Now what is this man? None, be sure, save Christ himself, the co-
equal and co-eternal Son of God. Of him alone can it be said,
utterly, that he is after God--the brightness of God's glory, and the
express image of his person. But still, he is a man, and meant as a
pattern to men; the new Adam; the new pattern, type, and ideal for
all mankind. Him, says St. Paul,--that is, his likeness,--we are to
put on, that as he was after the likeness of God, so may we be
likewise.
But now, in what does this same likeness consist?
St. Paul tells us distinctly, lest we should mistake a matter of such
boundless importance as the question of all questions--What is the
life of God, the Divine and Godlike life?
It is created, founded, says he, in righteousness and true holiness.
That is the character, that is the form of it. Whatever we do not
know, whatever we cannot know, concerning God, and his Divine life,
we know that it consists of righteousness and true holiness.
And what is righteousness? Justice. You must understand--as any
good scholar or divine would assure you--that St. Paul is not
speaking here of the imputed righteousness of Christ. He is speaking
of righteousness in the simple Old Testament meaning of the word, of
justice, whereof our Lord has said, 'Do unto others as ye would they
should do unto you;' justice, which, as wise men of old have said,
consists in this,--to harm no man, and to give each man his own.
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