Preaching to Sinners [pp. 616-629]

1867.] Preac~ing to Sinners. 621
of grace-they are the more to be hoped for and the more to be
striven for. What the law could not do, in that it was weak
through the flesh, God did, in sending his own Son, in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin. This was grace, and grace has
therefore made possible that which otherwise had been for ever
impossible, and thence hope should spring up in the bosom of
man, and the way of attaining these things should appear.
"Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, and be ye saved,"
"Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be
saved." "Whosoever will, let him take of the water of life
freely." llere is the God of all grace urging men to receive
his grace, and promising life and salvation to the soul that
truly seeks them in his appointed way. The conviction then
concerning this savin~ grace of God is incomplete, if it sees
only that these blessings are for God's hand to give. With
such view only the soul might be overwhelmed, thinking that
this salvation held of God were thus for ever beyond its reach.
The sinner shall thus see how entirely he depends on grace,
but he needs also to perceive how this dependence is of infinite
advantage to himself. The complete conviction discerns, not
only the hand of grace filled with every needed blessing, but
that hand stretched out to bestow these blessings upon anxious
and beseeching souls.
We m;y rightly include these things in this conviction concerning salvation as in every way dependent on the grace of
God. These facts give to it its full meaning, as received and
in a measure apprehended by every converted soul. The truth
of grace, in order that it may excite the sinner, must thus
reveal itself in his heart, as a free gift, given to the world,
given to the individual soul, and not denied to sincere prayer.
And this in its essential features, whether the mind is, or is
not, able to define its parts, must work its way into the soul,
before that soul will be found at the feet of Jesus. That
Saviour must be seen as a gracious Saviour before the soul
will cast itself upon him. If you desire to bring a sinner to
Christ, you seek to put before him the nature of the Lord's free
grace,-you -speak to him of the blessed Christ waiting to
receive him, calling to repentance, knocking at the door, and
saying, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy