and that powerfully by the effectuall operation of his holy Spirit to which the Arminians oppose a seeming necessitie that they must needs be our owne acts contradistinct from his gifts because they are in us and commanded by him the head then of this contention betwixt our God and their Idol about the living child of grace is whether he can worke that in us which he requireth of us let us heare them pleading their cause It is most certaine that that ought not to be commanded which is wrought in us and that cannot be wrought in us which is commanded he foolishly commandeth that to be done of others who will worke in them what he commandeth saith their Apologie O foolish Saint Prosper who thought that it was the whole Pelagian heresie to say That there is neither praise nor worth as ours in that which Christ bestoweth upon us foolish Saint Augustine praying Give us O Lord what thou commandest and command what thou wilt foolish Benedict Bishop of Rome who gave such a forme to his prayer as must needs cast an aspersion of folly on the most high O Lord saith he teach us what we should do shew us whither we should goe worke in us what we ought to performe O foolish Fathers of the second Arausican Councel affirming that many good things are done in man which he doth not himselfe but a man doth no good which God doth not so worke that he should doe it And againe as often as we doe good God worketh in us and with us that we may so worke In one word this makes fooles of all the Doctors of the Church who ever opposed the Pelagian heresie in as much as they all unanimously maintained that we are partakers of no good thing in this kinde without the effectuall powerfull operation of the Almightie grace of God and yet our faith and obedience so wrought in us to be most acceptable unto him yea what shall we say to the Lord himselfe in one place commanding us to feare him and in another promising that he will put his feare into our hearts that we shall not depart from him is his command foolish or his promise false the Arminians must affirme the one or renounce their heresie but of this after I have a little farther laid open this monstrous errour from their owne words and writings Can any one say they wisely and seriously prescribe the performance of a condition to another under the promise of a reward and threatning of punishment who will effect it in him to whom it is prescribed this is a ridiculous action scarce worthy of the Stage that is seeing Christ hath affirmed that whosoever beleeveth shall be saved and he that beleeveth not shall be damned Matth. 16. 16. whereby faith is established the condition of salvation and unbeleefe threatned with hell If God should by his holy Spirit ingenerate faith in the hearts of any causing them so to fulfill the condition it were a meere mockery to be exploded from a Theater as an unlikely fiction which what an aspersion it casts upon the whole Gospel of Christ yea on all Gods dealling with the children of men ever since by reason of the fall they became unable of themselves to fulfill his commands I leave to all mens silent judgements well then seeing they must be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things inconsistent that God should be so righteous as to shew us our dutie and yet so good and mercifull as to bestow his graces on us let us heare more of this stuffe faith and conversion cannot be our obedience if they are worught in us by God say they at the Hague and Episcopius That it is a most absurd thing to affirme that God either effects by his power or procureth by his wisedeme that the elect should doe those things that he requireth of them So that where the Scripture cals faith the gift and worke of God they say it is an improper locution in as much as he commands it properly it is an act or worke of our owne And for that renowned saying of Saint Augustine that God crowneth his own gifts in us that it is not to be received without a graine of salt That is some such glosse as wherewith they corrupt the Scripture the summe at which they aime is that to affirme that God bestoweth any grace upon us or effectually worketh them in us contradicteth his word requiring them as our dutie and obedience by which means they have erected their Idol into the throne of Gods free grace and mercy and attribute unto it all the praise due to those many heavenly qualifications the servants of God are endowed withall for they never have more good in them no nor so much as is required all that they have or doe is but their dutie which how derogatorie it is to the merit of Christ themselves seeme to acknowledge when they affirme that he is no otherwise said to be a Saviour then are all they who confirme the way to salvation by preaching miracles martyrdome and example so that having quite overthrowne the merits of Christ they grant us to be our owne Saviours in a very large sense Rem Apol. fol. 96. All which assertions how contrary they are to the expresse word of God I shall now demonstrate There is not one of all those plaine texts of Scripture not one of those innumerable and invincible arguments whereby the effectuall working of Gods grace in the conversion of a sinner his powerfull translating us from death to life from the state of sinne and bondage to the libertie of the sonnes of God which doth not overthrow this prodigious error I will content my selfe with instancing in some few of them which are directly opposite unto it even in termes First Deuter. 10. 16. The Lord commandeth the Israelites to circumcise the fore-skin of their hearts and to be no more stiffe necked so that the circumcising of their hearts was a part of their obedience it was their dutie so to do in obedience to Gods commands and yet in the 30. Chapter vers 6. he affirmeth that he will circumcise their hearts that they might love the Lord their God with all their hearts So that it seemes the same thing in divers respects may be Gods act in us and our dutie towards him and how the Lord will here escape the Arminian censure that if his words be true in the latter place his command in the former is vaine and foolish ipse viderit let him plead his cause and avenge himselfe on those that rise up against him Secondly Ezek. 18. 31. Make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die O house of Israel The making of a new heart and a new spirit is here required under a promise of a reward of life and a great threatning of eternall death so that so to doe must needs be a part of their dutie and obedience
meritorious cause the Spirit of God and his effectuall grace their efficient working instrumentally with power by the word and ordinances now because this would deprive the Idoll of his chiefest glory and expose him to open shame like the bird furtivis nudata coloribus the Arminians advance themselves in his quarrell and in behalfe of their darling quite exclude both merit of Christ and Spirit of God from any title to their production First For the merit of Christ whereas we affirme that God blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in him or for his sake Eph. 1. 3. amongst which doubtlesse faith possesseth not the lowest roome that he is made unto us righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption he was made sinne for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him that he is the Lord our righteousnesse and glories to be called by that name and whatsoever he is unto us it is chiefely by the way of merit that to us it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Christs sake to beleeve on him Phil. 1. 29. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainly referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is given as if the Apostle should have said Christ is the meritorious cause of the bestowing of those good gifts faith and constancy unto martyrdome upon you when I say we professe all these to be the proper and immediate products of the passion and blood of Christ these turbulent Davusses come in with a prohibition and quite expell it from having any interest therein There is nothing more vaine nothing more foolish say they in their Apologie then to attribute our regeneration and faith unto the death of Christ for if Christ may be said to have merited for us faith and regeneration then faith cannot be a condition whose performance God should require at the hands of sinners under the paine of eternall damnation And again If faith be the effect of the merit of Christ it cannot be our dutie No Suppose then that the Church should pray that it would please God for Christs sake to call home those sheepe that belong to his fold not as yet collected that he would grant faith and repentance for the merit of his Sonne to them that are as yet a farre off were this an altogether vaine and foolish prayer let others thinke as they please it is such a vanitie as I desire not to be weaned from nor any one else I beleeve that loves the Lord Iesus in sinceritie Oh that Christians should patiently endure such a diminution of their Saviours honour as with one dash of an Arminian pen to have the chiefe effects of his death and passion quite obliterated if this be a motive to the love and honour of the Son of God if this be a way to set forth the preciousnesse of his blood by denying the efficacy thereof in enabling us by faith to get an interest in the new covenant most Christians in the world are under a necessity of being new Catechised by these Seraphicall Doctors Vntill when they must give us leave to beleeve with the Apostle that God blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in Christ Ephes 1. 3. and we will take leave to account faith a spirituall blessing and therefore bestowed on us for Christs sake againe since our regeneration is nothing but a purging of our consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God which being done by the blood of Christ as the Apostle witnesseth Heb. 9. 14. we will ascribe our new birth or forming anew to the vertue of that grace which is purchased by his blood that precious blood it is which redeemeth us from our vaine conversation 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. by whose efficacie we are vindicated from the state of sin and corrupted nature wherein we are born The Arminians have but one argument that ever I could meet with whereby they strive to rob Christ of this glory of meriting and procuring for us faith and repentance and that is because they are such acts of ours as in dutie and obedience to the precepts of the Gospel we are bound to performe and this they every where presse at large usque usque in plain tearms they will not suffer their Idoll to be accounted defective in any thing that is necessary to bring us unto heaven now concerning this argument that nothing which God requireth of us can be procured for us by Christ I would have two things noted First that the strength of it consists in this that no gift of God bestowed upon us can be a thing well pleasing to him as being in us for all his precepts and commands signifie only what is well pleasing unto him that we should be or doe and it is not the meriting of any thing by Christ but Gods bestowing of it as the effect thereof which hinders it from being a thing requireable of us as a part of our dutie which I shall consider hereafter only now observe that there being nothing in us by the way of habit or act from the beginning of our faith to the consummation thereof from our new birth untill we become perfect men in Christ by the finishing of our course that is not required of us in the Gospel all and every grace whereof we are in this life partakers are by this means denied to be gifts of God Secondly consider the extent of this argument it selfe nothing whose performance is our dutie can be merited for us by Christ when the Apostle beseecheth us to be reconciled unto God I would know whether it be not a part of our duty to yeeld obedience to the Apostles exhortation if not his exhortation is frivolous and vaine if so then to be reconciled unto God is a part of our dutie and yet the Arminians sometime seeme to confesse that Christ hath obtained for us a reconciliation with God the like may be said in divers other particulars so that this argument either proveth that we enjoy no fruit of the death of Christ in this life or which is most true it proveth nothing at all for neither the merit of Christ procuring nor God bestowing any grace in the habit doth at all hinder but that in the exercise thereof it may be a duty of ours inasmuch as it is done in us and by us notwithstanding then this exception which cannot stand by it selfe alone without the helpe of some other not as yet discovered we will continue our prayers as we are commanded in the name of Christ that is that God would bestow upon us those things we ask for Christs sake and that by an immediate collation yea even then when we cry with the poore penitent Lord helpe our unbeliefe or with the Apostles Lord increase our faith Secondly the second plea on Gods behalfe to prove him the Authour and finisher of all those graces whereof in this life we are partakers ariseth from what the Scripture affirmeth concerning his working these graces in us
and yet Chapter 36. vers 36. He affirmeth that he will doe this very thing that here he requireth of them a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and give you an heart of flesh and I will cause you to walke in my statutes c. In how many places also are we commanded to feare the Lord which when we doe I hope none will deny to be a performance of our dutie and yet Jerem. 32. 40. God promiseth that he will put his feare in our hearts that we shall not depart from him Thirdly those two against which they lay particular exceptions faith and repentance are also expresly attributed to the free donation of God he granteth unto the Gentiles repentance unto life Acts 11. 18. and of faith directly it is not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. To which assertion of the holy Spirit I shall rather fasten my beliefe then to the Arminians affirming that it is no gift of God because it is of our selves and yet this hindereth not but that it may be stiled Our most holy faith Iude 20. Let them that will deny that any thing can properly be ours which God bestoweth on us the Prophet accounted them not inconsistent when he averred that God worketh all our workes in us Isa 26. 12. They are our workes though of his working the Apostle laboured though it was not he but the grace of God that was with him 1 Cor. 15. 10. He worketh in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of his good pleasure Philip. 2. 13. and yet the performance of our dutie may consist in those acts of our wils and those good deeds whereof he is the Authour so that according to Saint Austins counsell we will still pray that he would bestow what he commandeth us to have Fourthly 1 Cor. 4. Who made thee differ from another or what hast thou that thou hast not received Every thing that makes us differ from others is received from God wherefore the foundation of all difference in spirituall things betweene the sonnes of Adam being faith and repentance they must also of necessitie be received from above In briefe Gods circumcising of our hearts Colos 2. 11. His quickning us when we are dead Ephes ◠1. 2. Begetting us anew Iohn 1. 13. Making us in all things such as he would have us to be is contained in that promise of the New Covenant Jerem. 32. 