(1.) No man can engage God to give him converting grace ; this would tie grace to works, and then man would make himself to differ ; and our debt to grace would be taken off, and the difterence that is between us and others did arise from ourselves : this would make men sacrifice to their ow^n net. Now this is contrary to scripture. No man
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can earn anything of God : Rom. ix. 16, ' It is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy ; ' not upon the motion of our will, nor by virtue of our endeavours, but God merely acts out of the freedom of his own grace ; not by our desires, which is implied in ' willing ; ' nor by virtue of our endeavours, which is implied in ' running ; ' so 2 Tim. i. 9, ' Who hath saved us, and called us Avith a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.' God's liberty is not abridged by any act of the creature, neither is he necessitated to have mercy upon us rather than upon others. Many inconveniences would follow according to this doctrine ; as that the creature must bid and buy and engage Christ before they have an interest in Christ. It is against reason : all those foregoing endeavours cannot please God, being void of faith and mixed with sins ; and that which deserves wrath cannot prepare for grace. It is against experience : many shall endeavour, but not obtain, because all works that are done in the state of nature cannot make us a whit more accepted with God. Therefore God, to show that his grace runs freely, and is not drawn out by our endeavours, saith — 'Many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able,' Luke xiii. 24. Then again, this would make the creature to come and to plead with God ; whereas the Lord will have us to lie at the foot of his sovereignty ; the Lord will be the dis- poser of his own mercy. It crosseth the order of God in the dispensa- tion of his grace, vvliich is to bring the creature upon liis knees, to be willing to refer all to his sovereignty — ' Lord, thou hast mercy on whom thou wilt have mercy, and whom thou wilt thou hardenest.' This would cross the work of humiliation, by which the Lord would bring the creature to absolute submission to his own sovereignty. When we have done all, God is not our debtor ; he oweth us nothing but vengeance.
(2.) There is no shadow of any engagement, by promise on God's part, whereby he should undertake to any of us ; there is no such pro- mise as this — Do this by the strength of nature, and thou shalt have supernatural grace, but because they urge many things.
Secondly, I shall come to some objections.
SERMON XXVII.
But ivithout faith, it is impossible to please him. — Heb. xi. 6.
Ohj. 1. ' For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance ; but from him that hath not, shall be taken away even that which he hath,' Mat. xiii. 13, and Mat. xxv. 29. They say, God is obliged by promise to him that hath many acts of nature, to give acts of grace ; but I answer, that place speaks of those that have grace already. It is the reason Christ assigns, why it was given to them to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, and the reason is taken from the course God keeps in dispensation of his grace ; such as have found grace in God's eyes, they have the fountain gift,
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and they shall have others to perfect their salvation. Deus donando se facit debitorem — God, by giving them grace already, hath made himself a debtor to them for new influences and all outward means, whereby they shall increase in grace and strength. In Mark iv. 24, it is said, ' Take heed what you hear, for with what measure you mete it shall be measured to you again, and unto you that hear shall more be given.' I answer, this still implies not a bare use of means while we are in a state of nature, but faith in hearing, without which the word never profiteth : so Prov. viii. 34, ' Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the post of my doors ; ' that is, that waits in faith ; those that have grace by waiting upon the means, grace in the same kind shall be increased in them. We must not invert the method of the covenant. Another place is, Acts x. 34, 35, ' Of a truth I perceive (saith Peter) that God is no respecter of persons ; but in every nation he that feareth God, and worketh righteousness, is accepted of him : ' from whence they argue, that if a man have a natural reverence of God, and do the works of righteous- ness, he shall be accepted of God to further grace.