Ißo THE NATURE, CAUSES, AND' MEANS unto in the purpose of God; for his will shall not be frustrate in any instance. And where any work of grace is not effectual, God never intended it shouldbe so, nor 'did put forth that power of grace which Was necessary to, make it so. * Wherefore in or towards whomsoever the I-Ioly Spirit puts forth his power, or acts his grace for their regeneration, it removes all obstacles, over- comes all oppositions, and infallibly produceth the effect intended. This proposition being of great importance to the glory of God's grace, and mostsignally opposed by the patrons of corrupted nature and man's free will in the state thereof; must be both explained and confirm- ed. We say therefore; Sect. 31. (l.) The power which the Holy Ghost puts forth in our regeneration, is such in its acting or exercise, as our minds, wills, and affections, are suited to be wrought upon, and to be affected by it according to their natures, and natural operations. Turn thou nee, and I shall be turned, deem rite, and Ì shallrun af- ter thee. He doth neither act in them any otherwise than they themselves are meet to be moved and move, to be acted and act, according to their own nature, power and ability. He draws us with the cords of a man. And the work itself is expressed by persuading, God persuaded Japhet; and alluring, I wilt allure be:. into the wilderness, and spéak comfortably:. for, as it is certainly effectual, so it carries no more repugnancy un- to our faculties, than a prevalent persuasion loth: So that, Sect. 32. (2.) He loth not in our regeneration pos- sess the mind with any enthusiastical impressions; nor acteth absolutely upon is as he did in extraordinary pro- phetical inspirations of old, where the minds and organs of the bodies of men were merely passive instruments; moved by him above their own natural capacity and ac- tivity, not only as to the principle of working, but as to the manner of operation. But he works on the minds of men, in and by their own natural actings, through an immediate influence and impression of his power. Orate in me a clean heart, O God. He worketh to will and to do. Y O qualis est artifcx illo Spiritus? nulla ad discendum mora egüur in ne quod entuerte. atee mien ut eligeret menten, docet; sotmegne tétigissedocuisse est. Nam hnemnum subite ut illustrati mutát affec- tern; abnegat hoc repente quod erat, exliibet repente quod non erat, Gregor. Hem: 30. in Evangel. Sect. 33.(3c) He therefore offers no w violence of compulsion unto the will. This that faculty is not na- turally capable to give admission unto. If it be com= pelled it is destroyed. And the mention that is made in the scripture of compelling (compel them tò come in) respects the certainty of tae event, not the manner of the operation on them. But whereas the will, in the depraved condition of fallen nature, is not only habitu- ally filled and possessed with an aversation from that which is good spiritùally, (alienated from the life of God) but also continually acts in opposition unto it, as being under the power of the carnal mind which is en- mity against God; and whereas this grace of the Spirit in conversion doth prevail against all this opposition, and is effectual and victorious over it it will be inquir- ed how this can any otherwise be done, but by a kind of violence and compulsion; seeing we have evinced al= ready that moral persuasion and objective allurement is not sufficient thereunto? Ans. It is acknowledged, that in the work of conversion unto God, though not in the very act of it, there is a reaction between grace and the will, their acts being contrary, andthat grace is there in victorious; and yet no violence or compulsion is offer= ed unto the will For: Sect. 34. (I.) The opposition is not ad idem. The enmity and opposition that is acted by the will against grace, is against it as objectively proposed unto it. So do men resist the Holy Ghost; that is, in the external dispensation of grade by the word. And if that be a- lone, they may always resist it; the enmity that is in thenwill prevail against it; ye always resist the Holy Ghost. The will therefore is not forced by any power put forth in grace, in that way wherein it is capable of making opposition unto it, but the prevalency of grace is of it as it is internal, working really and physically, which is not the object of the wills opposition; for it is not proposed unto it, as that which it may accept or re fuse, but worketh effectually in it. Christus ndtt diets, doserit, ut shiteligse modo intell;games pence. dere voluntatein; sed diets terserts, quis retool tmbitur si jam votebat; et tamen nemo vent nisi vela, treither ergo mlris modis ut velit ab illegal novit intus in ipsis hominum cordibusoperen; non ut homines quod fiiel non potest, nolentes credant, sed ut rolcntes ea nolentibus fiant. Au- gust cont. dugs Eilist. Pelag. cap. la. Cerium est nos relie cum volumes. sed ille Tacit et velimus, demid dictum est, Deus est gai operatur in nebis vette. Idem. de Grat, et lib. Arbil. cap. to.
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