Book IV
The mighty and powerful grace which God dispenses to his elect, in effectually
calling them, in preserving them from temptations and sin, in strengthening and enabling them to persevere unto the end, and in bringing them at last
securely to an eternal glory, by all which, the greatness of election grace is
more fully cleared and proved.
But the God of all grace, who hath called us into his eternal glory by Jesus
Christ, after that ye have suffered a while, make you [or will make you]
perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 1 PETER V. 10.
CHAPTER I.
The explication of the words. What it is for God to be a God of grace. A
threefold grace in God. His purposing grace. That which he dispenses to
his e lect. And the riches of grace that are in his nature. What the grace
of his purposes is.
OUR apostle Peter had himself greatly suffered for a while. Satan sought
to winnow and to devour him, but the God of all grace did by Cbnst, and
his fore-warning of him, and through his prayer for him, graciously restore,
strengthen, settle, stablish him, as the story of the evangelists and the Acts
record. So all this was exemplified first in himself; and he, who himself
hath been instructed in temptations and sufferings, is the ablest fore-warner
and instructor of others. You know our Saviour did thereupon take occa
sion to command him, that when he should be converted or restored, he
should strengthen his brethren, Luke xxii. 81. And this our holy apostle,
you see, is carefully mindful of, and that to the utmost ; and hath left it
behind him for all his brethren to the end of the world, the greatest con
solatory against Satan and all temptations that hath in so few words fallen
from any apostle s pen.
And when I more seriously compare things together, I am strongly in
duced to think and believe that Peter, in uttering these words of exhorta
tion and comfort in the 8th, 9th, and 10th verses, had those very passages
of Christ to himself in his eye and view ; and be yourselves the judges
Luke xxii. 81, And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath
desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. And observe the
parallel.
1. Satan hath sought; that is, obtained leave of God, by seeking thee
(Peter) to winnow thee, and shake forth all grace out of thee. Thus Christ
to Peter. Correspondency Peter here to us : Satan, your adversary, goes
seeking whom of you he may (have leave to) devour. And as Christ gave
Peter fore-warning there, so Peter here his brethren.
2. Christ prayed that his faith fail not. That was the matter ot
232 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
Christ s prayer for him on that occasion. Faith s not failing is Satan s
foiling. Answerably the subject matter of our apostle also in his exhorta
* Whom resist stedfast in the faith, as that which is the most
tion here is,
effectual remedy and shield of resistance of all other, Eph. vi. 16. It is not
in the faith as understanding the doctrine of faith only, as some would seem
to restrain it, because of the article ry marsi, but in the grace of faith, as
Calvin more genuinely. And the grace of faith is so eminent in itself, and hath so great an hand, and bears so great a stress in this business of tempta
tions, that it deserved here the honour of this article.
3. Strengthen thy brethren. There are but two words, yet both are here in terminis.
* Knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in
your brethren in the world, so ver. 9, there is the one, and then ver. 10,
* After ye have suffered, God will strengthen you, there is the other. So
publisheth he the comfort and concernment thereof to all his brethren in the world ; and contents not himself to utter it barely in the very same word of
strengthening, but further surroundeth that, for the more abundant consola
tion, with a multiplication of words to the same intent: he shall restore you (see Gal. vi. 1), xaragr/<rg/ ; that is, when you are fallen, set you in
joint again, which was Peter s very case, stablish, strengthen, settle you. 4. Lastly, which is not to be neglected, Christ, in strengthening Peter s
faith against Satan, sets a but I have prayed, as in direct opposition unto
all that Satan could do ; and Peter, when he had set forth Satan as our
professed adversary in the greatest dreadfulness, he then in like manner of
opposition, brings in his intended consolatory with a but God, the God of
all grace by Jesus Christ, &c., set in full array and counter against him on our behalf, as our undertaker, guardian, and the strength of our hearts for
ever. This for an introductory preface, and, it may be, not a little conduc
ing to discover the main scope of the words.
These words are the public faith of heaven ; that is, of God and Christ, given for the safe conduct of all the called of God, through all temptations and assaults in this world unto glory. Two things more at present requisite to our understanding this to be his
scope.
1. That under the phrase of afflictions in the ninth verse, and sufferings in the tenth, not outward persecutions only or chiefly are intended to be comforted against, but all inward assaults, either from our own lusts or Satan, and so all temptations whatsoever. This the coherence, intent, and extent of this consolatory exhortation shews, Be sober and watch, so the 8th verse, this respecteth lusts ; whom resist, this relates to inward
temptations of Satan unto sin ; knowing the same afflictions or conflicts do befall your brethren. And then his setting afore the eyes of our faith God, as^the God of all grace, for our relief and help, argues it. For his grace principally and more specially stands to help us against inward sins and temptations to sin, &c. And then that extent of it, the all of his grace reacheth, not only unto all sorts of outward miseries, but unto all sins, which are our greatest miseries, which do need his all-sufficient grace above all other, and which grace in God chiefly respects. And therefore this is extensive unto all evils that grace may be supposed a remedy unto. These, therefore, are the afflictions principally intended, wherein also those very sufferings of Peter mentioned did also lie.
Neither is the word suffering averse to be taken in such a sense. 1. For temptations from Satan. For of Christ the head it is said, He suffered in that he was tempted, Heb. ii. 18, where temptations are plainly termed sufferings. Nor yet unusual to be understood of sins themselves ; in
CHAP. I.] OF ELECTION. 233
1 Cor. x. 13, God will not suffer you to be tempted above what you are
able to bear, this is spoken of sinnings ; and the word to bear imports them
to be sufferings ; and indeed they are of all the greatest to them that are
truly holy, and to such he there speaketh. And when it is said Christ was
4 tempted in all things like as we are, though without sin, as the issue of the temptation, yet he was tempted unto sin by Satan ; which is the differ ence put between his temptation and ours, Heb. iv. 15, and was no small
part of his sufferings.
The second thing is, that the words do hold forth a promise that God
will strengthen, and establish, &c. Besides that many original copies read the words in the indicative, xaragrtc&i, he will perfect, and not xara^r/Va/, the
optative, by way of wishing it, or praying for it. And however, if they should have been intended as a prayer, as they fell from Peter s heart, yet
still that prayer supposeth and must contain a promise which God is
engaged in to perform, for so all prayers are supposed to do. This being a sure rule, that as we are to turn promises into prayers, so we may extract
promises out of all those prayers which we find in Scripture, for promises are the foundation of them ; and so it comes all to one. We will take,
therefore, the words promise-wise, as Gerard and others do, to this sense, that after ye have suffered a while, God will or shall perfect, strengthen, stablish you. To confirm which reading and intent, there are more reasons
to follow when that clause comes more particularly to be spoken to.
The division of the words. The words being thus understood, the parts thereof are two.
I. The great engagement
: the engagement of God and Christ to relieve and carry all that are truly called in and through all temptations and
sufferings.
II. The promise of performance, or the execution of it.
I. In the engagement.
1. The persons, God and Christ.
2. The pledge or gage already given by both to assure the performance, Who hath called us into his eternal glory ; no less ; not into the state of
grace merely, as Rom. v. 2, but of glory ; that is, the undoubted right to it from the first step we set into our being called.
II. In the promise to perform it.
1. That God will be sure, as he is a God of grace, to strengthen and
uphold.
