The real Christian, or, A treatise of effectual calling wherein the work of God…

First, Else the Lord should not advance the riches of his Grace: the advancement of Grace cannot be without the humiliation of the Creature.

Answ. Cannot the Lord advance his Grace, unless the Soul now enlightened, convinced, broken with fears and sorrows, emptied of it self, apprehending nothing but hell and damnation in it self, having neither money to give, nor hands to work, and finding nothing to fly to, but the riches of Mercy, and freeness of Grace, with the Redemption of Jesus Christ, which now the Soul prizes at a high rate; cannot the Lord (I say) advance his Grace now, unless this Soul be contented to have no Grace, no Love of God, ⟨p. 116⟩but be damned for ever? Hath the Lord said so? then I shall believe it: To what end was all that work of the Spirit? was it not to make the Soul quite undone in it self, that it might see, nothing but Grace and Christ can save it? Let us call to thousands and ten thousands of Saints, who never heard of this Doctrine till these two Worthies preached it: Let us call to those, who reading it are much troubled, and cannot yield to it as true, that God requires it, what do you feel within you? Is it not Grace, the free, rich Grace of God glorious in your thoughts? Do you not cry out, Grace, Grace, as those Zech. 4.7? Are not the riches of his Grace, and Redemption of his Christ, the Jachin and Boaz of thy Soul, the pillars that bear it up, as they did Solomon's Porch? 1 Kings 7.21. which if taken away, all thy hopes and comforts come tumbling down, as the house upon the Philistines heads, when Sampson took away the pillars of it: Speak, O you troubled, wounded Christians, whose hearts have sunk at the reading of this Doctrine, do you not advance, and labour every day to advance, and think you can never advance enough this freeness of his Grace, with the Righteousness and Redemption of his dear Christ? Are not these wonderful in your eyes? Blessed be God we have our senses, our feeling, our experience of these things; yet we cannot tell how to be content without Gods Love, to be given to our lusts, and damned eternally. Doth not God advance his Grace, when we feel we cannot live, but are miserable, undone, damned, worse then Toads without it? We can never advance the riches of his Grace enough we do acknowledge; therefore we desire to see our own vileness more and more daily, that we may more speak the praises of this rich Grace. If God doth not advance the riches of his Grace in this way I have mentioned, I wish he had told us how God doth it: