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
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
and the Glory of his Grace is the great Aim and Design of his redeeming and recovering Work Eph. 1. 6. To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace c. Take heed then that you do not rob Grace of any of its Glory We are very prone to ascribe to our selves as it is said of the Atheist tho' he doth not speak out with his Tongue yet he saith in his Heart there is no God So though we speak not out yet we are apt to have such Thoughts in our Hearts as if God did see something more or better in us than in others as if we were better disposed and prepared for Grace than others or that we were more serious diligent and industrious in the use of Means than others or that God did foresee that we would bring more Glory to him than others that we are prone to such self ascribing Thoughts doth appear by that Caution that is given to Israel Deut. 9. 4. speak not in thine Heart saying for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land c. It is likely before your Conversion you was more serious diligent and industrious in the use of Means than many others but it was a more common Grace that made you so that brought you to that Grace gave you that first in order to his bestowing of his more special and excellent Gifts upon you O! therefore see to it that you rub every filing of this Gold off from your own Fingers and let Grace have the Glory of all that it has wrought in you say not I but the Grace of God that was with me and therefore not unto us not unto us but to thy Name be the Praise As the Moon shines not by its own but a borrowed Light so there is nothing excellent in you above others no holy heavenly Inclination or Disposition in you but what is a Gift of Grace to you Your breathing after God is an Effect of his breathing upon you first Say then with the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 9. 10. I am not worthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the the Church but by the Grace of God I am what I am So say you I was a carnal dead Sinner but by the Grace of God I am alive I was a lover of Pleasures more than a Lover of God but by the Grace of God my carnal earthly Heart is in some measure sanctified and changed and turned towards God and Holiness and Heaven I was foolish and disobedient and slighted Christ and his saving Benefits as much as any others but by the Grace of God my hard Heart is somewhat softened my Stuborness and Resistance over come my Enmity taken away my aversness to Christ in some measure turned into a desiring loving and seeking of him 3. Are we saved by Grace and hath Grace begun a saving Work upon you then walk thankfully too Every Benefit calls for thankfulness and then much more saving Benefits which are the greatest of all others Has Grace made you to differ from others that are still in the Gaul of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity Nay has Grace made you to differ so much from your Selves from what you sometime were and should you not be thankful for it Has Grace brought you out of Darkness into a marvelous Light brought you out of a state of Bondage and Slavery to the Devil and Sin into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Of Dead has made you alive of strangers has made you nigh to God of Enemies hath reconciled you to him and made you his adopted Children of cursed condemned ones has brought you into a state of Pardon and Justification Oh! what Reason have you to be thankful Let your Tongues and your Lives to continually speak your thankfulness for such and so great Mercy Say then with the Psalmist Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits c. Psalm 103. 1 2 3 4. And that you may be excited to Thankfulness consider these Things 1. Consider the greatness of this Mercy of all the Mercies that God bestows upon the Children of Men saving Mercies are the greatest and the best if Grace has saved you or given you such Things as do accompany Salvation that is more than all other Blessings laid together Indeed all Gods Mercies are great considering how undeserving we are of them but saving Mercy is like the Sun among the other Planets that outshines all the rest and darkens their Glory when it comes into view 1. When Grace saves us that is a greater Benefit than Creation it self as the Redemption of the World by Christ is a greater Work and doth discover more of the Wisdom Power Love and goodness of God to Mankind than the Creation of the World And the making of any Soul actually a Partaker of saving Benefits is a greater Gift than the giving of it a Being in Creation Now consider do you not think your selves greatly obliged to bless God for your Beings that he made you something that were nothing That he made you Men and Women and not Toads or Serpents Surely if you Love your selves if you value your Lives and Beings or any of your Creature-Comforts and Injoyments Then you must needs bless God that made you what you are out of nothing Ah! but how much more should you bless God that of his special Grace and Love hath translated you from Darkness to Light from Death to Life from Slavery to Liberty from Wrath and Curses to Favour and Blessedness for to be under these evils was worse than to be nothing and these Blessings are better than meer natural Life and Being without them Alas What good would your Creation have done you since the Fall without sanctifying and saving Grace it would but make you capable of greater Misery Better a thousand Times never to have been Born than to be a Vessel of Gods Wrath and a Companion of Devils and damned Fiends in Everlasting Burnings 2. When Grace saves you it doth unspeakably more for you than the bestowing of all the outward Blessings of this Life upon you Health Riches Honour and Friends with other Injoyments and Comforts of this Life are great Mercies but they are unspeakably short of renewing and saving Grace you that have healthful and comely Bodies when you look upon any decriped maimed deformed monstrous Persons do you not admire the goodness of God that hath not made you such but is it not worse to have blind deformed monstrous Souls than to have such Bodies and is it not a greater Mercy to have your deformed Souls beautified and made comely with the Divine Image than to have comely Bodies The same may be said of Riches and all other worldly Injoyments All external and worldly Injoyments are but for a while and alas How little a while too When you come to Dye what becomes of bodily Strength and Beauty of worldly Honours Riches and Friends Alas when you are