FREE GRACE Exalted and thence Deduced EVANGELICAL RULES FOR EVANGELICAL SUFFERINGS In two Discourses made 29. March and 10. May 1670. From Rom. 5.21 LONDON Printed in the Year 1670. TO THE READER RUth reaped a bountifull blessing with her humble gleaning in the field of her near kinsman Boaz to become the Mother of her Lord and Saviour the same benediction is perpetually to be found in the field of the Gospel whereof the former field is the figure a poor creature having had the opportunity of a turn or two in that field and finding much heavenly consolation there pick'd up with his Pen a few scatterings of what was lately presented before the God of the whole harvest in two Discourses of the Free Grace of and Suffering for the Gospel and being willing they should extend to a standing benefit of a few more than the Auditors out of love to the truth and souls hath transcribed them for the Press and if out of them any poor soul shall press the wine of the kingdome to comfort and establish him by the assistance of the spirit of Grace let him bless the Master of the Vineyard who refreshes every weary soul that comes to him I confess the world is well replenished with treatises of both subjects Free Grace and Sufferings all I wish is they were better studied and practised this is only the casting two Mites into the Treasury which it is hoped some will reap the benefit of nay these in themselves contain the whole Treasury if sanctified to an humble soul. There is only this note to be made whereas there is a necessary caution laid down against sourness of spirit wrath desire of revenge or the like to be allowed by any in their sufferings that yet this doth not tend to invalidate the true and faithfull sayings of God that he will in his time appointed pour out his fierce wrath and indignation against all implacable enemies as Babylon and her Confederates in order to the setting up the kingdome of the Lord Jesus universally in the earth in truth and righteousness here is the faith and patience of the Saints and hence it is they cry Come Lord Jesus come quickly Free Grace Exalted and thence Deduced In a Discourse March 29. 1670. Rom. 5.21 As Sin So might Grace reign through righteousness to Eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. ST Paul in this Epistle doth establish on heavenly grounds and heavenly pillars of divine truths and divine arguments The doctrine of free Grace as a rock as a rock of Eternity on which the rock himself Jesus Christ as he is the Mediator of the Covenant is founded against which all the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail he establisheth it against all assaults by which the powers of darkness do invade it he sets it before us as the◠〈◊〉 out of which all the most precious and pleasant mysteries of the Gospel do spring and as the head which is chief of them all on which they all depend from which they all have the life strength beauty and sweetness In these two last verses of this Chapter you have the treasure of the whole Epistle and whole Gospel comprised with a divine skill in a little compass he gives a distinct view of the whole In these two verses is a comparison between the Law and the Gospel or the Covenant of Works and Covenant of Grace the mystery of the Law and Covenant of works with its design end and effect represented the Law entred that the offence might abound Sin reigns to death that 's the design of the Law It never entred into the heart of God that righteousness or life should be by the Law or the Covenant of works no the design of the Law is that Sin might find a way into the world and be heightned that the offence might abound and that Sin may bring in death upon all but is this in the eye of God simply thus to determine his Councels no but the Gospel follows and is the sweet Riddle Out of the Eater came Meat and out of the Strong came Sweetness the Law is as a foile for a Diamond 't is the design of God that the Covenant of Grace that everlasting love might come down from Heaven with a greater pomp and glory with a greater train of sweetness and joy bringing everlasting righteousness and everlasting life along with it so you see the 20th verse The law entred that the offence might abound but where sin abounded grace doth much more abound a great heap of fuel is laid to this end that the fire taking hold of it might consume it and spread it self and rise to Heaven with a glorious flame that as sin hath reigned unto death even so might Grace reign to Eternal life through righteousness by Jesus Christ our Lord. My design is to speak to the last part of this verse So might Grace c. where you have all the treasures of the Gospel richly pointed at in the compass of two lines First you have here a King Grace this King is on the Throne grace reigns it reigns over sin and death 2ly you have the Scepter of this King righteousness grace reigns through righteousness he reigns to righteousness or by righteousness righteousness is the Scepter of the kingdome of grace 3ly you have the effect or end of this reign how blessed is it to be Subjects to this King how good and blessed is this Kings reign to all his Subjects for 't is to eternal life a life of grace and of glory a life that is begun here in earth and flesh by grace that is perfected in the spirit and in heaven by glory then 4ly here is the great Minister of this great King by Jesus Christ our Lord grace reigns by Jesus Christ as great Kings First they make their Ministers of State they first raise them then use them and reign by them as Pharaoh by Joseph so Jesus Christ is both the gift of this grace and the Minister of this grace free grace raised Jesus Christ up to be a Mediator in the Covenant of grace to be a Minister in this kingdome of grace and then reigns by him to eternal life Jesus Christ is the Minister of grace by both righteousnesses the righteousness of justification which is the righteousness of God in Jesus Christ resting as a Crown on the head of a Soul to justifie him and he is the righteousness of Sanctification the righteousness of God by Jesus Christ as a root of holiness in the heart of a Saint springing up into all holiness and spirituality there how full is this blessedness how full is the Covenant of grace so many words as be here so many heavens open themselves in fulness of grace and glory Grace Righteousness Eternal life Jesus Christ our Lord every one comprehends all Divines distinguish between two sorts of grace one is grace-making-grace the other is grace-made-grace the one is Eternal love in the heart of
