Chapter IV (continued, part 3)
unto his ability, as Grotius hath observed.
CHAPTER V,
The second topic or head of arguments unto our faith from God his calling us,
the God of all grace hath called us, or, that in our first calling God hath
shewn himself a God of all grace, and therefore will carry us through all
temptations unto perfection.
Who hath called us. 1 PETER Y. 10.
Two things are in this head to be spoke to :
I. That in that one work of calling God shews himself to be a God of all
grace towards those whom he calls.
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 309
II. The arguments and inferences from thence, for our support, that God will carry us through, &c., which is the point I shall pursue.
This here you will find not only distinct from what hath been handled in the foregone part of this discourse about calling, but to add a great increase to the confirmations of our faith herein, by new and great considerations.
I. That in that one work of calling God hath shewn himself to be a God of all grace, &c.
In handling this my purpose is not simply to set out the greatness of God s grace shewn in regeneration, and how it so exceeds, in many respects, all other works else which God after doth for us, even glory itself. I have done this in another place. I will retrieve nothing I then handled about that subject. But what I shall now treat of will be a going over the emi nent particulars of God s grace, and demonstrating that God hath shewn himself a God of all grace in each of them, in and at his calling of us ; and then I shall bring them all, and each of them, down into the second branch, and draw inferences from thence for the point I am pursuing.
1. I begin with pardoning grace.
(1.) God shewed himself then to be a God of all grace in pardoning thee ; he shewed a plenitude, a fulness of grace, yea, an all of grace, in the forgive ness of thee. Thou hadst run on the score of sinning from the first thought in thine infancy, and every thought from the first dawning of reason had been evil continually ; and thy sins lay all on heaps, piled up as high as
heaven, and stacked down as low as hell, and this for many years continu ance. Suppose that for twenty or thirty years thou hadst done no good, but all thy ways were abominable ; and, lo, then at thy calling, by one act at once, God forgave thee all thy trespasses
: Col. ii. 13, And you being dead in your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses. And in that lump, perhaps, all sorts of sinnings, in respect of concupiscence at least, or the
imperfect puttings forth of them, were found in thee ; for so Paul speaks of
himself, as at his conversion he found it, Rom. vii. And thus he was the God of all grace in pardoning thee.
(2.) Also in bestowing on thee then a righteousness, and that of Christ s, which had all obedience in it ; and he bestowed it then on thee wholly, and
at once, and not as by parcels afterwards ; not some of it at one time, some of it at another ; no, but in one entire single gift. So as well might the
apostle, comparing this gift of Christ s righteousness and obedience imparted, with that one disobedience of Adam imputed (which yet divines say had in
a manner all sorts of sins in it), declare that gift of Christ s infinitely to
abound, not in merit or worth only, but even as containing a full and perfect
righteousness of all sorts for parts, Rom. v. 17, 19, compared, For if by one man s offence death reigned by one ; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of the gifts of righteousness, shall reign in life by
one, Jesus Christ : ver. 19, For as by one man s disobedience many were made sinners ; so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous. God in his heart and purposes is a God of all grace, as I shewed ; and Christ
in his righteousness is fully adequate to all the purposes and designs of grace in God s heart ; and all and the whole of this thou receivedst at thy calling, and as much of this as all the saints put together do receive, for Christ is
not divided in the gift of his righteousness ; the least called one hath the
whole. And this made Paul so to extol the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
bestowed on him at his first conversion : 1 Tim. i. 14, And the grace of
our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ
OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
Jesus. It was exceeding abundant, i^ggs-TrXsoWg, supembundavit. It was more than full, or more than enough. And in both these respects he was a God of all grace in justifying thee at thy calling.
2. He shewed himself the God of all grace in sanctifying grace, which consists of two parts, mortification of sin, and the new creature that is wrought in the room of corruption then mortified ; and in each of these God shewed himself_then a God of all grace in that kind of grace also.
