A47542:674
A golden mine opened, or, The glory of God's rich grace displayed in the mediator to believers, and his direful wrath against impenitent sinners containing the substance of near forty sermons upon several subjects / by Benjamin Keach.
London: printed by the author, 1694
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.
2. Adoption is of Grace; Having predestinated us unto the Adoption 1of Children, to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace. As the Purpose was free, so is the Execution free also: That the Purpose of 2God, according to election might stand; not of Works, but of him that calleth. To them gave he Power to become the Sons of God, &c. The Privilege 3of being Sons and Daughters of God, is freely given to us, through Jesus Christ: 'Tis through Christ, for that we might become Sons he became a Servant, and died the cursed Death of the Cross for us, to redeem them that were under the Law, that we might 4receive the Adoption of Sons.
3. Justification is wholly of Grace: Being justified freely by his 1Grace, through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ, without Works. Now to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the Ungodly, 2his Faith is counted for Righteousness: 'Tis not because we are righteous in our selves, therefore we are justified; no but being justified by the Righteousness of Christ, we are declared righteous in him; and this is wholly by God's free Grace.
3. Justification is wholly of Grace: Being justified freely by his 1Grace, through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ, without Works. Now to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the Vngodly, 2his Faith is counted for Righteousness: 'Tis not because we are righteous in our selves, therefore we are justified; no but being justified by the Righteousness of Christ, we are declared righteous in him; and this is wholly by God's free Grace.
4. Faith is a Grace, or a Gift freely given to all that believe: To you it is given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but to 1suffer for his sake. For by Grace ye are saved through Faith, and that not of your selves, it is the Gift of God.
5. Repentance is of Grace: Him hath God exalted with his right 1Hand, to be a Prince and a Saviour, to give repentance to Israel, &c. God in the New Covenant promises to take away the Heart of Stone, and to give a Heart of Flesh; that is, a broken, tender, and 2a repenting Heart. If God peradventure will give them Repentance to the acknowledging the Truth. If God will give them a Power and an Heart to repent, it is his own free and gracious Gift to poor Sinners.
6. Forgiveness of Sin is also freely given of God; it is of Grace, through the Redemption that is in Jesus Christ.1
So that it appears Eternal Life, from the first to the last, is wholly of Grace, both the Author of it, the Means of it, and the End thereof, all is of Grace: Heaven it self is the Gift of Grace; Fear not, little Flock; it is your Father's good Pleasure to give you the 1Kingdom. The Crown of Glory is the Gift of Christ: Be thou faithful unto Death, and I will give thee a Crown of Life. Take the Water of Life freely; buy Wine and Milk, without Money, and without Price. Salvation was contrived by Infinite Grace, and all 2things that do concur or accompany it are freely given: Bread of Life, and Water of Life, is freely given; A new Heart will I give them, and a new Spirit will I put into them. To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, &c.
Thirdly, To proceed to the Grounds of the Point, I shall give 1you the Reasons why Eternal Life is the Gift of Christ, or of the free Grace of God.
1. It is because Sin and Death cannot be removed out of the Way to Life, but only by Jesus Christ, and so by Grace only. The Law of God is broke, and Justice calls for Wrath and Vengeance to be executed upon the Transgressor. Justice must be satisfied, but Man cannot make a Compensation for the Violation of God's Holy Law, nor will God acquit the Sinner unless that be done; the Law is but an Impression of God's Holy Nature, it resulted not from a bare Act of his Sovereignty, but from his Holiness and perfect Rectitude of his blessed Nature. If Man could have attained to Life by any Works of Obedience done by him, Christ died in vain; and if it had consisted with the Wisdom and Holiness of God to have accepted of imperfect Obedience, provided it had been sincere, he could at first have given Man such a Law, and so have saved the Life of his Son. For any therefore to affirm that God accepteth sinful Man for the sake of his imperfect (though sincere) Obedience, it is to assert, in effect, that he accepted of some sinful and polluted Acts as a Recompense and Satisfaction for other sinful Acts and Deeds of Darkness; for all our best Services are unclean in themselves. Paul accounted all his own Righteousness but Dung, &c. Besides, the Obedience under the Gospel which God requires, is to be performed in the highest perfection imaginable; Be ye Perfect, as your Father in Heaven is Perfect. 1The Law of the Gospel is the same in Nature with the Moral ⟨p. 153⟩Law, therefore (if it may be called a Law) it is a perfect Law; we are still commanded to love the Lord our God with all our Hearts, with all our Souls, and with all our Strength; yea, and to live and sin not. Little Children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. Our Faith, 2Love, and Patience, &c. ought to be perfect; the Law or Commands of the Gospel know no Bounds nor Limits; Until we all 3come in the Unity of the Faith, and of the Knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature of the Fullness of Christ. It would therefore be a Work becoming the New-Lawyers to show where the Commands lie in the Gospel, that God's Law only requires sincere Obedience unto; the Law certainly loses no part of its Sanction by the Gospel, that is as Holy, Just and Good as ever, and a perpetual Rule of Life and Obedience:
"Therefore (as a reverend Person Notes)1 either the Gospel-Law, or Law of Faith, must require Perfection of Obedience in these Duties, or some other Divine Law, or else God would become an indulger of Sin, by Law: if it be by another Law, viz. the Moral, that requires perfect Obedience, and this sincere only, then these Laws differ but in Degree, not in Specie or Kind; because both require the same Duties or Works; and so this Gospel-Law would be no distinct Law, but only the Measure of sincere Obedience would receive a new use; which we own it has, to wit, to be an Index and Mark of our Justification, tho we cannot own that use of its giving Right," &c. But to proceed, (saith he) "a distinct Law they must hold, or quit their Cause, or this Foundation of it; for the Text sets the Law of Faith down as an opposite Law to that of Works, and that they hold. Then if it be a perfect Law, requiring perfect Obedience, there is no possibility of Justification in this Life. Poppius the Arminian grants the Conclusion, that our Obedience must be consummate before our Assurance; and others distinguish between a complete and partial Justification, the former is not, they say, until the Day of Judgment. But this is not all the Difficulty, for it's the adding a Load to a Burden: Is this Gospel, to a Man that is unable to perform the least part of the Moral Law, to tell him, that God, or the Mediator, requires perfect Obedience to it for the future, and another too? Or is this Gospel, to say, you shall perish eternally, and have the Fire of Hell seven times heated, if you obey not this Gospel? It's indeed a conditional Hell, but it is more dreadful than the Fire of Hell; and the Condition is more impossible, because we have ⟨p. 154⟩less power to shun this Difficulty of two perfect Laws. Mr. Bull owns no other perfect Law but this Gospel, since Man fell: but by shunning one Difficulty, he falls into two as great; (1.) Then the Moral Law is abrogated, besides the falseness of the Doctrine it self; for it is impossible that should cease to be our Duty, to love God with all our Heart and Soul. What Advantage brings Christ's Death, to abrogate one perfect Law, and establish another? here is little Gospel. A second Difficulty is, we must either say Christ has purchased to us Pardon for Sins against the Gospel-Law, or none at all, but that one Sin of Adam's, if the Moral Law be abrogated;
after the Fall we never sinned against any Law but the Gospel, for we were under no other Law according to him," &c.
The Sum of that I drive at is this, viz. There is a necessity we must be justified and saved by Grace only, because we cannot be saved by a Law of Obedience, but by Christ and Grace alone: If we sly not to Christ by trusting, believing, and depending on him, and the Grace of God in him, who hath satisfied the Justice and Law of God for us, and brought in Everlasting Righteousness, the Law of God will cut us down and throw us into Hell for ever.
