is among you he could not say positively that all of them had faith but faith was among them 6. Saving faith is an excellent fruit of the Gospel preached among a People without which the Word cannot profit Heb. 4. 2. and by which we are united to Christ and have right to all the spiritual blessings purchased by Christ who is the chief object of faith whom it doth apprehend as He is offered in the Promise for Paul doth mention their faith in Jesus Christ as an excellent praise-worthy fruit of the Gospel for which he blesseth God After I heard of your faith in Jesus Christ saith he 7. The grace of love to our neighbour with the duties thereof flowing from love to God in the first place 1 Joh. 4. 12. is an excellent praise-worthy fruit of the Gospel preached among a People especially when the Saints have most of this love as resembling God most And when their love is laid forth upon Saints as they are Saints and for the reality or appearance of God in them and not for other by-respects only or mainly and in a word when it is extended unto all Saints for Paul doth mention their love to the Saints and to all Saints as another excellent praise-worthy fruit of the Gospel for which he blesseth God After I heard of your love unto all the Saints 8. As the graces of faith in Christ and love to the Saints are alwayes conjoyned they being in a manner the two legs of a Christian without any one whereof he cannot walk and the other is but dead and withered I am 2. 17. so faith in its exercise hath the precedency of love faith being the fountain from which the streams of love do flow in so far as faith laying hold upon God's love in Christ inflameth the heart with love to God which love to God consisteth in keeping of His Commandments 1 Joh. 5. 3. and the chief of God's Commands next unto love to Himself is that we love our brother 1 Joh. 4. 21. for the Apostle here as elsewhere Col. 1. 4. 1 Thess. 1. 4. conjoyneth these two graces and giveth faith the precedency After I heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and love to all the Saints From Vers. 16. Learn 1. As the duties both of thanksgiving and prayer ought to be made conscience of by Christians so the practice of these two duties do well together for each of them doth contribute for the help of another in so far as thanksgiving to God for favours received doth notably tend to suppresse that fretting quarrelling impatient humour which often venteth it self against God in our prayers Psal. 77. 7. compared with 10 11. and the exercise of prayer doth elevate the heart somewhat towards God and so in some measure warm the affections with love to God Psal. 25. 1. and thus disposeth much for the duty of thanksgiving for the Apostle maketh conscience of both those duties and that joyntly I cease not to give thanks in my prayers 2. It is not sufficient for Christians once to begin well and break off fair in the practice of those duties but they must continue in them there being always abiding reasons both for thanksgiving and prayer and when there is a lazy falling off from the practice of them for a time it is usually found a task of greater difficulty to begin of new than it was at first for the Apostle saith I cease not to give thanks in my prayers he ceased not to wit so far as his other necessary imployments and duties of his calling did permit for what we do frequently and alwayes when occasion offereth we are said to do it without ceasing 3. The Ministers of Jesus Christ especially ought not to be puffed up with any successe which the Lord is pleased to give unto their labours or sacrifice to their own drag or net Gal. 6. 13. but would ascribe the praise thereof to God who alone maketh His People to profit Isa. 48. 17. for Paul hearing of their faith and love ceased not to give thanks for them to God 4. As it is the duty of one Christian to pray for another and especially of a Minister for his Flock So our prayers for others will avail little except we be daily making conscience of praying to God for our selves for saith Paul I make mention of you in my prayers he had his own ordinary prayers for himself wherein he did remember them 5. As to the occasion of his praying for them see upon Col. 1. 9. doct 1. Vers. 17. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ the Father of glory may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him 18. The eyes of your understanding being enlightened THe Apostle in the second place giveth a short sum of his prayer unto God for them And first he describeth God the Father unto whom he prayeth to be the God of our Lord Jesus Christ to wit as Christ is man Psal. 22. 10. as He is our Mediator Psal. 40. 8. and with relation to that Covenant of Redemption betwixt God and Christ as mediator Heb. 2. 13. And the Father of glory so called because He is in His own nature infinitly glorious Psal. 145. 5. the fountain of the whole Godhead and all the divine Attributes in the Son Psal. 2. 7. and holy Ghost Joh. 14. 26. for glory is sometimes taken for the Godhead and divine Attributes Joh. 2. 11. and because He is the first cause of all that glory which is in any of the creatures Psal. 8. 5. And lastly He is the object of all glory to whom all glory is due from the creatures Psal. 19. 1. Secondly he sheweth what he sought in prayer even wisdom or a further encrease of that wisdom and saving knowledge of divine mysteries whereof the Spirit of God is the author mentioned ver 8. together with a clearer insight in Scripture where those mysteries are revealed by the same Spirit Which wisdom he sheweth doth mainly consist in the saving believing and operative knowledge of Him that is of Jesus Christ ver 17. And having more clearly expressed what he meaneth by this Spirit of wisdom even the removing of the natural blindnesse of their understandings and enduing them with a clear discerning in the things of God ver 17 he doth illustrate it further from those ends for the attainment whereof he would have this wisdom bestowed as shall be cleared afterwards Hence Learn 1. The more painfull and laborious that others whether Ministers parents friends or neighbours are for bringing about our salvation and spiritual good we ought to be so much the more excited to painfulnesse and diligence about the same thing our selves else their pains will not only do us no good but also much hurt the Lord usually judicially plaguing the man whom every one would have doing well only himself will not for the Apostle sheweth that he prayed and what he prayed for from God unto them not
