Thirdly, All the acts of the will being positive entities, were it not previously moved by God himself, " in whom we live, move, and have our being," must needs have their essence and existence solely from the will itself; which is thereby made aurh 6v, a first and supreme cause, endued with an underived being. And so much to that par- ticular.
Let us now, in the second place, look upon the power of our free- will in doing that which is montlly good ; where we shall find not only an essential imperfection, inasmuch as it is created, but also a contracted effect, inasmuch as it is corrupted. The ability which the Arminians ascribe unto it in this kind, of doing that which is morally and spiritually good, is as large as themselves will confess to be com- petent unto it in the state of innocency, even a power of believing and a power of resisting the gospel, of obeying and not obeying, of turning or of not being converted.
The Scripture, as I observed before, hath no such term at all, nor any thing cf^uivalent unto it. But the expressions it useth concerning our nature and all the faculties thereof, in this state of sin and un-
OF FEEE-WILL. 121
regeneration, seem to imply the quite contrary; as, that we are in "bondage," Heb. ii. 15 ; " dead in sins," Eph. ii. 1, and so " free from righteousness," Rom. vi. 20; "servants of sin," verse 17; under the " reign" and " dominion" thereof, verses 1 2, 14 ; all " our members being instrnmentsof unrighteousness," verse 1 3 ; not "free indeed," until "the Son make us free." So that this idol of free-will, in respect of spiritual things, is not one whit better than the other idols of the heathen. Though it look like "silver and gold," it is the "work of men's hands." " It hath a mouth, but it speaketh not ; it hath eyes, but it seeth not ; it hath ears, but it heareth not ; anose, but it smelleth n ot ; it hath hands, but it handleth not; feet, but it walketh not; neither speaketh it through its throat. They that made it are like unto it; and so is every one that trusteth in it. 0 Israel, trust thou in the Lokd," etc., Ps. cxv. 4—9. That it is the work of men's hands, or a human invention, I showed before. For the rest, it hath a mouth unacquainted with the " mys- tery of godliness," " full only of cursing and bitterness," Rom. iii. 14; " speaking great swelling words," Jude 16 ; " great things, and blas- phemies," Rev. xiii. 5 ; a " mouth causing the flesh to sin," Eccles. V. 6 ; — his eyes are blind, not able to perceive those things that are of God, nor to know those things that are " spiritually discerned," 1 Cor. ii. 14; "eyes before which there is no fear of God," Rom. iii. 18; — his " understanding is darkened, because of the blindness of his heart," Eph. iv. 18; " wise to do evil, but to do good he hath no knowledge," Jer. iv. 22 ; so that without farther light, all the world is but a mere " darkness," John i. 5 ; — he hath ears, but they are like the ears of the " deaf adder" to the word of God, " refusing to hear the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely," Ps. Iviii. 5 ; being "dead" when his voice first calls it, John v. 25; " ears stopped that they should not hear," Zech. vii. 11 ; " heavy ears" that cannot hear, Isa. vi. 1 0 ; — a nose, to which the gospel is " the savour of death unto death," 2 Cor. ii. 16; — "hands full of blood," Isa. i. 15; and "fingers defiled with iniquity," chap. lix. 3; — feet, indeed, but, like Mephibosheth, lame in both by a fall, so that he cannot at all walk in the path of goodness ; but " swift to shed blood, destruction and misery are in his ways, and the way of peace hath he not known," Rom. iii. 15-17. These, and divers other such endowments and excellent qualifications, doth the Scripture attribute to this idol, which it calls " The old man," as I shall more fully discover in the next chapter. And is not this a goodly reed whereon to rely in the paths of godliness? a pow^erful deity whereunto we may repair for a power to become the sons of God, and attain eternal happiness? The abilities of free-will in particular I shall consider hereafter; now only I will, by one or two reasons, show that it cannot be the sole and proper cause of any truly good and spiritual act, well-pleasing unto God.
122 A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISM.
First, All spiritual acts well-pleasing unto God, as faith, repent- ance, obedience, are supernatural; flesh and blood revealeth not these things: " Not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man; but of God," John i. 13; " That which is bom of the flesh is flesh; and that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit," chap, iii. 6. Now, to the performance of any supernatural act it is re- quired that the productive power thereof be also supernatural; for nothing hath an activity in causing above its own sphere. " Nee imbelles generant feroces aquilas columbse." But our free-will is a merely natural faculty, betwixt which and those spiritual, super- natural acts there is no proportion, unless it be advanced above its own orb, by inherent, habitual grace. Divine, theological virtues, differing even in the substance of the act from those moral perform- ances about the same things to which the strength of nature may reach (for the difference of acts ariseth from their formal objects, which to both these are diverse), must have another principle and cause above all the power of nature in civil things and actions morally good, inasmuch as they are subject to a natural percep- tion, and do not exceed the strength of our own wills. This fa- culty of free-will may take place, but yet not without these fol- lowing limitations: — First, That it always requireth the general concurrence of God, whereby the whole suppositum in which free-will hath its subsistence may be sustained, Matt. x. 29, 30. Secondly, That we do all these things imperfectly and with much infirmity ; every degree, also, of excellency in these things must be counted a special gift of God, Isa. xxvi. 12. Thirdly, That our wills are deter- mined by the will of God to all their acts and motions in particular ; but to do that which is spiritually good we have no knowledge, no power.