The Power of the Gospel

A
DISCOURSE,
PREACHED JUNE 20th, 1841,

BY CHARLES FITCH,

IN REVIEW OF A SERMON BY
REV. OTIS A. SKINNER,

AT THE INSTALLATION OF
REV. T. P. ABELL,
OVER THE
UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY,
HAVERHILL, MASS.

HAVERHILL.
FROM THE ESSEX BANNER PRESS.

1841.

ROMANS 1: 16

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power

of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first,
and also to the Greek.
The object of this discourse is, to discharge a solemn duty, both
to God and men,-to God, that His name may be glorified, and to
men, that their souls may be saved. In relation to my fellow men, I
can truly say, that "I seek not mine own profit, but the profit of
many that they may be saved." And also, that "my hearts desire
and prayer to God" for every man "is that he may be saved."
I was passing the Universalist Church, in this village, the other
day, at a time when an installation service was in progress, and after
revolving in my own mind the question, whether I would be likely
to get good, or to do good by attending such a service, I was led, as
I trust, by the Spirit of God to enter.
After listening to the discourse which was preached on the
occasion, and to the other services, I remembered the words of
God to the prophet Ezekiel, contained in the third chapter of the
writings of that prophet. "Son of man, "I have made thee a
watchman to the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my
mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the
wicked, thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor
speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way to save his life,
the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity: but his blood will I
require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not
from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way; he
4
shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thy soul." Again,
"when a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness and
commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall
die; because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his
sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be
remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin
not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned:
Also thou hast delivered thy soul." In the thirty-third chapter of the
same prophet, we read as follows: "Again the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Son of man, speak to the children of my
people, and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a land, if
the people of the land take a man of their coasts and set him for a
watchman; If when he see the sword come upon the land, he blow
the trumpet and warn the people, then whosoever heareth the
sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the sword come
and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard
the sound of the trumpet and took not warning, his blood shall be
upon him; but he that taketh warning shall deliver his soul. But if
the watchman see the sword come, and blow not the trumpet, and
the people be not warned; if the sword come and take any person
from among them, he is taken away in his iniquity; but his blood
will I require at the watchman's hand. So thou, O son of man, I
have set thee a watchman unto the House of Israel; therefore thou
shalt hear the word at my mouth and warn them from me. When I
say unto the wicked, O wicked man thou shalt surely die; if thou
dost not speak to warn the wicked from his way, that wicked man
shall die in his iniquity but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it, if
he does not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity, but thou
hast delivered thy soul." Now God has made me a watchman for
the welfare of souls. To Him I stand accountable. No man can
deliver me from responsibility in relation to his soul. If I see danger,
and can make my voice heard, and warn him not, God has said,
"his blood will I require at thine hand." Now I see danger to
immortal souls in this community, by the efforts which are made to
persuade men to the
5
belief of the doctrine of Universal Salvation; and it is the voice of
God that calls me, and the authority of God that commands me to
lift the note of warning. Many may refuse to hear, but I must obey
God and deliver my own soul, by endeavoring faithfully and
plainly, yet affectionately, to lift the note of warning.
The discourse to which I allude was preached from the words
which I have placed at the head of this. "For I am not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation, to
every one that believeth." The object of the preacher was, to show
in what the power of the Gospel consisted.
From the commencement, he assumed it as the design of the
gospel, to save men from sin, and thereby prepare them for heaven;
and it was therefore his object to show in what the power of the
gospel to save men consisted.
