[3.] To conquer temptations. It is God that rescues the prey, and plucked us at first by a strong hand out of Satan's power : Luke xi. 21, 22, ' When the strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace ; but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from him all his armour, wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils.' God can bind Satan, and dispossess him, and ' recover you out of the snares of the devil, wherein you are taken cap- tive by him at his will,' 2 Tim. ii. 26. And when we are once in a state of grace, he can preserve you in despite of men and devils. The world assaults the children of God with great force and power, and the devil is in the design ; but, saith the apostle, ' Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world,' John iv. 4. God is greater in counsel, greater in strength, greater in his providence and watchfulness for the good of his people. Till this divine power interpose it can never be.
[4.] We have no reason to doubt of his will, for he hath promised to take away the heart of stone : Ezek. xxxvi. 26, ' A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.' There is nothing within the compass of our christian calling of which we have not a promise in the covenant. The precept and the promise go hand-in-hand ; therefore the promise will be made good, and so we have no reason to despair, but humbly wait upon God in the use of means till these promises be accomplished.
2. What use shall we make of it then ? Go to God for this power, and give God all the glory of any saving grace wrought in us by this power.
[1.] Go to God for this power when you are sensible of your impo- tency. In vain do we talk of power to men that are not sensible of weakness, and will not so much as essay whether they have power or no : 2 Cor. xii. 10, ' When I am weak, then am I strong.' When creatures are helpless and shiftless, God takes pity upon them ; there- fore when you have been tugging and wrestling in the business of salvation, and it doth not come on kindly, but you find your weakness, then you may come to God for his power. Bewail your impotency, and say, as Jehoshaphat, 2 Chron. xx. 12, ' Lord, we have no might, neither know we what to do, but our eyes are unto thee ; ' or rather as Ephraim, Jer. xxxi. 18, 'Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn thou me, and I shall be turned.' God's chastisement revived the sense of his duty, and think-
VeR. 27.] SERMONS UPON 3IARK X. 17-27. 79
ing of his duty made him feel his impotency, and feeling his impo- tency that made him groan to God, and wait for his power. Oh ! it is well when practical experience convinceth us of our weakness and necessities, and our weakness and necessities lead us to the promises, and the promises to Christ, in whom they are ' Yea and amen ; ' and Christ to God as the fountain of grace, and then we rest upon the power of God. And therefore, since it is impossible with man, go to God, and say, Lord, I confess the debt, I acknowledge my impotency, but thou hast forbidden me to despair, therefore I come to thee ; give what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt.
[2.] If it be impossible with men, let God have all the glory of any saving grace wrought in thee. Mark this, because there is a deceit. God must not only have some glory, but all the glory, for in the new covenant there is no glorying but in the Lord. All will acknowledge and count it a piece of religious manners to speak of some help of grace, but they do not give it its due praise. The pharisee could say, ' God, I thank thee I am not as other men,' Luke xviii. 11. As, for instance, if a man should say. It is all from God indeed, but only in a Pelagian sense, as he is author naturce, the author of nature, as he created us at first with a rational soul, and gave us an understanding and will, whereby he enableth us freely to choose that which is good ; here is God's power acknowledged, but at too remote a distance. The very hea- thens would acknowledge grace, as sacrilegious as they were in robbing God of his due. Quod vivamus, that we live, and that we had rea- sonable natures, that was the gift of tlie gods ; but q7wd bene vivamus, that we live well, that is of ourselves. This confounds nature and grace ; we sacrifice the wax to God, and keep the honey to ourselves. Again, we should acknowledge God not only in the grace of external revelation, revealing the object, that God hath given us an excellent religion, there is his grace, but in working upon the faculty. Here God is acknowledged, but at too low a rate, for we need not only the sunhght, but eyes : Eph. i. 18, ' The eyes of your understanding being opened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints.' Or if we will go further, and acknowledge internal grace is necessary, but not absol- utely necessary, but only for facilitation, to do it the more easily, for the work is very difficult if mere man were left to himself ; here God's power is acknowledged, but not enough ; grace is absolutely necessary, not as a horse to a journey, but as legs and feet. Again, if we should acknowledge it as absolutely necessary for God to excite and move us, but give the main stroke to our own will, this is not praise high enough ; it is God inclines the heart, it is God that gives us the will, the begin- ing and ending of all is from him ; with man it is impossible, therefore God must have all the glory.