Owen - BT795 O84 1800Z

248 FORGIVENESS OF SIN. who yielded not the obedience required, he would have had whereof to glory; but now this also is cut off by the way of forgiveness, and no pretence is left for any to claim the least share in the glory of it but God alone. And herein lies the excellency of faith, that it gives glory to God, Rom. 4 20, the denial of which, under various pretences, is the fruit of proud unbelief. And this God will bring all unto, or they shall perish ; namely, that shame be ours, and the whole glory of our salvation be his alone. So he expresses his design, Isa. 45 : 22-25 ; verse 22, he proposes himself as the only relief for sinners : "Look unto me," saith he, " and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth." But what if men take some other course, and look to themselves, and so decline this way of mere mercy and grace l Why saith he, verse 23, "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall swear." I have sworn that you shall either do so, or answer for your disobedience at the day of judgment. And how do the saints reply to this l verse 24, 25. " Surely shall one say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength. In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory." They bring their hearts to accept of all righteousness from him, and to give all glory to him. God at first placed man in a blessed state, in which he might have wrought out his own eternal happiness with a great reputation of glory to himself. But " man being in this honor," saith the Psalmist, " abode not." God now fixes on another way, wherein all the glory shall be his own, as the apostle at large sets it forth. Rom. 3 : 23-26. Now, neither the way from which Adam fell, nor that wherein some of the angels con- tinued, which were substantially the same, is to be com- pared with this of forgiveness, as to its bringing glory to

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