through him and yet not to apply and buckle our selves thereto were indeed to beleeve what is true but yet no saving faith because we embraced not the thing we beleeved as we beleeved it Thou sayest then thou hast faith and beleevest that Christ is the atonement to God for the sins of all such as leave and forsake their sins by repentance Why then repent thee of thy sins that Christ may be an atonement for thee Thou sayest thou hast this faith that God in Jesus Christ will accept thy undeserving works and services unto eternall life why then embrace thou Christ and rely upon him for this end that thou mayest do works of piety towards God and charity towards men that so God in Christ may accept thee and them unto eternall life Now if this be the faith which is saving and unites us unto Christ and no other then it is plain that a saving faith cannot be severed from good works because no man can embrace Christ as he is promised but he must apply himself to do them For out of that which hath been spoken three reasons may be gathered for the necessity of them First it is the end of our faith and justification by Christ yea the end why he shed his blood for us that we being reconciled to God in him might bring forth fruits of righteousnesse which else we could never have done This is no speculation but plain Scripture S. Peter 1 â—p 2. 24. telleth us that Christ his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousnesse S. Paul Tit. 2. 11 12 13 14. The grace of God saith he that bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all men wherefore teaching us that denying ungodlinesse and worldly lusts we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world looking for that blessed hope the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Iesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works These words contain the summe of all I have hitherto told you That Christ is therefore given us to be a propitiation for our sins and to justifie us that in him we might walk before God in newnesse of life so to obtain a Crown of righteousnesse in the world to come Answerable is that place Ephes. 2. 10. where the Apostle having told us we are saved by grace through faith and not of works lest any man should boast he addes presently lest his meaning might be mistaken as it is of too many that we are Gods workmanship created in Iesus Christ unto good works which God hath before ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should walk in them as if he should say Those works of obedience ordained by God aforetime in his law for us to walk in which we could not perform of our selves now God hath as it were new moulded us in Jesus Christ that we might perform them in him namely by way of acceptation though they come short of that exactnesse the Law requireth And thus to be saved is to be saved by grace and favour and not by the merit of works because the foundation whereby our selves and our services are approved in the eyes of God and acquitted of guilt which the Scripture calleth to be justified is the meer favour of God in Jesus Christ and not any thing in us And this way of salvation excludes all boasting for what have we to boast of when all the righteousnesse of our works is none of ours but Christs imputed to us whereby onely and not for any merit in themselves they become acceptable and have promise of reward But that men should be saved by Christ though they be idle and doe nothing I know no such grace of God revealed in Scripture Now that in Christ we may perform works of righteousnesse which God will accept and crown is plain by the tenour of Scripture S. Paul Philip. 1. 11. desires that the Philippians might be filled with the fruits of righteousnesse which are by Iesus Christ unto the glory and praise of God And the same Apostle tels the Romanes Rom. 6. 22. that being made free from sin and become servants to God they have their fruit unto holinesse and the end everlasting life that is as the Syriack turns it Sunt vobis fructus sancti they have holy fruits whose end is life eternall And if we would seriously consider it we should finde that the more we beleeve this righteousnesse of faith in Christ the more reason we have to perform works of service and obedience unto God then if we beleeved it not For if our works would not be acceptable with God unlesse they were compleat in every point as the Law required if there were no reward to be looked for at the hands of God unlesse we could merit it by the worthinesse of our deeds who that considers his own weaknesse and insufficiency would not sooner despair then go about to please God by works He would think it better to do nothing at all then to endevour what he could never hope to attain and so lose his labour But we who beleeve that those who serve God in Christ have their failings and wants covered with his righteousnesse and so their works accepted as if they were in every point as they should be why should not we of all men fall to work being sure by Christs means and merit we shall not lose our labour A second motive why we should do good works is because they are the way and means ordained by God to obtain the reward of eternall life without which we shall never attain it Without holinesse no man shall see God Heb. 12. 