Christian Pen Pals

II. The second head proposed was: To speak of the word of salvation, which I may do by answering these four questions. QUESTION 1: What is the word of salvation? ANSWER: Not the law, but the gospel; this is that which is the power of God to salvation, Romans 1:16. Whatever discovers Christ, and salvation through him, is the gospel. QUESTION 2: Why is it called the word of salvation? ANSWER: Because it discovers salvation; it describes salvation; it conveys salva-tion, as a charter does an estate, or as a testament does a legacy; it offers salvation; it establishes a connection betwixt faith and salvation to all sinners of mankind, for, "He that believeth shall be saved"; and because it is the organ or instrument by which the Spirit applies salvation. QUESTION 3: How does the word operate in the hand of the Spirit, when believed unto salvation? ANSWER: It operates as seed cast into the ground: it operates as rain and dew; "My doctrine shall drop as the dew, and distil

I. We shall speak a little of this salvation, and consider what it supposes, and what it implies. 1. What this salvation supposes, namely, misery. Our miserable state by nature is a state of alienation and estrangement from God. We are without God, and are alienated from the life of God; aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. It is a state of enmity; for, "The carnal mind is at enmity against God"; we are in actual rebellion against him. It is a state of darkness and ignorance; we are destroyed for lack of knowledge. A state of bondage to sin, Satan, and the world, and divers lusts; we are fettered and imprisoned, led captive. It is a state of impotence: we are, by nature, without strength; we cannot so much as ask deliverance: "We are not sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves." It is a destitute state, a pit wherein there is no water; a comfortless state, a bewildered state, a cursed and condemned state; for "He that believeth not, is con