Now, that the preacher was right in his assumption, that it is the
design of the gospel to save men from sin, I am fully prepared to
admit. I believe it may have been true, in some cases, at least, that
this grand truth has been kept out of sight; while the gospel has
been held forth as rather a way of salvation from hell, than from
sin. Now he who is saved from sin and preserved blameless, will
unquestionably find an immortality of bliss, for our Lord Jesus
Christ has said, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God." We also find the following in the book of Psalms: "Who shall
ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in His holy
place.? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart," Let a man
therefore be saved from sin, and the blessedness of his soul is sure;
and equally true is it, that he who is not saved from sin, can never
inherit the kingdom of God, "for there shall in no wise enter
therein anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh
abomination or maketh a lie." We also learn that the design of the
gospel is to save men from their sin, by the words of God to his
ancient people Israel, respecting the object of that ceremonial
worship, which was designed to point out Christ, and the end of
his coming into the world. Lev. 16:30. "For on that day shall the
priest make atonement for you to cleanse you, that ye may be clean
from all your sins before the Lord." This idea of cleansing was ever
kept in view in all that system of ceremonial worship-while
6
the grand design of that system was to set forth Christ and the
object of his coming into the world. Accordingly we are told by
Paul, in his Epistle to the Hebrews, that these rites and ceremonies
"were a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both
gifts and sacrifices which could not make him that did the service,
nor the comers thereunto perfect, as pertaining to the conscience,
which stood only in meats and drinks and divers washings and
carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time of reformation.
But Christ being come a high priest of good things to come, by a
greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is
to say, not of this building; neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by His own blood; he entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls
and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh; how much more shall the
blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God. And for this cause," i. e. for the purpose of
purging us from dead works to serve the living God, "he is the
Mediator of the New Testament." And we are told in the same
epistle, what that New Testament is. "I will put any laws in their
minds and write them in their hearts." As if to say, ye shall not be
as were the Jews in the time of Christ, like whited sepulchres,
beautiful indeed without, but full of all uncleanness within. "The
Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart, to love the Lord thy God
with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live." It is
therefore held forth in every part of the bible as the design of the
salvation of the Gospel, to set men free from sin, and when they
are thus effectually saved, there cannot be a doubt that they will
find their blessedness here and hereafter in communion with God,
as surely as he is a God of purity and love. Accordingly the angel
that foretold the birth of our Saviour said, "Thou shall call his
name Jesus," i. e. a Saviour, "for he shall save his people from their
sins." Hence, also, we hear God saying,-"Behold I will bring forth
out of Zion the Deliverer, and he shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob: For this is my covenant with them when I shall take away
7
their sins." I greatly rejoice, that it is beginning to be recognized
more and more, as the great design of the gospel to make men
pure and holy, and thereby "meet to be partakers of the
inheritance of the saints in light." The danger on this point is, that
men shall think themselves cleansed by the gospel, while in the
sight of God they are still altogether unclean; or shall regard
themselves as so sure of being cleansed at last, that they shall pass
on uncleansed, until they die in their iniquities, and consequently
find, that "where Christ has gone they never can come."
I know it has sometimes been said of Universalists, that they
maintain that men of all characters will be taken to Heaven. This
charge is manifestly false. They believe that all men will become
holy, and then be received to heaven; and I rejoice to admit, that in
assuming it as the grand and glorious design of the gospel, to save
men from sin, they hold forth a sentiment which harmonizes with
the whole tenor of sacred scripture. The fatal mistake which they
embrace, is on another point, as I expect hereafter to show. The
Preacher of the sermon in question, in proceeding to show in what
consisted the power of the gospel to save men from sin, remarked,
I. Negatively; that it did not consist, 1. In propitiatory worship.
This he stated was the design of all heathen worship, and
conveyed, as I understood him, the idea, that such worship was no
better than heathenism. Now that men need a propitiatory
sacrifice, in coming to God with acceptance, is very evident from
the fact, that the bible teaches us, that Christ is the propitiation for
our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole
world. If therefore no propitiation had been necessary, God,
certainly would never have provided one. But Christ, is ever to be
regarded as an all sufficient propitiation: and I am fully prepared to
admit, that if we bring before God any works or offerings of our
own, as a propitiation, our worship must be no better in his sight
than the worship of Pagans. For God has provided a propitiation
that is all sufficient, and if I attempt to bring another, I treat that
which God has offered as of no value, and set up some works or
sacrifices of my own, as more meritorious
8
than those of Christ in my behalf, which is unquestionably
mocking God, and treating with the greatest possible indignity the
Saviour whom he has sent into the world. I am to cast away all
dependance on myself, and make the propitiation of Christ all my
hope, and come with an unwavering faith therein, and then I
honor the Saviour whom God has provided. But whether I bring a
propitiation of my own, or say that no propitiation is needed, or
place no confidence in that which God has provided, I do equally
set at nought the propitiation of Christ.
