Burnet on Article X: Of Free-Will

WE shall find the same Moderation observed in this Article, that was taken notice of in the former; where all disputes concerning the degrees of that feebleness and corruption under which we are fallen by the Sin of Adam, are avoided, and only the necessity of a preventing and a cooperating Grace is asserted, against the Semipelagians and the Pelagians. But before we enter upon that, it is fitting first to state the true Notion of Free-Will, in so far as it is necessary to all rational Agents, to make their Actions morally good or bad; since it is a Principle that seems to rise out of the Light of Nature, That no man is accountable, rewardable or punishable, but for that in which he acts freely, without force or compulsion; and so far all are agreed.

Some imagine, That Liberty must suppose a freedom to do or not to do, and to act contrariwise at pleasure. To others it seems not necessary that such a liberty should be carried to denominate Actions morally good or bad: God certainly acts in the perfectest liberty, yet he cannot sin. Christ had the most exalted liberty in his Human Nature, of which a Creature was capable, and his Merit was the highest, yet he could not sin. Angels and glorified Saints, though no more capable of Rewards, are perfect Moral Agents, and yet they cannot sin: And the Devils, with the damned, though not capable of further Punishment, yet are still Moral Agents, and cannot but sin: So this Indifferency to do or not to do, cannot be the true Notion of Liberty. A truer one seems to them to be this, That a Rational Nature is not determined as mere Matter, by the Impulse and Motion of other Bodies upon it; but is capable of Thought, and upon considering the Objects set before it, makes Reflection, and so chuses. Liberty therefore seems to consist in this inward capacity of thinking, and of acting and chusing upon Thought. The clearer the Thought is, and the more constantly that our choice is determined by it, the more does a Man rise up to the highest Acts, and sublimest Exercises of Liberty.

A question arises out of this, Whether the Will is not always determined by the Understanding, so that a Man does always chuse and determine himself upon the account of some Idea or other? If this is granted, then no liberty will be left to our Faculties. We must apprehend things as they are proposed to our Understanding; for if a thing appears true to us, we must assent to it; and if the Will is as blind to the Understanding, as the Understanding is determined by the Light in which the Object appears to it, then we seem to be concluded under a Fate, or Necessity. It is after all, a vain attempt to argue against every man’s experience: We perceive in our selves a liberty of turning our Minds to some Ideas, or from others; we can think longer or shorter of these, more exactly and steadily, or more slightly and superficially, as we please; and in this radical freedom of directing or diverting our Thoughts, a main part of our Freedom does consist: Often Objects as they appear to our Thoughts do so affect or heat them, that they do seem to conquer us, and carry us after them; some Thoughts seeming as it were to intoxicate and charm us: Appetites and Passions, when much fired by Objects apt to work upon them, do agitate us strongly; and on the other hand, the Impressions of Religion come often in our Minds with such a secret force, so much of Terror and such secret Joy mixing with them, that they seem to master us; yet in all this a Man Acts freely, because he thinks and chuses for himself: And though perhaps he does not feel himself so entirely balanced, that he is indifferent to both sides, yet he has still such a remote liberty, that he can turn himself to other Objects and Thoughts, so that he can divert, if not all of the sudden resist the present impressions that seem to master him. We do also feel that in many Trifles we do Act with an entire liberty, and do many things upon no other account, and for no other reason, but because we will do them; and yet more important things depend on these.

Our Thoughts are much governed by those impressions that are made upon our Brain: When an Object proportioned to us appears to us with such advantages as to affect us much, it makes such an impression on our Brain, that our Animal Spirits move much towards it; and those Thoughts that answer it, arise oft and strongly upon us, till either that Impression is worn out and flatted, or new and livelier ones are made on us by other Objects. In this depressed state in which we now are, the Ideas of what is useful or pleasant to our Bodies are strong; they are ever fresh, being daily renewed; and according to the different Construction of Mens Blood and their Brains, there arises a great variety of Inclinations in them. Our Animal Spirits that are the immediate Organs of Thought, being the subtiler parts of our Blood, are differently made and shaped, as our Blood happens to be Acid, Salt, Sweet, or Phlegmatick: And this gives such a Biass to all our Inclinations, that nothing can work us off from it, but some great strength of Thought that bears it down: So Learning chiefly in Mathematical Sciences, can so swallow up and fix ones Thought, as to possess it entirely for some time; but when that amusement is over, Nature will return and be where it was, being rather diverted than overcome by such Speculations.

