1. We may here observe the marvellous wisdom of God in the work of
redemption. God hath made man's emptiness and misery, his low, lost and
ruined state into which he sunk by the fall, an occasion of the greater
advancement of his own glory, as in other ways, so particularly in this,
that there is now a much more universal and apparent dependence of man on
God. Though God be pleased to lift man out of that dismal abyss of sin and
woe into which he was fallen, and exceedingly to exalt him in excellency
and honor, and to a high pitch of glory and blessedness, yet the creature
hath nothing in any respect to glory of; all the glory evidently belongs
to God, all is in a mere and most absolute and divine dependence on the
Father, Son and Holy Ghost.
And each person of the Trinity is equally glorified in this work: there is
an absolute dependence of the creature on every one for all: all is _of_
the Father, all _through_ the Son, and all _in_ the Holy Ghost. Thus God
appears in the work of redemption as _all in all_. It is fit that he that
is, and there is none else, should be the Alpha and Omega, the first and
the last, the all, and the only, in this work.
2. Hence those doctrines and schemes of divinity that are in any respect
opposite to such an absolute and universal dependence on God, do derogate
from God's glory, and thwart the design of the contrivance for our
redemption. Those schemes that put the creature in God's stead, in any of
the mentioned respects, that exalt man into the place of either Father,
Son or Holy Ghost, in any thing pertaining to our redemption; that,
however they may allow of a dependence of the redeemed on God, yet deny a
dependence that is so absolute and universal; that own an entire
dependence on God for some things, but not for others; that own that we
depend on God for the gift and acceptance of a Redeemer, but deny so
absolute a dependence on him for the obtaining of an interest in the
Redeemer; that own an absolute dependence on the Father for giving his
Son, and on the Son for working out redemption, but not so entire a
dependence on the Holy Ghost for conversion and a being in Christ, and so
coming to a title to his benefits; that own a dependence on God for means
of grace, but not absolutely for the benefit and success of those means;
that own a partial dependence on the power of God for the obtaining and
exercising holiness, but not a mere dependence on the arbitrary and
sovereign grace of God; that own a dependence on the free grace of God for
a reception into his favor, so far that it is without any proper merit,
but not as it is without being attracted, or moved with any excellency;
that own a partial dependence on Christ, as he through whom we have life,
as having purchased new terms of life, but still hold that the
righteousness through which we have life is inherent in ourselves, as it
was under the first covenant; and whatever other way any scheme is
inconsistent with our entire dependence on God for all, and in each of
those ways, of having all of him, through him, and in him, it is repugnant
to the design and tenor of the gospel and robs it of that which God
accounts its lustre and glory.
3. Hence we may learn a reason why faith is that by which we come to have
an interest in this redemption; for there is included in the nature of
faith a sensibleness and acknowledgment of this absolute dependence on God
in this affair. 'Tis very fit that it should be required of all, in order
to their having the benefit of this redemption, that they should be
sensible of, and acknowledge the dependence on God for it. 'Tis by this
means that God hath contrived to glorify himself in redemption; and 'tis
fit that God should at least have this glory of those that are the
subjects of this redemption, and have the benefit of it.
Faith is a sensibleness of what is real in the work of redemption; and as
we do really wholly depend on God, so the soul that believes doth entirely
depend on God for all salvation, in its own sense and act. Faith abases
men and exalts God, it gives all the glory of redemption to God alone. It
is necessary in order to saving faith, that man should be emptied of
himself, that he should be sensible that he is "wretched, and miserable,
and poor, and blind, and naked." Humility is a great ingredient of true
faith: he that truly receives redemption, receives it as a little child:
Mark x. 15, "Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of heaven as a little
child, he shall not enter therein." It is the delight of a believing soul
to abase itself and exalt God alone: that is the language of it, Psalm
cxv. 1, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give glory."
4. Let us be exhorted to exalt God alone, and ascribe to him all the glory
of redemption. Let us endeavor to obtain, and increase in a sensibleness
of our great dependence on God, to have our eye to him alone, to mortify a
self-dependent and self-righteous disposition. Man is naturally exceeding
prone to be exalting himself and depending on his own power or goodness,
as though he were he from whom he must expect happiness, and to have
respect to enjoyments alien from God and his Spirit, as those in which
happiness is to be found.
And this doctrine should teach us to exalt God alone, as by trust and
reliance, so by praise. _Let him that glorieth, glory in the Lord._ Hath
any man hope that he is converted and sanctified, and that his mind is
endowed with true excellency and spiritual beauty, and his sins forgiven,
and he received into God's favor, and exalted to the honor and blessedness
of being his child, and an heir of eternal life: let him give God all the
glory; who alone makes him to differ from the worst of men in this world,
or the miserablest of the damned in hell. Hath any man much comfort and
strong hope of eternal life, let not his hope lift him up, but dispose him
the more to abase himself and reflect on his own exceeding unworthiness of
such a favor, and to exalt God alone. Is any man eminent in holiness and
abundant in good works, let him take nothing of the glory of it to
himself, but ascribe it to him whose "workmanship we are, created in
Christ Jesus unto good works."
[Illustration: FACSIMILE OF MANUSCRIPT OF FIRST PAGE OF SERMON "A DIVINE
AND SUPERNATURAL LIGHT."]