be perfect, as our Father which is in heaven is pera fect.

This the gospel defigns to raise us to; and one of the great inftruments whereby this is effected, are thofe exceeding great and precious promifes which I have infifted upon: And they are capable of effecting it these two ways:

First, By way of internal efficacy and affiftance; and,

Secondly, By way of external motive and argument: Both these ways fome or other of these promifes have a mighty influence upon us, (if we be not wanting to ourfelves) to raife us to a god-like temper and difpofition, that is, to the greatest perfeation of virtue and goodness which we are capable of in this life.

Firft, By way of internal efficacy and affiftance. And this influence the promife of God's Holy Spirit, and of the gracious help and affiftance thereof, hath upon the minds of men, inclining them to that which is good, and enabling them to do it. For the Holy Spirit is promifed to us, in confideration and commiferation of that impotency and weakness which we have contracted in that degenerate and depraved condition into which mankind is funk; to help us, who are without ftrength, to recover ourselves out of that evil and miferable ftate into which by wilful transgreffion we are fallen; to quicken us who are dead in trefpaffes and fins, (as the fcripture expreffeth the condition of unregenerate perfons) to raise us to a new life, and to cherish this principle of fpiritual life, which is commonly weak at firit, and to carry it through all difcouragements and oppofitions; to excite us continually to our duty, and to enable us to the most difficult parts of obedience, fuch as are most contrary to our natural inclinations, and against the grain of flesh and blood; to bear down the ftrength of fin and temptation; and in all our conflicts with the world, the flesh and the devil, and all the powers of darkness, to make us victorious over them; and in a word, to be a principle within us, more migh ty and powerful than the lufts and inclinations of our

evill

evil hearts, than the most obstinate and inveterate habits of fin and vice, and than all the temptations and terrors of fenfe. So that if we will make use of this affiftance, and lay hold of this ftrength which God affords us in the gofpel, and (as the Apoftle expreffeth it) be workers together with God, we need not defpair of victory and fuccefs; for our ftrength will continually increafe, and the force and violence of our lufts will be abated, God will give us more grace, and we fhall walk from strength to strength, and our path will be (as Solomon fays of the way of the righteous) as the light which shines more and more unto the perfect day.

For the Holy Spirit of God conducts and manageth this great work of our fanctification and falvation from first to last, by opening our hearts to let in the light of divine truth upon our minds, by reprefenting to us with advantage fuch arguments and confiderations as are apt to perfuade us to embrace it, and yield to it; by fecret and gentle reprehenfions foftening our hard hearts, and bending our ftiff and ftubborn wills to a compliance with the will of God, and our duty. And this is that great work which the fcripture calls our regeneration and fanctification, the turning us from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, a new creation, and a refur rection from the death of fin, to the life of holiness. And then by leading and directing us in the ways of holinefs and obedience; by quickening our devotion, and ftirring up in us holy defires and difpofitions of foul, rendering us fit to draw near to God in prayer, with a due fenfe of our own wants and unworthiness, and an humble confidence in the goodnefs of God, that he will grant us thofe good things that we ask of him; in fupporting and comforting us in all our afflictions and fufferings, efpecially for truth and righteoufnefs fake; and by fealing and confirming to us the bleffed hopes of eternal life. Thus the Spirit of God carries on the work of our fanctification, and makes us partakers of a divine nature, by way of inward efficacy and affiftance.

Secondly

Secondly, The promises of the gospel are apt likewife to have a mighty influence upon us by way of motive and argument, to engage and encourage us to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit, and to perfect holiness in the fear of God. For,

First, A full pardon and indemnity for what is paft, is a mighty encouragement for us to return to our duty, and a forcible argument to keep us to it for the future. For fince God, who hath been fo highly injured and affronted by us, is fo willing and ready to forgive us, as not only to provide and purchafe for us the means of pardon, by the grievous fufferings of his dear Son, but to offer it fo freely, and invite us fo earnestly to accept of it, and to be reconciled to him; the confideration of this ought in all reason, ingenuity and gratitude, to melt us into forrow and repentance for our fins, and a deep fenfe of the evil of them, and to inflame our hearts with a mighty love to God, and our bleffed Redeemer, who hath loved us, and washed us from our fins in his own blood; and to make us extremely unwilling, nay, most firmly refolved never more to offend that merciful and gracious God, who is fo flow to pu nifh, and fo forward to forgive; and effectually to engage us to a dutiful, and conftant, and chearful obedience to God's holy laws and commandments, left by our wilful tranfgreffion and violation of them, we fhould run ourselves into a deeper guilt, and aggravate our condemnation. Now that by the tender mercies of our God we are made whole, we should be infinitely afraid to fin any more, left worse things come to us; left we relapfe into a more incurable ftate, and bring a heavier load of guilt and misery upon ourselves.