of the body 1 Thess. 5. 23. for saith he Because ye are sons He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts 6. According as Beleivers do attain to a larger insight in this excellent benefit of Adoption and a greater measure of the fruits of it there will be a proportionable measure of the Spirit 's in-dwelling and manifesting of Himself in His gracious operations especially in His assisting and furnishing for the duty of Prayer for he proveth they had received a clear insight in this priviledge of Adoption and the more free use and fruition of it because the Spirit was more plentifully bestowed to dwell in their hearts And because ye are sons saith he God hath sent forth c. 7. Though the exercise of Faith Love Hope and other graces in the duty of Prayer and at other occasions doth flow from the renewed soul as the proper inward and vital cause of those actions so that properly we and not the Spirit of God are said to believe repent pray c. Rom. 10. 10. Yet because the Spirit doth not only create and preserve those gracious habits in the soul Ezek. 36. 26. but also exciteth the soul to act and assisteth it in acting according to them Philip. 2. 13. without which actuating exciting and assisting grace habitual grace in us could do nothing Joh. 15. 5. Therefore is it that the exercise of those graces is ascribed to the Spirit of God as the external efficient cause thereof for which reason our affectionate and believing Prayers are ascribed here unto Him God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son crying Abba 8. There is an holy vehemency and fervor required in Prayer opposit to carelesse formality and deadnesse for praying is here called crying which is an usual evidence of fervency and earnestnesse and the doubling of the word Father maketh for the same purpose Crying Abba Father or Father Father 9. This holy vehemency and fervor consisteth not so much in the lifting up of the externall voice as in the inward bensal and serious frame of the spirit it is a cry not of the mouth but of the heart Into your hearts crying 10. Besides this fervency and earnestnesse requisit in Prayer there would be also a confident familiar owning of God joyned with reverence to Him as a Father for the Spirit maketh them to call upon Him by the name of Abba Father Vers. 7. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God through Christ. HEre he concludeth from what is said first That under the New Testament we are no more servants as being redeemed from that legal yoke of bondage under which the ancient Church was And secondly That we are sons and by consequence heirs of God which is verified mainly in real Believers under the New Testament in so far as they are sons come to age and heirs past tutory actually partaking of their father's inheritance in a larger measure than Believers did under the Old Testament as was explained ver 5. All which priviledges are bestowed upon us through Christ and through vertue of His coming unto the flesh Doct. 1. It is a safe way of reasoning upon the observation of the saving effects of God's Spirit in our selves to conclude that we are in a state of grace even the adopted Children of God for the Spirit of God by the Apostle doth so reason in this place Because He hath sent forth His Spirit into your hearts wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son 2. The rare priviledges which are bestowed upon Believers chiefly under the New Testament as they do exceed in some degrees those which the generality of Believers enjoyed under the Old so they are many and all of them so linked together as in one golden chain that where one of them is the rest are also and it is our duty having attained to know our enjoying of any one of them thence to gather that we have all the rest for the Apostle reckoneth a number of such priviledges which as to the degree wherein they are bestowed are proper to the dayes of the Gospel and doth alwayes from the former infer the latter Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son and if a son then an heir of God 3. Though the natural Son of God be only one even Jesus Christ the only begotten of the Father Joh. 1. 14. yet every man who hath the Spirit of God dwelling in his heart is His son by grace and adoption even they who by nature are children of wrath Eph. 2. 