e saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not of works, lest any man should
boast." Many people would put it thus: "For by your works are ye
saved,--or by your tears, or your prayers, or your fastings, or your
trials, or your good resolutions, or your money!" But Paul tells us
plainly that it is "not of works, lest any man should boast." If we
could be saved by works, then of course Christ's mission to this
world was a mistake. There was no need for Him to come.

What had Paul ever done that could merit salvation? Up to the time
that Christ called him he had done everything he could against
Christ and against Christianity. He was in the very act of going to
Damascus to cast into prison every Christian he could find. If he
had not been stopped, many of them would probably have been put to
death. It was Paul, you remember, who cheered on the mob that stoned
Stephen. Yet we find that when Christ met him He dealt in grace with
him. No apostle says so much against salvation by works _before_ the
cross, as Paul; and none says so much about works _after_ the cross.
He put works in their right place. I have very little sympathy with
any man who has been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of
God, and who has not got the spirit of work. If we are children of
God we ought not to have a lazy drop of blood in our veins. If a man
tells me that he has been saved, and does not desire to work for the
honor of God, I doubt his salvation. Laziness belongs to the old
creation, not to the new. In all my experience I never knew a lazy
man to be converted--never. I have more hope of the salvation of
drunkards, and thieves, and harlots, than of a lazy man.

WHAT THE THIRTY-NINE ARTICLES SAY.

I find some people have accused me of teaching heresy, because I say
salvation is all of grace. I remember once, a clergyman said I was
teaching false doctrine because I said salvation was all of grace.
He said that works had as much to do with our salvation as grace. At
that time I had never read the Thirty-Nine Articles; if I had I
should have been ready to meet him. I got the Prayer Book, and
looked through the Thirty-Nine Articles; and I found, to my
amazement, that they put it a good deal stronger than I had done.

Let us hear what they say--

"XI. _Of the Justification of Man._ We are accounted righteous
before God, only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
by Faith, and not for our own