Chapter V
The greatness of divine power in our regeneration manifested from instances oj
the several parts of that work.
1 But you will say unto me, Shew us (as he said to Samson) in what things
principally this great power lieth, what there is in the heart thus strongly to detain it, answerable to the pains of death, which God s power is to en counter with, and loosen the soul from, and which to subdue, this exceed
ing greatness of power must be drawn forth.
1. The first particular instance we find, 2 Cor. i. 4 ; and we have it there brought in just to our purpose in hand. For speaking of the mighty power of God working with the word, he illustrates and sets forth that power by shewing the powerful opposition it meets with and overcomes. The weapons of our warfare are mighty through God. And wherein is
their might seen ? In pulling down strongholds, &c. You see there is such opposition in the heart to be converted, as useth to be in a besieged town of war, which will hold out as long as possibly it can, and to that end
it builds and casteth up strongholds and high forts, strong and high, which the heart sticks to and will not be beaten from till they be beaten down ;
* To the pulling down, &c., says the text ; for yield it will not, till they be
pulled down. Now the particulars he there instanceth in are reasonings and imaginations. Some translate the one, some the other, that is, secret
dislikings, or not fancying the ways of God, with secret objections and argu ments against them and the subjection to them ; as also high thoughts that
exalt themselves, high, proud, contrary thoughts of enmity ; two great and
mighty armies to overcome, and the Spirit had need to come against them with no less than the exceeding greatness of his power. For you must know that when the Spirit effectually converts any soul, he brings Jesus
444 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
Christ into his heart, and sets up Jesus Christ there as king, and causeth this fundamental law to pass, and be enacted by the consent of the whole heart and greater party, in all the faculties, as the predominant rule and principle to guide a man s whole life ; that it is absolutely best to obey Christ in every particular passage of life, in every thought, in all conditions ; that this, I say, is absolutely best for him, and necessary to begin presently. This you have in the following words expressed, To bring every thought into the obedience of Christ ; this conclusion hath been irremoveably and irrevocably laid and fixed in the hearts of all the saints. So in the apostles, as you may see by their expressing their resolution in a case of the greatest difficulty when they were most strongly tempted.
2. Another particular instance of the greatness of God s power in our regeneration, is his breaking off a man s heart from the pleasures of sin and inordinate lusts. A man is as unwilling to part with them as with life ; and therefore all the power that is in the heart resists what would loosen them and the soul, and raise it out of that estate of spiritual death ; as any thing would resist what would take life from it. And as death is a strong thing, so is life also, and the law of it. And therefore the law of pleasures is strong in all men that lie buried in them, we being by nature lovers of pleasures more than of God, 2 Tim. iii. 4. Pleasures are so powerful, because so suitable to the disposition of a man s heart, that a man hath not the power, because not the heart, to resist them. And therefore you shall find that men will say (and the Scripture expresseth it in their own phrase) that such a pleasure they cannot leave. It is as the life to them, and they can no more part with it than be willing to cease to live. So unclean wan tons : 2 Pet. ii. 14,
< Eyes have they full of adultery, which cannot cease from sin ; such power, interest, and sway it hath in their hearts. So, Luke xiv. 20, when one who had lately married a wife was invited, he professeth plainly, without any excuse, I have married a wife, and I cannot corne.
