close Attendance upon Grace and a diligent waiting for its further Influences in the use of its appointed Means for the compleating of the Work that it has begun upon you You are yet but begun to be saved there is a great deal more to be done upon you before the Work be compleated Most of you are yet got but a little way out of Egypt and have many Stages to go before you come to the Land of Promise And Grace hath not yet put its last Hand to the greatest Saint that is yet on this side Heaven therefore let all continue seeking and waiting diligently for its further Influences in his own appointed Way Till he that has begun a good Work in you has finished and compleated it according to his own Promise Phil. 1. 6. FINIS Books written by the Late Reverend Mr. Nath. Vincent are Sold by Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns at the lower end of Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel WOrthy Walking Pressed upon all that have heard the Call of the Gospel From Eph. 4. 1. I therefore the Prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the Vocation wherewith ye are called The Spirit of Prayer Or a Discourse wherein the Nature of Prayer is open'd the Kinds of Prayer are handled and the right manner of Praying discovered Several Cases about this Duty are Resolved From Eph. 6. 18. Praying always with all Prayer and Supplication in the Spirit c. Unto which is added a Direction for the Attaining the Gift of Prayer That Family-Duty may not be omitted nor Secret Duty discouraged through Inability of Utterance and Expression A Heaven or Hell upon Earth Or a Discourse concerning Conscience on Acts 24. 16. Herein do I exercise my self to have a Conscience c. The True Touchstone which shews both Grace and Nature Or a Discourse concerning Self-Examination by which both Saints and Sinners may come to know themselves Whereunto are added sundry Meditations relating to the Lords Supper The more Excellent Way to Edifie the Church of Christ Or a Discourse concerning Love The Design of which is to Revive that Grace now under such decaies among Protestants of ALL Persuasions The Conversion of the Soul Or a Discourse Explaining the Nature of that Conversion which is sincere and Directing and Perswading all to cease their Loving Sin and Death and to Turn to God and Live A Warning given to Sinners to prepare for Judgment to flee from Wrath to come and turn from All Sin but especially the Sin which does most easily beset them The Little Childs Catechism In which the Principles of the Christian Religion are in plain Words and short Answers laid down and suited to the Memories and Understandings of Little Children Whereunto are added several short Histories which may both please and profit them as also Directions how to Pray The Principles of the Doctrine of Christ Or a Catechism in which is contained the Sum of the Christian Religion or what is necessary to be believed and done in order to Salvation The Answers being but Seventeen in number and in very plain words easie to be understood Unto which is added a Catechism for Conscience wherein the Consciences of the Ignorant the grosly Profane the Young the meerly Moral and the Hypocrites are examined in order to their Instruction and Awakening and the Consciences of the sincere Christians are tried in order to their Peace and Comfort The Saints Triumph over the Last Enemy In a Sermon Preached at the Funeral of that Zealous and Painful Minister of Christ Mr. James Janeway Unto which is added His Character His sore Conflict before he died And afterwards His Triumphant manner of departing from Earth to the Heavenly Inheritance On 1 Cor. 15. 55. O Death where is thy sting Israels Lamentation at the Death of a Prophet In a Sermon Prophet at the Funeral of that Holy Learned and Painful Minister of Christ Mr. Thomas Cawton And now published at the earnest Desire of the Hearers On 1 Sam. 25. 1. And Samuel died and all the Israelites were gathered together and lamented him A Funeral Sermon Occasioned by the Death of Mr. George Baker First Preached and then Published at the earnest Desire of his Relations On 1 Pet. 1. 17. Pass the Time of your Sojourning here in Fear The Great Change Discoursed of in a Funeral Sermon occasioned by the Death of Mrs. Martha Thompson late Wife of Captain William Thompson in Wapping On Job 14. 14. All the Days of my appointed Time will I wait till my change come A Present for such as have been Sick and are Recovered Or a Discourse concerning the Good which comes out of the Evil of Affliction Being several Sermons Preached after his being raised from a Bed of Languishing Fountain Life p. 435.
