him; i. e. that we might be accepted of God as righteous, being considered as by faith united to him, and interested in his righteousness and grace. In testimony of which, God expressly requires, that every sinner should sue out his pardon In Christ's name †, and should present himself before him as one that Has obtained redemption through Christ's blood, and is accepted in the beloved, Who of God is made unto us righteousness §; A scheme utterly inconsistent with that of our being justified and saved by any merit or excellence in faith, considered as an act of atonement made by us, by which the guilt of our offences is cancelled, and our pardon bought by us. It is yet more

apparent,

2. That "Faith can confer no obligation upon God to bestow on us eternal blessedness;" in which view also our salvation through it must appear to be by grace.

That eternal blessedness is designed for every believing soul, is, through the divine goodness, as apparent, as that faith itself is ever required in scripture. But can we say of eternal life, that it is the wages of faith? I much question, whether it could have been claimed as wages due to us on account of our obedience, had that obedience been perfect in its kind and degree: Nor do I think it could with any confidence have been expected, unless God had been pleased by a gracious covenant to promise it: Otherwise, all that the completest obedience could have claimed, would only have been favour continued, or at most favour increasing, during the time in which we continued to behave ourselves well. Much less then can we imagine, that when we had once broken the law of God, faith, though for the future attended with the most perfect efficacy, and productive of the most steady course of obedience in all after-instances, could give us any such claim. Least of all then can we have any room to pretend it, on account of a faith which operates in so imperfect a manner, and produces an holiness so sadly defective in many instances, as we must acknowledge our own to be. That we should be admitted into the glorious presence of God, and be fixed in a state of immutable security and felicity, where sin and sorrow shall no more invade us, but where God will appoint for us salvation itself for walls and bulwarks ||, is so glorious a triumph of the divine goodness; that the soul which knows itself, and attentively looks on this far more exceeding and eternal

* 2 Cor. v. 21. † Luke xxiv. 47. Ephes. i. 6, 7. §1 Cor. i. 30. || Isai. xxvi. 1. 4 B

VOL II.

weight of glory, is astonished and humbled in the views of it, and finds it no small stretch of faith, to be able to believe, that God does indeed intend it for so sinful a creature: So far is the believer from arrogating any thing of this kind to himself, as if his own faith had any degree of merit or excellence proportionable to it. But we must observe once more, to complete the argument,

3. That "there had been no room to mention faith at all in this affair, had not God graciously contrived such a method of salvation, and done that to effect it, which none but himself could do."

Faith receives our Lord Jesus Christ; it is its great office, and its great glory to do it. But how could it have received him, unless he had been given? And how could he have been given in this view, but by the appointment of the Father, in concurrence with his own free and most gracious consent?— Faith apprehends and submits to the gospel plan of salvation by the obedience and sufferings of the Son of God; yea, it not only submits to it, but rejoices and glories in it. But who could have exhibited, who could have contrived, who could have executed such a plan, unless it had been formed and determined in the counsels of eternal love?-Admit faith to be ever so voluntary, and so far as is possible to a creature, ever so independent an act, can we any of us say, that there was so much merit and excellency in that act, or in any of its subsequent fruits, that God upon the foresight of it should say, "These creatures, guilty and condemned as they appear, will be so ready to receive the intimations of my will, that they will fully deserve that I should save them at any rate; they will deserve even that my Son should become incarnate, and die as a sacrifice, to make way for their happiness. Can any of you, Sirs, imagine this to have been the case? Or can you hear it even supposed, without finding something shocking in the very representation of it? The blessed Paul, I am sure, had very different views, when he said God Hath predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us acceptable in the beloved*. And the apostle John had other notions of it, when he said, full as his gracious heart was of the most lively sentiments of gratitude and zeal, Herein is love, not

* Ephes. i. 5, 6.

that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins *.

These arguments would prove, that our salvation through faith is by grace, even though it could not be added, that this faith is the gift of God. How much more convincing then must the conclusion be, when that consideration is added to the rest!

But as the illustration of this, which was the third general we mentioned, will require more time than can properly be allowed to the remainder of this discourse, I will reserve it to another; and conclude, for the present, with exhorting you seriously to examine, whether you have this principle of faith in your hearts, without which your salvation is in present circumstances an impossible thing, and with which it is inviolably

secure.

It is a melancholy, but most obvious truth, that All men have not faith +. There are thousands and ten thousands under the gospel, with regard to whom its ministers have reason to complain, Who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed? On whom has its power been so exerted, as to conquer the natural incredulity and obstinacy of their hearts? Are you, Sirs, of that number, or of the number of those, who, as the scripture expresses it, Have believed through grace§? It is the question on which your eternal state will turn at last; and therefore you would do well to examine it now. And I would beseech you to endeavour to trace it— in its production-and in its effects-or, in other words, to enquire-how it has been introduced into your minds-and how it has wrought there.-You may surely discover it, in the one or in the other, if it be your prevailing character; and I hope many of you will be able to discover it in both.

(1.) Can you trace faith "in its production and advance in your souls?"

Do you recollect any time in which you had no thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ, and no workings of affection towards him? And has there been any alteration in your minds in this respect? All true faith in Christ is founded on a conviction of sin, and of the misery to which you are exposed by it. Have you indeed been brought to this conviction? Have you heard, and, if I may be allowed the expression, have you felt yourselves condemned by the sentence of a righteous, a holy, yea, of a merciful God? And have you, by that apprehension, § Acts xviii. 27,

*1 John iv. 10. +2 Thess, iii. 2.

‡ Isa. liii. 1.

been stirred up to cry for pardon and deliverance? You have heard of Christ under the character of a Saviour; but I put it to your consciences, have you seriously viewed him under that character? And from a full persuasion of his correspondency, when considered in this view, to all the necessities of your case, and all the exigencies of your souls, have you entered into any treaty with him? Recollect it seriously. Have you ever presented yourselves before God, with an humble and cordial regard to Christ? And do you know what it is secretly and sincerely to repose your souls upon the merit of his obedience, and the efficacy of his blood, with humble acknowledgment of your own guilt, with entire resignation of your own righteousness, as utterly unworthy of being mentioned before God, and with a cordial and joyful resolution to devote yourselves to his service as long as you have any being, and through time and eternity to testify your gratitude by a constant series of obedience?

If you can trace such a process of thought and experience as this, you have great reason to conclude, that you experimentally know what faith is; and that through faith you are in the way to salvation. Yet it is always to be remembered, that Faith is to be shewn by its works*. Give me leave therefore farther to enquire,

(2.) Whether you can trace" the genuine effects of it in your hearts and lives?"

You believe in Christ: But has that faith in him produced a continued and habitual intercourse with him? I speak not of an intercourse absolutely uninterrupted; for that, the present state of human life will not admit. But has it produced frequently repeated and direct acts of application to him, and converse with him? One can hardly imagine how it is possible for a true believer, to suffer these to be long, and often intermitted; especially to such a degree, that days and weeks and months should pass, as if the business between Christ and his soul were quite finished, and he and his Lord were parted by consent, till death, or some very urgent and extraordinary circumstance, renewed the interviews between them. I would ask farther, Has this faith to which you pretend, produced a resemblance to Christ's example, and an obedience to his precepts, in the course of your lives? You know that true faith is operative; and you know, in the general, the genius and design of christianity. I would demand of your consciences how far you comply with it?

James ii. 18.

Is your temper and conduct in the main such, as you well know, our Lord intended, that the temper and conduct of his people should be? Is it devout and spiritual, just and charitable, sober and temperate, humble and cautious? Is religion your care, and do you maintain an habitual watchfulness over yourselves, that your behaviour may be agreeable and honourable to your profession?-Once more, Are you ardently pursuing greater attainments in the christian temper and life, so that you may be spoken of as Hungering and thirsting after righteousness* ?

If you can answer such enquiries as these in the affirmative, you have a great deal of reason to hope that faith is yours, and salvation is yours. But if you cannot so answer them, a confident assurance that you shall be saved is so far from being faith, that it is presumption and folly; and far from being any security to you, will only prove adding sin to sin. That confidence, by whatever name you may affect to call it, is indeed unbelief: Unbelief of God's threatenings, while it vainly pretends to trust his promises: For he hath not more expressly said, that He who believeth on the Son, hath everlasting life; than he has added, that he who is disobedient to the Son+, shall not see life. While sin reigns in your life, and thereby appears to reign in your heart, did you pretend a revelation from heaven as to the truth of your faith, every wise man would conclude that pretended revelation was a delusion; and that how solemnly soever it might be ascribed to the spirit of truth and holiness, it really proceeded from the father of lies.

Excuse the plainness with which fidelity to God, and to you, obliges me to speak on this head; and be assured, that it proceeds from a real concern to secure the honour of that glorious doctrine of salvation by grace, which I have now been labouring to establish, and the demonstration and improvement of which I shall farther pursue in the ensuing discourse.

* Mat. v. 6.

† Ο απειθών τω νιω.

+ John iii. 36.