Good Works. created in Christ Jesus unto good works." Charge them that are rich that they be rich in good works."-1 TIM. vi. 17, 18. "In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works."TITUS ii. 7. "That women adorn themselves 1 TIM. ii. 9, 10. with good works.”— "A widow . . . well reported of for good works."-1 TIM. v. 9, 10. Good works are the good fruit of the true faith. If God gives you St. Paul's faith you will soon have St. James's works. Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, cannot put away our sins and endure the severity of God's judgment, yet are they pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ, and do spring out necessarily of a true and lively faith; insomuch that by them a lively faith may be as evidently known as a tree discerned by the fruit (12th Article). Works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of His Spirit are not pleasant to God, forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ, neither do they make men meet to receive grace. (13th Article). What doth grace require but the works of grace? Is he worthy to bear the name of Christ who doth not endeavour the imitation of Christ's actions? Better is it with the Lacedemonians to do well, than with the Athenians to speak well, or only know what belongs to well-doing. Words are good when works follow. Words are like leaves; and where they most abound, Though faith justifies us, yet works must justify our faith. As The promises of salvation in Holy Scripture are not so much laid forth to the hearers as to the doers of the will of God. Christ joined doing and teaching, so should we believing and following. We must have a right faith and a Christian life. Good works may exist without saving principles, and therefore cannot contain in themselves the principles of salvation; but saving principles never did, never can, exist without good works. Good works are the visible effects of faith, so that the want of them proves the want of faith. Good words without the heart are but flattery; and good works without the heart are but hypocrisy. Before you can do good, you must be made good. Where the faith of Christ is not the foundation, there is no good work what building soever we make. As soon as a man hath faith, he shall flourish in good works: for faith of itself is full of good works. They are but infidel Christians whose faith and works are at war against each other. Faith which is right can no more forbear from good works than can the sun to shed abroad its glorious beams, or a body of perfumes to dispense a grateful odour. The true Christian asketh not whether good works be commanded or not; but being wholly moved and provoked with a certain violence of godly love, he offereth himself willingly to do all the works that are holy and Christian-like, and never ceaseth to do well. We can perform no good work till we are interested in Christ and accepted of God. Some boast of good works they never did; and others promise good works they never intend to do. Faith is the root of all good works. A root which produces nothing is dead. If faith produce no works, I see Every prophet and every apostle insists as much upon the fruits of faith, as upon faith itself, and the glory of Christ's person. Christ Himself saith to all who profess and call themselves Christians: "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."-MATT. v. 16. The Gospel. "FOR I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek."-Rom. i. 16. The gospel is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, and is to be preached to every creature, but its success is dependent on the Holy Spirit-the Divine Spirit within; the Divine Word without. The spirit of infinite love, life, and power, dwells in every part of the gospel, constituting it a fit kind of influence for reaching, recovering, and purifying our entire nature, and raising it to heaven. The gospel is like a fresh, mild, and cool air in the extreme heat of summer-a solace and comfort in the anguish of the conscience.-Luther. This is the very scope of the gospel-to make God and us at one.-Beza. The more the gospel is believed, the more God appears lovely and sin hateful. The gospel is not preached to be heard merely, but preached also to be believed. The gospel is a mighty engine, but only mighty when God has the working of it. The gospel regards all men as on a level; offers the same salvation to all; and offers it on the same terms-freely, without money and without price. The gospel may be neglected, but it cannot be understandingly disbelieved. The gospel is the heart of God in print. The gospel is not only a set of beautiful and comfortable promises; it is not only an enthusiastic and poetical admiration of moral greatness and goodness in Jesus Christ; it is a new life; it is a moral transformation. The gospel does not enforce the law of God upon men whom it seeks to save at any time or any circumstance, without infusing its own heart-subduing and heart-melting power into the enforcement. It does not aim to bring men to despair in themselves, without, at the same time, and by the same influence, aiming to bring them to trust in Christ. The gospel received into the heart saves from the wages of sin, and delivers from its power. If God in times past commanded His people to read, without ceasing, the law which He had given them, and to meditate therein day and night; and if holy men believed themselves bound to read daily the rule which they had received from their Master-how can we neglect the law of Jesus Christ, whose words are "spirit and life?" For having entered by baptism into the Universal Church, of which Jesus Christ is the founder, it is our duty to revere the gospel as our rule, since it teaches us His will; since it assures us of His promises; since it is our light in this world, and the law by which we shall be judged in another. "The word which I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." God hath written a law and a gospel; the law to humble us, and the gospel to comfort us; the law to cast us down, and the gospel to raise us up; the law to convince us of our misery, and the gospel to convince us of His mercy; the law to discover sin, and the gospel to discover grace and Christ. The gospel is a message of pardon to the guilty, of peace to the tried, and of life to them that sit in the shadow of death. The gospel is a supernatural revelation. It has been communicated, not discovered. It is news from heaven-" the gospel of the grace of God." Its two great promises are pardon and life. The gospel is the law of liberty, the law of faith, the law of Christ. The gospel to the understanding is a mystery of faith; to the heart and life it is a mystery of godliness-not to be severed, holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience. We must make the gospel known to others-must not be ashamed to confess it before men (ROM. i. 16); but earnestly contend for its truth (JUDE 3); and be ready to suffer persecution for its sake. The main object of the gospel is to establish these two principles-the entire corruption of our nature by sin, and our free redemption by Jesus Christ. Grace. "HE giveth grace unto the lowly.-PROV. iii. 34. Grace-God's good-will towards us; God's good work in us. A poor man in Fife, before eating, asked a blessing in these weighty words, which were found after the Duchess of Gordon's death written on a slip of paper in her hand: "Lord, give me grace to feel the need of grace; and give me grace to ask for grace; and give me grace to receive grace; and, O Lord, when grace is given, give me grace to receive it. Amen." The heaven of heavens is the habitation of God's glory; the lowly heart the habitation of His grace. As grace begins in God's love to us, so it ends in our love to Him. It requires more grace in the heart to do little things than great things, to the glory of God. Grace teaches us in the midst of life's greatest comforts to be willing to die, and in the midst of its greatest crosses to be willing to live. None are transplanted to Paradise but from the nursery of grace. The acts of breathing which I performed yesterday will not keep me alive to-day; I must continue to breathe afresh every moment, or animal life ceases. In like manner yesterday's grace and spiritual strength must be renewed, and the Holy Spirit must continue to breathe on my soul, from moment to moment, in order to my enjoying the consolations, and to my working the works, of God. By "the grace of God" in Scripture is generally meant His favour to the unworthy, in opposition to merit. It supposes that God is under no constraint in exercising mercy, and that man has no claims upon Him. It is the only source of all the great blessings we enjoy in this world, and of all the blessings we shall enjoy in the next. This grace is displayed in our regeneration, sanctification, and preservation; and, when its subjects are completely glorified, grace will be fully satisfied. Faith is necessary to it, but does not lessen its freeness; for faith also is matter of free favour. Death is still working like a mole, Drop from above. |