(1.) In mortifying grace, in that every lust had its death s wound at thy first putting on Christ : Gal. v. 24,
< And they that are Christ s have cruci fied the flesh, with the affections and lusts. A crucifying death it was, like to his, which reached to every vein, artery, and thus this extends unto all the members of sin, inward or outward ; they are all put into a dying con dition : Rom. vi. 6, Therefore we are buried with him by baptism unto death ; that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in the newness of life. It is the whole body of sin, and every member of it, which his mortifying grace extends unto.
(2.) In respect of the new creature wrought. It was then at thy calling that his divine power gave and furnished thee with all things, &c. : 2 Peter
i. 3, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that per tain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. I cited it afore, but for another purpose. In like manner, when of the new creature it is said, that all is made new : 2 Cor. v. 17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature : old things are passed away ; behold, all things are become new ; though imperfectly, yet all is of the new creature. As Adam conveys all sorts of lusts, so Christ begets for kind his own image complete for parts ; and grace for grace, John i. 16, as the child from the father receives limb for limb.
(3.) Thirdly, Usually at calling he acteth and assisteth that new creature
(as new^ converts often find) with all sorts of assistances, viz., resisting lusts, quickening affections, carryings on in duty, and all sorts of enlargements
: 2 Tim. i. 14, Paul speaks of his own conversion, The grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant in faith and love. In faith, for justification ; in love, in raising and stirring up affections unto God.
(4.) Yea, fourthly, the foundation of all glory was then laid, which the text hath; as also, Rom. viii. 30, Whom he "hath called, them he also
justified ; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Why should I instance any more? Adoption and right to eternal life is then given: According to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life, Titus iii. 5-7.
II. Now for the second thing, viz., the arguments of comfort and support from hence, that then God will, as the same God of all grace, carry thee on through all temptations.
Consider he having thus begun as a God of all grace, to justify thee in this manner, and to sanctify thee at once, what is it that now should divert or interrupt this great God of all grace from this going on to carry thee through ? He must be directed * either, 1. By the guilt of sin rising up, and committed after calling ; or, 2. By the power of sin, recovering again its strength in thee. * Qu. diverted ? ED.
CHAP. Y.J OF ELECTION. 811
1. Not by the guilt of sins afterwards. If anything did, they would proToke him not to continue his grace to thee ; and it is they must begin to turn (rod s heart off from thee, if anything else do. But none of these shall be able to do it ; for, consider, if he justified thee at first from such an heap of sins as a God of all grace, and that he thereby becomes engaged to con tinue a God of all grace ever after to thee, then surely he will not stick at
pardoning thy aftersins, and therefore they shall [not] hinder.
But to demonstrate this, by comparing matters as they stood in this
respect afore calling, with the state thereof after ; compare we things with
things afore and after.
[l.J Then, before calling he pardoned a continued course of sinning for many years, wherein there had been laid up heaps upon heaps
: but the
pardoning of thy sins after calling is at worst but of backslidings, repaired and filled up with many great repentances coming between ; and if, as a God of grace to thee, he pardoned a tract or course of sinning, he will much
more, and may more easily continue to forgive such backsliding, so inter
mingled with serious repentance, although they have been reiterated sins, fallen into again and again
: Turn, backsliding Israel ; for I am married
to thee, says God, Jer. iii. 14. Married she had been to God afore, but had gone a-whdring from him. And though in that case man had not mercy enough to receive a wife again, but would stand upon point of honour in it, as ver. 1,
* They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man s, shall he return unto her again ? shall not that land be greatly polluted ? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers ; yet return again to me, saith the Lord. Yet, says God, ver. 12, yet return,
backsliding Israel, for I am merciful. Besides that, I am already engaged by marriage (and when is that but at one s first conversion ? Then it is
that God was espoused to thee), and did then give up myself to be a God of
all grace to thee. Moreover, I am as merciful as ever I was, and I cannot, but must forgive thee, and that upon the lowest terms thou canst desire, and I can with honour grant
* Only do thou acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou
hast transgressed against the Lord thy God, and hast scattered thy wa}"S to
the strangers under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice,
saith the Lord, ver. 13. As if he had said, So easily am I prevailed with ;
