to the E P H E S I AN S. 1 . He lhewcth you the greatncfs of the Ble11ing.; he faith, that God hath a-~ bounded in grace in bell:owmg it: In wh1ch Grace tr ts he bath abomtded. . ~ 2 You have theBlellingitfelf, and both the parts of 1t: Both the mward Caliing workingwifdomandprttdence in us; and the outward Calling, Haviug made k:wwft the myfleYJ•of hts wt!J,f!!c. in the preaching of the Gofpcl, and the revealing of it. l• You have the caufe of both, and that is his good pleafurc; According to hiJ goodplrafim. And then Fourthly, (for I may add that) you have the Caufe of that good pleafure too, which(faith he) he had purpofed 111 hzmfelf. So you have the divifion of thefe 8and 9th Vcrfes. Divines (you know) they make two parts of our Calling ; there is Vocatio extema that is common to all men that hear the Gofpel, and to whom the my– fiery of'the W1ll of God is made known. But then there is an internal Calling, a work upon the heart, whereby he cloth work wtjdom and p~tdmce in us to embrace this word, and to lay hold upon thiS My!lery, and g1vc up our Souls unto it. And then for the ittwardCa!Ji~tg, you know Divines reduce it to two Heads: Fir!\, the worki11g of Faith; Secondly, the worki1i~ of Holi11ejJ, or chmtge of heart cmd life, All is reduced to thefe two,HolittefJand Faith, as I /hewed you out of the fir!\ verfe of this Chapter, there are the Sai11ts and faithful i11 Chrifl Je{its. Now accordingly the Apo!lle hath two words here; here IS Wifdom, which is the principle of Faith; and here is Prudmce, which (as I lhalllhcw you) is the principle of Sanctification, and is put for the whole work. To begin fir!\ with that whereby he fetteth out the greatnefs of the Blelling, Wherei11 he bath flbotmded toward11s. <meiC•.i-"''· To open that word a httle, .A– bomzded.The word in theGreek,it istaken either to fignifie an abundance that one bath and hath received,takenpaj]ive!y,(as I may fo exprefs it,)as when in Scri– pture we are fa id to abou11d m grace, (as in fame places we are:) or elfe it is takenachve!J, as it implieth abotmdiltg in the Giver, in the Bef/ower, when one be!loweth out of abundance. As there is plmitttdo jo11tis, andplmitttdo vafis, a fulnefs in the Fountain, and a fulnefs in the VeiTel; both are faid to be full, but the Fountain is fa id to be full as that which communicateth , as that which be– lioweth,which fills the VeiTel; and the VeiTel is faid to be full, as having received all from the Fountain. So we are faid to abound in Grace, when he bath filled us with it; Of his jitl11e}I(which is the fulnefs of the Fountain) we have re– ceivedgrace for grace, faith the Apo!lle, .!ohu t, t6, So now here is ""'P"I'" foutis, and """'P•= va(is; here is fignified the a6otmdiug of the Fou11tai11, name– ly of God, as a Fountain communicating; and the abtmd,mce of the Vej[el, of us receiving. Now it is the abounding ot the Fountain that is here meant; and of that there are two meanings too,which I find in Scripture; two lignifications or ufes of the word. Fir!\, It referreth to fomething abundantly or largely bellowed; when God cloth largely or abundantly beliow, then he is faid ro abound; or as they do tranOate it, 2 Cor. 9· 8. (where the fame word is ufed,) He u able to make all grace to abotmd towards ) 'Oil, The meaning is not, he abotmded iu wifdomby making wifdom abound in us; for alwaies when it is fo taken it is joyned with an Accufative cafe, as it is there in that place of the Corillthimu with .a.=vx""'; but ~er~ It IS not ~tntvt.nJ~Id.:-, but f~ r.r/4~ tnl:Pft!-, not making Grace a6ormd, but ( wh1ch rs the fecond meanmg of the word or phrafe in which God abounded) it doth not on!y Import, that God did caufe wifdom,f!!c.to abound, but that he out of abundance of Grace in himfelf befloweth wtfdorn. And fo I find it to be ufed Lukt 1)• t? .. abormdi11g in Bread, i11 my Fathers houfe, (fays the Prodigal.) It is m the Gemt1ve_ cafe, as rt 1s he~e, bread mough, fo we tranOate it : fo here God aboundeth m htS grace, ~nd 1t IS all one as to fay his Grace ttboundeth; or .as the Enghfh phrafc, when we fay one abomtdeth itt love, it is all one as to fay lus love is a6rmdtz11t. So that the meaning o.f it in a word is thus (to gather it up for the weaker un– dcr!landings ;) that God out of abundance ot Grace in himfclf .bdloweth upon us
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