claffes of men confefs themselves guilty of many fins, faults, or failings; fome expreffing themfelves in a stronger, and fome in a fofter ftile, according to the greater or leffer degree of the depravation of natural confcience. If there is any meaning then in these words, they must be liable to the displeasure of God in fome respects, for which they cannot themselves atone; and must therefore labour under, at least, much uncertainty as to their acceptance. This must weaken their hands, and flacken their diligence, in an attempt fo precarious in its iffue.

Perhaps fome may fay, that this is only level-. led against those who deny all fatisfaction, or all ufe of the merit of Chrift, but not against those who expect to be justified by their own merit fo far as it goes, and trust in their Saviour for making up what is wanting in themfelves. But of fuch I would afk, how they fhall be fatisfied, that they have gone as far with their own merit as is requifite, if there is any ftress to be laid upon it at all? Will they fay, as fome foolishly do, that they do all in their power, and truft in Christ for supplying what may be still deficient? If they dare refolutely stand to this plea at the last day, when God shall judge the fe

Being, which contains the following words; "What mortals "term fin, thou pronounceft to be only error; for moral evil "vanishes, in fome measure, from before thy more perfect fight."

crets

crets of all hearts, that they have done all in their power, there is really nothing wanting to them; they need no Saviour, they need no pardon. But this is what no mere man that ever lived can fay with truth. So that upon any scheme, but an entire reliance on the merits of Chrift for juftification before God, there muft ftill be a dreadful uncertainty, inconfiftent with that liberal and ingenuous freedom with whlch the children of God love and ferve him. Thefe, ftrongly penetrated with a fenfe of duty and obligation, deeply humbled under a fenfe of fin, and refting on the perfect atonement made by their Saviour and fubftitute, ferve him with alacrity and pleasure, wearing the bonds of love. And, knowing the weakness of their beft fervices while here, they long for that bleffed time when they fhall be made perfectly holy, and yet fhall for ever acknowledge themselves indebted, for their place in heaven, and their continuance there, to the of God, and the love of their Redeemer. The other branch of the encouragement which believers in Chrift have to diligence in duty, is the promise of the Holy Spirit to lead them into. all truth, and guide them to all duty. This promife is expressly made to believers, and their feed after them, in every age of the church, to the end of the world. Thus fays the apostle Peter, "And ye fhall receive the gift of the Holy

grace

Ghoft;

"Ghoft; for the promife is to you, and to

your children, and to all that are afar off,

even as many as the Lord our God fhall "call" And it is to this plentiful effufion of the Spirit, that the prophets afcribe the purity and profperity of the church in the latter days. "For I will pour water upon him that is thirfty,

and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my Spirit upon thy feed, and my bleffing upon "thine offspring, and they fhall spring up as among the grafs, as willows by the water❝ courses +."

I am fenfible, that the nature and form of the argument doth not permit me at once to fuppofe the truth of this, and to make ufe of the direct agency and effectual operation of the Spirit of God to prove the holiness of faints. But it may be easily made appear, that the belief and perfuafion of this must have the strongest influence in animating their own endeavours. What more proper for fuch a purpofe than the belief of an almighty aid, certainly to be exerted in their behalf? Muft not this invigorate their powers, and preferve them from finking through fear of the number and ftrength of their adverfaries? Nothing but ignorance of themselves can make them boast of their own ftrength. The refult of experience in the study of holineís, must be a + If. xliv. 3,4

*Acts ii. 38, 39.

humbling

humbling conviction of the force of temptation, and ftrength of paffion on the one hand, and the weakness and feebleness of human reason and refolution on the other. Muft it not then be of the greatest advantage to believers, to be under an habitual perfuafion of the prefence and operation of the Spirit of God to fanctify them wholly Without this the attempt would be al'together vain; but this makes the exhortation come with peculiar force and energy, "Work "out your own falvation with fear and trembling: "for it is God that worketh in you both to "will and to do of his good pleasure *"

It will be a fupport to the present argument to obferve, that fome fenfe of the weakness of human nature, and its inequality to any thing arduous and difficult, feems to have been pretty univerfal in every country and in every age of the world. Thus among the ancient Heathens, of whom we have the fulleft account, all great enterprizes were supposed to be undertaken at the inftigation, and executed by the affiftance, of fome fuperior power. Their poets always gave out, that themfelves were infpired, and their hero directed by fome deity; and moderns generally fuppofe, that the very imagination of this had no small influence on the fuccefs of the attempt. The interpofition of deities was, indeed, *Phil. ii, 12, 13.

fo

fo remarkable in the most eminent ancient poets, that it has been reckoned a branch of their art, diftinguished by a particular name, called the machinery, and is now infeparably joined, at leaft, to one species of poetry. Nay, it was a pretty general belief among some nations, that every particular perfon had an angel, spirit, or genius, to whofe care he was committed, who affifted him in difficulty, and protected him in danger. Does not all this then evidently prove, that a perfuafion of fuperior aid muft have the most happy influence on our activity and diligence in duty, and our progress in holiness? Doth it not make it reasonable to expect, that thofe who trust to nothing better than their own ftrength, will be proportionably low in their attempts, and deficient in their fuccefs; but that those whofe eyes are fixed for direction upon God, and who live in a continual dependence on his grace, will become truly partakers of a divine nature?

Now, is not this the diftinguishing characteriftic of the scheme of redemption by free grace, that it gives lefs to man, and more to God, than any other plan? It feems indeed particularly to point at this very defign in every part of it, to abase the pride of man, and to exalt the grace of God. Self-denial is the first condition of the gofpel, and a renunciation of all felf-dependence is the leffon continued through the whole.

"Surely