of his Free Grace Isa 43. 25. Jer. 31. 3. Hos 14. 4. Rom. 5. 8 9. Eph. 1. 5 6. 1 John 4. 10. did enter into a Covenant of Grace with Adam and all Mankind in him in the promised Seed Gen. 3. 15. in which he took all Men to Grace and Favour for surely we were as much in Adam when he was restored as when he fell and as much Partakers of his Mercy from God as we were of his Sins And I suppose you will not say but God pardoned this Sin in Adam upon the account of Christ and if he pardon him who freely acted it in his own Person do you think he will send others to Hell for it God forbid Philet How then must Justice be satisfied Philad Have not I told you often that it was by Christ He poor was made that he our Debts might pay He base became to take our Shame away He entred Bond our Freedom to procure He Dangers try'd our Safeties to assure He scorned was our Honour to advance He seem'd a Fool to help our Ignorance He Sin was made our Errours to conceal He wounded was that he our Minds might heal He thirsted that our Thirst might have an end He wept that Joy our Sorrow might attend He lost his Blood that we our Blood might save He died that we Eternal Life might have Here is the Lamb of God that hath taken away the damning Guilt of Adam's Sin Philet But doth not the Apostle positively say Eph. 2. 3. that we are all by Nature the Children of Wrath by Nature that is by our Nativity or Birth Philad What did not Christ take away the original Guilt from none What the the Elect which were taken into the Love and Favour of God before the Foundation of the World yet Children of Wrath by Birth What did not Christ take it away from them Pray take heed you charge not the human Nature with a Sin where God hath not under pretence of doing him the greater Honour thereby tho in the main it layeth to the Lord's charge the chief Cause of all Evils Surely by Nature here cannot be meant our Descent from Adam by partaking of the human Nature For where do you find that the Wrath of God is entailed upon Adam's Posterity as they are Men but as they are vitious and sinful Eph. 5. 6. by reason of their actual Sins comes the Wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience You never find the Judgments of God threatned to any for Adam's Sin nor against the human Nature as if the very Essence and Being of a Man was the Object of God's Reprobation Now as our National Laws lay no Penalty upon a Child that is gotten in Adultery because it partakes of the Nature of a Man in this case the Child is by all acquitted as innocent not worthy of any Punishment it being a thing quite out of its Power to help and so quite out of the reach of Penal Laws which are inflicted upon those that are Criminals and so it is in Divine I will give you three Reasons why I cannot take this Scripture in your sense 1st Because we do not find that the word Nature in Scripture signifies Conception or natural Birth neither is it mentioned as a thing that is sinful in it self in being born 2dly If by Nature be meant our Descent from Adam and by Wrath be meant to be so under the Displeasure of God as to deserve Hell notwithstanding what Christ hath done for them then I cannot see but all dying Infants must perish eternally for they cannot be born again by Faith in Christ and yet they must have Salvation by him or not at all and how they should have it by him but as he was the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin of the World I do not know for surely Christ hath brought a greater Advantage to human Nature than the Loss it sustained by Adam's Sin 3dly If Nature was so vile a thing as you would have it Christ would never have taken our Nature upon him for he was in all Points like unto us Sin only excepted Now if all that are conceived and born be by their Birth Children of Wrath then why was not Christ under it also for his Flesh was the same with ours Philet But he was conceived by the Power of the Holy Ghost in a wonderful manner without the help of Man had he taken Flesh by a carnal Generation he had been polluted with Sin as well as others Philad What tho he was formed in the Womb of the Virgin so as to be without carnal Generation yet it was not without her Conception Luk. 1. 31. I hope I need not tell you how dangerous it is to believe that Christ passed through the Virgin as Water through a Spout without partaking of her Substance But surely he took Flesh not only in but of the Virgin and was as really David's Son and his Offspring as he was David's Root and David's Lord. So that I think it 's no more Sin in us in being conceived and born of our Mothers Substance than it was for Christ to be formed of his Mother's Substance And I suppose that what was Adam's personal Sin was not the Affection of an universal Nature nor can you prove there was the consent of human Nature to it but meerly of Adam Now where there is no consent or acting there could be no Transgression Transgression is the Breach of a Law of which Nature may not be guilty when Persons are Philet But Adam's Sin became ours because we were then all in his Loins and he was the common Root or Stock from which we all should come so that hereby we came to be included and involved in the Sin of Adam Philad Why then are we not guilty of all other Sins which Adam committed after as well as the first yea of all the Sins of our Progenitors since we were in their Loins as well as in Adam's So that yet this Scripture doth not prove what you bring it for it doth not prove that any deserves Hell and Damnation by Birth nor can it favour or support that horrible Doctrine of God's positive and absolute Rejection of Men for Adam's Sin but this Scripture is better understood of those that sin against the Law of Nature which the God of Nature according to his divine Will hath placed in them Rom. 1. 