170 Of'Sufficient and Effellual Grace. according toWorks, though Faith andRepentance be not : whereas in the fenfe ofWorks there meant by Paul, no man can be juftified by Works. And thoughChrift faith, This is the work of God , that ye be- lieve in hint whom the Father bath fent ; yet it is not that whichPaul mean- eth : Let not thereforeScripture words be abufed tomiflead mens under- ftandings. 2. But as to the matter of the Controverfie, I fpoke to it enough be- fore. No man can deny but that God ufually prepareth the Soul for Converfion by a common fort ofGrace : And though he may do what he liftwith his own, and extraordinarily may in an inftant convert the molt unprepared malignant obdurateperfon 5 yet that is not his ufual way : (And force that thinkotherwife are led into themiftake by think- ing that a man is converted, when hehath fuddenly force terrifying hum- bling preparation , which endeth in conversion.) Whether he convert all that are brought to thevery higheft and neareft degree of preparati- on, I know not, nor perhaps you neither : But that ufually he conver- teth all fuch we have very great realm to think probable : And that he bath not commandedmen to feek his fpecial Grace in vain. So that whether it be a proper promife on Gods part, or only an encourage- ment fhort of proper promife , I told you before is a hard queftion. But we maintain that it is not that proper mutual Covenant which ma- keth a Chriflian, and is celebrated inBaptifm, and giveth Salvation. Ifone of old john Rogers's, Thomas Hooker's, or Robert Bolton's hear- ers, when they werevehemently urgingpreparatory humiliation, defire, endeavour, &c. fhould have Paid to them , Sir, you play the Arminian, }(iá më lia neaPel belts and contradi& St. Paul, who faith that Grace is not given according to ileRfnát propter ved fecun- slummerits ippus, fed ex Warps : Therefore Godwill give it me neverthe more for fuch prepara- pura pea Gratis : Nerni- tions : what wouldyou have laid to him. The truth is, pra&ical Prea- ni acedgen iap loth chers in there ra&ical cafes are carried with full fail into that truth roister prstedentïapeeea- p ra, Armin. n fp. Privat. which Difputers would wrangleout ofDoors. ìj,d4r. Se$. so. But as for any works meritorious in point of commutative juftice, R. of VI. copo. y P givinga proper Right q, e. lot. r.r. capons- yea, or ofany full and proper Covenant of God, g rfityi verbi Dei amos' tothe Sinner, upon whichhe may claimfpecial Grace as his due,f know rem ut that mentis baud- of none fuch before true Converfion ; though Gods commands and ge- dirigat ndi: dawns ei fen- neral promifes givemen fufficient encouragement. rut intellrgendi : peel non babel verbi Dei ama- C. 'a But what fay you toRom. 9. It is not in him that willeth or run- rem anferetur ab ea Hato- as netIt, c "c. rails capacitas rnte[ligen- d,&c B. do not love toexpound hard Texts unfatisfa&orily by fcraps : Y will give you, God willing, a Paraphrafe of the Chapter together by it felt'. I fuppofe you have read john Goodwin's and Dr. Hammonds Pa. raphrafe. At prefent it may fuffice to fay, r. That the meaning is not, that he that wouldhave Chrift, and Grace, and Holinefs is no fitter for t,thán he that would not have them: nor that he that feeketh them is no fitter for them than he that rejeð them :nor thathe that believeth is no fitter for Juftification than an Infidel; nor he that is holy any fitter for Heaven than theunholy : noryet that he that heareth, meditateth, pray- eth, as he can, and attaineth the higheft degree of common Grace , is no fitter or likelier for Faithor fpecial Grace than he-that defpifeth it and themeans of it. 2. But the meaning is, that God of his free mercy called the Gentiles thatwere further from him than the Jews , and may give (both) theGofpel, (and the Graceof the Gofpel) toone, and take it from, or not give it to another, when both of them are equally unwor- thyof it by their fin. So that the firft and principal caufe that differen- ceth a Jacob from an Efau, is not that Jacob before Gods Grace did will and run, defire and leek Grace ; but that Mercy begun with him, and gave
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