of I deny not but God does irresistibly convert his Elect at the first and infallibly carry them on to the end for the maine but in particular actions hee does not so but though their wills bee now free by grace yet they may freely sinne even then when they obey and freely obey even then when they transgresse and so they are forced to confesse they might avoide more evill then they doe and do more good then they do Againe A wicked man may do more good then hee does and avoide more evill then hee does I prove it by induction upon his conscience By these Particulars First for the outward acts of sinne in the members thus all profane persons drunkards c. yee are all convinced undeniably in your consciences these are sinnes in the very outward members voluntas it is domina membrorum can yee say yee cannot passe by an Ale-house when yee turn in yee cannot come unto Sermons your owne legges they shall judge you can you say you cannot give over your oathing and lying c. your owne Teeth and Lippes shall judge you c. If you do not root out these sinnes it s without doubt because ye will not The Lord hath made al the outward man at the command of the will and therefore if the outward man be out of order t is because yee will {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} sayes Chrysost. Let no man say I have but one Talent and I have no power to be good a Talent hath power to go for a Talent and 12 d. for a shilling and if it do not t is because yee will not Hast thou not power over thine owne outward members vouchsaf'd thee of God the Lord in mercy lets thy will have a despoticall power over thy members as the Moralists call it and why canst thou not bridle them as Christ said to the Officer that smote him if I have spoken well why smitest thou mee Joh. 18.23 couldst thou not have held in thy fingers thou art inexcusable then for all thy profane sinnes Secondly Thou hast naturall affections in thee and by them thou mayst do more good then thou dost and shun more evill then thou dost Thus all civill Professors are left inexcusable Canst thou not get more strictnesse of walking though not for love unto God yet for love unto thy selfe bee more frequent in good duties for hope of Heaven and for feare of Hell that 's better then nothing better do them so then not at all What cannot a man do for self-selfe-love and for feare there is never a duty of Religion but a man may every day do for love unto himselfe and for feare God hath left these affections in thy soule on purpose I know this is not enough but what of that Why dost thou not go so far as thou mayest what aileth thee that thou canst not tame downe thy pride for feare of Gods judgements and bridle thy base passions for feare of Hell It is not unknowne that God hath vowed to destroy all the workers of iniquity T is not unknowne that he hath prepared Hell for such as thou art as long as thou livest as thou dost Thou knowst this is true and thou knowst God will be as good as his Word and thou art not able to abide it Why dost thou not curbe thy proude stubborne lusts for feare of this Hell That 's better then nothing if thou canst not do it for love yet why canst thou not do it for feare hast thou not as much reason as a brute creature that is greedy of meate yet a whip-stick is able to scare him from it an horse is desirous to stand sâ—ill yet a spur and a rod is able to make it go faster and is not Hell more fearfull then all rods Why dost thou not take heede for feare least God should send thee to Hell a sinner and a hypocrite are inexcusable herein for Hell may feare them the sinners in Sion are afraid fearfulnesse hath surprised the hypocrites who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings Esay 33.14 who of us is able to dwell with everlasting flames and hypocrites may go so farre feare Hell and abstaine from a million of sinnes for feare of these everlasting burnings canst thou say thou canst not resist sinne for feare of Gods judgements No thou canst resist sinne for fear of lesse evils then so the feare of mens seeing thee can keepe thee from committing adultery in the market-place and cannot the feare of God restraine thee from it in private thou darest not transgresse the Kings Lawes for fear of the Gallowse and cannot the feare of Hell restraine thee from transgressing of Gods Gods displeasure is greater then the Kings and thou knowest it God is truer in his Law then any mortall man and thou knowest it and fearest thou not me feare yee not mee saith the Lord will yee not tremble at my presence Jer. 5.22 canst thou say thou art not able to feare him so much as servilely that is not so for when thou art sick and ready to dye then thou wilt feare him then oh thou wouldst faine become a new creature and all out of feare of the great God and canst thou not now No no now