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impotency unto the doing of any good, unto the forbearing of any evil, unto the repelling of any temptation by our owr power. "In his own might, shall no man be strong." To be a sinner,' and to be without strength,' are terms equivalent in the apostle'. Nay, even where there is a will to do good, there is a defect of power to perform it": our strength is not in ourselves, but in the Lord, and in the power of his might, and in the working of his Spirit in our inner man ". If but a good thought arise in our mind, or a good desire and motion be stirring in our heart, or a good word drop from our lips,-we have great cause to take notice of the grace of God that offered it to us, and wrought it in us, and to admire how any of the fruit of Paradise could grow in so heathy a wilderness.

2d. Of our natural antipathy and reluctancy unto holy duties our aptness to draw back towards perdition; to refuse and thrust away the offers and motions of grace; our rebellion which ariseth from the law of the members against the law of the mind; the continual droppings of a corrupt heart upon any of the tender buds and sproutings of piety that are wrought within us; our aptness to be weary of the yoke, and to shake off the burden of Christ from our shoulders; our natural levity P and inconstancy of spirit in any holy resolutions, continuing as a morning dew, which presently is dried up; beginning in the spirit, and ending in the flesh, having interchangeable fits of the one and the other; like the polypus, now of one colour, and anon of another; now hot with zeal, and anon cold with security; now following Moses with songs of thanksgiving for deliverance out of Egypt, and, quickly after, thrusting Moses away, and in heart returning unto Egypt again. Such a discomposedness and natural instability there is in the spirit of a man, that, like strings in an instrument, it is apt to be altered with every change of weather: nay, while you are. playing on it, you must ever and anon be new tuning it; like water heated, which is always offering to reduce itself to its own coldness. No longer sun, no longer light; no

in Rom. vii. 18. • Isai. xliii. 22.

n Ephes. P Hoc habent inter

1 Sam. ii. 9. 1 Rom. v. 6, 8. vi. 10. iii. 19. Phil. iv. 13. cætera bori mores, placent sibi et permanent. Levis est malitia, sæpe mutatur, Senec. Epist. 47. Maximum indicium est malæ mentis, fluctuatio. Epist. 120.

longer Christ, no longer grace: if his back be at any time. upon us, our back will immediately be turned from him; like those forgetful creatures in Seneca, who even while they are eating, if they happen to look aside from their meat, immediately lose the thoughts of it, and go about seeking for more.

3d. Of the manifold decays and abatements of the grace of God in us, our aptness to leave our first love1. How did Hezekiah fall into an impolitic vain-glory', in showing all his treasures unto the ambassadors of a foreign prince, thereby kindling a desire in him to be master of so rich a land, as soon as God left him unto himself. How quickly, without continual husbandry, will a garden or vineyard be wasted and overgrown with weeds! How easily is a ship, when it is at the very shore, carried with a storm back into the sea again! How quickly will a curious watch, if it lie open, gather dust into the wheels, and be out of order! Though, therefore, thou have found sweetness in religion, joy in the Holy Spirit, comfort, yea, heaven in good duties, power against corruptions, strength against temptations, triumph over afflictions, assurance of God's favour, vigour, life, and great enlargement of heart in the ways of godliness; yet for all this, be not high-minded, but fear. Remember the flower that is wide open in the morning, when the sun shines upon it, may be shut up in the evening before night come. If the sun had not stood still, Joshua had not taken vengeance on the enemy ; and if the Sun of righteousness do not constantly shine upon us, and supply us, we shall not be able to pursue and carry on any victorious affections. While God openeth his hand,' thou art 'filled;" but if he withdraw his face,' thou wilt be troubled' again ". Therefore take heed of resting on thine own wisdom or strength. Thou mayest, after all this, grieve the Spirit of God, and cause him to depart and hide himself from thee: thou mayest fall from thy steadfastness, and lose thy wonted comforts thou mayest have a dead winter upon the face of thy

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q Rev. ii. 4. r Lege Imperiali, interdicta vini, olei, liquaminis exportatio; ne Barbari, gustu illecti, promptius invaderent fines Romanorum, Leg. 1. Cod. quæ res exportari non debeant.-Et apud Chineses, exteri in loca regni interiora non admittuntur, tantum in oris maritimis conceditur commercium.— Boterus in Catalog. Imperiorum.

2 Kings xx. 12, 13.

Josh. x. 13.

u Psalm civ. 28, 29.

conscience, and be brought to such a sad and disconsolate condition, as to conclude that God hath cast thee out of his sight, that he hath forgotten to be gracious, and hath shut up his loving-kindness in displeasure; to roar out for anguish of spirit, as one whose bones are broken: thy soul may draw nigh to the grave, and thy life to the destroyers, and thou mayest find it a woful and a most insuperable difficulty to recover thy life and strength again. It was so with Job. It was so with David. It was so with Heman2, and divers others. Therefore we should still remember in a calm to provide for a storm; to stir up the graces of God continually in ourselves, that they be not quenched; so to rejoice in the Lord, as withal to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling; never to let the grace of God puff us up, or make us forgetful of our own weakness; but, as the apostle saith of himself in regard of God's grace, "When I am weak, then am I strong;" so to say of ourselves in regard of our own natural corruption, "When I am strong, then I am weak."

