The work of grace is emphatically a Divine work; the very term itself denotes this, for grace is literally free favour exhibited to the guilty and the undeserving. Man cannot impart grace to another; he cannot earn or procure it for himself: grace descends from God; like the light which illumines our world, or the showers that water the earth, it streams only from on high, and must be ever regarded as God's gift. If this be so, then the inquiry not unnaturally arises, What is the relation of means that we can use, to the bestowment of a gift which originates entirely in the free favour of God? The answer is simple: Although grace is the free gift of God, spontaneously issuing from the unfathomable ocean of His sovereign mercy and love, yet God is pleased to connect the communication of the gift with the use upon our part of certain prescribed means. God is not confined to those means; the communication of the blessing is not limited to the special appointed channels. To imagine that it is so is the lamentable error into which multitudes fall: just because there are certain appointed methods which God has been pleased to consecrate as the means, in the faithful use whereof He ordinarily communicates grace, therefore, tens of hundreds fall into the mistake of magnifying those means to an inordinate importance, and of fettering the free grace of God as though it was a stream which can only run between narrow limits, and only be conveyed through the medium of certain fixed channels. I would guard you most carefully against this error, because it is an error which is remarkably insidious and remarkably prevalent at the present day. Whatever may be said respecting the means of grace, however great may be the value to be attached to them; and however diligent may and ought to be our use of them; let us carefully shun the error of those who imagine either that the grace of God can only be imparted, through certain channels of which we are made acquainted; or that the communication of spiritual grace is so indissolubly connected with resort to those channels, as that never are the means employed and the blessing not obtained. Having said thus much by way of guarding against a prevalent abuse, let me state more particularly what the connexion is between the use of means on man's part, and the bestowment of grace from above. Our belief upon this subject is, that God has chosen to ordain certain means, in the due employment of which He has promised to impart grace. So that if we resort to those means in faith, if we employ them in dependence upon His blessing, if we seek to use them merely as channels through which grace may be imparted, the use of such means in such a spirit will be ordinarily followed by the communication to our souls of more and more of Divine help and blessing. We neither limit the sovereign : grace of God, as though it could not be dispensed irrespective of means which men may use; still less do we dare so to endow the channel with a kind of independence of the fountain, as to suppose that wheresoever the channel is cut the stream must necessarily flow to fill it at the same time, believing that all grace descends from above, and believing also that God has mercifully ordained certain means as channels for the dispensation of grace, we would resort to those means with diligence and with faith, in the confident hope that the promised blessing will follow the faithful employment of them. Means of grace are as the windows through which light may stream into the otherwise dark soul: except the light stream from above, the window by itself cannot relieve the darkness; and yet it is our business to cherish the heaven-sent communication by carefully preserving the channel through which it may be expected to flow. And here the question arises, What are the ordinary or the extraordinary means of grace, in the use of which we may fairly expect the desired blessing? Amongst the ordinary means of grace I enumerate these five: 1. The ministry of the Gospel; 2. The study of God's word; 3. The exercise of prayer; 4. The habit of self-examination; and 5. Converse with the Lord's people. The extraordinary means of grace are the two sacraments, Baptism and the Lord's Supper, which Christ hath ordained, and of which our Church speaks as generally necessary to salvation. To the consideration of these seven means of grace I propose to devote your time and attention, in the order in which you have now heard them named. For the remainder of the present discourse I will advert briefly and practically to the first-named mean of grace, namely, the ministry of the Gospel. Now it is not without due consideration that I have placed foremost in the list of the |