soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord; my goodness extendeth not to thee." And the apostle speaking of the grace of God, puts the question, "Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things." That even good men cannot merit any favor at the hands of God, may be further illustrated by the following observations.

1. They cannot do anything more than what is their duty to do. This is the reason our Saviour gives, why they cannot merit any favor at the hands of God. "So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." The law of God requires every man to serve him to the full extent of all his natural powers and faculties. "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength." The servants to whom were committed various talents, were each of them required to improve them to the best advantage. The master always requires and expects, that the servant should employ all his time and strength in his service, which renders it impracticable for him to do anything more, than he is bound in duty to do. So good men, who are the servants of God, can never do anything more than their duty, and surely their bare performance of duty, cannot lay God under obligation, in point of justice, to reward them for it. It is the dictate of reason as well as scripture, that God cannot be indebted to them for any of their services. If they could act independently of God, and do something for him which he had not required, and which would be a proper benefit to him, it seems, in such a case, they would merit a reward. But it must be universally allowed, that they cannot act independently of God, or do that which he has not required, or that which would be gain to him, and of consequence, their best services cannot merit any good at his hands. Having done merely their duty, they cannot justly claim any reward.

2. The most faithful servants of God cannot merit any good from him, because they can never do so much for him as he has done for them. He has brought them out of nothing into being. He has given them all their powers and capacities of doing good. He has changed their hearts from sin to holiness, and made them willing in the day of his power to love and serve him. He has preserved their lives every moment, and loaded them with his favors every day. Now let the services which God has done for them be compared with the services which they have done for him, and on which side will the

greatest obligations lie? Have they been so constant in serving him, as he has been in serving them? He has served them, while they have been in a state of entire rest and insensibility. Have they exerted so much strength in serving him, as he has in serving them? Far from it. Far from it. Their best services have been extremely weak and feeble, while he has employed his omnipotent hand in their favor. Have they exercised and expressed so much love in acting for him, as he has exercised and expressed in acting for them? Their love to him has been cold and languid, while his love to them has been infinitely strong and tender. Have they done anything for him which he could not have done for himself? But he has done ten thousand things for them, which they could not have done for themselves. If, therefore, the services which saints have done for God be thrown into one scale; and the services which God has done for them be thrown into the other, there can be no doubt which will outweigh. The services of God are unspeakably more numerous and more valuable, than the services of saints. Have they not then abundant reason to say, when they have done all things which God has commanded them to do, that they are still unprofitable servants; and in point of justice, owe their sovereign Lord ten thousand talents, which they are totally unable to pay? God has merited from them, but they have never merited from him. Besides,

3. The utter impossibility of saints meriting any favor at the hands of God by their obedience, plainly appears from the consideration of their disobedience. Our Saviour, indeed, does not suggest this consideration in the text. He goes upon the supposition of their being constantly and perfectly obedient, and doing everything that is commanded them; and even upon this ground he pronounces them unprofitable servants. But it is a truth intimately connected with this subject, that the "best of men fall far short of yielding perfect obedience to the commands of God. They have been dead in trespasses and sins, and lived in real rebellion against their rightful Lord and Sovereign. And though they are become in a measure reconciled to God, and paid him some sincere obedience, yet they are still very barren and unfruitful trees in his vineyard. They have been far from yielding a steady and uniform obedience to the divine commands, but frequently disobey his known will. Their obedience must be set in contrast to their disobedience, in order to determine what they have merited at the hands of God. But there is no proportion between the merit of obedience and the demerit of disobedience. Their obedience merits no good, but their disobedience merits infinite evil, in point of

justice. The least act of disobedience deserves God's wrath and curse, both in this life and in that which is to come. So that one act of disobedience outweighs a whole life of obedience, in point of justice; therefore they deserve everlasting destruction, as much as if they had never done a single act of obedience. Their obedience to the divine law makes no atonement for their disobedience, and has no influence at all to free them from the penalty of eternal death. They deserve, in strict justice, to be cast off, forever, and suffer the due reward of their ungodly deeds. As guilty and unprofitable servants, they merit evil, and nothing but evil, at the hands of their injured and offended sovereign. This Jacob felt, when he said, "I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant." This Nehemiah and Daniel felt, when they prayed for their guilty nation. The infinite demerit of sin always carries conviction to good men, who are the real servants of God, that they have merited all evil, but no good, at the hands of God, and nothing but unmerited mercy can save them from endless ruin.