26. Rom. 2. 14. 1 Cor. 11. 14. which Light discovers Sin reproves yea judges and condemns for Sin If our Hearts condemn us c. and tho the Light set up in them the Law written in their Hearts did flash Wrath in their Faces their Consciences accusing them Rom. 2. 15. yet they abused the Light or Law of Nature living in Sin and Disobedience and so were by Nature the Children of Wrath c. and so are all that come to act Sin but no Persons by Birth are thus the Children of Wrath nor none out of the Covenant
saved by his precious Undertakings Philad I never did nor I hope never shall desire you to lay the stress of your Salvation upon your well doing for that would be to build upon the Sands indeed a very infirm Foundation Seeing that without shedding of Blood there is no Remission of Sin and consequently no Heaven Yet give me leave to tell you that to expect Salvation through Christ without Righteousness of Heart and Life is a most infirm Foundation to build our hopes of Heaven upon and indeed 't is nothing but downright Presumption and at the best but the hope of the Hypocrite which will perish Job 8. 13 14. Deut. 29. 19. If you think to find Heaven because Christ died for your Sins and you not bound to the actual Performance of those Duties God hath injoined you to perform I cannot see but you must shew us another Gospel yea and blot out all the Ten Commandments But I tell you Christ himself will not save such 't is contrary to the Attributes of his Justice for he will render to every one as their Works shall be Rom. 8. 13. 1 Cor. 6. 9. Let but any of you shew me a Word from God or Christ that he will save Persons in the profane Contempt of his Service and I will open my Mouth no more against it Philet Did not I tell you he would lead us back again to the Law which is wholly abolished by Christ we are not now under the Law but under Grace Mar. The Law is a cursed Creature Philad A Creature what do you mean by that Where doth the Scripture call the Law a Creature I doubt your design is to invalidate the Law of God which is a divine Direction for all Men in all holy just and spiritual Duties Mar. I could show you it under the hands of fifty Divines that the Law is a Creature besides the many Arguments I could give to prove it a Truth if you please to hear them Philad If you can prove it from the Scripture I 'll hear you but I see you do not that and as for those Divines you speak of tho they may be Men of Piety and Learning yet we ought to follow no Man but as he follows Christ nor take notice of the Quality of Persons and what they believe but the Solidity of their Proof and how they agree with the Standard of God's Word for want ofthis Persons are ready to suck in corrupt Notions without any serious Examination merely because others said it for whose Piety and Learning they have a great and venerable Esteem and indeed when Mens Persons are admired presently their Notions tho never so unsound are received as the Oracles of God which thing has been of fatal Consequence in all Ages and has given footing to most or all the pestilent Doctrines and Errorst hat have incumbred the Church of God Pray ask those Divines you spake of whether they will stand to this That the Law as it is the Mind and Will of God is a Creature whether there is any thing in God perishable or changeable As Learned as they hold these three things as a Truth 1st That God wills nothing in time 2dly That God cannot but have that Will which he hath 3dly That God cannot have any Will which for the present he hath not Now as the Law contains the Mind and Will of God it is as ancient as himself yea there is in it a supernatural divine and unperishing Virtue resembling God himself which shall as easily be destroyed as his Law and was and is and shall remain a word of Eternal Verity Equity and Purity planted in the Heart of Man and is an immutable and eternal Rule of Duty and the breach of it calls for an eternal Punishment upon all Contemners and Abusers of it notwithstanding their boast of Gospel Grace if not repented of Philet I tell you the Law is wholly abolished by Christ we are not now under the Law but under Grace Philad 'T is true Believers are not now under the Law namely in respect of Justification by it or of personal and perfect Obedience to it which Christ in our stead hath performed Gal. 4. 4. nor under the Curse of the Law that is the damning Power of it they are now under Grace that is the Dispensation of Gods Grace the Gospel yet we are not to think that Believers are so freed from the Curse of the Law as to be freed from exercising the Duty and Precepts of Righteousness and Holiness Nay tell me you that say the Law is wholly abolished what there is in all the Ten Commandments that is not a Christian Duty If the Law be wholly abolished what should hinder Persons from worshipping false Gods breaking the Sabbath Swearing Killing Whoring Stealing doing any thing at all no Sin if there be no Law for where there is no Law there is no Transgression Philet The Apostle tells us That Christ is the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes Rom. 10. 