Plain Sermons, preached at Archbishop Tenison's Chapel, Regent Street. Second Series

by James Galloway Cowan

Think a moment, brethren: look into your ways and thoughts about religion, and you will, perhaps, find that it is so with you; that, whatever may be your theory, your practice does not assent to the truth, that “Now is the day of salvation”; that you have now to be saved, yet to be washed from sin, to have its power destroyed in you, to be qualified for salvation, to lay hold on it, to work it out with fear and trembling, as that which, though commenced, is not certain to be completed—which, even when got, may again be lost. It may occur to you, as an objection to this statement, that you use means of grace, and somewhat diligently; that you exercise yourselves in prayer, and by Christian discipline; that you depend continually upon the ever-present grace of God; that you count not yourselves to have attained; that you seek to go on unto perfection. All this may be true, and yet—I beseech you ask yourselves whether it is not so with you—the latent feeling may be, that salvation is a thing inherited, already, in a measure, attained; and that what religion requires of you, and what you render, is gratitude to the Giver, and a due appreciation of the gift, sought to be testified and developed by a becoming life, and an enlarging of the spiritual faculties, which by and by will have so much more to exercise themselves upon.

But, secondly, is not this, it may be urged, a right view and feeling? Is not this what the ministers of religion should labour to impress upon the baptized: that they have received salvation—the grace of God, which bringeth salvation? Are we not taught by the Church, and by the Bible, that in baptism we were born again, that we then became children of God—and if children, then heirs, joint heirs with Christ; that we are, therefore, from that new birth as actually the inheritors of a blessing, as naturally we were inheritors of a curse; and that, thenceforth, it is proper for us to say, “I heartily thank my Heavenly Father that he hath called me to this state of salvation through Jesus Christ”? It is even so, brethren. “Now is the day of salvation,” may mean to us Christians, “now we have salvation,” rather than “now it is only offered to us.” It may be intended to stir us up to a consideration of our high calling, to an appreciation of the great gift already bestowed, to a remembrance of what God has already done for us, to a sense of His abiding presence. There is no doubt—whether this text teaches it or no is another question—that the disciples of Christ have a present possession, as well as a present offer of salvation; and what I meant in the first part, was not to hide this truth, but to guard against the error, to correct whatever amount you might have of the feeling, that we have already a final gift, so complete that nothing can be added to it, so altogether of the past, that we can do nothing in the present, but acknowledge the goodness of God in bestowing it, and wait on Him patiently and holily till He is pleased to reveal to us the full excellencies of the gift, and to enable us to enjoy them in the eternal heaven. Above all, I meant to protest against, to awaken from the fearful delusion, that Christ has conferred absolutely on mankind, or upon any chosen number—the elect—the salvation which, by His precious merits, He procured; that it is ours independently of means of grace, without closing with present offers of it, and making present exertions, and showing present appreciation of it; that it can be ours at all, without earnest seeking and praying for it, and strivings, and workings, and self-denials, and crucifyings of evil, and growth in grace, and perseverance unto the end. “By grace are ye saved, and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” Work out your own salvation, each individual of you; make that your own which was once procured for all that would have it; work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Your salvation (I speak to the baptized) is begun, you have present salvation—i.e., you are in the way which leads to salvation. You have guaranteed to you, on conditions, the helps necessary to attain perfect salvation. You may derive, and should be deriving, present benefits from your salvation, and you should experience present joy in it.

You have, I say, present salvation. You have been made members of that One Body, which was sanctified, and which is able to sanctify all other bodies that are joined to it: you are branches of that glorious tree, whose sap, pervading every healthy branch, gives it present strength and develops its beautiful growth, and by and by will produce the fruit of everlasting life. You have the life of Christ kindled in your souls. Your bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now is the day of salvation, and present salvation, too; not merely past salvation applied, not that you are washed in a lake whose waters once flowed from a glorious Fountain; not that you partake of a store of sanctification, long ago laid up; but that now each individual of you is operated upon by a present influence, deriving directly from the source, the water of life, having sanctification produced in you by the now-working and influencing Spirit. Creatures of the present, there is a present salvation for you; and that does not mean merely that you have for yourselves to seek and lay hold of a ready salvation, but that a merciful and grace-giving God, a loving Saviour, an indwelling Spirit, are present with you, and personally operating upon you for your salvation.

