Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. THE LOVE OF CHRIST. |T should be kept in the foreground that the gospel is a system by itself, amongst what are called religions. Christianity is not the religion of nature, not Judaism, not even pure theism. It is not a code of moral regulations ; a digest of wholesome prohibitions and restraints ; a compendium of rewards and punishments. Although its morality is the most elevated ; its rules of living the purest and most spiritual; its rewards and punishments the most definite and comprehensive ; its distinctive quality, over and above all these, is that it is a redemption. It includes every worthy suggestion of natural religion, respecting our duty to God and to man, the practice of righteousness, the cultivation of the virtues, and the condemnation of error and transgression ; while it does what no other system can do, in making provision for the recovery, pardon, and salvation of men ruined in their guilt. Preeminently the gospel is not law, but love; while it does not in the slightest degree derogate from sovereignty, it exalts grace ; while it diminishes nothing in the condemnation of sin, it delights in the forgiveness of the sinner; while it retains the accuracy of retribution, it glories in the bestowment of a free gift; while it justifies righteousness wherever it can be found, it reinstates in the divine favor and the final inheritance with great joy, every repentant prodigal and every returning wanderer. To use such a gospel as an instrument, must differ widely from giving instruction in the precepts of the law. It obviously requires the minister to be in sympathy with the spirit of the gospel, or more exactly to be in sympathy with Jesus Himself, the pro- claimer of glad tidings. The very name Christianity is not without its significance...