40. I will make with them an everlasting Covenant that I will not turne away from them to doe them good but I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me and is no way repugnant to the holy Scripture declaring our dutie to be all this that the Lord would have us and now let all men judge whether against so many and cleere testimonies of the holy Ghost the Arminian reasons borrowed from the old Philosophers be of any value the summe of them all you may finde in Cicero his third Booke De Natura Deorum Every one saith he obtaineth vertue for himself never any wise man thanked God for that for our vertue we are praised in vertue we glory which might not be were it a gift of God and truely this in softer termes is the summe of the Remonstrants Arguments in this particular Lastly observe that this errour is that which of all others the Orthodox Fathers did most oppose in the Pelagian heretiques yea and to this day the more learned Schoolemen stoutly maintaine the truth herein against the innovating Iesuits with some few of the testimonies of the Ancients I will shut up this discourse It is certaine that when we doe any thing we doe it saith Saint Augustine but it is God that causeth us so to doe and in another place Shall we not account that to be the gift of God because it is required of us under the promise of eternall life God forbid that this should seeme so either to the partakers or defenders of grace where he rejecteth both the errour and the sophisme wherewith it is upholden So also Coelestius Bishop of Rome in his Epistle to the Bishops of France So great saith he is the goodnes of God towards men that he will have those good things to be our good duties he cals them merits according to the phrase of those dayes which are his owne gifts to which purpose I cited before two Canons out of the Arausican Councel and Saint Prosper in his Treatise against Cassianus the Semipelagian affirmeth it to be a foolish complaint of proud men that Free-will is destroyed if the beginning progresse and continuance in good be said to be the gifts of God and so the imputation of folly wherewith the Arminians in my first Quotation charge their opposers being retorted on them by this learned Father I referre you to these following excerpta for a close S. S. Circumcise the fore-skinne of of your hearts and be no more stiffe necked Deut. 10. 16. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seede Chap. 30. 6. Make you a new heart and a new spirit O house of Israel Ezek. 18. 31. A new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you Chap. 36. 36. If you will feare the Lord and serve him then shall you continue following the Lord your God 1 Sam. 12. 14. And I will put my feare into your hearts that ye shall not depart from me Ierem. 32. 40. He hath wrought all our workes in us Isa 26. 12. He worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Philip. 2. 13. He hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in him Ephes 1. 3. To you it is given in the behalfe of Christ to beleeve in him Philip. 1. 29. The bloud of Christ purgeth our consciences from dead works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 14. Lib. Arbit This is most certaine that that ought not to bee commanded which is wrought in us hee foolishly commandeth that to be done of others who will worke in them what he commandeth Rem Apol. It is absurd to affirme that God either worketh by his power or procureth by his wisedome that the elect should doe those things which God requireth of them Episcopius Faith and conversion cannot be acts of our obedience if they are wrought by God in us Rem Col. Hag. That God should require that of us which himselfe will worke in us is a ridiculous action scarce fit for a stage Rem Apol That saying of Augustine that God crowneth his owne gifts in us is not easily to be admitted Ibid. There is nothing more vaine and foolish then to ascribe faith and regeneration to the merit of Christ Idem CHAP. XI Whether Salvation may be attained without the knowledge of or Faith in Christ Jesus I Shall shut up
Counsels edicts decrees of Emperours wherein that hereticall doctrine of denying this originall corruption is condemned cursed and exploded now amongst those many motives they had to proceed so severely against this heresie one especially inculcated deserves our consideration viz. That it overthrew the necessitie of Christs coming into the world to redeeme mankinde it is sinne onely that makes a Saviour necessary and shall Christians tollerate such an errour as by direct consequence inferres the coming of Iesus Christ into the world to be needlesse my purpose for the present is not to alleadge any testimonies of this kinde but holding my selfe close to my first intention to shew how farre in this Article as well as others the Arminians have Apostated from the pure doctrine of the word of God the consent of Orthodox Divines and the Confession of this Church of England In the ninth Article of our Church which is concerning originall sinne I observe especially foure things First that it is an inherent evill the fault and corruption of the nature of every man Secondly that it is a thing not subject or conformable to the Law of God but hath in it selfe even after Baptisme the nature of sinne Thirdly that by it we are averse from God and inclined to all manner of evill Fourthly that it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation all which are frequently and evidently taught in the word of God and every one denyed by the Arminians as it may appeare by these instances in someof them First That it is an inherent sinne and pollution of nature having a proper guilt of its owne making us responsable to the wrath of God and not a bare imputation of anothers fault to us his posteritie which because it would reflect upon us all with a charge of a native imbecillitie and insufficiency to good is by these self-idolizers quite exploded Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall saith Venator Neither is it all considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens and infidels for infants as infants have all the same innocency say they joyntly in their Apologie nay more plainly it can be no fault wherewith we are born in which last expression these bold innovators with one dash of their pens have quite overthrowne a sacred verity an Apostolike Catholike fundamentall Article of Christian Religion but truly to me there are no stronger Arguments of the sinfull corruption of our nature then to see such nefarious issues of unsanctified hearts let us looke then to the word of God confounding this Babylonish designe First That the nature of man which at first was created pure and holy after the image of God endowed with such a rectitude and righteousnesse as was necessary and due unto it to bring it unto that supernaturall end to which it was ordained is now altogether corrupted and become abominable sinfull and averse from goodnesse and that this corruption or concupiscence is originally inherent in us and derived from our first parents is plentifully delivered in holy writ as that which chiefly compels us to a self-deniall and drives us unto Christ Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me saith David Psal 51. 5. Where for the praise of Gods goodnesse towards him he begins with the confession of his native perversenesse and of the sinne wherein he was wrapped before he was born neither was this peculiar to him alone he had it not from the particular iniquitie of his next progenitors but by an ordinary propagation from the common parent of us all though in some of us Satan by this Pelagian attempt by hiding the disease hath made it almost incurable for even those infants of whose innocency the Arminians boast are uncleane in the verdict of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 7. 14. if not sanctified by an interest in the Promise of the Covenant and no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven The weaknesse of the members of infants is innocent and not their souls they want nothing but that the members of their bodies are not as yet ready instruments of sinne they are not sinfull only by an externall denomination accounted so because of the imputation of Adams actuall transgression unto them for they have all an uncleannesse in them by nature Iob 14. 4. from which they must be cleansed by the washing of water and the word Ephes 5. 20. their whole nature is overspread with such a pollution as is proper only to sinne inherent and doth not accompany sinne imputed as we may see in the example of our Saviour who was pure immaculate holy undefiled and yet the iniquity of us all was imputed unto him hence are those phrases of washing away sinne Acts 22. 16. of cleansing filth 1 Pet. 3. 21. Titus 3. 5. something there is in them as soone as they are borne excluding them from the kingdome of heaven for except they also be borne againe of the spirit they shall not enter into it Ioh. 3. 