the Father to the Soul the other is a Spiritual loveliness in the heart of a Believer which is this love from the heart of the Father first shining into the Soul and so kindling it self to a holy love there which love at once carries the Soul out of it self to the bosome of God and changes the Soul to the likeness of God fills it with the grace joy glory of God The grace mentioned here in the Text is the first of these that which Divines rightly call free grace for you see 't is a grace that is antecedent to and transcendent over eternal life and Jesus Christ himself in his mediatory office for 't is a grace that reigns by all these as the Scepter Minister and effect of his reign The Doctrine which I intend to prosecute from these words is this the free grace of God is the Supream and Soveraign good in covenant of grace and in the Gospel 't is that from which all the good things of the Gospel flow on which they all depend and by which they are all dispens'd we see it lies plain in the Text 't is the great King that reigns the glorified person of our Lord Jesus Christ is but the Throne of this grace where it sits from which it reigns righteousness is the golden Scepter of this grace eternal life the fruit of this grace this free grace reigns to eternal life this grace must of necessity be Soveraignly supreamly absolutely every way infinitely free and full when 't is before eternal life it being the beautiful cause that produces this blessed effect eternal life which comprehends the life of grace and of glory in the whole compass of it Zach. 4.7 the Lord speak thus Who art thou O great Mountain before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a a Plain and he shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings crying grace grace unto it Zerubbabel is the figure of Jesus Christ the scatterer of Babel that spirit of heavenly beauty and order that takes away all confusion which saith O death I will be thy death so he calls himself Zerubbabel the confusion of all confusion 〈◊〉 brings out the head stone he brings out himself the head stone of the spiritual building with shouting and what doth he teach them to cry to it in the shouting Jesus Jesus no no they cry to Jesus himself as he brings out himself the head stone grace grace free grace love from eternity supream love soveraign love the most beautiful womb out of which Jesus Christ together with all his heavenly treasure and sweetness springs cry grace grace to it My beloved you know that the material Temple was but a figure of the spiritual and living Temple which is the Temple of the Lord Jesus and of every Saint O that your spiritual senses were awaked what melody should we hear at this building of grace of the spiritual Temple in every soul as begun in laying the head stone the foundation as carried on in rearing the walls as finish'd in laying on the roof of glory we should hear the heavenly company the blessed Angels and Spirits shouting with ravishing harmony crying to it grace grace free love supream soveraign love eternal love 't is this 't is this which layes it self as the foundation and head stone in the person of Christ this carries on the building in the walls and flores and layes it self the top stone in glory O my beloved that have this building though imperfect in you you that lye in the rubbish that have any sence of the beauty of this building of the glorious company that inhabit it there is no such way to have it begun carried on and finish'd as to cry continually to it grace grace as with a shout of ravishing affections from a sence of love love infinitely free transcending all your expectations with a shout of admiration cry continually with the language of all within you of all your parts powers senses grace grace O the infinite freedom of grace O the soveraignty and supremacy of grace of eternal love reigning through righteousness to eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord reigning over sin and death and even out of them from the blackest darkness raising the more beautifully the Temple of divine light and divine love I design to speak somewhat largely of Free Grace In the Porch of the Temple were two great Pillars Boaz and Jachin one signifying in strength the other he shall establish or he shall prepare O my beloved blessed are they whose heart whose hope whose grace whose glory doth go up as a heavenly Temple resting on these two Pillars which meet both in one free grace here 's the strength of the God-head his love God is love here 's the preparation and establishment the preparation from eternity free grace from eternity and the establishment is through all changes and storms of times to eternity There be three things in which in general I would open and confirm the nature of free grace First The grace of God free grace is the highest love Secondly 'T is the highest loveliness and Thirdly It is the highest joy First The grace of God is the highest love grace in the Hebrew tongue Kene from Kana signifies most properly a love condescending stooping from the greatest height with the greatest complacency bowing it self down so making it self one with the lowest object in its lowest estate and that to this end that it may raise this object and carry it to its own height to be one with its self in its own beauty and triumphant blessedness the force of the word according to some enforces thus much this is express'd by another word Psalm 63.3 Because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee 't is Keses here 's the grace of God express'd as the highest love better than life there be three excellent things light life and love life is an excellency of a higher kind than light is life is light in a transcendent perfection therefore called light of life and so is love above life 't is a higher kind of excellency than life 't is the perfection of life as life is better than single light because 't is light in a perfection in which it transcends it self so is love better than life because 't is life in a perfection in which it transcends it self the highest love is the love of God free grace what purity power pleasantness and glory is there in light what strength virtue sweetness and joy is there in life all these be comprehended in the love of God all these be comprehended in free grace with an eminency surmounting themselves The effect is in the cause after a more excellent manner love is the Fountain of life and so the Crown of life every thing that is desirable in light and life is more desirable in love as the cause exceeds the effect thus the loving kindness of God is better than life This love