sound in their Ears but no powerful Effects and Operations upon their Hearts a little pleasing of the Fancy with some light superficial touches upon the Affections but no renewing sanctifying Change of the Soul But was Gods Grace more eyed and more depended on in the use of his Ordinances we should doubtless see its saving Fruits and Effects more plentifully and more ordinarily communicated than now they are Men speak but to the Sences it is God only that can speak to the Heart Men may argue with the Will but it is the Grace of God only that can incline and perswade it and therefore as those that built the Wall of Jerusalem wrought with the Trowel in one hand and the Sword in the other so you must as it were work in the diligent use of Gods appointed Means and Ordinances with the one hand and with the other lift up to Heaven for his Grace to bless them to you Thus if Grace saves us then you must be sure to eye Grace and depend upon it for Success in the use of Means 7. If it be by Grace that we are saved then here is great incouragement against the difficulties that attend the Conversion and Salvation of a Sinner the difficulties are great both from the Malice and Power of Satan the Opposition of an alluring and insnaring World and especially from the carnal and corrupt Temper and Disposition of our own Hearts all these together do cast such Impediments and Rubs in our Way that it were enough utterly to discourage all Attempts and to make us to sit down in Despair if we had no greater Power than our own to trust to or depend upon but here is your Incouragement that it is Grace that saves us and therefore those things that are Difficulties with us are none with God those things that are impossible to be overcome by your own Strength are easily superable by an Almighty Grace When our Saviour told his Disciples that is was easier for a Cammel to go through the eye of a Needle than for a rich man to be saved they were amazed at it and said who then can be saved why saith our saviour those things that are impossible with Men are easie with God Most Men while they are in Ignorance and Carnal Security Strangers to God and themselves too they think it an easie thing to be saved but when once their Eyes come to be opened and their Consciences convinced of their dead lost and undone State how dead their Hearts are to God and Holiness how powerful Corruption is and how weak and unable they are to conquer it then they are ready to say alass who can be saved Why here is great incouragement for you that though Conversion-work be above your own power and the power of any meer Creature yet Grace can inlighten your darkness quicken your deadness and overcome your resistance As for instance when the Soul considers its own earthly carnal Temper and Disposition how disinclined and averse it is to God and Holiness and all Spiritual and Divine things it is ready to say how shall this heart of mine ever be made to love God above all and to delight in Him and his Service why here is Incouragement God that made the heart can Master it can renew and change it he can of stones raise up Children to Abraham he can make dry and dead bones live he can breath Life into a dead Soul he can make a Temple for himself of the most filthy and unclean Heart that is he that made Heaven and Earth of nothing can turn a heart of Stone into flesh he can turn the most earthly carnal sensual temper that is into a holy heavenly Disposition he can stamp his own Image and Likeness upon a slave of Sin and Satan Thus since it is by Grace that we are saved then notwithstanding all Difficulties here is great Incouragement to use his appointed Means to pray and wait and strive in hopes of Success and a good Issue for were the difficulties more and greater than they are yet they are not insuperable to an Almighty Grace 4. If it be by Grace that we are saved than what use should those make of this Doctrine that have already tasted and experienced the saving Fruits and Effects of Grace in themselves it will afford much for their furtherance and increase in Grace and Holiness 1. If we are saved by Grace And have you experienced the saving Effects of it in your Selves then you have Reason to be humbled Pride self-conceitedness and over-weaning Thoughts of our selves is a thing most hateful in the Eyes of God most contrary to his Nature and his Law God resists the Proud and he is said to know the Proud afar off But Humility is a thing of great Price and Value in his Eyes 1 Pet. 3. 4. Yea the humble Spirit is a Habitation that he makes choice of as a Seat of his special Residence Isa. 57. 15. And therefore God hath contrived the whole business of our recovery and Salvation by Christ in such a Way and Method as shall most effectually hide Pride from Man Salvation is of Grace from first to last that the loftiness of Men may be humbled and the Lord alone exalted It is true if Gods Grace has taken hold on your Hearts and begun a sanctifying saving Work upon you if he hath begun to Form you after the Divine Image and likeness he hath highly exalted you indeed he hath lifted you up from the Dunghil and set you with Princes yea higher than the Princes of the Earth in true Worth and Dignity But yet though God hath thus highly exalted you there is no Reason or Cause in all this why you should exalt your selves or be puffed up with high Thoughts or Conceits of your selves for it is Grace that hath done all this for you and not you your selves it is Gods free Gift to you and not any worth or desert of yours Therefore oft reflect upon the Apostles Question What hast thou that thou didst not receive 1 Cor. 4. 