The Application of Redemption, Book 8 (1 of 2)

The Application of Redemption · Book 8 (1 of 2)

p. 348BOOK VIII.

JOHN 6. 44.

No man can come to Me, unless My Father which sent Me, Draw him.

WE have already Debated and Dispatched TWO of those Divine Truths, wherein the Dispensation and manner of Gods working upon the Soul in preparation was conceived and described.

1 That he finds the sinner settled upon his …, and in the security of a sinful Condition.

2 That he was wholly unwilling to be severed therefrom. That it is a Death to him to be awakened out of this dead sleep when he saw no danger, nor feared any; but pleased himself in his Dreams and deluded … of his own happy Condition.

3 The Third and last Point now comes to skanning and Consideration, wherein indeed the Pith and Marrow of this so deep and p. 349mysterious a Dispensation of the Lord upon the Soul discovers it self; The Two former only made way for the more plain Explication of this last, and the more easie Apprehension of it by those who are willing to understand. Namely,

That by a holy kind of violence he is driven out of his sin, and Drawn unto Christ by God the Father, notwithstanding al the … and utter unwillingness to the contrary.

And for the foundation of our following Discourse we have chosen these words, which out of the very Scope of the place and intendment of our Savior, present to our view the former Point, and … in ful sense thereof from the very letter of the word: I shal omit al other particulars in the verse, … only single out that which directly concerns my purpose in hand. And that's this.

God the Father by a Holy kind of violenceDoct. as it were, plucks his out of their Corruptions, and Draws them to Beleeve in Christ.

Before I come to handle this Point, this I would Premise by way of Preface, That I purpose to handle both these together; both, plucking from Corruption and Drawing to Beleeve, for they are both performed by the same Action, or Motion; and therefore its most fit as they be in Nature together, so we should discover them together. For as it is in Bodily things that are obvious to our eye and …, he that plucks two things asunder which were p. 350glued, by the same motion at the same instant … he plucks the one from the other, he plucks … brings the one neerer to himself. So here, by … same stroak, and at the same time the Lord is … to pluck the soul from sin unto which it was …, he brings it neerer to himself, and it is made … for himself, that so it may be united unto his … And these Two are required before a man can receive that Grace that he stands in need of. As in part out of joynt that is possessed of many … humors, or broken splinters of bones, which … the temper, and hinder the joynt from his right work and returning to his right place for a through Cure the noysomness of the former is to be removed … would hinder the part from joynting and … to its right place, and this cannot be done but with … kind of Violence, which is now our Point to be Opened and Confirmed. For our more orderly proceeding, because the path is not beaten by any pregnant and plain …, we shal desire to … things with as much Evidence as we can, and therefore we shal enquire,

1 How many sorts of Drawings there are, and so which … meant in this place.

2 What is the proper Nature of that which … here understood in the kind of it.

3 How God doth put forth this, and by … means?

4 Wherein this Holy violence is best … and rightly apprehended in this work.

p. 3515 How this pulling of the soul from sin, and Drawing of it to Beleeve, is accomplished, by this violence.

6 Why this work of Attraction is given to the Father.

These things being considered and cleared, the frame in so mysterious a Dispensation wil be discerned in some measure, as may satisfie a judicious hearer.

To the First. There is a Double Drawing, or Constraint.

Improperly so …; and its called a Moral Swasion, to wit, When by outward presenting and offering, or by some vehement pressing and applying an object to the mind, or heart, the affections come to be …, and the will comes to be prevailingly moved, and strongly perswaded to the work: The Properties of this kind of Constraint, are Two,

1 The Objects or Arguments offered and propounded, infuse no power in to the will which it had not, but only stirs up, and cals out that which was there before implanted, to put forth it self into action.

2 When these perswasions are offered, there is still left an indifferency; there remains a freedom in the Will, to Refuse or Receive as she sees ….

Thus the wedge of Gold and the Babilonish garment, it perswaded and prevailed with Achans heart, to covet, and to hide, and then by falshood p. 352to defend it, Josh. 7. 21. This occasion, or beautiful bait, drew out that wretched Covetousness that … there before. Thus Lydia, Acts 16. 15. by her importunity she is said to constrain Paul, who happily otherwise intended it not: may be, he had weighty occasions which would have carried him another way. Thus in Luke 24. 29. It is said by pressing importunity they compelled our Savior to stay with them, who otherwise would have gone further. Luke 14. 23. Compel them to come in.

This the Jesuits, and Papists, and many of the School, conceive and conclude Marvelous, peremptorily, and stifly maintain it even to the death, That this is the only way of Gods drawing. Namely, God opens the Eye, and stirs up the Will, by propounding Objects of worth and greatest excellency; and this is al they would have … words require. But this gloss … the text, nor can it stand with the Scope of the context or intendment of our Savior; for … words are added by way of correction, when the Pharisees in the foregoing Verses murmured at the Doctrine of our Savior, with which they were willing to quarrel, because they could not understand; and at his means, which they were willing to despise: Our Savior to prevent the scandal which weak ones might happily take, because people of such place & quality rejected his person & Doctrine; he ads these words, None can come to Me, except My Father Draw him. which is, Murmur not, be not offended that the … entertain not me, nor the Gospel, its a greater work to Beleeve, than either the power or skil of the …, let them admire at their excellency as they please: But it issues out of the purpose and good pleasure of my Father, none have power to come, unless he be pleased to Draw p. 353… that they may come; Where Two things are ….

1 There must be Drawing, before Coming.

2 They who be Drawn, wil certainly Come.

As the force of the Argument evinceth; otherwise … reason of our Savior was of no force: for it had … easie to reply; The Father may draw many … yet those never come; therefore that is not a … Reason why they did not come; whence its … the aime of the text disanuls and … … that ….

They who are drawn wil come and fail not: But many have these outward swasions; The Scribes and Pharisees, who blasphemed the Lord Jesus, had …; and therefore these swasions and … offers are not the Drawing here meant.

There is as Divines cal it, A Physical, or Natural 2Drawing, and Constraint; (I would rather cal it, A drawing of Internal Operation) whereby not only the Eye is opened, and Objects propounded, but there is a power and prevailing impression put upon the will, which gives ability, whereby it may be carried and determined upon its Object. So that Two Things are here,

1 There is a Spiritual and Divine Power, a Divine inspiration fals powerfully upon the will:

2 By this the will is determined, and undoubtedly carried to its Object.

To speak familiarly, Plucking implyes a Breach of the Union between Sin and the Soul, and … p. 354from yeilding Subjection … 2 There is the turning of the heart the right way or a right set of Soul (being formerly perverted) put upon it. In which to speak properly the … puts not forth a deliberate act, but is acted by another; As it was in the raising of Lazarus when he stank in the Grave, not only those noysom distempers were removed, and the unnatural … which attended his body chased away, but the … also was returned and brought again to Union … his Body. So here,

The Nature of this Drawing, and special 2… of it.

Its the motion and powerful Impression of the Spirit of God upon the Soul, not any habit of Grace in it, nor any act of the Soul which concurs with the work of God in this first stroak of Preparation:

For,

The soul that is wholly possessed by the Habits ofReas. 1 Sin, is not yet capable of the Habit of Grace; … my flesh dwels no good thing, Rom. 7. 18. The Vessel cannot be ful of filthy and puddle water, and at the same time receive that which is pure.

It is the aim of this work to make way and room 2for the Habit of Grace, to be received; and therefore it is not a habit, nor any act of a habit in the soul as yet: Therefore its said, God first turns from darkness, and then to light, Acts 26. 18. Takes away the heart of stone before he gives a new heart, Ezek. 11. 19.

This is the influence of Light and Vertue into 3the Mind and Will, by the receiving whereof they may be elevated and lifted up above their own ability to supernatural Works in future times: and therfore p. 355this cannot be the act of the Will and …, since they cannot of themselves let in any … into themselves. Therefore the Lord takes … to himself as his own Work: Hither belongs … Question,

Whether Nature or Grace be the first subject ofQuest. …? Nature cannot, For, 1 Cor. 2. 14. The … man receives not the things of God, nor can … foreign: … yet Grace cannot do it; for … there should be Grace, before the FIRST ….

Grace is attended in a double Respect, 1 As itAnsw. … a habit or gracious quality received into the Soul:

As it is a gracious impression upon the soul, The … must be prepared before any habit of Grace … be received: but there needs no disposition in … soul to receive the work of the Spirit that must …? there needs no preparation to make way … the work of Preparation, but there needs … to make way for the habit. That which … the first disposition, needs no former, not yet … any former.

Its not Nature, but the Soul prepared that is the … of the First Habit. The Soul unprepared … the Subject of the Spirit that prepares it.

The Means how God works the Cords, by which 3… Draws.

The Spirit of the Lord lets in some powerful light 1… the Truth into the Soul when he is passing on in … wayes of destruction, and tels him, This is not … right way to Life and Salvation; you must go … way if ever you go to heaven: The poor p. 356deluded, blinded Creature never dreaming of … such matter, so that he drives the sóul to … thoughts: If this be the streight way to happiness, … have been out of the way al my life time; If this … true, my Condition is miserable. Isa. 65. 1. I … sought of them that asked not for me, I am found … those that sought me not: Thus the shepheard pursues the wildring sheep, If he had not found it, it … never found home: How many give in Evidence … of their own Experience in this kind: I never doubted of my estate, nor ever … of any necessity to be other, or do other; I went as others did, it may be for fashion sake, either company carried me, or custome prevailed with me; or may be the novelty of the thing inticed me to go, I as little thought of my death, as ever to have my sin and shame discovered: Job 36. 9. When the Lord gets man into fetters, then he shews them their transgressions, and how they have exceeded.