The preacher remarked 2. That the power of the Gospel did not
consist in mysteries. On this point I have only to remark, that the
bible declares "great is the mystery of Godliness," and also speaks
of "the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in us the
hope of glory."
He also said 3. That the power of the gospel did not consist in
human learning. On this point I have nothing to say but to assent.
 He remarked 4th. That the power of the gospel did not consist
in the doctrine of endless punishment. On this point I readily
admit, that a mere belief in the doctrine of endless punishment,
never did, never will save a man from sin. I have no doubt that
many a sinner has lived and died in the belief of that doctrine, and
been lost forever, and that many others will follow in the same
course, loving their sins too well to renounce them, though fully
aware that the end of the wicked must be "everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." At
the same time I know it to be a fact, that the doctrine of endless
punishment has often been used by the Holy Spirit to arrest the
sinner in his course of iniquity, and to lead him to seek a way of
salvation from sin, though a mere belief in that doctrine has never
saved any man, and never will. I think no candid mind will deny
that to set clearly before a transgressor the certain consequences of
his evil courses, has some tendency to restrain him, and to
influence him to look after a way of safety. But it is admitted freely,
that the power of the gospel to save men from sin does not consist in
the doctrine of endless punishment.
The Preacher then proceeded to show
9
II. In what the power of the gospel to save from sin, did consist;
and stated that it consisted, 1st. In the love of God. 2nd. In the
doctrine of a common brotherhood. 3rd. In the nature of its
punishment. 4th. In the doctrine or hope of life and immortality.
Now the fundamental and fatal mistake of the preacher
consisted, as I expect to show, from the bible, not so much in what
he did say, as in what he did not say. I freely admit the influence of
the love of God in saving men from sin; and that if ever saved from
sin, it will be in loving God because He first loved us. I admit the
influence of that new command of Christ, which requires all men
to love one another as He has loved them. I admit that the
punishment of the Gospel is disciplinary, yielding the peaceable
fruits of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby and
consequently reformatory, and inflicted only in the present life;
while the punishment of the future life which the bible calls the
second death, is retributive, i. e. meted out to all that cannot be
reclaimed by the love of God, according to their works.
But that there will be those who will never be reclaimed from sin
by the love of God, we learn from the bible when it speaks as in the
second chap. of the 2nd Epist. to the Thess. of "them that perish,
because they receive not the love of the truth that they might be
saved. And that for this cause God shall send them strong delusion
to believe a lie that they all might be damned who believed not the
truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness." The bible also speaks of
those who know not "that the goodness of God leadeth them to
repentance; but after their hardness and impenitent heart, treasure
up unto themselves wrath, against the day of wrath, and revelation
of the righteous judgment of God."
I come now to the main design of this discourse, which is to
show that the Preacher to whom I allude, has entirely failed to
show in what the power of the gospel to save men from sin does
consist.-He has not even alluded in all the points which he has
named, to that, without which, the gospel ever has been and ever
will be, of none effect.
The apostle Paul tells us in what the power of the gospel
consists, when he says as in the first chapter of his 1st Epistle to the
Thessalonians, "For our gospel came not unto you in word only,
10
but in power and in the Holy Ghost." Peter in the first chapter of his 1st
Epistle, speaks of "the things which were reported by them that
have preached the gospel, with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven."
Paul also says to Titus. "Not by works of righteousness which we
have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, i. e. from sin,
"by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost which He
shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior." The
power of the gospel then to save from sin, consists in the
regenerating, renewing, and sanctifying influences of the Spirit of
God, shed forth to attend the gospel through Jesus Christ our
Savior, and without these influences, the Gospel with all the love
which it reveals, is utterly powerless, in working in the hearts of
men, that "holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord."
 Accordingly our Lord Jesus Christ at his ascension, after having
commissioned his disciples to go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature, commanded them not to depart from
Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father. "Ye shall
receive power," said He, "After that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you, and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth."