for it must be acknowledged the least of requisites unto reconciliation in so
high a breach ; yea, and even that also this Avrbc, he, that same God of
grace in my text, doth promise to give them an heart to do so, and, more
over, to heal their backslidings also, out of the same love and grace, that
so he may honourably come off to pardon them ; he performed the condition
himself thus in the same chapter, ver. 19, though he sticks at it, and makes
a demur upon it (it being the highest act he could perform in a cause so
grievous) within himself : How shall I put thee among the children, and
give thee an heritage ? &c., yet himself soon thinks how to bring it about, and I said, Thou shalt call me Father ; and shall not depart from me. He might well say, at the 22d ver., Return, ye backsliding children, when himself gave them power to return ; and withal farther promiseth,
* I
will heal their backslidings, so in the same verse. And their hearts were
accordingly moved to do it, and to answer God s call, as in the following words of that 22d verse, Behold, we come unto thee ; for thou art the Lord
our God. God, you see, continues to own them, after their most desperate
backsliding, and to do all in them, and for them, and then they return to own him. You have the same, 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 will
OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
heal him ; I will lead him also, and restore comforts unto him, and to his mourners ; as also Hosea xiv. 4,
< I will heal their backslidings, I will love them freely. And truly, this happy issue of healing in the end, what is it other than what is in the text : After ye have suffered a while, I will strengthen, &c.
[2.J From all which passages this conclusion will remain for me, that if (rod hath married himself by calling us once, and then hath forgiven us, as a (rod of all grace, so many years sinnings contrivedin, for which a man never so much as once repented all his life, then how much more will he forgive those which them intermingledly humblest thy soul for, and appliest the blood of Christ for ? Which is of as much force to be sure, under the New Testament, as it was under the Old, to make reconciliation and atone ment between God, and them that are the called according to his purpose in all such cases.
[3.J And, thirdly, he can do all this with more ease (as I may so speak) than what he did for thee at the first.
For, first, at the first thou hadst an heart that was wholly hard and im penitent, and did God then break it, and melt it, and withal forgave thee all How much more easily can he, yea, and doth he, break thy heart, that hath been broken already ; melt and soften the heart that hath been melted, and which never yet came to be wholly cold after its first melt ing
! And though it should be so, yet one can more easily set that coal on fire that hath been in the fire so often already, than kindle a green stick that never was kindled.
And as he can more easily melt thy heart than at first, so, secondly, he can in this way of dispensation more easily forgive thee, than at the first he did. For at the first conversion he pardoned all, and all at once ; but his course of pardoning thy sins after calling, is but by driblets (as we say) or by lesser sums ; for he now pardons you afresh every day as thou committest them and humblest thyself for them. And so that of John is fulfilled, ^Ine blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin. Which words note out a con tinued act ; for such it is to a soul after calling, that blood becomes a foun tain, fans perennis, that daily runs and washeth : Zech. xiii. 1, In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David, and to the inhabi tants of Jerusalem, for sin and uncleanness ; that is, it continues to be such after it hath been first opened, as at first conversion it begins to be Afore conversion Christ was as the rock which Moses struck ; it had stood long in the Israelites view, it flowed not at all till Moses applied his rod to it ; but when once struck, it became a continual river that followed them and that rock was Christ, as 1 Cor. x. 4, and that water was his blood, which when once opened, it runs continually, and runs with ease, without any force or violence used, and in that manner washeth out the stains of daily sins with far more ease and expedition (if any such difference may be supwed) than it did those guilts of a deeper die, that had continued from man s infancy till then, and which at first conversion a man was found guilty of.
And did God do this, then, for thee at thy calling ? And will he not after wards, especially when thou art found to humble thyself all along as thou Binnest, and contmuest to seek grace, as a man condemned useth to do for life, arid hast a daily recourse still as thou failest, unto the throne of grace for grace and mercy in time of need ? Thou confessesf , acknowledgest thy sins, appliest the blood of Christ to them, and pleadest forgiveness for his sake, and through his intercession ; and though it is not for these (that is, * Qu. continued ? ED.
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 313
these humblings and seekings, as they are thy doing) that God pardoneth
thee, yet this way his course of pardoning doth run.
I will only leave this great word with you as to this point, that if this mixed state, intermingled state, of sinnings and repentings, which are the
conflictings of flesh, and spirit, should have been ordained by God to con
tinue to eternity, avrbg, he, this God of all grace, could and would have con
tinued to pardon thee to eternity, and that in this way fore -mentioned, much more easily than he hath given a pre-universal pardon as he vouchsafed first
to thee, when thou hadst continued so long unregenerate, or any other one
that hath long continued in an unregenerate state, with a perpetration of
great sins, as some or other have done.
If* this, that sins after calling shall not hinder, but still be pardoned, let
it be inferred from hence, that God, as a God of all grace, did call and par
don, so as at the first we have seen he did.
Obj. But perhaps some of you that have yet been effectually called, may be ready, yea, and have cause to say, Alas, my sins since my calling have
been greater and grosser than any I committed afore,
Ans. 1. It may have fallen out that they have been more and more hei
nous, as to the outward act of some sins ; besides, thou hast perhaps lived years double since thy calling unto what thou didst afore, and also the greatest
part of that former time was passed in childhood and younger years ; but since
thou art grown up, and according to the course of nature, lusts with them, and though those lusts did receive a death s wound at first, they may yet
exercise more strength than thou perceivest such lusts had when thou wert
younger.
Ans. 2. The circumstances thou hast been set in may have occasioned,
for the acts of them, some worse sins, than thy unregeneracy ever knew.
Job and Jeremiah were certainly more impatient, even almost to blasphemy, than ever in their younger times, for the temptations grew higher.
Ans. 3. As thou considerest thy sinnings all along, thou must consider
thy reducements, thy repentance, thy humblings of thyself, that have run
all along with them, and have come between thy sinnings, and still have
broken the force and extreme violence of them. And these, to be sure, God
remembers, and thou thus crying daily to him against them, and confess
ing of them, the blood of Christ hath secretly all along cleansed thee still from
all those sins.
Am. 4. As thou considerest thy greater sort of sinnings, so thou shouldst
withal consider the different manner of sinning, which hath accompanied thy
committings of them, from what there did afore, which do really make that
great difference between thy sinnings now and afore, that though the out
ward acts may have been greater and more grievous since, than any were
afore, yet the difference in sin might testify to the sincerity of thy grace ;
yea, may and doth serve as an evidence of the Spirit of God his continuing
to dwell in thee, and so of God s having still continued to pardon thee all
along, through the tenor of the covenant and state of grace first made by him
and entered into by thee. Yea, and take thy lesser sins, and compare them
with thy sinnings then, in them then thou sinned st with thy whole heart ;
whereas now in thy grossest sins, but as with half thy heart. Sin hath not
had dominion over thee, that is, not the full rule of thee, as afore i
thou hast still sinned with a lame heart, thou hast gone halting about it as
one which hath a broken leg ; though thou mayest have had many foul mis
carriages against light, yet in thy perpetration of them thou hast been as
man that wields a weapon with a broken arm, nor dost thou ever come
* Qu. omit
< if ? ED.
OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
lay the weapon of resistance down, or to give thyself up as a servant whose ear is bored through, unto any of those lusts. Thou still runnest whining, yemens, after them that prevailed with thee, as a prince that is led captive ; neither have thine overcomings been as theirs, whom Peter speaks of, 2 Pet. ii. 21-23. They are, as the dog returns to his vomit again with the whole of his appetite, as greedily as ever, when the sickness of his stomach once is over, his desire to what is vomited is the same; and sothe sow lies down in the mire with her whole delight. A sheep may fall into the mire, but a sow lies down in it, and wallows in it with her whole delight. I ap peal to all the experience of thine heart, if ever thou didst so. If not, then God hatli^maintained an opposition against sin in thee ; and if so, how easy is it for him to pardon thee, in comparison to and above what thy rate of sinning was in thy former condition !
Obj. But thou wilt further say, I fear my condition is much worse than in my former condition of unregeneracy. Am. There I will grapple with any of you that ever have had true grace ; if any be otherwise, what I shall say will not reach them, or concern them.
Come on, take the worst condition thou hast ever been in since, and consider the frame of thy heart therein, and compare it with the best of thy condition afore calling. I put thee to it : durst thou exchange this now with that then ? Consider how then, afore conversion, thou hadst not as then a dram of the least holy affection in thee, no aim at the glory of God : thou wholly didst set up thyself, and thine own lusts ; thou hadst no respect nor fear of God afore thine eyes, none at all; but since, thou hast (take the whole of thy course) carried all along afore thee an eye unto God, though, as David says of himself, Ps. cxix. 176, thou hast as the lost sheep gone much astray, I have gone astray like a lost sheep, seek thy servant ; for I do not forget thy commandments. Thou then calledst not upon God unless
111 a formality ; thou hadst no reluctancy against sin, no pursuing after holi ness, as now, though thou fallest short of what thou wouldst be. Thou talkest of devils hurrying thee with temptations ; ay, but thou hadst a devil dwelling in thee, as in his own house, in peace, ruling effectually in thee, and taking thee captive at his will. Thou complairiest of thy deadness now, too, and in duties, and yet performest them with some affections ; why, then, thou wert wholly dead in sins and trespasses. It may be thy graces are not so shining ; but lay thine hand on thy pulse, it doth still beat, though faintly : there are in thee longings after God, and desires to fear his name, and there is a spring of such dispositions in thee. There is a spiritual living creature in thee, which, like the mole under ground, is working up towards the free air, heaving up the earth, and breathes heavenward. Come, be ashamed to talk thus. Are there seven devils entered into thee worse than the former? Is thy latter end worse than thy beginning ? Oh no!
Again, for the other part of justification, God s justifying thee, and cover ing thy sins with Christ righteousness. It was that whole righteousness which was then imputed to thee at thy calling (as was said) by the God of all grace ; and if he had not been a God of all grace, he would never have bestowed that gift upon thee, of all other ; and having bestowed that once, thou mayest build upon it, that he will continue to justify thee for ever. It \voulcl be the highest dishonour unto that so infinite perfect righteousness of Christ, if where and when it were once imputed, it should be once frustrate, and made of no effect unto that person ; for where once the whole of it is imputed (as the whole always is, with all the privileges or consequents that do accompany, and are entailed upon it), it brings with it the purchase of
CHAP. V.] OF ELECTION. 815
an eternal imputation, to whom it is imputed once, never to be taken off, or made a non-imputation. Where it sealeth, it makes an end of, and seals up sins for ever, with a seal never to be broken off ; and makes reconciliation
for iniquity, and brings in an everlasting righteousness to whomsoever it is
applied, which our sins shall never outdo, Dan. ix. 24. That righteousness
is so extensively transcendent, as it will not permit it. It shall never be
said that sin imputed was too hard for Christ s righteousness imputed, or
that it hath more interest with God against one to whom it is imputed, than Christ s righteousness hath. No: Heb. x. 14, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified ; which being perfected,
is seen, as the apostle himself there interprets it, in justification (the point now afore us), in that it causeth sins to be remembered no more, as in the
following verses.
And this for this inference from the imputation of Christ s righteousness at
first, that therefore God will continue to pardon and justify for ever.
2. The second thing that may be supposed (if anything) to obstruct and
interrupt the efflux and course of God s grace begun in any of us, in carrying us through all temptations, is the power of sin within a man s own heart, lest
that getting head again, God s heart should be diverted from us.
But if God did sanctify us at first, as a God of all grace, in the manner that
hath been specified, this affords a new head or ground of confirmation of
our faith, that notwithstanding the hazards with which our remaining cor
ruption might seem to threaten us, that yet God will assuredly preserve grace
in us, maugre all temptations.
(1.) God sanctified thee at the first, by inlaying in thy soul the seeds of
all and every grace and gracious disposition that ever was to be, or shall be.
