Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub

8

and revealing unto them, in and by the Word, the mysteries of salvation;" effectually persuading them by his Spirit to believe and obey; and governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit; & overcoming all their enemies by his almighty power and wisdom, in such manner and ways as are most consonant to his wonderful and unsearchable dispensation.

CHAPTER IX.

OF FREE WILL.

I. GOD hath endued the will of man with that natural liberty, that it is neither forced, nor, by any absolute necessity of nature, determined to good or evil, a

rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

John xv. 15. For all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you. Eph. i. 9. Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. John xvii. 6. I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

2 Cor. iv. 13. We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak. Rom. viii. 9, 14. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.-For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Rom. xv. 18, 19. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. John xvii. 17. Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Psa. cx. 1. The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. 1 Cor. xv. 25, 26. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. Col. ii. 15. And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. Luke x. 19. Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

I. James i. 14. But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away

II. Man, in his state of innocency, had freedom and power to will and to do that which is good and well-pleasing to God; but yet mutably, so that he might fall from it. c

e

III. Man, by his fall into a state of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any spiritual good accompanying salvation;d so as a natural man, being altogether averse from that good, and dead in sin, is not able, by his own of his own lust, and enticed. Deut. xxx. 19. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live. John v. 40. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. Matt. xvii. 12. But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Acts vii. 51. Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye. James iv. 7. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

II. Eccl. vii. 29. Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions. Gen. i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Col. iii. 10. And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.

Gen. ii. 16, 17. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. Gen. iii. 6. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.

III. d Rom. v. 6. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Rom. viii. 7, 8. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. John xv. 5. For without me ye can do nothing. Rom. iii. 9, 10, 12, 23. What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.-For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.

ƒ Eph. ii. 1, 5. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.-Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved). Col. ii. 13. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh,

[ocr errors]

strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself there

unto. g

IV. When God converts a sinner, and translates him into the state of grace, he freeth him from his natural bondage under sin, and, by his grace alone, enables him freely to will and to do that which is spiritually good; i yet so as that, by reason of his remaining corruption, he doth not perfectly, nor only, will that which is good, but doth also will that which is evil, k

hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

9 John vi. 44, 65. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.-And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father. 1 Cor. ii. 14. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. Tit. iii. 3-5, For we ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hate. ful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteous. ness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. See Eph. ii. 2-5.

IV. Col. i. 13. Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. John viii 34, 36. Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whoso ever committeth sin is the servant of sin.-If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Phil. ii. 13. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Rom. vi. 18, 22. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.-But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

* Gal. v. 17. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. Rom. vii. 15, 21-23. For that which I do, I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.-I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 1 John i. 8, 10. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

V. The will of man is made perfectly and immutably free to good alone, in the state of glory only.

CHAPTER X.

OF EFFECTUAL CALLING.

I. ALL those whom God hath predestinated unto life, and those only, he is pleased, in his appointed and accepted time, effectually to call,a by his Word and Spirit, out

V. 'Eph. iv. 13. Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Jude 24. Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. 1 John iii. 2. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

I. a John xv. 16. Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Acts xiii. 48. And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed. Rom. viii. 28, 30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified. Rom. xi. 7. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded. Eph. i. 5, 10. Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.-Thet in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him. 1 Thess. v. 9. For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Thess. ii. 13, 14. God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Cor. iii. 3, 6. Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart.--Who also hath made us able min

с

of that state of sin and death, in which they are by nature, to grace and salvation by Jesus Christ; enlightening their minds spiritually and savingly, to understand the things of God; d taking away their heart of stone, and giving unto them an heart of flesh; e renewing their wills, and by his almighty power determining them to that which is good; and effectually drawing them to Jesu

isters of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life. James i. 18. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures. 1 Cor. ii. 12. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.

Rom. viii. 2. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 2 Tim. i. 9, 10. Who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began; But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. See Eph. ii. 1-10.

d Acts xxvi. 18. To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 1 Cor. ii. 10, 12. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.-Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Eph. i. 17, 18. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inherit. ance in the saints. 2 Cor. iv. 6. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

• Ezek. xxxvi. 26. A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.

Ezek. xi. 19. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. Deut. xxx. 6. And the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live. See Ezek. xxxvi. 27. John iii. 5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Gal. vi. 15. For in Christ Jesus

« VorigeDoorgaan »