had a considerable degree of clearness upon the point. From the other you will see, that far from rejecting the doctrine, they embrace it with delight and rapture. And if you will admit of the last, you cannot be startled at anything which I shall advance upon the subject. Let me only premise, in general, that if those authors are not so copious and explicit with regard to the imputation of active righteousness, they abound in passages which evince the substitution of Christ in our stead; passages which disclaim all depend ence on any duties of our own, and fix the hopes of a believer entirely upon the merits of his Saviour. When this is the case, I am very little solicitou about any particular forms of expression; and far from being angry, ever though the words which I think most significant are not retained.

Clemens-an intimate acquaintance of St. Paul's, and whose ". name wa in the book of life," Phil. iv. 3. in his truly excellent epistle to the Corin thians, assures that people *, "We are not," in any respect, or in any degree "justified by ourselves," but wholly by Jesus Christ; "not by our own wisdom or prudence," which could never find out the way; "not by the piety of our hearts, or works of righteousness performed in our lives," which could never be sufficient for the purpose; "but by faith :" the one invariabl method, "by which the Almighty Sovereign has justified all" his people, "ever since the world began."

Justin, who was first a Gentile philosopher, then an eminent Christian, and at last a martyr for the truth, speaks more fully to the point † :—“What else could cover our sins, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ? By what possible means could we, unrighteous and unholy creatures, be justified, but only by the interposition of the Son of God in our behalf?"-Having in this clause made a profession of his faith, the good man, on the contemplation of such a privilege, breaks out into a kind of holy transport: "O sweet and delightful exchange! a dispensation unsearchably wise and gracious! benefits quite unexpected, and rich beyond all our hopes! that the sin of many should be hid by one righteous Person, and that the righteousness of one should justify many transgressors!"

The following words are remarkably strong, and the sentiments peculiarly bold. But they come from the pen of the finest writer in ecclesiastical antiquity. They have the great name and venerable character of St. Chrysostom for their recommendatory preface ‡. "Fear not," says he, "on account of any of thy past transgressions of the law, when once thou hast fled by faith to Jesus Christ. The most enormous and the most destructive violation of the law is, to be withheld, by the consciousness of any guilt whatever, from believing on Christ. When thou actest faith on him, thou • Ου δι' εαυτων δικαιούμεθα, ουδε δια της ημετέρας σοφίας, η συνέσεως, η ευσέβειας, η έργων των κατειργασάμεθα εν οσιότητι καρδίας αλλά δια της πίστεως, δι' ης παντας τους απ' αιώνος ο παντοκρατωρ Θεος εδικαίωσεν. 1 Epist. ad Corinth. This quotation is explained, as well as translated. But that every reader may distinguish the text from the paraphrase, the first is printed with inverted commas.

* Τι άλλο τας αμαρτίας ημών ηδυνήθη καλυψαι, η εκείνου δικαιοσυνη ; Εν τινι δικαιωθηναι δυνατον τους ανόμους ημας και ασεβείς, η εν τω υιω του Θεού; Ω ΤΗΣ, ΓΛΥΚΕΙΑΣ ΚΑΤΑΛΛΑΓΗΣ, ω της ανεξιχνίαστου δημιουργίας, ω των απρος δοκητων δε ενός πολλους ανόμους δικαίωση. Epist. ad Diogn, Though Du Pin questions the authority of this epistle, he allows it to have been written by an ancient hand. Dr. Cave, as capable a judge, thinks there is no reason to doubt but it is the genuine work of Justin.

* Μη τοινυν φοβηθης, ως τον νόμον παραβαίνων, επειδαν τη πίστει προσέλθης· τοτε γαρ αυτον παρα βαίνεις, οτε δι αυτόν τω Χριστώ μη πίστευσης ως αν πίστευσης αυτώ, κακείνον επλήρωσας και πολλά πλέον η εκέλευσε πολλα γαρ μείζονα δικαιοσυνην ελαβες. Homil. xvii. in x. ad Rom.

hast fulfilled, I might say more than fulfilled, the law: for thou hast received a better righteousness than it could ever require; thou art possessed of a better obedience than any creature could possibly pay."

Two or three witnesses of distinguished ability, and undoubted veracity, are a sufficient confirmation of any cause. For this reason, and to avoid a tiresome prolixity, I have set aside a multitude of voices, which, from the writings of our own and foreign divines, are ready to pour their united vidence; and lest the business of quotation, though sparingly managed, should seem dry and tedious, I will relieve your weariness, and enliven the collection, by an extract from the prince of English poetry. Michael, the prophetic archangel, mentioning the destructive consequences of the fall, and serting the Godhead of that glorious Person who undertook to be the repairer of this deadly breach, adds,

Which he, who comes thy Saviour, shall secure,

Not by destroying Satan, but his works,

In thee and in thy seed. Nor can this be
But by fulfilling (that which thou didst want)
Obedience to the law of God, imposed

On penalty of death; and suffering death,
The penalty to thy transgression due ;

And due to theirs, which out of thine will grow,
So only can high justice rest appaid.

MILTON, Xii. 393.

