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B04886 No power but of God, and yet a power in every creature, or, A word in season, to all men not void of grace, or deprived of reason wherein is held forth that the Almighty God is not wanting to us in impowering of us, but we are wanting to him, in not improving our talent for him ... / by Robert Purnel. Purnell, Robert, d. 1666. 1651 (1651) Wing P4238A; ESTC R187132 119,586 280

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plant●… his Spirit by vertue of which these men a●… women can pray in the Spirit rejoice 〈◊〉 the Spirit and in some measure worsh●● God who is a Spirit in spirit and in trut●… These can read and understand the letter 〈◊〉 the spirit they can discourse of spiritu●● things understandingly and feelingly b●… this power they can pull down strong hol●… cast down imaginations Read for the proof 〈◊〉 this 2 Cor. 10. 3 4 5 6 7. By this power th●… can keep down their natural or corrupt●…ble body as Paul 2 Cor. 9. 27. But I ke●● under my body and bring it unto subjection left should be found to preach that to others that should not practise my self Now this spiritual power as it was r●…ceived from God so it is to be improv●… for God which if we be faithful and di●●gent so to do then First the Lord will have the glory M●● 5. 16. Secondly it will redound to our gre●●est good Mat. 21. 22 23. And that there is a spiritual power it ●●ll further appear from the several com●…ands from the Lord to his people to be ●…ing in spiritual things which were all 〈◊〉 vain if there be no ability given forth to ●…e Creature to do that which is required ●…ight instance in as many places as there 〈◊〉 Chapters in the Bible to prove it but ●…r brevities sake I shall mention but a few ●●t 11. 23. Barnabas exhorted them all that ●●th purpose of heart they would cleave unto the ●●rd They did not answer him and say ●…at they had no power they could not doe it ●…il 2. 12. Work out your own salvation with ●…re and trembling These people did not ●…y there was Free-will in the Text. As King ●…AMES once said upon the like occasion ●…ere was Treason in the Text when a ●…inister that preached before him had taken Text of Scripture that did treat of the a●…se of Kingly power the King burst forth 〈◊〉 a passion and said There was Treason in the ●●xt But if Kings will not cast down their ●…rowns at the feet of Christ Christ will ●…uck them off and lay them at the feet of ●…en If there be no power in man Natural nor 〈◊〉 man Spiritual then away with all the ●…dmonitions Instructions Informations and so with the whole Bible cease to tea●● Man As good go teach the Sun Moon an●… Stars which way they shall go the Wind 〈◊〉 blow or the Sea to ebb and flow go tea●● the Fish to swim and the Bird to flie f●● they have power but man hath none And indeed if man regenerated if ma●… spiritualized have no power to act go an●… race out these ensuing Scriptures as requ●…ring that of man which man hath no abili●● to do Luk. 13. 24. Strive to enter in at t●● strait gate Many shall seeke to enter ●… Rom. 15. 30. Now I beseech you brethren f●● the Lord Iesus Christs sake and for the love 〈◊〉 the Spirit that you strive together with me yo●… prayers to God for me H●…b 12. 4. You have n●● yet resisted unto blood striving against si●● Heb. 12. 1. Let us lay aside every weight and t●● sinne that doth so easily beset us and let us 〈◊〉 with patience the race that is set before us 2 Pe●… 1. 5 6 7. And besides this give all diligence ad●… to your faith vertue and to vertue knowledge a●● to knowledge temperance and to temperance pa●●ence and to patience godlinesse and to godline●● brotherly kindnesse and to brotherly kindne●● charity c. 2 Pet. 1. 10. Give all diligence 〈◊〉 make your calling and election sure 2 Phil. 1●… Work out your own salvation with fear and tre●…bling Jer. 4. 14. O Ierusalem wash thine he●● 〈…〉 m wickednesse that thou mayest be saved ●●r 18. 11. Return from your evil wayes and ●…ake your wayes and doings good saith the Lord. ●…at 11. 28. Come unto me all ye that labour and ●…e heavy laden and I will give you rest J●…r 3. 13. ●●ly acknowledge thine iniquity I wil pardon it Now as many as have received this spiri●●al power are able according to its mea●●re to doe the thing required As to in●●nce The Lord said to David Seek my face ●…avid's heart being enlightened and im●●wered by God makes this answer to the ●●rds command Lord thy face will I seek ●●d sometimes God conveyes the power ●●gether with the precept to enable them 〈◊〉 do what he commands them to do And ●●en if a man do it not or do the contrary ●…e Scripture tels thee thou art slothfull ●●d dost not use thy power or covetous ●●d so abusest thy power 1 C or 9. 