Heaven on Earth

Again, tell me, O despairing soul! Is not the Grace of God free-grace, is¹ not mans salvation of free-grace. By grace ye are saved, Ephes. 2. 8. Every link of this golden chain, is Grace. It is free-grace that chose us, Rom. 11. 5. Even so then, at this present time also, there is a remnant according to the election ⟨p. 161⟩of Grace. It is free-grace that chooses some to be Jewels from all eternity, that chooses some to life, when others are left in darkness. The Lord Jesus Christ is a gift of free-grace; Christ is the greatest, the sweetest, the choicest, the chiefest gift that ever God gave; and yet this gift is given by a hand of love. God so loved the ²world, that he gave his only begotten Son, &c. Here is a sic without a sicut, God ³so loved the world; so freely, so vehemently, so fully, so admirably, so unconceivably, That he gave his only Son. His Son, not his servant, his begotten Son, not his adopted son, yea, his only begotten Son. I have read of one that had four sons, and in a Famine being sore oppressed with hunger, the Parents resolved to sell one for relief; but then they considered with themselves which of the four they should sell: they said, The eldest was the first of their strength, therefore loth they were to sell him; the second was the very picture of the Father, and therefore loth they were to part with him; the third was like the Mother, and therefore they were not ⟨p. 162⟩willing to part with him; the fourth, and the youngest, was the child of their old age, their Benjamin, the dearly beloved of them both, and therefore they were resolved not to part with any of them; and so would rather suffer themselves to perish, then to part with any of their children. O but Gods heart is so strongly set upon sinners,⁴ that he freely gives Jesus Christ, who is his first-born, who is his very picture, who is his beloved Benjamin, who is his chiefest joy, who is his greatest delight, as Solomon speaks, Then I was