grace hath much more abounded to purify.  Where sin abounded to harden, grace hath much more abounded to soften and subdue.  Where sin abounded to imprison men, grace hath much more abounded to proclaim liberty to the captives.  Where sin abounded to break the law and dishonor the Lawgiver, grace hath much more abounded to repair the breach and efface the stain.  Where sin abounded to consume the soul as with unquenchable fire and a gnawing worm, grace hath much more abounded to extinguish the flame and heal the wound.  Grace hath abounded!  It hath established its throne on the merit of the Redeemer’s sufferings.  It hath put on the crown, and laid hold of the golden scepter, and spoiled the dominion of the prince of darkness, and the gates of the great cemetery are thrown open, and there is the beating of a new life-pulse throughout its wretched population and immortality is walking among the tombs!

This abounding grace is manifested in the gift of Jesus Christ, by whose mediation our reconciliation and salvation are effected.  With Him, believers are dead unto sin, and alive unto God.  Our sins were slain at His cross, and buried in His tomb.  His resurrection hath opened our graves, and given us an assurance of immortality.  “God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us; much more, then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from the wrath through him; for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.”

“The carnal mind is enmity against God; it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”  Glory to God, for the death of His Son, by which this enmity is slain, and reconciliation is effected between the rebel and the law!  This was the unspeakable gift that saved us from ruin; that wrestled with the storm, and turned it away from the devoted head of the sinner.  Had all the angels of God attempted to stand between these two conflicting seas, they would have been swept to the gulf of destruction.  “The blood of bulls and goats, on Jewish altars slain,” could not take away sin, could not pacify the conscience.  But Christ, the gift of divine grace, “Paschal Lamb by God appointed,” a “sacrifice of nobler name and richer blood than they,” bore our sins and carried our sorrows, and obtained for us the boon of eternal redemption.  He met the fury of the tempest, and the floods went over His head; but His offering was an offering of peace, calming the storms and the waves, magnifying the law, glorifying its Author, and rescuing its violator from the wrath and ruin.  Justice hath laid down his sword at the foot of the cross, and amity is restored between heaven and earth.

Hither, O ye guilty! come and cast away your weapons of rebellion!  Come with your bad principles and wicked actions; your unbelief, and enmity, and pride; and throw them off at the Redeemer’s feet!  God is here waiting to be gracious.  He will receive you; He will east all your sins behind His back, into the depths of the sea; and they shall be remembered against you no more forever.  By Heaven’s “unspeakable gift,” by Christ’s invaluable atonement, by the free, infinite grace of the Father and Son, we persuade you, we beseech you, we entreat you, “be ye reconciled to God”!