^ The inordinancy of his pleasure in her had such hold in and power over his heart, that though he be damned for it, and lose heaven for it, he could not part with it. So that the same power which rescued Christ s soul from the pains of death to that glorious life in heaven, must work to raise that dead soul from the pleasure of sin unto the participation of the life of God, and to delight himself in the pleasures thereof (for without pleasure the creature cannot live), from which, by reason of those sinful pleasures, he is estranged. Therefore our Saviour Christ, speaking of the power and prevalency that the pleasure and sweetness of riches (for gain hath its sweetness) have in the heart, says, Mat. xix. 24, It is as easy for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, as for a man that trusts in his riches (as, Mark x. 24, it is expounded) to enter into heaven, riches being also one of a man s strongholds or towers formerly spoken of. So Solomon says, Prov. xviii. 11, possessing the midst of the heart, and so commanding the whole heart, as holds use to do the cities they are in, and chaining all the munition and strength of the heart, as it is reckoned an impossibility to scale these forts and break the heart from them, therefore the apostles, apprehending that every man had some dear pleasure or other, even poor men as well as rich, which was as dear to them, they stand amazed and ask, Who then shall be saved? And our Saviour Christ goes not back from his word, only by way of distinction adds, that 1 with man this is impossible indeed ; that is, all the power that is in man, all the reasons, all the motives and persuasions he can be made apprehen sive of, cannot ever effect this, divorce the heart and them ; but subjoins,
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION. 445
that with God all things are possible. Shewing plainly, as the greater power pleasures have in the heart, so what power it is must go to work a
separation between the heart and them ; no less than that power to which
all things are possible, even the greatest impossibilities. If God could not do all things, he could not do this. And, my brethren, do you know what
it is to part with the pleasure of a sin ? Which there is none knows but he who has done it indeed ; and he that hath done it finds a greater strength working in him than all the creatures have in them. It is not all the persuasions of angels and men, not all the offers of eternity, can make a man forego the bird in the hand, the present pleasures of sin, though but for a season. And till a man come to part with them in earnest, he never knew the greatness of their strength, and what power they have in him. For then all the pleasure that ever a man did enjoy by and in a
lust, and all that he might do still, will be united and collected into one
temptation, to make it work the more effectually. And that which is of all most dear will the devil set upon a man, as his last and strongest means to prevail with him; as uncleanness did with.Augustine (as in his case thus he relates it). It came to me, says he, when I was resolving to turn to God, and plucked me by the sleeve, and casting the most pleasing countenance that ever he saw, said, What ! will you forego me, and that for ever ? Now, therefore, to find so mighty a power in a man, as with Ephraim to say at thy conversion, What have I to do with idols? so with all the pleasures thou hast doated on ; and to part with them as freely as ever thou didst follow them, even as young commencers do with their money, as we use to say ; then know this exceeding greatness of power hath begun to work in thy heart.
3. The third particular which, to loosen the heart from it, and to over come it in the heart, draws forth this great power, is the world. For we are dead in sins and trespasses, and yet walk according to the course of this world, Eph. ii. 1, 2, and live to the lusts of men, 1 Pet. iv. 2. And this world hath a mighty power in it to detain a man in the grave of death. The men of the world, and the things of the world, are as graveclothes, as our coffins, as the mould of earth that covers us, and hinders us from rising, as the great stone did Christ. And that a great power comes and says. Arise, and stand up from the dead ! must be that power which wrought in Christ when he was raised from death to life : John
v. 4, Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world. Which argueth the world hath a great power it puts forth to hold a man ; for where there
is no army, no fight, no power put forth, there is no overcoming, no vic
tory. And what is the power by which we are enabled thus to overcome the world ? 1 John iv. 4, Stronger is he who is in you than he who is in the world. The world hath a great power in you, and such a power as none but God s Spirit could overcome and encounter with, and scatter ; and therefore conversion is called, Gal. i. 4, a delivering us out of this
present evil world by the Lord Christ, who having overcome the world for
us, overcame it also in us. For both the things of the world, and the men of the world, have a great power in our hearts ; the good things of it, and the bad things of it. The good things of it : the world is a large shop of
vanities, and every man s eye is fastened upon something, which works and draws mightily. His heart stands as Jael at the door of her tent, with milk in her hand, and cries,
* Come in, my lord. And we have all as thirsty hearts as he had after the flattering courtesies, the honour of the
world, and the good opinion and good word of the world. What strong
446 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
biases are all these to draw a man out of his way and course into the ways of the world ! Receiving honour from men, how did it hinder the Jews from Christ ! John v. 44. And so the disgraces and discouragements from
the world, from carnal friends that have power over us, as parents, masters,
husbands, very much prevail. Many would have believed, but that they should have been cast out of the synagogues. There is a corrupt strain and fashion of the world, which the apostle calls the course of the world, which men are carried away with as men in a dream ; which not to con form unto is accounted matter of greatest shame, and thought the greatest
folly. And then also there are many entanglements and correspondencies with carnal companions, and with those we have been by many kindnesses
endeared to, which are most powerful bands and ties to ingenuous natures. And all these doth the god of this world represent, at a man s conversion
usually, as he did to Christ when he tempted him with the glory of all the
good things of it. And he knows how to varnish, and paint, and set them
forth in their best splendour ; and so also the disgraces, discouragements, and dangers from the world, and these he represents in their worst visor.
Now, to be able to look upon all these goodly things as crucified things, and as dead flowers which the Spirit of God hath blown upon to choose
rather to suffer afflictions with a few poor despised ones in the world, who
are not of it to get and stand out of the crowd as a man wondered at
to be able to swim against the stream and tide of the multitude, the rage and fury of oppressors to have strength to break through all those weeds
of correspondencies with men, though never so great to break off the
strongest leagues and treaties with them, and to venture all their enmity
if wife and children (which are as hostages given to the world of amity with
it) hang about thy neck (as Jerome says in his first epistle), if father and mother down upon their knees to fling away the one and trample upon the other if thy friend, which is as thy own soul, entice thee (Deut.
xiii. 6) to forsake him to have a heart and strength to do all this, and
not to be overcome, is from the cords of God s almighty power drawing the
heart. And yet the child of God finds such power working in him, as if all
the world lay between Christ and him, Christ would draw his heart through. Nothing can hold him from Christ.
