perfect." Now, we do not believe that any man can be sufficiently rash and inexperienced, as to hold that he is able by his own unaided power to satisfy such a demand as this. We shall at once proceed, therefore, 2dly, To quote the decision of Holy Scripture on this point, which is thus recorded:* "Therefore, by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight; for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Here let us pause for a moment, to draw a necessary distinction between two different kinds of sin, "original sin" and "actual sin;" so that, having once defined them, we may be able to use the two expressions each in their true and proper signification. Now, "original sin is the fault and corruption of the nature of every man,' whereby man is, of his own nature, inclined to evil, so that the flesh lusteth alway contrary to the Spirit;" and actual sin ist "the works of the flesh, which are manifest, and are these: Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like." So that original sin is the state of mind; actual sin is the manifestation and fruit of that state. Now, with this distinction in mind, we return to our subject: "By the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Here, then, is the authoritative declaration of Scripture, that no man can justify himself before God, by his obedience to, or performance of, the law: and what is the reason given? "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." Now, what is the meaning of the knowledge of sin being by the law? And how does this prove that we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law? The answer to these questions will throw considerable light upon the whole subject of our investigation; and the answer is this: How, then, are they to be blotted out? By God's mercy, is the answer. Now, they who thus urge the mercy of God, forget that He is not only merciful, but "just ;” nay, "I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God,"*"who will by no means clear the guilty;" for "in the sin that he hath sinned he shall die." Having once said this, "God is not a man that He should repent;" so that the matter stands thus: repentance is part of the condition on which we receive justification—it is not justification itself; for, "if ¶ we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Now, mark the accuracy of this expression: on confession, or repentance, "God is faithful to forgive us our sins," for He has promised it. But that is not enough: He is also "just," and therefore He must "cleanse us from all unrighteousness;" and this cleansing is justification. So that here is the whole process: Confession or repentance, the condition; mercy, freely forgiving; justice, perfectly justifying; i. e., "Justification by Faith," (for confession, as we shall hereafter see, is part of Faith,)§"through the forbearance of God." Now, whence this required justification comes, is the object of our present researches. See the Articles of Religion, Art. ix. Galatians v. 19. *Rom. iii. 20. 1st, The meaning of the knowledge of sin being by the law is, that by the law we are able to understand what the full signification of the word sin embraces. By the law, in fact, we know that sin is of two kinds: original sin and actual sin. 2dly, And the way by which this proves that we cannot be justified by the deeds of the law is, that one of these kinds of sin, original sin, can never in this life be eradicated from the heart, for that we believe that "the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit," and that "this* infection of nature doth remain, yea, in them that are regenerated." And our authority for this interpretation is St. Paul himself; for in another Scripture he saith,† “Nay, I had not known sin but by the law; for I had not known LUST, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." So that here the Apostle vindicates the spiritual tendency of the law, and shows that by it we know that we are forbidden not only to commit sin, but even to be inclined to sin, to feel tempted to sin, to lust; for inclination to sin, even though not yielded to, proves the sinfulness of him who does so incline. So that the Apostle's argument stands thus: "We cannot be justified by the deeds of the law;" that is, by our strict obedience to all the commandments of God, inasmuch as such obedience is impossible, for that by the law we know that we are required not only to abstain from all actual sin (which might barely be possible, as in the case of the young man who said to Christ, "All these things have I kept from my youth up"), but also to cleanse ourselves from that secret and hidden infection, which is in itself sin, and which is the root, and cause, and receptacle of sin. Having seen, therefore, that man is in need of a Justifier, and that that Justifier must of necessity be either man himself or some one else having proved that it could not be man himself, for that the only two methods by which such a case can be conceived possible are vain, futile, and impracticable and having confirmed our positions by reading over them the final decision of Holy Scripture on the subject-we come to the conclusion that some other Justifier must be found besides and external to man. And now, ere we proceed to consider who this Justifier really is, let us pause for a moment to contemplate the condition of man as it is in this stage of our investigation. Behold the dreadful picture! Man standing upon a world that totters on the brink of hell-destruction is approaching already is he about to sink. "What shall he do to be saved?" There, above him, and in sight, are the eternal heavens; could he once attain to them he would be safe for ever; but, alas! he has not the power or the means to raise himself from the fatal spot. What! and shall a world thus perish? Is there none to deliver? awe we gaze upon the scene, and with astonishment we ask the question-and it is well, for the Omnipotent Himself did well nigh the same, what time He looked § "and saw that there was no man, and VOL. I. * Article ix. DD + Rom. vii. 7. In wondered that there was no Intercessor." Yea, and this was the time for the Mighty God to arise in the majesty of His power, to assert His Omnipotency, and to do what man could not do, and "therefore His arm brought salvation; for *"the Lord hath made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all nations, that all the ends of the earth might see the salvation of our God;" and He hath found an Intercessor and a Justifier, even His righteous servant, who by His knowledge should justify many" this is He who is called "The Lord our Righteousness," and "the Lord of Hosts is His name, § and our Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." "Behold the Man | whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation for the remission of sins that are past, and to be the Justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." II. We have now proved that man alone cannot justify himself, and that his justification must therefore rest with God; and we have further seen that God has raised up a Justifier, even "Jesus Christ the Righteous." But in advancing so far we have only gained one step towards our object, for the end which we proposed to ourselves was to prove that the justification of man before God is by the merits of Christ alone: that is, that Christ is our one, sole, unaided, and sufficient Justifier, and that nothing whatever which man does is in the least degree accepted by God as part of his