This we shewed in the fore part, and therefore aurdc, this God, as a God of
all grace, is engaged to all and every such grace in particular, wrought and
inlaid in thee by him then, to preserve it and them unto a perfect consum
mation. All temptations whatever, that have anything of danger in them,
and that do or can befall thee, are the opposites unto some or other of those
graces wrought in thee at the first ; for the law of sin, arid the law of the
mind, that is, grace in us, and sin in us, are adequately and commensurately
^ Hence,
opposite, and contrary in every soul in which grace is wrought.
therefore, every particular temptation and lust in us must be considered as
that which opposeth some particular grace or other ; as James mentioneth
envy as opposite unto its contrary grace, James iv. 5, 6 (of which anon).
Now, then, when any temptation falls out, or any particular lust anseth,
forks, he that was the God of all grace in calling, and who is therefore the
God of that particular grace in his working it at the first, is engaged, and
will in a particular special manner, as occasion still shall arise, look unto
the preserving of that individual grace, and maintain it, and uphold it against
that temptation, so far as that it shall never become_extinct by it, but in tl
end and issue, sooner or later, be brought forth to victory.
And, indeed, the whole interest or universal stock of all grace lies every
way at the stake, upon this issue of God s maintaining each and every grace
in the day of its distress, against the temptations that would destroy it, as
will appear bv putting these four particulars together
[1.] On grace s part; for if any particular grace should be made extinct
by any particular temptation and lust, then the whole of all the rest oi that
charter of graces would also fail and be dissolved, as it was in Adam by tl
prevailing of one temptation. Graces, they are all of a knot; break one and
all fall asunder ; they were given all together at once at the first, and tney
would, and must depart all together at once, if any one doth fail.
316 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
[2.J Hence, secondly, on God s part, he having, as a God of all grace, been the author and founder of all those graces, and they his work, hence his heart works in him, and doth concern itself whensoever any parti cular grace comes to be in danger; and according unto what proportion in his wisdom he sees meet, he doth relieve it, and that upon the account, or in the strength of his being a God of all grace, as hath been said. Yea, and the whole of his grace comes still into the field for the succour and relief of any one grace, so as if all the grace that is in God thus interested will be able to maintain and preserve that one, yea, every grace, the least ; it shall have, m its due season, all in God to raise the siege of any, and every sort and kind of particular temptations whatsoever, set down about it. I say, in his due time, as Peter doth proviso it, ver. 6 of his 5th chapter ; so as though a temptation may prevail for an act, or many acts, yet it shall never unin
terruptedly, finally, or wholly ; for even that very grace, when it is most put to the worst, is yet in some degree renewed day by day, as our whole man is said to be. What would you think if all the power of such an empire as that of the Turks, yea, the strength of the whole empire, should upon all occasions come into the field, for the relief of any or every small city that is besieged, which belongs unto its dominions or protection. Now so it is here.
[3.] Consider that the graces in thee have to do and to conflict but with
particular temptations singly at once, or but with few, though sometimes with diverse, yet never with all, as two apostles tell us.
[4.] Now, to draw a conclusion from all these things, how easy is it for God, that is the God of all grace, and who wrought all grace de novo, that is, anew at the first, still to strengthen any one grace or graces that are already wrought, and are extant in being in thy heart, against what is or are but a particular temptation or temptations, when grace is thus but singly set upon and assassinated ? And this inference is most strong from the premises, namely, that he that created all graces wholly de novo, or new at the first, should certainly be both able and willing to maintain particular graces still as they are all along assaulted. And his being a God of all grace, doth make him as willing as he is able for it. This as for the point of his upholding and maintaining thy graces.
