not the righteousness of the Godhead, as distinguished from the manhood, nor the rightcousness of the manhood, as distinguished from the Godhead; but a righteousness which standeth in the union of both natures, and may properly be called the righteousness that is essential to his being prepared of God to the capacity of the mediatory office, which he was entrusted with. If he parts with his first righteousness, he parts with his Godhead: it he parts with his second righteousness, he parts with the purity of his manhood: if he parts with his third, he parts with that perfection which capacitates him to the office of mediation. He has therefore another righteousness, which standeth in performance, or obedience to a revealed will: and that is what he puts upon sinners, and that by which their sins are covered. Wherefore he saith, 'As by one man's disobedience, many were made sinners: so by the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous' (Rom. v. 19). Chr. But are the other righteousnesses of no use to us ?

Gr.-h. Yes; for though they are essential to his natures and office, and cannot be communicated unto another, yet it is by virtue of them that the righteousness that justifies is for that purpose efficacious. The righteousness of his Godhead gives virtue to his obedience: the righteousness of his manhood giveth capability to his obedience to jus tify; and the righteousness, that standeth in the union of those two natures to his office,

giveth authority to that righteousness to do the work for which it was ordained.

:

So then here is a righteousness that Christ, as God, has no need of: for he is God without it here is a righteousness that Christ, as man, has no need of to make him so, fo he is perfect man without it: again, here is a righteousness that Christ, as God and as Godman, has no need of, with reference to himself, therefore he can spare it; a justifying righteousness, that he for himself wanteth not, and therefore giveth it away. Hence it is called 'the gift of righteousness' (Rom. v. 17). This righteousness, since Christ Jesus the Lord has made himself under the law, must be given away; for the law doth not bind him that is under it, to do justly, but to use charity. Wherefore he must, or ought by the law, if he hath two coats, to give one to him that has none. Now our Lord indeed hath two coats, one for himself, and one to spare ; wherefore he freely bestows one upon those that have none. And thus, Christiana and Mercy, and the rest of you that are here, doth your pardon come by deed, or by the work of another man. Your Lord Christ is he tha worked, and hath given away what he wrought for, to the next poor beggar he meets.

But again, in order to pardon by deed, there must something be paid to God as a price, as well as something prepared to cover us withal Sin has delivered us up to the just course of a righteous law; now from this course we must be justified by way of re

demption, a price being paid for the harms we have done; and this is by the blood of your Lord, who came and stood in your place and stead, and died your death for your transgressions. Thus has he ransomed you from your transgressions, by blood, and covered your polluted and deformed souls with righteousness Rom. viii. 34; Gal. iii. 13); for the sake of which, God passeth by you, and will not hurt you, when he comes to judge the world.

Chr. This is brave; now I see that there was something to be learned by our being pardoned by word and deed. Good Mercy, let us labour to keep this in mind; and my children, do you remember it also. But, Sir, was not this it that made my good Christian's burthen fall from off his shoulder, and that made him give three leaps for joy ?

Gr.-h. Yes, it was the belief of this that cut of those strings, that could not be cut by other means; and it was to give him a proof of the virtue of this, that he was suffered to carry his burthen to the cross.

Chr. I thought so; for though my heart was lightful and joyous before, yet it is ten times more lightsome and joyous now. And I am persuaded by what I have felt though I have felt but little as yet, that if the most burthened man in the world was here, and did see and believe as I now do, it would make his heart the more merry and blithe.

Gr.h. There is not only one comfort, and the ease of a burthen brought to us, by the

sight and consideration of these, but an endeared affection begot in us by it; for who can (if he does but once think that pardon comes not only by promise, but thus) but be affected with the way and means of redemption, and so with the man that hath wrought it for him?

Chr. True; methinks it makes my heart bleed to think, that he should bleed for me. Oh! thou loving One! Oh! thou blessed One! Thou deservest to have me; thou hast bought me; thou deservest to have me all; thou hast paid for me ten thousand times more than I am worth! No marvel that this made the water stand in my husband's eyes, and that it made him trudge so nimbly on; I am persuaded he wished me with him; but vile wretch that I was! I let him come all alone. O Mercy, that thy father* and mo

Thy father'-When believers, in the warmth of their affections,' feel the humbling, melting, endearing, and sanc tifying effects of contemplating the glory of the cross, and the love of Christ in dying for sinners, and considering them. selves as the special objects of that inexpressible compassion and kindness, they are apt to conclude that the belief of the propositions, that Christ loves them and died for them, and that God is reconciled to them, produces the change by its own influence; and would affect the most carnal hearts in the same manner, could men be persuaded to believe it for they vainly imagine, that apprehensions of God's severity, and dread of his vengeance, are the sources of the enmity which, sinners manifest against him. Hence very lively and affectionate Christians have frequently been prone to sanction the unscriptural tenet, that the justifying act of faith consists in assuredly believing that Christ died for me in particular, and that God loves me; and to consider this appropri ation as preceding repentance and every other gracious dis position; and in some sense the cause of regeneration, win

ther were here; yea, and Mrs. Timorous also; nay, I wish with all my heart, that here

ning the heart to love God, and to rejoice in him and in obeying his commandments. From this doctrine others have inferred, that if all men, and even devils too, believed the love of God to them, and his purpose at length to make them happy, they would be won over from their rebellion against him, which they persist in from a mistaken idea, that he is their implacable enemy; and they make this one main argument, in support of the salutary tendency of the final restitution scheine. But all these opinions arise from a false and flattering estimate of human nature; for the carnal mind hates the scriptural character of God, and the glory displayed in the cross, even more than that which shines forth in the fiery law. Indeed, if we take away the offensive part of the Gospel, the honour it puts upon the law and its awful sanctions, and the exhibition it makes of the divine justice and holiness, it will give the proud carnal heart but little umbrage: if we admit that men's aversion to God and religion arise from misapprehension, and not desperate wickedness, many will en lure the doctrine. A reconciliation, in which God assures the sinner that he has forgiven him, even before he has repented of his sins, will suit men's pride; and if he have been previously frighted, a great flow of affections will follow; but the event will prove, that they differ essentially from spiritual love of God, gratitude, holy joy, and genuine humiliation, which arise from a true perception of the glorious perfections of God, the righteousness of his law and government, the real nature of redemption, and the odiousness and desert of sin. In short, all such schemes render regeneration needless; or substitute something else in its stead, which is effected by a natural process, and not by the new-creating power of the Holy Spirit. But when this divine agent has communicated life to the soul, and a capacity is produced of perceiving and relishing spiritual excellency, the enmity against God receives a mortal wound; from that season the more his real character and glory are known, the greater affection will be excited, and a proportionable transformation into the same holy image effected. Then the view of the cross, as the grand display of all the harmonious perfections of the Godheal, will soft en, humble, and meliorate the heart; while the persuasion of an interest in these blessings, and an admiring sence o having received such inconceivable favours from this glori