THE GRACE OF GOD NOT TO BE RECEIVED
IN VAIN.

"We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."-2 CORINTHIANS vi. 1.

Ir is a most difficult task to impress the mind with a full conviction of the real character of the state and condition of man in the present world. We view only the relation in which we stand to time and surrounding objects. We forget the invisible realities of eternity.

Let me remind you of what your circumstances are.

You cannot live here for ever: yet in the future state your condition will be eternally unchangeable.

You have incurred the displeasure of God, and are condemned by the divine law to endless misery. God has provided a gloriously sufficient Saviour.

If we hearken to the invitations of his mercy, he will "save us from our sins;" he will "deliver us from the wrath to come." But if we reject the commands and offers of his love, he shall at last take "vengeance" on us, and we shall be "punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and the glory of his power."

Unless the Scriptures be "cunningly devised fables," these are our actual circumstances. The possibility that they may be so, even if it went no further ought to lead to a most careful examination of our position, that we might thus thoroughly perceive what genuine wisdom requires from us.

To aid us in this, the ministry of the Gospel was established and perpetuated. In the preceding chapter, St. Paul points out its real character. It is a message of invitation and entreaty to mankind at large. To them who possess it, it opensadvantages that mark the goodness of God: but, like all other blessings, it is put in connexion with our accountability.

This seems to be the exact idea present to the mind of the apostle in the words of the text. We are to "beseech " men generally, "to be reconciled to God;" and this, “in Christ's” name and "stead." "As workers together with him," there

fore," we beseech you also," in particular, "that ye receive not the grace of God in vain."

In urging attention to this exhortation, I would first explain the terms which express it.

1. Observe the manner in which the evangelical ministry is described: "Workers together with him."

They who are God's servants, for this very thing are not like the Levitical priests, whose ground-work was to perform certain outward and ritual acts. They have to accomplish a certain object, chiefly by the employment of a certain instrumentality. They have to bring men to seek Christ for “førgiveness of sin, and inheritance among them that are sanctified;" and they have to do this by all that is included in preaching the Gospel. Now, the salvation of men may (with reverence we speak it) be called God's great object. In the gift of his Son; by the procedure of his providence; by the agencies of his church; by the influences of the Holy Ghost; the salvation of man is that primary object which his eternal benevolence contemplates, and by which his glory is to be promoted.

And in this work, God works with them, and by them: not leaving them alone, nor their labours unaccompanied by his blessing. Such is every scriptural ministry of the Gospel.

2. Observe the circumstances in which this ministry places us: "That ye receive not the grace of God in vain."

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The original establishment, and the subsequent perpetuation of the ministry, are from the mercy of God. That we have the opportunity of attending one, is by the gracious providence of God. But, more particularly, by that ministry, we are placed, as it were personally, under a special dispensation of grace. Through the atonement and intercession of Christ, sentence against our evil works is not speedily executed;" and thus there is a day of gracious forbearance. By means of the Gospel ministry we are placed under the immediate influence of divine light and truth. We are invited to pardon, peace, and holiness. May we say, God is ready to confirm and accomplish the promises officially repeated and pronounced in his name? They who sit under the ministry of the Gospel, enjoy, in the full and exalted sense of the terms,

an accepted time, a day of salvation." And this is by the mercy and favour of God. It is a dispensation of favour, under which they are officially invited to grace,—to divine mercy, and to divine influence. The ministry of the Gospel is not an ordinary occurrence: it is an especial manifestation of the grace of God.

3. Observe the view suggested of human responsibility, and actually expressed of human duty.

Whatever blessings we have, we have from Him who is Sovereign as well as Benefactor. They are given for the purposes of moral government. They refer to our accountability. We are responsible to God for the way in which we deal with them. Much is required, where much is given. The day of judgment, as described in holy writ, is a day of reckoning, as well as of decision.

Keeping in view this solemn fact, let us listen to the entreaty that rests upon it: "Receive not the grace of God in vain."

