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depend? the exhortation to the communion furnishes an answer; 'On the meritorious death and passion of Christ, whereby alone we obtain remission of sins, and are made partakers of the kingdom of heaven.'

The collect appointed for the festival of circumcision has this remarkable introduction: 'Almighty God, whose blessed Son was obedient to the law for man.' In what sense or with what propriety can this be af firmed, unless Christ's perfect obedience be referable to us, and accepted instead of ours? On any other interpretation I should think he was obedient, not for man but for himself.

Should the artful critic give some other turn to these passages, it will avail him but little; because the church, her own best expositor, has explained the meaning of such phrases, and put the matter beyond all doubt. In her eleventh article she says, "We are accounted righteous before God only for the merits of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.' The doctrine relating to pardon of sin had been stated in a preceding article. This displays the method whereby sinners may appear righteous in the eye of God, and in the court of heaven; so as to recover the divine favour, and obtain a title to eternal bliss. This is done, not by any native righteousness, not by any acquired righteousness, but by an imputed righteousness. Were we justified by either of the former methods, it would not have been said we are accounted, but we are righteous. They are so far from constituting our reconciling and justifying righteousness, that they have no share in it, contribute nothing towards it, are totally excluded from it. We are accounted righteous, and accepted as such, only (mark the expression) only through the meritorious obedience and propitiating blood of our great Mediator.

The homilies are, if it be possible, still more explicit and more cogent. In the homily concerning the salvation of mankind we read the following words: 'The apostle toucheth three things, which must go together in our justification. On God's part, his great mercy and grace on Christ's part, the satisfaction of God's justice, or the price of our redemption, by the offering

of his body and shedding of his blood, with fulfilling of the law perfectly: on our part, true and lively faith in the merits of Jesus Christ, which yet is not ours, but by God's working in us. You see, according to the judgment of our venerable reformers, not only the of fering of Christ's body and shedding of Christ's blood, but also his perfect fulfilling of the law, are the adequate price of our redemption: all these act conjointly, they sweetly harmonize in the great and glorious work. To suppose their disunion is a doctrinal mistake, somewhat like that practical error of the papists, in severing the sacramental wine from the sacramental bread; ad ministering to the laity the symbols of the slaughtered body, but withholding the symbols of the streaming blood.

There are other clauses in the same homily, which set the seal of the church to our sentiments. I shall content myself with transcribing one from the conclu sion Christ, says that form of sound words, is the righteousness of all them that do truly believe he for them paid their ransom by his death; he for them fulfilled the law in his life; so that now, in Him and by Him, every true Christian man may be called a fulfiller. of the law; forasmuch as that which their infirmity lacked, Christ's righteousness hath supplied.' This au thority is as clear, as the doctrine authorized is comfortable. May the former sway our judgment! may the latter cheer our hearts!

The homily on Christ's nativity informs the reader, that the design of our Lord's incarnation was, 'To give light unto the world, and call sinners to repentance ; to fulfil the law for us, and become the propitiation for our sins; to cast out the prince of this world, and destroy the works of the devil.' We have all broke the law, we are all unable to keep the law, therefore the blessed Jesus fulfilled the law-fulfilled it in each and every of its demands-fulfilled it in the highest degree of perfection-and, what is of all considerations most delightful, fulfilled it for us. His obedience took the place of what we were obliged to perform under the covenant of works, and is not only the meritorious, but also the constituent cause of our justification.

So that, if there be any worthiness in our Lord's most holy nature, any merit in bis exercise of the sublimest virtues, completed by his submission to the most ignominious sufferings and tormenting death; then, according to this standard system of orthodox divinity, these are the ground, these are the substance of a sinner's justification. And according to the dic tates of the most unbiassed reason, they are the best, the surest ground that can either be wished or imagined.

Does it not from the preceding quotations appear, that the doctrine of justification through the imputed righteousness of our Redeemer is far from being disclaimed by the established church? I am sorry, but constrained to own, that we rarely find any consider able strictures of this great evangelical peculiarity in our modern theological discourses. Yet there have been preachers of the highest repute for learning, for judgment, and for piety, who professedly maintained this grand truth of the gospel.

The devout bishop Beveridge, in his Private Thoughts, has left upon record the following very remarkable acknowledgment; which if it suited his state of emi nent holiness, cannot be too humbling, my dear The ron, for your lips and for mine: 'I do not remember, neither do I believe, that I ever prayed in all my life time with that reverence, or heard with that attention, or received the sacrament with that faith, or did any work with that pure heart and single eye, as I ought to have done: insomuch, that I look upon all my righte ousness but as filthy rags, and it is in the robes only of the righteousness of the Son of God, that I dare appear before the Majesty of heaven.'

