Chapter II
That God is the God of all grace dispensatoriJy. He gives supplies of grace proportionally to the needs, distresses, and temptations unto which his elect are obnoxious in the course of their lives here on earth. He is the God of all grace essentially, in that his nature contains infinite riches of grace.
He is the God of all grace, dispensatorily, or by way of performance and execution, and gracious dispensations of all sorts. This differs from that other last despatched. There was shewn how God had decreed, permissively at least, all sorts of needs and wants, sins that may possibly befall
saints, miseries of all kinds, on purpose, and with a purpose to shew himself a God of all grace, in giving supplies and reliefs thereunto ; but in this head is to be shewn that there is in God that grace, which in actu exercito will supply the needs, and de facto, doth it. He is a God of all grace execu
tively, and in respect of the effects. He hath decreed, and is engaged to be the effecter and giver forth of an all of gracious reliefs and supports ; sup plies of all sorts of wants, needs, temptations, sufferings, his elect can be supposed capable of.
I shall despatch this head by three things. 1. By proof out of the text that so it is intended. 2. An explication. 3. A confirmation of your faith added to these proofs. 1. For the first, that this sense is intended in the text, I take my obser vation from the fifth verse, where it is said, God gives grace to the humble, and it leads on to the matter of this text. That word, giveth grace, speaks the performance, a dispensing or bestowing of grace, by way of gracious effects. In his fellow apostle James, chap. iv. 6, there you find
it, He giveth more grace, quoting the same words of Scripture which the apostle Peter doth, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble. And observe the occasion of it in James ; it is spoken in relation to subduing his people s Justs, particularly lusting after envy ; so in the verses 1-5. And truly that is grace indeed; that when lust, grows high, the grace in God should provoke him to give the more grace whereby to destroy it ; unto them that humble themselves for those lusts he gives more grace to the humble. And therefore when here in the text ne goeth on to give this promise of perfecting, stablishing, strengthening it is in further prosecution of what he had begun with, and relates unto God s giving grace in the fifth verse. And so by this coherence his being styled e God of all grace is to be understood as in relation unto all sorts of gracious effects that flow from him as the God of all grace.
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 251
(1.) That other style of his, when he is said to be the God of all com
fort, as in 2 Cor. i. 3, helps likewise to clear the sense of this here, how he
* the God of all grace in the like manner. Now that is spoken in
is called
relation to effects of comforting, and what he doth (as in the Psalms it is
said, He is good, and doth good ); and so it follows, Who cornforteth us
in all our tribulations, ver. 4. And as we may say of that attribute of
goodness, that he is a God of all comforts dispensatorily, the like we say of
* God that com-
this. And again, you have it, chap. vii. 6, of that epistle,
forteth those that are cast down. It is an attribute, ab effectu, as that when he is said to be A God hearing prayer, and a God of pardons, Neh. ix. 17 (so in the Hebrew], from what he doth, He is a God pardoning
iniquity, &c.
Although this is to be added, that when in 2 Cor. i. 3, he is called the God of all comforts, this may take in his being the God of comforts objec
tive, as to us, i, e. that our souls may find in God as our chiefest good all
sorts of comforts, and in him alone. And that as God is subjective in him
self, a God of all blessedness in himself, unto himself, so all that is com
fortable in him is for our comfort. But still the direct and proper scope of
that place in its coherence, respects what he is in giving forth comforts to
his people. This parallel hath been alleged for the clearing the sense of
the phrase, the God of all grace, that is in respect of all gracious effects which the grace in God doth afford.
(2.) Secondly, Let us next come to the thing itself. Look, as when it is
* the God of all comfort, in that place afore, you easily understand
said, he is
that it is spoken respective, in relation unto all sorts of distresses and dis
comforts, &c., which the saints at any time have, and are capable of; and
so Paul interprets himself in the fourth verse, Who comfortethus in all our
tribulations. And then the meaning of that title, the God of all comforts, is, that he hath in apparatu, in a readiness, a particular special comfort to
give forth to every discomfort, and that in due time, de facto, he doth il. And then in like manner, when he is said here to be
* the God of all grace,
it must be understood as spoken respective to every want, to every need the
saints may be supposed to be in, and that God hath a proportionable grace for the supply and relief of it.
Only in the third place I add this, as touching these two which I allege as parallels, the God of all comforts, and the God of ail grace, that
though that of his being the God of all comforts serves, as I have alleged it, to clear the sense of the phrase, viz., that he is the God of all grace, unto
all sorts of gracious effects ; that yet, which tends to magnify this his style of all grace, above and beyond that of comforts (and yet that tends to our comfort too), is that these two are not adequate, or of the same commen-
suration ; but of the two, his being the God of all grace, is larger in respect of its gracious effects ; for God s dispensations of grace are larger than his
dispensations of comfort in this world. He gives grace in cases wherein he doth not give comfort, and so he is the God of all grace in a far larger extent than of all comforts, though still both are alike to be understood in
respect to effects ; yea, and often he gives most grace when not comfort, further than so as to uphold the soul from sinking. He carries on some
souls, as he did Christ at his death for a while, unto the highest gracious acts of obedience, whilst yet he vouchsafes no comfort ; witness that doleful
expression of Christ, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? when yet he was in the highest performance of obedience, obedience unto death, as the apostle aggrandizeth it. Thus in thy temptation God
influences thee with grace, secretly assisting and strengthening, when ho
252 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
affords not comforting grace to thy own sense. Carry this home with thee, thou who hast so many years been afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted.
(4.) Fourthly, And take that other epithet, coupled with this already mentioned in the same place of the Corinths, namely, the Father of mercies too ; for that is parallel also with this, the God of all grace, as to the interpretation and sense given in relation to the effects of mercies ; for mercies there so called are the works of mercy, the effects of mercy, and so often and usually styled in Scriptures. And it is not spoken in the
* the Father of mercy, but of mercies, which imports a multi
singular only,
tude, and variety of them. Now, grace here, and mercy there, are all one ; and the God of all grace is all one, as to have said, the Father of mercies ; that is, of all merciful dispensation.
This for the proof of this sense which I have given. 2. Next for explication of the thing itself.
(1.) That when it is said, there is all of dispensatory grace to be given forth, the consectary that followeth from thence is, that there is no tempta tion that doth or can befall a saint that is under the dominion of free grace, but God hath a grace prepared, to be applied in due time. It speaks that he hath a grace fitted and suited to give it forth, as need and occasion shall
require. There is no sore in the heart, but he hath a plaster ready spread for it, to be laid on in due season ; he hath cut out his grace into single plasters. The reason of this consectary is, that look as the word grace in the thing itself, is a relative to need and to temptation ; so all grace must needs be a relative to all, or any needs whatsoever. If there were any want which the liege subjects of free grace (so I shall still call them, as in re lation to the dominion of grace), are capable of, and God had not a special grace for it, he were not the God of all grace. For then the misery of these his subjects of free grace would be more extensive, and larger than his grace, which to be sure shall never be said of God. When God is said to be al mighty (which is by interpretation, the God of all power), what is the import of that ? That all matters of extremest difficulty are possible to him ; yea, nothing too hard, as Jeremiah first, chap, xxxii. 17-27; and an angel to the blessed virgin afterwards, Luke i. 35. But you will say, God may be almighty, and nothing is too hard for his power, when yet I may not be relieved, for God is said to be omnipotent, but not omnivolent ; and so he may be the God of all grace, and yet I for ever be denied in my particular case. But I reply. When you shall say he is the God of all grace, who is in himself also the God of all power, put but all grace unto all power, and the result will be, that he hath a gracious will to put forth power, and put forth all his power, and it is at grace s disposal. That he is the God of all grace, makes him all-willing ; and that he is the God of all power, speaks his ability to help according to his will, which grace hath engaged. Join, I say, but these together, according to that of the Psalmist, God hath spoken once, twice have I heard it. Power belongs to God ; also unto thee, Lord, belongeth mercy, Ps. Ixii. 11, 12. And thou that art a dependent upon, and liege subject of free grace, must needs be secure in all thy temptations for a gracious issue ; for if all grace did not serve to help in all cases that grace serves for, grace were not grace. Join God of all power, and God of all grace, and what will not be done ?
