for his sins, and the ends of punishment are answered. By atonement, therefore, we mean a clear and visible manifestation of that righteous anger, which really exists in the divine mind against the sinner, without the offender's being subjected to personal punish

ment.

Ir Jesus Christ be but a creature—if he be not, truly and really, a divine person; no atonement, in this sense of the term, is made for sin :-For aught we can see, it might have been forgiven, with as little injury to the character and respectability of the law of God, if he had never came into the world. If Christ be but a mere man, or a mere creature, in whatever sense it may be supposed he died for sinners, there is nothing, in his death, to exhibit the character of the Great Governor of the world in any measure in the light, in which the threatenings of his holy law represent it. No temporary sufferings of a mere creature could exhibit a displeasure in Him, who inflicted them, to be compared with that, which would necessarily ap pear in the execution of the threatened penalty on a sinner. For the sinner, therefore, to have been forgiven, even however much out of respect to Christ, would seem necessarily to cast reproach on the law of God, and beget an opinion, that so high a degree of displeasure, as its penalties import, never did, in fact, exist, in the divine mind.

If, on the other hand, Christ is really a divine per, son-in such a sense the Son of God, that he partakes of the very nature and essence of the Godhead-If a person of such dignity gave his life a ransom for sin. ners, bearing their sins in his own body on the tree ; the character of that glorious Judge and Avenger, who laid on him the iniquities of us all, must appear in a light exceedingly different from what it would or could have done, had the sinner been forgiven out of

any supposeable respect to Christ, if he were but a mere creature.Yea, the very sufferings of Christ must, in this case, have exhibited the character of God in an unspeakably different light, from what the sufferings of any mere creature could have done. That nothing short of the deep humiliation and sacri-, fice of a Son so infinitely near and dear to him, would prevail on the Eternal Father to remit, in any instance, the penalty of the law; must manifest, in God, the highest conceivable respect to his holy law: It shews, that a law, guarded by such penalties as his is, could, in no other way, receive sufficient honor, if sinners were forgiven. If the Saviour, who was sacrificed for his people, is, in this full and high sense, the Son of God; the sacrifice shews as high a respect to the moral law, as would have appeared in the execution of the penalty on him, for whom the sacrifice was made. For creatures to see, that without such a sacrifice, God will not permit the transgressor to go unpunished, will naturally, excite, in them, as great a fear of offending, as it can be supposed the threatenings of the law are capable of exciting.

IN estimating the displeasure, which is ever manifested in sufferings, we naturally take into view the character of the patient, as well as the quantity of sufferings themselves. We read greater displeasure in the pains and sufferings inflicted on a person of high and exalted character, than in the same degrees of natural evil laid on one of much lower character and worth. And, if it be just, that we should, in this way, estimate the displeasure of the holy God in evils, which he inflicts; it must be admitted, on the principle that Christ is truly a divine person, that, in his humiliation, sufferings and death, there is as full and, visible a discovery of divine anger, as is made in all the awful threatenings and penalties of the law of God. Consequently, if that Jesus, who died on the

cross, was truly God as well as man, there is an atonement made for sin, in the sense in which it is urged to be necessary for the pardon of a sinner. If, on the other hand, this Jesus be but a mere creature, there is no atonement, agreeable to the definition of the term, before given, made for the sins of men.

HERE, then, it may not be improper to note several consequences, which will result from the pardon of sin without any atonement. And,

1. IF Christ have not made an atonement for sin, by his suffering and death, it cannot be on account of any righteousness of his, that penitent sinners are pardoned and saved. Many things in the sacred Scriptures have induced a general belief, in christians, that the righteousness of Christ is the great and only consideration, on which pardon and eternal life are ever bestowed on a sinner. Christians are said to be justified by the blood of Christ-to be reconciled to God by the death of his Son, Rom. v. 9, 10. The righteousness of the law is said to be fulfilled in them, Rom. viii. 4. And, God is said to impute righteousness without works to believers, Rom. iv. 5, 6. Christ is said to be made righteousness as well as sanctification and redemption to his people, 1 Cor. i. 30. And the apostle says, God made Christ to be sin for believers, that they might be made the righteousness of God in him, 2 Cor. v. 21. Christ is, also, said to be the Lord his people's righteousness, Jer. xxiii. 6. their language is, In the Lord have we righteousness, Isa. xlv. 24. Accordingly, Paul wished to be found in Christ, not having on his own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, Philip. iii. 9.

And

THE term righteousness, relates to a rule, or law, by which the moral actions and characters of creatures

are to be tried and decided. It plainly supposes such a rule to exist. The moral law, as revealed in the holy Scriptures, is the only rule by which the actions of men are to be tried; and, by which their charac ters are to be decided, either as righteous, or the re verse. So, also, the terms justify and justification relate to law, and imply a rule, agreeably to which persons are, or may be acquitted, from any guilt charged upon them. The foregoing passages must, therefore, imply, that sinners, who are pardoned and saved by Christ, are acquitted from condemnation not without that righteousness, which the moral law requires, and which, in the eye of law, would be sufficient to justify and acquit them from every charge, which could reasonably be brought against them.

Ir is true, that, in the nature of things, it is supposeable, an acquittal should be granted a criminal, without any regard to law, or any righteousness of the law; though it might be difficult, for us, to discern the consistency of it with the character of a righteous judge. But should the holy God, in this way, acquit one, who is a sinner, from condemnation; it could not easily be perceived how, with propriety, it could be said, that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in him. Nor can we see any way, in which this righteousness is, or can be fulfilled in a sinner, unless there be in the character, and work of Christ, a proper and reasonable ground for God to treat sinners who believe in him as righteous persons; and, for bestowing on them the benefits of righteousness. There is no way, in which we can conceive the righteousness of the law to be fulfilled, in a moral creature, otherwise than by his, either perfectly obeying it, or suffering its penal ty-or, by the righteousness and sufferings of another, to whom he stands in such a relation, that his vicarious sufferings and righteousness answer the same valuable ends of government, as would have been answer.

ed, either by his own perfect personal obedience, or in defect of that, his suffering the penalty of transgression. But, unless Christ is a person of such high and infinite dignity, that his subjecting himself to the law, and bearing the sins of his people in his own body on the tree, does the same honor to the divine law, and as entirely establishes the authority, and honors the gov ernment of God, as would have been done by the execution of the penalty on the transgressor; it will not easily be seen, how his people are said to be justified and redeemed by his blood:-Nor, unless believers in Christ derive from him the benefits of righteousness, and that in a way as truly honorable to the just God and his righteous government, as though they, themselves had fulfilled it, do we see how righteousness can be said to be reckoned or imputed to them-how Christ is made righteousness to them-or how he is their righteousness. To suppose the terms justify, justification, righteousness, as they are used, in the holy Scriptures, in reference to believers, have no relation to law-the rule by which the actions and characters of men are estimated; must imply, that they are used in a sense very foreign from their original import; and, in a manner, which conveys, neither instruction, nor idea to us.

If it be not on account of that righteousness of Christ, which consisted in his perfect obedience, and his becoming a curse, that believers are pardoned and justified; no respect is had to the law, or to its righteousness that we can see, in the provision, which is made for the salvation of sinners, either one way or another. If there be no atonement for sin, (as there is not, if Christ be not a divine person,) no regard is had to law, or to any righteousness of the law, in the bestowment of pardons on offenders. If this be the way in which pardons are conferred, no righteousness either is, or need be imputed to the subjects