7. O! therefore walk humbly be low in your own Eyes and this will be pleasing in the sight of God This will be to Answer the very Design of Grace in its great Gifts to you this will make you more fit for Communion with God this will make your Souls a Temple that he will Delight to dwell and walk in and this will dispose you to receive more and more Grace from him He resists the Proud but gives Grace to the Humble 2. If it be so that we are saved by Grace then let Grace have the Glory of all that it hath wrought in you and done for you Gods own Glory is his great End and Design in all his Works it is that which above all things else he is most tender and Jealous of He freely communicates his choicest and greatest Gifts to Men but his Glory he will give to none that the reserves wholly and solely to himself
Salvation BY GRACE And Never the Less of GRACE Tho it be through FAITH And not without it In several Sermons on EPH. II. vsii By John Sheffield Rom. 4. 16. Therefore it is of Faith that it might be by Grace LONDON Printed by S. Bridge for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chapel M DC XCVIII To my Beloved Friends the Members and Auditors of my Congregation Dearly Beloved THese Discourses when first meditated were designed chiefly for your Instruction and Edification in Faith and Holiness and was never intended to be made more Publick than the Auditory to whom they were Preached but many of those that heard them having oft expressed their Desires that they might be Published hoping that themselves should reap further if not more Benefit by a deliberate Reading than the bare transient Hearing of them And withal hoping that what they had found beneficial to themselves might be so to others and when after some considerable Delay some did continue to enquire when they might expect it these Things did at length prevail with me to consent to the Publishing of them though not without some Reluctancy Both because I judged the work it self not fit for Publick view especially in a Time when we are so full of good Books and many more excellent ones than this can be supposed to be lye by neglected And also because I have been much pleased with that common saying Bene vixit qui bene latuit and the Advice that a Grave and Pious Person when Dying gave to his near Relation that he would endeavour to pass through the World without making any great noise as he went For indeed a noise is troublesome but especially if it be a contentions one But this small Tract I hope will be far enough from administring any occasion of that Nature if I could foresee that it was like to do so it should never come abroad For alas we have too much of that already You have it here offered to your Eye the same as it was to your Ears without any Alteration bating only some few Excerptions where they might be spared without prejudicing the Sence that I might gratifie your Desire with as little Charge to you as might be If I am not mistaken you have here though very briefly the true Doctrine of Salvation by Grace betwixt the extreams on both Hands however weakly it be handled For I am Confident that many weak People who think they do exalt Grace do greatly dishonour it and strip it of its principal Glory while they set it in Opposition to Evangelical Holiness and Obedience and therefore my earnest Prayer to God for you and all the People of God is the same with the Reverend Mr. Flavell saith he God preserve all his People from the gross and vile Opinions of Antinomian Libertines who cry up Grace and decry Obedience who under specious Pretences of exalting a naked Christ upon the Throne do indeed strip him naked of a great Part of his Glory and vilely dethrone him thus far Mr. Flavell You have here as I Iudge the true Doctrine of Grace in a Plain and Easie Method and Stile suited to the Capacities of the Meanest and if this do contribute any thing to the setling of your Minds in the Truth and against Errors on either Hand and to the furtherance and increase of your Faith and Holiness I have my End and Design If you and others of Christs Servants do but reap this Fruit by it I matter not what others shall say of the Author or the Work it self And that you may do so is and shall be the earnest Prayer of him who is ambitious of no greater Thing in the World than to be the Servant of Christ and of your Souls for his Sake John Sheffield Books Sold by Mr. Tho. Parkhurst All Mr. Nath. Vincent's Works particularly mentioned at the End of this Book THE Divine Conduct Or Mystery of Providence its Being and Efficacy asserted and vindicated All the Methods of Providence in our Course of Life open'd with Directions how to apply and improve them The Fountain of Life open'd or a Display of Christ in his Essential and Mediatorial Glory containing Forty two Sermons on various Texts Wherein the Impetration of our Redemption by Jesus Christ is orderly unfolded as it was begun carried on and finished by his Covenant Transaction mysterious Incarnation solemn Call and Dedication blessed Offices deep Abasement and Supereminent Advancement A Treatise of the Soul of Man wherein the Divine Original excellent and immortal Nature of the Soul are opened its Love and Inclination to the Body with the necessity of its Separation from it consider'd and Improved The Existence Operations and States of separated Souls both in Heaven and Hell immediately after Death asserted discussed and variously applied c. All by Mr. John Flavell SALVATION OF GRACE EPHES. II. viii For by Grace are ye saved thro' Faith and that not of your selves it is the Gift of God THE Apostle tells these Ephesians Chap. 1. 