and that is Grace 2. The Way or Means of our being made actual Partakers of this Salvation of Grace and that is through Faith To explicate the Terms First What is meant by Grace There are several Acceptations of this word Grace but two most notable 1. It is sometime taken for Gods free Favour and good Will 2. And sometimes for the Effects of it in us But here it is meant in the first Sence the free Favour good Will or good Pleasure of God Here are several Words in this Text and Context that do all express the impulsive moving Cause of our Salvation and every one hath something peculiar in it the more fully to set forth the free Favour gracious Pleasure and good Will of God in the Business of the Salvation of Sinners 1. Here is Love and great or much Love which Notes a great or ardent Desire and Affection to any Thing or Person and such as the Person loving doth rest or take pleasure in and so some derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is expressed Zeph. 3. 17. He will rest in his Love 2. Here is Mercy and rich Mercy that Notes Gods great Pity and Compassion towards those that are miserable God loves the Angels and is gracious to the Angels but he is not said to be merciful to them because they never were miserable 3. Again here is Grace and exceeding Riches of Grace and that Notes the freeness of Gods Love and Kindness whereby he doth Things freely without merit or desert Grace doth all gratis without any precedent Debt or Obligation 2. Are saved some say that is inchoate and so would limit it to Justification But other learned Expositors as Zanch. Simpli and Beza say here is intended not only Justification but whole and compleat Salvation as is manifest from the whole Context in ver 7. of the former Chapter he saith we have forgiveness of Sin in which is included Justification and that of Grace And then Chap. 2. ver 1 5. There he speaks of Sanctification and adds that this was by Grace and now again in the Text he saith For by Grace ye are saved quasi dicat all the steps and degrees of Salvation from the beginning to the end from first to last is of Grace Through Faith or by Means of Faith Faith being the means dispositive Condition Qualification or Instrument of our receiving or being actually Partakers of it And that not of your Selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is some Difference amongst Expositors what this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth refer to some think to the whole Sentence quasi dicat and this that you are saved is not of your Selves but rather I should think with other Expositors that it doth refer to Faith that is the immediate antecedent Ye are saved by Grace through Faith and this Faith hoc ipsum this very Thing is not of your selves Doct. I. That the principal Efficient and first moving Cause of a Sinners Salvation from first to last is the free Grace of God Doct. II. That we receive and partake of Salvation of Grace through Faith or by means of Faith Doct. III. That Salvation being through Faith doth not hinder or oppugn its being of Grace for Faith it self is of Grace or the Gift of God which is the same nay Faith is so far from being opposite to Grace or making it to be less of Grace that the Apostle saith Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be by Grace This great Work of the Salvation of Sinners the Scripture sometimes ascribes to God the Father thus he is called God our Saviour and it is God that Justifies And sometimes to Christ the Mediator therefore was his Name called Jesus a Saviour because he shall save his People from their Sins and again sometime we are said to be saved by Grace as in the Text and elsewhere and sometime by Faith as Christ said to that Woman Thy Faith hath saved Thee and the Apostle to the Jaylor Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy House You see the Scripture useth these several forms of speaking in the Matter of Salvation God saves us and Christ saves us and we are saved by Grace and saved by Faith and every one of these have a distinct Notion in the business of Salvation and yet not one opposite to another but one subordinate to another and all do admirably Consent and Agree and do not in the least interfere or clash When God is said to be our Saviour that Notes that he is the first Fountain and Original the principal Author and efficient Cause of it And when we are said to be saved by Mercy or Grace that shews us what was the first internal moving Cause that it is his own free Favour or good Will without any Merit or Desert in the Sinner And when Christ is called our Saviour and said to save us that shews the principal medium the meritorious Cause through or for whose sake God vouchsafes his Mercy and Grace and the blessed Effects of it to us thus the very Words before the Text and Tit. 3. 