Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_000.lzh/D_059.TXT

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CHAP. XIII.
i ,

others, only concern the effects of the grace of God;
that itself is but one in God; and is sure, firm, and im-
mutable, as his nature is; and iS the efficient cause, source,
and spring, of all good things enjoyed by men; and
should be acknowledged, as it was by the apostle, By the
grace of 'God I am. what I am, 1 Cot. xv. 10. whether
as a man, or as a minister, or as a christian; and this is
the final cause, or ultimate end of all, that God does
towards, upon, or in his elect, through Christ; all is to
the glory of his grace, Eph:i. 6. and is what appears,
shines fortti; and is illustrious in every part and branch
of their salvation; and therefore they are said to be
saved by. grace, Eph. ii. 5, 8. as will be evident by an
enumeration of them.
1. The grace of God appears in the election of men
to everlasting life; and is therefore called the election
of grace; and is denied to be of works, Rom. xi. 5, 6.
and, indeed, this act of the grace of God, passed in his
eternal mind, before any works were done, good or evil,
and without any consideration of them, Rom. ix. 11, nor
can any works truly good be done, until men become the
workmanship of God in regeneration;and then they are
the fruits and effects of divine preordination, Eph. ii. 10.
nor were men chosen in Christ because they were holy,
but that they might be holy, Eph. i. 4. And sanctifica-
tion, both internal and external, is a means fixed in the
decree of election; and is as absolute, unconditional,
and certain, as the end, salvation, 2 Thess. ii. 13. and all
the true holiness that is, has been, or will be in the world,
flows from electing grace; had it not been for this, the
world had been as Sodore and Gomorrah, Rom. ix. 29.
Election is also irrespective of faith; that is likewise a
means fixed in the decree, and most certainly follows
upon it, and is therefore called the faith of God's elect,
2 Thess. ii. 13. Acts xiii. 18. Tit. i. 1. It remains, there-
fore, that election must be ascribed to the free favour,
good will, and pleasure of God, to his unmerited grace
and goodness, the true. spring and cause of it; and to
shew forth which is the design of it, Rom. ix. 18, 23.
Eph. i. 4, 5, 6.
2. The grace of God is displayed in the covenant he
has made with his elect in Christ; this, with great pro-
priety, is commonly called by us, the covenant of grace;
though the phrase is not in so many words to be met
with in scripture; it is founded in the unmerited grace
and mercy of God; and is made to establish and secure
;the glory of it, Psalm lxxxix. 2, 3. It was free grace
that moved God to make one, to which he was not other-
wise obliged: it was free grace that called, and that
moved Christ to engage with his Father in it, and which
gave him to be the covenant of the people, Psalm xl.
6, 7. Isa. xlii. 6. it was free grace that stored it with all
spiritual blessings; by which it appears to be ordered in
all things for the glory of God, and the good of his
.coyenant-people; and these are grants of grace, made
m it to them in Christ, 2 Tim. i. 9. and it was free grace
that filled it with exceeding great and precious promises;
promises of grace and glory, made before the world be-
gan ; and which made them sure by an oath to the heirs
of them; and who become heirs of them, not through
any merit of theirs, but through the undeserved favour of
God towards them.
3. The grace of God is very manifest in the adoption

OF THE GRACE OF GOD.                            ~9
,
of the chosen ones; the cause of which is, the good
pleasure of the will of God; and the end of it, the glory
of his grace, Eph. i. 5, 6. God, the adopter, stood not
in any need of sons; he had a Son, an only begotten
Son, a beloved. Son, the dear Son of his love, who always
pleased him, his Son and Heir; the adopted are altogether
unworthy of such a fayour, being "by nature children
of wrath, as others ;" and these men, and not angels, who
are only servants in the family, to wait u. pon the children,
the heirs of salvation, and minister unto them : and not
all the race of men, only some, and these no better in
themselves than others; and therefore their adoption
cannot be ascribed to any thing else but the free and dis-
tinguishing grace of God; and into which relation they
were taken before time, in the everlasting covenant; and
Christ was sent to open the way, that they might receive
this blessing of grace, and which they do by faith, the
gift of God; for faith does not make them, only manifests
them to be the sons of God; which relation is the ground
of their having the Spirit, faith, and every other grace,
Gal. iv. 4, 5, 6.
4. The grace of God shines very illustrious in redemp-
tion by 3esus Christ; free grace set infinite wisdom to
work, to find out a proper person to be the redeemer and
saviour; and it found out-Christ to be the ransom, and
provided him to be the sacrifice, Job xxxiii. 24. his in-
carnahon was owing to God's good will to men, Luke
ii. 14. and his mission to his unmerited love, 13ohn iv. lO.
and it was by the grace of God he tasted death for men,
Heb. if. 9. and this for sinners, the chief of sinners, un-
godly men, enemies in their minds by wicked works.
In short, all that are redeemed and saved, whether Old
or New Testament-saints, are saved by the grace of God
and Christ, Acts xv. 11.
,5. The grace of God is very conspicuous in the justi-
fication of men before God, and acceptance with him;
which, in the strongest terms, is said to be of grace, to
be by his grace, the grace of God, and freely by his
grace, and that through the redemption that is in _Christ,
Tit. iii. 7. Rom. iii. 24. Free grace, by infinite wisdom,
found out the way whereby sinful men might be just
with God; which otherwise never could have been;
namely, by not imputing their trespasses to them, but to
Christ, the Surety free grace provided, whereby "God
is just, and yet the justifier of him that believes in Jesus"
2 Cor. v. 19. R6m. iii. 25, 26. free grace appears in ap-
pointing Christ to work out, and bring in everlasting
righteousnesS; and in sending him in the likeness of sin-
ful flesh to do it, Dan. ix. 9.4. Rom. viii. 3, 4. and it was
free grace moved Christ to come to do this will of God,
and "become the end of the law for righteousness;" and
it was free grace in God the Father to accept of this
righteousness, in the room and stead of sinners, and to
impute it, without works, unto them, as their justifying
righteousness; and in appointing faith to be the recipient
of it, that so it might clearly appear to be of grace; as
the persons who are justified by it, being in themselves
ungodly, more clearly shews it, Rom. iv. 5, 6, 16. Justi-
fication is always denied to be of works; and the right-
eousne9s by which men are justified, is represented as a
gift, a free gift, a gift by grace, as faith that receives it
also is, Rom, iii. 20, 28. and v. 15, 16, 17. Eph. ii. 8.
6. Pardon of sin is according to the riches, fulness,
H 2