3. for from God's sending forth His Spirit into their hearts he concludeth Wherefore thou art a son 4. Our right to the heavenly inheritance as also the possession of it whether that which is begun here in the Kingdom of Grace or which shall be compleated hereafter in the Kingdom of Glory doth follow upon our sonship and adoption so that God of rebels doth first make up sons and then none can challenge Him of injustice for bestowing upon us the inheritance of children And if a son then an heir of God saith he 5. As none since the fall ever was or shall be lifted up to that high dignity of being sons and daughters to the Lord Almighty or could lay any just claim to Heaven and Glory as his inheritance but by vertue of Christ's obedience and death whereby all those high and precious priviledges being formerly forfeited and lost were again recovered So the actual exhibition of Christ in the flesh and the real payment of the price by Christ did bring with it God having so appointed a larger measure and higher degree of those priviledges to be bestowed upon Believers after that time than was ordinarily enjoyed by Believers formerly for he is speaking here mainly of that higher degree of freedom and of that more evident and clear fight of and right to the inheritance together with the fuller measure of its possession in the Graces of God's Spirit which is proper to the dayes of the Gospel and sheweth all this cometh through Christ to wit His actual incarnation obedience and death Vers. 8. Howbeit then when ye knew not God ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods 9. But now after that ye have known God or rather are known of God how turn ye again to the weak and beggerly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage THe Apostle having now sufficiently confirmed by Scripture and Reason the Churche's freedom from that ancient legal dispensation and more especially from the Ceremonial Law doth now in the second part of the chapter labour upon their affections to work them up towards the imbracing of this Truth both by sharp reproofs and most affectionate insinuations And first that he may fasten a reproof upon them for their begun defection the more convincingly he sheweth when that legal dispensation was in force they to wit the Galatians who were of
suspect of favouring their Error and bearing down the rest with the pretended shew of their authority Thus Paul's adversaries did extoll Peter James and John as much preferible to him because of their personal prerogatives above him as appeareth from Pauls labouring so much to prove that they were no wayes superiour to him and to take off any prejudice which might rise against himself from their personal prerogatives of seeing Christ in the flesh and being Apostles before him But from those I learned nothing whosoever they were c. 3. In our esteem of persons and things our judgment ought not to be ruled by the approbation of men so as to put a price upon every thing which is commonly esteemed of among men Luke 16. 15. but by the approbation of God so that every thing may have more or lesse weight with us according as He esteemeth of it Thus Paul regarded not the personal prerogatives of the other Apostles as bearing any weight in the present businesse because God regarded them not It maketh no matter to me God accepteth no man's person 4. The Lord in passing judgement upon persons or things is not swayed with any thing which is extrinsecall and belongeth not unto the cause whereabout He judgeth He respecteth not the person of man that is He will not approve or disapprove of a man's cause for his person if it be not otherwise worthy of approbation or reproof because most frequently a man's cause and person come under different considerations for saith he God accepteth of no mans person whereby in this place is meaned that the personall prerogatives of the other Apostles did not bear weight with God to make Paul's Office or Doctrine more uncertain and lesse divine than theirs seing whatever other use those prerogatives did serve for Yet they appertained nothing to the present cause 5. Though some of Christ's faithfull Servants may be cryed-up by light wits or heretical spirits to the down-bearing of the deserved estimation of others Yet so far ought they themselves to be from being transported with groundlesse applause and from despising those others beyond whom they are so much esteemed of that they are to bear-up their credit so much the more by withholding no approbation of theirs from them which is their due although they should thereby contradict their own flatterers and make them lyars for those Apostles who were so much cryed-up by the false brethren to Paul's prejudice did throughly approve his Doctrine declaring him to be an orthodox Preacher and an Apostle of Jesus Christ as well as themselves contrary to what his adversaries and their flatterers affirmed of him In conference they added nothing to me and ver 9. They gave me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship Vers. 7. But contrariwise when they saw that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision was committed unto me as the Gospel of the Circumcision was unto Peter 8. For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the Apostleship of the Circumcision the same was mighty in me towards the Gentiles 9. And when James Cephas and John who seemed to be pillars perceived the Grace that was given unto me they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship that we should go unto the Heathen and they unto the Circumcision HEre is a second part of the event of that Meeting at Jerusalem to wit that when the Apostles James Cephas that is Peter Joh. 1. 42. and John had by certain evidences found that the Gospel of the Uncircumcision or the Apostolick-office to preach the Gospel among the uncircumcised Gentiles was concredited by God to Paul as well as the Gospel of Circumcision or the Apostolick-office to preach the Gospel among the circumcised Jews was committed unto Peter ver 7. which they did gather from this that the like divine assistance blessing and successe did accompany the labours both of Peter and Paul towards their respective Charges and so their Office behoved to be equally divine ver 8. and when those three Apostles who were commonly and no lesse deservedly reputed pillars of the Church as being under God the upholders of it by their Ministry gifts diligence and fidelity had seen the grace or gifts both ordinary and extraordinary which were bestowed by God upon Paul fitting him every way for the Apostolick-office they did without more ado acknowledge both Paul and Barnabas for their Collegues or fellow-Apostles giving them the right hand in evidence of the same as also of their mutual agreement in dividing of their Charge so as that Paul and Barnabas should go on to discharge their Apostolick-office among the Gentiles and the other three among the Jews vet 9. which paction is nothing contrary to what is held forth Act. 15. 