Thus the Lord is said To stand and knock at the door of the soul when the sinner is fast asleep, Rev. 3. 20. He dazles the apprehension by some mighty flash of truth, like lightning darted in, which makes the soul at a maze by reason of the suddenness, and unexpectedness, and strangness of it. This knock makes the sinner so far to hear, and to take notice of it that some body is at the door, and causes him happily to make enquiry, Who is there? So Acts 9. 4, 5, 6. There shines a suddain Light about Paul, and a voyce heard from heaven, Saul, Saul, Why persecutest thou me? As who should say, Thou art utterly mistaken, thou knowest not, where thou art, what thou doest, thou mistakest a Friend in stead of an Enemy. And therefore he amazed and astonished, Answers, and …, Who art thou Lord? Thus the sinner is made to look about him, p. 357where am I? this is not the way to Heaven. And though the soul would shut its eyes against the Evidence and Power of the Truth, which carries a kind of amazing vertue with it, and therefore invents shifts to defeat the work of it, yet the Lord wil follow it, and fasten it upon the soul so as that it shal not avoid it: he that stands knocking at the door wil lift up the latch, and make the Truth break in; as the Sun rising wil break through the least crevis. This is the first means whereby the Lord comes to lay hold upon the mind and soul of a sinner, he hath the sinner in chase as it were, that he cannot get out of his sight, or make an escape; Thus by the hook of Instruction he laies hold upon him.

He encloseth him with the Cords of Mercy, whereby IIhe … the soul, and compasseth the heart on every side, with the tender of his compassions, Hosea, 11. 4. I drew them with the Cords of a man, the bonds of love; & this the Lord doth to take off those desperat discouragements w^ch otherwise would dead the heart, and split the hopes of a forlorn sinner, and so pluck up his endeavors by the roots, under the appearance of impossibilities: It can never be attained, why therefore should it be expected, or endeavored after? To abate therefore of these overbearing …, which otherwise would sink the heart, and swallow it up; the Lord casts in some discovery of the largeness of his compassions, and intimates there is no danger to be feared in coming to the Lord, because there is none intended. When Christ stands at the door and knocks, men are afraid to let in Enemies that intended our ruine; so it's … the sinner, he is afraid of Gods Justice because of his … deservings. What? is Christ at the door? Is it not that Christ, whose Grace I have refused, whose Spirit I p. 358have grieved, whose Words I have cast … my back? he certainly comes to destroy me who have destroyed his Truth, and trampled his honor … my feet: And therefore the Lord lets in that Evidence to the soul as somtimes to his Disciples, Be Matt. 14. 27.Matt 14:27not afraid, it is I; I come not as a Judg to condemn thee, but as a Savior to save thee; I desire thy Conversion,Matt. 17. 7. & 28. 10Matt 17:7Matt 28:10 not thy Confusion. So our Savior expressed himself to …, Acts, 9. Who art thou Lord? (saies he) I am Jesus, i. e. I am a Savior to save my Mark. 5. 36.Mark 5:36People from their sins; and so of thee, to save thee from thy sins: Why wilt thou oppose thine ownMark. 6. 50.Mark 6:50 mercy, and so thine own safety? Why wilt thou persecute him that comes to preserve thee? This Cable of Mercy is made up of four Cords, which cannot easily be broken.

The infinite sufficiency of that saving health that 1is in the Lord Jesus, the boundless and bottomless depths of Mercy, and that plentiful redemption that is provided and laid up in Christ. That Sea of Mercy and Grace that is able to drown al our sins and guilts, and remove al our …, a treasure that cannot be spent, a fountain that cannot be drawn dry. Isa. 55. 7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy, and to our God, and he will abundantly pardon: He hath pardons in store, such as lie by him, they are not to seek, he hath bowels of mercy yet opened, arms of pitty and compassion yet stretched out to … thee. Nay, though thou coldest not imagine it, or conceive it, yet he can do it, Psal. 103. 10, 11. He deals not with us after our iniquities, but as the heavens is high above the earth, so great is his merciemercy to them that fear him. Psal. 1 30. 7, 8. Let Israel hope in the Lord, for with him there is multiplyed p. 359…, and he shall deliver him from all his iniquities. Thou hast multiplyed thy sins and provocations, he hath multiplied Compassions: Lo, there thou shalt see a Manasseh pardoned, a Paul …, and yet there is room for thee also. He never casts off any that come unto him, therefore its thy fault only which casts off Mercy.

If yet the sinner stand murmering; behold yet 2further: He hath not only sufficiency and enough to do thee good, but freely and frankly offers … to al that wil have it: He is not only content and ready that thou shouldst come, but invites, and perswades thee for to come, that thou mayst be partakers of it: Jer. 3. 22. Come unto me ye rebellious Children, and I will heal your back-slidings: With that, the sinner is at a wonderment with himself; did he not say Rebellious sinners? did he not invite such? Why may not I therefore be entertained?

Yes, The words are express, Come ye back-sliding Children. If then there be any Doubt arising, God Cleers it; any Question, the Lord Answers it; any Hinderance, he Removes it. Jer. 3. 1. 2. 7. They say, if a man put away his wife, shall she return again? Amongst men its usual and ordinary, if an Adultress Wife depart away, her Husband receives her not again; Yet return unto me, saith the Lord, though thou hast played the Harlot with many lovers. And vers. 7. After thou hast done all these things, yet return unto me. Then the Soul bethinks it self, shal al these abominations be clensed? al these rebellions remitted? What after al this pride, and uncleanness, and Covetousness; nay, after al the abuse of Gods Grace and Mercy, yet accepted, yet received, yet …. Either then now or never. He that … so gracious a command, so kind an offer, its a wonder if the Lord do not cast him off, and accurse him p. 360for ever; nay, is he not worthy he should be so?

The Lord not only offers it freely that we might 3be encouraged: but heartily intends it; yea, entreats it earnestly that indeed we might be perswaded without gain-saying to yeild. He not only commands the sinner to come, but if he go away, Mercy pursues him; if yet he seems to withdraw himself, Mercy laies hold on him, wil not leave him, but weeps over him, kneels down before him, and begs importunately at his hands his own reconciliation with the Lord, 2 Cor. 5. 17. The Lord by us doth beseech you to be reconciled, the Ministers proclaim it, but God professeth it; they desire men, and God in them …, and entreateth to be reconciled.

This makes the bowels of a sinner to rowl within him and drives him to a stand, and almost overcomes our unkind natures: What! A King to entreat a Traytor to be pardoned; the Judge a Theif to be acquitted; a Conqueror fal at the foot of a Captive and his Prisoner, and desire him to be reconciled. I hat God, the great God of heaven and earth who was offended by us, who hath no need of us, who was infinitely happy in himself without us who might with the breath of his nostrils for ever confound us, and that justly; why it had been enough, and enough a Conscience, but to admit such accursed dust and ashes into his presence, … to hear him speak, and give him but leave to bewayl his sins before he should have perished for them. It had been a high favor and mercy to have given him leave to have begged mercy, though he had never granted it. But to hear me when I cal and cry, to receive me to favor when I come, that is as much as could be desired. But that God should stoop to man, heaven to earth, … to meanness, he that was offended p. 361by me, had no need of me, was happy without me, and might have honored the name of his Justice in my everlasting confusion, not only to hear me and receive me when I come, but to send after me, but to beseech a damned forlorn Creature to be pardoned. This is the wonder of Mercy more than I could have conceived, durst have begged, yea I should have conceived it unreasonable to have desired it, nor could I have thought it, but that the Lord hath said it and done it. His wil be done, and blessed be his holy name for ever. Oh that I should live to hear of this Mercy, but wretch that I am if I should outlive the offer of it, or not entertain it. I need not question, that the Lord is serious and heartily willing to have the tender of his Grace entertained, and my self for ever comforted therein and thereby. Why he takes his Oath, not that he can change, but that he would have me be settledly assured thereof. As I live, saith the Lord, I desire not the death of a sinner but rather that he should repent and live, Ezek. 33. 11. If God do not desire my death but my repentance. Why should I desire my own death? so that the heart of a sinner could almost be content to give way, but yet his loose domineering lusts wil not give leave.

