SERMON I.

SALVATION BY GRACE.

EPHESIANS II. 8, 9.

By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.

It is impossible there can be a subject of deeper importance, or of more general interest, than that which is treated of in these words. In a world like our own, ruined and undone, and amidst a race of guilty, perishing sinners like ourselves, salvation by free grace is a theme of no less than infinite moment and universal concern. But how, my brethren, may I hope to awaken in your minds a becoming attention to it? I know of no better way than by directing

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your thoughts to the fact of our common ruin by sin, and all the tremendous consequences thereof, as stated by St. Paul in the context-where, remember, in describing the former state of the Ephesians, he at the same time describes the state by nature of all men without exception, and of yourselves in particular. What then, it becomes us to enquire, is the Apostle's testimony on this great point? He represents the former state of the Ephesians, and indeed the natural condition of men generally, to be a state of spiritual death. Alive indeed they are to the world and all its lying vanities; alive to sin, and ardent in the pursuit of sinful objects; alive to the things of time, and proverbially assiduous in the management of their temporal affairs, in the accomplishment of their worldly schemes, and in the acquisition of worldly possessions; alive, in short, to any thing but to God and religion, to the great realities of eternity, and the salvation of their souls. In subjects of this kind they feel no interest, for objects like these they have no affections; and even for the proper consideration whether they are worth their

regard or not, they have no time and less inclination. Such is their state. We must remark next what is said of their practice. The streams are precisely such as might be expected to flow from such a fountain; the fruit, the only fruit which the tree we describe is capable of producing: they walk "according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. . . . fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind." To this divine testimony concerning the habits and practices, the principles and maxims, the affections and propensities of our corrupt nature, nothing need be added, unless it be the language of the Lord by the Prophet Isaiah" Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken: I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider. Ah! sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evil doers, children that are corrupters! they have forsaken the Lord, they have

provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward." And agreeable to this their state and practice is the title and character ascribed to them by that God who knows what is in man, whose righteous judgment nothing can elude, and whose knowledge and observation nothing can escape. He designates them first, the children of disobedience, and then, the children of wrath; inasmuch as they have on account of their rebellion and disobedience, rendered themselves the objects of his righteous indignation, and exposed themselves to his everlasting displeasure. But, is there no possible way of emerging from this our awful condition, of returning to the path of obedience, and of escaping the wrath to come?—Undoubtedly there is; and this the Apostle declares to us in the words of our text, "By grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God." Let us enter upon this momentous subject with humble thankfulness, and in simple dependance on the grace of the blessed Spirit to render our consideration of it effectual to the most important ends.