-- BOOK III: The free grace of God, as declared and proposed in the covenant, is the object of faith
BOOK III:
The free grace of God, as declared and proposed in the covenant, is the object of faith The free grace of God, as declared and proposed in the covenant, is the object of faith.—Of the soul's applying itself unto the free grace of God, and treating with it for its salvation.—That the absolute declarations of this free grace, or the absolute promises of the gospel, are the object of faith of recumbence, or adherence.—That electiongrace, and the immutability of God's counsel, as indefinitely proposed in the promises, are also the object of faith.—How the believing soul may consider and regard God's absolute decree of election.
CHAPTER I
How the soul may for its salvation treat with the free grace of God as declared in the covenant.
I SHALL first discourse of a soul's treating with the free grace of God as it is proposed to us in the covenant of grace, before I consider what kind of promises they are which are the object of our faith.
There is a great crying up of free grace, as that which, in the way of believing, men's souls rely upon; but they who have traversed the paths of it, so as to arrive at a free and familiar intercourse therewith, find it exceedingly difficult, until God guides them into it by a straight and direct line. And there are many dangerous mistakes in
the application of our souls unto it in the seeking of it. I shall therefore treat of it in a way of giving directions about it. (1.) We must lay hold on free grace according as it is set forth in the covenant of grace. The covenant you have at large in Jer. 31, and in Ezek. 36, cited in Heb. 8. Now the covenant of grace is but the pure resolutions of grace in the heart of God, put into written promises. It is a translating of the pure grace in the heart of God, and purposes thereof, into promises, into indefinite promises, not naming the persons to whom they are designed: they are expressions of purposes as they lay in his heart. Men think it an easy thing to deal with the grace of God for salvation, and that they need no directions and teachings, for God, say they, is merciful in his nature; he is a merciful
God, and it is but going to him for mercy, &c. But the free grace of the purposes of God, as it is set forth in the covenant, is a further thing than a declaration that God is merciful in his nature; and a man needs teaching how to treat with free grace, as it is in God's heart, set forth in the promises, in the immediate and absolute promises: 2 Thes. 3:5, 'The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God.' He speaks of that love which is in the heart of God himself towards us: rightly to go to, and close with, and lay hold on that grace, needs direction, and that from God. 'The Lord,' says he, 'direct your hearts into the love of God!' He speaks to those that already had been in some measure acquainted with that love. All of you whom
God saves, one piece of the indenture of his covenant is, that he will teach you to know him. To know him in what? To know him in the pardon of your sins, and how to obtain it at his hands; for so it follows, 'I will forgive their sins, and their iniquities will I remember no more.' And to know how to deal with the grace of God for pardon of sin upon grace's own terms, for this men's souls need direction in.
'The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God!'
I shall shew you some of God's teachings. 'You shall be all,' says he, 'taught of God;' taught of God in his free grace. When free grace comes to teach the heart to treat with grace, it teacheth it,
1. To renounce all self, or else free grace will have nothing to do with you. From the very first purpose free grace had to save man, it laid that for a foundation, that the salvation should not be of works, but according to the purpose of his grace given us before the world was, 2
Tim. 1:9. There you have it purely set down as it was in God's heart.
And the holy apostle, when he speaks of grace, and of our being saved by grace, he still puts in this negative, 'not of works,' as the opposite of grace, Rom. 11:5–7. And whereas faith is required wherewith to close with that grace,—Eph. 2:8, 'By faith you are saved, through grace, it is the gift of God,'—a man must renounce all power in himself to believe, and all helps to believe, but what are drawn from the pure grace of God: Hosea 14:2. See there God's instructions: 'Take with you words,' says he, 'and turn to the Lord, and say to him, Take away all iniquity, and receive us graciously,' &c.
Here you have free grace (as free grace) instructing and teaching men that would turn to God, how to apply themselves unto it. It is a treaty of free grace's here that is recorded, 'Receive us graciously.'
