venant that God made with him, and confequently that we finn'd and fell with him in his first Tranfgreffion, and are thereby brought under the Curfe of the Law. Now we must be brought out of this State of Guilt and Wrath into a State of Righteousness; which is effectually done by the Imputation of the Righteousness of Chrift to the Soul, which it receives by Faith alone.

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By the Righteousness of Chrift, I mean his perfect and compleat Obedience to the Law, and his fuffering the Penalty of it; the whole of what our Saviour did and fuffer'd, his active and paffive Obedience, which is imputed or reckon❜d to every believing Sinner. For the Rom. 10.4. Apostle fays, Christ is the end of the Law for Righteoufnefs to every one that believeth. As the Difobedience of the first Adam makes us Sinners, fo the perfect falefs Obedience of the 2 Cor. 5. 21. fecond Adam makes us Righteous. For he bath made him to be. Sin for us who knew no Sin, that we might be made the Righteousness of God in him. Every Phrafe here is wonderfully emphatical He hath made him to be Sin for us :: This fuppofes Christ's being fubstituted in the room and ftead of Sinners, and that he fustain'd the Punishment due to Sin, the Guilt thereof being charged upon him as our Sponfor and Surety. 'Twas not the Filth of Sin, or the Obliquity of any Act that could be fuppos'd to be in the Nature of our Saviour, which was more pure than the unstained Light He was Holy, Harmlefs, Undefil'd, and Separate from Sinners. For tho he was made

* Vide Turrettini de Satisfactione Chrifti Difputationes, P. 117, 118.

Sin, 'tis faid he knew no Sin, i. e. by an experimental approbative Knowledg; to know in the Hebrew Dialect, fignifies to love, to act, to like. Therefore, his being made Sin, muft intend his being judicially charg'd in our stead with the Guilt of Sin, and bearing the Punishment due to it: for Sin, in the Holy Scriptures. by a Metonymy of the Caufe for the Ef- Gen.4.7,13. fect, is put for the Punishment of Sin, as the Zech.14.19. Scriptures, in the Margin fhew. And fometimes the Hebrew word for Sin,by a Metonymy of the Adjunct for the Subject, fignifies the Piacular Victim, or the Expiatory Sacrifice it felf. He hath made him, &c. i. e. He hath conftituted or appointed him to be a Sacrifice for our Sins, as the Greek word is us'd. That we might be made the Righteousness of God in him: By the Righteoufnefs of God, is not meant the effential Righteoufnefs of Chrift as God, which he has in common with the Father and the Holy Ghoft, for that cannot be communicated either to Angels or Men; But the Righteousness here fpoken of, is the Righteousness of the Mediator, and may be call'd the Righteoufnefs of God, as 'tis the Righteousness of him who is God-man, which was necessary to his Suretiship: for no Perfon but he who was God, of the nature of his Father, and Man of the fubftance of his Virgin Mother, could have wrought out and brought in fuch an everlasting Righteousness, as should finish Tranfgreffion and make an end of Sin. Now until we are interested in this Righteousness, we

† Lev. 5.9, &c.

Mark 3. 14. nai Exómσe Sw♪exa. So Joh. 6. 15.

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are under a broken Covenant of Works, the Curfe of the Law, and Wrath of God. And if a Man cannot lift up his Head under the heavy Guilt of one Sin, when God fets it in his view, and charges it on his Confcience, how can that Perfon live? Live! did I fay? how can that Perfon think of dying, that lies under the Guilt of Millions of Tranfgreffions? O how dreadful must be the profpect of Death to fuch an one! when he confiders that the Judg he is going to appear before, is that very Jefus, whofe Spirit he has griev'd and refifted, whofe Love he has flighted, and whofe Blood he has defpis'd and trampled upon.

Therefore (Sinner) if ever thou wouldst be ready for the coming of the Lord, fubmit thy felf to the Righteoufnefs of God, and labour to be found in Christ, not having thy own RighPhil. 3.9. teousness, which is of the Law; but that which is through the Faith of Jefus Chrift, the Righteoufnefs which is of God by Faith. Chrift is Jehovah our Righteoufnefs, and we can make mention of no other Righteousness with advantage to our Juftification. By the firft Adam's Sin we loft the Robe of our Innocency; by the fecond Adam's Obedience and Sufferings, we obtain a Garment of more Glory and greater Security. For they that have receiv'd this Change of Raiment, tho at Death they lay down their vile Bodies in the duft, yet being thus cloth'd, they'l not be found naked, but fitly adorn'd to enter in with the Bridegroom to the Marriage-fupper of the Lamb.

(2.) To make us habitually fit for Death and judgment, there must be a real Change wrought in our Natures.

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A Change muft pafs upon all the Faculties of the Human Mind. The Darkness of the Understanding must be scatter'd with a pure Beam of Light from Heaven. Perfons before they are regenerate are faid to be Darknefs; but when renew'd in the Spirit of their Minds, to be Light in the Lord. The Obstinacy of the Will must be overcome, and the Will inclin❜d to chufe that which is good: Thy People fhall be willing in the day of thy Power. Again, the Affections must be diverted from improper Objects, and plac'd on Him who is infinitely defirable and lovely. The defil'd Confcience must be purg'd from dead Works, by the sprinkling of the Blood of Jefus. The Memory must be made the facred Repository of the Divine Precepts and Promises; the former to direct, the latter to quicken and encourage in the difcharge of true Evangelical Obedience. In a word, as all the Faculties of the Soul are truly ennobled by the Grace of God in this Change; fo the confequence will be, that all the Members of our Bodies will be employ'd as Inftruments of Righteousness unto Holinefs. For that Divine Principle and Habit, which by Omnipo-. tent Grace is convey'd into the Soul, to raise it from a moral Death to a spiritual Life, will exert it felf in futable Deportments towards God and Man: So that fuch an one will live a Life of Communion with God, and Conformity to him; for he that is truly regenerate has not only a negative, but a positive Holiness: He not only denies all Ungodliness and Worldly Lufts, but lives righteously and foberly and godly in this prefent World; as one that looks for the blessed Hope and glorious Ap- Tit. 2. 12,

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pearance of the Great God, and of our Saviour Jefus Chrift. And let me tell you, whatever pompous Pretence or glittering Shew Men make as to an outward Profeffion, if they are not regenerated and renew'd, cleans'd and fanétify'd by the Grace of God and the Spirit of Chrift, 'tis all infignificant and vain, as to their readiness for the Coming of the Son of God.

For no Perfon can enter into the new feru falem without a new Heart; and the beatifick Vision is promis'd only to thofe that are holy : Mat. 5.8. Bleffed are the Pure in Heart, for they shall fes God. Follow Peace with all Men, and HoliHeb. 12. 14. nefs, without which no Man fhall fee the Lord, And one thinks that the degree of Vision in Heaven is according to the degree of Sanctification. However that be, this is certain, that Perfons must be made meet, before they fhall be made Partakers of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light. And when Perfons are thus far advanc'd in their readiness for Death and Judgment; then, whether they live, they live to the Lord, and whether they die, they die to the Lord; fo that whether living or dying, they are the Lord's. But I proceed.

2. There is also an actual Readiness for Death,' and the Coming of our Lord Jefus Chrift.

The former refer'd to our State, this latter to our Frame. The one puts us in a fafe Condition, and the other into a comfortable one; by one we are fecur'd with respect to Eternity, and by the other enabled to view Death

Xwers, the Mafculine Article fheweth that it must be refer'd το αγίασμα

* Καλά των αναλογίαν καθαρώταΘ. Naz