signifies a natural love that flows freely and sweetly from its own nature O how high a love is that of free grace O how free is this grace and love in all its sweetness and how sweet in all its freedome flowing from the divine nature from the God-head the best of honey is live honey that drops from the Comb without straining the purest myrhe is that which comes from the tree of its self this is love at its greatest height this is the pure honey the grace of God free grace that flows of its own accord without any thing moving from the nature and heart of God himself As a Fountain is a treasury of water which continually sends out living streams as the Sun is a body of light which from the beginning of the world to the end sends out millions of beams every moment yet it remains still full and undeminish'd such is free grace or God the Fountain of free grace our God is a treasury of love a composure of love and sweetness that freely from himself every moment from eternity to eternity sends out millions of millions of streams and of beams of glorious love yet still remains a Fountain a Sun of richest love undeminish'd how pleasant and pure and powerful is free grace how sweet is it to rest in the bosome and lye in the arms of free grace it is to lye in the bosome and arms of God as in an unlimited treasury of the highest love and sweetness where love is springing with millions of springs and communications of its self in all forms of grace comfort strength joy and glory everlastingly without any cessation or diminution I would not be long neither would I miss my application therefore shall leave the other two arguments to set out free grace in that it is the highest loveliness and highest joy as well as the highest love therefore shall spend the rest of the time in the use My first Use is of Admonition take heed of being strangers and being enemies to the grace of God to free grace as a bird wandring from his nest so is a man from his place the Jews say place there is the name of God 't is free grace that is the rest of every Spirit of every Soul here 't is born here 't is hatch'd fledg'd cherish'd and fed here the heavenly Mother the eternal spirit spreads his wings 't is free grace is the place of every soul every thing is at rest in its place and strengthened in its proper place or element here is thy place O man here alone is thy rest here you spring up to spiritual strength and virtue O then take heed of being strangers and enemies to it he that is a stranger to it is as a man wandring from his place a bird wandring from its nest where shall it be cherish'd and fed he that disturbs his Family is like one that beats his own flesh saith Solomon be not enemies to grace this is thy place and nest if you disorder your own place and fillest it with enmity you be as he that consumes his own life and being There be three sorts of persons strangers and enemies to free grace these two fall into one for free grace hath no enemy to it but he that is ignorant of it and 〈◊〉 stranger◠to it for those that know thy name will trust in thee those that have tasted the sweetness of free grace what a heavenly Vine this is that cheers both the heart of God and man these will bow down to it and cry to all their hopes and expectations grace grace The three sorts of persons that are strangers and enemies to free grace are first the Prophane Heathen 2ly the Pious Jew and 3ly the Vain Christian O you that here me when I speak of the Heathen and Jew think not that I talk of Jerusalem or the Indies O that these three strangers were not in the midst of us the first stranger is the Prophane Heathen Jesus Christ said to Pilate John 18.37 For this cause came I into the world to bear witness to the truth he that is of the truth hears my voyce Pilate said What is truth and then went out this is a Pilate spirit a Heathen spirit one that is fit for interest sake to crucifie Christ when Christ spake of so great a glory as the end both of his life and death he asks What is truth and turns his back on Christ but what is this truth that Christ hath such an esteem of That he came from Heaven to Earth and died to declare see it in two or three Scriptures 't is that truth of the Gospel which Saint Paul sets out 2 Cor. 4.6 the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ this is that truth a light of glory shining in the face of Jesus Christ what is this glory see that in another Scripture Eph. 1.6 to the praise of the glory of his grace here 's the glory the grace of God free grace is the glory of God this is the truth this is the truth for which Christ lived and dyed that the light of this glory the most glorious and sweet light of the free grace of God might shine from his face on the heart of his brethren Again what that truth is for which Jesus Christ lived and dyed see in those last words of his Prayer to his Father John 17. ult I have declared to them thy name and will declare it what 's that name and that declaration 't is this free grace that God is love known by his name of love so it appears that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them O unexpressible love How infinitely sweet and free is that love consider three things in it first that the love that the Father hath to Jesus Christ is that very love by which he brings out Jesus Christ as the second person in the Trinity the only begotten of the Father from eternity to eternity 't is that love by which he delights in him and embraces him and hath all joy in him as he lies eternally in the bosome of the Father the eternal generation of the Lord Jesus which is the same from eternity to eternity with which he is the delight and joy and glory of the Father this is the love of the Father with which he loves Jesus Christ and is not this a free love Secondly This love of the Father with which he loves Jesus Christ is the same love of the Father which is in the Saints as their root as that eternal root out of which the Saints spring and out of which Jesus Christ springs in a Saint that eternal root out of which Jesus Christ and a Saint spring both together as two Spirits marryed and become one Spirit how rich and free is this love Thirdly This love of the Father to a Saint is that to which the being of Christ in a Saint