6. Again when Faith is said to save us that Notes the qualifying Condition or receptive Disposition whereby we are made qualified disposed and meet subjects of the Salvation that Gods free Grace doth give and Christs Merit hath purchased for us It is the principal Efficient first moving Cause of a Sinners Salvation that I shall speak to from this Text which from first to last is the free Grace of God Which Grace that we may the better see understand what a State we are all in by the fall and that is in this Context dead in Sin legally and spiritually Dead Legally Dead or as it is in other Terms under the Curse Children of Wrath. And spiritually Dead or Dead in Sin dead to God and Holiness and all spiritual and saving good having no more Inclination or Disposition to any spiritual and gracious Acts than there is in a Dead-man to the Actions or Comforts of Life again Dead in sin as fast bound chained and inslaved under the Power of fleshly vicious and sinful Dispositions and habits as a Dead-man is by Death from ever rising by his own Power such are we in a spiritual Sence If we have what is our due that is Death Eternal Death but if we be saved that is of Grace and Favour It is God that is the principal Author and Efficient of Salvation But if you ask what moved him to it why he would so concern himself for the Recovery and Salvation of lost and miserable Sinners Why it was only his own Grace and free Favour that moved him to it Consider Salvation in all the Parts of it in all the Degrees and Steps that lead to it from first to last and you shall see that Grace doth all 1. It was of his Grace that he gave his Son to be our Saviour the Scripture
Salvation BY GRACE And Never the Less of GRACE Tho it be through FAITH And not without it In several Sermons on EPH. II. vsii By John Sheffield Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace LONDON Printed by S. Bridge for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel M DC XCVIII To my Beloved Friends the Members and Auditors of my Congregation Dearly Beloved THese Discourses when first meditated were designed chiefly for your Instruction and Edification in Faith and Holiness and was never intended to be made more Publick than the Auditory to whom they were Preached but many of those that heard them having oft expressed their Desires that they might be Published hoping that themselves should reap further if not more Benefit by a deliberate Reading than the bare transient Hearing of them And withal hoping that what they had found beneficial to themselves might be so to others and when after some considerable Delay some did continue to enquire when they might expect it these Things did at length prevail with me to consent to the Publishing of them though not without some Reluctancy Both because I judged the work it self not fit for Publick view especially in a Time when we are so full of good Books and many more excellent ones than this can be supposed to be lye by neglected And also because I have been much pleased with that common saying Bene vixit qui bene latuit and the Advice that a Grave and Pious Person when Dying gave to his near Relation that he would endeavour to pass through the World without making any great noise as he went For indeed a noise is troublesome but especially if it be a contentions one But this small Tract I hope will be far enough from administring any occasion of that Nature if I could foresee that it was like to do so it should never come abroad For alas we have too much of that already You have it here offered to your Eye the same as it was to your Ears without any Alteration bating only some few Excerptions where they might be spared without prejudicing the Sence that I might gratifie your Desire with as little Charge to you as might be If I am not mistaken you have here though very briefly the true Doctrine of Salvation by Grace betwixt the extreams on both Hands however weakly it be handled For I am Confident that many weak People who think they do exalt Grace do greatly dishonour it and strip it of its principal Glory while they set it in Opposition to Evangelical Holiness and Obedience and therefore my earnest Prayer to God for you and all the People of God is the same with the Reverend Mr. Flavell saith he God preserve all his People from the gross and vile Opinions of Antinomian Libertines who cry up Grace and decry Obedience who under specious Pretences of exalting a naked Christ upon the Throne do indeed strip him naked of a great Part of his Glory and vilely dethrone him thus far Mr. Flavell You have here as I Iudge the true Doctrine of Grace in a Plain and Easie Method and Stile suited to the Capacities of the Meanest and if this do contribute any thing to the setling of your Minds in the Truth and against Errors on either Hand and to the