tell them that they were safe and secure, and out of all danger? No, he fays nothing like it; on the contrary, he calls upon them to fear and tremble, left, having received fo great a gift, they should by their negligence, as thinking themselves fecure, forfeit all the hopes of the Gospel. God fays, with respect to the old world, My Spirit fhall not always ftrive with man: the cafe is the fame under the Gospel. The Spirit of God works with us, but will not always ftrive with us; and therefore, whilft we may have the help of God's Spirit, we muft lay hold of the opportunity, and work with him. And whoever confiders this, will find he has great reason to tremble and fear; for, if he loses the opportunity of making the best use of the affiftance of the Spirit when it is offered, he may lose the Spirit, and himself, for ever. Let us therefore work whilft we have the light, and continually pray in the words of our church, O Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit from us. VOL. I. DISCOURSE XVII. EPHESIANS ii. 8. For by grace are ye faved through faith; and that not of yourfelves; it is the gift of God. WE have here, in few words, the argument which St. Paul always infifts on, when he has occafion to fet forth the kindness of God towards mankind. Life and immortality are the greatest bleffings that we have any notion of; and these were brought to light by the Gospel of Chrift: him God gave for a redeemer to the world, that whosoever believeth on him should not die, but have eternal life. And even that through faith in him we are faved, is the gift of God; for of ourselves we are able to do nothing. These things are taught us in the compafs of the text, We are faved by grace: we had no title or claim to falvation, but God of his own good will hath fent among us plenteous redemption; and, according to the richness of his mercy, and the great love wherewith he loved us, hath, together with Chrift, quickened us who were dead in fins. The condition of this falvation on our part is faith; for we are faved by grace through faith. We muft be lieve our Redeemer, that he cometh from God, and hath the words of life; and must rely on him to perform the word of falvation which is gone out of his mouth. But neither upon the performance of this condition can we fay that our own arm hath faved us, or that we have done any thing towards perfecting our redemption; for this falvation through faith, and this faith, is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God. I shall discourse on this propofition, that faith is the gift of God: First, I fhall endeavour to fhew what the Scripture doctrine on this head is; and, Secondly, shall fuggeft to you fome confiderations proper to this subject. Firft then, let us confider what the Scripture doctrine on this head is. The faith which St. Paul speaks of in the text is fuch a faith as is effectual to falvation; for it is the faith through which, by grace, we are faved: this faith he afferts to be the gift of God. There are different fignifications of the word faith in Scripture: fometimes it fignifies barely an affent of the mind to the revelations and doctrines of the Gospel, grounded upon fuch evidence as the things were capable of. This faith fometimes is merely the effect of common fense; for men cannot help believing the things they fee. Sometimes this faith is grounded on the neceffary deductions of reason from common principles; by this means we arrive at the knowledge of God: a man of reason can no more avoid believing the existence of a firft caufe, than a man with eyes can avoid thinking that there is a material world, in which he lives. But neither has this affent of the mind the true nature of faith in it: Thou believeft, faith St. James, that there is one God; thou doeft well; the devils alfo believe, and tremble. But neither of these kinds of faith being the faith through which we are faved, you cannot fay, that St. Paul afferts of thefe, that they are the gift of God; any farther than as fenfe and reafon are his gifts, by which we know thefe and all other things. Nor do we teach that nature and reafon cannot lead to the fpeculative knowledge of divine truths; for the evidence of all divine truth refolves itself ultimately into either sense or reafon ; which are the common gifts of God to mankind, by the principles of which the truth of all things, depending upon the deductions of fenfe and reason, may be proved and examined. From the exercise of reafon we come to know God, and the effential difference between good and evil; and by these principles are enabled to judge of any doctrine, whether it be agreeable to the pure and holy nature of God; which is the first prefumptive argument for the truth of any divine revelation; that it is holy and pure, and fuch an one, as, were God to have given a law to the world, he would have given: from reafon we learn the unlimited power of God; and from fenfe and reafon we know the limited power of man; and are enabled to diftinguish between the works which the power or policy of man can perform, and the works which can flow only from the unbounded power of God: from hence we can judge of the pofitive arguments of a divine revelation, the works and miracles which are offered to the world in confirmation of its truth. Thus far the natural gifts of |