right. O many, very many are in this condition; for though God be gracious, yet he will not be slighted nor abused always; there are plenty of sinners in the world—if one will not, another will. Christ was soon repulsed by and sent away from the country of the Gadarenes; but on the other side of the sea there were many ready with joy to receive him. Lu. viii. 37, 40. So, when the Jews contradicted and blasphemed, the Gentiles gladly received the word.' Ac. xiii. 46–48. Look to it, sinner, here is life and death set before thee; life, if it be not too late to receive it; but if it be, it is not too late for death to swallow thee up. And tell me, will it not be dreadful to be carried from under the gospel to the damned, there to lie in endless torment, because thou wouldest not be delivered therefrom?* Will it be comfort to thee to see the Saviour turn Judge? to see him that wept and died for the sin of the world now ease his mind on Christ-abhorring sinners by rendering to them the just judgment of God? For all their abominable filthiness, had they closed with Christ, they had been shrouded from the justice of the law, and should not have come into condemnation, but had been passed from death to life;' but they would not take shelter there; they would venture to meet the justice of God in its fury, wherefore now it shall swallow them up for ever and ever. And let me ask further, is not he a madman who, being loaded with combustible matter, will run headlong into the fire upon a bravado? or that, being guilty of felony or murder, will desperately run himself into the hand of the officer, as if the law, the judge, the sentence, execution, were but a jest, or a thing to be played withal? And yet thus mad are poor,

* How deplorably and inexcusably they will perish, who perish by their own wilful unbelief under the gospel! It will be dreadful indeed to be driven, as it were, from the very gate of heaven to the lowermost and hottest hell. Lord, seud forth thy light, truth, and power, that sinners may be saved and comforted by coming unto thee for life and peace Mason.

as if he were a viper, they are overcome, and cast off for ever by the just judgment of the law. But ah! how poorly will these be able to plead the virtues of the law to which they have cleaved, when God shall answer them, 'Whom dost thou pass in beauty? go down, and be thou laid with the uncircumcised.' Eze. xxxii. 19. Go down to hell, and there be laid with those that refused the grace of God.

Sinners, take my advice, with which I shall conclude this use— -Call often to remembrance that thou hast a precious soul within thee; that thou art in the way to thine end, at which thy precious soul will be in special concerned, it being then time to delay no longer, the time of reward being come. I say again, bring thy end home; put thyself in thy thoughts into the last day thou must live in this world, seriously arguing thus-How if this day were my last? How if I never see the sun rise more? How if the first voice that rings to-morrow morning in my heavy ears be, Arise, ye dead, and come to judgment?' Or how, if the next sight I see with mine eyes be the Lord in the clouds, with all his angels, raining floods of fire and brimstone upon the world? Am I in a case to be thus near mine end? to hear this trump of God? or to see this great appearance of this great God, and the Lord Jesus Christ? Will my profession, or the faith I think I have, carry me through all the trials of God's tribunal? Cannot his eyes, which are as a flame of fire, see in my words, thoughts, and actions enough to make me culpable of the wrath of God? O how serious should sinners be in this work of remembering things to come, of laying to their heart the greatness and terror of that notable day of God Almighty, and in examining themselves, how it is like to go with their souls when they shall stand before the Judge indeed! To this end, God make this word effectual. Amen.†

This is a striking and soul-searching appeal. O that the Holy Spirit may 'search me and try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting,' before we go hence into the eternal state!-ED.

COURTEOUS READER,

In this little book thou art presented with a discourse of the GRACE of God, and of salvation by that In which discourse, thou shalt find grace. how each Person in the Godhead doth his part in the salvation of the sinner. I. The Father putteth forth his grace, thus. II. The Son putteth forth his grace, thus. III. And the Spirit putteth forth his grace, thus. Which things thou shalt find here particularly handled.

Thou shalt also find, in this small treatise, the way of God with the sinner, as to his CONVER

SATION, and the way of the sinner with God in the same; where[in] the grace of God, and the wickedness of the sinner, do greatly show themselves.

If thou findest me short in things, impute that [to] my love to brevity. If thou findest me besides the truth in aught, impute that to mine infirmity. But if thou findest anything here that serveth to thy furtherance and joy of faith, impute that to the mercy of God bestowed on thee and

me.

Thine to serve thee with that little I have,

J. B.

'BY GRACE YE ARE SAVED.'-EPH. II. 5.

5, 11. ver. 6, 14.

IN the first chapter, from the fourth to the twelfth verse, the apostle is treating of the doctrine of election, both with respect to the act itself, the end, and means conducing thereto. The act, he tells us, was God's free choice of some. ver. 4, The end was God's glory in their salvation. The means conducing to that end was Jesus Christ himself— In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.' ver. 7. This done, he treateth of the subjection of the Ephesians to the faith, as it was held forth to them in the Word of the truth of the gospel, as also of their being sealed by the Holy Spirit of God unto the day of redemption. ver. 12-14.

Moreover, he telleth them how he gave thanks to God for them, making mention of them in his prayers, even that he would make them see what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead,' &c. ver. 15-20.

And lest the Ephesians, at the hearing of these their so many privileges, should forget how little they deserved them, he tells them that in time past they were dead in trespasses and sins, and that then they walked in them according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.' Eph. ii. 2, 3.

power

Having thus called them back to the remembrance of themselves-to wit, what they were in

their state of unregeneracy, he proceedeth to show them that their first quickening was by the resurrection of Christ their Head, in whom they before were chosen, and that by him they were already set down in heavenly places, ver. 5, 6; inserting, by the way, the true cause of all this blessedness, with what else should be by us enjoyed in another world; and that is, the love and grace of God: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye are saved).' These last words seem to be the apostle's conclusion rightly drawn from the premises; as who should say, If you Ephesians were indeed dead in trespasses and sins; if indeed you were by nature the children of wrath, even as others, then you deserve no more than others.† Again, if God hath chosen you, if God hath justified and saved you by his Christ, and left others as good as you by nature to perish in their sins, then the true cause of this your blessed condition is, the free grace of God. But just thus it is, therefore by grace ye are saved; therefore all the good which you enjoy more than others, it is of mere goodwill.

BY GRACE YE ARE SAVED.'

The method that I shall choose to discourse upon these words shall be this-I will propound certain questions upon the words, and direct par

* General course of manners, behaviour, deportment, espe cially as it regards morals (see Phil. i. 27; 1 Pet. i. 15).

Their conduct proved to the living that they were dead, they themselves having no feeling or sense of spiritual life; but, when quickened, their penitence and good works were salvation, but feel also their total unworthiness of this newbrought into existence by Divine power; they feel the joys of creating power, and sing, 'O to grace how great a debtor!'-Ev.

THE QUESTIONS ARE

I. What is it to be saved?

II. What is it to be saved by grace?

III. Who are they that are saved by grace? IV. How it appears that they that are saved, are saved by grace?

V. What might be the reasons which prevailed with God to save us by grace, rather than by any other means?

Now the reason why I propound these five questions upon the words, it is, because the words themselves admit them; the first three are grounded upon the several phrases in the text, and the two last are to make way for demonstration of the whole.

QUEST. I.-WHAT IS IT TO BE SAVED?

This question supposeth that there is such a thing as damnation due to man for sin; for to save supposeth the person to be saved to be at present in a sad condition; saving, to him that is not lost, signifies nothing, neither is it anything in itself. To save, to redeem, to deliver,' are in the general terms equivalent, and they do all of them suppose us to be in a state of thraldom and misery; therefore this word 'saved,' in the sense that the apostle here doth use it, is a word of great worth, forasmuch as the miseries from which we are saved is the misery of all most dreadful.