'I will love them,' says he, 'freely,' ver. 5. Now he teacheth you upon his own terms how you must deal with his grace. And that it is upon his own terms, it is clear by this; for he bids them take these words in their mouth. So that it is a sure way to know how to treat with the free grace of God. It must be done with a renunciation of all that is opposite to it, and which will spoil the treaty, and enervate and make it void. Accordingly they say, 'Asshur shall not save us, we will not ride upon horses,' &c. Asshur shall not save us. He expresseth it in Old Testament language under the figure of a temporal deliverance.
We will not (say they) call in the help of Asshur, nor think to ride upon horses. You must be helpless, you must not think to deal with free grace on horseback, for you shall not prevail so; no, nor on foot neither, for 'it is not in him that willeth, or that runneth, but in God that sheweth mercy,' Rom. 9:16. And so the close is here, It is not our hands in which we trust; we will not say, the work of our hands shall save us; but how then? 'With thee the fatherless find mercy:' as if he had said, The strengthless, the helpless, the utterly desolate of all helps by means, but only the free grace of God and Christ, the
fatherless, shall find mercy. For the soul to give up itself to the graciousness of grace to accept it, to receive it graciously, to give up itself to the efficacy and power of free grace to work what it will, with renunciation of all else, this is the first lesson free grace teacheth, when a man will come to have salvation by it. I will not meddle with you else, says God; lay that for the foundation of your treaty, or my grace shall not treat with you at all. What is free grace? God tells you in these words, 'I will love them freely.' What is grace? It is love: 'I will love them freely,' says God; and all their backslidings shall be no discouragement to me. Now you see God bids you take words; he hath put the substance and efficacy of those words into your mouths, and they are his own terms. I have oft said, If a soul would but go and take the very words (understanding them) as they are recorded where the covenant of grace was penned (Jer. 31:33, 34, and the like in Ezek. 36, 'I will give a new heart:' and in Jer. 32:40, 'I will put my fear into your hearts, and you shall not depart from me;' this is pure absolute grace). If a man should take these words that God hath put into his mouth, and use them, or the effect of them, to God, saying,
Lord, I present them to thee, and beseech thee to make them good to my poor soul, and should seek God day and night, the Lord would own and accept that poor soul.
2. God teacheth the soul to treat with the grace of God in the free sovereignty of it. There is the grace of God's nature, which you read of in Exod. 34, 'The Lord God, gracious and merciful,' &c. The 33d chapter was a preface unto what follows in the 34th chapter concerning the proclaiming his name; and, saith God, 'I will proclaim my name before thee; and I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious.' This is a plain declaration that that grace of salvation he would not shew to anybody. It is a limitation: 'I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will be merciful,' &c; I will have freedom, and exercise dominion in doing of it. Are you to treat with grace? You are to treat with this same declaration—'I will be gracious,' &c., 'and I will be merciful to,' &c.—and you are to apply yourselves to the sovereignty of it. This is to treat free grace upon its own terms. When a poor soul
sees itself lost, and comes to God, to the free grace of God, he doth not come on horseback, nor on foot neither, but he falls flat down at the throne and sovereignty of God: 'He will be gracious to whom he will be gracious,' &c. He hath to do with this same will of the great
God, and the soul acknowledgeth that he is absolutely free, and that he may choose whether to do it to me or any such poor unworthy wretch as I am; he may if he please not shew me any mercy: 'Whom he will he hardens,' as the apostle saith, Rom. 9. And I am a poor creature, says he, and I lay down myself at thy feet; if thou wilt be merciful, here I am; I throw myself upon thee, thou mayest give me up to hardness. If souls come thus nakedly to him, he then hath a dominion, to cast them off, as fully as to accept them. If thou comest thus nakedly to him, thou hast nothing to ingratiate his grace but his own grace, which he shews to whom he will; and that will hath a will:
'I will be gracious because I will be gracious.' Because mercy pleaseth him, and mercy and grace hath taken thy heart, poor creature, thou comest to him to cast it that way. The absolute freeness and dominion of grace is the glory of it, and God will have our hearts brought to seek it, as it lies in his heart. God loves to have it acknowledged, at one time or other, by every soul he saves. Though I dare not say that there is an absolute necessity of such a disposition of soul, yet to be sure when the soul thus applies itself in treating with grace, there is true faith and dependence on God. There is not only an acknowledging that God may refuse me if he please, but the soul says, If thou hast no pleasure in me, here I am; my will is made subject as well as my understanding, it must be thine own pleasure purely must cast it on me; this is faith of submission. And yet withal thinks the soul, Who knows but he may be merciful, and merciful to me? And that keeps it at the throne of grace, and will not let it go away.
