OCR Text |
Show I il '· : ' } ' ' i ~ i ~ ~ :i I· Arg. ( "'- ·~ The Spoufe hath no po"Ner '' .. ' are nmle 'll'iUing,'lflt have no power 10 de any 'lflork.! of pieiJ, gra!eful t!Jo acceptable unto Ged.C(rtainly then brethren let t~e men oft~ts generation talk what they pleale; they am a lpunous otf-lpnng, no (nuine Sons of the Church of E•g.laHd;that t~ll. you of • power 111 ~an 1, believe and love God, if he wzU. Mans Wt~lts free, we confefs, 't is not forced to its ac:l:ion; but yet grace ts powerful or none 1 ld be faved no man would will that which is truly good, fi ~:~fltlaborum ;rbitrium quomodo ~eut judica.t mund•m ? fi non ~~ ratia quomode falvat rmmd11m? fatth Aug•ftme; we ~Cl: freely 10 g ' lling good but it is his power that makes us to wt\1, But be~~ fe this is 'a quefiion of the times, and tho[e who unde_rlland little of this point, yet will avow themfelves.Patrons for thtsfre~wiUand 11atural pow.r in man: Let us a. httle enlarge upon thts Point ; {hewing you, 1. Wh"e t~e que{lton lin, 2: Vpan .'lf!bat argument! we defelld tbit impotency 1/1 man to that wh1ch utr•ry aHd JPirituaUy good. 1 • Two things only I defir( y.ou to rem~rnber: r. That t~ queflion is not De arbitrio Iiberato, of the Wtll rme.wedand faH.lla· fred in a jullified and regenerateS oul, but de Ar~atrzo no.ndum lzbt· raw of the Will before it is ren(wed and fanc:l:tficd. . 2 : That the queflion is, coHcern~ng.alliont !nwardly andfor~•~Y ood, fuch as now r.penting, bellftnng, lvvtng God ; and thts ts ~hat which we defend , '[hat•lthough by vertt<e oft he common grace •[God dmitd to no man, a merr natt<ral man. that ~zU but ufe l~e natural power and facultiu 'lf!hich God hath gwen htm, m•y avotd ma" Y fint of out'lf!ard aQ, •nd do many thingt "'hich God ~at/1 c~mmandedhim: IH read, hear,pray, &c. And at to th_r[e thtngt 1t be;· nough that Cbrift JPeaktlo mm in the Word"'"!"" and preach d, , they ,;,.y upon the reading and heari~g of ~hat Arz[c ~.ud come ; yet unlrfs he JurtiJ •r [peak.! to S 1111 by bu Spmt .,orkjng tH them powerfuUy and tjfrQually. th1y ,,.ver ..,;U, or can _come unt~ hzm by tme B.tntlance, F oith, or any truly {pirit~tal m~llon.. Thts we prove, p 1 Frorn that violent inclinallon to evzl whzch the Script~re [prak! ,u ~atural me II to lie 1tntler, and rt!hich every one fi~dr tn hzm.Jtlf. Hark what the Scripture faith, 1•b '~· l6. Man dr~nk.! !n mlqll~· ty li~e "'"", be rejoycetb to do evil. Pro. 2. 14· AU the zmagmallont of m•;u be;rtJ•re evil & only evil, and that contznually,hG<n.~·5• We ate. the Jtrvanll of fin, Rom. 6. 17· . 'lhtre't t~one I Jl un tr• {la11deth noHetbat feektth after God, Rom. 3· II· . Our cfionverfa~~~~ it in tbe'IHJtt of our ·fofh, Epher: 2, 2. The mottont to rn wor "' • ON'/' ' formaUJ go~d of her felf. 3 23 •ur mnnberJ to hring forth fruit unto drath, Rom. 7, 5· Wt have Hot the love of God in m, Joh.P 5· 42. We cam1o1 ~<,no"' the thin?.t of God, I Cor. 2, 14. nn be f•bjd1 to the Law 'ofGod, Rom, 8. 7• Affoon may a man with his hand flop the violent motion of the Sea, a5 give check by his own power to the !hong torrent of hi> lulls, But obferve, 2. Secondly•, How the Scripture reprelents the {tate of a n~ · tural man, 1, It if a [latt of [pit..j!;'al death, Ephef. 2. 1. YoH bath bt quick;ned who.,ere de~din trefP'AJ!n and fint. what motion of Jo~n S· 2 S· natural life can a dead man perform ? nor can any Soul !pi ritually Matth, 8• 22' dead perform any ac:l:ion of fpirituallife. 2, It is a {tate of blindneft; You were darknefs, Epbrf. 5. 8. Chrifl came to preach rc" vering of fight to the blind, Luke 4.18. Hath the blind man think you a power to fee? How !hall he that is fpiritually blind, till Chrifi. open his eyes, looi<, unto him that wM lif~ed up M the brazm Serpent watlifitd *Pin the wilderntfi 1 3. It is a Hate of Smi" tude and Sla11ery, a natural man is a Captive, Luk.! 4· 18, he is in thefn~re uftbe De11if, and held captive by him, 2 Tim. 2, 26. Doth· a bodily captivity deprive us ot all power of bodily motion beyond the will ofhim.whofe captives we are, and is the fpiritual Captive more free? 4· It it an habituatrdftale of fin : We ulc to fay,Cufiom is a lecond-nature. A confirmed habit doth not indeed devefl us wholly of our natural power, but it makes it ueon the point ufelefs to us. - Heark what God laith in our cale, jer, J 3, 2 3. Ca11 the Ethiopian cha11gc bit skjn, or the Leopard bit [potr, Ibm may ynu do alfo gsod that ore accuftomed t• do edl? 3· Thirdly, Let us confider how the Scripture expreffcth the {late of a SouiJPiritHaUy alzve, fro:n whence all actions and motions proper to a fpiritual Life, mufl in reafon flow, 1. It expref. feth it as a flare of Rr~rneration, John 3, 3, Ex apt a man be bom •gain of Water and oft'' Spirit,he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, 'fohn 1. 12, wbich "'e" horn not of ftifb, nnr of bloud, nor· •fthe wil!ojm<lll but ofGod: Is th'is think we in t~epower of man to be born agai~? Can a man '"'er into hil mot bert womb and 1 e born 11gain, faith Nicod~mut? · if he could, yet there's another thing, he mufl be born a gam of the Spirit, and that Spirit ltlweth whtre it liftetb. This being born again is the fame with having a new heart and a llf~ fPirit, having the heart of ftone tak,,en away, and the heart of ftrj/JgtveH, Ezech, 3 6.26. It is a renovation in the inrr>ard onaH; It is not the gettiag a new fubllance of the Soul but a mw-wili Tl! 2 ' HtJll: ~i '1~' ,!J ·n Jri ·~ , . J I 1 . ·~ I ! H f ~ j l i ''1 j ! t ·~ J" |