from hence are argued to have no saving interest in Jesus Christ. Good people, mark it that I say, are not savingly united to Jesus Christ. There is a two-fold union with Christ; as Christ is considered two ways: he is either considered with his church, the church and he making one body; and so all together are called, Christ: in 1 Cor xii. Or else he is considered as the great Mediator, and Saviour of believers by himself. Accordingly men may be said to be united to him, either outwardly in the church, tied and related to him by outward ordinances: or else inwardly united to him by saving faith. When a man is inwardly united to Jesus Christ by saving faith; he hath all from Christ: strength unto every duty from Jesus Christ: praying strength, and hearing strength, and repenting strength, and confirming strength, he hath from Christ in a way of receiving. But the other hath little, or nothing from Christ: pray mark it; I will express it thus: a man takes a piece of bread, or a loaf of bread; he ties it to his arm; his arm hath no strength from that, it is but an outward tie to his arm, it hath no strength from that: and it argues that it is but an outward tie, it causes no strength by it. But if a man take bread, and eat it, that there be an inward union, then there is strength, there is bread goes to all the parts: you know my meaning. Or thus; I will express it thus: Take a graft, and tie it unto a tree, tie it unto a stock, and it brings forth no fruit at all; why because it is but outwardly tied unto the root, unto the stock of the tree: but take the branch, and graft it into the tree, into the stock: then it brings forth all that it brings forth by virtue of the stock that it is grafted into. So, my beloved, there is a company, there is a generation of people that live here under the gospel, that are outwardly tied unto Christ: they are baptized, they have the name of Christ by profession; and by the tie of the ordinances, they are outwardly tied unto Christ: but, oh! they receive nothing from him, nothing from him: pray, what do they receive? Suppose Christ had not come into the world, suppose they had never heard Christ preached; they might have lived civilly; they might have lived justly among their neighbours; they might have abstained from lying and drunkenness why, they do not thus much; poor creatures nothing from Christ, they receive nothing from Christ: oh!

these are but outwardly tied, as a loaf of bread is tied to a man's arm; so is the Lord Jesus in the ordinances tied unto them. Aye, but then, there are another people that are savingly united to Jesus Christ; and these, they have strength from him they cannot pray but as they have strength from Christ; they cannot confer and speak of good things but as they have strength from Christ; they cannot go and hear a sermon, with any affection, but as they have strength from Christ: all, all in a way of receiving. Oh! they stand in a way of dependance upon God in him, and they have all from Christ; these are savingly united to Christ. But oh! many that live among us have not all from Christ; certainly, therefore, there are many that are not savingly united to Jesus Christ. This is a third. I will add but one more, and so I have done.

IV. Is this doctrine true?-All in a way of receiving. Then surely, beloved, all is of grace, from first to last. Heaven, heaven is a donative, salvation is a donative, every step in the ladder to heaven is grace, every link of the chain is grace. Oh! every beam of our day is grace; every stone of our building is grace. Is all in a way of receiving? What, praying strength? What, hearing strength? What, suffering strength? What is all, all in a way of receiving? Oh, then, what glorious grace is here! Oh, rich grace! Oh, free grace! Oh, incomparable riches of the freeness of God's grace in Christ! Is the Lord Jesus the Alpha and the Omega? Is he the beginning, the middle, the end of all our actions? Oh, what grace is here! If there be ever a drooping soul, if there be ever a poor, hard heart, a cold heart, a frozen heart in all this congregation, come, O poor soul, come and warm thine heart at this fire of love. Were our heaven and our salvation put to sale upon our doing; I say, were mercy set to sale at our doing, then we were in a sad condition, we were in a lamentable condition. Well, now, is all in a way of receiving? What, then, though I cannot pray for the present. What, then, though my heart be dead for the present. Yet, notwithstanding, I will wait upon the Lord in the way of his ordinances; it may be this day, and this time, I may receive something that may put life into my poor dead soul. Oh! you that never waited upon the Lord, and upon free grace, wait now upon the

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Lord: you that have waited, wait still; you that never waited, wait now. Beloved, the more dependant our condition is, the more depending should our spirits be. What more dependant condition can you think of: all, all in a way of receiving. Oh! therefore, now let us all labour to live by faith. Go away with this in your bosoms: I see a necessity of living in a continual dependance on God in Christ. Which that you may do, think of all these things, and the Lord bless them to you.

SERMON IV.

