places according to your Abilities Ministers of weak Abilities and Parts are as acceptable to God while there are competent ministerial Abilities yea more acceptable when there is more of Desire and Endeavour to do good than Ministers of greater Abilities and often more successful Greater Abilities are apt to puff men up it is hard to give much and not let the left hand know what the right hand doth So hard to be extraordinary in any Duty and keep humble Let Devils and Wicked men scoff at Weak but Willing Ministers and say What will these feeble people do as they did these are but poor Builders But we Read The Wall was Built for they had a mind to work or a heart to work Neph 4.6 So such as have a heart to build may build so as to reach Heaven themselves and build up others for it God will say as Jehu to Jonadab If thy heart be as my heart then come into my Chariot of Glory Yet when I say God requires the Heart and Will I do not say only but principally and yet so only that if a man could do no more it would be accepted If he have the Heart all other things required follow proportionably ordinarily and if they do not it will be excusable For then the defect is a cannot If the Heart lead all that have no Impediment follow All the Members and Powers and Faculties in a man say to the Heart and Will as the People to Joshuah Cap. 1. v. 16. All that thou commandest us we will do and whithersoever thou sendest us we will go only the Lord be with thee VSE 6th HOw encouraging is this to all to come to God to return We Ministers in Christ's name and Christ by us require nothing of you but what you can do was there but a willing mind If there be any thing you cannot do which some others can we will tell you you need not at present and yet shall be accepted and God will in time upon doing what you are able enable you to do more Say not in thy heart Who shall ascend into Heaven that is to bring Christ down from above or Who shall desecend into the deep That is to bring up Christ again from the dead But what saith the Gospel the word of Faith The Word is nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart Rom. 10.6 7 8. That is be not perplexed as if some difficult impossible thing was required of thee now to Salvation that thou canst not perform if willing this is to deny Christ's Death and Ascension What did he dye for if some impossible thing be required of us notwithstanding his Death Men will entertain none nor give wages to any but to those that can do much to those fit for their service When to hire a Servant a Master asks What canst thou do If a Servant should answer I can do nothing I have no Skill or Ability I have not been used to work but I am willing I will do what I can Who would entertain such a Servant But if any should say thus and that heartily to God I am very unfit for any good Work I have not been used to do any Good but I will now do what I can if I fail it shall be my greatest grief and against my will God will accept it this is all that he requires to obtain the great Wages Oh Riches of Grace Is this the manner of man O Lord 2 Sam. 7.19 The last Invitation to Sinners in Scripture is this Whosoever will let him come and take of the Water of Life freely Which virtually comprehends that He that hath no money come that hath nothing of any worth or value If the Prophet had required some great thing Would'st thou not have done it We have not any thing to do for Satisfaction of Gods Wrath and Justice yea nothing but what you can with ease and delight do was there but a willing mind Say but and be Hearty in it Wherein have I done Iniquity I will do so no more I will this is the voice of true Repentance With the Heart and Will man believeth and Repenteth Why stand you here all the day Idle You cannot reply You have no strength ability do but what you can and it will be accepted You will not tell me however you dare not tell God You have no mind no Will to work Though this is it if you do not what you can You cannot say None hath hired us we had as good sit idle as work idle as work without receiving Wages I am sent to hire you this day to assure you of Wages You shall have your Penny though you come in late Let none excuse themselves from Duty by the meanness of themselves and Duties Art thou sensible thou art good for nothing yet give thy self up to him thou shalt be accepted Is thy Gift mean yet offer it They that had but little offered little to the Tabernacle and yet were accepted Some it may be have this Temptation What should I pray for others for It 's too much for me to be accepted for my self Yet sin not in ceasing to pray for others God will hear thy Prayers sooner it may be than theirs that have better thoughts of their Prayers Give that little when thou hast but little to give Weak Abilities you see do not exempt you from Gods service because not from his Acceptance Will God accept of what you have if there be a willing mind and shall a willing mind be wanting Will he accept of the Heart and Will and shall he not have it God will excuse the want of any thing else but will by no means excuse your want of Heart and Will For all other Powers in a man may be suspended from doing their Offices but only the Will But this cannot be suspended so as to excuse while a man hath any use of his Reason Therefore God will excuse all other Defects The Blind cannot serve God with his Eyes or Dumb with his Tongue or Deaf with his Ears yet such are accepted of God while he hath their Hearts VSE 7th HOw humbling may this Doctrine of mans Ability and Power in this right sense to good be to us Yea how necessary is it to a right Humiliation And how influential to make the World guilty before God that we and they could have done otherwise not only in Adam as some weakly speak but when we sinned Do not say This discourse lifteth a man up Thou makest ill use of it if it have such an effect on thee it is to glory in your greatest shame it is like being set on fire with having Water poured on thee No Doctrine can possibly tend more to the debasing and humbling of men This should abase us in our own eyes and stain our pride for it demolishes and even pollutes all our Sanctuaries of Refuge Many are apt to say Alas What can we do What can poor fallen Creatures do Do
