88 Of f' Free-will. B. I confefs Ifind Artniniur, Arnoldur, Corvinas, and others granting, that all men are unable to believe till Grace enable them, and more than fo, faith Arnoldur, There is more ftrength or power neceffarynow to believein Chrift, than was neceffary to Adam to keep all the Law, partly becaufe of the myfterioufnefs of Faith, and partly becaufe we muff firft be reftored to a new ability, which requireth more power than tokeep what we had., ( A fly equivocation, turning the queftion from thepotentia operata to the potentia operan: : If it did require more power in the efficient fo torenew us, it followeth not, that he thereby putteth morepower intous than Adam had : But Gods. Power bath no degrees. ) But thatwhich I afkyou, is whether this new power given by fufficient Grace, be of the famespecies with our natural powers, or of fome other. A. " What ifI fay, It is of thefamefort. B. Then ( as I have hinted ) you mutt make the Soul to. have either twoorders of natural, powers of thefame Species, one founded orfob- je&ed inthe other ( which is it thatDr.7wiiJêderideth 5 ) orelfe indeed to have two Souls, (For I have elfe-where at large proved with the scotifls that the faculties are effential to the Soul;) or elfe you muft make the fpecifick powersof theSoul to have degrees, and Souls to be augmented, and fo that they have more Soul that have Grace than they that have none, and fo Grace is a kind ofgeneration or augmen- tation ofSoüls. A. "WhatifIfay that it it of another Species? B. Then we muft confider what it is. Is it of a fuperiorspecies or .fubordinate,orco-ordinate ? If you faywith fome Fryers and Fanaticks, that it is the Spirit ofGod in Effence, or God himfelf, it would be Omnipotency. If it be not any createdSpirit or Subfiance, (which would alter our Species, or make each one two) it mutt bean Accident (asall confefs it is, and therefore not e1afdem fpeciei with the faculties that are effential :) And if fo , tell us what thispower is ? A. " Thesoul of man is it felffo little known to itfelf, that we cannot " eafily tell what its natural powers be (as the differencebetween Thomas " and the Scotilts fheweth :) much left canwe tell how to conceive aright " of thequiddity of the Accidents ofa Soul, whoknowfo little of the Ac- " cidents of Bodies, or of Bodies themfelves. Let mehear what your own " conceptions areof the matter, if they tend to elucidate or reconcile. B. He thatwill take up with the bare words, Can ] or [Cannot and confefs.+that he knoweth not what they fignifie, fhould not with theblind confidence oftoomany Contenders, trouble the peoples ears inPulpits, andfet them on fire againft one another, and by raving di- ftraît the Churches of Chrift, with fuch [ Can's ] and [ Cannot's ] [Able] and [ Vnable.] And yet this one poor word is the Granade or Fire-Ball. If I pretend to underftand it no more than you, yet I will be afhamed tovex and enfnare mens Souls with what I underftand not ; but will tile the eafieft intelligible words. But to anfwer your delres dütin&ly. I. The Soul is, as you fay, fo little known to it felf, that noman living, I think, hath a true formal conception of, thatfirft accident or effe&which it receiveth from Gods Spirit, nor yet of the true nature of a habit or difpofition following it. He that readeth but what our Metaphyfcks and school-men have Paid of Habits, will find this tobe true; and that their quiddity is paft his underftanding. To fay that they are qualities by which we are prompt to a&, is but to name a general
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