7. for Peter speaketh not there that his ordinary Charge was to preach unto the Gentiles but of that one act of his mentioned Act. 10. whereby he was at one time imployed to preach to them at the first beginning of their conversion All which doth evidence that Paul was an Apostle immediately called and acknowledged to be such by the other Apostles Doct. 1. This Scripture doth many wayes refute that dream of the Papists concerning Peter's primacy or supremacy over the rest of the Apostles and over the Catholick Church and of the Pope's succeeding to Peter in that supposed illimited trust for 1. the Apostle's drift in all this is to shew that he was every way equal with Peter and the rest of the Apostles and no wayes inferiour unto them and that he was acknowledged to be so by Peter himself so that Peter was not supream over all When they saw that the Gospel of uncircumcision was committed unto me c. 2. Paul doth here compare himself mainly and particularly with Peter while he expresseth him by name even when he is speaking of these things which were common to Peter with the other two James and John as that the Gospel of Circumcision was committed to Peter and this because it seemeth Paul s adversaries did mainly cry-up Peter as superiour to him so that this of Peter's primacy above the other Apostles hath been an old plea but ill grounded and expresly confuted by Paul in this place As the Gospel of Circumcision was committed unto Peter 3. We find here a divine Ordinance that Peter should exercise his Office among the Jews as their Apostle of which Ordinance they can produce no change and so if the Pope plead to be Peter's successor he must challenge a superiority over the Jews and hath nothing to do with us As the Gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter 4. Paul by vertue of the same divine Ordinance was to exercise his Office among the Gentiles as their Apostle and endued with the same Authority in all points which Peter had over the Jews and therefore Peter was not supream But if the Pope give-out himself for universal Pastor over the whole World he must not plead his succession to Peter so much as
only the merit and satisfaction of Jesus Christ the accomplishment whereof was upon the Crosse Joh. 19. 30. for in opposition to the false Apostles their boasting in Circumcision as the meritorious cause of their Salvation See chap. 5. ver 4. doct 1. doth the Apostle here say God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of our Lord Jesus Christ. 4. A holy heart which hath experimentally tasted the worth that is in Christ cannot easily think upon Him and especially upon His Satisfaction and Sufferings but it must be enlarged towards Him and have high thoughts of that excellency and worth which is in Him joyned with an earnest desire of a more near union with Him and with an acquiescence in Him as its own if so the heart be already perswaded of interest in Him yea and will sometimes expresse those thoughts of Him to the full when occasion is offered to make any mention of Him for so Paul having occasion to speak of Christ designeth Him so as he expresseth not only those high thoughts which he had of His Excellency and worth while he calleth Him Lord and Jesus and Christ but also the acquiescing of his heart in Him as his own while he saith Our Lord Jesus Christ. 5. The crosse and sufferings of Christ effectually applyed by faith have that much power and vertue in them as to make all things worldly even the very applause and glory of the world contemptible unto and to be actually abhorred by a sincere Believer in so far as the power terror beauty allurements credit pleasure or profit of those things would interpose to mar that high esteem he ought to have of Christ's satisfaction and sufferings or his right use-making of them or his seeking after God's glory as the chief end of all his actions and above all those things for in those respects the world was crucified or as a dead carrion to Paul wherein he could take no pleasure and this by Christ and the vertue of His sufferings and nothing else By whom or by which crosse the world is crucified unto me 6. The more that high esteem of and glorying in Jesus Christ doth grow in the heart of any the more will our accompt of all things worldly being compared with Him and opposed to Him decay And where esteem of those things is upon the growing hand that high accompt which ought to be had of Jesus Christ cannot but be decaying much for with Paul I glory in the crosse of Christ and the world is crucified to me did go together 7. As a man truly godly and renewed by the Spirit of Christ and in so far as he is renewed at least cannot but be unsavoury unto and vilipended by the world and wicked men in the world So this also doth come from the death and sufferings of Christ not indeed as from a working cause for Christ by His death doth work no such malicious disposition in wicked men towards His People but as from an occasion for from those gracious effects flowing from the Spirit of Christ and wrought in those who are renewed wicked men do take occasion to hate abhor and to take no pleasure in them no more than they were the dead carrions of some notorious malefactors put to a shamefull death by the hand of Justice By whom saith he I