(2.) Seeing that in such temptations thou hast to do with such or such a corruption in particular, I bid thee take or single forth any one particular corruption or corruptions which thou findest are or have "been most pre valent to endanger thee. Consider that if God, as a God of all grace, at
calling first gave an universal wound, a crucifying unto all and every lust in thee (as was shewn), and that he did this when he found the body of sin whole, and in its full strength and vigour, and unbroken, hardened, accus tomed, and habituated unto evil, as the prophet states the case, and withal that this God continues to be the same God of all grace to thee, Aurk, then certainly he is afterwards able and willing much more to help thee out against, and in the end to strengthen thee against, that corruption or corruptions that have been already thrust through, and go limping with a mortal wound, though they rise up with a renewed strength at the present; for it is both a more easy work to him thus to assist thee, and likewise his grace engageth him more afterwards to this, than it did at first to work the whole of all grace in thee, especially when thou findest that he continues to work in thee some hatred of that corruption, some mourning for it, with a desire of the contrary grace running all along with thy being overcome by it. Shall I give you one place of Scripture to confirm the most of what have been lately said ? It is in James, chap. iv. ver. 5, 6, Do ye think that the
CHAP. V.] OP ELECTION. 317
scripture saith in vain, The spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy ? But he giveth more grace
: wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
(1.) It supposeth that our most bloody conflicts are still with some parti cular lusts and temptations, for so his instance carries it, mentioning only a lust of envy, which saints had then, and have at this day too much of, in them one against another : the spirit that is in us, us saints, for of those he
speaks, lusteth after envy.
(2.) A second is, that when a soul, being sensible of that corruption, doth humble itself under it and for it, and bewail it unto God, and hath already a
grace begun actually working in opposition to it, that is, to resist that envy and pride, from whence it is that envy riseth, that hath an heart to seek for
humility, which is the contrary grace, where God, says James, hath wrought,
and continues these oppositions thereto, he, the same God, will, as a God of all grace, give more grace unto that soul, and these two are most express, either in the words or their coherence. For,
* God will give more grace, whereby, in the first
[1.] In verse 6 he says,
place, is meant, that he will give more of that particular grace, which is con
trary to that lust of envy, though together therewith a further increase of all
grace also, for they do still increase together. And [2.] it is as express that the persons he promiseth to give this more
grace unto, are those whom he hath begun to have wrought some of this
grace in.
1st, For the word more grace imports an addition unto grace already sup posed to have been received, which this is to be an addition to ; and also that he will give more grace in respect to the subduing that corruption in the end, which is a distinct thing from the other, and a special grace of itself
for God to do it.
And, 2dly, the promise for this out of Scripture runs thus, ver. 6, He
giveth grace to the humble. It supposeth, therefore, humble already, and that qualification of humility is also the very radical opposite grace to envy.
And, 3dly, so the promise must be understood to mean this, that where God hath wrought some beginnings of any grace contrary to corruptions, continued with conflicts against those corruptions (as the word lusteth implies, compared with Gal. v. 17, 21), as of humility against pride and envy, there God will give yet more, or further supplies, of grace unto that soul. And
more, either so as to prevail over that lust, in the continual assaults of it, or at least to afford that soul, during that present assault, such supplies so
far as to enable it to continue to resist it ; but in what degree it shall be, is
as himself pleaseth to dispense, yet always so far as it shall be said that that
corruption had not dominion over it, but so as still in its highest carrying away the soul, it never obtained that full power it had when a man was un-
regenerate.
And, 4thly, that God, who is the God of this and of all grace, and at first
wrought it, will certainly effectually in the end give more grace ; for as he
refers unto the Scripture, for the one part, that there is an envious spirit working in us, so to hearten the poor soul that conflicts against it, he refers him unto other scriptures, that speak as loud that God will certainly in the end give more grace to such a soul ; so verse 6, But he giveth more grace
: wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. As certainly, then, as the spirit that is in us lusteth after envy
(and truly we are all sure enough of that, for we find it daily working in our
hearts), as certainly and much more may we be assured that the God of all
grace, having by calling begun any grace, will give yet more grace to prevail
318 OF ELECTION. [BOOK IV.
against the temptation, whatever it be. And as for this latter, besides the
places of the Old Testament which he refers his reader unto, two apostles, Peter and James, have asserted the same, so as we may confidently rest upon it.
Use. You see your calling, brethren, as the apostle speaks in another case. Consider, then, in all your discouragements, the terms and privileges of it, as they have been now laid open, to strengthen your hearts, to have a free and bold recourse unto this God of all grace, who sits on a throne of
grace in heaven, and hath Christ also as our high priest, officiating by him for us as intercessor, Heb. iv. 15. Dost thou perceive in thine heart some rudera, some foundations of a true calling, though appearing but a little above ground, like as the ruins of some old building that is razed use to be, yet some foundations of a further new begun building there are.