2. The limitation or manner of performance, After you have suffered a
while, &c. And, 3. All these are propounded to believers, in order to produce stedlastness
in faith, which he had pre-exhorted to in ver. 8, and unto which these words, and every word of them, do visibly look and refer, as a complete, adequate ground set forth unto their faith, and which if we believe, we have abundant matter of stedfastness and security.
I. I begin with the engagement of the two persons
: 1, God; 2, Christ, which was the first part of the division ; and accordingly the first words
that present themselves, are the first of these persons, but the God of all
grace.
Neither shall I insist on these words, nor any of the other, any farther than as they directly tend to, and issue in the proof of my main subject, which
I have proposed at first as the sum of all the words, and to serve unto that
purpose, I do undertake for each and every word.
1. But God. You may observe in what a terrible manner he had set forth o ur adversary the devil, in all things that may render him dreadful to us
234 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
An adversary for malice, a lion for strength, a roaring lion for dread, The
lion roars, who will not tremble ? walking about, seeking, such is his dili
gence, whom he may devour, being able by one temptation to drink up (as the word xaraffiri) at one draught, any soul suddenly and at once, as it were,
making no bones of it, as he did Judas, and held him fast in his belly, as a
lion his prey, so as never to get out again ; and farther (which of itself would increase the trouble), he tells them that all and every saint were in
danger at least of being tempted sorely by him, if not continually, yet at some
time or other every saint, both great and small, the whole brotherhood (as the word is) were ordained to suffer by his hand, so ver. 9 ; and when he had
done this, then in full opposition unto all, comes in but God as a carer and
undertaker for us. So he is styled ver. 7, but God, the God, &c. so setting him in full butt, as we say, against the devil and the fears of our own hearts,
as our preserver, vindex, and undertaker (as Job), and great care-taker for
us, as Peter here, ver. 7. So then, take all these verses and join them to
gether, that is, from the 6th to the 10th verses, as meeting in this one
great scope, and you may behold (and it is a pleasant sight to see) the
devil, our adversary, besieged, and every way surrounded, that if he but offer
to meddle with us, God is presented ready to rise up on every side against him (as the Psalmist speaks, Ps. cxxiv. 1). There is God, the mighty God that careth for us, .on the foreside afore him ; then, but God, the God
of all grace, on the other side behind him ; and what should we now fear ?
If it were not for this but God, what strange doings from men s lusts, yea in saints hearts, yea and from Satan, would there be in the world ? Parallel unto this is that of another apostle, The spirit that is in us, saints, lusteth
* But God giveth more grace to help us against these, James iv.
after envy and revenge, &c. And whither would these carry us ?
Oh, that this, but God, were but always in remembrance with us, when
* do encom
the iniquity of our heels, and strong and various temptations
pass round about, to oppose this through faith against them, as the apostle here. The like coming in of a but God, you have again and again in the New Testament, Eph. ii. 4 ; 1 Cor. x. 13. In the Old, Ps. Ixxiii. 26, And
if God be for us, who shall be against us ? Rom. viii. 81.
1 &c. But if, moreover, God, as
2. The God of grace ; If God be for us,
the God of grace be for us, who then can be against us ? You may observe how proper and suitable the singling forth and mention of this attribute of God s is, a God of grace, when you have to do with Satan in point of personal temptations, &c. When elsewhere, the church at Rome had to do with him
in respect of divisions raised up amongst them by him, the style the apostle
giveth to God for their relief against him and them is, the God of peace, in
full opposition unto divisions ; that is, a God who was able, and would one
day therefore settle and compose them : Rom. xvi. 17-20, The God of
peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly ; he speaks it in relation unto divisions, as ver. 17. But when our apostle here would raise up our
spirits against temptations, which are personal from Satan, or corruptions of what kind soever, he then, as appositely styleth him the God of grace ; no
thing so proper, nothing so sovereign a remedy for these as is his grace, no not in God himself. It is that which we need in that case, above all other. When Paul was under temptation, and a
* messenger of Satan, or the angel Satan (you may read either) was sent to buffet him, what was it that God did immediately suggest unto him for relief ? My grace is sufficient for thee ; that is, the grace that is in my heart towards thee, and the grace that is the effect thereof working in thy heart, and both are ready to assist
thee, and is sufficient for that present need ; yea, all that could befall him.
CHAP. I.] OF ELECTION. 235
And this was an answer which God himself gave ; for in answer to his pray ing thrice, it was that God made this return,
* And God said, my grace, &c. So then, both apostles, who had both run through temptation themselves, knew none more pertinent supports to faith than this ; yea, God himself could speak no greater comfort than this. It was HE said, my grace is
sufficient for thee.
3. You may further observe, that though we find it everywhere else almost the grace of God, and that God is gracious and full of bowels, and the
like ; yet nowhere but in this place, this style the God of grace, especially nowhere of all grace ; but there only man needed it, when temptations are
spoken of, especially when they come upon him ; and the Holy Ghost re served it for this special occasion. And it is not spoken only to shew what God is in his nature simply, but what he is to his children. Even as else
where, when it is said that God is love, 1 John iv. 8, it is not only in tended what God is in his essence, but especially what he is to his children, out of his love, and from his nature, and the like is not said of any attri bute else. And what doth it signify ? Verily that God is all love, nothing but love, is made up (in his carriage towards them) as a God all of love, and so here the like. That God, in point of temptations, sufferings, trials of his children (yea, and in all things else), deals purely upon the terms and
principles of free grace, and will in the issue shew he was no other but a God of grace, and of all grace towards us, All whose ways are mercy and
love, not one excepted, Ps. xxv. 10. What it is to have God to be a God of grace to us. Now, brethren, do you indeed know what this means, the God of grace, or the grace of God ? Or what it is to have God to be a God of grace to
your souls ? To know this in reality, as it is in God toward us, our apostle makes it the periphrasis, the very character of a man savingly converted, If
so be ye have tasted that God is gracious, 1 Pet. ii. 3. My meaning is not to enumerate all particulars, in respect of which God is a God of grace to us. It is not requisite to the subject I pro fess to handle (which is my main scope), and indeed it would be infinite ; for that would comprehend all the ways wherein God is gracious, all the
benefits bestowed, all the acts of grace which God hath done or does for
us, all the workings of grace in us, the whole of what Christ did, which
is styled the grace of Christ, by which we are saved, Acts xv. 11, in a
word, the whole gospel, and all contained therein, is therefore entitled, the grace of God. I shall first reduce all unto three general heads, which I shall in time and in their order treat only of, and that in generals. There is a threefold grace in God :
1. His purposing grace afore this world, and still continued in his heart.
2. Dispensatory grace in the world, or his gracious dealings with, and
giving forth of grace to us.
3. The riches of grace that are in his nature. The grace of his nature moved him to form up all sorts of purposes of
grace within himself, and then he dispenseth grace exactly according to those
his purposes. And then again, the riches of grace in his nature are such, and so vast, as they have wherewith to maintain and make good both these. The grace in his nature is the fountain, the spring ; the grace of his purposes
is the well-head, and the grace in his dealings and dispensations are the
streams. When I come to the next head, his being the God of all grace, I
shall then speak to the first and latter of these ; but in treating of this his
being a God of grace, I shall speak of the grace in his heart, or his pur poses of grace toward us, which are by the Psalmist, Ps. xl. 5, and the pro-
236 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
phet, termed his thoughts of peace and mercy, which in his heart he hath
taken up towards us, or which he thinks towards us, as the prophet s word is, Jer. xx. 11. Nor yet shall I speak of all of these his thoughts neither ; for
* Thy thoughts, God, which are to us-ward, cannot be reckoned up in order, Ps. xl. 5. But I shall insist but upon such
as the Psalmist says,
particulars only, as directly serve to the point afore us, of his carrying us
through all temptations unto glory.