2. It is by Grace alone that we are saved, because all boasting is excluded, and cause of boasting. And this is the Design of God in the Gospel. viz. That Man might not have whereof to glory, but in the Lord alone: Nor could this be done any other way, but by his contriving our Salvation to be wholly by his own free Grace. Where is boasting then? it is excluded; by what Law? of Works; nay, but by the Law of Faith, not of Works, lest any Man should boast.1
3. It is only by Grace that we are saved, or Eternal Life is the free Gift of God, and Gift of Christ; because he will have all the 1Glory of it: God will not give the Glory of our Salvation unto others. Having predestinated us to the Adoption of Children by Jesus 2Christ according to the good Pleasure of his Will, to the Praise of the Glory of his Grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved.
4. It is by Grace only because God would magnify his Son, by whose Righteousness and Obedience imputed to us, we are justified and saved: and it is to this end I say, that God might exalt Jesus Christ; his Design was, to magnify Christ in our Salvation, and to abase Man: Thou hast given him Power over all Flesh, that he 1should give Eternal Life to as many as thou hast given him.
5. And lastly, It is by Grace, because God would have Salvation sure to all Believers: Therefore it is of Faith that it might be 1by Grace, to the end the Promise might be sure to all the Seed, &c. If Salvation were by our Works and Obedience, it might be very uncertain; or if the whole of our Happiness and Eternal Life be not in Christ's Hand, but that it dependeth on the Will of Man, or on the condition of our Faith and Holiness, or in the improvement of our Abilities; and it is possible that we may, or may not answer the Condition thereof; it might so fall out, that not one Soul might be saved: Besides, should it be so, those that are saved, would then have something to glory in, or boast of in the Great Day: They in effect may thank themselves, and admire their own Wisdom, Care and Industry, that brought them to Heaven.
Fourthly, Why doth and will Christ give Eternal Life to all his Sheep, to all his Saints?
1. It is because Sin and Death cannot be removed out of the Way to Life, but only by Jesus Christ, and so by Grace only. The Law of God is broke, and Justice calls for Wrath and Vengeance to be executed upon the Transgressor. Justice must be satisfied, but Man cannot make a Compensation for the Violation of God's Holy Law, nor will God acquit the Sinner unless that be done; the Law is but an Impression of God's Holy Nature, it resulted not from a bare Act of his Sovereignty, but from his Holiness and perfect Rectitude of his blessed Nature. If Man could have attained to Life by any Works of Obedience done by him, Christ died in vain; and if it had consisted with the Wisdom and Holiness of God to have accepted of imperfect Obedience, provided it had been sincere, he could at first have given Man such a Law, and so have saved the Life of his Son. For any therefore to affirm that God accepteth sinful Man for the sake of his imperfect (though sincere) Obedience, it is to assert, in effect, that he accepted of some sinful and polluted Acts as a Recompence and Satisfaction for other sinful Acts and Deeds of Darkness; for all our best Services are unclean in themselves. Paul accounted all his own Righteousness but Dung, &c. Besides, the Obedience under the Gospel which God requires, is to be performed in the highest perfection imaginable; Be ye Perfect, as your Father in Heaven is Perfect. 1The Law of the Gospel is the same in Nature with the Moral ⟨p. 153⟩Law, therefore (if it may be called a Law) it is a perfect Law; we are still commanded to love the Lord our God with all our Hearts, with all our Souls, and with all our Strength; yea, and to live and sin not. Little Children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. Our Faith, 2Love, and Patience, &c. ought to be perfect; the Law or Commands of the Gospel know no Bounds nor Limits; Vntil we all 3come in the Vnity of the Faith, and of the Knowledg of the Son of God, unto a perfect Man, unto the measure of the stature of the Fulness of Christ. It would therefore be a Work becoming the New-Lawyers to shew where the Commands lie in the Gospel, that God's Law only requires sincere Obedience unto; the Law certainly loses no part of its Sanction by the Gospel, that is as Holy, Just and Good as ever, and a perpetual Rule of Life and Obedience:
