judgment; and some men they follow after. Likewise also the good actions of some are manifest, and they that are otherwise cannot be hid. May what has been advanced, be rendered serviceable both to sinners and saints, by the Spirit of our God applying what has been spoken according to his holy word!

Sinners! are all your wicked actions, open and concealed, known to God? and will they all be brought against you at the day of judgment, that you may receive according to what you have done? Let this momentous consideration excite you to cry mightily to God, to give you repentance unto salvation not to be repented of, and faith whereby you may be brought to become the children of God in righteousness and true holiness.

Saints! are your good works, open and concealed, which God has foreordained that you should walk in them, known to the omniscient Mind? and will even a cup of cold water, given to a disciple, lose its reward when God shall judge the

world in righteousness, by that Man whom he hath ordained? What encou ragement and consolation are by this means held out to you to give all diligence, to add to your faith, virtue; to your virtue, knowledge; to your knowledge, temperance; to your temperance, patience; to your patience, godliness; to your godliness, brotherly kindness; to your brotherly kindness, charity! For the day is quickly approaching when you shall hear that heart-cheering sentence," Come, ye blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for your from the foundation of the world." Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; even so, Amen.

135

SERMON XXIX.

ROMAN

IV. 4, 5.

Now, to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Ir is one of the hardest things imaginable in the Christian life, to work earnestly and sincerely, and yet not to cleave to our works; to do well, and to take no credit to ourselves for doing well; to disclaim all merit, as to what appears to be exceedingly meritorious. Yet, all who know any thing of the Gospel of Christ, by the teaching of the Holy Ghost, must confess, that nothing we can do either wholly or in part, can in any degree merit salvation; for we are assured, that salvation is the free gift of God to man, through what Christ

has done and suffered for them: Christ has merited for us; and they who rely steadfastly upon his meritorious obedience unto death, will be saved. The word is gone forth in truth, "He that believeth shall be saved." "And if thou shalt confess with the mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved; for with the heart man believeth unto salvation, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation"-" For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast: it is of faith, that it might be of grace." This is also the language of our text: "Now, to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt; but to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness."

Let us consider them with attention. 1. Now, to him that worketh is

the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt." If any man refuse salvation by grace, and insist upon it, owing to his own meritorious performances, he looks upon the reward as his due, he deserves it. Absurd, and contrary to the whole tenour of Scripture as this notion is, yet I verily believe the greater part of those who call themselves Christians adhere entirely to this scheme. They expect to be saved owing to what they can do to merit salvation; they look for salvation by works, and not by grace. This scheme, it is true, suits very well our proud, conceited, and corrupt nature. Pride ruined the devil; pride ruined Adam; and pride will ruin all those to the end of time, who cherish so poisonous a passion within their bosom. It suits exactly our corrupt nature to make ourselves something, and to think ourselves something. We have great pleasure in magnifying our understanding, and in thinking by the sole exercise of it, and our own resolution, to at