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
without Partiality or Injustice or wrong to any bestow his free Benefits and Favours upon whom and in what measure and degree he please 4. Effectual calling which is another link in the golden chain of salvation is of grace 2 Tim. 1. 9. Who hath saved us and called us with a Holy Calling not according to our Works but according to his own Purpose and Grace As the Heirs of Salvation are distinguished from others by Election in the Bosome and secret Purpose of God from all Eternity so they are in time distinguished from others by Regeneration and Effectual Calling and this you see is of Grace too not upon the account of any Worth Merit or Desert in them that are Called and Regenerated more than in others that are not so though the ordinary way whereby God Calls and Converts any is in the Use of the Means that he hath appointed for that end and in the serious diligent Attendance upon them yet even that is of Grace too Grace disposes the hearts of some to use the Means of Salvation while others do neglect and slight them and Grace that is a more Common Grace makes some serious and diligent therein or else they would be as vain and heedless and slighty in them as any others it is Grace that leads Men on step by step from one thing to another from Ignorance to Knowledge from Carnal Security to a Conviction of their undone and lost Estate and from Conviction to Conversion and a hearty Closure with Christ upon the Gospel Terms Grace hath a secret powerful though oft an undiscerned hand in leading a straying Sinner unto Christ and in turning a carnal worldly Heart to fix it self upon God as its end and chief Good As a River or Fountain that runs a great way under-ground unseen but at last breaks out into view upon the surface of the Earth so Election is a secret that is a great while hidden and undiscerned but in the Effectual Calling and Conversion of a Soul then it doth as it were appear above ground in its precious and saving Fruits and Effects This Effectual Calling is the beginning of Salvation in us all that we have before that is no more than what many may have that perish for ever many have great Knowledge of Divine things and Convictions and some superficial Joy in the Word and Ordinances as the stony-ground-hearers and yet perish at last but when we are Effectually Called and truly Converted then we begin to be saved then we pertake of those things that accompany Salvation as the Apostle speaks then we taste the delicious Fruits of Grace then we experience its powerful and saving Effects in and upon our selves then the Day-Star arises in our hearts then the blessed Day of Grace begins to dawn and we see the light of it and feel the Warmth of the Sun of Righteousness refreshing and healing our Souls Now that this is of Grace and not from the good Improvement onely of the Natural Power in some more than in other doth thus appear 1. From the plain direct Assertion of Scripture Rom. 9. 16. It is not of him that wills nor of him that runs but of God that sheweth mercy 1 Cor. 5. 7. Who maketh thee to differ from another If any could reply and say that he by the meer Power or Improvement of Nature had made the difference for the better betwixt him and another or that he had acquired any spiritual Indowment or gracious Disposition that was not the Free Gift of Grace to him that would quite invalidate and overthrow the Apostles Argument in that place but the Apostles Argument is undoubtedly good Ergo. 2. That Effectual Calling is of Grace and Favour doth appear from the manifest arbitrary distinction that it makes in those those that are the Subjects of it we see that Grace doth pick and cull out here one and there another arbitrarily oft we see those called that have less Helps and Advantages for Salvation while those that have greater are left still in their Sate of Sin and Death and those that to all appearance seem less prepared for Grace while those that have greater are passed by as our Saviour saith Two shall in be the same House or Bed together the one taken and the other left so Grace doth manifestly in the Dispensation of it in the Gospel Oft we see the Children of the same Parents that have the same Education Instruction and Advantages everyway yet one taken and another left those that sit under the same Ministry and hear the same Sermons yet one taken and another left Grace doth pick and cull out here one and there another and leaves others that to all appearance was in as good nay a better Preparation to receive Grace As our Saviour saith I thank thee O Father that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and hast revealed them to Babes and for what reason why because it so pleased Thee 3. But there are some extraordinary Instances of Conversion that will put it past all doubt that it is Grace and Free Grace that makes the difference betwixt one and another and not the good Improvement