Sermons by the late Rev. Richard de CourcyDe Courcy, Richard
Religion
Sermons by the late Rev. Richard de Courcy
De Courcy, Richard
Church of England -- Sermons; Sermons, English -- 18th century
useth in the accomplishment of its purposes; and, in the other, of the
derived influence, which the sinner himself is enabled to exert, but by a
power, originally not his own. Thus, ministers are said to turn others
from darkness to light, and sinners to turn themselves, only in
consequence of the blessing and power of God, which enable them to do the
one and the other respectively. For, when the great Apostle of the
Gentiles reviewed the success of his ministrations, or when he
contemplated the evidences of his conversion, he resolves both into the
agency and sovereignty of divine grace, saying, “Not I, but the grace of
God which was with me.—By the grace of God I am what I am.” 1 Cor. xv.
10.
I cannot prevail upon myself to dismiss this branch of the subject,
without observing further, in confirmation of what hath been already
urged, that the change effected in the conversion of a sinner, is
compared, in scripture, to some of those operations in nature, to
accomplish which nothing short of an Almighty agency is requisite. It
is, for instance, called “a new _creation_,” 2 Cor. v. 17;—a new _birth_,
John, iii. 3;—a _resurrection_ from the dead, Col. iii. 1;—a quickening
from a death in trespasses and sins, Ephes. ii. 1;—the communication of
light to the soul, by the same powerful voice that said in the beginning,
“Let there be light.” 2 Cor. iv. 6;—a translation from the kingdom of
Satan into the kingdom of God’s dear Son. Col. i. 13. And the
renovation which it produceth, is said to make believers “the habitation
of God by his spirit,” Ephes. ii. 22;—“his workmanship, created in Christ
Jesus unto good works,” Ephes. ii. 10;—branches, taken from a barren
stock, and engrafted into the “true vine” by the operation of the Spirit,
John, xv. 5;—sons of God by adoption, Gal. iv. 6;—and joint-heirs with
Christ to an everlasting inheritance, purchased at the price of his
blood.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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