Goodwin - BX9315 G6 v1

to the EPHESIAN S, 127 - 'By Grace ye nre faved; and Grace addeth yet to. both Love and ~;rcy. It is ~., not only great Love for quantity, It IS not only n ch Mercy, but It '[ -Grace alfo, ~ for the freenefs of it, and for the pecuharnefs of 1t unto them, and nor to others. And when he had done all this, he comes to fhew three dcgr~es of Advancement unto thefe Men, that wen• thus miferable and wretched, that God doth and ·hath bell:owed upon. them, and will bell:ow upon them, which they may be Cure of, that they fhall attain to, and arrive at in the end. He then mentioneth, I fay, three degrees of Benefits.. . . He tells them firfl:, That thiS God, thus nch m Mercy, hat/J quicl;_ned them, quickned them when they were dead, and dead in Sim. and TreJPa./Jes, (for ifyou would refl:ore a dead Man, you mull: firfl: put Life mto h1m, you mull: begin there;) quicl;_ned them both with a life of Jufl:ification, c they being dead in re– fpeCl: of the guilt of Sin ) pardoning all their Sins out of the Riches of his Mercy; and quick,_ning them with a new Spirit, with a new Soul, with the.Holy– Ghofl: to dwell within them for ev_er, the fame Spirit that dwells in Jefus Chrifl:, and that quickned him, to quicken them, who was himfelf a quicl;_ning Spil'it. And quickping them alfo with a principle of Life in Holinefs, even as the Soul dwelling in the Body quickneth it with a life. And, faith he, all this he hath donealreadyforyou, herein this World: But (faith he) he means not torefl: there, there are two other Benefits in the Life to come, which are two degrees more : He will raife you up ( f.1ith he) at the latter day. And as a Pawn and Teflimony of that, look upon the R.efurreCl:ion of Chrifl:, and he in rifing is the firfl:-fi-uits of them that role, and ye are rifen in him, faith he ; in Chritl: ye are rifen, when be ro[e. And he !peaks of it as done, becaufe he would fhew the certainty and furenefs of it. As God raifed up Jefus Chritl:'s Body, [o he will raife up yours ; yea, when Jefus Cbrifl rofe, ye were reckoned in him : and as God put a glory upon Cbritl:'s Body, when it was rifen; [o be will do upon yours at the'bay of Judgment. And that is the fecond degree, that degree of Glory the Soul fhall have, when it meets its Body, and i• raifed again at the Day of Judgment. But.then there is a higher degree than this, for when the Day of Judgment is over, you fhall (faith he) be placed in the midll of a Sea ofGlory, and have a full poild!ion of it, as Jefus Chritl: himfdf has. He bath placed m, faith he, ( tl:ill to fhew the furenefs of it, he (peaks as ifit were done.) All thot Glory, faith he, which Jefus Chritl: bath, he bath it as reprefenting you; look what place he is in, you fhall be in; yea, you are now reckoned to fit there, fo as you cal)not be frufl:rated of it ; and yo~r Life is hid with God in Chrill:, and when Chrill fhall appear, whp now reprefenteth you in Heaven, you fhall be polfefs'd of it. And fo now you have the general !cope or meaning of thefe words opened to you. Now then for the Coherence, and the Parts of it. Firfl; For the Coherence. You fee, they come in next to that of our finful State, to that end and purpofe to exaggerate, and to heighten the Riches of the Glory of the Mercy and Love of God in Chrifr, and alfo of that Glory, which in Chrifr God bath ordained unto us. · Now the Scope being an exaggeration of the Mercy and Grace of God every way, the[e are the parts of it: Firfl; He fets out, what in God is the moll: inward and original caufe of all this. (which he would have magnified) by three Names, Mercy, Love, Grace; to which, if you will, may be added, Kindnefl, out of v. 7· . Secondly; He afcribes unto thefe the moll: heightning Epithetes to all : ToMercy he addethRiches; to Love he addeth Greatnefl; to Grace, exceeding Riches, v. 7· God, who is ricb in Mercy, for the great Love wherewith he hath loved m. He fets all there out. Thirdly;

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=