The miseries from which they that shall be saved shall by their salvation be delivered, are dreadful; they are no less than sin, the curse of God, and flames of hell for ever. What more abominable than sin? What more insupportable than the dreadful wrath of an angry God? And what more fearful than the bottomless pit of hell? I say, what more fearful than to be tormented there for ever with the devil and his angels? Now, to 'save,' according to my text, is to deliver the sinner from these, with all things else that attend them. And although sinners may think that it is no hard matter to answer this question, yet I must tell you there is no man, that can feelingly know what it is to be saved, that knoweth not experimentally something of the dread of these three things, as is evident, because all others do even by their practice count it a thing of no great concern, when yet it is of all other of the highest concern among men; For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'

Mat. xvi. 26.

But, I say, if this word 'saved' concludeth our deliverance from sin, how can he tell what it is to be saved that hath not in his conscience groaned

VOL. I.

under the burden of sin? yea, it is impossible else that he should ever cry out with all his heart, Men and brethren, what shall we do?'-that is, do to be saved. Ac. ii. 37. The man that hath no sores or aches cannot know the virtue of the salve; I mean, not know it from his own experience, and therefore cannot prize, nor have that esteem of it, as he that hath received cure thereby. Clap a plaster to a well place, and that maketh not its virtue to appear; neither can he to whose flesh it is so applied, by that application understand its worth. Sinners, you, I mean, that are not wounded with guilt, and oppressed with the burden of sin, you cannot-I will say it again-you cannot know, in this senseless condition of yours, what it is to be saved.

Again; this word 'saved,' as I said, concludeth deliverance from the wrath of God. How, then, can he tell what it is to be saved that hath not felt the burden of the wrath of God? He-he that is astonished with, and that trembleth at, the wrath of God-he knows best what it is to be saved.

Ac. xvi. 29.

Further, this word saved,' it concludeth deliverance from death and hell. How, then, can he tell what it is to be saved that never was sensible of the sorrows of the one, nor distressed with the pains of the other? The Psalmist says, 'The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the Lord '—(mark, then), then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul,'-then, in my distress. When he knew what it was to be saved, then he called, because, I say, then he knew what it was to be saved. Ps. xviii. 4, 5; cxvi. 3, 4. I say, this is the man, and this only, that knows what it is to be saved. And this is evident, as is manifest by the little regard that the rest have to saving, or the little dread they have of damnation. Where is he that seeks and groans for salvation? I say, where is he that hath taken his flight for salvation, because of the dread of the wrath to come? O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?' Mat. iii. 7. Alas! do not the most set light by salvation?as for sin, how do they love it, embrace it, please themselves with it, hide it still within their mouth, and keep it close under their tongue. Besides, for the wrath of God, they feel it not, they fly not from it; and for hell, it is become a doubt to many if there be any, and a mock to those whose doubt is resolved by atheism.

But to come to the question-What is it to be saved? To be saved may either respect salvation in the whole of it, or salvation in the parts of it, or both. I think this text respecteth both-to wit, salvation completing, and salvation completed; for 'to save' is a work of many steps; or, to be

2 U

as plain as possible, 'to save' is a work that hath its beginning before the world began, and shall not be completed before it is ended.

First, then, we may be said to be saved in the purpose of God before the world began. The apostle saith that he saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. 2 Ti. i. 9. This is the beginning of salvation, and according to this beginning all things concur and fall out in conclusion-He hath saved us according to his eternal purpose, which he purposed in Christ Jesus.' God in thus saving may be said to save us by determining to make those means effectual for the blessed completing of our salvation; and hence we are said to be chosen in Christ to salvation.' And again, that he hath in that choice given us that grace that shall complete our salvation. Yea, the text is very full, He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.' Ep. i. 3, 4.

