BERM. XVIII.] FAITH THE WAY TO SALVATION. 315 change my unholy nature, and rectify the criminal dis- orders of my soul ; I am unable to subdue the sins that dwell in me, or to practise the required duties of holiness; I deserve condemnation and death, and I am by nature walking in the way to hell ; helpless and hopeless for ever in myself, but in thy rich grace is all my hope: I rejoice in the discoveries of thy mercy ; I comeat the call of thy gospel, upon the bended knees of my soul I accept of the proposals of thy grace; I give up myself to thy power and mercy, as it is revealed in Jesus Christ, thy Son, that I may be saved from sin and hell. To me be= longs nothing but. shame and confusion of face ; I re- nounce for ever all self- sufficiency, and if ever I am sav- ed, thy grace shall have all the glory." Now when a poor humbled sinner is brought thus far, and receives the salvation of God in this lowly posture of soul, the great God has obtained a good part of his designs in the gos- pel upon him : self is humbled, grace is glorified, and the sinner is saved by faith. REMARK V. Heaven is made up of believers. The whole number of the saved were once sinners, and ob- tained salvation by faith, The holy angels indeed never sinned, and yet whether their confirmed state of holiness andglory is not secured . to them by trust or dependance on Christ, may be a rea- sonable enquiry; for all things in heaven andearth are said to be gathered together, and reconciled in him, Epk. i. 10. Col. i. 20. But this we are sure of, that not one of all the race of Adam hath been restored to the love of God, or raised to heaven, by their own works but all by faith. It is sovereign and glorious grace that has saved them all, and that by the gospel too, in the various edi- tions of it, from the promise in Eden, till the full disco- very of grace at the day of pentecost after the ascension of Christ. O it is a pleasing entertainment of soul to send our thoughts forward to the last great day, or to send them upward to the courts of heaven and glory, and to hear how the millions of redeemed sinners shout and sing to the honour of divine grace ! how all that happy world of believers assist the melody, and dwell upon_the de- lightful sound. " Not unto us, O God our Father, not unto us, but to thine own name, and to thy mercy be all
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