If yet the sinner wil not come away but staies stil, 4and clings to his darling lusts, the Lord leaves the Record of these his kindnesses upon his heart, and stil out of his long sufferance waits for his amendment and repentance, puts him in mind, and lies pulling at him with these cords of his Compassions. Isa. 30. 18. He waits to be gracious: He takes fresh and renewed throws of Patience and travels as it were in expectation of the return of a sinner, Jer. 13. last. Oh Jerusalem wilt thou not be made clean? when will it once be? As a Woman in travel, Oh p. 362when wil the good hour come? Oh! consider this, Is it not a shame for you to suffer the Lord Christ to meet with you at every turn, to follow you from place to place, to attend upon you, in the Seas where you have …, upon the shoars where you have landed, in the houses where you dwel, to pursue you in the fields, to hang his pardons at your doors, and to kneel to you at your bed-sides, when you lie down, and when you awake; Oh! when wil it once be? Let this day be the last day of sinning, of lazying in a Christian course, of carnal formality, let this time, this night be the last night of provocation & unprofitableness under al the priviledges & means of Grace you enjoy: Once at last let that proud heart be humbled, that peevish Spirit meekned, those covetous desires, unclean affections be changed: when wil it once be? See how the Lord sends by the Prophet, and pleads with them, and puts them beyond al appearance of any pretence. Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die Oh ye house of Israel? Ezek. 33. 11. Have ye any reason to desire, or endeavor your own destruction, against your own reason, your own good, my will, why wil you die? Plead thus with your own hearts for your own comfort. I have reason to return, but no reason to die; what is most for my good, and the Lord so much desires, Let me endeavor it. See then how these cords of … compass about the sinner, and lie hard at him to draw him from his sin.

The Lord proclaims his Mercy openly, freely offers it, heartily intends it, waits to communicate it, layes siege to the Soul by his long sufferance: There is enough to procure al good, distrust it not: He freely invites, fear it not, thou mayest be bold to go: he intends it heartily, question it not: yet he is … p. 363and wooing, delay it not …, but hearken to his voyce.

But if these limetwigs of Love cannot catch you, 3these Cords of Mercy cannot hold you, he hath iron Chains which wil either pluck you from your evil wayes, or they wil pul you al in pieces. The Third Means (therefore) by which the Lord Draws, is the Cord of Conscience: If the Bonds of a man and of kindness wil not prevail with us, the iron Hook of Conscience wil drag us with a witness to forsake our beloved lusts, to come to the Lord to be ruled and to be saved. Now the Hooks whereby Conscience holds us are Three principally, whereby it tears the heart away from those wretched distempers, and holds the sou! from under the power of such base Corruptions which have taken greater place, and exercised greater power over it.

God stirs up Conscience, and arms it with Authority 1for the stilling and settling of such unruly distempers which heretofore have refused his power and neglected his law, and so took much place in the Soul, and carried lt to the Commission of much evil against the mind of Conscience. So that whereas Conscience was kept under before by reason of the Mutinies and Conspiricies of many Corruptions in the heart; and was blinded, …, and benummed with the violence and unruly rage of many wretched lusts, so that either it did not see, what was to be done, or could not be heard in what it would speak, at least was utterly unable to prevail. The Lord now hath awakened Conscience, and put that Life, Vertue, and Authority into it: That now Conscience begins a fresh to take upon him, and to shew his Soveraignty and Rule; he wil not take it as he hath p. 364done, but publickly proclaims his … Charge, and Edicts, not to be contradicted or controuled upon the pain of the severest punishments.

This is the first work of Conscience to be a forewarner, and to admonish the soul of evil, to exercise a severe Charge, and give uncontroulable Commands against sin: So that Corruption comes to be snubbed and checked, and the soul kept in aw under him which it scorned before. It fares in this case with Conscience as with an High Sheriff, or some special Officer of note in the Country, in the absence of the King, while he is gone aside there ariseth a Mutiny and Tumult of unruly persons, which tear his Commission, withstand his proceedings, and offer in an outragious manner to lay violent hands upon his Person; so that as he can do nothing, so he dares shew little distaste, but express no strong opposition against them, as not having power enough to surprise and crush them in their …, but is compelled to sit still, and say nothing, knowing as David said, You are too strong for me you sons of Zerviah: He finds his party too weak to deal with them, thefrore puts up al contempts and indignities for the while; Nay, as it is with many …, their numbers being many, their carriage furious and unreasonable, somtimes they strike the Constable instead of being ruled by him; but when the King returns, renews his Commission, and gives him more power than ever, and sends supply to aid and … him, then the Sheriff lifts up his head, having got a larger …, comes with more undaunted courage and resolution, having got assistance … to support himself; and he makes open Proclamation, That whereas there hath been such and such …, be it known, that they are al to be p. 365… and commanded in the Kings Name, upon … notice hereof to lay down all weapons, to stil al … disorders upon pain of death to any that shall … the Law in that case.

So it is with Conscience, when by the crowd and … of many accursed lusts and corruptions, … eye is blinded, the edg dulled, the commands of … corned, so that men make a mock of conscience, …? your Conscience wil not serve you, your … wil not suffer you, to lye, to laze, to …, to deceive, your Conscience wil not allow it, … you make a fool of your …? what care … for Conscience or you either, I wil do what I like, what I list for al Conscience: Thus a company of … imprison the High Sheriff, or beset his house; … when God shal awaken Conscience, and quicken …, and renew the Commission in the hand of …, so that it comes enlightened and armed with … from Heaven, he then makes open … to the sinner, forewarns and threatens the …, thou that hast had no care of the … of God, but slighted al Directions and … of his Word; be it known unto thee by … received from Heaven, I charge thee in the Name of the Lord Jesus, as thou wilt answer it at that great Day, upon pain of everlasting Damnation, take heed of these sins, and lay down these rebellions, and withal shews his Warrant: and look here 2 Thess. 1. 8. The Lord Jesus will come in slaming fire to render vengeance against all that know not God, and obey not the Gospel; take heed therefore of this disobedience against the Gospel, you wil rue it eternally else: and loe here again, Prov. 29. 1. He that being often reproved hardeneth his heart, shall suddenly be consumed, and that without remedy: thou hast been often reproved for these and p. 364duplicate page p. 365duplicate page p. 366these evils, and stil thy heart is hardened against all Reproofs, take heed lest sudden destruction come upon thee: So again 1 Cor. 6. 9. Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither Fornicators, nor Idolaters, nor Adulterers, nor Effeminate, nor Abusers of themselves with man-kind, nor Theeves, nor Covetous, nor Drunkards, nor Revilers, … Extortioners, shall inherit the Kingdom of God. Do not you know this (saith Conscience) have not I often told you of this? have not I warned you of it? and yet thou art still guilty of these and these evils. Thus Conscience comes armed with Evidence and Authority of the Truth; like the Angel with a drawn sword in his hand, stands as the Watch-man to give warning, he stil minds and remembers the sinner of his waies, and of Gods righteous Judgments: As somtimes Moses to Israel, Deut. 30. 17, 18. But if thine heart turn away that thou wilt not hear, I denounce unto thee this day, thou shalt surely perish; and if any man when he hears these words, shal bless himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace though I ad drunkenness to thirst, the wrath of the Lord will smoke against that man, and he will cut him off, &c. This Charge and awful Command of Conscience makes the soul shy of stirring out unto such ungodly courses, makes the corruptions skulk in as it were, so that they dare not shew their heads: this is the roaring of the Lyon, that makes al tremble andAmos, 3. be at a stand, the direful warnings and threatnings 3that Conscience sets up and gives in, out of the Authority and sovereignty of the Truth, which is dreadful in presenting the displeasure of the Lord; so that the sinner withdraws himself from such courses, companies, practises, unto which he was addicted, and had formerly bestowed himself.

p. 367When now the Devil and his Instruments, the 2World and her Favorites, perceive their company …, their companions departed, they al set … the soul, and labor to withdraw it from under the Charge and Command of Conscience: The World by her Allurements, Satan by his Temptations, and … accursed delights of our sinful lusts, they al … the soul, and by their wiles perswade the sinner … joyn sides with them, and not to be awed or carried by any contrary command: these be (say they) … denounced, but threatned men live long, this wind shakes no Corn, this is in way of Policy to scare men, but it is not in earnest to hurt men, the same hath been spoken to others, but nothing inflicted upon them, they never found, never felt any such sore blows as al those terrible shakings of the … would pretend. Thus the sinner is yet drawn aside to follow his sinful courses: Conscience therefore makes after him, laies violent hands upon him, and holds him faster than ever; he becomes now an accuser of him, who was only a friendly admonisher before; a swift witness, yea, a thousand witnesses against him before the tribunal of the Lord, by reason of his sins committed: He raiseth therfore Hue and Cry after the sinner, finds and attacheth him; he that was Gods Herald before to tel and proclaim what should be done; becomes now Gods Pursevant to summon, his Sergeant to arrest him for what he hath done; he that directed him before, now smites him; as 2 Sam. last, 10. Davids heart smote him after he had numbred the people: Though the sinner could avoid or neglect the Command of Conscience, he cannot avoid the Stroke of Conscience: though he could avoid the warning of Conscience, and cast away that, yet he cannot avoid the horror of Conscience, Rom. 2. 14. His thoughts accusing of p. 368him in Gods behalf, and his accusations wil be heard nay, his judgment is now aggravated, because of the Command that was …, As Gideon dealt with the men of Succoth, who scorned him, when he pursued Zebah, and Zalmunnah: Judg. 8. 7. Returning he tore their flesh with the thorns of the wilderness. So … after his Commands have been slighted, and his warnings cast behind the back, he surpriseth the sinner in the midst of his … and greatest Jollity; you shal answer for these sins before the Judg of the World, and so follows him home to his house, and to his bed, and … violent hands upon him, and drags him before the Tribunal of the Lord, and there indites and accuseth him; Lord, this is the man, an Enemy to thy Majesty, a Traytor against the Truth, that hath conspired with Sin and Satan, and his secret Lusts against the blood of Jesus, and the power of Grace and Godliness: What? is this He that hath born a privy grudg against the power of the Word, a spleen against the Saints, that hath committed such and such sins? Yea Lord, He hath done so, and been so, at such a time, and such a place, in such a company, he hath been guilty of such abominations; nay (saies Conscience) you know that I know, such a night, what privy plottings, and cunning conspiracies your heart, and your lusts, your pride and …, and uncleanness had, what consultations you had against the Lord: take him therfore horror & anguish of heart, keep him in bondage & thraldom, until he be content to repent, to take shame, and bid an everlasting … to … …: with that the flashes of Hell fire seize upon his soul, the venom of the vengeance of the Lord pursues him, his Arrows stick fast in him, and the poyson thereof … up his …: the galls and stabs of Conscience make him bleed inwardly: p. 369so … all his friends, delights, comforts, …, corruptions, cannot bail him, or pluck … this hook of horror out of his heart: And thus … poor sinner like a Malefactor goes up and down … his Jaylor, an accusing Conscience to attend …; the chains of darkness, of horror and guilt to … and guive him, that he becomes weary of his …, and not worth the ground he goes on: until he … to confessing, bewailing, repenting, reforming, …, yea, engaging himself to his Conscience, … that as in Gods sight, that if he will abate his …, he will obey his commands, listen to his …, and yield unto whatever either it shall reveal … him, or require of him. So that Conscience seems … be quieted for the while, and abates the soul of … overbearing horror, lets him out of prison upon … sufficient bail.

