We are not among the number of those who doubt or deny the entire and absolute fall of man. Whatever good there was in him was then destroyed; whatever evil there is in him, was then induced. He is fallen in mind and soul and body. Physically, morally, spiritually, he is a wreck. But was no vestage left of that divine image in which he was created? Not one. No lingering desire to regain his glory and the position he had lost? None. Was he altogether dead to virtue and his Maker's claims? Yes, altogether. But was his nature so far polluted as that no trace of his original purity could be discovered? Not a trace to be seen even by an Omniscient eye. And was there left to him _no_ inherent power to do that which is good? None whatever. "From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment." Then see his position. If his fall, which is so entire, is his own act, he is as much amenable to his Maker as he was before. The fact of his fall will not lesson his obligations: nor will it impose upon God any necessity to show mercy. He therefore stands before his Judge a condemned criminal; and the course which the Judge shall take is entirely within himself. There is nothing which can force Him to show favour. If He say, die, He is as justly glorious as He was before. If then, there is _no_ obligation upon God to save: and if He _does_ determine to be gracious, the salvation _must be_ of grace. Oh, is it possible to conceive the solemnity of that moment when the destinies of untold millions were in the balance? Can you picture the suspense of heaven and hell when waiting Jehovah's fiat? Surely for the moment the pulse of nature throbbed not; heaven's music ceased to flow, and the howl of the pit was hushed. Then God, on his azure throne, holding in one hand the sword, and in the other the sceptre, stretched out the sceptre saying, "Deliver him from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom." Your salvation is of grace. You are required to _pray_; but you are saved by grace. You are required to _believe_; but you are saved by grace. You are required to _labour_; but you are saved by grace. You are required to _suffer_; but you are saved by grace. You will have to _die_; but when you stand a spirit glorified before the throne, it will be by grace. (iii.) Salvation in _its object_ is the soul. "Receiving the end of your faith even the salvation of your _souls_." By the soul we understand the immaterial principle or spiritual part of man; which though united with the body, is perfectly distinct from it.