undeserving.
gospel . What those demands are, as we have seen, is differently explained. The essential distinctions between the abovementioned views of the plan of salvation, or covenant of grace, and the Augustinian system, are,
1. That, according to the former, its provisions have equal reference to all mankind, whereas according to the latter they have special reference to that portion of our race who are actually saved; and 2. That Augustinianism says that it is God and not man who determines who are to be saved. As has been already frequently remarked, the question which of these systems is true is not to be decided by ascertaining which is the more agreeable to our feelings or the more plausible to our understanding, but which is consistent with the doctrines of the Bible and the facts of experience.
This point has already been discussed. Our present object is simply to state what Augustinians mean by the covenant of grace.
The word grace is used in Scripture and in ordinary religious writings in three senses.
1. For unmerited love; i. e., love exercised towards the undeserving. 2. For any unmerited favour, especially for spiritual blessings. Hence, all the fruits of the Spirit in believers are called graces, or unmerited gifts of God. 3. The word grace often means the supernatural influence of the Holy Ghost. This is preeminently grace, being the great gift secured by the work of Christ, and without which his redemption would not avail to our salvation.
In all these senses of the word the plan of salvation is properly called a covenant of grace. It is of grace because it originated in the mysterious love of God for sinners who deserved only his wrath and