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deceived by pride. Man cannot endure to be saved on the footing of mercy; he loves not to plead guilty and throw him self on the favor of the great King; he cannot brook to be treated as a pauper, and blessed as a matter of charity; he desires to have a finger in his own sal vation, and claim at least a little credit for it. Proud man will not have heaven itself upon terms of grace; but go long as he can he sets up one plea or another, and holds to his own righteousness as though it were his life. You must either have salvation whSlly because you deserve it, or wholly be cause God graciously bestows it though you do not deserve it. You must receive salvation at the Lord’s hand either as a debt or as a charity; there can be no mingling of the ideas. That which is a pure donation of favor cannot also b e , a reward of personal deserving. A com bination of the two principles of law and grace is utterly impossible. Trust in our own works in any degree effect ually shuts us out from all hope of sal vation by grace: and so it frustrates the grace of God. Thjs hoping to be saved by our own righteousness robs God of His glory. It as good as says, “We want no grace; we need no free favor.” It reads of the new covenant which infinite love has made, but by clinging to the old covenant it puts dishonor upon it. In its heart it murmurs, “ What need of this covenant of grace? The covenant of works answers every purpose for us.” It reads of the great gift of grace in the person of Jesus Christ, and it does despite thereto by the secret thought that human doings are as good as the life and death of the Son of God. It
SELF SALVATION ELF-'RIGHTEOUSNESS is na tural to our fallen human ity. Hence, it is the essence of all false religions. Be they what they may, they all agree in seeking salvation by our own deeds. He who
worships his idols will torture his body, will fast, Will perform long pilgrimages, and do or endure anything in order to merit salvation. The Romish church holds Up continually before thè eyes of its votaries the prize to be earned by self-denial, by penance, by prayers, or by sacraments, or by some other per formances of man. Go where you may, the natural reli gion of fallen man is salvation by his own merits. An old divine has well said, “ Every man is born a heretic upon this point, and he naturally gravitates toward this heresy in one form or an other. Self-salvation, either by his per sonal worthiness, or by his repentance, or by his resolves, is a hope ingrained in human nature, and very hard to remove. This foolishness is bound up in the heart of every child, and who shall get it out of him?” This erroneous idea arises partly from ignorance, for men are Ignorant of the law of God, and of what holiness really is. If they knew that even an evil thought is a breach of the law, and that the law once broken in any point is altogether violated, they would be at once convinced that there can be no righteousness by the law to those who have already offended against it. Nor is it ignorance alone which leads men to self-righteousness: they are also
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