Crown of Life 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 7 8 11. Give Diligence to add to your Faith Vertue and to Vertue Knowledge c. for so an entrance shall be ministred unto you into the Everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour And those Threats on the other Hand to those that do not Persevere Heb. 10. 38. If any Man draw back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in him Heb. 12. 14. And Holiness without which no Man shall see the Lord. What I shall say to the last Point of Doctrine viz. That Salvation being thro' Faith doth not hinder or oppugn its being of Grace shall be in answering three Questions or Objections that may be made against its being of Grace Quest. 1. How is our Salvation of Grace since it is not without the Merit and Satisfaction of Christ But before I come directly to Answer this I must Premise something for the better Understanding of this Matter which is this That the Scripture speaking of the Salvation of Sinners as it doth assert that it is of Grace so we frequently meet with this Phrase that it is through Faith and elsewhere most frequently that it is thro' Christ. It is of Grace through Faith saith the Text 2 Tim. 3. 15. Wise unto Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus Heb. 6. 12. Who through Faith and Patience inherit the Promises And elsewhere we find that Salvation and all the Parts of it are said to be through Christ Rom. 3. 24. Through the Redemption that is in Christ Jesus Eph. 1. 7. Redemption through his Blood Tit. 3. 5 6. But according to his Mercy he saved us which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour in these and many other Scriptures you may observe that Grace Mercy or Love as it is a Love of Benevolence or Good-will is at the Head or Top of all which is Gods gracious Free Propension and Inclination to do good to us to Pardon and Save us this you see is at the Head of all and before all but the Effects and Fruits of it is said to be given to us sometimes through Christ through his Blood and through his Redemption and sometimes through Faith and yet these hinder not its being of Grace 1. Salvation is through Christ with respect to God giving and bestowing of it that he may give such great and undeserved Mercies and Benefits to Sinners in a way becoming himself becoming of his Wisdom Holiness and Justice which could not be if they were given absolutely without respect to the Redemption and Satisfaction of Christ. 2. And it is said to be through Faith with respect to our receiving and being made actual Partakers of these Benefits of Pardon Life and Salvation We must receive these great and undeserved Benefits through Faith and partake of them only by Faith that we may in our very partaking of them honour both the Father and the Son both our Supream Rector and Redeemer that is we must receive and partake of them in such a way wherein we shall acknowledge admire and adore the Love and Mercy the Wisdom Holiness and Justice of God the Father Together with the Love Grace Condescension and Kindness of our Saviour and Redeemer God gives Salvation through Christ and his Redemption that he may give as becomes himself so as becomes an infinitely Wise Holy and Just Governour and we must receive or partake of it only through Faith that we may receive it as becomes our selves that is as becomes miserable guilty lost and undone Sinners we must receive the Salvation of Grace in such a way wherein our very receiving is an acknowledgment that our selves are nothing and that God and Christ is all that even when we receive a Pardon we shall at the same time yea in the same Act acknowledge that we deserve to be condemned and that Gods Grace freely bestows all upon us for the sake of the Redemption and Satisfaction of Christ so much in the general and which will afford Light for the solving of the following Questions or Objections Obj. 1. How is our Salvation of Grace and of such free Grace when it is not without the Merit and Satisfaction of Christ when so great a Price as the Life and Blood of the Son of God was exacted by God and paid by Christ for the Purchase of it Ans. The Socinians will easily answer this in their way for they say that our Pardon and Salvation is meerly an Act of Dominion and Favour and not procured by the Sufferings of Christ as a Punishment and Satisfaction for our Sins For they say that Christs Sufferings was no Punishment for our Sin nor any proper Satisfaction to Divine Justice and that our Sin was no antecedent inpulsive Cause of Christs Suffering nor his Sufferings any meritorious Cause of our Pardon or Salvation But this cannot be admitted without subverting the whole Gospel and destroying the very Foundations of the Christian Religion for this makes the whole Mediation Death and Sufferings of Christ to be in vain or of very little use for they assign but little if any thing more to the Death of Christ then what may be attributed to the Death and Sufferings of the Martyrs This therefore must be acknowledged that the Death and Sufferings of Christ were a Punishment for our Sins a proper Satisfaction to Divine Justice a price of our Redemption and yet that our Pardon and Salvation is of Grace notwithstanding For the right Understanding of which it is necessary to shew 1. How or in what Relation God is chiefly to be considered in this business of the Redemption and Salvation of Sinners 2. What is the Reason and Use of Christs Sufferings 1. God in the Business of Redemption is to be considered principally as the supream Ruler and Governour of the World infinitely Wise Holy and Just who was greatly offended and provoked by Sin and his Law and Government slighted dispised and trampled upon by Sinners and yet of his own infinitely good and gracious Nature was propense and inclined to shew Pity and Mercy yea to deliver and save his miserable Creatures that had made themselves so by their Sin and Apostalie But this could not be effected without some way or medium whereby the Honour of God's Law and of his Wisdom Justice and Holiness as the righteous Governour of the World shall be secured and preserved for God can do nothing unjustly nothing unwisely or unholily but should he of meer Grace and Favour without any Punishment of Sin or a sufficient Satisfaction to his Justice have pardoned the Sin of Man there would have lain great Imputations against his Wisdom and Holiness his Truth and Justice and such inconveniences as would have reproached if not subverted his Government It may not be amiss to give you alight touch of this for I design to not insist upon it so largely as it might be 1. If God should have pardoned and saved Sinners without a Satisfaction this would have reflected upon
