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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97232	Chonoyterion he Sion. The refinement of Zion: or, The old orthodox Protestant doctrine justified, and defended against several exceptions of the Antinomians, methodically digested into questions, wherein many weighty and important cases of conscience are handled, concerning the nature of faith and repentance, or conversion to God: of his eternal love, and beholding of sin in his dearest children: of justification from eternity, of of [sic] preparations to the acceptance of Christ, of prayer for pardon of sin, and turning to God: of the gospel covenant, aud [sic] tenders of salvation, on the termes of faith and repentance. For the establishment of the scrupulous, conviction of the erroneous, and consolation of distressed consciences. By Anthony Warton, minister of the word at Breamore in Hampshire.	Warton, Anthony.	1657 (1657)	Wing W987; Thomason E914_2; ESTC R207476	171,315	250

your trespasses 1 Cor. 6.9 Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Be not deceived neither fornicators nor adulterers c. shall inherit the Kingdom of God Heb. 12.14 Without holinesse no man shall see the Lord. 1 John 3.14 We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brethren The Refinement of Zion Quest 1. Whether Christ and his righteousnesse be made ours by faith And whether we do put on Christ by faith Or rather whether He be not to be set forth freely in the preaching of the Gospel without any condition SECT I. A certain Authors Opinion concerning this Question SOme Protestants holy men The Doctrine of John Baptist saith this Author do say that Christ is made ours in the sight of God by faith alone Christ being the garment our Faith the hand that putteth this Garment on yet methinks saith he that here is Christ set forth upon some conditions not so freely given I must here saith he profess my Ignorance that I cannot conceive how faith should put on Christ apply Christ or make Christ ours in the sight of God I therefore professe my self openly to leane unto them that say that Christs righteousnesse is made ours before God by Gods imputation before the act of our faith and therefore necessarily without it Even as our sins were made Christs so is his righteousnesse made ours Now how were our sins made Christs Let the Prophet Esay speak The Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all so that the Lord who calleth things which are not as though they were makes us righteous by His imputation of Christs righteousnesse Thus far this Author SECT II. Christs Righteousnesse is made ours by Faith NOw that I may examine these things It is true Christs righteousnesse is made ours by imputation ours who believe in him and hereupon we are said to be justified by faith But where in all the Scripture do you read that we are justified without faith or that God imputeth Christs righteousness consequently remission of sins to any Infidels or unbelievers Object But saith he Christs righteousness is made ours by imputation therefore not by Faith Answer I answer Subordinata non pugnant the latter of these is in some sort subordinare unto the former there is no repugnancy therefore between them for Christs righteousness is made ours ex parte Dei on Gods part by Imputation but ex parte nostra on our part by Faith whereby we receive both Christ and remission of sins John 1.12 Act. 10.43 26.18 and salvation by him offered unto us in the Gospel I do therefore retort this argument upon the Author of it thus As our sins were made Christs so is his righteousnesse made ours but our sins were made Christs not only by Gods imputation but by his voluntary taking them upon him therefore we also are made righteous not only by Gods Imputation but by our taking and receiving Christs righteousness by Faith Again saith he as Christ became sin for us so are we made the righteousness of God in him Confer p. 17. Isa 53.6 But say I Christ became sin for us not only by his Fathers imputation or as I say faith by his laying on him the iniquity of us all but by his own taking of our sins upon him to satisfie Divine Justice Joh. 10.15 18. Rom. 8.32 and to expiate them by his passion as these words of His bear witnesse I slay down my life for my sheep no man taketh it from me I lay it down of my self Again as St. Paul saith that God spared not his own Son but delivered him up Eph. 5.2 that is to death for us all So saith he also That Christ gave himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour Wherefore seeing we are so made the righteousnesse of God in Christ as he became sin for us it followeth necessarily that together with Gods act in imputing Christs righteousness unto us there concurreth also our act in receiving his righteousness when in the Gospel it is offered unto us But of this more at large hereafter in the sixth question SECT III. Christ is made ours by Faith LEt us now in the next place examine and see whether Christ be made ours in the sight of God by faith Mr. D. thus expresses himself concerning this I must here professe my ignorance that I cannot conceive how Faith should make Christ ours in the sight of God It should seem he doth not altogether deny that Christ is made ours by Faith but will not yield that he is thus made ours in the sight of God Now what his meaning in this may be I do not certainly know unless perhaps it be that he is made ours by Faith declaratively only to our own