wise Reasons and ends why he will not with some go any further but sets bounds to his Will You seem by such an Objection to wish He would rule you as Bruits in a natural way not consisting with Promises and Threats with Rational and Moral government of rational Creatures Obj. 7. Then he doth not will my Conversion and Salvation or that I should abstain from such a sin if he doth not actually Convert me or actually hinder me from such a sin since he can Ans It doth not follow It only follows he sets such bounds to his will for wise ends and will 's it no further than is consistent with such bounds he will through Compassion set Life and Death before you and warn you by his Word and Ministers and strive with you so far as to be a forehand with you Hath no pleasure in your Sins and Death But your Conversion is amiable and desireable to him He will be able to say of them that perish I would and you would not and can you rationally demand the Governour of the World should do any more what-ever he may do arbitrarily to some Obj. 8. But God doth give Grace to some as bad as I and some way that I know not of makes them willing of unwilling I grant he doth so But suppose he did not would'st thou then be inexcusable How can this then alter the case Would it excuse all the High-way men in the Land if the King should some way extraordinary prevail with one or more not to go on in such courses What if he do more for some while he doth enough and more than enough for thee and is far before hand with thee The Pelagians granted that God did something extraordinary for the Conversion of thee * As the Author Hypognosticon tels us Lib. 6. Apostles and some few others in a way agreeable to their free Will and Humanity Would it not have been a ridiculous attempt for any to have gone about to have confuted them with this Argument viz. That none then are to blame in the World that go on in their sins that God did not this for Obj. 9. But God will require no more than he gives Ans If you mean that God will require no more of you than he gives you Ability and meanes to do it 's true But if you mean He will require no more than he giveth you actually so as to cause you actually to do it It is false else there would be no sin in the VVorld chargeable on men He will require the use of his Talents and this faithful Improvement as with good reason he may He hath given thee time space and means to Repent he hath given thee an Understanding and Will to know and chuse the good and refuse the Evil in the natural sense Those Israelites fell short of the good Land because of their Unbelief or Disobedience and yet it 's said in the Moral sense God gave them not a Heart to Vnderstand and a Mind to see Obj. 10. Sure you will grant that no man can Repent and Return without that special Grace of God that actually causeth him thus to Repent and Turn Ans I do and will grant it provided you mean no more by it than this That no man will return without that special Grace that actually prevails with him else it is notoriously false A Robber had the power or faculty of leaving his wayes though God did not make him actually leave them Obj. 11. But I would have had him made me willing to part with my sins and turn to God though I was unwilling Answ This is false yea a Contradiction This is to say you would have him do what you would not have him do for you I mean it is a Contradiction taking willing in both clauses for the prevailing choice and to say You would have him do it against your will VVhile unwilling to part with your sins you loved Darkness and would not be disturbed with Light You did not chuse the fear of the Lord. You said to the Almighty Depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy wayes You loved to have it so as it was with them Jer. 5.31 You said Jesus let us alone torment us not and would not have this Man to rule over you Their eyes have they closed lest at any time they should see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and be Converted Did you not make provision for the Flesh to fulfill it in the Lusts thereof And was this like one that would have his Lusts dye Did you not seek occasion to sin and to avoid Conviction and Reproofs Did you not rather chuse to part with your Soul than your sins when Life and Death were set before you on the Gospel terms Did you not say If God will not save me in such wayes as are consistent with my present ease and pleasure I will not be saved You would have had him save you in your sins but not from your sins It may be you would have had the Father so draw as that you might ride in a Charriot of Ease and Idleness you would have him so draw as that you might sit still But you said not Draw that I may run Draw me and we will run after thee Cant. 1.4 You would have been drawn to Heaven without your running Have you not opposed his drawing Refused to hearken and pulled away the Shoulder snuffed at his Word hardned your heart as an Adamant Zach. 7.11.12 Turned back from him and would not consider any of his wayes Job 34.27 May not he say I called and you refused Did you not keep strong Holds and Forts against his Grace besieging you to over come you Did you not labour to build and set up strong Holds and high Reasonings against the wayes of God and labour by a wicked industry to get off all sight and thoughts of God that you might be without God in the World We may say God forsaketh none in time but those that forsook him first and for their forsaking him And if so then he willed to forsake none but those that would first forsake him And also willed and decreed from Eternity to forsake none but those he foresaw would first forsake him And all this is well consistent with special Grace and consequently Election provided we say not that he will and doth forsake all after the same manner and measure He is before hand with every man and will be so Hath he not knocked as though he would have beat down the house thou would'st not open Have you not opposed the lower Actions and Motions of the Spirit and VVarred against him in his first assaults and rebelled and vexed his Spirit in his first approaches and resolved to go no further in wayes of Religion If now he take not such internal or external Pains with thee as formerly may he not say like that My People would not hearken to my Counsel Israel would
