Recommended from Phil. 2. 12, 1 3· of that Power. If a Servant throw away his Tools with which he fhould work,may not his I\'lafter ju{tly cxpe8: his Work from him,though he knows he cannot work without them~ God,s Commands ref_petl: not the Impotency that we have contraCted, nor <io.thcy therefore :.~b:ttc any thing of their Severity; but they refpcct that Power and Ability that was once conferred and beftowcd upon us: Yea, were it fo that· God could with Juftice require no more from us than what at prcfent we have Power and Ability to perform, this would make the Grace of God, Firft, Vain and Fruitlefs; and, SecondLy, Dangerous and Dcfiructive. (r ) flr,ft, 'ThU lwmld 11MkC void the pardontng Grace of God: For according to this Dottrine, nothi11g could be required of us if we could do not?hing; but without Grace we can do nothing, and therefore if Grace be not b~ftnwed on us, no-: thing can juftly be required from us, and if noth ing be required nothing is due from us, and then we do not fin in not performing any thing; and where there -is no fin, certainly there can be no place for pardoning Grace and Mercy. And fo thcfe wife Men, who think they do fo much befriend the Grace and Mercy of IGodin all hafte, in affirming that God requires nothing from us, but what at prcfent we have Power to perform, are injurious to the Mercy of God in making of it void as to Pardon and Rcmirf!on. (2.) Smmdly, This Doctrine ma}UJ tbt fan,Efifyiltg GYacc of God drjhuttivt and ..prrni.cior.u. lf God can require juftly no more of us than we CJn perform, wherefore js it that Men are juftly damned? Is it not becaufc they- will net do what they m·e able to do? And whence is it that they have this Ability? Is it not from the tGrace of God's Spirit? And therefore if they have not Grace to make them able •tO do move than their own corrupt Wills are willing to do, God could not juftly 591 condemn rhem, and confequently that of the Apoflle fhould fiand no longe r true, . Through Grace/e art fovcd, but through Grace ye perifh. Thefe two Confoquences Eph. 2 , ~; will follow; i God could juftly require no more from us than what we have Po- ·wer flQW to do. So that though we have not Power and Ability to work out our ;o.wn Salv.ation, yet we are not thereby excufcd from our Obligation to do it. .But, · .See~ndly, 11hough we cannot of our felves work out otll· own Salvation, Yet God An[w.. 2~ doth not moa.k ru, as fomt ~o thence infir, neithN· doth he only upbraid us with our owmWeakneji; but bath ferious tmd weighty ends why he Commands w to Obey. Thofe 1that are fo ready to caft this Odium upoi:l the tDoC\~inc . of Special Grace, making God a derider ofHumancFrailty and Mifcries, when he Commands Obedience from them, to whom ([ay they) himfelf denies that Power and Grace tba,t Ihould inable them1to obey; !..would only ask thCfe Perfons this f2.!!cftion, Whether do they grant, .. .or whe~her or no can they deny, that God antecedently before he Commands, ,knows who will obey and who will not obey·? If they fay God knows who wi\1 not obey; will they fay God mocks them when he Commands them to obey, though he !knows they will not? What they Anfwer to this, the fame may we Anfwer to their Objcffion. · But now there are two End; why God Commands us thus to work, though we are not able, according to which God is very ferious in commanding us thus to work. And God doth this, (t.) Firff, That he may hereby cOnvince us of our own Weaknefs, and that -Jwretched Efl:ate into which our Sins have brought us; that he might humble and aba fc us when we reflect how far we arc fallen .from our firfl: Perfection and ·,Excellency. When we confider on the one Hand that God requires nothing from us now, but what we once had a Power to perform; and then on the . other Hand confider how little, yea, how much of that nothing it is that now we have Power to perform ; this convinces us how mifcrably great our Fall is, that. makes thofe. things impofiible to us, that once were both ea fie and delightful. (l,) Secondly, God loves to deal with Men as with rational Creatures, that have free Faculties, capable of moral Influences, fit Subjc{ts to be wrought upon by Precepts, Counfels, Commands and Exhortations, as well as by Internal and Effi· cacious Grace; that Arguments and Motives may perfwade without, as Grace !ways within; that fo by both he might render them,._ willing People in the Day of his Power. And therefore they are not in vaip., neither to thofe that fhall be Saved, nor to thofc that Perifh. (1.) F;ri"l,
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