i-/
Eph. ii. 8 — 10. By grace are ye saved through faith ; and that not of yourselves : it is the gift of God : not of ivorks, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should ivalk in them.
ALL God's works, of whatever kind they be, are designed to praise him. His works of creation pro- claim his wisdom and his power : his works of provi- dence display his goodness : his works of redemption magnify his grace. It is of these last that the Apostle is speaking in the preceding context, even of all that God has done for us in the Son of his love ; and he declares that it was all done, " that in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace, in his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus." The Gospel is too rarely viewed in this light : it is by many scarcely distinguished from the law ; being considered rather as a code of laws en- forced with penalties, than as an exhibition of mercies confirmed with promises. But it is as an exhibition of mercy only that we ought to view it ; precisely as it is set forth in the words before us : from which we shall take occasion to shew,
I. That salvation is altogether of grace —
By " salvation" I understand the whole work of grace, whether as revealed in the word, or as expe- rienced in the soul : and it is altogether of grace :
1. It is so —
[Trace it to its first origin, when the plan of it was fixed in the council of peace between the Father and the Sona: Who devised it? who merited it? who desired it? It was the fruit of God's sovereign grace, and of grace alone. Trace it in all its parts ; — the gift of God's only-begotten Son to be our surety and our substitute ; the acceptance of his vicarious sacrifice in our behalf; and the revelation of that mystery in
a Zcch. vi. 13.