The Revelation of Religion is the proposing and proving many Truths of great importance to our Understandings, by which they are enlightened, and our Wills are guided; but these Truths are feeble things, languid and unable to stem a Tide of Nature, especialy when it is much excited and heated: So that in fact we feel, that when Nature is low, these Thoughts may have some force to give an inward Melancholy, and to awaken in us Purposes and Resolutions of another kind; but when Nature recovers it self, and takes fire again, these grow less powerful. The giving those Truths of Religion such a Force that they may be able to subdue Nature, and to govern us, is the Design of both Natural and Revealed Religion: So the Question comes now according to the Article to be, Whether a Man by the Powers of Nature and of Reason, without other inward Assistances, can so far turn and dispose his own Mind, as to believe and to do works pleasant and acceptable to God. Pelagius thought that Man was so entire in his liberty, that there was no need of any other Grace but that of Pardon, and of proposing the Truths of Religion to Mens knowledge, but that the use of these was in every Man’s power. Those who were called Semipelagians thought that an assisting inward Grace was necessary to enable a Man to go through all the harder steps of Religion; but with that they thought that the first Turn or Conversion of the Will to God, was the effect of a Man’s own free choice.

In opposition to both which, this Article asserts both an Assisting and a preventing Grace. That there are inward Assistances given to our Powers, besides those outward Blessings of Providence, is first to be proved. In the Old Testament, it is true, there were not express Promises made by Moses of such Assistances; yet it seems both David and Solomon had a full persuasion about it. David’s Prayers do every where relate to somewhat that is Internal:¹ He prays God to open and turn his eyes; to unite and incline his heart; to quicken him; to make him to go; to guide and lead him; to create in him a clean heart, and renew a right spirit within him. Solomon says, That God gives wisdom; that he directs mens paths, and giveth grace to the lowly. ² In the Promise that Ieremy gives of a New Covenant, this is the Character that is given of it; I will put my Law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts: They shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest. Like to that is what Ezekiel promises,³ A new heart also will I give, 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 an heart of flesh; and I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them. That these Prophecies relate to the New Dispensation, cannot be question’d, since Ieremy’s words, to which the other are equivalent, are cited and applied to it in the Epistle to the Hebrews. Now the opposition of the one Dispensation to the other, as it is here stated, consists in this, That whereas the Old Dispensation was made up of Laws and Statutes that were given on Tables of Stone, and in writing, the New Dispensation was to have somewhat in it beside that External Revelation which was to be Internal, and which should dispose and inable Men to observe it.

A great deal of our Saviour’s Discourse concerning the Spirit which he was to pour on his Disciples, did certainly belong to that extraordinary Effusion at Pentecost, and to those wonderful Effects that were to follow upon it: Yet as he had formerly given this as an Encouragement to all Men to Pray,⁴ That his heavenly Father would give the Holy Spirit to every one that asked him; so there are many parts of that his last Discourse, that seem to belong to the constant Necessities of all Christians. It is as unreasonable to limit all to that time, as the first words of it, I go to prepare a place for you; and because I live, ye shall live also. The Prayer which comes after that Discourse,⁵ being extended beyond them to all that should believe in his Name through their word, we have no reason to limit these words, I will manifest my self to him; My Father and I will make our abode with him; In me ye shall have peace; to the Apostles only; so that the Guidance, the Conviction, the Comforts of that Spirit, seem to be Promises which in a lower order belong to all Christians. St. Paul speaks of the love of God shed abroad in their hearts by the Holy Ghost. When he was under Temptation,⁶ and prayed thrice, he had this Answer, My grace is sufficient for thee, ⁷ my strength is made perfect in weakness. He prays often for the Churches in his Epistles to them, That God would stablish, comfort, and perfect them, ⁸ enlighten and strengthen them; and this in all that variety of Words and Phrases that import inward Assistances. This is also meant by Christ’s living and dwelling in us, and by our being rooted and grounded in him;⁹ our being the Temples of God, a holy habitation to him through his Spirit; our being sealed by the Spirit of God to the day of Redemption; by all those directions to pray for grace to help in time of need, and, to ask wisdom of God that gives liberally to all men; as also by the Phrases of being born of God, and the having his seed abiding in us. These and many more places which return often through the New Testament, seem to put it beyond all doubt, that there are inward Communications from God, to the Powers of our Souls; by which we are made both to apprehend the Truths of Religion, to remember and reflect on them, and to consider and follow them more effectually.

