GRACE
HE Gospel is called the Gospel of the grace of God (Ac. 20:24); God is called "the God of all grace"(I Pet. 5:10). We are saved by grace (Eph. 2:8): "exceeding grace" (2 Cor, 9: 14) "suffi- Grace is free favor, especially to inferiors arid the undeserving. Grace and desert, grace and works, grace and wages are, like day and night, black and white, and no, the very opposite of each other. Salvation is free. If we deserved it it would not be a gift but a reward; if we earned it it would not be a f a vor but wages; if we paid for if it would not be of grace but an equivalent. Sunshine, air, shower, and all these are gifts of heaven. They are oi grace. Men neither feed nor stir the fires of the sun; they pay nothing for the air; they have but to catch the rainfall. That God saves by grace is the common consent of the great creeds. Yet nothing is so hard for men to accept in practice however sound in theo- ry. The men preach grace and then begin to hedge, with "ifs" and " bu t s" cient grace (2 Cor. 12:9); "abundant g r a c e" (2 Cor.. 4:15).
and c o n d i tions. But the shadow of an "if," the hint of a "but," is the c a n c e l 1 a tion of "grace." There is no other condi- tion of salvation but that you want it. Not that you want to be saved f r o m w r a t h to come, from death and hell. All want so much. But that you want to be saved from the power, and pollu- tion as well as from the penalty of sin. You want s a 1 v a t i on from wrath, from sinful motive and prac- tice; from self and
God? Then it is yours for the ask- ing, nay, yours for the taking. If God saves by grace, and you want to be saved, pray, why should He not, does He not save YOU? Since there are no con- ditions, , why not save you as well any other man, better or worse, richer or poorer, more or less in anything: Noth- ing is in the way, but your failure to rest in the glori- ous fact of free grace. It is the Same with your prayers. God answers in
all of (Brace, "And If it be of grace, tben is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace: but if it be of works, then it is no more grace: otherwise works is no mor.e works..' Rom.Il:6. Its all of grace; though marred by sin, All scarred without, all stained within. God loves us with a mighty love, A love all other loves above. Its all of grace; the debt was paid When on His Lamb our sin was laid; No gifts, no toils, no tears, no sighs, Add value to that Sacrifice. Its all of grace; the light we see, The air we breathe, is not more f r e e. Nor fertile stream that heaven distills, Than pardoning grace to him that wills. Its all of grace; not so secure Shall sun and moon and stars endure, As that firm rock to which we cling. The promise of our God and King. Its all of grace; your strivings cease, God saves for nothing, rest in peace. Sin not, but serve Him as you ought, And thank Him thdt He saves for naught. i—J. H. Sammis.
the world, unto grace. But men pray, and go their ways unsatisfied, and pray again, and again, with the same results, because consciously or unconsciously, they question whether they have been as earnest as they should; of course they have not; whether they have had pure motives, of course they have not; but what of all that, if they really wish to pray aright, and mean to pray aright, aud at heart submit their case to the Father, it is all of grace! Why should He not answer? What stands in the way? He blesses for nothing, Why not believe it? Why not rejoice in it? Why not take for nothing what He offers for nothing? Its all of grace.
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