wards what it felf at first enabled us to perform: O Lord, thou wilt ordain Peace for us, for thou also haft wrought all our Works in us, Ifaiah 26. 12.

And when we consider the glorious Reward laid up for us, we must here efpecially be convinc'd and acknowledge, that We are fav'd by Grace. Not of Works certain ly, left any Man fhould boast, as if fo unconceivable an Exaltation, as the Incom. prehenfible Glories of Eternal Life, could poffibly be claim'd as Due upon the score of the Worth and Value of our most excellent Performances. Heaven is our Inhe ritance, not our Purchase; not our Purchase by Works, but our Inheritance by Adoption. The Doctrine of Merit, as taught in the Church of Rome, is fo contradictory to Reafon, as well as Scripture, that just to hint at the Absurdities of it, is to confute it. To make a Work Meritorious these Condi. tions are requir'd,

First, That it be not a Debt, for what Thanks is there for paying what was long before due; Yet what Service is it poffible for the Holiest Creature to pay, which from his first Creation was not by a most just Title indifpenfibly due to his Creator? all that we have, all that we are, is his by Eternal Right; and when we have pay'd all that we can pay, we have pay'd no more,

nay,

nay, not fo much, as we owe; when we have done all that we can do, we must own ourselves to be but unprofitable Servants.

2dly, That any Work may merit, it should confer fome Good, fome Advantage to the Perfon towards whom it is perform'd. But can a Man be profitable to God? fays holy Job; and again, If thou be righteous, what giveft thou him, or what receiveth he of thy hand?

3dly, In order to merit of any Person, the Services we present him with ought to be our Own, at least not His, to whom we present them: whereas it has been fufficiently before fhown, that we have of ourfelves no Ability to do any Good, that whatever of that kind we offer unto God, was first his Own Gift to us; and if it has any Value with him, it is because it proceeded from him. Not only Heaven, but all the Graces that are neceffary to purify and prepare us for it, we receive from Undeserved Mercy; fo that God, when he confers Eternity of Bliss upon Us, crowns not in Us our Works, but his own Grace.

4thly, Where Merit is pretended, there ought to be fome Proportion between the Service and the Reward; but, alas! who fees not the infinite Diftance between that Eternal Weight of Glory, and the momentary and light Performances of the greateft Saint that ever liv'd upon Earth?

And here by the way I can't but take notice of that nice but falfe Distinction, which they of the Church of Rome make ufe of. They will allow, that our Sins are forgiven, and we so far justify'd for the fole Merits of Chrift, but that we are rewarded with Eternal Happiness, That, they fay,mult be by our Own. But where is the Ground of this Difference, why muft the Death of Chrift, which made a full Satisfaction for all Sin, be abfolutely neceffary, and the fole Cause of our being fav'd from Eternal Death; and the Life of Chrift, which fulfill'd all Righteousness, not be esteem'd equally neceffary, and the fole Cause of our being admitted to Eternal Life?

The aftonishing Difproportion between the Work and the Recompence can be accounted for by nothing but Grace, nor obtain'd by any thing but by that fame Grace, producing in us Gratitude and Love. For it is for Love that That glorious Recompence is laid up, which Eye has not feen, nor Ear heard, neither has it enter'd into the beart of Man to conceive what God has prepar'd for them that love Him. This is the lubftantial Reason of our Hope, and this unmeasurable Inequality between the Service and the Reward no longer confounds our Understanding, or ftaggers our Belief. For tho' our Works are really nothing worth,

the

the Affection, from which they proceed, may be of great Value in the Sight of God; and when it is not ftrict Juftice, but free Grace that rewards, and when it is not the Work that is rewarded, but the Love, there is no Reward too great for that free Infinite Grace to bestow.

Thus every way we fee all Pretence to Merit excluded. To which Purpose it is very well worth our Obfervation, in what different Terms the Apostle expreffes the different Retributions of Sin and Holiness, in the last Verse of the 6th Chapter to the Romans. Death is there call'd the Wages; · τὰ ὀψώνια τῆς ἁμαρτία;, the Stipend which we have earn'd, and which without Injustice cannot be detain'd from us: whereas Everlafting Life, let our Righteoufnefs be never fo great, is yet art, the free χάρισμα and gratuitous Gift of God thro' Jefus Chrift. So directly contrary are the words of this holy Apostle to the Devices of thofe wicked Men, who have made Sins that are not Mortal, and good Works that are Meritorious. Whereas our best and most holy Endeavours muft beg for Grace and Favour, and our Sins only are the Works by which we can properly merit any thing from God; Tho' that alas! is a dreadful Recompence, even his Wrath and everlafting Damnation.

Let

Let us therefore, laying afide all vain Trust in Ourselves or our Defervings, rely wholly upon that Grace by which we are fav'd; For by Grace ye are fav'd thro' Faith, but not of Works. Of which two last it remains to treat, which I fhall referve to another Opportunity, and at préfent conclude with exhorting all earnestly to pray in the Words of the Apoftle, That He would make all Grace to abound in us, that we may abound to every good Work, 2 Cor. 9. 8. That Grace may reign thro' Righteousness to Eternal Life, Rom. 5. 21. And now to our Father that hath loved us, and given us everlafting Confo lation and good Hope thro' Grace, 2 Theff. 2.16. The God of all Grace, who has called us into bis eternal Glory by Jefus Chrift, 1 Pet. 5. 10.

To him with the fame Jefus Chrift and Holy Spirit, three Perfons and one God, be afcrib'd, as is most due, all Glory, Honour, Might, Majefty, and Dominion both now and for Evermore. Amen.

SERMON XI.