His eternal purpose, been pleased to ordain that the spirit of man shall pass through this preparatory state; it is a part of His eternal scheme that it should do so. He has thought fit that the spirit of man should be, for a time, clothed with a body "contrary" to itself; and that, during its incarnation, it should have a knowledge of the law of righteousness, although it can yield but imperfect and unprofitable obedience to that law. And, as the communication of that law must ever be coupled with an injunction to obey it, so has man either received directly, an injunction to render obedience to the law of righteousness; or, his conscience has been impressed with a sense of its obligatory character; although his best efforts to render to it perfect obedience must be fruitless. And, as nothing short of perfect and undeviating obedience can satisfy the demands of the eternal law of righteousness; so, by obedience to the law, no man can obtain justification before GOD. Thus,

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by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified;" but justification is obtained for man, only through the expiatory sacrifice of Christ, through which, however, man does obtain full, and free, and perfect, justification.

While, therefore, the knowledge of the law of righteousness necessarily binds man to the enactments of that law, and calls upon him to render obedience to them, it, at the same time, convinces him of his utter inability to satisfy its demands; it convinces him, of sin, and of the necessity of his looking to Christ, and to Christ alone, for justification, for salvation. We see, how well calculated all this is, to humble man in his own estimation of himself, and to make him sensible of his entire dependence upon the Deity; how, in those, to whom a clearer revelation of God's purpose towards man has been vouchsafed, it is calculated to subdue all pride, and to produce a full, and entire, and exclusive dependence on Christ, as the author and finisher of their salvation. We see, too, how a sense of the obligatory character of the law of righteousness, is adapted to the condition of man, as regarded solely with a reference to his existence on earth as a social being. For, if man possessed not any moral sense; if he had not any knowledge of right, as contra-distinguished from wrong, what would be the state of the world, what the condition of society? We see, then, that, as the law of righteousness is eternal and immutable, so must the

obligatory character of it, ever accompany the knowledge of it. Christ was sacrificed in obedience to the immutable character of it; for, if its obligations could have been, in any degree, relaxed, consistently with God's holiness; in such degree, would the sacrifice of Christ be unnecessary and superfluous. Christ came, therefore, not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. It was the law that required the Matt. v. sacrifice of Christ, since, no less a sacrifice could satisfy it for all the disobedience of man. That sacrifice paid the full penalty exacted by the law for all unrighteousness, and entirely expiated all human guilt.

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Although, therefore, an obligation to obey the law is, necessarily, coupled with the knowledge of the law, yet, the Christian scheme does not make it necessary that man should establish his own righteousness by perfect obedience to the law. On the contrary, man's inability to render perfect obedience to the law, so as to establish his own righteousness, is the very ground-work, as it were, of this scheme, so far as man has any concern in it. So far is the Christian scheme from requiring that man should justify himself, that, could it be possible that any man should bring forth righteousness as the fruit

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of his own works, there would be, as it were, a super-abundance of righteousness; and, so far, would the sacrifice of Christ be shewn to have been unnecessary; and man would, no longer, be indebted, solely, to Christ for justification; and the very basis of the Christian scheme would be subverted.

Although, then, man, as cognizant of the law of righteousness, is bound, so far as his fettered nature will admit, to endeavour to obey its enactments; still, is his justification before God effected, solely, through the sacrifice of Christ. So entirely independent is man's full and free justification of any righteousness of his own, that man's salvation is, everywhere, throughout the Scriptures, represented as being, purely, and entirely, the free gift of God; a gift of pure spontaneous favour, or grace; "the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast."

But, it does not seem, necessarily, to follow, because a gift is given spontaneously, and of pure favour, on the part of the donor) independently of the slightest pretension to claim, on the score of merit, on the part of the recipient) that the gift must be a forced gift; or, that it may not be refused, or with-held. For, the very term free gift, implies, that the

donor has the right to with-hold, as well as to bestow, it. It implies, that he may give it, when and to whom he will; and in any way

that he chuses to give it. And, if those, for whom that gift was assigned, are free to accept or to refuse it, the possibility of their refusing it is, also, implied.

Let this reasoning be applied to the case of man, as he stands with relation to the Deity, and with reference to the free gift of eternal life in heaven. Suppose man to be made acquainted with the law of righteousness, and with all the requirements of that law. Suppose him, also, to be made acquainted with his own utter inability to fulfil those requirements. Suppose him to be made to apprehend the value of eternal life in heaven; to be assured, that perfect righteousness is indispensable as a qualification for attaining unto it. Suppose him, also, to be assured, that Christ has made full and perfect satisfaction for man's unrighteousness; so that man may, through Him, be fully justified, so as to obtain eternal life; and that there is no other mode in which he can obtain justification and salvation. Let that justification, that eternal life, be represented to him as the free gift of God through Christ;