A26923:645
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.
§. 30. But if you speak de gradu, that Grace may be sufficient to one thing, which is not sufficient to another: And so, 1. An Infidel may have Grace sufficient to forbear some Sin, or avoid some Temptation, or use some means that tendeth to Faith and Repentance, who hath not Grace sufficient to believe and repent unto Salvation. 2. A man may have Grace sufficient to enable him to believe and repent unto Justification, and yet not have at that instant Grace sufficient to enable him to love God above all as God, with a fixed habitual Love, and to live an holy life (for the Spirit and Sanctification are promised on condition of Faith and Repentance). 3. A sanctified man that is yet but weak, may have Grace sufficient to live to God a holy life at present, and yet not have Grace sufficient for greater trials of Duty and Temptation: And therefore Augustine and all his Followers still say, That the Grace of Perseverance is a Gift over and above the Grace of mere Sanctification in the weakest degree.
§. 30. But if you speak de gradu, that Grace may be sufficient to one thing, which is not sufficient to another: And so, 1. An Infidel may have Grace sufficient to forbear some Sin, or avoid some Temptation, or use some means that tendeth to Faith and Repentance, who hath not Grace sufficient to believe and repent unto Salvation. 2. A man may have Grace sufficient to enable him to believe and repent unto Justification, and yet not have at that instant Grace sufficient to enable him to love God above all as God, with a fixed habitual Love, and to live an holy life (for the Spirit and Sanctification are promised on condition of Faith and Repentance). 3. A sanctified man that is yet but weak, may have Grace sufficient to live to God a holy life at present, and yet not have Grace sufficient for greater trials of Duty and Temptation: And therefore Augustine and all his Followers still say, That the Grace of Perseverance is a Gift over and above the Grace of meer Sanctification in the weakest degree.
§. 31. By all this it is evident, that he that disputeth of the sufficiency of Grace, must first distinctly tell us,