LECTURE XXIX. Of Man's Inability, God's Grace, and Prayer to Him for it. I HAVE now proceeded, in the Course of thefe Lectures, to the End of the Commandments; and explained the Nature of that Repentance, Faith and Obedience, which were promifed for us in our Baptifm, and which we are bound to exercife, in Proportion as we come to underftand the Obligations incumbent on us. You cannot but fee by this Time, that the Duties, which God enjoins us, are not only very impor tant, but very extenfive. And therefore a Confideration will almoft unavoidably prefent itfelf to your Minds in the next Place, what Abilities we have to perform them. Now this Queftion our Catechifm decides, without asking it, by a Declaration, extremely difcouraging in Appearance; that we are not able, of ourselves, to walk in the Commandments of God, and to ferve him. Indeed, had we ever fo great Abilities, we must have them, not of ourselves, but of our Maker: from whom all the Powers of all Creatures are derived. But fome: thing further than this, is plainly meant here: that there are no Powers, belonging to human Nature in its prefent State, fufficient for fo great a Purpose. The Law of God is fpiritual: but we are carnal, fold under Sin. And that fuch is our Condition, will apper by reflecting, fuft, what it was at our Birth; fecondly, what we have made it fince. I. As to the firft: we all give Proofs, greater or lefs, of an inbred Disorder and Wrongness in our Underftandings, Will and Affections. Poffibly one Proof, that fome may give of it, may be a Backwardness to own it. But they little confider, how fevere a Sentence they would pafs, by denying it, on themselves, and all Mankind. Even with our natural bad Inclinations for fome Excufe, we are blameable enough for the ill Things that we do. But how much more fhould we be fo, if we did them all, without the Solicitation of any inward Depravity to plead afterwards in our Favour ? In point of Intereft therefore as well as Truth, we are concerned to admit an original Proneness to Evil in our Frame while yet Reafon plainly teaches, at the fame Time, that whatever God created was originally, in its Kind, perfect and good. To reconcile these two Things would have been a great Difficulty, had not Revelation pointed out the Way, by informing us, that Man was indeed made upright, but that the very firft of human Race loft their Innocence and their Happinefs together; and tainting, by Wilful Tranfgreffion, their own Nature, tainted, by Confequence, that of their whole Pofterity. Thus by one Man, Sin entered into the World, and Death by Sin; and fo Death paffed upon all Men, for that all have finned 2. We find in Fact, however difficult it may be to account for it in Speculation, that the Difpofitions of Parents, both in Body and Mind, very commonly defcend, in fome Degree, to their Children. And therefore it is entirely credible, that fo great a Change in the Minds of our firft Parents from abfolute Rightness of Temper to prefumptuous Wickednefs: accompanied with an equal Change of Body, from an immortal Condition to a mortal one, produced perhaps, in Part, by the phyfical Effects of the forbidden Fruit; that Eccl. vii. 29. 2 Rom. v. 12. thefe thefe Things, I fay, fhould derive their fatal Influences to every fucceeding Generation. For though God will never impute any Thing to us, as our perfonal Fault, which is not our doing yet he may very jufly withhold from us thofe Privileges, which he granted to our firft Parents only on Condition of their faultlefs Obedience, and leave us fubject to those Inconveniencies, which followed of Courfe from their Dif obedience: as, in Multitudes of other Cafes, we fee Children in for worfe Circumftances by the Faults of their diftant Forefathers, than they otherwife would have been. And most evidently it is no more a Hardfhip upon us, to become fuch as we are by Means of Adam's Tranfgreffion, than to fuffer what we often do for the Tranfgreffions of our other Ancestors; or to have been created fuch as we are, without any one's Tranfgreffion which laft, all who difbelieve original Sin, muft affirm to be our Cafe. But unhappy for us as the Failure of the first Man was, we fhould be happy in Comparison, if this were all that we had to lament. Great as the native Disorder of our Frame is; yet either the Fall of Adam left in it, or God reftored to it, fome Degree of Difpofition to Obedience, and of Strength againft