furtherance and increase of your Faith and Holiness I have my End and Design If you and others of Christs Servants do but reap this Fruit by it I matter not what others shall say of the Author or the Work it self And that you may do so is and shall be the earnest Prayer of him who is ambitious of no greater Thing in the World than to be the Servant of Christ and of your Souls for his Sake John Sheffield Books Sold by Mr. Tho. Parkhurst All Mr. Nath. Vincent's Works particularly mentioned at the End of this Book THE Divine Conduct Or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated All the Methods of Providence in our Course of Life open'd with Directions how to apply and improve them The Fountain of Life open'd or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction mysterious Incarnation solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the necessity of its Separation from it consider'd and Improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after Death asserted discussed and variously applied c. All by Mr. John Flavell SALVATION OF GRACE EPHES. II. viii For by Grace are ye saved thro' Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God THE Apostle tells these Ephesians Chap. 1. 16. That he did not cease to give Thanks to God and Pray for them To give Thanks for what God had already wrought in them and done for them and to pray for a greater increase of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that they might know what is the Hope of their Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of the Inheritance and the surpassing greatness of his Power towards them that Believe ver 18 19. which he compare to that mighty Power which raised Christ from the Dead to the End of the first Chapter And Chap. 2. ver 1. He shews what was the Effects of this exceeding greatness of Power towards them which was the quickening of them when they were dead in Trespasses and Sins and the preserving and increasing that Life and perfecting of it in Glory and that they might be sensible how mighty a Power was exerted towards them he shews how sad their Case was Dead in Sin and Children of Wrath ver 1 2 3. Both legally and spiritually Dead Dead in Sin and Dead through Sin or by Reason of Sin dead to God and to all spiritual and saving good and liable by guilt to Eternal Death But if this be our Case how or by whom are we saved and delivered out of it Why this is wrought by the exceeding greatness of God's Power which he had spoken of But what was the impulsive or moving Cause Why his own Grace and here the Apostle doth in this Text and Context heap up many words much of a like Import and Signification as if he could never enough express the greatness and freeness of the Grace and Mercy of God towards Sinners Rich in Mercy great Love or much Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 4. And exceeding Riches of Grace ver 7. By Grace ye are saved thro' Faith We have here two Things 1. The principal impulsive or moving Cause of the Salvation of Sinners
save that from Contempt and yet withal to shew Mercy and Kindness to his Son and that by this means he consented to have one of his own Eyes put out to save one of his Sons Eyes now will not all acknowledge that herein he shewed his Love to his Son more than if he had freely remitted the whole Penalty Why thus it is here God hath shewed his Grace and Love to us much more in giving his Son and saving of us through his Satisfaction than if he had done it as a meer Act of Dominion and Favour So much in Answer to the first Objection Obj. 2. How is Salvation by Grace since it is only by or through Faith and not without it since such a Condition Disposition or Qualification is necessary to our actual receiving or partaking of it Ans. 1. Grace and Faith are not inconsistent not opposite or contrary one to another so that it may be and is nevertheless of Grace though it be only through Faith and not without it for Faith is no procuring meriting or deserving Cause of Salvation only a necessary Disposition to our receiving of it viz. that which makes us duely qualified and disposed Subjects as the Sun Communicates its Light freely but the Window-shuts must be removed before it can inlighten our House and Dwelling and as the taking away of the Window-shuts is no Cause of the Suns-light only it removes that which did hinder its shining into our House so it is in this Case Faith is but like the unstoping of the Window the removing that which did hinder the healing and saving Beams of Grace from shining into our Souls 2. Faith as to the most vital and essential Act of it which is the Consent or Choice of the Heart and Will is but a hearty thankful Acceptance of the Gift of Grace according to its proper Nature and Use for when you do heartily and sincerely Consent to take Christ for all the ends and uses that he is offered to you for in the Gospel then are you Believers indeed and Christ and Salvation is yours in Right and Title when you thankfully accept of Christ to save you from Sin as well as from the evil Consequents and Miseries that follow it then Christ is yours and Salvation is yours in Title now I hope a Gift is nevertheless free though it be given to none but those that are willing to receive it yea and to those only that will heartily and thankfully receive it If the King Pardon a Traytor on Condition that he will thankfully Accept it and Promise to Rebel no more but become a Loyal Subject I hope he Pardons freely though upon such a Condition if you give any thing to the Poor on this Condition that they reach forth their Hand to receive what you give and be thankful to you for it would you not reckon that you give freely and nevertheless freely though you require that they should thankfully receive your Alms Why thus is our Salvation of Grace though it be only through Faith and not without it for Faith is but our hearty thankful receiving of the Gift according to its Nature and Use. Obj. But it may possibly be objected against this that many carnal and ungodly Men would gladly accept of Salvation and yet they are not therefore saved nor have any Right or Title to it Ans. Take notice that I say that Faith is but a hearty thankful accepting of the Gift according to its proper Nature and Use and is any carnal and ungodly Man while such heartily willing and desirous to accept it so No he is not nor can he be while he remains carnal and ungodly But you will say He is willing to accept of Salvation Yea no doubt but what sort of Salvation Not the Salvation of the Gospel not that Salvation that is Purchased and Offered by Christ. At most he desires only a part but not the whole of it he would be saved from Hell but he would not be saved from Sin he abhors and loaths that part of Salvation as much as he doth wish for and desire the other No doubt there are none but would be saved from the Miseries of the Damned from Everlasting Burnings and Chains of Darkness but there are Thousands that would not be saved from their vain carnal earthly sensual and selfish Disposition of Mind and Heart Alas All that we can do we cannot perswade Men to this we cannot by all manner of Arguments and Intreaties prevail with Men to be willing to be saved from these And Salvation from these and such like evil and carnal Dispositions is a great and Principal Part of the Salvation of the Gospel Again There are many that are willing to accept of Christ but how Not wholly and intirely as he is offered in the Gospel they would have him to Pardon them but not to rule overthem they would have him to save them from the Guilt of Sin and the Curse for Sin but not from the Power and Dominion of it They would with all their hearts have him to make them happy but not to make them holy not to conform them to the Image of God No in this respect they hate him as much as they desire him in other respects they would have Christ to be to them a Hiding Place from the Wind a Refuge and Shelter from the Storms of Wrath but they would not not have him as a Physician to heal their diseased Souls of their inordinate love of Self and the World and Creature-comforts of their Sensuality and Selfishness Thus when it comes to be examined it will be found that there is not a carnal Man in the World that is truely willing and desirous of Salvation in the true and full sence of it 3. Faith it self is the Gift of God though it be but a hearty thankful acceptance of the Gift according to it 's proper Nature and Use yet such is the Pravity and Corruption of our Nature such is the Carnality Earthliness Sensuality of our Dispositions naturally that we should never consent to this unless Gods special Grace did incline and perswade us to it Did not God give us Faith we should never have it All the Intreaties Promises Threatenings of the Gospel would never perswade our hearts to it without the special Grace of God all the Arguments taken from God or our Selves from Life and Death Heaven and Hell everlasting happiness or misery would never prevail with the carnal corrupt Heart of Man to believe without the powerful efficacious Grace of God This is clear from many express Testimonies of Scripture the Text saith it is not of our selves it is the Gift of God Phil. 1. 29. unto you it is given to beleive in him Isa. 53. 1. Who hath believed our report and then follows as a reason of it to whom hath the Arm of the Lord been revealed Now tho God give Salvation to none but Believers yet since Faith it self is his Gift too that