here be pleasures to be had and thou wilt have them here is the World and thou wilt carke here is businesse and thou wilt be doing and thou wilt not finde leasure for God No thou wilt not canst thou not do this that God bids thee at least out of feare this is nothing but a lie of Satan thou wouldst do them all for feare of a man Suppose there were Lawes made that every man who does not pray in his Family Morning and Evening should assuredly be hanged whosoever swears an Oath should bee hanged as soone as hee hath sworne it Whosoever breakes out into any bitter rayling speech should suffer death Suppose I say to all the duties of Religion it were death to omit them and the King had made such a certaine sure Law I dare say there would be many millions of Professors more in England then there are rather then yee would be gibbeted many swearers would never sweare more many liers never lie more many profane househoulders never omit Prayers in their Families more and couldst thou do this for fear of a man why canst thou not then do it for fear of the great God Thirdly The Lord hath given thee naturall counsell and naturall reason and prudence Oh sayst thou I am tempted before I am aware and the passion is up before I am aware I cannot helpe it for my life No I believe thee when the Devill is once up there is no alaying that fowle Fiend for the present Thou canst not immediately allay it But why canst thou not prevent it with counsell and deliberation the very Heathens have done this and thou hast advantage of all heathen God hath given thee not only reason in thy head and
canst not this is it that makes our prayers hard and our repentings hard our believings and all our performances hard because we would faine be compounding We have much adoe to pray our hearts can hardly be brought to wrastle much adoe to be humbled our wils will hardly stoope if it were not for these compoundings these duties were easy And what excuse hast thou hence none at all for its a cannot onely in the compounded sence that thou makest it Fifthly the Scripture speaks of a humbling cannot a cannot not to bolster thee up in thy excuses but only to humble thee that thou mayest be driven out of thy selfe unto God A servant cannot live except it be his Masters pleasure to take pitty on him Is this any pretence to him to anger his Master or to be negligent of his Masters commands nay rather it forceth him to be so much the more carefull to obey him and to be humble before him So the Scripture sayes that thou canst not without God except God shew mercy on thee to convert thee and save thee thou canst not be accepted of him All this is to humble thee not to helpe thee with excuses Tush I cannot do as his Ministers do bid me I cannot mortify these sins I cannot be so strict this is too much precisenesse you speake of O murmur not this cannot is onely to bumble thee murmure not among your selves No man can come to mee except the father draw him Ioh. 6.43.44 This is no reason why thou shouldst murmur or cavill or be stubborne as thou art thou canst not come at Christ exeept the father take pity on thee to draw thee Thou hast so much the more reason to be humbled and not to go on wittingly and willfully as thou doest Canst thou not be holy and saved except he be pleased to pitty thee in what a wofull case then art thou to provoke him as thou dost So much shall suffice for the first Objection drawne out of the Scripture The second thing thou objectest is thy willingnesse thou wouldest as thou pretendest but thou canst not I answer thee for this First may be its the will of thy conscience and not the will of thy heart thy heart is carnall and unacquainted with God and so it s contented to be only thy conscience would have thee grow better and more heavenly but thy heart will not yeeld and therefore all thy willings are nothings but deludings they are only the willings of conscience and not of thy heart Thou art chasing and fretting every foot thy conscience tells thee thou shouldst not thou art praying carnally every day when thou hast done conscience sayes thou shouldst pray holyer then so conscience would but thou wilt not conscience would have thee get assurance for Heaven but thou wilt not be at the paines Alas this makes thee inexcusable for now thou condemnest thy selfe and yet wilt sinne thou art inexcusable O man whosoever thou art that judgest for wherein thou judgest another thou condemnest thy selfe Rom. 2.11 marke when a man condemneth himselfe he is then inexcusable I do not now quote it for the particular the Apostle does instance in there for judging another for the truth is the same whatsoever sinne we do instance in the truth is this that Paul grounds his speech on Hee that condemneth himselfe in a sinne and yet will go on in it that man is inexcusable What now hast