(2.) The second thing : As he hath grace for all needs, so he is a God of all grace, to give forth help as the need and occasion shall require. For need is the time and season for grace to shew itself: Heb. iv. 16, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 253
and find grace to help, in time of need. And as Solomon, 1 Kings viii. 59, frames his prayer, That God would maintain the cause of his people Israel
at all times, as the matter shall require. This is full to my joining the former and this together, for he saith at all times, as well as in all matters. If God should let slip any one due time and season for help to any one need, he were not the God of all grace ; for it is one part, and a great part of being
gracious, to relieve one s need, in time of greatest need.
(3.) That God is a God of all grace, in respect of dispensation, shews
that God takes not this title upon him, potentially ; that is, that he hath
grace in him which is able to help. But it speaks that he is a God that, de facto, in actu exercito, doth and will manifest himself to be so ; and that by instances of all sorts he will actually give full proof of his ministry or econo my of grace (that I may allude to that speech of Paul to Timothy, 2 Tim.
iv. 5). That so at latter day, he may have the honour, not only of having been the God of all grace potentially, but the God of all grace actually, and
in the performance of it ; and this is seen in sin, which is the worst of all
temptations and miseries. There is one temptation or sin, indeed, that is excluded from this grace
: 1 Cor. x. 13, There hath no temptation taken
you, but such as is human, so in the Greek. The sin against the Holy Ghost, is the devil s sin ; a settled revenge against God, and so is dis
tinguished from all other sins that are human or common to men. As
Beza, upon 1 John v. 16-18, hath observed ; and the apostle in giving that
exception in that distinction hath confirmed the general rule of all sins else, that they are capable of pardon, and the place shews that all such human
temptations may befall, and de facto, do befall some or other of the elect.
* all manner of sins shall be forgiven ; and then he adds that exception. And not sins committed before calling
Christ expressly saith of sins, that
only, but also after. For who shall limit it ? And the reason of that speech of Christ there, is the same that is here, that God is the God of all grace ; and therefore will shew all sorts of grace, in pardoning all sorts of sins ; and
as this holds true in pardoning grace, so in supporting and relieving grace. Some will be apt to say, their temptations have been such as never befell
any that have been saved. Why truly, as some persons must be the chiefest
of sinners, and yet are in heaven, so some must be miserablest for outward
trials. I go further, if thou hadst no instance of any that ever was under
the like, and knewest no particular promise or example for thy case, yet this
one manifesto of God s, that he is the God of all grace, speaks home to thy case fully and sufficiently. God said but to Paul, My grace is sufficient
for thee, and that was enough. If no man or angel could tell thee of
any, yet this is instead of all, that he is the God of all grace ; that would
reach it.
3. I shall add confirmations unto your faith, to help you in the belief
of this.
(1.) God, who is the fountain of all grace, hath given to all and each
saint, all graces, in their several degrees ; yet all for the kind that is proper to make them saints, to exercise towards himself and their brethren, with command to exercise them as opportunity and occasion shall be offered, and draws forth in some one saint or other all sorts of graces ; though in
some, one sort of grace more, and other graces in others. So as take the
whole body of them, we may call them saints of all graces, as to the exer
cises of ail graces amongst them. Hence, therefore, it invincibly follows, that God, who is himself the God of all grace, in his kind, and the Father and fountain of all grace that is in us, that he will be sure to do, and per form this.
254 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
[1.] That he hath given each, and all sorts of graces to every saint habi
tually, 2 Pet. i. 3 informs [us], He hath given us all things belonging to life and godliness. And it is spoken in imitation of God himself, of his divine nature, that as he is the God of all grace in his nature, so we have all
grace in ours ; and so it follows, ver. 4, Being made partakers of the divine nature.
[2.] He hath furnished his saints with all, and each grace, to the end
that, as occasion is, they should exercise and put forth these graces. And
accordingly in the same chapter, ver. 5, he exhorts them to add grace to
grace ; and in 2 Cor. viii. 6, he exhorts that as God had begun, so he would also finish in them the same grace also. He speaks of a particular grace of liberality to the poor saints ; and means that they should exercise
that, and by the same reason, every grace, as occasion and a fit opportunity, and just matter is offered to draw it out to others, as their need shall
require.
[3.] Take the whole body of saints, and God doth give opportunity to draw forth every sort of grace among them, all sorts of ways that grace is extendible unto, from the lowest sort to the highest. So there is no kind of
grace, no strain or vein of grace, no disposition of grace, but God will give the experiment of the acting of it in one saint or other. Shall I give you an instance of one sort of gracious dispositions, and that of the highest sort, which was put forth in one saint, as an evidence not only of what grace in any other might be raised up to ; for if any one had such a high elevation of his grace, that none [other] ever had ; yet it being the acting of his grace, the principle whereof is common to all, it will follow that the same might be raised up in any other. But also it is an evidence that any other grace of lower sort may be educed and acted in the heart of some other ; and in like manner every grace in some one or other, and that God will in such a like manner certainly do it, The note or strain which I shall mention, being as the note Ela in music, the highest that one man s voice could reach to, it will readily be yielded, that all other degrees lower may much more easily be reached by some or other ; and that they are it will shew how far the divine nature in us, that is, love to God, will stretch and extend. Think with
yourselves, how high
! Will it be ordinarily thought and imagined that to wish a man s self accursed from Christ, should ever have been found in the heart of any saint, which yet upon occasion, and a fit ground presented, hath been found in the heart of one saint, who yet professed to love Christ, and did love Christ more than any other saint we read of, to be accursed from Christ, whose enjoyment he so longed for, and so impetuously desired to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, and had been with him in the third heavens yet having before his eyes a meet occasion and opportunity, as he judged it, to put forth this act upon, God did draw it out of him, Rom. ix. 1-3. The occasion was the glory of God (as he thought) in the salvation of Israel, which would arise to God more than out of his own particular salvation alone ; in this juncture he wished himself accursed from Christ. And we may inter pret his heart in it by what was Christ s, who was made a curse for man that sinned, which was his own flesh, and in being made a curse was not separated from acting grace and love to God ; for hisgrace towards God never wrought more than when on the cross, but it was a separation from all present comfort. And thus it was in Paul s heart, who was content to have all the comfort he should have had from Christ, debarred him for ever, but not the exercise of grace, for this was of the highest. And that so he might for ever have
glorified God in the highest manner, it being with the greatest self-denial that ever was.
