our consent to Christ is the effect of his consent to us I must leave it to my Reader to judge Or the Substance of this Question is this whether the Soul is first Active or Passive They that affirm that the Soul comes to Christ in its Sins unrenewed make the Soul first Active they who say the Soul acts as a renewed Soul make it first Passive which is such an undoubted Truth that I dare venture my Salvation on it and I hope I have clear Scripture on my side John 5.25 Verily verily I say unto you the Hour is coming and now is when the Dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall Live Which cannot be meant only of the Resurrection of the Body because it is said the Hour now is but it hath respect to the quickening of the Soul from the Death in Sin And it clearly proves that Christ finds the Soul Dead when he comes to put forth this Quickening Voice for look as with Lazarus Christ calls him while Dead Lazarus come forth and by this Call infuses Life into him and so enables him to come forth Had another called he might have wasted his Lungs in calling before he would have stirred So Christ calls us when Dead in Sin and with the call puts Life into us and so enables us to hear and obey his Voice Ephes 2.1 You hath he quickened c. Then it seems Christ quickened them and indeed if he do not we cannot and as Gahazi could only lay the Staff on the Face of the Child but could not put Life into him till the Prophet came 2 Kings 4.31,32,33 so till Christ the great Prophet bring home the Word to the Heart we call and cry in vain we can but Prophecy over dry Bones but that Breath that quickens them is from the Lord Ezek. 37.5 Hence Christ the Second Adam is called a quickening Spirit 1 Cor. 15.45 And to prove yet further that the Soul is first Passive before it is Active We have another most clear Text Eph. 2.10 For we are his Workmanship created in Christ Jesus c. Mind we are created Now you know that in Creation we were Passive as the Clay in the Hand of the Potter Man cannot be supposed to have any Hand in Creating of himself so that as Man was first purely Passive in the Hand of God and must receive a Natural Life before he could perform a Natural Action so is the Soul as purely passive while God infuses the first Grace whereby the Soul is enabled to put forth that vital Act of coming to Christ so Rom. 10.20 I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest unto them that asked not after me I cannot but pity such deluded Souls as receive the Doctrine I am confuting for a Doctrine of Free-Grace who are ever Learning and never able to come to the Knowledge of the Truth It 's a sore Judgment to be given over to believe a Lie and to be left to feed on a Stone instead of Bread and not to be able to discern between a Fish to nourish us and a Scorpion to sting us I have observed one great difference in Doctrine among some Dissenters whereby Meeting is set up against Meeting in the same Town to the great dishonour of God and hindrance to Religion lyes in this Some affirm what I have proved and are therefore termed Dark Legal Muddy Preachers the others look upon themselves to be the only Gospel Preachers because they cry down all Qualifications in the Soul when it comes to Christ Gracious ones not excepted But who will be best able to defend their Doctrine at the Great Day I hope by what hath been spoken you will be able to Judge if they mean what they say or indeed know what they say The difference between us is this they own Christ to be the Purchaser of all our Benefits so do I but here we differ they say we must go to him in all our Sins for them I say he that purchased them doth enable us to come to him and so I attribute the Application to him also and now judge who Preaches Free Grace most clearly I make Christ the Alpha and Omega the Beginning and the End they make him only the Beginning and affirm that if Sinners do not come as they are they must be Damned If Christ saves none but such as come to him thus in their Sins that is by their own power for if Sinners are acted by the Power of God then they do not come as they are what a Remnant will be saved A Remnant did I say Nay I dare affirm if that be true not one Soul shall be saved Man is naturally unwilling to come to Christ John 5.40 And ye will not come to me that ye might have Life Which Text only proves there is a Will in Man not to come to Christ though it be for Life they will Die rather and how hard a thing do Ministers find it to perswade Souls to come to Christ Now if this is the Nature of all then those whose Wills are not changed will never come and if their Wills are changed by a Divine Power and they so enabled to come then they do not come in their Sins in an unchanged State only God can change the Will as in Psal 110.3 They shall be a willing People in the Day of thy Power How little is Christ beholden to such who would frustrate his design in Dying He expected a Seed for to serve him as the effect of his Sufferings But at this rate he must have none unless they come to him upon the weak Legs of their own Free-Will They will give Christ the Honour to lay down his Life for the Sheep but deny that it is he which goes into the Wilderness to seek them or that it is he that brings the Lost Sheep home upon his Shoulders No say they the lost Sheep must come home of it self or Perish The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost Luke 19.10 And they who own him to be a Saviour and deny him to be a Seeker do virtually deny him to be a Saviour For as it is observed of Sheep when once they stray from the Fold they never return again of themselves so now we are gone astray from God if he will Save us he must Seek us hence Jeremiah 2.24 Man is compared to the Wild Ass to denote I conceive thus much that as that Creature will never come to Hand till such time as she is in Pain to bring forth so Man will never return from his Wilderness State till he feel the Pangs of the New Birth in his Soul Now though I cannot but hope many that differ from me in this Point are dear to God holding this Notion out of Ignorance or Blind Zeal and that they are upon a good Foundation yet I am verily perswaded this Doctrine they defend will