Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

OfSufficient and Eland Grace. B. 1. You will find the fame fence in theThomifts and many of the Schoolmen : And methinks it is clear in it Pelf. The A&ofFaith is done byus : Our Soulshave need of force G race to be the Caufe of it. The Caufegoeth beforetheEffe&. This Caufe muff not bè out of us, but within us : Grace thereforemuff be firft within us as a Caufe, before it is withinus as the effe&of it. Yea, A&ion being nothing but Modus Agenti, is nota fit recipient it felf immediatelyof a /tit imprefa,;; It is the soul orfaculty that mutt A&; and to fay that Gods Influx is not on the soul or faculty as the recipient, but on the A&of thatfaculty alone feemeth to be unintelligible, if not abfurd. Is it our At, or our soul that needeth helpor Grace ? If not theSoul, but theAEt, thenwe have need ofnone at all : For the Al is yet future , that is, is no aet, and nothing, and fo bath no need. 2. But if reallyyou will hold to theopinion thatour Ad it fell is the firft Effect of Gods Influxor Will, then take notice, that all ourcontro- verfie here between you and theArminians, what Grace isfufficient, and what effectual, is at an end ; And it is onyour part, and for the truth that I fpin that thredwhich you account too fine. C. "How do you manife, ft that ? B. Moft plainly : For if we have nothing to enquire after between Gods agency ex parsefui and theAEI of Faith, it is a ridiculous queftion to ask, what Grace is fufcient, and what efeival? and what difference between the one and theother ? and what is that which maketh efficiently the difference ? For eitheryour Queftion is of the Caufe or the EfeE1 : If of theCaufe, it is (befides the fecond Caufes) nothing but Gods Ef- fence, even his effential Activity, Wifdom, and Will : And do you think that Gods effence is diverfifyed, as littleand great, more or lets, fuffi- cient and effedual? Do you enquire for Diverfity inPimpleunity ? That whichworketh all effects in the world, is one Caufe, that hath in it felf no real difference of parts, kinds or degrees. H. But ifyour queftion beof the EffeEt, it is ridiculous or paft que.. Ilion. Doyou ask what Grace in us it is that maketh the Difference , be- tween a Believer and an Infidel ? Why,, your queftion anfwerethit felf. It is Faith, and that maketh the difference in one, as Infidelity doth in the other. Do you ask what isfuficient? Towhat? If toSalvation it is perfeverance inFaith andHolinefs : If to Juftification, it is Faith; if toFaith and Converfftan ; nothing pre-exiftent in us. Do youaskwhat maketh Grace effElual ? what Gracemean you ? If Faith , it's none of the doubt or Controverfie : It is (improperly) effectual to Juftification (being no efficient of it, but a Condition, which is a Receptive difpofi- tion) exordinationsdivina, du virtute foederis. You mull recur then and ask , what maketh Gods Effence or Spirit effectual ? As if Gods effence had a Caufe, or fuffered from the Creature. But if you mean nomore but what are the Caufes of Faith? that's another question oft anfwered. Choofe now whether you will lay all our Controverfies on that fine thred, of Godsvarious rmpref on the faculties inorder ofNatureante- cedent toFaith (in alt or true habit) ; or elfe confefs that we have no difference, nor Phew of any, but have many ages abhominably abufed the world. C. "But feeingyou maintain that God as a free Lord andBenefactor a° Bothvary his gifts of Grace as he doth. of Nature, thoughwe know not, "when he doth it Morally, and by means, and when by Immediate dif -' " fering Imprefs; yet methinks you fhould hold that by one of the two he " always doth it : And that equal Grace bath never unequal efe s by

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