120 The Fundamentals. that nothing short of Omnipotent love can lift the sinner, mag nify the law which he has mutilated, and make him pure enough to dwell in Light. The thought of saving sinners is God’s, bom in the secret places of His great loving heart. “Grace first contrived the way to save rebellious man.” The accomplishment of the wondrous plan reveals God’s Grace throughout. He sent His Son to be the Saviour of the World. He freely delivered Him up for us all. He acknowledged Him in His humiliation as His beloved Son, but forsook Him on the tree, because He was made sin for us. Moreover, He brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, and enthroned Him at the right hand of the Majesty on high. There followed the shedding forth of the Spirit to convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. Here is grace at every turn. " through faith ” A work of Grace, too, has been effected in each believing heart. We are not saved merely because Christ died. The good news would be to us as rain upon Sahara, did not Grace incline to penitence and prayer and faith.
“Grace taught my soul to pray, And made my eyes o’erflow.”
Salvation by grace is appropriated by faith. Grace is the fountain, but f.ajth is the channel. Grace is the lifeline, but faith is the hand that clutches it. And, thoroughly and finally to exclude all boasting, it is declared that the salvation and the faith are both the gift of God. “And that not of your selves, it is the gift of God.” That salvation is God’s gift is evident. “The gift of God is eternal life through Christ.” “The free gift,” “The gift of grace,” “The gift of righteous ness”—these phrases determine the fact that salvation is itself a Divine present to man. “Salvation,” cried C. H. Spurgeon
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