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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
nature_n	assume_v	humane_a	union_n	3,291	5	9.5119	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A48861	The glory of free grace display'd: or, The transcendant excellency of the love of God in Christ, unto believing, repenting sinners, in some measure describ'd Wherein, 1. The doctrine about election, and the covenant of reconciliation is explained. 2. The error of the antinomians, who assert, that the filth of sin was laid on Christ, and that the holiness as well as the righteousness of Christ is made the elects while in the womb, &c. With their abuse of free-grace particularly detected and confuted. 3. In what sense our sins were laid on Christ, and Christ's righteousness made the believers, according to the sacred scriptures, evinced. 4. The glory of irresistible-grace, as exerted in the conversion of a sinner in opposition to the Arminian, cleared. 5. A modest defence of the sober dominican, about physical predetermination.	Lobb, Stephen, d. 1699.	1680 (1680)	Wing L2724B; ESTC R218819	67,996	163

decree of Grace 't was absolutely necessary that Infinite Wisdom be in exercise for the work was stupendious too great for finite capacities to engage in a work no way beneath God himself A Holy Good and just Law unto which was annexed a severe threatning is transgressed mankind is become unholy and unclean altogether filthy and polluted liable to to the greatest miseries the Lord still Just and Righteous True and faithful a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity or delight in sin or in the unreconciled sinner Sin must be punished justice must be satisfied Holiness and Truth Glorified but Man in the circumstances he then was unable to do either He cannot appease Gods Wrath nor satisfy Justice nor purifie or cleanse his own heart to perfection how then can he become the object of everlasting love or how is it possible that the Gracious decree be executed I answer Whoever considers these things seriously cannot but cry out and say if this work be accomplished it must be the Lords own doing and marvelous in our eyes The contrivance must be the effort of infinite wisdome and the Glory of that Grace for which such a work must be carried on is Unspeakable and verily the Lord hath shewn himself to be God even in that he hath found out a way for the doing this Wisdom dwelt with Prudence and found out the knowledge of this witty invention Prov. 8.12,30 3. God the Father consulted with God the Son and it rejoyced their soul that Grace might be magnified that Justice and Mercy might greet each other That the Love of God might be made known unto man without the impeachment of the honour of his other Attributes But what was the contrivance 't was this God the Father entred into a Covenant with God the Son in which Covenant there is observable 1. What the Father required from the Son 2. What the Father Promised the Son 1. What the Father required the Son to do which more generally was the exalting Free-Grace in the actual Salvation of some even in a way agreable with the other glorious perfections of God But more particularly several things in order to the obtaining this end must be done 1. A body must be prepared for the Son he must assume humane nature it being necessary that he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified should be of one of one common Parent Adam and therefore God the Son took on him the flesh and blood viz. The nature of the Brethren the humane but not corrupt nature Heb. 2.11,14,16 And therefore a body was prepared for the Son Heb. 10.5 c. 2. In this nature God the Son must come into the World Prov. 8.30,31 And suffer f●… mans sin Isa 53.5 He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities Gal. 3.13 John 10.18 3. He must render a sinless a full compleat and perfect obedience to Gods Law being made under the Law Gal. 4.4 It became him to fulfil all Righteousness Math. 3.15 He came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it Math. 5.17 In doing which the end of the Law was answered the honour of Gods Justice and governing wisdom conserved and the door of grace opened to believing repenting returning sinners who were givens to the Lord Jesus 4. The Lord Christ was obliged to keep and preserve these given him This is the Fathers Will that of all that he hath given me I should lose nothing but shall raise it up at the last day John 6.39 2. God the Father moreover doth make rich promises unto the Son on the Sons performing the required conditions The Son shall be greatly rewarded he shall be exalted and made very high Isa 52.13 Yea God highly exalted him giving him a name above every name Philip. 2.9 c. Again God gives him a select number who shall in process of time be actually with him in the eternal glory He shall see his seed and the travel of his soul and be satisfied Isa 53.10.11 yea a select number among the Heathen Psal 2.8 Nations shall run unto him Isa 5.5 Who are called Children given unto Christ Heb. 2.13 So John 10.29 The Lord Jesus Christ speaking of his sheep that is of those that were ordained to eternal life doth say my Father which gave them me Thus you see the terms of the Covenant all ordered for the exaltation of infinitely free Grace The USES 'T is wonderful that the thoughts of God should from all eternity be concerned for faln man's salvation 3. That the Lord Christ God-man must engage in this great work that he who was eternally in the bosom of the Father should empty himself of the Glory of God and take upon him the form of a servant is mightily surprizing That God should humble himself so infinitely as to undergo the wrath of the Father Oh what manner of love what manner of Grace is this Read believingly and considerately the account given in the Scriptures of our Lord Jesus his fulfilling his part of the Covenant in the particulars thereof and you cannot but see free-grace highly exalted 1. God assumes humane nature What a wonder is this and how many miracles were wrought for the effecting it considering humane nature was by sin Corrupted and yet it must be assumed and united unto the divine without Corruption 2. God in this nature suffers not that the divine nature as such is capable of the least sufferings and therefore 't is the humane nature that is the immediate subject of sufferings but passions as well as actions being of persons we may safely say That he who is God suffered for our iniquities were laid on Christ Isay 53. Christ was made sin as 't is 2 Cor. 5.21 yea and a curse that such as do believe might be delivered from an eternal curse Gal. 3.13 But how was Christ made sin or in what sense were the iniquities of any laid on him was the filth of sin laid on Christ CHAP. IV. The difficulty proposed in the last Chapter spoken unto Sin with reference unto its FILTH GUILT and PUNISHMENT distinctly considered and Explained The punishment and Guilt of Sin laid on Christ asserted Concerning the Filth of Sin The sense of some Antonomians reduced to three particulars proposed Their first Error in saying the Filth of Sin was laid on Christ detected and confuted That the Filth of Sin be laid on Christ impossible The consequences of this Error dreadful and unscriptural The Purity and Holiness of Christ asserted and vindicated The Antinomians abuse of the Grace of God hinted IN giving a truely Scriptural a full and satisfying answer unto this difficulty we shall have a fair occasion of shewing How and after what manner Free-Grace is in its Excellencies displayed But that we may entertain right conceptions concerning this thing we must carefully distinguish between the Filth the Guilt and Punishment of sin 1. There is the Sin it self formally considered which is a transgression of a holy good and

sinner the only Subject capable of Justification A return from the digression shewing wherein Grace is highly glorified by some and wherein abused by others THus you see where these errors lead men and how such as do entertain one error do but prepare they way unto many For that which is remarkable is this Those persons who embrace the error I have now confuted do assert that the Elect are actually justified even in the womb though they know it not for saith one God laies the sins of the Elect on the Lord Jesus Christ by Obligation Execution and Application which Application as done by the Father is secret and manifest Secretly unto particular Elect Persons before they come into the world even while in the womb assoon as conceived for which Reason the Lord hath no more to lay to the charge of an Elect person yet in the height of iniquity and in the Excess of Riot and committing all the Abominations that can be committed even then the Lord hath no more to lay to that Persons charge than he hath to lay to the charge of a Person Triumphant in Glory though the Elect person knows it not So Dr. Crisp on Isaiah The Reading which is enough to engage a tender conscience to abhor it But to go on and shew the unsoundness hereof If the Elect assoon as they receive Being are in the sight of God actually justified by this secret Application of their sins unto Christ 't is impossible that any one Elect soul can be truly considered as born or as conceiv'd in sin for their conception and this secret application is in one and the same instant Neither do they need any Sanctification by the Spirit as I shall shew immediately neither can they be capable of a Pardon for they are not actually guilty nor by nature the Children of Wrath This is plain For Christs Holiness being made their Holiness assoon as they received their Being in the Womb there was