eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do well, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. What doth the Lord require of thee, saith Micah, but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God. Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, shall enter into heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven, is the declaration of Christ. Indeed, the will of God concerning all his people is their sanctification. He being holy, they must be holy also in all manner of conversation. God has chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy, and without blame before him in love. Christ died to redeem them from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. They are, accordingly, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, to which God has prepared them, that they should walk in them. To this end, all his institutions, as well as his precepts, manifestly tend, and this they are calculated to produce. In this way it is the duty of believers to give all diligence, to make their calling and election sure. To this the experience of all God's people gives its yea and amen, being constrained by the grace of God to obey his will in all things, doing what he has commanded them to do, with sincerity and zeal. And finally, God's judgment will be according to the deeds done in the body whether they be good, or whether they be evil.

This saying is certain, immutable, always true, and worthy of belief. Whether Christians are in lively frames of mind, or in the gloom of desertion, they must maintain good works. No experience of theirs relaxes or breaks their duty in this respect. The more lively they feel in the divine life, the more diligent will their performance of works be: and if they walk in darkness, that very state of soul may have been brought on them by a neglect or careless performance of some duty.

Although the saying of the Apostle be thus true, worthy of belief, and certain, yet through carelessness, ignorance, and a neglect of their own salvation, many in Christian countries who call themselves Christians, do not clearly perceive, nor really believe, nor steadily fulfil it. Living without the law as a rule of life, is too frequently the conduct of those who profess to reject it as a covenant of works, and to embrace Jesus Christ as the end of the law for righteousness. It is therefore necessary for the Gospel ministry to publish this doctrine of good works.

2. "These things I will, saith the Apostle, that thou affirm constantly." In addressing Titus thus, he has pointed out the duty of all pastors of the flock purchased with the blood of the Son of God. "These things" refer to the duty of performing good works, and to the reasons on which this duty rests. Ministers must assert this truth with plainness; they must insist on it; they must bring it continually into the view of their people. It is part of their commission to do so, being included in the nature of that watchfulness which they are bound to exercise over souls. It is required by that discipline which the Head of his Church has committed to them for edification, and not destruction. They are not barely to propose it. They must defend it against gainsayers, establishing it upon solid grounds drawn from scripture and reason. It is capable of being maintained against opposition, for it is a rational saying. Ministers should never lose sight of it in their preaching and practice. It is of absolute importance. It is necessary to be known, to be acknowledged, to be performed. For any immorality in the flock winked at by ministers, they must expect to suffer, since they are responsible for the conduct, as well as doctrine of those committed to their care.

These two parts of the Apostle's, declaration on the subject of good works, fully establish the duty of be

lievers to practise them. They are necessary to be practised for where they are wilfully neglected salvation cannot be expected. Without the disposition to do them, and the actual performance of them, when we have the opportunity, we are not qualified for heaven. We are thus guarded to prevent mistake. Though the disposition to do good works is always accompanied by the performance of them where there is time, yet cases may occur where this time is not granted to those who have the disposition. Of this we have an instance in the penitent thief on the cross. No one from this instance, and such like, ought to flatter himself that some general design of living better in future will do, or that sorrow for sin in the hour of death will suffice. For he who neglects to improve his time and opportunities to the purposes of holy living, cannot possibly have a sincere disposition to obey God. Besides this, it is a most certain truth that a man who has been a hearer of the Gospel for many years, and who has spent the greatest part, or even the whole of his life time in sin, is rarely, if ever, affected with true repentance in the hour of death.

Good works, although thus necessary, are not meritorious. Believers must indeed do them, or at least have the disposition to do them, if they shall ever enter into heaven. But these good works are not the procuring cause of their entering into heaven. This will appear abundantly obvious from the following considerations.

1. A work to be meritorious ought to be exclusively our own. We cannot merit any thing for a work done by another. Good works are the fruits of the Spirit-gifts of grace. They are done, as has been stated, by strength derived from Jesus Christ. Hence, in regard to them, every believer must say with Paul, by the grace of God I am what I am.

2. A work to be meritorious ought not to be a

duty for we can merit nothing in doing our duty. Thus our Lord speaks, addressing his disciples, and through them all men, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say we are unprofitable servants: we have done that which it was our duty to do.

3. There ought to be some comparison between a work and its reward, as well as between him who does the work, and him who gives the reward. Between good works, even martyrdom itself, which is the most excellent work of all, and the promised glory hereafter, there is not the least proportion. The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in believers.

4. A work to be meritorious ought to be perfect in its kind. Where there is sin there can be no merit. Our good works are all of them imperfect. Our righteousnesses, saith the prophet, are as filthy rags.

5. The meritorious cause of salvation is unequivocally declared in Scripture to be the Lord Jesus Christ. He was delivered for our offences, and raised for justification. His blood cleanseth from all sin. We are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. A man is not justified by the works of the law. In consistency with this, saints in glory ascribe their salvation to the Lamb who redeemed them out of every nation, kindred, and tongue. Thus also, one of whom Paul declares that his name was written in the book of life, Clemens, whose epistle to the Corinthians is of antiquity and authority next to the holy Scriptures, expresses himself. Speaking of Abraham and Isaac, he says, "These were greatly honoured not for their own sakes, or on account of their works, or the righteousness which they had wrought, but through the will of God: and we in like manner being called by his will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by our

selves, neither by our wisdom, knowledge, or piety; nor even by those works which we have performed in holiness of heart; but by that faith whereby the Almighty has justified all men from the beginning*." What then, it may be asked, is the reason why God commands good works? The answer to this question

III. Will now be given. "These things, saith the Apostle, are good and profitable unto men."

1. They are good, that is, becoming and excellent in themselves, because conformable to the divine law, which is perfect, and originating from grace in the heart. They are marks of gratitude, proofs of faith, evidences of an interest in the covenant of grace, They agree with the sincere profession of Christianity, which is not an idle or fruitless speculation. Ye are a chosen generation, saith the apostle Peter, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you from darkness into his marvellous light. Faith without works, saith James, is dead.

They are good or excellent in themselves, because they agree with the nature of God and our relation to him. He is not the author of sin, neither does his religion countenance it. It proscribes it in the heart, and forbids it in the life. He being holy, we must be holy also; we must be fruitful.

They are good, because they strengthen our faith. Hereby we do know that we know him, saith John, if we keep his commandments.

They are good, because they adorn the profession of the Gospel, manifesting its power over the heart and the whole life. They approve themselves, in fine, to our understanding and our heart, being agreeable to the dictates of right reason, and the correct feelings of our souls.

* Christian Observer, Vol. 1. No. 12.