Having therefore received from Christ the direction, "tarry ye in
the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on high, and the
assurance behold I send the promise of my Father upon you; and
ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you,
the disciples returned unto Jerusalem from the Mount called
Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey, and went
into an upper chamber, and there continued with one accord in
prayer and supplication, both men and women, until they were, on
the day of Pentecost, all filled with the Holy Ghost. Then they
preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,
and multitudes were pricked in their hearts and inquired what shall
we do? And when others mocking said these men are full of new
wine"-they replied, "this Jesus whom ye crucified hath God raised
up whereof we all are witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand
of God exalted, and having received of the
11
Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this
which ye now see and hear. Yea and all the prophets from Samuel
and those that follow after have likewise foretold these days. Unto
you first, God having raised up his Son Jesus Christ, sent him to
bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities."
Here then we behold the power of the gospel to save men from
sin:-It is in being attended by the Holy Ghost sent down from
Heaven. I freely admit that it is the setting forth of the love of God
which saves men from sin, but in order that the love of God may
have its cleansing efficacy-it must be as Paul says to the Romans,
"the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost
which is given unto us." Accordingly we find, that the success of
the Apostles in saving men from sin by the preaching of the gospel,
is uniformly ascribed to the Holy Ghost. Barnabas was a man full
of the Holy Ghost and faith, and much people were added to the
Lord. Peter preached at the house of Cornelius, and the Holy
Ghost fell on all which heard the word.-"Then remembered I," said
he, "the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptised
with water, but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Ghost."
The whole current of the New Testament shows that the work
which should follow the coming of Christ, should be the
dispensation of the Holy Ghost. Peter in the first chapter of his 1st
Epistle tells us, that the prophets searched and inquired diligently
respecting the time of this salvation, which the Spirit of Christ
which was in them signified, when it testified beforehand of the
sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. This glory was
to be the outpouring of the Spirit as predicted by Joel; and which
Ezekiel also had in view, when God is heard saying by the mouth of
that prophet," "then will I sprinkle clean water upon you and ye
shall be clean, from all your filthiness and from all your idols will I
cleanse you. And I will save you from all your uncleannesses." Here
also is brought to view by the prophets that baptism of the Holy
Ghost which was to be the establishment of the kingdom of
Heaven upon earth-which kingdom we are told is "righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
12
John the Baptist was sent to prepare the way of the Lord for the
establishment of this kingdom. This work of preparation was
performed by him, as he preached saying, "Repent ye, for the
kingdom of Heaven is at hand, the kingdom of "righteousness,
peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost." "I indeed baptise you with
water unto repentance, but there cometh one after me, mightier
than I, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose, He
shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and with fire. Whose fan is in
his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his
wheat into the garner, but he will burn up the chaff with
unquenchable fire."
The same great truths Christ himself had in view, when he said
to Nicodemus, "Verily verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit-he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God." What is the kingdom of God? "Righteousness, peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost." What is it to be born of water? It is to
receive John's baptism unto repentance. That is, truly to repent and
being forth fruits meet for repentance. This prepares the way of the
kingdom of heaven in us. What is it to be born of the Spirit? It is to
receive the baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost, or to have
Christ "sprinkle clean water upon us, and make us clean; and
cleanse us from all our filthiness, and from all our idols." Then
when this baptism of Christ is received, when this work of
purification is wrought by being baptised with the Holy Ghost, we
enter that "kingdom of God" which "is righteousness, peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost." And we have the positive asservation of the
Son of God, "Verily, verily, I say unto you expect a man be born of
water" i. e. led to the exercise of true repentance, "and of the
Spirit" i. e. sprinkled with clean water, or baptised with the Holy
Ghost, and cleansed from all his filthiness and from all his idols-he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God," which "is righteousness,
and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
Here then we clearly see, my hearers, what it is which makes the
gospel of Christ the power of God unto salvation from sin. It is
Our Lord Jesus Christ, baptising with the Holy Ghost, and thus
cleansing men from all their filthiness and from all their idols;
13
thus bringing them into God's kingdom of righteousness, and
establishing that kingdom in their hearts-filling them with
righteousness, as Christ says those shall be, who hunger and thirst
after it; and giving them peace and joy in the Holy Ghost-making
their peace as a river and their righteousness as the waves of the
sea. This gospel is indeed the power of God unto salvation to every
one that believeth. It is the dispensation of God's Almighty Spirit,
"Burying us with Jesus Christ, by baptism of the Holy Ghost into
death" i. e. making us dead to sin-"that like as Christ was raised up
from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we also should walk in
newness of life." It is enabling us to "put off the old man which is
corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and to put on the new man,
which after God" (i. e. after the likeness of God) "is created in
righteousness and true holiness."