18. Now let me ask thee O thou enlighten 〈◊〉 Christian hast thou since thou wast en●●ghtened by Christ done as much for Christ thou mightest have done Doth not thy ●…nscience tell thee thou hast been negligent ●●d slothful and left undone those things ●…hich thou oughtest to have done and done ●…ose things which thou mightest have left ●…done In a word hast thou avoided so much evil and done so much good as th●● mightest have done What thou wilt 〈◊〉 now I know not but when thou an●… shall appear before the Searcher of all hea●● at●… the last day we shall not tell the Lo●● we wanted power to obey him in his co●…mands Surely if there be no life vigor pow●● in men and women regenerate then in va●● are all those stirrings perswafions and i●… treaties in Scripture as to instance in a fe●● 2 Tim. 1. 6. Wherefore I put thee in remembra●● that thou stirre up the gift of God which is in th●… 2 Pet. 1. 13. Yea I think it meet as long as I 〈◊〉 in this tabernacle to stir you up by putting you remembrance c. 2 Pet. 3. 1. This epistle 〈◊〉 loved I now write unto you in which I sti●● up your pure minds by way of remembrance ●… Heb. 3. 13. But exhort one another daily whil●… is called to day lest any of you be hardened thro●… the deceitfulnesse of sin Heb. 10. 24. Let us 〈◊〉 sider one another to provoke one another to l●● and good works 1 Cor. 4. 16. Wherefore I seech you be ye followers of me 1 Pet. 1. 15. 〈◊〉 as he which called you is holy so be ye holy in manner of conversation 2 Tim. 2. 19. Let e●●● one that nameth the name of the Lord depart fr●● iniquity Ephes 4. 22. That you put off the 〈◊〉 man which is corrupt Mat. 5. 16. Let your l 〈…〉 ●…shine before men that they may see your good 〈…〉 s and glorifie your Father which is in heaven Tim. 4. 13. Till I come give attendance to ●●ding to exhortation to doctrine c. Now if there be no power in a man re●●wed to do what is commanded then rase ●●t all the Commands for they be all in ●…in they be worse then Pharaoh they re●…ire heavenly bricks to be made of earthly ●…aw Away with all exhortations perswasi●●s intreatings
thee a●● not to faile thee nor forsake thee For I d●… know no precept but hath its promis●… though not alwayes in the same chapter 〈◊〉 verse 4. For our more careful practising 〈◊〉 ●●g and observing all the commands of our God consider these three things 1. As he hath promised to enable thee 2. So he hath promised to reward thee ●…or doing thy duty so that to every pre●●pt there is two promises the one to en●●le thee the other to reward thee and ●…oth to encourage thee 3. And in case of slothfulnesse and neg●…gence in leaving undone what we ought ●…nd might have done 1. The Lord complains on us 2. He exhorts us Be not slothfull in busines ●●t servent in spirit serving the Lord. 3. He threatens us saying Because I have ●●lled and you have refused you shall call and I ●…ill not answer 4. He tels us that we have forsaken our own ●…ercy He put a price into our hands but ●…e as fools had no heart to it and so our ●●struction is of our selves O Israel thou ●…ast destroyed thy self Oh then that all the Lords inheritance ●…aints by calling Sons of Sion would take ●●e Lords advice in these and the like com●…ands yea in all the will of God! Phil. 2. ●…2 Wherefore my beloved as you have alwayes ●…eyed not only in my presence but now much more 〈◊〉 my absence work out your own salvation witle ●●ar trembling Q. How shall I do that thou wilt say A. Peter being filled with the Holy Ghost shewes thee and me how we ma●… do it 2 Pet. 1. 5 6 c. And besides this giv●● all diligence adde to your faith vertue and 〈◊〉 vertue knowledge and to knowledge temperance and to temperance patience and to patience godlinesse and to godlinesse brotherly kindnesse and t●… brotherly kindnesse charity For if these things b●… in you and abound they make you that you sha●● neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowled●● of our Lord Iesus Christ but he that lacketh the●● things is blind and cannot see afar off Wherefor●… give all diligence to make your calling and elect●● sure for so an entrance shall be ministred unto yo●… abundantly into the everlasting kingdome of 〈◊〉 Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ Wherefore I will imploy my power saith Peter vers 12. I will not be negligen 〈◊〉 put you alwayes in remembrance of these thing yea I think it meet aslong as I am in this tabern●…●…le to stir you up by putting you in remembranc●… Now if Peter had no spiritual strength ho●… could he stir them up to spiritual things and if the people to whom he spake had n●… power how could they be doing the thing commanded Now thou O most excellent peece of a●… Gods workmanship Man and Woman whosoever thou art that readest these lines ●●deavour to know thy own strength that ●…ou mayest imploy and improve it for him ●…at gave it Study thy self examine what 〈◊〉 I able to doe by vertue of that power ●…hich I have received from God Surely I ●…ave left many things undone for this very ●●ason I was unable to do it It is true I saw ●…n the one hand that I could of my self do ●…othing but I did not see on the other and that I could do all things through ●…hrist enabling me It is a blessed thing to improve the power ●●ceived in making use of the present op●…ortunity and it is a dangerous case to ●…eglect it 1. Because it may be thou mayest not ●…ave another opportunity Prov. 1. 