Salvation BY GRACE And Never the Less of GRACE Tho it be through FAITH And not without it In several Sermons on EPH. II. vsii By John Sheffield Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace LONDON Printed by S. Bridge for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel M DC XCVIII To my Beloved Friends the Members and Auditors of my Congregation Dearly Beloved THese Discourses when first meditated were designed chiefly for your Instruction and Edification in Faith and Holiness and was never intended to be made more Publick than the Auditory to whom they were Preached but many of those that heard them having oft expressed their Desires that they might be Published hoping that themselves should reap further if not more Benefit by a deliberate Reading than the bare transient Hearing of them And withal hoping that what they had found beneficial to themselves might be so to others and when after some considerable Delay some did continue to enquire when they might expect it these Things did at length prevail with me to consent to the Publishing of them though not without some Reluctancy Both because I judged the work it self not fit for Publick view especially in a Time when we are so full of good Books and many more excellent ones than this can be supposed to be lye by neglected And also because I have been much pleased with that common saying Bene vixit qui bene latuit and the Advice that a Grave and Pious Person when Dying gave to his near Relation that he would endeavour to pass through the World without making any great noise as he went For indeed a noise is troublesome but especially if it be a contentions one But this small Tract I hope will be far enough from administring any occasion of that Nature if I could foresee that it was like to do so it should never come abroad For alas we have too much of that already You have it here offered to your Eye the same as it was to your Ears without any Alteration bating only some few Excerptions where they might be spared without prejudicing the Sence that I might gratifie your Desire with as little Charge to you as might be If I am not mistaken you have here though very briefly the true Doctrine of Salvation by Grace betwixt the extreams on both Hands however weakly it be handled For I am Confident that many weak People who think they do exalt Grace do greatly dishonour it and strip it of its principal Glory while they set it in Opposition to Evangelical Holiness and Obedience and therefore my earnest Prayer to God for you and all the People of God is the same with the Reverend Mr. Flavell saith he God preserve all his People from the gross and vile Opinions of Antinomian Libertines who cry up Grace and decry Obedience who under specious Pretences of exalting a naked Christ upon the Throne do indeed strip him naked of a great Part of his Glory and vilely dethrone him thus far Mr. Flavell You have here as I Iudge the true Doctrine of Grace in a Plain and Easie Method and Stile suited to the Capacities of the Meanest and if this do contribute any thing to the setling of your Minds in the Truth and against Errors on either Hand and to the furtherance and increase of your Faith and Holiness I have my End and Design If you and others of Christs Servants do but reap this Fruit by it I matter not what others shall say of the Author or the Work it self And that you may do so is and shall be the earnest Prayer of him who is ambitious of no greater Thing in the World than to be the Servant of Christ and of your Souls for his Sake John Sheffield Books Sold by Mr. Tho. Parkhurst All Mr. Nath. Vincent's Works particularly mentioned at the End of this Book THE Divine Conduct Or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated All the Methods of Providence in our Course of Life open'd with Directions how to apply and improve them The Fountain of Life open'd or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction mysterious Incarnation solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the necessity of its Separation from it consider'd and Improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after Death asserted discussed and variously applied c. All by Mr. John Flavell SALVATION OF GRACE EPHES. II. viii For by Grace are ye saved thro' Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God THE Apostle tells these Ephesians Chap. 1. 16. That he did not cease to give Thanks to God and Pray for them To give Thanks for what God had already wrought in them and done for them and to pray for a greater increase of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that they might know what is the Hope of their Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of the Inheritance and the surpassing greatness of his Power towards them that Believe ver 18 19. which he compare to that mighty Power which raised Christ from the Dead to the End of the first Chapter And Chap. 2. ver 1. He shews what was the Effects of this exceeding greatness of Power towards them which was the quickening of them when they were dead in Trespasses and Sins and the preserving and increasing that Life and perfecting of it in Glory and that they might be sensible how mighty a Power was exerted towards them he shews how sad their Case was Dead in Sin and Children of Wrath ver 1 2 3. Both legally and spiritually Dead Dead in Sin and Dead through Sin or by Reason of Sin dead to God and to all spiritual and saving good and liable by guilt to Eternal Death But if this be our Case how or by whom are we saved and delivered out of it Why this is wrought by the exceeding greatness of God's Power which he had spoken of But what was the impulsive or moving Cause Why his own Grace and here the Apostle doth in this Text and Context heap up many words much of a like Import and Signification as if he could never enough express the greatness and freeness of the Grace and Mercy of God towards Sinners Rich in Mercy great Love or much Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 4. And exceeding Riches of Grace ver 7. By Grace ye are saved thro' Faith We have here two Things 1. The principal impulsive or moving Cause of the Salvation of Sinners
and that is Grace 2. The Way or Means of our being made actual Partakers of this Salvation of Grace and that is through Faith To explicate the Terms First What is meant by Grace There are several Acceptations of this word Grace but two most notable 1. It is sometime taken for Gods free Favour and good Will 2. And sometimes for the Effects of it in us But here it is meant in the first Sence the free Favour good Will or good Pleasure of God Here are several Words in this Text and Context that do all express the impulsive moving Cause of our Salvation and every one hath something peculiar in it the more fully to set forth the free Favour gracious Pleasure and good Will of God in the Business of the Salvation of Sinners 1. Here is Love and great or much Love which Notes a great or ardent Desire and Affection to any Thing or Person and such as the Person loving doth rest or take pleasure in and so some derive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is expressed Zeph. 3. 