16. That he did not cease to give Thanks to God and Pray for them To give Thanks for what God had already wrought in them and done for them and to pray for a greater increase of the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that they might know what is the Hope of their Calling and what the Riches of the Glory of the Inheritance and the surpassing greatness of his Power towards them that Believe ver 18 19. which he compare to that mighty Power which raised Christ from the Dead to the End of the first Chapter And Chap. 2. ver 1. He shews what was the Effects of this exceeding greatness of Power towards them which was the quickening of them when they were dead in Trespasses and Sins and the preserving and increasing that Life and perfecting of it in Glory and that they might be sensible how mighty a Power was exerted towards them he shews how sad their Case was Dead in Sin and Children of Wrath ver 1 2 3. Both legally and spiritually Dead Dead in Sin and Dead through Sin or by Reason of Sin dead to God and to all spiritual and saving good and liable by guilt to Eternal Death But if this be our Case how or by whom are we saved and delivered out of it Why this is wrought by the exceeding greatness of God's Power which he had spoken of But what was the impulsive or moving Cause Why his own Grace and here the Apostle doth in this Text and Context heap up many words much of a like Import and Signification as if he could never enough express the greatness and freeness of the Grace and Mercy of God towards Sinners Rich in Mercy great Love or much Love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ver 4. And exceeding Riches of Grace ver 7. By Grace ye are saved thro' Faith We have here two Things 1. The principal impulsive or moving Cause of the Salvation of Sinners
his Wisdom for since he had with infinite Wisdom and Counsel made a Law for the Government of his Creatures with a Penalty annexed in case of Disobedience how could it stand with his Wisdom to suffer the Contempt and Violation of it and of his own Authority therein to go altogether unpunished What to have his Law trampled upon and as it were made void assoon as made if he should suffer this to go unpunished he would seem to disregard his own Law in the Sanction of it as much as his Creature had done the Precept of it Again should he suffer the Violation of of his Law to go altogether unpunished would it not seem as if he now saw Reason to alter his Mind since he saw good not to exact that Punishment he had denounced 2. And if he should have exacted no Punishment or Satisfaction for Sin there would lye a great Impeachment against his Justice and Wisdom together for either Sin did deserve Punishment and as great a Punishment as was threatened or it did not deserve it If it did not deserve it then it was unjust to enact it in the Law But if it did deserve it as no doubt it did then upon the entrance of Sin Justice must necessarily require that either the Punishment threatened or an equivalent and such as shall be full Satisfaction be exacted And here observe that though a Creditor may freely forgive a Debt that is owing to him without Injustice yet a Governour in many Cases connot forgive a Criminal without Injustice because Punishments are in some Cases absolutely necessary for the keeping up a due Reverence and Regard of the Governour and of his Laws And likewise for the good of the Common-wealth the preserving of due Order and the securing of the Lives and Properties of the Subjects why God is here to be considered as the righteous Governour of the World 3. And there would lye an Impeachment against his Truth and Veracity too for having threatened such a Punishment for the Violation of his Law would not his Veracity be called into Question if none was exacted 4. And from all these there would arise a great inconveniency and disorder in the future Government of the World for Men would hence take occasion to imbolden themselves in Sin and flatter themselves with Hopes of Impunity in it for they might thus Reason if God did once without any Satisfaction shew mercy to his sinning Creatures and that contrary to the Sentence of his own Law then why may he not do so again And if it be not inconsistent with his Nature and governing Justice to let one Sin go unpunished and that such a one as did quantum in se spoil the design of his works assoon as made then why not another and another and so Men would be incouraged to Hope that notwithstanding all the threatenings of Gods Law that yet they might have Peace though they did walk on in