Grace

“To sum up all; every good man is a new creature, and Christianity is not so much a Divine institution, as a Divine frame and temper of spirit—which if we heartily pray for, and endeavor to obtain, we shall find it as hard and as uneasy to sin against God, as now we think it impossible to abstain from our most pleasing sins.
For as it is in the spermatic virtue of the heavens, which diffuses itself universally upon all sublunary bodies, and subtilely insinuating itself into most dull and inactive element, produces gold and pearls, life and motion, and brisk activities in all things that can receive the influence and heavenly blessing:-- so it is in the Holy Spirit of God, and the word of God, and the grace of God, which
St. John calls “ the seed of God;” it is a law of righteousness, and it is a law of the Spirit of life, and changes nature into grace, and dullness into zeal, and fear into love, and sinful habits into innocence, and passes on from grace to grace till we arrive at the full measures of the stature of Christ, and into the perfect liberty of the sons of God: so that we shall no more say, ‘The evil that I would not, that I do’;-- but we shall hate what God hates, and the evil that is forbidden we shall not do; not because we are strong of ourselves, but because Christ is our strength, and he is in us; and Christ’s strength shall be perfected in our weakness, and his grace shall be sufficient for us; and he will, of his own good pleasure, work in us, not only to will, but also to do, as the apostle more accurately says; “to will and to do it thoroughly” and fully, being sanctified throughout, to the glory of His holy name”……Jeremy Taylor

As I read this it so inspired me to believe in his ability to cause change. Not to be discouraged about actions and attitudes that may have prevailed for years but to trust in this “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus”. His ability to “change dullness to zeal, sinful habits to innocence.”
I see so clearly the laws of nature; gravity, mystery, tides, lunar effects, metamorphosis, and yet I need to be reminded of “the Law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” Is this law less powerful than the laws of nature? I doubt not!
Can he bring change in me like he can change a blade to a blossom? Can He cause motions and tides to rise in me? Yes He can. Will the dull places be abandoned, the weak things forsaken, the tide of holiness be stilled? No!
A thousand failings and the answer is still a resounding No! Do I doubt the laws of nature? Never considered it. Then let me not doubt the laws of the Spirit.

I did have to read this piece over a few times to get all the nectar, figuring out "spermatic virtues" and "sublunary bodies" but with Webster's help I found great hope in each line.