5. Secondly The opposition that is made between the righteousnesse of Christ and the sinne of Adam Rom. 5. which is the proper seat of this doctrine sheweth that there is in our nature an inbred sinfull corruption for the sinne of Adam holds such relation unto sinners proceeding from him by naturall propagation as the righteousnesse of Christ doth unto them who are borne againe of him by spirituall regeneration but we are truly intrinsecally and inherently sanctified by the spirit and grace of Christ and therefore there is no reason why being so often in this Chapter called sinners because of this originall sinne we should cast it off as if we were concerned only by an externall denomination for the right institution of the comparison and its Analogie quite overthrows the solitary imputation Thirdly All those places of Scripture which assert the pronnesse of our nature to all evill and the utter disabilitie that is in us to doe any good that wretched opposition to the power of godlinesse wherewith from the wombe we are replenished confirmes the same truth but of these places I shall have occasion to speake hereafter Fourthly The flesh in the Scripture phrase is a qualitie if I may so say inherent in us for that with its concupiscence is opposed to the spirit and his holinesse which is certainly inherent in us now the whole man by nature is flesh for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Ioh. 3. 6. it is an inhabiting thing a thing that dwelleth within us Rom. 7. 17. in briefe this vitiosity sinfulnesse and corruption of our nature is laid open First by all those places which cast an aspersion of guilt or desert of punishment or of pollution on nature it selfe as Ephes 2. 1 2 3. We are dead in trespasses and sinnes being by nature children of wrath as well as others being wholly incompassed by a sinne that doth easily beset us Secondly by them which fixe this
Christ for us is of the same extent with that grace whereby he calleth us to faith or bestoweth faith on us for he hath called us with an holy calling according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Iesus Christ 2 Tim. 2. 9. which doubtlesse is not universall and common unto all Innumerable other reasons there are to prove that seeing God hath given his elect onely whom onely he loved to Christ to be redeemed and seeing that the Sonne loveth onely those who are given him of his Father and redeemeth onely whom he loveth seeing also that the holy Spirit the love of the Father and the Sonne sanctifieth all and onely them that are elected and redeemed it is not our part with a preposterous liberality against the witnesse of Christ himselfe to assigne the salvation attained by him as due to them that are with out the Congregation of them whom the Father hath loved and chosen without that Church which the Sonne loved and gave his life for it nor none of the members of that sanctified body whereof Christ is the Head and Saviour I urge no more because this is not that part of the Controversie that I desire to lay open I come now to consider the maine Question of this difference though sparingly handled by our Divines concerning what our Saviour merited and purchased for them for whom he died and here you shall finde the old Idol playing his prankes and quite devesting the merit of Christ from the least ability or power of doing us any good for though the Arminians pretend very speciously that Christ died for all men yet in effect they make him die for no one man at all and that by denying the effectuall operation of his death and ascribing the proper issues of his passion to the brave indevours of their owne Pelagian Deitie We according to the Scriptures plainly beleeve that Christ hath by his righteousnesse merited for us grace and glory that we are blessed with all spirituall blessings in though and for him that he is made unto us righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption that he hath procured for us and that God for his sake bestoweth on us every grace in this life that maketh us differ from others and all that glory we hope for in that which is to come he procured for us remission of all our sinnes an actuall reconciliation with God faith and obedience yea but this is such a desperate doctrine as stabs at the very heart of the Idol and would make him as altogether uselesse as if he were but a figgetree logge what remaineth for him to doe if all things in this great worke of our salvation must be thus ascribed unto Christ and the merit of his death Wherefore the worshippers of this great God Lib. Arbit oppose their engines against the whole fabricke and cry downe the title of Christs merits to these spirituall blessings in the behalfe of their imaginarie Deity Now because they are things of a two-fold denomination about which we contend before the king of heaven each part producing their evidence the first springing from the favour of God towards us the second from the working of his grace actually within us I shall handle them severally and apart especially because to things of this latter sort gifts as we call them enabling us to fulfill the condition required for the attaining of glory we lay a double claime on Gods behalfe First as the death of Christ is the meritorious cause procuring them of him Secondly as his free grace is their efficient cause working them in us they also producing a double title whereby they would invest their beloved darling with a sole proprietie in causing these effects First in regard that they are our owne acts performed in us and by us secondly as they are parts of our dutie which we are enjoyned to doe so that the quarrell is directly betweene Christs Merits and our owne free-will about procuring the favour of God and obtaining grace and righteousnesse let us see what they say to the first They affirme that the immediate and proper effect or end of the death and passion of Christ is not an actuall oblation of sinne from men not an actuall remission of iniquities iustification and redemption of any soule that is Christ his death is not the meritorious cause of the remission of our sins of redemption and justification the meritorious cause I say for of some of them as of justification as it is terminated in us we confesse there are causes of other kindes as faith is the instrument and the holy Spirit the efficient thereof But for the sole meritorious procuring cause of these spirituall blessings we alwaies took it to be the righteousnesse and death of Christ beleeving plainely that the end why Christ died and the fruit of his sufferings was our reconciliation with God redemption from our sinnes freedome from the curse deliverance from the wrath of God and power of hell though we be not actuall partakers of these things to the pacification of our owne consciences without the intervening operation of the holy Spirit and faith by him wrought in us But if this be not Pray what is obtained by the death of Christ Why a potentiall conditionate reconciliation not actuall and absolute saith Corvinus But yet this potentiall reconciliation being a new expression never intimated in the Scripture and scarce of it selfe intelligible we want a further explanation of their minde to know what it is that directly they assigne to the merits of Christ wherefore they tell us that the fruit of his death was such an impetration or obtaining of reconciliation with God and redemption for us that God thereby hath a power his iustice being satisfied and so not compelling him to the contrary to grant remission of sinnes to sinnefull men on what condition he would or as another speaketh it There was by the effusion of Christs blood a right obtained unto and settled in God of reconciling the world and of opening unto all a gate of repentance and faith in Christ But now whereas the Scripture every where affirmeth that Christ died for our good to obtaine blessings for us to purchase our peace to acquire and merit for us the good things contained in the promise of the Covenant this opinion seemes to restraine the end and fruit thereof to the obtaining of a power and libertie unto God of prescribing us a condition whereby we may be saved but yet it may be thus much at least Christ obtained of God in our behalfe that he should assigne faith in him to be this condition and to bestow it upon us also No neither the one nor the other after all this had it so seemed good unto his wisedome God might have chosen the Iewes and others following the righteousnesse of the law as well as beleevers because he might have assigned any other condition of salvation besides faith in Christ saith