17. He will rest in his Love 2. Here is Mercy and rich Mercy that Notes Gods great Pity and Compassion towards those that are miserable God loves the Angels and is gracious to the Angels but he is not said to be merciful to them because they never were miserable 3. Again here is Grace and exceeding Riches of Grace and that Notes the freeness of Gods Love and Kindness whereby he doth Things freely without merit or desert Grace doth all gratis without any precedent Debt or Obligation 2. Are saved some say that is inchoate and so would limit it to Justification But other learned Expositors as Zanch. Simpli and Beza say here is intended not only Justification but whole and compleat Salvation as is manifest from the whole Context in ver 7. of the former Chapter he saith we have forgiveness of Sin in which is included Justification and that of Grace And then Chap. 2. ver 1 5. There he speaks of Sanctification and adds that this was by Grace and now again in the Text he saith For by Grace ye are saved quasi dicat all the steps and degrees of Salvation from the beginning to the end from first to last is of Grace Through Faith or by Means of Faith Faith being the means dispositive Condition Qualification or Instrument of our receiving or being actually Partakers of it And that not of your Selves 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is some Difference amongst Expositors what this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth refer to some think to the whole Sentence quasi dicat and this that you are saved is not of your Selves but rather I should think with other Expositors that it doth refer to Faith that is the immediate antecedent Ye are saved by Grace through Faith and this Faith hoc ipsum this very Thing is not of your selves Doct. I. That the principal Efficient and first moving Cause of a Sinners Salvation from first to last is the free Grace of God Doct. II. That we receive and partake of Salvation of Grace through Faith or by means of Faith Doct. III. That Salvation being through Faith doth not hinder or oppugn its being of Grace for Faith it self is of Grace or the Gift of God which is the same nay Faith is so far from being opposite to Grace or making it to be less of Grace that the Apostle saith Rom. 4. 16. It is of Faith that it might be by Grace This great Work of the Salvation of Sinners the Scripture sometimes ascribes to God the Father thus he is called God our Saviour and it is God that Justifies And sometimes to Christ the Mediator therefore was his Name called Jesus a Saviour because he shall save his People from their Sins and again sometime we are said to be saved by Grace as in the Text and elsewhere and sometime by Faith as Christ said to that Woman Thy Faith hath saved Thee and the Apostle to the Jaylor Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy House You see the Scripture useth these several forms of speaking in the Matter of Salvation God saves us and Christ saves us and we are saved by Grace and saved by Faith and every one of these have a distinct Notion in the business of Salvation and yet not one opposite to another but one subordinate to another and all do admirably Consent and Agree and do not in the least interfere or clash When God is said to be our Saviour that Notes that he is the first Fountain and Original the principal Author and efficient Cause of it And when we are said to be saved by Mercy or Grace that shews us what was the first internal moving Cause that it is his own free Favour or good Will without any Merit or Desert in the Sinner And when Christ is called our Saviour and said to save us that shews the principal medium the meritorious Cause through or for whose sake God vouchsafes his Mercy and Grace and the blessed Effects of it to us thus the very Words before the Text and Tit. 3. 6. Again when Faith is said to save us that Notes the qualifying Condition or receptive Disposition whereby we are made qualified disposed and meet subjects of the Salvation that Gods free Grace doth give and Christs Merit hath purchased for us It is the principal Efficient first moving Cause of a Sinners Salvation that I shall speak to from this Text which from first to last is the free Grace of God Which Grace that we may the better see understand what a State we are all in by the fall and that is in this Context dead in Sin legally and spiritually Dead Legally Dead or as it is in other Terms under the Curse Children of Wrath. And spiritually Dead or Dead in Sin dead to God and Holiness and all spiritual and saving good having no more Inclination or Disposition to any spiritual and gracious Acts than there is in a Dead-man to the Actions or Comforts of Life again Dead in sin as fast bound chained and inslaved under the Power of fleshly vicious and sinful Dispositions and habits as a Dead-man is by Death from ever rising by his own Power such are we in a spiritual Sence If we have what is our due that is Death Eternal Death but if we be saved that is of Grace and Favour It is God that is the principal Author and Efficient of Salvation But if you ask what moved him to it why he would so concern himself for the Recovery and Salvation of lost and miserable Sinners Why it was only his own Grace and free Favour that moved him to it Consider Salvation in all the Parts of it in all the Degrees and Steps that lead to it from first to last and you shall see that Grace doth all 1. It was of his Grace that he gave his Son to be our Saviour the Scripture
every where Attributes it to the Love of God to lost Sinners that he gave his Son Jesus Christ to be their Saviour John 3. 16. God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son Rom. 5. 8. God commended his Love to us in that while we were Sinners Christ dyed for us Heb. 2. 9. But we see Jesus that by the Grace of God he should taste Death for every Man this Grace and Favour of God in providing us a Saviour is exprest in all those Scriptures that speak of God giving his Son and sending him into the World to be a Saviour and a Propitiation for our Sins Gal 4. 4. But when the God sent his Son made of a Woman c. 1 John 4. 9 10. And this providing and giving a Saviour for us can be put upon no other account but the free Grace and Favour of God towards us for we deserved that God should have sent an Executioner from Heaven to execute the just Penalty of his broken Law upon us As he sent an Angel to destroy the first-born of Egypt and into the Camp of Assyria that slew one hundred fourscore and five thousand Men in one Night I say we might rather have expected that God should have sent an Executioner of his Wrath amongst us and not a Saviour to save us from it If God had dealt with us in Justice according to our Deserts we had then been as the fallen Angels are bound in Chains of Darkness without Hope or Possibility of Deliverance it is only his Grace and free Favour that makes all the Difference that there is betwixt us and them 2. It was of his Grace that in Christ and for the sake of Christ he hath made and offered to us a New Covenant a better Covenant that offers Pardon and Life and Salvation upon easier Terms than the first Covenant did hence it is called by way of Distinction and Eminence the Covenant of Grace and the Gospel of the Grace of God 1. Partly because free Grace hath the principal Hand and Stroke in the making of it hence the Covenant is called by the Name of Mercy it self Mic. 7. 20. God might had he so pleased have dealt with us upon the Terms of the old broken Covenant and since we had violated the Precept he might with rigour have executed the Threatning Justice deals with Men according to Desert but it is Grace that gives that which is not due 2. It is fitly called the Covenant of Grace partly because of the abundant Riches of Gods Grace that it doth reveal and make known to the World the Infinite Power and Wisdom of God was gloriously Displayed in the Creation his Righteousness and Holiness the exact Justice and Purity of his Nature in the Perfection of his Law but the Rich and Abundant Grace and Mercy of God was not made known to the World at least not so gloriously but by the New Covenant Tit. 2. 