vine grace are conducted in such a manner, that the event of our salvation is made to depend upon our own diligence and care.

Our second proposition is this: The circumstances of our condition, and the constitution of our nature, are such as demand, even in the best of men, the utmost seriousness, vigilance, and anxiety in the work of their salvation.

God forbid, my brethren, that we should enter on these considerations as matters of intellectual entertainment. The house of

God has not been opened for the discussion of metaphysical speculations. We assemble here to save our souls. We speak, and we hear, as in the presence of our Creator, as those that must give an account of the work in which they are engaged. The doctrines of the Gospel are miserably perverted, when we treat them without reference to our duty and our interest. The secrets of an invisible and eternal world, that mysterious and incomprehensible connexion and intercourse, which our heavenly Father has established between his infinite Spirit and our sinful frailty, have been re

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vealed, not to furnish additions to our science, or materials for our systems, but to supply motives and sanctions fitted to influence and control our conduct. God," as it has been truly observed, veals nothing of himself to any man for this end, to satisfy his curiosity, or to afford him matter of discourse, or news; but to instruct him how he may behave himself here in this life, that he may attain those promises, which shall be fulfilled to those, who sincerely and devoutly serve and obey him." The man who does not understand the Gospel practically, does not understand it at all. And what would it profit him if he could? Little does it serve the patient to understand the efficacy of the medicine which he refuses to take. Little does it benefit the shipwrecked mariner that he was aware of the dangers which he has neglected to avoid; that he possessed skill and knowledge to steer in safety through the perilous rocks and quicksands, on which his recklessness and folly have driven his perishing bark.

'Chillingworth, Serm. III. §. 19.

I. Bearing in mind, therefore, that our inquiries are directed to subjects which involve our everlasting destiny and happiness, let us consider the arguments by which our first proposition is established. You will recollect, that what we propose to prove is this; the operations of Divine grace are conducted in such a manner that the event of our salvation is made to depend on our own diligence and care. You see, my brethren, we do not say, that, notwithstanding the power and energy of Divine grace, our salvation is made to depend on ourselves. We say, that it is because of this Divine operation, because the Spirit of God acts on certain principles, that our salvation is depending, and depending on ourselves. And this is no doubt the force of the Apostle's exhortation; "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for," he does not say, notwithstanding, or although, "it is God," but "for," that is, because "it is God that worketh in you both to will, and to do of his good pleasure."

1. It is the glory of a Christian to ascribe the whole praise of his salvation to

him of whose only gift it cometh, that his faithful people do unto him true and laudable service 1. The Church teaches us to acknowledge, with all the solemnity of prayer, that the spirit to think and do such things as be rightful, is the gift of God; that we cannot do any thing that is good without Him; and that He only can enable us to live according to His will. It inculcates, not in the cold maxims of a system, but in the humility and fervour of its devotions, that the first aspirations after goodness spring not from our earthly souls, from which nothing but evil can naturally spring; but are sent down into our hearts from the fountain of purity and love: that it is by His special grace preventing us He doth put good desires into our hearts, and that by His continual help we are enabled to bring them to good effect3. But it is no less certain, that God does not operate on us as if we were machines, but as if we

1 Collect for 13th Sunday after Trinity.
2 Collect for 9th Sunday after Trinity.
3 Collect for Easter Day.

were reasonable, voluntary, and accountable agents. Any one who takes notice of what passes in his own mind, must be conscious that it is in his own power to obey, or resist those good motions and suggestions which he feels within him: that he is not compelled to do right, whether he will or not. The Spirit of God suggests to us our duty, and supplies us with motives to discharge it; but he does not by irresistible impulses force us to do right contrary to our inclinations. That God does not thus violently save us, is, simply, because this would not be to save us at all. For salvation (the salvation which the holy Scripture contemplates) is, first and chiefly, a capacity of enjoying everlasting happiness in a situation where there will be no possibility of happiness, except to those whose affections and dispositions are conformed to the divine will. To suppose that heaven is the abode of beings, who are righteous mechanically and against their will, is absurd. It is the abode of the spirits of the just made perfect; of beings, who are made partakers