is constituted an heir of God,-a joint-heir with Christ to the heavenly inheritance.

SECTION VIII.

THE ONLY MERITORIOUS GROUND OF A SINNER'S JUSTIFICATION IS THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF CHRIST.

By the righteousness of Christ, we mean, all that he did and suffered to satisfy the broken law of God, for those whose salvation he undertook to secure. It has been shown, that the law has a double demand upon the sinner, both of which must be satisfied before a sentence of justification can righteously be pronounced. But although the law has these two demands, the one for suffering on account of the penalty incurred, and the other for perfect obedience in order to obtain a right to the promised reward; yet it is not necessary, to attempt curiously to distinguish between obedience and suffering in the satisfaction of Christ; for as has been correctly observed by Dr. Owen and others, in suffering he obeyed, and in obeying he suffered.' It is sufficient, that we find in him, a full satisfaction both to the penal and preceptive requisitions of the law. As the law requires perfect holiness in the nature of man; so Christ's nature was holy. He was in all respects like other men, except that he had no stain of original sin on his soul. He was without sin-"undefiled," in infancy a perfectly holy child. His actions during every stage of his life, and in all the circumstances and relations in which he stood, were perfectly conformable to the precepts of the law. And as he performed every duty which it enjoined, so he abstained from every thing forbidden in thought, word, and deed. The eye of a holy God saw in him no sin, origi nal or actual; neither of omission or commission; neither in the secret purposes and imaginations of the heart, nor in his external conduct and conversation. In his obedience the law was magnified and made honourable. He furnished the best exposition of the law in his public teaching, and what he inculcated, he exemplified, and illustrated in his whole life, from the beginning to the end. He performed all moral duties in relation to God and man with undeviating correctness, and attended on all the positive institutions, then in force. In childhood he was circumcised; when of sufficient age he attended on the stated institutions of the Mosaic religion; and

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as God had commissioned John to baptize the people for the remission of sins, he came and was baptized in Jordan; giving as a reason, that it became him " to fulfil all righteousness;" that is, as he had placed himself under the law, it be hoved him to render obedience to all that the law commanded. But it is evident, that he could neither be circumcised or baptized for the removal of any impurity from himself; neither could he join in the sacrifices which were daily offered, with any relation to his own person; but whatever the law enjoined upon others that he performed; thus rendering an obedience such as they had failed to perform.

It has been objected, that if Christ obeyed the law for us, he should perform the identical acts which every one for whom he obeyed was bound to perform, but this was impossible, because he did not sustain all the relations which they sustained. He could not perform the duties of a father, of a husband or wife, of a servant, of a magistrate, &c., therefore he could not render an obedience which would satisfy the law for us.

This objection is founded on very contracted views of the subject. When one places himself under a law, to render an obedience in behalf of another, it is no how necessary that he should perform the very same external duties. These vary in the same person, with every change of circumstances. What the law requires is a perfect obedience, and such an obedience must arise out of the existing relations of the person performing it. It is a matter of no consequence what the particular external acts of obedience may be, the only question is, are they conformable to the demands of the law under which the substitute is placed. But the objection most commonly insisted on against the active obedience of Christ as a necessary part of our justifying righteousness, from Socinus downward, is, that he owed obedience for himself, and therefore could perform no works of supererogation, which can be applied to the benefit of others. Socinians may with some propriety urge this objection, because they think that Christ was no more than man; and it is admitted that every mere creature is bound to obedience for himself, to the utmost extent of his powers. But it is a matter of grief to find men claiming to be orthodox, and who are so, so far as relates to the person of the Mediator, borrowing this often refuted objection of heretics.

In answer, we say, that Christ, though he must be holy, was under no necessity to place himself under the obligation of any law made for mere creatures. The obedience which

Christ rendered, though performed in his human nature, was the obedience of the God-man, the obedience of him who is Lord of lords and King of kings. It could not be that He, whom all the angels of God are commanded to worship, should be subject to the law, except so far as he voluntarily placed himself under it. Indeed, the human nature of our Lord is not a distinct person. This nature never was any other than a constituent part of the divine person of the Mediator. Besides, his putting himself under the law was not to gain any thing for himself, but to obey for us. If it be said, that having taken upon him the obligation of the law, his obedience was due; we answer yes, it was due for the end which he had in view in placing himself under the law; that is to obey, for his covenanted people. And if that voluntary obligation would render it impossible that his obedience should be for the justification of others, the very same objection would lie against his suffering for others; because in the covenant of redemption he took on himself an obligation to suffer as much as he did to obey. It might then with just as much propriety be said, that he suffered for himself, because by his own engagement he was bound to suffer, as that he obeyed for himself.

