to the E P H ES I A N S. fpeaks of, is that God had enlarged their Hearts to give away their Ef'cates even to s'-'W Penury. So Phi!. 2. I3. It isGod that worksth inyo11both to will and todoofhisgood ~ pleajitre. Ifwe work out our own Salvation, yet it is ofhis good Grace, it is his good pleafure that worketh both the Will and the Deed. Take one place more, I Cor. I 5· Io. By the Grace ofGod I am what I am; it is a Speech fomewhat near that Name given toJehovah: I Paul, faith he, whole Paul, take me with all my Prayers and all my Sermons, and all my Sufferings, all that I am and !ball be it is all by the Grace ofGod, and though I bave wro~tghtnJoreabu1Jdantly tban all the Apojiles, yet not I, but the Grace of God that is in me, And then laO:ly, for Heaven, it is true Holinefs muf'c go before, but when God comes to bef'cow Heaven, hedoth it out ofthe fame Grace, by which he chole a Man at firf'c, and as freely; and thereforeRom. 6.11/t. Eternal Life is called, a Gift o(Grace; and ifyou will have a more exprefs Scripture, I Pet. 3· 7· Heirs of the Grace of Life; though they are Heirs and cannot be difinherited (that freedom. God would not keep to himfelf,) but efiated it on usby Promife; elfe it were not an Inheritance : yet it is wholly Grace in the Promife, and in the bef'cowing. So that Salvation isin all the parts ofit attributed unto the Grace of God. I !ball end this particular with a Meditation, and that is this. ·1s Salvation and all the parts ofit, in the whole and in every part or'it,nothing elle but the Grace ofGod towards us, implying the Favour of God which he be~ fiowsupon us, out ofhis own Heart, freely? Then let all our Obedience, and all the parts thereof be nothing elfe but thankfulnefs unto God, let it be in that refpel.l: Grace; the counter-pain ofhis Grace.In 2 Cor.1.12. we !ball fee how Grace was the fpring ofthe ApoO:le's Obedience, We h4Ve not walksd, faith he, in jlejbly WifdonJ, that was not the Motive that fiirred me (for he fpeaks ofMotives) b11t the Grace ofGod, faith he ; I have not been moved by ends ofmy own,but the great Wheel that hath moved me, hath been the Grace ofGod towards me in ']efm Cbrift. Thus now you have had opened to you, what ismeant by Grace, what by being Savtt/, and why Savednow, and alfo how By Grace we are faved. I have one Obfervationwhich I will end withal. I told you ofit at the beginning. The Apo1\le you fee makesthis the main fcope ofall, from the •ft verle of this Chapter even to the I 1th. Though he fpeaks ofour Death in Sin, and our quickning with Chrif'c ; yet all this is to have them take notice, that By Grace they areJarued: he brings it in by way of Parenthefis, and repeats it twice, yea thrice. What is it 1'hen I obfervefrom it? Plainly this; That our whole Salvation by Grace, it is the greatefr thing ofall others, ofthe greatefi moment !orBelievers to know,and to be acquainted with. The Apofrleyou fee he cannot hold [peaking out his whole Sentence before he brings in this: as foon as ever he had faid, We are q11ic{zned by Chrifl,hecomes in with, BJGraceye arefaved, He would fet the f'camp ofthis Seal with a treble Impreffion on upon their Hearts. ":(his is the great i\xiome, The great Principle he would beget in all their Hearts. Anditis to advance ~he defign ofGod,theGlory ofhis Grace,fo you have it, ver.7.. Thisis the fum and fubfrance of the Gofpel, and it isthe fum ofthe great defign of God: For as I faid, a Soveraigmy ofGrace was fet up, and what is the Gofpel? It is the Laws and Statutes this great Soveraign bath made, and Grace will be fure to make fuch Laws as !hall advance it fel£ Therefore you !ball find,that when a Man doth frep out ofthe Way and R.oad offree Grace unto any thing elfe, he is faid to turn from God. AMan may fiep out of the Way, from Truths to other Errors, and not fiep out from God; but lee what the expreffion is, in Gal. 1. 6. I marvel that JOlt are fo foen removedfrom him that caUedyo11 ; (it was becaufe they did not bold the Dotl:rine of free Grace) into the GraceoJChriji, ttnto another Gojpel: implying that it is a frep'ping aGde fromGod. It was God's great defign to advance Grace, and therefore he calls their f'cepping afide from the Doctrine thereof, a fruf'crating of the Grrce ofGod,. Gab.ult.whichMen do bymingling any thing with it;it is afrufirating ofthe Grace ofGod, becaufe it fruf'crateth the great defign of God, for to fruftrate is to make void bbferv;
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