sin. Now, all true believers have been awakened to see themselves in this guilty and perishing condition, and brought to accept the punishment of their iniquities, and to ascribe righteousness to God, should he see fit to cast them off for ever. They have been made willing to renounce all self dependence and self righteousness, and to rely alone upon the atonement of Christ for pardoning mercy in the sight of God. They have believed the record which God has given of his Son, and fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before them in the gospel. Christ has appeared to them precious, and their hearts have been united to him, as the branches are united to the vine. This has been owing to a divine operation upon their hearts. The apostle John represents those who have believed in the name of Christ, as "being born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." "God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." None ever become true believers, until they have been renewed in the spirit of their mind, and have put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. But though God has begun a good work in their hearts, yet he carries it on gradually, and never makes them perfectly holy in this life. Paul acknowledged that he had not attained to perfect holiness; but when he would do good, evil was present with him. His moral imperfections deeply affected him, and caused him to cry out, "Ó wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" Though true believers have been reconciled to God, and God has been reconciled to them, yet they offend him every day, and every day deserve the marks of his holy displeasure.

II. We are next to consider what is meant by their justification. The apostle asserts, that "being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Justification is a term taken from the practice of civil courts, in acquitting or releasing from punishment those who are found innocent of the charges alleged against them. But this term is not to be understood precisely in the same sense, when applied to the justification of believers. Though God releases them from punishment, yet he does not declare them innocent. He views them as actually guilty of transgressing his holy law, and as deserving to suffer the full penalty of it; but nevertheless, for Christ's sake, he releases them from suffering the just punishment of their iniquities. So that justification, in a gospel sense, signifies no more nor less, than the pardon, or remission of sin. What is called justification, in the New Testament, is more commonly called forgiveness in the Old. Under the law,

God is said to forgive, or pardon, true penitents; but under the gospel, he is said either to forgive, or to justify them, which signifies the same thing. Christ usually told those who repented and believed, that their sins were forgiven. Peter said to the three thousand that were awakened on the day of Pentecost, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins." Paul commonly used justification and forgiveness as synonymous terms. Speaking of believers, in the third of Romans, he says, "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." And he addressed the Jews at Antioch, in similar terms. "Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses." These and many other passages of scripture plainly teach us, that the justification of believers is the same thing as their forgiveness through the atonement of Christ.

III. We are to consider how God justifies, pardons, or forgives true believers.

The Assembly of divines say, " Justification is an act of God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins," &c. But have we any evidence that he does or says any thing, when he justifies or pardons believers? Do they see any thing done, or hear any thing said, when they are justified? Or is there any reason to suppose that God puts forth any act, or makes any declaration, at the time of their justification? But if he does neither of these things, we have still to inquire, how or in what manner he justifies believers. To this question a plain and satisfactory answer may be given. God justifies all true believers by Will. He has formed, and written, and published his last Will and Testament concerning mankind; in which he pardons all true believers, and makes them heirs of salvation, but totally disinherits and banishes from his kingdom all the finally impenitent and unbelieving. As it is by Will that parents give future legacies to their children, while they are young, and even before they are born; so it is by Will that God gives future legacies to his children. Hence says the apostle, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." There is no occasion of God's saying or doing any thing, at the time of his justifying believers, because he has already adopted them into his family and made them heirs, according to the terms specified in his written and revealed Will.

IV. Let us next consider when true believers are justified, pardoned and accepted. The apostle plainly intimates that they are justified as soon as they become believers. "Therefore,

being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ." Our Saviour said, "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." And again he solemnly declared, "He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life." The apostle declares, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." And he more directly says to believers, "You, being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven all your trespasses, blotting out the hand writing of ordinances that were against us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross." He farthermore asserts, "All things work together for good to them that love God, to them that are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." It appears from these passages of scripture, that as soon as any persons arise from spiritual death to spiritual life, or as soon as they believe in the Lord Jesus Christ; or, in a word, as soon as they exercise any gracious affection, they become the children of God; and as soon as they become the children of God, they become heirs, and are instantly justified, pardoned and accepted, whether they know it or not. Children may be heirs to great estates, while they are entirely ignorant of their heirship. And so the children of God may be heirs to a rich and eternal inheritance, while they have painful fears of being for ever disinherited. Justification is instantaneous, and takes place at the moment in which sinners become saints, or have the character of heirs in God's revealed Will.