24. 26. ●…at 23. 37 38. 2. Because if he give another opportu●…ity thou art not sure to live to see it 3. Because if he doth give another op●…ortunity and thou live to see it yet thou ●…aving sleighted the Spirit at first thou art most like to do so still Heb. 3. 13. Act. 7. 51. 〈◊〉 Tim. 3. 8. 4. Because if the Lord doth give thee an●…ther opportunity and thou live to see it ●…nd imbrace it yet thou hast hindred thy self exceedingly and hast lost thy sight o●… Christ for many dayes Joh. 20. 24 25 A man that knowes not his own strength is like unto a man that hath a great summ●… of mony that lieth in a corner and he dot●… not improve it and so gets nothing by it for he knows not of it he hath a Talen●… but it is hid in a napkin and buried in th●… earth 1. I do but ask thee O man whosoeve●… thou art that readest these lines dost tho●● not think in thine own conscience tha●… there is many a man and woman belongin●… to the Election of grace that do die in d●…spair as it were and without assurance i●… point of manifestation that might have r●…signed up their souls to God in full assurance if they had obeyed God in giving 〈◊〉 diligence to make their calling and election sure 2 Pet. 1. 10. 2. Again let me ask thee whether tho●… dost not think in thy conscience that mo●● men and women with Martha are trouble about many things whereas they might wit●… Mary choose the better part Luk. 10. 41 42. 3. Again I do but ask thee whether tho●… dost not deprive thy self of thy comfortabl●… well-being here in this life by thy not looking more narrowly to thy conversation 2 Cor. 1. 12. Many things more might be here recited 〈◊〉 the confirmation of this truth That ●●re is a power natural and a power spiritual ●●d the neglect of the improvement of each is sin●●ll But at present I shall be silent to make ●…y further progresse therein only I shall ●●deavour to answer some objections that ●●ply may arise against it and then I shall ●…e you a few reasons why I have written ●…is and shew you the necessity that we have 〈◊〉 knowing this power by the danger of ●●t knowing it First I shall endeavour to answer a few ●…bjections that haply may arise in the ●…oughts of some against it and so much ●…e rather because I know that we live in 〈◊〉 age wherein some men make it the great 〈◊〉 peace of their Religion to lie at catch ●●d to esteem very highly of themselves and ●●eir own judgments and undervalue o●…ers as the proud Pharisee Luk. 18. 11 12. ●●d quite contrary to the command of ●…od Phil. 2. Let each esteem others better then ●●emselves But to proceed Ob. 1. If there be a natural power in all ●●d a spiritual power in some by vertue ●…hereof they can act and do act then I ●…umbly conceive that you must either by ●…olding this dostr●…y Free-grace or else hold ●…ree-will A. I answer In all that I have said 〈◊〉 done concerning the natural or spiritu●● power I have endeavoured to fail b●…twe●● these two rocks that I might not deny t●● one nor hold the other for if my 〈◊〉 should sail against either of these two roc●● all hopes of coming safe to land would 〈◊〉 taken from mine eyes First I have not destroyed Free-gra●● neither undervalued it in
Some would ●…ave God not only to give them ability ●…ut to perform the action and then indeed ●●ey might say it was the will of God it ●●uld be so when they did evil for then ●●ey would be carried on as the Sun Moon ●…nd Stars are without resistance But God ●…aving made man a rational creature and ●…iven him power to act he requires him to ●●t by vertue of that power given him and 〈◊〉 commends him for acting well blames ●…im for acting ill And though our ability ●…e but small at first yet if we improve that ●…ccording to the strength we have God hath ●…romised to increase it and we shall grow ●●om strength to strength But if we be un●●ithful in that which is least he will not ●…ust us with more It is good therefore to ●…o what we can and ask and seek for what ●…e cannot do It was possible for the sons ●…f Jonadab to obey their fathers command 〈◊〉 not drinking wine and it was as pos●●ble for Israel to obey their Lords com●…and for God reproves them by that ●…xample Jer. 35. 14. I suppose that the ●●ghteous God never commands impossible things The word is nigh thee in thy mouth a●… in thy heart saith Moses that thou mayest do 〈…〉 Deut. 30. 13 14. Therefore in the book 〈◊〉 bids them choose life Choose saith Joshu●● whom you will serve as for me and my house 〈◊〉 will improve our selves to the utterm 〈…〉 to serve the Lord Jos 24. 15. And therefo●● the Lord complains because they did n●● chuse the feare of the Lord Pro. 12. 