An Expojition of the Epiflle ~ vercome but it is attrtbuted to the flrength of him that is in u;, becaufe &ntJOII he is gre'ater becaufe he is !\ranger: How is he !\ranger if he do not a. XXIII. verccme? wh~rein is firength elfe feen? And fo now as P cmt in • Cor. •'i. tilt. ~ giveth thanks, triumpheth over Death, and Hell, and the Grave; Tbcmks 6, to God (faith he) which •ives us the vz/Jory througb otzr Lord Jefus Chrijl, So come to the work of Fa.~h and believing, and preferving a man to Salvation; whence cometh the victory? Even from God,from firength,a greaterCirength that is in you tha·n is again!\ you, in your own hearts, or in the Devil; therefore faith Paul, Who/halt delzver mr I I tbcmk God thro11gb Jrfiu Chrifl our Lord. It is a mighty in!\ance that Auj/itt hath. Take A dam, faith he, whom God did leave to Chew the liberty of his Will, according to the Courfe and Law of Nature, to {hew that he was a Creature; he bad all helps, he had habitual grace inclined his Will to good, he had no corruption to tempt him, he had all forts of incour.gements, he had tafied how good God was; yet his Will was tempt– ed with the knowledge of a fecming good, and overcome. Take now a poor Believer, he (faith he ) bath but a little grace in him, and a great deal of cor. ruption in his own heart ; he hath habitually as much again!\ him as for him, he is infnarcd with all the pleafures of the world,he hath all the evil of it fet againfi: him; nay he is put to deny himfelf; yet this man's Will holdcth, when Adr;m with all his grace and no temptation fell away. What is the reafon of this? It is the mighty power of God that worketh in him, that keepeth him, faith he, I ufe to fay, that the weakefi Chrifiian and Jefus Chrifi, are too hard for all the World, and all their Lulls. Jam able to do at! tEi11gs (faith Paul) through Cbrij/ that jlrengthmeth me. But you will fay, the Will is a Will. · What then? Do you think that God made any Creature that he cloth not know how to rt1le it? Take the infiance ofChrifi; He had a will and free,and more free it mu!\ be then any mans in the World; becaufc i_f he had n~t that fame full liberty that we have naturally ; he had not mented, 1t Jus obed1ence had not been in the fame nature free that ours is .: For that is the argument, they fay a man mull have a Free·Will; becaufe his actions elfe ·are not worthy of praife or difpraif~: Our faviour Chrifi his actions had no merit in them (that is more than praile) .if he had not the fame liberty in working, that we have; the humane nature I fpeak of. W~ll; this humane nature is joyned to the Godhead. If God did not kno-.y how to carry on the Will of the Creature infallibly what had followed here? That God now dwelling in the humane nature might have finned;for if the humane nature had finned it had been attributed to him, as it is called the Blood of God. The Will of Chrifi therefore was an infirurnent, as we fay his humani– ty was, which affuredly the power of God (which had ingaged it felf long be. fore Chri!\ came into the World) could rule and keep in obedience, yet keep it• free, and moll free, and free in that fenfe that we in this life are free: For other– wife, how could God have made the promifes to all the Seed, if he had not the Will of this Creature in his ,power to rule, and rule effectually, and yet the Will be a Will too; all the Saints in the Old Tefiament mull come down again elfe, all the promifes mu!\ have been void, not a man had been faved, God could notun· dertake this, if he could not work upon' the will to turn it to Holinefs, and yet be a Will flill. Therefore certainly God hath a way to work upon the Will of man efficacioufly by the power of his might, by an omnipotent fweetnefs to carry a man on, and yet the Will remain a Will !\ill. In a Word, my Brethren, Herein lieth liberty, when as a man cloth not only do actions out of his own inclinations as Beafis do; but when he doth actions out of choice, and fecth ful reafon to do them, becaufe they are done wirh know– ledge they are th_erefore free. That i.t is .both an exceeding greatnefs of pow~r and an efficacy ot power that works fa1th 10 us, the fame that wrought in Chnfl when he was raifed from the dead; and the efficacy of it is afcribed to power and to the power of his might, that fo )'OU may give all the glory 10 God in the great work of convcrfion: Wbo accordi11g to the excerditJggreattJe(s of hi; power, ac· cordi11g to the worki11g of bis mig!;typower which he wro11gbt ;,. Chri(i when he rmjed hzm from the dead andj(t bim at his ow;; rzght band iiJ beavmty ptam. SER-
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