Grace

A sinful creature can have no claim upon God; that would be to make salvation of works and not of grace. If men can merit salvation, then to save them is only payment of a debt, and he gives them nothing more than he ought. But grace must be distinguishing if it be grace at alL

Grace knows no distinction; it is no respecter of persons, but God calleth whom he wills, and he called the worst of publicans, in the worst of cities, from the worst of trades.

Grace is not spoiled by the rotten wooden spout it runs through. God did once speak by an ass to Balaam, but that did not spoil his words. He can fill the mouth of ravens with food for an Elijah, and yet the raven is a raven still.

God does choose the last men: he does not care for the diamond, but he picks up the pebble stones, for he is able, out of “stones, to raise up children unto Abraham.” God is more wise than the chemist: he not only refines gold, but he transmutes base metal into precious jewels; he takes the filthiest and the vilest, and fashions them into glorious beings, makes them saints, whereas they have been sinners, and sanctifies them, whereas they have been unholy.

He who has grace in his heart is free; he has right upon his side; he has God within him — the indwelling Spirit of the Holy Ghost; he is a prince of the blood royal of heaven; he is a noble, having the true patent of nobility; he is one of God’s elect, distinguished, chosen children, and he is not the man to bend or meanly cringe.

It is a blessed sign of the work of grace in the heart, when man begins to consider God. If we desire to seek after God, to know him, to be at peace with him, it is a sign that God has dealings with our soul, otherwise we should still have hated his name and abhorred his character.

The first work of grace is to enlighten the soul. By nature we are entirely dark; the Spirit, like a lamp, sheds light into the dark heart, revealing its corruption, displaying its sad state of destitution, and, in due time, revealing Christ, so that in his light we may see light.

A sinner without grace attempting to reform himself is like Sisyphus rolling the stone up hill, which always comes down with greater force. A man without grace attempting to save himself is engaged in as hopeless a task as the daughters of Danaus, when they attempted to fill a vast vessel with bottomless buckets. He has a bow without a string, a sword without a blade, a gun without powder.

He who bindeth Leviathan and cutteth the dragon in twain, if he have purposes of grace towards you, will work those purposes out. If he be determined to save, he will himself lure you into the wilderness, and give you a new heart and a right spirit; and if so he hath decreed it, the hour shall come when with one blow from the hammer of his word your heart shall be broken in pieces, and with one word from the book of cordials your soul shall rejoice in pardon bought with blood.

Our only hope, our only plea, still hangs on grace, as exhibited in the person of Jesus Christ. We must utterly reject and disregard all thought that -our graces, which are gifts of our Lord, which are his right-hand planting, could have ever caused his love.

The doctrines of grace will give to the soul God’s sweet lullaby, wherewith he singeth his children to sleep, even in storms. They are God’s sheet anchors, which are cast out into the sea, to hold our little vessels fast in the midst of tempests.

There is a cementing power in the grace of God which can scarcely be over estimated. It resets the dislocated bones of society, rivets the bonds of friendship, and welds the broken metal of manhood into one united mass.

The glorified spirits above are not more acceptable to God than the poor man below, who is once justified by grace. It is a perfect washing, it is perfect pardon, perfect imputation; we are fully, freely, and wholly accepted, through Christ our Lord.

If grace did not guide a man, he would go astray, though there were hand-posts all the way to heaven. Let it be written, “Miklat, Miklat, the way to refuge,” he would turn aside, and the avenger of blood would overtake him, if some guide did not, like the angels in Sodom, put his hand on his shoulders, and cry, “Escape for thy life! look not behind thee; stay not in all the plain.”

He who boasts of grace has little grace to boast of: there are some who think their graces can keep them, knowing not that the stream must flow constantly from the fountain head, else the bed of the brook shall soon be dry, and we shall see the pebbles at the bottom. If a continuous stream of oil come not to the lamp, though it burn brightly to-day, it shall smoke to-morrow, and noxious will be the scent thereof.

Grace makes the great man give his hand to the poor, and confess a heavenly relationship; grace weaves the threads of our separate individualities into one undivided unity.

Get a knowledge of that science which is the most despised, but which is the most necessary of all, — the science of Christ crucified, and of the great doctrines of grace.

Never shall we value grace so much as when we see the evil from which it delivers us; never shall we more abhor sin than when we discern its visible deformity.