Second. As we may be said to be saved in the purpose of God before the foundation of the world, so we may be said to be saved before we are converted, or called to Christ. And hence 'saved' is put before called;' he hath saved us, and called us;' he saith not, he hath called us, and saved us; but he puts saving before calling. 2 Ti. i. 9. So again, we are said to be preserved in Christ and called;' he saith not, called and preserved. Jude 1. And therefore God saith again, I will pardon them whom I reserve 'that is, as Paul expounds it, those whom I have 'elected and kept,' and this part of salvation is accomplished through the forbearance of God. Je. 1. 20. Ro. xi. 4, 5. God beareth with his own elect, for Christ's sake, all the time of their unregeneracy, until the time comes which he hath appointed for their conversion. The sins that we stood guilty of before conversion, had the judgment due to them been executed upon us, we had not now been in the world to partake of a heavenly calling. But the judgment due to them hath been by the patience of God prevented, and we saved all the time of our ungodly and unconverted state, from that death, and those many hells, that for our sins we deserved at the hands of God.

And here lies the reason that long life is granted to the elect before conversion, and that all the sins they commit and all the judgments they deserve, cannot drive them out of the world before conversion. Manasseh, you know, was a great sinner, and for the trespass which he committed he was driven from his own land, and carried to Babylon; but kill him they could not, though his sins had

deserved death ten thousand times. But what was

the reason? Why, he was not yet called; God had chosen him in Christ, and laid up in him a stock of grace, which must be given to Manasseh before he dies; therefore Manasseh must be convinced, converted, and saved. That legion of devils that was in the possessed, with all the sins which he had committed in the time of his unregeneracy, could not take away his life before his conversion. Mar. v. How many times was that poor creature, as we may easily conjecture, assaulted for his life by the devils that were in him, yet could they not kill him, yea, though his dwelling was near the sea-side, and the devils had power to drive him too, yet could they not drive him further than the mountains that were by the sea-side; yea, they could help him often to break his chains and fetters, and could also make him as mad as a bedlam, they could also prevail with him to separate from men, and cut himself with stones, but kill him they could not, drown him they could not; he was saved to be called; he was, notwithstanding all this, preserved in Christ, and called. As it is said of the young lad in the gospel, he was by the devil cast oft into the fire, and oft into the water, to destroy him, but it could not be; even so hath he served others, but they must be saved to be called.' Mar. ix. 22. How many deaths have some been delivered from and saved out of before conversion! Some have fallen into rivers, some into wells, some into the sea, some into the hands of men; yea, they have been justly arraigned and condemned, as the thief upon the cross, but must not die before they have been converted. They were preserved in Christ, and called.

*

Called Christian, how many times have thy sins laid thee upon a sick-bed, and, to thine and others' thinking, at the very mouth of the grave? yet God said concerning thee, Let him live, for he is not yet converted. Behold, therefore, that the elect are saved before they are called.† 'God, who is rich

lam,' bestowed, in 1545, upon the citizens of London, who ap *The hospital of St. Mary Bethlem, vulgarly called 'Bedpropriated it to the reception of lunatics. It being the only public hospital for that class of the afflicted in England, it gave the name of 'bedlam' to all whose conduct could only be

accounted for on the score of madness.-ED.

The person who writes this, was a singular instance of the truth of our author's remark; having been twice providentially preserved from drowning, and once from the fatal effects of a violent fever, before effectual saving grace had reached his soul. The same rich and abundant mercy follows all the elect, quickens them when dead, saves them when lost, and restores them when ruined. God hath chosen us unto salvation, and

enables us to live holily on earth, in order to a life of happiness in heaven. The Father's good will and pleasure is the only fountain from whence the salvation of believers flows; and such as are given to Christ by the Father he considers as his charge, and stands engaged for their preservation; and the death of Christ for sinners, is an evident demonstration of the love of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, towards them; this love manifested in time was in and upon the heart of unseen dangers, both spiritual and temporal, the Christian of God before the world began.-Mason. What a multitude escapes before he is called!-ED.