a well-spring of water, flowing out unto everlasting life. Consequently, it cannot be of the nature of justifying faith.

Now let us attend to declarations which exhibit the present subject in a light so clear, as to present the truth beyond controversy. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe and tremble. The devils are the subjects of speculative belief; but it will not be pretended, that they can be the subjects of justifying faith. It is impossible for fallen angels to exercise this kind of faith, as a Saviour was never provided for them, nor the means of redemption in their behalf made known. Neither can holy angels exercise the saving faith of the gospel, as they need no Saviour and no pardon. And if guilty man should believe in the existence of a God, and tremble in view of his natural and moral perfections, the nature of his faith would be the same as that of the devils. good works would be the result.

No

With precision let the subject be exhibited under a different form. But wilt thou know, O vain man! that faith without works is dead! Vain man, or hypocrite! But surely the faith of the hypocrite is not the faith of the gospel. It is the contrast most certainly. It is not a living, but a dead faith.

If we compare such a faith with that of Abraham, the subject will be farther illustrated. Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works, when he had offered up Isaac, his son, upon the altar? Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was made perfect? And the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abraham believed God; and it was imputed to him for righteousness. And he was called the friend of God. Ye see, then, how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only. These expressions plainly evince, that the faith of Abraham was the genuine faith of the gospel; a real operative confidence in the promises of God. This it showed in a very forcible manner, because

he manifested singularly great and self-denying obedience.

St. James repeats the passages in three different instances; and clearly proves the same doctrine to be the main thing on which he meant to insist, in these concise and emphatical words. For as the body, without the spirit, is dead; so faith, without works, is dead also. The true import of these words is not, that evangelical faith is ever a dead faith; for it cannot exist without being operative of good works. But such a faith as is unproductive of Christian obedience, is a mere speculative, lifeless faith. Hence, a man is justified by works; as they are the consequence, fruit, and evidence of a saving justifying faith.

We are now naturally led to the true sense of the following declaration: Now to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. By the expression, to him that worketh NOT, is evidently to be understood, one who does not attempt to work, to recommend himself to the favour of God by his moral goodness, so as to be justified by the deeds of the law. He renounces all pretence and expectation of acceptance in this manner, by his works. In opposition to working, so as to render himself worthy of a reward in a legal sense, and to bring God in debt to him, his hope is founded in the faith of the gospel, to which the promise of pardon is annexed. The following reason is subjoined: Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

Hence, even good works, those which are truly evangelical, are not designed to recommend a man to the divine favour; but to be an evidence of pardon, acceptance, and justification by faith. They are to be a manifestation, that our faith is genuine, the faith of the gospel, which, through the grace of God, is saving, or is connected with the promise of salvation. Amen.

SERMON XXIII.

ON JUSTIFICATION.

ROMANS III. 24.

Being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.

FROM the preceding discourse flows a number of important inferences.

1st. Christianity furnishes a consistent scheme of salvation.

The gospel takes man where it finds him, in a state of sin and ruin; condemned by the law of God to final perdition, and incapable of justification by his own righteousness. In this situation is announced to him a Saviour, divinely great and glorious; divinely excellent and lovely, assuming his nature, to become an expiation for his sins; revealing to him the way of reconciliation to God, and of eternal salvation. The terms on which he may be reconciled, it discloses with exact precision and perfect clearness. Repentance towards God, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and a godly life, include them all. They are requisitions the most reasonable in themselves, and productive of incomprehensible good to all who embrace them. The way of salvation is here become a highway; and way-faring men, though fools, need not err therein. Natural religion does not hold forth the method of return and reconciliation to God. It is the religion of the law, which proclaims, Do these things, and thou shalt live; but the soul that sinneth, shall die. We have sinned, and the doom denounced against those who disobey, is a sentence of final condem

nation. In such a situation, what man, not lost to sense and thought, would not hail the dawn of the gospel with transport, and joyfully welcome the clear rising of the Sun of Righteousness, to illume his path through this melancholy world; to dispel the darkness of the grave, and brighten his passage to the heavens!

2dly. In the light of this subject we may see, that we are under unspeakable obligations of gratitude to each of the Divine Persons in the Godhead.

In view of the unbounded grace of God, as the originating, moving cause of justification, praise unspeakable is due to the Father, who devised the great plan of man's redemption, by which sinners, entirely ruined, are in a salvable state. Neither men nor angels could have been adequate for devising the wondrous scheme. Matchless the wisdom, and matchless the grace! Had the Father refused to offer his Son, that he might become a sacrifice for sin, the case of man must have been as hopeless as that of the sinning angels. Every one of the human family must inevitably have had their portion in endless perdition.

And when the Father had devised the plan, and proposed the terms to the Son, that redemption should be purchased by his blood, had the Son been unwilling and rejected the proposal, none of the guilty sons and daughters of Adam could have escaped hell and obtained heaven. All must have sunk down to the regions of sorrow and everlasting despair. But the Son, for the honour and glory of his Father, and in the most tender compassion for a world of sinners in a desperate condition, says, "Lo! I come; I delight to do thy will, O my God.", Hence, in the fulness of time, he made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. And are the atoning sufferings and

death of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sole ground of pardon or that on the account of which, God the Father justifies any of this rebellious world? Then unspeakable are the obligations of gratitude to the Son.

And as believers are justified by a living faith which is productive of works, equal praise is due to the Holy Spirit. All mankind are so dead in trespasses and sins, as to stand in perishing need of his divine, renewing influence, to work in their hearts evangelical faith, which alone embraces a Saviour, and is connected with a godly life. Unless the Divine Spirit enable them to work out their salvation, they would draw back unto perdition. Through his agency, the blood of Christ is applied, the work of grace perfected, and the soul prepared for immortal glory. In the economy of redemption, and in the view of the different senses of justification, each of the divine persons has claims for the most lively gratitude for interminable ages. Then let us Give to the FATHER praise, Give glory to the SON;

And to the SPIRIT of his grace,

Be equal honours done.

Let all the redeemed shout aloud for joy; and while for ever exulting in the Author of their salvation, give glory to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost.

3dly. This subject renders it evident, that they who reject the atonement of Christ, can have no well grounded hope of obtaining the divine favour.

Without a vital, operative faith, no saving benefit can result to mankind from the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. A mere ground for pardon, though ever so complete, cannot profit those who refuse compliance with the proposed condition. And indeed, a mere speculative, dead faith, and a rejected Saviour, will serve to sink the soul down to the lowest abodes of perdition. How peculiar the guilt of setting at naught the singular, the eminently di