sanctification of the Spirit, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus, that these are a happy peopl; but they are specially happy who do know this as to themselves. That this is their great blessing, that they are thus chosen, that they are thus sanctified, that they are thus sprinkled, is a deep dispensation of God! that he gives so much, and yet gives so little knowledge of it! What if I should say, it is not fit for us to know all that we receive? it may be it would do us hurt to know all the love and tenderness that is in the heart of God towards us; we know that discoveries thereof bring snares along with them; but this is our misery, that the sight of our mercy should be a snare to us: yet surely, where mercy is seen, where it is well known, and well guided, it is a double mercy.

Use 4. How much more yet are they blessed who possess all that electing grace designed for them! They are happy who fall under this love of election and the fruits of it; they are yet more happy who know it; but they are most of all happy who are possessed of all that election designed for them; and this is the state of glory above. And therefore our Lord gives the crown of glory, at last, upon these terms: Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you before the foundation of the world, Matth. xxv. 34. The foundations of the world were laid long ere you came into it, and you were a long while in the world before ye knew any thing of Jesus Christ, and the grace of God; " but now," saith our Lord, “ ye are come to possess all that eternal love that I de"signed for you." The two greatest grounds upon which we certainly conclude, that the glory to be revealed is exceeding great, are, the eternal purpose of love in the heart of God, and the infinite price of the blood of the Son of God. It must be a great glory that God had so many thoughts about, and it must be a great glory that the Son of God 'paid so great a price for. There is nothing proves so plainly the love that God had in his heart for his people, and the infinite value of the blood of Christ, as a perceiving of that glory that we partake of by this purpose, and by this purchase. A poor believer finds it a hard matter to venture on Jesus Christ for eternal salvation, for pardon of sin and peace with God, and for all the privileges that we possess in this life; but, if I may so

say, if we could see pardon of sin, peace with God, and all the other privileges that we possess in this life; and if, at the same time, we could see the crown of glory, we should find it a far easier matter to believe for them, than to believe for that for doubtless the last prize of our calling will be greatly beyond all other blessings we partake of by the way. And thus I have finished the second thing that I took up in the apostle's preface to this epistle; his description of the parties to whom he writes, both from their outward condition before the world, as strangers scattered through several kingdoms; and also as to their condition before God, as elect according to his foreknowledge, sanctified by the Spirit, and sprinkled by the blood of Jesus.

III. I would now, thirdly, briefly run through and speak to the third thing in these two verses, and that is the apostle's wish or prayer, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. A wish that is expressed very frequently in the word of God; you will find it in all Paul's epistles, only with this variation, that in his epistles to Timothy, and in that to Titus, he adds mercy to grace and peace. Peter wrote but two epistles, and he hath this salutation in both of them; Grace be unto you, and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ist, Let us consider this with respect to the persons it is wished to, and prayed for; and they are called in the preceding part of the verse, Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus: grace be unto you. "You "have grace already, and peace already; therefore grace and "peace be multiplied unto you." Sirs, there is no praying for the multiplying of grace and peace to them who never had any; but the apostle saith concerning them, that they were partakers of grace and peace; "and now," saith he, " be they "multiplied unto you."

2dly, Let us consider these words with respect to the person wishing it to them, and who is the writer of this epistle; Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ: and an apostle's saying, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied, when writing by the influence of the Holy Ghost, is equal to a promise. This is what I

would a little take notice of. mal ones, and virtual ones.

Promises are of two sorts, forFormal promises are those that

are so in the form of them, as it is in the covenant, Jer. xxxi. 33. I will put my law in their inward parts, I will write it in their hearts, I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people. Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh; I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes. These are formal promises; when God speaks thus expressly, he is the speaker, and he is the promiser, and the doer; of these the apostle speaks, 2 Cor. vii. 1. Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. And the same apostle Peter, speaks of these in his second epistle, chap. i. 4. There are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by them que might be partakers of the divine nature. But there are another sort of promises, that we call virtual ones; that is, though they are not in the form of a promise, yet they are really and materially one, and may be used by the faith of a believer as such. I shall instance in some of these. 1st, All the blessings of saints, as saints, recorded in the word, are promises to following saints for the same blessings. Pray observe; I speak not of mercies suited to special or extraordinary occasions, but of the blessings of God to believers in their course of walking with God, which are recorded in the word: these are grounds for the faith of every believer to expect the like. Saith the Psalmist, Psal. xxxii. 5. I acknowledge my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity I have not hid: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. Well, and is not there an end? here is a distressed man seeking pardon, praying for it, and blessed with it see what he adds, in the very next words; For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee, in a time when thou mayest be found. What! may every godly man venture to put in after David? may such as we are venture to put in for the same blessing that David got? Yes, we may, warrantably on the same grounds. David was distressed with sin, and relieved with pardon; and every