REMARKS

1. We may see that while the advocates of Universal Salvation

take correct ground, in assuming it as the design of the gospel to
save men from sin, they fail entirely of gaining that salvation, by
leaving out of the account the work of the Holy Ghost in renewing
and cleansing the heart. "Create in me" said the Psalmist "a clean
heart, and renew a right spirit within me. Purge me with hyssop
and I shall be clean, wash me and I shall be whiter than snow."
Here it is recognized as the work of God to save from sin, to
cleanse the heart, while the Universalist expects to cleanse his own
heart, by his contemplations of the universal love of God. I know it
is by the revelation of the love of God that the heart must be
cleansed-but this love as I have already said, great as it is, is
powerless on the hearts of men, until "shed abroad in their hearts
by the Holy Ghost given unto them." Paul speaks of "the gift of the
grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of God's
power." It is in this way that every gift of God's grace is
communicated: only by the effectual working of God's power. The
bible represents unholy men as dead in trespasses and sins, and as
having no spiritual life but in Christ. When our first parents ate the
forbidden fruit they died a spiritual death, and all their posterity
are under the power of that death,
14
and will remain under it forever, unless raised by the power of
God. Hence we hear Christ say "I am the resurrection and the life;
be that believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live, and
he that liveth and believeth in me shall never die. I am the way and
the truth and the life. Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man
and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." He therefore who
would have spiritual life is to look to Christ for it. He is to seek,
through faith in Christ, that baptism of the Holy Ghost which will
cleanse him from sin; or in other words, raise him up from his
spiritual death, and make him alive to the love and enjoyment of
God. That same God who first breathed into man the breath of
spiritual life, so that he became a living soul-must again by the
power of that same Spirit breathe spiritual life anew, or the sinner
will remain dead in sin forever. All his contemplations of the love of
God, without this Baptism of the Holy Ghost, this resurrection
from spiritual death by the power of Christ, will avail nothing. Men
will by such contemplations, become no better than whited
sepulchres. If the outside is beautiful, the uncleanness will all
remain within. "If ye believe not that I am he," said Christ "ye shall
die in your sins." "And whither I go ye cannot come." If ye believe
not that I am who? Why the Savior whom God promised to send
into the world; and whose "name was called Jesus, because he
should save his people from their sins."
The question then, for you to settle, my hearers, is this. Have
you been baptised by the Holy Ghost? Have you been raised up by
the power of Christ's spiritual resurrection from the death of sin
and made alive unto God, and had that kingdom of God
established within you which "is righteousness, peace, and joy in
the Holy Ghost." If not you are dead in sin, and your expectation
of going where Christ is, in your present state, will avail you
nothing. To the Jews, Christ said, ye will not come unto me that ye
may have life. Coming to the doctrine of Universal Salvation then,
will not cleanse men from sin, and give them spiritual life. They
must come to Christ for it by faith, and receive it by the power of
the Holy Ghost, for "the kingdom of God is not in word but in
power." I beseech you therefore my hearers to abandon all
15
hope of salvation from sin from the doctrine of Universal
Salvation. "Why seek ye the living among the dead." "Christ is not
there, he is risen."