1. And to speak of this his purposing grace first the text itself invites,
yea, requires us ; for it manifestly speaks of that grace which God had in
his heart to us afore he calls us, and out of which he calls us, and which moved him thereunto, as that parallel place in 2 Tim. i. 9 more expressly shews : Who hath called us with an holy calling, not according to our
works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in
Christ Jesus before the world began. We are apparently then sent to con
sider that purposing grace which was given us in Christ afore the world was ; for as here, so there, it is declared to be that grace out of which we are
called with an holy calling, and is rightly styled his purposing grace ; for
* according to his purpose and grace, &c. And that of the apostle, Rom.
viii., concords with both, The called according to his purpose. Begin we with that then.
(1.) The first act of which grace towards us, and by which, indeed, it is that he first becomes a God of grace to us, is seen in the choosing and
singling forth the persons of those he purposes to be a God of grace unto, who are to be the objects or subjects, or rather the creatures of free grace, as I may so style them. Election of the persons, therefore, is styled the
election of grace, Rom. xi. 9, and this is the fundamental grace and act of
* The foundation of the Lord remains sure ; the Lord knows who are his ; and this the us, not others, in the text imports,
all other graces, which are all built upon it :
* who hath called ws, out of his being first a God of grace to -w; which word, when I shall in its order come to treat of, I shall then
enlarge upon this discriminating grace.
(2.) To be a God of grace to you is to love you (your persons) merely because he loves you. I say merely because he loves you. The very word
grace imports so much, without any addition. Grace is the freeness of love ; the import of it is a super-addition of freeness both to mercy and love: Rom. iii. 24,
* Justified freely by his grace; Hos. xiv., Receive us
graciously, said the church in her prayer, ver. 2 ; in answer to which, says God, I will love them freely. This is grace ; which freeness of grace, because it was first put forth, and was primarily seen, in that first act of the choice of the persons, afore they had done good or evil, to invite him
thereunto, therefore it is that it is termed the election of grace ; that is, it was such a choice of persons as grace merely swayed, it choosing accord
ing to its own genius, frank inclination, nobleness, and free disposition. And what that was, follows : ver. 6, And if by grace, then it is no more of works (distinguish you of works as you please, it excludes them all) ; grace affected therein to be so absolute, entire, and alone, to and within itself, as
it riseth up against all works, and their intermingling any respects of
; them selves therewith, as those which should any way sway or move it in this its resoluteness about persons, and as those that would stain that sole glory that it affected therein ; yea, as being opposite to the very being of it, other wise grace is no more grace, says he. And he speaks all this of electing grace, as the coherence specified shews.
Now this second assertion, I stated it thus, He loved us merely because he loved us. And lo ! this we have in terminis : Deut. vii. 7, 8, The Lord
CHAP. I.] OF ELECTION. 287
did not set his love upon you, nor choose you because ye were more in number; but because the Lord loved you. Where you have two things
: the act, and the ground of that act. 1. The act is his loving them, cleaving to them in love, as the original hath it, ver. 7. For in his saying,
* The Lord did not set his love upon you for your number, there is the most
pregnant supposition and vehement affirmation that he had set his love upon them upon some other respect and ground ; and that negative not relates but to the removal of what was not the cause of that love. 2. The ground or motive to that act is set out not barely negatively, as was said, not for
your number ; and by the same reason, not for any other qualifications in
them, as of righteousness or the like, which he after also doth as expressly name and exclude : Deut. ix. 5, 6, Not for thy righteousness, or the up rightness of thy heart, &c. For what then ? The positive ground is, But because he loved you, which, indeed, is but what he supposeth, and had affirmed sufficiently afore in ver. 7, and yet comes in again with an indignation, purely to shew that this was the only ground or reason itself of that act of his having set his love upon them,
4 because he loved, &c. ; and it is ushered in and amplified with a but, as in
opposition unto, and with an exclusion of all other things in the elect them
selves that might have any supposition of being motives to him thereunto.
* The Lord did set his love upon you, unto these first words of the 8th, but be cause he loved you, that is, put the act, and this as the ground, together, and the issue and result is as if he had said, The Lord loved you because he loved you, and for no reason else as in you, but for this alone in himself, and in his heart taken up towards you, and so loved you merely because he loved you. That is his reason, which were the words of this third assertion
So, then, there being but that supposed insinuation in the 7th verse,
at first. And though it be spoken of the election of them in time unto that
good land, as in the type, yet as shadowing forth his election to glory as the substance of both.
3. For God, to be a God of grace to you, is to resolve to love you, and
that for ever ; to be unchangeable in his love, and never to have his heart taken off you.
There are two words in the text, for upon the text I would found each and
every of these heads, and all along.
(1.) That he is such a God of grace to us, as, in calling, he calleth us
into his eternal glory, no less, at the very first entrance. He doth not say he hath called us into grace only, or unto his favour, but into glory, and
* eternal glory; that is, by calling he estates us into the whole and full right thereof for ever. The meaning whereof, what is it, but that he culls us out
of such a grace and love as he did, and doth resolve to be a God of grace to
us for everlasting, and therefore calls us past recalling, Rom. xi. 29, even
into eternal glory ? A God of all grace indeed !
(2.) The second word is underground, and not rendered by our interpreters ;
for having said this first, that he is a God of all grace, who hath called us
into eternal glory, then proceeding on, duro f, He, says he, the same God,
will perfect you, &c., which durog, there placed, repeats and draws in that former clause into itself, and carries it on to the rest ; and so is, as if he had said, He, this sam,e God of grace, whom I have thus set out, and who hath called you, he will preserve you by settling, &c., and so bring you
infallibly unto that glory. So then the mind of it is, that first and last, and
all along, he is a God of grace in all. He was a God of all grace to you in
loving you afore calling, and out of that grace it was he called you, and he
continues the same after calling, to restore you, semper idem, always the
238 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
same, from eternity to eternity, I am God, I change not (of which more
afterwards, upon James i.). He speaks it of his love to his people, there
fore ye are not consumed, and the ground of this continuance and stedfastness of his love is merely because he is a God of grace to them : Whom he
loved, he loved unto the end, John xiii. 1. Grace causeth him first to fall
in love, and that fixeth his heart ; his heart is said to cleave in love, Deut.
vii. 7 (the word the same that is used of Shechem to Dinah, Gen. xxxiv. 8). But hear free grace itself speak in its own free and proper language and native tongue, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious. It was
spoken to God by Moses* first, God thereby expressing his having chosen
him, Exod. xxxiii. 19, and then applied by the apostle to all the chosen of God, Rom. ix. 15. It is spoken like grace itself, which is moved by and from nothing but himself, and which hath no other reason but itself within him. He loves because he loves ; so at first, Deut. vii. And he will love because he will love, stat pro ratione voluntas, that is all his reason. There
is will upon will ; I will and I will. Grace is the most resolved (I had almost
said), wilful principle in the heart of God. If in other purposes of his you find his resolution fixed, as Isa. xiv. 27, The Lord of hosts hath purposed
it, and who shall disannul it ? much more in this matter ; and the reason
is evident, for acts of grace are not barely acts of his will, but of his good
will, and of the good pleasure of his will, Eph. i. 5. In which he is
delighted, Deut. x. 15 ; and rejoiceth with his whole heart, and his whole
soul, Jer. xxxii. 41. The property of grace is to love because it will, there fore to love whilst he hath a will, or love to love withal.
