The Pulpit Commentary — Ephesians — Section 105

while grace is lik? th~ electric current which waits, but only waits, such a connection to hasten to us with hght and fire and life. III. FAITH COMES FROlll GRACE. Even faith itself is" the gift of God." Faith is a spiritue.l act e.nd habit, and therefore it would be impossible in a soul quite deaci spiritually. But he who provides the sah·ation provides the means wherewith to enjoy it. If faith be ever so feeble we may cry," Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief," with the assurance that there is no prayer more certain of an answer.-W. F. A. V~r. 10.-God's workmamship. I. As CHRISTIANS, CREATED m Cna1sT, WB A.BE GoD'B WOBKlllANSHIP, It cannot be that our salvation comes by our works, because it is such a quickening from death to life as amounts to nothing short of a. new creation, and because God is the only Creator. We only become new creatures through union with Christ, and by the grace of God that is in him. To know if this is our condition, we must see if we bear the traces of the great Worker upon our persons. God's work must have the characteristics of good work. 1. Fitness. God finds us out of joint. He shapes us suitably for our vocation. A house without adaptation to its ends may look handsome, but it is a. failure. A true Christian will not only have a saintly bearing, he will have a practical suitability for his mission. 2. Thoroughness. How thorough is God's work in nature as seen in the microscopic organs of the smallest insects I The new creation is as thorough as the old oreation. Down to every thought and fancy God shapes the character of his redeemed. 3. Beauty. The best work is graceful and fair to look upon. God's spiritual work is adorned with the beauty of holiness. IL WE ABE TJlUB CREATED FOB THE PURPOSE OF DOING GOOD WORKS. Good works are more honoured by the doctrine of grace than they are by the scheme of salvation by works; for in the latter they appeal only as means to an end, as stepping-stones to be left behind when the salvation as reached; but in the former they are themselves the ends, and are valued on their own account. 'l'hus we e.re taught not to perform good works as an only or necessary means for securing some ulterior boon, but are invited to accept that boon just because it will enable us to do our work better. Instead of regarding the gospel as e. pleasant message to show us how we may save ourselves the trouble of work, we must hear it as a trumpet-call to service. The Christian is the servant of Christ. Jn spiritual death we can do nothing. Salvation is quickening to a new life. The object of this life is not bare existence. All life ministers to some other life. Spiritual lifti is given directly with the object of enabling us to do our work. It fails of its object if it is unfertile. The barren tree must wither, the fruithless branch must bo pruned away. Purity and harmlessness are but negative graces, and ar~ not sufficient justification for existence. The great end of being is the doing of positive good. The jud~ent will turn on the use we have ma.do of our talents. III. 'l'HE WORKS FOB WHIOH WE ARE CREATED HAVE BEEN PREARRANGED BY Goo. The road has been me.de before we have been ready to walk on it. And there is o. road for every soul. Each of us has his vocation marked out for him and fixed in the ancient counsels of God. No life need be aimless since every life is provided with a m1ss10n. How may we know the mission ? 1. From our talent,. Men do not gather grapes of thorns, nor poetry of commonplace minds, nor heroism of feeble souls. The nature of the tool proclaims its use. The hammer cannot be made to cut, nor the saw to drive nails. God's workmanship bears on its special form the indications of its purpose. To know our work we must pray for light that we mo.y know ourselves, or we she.II fall into the common error of mistaking our inclination for our capacity and our ambition for our ability. 2. From our circ'Umstances. Gou opens providential doors. Let us not refuse to enter them because they are often low auu. lead to humble paths. If they face us they indicate the work for which we are created, and that should suffico obedient servants.-W. F. A. Ver. 12.-Dark depths. Step by step descending into darker and darker depth~, St. Paul describes the awful condition out of which heathens ho.d been rescued when they became Christians. Regarded from a. Jewish point of view, this condition is seen to consist in the loss of all the high privileges of Israel, and the salvation of the Gentiles appears as an adoption into the circle of those privileges. But larger things of more general import are covered by the description, so that it applies virtually to  103 THI!: EPISTLE TO THE EPIIESIANS. [err. n. 1-22.