no one instant in which they were sinners without perfect Holiness whence 't will follow that there is no Original sin no being by nature the Children of wrath no need of pardon for a pardon presupposeth Guilt as Guilt inferreth Sin where no Sin their no Guilt no Pardon yea and hereby Repentance and Faith in the blood of Christ for pardon is made of none effect But if it be said that although the Righteousness and Holiness of Christ is imputed unto the Elect assoon as they receive their Being yet the Elect may remain under the power of sin filthy unclean and polluted full of sinful spots and blemishes If so it must be acknowledged That one and the same person may be at one and the same time a Child of God and a Child of the Devil 1. As Christs Righteousness and Holiness is imputed unto him so He is the Child of God in a state of grace actually in Gods account justified having a right unto the Kingdom the Object of Gods special love and favour but yet 2. As he is under the power of sin and Unclean so he is the Child of the Devil and in a state of wrath actually unjustified in Gods account liable to eternal burnings the Object of Gods hatred being a worker of iniquity But how impossible is this Oh how dangerous to assert what can a man be at one and the same time the Child of God and also of the Devil He may as well be in Heaven and Hell at the same time bathing himself in the Rivers of pleasure that run at the right hand of God for ever even when tormented in that lake that burneth with Fire and brimstone What strange confusion is this but they say that the sin passing from the Elect ceaseth to be the sin of the Elect. q. d. The Elect are never in a state of sin or wrath though under the Power of sin The truth then is this The Righteousness of Christ is not actually imputed unto any under the reigning power of unbelief for he that believeth not is condemned already Joh. 3.18 The wrath of God abideth on on him ver 36. There is no Communication of any justifying pardoning grace to any that are not united unto Christ and whatever soul is united unto Christ he is so by Faith for as the Reverend Dr. O. it must be remembred that we require Evangelical Faith in order of nature antecedently unto our justification by the imputation of the Righteousness of Christ unto us which justifying Faith includeth in its nature the entire principle of Evangelical repentance so as that it is utterly impossible that a man should be a true believer and not at the same instant of time be truly penitent A man that continueth under the power of sin no way convinced of his lost estate out of Christ as is the case of many Elect persons a long time after they are out of the Womb is so far from being actually justified in the sight of God that he is not while so a meet Subject of justification Conviction of sin being a necessary antecedent unto that Faith that in order of nature goes before justification and therefore it must be considered that a Convinced sinner as the same Reverend Dr. hath largely proved is the only Subjectum capax justificationis But to return From what hath been said we may clearly see wherein the Grace of God is highly glorified and wherein by some 't is greatly abused 1. T is highly glorified in that the Son of God according to the eternal compact between the Father and the Son assum'd Humane Nature made under the Law voluntarily taking on him the Guilt and Punishment of our sins whereby poor faln man may be freed from both in being pardoned and in being delivered from the weight of that wrath which omnipotency was to inflict Now the Guilty may escape that guilt which tormenteth the consciences of many here and which is amongst the damned as a Gnawing Worm that continually adds to their insupportable horrors hereafter 2. Free-Grace is greatly abused by such as do assert 1. That the spots and blemishes of our sins are laid on Christ as if he who is infinitely pure had been defiled and stained with the Filth of our abominations as if infinite Wisdom could not find out a way to make a display of Free-Grace in the accomplishing faln mans salvation but by the making Jesus Christ God-Man subject unto the Pollution of sin Oh! How is God dishonoured by the bold confidence of Finite mortals who can presume to deny the Lord to be gracious unless his grace be made known in a way agreeable to their corrupt imaginations 2. To assert that the Grace of God is such as makes the Elect holy by Christs Holiness even when they are not only subject to much sin but are under the reigning power of the worst of sins is to abuse the Grace of God for these talk as if such as are in themselves impure unclean and unholy could while so be