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 255
Now what do I infer from hence, but, 1, that there being so full and proper an occasion, or ground for Paul s grace to rise up to this elevation, and that God did draw it out accordingly ; that therefore in like manner God will
extract from out of the hearts of the rest of his saints (some or other) all, and any other sorts of graces, when the like meet occasions and opportuni
ties shall be, to draw them forth to the end, that he may give a full experi ment of all grace in the exercises of them upon all such occasions ? The second thing I infer is, that on God s part there can be in us no temptation, or need ; no case so desperate in any one that is called, but that there must be supposed that he hath in him a grace, and a love to extend and apply itself thereunto, and overcome it. Shall Paul rise up in the way of the
exercise of his grace, unto the highest strain that is supposable, and exceed God in the exercise of the grace that is in him towards us ? There is no
case but God can find in his heart a suitable grace for it ; yea, he being the God of all grace too, if there were any case more extraordinary than an
other, he would greedily take the advantage thereof to choose, and not slip so great an opportunity of shewing his grace to the uttermost to such a soul, and then certainly for the glory of his grace will do it to all, or any other
need, in some of his saints or other.
I might illustrate this by that which is the greatest opposite unto grace in
us, and that is self-love in its reign and height. Do you know, or can you imagine into what shapes this Proteus, this monster, this devil self-love, will be turned into, as occasions and circumstances one is put into, may and do draw it forth in some or other ; unto what heights of wickedness it may, by occasion, be broached forth into, what infinite varieties of its workings there
are of all sorts ? We may say, that every man s heart in this respect is the
seed of all sin ; and yet withal we may say, that every man s corruption is
not drawn forth to all, and every sort of evil ; and yet, likewise, that there
is no sort of sin, or wickedness, or strain of inordinate acting of self-love, but hath been acted, and shewn itself in some manner or other ; so as take
the whole body of mankind, and we may say, the body of sin among them hath had a completeness, as a body in the community of them ; and for
this you may read the Scriptures. Look about you throughout the world,
stories of all ages, and read your own hearts. If God should seal up to any man, as he hath done to the devils, that he will never be merciful unto them, even any man that hath had the light of the gospel with any power upon his
heart, he would certainly fly in God s face, fixed with an eternal revenge
against him, as the devils also do ; and this is but the effect of self-love, though the highest ; which is all wickedness in the nature, in the principle of it, and
dispensatorily (if I may allusively use this word in this matter), is all wicked
ness in the exercise of it, in the body of mankind. And certainly self-love
cannot be drawn out to more varieties of sinfulness, and higher actings of it, than the divine nature may be in the saints, in contrary dispositions of in
genuity to God ; and therefore, as all sins, so all graces have acted in some
saints or other towards God, and their brethren saints, even so as to die for one another (as John speaks), as the opportunity hath been. God will be
as sure to give the experiments of the workings of graces of all sorts as well
as sins, and though not in the parallel perfection for degrees, yet for kinds.
Now parallel to these things bring your sins, and temptations, all ye
saints, before the God of all grace. Will grace in us, and will sin in us,
stretch to all sorts of the actings of each supposable, and shall not God s
grace, who hath the title of the God of all grace ? He is said to be the God of all grace ; and his grace being the pattern of all ours, and infinitely exceeding it, then how much more shall he do the like, by the exerting of his
256 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
grace upon all occasions of it in all cases, yea, the worst ? Doth God de clare himself in this manner to be the God of all grace, in the high divine
principles thereof ; and shall he not, to those to whom he hath said, I will be gracious, put it forth upon all occasions, which are his opportunities to
glorify his grace by ?
(2.) Consider, secondly, how that not only our graces will thus extend, and may be thus acted, as hath been said ; but, farther, himself com mands us poor creatures, who have yet but little grace in us (narrow vessels are we in this respect), yet to abound in every grace
: 2 Cor. viii. 7, Therefore, as ye abound in every thing, in faith, and utterance, and know
ledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us ; see that ye abound in this
grace also. Observe how it is spoken concerning the relieving of the neces
sities of others in their wants, concerning which he gives this particular command, See that ye abound, as in everything, so in this grace also ; and however poor creatures fall short in the performance of these commands, yet the scope and intent of God s command is, and there is that in our
grace which might be wrought up to it, that it should be drawn out as any occasion and opportunity is offered to exercise it. Nor is there any way supposable, for so I state it, wherein to shew forth any grace, of any kind, but the intent of the command reacheth it. And do you think that God himself, that commands this of us, and that professeth this style of him
self, that he is the God of all grace, in order to the relieving of our wants, whom he hath taken care of, do you think he will not abundantly supply you ? As in the seventh verse of this chapter in Peter, the apostle hath aforehand assured us, for in that he saith, he declares himself to be the God of all grace to his called ones ; it doth not only shew what he is in himself, but it intimates and insinuates a promise of shewing himself the God of all grace to them ; and if in these bis commands he doth bind and oblige us unto obedience, then surely he himself obligeth himself by his promises to perform them. The very same thing that he commands us towards others, the same he will himself certainly fulfil. Alas ! we are creatures ungracious, and have no grace but what he puts into us. And shall God, that is the fountain and original of all grace, that requires this of us, not execute it him self ? Certainly yes. God saith, as it were himself, I am a holy God, true, just, faithful (as was said to us before) ; I abound in all these, and in every perfection else, shall I not abound in this grace also, to relieve the spiritual needs of my poor children, that have declared myself to be a God of all grace ? What doth the apostle John say ? 1 John iii. 17, Whoso hath this world s goods, and seeth his brother need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him ? If God speak thus to us concerning a brother, to us, I say, that love but in part, and oh how little ! yea, and in the verse before, he commands us, if the case so calls for it, and require it of us, to lay down our lives for the brethren. And ^shall not that God, of whom the same apostle John saith, that he is love itself, chap. iv. 16, God is love, that is, he is all love towards his own children, for that is the meaning of it there ; and of whom he also saith im mediately, afore the afore-cited speech, in the sixteenth verse of the third chapter, Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us ; and thereupon he obliges us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Shall not he, I say, if he seeth a son of his in pure need of spiritual grace, and deliverance out of temptation, shall not he draw out his bowels towards him ? Or else it would be said, How doth this love, this all-grace, by which the apostle Peter here sets him forth, how doth it dwell in him, the fountain of all grace and love ? And he persuades and obli^eth
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 257
us to lay down our lives for, and relieve our brethren s needs, because lie hath professed to love us so, as to lay down his life for us.
Now, to apply this. Suppose that Christ himself were alive, or that any were alive that were commissionated by him to heal all manner of diseases, as the apostles were, Mat. x. 1, would any of you that had (I will make
the supposition) the worst disease that ever any man had, yea, that you had
never heard of to have been since the world began, wouldst thou refuse to make trial whether he would or could heal thee or no ? Now God hath set
up his bills, as I may say, upon every post, proclaiming himself to be the God of all grace, the God that healeth thee, Exod. xv. 26 ; and elsewhere hath applied it unto souls,
* That healeth all thy diseases, and forgives all
thy sins, Ps. ciii. ; that healeth thy backslidings, Hosea xiv. 4 ; and often
backsliding is the most desperate case of all other, yet the God of all grace hath undertaken to heal them. And as bad a case as a saint is capable of
after calling is that in Isa. Ivii. 17, For the iniquity of his covetousness was
I wroth, and smote him : I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on fro-
wardly in the way of his heart. He did not only fall into interrupted or
intermitted acts of backsliding, but he went on, as in a course for a while,
in the way of his heart, and that frowardly. Well, but what saith the God
of all grace to this ? I have seen his ways, and will heal him, ver. 18. And Hosea gives this his reason of it, even because he is a God of grace, ver. 2, and loves freely, ver. 4,
* I will heal their backsliding, and I will love them freely, that is the reason of it ;
* and receive us graciously, say they
accordingly, ver. 2, when they return to him, so will we render the calves
of our lips. The love that is in the heart of God will in the end cause him
to turn all anger towards them away, For mine anger is turned away from him ; as it follows in the same, ver, 4, And I will be (anew) as the dew
unto Israel : and he shall grow as the lily, and so forth. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things ? prudent, and he shall know them ?
for the ways of the Lord are right, and the just shall walk in them, though
they may often fall in their way ; but the transgressors, that were never
savingly called, shall fall, if they persist, therein. It is the conclusion
of that chapter and prophecy, and serves to prove this other place in Peter, that God is the God of all grace in dispensing supplies answerable to the
needs, distresses, temptations, and sins of his elect children.