4. You have seen how the exceeding greatness of God s power is drawn
out in the work of sanctification ; let us see it also a little in the work of
true justifying faith ; which though to carnal men seems of all things the most easy, yet to educe and bring forth the least act of it requires as great a power as hath been spoken of, and therefore it is called, 1 Thess. i. 3,
<:n<y<rw, the work of faith, for the difficulty of it, the same ro sgyov, the work of God, XT Igo^jjv, John vi. 29, which he especially commands, and shews most power in working of ; yea, the same power that was shewn
TO Igyov
in creating the world, and raising up Jesus Christ. We have an express
place for this : Col. ii. 12, We are risen with him through faith of the
operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. Faith, you see, is
* faith of the operation of God ; as you say of things that some one man only can make, it is an instrument of such a man s making; so because God only can make true faith, it is called, by way of distinction from false faith, a work of the operation of God. And if you would know what power goeth to work and effect it, he adds, it is of that God who raised up Christ ; for no less goes to make faith, whereby indeed
a work of God s power only,
a resurrection is wrought likewise in the soul ; for he says, We are
risen with him through faith; that is, in believing there is a work
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION. 447
wrought in your soul resembling the resurrection of Christ, which there
fore must have the same power drawn forth to work it. But you will say, Wherein ?
1. To open this. Consider, that the raising one is putting life into a dead man. Therefore faith, you know, is a new principle of life put into the soul. The just shall live by faith ; as our life lay in doing, under the covenant of works, Do this and thou shalt live ; so now in believing. The life that I now live is by faith of the Son of God, Gal. ii. 20. It is a principle of living in another, and fetching life from another, even from
Christ, in whom our life is hid, a going out of a man s self, for life, to him.
2. Consider, that every man by nature would and doth live in himself, and that also by doing still ; though indeed and in truth all hope of life by works of righteousness is cut off, though all our works are
* dead works,
yet we would live of our own, though it be less ; are loath to go out of our
selves for life to another, to depend upon another, in so great a matter as
life is ; to have the breath we live with, breathed out of another. Nature
is averse to nothing more than to this. Though Adam lost this power of
living in himself, yet as Samson, though his strength was gone, thought to do as in former times, so do we, though dead and lost, think to live in
ourselves still ; to live by our hands, by doing still. And therefore all the
righteousness we have of our own, every good inclination, every good per formance, maintains an opinion of life in us. As that church had a name she lived, when she was dead, so we have an opinion we live, when we are dead. So says Paul, Eom. vii., I was alive, says he, when I was a Pharisee. He thought himself a living man in God s sight, by reason of what righteousness he had of his own, which he thought living works.
3. Now therefore, that we may be driven out of ourselves, to seek life
in another by faith, it is necessary we should be killed in ourselves, and
see, and apprehend ourselves dead men, and all our works dead works. So says Paul in the verse before that, 20th verse of the 2d chapter, lately quoted to this purpose
* I through the law am dead to the law, that I
might live unto God ; I must be dead first in myself (he speaks it in point of justification, as appears by the scope of the place), that I might live in another : and therefore he adds, Nevertheless I live ; and the life I now
live is by faith ; which life of faith can never come to be in the soul, till the opinion of living in myself, and in my own righteousness, be destroyed. And therefore says Paul in the same Horn, vii., I was alive indeed, says he, thought myself a living man ; but when the law came, sin revived, and I died : that is, when I came to see the spiritual meaning of the law, and what true holiness it required to life, I saw, that all my works were
unholy, dead works. That was one death, he saw he had no true life of
godliness in him, no ability to bring forth a living work ; and so could not
live by doing. But there was a second death worse than this : for sin revived ; he before had looked upon all this sin as small matters that would never hurt him, no more than dead serpents would, and had regarded his own righteousness as living works, which would maintain him eternally ; but now, when God opened his eyes, sin revived ; he saw an eternal abound
ing guilt in the least sin, which stabbed and wounded his soul, for it con demned him ; and, says he, then I died ; I was so far from thinking my self a living man, that I received the sentence of death in myself, and thought that if there had been no more men in the world, I should have been damned ; and I saw no hope of life in myself, and no more power to attain
to it, than is in a dead man.
