116 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [JaS. I. 18.
be a first-fruits unto God and the Lamb:' these were the chiefest, Christ's own portion. So the church is called, Heb. xii. 23, ' tlie church of the first-born.' All the world are as common men ; the church are the Lord's.
The points are these : —
Obs. 1. That which engaged God to the work of regeneration was merely his own Avill and good pleasure : ' Of his own will begat he us;' Eom. ix. 18, ' He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.' God's will is the reason of all his actions ; you will find the highest cause to be will, love, and mercy. God can have no higher motive, nothing without himself, no foresight of faith and works ; he was merely inclined by his own pleasure : John xv. IG, * Ye have not cliosen me, but I have chosen you ;' he begins with us first. When Closes treatetli of the cause of God's love to Israel, he assigneth nothing but love : Deut. vii, 7, 8, ' He loved you, because he loved you ;' he had no motive, and can expect no satisfaction. So Ps. xviii. 19, ' He delivered me, because he delighted in me ;' that was all the reason he did it, because he would do it. So Hosea xiv. 4, ' I will love them freely ;' there is the spring and rise of all. This is applicable divers ways : — (1.) To stir us up to admire the mercy of God, that nothing should incline and dispose his heart but his own will ; the same will that begat us, passed by others : whom he will he saveth, and whom he will he hardeneth. Man's thoughts are very unsober in tlie inquiry why God should choose some and leave others : when 3'ou have done all, you must rest in this supreme cause, God's will and pleasure : Mat. xi. 26, ' Even so. Father, because it pleased thee.' Christ himself could give no other reason, and there is the final result of all disputes. Oh ! admire God, all ye his saints, in his mercy to you ; this circumstance givetli us the purest apprehensions of the freeness of God's love, when you see that it was God's own will that determined mercy to you, and made the difference between you and others ; nay, in some respects, it puts a difference between you and Christ: eu/ieveta 7rdTpo<i a aTroKreivei, dWoU jiyverai acoTTjpla,^ the good-will of the Father slayeth thee, and saveth others; he willed Christ's death, and your salvation. In the same verse, Christ's bruises and our salvation are called cJ/cphers, God's pleasure : Isa. liii. 10, ' It pleased the Father to bruise him ; ' and then, ' My pleasure,' that is, in the salvation of the elect, ' shall prosper in his hands.' (2.) It informeth us the reason why, in the work of regeneration, God acteth with such liberty: God acteth according to his pleasure; the Holy One of Israel must not be limited an(l confined to our thoughts : John iii. 8, * The wind bloweth where it listeth.' All is not done after one tenor, but according to the will of the free Sj)irit; as, in giving means, you must leave God to his will : there are mighty works in Cliorazin and Botlisaida, when there are none in Tyre and Sidon. Israel liad statutes and ordinances, when all the world had nothing but the glimmering candle of their own reason. So for the work of the Spirit with the means, some have only the means, others the work of the Spirit with the means : John xiv. 22, ' How is it that
' Naziauz. in his Christius Patkns.
JaS. I. 18.] UPON THE EPISTLE OF JAME>!. 117
thou wilt reveal thyself upto us, and not unto the world ? ' They have choice revelations. The spouse is brought into the closet. Cant. i. 3, when the virgins, common Cliristians, stay only in the palace of the great King. Do but observe two places : Acts ix. 7, it is said of Paul's companions, that ' they heard a voice/ and yet, Acts xxii. 9, it is said, ' They that were with him heard not the voice.' Solomon Glassius reconcileth these two places thus : They heard a sound, but they did not hear it distinctly as Christ's voice. Some only hear the outward sound, the voice of man, but not of the Spirit in the word ; there is a great deal of difference in the same auditories. So also for the measure of grace ; to some more is given, to some less ; though all have a vital influence, yet all have not the same measure of arbitrary influences : Phil. ii. 13, ' He giveth both to will and to do, Kara rip evSoKiav, according to his good pleasure.' So for the manner ; it is very diverse and various. God beginneth with some in love, with others by terrors, ' plucking them out of the fire.' Some are gained by a cross and afiliction, others by a mercy. Some are caught by a holy guile (as the apostle saith of the Corinthians) ; others are brought in more sensibly, and with greater consternation. Upon some the Spirit cometh like a gentle blast, grace insinuateth itself ; upon others like a mighty rushing wind, with greater terror and enforcement. So for the time ; some are longer in the birth, and w^ait at the pool for many years ; others are surprised and gained of a sudden : Cant. vi. 12, ' Ere I was aware, my soul made me like the chariots of Amminadib.' Therefore we should not limit God to any one instance, but still wait upon him in the use of means, for his good pleasure to our souls.