4. Philad But what end the fulfilling end but not the destroying end of the Law tho' 't is true with respect to the Ceremonial part of the Law which was only a shadow of good things to come Heb. 10. 12. and center'd in Christ and end in him he being the true Spiritual Substance unto whom that part of the Law was directed it may be said that Christ was not only the fulfilling end but the abolishing end of the Law He is also the end of the Moral Law First because he fully and perfecty obeyed the Law and so the Law in him obtained its end which it had not done amongst all the Sons of Men. 2dly He was the end of the Law on whom all the Maledictions of the Law had full accomplishment 3dly He was the end of the Law in whom all the Blessings and Promises of the Law obtain their end for they are all in Christ Jesus Yea and Amen 2 Cor. 1. 20. 4thly He 's the end of the Law for Righteousness to every one that believes because God doth impute unto Believers that Righteousness which the Law requires Thus Christ is the end of the Law Yet 't is folly to believe that Christ is so the end of the Law that we are now wholly exempted from our Obedience to those Precepts which the Law requires or that Gospel Grace which hath appeared to all Men Tit. 2. 11 12. should absolve the Creature from that Love and Obedience which is due to his Creator Disobedience cannot be the spot of God's Children 'T is true the Jews thought that they must needs reject the law if they admitted the Doctrine of Paul concerning Justification by Faith whereas the Apostle proves that his Doctrine was so far from prejudicing the Law that it indeed established it Rom. 3. 31. Chap. 4. So that neither Christ put an end to the Moral Law Mat. 5. 17. nor his Apostles therefore the Law is not abolished Philet The
The Love of God To all Mankind In the Glorious Work of their Redemption by Jesus Christ Asserted and Vindicated With a plain and sober Discussion of those Controversies which are the constant Concomitants of it viz. Election and Reprobation God's Foreknowledg his Nature Attributes and Decrees the sufficiency of Means vouchsafed to all Men to believe the use of the Law to Believers under the Gospel Also concerning Original Sin Free-Will and falling from Grace All fitted to the meanest Capacity in a way of Dialogue By ZACHARY STANTON LONDON Printed and sold by M. Fabian at Mercers Chappel in Cheapside 1700. TO THE READER Courteous and Impartial Reader I Should not have troubled thee with any Preface were it not to comply with the desire of some Friends and the Mode of the Times This Treatise which I have adventured to expose to publick view and censure of all I desire thee to take notice is much of it a Collection gathered from the Words and Writings of Persons concerned in this Controversy methodized and reduced to Form and Order as my slender Knowledg and Leisure gave me leave for the benefit of all well-disposed People that have a desire to look into the things controverted in this Point and either could not reach the Price or procure those large Volumes wherein this Subject is largely handled by Men of piercing Judgments and known Abilities here they may see the Substance of all the Controversy compendiously in a little room and with that plainness and brevity that the meanest Capacity may reach it as well with their Vnderstanding as their Purses I know that those who live at ease and have none to disturb the Peace of their Church and the Prosperity of the Gospel by sowing Tares in the Lord's Field may think it strange in this Day wherein there should be rather a healing of Breaches and a closing up the old Wounds than a heightning and increasing of them to see any appear in print upon this Subject nor have I done this as if I could be a Means to bring any new Matter which by former Worthys had not been said before but for the settling and establishment of those to whom I belong some of them looking that way that so Satan might not beguile them to draw them from the simplicity and purity of that Doctrine revealed in the Word of God and that I might prevent others from falling into error through the studious Labours of many of corrupt Judgments who to our great sorrow we have found care not how they stumble the weak or what Divisions they make in the House of God so they can but proselite a Party to carry on their uncouth Notions and preposterous Opinions and whose heady Zeal hath brought this forth Tho at first it was written for the Information of a few private Friends yet without any design for the Press and hath been kept from it this two or three years till of late this Opinion hath held up its head in our Parts which tho it hath formerly and of late been often encountered by the Sword of the Spirit yet like the Monster Hydra having one Head chop'd off two grew again So this Error seems to spread and grow faster than of late and tho they have left off openly to assert tho owned in private many of those frightful Sayings and horrible Blasphemies found in many Authors which are enough to make a godly Man's heart to bleed yet now they with open face maintain and by secret ways labour to undermine the Divine Foundation and by crying up Grace and the unconditionality of the