of natural Power who will say that Paul while he was a Persecutor and a Blaspemer and in the height of his Rage against Christ and his People and interest was in a greater Preparation for Grace than that young Man in the Gospel of whom it is said Christ loved Him and said he was not far from the Kingdom of God and yet for ought we do know he never entred into it and is it likely that the Thief upon the Cross or the Samaritan Woman that lived in Adultery was in a greater preparation for Grace than those many that followed Christ up and down from Place to Place to hear his Heavenly Doctrine and yet it is said of them Joh. 6. that They went back and walked no more with Him All must confess whether they are wiling or not that it was pure Grace and Free Grace that in these and many such like Instances doth make the difference and not the good Improvement of Nature I readily acknowledge that it is not Gods usual way to take Persons as it were reeking-hot out of their Sins into a State of Grace and Favour to call Men to himself while in the neglect of his Instituted Means and as it were fighting against Him Well but it is the same Grace that extraordinarily calls some few and ordinarily calls most in the serious and diligent Use of his Appointed Means If it be beyond all Question that it is meer Grace that calls some that were running away from God as fast as they could none that considers what the consequences will be will venture to say that it is not the same Grace that calls all that are called though in a different way God meets with some few in the midst of their Career of Sin that none shall be able to deny the efficiency of
〈◊〉 it signifies such a narrow intent prying as we use to do into a curious Piece wherein we discern a wonderful deal of Art and Skill and were the Wisdom of it but considered and understood by us it would make us say with the Apostle O the Depths of the Riches both of the Wisdom and Knowledge of God how unsearchable c. All the Perfections of God do mutually reflect a Luster upon each other so here the Wisdom of Grace doth not in the least diminish its freeness but greatly adds to the Glory of it 4. The Grace whereby we are saved is a Pure and Holy Grace in that while it imbraces the Sinner with a most free and abundant Favour yet without the least Countenance or Favour to Sin it self tho it pardon the Sinner yet it doth not spare but most severely punishes the Sin nay it discovers the greatest hatred and abhorrence of Sin while it shews the richest and most abundant Favour and Kindness to the Sinner Though it Pardon the greatest and worst of Sinners and multiplies Pardons in blotting out Sins that are numberless and for quality of the most Crimson dye yet it doth this in such a way that it gives not the least Countenance or Incouragement to any to Sin or to continue in it nay the rich Grace displaied upon Mount Sion doth more effectually suppress and destroy the Reign of Sin then all the Fire and Thunder of Mount Sinai though it Pardons Sin freely yet it doth it in such a way and order that it doth more powerfully restrain and awe the Soul from continuing in the Practise of it then all the terrible Threats of Wrath in the Law Tit. 2. 11 12. The Grace of God that brings Salvation teacheth us to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly righteously and godly hence when God proclaims his Name so full of Grace and Mercy Exod. 34. 6 7. Mercyful gracious long-suffering abundant in Goodness and Truth forgiving Iniquity Transgression and Sin yet it is added and that will by no means clear the Guilty Psalm 99. 8. Thou wast a God that forgavest them but tookest Vengeance of their Inventions those emblematical appearances of Christ that we read of Rev. 1. 13 14 15 do not obscurely shew his Holiness and Purity his Hatred and Revenges of Impenitence and Disobedience commixt with his Love and Grace and Kindness to Sinners Here you see him represented in his Priestly Garments ver 13. which shows his Love and Grace to Sinners in his Sacrifice and Intercession but ver 15. His Feet as it were Brass that burns in a Furnace which shews his fiery Wrath and Indignation against all impenitent ones Hence it is manifest that those who do from the freeness and abundance of Grace take incouragement to Sin never had any Experience of this Grace in themselves 5. The Grace whereby we are saved is a powerful Grace Eph. 1. 