11. 3. Again it is fitly called the Covenant of Grace because of the gracious Effects of it or the great free Favours and Blessings that it confers upon all that are under it and interested in it it Pardons those that are guilty of the Violation of the first Covenant it forgives the Debt of Punishment that the first Covenant did exact it justifies and acquits those that the first doth condemn it saves those that by the first were Sentenced to Everlasting Destruction It is Gods Instrument whereby he gives many great unspeakable and undeserved Blessings and Priviledges to miserable and lost Sinners as a King doth by his Charter grant many Priviledges and Immunities to a Corporation Why so the New Covenant is Gods Charter of Grace whereby he gives the great and invaluable Priviledges of Pardon and Peace with God Justification Adoption Eternal Glory and Happiness to Sinners that are altogether undeserving of these Things nay that by the first Covenant deserve the contrary It is a Covenant of Grace because the Grace Favour and Good-will of God doth freely give all the Benefits and Priviledges that it doth contain and doth confer upon the Children of Men. 4. Again it is a Covenant of Grace as it promiseth and gives Grace to perform whatsoever it requires as a Condition of its subsequent Benefits 3. It is of meer Grace that any are elected and chosen to obtain Salvation by Christ. And this is the Spring of all that special Mercy that some of the lost Children of Men receive more than others That there is a Christ a Saviour given to the lost World a new and better Covenant made and offered to undone Sinners for their Acceptance this is Grace and rich Grace vouchsafed to the humane kind in general which is not done to the fallen Angels We Children of Men have a Saviour provided and given for us when they have none we are through the Grace of God in Christ under a better Covenant than that we broke while they are held strictly bound to the Terms of their broken Covenant But now Election that is a more special and distinguishing Grace still this is a Grace vouchsafed to some of the Children of Men and not unto others That there is an Election whereby God from Eternity doth pick and choose some from amongst the rest of Mankind whom he will actually bring to Salvation by Christ in the way and means that he hath appointed in the Gospel cannot be denied without manifest Violence to the Scriptures and this is meerly of his Grace and good Pleasure Eph. 1. 5 6. Rom. 11. 5 6. Grace is the sole Spring of this Election it is not out of any foresight of Merit or Desert in those that he chooses any more than in those that he passeth by He did not choose any to Life and Salvation because he foresaw that they would believe or more readily comply with the Gospel Offer and Call than others as some say No God did not choose any because he foresaw that they would believe or be more Holy and Obedient than others but that he might make them so Eph. 1. 4. Rom. 8. 29. What he saith of the the whole Nation of the Israelites is true of every Elect Soul Deut. 7. 7 8. But here take Notice that though God doth of rich Grace and the meer good pleasure of his Will choose some to life and not out of a foresight of their Faith or Holiness or good Improvements yet it doth not therefore follow that he doth of his meer Will and Pleasure decree to damn any without any consideration of their Sin and Demerit for there is a vast difference betwixt these two Election to Life and Salvation and ordaining to Wrath and Perdition for in the one viz. That execution of his Wrath and Justice he acts as a righteous Governour and deals with Men according to his Laws that he gave them for their rule but in the other he acts as a gracious Benefactor and free dispencer of his own Gifts and so may
his Grace in the work but his most usual ordinary way wherein he calls most is in a serious close attendance upon Ordinances that his Wisdom may be glorified together with his Grace in blessing Means that he hath appointed and useth for that End 5. Justification is of Grace which is another link in the Golden Chain of Salvation Justification is God's accounting us righteous and dealing with us as righteous Persons in discharging us from the Curse of the Law and Eternal Condemnation for the sake of Christ's Meritorious Sacrifice and Righteousness made ours by Faith And this is an act of Gods Free Grace towards us Rom. 3. 24. being Justified freely by his Grace and Tit. 3. 7. That is of Grace or Favour when a Benefit or Priviledge is bestowed that was not due that could not in Justice be claimed thus the Apostle opposeth Grace and Debt Rom. 4. 4. Now our due is Death and Wrath it was just and due that we should suffer the Penalty of that Law which we had violated but God instead of executing the Penalty and Curse of the Law which we had deserved for the sake of Christ and his Righteousness he doth freely acquit and discharge us of it he accounts us righteous and deals with us as righteous Persons for the sake of Christ whom in Justice he might have condemned and executed as guilty and rebellious Sinners 6. Sanctification is of Grace now Sanctification as it is distinguished from Regeneration and Conversion is but the further increase and improvement the further strengthening and confirming that Principle or Seed or Habit of Grace that was first given and infused in our Effectual Calling and therefore all the Parts of it such as Faith Love Resignation to God Trust and Dependance upon him Subjection to his Governing and Disposing Will these and such like that are the parts of Sanctification are called the Graces of the Spirit because Grace doth freely give and bestow both the first Principle and the after increase and improvement of them It is good saith the Apostle that the heart be established with Grace and why called Grace but because it is the fruit and effect of Gods free Grace and Favour to us 7. Perseverance and holding on to the end in Faith and Holiness is of Grace too the same hand that works the Principle of Faith and Holiness at first doth constantly cherish and preserve it that it do not fail or be extinct as Conservation is said to be a continued Creation that is God puts forth the same Almighty Power in preserving his Creatures in their being as he did at first in bestowing it upon them so the same Grace and Favour is renewed and continued in the exercise increase and persevering in Grace to the end as was at first put forth in the working of it And hence our Saviour prays for his Disciples John 17. 11. Holy Father Keep them through thy Name 1 Pet 1. 5. Kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation Phil. 1. 