LIBRARY theological )V 5]jaa' xal, To xgijU,a 1^ svoj sic xciTaxgifxa' xui %a\iv, E» yap Tw TOU Ivof TragaTTTcOjU-aTj 6 SavaTOj l/3ao"('Xsu(re Sja too Ivo'j' xa», 'Aga oOv cuj 8j' svog 7rixgxTTTaj[ji.ccT0g' xoc) ttocKiv, "^(TTTsg ditx Tijf TTagaxorjg tov kvog ocvSgdoTTOv dfjiagTCJoXo) XaTS<7T(X^Yj]; SuvvjSjJf auTii Xeyfjv, Trcug, kvog Trocgu- xoixToLVTog TOV ' Ah u [/,, Yj o»xouju,ev)j xaT£xp/6>];" Chiy- sost. in Rom. v. 14. Horn. x. ^. I. Romans v. 19. By one mail's disobedience many were made sinners. How shall sinful man be justified before God ? is the grand practical question, which serious and earnest persons, in proportion as they have had light sufficient to discern the misery of their natural condition, have anxiously asked in every generation since the fall — a question, to which it was reserved for the Gospel, as its peculiar glory, to give the true answer. And of that answer it so nearly concerns us to have a right understanding that we cannot mis- apprehend it, but we so far incur the risk of missing the way to heaven. And yet it has too often been the lot of this, as of kindred subjects, to be handled as though it were a cold theory, or to be made matter of rude and un- hallowed strife. And men have embraced a shadow, when they thought they held the substance, or they have lost their tempers and the truth together. Whereas, in reality, it is a subject to be studied almost upon our knees, and with a constant aim to bring it to bear upon our daily practice. In this spirit I desire to bring before you and you to receive such considerations connected with the subject I have referred to, the subject of Justijica- tion, as God shall enable me. Certainly if ever there were a time when we had more than ordinary need to pursue our enquiries into divine truth witli B 2 4 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. liumility and devout reverence, with perpetual appli- cation to the throne of grace for spiritual guidance, and unceasing aspirations and endeavours after a holy life, it is the present. The way of truth indeed is the same now that it ever was — not hard to be found by those who love the truth, and seek it with single hearts^ and earnest minds, and in the fear of God. But there is danger, if not of our being- jostled out of it in the throng, at least of our losing the simplicity of aim and calmness of spirit, which are necessary to discern and keep it, and thereby mistaking other ways for it, which seem to be the ways of truth, but are not. I said that the question. How shall sinful man be justified before God ? has been asked with an anxiety proportioned to the sense which men have had of the misery of their natural condition. For the disease must be felt in order to our enquiring in good earnest for the remedy. We may study the subject as an interesting speculation, or engage in it as a matter of discussion, but we shall never enter into it with real, heartfelt earnestness, unless we are deeply sensible of the misery of being without justification. There is therefore a previous question, practically at any rate, of great importance to the rigbt under- standing of the subject I have referred to: — What is the condition of man in his natural state ? What is the condition of man, as he is, and has been since Man fallen in a dam. 5 the fall and prior to the grace of Christ ? In other words, What is the condition of man as he is apart from Christ? Nothing can be more plain on the very surface of Scripture than that that condition is a most miserable one. Christ is the only ark in which we can be borne in safety above the waters, which overwhelm the world. And they who are without Christ, who have no part nor lot in His salvation, by whatever name they may be called, are lost hopelessly. " He that hath the Son, hath life ; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life ^" One thing- might reasonably have been concluded even if we had had no light from Revelation, that the condition of man was not originally what it is now. It is contrary to all om- notions of the wisdom and goodness and power of God to believe that any of His works, much less the greatest which this lower world affords, should have been sent forth from His hands imperfect. It is contrary to all our notions to believe that God should have created, and not have endued the creature which He had made with ability to fulfil the laws of the nature with which He had framed him ''. However it came to pass that the laws of that nature were transgressed, the trans- gression of them must have been contrary to the " 1 John V. 12. ^ " The ancients speak of deviating from nature as vice ; and of following nature so UiUch as a distinction, that according to them the perfection of virtue consists therein." Bp. Butler, Serm. ii. on Human Nature, p. 28. {> MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. purpose which God liad in view in creation. He must have designed the keeping of those laws, and liave endued the creature with power to keep them, though, as the event has proved, He must have left it to him to use that power or not as he would. God could not have made man with a heart such as naturally we find all men's hearts now, averse from Himself, and prone to sin, with lusts and passions ever ready to rise in rehellion against that higher power which He has set over them to control and regulate them. Reason therefore, if we had no other guide to follow, would lead us to the conclusion, that man's original condition was very different from what it is now. We have, however, a surer guide than reason. We are told in Scripture that " God made man upright '," framed him, i. e. in accordance with the rule which He had given him for his governance, and in every way capable of observing that rule. He endued him with reason and conscience ; caused these to revolve round Himself, the chief good, as their centre, and made them in turn a centre to the lower faculties. We are told further, that our first father was made " in the image of God,'' " after His likeness.'" The other animals were created severally " after their kinds," — with the properties and characteristics be- longing to their respective classes, and man had a l)ody framed of tlie dust of the earth, and an animal life in common with them, J5ut man has a nobler ' Eci-los. vii. 20. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 7 part, spoken of in the New Testament as his sjnrlt \ and it was in having this, which the lower animals have not, and in having it made the habitation of the Holy Spirit, and by the Holy Spirit so dwell- ing in it conformed to God, as the Apostle's words imply, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, that his likeness to his Maker consisted \ He ^ This threefold division is referred lo by the Apo?,tle, 1 Thess. V. 23. oXdxXrjpoj/ u/io)!' TO TTvevjia, Koi rj ■^vxr], nai to awy.a. " Tna SUllt ([uibus homo constat, spiritus, anima, et corpus : qufe rursus duo dicuntur, quia seepe anima simul cum spirilu nominatur; pars enim queedam ejusdem ratlonalis, qua carent bestise, spiritus dicitur : pvincipale nostrum spiritus est; deinde vha qua conjungimur corpori, anima dicitur; postremo ipsum corpus, quouiam visibile est, ultimmn nostrum est. . . .Hie spiritus eliam vocatur mens, de quo dicit Apostolus, ' mente servio legi Dei :' qui item alio loco dicit, ' Testis est mihi Deus, cui servio in spiritu meo.' Anima vero cum carnalia bona adhuc appetit, caro nominatur. Pars enim ejus quacdam resistit sj)iritui non natura sed consuetudino peccatorum. Unde dicitur ' mente servio legi Dei, carne autem legi peccati.' Quae consuetudo in naturam versa est secundum generationem mortalem psccato prinii hominis. Ideoque scriptum est, ' Et nos aliquando fuimus naluraliter filii ivm' id est vindictse per quam factum est ut serviamus legi peccati." August. Liber de Fide et Symbolo. § x. * Ephes. iv. 24. Coloss. iii. 10. Teyove fiev (jvvbiaiTOV dpxrjdfu to nvevfia Tjj "^vxfj, TO be Tlvevfia TovTqv eneaOai fj.r] ^ovKofievrjv ai/Toi kutu- \e\onrev. Tatian. c. 13. p. 255. quoted by Bp. Bull, On the Slate of Man before the Fall, Works, vol. ii. p. 86. Resdtuituv homo Deo ad similiiudinem ejus, qui relro ad imaginem Dei con.ditus fuerat, &c. Recipit enim ilium Dei Spiritnm, qucm tunc de affiatuejm acce- perat, sed post amiscrat per delictum. Tertull. de Baptismo, c. 5. ibid. p. 89- St. Basil conii)ares the divine insufflation u])on Adam, spoken of Gon. ii. 7. with nur Lord's upon his AjjosIIls, .luhn xx. 22. and tells us that it was the same Sou of Tto;! \\\ whom God MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. knew God, whom to know is life eternal. He loved God, and love is the spring and safeguard of obedi- ence. He had the idem velle, idem nolle — the entire conformity of his will to God's will, which was fitted to be the basis of a lasting miion between himself and God, and of his own true happiness. And God beheld him when He sm-veyed the works which He had made, and pronounced him, in common with the rest, very good. How could he be otherwise than good when fresh from his Creator's hands ? God could not have been the Author of evil under any form or in any measure. And yet evil has found its way into the world. Man is no longer such as our first parents were at their creation. Adam fell, and in him his whole race. With regard to the change produced by the fall upon Adam personalli/, he passed from a state of life to a state of death, of which transition his exclu- sion from the tree of life was a significant token ; more indeed, it may be, that a token, if at least that tree, as it has been conjectured, was not only a pledge of immortality, but also, whether physically or sacra- mentally, a means of ensuring it'. But death, in its gave the insufflation ; t6t€ fxkv, i. e. at the creation, /utra ^//-v;^^?, vvv h( (i. 6. at the time referred to hy St. John,) fU •'^rvxnv- Many of the Fathers understand what is said in Gen. ii. 7, as ToituUian and St. Basil in the above passages, to refer not merely to the gift of natural life, but also to the grace of the Holy Spirit infused together with it, as the principle of spiritual life. Sec Bp. Hull as above quoted, p. 90, &c. ' " Habcbal cnim, quant uu) cxistimo, cl dv lignoruiu liuctibu& MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 9 literal sense, was but a faint emblem of other and infinitely worse results. When it is said that our refectionem contra defectionem, et de ligno vitcE stabilitatem contra vetustatem." August, de Peccat. mer. et rem. I. 1. §. iii. see also De Genes, ad lit. 1. 9, §. iii. and vi. St. Austin's belief, and, it may be added, that of the Fathers generally, was that Adam was created mortal, insomuch that his body, if left to the operation of natural causes, would, in the course of years, have decayed and died. And there was good reason for this belief. The whole analogy of the world around us points to the same conclusion. Perishableness and decay are written in plain characters on every thing earthl);. It seems to be a law of the existence of all material beings which have life, in any sort, that when they have fulfilled severally the purposes for which they were created they should depart hence, and make room for another generation. And though it is not safe to reason from what man is now, to what he was before the fall, yet certainly the teaching of Scripture, as far as Scripture touches upon the subject, ])oints in the same direc- tion. When the way to the tree of life was ban-ed against our first father, the reason assigned, " lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live for ever," would seem to imply, chat if left to the tendency of his natural constitution, he would not have been exempt from death. And in like manner when sentence of death was passed upon him for his sin, it was coupled with a declaration which seemed to signify, that God was now leaving him to the operation of those laws, to which his material frame was by its constitution subject, " Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." And St, Paul accordingly dis- tinguishes between the natural or physical body which Adam re- ceived at his creation, and the spiritual body which Christ has in heaven. And he adds presently, " Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the king Jam of God, neither doth conniption inherit incorruption," and i( flesh and blood cduuol, then neither could Adam's body. Habits of vice had not enfeebled that body, as our own vices and those of our furcfathcrs have 10 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. first parents after tlie commission of their sin, knew that they were naked, that they were afraid of God, enfeebled ours: but it was made of the same material as ours, it was flesh and blood, it was of the earth, earthy, and therefore it contained within itself the seeds of death : it could not, such as it was, inherit the kingdom of God. While, however, it would seem that man was created mortal at the first, it is a certain truth that when death did enter the world, it was sin that brought it. But for sin man would not have died. The Pelagians denied this truth : and they supported their denial of it by interpreting those passages of Scripture which speak of death as the penalty of sin, exclusively o{ spiritual dea.ih' (See August, de Peccat. Mer. et Rem. 1. i. §. ii. &c.) But those passages cannot be so restricted. It was of death, in its most literal sense, and as the pimishment of sin, that God spoke when He pronounced sentence upon Adam, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken ; for dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return." Gen. iii. 19. And it was of the same death, and that like- wise as the punishment of sin, that the Apostle wrote, " By one man shi entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Rom. v. 12. And this is his meaning, when he says elsewhere, ( I Cor. xv. 56.) that " the sting of death is sin ;" i. e. it is sin which arms death with its sting, and gives it the power to kill. " Aculeus qulppe mortis pcccatum, id est aculeus cujus punctione fit mors, non aculeus quo pungit mors." August, contra duas Epist. Pelag. lib. iv. §. iv. And thus, mortal though the human body would seem to have been even in its original siructme, still, if man had not sinned, death would not have had dominion over it; but that, as St. Augus;ine conjectures, would probably, without the intervention of death, have eventually taken place in all, which we know will take place in those of God's saints who shall be found alive at the last day : this conui)tible would have \ni\ on incorruplion, and this mortal would luivi" put on inimorlality. and thus death would have MAN FALLEN IN ADAM, 11 and hid themselves, as they vainly thought, from His sight; what does this but imply that the light of God's countenance was withdrawn from them, and that they had passed from a state of favour and acceptance, to a state of condemnation and wrath ? They saw themselves stripped of the robe of innocence in which their Creator had arrayed them, and they were conscious that some fearful and merited judg- ment awaited them. By the same tokens it is plain that a change had passed upon their 7iature, that the image of God, in which they had been created, was effaced, and that the vSpirit of God, by whose operation that image was at first formed within them, and by whose indwelling its integrity was preserved, was withdrawn. They had moreover by hearkening to the voice of the Tempter in opposition to the com- mand of God, transferred their allegiance from their rightful Lord to Satan, who thenceforward became the prince, the god of this world. But Adam stood as the representative of his whole been swallowed up in victory, and mortality would have been swallowed up of life. 1 Cor. xv. 53, 54. 2 Cor. v. 4. Quamvis enim secundum corpus teiTa asset, at corpus in quo creatus asi animale ges'aret ; tauien si non peccasset, in corpus fuerat spirituale mutandus, et in illam incorruplionem qufe fidelibus at Sanctis promittitur, sine mortis periculo transiturus. . . Proinde si non peccasset Adam, non erat exspoliandus coi-j)ore, sed superves- tiendus immortalitate et inc()r™])tione, ut absorbereuir morlale a vita, id es!,abanimali in spirituale tiansiret." August, de Peccat. Mcr. et Rom. 1. i. §. ii. On this whole subject see Bp. Bull on the Condition of Man before the Fall. 12 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. race. We see, in every respect in which the com- parison can be made, that our condition is such as his was after the fall. The world in which we dwell is no longer like the Paradise in which he was at first placed. Pain, sickness, sorrow, death, which are now the common lot of all, were unknown in Eden; and sin, which never found entrance into that happy land till the day our first parents were driven out, now abounds on all sides. These facts alone point very significantly to the conclusion that Adam stood as our representative. We have followed his fortunes most entirely; and the sentence pronounced upon him and Eve in the day they were driven forth from Paradise, is fulfilled in every individual of their descendants. But Scripture does not leave us to gather this truth from remote inferences. Adam is there spoken of expressly as our Head — the Head of the old creation, as Christ is of the new. As such; he is called the first man in opposition to Christ, who is called the second man^. And we are told that in Adam we all die, as in Christ we shall all be 1 made alive''; that as is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy, in like manner as, as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly'; and that we' now bear the image of the earthy, as hereafter wej shall bear the image of the heavenly \ And else-l where the like contrast is instituted between Adaml / and Christ, who are declared to be type and antityp^/ « 1 Coi. XV. 47. '' 1 C(.i. XV. 22. ' 1 Coi. xv. An I" I Cor. XV. 49. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 13 in this very respect, that each is to he regarded as the federal head of those descended from him '. From all wliich it is plain that Adam stood as the repre- sentative of our race; that his fortunes were, and were designed to be, our fortunes. Nor is it to be thought, that the arrangement by which the fortunes of the whole human race were thus bound up with those of their first father, is inconsistent with the Divine justice and goodness. That indeed which is undeniably of God's appoint- ment cannot but be just and good. And it is a sufficient answer to abstract objections which might be raised against the assertion that it is of God's appointment, to shew, as might easily be done, in the present instance, that there are analogous cases in God's ordinary way of dealing with his creatures. The world indeed is full of such analogies, and nothing is more common than for a father's conduct in the more important steps of life to affect, either for Sfood or evil, the fortunes and even the characters of his children and his children's children to remote generations. It is true no instance can be produced except that of the second Adam where the conse- quences are at all comparable either in extent or importance, but yet the case referred to of a father's conduct affecting his children and his children's children, seems plainly to belong to the same great law, and to point therefore to the same lawgiver : ' Rom. V. 12—19. 14 MAN FAM.I.N IN ADAM. and nu objection can be urged against the one which does not he equally against the other. Scripture draws a fearful picture of the condition whicli we have inherited from our first father. Observe e. g. in the following passage, how many dark circumstances are crowded together within the compass of a few verses. " You hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wlierein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience ;" and, lest any should think that his description belonged to the Gentiles only, the Apostle adds, " Among whom also ive all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others"^." Here is death — spiritual death — " Ye were dead in trespasses and sins;" — subjection under the j)ower of Satan — " Ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience;" — the uncontroUed supremacy of the carnal part of our nature — ''We had our conversa- tion in the lusts of the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; " exposure to condemn- ation, and that from our very birth — " We were by nature the children of wrath." ■" Ephcs. ii. 1 — 3. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 15 To the like purpose is the Baptist's declaration, *' He that believeth not the Son shall not see life ; but the wrath of God abideth on him"." It ahideth on him unremoved. He was " by nature a child of wrathj' and he continues such. To the same effect is the whole tenour of our Lord's discourse with Nicodemus. " Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." " That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit"." No words can express more unequivocally our utterly lost and ruined state by nature. As we come into the world, we are not, and cannot be, the subjects of God's kingdom. We need a second birth, a new creation. Again, " He that believeth on the Son is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already p." Not, he shall be — but, he is — the sentence has been already pronounced. Nothing can be stronger than these passages: and it is observable, if any should be disposed to question i, whether St. Paul's strong expressions, " dead in trespasses and sins" and the like, in the passage just now quoted, could be meant to apply to our race generally, Jews as well as Gentiles, that our Lord was in this instance addressing himself to a Jew, and one too, of whom there is every reason to think that what St. Paul says of himself might be said with equal truth, " John iii. 36. ° John iii. 3, 6. ^ fj^i] KeKpimi, John iii. 18. "' See Whilby on Ephes. ii. 3. 16 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. " touching the righteousness which is in the hiw" he was " blameless ^" In St. John v. we find our Lord again using similar language ; " Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life^'"' If he is passed from death unto life, then was he previously in a state of death. And to this agi'ee St. Paul's reasoning, " If one died for all, then wei^e all dead\" and vSt. John's declaration, " He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life";" not " he shall not have," but he hath not, even now ; he is yet in a state of death. These passages afford a general view of the con- dition in which all are prior to the grace of Christ, and this condition is to be ascribed to the sin of our first father, in whom all die, both physically and spiritually, both temporally and eternally, even as in Christ; all who believe in Christ shall be made alive. But a general view will not suffice in a matter of so great importance ; to speak therefore more definitely, oui' condition, such as it is on our entrance into the world may be described as twofold : ' Phil. iii. 6. • John v. 24. ' 2 Cor. V. 14. 'Q,s TidvT(ov anoKofifvuiv, (prjaiv Oii yap av, (I /nij ndpTfs ditfOavov, vntp ndvToou dntBavf. Chrysost. ill loc. " I John V. 12. MAN FALLEN IN AUAM. l7 1. We are born under condemnation. 2. Onx nature is corrupted and debased. 1. We are born under condemnation. For when it is said that the wrath of God abideth on him that doth not beUeve on the Son, and that he that beHeveth not is condemned already"^, it is imphed that the state in which every man enters the world, is a state of condemnation, so that we need have no hesitation in receiving the Apostle's expression, " by nature the childi*en of wrath," in its literal and obvious meaning. We are not only " truly" the children of wrath, as some would render the word (f)va€i-, nor " altogether" such as the Pelagians did of old^; but we are such naturally — we are children of wrath born. The condemnation which Adam drew down upon himself cleaves to us and to all his posterity from the moment we come into the world". ^ John iii. 36. 18. " See Whitby hi loc. ' " Prorsus." On which St. Augustine remarks, " Quod autem dicis ' Ubi ait Apostohis, natura filii irae, posse intelligi, prorsus filii irse,' nonne hinc admoneri debuisti, antiquam contra vos defendi catholicam fidem : quia non fere invenitur Latinus codex, si non a vobis nunc incipiat emendari, vel potius in mendum inutari, ubi non natura sit scriptura. Quod utique cavere debuit mterpretum antiquitas, nisi etiam fidei haec esset antiquitas, cui vestra coepit resislere novitas." Contra Julianum Pelag. 1. vi. §. x. ' John iii. 36. " * Ira Dei manet super eum :' non ait veniet sed manet; cum hac quippe omnis homo nascitur. Propter quod dicit Apostohis, * Fuimus enim et nos natura filii irae sicut at caeteri.' " August. Enchirid. §. xxxiii. C 18 MAN FALLKN IN ADAM. There is one passage bearing on this subject, which, as it has always been regarded as the principal seat of the doctrine, will require a fuller consideration. '■' By one man," says St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Romans^, " sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so dtuith passed upon all men, Jar that all have sinned : for until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law ; never- theless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come." And presently afterwards, " And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift ; for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free-gift is of many offences unto justification." And once more; " Therefore as by the offence oj' one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free-gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous." Now whatever other truths may be collected from this passage, this is plainly contained in it, that the sin of Adam in eating of the forbidden tree has made all men sinners, and therefore bronyht all men under cojidemjialion. The Pelagians attempted to evade the force of the Apostle's words, by explaining them to mean that ^ Rom. V. 12. &c. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. IM Adam brouglit sin into the world in that he first transgressed the law of God, and that men are sinners through him in that they have followed his evil example ". But St. Paul plainly teaches that all have sinned in Adam ; for this is the force of the words e(j) a> iravTe9 rj/napToi', whether we translate them " in whom all have sinned," which seems to have been anciently'' the ordinary rendering, or, "/or that all ' August, de Peccat. Mer. et Rem. 1. i. §. ix. " Hoc autem Apostolicum testimonium in quo ait, ' Per uniim hominem peccatum intravit in mundum, et per peccatum mors,' conari eos quidem in aliani novam detorquere opinionem, tuis literis intimasti; sed qniduam illud sif, quod in his verbis opinentur tacuisli. Quan- tum autem ex aliis comperi, hoc ibi sentiunt, quod et mors isla, quae illic commemorata est, non sit corporis, quam nolunt Adam peccando meruisse, sed animgc, quae in ipso peccato fit: et ipsum peccatum non propagatione in alios homines ex primo homine, sed imitalione transisse. Hinc enim eliam in parvulis nolunt credere per Baptismum solvi originale peccatum, quod in nascentibus nullum esse omnino contendunt." ** The old Latin version was " in quo," as it is repeatedly quoted by St. Augustine. With St. Augustine the point of criticism was not so much whether " in quo" is the right trans- lation, as what is the antecedent to which " quo" refers. In the Treatise Contra duas Epist. Pelag. 