infinite justice, whatever the provoked majesty of God could demand, or the avenging power of God put into execution-all this we had incurred as transgressors against him. Estimate, then, the terror of this eternal death on the one hand, and the height of glory to which eternal life will raise us on the other, and you will be better able to appreciate the gift which we are now considering. Look down, if you can venture to do it, towards the impenetrable darkness of hell, and look up to the ravishing bliss of paradise; and when you have contrasted the two, say what must be that LIFE which delivers us from the one and bestows upon us the other.

But I proceed to notice, that God confers this blessing AS A GIFT-God hath GIVEN to us eternal life. This is a point which, we might think, could require little proof. For if we are all sinners against God, if we have forfeited his favour, and lie under his curse, then how can salvation be obtained otherwise than as a gift? Where are the merits which are to purchase it? Where is the covenant of works which can convey it? Where the uninterrupted and perfect obedience which can fulfil the conditions prescribed for its attainment? Where the atonement to repair the injured justice of the Lawgiver? Where the superabundant duties to make up for previous defects? Where the present security of virtue to prevent additional faults? Where even the disposition of heart to turn to God? Where the relenting spirit which weeps for sin? Where the human

strength which can lead us on against it, or the human resolution which can subdue it? In a word, where is the man who, on any supposable terms, can claim this salvation as a reward? To every one of these, and a thousand similar questions, there is but one reply-Man is by nature dead in trespasses and sins, unable to save himself, if he were disposed, and indisposed, if he were able.

Eternal life, then, is undeserved, and gratuitously bestowed. By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. I give unto them eternal life. The gift of God is eternal life. Grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life. Every part of this unspeakable blessing, whether we regard the full fruition of it in heaven, or any of the preparatory steps to it, is spontaneously conferred, as by a sovereign who claims to himself the right of doing what he will with his

own.

This will appear more evidently, if we consider

THE PARTICULAR MANNER IN WHICH GOD GRANTS

THIS INESTIMABLE GIFT.-This life is in his Son. God does not bestow it on man, as he did on Adam, but treasures it up for him in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. This still more directly shows that the blessing is entirely free. It hath pleased the Father that in Christ should all fulness dwell. The salvation of sinners is in him alone. This is the one method in which it became Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, to bring many sons unto glory. The expression of the text is very strong, THIS LIFE IS IN HIS SON; this eternal life, which is gratuitously conferred on us in the Gospel, is laid up, deposited, secured, hidden, sealed in Christ. He is the proprietor, the owner and dispenser, the treasurer and guardian, the spring and source of it. Life is in him as water in the fountain, as riches are in the mine, as the pearl is in the casket, as the sap is in the tree, as light and heat are in the glorious orb of day.

Christ has LIFE IN HIMSELF, as the Word which was with God and was God; that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. He has life, also, as THE MEDIATOR BETWEEN GOD AND MAN; for the life was manifested. As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given also

unto the Son to have life in himself. God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. He came that we might have life, and that we might have it more abundantly. We have already seen that our Lord and Saviour has purchased this life, and all that pertains to it, with his own blood; and that he bestows it on whomsoever he will. But he is moreover the source of it in the hearts of Christians by the mysterious presence of his Spirit. They are dead, and their life is hid with Christ in God. They live, yet not they, but Christ liveth in them; and the life which they live in the flesh they live by the faith of the Son of God. He is the bread of life: and he that eateth, partaketh of, him, even he shall live by him. He is the resurrection and the life. He shall change our vile body, and make it like unto his glorious body: quickening our mortal bodies by his Spirit which dwelleth in us. And at last, as the Judge of quick and dead, he shall invite us to partake of that eternal joy, which is the consummation of the life already begun in the soul, saying, Come ye blessed children of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

Thus Christ is the sole fountain and source from which eternal life flows to sinners. Life is in him essentially, and in him efficiently. He bestows the life of acceptance, the life of holiness, and the life of glory. In him, as the living Head, all the body of the church by joints and bands having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God. He, and he only, is in possession of all that life which is the salvation of men. Father is propitiated through his sacrifice, has exalted him by his own right hand, and has given him the Spirit without measure, in order that he might bestow everlasting salvation on sinners, by raising them to spiritual life now by his grace, and to the

The

full fruition of eternal life at the resurrection of the

last day.

Such is emphatically the GIFT OF GOD. Such is the main blessing of the Gospel. Such is the free salvation which is in Christ Jesus. Let us then ask ourselves, before we proceed, whether we understand this fundamental truth, whether we receive it into our hearts, whether we believe most cordially what we profess, that eternal life is the gift of God, and that it is in Christ Jesus, even in him only. If we perceive aright this commanding doctrine, we shall be prepared for seeing every thing else in religion in its true light. Without it, all will be darkness.

To confirm the view thus taken of the gift bestowed upon us in the Gospel, let us go on to . consider,

II. THE ONLY MEANS BY WHICH THIS GIFT CAN BE OBTAINED:-He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.

We might have imagined that the former verse was sufficient to show the way of life in Christ Jesus; but this solemn and explicit declaration is added, in order to explain still further so important a doctrine. He, and he only, I repeat it, who has the Son-that is, by a lively and operative faith-has Life, whilst all those who have not the Son of God, have not life; but, on the contrary, remain exposed to eternal death. This is a plain and most conclusive statement. Life or death depends on our having the Son of God.

What then is meant by this emphatic expression? Who can be said to HAVE THE SON? How can the incomprehensible Word, who was in the beginning with God and was God, be possessed and contained by man that is a worm, and the son of man that is a worm? What finite being can receive infinity?

What created power endure the presence of omnipotence? What limited capacity compass and hold the immeasurable glories of the Godhead?* What human heart entertain the eternal, invisible Saviour? Yet, mysterious as it may appear, he, and he alone, who hath the Son, hath life; not, however, as to the incommunicable attributes of his Deity, but as to the gracious participation of his benefits. In the first sense, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain him; in the second, he dwells in the lowly heart of every true believer. As to his ineffable glory, he upholds all things by the word of his power; as to his inestimable love, he gives himself to every real penitent. With regard to his Deity, he is the invisible God, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; but, in reference to his grace and mediatorial offices, he is possessed and appropriated and retained by a living faith.

What then is FAITH? It is an implicit credit given to the divine testimony in the Holy Scriptures. Testimony is the appropriate object of faith, as light is of the eye. Invisible and distant blessings are thus brought near, and realized, and embodied. Now, as the whole doctrine of Jesus Christ, and the entire knowledge we have of eternal life, are derived from the revelation which God has given of them in his word, it must be by that word only that we can have the Son; for of that word it may be justly said, This is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Faith receives with simplicity this witness of the God that cannot lie. The penitent reads, under its influence, every part of the volume of inspiration, and credits all he reads, however new or mysterious or humiliating. Since, however, man is a fallen and ruined creature, and the leading truth of the Bible is the record con

* Ephes. iii. 19.