6. He that hath begun a good Work in you will perfect it Alas should Grace turn us off to shift for our selves and look to our selves alone after it hath brought us into a State of Grace and to an Interest in Christ and his Covenant we should quickly prove Bankrupts and lose all again Such is the strength of remaining Corruption within and of Temptations and Alurements without and such is the Subtilty Malice and Power of the Devil to manage all to the best advantage against our Souls that if Grace did not keep it's hold of us we should quickly make Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience and our Souls too Grace in the Souls of the best but especially in young Converts is like a Spark of Fire in the midst of a Heap of Ashes that if the kind Breath of Grace did not constantly cherish and keep it in it would quickly be extinguished 8. The Eternal Reward of Glory and Happiness in Heaven is of Grace too this we have in the Text By Grace ye are saved That is compleatly Tit. 3. 5. Not by Works of Righteousness which we have done but according to his Mercy he saved us Rom. 6. 23. The Gift of God is Eternal Life After all that we have done in a patient continuance in well doing and working out our Salvation with Fear and Trembling and persevering in Faith and Holiness to the end yet Eternal Life is a free Gift after all this though it be in some Sence a Reward yet that makes it nevertheless a Gift in it self Jude 21. Looking for the Mercy of our Lord Jesus unto Eternal Life thus you see that the Salvation of guilty Sinners is from first to last of Grace Grace begins and carries it on through the various steps and degrees of it in this Life and Grace perfects and compleats all at last too the Scripture doth delight to compare the new Creation to a beautiful and stately Building wherein Grace doth all laies every Stone in it from first to last Grace laies the Foundation and the chief Corner Stone which is Redemption by Christ and our Election in him 1 Pet. 2. 6. Behold I lay in Sion a chief Corner-Stone and Grace carries on the Building and Rears up the Walls in Effectual Calling Sanctification and Perseverance therein and the Roof and Top-stone of Eternal Life and Glory is laid on with shouting crying Grace Grace unto it as it is said of the second Temple Zach. 4. 6 7. Thus as one well saith the New Man is from the Sole of the Foot to the Crown of the Head all made up of Grace and all the Links in the golden Chain of Salvation are all of pure beaten and massy Grace 2. I shall now shew you the Properties of this Grace or the Epethites that are given to it for the Scripture doth not only call it Grace but it gives many Epethites to it the better to shew its Nature and the more fully to discover and manifest its Glory 1. It is free Grace self-moving Grace that fetches not its Motives and Inducements of any thing it bestows from Man as a deserving and procuring Cause but it Acts towards us and bestows its Gifts and Blessings upon us of its own free gracious and bountiful Inclination Grace it self signifies the freeness of the Gift for Grace is as much as Gratis and doth all Gratis that is freely As a Gift signifies the freeness of what is bestowed so God is said to give Christ and give Faith and give Repentance and give Eternal Life and give the Heavenly Kingdom one would think that these Words themselves should sufficiently express the freeness of Grace So true is that common saying What is freer then Gift Yet the Scripture doth frequently adjoin the Word Free and freely to Grace and Gift as if it could never enough set forth how Free the Grace of God is in the Salvation of guilty and Dead Sinners Rom. 3. 24. Being justified freely
by his Grace Ver. 32. How shall he not with him freely give us all Things And to this Sence do some expound that Scripture John 1. 16. Of his fulness have we received Grace for Grace that is Grace for Graces sake indeed there is nothing that we receive from God all things that tend to Salvtion the Principle the Degrees of it and Salvation it self at last but as to the Thing it self it is altogether a Free Gift of God to us though as to the Order of confering some of Gods Gifts do require a preceding Disposition and Qualification in the Subject which is also a Gift of Grace too 2. The Grace whereby we are saved is a large and an abundant Grace thus the Scripture doth not only call it Grace but abundance of Grace Rom. 5. 17. Yea and exceeding abundant 1 Tim. 1. 14. The word abundant is supra modum not a short narrow scanty Grace but a Grace that overflows and exceeds all Measure a Grace that cannot be measured or fully comprehended whose Dimensions cannot be founded or fathomed and so likewise it is called Riches of Grace Eph. 1. 7. Nay exceeding Riches of Grace Eph. 2. 7. Now Riches you know speaks great Plenty Largeness Fulness and Abundance of the Things that we speak of and it is rich and abundant Grace considered either as it is in God or as to the Fruits and Effects of it as bestowed upon us This Grace of God is an everspringing and over flowing Fountain-Grace nay an Ocean Grace that hath neither Banks nor Bottom as doth appear 1. From the great unworthiness and very ill deserving of those that are the Objects of it alas we were not small Offenders but such as had provoked dishonoured and contemned God in a very high manner we were not only Sinners but lothsome Sinners such as his Holy Eyes could not but abhor not only lothsome Sinners but Enemies and that is worse still it is less for a Man to shew kindness to an unworthy unlovely Person than to a to a mortal Enemy nay we were not only Enemies but stubborn Enemies proud contemptuous Enemies that neither did seek nor desire his Favour now the worse those are that are the Objects of his Grace the more abundant is that Grace that extends it self to them It is less in the King to extend his Favour to an ordinary Malefactor than if he should do it to a profest Enemy to his Crown and Dignity and it is less to shew Favour to Enemies that sue and intreat for it than to contemptuous Enemies that seem to scorn and slight it Why such were we all when Gods Grace and Favour first shone upon us O! the superabundant Riches of Grace 2. The abundant Riches of Grace doth appear from the number and greatness of our wants and miseries that it supplies and of our Sins that it Pardons and Forgives Alas if it was not a rich and abundant Grace our slights and neglects of it our resistings and strivings against it our unworthy carriage under it our repeated sinning after Pardon received our violating the Obligations even of Mercy and Grace it self our often breaking our solemn Vows and Promises of new and better Obedience So that had it not been an exceeding abundant Grace it had been wearied and tired out before this Time as God saith of the old World when he saw that the wickedness of Man was exceeding great it is said That it repented him that he had made Man and it grieved him at his very Heart Gen. 6. 6. So were not his Grace towards us an exceeding abundant Grace our many Provocations Frowardness and ill Returns would have made him repent before now that ever his Grace did take in hand to recover and save such untractable froward and ungrateful Wretches as we 3. This Grace of God whereby we are saved is a wise Grace too a Grace that in the Dispensation of it or the bestowing of its Fruits and Effects upon us doth discover and manifest the unsearchable Depths of Gods Wisdom as well as of his Love and Goodness Eph. 1. 