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SERMON VII.

ISAIAH xlv. former part of the 24th

Verse.

Surely, hall one fay, in the Lord have I righteousness.

AVING made fome practical improve.

Hment of the feveral parts of our fubject,

as we went along; it only remains to conclude with fuch inferences and reflections, as may offer themfelves upon the whole taken together in one view. And may the Spirit of God bring these truths home to our hearts and confciences with faving power! And,

1. Let us learn from what hath been faid, to turn in upon our own ftate, and seriously confider our need of this righteoufnefs. It is a great and glorious righteousnefs, and what Chrift hath wrought out at an infinite expence; all the labours of his life, and agonies of his death unite to complete it. Shall we not then be sensible of our want of it? To that purpose

indeed,

indeed, was all this wafte, if we do not want this righteousness; have any righteousness of our own by which we may be justified, or if there be a poffibility of our being juftified in any other way ?

Let us then pause a little, and examine our state in reference to the law of God. That holy and perfect law, whofe commands are fo extenfive, and whofe curfe is fo awful, where is the obedience which we have paid it? In what plain and evident inftances have we broken it? broken it in thought, in word, and in deed? And, if we are not convicted of grofs and open violations of it, and have escaped the greater pollutions that are in the world through lufts, tó what irregular inclinations we have indulged, and how many secret propenfities to fin can conscience charge us with, all of which are directly contrary to the purity and fpirituality of the law? Or, indeed, is there any one action of our lives that will bear weighing in this ballance? Would perfons be perfuaded thus to view them felves in the glafs of the law, how would it lead them into the knowledge of many fins which now they are ready to overlook, cure them of that felf-flattery which is of fo dangerous a na ture, and give them that view of the plague of their own hearts, and the evil of their own ways, which would cover them with fhame and confufion?

And, whilft we are convicted of fo many offences against the law, have we any righteoufnefs of our own, by which we may content and fatisfy it? We ought to have made it the rule of our obedience, and God will make it, in the

Mediator's

Mediator's hand, the rule of his judgment; moft certainly he will never justify the finner in any way, that shall give the law the leaft occafion of complaint. Indeed, could we bring in the righteousness which the law calls for, the law would pronounce in our favour; the man which doeth these things fball live by them. Yea, but instead of continuing in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them, have we not in many things offended all? And are we not still and daily offending? Surely then, with refpect to the law, our cafe is the most deplorable, and all our hopes are for ever fhipwreck. ed. We have broken it, and are fallen under the curse of it; are every ways unable to fulfil it, and it is abfolutely impoffible, that the guilty finful creature fhould ever bring in a righteoufnefs, that the law of God will acquiefce in. The attempting it argues the utmoft unacquaintedness with the fpirituality and perfection of the law, and with the ftate of our own fouls. Is not this then our cafe, that we stand in need of a righteoufnefs to justify us? have none of our own that is fufficient for this purpose, and must be for ever miferable without it? And if this be, as moft certainly it is our cafe, and the cafe of all mankind by nature without exception, what reafon have we,

2. To blefs God, that he hath provided fuch a righteousness; provided in it his Son, and opened out a way, in which we may be interefted in it? How fhould we adore his wifdom and grace as fhinning out herein!

We

We should adore his wifdom in the appointment and provifion of this righteouinefs. It is one of the most wonderful inftances of the wifdom of God, as difplayed in the work of our redemption and falvation to provide in the Lord Jefus Chrift a righteousness for our justification equal to our guilt, and in which there fhould be at the fame time an ample provision for his own glory. Upon which account Christ himfelf is called the wisdom of God, 1 Cor. i. 24. And all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are faid to be hid in him, Col. iii. 3. And in the difpenfation of pardoning grace by him, God is faid to have abounded towards us all in wisdom and prudence, Eph. i. 8. Had all the men on earth, and angels in heaven, been called together to have fat in counfel upon this enquiry, how a guilty finner might be justified, and juftified in a way, in which God's highest indignation against fin fhould be manifested, and the honour of his law and justice maintained in their full glory, this would have non-pluffed them all: This knowledge had been too high for them, they could not have attained it. This is that great mystery of divine wifdom which is opened out in the gospel, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, I Cor. ii. 7. And which contains those things in it, which the angels defire to look into, 1 Pet. i. 12. To fee, the eternal Son of God fubmitting to be made a curfe, that we might enjoy the bleffing! to fee, our life rifing out of his death, and our hopes flourishing upon his grave! to fee, every bleffing the guilty finner can want, the dear purchase of his blood, whilft

every bleffing is difpenfed to us, in the effect and gift of the freeft and richeft grace! a full atonement in his death, and yet the finner freely pardoned in one word, God glorified, and the finner faved! There is fomething in this method of grace, in this scheme of redemption, pardon and life, which bears upon it the clearest and most evident marks of the wifdom of God, that inexpreffible wisdom which angels are contemplating with never-ceafing wonder and delight. To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, Eph. iii. 10.

We fhould likewise adore and magnify the grace of God, as what fhines out with an equal luftre with his wifdom thro' this whole fcheme. It was this, that moved for the providing this righteoufnefs, when our circumftances of guilt and mifery called fo loudly for it, and fubftituted the glorious perfon who was to work it out; it was this that accepted it for the finner, when God the fupreme Judge might have tyed him down to the terms of the firft righteous covenant, and have infifted upon a perfonal and perfect righteoufnefs of his own; and eftablifhed a new and better covenant, in which it is freely made over to the believer; it is this, that reveals and makes known this righteoufness, tenders and publishes it in the gospel for our acceptance; gives the finner a fuitable and impreffive conviction of the want of it, and faith in it, that faith whereby we receive and apply it, lay claim to it, and build all our hopes upon it; Finally, that in believing imputes it to

the

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