448 THE WOKE OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
4. Now then to infuse into this man, a new power of believing, a new
* twice dead,
principle of life, namely, faith, by which he may see himself
plucked up by the roots ; dead in regard of any work of righteousness, whereby to be justified, or to live in God s favour ; dead in regard of millions
of transgressions, the guilt of which like poisoned arrows have wounded him ; and seeing himself thus dead, he is engrafted into another, and comes
to apprehend and believe himself an heir of life, and to live in God s sight ; from him to suck life and power to bring forth new works of life : thus to
raise him up when once laid for dead, is a work of God s mighty power. For as soon may a dead tree engraft and join itself to a living root, or being set in, as soon may it draw life from that root, and live again, and bring forth fruit, as this man can come to live by faith in Christ. It is exceed
ing great power to bring a man that is alive in himself, to see he is dead ; we are so conceited of our own righteousness, as to take anything as a sign
of life ; and as men fight and strive for life, so do moral and civil men
against that word that would kill them, and bring them out of conceit with
themselves. But when once the soul apprehends itself dead in itself, it is
ten thousand times harder to raise it up to fetch life from Christ, to get it
set into Christ. As before a man is humbled, there are many carnal pleas the heart hath for itself, that make a man think he is a living man ; so when a man is once humbled, there are as many pleas against the work of
faith, that do detain a man in the estate and opinion of death and condem
nation, especially when he is deeply wounded and stabbed with the guilt of sin ; for the wounds of the guilt of sin are as incurable as the wounds of
the power of sin : so Ps. Ixxxviii. 10, says Heman (being wounded within, and apprehending huoaself thus, a condemned man), Wilt thou shew won
ders to the dead? that is, wilt thou ever raise my poor soul up to live
in tlry sight, pardon and heal all these sins ? It is a wonder, says he, if
ever this be done ; as great a wonder as to raise up a dead man to life, or
a man out of hell ; for as the pains of death detained Christ s soul from
rising, so the guilt of sin coming upon the conscience, with a thousand
fears and objections, keep a man s thoughts from ever daring to think that he shall yet live, and that God will accept him. Even to raise up the soul
to the lowest act of faith, this power is required ; even to believe a man s
sins to be pardonable, this is required. For before he believes this, he must be made partaker of God s vast thoughts in pardoning, Isa. Iv. 8. A man must forsake his own thoughts ; and therefore a man that comes to
believe the pardon of his sins, must not bring the thoughts of a man with him (for in that sense also he may be said to forsake his thoughts), for they can never imagine God will pardon so much, till they be enlarged by a new
principle. Now the most in the world, having never been laid for dead
thus, think it nothing to believe ; but those that have, find nothing harder and of greater difficulty. It is not in us to apprehend what infinite, vast
thoughts of mercy there are in God. And though this seems easy, yet when
a man is once enlightened to see the sinfulness of sin to be above measure
sinful, Eom. vii. 13, and that for multitude, they are as piles heaped up as
high as heaven, and as low as hell ; then to be enabled to see, and be con
vinced that there are such thoughts of mercy in God, as will swallow up
all these sins, as the heavens do the earth, and that they are but a point, in comparison, to think that God thinks, when he looks upon these sins,
that though there are millions of them, yet he can pass by them, can find
mercy enough to pardon them ; and upon these thoughts, to rest and stay a man s self ; and so to seek him, as not to be denied ; these thoughts are
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION. 449
as far above man s thoughts, as tho heavens are above the earth. There fore doth the apostle pray, Eph. iii. 17-20, that they might have faith, and so be grounded in love ; that they might be able to comprehend the height, depth, breadth of God s love and mercy, pardoning and swallowing a man s sins up, which passeth knowledge ; that is, above the reach of natural men : it can never enter into their hearts, that there is such a depth, until God elevates them to such thoughts of it ; and therefore the apostle farther
adds, Now unto him that is able to do abundantly, &c. I will demonstrate this exceeding great power in working, in paralleling it also with the work of creation, as I did the other. To which end con
sider, that to see the least creature arise and start out of nothing, argues an almighty power
: so also to lay and found so great and weighty a bulk as is that of the earth, upon mere nothing, that the axle-tree and hinges of
it should be nothing, is one of those great works of wonder whereby God
in Scripture sets forth his glorious power to us. Now, such is the work of
faith whereby I believe Christ made all things to me, and in him all things to be mine ; for it ariseth out of nothing, is founded upon nothing in a man s self, which is the greatest miracle in the world. But you will ask me what my meaning is, that true faith is founded on nothing, and how I demonstrate it ? For answer ; When God, and where God means to work true faith, he
first brings the heart unto nothing ; to nothing in its own righteousness, to
nothing in its own abilities ; that is, to see and apprehend itself mere nothing. By nature we all apprehend ourselves to be something, and to have some
: Rev. iii. 17, Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and naked. Now ere God works faith in us he makes us know and apprehend this our nothing, which the Scripture calleth poverty of spirit. And this is the nothing which I mean, not in statu entitatis, as in the rank of creatures ; but nothing as in statu gratia, nothing in righteousness, nothing in abilities, ever to
thing, out of that self-flattery which is in us