Here then is the express determination of our Homilies, supported by the authority of our Articles, established by the concurrence of our Liturgy, still farther ratified by the unanimous attestation of several celebrated divines, whose lives were the brightest ornament to our church, and whose writings are the most unexceptionable interpretation of her meaning. As a capital to crown and complete this grand column, supervenes the declaration of the ancient fathers, those who flourished, and with the highest renown, in the first and purest ages of Christianity. So that, if great authorities carry any weight, if illustrious names challenge any regard, this tenet comes attended and dignified with very considerable credentials.

Yet I will venture to affirm, that all these, considerable as they appear, are the least of those testimonials which recommend the doctrine to my Theron's acceptance, and which have gained it admittance into the heart of, his most affectionate ASPASIO.

LETTER IV.-ASPASIO TO THERON.

DEAR THERON,-The family in which I have the satisfaction to reside, though remarkable for their genteel figure and ample fortune, are still more amiably distinguished by their benevolence, hospitality, and charity. As they live at a distance from the market-town, the lady has converted one apartment of her house into a little dispensatory, and stocked it with some of the most common, the most needed, and most salutary medicines, which, in cases of ordinary indisposition, she distributes to her indigent neighbours with singular compassion, and with no small success. This fine morning, Emilia has ordered some skilful hands into the fields, to cull their healing simples, and lay up a magazine of health for the afflicted poor. Camillus is withdrawn to receive his rents, and settle accounts with his tenants. Suppose we act in concert with these valuable persons.

T

Suppose we

range the delightful fields of Scripture, and form a collection, not of salutiferous herbs, but of inestimable texts; such as may be of sovereign efficacy to assuage the anguish of a guilty conscience, and impart saving health to the distempered soul. Suppose we open the mines of divine inspiration, and enrich ourselves, not with the gold of Ophir, but with the unsearchable treasures of Christ; or with that perfect righteousness of on! Redeemer, which is incomparably more precious than the revenues of a county, or the produce of Peru.

In the pleading for imputed righteousness, we have already urged the authority of our established church, and the suffrage of her most eminent divines. The opinion of excellent writers, which has been the result of much learning, great attention, and earnest prayer, is no contemptible evidence Yet we must always reserve the casting voice for those infallible umpires the prophets and apostles. "If we receive," with a deferential regard, "the witness of men; the witness of God is greater,” 1 John v. 9, and challenge: the most implicit submission; which remark naturally leads me to the intended subject of this epistle, or rather calls upon me to fulfil my lat engagement, and shew that the above-mentioned doctrine is copiously revealed through the whole process of the Scriptures.

Let me detach a very significant portion from the epistle to the Romans which, though little inferior to a decisive proof, is produced only as an intro duction to others: "Now the righteousness of God without the law is mani fested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousnes of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them tha believe," Rom. iii. 21, 22. The righteousness of God signifies, that righteous ness which the incarnate God wrought out in his own all-glorious person. I is styled the righteousness of God by way of superlative pre-eminence, in opposition to any righteousness of our own, and in contradistinction to the righteousness of all creatures whatever. This righteousness is without the law. Its efficacy has no dependence on, its merit receives no addition from. any conformity of our practice to the divine law; being complete, absolutely complete in itself, and altogether sufficient to procure the reconciliation and acceptance of sinners. This righteousness is "witnessed by the law and the prophets;" receives an uniform attestation from the various writings of the Old Testament. To investigate which attestation, to examine its pertinency, and weigh its sufficiency, is our present pleasing business.

We may begin with that gracious declaration made to the first transgressors: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head," Gen. iii. 15; shall destroy the works of the devil, and retrieve whatever was lost by his malicious artifices. How could this be effected, but by restoring that righteousness which for a while our first parents possessed; which they ought always to have held fast; but from which they so soon and so unhappily swerved. Take the position in the right sense, and Christianity is, if not entirely, yet very nearly as old as the creation. It was comprehended in this blessed promise, as the stamina of the largest plants are contained in the substance of their respective seeds; every subsequent revelation being no more than a gradual evolution of this grand evangelical principle; acting like the vegetative powers of nature, which in rearing an oak, with all its spread of branches, only expand the tunicles, and fill up the vessels of

the acorn.

:

This doctrine seems to have been typically taught by the remarkable anner of clothing our first parents. All they could do for their own overy was like the patched and beggarly mantle of fig leaves this they inquish, and God himself furnishes them with apparel, Gen. iii. 21. nimals are slain, not for food but sacrifice; and the naked criminals are rayed with the skins of those slaughtered beasts. The victims figured the piation of Christ's death; the clothing typified the imputation of his teousness. In perfect conformity, perhaps with a reference, to the sage thus interpreted, the apostle just now expressed himself: "Even righteousness of God, which is not only made over to all believers a rich portion, but put upon all as a beautiful garment," Rom. iii. 22*, ereby alone their moral deformity can be covered, and their everlasting fusion prevented. Milton, it is certain, speaking of this memorable nsaction, considers it in the same spiritual sense :

Nor he their outward only with the skins

Of beasts, but inward nakedness (much more
Opprobrious!) with his robe of righteousness
Arraying, covered from his Father's sight.

