·------------~----~,---------------- ---- <Vfndhu Son !/ejas CI:Jrifl. "' My Brethren, you that have Grace, underfbnd, in fome meafure, what Me- Chap. 5 tal the Grace m your Hearts is made of; and unto what that Drvme Metal, or ~ Nature. in you, may be fublimated by the (more than Chymical) Operation of the Spirit unto. There are thefe 'l?._eafons why your Grace may be i~tended or railed up unto this Strain. Reafon 1. The Divine Nat11re in us, as in 'Peter 'tis lliled, is the perfeCl: Imi– tation, or Image of God's own Nature; and all true Holinefs cloth confill: in its being fuch. It i•, as they obferve of a Load-ll:one, that cut round, is the per– feel: imitation of the Earth, though m a leffer Volume, a TerreUa (as they call it) fo as all the Lines, the Poles, the Variation of the Compafs, &c. may be exactly drawn upon it, and found out, and difcerned, by the Motions of a Needle put upon it, which will !hew all the!< exaCl:ly, as I my fclf have feen. And thus Sympathetical, in the make of it, is Grace, the Divine Nature in u• unto what is in God, or hi• Divine Nature. ' However, this I may truly affirm, That Grace is framed, either to be the re· femblance of, or applies it felf unto all that is in God. Tis true, Divines do rightly make thi• diltinCl:ion in the Divine Attributes. 1, Of fome that areConJmltldcable in this refpeCl:,that the likenefs of them may be flamp'd on us, as Good11ef, Wifdom, Ht!linef, &c. And of them the Cafe is clear, That therein confifteth an Image of God's Divine Nature. But, 2. Some that are Incommunicable, as Sovereignty, Et.emlty, abfo!Hte Do– minion, Majefty, &c. likewife his GM!, which is not to be given to another. Now obferve, that thole Attributes wherein our Graces are not capable to imi– tate him, that yet we have Grace to apply our ftlveg to them, fome way or other, fo as to give the Glory due unto them. As to his Sovereignty, and ab– folute Dominton, and Majefly, Grace m us can and may be brought down (!hall I fay ) or wound up rather, to fubmit t~ it, to. fall do~n to the Dufl a: fore it; not fimply, m a Reverence or Adoration of rt, but m an abfolute re– fignation of it felf unto it ; as in David we fee, 2 Sam. I 5· 26. 'B,,t if he thJH fly, I have no delight ill thee. 'Behold, here am I, let him do to me, <H fiemeth good unto him, Yea, unto a carting all away unto the Glory of it. And truly, as fuch ACl:• of Submiffion, are a throwing away, (!hall I fay) or rather, a giving u~ones felf, and all.our '?wn Concernmems, both unto, and for, what purely rs m God; fo there ts a gtvmg Glory to htm, by way of exalting him for what is purely in himfelf. ' Reafon 2. The tendency of Grace in us, is to have but one common Intere11 between God and our Souls, to make his Interell: wholly Ours, and ours to be altogether Hif. We are imperfeCl: in it indeed, but fo tar as we have Grace we have but one intereft·common to God and us. Tis that which Grace would be at, but Corruption keeps us down. Chrifl expreficth his being one with his Father, as in his Nature and Effence, fo as he and his Father, having both but one Will, and fo one Interefl; '}ohn 6. 38. & 1 o. 29, 30. 6' 5· 30. For I came down from Heaven, not to do my own Will, but the Will of him that jint me, My Father which gave them me, is greater than all; a11d 110 Man i; able to p! 11 c!z them out of my Father'; Han~'· I and my Father are 01;e. I can of mine own filf do nothzng ; dS I hear, I ptdg ; and my judgment 11 Juft, becaHji I ftel{ not mim own Wi/1, h•t the Will of the Father which bath fint me, Now as Chri!fs Interefl and God's are but one, fo by our Union with Chrift (and fo with God through him) Chrift's Interefl and ours is but one. There~ fore, I Cor. 6. r 7· He that is-joined to the Lord, ;, [one Spirit J; namely, with Chriff, of one and the C1me Difpofition, Ends, and Aims ; for in all thefe re– fpet'ts,and much higher than I can exprefs, it is to beone Spirit with Chriff. Man •nd Wife, that are but one Flefo, yet we all fee and know where Love between them is, that there is one common lnterefl of both ; and it is fuch and fo near a
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