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LECTURE XI.

ROMANS iii, 20-26.

"Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Christ Jesus unto all and upon all them that believe;-for there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;-to declare, I say, at this time, his righteousness; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus."

THERE is perhaps no single passage in the book of inspiration, which reveals in a way so formal and authoritative as the one before us, the path of transition by which a sinner passes from a state of wrath to a state of acceptance. There is no passage, to which if we would only bring the docility and the compliance of childhood, that is more fitted to guide and to turn an enquiring sinner into the way of peace. Let the light which makes apparent to the soul, only shine upon these verses; and there is laid before the man who questions what it is that he must do to be saved, the great link of communication on which he may be led along from the ground of fearful

exposure that nature occupies, to the ground of a secure and lasting reconciliation. Let him lay aside his own wisdom, and submit himself to the word of the testimony that is here presented to his notice; and, taught in the true wisdom of God, he will indeed become wise unto salvation. It is an overture of God's own making, and directly applicable to the question of dispute, that there is between Him and the men who have offended Him. It is one setting forth of the way in which He would have the difference to be adjusted-nor can we conceive how defenceless creatures, standing on the brink of an eternity for which they have no provision, and which nevertheless all of them must enter and abide upon for ever, ought to have their attention more arrested and their feelings more engrossed and solemnized, than by the communication of the apostle in this verse, and by the unfoldings of that embassy of peace that is here so simply and so truly set before us.

The apostle has by this time well nigh finished his demonstration of human sinfulness; and he makes use of such terms as go to fasten the charge of guilt, not in that way of vague and inapplicable generality from which it is so easy for each man to escape the sense of his own personal danger, and the remorse of his own individual conscience; but as go to fasten the charge on every single member or descendant of the great human family. There is a method of blunting the edge of conviction, by interpreting, in a kind of corporate and collective

way, all that is said by the apostle about the sinfulness of Jews on the one hand and of Gentiles on the other. But let each of us only review his past life, or enter with the light of self-examination into the chambers of his own heart; and he will feel himself to be addressed by the phrase of whosoever thou art, O man;' and he will feel that in the clause of every mouth being stopped,' his own mouth should be stopped also; and he will consent that he, a native of our world, has a part in the apostle's asseveration about all the world being guilty before God; and he will readily accord with the Bible in that, whereas he is a partaker of flesh and blood, he offers no exception to the averment, that, in the sight of God and by the deeds of the law, no flesh shall be justified.

It is through want of faith that we are blind to the reality of the gospel; and it is also through want of faith that we are blind to the reality of the law. The generality of readers see not any significancy in the apostle's words, because they feel not any sense of the things that are expressed by it. They are just as dead to the terrors of the law, as they are to the offers and invitations of the gospel. The sense of God pursuing them with the exactions of an authority that He will not let down, is just as much away from their feelings, as the sense of God in Christ beseeching them to flee for refuge to the hope set before them. The man who is surrounded with an opake partition, which limits his view to the matters that lie within the

region of carnality, and hides from him alike the place of condemnation and the place of deliverance that lie beyond it-he may enjoy a peace that is without disturbance, because, though he have no positive hope from the gospel, he has no positive apprehension from the law. He is alike insensible to both; and not till, through an opening in that screen, which hides from nature the dread and important certainties that are lying in reserve for all her children, he is made to perceive that God's truth and righteousness are out against him -will he appreciate the revelation of that great mystery, by which it is made known how truth and mercy have met together, and how righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Let us now proceed to the exposition of this passage.

Mark in the 20th verse how this question is treated as one between God and man. It is not that one man may not be justified in the sight of another-may not have fulfilled all that the other has a right to expect; but the question is about justification in the sight of God. It is a judicial proceeding before God.

V. 21. A 'righteousness without the law,' is simply a righteousness which we obtain without having fulfilled that law in our own persons. Paul never loses the advantage of any testimony that is given to the doctrine of Christ out of the Jewish Scriptures; and while he therefore raises against himself the opposition of the great majority of his

countrymen, by asserting a righteousness that was arrived at in some other way than through the path of obedience to their law, yet he does not omit the opportunity of trying to disarm this opposition, by avouching that this very righteousness was borne witness to by the law and the prophets. The testimonies of the prophets are various and abundant on this topic; for a view of the testimonies of the law, we refer you to Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews.

V. 22. The righteousness which is proposed by the apostle, as that which alone is valid to the object of justification, is called by him the righteousness of God. It is that the acceptance of which does not dishonour Him. It is that which He Himself has provided, and which He bestows as a grant to all who will. We cannot speak too plainly about an alternative, on which there hinges the whole eternity of a sinner. Conceive the sinner to draw nigh, in the imagination of his own merits -God says to him, I cannot receive you upon this footing, but here is a righteousness which I hold out to you, wrought not by yourself but by my Son, and I now ask your consent that you be clothed upon therewith. Come to me, consenting to be so clothed upon, and I take you into full reconciliation.'- Unto all.' The offer of this righteousness is upon all who believe. Their belief constitutes their acceptance of the thing offered; and what was formerly theirs in offer, becomes by their faith theirs in possession. No difference.' There is no difference between Jew and Gentile,