consciences of which see Quest 6. But when those holy men of whom he speaketh do say that Christ is made ours in the sight of God by Faith they do not exclude neither God the Author and principal efficient of this work nor the word the external instrumental cause thereof but all our own works in opposition to faith Their meaning therefore is that Faith is the only internal instrument ex parte nostra on our part or the only hand as it were of the Soul whereby we do receive Christ and he according to his gracious promise unto all that do believe in him is made ours Again when they say that Christ is made ours in the sight of God by Faith alone they do oppose Gods judgement unto mans Men indeed judging according to the judgment of charity do hold him to be a good Christian and one that is interested in Christ who outwardly maketh profession of Christ and in the sight of man is unreproveable in his life and conversation But as Almighty God himself said unto Samuel The Lord seeth not as man seeth 1 Sam. 16.7 for man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord seeth the heart In his sight therefore who seeth things and pronounceth of them as they are Christ is made ours not by an outward profession but by Faith alone I am induced to be of this judgment with these holy men good Protestants which Mr. D. here speaketh of by these Reasons following First Christ is not ours until we are made one with him and he with us no more then a woman can say that her husband is hers until they are made one by marriage 2 Cor. 11.2 It is their union or their being joyned together in marriage which maketh the husband to be his wives and the wife to be her husbands And even in like manner is Christ made ours when we are espoused unto him by faith and not before whereupon it is that Christs Spouse speaketh with great rejoycing and saith My well-beloved is mine and I am his Cant. 2.16 Again when it is said that Christ is ours what is the meaning

tamen factam nostram Hence I infer these three Conclusions 1. That a man may have right to a thing and yet no right in it 2. That as long as he hath no right in it it is none of his 3. That it becometh his by being delivered unto him Now I demand Is not Christ delivered unto us by God the Father and by himself when in the Gospel he is preached and offered unto us and we by Faith do accept of him and not before These things being thus premised I will now by Gods gracious assistance examine Master S. his 7. Arguments whereby he endeavoureth to prove that Christ is not made ours by Faith Object It is an act of Omnipotency saith he to make Christ ours God only therefore doth this and no act of ours Answer Whereunto I answer that God only doth make Christ ours as the Author of this Divine Act and that Faith doth make him ours after a far inferiour manner that is as an instrument created by God in our hearts whereby we do lay hold of Christ and receive him being offered and given unto us of God Christ then is said to be made ours by Faith in the same sense as we are said to be justified by Faith that is Organice instrumentally For as Keckerman hath observed in his Logick the Act of the Author or Principal efficient cause is many times attributed to the Instrument Thus not only our justification but also our sanctification which is Gods proper Act an Act of his Almighty power is in holy Scripture attributed to Faith sometimes to the word of God and sometimes to the Ministers who do preach the word To Faith Acts 15.9 where St. Peter saith that God did purifie the hearts of the believing Gentiles by Faith to wit both from the guilt of sin in their justification and from the tyranny and dominion of sin in their sanctification To the word 1 Pet. 1.23 We are born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Lastly to the Ministers of the word 1 Cor. 4.15 For St. Paul saith to the Corinthians I have begotten you by the Gospel And he calleth Onesimus his for and saith Philem. 11. that he begat him in his bonds He telleth us also that God sent him to the Gentiles to turn them from darkness to light Act. 26.18 and from the power of Satan to God Now in the same sense that we are said to be purified converted and born again by Faith the word and the Ministers that preach the word Is Christ said to be made ours and we to be justified by Faith to wit instrumentally as by means which it pleased God to use in our ingrafting into Christ and in our justification which are wrought only and altogether hy his Divine power and not by any power of the means which receive all their efficacy from him and can do nothing towards a sinners conversion of themselves The result of all thit I have said is this It is an Act of Gods Almightiness to make Christ ours by his own power and authority as the Author of this work But it is no Act of Omnipotency to make Christ ours instrumentally that is to receive him by Faith when he is offered to us of God A second Objection of M. S. is this Objection If Faith should give us our interest in Christ then as our Faith increaseth our interest should increase and we should be more and more justified and forgiven which none allow It is true indeed Answer if Faith did justifie us by any inherent virtue or dignity of its own then as M.S. saith the more we grow in Faith the more we should be interested in Christ be more more justified but he wel knoweth that the Protestant Doctrine is that Faith justifieth not as it is a vertue or any act of ours sed objectivè et