4. This grace thus fixed in God s will is the most sovereign and pre dominant principlein the heart of God, to overrule all other things he willeth, so as effectually to carry on his resolutions of free grace. Grace, as it is the most resolute, so the most absolute principle in the heart of God ; unto
* the throne of grace ? Heb.
it belongeththe dominion. What means else
iv. 16. And why else is it said, to reign unto eternal life ? Rom. v. 21. You find this round about the text in the words afore, ver. 6, 7, Humble
yourselves under (or submit to) his mighty hand, that is, his sovereign power, that will exalt you in due time ; so ver. 6, after which follows,
* Who is a God that careth for you, ver. 7. All which is carried down to this head of his being a God of all grace. Then in the next words to
those, The God of all grace will establish you, &c., it follows, verse 11, To him be glory and dominion for ever ; that is, to him as a God of all
grace, who professedly deals thus graciously with his people. The effect of both is, that he being a God of all grace, to whom the dominion belongs ; therefore give yourselves up to him as such a God, whose grace in caring for
you, and exalting of you, hath the sovereignty.
And this sovereignty of his grace is given to it, not only in respect of all
things out of God, that should be supposed to stand in the way to its reso
lutions, but is attributed unto it as in a comparison to all other the attributes in God himself, all which come in and give up their interest as to the accomplishing free-grace designs, which were the supreme and top designs that were to be found in the heart of God. Thus in the first and second chapter to the Ephesians, where he mentions other attributes as having a hand in our salvation, he magnifies the wisdom of God discovered therein, ver. 8, as also the exceeding greatness of his power therein, ver. 19, yet he sets the crown on free grace its head, all to the praise and glory of his grace, so ver. 6. And in reason that must be acknowledged to have the dominion, that hath the principal glory, as that for the glory of * Qu. by God lo Moses ? ED.
CHAP. L] F ELECTION. 239
which all was at first designed. Now the whole of all spiritual blessings
(particularly election, predestination, redemption, &c., Eph. i. 4-6) are all
* to the praise of the glory of his grace, ver. 6. Yea, those other
said to be
attributes employed in this work, although they are to have their proper
glory out of our salvation, yet in the work of our salvation they have but as
it were an acting under free grace, to effect what it designs ; they put in
their joint stock indeed, but are content that their glory should come in to
them, so far as they subserve this glorious grace in its contrivements.
If any hereupon shall query, Is this the prerogative of grace which you mean, that it saves men, continue they what they will, and so saves them
merely out of an absolute sovereignty, because it will save them ?
Ans. 1. God forbid. We defy* such a sovereignty so understood, as if
it saved any man without rule, much less against rule. The very text, that
speaks as high of grace as any other Scripture, yet when it styles him The God of all grace, as in relation to our salvation, adds,
* who hath called us,
as without which all the grace in God would not be able to save a man ; and that
* Who hath saved us, and called us with
calling is to be an holy calling too,
an holy calling, according to his grace ; without holiness no man shall see
the face of God. The reason of this is, that this dominion and monarchy of grace hath fundamental laws, as all well regulated monarchies have. Let
this foundation of the Lord be never so sure, that the Lord knows who are
his, yet it is added, Let him that calls on the name of the Lord depart from iniquity, 2 Tim. ii. 19, or he cannot be saved.
Ans. 2. If by prerogative and sovereignty be meant an effectual, infallible,
over-bearing, over-powering all in our hearts, and all things else for the
bringing about of our salvation, and enabling us to keep those rules that are
set us as essentially requisite to "salvation, then from such a sovereignty and
prerogative we detract not to affirm, that it is attributed to grace. And
there is nothing that may be supposed to stand in its way, or in opposition
to this, but, forsooth, man s freewill ; as if God had made a creature, which
himself, and all in him, could not rule ; and that such a sovereignty is in
his grace, as that it engageth all in God, and draws all in him, unto its
assistance ; this we are not ashamed to affirm. And look as grace complies with all those other attributes, as with his holiness, wisdom, &c., in setting such rules, so withal it draws those other attributes into an engagement, to
undertake to assist it for the keeping us, and our otherwise perverse wills,
within the compass of such rules, and to overcome all opposition to the con
trary ; and herein it is that grace its prerogative is seen. In the strength
of which it is that, Jer. xxxii. 40, God maketh an everlasting and so abso
* That I will turn not away from them to do them
lute a covenant with us,
good. But what ? Is this spoken in so absolute a manner, that let them con
tinue to do what they shall or would do, however he will continue to do them good for ever ? No. But
* I will put my fear in their hearts, that
they shall not depart from me, and he adds, for ever. The result whereof
is plainly this, that unless they have the fear of God preserved so in their
hearts, as not to depart from him, God himself must turn away from them, and from doing them good ; and so it is manifest that God considered that
as one of his own rules he could never dispense withal, and this whilst he
uttered that everlasting promise ; for he cautioneth it there with a but (for with a but it comes in)
: But I will put my fear in their hearts, and they
shall not depart from me for ever. The resolve of all which is to this effect,
that that very same grace, which at first had so fixed him as to say, I am
resolved, I will not turn away from them ; the same grace undertook to * Qu. deny ? ED.
240 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
cause them to observe and keep this rule, and unto that end engageth all
that is in God (for elsewhere it is said, He doth this with his whole heart ) to put his fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart, that is, wickedly
depart, from him. Now unless it were for this his undertaking to work thus
in them, God by the mouth of the same Jeremiah professedly declares, he would never save them. Thus chap. iii. 19, How shall I put thee among the children ? so wicked wretches as he had described them in ver. 4, 5, Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth ? Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou
couldest. God demurs, as it were, upon the matter : what shall I, then, do to put thee among my children ? Thy present wickedness is utterly incompatible with my rule, therefore how shall I do it ? But free-grace steps forth and answers it, and I said, Thou shalt call me Father, and shalt not turn away from me ; and then God says, I will work on them at last. The
effect of which resolve of his is, I will cause him to keep my rule, and so
bring him within the compass of the benefit of it.
5. This grace, this purposing grace in God s heart, had the ordering and
dispositive power of all left to it, that is, of what should prove opposite, to
see to it that it should not hinder ; or, secondly, the disposing of all neces
sarily conducing to the salvation of those God loved.
And in the general there is this reason by way of deduction from the
former, that if it had the sceptre, the throne (as was shewn), then the dispos
ing power of all, the legislative or dispositive power, always follows the dominion.
But particularly in reason, if grace had all the power given up to it, then, to be sure, it would continue and forelay all things so (as to this point of
perseverance) as to make sure work : That the purpose of God, according to election, which indeed is no other than free-grace s purpose in God s
.* might stand, as Rom. ix. 11, and not be defeated, frustrated, or overthrown ; or as elsewhere, it would lay such a foundation as might not stand only, but
heart,
* stand sure, as 2 Tim. ii. 19. Certainly free-grace that
sat in the throne, among all the other attributes of God, would see to this.