7 8. According to the Riches of his Grace wherein he hath abounded towards us in all Wisdom and Prudence Here you see that it is Grace and rich Grace that is the rise and spring of all that lost and undone Sinners do receive from God and in this Grace God abounds towards us but it is in all Wisdom and Prudence now I conceive the meaning to be this that though it be free Grace and Favour in God that is the Spring of all that we receive yet an infinite and unsearchable Wisdom doth order direct and appoint the way and manner of its being communicated and bestowed upon us Grace saves us but Wisdom dispences it in such a way and order as doth most exalt the Glory of the Divine Majesty and that not only of some but of all his Perfections and yet so as that the Creature is most strongly obliged and ingaged to his Duty too viz. to the greatest Subjection to God and dependance upon him Grace doth all in the business of Salvation and yet in such an Order and Method that Man is not left to his own Will to live as he list n◠nor allowed or indulged in Sloth and Carelesness in Negligence or Indifferency But contrarily is obliged more strongly then ever to the closest adherence to God and Obedience to his Commands here is the Wisdom of Grace that while it doth all and we can do nothing without it and the whole Glory of our Salvation must be ascribed to Grace and nothing to our selves yet our Obligations to Duty are not the less but the greater while Grace saves us freely yet it obligeth us to the greatest seriousness and diligence in working out our own Salvation with Fear and Trembling Yea to strive and fight and run and give all Diligence to make our Calling and Election sure The Wisdom of Grace might be shewed at large both in the Impetration and the Application of Salvation as in reconciling the Justice and Mercy of God and the Honour of God as Rector and of his violated Law together with the Impunity and Happiness of the Sinner And in the Application in making God and Christ to be all in all in the business of our Salvation and yet in such a wise way and order that Mans Duty in seeking and praying and waiting Yea and that in the closest Attendance upon God in the use of his appointed Means and in the Duties of Holiness and Obedience is not vacated or made needless thereby but contrarily is more strongly inforced than it could have been any other way There are too many look only at the freeness of Grace and never consider the Wisdom of it whereas this is the Thing that most of all fills the Angels with wonder Eph. 3. 16. Might be known the manifold Wisdom of God 1 Pet. 1. 12. Which Things the Angels desire to look into 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
his Wisdom for since he had with infinite Wisdom and Counsel made a Law for the Government of his Creatures with a Penalty annexed in case of Disobedience how could it stand with his Wisdom to suffer the Contempt and Violation of it and of his own Authority therein to go altogether unpunished What to have his Law trampled upon and as it were made void assoon as made if he should suffer this to go unpunished he would seem to disregard his own Law in the Sanction of it as much as his Creature had done the Precept of it Again should he suffer the Violation of of his Law to go altogether unpunished would it not seem as if he now saw Reason to alter his Mind since he saw good not to exact that Punishment he had denounced 2. And if he should have exacted no Punishment or Satisfaction for Sin there would lye a great Impeachment against his Justice and Wisdom together for either Sin did deserve Punishment and as great a Punishment as was threatened or it did not deserve it If it did not deserve it then it was unjust to enact it in the Law But if it did deserve it as no doubt it did then upon the entrance of Sin Justice must necessarily require that either the Punishment threatened or an equivalent and such as shall be full Satisfaction be exacted And here observe that though a Creditor may freely forgive a Debt that is owing to him without Injustice yet a Governour in many Cases connot forgive a Criminal without Injustice because Punishments are in some Cases absolutely necessary for the keeping up a due Reverence and Regard of the Governour and of his Laws And likewise for the good of the Common-wealth the preserving of due Order and the securing of the Lives and Properties of the Subjects why God is here to be considered as the righteous Governour of the World 3. And there would lye an Impeachment against his Truth and Veracity too for having threatened such a Punishment for the Violation of his Law would not his Veracity be called into Question if none was exacted 4. And from all these there would arise a great inconveniency and disorder in the future Government of the World for Men would hence take occasion to imbolden themselves in Sin and flatter themselves with Hopes of Impunity in it for they might thus Reason if God did once without any Satisfaction shew mercy to his sinning Creatures and that contrary to the Sentence of his own Law then why may he not do so again And if it be not inconsistent with his Nature and governing Justice to let one Sin go unpunished and that such a one as did quantum in se spoil the design of his works assoon as made then why not another and another and so Men would be incouraged to Hope that notwithstanding all the threatenings of Gods Law that yet they might have Peace though they did walk on in the ways of their own Hearts Nay and it would lay a Foundation for Men to distrust and be suspicious of the certainty and stability of his Promise too for if God do disregard the threatning of his Law then why not the Promise too and so both the stability of his Promise and the awe and terrour of his Threats would be mightily shaken at once the wicked imboldened and hardened in Sin with Hopes of Impunity notwithstanding all his Threats And the Comforts and Confidence of the Righteous weakened notwithstanding all his Promises These and many more such like great inconveniencies and disorders would necessarily have followed if Sin should have been pardoned and Sinners saved without a Satisfaction to the Justice of God These Things are necessary to understand the Reason and Use of Christs Sufferings 2. And now here comes in the Necessity and Reason of Christ Sufferings not that God was so delighted with the Blood and Sufferings of Christ meerly considered as Sufferings that he would sell his great Benefits to us for the Blood of his innocent Son nor to incline God to be merciful that was before averse to it No but since he was propense to shew Mercy he might in this way do it without any prejudice to his other Perfections because in the Death and Sufferings of Christ there is a sufficient salvo for the Honour of his Law and Government and of his Wisdom Holiness and Justice so that now his Mercy and Kindness is exercised in pardoning of guilty Sinners without any Impeachment of the Honour of his other Perfections he can now be just as well as merciful in Pardoning and holy as well as pitiful and kind in Sparing And his rich and free Grace in pardoning and saving Sinners in this way doth thus appear 1. In that this way for the Satisfaction of his own Justice and for the vindicating the Honour of his Law and Government was of his own finding out and provideing the Scripture every where attributes the contrivance of Redemption to God himself Job 33. 