please God ; nothing in the new world, though something in the old. The soul sees itself to be worth nothing, as to what is to be possessed in the new creation, unable to purchase anything which is to be enjoyed there, to have interest in nothing but sin and hell. God by saving
* things, that are
not, confoundeth things that are, 1 Cor. i. 28; that is, he confounds the carnal men in the world which think they are something in wisdom, in
power, in righteousness, and have a subsistence within themselves, and on
their own bottom. These he confounds by things that are not, whom he
brings to apprehend and profess themselves nothing
: That no flesh should
rejoice in his sight, ver. 29 ; that they might have a new being and sub
sistence in Christ : ver. 30, Of him ye are in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, and redemption. When we are thus annihilated in ourselves, he makes Christ ours, and in him we see all things made ours. That which makes these things real, and to have a being and a subsistence to me, is my faith, Heb. xi. 1, which is
* the subsistence of things hoped for, and evidence of things not seen, and therefore a mighty power must concur with it to effect this.
therefore called
Then, 2 Cor. iv. 6, he compareth that power, which God shewed in creating the first perfect and glorious creature, light
: God, who commanded light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What was
before the light was made ? You shall find nothing but a rude, void chaos, VOL. VI. F f
450 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX:
a darkness and emptiness of all form ; a Tolui and J3ohu, which was next
door to nothing, which the Spirit immediately sustained and hatched ; it had vanished to nothing else. And God said there, Let there be light, and there was light. Any one that reads this will say that God here mani
fested the exceeding greatness of his power. Just so doth God deal in
creating faith in our hearts, which are nothing but darkness in themselves. He brings them first to a Tolm and Baku, an apprehension of their own
emptiness of grace, as that was of form ; to be nothing but darkness in thine own apprehension, so as the soul is sinking, falling, going into nothing ; and
then didst thou feel the Spirit of God moving upon thy heart, working in
thee, and commanding light to shine out of thy heart ; even the knowledge of God s free grace making Christ to be righteousness, sanctification, and
all things to thee. But now the common mock-faith, which is in the world, which is so easy, which comes up alone of itself, riseth still out of some
thing in a man s self, is not thus founded upon nothing; their hearts never
having been thoroughly emptied of themselves, nor humbled, nor brought to nothing, their faith stands not on the power of God, but upon themselves, and therefore they think it so easy. Their own natural righteousness, goodness of nature, justness of dealing, every good motion, holy duty per formed, emboldeneth them to believe and think they shall be saved. And
they are deluded by that self-flattery which is in men s hearts, whereby
they are apt to believe good news, or anything which may make for them
selves, and whereby they think well of themselves, and are loath to think
so harshly that they shall be damned. And therefore they are light of
belief to think salvation theirs, and to take anything as an evidence of it ; even as Haman, when he heard that the king would honour a man, pre
sently ho thought, out of his pride and self-flattery, that he was the man whom the king would honour ; so says every man s heart naturally, as soon
as he hears of such good news as the gospel, I am the man whom God will
save. If there were but one to be saved, self-love should easily persuade him he was the man. For pride makes him think better, and hope better, and believe better of himself than of any one else ; especially if he hath
any natural goodness or acts of righteousness to shew for it, which, being his own, he thinks well of. And this is the foundation and rise of common
faith, which is engendered out of the principles of self-flattery in a man s
self, and nourished, and backed, and fed by the righteousness which is in
a man s self; and what great power is there in working this ? Nothing is more easy ; nay, nothing is more hard than to beat a man off from believ
ing thus well of himself. But if this were true faith, a man should have wherewith to boast. God therefore, in those whom he means to save, works
true faith, which shall ascribe all to Christ and his free grace ; blows down
: the foundation whereof was laid in self-
all the building of presumption
flattery, and natural pride, and good opinion of a man s self ; the walls whereof were doubled with untempered mortar of a man s own righteous ness (for the heart gets all the rubbish it can to maintain and strengthen
itself in a good opinion of itself), and God raze.th down all these to the very foundation, puts a man clean out of conceit with himself, that instead of
thinking he is the man whom God will save, he begins to think that, of all men in the world, he is the man must die, and sees more reason for it than why all the men in the world should be damned ; and, instead of having any good in him, he sees he is an ungodly person, void of all grace and
goodness, Horn. iv. 3-5, and that he is without all ability or strength to
help himself; no more able to believe than to climb up to heaven. When
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION. 45>1
ho is thus brought to nothing in himself, and to see no reason why he, of
all men else, should be saved, a mighty power is necessary to draw him to believe on him that justified the ungodly, Itom. iv. 5, and to build his faith upon nothing in himself, but upon God s free grace in Christ, and so to raise his soul plunged into a gulf of misery, bladders pricked, no hands to swim, that it can stand on the rock that is higher than I, as David says, Christ, and find footing on him, and so is raised out of apprehension of
nothing, now to be all things, and to have all things, in Jesus Christ. The power of God working in that great work, TO igyov nitreus, the work of faith, is declared to bo as great as to create the world by these three
things.