1. iv. c. iv. after assigning reasons why quo cannot he supposed to refer either to death or to sin, he proceeds, " Restat ut in illo primo homine peccasse omnes intelligantur, quia in illo fuerunt omnes quando iUe pcccavit, mide peccatum nascendo trahitur, quod nisi renascendo non solvitur. Nam et sic sanctus Hilarius iutellexit quod scriptura est " in quo omnes peccaverunt :" ait enim, " In quo, id est in Adam, omnes peccaverunt." Deinde addidit : " Manifestum in Adam C 2 20 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. have sinned," according to our received version. For even in the latter case, the words which follow compel us to understand them thus. " For," the Apostle continues, explaining the assertion he had just made that '' all have sinned," " until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law ;" and if so, those who died before the law was given, died for some other cause than the breach of the law. " Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression," and who had not therefore made themselves obnoxious in their own persons to the sentence, " In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." It is true that many of these were guilty of actual sins against the law of nature written on their consciences, but the Apostle does not in the present instance appear to take account of such sins. " Sin was in the world," he says, but it was " not imputed." Not that it was not sin, and was not most hateful in God's sight, — yea, and did not, as in the instances of the antediluvian world, and the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha, draw down most severe judgments — but yet there was another and a higher cause of condemnation, and one which took in all, of what- soever age or condition. All sinned in Adam. They omiies peccasse, quasi in massa. Ipse enim jjer peccatum conuptus ounies quos genuit nati sum sub peccato." St Augus- tine connneuts at considerable length upon ilie whole passage De Pecc. Mer. et Rem. lib. i. %. ix. &c. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 21 were sinners not by imitation but hy birth; they belonged to an attainted family. Their first father had violated the covenant, wherein he stood as the representative of his whole race, and they had violated it in him. There were numbers between the time of Adam and that of Moses, as there have been numbers since, who could in no sense be said to have sinned in their own persons — those, namely, who died in inj'ancy, who yet were subjected to death, the penalty of sin. The Apostle can scarcely be said to refer to these exclusively when he speaks of such as had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression ; but his words include them, and his reasoning- applies to them in full force. And if death be the penalty of sin, as according to the Apostle's teaching it most surely is, then for whose sin but that of Adam — theirs as sprung from the loins of Adam — did these infants die ? And why, as the defenders of the truth repeatedly urged in the Pelagian controversy, why are infants baptized, according to the universal practice of the Church from the earliest times, for the remission of sins, when they have never sinned in their own persons, but because they are bound by that ancient curse entailed upon them by their first fatljer ? They need to be born again the children of the second Adam, that they may be freed from the misery which they inherit as the children of the first Adam. They are the more readily to be admitted to the holy ordinance, as St. Cyprian says, explicitly 22 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. recognising tliis doctrine, because the sins to be for- given them are not their own, but another's*'. And this is yet further evident as the Apostle's argument proceeds. For he says that Adam was a figure or type of Christ who was to come; and then goes on to institute a contrast between Adam and Christ, making the common ground on which the contrast is raised, the circumstance that each was the federal head of those whom he represented j and the points of contrast, that Adam derived death to all his descendants, Christ life to all His; Adam condemn- ation, Christ justification; Adam condemnation for one offence, the eating the forbidden fruit; Christ justification, not only from that one, but from what- * " Si etiam'gi-avissimis delictoribus, et in Deum imiltum ante peccantibus, cum jiostea cvediderint, reuiissa peccatonim datur, et baptismo atque gratia nemo prohibetur; quanto magis prohiberi non debet infans, qui recens natus nibil peccavit, nisi quod secundum Adam canialiter natus, contagium mortis autiquae prima nativitate ooniraxit ? qui ad remissam ])eccatorum accipiendani hoc ipso facilius accedit, quod illi remiltuntur non propria sed aliena peccata." Cypr. Ep. 64. ad Fidum. St. Augustine, after quoting the above-cited passage from St. Cyj^rian in jiroof that the Church had all along held the doctrine of original sin, thus comments upon the words aliena peccata. " Nee sic dicuntur ista aliena peccata tauquam oumino ad parvulos non pertiueant, siquidcm in Adam omnes tunc peccaverunt, quando in ejus natura ilia iusila vi qua eos gignere poterat adhuc omnes Hie iinus fuerunt: sed diciuitur aliena quia nondnni ipsi agebant vitas ])ri>j)rias, sed quidquid erat in tiilura propagine, viia uuius hominis coiitiuebal." De Pecc. j\ler. 01 Klin. 1. iii. §. v. and vii. See also St. .loromo quoted by Wall on Infant baptism, Pait 1. r. xix. §. "2(>. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 23 soever other offences could be laid to their charge 80 that as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned in that one; so — to complete the antithesis — by one man righteousness entered into the world, and life by righteousness, and thus life was bestowed on all, all i. e. who belong to that one Man, for that all are righteous in Him. Thus that one offence which brought death upon our first father, cleaves to us in its guilt and condemnation from our birth f. But it will be objected, perhaps, that thus to re- present mankind as lying under condemnation for Adam's sin is at variance with the notions which God has taught us to form of His own character. Does not God Himself, it may be asked, reject the like imputation in Ezek. xviii. which the Jews blas- phemously cast upon Him, when they complained that the fathers had eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge? And does he not say expressly that thenceforward they should no more have occasion to use that proverb — that " the ^ " Aliena lavit aqua, quos culpa inquinaverat aliena Nee tamen sic alieuam dixerim ut negem nostvauij alioquin nee iuquinaret. Sed aliena est quia in Adam omnes neseientes peceavimus; nostra, quia etsi in alio, nos tamen 2>eccavimus et nobis justo Dei judicio imputabatur licet oceulto. Veruntamen ut jam non sit quod eauseris, O homo, contra inobedientiam Adae datur tibi obedientia Christi, ut si gratis venundatus es, gratis etiam redimaris." Bern. Dominica 1. post oetav. Epiph. Serm. 1. 24 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. soul that sinned it should die j the son should not bear the iniquity of the father, neither should the father bear the iniquity of the son — the righteousness of the righteous should be upon him, and the wicked- ness of the wicked should be upon him ?" To this T answer, that they who allege this passage from Ezekiel for the purpose of overthrowing the doctrine that the sin of Adam is become the con- demnation of his whole race, are bound, before they allege it, to resolve with themselves how it is to be reconciled with another passage, wherein God is represented as describing his own character on the most solemn occasion and in the most explicit terms. " The Lord descended in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and proclaimed tJie name of the Lord. . . The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children s children unto the third and to the fourth (jeneration ? . This is God's immutable character, immutable as His great Name. And the objection, if it lies at all against the doctrine that He has permitted Adam's sin to be the con- demnation of the world, lies at least equally against the description of his character here drawn by his own hand. Hut, in fact, the passage in Kzekiol so far from * Kxofl, x.wiv, o 7, MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 25 affording- matter of objection to the doctrine rather confirms it. For when God declares that the Jews should no more have occasion to use the Proverb which they had adopted, he implies that till then they had had occasion, though not to make it the basis of the blasphemous complaint, which they had foimded upon it. The Jews were suffering for the sins of their fathers, as well as their own. God Himself had declared as much, when he threatened the judgments which had now come upon them, and the penitent Jews are represented as expressing by the mouth of Jeremiah the very same sentiment as that contained in the Proverb, " Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne their ini- quities ''," only with this difference, that the one was the language of humiliation, the other of insolence and rebellion. Nor are we so to interpret the expression, " Ye shall no more have occasion to use this proverb," as though God intended thenceforward to abandon the principle on which till then he had acted. It is evident that the Jews continued and still continue under the same dispensation. " Our fathers have sinned and are not, and we have borne their ini- quities," might be as justly the lament of the present generation of that people as it was of Jeremiah's. Nor indeed is the rule restricted to the Jews. There is enough apparent in the ways of Providence to " Lain. V 7. '26 MAN FALLKN IN ADAM. convince us, even if revelation had spoken less plainly, that it is of general application. The truth is, that God was directing the minds of His people to another dispensation, wherein while the temjwral consequences of national or ancestral sins would still in many respects be permitted to run their course, the spiritual and eternal evil should be can- celled, and every man should be dealt with according to his individual conduct. And in whatsoever measure God acted upon this principle in His deal- ings with His people before that dispensation was formally begun, His doing so was in anticipation of the Gospel Covenant. It was only by Christ's becoming a curse for us, that the law was counteracted which involved the children in the fathers' punishment'. ' St. Augustine thus deals with the avgumeni from Ezek. xviii. on which, as it seems, the Pelagians laid much siress : " Quod vero causae tuae postremum et quasi foitissimum firmamenlum pro- phelicum testimonium esse voluisii, uhi per Ezechielem dictum Icginuis, Quod non erit parabola, qua dicehaut, parentes uvas acerbas edisse, et denies obslui^uisse filioium ; nee morietur filius in peccato patris, nee pater in peccato filii, sed annua quae peccat ipsa morietur : non in'elHgis hanc esse promissiouem Teslamenii novi ct spiritualis haereditatis ad altorum sieculnm pertinentis. Id enim agit gratia Redemptoris, ut i)aternmn cliirographum delcat, et uuuscpiisquo pro se rationem reddat. Cieterum quam mulla sinl diviiiarum testiniouia Lilteuuuui, qiiaa parentum peccutis obligant lilios, numerare qiiis possil ? Cur enim peccavit Cham et inejustilium Chanaan viudicla prolata est ? &c. • . . Scdcanialis generatio etiam poi)uli Dei pertinens ad Tostamciitum vetus, quod in servitnlem general, parcnlum pcccalis obligat filios; spiritualis auleni generatio, sicut luereditalem, ita paMiarum alquepriemiorum MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 27 God's dealings indeed with Adam and his descendants have but one complete parallel in the whole history of his dealing-s with our race, namely, his dealings with Christ, and those who belong to Christ, the one being an instance of sin affecting the welfare of generations yet unborn, the other of righte- ousness. And he who objects to the principle acted on in the one case, is bound to object to the principle acted on in the other''. Adam stood as the representative of his posterity. God beheld in him comminationes promissionesque mutavit. Quod ProphelsB in spiritu jn'fBvidenles ista dixerunt; sed apeitius leremias: " In diebiis illis" iiiquit " noii dicent Patres inandiicavertiiit" &c. nenipe raanifestum est ita hoc pro2)helice proMuntiari, sicut ipsum Testamentiim novum, quod prius occultuui i'uit, et per Christum postea revelatum est. Deuiquc, ne nos moverent ea qupe com- memovavi, et caetera hujusmodi plurima de reddendis in filios peccatis parentum, quae utique veraciter scripta sunt, et huic propheticE contraria j)utavenlur, continuo solvit islam molestissi- niam quaestionem, conjiingendo atque dicendo, " Ecce dies veuiuut, dicit Dominus, et consummabo domui Israel et domui Juda Tesfamenlum novum, non secundum Testamentum quod disposui patribus eorum." flerem. xxxi. 29 — 32.) In hoc igiiur Testamento novo per sanguinem Testaloris deleto patemo chiro- grapho, incipit homo paternis debitis non esse obnoxius renascendo quibus nascendo fueri't obligatus." August, contra Julian. Pelag. lib. vi. c. XXV. '' " Am TovTO avco Koi Kara) rov evos ex^erai, Kal crvvexcis tovto els jxicrov (fiepei, Xiytav' "QaTrep 8i evos avdpmTTOv rj dfiaprla els top KOCTfiov etarjXde k. r. X. . . . Koi ovk aCJiLcrraTai tov evos, iv orav Xeyrj aoi 6 'louSaioy, Has, iuos KaropdaxravTos tov XpiaTov, rj olKovpepr) faa>dr] ; dvvridris avrS Xeyeiv, Urns euos irapaKovcrauTOs tov A8afi, r; oIkov- ptvrj KciTtKpidt];'' Clirysost. in Rom. Honi. x. §. 1. 28 MAN fallp:n in adam. the whole race of mankind, and in deahng with him, dealt with them. It is vain for any man to find fault with this arrangement. We are in no sort judges what would have been the working of any other arrangement. Will any one say, that had we been dealt with individually, he w^ould have stood where Adam fell ? But indeed it is not a matter to admit of such reasoning. " Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against GodP" This is the proper answer to make to those who would object to the justice of the arrangement, and if any should question its good- ness, we must adopt St. Paul's words again on another occasion, '' O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" 2. There is, however, another circumstance to be considered which places the matter in a different light, and enables us to see, though we might not have doubted, even if we could not have seen, that God's dealings with us in this respect are just and true. The nature of man, in consequence of the fall, is corrupted and debased. He is " very far gone from original righteousness." He has lost the divine image in which his first father was created. He has become the subject and slave of Satan. And in this evil case he continues, without power to deliver himself, till Christ makes him free, renewing him by His Spirit, and creating him again, alter His own likeness, in righteousness and true holiiioss. So that, MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 29 even though we should hesitate to take the view of an entailed condemnation, we are still brought virtually to the same point; for all are born with a sinful nature, and this, as our article declares, deserves God's wrath and damnation ^ It is not denied indeed that the natural man may possess many estimable qualities. We read of sundry instances among the ancient heathens of generosity, disinterestedness, patriotism, self-control, temperance, courage, veracity, filial and parental affection, and the like. And St. Paul speaks of the Gentiles, who had no revealed law to guide or restrain them, as yet doing by nature the things contained in the law, and as shewing the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another'". And he tells us of himself in his unconverted state, that, touching the righteous- ness which is in the law, he was blameless". And St. Mark says of the young ruler, who asked our Lord what good thing he should do that he might inherit eternal life, and who, when our Lord referred him to the commandments, answered, how ignorant soever of their full extent, that he had kept them all from his youth up, that our Lord beholding him loved him °; which certainly implies, that there was that in him which was amiable and good. Some traces then of what man once was are still left amid the ruins of his original nature — such as may serve ' Art. ix. ■" Rom. ii. 14, 15. " Phil. iii. 6. " Mark x. 17—21. 30 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. to shew, in some measure, the goodly design of the Ahnighty Architect ^. And yet with all these, even under the most favourable circumstances, there is not a greater and more real difference between a marble statue and a living man, than there is between man in his natural and in his renewed state. And the change which must pass upon him in his transition from one state to the other is so essential, that nothing short of such expressions as a passing from darkness to light '', from death to lije ', a new birth % a new creation', can sufficiently describe it : — expressions which would fill us with amazement, were it not that long use has familiarized us with them, and they pass from our lips, or fall upon our ears, without exciting any idea corresponding to their astounding import. The truth is, God is dethroned in the heart of the natural man. He is not supreme. Other lords beside him have the dominion. Man would be his own god, dependent on himself alone for happiness. Or he would make the world his god, or the fiesh, or the devil, or all three. And so no place is found for the fear of God, and the love of God, which are the spring and centre of true religion, and in the ab- sence of which, no amount of virtues, such as the world calls virtues, is in respect of religion of any account. •• See August, de Spir. el Lit. §. xxvii. xxviii, •I Ephes. V. 8. -Acts xxvi. 18. ' 1 John iii. 14. ' John iii. 3. 1 Pet. i. 23. ' Gal. vi. 15. 2 Cor. v. 17. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 31 St. Paul ill the seventh and eighth chapters of his Epistle to the Romans draws a lamentable picture of man in his natural state ; for whatever view we take of the question, whether the Apostle speaks in the former of these chapters in the person of a regenerate or an unregenerate man, the bearing of the passages I refer to is still the same. " When we were in the flesh," he says, " the motions of sins which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death." " We know that the law is spiritual, but I (so far as I am in my natural state) am carnal, sold under sin, (its very slave;) for that which I do I allow not; for what I would that do I not, but what I hate that do I. ... I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, (in my old nature) dwelleth no good thing ; for to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would 1 do not, but the evil which I would not that I do. ... I find then a law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me ; for I delight in the law of God after the inward man, (I heartily assent to and acquiesce in it,) but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" " They that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh." " To be carnally minded is death." " The carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be :" " they that are in the flesh, cannot please God." :V2 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. Such is man in his natural state. Make all the allowance you will for the noble qualities which are to be found in this or the other individual, still this is the description given of him by the pen of inspiration. Carnal — sold under sin — its veiy slave — no good thing in him — enmity against God — not subject to the law of God, and incapable of being so — incapable of pleasing God. Is it possible to find stronger language in which to set forth the miserable corruption and debasement to which his nature has been subjected ? Is this the being whom God made upright, whom He created in His own image, and after His own likeness ? We may notice before we leave this passage how the case stands with regard to the freedom of the will. God sets before us good and evil, life and death, and He leaves us free to choose as we list. In Paradise Adam had no corrupt bias inclining his will to evil. But it has been otherwise since the fall. Man is still as free to choose as before. But he has a bias now which he had not then. His will — free in itself — as free as Adam's was in Paradise — is become the slave of sin. And the corruption of his nature, even where he would have chosen good, draws him to evil in spite of his better choice. When he would do good, evil is present with him. The good that he would he does not, and the evil which he would not that he does". But, in truth, in his natural state man is too " Rom. vii. 21, 19. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 33 ignorant, for the most part, to know good from evil in spiritual matters. One of the effects of the fall has been to blind his understanding, and to liide fi'om him the things which belong unto his peace. Thus St. Paul tells his converts, that in their heathen state they had had " their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, through the ignorance that was in them, because of the blindness of their heart '';" and again, that they had been darkness, though now they were light in the Lordy; and on another occasion, " that the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned ^ And it is in accordance with this view, and as the proper remedy for man's natural ignorance, that we find so much stress every where laid on knowledge in the New Testament, as, e. g., where our Lord says, " This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent"";" and where He calls Himself "the Truth"" and "the Light '^j" and where St. Paul makes it one of the principal characteristics of the new man that he is " renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him^" ^ Ephes. iv. 18. ^ Ephes. v. 8. ' 1 Cor. ii. 14. " .lohn xvii. 3. *" John xiv. 6. " John ix. o. Col. iii. 10. Ovhi yap acrrjfia to. yeypafnieva, cos Qeos dtr' dpxfjs ^vXov fcojjs €v p.fcra napabeiaov ((pvrevaf, Sia yvcoaecins Ca>r]v fTvi8fLKi>vs' i] fj.T] KoBapmi xP'^l'^dfifvoi ol drr apx^i^t nkdvr] rov ocfxan yfyvpLVcovrni' D 34 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. And thus though our will is free, and we may choose good or evil as we list, yet we know too little wherein our happiness consists to choose aright. We call evil good and good evil. " What have I to do with Thee, Jesus, thou Son of God?" is the natural language of our hearts to Him, who is our peace and our life. And thus through veiy ignorance we make a wrong choice, and our will takes a wrong bias. But to say that man is naturally ignorant of the things which make for his peace, is but a partial account of his case. The corrupt bias which he has received, inclines him to prefer ignorance to knowledge. He loves darkness rather than light. The things of the Spirit of God are foolishness to him ; he scorns and derides them. And St. Paul is describing the conduct and character not of any particular class, but of all who are not under the influence of Divine grace, when he speaks of the deceivahleness of unrighteousness in them that perish, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved. No man loves the truth who is not of the truth — whose heart has not been taught to love it by Him who is the Truth. It was a just judgment upon our first parents, that as they sinned through the desire of knowledge, which God had ovbe yap fwjj avev yvaxreois, ovbe yvotais d. MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 43 makes no exceptions: he speaks of all as guilty; he shuts up all under sin. He himself indeed, if any, might have seemed worthy to be exempted from so sweeping a charge, for he says of himself in one place, referring to his manner of life before he became a Christian, that touching the righteousness which is in the law he was blameless "; and yet we find him on another occasion, when he had been describing the actual condition of the Gentiles, in the darkest colours, as dead in trespasses and sins, as walking according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of tlie air, the spirit which now worketh in the children of disobedience, seizing, as it were, the opportunity of acknowledging that his own case and that of the rest of his nation was in no wise more favourable : " Among whom," he says, " we all had our conversation in times past, in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of ^vl•ath even as others".'' And here we may close the subject we have been considering. Whether we look at the condemnation entailed upon us as the descendants of an attainted ancestor, or at the corrupt nature derived from him by propagation, or at the actual transgressions, the fi-uit of that corrupt nature, which, wherever there have been time and opportunity, have been superadded to oiu' original guilt, nothing can be more deplorably "' Plul. iii. 6. " Eph. ii. 1—3. 44 MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. miserable than our condition. We are all guilty before God. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. That one offence of our first father has made all men sinners, and has brought indignation and wrath upon the whole world. But blessed for ever be His Name who has not left us to perish in this our wretchedness. The coats of skins with which He clothed our first parents, as they were a token that in judgment He remem- bered mercy, so were they also an earnest of a better covering, with which He should for ever hide the shame of His people. What that covering is, and how to be put on, and how to be preserved in its purity and integrity, are among the most deeply important subjects which it is possible for us to have brought under our consideration. To these I pur- pose, if God permit and enable me, on some future occasions to draw your attention. In the mean time, may the consideration of the misery and wretchedness of our natural condition lead us, on the one hand, to walk humbly with our God, as remem- bering the rock whence we were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence we were digged, on the other, stir us up to earnest and heart-searching enquiries as to whether we are indeed availing ourselves of that deliverance, which God, in His abundant mercy, hath provided for the sons of men. In spite of our Christian name and Christian profession, if we are not true and living members of Christ's body, quickened by His Spirit, renewed after His MAN FALLEN IN ADAM. 45 image, the curse entailed upon his race by our first father, rests on us in its full weight : and with this aggravation of our wretchedness, that we might have been blessed, and would not. SERMON II. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. " lllud unum peccatum, quod tarn magnum in loco et habitu tantse felicilatis admissum est, ut in uno homine originaliter, atque, ut ita dixerim, radicaliter, totum genus humanum damnaretur, non solvitur ac diluitur, nisi per unum Mediatorem Dei et hominum, hominem Christum Jesum, qui solus potuit ita nasci, ut ei opus non esset renasci." August. Enchivid. xlviii. Romans v. 15, If through (ho offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one 3Ian, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. Ix the preceding Sermon, I endeavoured to set fortli the miserable condition in which we all are by nature. By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin — death in both its senses, death temporal, and death spiritual — the death of the body, and the death of the soul ; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned in that one man, in Adam. We are born under con- demnation; we bring into the world with us a sinful nature ; and from the moment we are able to dis- tinguish good from evil, we are daily adding to our condemnation by our own personal transgressions, and strengthening our sinful habit by acts of sin. Had we been left to ourselves — as we might have been most justly — we should have gone on increasing in wickedness, till the world, defiled with our iniquities, like Canaan of old, would have vomited out its guilty inhabitants^. But we have not been left to ourselves. It has pleased God, in His unsearchable wisdom and " See J-ev. xviii. 2o. E 50 MAN RKSTORKD ]N CHRIST. abounding love, to devise a plan for our recovery corresponding to our fall, that as we derive all our misery from one man, the first father of our race, so we should derive all our happiness from one man, our progenitor in respect of another and better existence; that " as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one should many be made righteous^." To this end the eternal Son took man's nature in the womb of the blessed Virgin, purifying and en- nobling that nature by its union with the divine. He came to be the counterpart of Adam, the second head of a second race, the fountain and source of life to as many as should be engrafted into Him. He came to reconcile God and man ; yea more, to knit together in one God and man, being Himself both God and man; that as the Father dwelleth in Him, and He in the Father, so He might dwell in His people, and His people in Him. In Him all must dwell, and He in all who would partake of the benefits which He hath procured for the sons of men. Into Him all must be engrafted, as living branches into a living stock, who would bring forth fruit answerable to those benefits. " As we are really partakers of the body of sin and death received from Adam, so except we be truly partakers of Christ, and as really possessed of His Spirit, all we speak of eternal life is but a dreamt" '' Rom. V. 19. See Chrvsnst. in Roin. v, 14. ' rioukpv, !■:. p. book V. §. .5(). MAN RESTOKEI) IN CHRIST, 51 And if so, it is obvious how much it concerns us, in order to our having a right understanding of those high blessings towards wliich all our better hopes are directed, that we regard them in connexion with this great and central truth, that they are bestowed upon lis in Christ, and flow to us through our union with Him. From no other point can they be seen adequately and in their just bearings. And very much of the confusion of thought and variance of opinion, which have prevailed respecting them, is to be traced to no other cause than that they have been viewed without sufficient reference to it. Thus sub- jects, which though inseparably connected are yet essentially distinct, have been, on the one hand, con- founded with each other, on the other, treated as though they were isolated and detached. Nor have any suffered more in this way than Justification and those akin to it. It shall be the object therefore of the present Sermon, to consider in what sense Christ may be said to be in His people, and His people in Him, and to point out, how, through the union implied in that mutual indwelling, God has graciously provided a remedy for the miseries which our first father entailed upon his race. There is doubtless much that is mysterious and beyond our utmost reach of thought in this high subject, but it is one on which Scripture has spoken so frequently and so explicitly, that, if we will be content with what Scripture teaches, we cannot be greatly at a loss. E 2 52 MAN KKSTOHF.I) IX CHRIST. I. I would observe then, that when we are said to be in Christ, this is meant parti} in a sense corresponding to that in which we are said to have been in Adam, partly in an infinitely higher sense. We may be said to have been in Adam, inasmuch as every effect is in the original cause which gives it being. When God created Adam he created us in him. And, on the other hand, Adam may be said to be in iis, inasmuch as every original cause is, after a sort, in the effects which spring from if*. From Adam, considered in this respect, we derive both our natural life, and also that corrupt nature — the likeness of his — which is transmitted by propagation, through successive generations, to his whole race. Again, we may be said to be in Adam, inasmuch as we were represented by him in the covenant which God made with him, and, in him, with all who should be descended from him. He was the federal head of that covenant, and we were included under him. What he did and contracted, in regard to it, is set down to our account. And in this respect, we derive from him condemnation and death. Thus by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned in him; thus, by one man's disobedience many were made sinners ; thus by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Now in both these senses, our being in Christ in part corresponds to our being in Adam, in part '' See IL;ol'n. " For what man in the world is there," as Hooker justly asks, " who hath not so far forth communion with Jesus Christ?" Though his human nature is the basis of His union with us, yet He with whom we are united is both God and man. And we, by being- united to Him, become, to use St. Peter's expression, ' 2 Cor. viii. f». MAN nF.STORF.n IN CHRIST. 63 " partakers of the Divine nature." We are new creatures in Christ, The hfe we Hve is a divine life. Yea it is not we that Hve, but Christ liveth in us. But vvliile our Lord's infinite love to us led Him to humble Himself so as to become flesh. His infinite purity could not endure that He should defile Himself with sinful flesh ''. The nature which He took was a sinless nature. It had all the essential properties of manhood, but it was without sin. Our Lord was made in the likeuess^ of sinful flesh, not in sinful flesh. His birth of the Virgin Mary gave Him thus much in common with us, that He was as truly man as we are ; His conception by the Holy Ghost distinguished Him from all other men, in that He was wholly free from whatsoever of sin and guilt we have inherited from our first father. And therefore, even before He was conceived in the womb. He was spoken of as that lioly thing which should be born". He alone of all the sons of men, since the fall, was so born that He needed not to be born again. That which we become at our regene- ration, He was, though in an infinitely higher and more perfect sense, at His natural birth. And His being such at His natural birth, is the cause of our becoming such at our second birth. •^ See Bp. Pearson on the Creed, Art. iii. vol. i. p. 265. ' Vides in Domino carnem mortaleui: non est caro peccati; similifudo est caniis peccati. A\igust. Senn. 134. (alias 48.) "' Liikc i. .?3. G J MAN RESTOKED IN CHRIST. And this original holiness, which our Lord hrought into the world with Him, He preserved, unsullied hy the slightest taint, from His birth to His death. With a nature in every other respect such as ours, — as keenly sensible of pleasure and pain, joy and sorrow, applause and shame, ease and weariness, — He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. The tempter came", but he had nothing in Him. His heart never swerved, for an instant, from that law of love to God, which enthroned God supremely in His affections, and of charity to man, which first led Him to be born, and then to lay down His life for us. It was His meat to do the will of Him that sent Him, and to finish His work" : insomuch that he could appeal to His Father, when on the eve of leaving the world, that He had glorified Him on the earth. He had finished the work which He had given Him to do^ Thus, as He was wholly free from ori(jinal sin, so was He from actual also. In the language of one sacred writer, " In Him is no sin'." In the language of another, " He knew no sin '." Whatsoever other unhappiness our nature is susceptible of. He knew full well. Hunger and thirst, fatigue and weariness, shame and reproach, sorrowfulness and dejection, cruel mockings and scourgings, torture and death — of these and the like, He had large experience ; but of sin He knew nothing, save by what He saw " John xiv. 30. ° John iv. 34. ^ John xvii. 4. 1 1 John iii. 5. ' 2 Cor. v. 21. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. 65 of it and encountered, in the world around Him. And truly it was not the least part of the suffering which He underwent for our sakes, that He was for so long a season constrained to dwell among sinners, and to have His habitation in a world lying in wickedness. As our Lord's human nature was the basis on which His union with us rests, so was it also the stage, so to speak, on which He did and suffered whatsoever He came to do and to suffer on our behalf. Our first father sinned by disobedience to God's law; and He who should redeem us must render a perfect obedience, and fulfil all righteousness both in doing and suffering tlie will of God. But he must do it in the nature in which the transgression was committed'. Man had broken the law, and man must keep it. A body therefore was prepared for Him, that in that He might do and suffer the will of God ; and He who was " equal with the Father," became the servant of the Father, and though He ' XpiCTTOs yap I'jfias e^rjyopacrev (k rrjs Kcirapas roii vonov Tt)v TrXjjpoJcrii/ Tov vofiov, ttjv 8ia rrfs dirapxris yevopevrjv oXo) Xoyt^eV^at t<5 (^vpa^arC yivaxjKfiv to Trpenov koi to aKoXovdov' on, Qeov yvfivov tov v6[iov TrkrjpcocravTos, inep ov Koi Xeyeiv appodtov, ovk tjv aXKrjv ovcrlav fifTexeiv Toil KaropdapaTos, aapKos 8e ttjs e^ f]pa>v iv rw TiKrjpaxravTi. tov vopov yva>pi^opevr]s, dvacpalveTai tov yei'ous' to Kav)(r]pa, a)s KaTa'TraTelv dbems tov davoTOV to Kevrpov, oia prjKeTi )^a>pav e)(ov kutci Trji (fivcrecds, rjt T] anap)(f) Trpo\a^ovaa KaTeiraTrjcre Ka\ fjp^\vv(, koi nCicn 8e8coKe toT? 7Ti(rT€vov(Ti XeytLV' Ilov (TOV, BdvaTi, TO Kivrpov; nov croii, adrj, to vIko^ ; Athanas. in Faber on Justification, p. 12-5. ¥ GG MAX RESTOKED IN CHRIST. were a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered. He laid aside His glory, the glory which He had with the Father before the world was, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. This was the first step in His humiliation, and that on which the rest followed. And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself still more, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross'. For, further, Adam, by his disobedience, had brought death into the world, with its mournful train of suffering and sorrow here, and of interminable woe hereafter — and therefore it was not enough for our surety to fidfil the law, and to render a ' perfect obedience, both active and passive, to the will of God. He must also, that we might benefit by His obedience, bear our iniquities, and sustain the penalty of our sins, by submitting to death on our behalf. But as God, He could not suffer; as God, He could not die. " Forasmuch therefore as the children are partakers of flesh and blood. He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that, through death. He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them, who, through fear of death, were all their lifetime subject to bondage"." And thus our Lord's assumption of our nature ' I'hil. ii. C.-S. " Hob. ii. 14, 15. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. 67 was subsidiary to His susception of our guilt and of our punishmeut. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews delights to dwell upon the types under which the Jewish law had shadowed forth the promised Saviour, both as the sacrifice which was to be offered for the sin of the world, and as the High Priest who was to offer it. And in both respects he speaks of Him as neces- sarily partaking of our nature. That He might be the sacrifice, a body was prepared for Him, and we are sanctified through the offering of that body once for air. And in like manner, that He might be the High Priest, " in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining unto God, to make reconcihation for the sins of the people" — merciful and faithful, as being touched with the feeling of their infirmities''. And yet again ; it was necessary that as Adam, by yielding to the Tempter, had brought himself and his whole race under the yoke of Satan, He who should deliver us from that yoke, should Himself encounter the evil one, and overcome him. And for this cause also it behoved Him to take upon Him our nature, that as man had been subdued, so man also should subdue. It was the seed of the woman which must bruise the serpent's head. Accordingly it was in His human nature that our Lord engaged in that fearful conflict, " Heb. X. 6— 14. ' Heb. ii. 17. F 2 68 MAN RKSTOIiKD IN CHRIST. struggling with tlie powers of darkness, as through His whole life, so more especially hoth at that season when it is expressly recorded that He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and also in His mysterious agony in the garden, and during His hours of suffering upon the Cross, when all the waves and storms of His Father's wrath went over Him. He partook of flesh and blood, that He might be tempted in all points like as we are, and that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil. In all these respects, it is obvious how our Lord's assumption of our nature was necessary, in order to His doing and suffering whatsoever He came to do and to suffer in our behalf. But it was the perfect sinlessness of that nature in His Person, coupled with the circumstance that it was united to the Divine, vvhich fitted Him to become a second Adam, the Progenitor of a second race, the Head and Representative of a second Covenant, and thus enabled Him to counteract the evils vvhich the first Adam had entailed upon his descendants. Was it necessary that as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one many should be made righteous'? Here was one both capable of rendering, and who actually did render, perfect obedience, and that obedience, as the obedi- ence of Him who was God as well as man, of infinite merit. Was it necessary that one should be found, ' Rom. V. 19. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. 69 who might, in His own person, bear the sins of the whole world ? Here was one, who being without sin Himself, botli original and actual, and having the strength of Godhead bound up indissolubly with His human nature, was able to sustain the enormous load. Was it necessary, after God had provided a victim of sufficient price to make atonement, that a high priest should be found worthy to enter v.ithin the inmost recesses of the heavenly temple, and sprinkle its blood before the mercy-seat ? Here was one, who needed not daily, as the priests under the law, to offer up sacrifice first for his own sins, and then for the people's, seeing that he was holy, harm- less, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens \ Was it necessary, that He who should rescue us from the yoke of Satan, under Vyhich our first father, through disobedience to the command of God, had brought himself and his posterity, should Himself encounter and overcome the evil one ? Here was one, in whom the prince of this world, when He came, had nothing which He could challenge as His own""; who, though He was tempted in all points like as we are, was yet without sin''; and who, joining to this perfect sinlessness of His human nature the Almighty strength of Deity, was able to bind the strong man, and to lead captivity captive, and thus to spoil principalities and powers, and to make a show of them openly, triumph- ing over them in His Cross''. ' PKb. vii. 26, 27. >' .luliii xiv. 30. ^ Mcb. iv. 15. '' Cul. ii. lo. 10. MAX KESTOKED IX CHRIST. ii. But we must pass on lo consider what Christ, as man, has received ybr us. Hitherto, the subject we have had before us has been the wondrous humihation of the eternal Word, who, for His great love wherewith He loved us, stooped so low as to become man, and, as man, submitted to a life of sorrow and a death of shame. We are now to consider the grace, which God hath given to that Man, who hath been so highly favoured as to be eternally joined in one Person with Deity. Doubtless God hath many ways exalted Him infinitely beyond our conception, and possibly in many respects in which we are but remotely con- cerned. But thus much we know, that " God hath given unto Him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus (even that name which belongs to Him as man) every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father"." And thus far we are concerned in His exaltation, that the object for which our nature was both assumed by Him, at His incarnation, and was glorified in His Person, on His ascension, was, that He might be the Head over all things to His Church, according to the good pleasure of the Father, which He purposed in Himself, " that in the dispensation of the fulness of times. He might gather together in one all things in Christ, ^ riiii. ii. 0-11. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. 71 both which are in heaven, and which are on earth V If then, it be asked, what hath Christ in His human nature received for us ? we may answer generally, that as God hath exalted Him to be the Head of His Church, so hath He bestowed upon Him whatsoever blessings are requisite either for His Church collectively, or the members of His Church individually, to be derived from Him to all, as they severally have need. When He ascended up on high. He led captivity captive, and received gifts yo/'= men, as we have it in the Psalmist'', ffave gifts iinto men, as we have it in the Apostle'. He received that He might give. Yea, so intimately is He united to His Church, that as He became man for her sake, so, whatsoever He hath received as her Head, He hath received not for Himself alone, ' Epb. i. 9, 10. ^ In the man, marg. As tlioiigli. In His human nalnre. St. Augustine, who lead, as the Vulgate still does, ' In hominibus,' understands the Psalmist to have an eye to Christ's oneness with His Church, the Aposlle, to his oneness ivith His Father. As one with His P'alher, He gave the Holy Spirit, as one with His Church, He received the Holy Spirit in her members. " Secundum hoc (quod Deus cum Patre) ' dedit dona hominibus,' mittens eis Spiritum Sanctum, qui Spiritus est Patvis et Filii. Secundum illud vero, quod idem ipse Christus in corpore suo intelligitur, quod est Ecclesia, propter quod et membra ejus sunt sancti et lideles ejus, (unde eis dicitur, ' Vos autem eslis corpus Cbristi et membra') procul dubio et ipse ' acccpif dona in hominibus.'" August, in Ps. Ixvii. " Ps. Ixviii. 18. ' K])h. iv. 8. 7-2 MAN KESTOKEU IN CHRIST. but for her with Himself; for Himself as the Head, for His Churcli as the body, for His people indi- vidually as the members of the body ; and this, by the way, may throw light upon St. John's expression, when after declaring that " the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us,.... full of grace and truth," he adds, " and of His fulness have all we received, and grace for grace'," grace received by us answering to the grace bestowed in the first instance upon Him, grace in the members derived from and corresponding to the grace poured forth upon the Head. Christ is represented in Scripture as the fountain of spiritual blessings of every description to His people. Whatever we have or hope for in respect of the divine life, is spoken of as (jiven us in Him. In him we fii"st became the objects of God's love^. In Him we were chosen before the foundation of the worlds God h.ath called us to His eternal glory in Christ Jesus'^. God hatli given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Sou''. We become new creatures in Christ". And we are created in Christ Jesus unto good works p. In Christ we have redemp- tion through His blood, even the forgiveness ofsins''; and God hath forgiven us in Christy and in Christ hath reconciled the world unto HimselP; and hath justified us in Him*, and He hath made us accepted J .Tolm i. 14. 10. ^ Rtiin. viii.39. I Cor. i. 4. ' Kph. i. 4. "' I Pet. V. 10. " 1 John v. I I. 2 Tim. i. 1. " 2 Cor. v. 17. '' Eph. ii. 10. T Col. i. 14. ■■ F.plifs. iv. 32. ' 2 Cor. v. 1 9. • 1 Cor. i. 30, 2 Cor. v. 21. Cial. ii. 17. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. 73 in the Beloved^'. In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge''. He pours forth His Spirit upon His people, and they are sanctified in Him^ ; and in Him have strength to serve God, and overcome the enemies of their salvation ^ The blessing of Abraham has come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus'". In Christ v/e have fellowship with our fellow Christians, being with them joint members of that Church in which all are one, " where there is neither Jew nor Greek, circumcision nor uncircum- cision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all ^." Thus there is in truth no spiritual blessing which is bestowed upon Christians, but they receive it from Christ ; and as they receive it from Christ, so He in the first instance received it^o/- tltem. If Christians are anointed with the Holy Spirit'', it is because the gift was first bestowed upon Christ, that from Him, the Anointed of the Father, it might flow fortli to His people. If Christians are endued with spiritual life, it is because, as tiie Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself^ and His life is the cause of theirs". If Christians are raised from the death of sin here, and if they shall be raised from the death of the body hereafter, and being so raised shall be exalted into heaven, it is because God exerts in them the same mighty power '■ Eph. i. 6. ' Col. ii. 3. >• J Cor. i. 2. ' Eph. vi. 10. » Gal.iii. 14. '^ Col. iii. 11. -^1 John ii. 20, 27, •' John V. 2f;. ' John x;v. 19. 74 MAN RESTOKLD IN CHRIST. which He wrought in Clirist, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, quickening them together with Christ, and raising them up together, and making them sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus *^. And in like manner we might follow out the connexion through a variety of particulars, in which, very observably and surely not without design, the very same words are applied by the sacred writers both to Christians and to Christ. Are Christians, e. g. spoken of as God's elect people^? It is because Christ is tlie elect of the Father^, and they are elect in Him'. Are Christians called to be Saints^P Christ is the Holy One^, and they are sanctified in Him. Are Christians, sons oj God, and, if sons, heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ'" P It is because Christ is the Son of God and Heir of all things", and they are sons and heirs in Him. Are Christians Ahrahanis seed°P It is be- cause Christ is the seed of Abraham, and they are accounted such in Him p. Are Christians the ligld of the 7vorld'^P It is because Christ is the Light of the worUP, and they are light in Him, they shine by His light and reflect His light by which they shine, to the eyes of men. Are Christians made kings and priests unto God^'P It is because Christ is the King ' Eph. i. 19, 20. and ii. 5, 6. « 2 Tim. ii. 10. •" Isaiah xlii. I. ' Eph. i. 4. M Cor. i. 2. ' iMark i. 24. "' Rom. viii. 10, 17. " Ik-b. i. 2. " Gal. iii. 2!). •' Gal. iii. 10. 1 INIat.v. 14. ' Jiilin ix. a. ' Rev. v. 10. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. 75 of kinijs, and the great High Priest of the Father^, and they are kings and priests in Him. In these respects tlien and the hke has Christ, as man, received gifts for men. God hath anointed Him with the oil of gladness above His fellows". Yet in such wise that they also are anointed with Him. The precious ointment which was poured upon the head, hath run down unto the beard and gone down even unto the skirts of His clothing, and the whole world is filled with its odour''. And thus, in the very exaltation of our Lord's human nature, we are reminded of the wondrous condescension of His divine. For even to be capable of exaltation, is what the eternal Hon, as God onhj, could not have stooped to; and to be capable of re- ceiving — otherwise than, as the Only-begotten of the Father, He hath received from all eternity from the Father, to be God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God — would but for His manhood have been impossible. But such vv^as His marvellous love, that He, who, as God, is the fountain and source of grace, as man, received grace, that on us He might bestow grace. He, from wlioni the Holy Spirit proceeds, received the Spirit, that He might make us partakers of the Spirit. He, who dwelt in the bosom of the Father from all eternity, was exalted to the Father's right hand in the heavenly places, that He might exalt us with Himself, and make us partakers • Kev. xlx. 16. Heb. iv. 14. ■ W. xl •. 7. ^ IV.ilin exxxiii. 7G MAN RESTORED IN CIimST. of the glory which He had with the Father before the world was. We have now seen what Christ hath received yyow us, and what He hath received for us. He liath received y)-ow ks our nature, that, as man, He might render a perfect obedience to His Father's will and fulfil all righteousness; that, as man, He might bear our sins in His own body upon the tree; that, as man, He might both die for us, and, through death, destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil : and in the same nature having been exalted to His Father's right hand in heaven. He hath been made Head over all things to His Church, that receiving from the Father whatsoever blessings are needful whether for His Church collectively, or the members of His Church individually, He may be the fountain of life and grace to His people, quickening them by His Spirit, conforming them to His own divine image, in which man was originally created, and preparing them for tliat day when He shall com- plete what He has begun, when He shall raise them from the dead, and exalt them to heaven, and grant them to sit with Him on His throne, even as He is set down with His Father on His throne^'. Thus Christ is become to us a second Adam ; only with these infinite advantages over the first : that whereas the first Adam was made a living soul, the second Adam was made a quickening spirir-, whereas the first man was oj' (he earth, earthy, the second •>■ Rev. iii. 21. ' 1 Cur. xv. 45 MAN RESTORKD I\ CIIKIST. man is the Lord from heaven/' ; whereas the first after fulfining his appointed term of clays, returned to the dust from which He was taken, the second abideth for ever, the perpetual and inexhaustible well-spring- of life and immortality to His people. And hence the union which we have with Christ, while in part it corresponds with the connexion v/hich we have with Adam, hi part transcends it infinitely. We are in both, respectively, as every effect may be said to be in the cause, from which it derives its being: we are in both, respectively, inasmuch as we are represented by them in the covenants, in which each stands as the Head and Surety of all belonging to him. But Christ being the (/real first cause and highest original, and not only the Author, but also the Preserver and Conservator, as well of our spiritual as of our natural life, and having taken man's nature upon Him for the express purpose that of Himself, now both God and man, He might frame His Church, we are in Him, as it is impossible we should be in any subordinate cause. We dwell in Him, and He in us, we are one with Him, and He with us. We are members of that body of which He is the Head, united to Him by His Spirit, by which He quickens us and abides within us, in a true and living union. And what the Apostle says in reference to the inferior members is strictly applicable in reference to Him, who, as the Head, is the chief member. Whether one member suOer, all the members suffer ■ 1 Cor. XV. 47. 