Eph. vi. 14. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about
with truth.
IT is not possible to exceed in magnifying the grace of God : to it must every part of our salvation be ascribed : grace begins the work in our hearts ; grace carries it on ; grace completes it. No ground of glorying is left for man : his own wisdom, good- ness, strength, weigh no more than the small dust upon the balance. All is the work of God ; he lays the foundation ; and when " the head-stone shall be brought forth with shoutings, we must cry, Grace, grace unto ita." But while we are jealous of God's honour, and desirous of magnifying the riches of his grace, we must be careful not to undervalue the work wrought in our hearts. In point of merit, there is nothing in us that is worthy of the smallest consi- deration : but in a variety of other views, the work of God's Spirit in our hearts can scarcely be appre- ciated too highly. This is manifest from the de- scription which the Apostle gives of the Christian's armour. He is careful in the first place to shew us, that we have not in ourselves any inherent strength ; and that, consequently, we must depend entirely on God : but in entering more minutely into his subject, he declares, that those graces, which the Spirit of God forms in our hearts, are means of defence against our spiritual adversaries : for though as being our graces, they are weak and worthless, yet as being the zvork of God's hands, they are of great strength and value : they even constitute that armour, in which we are to go forth against the enemies of our salvation, and by which we shall be enabled to defeat all their wiles, and all their power.
The first grace that he mentions, is " truth :" in elucidating which we shall shew,
a Zecb. iv. 6, 7, V.