It had all that God should purpose to do before it, all in his hands to dis
pose of ; and the heart of God being, through his grace, so full of those two
great interests mentioned, 1. Of such a love to those whom he was pleased to love ; 2. The other of exalting the glory of that his love in their salvation;
certainly, it would contrive all that should befall us so, as should advance these two interests most. God was now to set down his will, and gave to
free-grace the commission to draw up the writings, conveyances, and deeds, with this charge, to be sure to make all sure. And all this, though after the manner of men set out by me, you will find up and down in the Scriptures
singly and apart. I shall single forth one place or two, which speak home, in terminis, to the substance of the words I have now delivered this fifth assertion in.
In 2 Sam. xxiii. 5, when David came to die, and then had the prospect of all God s foregone dealings throughout his whole life, what doth he resolve the whole manage of his salvation, he now expected, into ? God hath made an everlasting covenant with me, ordered in all things, and sure : for this is
all my salvation. I quote it as being a full and adequate proof to every word of this fifth head.
(1.) This covenant was the covenant of grace, as you ordinarily style it, and it carries that name from all the other attributes ; for, indeed, free-grace made that covenant, and contrived it, and brought God himself under the
bond^of it. To confirm which, compare Isa. Iv. 3, An everlasting covenant,
CHAP. I.] OF ELECTION. 241
the sure mercies of David, this passage in Isaiah eminently alludes to this
speech of David at his death, it is mercy s covenant then you see ; and to
say, it is mercy s covenant, is all one as to say, free-grace s covenant ; and
observe, it is called sure mercy ; and sure mercy will be sure to make a
sure covenant.
(2.) This grace, the great covenant-maker there, having all in God to
concur with itself, and all that should come from God at its disposure, it is
said to have ordered matters, so as to effect and bring about its purpose. The three versions render the word made ready and prepared ; and what
is predestination but praparatio beneficiorum Dei, as Austin of old hath it ?
(3.) And thirdly, ordered all things, not a few passages or events only, but all that should concern David, or befall him, even all and every one ; which designment David, in Ps. lix. 10, calls his mercy, properly and per
sonally set out for him.
(4.) And all and each unto what end or issue, but unto David s salvation?
4 This is all my salvation.
(5.) And all things ordered so firmly as to make sure work to arrive at
that, and bring David to that end, and issue, and period at the last. And
this David had so clearly discerned throughout the whole course of his life,
in the chain and series of things that befell him, as at his death, upon the
view of all he saw by experience, besides his faith on the promises, that the whole had been, and must needs be a plotted, contrived design by God, that
it could be no other ; and therefore it is, that now he set his seal and testi mony to this at death ; I have found it so upon the view of all the passages of my life. And in like tenor of speech to this, God speaks in general of all his works :
1 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning, yea, eternity, Acts
xv. 18 (which speech yet is spoken by the apostle James, with a particular aim and relation unto his decrees about the salvation of the Gentiles, and
casting off the Jews, as the verses before and after shew). As likewise that
speech, that he disposeth the whole world, Job xxxiv. 13 ; a word near of
kin to this of ordering all things, used by David in his case, but in a more
special manner. He useth this word, or what is equivalent to it, in other
scriptures, viz., that he hath set in order and appointed his own people, and what belongs to them or concerns them.
You have this in terminis : Isa. xliv. 7, And who, as I, shall call, and
declare it, and set it in order for me (and that he speaks of all his works), but it follows,
* since or seeing that it was I that appointed the ancient
people ; and the things that are coming, and shall come. God here takes on him, to himself alone, the declaring things to come, upon this invincible
reason, that he had the setting in order of all things in his eternal purposes, and the calling of things that are not, or were not, into being ; and there
fore he alone can foretell them, none having been his counsellor ; for when
* who shall set in order for me ? it implies that himself did, and none for him, or besides him. And that word setting in order imports his
he says,
having all afore him, even as now our compositors or printers have their
letters, which they place and cause to stand fixed every tittle in order to
impression ; and so things in his counsels stand fixed and ready to be
brought into existence, and are all so setly placed as nothing can be added
thereunto ; and therefore, no wonder, says God, I can declare things to
come.
But then, secondly, for a visible evidence of this, he produceth this one
singular eminent instance for all the rest, what he had declared and ordered
VOL. ix. Q
242 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IY.
* since I appointed the ancient people, and the
concerning his own people
things that are coming, and shall come. The ancient people in the Hebrew
is the people of antiquity or of eternity, that is, in the time past ; as the word is used in Isa. xliv. 15, 17, and imports how from everlasting, afore the
world, he had singled them forth, and appointed them, and accordingly had
set in order all things about them, as it there follows ; and in respect unto
this also it is that in the verse he had said, I am the first. And herein lies God s argument, or the evidence I speak of: Lo, I have ordered by appointment and decree from everlasting all things about this my so ancient people, and accordingly have in my Scriptures, which you all may read, things about them which have come to pass many of them already, and many other I have appointed too, which shall assuredly come to pass ; and therefore all the world may be convinced that I have set in order all other things, and only can declare them aforehand.
I understand the word translated since, not for a note of time, as if he had meant since the time, &c., but as a note of evidence, or inference alleged, or
of appeal unto ; that is, since that, or seeing that, I have done thus and thus about my ancient people, you may be assured, says God, that I have ordered
all other things else, and only can declare them.
And for the confirmation of this concerning my own people, I refer you, says God, to all that I have written in all my Scriptures hitherto, and for whose sake it was I wrote them, from Moses s to Isaiah s times, whereof a word hath not fallen to the ground ; yea, and I began to declare sundry things about them when there was not one man of them born, but Abraham him
self, to whom I first declared it, Gen. xiii. 16 and xv. 5, so as all the world may thereby see that I alone have disposed and ordered all things else, having exercised my grace and wisdom so exactly herein towards these my chosen ones, and the first-fruits of my creation. I shall cast in another
passage of David s ; in Psalm Ixi, he having declared in his own behalf the
purpose of God toward him for everlasting salvation, he, speaking of him
self, shall abide before God for ever, ver. 7 ; he withal considering what he was to run through in this life, and what it might require to keep him unto the end, and so for ever, doth presently thereupon, in way of prayer, subjoin, Oh prepare mercy and truth, which may preserve me. As if he had said, I have yet a long journey to go, and through many hazards, and
thy promise is, I shall abide afore thee for ever. Lord, thou hast need
lay up and aforehand prepare an abundance of mercy and truth to preserve me for time to come. I have cited this and that other passage of David s, rather than any other scriptures (which abound as to the effect of this asser
tion), to gain the advantage and light which this word ordering, first used by David, gives to this great point in hand, and yet is indeed no other than in the plain song of it, and in fuller terms more largely, you find in the apostle, Kom. viii. 28-30, And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called ; and whom he
called, them he also justified ; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. And the real issue of all is this, that if God did thus appoint them afore the world was unto salvation, as Eph. i. 3, 2 Thes. ii. 13, then also he ordered and disposed all that should fall out to them, or from themselves, in this world, so as they should no way disannul their salvation, but work together for it: * so as neither life nor death, &c. You know the triumph in the conclusion of that Rom. viii., that as it is said of the law, that coming four hundred years
CHAP. I.] OF ELECTION. 243
after the promise, Gal. iii. 17, it can never make the promise of none effect, so here.