my actions It was more to him to be applauded by this one man before all the world than all the benefit of his victories besides Beware of this to make any man any sort of men the Theatre of your Sufferings to be applauded by men let God alone be the Theatre of your Sufferings 't is a light thing with me saith the Apostle to be Judged in mans day let this be the beginning and end of all your suffering to be applauded by God approved of God and accepted by him Suffer not out of any humour or passion the Apostle exhorts 1 Cor. 5.8 Let us keep the feast not with old leaven neither with the leaven of malice but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth this relates to the Passeover 7th verse For Christ our Passeover is sacrificed for us there is to be a conformity between the sufferings of Christ and a Saint do you come to suffer with Christ let it be like Christ let it be a Passeover let it be a Sacrifice of a Lamb lay thy self down as a Lamb gentle innocent and meek and let this be a feast and cast out the old leaven all sour sullen cross perverse spirits keep this feast with the unleavened bread the sincerity truth simplicity of an innocent gentle meek spirit Suffer not for any earthly interest worldly power or earthly kingdom Saint Paul tells us 2 Cor. 3.17 18. that that which kept him from fainting in affliction we look not at the things that are seen but at the things that are not seen for the things that are seen are temporal now while the outward man perishes the inward man is renewed day by day if we suffer with our eyes on visible powers and interests we shall faint in our suffering when instead of having our expectations of great rewards answered we shall find our outward man and the interests thereof decay at what a loss shall we be Saint Paul joyns these two together minding earthly things and being enemies to the Cross of Christ Phil. 3.18 19. be not deceived it will be found an unhappy delusion while we think we are in conformity to the Cross of Christ for us to keep our eye mind and heart fix'd on earthly things we shall be found in truth enemies to the Cross of Christ. My fourth caution is this in my second Rule of suffering for grace suffer not for a wrathful spirit for a Ministry of wrath and of the Law this is the servile spirit the son of Hagar the bondwoman which is of Mount Sinai this spirit shall not inherit the promise or the kingdome of God that is reserved for the spirit of the freewoman for Isaak the seed of love of divine mirth and joy when Nadab and Abihis offer'd strange fire before the Lord the strange fire returns upon them and consumes them God calls his own works of wrath a strange work 't is a strange fire to God who is love If you come to suffer with the strange fire of a wrathfull spirit this fire will burn upon you till this wrathfull spirit hath consumed you Moses himself the meekest man on earth yet being a Minister of the law and of wrath for one wrathfull expression hear now ye Rebels he was not suffered to enter into the good land of Canaan David a man after Gods heart though he had fought the battels of the Lord for his wrath in murdering Vriah was not permitted to build the house of God the Temple When Christ was to suffer he bids Peter put up his sword for he that uses the sword shall perish by the sword If we suffer for a Ministry of wrath with a spirit of wrath we shall find the wrathfull sword turn it self against us 't is the spirit of grace alone 't is the spirit of love of faith and joy which brings to the good land of rest which builds up the heavenly Temple Now I come to my Rule it self which is Suffer alone for the grace of God I shall divide this Rule into four parts Suffer first for the Ministry of the grace of God For attendance to this Ministry of the grace of God For obedience to this grace For the kingdome of this grace First Suffer only for a Ministry of grace hast thou seen the beauty of Christ hast thou tasted the love of Christ hast thou known how sweet the Lord Jesus is to the poor soul of man to poor lost sinners and canst thou forbear to declare or hear those things which you have tasted and seen when they appertain to the glory of the King of grace when they appertain to all mankind when they are the joy of the whole earth and of heaven when they are the hope of all Nations and of every creature in its capacity I will publish the name of God sings Moses in Deut. 32.3 you to whom that name hath proclaimed it self in the Gospel publish that God is light in whom is no darkness a light of pure glory that God is love it self free absolute unmix'd that he is God Emmanuel this light this love with us for us in us in our stead springing up in us Oh pour out this name of God wherever you come as an oyntment that may fill all spirits round about you with a sweet smell to draw all souls by the sweet smell of Christs loveliness in thee to Jesus Christ and make them in love with him and now see what Saint Paul saith Phil. 2.17 Yea and if I be offered on the sacrifice and service of your faith I joy and rejoyce with you all for the same cause also do ye joy and rejoyce with me Doth the most high God in thy spirit shine out with the light of his blessed beauty and love doth he by thy spirit shed abroad his dearest love to many souls doth he by thee wooe souls and bring them into the bosome of his most heavenly love where they also become Children of light and love shining in the same beauty springing in the same sweetness If thou be offered up in any degree of suffering and made a sacrifice for this service of the faith of any for thus espousing Jesus Christ and the souls of Saints one to another in this golden band of incorruptible beauty and love Oh rejoyce and call all holy Angels and blessed Spirits to rejoyce with thee and be thereby helpers forward of your joy Thus suffer for the Ministry of grace Secondly Suffer for thine attendance on the Ministry of grace faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God Oh cursed saith that good and noble Italian Marquess be he that thinks all the treasures in the world to be worth one moments communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. David a great King saith One day in the house of the Lord to behold his glory is better than a thousand elsewhere Doth God by any Ministry through the outward word of his grace bring forth himself to thee as a heavenly Bridegroom comming out