[1.] There is an inclination and propensity to a godly life ; for as God created all creatures with an inclination to their proper operations, so the new creature hath a tendency to those actions which are proper to its state ; as the sparks fly upward and the stone falleth downward from an inclination of nature, so are their hearts bent to please God and serve him, and what they do therein they do with a kind of naturalness, because of this bent and inclination : ' The law is in their hearts/ Ps. xl. 8. There is a purpose there, Acts xi. 23, an inclination there, Ps. cxix. 112. We read in Exod. xxxv. 29, that they gave to the sanctuary ' every one whose heart made him willing.' I bring this expression to explain what I am speaking of ; so their hearts being thus prepared and renewed by the Holy Ghost, make them willing ; there is some weight and poise within their hearts to carry them unto God, and the duties that concern his glory and service. A man may act from a violent impression contrary to nature, as a stone moveth upward, or a bowl thrown with great strength where the bias is overruled ; so a wicked man may do a good action or two,
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as Saul forced himself ; but the bent and natural inclination is another thing. It is good to attend to the principle of our motions, whether it be natural or violent, whether our spirits make us willing, or some accidental reason constrain us ; as when men are acted by something foreign, as the force of holy example, whereby many a man is drawn to do otherwise than he would, as Joash while Jehoiada lived, 2 Chron. xxiv. A man may be acted by his company, follow good examples, and may be provoked thereby : Heb. x. 24, ' Let us consider one another, to provoke to love and good works.' It were well if one Christian would more provoke another. Man is an imitating creature, loath to be outdone ; but if this be all, we shall soon bewray our unsoundness. He may be forced by envy, vainglory, and by-ends (Phil. i. 5) to preach or pray, forced by natural conscience, Roni. ii. 14, 15, or set a-work by a corrupt principle. The urgings of a natural conscience are quite another thing than the bent of a renewed heart ; there is a principle of life which breedeth an inclination. He may be forced by a sense of his misery ; self sets him a-work to seek after God, because he would use him for a turn, to help him out of his distress ; as those in Ps. lxxviii. 34-37, ' When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and inquired early after God ; and they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer : never- theless, they did flatter him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues : for their heart was not right with him, neither were they steadfast in his covenant.' Their affections were not sincerely set for God, or towards God, or bent against sin ; the sense of a pre- sent wrath, or the terror of an angry God, did drive them into a fit of religiousness for the present, which can produce no steadfast purpose. They that make self their utmost end can never endeavour constantly to please and glorify God ; but wdiere true grace is, there is a pro- pensity and disposition to every good work, which we should always cherish in ourselves ; for as it abateth or increaseth, so we are diligent or sluggish in God's service.
[2.] There is not only an inclination, but a readiness or preparedness, which is a further effect of this solid and substantial grace, and often spoken of in scripture ; as Titus iii. 1, ' Ready to every good work ;' 1 Tim. vi. 18, ' Ready to distribute ;' ' Ready to communicate,' Heb. xiii. 16. So Paul, Acts xxi. 13, eTotfitos e'^w, ' I am ready not only to be bound, but to die at Jerusalem.' Or take a general place, 2 Tim. ii. 4, ' Prepared to every good work ;' and Luke xii. 47, ' That servant that knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did accord- ing to his will ;' so Eph. ii. 10, and many other places. This goeth beyond inclination, as fire hath an inclination to ascend upward, but something may violently keep it down that it cannot ascend actually. A Christian may have a will to good, a strong and not a remiss will, yet there are some impediments : Rom. vii. 18, ' For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not.' Incli- nation implieth a remote power, but readiness the next or immediate power. God's people, that have the seed of grace in them, yet how unready are they to that which they desire to do ! Therefore a Chris- tian ought always to keep himself in all readiness and fitness of dis- position for his duty, whether it concern God, or ourselves, or others.