(3.) He is a God of all grace essentially, or in respect that in his nature he hath infinite riches of grace, which is the root and fountain of these his
designs to maintain and make good this his alldispensatory of grace. He
is the God of all grace ; that is, he is an all-gracious God in himself, even
as well as that he is said to be a God almighty, which is an essential attri
bute. He says not that God is all grace, for he is just also. As when it is
said he is almighty, it imports not that he hath no attribute else, but he
says he is a God of all grace ; that is, that no perfection that should make him essentially gracious is wanting in him. He is an all-gracious God, and
so in his nature. There is a sea of grace in him to feed all the streams that
his purposes or dispensations of grace are to issue forth. And so our con
solation from hence is, that all the grace that is [in] the nature of God is in
this promise of his being a God of all grace to his children, declared to be
engaged to afford supplies unto his poor people, even to the utmost expend-
ings and layings forth of those riches upon them, as their need shall require. And further, that in all his dispensations of grace, he will shew himself
gracious as God, and to be a great God of grace; that is, he will be gracious
suitably, and at the rate of the greatness of his being God, or of so great a
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258 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
God. This David (the greatest subject, and favourite, and adorer of this
grace that we find in the Old Testament) was apprehensive of, and it took
his heart and faith : 1 Chron. xvii. 19, According to thine own heart hast
thou done this. And it follows, Lord, there is none like thee, none
besides thee ; that is, thou art a God of grace (for it was a point of grace, and of high grace he there speaks it of), and shewest thyself so to be ; for
he speaks it of his covenant of grace with him in Christ, then newly declared
* What can David say more ? As if he had
to him. And ver. 18, he says,
said, the favour, the thing itself, is too great for me, that I can say nothing to it ; but if God will have it to be ; even as Paul, What shall we say to
these things ? If God be for us, &c., so David here. He speaks as an
astonished man that could say no more. The greatness of the thing made him silent ; but he considered that God had done it out of his greatness as God. Thus, if he pardons, he pardons after the rate and manner of a great God, He will abundantly pardon ; not according to your thoughts (saith
he), but my thoughts; Isa. Iv. 8, As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my thoughts in pardoning ; for it is of pardoning abundantly that he utters this, ver. 7; for this sets his children awondering at him. Who
is a God like our God? pardoning, &c., Micah vii. 8. Yet withal there
observe how his pardoning mercies, in the exertings and dispensings of them,
are limited to the remnant of his inheritance, free grace s subjects, as I call
them.
And as it is thus in pardoning, so in all other exertings of pure grace, whatever they be, towards the remnant of his inheritance. He doth them
all as a great God. Thus David, 2 Sam. vii., speaks of the advancement of
himself and his house to the kingdom, which ended in the promise of Christ, which in ver. 18, 19, he spreads afore the Lord, Then went king David in, and sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, Lord God ? and what
is mf house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ? And this was yet a
small thing in thy sight, Lord God; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant s house for a great while to come; and is this the manner of man, Lord God? The latter clause that I take hold of is, Is this the manner of man, Lord God?
* The law of man, as in the original, the intendment of which is, to discriminate God s manner of dealings, in point of grace, from man s. And grace being the sovereign in God, enacteth its laws as well as men-sovereigns use to do. And with God, the purposes of
his grace to save his children are suprema lex of all other with him ; and all
his wonted degrees of grace are made according to his divine greatness, or
as God, and are infinitely differing from and superior to those of men, though never so gracious. The height of our comfort (which is the result of this
passage of David) lies in this, that in all his dispensations of grace, he is
gracious as God, and as becomes the great God to be, and whom he takes on him to be, a God of all grace; and therein to act and do for them, and
to shew himself in such a manner and measure to be a God of all grace, as is worthy of so great a God in himself, and that he may be owned as such a God. And how far this will reach never yet entered into the heart
of man.
Now, for me to set forth the infinite ocean of the mercy and grace of his
divine nature, is not, shall not be the main part of this discourse, but how
this may minister support to us, coming in the rear to all the former, and how all the grace that is in God is engaged to succour us against tempta
tions, and that it will extend itself to the utmost to carry us through them ; this I shall insist on a little.
It is observable, to the end to shew how this of the graciousness of his
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 259
nature, is that which engageth itself to make good the two foregone asser tions about his purposes and dispensations ; that then when God uttered that great charter of grace, I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious,. and that is the sum of his decrees-, or purposing grace, we have been
speaking of, he prefaceth this unco it, I will cause all my goodness to pass before thee ; that is, all the goodness that is in myself and nature, and I
will proclaim the name of the Lord afore thee, that is, all that whereby my nature, as to the point of grace and mercy, is to be made known to men. Then and after that, come in, I will be gracious to whom I will be gra cious, the resolve of which two passages, thus joined together, is, that on whom God s heart and will (which directs his grace to the persons whom and how) is set to be gracious by election (which is called the good pleasure of his will, or the gracious purpose of his will ), there he interesteth all the goodness of his nature, and it remains engaged for their good. And to make demonstration of this, he therefore caused the whole train of his goodness to pass afore Moses, to lot him see, and to hearten him by seeing of it, how
great a strength, magazine, and treasure of power in goodness, was stored up in him, to maintain that resolution of his will when he said, I will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious. And to make good that speech fur ther observe, that whereas at first God had there begun to declare his grace, but particularly and personally unto Moses his person, Thou hast found
grace in my sight, ver. 12, 13, 16, 17 of Exod. xxxiii. Yet afore he did proclaim openly and publicly all that his goodness thereafter specified, chap, xxxiv., or caused it to pass afore Moses, he before it, declared this the common in
terests of all his elect to be the same that Moses s was, in that matter of grace so proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord gracious, &c. declared first, I say, iti that clause, I will be merciful to whom I will, &c., thereby shewing that what was said and done to Moses herein, concerned the bulk and whole body of the election, that they all (being called) might view anil take comfort in that proclamation of all his goodness in that proclamation, chap, xxxiv. 5-7,
1 And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and pro claimed the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed before him and pro claimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth ; keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving
iniquity, and transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the
guilty, visiting the iniquity of the father upon the children, and upon the children s children, unto the third and fourth generations. Just as in Rom. viii., ordine inverse (though in aninverted method) you find the un-
separableness of God s love to the whole lump, ver. 35-87, loudly proclaimed in the single name of Paul, ver. 38, 39, For I am persuaded that neither
death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The just infer ence from both which instances is, that what God in point of grace is to one, that he is to all of his elect ; and .what he is to all (as to their interest in
grace), that he is to everyperson of , them ; yea, and withal, that his pro clamation there to Moses, is to shew that he is gracious as he is the great God (which is that I have been a-saying all this while) ; for in the fore part of that proclamation, he first styles himself, and that three times : 1, the Lord ; 2, the Lord ; 3, God ; to shew that he is gracious as God, as the
great God ; and that grace and mercy are inherent in his divine nature, and
his being, and also to shew that all in him as God, is turned into grace and
* God
mercy towards those he will be gracious unto; as when the apostle says,
is love, all love. So then, you have all the essential grace in God, which is
280 F ELECTION. [Boox IV.
rooted in his being God, the whole of the goodness that is in God, and that
turned into grace, to back and uphold your faith. And what engagements
greater can your souls desire ?
