favour than by the nature of justice he was bound to afford.

And here it may not be amiss to guard against an error into which some writers seem to have fallen, and that is, to represent the attributes of God as in some manner at variance with each other, his justice requiring one thing, and his mercy requiring the contrary. This error arises from mistaking the nature of justice: justice doth not require a person to do every thing that he justly may, but only to do nothing that is unjust, and to be just in exercising his

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power. But,

Hence it is that the Gospel itself is frequently styled grace, and the grace of God, being a promulgation of God's mercy towards men displayed in the free pardon of sin upon the favourable terms of repentance and amendment: as in these texts ; "Since the day that ye knew the grace of God in truth: Our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even our father hath given us hope through grace: Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." So the prophets are declared to have prophesied of the grace that should come; and some of the Galatians are said to have fallen from grace, or to have rejected the privileges of the Gospel, when they claimed to be justified by observing the ceremonies of the Jewish law. "Shall we sin," says St. Paul," because we are not under the law, but under grace? Far be it. The grace of God hath been declared to all men, teaching us to live as we ought:" St. Paul speaks not of the grace of God

which worketh in them, but of that grace or gracious revelation which instructs them, "that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world."

II. Let us now consider how our salvation is owing to grace. By grace ye are saved: that is, to the goodness and favour of God it must altogether be ascribed that ye have the means of obtaining eternal life.

We must therefore acknowledge that our existence and all our powers and faculties are the free gift of God, and that every additional sufficiency and assistance, every revealed method of obtaining religious wisdom, every new motive to virtue, and dissuasive from vice, every direction and guidance in the way of life, wholly proceeds from the same liberality: and that the promise of eternal happiness, as the reward of our imperfect endeavours, is merely an effect of God's transcendent goodness.

God is to us the only author of the powers and faculties which we commonly call natural. In him we live and move and have our being. From him we are endued with reason and understanding, with the ability of discerning between good and evil, with the power to will and to choose that which is right.

Besides the natural powers, God affords us moreover additional helps; such is the revelation of the Gospel, which is therefore so frequently called in Scripture the grace of God, and the grace of God which bringeth salvation.

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Under which general grace are included more particularly, a clearer knowledge of our duty than could be collected by the bare light of reason and the efforts of philosophy, or had been communicated by preceding revelations; a plainer discovery of eter nal life, by the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead and of a judgement to come; promises of eternal glory and happiness unspeakable laid up for the righteous, and a declaration of indignation and wrath for the workers of iniquity; the example of Christ in his holy life and patient sufferings, and the relation which he bears to us as redeemer, mediator, and king, and the benefits arising to us from this relation; an assu rance of the forgiveness of sins upon repentance; the assistance of the divine spirit in the practice of our duty, suited to our situation and exigencies. By these means the Gospel in the most effectual manner teaches and enables men to lead good lives, and to them who are thus taught it is the grace of God which bringeth salvation. Thus it is that we are saved by grace; and thus much is acknowledged by those Christians who are the warmest advocates for human liberty. How then can they be fairly charged with denying the necessity of divine assistance, or with representing man as able to obtain salvation by his own strength and merits, as self-sufficient and independent of his Creator? No Christian in his right senses ever held such notions as these, though many Christians have been accused of it by their zealous adversaries: but intemperate zeal is blind, and calumny leads it about by the hand,

being appointed its constant guide and inseparable companion.

As to divine assistance, or the ordinary influence of the Holy Spirit upon the soul of man, it is not to be expected that we should determine how often and upon what occasions it is imparted, or explain in what manner it is performed, because it cannot be distinguished from the operations of the mind itself, as every ingenuous Christian will own. No one can show where the action of the human spirit ends, and where the action of the divine spirit begins. But as man is a rational creature, and as reason is the noblest of his faculties, we may justly conclude that the Holy Spirit acts upon him in a way conformable to his nature, and principally by strengthening and improving his understanding, which will naturally have a good effect upon his behaviour; and consequently the surest evidence a Christian can give of having this divine assistance, is to reason justly, and to act honestly. This, I say, is the best proof or test, though it be one which will by no means please or suit fanatics and enthusiasts.

III. Let us consider how our salvation is owing to our own endeavours.

Whilst we acknowledge the weakness of man, and the grace or mercy of God, we must be careful,

Not to make God the author of sin, and of our cor

See Stinstra's pastoral letter, which deserves the perusal of every Christian.

ruption, by virtue of decrees established by him, and not alterable by the conduct of man:

Not to represent him as dooming almost all his creatures to eternal damnation, for being in a condition which they cannot avoid, and out of which he will not help them:

Not to vilify our natural powers and faculties, as if they were good for nothing, and incapable of any thing that is useful and praise-worthy :

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Not to talk contemptuously and injuriously of the light of nature, which is no other than the candle of the Lord shining in the breast of rational creatures, and almost the only light which hath been afforded to so many inhabitants of this world:

Not to make a state of grace a state of `fatality and fanaticism, in which men are supposed to be converted from sin and impelled to goodness, like mere machines by the application of weights and springs. This is transforming men from rational agents into talking brutes, or walking vegetables.

Whilst we take sober and pious care to render to almighty God, and to Jesus Christ, and to the holy and sanctifying Spirit their due honour and their just glory, we must also take care not to destroy the very nature of virtue and vice, of right and wrong, by imagining that we have no power to do any thing. We must acknowledge that, as the natural abilities, with which God hath originally endowed men, are

Except tradition, which was corrupted more or less.
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