19. And what is the exceeding greatness of his Power to us-ward who believe it is an exceeding Power that Grace puts forth in the Conversion and Salvation of carnal and dead Sinners It overcomes the Resistance and Opposition that the carnal corrupt will assisted by the Devil and all that the Powers of Darkness can make against it It is a mighty Power indeed that of Stones raises up Children to Abraham that raiseth dead Sinners to Life that have not only like Lazarus lain four Days in the Grave but that have lain many Years rotting in their Filth and Putrefaction that is a mighty Power that makes dry and dead Bones to live which makes a Holy Temple for God himself to dwell in of that Heart which was a sty of every filthy and unclean Lust. Were not this Grace whereby we are saved an Almighty Grace we had been all to this Day yea and for ever rotting in the Grave of our Sins bound in the Chains of guilt and Death and as it is a mighty Power that first raises us to a spiritual Life so it is the same mighty Power that keeps us still through Faith unto Salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. I shall briefly open the other two Points and then Apply all together 1. What is the meaning of this Salvation being through Faith The meaning is this that God and Christ in the Gospel Covenant do require Faith on our parts in order to our being actual Partakers and Possessors of this Salvation which Gods Grace doth freely give and Christ hath merited for us our actual Interest in and claim to this Salvation is suspended till we believe which is the same that our Saviour himself saith when he commissioned his Apostles to Preach the Gospel of Salvation to the lost World Mark 16. 16. Go Preach the Gospel He that believes shall be saved and he that believes not shall be damned It is freely offered and given by God and Christ in the Gospel Covenant but Faith is required as a necessary Disposition in all that shall actually receive and partake of it 1. Sincere Faith which is the unfeigned Consent of the Heart to receive and close with Christ upon the Terms of the Gospel Covenant is necessary to our first Interest and Title to it that is before a Soul is brought to this believing or closing with Christ it is as to the special and principal Effects and Fruits of it but a Grace offered a Christ a Saviour and Salvation offered and tendered but when we believe then it is a Salvation begun in us then we actually partake of some of the saving Fruits and Effects of this Grace and have a just Title and Claim to compleat Salvation to be given us in Gods Time and Way 2. The continued Exercise of and persevering in this Faith and the necessary Fruits of it Holiness and sincere Obedience to Christ and his Commands is necessary to our final and compleat Salvation that is to our full Deliverance from Sin and Satan Death and Hell and our Possession of Eternal Life and Happiness not that one who truly believes if he should Dye the next Day of Hour before the Performance of any one further Act of Holiness and Obedience would want any Thing to qualifie him for compleat Salvation no you must not understand it so For true Faith as it justifies the Believer at the very Moment of his believing so it would save him if he should Dye the next Moment But if God gives us further Life and Time Perseverance in Faith and Holiness to the very end of our Lives is necessary to continue our Right and Title to Salvation as Faith was at first to the obtaining of it Hence are those Promises of compleat Salvation to continued Perseverance in Faith and Holiness Rom. 2. 7. To them who by patient Continuance in well doing seek for Eternal Life James 1. 12. Blessed is he that indures Temptation for after he is tryed he shall receive the Crown of Life Rev. 2. 10. Be thou faithful to the Death and I will give thee a
makes it to be nevertheless of Grace still Indeed was Faith a Disposition acquired meerly by the power of Nature or onely by our own Diligence and Industry in the Use of Means without the Grace of God then it would lessen the Glory of Grace indeed and at best make it to be partly of Grace and partly of our Selves But it is not so Faith that doth qualifie and dispose us for Salvation is Gods Gift as well as Salvation it self Grace gives all both the Disposition to receive and the consequent Benefit received too But he always gives it in this wise and holy Way and Order that he makes one Gift to be the necessary Qualification to dispose the Soul for the receiving of another He gives Repentance to dispose the Soul to receive Forgiveness of Sin gives Faith to dispose the Soul to receive the great benefits of Justification and Adoption gives Holiness and Purity of Heart to dispose the Soul for Communion with God and the everlasting Injoyment of him and he always observe this Order and Method in bestowing the great and saving Gifts of his Grace and never varies it So that those shall never have the Gift of forgiveness of Sin that have not first the Gift of Repentance and those shall never have the Gift of Salvation that have not first the Gift of Faith and Holiness Obj. 3. But if Salvation be by Grace though it be through Faith which is but the hearty thankful acceptance of the Gift yet how is compleat Salvation that is the Possession of Eternal Life and Glory of Grace when so much Care and Diligence and persevering Continuance in the Duties of Holiness and Obedience is required in order to the Possession of it Ans. 1. It must be acknowledged that the greatest Diligence and Seriousness in the Duties of Holiness and Obedience and Continuance therein to our Lives end are required to our compleat Salvation yet this is not opposite to Grace nor make Salvation to be ever the less of Grace That these are necessary see what the Scripture saith Phil. 2. 