+III. The necessity of works does not diminish the grace of God in our salvation nor afford us any pretence for boasting.+--1. Humility essentially belongs to the Christian temper. 2. The mighty preparation God has made for our recovery teaches that the human race is of great importance in the scale of rational beings and in the scheme of God's universal government. 3. It infinitely concerns us to comply with the proposals of the Gospel. 4. Let no man flatter himself that he is in a state of salvation as long as he lives in the neglect of good works. 5. Let us be careful that we mistake not the nature of good works.--_Lathrop._ Ver. 8. _True Justifying Faith is not of Ourselves._--It is through grace that we believe in the grace of God. God's grace and love, the source; faith, the instrument; both His gift. The origin of our coming to Christ is of God. Justifying faith, not human assent, but a powerful, vivifying thing which immediately works a change in the man and makes him a new creature and leads him to an entirely new and altered mode of life and conduct. Hence justifying faith is a Divine work. _MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.--Verse_ 10. _The Christian Life a Divine Creation._ +I. The true Christian a specimen of the Divine handiwork.+--"We are His workmanship." So far is man from being the author of his own salvation, or from procuring salvation for the sake of any works of his own, that not only was his first creation as a man the work of God, but his new spiritual creation is wholly the result of Divine power. Man, in the marvellous mechanism of his body, and in his unique mental and spiritual endowments, is the noblest work of God. He is the lord and high priest of nature and has such dominion over it as to be able to combine and utilise its forces. But the creation of the new spiritual man in Christ Jesus is a far grander work, and a more perfect and exalted specimen of the Divine handiwork. It is a nearer approach to a more perfect image of the Divine character and perfections. As the best work of the most gifted genius is a reflection of his loftiest powers, so the new spiritual creation is a fuller revelation of the infinite resources of the Divine Worker. +II. The Christian life is eminently practical.+--"Created in Christ Jesus for good works" (R.V.). The apostle never calls the works of the law good works. We are not saved by, but created unto, good works. Works do not justify, but the justified man works, and thus demonstrates the reality of his new creation. "I should have thought mowers very idle people," said John Newton, "but they work while they whet the scythe. Now devotedness to God, whether it mows or whets the scythe, still goes on with the work. A Christian should never plead spirituality for being a sloven; if he be but a shoe-cleaner, he should be the best in the parish."