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
't is a Dove as the eyes of the Spouse a spirit composed of the purity of a spiritual and heavenly loveliness and in the simplicity of this loveliness it flows out in love to all without regard to this party or the other party without quarrelling and so in its life it sows the fruit of righteousness in peace in the purity love peacebleness and gentleness of this spirit and so makes peace and springs up into peace Oh that our Lord Jesus were ever in our eye and heart as a pattern when he was Crucified he died to be a Sacrifice of Love to those that Crucified him when his blood was poured out with the greatest malice he shed it to wash away their sins that spilt it to make his blood a heavenly wine in the kingdome of his Father for those very sinners to drink of and receive a new life to have fellowship with him in his life his last-breath was spent in a Dove-like breathing and giving a kiss of love to those souls that Crucified him in these words Father forgive them for they know not what they do what a kiss of kindness was this to those souls that were with the greatest rage Crucifying him Oh suffer ye in like manner 'T is said the blood of the Saints is the seed of the Church when you suffer let your loss and suffering be with this spirit to sow a pretious seed of grace and love of peace and righteousness to spring up in the souls of those by whom you suffer by your heavenly love and meekness in suffering If you dye suffering on account of the grace of God let the breathings of your soul to the last be an offering of prayers in the behalf of those that cause your sufferings that God may pardon them and delight in them to do them good and bring them to the same rest of God with you My fourth Rule is Let grace be in your outward behaviour when you suffer It is said of the Spouse that milk and honey are under her tongue so in your deportments carriage looks or words let there appear nothing of the venome of the Serpent nothing of the fierceness of the Wolf let all be Lamb-like let your eyes be Doves-eyes let every action and word be milk and honey pure true wise healing nourishing gentle softning sweetning as spices when they are thrown into a fire send out a sweet perfume to recreate the sences of those that threw them into the fire such should the suffering of a Saint breathing out the sweetness of heavenly joy and love to those that cast them into the fire to allure them into the fellowship of this grace and so heap coals of fire upon their heads according to that of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.12 Being reviled we bless A fifth Rule is this Let the Grace of God be your onely solace in all your sufferings I shall only gloss a little on two Scriptures and so conclude the first is in Rom. 8.35 Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation distress or persecution famine or nakedness peril or sword nay in all these things we are more then conquerours through him that loved us for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor any creature shall be able to seperate from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The grace of God that we have been speaking of and the love of God here in the Text are all one how sweet and full of consolation is this grace in suffering the love and grace of God which shines out and lives in the glorified person of Jesus Christ is the same that he communicates to his Saints and lives in them And now whatever suffering comes to a Saint no part of it shall ever come between you O Saint and this bosome of love nothing shall seperate from this love A cloud of suffering may surround you and be black without to those that look on it but this cloud within shall like the Tabernacle with Badgers skins without all glorious within shall be full of divine love to you this cloud shall not come between you and this love of God the grace of God shall be between you and every cloud They say of the Romans of old that they had a sort of linnen that would not be burnt in the fire and after they had burned the dead as was their custome they took up the bones and wrapt them in that linnen and therein burnt them to ashes to keep the ashes unmixt from the common ashes Let what suffering will come let what fire will be kindled upon you you are wrapt in the bosome of the Lord Jesus and whatever operation the fire may have upon you it 〈◊〉 do you no hurt for you are safe wrapt up in that love which the fire cannot hurt The houses of great persons have naked bare dead damp walls in them when the owners family is from thence but when they come to their houses they furnish them with rich hangings which are beautiful to the eye and keep the rooms warm and serve for recreation to entertain the indwellers with some pleasant stories which are described in them O my beloved every state of suffering into which a Saint comes is a distinct room of the Pallace of the great King of Glory and his Bridegroom and though that condition be like bare walls damp melancholy and naked yet when you come into it having this grace of God accompanying you in every state now it is furnisht richly for you with love as for an heire of glory with the grace of God which is the light of Divine love beauty and joy all in one God in Christ shining in the simplicity of all his love doth as with hangings of glory furnish thy room now the deformity of the walls is covered with divine beauty now the damp of the walls is taken away with the warmth of divine love now the melancholy is taken away and you are entertained with pleasant stories of this love and its glory all in this furniture in this love of God which comes between thee and sufferings and present themselves to thee according to all wisdome and prudence My last Scripture is 1 Pet. 4.14 If ye are reproacht for the name of Christ happy are yo◠for the spirit of God and of glory rests on you Let me give you a few considerations from this word of grace First when you suffer as a Saint God is with you he presents himself and appears to thee in grace and love So it was with Jacob he was by Esau's ill will cast out of his Fathers house sent away poor and alone with my staff I went over saith he he wanders in a large field and meets with a dark night and a hard bed having a cold stone for his sorrowful head to sleep upon but behold there he met with that presence of God that spirit of God and of glory in such eminency as he never saw