SERMONS ON GRACE AND FAITH.

SERMON I.

On Salvation by Grace.

Ephes. ii. 8. For by Grace are ye saved, through Faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the Gift of God.

You are often, my dear brethren and friends, hearing of the

duties of a religious life: And it cannot but be a pleasure to every faithful minister of Christ to observe, how willing, nay, how glad you are to hear of them; and with respect to many of you, how ready you are to practise them. But I am now coming to you with a renewed admonition on another head, which is always to be taken in connection with the former; and which, I persuade myself, will in that view be welcome to you all. I am to inculcate it upon you, that when you have Done your utmost, how much soever that be, you should still say, that you are unprofitable servants*: and endeavour to maintain a deep sense of it upon your hearts, that, as the apostle admonishes the believing Ephesians in the words of the text, by grace ye are saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.

The apostle, in his preceding discourse, speaks of the happy change which the gospel had made in the state of these poor Heathens. He freely acknowledges on this occasion, that the Jews were likewise in a very bad state, and if not entirely sunk into the same enormities, yet Were by nature children of wrath even as others. So that on the whole, both Were (as it might be expressed by an easy and very proper figure) dead in trespasses and sins ‡, indisposed for any religious sensations and actions, and far more odious to God than a putrid carcase is to But he adds, that God by his grace had saved them; that his unmerited goodness had begun their salvation, and having thus far carried it on, would undoubtedly complete it: And

men.

*Luke xvii. 10.

† Eph. ii. 3.

Ver. 1, 5.

that he might impress their minds the more deeply with it, he repeats it again, by grace ye are saved. So much was the apostle Paul concerned to inculcate a doctrine which some are ready to look upon as unnecessary, and others perhaps as dangerous. But the apostle's authority is abundantly enough to outweigh all that can be laid in the opposite scale. And it will appear from what I have further to offer, that if it had not in this view so direct a sanction from his express testimony, the conclusion would follow by the justest deduction of argument from principles so fundamental to the gospel, that they cannot be denied without subverting its whole superstructure.

And here, if I would treat the subject in its full extent, I might consider what we mean by gospel salvation: But I content myself at present with telling you in a few words, that it implies "a deliverance from that ruinous and calamitous condition into which, by our apostacy from God, we are fallen;" and it also includes "our being restored to the divine favour, and all the happy effects of it, as extending not only to time but to eternity."

I might also consider at large the nature of that faith to which the promises of salvation are made. But that is a subject you have heard so frequently explained, that I shall only remind you of that general account of it which has often been illustrated among you. "Saving faith," for of that we are now speaking, "is such a persuasion, that Christ is the great Messiah, the Son of God, and the Saviour of men; and such a desire and expectation of the blessings he has procured under that character; as shall engage us cheerfully to commit our souls to him in his appointed method of salvation, with a disposition cordially to devote ourselves to his service in all the ways of holy and evangelical obedience." The several branches of this definition are to be taken in their connection with each other; and then there would be no difficulty in shewing from the whole tenor of scripture, that as nothing short of this can be acceptable to God, so wherever such a principle really is, the soul in which it is found is entitled to all the blessings of the covenant of grace, and has all the security for eternal happiness which the promise and oath of God can give. I might also easily shew you, that this is such a description of faith, as effectually secures the interest of practical religion, and guards against every presumptuous hope, which may be formed in a soul destitute of a principle of universal holiness.

But, waving the further prosecution of these preliminaries

to our subject, which we have occasion so often to dilate upon, I shall make it my present business,

1. To consider how we may be said to be saved through faith. II. How it appears, that in consequence of this, we are saved by grace.

III. I shall examine the force of the apostle's additional argument which is drawn from the consideration, that faith is the gift of God. And then,

IV. I shall collect some inferences from the whole. And may God write on your hearts, as with the point of a diamond, them and the premises on which they are founded!

I. We are to consider in what sense it may be said, that christians are saved through faith.

Ye are, says the apostle, [orowoμevo] the saved ones,—the persons who have already received the beginnings of salvation, and the certain pledge of its complete accomplishment,[dia Tns Tiews] through, or by means of, faith.

Now I apprehend we shall take in the full sense of the apostle's assertion, and of all that it is most necessary to believe and know on this subject; if we acknowledge and rememberthat faith is absolutely necessary in order to our salvation, so that we cannot possibly be saved without it;—and also, that every one who hath this faith shall undoubtedly obtain salvation. -But yet, that after all, a christian is not to ascribe his salvation to the merit of his faith, but entirely to that of the Lord Jesus Christ, the great author and finisher of it. These are three very obvious remarks: None is so weak but he may easily understand them; and yet I speak very seriously, when I say they seem to me to contain the sum of all that is most important in the many large volumes which have been written on the subject.

