slain from the foundation of the world." Thi'ough all suc- cessive ages was this represented by a variety of types, and proclaimed in a variety of prophecies ; to particularize which will be unnecessary, because St. Paul expressly affirms all that we have asserted : — " Now," says he, " 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 Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believeV Here, I say, we are not only directed to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only Author of salvation, but we are told that his righteousness is the ground of our hope ; that we must obtain an interest in it by faith ; and that to this way of salvation both the law and the prophets have borne witness from the beginning. It is clear, therefore, that if we ever attain to it at all, it must be " through the Spirit's" teaching in the word.]
2. Through his influence upon the soul —
[To this way of salvation man is extremely averse. He wants to have something of his own whereon to trust, and something which shall serve him as a ground of glorying before God. No human power can divert him from this: no arguments can convince him; no persuasion can move him ; not all the promises or threatenings of the Scriptures can induce him to renounce all self-confidence, and rely on Christ alone. " God himself must make him willing in the day of his power." And this work the Holy Spirit effects. " He convinces the man, of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment0:" of sin, so as to make him feel himself lost and utterly undone ; of righteousness, so as to shew him that in Christ there is a sufficiency for the very chief of sinners ; and of judgment, so as to assure him, that, by faith in this Saviour, Satan himself shall be vanquished, and bruised under his feet. But, as man, whilst ignorant of his own sinfulness, disdains to accept of mercy in God's appointed way ; so, when his eyes are opened to see how unworthy he is, he is ready to think that God never can shew mercy to one so vile as he. Here, therefore, the Holy Spirit's operations are again called for: and here he exerts himself effectually for the production of the desired end. Having first inclined the person, and made him willing to submit to God's method of justifying a sinner, he next encourages and enables him to repose his confidence in God, and to accept the proffered mercy. This the Holy Spirit does, by revealing Christ unto his soul, in all the ful- ness of his sufficiency, and in all the freeness of his grace. He glorifies Christ : he takes of the things that are Christ's,
b Rom. iii. 21, 22. c John xvi. 8.