Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1880-05-26
BY Grace Alone.

No believer in Christ can bear to think of
the frustrating of the grace of God or the
making of it void. Come now, honest
hearts, | speak to you. Do you trust in
grace alone, or do you in some measure
rest in yourselves Do you even in small
degree depend upon your own feelings, your
own faithfulness, your own repentance
know you abhor the very thought. You
have not even the shadow of hope nor the
semblance of confidence in anything you
ever were, or ever can be, or ever hope to be.
You fling this away as foul rag full of con-
tagion, which you would hurl out of the
universe if you could. do avow that though
have preached the gospel with all my heart,
and glory in it, yet | cast my preachings
away as dross and dung if think Of them as
a ground Of reliance: and though | have
brought many souls to Christ, blessed be
his name, | never dare for one moment
put the slightest confidence in that fact as
to my own salvation, for | know that |,
after having preached to others, may yet be
a castaway. / cannot rest in successful
ministry, or an edited church, but | repose
alone in my Redeemer. What | say OF
myself | know that each one of you
will say for himself. Your alms-givings,
your prayers, your tears, your suffering
persecution, your gifts to the church, your
earnest work in the Sunday school or
elsewhere-did you ever think of putting
these side by side with the blood of Christ
as your hope2 No, you never dreamed Of
it; | am sure you never did, aud the men
tion of it is utterly ioathsome to you is it
not ? Grace, grace, grace is your sole hope
Moreover, you have not only renounced all
confidence in works. but you renounce it
this day more heartily than ever you did.
The older you are, and the more holy you
become, the less do you think of trusting in
yourself. The more we grow in grace the
more we grow in love with grace; the more
we search into our hearts, and the more we
know of the holy love of God, the deeper is
our sense of unworthiness, and consequently
the higher is our delight in rich, free, un-
merited mercy, the free gift of the royal
heart Of God. Tell me- does not your heart
leap within you when you hear the doctrines
of graceP | know there are some who never
felt themselves to be sinners, who shift
about as if they were sitting on thorns when
| am preaching grace and nothing but grace ;
but it is not so with you who are resting in
Christ "Oh, no." you say, " ring that bell
again, sir Ring that bell again; there is
no music like it. Touch that string again,
it is our favorite note" When you get
down in spirits and depressed what sort of
book do you like TO read Is it not a book
about the grace of God? What do you
turn to in the Scriptures Do you turn to
the promises made to the guilty, the un.
godly, the sinner, and do you not find that
only in the grace of God, and only at the
cross foot is there any rest for you | know
it is so. Then you can rise up and say with
Paul, " do not frustrate the grace of God
Some may, if they like, but God forbid that
should ever make it void, for it is all my
salvation and all my desire. Rev. C. II.
| SpWgeOn.