First know this, that it is the God of all grace that hath wrought any of them, and if any, all ; and so is engaged to be a God of all grace unto thee, and that for ever ; he that is the God of all grace will never deny what is true grace in thee ; he never denied his word, but much less will he deny his hand, or any part of it. And though thou canst not see all and each
particular that is wrought, nor read every letter of God s writing that is written in thine heart, yet God knows his own hand. Yea, some graces perhaps may be written but in short hand, or ciphers, and not drawn out into letters at length ; they having not as yet been exercised, yet they all are and were written by him at the first ; quod scripsi, scripsi
< what I have written I have written it will be for ever owned by him. Be assured that this God, who hath been at such cost in laying a foundation of all grace, will be sure to see to it to perfect it. You heard afore in the former head and sermons that because the work of calling or regeneration was a good and perfect work for kind, that God had therefore an unchangeable respect to it; but when from what hath been said you shall add this to it, that it is, though for degree, an imperfect work, that yet is a complete work for kind, of all sorts of graces, bearing the whole image of God himself in that respect. And that as himself, the God of all grace, is the author of it, from hence also he is the more engaged to perfect it.
If you shall see a great and withal a wise master-builder to have laid a complete and universal model or area, as builders call it, though yet but in the foundations of it, perhaps not a foot high, yet universally and entirely complete, and so rich for the matter of it as to be supposed of pearls and precious stones laid in every part of that foundation, and also so entire in the parts of it, that it will serve for the foundation work of all and the whole of a glorious pile and fabric, whereof that is the model and beginning, so as
all that is to follow, or shall be erected and superstructed over it, hath a full foundation of it ; you would in this case conclude that certainly he that had laid such a platform, and bestowed such a cost on this foundation, will not lose all this, but carry it on, and will build it, though the builder which he employs in it, which are our particular selves, build with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other, as Nehemiah did, lest it should be said he was a foolish builder that was not able to finish it. This is the case here upon called ones, for not the wise God only, but he who is the God of all grace, hath begun a good work in you ; he will not lose the glory of his wisdom, but be much more assured he will never lose the glory of his grace, much less the glory of his being the God of all grace, who as such hath laid this foundation. It was the glory of his grace carried on to
perfection the fabric of the temple (which was one type of this very building) of Zerubbabel his building of it with a multitude of difficulties, and inter
* That he having laid the foundation stone .
ruptions, it is said, Zech. iv. 9,
CHAP. VI.] OF ELECTION.
of ft, though it were but one stone for all the rest, as you know the manner of master-builders is, that he should have the honour to lay the top-stone so verse 7. And why ? That in the end and final finishing of all, the people all might shout, and cry, Grace, grace to it ! that is, grace had begun it, and grace had perfected it, and grace had carried it all alone throughout those difficulties. Now, brethren, so it is here ; you shall one day have each of you a building made without hands in the heavens, 2 Cor. v. 1, 2. And in the mean time the foundations of it are laid in your hearts, according to what the prophet foretold : Isa. liv. 11, 12, thou afflicted, tossed with tempests, and not comforted ! behold, I will lay thv stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones, speaking of the church of the new testament. And such every grace, and the exercises and increases of them are, and so it is reared and ariseth up above ground in this world, and the whole work and fabric of it is undertaken and carried on by God, the God of all grace, who laid not one, but every, foundation-stone with his own hands imme
diately, and hath left out no one of saving graces, having done it as a God of all grace. ye called ones, shout, and shout aloud, for joy, and cry not only GRACE, GRACE TO IT ! as they did at the finishing of the temple, which was but the shadow of the temple of God within you ; but cry you this note if any, THE GOD OF ALL GRACE ! THE GOD OF ALL GRACE ! That is the New Testament language, so far exceeding that of the Old. And therein bless him for his all-justifying grace, bless him for his allsanctifying grace, bless him for his allglorifying grace which he hath called you unto, as the text hath it ; thereby, and by all these, he hath given you the full right and security of his eternal glory already.