If any other ma trust in the flesh. -of the stock -an Hebrew a pharisee; h; touching Blameless! Es

as much as more. But w This justifica s highly of th ly expected to g at, blessed be G and shaken r ht me to rest r which he hath la sting and glory ation of sinner ground. So t

what I once

t loss for Chri
but loss, for

= Jesus, my fall things win Christ." atural, ceremon e man! How me might suppos had been no t have acted, opened; when uth as it is in Je rmer grounds f

confidence; renouncing them all as loss, and counting them but dung, that he might win Christ. He saw, there was nothing short of true faith in Christ, and an interest in him, that could avail him to salvation. And, therefore the best his heart or hands could do, when viewed as the ground of his acceptance with God, he utterly disclaimed, and rejected with abhorrence, as mere garbage, to be relished by those only who had no just views or esteem of the gospel.

And, my brethren, if every thing, short of the religion of Christ, was of no avail to salvation, in the view of the apostle, who had the fairest advantages to judge in this matter; what warrant can we have to put our trust any where else? If he, from clear views of the truth, utterly renounced all confidence in the flesh, or in any thing that flesh can do, can these things be a proper ground of confidence to us? Surely reason and conscience must constrain us to say, No, they cannot.

But it is proper, on this subject, that I should be more particular; and detail and examine the false grounds of confidence, which the apostle enumerates, and to which misguided multitudes, in one way or another, are so attached. And,

1. The apostle refused to glory, or put any confidence in his being descended from a particular nation, tribe or family.

In this, it seems, the Jews were fain to boast. They were Abraham's seed; of the stock of Israel, that favoured nation, which the Lord chose out from all the nations of the earth, and distinguished by many peculiar privileges. On these accounts, the Jews were ready to conclude themselves the peculiar favourites of heaven; VOL. I. H h