78 MAN llESTOKEI) IN CHRIST. with it, or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it*". Christ's suflferings are His Church's sufferinofs, Christ's exaltation is His Church's exalt- ation. And this union is the true basis of the covenant relationship which He bears towards us''. As the Husband of His Church, He represents His Church; as the Father of His people, He represents His people; as the first-born among many brethren, He represents His brethren; as the Head of His body, whatsoever He haQi done or suffered is ac- counted as the deed or suffering of His body, and whatsoever of grace or glory He hath received, is oiven Him for the ornament and exaltation of His body : God's covenant therefore is with Christ, and, in Christ, with His Church, and the individual members of His Church; and thus "all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in Him amen, to the glory of God by us''." They are made to Him, and, in Him, to His people. And seeing it is alike im- possible that either the Son, to whom they are made, should fail of the conditions, or the Father, by whom they are made, of His word, they are established on an immovable and imperishable basis. O blessed security of our hope, which rests not upon the weak- ness or fickleness of man, but upon the Almighty strength of Christ, and the unchangeable truth of God! " 1 C'oi. xii. 2(i. - soo (ial. iii. l(i. >' 2 Cor. i. 20. MAN RESTORED IN CHRIST. 7i) Thus under wliichsoever aspect we regard Him, wlietlier as united to His Church as the Head to the body, in a true and Hving union; or as the Repre- sentative of His Church in the everlasting covenant which His Father made with Him before the world was, Christ is the remedy which the abounding- love of God hath provided for the misery of our fallen and ruined race. 1. Did Adam bring death into the world, — the death of the body? Christ is the resurrection and the life : and because He lives, we, if we believe in Him, shall live also? " If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you'V " Our corruptible bodies could never live the life they shall live, were it not that here they are joined with His body which is incorruptible, and that His is in ours as a cause of immortality, a cause by removing through the death and merit of His own flesh, that which hindered the life of ours"." 2. Again ; Did Adam bring condemnation upon his whole race? Christ hath borne the penalty of the broken law, and we have borne it in Him. Christ hath rendered a perfect obedience to His Father's will, and His obedience is ours. God looks upon us no longer as we are in ourselves the guilty children of the first Adam, but as we are in Christ, His Son in whom He is well pleased. " Such we are, (to use '' Rom. viii. 11. ^ Hooker, E. P. v. §. 56. 80 MAX RESTORED IN CHRIST. Hooker's well-known words,) in the sight of God the Father, as is the very Son of God Himself. Let it be counted folly or frenzy or fury whatsoever; it is our comfort and our wisdom. We care for no knowledge in the world but this, that man hath sinned and God hath suffered; that God hath made Himself the Son of man, and that men are made the righteousness of God V Lastly; Do we derive from Adam a corrupt nature ? Is that glorious image of God in which our first father was created, marred and defaced ? For this also we have a remedy in Christ. For our union with Christ involves necessarily the presence of the Spirit of Christ, insomuch that if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His : and where that Spirit dwells, there must be holiness. Thus, every way, Christ is the remedy for Adam's sin. As in Adam all die, in every sense of which the word death is capable, even so in Christ, and with the like extent of meaning, are all made alive. Our guilt is washed away in His blood; our corruption is cleansed by His Spirit ; our death is swallowed up in His victory. In one word, Christ " is made unto us of God wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord*'." ' Hooker on Juslificalioii, ^. 6. « 1 Cor. i. 30, 31. SERMON III. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. G " Ipse ergo peccatum, ut nos justilia; nee nostra, seel Dei ; nee in nobis sed in ipso : sicut ipse peccatum, non suum, sed nostrum ; nee in se sed in nobis constitutum, sinailitudine carnis peccati, in qua crucifixus est, demon- stravit." Augustin. Enchirid. xli. " Adge peccatum imputabitur mihi, et Christi justitia non pertinebit ad me ?" Bernard, apud Davenant de Justitia habituali. c. xxviii. " I must take heed what I saj' : but the Apostle saith, ' God made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.' Such we are in the sight of God the Father, as is the very Son of God Himself. Let it be counted folly, or frenzy, or fury, whatsoever ; it is our comfort, and our wisdom ; we care for no knowledge in the world but this. That man hath sinned and God hath suffered ; that God hath made Himself the Son of Man, and that men are made the righteousness of God." Hooker on Justification, §. 6. Q Cor. v. 21. He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our blessed Lord, in joining Himself to His Church, was both a giver and a receiver in various respects. The language which He addressed to His Father, He might fitly have spoken to her also — " All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine""." Thus, He took our nature, and made us partakers of the Divine. He became the Son of man, that we, in Him, might become sons of God. And if it be possible to find a more stupendous instance even than these, of the mutual participation which His people and He have in each other, it is. that with which the text furnishes us. God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Christ received from us that which He had not and could not have of Himself. And we receive in Him that which we have not and cannot have of ourselves. He was made sin for us, we become the righteousness of God in Him. ° John xvii. 10. G 2 84 IMPUTED RIGUTEOUSNESS. We have here then an illustration, in the particular instance of the transfer of our sins to Christ, and of our being made the righteousness of God in Him, of the general principle of which I spoke at large in my last Sermon. Christ, whether we regard Him as united to His Church, as the head to the body, in a true and living union, or as the representative of His Church in the everlasting covenant which His Father made with Him before the world was, is the remedy which the abounding love of God hath provided for the evils entailed upon us by the offence of our first father. These evils, we have seen, consist mainly in an entailed condemnation and a corrupt nature; and the actual transgressions proceeding from the latter, as well as its own inherent sinfulness, have added to the weight of the former. In Christ we have de- liverance from both ; deliverance from the guilt of sin, for He has been made sin for us, and we are made the righteousness of God in Him; deliverance from the power of sin, for we are made partakers of His Spirit, which flowing from Him to His people, as from the head to the body, assimilates them to Himself, and conforms them to the image of God. And the one deliverance is inseparably connected with the other. He who " once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God''," is the same, who, " His own self, bare our '■ 1 Pot. iii. 18. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 85 sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sin, should hve unto righteousness'." Yet while these two deliverances are inseparably connected, it may be a question, whether they are so co-ordinately, in that they spring toyethcr from one common source, or suhordinately, in that one is derived from the other. Is our deliverance from the power of sin the cause of our deliverance from its guilt and condemnation? or are both deliverances to be traced up simply and distinctly, like two separate streams issuing from the same fountain, to their common original ? This might seem, at first sight, a question of little moment. And yet it is the point on which one of the chief controversies with regard to our justification turns. That God is the efficient cause of our justification, and Christ the meritorious and procuring cause, there is no dispute. That we must have a principle of righteousness within us, and that principle so pregnant with life, that, wherever time and opportunity are given, it will shew itself in the fruits of a holy and religious conversation, is agreed by all parties who have any real earnestness in the matter of their salvation, however men, in the heat of controversy, may have charged their adversaries with denying it: but the question is. Is this the righteousness, which justifies us before God? True though it is, and wrought in us by the operation of Christ's Spirit, is it sufficient to bear the severity of ' 1 Pet. ii. 24. 86 IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. God's righteous judgment ? Or must not we rather rest simply and at once and without the interpo- sition of any such medium upon Christ, accounting that the ground of our acceptance in the sight of God is not our own inherent but imperfect righteous- ness, but the perfect righteousness of Christ, ours because of our union with Christ ? This then is the subject which, with God's help, I would to-day bring before you. It shall be my endeavour to shew, that our justification consists, not, as the Church of Rome teaches, in our being made righteous, though this also we must be if ever we would reach heaven, but, as our own Church teaches*^, in our being accounted righteous, God dealing with us in Christ as though we had perfectly fulfilled the whole law, hot because we have done so or can do so, but because our guilt in transgTessing the law has been laid upon Christ, whose members we are. If, in pursuing this plan, I shall make the passage which was read at the outset the basis of such con- siderations as I shall bring before you, there will be this advantage, in such a method, over what might be thought a more independent course, that I shall be enabled to commit myself more simply and unreservedly to the guidance of the divine word. I pray that both on the present and on such future occasions as I may be permitted to speak from this place, I may have grace to follow that guidance with ** Ariicle xi. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 87 all godly sincerity, and that so large a measiu'e of God's Spirit may accompany what shall be spoken, that both our hearts and lives may bear witness to its sanctifying influence. Such subjects, of all others, have need to be studied with a continual view to practice. And indeed this is the only spirit in which we may safely approach any controverted subjects, especially in a time of such unnatural and harassing excitement as the present. " The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will shew them His Covenant." '' The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way^" May He give us " the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LordV' and endue us with " meekness of wisdom*^." That the righteousness of which the text speaks is the righteousness which forms the ground of our acceptance in the sight of God, is plain from the scope of the Apostle's argument, which is to shew, that ^the obstacle which formerly stood in the way of our reconciliation with God has been removed, and that we may now draw nigh to Him with confidence as to a most loving Father. '' Now then," he says, after declaring that '' God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them," and that He had committed to him with others the word of reconciliation, — " now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us, we ' Ps. XXV. 14. 9. ' Isaiah xi. 2. *-' James iii. 13. 88 IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. pray you, in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God, For He hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. We therefore as workers together with Him beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain." As though he had said, Be ye reconciled to God ; for, whereas our iniquities did separate between us and Him, he hath graciously removed the barrier, and provided us with a righteousness, in which we may approach Him acceptably. The text has two obvious divisions, which mutually throw light upon each other. I. " God hath made Him to be sin for us who knew no sin." This is what Christ hath received from us. H. " That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." This is what we receive in Him. I. With regard to the former : It has already been sufficiently shewn in what sense Christ knew no sin ; and I need not dwell upon this point now. He took our nature, but not its sinfulness, and He preserved what He took unsullied by the slightest stain from His birth to His death. And yet God " made Him to be sin for us." There are two ways in which this may be taken, though they both amount to the same thing in the end. Either, God dealt with our blessed Lord as a sinner, as altogether sinful, nay the word is stronger still, as though He were sin itself, the very pcrsonifi- IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 89 cation of sin ; or, God made Him a sin-offering, an offering for the sins of the whole world, according to the Prophet's description, " The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all^ ^" and the Baptist's declaration, " Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world'." For the former, we have the structure of the sentence, which, it should seem, designedly contrasts the sin which Christ was made for us, with the ri(jhteousness which we are made in Him^. For the latter, we have the fact that the word sin (aixapTia) is frequently used for sin-offeriny^. Thus, for example, in the fourth chapter of Leviticus we have the following directions given for the sin- offering of the congregation of Israel. " If the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance.... ^ Isaiah liii. 6. ' Jolm i. 29. ' See Clnysost. in loc. '' " Nulla igitur voluptate carnalis concupiscentiae semiiiatus sive conceptus, et ideo nullum peccatum origiiialiler tiahens; Dei quoque gratia Verbo Patris unigeuiio, non gratia filio sed Datura, in uiiitate personte modo mirabili et ineffabili adjunclus alque concretus, et ideo nullum peccatum et ipse committens; tamen propter similitudinem caniis peccati in qua venerat, dictus est et ipse peccatum, sacrificandus ad diluenda peccata. In vetere quippe Lege peccata vocabantur sacrificia pro peccatis : quod vera iste factus est cujus umbrcE erant illae. Hinc Apostolus cum dixisset ' obsecramus pro Christo reconciliari Deo,' continue subjunxit atque ait, ' Euui qui non noverat peccatum, pro nobis peccatum fecit, ut nos simus justitia Dei in ipso' ... id est, Christum pro nobis peccatum fecit Deus cui reconciliandi sumus, hoc est, sacrificium pro peccatis, per quod reconciliari valeremus." August. Enchirid. xli. 90 IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. when their sin is known, then the congregation shall offer a young huUock for the sin, (or for the sin- offering, irepu rrjs a/xapTLa^,^ and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation, and the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the Lord : and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord. And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of the congregation, and the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the vail, and he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar, which is before the Lord, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, (the altar of incense,) and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt-offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is the sin of the cowj relation,'' (afiaprLa avvaycoyrjs eoTTLv^ where sin is evidently used for sin-ojfhrinff, and so accordingly our tranlators have rendered it, " it is a sin-offering for the congregation V Moreover our blessed Lord is frequently expressly spoken of or referred to in Scripture under the figure of a sin-offering. Thus, " That which the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, ' Lev. iv. 13 — 21. Compare also Lev. iv. 25. and v. 9. IMPUTED KIGIITEOUSNKSS. 91 and Jor sin, (jrepl aixaprias, the usual term in the Septuagint for a sin-offeHn(j , ) condemned sin in the flesh "'." And the writer to the Hebrews, referring to the passage from Leviticus just quoted, and other hk{! passages, speaks of Christ as the antitype which the Jewish sin-off"ering typified. '^ We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle. For the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest, for sin, (that is, as sin-offerings, Trepl afxaprlai) are burnt without the camp, (as in the instance above quoted.) Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate :" that is. He was the great and true sin-offering, of which the sin- offerings appointed by the law were but types and shadows". These passages shew, that as the Apostle's term " siri' will bear the interpretation sin-offering, so there are instances enough elsewhere of Christ's being spoken of as a sin-offering to warrant the interpretation here. And here we may observe the peculiar suitableness, in connection with the word he had just used, in the Apostle's mention of our blessed Lord's freedom from sin, forasmuch as it was invariably required in the victims to be offered in sacrifice, that they should be without spot or blemish. That which was re- '" Rom. viii. 3. " Heb. xiii. 10—12. See also ix. 24—28. 92 IMPUTED lUGHTECUSNESS. quired in the type was pre-eminently fulfilled in the antitype. He was " a lamb without blemish and without spot"." " He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin p." The reason why the sin-offering was sometimes called sin, as in the passage in Leviticus above referred to, where the sin-offering of the congregation is called the sin of the congregation, was, it should seem, that the sin of the offerer was transferred to the victim offered, which was significantly intimated in the prescribed ceremonies. Thus the victim which was to be sacrificed, and which must be free from blemish of every sort, was to be placed before the tabernacle, before the Lord; and the elders of the congregation, as the representatives of those in whose behalf it was to be offered, were to lay iheir hands vpon its head, as it were to connect themselves with it, and in token that their guilt was to be transferred from themselves to it. Then it was to be killed, the guiltless and unoffending animal for their sin, and some of its blood sprinkled before the Lord, before the vail of the tabernacle, some put upon the horns of the altar of incense, which was within the holy place, and the rest poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering at the door of the tabernacle. So many different ways were there in which the blood was to be presented before God, for a memorial. And last of all, the whole carcase was " 1 IV;. i. 19. '' 1 .lohii iii. o. IMPUTED HIGHTEOUSNESS. 93 to be carried forth without the camp and there burnt, as though unclean and defiled, and not fit to be retained longer on holy ground. The transfer of the sins of the offerer to the victim offered, which was intimated by the laying of the offerer's hands upon the victim's head, was indicated with still greater distinctness in the type of the scape-goat, on whose head the high priest was commanded to lay both his hands, and confess over him all the iniquiiies of the children of Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and then to send him away, by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness, " and the goat," it is added, " shall bear upon him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited'^." With these ceremonies the Jews were familiar from their childhood, and in them, though numbers possibly saw nothing but the outward rite, little dreaming of the depth of spiritual meaning hidden under them, the Gospel was virtually taught. As indeed the time of the promise drew nigh, other and clearer intimations were afforded in the more explicit declarations of prophecy, the whole heavens, as it were, being irradiated with the beams of the approaching Sun of righteousness ; but yet when Isaiah spoke so explicitly in his fifty-third chapter of the sufferings and atonement of Christ, he, in ■• Lev. xvi. 21, 22. 94 IMPUTED UIGHTKOUSNESS. effect, declared little more, than the law had already intimated, though less openly, in its types and shadows. He used the same language in reference to the true, which it had used in reference to the typical sin- offering. For it was not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins^ The types of the law and the more express declarations of the prophets all pointed to a higher and better sacrifice, on whose head our iniquities should be laid, and to whose person our guilt should be transferred. And thus, as I observed at the outset, it comes to the same thing, whichever of the two meanings we put upon the word " swi" in the passage we are considering, " God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin," He hath transferred our guilt to Christ, He hath dealt with Him as though He were not merely a sinner, but sin, the very personification of sin, as though all the sins of all the world were concentrated in Him. And it is very much to be remarked, how the whole history of our Lord's passion corresponds to this. It was surely not without design that the death by which He died was a public and judicial one, and that while on the one hand, there were so many (and these independent) testimonies to His innocence, on the other, all the principal circum- ' Heb. X. 4. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 95 stances connected with His death tended to represent Him as a malefactor. Thus, His judge, even while he gave sentence upon Him, acquitted Him : " I am innocent," he said, ''^ of the blood of this just person," and vainly washed his hands in token that he disowned all participation in the guilt of His death*. And Pilate's wife's message was to the same effect : " Have thou nothing to do with that just man"." Herod's conviction agi-eed with Pilate's : " I having examined Him," said Pilate, " have found no fault in Him . . . no, nor yet Herod ^." We have besides the testimony of one of His fellow-sufferers: " We indeed justly,.... but this man hath done nothing amiss-';" and of the centurion who w^atched Him while He hung upon the cross: " Certainly this was a righteous man^" Nay, the very people who stood by beholding the crucifixion, many of whom, no doubt, had joined in the murderous cry, Crucify Him, Crucify Him, went away smiting their breasts, as though acknowledging His innocence and their own and their nation's guilt'. Here then were so many independent testimonies to His innocence. Not less remarkable are the multiplied instances of His being dealt with as a malefactor. Thus, when He was first apprehended. He was apprehended as a malefactor. And His ' Matt, xxvii. 24. " ib. v. 19. ^ Luke xxiii. U, lo- ^ ib. V. 41. ' ib. V. 47. " ib. v. 48. 96 IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. ' words spoken to those who apprehended Him shew how keenly He felt the indignity. " Are ye come out as against a thief, with swords and staves for to take Me""?" When He was condemned by the Jews, He was condemned as a malefactor ^ When He was delivered up to Pilate, He was delivered up as a malefactor : "If He were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered Him up unto thee'^." When He was given over to be put to death, a malefactor was released, and He retained for punish- ment ^ And the death by which He died was the death of a malefactor, — the death of the cross, a death accounted infamous by the Gentiles and accursed by the Jews. Nay, as though this were not enough to stamp His character with the brand of infamy. He must have two companions in His death, and they likewise malefactors *^. And to com- plete all, when man had done his worst, to blacken and traduce His good name, and there seemed nothing left but that hidden stay of innocence in the midst of outward trials, the calm sunshine of God's presence felt within, even this was denied Him. For our sins, now become His, had hid His Father's face from Him, and He gave utterance to that cry which indicates perhaps the deepest and the most '' Matt. xxvi. 55. See Barrow's Seniion " Upon the Passion of om- Blessed Saviour." Serm. xxxii. " ib. V. &6, %Q. '^ John xviii. 30. ' Luke xxiii. 25. ' ib. V. 32, 33. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 97 mysterious of His sufferings, " My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me" ?" Thus was that innocent and most holy Person " numbered with tlie transgressors''," thus was He " wounded for our transgressions," thus was He " bruised for our iniquities," thus was " the chas- tisement of our peace upon Him V' thus, in one word, did God make " Him to be sin for us who knew no sin." There are two passages which I shall notice separately as harmonizing very remarkably with the one under our consideration, and conveying most strikingly the same idea of the transfer of our sins to Christ. 1. That David, in the fortieth Psalm, speaks in the person of Christ, is put beyond a doubt by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who quotes verses 6, 7, and 8, expressly as the words of Christ, declaring that He had come to be the true sin- offering for the sins of tlie world ''. Now observe, in what perfect consistency with the figure of the sin-offering, though now the reference to that figure is dropped, Christ, whose words they are, is repre- sented as speaking in the twelfth verse. " Innumerable evils/' He says, " have compassed Me about; mine iniquities have taken hold upon Me so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of my head : therefore my heart faileth Me." And yet of « Matt, xxvii. 46. ^ Isaiah liii. 12. * ib. v. 5. " Heb. X. 5. &c. 98 IMPUTED KIGHTEOUSNESS. Himself" He knew no sin. But they were our iniquities transferred to Him, and made His by reason of His union with us, which pressed thus heavily upon His soul, and made it exceeding sorrowful even unto death. The Lord laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He took it oiF from us and charged it on Him. And it was not less in testimony of His meekness and patience, than in acknowledg- ment of the justice of the punishment under which He suffered, that He was so silent under His suffer- ings. And, as it has been truly remarked, " though His enemies dealt most unjustly with Him, yet He stood as convicted before the judgment-seat of His Father, under the imputed guilt of all our sins, and so eyeing Him, and accounting His business to be chiefly with Him, He did patiently bear the due punishment of all our sins at His Father's hands; according to that of the Psalmist, ' I was dumb, I opened not my mouth, because Thou didst it.' For which reason also, the prophet immediately subjoins the description of His silent carriage, to that which He had spoken of, the confluence of our iniquities upon Him: ' As a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so He openeth not His mouth'.' " 2. We have the same truth taught us under another image in the Epistle to the Galatians : " Christ," saith the Apostle, " hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us""." Both Jews and Gentiles (and St. Paul, as is evident ' Leighton on 1 Pet. ii. 24. '" Gal. iii. 13. IMPUTED KIGHTtoL'SNKSS. 