There is no spiritual life in that system. No baptism of the Holy
Ghost. They know not what it means. Christ has never been
revealed in them, "the hope of glory." They know nothing about
"the riches of the glory of that mystery." They are only expecting
to be saved from sin, because all will be; and are not looking to
Christ by faith, hungering and thirsting after righteousness and
expecting to be filled-nor do they know what it is to obtain the
witness which Abel did, that they are righteous, nor the testimony
that Enoch had, that he pleased God. "It is the Spirit which
beareth witness because the Spirit is truth," and when we obtain
the witness of the Spirit that we are righteous, by having Christ
baptize us with the Holy Ghost, then we know in our own blessed
experience, what it is which makes the gospel "the power of God
unto salvation (from sin) to every one that believeth;" and are
prepared with Paul to say, "I am not ashamed of the gospel of
Christ."
Let that soul who fastens his hope of redemption from sin, on
the doctrine of Universal Salvation-remember that Christ has said,
"if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." This dying in
sin will be found fearful indeed. It will be the portion of all such as
will not "receive the truth in the love of it that they might be saved"
from sin.
2. There is reason to fear, that very many who regard themselves
as in a state of salvation, have mistaken the grand design of the
gospel. They seem to suppose, that the great design of the gospel is,
to save men from hell, at the close of their existence on earth, and
that by looking to Christ to save them from the final doom of the
wicked, when they die, they are then to live in a great measure in
sin, inasmuch as their salvation is secured. Many, who say that they
groan being burdened, under a sense of their vast uncleannesses,
have no hope of being cleansed from sin, until death comes to their
deliverance, supposing that, somehow or other, about the close of
life, they shall be so cleansed, as to be meet for heaven. This is true
of many who believe that the future doom of
16
the wicked is, to be punished with everlasting destruction, and of
many who rest their hopes on the doctrine of Universal Salvation.
Many of both classes are supposing, that, a little before death, or in
the very instant of death or immediately after death, some thing or
other will transpire, that will complete in their souls the necessary
work of purification, and make them fit for heaven. 'Tis strange
that such vast multitudes should have imbibed such a notion as this,
and should be resting such amazing interests and expectations
upon it, when the bible nowhere intimates that any such change is
to take place in any soul at or about the time of departure from the
world. On the contrary, the bible does teach most plainly, that
Christ is the only Savior from sin, and that he came to save us while
we live, and to preserve us blameless until we die. With this truth in
view, we hear Zacharias, "filled with the Holy Ghost," prophesying
and saying, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited
and redeemed his people, and hath raised up an horn of salvation
for us, in the house of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth
of his holy prophets which have been since the world began; that
we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all that
hate us; to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to
remember his holy covenant; the oath which he sware to our
Father Abraham, that he would grant unto us, that we, being
delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without
fear in holiness and righteousness, before him, all the days of our life."
Here is Christ our horn of salvation, even Jesus saving his people
from their sins-but instead of saving them at death, it is "all the days
of their life." Saving them too, out of the hand of all the enemies of
their souls, unto holiness and righteousness all the days of their life.
With the same blessed truth in view, we hear Paul saying to the
Corinthians, "I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace
of God which is given you by Jesus Christ, that in every thing ye
are enriched by him in all utterance and in all knowledge, even as
the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you: so that ye come
behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall also confirm you unto the end, blameless, in the day of
our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom ye
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were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord."
Faithful to preserve blameless to the end. This same faithfulness of
God in preserving his people blameless, after enriching them with
the blessedness of full salvation from sin, Paul recognized again in
writing to the Thessalonians. "The very God of peace sanctify you
wholly, and your whole spirit, and soul, and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.-Faithful is he
that calleth you who also will do it." He says also again, to the same
church, "but the Lord is faithful who shall establish you and keep
you from evil." Thus plainly does the bible present to us the
doctrine of salvation from sin through Christ-in this life, and
during all this life, while it never speaks of death as the time of
salvation. Its language is, "now is the accepted time, Behold now is
the day of salvation." And the bible nowhere regards any thing as
salvation but salvation from sin.
You must then, my hearers, have salvation from sin while you
live, or die in your sins, and where Christ has gone, never go.-Any
hope but this is baseless-for Christ declares that at his coming, he
will give every man according as his work shall be, and that the
unjust shall be unjust still, and the filthy, filthy still-while the
righteous and the holy shall so remain. Rev. xxii. 12. O that every
heart who hears me, might be brought by the Holy Ghost, to cry
out, how shall this salvation from sin be obtained?