24. I have found a ransome God did out of his own Treasure provide for the Satisfaction of his own Justice the giving of Christ to be our Redeemer was the Fruit of his free self-moving Love and Grace Joh. 3. 16. God so love the World that he gave his Son 2. His Grace appears in accepting of what Christ did and suffered for us so as thereupon and for the sake of Christ to Pardon and Acquit us when we beleive in him for though the Suffering of Christ were abundantly sufficient to make Satisfaction yet it is of the free Grace of God to accept them on our behalf for in that very Thing there is a Relaxation of the Law for that did threaten every Offendor in his own Person and none else 3. Nay here seems to be a more abundant Grace and Love in giving Pardon and Salvation through Christ then if he had given it as a meer Act of Dominion and Favour without any Satisfaction to his Justice For you see that the Sufferings of Christ was not to purchase Gods Love of Goodwill to us for that was Antecedent to the Sufferings of Christ and the moving Cause of his giving Christ but the true Reason of Christs Sufferings is that the Honour of his Law and Government and of all his Perfections might be secured and provided for in the exercise of his Grace and pardoning Mercy towards us Now that he should give his only begotten and dearly beloved Son to be so humbled and abased to undergo such Shame and Misery and Death for us this was of all others the highest Instance and Demonstration of his Grace and Love to us it was impossible that he should be merciful at a dearer Rate or shew his Love and Kindness in a more stupendious Way We have a story of Zaleucus King of Locris that when his own Son was found to have transgressed a Law that threatened the loss of both Eyes to the Offendor the King resolves to execute the Law to
many are saved while you are yet in your sins many that sit under the same Ministry hear the same Sermons are made partakers of those things that accompany Salvation while you have felt no such Influences and Operations by the same Word I am confident you would think it a sad Case if the Meat and Drink which nourishes and refreshes others should neither nourish nor refresh you at all but you should starve and pine away and die for want of nourishment in the midst of Plenty But it is a much more sad Case if that Word that is through Grace effectual to the Salvation of others hath no such effects upon you that many round about you are of darkness made light in the Lord while you are in darkness still though in the midst of light that while others are reconciled to God and brought nigh to him you that enjoy the same Word and Means of Grace are as far off from God as ever and still in your Enmity against him O! Labour to get your hearts deeply affected with the sadness of your Case and this would be a good step towards the mending and bettering of it Methinks your own thoughts should suggest to you many things that might make you groan and lament the sadness of your Case while you are utter strangers to the saving effects of Grace 2. If it be by Grace that we are saved then consider that your Case though it be sad yet it is not hopeless and remediless though it be dangerous it is not yet altogether desperate Think thus with your selves if all that are saved are saved by Grace then why may not I hope that it may one time or other cast its Skirt over my nakedness and shed its benign influence over my soul since Grace saves all that are saved it saves freely and none for any Merit or Desert in them none for any worth or worthiness that it sees in them more than in others think with your selves Grace hath saved Thousands and Millions of Sinners that were as bad as I as great sinners and as old sinners as I that had as much neglected and slighted and sinned against it and abused it as I have done Why as it is really a humbling and affecting Consideration to see many and many saved while you are yet in your sins so there is really in this very thing some ground of hope and incouragement too Is it not some ground of Hope to think that such and such were dead to sin as I am but at last were made alive were in a lost State and Condition but at last were found by Grace they were sometimes carnal worldly and disobedient as I am but at last Grace did renew and change them and therefore I will wait and hope that Grace may sometime shed its benign influences upon me 3. If it be by Grace that we are saved then you hence see where it is that you are to seek for Salvation You see you must go to GOD for it and cry to him and pray and beg of him for it Whoever is saved it is the Gift of God to them and a Gift of his Free Grace and Favour yet not so as to exclude our seeking or begging of it nay it so much the more strongly obliges and engages us to seek it and pray to him for it When GOD promises Israel that he would give them a new heart yet saith he for all this will I be enquired of by the House of Israel to do it for them Ezek. 36. 37. and our Saviour saith ask and ye shall have seek and ye shall find and though Grace gives all freely yet it will be sought unto and inquired after and as it is elsewhere ask of me and I will give thee so God will have his Grace asked intreated and sought for now have you not either neglected this crying unto God and intreating of his Grace or else have you not done it in a careless slighty and customary manner You have it may be used other Means such as Reading and Hearing the Word but have you not neglected to Pray and cry unto God for his Grace to bless it and make it effectual to you Saving Benefits are principally to be obtained upon your Knees in earnest Prayers and Crys to the GOD of all Grace Oh! That you would try this Course every day to solicite the Throne of Grace and never give over your Suit till God give you an Answer of Peace If you want necessary Food for your Bodies and can no otherwise get it you will ask it of those that have it to give yea and will not easily take a Denial for such things and should you not much more ask of God saving Grace for your Souls for he only hath it to bestow upon you 4. If it be by Grace that we are saved then as this directs you where to seek it even of the God of all Grace so it directs what is your chief Argument and Plea that you must make use of with him viz. his own rich Mercy and Free Grace you must beg of God Mercy for Mercies sake and Grace for Grace's sake This is the Principal Argument that Sinners have to plead with GOD His own Grace and Mercy but this contains many Arguments under it all which are ultimately and reductively a pleading of Grace And as I do here put all Graceless Persons upon praying and crying to God for his Grace as their undoubted Duty and as a Means appointed by GOD in order to their obtaining of Grace so I will shew you what Arguments all may use yea and ought to use with God in seeking his saving Grace 1. You may plead with God That you are his Creatures he made you his Power gave you these Beings that you have This is a good Argument or else we should never find it so often made use of in Scripture When we cannot plead a special Interest and Relation to him as our reconciled God and Father in Christ yet we may plead our general Relation to him as his Creatures and he our Maker thus Job 10. 3. Is it good unto thee that thou shouldst oppress that thou shouldst despise the work of thy hands And ver 8. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me and Ps. 119. 73. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that I may learn thy Commandments Job 14. 15. Thou shalt call and I will answer thee thou wilt have a desire to the work of thine hands Isa. 64. 9. But now O Lord We are the Clay and thou art the Potter we are all the work of thy hands be not wroth very sore c. though it be no good Argument with Men to ask one gift because they have given us another yet it is with God Go to him and say behold Lord I am thy Creature thy Power hath made me and thy Grace only can new make me destroy not the work of thy own Hands c. 2. You may
