Sermon III, "The Impossibility of Creature-Merit," on 1 Chronicles 29:14, in Sermons, edited by C. P. M'Ilvaine, vol. 1 (New York: Stanford and Swords, 1847), p. 32

If I can merit, salvation may be partly of debt, and I may earn it as wages. If I cannot merit, salvation must be wholly of grace, and I must receive it as a gift. And thus every dispute upon justification by faith, ever…