to tbe E PH E S I A N S. f&aded (fays he) that nothing ]ball /;e able toJeparateru from the love of God,~ Why ? He loved us before all Worlds : That's a good reafon. Sho11ld myCove- S'erm. V. 11 ant ( fays God) of Night attd'Daybelof/; Let thts World run mto confuiion; ~ let Heaven and Earth ceafe to keep thetr Laws, yet my Covenant Wtth you fhall not ceafe. Why ! r chafe you before all Worlds : Here's the reafon, Hills jball remove ·and Mo11ntaitzs depart; /;ut my kind11ejJ fbalhtot depart, (lfai. >4· 10.) nrirl;er'jbaU thtCovenant of my Ptace bf rtmove.d._ Why/ Becaufe my kindnefs was befort the Mou11tams, and before the Hr lis wtre bro11ght forth, (as Wifdom fpeaks, Prov.8.) . 5 . Fear not the ruin of Kingdoms, nor of the World, for your. Being depends not on either of them; God chafe you before.all Worlds. Let Kmgdoms totter, and Mountains be thrown into the midil: of the Sea, We have a Kingdom that c,<rmot br Jbakm, Heb. 12, trlt. And thus much for the Ttme of our Ele– ction, nr. For the Elld unto which God chci{e us; the Apofiie faith it is, That We might 6r ho{y mtdtm6t~mea6/ebefore him ill ~ovr. . . . By [Hotinejs J here ts meant, e1ther th~t tmperf~d: holmefs of !3race, :Vhtch we have in this life ; or of that perfcd: holmefs, wluch we arc ordamed to 10 the World to come, It is evidently meant of both. ' Fir!l:, Of that Perfed: Holinefs in the World to come ; and this principally : ·Por (faith the Apofile) he hath chojf11 uoo be holy and [6/amt/efs]. The word fignifieth fuch an Innocence as no man can jufily carp at; [.:~.;~"] fuch as a cap– tious Momzucannot take exceptionpt; nay, fuch as God himfelf (who is more curious than Man) fhall find no fault with,or blame in : [before him.] Therefore it mull: needs be meant of Perfect Holinefs, which he bath ordained us unto in Heaven: and (as r take it) isr)l.e fame with that in the fifth Chapter of this fame Epi!tle, ver. 2 7· Chri!t will fanflrji~ andcleanfe biJ Chrrrch, (which is for the prefent but imperfectly holy,) that he may prefmt it to himjdf glorio11s, w ithottt .fpot or w rild,te, or a11y fi~<h.thi1tg; 611t that it may be holy, and witho11t 6/emijh. It is the very fame thmg that here we are faid to be ordained to in the end. And God will do this, to the end that he may look upon us witb pleafure. Our Imperfed: holihefs is indeed, Holinefs before him in truth and ji11ceriiy; but it is not Holinefs before ,him witho11t 6/ame : It is not fuch as he can fully and perled:ly delight in . .· So that this is the meaning of the place, That God hath ordained tmto all thofe whom he hath chofen a Perfed: holinefs, and that they fuould be blamelefs before him; which one day they fuall cer· tainly be. Pa11l in the Phi/. ~.12., wt!heth that he might ajprehend that, for which aljo he WtiJ apprehended of Chrrf/Jefu;. . What is that? A perfed:ion in Grace. · God (fays he) gave me to Chrilt, that I might be perfed:ly holy: For (fays he, ver.14-) I prefs towards thr mark of the high ca!Jing of God in Chrift .1efiu; if by.any meml! I may a(tailt to the Refirrref1ion of the dead. He en– deavoured to be as perfect as the Ju!t fuall be at the Refurred:ion 1 (fo ver. 1 1 ,) for that is it for which God gave him unto Chriil:. Chriil: took us to bellow this upon us; and God ordained us unto this. God is fo perfed: in himfelf, and in his contnvemcnts, that he looketh and pacheth upon the perfed:ion of his Works at firft. When we were chofen by him, we came not upiinful before him or imperfectly holy as we ate here ; J:>ut God looked at the utmoil: end, wha~ he would make us at the !aft; and fo pr'efented us unto Chrifi, Now Chrifi upon th•t prefeoration was fo taken with our beauty, that never fince can he abfo– lutely delight in us, until he hath fimflified u; and clea!lfod tu, and made us perfect, havmg nerrher [pot nor wrtnkle, as at firfi we were prefedted to lum. Secondly, As he hath otdained us to Perfect Holinefs in the world to come to be blamelefs before him; fo he hath ordained us to Holincfs in this life (ot c!Je we lhall never come to Heaven. j 1 Theffi 2. 1 ~· He hath chofm liS tmto Ialvmtoll, throtw~fa,fft{icattoll of the Spirit. You mufi run through fand:i– ficallon of the Spmt, or you fuall rlcvercome to Heavcn : You mufr be/nre in htm·t here , or clfc you fhall nevtr f'e God, This is the lcafi intende of the ~1\'0. K 1 But
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