A29368:110
The freeness of the grace and love of God to believers discovered in reference…
The freeness of the grace and love of God to believers discovered in reference to 1. their services and suffering, 2. their consolations, and 3. their salvation and eternal glory : together with the excellency of the fear of God, the goodness and pleasantness of brotherly love, the wisdom of hearing the voice of the rod, repentance the only way to prevent judgements / delivered in several sermons by the late reverend and faithful minister of Christ, Mr. William Bridge ...The freeness of the grace and love of God to believers discovered in reference to 1. their services and suffering, 2. their consolations, and 3. their salvation and eternal glory : together with the excellency of the fear of God, the goodness and pleasantness of brotherly love, the wisdom of hearing the voice of the rod, repentance the only way to prevent judgements / delivered in several sermons by the late reverend and faithful minister of Christ, Mr. William Bridg ...
London: printed for Nath. Crouch, 1671
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Now what is this but crossing of hands in the matter of our comforts, and this ⟨p. 40⟩is only to show forth the freeness of the grace of God; and the free grace and love of God is most abundantly, most eminently manifested to the soul by this crossing of hands.
Now what is this but crossing of hands in the matter of our comforts, and this ⟨p. 40⟩is only to shew forth the freeness of the grace of God; and the free grace and love of God is most abundantly, most eminently manifested to the soul by this crossing of hands.
3. The more unbelieving any man is that is comforted, the more doth the freeness of the grace of God appear. Dearly beloved Brethren, it is with our consolation, as it is with our justification, and our sanctification; when God comes to justify a man he finds him ungodly, yet He justifies the ungodly, and not only the ungodly, but the unbelieving also; and therefore the Lord said, Go and compel them to come in; They were unbelieving persons, yet God calls them: And so it is also in the matter of our sanctification; when God comes to sanctify men, He finds them unwilling to be sanctified; but as God justifies them though unwilling, because he doth it freely; so He sanct fies them too though unwilling, because he sanctifies freely: And so it is also in the matter of our comforts; when God comes to comfort, he finds the soul unwilling many times, my soul refused to be comforted saith the Psalmist Psalm 77.2. and so again, Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou ⟨p. 41⟩hast caused me to hope, Psalm 119.49. I was unwilling, but thou causedst me to hope whether I would or no. When God comes to comfort, He doth it though men are unwilling to be comforted: It is very strange that it should be so, and yet such is the unbelief of mens hearts, that as before conversion they are unwilling to be turned, so after conversion they are unwilling to be comforted. Now this is that I say, that the more unwilling any man is to be comforted, yet if God doth comfort him, the more free doth the grace of God appear in it; God doth comfort though souls are unwilling: O the freeness, the freeness of the grace of God, in the matter of our comforts. Thus you see how and wherein the free grace of God appears, and is manifested in our spiritual comforts and consolations. That is the fifth particular.