When his accursed crew, the lusts with whom he 3… been in league, see that he is got out of prison …, they again set upon him to see if by any means … can bring him to their bent, to embrace the old … waies of ungodliness. Tush saies carnal Reason, the worst is past, the danger is over, why should he slay himself with needless sorrow, and …, smoak away his daies in desperate …, and make himself miserable in laying more burden upon himself than God requires, or Reason allows: If the Lord in his Providence hath … him of his inconveniences, why should he ad … them without need, and without profit? let him therefore refresh himsélf with those former …, and shake off those heavy damps, which are indeed the death of the soul, the ruine of his …, and himself also in the issue. In conclusion, the heart begins to recoil back again to the former courses to … after those former lusts, as ancient Lovers, to p. 370parley with them, to give entertainment to them, … so to be overcome by them. So that now he is … deeply endeared to them as ever, follows them as eagerly, and takes as much contentment in them as … do in their ancient play fellows, and … when they have been long parted: 'Till … laies the last hook upon him, and rends him al in pieces. As it forewarned him of sin that it might not … committed, and accused him for sin when it … committed: so now it becomes an Executioner … the final Doom and Judgment which belongs … him; because against all means of redress he … continues in his sin, so that now Conscience … not present him before the Tribunal of the Lord … tryal or accusation, for that is over; but as one … is convicted and condemned, he drags him to …, 1 John, 3. 20. If our hearts condemn … God is greater than our hearts: Prov. 29. 1. … that being often admonished hardens his heart, … shall perish without Remedy; thou art the man, … is thy condition, this will be thy condemnation, … hast been often admonished, … such a time, … such a time, by a …, a Friend, a Minister, … did thy heart rise with … and indignation, … not able to abide the man, nor to undergo the … nition; therefore thou … perish, … there is … Remedy: with that Conscience delivers him up … the hands of the tormentors; take him ye … spirits, depart from hence to thy grave, and … thence to the place of Execution. He would … … his evil, let him perish in it, he would not … reformed, let him be for ever accursed: So that … sinner conceives himself past hope and help, looks … very hour and moment to be turned off the … For as a man arrested for one debt, may be a … some few pounds, many thousands are presently … p. 371… upon him, al Creditors come in, with Bill after …, so that as a man utterly undone, lie he may, and … he must, but to be delivered he cannot once look.

So the … being under the arrest of Conscience for the transgression of the Law, the Gospel now comes in upon the sinner, his Bill comes in fresh upon him, he is arrested at the suit of Patience which … hath abused, of Mercy, which he hath sleighted, long Sufferance, which he hath perverted; they al … for Justice, Justice Lord against this sinful …. So that the sinner conceives himself in the … of the Devil really, and irrecoverably in Hell. Lo, saies the sinner, The Devil, the Devil; there he is, he is come for me. When he lies panting upon his sick-bed, if he do but close his eyes together to sleep, his dreams … him, his thoughts … him, and he awakens gastered and distracted, as though he were posting down to the pit, he … up, and Raves; Why go then; I must go. His Friends pitty him, weep over him, and endeavor to … him, Why, you are in your bed, and amongst your dear Friends, Whither wil you go? I must go … Hell, Satan is sent from God to fetch me; Oh my stubbornness, my carelesness, my contempt of the Lord and his Truth, hath justly brought me to this. Why, but there is yet Grace and Mercy; Oh! it had been happy for me I had never had the offer of Grace and Mercy; Its Mercy that I have rejected, and Grace that I have opposed, and cast al the compassions of the Lord behind my back, to follow my … Courses. And with what face can I beg Mercy who have abused it? crave Grace who have opposed …? He cannot be saved that Mercy cannot but …, and Mercy should be unmerciful to its … if … should not cast away him that hath cast away it: But do you now judge so? and would you now do p. 372so as formerly? you have conceived the greatest … in your sinful distempers, pleased your self in your pride, and loosness, and vanities, taken content in your Corruptions, in casting away the holy Commands of God: Would you give your self the like Liberty? Or can you take the … Comfort in the same wayes now? Oh no: I now see how sin hath deceived me, and mine own corrupt heart hath couzened my self, that which was my pleasure and delight, is now my plague, my poyson: but would you be content to part with these, and take Grace and Mercy in the room of them? Oh that I might: but there is no reason that I should expect it, … God should do it. Why, if you would have mercy, God will shew you mercy: Then the Lord give me a Will, and give me Mercy, and give me Grace whether I wil or no, it would be better with me then, than now: Hos. 2. 8.

By this time the Heart and Corruption are almost pulled asunder; therefore the last Cord is this, The Lord by the hand of his Almighty Spirit … pluck it quite asunder, that the Will of the sinner may never soulder again with his Corruption, nor suit any … with them: Its the same power that raised Christ from the dead, Eph. 1. 19. Its the same power that raiseth the dead to life, Joh. 5. 25. The dead shal hear the voice of the Son of God, and those that do hear shal live. Yea, the Lord is said to Create lips to speak Peace, Isa. 57. 19. He puts forth a creating power, when he wil lead and heal the sinner. The Lord Christ commands sin as somtimes Satan, Come out of him thou unclean spirit, and trouble him no more: That which al the Disciples did not, could not, Christ did there in the possession bodily, so here spiritually.

p. 373How this holy kind of Violence may best be discerned.

I shal Answer to this in several CONCLUSIONS.

The Will of a man is in it self, and in its ownConclusion. 1. nature, a capable subject of Sin and Grace. I say, Look at it as in its own Nature considered, both these in a right order, and according to a rule of right … may be in it successively: As the same vessel is capable of puddle and pure water, the same eye is capable of sight and blindness: So the Will at several times, as several impressions may be made upon it, is capable of Sin and Grace. Jer. 4. 3. Break up … fallow ground of your hearts: The Nature of man is arrable ground: though now it lie fallow by … of the weeds of wickedness, the brambles of Baggage, base lusts have over-run it, yet it may be …, the soul may be converted again: So men are called Living stones, 1 Pet. 2. 5. Though the frame of the heart like that goodly building of Jerusalem have not a stone left upon a stone, yet the stones wil … again.

And hence, though there be not the next passive power in a soul possessed with sin to receive the things of God, because the soul is wholly possessed with corruption, & so becomes wholly indisposed thereunto. It being impossible that Two Contraries should be in the same subject at the same time; that the body distempered with unnatural heats should receive a natural and moderate temper at the same time cannot be, yet remove the unnatural, and the body is capable of the natural. Hence it is the soul hath ever in it a remote power to partake of Grace. p. 374As the Soul is ever seeking of a better, but because it cannot meet with it, it is unsatisfied, which shews it was made for a better.

Which makes me that I cannot yet see, Why there is any need to flye to the Obed ential power, which men marvelous Judicious, betake themselves to in this Dispute. When a Creature hath not a capability in its kind and nature to entertain such an impression further than it yeilds to the Almighty hand of God to make it what he wil, As Matt. 3. 9. God is able of stones to raise up Children unto Abraham: Stones wil yeild to God to make them Children. But under favor I conceive that is not here needful, That God should make a new Faculty, or give another natural power than before, as he must do, if he make Bread or Children of stones.

As a Wheel that runs wrong, you need not another Wheel, but another, and a right … of ….

The Faculty of the Will attended only in its naturalConcl. 2. being and ability, cannot Will a spiritual or supernatural good; but must have aspiratual and supernatural power put into it, to enable it to put forth a … work.

