justify the guilty sons of men; if then he have this attribute of God, he must also have the nature of God. Again, another prophet says, that of God men will say that they have righteousness in him:—
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Hebrew characters)
"Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. (Isa. xlv. 24.) And again:—
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"In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and
shall glory." Here it is said that God is our righteousness,
and that in Him we shall be justified; but in the passages
quoted above, it is said that the Messiah is our Righteousness,
and that in Him we shall be justified; the person then intended
in these different passages must be one and identical. Thus
the difficulties are all removed, and we have one in whose
righteousness we may safely trust, without making ourselves
liable to the curse denounced against those who put their trust
in sinful men. This is the Christian's hope. Many Jews
think, and speak, and argue too, as if Christians had departed
from the living God and put their trust in a man; but that of
which they accuse us, they have done themselves. We have
not departed from the living God. Our hope and trust and
confidence is in (Hebrew characters), The Lord our Righteousness.
You have departed from the Lord, for in your prayers you say
that your hope and trust is in the merits of sinful men. Our
confidence is based upon the Word of God, and your hope is
taught you by the rabbies, who are fallible men. Your doctrine
is the doctrine of men, and your hope is in the merits of
men. You have, therefore, doubly departed from God, both
from his word and his righteousness. Our desire is that you
would return to Him, not to us,—to his word, and not to ours.
You have no merits more than we have. Your forefathers
have no more than either of us, and the blowing of a ram's
horn is but a poor foundation on which to build our hope of
salvation; and yet these are the things on which your rabbies
have taught you to depend. Examine your prayers, and
compare them with the Word of God, and you will find, that
as long as the Jewish nation continues to offer such petitions,
their cry cannot be heard; and that if they wish for salvation,
they must forsake their arm of flesh, and return to Him who
was the hope of their fathers.
It was not by his own merits, nor the merits of his forefathers,
nor by any ceremonial observance, that Abraham was
justified, but by faith in the Lord, (Hebrew characters), as it is written:—
(Hebrew characters)