SECT. 12. Secondly, This must not so humble us, as to deject and dismay us, or make us give over the hope of holding out to the end, when our nature is so weak, our enemies so strong, our temptations so many; but we must withal be quickened by these considerations, with prayer to implore, and with faith to rely on and draw, strength from the Word and grace of God; to have always the window of the soul open towards the Sun of righteousness, whereby the supplies of his grace to prevent, excite, assist, follow, establish us, and carry on every good thing which he hath begun for us, may be continually admitted. This is one of the most necessary duties for a Christian, To hold constant and fixed purposes in godliness: the Scripture frequently calls upon us for them, that "with purpose of heart we should cleave unto God" that we should "continue in the grace of God:" that we should be "rooted and grounded in love :" that we would "hold fast the pro

Job x. 16, 17. xiii. 26, 27, 28. xvi. 9, 13. xxx. 15, 31. lxxvii. 2, 3, 4.

a See Job xxxiii. 19, 22.

y Folio-Edition, p. 586.

Psalm x. 3, 11. Isai. liv. 6, 11.

c Psalm ii. 11. Phil. ii. 12, 13.

2 Tim. i, 6.

• Acts xi. 23.

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* Psalm li. 8. Psalm lxxxviii.

John ii. 3, 4. d2 Cor. xii. 10.

fession of our faith without wavering ":" that we would be "steadfast and unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord:" that we would look to ourselves, that we may not lose the things which we have wrought*:" that we would "hold fast and keep the works of Christ unto the end." And it is that which godly men are most earnestly solicitous about, and do strive unto with greatest importunity. "I have purposed that my mouth shall not transgress "." "Unite my heart to fear thy name "." "My heart is fixed to God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise." Therefore in this case it is necessary for us to draw nigh unto God, who only can ratify all our pious resolutions; "who giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no power, increaseth strength P;" who only can "settle and stablish the hearts of men." The conscience of our duty, the sense of our frailty, the power, malice, and cunning of our enemies, the obligation of our covenant, should direct the soul perpetually unto God for the supply of his grace, that that may, in all our weaknesses, be sufficient for us, and "hold us up, that we may be safe," as the psalmist speaks '; and may never, through infirmity or unstableness of spirit, violate our own resolutions.

SECT. 13.-3. This is matter of great comfort unto the godly, That, in the midst of so many temptations, snares, impediments, amongst which we walk,--not only the safety of our souls, and security of our eternal salvation, but even our present condition in this life, our conversion, our obedience, all our pious purposes of heart, all the progress we make in a holy conversation,-do not depend upon the weakness and uncertainty of a human will, but upon the infallible truth, the constant promise, the immutable purpose, the invincible power, the free love, the absolute grace, the omnipotent wisdom and working of God, who doth whatsoever he pleaseth both in heaven and earth, and worketh all things by the counsel of his own will. "I, the Lord, change not; therefore the sons of Jacob are not consumed." We, poor and weak men, change with every wind; strong to-day, and

h Heb. x. 23. it. 25, 26.

lvii. 7.
"Mal. iii. 6.

k 2 John verse 8. n Psalm 1xxxvi. 11. q1 P t. v. 10.

.

i 1 Cor. xv. 58. m Psalm xvii. 3. pai. xl. 29.

1 Rev. • Psalm Psalm cxix. 117.

weak to-morrow; fixed and resolute to-day, shaken and staggering to-morrow; running forward to-day, and revolting as fast to-morrow; no hold to be taken of our promises, no trust to be given to our covenants; like Peter on the water, we walk one step, and we sink another. All our comfort is this, our strength and standing is not founded in ourselves, but in the rock whereon we are built,-and in the power of God, by which we are kept through faith unto salvation,-out of whose hands none are able to pluck us. Our very actions are wrought in us, and carried on unto their end by the power of Christ, who hath mercy, wisdom, and strength enough to rescue us, as from the power of hell and death, so from the danger of our own sickly and froward hearts. To see a man, when he is half a mile from his enemy, draw a sword to encounter him, or take up a stone to hit him, would be but a ridiculous spectacle; for what could he do with such weapons, by his own strength, at such a distance? But if he mount a cannon, and point that level against the enemy; this we do not wonder at, though the distance be so great; because, though the action be originally his, yet the effect of it proceedeth from the force of the materials and instruments which he useth, to wit, the powder, the bullet, the fire, the cannon. It seemed absurd, in the eye of the enemy, for little David, with a shepherd's bag and a sling, to go against Goliath, an armed giant, and it produced in his proud heart much disdain and insultation " but when we hear David mention the name of God, in the strength and confidence whereof he came against so proud an enemy, this makes us conclude weak David strong enough to encounter with great Goliath. It is not our own strength, but the love of God, which is the foundation of our triumph over all enemies *.

But some will then say, Since we may be secure, if God's

u 1 Sam. xvii. 41, 42, 43.

x Rom.

Folio-Edition, p. 587. viii. 38, 39. y Doctrina istius modi apta nata est ad securitatem, omnis religionis pestem et perniciem, hominibus ingenerandam, &c. Remonstr. in Script. Dogmaticis circa artic. 5. p. 299.-Nos autem dicimus, humanam voluntatem sic divinitus adjuvari ad faciendam justitiam, ut accipiat Spiritum Sanctum, quo fiat in animo ejus delectatio dilectioque summi illius et incommutabilis BoniCum id præstiterit gratia ut moreremur peccato, quid aliud faciemus si vivimus in zo, nisi ut gratiæ simus ingrati? neque enim qui laudat beneficium medicinæ,

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