2dly, All

poor sinner in the same case may plead and speed as he did. They that fear the Lord, saith he, will be glad when they see me, because I have hop.d in thy word, Psal. cxix. 74. the prayers of the saints recorded in the word, as to their own present case, they are prayers that may feed our faith, and may be used again by us. Psal. xxxiv, 6. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and delivered him from all his troubles: and therefore any poor man may cry unto the Lord. And this is one great good that we get by the Psalms of David; a great part of the Scripture, both in the Old and New Testament too, contains the prayers of the saints. I acknowledge, they make a very bad use of them who compose a common prayer out of them; but every believer may make a prayer from them: whatsoever any distressed believer hath asked of God, any child of God may ask the same even to this day. 3dly, All the prayers of Jesus Christ for his church and people, are something more than real promises. I do not say that they are formal promises, but they are something more than real promises. Christ's prayers I say are so: a great instance we have of them in the xviith chapter of John throughWhatsoever Christ begged of his Father, for the relief and blessing of his children, every believer may pray it over again confidently. We may pray over Christ's prayer a great deal more confidently than we can the prayers of the saints; we may put our Amen to Christ't prayers a great deal more confidently than we can to Paul's: for our Lord was always heard, and his praying for us was a part of his saving us; he was a praying Saviour as well as a dying Saviour. 4thly, To bring the matter to the text, All apostòlical prayers, directed by the Holy Ghost in their writings, are equivalent to a promise. I do not deny but the apostles, extraordinary men as they were, might sometimes miscarry in their praying; we find they sometimes miscarried in their practice. We find that Peter was blamed, and that justly, by Paul, for his dissimulation, Gal, ii.; but whatsoever weaknesses they might have as men, in some parts of their work, yet, when they were made use of by the Holy Ghost as his penmen, in writing the Scriptures, they were under his infallible conduct; and therefore the prayers of the apostles, in their epistles, were equal to a promise. What the apostles, by the direc

out.

tion of the Holy Ghost, did pray for and wish to Christians in their days, every Christian in our day may lay claim to.

Sdly, I would now consider these words in themselves, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. There are three things that may be taken notice of in this blessing wished to them: -the blessing prayed for, Grace and peace;-the connection of them, they are joined together, grace and peace ;—and the increase and multiplication of them; let them be multiplied: "not only grace be unto you, and peace be unto you, but let them be multiplied unto you." This is a wish of the Holy Ghost's, by the pen of the apostle, and is, as I told you, often in the word; in all Paul's epistles, and in both of Peter's. This is what can only be perceived and experienced by a spiritual man; if the apostle's expression had been, "gold and silver be multiplied unto you; riches and health "be increased to you; prosperity in this world be multiplied "to you;" every Atheist would have understood him: but when he speaks of grace and peace being multiplied, it is a speaking of things that no ungodly man understands what they mean they are spiritual things themselves, and the increase of them is spiritual too.

I. I shall speak of the things wished, Grace and peace; a little to each of these separately. 1st, What grace is., Grace unto you, saith the apostle. Grace meets with two accepta tions; as it is in the heart of God, and as it is from the hand of God in the heart of a believer. Grace, as it is in the heart of God, is called the grace of God, and is frequently spoken of in the word; but this cannot be increased nor multiplied, because it is infinite. There is no elect child of God that may lawfully desire God to love him better than he doth, or Christ to love him better than he doth; no, none of these things is lawful; the measure of his love passes bounds, and therefore there can be no addition thereto. But take grace as it is the gift of God to a creature, and then it is capable of multiplication in the fruits, and in the manifestation of it; for that is what the apostle here means. Grace unto you be multiplied; not the love of God to you, but the fruit and manifestation of that love, be multiplied unto you. The other