14. Look to your selves saith S. Iohn Ep. 2. ver 8. that ye lose not those things ye have wrought for but that ye may receive a full reward The Angels message from heaven to devout Cornelius was Thy prayers and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God whereupon S. Peter inferred that in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousnesse is accepted with him Acts 10. Hence it is that we shall be judged and receive sentence at the last day according to our works Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you from the foundation of the world For I was hungry and ye gave me meat I was thirsty and ye gave me drink I was a stranger and ye took me in naked and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison and ye came unto me For in as much as ye have done these unto one of the least of my brethren ye have done it unto me Lord how do those look to be saved at that day who think good works not required to salvation and accordingly do them not Can our Saviour passe this blessed sentence on them think they
neglect of such duties of piety and charity which amongst our Fore-fathers were frequent as also our open profession when being exhorted to these works of piety to God and of charity towards our brethren we stick not to alledge we are not bound unto them because we look not to be saved by the merit of works as they but by faith in Christ alone as though faith in Christ excluded works and not rather included them as being that whereby they became acceptable unto God which of themselves they are not or as if works could no way conduce unto the attaining of salvation but by way of merit and desert and not by way of the grace and favour of God in Christ as we shall see in the handling of this Text. We greatly now a days and that most dangerously mistake the errour of our forefathers which was not in that they did good works I would we did so but because they knew not rightly the end why they did them nor where the value of them lay they thought the end of doing them was to obtain eternall life as a reward of Justice due unto them whereas it is onely of grace and promise in Christ Jesus They took their works to have such perfectness in them as would endure the touchstone of the Law of God yea such worth and value as to merit the reward they looked for whereas all the value and acceptablenesse of our works issueth from the merit of Christ and lieth onely in his righteousnesse communicated unto us and them by faith and no otherwise But setting aside these errours of the end and of the value of works we must know as well as they That not every one that saith unto Christ Lord Lord c. but he that doth the will of his Father c. Now for the Explication of the words To call Christ Lord is to beleeve in him to acknowledge him to look for salvation by him or as the Scripture expresseth it Luke 6. to come unto him every one saith our Saviour there explaining this very Text we have in hand Every one saith he that commeth unto me and heareth my words and doth them I will shew you who he is like where to come unto Christ is put in stead of that which in the former was to say unto him Lord. The doing of his Fathers will is the doing of those works of obedience which his Father hath commanded in his Law and now committed to his Son whom he hath made the head and King of his Church to see executed and performed by those he bringeth to salvation But how and in what manner we shall see by and by The Text consists of two parts The one negative Not every one that saith unto Christ Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven The other affirmative But those who doe the will of his Father shall onely enter thither But these are so nearly linked together that they cannot be handled asunder And the observations which I shall draw thence depend on the whole Text the first and chiefest whereof is this That faith in Christ without works of obedience and amendment of life is not sufficient for salvation and consequently not that faith whereby a Christian is justified For if it were it would save us If it be not sufficient to save us it cannot justifie us This floweth directly from the Text and cannot be denied if ye remember what I said before that to call Christ Lord is to beleeve in him For the better understanding of this you must take notice that there is a threefold faith whereby men beleeve in Christ There is a false faith There is a true faith but not saving and thirdly there is a saving faith A false faith is to beleeve to attain salvation through Christ any other way then he hath ordained as namely to beleeve to attain salvation through him without works of obedience to be accepted of God in him which is a faith whereof there is no Gospel A true faith is to beleeve salvation is to be attained through obedience to God in Jesus Christ who by his merits and righteousnesse makes our selves and our works acceptable to his Father A saving and justifying faith is to beleeve this so as to embrace and lay hold upon Christ for that end To believe to attain salvation through obedience to God in Christ so as to apply our selves and rely upon Christ for that end namely to perform those works of obedience which God hath promised to reward with eternall life For a justifying faith stayeth not onely in the brain but stirs up the will to receive and enjoy the good beleeved according as it is promised This motion of election of the will is that which maketh the difference between a saving faith which joyneth us unto Christ and that which is true indeed but not saving but dogmaticall and opinionative onely And this motion or applying of the will to Christ this embracing of Christ and the promises of the Gospel through him is that which the Scripture when it speaks of this faith calleth comming unto Christ or the receiving of him Joh. 1. 