am crucified unto the world Vers. 15. For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision but a new creature HE giveth a reason why he gloried only in the crosse of Christ and not in those fleshly priviledges or ordinances and why the world was crucified unto and undervalued by him to wit because those things which were matter of gloriation to the false Apostles and by making an outward shew whereof they gained the world's applause one instance whereof he giveth in Circumcision and illustrateth it by its contrary uncircumcision under which may be comprehended the simple want of this ordinance and all other things which the uncircumcised Gentiles boasted of as wealth wisdom strength policy and whatsoever is glorious in the eyes of the world all which things he affirmeth to be of no account or worth in Christ Jesus to wit so as to make a man accepted of Christ or to evidence his acceptation by Him or interest in Him and withall sheweth that the new creature or the renovation of the whole man by God's omnipotent creating power in knowledge Col. 3. 10. righteousnesse and true holinesse Eph. 4. 24. is only that in opposition to those external and worldly things which maketh a man acceptable to God in Christ and especially doth evidence his acceptation by and interest in Christ. Doct. 1. As those things are most applauded unto by men of this world which are most remote from and have least relation unto Jesus Christ and peoples interest in Him So for that reason a godly heart will be more dead unto and lesse taken up with applause from them whether he have it or want it for Paul giveth this for a reason why the world was crucified unto him Even that those things which had most of the world's applause did no wayes evidence a man's interest in Christ as the new creature did as appeareth by the causal particle for For in Christ Jesus neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision 2. Though other things besides the work of Regeneration and saving Grace such as wealth honour wisdom strength are of good use for the affairs of this life Eccles. 9. 15. Yet none of these nor any other thing else if separated from the work of saving grace are of any worth or account to commend us to God or to evidence a saving interest in Jesus Christ and in those saving benefits which are purchased by Him for in this respect he saith In Jesus Christ neither Circumcision availeth any thing nor uncircumcision 3. As we are so far dead in sins and trespasses Eph. 2. 1. that no lesse than almighty creating power is requisit for working of a gracious change in us So this gracious change thus wrought doth reach the whole man his soul and all the faculties thereof his body and all the members thereof are renewed and changed 1 Thess. 5. 23. for this gracious change hath the name of a new creature importing it to flow from God's creating power and that it is extended to the whole man 4. This gracious change of the whole man is for singular use and advantage to the man who hath it though not to give him a right to Christ or to justifie him except in so far as the grace of Faith is included in it for Faith alone doth intitle a man to Christ 1 Joh. 5. 12 13. and justifie him Gal. 2. 16. yet to evidence unto his own conscience that he hath that right and is a justified person 1 Joh. 3. 7 14. for with respect to this he saith That in Jesus Christ a new creature doth avail with a little variation of the sense and
have compleat salvation in right and title 1 Corinth 3. 21 22. and in the earnest of it Eph. 1. 14. So the whole work of their salvation from its first step in regeneration unto its last step in their glorification doth intirely flow from Gods free grace and from none of their worth for he saith ye are saved in the time bypast and ascribeth it to grace by grace ye are saved 4. The maintaining of the interest of free grace in our salvation as being the alone impulsive cause thereof in opposition to our worth is a thing that the Spirit of the Lord is very carefull of the glory of His free grace being all which He seeketh after in our salvation chap. 1. 6. and a thing which men do naturally encline to intrench upon and to rob Him of either in whole or in part Rom. 10. 3. for therefore doth the Apostle so frequently shew the dependance which salvation hath upon Gods mercy love and free grace ver 4. -5. and here by grace are ye saved 5. Free grace and faith do well agree in the bringing about our salvation neither is salvation the lesse of free grace that it is also of faith seing faith is not only a fruit of Gods grace in us Phil. 1. 29. but also and mainly because faith doth not justifie or save us for any worth in it self or as it is a work for all works are excluded ver 9. but for the worth of its object Jesus Christ and of His righteousnesse Rom. 5. -19. which faith apprehendeth Philip. 3. 9. for the Apostle ascribeth their salvation both to grace and faith ye are saved by grace through faith 6. Though Gods free grace favour and goodwill doth freely bestow that salvation upon the Elect which Christ by His merit hath purchased yet the Wisdom of God hath thought it fitting that this salvation shall not be actually bestowed untill the person to be saved do lay hold by faith upon the offer of salvation in the Gospel and of Christs righteousnesse whereby salvation is acquired that so the heirs of glory may not only have a right to heaven by faith before they come to the actuall possession of it Joh. 3. 16. but also be made meet to partake of that heavenly inheritance Col. 1. 12. their natures being renewed when the habit of faith is wrought in them by God 2 Corinth 5. 17. and their hearts also being purified by the exercise of that grace Acts 15. 