Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

and Free-will. >! 13 The fecond Crimination. C. G0rhey fay that manbefore regeneration can do that which k fpiritu- " allygood , and hathpower to ufe hisnaturalswell,fo that by degrees he may "therebycome up to afateoffaving Grace , or be fitted to be a Believer : " And thatforce can believe and repent that do not. Whereas the Scripture "maIeth mendead infin, and outof Chrift we candonothing. B. This unhappy [ C ÀN] I tell you is our Cannon that battereth our Peace and Love ; and pardon me if I tell you as I did them, that I doubt whether youunderftand well what it fignifieth. Tell me, quell. I. Have not wickedmennatural life? Or are they dead ? C. " No man.doubtethof that. B. Q,uefl. 2. Have they not natural powers or faculties for natural Ads? C. C0 Nor is that deniedby any man. B. well. 3.1s it not the fame natural faculty of Intellection by which we underftand and believe things common and fpiritual? And the fame natural facultyofwilling, by which we loveor will them both? C. 1° Nor is that queflioned by any. B. weft. 4. Is there not fuch a thingas common Grace, díftind from, and fhort of true Regeneration orSanctification? C. "Tes, we are all agreedofthat. B. Rsuerl. 5. Is there any Nation or People in the World, that are not obliged by God toufe force means töwards their own Converfion, and toforbeartheir Sin? C. " No doubt of it, but they are obliged to perfea obedience, and they " arefpecially obliged to repent, andufeforce means thereto. B. guo. 6. Is there not fuch a thing in the World, as a truepower to do fomething thatnever is done, and forbear what is not forborn? C. " I knownot what tofay to that : An hypothetical power, and fecun- "dam quidfocalled there is : But ofproperpower I doubt. Dr.Twiffe againfi " Hord, lí.1. p. 71. faith, [ Suppofe all men had power to do any good : " IfGodwill notgive them velle quod poffunt, -- --is it poffible that they "Amidvelle bonum, if Godwill not work it in them.] B. It is a logical impoffibility of confequence ( nothing to the pur- pofe) which alto fore-knowledge would infer: But as toreal power, denominating theObjectpoffrble, it is a palpable contradidion, to fay I have true power todo an impoffible thing: when to fay I have power to do it, and to fay, it is poffible tome, are all one. Elfe-where Dr.Twiffe canfay, that Gods velle eventum is not neceffary ad pobilitatem, fed ad eventum. Do you doubt whether Adamwas able to have forborn the fin, and fo finned for want ofpower todo otherwife? C. " An obediential and pave power he had, andfaculties that were "able hypothetically ifGod had predetermined them by premotion and " effeltual Grace : But of the refs Idoubt. B. We will not be diverted with empty words: A deadman bath an obedientialpavepower (as the School mean it ). Anhypothetical orconditional power is nopower when the condition is not exiftent. If you fay Adamcould not but fin, you makehis ftandinganatural impof- fibility, and God thecaufeofall his fin, whom he could no moré over- come therein than make aWorld : And will men thenbelieve that God Q, hateth.

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