1. By raising up a soul, sinking in its own apprehension into nothing, to believe seriously, that yet he is and may be all things in Christ ; and though he hath nothing of righteousness, wisdom, &c., yet that ho posses.soth all things, as Paul speaks, 2 Cor. vi. 10, that out of such low
annihilating thoughts a man s heart should be raised to such vast and high thoughts, that once a man should dare to think that Christ and all his
righteousness is his, that sanctification, heaven, redemption is his, who even now was nothing but sin, hell, wrath, and destruction; this is a work of almighty power, greater than the creation of the world, for here is all
things come into the room of nothing.
2. Yea, and further ; whereas all the things Christ is made to me by faith, as righteousness, &c., arc all things not seen, Hob. xi. 1, things out of a man s self, yea, out of a man s ken and reach by nature, and so are to all carnal men in the world as if they were not, and so they reckon them as nothing, because not seen ; reckon them as empty notions, that have no being, no subsistence, because none in view ; that all these absent
things not seen should, by an unheard of art and way, be presented all before me as real, present, subsisting things, to have a being to mo and in me, as true, and real, and sensible a being to faith as the sun which I see before me, John xiv. 21, as the meat which I eat (as Christ says, John
vi. 55), as real as the things I handle or embrace, Heb. xi. 13 ; that faith should thus be the evidence of things not seen, and the subsistence of things absent and hoped for r and cause therefore the heart to part with all things at the present he enjoys and sees ; to bo made a possessor of these, such
reality doth he find in them ; what mighty power, think we, must accompany the work of faith, that works so great a wonder and miracle, as to mak<2 absent things present, things hoped for to subsist, things afar off to. be in a man s heart ?
8. Whereas a man hath no power to go out of himself to lay hold on these things, thus presented and offered to him, finds in himself no more
ability to embrace, and grasp, and reach them, than to lay hold on yonder
.star, or upon the sun, and a man truly sees he hath no strength, R,om. v.
G, but is like one falling from a high pinnacle of self-confidence and pre sumption, which is blown down from under him; and though looking up to
heaven, he sees righteousness, glory, all things in Christ, offered to be his
if he could catch hold upon them, yet, alas ! he is not only sinking and
falling down headlong further and further from them, but wants hands to
lay hold on thorn if he were at them, and nigh them in this case now, to have a man s soul drawn and wound up by the power of God, John vi. 44, and carried up by the wings of the Spirit to the throne of Christ in heaven, and to have new hands of faith given him, to embrace and apprehend him of whom he is comprehended ; all these are so many wonders in the work
452 THE WORK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
of faith, which requires as much power to effect as was seen in the creation
of the world.
