of the law (t. £., all its righteous requirements) has been fulfilled in him ; because thereby he is so united to Christ as to become a partaker of his life ; because no one can lay anything to the charge of those for whom Christ died and whom God has justi- fied ; and because such believers being justified are revealed as the objects of the mysterious, immutable, and infinite love of God.
Again, justification includes or conveys a title to eternal life. Pardon is purely negative. It simply removes a penalty. It confers no title to benefits not previously enjoyed. Eternal life, however, is suspended on the positive condition of perfect obedi- ence. The merely pardoned sinner has no such obedience. He is destitute of what, by the immutable principles of the divine gov- ernment, is the indispensable condition of eternal life. He has no title to the inheritance promised to the righteous. This is not the condition of the believer. The merit of Christ is entitled to the reward. And the believer, being partaker of that merit, shares in that title. This is constantly recognized in the Scrip- tures. By faith in Christ we become the sons of God. But son- ship involves heirship, and heirship involves a title to the inher- itance. " If children, then heirs ; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." (Rom. viii. 17.) This is the doctrine taught in Romans v. 12-21. For the offence of one, judgment passed on all men to condemnation. For the righteousness of one, the sentence of justification of life has passed on all ; that is, of a justifica- tion which entitles to life. As the sin of Adam was the judicial ground of our condemnation (i. e., was the ground on which justice demanded condemnation), so the righteousness of Christ is the ju- dicial ground of justification. That is, it is the ground on which the life promised to the righteous should in justice be granted to the believer. The Church in all ages has recognized this truth. Believers have always felt that they had a title to eternal life. For this they have. praised God in the loftiest strains. They have ever regarded it as intuitively true that heaven must be merited. The only question was, Whether that merit was in them or in Christ. Being in Christ, it was a free gift to them; and thus righteousness and peace kissed each other. Grace and justice unite in placing the crown of righteousness on the believer's head.
It is no less certain that the consequences attributed to justi- fication do not flow from the infusion of righteousness. The amount of holiness possessed by the believer does not give him peace. Even perfect holiness would not remove guilt. Repent- ance does not atone for the crime of murder. It does not still
130 part in. Ch. xvil— justification.
the murderer's conscience ; nor does it satisfy the sense of justice in the public mind. It is the irpurov i/^euSos of Romanism, and of every theory of subjective justification, that they make nothing of guilt, or reduce it to a minimum. If there were no guilt, then infusion of righteousness would be all that is necessary for salvation. But if there be justice in God then no amount of holiness can atone for sin, and justification cannot consist in making the sinner holy. Besides this, even admitting that the past could be ignored, that the guilt which burdens the soul could be overlooked or so easily removed, subjective righteousness, or holiness, is so imperfect that it could never give the believer peace. Let the holiest of men look within himself and say whether what he sees there satisfies his own conscience. If not, how can it satisfy God. He is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things. No man, therefore, can have peace with God founded on what he is or on what he does. Romanists admit that nothing short of perfect holiness justifies or gives peace to the soul. In answer to the Protestant argument founded on that admission, Bellarmin says : 1 " Hoc argumentum, si quid probat, probat justitiam actualem non esse perfectam : non autem probat, justitiam habitualem, qua formaliter justi sumus, .... non esse ita perfectam, ut absolute, simpliciter, et proprie justi nominemur, et simus. Non enim formaliter justi sumus opere nostro, sed opere Dei, qui simul maculas peccatorum tergit, et habitum fidei, spei, et caritatis infundit. Dei autem perfecta
sunt opera Unde parvuli baptizati, vere justi sunt, quamvis
nihil operis fecerint." Again, " Justitia enim actualis, quamvis aliquo modo sit imperfecta, propter admixtionem venalium delic- torum, et egeat quotidiana remissione peccati, tamen non prop- terea desinit esse vera justitia, et suo etiam quodam modo per- fecta." No provision is made in this system for guilt. If the soul is made holy by the infusion of habits, or principles, of grace, it is just in the sight of God. No guilt or desert of punishment re- mains. " Reatus," says Bellarmin,2 . ..." est relatio," but if the thing of which it is a relation be taken away, where is the relation. It is impossible that such a view of justification can give peace. It makes no provision for the satisfaction of justice, and places all our hopes upon what is within, which our con- science testifies cannot meet the just requirements of God.
Neither can the theory of subjective justification account for reconciliation with God, and for the same reasons. What is in-
i De Justificatione, ii. 14 ; Disputationes, edit. Paris, 1608, vol. iv. p. 819, a, b. 2 De Amissione Gratia et Statu Peccati, v. 7 ; Ibid. p. 287.