SERMON IV.

ON A PROPER ADMINISTRATION AND RECEPTION OF THE DOCTRINES OF GRACE.

2 COR. VI. 1.—“We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also, that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."

NOTHING can be more encouraging to such a creature, feeble and fallen as man, than those views of the Supreme Being disclosed by the inspired author of the text, in the concluding part of the preceding chapter. There God is represented under attributes of mercy and beneficence, so perfectly suited to our necessities and guilty state, as must render him the object of our warmest affection, our most unreserved confidence, and our sincerest gratitude and adoration; and however the advocates for the light of nature may vainly boast of their discoveries, it may be pronounced absolutely impossible for unassisted reason to discover any means whereby guilty creatures could hope to satisfy the justice, or regain the friendship, of their Maker. our knowledge, with regard to this momentous subject, must be collected from revelation alone.

All

None else but the only begotten Son of the Father could communicate the divine will to mankind, and disclose the method by which sinful man was to appease the justice of his offended God. Upon this principle Saint Paul proceeds when he says,* "all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation, to wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us; we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."

The apostle then comes to the chapter commencing with the words of the text; and we shall not wonder that he is so much in earnest about our salvation, if we recollect what he honestly declared (in his first epistle to Timothy) he himself was, before his conversion to the faith of Christ; "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious" to the cause of his Redeemer: yet, "because he did it ignorantly in unbelief, he obtained mercy," and was chosen by divine wisdom, as a special instrument, to publish the

* 2 Cor. v. 18-21.

glorious Gospel of the incarnate God: on which account he justly styles himself "a worker together with God;" and, in this character, he earnestly besought the Corinthians, as I now affectionately exhort you, "not to receive the grace of God in vain." For we, brethren, every one of us, like Saint Paul, are pensioners upon the free grace of God, as, I trust, was proved in my discourses last Sunday and this morning, to all, except those, who "wilfully turn their ears from the truth."

The kindness and love of God our Saviour were the subject of those discourses; and happy shall I be, if, by God's blessing, I may have been the humble means of comforting any heart that was utterly cast down by dread of the divine vengeance. The mercies, nay, the tender mercies of our heavenly Father, we know are over all his works; and we learn from the whole tenor, as well as the express declarations of scripture, that Jesus Christ came down from heaven, and "suffered death upon the cross, that all men, through him, might be saved." Surely, then, believing, penitent, sinners may cherish the hope that they, even they, like Saint Paul, may be saved. Their case, and that of hardened unbelieving infidels, are widely different. For, what saith the Word of Truth?"He that believeth on the Son, hath life-and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life,

How

Let

but the wrath of God abideth on him." awful are these declarations! "God is provoked with the wicked every day"-not the thoughtless, ignorant, wicked, but the thinking, self-wise, wicked, are the objects of his aversion. Against them he hath bent his bow, and made it ready; he hath also prepared for them the instruments of death." How hopeless a warfare, then, does the sinner undertake who fighteth against God! Who ever thus encountered and prospered? What stronghold or secret place is there, where the enemies of Jehovah may be safe?" them try the whole creation. Ascend to heaven; and He is there in the brightness of his majesty: go down to the regions of darkness in hell; and He is there in the severity of his justice: take the wings of the morning, and fly to the uttermost parts of the sea; there his boundless dominion extends; yes, even there, sinner! his right hand shall hold thee, a prisoner to his vengeance. Go ask protection from hosts of angels and archangels, and they will tell thee they have no power to save, that there is none other name but that of Christ, which can do it; they will tell thee also that one sin, even rebellion against God, ruined myriads of their companions; how, then, should they protect thee from the penalty of unnumbered transgressions? and if such exalted beings cannot afford the impenitent sinner the least assistance, "surely in vain is salvation looked

for from the hills and from the mountains of infidelity; "-hills and mountains, (supposed munitions of strength,) which will crumble into dust, "at the blasting of the breath of God's displeasure." No: it is the arm alone of that Saviour, before whom devils trembled, that can save but even he can profit us nothing, till we receive him into our hearts by faith; and, as a proof that we are his disciples indeed, do the things which he commandeth. Wherefore, let

me beseech you, brethren,-not to render the grace of God abortive to yourselves, by sneeringly reflecting on the exalted happiness of those, who, having repented truly of their sins, and relied entirely on the mercy of a compassionate Saviour, through grace, have obtained it.

Much is it to be feared, that many thoughtless transgressors, in their reckless folly, "make a mock at sin," and deride the fears of the contrite and the penitent. But let such go and ask the penitent and pardoned sinner, in what estimation he holds the benefit of forgiveness, and remission of his sins. How highly he values "the peace of God, which passeth all understanding!" Let them hear the honest confession of one who thus spoke from deep and thorough conviction: "Blessed is he," "Blessed is he," says the psalmist, "whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered; blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity." "O Lord, my God, I