docens quod talis est cooperatio primae causae quod disponit omnia suaviter juxta scil modum cujusque cooperans unicuique So Austin Et hoc est opus ejus quo continet omnia quo ejus sapientia pertendit à fine usque ad finem fortiter et disponit omnia suaviter lib. 4. de Gen. ad lit c. 12. 2. This Irresistible grace is given ordinarily in the use of means viz. the preaching of the word whence Paul must go to be instructed by Ananias Acts 9. Philip is sent to preach to the Eunuch Peter is sent to Cornelius Acts 10. to the end that by the foolishness of Preaching many might be converted 1 Cor 1.21 13. It is therefore the great duty of all men seriously apply themselves to the use of means that so they may be converted and turned unto God For 1. Our souls are Essentially-active-beings and therefore should be engag'd for God and Holiness and not for sin and the pleasures thereof 2. We are commanded to prepare our hearts in order to our turning unto the Lord 1 Sam. 7.3 Ezek. 14.6 ch 18.31 which Scriptures as they expresly shew it to be our duty to be active in turning unto God even so moreover they imply that if we are active in our work God will be graciously pleased by his blessing abundantly to encourage us therein All men even the wicked must pray they must attend on the word and mind the Salvation of their souls which if they do who can tell but that the Lord may be gracious Thus Peter said unto Simon the Sorcerer pray God if perhaps he will forgive the thoughts of thy heart For when the wicked do pray and hear the word although their prayers c. are an abomination unto the Lord in that they do not pray with that Faith and Love c. they ought yet even in that they do both pray and hear the word they are not so ●…minable as they would be should they totally neglect these duties For he who pray's with an unsound heart fails as to the manner of prayer but he who prays not at all fails as to the matter as well as manner and consequently is the greater transgressor Again he who prays and hears the word is in a fairer way of receiving a blessing from the Lord than he who will neither pray nor hear the word In the discharge of these duties we may meet with God 't is probable because frequently it hath been so but he who lives in the constant neglect of them is in danger of losing his immortal soul eternally But remember that 't is both duty to pray and hear yea and to do so in Faith with hearts sincerely devoted unto God We must engage in duty and yet conclude that all the good we receive is of Grace so Fulgentius * Cum timore tremore tuam salutem operare Nec Lectio desit operibus bonis Nec bona opera desint studio lectionis In Scripturis S. studium tui cordis impende Et ibi si fueris qui sis quique debeas esse cognosce Ad has si humilis mitis accesseris ibi profectò invenies Pr●evenientem gratiam quâ potest elisus surgere comitantem quâ viam recti queat itineris currere subsequentem quâ valeat ad regni caelestis beatitudinem pervenire Ful. de conv ad Theodor. Epist 6. Yea the same Fulgentius in the same Epistle doth encourage us both unto our duty and to give the Glory of all to Free-Grace Hujus Gratiae adjutorium semper est nobis a Deo poscendum sed nec ipsum quod poscimus nostris viribus assignemus neque enim haberi potest ipse saltem Orationis affectus nisi divinitus fuerit attributus Ut ergo desideremus adiutorium Gratiae hoc ipsum quoque opus est Gratiae Ipsa namque incipit infundi ut incipiat posci Ipsa quoque amplius infunditur cum poscentibus datu●… Quis vero potest Gratiam poscere nisi velit sed nisi in eo Deus ipsum voluntatem operetur velle n●…tenus poterit From the whole that hath been said 't is most certain that the manifold grace of God hath been diversly extended to mankind in general and to some in particular 1. To mankind in general and that in these following respects 1. To all mankind in that God the Son assumed Humane Nature in which he suffered and fulfilled all righteousness to the end mans Salvation might become possible The Lord might have left us all in that helpless and desperately miserable state in which we with the fallen Angels were once fixed But God extended the riches of his grace towards fallen man even when the least favour was not shewn the fallen Angels 2. To all mankind in that as the Salvation of all is become possible the Lord moreover affords unto all such a sufficiency of help in order to the doing what is necessary unto an actual entrance into the glories of God as leaves all such as remain in sin most Inexcusable The worst of men who received least receiving more than they improve must acknowledg that Grace was afforded them but they most wretchedly rejected it But then 2. The Grace of God is infinitely exalted in that it is extended after an eminent manner to SOME in special some receive Faith and all such other graces as are necessary to their actual Salvation who must ascribe the glory of their Faith Repentance and Conversion their sincere Obedience and final perseverance