Two Treatises, Treatise 1 · Section 19
SECT. 19:
WEe muſt not think… with ſome, th… God gives onelyonly a general and common grace; and by it gives to us poſſe ſi velim… power to worke if we wi… (though in ſome ſenſe thi… may be true, ſeeing there … a certaine power ove… which the will (where it is) rules, and which it commands; God denyes not th… facultie of willing to th… wickedſt; which make… their condemnation the more juſt: For if they ha… not ſuch a power, ſo farr… they could not have ſinne… ſo that there is no man bu… may be good, or hath a power to be good, if he could will to bee good;) But to thinke wee can will of our ſelves what is good, is erro…eous; ſo eſpecially to will, …s alſo not to will, or to nill, …nd by nilling to reſiſt de …cto, and indeed Gods …race.
Gods grace then is more …hen a gentle ſwaſion, Gods grace is more then a gen… ſwaſion … common influence.and …ommon influence, giving …s a power which wee may …ſe …r not uſe at our plea…re; So that we may if we will, be redeemed, Beleeve, …epent, Perſevere. No, God …ves alſo the will it ſelfe, …nd his grace (as alſo his in…ention to ſave & redeeme) …epends not upon conditi…n, neither is ſuſpended …pon the contingent act of mans Faith and Will.
Grace hath its firſt act i… the will it ſelfe, Haee gratia, a nul lo duro corde reſpuitur: ideo quippe tribuitur ut cordis duriritia primitus auferatur. Aug. de praedeſtin. Sanctor. cap. 8.which therefore cannot bee reſiſted, becauſe it firſt works in it the will not to reſiſt; And ſurely, that can reſiſt no more, from which is taken away the will to reſiſt; thus to will is an effect of Grace, and not Grace a… effect of the will not reſiſting. And thus God of unwilling makes us willing Man doth not firſt will, and then God make him to wi… for ſo we might runne bac… in infinitum Infinitly.
To will then is a worke of Gods ſpeciall and effectuall Grace and power, unto which his workes … Grace are aſcribed; He being able to doe exceeding … dantly above all th… … thinke, according to the power that worketh in us; Eph. 3.10. 2 Theſ. 1.11 The power of Gods grace in giving Faith & working converſion ſhewed out of Scripture.unto which power or effectuall grace not onelyonly Faith it ſelfe and Converſion, but the fulfil…ing of it alſo is aſcribed; For it is God that fulfills all …he good pleaſure of his goodneſſe, and the worke of Faith with power.
Now the power of grace appeares in giving the act of faith, and the giving of the act of Faith, (eſpecially …f withall we conſider the manner of giving it, and of Converſion; by which all reſiſtance is ſubdued) proves the power of grace; ſeeing the act is not preſently given when foreign poſſe, or the power to beleeve if we will, is given; yea though wee ſhould grant that the inward and outward ſwaſion and fit object may carry a man to that which is good, Quoad ſpecificationem non quoad exercitium actus.and from that which is evill, (to approve and preferre the one before the other,) yet they carry him not to the acting of that which is good, or to the exerciſe of the act. God exerciſeth his omnipotenc… in giving the act of Faith and Converſion. Eph. 1: 19.20.Therefore the Apoſtle tells us of the exceeding greatneſſe of his power to us ward, who beleeve, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Chriſt, when hee raiſed hi… from the dead. Here wee heare of a power, of the greatneſſe of his power, … the exceeding greatneſſe of h… power; yea of the might of hi… power. Whereof ſuch as beleeve have an experimē tall feeling & knowledge; it being no other power which raiſeth up the Soule by a ſpiritull reſurrection from the death of ſinne by Faith, then that which raiſed our bleſſed Saviour in his body out of the grave; For the Apoſtle ſpeakes there of a preſent effect, and not onelyonly of Gods power in raiſing the dead.
This is that divine power which gives unto us all things that pertaine to life and godlineſſe. 2 P…t. 1.3. Luke 11.21.22. 2 Pet. 5.9. Eph. 6.16.By this power of Chriſts grace, the ſtrong man armed is overcome and diſarmed, yea caſt out; And ſo Peter would have us reſiſt Satan, ſtrong and ſtedfaſt in the Faith; this is that ſhield wherewith we ſhall bee able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and the Goſpell in the power of it, that is, the preaching of the Word together with the Sword of the Spirit, are the weapons of our warfare, 2 Cor. 10.4.5. Theophylact. Cajetan. and Anſelme in locum.which are mighty through God to the pulling downe of ſtrong holds, caſting downe imaginations, &c. By theſe weapons were vanquiſhed and brought to the Faith: Dionyſius the Areopagite, Iuſtin the Philoſopher, and Martyr; Pantaenus, & thoſe many who had uſed curious arts, who brought their bookes together, and burned them, Act. 19.15the value of which amounted to fifty thouſand peeces of ſilver, that is, to ſome eight hundred pounds of our mony.
And thus doe many finde by comfortable experiēce, the power of Gods Word and grace converting them to God from ſuch ſinnes as were very powerfull and ſtrong in them; Act. 26.18.Rom. 1.16. 1 Cor. 1.18.and from the power of Satan; In which regard the preaching of the Goſpell is called, the power of God to ſalvation, to every one that beleeveth, though to them that periſh it be fooliſhnes; 2 Cor. 2.4.5 Phil. 1.29.Yet unto us (ſaith Paul) that are ſaved it is the power of God; what is? the preaching of the Croſſe; which was not (ſaith Paul againe) with the inticing words of mans wiſedome, but in demonſtration of the Spirit and of power; that your Faith ſhould not ſtand in the wiſedome of men, but in the power of God. And ſeeing it is given to us not onelyonly to beleeve on Chriſt, but alſo to ſuffer for his ſake, not onelyonly the Act of Faith, is the worke of Gods power, but alſo our actuall ſuffring with patience for our faith▪ Hence Paul to Timothy: 2 Tim 1.8.Bee not aſ…amed of the Teſtimony of the Lord, nor of mee his priſoner, but bee thou partaker of the affliction of the Goſ…ll, according to the power of God So hee prayes that the Coloſſians might be ſtreng thened with all might, C. l. 1 11.according to (Gods) glorious power, unto all patience and long ſuffring with joyfulneſſe.