Consider, then, thou called soul, called with a holy calling (I speak as to
this point only now to such), that through that little chink, or narrow pas
sage from death to life, thy effectual calling, which was thy first entrance
into thy eternity, thou mayest (as through a small cranny we use to view
the sun) first contemplate that purposing grace of God s will set on thee ;
for by calling election is made sure. And then again, through that being
thus fixed on thee, thou mayest behold an infinite boundless ocean of grace and love beyond that of his will and purposes, which is in his divine nature,
and mayest draw into thy soul to fill it. Enlarge* (and a little of God soon
fills us) all and the whole thereof, for thy comfort and support, haurire dle-
tatem, as he said. Calling will bring thee to election. And therein, if by
thy calling, with the Spirit of God shedding abroad his love into thy heart,
* knows thee by name, as he said to Moses, and Christ
thou findest God
knows his sheep by name, and is known of his, thou wilt further find this
little word, or sentence of God, I will be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, will be as a sluice set open, and all the grace and mercy in God s
nature will through it flow in upon thee as thine, for thy heart to swim in
the abundant consolation of.
May I take the boldness, for an improvement of this head, to make a sup
position , which yet is not truly to be made on God s part, but which in case
thy unbelief should make ; and how wicked supposals that forge will make
and bring out, we find too much by experience. We will therefore make it,
and give thee a support beyond it, drawn from this topic head, the engage ment of the grace of God in the divine nature, where calling and election
have once for ever fixed themselves. The supposition which thy unbelief
might make is this, that thou fearest lest God, in his purposes of grace, had
been too narrow as to thy particular allotment ; and thou shouldst imagine
they may have been too scant, and fallen short through thy top prodigal ex-
pensiveuess in sinnings, or remiss neglects of so great salvation since thy
calling, so as they should not have been large enough to serve thy turn as
to the discharge of what those infinite arrears arise unto, beyond that parti
cular portion of mercy his will made at first, and allotted thee (I alluding to
that of the prodigal his portion), but that thou hadst sinned beyond the ex
tent of purposing grace ; as if God had not set apart grace and mercy enough
in those his legacies and bequeathments in his decreeing or purposing will,
and that it had not clauses so full and large enough, nor provisions for num
ber or variety sufficient that may reach all thy cases and aggravations of
sinnings. And so, out of the dreadful view of these, or such-like vain ima
ginations, thy faith and spirits sink and despond.
Though this would be in thee, or any, a most wicked supposition, and
derogatory to the foreknowledge of God, who knew all thy thoughts afore -
hand, and what thy sins would be, yet if thou wouldst but further suppose and believe that he hath bound over all, and the whole of those vast and
boundless unsearchable mines of grace that are in his nature, to afford
wherewith to discharge his called and chosen ones of sinning, though never
so grievous, and that his purposing had kept them from so falling, as is
utterly incompatible with grace, certainly this engagement of the grace in
his nature may, beyond the former, insure thee against all such fears and
suppositions; for to be sure this grace can afford assets, and sufficient
enough to relieve against all ; against whatsoever hath fallen out, or shall
* Qu. engage ? ED.
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 261
fall out, to forgive what is past, and to prevent for the future what threateneth to destroy thee, as thou judgest.
Use 1. You call uses applications; I will give you one properly so called, which presseth you to seek to apply all this to yourselves. That God is a (rod of all grace, is, as I have handled it, but a general to and among all
saints. But the query may be, What may I, or you, or any particular saint, apply to ourselves of all this? You find an example of the application I intend made to your hands by David : it is in Psalm lix. 10, The God of my mercy shall prevent me. God, the God of all grace, that is the doc trine ; but the God of my mercy, says David. And again, ver. 17, he is the God of my mercy ; that is the application. And this usage of speech is nowhere else in Scripture.
* The God of all grace, says Peter to the brotherhood, but the God of my mercy, says David for himself. The
greatest application you can make of anything is to be able to say, this is mine. All the stirs in the world are about meum and tuum, mine and thine. As Luther said, there is more force in pronouns, meum and tuum, than in any words. If a man be absolute to say, the grace of God is mine, it is no matter what else thou canst say is thine, if thou canst say the God of my mercy. I will give you what senses either are or may be put upon that
passage, to comfort you in this way of application. And they are reduced unto those three heads, which in the doctrinal part I have gone upon, of
grace in God s dispensations, of the grace in his purposes, and of the grace in his nature.
1. The first sense may be, take mercy as it signifies the mercies given from or bestowed by God dispensatorily. Thou mayest say to this God, He
is the God of all the mercies that anyway belong to me, or that I ever have need of. Begin we there. Brethren, it is a wonderful condescension that God should make this an attribute of himself, I am the God of the mercy of
every particular saint of mine. That as he is thy God, the God of thee
personally, so also of thy mercies, it notes out that he hath taken this on him as an office.
When any one takes a title upon him of a particular thing, it argues his
undertaking the charge thereof, and that he puts himself under a trust, and enters into the bond of faithfulness to perform it, as to say one is a guardian of a child, or steward of one s house, it betokens an office, a trust, and
engageth to faithfulness. For the great God to say, I am Deus tibi d mise-
ricordiist I am the God of all thy mercies, it imports a devoting himself to take care of all the mercies that shall anyway concern thee. And when God takes a title upon him, it becomes his name, and God will not take his own name in vain ; to be sure he will perform his trust. That is one sense, and
it is a comfortable one.
2. The second is this, that every saint hath in purposing grace a set and
sufficient portion for him of grace and mercy set apart and allotted to him, which he may call his mercy, my mercy. Suppose thou shouldst not need
all the mercy that is in God s nature for thine own particular, yet be sure God in his decrees hath set apart a portion big enough for thee, and that is
thy mercy, a portion so large, that it shall never be exhausted either by thy sins or miseries, which is God s meaning to the apostle : 2 Cor. xii., My
grace is sufficient for thee ; and Paul s meaning in that speech of his,
Philip, iii., That for which I was apprehended by Christ; that is, that which was allotted me by God, for Christ to give forth to me ; it was his
* The God of my mercy shall, or doth, prevent me, or hath prevented me.
portion. There is a phrase carries it to this sense in Psalm lix. 10,
(1.) If wo read it, he hath prevented me, the meaning is, there is no kind
OF ELECTION. ^BoOK IV.
of need I can have, but the God of my mercy hath prevented me in his pur poses from eternity ; as a careful father, he lays up plasters ready spread against^ the time, knowing that his children will cut their fingers. In the text it is said, God careth for you ; care is that which forecasts what will fall out, and orders what may prevent it. He hath made provision before hand by his mercy for whatever I shall need of any kind, and in that respect he is the God of my mercy. That is the first. Or (2.) he shall or doth prevent me. I am in a distress, and I pray, and God oftentimes prevents me and my prayer. He comes in the nick, in due time, as if he had lain in wait. I can no sooner pray, yea, often before I pray, he doth the thing for me. Why ? For he is the God of my mercy ; he prevents me. In the confidence of which, ver. 8, says he, God shall laugh at them, speaking of his enemies; deliverance from them was the mercy he speaks of. If one stood at the top of a watch-tower that belongs to a city (as in Holland they are wont), and saw an army coming against that town, and withal saw a stronger army (as Elisha did) that would cer tainly prevent them, he would in that case certainly laugh all the while to see what a stir the one kept, and what ado they made, and all in vain ; and in the like confidence hereof David concludes, "he is the God of my defence, the God of my mercy. For he hath prepared a defence for every assault of the enemy ; and the same holds true of spiritual enemies.
(3.) You may interpret it of the mercy in the nature of God, and in that sense you may say all the mercies that are in God are my mercies, carry it home with thee. In this same psalm you find him saying,
* I will sing aloud of thy mercy, ver. 16, he calls it God s mercy ; and yet, ver. 17, The God of my mercy ; the meaning is, that all the mercy of God is my mercy, I can lay claim to it as need is. And the reason of it is pregnant ; for, is God our God ? If so, then all the mercies in God, upon the same account, are our mercies ; yea, it was mercy in him that moved him to become our God at first, and that made him make himself over to us ; so that, if thou canst say (poor soul) the God of my mercy, this doth contract the whole of God s being, and all the grace in him, to thyself. Art thou called ? Do but lay thy eye through that little hole of vocation, as through a perspective ; that is, through this consideration, I am one whom God hath called with a holy calling, and saved. And so thou mayest draw in all of God through that little hole ; even all the grace in God s nature hath an inlet through that sluice, and comes in upon thee, and thy faith may take it in. This one expression,
< I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, sets open (as I said) the flood-gates of all in the nature of God, to a poor soul, to whom God hath been gracious in calling him. Shall I speak a very big word to you, and so end ? You heard, God is the God of all grace to the brother hood ; I tell thee, if any one soul had all the needs that all the brotherhood have, if nothing would serve his turn, but all the grace of God that he hath for the whole, yea, in the whole of himself, he would lay it out for thee. The Lord help us to consider these things, for they are true. Poor soul, thou usest to say, this or that is my sin, and it is so ; a grievous sin per haps, and I am prone to it. And again, this is my misery ; but withal, I beseech thee to consider, that God is the God of thy mercy, and that all the mercy in God, upon occasion, and for a need, is thine, and all upon as good a title as that sin is thine ; for the free donation of God, and of his will, is as good a title as the inheritance of sin in thee.
Use 2. You have heard what God is in his grace ; shall I invite you to the latter part of an intercourse, which as great a subject, yea indeed a tavounte of free-grace as ever any, had with God, when his soul was filled
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 263
and flushed with the apprehension of God s free-grace towards him, when he hung as a little globe of glass in the sun, as full of glory, shining through and through him, as he could take in or hold ? Shall I bring you where
you may listen to and overhear at what a rate such a soul talks and speaks to God, when he is in such a frame ? You find it in 2 Sam. vii. 18-22, David sat before the Lord, and he said, Who am I, Lord God ? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, Lord God ; but thou hast spoken also of thy servant s house for a great while to come : and is this the manner of man, Lord God ? And what can David say more unto thee ? for thou, Lord, knowest thy servant. For thy word sake, and according to thine own heart, hast thou done all these great things, to make thy servant know them. Wherefore thou art great, Lord God : for there is none like thee, neither
is there any God beside thee, according to all that we have heard with our
ears.
God had first begun with him, and had thereby set his soul thus on fire. God had said his say by Nathan, which that conclusion unto what had fore
gone in verse 17, According to all those words, and this vision, so did Nathan speak to David from God, shews. It would be too long to enlarge on the fore-part of this visit made by God in that of the foregoing chapters ;
only this I will say, there was never any favourite so courted and caressed
by any great king, as David had been by God before this. The occasion God took to express what he did to him was, there came into the heart
of David a motion to build God an house, and it was free-grace from God that put that into David s heart too ; for God doth but pump, if I may so say ; it is but as putting in water to draw out more ; he puts in
grace, and we return it ; and God took this kindly
: ver. 2, David had said, I dwell in an house of cedar, but the ark of God dwelleth within curtains ; so he would build God an house. God took this kindly, for God takes
advantage to express his love to us. David had spoken this as to day ; God took it so kindly, and his heart was so full of it, that that very night, as you read, ver. 4, he says to Nathan, Go and tell my servant David, &c. ; he would not defer one moment [his] answer. The grace of God is
often seen in swift returns and answers to our prayers, and the message is
all of grace. God pours out his heart upon him from ver. 8 to 18. And
let me only add this, that in all this message of God s about building, to
David, an house, and about his Son, David eyed Christ, and understood it
so ; for, Heb. i. 5, what God says here of David s Solomon, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son, refers unto the 14th verse of
this very chapter, and yet is there plainly applied to Christ. And that David understood it so, that of Peter warrants : Acts ii. 30, David being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the
fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on
his throne, &c. Therefore he eyed Christ, and his eternal salvation in him,
as Abraham did in Isaac, and saw Christ s day. And verse 21 of this chapter insinuates this : For thy word s sake, says he (that is, for thy Christ s
* and according to thine own heart hast thou done this. Nay, there had been no former word delivered unto David about this which he should
sake),
here refer to, therefore that Word is Christ, o Xo/oc, like that of Daniel,
chap, ix., For the Lord s sake. What God is to us in point of grace, is not my business now, the doctrine
hath cleared that enough. It is the after part, David s reception and enter
tainment of all this from God, and how his heart took it, that I would make
you to overhear, and work an impression of upon you answerable thereto.
264 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IY.
This is it will concern you for a pattern and example to you, and will serve
as a proper use of this doctrine.
Now then, thou that professest thyself a subject of free grace, come and
sit down a little with David (for as ver. 18, David sat down when he
uttered this), and let his meditation be thine ; what David says of his house and kingdom, apply thou to thy soul, for that was chiefly in David s eye
: My house indeed is not so, as I had hoped, says he ;
* but this is my
(personal) salvation : 2 Sam. xxiii., yet God hath made with me an ever
lasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, for this is all my salvation and all my desire. It is true, thou hast no Messias to come out of thy loins
as David had ; thou hast no earthly kingdom to be advanced to, but thou
hast greater things ; though thou hast not Christ to come out of thy loins,
yet thou hast Christ to dwell in thy heart, and that is more ; Christ to be formed in thee, as the apostle says in the Galatians, and thou art more
intimately one with him, than if thou hadst been his forefather, yea, his
mother, or hadst had him in thy womb, for that alone is but an outward
privilege of the flesh, as Rom. ix; yea, and as Christ speaks it of his mother and brethren. And though thou hast not an earthly kingdom, yet thou art
interested in the true kingdom of David, as that of glory is called : Luke
i. 82, The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, &c. And what David here speaks of his house, ver. 19, as for a long time
to come, thou mayest apply to heaven : thou hast a house, not made with
hands, eternal in the heavens, 2 Cor. v. 1. And, as I said, the truth is, David is fain, as for his own person, to betake himself to this at last. Now
this premised, I will go over David s speech, and do thou in such a way apply it to thyself all along.
1. Says he, what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto ?
Alas, had God said, thou wert a shepherd, ver. 8, I took thee from the
sheep-cot, from following the sheep, to be a ruler over my people, over
Israel, and have made thee a great name, like unto the great men that are on the earth ! Now, what in lieu of this canst thou say ? I was dead in sins and tres
passes, an Assyrian ready to perish. By grace thou art saved, and he hath caused thee to sit in heavenly places with Christ Jesus. To David, God only said, I have made thee like unto the great men that are but in
the earth ; but he hath made thee a greater name, like unto the name of
those that sit with Jesus Christ in heaven. The Lord called and converted
thee when thou wast in thy blood and filth, and cast out to the loathing of
thy person ; and he said unto thee, live ; and he called thee the first mo ment of thy being, called into eternal glory, into as perfect a right of it as ever thou shalt have when thou shalt have been millions of years in heaven ; and God hath hitherto kept thee, and thou mayest say, as David did here, Lord, thou hast brought me hitherto. How many temptations hast thou had
to sin ? How many reducements and deliverances ? And the more thy temptations have been, the more of his power has been expended in keeping thee. Thou hast been like a ship at anchor, held by a straw, as to thine own sense, and yet held. Thou hast reason to thank God thou hast been
brought hitherto, that thou hast escaped so well, and hast had so good quarter in the world. Thou hast escaped many sins and scandals thou
niightest have fallen into, but God kept thee ; this the first.