9. for saith he by grace are ye saved through faith 7. The ascribing of salvation to Gods free grace though it doth not exclude Christs merit and the act of faith as imbracing the righteousnesse of Christ See Doct. 5. Yet it excludeth all things in our selves whether dignity of our natures the enjoyment of civil or ecclesiastick priviledges nobility of discent all our common or more speciall gifts and induements whether of nature or grace from having any meritorious or causall influence in bestowing either a right to salvation or the possession of it for Paul opposeth these two by grace are ye saved and that not of your selves 8. As heaven and salvation are Gods gift so they are such a gift as is freely given by God who is not induced thereto by any thing in the person to whom it is given whether sense of benefit already received or hope of any benefit to be received from Him in time coming which occasioneth the bestowing of gifts among men salvation is indeed a gift but not such a gift for it is a gift without all rise from any thing in our selves And that not of your selves it is the gift of God saith he Vers. 9. Not of works lest any man should boast HE further explaineth in what sense their salvation did come from free grace and proveth it by other two arguments which do also confirm the two former The first taken from the removeall of those things in particular from having any meritorious or causall influence upon their salvation which all men have a kind of naturall propension to rely upon for salvation to wit their works and those even their good works for so doth he explain himself ver 10. whence it followeth that they were saved of grace and not of themselves The second is taken from the end aimed at by God in contriving the plot of lost mans salvation to wit that all ground of gloriation might be taken away from man as being in the meanest respect a saviour to himself and that all the glory might be ascribed compleatly unto God in Christ See 1 Cor. 1. 30 31. which end could not have been obtained except they had been saved by grace and not of themselves Doct. 1. Though the word grace in Scripture be somtimes taken for the saving graces of Gods Spirit in us 2 Pet. 3. 18. yet when salvation is ascribed unto Gods grace we are alwayes to understand grace in God that is His free favour and goodwill and not grace inherent in us or good works the exercise of that grace for the Apostle establisheth grace ascribing our salvation to it and excludeth grace inherent and good works which were inconsistent if they were the self same thing Not of works saith he 2. The salvation of Believers doth so much flow from free grace as that all works of theirs even their good works are thereby excluded from having any meritorious influence upon it for even our best works are imperfect Isa. 64. 6-they are a debt which we owe unto God Luk. 17. 10. the power and activity whereby we do them is given of God Phil. 2. 13. and therefore we can merit nothing and least of all salvation by them at Gods hand Thus the Apostle explaineth how we are saved by grace even so as to exclude all works Not of works saith he 3. Though a man may boast and glory of the good things which God hath given him in some respects See upon Gal. 6. ver 4. doct 5. Yet the way wherein salvation is conveyed unto sinners is so contrived that no ground is left for man to boast in himself for any thing which his wisdom goodnesse power or worth do contribute for bringing of his own salvation about either in part or in whole From the first step thereof election unto the last his glorification man and his worth are still depressed and God and His free grace alwayes exalted for the Apostle sheweth this was the end God did aim at even least any man should boast 4. In so far as works even good works have place in the matter of mans salvation so far hath man mater of boasting and ascribing the glory of his salvation to himself and holding back the glory of it from God for although good works do come wholly from the Spirit of God in so far as they are good yet they are our works in so far as they are wrought by us being now renewed and enabled to work by influence from God and therefore heaven and salvation
Apostle while he seeketh increase of spirituall strength unto those converted Ephesians he prayeth that God would grant or give it as a gift for the word signifieth so much and that from the inexhaustible fountain of His glorious grace That He would grant unto you according to the riches of His glory not according to your worth 6. As all the attributes of God and especially His mercy and power are not onely altogether glorious because the glory of God is manifested unto the creatures in their severall wonderfull effects Psal. 19. 1 c. but are also infinite and without measure as being indefatigable in working wholly insuperable by any impediment or opposition whatsoever and inexhaustible by supplying any want in the creature So in making our approaches unto God for seeking any good and especially saving good it is most necessary that we lift our eyes above any thing that is ours whether our good or our evil and fasten them by faith upon that inexhaustible fountain of mercy and power in God whereby he is not only willing as mercifull but also able as omnipotent to bestow what ever we shall ask according to his will for the Apostle in seeking spirituall strength for those Ephesians doth look to the inexhaustible riches of Gods mercy and power called here His glory that He would grant according to the riches of His grace 7. It is the Spirit of God the third person in the blessed Trinity who taking up His place of abode in the truly regenerate 1 Joh. 4. 