with readiness to relieve the miserable and pardon the guilty. And that this is an essential attribute of the moral nature of Deity, is evident from his Word. When the Lord passed before Moses on the holy mount, he proclaimed his name and his nature in the following significant expressions: "The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." Exod. xxxiv. 6, 7. Here is the great original source of all those glorious effects which are developed in the grand scheme of human redemption: God's infinite mercy. This being the cause of the atonement, must be regarded as the ground of pardon. Some have argued that the misery of his creatures is the cause of his mercy, inasmuch as mercy implies, not only goodwill, but pity and commiseration towards those in distress. But this notion, in relation to the Divine Being, is unfounded. God's mercy is not a passion or affection of the mind, as it is in man; but, correctly speaking, is the result of his sovereign will, and is guided by infinite wisdom and true benevolence; consequently his mercy is free; nothing out of himself can be the cause of it. The miseries of his creatures may give rise to a manifestation of this attribute, but still God's mercy, considered in itself, is the original source of pardon. If God had not been infinitely merciful, no Saviour would have been provided, and no pardon would ever have been extended to the human race. For

2. Christ is the only way whereby God's pardoning mercy is displayed. This is most emphatically predicated by St. Paul, in his epistle to the Ephesians: "But God,

who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved); and hath raised us up together, and hath made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus; that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." Eph. ii. 4-7. And in the preceding chapter, speaking of Christ, he says: "In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace." Eph. i. 7. The justice of God having received satisfaction by the blood of Christ, which is said to cleanse from all sin, St. John concludes, that "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness"-a complete act which will never be repealed, so long as we continue to walk in the path of the just: "Your sins and your iniquities I will remember against you no more for ever.”

3. The pardon of our sins is essential to salvation; because, unless our sins be forgiven us while we live, we cannot go to heaven when we die. However we may amend our morals, or refrain from the commission of future transgressions, so long as the past catalogue of crimes stands against us, they will for ever prevent our admission into the kingdom of heaven, stand against us at the day of final account, and will constitute our eternal damnation. Pardon is not offered to the dead, nor salvation proclaimed to the damned. We should therefore earnestly pray that God, who is rich in mercy, would forgive us all our sins, through Jesus Christ, our only Saviour and Redeemer.

THE BENEFITS OF REDEMPTION.

JUSTIFICATION.

The nature of Justification defined. Legal Justification. Justification considered in a theological sense. Mr. Wesley's definition of Justification. Justification includes the forgiveness of sins, but, in the judgment of some theologians, is a more comprehensive term. Justification invests the pardoned sinner with certain rights and claims, which God, through Christ, is pleased to bestow. Pardon and Justification not uniformly the same; but justification and pardon are used in Scripture to denote a state of Salvation. Is a believer really justified? or "is he only treated as a justified person?" Man's justification is through Christ only. This doctrine is consistent with infinite justice. The person (Jesus Christ) on account of whose merits millions of sinners are justified, must be infinitely holy and almighty; he must also have a human nature; and must therefore be God and man united.

JUSTIFICATION is the result of the atonement made by Christ. Apart from the perfect obedience and righteous sufferings of Christ, man cannot by any means be justified. Therefore nothing in the whole system of revealed theology can be of greater importance than this great and vital question: "How shall man be righteous with his Maker?" How shall I, a sinner, obtain acceptance and favour with God? We shall not at present consider this subject at large, but only simply define its nature, and shew that the atonement of Christ is the efficient or procuring cause of it.

I. The nature of justification may be ascertained by a careful investigation of the true meaning of the word.

According to the author of the "Universal Dictionary," the radical import of the original word jus is right; from this springs justus or just, which means upright, equitable, incorrupt, honest, &c. Justification therefore is the act of justifying, or shewing to be just or conformable to law, or proving a person to be clear of blame or free from guilt. This is its legal meaning. But in a theological sense, as frequently used in Scripture, it signifies that act of grace by which a man, in virtue of the sufferings and death of the Saviour, is held as just in the sight of God as though he had never violated the divine law, and through that grace is entitled to eternal life. On this subject Dr. Pye Smith says: "Justification, in a theological sense, is the state of an accountable creature, in which he is regarded by the Omniscient and All-righteous Judge as being free from blame, exempt from punishment, and an object of Divine. approbation." President Edwards' definition of justification is very similar. He says: "A person is said to be justified, when he is approved of God as free from the guilt of sin and its deserved punishment, and as having that righteousness belonging to him which entitles to the reward of life."

Mr. Wesley says: "The plain scriptural notion of justification is pardon, the forgiveness of sin. It is that act of God the Father, whereby, for the sake of the propitiation made by the blood of his Son, he sheweth forth his righteousness (or mercy) by the remission of the sins that are past." (Sermon v. vol. i. page 51.) And again, in page 544, he says: "Justification is another word for pardon. It is the forgiveness of all our sins, and, what is necessarily implied therein, our acceptance with God. The

price whereby this has been procured for us (commonly termed the meritorious cause of our justification) is the blood and righteousness of Christ; or, to express it a little more clearly, all that Christ hath done and suffered for us, till he poured out his soul for the transgressors."""The immediate effects of justification are, peace with God," &c. On these quotations we might remark

1. That the term justification, as used by the inspired writers, in reference to the salvation of sinners, includes the forgiveness of sins. But, it is argued by some theologians, that justification is a word of more extensive meaning than the word pardon, inasmuch as it comprehends the idea of a right or title to the rewards of Divine approbation. They argue thus: the moral law of God being a perfect code, agreeable to the rectitude and wisdom of an allperfect Being, embraces two classes of precepts; namely, the prohibitory and the requisitive. The prohibitory is that which forbids committing moral evil; the requisitive is that which inculcates the performance of moral good. If the latter were uniformly complied with, it would supersede the former; or, in other words, if men loved God with all their hearts, &c., they would never commit sin, and therefore would live in a state of justification, and be entitled to eternal happiness. "This shews, that in order to the justification of a sinner, he must not only be discharged from the penalties incurred by his violations of God's prohibitory laws, but he must be invested with the rights and claims which God has been pleased to annex to obedience." This accords with the definition of another eminent divine, who says, "The justification of a sinner in the sight of God consists in the bestowment of a full pardon of