and Physician, or in many other characters illustra tive of our dependence on him and obligations to him: yet they may all with propriety be referred to the offices of Prophet, Priest, and King, according to the old and scriptural distinction. These are com prised in his title, CHRIST, the MESSIAH, the ANOINT ED of God; as prophets, priests, and kings were anointed under the typical dispensation of the Old Testament.*

Is this then our creed, our experience, and our de pendence? Do we thus receive and rely on CHRIST our Prophet, Priest, and King? and do we, in the patient obedience of faith and love," wait for the mercy of our Lord JESUS CHRIST unto eternal life?" Our answer to these inquiries, as in the presence of our heart-searching Judge, is of infinite importance; for this, and this only, is genuine Christianity.

* Lev. viii. 12. 1 Sam. x. 1. xvi, 13. 1 Kings xix. 16. Jude 20, 21.

ESSAY XI.

On Justification.

ALL things having been made ready for the salvation of sinners, in the person and mediation of the great Redeemer: it was also necessary, that the method, or medium, of appropriating this inestimable benefit, should be clearly and expressly revealed: and this leads us to the consideration of the scriptural doctrine of Justification. I shall therefore, in the present Essay, briefly explain the meaning of the words justify and justification, as they are used by the sacred writers;-show that we must be justified before God by faith alone;-consider the peculiar nature of faith, and the manner in which it justifies ;-assign a few reasons why justification and salvation are ascribed to faith, rather than to any other holy dispositions or actions;-and answer some of the more plausible objections to the doctrine.

The terms justify and justification are taken from the common concerns of life; and they are applied, with some necessary variation of meaning, to the dealings of God with his rational creatures; especially to his admission of sinful men into a state of

acceptance, and to the privilege of being thus accepted. They denote, therefore, that such persons are now dealt with, as if they were righteous; being wholly exempt from those sufferings which are strictly speaking penal, and entitled to the reward of perfect obedience: though in themselves they have merited no reward, but, on the contrary, have deserved the punishment denounced in the law against transgressors.-These are commonly said to be forensic terms: that is, they refer to the practice of courts of justice among men; and indeed, they seem to have been originally taken from such transactions: yet this derivation gives us a very inadequate idea of their import. For when a man is charged with a crime before an earthly tribunal, he must be either condemned or acquitted: if he be condemned, he may be pardoned, but he cannot be justified; if he be acquitted, he may be justified, but he cannot stand in need of pardon. Moreover, a criminal may `be acquitted for want of legal evidence, or from other causes, when there can be no reasonable doubt of his guilt yet no accusation for the same crime can be brought against him; though he is very far from being fully justified, or admitted to the full enjoyment of those privileges which belong to an unsuspected member of civil society; nor would he be a proper person to be confided in, or advanced to a place of honour and responsibility. Whereas, if an accused person be fully justified from the charge brought against him; he suffers no degradation in his character, or disadvantage in his circumstances: his integrity is often placed in a more conspicuous light than before he is considered as an injured man,

and is frequently recommended by these circumstances to the favour and confidence of the prince, or of the people. Justification, therefore, in the original meaning of the word, is not only distinct from pardon, but is absolutely incompatible with it: it implies far more than the acquittal of an accused person: it is a declaration, that no charge ought to have been made against the man; that he is justly entitled to all the privileges of a good citizen; and that he is, and ought to be admissible to every post of honour and emolument, even as if he had never been accused. The meaning of the word, in other concerns of life, is the same; if a man's character has been aspersed, he is said to be completely justi fied, when the charge is entirely refuted, and proved malicious or groundless, to the satisfaction of all who inquire into it.

On the contrary, our justification before God is always connected with pardon, and implies that we are guilty and we are justified as ungodly, "righeousness" being imputed to us without works."* If we have never sinned, we might have been justified before God by our own obedience, according to the common use of the word justification: no charge could have been brought or proved against us, nor should we have needed any forgiveness. But by breaking the holy law of God, we have forfeited our title to the reward of righteousness according to the law, and have incurred the penalty of eternal misery, The justification, therefore, of a sinner, must imply something distinct from a total and final remis

*Rom. iv. 1-8,

sion of the deserved punishment; namely, a renewed title to the reward of righteousness, as complete and effective as he would have had, if he had never sinned, but had perfectly performed, during the term of his probation, all the demands of the divine law. The remission of sins would indeed place him in such a state, that no charge would lie against him: but then he would have no title to the reward of righteousness, till he had obtained it by performing, for the appointed time, the whole obedience required of him; for he would merely be re-admitted to a state of probation, and his justification or condemnation could not be decided till that were terminated. But the justification of the pardoned sinner gives him a present title to the reward of righteousness, independent of his future conduct, as well as without respect to his past actions. This is evidently the scriptural idea of justification: it is uniformly represented as immediate and complete, when the sinner believes in the Lord Jesus Christ; and not as a contingent advantage, to be waited for till death or judg ment: and the arguments, which some learned men have adduced, to prove that justification means nothing else than forgiveness of sins, only show that the two distinct blessings are never separately conferred. David, for instance, says, "Blessed is the man, to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity;"* and Paul observes, that in that passage, "David describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works."t This does not prove, that "not imputing sin," and " imputing