thou gotten by thy plea thou wouldst thou sayest this makes thy sinne to be worse in that thy conscience would and yet for all that thou wilt not Secondly may be its a copulative will thou hast a will to repent and be godly but it is with a copulative will Repentance and some lust godlinesse and some lust thou wouldst faine please the Lord and thine own lust too be religious and proud too believe in Christ and covet too and be vaine too c. Thou hast a will but it is a copulative will to serve God and do this too Pish cannot I serue God and do this too No no this same copulative will is a flat contradiction Couple light and darknesse Christ and Beliall 2 Cor. 6.15 It s a contradiction to imagine to couple them for they cannot possibly be coupled And therefore this same copulative will is nothing but a mockery and the truth still is this thou wilt not Thirdly May be thou hast a woulding will this is no will but onely a velleity so thou hast a woulding will I would do as well as any other but I cannot to speake properly this is no will for its onely that will wherewith fooles will things impossible I would I were at London with a wish sayes he I would I could flie as well as an Eagle These things are impossible and therefore it s no will but meere folly thus may be thou willest grace I would with all my heart I could do as God sayes God knowes my heart my will is good I would be better then I am And yet thy conscience can call for something or other to be mended and thou wilt not This is an impossibility and therefore no will like the foole that would sit in his chaire and I would I were at London he would faine be at London and sit still So thou sittest at the same passe I would I were in Christ thou wouldst faine be in Christ and yet thou art loth to stir out of that base temper thou art in This is an impossibility a folly and no will woulding and no willing I grant the Saints of God have their wouldings and their would does go further then their wil their wil is absolutely set to be holy and they would be holy Their will is deeply to be humbled and they would be deeper their would is grounded upon a will they will in some measure and they would go further I will oh that I could will more But thou that liest in thy sinfull estate thy would is pure folly A would grounded upon a will not is foppish the Saints would is grounded upon a will but thine the roote at bottome is this thou wilt not Fourthly may be thou hast a generall metaphysicall will but to come to particulars there thou wilt not I hate the Saints of God God forbid I 'le never hate them while I live and yet come to this Saint and that Saint him thou wilt hate him Hee is the veriest hypocrite in the Country and keepes more adoe then needs Thus thy will is good to a company of metaphysicall Saints in the cloulds but those that are Gods Saints in particular thou mockest I be stubborne against the Commandements of God I will not be stubborne against them yea but this and that Commandement thou wilt not observe Thou wilt not thinke best of them of whom thou shouldst nor take up that carriage in meetings that thou shouldst thou hast a good will to the Commandements in affection but thy will
stands against the particulars of them Generalls are but Notions when they are abstracted from the particulars And therefore thy will is but a Notion the will when it willeth indeed willeth particulars this particular duty this particular Ordinance Indeed good in the general is the object of the will but when the will comes to will in the exercise of it it pitcheth on particulars Fifthly thou hast no true will I speake still to the carnall I say thou hast no true will because if thou truly didst will thou couldst if thou didst truly will to believe and will to be a new creature thou couldst for the will it hath potentiam execuvtiuam so far as it will c. It hath an executing power to go so far as it wills if thou didst truly and really will to speak holy thy will would make thy tongue to put it in execution If thou hadst a will thy will would command execution my tongue shall speake the praise of the Lord sayes David Psal 119.171.172 my soule it shall prayse thee vers. 175. I grant the woulding of the will goes further then all execution can go to will is present with me but how to performe that which is good I finde not Rom. 7.18 I quote this place the rather because many wrest it to their own destruction Oh sayes a wicked man I have a a good will I would as Paul sayes but J cannot performe thus men misinterpret this place for looke how far Paul would he could performe for the will hath potentiam executricem and an imperative force over the man What he did will he did performe he performed it in his heart and tongue and hand c. but he would draw his will forwarder then it was but he could not his