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"gift, cometh down from the Father of lights." Chrift is its author and finifher. You cannot give it to yourselves. But then, remember likewife, for your comfort, that God is more ready to bestow, than you can be to feek it. He who has "given his own Son to die for our fins, will, we may ❝ be affured, with him, freely give us all things.' And ye, my brethren, who enjoy this ineftimable "gift of God," who live by faith in the Redeem"er, yet not you, but Chrift liveth in you; be careful that you adorn your holy calling by every good work, that if any fpeak against you, as "evil-doers, they may, by your good works,

which they fhall behold, glorify God, in the "day of vifitation *. Bear conftantly in mind, that the more your faith is exercised in a holy, loving, humble, and obedient courfe of life, the more it will be increafed; and that an inactive faith will foon become a dead faith. May none of us in this, or in any way, "concerning faith, make fhipwreckt; but may we "grow in grace, and in "the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour; and "even grow up into him in all things, which is the "head, Jefus Chrift." May Almighty God grant this to our prayers, for the fake of his dear Son, Jefus Chrift our Lord! Amen!

I

1 Pet. ii. 12. 1 Tim. i. 19. 2 Pet. iii. 18. Eph. iv. 15.

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PRAYER BEFORE OR AFTER THE SERMON.

The laft Prayer or Collect in the Office for the Burial of the Dead, and the Collect for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

O merciful God, the Father of our Lord Jefus Chrift, who is the refurrection and the life; in whom whofoever believeth fhall live though he die; and whofoever liveth and believeth in him fhall not die eternally; we meekly befeech thee, O Father, to raise us from the death of fin unto the life of righteousness: pour unto our hearts such love towards thee, that we may love thee above all things: that at the general refurrection, in the last day, we may be found acceptable in thy fight, and receive that bleffing, which thy well-beloved Son fhall then pronounce to all that love and fear thee, faying, "Come, ye bleffed children of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." Grant this, we beseech thee, O merciful Father, thro' Jefus Chrift, our Mediator and Redeemer!

SERMON IV.

ON

GAL. V. 6.

In Jefus Chrift, neither circumcifion availeth any thing, nor uncircumcifion availeth any thing, but faith which work." eth by love.

THE

HE heart of man is juftly represented, in Sacred Writ, not only as "defperately wicked, but deceitful above all things." It is

this, which renders the inftruction of the people fo extremely difficult. Many not only are blind, but, like the Pharifees of old, "fay they fee; therefore "their fin remaineth *.' heir very worft fymptom is, their total ignorance of their spiritual diforders t. The very mortification, which is spreading itself wider and wider over their fouls, gives them a kind of eafe which they mistake for health. This it is, which often renders a faithful difcharge of the minifterial office fo extremely difficult. This has led the Holy Spirit to give fo many marks in the facred fcriptures, by which we may truly judge of our spiritual state. And it has been this principle, which has occafioned me, in the three preceding E 2 difcourfes

* See John ix. 41.

Madan has the

Ecælo defcendit gnoothi feauton," obferves the Roman poet, Juvenal, Sat. xi. line 27. following paffage, in a note on this line:

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"This apothegm of Chilo was, with others, written in golden letters, at the Temple of Apollo, at Delphos; and was therefore believed to come from heaven. "Not but it is very found theology, to say, that, to have "the veil of pride and felf-love taken away, fo that we "know ourselves aright, is the gift of God, and the "foundation of all true faving knowledge. See Jer. xvii. 9, & 10." I confefs myfelf inclined to go rather further than the learned Commentator; and to give the fatyrift credit for defigning to fuggeft nearly the very reflection which Mr. M. has made. As Montefquieu obferves of himself, in his "Spirit of Laws." An author's "business is not to make men read only, but to make them "think" and indeed, many of the fables of the heathens afford ample scope for this, as the learned Bryant has fufficiently fhewn in his "Analyfis of Ancient Mythology.

The

difcourfes, to bring forward the feveral figns which he has afforded us of a true juftifying faith. extreme importance of the point in queftion will, I doubt not, appear a fufficient reafon, to all humble enquirers after divine truth, if I endeavour to reprefent fome additional fcripture marks of this, which may help, by divine grace, to place this awful fubject beyond all difpute. May the Holy Spirit of God enlighten our minds while we proceed to confider true faving faith in Chrift by the following certain effect! IT WORKS BY LOVE. In Jefus Chrift (obferves the apostle in our "text) neither circumcifion availeth any thing, "Tor uncircumcifion availeth any thing, but "faith which worketh by love."

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In the next chapter, he uses the fame expreffion with respect to that new creation*," or new and fpiritual birth, which we have already confidered. And, in writing to the Corinthians, the contraft which he opposes to circumcifion is, "keeping the commandments of God t," or, " good works;" which likewife occupied a part of our laft dif courfe. He does not oppofe the Jewish rite of initiation to baptifm, the rite of admittance into the Chriftian Church, but to faving faith, regeneration, and holiness of heart and life, without which no perfon could ever be a true member of either the one church or the other. The faith, then, which "availeth, in Chrift," is that "which worketh by love."

There may poffibly appear a near resemblance

* Gal. vi. 15. + 1 Cor. vii. 19.

between

between "working by love," and being productive "of good works;" which we last difcuffed. And fo, in fact, there is; for no work can be truly good, which does not arise from love to God, in the first inftance, and to man, as far as he may be concerned in it. If the one be "with all our heart, with alk ❝ our foul, and with all our mind, and with all our "ftrength," and the other be "as we love our"felves," we have our bleffed Saviour's affurance that they comprehend within them "all the law and "the prophets *." It is this divine principle of love to God and man, which we fhall confider, as a proof of our faith being that which really juftifies. Not that either our works, or our love, or indeed our faith itself, can in any way be the cause of our juftification: but God freely juftifies us, for the fake of Chrift, by a "faith which worketh "by love t." Love is a certain fign of faving faith; and if there be no working ruling principle of love in our hearts, we may rely on it, our faith is vain. "The end of the commandment is cha.. ❝rity, or love, out of a pure heart, and of a good "confcience. and of faith unfeigned." Though "we had all faith, fo that we could remove moun"tains, and had not love, we should be nothing." And

E 3

* See Mark xii. 30, to 35,Luke x. 27, & 28.

Mat. xxii. 37 to 41.

The reader will find this fubject noft ably difcuffed in the three Homilies of our Church, "Of Salvation," "Of Faith," and, " Of Good Works." As also in Mr.. Baxter's" Aphorifms of Juftification."

1 Tim. i. 64 5. agapee,' "the fame word as throughout 1. Cor, xiii.. &c..

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