correlativè but in regard of Christ the object thereof whereunto it relateth Even as a Chirurgion may be said to heal a man that is wounded with his own hands not that his hands had any vertue in them to heal but because by them he searched the wound and applyed a healing plaister unto it which drew out the purulent corruption and cured him For even so are we in like manner said to be justified and saved by Faith because we do by Faith lay hold of Christ and apply his merits to our souls So that it is not so much Faith as Christ in whom we believe by whom we are justified and saved that is who hath both merited our justification and doth actually acquit and absolve us from our sins And in like manner doth Faith interest us in Christ not for the dignity and worthiness thereof but because it is Gods Ordinance and appointment that we should receive Christ and have him dwelling in our hearts by Faith Wheresoever therefore there is true Faith to be found though never so weak and faint or feeble that man is a true member of Christ perfectly justified and absolved from all his sins Those of old amongst the Israelites that were stung with the fiery Serpents were perfectly cured if they did look up to the brasen Serpent and beheld it although their sight was never so dark and dim as well as the younger sort whose sight was most perfect so a weak Faith as well as a strong doth lay hold of Christ and of justification and salvation by him For as the Israelites were healed by beholding the brazen Serpent because it was Gods Ordinance that health which was otherwise wrought miraculously only by his own Divine power should hereupon follow and ensue so the same is to be said of Faith And therefore from hence an answer may be given to that question which Mr. S. asketh in his next words where speaking of some who call these other acts of Faith that is when it is grown and encreased Faith of assurance and Acts of manifestation he faith If Faith be thus in its other degrees of working Objection Why not in its first His meaning is as I take it if Faith when it is encreased doth only assure a man of his salvation and maketh the pardon of his sins manifest unto him why doth not the first and least degree of Faith also give us only an assurance and manifestation of our salvation by Christ but otherwise not any interest in him at all Answer Whereunto I answer First that a strong Faith doth give us that assurance and evidence or manifestation of our salvation by Christ which a weak Faith cannot because it doth lay firm hold on the promises of the Gospel that are the only ground of assurance which of a weak Faith are apprehended but weakly even as an Israelite with a quick sight could by that natural vertue that was in his eye more clearly behold the brazen Serpent then he that had a dark and dim eye sight But as he that did lift up his eyes and beheld

God If therefore he whom God loveth must not be guilty of sin and there is none but he is guilty of fin unless sin be pardoned remitted unto him that is unless he be justified Hence he leaveth it to be inferred and concluded that a man is not loved of God until he is justified Answer Here are many Propositions linked together which I shall examine in order And first whereas he saith Gods love is opposed to hatred To this I answer That Love and hatred in God as also the rest of his Attributes are the same single and undivided essence of God they are not therefore opposite as they are in God but in their Effects or in their Objects in quibus contrarie operantur in which they work those things which are contrary one to another For example justification and condemnation are opposite Effects of Gods Love and of his hatred But it doth not follow hereupon that because God damneth none but obstinate sinners whom he hateth that he loveth no man unlesse he be first justified from his sins For though God doth not condemn any nor hate any but for their sins yet he doth gratis freely justifie as many as he justifieth through his grace without any merits of theirs yea contrary to the merit of their sins as St. Paul teacheth Rom. 3.23 24. And this indeed the most Learned Chamier not only acknowledgeth but abundantly confirmeth by most valid testimonies of holy Scripture Probat enim justificationem effici per charitatem Dei tanquam efficientem causam For he proveth that our justification is through the love of God as the efficient cause thereof After that the kindness love of God our Saviour toward man appeared not by works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us Tit. 3 4 5. God commendeth his love to us that whereas we were yet sinners Christ died for us Being justified therefore by his blood we shall much more be saved now by his life Rom. 5. Seeing these things are thus alledged and delivered by Chamierus himself I wonder that he could so far forget himself as after a few lines to say Deum non amare aliter nisi remissis peccatis that God doth not lo●e us unlesse our sins be first forgiven us For if it were so How could Gods Love be said to be the efficient cause of our justification For sure I am he will not say Causam effectu suo posteriorem esse that the Cause is after its Effect In the next place whereas he saith the hatred of God is for the guilt of sin therefore as long as the guilt of sin remaineth so long must we needs be hated of God I grant that God hateth none but for sin but it doth not follow hereupon that every one is hated of God as long as the guilt