NESS OF GOD IN HIM." "We are complete in him." All that he did, we did. And now he is "the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth."* God beholds the sinner clad in the perfect garment of his Son's righteousness, and therefore can detect no flaw, no imperfection, no stain of sin; "neither spot, nor wrinkle, nor any such thing." In this sense every believer is perfectly holy, while in himself he will remain a sinner to the day of his death; he is fully and freely justified from all things: not pardoned merely, nor is he the bare recipient of mercy, but justified by the perfect works of Christ his substitute, he claims heaven as a purchased inheritance-as a debt due to the Redeemer's travail, the entail of the covenant of the holy Father. To those who repent and believe in the finished work of Christ, God is not merely MERCIFUL, "but He is FAITHFUL and JUST to forgive them their sins and cleanse them from all unrighteousness." And (with reverence be it spoken,) were he to refuse to do so, he would be unfaithful and unjust! He cannot avenge himself both on the sinner and on the sinner's ransom. He has accepted the death of Christ as an atonement, and he accepts the righteousness of Christ as the justification of the sinner who repents and believes the gospel. So that to impute sin to one who is "in Christ," is * Rom. x. 3, 4. † 1 John i. 9.

to impute sin to Christ himself. Thus may we boldly ask, "Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth ; who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who also maketh intercession for us!"*

And now we are prepared to admire the perfect and beautiful antithesis which may be found between the former and latter part of the text : AS "He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin;" so "hath he made us the righteousness of God in him." The Lord Jesus was holiness, and he was made sin for us; we were sin, and are made righteousness in Him. In whatever way, and by whatever mysterious process our sins were imputed to Him, in the same way his righteousness is imputed to us. He stood in our place; we stand in his. However guilty, wretched, and depraved, we originally appeared in the sight of God, so guilty did he appear in the eyes of his Father, when the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all! Whatever wrath should have fallen on us, fell on him, when he exclaimed, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" Whatever the curse of God against us might be, that curse was laid on him. Whatever righteousness, holiness, and virtue there was in him, it is now all reckoned as ours. As God beheld him in our guilt, and was pleased *Rom. viii. 33, 34.

to bruise him, to put him to grief, and to forsake him; so now he beholds us as his dear children in Christ, and delights in us even as he delighted in him. As he punished him for our sake, so will he reward us for his sake: and whatever of eternal glory and honour the merits of Christ deserved, they shall assuredly be ours. O that we could fathom the depths, and scan the height of this wonderful love of God in Christ Jesus! That we could see ourselves not only fully pardoned, but freely justified, accepted, vindicated, and secure of the inheritance of eternal glory, by virtue of our interest in Christ and his spotless righteousness!

And how may we hope that these inestimable benefits may be ours? By faith alone! If we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and all that God has done for us in him, then "all things are ours, and we are Christ's, and Christ is God's." "He has given us his Son, and in him, and with him he has freely given us all things." This faith is indeed itself his gift: "By grace we must be saved through faith, and THAT not of ourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast." Yet this blessing is freely offered to all who seek it in earnest prayer; "Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief!" Lord, increase our faith!" Let these be our honest and anxious petitions, and the boon shall not long be withheld. But if we presumptuously refuse to believe,

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or "being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish our own righteousness," we will "not submit ourselves unto the righteousness of God;"* then indeed we cannot be justified, accepted, nor pardoned. Nothing is more offensive to God than self-righteousness; nothing wounds him more deeply, and there can be no greater insult to his divine Majesty, than to reject that plan of salvation which he has revealed, and by which alone a sinner can approach him acceptably. Redemption there is in Christ Jesus enough for all, and freely offered to all; but they alone who humbly believe and gratefully accept it, will profit by it at last. General redemption and particular salvation are doctrines taught throughout the word of God; and we may trace them in the fourteenth and fifteenth verses of the chapter before us: "For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:" here is universal death, and universal redemption: but in the words which follow, the distinction is drawn between those who avail themselves of this salvation, and those who reject it: "and that he died for ALL, that THEY which LIVE, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again." Redemption is continually declared in Scripture

to be universal.

"He was a propitiation for our

* Rom. x. 3.

sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the WHOLE WORLD.' But the justifying righteousness of Christ is never said to be imputed to any but believers, nor does he intercede in heaven for any but his own people: "I pray for them, I PRAY NOT for THE WORLD, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine." † Whence we gather two most important reflections; the one, that unless we have lively faith in Christ we must perish; because to believers alone are all the blessings and promises of God in Christ confined: and the other, that if we have hope in him, and if we believe that "our life is hid with Christ in God," then indeed are we bound by the strongest ties of gratitude and love, to live to him who has died for us: not in order that we may be pardoned or justified, but because we are so; not that we may please God, and find acceptance through our sanctity, but because he has chosen, and justified, and accepted us in Christ; therefore from a spirit of adoption we desire to love Him, and "glorify Him in our bodies and in our spirits, which are his."

It is essential to our peace of mind that we clearly understand the difference between justification and sanctification: the former being a perfect and finished work, the moment we fix the eye of faith on Christ, the other being a gradual process, consequent upon the former, but in no respect

* 1 Jo hn iii. 2.

+ John xvii. 9.