2. Secondly, Consider it in its nature, and you will find it divine, 2 Pet. i. 4. " Partakers of the Divine nature," viz. in our sanctifi- cation ; not that it gives us the properties of the Divine nature ; they are incommunicable ; but the similitude and resemblance of it is stamped upon our souls in the work of grace.
" The new man is renewed in knowledge, after the image of him " that created him," Col. iii. 10. The schoolmen, and some of the fathers, place this image or resemblance of God, in the natural facul- ties of the soul, viz. the understanding, memory, and will : v/hich is an umbrage of a trinity in unity ; but it rather consists in the reno- vation of the faculties by grace ; for in this Ave bear the Divine image upon our souls, and that image or resemblance of God in holiness is the beauty and honour of our souls.
It is their beauty : " How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, " for delights f ' saith Chiist of his people, Cant. vii. 6. Natural beauty consists in the symmetry and comely proportion of parts each with the other ; spiritual beauty in the harmony or agreeableness of our souls to God ; and as it is our chiefest beauty, so certainly it is our highest honour ; for it gives us access unto God, who is the
5-30 THE INVALUABLE WOIITII OF SAVING GRACE.
fountain of honour and glory ; and this makes the righteous more excellent than his neighbour ; let his neighbour be what he will, though the blood of nobles run in his veins, the righteous is more excellent than he, except saving grace be also diffused in his soul.
3. Tli'irdhj^ Consider it in its recipient subject, and you will find its value still to increase ; for the precious oil of saving-grace is never poured into any other than an elect vessel.
Hence faith, one branch of sanctification is, with respect to its subject, stiled The faith of Gods electa Tit. i. 1. Whosoever finds true grace in his soul, may (during the evidence thereof) from it strongly conclude his election, looking backward, and his salvation, looking forward, Rom. viii. 30. It marks and seals the person in whom it is, for glory, " God hath set apart him that is godly for " himself,'' Psal. iv. 3.
4. Fourthly^ View the precious worth of grace in its excellent effects and influences upon the soul in which it inheres.
(1.) It adorns with incomparable ornaments, which are of great price in the sight of God, 1 Pet. iii. 4. Yea, it reflects such beams of glorv in the soul where its seat is, that Christ himself, the author, is also the admirer of it ; Cant. iv. 9. " Thou hast ravished my heart, " my sister, my spouse ! thou hast ravished my heart ^vith one of " thine eyes, M'ith one of the chains of thy neck !'' and as one over- come with its excelling beauty, he saith, " Turn away thine eyes '• from me, for they have overcome me,""* Cant. vi. 5.
(2.) It elevates and ennobles a man's spirit beyond all other prin- ciples in man ; it sets the heart and affections upon heaven, and takes them up with the glory of the invisible world, Phil. iii. 20. " But " our conversation is in heaven, from whence we look for the Sa- " viour."" Whilst others are trading for corn and wine, for sheep and oxen, for feathers and trifles, the gracious soul is trading with God for pardon and peace, for righteousness and life, for glory and immortalitv : " Truly our fellowship is with the Pather, and with *' his Son Jesus Christ," John i. 3.
(3.) It doth not only raise the spirit by conversing with God, and things above, but transforms the soul, by that converse into the like- ness of those heavenly objects it converses with : "It changes them " into the same image," 2 Cor. iii. 18. So that though the sancti- fied man still remains the icho he ivas, yet not the what he was l^efore ; the very temper of his Spirit is altered.
(4.) It doth not only transform the soul in which it is is, but pre- serves the subject in whicli it is : it is a singular preservative from sin ; so that though sin be in them still, and works in them still, yet it cannot prevail in them still to fulfil the lusts of it, as it was wont to do, Gal. V. 17. Sin conceives, but cannot bring forth fruit unto death ; this gives a miscarrying womb.
(5.) It doth not only preserve it from sin, but grace establisheth the soul, in whom it is, fai* beyond any other arguments without, or any
THE INVALUABLE WOUTH OF SAVING GRAC^. 531
T)tlier principles within a man. " It is a good thing that tlie heart ** be estabhshed with grace," Heb. xiii. 9- This is that which the apostle calls our own stedfastness, or that ballast we have within our- selves ; which keeps us right and stable. Othe excellency of grace ! (6.) To conclude ; it is the root of all that precious fruit which we bring forth to God in this world : it is the root of every gracious word in our lips, and of every gracious work in our hands ; be the matter of our gracious thoughts never so excellent, the matter of our heavenly discourses and prayers never so sweet, still grace is the root of the matter, Job xix. 28. O then, what a precious thing is grace.
5. Fifthly^ View it in its properties, and you will soon discover its transcendent excellencies: the richest epithets are no hyperboles here ; we seek not beyond the value of it, when we call it supernatural grace, for so it is : it comes down from above, from the Father of lights. Jam. i. 7. Nature can never be improved to that height, how much soever its admirers boast of it ; nor do we strain too hio-h when we call it immortal gra^e; for so hath God made it. This is that water which springs up in the sanctified soul unto eternal life, John iv. 14. It will not die when thou diest, but ascend with the soul from which it is inseparable, and be received up with it into glory, Rom. viii. 10. You may outlive your friends ; you may out- live your gifts ; but you cannot outlive your graces.
Shall I say it is the most sweet and comfortable thing that ever the soul was acquainted with in this world, next Jesus Christ, the author and fountain of it. Sure, if so I speak, I have as many wit- nesses to attest it, as there be gracious souls in the world : nothing is more comfortable than grace, except Christ ; and yet without grace no soul can feel the comforts of Christ in the troubles of life, or in the straits of death. This is a spring of comfort !
6. Sixthly^ Consider it in its design and scope ; and you will still discern more and more of its precious excellency : for what is the aim and end of God in the infusions and improvements of grace, but to attemper and mould our spirits by it into a meetness and fitness for the enjoyment of himself in the world to come ? Col. i. 12. " Giving " thanks to the Father, who has made us meet to be partakers " of the inheritance of the saints in light."" Compare this with 2 Cor. V. 5. " Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing *'isGod.'*