good works; and the motive he used hereto was, that the crown of glory which he would give unto them, as the reward of their obedience, at his appearing and kingdom; which, in greatness, fhould be proportioned, according to the degree of their Services done for him in the present ftate.

He acquaints them with those special favours, thofe particular honours which he had in referve for thofe of his fervants, who had moft diftinguished themselves in his fervice. And hence will arise all those different degrees of glory, in which the faints shall shine, at the refurrection of the juft. They will all be bright and glori ous, and fine as the stars for ever and ever; and yet as one star differeth from another star in glory, fo fhall it be in the refurrection of the dead, 1 Cor. xv. 41, 42. As the ftars now fhine with different glories, fo fhall the faints then: for those who have done and fuffered moft for Chrift, in this life, fhall have an higher sphere of glory, and fhine with a fuperior brightness in the life to come.

And while the faints, with Mofes, have refpect unto this recompence of the reward,

their filial obedience is quickened thereby. Wherefore we labour, fays the apostle, that whether prefent or abfent we may be accepted of him, 2 Cor. v. 9. They did not labour to be accepted, in point of righteousness before God; for fo they already had an acceptance in Chrift fo full, that none of their labours could add any thing to it. But they laboured to be accepted, with regard to their obedience; or, they laboured in the whole of their converfation to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleafing; i. e. to walk worthy of their high relation to him, thofe great favours they enjoyed from him, and that eternal intereft they had in him, unto all pleafing; or, unto all acceptable obedience here, and to the open acceptation thereof, in the day of Chrift.

And the earnestness of their fouls herein, the apostle fets forth by running of a race, for a prize, or crown, I Cor. ix. 24, 25. Know ye not that they which run in a race, run all, but one obtaineth the prize? So run that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the maftery, is temperate in all things: now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible.

And as the prize, fore-viewed, quickens the faints in the race; fo that crown of righteoufnefs they shall receive, when their courfe is finished, will be a rich and abundant reward of all their labours; in which the glory of God's free grace, and the greatness of its provifion, for these favourites of heaven, fhall for ever fhine forth. Then, they which feared the Lord, that speak often one to another, (whose thoughts, words, and works for God, he graciously regarded, and accepted here) fhall be openly rewarded, and appear to be his, by that bright glory he will put upon them, in the day when he makes up bis jewels. When the wicked, to their utmost horror, and everlafting confufion, fball return and difcern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that ferveth God, and him that ferveth him not, Mal. iii. 16, 17, 18.—It being the peculiar privilege of the juftified ones, to have all their obedience, thus accepted and rewarded: fo that, though the good works of the faints do not go to the stock of their justifying righteousness; yet as they go to the treafure of their filial obedience, which is fo acceptable to God, and fhall be fo rewarded

by him, there is encouragement enough for them, to have an univerfal and constant regard unto all God's commandments. -The effect of righteousness fall be peace, quietness, and affurance for ever, Ifaiah

xxxii. 17.

Thus I have confidered, the doctrine of juftification, or the justification of a finner in the fight of God,-in the matter of it, i. e. the complete obedience of Jefus Christ, exclusive of all the works of the creature;-in the manner of it, as with respect unto God, it is by imputation, and with refpect to ourselves, by faith;—in the time of it, as it refpects the whole body of the elect, and every individua! perSon of God's chofen ;-and in the effects of it, with refpect to the foul, as it regards its peace, its ftate, and its obedience.And what I have briefly faid hereon, I take to be the Scripture doctrine of justification; and that which our protestant reformers earneftly contended for, at the time of their first reformation from popery, as the main bafis on which it was founded. And this doctrine of juftification, by the freegrace of God, through the righteonfnefs of Chrift, received by faith alone, was of R

fuch great account with Luther, that he faid of it, The church either ftood or fell, as this was maintained or rejected.'

An OBJECTION, urged against the preceding Scripture-Doctrine of Juftification, answered.

JAMES ii. 21.

Was not Abraham our father juftified by works, when he had offered his fon Ifaac upon the altar?

UT against what has been faid, fome may object, thus;

BUT

Object. The juftification of a sinner is not by faith alone, but by works alfo, as is plainly implied in that text, 1 John iii. 7. He that doth righteousness, is righteous, even as he is righteous. And fully expreft, James ii. 24. Te fee then how