And if any have not observed this power working thus in their hearts at
first, in bringing them first to nothing (God working upon some insensibly and by degrees), yet they may discern the power of God working in their
faith, in continuing, backing, strengthening, and preserving of it ; for he
fulfilleth the work of faith with power, as well as he begins it with power ; and if man lives not by bread only, but by God s command and power, then
the life of faith is much more continued with power. And indeed, if we would define faith, what is it but the power of God drawing the heart to
< Ye are kept by the power of God through faith ; that is, the power of God is seen in
Christ, and holding it to him ? John vi. 44,; and 1 Peter i. 5,
faith, and that in temptation especially, ver. 6, 7 ; and though in ordinary
passages of a man s life, when faith is not put to it, a man will scarce dis
cern this power backing it, when signs, and the witness of the Spirit, and
assistance in duties, do take part with faith, yet in time of temptation this
will more evidently appear, when the spurious faith, that is but a fruit of the
flesh, will fail ; but if true, he that maintained the oil in the cruse, that it
decayed not in the time of the famine, he will maintain that little drop of
faith in the time of temptation. For this is a sure rule, that which backs
thy faith in temptation was the begetter of it. As the woman, when her
child was like to be divided, laboured to save it, because it was her child,
so will God preserve that faith that is begotten by himself, when it is like
to be overborne. And know this, that if thy faith be true, it will be
tempted. Satan hath desired to winnow thee, but I have prayed (says
Christ) that thy faith fail not ; faith being that thing that Satan desires most to winnow. Dost thou therefore feel the power of God backing,
strengthening, joining with thy faith, drawing thy heart to cleave to Christ,
maugre all temptations ? Dost thou feel faith an invincible thing, that will
never be nonplussed ? It is because God s power is in it. Let a flood of
temptations come in, yet faith, like a small drop of oil, will be above them
all ; and like a man hanging upon the top of a pinnacle, though ordinarily he hath a stool to ease his hand, yet when the stool is taken away, still he
hangs ; so faith, when temptation takes all signs and props away, then
upholdeth the heart ; though the devil not only plucks the stool away, but
also strikes at the hand that holds it, yet still faith cleaves to Christ, and
that so as sometimes the hand is benumbed also, and feels not that it holds it.
Use 1. The first use is to convince those, who defer repentance, of their low and light esteem of the work of grace, they erring herein, not know
ing the power of God ; whereas if men apprehended that this work is as much as to dissolve the world to nothing, and make it new again ; and that
it is as impossible for them, by their own power, to repent, as to do this,
they would set all aside, and think this one thing necessary, as Mary did, and immediately begin to seek to God for it, and think that little time they have to live were little enough for to beg so great a thing at God s hands, and be glad if they could obtain it at last. But such is the foolish wisdom
of men, that think to grasp both the pleasures of sin here and heaven in
the end, that think to go beyond God and the devil also, thinking to put God off with any repentance at their cast-away leisure, after the strength and flower of their youth and years are spent in the service of sin ; and
after a long apprenticeship served to the devil, who takes them captive at
his will, think yet to give him at last the slip, to knock off his fetters, and
to escape ; as if repentance were within their own power, so playing with
CHAP. V.] IN OUR SALVATION. 453
it as the cat with its silly prey, thinking that one sudden leap will translate them at once from death to life ; between which yet there is as great a gulf as between heaven and hell. Away, you foolish sinners, that say in your hearts as he, Deut. xxix. 19, We shall have peace, &c. Go on to make
your own ghests* (as they, James iv. 1315), chalk out what ways of
pleasures this day and the next you mean to walk in, at last meaning (as your hearts tell you) to turn in and see where true repentance dwells, I tell
3<ou (as James says, in matters of far less dependence, and more in your own power than repentance is), you reckon without your host ; it must be the exceeding greatness of God s power must work it. If you dare yet think it in your own power, go on and prosper, set your own times, put off
God still, who it may be now offers and begins to work it, and in your own
deceitful hearts appoint and take a longer day, and then break it and
perish for ever ; do. But if you think it be in God s power only (as, if
this text be true, it is), tremble to have such a thought ; take his time who hath appointed a time for every work under the sun, the grass to grow, flowers to spring, trees to blossom, and all in their season ; which when
past, dung and water, and use what means you will, they appear no more.
But you will say, If the greatness of his power work it, then he is able
to do it as well at one time as another ; and so no time is past with him.
I answer, That his power is regulated by his will, for his power working anything, is his will. He worketh all things according to his good plea
sure, and the counsel of his will ; therefore, speaking of works of rege neration, it is said, Of his will he begat us, James i. 18. He is a free
agent, breathing when and where he pleaseth ; and therefore presume not on his power at all times, unless thou beest sure of his will at all times. Now that thou art not; for after that day appointed, he swears in his
wrath, they shall never enter, Heb. iii. 18. As he dealt with Saul in
the matter of his kingdom, 1 Sam. xiii. 13-15, so with men for matter of
grace, Ezek. xxiv. 13 : When I would, they would not ; therefore I will not,
says God.