(6.) Now, sixthly, if all things were thus ordered aforehand to the salva
tion of them, then specially all their temptations, sufferings, distresses, sins, are so either prevented or precluded ; as Psalm lix. 10, The God of my mercy shall prevent me, or so disposed, overruled, and succeeded with
repentances, reducements, and eluctances out of them, and all so forelaid
together with the temptations, that there is a sureness (which is David s
word), yea, an impossibility (which is Christ s), that they should miscarry by
all or any of these. And unto this his special ordering of temptations, our
apostle in these words of the text, and in what is round about it, hath a
special and particular eye and aim ; and as in the whole,, so in several words
points at it.
[1.] He first particularly and expressly sets out temptations, &c., as the
object-matter about which his discourse was intended, under the name of
sufferings from Satan, as hath been shewn.
[2.] He then had presented God as aforehand, ver. 6-, to be a God that
careth for us, in reference unto those temptations ; as one whose vigilant and foreknowing care is taken up, and busied both over us and thosa our
sufferings. And it is the property of care, you all know, in one that is wise and able to foresee, and order a prevention or relief; and it is accordingly often synonymously expressed by forecast, to forelay and provide against.
[8.] To this scope also it is that he draws our eyes upon, and would have us look at God, in all these things that so fall out, as upon a sovereign God, that hath a mighty hand in bringing them upon us (with which accords
that in Acts iv. 28 concerning Christ our pattern, to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done ), and then in delivering us from under them, and who hath a prerogative, a power, to order them, sub due them, &c. ; and withal a God of all grace, which grace makes him will
ing to exercise and use that sovereignty towards us, and this in relation unto
all that may depress us or cast us down, as those words, ver. 5, clearly shew,
4 Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you, &c. Such a prerogative hand it is, as he is said to have brought Israel with out of Egypt, and destroyed the Egyptians ; whereof the same and like
phrase is used Exodus xiv. 81, xxxii. 11, Deut. iii, 24, and by which Christ was incarnate, and he blessed virgin conceived, Luke i. 49-51.
[4.] And farther, he declares how in those sufferings and depressments that his prerogative hath a design upon you to exalt you the more in the
* Humble yourselves, that he may exalt you ; with which that of David accords, Thou hast lifted me up, and cast me down, Ps. cii. 10.
issue :
[5.J Yea, fifthly, And hath in his eye a time, a due time to exalt you
* in due time, in a set time to have mercy ; so as it follows in the 13th verse of that psalm.
again, in that he may exalt you
[6.] He again tells us, God hath set both the time how long, and the measure how much, after ye have suffered, oX/yov, which is translated,
* a
little while, as for time only, but signifies both a little space, for the time, and also but a little deal, for the measure ; yea, and he has so designed
this, that you shall not be exalted afore, but after that ye have suffered first :
all these having been thus ordered by him, out of his prerogative or sove
reign power, and out of his care moderating them.
[7.] And then, seventhly, He declares his design to be to perfect and sta-
blish, &c., after all these sufferings ; not reduce you only, or bring you forth
: What can be more manifest than that this design is driven in all these ?
of them, but bring you to a perfection thereby
244 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
[8.J But lastly, If you require the word appointed to be given, as used hereof, you may discern and find it in the word accomplished ; Knowing the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren in the world ; and an accomplishment,* we know, is but the fulfilling of what was afore designed, of which afterwards.
So as the text confirms every tittle of the assertion, and so sufficiently, as I shall not need call in the help of any other Scripture. The main conclusion by way of inference from hence is, that if things be thus, then there is an absolute sureness, unto an impossibility of a miscar
riage, which, as I said, Christ himself pronounced concerning the elect in the very case of hazard from temptations. One impossible is used of God s promise and oath pawned to his covenant of grace, and his decrees thereof, Heb.
yi. 18 ; and the other, or rather the same, is used by Christ his coun sellor -in the very case in hand, namely, of temptations ; such as if it were possible the elect should be deceived. And well he might ; for God hath ordered and taken care of all, out of a prerogative and grace. God foresees the objection, and hath the answer ready. He permits the wound, the poi son, and hath the antidote, the salve ready. This you have in terminis : Isa. Ivii. 17, 18, For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him : I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart. I have seen his ways, and wilbheal him; I will lead him also, and restore comforts, &c. It is the worst extremity supposable. He suffers, and moderates the temptation, and appoints the issue, the escape, the outlet of it ; this is also in terminis : 1 Cor. x. 13,
< There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man : but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able ; but will with the tempta tion also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. If a great and gracious prince, being to send his son on -an embassy into a far country, where there are many dangers and hazards to run through from thieves and enemies ; but withal if he did punctually foreknow all the coun sels of enemies, their motions as God speaks of Sennacherib, 1 know thy .abode, &c., at what passages they will lurk and lie in wait (as God did of the King of Syria, 2 Kings ii. 8, &c., at such and such a place, as there), and then withal should send an invisible guard (that is invisible as to the enemies) stronger, than they, secretly to accompany them, as he did to the prophet Elisha, either to bring them off when in extremity, or to give them secret warnings to beware at such a time, as in that case, 1 Kings vi. 10, the prophet from God did the king ; or in case they would be too hard for them, then either not suffer them to assault at all, or to befool them, as the prophet in the same chapter did that great host in the way, at Dothan, ver.
14, 15, 19, &e. In this case, if all be thus certainly forelaid, although they may hardly escape sometime, yet they will certainly come to their journey s end, be it never so long. Now this is the very case here : 1 Pet. i. 5, We are kept as with a guard of soldiers unto salvation, says the apostle there ; and God knows how to preserve the righteous, as in 2 Pet. ii., and suffers not the temptation to assault, .unless there be need, as in 1 Pet. i. 6,
< Wherein ye greatly rejoice : though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through ma-nifold temptations .; and only to the end to glorify his grace in the issue, as ver 7 it follows : That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour, and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ. And God hath infinite and strange ways to keep and preserve them from sin, and to deliver
* Gerard on that word.
CHAP. I.] OF ELECTION. 245
out of temptation. Sarah, when in bed with Abimelech, as some have
thought, I restrained thee, says God to Abimelech ; so Joseph s brethren were withheld from killing him ; and David was kept from cruelty and rage by Abigail s wisdom : 1 Sam. xxv. 22, compared with ver. 32-34, David
said to Abigail, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this day to meet me : and blessed be thy advice, and blessed be thou r which hast
kept me this day from coming to shed blood, and from avenging myself with my own hand. For in very deed, as the Lord God of Israel liveth, which
hath kept me back from hurting thee, except thou hadst hasted and come to meet me, surely there had not been left to Nabal, by the morning light, any that pisseth against the wall. In this case, though the righteous may be
scarcely saved, as the same Peter speaks, yet they are surely saved ; for
all that hinders is ordered and contrived. Or, to give another instance : The authors and contrivers of romances, or feigned stories, they usually
design with themselves to exalt and magnify such and such persons, whom
they make great and glorious in the end, or conclusion and issue, but do tell
you stories about them first, and all along, of the greatest hazards, encoun
ters, perils, difficulties, and extremities by the way, which they run through; and those often such, as he that reads stands wondering, how and by what means they shall be delivered out of them ; but still the author of them hath
aforehand invented ways by which deliverances, rationally supposable, should
still be wrought unto a glory. And this is a rule and law observed by such,
in framing such stories, that they will be sure never to set down such or
such perils, or put them into writing, if they had not aforehand the thoughts
and ideas of rational ways of delivering them out of them, and themselves
being the fictioners and framers of all those stories, both of the one and the
other, have all afore them of what they do invent to set down, as their plea sure is, they can and may afore-hand order and frame a thousand distresses, and still as many strange deliverances as they will, yet so as to be sure to make a pleasant and joyful close at last.