I might now proceed to improve the subject, were it not for one objection, which may arise in the minds of some against the leading sentiment in this discourse. Some may be ready to ask, Is not the sincere obedience of good men really holy and pleasing to God? Is it not as really worthy of reward as the obedience of angels, or as the obedience of Adam would have been, if he had never sinned? And did not good men under the law view their obedience as pleasing to God, and worthy of his approbation and reward? Hezekiah said, "I beseech thee, O Lord, remember now how I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight." And Nehemiah expresses the same views and feelings. "Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof." To this plausible objection I would answer,

1. The services of good men are really pleasing to God.

2. He may bestow good upon them, both in this life and in the life to come, as a token of his approbation of their cordial obedience. But yet,

3. He cannot reward their obedience, as an act of justice. Justice requires God to punish sinners for their disobedience, but it does not require him to show favor to good men for their obedience. The rewards which God promises to bestow upon the godly under the Old Testament, were rewards of goodness, not rewards of justice. And such were the rewards that Heze

kiah and Nehemiah desired and prayed for. Christ promised to reward any of his disciples for the least benevolent act, even the giving of a cup of water in sincerity. But the reward he promised was a reward of goodness, not of justice. After God has forgiven good men, through the atonement of Christ, he can give them any favor as a token or expression of his approbation, but not as an act of his justice. Though they have no claims upon the justice of God, yet they have claims upon his gracious promises. Though a servant cannot merit any favor at the hands of his master; yet if his master have promised to bestow any favor upon him for any particular act of obedience or fidelity, he may claim the promise, when he has performed the condition upon which it was made. So good men, who are the servants of God, and cannot merit any favor, in point of justice, at the hands of God, may nevertheless claim the favors which God has promised to give them as a token of his approbation of their cordial obedience. Godliness had the promise of this life and of that which is to come under the Old Testament, as well as under the New. And this promise does not now, and never did, imply that saints merit any favor at the hands of God for their obedience.

IMPROVEMENT.

1. If good men cannot merit any favor at the hands of God, then the terms of the gospel are not inconsistent with the grace of God in their salvation. The principal conditions of the gospel are faith and repentance, which are really virtuous and holy exercises. And if these exercises of good men do not merit any favor at the hands of God, then they are not inconsistent with their being pardoned and saved through mere grace. There are two denominations of Christians, who deny that the gospel offers pardoning mercy to sinners upon any conditions to be performed on their part. These are Antinomians and Sandemanians. The Antinomians say, that if sinners are required to repent and believe in order to obtain pardon and acceptance in the sight of God, then their pardon and acceptance cannot be of free grace, but of works, which are repugnant to free grace. They say, that faith and repentance are good works; and if these are the conditions of salvation, then men are saved by works, and not by grace. Accordingly, they deny that the covenant of grace has any conditions. They deny that God says in the covenant of grace to sinners, if you will repent and believe, I will save you; but assert, on the contrary, that the

language of God, in the covenant of grace, runs in this form :"I will show you mercy, and ye shall be saved, without any condition of faith and repentance on your part." The Sandemanians say, that men are passive in believing the gospel, and never put forth any gracious exercises in this life, because this would be inconsistent with the doctrine of justification by faith alone, without the deeds of the law. Both these denominations of Christians deny that God offers salvation to sinners, in the gospel, upon the condition of faith, or repentance, or any other holy affection; because any such condition, they suppose, would be inconsistent with their being saved by free grace. But if neither faith, nor repentance, nor any other act of obedience, can lay God under obligation, in point of justice, to show any favor to sinners, then he may display as much grace in pardoning and saving them upon condition of their faith, or repentance, or obedience, as in pardoning and saving them without any condition at all. There is a wide and essential difference between the ground or foundation of pardon and any condition of it. The sole ground of God's pardoning penitents, is the atonement of Christ; but the condition of his pardoning them, is their love, repentance, faith, submission, and persevering obedience. And though these are really good works, yet they are not meritorious. They lay God under no obligation, in point of justice, to show them any temporal or eternal favor. These good works, however, are not the works of the law, which the apostle excludes from justification. By the works of the law, the apostle means the dead works of sinners, which flow from their corrupt and totally depraved hearts. But he does not mean to exclude that faith, that repentance, or that obedience which flows from supreme love to God, from being a condition of pardon and acceptance in the sight of God. If love, repentance, faith, and obedience were inconsistent with the grace of God in justification, they would be equally inconsistent with the grace of God in glorification. Or if the good works of good men here in this world were inconsistent with the grace of God in their pardon and salvation, they would be equally inconsistent with their pardon and acceptance in heaven. And upon this supposition, no man with holiness can see the Lord; because holiness in men is inconsistent with the display of divine grace towards them. There is no occasion, therefore, to deny the conditions of the gospel, in order to see the grace of God in the pardon and salvation of sinful and infinitely ill-deserving creatures. The very love, and faith, and repentance which the gospel requires sinners to exercise, in order to pardon and salvation, lead them to renounce all self-righteousness and self-de