12. As many as received him to them he gave power or priviledge to be the sons of God even to them that beleeve on his Name where receiving and beleeving one expound another So for comming Come unto me saith our Saviour all ye that are heavy laden and I will ease you The last is very frequent Iohn 5. 40. Ye will not come to me saith our Saviour that ye might have life And Chap. 6. 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me ver 44. No man can come unto me unlesse the Father draw him 45. Every man that hath heard and learned of the Father commeth unto me and such like All which expresse the specification of a saving faith which consists in the embracing receiving and applying of the will to the thing beleeved What this embracing receiving or applying unto Christ is I will farther make plain thus He that beleeveth that Christ is an atonement to God for the sins of all repentant sinners and surely he is an atonement for none else must repent and turn from all his sinnes that so Christ may be an atonement for him else he embraceth not what he beleeveth He that beleeves that God in Christ will accept and reward our obedience and works of piety though short of perfection and of no worth in themselves must apply himself accordingly to doe works of Religion and Charity that God in Christ may accept and reward them For our beleef is not that saving beleef untill we apply our selves to what we beleeve To beleeve to attain salvation through Christ without works of obedience to be accepted in him is as I have already said a false faith whereof there is no Gospel no promise To beleeve the contrary that Christ is given of God to such only as shall receive him to perform acceptable obedience to God
pray unto God for a blessing from an instrument which he is wont to give us by an instrument Secondly it may be said that the words Grace and Peace need not to be taken in that speciall and strict sense but in the large and generall wherein Grace sounds favour at large and Peace all manner of prosperity In which sense no man will deny but the blessed Angels have an interest in the dispensation of the favours and blessings of God to his Church and so God may be prayed to to give them as he is wont by their ministery Grace and Peace from him which is which was and is to come as the Author and Giver and from the seven Spirits as the Instruments and from Iesus Christ as the Mediator There is yet one place more in the Apocalypse to confirm this tradition chap. 8. 2. I saw saith Saint Iohn 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The seven Angels which stood before God Is not this as plain as Tobit Why should then the one be accounted Magicall and not the other I adde moreover that these Angels are those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Principes primarii or chief Princes mentioned in the 10. of Daniel Michael one of the Princes saith the Angel there came to help me Now Michael we know is one of the Archangels And why therefore may not these chief Princes be those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereof Saint Paul speaks in his adjuration to Timothy I charge thee saith he before God and the Lord Iesus Christ and the Elect Angels not the good Angels at large but those Angeli eximii the seven Archangels which stand before the Throne of God And it may not without reason be conjectured that those seven chief Princes fained in the Persian Monarchie took their beginning from hence And that Daniel who in respect of his account for wisedom and of his power under Darius the Mede had a main stroke in the moulding and framing the government of that State caused the Persian Court to resemble that of heaven ordaining seven chief Princes to stand before the King Of which we finde twice mention in Scripture as in the book of Esther where they are recorded by name and styled The seven Princes of Media and Persia who saw the Kings face and sate first in the kingdom And in the Commission granted to Ezra by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 14. they are called The Kings seven Counsellors Forasmuch as thou art sent by the King and his seven Counsellors c. And it may be the Church of Jerusalem when they chose seven Deacons to minister unto their Bishop had an eye the same way Hitherto of the number of these Archangels now a word or two of their office And that is first to be the universall Inspectors of the whole world and the Rulers and Princes of the whole Angelical hoast which appears in that they are called Principes primarii 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 their universall jurisdiction is meant by the words sent forth into the whole earth whereas the rest are limited to certain places Secondly to have the peculiar Charge and Guardianship of the Church and affairs thereof whilst the rest of the world with their Polities Kingdoms and Governments is committed to the care of subordinate Angels who according to their severall charges may seem to carry those names of Thrones Principalities Powers and Dominions That the charge of the Church quà talis belongs thus peculiarly and immediately to the seven