II. But we must pass on to the _freeness_. For there might be an offer made to every one, but yet on such terms that no one could accept it; and so would this have been, had God required that there should be one act of sinless obedience on our part, as a preliminary qualification to our being saved in Christ Jesus. The person who is possessed of nothing is as little able to pay one pound as a hundred; and the ruined man, dead in sin, is as little able to produce one act of life as a hundred. So long as he is dead he can produce nothing; for he is not only without God, but also without strength. Oh, the depth of the riches of the tender lovingkindness of our God! Oh, the wonders of that grace that does not wait till the sinner can produce a something, however small that something be; but freely, and graciously, and mercifully, and lovingly, bestows a free, full, perfect, complete, and everlasting reconciliation on the poor ruined sinner, even at the very time of his utter ruin! I do not pretend to know all the various religious systems of the world; but this I can most safely say,—that I never yet heard of anything but the blessed Gospel of the grace of God, which proclaims reconciliation to men without a claim, and at the very time that they are without a claim. In every other system the order is amendment first, and forgiveness second: but in the Gospel the order is reversed, and we find the forgiveness first, as a free gift, while the amendment follows, as the blessed fruit of the Spirit in a repentant and loving heart. The language of Scripture is not what any natural moralist would have written,—“There is forgiveness with Thee if I can but fear Thee sufficiently:” but God reverses the order, so that those who cannot, for one moment, stand before Him, are taught to say,—“There is forgiveness with Thee that Thou mayest be feared.” I should like to know from those who boast of the superior benevolence of their system, what that system does for the helpless,—for the man whose soul is paralyzed, and whose power to rise is gone, being deadened by his sin. I fearlessly ask the advocate of mere natural religion, what the religion of nature can do for such an one. His moral sense may teach him his duty, and his conscience may bring him in guilty of not having fulfilled that duty; but what does natural religion do to reinstate and restore him? Our Gospel proclaims to him pardon, and our Saviour gives him life, even at the time of the deepest ruin. But what does nature do for him? What does conscience do to restore him? It leaves him condemned, ruined, sunk, and helpless; and holds out to him nothing better than the hope, that when he has got out of the pit, he may find mercy through the benevolence of God. If that were the Gospel, it would be glad tidings to those only who have already recovered themselves from their ruin. The Lord Jesus would be a Saviour for only such as do not need one. It would be a promise of life to those