EXPOSITION. This section is also directed against an error of the Church of Rome, which teaches that the good works of the saints are meritorious of eternal life.* That we cannot, by our best works, merit pardon of sin, or eternal life, at the hand of God, appears from the following considerations: 1. Our Saviour declares (Luke xvii. 10), that when we have done all those things which are commanded us, we are unprofitable servants, and have only done that which was our duty. 2. Our best works cannot be profitable to God, and therefore can merit nothing at his hand. Ps. xvi. 2. 3. All our works, as they are good, proceed from the almighty agency of the Spirit of grace, (Phil. ii. 13); and as they are not performed in our own strength, they can merit no reward. 4. Our best works, as they are wrought by us, have such a mixture of sin in them, that, instead of meriting any thing at the hand of God, they cannot endure the severity of God's judgment. Ps. cxliii. 2. 5. Our best works bear no propor. tion to the inestimable blessings of eternal life, (2 Cor. iv. 17); accordingly, the reward is represented "as of grace, not of debt;" and we are directed to "look for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." Jude 21. SECTION VI.-Yet, notwithstanding, the persons of believers being accepted through Christ, their good works also are accepted in him;20 not as though they were in this life wholly unblamable and unreprovable in God's sight;21 but that he, looking upon them in his Son, is pleased to accept and reward that which is sin 20 Eph. i. 6. 1 Pet. ii. 5. Exod. xxviii. 21 Job ix. 20. Ps. cxliii. 2. 38. Gen. iv 4. Heb. xi. 4. *The schoolmen in the Church of Rome spake of meritum de congruo-a merit of congruity; and meritum de condigno-a merit of condignity. By the former they meant the value of good works previous to justification, which it was fit or congruous for God to reward by infusing his grace. By the latter, they meant the value of good works performed after justification in consequence of grace infused. These, although performed by the grace of God, were conceived to have that intrinsic worth which merits a reward, and to which eternal life is as much due as a wage is to the servant by whom it is earned.-Hill's Lectures, vol. ii. p. 301. cere, although accompanied with many weaknesses and imperfections.22 22 Heb. xiii. 20, 21. 2 Cor. viii. 12. Heb. vi. 10. Matt. xxv. 21, 23. EXPOSITION. This section teaches us that the good works of believers, although not meritorious, are yet accepted of God, through Christ. Here it is only necessary to offer two remarks-1st, That our persons must be accepted, before our works of obedience can be accepted with God. "The Lord had respect unto Abel, and to his offering." Gen. iv. 4. In accepting of his offering, God testified that he had respect unto his person; i. e., that he esteemed and accounted him righteous. Heb. xi. 4. 2d. That the best of our works are not accepted as they are ours, but only upon account of the merit and mediation of Christ. As our persons are "accepted in the Beloved," so our works are only "acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. ii. 5. SECTION VII.-Works done by unregenerate men, although, for the matter of them, they may be things which God commands, and of good use both to themselves and others;23 yet, because they proceed not from a heart purified by faith;24 nor are done in a right manner, according to the word;25 nor to a right end, the glory of God;26 they are therefore sinful, and cannot please God, or make a man meet to receive grace from God.27 And yet their neglect of them is more sinful, and displeasing unto God.28 23 2 Kings x. 30, 31. 1 Kings xxi, 27, 29. Phil. i. 15, 16, 18. 24 Gen. iv. 5. Heb. xi. 4, 6. 25 1 Cor. xiii. 3. Isa i. 12. 26 Matt. vi. 2, 5, 16. 27 Hag. ii. 14. Tit. i. 15. Amos v. 21, 22. Hosea i. 4. Rom. ix. 16. Tit. iii. 5. 28 Ps. xiv. 4; xxxvi. 3. Job xxi. 14, 15. Matt. xxv. 41-43, 45; xxiii. 23. EXPOSITION. This section is again levelled against the errors of the Church of Rome. The writers of that Church hold that the actions of men in an unregenerate state can be so pure as to be free from all sin, and to merit at God's hand by what they call the merit of congruity. We have formerly made a distinction respecting good works, which claims attention here. An action may be materially, and yet not formally, good. Prayer, reading and hearing the word of God, distributing to the poor, are actions materially good; but unless these actions are done by persons who are 66 accepted in the Beloved," and "created anew in Christ Jesus;" unless they flow from a right principle, are performed in a right manner, and directed to a right end, they are not formally good. Now, unregenerate men may do many things that are good, for the matter of them, because they are things which God commands, and of good use to themselves and others; but, as performed by them, they are destitute of everything that can render an action "good and acceptable in the sight of God." Explicit is the declaration of the Apostle Paul: "They