to theE PH E S 1AN S. H) ders of this very Church himfelf relateth, when he told therri they jhoi<ld fer --.,~~ bJSface 110 morq and fo thathe lhould nevt;r anx n:ore preach to them oga.ri, S:•:m. If; and hoW much his heart and tneirS WaS affected With that fpeech, the l\ory Ot It ~ and that his Sermon doth fulliciently inform >ou. . . . . . . . . Now then a little obferve his fpeech in that farewel Sermon, tn winch lie makes a fum of his fore pall Mmiflty in that City ; though but in general fpeeches, as How he had notjhumud to declare all the Coimfel Of, God to the,m; v. 27 , and above all ther_eofto make a dcfplay cif the Grace of God tn the Gof– pel wherewith he faith Ht hadftnifbed tbe Muufi>:J' , whzth I h,zve rccetvcd fro'm ottr Lord 'Jefus, to tef/zfY the Gofpel of the Grace of God. v. 24. And then let u• but compare how t!ie fir!l part of this EpifHe, _which contains the Fruits I fpeak of; and they cjo anfwer to thefe Ius declarations of the, matter of his preaching, related in that Farewel Sermon.la the fifth vede of thts Chapter, he mentions Gods Having chofen.tbem i" Chrif/, a11tj hav111g _p,.edrffi11tlted them to the adoptio" of Chitdrm, to the p_raife oftbe Glory of hu Grac~. Wliercby it fullictently appears that the_Doc.tnnes of ElectiOn and PredeP.matiOn m all the points ofthem, he certainly had in his Mini!lry gone over, ~nd were the points he had infiructed themm, and had tau~ht them fully; otherwife had he 1101 declared all !he Comifet of God, (whereof fpecially the Doctrines ~f Elec.tiori and Pre~ deClination do eminently in the New Tel\amerit bear that very name of the Lotm~ Jet of the Almighty witbi11 himfelj; ) and how could he have fa id! that he had EleCl:ed and Prede!linated them ,had he kept back any thmg that was pro– fitable for them? Well he goes on Fir!l, ill which Glory and Riches,of his 'Grace he bath abotmded toward us, ill all Wtfdom d~td 'PnJdm'ce havl"g made k11own to us tbe myfiery of his wit/ .( In which words he tells us here agairt that this he had preached) accordingto hisgood pleafttre, which he hath/ttr– po{'edin himfelf, which in the eleventh verfehe Styles the Cotm{el of Go hi} oWIJ will. And agam verfe 11 out of which It was he hczdPredef/i1tated ItS to o6tain rz11 !t~herita!Jce accordi11g to thepttrpoje of him, who worketh ( both ib is, as) alt things etft he worluth accordi11g to the coimfet of his o'1im wit!. So that the matter for which he here bleffes God, wrought and accomplilht in and ; upon their hearts, will be found anfwerin~, as the Print does to the Seal, that is, of his Minil\ry. His Dod:rine namely l as he recapitulates it in that Sermon ACfs 20. And that as it had been the pith and principal fum of all his former Sermons,) which had been to tef/ify the Grace of Gotf ill the Gofpd; and td open alt the Cotmfets of God in and about mans Salvation; in which he had con~ cealed 11othi11g that was profitable tmto them, (as he profeffeth) tbat ttught worl rfpmtmJce towartlr God, a11dfaith towards our LordJe(tis Chrif/ ver. zo. 2 L Now behold, what you read, you find here in this Epi!lle tefiified by the Holy Ghofi, (who had been the Mafier Workman of all Graca in them, and to– wards them,) to have been left from his Preaching impreffed upon their Souls, verified on their perfons; vilibly to be read by all men, written in theit' heahs and lives, and openly avowed profe/lions of themfel ves. There is no man thac lhall compare one with the other, but mull fay that as face anfwers to face in wa; ter; fo thof~ Contents fpecified to have been the SubjeCl: of his Preaching iri that Sermon m the ACfs, to be anfwerable to thefe impreffes here in their hearts', The effeCl:s recorded in this Epi!lle, and the fuccefs of his Min'i!lry anfwerin& to the other , as Prints do unto their Copy. As he had Preached Repentance toward God, and Faith toward our Lord Jefus Chrifi, as he had declated in that Sermon of his there; fo anfwerably here be lays; that t4e Grai:e of God hadabotmded towards them in alt Wifdom and Prttdmce; the Genuine meaning of wh:c!' words is, that God had wrought all that bel<>ngs unto trite J!,,ith,the ttuefi Wsfdom ~nd Repentmtce, the only Prttdmce accompanied with Holinefs, whtch are figmfied by thefe, as llhalllhew, when I come io o~en ihofe words; ~nd by what means God had wrought it,he tells you in the <j ih verfe, that follows m his own words you meetwi,h. ln that Sermon in the ACfs, 20 verfe,where~ by he had fet out the matter of his Preaching, bavilti made klloW>J, ( fays he, ) to us the 11!Jf/ery mtd fecret of his wilt, the purpofe a11d Cotmfe! of his will verfe • t. As to the matters namely oftheir Salvation , and .111 to the praife mta Glory of thatGrare; which in his preaching be had fo much celebrated; an'd D ~ n~
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