Of Sufficient andEffèc1ual Grace. ry probable, that in the Worksof Grace, Recovery andSalvation, he ordinarily keepeth to his effablifhed order; his Ordinances , and, fixed degreeof Concurfe. 6, Yet as God is (till above all his Works, and afreeAgent , and is rid further tied to one confiant order and meafure of Concurfe , than he tieth himfelf byhis Wifdom and Free-will fo God is free in the convey- ance of his Grace, and can whenhe pleafe , forfake that order , and work Miracles byGrace, as well as on natural things above nature. He can ftrike down Saul, and convert him by a voice from Heaven ; and ina word, can do whathe will. 7. And as in molt wonders, its pail our power to know whether and when God dothindeed forfake hiseftablifhed order, and work contrary to it, or without filch fecond caufes, as areunknown to-us 3 though we can tell when heafteth unufually : So is it in this cafe , about his works of Grace. A Comet, or Blazing Star is an unufual thing, whofe necef- fary antecedent caufe we know not : And yet it is but a natural effeúof fecond caufes , operating in their eflablifhedcourfe g fo are ecclipfes (bet- ter known) and unufual Tempefts , and terrible Lightnings, &c. So great and fudden, unufual and wonderful changes may be made by Grace on ffnners : andyet all in Godseftablifhed courfeofworking, and by thofe fecond caufes which are to usunknown. C. " But God is not a natural but avoluntary Agent ; andGrace ishis " immediate wort¿ or offpring. B. I. He is a voluntary Agentin Creation, Prefervation, and in all the worksand changesof nature : and yet he operateth conftantly in his ap- pointed courfe. 2. Its unknown tous, what means he ufeth, out of our reach, in his operations upon fouls, as well as in nature. 3. We find that Grace keepethaharmonywith nature : yea as mora- lity is but the modality of things natural, fo wemay conceive that God may poffibly work it , by the modifying of phyfical Agents and their aftions, and the recipients. 4. Immutability and conftancy is one of Gods perfe&ions ; and the expreffion of it in the confiant order of his Worksis part 'of'his glory in the world : Though our mutable Free-wills are better than the fixed or .neceflitated appetite of Bruits, that is not, as they are mutable, and the alts contingent, but as they have a higher objeft. But the fixed un- changeable wills of the Glorified (Angelsand Saints) are far better than ours. And why fhould we thinkunfetled mutability of efficiency , to be the beft difcoveryof Gods Immutability. g. But yet we grant that God is free to dowhat hepleafe. C. "But it is by fixed fecond caufes that God keepeth a fixed order of "natural produélions and alterations in the world. But you. can name no " filch univerfal fecond caufe ofGrace , affording under God a refiftible Influx as the sun cloth in Nature. B. What will you fay , if I name you fuch a fecond univerfal caufe (though if I couldnot,it followeth not that therefore there is nonofuch.) I think I can name youone that all Chriftians fhould know ; and yet it feems is not well by Divines themfelves confidered. JESUS CHRIST as MAN, and MEDIATOR. is Gods Adminiftrator General of the humane world ; and is compared to the Ring sun, which illuminateth all theworld, with a light fuitable to it and them. So Chrifi is the light of, the world, theSun of Righteoufnefs, that arifeth with healing Grace, and enlightneth everyman that cometh into theworld : (or as Grotius and Hammond render it [which coming into the world enlightneth every A a mail] xi7
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