138 Sect. 3. It is by Grace that we are faved valuable Privileges. And in Confequence of this I may farther fay, that he bath raifEph. II. 6. ed [us] up together in him, as our Head and Reprefentative; and by admitting him into Heaven as a Forerunner, to take Poffeffion of thofe glorious Manfions for us, he hath made [us] fit together in thofe heavenly [Places] to which he is exalted, and into which we alto may be faid to be admitted in Chrift Jefus: For by Means of that Relation between him and us which Divine Grace hath established, we may look upon his Refurrection and Exaltation to the Right Hand of GOD, as the certain Pledge and Security of ours; and regarding him under the Character of a publick Perfon, who is thus raised and exalted in our Name, we may be faid to share in thofe Felicities and Dignities which are conferred on him. 7 And this God hath done, that he might Shew in the Ages to come under the Difpenfation of the Gofpel, and might difplay to all fucceeding Generations, the exceeding Riches of his free and unmerited Grace, as manifested both to Jews and Gentiles in [his] Kindness towards us in Chrift Jefus; for we have received it all by him, and are Partakers of it as connected with him, whom God hath appointed a Head and Saviour to us, and taught us to regard him as our 8 great Reprefentative. I repeat it again and again, that I may properly inculcate a Doctrine of fo great Importance; for I would never have any of you forget, that it is by this free Grace, which I have fo frequently celebrated, and would for ever celebrate, that ye are brought into the happy Number of the faved ones, and are delivered from that Ruin into which Sin had plunged you, and raised to thefe glorious Hopes of eternal Felicity; which ineftimable Privilege we receive through fuch a cordial . and not by Works, left any one should boaft. that not of yourselves; it is the Gift of God: 9 Not of Works, left any Man fhould boast: 139 cordial Faith in Chrift, as is productive of Sect. 3. unfeigned Love and Obedience: And the Grace of GoD appears, not only in con- Eph. II. 8. ftituting this Method of Salvation through Faith, but alfo in producing this great and divine Principle in our Souls; for this very Faith is not of yourselves (k,) it is not of your own Production, there being fuch a natural Averfeness to it in the Heart, as that we neither can be faid to have wrought it, nor is any Praise resulting from it, or any Excellence in it, to be ultimately afcribed to us; but [it is] really the Gift of GOD, who by the gracious Influence of his Spirit fixes our Attention to the great Objects of it, fubdues our Prejudices against it, awakens holy Affections in our Souls, and on the whole, enables us to believe, and to perfevere in believing, till we receive the great End of our Faith in the compleat Salvation of our Souls. And God hath appointed, that Salvation 9 fhould be thus obtained, by that Faith which he produces in the Heart, and not by Works of the Mofaick Law, or any other Obedience of our own, left any one should boaft, as if he had by his own Righteouf nefs (k) By Grace ye are faved through Faith; and this not of yourselves.] It is obfervable, that the Apostle fpeaks of thefe Chriftians, not only as in the Way to Salvation, but as already faved, (GENE,) by a strong and lively Figure expreffing their happy Security. Some explain the following Claufe, [and this not of yourfelves,] as if it were only a Repetition of what was faid before, that the Constitution, that made Faith the Way to Salvation was not of their own Appointment, but GOD's But this is making the Apostle guilty of a flat Tautology, for which there is no Occafion Taking the Claufe as we explain it, that is, as afferting the Agency of Divine Grace in the Production of Faith, as well as in the Conftitution of the Method of Salvation by it, the Thoght rifes with great Spirit. As for the Apostle's ufing the Word relo in the Neuter Gender to fignify Faith, the Thing he had juft before been fpeaking of, there are fo many fimilar Inftances to be found in Scripture, that one would wonder how it were poffible for any judicious Criticks to have laid fo much Strefs on this as they do, in rejecting what feems beyond all Comparifon the weightieft, and moft natural Inte pretation. Compare the Original of the following Texts, Phil. i. 28. Eph. vi. 18. Gal. iii. 17. iv. 19. And for the like Conftruction in other Greek Authors of undoubted Credit, fee Elfner. Obferv. vol. i. pag. 128. and Raphel. Annot. ex Herod. pag. 186. 