DISCOURSE IV.

PHILIPPIANS ii. 12, 13.

Work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling. For it is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good Pleafure.

T

HERE have not, perhaps, been any more unhappy Difputes in the Christian Church than those relating to the natu

ral Powers of Man to work

out his own Salvation, and those relating to the Nature and Measure of the Grace and Affistance promised in the Gospel of Chrift. On one side, it is infifted, that Virtue and Vice owe their Being to the Freedom and Choice of the Agent, and lose their Name when they are the Effect of Force and Constraint:

Conftraint; and, confequently, that to fuppose Men to be made righteous by any Influence from any other Being than themfelves, is contrary to Reason. And hence it is that fome of the Advocates for mere human Reason, as fufficient to all the Purposes of Salvation, defpife the Promises, made in the Gofpel, of Grace and fpiritual Affistance; and others of them fo explain them, as to leave them no Meaning at all. On the other Side, fome zealous Afferters of the Doctrine of Grace, in order to magnify this free Gift of God, allow nothing to Reason or the natural Powers of Men; but think it the highest Prefumption and the greatest Affront offered to the Grace of God, to fuppofe that Men can do any Thing for themfelves. It is, in

their own Way of Expreffion, to make the Power of God attendant on the Weaknefs of Man, and to make the Grace of God the Servant and Handmaid of human Reason. And thus it is agreed on both Sides, by thofe who carry their respective Opinions to the greatest Length, that either the Power of Man to work Righteousness muft exclude the Grace of God, or the

Grace

Grace of God muft exclude all the Effects and Endeavours of human Reason.

But as inconfiftent as they may think thefe Things to be, St. Paul, who was better inftructed in the Principles of the Gospel of Chrift than the antient or the modern Teachers of thefe Doctrines can pretend to be, has thought fit to join them together; and has called upon all Christians to work out their own Salvation, for this very Reafon, becaufe God works in them both to will and to do. If St. Paul be in the right, God's working with us by his Grace is fo far from being a Reason against work ing for ourselves, that it is the greatest Inducement to it, and lays us under the highest Obligation to give all Diligence to make our Calling and Election fure.

Let us then confider St. Paul's Doctrine, and fee what are the natural Confequences for a Chriftian to draw from it.

The Words of the Text evidently confift of two Parts, an Exhortation, and an Argument by which that Exhortation is enforced. The Exhortation you have in thefe Words, Work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling: The Argument to enforce it follows in the next VOL. II. Words,

F

Words, For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good Pleafure. An Argument which may at first Sight feem rather to lead to Confidence and Affurance, than to Fear and Trembling: For if God be for us, who can be against us? or what is there to fear, or to tremble at, when we are thus fupported and maintained in our fpiritual Warfare? And the Argument is indeed applicable both Ways, with refpect to different Kinds of Fear. The Difciples of the Gofpel have many Enemies to encounter with, many Temptations to ftruggle with; they are expofed sometimes to Death, often to Afflictions and Perfecutions, and almoft always to the Hatred and Contempt of the World. Now with refpect to thefe Adverfaries, the Argument in the Text may furnish us with great Confidence and Af furance, and we may with the Apostle fay, Who shall harm you, if you be Followers of that which is good? for, notwithstanding all the Trials you are exposed to, God is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the Prefenge of bis Glory with exceeding Joy. But as there is a Fear which refpects our Enemies,

and

and is a Fear of being conquered and brought into Subjection by them; so likewife is there a Fear which respects our Friends, and is a Fear of lofing their Favour and Affiftance; and the more a Man is dependent upon his Friends, the greater is, and ought to be, his Fear of lofing their Protection: And this Fear naturally inspires us with Diligence and Care to obferve and fulfil the Commands of our great Patrons, to study their Humour and Inclination, and to conform ourfelves to them. And of this Fear the Apoftle fpeaks in the Text, Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling; for it is a Work that you are by no Means fufficient for of yourselves; and therefore have a Care how you forfeit the Favour of him upon whom you entirely depend: Of your felves ye can do nothing; for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do. That St. Paul intends this Sort and Kind of Fear, may be feen by his own Way of reafoning. In the Beginning of this Chapter, he preffes Humility upon the Philippians, he warns them against Strife and Vainglory, and, after fome Arguments, drawn from the Example of Chrift F 2

and