"it to the prejudice and difbonour of his glorious "excellencies, and the dignity of his government. "And therefore if fome reparation were requi"fite to his doing it, confiftently with the due "honour and reputation thereof, juftice towards "himself required he should infift upon it; which " is no more a detraction from his abfoluteness, "than that he cannot lye, or do any thing un"worthy of himself. He is fo abfolute, that he "can do whatever he pleases; but so juft, that "he cannot be pleafed to do an unrighteous "thing.". I might farther add; that as the cafe now ftands, the unchangeable veracity and faithfulnefs of God to his own word oblige him to infift upon a suitable fatisfaction and righteoufnefs before the finner can be acquitted and juftified: For God hath not only given man a law as the rule of his obedience, but in that law, as we fhall have occasion to observe a little more fully under the next propofition, hath threatened fin with death. It is the eternal voice of God fpeaking in his law, the foul that finneth, feall die; and the wages of fin is death; that is, in cafe of difobedience, the punishment due to fin, must be inflicted upon the finner in its full extent Upon this foot the apoftle has determined the ftate of all mankind, in relation to the law, to be the most guilty and miserable, Rom. iii. 19. Now we know that what things foever the law faith, it faith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Now the declarations of God in his law being fo exprefs and full, his veracity and regard to his own word ftand ftand engaged against fin, and to punish it, unlefs there be a fuitable reparation made for the honour of the divine government, and which fhall be a falvo to the truth of God in his threatning. Befides, "where laws are enforced by threat"nings, we must fuppofe fomething in every "legislator, that moves and inclines him to exe"cute thofe threatnings upon fuch as fhall "tranfgrefs his law. And this is as neceffary as "the former: because, as the laws would be "ineffectual without fanctions, fo thofe fanc"tions would be equally infignificant, with"fuch an inclination in the legiflator to put "them in execution. The execution itself in"deed may be ftopped for fome very weighty "reafons. But the general difpofition, and in"clination to execute them must be fuppofed; "otherwife, let the threatnings be never fo "fevere, and the declarations to punish uttered "in never fuch high and peremptory expreffions 66 no man will be under the terror of them, fo "as to be affrightned thereby from finning. "And these are things (as an excellent writer * " has observed) that are to be found in all laws, " and all law-givers, whether human or divine ; "the reason being the very fame and common "to them all." I can't therefore, but conceive, that the neceffary and unchangeable perfections of God, and which are exercised by him as the fupreme and righteous governour of the world his holinefs juftice, and truth, engage him to infift upon a suitable fatisfaction, as the foundation of a juf Dr. Edward's Prefervative, Part III, p. 85. a justifying righteousness before the finner can be acquitted and juftified: Nor will God ever extend pardoning grace in any way, that fhall reflect the leaft difhonour upon thefe perfections, and were our minds filled with fuitable and worthy apprehenfions of them, how low would it humble the guilty finner at his foot, and how would every mouth be ftopped before him? The finner's confcience would tell them in loud language against what a glorious Majefty he hath finned, and what he hath to expect from the justice, purity, and righteousness of that God against whom every fin is committed. Thou, even thou art to be feared, and who may stand in thy fight when once thou art angry? Pfal. lxxvi. 7. This made the penitent Pfalmift in so moving a manner reflect upon his own guilt, against thee, thee only have I finned, and done this evil in thy fight that thou mightest be justified when thou fpeakeft, and be clear when thou judgeft. Pfal. li. 4. God will appear, and be known to be a holy, juft, and righteous God in all his difpenfations; nor can he do any thing, but what he can do with the honour of all his perfections. There must therefore be fome righteousness, or other, in order to a finner's justification. The feveral perfections of God as exercifed in the government of man, according to the tenor of that law which he is under, make this abfolutely neceffary. Without this God : C * Quod enim Deus non poteft refpectu unius attributi divini, refpectu nullius poteft: feu quod per aliquam proprietatem effentialem fieri non poteft, id per omnem fieri nequit. Dr. Owen, Diatriba de juft. divin. p. 206. God will not hold the finner guiltless, how then can he justify him? And as juftification is either an accounting, or a declaring a perfon righteous, it looks to me like a fort of contradiction in terms, to talk of being juftified without a juftifying righteoufnefs. This is the fecond propofition, that fome righteousness is abfolutély neceffary. And having, I hope, fufficiently eftablished this, I now proceed to Prop. III. That as fome righteousness is abfolutely neceffary to a finner's juftification; fo every righteoufnefs is not fufficient for this purpofe, but it must be fuch a righteousness as anfwers to the purity and perfection of that law, which God hath given man as the rule of his obedience. And the reafon of this is very plain, becaufe God will have his law honoured, and eftablished. His great defign in his moral go. vernment of the world is to magnify the law, and make it honourable. He will never therefore juttify the finner in any way that shall eclipfe the glory of the law, nor fhall pardoning grace raife its throne upon the dignity and obligations thereof. In order to examine this matter to the bottom, it will be neceffary to obferve a few things concerning the nature and perfection of the law; the end and defign of God in giving it together with the unchangeable force and obligations of it. I obferved before, that God hath given man a law as the rule of his obedience; I now add, that this law is a law of abfolute purity and perfection; a law in which we may as in a glafs 1 glafs or fpotlefs mirror behold his own glorious and adorable perfections. A holy God will never ftain his government by giving his creature any other than a holy law. The law indeed is nothing else but a tranfcript of the abfolute purity and rectitude of the nature, and will of God. It requires nothing, but what it becomes an infinitely wife and holy God to require; and forbids nothing, but what it becomes an infinitely wife and holy God to forbid. It principally, and in the first place, requires us to love and fear, and worship him, and, as I have already obferved, what more fit and right than this? Hence, we cannot but obferve, that the law is perpetually defcribed in fcripture by thofe characters, which speak its abfolute rectitude and moft extenfive perfection. It is called the royal law, Jam. ii. & what is infcribed with the authority of God himfelf; and the perfect law of liberty, Jam. i. 25. the moft comprehenfive rule of that obedience that we owe to God, as our trueft liberty lies in a dutiful fubjection to it. In the Pfalmift's language, the law of the Lord is perfect, his ftatutes are right, and his commandments pure, and exceeding broad; and he esteemed all God's precepts concerning all things to be right, Pfal. cxix. 128. His teftimonies that he hath commanded are righteous, (Heb. righte ufneffes,) and his law is the truth, ver. 138, 142. The Apoftle speaks of it under the like honourable terms, Rom. vii. 12 Wherefore, the law is holy; and the commandment holy, and juft, and good; what hath an intrinfic goodness in it, and is every way fit, and right, and good. It is moreover a fpiritual law, Rom. vii. 14. its em C 2 pire |