peace, or administer comfort, when we pass through the valley and shadow of death. To yield these blessings is the exalted office of Christ, and the sole prerogative of his obedience. Admitting that this obedience is of sovereign advantage during the years of life, and in the hour of death, it may still occur to the serious and inquisitive mind, what will be our safeguard, after the great change? When the soul departs, and our place on earth knows us no more; when the body revives, and we shall all stand before the judgment-seat, what will then avail us? The same righteousness of our divine Lord. This, if I mistake not, is displayed in the very next psalm, which begins with a solicitous inquiry, subjoins a satisfactory answer, and closes with a most pertinent but rapturous apostrophe. This is the inquiry: 'Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall rise up in his holy place?' This is the answer: Even he that hath clean hands and a pure heart." He shall receive the blessing' of plenary remission from the Lord, and righteousness also from the God of his salvation;' even that perfect righteousness which is not acquired by man, but bestowed by Jehovah; which is not performed by the saint, but received by the sinner; which is the only solid basis to support our hopes of happiness, the only valid plea for an admission into the mansions of joy. Then follows the apostrophe. The prophet foresees the ascension of Christ and his saints into the kingdom of heaven. He sees his Lord marching at the head of the redeemed world, and conducting them into regions of honour and joy. Suitably to such a view, and in a most beautiful strain of poetry, he addresses himself to the heavenly portals, 'Lift up you heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory,' with all the Psal. xxiv. 4. Who hath clean hands and a pure heart?" He only, whose heart is sprinkled from an evil conscience' by the precious blood of Christ, and who lives by faith in the Son of God.' Heb. x. 22. Gal. fi. 20. + The words of the apostle, ο λαμβάνων την δωρεαν της dikatoσving, are almost a literal translation, and the very best explanation, of the psalmist's language, py NW Rom V. 17. Psal. xxiv. 5. heirs of his grace and righteousness, shall make their triumphant entry; shall enter in,' and go out no more. Having shewn the powerful and extensive influence of our Redeemer's righteousness; its efficacy in this world to justify, in the other world to glorify; well may the sweet singer of Israel profess his supreme value for it, and entire dependence on it: 'I will go forth in the strength of the Lord God, and will make mention of thy righteousness only. As though he had said, I will have recourse to no other righteousness for the consolation of my soul; I will plead no other righteousness for the recommendation of my person; I will fly to no other righteousness for my final acceptance and endless felicity. This is that 'raiment of needlework and clothing of wrought gold,'t in which the king's daughter is introduced to Him who sitteth in the heavens over all. This is that garment' for glory and for beauty,' which clothed our great High-priest, and descending to his very feet, clothes and adorns the lowest members of his mystical body. Recollecting all the foregoing particulars, justly and on the most rational ground, does our royal author declare, Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O.Lord, in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.' They are truly blessed, they alone are happy, who know the joyful sound of the gospel; not only receive it with their ears, but admit it into their very hearts, so as to partake of the sacred peace and spiri tual liberty which it proclaims. They shall walk in the light of thy countenance;' they shall enjoy such communications of thy grace, and such manifestations of thy love, as, will constitute the serenity and sunshine of their souls. In thy name, O Lord Jesus Christ, in thy glorious person, and thy infinite merits, shall Psal. lxxi. 16. There is, in the Hebrew original and in the new translation, a very emphatical repetition, which adds weight to the sentiment, and demands peculiar attention from the reader: Thy righteousness, even thine only.' + Psal. Ixv. 13. Exod. xxvi. 31. Notabat,' says Witsius upon the place, illud pallium justitie, quo indutus est, et suos induit Christus.' Psal. Ixxxix. 15, 16. Rev. i. 13. they rejoice;' and not occasionally, but habitually; not barely at some distinguished intervals, but all the day.' Their joy shall be as lasting as it is substantial. And in thy righteousness shall shey be ex alted; set above the tantalizing power of temporal things, placed beyond the slavish fear of the last enemy, and raised, when time shall be no more,to a state of celestial glory and consummate bliss. How thoroughly evangelical is this seraphic writer! He has joy, he has blessedness, and he looks for everlasting exaltation; yet not from his faith, his repentance, and his own sincere obedience. According to this, which is the modern scheme, faith, instead of re ceiving, would supplant the Lord Jesus; repentance, instead of being the gift of Christ, would become his rival; and sincere obedience, which is for the praise and glory of God, would eclipse and impoverish his grace. But David adopts no such