(5.) There is a twofold gracious power necessary to render the command for holiness and obedience thereunto easy and pleasant: —
[1.] That which is habitually resident in the hearts and souls of believers, whereby they are constantly inclined and disposed unto all fruits of holiness. This the Scripture calls our " life," a new principle of life, without which we are dead in trespasses and sins. Where this is not, whatever arguments you constrain and press men withal to be holy, you do, as it were, but offer violence unto them, endeavouring to force them against the fixed bent and inclination of their minds. By them all you do but set up a dam against a stream of Avater, which will not be permanent, nor turn the course of the stream con- trary to its natural inclination. Unto such the command for holi- ness must needs be grievous and difficult. But such a disposition and inclination, or a principle so inclining and disposing us unto duties of holiness, we have not in or of ourselves by nature, nor is it to be raised out of its ruins; for the "carnal mind" (which is in us
622 HOLINESS NECESSARY FROM [BOOK V.
all) "is enmity against God," which carrieth in it an aversation unto every thing that is required of us in a way of obedience, as hath been proved at large. And yet without this habitual principle, we can never in a due manner comply with any one command of God that we should be holy. Want hereof is that which renders obe- dience so grievous and burdensome unto many. They endure it for a season, and at length either violently or insensibly cast off its yoke. Light and conviction have compelled them to take it on themselves, and to attend unto the performance of those duties which they dare not omit ; — but having no principle enabling or inclining them unto it, all they do, though they do much, and continue long therein, is against the grain with them; they find it difficult, uneasy, and weari- some. Wherein they can by any pretence countenance themselves in a neglect of any part of it, or bribe their consciences into a compli- ance with what is contrary unto it, they fail not to deliver themselves from their burden. And, for the most part, either insensibly, by multi- plied instances of the neglect of duties of obedience, or by some great temptation before they leave the world, they utterly leave all the ways of holiness and respect unto the commands of God, or if they continue in any, it is unto external acts of morality, which pass with approbation in the world ; the inward and spiritual part of obedience they utterly renounce. The reason hereof, I say, is, because having no principle within, enabling them unto a compliance with the com- mands of God with delight and satisfaction, they grow grievous and intolerable unto them. So unto many, on the same ground, the worship of God is very burdensome, unless it be borne for them by external additions and ornaments.
[2.] There is an actual assistance of effectual grace required here- unto. We are not put into such condition by the covenant as that we should be able to do any thing of ourselves without actual divine assistance. This were to set us free from our dependence on God, and to make us gods' unto ourselves. The root still bears us, and the springs of our spiritual life are in another. And where both these are, there the command is equal, not only in itself but unto us, and obedience unto it as easy as just.
(6.) And both these sorts oi grace are administered in the neiv co- venant, suited unto the holy obedience it requires : —
[1.] For the^rs^, it is that which God so frequently, so expressly promiseth, where he says that " he will take away the heart of stone^ and give us a heart of flesh ;" that " he will write his laws in our hearts, and put his fear in our inward parts;" that we shall " fear him," and "never depart from him;" that he will " circumcise our hearts" to " know" and " love" him; — which promises, and the nature of the grace contained in them, I have before at large explained. It is suf-
CHAP. III.] THE COMMANDS OF GOD. 623
ficient unto our present purpose that in and by these promises we are rnade pm^taJce^^s of the divine nature, and are therein endowed with a constant, habitual disposition and inclination unto all acts and duties of holiness; for our poiuer followeth our love and incli- oiations, as impotency is a consequent of their defect.
And here we may stay a little to confirm our jDrincipal assertion. Upon the supply of this grace, which gives both strength for and a constant inclination unto holy obedience, the command for it becomes equal and just, meet and easy to be complied withal : for none can refuse a compliance with it in any instance, but their so doing is con- trary unto that disposition and inclination of the new nature which God hath implanted in themselves; so that for them to sin is not only contrary to the law without them, to the light of their minds and warning of their consciences, but it is also unto that which is their own inclination and disposition, which hath sensibly in such cases a force and violence put upon it by the power of corruptions and temp- tations. Wherefore, although the command for holiness may and doth seem grievous and burdensome unto unregenerate persons, as we have observed, because it is against the habitual bent and incli- nation of their whole souls, yet neither is it nor can it be so unto them who cannot neglect it or act any thing against it, but that therein, also, they must crucify and offer violence unto the inclina- tions of the new creature in them, which are their own ; for in all things " the spirit lusteth against the flesh," Gal. v. 1 7, and the disposition of the new creature is habitually against sin and for holiness. And this gives a mighty constraining power unto the command, when it is evident in our own minds and consciences that it requires nothing of us but what we do or may find an inclination or disposition in our own hearts unto. And by this consideration we may take in the power of it upon our souls, which is too frequently disregarded. Let us but, upon the proposal of it unto us, consider what our minds and hearts say to it, what answer they return, and we shall quickly discern how equal and just the command is; for I cannot persuade myself that any believer can be so captivated at any time, under the power of temptations, corruptions, or prejudices, but that (if he will but take counsel with his own soul, upon the consi- deration of the command for obedience and holiness, and ask himself what he would have) he will have a plain and sincere answer, "That, indeed, I would do and have the good proposed, this holiness, this duty of obedience.'" Not only will conscience answer, that he must not do the evil whereunto temptation leadeth, for if he do, evil will ensue thereon; but the new nature, and his mind and sjjirit, will say, " This good I would do; I delight in it; it is best for me, most suited unto me." And so it joins all the strength and interest