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I try to spread my little fails,

And wait for pow'rful moving gales v.
When pow'r's convey'd, I work; but fee,
'Tis ftill his pow'r that works in me.
I am an agent at his call,

Yet nothing am, for grace is all w.

II. Of rewards of Grace and Debt.

N all my works I still regard

IN

The recompence of full reward;
Yet fuch my working is withal,
-I look for no reward at ally.

God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only. Song iv. 16. Awake, O north wind, and come, thou fouth, blow upon my garden, that the fpices thereof may flow

Out.

w Phil. ii. 12, 13. Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my abfence: work out your own falvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Gal. ii. 20. I am crucified with Chrift: Nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which I now life in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 2 Cor. xii. 9. And the Lord faid unto me, My grace is fufficient for thee; for my ftrength is made perfect in weaknefs. Moft gladly therefore, will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may reft upon me.

x Heb. xi 24, 25, 26. By faith Mofes, when he was comie to years, refused to be called the fon of Pharaoh's daughter : choofing rather to fuffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of fin for a feafon etteeming the reproach of Chrift greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

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1 Tim. i. 9. God hath faved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpofe and grace which was given us in Chrift Jefus, be

God's my reward exceeding great,
No leffer heav'n than this I wait z:
But where's the earning work fo broad,
To fet me up an heir of God a?
Rewards of debt, rewards of grace,
Are oppofites in ev'ry case b;
Yet fure I am they'll both agree
Moft jointly in rewarding me c.

Though hell's my juft reward for fin d,
Heav'n as my just reward I'll win e.

fore the world began. Tit. iii. 5. Not by works of righteoufnels,
which we have done, but according to his mercy he faved us by
the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghoft.
z Gen. xv. I. After these things the word of the Lord
come unto Abram in a vifion, faying, Fear not, Abram: [
am thy fhield, and thy exceeding great reward. Pfal. Ixxiii.
25, 26. Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is
none upon earth that I defire befides thee. My flesh and my
heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart,
portion for ever.

and my

a Ezek. xxxvi. 32. Not for your fakes do I this, faith the Lord God, be it known unto you: be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O houfe of Ifrael. Rom. viii. 16, 17. The Spirit itself beareth witnefs with our fpirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ.

Rom. iv. 4. Now to him that worketh, is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt.

c Pfal. Iviii. 11. Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verty he is a God that judgeth in the earth. Ifa. lxii. 11. Benold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy falvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. Aad xl. 10. Behold the Lord God will come with flrong hand, and his arm fhall rule for him: behold his reward is with him, and his work before him.

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d Rom. vi. 21. What fruit bad ye then in those things, whereof ye are now afhamed? for the end of those things is death. v. 23. The wages of fin is death. Eph. v. 6. Let

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Both these my juft rewards I know,
Yet truly neither of them fo*.
Hell can't in juftice be my lot,
Since juftice fatisfaction got f;
Nor heav'n in juftice be my share,
Since mercy only brings me there g.

no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. Gal. iii. 10. For as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curfe: for it is written, Curfed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

e Gal. iii. 13, 14. Chrift hath redeemed us from the curfe of the law, being made a curfe for us: for it is written, Curfed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the bleffing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jefus Chrift; that we might receive the promife of the Spirit through faith. Eph. i. 13, 14. In Chrift alfo after that ye believed, ye were fealed with that holy Spirit of promife, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchafed poffeffion, unto the praife of his glory. Rom. v. 21. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jefus Chrift our our Lord. And vi. 23. The gift of God is eternal life, through Jefus Christ our Lord.

* Through these oppofite voices of law and gospel.

f Rom. iii. 25, 26. Whom God hath fet forth to be a pro pitiation, through faith in his blood, to declare his righteoufnefs for the remiffion of fins that are paft, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I fay, at this time his righteoufnefs; that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jefus.

g Rom. ix. if. 16. God faith to Mofes, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compaffiɔn on whom I will have compaffion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth; but of God that sheweth mercy. Titus iii. 4,-7. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteoufnefs which we have done, but according to his mercy he faved us by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of

Yet heav'n is mine by folemn oath,
In juftice and in mercy both b:
And God in Chrift is all my trust,
Because he's merciful and juft i.

H'

CONCLUSION.

ERE is the riddle, where's the man
Of judgment to expound?

For mafters fam'd that cannot fcan,

In Ifrael may be found a.

the Holy Ghost: which he fhed on us abundantly, through Jefus Christ our Saviour; that being justified by his grace, ve fhould be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

b Pfal. lxxxix. 35, 35. Once have I fworn by my holinefs, that I will not lie unto David. His feed fhall endure for ever, and his throne as the fun before me. Heb. vi. 17,

18. Wherein God willing more abundantly to fhew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counfel, confirmed it it by an oath that by two immutable things, in which it was impoffible for God to lie, we might have a strong confo Jation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope fet before us. Plal. lxxxix. 14 Juftice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne; mercy and truth fhall go before thy face. v. 16. In thy name fhall they rejoice all the day and in thy righteoufnefs fhall they be exalted. 7. 24. But my faithfulness and my mercy fhall be with him [David my fer vant] and in my name fhall his horn be exalted. v. 23. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant fhall ftand faft with him.

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i Heb. ii. 17. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren: that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest, in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the fins of the people. 1 John i. 7, 8, 9. If we walk in the light, as God is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jefus Chrift his Son cleanfeth us from all fin. If we fay that we have no Go, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confefs our fins, he is faithful, and juft to forgive us our fins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

We juftly those in wifdom's lift

Eftablish'd faints may call,

Whose bitter-fweet experience bleft
Can clearly grafp it all b.

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essay.

Some babes in grace may mint * and mar, *elay.
Yet aiming right fucceed c:
But ftrangers they in Ifra'l are,

Who not at all can read d.

a John iii. 1o. Jefus anfwered and faid unto Nicodemus, Art thou a master of Ifrael, and knowest not these things.

6 Matth. xi. 23. At that time Jefus answered and faid, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou haft hid these things from the wife and prudent, and haft revealed them unto babes. And xiii. 11. Jefus answered and faid unto his disciples, Because it is given unto you to know the myfteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

c Cor. iii. 1, 2. And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto fpiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Chrift. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. Heb. v. 12, 13, 14 For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become fuch as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unfkilful in the word of righteousnefs: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them. that are of full age, even thofe who, by reafon of use, have their senses exercised to difcern both good and evil. And.vi. 1. Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Chrift, let us go on unto perfection: not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God, &c. 1 John ii. 12, 13. I write unto you, little children, because your fins are forgiven you for his name's fake.-I write unto you little children, because ye have known the Father.

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d 2 Cor. iv. 3, 4. But if our Gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are loft: in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, left the light of the glorious gospel of Chrift, who is the image of God, should fhine unto them.

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