How these are applied to us, is a great difficulty indeed, but it is to litle purpose to amuse our selves about it. God may convey them immediately to our Souls, if he will; but it is more intelligible to us to imagine that the Truths of Religion are by a Divine direction imprinted deep upon our Brain; so that naturally they must affect us much, and be oft in our Thoughts: And this may be a Hypothesis to explain Regeneration or habitual Grace by. When a deep Impression is once made, there may be a direction from God, in the same way that his Providence runs through the whole Material World, given to the Animal Spirits to move towards and strik upon that Impression, and so to excite such Thoughts as by the Law of the Union of the Soul and Body do correspond to it: This may serve for a Hypothesis to explain the Conveyance of Actual Grace to us: But these are only proposed as Hypotheses, that is, as methods or possible ways how such things may be done, and which may help us to apprehend more distinctly the manner of them. Now as this Hypothesis has nothing in it but what is truly Philosophical, so it is highly congruous to the Nature and Attributes of God, That if our Faculti[?]s a[?] fallen under a decay and corruption, so that bare Instruction is not like to prevail over us, he should by some secret methods rectify this in us. Our Experience tells us but too often, what a f[?]eble thing Knowledge and Speculation is, when it engages with Nature strongly assaulted; How our best Thoughts fly from us and forsake us; whereas at other times the sense of these things lies with a due weight on our Minds, and has another effect upon us. The way of conveying this is invisible; our Saviour compared it to the wind that bloweth where it listeth; ¹⁰ no man knows whence it comes, and whither it goes. No man can give an account of the sudden changes of the Wind, and of that vast force with which the Air is driven by it, which is otherwise the most yielding of all Bodies; to which he adds, so is every one that is born of the Spirit. This he brings to illustrate the meaning of what he had said, That except a man was born again of Water and of the Spirit, he could not enter into the kingdom of God: And to shew how real and internal this was, he adds, That which is born of the flesh is flesh; that is, a Man has the Nature of those Parents from whom he is descended, by Flesh being understood the Fabrick of the Human Body, animated by the Soul: in opposition to which, he subjoins, That which is born of the Spirit is spirit; that is to say, a Man thus regenerated by the Operation of the Spirit of God, comes to be of a Spiritual Nature.