the ways of their own Hearts Nay and it would lay a Foundation for Men to distrust and be suspicious of the certainty and stability of his Promise too for if God do disregard the threatning of his Law then why not the Promise too and so both the stability of his Promise and the awe and terrour of his Threats would be mightily shaken at once the wicked imboldened and hardened in Sin with Hopes of Impunity notwithstanding all his Threats And the Comforts and Confidence of the Righteous weakened notwithstanding all his Promises These and many more such like great inconveniencies and disorders would necessarily have followed if Sin should have been pardoned and Sinners saved without a Satisfaction to the Justice of God These Things are necessary to understand the Reason and Use of Christs Sufferings 2. And now here comes in the Necessity and Reason of Christ Sufferings not that God was so delighted with the Blood and Sufferings of Christ meerly considered as Sufferings that he would sell his great Benefits to us for the Blood of his innocent Son nor to incline God to be merciful that was before averse to it No but since he was propense to shew Mercy he might in this way do it without any prejudice to his other Perfections because in the Death and Sufferings of Christ there is a sufficient salvo for the Honour of his Law and Government and of his Wisdom Holiness and Justice so that now his Mercy and Kindness is exercised in pardoning of guilty Sinners without any Impeachment of the Honour of his other Perfections he can now be just as well as merciful in Pardoning and holy as well as pitiful and kind in Sparing And his rich and free Grace in pardoning and saving Sinners in this way doth thus appear 1. In that this way for the Satisfaction of his own Justice and for the vindicating the Honour of his Law and Government was of his own finding out and provideing the Scripture every where attributes the contrivance of Redemption to God himself Job 33. 24. I have found a ransome God did out of his own Treasure provide for the Satisfaction of his own Justice the giving of Christ to be our Redeemer was the Fruit of his free self-moving Love and Grace Joh. 3. 16. God so love the World that he gave his Son 2. His Grace appears in accepting of what Christ did and suffered for us so as thereupon and for the sake of Christ to Pardon and Acquit us when we beleive in him for though the Suffering of Christ were abundantly sufficient to make Satisfaction yet it is of the free Grace of God to accept them on our behalf for in that very Thing there is a Relaxation of the Law for that did threaten every Offendor in his own Person and none else 3. Nay here seems to be a more abundant Grace and Love in giving Pardon and Salvation through Christ then if he had given it as a meer Act of Dominion and Favour without any Satisfaction to his Justice For you see that the Sufferings of Christ was not to purchase Gods Love of Goodwill to us for that was Antecedent to the Sufferings of Christ and the moving Cause of his giving Christ but the true Reason of Christs Sufferings is that the Honour of his Law and Government and of all his Perfections might be secured and provided for in the exercise of his Grace and pardoning Mercy towards us Now that he should give his only begotten and dearly beloved Son to be so humbled and abased to undergo such Shame and Misery and Death for us this was of all others the highest Instance and Demonstration of his Grace and Love to us it was impossible that he should be merciful at a dearer Rate or shew his Love and Kindness in a more stupendious Way We have a story of Zaleucus King of Locris that when his own Son was found to have transgressed a Law that threatened the loss of both Eyes to the Offendor the King resolves to execute the Law to
and the Glory of his Grace is the great Aim and Design of his redeeming and recovering Work Eph. 1. 6. To the Praise of the Glory of his Grace c. Take heed then that you do not rob Grace of any of its Glory We are very prone to ascribe to our selves as it is said of the Atheist tho' he doth not speak out with his Tongue yet he saith in his Heart there is no God So though we speak not out yet we are apt to have such Thoughts in our Hearts as if God did see something more or better in us than in others as if we were better disposed and prepared for Grace than others or that we were more serious diligent and industrious in the use of Means than others or that God did foresee that we would bring more Glory to him than others that we are prone to such self ascribing Thoughts doth appear by that Caution that is given to Israel Deut. 9. 