of  God's  exceeding  love  and  kindness  towards  us.
There  is  no  proportion  between  even  our  best
services  and  that  reward  which  God  hath  in  re-
serve for  them  that  love  him.  Why  then  are
such  services  to  be  so  rewarded  1  It  is  the  grace
of  God  ;  it  is  the  riches  of  his  grace ;  in  other
•words,  his  abounding  kindness  and  favour ;  it  is
liis  love ;  it  is  his  mercy.  In  this  manner  the  sub-
ject is  constantly  represented  in  Scripture ;  and  it
is  an  article  of  the  Christian  religion.  And  to
possess  our  minds  with  a  sense,  an  adequate  sense,
so  far  as  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  of  this  truth,  is  a
duty  of  the  religion.  But  to  be  ruminating  and
meditating  upon  our  virtues,  is  not  the  way  to  ac-
quire that  sense.  Such  meditations  breed  opinions
of  merit  and  desert ;  of  presumption,  of  pride,  of
superciliousness,  of  self  complacency ;  tempers  of
mind,  in  a  word,  not  only  incoinpatible  with  hu-
mility, but  also  incompatible  with  that  sense  of
divine  love  and  mercy  towards  us,  which  lies  at
the  root  of  all  true  religion,  is  the  source  and
fountain  of  all  true  piety.
