The souls vocation or effectual calling to Christ. By T.HThe soules vocation or effectual calling to Christ. By T.H

Object. 3 The main objection of all is this; If (say they) Adam never had power to believe, and so believing ⟨p. 340⟩in Christ was not in the state of his innocency; then why doth God condemn […] for not believing, seeing they have not this power, and Adam had it not? It is all the difficulty that lies upon the point: The answer is plain, open, and naked, and therefore I answer it by distinction thus:

Object. 3 The maine objection of all is this; If (say they) Adam never had power to beleeve, and so beleeving ⟨p. 340⟩in Christ was not in the state of his innocency; then why doth God condemne 〈…〉 for not beleeving, seeing they have not this power, and Adam had it not? It is all the difficulty that lies upon the point: The answer is plaine, open, and naked, and therefore I answer it by distinction thus:

Answ. 3 Infidelity and not believing doth imply two things thus: the first is the mere want of the power of faith, and the absence of ability to rest upon another; and to fetch the principle of grace from another, neither the Law nor the Gospel, nor God himself doth condemn thee for this: nay the Gospel doth not require this, that a man should have power of himself to believe, not God doth not require it, but the promise breeds faith, and feeds faith, it begets faith, and continues faith in the souls of all those that have it; and this is all that God would have, that the soul of a poor sinner should be contented to taken from him, and be under the Spirit, that would enable him to believe, and to go to him for the which may make him believe that he might be made strong in the power of the might of Jesus Christ, as in that place of the Ephesians, the Gospel saith, thou art a poor miserable sinner, her is mercy, only be contented that I should work upon thee for thy good, and convey mercy to thee; so that the bare want is not the cause why God doth condemn a man; the Angels in heaven this day have not this saving faith, and yet there is no sin in them: again, besides […]