Ohj. 2. But you will say, How or by icJiat means doth God make this word effectual ?
Ans. I answer, this excellency of power in the word and his truth worketh in the heart by the Spirit.
(1.) By way of revelation. It revealeth to us excellent things above * Sic' The sentence unfinished. Cf. Vol. 1. p. 38.— G.
378 COMMENTARY ON
nature, and better things than corrupt nature can apprehend in the world — Christ, and all the good we have by him ; and that is the first thing — a revelation of divine truths.
(2.) Then again, by the Spirit, as all this is ojfcrcd to a soul that will receive it. There is not only a discovery, but an ofler.
(3.) There is not only these discoveries and otlors, but divine truth ia the iustnuiicnt tlutt ivorkclh faith to apprehend and lay hold upon this. And therefore it is called the ' word of faith.' And when faith is wrought by the Spirit, after revelation, and after offer of divine truths, then that faith draweth out of Christ. Faith hath a drawing and sucking power out of the word, and Christ revealed in the word, of whatsoever is necessary for grace and comfort, that may be needful to bring to heaven ; for the Spirit of God workcth fsiith, and by faith bringeth all other graces in, and maketh them effectual in the soul. Faith is the grace of union, that knitteth us to the principle of life, Christ.
And therefore God, upon revelation and oflfer of divine truths, first worketh faith, and by faith knitteth us to the fountain of life, Christ ; and it is a wise grace, teaching the soul to fetch sovereign advantages from Christ, as in nature there is an instinct in ev'ery creature to fetch nourish- ment from the dam. So when God hath wrought faith in the soul, God putteth this supernatural divine instinct into the soul, to fetch whatsoever is needful, all comfortable graces out of Christ. And thus it becomes an effectual word, an excellency in a believing soul. ' It is the power of God to salvation to all them that believe,' Eom. i. 16. When we believe, God sheweth his power in the soul. God, by his almighty power, first worketh faith, and then faith layeth hold on that mighty power again. When God hath by the word wrought faith, we do apprehend the almighty power of God in Christ, and to make use of it on all occasions. And therefore it is called. Col. ii. 12, * The faith of the operation of God.'
Obj. 8. And by resolving of this question we may answer another.
Quest. That is, wJiat degree of jjoiccr is h^re meant, icJicn he saith the excellent power that is of God ? Whether it is only a revealing of divine truths, or likewise in working upon the soul effectually ? For you know that distinctly there is a moral kind of working which is by persuasion, and entreaty, and efficacious working, which is more than entreaty, which worketh as the sun worketh upon inferior things, which is called a virtual* working, and maketh an impression therein. Now whether doth the word by the Spirit only reveal, and offer divine truths, or have a work some- times in the soul ?
It is no nicef question, as it is made. And I will give you the truth of it.
Ans. The excellency of the power is not only in revealing, but in working. The word and the Spirit not only reveal, but work something in the soul, and in every part of the soul.
(1.) In the understanding there is not only a revealing of truth, but a light. In the understanding he giveth not only life but sense.
(2.) So the icill not only apprehendeth what is good, and excellently good, but God's power goeth, together with the revealing of things, to the will, and putteth a relish into the will to relish that good, else natural cor- ruption will will above what is good, without power wrought in the will to clear itself, and bend itself, and weigh itself towards the best things.
(3.) And so for the affections ; good things are not only revealed to love
* That is, = energetic working. — G. f That is, = delicate or difficult. — G.
2 CORINTHIANS CHAP. IV, VEH. 7. 379
and joy, but the affections themselves are altered and changed. The corrupt natural affections have no proportion to supernatural objects, without an inward work, wrought in the heart, in the will and affections. So the power and efficacy of the word and Spirit is not only in presentation and offer, but in powerful working upon the soul, because there is no connatural- ness, no proportion between a soul unturned, unchanged, and objects ot a higher nature. Can an eye see things invisible ? Can a natural soul apprehend and love things supernatural, above nature, before it be altered? It cannot. There is a vicious humour overspreadeth the soul, and there- fore alters the taste of it, that we cannot naturally like nor approve the best things. And therefore the taste must first be altered. Take a sick man, if he have never so much skill, the palate is vitiated, and he cannot relish the wholesomest thing in the world, but answerable to the corruption of his palate. So let a man have never so much knowledge, if the power of the soul be not altered, he relisheth divine truths only according to his cor- rupt fancy. And therefore there must be wise and powerful workings upon the soul, that as divine truths are savoury in themselves, so they may be savoury to us. Therefore they speak very shallowly of the work of grace, that take it only to be matter of entreaty, and leave the soul to its own liberty. Nolo hanc gratiam. I will not this grace (saith one of the ancients), that ieaveth the will to be flexible, and at liberty («). It is a dangerous thing when a man hath no more grace but what is left to himself. One mischief will necessarily follow, that God hath not so much power as the devil hath. If he propounds any motion, we have a corrupt heart that yieldeth to the temptation, and betrayeth the heart, but if God's persuasions be only moral, and alter not the frame of the heart, he findeth nothing of his own goodness in us, only he findeth in us what is contrary to God's Spirit. And therefore the devil hath the advantage of God, if God should not work in us powerfully. For supernatural things have no friends at all in us, but opposition and enmity. Propound the sweet truths of the gospel to a proud natural man, he hath no more relish in them than in the white of an egg. Job vi. 6, till his heart be humbled and subdued, for we have no friends within us to hold correspondency with such truths. But let the devil ofler a temptation to any natural man, he is iron to God, and wax to the devil. And' therefore of necessity there must be more than a moral work, by efiectual persuasion. I speak it to advance the power of the word, that we may know what degree of grace to beg. What is suitable to the apprehension of these things prayer will be for. If we conceive grace to be only a motion and persuasion, and no powerful work upon the heart, we will beg no more. No man was ever brought to heaven with such a grace, but it is an altering, changing, converting grace that bringeth us to heaven.