of his sins doth remain For then seeing the guilt of sin in all the Elect doth go before the remission thereof Quod enim non est non remittitur for that which is not cannot be said to be forgiven it would follow that the Elect themselves as well as others were once hated of God and not beloved of him whereas the Lord himself saith That he loved them with an everlasting love Jer. 31.3 Thus then it is God hateth sin in all yea in the Elect themselves but he pitied their persons and loved them from all eternity as they were his Creatures and out of this his love provided for them a Saviour Whereas then this most worthy Divine concludeth thus If therefore it behoveth him whom God loveth not to be guilty of sin but there is no man but he is guilty of sin unlesse his sin be pardoned and forgiven him that is unlesse he be justified and so leaveth it to be inferred that we must be justified before we can be loved of God That which I have said already doth sufficiently manifest the inconsequence hereof Whereunto this I add further that where thre is alike guilt we cannot alwaies infer a necessity of like condemnation As for example a Soveraign Prince or King when many of his Subjects are risen up against him in rebellion and are all alike guilty of death doth of his mercy and free grace pardon some of them but others he as freely maketh examples of his justice for terrour unto the rest of his Subjects and causeth them to be put to death Even thus it is in this present case for whereas all of us for our sins have deserved eternal death God of his grace converteth absolveth and justifieth some and others he leaveth in their sins and condemneth them according to their demerits Thus Gods love or his grace is the cause of our justification and not our justification the cause of Gods loving us as hath been shewed before and shal now by Gods grace be further proved tum ex concessis Chamieri both from that which Chamier granteth and delivereth for truth and from other places of Scripture beside those which I have already produced Lib. 22. cap. 12. de sola fide justificante Mat. 26.28 Mors Christi est vera causa justificationis saith he The death of Christ is the true cause of our justification And this indeed is most truly spoken of him for our blessed Saviour himself telleth us That he shed his blood for the remission of our sins Now how is this to be understood but that he shed his blood to purchase the pardon of our sins Eph. 1.7 For thus St. Paul also saith that we have redemption through his blood even the forgivenesse of our sins And St. John likewise saith that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sins 1 John 1.7 Now what is this but for him to say that the forgiveness of our sins is an effect of Christs blood which he shed for us Or that I may speak in Chamier's words that Christs death is the true cause of our justification Now from hence I do first inferr that our justification cannot be the cause why God loveth us Quicquid enim est causa causae est causa causati For whatsoever is the cause of the cause is also the cause of that which is caused by that cause Now Gods love was the cause why he sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins 1 John 4.10 Our propitiation therefore and consequently our justification which is therewith necessarily connexed or which is involved in it Rom. 3.25 cannot be the cause of Gods love for then Gods love should both be the cause and the effect of our propitiation and justification by Christ Again if Christs death be as it is indeed the true cause of our justification then we cannot be actually justified ab aeterno from all eternity Temporale enim non est causa aeterni for that which is in a definite time cannot be the cause of that which hath been for ever But Christ suffered for our sins non ab aeterno sed tempore à

that ye believe in him whom he hath sent we may very well conceive his meaning to be that it is Faith only and no other work whereby we do receive Christ and feed upon him to the salvation of our souls Lastly It may also be said that Faith is by our Saviour called the work of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seu per modum eminentiae by way of excellency and eminency because it doth though not formally yet virtually contain all other good works in it Calv. in locum For as Calvin saith Faith excludeth not either charity or any other good work seeing it containeth them all in it For Faith is called the only work of God because we possessing Christ by it are made the Sons of God that he may govern us by his Spirit Because therefore Christ doth not separate Faith from its fruits non mirum est si in eâ constituat proram ut loquuntur et puppim it is no marvel if he do include all in it By this that hath been said it appeareth evidently that although faith in Christ be the only work of God which he requireth of us to our justification yet it is not the only work of God absolutely as if he required nothing else but Faith of us or as if he commanded us to practise none other good works in our life and conversation though otherwise in some sense or in some respect and to some purpose as hath been before shewed it may be said to be the only work of God Before I do proceed unto Mr. S. his second Objection I have thought good to demolish those other fortifications which he hath raysed and reared up to uphold his former assertion that Faith is the only work of the Gospel Object First He argueth thus Salvation is not a