323 / 514
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
come
at
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 and
earth 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