most provoking to God as we say Corruptio optimi est pessima the abuse of the best Things is of all other the worst and doth most heighten and aggravate the Sin and Guilt of those that do so If it be so hainous a Sin to abuse the Mercies of Gods common Providence such as his Benignity Patience and Long-suffering so as thereby to be more bold and fearless in sinning against him when they should be led thereby to Repentance and Thankfulness as it is Rom. 2. 4 5. Then how much more hainous and crimsondyed a Sin must it needs be to wrest and abuse his Grace that brings Salvation that offers Salvation that tends to Salvation that aims at and designs our Salvation that is the first moving and efficient Cause of Salvation to us What can be imagined worse than for Men to be evil and the more evil because God is good to them It is a Sin to return evil for evil to Men and what is it then to return evil to God for the greatest good of all There is nothing so provoking to a Man as to have his free Love and Kindness abused and turned against himself or to an end quite contrary to what he designed it and so it must needs be to God to abuse his Grace seems to be a greater Sin than to distrust his Power or to slight his Authority or to trample upon his Laws you only have I known of all the families of the Earth therefore I will punish you for your Iniquities 2. To abuse Grace is of all others the most pernicious and destructive to Mens Souls for this closes up the Fountain of all our Blessings this makes Grace it self a Mans Enemy and then who or what shall Plead for him and Justice will not fail to avenge the quarrel of abused Grace nay Grace it self will complain of the Wrong and solicite for Vengeance upon the Abusers of it If the only thing that can recover the Sinner be abused so that he falls the lower thereby that will be an irrecoverable fall indeed If a Man make Mercy and Grace it self his Enemy then who or what shall be his Friend But how or wherein is Grace abused 1. The Doctrine of Grace is notoriously abused when Men from hence do think that they are exempted or discharged from the Law as a Rule to govern their Hearts and Practices by this abuse may arise from a misunderstanding of that passage of the Apostle Rom. 6. 14. Ye are not under the Law but under Grace As if Grace and the Law was in all respects opposed to one another because they are in some as if because God doth acquit a Believer from the condemnation of the Law therefore we are discharged from all Obedience to it Our corrupt Hearts are very ready to imbrace such Doctrines of Libertinisme and Licentiousness as the Apostle shews by adding in the very next Words v. 15. What then shall we sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid It is very pleasing to our carnal fleshly part to hear that Grace doth discharge us from all Obligation to the Law that it hath no directing regulating Power over a Believer But this is a gross abuse of Grace for when the Apostle saith that we are not under the Law it is true in several Sences but it is manifestly false in this Sence that we are under no obligation by it as a rule of life The true sence how we are not under the law is this 1. We that is Believers are not under the condemning Power of the Law but are by Grace freed from the Curse and Condemnation of it 2. We are not under the Law as a Covenant of life and salvation We are not under the Law as to the rigid exaction of perfect sinless obedience as the only Term or Condition of Salvation No though perfect Obedience is still a Duty yet through Christ and for his sake sincere Obedience is accepted But now because we are not under the Law in these respects it doth by no means follow that we are not under it as a Rule or because it hath no condemning Power that therefore it hath no regulating Power over us you shall see that this Apostle that saith we are not under the Law yet saith that in other respects He is under the Law 1 Cor. 9. 21. Being not without Law to God but under the Law to Christ not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the Apostle James saith If any break the Law in one point he is guilty of all Jam. 2. which plainely shews that all are under the Moral Law as a Rule of Life nay this Apostle when he had said We are not under the Law but under Grace the very next words shew that he means it in a restained Sence and that he did not mean that we are from under the Law as a Rule of Duty Rom. 6. 15. What then saith he shall we Sin because we are not under the Law but under Grace God forbid as if he should say you must not so understand it as if we were discharged from all Obligation of Duty by the Law for if so the Caution had been needless for where there is no Law there is no Transgression Again to say that we are not under the Law as a Rule of Duty is an high abuse of Grace because this is contrary to nay doth destroy the essential relation of the Creature as a Creature to God for our State and Condition as Creatures is necessarily a State of Subjection to God God is essentially related to us as our Governour and we to him as his Subjects but he is no Governour if he have no Law to govern us by nay he hath no Creature no not the highest Angels that are under no law The Angels they have many Immunities end Priviledges above us yet they are not exempt from Duty or from a Law Psalm 103. 