to the glory of Free-Grace Here I might enlarge and shew how and in what respect the Grace of God is exalted in the Supporting Refreshing and comforting the believer while in this life diversely exercised But I designing to be short will insist only on what may clear God from the Reproaches are cast on him by the wicked who assert that according to the Opinion of many learned Divines both among the Protestants and Papists it may be soundly argued That God doth lay men under a Natural necessity i.e. a necessity of the consequent or rather of the Effect of sinning which Notion if true would subvert not only the greatest part of the preceding Discourse but even the whole of Religion The Falsness and Unsoundness of which wretched reflection as cast on God by the Irrationally-Athestical Debauchees of our times I will attempt to evince in the following Chapter CHAP. VIII The Grace of God further cleared Divine Providence owned and acknowledged by most God no way the Author of mans sin The Dominican notion about Physical Predetermination vindicated from the Absurdities are said to flow from it The necessity of our being Modest in enquiries of this Nature Several reasons for this drawn from the Depths of the Mystery as well as from the shallowness of Humane Capacities and the General Confusion the Jews Philosophers and Schoolmen run into when too nice in their Disquisitions Some Truths of greatest importance concerning the exalting

media of Divine operations being infinitely beyond us are more meet for our humble admiration than proud determination Placeus is to be applauded who saith tract de lib. arb as I find in Le blank de concil Arb. Hum. cum div concurs ad Thes 52. Nos quidem Qua Reverentia erga Infinitam Dei Majestatem ducimur non Audemus definire quanta sit dependentia causae secundae à prima Nobis sufficit modo ne Deo ullam peccatorum nostrorum vel minimam labem aspergat non posse Nimiam statui So Le Blank himself ubi supra thes 55,58,59 Quantum ad me attinet horumce Doctissimorum virorum modestiam maximè laudandam censeo modum Divini concursus quo cum causis secundis prima cooperatur pro certo definire temerarium mihi nimium audax videtur quum ingenii nostri tenuitas divinae potentiae sapientiae abyssum penetrare scrutari non valeat nec ea res sit satis ratione percepta aut sat distincte in sacra Scriptura Revelata c. Yea and before them the same was the sense of the Judicious as I find in Pet. Tartaret Reportata in senten c. Tota materia praedestinationis tangit mysterium imperscrutabile intellectui humano Nam ad Roman 11. Exclamat Paulus O altitudo c. Ne igitur scrutando de profundo in profundum eatur ut dicit Magister c. Thus I have gone thorough the Province I engaged in and have in some measure made a Display of this Glorious Grace I have shewn That the Election of some unto Grace and Glory even when others are passed by but left as self condemned wretches is of Grace That the Covenant transaction between the Father and the Son from all Eternity considered in its particulars adds light unto this profound mystery That God the Son should assume humane nature and in that nature lie under both the Guilt and punishment of sin is admirable and that the Righteousness of Christ should be given the elect believer in order to his actual entrance into to Glories of God is no less surprising That Grace is offered all and although rejected by all yet actually given some in such circumstances that the honour of all Gods other attributes is set forth with the greater Lustre is also of Grace In the doing all which to the end I might according to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ Vindicate God from those blasphemous and unworthy abuses are cast on his pure Majesty by the Antinomian I have proved that no spot of sin was ever on the Lord Christ He never was stained with the filth of any evil neither are the Elect sanctified by an imparting or an imputing the subjective Intrinsecal Holiness of Christ unto them nor are they actually justified in God's sight while under the pravalcncy of unbelief Moreover in opposition to the Arminian I have evinced That God in giving Grace unto the Elect converts them by the Irresistible power of his Holy Spirit which although so necessary to our conversion that none are savingly engaged to believe in Christ without it yet doth it not lay man under any unnatural violence but sweetly draws him unto our blessed Jesus Whence it follows that although mans destruction is of himself his conversion and Salvation is wholly of Free-grace And in fine that no Debauchee or Atheist may have the least pretence for the abuses he may cast on God as if there had been any want of Grace in him I have prov'd that the Dominican Hypothesis which seems most liable to exception if modestly i.e. Judiciously look't into will appear to be