This view of the ground of a sinner’s justification is everywhere sustained in the Holy Scriptures. “By the obedience of one, shall many be made righteous.” “By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men, unto justification of life.” “The obedience of one,” and “the righteousness of one,” in these two sentences, signify the same thing. Again: “He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.” “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” “All we like sheep have gone astray, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was wounded for our transgressions; he was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed.” The perfect obedience of Christ, and his meritorious death, were both necessary, as the ground of a sinner’s justification. Neither would have been sufficient without the other. His obedience would not answer without his death; for the law which had been broken must be honored; and the penalty which had been incurred by the sinner must be endured by the Substitute. Neither would his death answer without his obedience; for it is the obedient, and not the punished, that the law justifies; he who keeps the precept, and not he who endures the penalty. It is only by satisfying both claims on our behalf, that Christ “of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption.” When it is said we are justified by faith, it is not meant that there is any merit in faith, any justifying efficacy; but that faith is the condition on which we are justified for the sake of him who obeyed and suffered for us—the Divinely appointed means by which we appropriate the merit of his obedience and suffering. It is by the eye of faith we see the excellency and adaptation of Christ’s righteousness and merit; and it is by the hand of faith we take and put on the wedding garment provided for us, and thus prepare ourselves for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Faith is the bond which unites us to Christ, by virtue of which union we are justified. Faith is the wedding ring by which the poor daughter of the old Amorite is married to the Prince of Peace. She is raised from the greatest poverty and degradation to unspeakable opulence and honor, not because of the intrinsic value of the ring, though it is a golden one; but on account of the union which it signifies between her and her Beloved. “He that hath the Son hath life.”