you have not been able to express, as you could wish, the feelings of your hearts ; but in the very house of God, where all suitable expressions have been provided for you, and put into your mouths, if you had had but a state of mind suited to them : yet even there have the words been repeated by you without one corresponding emotion in your souls, and your Amen been added without the smallest concern whether God ever heard the prayer or not. Tell me, in the review of a life thus spent, what should be your estimate of your state before God ? If you would have a very mean opinion of a servant who had so conducted himself towards you, what should be your judgment of yourselves, who have so acted towards God?]
2. That all self-justification must be most offensive to God —
[Suppose a servant, who had dealt with you as you have with God, were to applaud himself as deserving commendation at your hands ; What would you think of him ? What would you think of his respect for you, or of his views of his duty towards you ? Would you not be offended with his estimate of your character and your rights? What then must God think of you, when, instead of lothing yourselves for your short-comings and defects, you are taking credit to yourselves for your fidelity towards him, and claiming a reward for that very conduct which has excited nothing in his breast but wrathful indignation ? You will find in Scripture, that there is no sin whatever marked with more heavy displeasure than self-righteousness and self-applause. It was this, more than any thing else, that sealed up the Jews under guilt and con- demnation : they would " trust to their own righteousness, instead of submitting to the righteousness of God1 :" and there- fore they were rejected by God; whilst the idolatrous, but self-condemning, Gentiles were admitted to his favour. So shall you also, yea, and every child of man, find it, both in this world and in the world to come : the self-condemning Publican shall be justified before God ; but the self-applauding Pharisee shall be condemned.]
3. That without a Saviour we must all perish —
[What has any one of us whereon to ground his hopes of acceptance with God ? Our works will not even stand the test that we have established for our intercourse with each other; and how much less will they stand before the holy law of God ? If, then, we have not a Saviour to make an atonement for our sins, and to work out a righteousness wherein we may be justified, what hope have we ? Verily,
1 Rom. ix. 30—33.
1268.] god's appeal to self-justifying sinners. 591
we have no more hope than Satan himself: for he may as well hope to satisfy divine justice, as we; or to merit heaven by his own works, as we. The very thought of seeking heaven by any righteousness of our own must be put away, as the most fatal delusion: and all of us, the best as well as the worst, must look to Christ alone, as " all our salvation and all our desire." Beloved brethren, I charge you before God to remember this : for no man can ever come to God but by Christ ; " nor is there any other name given under heaven whereby any man can be saved, but the one name of Jesus Christ." " In Him must all the seed of Israel be justified; and in Him alone must they glory."]
4. That if any service of ours be ever accepted of our God, it must be entirely through our Lord Jesus Christ—
[After what has been said respecting the imperfection of our works, can it be hoped that any thing which we can do should ever find acceptance with God? Yes, if it be done for his glory, and not relied upon as a foundation of our hope before him. The services which we render to our governor are not perfect ; yet are they pleasing to him, if they be done with a view to his honour and interest: so are the services which we ourselves receive from others most truly gratifying, when they are rendered from a principle of love. And God is infinitely gracious and condescending to accept our poor unworthy offerings, when they are presented to him in humi- lity, and with a sincere desire to please and honour him. This is very strongly marked by God at the very time that he most strongly insists upon the necessity of presenting to him none but perfect offerings. Hear his words, in the 22d chapter of Leviticus : " Ye shall offer at your own will a male without blemish, of the beeves, of the sheep, or of the goats. But whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye not offer ; for it shall not be acceptable for you. And whosoever offereth a sacrifice of peace-offerings unto the Lord, to accomplish a vow, or a free-will-offering in beeves or sheep, it shall be perfect to be accepted ; there shall be no blemish therein. Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wen, or scurvy, or scabbed, ye shall not offer these unto the Lord, nor make an offering by fire of them upon the altar unto the Lord." Here you would suppose, that to present such imperfect offerings as ours were vain : and so it would be, if we relied upon them in the smallest measure for our acceptance with God : but, if we rely alto- gether on Christ's perfect sacrifice for our justification from sin, and then present our imperfect offerings to God, as tokens of our love, they shall come up with acceptance on his altar, and be truly pleasing in his sight. This is what, in the very