Defensible against those reproaches are cast on it It being most evident that although God is both our Creator and Preserver He in whom we live move and have our being yet doth he not lay man under a Physical necessity of sinning for mans sin is from himself as is asserted by the Stoicks themselves which being so I will only add this Caution viz. That although the Grace of God is so infinitely extended as hath been fully proved yet 't is a sin to expect the being made a partaker of the special instances thereof unless we sincerely repent 'T is the Believing Repenting Humbled sinner that is the proper object of this Glorious Grace Despise not then this Grace by continuing in thy sin for as there are mercies with the Lord 't is that he should be feared Despisest thou the Riches of his Goodness and Forbearance and Long-suffering not knowing that the Goodness of God leadeth to Repentance Remember then that if Free-Grace leadeth thee not to Repentance thou dost but treasure up unto thy self wrath against the day of wrath and Revelation of the Righteous judgment of God Think on these things seriously and by an Holy Humble life give God the Glory of all this Grace FINIS THE APPENDIX SInce the preceding Discourse hath been finished I have had the advantages of such Remarks on some Particulars therein contain'd as do call for a fuller Explanation of my thoughts concerning them for which Reason I must presume on the Candor of the Reader in adding this following Appendix § 1. I have insisted much on the distinction there is between the Sin itself and the Guilt of the Fault which some think to be but one and the same thing for Reatus being à Re it doth intimate that the being guilty of Sin imports no more than that he is a Real Sinner i.e. hath really sinned or broken the Law whereas I humbly conceive it doth moreover import a liableness to Punishment for Sin But that I may be the more full in the discovering my thoughts it will be proper to consider 1. The Impo●t of the word Guilt which in Latine is Reatus a word not very ancient for say the Learned Dictio Reatus Ciceroni aliis antiquis inusitata primùm à M. Messala conficta ut Fabius autor est lib. 8. So Schard But how novel soever this word is yet among the Romans it signified the quality and state of the Accused which was represented to be sad and disimal by the poor filthy squalid garments the accused did wear yea and by Hair and Beards undressed Reatus status conditio Reorum h.e. ut Budaeus ait Habitus demissus pannosus squalidus misericordiae aucupator whence Martial lib. 2. Epigram Si det iniqua tibi tristem fortuna reatum Squalidus haerebo pallidiorque Reo The like may be concluded from what is mentioned by Plinie lib. 7. ad Suram And also by Aul. Gell. noct Attic. lib. 3. c. 4. All which was done thereby to engage the Judges to a more compassionate procedure they being anciently considered as Guilty as soon as Accused and consequently before it appear'd that the Fault of which they were Accused was Really committed by them whence although Reus sit à Re it is not as if the person had been denominated Guilty meerly because he had really

currere 〈◊〉 Haec enim omnia nullatenus haberes nisi a Deo manere Gratuitae Donationis acciperes Non hoc homini dat natura sed Gratia Non hoc ex qual●… te condition is humanae habetur sed ex benignitate divinae illuminationis acquiritur Again Quicquid habes bonae voluntatis vel bonae operationis Deo assigna qui dedit Fulgent de convers ad Theod. Epist 6. towards the end 8. To assert That any while in unregeneracy may be united unto Christ or that any who savingly believe may not be united unto Christ is most false unsound and dangerously absurd 1. To be unregenerate is to abide in a state of sin altogether Unclean Filthy and Polluted at a distance from God and Jesus Christ how then can these be One what is Christ joyned to an Harlot or can light have any Union or Communion with darkness 2. A believer doth close with Christ which cannot be without Union 9. T is both unnecessary and unprofitable to dispute about a moment or instant of nature as to the precedency of Faith unto Union or of Union unto Faith e. g. whether Faith or the Union is in order of nature first it being evident that there is no instant supposable in which a soul who hath saving Faith is not united unto Christ or in which One united unto Christ hath not sound saving Faith But 10. This Faith and this union is in order of nature antecedent to an actual imputation of Christs Righteousness and consequently before our actual Justification in the sight of God Communion presupposeth Union and therefore Union must precede an actual imputation which is but the Communication of Christs Righteousness unto us Faith and Union being Simultanecus and at one and the same instant as Union even so Faith must precede the Communication