VeR. 11.] SERMONS UPON TITUS 11. 11-14. 45
worthy, and plainly declare they were altogether not worthy of this grace. All men are unworthy enough of eternal life, and God hath cause enough to condemn them ; but they chiefly judge themselves unworthy, that is, in fact declare themselves to be so, that have received the honour and favour of a call. Grace hath spoken unto them, and made them an offer of pardon and salvation, and they turn the back upon it, as if it were not worth the taking up on God's terms ; and such are all ignorant sots and deaf worldlings.
2. Another sort of men that wrong grace are those that refuse grace out of legal dejection. Many poor creatures are so vile in their own eyes that they think it impossible they should ever find favour in God's eyes. Oh ! but consider, cannot the riches of grace save ? When God shall set himself on purpose to glorify grace to the full, cannot it make thee accepted.? Wherefore doth God bring creatures to see their unworthiness, but that grace might be the more glorious ? Grace would not be so much grace if the creature were not so unworthy ; therefore you should be glad you have your hearts at that advantage, to be sensible of your own vileness. It is a wrong to grace if you do not fly to it ; you straiten the riches and darken the glory of it. It is as if an emperor's revenue could not discharge a beggar's debt. Our epliah is full, brim-full, but God's mercy is over-full. You can speak of sins, and the scripture speaketh of mercy : ' Hast thou but one blessing, 0 my father ? ' saith Esau, Gen. xxvii. 38. So, hath God but one mercy ? Grace is a treasure that cannot be spent, an ocean ever full, and ever flowing : ' Where sin hath abounded, grace did much more abound,' Eom. v. 20. There cannot be so much in sin but there is more in grace. The apostle makes new-coined words when he is to speak of the abundance of grace ; eifkeovaa-ev and virepeirepia-aevaev. The prodigal could say. There is bread enough in my father's house : Luke xv. 17, ' How many hired servants in my father's house have bread enough and to spare ! ' There is grace enough in God. If we perish, it is not for want of mercy, but for want of faith. Why should we then put away this grace that is revealed to us, yea, offered to us ? If it were to be procured by anything in us we might despair. Take heed of slighting the grace of God ; it is God's treasure : so far as you lessen grace, you make God a poor God. Mark that expression, Eph, ii. 4, ' God, who is rich in mercy.' God is lord of all things, but he counts nothing to be his treasure but his goodness and mercy. He doth not say, rich in power, though he is able to do beyond what we can ask or think ; nor rich in justice, though he be righteous in all his ways and just in all his works ; nor doth he say rich in creatures, though his are the cattle of a thousand hills ; but rich in mercy. Therefore take heed of straitening mercy, for so far you lessen God's wealth and treasure.
3. Grace is wronged by intercepting the glory of grace. It is the greatest sacrilege that can be to rob God of his glory, especially the glory of his grace. Above all things in the world, God's glory is the most dear to him ; he cannot endure to have a partner. Especially is the glory of his grace dear to him ; it is the whole aim of all his dis- pensations to glorify grace : Eph. i. 6, ' To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.' You rob
46 SEEMONS UPON TITUS II. 11-14. [SeR. I.
God of his chiefest honour when you take the crown of i^lory that is due to grace, and put it upon your own head. As, for instance, when you think lie accepts you rather than others for some worth or good qualities that he seeth in you more than in others. Alas ! in the light of the gospel such thoughts are not expressed, but they lurk secretly in the heart : Deut. ix, 4, ' Speak not thou in thy heart, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land.' A man's heart is very prone to these thoughts ; God seeth that I would bring him more glory than another ; it is for my righteousness. Grace is wronged also Avlien you are puffed up with anything you have done for God, as if it were done by your own power and strength. A christian in this case should learn the policy of Joal) ; when he was in a fair way of taking Kabbah, he sent for David to take the honour of winning it : 2 Sam. xii. 28, ' Now therefore, gather the rest of the people to- gether, and encamp against the city, and take it ; lest I take it, and it be called after my name.' So, when we have done anything for the glory of God, let us send for God to take the honour. Thus the apostle, 1 Cor. XV. 10, ' I laboured more abundantly than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.' If there be any excellency, still throw the crown at grace's feet. The industrious servant said, Luke xix. 16, ' Thy pound hath gained ten pounds ; ' not my industry, but thy pound.