12. Work out your own Salvation with Fear and Trembling Rom. 2. 7. To them who by patient continuance in well doing Eternal Life Heb. 12. 14. follow and Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 10. And besides this giving all Diligence add to your Faith Vertue It discovers great ignorance for any to call the Preaching of and Pressing of Holiness and Obedience as such legal Preaching For if so never was greater legal Preachers heard then the Apostles Peter and Paul Nay if the meer pressing of such Duties be legal Preaching then our Saviour himself was a legal Preacher too Luke 13. 24 27. Strive to enter in at the strait gate Mat. 5. 16 17 19 20. and Mat. 7. 24. He that hears these sayings of mine and doth them And what Sayings were these why those excellent Precepts of Holiness and Obedience that he had Preached to them in his Sermon upon the Mount whence it is plain That it is not the pressing of the Duties of Holiness and Obedience that makes Preaching to be Legal Preaching but it is the Ends and Uses that they are pressed for that must denominate it If they are pressed for Gospel-Ends and Uses that is Gospel-Preaching and I see not how the Gospel can be truly Preached without the pressing of them in their place and if any do pretend to Preach the Gospel without it they either Preach not Christ's Gospel or but by the Halves but if any do press the Duties of Holiness and Obedience for Legal-ends and purposes that is Legal Preaching indeed But tho Holiness and sincere Obedience are necessary to Eternal Life and Salvation yet it is nevertheless of Grace for whosoever sets Grace and Evangelical Holiness and Obedience in opposition one to another they set Christ and his Word or Gospel against it self and make it to speak Contradictions and they ignorantly lessen and reproach and degrade that Grace which they would seem to exalt for Salvation is never the less of Grace tho Holiness and Obedience are necessary as the Means and Way to attain it which will thus appear 1. Because Evangelical Holiness and Obedience is it self a Gift of Grace even as Faith is for Faith is the Root and Principle of all true Obedience and all Holiness and Obedience is the Natural and Necessary Fruits and Products of it So that Holiness and Obedience are given virtually in the Gift of Faith it self when God gives a principle that necessarily produces such and such Effects he truely gives those Effects themselves in giving of the Principles as he that gives you a Tree that naturally and certainly will bear such Fruits he gives you the Fruit in giving of you the Tree as in Creation God gave Man a Principle of Reason which doth principally Difference him from bruit Creatures why now in giving him this principle of Reason he gave all the following Acts of Reason whereby a Man Acts in a higher and more excellent way than the Bruits are capable of why thus it is here 2. But further Grace doth not only give the Principle of Holiness and Obedience but Grace doth still continue to actuate the Principle and concurs to the Production of every individual Act of Holiness and Obedience Grace doth not turn us off to Trade with the Stock that is first given and bestowed upon us but it daily gives forth and communicates renewed influxes to us there is an exciting quickening Grace that stirs us up when we are dull and rouses us up to a Holy Diligence and Fervour when we are Drowsie and Slothful and there is helping aiding or assisting Grace given forth to every renewed Act of Obedience Without me saith Christ you can do nothing And if you abide in me as the Branch in the Vine then you shall bring forth Fruit but not else John 15. Phil. 2. 13. For it is God that Works in you both to will and to do of his own good Pleasure hence it is most plain that Salvation is of Grace notwithstanding such Care and Diligence in the Dutys of Holiness and Obedience be necessary in order to it For you see that Evangelical Holiness and Obedience it self is of Grace 3. Further still the more Holy and Obedient any are the more Grace do they receive from God and the more they are beholden to Grace and the greater Obligations they have to Praise and Admire the Riches of it towards them for the more Holy and Obedient any are the more large and bountiful is Grace in its Gifts to them 1 Cor. 15. 10. By the Grace of God I am what I am and his Grace bestowed upon me was not in vain for I laboured more abundantly than they all and to this Purpose we have a saying of St. Augustine the more any one doth the more Holy and Obedient he is the more is he a Debtor to the Grace of God Mr.
