Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

OfSufficient and Effet2uál Grace. gave him , though as unworthy as Pfau , both commonnér and fpecial Grace, which caufed him to will And run. Andyet for all that both arefuppofed to have forfeited mercy by finning againft it 5 and it is in him that willethnot, and runnethnot, that the caufe ofhis mifery, and privation of mercy is to be found.. Yea in many an instance where mercy and helps are given by an equality, a wicked manmaymakehim- felf todiffer by his fin, and wilfully becomeworfe than others. C. " At leafl you mull here confefr, that de fa&o wedo really differ from "each other in thispoint. B. All they that holdall that Do&rineof Preparation for Converfion, which you find in the fuffrages of the British Divines in the Synod of Dort do not (that I knowof) differ from many of the Lutherans, and Jefuites, nor from manyof theArminians herein 5 while bythe name of merit of Congruity, ufed by fome, and Preparationby the other, no more is meant than they thereaffert : And as to the question of a promife or no promifi, I fhew'd you before how fmall the difference is; yea with Tome it is but de nomine, while one calleth that a Promife, which ano- ther calleth but a halfpromife (with Mr. Cotton) or a precept to ufe means with fufficient encouragement ; when perhaps in the defcription of the thing they agree : So that among the most and fober pra&ical Preachers, I yet fee no real difference infenfe at all , about the neceffity of preparatory Grace. The faxth Crintination. Ç. "For ought I canunder¡land, fume of them acknowledge no Cor- i° ruption nor Grace in the. Will, as having no Habits , but meer Indiffe- "rency or Liberty; but think that the illuminating of the underflanding it "enough to change the will. * B. z. There are a fewodd perfons, that differfrom the generalityof your Adverfaries : and I amnot to justifie all that everymanwriteth. 2. But even ofthere I fuppofe the meaningof themost is,but this, that fin began inthe Intelle&, and thereGracemust begin: and that Godwor- kethon the will butmediante IntelleClu. And thereCamero held as well as they; and fo do many more. And there feem to differ, not about the neceflityofGracé, but the manner of its conveyance to the will ; whe- theriit be only by the intelle&. 3. And as the wind bloweth where it lifted), and we hear its found, but know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; fo is every one that is bornof.the Spirit. We know that the will is vitiated as ill as the underftanding, and needeth Grace asmuch as it : and that God is as near to theone inhis operations as to the other , and giveth real Grace to both. But becaufe the intelle& is in the natural order, thefirfl is at Ling,. and the will but fecond ; and becaufe the a& iscommonly (and reafonably) fuppofed to go before the Habit (though notbefore all Di- vine Influx ad afium5) therefore men are uncertain whether God who firft a teth theIntelle&, do not by its a&, firft operate on thewill. But this dependethmuch on the Phyfical Controverfie , whether the Intel- le&determine the will ad fpeciem aí'lus, or at leaft really and efficiently move it ; or rather only prefentthe obje& to it , and fo work but in fubferviency to the material caufe, .which is conftitutive indeed of' the aft in fpecie, but not efficient : and the perception of it goeth to the conditio objetliva, without which it is no objet to the will. This I in- Z 2 dine ' The Remonftrants fay, Synod.eirt:art.3.da, 4, P15. IVoluntatem iet- faper Deus inobfegaiam fu= unfleltit, et» ad aefua to- dei dr obedientis its in- tlinat per fpiritum fan Pathan verbo atentem, ut 'Mantasper illamoperati- onem non foaam poßis obi dire , fed it obediat quo- ties abedit , non ex Je,aat perle, ant afe.

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=