.dn Expojition of the Epijl/e ~ ning is the beginning ; work's Glory in us by degrees, firfr railing us and then Serm.XXI. filling us with Glory in Heave~, as I !hewed out ofthe 6th verfe. ~ Now thefe are evident!ydtllmcr, and yet they a~e both called Salvation. There is Salvation in Hope, th~t .'s, havmg t~e Tttle of u,. Rom. 8. 24. And there is at.JT>Ie_)ocv-n!X""• an obtammgofSalvatton, orSalvatton obtained; as you have it, in 2Tim. 2. 10. There are fome Benefits mdeed, whtch we have not only a Right to? bu~ we do as fully polfefs them_as we fhalldo in the World to come; and that isbemg JUfrtfied, we are as much R.tghteous as ever we !hall be in Heaven and have as full a Polfeilion ofit; only at the latter Day there !hall be a fulle; enjoyment of it, therefore Sins are faid to be pardoned in the World to come. . This diftinctionofSalvation thus, in the Right and Title ofit, and ofSalvation Ill the full accomplt!hment oftt by Degrees, time after time, is evident in Scrip– ~ure. I J ohn 3· 2. _Now are w~ the Sons ofGod. . Now, the whole Right ofSons rs ours, and God htmfelf can gtve us nothmg whtch he bath not given us a Right unto ; and ~et fatth he.' tl doth not ~ppear what we jba/J be : Look what our Right to Son!htp gtves us a Tnle to, that ts yet to be mamfefr, what it will bring with it we know not ; it doth notyet appe•r what we jhaU be, but when hefbaU appe.r weJbaU be li~ hinJ. So take Sanctification it felf, you are not perfeCtly fanllified, youhave not that part ofSalvation compleated and accompli!hed, as it !hall be in Heaven ; you have as much R.ight to all the Sanl.tification that you !hall ever have; now,as you !hall have in Heaven : All that is prepared by Grace in Election from Eternity, the whole Title to it is given us at once,and God doth but parcel out by Degrees that Salvation, which he giveth in the Title of it at fir!l:. I will not ftand to en– large upon this. Accordingly now you !hall find, that our Divines do di!l:ingui!h, and exceed– ing rightly. Say they, when we are faid to be tranOated from Death to Life,and our State is altered from the State of Nature to the State ofGrace, from Damna– tion to Salvation, there is a double Change wrought in us. One is a Relative Change, which confi!l:eth meerly in Title. And The other is a real Change, which confi!l:eth in Works in us. The Relative Change in us confi!l:eth in all thofe thingswhich depend upon God's accounting, and reputing, and aCtual reckoning as fuch. As now go take Juftifica– tion,in Rom-4-5. it isfaid there to be an accounting, and reckoning for Righteouf– nefs to us, tharefore it is oppofed to Condemnation, in Rom. 8.3 2. R.econciliatie>n or reckoning us Friends, it lies in accounting us fo, _2Cor. 5· 19. reconciling the World to himfelf, not imputing their Trejpa./fe! unto them,but accounting them Friends, for that is the Pofition of it. So take Adoption, it lies in reputing, in God's ac– counting us Sons, in giving us the R.ight and Title to it; I Joh. 3· I. That we jhould be caUed the Sons ofGod, that is, reckoned fuch: as the Child that is in the Cradle, bath the Title, and Intere!l:, and Right ofa Barony, or of a Kingdom. Now all thefe Benefits, in which the main and indeed the whole ofSalvation lies in this Life, are in a way ofReputation, and con!i!l: in a Right, in a Title, before the Polfeilion : fuch a Right as will bring all the Polfeffion after it. And therefore to fee the Wickednefs ofthe Church ofRome,how one Abfurdity draws on another. They, to maintain that we are juflifyed not by being ~ccounted Righteous, butby being inherently Righteous, fay that our Adoption cloth not con!ifl in a Relation to God as a Father, but in the Tmage of God wrought in us. Why, ifthat Adoption did imply a real Change in the Perfon that is made a Son, it mull: make a real Change in the Father, for Father and Soniare Relatives; and fo when God becomes a Father to us, you muft make a real Change in him, for always for things that are relata there is the fame Reafon,as we ufe to fay. There– fore now being a Son, what doth it lie in? it lies in a Title, in an Authority, in a Charter, in aCommiilion as we fay, as it is in Joh.I.I2. He gavethen; Po:ver, that is, hegavethema Charter, aCommiffion, to be theSonsofGod: as the King gives a Man a Charter or a Commiilion to be a Noble-Man, or to be a Judge, gives him a Title to be fo. In l Cor. 8. 9· and in I Cor. 7· 12. there the fame Word is ufcd for a Priviledg or for a Liberty.
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