to tbe E P H E 'S1A N S. 339 I 1hallnotneedtoflandexplainingof it largely. 'You lhalllind, Eph.~-I6.~ that there is not only a llrength put to the lnher-man, but..there is a·n Inner- &rmo" ·man too which God createthm a man, and then tg flrfngthen tt mdeed, ts fame- XXvr. thing: But fimply to joyn, and llrtke In an·d mmg1e 1t felt wah c?rrupt nature,as ~ Fire cloth with Water(accordmg tb the OpmWb b~forhe) ~hen 1~ makestt hot, theu h Water be cold m tt fe!f, yet Ptre can a·nd. doth mmgle tt felf t~to the pore~ of the Water 'and heat it, (for there are· po(es in the Water, as Plu1ofohers do acknowledge,) yet th'e prihciple Bf !feaf is in the 'fire, not in the ,Water, which of its own nature is flill a• cold as 1t \vas;for itreturos to its _co!d– ·llefsagain. So here, FuttheHolyGho!l tomfinuatehtmfellmtl) the Spmts of men, and act them, and raife them up to do things·abo-:e Nat~rc , but yet puts not into them a formal pnnctpl~ o_t lite; thus I fay, to JOY<J With mens Spipts, is no fuch great work of power, m -companfon o1 that wluch 1have dcf£nqeyl tormerly unto you, viz. to put in a new light~ 't!Je light of life_; to give you.all things belonging to life and godhnefs, to put m that great pnnctp!e of·th~ Lol(e of God into the heart ( whtch IS more than all th~ Creatures thelnfelves;wttho4t it.) This is a new life, a new principle, my Brethren, . , , • . Thofe, who as you think in their Opinions do deprave the Grace of qod, ( ahd you fpeakof them as fuch, the Armmimu,) They do not hold'.~hat a man ~an do any thing of htmfdf; they acknowledge that wh1ch Chnll_ f.11th, Wlthot.'t 11tf you can do 11othing: But, fay they, tt ts but an ailifhng, H IS but the )Oymng with men a fupernatural flrength; it is not putting in of a pew prj~ciple, fay ·they. Why, fay !• this_is not a ·:-vork ?f fuch mighty power. Why? Tal~e Cordials they wtll Joyn With aman.s Spmt, to flrengthen you : Take an A~gel, he will j~yn with a ~an's Spirit, and nrengthen you; as we fee in ~ickeq men, the Devil joyneth With theJr corrupnon, a man fl1a!I have Ius affectwns blown -up with S:otan, like the waves of the Sea by the wind, llronger than by nature they would be. You 1hall read of an Angel, 'Drm. 11, t. a good Angel it wa~, {and whether it was Chri!l, or a created Angel I need not di(pute,) certainly a created Angel can do as much, he jlre,gth11ed or cot!{irtl1ed the Spirit of the King of the Medes; it was. i~ a good bufinefs for the Church, and l\e jO) ned with tbe Spim of the Kmg m lt: Ahd Luh 8, you lhal! find a man fo Hrength– ned by Satan, that 110 mrm could hold htm, no thorrgh le were 6oundwithchanu. Aod as one fa id of him that killed Hem)' the Fourth of France , that he had the ilrength of Ten men •n h1m, Satan pOed hu hellrt, as the expreffion is At:i.5. So_on the other fide, For the Holy Ghofl: to.frn•iigthen a man's Spirit by an ex– ternal ailillance, enabling him to do thefc and thefe actions, by miogling him– felf with nman's Spirit; this is not fo great a power, for an Angel can do it. But to make aworkmanjhip created ullfogood works, to put a new Soul into a man, (as the Scripture compareth it, and therefore r may fo exprcfs it,) that i-1, ·to put a new principle of lite and grace into a man, and then to enable him to act that Grace. Herelieth that work that beareth proportion wirh the exceed– inggreatnej! of his power; that other cloth not. Now, my Brethre.n, I will inllance in particulars. r will/hew you a work upon the Underfl:andmg of a man, that a man 1hall be mltghtiJed,(as it is He6,6,) wtth a new hght about Spmtual thmgs, and yet not have a work of Grace that anfwereth to the exceedtHg greatnefs of God's poaer to work it. · To make this plain unto you. You may read in Numb.24. 2, l· that the Holy Ghofi JS fatd ro Jnll upon Balaam. Balaam (faith he) the Son of Peor bath fazd, _a11dthe man whofe eyts are open bathJaid, (the Hebrew is, as it is in your Margms, The man who had hu eyes jhut, but 11ow are opened,) He bathfaid, wiJJCh heardthe words of God, whJCh faw the vijlo11 of the Almighty, fa/. lmg i11to ,, Trance, but havi1zg his eyes opm: And the thing he faw was the h2rpy condition of the People ot God, as you may read afterward. Here was a man that had his eyes opened by a new light, a new work of the Spirit upon ~m, yet rema ;ned fle/h for all this ; there was no New creature wrought upon lumat all, for you know he is brought in as an inflance of one that went after the WaJes of wtrighteoujnefs, yet you fee what glorious things he faith of h•mklf. X x My
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