In thy seed," says the great Jehovah to his servant Abraham, “shall I the nations of the earth be blessed," Gen. xxii. 18. That the seed here entioned is Christ, the apostle places beyond all doubt t. Both Scripture ad reason declare that true blessedness must necessarily include the pardon sins and the favour of God, the sanctification of our souls, and the inherice of life eternal. None of which are to be acquired by any human erformances, but all are to be sought, and all may be found, in the root d offspring of Abraham, Jesus Christ; who is therefore most pertinently Tied, "The Desire of all nations," Hag. ii. 7; the actual desire of every fightened nation, and the implicit desire of all nations whatever; because 1 without any exception, covet what is to be derived only from Jesus hrist the righteous, real happiness.

The patriarchal age, and the legal economy, bore their testimony to this th, by typical persons, emblematical miracles, and figurative usages. ndeed, the whole ceremonial service was a grand series of types, representg Christ and his everlasting righteousness. In all which this was the nanimous though silent language; "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh way the sin of the world." These I shall not stay to discuss, because nofs of a more explicit and positive nature wait for our consideration; only would just make a transient observation, relating to one very remarkable institution in the Jewish ritual.-The high-priest had on the front of his atre a plate of pure gold, engraven with that venerable motto, "Holiness o the Lord," Exod. xxviii. 36, 37. which was always to be on his forehead when he performed the solemn ministrations of the sanctuary; and for this mportant reason, that the people "might be accepted before the Lord," Exod. xxviii. 38. Did not this most clearly foreshow the immaculate liness of our great High-priest? and with equal clearness imply, that his boliness should procure acceptance for all his followers?

ΕΙΣ

παντας, ΕΠΙ παντας τους πιστεύοντας.

See St. Paul's comment upon this invaluable promise, Gal. iii. 8, &c. This combeatator, we all allow, was guided by the Spirit, and knew the mind of God. According a his exposition of the text, it is pregnant with the doctrine of justification by faith, and

stains an

abridgment of the gospel.

In the book of Job we have several hints of this truth, and one passag very express to our purpose. Elihu describes an unconverted person unde the chastising hand of Providence, "whose life," through the extremity his disease, "drew near to the grave, and his soul," through the multitud of his iniquities, was ready to become a prey "to the destroyers." In th deplorable condition if there be present with him the messenger the covenant of peace, that great interpreter * of the divine counsels, w for his superexcellent wisdom is justly deemed " one among a thousand,", rather "the chiefest among ten thousand;" if he, by his enlightening Spin vouchsafe to shew unto the afflicted man his own perfect righteousness, th most meritorious uprightness on which alone a sinner may depend, both i temporal and eternal salvation; then the poor distressed creature, attenti to this instruction, and applying this righteousness, is made partaker. pardon. God, the sovereign Lord of life and death, is gracious unto him, a saith, in the greatness of his strength, as well as in the multitude of I mercies, "Deliver him from going down into the pit" of corruption, as pledge of his deliverance from the pit of perdition; for "I have found ransom" sufficient to satisfy my justice: I have received an atonement behalf of this once obnoxious, now reconciled transgressor.

But why do I select one particular paragraph? It seems to be the ma design of the whole book to overthrow all pretensions of any justifyi righteousness in man, that the wretched sinner, nay, that the greatest sai stripped of every personal plea, may rely only on the merits of a Redeem This is the final issue of all those warm debates which pass between t afflicted hero and his censorious friends. This is the grand result of Elih calm reasoning, and of God Almighty's awful interrogatories. The appare centre this, (see Job xlii. 6.), in which all the lines terminate; justly the fore to be considered as the principal scope of the whole work.

I must not omit an excellent observation, which I find in some critical a explanatory notes on the last words of David. The judicious auth proving that this song relates to Christ; that it displays the dignity of o Redeemer, under the character of "The King," and "The Just One,” ad as an explication of the last amiable and glorious title "Our Lord Jes Christ is so called, not so much for having fulfilled all righteousness in 1 own person, and performed an unsinning obedience to the will of God, because, by his righteousness imputed to us, we also, upon the terms the gospel, are justified, or accounted righteous before God."

I think we may evidently discern the same vein of evangelical doctri running through many of the Psalms. "He shall convert § my soul," Ps:

• See Job xxxiii. 22. &c.-Christ is called, the angel of the divine presence, Is lxiii 9. The messenger of the covenant, Mal. iii. 1. He is also, in the most unlimit sense of the phrase, ybp, the interpreter of the divine counsels; he to whom the Fath hath given the tongue of the learned, and by whom he makes known the otherwi unsearchable mysteries of the gospel.

+ By Dr. Grey. See 2 Sam. xxiii. 1. &c.

That is, freely; or, as the prophet speaks, "without money and without price." § I am sensible the word may signify to refresh or restore; may answer to th Greek phrase aus, and denote the comforts of the Holy Ghost. This verb may al bear the same signification with the participle restas, in our Lord's exhortation Peter, when thou art converted; not describing the first grand revolution in the hear by which a new determination is given to the judgment, and a new bias to the affection but expressing those subsequent operations of the divine Spirit, by which we are recover from our various relapses, and healed of our daily infirmities.