OfSufficient and.Effetfual Gräce. readilier affigned than by charging them on the lamentable defe&ivenefs and ambiguity of words next to thedarknefs of Humane Intellea. But the diflinguifhing of Nature and Grace isneedful 5 but mutt be rightly underftood. r. Principally as Nature fignifieth the confutation of man and all things as made by their Creator, and GRACE the medela or medicinal Operationof God, by wbich he recovereth the lapfed fin- ful and curled World. 2. And as any Motus, . Altion or Change, can be Paid to be from the firft natural Principles of itaion , fo far they may be called natural : If fromNaturealone, they are only natural. But as they come from recovering Grace they are gracious : If from Grace alone, without Nature, they are only gracious ( whether there be any fuch, or any butMiracles, I pars by. ) But asthey areby and fromNa- ture, eitherfan&ified, or orderedand over-ruledby Grace, fo they are both natural and graciousin feveral refpe&s. C. " Thisfeemeth plain and true : andwhatdo you.henceinfer. B. I. All degrees of themedela or recovery of Nature are fomany de- grees of Grace. 2. Exparse Deiefficientis, the operationsof Grace and Nature really are all one, and differ not : That is, God doth per effentiaín operate in both, and his operatingEffence is the fame. But as the nature ofa thing in its original or conftitutivePrinciples are one thing, and the recoveryof it from itsvitiatedHate another 5 forelatively the fame God, andhis Will and Operations areto be varioufly denominated 5 even ashe is the God and Fountain of Nature, and as:he is the God andGiver of Grace. 3. I think it is paft mansfkill to prove that moft Miracles themfelves haveno partofnatural Operation in them. It is fufficient if God inter- poleand over-rule the matter by anyother immediateOperationof his own : yea or that he put natural Operations themfelves out of that courfe, in which they would havegone if he had not foaltered it. 4. By this you-may plainly fee thatthough all natural operations are notgracious 5 Allgracioso operationsare alfa natural, except the highefl ;fort of Miracles : that is, theyaretheA&ions offome natural Principles, ordered by Gods gracious Will to a gracious end, in a graciousmanner. Ialto except fuch Operationsof God alone, in which he ufeth no fecond Caufe, but himfelf immediately without any inftrument produceth the effe&. But note, a. That this isonly in the Reception ofthe Divine im- mediate influx it felf on the Soul, antecedent to our very firft A&s: For our firft A& (e. g. of Faith) is fromGods Influx onour own natural faculties, and fo from thole faculties themfelves as fufcitated by God. 2. Note that this is no diftin&ionbetween natural andgracious Opera- tions, to be fo immediate : For God doth as immediately operate in the natural: Asin the Creation he made all .theWorldby fuch immediate efflux, fo he Hill operateth immediately on the firft created Caufe (what- ever that is) , and fay almoft all Divines) even when he ufeth fecond Caufes, he himfelf is as near the Recipient and Effet, & immediatione fuppofti & virtutis, as if he had ufed no fecond Caufeat all : Thediffe- rence beingnot in his difiance orproximity, but in his sling or not ufinga fecond Caufe together withhimfelf - Maio ad commonianom 5. Moreover it is utterlyunknown tous howfar Godoperatethwith- chrifli er benefl ierum outany fecond Caufe, even on the Soul it felt. As we know that Devils ejeos,eft gratiofa auto Dei qua ',mines peccatores re- nn os cendemnationis fT'fah dominio peccati eonftiteetee, ex animalie vita conditions, ex mundihojas inquinamentesda corrvptelis, ez'orat perverbum ea epiritom faunad vitamlopernaturalem in ehrt1h per punitentiam érfides conlegoendam, ut en ello tanquam eapite [40 adeo dellinato e'r ordinatenniri,' ex beneficiorum ejus eonmonionefrdi peat, adgloriate Dei, er ipforusfalaten. Armin. Defput. Prirat. net 42... Sett e. do
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=