the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. thereby reconciling us unto God vers 19. he died to reconcile us unto God in the body of his flesh through death that we might be holy and unblameable Colos 1. 21 22. to purge our sins Heb. 1. 3. to obtaine an everlasting redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. so that if Christ by his death obtained what he did intend he hath purchased for us not only a possibilitie of salvation but holinesse righteousnesse reconciliation with God justification freedome from the guilt and condemning power of sin everlasting redemption eternall life and glory in heaven Thirdly I appeale unto the consciences of all Christians First whether they doe not suppose the very foundation of all their consolation to be stricken at when they shall finde those places of Scripture that affirme Christ to have died to take away our sins to reconcile us unto God to put away or abolish our transgressions to wash and regenerate us perfectly to save us and purchase for us an everlasting redemption whereby he is become unto us righteousnesse and redemption and sanctification the Lord our righteousnesse and we become the righteousnesse of God in him to be so wrested as if he should be said only to have done something which these things might happily follow Secondly whither they thinke it not a ready way to impaire their love and to weaken their faith in Christ when they shall be taught that Christ hath done no more for them then for those that are damned in hell that be their assurance never so great that Christ died for them yet there is enough to be laid to their charge to condemne them that though God is said to have reconciled them unto himselfe in Christ Colos 1. 19 20. yet indeed he is as angry with them as with any reprobate in the world that God loveth us not first but so long as we continue in a state of enmitie against him before our conversion he continues our enemy also so that the first act of friendship or love must be performed on our part notwithstanding that the Scripture saith we were reconciled unto God being enemies Romanes 5. vers 10. Thirdly Whither they have not hitherto supposed themselves bound to beleeve that Christ died for their sins and rose for their justification do they not thinke it lawfull to pray that God would bestow upon them grace and glory for Christs sake and to beleeve that Iesus Christ was such a Mediatour of the new Covenant as procured for the persons Covenanted withall all the good things comprehended in the promise of that Covenant I will not further presse upon this prevarication against Christian Religion only I would desire all the lovers of Iesus Christ seriously to consider whether these men doe truly ayme at his honour and advancing the dignitie of his merit and not rather at the crying up of their own indeavours seeing the sole cause of their denying these glorious effects of the blood of Christ is to appropriate the praise of them unto themselves as we shall see in the next Chapter These charges are never to be waved by the vanitie of their sophisticall distinctions as of that of impetration and application which though it may be received in an Orthodox meaning yet not in that sense or rather non-sense whereunto they abuse it viz. As though Christ had obtained that for some which shall never be imparted unto them that all the blessings procured by his death are proper to none but pendent in the aire for them that can or will catch them whereupon when we object that by this means all the efficacie of the merit of Christ is in our own power they readily grant it and say it cannot otherwise be let them that can receive these monsters in Christianitie for my part in these following contradictory assertions I will choose rather to adhere to the authoritie of the word of God then of Arminius and his sectaries S. S. He made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might become the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. He loved his Church and gave himselfe for it that he might present it unto himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such things Ephes 5. 26 27. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe 2 Cor. 5. 19. When thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53. 10. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant iustifie many for he shall beare their iniquities vers 11. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb. 9. 28. By his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption for us vers 12. He hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable Colos 1. 22. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins c. that he might be iust and the iustifier of him that beleeveth in Iesus Rom. 3. 25 26. Who his own selfe bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse by whose stripes we are healed 1 Peter 2. 24. Lib. Arbit The immediate effect of the death of Christ is not the remission of sins or the actuall redemption of any Armin. Christ did not properly die to save any one Grevinch A potentiall and conditionate reconciliation not actuall and absolute is obtained by the death of Christ Corvin I beleeve it might have come to passe that the death of Christ might have had its end though never any man had beleeved Corvi The death and satisfaction of Christ being accomplished yet it may so come to passe that none at all fulfilling the condition of the new covenant none might be saved idem The impetration of salvation for all by the death of Christ is nothing but the obtaining of a possibilitie thereof that God without wronging his iustice may open unto them a gate of mercy to be entred on some condition Rem Coll. Hag. Notwithstanding the death of Christ God might have assigned any other condition of salvation as well as faith or have chosen the Iews following the righteousnesse of the law Grevin Why then the efficacie of the death of Christ depends wholly on us true it cannot otherwise be Rem Apol. CHAP. X. Of the cause of faith grace and righteousnesse THE second part of this controversie is in particular concerning grace faith and holinesse sincere obedience to the precepts of the new Covenant all whose praise we appropriate to the most high by reason of a double interest First of the merit of Christ which doth procure them for us Secondly of the holy Spirit which works them in us the death of Christ is their
each particular Herein saith Arminius consisteth the libertie of the will that all things required to enable it to will any thing being accomplished it still remaines indifferent to will or not and all of them at the Synode There is say they accompanying the will of man an inseparable propertie which we call libertie from whence the will is termed a power which when all things prerequired as necessary to operation are fulfilled may will any thing or not will it that is our free-wils have such an absolute and uncontrollable power in the territory of all humane actions that no influence of Gods providence no certaintie of his decree no unchangeablenesse of his purpose can sway it at all in its free determinations or have any power with his Highnesse to cause him to will or resolve on any such act as God by him intendeth to produce take an instance in the great worke of our conversion All unregenerate men saith Arminius have by vertue of their free-will a power of resisting the holy Spirit of reiecting the offered grace of God of contemning the counsell of God concerning themselves of refusing the Gospel of grace of not opening the heart to him that knocketh What a stout Idol is this whom neither the holy Spirit the grace and counsell of God the calling of the Gospel the knocking at the doore of the heart can move at all or in the least measure prevaile against him Woe be unto us then if when Gods cals us our free-will be not in good temper and well disposed to hearken unto him for it seemes there is no dealing with it by any other waies though powerfull and Almightie For grant saith Corvinus all the operations of grace which God can use in our conversion yet conversion remaineth so in our owne free power that we can be not converted that is we can either turn or not turne our selves where the Idol plainly challengeth