to the EP H ES I A N S. fets them upon that Height and Top of Bleffednefs and Happinefs i~ ihe Worid io ~~ come. It i< thy Mercy (fay they m the Lai1JentatJon.r) that 'fe are not conjimud j ~~ thy MerrieJ fail not. It IS the Mercy of God that we are not m Hell ; and when we are in Heaven, it is Mercy that bath brought us thither ; and becaufe we were once thus and thus in our felves, it is Mercy and Grace that continues us there for ever. . There are two Treafuries, to which there are continual Additions by Mens finnings. Take wicked Men, they, as it is faid in Rom. 2.4. by ab11jtng tle Good- . nefs and Long-fojfering of God, treafltre 11p 11nto thwtfelves Wrath againIt the Day of Wrath. Take godly Men, or Elect Men rather, tho indeed they, by finning be– fore Converfion (confidered as in themfelves) did treafure up Wrath unto them: felves: yet all their Sins did but ferve to make Room for, and a Capacity of a Treafury of Grace thegreater,when Salv~tion fhould come to b~ revealed to them: And all their Sins after Converfion fbllmcreafe thiS Treafury, they need fa niuch more of the Riches of Grace to fave them. And therefore faith the Apoflle here; that you who were dead in Sins aNd TreJPajfes, that you fhould be q11ickned, and fit together in heavenly places in Chrifl Jefm; this fhews and magnifies the exceeding Riches of his Grace, in all that he Will do to you, and for yo':J, in the World to come. If I might compare Heaven, and what God cloth befl:ow upon us, and the Glory there, with what he cloth for us at our Converfion; then cer: tainly, if the one muft be acknowledged Grace, (as the Papifls themfelves do) the other mull: needs be much more, or as much every whit. We are as paffive in all the Glory befl:owed upon us, as we are in Converfion. Our Bodies are raifed again out-ofthe Dull:, by that Power that fubdue• all things, and they are raifed up fpiritual, glorious Bodies, that we may be fitted for Glory : Therefore the Refurrection is called in Scripture a Regeneratioo, even as well as Conver– fion it fel£ And when our Souls are filled with Bleffednefs in Heaven, they ani pallive rather in it, nay, they are more paffive, if it may be confining with a Liberty of Will, and of a Creature rational, and of Underfl:anding, than in all the Actions ofGrace, that here, when we are converted, are put forth. We f.1y, we being acted by God, we act, and it is true in all the Good we do in this Life i But the Bleffednefs put upoa ns in the World to come, is rather a thing befl:owed upon us, than acted by us; we glorify God here, we are glorified o[ God here– after. Therefore it mull: needs be Grace, and exceeding Riche• of Grace. So Chrill: faith, I have glorified thee 11pon Earth: He fpeaks actively, when he fpeaks · of what he did in this World; but when he comes to fpeak of the World to come, then faith he,. Glorifj me. Therefore the Scripture, when it [peaks of Hea– ven, it [peaks as if we were but paflive there; all that is befl:owed upon us thei~fore is all of Grace: Mortality is faid to be fwallowed up of Life; and' we are fatiated with the Rivers of his Pleafore; we are watered, they are poured upon us, as the word fignifies in Pfol. 36. The Joy that the Holy-Ghofl: works in us, which is the Earnefl: of Heaven, we are Recipients, if I rriay fo exprefs it; rather than Actors in it. 0 my Brethren, hate Popery, it is a curf>d Doctrine, that that wherein the Height, the Top, the Riches, the Gracioufnefs of Grace moO: appeareih, they Ihould not only mingle Works with it, but mingle them as Merits too, a< the Caufe thereof: That he migbt jhew forth ( f.1ith the Apoa!e) ihe exceeding Riches of his Grace, in that World to come. There are many Papilh, that do indeed.in· terpret thefe Words of Heave.h; but how, do they mince it, to . Calve up their own Doctrine of Merit? What do they fay? 1t is true, God gives Glory, fay they, for the Merits of Me[\ and yet it is Grace ; why? Becau(e tha.E God doth glorify Men far beyond their Merits. Thank them for nothing; fa Men are thrown into Hell, and there punifhed lefs than they merit and def~rve ~ and fu Grace is as much feen in the one as in the other, A fecond Obte!Vation is this: That in ti,e .World to come, there are Agcil 3Ud many Ages to coine, in Eternity. Unto the Scriptures I gave you then, I Ob(erv. 2 ' Ihall only add that in t Ti111. 6. 17. and compare it but with thofe other Scrip" tures I gave you then. The Apofl:le, when he fpeaks of this World there, he faith, Charge thein that are rich in this World ; [o we traiiflate it : it is, in tbi< Age, in
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