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thfit % ihtit I am not as other men are , was the language of the Pharisee . While he boasted of his superior piety and virtue , he did not pretend to ascribe it to
the goodness of his own heart , nor to his steady adherence in faith and practice to the word of God ; but to distinguishing grace . Though filled with self-adulation he pretended not to exalt himself , but to give all the glory to God , It h not the humble Christian , who
regards faith as virtue , who makes religion to consist in moral excellence , and dares not presume to think himself in the favour of God , any further than he is penitent and obedient ,, that resembles the Pharisees of old ; but the man who presumptuously concludes himself to be a peculiar object of divine favour , and
relying on the distinguishing grace of God , looks down from his imaginary eminence with contempt on others . This is the real spirit of self-righteousness . It is pride in the guise of piety , presumption impiously taking the name of faith
and humility , degrading rational nature , the work of God , and representing him as ait arbitrary partial being , under the pretence of exalting his sovereign and distinguishing grace . This is the very essence of Pharisaism . Those who contend
that piety , virtue , and acceptance with God , are only to be attained by a right application of our natural powers , and a diligent improvement of the means of grace and salvation , are not the Pharisees of modern times ; but those who expect to be saved , to be led to piety
and acceptance with God by special influences of the spirit * by somedistinguishing act or operation of God in their favour : these are the persons whose views and reasonings are summarily comprehended in the words of the Pharisee , Crod ! I thank thee , that I cum not as other
men are pp . z' —225 . We cannot too strongly recommend the following observations on cc Evangelical Righteous , ness : ' —•
¦* Righteousness to be real must be personal . Guilt and innocence , vice and •* krtucr arc all personal , nor can they C 9 cfc | ; without being so . That rightequgrtess which is not personal ia a mere jmahtdtri of the imagination . Righte-&& $$ && consists bf right actions . No « KUr » righteous any further than he acts right . Let j \ m man deceive you , saitfi
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an Apostle , he that doeth rigJueousncss is righteous . A man can no more be righteous by proxy than he can be saved by proxy ; The notion of one man being righteous j in the place and stead of another is repujgnant to scripture , and carries absurdity in the face of it ; and is opposed
to every right idea of justice . What forms the character of a man > as righteousness doth of the righteous , must be inherent and essential to him . Imputed righteousness , as spoken of by the apostle Paul , is not the imputation of Christ ' s
personal obedience to . sinners ; but the non-imputation , or free forgiveness of sin . The gospel furnishes no substitute for personal righteousness . It is intended to form men anew in righteousness and true holiness . It assures us that
without holiness no man shall see the JLord . It dissolves no moral obligation , Christ did not come to free men from the necessity of being personally righteous , to give them a cloak for their sins , but to make them righteous by his teach * ing and example . Were it possible for righteousness to exist without being personal , it would be useless : as the
character of the sinner would not be changed by it , nor his incapacity for happiness removed . If personal righteousness be necessary in order to our final acceptance with God , ajiy other righteousness must be superfluous . The judgment of God is according to truth : hence it is impossible that he should view any man but in his real character- that he sihould
view any person as righteous who is not really so ; to suppose the contrary is to suppose him to view objects in a false light . To say that , under the gospel , righteousness is not entirely personal , is to sink it below the law , as a ministration of righteousness ; for the law admitted of no obedience but what wai personal . " pp . 240—^ % \ l .
D . xiii ; is on " The gift of Eternal Life / 7 from Horn . vi . 23 . (' The gift of God is eternal life , through Jesus Christ our Lord , ) and contains some animating reflections on the subject of immortality , as
thepeculiar promise of the gospel . D . xiv . " The pernicious Tendency of Error / ' from Ephes . iv . 18 . ( ' Having the understanding darkened , &c . ' ) should ratherhav « been entitled " The pernicious
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r- _ i / . ¦ ¦ * - 6 l 4 Review . —Wright ' s Evangelical Discourses *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1811, page 614, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2421/page/38/
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