Two Treatises, Treatise 1 · Section 22
SECT. 22.
THerefore all this grace and power is from God, and not from us; For, who can make or Create himſelfe? Or who can raiſe himſelfe from death by his owne power?
Objection: Yea, but wee are not wholy dead, but have ſome free-will. What may be aſcribed to man, what muſt be aſcrided to God.I anſwer: We indeed will freely what we will, but we cannot attaine to will that which is ſavingly good; Our will is not corrupt or dead, in regard of the roote and beginning of ſuch actions as are within its reach and power, but in regard of the Terme or Object: So that though it hath ſome Liberty in things within the compaſſe of reaſon, Non quoad vadicem agendi, ſed …erminum.yet it can no more reach to its owne converſion, or to doe things truely and Spiritualy good, as of it ſelfe, then the thing created to its owne Creation, or then the Child that is borne to its owne begetting, or then Lazarus did to the raiſing of hims;elfe from death.
This Worke (eſpecially of Converſion and Faith) as we have heard, is aſcribed to the ſame power which raiſed Chriſt from the dead, Eph. 1.19.20. And it is ſaid by Chriſt: Iohn 6 44.No man can come unto mee, except the Father, which hath ſent mee, draw him. And I will raiſe him up at the laſt day. Noting that both theſe require the ſame power, and that wee are as unable to doe the one, or to come to Chriſt, as the other; namely, to raiſe our ſelves from the dead; As then it was Gods power, and it onelyonly which did at firſt create the World by his Word, which was operative, whereby God ſaid: G…. 1.3.Let there be Light, and there was Light, &c.) So it muſt be, and is the ſame mighty power, which by his word begets, and creates us anew… Yea a greater power ſeeme… to be required; becauſe i… our Creation nothing reſiſted, whereas in our reparation and new Creatie… our wicked wills reſiſt and with ſtand as much as is them lyeth, ſo that Gods power appeareth in ſubduing and taking away this evill diſpoſition of our wills, making us of unwilling and rebellious, moſt willing and obſequious.
The grace then afforded us, (which is as S. Anguſtin calls it, the grace of God by Jeſus Chriſt,) is not onelyonly a monitory grace whereby (whether outwardly or inwardly) hee would by his ſuaſions incline us (for this is not enough, unleſſe God firſt create in us ſpirituall Life, whereby wee may heare and yeeld to his mo…ives: For where there is no Life, ſwaſions can take no place, no more then if Cicero with his eloquence ſhould ſeeke to move the affectipns of a dead man;) neither …s it a common univerſall grace, aſſiſting all and each …like; but it is ſuch a grace …s gives to the Soule a ſpirituall and divine being, which is to the Soule as health to the body, (yea more,) and which hath mans Liberty under the power of it, …ſo as to make uſe of it, and to rule in mans will as it pleaſeth, without offring any violence thereunto, and without prejudicing the Liberty of it, or its free manner of working, In a word, this grace is … which firſt workes thi… good will, and then workes by it. It is that in ward moving, and effectuall grace, which is both praevenie… quâ velimus, & ſubſequens … ſruſtra velimus; That is, it both prevents us whereby we will, and it followes … (and accompanieth us continually) that wee will no… in vaine; (or that we fall no… a way from our ſtedfaſtneſſe;) What our Churches Dectrine is herein.This is alſo the Doctrine of our Church in the tenth Article, which te… us, wee cannot turne and prepare our ſelves by ou… naturall ſtrength and good workes to Faith and calling upon God, and that we have no power to doe good works pleaſant and acceptable to God, without the grace of God preventing … …hat wee may have a good will, land working in us, when we have that good Will.