of nature, as well as of his kingdom of grace and of glory. In the Old Testament, "I have put my words in thy mouth, and covered thee in the shadow of my hand, said God to the Mediator, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth; and say to Zion, Thou art my people," Isa. li. 16. that is, do it with the greatest certainty, so as to receive from all a full revenue of glory. In the New Testament we are told, that "all things were created by Christ, and that by him all things consist," Col. i. 16, 17.

As man was created the mouth of this lower creation, in point of praise, and in point of service, as the hand thereof; for what would this world have sig nified, had no man been formed to adore, and serve Him that made it? So our Immanuel is as the hand in point of service; therefore he is called, the man of God's right hand, Psal. lxxx. 17. and in point of praise, he is as the mouth of the whole universe. By him God receives, and will receive for ever, such a revenue of glory, as could no other way have been paid to him. Mere creatures, whether they are men or angels, being mutable by nature, may praise God, and serve him one day, and be struck dumb to praise, and grow lame to his service the next, as in the case of the non-elect angels, and of our first parents; whereas our Immanuel is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; and, as such, is a fit basis to support the whole universe. Is it beneath the wisdom of a king to order his palace to be built on a quicksand, or his crown and sceptre to be made of glass? and will God entrust reeds and rushes, that is, mere creatures, with the manifestation of his glory? Firm and strong, as the pillars of heaven, and of this earth may be; they owe all their stability and strength to Christ, and so do elect men, and angels theirs; in answering the ends, the one of their creation, the other of their redemption; to the same Jesus, who is said, To bear up the pillars of the earth, Psal. lxxv. 3. and to uphold all things by the word of his power, Heb. i. 3. which includes heaven as well as earth; and is called, by God,

his righteous servant, in whom he will be glorified, Isa. xlix. 8. That Christ should be able, in the short space of thirty odd years, to finish transgression, and to make the end of sin, and reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, is a like wonder, with God's creating such a world as this is, in the space of six days. How will it astonish and delight us, when we come to glory, to think, that the Lord of heaven and earth should be the Lord our righteousness? That he, who there sits on the Father's throne, should, to bring about our justification and salvation, consent to hang in this lower world on a tree? Between whose righteousness, its being upon us for our actual justification and faith of the operation of God, there is, for the comfort of all who believe, a close connexion, which is my next head of discouse.

5. I shall evince the sure connexion there is between faith and actual justification.

There is an eternal connexion in God's purposes and decrees, who has said, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure. Men and devils may sooner invert the beautiful order of nature, and extinguish sun, moon, and stars, than disannul what the purpose of God has thus connected. There is also an eternal connexion by way of covenant, it being thus agreed in the counsel of peace between the Father and the Son. There is also a purchased connexion, obtained and sealed as it were, by the blood of Christ. There is an openly declared connexion, published in the book of God, and by the ministers of the Gospel, to all the world: there is a promised connexion confirmed by oath; for the oath of God, as it is recorded in his word, reaches and confirms every truth contained therein, whereby all Gospel immunities, privileges, and blessings, are abundantly secured to such as believe. It is also an experienced connexion; all, in all ages and places, that ever believed, whether saints of the Old, or of the New Testament, have, without one exception, been justified; and so are all who now believe justified, let their lot be cast where it will; babes, as

well as fathers in Christ; and so shall all who, in after ages, to the very end of time, will be brought to believe. For that great text looks forward as well as backward; "By him all who believe are justified, from all things," Acts iii. 39. Should such of us as believe, be declared justified, by an audible voice from heaven, or by an angel sent from thence, it would not be so satisfying, nor so establishing, as the united testimony of Moses, and of all the prophets; of Christ, and of all his Apostles, as it stands recorded in both Testaments. We may safely say, that the earth may sooner sink under our feet, and the heavens over our heads vanish, than a true believer be condemned; which connexion is thus settled and secured, that we might have strong consolation, who are fled for refuge, to lay hold on the hope set before us in the Gospel. This connexion I take to be part of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,' which makes every true believer, free from the law of sin and death,' Rom. viii. 2.

