430 RUIN AND- RECOVERY, &c. And besides, as Adam was the head and .springnot only of our guilt and death by imputation, but of our inherent sin by natural propagationalso ; so Christ was the head and spring not only of Our justification and life by his imputed righteousness, but of our inherent holinessor righteousness by sanctification : And per- haps the strength of the expressions might beused to intimate all this to us. But if only the result of their good or evil actions were im- puted to us, those strong expressions might he used. I am sure when " all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all their transgressionsin all their sins, are confessed over the head of the goat, while Aaron lays both his hands upon it, and he is said to put or transfer them all upon the head of the goat, and that the goat should-bear upon him all their iniquities into the wilderness, or a land of separation ;" Lev. xvi. 21. All these words can signify nothing more than transferring to the goat the guilt or condemnation or liableness to punishment, misery and death, which these sibs deserved, and to which the goat might be ex- posed ; for a brute creature cannot have human sins any other- wise imputed or transferred to it : the particular sinful actions of man cannot be transferred to the brutal sacrifice in any other tense : Nor do I see a necessity of any other sense in which the sin of Adamwas imputed to his posterity, or the sins of men to the Son of God*. If one wouldkeep our, ideas of these things as clear and distinct as possible, I think we may do it by virtue of this distinction, or this two-fold sense of the words sin and righteousness. Fourthly, It is possible some may in the fourth place object that it cannot properly be called imputed righteousness, if the, righteous actions themselves are not imputed ; for in proper speech the result of Christ's righteousness, that is, the right to impunity and eternal lifewhich he procured for us, is given to us rather than imputed. Answer. To this I answer and grant, that this is the very language of scripture : It is called, the gift of righteousness ; Rom. v. 17. and eternal life, which is the result of Christ's righteousness, is the gift of God through Jesus Christ; Rom. vi. 23. And the forgiveness of sins is given to Israel ; Acts v. 31. Yet let it be observed also, that the very reward itself is sometimes said to be reckoned or im- * Let what will be said to confine the sense of this imputation of sin or righteousness to the legal or forensic result of good or evil actions; let what will be said to exclude and deny the imputation of the actions themselves to others; yet those who oppose this doctrine will and do level almost all their arguments against the imputation of the actions themselves, and then triumph io having demolished what we pever built, and in refuting what we never asserted or maintained. Nor do I know any other reason for this their conduct. but that while they put such senses upon our words as we disclaim, they can glory in their awn fancied victories; bat where the truthor integrity o&it lies, haws net.
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