Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

able not only to will, but to do good; in obeying thofe commandments, which we cannot but acknowledge to be holy, and just, and good. And this is the And this is the very notion which our Lord and Mafter gives us of it, Job. viii. For, when the Jews bragged of their freedom, he lets them know, that freedom could not confift with fubjection to fin: He that committeth fin is the fervant of fin, ver. 34. That honourable parentage, and the freedom of the body, was but a falfe and ludicrous appearance of liberty: that if they would be free indeed, the Sɔn must make them fo, ver. 36. i. e. they muft, by his fpirit and doctrine be rescued from the fervitude of luft and error, and be fet at liberty to work righteousness. If ye continue in my word, then are ye my difciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth fhall make you free, ver. 31, 32. Finally, not to multiply proofs of a truth that is fcarce liable to be controverted, as the apostle defcribes the bondage of a finner in Rom. vii; fo does he the liberty of a faint in Rom. viii. For there, ver. 2. he tells us, that the law of the spirit of life has fet the true Chriftian free from the law of fin and death. And then he lets us know wherein this liberty confifts; in walking, not after the flesh, but after the fpirit; in the mortification of the body of fin, and reftitution of the mind to its juft empire and

P 2

and authority. If Chrift be in you, the body is dead because of fin; but the spirit is life becaufe of righteousness, ver. 10. And all this is the fame thing with his defcription of liberty, chap. vi. where, 'tis nothing else, but for a man to be made free from fin, and become the fervant of God. Thus then we have a plain account of bondage and liberty. Yet for the clearer understanding of both, it will not be amifs to observe, that they are each capable of different degrees; and both the one and the other may be more or less entire, compleat, and abfolute, according to the different progress of men in vice and virtue. Thus, in fome men, not their will only, but their very reafon is enslaved. Their understanding is fo far infatuated, their affections fo intirely captivated, that there is no conflict at all between the mind and the body: they commit fin without any reluctancy beforehand, or any remorse afterwards : their feared confcience making no remonfrance, inflicting no wounds, nor denouncing any threats. This is the last degree of vafalage. Such are faid in fcripture to be dead in trefpaffes and fins. Others there are, in whom their luft and appetite prevails indeed, but not without oppofition. They reafon rightly; and, which is the natural refult of this, have fome defires and wishes of righteousness: but through

the

the prevalency of the body, they are unable to act and live conformable to their reafon. Their understanding has indeed light, but not authority: it confents to the law of God, but it has no power, no force to make it be obeyed: it produces indeed fome good inclinations, purposes, and efforts; but they prove weak and ineffectual ones, and unable to grapple with the stronger paffion raised by the body. And as bondage, fo liberty is of different degrees, and different ftrength. For though liberty may be able to fubfift, where there is much oppofition from the body; yet 'tis plain that liberty is moft abfolute and compleat, where the oppofition is leaft, where the body is reduced to an entire fubmiffion and obfequioufness, and the spirit reigns with an uncontrouled and unlimited authority. And this latter is that liberty which I would have my perfect man poffeffed of. I know very well 'tis commonly taught by fome, that there is no fuch ftate: But, I think, this doctrine, if it be throughly confidered, has neither fcripture, reafon, nor experience to fupport it. For as to thofe places, Rom. vii. and Gal. v. urged in favour of an almost inceffant, ftrong, and too frequently prevalent lufting of the flesh against the Spirit; it has been often answered, and proved too, that they are fo far from belonging to the perfect, that they belong not to

P 3

the

the regenerate. But, on the contrary, those texts that represent the yoke of Chrift easy, and his burthen light; which affirm the commandments of Christ not to be grievous to fuch as are made perfect in love; do all bear witness to that liberty which I contend for. Nor does reafon favour my opinion less than fcripture. For if the perfect man be a new creature; if he be tranf formed into a new nature; if his body be dead to fin, and his fpirit live to righteousness; in one word, if the world be as much crucified to him, as he to it; I cannot fee why it fhould not be eafy for him to act confonant to his nature; why he fhould not with pleasure and readiness follow that spirit, and obey thofe affections, which reign and rule in him. Nor can I fee why a habit of righteousness fhould not have the fame properties with other habits; that is, be attended with ease and pleasure in its operations and actions. 'Tis true, I can eafily fee why the habits of righteousness are acquired with more difficulty than those of any other kind: but, I fay, I cannot fee, when they are acquired, why they should not be as natural and delightful to us as

any

other. Laftly, How degenerate foever ages past have been, or the prefent is, I dare not fo far diftruft the goodness of my cause, or the virtue of mankind, as not to refer myself willingly, in this point,

to

1

to the decifion of experience. I am very well affured, that truth and juftice, devotion and charity, honour and integrity, are to a great many fo dear and delightful, fo natural, fo eafy, that it is hard to determine, whether they are more strongly moved by a sense of duty, or the inftigations of love and inclination; and that they cannot do a bafe thing without the utmost mortification and violence to their nature. Nor is all this to be wondered at, if we again reflect on what I just now intimated, that the perfect man is a new creature, transformed daily from glory to glory that he is moved by new affections, raifed and fortified by new principles: that he is animated by a divine energy, and fees all things by a truer and brighter light; through which the things of God appear lovely and beautiful, the things of the world deformed and worthless; just as to him who views them through a microscope, the works of God appear exact and elegant; but thofe of man, coarfe, and bungling, and ugly. My opinion then, which afferts the abfolute liberty of the perfect man, is fufficiently proved here, and in chapter the firft. And if I thought it were not, I could eafily reinforce it with fresh recruits. For the glorious characters that are given us in fcripture, of the liberty of the children of God, and the blessed fruit of it, peace P 4

and

« PreviousContinue »