dn Expojition of the Epiflle ";;,1\.J"' Grace will appear that God had in him, which had faved Men in all Ages ! When ~allMen !hall meet together, when all the accounts and reckonings of the World !hall he given up, what a great expence will there be found that God bath been at, that in all Ages he bath taken in fom~ny and faved them; fome as bad asthefe Ephejans were! And let the Conuderatton of that help thy Faith. If thou wen at the Day ofJudgment, and faweft all the Saints brought together before God and all faying, We have committed thefe and thefe Sins,and God hath pardoned m' and pardoned us all (for that will be theConclufionofthe Accounts ofthe World) when thou !halt fee fuch Riches ofGrace fpent upon the Saints in all Ages. Do but begin now and by Faith think ofthis, and never fiand difrrufring of God as ifthy Cafe were worfe than all thefe. ' And fo much now for that fecond Interpretation, as it refpeB:eth Pofrerity making the example ofthefe Ephejians Infrances to Pollerity ofthe like Grace and Mercy. I come now to the third Interpretation and Sence, which begins to take Ac– compli!hment when the other endeth; therefore,{ faid that they are but feveral Ac– compli!hments of the fame Deu~n. '.YhenGod~ll thus. have !hewn the exceeding Rtches of hts Grace unto hts Samts m all Ages, tn pulltng them out of their natu– ral Condition, in converting them, in quickning them, and they !hall all meet at the latter day together, and be gathered unto JefusChrifr: All this is forthis End, that to the Ages then to come afterwards, he may !hew forth a hidden, an un– known Treafury of Grace, which he will break up in Heaven and at the Day of Judgment,even unto Eternity. The Reafons for this Interpretation are fo llrong, that if the other I gave la[l: and this could not frand together, for my part I !hould certainly exclude the other, and embrace this. I gave youmy Reafons for it when I firfr opened it. The Phrafe here [in Ages to coiJJe J cloth mofr naturally (accor· ' ding to what the Scripture faith) import the time ofEternity, the Ages ofEternity in the World to come. Now the Obfervations that flow from this Interpreta– tion, I reduce to two Heads. I. Sueh as fet out to us fomething about Heaven. 11. To !hew how great that Salvation mull needs be, according to the fcope of thefe Words. Concerning the firfl: Head, I give you thefe feveral Particulars. Firft, That all the Glory that God befrows upon his Saints in the Ages and World to come, and afier the Day of Judgment, it is only Grace that is the Foun– tain ofit. He !hews forth therein his Grace, yea the exceeding Riches of his Grace. It is not only Grace, but it is the perfeB:ion ofGrace, it is the richne!S of Grace in the heighth, and the highefr Riches ofit, it is the highefr gracioufne!S of Grace (as I may fo exprefs it) to befrow Heaven upon us. The Papifrs acknow– ledg Grace in Converuon, though they mingle much of Man's Will with it, yet they acknowledg a preventing Grace. But when they come to fpeak of his going to Heaven, there they thru[l: in Merit, they do not make Salvation to be ofGrace, fo much as Converfion it fel£ But it is Grace, and Grace to Eternity, and the heighth ofGrace. Rom. 9· 23. That God mit,ht makf: lznown the Riches ofhi5 GlorJ on the Ve.ffils ofMercy : the Apo[l:!e you fee, when he li>eaks of Salvation and Riches ofGlory, he calls the Subjec.ts ofit Ve.ffils ofMercy. And why ? The Co– herence ofthe Text here naturally clears it, and !hews you why, when you are m Heaven, you are eternally Veffels of.5'11erq, and all the Riches ofGlory is therefore converted into the Riches ofMercy as tbecaufe thereof: why? Becaufeyouwere once by Nature Children of Wrath, and conudered in your felves you are ever fo. As a Man is tolook upon himfelfafier he is juO:ified, as Ungodly in himfe1f: It is faid ofAbraham, that he believed on him that jull:ifieth the Ungodly; fo be it in bimfdfto Eternity. We were dead in Sins and Trefpaifes, we were Children ofWrathby Nature, Hell was our place; How came w7 hither then.?. It is the exceedmg Riches ofhis Grace that pulls Men out of that mlicrable Condmon, and feti
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