The Nature, 'Danger, and Cure fourthly :md La ft:iy, Rtj!raining and SanCii.fjing Grace dijfrr in the Moti<rm and .Arguments, that tbey make ujf offor zhe riftfting of Sin: There are cwo general Topicks, or Ccmmon J>laces, whence a \I Arguments againft Sin arc drawn and rhofe arc the Law and the Goffel: 13och of rhefe adminifterfuch Weapons rbac if rightly ufed, are very effeCtual for the bearing down of Sin ; and co1~monly Rejlraining Grace ufcth thofe only rh~u are borrowed from the La1v · it urgerh the Command, it thunders the Curie, it brandifheth the Sword of ]ufiice and makes Reports of nothing but Hell and eternal Damnation, and tllch - lik~ Arguments, that fcare Men from the committing of their Sins, though ftill they love rh_em: Now Sanflifying Gtace,. thoug~ it alfo ma~es a mo!t profitable Ufe of tludc vay Arguments, yet 1t clnefty uieth more nuld and more ingenious Motives, drawn from the Love of God, from the Death of Chri!t from the Comforts of the Holy Gho£1; 2nd thefe, tho' they !hike fofte/ yet they wound deeper: New hereby <J lfo you may give a Guefs,wherher your ~bftaining from Sin, be mecrly from Reftraining or from SanEiifying Grace, obfcrve what Weapons you ufe? What Confiderations do over. awe your Heans? Are they fuch as are drawn only from the Law, and the fad Rctied:ions ofthe End and Iifue of Sin, that it brings Shame, and Death, and Hell? Muft you run down to Hell every time a Temptation comes, to fetch Arguments thence to oppofe againft your Corruptions? Can you no where elfe quench the fierJ Darts of the Devil, unlefs it be in that Lake of Fire? If this be all (rho' this too is well) yet know ifit beaU, this is no more rhan what Reftraint anJ commrm Grace may perform: It is the proper CharaCter of Rej!raining Grace, to keep Men back from the Commiffion of Sin, only by Dread and Fear of Punifhment ; but now San8ifying Grace, that efpecially betakes it felfto GofpeiArguments, and confiders how di.fingenuous it is t? fin aga_inft a rec?nciled a~d a graciou:; Father, againft a cructfied and a bleedu~g Say10~r, ag~mft a panenr and long.fulfering Spirit, and heaps up many fuch ltke mQemous Arguments, that work kindly upon the Heart; he leads every Temptatton to theCrofs of Chrift, and there !hews it his Saviour, hanging and bleeding; And can I commit this Sin, that harh drawnfo much Blood from my Saviour to expiate it, and would draw fo much Blood from my Confcience to perpetrate it ? Did he die to free me from the Condemnation of it, ·and {hall I wilfully rufh inro the C6mmiffion of it? No 0 Lord, thy Love with· holds me, I cannot do this thing and fin againft fo rich fo free, and infinite Mercy and Goodnefs, that thou daily exrendeft toward; me. Thus true Grace ufually teacheth a Child of God to argue againft his Sins } and this keeps him from the Commiffion of rhofe Sins, that other:;, rHing up againft them, only from the Terrors and Threarnings of the Law, and oth~r fuch dreadful Confiderarions, fall into norwirhfianding : A Wooll-pack fooner damps a Bullet than a Stone-wall; and truly, [oft Arguments taken from the Gofpel, from the Love of God, from theDearh of Chrift, from the Patience and Long.fuffering of the Spirit; thefe[oft Arguments fooner damp a Temptation, and refift a Corruption, thanmore rigid and fevcre ones will, when alone ufed by themfe!ves. Now having thus in general fhew'd you the Difference betwixtSanflifjjngand RejlrainingGrace, 1 fhall now defcend to more particular Confiderations ofrhofc Ways and Methods that God ufeth in keeping Men back from Sin by his Special and Sanctifying Grace ; and here I fhall prcmife this, That whatever Sin God dorh, I mean by his Sanflifying Grace, prevent his own Children from the Commiffion of; he doth it by exciting the inward Principle of Grace to the actual Ufe and Exercife ofit. There is a two-fold Grace alwaysncceifary to keep the beft Chrifiians from Sin, Habitual and Exciting Grace; and God makes uJe of the one to quicken and fiir up the other; He makes u(e of Exciting Grace to quicken Habitual Grace, chat elfe would lie iluggi!h and dormant in the Soul. Habinwl Gr11ce, that denominates the Soul alive unto God, but yet it is no othcrwiiC alive than a Man in a Swoon is; iris exciting Grnce that alone can enable it eo perform the Functions and Offices ofLife: In the deepeftWinrerthcre is Life in the Seed that lies buried under-ground, but yer it atls not rill the Sun's InjltUnce draws it forth, and then it heaves and fhoves away rhe rhe Earth that covered i r, and fpreads it felf into the Beauties of a F~owc:r ~ So is it here, inherent habitual Grace is an immortal Seed, and ic is but a Seed
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