Giver and Lord of life, whose power And guardian care for all are free; To Thee in fierce temptation’s hour, From sin and _Satan_ let us flee. Thine, Lord, we are, and ours thou art; In us be all thy goodness shew’d; Renew, enlarge, and fill our heart With peace and joy and heaven and God. Blessing and honour, praise and love, Co-equal, Co-eternal, Three, In earth below, in heaven above, By all thy works be paid to thee. Thrice holy, thine the kingdom is, The power omnipotent is thine; And when created nature dies, Thy never-ceasing glories shine. SERMON XXVII. UPON OUR LORD’S SERMON ON THE MOUNT. DISCOURSE VII. MATT. vi. 16, 17, 18. _Moreover when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou when thou fastest, anoint thy head and wash thy face: That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly._ 1. IT has been the endeavour of _Satan_ from the beginning of the world, to put asunder what God had joined together; to separate inward from outward religion, to set one of these at variance with the other. And herein he has met with no small success, among those who were _ignorant of his devices_. Many in all ages, having a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge, have been strictly attached to the _righteousness of the law_, the performance of outward duties, but in the mean time wholly regardless of inward righteousness, _the righteousness which is of_ God _by faith_. And many have run into the opposite extreme, disregarding all outward duties, perhaps even _speaking evil of the law and judging the law_, so far as it enjoins the performance of them. 2. It is by this very device of _Satan_, that faith and works have been so often set at variance with each other. And many who had a real zeal for God, have for a time fallen into the snare on either hand. Some have magnified faith to the utter exclusion of good works, not only from being the cause of our justification (for we know that a man is _justified freely by the redemption which is in_ Jesus) but from being the necessary fruit of it; yea, from having any place in the religion of _Jesus Christ_. Others, eager to avoid this dangerous mistake, have run as much too far the contrary way; and either maintained, That good works were the cause, at least the previous condition of justification; or spoken of them as if they were all in all, the whole religion of _Jesus Christ_.