businesse of our working and doing it was done by Christ with the Father All our work is no work of salvation but in salvation We here receive all not by doing any thing that we may receive more but doing because we receive so much because we do not that we may be saved And yet we are to do as much as if we were to be saved by what we do because we should do as much for what is done already for us and to our hands as if we were to receive it for what we did our selves Answ That I may examine these things severally 1. Whereas he saith Salvation is not a business of our working and doing it was done by Christ with the Father Hereunto I answer That Christ only saveth us per modum meriti by his merits purchasing our salvation Secondly He also only saveth us tanquam author salutis nostrae as the author or principal efficient cause of our salvation by his Spirit regenerating us and by his power delivering us from the servitude of sin and Satan There is nothing therefore for us to do by way of merit neither can we do any thing that may any way conduce to our salvation virtute propriâ nostrâ by our own power or by our own strength Notwithstanding there are many things for us to do by the grace of God before we shall perfectly be saved even all those good works that God requireth of us which are as it were the way to Heaven Eph. 2.10 For as St. Paul saith VVe are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them In this regard we are not to be idle or to do nothing but as we are commanded we are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling that is Phil. 2.12 we are to use the means which God hath appointed that we may come to Heaven and take possession of that salvation which Christ hath purchased for us In which regard St. Peter also counselled his hearers Acts 2.40 to save themselves from that untoward generation of the incredulous Jews amongst whom they lived to wit by departing from their infidelity and evil works 1 Tim. 4.18 And St. Paul exhorteth Timothy to attend unto himself and to doctrine and to continue therein telling him that in so doing he should both save himself by the faithful discharge of his duty those that did hear him by converting them to faith in Christ and leading them in the right way to Heaven But saith Mr. S. All our work is no work Of salvation but In salvation But I answer him It is both for the work of a Christian is to work out his salvation in that sense and in that manner as he is commanded by St. Paul as I have already sufficiently shewed And it is a work also In salvation because it is performed and done by those who are in statu salutis in the state of salvation or whose salvation is already begun in their Regeneration and Sanctification But saith he We here receive all not by doing any thing that we may receive more but doing because we receive so much because we do not that we may be saved What Mr. S. Do we here receive all that is if you speak consonantly to your self all our whole salvation I had thought that we had received only the a Rom. 8.23 first fruits of the Spirit as b 2 Cor. 1.22 Eph. 1.13.14 an earnest or a seal of our salvation to be perfected in Heaven as St. Paul teacheth and that we are in regard theteof only saved in c Rom. 8.24 hope and do here waite for d Rom. 8.23 24. the accomplishment of our adoption the redemption full and final of our body How then can you say that We are not to do any thing that we may receive more more then we have are actually possessed of already But say you We are not to do that we may be saved Is it so indeed Are we to do nothing that we may be saved This is new light or rather a new delusion of the Devil For when those Jews that were pricked in their hearts with sorrow and remorse at the hearing of St. Peter's Sermon Acts 2. said unto him and to the rest of the Apostles Men and Brethren What shall we do Peter answered them not Ye need to do nothing Christ hath done all for you but Repent Acts 2.37 and be baptised every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins Thus St. Peter teacheth that there is something to be done of us for the obtaining of the forgiveness of our sins Acts 16.30 and consequently of salvation by Christ And in like manner when the Jaylor came trembling to Paul and Silas and said unto them Sirs what must I do to be saved St. Paul did not check him for this question of his he told him not that it savoured of grosse ignorance for him to ask what he was to do that he might be saved but answered him and said Beleive in the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy

in Christ by Gods Judgments 2 Chro. 33.12 13. Luke 15. wherewith he hath visited them and awakened their consciences and by meditating of the shortnesse and uncertainty of their life here in this world and by other the like morives and considerations And it is manifest that not a few but many have extraordinarily been prepared unto Faith in Christ by miracles and strange works Mark 16.20 John 11.45 20.31 which have been wrought by God for the confirmation of the Gospel Lastly It is not to be denied that God both can work Faith yea and that he hath extraordinarily and most marvellously wrought it in some without any precedent qualifications or preparations at all To teach the contrary is to deny Gods power Luke 1.44 and to contradict the holy Scripture Quest 8. Whether we are made the Sons of God by Faith in Christ or but declared so to be Reconcil of man to God pag. 66. Gal. 3.20 MR. D. his