hell ? If there were a large company of condemned criminals, some rich and noble, others poor and ignoble, and one of the meanest of them had received the king's pardon whilst all the rest were left for execution ; who among them would be ac- counted the happiest ? How much more then, when the death to which unpardoned sinners are consigned is an everlasting death in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone ! No one who reads the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, and sees the termination of their respective states, can for a moment hesitate to pronounce Lazarus, with all his miseries and privations, far happier in the sense of reconciliation with his God, than the rich worldling in the enjoyment of all his pomp and luxury.]
1. As a positive imputation of righteousness — [In the words of David we should not have seen the doc- trine of imputed righteousness, if 8t. Paul had not expressly told us that that doctrine was contained in them. He tells us% that in these words " David describeth the blessedness of the man unto ivhom God impiiteth righteousness ivithout ivorks, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered ; blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin." Now this idea goes much farther than mere forgiveness : forgiveness exempts from punishment ; but an imputation of the Redeemer's righteousness to us insures to us an eternal great reward''. O how happy must that man be who is clothed in the unspotted robe of Christ's righteousness, and can, on the footing of that righteousness, claim all the glory and felicity of heaven ! He may look forward to death and judgment, not only without fear, but with holy confidence and joy, assured, that in God's sight he stands " without spot or blemish." Who, we WQuld ask, can be happy, like the man who has been be- gotten to a lively hope, that in and through Christ there is re- served for him an incorruptible, and undefiled, and never-fading inheritance in heaven ?]
3. As a renovation of soul consequent on recon- ciliation with God —
[Though sin is pardoned, and righteousness is imputed, purely through the free grace of God to the chief of sinners, without any good works already performed by them% yet no pardoned sinner is left in an unholy state : on the contrary, he is '^ renewed in the spirit of his mind;" " a new heart is given unto him;" and he is made " an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile." If this were not the case, pardon itself could not make him happy. A soul under the dominion of sin could not be
happy,
* Rom. iv. G — 8. '' 2 Cor. v. 21.
" Mark the expressions, " the ungodly," " without works/' Rom. iv. 5, 6.
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