3. Free grace loves to be treated according to the fulness of its own freeness, and the extent of its own freeness. The meaning is, it is absolutely as free to God to save any sort of sinner, one as another, it is as indifferent to him to save out of any condition. So that put what case you will, put what condition you will, free grace hath a freedom
to extend itself to it. It is not only said, 'I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful' as for the person, but there is a nobleness of liberality, so that there is no sort of sin (the sin against the Holy
Ghost excepted) but may be pardoned, no sort of condition—be it poor, weak, contemptible, what you will—but a man may be saved in it. Now, when the soul sees this, he honours free grace mightily; he comes not to be accepted because he hath fewer sins, that were to derogate from grace, nor is he discouraged because of the abundance of sin; no, for there is an amplitude in this grace, Rom. 3:22–24. As to the point of being saved by grace, grace knows no difference; so for thy outward condition, be it what it will, there is no condition any one is in but one or other have been in it and saved; for God is no accepter of persons, but is rich to all that call upon him. Now, to have a soul possessed with the thoughts of the freeness of his grace, and to treat with God accordingly, this honours his grace, and this God loves, and this he delights in.
4. We must treat with this grace as that which is absolute, unchangeable, irreversible, where it is once pitched. If I in seeking
God can find this grace of God to own me and embrace me while I seek it, then what do I come to? To a state of irreversible grace, of grace that will carry on the work, that will undertake all for me, that is faithful, and will do it. What says God? Ps. 89:32, 33, 'Though they break my laws, I will visit their transgressions with the rod, and their iniquities with stripes. Nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.' You have it also in Isaiah 54:10, 'With everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee. The mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee.' Noah's waters may as soon overflow to cover the earth, as thy sins overflow thy heart. When the soul shall thus have the amplitude of grace, of grace past, present, and to come before it, and turns itself round about, and sees no end,
Oh, says the soul, that my heart may be the subject of this grace! that I may come under the dominion and protection of this grace! For this grace will do the business, it will do it thoroughly; it answers all my objections, makes provisos for them; it satisfies all the desires that I
have or can have. Now, suppose that God yet carries it concealed towards thee, yet thou art happy if he fires thy heart with this grace, and causeth thy soul to seek after it, and teacheth thy heart to come to God, and to spread all these properties of his grace before him, whereby he saves men, and thy heart is strengthened to plead that God would cast them upon thyself, and thou canst by the hour relate between him and thee how by this grace thou desirest to be saved, and by no other. Though thou hearest of other ways, of free-will grace, where God moves but leaves thee to will, yet if thou hadst ten thousand souls thou wouldst not venture one that way. Dost thou heartily say to God, Lord, I had rather go upon this way of free grace than upon that way of free-will grace, though offered to all? Oh save me this way! Lord, I have nothing to return, but I shall 'render the calves of my lips;' I shall adore thee and bless thee. Oh that there should be such purposes of grace, and that they should thus take my heart; I am resolved to be saved no way if not saved this way, and by this grace. To be thus taught and instructed, you had need have the Lord 'direct your hearts,' 2 Thes. 3:5. In the original it is to direct by a right line; it is an emphatical expression to signify such a direction as that they shall not go about, but go straight and immediately unto the heart of God and love of God.
What do men do? They come with their conditions to ingratiate themselves with God when they come to treat with grace, which is to bring to grace what should ingratiate their souls to it. We use to say,
God's grace is a preventing grace, preventing what is in man; but by this way men would prevent the grace of God, and be aforehand with it. Do not go round about, but go by a right line, and venture thyself, though thou knowest not whether thou beest the person or no, and lie at God's feet. To bring conditions whereby thy faith should be raised to free grace is not agreeable to the mind of grace. The truth is, you will find free grace will say to your souls, I will not be thus dealt withal.