In reply to such an inquiry I answer-The blessed bible tells us,
"that the divine power of God hath given unto us all things, that
pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that
hath called us to glory and virtue; whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises, that by these we might
become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the
corruption that is in the world through lust." These promises we
are also told, are "all yea and Amen, in Christ, to the glory of God
by us," so that if we seek by earnest prayer and faith in Christ, to
have these promises fulfilled in us, their fulfilment is sure.-These
promises are such as the following. "Ask, and ye shall receive-seek,
and ye shall find-knock and it shall be opened unto you. For every
one that asketh, receiveth, and he that seeketh, findeth-and to him
that knocketh it shall be opened. If a son
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ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone, or
if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent, or if he ask an
egg will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, knew how
to give good things unto your children; how much more shall your
Father who is in heaven, give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him." I
have already shown that the design of this gift or baptism of the
Holy Spirit, which we receive through faith in Christ, is to save
from sin. To "sprinkle with clean water, and cleanse us from all our
filthiness and all our idols." This is the baptism of Christ, which
cleanses from sin, or makes us dead to sin, and alive unto God
through Jesus Christ our Lord. If you would have this "gift of the
Holy Ghost," this "baptism of Christ," this salvation from sin, seek
it, with earnest prayer, and faith in Christ, and you shall find in
your own blessed experience, that "all things whatsoever you ask in
prayer believing you do receive." "Blessed are they which do
hunger and thirst after this righteousness, for they shall be filled,"
and filled as we are assured, in the covenant and oath of God, "all
the days of their life." Come I beseech you, by faith, to Christ, for this
salvation, and you shall find, that "the gospel of Christ" is indeed
"the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth." All
this hearer you must receive, or Christ will say to you at last, "I
know you not whence ye are, depart from me ye that work
iniquity."
O, it is a dreadful opiate to the consciences of men, to teach
them, that though they sin against God every day, in thought word
and deed, they may yet be saved from sin, when they die, and be
received to heaven. It lulls into carnal security. It operates as a
standing excuse for all the iniquities which men may chance to
commit. While on the contrary, our Savior's doctrine, that if we
believe not in Him as our Savior from sin, we shall die in our sins,
and where he has gone never go, tends most directly and
powerfully to arouse from the fatal slumbers of worldliness and
sinful pleasure, to cry mightily to God in Christ's name, for
deliverance from all our spiritual foes-and for strength and grace
"to serve God without fear in holiness and righteousness before him
all the days of our life." God grant that this may be
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the earnest cry of every soul, and be continued by every one of you
until you find your feet in that "highway of holiness over which the
unclean shall not pass." He that thinks that he shall certainly be
saved from sin at last, will be almost sure to be saying, "a little more
sleep, a little more slumber, a little more folding of the hands to
sleep." May the Lord save us out of this destructive snare of the
devil, and bring us all to behold by faith, "the Lamb of God who
taketh away the sins of the world." Then shall we "obtain the
witness that we are righteous, God testifying," within us by his spirit
"of his" own "gifts," and "then shall we not be ashamed when we
have respect unto all his commandments."
3. We may see it to be a matter of unspeakable consequence,
that we do not trifle with, nor resist the Holy Ghost. He trifles with
the Holy Ghost, who thinks lightly of the pollutions which God
charges upon him, and will not seek to be cleansed by the Spirit of
God. He resists the Holy Ghost who will not yield to the motives of
the gospel, and come to Christ for the Holy Spirit that he may have
life. If any of you my hearers desire the salvation of God-let me
say to you as did David to Solomon his son. "Thou Solomon my
son, know thou the God of thy Fathers, and serve him with a
perfect heart, and with a willing mind. If thou seek him he will be
found of thee, but if thou forsake Him, He will cast thee off forever." The
influences of God's Spirit are the waters of salvation, from sin.-
They can be had by being sought through faith in Christ. "Ho
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters." "If any man thirst
let him come unto me and drink." "The Spirit and the bride say,
come. And let him that heareth say, come. And let him that is
athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life
freely." Amen.