we may learn, that our own merit or good works do not in whole or in part constitute our justifying righteousness; but that it is wholly, entirely, and exclusively the merit of Christ's obedience and sufferings.

This righteousness is often called the righteousness of faith. Thus, according to some, it is denominated in my text, which may be thus rendered, "For in it the righteousness of God by faith is revealed to faith;" and this is most agreeable to the phraseology of this epistle. Others, following our translation—or the apparent order of the original, understand it in another sense; yet still so as to assign faith a peculiar concern in the affair. "The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith;" that is, according to some, it is entirely and all through by faith;" or, from one degree of faith to another; or from faith to faith, from believer to believer, all the world over, among the Jews and Gentiles; or from the faithfulness of God in the word, to the grace of faith in the heart. You see that

whatever sense you put upon this difficult phrase, it still coincides with or countenances the translation, which I would rather choose. "The righteousness of faith is revealed to faith." So it is expressly called in Romans iii. 22, "The righteousness of God, which is by the faith of Christ." See chap. iv. 11, 13, x. 6; Phil. iii. 9. "Not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." From whence we may infer, that faith has a peculiar concurrence of instrumentality in our justification by the righteousness of Christ.

My text further observes that in the gospel this justifying righteousness is revealed to faith; that is, in the gospel it is clearly discovered, proposed, and offered as an object of faith. The light of nature is all darkness and uncer

* See Mr. Locke.

tainty on this important point; it can only offer obscure and mistaken conjectures concerning the method of pardon and acceptance for a guilty sinner; it leaves the anxious conscience still unsatisfied and perplexed with the grand inquiry, "Wherewith shall I come before the Lord? How shall such a guilty creature as I re-obtain the favour of my provoked Sovereign?" It may suggest some plausible things in favour of repentance, as the only method of pardon; it may flatter the sinner, that a God of infinite goodness will not rigorously execute his law; and it may draw a veil over the attribute of his justice; and thus it may build the hopes of the sinner upon the ruin of the divine government, and the dishonour of the divine perfections. But a method of justification by the righteousness of another, by the obedience and death of an incarnate God; by his perfect obedience to the law, and complete satisfaction to justice, instead of the sinner; a method in which sin may be pardoned, and in the meantime, the honours of the divine government advanced, and the divine perfections gloriously illustrated; this is a mystery, which was hid from ages and generations; this was a grand secret, which all the sages and philosophers, and all the sons of men, who had nothing but the light of nature for their guide, could not discover, nor indeed so much as guess at. This scheme was as far above their thoughts as the heavens are above the earth. Nothing but infinite wisdom could contrive it: nothing but omniscience could reveal it. In the writings of Moses and the prophets, indeed, we meet with some glimmerings of it; some few rays of gospel-light were reflected back from the Sun of Righteousness, through the dark medium of three or four thousand years, and shone upon the minds of the Jews, in the sacrifices, and other significant types of the law, and in the prophecies of the Old Testament writers; and hence

the apostle says, that "the righteousness of God is witnessed by the law and the prophets," Rom. iii. 21; but it is in the gospel alone that it is explicitly and fully revealed: in the gospel alone it is proposed in full glory, as a proper object for a distinct, particular, and explicit faith.

And hence we may easily see the strong and striking connection of the text. You may connect this sentence, For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith," with the first part of a foregoing text, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ;" and then the sense will be, "No wonder I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ among Jews or Gentiles, and even in Rome itself; for it makes a most glorious and important discovery, in which they are all concerned; a discovery which the Jews, with all the advantages of the law and the prophets, could not clearly make: a discovery which the Greeks with all their learning and philosophy, and the Romans with all their power and improvements, could not so much as guess at; and that is the discovery of a complete God-like righteousness, by which the guilty sons of men, of every nation under heaven, may obtain justification from all their sins; a righteousness which is a sufficient foundation for the hopes of sinners, and gives the most majestic and amiable view of the great God: a righteousness, without which Jews and Gentiles, and even the Romans, in the height of their empire, must unavoidably, irreparably, universally, and eternally perish, in promiscuous ruin." Such a glorious and divine righteousness does the neglected and despised gospel reveal; such a benevolent, gracious, and reviving discovery does it make; and who would be ashamed of such a gospel? "For my part," says St. Paul, "I am not ashamed of it, but would boldly publish it unto kings and emperors, to sages and philosophers; and whatever sufferings I endure for its sake, still I glory

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in so good a cause, and would spend and be spent in its service."

Or we may join this clause, "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith," with the last part of the preceding verse, For it is the power of God unto salvation, &c., and then the connection will run thus: "The gospel of Christ, so destitute of all carnal and secular recommendations, is sufficiently recommended to universal acceptance by this, that it is the only powerful and efficacious expedient for the salvation of all such as believe it, whether they be Jews or Gentiles. And no wonder it is attended with this divine power and efficacy, for in it, and in it only, the righteousness of God by faith is revealed to the faith and acceptance of a guilty world. No religion but that of a Mediator can provide or propose such a righteousness; and yet without such a righteousness, no sinner, whether Jew or Gentile, can be saved: and, on the other hand, the revelation of such a righteousness directly tends to promote the important work of salvation, as it encourages the despairing sinner, and inspires him with vigour and as it lays a foundation for the honorable communication of the influences of the Holy Spirit, without which this work can never be effected."

I hope these things are sufficient to give you a view of the sense and connection of the text. And there is only one thing I would repeat and illustrate before I proceed to a methodical prosecution of my subject; and that is, that the righteousness of God, or the righteousness of Christ, on account of which we are justified, signifies the obedience and sufferings of Jesus Christ, to answer the demands of the law, which we had broken; or, as it is usually expressed, "his active and passive obedience." He obeyed the law, and endured its penalty, as the surety or substitute of sinners: that is, he did all this, not for himself, but

for them, or in their stead. This is a matter of so much importance, that you should by all means rightly understand it; and I hope it is now sufficiently plain without enlarging upon it, though I thought it necessary to repeat it. My thoughts on this interesting subject I intend to dispose in the following order:

I. I shall briefly explain to you the nature of justifying faith, and show you the place it has in our justification.

II. I shall show, that no righteousness but that which the gospel reveals is sufficient for the justification of a sinner: And,

III. I shall evince that it is the gospel only which reveals such a righteousness.

I. I am to explain to you the nature of justifying faith, and show you the place it has in our justification.

You see I do not propose to explain the general nature of faith, as it has for its object the word of God in general; but only under that formal notion, as it has a peculiar instrumentality in our justification. When I mentioned the term justification, it occurs to my mind that some of you may not understand it; and for the sake of such, I would explain it. You cannot but know what it is to be pardoned, or forgiven, after you have offended : and it must be equally plain to you what it is to be loved, and received into favour, by a person whom you have offended; and these two things are meant by justification; when you are justified, God pardons or forgives you all your sins; and he receives you again into his love and favour, and gives you a title to everlasting happiness. I hope this important point is now sufficiently plain to you. all; and I return to observe, that I intend to consider faith at present, only under that formal notion, as we are justified by it; and in that view it is evident that the Lord Jesus, as a Saviour who died for sinners, is its pecu