XVII.

THE GRACE OF GOD.

Eph. ii. 8: "BY GRACE YE ARE SAVED, THROUGH FAITH; AND THAT NOT OF YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD."

VERY THING which we have in this world

EVE

comes

-all our joy, our culture, our powers of body and mind, our outward and inward wealth to us in one of two ways: it comes with or without our own efforts; it comes as a consequence of what we do, or without any reference to what we do; it comes as retribution, in the form of reward and punishment; or it comes as free gift or grace. When good comes to us in consequence of what we have done, we call it reward; when evil comes in consequence of what we have done, we call it punishment; when good comes, not in consequence of any thing we have done, we call it grace, a free gift, or mercy; when evil comes, not in consequence of what we have done, we do not call it punishment, but trial, discipline, education.

These are the two sides of life; these are the two laws which govern us all. Gift and payment, — these are the positive and negative poles of human life.

Now, moralists lay the greatest stress on the law of retribution, while religious people lay the greatest stress on the law of grace. When the question is raised, "How is one to be saved?" moralists reply, "By works, by doing one's duty, by trying to obey God, by being faithful in all relations of life." Religious people, on the contrary, - all Orthodox theologians especially, - say, "Not at all. We are not saved by works, but by grace, through faith. It is the pure work of God, no work of ours, which saves us, if we are saved."

Now, I shall try to show that the theologians are nearer right than the moralists on this point. Herein I shall, no doubt, depart from the traditions of the Unitarians; for Unitarians have, on this subject, usually sided with the moralists, and not with the theologians. I shall, however, also depart in this discussion somewhat from the theologians, because I shall translate the whole matter out of the language of theology into that of common life and daily experience. Instead of saying, "By grace we are saved, through faith; and that not of ourselves: it is the gift of God," I would put it in this form, as being more intelligible :

"Every one, in his heart, desires to be better than he is. Every one would like to be, not a bad, but a good man. No one desires to be mean, false, cowardly; but each wishes to be noble, generous, pure, true, loving, and beloved. We all would like to lead a higher, nobler, better life than we do. Now,

this better life is what we mean by being saved. It is going up, not down; toward God, not toward Satan; toward the heaven which is the home of all angelic, loving souls, not to the hell which is the home of all mean, selfish, cruel, hateful, and demoniacal beings."

Now, the question is, "How are we to go upward? how are we to grow better? how are we, in short, to be saved?"

In passing down the street a day or two since, I saw a placard announcing a convention of "all persons who believe in the speedy personal coming of Christ; and who also believe in the immortality of the righteous, and destruction of the wicked." As I walked on, I said to myself, But who are the righteous, and who are the wicked?

I suppose the righteous are those who do right, and the wicked those who do wrong. But who will claim to be righteous in this sense? How much better is one man than another? The differences between good men and bad men are, no doubt, very important as regards our relations to each other here. A man who steals and lies and misbehaves himself is a very inconvenient neighbor, a very uncomfortable companion; but when we come to talk of guilt and of merit in the sight of God, and in view of eternal judgment, how insignificant the differences between men appear! Those who believe in the final destruction of the wicked must have little hope for themselves or any one else: for who is not wicked? who

can claim to be good? who can pretend to have led a perfectly pure, true, generous life? who has been good for a year at a time, a month, a day? Good heavens! who can say that he has been, even for an hour, good, in any great and noble sense of the word?

We may judge, then, that we are not likely to be saved by our works. If we go up toward heaven, escape from evil, and become pure, true, fit companions for angels, and fit to be near God, we shall not have made ourselves so. I think we shall have to be made so by God.

By this is not meant that we have nothing to do ourselves in order to be saved. I believe that work is an important element of salvation itself. Only I do not think that we work in order to make God love us; but, on the contrary, it is his love that makes us work. It is the Divine Grace that is, the love and mercy of our Father in heaven-which makes us faithful and obedient, inspires us with ardor, and helps us to serve him. The grace of God, which brings salvation, has appeared to men; teaching us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this world. That is, our temperance, our self-control, is a pure gift of God; our righteousness, or just behavior to men, is a pure gift of God; and our religion is a pure gift. All our work has a gift at the root of it. God sows his love in our heart as a seed, out of which, after a while, our work grows.

Nearly every thing which comes to us in this world comes by grace. The doctrine of salvation by God's love was first uttered by Jesus, when he said, "Be the children of your Father in heaven; for his sun shines on the evil and the good, and he sends his rain on the just and unjust." He uttered it again in the parable of the laborer in the vineyard, who wrought one hour, but whom God made equal with those "who had borne the burden and heat of the day."

There was a book written by Dr. Combe, called the "Constitution of Man," a very popular work, -the immense success of which is due to the fact, that it sets forth in the fullest form the opposite doctrine of works. "Salvation by works" is the doctrine of that excellent book. "As a man sows, so

shall he reap." He who has earned five talents shall be over five cities; he who has earned two talents, over two cities; he who has earned one, over one city strict justice, impartial retribution, unerring law, a certain retaliation. This is all perfectly true. It is also taught by Jesus; it was taught by Moses; it is taught by Nature. He who does not work shall not eat; he who puts his finger in the fire shall be burned. Jesus did not come to destroy these laws, but to fulfil them.

In the other world, as in this world, these laws apply. There, as here, there will be a perfect retribution. There will be rewards and punishments in the other life, just as there are here. Those who