"And of his fulness have all we received, even grace for grace.” JOHN I. 16.

I HAVE made entrance upon these words in some neighbouring congregations, in the hearing of divers of you; and my desire is to finish them here.

Having spoken of the former part of the verse, " And of his fulness have all we received:" I come now unto the latter clause," Even grace for grace."

The great question is upon these words, What should be the meaning of them?

There are no less than seven or eight interpretations that are given by men. I shall presently tell you what I apprehend to be the meaning of them.

Three things, I conceive, may be specially held forth in these words:

First, They may note, an abundance of grace that the saints in the New Testament have from Jesus Christ.

Secondly, The universality of grace.

And, Thirdly, An answerableness of grace in every christian unto the graces of Jesus Christ.

I begin with the former at this time. First, They seem to note an abundance of grace. " Of his fulness all we have received, even grace for grace:" that is, abundance of grace.

This interpretation, that I might clear up the meaning before I come to that which I intend to press, it suits with the

like phrase of Scripture: "Skin for skin, and all that a man hath will he give for his life," Job ii. 4. You know the place. That is, a man will give all his skins, all his cattle and skins (for their estates in those times did lie in cattle much), he will give all his skins, though they be never so many, he will give them all for to save his life. Skin for skin, though he have never so many; skin for skin, abundance of skins. Grace for grace, and abundance of grace. Gratia gratiis accumelata.

This also suits with the word, and or even. It is not barely said thus, And of his fulness have all we received, grace for grace; but, "Of his fulness have all we received, even grace for grace." That is, in great abundance; we have not only received grace, but we have received much grace, even grace for grace. This also suits with the title, the attribute that is here given to Christ, and that is, Fulness. When God or Christ is mentioned in Scripture, they are mentioned still under such a title as suits with the matter that is in hand; and you may know what the matter in hand is by the title. Now the title that is here given to Christ, the attribute that is here given to Christ, is Fulness; answerable to that is, fulness of grace in us, or abundance of grace from him. This also suits with the scope of the place; for here the evangelist sets Christ above Moses, shows how Christ does go beyond Moses; the following verse coming in as a reason of this: "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him," John i. 17, 18. You have much by Moses, but you have more by Christ ; you have abundance of grace in Christ.

unto many:

This also is agreeable to other Scriptures, where the same matter is spoken of. If you look into the vth of the Romans, you shall find that the apostle, speaking of the free gift of grace, at the 15th verse says, that it hath abounded "Much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many." Would you have the word received, joined with abundance? Look into the 17th verse, and there you read, "For if by one man's offence, death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace, and of

the gift of righteousness, shall reign in life by one Jesus Christ." All these things being thus laid together, they argue unto me, the main and special thing that is here intended is, an abundance of grace: "Of whose fulness we have all received, even grace for grace." All the saints and people of God under the New Testament, do receive abundance of grace from Jesus Christ.

First, Abundance of grace discovered.

Secondly, Abundance of grace exhibited and communicated to all the saints. He that hath the least measure of gospel grace, hath abundance of grace from Jesus Christ. Abundance of grace is now discovered. That I may make appear:

that

I. It will appear, if you consider the several advances that grace hath made, from the beginning of the world to this day, upon the children of men. In the beginning God made man perfect and righteous, after his own image. Man falling from that estate, exposed himself and all his posterity to the wrath of God for ever. Then grace steps in, and makes its first advance in the world: "The seed of the woman shall break the serpent's head," Gen. iii. 15. Here Christ is preached, and preached to the greatest sinners, Adam and Eve, that had damned all the world; and Jesus Christ is preached immediately by God himself. One would think now that the Lord should rather have said to Adam: Adam, I made thee perfect and righteous, thou mightest have kept thee so; thou wouldest not trust to me, Adam; thou wouldest trust unto the devil; go now, now thou art fallen, go mend thyself, if thou canst find out a better master, Adam. Or if the Lord would have shown mercy to Adam, one would think that he should have stayed for Adam's repentance, that Adam should first a cried him mercy. No, but before ever this poor prodigal stirs one step unto his father, his father runs out to meet him, to overtake him; the Lord Christ is preached, the promise is propounded, the free grace of God is revealed. Here was the first advance that ever grace made into the world.

But God, who is rich in grace, was not satisfied with this; but, as in the fourth day he does gather up all the light that was scattered abroad in the world before, into one body, the sun; so now he does gather up all the beams of his grace