Thirdly, Our works or duties which we perform in obedience to
Era. II. 10.] THE TWENTIETH SERMON. 405
God, are not the first means to apply the grace of the Eedccmer, or the condition of our first entrance into the evangelical estate. No ; that is proper to repentance and faith : Kona. iii. 22, ' The righteous- ness of God is by faith unto all and upon all them that believe.' And repentance is frequently required also to receive pardon and the gift of the Holy Ghost : Acts ii. 38, ' Eepent and be baptized every one ol you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and ye shall 3-eceive the gift of the Holy Ghost ;' Acts iii. 19, ' Repent ye, there- fore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.' It is the penitent believing sinner that is qualified for these privileges ; or he that thankfully and humbly accepts of the offered Saviour, and con- sents to the covenant made with God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ; he is washed from his sins in the blood of Christ, reconciled, adopted into God's family, and made ' an heir according to the hope of eternal life,' Titus iii. 7. This first faith, by which we believe and consent to the covenant, implieth both a dependence on God's mercy and Christ's merits, and also a consent of obedience or hearty subjection to God.
Fourthly, When we have consented to accept Christ and his bene- fits, and do give ourselves to him, then works or new obedience follow, as necessary to continue our right to pardon and life. For none have benefit by God's covenant but those that keep his covenant as well as make it ; and without this we cannot have communion with God : 1 John i. 7, ' If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fel- lowship one with another;' — nor evidence the reality of our faith and repentance. St Paul was sent to preach to the Gentiles, * That they should repent, and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance,' Acts xxvi. 20. Besides, we cannot preserve our claim and right, if we do not still go on to do good : 1 Tim. vi. 18 ; Ezek. xviii. 24, * When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and com- mitteth iniquity, shall he live ? all his righteousness shall not be men- tioned ; in his trespasses that he hath trespassed, and in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.' It is true of the hypocrite without scruple,, and of the real righteous man ; if you suppose the one you may suppose the other. Well, these things must not be con- founded or opposed : not confounded, but we must distinctly con- sider what is proper to the grace of God, proper to the merit of Christ, proper to faith, proper to works; not opposed, so as to make the one exclude the other :. as the grace of God to exclude the merit of Christ, or serve instead of it ; nor the merit of Christ, his blood and righteous- ness, to exclude faith and repentance, or be instead of them ; nor faith to exclude good works.
Fifthly, All the applying grace is from first to last wrought in us by the Spirit. He doth renew and heal our natures, as coming to us from the grace of God and merits of Christ : Titus iii. 5, 6, ' Accord- ing to his mercy he saveth us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour.' By the Holy Spirit working in us habitual grace and exciting it, we believe, repent, obey, do whatever is neces- sary to be done to obtain eternal life ; therefore this must not be omitted, but acknowledged as a great part of this grace.
406 THE TWENTIETH SERMON. [EpH. II. 10.
Third use. To exhort us, if we would sliow ourselves to be new creatures indeed, to be full of good works. The arguments to move us are : —
1. It is a necessary fruit of inward grace, and so doth plainly show that 3'ou are partakers of heavenly wisdom : d^ames iii. 17, ' The wis- dom wliich is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits.' The carnal worldling, all his wisdom is to grow rich to himself, which indeed ie but folly, Luke xii. 21. His business is to live to the flesh, Gal. ^vi. 8. He layeth out all his strength, time, and care, and wealth for the feeding his own carnal desires ; but the other soweth to the Spirit, layeth out himself in works of piety and charity.
2. External acts, which flow from an internal princi})le, increase the habit ; the more you do good, the more you are enabled to do good, as bodily strength is increased by exercise. Why is the right hand more agile, stronger, and bigger than the left'? It is oftener exercised, and so fuller of blood and spirits. So in grace, the more you act faith, the more is faith increased. Love gi'oweth more fervent, being kept in a constant exercise, and hope more lively and effective. Always actions increase the principles which did produce them : partly of their own nature : 1 John ii. 5, ' Whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.' The more acts of love he puts forth towards God, the more doth his love increase in him : partly by divine reward : Heb. vi. 10, * He is not unrighteous to forget your labour of love, which ye have showed towards his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister.' God rewards them temporally : 2 Cor. ix. 8, ' God is able to make all grace abound towards you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work ;' that is, to give you to be liberal at all times. And when he saith God is able, it not only implieth that God is the fountain of all plenty, and sovereign disposer of it, and so hath power to make you the richer rather than the poorer by your liberality, to make every alms you give like the oil in the cruse, to multiply as you pour it out, that there shall be enough for every object and every occasion, but also he is sure to make it good, for he quotes it again in the next verse, ' As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad, he hath given to the poor ; his righteousness remaineth for ever.' It is taken out of Psalm cxii., where there are signal promises of wealth and riches in the house of the li])cral alms- giver. God rewards them eternally : 2 Cor. ix. 6, ' He which soweth sparingly shall reap si)aringly, and he which soweth bountifully shall reap bountifully.' Now is the seed-time, hereafter is our harvest and crop ; we shall have a liberal reward from God in the general resurrec- tion. God ako rewards his obedient servants spiritually, internally ; and that not only with more comfort and peace, but by increasing the grace itself; for God, that punishes sin with sin, doth reward grace with grace. Wells are sweeter for draining ; on the other side, a key that is seldom turned rusts in the lock. An intermission of good works makes us more unable and unready for them.