works of the law, for such are cursed in their deeds, instead of being blessed; much less the works of darkness, which are errors and heresy: and there are also deceitful workers, who walk in craftiness, and handle the word of God deceitfully, in order to make the heart of the righteous sad, and to strengthen the hands of evil doers; but which of all these sorts of workers are blessed in their deeds? I answer, none of them; for they that are of the works of the law are under the curse, and so are they who are of the works of darkness; and, "Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord deceitfully."

There are various branches of doing in scripture; but the doers themselves are ranged in two classes, and the one is opposed or set in opposition to the other by God himself. "O love the Lord, all ye his saints: for the Lord preserveth the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer."

The one here is called a saint, one separated to Gods service, to grace here, and to glory hereafter, in the purpose of God; and they are called to be saints, and are sanctified, being washed in Christ's blood, and renewed by the Spirit these are called the faithful, whom God preserves; and the other is the proud doer, who works to be seen of men, and boasts of his performances, whom God plentifully rewardeth for all his pride, and for all his doings, as he did the Jewish pharisees; and this we have often seen

with our eyes, when their doings have lifted them up in pride till they have fell into the condemnation of the devil, and have appeared vagabonds in this world, with the evident tokens of perdition upon them.

This doer of the word of truth, who is blessed in his deed, must be a believer; for, as before observed, they that are of the works of the law are under the curse, and there is no blessing where there is no faith; as many as are of faith, are blessed with faithful Abraham. But then there are many persuasions in the world that are called faith; this is true, but then these persuasions come not from him that called us. Abraham's faith we know was of God, and it was not the faith of universal redemption, nor of universal grace; for though Lot came out of Haran with him, yet there was not one called out of the land of the Chaldeans but Abraham, as God says, "Look unto Abraham your father, and to Sarah that bare you, for I called him alone, and blessed him, and increased him." Therefore Abraham's faith was the faith of God's elect, which is the only faith in this world that is of God, and that has God's blessing annexed to it; and sure I am that the doer of the word in my text is a worker in faith, or a faithful worker, for "whatsoever is not of faith is sin." Besides this man is blessed in his deed, not for it; and as many as are of faith, are blessed with faithful, Abraham, for all Abraham's children are sure to copy after their

father. "If ye were the children of Abraham, would do the works of Abraham."

ye

But what was Abraham's work? Why the obedience of faith; he obeyed God and went out, at God's call. But had he light, or a talent, or a stock of grace, or of power, to come to Christ of himself? No, the Lord called him. Had he a stock of wisdom or knowledge to direct his way? No, "He obeyed, and went out not knowing whither he went." Abraham walked by faith, not by sight. Did he bring any of his free-will, or human performances, to God for acceptance? No, he came to receive, not to give; he came into a country that he should afterwards receive for an inheritance. In his way to Canaan he depended on the wisdom of God to direct him; and when he came there, he waited on God for further orders: and God appeared, and told him that it was he that called him out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give him the land, and he bids him walk through it, and he did so; and then in faith, and out of gratitude, he builds an altar, and calls upon the name of the Lord, the everlasting God, in prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. God then promises him a seed in which he and all the nations of the earth should be blessed; he believes it, and God reckons that seed to him for righte

ousness.

God bids him to walk before him, and to be upright. "I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward." In the type of Canaan he receives

heaven in faith and hope; in the seed promised he sees Christ at a distance, and is persuaded of his coming, and embraces him in love; and in Christ God becomes his shield of defence, and through Christ he is his God, his portion, and his exceeding great reward.

Abraham lives by faith till Isaac comes, and in him he sees the nigher approach of his great Redeemer. He is bid to offer him up; he does it in faith that God was able to raise him from the dead. God receives him in a figure, and Abraham receives him back again in reality, and sees the day of Christ in the type. "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad."

He is ordered to circumcise his family, a seal in his flesh that the righteousness of Christ was on him, and that the love of God, a better seal, was in him. He charges his household to observe his own conduct, and to depend on God, and not to take Isaac, nor to go themselves into the old country again or into the world, from whence they came out. He dies in faith, and obtains this good report, that he obeyed God's voice, kept his charge, his statutes, his commandments, and his laws. God's voice to him was to quit the Chaldeans. His charge was, to abide in Canaan, to circumcise his family, to offer up Isaac, and to walk before God. His statutes were eternal life by the faith that he had, and that to all generations for evermore. God's commandment to him

was, to turn out the bond woman, and her son, and to call the seed that was to come in Isaac, not in Ishmael; and God's law to him was the law of faith, that excludes boasting, and brings an imputed righteousness to the heart, and the humbled sinner to the foot of the Lamb, as the greatest of all debtors to sovereign grace. These were the works of Abraham, and all his children do the same.

They are called of God, and come out of the world; they walk by faith, and not by sight; they receive in faith and hope the heavenly country, and call upon God in prayer, praise, and thankfulness, for what they have in heart and hope; they abide in the covenant, as he did in Canaan, and have no desire to go back from whence they came; they offer up their all, rather than part with Christ; their hearts are circumcised to love God, which is a seal to them that they are justified by faith, which always works by love; they bring up their family in the nurture and admonition of God, and separate themselves from the children of the flesh that persecute the heirs of promise, and suffer not the bond woman to domineer over the free in the household of faith, nor a bastard to claim the inheritance of grace and glory, but send them into the wilderness of this world, to which they belong: these are the works of Abraham, and this is the doer of the word.

This doer in James's account is begotten from