As thine is all the kingdom aud power; so thine be all the glory for ever and ever!'

[If therefore, my brethren, we have the honour of filling up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in our flesh, for his body's sake, which is the church-If we are even offered upon the sacrifice of each other's faith;' let us dread as blasphemy the wild thought of completing, and perfecting our Lord's infinitely complete, and perfect atonement. As God, who is infinite in himself, was not made greater by the immense bulk of created worlds ; nor brighter by the shining perfections of countless myriads of angels and suns: So the infinite value of that one offering, by which Christ has for ever perfected [in atoning merits] them that are sanctified,' is not augmented by the works of all the saints, and the blood of all the martyrs. And as the heat of the fire adds nothing to the nature of the fire, or the beams of the sun to the sun; so the righteousness of the saints does not increase that of Christ, nor adds their holiness any thing to his personal excellence.]

[Keep we then at that awful distance from the gulph, which self-righteous Pharisees set between themselves, and the Justifier of those, who, like the contrite publican, are sensible of their ungodliness. With indignation rise we against the delusions of the Romanists, who countenance the absurd and impious doctrine of indulgences, by the worse than Pharisaic doctrine of their works of supererogation. Let us not only receive and defend in a scriptural manner, the important articles of our church, which I have already mentioned; but with undaunted courage before men, and with penitential contrition before God, let us stand to our xivth article, which teaches us, after our Lord, to say before the throne of inflexible justice, refulgent holiness, and dazzling glory,' We are unprofitable servants,' even 'when we have done all that is commanded us.' In point of strict equivalence, our best works of faith, our holiest duties, cannot properly merit the least heavenly reward. But, O! may the humbling truth keep us for ever in the dust! in point of strict justice

our every bad work properly deserves infernal tormeuts.]

[Therefore, while we earnestly contend for practical, pure, undefiled religion, take we the greatest care, not to obscure the genuine doctrines of grace. With meekness let us maintain unto blood, the honour of our Saviour's merits, against the hypocritical sons of virtuous pride, who cast the destructive veil of unbelief over the invaluable sacrifice of his body. And in our little sphere, let every one of us testify with the beloved disciple, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, in whom he is well pleased' with us; and for whose sake he works in us to repent, believe, and obey; when we yield to the drawings of his grace, and concur with his Spirit in the work of our salvation.]

[Through that dear Redeemer then, we receive all the favours, which the Father of mercies bestows upon us. Are our hearts softened? It is through the influence of his preventing grace. Are our sins blotted out? It is through the sprinkling of his atoning blood. Are our souls renewed? It is by the communications of his powerful righteousness. Are we numbered among God's adopted children, and made partakers of his loving Spirit? It is through a faith that receives him as the light of the world,' and the life of men.']

[The very graces, which the Spirit works in us; and the fruits of holiness, which those graces produce in our hearts and lives; are accepted only for Christ's sake. It is he, who presents them to God, sprinkled with his precious blood, and perfumed with his meritorious intercession. Nor are the defects of our holiest things any other way atoned for, than by the full, perfect, and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction which he made upon the cross for the sins of the whole world.]

[For Christ's sake God has annexed certain rewards of grace and glory, to the works of faith which Christ's Spirit excites us to ; and, I repeat it, for the sake of Christ only, we receive the rewards promised to humble, evangelical, sprinkled obedience. All Christian be

Christ in us, the salvation to the

lievers say, 'Not we, but the grace of God in Christ:' So far as their tempers and actions have been good, they cry out,Thou hast wrought all our works in us.' They all shout, "Christ for us," and hope of glory.' They all ascribe Lamb' And while they cast their crowns of righteousness' and glory at his feet, they join in the grand chorus of the church: To him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever.' Thus Christ; nothing without, nothing besides him. word, he is to believers, as the Apostle justly calls him, ALL IN ALL.']

6

all is

In a

[Indeed in maintaining the doctrine of free grace, he cannot but go even farther than our mistaken brethren, who suppose themselves the only advocates for it. They must forgive me, if I cannot be of their sentiment, when they insinuate, that they shall absolutely and necessarily be saved. For as reason dictates, that absolute necessity vanishes before free grace; so Christ charges his dearest elect to fear God' as a righteous Judge, who' CAN cast body and soul into hell;' yea, who can do it justly. No gracious promise therefore is made them, whose fulfilment, in heaven, as well as upon earth, is not all of grace as well as of truth, and all through the merits of Christ.]