Gospel-Covenant and descrying all Inducements to Dutys and Obedience as legal Preaching with the terrible noise of Free-willers Arminians Popery many well-meaning Christians by such subtile Wiles and secret Insinuations are wounded and deceived through the cunning pretence of some that pretend to a more than ordinary pitch of Holiness and Purity who to carry on their Design labour to work upon the Affections and to gain upon the Hearts of thâ—se that are ready to entertain as Gospel any Errors because of the affection to the Person that broach'd them and when once the Judgment is distempered by Affection all things are carried according to the pleasure of it The vilest Deformitys if they are Affection's Darlings shall be accounted comely Ornaments Let God and Man say what they will 't is all in vain when their Vnderstanding is captivated and lull'd asleep by their Dalilah then Judgment and right Reason must truckle and those dark and mysterious Sayings in the Scripture must be made to speak according as they fancy while wholesome Truths are distastful and will not go down by reason of some Prejudice conceived against the Author And therefore I am not without a foresight that both my Person and this my good Meaning will be made the Butt at which will be shot all those sharp Arrows that Wit Pride and Envy can invent But I am content to receive a Scratch that others may scape a Wound and to be accounted as the Filth and Off-scouring of all things that those who are intangled in Errors might learn the Truth and therefore if I be reproached for it notwithstanding all the care taken I am content to suffer Reproach for the Cause of Christ and do count it a very small thing to be judged of Man's Judgment And Reader I do assure thee in the words of a Christian that it is neither Profit nor Credit nor Thanks that I expect for my pains but rather the contrary I by experience find Persons are too apt to be offended with Truth and Plainness yea many mens Spirits are so exasperated against such as hold forth the Grace of God to all which is the Subject of this Book that if it were in their power they would convince us we were in the wrong by Fire and Faggot so distastful are either the Sayings or Writings of those that would take their Diana that is their Opinion from them and when they cannot ward off the down-right stroke of Truth they will then set themselves to censure slight and revile those that speak for Truth But great is Truth and it will prevail in spight of the Sharp Tongues or Iron Teeth of those that oppose it And now Reader if thou beest a Reprobatarian I do not know what cause thou hast to dislike me or this Book if thou wilt be true to thy Principles that God from all Eternity freely and unchangeably ordain'd whatsoever comes to pass and that God hath precisely decreed what Good and Evil shall be done that all things happen not only by God's Prescience but by his express Order and positive Decree and that Man doth that which is not lawful for him to do by the just impulse of God If this be so then surely all that I have done in this case is but the necessary Issue of the Divine Decrees having done nothing but what was not only natural but necessary being over-born by
6. and when they assayed to go into Bithynia the Spirit suffered them not ver 7. Philad For what reason God would not that the Gospel should at that time be preached by Paul and Timothy in Asia is hid from us he might have many either that he would make use of their Ministry somewhere else or that he had appointed some others to the Work whatsoever it was certainly the Reason is not to be brought from God's absolute Decree of Reprobation as Calvin upon this place doth for it is certain that the Gospel was at least soon after preached and that in this place by Paul himself so that Demetrius the Siver-smith did greatly lament the admirable progress of the Gospel in Asia Acts 19. 26. And in the 10th Verse you may see that Paul continued for the space of two years at Ephesus which was the Metropolis of Asia insomuch that it was said That all they that dwelt in Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus both Jews and Greeks Mar. But all Men have not the Gospel preached to them nor the same Light and Means to know the Lord and so come to believe in him and surely if Christ died for all Men for the whole World he would have sent amongst them the Word of Life and removed out of the way all those things which he knew would have hindered their Salvation and therefore I cannot think but all those Nations which the Gospel is not sent to are left by the Lord in the Fall and reserved for Eternal Punishment Philad As it was in Paul's time so it is now the Jews prided themselves against the Gentiles as being the only Elect People and the Gentiles but Reprobates and Cast-aways and so do such as you are at this day by the Nations which have not the Gospel-light as I have often heard to my great grief even damn them by whole-sale looking upon them little better than Devils What tho the Lord according to his manifold Wisdom is pleased to vouchsafe a greater sufficiency of means to know the Lord and to know what God hath done for them and by the Gospel reveals those things which otherwise in an ordinary way could not be known to one Nation or one Age and Generation of Men more than another yet knowing and by daily experience finding God to