Therefore now let me show how doth God reduce and frame our hearts to the obedience of his will. The ways God useth are of two sorts, moral and real.
[1.] God works morally, so as to preserve man's nature, and the principles thereof; therefore he works by sweet inclination, not with violence. So he comes with blandishments and comfortable words : Hosea ii. 14, ' I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.' So, Gen. ix. 27, ' The Lord shall persuade Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.' By fair and kindly words, he draweth on men to the liking of the gospel. He offereth no violence to our natural princi])les, but to our corruptions. God doth not make the will to be no will, but to be a good will ; he restoreth the faculties to their right use'and exercise ; he layeth forth the beauty and excellency of his grace, and a glorious estate he sets before our eyes, and so outbids temptation, and dj-aweth our hearts to himself. And God not only doth woi-k suitably to our geneial nature, as we are reasonable creatures, but suitably to the particular frame of the heart. Some are of a stout and stubborn temper, and will not be subdued by milder means and motives ; therefore God breaks them with fears and terrors, and with a spirit of conviction ; and others, he draws them on by love, and by a gentle application.
That God hath respect to men's particular tempers was figured in those extraordinary ways of appearance and manifestation ; they are fitted according to the state of men. To Moses, that was a shepherd, and was acquainted with bushes, God appears in a bush of fire ; and to the wise men, that were skilled in the motions of the heavenly bodies, he appears in a star ; and to Peter, that was a fisherman, he a})pears to him, and shows his power first in the draught of fishes,
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So still these are pledges of this kind of dispensation : that God will work suitably, not only to our general nature as men, but to our par- ticular state and temper. Yea, yet further, to set on this moral way of working, there is a fit subordination of the circumstances of provi- dence. God ' takes the wild asses in their month ; ' and he hath his reason wherein to surprise the hearts of sinners: Pro v. xxv. 11, 'A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.' God comes in in a fit season ; as when a soul is humbled by some sudden accident ; as one was converted by seeing a man fall down dead suddenly by him. God ordereth some providences to work, and awaken the hearts of men; or else by some great affliction: Hos, ii. 14, *I will bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.' God finds many a sinner in the briars, as Abraham found the lamb. Stub- born humours are then most broken. Metal in the furnace is capable of any form. God may suit and dispose us so that he may come in in a fit season to the soul, or in terrors of conscience, Avhen the heart is scourged with remorse for great sins. All this is God's moral work.
[2.] There is a real work, which goes along with this persuasion : there is an almighty power ; for bare persuasion cannot make the blind to see, the dead to live, or open the heart of man, that is so desperately and obstinately wicked, until he puts his fingers upon the holes of the lock, until he begins to open the heart.
Concerning this real work, observe it is secret, yet thorough and prevailing, so as the effect doth follow, when God will convert. The exact manner of God's drawing is unknov/n. Austin calls it an inward, hidden, and unspeakable power, wdiich God putteth forth together with the word. It is marvellous in our eyes ; but he that knew how to create souls knows how to work upon them. This power, it is like the influences of the heavens, which so insinuate themselves with the operation of second causes, that they cannot be seen ; so there is such a mighty power working in us, though we cannot tell how to express it. We cannot say there is no such power, because we do not know what it is.
And as this power is secret, so when this power is put forth it is prevailing : he works prevailingly, so as the effect must necessarily follow. The grace God gives to men, to convert them, it is not a power to be converted, repent, and believe, if they will ; no, but he gives repentance, he gives faith, and works so as the effect shall suc- ceed : he works efficaciously and determinately, so as to oppose all the resistance of the will, and accomplish his work.
That is the first branch.
Secondly, When we are thus framed by grace, after conversion God still concurreth, and must help us to do his will. He doth not only give us the habit of grace, but actual help in the work of obedience : Isa. xxvi. 12, ' Thou hast wrought all our works in us.'