THE Contents of the SERMONS. J SERMO N. IV. Matth. VII. 26, 27. And every one that hear- eth thefe fayings of Mine, and doth them not, fball be likened unto a foolish Man, who built 7 And the Rain defcended, and the Floods came, and the Winds blew, and beat upon that The Doctrine of Merit ftated, and the Impoffibility of Mans Meriting of GOD, Afferted in a DISCOURSE U.PON The 22d of Job, and the 2d Verse. Preach'd at WESTMINSTER-ABBEY, On December 5th 1697. JOB XXII. 2. Can a Man be profitable to GOD? Tisa Matter of no small Moment certainly for a Man to be rightly informed, upon what Terms, and Conditions, he is to tranfact with God, and God with him, in the Bufi great nefs nefs of his Salvation. For by Knowing upon what Terms he must obtain Eternal Happiness hereafter, he will know alfo, upon what Grounds he is to hope for, and expect it here; and fo be able to govern both his Actions and Expectations according to the Nature of the Thing he is in Purfuit of; Left, otherwise, he fhould chance to fail of the Prize he runs for, by mistaking the Way he should run in St. Paul, as plainly as Words can exprefs a Thing, tells us, That Eternal Life is the Gift of God; and Confequently to be expected by us only as fuch: nay, He afferts it to be a Gift in the very fame verfe in which He affirms Death to be as due to a Sinner, as Wages are to a Workman, Romans 6. 23. Then which Words nothing certainly can be more full and Conclufive, That Salvation proceeds wholly upon Free-Gift, though Damnation upon ftri& Defert. Nevertheless, fuch is the Extreme Folly, or rather Sottishness of Mans Corrupt Nature, That this does by no Means fatisfy Him. For though indeed he would fain be Happy, yet fain would He also Thank none for it but Himself. And though He finds, that, not only His Duty but His Neceffity brings him every day upon His Knees to Almighty God for for the very Bread he eats; yet when he comes to deal with Him about Spirituals (Things of infinitely greater Value) he appears, and acts, not as a Suppliant, but as a Merchant; not as One, who comes to be Relieved, but to Traffick. For fomething he would receive of God, and fomething he would Give Him; and nothing will content this Infolent, yet Impotent Creature, unlefs he may seem to Buy the very Thing he Begs. Such being the Pride and Bafenefs of fome Spirits, that where they Receive a Benefit too big for them to requite, they will even Deny the Kindness, and difown the Obligation. Now this great Self-delufion, fo prevalent upon most Minds, is the Thing here encountered in the Text. The Words of which (by an ufual way of Speech) under an Interrogation couching a Pofitive Affertion, are a Declaration of the Impoffibility of Man's being Profitable to God, or (which is all one) of his meriting of God; according to the true, proper, and ftrict Senfe of Merit. Nor does this Interrogative way of Expreffion import only a bare Negation of the Thing, as, in it felf, Impoffible, but also a manifeft, Undeniable Evidence of the faid Impoffibility; As if it had been faid, That nothing can be more plainly B 2 |