13. doth make it His work to renew their strength by upholding and actuating their graces and making them advance from strength to strength in despite of all imaginable difficulties neither is there any other strength or might whether naturall or acquired which can sufficiently furnish us to rancounter all those difficulties which are incident in our Christian course but that whereof the Spirit of God residing in us is the author and giver for he prayeth they may be strengthened with might in the inner man from the spirit 8. Though Christians are not to neglect their outward and bodily concernments 1 Tim. 5. 8. 23. yet the spirituall estate of their eternall souls is to be cared for most and so much as if it go well with that and if the soul be strengthened with might for carrying on the concernments thereof their outward concernments may trouble them the lesse and especially the care of Ministers should be employed about the inward and spirituall estate of their flock for Paul prayeth they may be strengthened in the inner man his care did run most upon that Vers. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith HEre is the second petition of the Apostle's prayer wherein he seeketh that which is the cause of strengthning and corroboration by the Spirit spoken of ver 16. even that Jesus Christ by vertue of a continued act of lively faith in Him might be perpetually present in His Vertue Grace and Spirit working not only in their tougnes and brains but also and mainly in their hearts Doct. 1. That we may partake of any saving benefit purchased by Christ and particularly that we may be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner man for doing any thing that is spiritually good it is most necessary that we partake first of Christ Himself being most strictly united to Him and even as the members are to the head from which they receive sense and motion Christ giveth nothing of His purchase unto any but to whom He giveth Himself first 1 Joh. 5. 11 12. and to whomsoever He giveth Himself upon those He bestoweth all things Christ in us being the hope of glory Col. 1. 27. the fountain of life Gal. 2. 20. and of all things needfull 1 Job 4. 4. for Paul having prayed that they may be strengthened with might in the inner man subjoyneth the way and manner how this strength was to be conveyed unto them even by Christ's dwelling in their hearts by faith 2. There is a strict conjunction and near familiarity between Christ and Believers even such in some sort as is between an indweller and the house wherein he dwelleth whereby Jesus Christ God and Man in one person is present with the Believer not in His substance only as He is God for so He is every where Jer. 23. 24. nor in His substance at all as He is Man for so the heavens do contain Him Act. 3. 21. but by His gracious operation and speciall influence upon them whereby He quickeneth them Rom. 8. 10. ruleth them Act. 9. 6. and liveth in them Gal. 2. 20. for he prayeth that Christ may dwell in their hearts which petition is granted in behalf of all Believers seing he prayed in faith 3 Though Christ doth thus familiarly communicate Himself unto all Believers so as to dwell in them by His gracious presence yet not unto all alike but unto some in a larger measure than unto others according as He worketh more and more effectually in some than in others for though Christ did already dwell in those converted Ephesians chap. 2. 22. yet Paul doth pray that Christ may dwell in them which therefore must be understood of a greater measure and degree of His indwelling presence than formerly they had 4. Where Jesus Christ doth once take up His abode and dwelling in the heart there He remaineth constantly and flitteth not in so far as though sometimes He withholdeth that gracious influence of His which is necessary only to the wel-being flourishing and vigorous thriving of grace in the heart Cant. 5. 6. yet He never withdraweth that influence which is necessary to the being of grace and without which grace would utterly die and perish Psal. 73. 23. for the word rendered to dwell signifieth to take up a fixed and immovable habitation and differeth from another word very like unto it which signifieth to sojourn in a place only for a season 1 Pet. 1. 17. That Christ may dwell in your hearts 5. Though even the bodies of Believers be temples of the holy Ghost and consequently of Jesus Christ for Christ dwelleth in them by His Spirit 1 Cor. 6. 19. yet the heart will and affections of man are the chief place of His habitation wherein He resideth as in His strong citadel from which He commandeth the other faculties and members And without His presence there He cannot have any habitation in any part of the man elsewhere the tongue cannot receive Him by speaking nor the understanding by knowing nor the hand by external working except He be received in the heart from which proceed the issues of life Pro. 4. 23. for he prayeth that Christ may dwell in their hearts 6. Though Jesus Christ doth make His first entry unto and dwelleth in Believers by His Spirit 1 Joh. 4. 13. whereby He uniteth them to Himself quickeneth and ruleth them yea and worketh the grace of faith in them Joh. 6. 44. yet faith being so wrought the
