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LECTURE XIII.

ROMANS iv, 1—8.

"What shall we then say that Abraham, our father as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? for if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. Even as David also describeth the blessedness of the man, unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works, saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin."

PAUL never forgets, in the course of this argument, that he is addressing himself to Jews; and, bred as he was in all their prejudices, he evinces a strong and a ready sense of the antipathies, that he would ever and anon be stirring up in their minds, by the doctrine on which he expatiated. He knew how much they all gloried in Abraham and how natural it was for them therefore to feel that Abraham had something to glory of in himself; and, as he urged that faith which excludes boasting, the case of the patriarch occurred to him; nor could he have selected a better than that of one so eminently the favourite of God as he was, for illustrating the principle upon which God holds out friendship and acceptance to mankind.

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V. 1. The term flesh does not stand related to the circumstance of Abraham being our father. It does not mean what is it that Abraham, our father by earthly descent, hath found-but what is it that Abraham our father hath found by his natural or external performances. Whatever can be done by the powers of nature, can be done by the flesh. The outward observances of Judaism can be so done; and thus the Mosaic law is termed by Paul the law of a carnal commandment. In the question he puts to the Galatians- Having begun in the Spirit are ye now made perfect by the flesh ? he is expostulating with those who thought that the rite of circumcision, one of the Jewish observances, was necessary to perfect their acceptance with God. Paul professes of himself, that he gloried not in the flesh; and, in enumerating the reasons which might have led him so to glory, he refers, not merely to his descent, but to his circumcision, and to his pharisaical zeal, and to his blamelessness in regard to the righteousness of the law. Abraham had rites and performances laid on him, and he was punctual in their observation; and the question is, What did Abraham procure by these services?

V. 2. If by these services he was justified, he has whereof to glory, whereof to boast himself. But no! his boasting too must be excluded. He has nothing whereof to glory of before God.

V. 3. Gen. xv, 6. This is said of Abraham, previous, by several years, to the institution of the

great Jewish rite of circumcision. He was in favour with God, before this deed of obedience. He was dealt with by God as a righteous person, before this work of righteousness was done by him. God had declared himself to be his reward; and by his trust in this declaration, did he become entitled to the reward. This conferred on it the character of a gift. Otherwise it would have been the payment of a debt, as of wages rendered for services performed.

V. 4. It would not have been regarded as a gratuitous thing, but as a thing due.

V. 5. Observe a few things here. The man who has obtained justification may be looked upon as in possession of a title-deed, which secures to him a right to God's favour. The question is, How comes he into possession of this title-deed? Did he work for it, and thus receive it as a return for his works? No, he did not work for it; and thus it is that justification is to him who worketh notthat is, he did nothing antecedent to his justification to bring this privilege down upon him; and it is a contradiction to allow that it is by doing any thing subsequent to justification that he secures this privilege, for it is secured already. He is now in possession of it-He has not to work for the purpose of obtaining what he already has. And neither did he work for it at the time that he had it not. He came to it not by doing but by believing. His is like the case of a man getting in a present the title to an estate. He did not work

for it before it was presented, and so get it as a reward. It was a gift. He does not work for it after it is presented, for it is his already. But you must remark here-though it is not in consideration of works done either before or after the grant that the privilege was bestowed-yet that is not to say, but that the person so privileged becomes a busy, diligent, ever-doing, and constantly-working man. When it is said that the faith of him who worketh not is counted for righteousness-it is meant, that he does not work for the purpose of obtaining a right of acceptance, and that it is not upon the consideration of his works that this right has been conferred upon him. But it is not meant that such a person works not for any purpose at all. To recur to the case of him who has a gratuitous estate conferred upon him, he neither wrought for the estate before he obtained it, nor for it after he has obtained it. But from the very moment of his assured prospect of coming into the possession of it, may he have become most zealously diligent in the business of preparing himself for the enjoyment of all the advantages, and the discharge of all the obligations connected with this property. He may have put himself under the tuition of him who perhaps at one time possessed it, and knew it thoroughly, and could instruct him how to make the most of it. He did not work for it; but now that he has got it he has been set most busily a-working, though not for a right to the property, yet all for matters connected with

the property. He may forthwith enter on a very busy process of education, to render him meet for the society of those with whom he is now in kindred circumstances. And thus with the Christian, who by faith receives the gift of eternal life. It cannot be put down to the account of works done, either before or after the deed of conveyance has passed into his hands. But no sooner does he lay hold of the deed, than he begins, and that most strenuously, to qualify himself for the possessionto translate himself into the kindred character of Heaven-to wean himself away from the sin and the sordidness of a world, which he no longer regards as his dwelling-place-and, with a foot which touches lightly that earth from which he is to ascend so soon into the fields of eternal glory that are above him, to aspire after the virtues which are current there; and, by an active cultivation of his heart, labour to prepare himself for a station of happiness and honour among the companies of the celestial.

We would further have you to remark, that you must beware of having any such view of faith, as will lead you to annex to it the kind of merit or of claim or of glorying under the gospel, which are annexed to works under the law. This in fact is just animating with a legal spirit, the whole phraseology and doctrine of the gospel. It is God who justifies. He drew up the title-deed, and He bestowed the title-deed. It is ours, simply by laying hold of it. The donor who grants a worldly