Now the great and sovereign God had the sole power and sovereignty of
ordering and disposing of all about his people of antiquity afore the world
was, or themselves were ; and, to be sure, he could unto a reality of effect,
contrive, and with an infallibility dispose of the various conditions, and the
issues and events of them, and of all things about them, with such an inter
changeable mixture dispersed amongst them, as his wisdom saw meet : and
his grace designing glory at last invincibly to be the goal or prize to be
attained, his wisdom and grace can and will order all, so as to be sure of that
event ; and he doth, and could do this, and effectually carry it on with more
facility and easiness, than ever the greatest wits can or have done their pro
jections and intentions, concerning those issues of their fancies, as they set
themselves to magnify and exalt them. Our very thoughts and purposes
are far less the creatures and figments of our minds (which yet they are
styled, Heb. iv. 12, 13, compared with Gen. vi. 5), than all things that really
are come to pass and exist, and are brought into being (as ^the apostle s
word is), which he calls into being, Eom. iv., and that in their existences,
that are or were the creatures of his infinite power, wisdom, and sovereignty,
for whose pleasure they were created, Eev. iv. 11 ; and he can and doth
bring all his resolved thoughts and contrivances that come into his mind, his
will "and purpose, more easily to pass, than the greatest understanding can
invent, or having invented, can set down in writing, the imaginations and
fictions of his brain ; yea, and God can and doth so order them, as to be
,sure to bring it to pass, For who hath resisted his will ? And it is as
.certain, for it is the grand proviso and work committed to free-grace to see
246 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
to it in this disposement, that no temptation should be brought upon any of his, which he had not in his purpose a sure and effectual way to bring them out of.
You have had a brief doctrinal scheme, what it is for God to be a God of
grace in his purposes about us, specially in his fore-ordering sins, tempta
tions, and then reducements and deliverances forth of them, or preventings of them, hitherto delivered, but as in an assertory way.
And the two or three latter of those assertions were, as you have seen, founded chiefly upon that speech of David s on his death-bed, uttered to
God, Thou hast made a covenant with me, ordered in all things, and
sure, &c. In which you have heard of David s faith about this great point in hand.
* This is all my salvation, said he, and so closeth up his eyes. It may not be amiss to take in David s experiments also, upon the view of which it was
that he uttered this at his death. And for a further encouragement unto
this, let us have recourse unto another speech of his, a little afore his death
(for it was upon the occasion of one of the last acts he did that he spake it), wherein he indeed refers us to the whole story of his life, as a most magnific exemplification of the truth of the performance of that covenant. And
hereupon, as we use to subjoin examples unto rules in teaching arts, which add no small illustration to those rules, so I shall produce and join unto those two latter assertions or maxims before given about covenant grace, David his trials and emergings out of them throughout his whole life ; in which will rise up and appear an ocular demonstration of what hath been but assertorily delivered, specially in those two last, and in the whole of the main conclusion which was from them last inferred.
The passage is in 1 Kings i. 29, And the king sware, and said, As the Lord liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress, &c., wherein, in this last public scene of his life, which was the crowning of his successor, his son Solomon, he sums up the whole in a general protestation or oath, made both unto God and for God, the matter of which in effect is this, That look as God had promised him in that covenant of grace, that even so he had exactly performed for him in every point and tittle, and therefore would perform that remaining part of his promise, concerning his son Solo mon, yet left behind to be fulfilled.
Concerning which, take it as it is an oath for God, and about his faith fulness to him, I shall afterwards enlarge in the close of this head ; but in the mean time, it fairly leads us into the examination and view of the
passages of David s whole life, that are recorded (for he refers us, as you see, thereunto) in the narrative of which you will perceive and discern all
things about him had been indeed ordered and made sure, in the manner we have been discoursing.
Now, in the story of David s life, his ordering grace appeared both, 1. In his being preserved in the midst of all outward distresses and hazards to his person, which were and had been temptations to him to try his faith.
2. And, secondly, in his sins, which were his greatest trials, together with repentances and returnings out of them.
The first had been from Satan and his own heart, 1 Chron. xxi. 1 ; the other from God ; and yet all so ordered, as he was safely and surely carried
through unto salvation in the issue.
I join both these two together ; for his very outward distresses and deli verances from dangers were a type, and pawn, and pledge to him of his
being kept unto salvation, which the promise of the kingdom shadowed out, and yet besides were in themselves also great trials of his faith, as to the
CHAP. L] OF ELECTION. 247
point of salvation ; and both involved in that covenant of his which hath been insisted upon.
(1.) In his being preserved and brought unto the kingdom, what a multi tude and variety of hazards, dangers, distresses, did he run through ? It were infinite to reckon up all, much more to enlarge on each. And as
* from Saul and
strange deliverances had he. He sums up all, Ps. xviii.,
all other enemies, as in the title of that psalm, afore his flight from court, in the first chapters of Samuel. And then after his flight, from other ene mies besides Saul : as from Doeg that informed Saul ; from the king of the
Philistines, whose champion Goliah he had killed, and the courtiers in formed the king it was he of whom that triumph for it was made, 1 Sam.
* And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the
xxi. 11,
king of the land ? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands ? Which is as much, in effect, as if they had said, This is he that killed Goliath. Then from the people also, that ever and anon ran and told Saul where he was
quartered, 1 Sam. xxvi. 1, and when some among them would, to gratify Saul, have given him up ; yea, from his own party, that followed him at
Ziklag, 1 Sam. xxx. 1, who speak of stoning him, ver. 1. But above all from Saul, from whom he was in jeopardy every moment, and had been so oft in danger, and so often had escaped, that his carnal reason concluded at length, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul, 1 Sam. xxvii. 1. The pitcher will be broken at last. And these all were
purposely designed by God, who would have it so, whereof this is one suffi
cient evidence ; for when he had got into a safe hold, with his father and mother with him, and with the favour of the king of Moab, in whose domi nion he was, he was commanded out of it by God and his prophet Gad, sent on purpose for that end, bidding him come into the land of Judah, yea, arid
confined him to that territory, where he was in Saul s power and dominion
perfectly. God would have it thus, and him to be within the power of this
lion, who hunted him as a flea and a partridge ; as if he had been too safe, and would have been too quiet and secure in Moab, for God to shew forth
his grace towards him, but God would have him in continual danger, to enact his grace in deliverances of him; Yet have I set my king, &c., Ps. ii. 6.
(2.) Then after he was king
* The conspiracy, it is said,
l was strong, and the people increased continually with Absalom, 2 Sam. xx. 2.
[l.J Absalom.