sentiments; David maintains no such doctrine. This is the invariable language of his heart, 'All my springs' of hope, of trust, and consolation, O thou adored Emmanuel, are in thee." This sense is the less precarious, I had almost said the more certain, as it exactly corresponds with the analogy of faith, and coincides with the express decla rations of other scriptures. Isaiah is styled the evangelist of the Jewish church; because more frequently than any of the prophets he celebrates, and more copiously explains, this and other peculiarities of the gospel. In the very first chapter he preaches these glad tidings; 'Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness.' Zion, the gospel church, composed of fallen creatures; sometime disobedient to their God and enslaved to Satan, shall be redeemed redeemed, not with corruptible things, silver and gold, but by severe judgments executed on their glorious Head and gracious Representative. And not by these only, but by righteousness also; by the perfect and most meritorious righteousness of the same divinely excellent Person.+ Psal. lxxxvii. 7. + Hanc redemptionem docet Spiritus Sanctus habere nos in obedientia et sanguine Jesu Christi.' Isa. i. 27. Vitring. in loc. Our sacred author bears his testimony with warmer zeal and brighter evidence as he proceeds in his incomparable discourses. Surely, shall one say (or, as it may be rendered, 'only'), in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. Please to observe, Theron : it is not said, in my own repentance, no, nor in my own faith; but in the Lord Jesus have I righteousnessrighteousness for justification, and strength for sanctification: an imputed righteousness, to procure my acceptance; an imparted strength, to produce my holiness. The first constituting my title to the everlasting inheritance, the last forming my personal preparation for its enjoyment. Surely,' which expresses a firm persuasion and an unshaken affiance; only,' which denotes an utter renunciation of all other confidence, and excludes every other ground of hope. Righteousnesses,' the original is in the plural number; which seems to be used, not without an important design, to enlarge the significancy of the word, and make it correspond with the richness of the blessing; so that it may imply the fulness and supereminent excellency of this gift of grace, as comprehending whatever, either of suffering or of obedience, is requisite to the justifi. cation of sinners. Insomuch that 'in the Lord Jesus Christ,' and his all-perfect righteousness, the seed of Israel shall not only be justified,' but rejoice; 'and' not only confide, but glory.'s What he had just now asserted, he exemplifies in his own, and in the person of every true believer: 'I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righte ousness.' True believers are compared, in one of our Isa. xlv. 24. +mpty, parallel to which, both in construction and signification, is the phrase used by St. John, Aikauμатa, Rev. xix. 8. The fine linen is the righteousness (properly the righteousnesses) of the saints." Vult dicere propheta, in Jehovah esse id propter quod peccator resipiscens et credens, a peccatis absolvi, et jure ad benedictionem cœlestum donari queat ac debeat: esse illud Jehovæ proprium; ab ipso quærendum; quod extra ipsum non invenitur. Vitring. Isa. xlv. 25, Isa. Ixi. 10. 'હું sacred eclogues, to a company of horses in Pharaoh's chariot: to horses, than which no animal is more stately and graceful-to Egyptian horses, which were the best and completest then in the world-to those in Pharaoh's chariot, which doubtless were a choice set, selected from thousands, and finest where all were fine. Here nethinks, I see the comparison realized. Chris. tians endued with such a spirit as breathes in this animated text, are like a collection of those gallant and majestic steeds; not destined to low drudgery, but appointed to run in the royal chariot; all life, full of fire, champing the bit, and eager for the chase. Nothing can more beautifully describe a state of exultation and ardour than the preceding similitude, or the following words: I will rejoice, I will greatly rejoice; my very soul,' and all that is within me, 'shall be joyful in my God.' Wherefore? because he has clothed me,' undone sinner as I am, with the garments of salvation;' because he hath covered me,' defective as all my services are, with the robe of righ teousness'-a robe, which hides every sin that, in thought, word, or deed, I have committed-a robe, which screens from the sword of justice, the curse of the law, and all the vengeance my iniquities have deserved-a robe, which adorns and dignifies my soul; renders it fairer than the moon, clear as the sun, and meet for the inheritance of saints in light. Having represented this righteousness in a variety of grand and charming views, the prophet farther cha. racterizes it, as the unalterable and never-failing origin of our justification and happiness. This he displays by a train of images, bold and sublime to the last degree. 'Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.'+ Observe the vast dimensions and the firm foundations, both of the upper and the lower world: how strong, how steadfast they all appear! yet these, indissoluble as they may seem, shall perish. This majestic globe, on which moun. |