1. "Faith is so absolutely necessary to our salvation, that we cannot possibly be saved without it."

So our Lord tells us, in the most express and emphatical forms of speech: If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins: which most certainly implies the loss of salvation, and indeed much more. And elsewhere the incarnate wisdom

and truth of God saith, He that believeth not, shall be damned *. He shall not, as the baptist says, see life +: Nay, as our Lord himself expresses it in the strongest terms, He that believeth not, is condemned already; not only on account of all those other sins for which the wrath of God, to which he became immediately obnoxious, still abideth upon him; but for this additional reason of dreadful provocation, Because he hath not believed in the venerable and majestic name of the only-begotten son of God ‡.

Without this faith, there is no knowledge that will save a man, though it should be the most various, and the most exact knowledge of the most divine and important subjects, which ever entered into a human mind. So far is it from this, that one need not scruple to say, a man might as reasonably expect to be saved by skill in the mathematics, or in music, as by skill in polemical divinity, though it were in its most essential branches, if after all it were no more than mere speculation.

And it is no less certain, that without this faith, morality will not save a man, be it ever so unexceptionable, be it ever so exemplary. This is indeed much better than the former; but if there be nothing more, it will be fatally ineffectual to the great purpose which we have now in view. I speak not now, as you may easily imagine, of such a continual and uniform obedience to the divine will, as perfectly answers the demands of God's original law; for no man ever has attained to this, or will ever in fact attain to it in this world: But I speak of what the world generally calls morality, a freedom from gross impiety and scandalous vice, yea, though attended with the practice of the humane and social virtues. This is indeed amiable and honourable so far as it goes; and will undoubtedly have its reward, in the pleasure of such a conduct, in the esteem and love of mankind, and in the possession of many temporal advantages and blessings, which in the common course of providence are connected with it. But alas! it is after all a very partial and imperfect thing: And as a man may be temperate in himself; just, faithful, and benevolent to men; without having any appearance of religion towards God, or making any pretence to it: So he may have some sense of God upon his spirit, which one would think none but an atheist could entirely avoid, while for the neglect, or it may be the rejection of the gospel, he stands exposed to its sentence of condemnation. If Christ be not regarded as the rock on which we build our hopes, the foundation is sandy, and will be ruinous; and if we do not receive +John iii. 18.

*Mark xvi. 16.

↑ John iii, 36.

Christ by such a faith as I described above, we offer him a most insolent affront, by pretending to put our unsanctified and rebellious hearts under his patronage.

We see then, that without this faith we cannot possibly be saved. It is the counterpart of this important truth, which wę now add, when we observe,

2. That, " saved."

every one who hath this faith, shall undoubtedly be

You will here be sure to observe, that I say, "Every one who hath this faith," meaning the faith described above; which includes in it our devoting ourselves to Christ in the way of holy obedience, as an essential part of it: And consequently there can be no reason to say, as some have wildly represented the matter, "A believer shall be saved, let him live as he will ;" which is either a most notorious and mischievous falsehood, or an express contradiction in terms, If the word believer be supposed to signify one who merely assents to the truth of the gospel in speculation, nothing can be more false; and the whole epistle of James, to omit a thousand particular passages of other scriptures, is a demonstration of the contrary: But if it be meant, as I suppose it generally is, of a true believer, it is an express contradiction; and is as absurd as it would be to say a really good man shall be saved, though he should at the same time be a very bad one. For no one can, in the sense described above, which is the scriptural sense, be a true believer, but one who wills to live in a holy manner; since the same operation of God upon the soul, which disposes it to believe, sanctifies the will, and though freely, yet effectually leads it into a prevailing determination to make the service of God the business of life: Or, in other words, it is plain from the whole tenor of scripture, that a saving is also a sanctifying faith; but there cannot be a sanctifying faith in an unholy heart; neither can there be a holy heart, where there is a wicked life; For the tree is known by its fruits*: And when we speak of the heart, we mean not merely the affections, but the will, the determinations of which are indeed the very actions of which we speak, so far as they are properly ours. There cannot therefore be a more insolent falsehood, than the pretence to holiness of heart, where that of the life is wanting, or to saving faith in the absence of both. There may indeed be an error in the understanding as