that are in the flesh cannot please God." Rom. viii. 8. To be in the flesh is to be in a natural, corrupt, depraved state; and, as a polluted fountain cannot send forth pure streams, nor a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit, so they that are in the flesh cannot perform any work that is spiritually good and acceptable to God. Instead of pleasing God, and making them meet to receive grace from him, all the works of unregenerate men are sinful, and therefore deserve the wrath and curse of God. "All unconverted persons are said in Scripture to be sinners, or workers of iniquity, (Ps. liii. 4); and their works, how advantageous soever many of them may be to themselves or others, are all, notwithstanding, represented as sins, in the account of an infinitely holy God, (Prov. xxi. 4); for although many of them may be materially good, yet all of them are formally evil, and therefore they are an abomination to him." Prov. xv. 8.* It must not, however, be inferred, that unregenerate men may live in the neglect of any duty which God has commanded. Though their prayers, for example, cannot be acceptable to God, yet their neglect of prayer would be more sinful and displeasing to him. This neglect is always represented in Scripture as highly criminal: "The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God." Ps. x. 4. And as this is their sin, so the wrath of God is denounced against them: "Pour out thy fury upon the heathen, that know thee not, and upon the families that call not upon thy name." Jer. x. 25. * Colquhoun's Treatise on the Law and the Gospel, p. 333. In concluding this chapter, we would impress upon the reader, that the gospel is "a doctrine according to godliness. "The grace of God, that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men; teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world." Nothing but the most deplorable ignorance, or the most determined enmity against the truth, could ever have led men to set the gospel and morality in opposition to each other, or to allege that the doctrine of grace tends to licentiousness. Such men know not what they say, nor whereof they affirm. It is by inculcating morality upon gospel principles that we establish it upon the firmest basis. "Do we make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Though good works are excluded from having any meritorious influence in the matter of salvation, yet, as we have seen, they are of indispensable necessity, and serve many valuable purposes. Let it, therefore, be the study of all who "name the name of Christ" to be "fruitful in good works," that so they may silence the adversaries of the truth, recommend religion to all within the sphere of their influence, glorify their Father who is in heaven, and promote their own comfort and happiness. CHAPTER XVII. OF THE PERSEVERANCE OF THE SAINTS. SECTION I.-They whom God hath accepted in his Beloved, effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit, can neither totally nor finally fall away from the state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved.1 SECTION II. This perseverance of the saints depends not upon their own free will, but upon the immutability of the decree of election, flowing from the free and unchangeable love of God the Father; 1 Phil. i. 6. 2 Pet. i. 10. John x. 28, 29. 1 John iii. 9. 1 Pet. i. 5, 9. 2 2 Tim. ii. 18, 19. Jer. xxxi. 3. upon the efficacy of the merit and intercession of Jesus Christ; the abiding of the Spirit, and of the seed of God within them; and the nature of the covenant of grace: from all which ariseth also the certainty and infallibility thereof." SECTION III.-Nevertheless they may, through the temptations of Satan and of the world, the prevalency of corruption remaining in them, and the neglect of the means of their preservation, fall into grievous sins; and for a time continue therein: whereby they incur God's displeasure, and grieve his Holy Spirit;10 come to be deprived of some measure of their graces, and comforts; have their hearts hardened,12 and their consciences wounded;13 hurt and scandalize others,1 ,14 and bring temporal judgments upon themselves.15 The perseverance of the saints is one of the articles by which the creed of the followers of Calvin is distinguished from that of the followers of Arminius. The latter hold, that true believers may fall into sins inconsistent with a state of grace, and may continue in apostasy to the end of life, and consequently may finally fall into perdition. The same doctrine is avowedly supported by the Church of Rome; for the Council of Trent has decreed, that "If any person shall say that a man who has been justified cannot lose grace, and that, therefore, he who falls and sins was never truly justi fied, he shall be accursed."* In opposition to this tenet, our Confession affirms, that true believers “can neither totally nor finally fall away from a state of grace; but shall certainly persevere therein to the end, and be eternally saved." There may seem to be a redundancy of language in this *Decret. de Justificatione, canon xxiii. |