[March 20th, 1853.]
I. Reason is neither the source nor the standard of divine truth. Yet all truth commends itself to enlightened and sanctified reason, i.e., to reason in holy persons. The religion of the Bible, in other words, accords with the consciousness of men. Two truths are universally admitted by unrenewed men; viz.: their own ill-desert and helplessness. The only religion therefore suited to convinced sinners must teach salvation by grace.
II. Salvation includes,
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Pardon, or deliverance from the curse of the law.
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Deliverance from the dominion of sin.
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The blessedness of heaven.
III. This salvation is by grace. 1. As to pardon. It is entirely free and undeserved. It is not founded on any thing we can do or have done. The source of it is the love of God. The ground of it is the merit of Christ.
It is of free grace that one man and not another is pardoned. It would not be gratuitous if this were not the case. Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called; but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; and base things of the world and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not to bring to nought things that are; that no flesh should glory in his presence.
- As to sanctification. a. The power by which it is effected is not nature, not rites, but entirely the Spirit of God. In regeneration the Spirit does everything. In sanctification, he excites and aids and gives efficacy to the means.
b. The gift of the Holy Spirit is a matter of grace. God gives his Spirit not according to our merit, not because of any peculiar susceptibility in one rather, or more than in another, but simply according to his own good pleasure.
- As to the blessedness of heaven.
This is also entirely gratuitous. It is the reward of Christ’s work, not of ours. Though according to our works, yet those works are themselves a part of our salvation and the gift of God. Those whom he most blessed here, he blesses most hereafter.
Salvation therefore is entirely of grace. 1. That God provided salvation at all. 2. That he saves some and not others. 3. In its application, i.e., in the points above mentioned, vocation, justification, sanctification, heaven, it is all of grace.
Inferences
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This trait is the leading characteristic of the gospel. Everything that detracts from this attribute mars the gospel. Therefore it is a test of doctrine.
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Religious experience, so far as genuine, is the accordance of our experience with the truth of God. Therefore, our subject affords a test of religious experience.
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It furnishes the only guide to inquirers. This is the truth which they need, without which they grope in darkness. Guilt and helplessness and gratuitous salvation go together.
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