[O ye precious merits of my Saviour, and thou free grace of my God! I, for one, shall want you, as long as the sun or moon endureth. Nay, when those luminaries shall cease to shine, I shall wrap myself in you; my transported soul shall grasp you; my insatiate spirit shall plunge into your unfathomable depths; and while I shall run the never-ending circle of my blessed existence, my overflowing bliss shall spring from you; my grateful heart shall leap through your impulse, my exulting tongue shall shout your praise, and I shall strike my golden harp to your eternal honour.]

[Nay, this very day, I publicly set my seal again to the important truths contained in the following scrip

tures:] There is no other name [no other deserving person] under heaven, given to men whereby we may [properly] be saved' in whole or in part, but only the name [or person] of Jesus Christ. He trod the winepress of God's wrath alone, and of the people there was none with him. He alone is a Saviour, and there is none besides him.' [ If he that converts a sinner,' is said to 6 save a soul from death,' it is because he has the honour of being the Saviour's agent, and not because he is "the original cause" of any man's salvation.]

If

Woe then to those, who teach sinners the double way, the Pharisaic way, the* [self-righteous] way of salvation, partly by man's [antichristian] merits [according to the first covenant,] and partly by the [proper] merits of Jesus Christ [according to the second.] we, or an angel from heaven,' says St. Paul, 'preach any other gospel unto you,than that which we have preached,' namely, that we are saved [i. e., pardoned, absolved, and sanctified] by grace, through faith [which worketh by love] and that not of ourselves, [not without an atoning priest and the Spirit helping our infirmities,] it is the gift of God-let him be accursed.' (Gal. i. 8.).

He really denies his Saviour, and tears the seamless robe of Christ's righteousness, who patches it with the rags of his own [anti-evangelical, faithless] righteousness. [Or, to speak without metaphor, he denies our Lord's meritorious fulfilling of the law of innocence, he despises the Saviour's complete observance of the Adamic law of works, who, being forgetful of his aggravated guilt, and regardless of his palpable impo tence, refuses to submit to the law of faith, and to em

(20.) * Eleven years ago, I said "the Popish way :" I drop the expression now as savouring of Protestant bigotry. Though the Papists lean in general to that extreme, yet many of them have known and taught the way of salvation by a faith that interests us in the Redeemer's merits: Many have discovered and attacked self-righteousness in its most deceitful appearances. Many have lived and died in the most profound humility. I would no more be a bitter Protestant, damning all the Papists in a lump; than a bitter Papist, anathematizing all Protestants without exception.

brace the covenant of grace with an ardour becoming a poor, self-coudemned, lost, and undone sinner. Nay, I go farther still:] He takes away [or obstructs] all the efficacy of Christ's atoning blood, who pretends to mend it by adding thereto the filthy drops of his own [fancied] goodness, [in order to make a more complete satisfaction to divine justice.]

"It is mere blasphemy against divine mercy," says our church," and great derogation from the bloodshedding of our Saviour, to suppose that our works can deserve, or purchase to us remission of sins,” and, consequently, salvation. No: "It is bestowed on believers of the free grace and mercy of God, by the mediation of the blood of his Son Jesus Christ, without merit or deserving on their part," [although their final justification is not without the evangelical worthiness, which their faith derives from that dear Redeemer.] Hom. on Fasting.

To conclude: By the covenant of works man has all the glory of his own salvation. Faith [in a Redeemer] is made of no effect; Christ is entirely set aside, and works are placed in the Mediator's throne.-According to the imaginary, mixed covenant of salvation by our own good works [so called, or to speak with propriety, by our own faithless, hypocritical works] mended, [as we think,] with [some unscriptural notions and expressions about] Christ's merits; man has the first share of the glory; Christ has only man's leavings: [The Redeemer is allowed to be the last, but not the first; the Omega, but not the Alpha: The two covenants are confounded;] works and faith [or rather, faithless works and faith, graceless works and grace] contrary to my text, and indeed to common sense, come in together for a part of the honour [as if they were the primary meritorious cause of our salvation: Whereas the good works of faith themselves are at the best only the secondary, evidencing cause of our final salvar tion.*]

(21.) Should a prejudiced reader charge me with having mixed the two covenants in my Checks, in opposition to the