It is true, a soul may be a long time under the preparatory works of the Spirit, he may be under convictions and humiliations, purposes and resolutions a long time ; he may be waiting at the pool of Bethesda, attending the means and ordinances, but when the Spirit comes once to quicken the soul, it is done in a moment : even as it is in the infusion of the rational soul, the body is long ere it be prepared and moulded, but when once the embryo or mat- ter is ready, it is quickened with the spirit of life in an instant : so it is here ; but O what a blessed moment is this ! Upon which the whole weight of our eternal happiness depends ; for it is Christ in us, i. e. Christ formed in us, who is the hope of glory, Col. i. 27. And our Lord expressly tells us, John iii. 3. That except we be regenerate and born again, we cannot see the kingdom of God. And thus of the way and manner of its infusion.
Thirdly, Let the design and end of God, in this his quickening-
* AL uno desuper jninct'jno quod covvenienter voluntati operatur dependent prima, sccun- da el tertia. Qucmadmodum minima pars Jem lapidis magnet is spirit u movetur, per mul- tos annulos ferrcos ertensa : ita etiam qui sunt virtute prccdili, divine spirit u atlracti, cum prima monsione, conjungantar, deinceps autem alii usque ad postremam. Clem. Alexand. Strom, lib. 7.
94 THE METHOD OF GRACE. SE11M. V.
rcork, be next considered ; for what end and with what design and aim this work is wrought. And if we consult the scriptures in this matter, we shall find this principle of life is infused in order to our glorifying God, in this world, by a life of' obedience, and our enjoying of God in the world to come.
First, Spiritual life is infused in order to a course of obedience in this world, whereby God is glorified : So we read in Eph. ii. 10. " Created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath be- " fore ordained that we should walk in them :" habits are to ac- tions, as the root is to the fruit, it is for fruit sake that we plant the root, and ingraft* the branches. So in Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. " A " new spirit will I also put within you, and cause you to walk in " my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.r> This is the next or immediate design and end, not only of the first infusion of the principle of life into the soul, but of all the exciting, actuating, and assisting works of the Spirit afterwards. Now this principle of spiritual life infused, hath a twofold influ- ence into obedience.
First, This makes a sincere and true obedience, when it flows from an inward vital principle of grace. The hypocrite is moved by something db extra, from without, as the applause of men, the accommodation of fleshly interests, the force of education : or if there be any thing from within that moves him, it is but self- interest, to quiet a disturbing conscience, and support his vain hopes of heaven ; but he never acts from a new principle, a new nature, inclining him to holy actions. Sincerity mainly lies in the harmony and correspondency of actions to their principles : from this infused principle it is, that men hunger and thirst for God, and go to their duties as men do to their meals, when they find an empty craving stomach.
O reader, pause a little upon this ere thou pass on, ask thy heart whether it be so with thee : are holv duties connatural to thee ? Doth thy soul move and work after God by a kind of supernatural instinct ? This then will be to thee a good evidence of thy in- tegrity.
Secondly, From this infused principle of life results the excellency of our obedience, as well as the sincerity of it ; for by virtue and reason thereof, it becomes free and voluntary, not forced and constrained, it drops like honey, and of its own accord, out of the comb, Cant. iv. 11. or as waters from the fountain, without forcing, John iv. 14. An unprincipled professor must be pressed hard by some weight of affliction, ere he will yield one tear, or pour out a prayer, Psal. lxxviii. 34. " When he slew them, then " they sought him."
Now the freedom of obedience is the excellency of it, God's eye
I5ERM. V. THE METHOD OF GRACE. 95
is much upon that, 1 Cor. ix. 17. yea, and the uniformity of our obedience, which is also a special part of the beauty of it, results from hence : he that acts from a principle acts fluently and uni- formly, and there is a proportion betwixt the parts of his conver- sation ; this is it which makes us holy, £v <ra<r>j avatgopri, in all man- ner of' conversation, or in every point and turning of our conversa- tions, as the word imports, 1 Pet. i. 15. Whereas he that is moved by this or that external accidental motive, must needs be very uneven, " like the legs of a lame man," as the expression is, Prov. xxvi. 7. " which are not equal." Now a word of God, and then the discourse runs muddy and profane or carnal again ; all that evenness and uniformity that are in the several parts of a Chris- tian's life, are the effect of this infused principle of spiritual life.
Thirdly, Another aim and design of God in the infusion of this principle of life, is thereby to prepare and qualify the soul for the enjoyment of himself in heaven : " Except a man be born again " he cannot see the kingdom of God," John iii. 3. All that shall possess that inheritance must be begotten again to it, as the apostle speaks, 1 Pet. i. 3, 4. This principle of grace is the very seed of that glory ; it is eternal life in the root and principle, John xvii. 3. by this the soul is attempered and qualified for that state and em- ployment. What is the life of glory but the vision of God, and the soul's assimilation to God by that vision ? From both which results that unspeakable joy and delight which passeth understanding : but what vision of God, assimilation to God, or delight in God, can that soul have which was never quickened with the supernatural principle of grace ? The temper of such souls is expressed in that sad character, Zech. xi. 8. " My soul loathed them, and their soul " also abhorred me." For want of this vital principle it is, that the very same duties and ordinances which are the delights and highest pleasures of the saints, are no better than a mere drudgery and bondage to others, Mai. i. 13. Heaven would be no heaven to a dead soul ; this principle of life, in its daily growth and im- provement, is our meetness, as well as our evidence, for heaven : these are the main ends of its infusion.