plead the end of your Creation which was that you might serve him your Maker in a pleasing and acceptable manner go to him then and plead this Can you not say Lord thou hast shewed me that the very end of my Being is that I might please and serve thee which in this corrupt and depraved state I am in I can never do without thy renewing and sanctifying Grace O that as thou hast magnified thy Power in making of me out of nothing so let thy Grace be magnified in recovering a lost and undone Creature in reconciling an apostate Creature to thy self deny not the help of thy Grace to recover a depraved corrupted Creature that would fain answer the end of his Being that would fain be capable of that Work and Service thou madest him for Lord I would fain fill up the place in thy Creation that thou hast set me in and not be an unprofitable Drone or a useless Burden in it 3. Your may plead your own Misery as Ps. 79. 8. Let thy tender Mercy prevent us for we are brought very low While Persons are under the Means of Grace and Salvation Misery is a good Argument to plead with a gracious and merciful God plead then your Misery with God say Lord I am a lost Creature an undone Creature laiden with Guilt and Sin and like to be lost and undone for ever if thy Mercy pity not if thy Grace do not help and save me in time my Misery is such that none can help or save me but thou and if thou save not I must perish for ever Say tho as I am an Apostate sinner I am a most deserving object of thy Wrath yet as I am a miserable lost creature here is a fit object for thee to glorifie thy Grace and Mercy upon Will it not be the Glory of thy Mercy to Pity and Help the miserable and will it not be the Glory of thy Grace to save such as deserve thy Wrath 4. You may plead your own weakness and inability to help or save your selves that you can do nothing without him nothing that will be to any purpose or that will be of any avail to Salvation without his special Grace Say Lord I have destroyed my self I confess but in thy Grace alone is all my Hope and Help thou knowest that I have such an hard Heart that none but thou can soften such an Iron Sinew in my Will that none but thou can bend such a carnal corrupt earthly Temper and Disposition that none but thou can renew and change it O let thy Mercy Pity and thy own Grace move thee to help a miserable lost Creature that has no help in himself or in any other besides thee 5. You may plead the very End and Design of Redemption which was the Glory of his free Grace and Mercy in the recovery and Salvation of miserable and lost Sinners Say Lord didst not thou contrive the Work of Redemption and send thy Son into the World and deliver him up to Death for this very End and Design that thy Grace together with other of thy Perfections might be glorious in pardoning justifying sanctifying and saving of depraved guilty and lost Sinners Now behold here a miserable lost Child of Adam didst thou not send thy Son that thy Grace might be glorified in the Salvation of such and will not thy Grace be as glorious in saving of me as of any other O be not Angry with the Prayer stop not thine Ears against the cries of thy poor lost Creature that begs but for such things as are suitable and agreeable to thy own gracious Design Thus you see what Arguments all may use with God 5. If it be by Grace that we are saved then if you would partake of it's saving Influences this directs you to lye in the way of it that is exhibite the greatest Seriousness Diligence Earnestness in the Use of Gods appointed Means that possibly you can for as Grace gives all freely and chooses it 's own Objects upon whom it will bestow it's Gifts so it chooses and appoints it 's own Way and Means wherein and whereby it will communitate it's saving fruits and Effects to Men and these are the Word and Ordinances and Duties of Holiness and Worship Hence the Gospel is called the Gospel of the Grace of God and the Ordinances of Worship are called the Means of Grace not only because the Grace of God is therein revealed and made known but also because it is thereby in the serious diligent and reverend Use of them communicated and bestowed upon carnal blind and dead Sinners for the inlightening sanctifying and saving them therefore here you must lie and wait for it as the impotent Man did at the Pool of Bethesda waiting for the Motion of the Waters There was a healing Vertue communicated but it was by those Waters and no others So Grace doth communicate it's healing sanctifying and saving Virtue but it is by it's own chosen and appointed Means and no other As it is the influence and blessing of Heaven that give us the Fruits of the Earth but this only by blessing Mans Labour and Industry in Plowing and Sowing and never without it so it is here Carnal Hearts are apt to draw a quite contrary Conclusion from hence and to say if it be Grace that saves us then we have the less if any thing to do our selves But you see the contray Inference to this of theirs is clear viz. that we should not do the less our selves but rather the more because Grace saves us as the Apostle saith Work out your Salvation with Fear and Trembling for it is God that Works in you both to will and to do A strange Inference some would think and yet it is very clear as you may see in other things the Husbandman when the season fits him doth bestir himself the more in plowing and sowing and gathering in the Fruits of the Earth because he knows he hath not the Season in his own Power and all his Labor and Industry without that will signifie nothing at all so here if it be Grace that must save us if ever we be saved Then you have great Reason to bestir your selves in using the Means wherein Grace communicates it self 6. If Grace saves us then as you must use the Means that are of it's appointing so you must use then dependently with an Eye to Grace for its Blessing upon them to make them successful Grace is too little eyed too little sought unto too little depended on in the Use of Means and therefore the Success is for the most part accordingly Persons in hearing the Word eye Men that are Instruments but eye not God and his Grace which is the Life and Soul of all Ordinances Persons eye Men and not God depend more upon Mens Parts and Abilities than upon Gods Grace and Blessing and therefore they find in Ordinances what a Man can do and no more And what is that Why a