(1.) The first Blessings of the Covenant are Promised absolutely; Effectual Calling, Faith, Repentance, Conversion, Regeneration, are Offered, are Promised without any Conditions. The Promises of these Mercies are absolute, Ezek. 36. 26. Jer. 32. 39, 40. Under the Notions of a New Heart, a New Spirit, putting his Spirit, his Fear within them, &c. the Blessings forementioned, called the first Grace, are Promised absolutely; and so are the same things in other terms, Jer. 31. 31, 32, 33. repeated by the Apostle, Heb. 8. 8. There can be no Instance given in Scripture, where these things are Promised upon Condition. Indeed if they were promised upon Condition, Grace would be Promised to something Natural: For this being the first Grace, there can be nothing before it to be the Condition of it, but what is Natural; and to make that which is Natural the Condition of Grace, is gross Pelagianism. If there were any Conditions of those first gracious Favours, they must be those things, which are Previous to, and Preparations for them, viz. Diligent Attendance on the Word and Means of Grace, Convictions of Sin, legal Sorrow ⟨p. 133⟩for it, Sense of Wrath and Misery, which often go before Conversion, and are counted Dispositions or Preparations for Faith. But these previous Works are not Conditions of Conversion, or the other Blessings included therein, nor are they promised upon such Terms: For the Condition is never separated from the Favour promised to it; where the Condition is performed, the Promise is always accomplished: But these preparatory Acts have been in many, who were never truly Converted and Regenerated, never had a New Heart and a New Spirit given them: So that these Preparations are no Conditions of Faith or Regeneration; much less is there any thing of congruous Merit in them. Our Divines, that insist on such Preparations for Christ, decried the Conceit of Merit, though in the lowest form. This Merit of the Papists infers a Dueness of the thing so deserved; a Dueness in Congruity, though not in Justice: And what is due from the Lord any way, he will infallibly bestow: But there may be these previous Dispositions, where Faith is never given. There is not so much as a Conditional Connection between such Preparations and those Blessings; they are Promised absolutely ⟨p. 134⟩without any Condition expressed or implied.
(1.) The first Blessings of the Covenant are Promised absolutely; Effectual Calling, Faith, Repentance, Conversion, Regeneration, are Offered, are Promised without any Conditions. The Promises of these Mercies are absolute, Ezek. 36. 26. Jer. 32. 39, 40. Under the Notions of a New Heart, a New Spirit, putting his Spirit, his Fear within them, &c. the Blessings forementioned, called the first Grace, are Promised absolutely; and so are the same things in other terms, Jer. 31. 31, 32, 33. repeated by the Apostle, Heb. 8. 8. There can be no Instance given in Scripture, where these things are Promised upon Condition. Indeed if they were promised upon Condition, Grace would be Promised to something Natural: For this being the first Grace, there can be nothing before it to be the Condition of it, but what is Natural; and to make that which is Natural the Condition of Grace, is gross Pelagianism. If there were any Conditions of those first gracious Favours, they must be those things, which are Previous to, and Preparations for them, viz. Diligent Attendance on the Word and Means of Grace, Convictions of Sin, legal Sorrow ⟨p. 133⟩for it, Sense of Wrath and Misery, which often go before Conversion, and are counted Dispositions or Preparations for Faith. But these previous Works are not Conditions of Conversion, or the other Blessings included therein, nor are they promised upon such Terms: For the Condition is never separated from the Favour promised to it; where the Condition is performed, the Promise is always accomplished: But these preparatory Acts have been in many, who were never truly Converted and Regenerated, never had a New Heart and a New Spirit given them: So that these Preparations are no Conditions of Faith or Regeneration; much less is there any thing of congruous Merit in them. Our Divines, that insist on such Preparations for Christ, decryed the Conceit of Merit, though in the lowest form. This Merit of the Papists inferrs a Dueness of the thing so deserved; a Dueness in Congruity, thô not in Justice: And what is due from the Lord any way, he will infallibly bestow: But there may be these previous Dispositions, where Faith is never given. There is not so much as a Conditional Connexion between such Preparations and those Blessings; they are Promised absolutely ⟨p. 134⟩without any Condition expressed or implied.
