the

pure

became vain in their imaginations." Such characters were the heathen. But it may be asked, were not the Jews built up in and holy faith of God? Alas! the apostle says, they were inexcusable; for they judged others, and did the very same things. They despised the riches of God's goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering they were called Jews, they gloried in circumcision: whereas he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men, but of God. Look at Abraham, the father of this ancient people; how was he justified? by an operative faith it was counted to him for righteousness, which neither he, nor any other child of Adam, can possess. This instance of Abraham's faith was not a solitary instance of the Lord's way of dealing with his servants. "It was not written for his sake alone, but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised Jesus our Lord from the dead; who was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification."

The words of the text are a most satisfactory conclusion, deduced from these premises. The apostle, having proved his point, says, therefore, "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ." Never was there a sentence better calculated to draw forth the anxious inquiring spirit of the Christian, or to bring comfort to the established follower of the most gracious Master. If we have not this peace, it is because we have not this faith; and if we have not this faith, certainly we are building upon a very false and insecure foundation. "For other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." May God enable us to see,

1. What it is to be justified by faith.

2. That, being so justified, we have peace with God.

3. That Jesus Christ has purchased these blessings for us.

The whole scheme of man's salvation is, like the gracious Being who devised it, wonderful. It is a mystery which the angels desire to look into. And yet points on which salvation rests, are SO

plain, that a child who runs may read them, and a wayfaring man, though he be a fool, shall not err therein. That God should send his only begotten Son to die upon the cross to save sinners, is the highest instance of love. But such is the plan revealed in the Scriptures, both of the Old Testament and of the New. Of this event the prophets in long succession prophesied. As pointing to the coming of Christ, to his life, sufferings, and death, types and sacrifices were instituted. In the fulness of time he came to die, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God.

But the benefits to be derived from the death and sacrifice of Christ can only be received by faith. We must believe on him. We must exercise, not a mere assent to certain propositions, all strictly true; but our faith must be an active, operative principle: not a barren, dead, speculative faith, but a lively, grateful sense of his amazing mercy and astonishing love. We must be transformed by the renewing of our minds, and then we shall know what is that good, and perfect, and acceptable will of God.

We must see him both able and

willing to save to the uttermost all that come unto God through him.

the

Faith, as we observed, was imputed to Abraham for righteousness; so if our faith be the faith of the Gospel evidenced by holiness of life-and there can be no other evidence-it will be imputed to us also. We shall look unto Christ lifted up upon the cross, as the wounded Israelites looked to the serpent of brass, and we shall be healed. God in mercy has been pleased to appoint this way of salvation, and the christian church, from the apostles' days to the present hour, has ever found it to be way of peace and comfort. The Lord giving himself to pay the price of man's redemption, our sins laid upon him, we believing in him as a Saviour, and he offering his righteousness to us, to cover us as with a spotless robe, in the day of wrath. Nay, the righteous Lord, against whom we had sinned, is said to look upon us with pleasure, thus reconciled to him by Jesus Christ, and that, because He was made sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Upon the doctrine of justification by faith,

nothing can be more clear than our Church in her 11th Article of Religion. She speaks most clearly the language of Scripture. She speaks as a mother who is anxiously watching over a beloved child. "We are accounted righteous before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings: wherefore, that we are justified by faith only, is a most wholesome doctrine, and very full of comfort." Which leads me,

Secondly, to show

you,

that being so

justified by faith, or accounted righteous, we have peace with God.

The prophet, with much feeling, describes the state of those who are at enmity with God, when he says, "that the wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot

rest; that there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." The Psalmist speaks the same language, when he says, "The way of peace have they not known; there is no fear of God before their eyes." Peace left the soul when man became a transgressor. It was an inhabitant of the first paradise until sin expelled it and it will be found