ARMINIANISM. 69 died for us, Rom. v.. 6. wife to do evil, but to do good we have no firength, no know- ledge. Yea, all the faculties ofour fouls, by reafon ofthat fpiritual death underwhich we are detained by the corruption ofnature, are altogether ufelefs in refpe£t of any power for the doing ofthat which is truly good ; our uuderfiandingsare blind or dark- ened, being alienatedgram the life of God, through the ignorance that is in w, becaufe ofthe blindnefs of our hearts, Ephef iv. 18. whereby we become even darknefs it felt; chap. v. 8. fò void is the underfianding of true knowledge, that the natural man receiveth net the things that are of God, they are feoliihmefs unto him, e Cor. ii. 14. nothingbut coo - founded and amazed at fpiritual things, and ifhe doth not mock, can do nothing bur wonder, andfay, What meanerh this ? Ads ii. rz, 13. We are not only blind inour un- derfiandings, but captives alfo to fin in our wills, Luke iv. 18. wherebyweare fervanes to fin, John viii. 34. free only in our obedience to that tyrant, Ram. vi. yea, all our, alfe&ions arewholly corrupted, for every imagination of the thoughts of theheart ofmania evil continually, Gen. vi. 5. while we are in the flefh the motions of findo workin our members, to bringforth fruit unto death, Rom..vii. y. Thefe are the endowments ofour nature, theft: are the preparations ofour heartsfor the grace of God, whichwe have within our felves. Nay, (z.) There is not only an impotency, but an enmity in corrupted nature, to any. thing fpirituallygood. The things that are of Ged, are foelifhnes unto anatural man, 1 Cor. ii. 14. and there isnothing that men do more hare, and contemn, than that which they account as folly. They mock at it asa ridiculous drunkennefs, dtls ii. e 3. and wouldtoGod our daysyielded us not too evident proofs of that univerfal oppofition, that is between light and darknefs, Chrifi and Relial, nature and grace, that wecould not fee every day the prodigious iffues of this inbred corruption, fwellirig overall bounds, and breaking forth intoa contempt of theGofpel, and all waysofgodlinef r fo true it is, that the carnal mind is enmity againfi God, it is not fubjett unto his lam, neither indeedcan it be, Rom. viii. 7. fo that, (3.) As a natural man by the firength of ilia own free will, neither knotveth; nor willeth, fò it is utterly impolfible he fhould do any thing pleating untoGod. Can the Ethiopian change hisskin, or rho leepnrd his foes? 'Men can be do geed, Jeremy xiii. an evil tree cannot bring forth good, fruit, without faith it io impoJfble to pleafe God, Heb. xi: 6. and that is not of our [elves, it is the gift of Gad, Ephef. ii. lò that though almighty God, according to the unfearchablenefs of his wifdom, worketh divers ways, and in fundry manners, for the tranflating of his chofen ones from the power 'of- darknefs to his marvellous light, calling fame .powerfully h the midi of theirmarch in the ways of ungedlinef, as he did Paul, preparing othersby outward means, and helps of comniotr ref raininggrace, moralizing nature before it be begotten anewby the irmnortal feed of the word ; yet this is certain., that all good in this kind is from his free grace, there is nothing in our felves, as of our felves, but fin : yea, andall thofe previousdifpofitions, wherewith our hearts are prepared by virtue of common grace, do not at all enable us toconcur byany vital operation, with that powerful bleffed renewing grace of regene- ration, whereby we become the foes of God. Neither is there any difpofition unto grace fo remote, as that pofiibly itcan proceed from a meer faculty of nature, for every fuels difpoition, midi be ofthe fame order withthe form that is to be introduced; but nature in relpe£i of grace, is a thing ofan inferiour allay, between which there is no proportion ; a good ufeof gifts may have a promife of an addition of more, provi- dedit be in the lame kind. There isno rule, law, or promife, that fhould make grace due, -upon the good ufeof natural endowments. you will fly, here l quitehver- throw free will, which before I feemed togrant ; to which 1 anfiver i that in regardof of that objet, concerning which now we treat, anatural man hash na fùch thing as free will at all, ifyou take it fora power ofdoing that which is good and wellpleating: untoGod in things fpiritual, for an abilityofpreparing our hearts untofaith and calling upon God, as our church article fpeaks, a home-bred felf-fufficieocy, preceding the change ofour wills by the almightygrace ofGod, wherebyany good fhould be fold to . dwell in us, and we utterly deny that there isany fuch thing in theworld. The will, though in it felf radically free, yet in refpe£t of theterm or obje&, to which in this regard it Mould tend, is corrupted, enthralled, and under a miferablebondage, tied to, fuchaneceffìty of finning in general, that though unregenerate men are not refirained, to this, or that fin in particular, yet for the main, they can do nothing but fin. All their altions wherein there is anymorality, areattended with iniquity, an evil tree can- not bring forth good fruit, even the [artifice ofthe wicked is an abominationto the Lord. Ù There
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