I do expect, that he will fulfil his word, that he will meet and bless me in this way. Yet not for the sake of any works which I have done, nor for the merit of my righteousness: But merely through the merits and sufferings and love of his Son, in whom he is always well-pleased.
3. It has been vehemently objected, Thirdly, that Christ is the only means of grace. I answer, this is mere playing upon words. Explain your term, and the objection vanishes away. When we say, “Prayer is a means of grace,” we understand, a channel through which the grace of God is conveyed. When you say, “Christ is the means of grace,” you understand,the sole price and purchaser of it: or, that no man cometh unto the Father, but thro’ him. And who denies it? But this is utterly wide of the question.
4. “But does not the scripture (it has been objected, fourthly) direct us to wait for salvation? Does not David say, My soul waiteth upon God: for of him cometh my salvation? And does not Isaiah teach us the same thing, saying, O Lord, we have waited for thee?” All this cannot be denied. Seeing it is the gift of God, we are undoubtedly to wait on him for salvation. But how shall we wait? If God himself has appointed a way, can you find a better way of waiting for him? But, that he hath appointed a way, hath been shewn at large, and also what that way is. The very words of the prophet which you cite, put this out of all question. For the whole sentence runs thus; In the way of thy judgments, or ordinances, O Lord, have we waited for thee. (Isaiah xxvi. 8.) And in the very same way did David wait, as his own words abundantly testify: I have waited for thy saving health, O Lord, and have kept thy law, teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end.
5. “Yea, say some, but God has appointed another way, Stand still and see the salvation of God.”
Let us examine the scriptures to which yourefer. The first of them, with the context, runs thus:
And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lift up their eyes—and they were sore afraid. And they said unto Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? And Moses said unto the people, fear ye not: stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord. And the Lord said unto Moses, speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea, Exod. xiv. 10, &c.
This was the salvation of God, which they stood still to see, by marching forward with all their might!
The other passage wherein this expression occurs, stands thus. There came some that told Jehoshaphat saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee, from beyond the sea. And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help of the Lord, even out of all the cities they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation, in the house of the Lord—Then upon Jahaziel came the Spirit of the Lord.—And he said—Be not dismayed by reason of this great multitude—To-morrow go ye down against them; ye shall not need to fight in this battle. Set yourselves:stand ye still, and see the salvation of the Lord—And they arose early in the morning and went forth. And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Moab, Ammon, and Mount Sier—and every one helped to destroy another, 2 Chron. xx. 2, &c.
Such was the salvation which the children of Judah saw. But how does all this prove, that we ought not to wait for the grace of God, in the means which he hath ordained?
6. I shall mention but one objection more, which indeed does not properly belong to this head. Nevertheless, because it has been so frequently urged, I may not wholly pass it by.