(1.) By the duties of holiness that are internal only, I intend all acts of faith, love, trust, hope, fear, reverence, delight, that have God for their immediate object, but go not forth nor exert them- selves in any external duties. And in these doth our spiritual life unto God principally consist; for they are as the first acts of life, which principally evidence the strength or decays of it. And from these we may take the best measure of our spiritual health and in- terest in holiness; for we may abound in outward duties, and yet our hearts be very much alienated from the life of God : yea, some- times men may endeavour to make up what is wanting with them by a multitude of outward duties, and so have "a name to live" when they are " dead," wherein the true nature of hypocrisy and su- perstition doth consist, Isa. i. 11-15. But when the internal actings of faith, — fear, trust, and love, — abound and are constant in us, they evidence a vigorous and healthy condition of soul.
(2.) Duties that are external, also, are of two sorts, or are distin- guished with respect unto their objects and ends; for, — [1.] God himself is the object and end of some of them, as of prayer and praises, whether private or more solemn. And of this nature are
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all those which are commonly called "duties of the first table;" all such as belong unto the sanctification of the name of God in his worship. [2.] Some respect men of all sorts in their various capa- cities, and our various relations unto them, or have men for their object, but God for their end. And among these, also, I include those which principally regard ourselves, or our own persons. The whole of what we intend is summarily expressed by our apostle. Tit. ii. 12.
Concerning all these acts and duties, Avhether internal only or external also, whether their proper object be God, ourselves, or other men, so far as they are acts of holiness and are accepted with God, they proceed from a peculiar operation of the Holy Spirit in us. And herein, to make our intention the more evident, we may distinctly observe, —
(1.) That there is in the minds, wills, and affections of all believers, a meetness, fitness, readiness, and habitual disposition unto the per- formance of all acts of obedience towards God, all duties of piety, charity, and righteousness, that are required of them ; and hereby are they internally and habitually distinguished from them that are not so. That it is so with them, and whence it comes to be so, we have before declared. This power and disposition is wrought and pre- served in them by the Holy Ghost.
(2.) No believer can of himself act, — that is, actually exert or exer- cise,— this principle or power of a spiritual life, in any one instance of any duty, internal or external, towards God or men, so as that it shall be an act of holiness, or a duty accepted with God. He can- not, I say, do so of himself, by virtue of any power habitually in- herent in him. We are not in this world intrusted with any such spiritual ability from God, as without farther actual aid and assist- ance to do any thing that is good. Therefore, —
(3.) That which at present I design to prove is. That the actual aid, assistance, and internal operation of the Spirit of God is ne- cessary, required, and granted, unto the producing of every holy act of our minds tuills, and affections, in every duty tvJiatever; or, That notwithstanding the power or ability which believers have received in or by habitual grace, they still stand in need of actual grace, in, for, and unto every single gracious, holy act or duty to- wards God. And this I sliall now a little farther explain, and then confirm.
As it is in our natural lives with respect unto God's providence, so it is in our spiritual lives with respect unto his grace. He hath iu the works of nature endowed us with a vital principle, or an act of the quickening soul upon the body, Avhicli is quickened thereby. By virtue hereof we are enabled unto all vital acts, whether natural
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and necessary or voluntary, according to the constitution of our being, which is intellectual. "God breathed into man the breath of life; and man became a living soul,'' Gen. ii. 7. Giving him a principle of life, he was fitted for and enabled unto all the proper acts of that life ; for a principle of life is an ability and disposition unto acts of life. But yet, whosoever is thus made a living soul, whosoever is endued with this principle of life, he is not able originally, without any motion or acting from God as the first cause, or independently of him, to exert or jDut forth any vital act. That which hath not this principle, as a dead carcass, hath no meetness unto vital actions, nor is capable either of motion or alteration, but as it receives impressions from an outward principle of force or an inward principle of corruption. But he in whom it is hath a fitness, readiness, and habitual power for all vital actions, yet so as without the concurrence of God in his energetical providence, moving and acting of him, he can do no- thing; for "in God we live, and move, and have our being," Acts xvii. 28. And if any one could of himself perform an action with- out any concourse of divine operation, he must himself be absolutely the first and only cause of that action, — that is, the creator of a new being.