the Cofpel- 111Very Direc}. N. fore their (landing is not fecured by it. It is a hard matter to find what this univerfalability is, that fo ma. nycontendfoeartielt.ly for, of what it confifts, bywhat means it is conveyed to us, and maintained. Bodily agility hath fpirits, nerves, ligaments and bones, to fubfift by; but this fpiritual univerfal ability feemeth to be Erne occult quality, that no fufficient account can be given how it is conveyed, or of what it is con(lituted. That none may deceive them (elves, and mifcarry in their enterprizes for holinefs* by depending on fuch a weak occult quality, I have' here (hewed FOUR ENDOWMENTS, of which a true ability for the pradiice of holinefs, mutt neceffarily be conftituted, and by which it muft fubfift and be maintained ; I intend to Phew afterwards, by what means they are given to us, and whether the incli- nation or propenfity here mentioned be perfect or imperfect. And they are of fuch a myfterious na- ture, that fume who own the neceffity of endow- ments, to frame them for holinefs, are prone to think, that lets than thefe will ferve; and that force of thefe frame us rather for licentioufnefs than ho- linefs, as they are here placed before any aìual per- formance of the moral law ; and that fotne things contrary to them would put us into a better frame for holinefs. Againft all Inch fprmifes, I (hall en- deavour fuch a dernonftration of thefe endowments particularly, as may gain the affent of right reafon; infìfting on them in the fame order wherein I have placed theta in the direction. In the FIRST place, I affert, that an inclination and propenfity of heart to the duties of the law, is neceffary to frame and enable us for the immediate practice of them. And I mean not fuch a blind propenfity as inanimate creatures and brutes have to their natural operations, but fuch an one as is meet for intelligent creatures, whereby they are, by the conduit of reafon, prone and bent to approve and chufe their duty, and averíe to the practice of
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=