peremptory resolution is We are not made the Sons of God by Faith for we were before reconciled unto him and were his sons And whereas S. Paul saith ye are all the sons of God by Fa●th in Christ Jesus he will have the sense and meaning hereof to be That we are declared to be the sons of God by Faith in Christ Jesus But the Apostle saith you are and not are declared to be the sons of God though that be true also He speaketh therefore of the essence of son-ship and not of the manifestation or appearance hereof only Object But here it will be said Were all the Galathians that made profession of the Faith of Christ the sons of God really Answ It is not likely they were St. Pauls words therefore must be understood per reduplicationem to wit thus you are all the sons of God that is all of you who are the sons of God are his sons by Faith in Christ Jesus Or else we are to say that he speaketh of them according to the judgment of charity when he saith ye are all the sons of God presuming them to be so and then specifieth the means how they came to be his sons when he addeth by Faith in Christ Jesus But if they he will not admit of this Exposition I would know of him what it is that maketh a man to be a son Is it not his parents begetting of him Sure I am that is fundamentum hujus relationis the foundation of this relation Now St James telleth us That God hath begotten us by the word of truth Jam. 1.9 1 Pet. 1.23 St. Peter also saith that we are renati born again not of mortal seed but of immortal by the word of God Whence it followeth necessarily that we are not the sons of God until we do hear his word and are thereby converted to the Faith and obedience of Christ But Mr. D. t●inketh to avoid and put off this also by saying that the Apostles do say Object that we are regenerated and born again by the word because we are declared so to be and not that we are in deed and in truth regenerated by the word But this will not serve his turn Answ for the word being made effectual by the spirit is that which begets faith in us for Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of of God Now it is absurd to say that a man is regenerated while he liveth in infidelity or incredulity and is void of Faith Again until men hear the word their minds are blined with ignorance and their lives are full of impurity and uncleanness And hereupon St. Paul saith that God sent him unto the Gentiles to turn them from darknesse to light and from the power of Satan unto God that is by his preaching Gods word unto them which they had not heard before Yea our Saviour's own Disciples were unclean as all men are by nature until they heard the word as those words of Christ do testifie Now ye are clean through the word that I have spoken unto you They were not so therefore before and how then could they be said to be regenerated without the word For by regeneration men are made partakers of a new nature which they had not before St. Paul also speaking of the whole Church of Christ in general saith that he sanctifieth and cleanseth it with the washing of water by the word All therefore generally and ordinarily without the word are unclean and unregenerated Object But let us see how Mr. D. endeavoreth to prove that we were the sons of God before we did believe The Holy Ghost saith he declareth son-ship to be the cause of giving the Spirit when he saith Because ye are sons Gal. 4.6 God hath sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts crying Abba Father Seeing therefore a man cannot believe without the grace of the Spirit it followeth necessarily that we are the sons of God before we do believe Answ But hereunto I answer that the Spirit is given diversly First to regenerate us for we are born again not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man John 1.13 but of God by the powerful operation of his Spirit Even as our Saviour himself also teacheth when he saith Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit John 3.5 he cannot enter into the Kingdom of Heaven Thus the Spirit is not a consequent of our regeneration whereby we are born the sons of God but a precedent cause thereof 2. Again the Spirit is also given to increase Faith and holinesse in us and to strengthen and establish us in grace after we are regenerated For as Christ by his Spirit beginneth the good work of grace in us so doth he by his Spirit perfect the same Phil. 1.6 2 Cor. 3.5 and not we our selves by any power of our own Lastly After we are born again the Spirit is also given to comfort us and to assure us of our Adoption by crying in our hearts Abba Father Thus as Mr. D. saith son-ship is in some sort the cause of giving the Spirit But otherwise we are not sons before and without any work of the Spirit at all for he is the Author or principal efficient cause of our being regenerated and born again the sons of God Another of Mr. D's Objections is this The Apostle saith Object that God the Father hath predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself We were not therefore begotten in time by the word but it is an eternal grace Whereunto I answer that he might as well infer Answ and conclude that we are alteady glorified and in actual possession of Heaven For God hath predestinated us to be made partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light It 's strange that he cannot distinguish between the Decree of Election it self which is eternal and the effects thereof that is to say the things whereunto we are Elected