Dear brethren, try to understand and feel this. Do not suppose that God’s gifts are in any way separated from the Giver by time or by distance. Once for all, He resolved to give, but severally as each needs and rightly seeks, He gives; and when He gives, it is not by messengers, through long mediums, but out of His own hand. The bread which we break and the cup which we bless, are the communion of the Body and Blood of Christ. The bread is not the Body, nor the wine the Blood, nor is the reception of them the way of applying to us any stored up blessings; but when we keep the ordinance which Christ has appointed, then He fulfils His promise of blessing us, and, with the sign, Himself the reality enters into our souls.

There present in the heart,
Not in the hands, th’ eternal Priest
Will His true self impart.

And so of all other ordinances. They are nothing, and give nothing of themselves. Their whole value—but what an unspeakable value it is—consists in their being appointed ways of bringing us into direct communication with a present God, our Father, our Saviour, our Sanctifier!

But there is another view to take of present salvation—namely, that from its very nature, it cannot be received at any one time in perfection, in such a state as to need no care to preserve it, no sustentation and renewal, no constant direction and blessing from the Author, and Regulator, and Finisher of it. It is spiritual life. Who does not know to what hazards life may be exposed, and how, from its very nature, it requires to be fed with proper food, and kept in health, and exercised, and developed? It is a spiritual sap. And what a mockery of life and support to the branch, would be one single, separated, unrenewed imparting from the vine, of the sap, which indeed ceases to be sap when the flow from the trunk is interrupted! The work of salvation is God’s work, begun by Him, continued by Him, and to be completed by Him—therefore, it must have His continued personal superintendence. He must work in us to will and to do of His good pleasure.

Thus is salvation present as distinguished from the past.

But in another sense it is now the day of salvation. We have not to expect it as a thing wholly future, we must not delay to close with it as though there were a better time and way of doing that to be afforded hereafter. Salvation is present in its rewards and effects.

This, again, is a truth we need to be impressed with. We are wont to look too much to the future, to hope to be with God hereafter, to long for salvation, to sigh for the season of sanctification. By and by we shall be comforted. By and by we shall be strengthened. By and by we shall be holy and happy! Thus it is that we only expect salvation, that we persuade ourselves that we are not to receive anything here by way of real spiritual joy and blessing, and that we are not required to reach any high degree of spiritual excellence here! But, brethren, how unreasonable is this persuasion. To believe that God is present with us and operating upon us, and pouring out His benefits upon us all our lives, and yet that we are none the better, that we do not derive any blessedness from Him: or, again, to believe that God has given us spiritual life, that He imparts to us, and constantly superintends, the grace which justifies and sanctifies; and yet that we can, or at least need make no use of this grace, not grow in it, not become purer, and holier, that it is ineffectual, that we may consent to its being ineffectual till life is over—O is not such a persuasion unreasonable, are we not ashamed of it? Imagine a mother not feeding or taking care of her infant, and yet counting on its thriving! or, fondly and diligently tending, taking care of her infant, and continuing to do so year after year, yet perfectly satisfied though it gained no strength, did not grow, nor walk, nor speak, nor show the slightest sign of getting out of babyhood! Imagine, I say, satisfaction with such a state, and hope all the while, yea, conviction, that presently, when the usual number of years were over the child would somehow be a man! Or, imagine the husbandman expecting a harvest without sowing, or ploughing; or planting his field diligently, and rejoicing in refreshing rains, and ripening suns, yet not disappointed if the ear did not ripen, or even if the blade did not spring up; not concerned about it, not expecting it, sure of harvest at the usual time, even if that usual time should be next week, and there were yet no sign of a crop! Imagine this! you say. Such imagination is idle; it is a mockery of common sense to suppose such a thing possible. Well, then, my brethren, what is to be said of the spiritual nurses of the new life of God in the soul, of the spiritual husbandman of the seed of grace in the heart, who do nothing towards, or who expect nothing of present salvation? Brethren, NOW is the day of salvation, the day in which salvation is offered, in which it is actually conferred, in which it should be working and growing, yea, and bestowing its joy and peace. If in aught of this it fails, be sure there is some fault in yourselves—it is not that grace is of itself unreal, or unproductive, but that you receive it in vain, that you do not sufficiently heed and reverence it, that you do not sufficiently guard it, and sustain and refresh it, that you do not sufficiently use it.