Because nothing can act beyond the bounds of itsReas. 1. being and ability: The Trees grow, but move not; the bruit Creatures move, but Reason not; Wicked men can Reason, and Will natural and corrupt things, because they have Reason, Nature, and Corruption: And Morral things also, because they have some … of the Spirit as wil carry them to act seemly between man and man; but to close with God and his Holiness, and the purity and spiritualness of a Rule they cannot. 1 Cor. 2. 14. The natural man p. 375receives not the things of God. Prov. 24. 7. Wisdom is too high for a fool.

If the Will out of a Nature Ability, or Faculty,Reas. 2 could chuse a supernatural good, then where there is this Faculty, this act may be put forth. Then the Devils and Damned in Hell may love God above al, make choice of the chiesest good, and close with the last end, and so might be happy. For they have this faculty of Will; The Promise is full and free. Let him that Wills take of the water of life and live for ever, Rev. 22. 17.

Hence its plain its a false Opinion and grounded on a false bottom and principle; that to have an indifferency to any thing propounded, to take it or not to take it, is that liberty which issues from the nature of the Will. Because it issues not from the Faculty at al to wil a supernatural good, no more than from a dead man to take meat. As a Wheel doth not run round because wood or iron, but because the art of wheel-making is imprinted upon it; because so framed and fashioned. If therefore the question be asked, If the Will be not free in Preparation. Answ. There is no Will in the first work of Preparation, there is the Faculty of Will, but not the act of Will.

The Corruption that takes possession of the Will Concl. 3.and rules in it, it utterly indisposeth the soul to receive any spiritual power from God, and consequently disenables it to put forth any spiritual or supernatural work. It is not subject to the Law of God, neither can be, Rom. 8. 7. It wil not beat the impression of the power of the Spirit. Job. 8. 37. The Word of Christ found no place in the Jews that were under the power of their Corruptions, p. 376Acts 13. 46. They put away the Word from them: yea, Truth is a trouble and a torment to a Carnal heart, and the nature of the thing evinceth so much. Matthew 6. 24. Ye cannot serve two Masters, God and Mammon: Joh. 5. 44. Ye cannot believe that seek honor one from another. Rom. 2. 4. The hard heart cannot repent. Shut up, we are under unbelief, and we shut out the Lord Jesus, who comes not unless the door be opened. It is not possible that contraries should be at the same time in the same subject.

Though there be no force afforded to the FacultyConcl. 4. of the Will, yet the power of Corruption must by a holy kind of Violence be removed, before any spiritual power can be imprinted upon the soul, wherby it may put forth any spiritual act.

First I say, There is no violence offered to the 1Faculty of … …. For that (as it hath been proved before) is a capable subject, both of Grace and Sin, successively and in order, as the air is capable of light and darkness, indifferently, and the one being removed, the other is entertained with ease, and readiness, without any compulsion, there needs none, it requires none here. As the same wax wil receive several and contrary impressions, at several times; so the soul which hath been made partaker of the image of God, is also capable of the print & impression of the image of old Adam, when once the gracious disposition hath been defaced, it's capable of receiving the impression of Gods Image again when once Adams image is dispossessed.

Yet Secondly, There must be a holy kind of violence 2offered unto Corruption, before it can be dispossessed and removed, and so way and room made p. 377for the entertainment of Faith and Christ thereby.

Reasons are,

Either Corruption must by violence be taken awayReas. 1 or else it wil naturally and of its own accord go away, and depart from the soul. For it hath been in the former Conclusions manifected, That there must be a spiritual power put into the will before it can put forth a … act. And while Corruption takes place, there is no place of entertainment … this spiritual ability; therefore Corruption must be removed by violence. Naturally it wil not go away, therefore by constraint it must be forced away. It wil not depart away of its own accord, because of the … and naturalness it … to the heart in which it is. The Eye wil not go out of the head in which it is seated, unless it be plucked out: The hand wil not fal off from the body unless it be cut off: The Soul would not willingly forsake the Body unto which it is received, and in which it takes up its abode, unless by some … … which breaks the union betwixt it and the body it being driven away, and forced away. Now our lusts in our hearts are like the Members in our bodies, Col. 3. 6. They are tender as the eye, … as the hand, as dear as our souls, yea, even the soul of our souls, and life of our lives, while we are and remain in our natural and corrupt estate. Therefore they must by constraint be driven out, they wil not go out. yea, it is against Reason, and in truth cross to common Sense, That the quality should of its own nature … from the subject, they who have agreement one with another, should as enemies, and as … as be at ods and difference go from the other: and this is the Condition and Disposition … … the nature of man, they are in the neerest League of love one with another, p. 378and therefore of themselves as in truth they cannot, so they would not depart one from another, Jer. 13. 23. Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the Leopard his spots? Then may you also which are … to do evil. They are not spots that are taken occasionally, or sootiness that is smeared upon them, but they issue out of their natural Constitution, and the very seed which they are made of: and therefore their nature must be altered before they can be removed.

Look we at the Opposition between the Spirit ofReas. 2 Grace that doth remove the Corruption, and the … it … that is removed: And we shal … have … Evidence, and that … of the former Conclusion.

One Contrary drives away another out of the subject in which it is by Constraint and Violence: But the work of the Spirit as contrary to Sin, drives it out of the soul in which it is seated as in its natural subject, therefore this must be done with violence. The first part is plain by the Principles of … … received, i. e. That the ground of al Constraint is that crosiness and contrariety between the … of things, and their actions: every thing is … to that which is sutable to its own nature, our … its own proper power and inclination; there needs no constraint to make the Fire burn, the … … roar, and … things to descend, a Wolfe to prey and raven: But to make heavie things to ascend, the Lion to be as mild as a Lamb, the … as harmleis as a Kid, there must be a strong hand of an almighty power to make such a change, and by a kind of violence to … the crossness and … which carries these in professed opposition. The second part is as … out of pregnant proof p. 379from Scripture, which settles it as sure as Mount Zion. Rom. 8. 2. The Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed me from the Law of Sin and Death. There is a Soveraignty of … rule set up in the Soul, and therefore it gives Law to the whole man, for that is the prerogat ve of a supream Commander; Now there is a Repeal of these Laws, a Crushing, and a Conquering of the Supream power by the Spirit of Life in Christ, which therefore disannuls al those Edicts and Commands that Carnal sensual Lusts of the Old man had thus set up and erected. 2 Cor. 10. 3, 4, 5. The Weapons of our warfare are mighty through God: When the Gospel carries the power of God with it to …, it flings down the strong holds that … themselves against Christ, and … every … to the obedience of Christ. Thus it … … … Corruptions. And this is done in way of Contrariety, Gal. 5. 17. The Spirit lusts against … …, and the flesh against the spirit; and these two are contrary. And therefore its termed a Fight and …, Rom. 7. 23. I see another law in my Members rebelling against the Law of my mind … carrying of me …. Fighting is … with … and violence; where there is … and Enmity, there is … and …, not kindness and perswasion only. Such is the Work here.

Look we at the Nature of the Work: That also…. 3 wil of necessity require as much, Whether … Sin, or Satan? the Dominion of the … is …, and the Power of the other …, and … of these can be brought about but by a … of violence.

p. 3801 The Dominion of Sin: The Lord now quels and crusheth utterly, that soveraignty and supremacy it hath formerly exercised over the sinner: So the Apostle, Rom. 6. 14. brings in this as the ground of that spiritual deliverance from the authority of our Distempers, Sin shall not have dominion over you, because you are not under the Law, but under Grace: When ever we be come under the Covenant of Grace, and the Lord Jesus the second Adam … us and begets us to himself, as soon as we are of the seed of that Covenant, he thereby takes off that dominion unto which we were formerly subject, while we were under the Covenant of the Law broken, it did break us, and deliver us to the authority of our Distempers: This was typed by the year of Jubile under the Old Law, when the Slave or Servant was freed from his Masters rule and claim; and therefore when our Savior is promised as he that should bring Jacob … unto God, and so become light and salvation to the Ends of the Earth, Isa. 49. 5. 8, 9. To be the head of the Covenant of Grace: And that which is added is marvellous strange, To establish the Earth, and to cause to inherit the desolate places.

That restauration which comes by Christ, it brings a new face or frame upon the Creatures, even those that are of the most despicable condition, desolate persons, and hearts, and lives; when wicked men and their waies are like wildernesses overgrown with weeds. Then the Lord … to the prisoners, go forth, and to such as are in darknest shew your selves. They that were buried and over whelmed with the dimness of their own distempers and delusions, they should come out of the Dungeon and Grave of darkness: Be revealed; the word is in the Pastive: the Truth should be revealed in you, to you, to give you p. 381a light you had not, to act you, and carry you to see that you did not: your selves should be revealed to your selves, and your sins to your souls, the first is a power put into them, the second an act wrought in them, and by them, the word in the Original signifying both. So that though they might be pursued by their sins, they should never be imprisoned more, that was not now their state to be Prisoners, but to be free men for ever, though clouded with darkness of their sins, yet never overwhelmed with darkness, but they should be able to see their sins, and to see a way out of them, in which they should walk.

This is that also which is expressed by the Apostle John, 1 Joh. 3. 5. 8. That our Savior came to destroy the works of the Devil: Now he was the Author of sin, and the first sinner, and therefore called the Evil One, the Father of Lyes, and that when he tels Lyes, he tels them of his own, the first Original comes from him, and al lusts are but his brood, John, 8. 44. The Lusts of your Father ye will do; they are but the seed of Satan cast into the souls of men. Now Christ came to destroy all these.

That which destroyes corruption must needs offer a kind of violence to corruption, for each thing desires the preservation of it self, and it is against the will of sin to destroy it self: It's Calvins Expression upon the place, The works of the Devil will never destroy themselves: therefore Christ by his Spirit must destroy them by a strong hand: It is therefore a sleepy Dotage, and a deluded Dream to make such an Explication; that by some Moral perswasions presented unto the blind mind of a sinner, sin should be perswaded to destroy it self: or (which is the … of that Opinion rightly expressed) that there should be some Arguments propounded to corruption p. 382to draw out the power of corruption, to destroy the power of corruption; In which falshood there is such a senseless kind of silliness, that it is a wonder that men who arrogate the excellency of the depths of disputes, and would have the world conceive them the darlings of Wisdom, cut out of purpose to search into the secrets of al …, should ever be taken aside by such a dream; but that the Lord in his just Judgment righteously delivers men up to their own devices, when they despise his Counsel. For better explication than that which I make, no man can ever make of that imagination according to truth; for a moral … in the proper Nature and work of it, is not to give power to the subject that had it not, but to draw forth the power it hath to perform any action; so that when a sinner (as we have proved) is wholly acted by the power & … of his corruptions, things in that are spiritual, i. e. though he hath some reliques of the Image yet left within him, some common stock of Moral abilities imprinted upon him, yet whatever his shews, his appearances, his performances be in Civil Services, the sovereignty of corruption in the heart is such it over-rules all, to false ends, and suiting of it self, and giving satisfaction to the flesh; so that in the …, to stir up the sovereign power of sin in the soul of a … to forsake sin, is to draw forth the power of … to … it self, which hath not the least appearance of a … in … with it. So that I conclude this third Argument which is open and plain.

I hat which destroyes the power of sin, that offers a holy kind of violence to it. But the Lord by his … destroyes the power of sin, therefore he offers a holy kind of violence to it.

Hence, before we pass (for to this place this p. 383Consideration is proper) we may see the difference between restraining Grace in the Reprobate and Hypocrite, and saving, and effectually converting Grace.

The act of sin only in the one is hindred; the power of sin in the other is subdued, the one curbs and confines the corrupt Nature, as a Fox in a chain, a Wolf in a grinn, they have the same Nature still, but they have not the same liberty to put forth their ravenous desires and …, and therefore will do it when opportunity serves. Converting Grace severs the subtil and cruel dispositions from them …, and overcomes and conquers the cruelty of their Natures, so that as they do not, so in truth they cannot put forth such savage practices as before: The one abates the resistance that is in the heart against God, his Truth, and Waies for the while, makes a mans distempers recoyl and … themselves, and makes them not appear for the present: But this takes away the Sovereignty and prevailing power of resistance. As it is in War, when a pitched field is fought, and the Bodies of both Armies meet, each standing in the defence and … of its own …; but when the day is got, and the battel won, and the forces of the … not only defeated and …, but slain and cut in pieces, so that their strength is broken, and they utterly disabled to make head, with any hope of recovering the field, or repairing their losses; there may happily some scattered companies be sculking here and there, and pilfering and molesting the State, but they have no hope to recover their power; the Country and Kingdom falls wholly to the Conqueror. So here, when the corrupt heart comes in professed opposition against the Lord Jesus, in the power of his Ordinances, and the Lord is pleased to put sorth his power p. 384to the vanquishing, and subduing the soul unto himself; the sinner gathers up al his forces as loth to lose his delightful lusts (as somtimes the … against the coming of the Ark, 1 Sam. 4. 7, 8, 9. The Philistims were afraid, and they said, God is come into the Camp, and they said, woe unto us, who shal deliver us from the hands of these mighty Gods? Be strong and quit your selves like men, O ye Philistins, that ye be not Servants to the Hebrews:) So, the soul rises up in way of resistance against the Word and Power of his Grace, but in the issue the Dominion of these distempers is so quelled, and the power of them so crushed, that it can never make head against the power of the Spirit; only the remainder of those wretched lusts will be still pilfering provoking and molesting the good Spirit of God, and work of his Grace; but can never recover the Rule it once had; but the Country, the Heart and Conscience of a sinner falls wholly to the dispose of Christ. Thus Saul goes into the field, hath a pitcht Battel against the Lord Christ, as resolving to fight it out to the last man; but in the end, when he saw there was no hope to prevail, instead of fiercely resisting, he humbly gives way, and laies down not only the act of opposing, but the will of opposing, Lord (saies he) what wilt thou have me to do? This seems to be the meaning of that old Sentence of Austine, which all Divines embrace and follow, and I desire no more for the cause if it be rightly scanned and considered; God makes of an unwilling will, a willing will: For the right understanding of which Truth, observe these Particulars:

1 The Will is wholly unwilling to receive any … good, but carried out by the power of corruption against it.

p. 3852 Willingness must be wrought where this unwillingness is.

3 The Will must cease to be unwilling, and resistance must be removed before submission can be brought into it: Unwillingness cannot will Good: Aversion cannot will Conversion.

4 What will remove or take away this unwillingness? It's impossible it self should remove or destroy it self: There is nothing in the Will besides that can do it, for it hath no Spiritual power to good: therefore there must be an Almighty constraining power that must by a holy kind of violence take that away., and then another may be brought in.

But if the Will do not freely Will the removalOctject. of corruption, then is it compelled contrary to the nature of the Will, and the way of Gods Providence, as implying a contradiction.

It follows not: Either it freely wills the removingAnsw. of sin, or else it is compelled thereunto; I put a third, A sinner hath no will at all to it; for to wil not to do it freely is contrary to the Nature of the Will, and the rules of right Reason: But to have the work done without the wil of man, which hath no hand in it, is a sound truth and a safe assertion.

These Three are apparently distinct,

1 To Will freely.

2 To Will by Constraint.

3 Not to Will at al: But to have the work done only from the Will of anonother.

p. 386But if there be a kind of Violence offered to theObject. 2 Will of a Sinner in the removal of his sin, then the Will is compelled. But there is a kind of Violence offered (for thats it which is affirmed) therefore the Will is Compelled, which must not be granted.

I Answer Three Things.

1 When we say the Will is free and cannot beAnsw. forced; the right meaning is this, TO WILL, is, when a man is a cause by Counsel of his Work, so that when Reason hath dictated and discovered what is fit to be done the will out of a sovereignty of authority and inward power expresseth her pleasure to make choice of it: To be forced to do a thing is by a strong hand of outward Constraint against our inward inclination and disposition to be compelled to do a thing. … Two cannot stand together as being apparently contradictory the One to the other. To do a thing out of mine own power, proper, and inward inclination: To do a thing by outward …. For it is al one as to say. We should do a thing out of our inward inclination, and not out of our inward inclination: A Cause acting by Counsel, should be a Cause acting by necessity, one Contrary should be another.

2 This act may be opposed from without: yea, act and power may be destroyed, without any prejudice to the liberty of Will, or any way of Providence, or a reasonable Proceeding. So the text, Ezek. 36. 27. I will take away the heart of stone, and give unto them a heart of …, a new heart and a new spirit will I put within them. Gal. 5. 24. p. 387They who are Christs have crucified the flesh with … affections and …. Original sin is flesh, the … are the actings of it, and the affections are … … that are apt and ready to entertain such provocations, and to break out into such …. Its impossible that while a thing acts by his own inward inclination, it should by outward force act against its inclination, though its possible and reasonable that the Lord cross both, yea, destroy both act, and inclination and al, as he wil. God (as we may speak with reverence and fear) cannot make nature remaining to act against …: for then, when there is the greatest Consension, there should be greatest opposition, and one thing should be opposite to its self. The … … are the principles of Constitution should be Causes of Destruction, which Reason abhors; but yet he can destroy nature without any breach of Rule, or Reason: So here, God can destroy the will and power of sinning, according to al the rules of Reason and …, but its against both, That God should compel the will of sinning, to be willing to destroy it self.

3 In this Work of Drawing, and in this Act of God whereby the will of sinning is removed, the will is a meer patient and sufferer, and though the Will while it acts by its own inclination cannot be compelled to act against it, yet it may be compelled to bear and suffer the destroying hand of Gods power to take away this corrupt … in the soveraignty of it.

As the Wills of the Devils and Damned in Hell are forced to suffer, and that unwillingly, without any impeachment of their Freedom and Liberty of their Wils in commission of any sin, which they daily practice. Art thou come to torment us before the p. 388time, say they to our Savior: It was a torment to them to be crossed and plagued, yet it could not be avoided. As it is in a sick body, the power of the Physick which is soveraign and healing, it wil by little and little abate the distemper, and allay the violent work of the Humor, whether it be in over-much healing, aking, pinching, and at length consume the malignant Humor it self: Its reasonable that the noysom Humors should bear the power of the Physick that will consume them, but its against reason to think that they should consume themselves.

Hold therefore these Three Things.

1 Its not against the Liberty of the Will, that the Act of Corruption should be Opposed, and the power subdued.

2 Then the Will is said to be Compelled, not when it suffers only force from without. But when its forced from without to do against its own inclination from within.

3 Where the Will hath no power to put forth any Act upon any Object, there is no Will properly to speak, and there can be no Violence or Compulsion which can be prejudicial.

Consider the Nature of this Work in regard ofReas. 4 the power of Satan: Here also a holy Violence will of necessity be required; For Satan (as we read before) he exerciseth a soveraign Command over the corrupt heart of a Sinner, rules them as he list, and p. 389takes them Captive at his will, 2 Tim. 2. last. Now Satan wil not, nay in truth he cannot be entreated, but must be Compelled to lay down his jurisdiction. Heb. 2. 14. Through death he destroyed him that had the power of death, that is the Devil: He destroyed him, that is, He took off al his activity, and the soveraignty of power that he exercised: Acts, 26. 18. Paul was sent to turn men from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. That is, To bring them from under the rule and regiment of the government and dominion of Satan: From the Claim of his power, not from the malice of his pursuit. Luke, 11. 21. When the stronger man comes and takes from him all his Armour: This is not done with the wil and approbation of Satan, but by Compulsion: For do but weigh a little what manner of Construction in a common apprehension can be made of a Morral Perswasion in this Case: Namely, The Lord Christ casts in so many Convicting Arguments into the mind of Satan, and stirs up that malice and envie that is within him, that he doth perswade Satan to destroy his own malice and envie; yea, perswades him to lay down his power, and to make choice, and desire that the Spirit of Christ should exercise power in the Soul. He Conquers him only by perswading of him, to yeild willing subjection to the power of Christ, which is indeed to make Satan a Saint, and the Devil not to be the Prince of darkness.

The Power and Rule of Satan cannot be Destroyed without violence, but in this work Satan his power is destroyed, and himself bound and Conquered; therefore its done by Violence.

p. 390Fifthly, Now we are to enquire,

How the plucking of the Soul from Sin, and Fifth Particular to be ….Drawing unto Christ is accomplished by this holy Violence.

To which I Answer,

1 Generally.

2 Particularly.

1 Generally, thus: All that hold that Sin & Satan had of the Soul, and al that authority they exercised in it is now removed, and the bent and set of the heart is now under the hand of the Spirit of God.

The Lord comes now to manifest his claim, and to make good and challenge the right he hath unto the soul through his Christ whom he hath appointed to bring his unto himself: This is his good pleasure for the execution whereof he hath sent the Lord: Jesus. Isa. 49. 45. Therefore he is said to be formed from the womb, to be a servant unto God the Father, to restore the preserved of Israel, and to be the salvation of God to the ends of the earth.

Hence that of our Savior Christ, Joh. 10. 16. Other sheep I have, there's the ground, those I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; they are mine, I have died for them, sin and Satan shal not keep them, shal not hold them; hands off sin, hands off Satan, I must Humble them, and Call them, and Justifie them, and … them, and Save them for ever. And therefore the Lord was typed out in the Parable of the Owner, that left Ninty and nine to seek the lost sheep, Luke, 15. 4, 5. And when it could not seek its own good or Christ, or find either, p. 391the Lord sought it up and found it, and brought it home upon his shoulder.

2 'More Particularly: The accomplishment of this Work Discovers it self in Four Particulars.

The Lord calls in that Commission which formerly he put into the hands of Satan, to lay hold of the heart of a sinner, as a Malefactor attached of 1high Treason committed against God and Heaven, and therefore it was he sent him with his Mittimus, (as the Justice doth the Fellon) into the Custody and keeping of Satan, that since he would not be ruled by the Law of Liberty and Life, he should be made a slave unto sin, and subject to death, and that for ever, to be kept in the Chains of darkness until the day of … great Goal Delivery, and the Declaration of the fierce wrath of God, and this Durante bene placito: during the pleasure of the Lord, or until ye shal understand his Majesties pleasure to the …. For still you must remember, That as in Courts and Course of Justice amongst men upon earth, it is so in the Court of Heaven, and the Proceedings of the Almighty, the Malefactor is the Kngs prisoner. The Jaylor is but the Keeper or under Officer, betrusted with the Execution of Justice, the Lord is the sole Commander of mens souls, and of life and death, unto which they are liable by reason of their sins: This being the Commission the Lord put into the hands of Satan and sin for the present, unless any Express appear to the contrary: He is now pleased to signifie to the Prince of Darkness, and to the Power of Hell, and to those Damned Spirits by the Ministery of the Word in the mouths of his Servants, and by the Hand and Almighty Operation of his Spirit: Be it known … you, you Principalities of … p. 392and spiritual wickednesses, that take possession of, and rule in the hearts of the Children of disobedience, that upon the first hearing of this holy Word and Message dispensed by my faithful Servant as a warrant under my hand, that it is my Royal Wil and Command, That you forthwith let loose that poor …, who hath been long prisoner in the chains of Darkness: For my Justice is fully answered, and satisfaction fully accepted: Fail not at your …, under … … displeasure of the Almighty. Dated at the Court of Mercy before all worlds, published this present day and instant, according to the counsel of mine own Will.

This puts the powers of Darkness, the Devils and his Angels to deep Consultation what to do, they see they have no warrant now to hold the sinner any longer, and yet they have no wil to let him go. They are … loth to part with him, and yet their power is gone whereby they have hitherto kept him, For the strength of … is the law, 1 Cor. 15. 56. And this is to take away the Devils Armour, Luke, 11. 22. When Justice will deliver the sinner, Satan hath no power to hold him. As our Savior said to Pilate, when … said, I have power to bind thee, or to loose thee; our Savior …, Thou hadst no power, … was given thee from above, John, 19. 11. So Satan hath no power but what is given from above, according to the Edict of Gods revenging Justice and their just deservings: Therefore now God the Father, through the perfect Death and satisfaction … the Lord Jesus hath yeilded, the Edict of … is …, and therefore the Devils cannot …. As it was said touching our Savior, when he was in … … was impossible he should be …, 2 Acts, 24. … Gods Justice was answered to here,

p. 393When the Devils power is now gone, and that Justice hath signified her pleasure, That the Prisoner must be set loose, they then begin to pretend the right they have, and the claim they can make yet unto the Sinner. Therefore Sin and … seem … plead their own Cause in way of Justice, and that which cannot be gain-said, as that the souls, of such … Creatures do appertain to them; for besides (saies Satan) the Statute Law, The soul that sins, that soul must die. The Evidence is cleer from their practice and experience: Whether these be the seed of the Serpent, because they express the nature of the serpent in their actions, Is it not written, John, 8 44. You are of your Father the Devil, for the lusts of your Father you will do. These are they whose hearts if they were discerned, whose carriages if they were traced and taken notice of, would give in Evidence that the … of the Serpent was in the one, and the venom of the Serpent in the other: Why, Have they not, nay, continue they not to do the lusts of the Devil to this day? They have the Spirit of sin and Satan within them: and therefore they are their Children, and therefore sin and Satan … a right and title to them. Is it not again writ, Rom. 6. 16. Know ye not that to whom you yeild your selves servants to obey, his servants you are. As who should say, It is a ruled case, common and confessed by the verdict of al. If ye yeild your selves to obey sin, you are the servants of sin: therefore saies sin and Satan, since we have such law on our side for our right, we crave our right; for these have yeilded themselves servants to my temptations saies Satan, and to my allurements saies the World, and to my instigation saies Sin, therefore they are our Servants, therefore let us have them still. To which the Lord Answers, and Justice also Replyes, While p. 394they did remain the seed of the Serpent, and in the state of the Children of wrath, so long you have reason to have them, and right to challenge them, and therefore it is you have detained them as Prisoners to your pleasure to this day: Yea, but saies the Father; The Lord Jesus whom I have sent, he hath undertaken to pacifie my wrath, and purchase their deliverance, and so hath done, for he hath bought them of Divine Justice, and therefore hath right now to make them the seed of the Covenant of Grace, and to bring them to himself, and life; as they are, and have been the seed of the Serpent and estranged from me and happiness: and therefore he hath not only done for them what was required on their behalf, but he wil work in them what may be answerable to the Covenant and the Condition of it, therfore your claim is nothing. This under correction, I take to be the meaning of that place, Rom. 8: 2, 3, 4. which is mysterious and dark, and dazels the eyes of Judicious Interpreters, that several senses appear to the several apprehensions of men, we wil open it briefly as we pass by, and apply it to our …. And that which I suppose wil give some light to the true intent of the place, and wil be as a Key to the Scripture and set open the sense, that an easie apprehension may give a sad guess at the purpose of the Spirit, is this, I suppose the words must be understood of the work … the Spirit wrought in us, and the impressions of Grace left upon the Soul, not of the work of Justification, which is wholly without us in the Lord Jesus our Surety, and only counted ours. And this that Phrase in the 4th. vers. seems to me of necessity to imply. Where it is evident that the end of the former work of Christ is made this, That the righteousness of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the p. 395Spirit: Whereas in the work of Justification, the truth of the work, the meaning of the Lord, and expression of Scripture is other, 2 Cor. 5. last. Christ was made sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him, not in our selves: That Righteousness for which we are Justified is fulfilled for us by Christ and is in him, its not fulfilled in us. For it is the Doctrine of the Popish Sect, who are adversaries to Gods Grace, that we are justified for any thing wrought in us, and for which we are for ever to renounce them. And hence it is, Phil. 3. 7. Not having mine own Righteousness, but that which is of God in Christ: Therefore not in us properly. This being granted, I shal shortly give you the meaning of this 3d. Vers. For what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: The Apostle had evidenced the state of a man in Christ by the fruits of it, He walks not after the flesh, but after the spirit, Vers. 1. The Question might be, How comes that about? He Answers, Vers. 2. The Law of the spirit of life which is in Christ (as the Head) hath freed me (and so al his Body, and each Member) from the Law of Sin: that is, The Soveraign Rule of Sin and Death. But why was the Spirit of Christ necessarily required to do this, since the mind of God is in the Law revealed, and my Obedience required therein? Is it not enough that I understand this, and thereby be enabled to follow it? The Apostle answers, No: It was impossible for the Law to enable a man to walk after the Spirit, and to be free from the Law of sin, for so the Causal [For] knits this Verse as a proof of the former, not because the Law was faulty, but because our Flesh, our natures were corrupt, p. 396and thence it is not enough, the Lord should tell and teach, unless there be some other Spirit and Power to enable.