Sin: fo that though. in us, that is in our Flesh, dwelleth no good Thing 3, yet after the inward Man, (the Mind) we delight in the Law of God; and there are Occafions, on which even the Gentiles, which have not the Law, do by Nature the Things contained in the Law, though neither all, nor any, without Fault. And on us Chriftians our heavenly Father confers, in our Baptifm, the Affurance of much greater. Strength, to obey his Commands, than they have. But then, if we confider 2. What we have made our Condition fince, we fhall find, that inftead of ufing well the Abilities which we had, and taking the Methods, which our Maker hath appointed for the Increase of them, we have often 5 Rom. ii. 14. 3 Rom. vii. 18. 4. Ver. 22, 23.* care carelessly, and too often wilfully, mifemployed the former, and neglected the latter. Now by every Inftance of fuch Behaviour, we difpleafe God, weaken our right Affections, and add new Strength to wrong Paffions and by Habits of fuch Behaviour, corrupting our Hearts, and blinding our Underftandings, we bring ourfelves into a much worfe Condition, than that, in which we were born; and thus become doubly incapable of doing our Duty. This, Experience proves but too plainly though Scripture did not teach, as it doth. that the Imarination : ginution of Man's Heart is evil from his Youth that we were shapen in Iniquity, and in Sin did our Mother conceive us that the carnal Mind is Enmity against God: that without Chrift we can do Nothing; and that we are not sufficient to think any Thing, as of ourfelves. Yet, notwithstanding this, we feel within us an Obligation of Confcience to do every Thing that is right and good. For that Obligation is in its Nature unchangeable and we cannot be made happy otherwife, than by endeavouring to fulfil it; though God, for the Sake of our bleffed Redeemer, will make fit Allowances for our coming fhort of it. But then we must not hope for fuch Allowances as would really be unfit. Our original Weaknefs indeed is not our Fault; but our Neglect of being relieved from it, and the Additions that we have made to it, are. And whatever we might have had the Power of doing, if we would; it is no Injuftice to punifh us for not doing efpecially when the Means of enabling ourselves continue to be offered to us through our Lives. Now, in Fact, the whole Race of Mankind, I charitably hope and believe, have, by the general Grace, or Favour of God, the Means of doing fo much, at least, as may exempt them from future Sufferings. But Chriftians, by the Special Grace mentioned in this Part of the Catechifm, are qualified to do fo much more, as will intitle them, not for their own Worthiness, but that of the holy Jefus, to a diftinguifhing Share of future Reward. Now the fpecial Grace of the Gospel confifts, partly in the outward Revelation, which it makes to us, of di vine Truths; partly in the inward Affiftance, which it beflows on us for obeying the divine Will. The latter is the Point here to be confidered. That God is able, by fecret Influences on our Minds, to difpofe us powerfully in Favour of what is right, there can be no Doubt: for we are able, in fome Degree, to influence one another thus. That there is Need of his doing it, we have all but too much Experience; and that therefore we may reasonably hope for it, evidently follows. He interpofes continually by his Providence, to carry on the Courfe of Nature in the material World; is it not then very likely, that he fhould interpofe in a Cafe, which, as far as we can judge, is yet more worthy of his Interpofition; and incline and ftrengthen his poor Creatures to become good and happy, by gracious Impreffions on their Souls, as Occafions require? But ftill, Hope and Likelihood are not Certainty and God whofe Ways are past finding out, might have left all Men to their own Strength, or rather indeed their own Weakness. But whatever he doth in Relation to others, which is not our Concern, he hath clearly promifed to us Chriftians,, that his Grace fhall be fufficient for us 3: his Holy Spirit fhall enable us effectually to do every Thing which his Word requires. 4+ We may refift his Motions: or we may receive them into our Souls, and act in Confequence of them. Every one hath Power enough to do right: Scripture, as well as Reason, fhews it only we have it not refident in us by Nature; but bestowed on us continually by our Maker, as we want it. In all good Actions that |