PART III. ,f gracious AeblioYis. 337 He is, in the foregoing Verfes, encouraging the chriftiah Romans un- der their Sufferings, that tho' their Bodies be dead, becaufe of Sin, yet they fhould be railed to Life again. But it is more efpecially plain by the Verfe immediately following, Ver. 18. For I reckon that the Sufferings ofthis prefent Time, arenot worthy to be comparedwith the Glory that 'hall be revealed in us. So the Apoftle has evidently Re- fpe& to their Perfecutions, in all that he Pays to the End of the Chap- ter. So when the Apoftle fpeaks of the Earnell of the Spirit, which God had given to him, in 2 Cor. 5. 5 ; the Context (hews plainly that he has Refpe& to what was given him in his great Trials and Sufferings. And in that Promife of the white Stone, andnewName, to him that overcomes, Rev. 2. 17 ; 'tis evident Chrift has a fpecial Refpea to a Benefit that Chriftians fhould obtain, by overcoming, in the Trial they had, in that Day of Perfecution. This appears by Ver. 13, and many other Paffages in thisEpiftle to the feven Churches of t4fia. Objet. 2. Some alto may be ready to objea againft what has been laid of chriftian Praaice being the chief Evidence of the Truth of Grace, that this is a legal Doétrine ; and that this making Praétice a Thing of fuch greatlmportance inReligion, magnifiesWorks,and tends to lead Men to make too much of their own Doings, to the Diminu- tion of the Glory of free Grace, and does not feem well to confift with that great Gofpel Doarine of yuftifacatien by Faith alone. But this Objection is altogether without Reafon. Which Way is it inconfiftent with the Freenefs of God's Grace, that holy Praaice fhould be a Sign of God's Grace ? 'Tis our Works being the Price of God's Favour, and not their being the Sign of it, that is the Thing which is inconfiftent with theFreenefs of thatFavour. Surely theBeg- gar's looking on the Money he has in his Hands, as a Sign of the Kindnefs of him who gave it to him, is in no Refpea, inconfiftent with the Freenefs of that Kindnefs. 'Tis his having Money in his Hand as the Price of a Benefit, that is the Thingwhich is inconfiftent with the free Kindnefs of the Giver. The Notion of the Freenefs of the Grace of God to Sinners, as that is revealed and taught in the Gofpel, is not that no holy and amiable Qualifications or A&ions in us (hall be a Fruit, and fo a Sign of that Grace ; but that it is not the Worthinefs or Lovelinefs of anyQualification or Action ofours which recommends us to that Grace ; that Kindnefs is fhown to the Unwor- thy and Unlovely; that there is great Excellency in the Benefit be- ftowed, and no Excellency in the Subject as the Price of it ; that Goodnefs goes forth and flows out, from the Fulnefs of God's Na- ture, the Fulnefs of the Fountain of Good, without any Amiablenefs in the Object to draw it. And this is the Notion of Juftification without Works ( as this Doctrine is taught in the Scripture) that it is not
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