On Free Will and New Birth (2)

Some might object that the work of the Spirit distracts from and overthrows the freedom of the will! By no means! This is not to diminish the liberty of the will, for the Spirit of God is so wise an agent that he works upon the soul while preserving the principles of a man. He alters the judgment by presenting greater reasons and further light than the soul saw before. And then, by presenting to the will greater reasons to be good than ever it had to be ill before, he alters the will, so that we will to do contrary to what we did before. Then when the soul chooses, upon the discovery of light and reason, it chooses freely of its own will. So when the Spirit changes the soul, it presents such strong reasons to come out of its cursed condition and into the blessed state of being in Christ, that the will presently follows what is now understood to be the chief good of all. Grace does not take away liberty. No, it establishes liberty.
What do we pray in the Lord's prayer but for this liberty? 'Your will be done’ (Matt. 6:10). That is, 'take me out of my own will more and more; conform my will to yours in all things.' The more I do so, the more liberty I have.
Men are mistaken to think the greatest liberty is to have power to good or evil. Such power is the imperfection of the creature. Man was at the first created free to do either good or evil of himself, that he might fall of himself. This was not strength but followed from a creature that came out of nothing and was subject to fall to his own principles. But the soul established in good, with an understanding so enlightened, and a will so confirmed and strengthened is without danger in temptation. That is glorious freedom. We see clearly, then, that grace does not take away liberty but establishes it.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Glorious Freedom, pp. 43-48 [48-53]
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