[2.] Then Sheba. 2 Sam. xx. 2, Every man of Israel went up from
after David, and followed Sheba. It was as great a defection, of the ten whole tribes sheer, for the time present, as that fatal one from Rehoboam
afterwards ; but God brought in the tide again to David.
[3.J Then at last Adonijah was made king, against David s mind, and
against his promise, and God s also, which was for Solomon ; And all the
kingdom was for it, and against David in it, 1 Kings ii. 15. Yet God
delivered David out of this and all his distresses, there was none he was not
delivered out of. And why ? For all these dangers and the deliverances were part of God s sure covenant, as the pawns and pledges of it, and so were one and the same time forelaid, even from eternity ; and there was no
distress designed then but there was also a deliverance out of it foreset, and
so all was ordered and made sure.
2. In the personal preservation of him unto salvation. What are the
dangers and hazards about that, but sins ? And if ever any man put free grace to it, in that respect, it was David. I may say of it, he did make
OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
bold to try whether the sure mercies of David would hold or no, hold tackling or no, he put them to it. Yet all was ordered, and his reducements out of them therewith ; and not barely to bring him off within the compass of the rules of salvation, but with an addition of a glorious issue and advantage, yea, and of triumphs unto free grace. His eminent sins were his murder, and adultery, and numbering the people. (1.) His adultery, and then murder of Uriah, as bad as bad could be. But God not only ordered the means to bring him out of it, sent Nathan the prophet to him, but his repentance also upon his ministry, the accom plishment whereof you have in Ps. li. I say, God not only forelaid these, that his salvation might not be prejudiced, but brought him off with an overplus advantage ; for what were the eminent mercies of David s life ? His son Solomon (for that any other of his children had grace we read lot), however, he was Jedidiah, the eminently beloved of God, and to whom the promise of his house was made. Now behold, and stand astonished ! It Uriah had not been killed, he had not married Bathsheba, and by her, in lawful marriage, it was he had Solomon ; yea, and his repentance was so accepted by God, that (stand astonished at it) he had Solomon for a reward (see Ps. cxxvn., the title, compared with ver. 3), to be sure not of his sins, but
ot his repentance, that was fore-ordered to follow his sin.
(2.) A second sin was his numbering the people, and provoked thereunto
itan ; and how many more we know not. This was ordered, and his repentance, and the issue of it is as glorious as the other. One of the most
>us things or promises spoken of, was God s choice of a place whither they should bring their sacrifices, where the temple was to stand, and where aod was to meet his people worshipping of him, the highest type of Christ; and where that place should be, was reserved as a great secret for four hun dred years. Lo, and behold how God ordered it ; David comes to profess a public repentance with the elders ; the angel directs him by Gad to go and set up an altar in the threshing-floor of Arawnah, 1 Chron. xxi. 18, and David sacrificed there, ver. 28, though the ark was at Gibeon, ver. 29. But
J Read^ Xxii * Then David said
T V
The hZ f 6 *T U
> thi * the house of the Lord God; and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel And it was so revealed to him ; and from that time it was he began to prepare materials for the temple
: ver. 2, &c., And David comnded to gather together the strangers that were in the land of Israel; and n v
, stones to build the house of God ; and Vl
n m abundance &c - And Compare with these 2 Chron. iii. 1, monn M T , eg?,
.*" threshin* of Oman the Jebus te
r buiM the h USe f tbe Lord at Jerasalem in mount Moriah where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place Weren ttl TT*
"
greatest i T* m and ?efc the issues of his great* ns, by which you may judge of all the rest of the passages of his
f race itself eus now
f Undation
> and hath been of our discourse.
whole life
&X but the Lord delivered them out of all. But he seals it by
CHAP. I.] OF ELECTION. 249
experience at his death. And it is as if [he] said, If you ask me what a God
he hath been to me ; he hath been a God hath redeemed me out of all dis
tress, he hath left me in the arrear of none, not one. At their deaths,
saints have used to entitle God by what they have eminently found him to
be, and under the title and notion thereof, have recommended that God to
their friends to serve. And David here entitleth God by this, and Jacob at
his death had done the like, Gen. xliii. 16 ; yea, and as Dr Preston had
wont to say,* that he often tried God, but now he would trust him ; David
here goes further, he swears for God ; he takes his oath upon it for him :
* And the king sware and said, as the Lord liveth that redeemed me, &c. You have had confirmation enough of this head, both from the covenant^to David, and from David s example, and from his own testimony both of faith and experience at his death, given in by one of the most tried saints in the
world; even this, that God orders and contrives all distresses, temptations,
sins, aforehand, together with such issues of them as shall make salvation
sure.
Use. For you that be old disciples of Christ, let me speak to you first
(the apostle calls them so with honour, Acts xxi. 16), there are some of such
among you. You have heard all that hath been said, and you have pro fessed the truth a long time, it may be thirty, it may be forty years ; come
: you must subscribe that God is true in
hither, let me speak freely to you
this his dealing and promise, or study your case that you may subscribe it ;
I use that phrase, subscribe to the Lord, for you have it, Isa. xliv. 5. One that was a dying said, Is there not such a promise ? specifying a
special promise had taken his heart ; pray turn to it, bear witness, said
he, that this promise is true : God is faithful, and hath fulfilled his pro mise to me. The like do you, according to your experiences of his having ordered all, and carried you through hitherto, as hath been related, that as
David says, Ps. xcii. 14, The righteous shall bring forth fruit in his old
age, to shew that the Lord is upright ; that is, that he is a God of all
grace, who having called me so many years ago, hath carried me through all my temptations, and through my sins, and hath kept and brought me
hitherto. I do not inquire what your sins have been ; but some may have run into sin more than others, and perhaps scandalous ones. But I demand of you, hath not God still reduced, settled, stablished you more in
the end ? As David also says, Ps. Ixxi. 18, 19, Now also when I am old, and grey-headed, God, forsake me not ; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come. Thy
righteousness, also, God, is very high, who hast done great things
: God, who is like unto thee ? God exalts pardoning grace to some more, and
sanctifying grace to others ; he is the God of grace. Those ships that have
been in long voyages at sea, three or four years out, have gone through hot-
climates and cold, passed the equinoctial again and again, and have run
through many a difficulty, and great storms, and yet have been kept alive
at sea, as they speak, when these shall meet one another at sea near the
haven, how will they congratulate ? And old disciples should do so, that God hath kept grace alive in their souls. And I would ask you how many thousand ships have you seen cast away before your eyes ? How many
that have made shipwreck of faith and a good conscience, as the apostle
speaks ? This and that professor, that has run into this and that error
damnable, or false opinions and teachings, though all of smaller moment ;
others that have struck upon quicksands of worldly preferments, and many
split upon rocks, and yet you have been kept. This should move you to * So Dr Preston did to some of his friends.
250 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
bless this your God, the God of grace, the more. Come, let me knock at your hearts ; are none of you old professors, like old hollow oaks, who stand in the wood among professors still, and keep their stand of profession
* rain they drink in, as the apostle s word is, serves to no other end but to rot them. These are nigh unto
still, and go to ordinances, &c., but the
cursing. Or have you green fruits still growing on you, as quickly and
lively affections to God and Christ, and faith and love, as at the first, and more abounding ? 0, bless God, you are so near the haven, and lift up your hearts, your redemption draws near ; and withal raise your confidence, that that God of grace, who hath called you into his eternal glory, will keep you for it, and possess you of it shortly.