A discourse of the saving grace of God

Whether they will be so ingenuous or no, it is very certain that some Necessity may very well consist with Liberty in ⟨p. 120⟩the freest Agents. God is Necessarily good, and yet Freely: So are the Saints and Angels in Heaven; they cannot but be Holy, and act holily, yet they are so, and do so freely. The Devils and Damned in Hell are necessarily Wicked, they cannot be other; and yet they are so, and act Wickedness freely: Wicked men on Earth, that are habitually and judicially hardened in Wickedness, they are necessarily evil, and cannot but sin, and yet they sin freely. So that this Conceit, though it be a fundamental Doctrine with them, and the main weight of their Cause lies on it, that Liberty is inconsistent with Necessity; is against the sense, reason and experience of Heaven, and Earth, and Hell.

Whether they will be so ingenuous or no, it is very certain that some Necessity may very well consist with Liberty in ⟨p. 120⟩the freest Agents. God is Necessarily good, and yet Freely: So are the Saints and Angels in Heaven; they cannot but be Holy, and act holily, yet they are so, and do so freely. The Devils and Damned in Hell are necessarily Wicked, they cannot be other; and yet they are so, and act Wickedness freely: Wicked men on Earth, that are habitually and judicially hardened in Wickedness, they are necessarily evil, and cannot but sin, and yet they sin freely. So that this Conceit, though it be a fundamental Doctrine with them, and the main weight of their Cause lyes on it, that Liberty is inconsistent with Necessity; is against the sense, reason and experience of Heaven, and Earth, and Hell.

Obj. If Salvation be of Grace, it must be a free Gift, offered and given freely: But we see in Scripture (and the Promises of saving Mercy make it plain) that it is offered, and so given upon Terms and Conditions required of those that will be Saved. The Promises are many of of them expressly Conditional; and so will the Covenant of Grace be, of which the Promises are but several Articles. Now that which is not Given or Promised,