The fervent and affectionate bishop Hopkins speaks in perfect consonance with his brother of St. Asaph: The law was given us, not that we should seek justir fication by the observance of it, but finding it impossi ble to be justified by fulfilling it, we should thereby be driven to Christ's righteousness, who hath both fulfilled it in himself, and satisfied for our transgressing of it; and therefore saith the apostle, "the law was a school, master to bring us unto Christ, that, we might be justi See his Sermon on John vil. 19.

fied by faith." To this end it was promulged, that seeing the strictness of its precepts, the rigour of its threatenings, and withal being convinced of our impotence to fulfil its commands, we might be urged by its terrors to fly to Christ, and find that righteousness in him which may answer all the demands of the law."

Bishop Reynolds, styled by his contemporaries, and not without reason, 'a walking library,' bears his tes timony in the following words: Christ as our surety paid our debt, underwent the curse due to our sins, and bare them all in his own body on the tree; became subject to the law for us, and representatively in our stead fulfilled all the righteousness the law required, active and passive. For sin being once committed, there must be a double act to justification; the suffer. ing of the curse, and the fulfilling of righteousness anew: the one, a satisfaction for the injury we have done to God as our Judge; the other, the performance of a service which we owe unto him as our Maker?

To this illustrious triumvirate let me join bishop Davenant; who for his great abilities, and unquestion able integrity, was appointed one of our religious ple. nipotentiaries, at the renowned synod of Dort. In his very valuable exposition of the Epistle to the Colossians he writes to this effect: Ye are complete in Christ, Ye are furnished, in that all-sufficient Redeemer, with whatever is requisite to everlasting salvation: with wis. dom, since it is the consummation of this noble endowment to know Christ and him crucified; with righ. teousness, because he has perfectly satisfied the law,t

See his treatise entitled The Life of Christ; which, as well as all his other works, abound with striking sentiments, bave much elegance of diction, a copious variety of learning, and a lively animating spirit of evangelical piety.

+In this respect principally (says our author, enlarging upon the text) are believers complete, because though destitute of ang righteousness that may properly be called their own, Christ has graciously enriched them with his. Vid. Davenant, in Epist ad Coloss. cap. ii. com. 10.

Let me beg leave to intimate, that this exposition of the Epis tle to the Colossians the perspicuity of style and accuracy of method for judgment in discerning, and fidelity in representing the apostle's meaning-for strength of argument in refuting errors, and felicity of invention in deducing practical doctrines, tending both to the establishment of faith and the cultivation of holiness, is, I think, inferior to no writing of the kind; and

and thoroughly expiated our guilt; with sanctification, because his Spirit dwelling in our hearts mortifies our corrupt affections, and renews the soul after the image of its Creator.'

Let me bring up the rear with a testimony, which, for clearness, solidity, and a full representation of the evangelical doctrine, might very justly have claimed a place in the van. It is taken from an author, whom the general consent of our nation has distinguished with the title of judicious. The judicious Hooker, in a Treatise on Justification, says, 'It is a childish cavil our adversaries so greatly please themselves with, exclaiming, that we tread all Christian virtues under our feet, because we teach, that faith alone justifieth: whereas, by this speech we never meant to exclude either hope or charity from being always joined as inseparable mates with faith in the man that is justified, or works from being added, as necessary duties required of every justified man; but to shew that faith is the only hand, which putteth on Christ to justification, and Christ the only garment, which being so put on, covereth the shame of our defiled natures, hideth the imperfection of our works, and preserveth us blameless in the sight of God; before whom, otherwise, the weakness of our faith were cause sufficient to make us culpable, yea, to shut us out of the kingdom of Heaven, where nothing that is not absolute can enter.'

You will allow the sagacious bishop Sanderson to sum up the evidence; or rather to make an important remark on the whole of the controversy. That great light of the church, both in casuistical and practical divinity, observes, The tidings of a Redeemer must be blessed and welcome news to those that are sensible of their own poverty, and take it of grace. Our eagleeyed divine penetrates into the true cause of the prevailing averseness to this evangelical doctrine. It is founded on the state of the heart, more than upon any force of argument. People are but little, if at all, sen sible of their spiritual and moral indigence; of the

richly deserves to be read, to be studied, to be imitated, by our young divines.

See his sermon upon Isa. lii. 3.

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