OfSuffieient and Effé.itual Grace. Opinion, contrary to plain truth. I mean, Ifby neceffary ad alum be meant in the proper School-fenfe ( not all that is conducible toafcer- tain it, but ) that fine quo efe non poteft , it is a contradi&ion to fay that menhave thepower to A2, and yet want that which is neceffary to the A&, that is, that without which they cannot A&. It is plainly, LThey Can ] and [ They Cannot ] ( For we talk not de potenciapaffiva which a Stone,Tree, or a Beaft, or a mad Man have). This diftinguifh- ing of things that differ not, mutt be dete&ed, as well as confufion avoided. To fay a man can believe, or hath power to believe, and yet wants that without which he cannot believe , is palpable contra- di&ion. And where he makethRegeneration to give thepoffe, before the A&, he fpeaketh obfcurely or unfoundly. Gods a&ive Influx on the will, exciting it to A&, is ( at leaft ) part of his Regenerating Grace: A man is not Regenerate before he ever a&wally believed or repented ; Though he firft receive the Divine Influx ad agendum : Nor can he prove that any proper habit goethbefore the firft a&. And whether it door not, molt certainly thenature, faculty, and the habit, and all toge- ther, is truly and formally no power adhoc, tobelieve or love God, or do any good , without Gods neceffary Influx, Concurfe or exciting Grace : Nomore than a Plant bath a power to fruetifiewithout the Sun or Earth: Of Gods help ad bene efe we fpeak not: But to fay that Gods exciting Grace is neceffaryadaffum; without which the A& cannot be, and yet that we have a power to do that A& without that Grace, is ftill a contradi&ion. This ispotentia hypothetica & .equivoca, a term fit to playwith : But it is true power, where nothing of abfolute necef- fityfine quo non efe poteff is wanting, whichour Divines do commonly confefs that Adam had, and that all men good and bad have to more good than they do. Therefore I find not that you are in that dif- agreed. And Dr. Twiffe, as I told you, oft and vehemently profeffeth, vindic. Grat. de Amifi Grat. Cont. Rehr. pag. (Vol. Minor) 2.30. C. 2. & 232. that man bathnoneceífity of finning ex decreto, but logical confequentia: But if it were truethat we wanted that Grace which is abfolutelynecef- fary to avoidfin, it mutt needs follow that filch are under an abfolute prefent neceffity confequentis alto of finning; as much as of dying, when God ceafeth to continue life. And if he mean that the Decree neceffitatethnot fin, but thedenying of neceffary Grace doth, he fhould have Paid fo. Andr. Rivet Difput. 7. deGrat. Vniverf.p. 113. faith,. [ Sed non queen- admodum Pontificii & alii qui earumfententiam vel fequuntur vel inter - polant, nobìs imponunt, ita ut plane negemus fufficientis Gratix phrafin pofe ufurpari, aut dicamus nullam effe fufficientem ullo modo, quaefficax non fit, ,vel nullam efe efficacem qua ad converfionem & falutem nonfit efficax---id tantum dicimus, nondari omnibus taken Gratiam fufficientem, qua itamoveat omnium hominum voluntates, utfit in poteflate ele/lionis motion sut obtemperare, ant refragari: adeoq; nullam effe qui per talent gratiam nonpoffit ad falutempervenire, Deming; idnelle omnibus & inten- dere. ] You fee that he will own no more, but the denial of a univer- fàl fufficient Grace for Salvàtion, intended of God, to all men. And you your felves confefs, 1. That God intendeth not Salvation for all men , unlefs conditionally , if they believe and repent , which from eternity he knew before hemade them, that they would not. 2. And that all menhave notfuffrcient GracetoSalvation, nonor to believe, but only
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=