The Nature, Vanger, and Cure and have our being : So then rhe Power m ufe our Power is from God's quickning, enl iven ing. ~nd :.~c1uaring of us. · ' Secondly, A Child of God, who is regenerated and bom again, hatb a PQ'Jver to J {omething that i1 not Sin; becaufe he hach a gracious Principle wrouo-hr wirhi~ him, and he ads for a right End, even the Glory of G6d in the s,flvarion of his Soul : But yet thi s withal muft be fuppofed, char he fhall never fo act without the fpecial Aid andAiliftance ofGod'squickningand ftirring up hi s Graces Thirdly, A Man in a Stat.eof Nature bath no power to keep!Jim{elffromSin in gene~ ral; that is, he harh no Power ro do any thing buc what is linfi1l · for whatever Action is nor finful, muft ftow from a gracious Principle, andn;uft be diretl-cd to arighr End, which no Action of a wicked Man can be; for both the firft Prin~ ciple, and alfo the laft End of every Action that a wicked Man doth, is carnal felf. Fourrhly, Though wicked Men bave not a Powrr to do that 'vbich is notJinful yet they ha'Ve a Power to refift this or that particular Sin: Thiy are fadly ncceflit~tcd to act within the Sphere of Sin ; that is, whatever they act is finful · but yec they may,asit were,chufc which Sin rhey will act; neither dorh this o~erthrow what was delivered before; for whenchey chafe a lefs Sin rather thana greater when they avoid the Commiffion of a daring and prefumptuous Sin, and chof~ rather to perform a Duty: This proceeds not meerly from their own Power but from the Power and Influence of God, raifing and exciting their Power' that Men chufe eo feed upon wholfome M ear, rarher than upon a Poifon, rho~ they have a Free~will to do fo; yet this doth not meerly proceed from their Free-will, but from God's .guiding a.n~ e~citing rhat ~ree-will eo. chufe whol~ fomeFood rather than Potfon; fo ts tt here, what Sm Man avotds, is not eo be afcribed to his own Power, tho' a Power he hath ; but it is eo be afcribed only to God's common, o.r to. his fpecial Grace an~ . In~uence, whereby char Power that would otherwtfe lte dead and unatl:ed, ts qu1ckned and actuated in us: What Difference is there betwixt a Man that bath no Power, and a Man that bath a Power, but yet cannot ufe it ? Truly, fuch are we: What Pow.er we have againft Sin, we cannot make ufe of it, till God raife and act us by his exciting Grace ; therefore have we frill need to pray with David, Lord, Jo thou keep me from Sin; for rho' I have a Power,yet it is but a latent and ileepy Po,~er, and will not be av;ailable, till thou daft awaken and quicken it. The next thing to be enquired into i1, How God keeps Men back from pre{umpJuOut Sins, even then when their PronenejJ to them is moJ1 violent and eager, ':l Now for Satisfaction to this you mufi know, God ha rh two Hands, where~ by he holds Men back from their Sios. _Firft, The Jlrong Hand of his PrO'ViJence: Secondly, The powerful Hand of bis Grace; and fomerimes God puts both thefe Hands to it, in a mix'd way of PrO'V~dence and Grace together; chefe ·are as it were God's Left-Hand, and his Right-Hand; by the one he over~ rules the Actions, and by the other he overrules the Hearts ofMen, and both A\mightily. God bj hU Firft, God frequently with-holds Men from the Commij]ion of S~n, bJ a ftrong HanJ Providence of PrO'Vidence upon them; frequently he doth fo; and that he -cloth notfo always, keeps .i!'ltn-is not becaufe he is defective, either inPower or Goodnefs, whereby he fhould fromSm. reftrain them from Evil, but becaufe he is Infinite in Wifdom, whereby he knows how to bring Good out of Evil; and therefore before I pfoceed to lay down chafe feveralWays thatProvjdence cakes to hinder the Cammillion of Sin,I fhall premife rhi s, That it is no Tainc at all to the pure Holinefs of God, rhar he do rh by his Providence concur to rhofe \Vickcdncffes of Men, chat if he plea~ fed he might prevent and hinder ; That God doth, fo is clear; for Providence is not fo often a Reftraint from Sin, as it is a powerful Temptation unto Sin; iris a Temp'tation,as ir adminifiers0bje8s and Oppol·ttmities; and as it fuirs them both unro the Lufts of Men: Thus Cain killed his Brother Abel by a Providence, and Acban ftole the Wedge ofGold; Judtn betrayed his Mafier, and the 'Jews Cru~ ~itied him by a Providence; ye.a, all that Villany thac ever was ad:ed under the'Sun, was all brought forth our of the curfed Wombs of Mens Lufts, and made fruitful by God's Providences; neither is ic hard to conceive how' God fhould, without Sin himfeif, concur to Sin in others; fince his mofi Sovereign Will, be ing above all I.aw, cannot poffibly fall under any Guilt : We . are obhged
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