4. speak not in thine Heart saying for my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land c. It is likely before your Conversion you was more serious diligent and industrious in the use of Means than many others but it was a more common Grace that made you so that brought you to that Grace gave you that first in order to his bestowing of his more special and excellent Gifts upon you O! therefore see to it that you rub every filing of this Gold off from your own Fingers and let Grace have the Glory of all that it has wrought in you say not I but the Grace of God that was with me and therefore not unto us not unto us but to thy Name be the Praise As the Moon shines not by its own but a borrowed Light so there is nothing excellent in you above others no holy heavenly Inclination or Disposition in you but what is a Gift of Grace to you Your breathing after God is an Effect of his breathing upon you first Say then with the Apostle 1 Cor. 15. 9. 10. I am not worthy to be called an Apostle because I persecuted the the Church but by the Grace of God I am what I am So say you I was a carnal dead Sinner but by the Grace of God I am alive I was a lover of Pleasures more than a Lover of God but by the Grace of God my carnal earthly Heart is in some measure sanctified and changed and turned towards God and Holiness and Heaven I was foolish and disobedient and slighted Christ and his saving Benefits as much as any others but by the Grace of God my hard Heart is somewhat softened my Stuborness and Resistance over come my Enmity taken away my aversness to Christ in some measure turned into a desiring loving and seeking of him 3. Are we saved by Grace and hath Grace begun a saving Work upon you then walk thankfully too Every Benefit calls for thankfulness and then much more saving Benefits which are the greatest of all others Has Grace made you to differ from others that are still in the Gaul of Bitterness and the Bond of Iniquity Nay has Grace made you to differ so much from your Selves from what you sometime were and should you not be thankful for it Has Grace brought you out of Darkness into a marvelous Light brought you out of a state of Bondage and Slavery to the Devil and Sin into the glorious Liberty of the Sons of God Of Dead has made you alive of strangers has made you nigh to God of Enemies hath reconciled you to him and made you his adopted Children of cursed condemned ones has brought you into a state of Pardon and Justification Oh! what Reason have you to be thankful Let your Tongues and your Lives to continually speak your thankfulness for such and so great Mercy Say then with the Psalmist Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits c. Psalm 103. 1 2 3 4. And that you may be excited to Thankfulness consider these Things 1. Consider the greatness of this Mercy of all the Mercies that God bestows upon the Children of Men saving Mercies are the greatest and the best if Grace has saved you or given you such Things as do accompany Salvation that is more than all other Blessings laid together Indeed all Gods Mercies are great considering how undeserving we are of them but saving Mercy is like the Sun among the other Planets that outshines all the rest and darkens their Glory when it comes into view 1. When Grace saves us that is a greater Benefit than Creation it self as the Redemption of the World by Christ is a greater Work and doth discover more of the Wisdom Power Love and goodness of God to Mankind than the Creation of the World And the making of any Soul actually a Partaker of saving Benefits is a greater Gift than the giving of it a Being in Creation Now consider do you not think your selves greatly obliged to bless God for your Beings that he made you something that were nothing That he made you Men and Women and not Toads or Serpents Surely if you Love your selves if you value your Lives and Beings or any of your Creature-Comforts and Injoyments Then you must needs bless God that made you what you are out of nothing Ah! but how much more should you bless God that of his special Grace and Love hath translated you from Darkness to Light from Death to Life from Slavery to Liberty from Wrath and Curses to Favour and Blessedness for to be under these evils was worse than to be nothing and these Blessings are better than meer natural Life and Being without them Alas What good would your Creation have done you since the Fall without sanctifying and saving Grace it would but make you capable of greater Misery Better a thousand Times never to have been Born than to be a Vessel of Gods Wrath and a Companion of Devils and damned Fiends in Everlasting Burnings 2. When Grace saves you it doth unspeakably more for you than the bestowing of all the outward Blessings of this Life upon you Health Riches Honour and Friends with other Injoyments and Comforts of this Life are great Mercies but they are unspeakably short of renewing and saving Grace you that have healthful and comely Bodies when you look upon any decriped maimed deformed monstrous Persons do you not admire the goodness of God that hath not made you such but is it not worse to have blind deformed monstrous Souls than to have such Bodies and is it not a greater Mercy to have your deformed Souls beautified and made comely with the Divine Image than to have comely Bodies The same may be said of Riches and all other worldly Injoyments All external and worldly Injoyments are but for a while and alas How little a while too When you come to Dye what becomes of bodily Strength and Beauty of worldly Honours Riches and Friends Alas when you are