be infinite in Goodness and Mercy I cannot but believe he hath effectually provided for their Salvation as well as ours tho the ordinary means is wanting as at this day in many parts of the World for tho Faith is not now begotten in them by preaching and hearing as with us at this day yet God hath many ways to instruct and communicate his Will to Man Job 33. yea to reveal Christ in such manner and ways as may be available for Jesus Christ who took Man's Nature upon him and who hath taken away their original Guilt and who enlightens every Man that comes into the World may by the Operation of his Spirit how and when he pleaseth so help them to improve their single Talent of Reason and the Light set up in their Consciences which may so perfect what is wanting of the ordinary means that many thousands according to our Saviour's words Mat. 8. 11. shall come from the East and the West and sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven when the Children of the Visible Kingdom or Church who judged themselves the sole Inheritors of it and all the rest of the World but Castaways shall be shut out and if you look Psal 87. you may see that those that had their natural Birth in Rahab Tyre Ethiopia Philistia Babylon shall be accounted as born in the Spiritual Zion or Church of God And tho the Lord in his Wisdom and Mercy is pleased to vouchsafe a greater measure of Grace Light and Knowledg and of Salvation unto us than unto them yet hath not God left himself without Witness all the common Providences of God being given to direct Men to seek the Lord. In Rom. 2. 14 15. we read that the Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things c. That Law which was given in two Tables of Stone was that which was purely moral and imprinted in their Hearts namely that God is to be worshipped that Parents should be honoured and in a word to do to all as they would be done to These were Duties written in he very Book of Nature and tho they have not the Evangelical Law in the preaching of the Gospel as we have become a Law to themselves and by observing the Dictates of that Light living up to a true informed Conscience and to that Law which warreth against the rebellious Lusts in their Members have gradually so prevailed with them as to bring them to a good measure of conformity to the Will of God and have quite outdone many Christians in their practices Mar. What tho yet if Christ as Mediator be not some-way made known to Men they are lost for ever He that believeth on the Son hath Life and he that believeth not on the Son hath not Life But you seem to hold that it is not absolutely necessary to Salvation to know Christ and him crucified as Mediator but to live up to that which God hath manifested to them and to have some Notions of Unisersal Grace and Mercy in the Divine Essence But I must tell you all that ever were saved before Christ came were saved not by living up to that Light which God had given to all Men or by living up to a true conformity to the Law planted in their Hearts or by believing God was merciful and gracious but by believing on Christ who was to come to be a Sacrifice for their Sins and all that are saved since our Saviour's coming do in some measure know and believe in Jesus Christ that died without the Gates of Jerusalem Philad Have you forgot that you told me that I went too far to assert the Salvation of all those that died in Infancy I not being the Sovereign Lord and Judg of all and now are you not guilty of the same thus to determine the final State of all Men both before and since Christ's coming in the Flesh as if none were saved but only such as distinctly knew Jesus Christ the Seed of the Woman that was to break the Serpent's Head as he that was to offer himself a Sacrifice for Sin seeing I believe neither you nor any other is able to prove that no Heathen wanting the Letter of the Gospel and the Oral Ministry of it which is the ordinary Means to beget Faith never yet believed on God to Justification or were accepted with him And whereas you say none can be saved who diligently frame their Lives according to the Light God hath given them or live in a true conformity to the Law written in their Hearts This is but your presumption for if God hath given them no other Law or Light
which God's Spirit had upon many others as Job Melchizedeck c. And how did the Lord secretly teach and instruct Abimclech Nebuchadnezzar Cyrus Darius in the Old Testament And the Heathens have at this day and before Christ's coming in the flesh had some glimpse of his coming into the World as may be seen in the Sibyls Verses and many others nay they came to injoy in some measure the Doctrine of Christ's coming and hath not the Gospel-sound gone thro the World and Paul saith that the Gentiles who did by Nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2. were counted the Circumcision yea the Law should judg those that are circumcised in the Flesh if they broke it and so tho many boast of the Word and Sacrament of the Gospel amongst them and despise others tho the Means of Grace be abused the Gospel-Call neglected the Grace of God turned into wantonness and seek Gain by pretending Godliness yet those that have less means and yet have obeyed them shall be received and others rejected for many are called but few chosen And I beseech you all that set light by them take heed lest you become