6. My next province is, to assign to good works their proper use in this weighty affair, according to the Scriptures, which are most express, in excluding the best works performed by the best of saints, from being either in whole, or in part, our justifying righteousness before God. Thus Abraham's works, though very excellent in themselves, are carefully excluded; "What shall we say then, that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, has found? for if Abraham was justified by works, he has whereof to glory; but he was not so justified before God," Rom. iv. 2. That this is the sense and meaning of this verse, is plain from the next; "For what says the Scripture, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness," verse 3. His readiness to offer his son, by way of sacrifice, at God's command, was a high instance of obedience; but this was not counted to him for righteousness, as to be sure it would have been, and set as in the front of Abraham's good works, had they been either in whole, or in part, his

justifying righteousness before God. David's resolution to make mention of God's righteousness, and of that only, must be exclusive of all those works of righteousness, which might be called his own. Thus the Apostle's desire to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, excludes not only some, but all those works of righteousness which he had wrought, or should maintain, to the very end of life; though he was a tree of righteousness, more and more loaded therewith. His saying, not of works, lest any man should boast, bars them from being part of our justifying righteousness before God; and so does that other text, "Now to him that works not, but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness," Rom. iv. 5. But we need go no farther than my text for the full proof of this. It was in primitive times, a known truth which none disputed, that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. We may safely conclude therefore, as the Apostle does, that "we are justified by faith, without the deeds of the law; for by the law is the knowledge of sin," Rom. iii. 20. The dagger that gives the wound, may as soon cure it, as the law justify any. Such as thus seek to be justified, are so far from attaining their end, that they are doctrinally fallen from grace, Gal. v. 4. and do as much as in them lies, to make the death of Christ vain and ineffectual, chap. ii. 21. Good works, how spiritual soever they may be, are not a valuable consideration laid down by us, for the robe of Christ's righteousness; which can no more be purchased by us, than the power of giving the Holy Ghost could by Simon the sorcerer. Such a purchase would aggrandise the saint to the depreciating of the Saviour, whose righteousness is called a gift, but not once a sale, in Scripture; neither are good works our warrant to look to Christ for righteounsess, to justification and life. To bar this, we are told, as has been observed, how it is, that, as to ourselves, we are considered by God, when he justifies any; not as saints, but as sinners: But to him that works not,

but believes on him that justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Our warrant to receive Christ, as the Lord our righteousness, is not human, but Divine; the call and promise of the Gospel, and not any worth or worthiness in us; Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us.

But though the best of works are no part of our justifying righteousness before God, all good works evidence our being among the number of God's justified ones. This they do, as they speak our faith to be unfeigned; a faith of the right kind, which works by love. They also do it, as they speak our union to Christ to be real, that we are truly one spirit with the Lord; so that good works evidence our justification, as good fruit evidences the goodness of the tree; and as streams that are sweet, speak the sweetness of the fountain.

7. I shall next consider, whether the law is of any use in the business of a sinner's justification before God, and shew of what use it is. The moral law is the great standard of all righteousness. Had not Christ's suretiship-righteousness come up in every point, to this perfect rule, neither he himself, as Mediator, nor any of his, could have been justified; the curse of which law, as a broken covenant reaches sinners of all ranks and degrees, whilst lying out from Christ. It is therefore of no small use, in the hand of the Spirit, to awaken those of God's elect, where the Gospel comes; by which they are not only struck dumb and silenced, as to all pleas, by way of excuse, but dead, as to all hopes of establishing a justifying righteousness of their own. Thus the Apostle Paul, who, whilst a dead Pharisee was alive in his own conceit, without the law; when that came in its spirituality and extent, sin so revived, as to the sense of it, that he died; and the commandment, which was originally ordained to life, and was so given to our first parents, he found to be to death; for instead of justifying, by it is the knowledge of sin, and consequent