the Lord to work his utmost and tels him that after he hath so done he will doe what he please his infallible prescience his powerfull predetermination the morall efficacie of the Gospel the infusion of grace the effectuall operation of the holy Spirit all are nothing not at all availeable in helping or furthering our independent wils in their proceedings well then in what estate will you have the Idol placed In such a one wherein he may be suffered to sin or to do well at his pleasure as the same Authour intimates it seemes then as to sinne so nothing is required for him to be able to doe good but Gods permission No For the Remonstrants as they speake of themselves doe alwaies suppose a free power of obeying or not obeying as well in those who doe obey as in those who do not obey that he that is obedient may therefore be counted obedient because he obeyeth when he could not obey and so on the contrary where all the praise of our obedience whereby we are made to differ from others is ascribed to our selves alone and that free power that is in us now this they meane not of any one act of obedience but of faith it selfe and the whole consummation thereof For if a man should say that every man in the world of beleeving if he will and of attaining salvation and that this power is settled in his nature What Argument have you to confute him saith Arminius triumphantly to Perkins Where the sophisticall Innovator as plainly confounds grace and nature as ever did Pelagius that then which the Arminians claime here in behalfe of their free-will is an absolute independence on Gods providence in doing any thing and of his grace in doing that which is good A selfe-sufficiencie in all its operations a plenarie indifferencie of doing what we will this or that as being neither determined to the one nor inclined to the other by any over-ruling influence from heaven so that the good acts of our wils have no dependence on Gods providence as they are acts nor on his grace as they are good but in both regards proceed from such a principle within us as is no way moved by any superiour Agents Now the first of these we deny unto our wils because they are created and the second because they are corrupted their creation hinders them from doing any thing of themselves without the assistance of Gods providence and their corruption of doing any thing that is good without his grace a selfe-sufficiencie for operation without the effectuall motion of Almightie God the first cause of all things we can allow neither to men nor Angels unlesse we intend to make them Gods and a power of doing good equall unto that they have of doing evill we must not grant to man by nature unlesse we will deny the fall of Adam and fancie our selves still in Paradice but let us consider these things apart First I shall not stand to decipher the nature of humane libertie which perhaps would require a larger discourse then my proposed Method will beare it may suffice that according to my former intimation we grant as large a freedome and dominion to our wils over their owne acts as a creature subject to the supreame rule of Gods providence is capable of endued we are with such a libertie of will as is free from all outward compulsion and inward necessitie having an elective facultie of applying it selfe unto that which seemes good unto it in which its free choice notwithstanding it is subservient to the decree of God as I shewed before Chapter 4. Most free it is in all its acts both in regard of the object it chooseth and in regard of that vitall power and facultie whereby it worketh infallibly complying with Gods providence and working by vertue of the motion thereof but surely to assert such a supreme independency and every way unbounded indifferencie as the Arminians claime whereby all other things requisite being presupposed it should remaine absolutely in our owne power to will or not to will to doe any thing or not to doe it is plainly to deny that our wils are subject to the rule of the most High It is granted that in such a chymaericall fancied consideration of free-will wherein it is looked upon as having no relation to any act of Gods but onely its creation abstracting from his decree it may be said to have such a libertie in regard of the object but the truth is this divided sense is plaine nonsense a meere fiction of such an estate wherein it never was nor ever can be so long as men will confesse any Deitie but themselves to whose determinations they must be subject untill then more significant termes may be invented for this free power in our nature which the Scripture never once vouchsafed to name I shall be content to call it with Prosper a Spontaneous appetite of what seemeth good unto it free from all compulsion but subservient to the providence of God and
it be advanced above its owne or be by inherent habituall grace Divine Theologicall vertues differing even in the substance of the act from those morall performances about the same things to which the strength of nature may reach for the difference of acts ariseth from their formall objects which to both these are divers must have another principle and cause above all the power of nature in civill things and actions morally good in as much as they are subject to a naturall perception and doe not exceed the strength of our owne wils this facultie of Free-will may take place but yet not without these following limitations First that it alwaies requireth the generall concurse of God whereby the whole suppositum in which Free-will hath its subsistence may be sustained Matth. 10. 29. 30. Secondly that we doe all these things imperfectly and with much infirmitie every degree also of excellency in these things must be counted a speciall gift of God Isa 26. 12. Thirdly that our wils are determined by the will of God to all their acts and motions in particular but to doe that which is spiritually good we have no knowledge no power Secondly that concerning which I gave one speciall instance in whose production the Arminians attribute much to Free-will is Faith this they affirme as I shewed before to be in-bred in nature every one having in him from his birth a naturall power to beleeve in Christ and his Gospel for Episcopius denies that any action of the holy Spirit upon the understanding or will is necessarie or promised in the Scripture to make a man able to beleeve the word preached unto him So that it seemes every man hath at all times a power to beleeve to produce the act of faith upon the revelation of its object which grosse Pelagianisme is contrary First to the doctrine of the Church of England affirming that a man cannot so much as prepare himselfe by his owne strength to faith and calling upon God untill the grace of God by Christ prevent him that he may have a good will Artic. Secondly to the Scripture teaching that it is the worke of God that we do beleeve Ioh. 6. 29. It is not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. To some it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven Matth 13. 11. And what is peculiarly given to some cannot be in the power of every one To you it is given on the behalfe of Christ to beleeve on him Phil. 1. 29. Faith is our accesse or coming unto Christ which none can do unlesse the Father draw him Ioh. 6. 44. and he so draweth or hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom. 9. 19. and although Episcopius rejects any immediate action of the holy Spirit for the ingenerating of faith yet Saint Paul affirmeth that there is no lesse effectuall power required to it then that which raised Christ from the dead which sure was an action of the Almightie Godhead That we may know saith he what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power to usward who beleeve according to the working of his mightie power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Ephes 1. 