, and so far as is possible to a creature, ever so independent an act, can we any of us say, that there was so much merit and excellency in that act, or in any of its subsequent fruits, that God upon the foresight of it should say, "These creatures, guilty and condemned as they appear, will be so ready to receive the intimations of my will, that they will fully deserve that I should save them at any rate; they will deserve even that my Son should become incarnate, and die as a sacrifice, to make way for their happiness." Can Can any of you, Sirs, imagine this to have been the case? Or can you hear it even supposed, without finding something shocking in the very representation of it? The blessed Paul, I am sure, had very different views, when he said God Hath predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us acceptable in the beloved. And the apostle John had other notions of it, when he said, full as his gracious heart was of the most lively sentiments of gratitude and zeal, Herein is love, not atonement and satisfaction of Christ, (for I think it matters but little by which of these names it shall be called) be a means of delivering those, and only those that believe. Pursuant therefore to the aforesaid metaphor, when any particular person believes, this is set down to his account, as a most important article, or as a memorandum, if I may so express it, in the book of God's remembrance, that such a one is now actually become a believer, and therefore is now entitled to justification and life by Christ. In this sense his faith is imputed for righteousness. Yet it is not regarded by God as the grand consideration which balances the account, or indeed as paying any of the former debt, which it is impossible it should; but only as that, which, according to the gracious constitution of the gospel, gives a man a claim to that which Christ has paid, and which God has graciously allowed as a valuable consideration, in regard to which he may honourably pardon and accept all who shall apply to him in his appointed way, or in the way of humble believing, as faith was described above. This appears to me a just and easy view of the gospel doctrine on this head; and it is so important distinctly to understand it, that I hope you will excuse my having represented it in so many words. And this is, on the whole, the sense in which we may be said to be saved through faith.-None can be saved without it ;-and every one who has it, is entitled to salvation; but not in virtue of the merit and excellency of faith itself, but entirely for the sake of what Christ has done and suffered; or in other words, by the imputation of his perfect righteousness, the merit of which is graciously applied to this or that particular person upon his believing: So that upon this he is justified; and by the general tenor of the gospel is to be looked on as a righteous person; or as one who shall on the whole be treated as such, and shall ere long be publicly declared righteous before the assembled world, and be freed from all the remainders of that penalty which sin has brought upon us: And though, for wise and good reasons, he be for a while continued under some of them, the time of that continuance is so short, and his succeeding happiness so lasting, that the former being as it were swallowed up by the latter in the all-comprehending views of God, he is spoken of by him as if his justification and salvation were already complete. Ye are saved through faith.—But having stated this, the method I proposed leads me, II. To shew, that in consequence of our being thus saved through faith, we may properly be said to be saved by grace. Now the connection between these will appear very evident; if we consider,-that faith cannot make any atonement to the offended justice of God, so as to give us any legal claim even to the pardon of our sins upon the account of it :-Much less can it confer any obligation upon God to bestow on us eternal blessedness:-Nor would there indeed have been any room to mention faith in this whole affair, if God had not contrived such a method of salvation, and done that to effect it, which none but himself could have done. 1. "Faith cannot make any atonement to the offended justice of God, so as to give us any legal claim even to the pardon of our sins upon the account of it;" so that if we are saved through faith, we must in this view acknowledge it to be by grace. The law of so wise, so great, and so venerable a sovereign as the blessed God is, must of course suppose some awful sanc⚫tions, some solemn denunciations of wrath and vengeance on those who presumptuously transgress it. And it is certainly the part of God, as a wise, holy, and gracious legislator, to maintain its honour when it has been violated, and not to treat an offending creature as innocent and righteous, without some provision made for the satisfaction of his injured justice: In the demand of which satisfaction God does not express any thing of a sanguinary and revengeful disposition: Far be so blasphemous a thought from us! But he displays a steady regard to that order, which as the great Sovereign it becomes him, for the benefit of his subjects, as well as for the glory of his own name and government, to preserve in the moral world, i. e. among his reasonable creatures. Some ample and honourable amends must therefore be made, in order to the discharge of a guilty and condemned criminal. And is faith such an amends? Take it in its utmost extent, as an assent to whatever he proposes, and a submission to whatever he demands, to the very utmost of our capacity, this in our present circumstances is but our duty, and would have been so had we never offended him: And the performance of it, with whatever readiness, exactness, and constancy, cannot possibly atone for the violation of it in times past; as the payment of what for the future becomes due to any creditor, cannot discharge a debt formerly contracted, and remaining unbalanced upon account: Therefore it is, that we read of Christ's being Made a sin-offering for us, though he himself him*; i. e. that we might be accepted of God as righteous, being considered as by faith united to him, and interested in his righteousness and grace. In testimony of which, God expressly requires, that every sinner should sue out his pardon In Christ's name +, and should present himself before him as one that Has obtained redemption through Christ's blood, and is accepted in the beloved, Who of God is made unto us righteousness §; A scheme utterly inconsistent with that of our being justified and saved by any erit or excellence in faith, considered as an act of atonement made by us, by which the guilt of our offences is cancelled, and our pardon bought by us. It is yet more apparent, 2. That "Faith can confer no obligation upon God to bestow on us eternal blessedness;" in which view also our salvation through it must appear to be by grace. That eternal blessedness is designed for every believing soul, is, through the divine goodness, as apparent, as that faith itself is ever required in scripture. But can we say of eternal life, that it is the wages of faith? I much question, whether it. could have been claimed as wages due to us on account of our obedience, had that obedience been perfect in its kind and degree: Nor do I think it could with any confidence have been expected, unless God had been pleased by a gracious covenant. to promise it: Otherwise, all that the completest obedience. could have claimed, would only have been favour continued, or at most favour increasing, during the time in which we continued to behave ourselves well. Much less then can we imagine, that when we had once broken the law of God, faith, though for the future attended with the most perfect efficacy, and produc-: tive of the most steady course of obedience in all after-instances, could give us any such claim. Least of all then can we have any room to pretend it, on account of a faith which operates in so imperfect a manner, and produces an holiness so sadly defective in many instances, as we must acknowledge our own to be. That we should be admitted into the glorious presence of God, and be fixed in a state of immutable security and felicity, where sin and sorrow shall no more invade us, but where God will appoint for us salvation itself for walls and bulwarks ||, is so glorious a triumph of the divine goodness; that the soul which knows itself, and attentively looks on this far more exceeding and eternal * 2 Cor. v. 21. † Luke xxiv. 47. Ephes. i. 6,7. § 1 Cor. i. 30. | Isai. xxvi. 1. VOL II. 4 B |