:294 A Praflical Expojition the be!! Chrillians from Sin Habitual and Exciting, and God by the , one quickens and llus up the other, ·whiCh elfi: would lye !luggilh and dormant. Habitual _Grace deno~in~t~s the Soul ~li.ve unro God , but \t \s no otherwife alive than a Man tn a?wo?n IS; lt IS only Exctt!ng and lnjlucntia/ Grace rbat can e'nable it to perform rhe Fur.Chons and Offices of Life. In the drieft Winrer there is Lif~: in a Seed that !yes butied under Ground , but it afls not lill the S:m,s lntiuence draws it fort~; bur then it heaves and !hoves aw~y the ~ar_rh that CO\'ered ir, and fpreads it· felfmto the Beauty ofa Flower and Frutt. So tt IS here: lnhrrenr Habitual Grtice is indeed an Immortal Seed, and iris but a See d till the InHuencesof an appr~aching God awaken it, and chafe its benumbed Virtue, and then it ftirs and thrufh away all tiJat Dung and Filth of Corruption under Whic h it lay buried and flowers into Ailu. a/ Grau. Habitual and ln}luenria/ Grace muft both con~ur to produce A{f11a! 6race: As necelfarity as there muft be both the Concur rence of the heat of the Sun and the Life of the Root, to the ProduElion of a Flower. Now God by exciting the In~ berent and Habitual Grace, which was before in the Soul, keeps Men fro m finning Two Ways. Firft, Hereby he prevents and excludes thofe Sin~ which were we not employed in ·the Exercife of Grace we lhould certainly commit. When the Soul is conftamly em. ployed in Holy and Spiritual Affairs, Sin then neither ha1h Room nor Opponunity 10 exert itiOlf. lt ' is kept out of theThoughts wh en they are employed about Holy Me, ditations. It is kept out from the Affi:tlions when they are f er upon· Hea venly Objefls. lt is kept Out from t_he Converfation when both the Dudes of ou r general and particular Callings are duly performed in thei r refpeaive Scafons. The ilpojlle ex· borts us, Epbif. 4· 27. Not to give Place unto the Droil. Truly when Gcd)s l:!."'.:'fCitil}g Grace quickens our Inherent Grace to a continual Exercife i when every Faculrr is filled with HolyAaions, and every Scafon wit h Holy Duties, the Devil1hen can have no Place to tempr, nor Corruption to ftir. It is the beft Securitf God cangive us from the Comrniffion of Evil to quicken us to the P erformance of what is Good. When we liear Pray, or Meditate, ·or attend upon the PublicR Ordinance.;, we ought w blefs GoA for this his Exciting Grace, whereby we have not only performed a Duty, llut al fo poHibly efcaped fome foul and notorio us Sin, which elfewcmight have com- mitted. We who are here this Day before tbe Lord, had we negle£\ed (as 10 many others do) this ptefent Opportunity, who of us knows what horrid Ttmp1a1iom and fearful Sins we might in our tJV)n Houfes have been expofed unto, which in God's Houje we ha\'e :ivoided~ David, when he walked idlely upon the Roof of his Houfe, !yes open to the Snares of the Devil, and falls into thofe foul Sins of ildulrery agd Murder : Had he then been at hisliarp and his Pfalmr he mi ght thereby have driven the Evil Spirit from him, as formerly he was wom to do for h is Mafler Saul. Run· ning Streams preferve thernfelves clear and pure, Whereas jlandtng PuJdies foon grow corrupr, and breed noifome and venomous Crea tures. So is ir wirh the Heart, whilft God's Exciting and ff!_uickning Grace puts it upon continual Exercife it is preferved from Corruption: But when it once groYI.'S flaggifh, and doth nor freely flow f orrh in· to the Ji{/ings of Grace, and the Performance of Duties, the Spawn of all manner of Sins will breed there, and filthy Lulls crawl to and fro without Dillurbance. And therefore in praying that God would deliver U! frbm Evil, we pray ·rhat he would continually vouchfafe unto us thequickning In fiuences o:f his lioly Spirit, t~ar he would alwa ys fill our Sails with that Wind tha t bloweth where it liftcth: Awake, 0 ]lortb-wind, and come rho~ South-wind, and biOUJ upon our Garden, th12 t the Spicu tbercofmayf/ow forth: For indeed if the Spices do not, the Ste~ebwill . Secondly, 1\s God -by his Exciting Grace hinders thofe Sin~ which might arife in the Heart, tO be fl'lpprefferh rhoie that do arife. ~here is rhe greateft ~ontr.ariety iffia· glnable between Inherent Grace and Indwrllrng Szn: VVhen the one IS vigorous the other languifheth ·, and both of thefe oppofite P ril_1ciples have their Seat in the fame Heart, and both of them are in a continual Exp e£\:adon of an exciti ng In ftuen~e to call them our into Afl. Indwelling Corruptidn is u fually kmzcd up by Temptafldns, and when it fl:irs in the Hean, and is ready to break fol'tb into the Life, Habizua/Groceis of itfelffOfeeble that it cannor make any Oppofi tion, until a kindly In fluence from the Spirit oft5oJ callsfonb fame particular Grace, that l s moft ofall contrary unto ic, to refift and fubdue it. This Method God ufed to keep St. Paul from !inning : He was undt:r a {harp_ and pungent Trmptation which he calls a Tbdrn in tbe Flejb, 2 Cor.l2. 7· Satan buffers, and he prays, and God anfwers, .My Grace ;.; fuffi cienr for thre; I q
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