19 20. So that let the Arminians say what they please recalling that I write to Christians I will spare my labour of further proving that faith is the free gift of God and their opposition to the truth of the Scripture in this particular is so evident to the meanest capacitie that there needs no recapitulation to present the summe of it to their understandings CHAP. XIII Of the power of Free-will in preparing us for our conversion unto God THE judgement of the Arminians concerning the power of Free-will about spirituall things in a man unregenerate meerely in the state of corrupted nature before and without the helpe of grace may be laid open by these following positions First That every man in the world reprobates and others have in themselves power and abilitie of beleeving in Christ of repenting and yeelding due obedience to the new covenant and that because they lost not this power by the fall of Adam Adam after his fall saith Grevinchovius retained a power of beleeving and so did all reprobates in him he did not loose as they speake at the Synod the power of performing that obedience which is required in the new covenant considered formally as it is required by the new covenant he lost not a power of beleeving nor a power of forsaking sin by repentance and those graces that he lost not are still in our power whence they affirme that faith is called the worke of God only because he requireth us to do it now having appropriated this power unto themselves to be sure that the grace of God be quite excluded which before they had made needlesse they teach Secondly That for the reducing of this power into act that men may become actuall beleevers there is no infused habit of grace no spirituall vitall principle necessary for them or bestowed upon them but every one by the use of his native endowments doe make themselves differ from others Those things which are spoken concerning the infusion of habits before we can exercise the act of faith we reiect saith the Epistle to the Walachrians That the internall principle of faith required in the Gospel is a habite divinely infused by the strength and efficacy whereof the will should be determined I deny saith another of them Well then if we must grant that the internall vitall principle of a supernatural spirituall grace is a meere natural faculty not elevated by any divine habit if it be not God that begins the good work in us but our own free-wils let us see what more goodly stuffe wil follow one man by his own meere indeavours without the aid of any received gift makes himself differ from another What matter is it in that that a man should make himselfe differ from others there is nothing truer he who yeeldeth faith to God cōmanding him maketh himself differ from him who will not have faith when he cōmandeth they are the words of their Apologie which without question is an irrefragable truth if faith be not a gift received from above for on that ground only the Apostle proposeth these questions who made thee differ from another or what hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received why boasteth thou as if thou hast not received the sole cause why he denies any one by his own power to make himself differ from another is because that wherein the difference consisteth is received being freely bestowed upon him deny this and I confesse the other will fall of it selfe But untill their authoritie be equall with the Apostles they would do well to forbeare the naked obtrusions of assertions so contradictory to theirs and so they would not trouble the Church let them take all the glory unto themselves
of a new vitall principle by the powerfull working of the holy Spirit And indeed granting this I shall most willingly comply with them in assigning to Free-will one of the endowments before recited a power of resisting the operation of grace but instead of the other must needs ascribe to our whole corrupted nature and every one that is partaker of it an universall disabilitie of obeying it or coupling in that worke which God by his grace doth intend If the grace of our conversion be nothing but a morall perswasion we have no more power of obeying it in that estate wherein we are dead in sinne then a man in his grave hath in himselfe to live a new and come out at the next call Gods promises and the Saints prayers in the holy Scripture seeme to designe such a kinde of grace as should give us a reall internall abilitie of doing that which is spiritually good but it seemes there is no such matter for if a man should perswade me to leape over the Thames or to flye in the Ayre be he never so eloquent his sole perswasion makes me no more able to doe it then I was before ever I saw him If Gods grace be nothing but a sweet perswasion though never so powerfull it is a thing extrinsecall consisting in the proposall of a desired object but gives us no new strength at all to doe any thing we had not before a power to doe But let us heare them pleading themselves to each of these particulars concerning Grace and Nature and first for the nature of Grace God hath appointed to save beleevers by grace that is a soft and sweet perswasion convenient and agreeing to their free-will and not by any Almighty action saith Arminius It seemes something strange that the carnall minde being enmitie against God and the will inthralled to sinne and full of wretched opposition to all his wayes yet God should have no other meanes to worke them over unto him but some perswasion that is sweet agreeable and congruous unto them in that estate wherein they are and a small exaltation it is of the dignitie and power of grace when the chiefe reason why it is effectuall as Alvarez observes may be reduced to a well digested supper or an indisturbed sleepe whereby some men may be brought into better temper then ordinarie to comply with this congruous grace But let us for the present accept of this and grant that God doth call some by such a congruous perswasion at such a time and place as he knows they will assent unto it I aske whether God thus calleth all men or onely some if all why are not all converted for the very granting of it to be congruous makes it effectuall If onely some then why they and not others Is it out of a speciall intention to have them obedient but let them take heed for this will goe neere to establish the decree of election and out of what other intention it should be they shall never be able to determine Wherefore Corvinus denies that any such congruitie is required to the grace whereby we are converted but onely that it be a morall perswasion which we may obey if we will and so make it effectuall Yea and Arminius himselfe after he had defended it as farre as he was able puts it off from himselfe and falsly fathers it upon Saint Austine So that as they joyntly affirme they confesse no grace for the begetting of faith to be necessary but onely that which is morall which one of them interpreteth to be a declaration of the Gospel unto us Right like their old Master Pelagius God saith he worketh in us to will that which is good and to will that which is holy whilest he stirs us up with promise of rewards and the greatnesse of the future glory who before were given over to earthly desires like bruit beasts loving nothing but things present stirring up our stupid wils to a desire of God by a revelation of wisedome and perswading us to all that is good Both of them affirme the grace of God to be nothing but a morall perswasion working by the way of powerfull convincing arguments but yet herein Pelagius seemes to ascribe a greater efficacie to it then the Arminians granting that it workes upon us when after the manner of bruit beasts we are set meerely on earthly things but these as they confesse that for the production of faith it is necessarie that such arguments be proposed on the part of God to which nothing can probably be opposed why they should not seeme credible so there is say they required on our part a pious docilitie and probitie of minde So that all the grace of God bestowed on us consisteth in perswasive arguments out of the word which if they meet with teachable mindes may worke their conversion Secondly having thus extenuated the grace of God they affirme That in operation the efficacie thereof dependeth on Free-will so the Remonstrants in their Apologie And to speake confidently saith Grevinchovius I say that the effect of grace in an ordinary course dependeth on some act of our free-will Suppose then that of two men made partakers of the same grace that is have the Gospel preached unto them by the same meanes one is converted and the other is not What may be the cause of