Archangels may appear by S. Iohns saluting the Churches with a Benediction of Grace and Peace from their ministery and the typing of them by the seven Eyes and Horns of the Lamb as Powers which the Father since he exalted Him to be Head of his Church hath annexed to his Jurisdiction Hence it comes to passe that we finde these Angels peculiarly both before and in the Gospel to have been employed about the Church affairs In the Old Testament the Angel Gabriel one of the seven revealed to Daniel the time of the restauration of the Jewish State and comming of Messiah And the Angel Michael one of the chief Princes was his assistant when he strengthened Darius the Mede who founded the Monarchy which should restore them and is in speciall termed Dan. 12. the Prince that stood for Daniels people In the Gospel we finde the same Angel Gabriel imployed both to Zachary and the Blessed Virgin with the Euangelicall Tidings and that Zachary might take notice that he was one of the seven he sayes unto him I am Gabriel that stand in the presence of God Likewise in the Churches combate with the Dragon Apoc. 12. Michael and his Angels are said to be her Champions and in her quarrel to have cast the Dragon and his Angels down to the Earth And in this Prophesie of Zachary it is said that these seven eyes of the Lord took care of one stone which Zorobabel laid for the foundation of the Temple and therefore the work could not be disappointed but should certainly at length be finished So as by this time we may guesse the meaning of that which Hanani the Seer told King Asa 2 Chron. 16. 9. The Eyes of the Lord that is these seven Eyes run to and fro through the whole Earth to shew themselves strong in the behalf of those whose hearts are perfect towards him S. MARK 11. 17. Is it not written My House shall be called a House of Prayer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to all the Nations THey are the words of our Blessed Saviour when he cast the Buyers and Sellers and Money-changers out of the Temple and forbad to carry any vessels thorow it Concerning which story it is worth observation that our Saviour whilest he was upon earth never exercised any Kingly or coactive Jurisdiction but in vindicating his Fathers house from prophanation and this he did two severall times once at the first Passeover after he began his Prophesie whereof you may read Iohn 2. And now again at his last Passeover when he came to give his soul a sacrifice for sin This is that which Saint Mark relates in this place as do also two other of the Euangelists Saint Matthew and Saint Luke The vindication of Gods House from Prophanation how little account soever we are wont to make thereof was with our blessed Saviour the Alpha and Omega the first and last of his care Vbi incipit ibi desinit The consideration of which how momentous it is I leave to your selves to judge Thus much by way of Preface Now for understanding of the words I have chosen I will divide my discourse into a Question and an Observation The Question is In what part of the Temple this Market was kept A thing not commonly enquired after by Expositors much lesse defined The Observation That this fact of our Saviour more particularly concerns us of the Gentiles then we take notice of For the first in
Then his Lord was wroth and said O thou wicked servant shouldst not thou have had compassion on thy fellow servant even as I had pity upon thee And he delivered him unto the tormentors till he should pay all that was due to him The Application is terrible So likewise saith our Saviour shall my heavenly Father doe unto you if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses We are this Servus nequam if when our heavenly Father forgives us thousands of Talents we stand with our brethren for an hundred pence There is no proportion between the offences wherewith we offend God and the offences wherewith our brother offends us And therefore we have no excuse hath our brother wronged us never so often never so much never so hainously For whatsoever it be or how unworthy or undeserved soever our sin our ingratitude to Almighty God is and hath been infinitely greater even much more then ten thousand Talents surpasse an hundred pence To these two testimonies adde a third and that also as the former out of our blessed Saviours own mouth Mat. 5. If thou bring saith he thy gift to the Altar and there remember that thy brother hath ought against thee leave there thy gift before the Altar and goe thy way First be reconciled to thy brother and then come and offer thy gift 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word whereby the Septuagint constantly render that which the Law cals Corban and the Gospel concurres with them Mar. 7. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Now Corban in the Law is in speciall used for those offerings which were made for atonement of Sin as the Burnt-offering Sin-offering Trespasse-offering and Peace-offering call'd Offerings by Fire or Sacrifices So that this precept of our Saviours here is the same in effect with the former when thou commest to offer an offering unto God for an atonement of thy sin Go thy stay first and be reconciled unto thy brother for without this thy sin shall not be forgiven thee I shall not need tell you that now in the Gospel Christ is the Sacrifice is the gift which a Christian by faith offers unto God for the propitiation of his sin and that this sacrifice is commemorated sealed and communicated unto us in the blessed Sacrament of the Lords Supper whereby it will easily appear how this precept of our Saviours uttered after the style of the legall worship is appliable to the Euangelicall Hence in the ancient Church when they assembled to celebrate this Sacrament the Deacon was wont to proclaim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ne quis contra aliquem Let no man have ought against his brother And then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Salute one another with an holy kisse which accordingly they did first the Bishop and Clergy then the Laity the men apart by themselves and the women by themselves and this was a profession of friendship and reconciliation and therefore called Osculum pacis the kisse of peace In after-times the Priest gave this kisse of peace unto the Deacon and he to the chief of the Congregation and so it was given from one to another In stead of which at length was brought in that foolish ceremony still used among the Romanists for the Priest to send a little guilded or painted Table with a Crucifix or some Saints picture thereon to be kissed of every one in the Church before they receive the Holy Bread which they call the kissing of the Pax. So oftentimes profitable and usefull Ceremonies degenerate into toyes and superstitions Our Church though she useth no ceremony retains the substance when the Priest in his exhortation to the Communicants saith If any of you be in malice or envy or any other grievous crime bewail your sins and come not to this holy Table and by the Rubrick the Priest if he know any such is to turn them back unlesse they will be reconciled Lastly the necessity of this duty is testified by that pious and generally received custome amongst Christians to exhort those that are dying to forgive all the world that so themselves may finde mercy and forgivenesse at the hands of God Is it needfull at the hour of death and not as needfull in the time of our health Is there no forgivenesse to be expected at the hands of God without it when we are dying and is there while we are living No certainly All times are alike here and there is no time wherein God will forgive us unlesse we forgive our brother What then remains but that we do every day as we would do if we were to die the next It is a blessed disposition to have a becalmed heart to those who have wronged us and not to let the Sun go down upon our wrath To be able to come before God with confidence and say Lord forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespasse against us MAT. 7. 21. Not every one that saith unto me Lord Lord shall enter into the Kingdome of heaven but he that doth the will of my Father which is in heaven THere are three sorts of men in the world some which call not Christ their Lord as Turks Jews and Infidels some which call him Lord as all Christians but not all in like manner for there are two sorts of them some which call him Lord and that is all others which both call him Lord and doe the will of his Father the administration whereof is committed to him The first of those three sorts those who do not so much as call Christ their Lord it is plain they cannot be saved for there is no other name to be saved by but the name of Christ onely For the second sort those who call Christ their Lord that is are Christians and professe to beleeve in Christ and hope to be saved by him and yet do no works of obedience unto God though such as these may think themselves in a good estate yet our Saviour here expresly excludes them from entring into the Kingdome of heaven But the third sort which doe not onely call Christ their Lord but doe the will of his Father these are the onely true Christians for these there is hope but for none other Not every one saith our Saviour that saith unto me Lord Lord c. Our Saviour foresaw there would be among those who beleeved on his Name such as should think their faith sufficient and that as for works they might be excused having him for their Lord and Captain of their salvation who himself had both undergone the punishment due for their sins and fulfilled that obedience which they should have done So that now there remained nothing on their part for to obtain salvation but to trust and rely upon him without any endeavour at all to please God by works as being now become unusefull to salvation If ever there were a time when Christians thus deceived themselves that time is now as both our practice sheweth plainly by a generall
he can If he should they might truly say indeed Lord we have done no such matter nor did we think our selves bound unto it we relied wholly upon our faith in thy merits and thought we had been freed from such services What doe they think Christ will change the form of his sentence at that great day No certainly If the sentence for Blisse will not fit them and be truly said of them the other will and must for there is no more Depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels For when I was hungry ye gave me no meat c. This must be their doome unlesse they suppose the righteous Judge will lie for them And it is here further to be observed that the works named in the sentence of Judgement are works of the second Table works of mercy and charity Feeding the hungry clothing the naked visiting the sick all Almesdeeds which men are now a-days so much afraid of as if they looked toward Popery and had a tang of meriting For now a-days these costly works of all others are most suspicious but will it be so at the day of Judgement True it is they merit not the reward which shall be given them but what then Are we so proud we will doe no works unlesse we may merit Is it not sufficient that God will reward them for Christs sake though they have no worth in themselves The third and last motive to works of righteousnesse is because they are the only sign and note whereby we know our faith is true and saving and not counterfeit For 1 Iohn 1. 