Secondly, The promise of God's grace and Holy Spirit is likewife a very powerful argument and encouragement to holinefs and goodness, engaging us to cleanfe ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and Spirit, that our fouls and minds may be a fit temple for the Holy Ghoft, which will not dwell in an impure foul and likewife encouraging us hereto, by

Ser. 98, this confideration, that we have fo unerring a guide to counfel and direct us, fo powerful an affiftant to Strengthen us with all might in the inner man, to ftand by us in all our conflicts with fin and Satan, and make us (as the Apostle expreffeth it) more than conquerors over all our fpiritual enemies. For though we be weak, and our lufts ftrong, our enemies many, and temptations mighty and violent; yet we need not be difheartned, fo long as we know that God is with us, and the Grace of his Holy Spirit fufficient for us, against all the ftrength of fin and hell; though our duty be hard, and our ftrength fmall, yet we cannot fail of fuccefs, if we be fure that the omnipotent grace of God is always ready to fecond our fincere, though never fo weak, endeavours. So that when we fee all the enemies of our falvation drawn up in array against us, we may encourage ourselves, as the prophet Elisha did his fervant, when he told him, that an hoft compaffed the city with horses and chariots, and faid, Alas! my master, how shall we do? And he answered, fear not, for they that be with us, are more than they that be with them, 2 Kings vi. 16. Or, as Hezekiah comforted the people, when they were afraid of the mighty force of the King of Affyria, 2 Chron. xxxii. 7, 8. Be strong and couragious, be not afraid nor dismayed for the King of Affyria, nor for all the multitude that is with him: for there be more with us than with him. With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord our God, to help us, and to fight for us. This is the cafe of

every Christian; the force that is against us is finite and limited; but the almighty God is on our fide, and fights for us; and every one of us may fay with St. Paul, Phil. iv. 13. I can do all things through Chrift which strengtheneth me.

Thirdly, The promise of eternal life and happinefs, if duly weighed and confidered, hath a mighty force in it to take us off from the love and praétice of fin, and to encourage our obedience, and patient continuance in well-doing. The affurance of enjoying unspeakable and endless happiness in another world, and of efcaping extreme and eternal mi

fery

fery, is a confideration of that weight, as one would think, could not fail of its efficacy upon us, to put all temptations to fin out of countenance, and to bear down before us all the difficulties and difcouragements in the way of our duty. And if this make no impreffion upon us, if heaven and hell be of no weight with us, it will be in vain to ufe any other arguments, which in comparison of this, are but as the very small duft upon the balance. For if on the one hand the hopes of perfect comfort and joy and felicity, perpetual in duration, and vaft beyond all imagination, fuch as eye hath not feen, nor ear heard, nor bath entred into the heart of man to conceive: And if, on the other hand, the dread of the terrible wrath of God, and of the vengeance of eternal fire together with the infupportable torments of a guilty confcience, and the perpetual ftings of bitter remorfe and anguish for the wilful folly of our wicked lives, and the rage of horrible defpair of ever getting out of fo miferable a state; if neither of thefe confiderations, if both of them will not prevail upon us to ceafe to be evil, and to refolve to be good, that we may obtain one of thefe conditions, and may escape the other; there is no hope that any words that can be ufed, any arguments and confiderations that can be offered, fhould work upon us, or take place with us. He that is not to be tempted by fuch hopes, nor to be terrified by fuch fears, is proof against all the force of perfuafion in the world.

And thus I have done with the two things which I propofed to confider from thefe words; the nature of these promifes, and the influence they are apt, and ought to have upon us, to raife us to the perfection of virtue and goodness, which the Apoftle here calls our being partakers of a divine nature. All that now remains is, to make fome useful reflexions upon what hath been difcourfed upon thefe two heads.

First of all, If we expect the bleffings and benefits of these exceeding great and precious promises of the gospel, we must be careful to perform the conditions which are indifpenfably required on our parts. It is a great mistake, and of very pernicious confequence