2. Then, secondly, David being overpowered with free grace in his soul, said Who am I, Lord ? Do thou also put these two together, Who am
I, thou great God ! Set that dust of the balance, /, a creature, and I, a
sinner, with the great God, the high and lofty one that inhabiteth eternity,
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 265
and humble thyself to the dust in the sense of thy nothingness and baseness.
* and this was yet a small
3. Then, thirdly, take the next words of David,
thing in thy sight, Lord God, but thou hast spoken also of thy servant s house for a great while to come ; and is this the manner of man, Lord God ? (the word is,
* is this the law of man ? ) His purpose in that phrase
is, as the opposition shews, to set in comparison the wont, the law, the
usage of God s free grace, with the manner or law of men s kindnesses, so to aggrandise it. God comes with some one, and that so great a kindness, that shall make a man think, and justly, what can be more ? And yet, before he hath done with him, he will make that but a small thing in com
parison with others. Free grace, after calling, loves to exceed itself, outdo
itself in what it hath done. God will still do as Christ said to Nathanael, Dost thou wonder at this ? Thou shalt see greater things than these, thou shalt see the heaven opened, John i. 51. I shall give you some instances.
(1.) Look to thy first calling; wert thou called with seeing thy sin? And was thy heart changed then, and sanctified withal, and didst thou find the image of God spick and span new in thee ? Thou thoughtest this wondrous great. But then,
(2.) Thou foundest that all this would not justify thee, and thereupon all
thy sanctification became but a small thing to thee, and ! then did thy soul cry, Blessed is the man whose sin is covered ; and that I had Christ s righteousness to cover my sin ! And then thou esteemedst all thy sanctification
* but as dross and dung in comparison of being found in
Christ, not having thine own righteousness, but the righteousness of faith, &c. And what ado hadst thou after that first work of sanctification, to work
thyself out of that thy new created righteousness, and to obtain that of Christ ?
(3.) When thou hadst pursued thus after justification through the blood of Christ, and hadst obtained some quiet and easement, and perhaps thereby assurance, then adoption appeared, and thereupon justification alone and pardon became but a small thing to thee, when you were assured of being a son and heir, a co-heir with Christ ; and then your soul began to rejoice with a new joy, as Rom. v. 2, 3, we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.
(4.) Then union with Christ and being one with him came into view; and then how did thy soul value this above all, and pursued after it accordingly, even to know, that as the Father lives in the Son, so that the Son lives in me, as John xiv. 20. And upon this, all those former privileges simply considered, became but small things
: John xvii. 22, 23, you will find union with Christ preferred to glory; and the glory which thou gavest me, 1 have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one ; I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, &c.
* we joy in God, Horn. v. 11, through Christ ; God
(5.) And not only so, but
is to become all in all. And thus still as thou goest on, farther and farther, so free grace presents thee with new things, greater and greater ; and
although thou mayest have known and heard of all these privileges at first,
yet they were not set on with an impression worthy of them, but that was done by such a gradual succession as hath been shewed. Yea, I add,
(6.) Suppose thou hadst been millions of ages in heaven, and there been
satiated with the fulness of God and Christ, yet thou wilt then say, Lord,
* hitherto thou hast brought me ; but this is but a small thing, a finite
portion of time of enjoyment hitherto, compared to eternity. Eternity is
for a long time to come, indeed, as David here, the thoughts of which do
multiply our joys by every moment wherein we are yet to enjoy them.
OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
So as I may really say of this series of dispensations what your new pro jectors of philosophy have feigned ; say they, every fixed star is a sun, and if we should travel over and through the infinite heavens, we should meet still with new suns, which at this distance seem but stars, and then this sun itself would become to view but as a star, when they are ascended up so far above it. Now, it is certain that Christ himself, considered as God-man, and as now shining in his dispensatory kingdom, is but as the bright morning star, Rev. xxii. 16, unto God himself, when he shall be all in all, 1 Cor. xv. But to return again to David. 4. What doth David further say to all these things? Even this, What can David say more unto thee ? for thou, Lord, knowest thy ser vant. He speaks as a man non-plussed ; his thoughts swallowed up his words, as Job s ; he could go no further, seeing that as a creature he could make no proportionable return nor acknowledgment, no, not in words. And the apostle also doth the like, Rom. via. When he had run his course through all the progresses of free grace, ver. 31, he stops with this, What shall we say to these things? I use to say, faith is never non-plussed; but we see that love is. Faith and love divide that verse between them :
P God be for us, who can be against us ? that is the voice of faith, and therefore it hath still to reply against all can be said to the contrary,
< What shall we say to these things ? for love sits down overwhelmed and silenced therewith, and hath nothing to say but to embrace them.
5. Says David, Thou knowest tby servant, that is, 1, thou knowest what s to thee ; as Peter said to Christ, Lord, thou knowest I love thee, 2. He also resolves all the grace of God bestowed upon him into Gods foreknowledge: Thou knowest me, and that
< by name; as of Moses God said, I know thee by name, Exod. xxxiii. 12, 17. And what e intimate intent of his inserting his own name in his speech to God What can David say more, for thou knowest thy servant what, was it to tell God his name ? No ; but it is as if he had said, Thou hast lown David of old, whose name is sweet unto thee ; and therefore I am bold to mention it. Yea, 3, and thou knowest my sinfulness too ; thou knowest our frame, and that I am but dust, dust mingled with sin ; and that overwhelmed me, that thou shouldest have respect to such a wretch, so that 1 can say no more, but Who am I, Lord God ? 6. And lastly, do thou as he, fully admire afresh the infinite greatness, treeness, and nobleness of his grace ; for there are these three things farther in his speech.
(1.) A knowledge of the freeness of that grace, that is, that God doth all this out of no principle but his own heart (and that is properly grace) ; so says David, Thou hast done all these things out of thine own heart, and from no other motive, and for thy word s sake, ver. 21, that is, Christ; ior that these promises respected Christ, I shewed afore.
(2.) The nobleness of this grace. For no other end, says he, hast thou done this, but
< to make thy servant know them. When God shews mercy, he doth it but that you may know it, and bless him for it ; as he said, he loves, but because he loves ; so he shews love, but that we may know how much he doth and can love.
(3.) There is the greatness of this grace : ver. 22,
< Wherefore thou art Lord God, for there is none like thee ; great, that is, in thy acts 31 grace, for m such God had declared himself: Thou dost all like the great God ; thou comest upon a soul with thy greatness, but it is with the great ness of thy grace. And he compares it also with what man useth to do : Is this the manner of men ?
CHAP. II.] OF ELECTION. 267
You have now seen this man in his heights, and it is a very high and a
gallant frame of heart that he was in ; all mere ingenuity toward God that he
expresseth. And who in such a case would not have wished to have died ?
for thou couldst not have died in a better time.