sound in their Ears but no powerful Effects and Operations upon their Hearts a little pleasing of the Fancy with some light superficial touches upon the Affections but no renewing sanctifying Change of the Soul But was Gods Grace more eyed and more depended on in the use of his Ordinances we should doubtless see its saving Fruits and Effects more plentifully and more ordinarily communicated than now they are Men speak but to the Sences it is God only that can speak to the Heart Men may argue with the Will but it is the Grace of God only that can incline and perswade it and therefore as those that built the Wall of Jerusalem wrought with the Trowel in one hand and the Sword in the other so you must as it were work in the diligent use of Gods appointed Means and Ordinances with the one hand and with the other lift up to Heaven for his Grace to bless them to you Thus if Grace saves us then you must be sure to eye Grace and depend upon it for Success in the use of Means 7. If it be by Grace that we are saved then here is great incouragement against the difficulties that attend the Conversion and Salvation of a Sinner the difficulties are great both from the Malice and Power of Satan the Opposition of an alluring and insnaring World and especially from the carnal and corrupt Temper and Disposition of our own Hearts all these together do cast such Impediments and Rubs in our Way that it were enough utterly to discourage all Attempts and to make us to sit down in Despair if we had no greater Power than our own to trust to or depend upon but here is your Incouragement that it is Grace that saves us and therefore those things that are Difficulties with us are none with God those things that are impossible to be overcome by your own Strength are easily superable by an Almighty Grace When our Saviour told his Disciples that is was easier for a Cammel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to be saved they were amazed at it and said who then can be saved why saith our saviour those things that are impossible with Men are easie with God Most Men while they are in Ignorance and Carnal Security Strangers to God and themselves too they think it an easie thing to be saved but when once their Eyes come to be opened and their Consciences convinced of their dead lost and undone State how dead their Hearts are to God and Holiness how powerful Corruption is and how weak and unable they are to conquer it then they are ready to say alass who can be saved Why here is great incouragement for you that though Conversion-work be above your own power and the power of any meer Creature yet Grace can inlighten your darkness quicken your deadness and overcome your resistance As for instance when the Soul considers its own earthly carnal Temper and Disposition how disinclined and averse it is to God and Holiness and all Spiritual and Divine things it is ready to say how shall this heart of mine ever be made to love God above all and to delight in Him and his Service why here is Incouragement God that made the heart can Master it can renew and change it he can of stones raise up Children to Abraham he can make dry and dead bones live he can breath Life into a dead Soul he can make a Temple for himself of the most filthy and unclean Heart that is he that made Heaven and Earth of nothing can turn a heart of Stone into flesh he can turn the most earthly carnal sensual temper that is into a holy heavenly Disposition he can stamp his own Image and Likeness upon a slave of Sin and Satan Thus since it is by Grace that we are saved then notwithstanding all Difficulties here is great Incouragement to use his appointed Means to pray and wait and strive in hopes of Success and a good Issue for were the difficulties more and greater than they are yet they are not insuperable to an Almighty Grace 4. If it be by Grace that we are saved than what use should those make of this Doctrine that have already tasted and experienced the saving Fruits and Effects of Grace in themselves it will afford much for their furtherance and increase in Grace and Holiness 1. If we are saved by Grace And have you experienced the saving Effects of it in your Selves then you have Reason to be humbled Pride self-conceitedness and over-weaning Thoughts of our selves is a thing most hateful in the Eyes of God most contrary to his Nature and his Law God resists the Proud and he is said to know the Proud afar off But Humility is a thing of great Price and Value in his Eyes 1 Pet. 3. 4. Yea the humble Spirit is a Habitation that he makes choice of as a Seat of his special Residence Isa. 57. 15. And therefore God hath contrived the whole business of our recovery and Salvation by Christ in such a Way and Method as shall most effectually hide Pride from Man Salvation is of Grace from first to last that the loftiness of Men may be humbled and the Lord alone exalted It is true if Gods Grace has taken hold on your Hearts and begun a sanctifying saving Work upon you if he hath begun to Form you after the Divine Image and likeness he hath highly exalted you indeed he hath lifted you up from the Dunghil and set you with Princes yea higher than the Princes of the Earth in true Worth and Dignity But yet though God hath thus highly exalted you there is no Reason or Cause in all this why you should exalt your selves or be puffed up with high Thoughts or Conceits of your selves for it is Grace that hath done all this for you and not you your selves it is Gods free Gift to you and not any worth or desert of yours Therefore oft reflect upon the Apostles Question What hast thou that thou didst not receive 1 Cor. 4. 7. O! therefore walk humbly be low in your own Eyes and this will be pleasing in the sight of God This will be to Answer the very Design of Grace in its great Gifts to you this will make you more fit for Communion with God this will make your Souls a Temple that he will Delight to dwell and walk in and this will dispose you to receive more and more Grace from him He resists the Proud but gives Grace to the Humble 2. If it be so that we are saved by Grace then let Grace have the Glory of all that it hath wrought in you and done for you Gods own Glory is his great End and Design in all his Works it is that which above all things else he is most tender and Jealous of He freely communicates his choicest and greatest Gifts to Men but his Glory he will give to none that the reserves wholly and solely to himself