Christs Ministers to presse upon the Lords people the mortification of sin or conscience-making of the duties of holinesse in the generall but seing people are apt to think that an sleight performance or faint endeavours are sufficient obedience to these generall exhortations therefore Ministers must condescend upon some particular vices chiefly such as are most commonly practised in the place where they are and some particular vertues which are most ordinarily sleighted pressing upon the Lords people to evidence their renovation by abstinence from the former and practising of the latter for Paul having indirectly at least exhorted them to put off the old man ver 22. and put on the new ver 24. doth now fall upon some particular vices and vertues dehorting from the one and exhorting to the other Wherefore putting away lying 2. There is no sin more unseemly in a Christian and more inconsistent with grace than the sin of lying there being no sin that maketh a man more like the devil Joh. 8. 44. more abominable to God Prov. 6. 16 17. nor more shamefull in the eyes of men so that even they who are most guilty of it cannot endure to be charged with it no sin more hurtful to the sinner as making him to be trusted by none and no sin which tendeth more to the utter overthrow of all humane societie fidelity and trust among men being that which maketh any society comfortable for the Apostle dehorteth from lying upon the ground of their putting on the new man as is implied in the illative particle Wherefore Wherefore putting away lying 3. As all kind of lying is intrinsically sin and to be avoided whether the pernicious officious or sporting lie See upon Col. 3. 8 9 doct 10. So there is no person of whatsoever rank whether rich or poor to whom God giveth any dispensation to lie or speak contrary to truth for he saith indefinitly putting away lying and speak every man truth without exception 4. Though we are not bound to speak all the truth and at all times and to every person but in some cases may and ought conceal somewhat of it Luk. 9. 21. 1 Sam. 16. 2. yet when we speak we are to speak nothing but truth and that without mentall reservation of any part of the purpose without which the rest which is spoken would not be truth but a lie for though it be sufficient for a man to think what is truth and not expresse it when he is speaking or meditating with himself yet he is to speak truth if so he speak at all when he speaketh with his neighbour speak every man truth with his neighbour saith he 5. This is a generall rule to be observed for the right understanding of divine precepts that where a sin is forbidden the contrary duty is also commanded and where a duty is commanded the contrary sin is also forbidden for the Apostle expounding here the ninth command doth not only exhort to lay aside lying but also to speak every man the truth with his neighbour 6. Though it be sinfull to lie and speak untruth unto any even to an infidel Ezek. 17. 16. yet it is more sinfull and most odious for Believers and Professors of the same faith because of their nearer bonds and relations to lie unto and deceive one another for so much the Apostles reason here used which is astricted only to such doth teach for we are members one of another saith he 7. It is not sufficient that a man abstain from lying and endeavour to speak truth with his neighbour from a motive of self-advantage and interest as knowing his doing otherwise would tend both to his losse and shame but he ought to be acted herein from a principle of love towards those with whom he speaketh chiefly if he conceive them to be Believers as to members of that same body for whose advantage and preservation especially he is bound to lay out himself in his place and station so far must he be from seeking to undermine them or deceive them for Paul will have them to put away lying and to speak the truth for this reason that they were all members one of another Vers. 26. Be ye angry and sin not let not the sun go down upon your wrath HE exhorteth them next to restrain and moderate their anger forbidden in the sixth command And 1. he as it were giveth them way to be angry sometimes and in some cases 2. He disswadeth them from sinfull anger or any unjust desire of revenge which is when anger is kindled rashly Prov. 14. 17. for no cause Matth. 5. 22. or a very light one 1 Cor. 13. 5 or when it exceedeth the just bounds Gen. 49. 7. And 3. if their anger at any time should exceed bounds and turn to wrath or bitternesse of spirit he exhorteth them to suppresse it speedily even before the Sun go down not cherishing that ill or for bearing themselves in it for the space of one night Doct. 1. Seing anger is a naturall affection planted in our first parents at the first creation yea and also was found in Christ Himself who was without sin Mark 3. 5. therefore it is not in it self a sin nor alwayes sinfull but as it is in its own nature indifferent and becometh good or evil according to the grounds causes objects and ends of it So it is sometimes and in some cases a necessary duty for a Christian to be angry to wit when anger floweth from zeal to Gods glory Joh. 2. 15. with 17. and love to our brother Prov. 13. 24. and when it is conceived upon just and weighty causes such chiefly as Gods dishonour whether by our own sins 2 Cor. 7. 11. or the sins of others Exod. 32. 19. when it is incensed not so much against the person of our brother as against his sin and therefore against that sin in our selves as much as in others Matth. 7. 5. when it doth not hinder other duties of love which we owe to the person whom we are angry with Exod. 32. 19. with 32. neither doth mar our accesse to God in prayer 1 Tim. 2. 8. and when we go not without the compasse of our calling by giving way to private revenge in the accomplishment of our anger Luke 9. 54. 55. In those cases anger is praise-worthy and commendable for the Apostle giveth way to anger yea after a sort commandeth it to wit in those cases be ye angry saith he 2. As there is an easie and ready passage from what is moderation in our naturall affections of joy fear grief desire and therefore lawfull and in some cases necessary to what is excesse and therefore sinfull Psal. 2. -11 So this doth chiefly hold in the affection of anger it being most difficile to keep a measure and not to exceed by transgressing some one or other of the fore-mentioned limitations of just anger when it is once given way to for therefore doth he add this necessary caution Be angry but sin