The principle may be illustrated by a memorable fact in Ecclesiastical History. Paulinus, bishop of Nola, in the fifth century, expended all his large estates, in redeeming from captivity his brethren enslaved by the Goths and Visigoths, who had overrun the empire. When his resources were exhausted, a poor widow came to him to represent her sad and destitute condition, in consequence of her only son, on whom she depended, being carried as a slave, into Africa. Paulinus, whose charity seems to have had no limit, immediately went over to Africa, and having found the young man, he entered into an agreement with his master, to take the place of the young man, and become a slave, that he might return to his destitute mother; and, accordingly, he continued under the yoke for some months, until his master happened to discover his high standing, and sent him home. Here then is a case in point. Paulinus was under no obligation to obey this barbarian, until for the redemption of the captive youth, he consented to take his place, and submit to all the hard laws of servitude. But can any one suppose that because he was now bound to obedience he could only perform it for himself? No: the very reason why he took this place and came under this obligation was for another. The case is too plain to need any further explanation.

As the obedience of the Mediator is expressly mentioned as the ground of our justification by Paul, where he says "As by the disobedience of one many were made sinners, (or condemned) so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous," (or be justified,) the opposers of the imputation of Christ's active obedience have alleged, that by obedience here, we should not understand his holy life, but his obedience in dying; and they bring up another text, in which it is said he was "obedient unto death," to show that not his general obedience, but a particular act of obedience, namely, in dying for us, is intended. Now, for the sake of argument, conceding all that these contend for, the principle will not be altered. It will still be true, that we are justified by the active obedience of the Mediator. The only difference is, that according to the orthodox doctrine, all his holy acts go to make up his righteousness, by which we are justified; but by this hypothesis, one act of obedience is that by which believers are constituted righteous. But this is a mere hypothesis, having no shadow of proof, except the interpretation of the text in Philippians. The expression "obedient unto death" does not properly signify a single act of obedience in dying; it properly means an obedience continued even unto death; or rather an obedience which did not falter, even when a cruel and accursed death was to be endured. If the apostle had intended to express the idea of a single act of obedience in dying, he would have employed another form of expression. If God cannot be just and justify the ungodly, without a perfect righteousness, as we have in a former part of this treatise endeavoured to show, then the active obedience of Christ must be the ground of this sentence, or no one of Adam's sinful posterity ever can be justified in the sight of God; for there is no other righteousness which is in all respects perfect; for even if perfection were attainable in this life, the perfection of duration would be wanting. He who pleads justification on the ground of perfect obedience, must exhibit such an obedience through the whole course of his life; for the just Judge surveys the whole life of the creature whom he declares to be justified, as has before been shown.

An opinion has lately met with favour among a certain class of American theologians, which we believe to be new. It is, that justification by grace, has no respect to the law whatever. It is a scheme of bringing the sinner into a state of reconciliation without any satisfaction to law or justice. Literally, it is" without law." And this not only respects the active obedience of Christ for his elect people, but his

atonement, which they deny to be an endurance of the penalty of the law; but merely a public exhibition which comes in the place of a legal process. Thus they utterly subvert the righteousness of Christ, as it has hitherto been held by the orthodox. In support of their opinion they plead that a full satisfaction is inconsistent with gratuitous pardon; that none can possibly satisfy the law, either as to its precept or penalty but the sinner himself, because the law has no claim on any other; and that God is not bound by the holiness of his nature, to execute the penalty of the law; and therefore may take the sinner into favour, notwithstanding the demands of the law against him; which demands, they assert, will remain forever unsatisfied, even while the sinner is saved. Yet they maintain, that God could not consistently with the good of the universe pardon sin, without giving a signal exhibition of his dislike to it, and his settled purpose to punish it. On this account, he sent his own well beloved Son to die an ignominious death for sin, that is, to show his views and feelings of its evil nature. By this device, a way is opened for the gratuitous pardon of every one who repents of his sin and believes the Gospel. If asked, whether the sufferings of Christ are vicarious, they promptly answer in the affirmative; but when they come to explain their meaning, it is far enough from the orthodox doctrine of substitution, and vicarious satisfaction to the law, in the room of the sinner. It is something entirely different from this legal process, but which comes in the place of it, and is therefore properly called vicarious. This is a specimen of new divinity, which is now zealously inculcated from the pulpit, and from the press; and that too by men, who have adopted without exception, as their creed, the Confession and Catechisms of our Church!

In refutation of this theory, which is in fact, "another gospel," I have only room for a few remarks.

And the first is, that the word justification can have no intelligible meaning, unless it be a sentence according to law. An unjust judge may disregard the law and justify the wicked, and condemn the righteous; but a righteous judge will impartially try every person arraigned before him, by the law of the land, and will pronounce sentence accordingly, justifying the righteous, and condemning the wicked. And God the Judge of all the earth, who is infinitely righteous, will surely never cast his own holy law behind his back, and disregard its demands, when he pronounces a sentence of justification. If he cannot deny himself, he cannot cast dis