guilty of as great a Sin as the Heathen Nations are in worshiping false Gods by imputing that to the true God which is proper only to the Devil for it was the saying of a very Learned Man Mr. Withers in his Paraphrase upon the Lord's Prayer page 94. speaking something of the Doctrine of Reprobation without respect to Sin That whatsoever opinion others may have of it I conceive that all the Idolatries of the Heathens heretofore in communicating to Men Beasts or Devils the Honour and Attributes which are due to God only yea and the crucifying of Christ added thereunto amount not to so hainous an Offence as their Crimes who are knowingly guilty of this Sin because it seems to me more pardonable to ascribe to a base Creature part of that Honour which is due to God than to impute that unto him which is proper to none but the Devil And in his Parallello-Grammaton p. 61. he saith That it is an extraordinary high affront put upon God and more heinous than Murder Adultery and all other mere carnal Sins whatsoever yea more heinous than those the Jews committed by their Idolatries killing the Prophets and crucifying Christ in the Elesh for the last was but a Sin against his Humanity and their Idolatries but the ascribing some part of that Honour to the Creature which is due to God only whereas the limiting God's Universal Grace in Christ with the concomitant Doctrine and the Consequences thence arising and the imputing to God an eternal Reprobation of the greatest part of Mankind before they had done good or evil for those Sins which they blasphemously say he necessitates them to commit to shew his Justice and manifest his hatred to Sin is a despoiling him of his Divine Nature and ascribing unto him that which belongs only to the Devil Mar. That which the Gentiles receive is but common Grace and the improvement of any common Gift will not save any and should the Gospel be preached to them it would be of no saving use to them unless there be special Grace in the Soul Philet That 's true the Gospel may be preached a thousand times over and yet without the mighty Power of God none can receive it 't is not the Power of God to Salvation 't is but the external Offers of Grace or the external Dispensation of Grace by the Word Philad Here 's off and one sometimes Christ died for all that the Gospel might be preached to all and those that the Gospel is not sent to you look upon them Castaways and yet at last whether it be sent or not 't is all one there 's nothing in it but a dead Letter but pray tell me is not the Gospel called the Ministry of the Spirit Philet Yea in opposition to the Law Philad Well then I must tell you that there is such a power of the Spirit accompanying of it where it is faithfully preached as is sufficient for the conversion of Sinners or to leave them without excuse if they believe it not yea to judg them at the last day tho 't is true 't is but the instrumental Means to beget Souls to God for the original cause of our conversion is the Love of God the Father John 3. 16. Rom. 5. 6 8 10. 1 Pet. 3. 18. The Blood of Christ is the meritorious Cause the efficient or working Cause is the Power of God's Grace or Spirit the Ministerial Cause is the preaching of the Gospel Rom. 10. so tho God alone decrees it Christ alone meriteth it the Spirit sealeth it yet the Gospel revealeth it Faith apprehendeth it and so persons come to be justified and saved So tho God Christ and the Spirit are the efficient Cause of Righteousness and Salvation yet the instrumental Means of Salvation is not to be cast away Philet But there must be special Grace in the Soul before God calls any by the Gospel or else they could not give consent to his Call No there must be a Principle of Grace infused into the Souls of Men or they could not consent To say the stony Heart dead Man old Nature gives consent is very incongruous the Tree must first be good before it can produce good Fruit there must be first a Sun then a Beam first a Fountain then a Stream Philad It seems by what you say a Man must be a spiritual Man before the Lord calls him and before he hears or receives the Word which is a mistake for there is no Man but is carnal before he receiveth the teaching of the Almighty and by receiving the teachingof the Lord becomes spiritual for Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God Mr. Brown in his Scripture Redemption saith James 1. 18. Of his own Will begat he us by the Word of Truth 't is a Life-Creating Word John 6. 63. and therefore called the Word of Life Phil. 2. 16. because through and by the word Life is wrought in us John 5. 25. and Faith wrought in us Rom. 10. and is a glorious Instrument of God's saving Power Rom. 1. 16. and called the Grace of God Acts 13. 47. that comes to us by his Grace Heb. 12. 1. 1 Pet. 5. 12. and this way are we to expect Grace from him and where the Word of Life is preached there and then God seeks and sues to us to receive his Grace yea and through the Spirit bestows so much Grace upon all Men when the Word of Faith is preached as is sufficient to beget Faith in them and to carry on their saving Conversion gradually unto the end Mat. 11. 21. Titus 3. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 23. 2. 9. James 1. 18. 2 Cor. 3. 6. Heb. 4. 12. observe Acts 26. 18. Dr. Holmes upon the Golden Chain of Salvation page 158. upon the Question How shall I come by the gift