99 from the following verse, contemplates both) were under the cm-se. The Gentiles, as obnoxious to the ancient curse entailed by Adam on all His de- scendants ; the Jews, over and above, as having come short of the requirements of the law, which pronounced a curse on every one that continued not in all things that were written in the book of the law to do them. How then shall any find deliverance ? Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. He who, on His own account, was obnoxious to no curse ; He in whose favour is life, and the light of whose countenance is the everlasting joy of His people; He in whom men shall be blessed, and whom all the generations of the redeemed throughout eternal ages shall call blessed, became a curse for us. The curse was taken from our heads, and laid on His''. In this sense did God make His most holy Son to be sin for us, transferring our sins to Him, and dealing with Him as though He were laden with the iniquities of the whole world. Here then we have an unquestionable instance, ° 'ETrei ovv Koi 6 Kpefidfievos eVi ^v\ov iniKardpaTos, ncu 6 tov vofiop Tt apa^aivo)v eTviKardparos, fieWovra de eKe'iv-qv \veiv rfjv Kardpav vnevdvvop ovK ebei yeveadat avrrjs, Set Se Se^acrdai nardpav dvr eKeivrjs, roiavTrjv cSe^aro, koI 8i avrfjs eKe'ivrjv eXvae. Kal KaOdirep rivos KaradiKaadevros CLTToBaveiv, erepos dvevOvvos iXofievos davelv vnep fKeivov, e^aprrd^fi ttjs Tificopias avTov ovTa koi 6 Xptoros eTrolrjarev. ''Erreidfj yap ov)^ vireKfiTo Kardpa Tjj rrjs Trapa^dcrecos, dveBe^aro 6 Xpiarbs dvr fKelvris ravrrjv, iva \v, o)s dixapT(o\6u KaraKpidijvai. d(f)TjKev, as iiviKaTapaTov dnodavelv Tov yap dUaiov, iprjalv, iTTo'ir]dviaTai. Tovro 8( opov ouT€ firapdtjvai dcj)ir]aiv, arf rov Qeov to irdv xapi(rap€vov, Ka\ hihd(TKft rov boBivTos to ptyedos- ''EKfivrj yap fj irpoTfpa vopov Kal epycov htKaioo-vvT], avr>; 8t Oenv SiKaiocrvvr). Clirvsost. ill 2 Cor. V. 21. IMPUTED RIGHTKOnSNKSS, 115 imputed righteousness, a righteousness so perfect that it admits of no blemish. It will be observed, that in the enquiry into the nature of Justification, which has now been made, I have proceeded altogether irrespectively of the rationale, if I may so speak, which was alluded to at the outset, and to establish which was the object of the preceding discourse, depending upon the mutual participation which Christ and His people have in each other. I was anxious to establish the doctrine by simply following out the teaching of Scripture in such passages as expressly refer to it. And thus much T trust has been shewn: that our guilt has been transferred to Christ, and that God deals with us as righteous persons, not because of an inherent righteousness, but because He mercifully passes by our unrighteousness. But when the Apostle adds that we are made " the righteousness of God in Christ,'' our thoughts are carried forward of necessity to that wondrous union which subsists between Christ and His people, and the doctrine, though, to all intents and purposes, the same, is seen under another aspect, or rather from another point of view. If we are Christ's true servants. He is one with us and we with Him; our sins He bore, as though they had been His own, and His perfect obedience is put down to our account. When He suffered, God beheld in Him, as it were, the whole family of His redeemed people, whose I 2 il6 IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. representative He was, and who, being in Him, suffered in Him. And when He was released from the bonds of death, for that it was not possible He should be held by them, and dealt with by the Father, as though all the demands of Divine justice were now satisfied, we v/ere released in Him, and justified in Him. God first justified the Head, that in Him He might justify the members. Our Lord's death, especially under the circumstances of shame and ignominy and desertion with which it was accompanied, might well have seemed in the sight of both men and angels — at least of evil angels — a visible demon- stration of His guilt. But the resurrection, followed, as it was, first by the ascension, and afterwards by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon His disciples, wiped away every aspersion from His character. It was now plain beyond all question, that God had made that same Jesus, whom the Jews had crucified, both Lord and Christ. He, whom Satan had once bidden, as though he doubted his pretensions, " If Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread ^;" He whom the Jews had once bidden, as though they were confident of His impos- ture, " 7/ Thou be the Son of God, come down fi'om the Cross V was now " declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead'';" and His ascension into heaven, and His session at His Father's right hand, together with the outpouring of the Spirit on '' Matt. iv. 3. ' Matt, xxvii. 40. '' Rom. i. 4. IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 117 those who believed on Him and were wilhng to accept His offered grace, completed in all its parts the great mystery of godliness. " God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory'." And we are only following out the Apostle's principle, who hath taught us that God exercises the same power " to usu'ard who believe, according to the working of His mighty power which He wrought in Christ," in that He hath quickened us together with Him and raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus", in saying that when God "justified'''' His Son, He did so, not for His Son's sake alone, but for theirs also who should believe in Him, that they might be justified together with Him. And thus Christ is " the Lord our righteousness"," " the Lord in whom all the seed of Israel, — the true Israel of God, His believing people, — shall be justified and shall glory °." And He " is made unto us of God wisdom and righte- ousness and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written. He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord p." Nor is this view of the mutual interchange between Christ and His people, which is founded upon the intimate union which subsists between them, a modern invention. St. Augustine, in his Commen- ' 1 Tim. iii. 1(5. '" Ephes. i. 19. — ii. 6. " .Icr. xxiii. 6. • Isaiah xlv. 25. f 1 Cor. i. 30, 31. 118 IMl'UTED UIGIJTKOUSNESS. tary on Psalm xxii, has some remarks on the first and second verses, which shew how fully he recognised the principle, in its application to the particular case of the transfer of our sins to Christ, and Christ's righteousness to us. " Why," he asks, " when God the Word was made flesh and did hang upon the Cross, and cried, ' My God, my God, look upon me, why hast Thou forsaken me?' why are these words spoken, but because ive were tliere present, because the Church is Christ's body?" . . . . " Far from my salvation are the words of my sins," the Psalm continues, according to the old Latin version; on which he remarks, " What sins, when the Scrip- ture saith of Him, ' Who did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth ?' How then doth He say Of my sins, but because it is for our sins He prays, and because He made our sins His sins, that He might make His righteousness our righteousness^? ■J August, in Ps. xxi. §. 3. " Et cum Veibum Deus factum esset caro, pendebat in cruce, et dicebat ' Deus mens, Deus meus, lespice me: quare me dereliquisti ?' Quare dicilur, nisi quia nos ibi eramus, nisi quia Corpus Christi Ecclesia? Utquid dixit, ' Deus meuSj Deus meus, respice me: quare me dereliquisti ?' nisi quodammodo intentos nos faciens et dicens, Psahnus iste de nic scriptus est ? ' Longe a salute mea verba delictorum meorum.' Quorum delictorum, de quo dictum est. ' Qui pec- catum non fecit, nee inventus est dolus in ore ejus?' Quoinodo ergo dicit ' Delictorum meorum,' nisi quia pro delictis nostris ipse precatur, et delicta nostra sua delict a fecit, ut justitiam suam nostram justitiam faceret?" On the same principle of interpretation lie continues, " ' Deus meus, clamaboad te per diem, ct non I'xaudies; et iiocte, et non ad iiisipientiam niilii ?' dixit IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 119 This may serve to shew that the doctrine which has been insisted upon is no modern invention. Let the following passage from St. Bernard exemplify the practical application which was made of it in earlier times. " I have sinned grievously," he says, *' my conscience is distressed, but it shall not be over- whelmed in its distress. For I will remember His wounds who was wounded for our iniquities. And what so deadly which tlie death of Christ cannot undo? And therefore he erred who said, My sin is too great for me to merit pardon, unless it were that he was not of Christ's members, and had therefore no right in Christ's merit, so as to call that his own which belonged to Christ — the member to call that its own which belonged to the head. For my own part what I have not in myself, T draw con- fidently from the mercies of my Lord As for my merit, it is the Lord's mercy. I cannot lack merit, so long as He did not lack mercies. And if the mercies of the Lord be manifold, my merits also, in utique de me, de te, de illo; corpus enim suum gerebat, id est, Ecclesiam. Nisi forte putatis, fratres,<]uia quando dixit Dominus, ' Pater, si fieri potest, transeat a me calix iste,' mori timebat. Non est foriior miles quam imperator. Sufficit servo ut sit sicut Dominus ejus. Paulus dicit, miles regis Christi, ' Compellor et duobus, concupiscentiam habens dissolvi et esse cum Christo;' Ille optat mortem ut sit cum Christo, et ipse Christus timet mortem ? Sed quid nisi iniirmitatem nostram portabat, et pro his qui adhuc timent mortem in corpore suo constiiutis, ista dicebat ? Iiide erat ilia vox, membrorum ipsius vox eral, non capitis; sic et hie, ' Per diem et nocteni clainavi, et non cxaudies/ " 120 IMPUTED lUGIlTEOUSNESS. spite of my sins, are manifold. What though I am conscious of manifold sins! Where sin ahounded, grace did much more abound. And if the mercies of the Lord are from everlasting to everlasting, I also will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever. What! shall I sing of my own righteousnesses? No, Lord, I will make mention of thy righteousness only ; for that is mine too. Thou art made unto me of God righteousness. Should I fear lest that one righ- teousness which Thou art made should not serve us both ? It is no short cloak, that it should not, to use the Prophet's words, cover twain. Thy righte- ousness is an everlasting righteousness, and what is longer than everlasting ? Behold thy ample and everlasting righteousness will amply cover both Thee and me at once. In me it covereth a multitude of sins : in Thee, Lord, what doth it cover, but the treasures of goodness, the riches of bounty!" ' " Re vera ubi luta firmaque infiimis pecuritas et requies nisi in vuhieribus salvatoris ? Tanto illic securior babito, quanto ille potentior est ad salvancluin. Freniit niundus, premit corpus, diabolus iiisidiatur, non cado, fuiidatus eiiiiu sum supra firniam petram. Peccavi peccatuui grande, turbabitur couscientia, sed uon pertuibabitur, quoniam vulneruni Domini recordabor. Nempe ' vulneratus est propter iniquitales nostras.' Quid tam ad mortem, quod non Christi morte solvatur ? Si ergo in mentem venerit tam potens lamque efficax medicamentum, nulla jam possum morbi nialignitate terreri. Et ideo liquet errasso ilium qui ail ' major est iuiquitas mea quam ut veniam merear.' Nisi quod non erat de menibris Chrisli, ncc pertinebat ad eum de Christi merito, uf suuni pni'siinicret, sniun dioorrl, quod illius essot. taiu|uam roni capitis IMPUTED RIGHTEOUSNESS. 121 niembrum. Ego vero fideiiter quod ex me niilii deest ujiurpo mihi ex visceribus Domini, quoiiiam misericovdiu affliuint Meum proinde merilum miseiatio Domini. Non plane sum meriti inops, quandiu ille miseiationum non fuerit Quod si misericordiie Dcmiiii multa?, miiltus nihilominus ego in meritis sum. Quid enim si multorum sim mihi coiiscius deliclorum ? Nempe, * ubi abundavit delictum, superabundavit etgiatia.' Et si ' misericordiae Domini ab -cEterno et usque in eeteruum,' ego quoque ' misevicordias Domini in ieteraum cantabo.' Nuuquid juslitias meas ? Domine memorabor justitise tuse solius ? Ipsa est enim et mea : nempe factus esmihi tu justitia a Deo. Nunquid mihi verendum, ne non una ambobus sufficiat ? Non est pallium breve, quod secundum Propbetam, non possit operire duos. ' Justilia tua justitia in aeternum.' Quid longius aeternitate ? Ette pariter et me operiet largiter larga et tetema justitia. Et in me quidem operit multi- ludinem peccalorum; in te, autem, Domine, quid nisi pietatis thesauros, divitias bonitatis ?" Bernard. Serm. Ixi. in Cant. §. 3, 4, 5. Elsewhere he writes : " Quid enim ? unus peccavit, et omnes tenentur rei, et unius innocenlia soli reputabitur uni ? Unius peccatum omnibus operaium est mortem, et unius justitia uni vitam restituet? Itane Dei justilia magis ad condemnandum quam ad restaurandum valuit ? Aut plus potuit Adam in male, quam Christus in bono ? Adse peccatum imputabitur mihi, et Chrlsti justitia non pertiiiebit ad me ? Illius me inobedientia perdidit, et hujus obedienlia non proderit mihi ? Sed Adte, inquis, delictum merito onnies contrahimus, in quo quijipe omnes pec- cavimus : quoniam cum peccavit, in ipso eramus, et ex ejus came, per caniis concupisceuliam, geniti sumus. Atqui ex Deo multo gennanius secundum S])iritum nascimur quam secundum carnem ex Adam ; secundum quem etiam S2)irilum longe ante fuimus in Christo quam secundum carnem in Adam; si tamen et nos inter illos numeraii confidimus, de quibus Apos:olus : ' Qui elegit nos,' iuquit, ' in ipso' (baud diibiuui quin Paler in Filio) 'ante numdi constitutionem." " Bern. Exhorfal. ad mili(csTem})li, c. xi. SERMON IV. 1 N H £ E E N T RIGHTEOUSNESS. " Sic itaque omnes, quicunque in hac vita divinarum Scripturarum testimoniis in bona voluntate atque actibus justitiae praedicati sunt, et quicunque tales vel post eos fuerunt, quamvis non eisdem testimoniis praedicati atque laudati, vel nunc usque etiam sunt, vel postea quoque futuri sunt; omnes magni, omnes justi, omnes veraciter laudabiles sunt, sed sine peccato aliquo non sunt: quoniam Scripturarum testimoniis, quibus de illovum laudibus credi- mus, hoc etiam credimus, non justificavi in conspectu Dei omnem viventera ; ideo rogari, ne intret in judicium cum servis suis; et non tantum universaliter lidelibus omnibus, verum etiam singulis esse orationem dominicam necessa- riam, quam Iradidit discipulis suis." Augustin. de Peccat. Mer. et Rem. lib. ii. §. xiv. " Sed audi quid etiam hinc te admoneat beatus Hilavius. Cum enim exponeret Psalmum quinquagesimum primum, ' Spes,' inquit, ' in misericordia Dei in sfficulum et in ' sajculum saeculi est. Non enim ipsa ilia justitiai opera ' sufficient ad perfectae beatitudinis mcritum, nisi miseri- ' cordia Dei etiam in hac justitias voluntate, humanarum ' demutationum et motuum non reputet vitia. Hinc illud ' prophetae dictum est: Melior misericordia tua super vitas.' Videsne hominem Dei ex illo numcro esse bcatorum, de quibus praedictum est, ' Beatus vir cui non imjnUavit Dominus peccatum, neque est in ore ejus dolus ?' Con- fitetur enim etiam peccata justorum, magis cos asserens in Dei misericordia spem ponere quam de justilia sua fidere." Augustin. contra Julianum Pelagianum, lib. ii. §. viii. 2 Cor. v. 17. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. " What shall we say then ?" asks the Apostle, after he had been setting forth at large the doctrine of Justification by faith in Christ, and, as though anticipating an objection which both in his own and in subsequent times, would be urged against it — " What shall we say ? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin, live any longer therein''?" The same mercy which has provided a remedy for the condemnation entailed upon us by our first father, has provided a remedy also for the corruption of nature which we have derived from the same source. And the same sacrament which, by God's appointment, is the bath^ in which we are washed from the (/uili of our sins, is, by the same appointment, the grave", in which our old nature is buried, and from which we are raised again unto newness of life. " If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,''' he has passed into an entirely new state of existence, he has a new life, in a new world, with new relation- • Rom. vi. 1,2. •' Acts xxii. 16. Tit. 3. 5. ' Rom. vi. 4. 126 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. ships, new desires, new hopes, new fears, new faculties. Once, he was an alien from the common- wealth of Israel, and a stranger from the covenants of promise"^; now he is a fellow-citizen of the saints and of the household of God®; he was sometimes far off, now in Christ Jesus he is made nigh by the blood of Christ^ He was sometimes darkness, now he is light in the Lord ^. He was the slave of sin ^ — sold under sin' — led captive by Satan at his will'' — now sin has no more dominion over him^; for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made him free from the law of sin and death". Thus, every way, old things are passed away, all things are become new ; and all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Him. And yet it is the great unhappiness of the most of us, that we pass through life without any adequate conception, in many cases without any thought at all, of the high privileges which belong to us, and of the grace and strength treasured up for us, in Christ — ours to use to God's glory, or to neglect to our own condemnation. It was the knowledge of our proneness this way which led the Apostle to pray for his converts, (and he mentions it in that Epistle which more than any otlier is full of the great subject of our union with Christ,) that God would •• Ephes. ii. 12. ' Ephes. ii. I!). ' Ephos. ii. 13. « Ephes. V. 8. " John viii. 34- 2 Pet. ii. 19. ' Rom. vii. 14. '■ 2 Tim. ii. 26. ' Rom. vi. 14. " Rom. viii. 2. INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 127 give unto them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eye? of their under- standing being enlightened, that they might know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the gloiy of His inheritance in the saints; and what the exceeding greatness of His power to them who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places". Assuredly unless we do know and consider these great gifts, we shall never rise to high attainments in the divine life. But it is the prevailing fault, whether from sloth, or unbelief, or a worldly spirit, or the low standard which we set ourselves and countenance in others, that we toil feebly on, beset with doubts, complaints, and scruples, to the end of our course, instead of arising in the full confidence of faith, and going cheerfully on our way, strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Nor is it too much to say, that numbers, if they were asked the question which St. Paul asked the disciples at Ephesus, " Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" might answer, as far as to any practical purpose they are acquainted with Him, almost in the very words of those disciples, " We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost"." This then is the point to which our enquuy has now brought us. We have considered the provision " Ephes. i. 17 — 20. • Act? xix. 2. 128 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. whicli God's rich mercy hath made for our dehveraiice from the guilt of sm. We are now to consider the provision vvliich the same rich mercy hath made for our dehverance from its jwwcr. The principle of this deliverance is contained in this simple truth : that whosoever is truly united to Christ — a living- member of His mystical body — is a partaker of the Spirit of Christ. It was the Holy Spirit who united us to Christ in the first instance — and it is by the indwelling of the same Spirit in our hearts, now that we are united to Him, that our union is maintained and preserved, insomuch that should that blessed Being be provoked to abandon us, our union with Christ is at an end. Thus then, when God adopts a man into His family, and gives him an inheritance among his children. He does not leave him to continue such as he was before : but He endues him with grace whereby he may walk worthy of his high calling, and grow in meetness for the heavenly home which He destines for him. By nature we are altogether sinful ; there is no health, no life in us ; we are dead in trespasses and sins : by grace, we are partakers of a new principle — a divine principle — a principle of life and holiness. Not indeed that the new principle destroys and annihilates the old, in this present life. The two coexist together in the Christian while he continues on earth. The flesh lusteth against the S[)irit, and the Spirit against tlie flesli. In those who are not under the influence INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 129 of divine grace — there is but one of these principles — the flesh reigns supreme. And in heaven again, there will be but one of these principles — the Spirit will reign supreme. But here on earth they are both found in every true servant of God. But how found ? Not in a state of peace, but of warfare. And if the Christian is prospering in the divine life, then the Spirit is gaining victory after victory over the flesh. The new principle of holiness is spreading and increasing and strengthening itself, while the old principles of sin is losing ground, and becoming weaker and weaker day by day p. For it should be added, that although Scripture expressly speaks of the new nature, as given to all who are truly united to Christ, yet its whole tenour goes upon the supposition that that heavenly principle needs to be cherished and put forth and exercised. Thus in the very passage where it is declared so expressly that ^' our old man is crucified with Christ," and we are enjoined to " reckon ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord," the Apostle mingles '' " Ita quamvis ibi (in Baptismo) peracta fuerit plena pec- catorum remissio, veraansit tainen, qua proficeretur in melius, adversus cateivas desideriorum malorum in nobis ipsis utique tumultuantium vigilanter exserenda et instanter exercenda luctalio, propter quam dicilur etiam baptizatis ' Mortificate membra vestra qu8B sunt super terram;' et, ' Si Spiritu facta carnis mortificaveritis, vivetis ;' et * Exuite vos veterem hominem.' " August, conlr. Julian. Pelag. lib. vi. §. xviii. K 130 INHERENT KIGHTKOUSNESS. exhortations witli his declarations and injunctions ; " Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteous- ness unto sin : but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead'i." The truth is, that while the Holy Spirit dwells in all Christ's members, all are not equally under His influence. His presence with us is vouchsafed according to our faithfulness. We may neglect, grieve, quench, do despite to, and utterly drive from us the Spirit of grace, or we may cherish His sacred influence, and stir up the gift of God which is within us, and be filled more and more with the Spirit, being renewed, day by day, in the likeness of Him that created us, and so changed into the same image i'rom glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord. This may suflice for a general view of our condition such as it is in Christ. I shall proceed to follov*' it out into detail, shewing in each of the particulars, which were mentioned, on a former occasion, as indicating the sad effects of the fall, how Christ is the remedy which tlie abounding love of God has provided for the misery entailed upon us by the sin of Adam. 1. Foremost in the long train of evils which followed upon the fall is ignorance. Man lost the knowledge of God, and of his true good. His understanding became darkened ; and (what made 1 Rom. vi. 1-2, l;J. INIIEUENT RKiHTEOUSNESS. 131 his case past hope) " he loved darkness rather than hght." Thus it is witli every man in his natural state. There may be great knowledge of the things of this world, great shrewdness — wit — genius — learn- ings — and yet the knowledge of those truths, which, above all others, we are concerned to know, may be wanting, nay, despised and counted foolishness. Indeed in nothing are the humiliating effects of the fall more apparent than in the perversion of the understanding, whereby great mental powers and acquirements are made, when they are not sanctified, obstacles in the way of divine knowledge instead of helps to it. " Ye see your calling, brethren," writes the Apostle, " how that not many wise men after the flesh — not many mighty, not many noble are called ; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and things which are despised hath God chosen, yea and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are^" As then ignorance of God and of the things of God and the love of that ignorance are the foremost in the long train of evils which Adam's sin brought upon his race; so the knowledge of God and of the things of God and delight in that knowledge, and a thirst for larger and larger supplies of it, are the precursors of whatsoever blessings God bestows upon us in Christ. Light was the first thing created in the natural world. It is the first in the spiritual. ^ 1 Cov. i. 26—28. K 2 18-2 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. And this knowledge God communicates to us by producing in us the spirit and temper of Httle children. " J thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes'". "" A deep sense of our own ignorance — will- ingness to be taught — submission of the under- standing to the divine word, lie at the foundation of it. The great truths of the Gospel were, in St. Paul's day, as foolishness in the world's eyes. And so they still are, till men are brought to receive the truth in the love of it. Then, long cherished prejudices melt away, the obstacles which pride and regard for human opinion had raised, are re- moved, and men are willing to become fools that they may become wise. Thus the Christian is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created him'. And if he is faithful to the light given, he goes on increasing in knowledge day by day. By the study of God's word, by the observation of God's providence, by watching the motions of his own heart, by holding communion with God in prayer and other divine ordinances, by intercourse with his fellow-Christians — his acquaint- ance with religious truth is not only enlarged and deepened, but becomes more heartfelt and experi- mental. Once he had heard of God by the hearing of the ear, but now his eye seeth Him. Once, eternal things had no charm for him, his thoughts • Matt. xi. 25. ' Col. iii. 10. INHERKXT KIGUTEOUSNESS. 