A26923:642
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches
An end of doctrinal controversies which have lately troubled the churches by reconciling explication without much disputing. Written by Richard Baxter.
London: printed for John Salusbury, 1691
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
§. 27. At least, to the Regenerate such a Grace must be acknowledged: For though of the rest Jansenius will say, They do no good, because they love not God and goodness (and on the like reasons others will say, That the Regenerate do no good, because all hath sinful mixture or imperfection); yet he will not say so of the godly: And must we believe that no godly man can do any more good than he doth? and so, That he hath no merely sufficient Grace to any one act in all his life?
§. 27. At least, to the Regenerate such a Grace must be acknowledged: For though of the rest Iansenius will say, They do no good, because they love not God and goodness (and on the like reasons others will say, That the Regenerate do no good, because all hath sinful mixture or imperfection); yet he will not say so of the godly: And must we believe that no godly man can do any more good than he doth? and so, That he hath no meerlysufficient Grace to any one act in all his life?
§. 28. The Controversy about sufficient Grace is the same in the true meaning of it with that of the Power of Mans Free-will. For when by sufficient Grace we mean nothing but the enabling a Man to the act, or giving him Power to do it, the stress of the Question is, Whether Man hath truly any Power to do more than he doth? For if he have such a Power, Grace hath given it him, if it be for a Work that Grace is needful to. So that indeed were it not for Custom and Expectation, this Question should be handled under that of the Power and Liberty of Man's Will.
§. 28. The Controversie about sufficient Grace is the same in the true meaning of it with that of the Power of Mans Free-will. For when by sufficient Grace we mean nothing but the enabling a Man to the act, or giving him Power to do it, the stress of the Question is, Whether Man hath truly any Power to do more than he doth? For if he have such a Power, Grace hath given it him, if it be for a Work that Grace is needful to. So that indeed were it not for Custom and Expectation, this Question should be handled under that of the Power and Liberty of Man's Will.