~86 ~!An Exp~(ition of the Epiflle ~Grace is the eminent thing in God, fo Faith in us, fuite~ to it, cloth ferve all its ~ Ends ; As Grace gtves all that t> m God without us,fo tt ts pure Faith that receives it : As the whole ofSalvation bell:owed, the Right to it, is out of us, and confi- . ll:eth in God's reckonmg and accountmg of tt to us,fo this Faith it is a meer gain out of a MJn's ftlf to Grace for this Salvation, it is conformed to all the Contrive~ ments of Grace, tO give Glory to it. As it is not ofa Mao's felf, fo Faith cloth notlook to _a Man's felf. Even (as I '?ay fo exprefs it) as the Marygold, it opens and !huts wttb the Sun, and turns eontmually round, and holds a correfpondency with it, fo cloth Faith to Grace. The Papill:s fay wickedly and wretchedly, that Love is the Form and Soul of Faith. The Truth is, the Free Grace ofGod is as the Form of Faith, if we may [o fpeak, and what is Faith in a Man? It is jull: like the firll: Matter God created inGen. r. it bath no Form, no Shape in it felfat all, but capable to take in and to receive all the Free Grace that isin God, and all that Salvation which he bath propofed to bell:ow, and to give unto Free Grace the Glory and Honour ofit,that nothmgbut Grace !hall ilime and be as the Soul oftt. It will take no Form and Impreffion but what Free Grace ll:amps upon it, and it will return its own Jmpref– fion to himfel~again in Glory. Free Grace can fay not~ing to magnify it felf, but that Fatth m the Heart ofa Beltever, acted by the Spmt, can take it in and give_him the Glory ofit his own way. The Truth is (that I may_ in a ~ay of finuhtude make a Parallel m thts <?afe) as the HumanN~ture ofChnll: being uni– ted to the Son of God, had that m!hnCI:, and that Law m hts Heart (as tt is called in Pfal. 40.) that he did not aB: as a Perfon by himfelf, he had not a Will of his own, but was refolved wholly in the God-Head, being united to it; fo Faith, it cloth uot take upon it as a Grace, and as a work, or any of thefe things, it lofeth it ftlf, it refolves it felf, and meerly takes the Forms and Impreffions that the free Favour of God moulds it into. And the Property of it is thus to advance the Grace ofGod, and that is the Reafon (I !hall give you a Scripture for it by and by, than which to me nothing is ll:ronger) that Grace in bell:owing the whole of Salvation will brook Faith well enough. It will go and Cave through Faith ; it rifeth up againll: Works as all Rebels, Salvation ( faith he ) if of Grare, thro11gh Faith, not ofWorf<!. And Free Grace will trufi Faith with all its Glory in be– fl:owing ofSalvation, when it will not endure Works to come in fight,not in point ofgiving Salvation and the right ofit. · In Rom. 4· 4, 5· and compared with verfe 16. faith the Apollle, Now to him tl:at wor~th if the Reward not reck,pned of Grace, b11t ofDebt. Why, might not a Man fay, I wrought it ? But Works you fee will not ll:and with Grace, and Grace will not ll:and with Works, but ifGod means to bell:ow Salvation out of Grace, by way ofReputation, and accounting us Righteous, and Sons, and Heirs, &c. Faith will quickly ferve the turn ofFree Grace; therefore it follows, B11~ to hint that wor~th 11ot, b111 be!ieveth on him thatj11Jlijieththe Vngodly. But there tsamore full Expreffion in the x6thverfe, which is more clear than this, and truly tome it is a ll:range one, and I wondred at it when I confidered_it; It is ofFaitb (faith he) that it might be by Grace, fpeakmg ofthe whole Inherttance of Salvauon (for as he calls it faved here, he calls it an Inheritance in the 13thand 14th verfes.) I take the meaning ofthe Words to be this, that when God was to apply Salvation, and to give the Right ofit, and that purely and meerly out of Grace, he did as it were confult with himfelf, what in Man he iliould take that ll:ill it might be Grace, and nothing ofit might be impaired, and fo he pitch'd upon Faith ; for that is clearly the Apoll:Jc's Scope, he ordained Faith, faith he, that it might !till be of Grace. That look as it was meerly Grace when it was in God's own Heart to give, fo when he works Faith in a ~an, and caufeth him to believe, it_ is as much Grace as it was before, and nothmg ts derogated from Grace at all.. It ts therefor_e of Faith, faith he, therefore God _chafe and fingled. out Fatth, that fitlltt might be by Grace, that Grace mtght ll:and unimpatred, and be as fully by Grace as if there were no Faith, as if Grace had fave? a Man :Without working any thing in him: Though_ God doth work Fmth, :Whtch IS an Afr ofhis, and an Act of the Soul too, yet tt ts as much by Grace, fatth he, as ever. My
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