133 were engrossed with the matters of time and sense, now he rejoiceth at God's word as one that findeth great spoil ", and he counts all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord". Or if he have not reached this standard, it is what he is continually striving after, and making nearer and nearer approaches to. If it be asked how the Christian obtains his know- ledge ? He has lifrom Christ his Head, who is made unto 11 im of God wisdom, and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And the Holy Spirit is his Teacher; whose office it is to receive of the things of Christ, and to shew them unto His people^. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto Him; neither can He know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things. And he hath received the Spirit which is of God, that he may know the things which are freely given us of God^. But yet while the Holy Spirit is his teacher — diligence and pains-taking are no less necessary on his part, than in the case of human learning. Rather indeed they are more necessary, for a man has to attend to his heart as well as to his understanding, lest the one should come under the influence of some corrupt bias, and so the other be warped from the truth. Solomon's directions for the study of divine wisdom imply all this : " My son, if » Ps. cxLx. 162. ' Phil. iii. 8. ^ John xvi. 14. • 1 Cor. ii, 12—16. 134 IMIEIUvNT RIGHTEOUSNESS. thou wilt receive my words, and hide iny command- ments with thee, so that thou inchne thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thy heart to understanding, yea if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding ; if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures, then (and not otherwise j shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and iind the knowledge of God*." Thus then in respect of his understanding, the Christian is a new creature in Christ. 2. And it is the same with respect to his affections. God is dethroned in the heart of the natural man. He is not loved ; He is not feared. Other lords beside Him have the dominion. Man lives to himself and to the world. And the God in whose hand his breath is, and whose are all his ways, he does not glorify. But it is otherwise with him, who is under the influence of Christ's Spirit. God, who, before, was regarded with indifference, or as an object of dread, if not of secret dislike, is now seen, in Christ, as a Father. " Because ye are sons," says the Apostle, " God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father ^" And the Christian learns to draw nigh to Him witli the confidence of a child, (though tempered with holy awe and lowly reverence,) as remembering that He is his Father which is in heaven. He now sees God every where, and recognises His hand in every occurrence, and • Prov. ii. 1—5. " Gal. iv. 6. INHERENT RIUIITEOUSNESS. 135 wonders that he did not before j and is ready to say, as Jacob when he awoke from his sleep, " Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not''." Now, God is both loved and feared ; and faith, while it appre- hends, more and more, His infinite goodness and His infinite majesty, increases both affections. And with these is joined trust and affiance, so that he who once perhaps was liable to be disquieted and filled with anxious fears, is now enabled to cast all his care upon God, (knowing that He careth for him) — his care not only for things temporal, but for things spiritual also. And thus the peace of God keeps his heart, so that like a citadel garrisoned by Almighty strength, it may laugh at foes without. And yet further, the remembrance of God's great mercies in Christ Jesus begets thankfulness, and thankfulness stirs up to holy obedience. And the more he serves God, the more he loves God, and the more he loves, the more he serves. And while the love of God is thus shed abroad in the Christian's heart by the Holy Spirit which is given him, the love of man follows in its train. The Christian learns to love all men, because all are in one sense the objects of his Father's love ; but Christ's servants most, for they are so in an especial sense. In these respects then, as regards his affections, the Christian is a new creature in Christ. Old things " Gen. xxviii. 16. ^36 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. are passed away, all things are become new. Once; he was swallowed up in his own petty concerns, en- grossed with self, or at most looking no further than to the little circle in which he moves. Now, his heart is warmed with the love of God and the love of man. God's glory, Christ's honour, the Church's prosperity, the welfare spiritual and temporal of all around him, affect him sensibly. He offeis up those petitions in the Lord's prayer — " Hallowed be Thy Name, Thy kinii'dom come, Thv will be done in earth as it is in heaven" — with a depth and earnestness of feeling which before he could not have realized. And his actions correspond to his feelings. He lays himself out, and exerts himself and denies himself in doing so, to further the cause of God and the welfare of men by all means possible. Perhaps there is nothing in whicli the change which has passed upon him is more sensible, than in his view of prayer and the use he makes of it. Real, earnest prayer, is the first symptom of spiritual life. Tliere was a time when he knew nothing of this. When prayer, if resorted to at all, was resorted to as the last resource, a sort of forlorn hoj)e, when other hopes failed. He had no delight in it, he knew nothing of its spirit, he had no consciousness of the sweet and blessed privilege which it offers of communion with God, of the comfort which it ministers in sorrow, the strenglh in weakness, the decision in difficulty, or of its chastening, tranquillizing INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 137 influence in joy. But now he has been taught some- thing of its efficacy. And instead of its being his last resource, it is his first. Nothing is now begun to his mind which has not been begun with prayer. And having once commended himself and his aflairs to his Father's care, he is enabled to leave them calmly in His hands, however dark and gloomy the prospect may be. Why should he be anxious? Did ever faith and waiting upon God fail of their reward ? And here again, if it be asked, Whence is this change ? How comes it, that he who once cared not for God, neither was God in all his thoughts, now loves God with childlike affection, and fears Him with holy fear ? How comes it, that he who was once absorbed in himself, now almost forgets himself in his thoughtfulness for others? How comes it that he who was once a stranger to prayer, now counts prayer his privilege and joy ? How comes it, that he who was once apt to be harassed and disquieted by the prospect of dangers, can now look forward with calmness and confidence, in the full assurance that all shall even- tually be well? — The answer is still the same. He is a new creature in Christ. And all these blessed dispositions have been wrought in him by the Spirit of Christ. Not that he has reached this measure of attainment at once, or without effort. It is what he has been long aiming at and striving after, and now that he has reached it, he forgets what is behind, and thinks only of further progress. 138 IMIKUENT lUGHTEOUSNESS. 3. Another respect in wliich the Christian has undergone a change is in the (juvernment of himself , and the- subjection of the lower appetites to reason and conscience. In nothing are the sad consequences of the fall felt more sensibly than in the rebellion of the lower appetites. Even the natural conscience has light sufficient to discern that the harmony of the divine laws is broken, and that man is not what he ought to be in this respect. Good is approved, but not fol- lowed ; evil hated, but not shunned. Man is some- times deliberately and with full consciousness his own enemy : and at others he is borne along in spite of himself, all his higher thoughts and purposes of good swept away by the torrent of corruption. And the knowledge of God's law, if it checks the toiTent for a moment, checks only to swell and increase its force. " I delight in the law of God after the inward man," says the Apostle, '' but I see another law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death "^I" Christ shall deliver thee. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made thee free from the law of sin and death. " For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, •' Rom. vii. 22—24. IMJEUENT niGHTEOUSNEJiS. 139 and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the rig-hteoiisness of the law might he fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, hut after the Spirit %" ►So that in this respect also, the Christian is a new creature in Christ. Grace is given him wherehy he may hring under and subdue the flesh; and in proportion as he is faithful to that grace will be his success. Not that he may hope to annihUale his enemy on this side of heaven. While he carries about a mortal body, that body must be the scene of unceasing conflict'. If one evil habit be for a time overthrown, another rises in its stead — new circumstances bring to light oftentimes corruptions, of the very existence of which within us we were not aware. Is thy servant a dog that he should do this? we should have been disposed to ask, till the event proved that, but for divine grace, there is nothing so vile which we might not be led on to do. We may not hope then to annihilate the evil which is inwrought within us. But we may ' Rom. viii. 2 — 4. ' " Quid aliud in mundo quam pugna adversiis diabolum quo- lidie geritur ? quam adversus jacula ejus et tela conflictationibus assiduis dimicatur? Cum avarilia nobis, cum impudicilia, cum ira, cum ambitione congressio est: cum carnalibus vitiis, cum illecebris saecularibus assidua et molesta luctatio est. Obsessa mens hominis et undique diaboli infestations vallata vix occurrit singulis, vix resistit. Si avaritia prostrata est, exsurgit libido ; si libido coni- j)ressa est succedit ambitio; si ambitio contemta est, iia exaspeiat, iuflat superbia, vinolentia invital, invidia concordiam runipit, amicitiam zelus abscindit." Cyprian, de Mortalitatc. 140 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. hope by God's grace to keep it in check, and to bring- it into subjection, and this increasingly, if only we are fiiithful to the grace given us*^. But this faithfulness implies the most unwearied diligence, watchfulness, self-discipline, and steady resistance to our natural sloth. And unwillingness to put forth such strenuous efforts, and to continue in them unto the end, is the cause of the frequent failures and shameful discomfitures of which we have so often to complain. God is not wanting to us, but we to ourselves; and being wanting to our- selves we are wanting to God also. For allowed neg- ligence and indulged sloth destroy the simple child- like trust in God, and confidence in His help, and consequent believing earnest application to Him for His grace, which are the sinews of the Christian's strength. 4. There is yet another respect in which the ' " Quamdiu ergo peregrinaiiles a Domino per fidein ambu- lamus, lion per si)eciem, nude dictum est, ' Justus ex fide vivit,' haec est uostrainipsaperegrinationejus itia, ut ad illaniperfectionem plenitutlinemque jiistiiia?, ubi iu specie decoris ejus jam plena et perfecta charilas erit, nunc ipsius cursus rectitudine et perfectione tendamus, castigando corpus nostrum et servituti subjicieiid", et eleemosynas in dandis beneliciis, el dimitlendis quae in nos sunt commissa petcatis, hilariter el ex covde faciendo, et orationibus iudesinenter instando; et htec faciendo in doctrina sana, qua a?dificatur fides recta, spes firma, churitas pma. Hsec est nunc nostra jiistitia, qua currimus esurientes et sitientes ad perfectionem plenitndinemque jiisiiiipp ut ea j)oslea saluremur." S. August, de Perfec. Jnsiit. §. viii. INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. Ill Christian has undergone a change. When Adam fell, he brought both himself and his whole race under the power of Satan. Thenceforward Satan became the god of this world; and he still rules in the plenitude of his power in the hearts of those who know not God. But Christ hath broken the tyrant's yoke. He first met and overcame the evil one Himself; and now, in Him, His people are armed for the conflict, and strengthened to resist and subdue the enemy. The world is still under Satan's sway. But God hath gathered His people out of the world in one sense, while He still leaves them in it in another. He hath gathered them out of the world, in that He hath delivered them from the power of darkness, and translated them into the kingdom of His dear Son; setting them in His Church, across whose hallowed bound Satan's sway does not extend. He still leaves them in the world, for His Church is still sojourning on earth, and they are in the world, like men in a garrison in an enemy's country — safe while they remain within the walls of the city of God, but in peril the instant they wander forth. The condition of the Christian then in respect of Satan is, that as he renounced him in his baptism, so he has been formally delivered from his power. He is not q/ that world, which lieth in wickedness and is under the dominion of the wicked one. He has been turned from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. He is one witli Christ 142 INHKHKNT RIGHTEOUSNESS. and Christ with him, and therefore he has Almighty strengtli engaged in his defence. He is one with Christ and Christ with him, and therefore he is a partaker of the Spirit of Christ, and by tliat Spirit he is enabled for whatsoever conflicts with the evil one he may have to enter upon. But conflict he must look for, as long as he continues in the Church militant here below. Most distinct and emphatic are the warnings, given us in Holy Scripture to this effect — though they who are most concerned in them treat them too often as though they meant nothing. It is not a little remarkable that St. Paul closes that Epistle, in which of all others he speaks most largely of the glorious privileges which we have in Christ, by reminding those to whom he writes of the enemy they have to contend with and the war- fare that awaits them, and shews them the armour with which they must array themselves for the conflict. And no general ever addressed his soldiers on the eve of battle in words which could give a more lively idea of the formidable nature of the struggle in which they were about to engage, or the momen- tous issue that was at stake, or the necessity for unwearied exertion, than that which the Apostle's exhortation conveys''. The difference between the Christian and the man who has no part in Christ, is simply that which our Lord describes in His parable. In the one, the strong man armed keepeth his palace, and his goods •" Kphes. vi. 10—20. INHERENT UIGTlTKOrSXrSS. 143 are in peace : Satan rules with unresisted sway. In the other, a stronger than the strong man has come upon him and overcome liim, and taken from him all his armour wherein he trusted, and divided his spoils. But yet the strong man is still permitted to be at large, and the Christian has need of all his vigilance to keep himself from again falling under his power ; and not of his vigilance only, hut of that better strength which is treasured up for him in Christ, who shall ere long so wholly bruise Satan under tlie feet of His servants, that he shall never again rise up to molest them. In these various respects then is the Christian a new creature in Christ. He is renewed in know- ledge. He is renewed in his affections. The power of inchvelliug sin is broken. He is delivered from the yoke oj Satan. And all this by virtue of his hidden union with Christ, and the grace and strength ministered to him by the Spirit of Christ. And he has motives to obedience now which he had not formerly. For fear he has love, because the love of God is shed abroad in his heart by the Holy Spirit which is given him ; and yet he has fear too ; but tlie fear of a son, not of a slave. For the spirit of bondage, he has the spirit of freedom. Instead of a reluctant constrained service, which seemed to be measured by the standard, what is the least which is required of meP he now runs ihe way of God's commandments, because God hath set his heart at liberty ; and the question which he asks is no longer 144 INHKRENT RIGHTKOUSXESS. what is the least which is required, but wliat shall 1 render unto the Lord, for all His benefits towards me? And the effects in his life and conversation are answerable, in exact proportion to the care with which he maintains his union with his Lord, and the fidelity with which he yields himself to the guidance of the Holy Spirit. His faith may fail, like that of the Israelites, when they should have marched forward to take possession of the land of Canaan, and in this way he may look off from Christ; or he may lean upon himself, and go forth in his own strength, like Samson, when the Lord had withdrawn from him the superhuman aid with which He had been wont to strengthen him, and in this way again he may look off from Christ ; or, on the other hand, he may be slothful and indolent, neglecting the Apostle's caution, to watch and be sober, and so grieve that blessed Spirit who has vouchsafed to take up his abode within him — in any of whicli cases, discomfiture and shame are sure to follow. But let him only be true to his Lord and to himself, and he shall go from strength to strength, gaining fresh victories over sin, gi'owing in conformity to the divine image, and bringing forth more and more abundantly the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. Such is the provision which God has graciously made for the restoration of that divine imasfe which Adam lost. As in Christ we have deliverance from INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 145 the guilt of sin, so in Christ we liave deUverance from its power. And the one dehverance is in- separably connected with the other. Whom God justifies, them He also glorifies, adorning them with the graces of the Spirit here'', as earnests and fore- casts of that perfect holiness with which He will array them hereafter, when He shall present His church unto Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And this blessed consummation God's faithful servants in all ages have longed for and pressed after to the end of their earthly pilgrimage, as the highest object of their most deeply cherished desires; not counting themselves even to the last day of their sojourn here to have attained, or to be already perfect, but following after, if that they might apprehend that for which they have been apprehended of Christ Jesus ; and thus forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those which are before, they have pressed towards the mark, for the prize of their high calling of God in Christ Jesus \ The true Christian then is not merely accounted righteous, but he has a principle of righteousness implanted in his heart, which brings forth the fruit of actual righteousness in his life and conversation, according as time and opportunity are given ; and thus he is justly called and really is righteous. And " So the Apostle's meaning is interpreted by Chrysostom, Theodoret, CEcumenius, and Theophylact; see Whitby, Preface to the Ep. to the Galatians. '' Phil. iii. 12 — 14. L 146 INHKRENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. this righteousness is indispensable to his admission into that holy heaven, where the people shall be all righteous % and into which nothing that defileth shall enter ^. And here we are again led to the question which was the subject of our consideration in the preceding discourse ; whether our inherent righteousness can form the ground of our acceptance with a righteous God. It was there shewn from the direct teaching of Scripture, that our justification consists not in our being made but in our being accounted righteous. The same conclusion is forced upon us by the con- sideration of the actual nature of the inherent righ- teousness which we have. True though that righ- teousness is, and well-pleasing to God in Christ, it is not sufficient to stand the severity of God's righteous judgment, much less to merit the reward of eternal life. And yet Bellarmine does not scruple to maintain, that the righteousness of the Christian, the righ- teousness infused into him by the Holy Spirit — whether the habitual righteousness communicated in the first instance, or the actual righteousness which is its fruit — may be such as to preclude the necessity of our having recourse to the imputation of Christ's righteousness ^ ■= Isaiah Ix. 21. " Rev. xxi. 27. * Bellami. de Jiistificat. lib, ii. c. 7- " Dicunt (adversarii) inijnitatioiiein banc proptcrea ncccssaiiain esse, uon solum quod INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 147 But is this the teaching of God's word, or in accordance with the experience of God's Saints ? " Behold, I Paul say unto you," the Apostle writes to the misguided Galatians, " that if ye be circum- cised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law 3 ye are fallen from grace V And does not the Apostle's argument hold in full force, though the law by which justification is sought, be no longer the Jewish law with its burthensome ceremonial ; but the law which is the guide of the Christian's conduct, and the rule by which he will be judged ? Whoso- ever will be justified by the law, whatever law that be, makes himself a debtor to do the whole law. That his righteousness is a true righteousness, that it is wrought in him by Christ's Spirit, that it is well- pleasing unto God for Christ's sake, these consider- ations will not avail him in the position in which he vere peccatum in nobis perpetuo haereat, sed etiam quod juslitia nostra inhaerens non tam sit perfecta, ut simpliciter et absolute justificet. At causam islam facile lefutabimus, si Scripturis Sanctis adversarii fidem habere voluerint. Nam justitia inhserens, sive renovatio interior in fide, spe, et charitate, potissimuni sila esse cognoscitui" Quare si probaverimus /idem, spem, et cha- ritatem in hac vita posse esse perfectam, probatuni quoque erit, non esse necessariam iniputationem justitiaj Christi. And he then proceeds to adduce arguments, such as, in his judgment, are sufficient to prove, that faith, hope, and charity maybe in perfection even in the present life. ' Gal. V. 2—4. L 2 148 INHERENT lUGHTKOUSNESS. has placed himself. He has removed his cause out of that court in which God could be just and at the same time the justifier of him that believetli in Jesus, and has placed it where God can have respect to nothing but the work done; and where the question is, not by whose aid that work has been done, but fvhat is ilie standard which it has reached ? Is the righteousness attained a perject righteousness ? And what is the unvarying testimony both of Scripture and experience on this point? If regard be had to the existence of a living principle of righteousness, nothing can be more plain than that such a principle is found in all God's servants, by reason of which they are justly called and really are righteous. But if the question be whether this their righteousness is so perfect that it can endure the severity of God's strict judgment, then do they all, with one voice, disclaim such a righteousness, and they truly the most earnestly who approach the nearest to it. " Whom though I were righteous," says one speaking of God, " yet would I not answer," as though not daring to rest on his righteousness, " but I would make supplication to my judge j" and with good reason, for he adds presently, " If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me : if I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.... If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean; yet shalt thou plunge me in tlie ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me"." Such was Job's « .rob ix. 15, 20, 30,31. INHERENT KlGHTEOUSNESS. 119 estimate of his own righteousness; and the Psalmist's was the same of his. He will not even mention it, but like Job, betakes himself to make supplication unto his Judge. " Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be jus- tified." " If Thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand ? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou may est be feared^." And if •■ Ps. cxliii. 2. Ps. cxxx. 3, 4. on the latter of which passages St. Augustine comments, " Ecce aperuit de quo pvofundo clama- ret. Clamat enim sub molibus et fluctibus iniquitatum suarum. Circumspexit se^ circumspexit vitam suam; vidit illam undique flagitiis et facinoribus coopertam : quacuiique resjiexit, nihil in se bonutn invenit, nihil illi justitise serenmn potiiit occurrere. Et cum tanta et tarn multa peccata undique et cateiv-as scelerum suorum videre?, tanquam expavescens, exclamavir, ' Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit?' Non dixit ' Ego non sustinebo,' sed ' quis sustinebit ?' Vidit emm prope totam vitam humanam ch'cumlatrari peccatis suis, accusari omnes con- scientias cogitationibus suis, non inveniri cor castum praesumens de sua justitia. Si ergo cor castum non potest inveniri, quod prsesumat de sua justitia; praesum at omnium cor de misericordia Dei, et dicat, ' Si iniquitates observaveris, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit ?" " Venturus est Dominus, et invenlurus peccata tua ; quod perfecta autem justitia vixisti non inventurus. Homicidia forte, gravia sunt enim et valde majora, non est inventurus ; adulterium non est inventurus, furta non est inventurus, rapinam non est inventurus, maleficia non est inventurus, idololatriani non est inven- turus ; non est ista inventurus. Nihil ergo est inventurus ? Audi senuonem Evangelii: 'Qui dixerit fratri suo, Fatiie.' Ab istis etiam peccatis liiiguiiu minutissimis quis abstinet ? Sed lorte dicis, Parva sunt. Si parvum tibi videbatur aut modicum fratri diccre. 150 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. we pass to the New Testament, we find St. Paul acknowledging- that he has not yet attained, neither is already perfect'; and St. James declaring, that in many things we offend all ^ ; and St. John warning us, that if we say that we have no sin we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us'. On which passage St. Augustine remarks, (quoting it pur- posely to shew that entire freedom from sin is not to he attained by the Christian in this life,) " the Apostle's words are, not, If we say we had no sin," i. e. in our unregenerate state, but, " If we say we have no sin," now that we are born again in Christ, " we * Fatue,' vol Gehenna ignis videalur tibi magna; si contenmebas n)inns peccatum, vel pcenfe magnitndine cleterrere. Sed dicis. Minora sunt, minuta sunt, sine quibus non potest esse ista vita. Congere minuta, et faciunt ingentein acervum. Nam et grana minuta sunt et tamen massam faciunt: et guttse minutcc sunt, et fiumina implent, et moles trahnnt. Ideo et ille considerans quam muUa minuta peccata quolidiana committat homo, si nihil aliud, vol per cogitationes et linguam, attendit quam multa sint : el si attend it quam minuta sint, videt per multa minuta fieri acervum magnum, et non quasi peccata sua pristina cogitans, sed ipsam fi'agilitatem humanam, jam ascendens clamat, *' De profundis clamavi ad te Domine; Domine, exaudi vocem meam. Fiant aures tua; intendentes in vocem deprccationis mese. Si iniquitates observaveiis, Domine, Domine, quis sustinebit ?' Vitare possum homicidia, adulteria, rapinas, perjuria, maleficia, idololatriam ; numquid et peccata lingnce P numquid et peccata cordis? Scrip- turn est, ' Peccatum iniquitas est.' ' Quis' ergo ' sustinebit, si tu iniquiialcs observavevis ?' Si nobiscum severus judex ageve volueris, non niisericors ])ater, quis stabit ante oculos luos ?" S. August, in Psalm cxxix. § . 