profess to have obtained salvation through Christ without having this humiliation under a sense of sin — this conviction of his lost estate — this acquiescence in the justice of God as consigning him over to perdi- tion— this consciousness of his inability to repair his breaches of the law — this persuasion that the law ought to be honoured both in its commanding and condemning power — this hope in Christ, as having so honoured it in both respects — this utter renunciation of every other hope — and, in addition to it all, this desire to obey the law, and this determination to ho- nour it in every possible way — I say, if any person without this, as the deep and abiding experience of his soul, should profess an expectation of salvation by Christ, we should not hesitate to say of him, what the Apostle said of the self-deceiving Jews, that, how- ever he may be " seeking after righteousness, he neither has attained it," nor ever will attain it, in the way in which he is proceeding^: he is yet a stranger to the law, and the glory of the Gospel is yet hid from his eyes. He has yet to learn, that, as the Gospel honours the law, so every one that is saved by the Gospel does, and must, in every possible way, and to the utmost extent of his power, contribute to this good work of " magnifying and making honour- able the law of Godg."
The next point of view in which the excellency of the Gospel is to be shewn, is, that it glorifies all the perfections of the Deity.
That there was a difficulty in making the salvation of man to consist with the honour of the Divine perfections, was mentioned in a former discourse ; wherein were shewn the wisdom of God in contriving a way, the power of God in effecting it, and the grace of God in accommodating it to all the wants and necessities of fallen man. My present point will lead me to shew, not merely that this consistency is se- cured, but that all the perfections of God are more glorified in this way than they could have been in
1 Rom. ix. 31. fe' Isai. xlii. 21.