Of Eleflion . ~ And that God made all his purpofes in Chrifi, hence it is that firmnefs and Bocl( lV, fureoefs accrued to t~tem. Chnfl firengtheoed God's heart in them, and his ~hand (he bemg Gods Arm, Ijat. 5l• 1.) to perform them; and furely, il he ferved to fix God's heart in them, then the faith and confideration of his en– gagement in th<m, may well ferve tofccure., fix, and fiablifh ours. And particularly, Pcrfcverance was one great ddign of God amongfi the re!\; as hath been fhewn. 2. Take all the Promifcs which are the adequate, indefinite exprellions of God's purpofes, and the Chanels or Ctflerosall his purpofes run out into, and as God is (as he IS {hied here) a Godof ,,IJ G•·ace, fo the Promifes, what are they but the Contents of all and e~ery of that Grace, whereof thofe of keep– ing us and prefervmg us are an emment part? and thefe alfo have a firmitude a furenefs given them in and by Chrifi. And although God's bare promife,and Heb.6.t8. his Oath added thereto, are faid to be two immutable things, which do fhew the immutability of his Counfet, to the Heirs of thy Promife, that they might b!lve jlr01tg coujo!<JtiotJ, and have an A11chor of Hope Jure andjledfafl ~ (that is, of fiedfafinefs sgainfi all Temptations, Storms, and Tempefis that threa– ten ca!\ing us away ; as the Allufion of cafiing Anchor doth withal import;) I fay, although his Promtfe and Oath were alone fufficient, and indeed either of them, as' the Apo!\le there implies; yet his Chrifi comes in ;!fa as a third, to add a farther immutability to them, yea to each of them. r. To make all the Promifes fure: 2 Cor. i, 20; AltthePromifes of God i11 him, are Tea,alld i11 him, Amen"He is God•s Yea, and he is God's Ame;J,When God made all or any of his Promifes, Cbrifi fiood by , and faid Amm to them ftrfi, or they had never been promulged to us : And that to affirm this is no derogation unto God, that which follows, as if to prevent any fuch an ima– gination, is added, V11to the God of Glory. For it is God's glery, thH he fhould have a Son, fa great a Son, as in the very words afore, Ver[: ' 9· he had on purpofe !\;led him, The Son of God, J eJU& Ghrijl, who is always the fame, and whofeye•rs fail not, He6r. t . 12, In him was and is God's Yea founded; youmaybuildonhim. For an l nfiance of all other Promifes, the Yea and Amm particularly gives this for all the re!l, even in the very word this my Text ufeth, Vrr{:21. Now he which f/a6lljheth tU i1t Chrifl is God. God fiablifheth, but in his Chrifi. A11d the GoJ th~t bath caiJed y•u 6y Cbnjl, Jbatl flablijb ) 'Ot< 6y Chrt(/, faith the Text here. Then fecoodly, Chri!l comes in to make his Oath fure (which was the fe– cond) but that will pafs into a third .Particular, wherein God is a God of all Grace. 3· In his performances, to a!Ture us of which his Oath was added to his Promife, and Chrifi comes in to both, as undertaking the performallct of. all , though his Oath made all fure, yet even the performance of that Oath de– pended upon our Chri!l to make good. Now look intoZacharitU's Song, Luke f., which was made upon otcalion ot Chrifi's being born a Saviour, Ble.ffed lfe God (fays he) who bath razfed up au hom of Salvatio11 for U5; that is, Chrifi a !\rang Saviour; and to what end it isthat Chrifi comes 10, Verfe 7l· tells us, To perform the Oath which hr (ware to our Father Abraham, th11t lu wot<ld grallt tmto m. And it is Cbrifi, yotl fee, that mufi perform all, and the fending of him was the great ~atter of God's Oath. ArJ<:! lafi of all, the very Point we alledge all for, and m the Conclulion of all, rs made the thing which God fware, nod Chrifi came to perform , Verj. 74, 7'i• 1hat. he wouldgram tmh! tu, that we being deltvered out of tbehmJds of ot<r t:Jtmtu, might .ferve him with fear , in holine.fs a11d rtghteo11j11ejs hfore htm, alttht da)'S of our life. I might here infert a critical Obfervation upon that very Ooth that God fworc to A6raham, which we heard even now, the Apo!\lc alfo fpeaking of ir, He6. 6. '7· i"''"'""" gf'(', ht mtdwted by an Oath , faJth Paut there; fa Chewing that God in his very taking the Oath had an eye to the Me-
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