this so great a difference Was there any intention or purpose in God that one should be changed rather then the other No He equally desireth and intendeth the conversion of all and every one Did then God worke more powerfully in the heart of the one by his holy Spirit then of the other No The same operation of the spirit alwayes accompanieth the same preaching of the word But was not one by some Almightie action made partaker of reall infused grace which the other attained not unto No for that would destroy the liberty of his will and deprive him of all the praise of beleeving How then came this extreme difference of effects Who made the one differ from the other or what hath he that he did not receive Why all this procedeth meerly from the strength of his owne free-will yeelding obedience to Gods gracious invitation which like the other he might have reiected This is the immediate cause of his conversion to which all the praise thereof is due And here the old Idol may glory to all the world that if he can but get his worshippers to prevaile in this he hath quite excluded the grace of Christ and made it nomen inane a meere title whereas there is no such thing in the world Thirdly they teach That notwithstanding any purpose and intention of God to convert and so to save a sinner notwithstanding the most powerfull and effectuall operation of the blessed spirit with the most winning perswasive preaching of the word yet it is in the power of a man to frustrate that purpose resist that operation
and reiect that preaching of the Gospell I shall not need to prove this for it is that which in direct tearmes they plead for which also they must doe if they will comply with their former principles For granting all these to have no influence upon any man but by the way of morall perswasion we must not onely grant that it may be resisted but also utterly deny that it can be obeyed We may resist it I say as having both a disability to good and repugnancie against it but for obeying it unlesse we will deny all inherent corruption and depravation of nature we cannot attribute any such sufficiency unto our selves Now concerning this weaknes of grace that it is not able to overcome the opposing power of sinfull nature one testimony of Arminius shall suffice It alwaies remaineth in the power of Free-will to reiect grace that is given and to refuse that which followeth for grace is no Almightie action of God to which Free-will cannot resist Not that I would assert in opposition to this such an operation of grace as should as it were violently overcome the will of man and force him to obedience which must needs bee prejudicial unto our libertie but onely consisting in such a sweet effectuall working as doth infallibly promote our conversion make us willing who before were unwilling and obedient who were not obedient that createth cleane hearts and reneweth right spirits within us That then which we assert in opposition to these Arminian Heterodoxies is that the effectuall grace which God useth in the great worke of our conversion by reason of its owne nature being also the instrument of and Gods intention for that purpose doth surely produce the effect intended without successefull resistance and solely without any considerable co-operation of our owne wils untill they are prepared and changed by that very grace The infallibilitie of its effect depends chiefely on the purpose of God when by any meanes he intends a mans conversion those meanes must have such an efficacie added unto them as may make them fit instruments for the accomplishment of that intention that the counsell of the Lord may prosper and his word not returne empty But the manner of its operation that it requires no humane assistance and is able to overcome all repugnance is proper to the being of such an act as wherein it doth consist Which nature and efficacie of grace in opposition to an indifferent influence of the holy Spirit a metaphoricall motion a working by the way of morall perswasion onely proposing a desireable object easie to be resisted and not effectuall unlesse it be helped by an inbred abilitie of our owne which is the Arminian grace I will briefly confirme having promised these few things First although God doth not use the wills of men in their conversion as maligne Spirits use the members of men in enthusiasmes by a violently wrested motion but sweetly and agreeably to their owne free nature yet in the first act of our conversion the will is meerely passive as a capable subject of such a worke not at all concurring co-operatively to our turning It is not I say the cause of the worke but the subject wherein it is wrought having only a passive capabilitie for the receiving of that supernaturall being which is introduced by grace The beginning of this good worke is meerely from God Phil. 1. 6. Yea faith is ascribed unto grace not by the way of conjunction with but of opposition unto our wils not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. Not that we are sufficient of our selves our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. Turne thou me O Lord and I shall be turned Secondly though the will of man conferreth nothing to the infusion of the first grace but a subjective receiving of it yet in the very first act that is wrought in and by the will it most freely co-operateth by the way of subordination with the grace of God and the more effectually it is moved by grace the more freely it worketh with it Man being converted converteth himselfe Thirdly we doe not affirme grace to be irresistible as though it came upon the will with such an over-flowing violence as to beat it downe before it and subdue it by compulsion to what it is no way inclinable but if that terme must be used it denoteth in our sense onely such an unconquerable efficacie of grace as alwaies and infallibly produceth its effect For Who is it that can withstand God Acts 11. 17. As also it may be used on the part of the will it selfe which will not resist it all that the Father gives unto Christ will come unto him Ioh. 6. 37. The operation of grace is resisted by no hard heart because it mollifies the heart it selfe It doth not so much take away a power of resisting as give a will of obeying whereby the powerfull impotencie of resistance is removed Fourthly Concerning grace it selfe it is either common or speciall common or generall grace consisteth in the externall revelation of the will of God by his word with some illumination of the mind to perceive it and correction of the affections not to much to contemne it and this in some degree or other to some more to some lesse is common to all that are called speciall grace is the grace of regeneration comprehending the former adding more spirituall acts but especially presupposing the purpose of God on which its efficacy doth chiefly depend Fifthly This saving grace whereby the Lord converteth or regenerateth a sinner translating him from death to life is either externall or internall externall consisteth in the preaching of the word c. whose operation is by the way of morall perswasion when by it we beseech our hearers in Christs stead that they would be reconciled unto God 2 Corinth 5. 20. and this in our conversion is the instrumentall organ thereof and may be said to be a sufficient cause of our regeneration in as much as no other in the same kinde is necessary it may also be resisted in sensa diviso abstracting from that consideration wherein it is looked on as the instrument of God for such an end Sixthly internall grace is by Divines distinguished into the first or preventing grace and the second following cooperating grace the first is that spirituall vitall principle that is infused into us by the holy Spirit that new creation and bestowing of new strength whereby we are made fit and able for the producing of spirituall acts to beleeve and yeeld Evangelicall obedience For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Iesus unto good workes Ephes 2. 10. By this God gives us a new heart and a new spirit he puts within us he taketh the stony hearts out of our flesh and gives us a heart of flesh he puts his spirit within us to cause us to walke in his statues Ezek. 36. 26 27. Now this first grace is not properly and formally