Richard Baxter's Catholic theology plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriors who,…Richard Baxter's Catholick theologie plain, pure, peaceable, for pacification of the dogmatical word-warriours who,…

C. Tell me then, what you think, whether God works by such an universal Grace, or by such a special Grace. 1. How far doth he work by universal Grace? 2. Is that universal Grace ever effectual of it self, on prepared Souls? 3. How far doth he also use the special particular Grace which you mentioned?

B. I. To your first Qu. I answer, 1. God in the beginning made mankind upright in Adam and Eve, and made no difference as to the present case. 2. Eve having first sinned, did make a difference between her self and Adam, which God made not, nor altered first his universal Grace. 3. Adam next (without Gods alteration) by Sin did difference himself from himself (as he was before). 4. God then set up a new universal Grace; even Christ with the new Covenant, and Recovering means, to give out universal help suited to ⟨p. 186⟩his Covenant and means; to be the Giver of the Spirit, and the Light of the world (we cannot have time now to open the difference, between Christ's administrations before and after his Incarnation). There was at first an universal sufficiency in this Recovering help of Grace. 5. Cain (that could have done otherwise) wilfully sinned against this universal Grace and Covenant: and so made a difference between him and the rest of mankind, when God made none. 6. Whether Abel did offer his acceptable Sacrifice by this same universal Help alone, or by any special extraordinary Grace ex parte mediorum vel Influxus primi recepti, is a thing unknown to us, because unrevealed. 7. The Posterity of Cain (as of Adam at first) because Seminally in him, and personally from his very guilty essence, were justly deprived of some of that Grace, both Subjective and Objective which Cain had deprived himself of. Their natures were more vitiated, and so they were made less Receptive and more disposed as to the universal means and Influx. And by his secession from the holy seed, he was deprived of much outward means: And having forfeited the Spirit, he had less also of its helping Influx: And thus he and his posterity made themselves to differ, as if a Generation of Sinners should be born bl•nd, while the Sun shineth as it did before. 8. The Holy seed that's not yet Apostate, have great subjective and objective Grace. 9. The seed of Cain are still under the same Law of Grace, and universal conditional promise, that If they will believe and repent, they shall be saved: And they have some Means and some Help of Grace yet left them, which have an aptitude by degrees to bring them back again to God: And if they will not use that lower degree of Grace, by returning as they can, they forfeit that and further help. 10.