536 OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. [BOOK IV.
lie worketh them " to will" in us, so also " to do," — that is, effectu- ally to j)erform those duties whereunto the gracious actings of our wills are required.
And wliat hath been spoken may suffice to prove that the Holy Spirit, as the author of our sanctijication, worketh also in us all gracious acts of faith, love, and obedience, wherein the first part of our actual holiness and righteousness doth consist. And the truth thus confirmed may be farther improved unto our instruction and edification.
(1.) It is easily hence discernible how contrary are the designs and expressions of the Scripture and the notions of some men among us. There is not any thing that is good in us, nothing that is done well by us in the way of obedience, but the Scripture expressly and frequently assigns it unto the immediate operations of the Holy Spirit in us. It doth so in general as to all gracious actings what- ever ; and not content therewith, it proposeth every grace and every holy duty, distinctly affirming the Holy Ghost to be the immediate author of them. And when it comes to make mention of us, it posi- tively, indeed, prescribes our duty to us, but as plainly lets us know that we have no power in or from ourselves to perform it. But some men speak, and preach, and write, utterly to another purpose. The freedom, liberty, power and ability of our own wills; the light, guidance, and direction of our own minds or reasons; and from all, our own performance of all the duties of faith and obedience, — are the subjects of their discourses, and that in opposition unto what is ascribed in the Scriptures unto the immediate operations of the Holy Ghost. They are all for grace : " Not I, but grace ; not I, but Christ; without him we can do nothing." These are all for our wills: " Not grace, but our wills do all." It is not more plainly affirmed in the Scripture that God created heaven and earth, that he sustains and preserves all things by his power, than that he creates grace in the hearts of believers, preserves it, acts it, and makes it effectual, working all our works for us and all our duties in us. But evasions must be found out, — strange, forced, uncouth senses must be put upon plain, frequently-repeated expressions, — to secure the honour of our wills, and to take care that all the good we do may not be as- signed to the grace of God. • To this purpose distinctions are coined, evasions invented, and such an explanation is given of all divine operations as renders them useless and insignificant. Yea, it is almost grown, if not criminal, yet weak and ridiculous, in the judg- ment of some, that any shoidd assign those works and operations to the Spirit of God which the Scripture doth, in the very words that the Scripture useth. To lessen the corruption and depravation of our nature by sin ; to extol the integrity and power of our reason ;
CHAP. VII.] OF THE ACTS AND DUTIES OF HOLINESS. 5S7
to maintain the freedom and ability of our wills in and unto things spiritually good ; to resolve the conversion of men unto God into their natural good dispositions, inclinations, and the right use of their rea- son ; to render holiness to be only a probity of life or honesty of con- versation, upon rational motives and considerations, — are the things that men are now almost wearied with the repetition of. Scarce a person that hath confidence to commence for reputation in the world, but immediately he furnisheth himself with some new tink- ling ornaments for these old Pelagian figments. But whoever shall take an impartial view of the design and constant doctrine of the Scripture in this matter will not be easily carried away with the plausible pretences of men exalting their own wills and abilities, in opposition to the Spirit and grace of God by Jesus Christ.
(2.) From what hath been discoursed, a farther discovery is made of the nature of gospel obedience, of all the acts of our souls therein, and of the duties that belong thereunto. It is commonly granted that there is a great difference between the acts and duties that are truly gracious, and those which are called by the same name that are not so, as in any duties of faith, of prayer, of charjlty. But this difference is supposed generally to be in the adjuncts of those duties, in some properties of them, but not in the kind, nature, or substance of the acts of our minds in them. Nay, it is commonly said that whereas wicked men are said to believe, and do many things gladly in a way of obedience, what they so do is, for the substance of the acts they perform, the same with those of them who are truly re- generated and sanctified ; they may differ in their principle and end, but as to their substance or essence they are the same. But there is no small mistake herein. All gracious actings of our minds and souls, whether internal only, in faith, love, or delight, or whether they go out unto external duties required in the gospel, being- wrought in us by the immediate efficacy of the Spirit of grace, differ in their kind, in their essence and substance of the acts themselves, from whatever is not so wrought or effected in us; for whatever may be done by any one, in any acting of common grace or per- formance of any duty of obedience, being educed out of the power of the natural faculties of men, excited by convictions, as directed and enforced by reasons and exhortations, or assisted by common aids, of what nature soever, they are natural as to their kind, and they have no other substance or being but what is so. But that which is wrought in us by the especial grace of the Holy Ghost, in the way mentioned, is supernatural, as being not educed out of the powers of our natural faculties, but an immediate effect of the almighty super- natural efficacy of the grace of God. And, therefore, the sole rea- son why God accepts and rewards duties of obedience in them that