very will was partly unwilling hee could not indeed performe so much as he would that is he could not draw on his will so strongly as he would His will was not perfectly sanctified no Saint in this World hath any perfect completenesse of will and therefore his performance is not perfect because his will is not perfect I say if thy will be converted to God thou thy selfe art converted to God obedience ever goes as far as the will And therefore if thou art willing its certaine thou art obedient if yee be willing and obedient sayes the Text Isay 1.19 whosoever is willing to obey that man does obey in some measure because the will hath power of execution and the whole man at command This is the reason why Divines say that the sincerity of the will is the condition of the Gospell wherefore if thou beest not obedient neither art thou willing to obey all the powers of thy soule and all the members of thy body thy will hath an actus imperativus to command them Now if thy will will not command them to yeild thou art not so much as willing at all if a Justice of peace should tell me he would give me a Warrant and yet when all comes to all he will not command his clark for to write it nor his own hand for to pen it I see plainly he will not Dost thou say I would obey Christ and J would deny selfe why then dost thou not command thy Clerke for to writ it If thy will will not command tongue Tongue thou shalt never talke so unprofitably as thou hast done and Eare thou shalt never hearken after vanity as thou hast done and thoughts Thoughts yee shall never run at rovers as yee have done Jf your will were but willing it would command your whole soule soule thou shalt not do as thou hast done as Davids will commanded his soule O my soule blesse the Lord and forget thou not all his benefits Psalme 103.2 nay he commanded all that was in him all that is in me blesse his holy name vers. 1. So if thou wert willing thy will would command all thy soule soule thou shalt not be so seldome at the throne of grace at thou art c. thus much of the second objection drawn from the will Objection the third But thou desirest to do it and therefore thou doest not stick at a will not I answer thee who can tell best what is in thee God or thine owne heart verily the Lord that did make it is likeliest to know best Now the Lord sayes peremptorily thou desirest not grace yea and thy heart sayes it too and the Lord heares it though thou hearest it not they say unto God depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thy wayes Job 21.14 Neverthelesse because thou standest so stoutly upon it that thou dost desire grace I 'le tell thee the reason of thy mistake First thou hast putative or thinking desires thou thinkst thou desirest and therefore thou art mistaken like Seneca's young scholler that said he desired to be good I do not say sayth he he lies but putat se cupere He thinkes hee desires so thou sayest thou desirest I will not say thou lyest but thou thinkst thou dost so now alas thy thoughts are the vainest things in the World How long shall vaine thoughts lodge within thee Jer. 4.14 thy thoughts are very vaine there is no trusting to them Naaman thought I thought sayth he but how wide his thought was the story declares Haman thought hee thought in his heart sayes the Text but his thoughts came to nothing but a Gallowse and a Haâ—er Ishbibenos thought but you know what his thoughts did come unto it fell fowle on his owne head nothing is more vain then the thoughts of carnall mens hearts so thou thinkest thou desirest alas thy thought is but vanity Secondly thou hast ignorant desires thou dost desire to be one of Gods Saints thou desirest it ignorantly for when thou comest to see who the Saints be namely such and such whom thou conceivest to be strange people and Puritans then thou hast no desire to be one Thou desirest to go after Christ thou dost ignorantly desire it for when thou seest thou must take up this crosse then thou hast no desire thereunto as the Prophet speakes of Christ in the person of the wicked when we shall see him there is no beauty that wee should desire him Esay 53.2 thou desirest with ignorant desires before thou seest who he is but when thou seest who he is thou dost not desire him Thou desirest his grace thou desirest to believe and repent and to put up injuries these are ignorant desires before thou seest what they be but when thou seest what they be what the injury is that thou shouldst put up then thou dost not desire to put it up what the sinne is that thou shouldst leave then thou dost not desire for to leave it when thou seest them then thou dost not desire them When we shall see him there is no beauty that wee should desire him Thirdly thou hast wandering desires Oh sayth one you have a happy turne you have good Preaching and good meanes