A55751:80
The position of John Preston, Doctor in Divinity ... concerning the irresistibleness of converting…The position of John Preston, Doctor in Divinity ... concerning the irresistiblenesse of converting…
The position of John Preston, Doctor in Divinity ... concerning the irresistibleness of converting graceThe position of John Preston, Doctor in Divinity ... concerning the irresistiblenesse of converting grace
London: printed by J.G. for Nath. Webb and Will. Grantham, 1654
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.
6. If the Will be indifferent in it self, and equally inclined unto either part; whence is that facility and promptitude in working? for as by evil actions the Will contracts a stain whereby it is habitually disposed unto evil; so by good actions the soul is touched with a better tincture, whereby it is habitually inclined unto good, and that setting aside the operation of moving and exciting Grace.
6. If the Will be indifferent in it selfe, and equally inclined unto either part; whence is that facility and promptitude in working? for as by evil actions the Will contracts a stain whereby it is habitually disposed unto evill; so by good actions the soule is touched with a better tincture, whereby it is habitually inclined unto good, and that setting aside the operation of moving and exciting Grace.
7. All Divines of better note acknowledge, That charity, or the love of God, is not a mere act, but a permanent habit; but that habit hath no place in the understanding, because it is an affection; nor in the sensitive appetite, which cannot be raised to spiritual love. It remaineth therefore, that it be peculiar to the Will, and so the Will to be most properly capable of habits, and of habitual Grace.
7. All Divines of better note acknowledge, That charity, or the love of God, is not a meere act, but a permanent habit; but that habit hath no place in the understanding, because it is an affection; nor in the sensitive appetite, which cannot be raised to spirituall love. It remaineth therefore, that it be peculiar to the Will, and so the Will to be most properly capable of habits, and of habituall Grace.
8. Lastly, How absurd is it to grant the whole man to be dead in sin, so that it can no way reach unto any good truly spiritual: and yet to defend, that the Will, which is the very leader of the soul, the driver of all faculties, the Lady and Queen of humane acts, and that principle, which impaireth spiritual good or evil, unto all actions which men perform. How absurd (I say) is it, to hold that this faculty was neither spiritual before the Fall, nor carnal after the Fall, but to be utterly void, both of the corruption brought in by the first fault, and of spiritual gifts infused in the regeneration of man.