Obj. Would you have us use no endeavours, means? &c.
Ans. This I said is so remote from it, as nothing is more. In Noah's instance, though God said to him, 'Thou hast found grace in my sight,' yet 'he prepared an ark.' And in Philip. 2:12, 13, we are commanded to 'work out our salvation; for it is God that worketh,'
&c. But how work out our own salvation? We are to use those endeavours which we have power to use, in subordination to the grace of God, that works the will and deed, and we are to wait in the use of means, renouncing all we do as to any purpose of ingratiating ourselves with God, yet we are to use these means in subordination to God, that works the will and the deed.
Obj. But would you have a man treat free grace thus, and leave out holiness?
Ans. God forbid; for if you seek the grace of God in truth, and as it is in itself, and in the heart of God, then if your heart know the grace of God in truth, it will teach you to be holy, and to make gracious returns to God again: Titus 2:11, 12, 'The grace of God hath appeared,
&c., teaching us to deny all ungodliness,' &c. It is spoken of the gospel and doctrine of it which thus teacheth you. But if God the Father do instruct your heart, and make known to you his free grace as it is in his heart and draws you to depend upon it, wholly upon it, if so be you have learnt from the Father what it is for God to be gracious, and how he is gracious to a poor soul (or as it is in John
6:45, if you have 'learnt of the Father'), you will be taught to be holy, yea, it is part of your indenture when you come to plead the covenant of grace. The grace of God is the greatest teacher of holiness that ever was: says God in that covenant of grace, Jer. 31, 'I will write my law in their heart.' Of all laws else he will write the supreme law which free grace hath to write. What is that? To have the grace in God answered with grace in you; to have your hearts ingenuously wrought upon to comply with his grace, and not to abuse it: Col. 1:6, 'If you have known the grace of God in truth,' &c. There is a true knowledge of the grace of God, and there is a counterfeit one; but if it be true, it teacheth all holiness, it stamps a frame of heart upon you, it teacheth you how to apply yourselves to grace in its kind, and therefore to
return grace for grace and love for love. It is the law of the thing, it is the law of nature to love those that love you, and on whose love you depend. It is the law of pure nature, and it is the pure law of grace: 1
John 2:4, 'He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar;' that is, doth not know God. Not know him!
In what? Do not know him in his love, ver. 13, 15. For it is the love of the Father he speaks of. I tell you, no man seeks grace in this manner
I speak of, but he professeth to God and his own soul that he would not be saved by that grace unless it wrought holiness in him. It is part of the indenture he draws with God. I acknowledge that to be made holy simply upon the sight of the pure grace of God, it is a high and spiritual thing, and our hearts are carnal. The law is holy and spiritual, the terms of free grace are holy and spiritual, and we poor wretches are carnal and sold under sin, and cannot come off to the motives thereof, to be acted by it continually. It is true, but yet when the soul lay at God's feet to obtain it, and humbled itself, that soul thereby kept on a plea for holiness as well as for grace, and doth obtain it, and hath it wrought in his soul. He that hath the love of this world, hath not the Father's, 1 John 2:15. A man whose heart is taken with the grace of God to be saved by it, if he loves the world inordinately, or more than God, the love of the Father is not in him, he knows it not; but of a gracious soul the apostle saith, Rom. 6:14,
'Sin shall not have dominion,' for grace shall break the dominion of sin. Those cursed men, Jude 4, turned the grace of God into wantonness (they were Simon Magus's followers, and the devil was his master), and what did they profess? That a man was saved wholly by grace, do what he would, and that was the grace of the Father. Oh how doth the apostle fly out against these men, and follow them with all the curses that God brought upon wicked men in the Old
Testament, and upon the angels that fell! Men that have nothing but self-righteousness in them to be wrought upon, they wonder to hear that the grace of God should work a man above himself, to love God above himself, that a man should be taken with free grace, and not abuse it; for the nature of self-love is to run away with free grace, and be unthankful. But what is the grace we speak of, as it is in the heart of a Christian? If self-love only, it were the worst direction ever was