But how then comes this other Spirit? He Answers, …. 3. God … his Son to take our Nature upon him, who was like unto us in all but sin, and he sent him to take our Nature …; i. e. For the Removal of sin: And these words are to be referred to those going before, he sent not to those after he condemned sin. As thus, He sent his Son in the similitude of sinful Flesh, for sin, for the removal of sin; and he condemned sin in the Flesh, i. e. In the Vertue of the Sufferings of his Flesh he did abolish and destroy the … and Jurisdiction of sin, so that sin as we may say hath lost his Cause, and is as we … to speak, non suited; fails wholly in al the Pleas it can or doth make for any right it hath to the Soul of a sinner: As we say of a man that is Cast in Law, that the Cause went against him, His Cause is Condemned, or his Cause is Damned, his Claim is false and feeble, and hath no force to carry the thing he would. So here, Sin fails of its Claim, is wholly Cast in the Suit that it makes for the Challenge of the Soul: Divine Justice delivered it into its power because it was wronged, but must now deliver it out of the Claim and Authority of sin, being satisfied: And from hence this will be attained, That the Righteousness which the Law requires, may by the Spirit of Christ be wrought in me, … by way of …, hereafter in perfection.

To the like purpose is the meaning of that place also, 1 …. 4. 6. For, for this end was the Gospel preached to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit. In the sirst Verse, from the Death and Sufferings of our Savior, he perswaded p. 397those to whom he wrote, That they should … that Application by way of proportion, That … who suffered in the flesh, i. e. Had their fleshly … … by the Death of Christ, should cease from …. This 6th. Verse is one proof of that, For, for … end was the Gospel preached to men alive when … heard it, but now dead; so that those that are … alive, and those that are …, they might be … in the flesh; that is, their lusts of the flsh might have sentence passed against them, and Execution done upon them, and so be abolished, even that flesh, those lustings which are foreign, according to men, which come from corrupt nature, that so we may live in the Spirit according to God and his Counsel, which guides us according to Gods mind: To this place also appertains that in Rom. 7. 4. Wherefore my Brethren you are become dead to the Law, by the Body of Christ, that you should be married to another, even to him that is raised from the Dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And Vers. 6. But now you are delivered from the Law, that being dead in which we were held: that is, The marriage Covenant between Sin and the Soul being broken wherein we were held: The full Comparison of which, those words are but one part, is taken by way of Resemblance from marriage; namely, As long as the Man lives, the Woman is bound by Marriage Covenant; he may plead it, and she cannot gain-say it but she is his: But if the Husband be dead, than she is free, the Law or Covenant cannot bind her, there is no Claim on the Mans part that can be pretended, nor Right on Her part acknowledged. So is it betwixt Sin and the Soul, who were as it were handfasted together by reason of the Breach of the Law, being thereby delivered up in Gods … Justice unto the jurisdiction p. 398and authority thereof: But when by Christ the Law is now satisfied, and Justice answered, and the Soul delivered from under the Covenant of the Law as broken, and the power of sin removed, the bond of the Covenant whereby they were married, is now dis-annulled, so that sin cannot Challenge any Right over the soul, no more than a dead Husband, nor yet should the Soul yeild to any such Claim.

As Sin and Satan can make no Claim to the Soul, 3so neither can they keep possession of it; but they are Outed there also by Christ. For as it is in Marriage, the Woman who is engaged by Marriage Covenant, as she is bound by Law to the Man, so are they tyed to mutual Cohabitation one with another, possession and enjoyment of each other: So here, when by the breach of the Covenant of the Law, the soul was under the Right and Claim of sin, sin and Satan took up their abode in the soul, and took possession of it. So Satan is said to cast it into the mind of Judas, and to enter into him, Luke, 22. 3. And Judas himself is said to be a Devil. Joh. 6. last. That was only spiritually. And what he did to him, he doth to al the Children of wrath, while they remain in their natural estate, when now the Lord Jesus comes to bring the soul under the Covenant of Grace and to make the sinner one of the seed of that Covenant, he casts out sin and Satan, and dispossesseth them so, that they cannot have ingress and egress as before, nor can he say, I will return to my house, nor take up his abode there, nor wil he find it swept and garnished that he may solace himself therin, and enjoy his habitation as in former times, but he finds the door now shut against him: This is the meaning of that place, Joh. 12. 31. Now is the judgment of this world; now is the Prince of the world cast p. 399…: and I if I be lifted up will draw all men after …. Our Savior in the foregoing Verses being to … into his Agonie, and sensible of the dreadful … of his Father, he prayes, Father keep … from this hour, but for this Cause came I unto … hour. Father, Glorifie thy self: that is, In his …: And the voyce from Heaven answered, I …, and will Glorifie it: I have Glorified my self … thy Life, I wil Glorifie my self in thy Death. … our Savior ads, Now: that is, When he was … suffer the judgement of this world. That wil be … when he is Crucified. The Prince of this … Satan is cast out, shal be cast out from taking … keeping possession of the souls of sinners. For … Christ be lifted up, on the Cross, and suffer, he … by the power of his Death break down the … wall, and draw all Nations, his Elect out of … Nations shal be called by the preaching of the …. This I take it, also is the meaning of that place, …. 16. 11. When the Spirit comes, he convinceth … world of sin, that they be miserable in regard of …, of Righteousness, that there is Salvation in a Christ, and free pardon; and of judgement, because … Prince of this world is judged. This shews the … of the soveraign Government of our Savior, so Joh. 5. 22. All Judgement is given into the hands of Christ, that is the immediate dispensation of al sovereign Power and Rule. And this was one of the things that Peter, in whose Ministery the Spirit after the Ascention of our Savior Convinced the world of, Acts, 2. 36. Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus both Lord and Christ. So that he will not break the bruised reed, which is done in Contrition, when the soul is bruised with the sight and sense of sin, and yet is indeed wholly helpless and weak, yet he wil not p. 400break it by despair, until … bring judgement unto victory, make his Government and Dispensation Victorious.

The Soul comes now not to be acted by the motions 4of sin, nor carried by the temptations of Satan as formerly, that howsoever its true, that while Satan Converseth here in the Camp of the Saints in the Warfare of this world, and while we carry these bodies, the houses of Clay without us, and a body of Death within us; It cannot be but … and Satan wil give many assaults and press in mightily upon the soul, and with the violence of their Charge somtimes may crowd the soul out of its intended Course of spiritual Conversation, and justle it aside out of the right way, yet they shal never be able to prevail, as to pervert the frame of it: but the set, and face, and frame of the soul wil be towards God, and the bent of it for him.

Hence Christ is said by Death to destroy him that had the Power of Death, that is the Devil. Heb. 2. 14. To destroy him (in the Original) is to take off the Activity of Satan, and by a deadly blow to stay the prevailing virtue of any temptation, as that it shal not sway the soul to its bent, though it may hinder the soul and dull the acts of it in the daily exercise of spiritual Duties. Look as it is in a Bowl that is strongly byassed one way, and so carried to the mark, however by many rubs and ruggedness of the way, it may be turned aside and justled out of the right tract, yet it sets toward the mark, and is carried that way, and wil fal that way by the force of the byas that doth over-sway it. So it is here, The Spirit of the Lord that layes hold upon the soul, is like the weight of this byas, that is fastened to it, and closeth with it: So that however the strength of temptation or corruption may by a p. 401… violence justle the soul out of the way, and out of that right and righteous proceeding in which … ought to walk, yet the over-swaying hand of the Spirit wil keep the bent and set of it towards the Lord and his Truth. 1 John, 3. 8. Christ was manifested that he might destroy the works of the …; that he might Analise and unravel, and undo … it were, and take in pieces that frame of wickedness which Satan had set up in the heart, and turn it up-side-down. When the Soul was turned from God, unto sin, and the Creature, Christ came that … might be turned from sin and the Creature to God again: The word is the same with that Joh. 2. 19. foreign, destroy, or take down this Temple: And here, 1 Joh. 3. 8. foreign: So to loosen one tyed in Bands. So the Lord Christ doth the works of Satan; Satan may grapple with the Soul, and lay violent hands upon the Heart, but bind it he can never more, or make it a servant to himself.Sixth Particular in Explication of the Point.