With this I conclude all that seemed necessary to be proved, That there are inward Assistances given to us in the New Dispensation. I do not dispute whether these are fitly called Grace, for perhaps that word will scarce be found in that Sense in the Scriptures; it signifying more largely the Love and Favour of God, without restraining it to this Act or Effect of it. The next thing to be proved is, That there is a preventing Grace, by which the Will is first moved and disposed to turn to God. It is certain that the first Promulgation of the Gospel to the Churches that were gathered by the Apostles, is ascribed wholly to the Riches and Freedom of the Grace of God. This is fully done in the Epistle to the Ephesians, in which their former Ignorance and Corruption is set forth under the Figures of blindness, of being without hope, ¹¹ and without God in the world, and dead in trespasses and sins, they following the course of this world, and the prince of the power of the Air, and being by nature children of wrath; that is under Wrath, I dispute not here concerning the meaning of the word by Nature, whether it relates to the Corruption of our Nature in Adam, or to that general Corruption that had overspread Heathenism, and was become as it were another Nature [?]o them. In this single Instance we plainly see, that there was no previous disposition to the first preaching of the Gospel at Ephesus: Many expressions of this kind, though perhaps not of this force, are in the other Epistles. St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, puts God’s chusing of Abraham upon this, That it was of grace, not of debt, ¹² otherwise Abraham might have had whereof to glory. And when he speaks of God’s casting off the Iews, and grafting the Gentiles upon that Stock from which they were cut off, he, ascribes it wholly to the Goodness of God towards them,¹³ and charges them not to be high-minded, but to fear. In his Epistle to the Corinthians, he says, That not many wise, mighty, nor noble were chosen, but God had chosen the foolish, the weak, and the base things of this world, ¹⁴ so that no flesh should glory in his presence: And he urges this further, in words that seem to be as applicable to particular Persons, as to Communities or Churches: Who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou, ¹⁵ that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? From these and many more passages of the like nature, it is plain, that in the Promulgation of the Gospel,¹⁶ God was found of them that sought not to him, and heard of them that called not upon him; that is, he prevented them by his Favour, while there were no previous dispositions in them to invite it, much less to merit it: From this it may be inferred, That the like method should be used with relation to particular Persons.

We do find very express Instances in the New Testament, of the Conversion of some by a Preventing Grace: It is said,¹⁷ That God opened t[?]e heart of Lydia, so that she attended to the things that were spoken of Paul. The Conversion of St. Paul himself was so clearly from a Preventing Grace, that if it had not been miraculous in so many of its Circumstances, it would have been a strong Argument in behalf of it. These words of Christ seem also to assert it; Without me ye can do nothing; ye have not chosen me, but I you; and no man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him. ¹⁸ Those who received Christ, were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God. God is said to work in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure: The one seems to import the first beginings, and the other the progress of a Christian Course of Life. So far all among us, that I know of, are agreed, though perhaps not as to the force that is in all those places to prove this Point.

There do y[?]t remain Two Points in which they do not agree; the one is the Efficacy of this Preventing Grace; some think that it is of its own nature so Efficacious, that it never fails of Converting those to whom it is given; others think that it only awakens and disposes, as well as it enables them to turn to God, but that they may resist it, and that the greater part of Mankind do actually resist it. The examining of this Point, and the stating the Arguments of both sides, will belong more properly to the Seventeenth Article. The other Head in which many do differ, is concerning the Extent of this Preventing Grace; for whereas such as do hold it to be Efficacious of it self, restrain it to the number of those who are Elected and converted by it; others do believe, That as Christ died for all Men, so there is an Universal Grace which is given in Christ to all Men, in some degree or other, and that it is given to all Baptized Christians in a more eminent degree, and that as all are corrupted by Adam, there is also a general Grace given to all Men in Christ. This depends so much on the former Point, that the discussing the one is indeed the discussing of both; and therefore it shall not be further entred upon in this place.

Footnotes

1. Psal. 119.13, 27 3[?], 35. Psalm 51.10, 11. ↩

2. J[?]r. 31.33, 34. ↩

3. Ezek. 36.26, 27. ↩

4. Luke 11.13. ↩

5. Joh. 14.2. ↩

6. Rom. 5.5. ↩

7. 2 Cor. 12. 9. ↩

8. Eph. 3.17. ↩

9. 2 Cor. 6.16. Heb. 4.16. Jam. 1.5. 1 Joh. 39. ↩

10. Joh. 3.8. ↩

11. Eph. 2.2.12. ↩

12. Rom. 4.2. ↩

13. Rom. 11.20. ↩

14. 1 Cor. 1.26. ↩

15. 1 Cor. 4.7. ↩

16. Isa. 65.1. ↩

17. Acts 16.14. ↩

18. Joh. 1.13.15.5, 16. Phil. 2.13. ↩