ourselves, all the gracious purposes of God the Father, who hath sent him ; and all that Christ himself has done, in dying for us ; and all that the Holy Spirit has done, in bearing testi- mony to him, and in revealing him to the world. There is no other grace, the want of which does such dishonour to God, as this : for it sets aside all the wonders of his love, and pours contempt on all the riches of his grace. The whole mystery of godliness is made void, unless he who was " God manifest in the flesh" is also " believed on in the world11."]
2. It is that, without which all other graces will be of no avail —
[I will suppose a person to possess as many graces as St. Paul himself: of what use will they be to the salvation of his soul, if he believe not in the Lord Jesus Christ? If, in- deed, we had never sinned at all, and were to continue sinless to our dying hour, we might hope for acceptance with God without the intervention of Christ. But, as we are sinners before God, how can we ever obtain forgiveness with him, except through the atonement which has been offered for us ? But, if we obey perfectly, we do no more than our duty : there can be no overplus to merit the forgiveness of past sin. And, if God were freely to forgive the past, what could we do to purchase heaven ? What act have we ever done which we could presume to carry to Almighty God, saying, ' This needs no forgiveness at thy hands ; on the contrary, it is so perfect and meritorious, that I can claim all the glory of heaven as a just recompence for it?' Verily, if Job himself, the most per- fect man upon earth, dared not urge such a plea in his own behalf1, much less can we : and therefore we must renounce every such self-righteous thought, and, with the Apostle Paul, " desire to be found in Christ; not having our own righteous- ness, which is of the Law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith in ChristV Let me not be misunderstood, as though I would undervalue graces of any kind : they are all good and necessary in their place : but no one of them, nor all together, can justify the soul before God : that can be effected only by faith, which unites us unto Christ, and interests us in all that Christ has done and suffered for us.]
3. It is that which will secure, for every one that possesses it, all the blessings both of grace and glory —
[It is impossible for one who believes in Christ to perish. Whatever he may have been, whatever he may have done, even though he may have been as wicked as Manasseh himself, we are warranted in affirming, that, through faith in the Lord
11 1 Tim. iii. 16. i Job ix. 20. k Phil. iii. 9.