CHAPTER FOURTH,

The Salvation of sinners by the free grace of God.

AS the doctrine I am attempting to refute is regarded by many as the only foundation of hope to sinners, it may be demanded what I would substitute in its place? I answer briefly, the salvation of sinners by the free grace of God. If this be well understood it will be perceived that nothing is lost by giving up the doctrine of satisfaction. But it seems necessary to enquire,

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1. What is meant by the phrase free grace? Grace, in the sacred writings, generally means favor: the grace of God, means the favor of God: free grace, means free favor : what is of grace, is properly a gift; of free grace, à free gift: consequently what is of the free grace of God must be a free gift flowing from his pure benevolence. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, frequently means the favor of God revealed to us by Jesus Christ, in the gospel; as the law which God gave to Israel is called the law of Moses because given by Moses: nor did Jesus manifest any grace to men but by the appointment and command of his Father. Every idea of a con

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tract, stipulation, or bargain between the Father and Christ, of the latter purchasing the blessings of salvation of the former, excludes the idea of the free-grace of God; for what is bought and paid for cannot be a free gift, favor procured by an equivalent given to him from whom it is obtained cannot be free favor. If the notion of satisfaction admit an idea of the favor of Christ being free, the idea of the free favor of God it destroys.

2. What is meant by salvation in Christ, or by his name?

The salvation of sinners does not mean their being rescued from the hand of God which was stretched forth to destroy them, or their being sheltered from the sword of his revenging justice, or his being induced to lay aside his wrath and vengeance against them; but their being actually delivered from their former state of ignorance, sin, and the painful circumstances in which sin involved them, and their final deliverance from death. Salvation is not an ideal thing, a persuasion of mind, respecting certain transactions which passed between God and Christ, on our behalf, or respecting a certain work which Christ performed personally, on the ground of which it is imagined that our final salvation is fully secured, especially if we do but believe that he performed the work for us; but it is an internal and external deliverance, a freedom to the mind from the slavery of ignorance and vice, a purification of the heart and conscience from sin and condemnation, terminating in newness of life. No man can, with truth,

be said to be saved any further than he is actually delivered from sin, in his heart and life; from the love, the practice, and the contamination of it. Hence it follows, from the very nature of salvation, that Jesus saves us, individually, only so far as we are delivered, by the light and influence of his gospel, from ignorance, vice, and misery, and as he makes us wise, virtuous, and happy. Under another view, he saved the nations, who live under his dispensation, by delivering them, through the preaching of the gospel among them, from their former state of pagan superstition and idolatry; but this is not the view of salvation most necessary to be dwelt on in this place.

In Christ, frequently means, in his gospel, or in that dispensation which was introduced by him, and at the head of which he is placed. So the name Moşes is several times used when not his person, but his law is intended. There is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust; (John v. 45.) but the Jews did not trust in the person of Moses, nor did he appear personally to condemn them in the days of Christ; it was in the law they trusted, and it was the law that condemned them. Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him; but it was not the person of Moses they preached but his law. Moses was said to be read in the synagogues; (Acts xv. 31.) but it could only mean that his law was read there. In like manner the preaching of the gospel, which came by Christ, and was confirmed by his death, is called the preaching of Christ and him crucified. From

all the accounts we have of apostolic preaching in the books of Acts, it is clear that what they published to men was what God had had revealed by his Son; yet it is all called preaching Christ: it evidently must mean what Christ had made known by the gospel. So we read of believers being in Christ; but it can only mean, in the faith, under the influence, and in the obedience of the gospel: and the Gentiles who were far off, during the continuance of the dispensation of the law, are said to be made nigh in Christ Jesus; it must mean under the dispensation of Christ, the gospel, which includes them as well as the Jews, and is intended to bring the whole world nigh to God. Hence it follows that when sinners are said to have salvation in Christ, the plain meaning is, that salvation is made known, and all the means of enjoying it afforded, in the gospel.

The word name frequently means authority. Christ said he did not come in his own name, meaning that he did not come without proper authority: that he came in his Father's name, meaning that he had authority from God for what he said and did: that if another came in his own name, meaning without divine authority, him they would receive. Christ said and did every thing in his Father's name, that is, by the power and authority he had received from God. The Apostles preached and wrought miracles in the name of Jesus Christ, that is, by the power and authority they had derived from him. Hence Christ said, he who receiveth you receiveth me, and he who receiveth me receiveth him who sent me: he could not

mean he who received him, or his Apostles, personally, for then no man could receive either him or them in the present day, but that the person who receiveth the doctrine of the Apostles, receiveth his doctrine, and that he who receiveth his doctrine, receiveth the doctrine of God. It follows that, when it is said there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus, the meaning is, that God hath set forth no other person, as invested with power and authority, to reveal and dispense his salvation to men, but Jesus Christ: hence it is concluded that to be saved by his name means to be saved by the gospel, which we receive on his authority, as evidenced by his miracles and resurrection.

3. What is meant by sinners being redeemed by the blood of Christ?

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Redemption, throughout the sacred writings, means, when applied to persons, actual deliverance from some danger, evil, or bondage. The penmen of the New Testament never represent that we are redeemed, merely, by Christ's having died for us: they include his death among other things which operate our deliverance: but they never speak of the mere act of his dying as exonerating us from the consequences of sin; on the contrary repentance, faith, and obedience, are insisted on as essential to our final salvation. Had Christ merely died, without rising again and sending his gospel to mankind, his death would not have redeemed the world. He is never said to have redeemed us from God, or from the hand of divine