you cannot nor Scripture say any where men cannot in a sense different form a will-not vers 27. O Jerusalem Wilt thou not be made clean When shall it once be Mat. 23.31 How often would I have gathered you and you would not Isa 1.5 Why should you be stricken any more you will revolt more and more prov 5.20 Why wilt thou my Son c Prov. 1.29 They hated knowledg and did not choose the fear of the Lord they would none of my Counsel and despised all my Reproofs Ezek. 3.7 But the house of Israel will not hearken to thee for they will not hearken to me for all the House of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted Let me plead with you from that Scripture Isa 5 3. And now O Inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah Judge I pray you between me and my Vineyard vers 4. What could I have done more to my Vineyard These words are not well Translated for in the Hebrew it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Quid faciendum adhuc What was there yet to do What was there more to be done Implying they could plead nothing wanting on Gods part that he ought to have done they themselves being appealed to as judges Quid est quod debui ultrà faccre So the Syriack Arabick and almost all Translations I find no Translation akin to ours The words in the Original are the same 2 Kings 4.13 16. What shall be done for her And Hester 6.6 What should be done to the man whom the King delights to honour Not What could be done Yet our Translation hath afforded occasion to some Learned Men of our own to affirm with some colour from hence that God doth as much as he can with fitness or Justice for every one whereas had it been well Translated it had altogether disowned such an Inference These Words are Gods appeal to men about his Justice What should I have done more What have I not done that lay on me to do to prevent your Ruine Wherein have I been wanting to you How came this about That when I looked for Grapes it brought forth wild Grapes Was there any reason for it that you can stand to Have not I done enough so as you must say Your Destruction lies on your selves and not on me He calls the men of Judah and Inhabitants of Jerusalem to judg between him and his Vineyard and by his Vineyard means the same Inhabitants of Jerusalem So that God hjere appeals to the Men themselves against themselves which he would not do if he did not know that he had a Compurgator within them that their Consciences must restifie for him against themselves that they had all things naturally necessary Now you I am speaking to judge you You are it may be apt to say If God had done his part I had done mine God hath done his part so as there was nothing wanting at first to keep adam from falling that he ought to have done But to let this go and to take things now as they are in this degenerate condition and Hope brought-in a second time there is nothing now wanting on His part that you may lay your second Perishing on him and not on your selves Many are apt to think or say we will justifie God because we fell in Adam but take things as they now are and he hath not done enough things are not brought a second time to our choice else we and others had not so gone on in our sins and therefore if we do ill let him blame himself and not us Do not now fly to other Countries or such as cannot understand what is spoken I could speak something of them But my business is to you that hear and can understand what I say And I shall shew you that he hath so done enough for you that if he had done less for you by many parts or not waiting so long yet you could lay your Perishing no-where but on your selves God hath done a great deal more than he needed for you to make you inexcusable in perishing the second time Now bring forth your strong Reasons What should he have done more What Iniquity have you found in him Jer. 2.5 And if I can easily answer you how easily can God and your own Consciences Obj. 1. If you shall say There is something besides wilful refusal in mens perishing For this second perishing cannot be laid on many that perish for Christ never dyed for them Answ If this was so I confess neither I nor any else could answer you But Christ hath so far Dyed for you as by his Death to obtain this That if any man turn he shall live and this law of Grace is made in his blood He is able to save to the uttermost them that come to God by him Heb. 7.25 No man shall ever be Condemned because no price was paid for him but only for refusing that which was purchased for him on the Terms whereon it was offered The Scripture no where layeth the perishing of Sinners on the want of a price paid for them but every where on their refusal You will not come to Me that you might have Life These Words imply that there is Life enough in Christ for you and if you miss of it it is because you will not have it If Christ had so left out any that he had not purchased That if they believe they shall be saved then you might charge ministers with Falshood as well as you might if they should Preach If the Devils should repent and believe they should be saved whom Christ never purchased this for Would Christ bid his Ministers Preach the Gospel to every Creature He that Believeth shall be saved c. if it was not true Would he bid them make such Offers and invite such multitudes of Guests if he was not sure there was Provision enough for them all Else this should excuse and they might say If we perish this second time for want of a Saviour it is no fault of ours this would be their Misery and Calamity but not through their refusal of Mercy that they perished You might else say at least There is some other Reason why men fall short of Happiness and not only because of their unbelief Nay their unbelief would be no reason at all of this Perishing The not taking Physick was no reason at all of a mans dying at such a time if it would not have saved his Life if he had taken it no more than his taking any thing else that is acknowledged to have no tendency to his Health And it is in vain to say For any thing they knew they might have been saved or They and others thought in the judgment of Charity as some speak that if they had believed they might have been saved for this is nothing if the Truth was otherwise and at last in Hell they will know the Truth was otherwise and then not befool themselves for not doing it Suppose a man thought