Notes of an Address by C. K.

" For the grace of God that bringeth salvation to all men hath appeared, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."-Titus 2:11-13.

There are three points to notice in the passage read:

1st. The salvation that grace brings; 2nd. The lessons that grace teaches; 3rd. The hope that grace gives. (1) I have read verse ii as it reads in the margin of our Bibles, for it is undoubtedly the more correct rendering. All of us know that the grace of God has not appeared to all men. The world's population is roughly estimated to be about fifteen hundred millions; and of this vast multitude only five hundred millions have ever heard the gospel of God's grace. Two-thirds of the human race are still in heathen or pagan darkness.

But God's grace has brought salvation for all, however slow His saints may be in telling out and making known the gracious message.

It is God's grace that brings salvation, mark. This means that it is wholly unmerited. And it means more. "Unmerited favor"-the theologians' definition of grace-is not, perhaps, incorrect, but it is incomplete. For instance :you give a tramp his breakfast. That is unmerited favor, but it is not grace. It is philanthropy, kindness, charity, as men would say. The man had never done anything for you to cause him to merit the favor you grant him. But suppose he steals your watch, or your purse, before he leaves the house, and in six months' time you find him somewhere starving and you feed him then; ah, that is grace, for now there is positive de-merit on the part of the one to whom you show the favor. And so with men :they not only do not merit salvation, but positively deserve to be judged and condemned. They have returned God only evil for His goodness, designed by Him to lead them to repentance (Rom. 2:4). But His grace has brought salvation for them all-yes, all, Jew and Gentile, Greek and Barbarian, bond and free, male and female, black, brown and white, red and yellow, to men of any religion and those of no religion at all. All were dead, under the universal sentence of death, and Christ has died for all (2 Cor. 5:14).

God's grace brings salvation, mark. Sinners have not to make long pilgrimages to Jerusalem, Mecca, Constantinople, nor yet to Rome, to obtain it. It is brought to them. "The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart" (Rom. 10:8). It is not like Ponce de Leon's fountain of perpetual youth, far away across the sea and hidden somewhere in the Floridian forests, or among its Everglades. The occupants of the top story of the burning tenement must have the fire-ladder brought to them. It can be of no service whatever to them in the engine-house, or on its rack on the trucks. The life-boat must be brought to the shipwrecked mariners. It cannot help them at its dock in the cove. Medicine must be brought to the plague-stricken if they are to benefit by it. It cures no one on the shelves of the apothecary. And sinners in danger of "the fire that never shall be quenched "-shipwrecked souls sinking down to everlasting death-sin-plagued men and women ready to perish in their own corruption, all need to have the remedy, salvation, brought within their instant and immediate reach, and it has been. Hear the words of Him by whom the grace of God has come:"God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life " (John 3:16).

Grace brings salvation, and this is just what lost man needs. It does not bring a sinner mere encouragement to reform, or strength to perform in order that after having done these things he may be saved, but, just right where and as he is, away from God and in his sins, it brings him-oh, wonderful truth, infinitely stranger than the strangest fiction-salvation !

"Amazing grace ! bow sweet the sound,
That saves a wretch like me ! "

(2) Grace saves, and then begins to teach. It always does this. It does not save a man to leave him in his sins, but teaches him to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. Law, the great antithesis of grace, could not do this. To begin with, it could not save ; it could only condemn. It is therefore called "the" ministration of death " (2 Cor. 3:7). And it never could teach lessons of godliness like grace. It worked (because of the perverseness of man's heart) just the other way, as it is written, "The strength of sin is the law" (i Cor. 15:56). And the only power for holiness is grace.

Three spheres are mentioned:within ("soberly"), around ("righteously"), above ("godly"). Within, imaginations are cast down, and every high thing that exalts itself against the blessed knowledge of Christ. Grace subdues the pride of our hearts, and gives us lowly thoughts of self. It checks the foolish thought, and gives one sound and sober thoughts of God and self.

Without or around are our fellow-men with whom we deal or come in contact, and with these we are to act "righteously"-justly, providing things honest in the sight of all men, owing no man anything, having just weights and balances, paying always one hundred cents on the dollar, and in every way commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, and thus adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour. '' The righteous Lord loveth righteousness," and it is only His saving grace that can make a sinner love it too. This grace does for every one it saves.

Above is God, and grace enables the saved to imitate Him-to live godly. Godly is to be like God- Godlikeness. Grace brings its subjects into a relationship of nearness with God, and the soul in communion with Him, abiding in Him, will reflect Him, and so live godly, as well as soberly and righteously, in a world where He as "the God of all grace" is wholly unknown.

Grace teaches the saved soul, then. It does not, as men suppose, conduce to looseness of conduct. It is just because the believer is not under law, but under grace, that sin shall not have dominion over him. See Rom. 6:14.

Men may, of course, " turn the grace of God into lasciviousness," making grace an excuse for sin, but what good thing will not the wickedness of man abuse ? Rulers abuse their God-given authority, just as lawless mobs of men, on the other hand, take advantage of the liberty granted to all in the constitution of free governments. Is authority evil, then, or civil liberty ? Why, then, condemn free grace because man has abused it, and made the sweet word liberty the synonym of vile license ?
(3) Then there is the hope that grace gives. "Looking for that blessed hope," it says. The One who was once here, the embodiment of grace, is coming back again. The day and hour is known only to One. The times and the seasons the Father hath put into His own hands. It is not within the province of Scripture to give us any data for this event. The Christian is told to "watch"-to look daily for the fulfilment of the "blessed hope"-the Lord's return:

"And soon will come the happy day."

Sinner, this can be no blessed hope for you. The "appearing in glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" can be to you but a dread expectation, with a "certain fearful looking for of judgment." Would that you were ready to be "caught up " with Him when He comes. There is only one preparation-to be saved by His grace. Accept, then, the salvation of God sent in the gospel unto us poor sinners of the Gentiles, and brought this day to your very door.

"Take salvation, take salvation-
Take it now, and happy be."