justification. Now, with a view to this, it will be well that we gain a distinct and accurate perception of three things. First: What were the circumstances which rendered a Justifier necessary? Secondly: What is the object of justification. Thirdly: What are the means by which alone the Justifier can effect the object of his mission? Now, 1st, then, The circumstances which rendered a Justifier necessary were these:-Sin divided man from God, for **" our iniquities have separated between us and our God, and our sins have hid His face from us.' this sin divided man from God in two ways: First, by having entailed on man the sentence of eternal death, this sentence must be fulfilled, the penalty must be paid; and, till this be effected, man cannot approach God. Secondly, Sin divided man from God, in that nothing impure or unholy could come near God, for ++" God is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look upon iniquity;" so that sin must be totally removed, and perfect, spotless righteousness substituted for it, ere man can venture to come under the inspection of the Holy One. And these two demands must be most completely and absolutely satisfied. The penalty must be paid to the uttermost farthing; sin must be wholly removed. It is vain to say that God is all-merciful and almighty, and that, therefore, He can remit the penalty, and render righteous by His simple creative word. Such a supposition is blasphemous, for it would rob God of His perfection; it is absurd, for it *Isa. lii. 10. ** Isa. lix. 2. + Isa. liii. 11. 1 John ii. 1. tt Hab. i. 13. would make God not God-for God is a Being governed by His own immutable laws, and possessed of perfect attributes, amongst which attributes are Justice and Truth. To suppose, therefore, that God, having once said, "I will by no means clear the guilty," but "the soul that sinneth, it shall die"-to suppose that God, having said this, shall yet pardon and put away sin, without exacting the penalty, is "to make God a liar"-it is to make Him indulge mercy at the expense of justice; whereas, "God is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or hath He spoken, and shall He not make good?" The fact is (as we shall see hereafter), that no sin has ever been pardoned or blotted out till the very uttermost farthing of penalty has been paid; and to suppose otherwise, is to have false ideas of God and of His character. Since these, then, are the circumstances which called for a Justifier, it is evident that, 2dly, The object of justification must be, first, to pay the full penalty attached to sin; secondly, to take away sin, and substitute righteousness; for on the performance of these requisites alone can man approach God, or enter into life." Now, since, as we have seen, man could not satisfy these demands himself, and since it was, on that account, necessary that a Justifier should be sent to him from without, it is plain that, 3dly, The duties of a Justifier are, first, to pay the full penalty of sin; secondly, to take away sin, and substitute righteousness. Now, as death is the penalty of sin, which man can never pay, and as the necessary state of righteousness is such that man can never in this world attain to it in his own person, it follows, that the means by which alone the Justifier can effect the object of his mission are, 1st, Death suffered for man; 2dly, Righteousness imputed to man. Hence, we see that the Justifier must be a man, in order that he may pay the penalty in the character of man; and God, in order that the righteousness He bestows may be perfect, spotless righteousness, without blemish, “even the righteousness of God." Such, then, are the necessary means of justification, and such are the means by which we are told that Christ has effected it. It remains that we prove that Christ alone has effected it, and that man does not in the least degree contribute anything to either of the two means by which he is justified. That is to say, that neither does man pay any *Exod. xxxiv. 7. † Ezek. xviii. 4, 20. The distinction between these two things, paying the penalty of sin, and taking away sin to substitute righteousness, must be carefully preserved. Each might exist without the other, but neither alone makes justification: e. g., supposing the penalty of a man's sins were paid, in that case his sin would be cancelled, but he would not thereby be rendered positively holy and righteous (" without which no man shall see God," as we shall presently show); or again, supposing a man to become actually righteous, still, the state of sin in which he was born remains unatoned, and the original curse unremoved. part, however small, of the penalty of sin, but that Christ alone pays the whole of it. Nor does any righteousness of man go to form part of that righteousness which is received by God in his justification, but it is the righteousness of Christ alone, imputed to man, and received instead of man's righteousness. Now, we shall arrange the proofs which we are about to adduce for this purpose, under two heads : 1st, That class of proofs which goes to show that the work of Christ, as a sole, unaided Justifier, is perfect and sufficient by itself; and that, therefore, it is an unnecessary and dangerous act of presumption to attempt to add to it. 2dly, That class of proofs which goes to show that man, from the very nature of the means requisite to his justification, is totally unable to contribute anything to them; and that, therefore, it is worse than folly for him to attempt it. I. The Work of Christ, as a sole, unaided Justifier, is perfect and sufficient in itself. the Now, in order to prove this, we shall proceed, bearing in mind the means of Justification-viz., the death and imputed righteousness of the Justifier, to show that, 1st, The death of Christ by itself pays whole penalty of sin; and that, 2dly, The imputed righteousness of Christ does by itself render man perfectly righteous before God; and the proofs which we shall adduce with this view are of necessity wholly scriptural. 1st, then, The Death of Christ by itself pays, the whole penalty of Sin. Now, we hold that if in any part of Scripture, where important doctrines are laid down, and where, consequently, the expressions are not metaphorical or poetical, but accurate, well weighed, logical, and absolute-if in any such part we find a distinct, unqualified statement made, we hold that such a statement is an undeniable, irrefutable truth, admitting of no softening down, no explaining away. And again: we hold that in any passage of Scripture in which the requisites to the attainment of some pre-eminently excellent and essential object (such as Justification) are enumerated-in such a passage we hold, that no single part of those requisites, however inferior, will be omitted. This being the case, then, if in any one such passage of Scripture as we have described in our first assertion, we find it stated that Christ's death pays the penalty of sin, then are we to hold that this is undeniably the case. And further, if in any such passage as we have spoken of in our second assertion, we find that Christ's death is mentioned alone as requisite to pay the penalty, with no other aid or supplement attached to it, as necessary, then are we to believe that no other supplement or aid can be attached to it; but that it alone pays the full penalty of sin. Now, the fact is, that not only can we find one, but such passages; as for instance, Christ, our passover, is slain for us." * many 1 Corinthians v. 7. |