of Christs Righteousness and our actual justification in the sight of God thereby 11. This Faith which doth so necessarily precede and go before the actual justification of a sinner is the † Fidem autem hominum Donum Dei esse fateamur sine enj●s Gratiâ 〈◊〉 currit ad gratiam Prosper Aq. Resp ad Gal. Object ad Obj. 8. gift of God infus'd into the soul by the holy Spirit that doth irresistibly carry on its work 1. Grace being the gift of God the first thing which the soul is capable of in the work of Regeneration or conversion is the receiving the gift or infused habit the soul doth recipere effectum agentis which is as much as Pati whence the soul the first instant or moment of conversion must be considered as passive 2. This Converting Grace is irresistible which may be evinced to any unprejudiced mind that will but consider that antecedently unto conversion the soul is obstinately bent towards sin The inclinations of the will are continually evil averse to what is good and both actually and habitually determined to vanity for which reason the Spirit in carrying on the work of conversion meets with great opposition from the sinner yea with such opposition as would altogether impede and hinder the Spirits work had not the power of the Spirit been great enough to conquer and overcome this habitual obstinacy of the will but the power of God's Spirit being greater than that of the Sinner the Sinner is overcome and converted How but by that Grace that is Irresistible it being most evident that 't is naturally impossible for finite power to prevail against what is infinite So clear 't is that converting grace is irresistible And surely had it not been so never one obstinate sinner no not one child of Adam since all are by nature obstinately rebellious sinners would be converted for such is the nature of our corrupt wills that they will never yield until overcome by an overstrong and irresistible power 12. This infused Irresistible grace is given unto the Adult ordinarily in the use of means as the preaching of the word c. Whence man though passive in the first moment of his conversion yet not so passive as some suggest 1. It must be noted that Man in conversion is not so passive as a Stone when thrown up into the Air For the infusion of Grace being into a Soul that is active life to the end the Soul may be the better prepared for action the Soul must be also active in the great work of conversion The infusion of Grace into the soul that is active life is not like the infusion of the soul into the body that is antecedently to its receiving the soul wholly unactive purely passive No the Lord doth consider the nature he hath given beings and his actions towards such beings are suitable to their natures As a meer passive thing is purely passive in its receptions even so what is essentially active cannot but be active in its receptions To insist on niceties concerning the opposition that is between action and passion and consequently on the seeming inconsistency some may judge to be in this expression active reception q. d. active passion is but to quibble since 't is impossible to suppose an Essentially-active-being to be in every regard as passive as pure matter is God carries on the work of conversion on man in a way agreeable unto that nature God hath given him which is by inlightening the understanding and by suscitating and stiring up the powers of the soul to their being duly conversant about their proper objects influencing and enabling the will to close with what is proposed in the word as good and accordingly understood and believed to be so Although we cannot comprehend how yet nothing more evident than that God doth irresistibly and yet most sweetly without laying any violence on our faculties draw us from sin unto Jèsus Christ * This notion is agreeable to the Sentiments of the Schoolmen as Marius Scrib de lib. Arb. disp 19. qu. 8. doth assert Dionys Carthusianus in 2. d. 39. q. 2. Capreolus d. 45. q. 1. Concl 5. Ferrariensis primo contr Gent. c. 88. Dreido opusc lib. de concordia Lib. arb et praed estinationis 2. p. c. 3. ad primum All these reconciling humane Liberty with the Irresistable Divine Will thus Dicunt enim Dei voluntatem et providentiam Dei tantae esse virtutis efficaciae ut licet et nulla potentia libertas refistere valeat omnes tamen causas quibus cooperatur suaviter moveat infinitae siquidem est virtutis sapientiae cum fit infinitae Sapientiae scit omnia suaviter disponere licet nobis videantur factu impossibilia cum verò infinitae sit virtutis attingit à fine usque ad finem fortiter ita ut per infinitam suam virtutem sciat etiam quae videntur dissonantia concordare et propter Sapientiam sine praejudicio humanae libertatis effectum suae voluntatis semper sortiri Et Cajetanus iisdem pene id videtur profiteri 1. p. q. 4. a 23. 9.19 ar 8.