8. If we say we have fellowship with Christ and walk in darknesse we lie and doe not the truth Chap. 2. ver 3. Hereby we know that we know him viz. to be our Advocate with his Father and the propitiation for our sins if we keep his Commandements And Chap. 3. 7. Little children let no man deceive you He that doeth righteousnesse is righteous even as Christ is righteous The same almost you may finde again Chap. 2. 29. For if every one that beleeveth in Christ truly and savingly beleeves that salvation is to be attained by obedience to God in him and not otherwise and therefore embraceth and layeth hold upon him for that end How can such an ones faith be fruitlesse how can he be without works who therefore lays hold on Christ that his works and obedience may be accepted as righteous before God for his sake and so rewardable It is as possible for the Sun to be without his light or the fire to want heat as such a faith to be without works Our Saviour therefore himself makes this a most sure and never failing note to build our assurance of salvation upon Luke 6. 46. where the mention of the words of my Text gives the occasion Why call ye me Lord saith he and doe not the things which I say 47. Whosoever commeth to me and heareth my sayings and doth them I will shew you to whom he is like 48. He is like a man which built an house and digged deep and laid the foundation on a rock And when the floud arose the stream beat vehemently upon that house and could not shake it for it was founded upon arock 49. But he that heareth and doth not is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth against which the stream did beat vehemently and immediately it fell and the ruine of that house was great Whom these three motives or reasons will not perswade to good works let not my soul ô Lord be joyned with theirs nor my doome be as theirs must be A second observation out of these words and near a-kin to the former is That it is not enough for a Christian to live harmlesly and abstain from ill but he must do that which is good For our Saviour excludes not here those onely who do against the will of his Father but those who do not his Fathers will It is doing good which he requireth and the not doing evill only This is an error which taketh hold of a great part of men even of those who would seem to be religious He is a reformed man and acquits himself well who abstains from fornication adultery who is no theef no couzener or defrauder of other men who will not lie or swear or such like But as for doing any works of piety or charity they think they are not required of them But they are much deceived For God requires some duties at our hands which he may reward not out of any merit but out of his mercifull promise in Christ. But not doing ill is no service rewardable A servant who expects wages must not onely do his Master no harm but some work that is good and profitable otherwise the best Christian would be he that should live altogether idlely For none doth lesse harm then he that doth nothing at all But Mat. 25. 30. He that encreased not his Masters Talent though he had not mis-spent it is adjudged an unprofitable servant and cast into utter darknesse where is weeping and gnashing of treth So also Mat. 3. The tree that beareth no good fruit is hewn down though it bore none that was evill The axe is laid to the root of the tree every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire Mat. 21. 19. The sig-tree is cursed for having no fruit not for having evill fruit And the sentence of condemnation as you heard before is to passe at that great day for not having done good works not for doing ill ones Goe ye cursed for when I was hungry ye fed me not c. Thus having let you see how necessary it is for a Christian to joyn good works with his faith in Christ I will now come to shew you how you must do them hoping I have already perswaded you that they must needs be done First therefore we must doe them out of faith in Christ that is relying upon him onely for the acceptance and rewarding of them for in him alone God is well pleased with us and with what wee doe and therefore without faith and reliance upon him it is impossible to please God We must not think there is any worth in our works for which any such reward as God hath promised is due For alas our best works are full of imperfections and far short of what the Law requires Our reward therefore is not of merit but of the mercifull promise of God in Christ which the Apostle means when he says We are saved by grace and not by works That is it is the grace and favour of God in Christ which makes our selves acceptable and our works rewardable and not any desert in them or us Having laid this foundation the next thing required is sincerity of heart in doing them we must doe them out of the fear of God and conscience of his Commandements