2 t^ 5. ' Phil. iii. 12. "" James iii. 2. ' 1 John i. 8. INHERENT KIGHTEOUSNESS. 151 deceive ourselves"'." And to close these testimonies, we find our Lord in the prayer which He gave His disciples, and which He intended for their use, whether in the exact words, or as a summary of their wants, as long as they should remain on earth, teaching us to pray daily for the forgiveness of our trespasses, and thereby implying that we should daily need forgiveness. And if it be replied, that such expressions as these now quoted refer to smaller sins, venial"^ as ° " Quisquis dicit post acceptam remissionem peccatorum ita quemquam hominem juste vixisse in hac came, vel vivere, ut milium liabeat omnino peccatum, contradicit Apostolo Joanni qui ait. * Si dixerimus quia peccatum non habemus, nos ipsos sedu- cimus, et Veritas in nobis non est.' Non enim ait ' habuimus,' sed ' habemus.' Quod si quisquam asserit de il!o peccato esse dictum, quod habitat in came movtali nostra secundum vitium quod peccantis primi hominis voluntate contractum est, cujus peccali desideriis ne obediamus, Paulus Apostolus prjecipit; non autem peccare, qui eidem peccato, quamvis in carne habitanti, ad nullum opus malum omnino consentit, vel facti, vel dicti, vel cogitati, quamvis ipsa concupiscentia moveatur, qme alio modo peccati nomen accepit, quod ei consentire peccare sit, nobisque moveatur invitis; subtiliter quidem ista discernit; sed videat quid agatur de Dominica oratione, ubi dicimus ' Dimitte nobis debita nostra:' quod, nisi fallor, non opus esset dicere, si nunquam vel in lapsu linguae, vel in oblectanda cogitatione, ejusdem peccati desideriis aliquantulum consentiremus." S. August, de Perfec. Justit. §. xxi. "SeeConciLTrident.Sess.vi.c.xi. — Bellarmine, after St.Thomas, draws a subtle distinction between peccata contra legem and pec- cata prceter legem, classing " venial" sins under the latter head; and he censures Vega and other Romish writers for acknowledging them to belong to the former, a concession, he says, which almost 152 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. they are termed, without whicli it is not pretended that the Christian can hve ; even so, enough is conceded to spoil our inherent righteousness as to any fitness it may have for standing the severity of God's judgment. That which is venial and therefore admits of pardon, does also hy the very force of the term need pardon. And what then becomes of that righteousness which consists in " doing the ivhole law," where we are constrained to sue for forgiveness for the breach of the law P But let us take heed lest we suffer ourselves to be beguiled by words. Doubtless there are degrees of guilt, and all sins are not of equal magnitude, but the least sin is no otherwise venial than as remitted through the Saviour's bloody and the greatest is venial, (if we except that one for which our Lord tells us there is no forgiveness,) when that blood which cleanseth from all sin is applied to cleanse it. The doctrine of the possibility of oui* reaching such a state of sinlessness as that which has been referred to, springs naturally out of another doctrine which the Church of Rome has authoritatively sanc- tioned, pronouncing an anathema on those who deny obliges them to admit the argument drawn by their adversaries from such passages as James iii. 2. and 1 John i. 8. — Bellann. de Justificat. 1. iv. c. 14. Tf that argmnent needed extrinsic support, it could not have any more forcible than tliat furnished by such a concession on the part of some, and such a distinction to evade that concession, on the part of others of its opponents. See Bp. Davenant's remarks on Bellarmine's distinction, De Justit. Actual, c. xlviii. INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 153 itj viz. that every thing which has really and properly the nature of sin is taken away in baptism. So that even concupiscence, though left, for the trial of the Christian, is not strictly sin in the regenerate. It is called sin in Scripture, (the decree allows,) but it is so called, not because it is sin strictly speaking, but because it comes oj' sin and leads to sin". " Conci], Trid. Sess. v. §. 5. ' Hanc concupiscentiani, quam aliquando Apostolus peccatum appellat, sancta Synodus declarat, Ecclesiam Catholicam nunquam intellexisse peccatum appellari, quod v^ere et proprie in renatis sit; sed quia ex peccato est, et ad peccatum inclinat." The decree is couched in some places in the language of St. Augustine; and that Father is claimed by Romish writers as teaching its doctrine in express words. St. Augustine's meaning is, not that concupiscence is not sinful in the regenerate, but that it is not imputed for sin. It was forgiven in Baptism; and if it were possible that thenceforward it should not produce actual sin, it would not again be laid to the Christian's charge; and would not therefore, in St. Augustine's judgment, (see the quotation at p. 151.) need the petition, " Forgive us our tres- passes," in reference to it. " Ad hsec respondetur, dimitti con- cupiscentiam carnis in baptismo, non ut non sit, sed ut in pec- catum non imputetur. Quamvis autem reatu suo jam solulo, manet tamen, donee sanetur omnis infinnitas nostra, proficiente reiiovatione interioris hominis de die in diem, cum exterior indu- erit inccn-niplionem. Nun enim substantialiter manet, sicut aliquod corpus aut spiritus: sed affect io est qucedam malce quali- tatis, sicut languor. Non ergo aliquid remanet, quod non remit- tatur ; cum fit, sicut scriptum est,' Propitius Dominus omnibus iniquitaiibus nostris ;' sed donee fiat et quod sequitur, ' Qui sanat omues languores tuos, qui redimit de corruptione vitam tuam, manet in corpore mortis hujus carnalis concupiscentia. Cujus vitiosis desideriis ad illicita pcrpetranda non obedirc priccipiniur. 154 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. Yet surely, even at first sight, tluat which the Apostle calls sin — tind so calls, because it comes of sin, and leads to sin — which is the daughter of sin, and, where time is given, the mother of sin — cannot be other than sin in the strictest sense. The decree grounds its assertion on another, that God hates nothing in the regenerate — for there is no condemn- ation to those who are indeed buried with Christ by baptism unto death. It is true there is no condemn- ation to them; but this is not because they have no sin, (which, if they should say, an Apostle tells us, the truth would not be in them,) but because God beholding them in Christ does not imjmte sin to them. That cannot but be hateful in itself and hateful in God's sight, how much soever it may be kept in check, which, lurking in man's heart, is ever prompting him to rebel against his Creator's laws, and prevents him from loving God, as he ought to love God, with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his strength p. The serpent still lives and retains both its malice and its venom, though its head be trampled upon. Yet even if the question were waived, as to whether concupiscence is sin, till ne regnet peccatum in nostro mortali corpore." August. De Nuptiis ei Concupiscentia, lib. i. c. xxv. See other quotations from St. Augustine on this subject in the notes towards the close of Sermon VII. ^ " Nam cimi est adhuc aliquid carnalis concupiscentiiu quod vcl continendo frenetur, non omni modo ex tota anima diligitur Deus." August, de Perfect. Just. §. viii. INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 155 it is complied with, where is he who has been so faithful a steward of God's grace, and who has maintained so strict a watch over his heart, that even for a single day he has not had occasion to offer up the petition in reference to the day — Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us ? This argument St. Augustine repeatedly urges in his controversies with the Pelagians, in proof that not even the regenerate^ for whose use the Lord's Prayer is intended are free from sin. And they who need daily to sue for forgiveness must rest upon another righteousness than their inherent righte- ousness when they stand before the righteous Judge, sitting upon His throne of judgment. And thus much indeed he teaches in express terms. *' Whatever measure of righteousness a man may have," he says, " let him bethink himself, whether there will not be somewhat worthy of blame to be found in him, which escapes his own eye, when the righteous King shall sit on His throne, whose knowledge no sins can escape — no not even those of which it is said. Who shall understand his eiTors ? When therefore the righteous King shall sit upon His throne, who shall boast that his heart is pure ? or who shall boast that he is free from sin ? Who, but those who would glory in their own righteous- ness, not in the mercy of their Judge 'i?" It is '' " Quantalibet justitia sit piaeditus homo, cogitare debet, lie aliquid in illo, qiiod ipse iion vidct, iuveiiiatur esse culpandimi. 156 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. plain by this in what court he would desire to be tried. Not in that where man must stand upon his own righteousness, though wrought in him by the operation of the Holy Ghost, but in that, where God is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus ; and where the plea must be, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. And no doubt this is what in many cases really earnest and sincere men are brought to when they apprehend that great and dreadful judgment to be at hand, however they may have shrunk from it or disputed against it in their day of health and pros- perity. The near prospect of eternity enables them to see things in their due proportions. Sin is then beheld in its undisguised hatefulness ; and their own righteousness, how highly soever they might have been disposed to esteem it, shrinks up into its true size. " Howsoever," says Hooker, " men, when they sit at ease, do vainly tickle their hearts with the wanton conceit of I know not what proportionable correspond- ence between their merits and their rewards, which in the trance of their high speculations, they dream that cum rex Justus sederit in throno, cujus cognitionem fugere delicta non possuni, nee ilia de quibus dictum est, * Delicta quis inielligit ?' 'Cum,' ergo, 'rex Justus sederit in throno, quis gloriabitur castum se habere cor ? aut quis gloriabitiu' mundum so esse a peccato.' Nisi forte isli qui voluiit in sua justitia, non in ipsius judicis miscricordia gloriari ?" S. August, de Perfect. .Tustit. ^. XV. INHERENT RIGHTKOUSNESS. 157 God hath measured, weighed, and laid up as it were in bundles for them : notwithstanding, we see by daily experience, in a number even of them, that when the hour of death approacheth, when they secretly hear themselves summoned forthwith to appear and stand at the bar of that Judge, whose brightness causeth the eyes of the Angels themselves to dazzle, all these idle imaginations do then begin to hide their faces, to name merits then is to lay their souls upon the rack, the memory of their own deeds is loathsome unto them, they forsake all things wherein they have put any trust or confidence, no staff to lean upon, no ease, no rest, no comfort then, but only in Jesus Christ ^" " It is not in question," says Bishop Andrewes, pressing the same point, " whether we have an in- herent righteousness or no : or whether God will accept or reward it : but whether that must be our righteousness coram, Re/je justo judicium faciente. Which is a point very material, and in no wise to be forgotten : for without this, if we compare ourselves with ourselves, what heretofore we have been, or if we compare ourselves with others, as did the Pharisee, we may take a fancy perhaps, and have some good conceit of our inherent righteousness. Yea if we be to deal in schools by argument or disputation, we may perad venture argue for it, and make some show in the matter. But let us once be brought and arraigned coram rege justo sedente in Solio, let us ' Hooker on Justification, §. 21. 158 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. set ourselves there, we shall then see that all our former conceit will vanish straight, and righteousness in that sense (that is, an inherent righteousness) will not abide the trial." And presently afterwards he adduces those well- known propositions of Bellarmine's, in which, after asserting confidently in the first that a man may place confidence in merits, he descends in the second to some conjidence, and that " if he is sure they are such ;" and then in the third, after better bethinking himself, it may be, of the Judge sitting in His throne, he spoils all. " Because we cannot be sure of our own righteousness — ^and for fear of vain glory — it is safest to place all our confidence only in God's mercy." " Mark his misericordia" adds Bishop Andrewes, " and that he declineth the judicial t^vo- ceeding — and mark his reason, because his righ- teousness is such as he is not sure of it, nor dare not put any trust in it, nor plead it coram rege justo ju- dicium faciente. Which is enough, I think, to shew, when they have forgot themselves a little out of the fervour of their oppositions, how light and small account they make of it themselves, for which they spoil Christ of one half of His name \" To sum up what has been said : Every Christian, who is, what his name imports, a living member of Christ's mystical body, has a true inherent righteous- ness infused into him by that Spirit of holiness which flows to him from Christ, and connects him with ' Bp. Andrewes's Sermon on Justification in Christ's Name. INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. 159 Christ. He is not merely accounted righteous, but he really is righteous ; and he is so in exact proportion to the measure in which the Holy Spirit dwells within him. He may grieve the blessed Being who has vouchsafed to take up His abode within him, and provoke him first to withhold His influence, and eventually, to withdraw it altogether. But if he is faithful to the grace given him, the principle of spiritual life which he has in Christ, becomes stronger and more vigorous, and the old nature which he derived from his first father, is increasingly weakened and subdued. He loses more and more the likeness of the first Adam -, and he is transformed more and more into the likeness of the second Adam. And thus he is ever advancing towards that perfect righteousness wherewith Christ shall one day array all His Saints, when He shall present them to Himself holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His sight, not merely accounting them such, but, of His great mercy, both making and keeping them such. But, on the other hand, this inherent righteousness, whatsoever measure of it we may have attained, well- pleasing though it be to God in Christ, and indis- pensable to our admission into heaven, is not sufficient to stand the severity of God's righteous judgment, and cannot be our justification in His sight. If we must claim heaven on the ground of tnerit — the reward being infinite the merit must be infinite ; and where shall we find an infinite merit, but in His 160 INHERENT RIGHTEOUSNESS. righteousness, whose sufferings provided for our sins an infinite satisfaction ? " If in that the blessed Saints themselves/' says Bishop Andrewes, " (were their sufferings never so great, yea though they endured never so cruel martyrdom,) if all those could not serve to satisfy God's justice for their sins, but it is the death of Christ must deliver them ; is it not the very same reason, that were their merits never so many, and their life never so holy, yet that by them they could not, nor we cannot, challenge the reward, but it is the life and obedience of Christ that, de justitia, must procure it for us all ?" Nor is it merely a question of words, whether we rest our hopes of acceptance with God simply and at once upon Christ, or indirectly upon Him through the inherent righteousness which He works in us by His Spirit. " The Pelagians," says Hooker', " being over-great friends to nature, made them- selves enemies unto grace, for all their confessing that men have their souls and all the faculties thereof, their wills and all the ability of their wills, from God. And is not the Church of Rome still an adversary unto Christ's merits, because of her acknowledging (i. e. for all she acknowledges) that we have received the power of meriting by the blood of Christ?" We cannot substitute in Christ's place even the works wrought in us by Christ's Spirit, but we so far lay another foundation than the Apostles laid, and preach another Gospel than the Apostles preached. ' Hooker on Justification, §. 33. SERMON V. FAITH. M " As our natural life begins and is maintained by bodily taste, so is the new man framed and nourished in us by this taste spiritual ; which only rightly apprehends the nature, worth, and qualities, of heavenly mysteries, itself consisting in a temper of mind symbolizing with divine goodness, or with the heavenly mind of the second Adam. Our souls and affections, thus affected, have the same proportion to the several branches of God's will revealed, that every sense or faculty hath to its proper object; and this appre- hension of our spiritual food by a proper, distinct, symbolical, conceit of its goodness, is the last and most essential difference wherein the nature of faith, as Christian, consists; which cannot possibly be wrought but by the Spirit of God. For as the object is, such must the assent be — super- natural." Jackson on Justifying Faith, §. i. chap. 9. Heb. xi. 1. Faith is the substance of things hoped for ^ the evidence of things not seen. If the New Testament were placed in the hands of one who had been previously unacquainted with it, he could not fail to be struck with the im- portance attached by it in every part to Faith. Few things probably would strike him more. If miracles are to be wrought, faith is represented as required on the part of those who are to be benefitted by them. If prayer is to be effectual, faith is spoken of as the very soul of prayer, without which it cannot prevail, and with which nothing is too great for it to achieve. And with regard to the Gospel and its blessings, not one of them but is connected in the most explicit manner with faith. By faith we are first engrafted into Christ ; and Christ dwells in our hearts by faith'. We become the sons of God by faith \ We become partakers of the Spirit by faith '; God cleanses our hearts by faith** ; we overcome the " Eph. iii. 17. " Gal. iii. 26. • Gal. iii. 14. ^ Acts XV. 9. M 2 164 FAITH. world by faith"; we are saved by faith f. When the Baptist bare witness to our Lord, he testified, " He that beheveth on the Son hath everlasting hfe, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him^" And the preaching both of our Lord and of His Apostles echoes on the same testimony to the end of the inspired volume. But of all the blessings vouchsafed to us through the Gospel, none is more frequently spoken of in connexion with faith, than Justification. St. Paul especially again and again refers to the relationship between them, and, on more than one occasion, treats of it of set purpose. There might seem therefore at first sight, little room for controversy on a subject so frequently and so fully dwelt upon. And indeed, in the acknowledgment, as far as the form of words is concerned, that we are justified by faith, all who profess to take Scripture for their rule, are agreed. But when we come to the meaning of the words, and proceed to enquire. Wherein our justification con- sists — whether it is a righteousness infused into us or imputed to us : What is the nature of the faith which justifies — whether it is simply the assent of the under- standing to certain truths, or whether its seat is in the will and the afiections : and lastly. What is the connexion between faith and justification, or, in other words, How it is that faith justifies — whether as dis- • 1 JgIiu v. 4. ' Roui. X. 9.. « John iii. 36. FAITH. 165 posing towards justification, as being the first of a series of good works, or rather habits of holiness, which God crowns with His favour ; or as virtually containing within itself the whole circle of Christian graces; or as leading us straight to Christ, with a hearty and unreserved consent to the Gospel Cove- nant, that we may receive in and from Him that righteousness which we have not, and cannot have, of ourselves — we enter upon a wide field of enquiry — so wide, that under the same form of words, scope seems to have been found for every variety of opinion: though, many times perhaps, in spite of apparent discrepancies, men ha\ e been nearer to each other, than, for want of thoroughly understanding each other's meaning, they may have seemed to be. And yet, when the grave importance of the subject is considered, and its immediate bearing upon our eternal interests, it is obvious that error or misapprehension cannot be of trivial moment. The first of these questions relating to the nature of justification, has been already considered. And thus far, a general answer has been returned to the question. How shall sinful man be justified before God.^ In prosecuting the subject, my aim has been throughout to view it, not as though it were isolated and detached, but rather as a part, intimately con- nected with other parts, of one large and compre- hensive whole. And the same course must still be pursued. Whatsoever blessings we either have or hope for pertaining to life and godliness, are given 166 FAITH. US in Christ. Justification is one of these, intimately connected with the rest, but yet not to be confounded with them, much less to be regarded as though it comprised them all. It is not (according to the pervading principle of a recent work on the subject'') identical with our union with Christ, or equivalent to the indwelling wherewith Christ dwells within us by His Spirit, but it is one of the unfailing fruits of that union, one of the inseparable effects of that indwelling. Being one with Christ and Christ with us, God looks upon us no longer as we are in ourselves, the guilty and defiled children of Adam, but as we are in Christ, free from all stain of past sin. And our sanctification is derived from the same source. For being one with Christ, and Christ with us, we are made partakers of Christ's Spirit, and endued with a new principle of life and holiness. And thus the two blessings are inseparably connected, though yet essentially distinct. Whom God justifies, them He also glori- fies'", adorning them with the graces of His Spirit here, both as infallible evidences that He has re- ceived them into His favour, and also as qualifications for that eternal weight of glory, which He has in store for them hereafter, and of which they are even now pledges and earnests. But it is to be considered further, how we are first brought into a justified state, and how that state is continued and preserved. And thus we are led *■ Newman's Lectures on Justification. FAITH. 167 from the more general portion of the subject, to the consideration of the particular relationship) in which justification stands connected with faith, with baptism, and with obedience. For with all of these it is plainly connected. " Go ye into all the world," said our Lord to His Apostles, when sending them forth as His ambassadors to their fellow men, " Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned'." Here are faith and baptism declared to be necessary in order to our entrance upon a state of salvation, or, in other words, seeing that salvation is but justification perfected, upon a state of justifi- cation. " Go ye and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you\" Here is obedience implied as the very end for which we are admitted into that state. Our present business must be with Faith ; and the questions we shall have to consider are those which have been, already hinted at : I. What is the nature of the faith which jus- tifies ? and II. What is the connexion between that faith and justification? though it is only the former of these on which I propose to enter in the present discourse. i. " He that cometh to God," says the Apostle to the Hebrews, " must believe that He is, and that ' Mark xvi. 16, 16. ^ Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 168 FAITH. He is a rewarder of them that dlHgently seek Him'." Faith in the being of God, and in His moral govern- ment, Hes at the foundation of rehgion. Take this away, and natural religion as well as revealed falls to the ground. But we cannot come unto God except through Christ, nor through Christ, but by the Spirit. Faith therefore in Christ, as the appointed Mediator between God and man, and in the Holy ►Spirit, as in Him, who must both dispose and enable us to come unto God through that Mediator, is no less necessary than faith in God. And thus, from the very reason of the case, all the three Persons of the sacred Trinity, and each in His several office, are alike the objects proposed to our belief, if we would have access to God here, and be admitted into His glorious presence hereafter". But further, it is not enough to believe merely in the existence of God and of His moral government of the world, nor that we have access to Him through Christ and by the Holy Spirit. It has jjleased Him to reveal to us in the Scriptures a great variety of particulars, which it concerns us to know respecting Himself and His service, His gracious purposes towards us, and His will concerning us. And these likewise, even the whole compass of revealed truth, are necessary, in the very reason of things, to be believed, if we would approach Him acceptably, and approve ourselves before Him. In some particulars ' Heb. xi. 0. " See Butler's Analogy, jiari ii. c. 1. §. 2. FAITH. 169 indeed, ignorance, or error, or unbelief, may possibly be of less consequence than others ; yet seeing it has pleased Almighty God to make a revelation to man, there can be no part of that revelation, which it does not most deeply concern us to accept; and doubtless there are some parts of it of such vital consequence, that the rejection of them must be fatal to our eternal happiness, inasmuch as it precludes us from the use of those means which He has appointed to be used on our parts for the attainment of liappiness. If we look to the actual teaching of the New Testament, we shall find that the faith to which such great and blessed effects are attributed is de- scribed, as to its subject-matter, in various ways. Sometimes it is spoken of simply as faith in God, faith in Christ, faith in the Name of Christ, — " It was not written for Abraham's sake alone, that his faith was imputed to him (for righteousness), but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead"." " He that belie veth on Him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the Name of the only-begotten Son of God°." At other times it is described as the belief that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and the like. Such was St. Peter's celebrated confession so highly commended by our Lord, " Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God p;" and Martha's, " Rom. iv. 23, 24. " John iii. 18. f Matt. xvi. 16. 