20. Ye his Angels that do his Commandments hearkening to the voice of his Word 2. Grace is abused when it is pretended to the excluding of a cautious fear of sinning or an awful reverential fear of the Divine Majesty This abuse may arise from a misunderstanding that Scripture 1 John 4. 18. there is no fear in love for perfect love casts out fear which the Apoctle plainly means of a servile slavish Fear a distracting tormenting dispairing Fear but not of an awful Fear of God nor of a cautious Fear of offending him as is manifest by a multitude of other Scriptures both in the Old and New Testament For though we have through Grace freedom and boldness of aoeess to God yet it is still with reverence and godly Fear Nay the more Grace the greater Reverence of God and the greater Fear of sinning against him Heb. 11. 28. let us have grace Psalm 130. 4. there is mercy with thee that thou mayst be feared Hos. 3. 5. they shall fear the Lord and his goodness
Crown of Life 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 11. Give Diligence to add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge c. for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour And those Threats on the other Hand to those that do not Persevere Heb. 10. 38. If any Man draw back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in him Heb. 12. 14. And Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. What I shall say to the last Point of Doctrine viz. That Salvation being thro' Faith doth not hinder or oppugn its being of Grace shall be in answering three Questions or Objections that may be made against its being of Grace Quest. 1. How is our Salvation of Grace since it is not without the Merit and Satisfaction of Christ But before I come directly to Answer this I must Premise something for the better Understanding of this Matter which is this That the Scripture speaking of the Salvation of Sinners as it doth assert that it is of Grace so we frequently meet with this Phrase that it is through Faith and elsewhere most frequently that it is thro' Christ. It is of Grace through Faith saith the Text 2 Tim. 3. 15. Wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus Heb. 6. 12. Who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises And elsewhere we find that Salvation and all the Parts of it are said to be through Christ Rom. 3. 24. Through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Eph. 1. 7. Redemption through his Blood Tit. 3. 5 6. But according to his Mercy he saved us which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour in these and many other Scriptures you may observe that Grace Mercy or Love as it is a Love of Benevolence or Good-will is at the Head or Top of all which is Gods gracious Free Propension and Inclination to do good to us to Pardon and Save us this you see is at the Head of all and before all but the Effects and Fruits of it is said to be given to us sometimes through Christ through his Blood and through his Redemption and sometimes through Faith and yet these hinder not its being of Grace 1. Salvation is through Christ with respect to God giving and bestowing of it that he may give such great and undeserved Mercies and Benefits to Sinners in a way becoming himself becoming of his Wisdom Holiness and Justice which could not be if they were given absolutely without respect to the Redemption and Satisfaction of Christ. 2. And it is said to be through Faith with respect to our receiving and being made actual Partakers of these Benefits of Pardon Life and Salvation We must receive these great and undeserved Benefits through Faith and partake of them only by Faith that we may in our very partaking of them honour both the Father and the Son both our Supream Rector and Redeemer that is we must receive and partake of them in such a way wherein we shall acknowledge admire and adore the Love and Mercy the Wisdom Holiness and Justice of God the Father Together with the Love Grace Condescension and Kindness of our Saviour and Redeemer God gives Salvation through Christ and his Redemption that he may give as becomes himself so as becomes an infinitely Wise Holy and Just Governour and we must receive or partake of it only through Faith that we may receive it as becomes our selves that is as becomes miserable guilty lost and undone Sinners we must receive the Salvation of Grace in such a way wherein our very receiving is an acknowledgment that our