Sin and the Unfolding of Salvation by David Gracey

David Gracey was the second Principal of The Pastor’s College, London – now known as Spurgeon’s College. Gracey died in office in 1893 and the contents of his lectures were published the following year. As far as I can ascertain, this was his only book. The notice of his death in The Sword and The Trowel reads:

It is with profound grief that we record the death, on Thursday, February 9th, 1893, of our dear friend and tutor, the Principal of this College, DAVID GRACEY. Coming, as it does, only just a year after the taking away of our ever-revered President, the blow seems a very heavy one, and the loss almost irreparable. We can only bow, with a submission which longs for a yet fuller harmony with the divine will, and say, ‘It is the Lord,’ while we wait for the grace which will enable us to glory in the tribulation, and to see the meaning of the all-wise purpose, in which we yet tremblingly believe.

For the long period of thirty years, Mr. Gracey has been connected with the Pastors’ College, first as student, then as classical tutor, and latterly as Principal. To a succession of students, numbering more than eight hundred, he has endeared himself, not less by his solid gifts than by his sterling worth. To the work of the College he ever brought a scholarship of no mean power, a character as beautiful as it was modest, a loyalty to God and truth which eminently fitted him to guide others, a patience beyond praise, and an amiability which was so deep that it made his blame as just as his praise was unstinted. Every man felt that his counsels were weighty, and that they were dictated by a real desire to advance the best interests of the students, and the general influence of the College. Mr. Gracey possessed in no meagre degree the necessary qualifications of a successful tutor, and he won not only the admiration and affection of the students, but the unbounded confidence of the President. We all know in what high esteem Mr. Gracey was held by Mr. Spurgeon, and by what unswerving loyalty and love this confidence was returned.

To be deprived of its Principal, at this particular moment, is a great trial to the College. It demands of us all the strongest faith, and the deepest searching of heart.

Our sympathy is extended to the Trustees and present officers of the Institution, for whom we pray that wisdom maybe granted to them to profit fully by the disciplines of the past, and hand on to the future the fair name and fame of a College enriched by the lives and labours of C. H. SPURGEON, GEORGE ROGERS, and DAVID GRACEY, and so signally honoured in the maintenance and furtherance of the glorious gospel of the blessed God.”

The Sword and the Trowel (june 1898): 282-283.

This public domain book was digitised from one of the copies held in Spurgeon’s College Library.

David Gracey [1841-1893], Sin and the Unfolding of Salvation, being the Three Year’s Course of Theological Lectures Delivered at the Pastor’s College, London. London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1894. Hbk. pp.291. [Click here to visit the download page for this title]

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Preface
  

1. Introduction
2. Systerm, Method and Order in Theological Study
3. The Aim and Spirit of Theological Study
4. Sin
5. Nature of Sin
6. Sin and its Relation to Law
7. Sin in Man
8. The Cause of Total Depravity
9. Imputation of Sin
10. The Outlook of Sinners
11. Salvation
12. Scriptural Expressions Relating to Salvation
13. The Unfolding of Salvation in Prophecy
14. The Saviour
15. Ancient and Modern Views as to the Person of Saviour
16. The Work of the Redeemer
17. The Relation Between Christ’s Engagements, or, The Relation to One Another of the Various Ties by Which Christ is Bound
18. The Effects of Christ’s Reconciliation Upon Men
19. The Aspects of the Atonement

An abbreviated version of the address given at David Gracey’s funeral service and a tribute from one of his students can be found here.