It now remains,

V. To consider the conditions upon which believers are completely justified, pardoned and accepted. I use all these expressions, because they are all used in scripture to signify the same thing. Though believers are justified, pardoned and accepted, as soon as they believe, or become the children of God, yet, if we look into his last Will and Testament, we find that their full and final pardon, or title to their eternal inheritance, is conditional. They must perform certain things, which he has specified as terms or conditions of their taking possession of their several legacies. When a man makes a Will, he may bequeath certain

legacies to his children upon certain terms or provisos. He may give a legacy to one child upon condition that he lives to become of age; to another, upon condition that he conducts in a certain manner; to another, upon condition that he follows a certain profession; and to another, upon condition that he performs certain services. The testator always has a right to make just such provisos or conditions in his Will as he thinks proper; and those to whom he makes devises must comply with his conditions, in order to become fully and finally entitled to them. God might have justly disinherited all mankind upon their first apostacy; but in mere mercy he has given large legacies to all true believers, who will comply with the conditions which he has proposed in his new Testament. Let us now examine that sacred and precious instrument, and see what terms he has therein specified, in respect to the full and final salvation of believers.

And here we find, in the first place, that God requires believers to persevere in faith and obedience, in order to obtain their promised inheritance. They must continue to love, to repent, to believe, to submit, to obey, and to perform the various duties which he has enjoined upon them in his revealed Will. Christ repeatedly said to his disciples, "He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." And he much oftener promised salvation to those only who shall faithfully fulfil their duty, and finally overcome all enemies and obstacles in the path to heaven. "To him that overcometh, will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God." "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it." "He that overcometh, and keepeth my words unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations." "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name before my Father, and before his angels." "To him that over

cometh I will grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne." Paul said to the believing Jew, "Behold the goodness and severity of God; on them that fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness; otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off." He said to the Colossians, "You, that were sometimes alienated, and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled, in the body of his flesh. through death, to present you holy and unblamable in his sight: If ye continue in the faith, grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard." Many other similar passages might be mentioned; but these are sufficient to show that true believers must overcome the world,

endure unto the end, and finally persevere in faith and holiness, in order to take possession of the inheritance of the saints in light.

But, secondly, lest true believers should make shipwreck of their faith, and finally fall away, God has made a proviso in his revealed Will, which effectually secures their love, their faith, and their obedience, to the end of life. He has promised to assist them through their whole christian course. The apostle Paul speaks with confidence to christians upon this subject. "Now he which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." Again he says in the same epistle, "Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit." And speaking to those who had embraced the gospel and trusted in Christ, he says, " In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession." The apostle Peter likewise taught christians in general the absolute certainty both of their finally persevering in holiness, and of their finally possessing their promised inheritance. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Thus God has abundantly promised to carry on the good work which he has begun in the hearts of believers, until the day of Jesus Christ. And this promise of the aid and earnest of the Spirit to the heirs of salvation is a peculiar proviso in God's last Will and Testament. Other testators often propose conditions to their intended heirs, but never engage to make them actually perform the conditions proposed. This however is essential to the design and form of God's revealed Will. If this article were not inserted, the legatees not only might, but certainly would, fail of obtaining their eternal inheritance.

It must be farther observed under this head, thirdly, that God has made a proviso in his Will, by which he retains his original right to chastise, or punish believers, in case they prove negligent in duty, or disobedient to his righteous commands. In the eighty-ninth Psalm, he expressly declares concerning his children, "If they forsake my law, and walk not in my judg ments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and