selves are nothing and that God and Christ is all that even when we receive a Pardon we shall at the same time yea in the same Act acknowledge that we deserve to be condemned and that Gods Grace freely bestows all upon us for the sake of the Redemption and Satisfaction of Christ so much in the general and which will afford Light for the solving of the following Questions or Objections Obj. 1. How is our Salvation of Grace and of such free Grace when it is not without the Merit and Satisfaction of Christ when so great a Price as the Life and Blood of the Son of God was exacted by God and paid by Christ for the Purchase of it Ans. The Socinians will easily answer this in their way for they say that our Pardon and Salvation is meerly an Act of Dominion and Favour and not procured by the Sufferings of Christ as a Punishment and Satisfaction for our Sins For they say that Christs Sufferings was no Punishment for our Sin nor any proper Satisfaction to Divine Justice and that our Sin was no antecedent inpulsive Cause of Christs Suffering nor his Sufferings any meritorious Cause of our Pardon or Salvation But this cannot be admitted without subverting the whole Gospel and destroying the very Foundations of the Christian Religion for this makes the whole Mediation Death and Sufferings of Christ to be in vain or of very little use for they assign but little if any thing more to the Death of Christ then what may be attributed to the Death and Sufferings of the Martyrs This therefore must be acknowledged that the Death and Sufferings of Christ were a Punishment for our Sins a proper Satisfaction to Divine Justice a price of our Redemption and yet that our Pardon and Salvation is of Grace notwithstanding For the right Understanding of which it is necessary to shew 1. How or in what Relation God is chiefly to be considered in this business of the Redemption and Salvation of Sinners 2. What is the Reason and Use of Christs Sufferings 1. God in the Business of Redemption is to be considered principally as the supream Ruler and Governour of the World infinitely Wise Holy and Just who was greatly offended and provoked by Sin and his Law and Government slighted dispised and trampled upon by Sinners and yet of his own infinitely good and gracious Nature was propense and inclined to shew Pity and Mercy yea to deliver and save his miserable Creatures that had made themselves so by their Sin and Apostalie But this could not be effected without some way or medium whereby the Honour of God's Law and of his Wisdom Justice and Holiness as the righteous Governour of the World shall be secured and preserved for God can do nothing unjustly nothing unwisely or unholily but should he of meer Grace and Favour without any Punishment of Sin or a sufficient Satisfaction to his Justice have pardoned the Sin of Man there would have lain great Imputations against his Wisdom and Holiness his Truth and Justice and such inconveniences as would have reproached if not subverted his Government It may not be amiss to give you alight touch of this for I design to not insist upon it so largely as it might be 1. If God should have pardoned and saved Sinners without a Satisfaction this would have reflected upon
Rutherford in his Book of the Covenant of Grace p. 198. Speaking of the difference betwixt Gospel Obedience and that of Adam in Innocency saith in Gospel Obedience we offer more of the Lords own and less of our own because he both Commands and gives us Grace to obey You may hence see what strange Preachers of Grace they are if such there be as is said that set it in Opposition to Evangelical Holiness and Obedience For alas they do unwittingly no doubt lessen Grace and deny many of its greatest Gifts and strip it of a principal Part of its Glory while they think they do exalt it This whole Matter may be illustrated by a Similitude or two Suppose a Nobleman takes a Beggar from the Dunghil designing to make him his Heir or to give him an Estate of many hundreds or thousands per Annum but before he will bestow it upon him he will make him an accomplished Man fit to be useful and serviceable in his Countrey or else he will not give it him and in Order hereunto he is at a great deal of Pains and Care and Charge in educating of him at the Schools and at the University and the Inns of Court and when he is compleatly accomplisht he gives his Honour and Estate to him now doth this make his Gift to be ever the less or the less free because he gave him the former Gift of his Education and made that a Condition of his receiving the other Will not all Men acknowledge that his Bounty was so far from being the less that it was really the greater for it That the Gift of his Education did much the more inhance his Bounty and Kindness to him than if he had given him his Estate alone without it and