Grace in Us Is Glorious (1)

Grace is glorious. As the wise man says, 'Wisdom makes a man's face to shine' (Eccles. 8:1). Is not wisdom a glorious thing: a wise, understanding man able to guide himself and others? It puts a beauty upon a man, to be wise and understanding. Humility makes a man glorious, for it makes God put glory upon a man, and a man is glorious and does not realize it. Moses, when his face shined, did not know himself that it shined. Many humble men are glorious and do not think so; they are glorious, and they shine, though they do not see it.
Is it not a glorious thing to be taken out of ourselves, to deny ourselves, to offer a holy violence to ourselves and to our corruptions? Is it not glorious, when others lie grovelling like slaves under their corruptions, to stand unmovable in all the changes of the world and in all kinds of trouble, to stand as a rock in the midst of all, founded upon the love of God in Christ and the hope of glory after? Not to be shaken with the wind of temptations from his standing, at least not to be shaken off his standing—this is glorious, to have a constant spirit.
Is it not glorious to have admittance boldly by grace, to go into the presence of God at all times, to prevail with God? Faith overcomes not only the world but God himself. It binds him with his own promise. Is not faith a glorious grace, that triumphs over the great God himself, binding him with his own word and promise?
Is not love a glorious grace, that melts one into the likeness of Christ? It constrains, it has a kind of holy violence in it. We will glory in sufferings for what we love. No water, nothing can quench that holy fire that is kindled from heaven. It is a glorious grace.
Hope, what does it do? When it casts anchor in heaven, it keeps us in all the waves. It purges our natures to be like the thing hoped for.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Glorious Freedom, pp. 133-34 [144-45]
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