of God} By free grace you are to understand the gracious good will or favour of God, whereby he is pleased of his own free love to choose and accept of some in Christ for his owa. This Ave call first grace, because it is the fountain of all other grace, and the spring from whence they flow ; and it is therefore called grace, because it makes a man gracious with God. Now mark, there have been many Christians who have had no assurance of the love of God, no sight of their interest in Christ, no sealing of the Spirit, nor no one clear evi- dence of grace, that they durst rest the weight of their souls upon ; nor no one promise in the whole book of God that they durst apply or rest upon, who yet daily casting or rolling themselves, their souls, and their everlasting concernments, upon the infinite, free, rich, and sovereign grace of God in Christ, have found some tolerable peace, comfort, and refreshment in such a practice all their days. A Christian may lose the sight of his graces, and the evidences of his gracious estate ; he may be so much in the dark, he may be so much benighted and bewildered in his spirit, that there may be no way under heaven left to him to enjoy peace, comfort, rest, quiet, settlement, or contentment, but by casting or rolling of his soul upon the free, rich, infinite, and sovereign grace of God in Christ ; and here casting anchor, the poor bcTN'ildered, deserted, tempted, tossed soul may be safe and at rest, Isa. 1. 10. The free love and favour of God will be a lamp to the soul in the darkest night ; it will be a sweet lump that will sweeten the bitterest cup ; it will be a singular cordial against all faintings-; it will be armour of proof against all temptations ; it will be an everlasting arm to you under all afflictions ; it will be a sun and a shield to you in every condition, Ps. iv. 6 : Ps. Ixxx. 3. ' Cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved/ Divine favour is that pearl of price that is most desirable :^ Dan. ix. 17, * The Lord make his face to shine upon his sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake ;' Num. vi. 24;, ' The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you ;' Ps. Ixvii. 1, ' God be merciful to you, and bless you, and cause his face to shine upon you.' Life is a very desirable thing ; ' skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life,' Job ii. 4 ; and yet the loving-kindness of God is better than life : Ps. Ixiii. 3, ' Thy loving-kindness is better than life.' The Hebrew word is chajim, lives ; to note that the loving-kindness of God is better than many lives, yea, than all lives, and the revenues of life, put many lives together, put all lives together ; and yet there is more excellency in the least discovery of divine love than in them all. Many a man has been weary of his life, but who have ever been weary of divine love ? Dear Christians, are your graces or gracious evidences shining or sparkling ? Oh then solace yourselves mostly in the free love and favour of God ; for in his free favour lies the life of your souls, the life of your graces, the life of your comforts, yea, in his free favour your all is bound up. If your graces or evidences are so clouded and darkened, that you are in a stormy day beat out of your outworks, oh now run to the free grace and favour of God, as to your royal fort, as to your strong tower, as to your city of refuge, where you may be safe and happy for ever. In such a
1 Gen. vi. 8 ; Exod. xix. 5 ; £ph. i. 5-7 ; 1 Tim. i. 13-16. ' The grace of our Lord wa8 exceeding abundant.' The original word is uT'.ofrx<oya<n, was over full, redundant, more than enough, more than might sers-e the turn for him who was tlie greatest of sinners.
* Socrates prized the king's countenance above his coin. What is then the counte- nance of God to a gracious soul ?
484 A CABINET OF JEWELS. [ChAP. V.
day ponder much upon these scriptures, Hosea xiv. 4, ' I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely.' God's love is a free love, having no motive or foundation but within itself. All the links of the golden chain of salvation are made up of free grace. The people of God are freely loved : Deut. vii. 6-8 ; and freely chosen, John xv. 16-19, Eph. i. 4 ; and freely accepted, Eph. i. 6 ; and freely adopted, Eph. i. 5, Gal. iv. 5, 6 ; and freely reconciled, 2 Cor. v. 18-20 ; and freely justified, Rom. iii. 24, 'Being justified freely by his grace;' and freely saved, Eph. ii. 5 ; ' By grace ye are saved,' ver. 8, ' For by grace ye are saved ;' Tit. iil 5, ' Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but ac- cording to his mercy he saved us.' Thus you see that all the golden rounds in Jacob's ladder, that reaches from heaven to earth, are all made up of free grace. Free grace is the foundation of all spiritual and eternal mercies ; free grace is the solid bottom and foundation of all a Christian's comfort in this world. Were we to measure the love of God to us by our fruitfulness, holiness, humbleness, spiritualness, heavenly- mindedness, or gracious carriages towards him, how would our hope, our confidence every hour, yea, every moment in every hour, be staggered, if not vanquished ! Rom. iv. 16. But all is of grace, of free grace, that the pro- mise might be sure, and that our salvation might be safe. O sirs ! it is free grace that will strengthen you in all your duties, and that will sweeten all your mercies, Rom. viil 33-36, and that will support you under all your changes, and that will arm you against all temptations, and an- swer all objections, and take off all Satan's accusations, that maybe cast in to disturb the peace and quiet of your souls; aud therefore, whether your graces or gracious evidences do shine or are cloiided, yet still have your recourse to the free grace of God, as to your first royal fort, your first city of refuge ; and still cry out, Grace, grace. When your gracious evidences are clearest and fullest, then it concerns you to look upon free grace as your choicest and safest city of refuge. But,