The Gospel, faithfully ministered, is an expression of divine favour, and an appointed instrument of divine influence. But it recognizes the proper moral agency of man. It requires

obedience. It calls to repentance, and faith, and a new and spiritual obedience. And when that is not rendered, we receive the grace of God in vain. It fails, in our case, to produce the effects for which it was constructed and given; and it fails through our own wilful, and avoidable, and therefore most guilty, negligence. We may profess to admire it; we may make attendance on it a religious duty; but if we do not so obey it as to be saved by it, we receive it "in vain."

By the good providence of God, you are favoured with this particular expression of his goodness. Your teachers are not hid in a corner. You experience no famine of the word of God. Not only as it is a day of merciful forbearance, but as it is a day of privilege; a day of offered blessings; a day of gracious influences; a day in which the kingdom of God is brought nigh to you—fɔr wnere is his word without power? —it is with you an accepted time; a day of salvation.

You see your privileges Do you value them? Or do

present objects so engross you, that you have neither sight nor feeling for the things of eternity?

Our Lord, your Judge, has himself laid down one of the principles of what himself calls "the day of judgment:" "It shall be more tolerable for Sodom than for Capernaum." Privileges and advantages shall be considered in the solemn reckonings of that day.

Now, what higher privileges can there be than yours? How fearful the guilt you incur! How terrible your future doom!

Come, then, directly to the point. Has the Gospel been, to you, personally," the power of God to salvation?" Have you yielded to its light? its persuasions? accepted its entreaties? been brought to humble penitence? to Christ, for a present pardon? No? Then you receive "the grace of God in vain.” You close your eyes against light; harden your hearts against all spiritual movement. It shall be "the savour of death unto death."

Consider the objects with which this "grace of God" was given you. See to it that in your own personal experience and character, they be fully accomplished. So shall you not "receive the grace of God in vain.'

THE OBLIGATION OF RETURNING TO GOD
FOUNDED ON REDEMPTION.

"Return unto me: for I have redeemed thee."-ISAIAH xliv. 22.

I SHALL take occasion, from this passage of holy writ, to point out to you the obligations and duties which are connected with the redemption of mankind by our Lord Jesus Christ.

In the New Testament, that connexion is presented under a great variety of aspects. Sometimes both subjects are mentioned together. As, Him, "God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." Sometimes the duty is stated alone, and yet so as to imply the benefit. As, where

Paul sums up his preaching by saying, that he "testified t: Jew and Greek repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ." So that preaching the Gospel is not the mere communication of the blessings provided by the divine mercy, but a faithful address to the conscience, in showing the necessity of seeking for them, and the danger of neglecting them.

We have a summary of what is properly evangelical doctrine on this subject, in the words before us. I shall direct your attention,

I. To the important declaration: "I have redeemed thee." II. To the duty plainly founded on it: "Return unto me.” I. The important declaration.

There it is,"I have redeemed thee." And in verse 24, "Thus saith JEHOVAH, thy Redeemer."

God is our Creator, because he has created us; our Preserver, because of his providential carefulness and bounty. He is our Redeemer because he has redeemed us. This may be termed a new relation; one which has arisen out of the transgression of man, and was rendered necessary by it. On this subject, almost beyond any other, the Scriptures expatiate with a clearness and extension which abundantly prove its vast importance.

Our inquiry must be,-What has God done for us, as "the Lord our Redeemer?"

The prophetic writings obviously must be comparatively obscure. They are to be explained by those portions of Scripture which describe the fulfilment of prophecy; which tell us that God "hath raised up an horn of salvation for us, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets." Now, the leading facts which the Gospel makes known are,—

1. The incarnation of the Son of God. That the Word who was with God, and who was God, was made flesh, and dwelt among us; assuming our nature into perpetual union with the divine.

2. The atonement made for human guilt by his sacrificial death. This the law had prefigured in its types of expiation. This the prophets had declared,-Isaiah in particular; in language whose meaning is remarkably plain. "The chastise