140 Sect. 3. GOD creates us in Chrift unto good Works. nefs obtained Salvation, and fo fhould afcribe the Glory of it to himself, rather Eph. II. 10. than to GOD. But it cannot be fo now; for as all Acts of acceptable Obedience proceed from Faith, and this Faith is wrought in our Hearts by the gracious Influence of the Divine Spirit, it is moft evident, that we are to acknowledge ourselves to be his Workmanship, fo far as there is any Thing in us agreeable to the Nature and Will of GOD; being created in Christ Jesus unto good Works, and made able, not only to perform them, but to delight in them; even thofe Works of Evangelical Obedience, to the Performance of which, (though we obtain the Forgiveness of our Sins previous to our performing them, on our accepting Chrift and believing the Grace of the Gofpel,) GOD bath before prepared [us] by the Influences of his Spirit (7); having foreordained and appointed in his eternal Counfels, and in the Declarations of his Word, that we should diligently and conftantly walk in them, as ever we would approve ourselves his People, and ftand intitled to the promifed Bleffings of the future State, which indeed we can no otherwife in the Nature of Things be prepared to receive. L 10 For we are his Workmanship, created in Chrift Jefus unto good Works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. IMPROVEMENT. ET us behold with a becoming Attention, and with all thofe Emotions of Heart which an attentive Review of it is capable of exciting, the amazing Diverfity of thefe States as reprefented by the Apostle; and remember that they are States, in the one or the other of which we all are. We fee, what Nature and the first Adam have made us; and we fee, what Grace and an Intereft in the Second would make us. Daily (1) To which GOD bath before prepared us.] This is plainly the Senfe of the Origi nal, os ponlaσex, which fhews, that as we are chofen to be holy, (Chap. i. 4.) and called to perform good Works, (Tit. iii. 8.) fo alfo GOD prepares us for, and enables us to it by his Grace. Reflections on the Grace of GOD in our Salvation. 141 3. Ver. 2. Daily Obfervation, and, in too many Inftances, our own Expe- Sect. rience may have convinced us, that it is not the Character of the Gentiles alone, to be dead in Trefpaffes and Sins. It fhews us, that Ver. 1. to walk according to the general Ccurfe of this apoftate World, is to walk according to the Prince of the Power of the Air; who, when he is most set on our Ruin, is molt importunate in perfuading us to fulfil the Defires of the Flesh and of the Mind. Still, alas! till the Gofpel reaches and renews the Heart, doth Ver. 3. the fame Evil Spirit, by Means of the corrupt and vicious Spirit dwelling in them, work in the Children of Difobedience and Wrath, in which Number we must acknowledge ourfelves by Nature to have been. But, bleffed be GOD, that Grace has its fuperior Triumph over depraved Nature; and where Sin bath abounded, Grace doth much more abound. (Rom. v. 20.) Ver. 4. The Mercy of GOD is rich, and his Love is great; and his powerful Grace, to which we muft afcribe all our Hope of Salvation, hath quickened us when we were dead in Sins, and hath enlivened us Ver. 5, 6. with Chrift, to whom by Faith we are united, and fo incorporated with him, that in Confequence of it we may not only confider his Refurrection and Afcenfion to Glory as an Emblem, but in fome Degree as an Anticipation of our own, and may think and speak of ourfelves, as railed, and exalted, and glorified with him. Oh how bleffed and joyful a View is this! and how powerfully ought it to operate upon us, to elevate our Minds above this low World, and to animate us to every great and generous Sentiment and Purfuit! Surely this muft illuftrate, if any Thing can do it, the Riches and Freedom of that Grace, by which we are faved, Ver. 7. and muft engage the Generations to come to celebrate his exceeding Kindness towards us. Let all Boafting in ourselves therefore be en- Ver. 8, 9. tirely given up: Let Salvation by Faith be acknowledged to be of Grace; and that Faith itself be acknowledged as the Gift of GOD, whofe Workmanship we are, and by whom we are created to that Ver. 10. noble and only acceptable Principle of Good Works. Let not this Grace be received in vain; but let us anfwer the Purposes of this New Nature and New Life which God hath graciously given us, and fhew forth the Praifes of Him from whom it is derived, and in whom, in a Spiritual as well as a Natural Senfe, we live, and move, and exift. SECT. 142 The fad State of the Gentiles before their Converfion, The Apoftle farther pursues the Argument begun in the laft Section, reprefenting the happy State into which they were now brought, as united to the Church of GOD, and Partakers of all its Privileges, the middle Wall of Partition being now removed, in Favour of believing Gentiles. Eph. II. 11, to the End. Sect. 4. You EPH. II. II. OU have heard of the glorious Privi- you are and (a) Called the Uncircumcifion by that which is called the Circumcifion.] The Terms of Circumcifion and Uncircumcifion in the Abstract are here plainly put for Circumcifed and Uncircumcifed; as they are likewife, Rom. ii. 26. iii. 30. and iv. 9. Thus alfo to be made the Righteousness of GOD is put for being made righteous by GOD. 2. Cor. v. 21. (b) The |