that he was much the more obliged and beholden to him in that he gave him not only his Estate but his Education too Why really this is our Case should God give us Heaven without Holiness was that possible his Grace would be unspeakably less to us than it is in first making oâ— us Holy and Obedient that we may thereby be made fit and meet to injoy it Again suppose a Coundemned Traytor that is likewise Sick of a Mortal Disease that if he Dye not by the Hand of Justice he is sure quickly to Dye of his Disease now is it not a far greater Grace and Favour of the King to procure him a Physician and Pay for his Cure and to Pardon his Crime too than it would be only to Pardon his Crime and leave him to Dye of his Disease Why this is our very Case we are Diseased as well as Condemned Sinners and were our Crimes pardoned and our Diseases not cured we should be miserable still but the rich free and abundant Grace of God doth not only Pardon our Crimes but heals our Diseases too by making of us Holy and obedient USE of Information 1. If it be so that it is by Grace that we are saved then this is directly against the Doctrine of the Merit of our good Works for Grace and Debt are directly opposed by the Apostle as inconsistent Rom. 4. 4. and Rom. 11. 6. Grace doth not destroy our Obligation to Works of Holiness and Obedience but increases it and lays greater Obligations upon us than ever but it quite overthrows the Merit and Desert of them or their being any way procuring and deserving Causes of Salvation Grace obliges more strongly than ever to the greatest Diligence Industry and Endeavour in the Practise of them but when we have done all that we are able we must renounce all in Point of Desert and say we are unprofitable Servants 2. If Salvation be of Grace then this likewise overthrows that Doctrine of the Power of Nature or Free-will as being sufficient and able of it self for Conversion without the Grace of God for these two are inconsistent that it should be of Grace and yet that the Power of Nature should be sufficient without Grace and therefore the other must be false It is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that shews Mercy And who made thee to differ from another or what hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4. 7. and Phil. 2. 13. It s God that Works in you both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure 2. But let us come to some Use of this Doctrine that may be more for our Practice Of you that have heard this Doctrine that The Salvation of Sinners is of Grace I reckon there are these two sorts of you Some that have had as yet no Experience of the saving Effects of this Grace in your selves and others of you that have had Experience of it Now let us consider what Direction and Instruction this Doctrine of Gods Grace may afford to both these sorts to the one sort in Order to their getting into a State of Grace and Salvation and to the other sort in Order to their furtherance and increase in Grace and Holiness and Comfort there is much in it for the Instruction and Help of both sorts if God give you but Wisdom and Skill and Hearts to draw it out But I would first say something to both in general and then shew what Instruction there is in it to both more particularly 1. In general let me Caution all Persons whatsoever to take special heed that they do not wrest and abuse this Doctrine of the Grace of God we have great need of this Caution because of that marvelous Proneness that there is in all Men to it Partly through the ignorance and weakness of our Understanding and especially through the carnal selfish and corrupt Disposition of our Hearts 1. Most Mens Understandings are so weak that they think those things to be opposite or inconsistent that are not so but are subordinate as Gods Grace and Mans Duty and his Care and Diligence in the use of Means and all our Natures are so corrupt that we are apt to turn the most precious Doctrine of Grace into Poyson to our Souls as the Spider sucks Venome out of the most sweet and wholesome Plants and Flowers that be The Apostle knew very well how prone Men are to wrest and abuse the Grace of God and therefore when he had been discoursing largely of the riches and freeness of it in the former Chapters he subjoyns a Caution against the abusing of it Rom. 6. 1. What shall we say then shall we continue in Sin that Grace may abound God forbid And Jude 4. We are told that many did turn the Grace of God into Lasciviousness therefore when ever this Doctrine of Gods Grace is Preached all have need to be Cautioned against the abuse of it And for a Caution against it consider these two Things First To wrest and abuse Grace is of all Sins the most provoking to God Secondly And the most Dangerous and Pernicious to Mens Souls 1. The Abuse of Grace is of all Sins the