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The
Promifes
of
God,
all
of
free
Grace.
C
A
r.
V.4:6.
ving) it
is no more
ofPromife,
that
is,free,and
of
meere Grace.He
that
can
find
113
out
any Keaton,
or
caufe
without
God himfelfe, why he fhould
promiCe
any
good
things whatever
to
Sinners,'
(as
all
are ,&
areEliot
up
underfinne,till
the
Promife came, Gal.
3.22.) may be allowed
to
Glory
in
the
invention
which
he
Mat.2o. 15.
hath
found
out.
A
well
conditioned
Nature,
necefiìtating
him
to
a
velleity
ofdoing good, and yeelding
re]iefe
to
them
that
are
in
mifery
(though
juft-
ly
receiving the
due
reward
oft
heir
deeds,,
which even
among the Sonnes
of
men,
is
a
vertue
dwelling upon
the
confines
of
vice) for
their
recovery,
is
by
forne
impofed on him.
But
that
phis
is
not the fountaine
and
rife
of
his
Pro-
mifes, needs
no
other evidence, but the
light
of
this
Confideration.
That,
which
is
naturall,is
necefï'ary,
and univerfall
:
Promifes are diftinguifhing
as
to
them
in
mifery:
at
leaft they are given
to
men
,
.
and
not
to
fallen Angelis:
But may
not
God
doe what he
will with
his
own
?
Farther,
Jefus Chrifi
is
himfelfe in
the
Promife
:
he
is
the great
original).
matter, and
fubje&
of
the
Proiifes;
and
the
giving of
him was doubtleffe
of
free Grace and Mercy
fo Iohn
3.16.
God
fo
Loved the World
, that
he
gave his
only
begotten Sonne,
and
Rom:
5.8.
God commendeth his Love
towards us,
in
that
whileff
we
were
Sinners,Chrifl died
for
us:
and
in
the
firft
of
ioh:
4.1o.
Herein is
Love, not
that
we
Loved God,
but
that
he
Loved
us, and
feat
his Sonne to
be
a
Propitiation for
us,
All
is
laid upon
the
account
of
Love,
and
free
Grace. I m''''''26°
confeffe
there are
following Promifes,
given
out
for
the orderly
carrying on
of
the
perfons,
to
whom
the
maine originali fundamental! Promifes are made,
unto
the end
defigned
for them,
that
feeme
to
have
o?ualifications
and
Con-
ditions
in
them; but
yet even thofe are
all
to
be refolved
into the Primitive
grant
of
Mercy.
That
which
promifeth
Life
upon believing, being
ofufe
to
flirre
men up
unto,
and carry them
on in
Faith and Obedience,
muttyet
as
to
the
pure nature
ofthe
Promife be refolved
into
that,
which
freely is
promi-
fed
viz.Chrift
himfelfe, and
with him
both
Faith,and
Life, Believing,and.
Sal-
vation.
As
in
your
Automata,
there
is
one
originals
fpring or wheele,
that
give..
eth motion to
fundry
leffer
and fubordinate
movers,
that
are carried on with
great variety, fometimes with
a
Teeming
contrariety
one
to another, but
all
regularly
anfwering,
and being fubfervient
to
the
impreffion
of
the
firft
mo-
ver.
The
firft
great Promife
of
Chriff
,
and
all
good things
in
him,
is
that
Gen.1.i5.t6
which
Spirits
and principles
all
other
Promifes whatfoever
5
and
howfoever
I
fa
946''
°'
they may
Teem
to
move upon
conditionall
termes,
yet they are
all
to
be
refol-
s cor.
I.
20.
ved into
that
abfolute,
and
free
Originali
Spring.
Hence
that
great
Grant
of
Gofpell Mercy,
is
called
the
Gift by
him.
Rom:5. 15, 16, 17.
yea
all
the
Pro-
miles
of
the
Law,
as
to
their
Originali Emanation from
God,
and
the
confti
tution
ofthe
reward
in
them
ingaged
to
be beftowed
for the
fervices
requi-
red, are
free
and Gracious.
There
is
not
any
naturali
indifpenfable connexion
between Obedience and
Reward,
as
there
is
between
Sinne
and Punifhment:
Mar.
de
MMJP.
as
I
have
elfewhere at large
Difputed, and Proved.
Div.
2, I
call
them
Difcoveries
and Mani
fellation
of
Gods Good
-willand
Love,
4.
6.
which
is
the
prime, and
foie
caufe
of
all
the
good things,
which
are wrapped
up, and contained
in
them.
Of
this
Good
-will
of
God,the
Promifes,
which
he
bath
given, are
the
foie difcoveries:
We doe not
in this Difcourfe
take Pro-
mifes,
meerely for what God
bath
Paid
he
willdoe
in
termes,
exprefly,
but
for
every
Afï'ertion
of
his
Good
will
and
Kindneffe
to
us
in Chrift, all which
was firft
held
out under
a
word
of
Promife.
Gen:
3.15.
And this
the
Apoflle
inferres
in Tit.
5.2,3. In
hope
of
eternall life,which God,that cannot lye,promifed
before the3World
beganne, but bath
in
due
time mani
fe
fled his Word through
Preaching;
or difcovered,
or made
known
that
good
will
of
his,
by
the Pro-
mites in
Preaching
of
the
Gofpell. And
to
this
extent
of
fignificancy
is
that
Q
Promife