170 FAITH. *' Lord, I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world i." Such is St. John's account of the Christian's faith, in closing his Gospel ; " These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life through His Name'^;" and again in his first Epistle, " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God^?" Such was the eunuch's profession of faith previously to his baptism ; " I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God*." Elsewhere we find the addition of some other articles of chief importance : as the death and passion of Christ, " Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in His blood";" the resurrection of Christ, " If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved^." At other times again we have it spoken of complexly and in a larger sense, as belief of the truths, belief of the Gospel % belief in Christ's words % receiving the word of Christ^ receiving the word of God"", &c. Yet it is with the belief of the simple truths first referred to, such as that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, that He died and was buried, and rose again for us, that we find the bless- •J John xi. 27. "• John xx. 3]. '1 .lohn v. 5. ' Acts viii. 37. " Rom. iii. 25. * Rom. x. 9. y 2 Thess. ii. 12. ' Mark i. 15. * John v. 4?. *" Acts xvii. 11. *" Acts xi. 1. FAITH. 171 ings of salvation and eternal life explicitly connected ^ And in accordance with this teaching, the profession of faith which the Church has required in all ages in order to Baptism, has consisted of but few articles, those namely which relate to the Persons of the sacred Trinity, and other points of primary im- portance. Not that others also are not necessary, but that these are the foundation of all, which being once laid, the whole superstructure of revealed truth is in the way to be built up. He that denies these is an infidel; he that perverts them, a heretic; he that believes them in his heart, and confesses with his mouth, and shews forth the influence of them in his life and conversation, is a Christian indeed. Such is faith as to its subject matter. The truth that Jesus is the Son of God is the centre; and around this, springing from it and depending upon it, is gathered the whole circle of Christian doctrine. This is that good deposit which St. Paul committed to Timothy"; that form of sound words which he exhorted him to hold fast*^: that faithful word, which he reminded Titus a bishop must keep^. This is that faith which himself both received and kept, and by keeping attained unto everlasting life. But to come more immediately to the point we ^ See Matt. xvi. 16, 17. John xx. 31. 1 Cor. xv. 2—4. &c. • 2 Tim. i. 14. ' 2 Tim. i. 13. « Tit. i. 9, 172 FAITH. have in hand — the nature of that faith by which we are justified before God. Justifying faith has been defined in various ways. By some it is made to consist in the assurance that our sins are forgiven, and that we are received into God's favour through Christ. And men have carried this view so far, that they have almost denied that a man had faith, in its strictly Christian sense, if he could not feel confident of his acceptance. But surely this account of faith has • no foundation in Scripture. The word of God sets forth God's gracious offers of mercy in the general. It declares that " God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance^;" that it "is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners \" But it no where assures any man in particular that he is forgiven and accepted. If he has a true and living faith, he is so doubtless. But his being so is the consequence of his faith, and his assurance that he is so must depend upon the reason he has for believing that his faith is wliat it ought to be. Others again make justifying faith to consist in trust. And trust indeed is inseparable from it; but so also are hope and fear, and other affections, according to the various objects about which it is conversant. If God's mercy in Christ Jesus be the object, then doubtless faith takes the form of trust; " 2 Pt!t. iii. 9. ' 1 Tiin. i. 15. FAiTir. 173 but if heaven and its eternal joys be the object, then it takes the form of desire or hope ; or, if the dreadful consequences of falling from God be the object, then it takes the form of fear. And the like may be said of obedience, which is another word put by some into the definition of justifying- faith. Obedience is the fruit of faith, and wherever faith is genuine and time and opportunity are given, it will be siu'e to spring from it ; but the two notions are perfectly distinct, nay so distinct, that to confound them goes nigh to subvert the terms of the Gospel Covenant. " Faith," says the Apostle to the Hebrews, de- scribing faith in general, but yet with an especial regard to that faith by which the just shall live, of which he had spoken in the preceding verse, and the mention of which gave occasion to his description, " Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen ''." " It is as firm a persuasion of the existence of the things which are the objects of hope, as if we had them already in possession ; of the reality of things which are in- visible, as if they were actually present to the eye '." It is, in fact, the soul's eye, so to speak, by which we see what with the bodily eye we cannot see; the soul's ear, by which we hear what with the bodily ear we cannot hear ; the soul's hand, by which we handle " Heb. xi. 1. ' Bishop of Lincoln's Charge, (1843,) p. 28. See Chrysost. in Heb. xi. 1,2. 174 FAITH. what with the bodily hand we cannot handle. If we examine the various instances of faith adduced by the Apostle, we shall find, that in every case the notion conveyed is that of a firm persuasion, a cordial assent, in respect of matters beyond the reach of sense, such as in matters which come within the range of the senses, would be produced by actual sight, or hearing, or contact : and this persuasion and assent manifesting themselves variously according to the various subjects with which they were con- versant. " Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear™." Here is assent simply. " By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house, by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith"." Here is the firm persuasion of the truth of God's threatenings manifesting itself in a salutary provision against the impending judgments. " By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed, and he went out, not knowing whither he went"." Here is the firm persuasion of the truth of God's promise, manifesting itself in implicit and unquestioning obedience. " These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, — seen them with the eye '" Heb. xi. 3, 4. " Ibid. v. 7. " Ibul. v. 8. FAITH. 175 of faith — and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth p." Here again is the same firm persuasion of the truth of God's promises — His promises of a heavenly country — manifesting itself in the earnest embracing of them, and unwearied patience in the pursuit of them. " By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac, and he that had received the promises offered up his only-begotten son, (on whom all those promises depended,) ac- counting that God was able to raise him up even from the dead*!." Here was the firm persuasion both of the truth of the promises respecting his seed, which he had already received, and also of God's Almighty power to restore his son to him even from the dead : yea, and that He would do so, rather than one jot or one tittle of those promises should fail ; and all this manifesting itself in one of the most wonderful instances of unhesitating and self-denying obedience, which the world ever saw. In Romans iv. St. Paul adduces Abraham's faith on another occasion, in a passage in which he is expressly treating of the subject of justification. Abraham, says he, " against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken. So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he con- sidered not his own body now dead, when he was about a hundred years old, neither yet the deadness P Heb. xi. 13. i Ibid. v. 17—19. 176 FAITH. of Sarah's womb : he staggered not at the promise of God through imbehef, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God : and being fully persuaded that what he had promised he was able also to perform '." Here again we have the same pervading idea — a firm persuasion both of the truth of God's promise, and of His ability to perform that promise, though most improbable to reason, and contrary to all experience. The Apostle himself makes the application ; " Therefore it was imputed to him — this simple faith in God's word and belief in His power was imputed to him — for righteousness. Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him; but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on Him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead\" These are instances of faith as manifested by the saints of the Old Testament, — of faith too, as it is expressly declared, more or less connected with their justification and acceptance with God. And the faith more peculiarly belonging to the New Testament is described by the same characteristics. In its essential quality, a firm persuasion of the truth revealed and a cordial assent to it, it is still the same. Comparing our Lord's declaration to Martha and Martha's reply, we have belief in Jesus, belief to which the promise of eternal life is annexed, expressed in the acknowledgment, " I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should ■^ Rom. iv. 18—21. ' Rom. iv. 22—24. FAITH. 177 come into the world'." " If ye believe not that I am He," said our Lord to the Jews, " ye shall die in your sins'';" where that which was lacking on their parts was the persuasion of the truth which our Lord referred to, the belief that He was the Christ. Doubtless the bare admission of that truth would not have saved them; but what we are at present concerned to remark is, that the faitli, by which we are delivered from wrath and condemn- ation, is described not as trust, or assurance, or obedience, but simply as the belief that Jesus is the Christ. To the same purpose are those declarations of St. John in his first Epistle, " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God"." " Whosoever belie veth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God ^." " Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God^" Where the blessings of fellowship with God, the new birth, and victory over the world, are severally connected with the simple belief in those great and central truths, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. If there be one passage in which more than any other the nature of justifying faith is treated of of set purpose, it is Romans x. St. Paul is contrasting the righteousness which is of the law with the righ- teousness which is of faith. " Moses," says he, " describeth the righteousness which is of the law, * John xi. 26 — 27. " .John viii. 24. " 1 .lohn iv. 15. ^ 1 John V. 1. '1 .[ohn v. 5. N 178 FAITH. That the man which doeth these things shall live by them. But the righteousness which is of faith speaketli on this wise. Say not in thy heart, (as though doubting the great truths of Christ's incarnation and resurrection,) Who shall ascend into heaven, that is, to bring Christ down from above, or. Who shall descend into the deep, that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead. But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart, that is, the word of faith, which we preach, That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thy heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation »." Where, as in the passages before referred to, the faith by which we are justified is described simply as belief. A different truth indeed is specified as the subject matter to be believed^ but the nature of the faith is the same. In accordance with this view of the nature of faith, we find the Apostles in their preaching, as recorded in the Acts, aiming steadily at this one object, to persuade those whom they addressed of the great truths of the Gospel, such as that Jesus is the Christ, that God hath raised Him from the dead, that remission of sins is freely ofibred in His name to all who shall believe on Him, that He is ap- pointed of God to be the Judge of quick and dead, » Rom. X. 5— 10. FAITH. 17f) and the like; and then, on their professing their belief, they straightway baptize them, as Philip did the Eunuch, thereby formally consigning to them the justification of which by faith they were already heirs. And the faith which the Apostles sought to pro- duce in others, was the hidden but effectual stay of their own spiritual life. " We walk by faith," says St. Paul, " not by sight ^" " We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen ; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternals" " The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were ail dead; and that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again '^." Here is still the same firm persuasion of the reality of these great verities, on which the Christian's hope is built. This was the spring of their unwearied labours, this was the stay which supported them under their manifold and all but overwhelming sufferings. * I may add, as a confirmation of the view now taken, that the faith, which our Lord required in those who sought His miraculous aid, for the removal of diseases and other evils pertaining to this life, seems to have consisted simply in the belief of His divine power. " Believe ye that I am able to do this ?" was His question to the two blind men who " 2 Gov. V. 7. -^ 2 Cor. iv. 18. ^ 2 Cor. v. 14, 15. N 2 180 FAITH. sought of Him the gift of sight : " According to your faith be it unto youe." And the centurion's faith, which He so highly commended, was akogether of the same character; " Speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed V Like faithful Abraham, whose true son he thus pro\'ed himself, though an alien by birth, he was strong in faith, giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that diseases were Christ's servants, ready to come or go at His bid- ding. It is plain then, from what has been said, that the notion, which is usually attached to faith in Scrip- ture, when that faith is spoken of to which is annexed the gift of righteousness and the promise of eternal life, is simply belief in the great truths which are revealed in the Gospel, a firm persuasion of their certainty, and a cordial assent to them. There may be passages in which the word faith is used in a larger or a derived sense, still, this, which has been dwelt upon, as it is its proper, so it is its ordinary, signification ^. ii. But yet it is not less plain, that the bare assent of the understanding to the truth, that Jesus is the Christ, and the truths connected with it, is not sufficient to justify us in God's sight. So far Simon "' Wat. ix. 28, 29. ' Mat. viii. 8. ^ See Barrow's Sernoons on the Creed, Serm. iv. Of .Tiistifying Faith: and Wliithy's Preface to his Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians. FAITH. 181 Magus believed, and yet he continued in his sins; so far those among the chief rulers believed of whom St. John speaks, who yet, for fear of the Pharisees, and because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God, did not confess Christ, and their faith profited them nothing^. So far the very devils believe and tremble. We must seek further there- fore for the properties of that faith of which such great things are spoken in Scripture, and to which such blessed effects are attributed. In its essence, it is simply belief- — belief in the revelation which God has made to us by Christ. But yet, as we have seen, a man may have faith thus far, and yet have neither part nor lot in the blessings which Christ hath purchased for us. What further characteristic is there then of that faith by which we are first jus- tified, and eventually saved? I answer generally, that though, strictly speaking, faith in the first instance is simply belief, and has its seat in the understanding, yet, that it may justify, it must also influence the will and the ajfections. This was in reality what was lacking in the faith of the persons referred to, an earnest ajfection for that truth of which in their minds they were persuaded. They believed the truth, as far as regards a cold and lifeless assent, but they did not love the truth. If man were not fallen from that righteousness in which he was originally created, the will and the under- standing would invariably go together; faith could not " John xii. 42, 43. 18^ Faith. be an idle and inefficacious principle, — a mere specula- tion, resting in the mind, and exercising no influence upon the life and conversation. It would be impossible for a man to admit the persuasion that there is a heaven and a hell, that in his natural state he is lost, subject to condemnation, and in danger of eternal misery; that God, of His great mercy, hath provided a way of escape; that He so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on Him should not perish, but have everlasting- life; that the Lord of glory took our nature upon Him and was made man, and, after a life of suffering and sorrow, submitted to a shameful death, that He might atone for our sins; that He afterwards rose again and ascended into heaven, and that He shall come again at the last day to judge the whole race of mankind, and to give to every man according to his works, so that they who have done good shall go into life everlasting, and they who have done evil into everlasting fire — it would be impossible, if we were not miserably fallen, for a man to assent to these great truths, and yet live on in ungodliness. But yet experience shews us that men may and do assent to them, and live so notwithstanding. The truth is, — and it is a truth which it deeply concerns us to bear in mind, — t\nit J'ailh is God's (jift. Not only does the Lord give the word, by the hearing of which faith comes, but He also prepares the heart, by the gracious influences of His Spirit, to receive that word as into good ground. lAITH. 183 SO that it may not lie there barren and unproductive, but may spring up and bear fruit. For lack of this preparation, which lack was yet their own fault, many among the Jews did not yield even a bare assent to the truth. The heavenly Sower scattered the good seed of the word upon their hearts, but it was caught up and borne away as soon as it fell. They would not believe, because they loved darkness rather than light; and because they would not, " therefore," so God ordained in just judgment, " they coidd not." Though our Lord " had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on Him, that the saying of Esaias the Prophet might be fulfilled which he spake : Lord, who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? TJterefore they coidd not believe, because that Esaias said again. He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them'." For lack of this preparation, numbers at this day, though living in a Christian country, reject Christianity, and numbers are led away by what the Apostle describes as damnable heresies'', God sending them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, because they received not the love of the truth that they might be saved \ We little con- sider how much we stand in need of God's grace, even that we may yield a cordial assent to the truth, ' John xii. 37—40. " 2 Pet. li. 1 '2 Thess. ii. 10, 11. 184 FAITH. apart from the influence whicli that assent may have upon our wills and affections'". And if we look to this latter also, and have regard not only to a right belief — right as to its subject matter — but a right belief rightly received, still more is God's preventing grace needed. 8t. John after mentioning in the passage just quoted one class of the Jews who did not believe on our Lord in any sense, speaks immediately afterwards of another class, who did believe on Him, but because of the Pharisees did not confess Him, " for," he adds, " they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God"." Here was the good seed, not carried away as soon as sown, as in the former case, but yet equally unproductive to any practical pur- pose, because not received into an honest and good heart — a heart, like Lydia's, opened by the Lord, and prepared for its reception by the Holy Spirit. " I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth," were our vSaviour's words in reference to the faith of which we' speak, '" because Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight"." If God's grace be withheld, even the soundest and most accurate form of doctrine, though intelligently discerned, and cordially assented to, will prove of no efficacy; if vouchsafed, even the few simple but pregnant truths " See Ucinou of .IiLslitViii!^' I'ailli, ^\'(ll■ks, \ol. iv. p. 338, 339. " .lohii xii. 4J, -13. ^ Mult. xi. -Zo, 26. FAITH. 185 which constitute the main points of the Christiaii's faith, imperfectly apprehended, it may be, but received with the whole heart, will give the child more under- standing than his teachers, and will make the rude unlettered peasant wise unto salvation. Thus then though faith has its seat in the under- standing, yet it avails nothing, unless it pass from thence to the will and the affections. And this would seem to be what St. Paul alludes to, when he tells the Corinthians, " My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God''." Human learning might enlighten the understanding, and human eloquence convince the reason, but there needed another Teacher and another Orator, to illuminate and affect the heart, and without this, he well knew, nothing was done to any purpose. And as the faith by which we are justified influ- ences the will and the affections, it must needs manifest itself, as circumstances arise, in the various acts which have their source in these. And hence it is not unfrequently spoken of as though it were identical with these acts, or rather with the habits from which they proceed 'i; though, if we would speak accurately, we must distinguish it from them. I' 1 Cur. ii. 4, 5. T Tims St. Augustine — " I lie cvcdit in C'hristuni, qui et spemt in Christum et diligil Chrlsjini." Do V^crbis Dum. f^'clln. Gl, " Ins -});irabi'is csl bona vita a lidc (|iir p t dilectioiicin opcnitur; 186 rAiTii. Thus it produces rejDentance, yet it is not repent- ance; it works by love, yet it is not love; it is the spring of all holy obedience, yet it is not obedience ; it leads to assurance, yet it is not assurance. It assumes the forms of hope and trust, yet, in strict- ness, it is distinct from hope and trust. When, for example, God declares by His prophet, " I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplications, and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his first-born''," here is faith manifesting itself under the form of contrition and penitence. Faith is the eye with which they look, sorrow and brokenness of spirit the effects which follow upon looking. When Abraham unhesitatingly obeyed the command to offer up his only son, in whom all the wondrous imo vero ea ipsa est bona vi{a." De Fide et Oper. §. xxiii. And to the same puipose, in the Homilies, Faith is described to be " not only the common belief of the articles of our faith, but also a sure trust and confidence of the mercy of God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and a stedfast hope of all good things to be recceivcd at God's hand," &c. Yet presently afterwards, hope, trust, and other graces, are spoken of so as to imply, that, though insepa- rable fiom a true lively and Christian faith, they are yet distinct from ir. " This faith is not without hope and trust in God, 7ior without the love of God and our neighbour, nor without the fear of God, nor without the desire to hear God's word, and to follow the same in eschewing evil, and doing gladly all good works." The first ])art of the Sermon of Faith. ' Zcch. xii. 10. FAITH. 187 promises which God had made him centered, here was faith manifesting itself under the forms both of trust and hope and obedience; of trust, in that it still leaned confidently on God's promise; of hope, in that it hoped against hope, that in some mysterious way his son should yet be restored to his arms; of obedience, in that it complied, without a murmur and without delay, with that strange and, to all but such faith as Abraham's, incredible, command. And, in short, the exploits of that glorious army of saints and martyrs which the Apostle enumerates in Heb. xi, are nothing else than so many instances of faith manifesting itself in different ways according to the different circumstances which called it forth, yet still distinct from its manifestations. But though faith is, in strictness, distinct from the habits of repentance, love, obedience, hope, trust, &c. yet when circumstances permit, it invariably produces them, and so far is inseparable from them. For example, " repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ''" go hand in hand in the Apostle's preaching, and they will also in our experience, if we have either in reality. That heart cannot duly have received the truth, in which the love of sin still reigns. And if, after the truth has been received, the love of sin be again admitted, faith, as to its efficacy toward justification, is so far subverted. St. Paul bids Timothy hold faith and a good conscience, and he adds, that some, having ' Acts XX. 21. 188 FAITH. put away the latter, concerning faith have made shipwreck'. Faith first makes the conscience good, and then hves in keeping it so. Again, when the Apostle would describe the faith by which we are justified, distinguishing it from a dead and unprofitable faith, he describes it as working by love". Love — love to God and love to man for God's sake, is the natural result of faith, (if we may use the word natural where we speak of grace,) when receiced into a heai't prepared by God's Spirit for its reception. " We love Him," says St. John, " because He first loved us ;" and it is by faith we apprehend His love, and, apprehending it, are stirred up to love Him in return. And loving Him in sincerity, we cannot choose but love our brethren also. For " he that loveth Him that begat, loveth Him also that is begotten of Him''." And seeing that love is the fulfilling of the law, and that faith " worketh by love," we may understand, at least in one sense, the Apostle's meaning, when he puts and answers the question; " Do we then make void the law through faith P God forbid: yea, we establish the lawV Again, trust or affiance in God is another pro- perty inseparable from a true and lively faith. To trust Him, and repose ourselves with full confidence upon His love and mercy, is the necessary result of what the Scriptures teach us of His gracious dealings ' 1 Tim. i. 19. " Gul. v. 6. ' 1 ,lolm v. 1. '■ RoDi. iii. 31. FAITH. 189 with us and purposes towards us in Christ Jesus, when received into a heart prepared by divine grace, and made susc(;ptible of holy influences. And indeed of all the habits which spring from faith, unless indeed we except hope, trust seems to re- semble it the most. To believe God's word, when that word is the word of promise, and we interested in the promise, is but one degree removed from trusting it. Still, however, though faith and trust seem almost to coincide here, they are really distinct. Faith is the cause, trust the effect, and so only one of many characteristics by which a true and living faith is distinguished from the mere assent of the understanding^ ' " Confidence,^'(/wc