And let any soul be but thus spirited, and hung as a globe of glass in the
sun, as I said, during this, and how will that soul shrink, and faint, and sink but to think, I shall sin again
! It would rather die ten thousand deaths.
* turned himself and spied the sepulchres, &c., then said he, What title is this I see? (I mention
But, lo, as it is said, 2 Kings xxiii. 16, Josiah
this but by way of allusion.) Oh my brethren, I turning but two pages off, no more, from this of 2 Sam. vii., which I have insisted on, as you may also do the like, and what titles are these I see ? Over the third page David s
adultery, that is over the first column of it ; then Uriah slain, that is over the second. Is this the man we found even now in the seventh chapter in
so great glory, and so sublimated with the grace of God, and that here we see in mire and filth ? David had said that when he was in his elevation, What can David say more ? but say I now, what could David do worse ? As the prophet Jeremiah said, chap. iii. 5,
* Thou hast spoken and done evil
things as thou couldest.
And now I will again take up the apostle s words to another purpose, Brethren, what shall we say to these things ? I will tell you what your work-mongers and legalists, that are opposite to free grace, will say, Here is
your doctrine of free grace, you see what it comes to and ends in ; this would they say. Nay, I will tell you farther what God would have said if he had considered David as in a covenant of works : My covenant he hath
broken, and I regard him not ; yea, I will swear against him, he shall never enter into my rest ; I will never have to do with him. And give me this man, would justice have said, to make a trophy, an example of to
glorify this my justice upon, which would have been more glorified on this man than on a thousand other sinners who never knew what free grace meant.
But let us hear what says free grace to these things. Consider every one
of you, though you have not had Bathshebas to lie with, nor murdered
Uriahs, yet you have had those or other such lusts and passions, envies and
strains of self-love, unto a monstrosity ; and bearing yourselves high upon your estates, names, &c., in this world, and reigning therein, as the apostle
speaks. Well, but what doth the God of all grace say to these things ? I
desired you but even now to view David in these two chapters, vii. and xi. ; now I desire you, first, to consider what God hath said for his part to David
in that very same 7th chapter ; and then, secondly, what a punctual per formance of it you read of, notwithstanding all this, from the llth chapter to the end of the story.
First, Whereas you often have heard, out of Psalm Ixxxix. 35, how free
* Once have I sworn by my holiness, that I will not lie unto
grace had said,
David. My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out
of my lips, nor fail David but David failed him now stand and wonder; where is it that this covenant is to be first found, where but in this very 7th
chapter we have been upon ? There it is, and there first it was that God
did give it forth, that once for all ; so verse 11, The Lord tells thee, that
he will make thee an house, and when thy days be fulfilled, I will set up
thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will esta
blish his kingdom ; he shall build an house for my name, and I will esta
blish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be his Father, and he shall
268 OF ELECTION. [BoOE IV.
be my son ; if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod o men, and with the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him, &c. Here is the very covenant the psalmist speaks of, and
this was the first revelation of it before David had expressed himself so, as
I have been opening.
And here let me but remind you but of that one passage of David s there
upon, chap. vii. 20, Thou, Lord God, knovvest thy servant. He knew him indeed, and knew not only how he had served him afore this covenant, but also how he would serve him, even so as in the llth chapter, verse 5, you find he did. Indeed, David spake that speech,
* Thou knowest, &c., to another purpose ; but God knew all this, his sin also that followed, and
yet knowingly expressed and made this covenant with him. I may say by
allusion, to illustrate God s grace, what Daniel said to aggravate Belshazzar s
wickedness, Thou, God, knewest all this. After that fatal chapter, the eleventh chapter, we shall see the performance, and how free grace went on
notwithstanding to make good all this, and is as busy at work about him to
perform his promise as if he had never sinned ; nay, when he was in that
eclipse, David was as the moon in the heavens, and he was in motion to get out of it, as the moon also is. Therefore, Secondly, Let us consult the chapters which follow after that : What
titles, then, do we see next? Chap, xi., Nathan s parable, and David s
* Solomon is born. That was a good lump of mercy upon his repentance, at one birth after all this ; for what was
repentance ; and the what next that ?
it but the beginning of performance of what he had promised and foretold
in chap, vii., I wSl raise thee a son, and I will be his Father, &c. The truth is, though God punished David in most of the rest of his children ; you know Amnon ravished his own sister, and Absalom killed Amnon, and Joab his kinsman killed Absalom, Solomon put to death Adonijah, and so
they killed one another to the end of the story ; yet God took Solomon
for his. Go on and look over the 22d chapter :* you have David there
transfigured again, and as much, in his robes of glory as ever he was in. The moon, that was in the eclipse, is not only out of it, but shines as bright as ever.
And then you find him, 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 14, gathering materials for the
temple, which was the last work he did, and the best work that ever he did ; better than killing of enemies, though in lawful war, which in the type caused God to say, that he should not build the temple ; and there again you shall find David in as gallant a frame upon that his offering, ver. 11. He is again at his acknowledging God s greatness, and at Who am I ?
< Thine, Lord, is the greatness and the glory ; but who am I, and what is my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort ? And this was not now for kingdoms, or for an house to succeed in them, which are the
great things man is taken withal. No ; but that he had wherewith to offer, and then for having an heart to offer so willingly ; and though he gave God but his own, as he also there says, for the mercy hereof alone and simply considered, it was, that he humbled himself so deeply, even to dust, whilst
* This psalm was penned by David when he was old, as interpreters generally say, and the order of placing it in this story together with, and just afore his last words, chap xxiii., and the title of it, Psalm xviii.,
* In the day when God had delivered him from all his enemies, Absalom, Sheba, as also the comparing one of his last speeches,
1 Kings i. 29, and the passages of the psalm, do shew. They all, says Muis, do refer unto his deliverances all along, and though from Saul is especially mentioned, and
last, yet it was because that was the most eminent ; and so now afore his death he having those deliverances through thirty years past, fresh on his heart, having been the greatest of any of the latter, he puts all together into one summary.
CHAP. III.] OF ELECTION. 269
he acknowledged this, and utters that great thanksgiving for this alone. This proceeded from pure grace in his heart, and from a more clarified and
spiritualler habit of heart than the former, which might have much of self
mingled with it, and shews that by his sinnings he had learned to value
serving and glorifying of God more than his own exaltment.
I need not now insist on that excellent spirit of faith we find him in, when he came to die, 2 Sam. xxiii. 5. There he had seen somewhat to abate, and fall, indeed, in the hope of his house. I shall tell you my private opinion on it : When God had first talked of making him an house, besides what God intended and performed in Solomon, &c., I conceive that he might have enlarged his thoughts about it unto this, that every one of his present children should be godly. You are all apt, when filled with the grace of God, or under great drawings near of God, to run out in your thoughts too
far in some thing or other, and to form up some private faith of your own, of having such or such a privilege, as perhaps persuade yourselves that all
your children shall be saved (having prayed for them at such time, or the
* my house is not so ; that is, such as I had hoped they would have proved. Solomon and Nathan were good, reckoned in Christ s genealogy, but for the rest we know not what they were ; but yet, says he, Though my house be not so with God, he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure ; for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make my house "not to grow, as I once supposed he would.
like) ; but, says poor David now,
And now let me once again repeat, What do you say to these things, when
put thus altogether ? This I shall only say, Oh, what is man ! the best of men ? and what is God ?
1. What is man, a base unworthy, mutable, and ungracious wretch ? And, 2. The second is greater than this first. Oh, what is God, even the God of
! and so give me leave also to usurp that speech of David, and close with it,
all grace
* What can thy servant say more ?