CHAP. VI.] IN THE SANCTIFICATION OF BELIEVERS. 495
ever are in bondage unto sin, and that in all the faculties of their souls. They are " sold under sin;" are " not subject unto the law of God, neither indeed can be;" — can neither think, nor will, nor do, nor de- sire, nor love any thing that is spiritually good, according to the mind of God. But as unto what is evil, perverse, unclean, that they are free and open unto, — ready for, prone, and inclined, and every way able to do. On the other side, in those who are renewed by the Holy Ghost and sanctified, it acknowledgeth and teacheth a freedom of will, not in an indifferency and flexibility unto good and evil, but in a power and ability to like, love, choose, and cleave unto God and liis will in all things. The will is now freed from its bondage unto sin, and, being enlarged by light and love, willeth and chooseth freely the things of God, having received spiritual power and ability so to do. It is the truth,— that is, faith in the gospel, the doctrine of the truth, — which is the means of this freedom; the " truth that makes us free," John viii. 32. And it is the Son of God by his Spirit who is the principal efficient cause of it : for '■' if the Son make us free, then are we free indeed," verse 36; and otherwise we are not whatever we pretend. And this freedom unto spiritual good we have not of ourselves in the state of nature ; for if we have, then are we free indeed, and there would be no need that the Son should make us free.
The difference, therefore, about free-will is reduced unto these heads: — 1st. Whether there be a power in man indifferently to de- termine himself his choice and all his actings, to this or that, good or evil, one thing or another, independently of the will, power, and providence of God, and his disposal of all future events? This, in- deed, we deny, as that which is inconsistent with the prescience, authority, decrees, and dominion of God, and as that which would prove certainly ruinous and destructive to ourselves. 2dl:i/. Whether there be in men unregenerate, not renewed by the Holy Ghost, a freedom, power, and ability unto that which is spiritually good, or to believe and obey according to the mind and will of God? This also we deny, as that which is contrary to innumerable testimonies of Scripture, and absolutely destructive of the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, ^dly. Whether the freedom of will that is in be- lievers do consist in an indifferency and freedom from any determi- nation only, with a power equally ready for good or evil, according as the will shall determine itself? or whether it consist in a gracious freedom and ability to choose, will, and do that which is spiritually good, in opposition to the bondage and slavery unto sin wherein we were before detained? This last is that liberty and power of the will which we assert, with the Scripture, in persons that are sancti- fied. And a liberty this is every way consistent with all the ope-
496 THE POSITIVE WORK OF THE SPIRIT [BOOK IV.
rations of God, as the sovereign first cause of all things; every way compliant with and an effect of the special grace of God, and the operations of the Holy Ghost; a liberty whereby our obedience and salvation are secured, in answer to the promises of the cove- nant. And who that understands himself would change this real, useful, gracious free-will, given by Jesus Christ the Son of God, when he makes us free, and an effect of God's writing his law in our hearts, to cause us to walk in his statutes, — that property of the new heart whereby it is able to consent unto, choose, and em- brace freely, the things of God, — for that fictitious, imaginary free- dom, yea, for (if it were real) an indifferency unto all things, and an equal power unto every thing, whether it be good or evil? I say, then, that by the habit of grace and holiness infused into us by the Sjjirit of sanctification, the will is freed, enlarged, and en- abled to answer the commands of God for obedience, according to the tenor of the new covenant. This is that freedom, this is that power of the will, which the Scripture reveals and regards and which by all the promises and precepts of it we are obliged to use and exercise, and no other.
[3.] The affectio7is, which naturally are the principal servants and instruments of sin, are hereby engaged unto God, Deut. XXX. 6.
And from what hath been thus far discoursed, the sense of our former assertion is evident, as also the nature of the princijDle of holiness insisted on. The Holy Ghost in oiir sanctification doth work, effect, and create in us a new, holy, spiritual, vital principle of grace, residing in all the faculties of our souls, according as their especial nature is capable thereof, after the manner of a permanent and preva- lent habit, which he cherisheth, preserveth, increaseth, and strength- eneth continually, by effectual supplies of grace from Jesus Christ, disposing, inclining, and enabling the whole soul unto all ways, acts, and duties of holiness, whereby we live to God, opposing, resisting, and finally conquering, whatever is opposite and contrary thereunto. This belongs essentially unto evangelical holiness, yea, herein doth the nature of it formally and radically consist. This is that from whence believers are denominated holy, and without which none are so, nor can be so called.