9. The●… want of ability is not once mentioned as a●… excuse Again let me ask thee O man whosoev●● thou art that readest these lines Dost tho●… not think and believe that God hath give●… everyman power and ability to do so muc●… as he requires of him For the proof har●… of read understandingly Rom. 1. 19 20 ●… For the Lord is so just and his wayes 〈◊〉 equal that he never requires impossib●● things of his creatures He dealeth wit●… man according to what he hath and co●…mands what he knowes he may perfor●… He is not like Pharaoh to command Brick 〈◊〉 be made without Straw He gives forth h●… Talents and commands the Receiver 〈◊〉 improve that and when he comes to ca●… them to an account he doth not dema●● five talents where he gave but one only 〈◊〉 blames that servant for not improvi●● that one he that was not able to bring ●…old or Silver Silk or fine Linnen to the ●…ilding of the Temple if he brought ●…asse or Goats haire or such as he could ●…tha willing heart it was accepted Again 〈◊〉 finde that he that was not able to bring ●…amb or a Kid for his sin Offering must ●…ing two Turtle Doves or young Pigeons ●…he could not bring those then the tenth ●…rt of an Ephah of fine flower should serve 〈◊〉 where the Lord gives much he requires ●●ch and where he gives little he re●…ires but little Now is the Lord so tender of the people ●●t he would not have them to stretch ●●emselves beyond their abilities in point 〈◊〉 Sacrifices and is not he as tender of ●●ir weaknesse in other points of obedi●●ce Doth he command impossibilities ●●n the Creature may have a just execuse at 〈◊〉 last day when every man shall be judged ●●●ording to his works saying If thou 〈…〉 st given me power to doe that which 〈…〉 u gavest me a command to doe then I 〈◊〉 done it and so his disobedience is cast ●…on his Judge for not giving strength to ●…e that he required If this be true then ●●me not those that say that God is the au 〈…〉 r of sinne But shall I aske thee again O vain man hast thou done so much good and refrai●…ed so much evil that thou mightest ha●… done Put this question to thy Conscienc●… saying Conscience I doe charge thee in t●● presence of the Lord to deal truly with me●… Have I done so much good and refrained 〈◊〉 much evil as I might have done me thin●… I hear thy Conscience saying to thee a●… mine hath often to me No no thou ha●… been a sloathful servant in the Lords Vin●… yard O poore filly man art thou like t●● Bruites that doe not know their ow●… strength Why dost thou not know 〈◊〉 vain man that God that made thee ha●● indued thee with power and abilit●… suteable to thy state and quality Hat●… thy wise Creatour given forth a power t●… the Fishes of all sorts to swim and to t●● Fowls of the Ayre to flye and the Beasts 〈◊〉 the Earth to go from place to place ye●… hath he given wisdome and power to t●● meanest of Creatures the Ant and Pismi●… Crane and Swallow c. and thou O ma●… whom the Lord of Lords hath made Lo●● over al these things hast thou no ability a●… thou a meer dead lump doth God call a●● canst thou not heare nor answer wilt tho●… tell him when he shall judge thee that 〈◊〉 d●…d not impower thee Wilt thou charge ●●y Omissions and Commission upon him ●…ilt thou make him worse then wicked ●…haroah which made the Children of Is●●el make Brick without Straw let me tell ●…ee O man thou art able by the power ●…hat is given thee according to Gods com●…on Providence I say thou art able by ●…ertue of that power received to speake or 〈◊〉 hold thy peace to go or to sit still and ●…hen thou and I shall both appear before ●●e Tribunal Seat of God at the day of ●…udgement thou and I shal not be charged ●…ith what we could not doe but for lea●●ng undone that which we ought might ●…ave done Now that I might not be mista●…en I shal make or propose these few excep●●ons or limitations to what hath been said 1. There is a power in God incommu●●cable I doe not say there is any such ●…ower in us there is a power also in him ●…ommunicable which dwels in us accord●●g to the measure thereof communica●●d c. 2 We are to consider that this power in ●●e Creature as it was given forth from ●…im so it is limitted by him 3 I doe not say or affirme that natural ●●wer can act in supernatural things for I know the contrary that it cannot bu●… only in naturall 4. Although I doe affirm that all me●… have a natural power yet I doe not sa●… that every man natural hath it in the sam●… measure for I see men transcending o●… another in gifts natural as men excee●… and goe beyond one another in gifts Spiritual Truly friends it is worth our consideration a litle to study or enquire into our natural abilities that so we might improv●… them to the b●…st advantage for natura●… improvements shal have natural rewards a●… spiritual improvements shall have spiritua●● rewards If Ahab repent with a natural r●…pentance Ahab shall receive a natural reward as you may see 1 King 21. 27. It wi●● further appear that