But you will say, I will seek him, and that earnestly, I answer, Remember Esau, who in this is made a type of all neglecters of grace offered in the gospel, Heb. xii. 17, as the birthright is made a
type of the grace offered in the gospel ; so his father is a type of God
offering it, he having sold it, as men do the offer of grace, for their lusts ; his father could not change his mind, though he sought it with tears ; he found no place for repentance
: weep thy eyes out, it will do no good. But you will say, I will then turn from my sins, take up new purposes and resolutions to forsake them and confess them, and then I hope he will
repent and have mercy on me.
To this I answer, I confess you may do so ; only take this with you, that
there is a kind of repentance which is partly in your own power, such as Ahab had, who mourned and went softly ; such as Judas, Matt, xxvii., who
repented himself, confessed, and restored ; such as they performed, Hosea
vii. 16, They returned, but not to God, not doing it out of a changed
heart, which moves not God ; but to have a changed heart, a new life of
godliness put in, is not in thy power. For thou canst not make a hair
black or white, nor can a blackamore alter his colour, though his black
ness be but in his skin ; and canst thou change thy heart, thinkest thou, sin being incorporated and blended with thy nature, so baked into thy bones and the spirit of thy mind ? Tell me, can this heavy, massy lump, * From the connection, the meaning must be, arrangements, or plans. ED.
454 THE WOEK OF THE HOLY GHOST [BOOK IX.
the dregs of the world, the earth fastened in its own centre, can it remove
itself and become a star ? Can all the creatures, angels, men, if they set their shoulders to it, with all engines, move it a jot off the hinges it hangs on ? No more can thy heart move itself, being as averse to what is good as the earth is to move upward, as fixed upon sin as the earth upon its centre ; and as great a distance is there between the state of grace and nature as between heaven and earth.
But you will say, I will send for a minister or some good man to help me, and speak peace to me at my death.
Still this doctrine answers you ; it is God s power only can do it. Send
for all the angels from heaven, the whole college of physicians, let them come with all their balms, yet as he said, 2 Kings vi. 27, if God do not
help thee, they cannot ; for this birth is, John i. 13, not of itself, or the
will of man, but of God. Though the minister preach then the gospel of
peace to thee, yet unless God makes an echo to thy heart, they are but
: Isa. Ivii. 19, I create the fruit of the lips, peace ; talk
tinkling cymbals
they of peace never so much, unless God speak peace, and create it, as the
fruit of those words, by an almighty power, thou canst not have peace.
4 The wicked are as the troubled sea, which cannot rest ; when the sea was
troubled, Matt. viii. 24, could all the disciples still it ? Could all their anchors save the ship and stay it ? No ; ver. 27, Christ only did it. So when thy conscience is tossed at death, and when the waves of thy sins
arise, and the devils, as the winds, are let loose to join with those waves, who can command them silent ? Sooner mayest thou command the thun der silent, that roars in the midst of heaven ; and then thou, poor wicked
wretch, art tossed, overwhelmed, and no anchor will hold or stay thee ; no
prince of peace comfort thee ; and suppose now all men speak things of
peace to thee, yet there is no peace to the wicked, says my God ; and if he says no, his word will stand.
But thou wilt say, I am of an ingenuous temper, and soft to the impres sions of good, so as at any time when I consider things, I find my heart moved.
I answer, Suppose it ; yet if this be true that God s power must work
it, thou, for all thy good nature, art as far off as another in regard of any active concurrence to it ; as take a piece of soft wax, and another of hard, the
soft is no more able of itself to work the image and impression of any thing upon it than the hard, but a hand and seal must stamp the one as well as the other. So is a good nature, as you use to call it, as empty of the image of God as the crookedest, and as unable to stamp that image as the most perverse. It must be God s Spirit (for it is the seal of God, and so
called, Eph. iv. 30) must stamp and work an impression, as well as upon the hardest heart, upon thy soft heart : this you may see in the example of the young man, who was ingenuous, soft, pliable, and Christ loved him ; yet of him Christ says, and upon occasion of him, that it was as easy for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, as for a rich man to go to heaven.
But some will say, If I should now set myself to turn, I fear my case is
desperate, and there is no hope, I am so hardened in evil.
Ans. The power of God being it which must do it, thou mayest come to
repentance, though thy heart be never so hard. At the latter day the earth and elements shall melt with fervent heat, and is he not able to melt
thy heart ? Look now on the frosty weather : though all men could not thaw it, yet stay, thou shalt see it thawed ; and cannot he dissolve thy heart?
CHAP. VI.] IN OUR SALVATION. 455
But thou wilt say, My heart is full of sin, and of the works of the devil
in it, and hath so long lain in them, that it cannot be healed. I answer, He raised Lazarus, though dead four days, and he stunk ; and why not thee also, though thou art not only dead, but stinkest in thy sins ?