God over his creatures by the power of the Potter over the Clay in making therehence one vessell to honour and another to dishonour It is true since the fall of Adam man in his generation hath no being without sin for wee are even conceived in sin yet it is not that sin that makes a man a vessell of wrath for if it did then all should bee made by God vessels of wrath But albeit the Apostle signifies that wee are all born children of wrath which is verifyed in respect of the desert even of sin originall yet neither Apostle nor Prophet doth any where give us to understand that all men are made vessels of wrath This phrase includes first the intention of God like a Potter to make such use of them as to make his just wrath appeare upon them and this purpose of God was everlasting not onely as old as every mans generation but as old as the creation of all yea and from everlasting before the Creation Secondly it includes also a fitnesse in the vessell for such an use not fitnesse in the way of desert only such fitnesse being found in all the naturall sons of Adam but fitnesse in respect of Gods purpose to shew wrath Now like as in proportion hereunto the making of a man fit for mercy is the giving of him grace so the denying of grace finally makes him fit for wrath in this sense for as much as God will damn none but such as die in their sins Here I speak of wrath and mercy as they consist in giving salvation or inflicting damnation Lastly if none are ripened for destruction till the refusall of meanes of grace or the committing of grosse and unnaturall iniquity then it followeth that no Infants of Turks and Sarecens are vessels of wrath No nor men of ripe yeers amongst the heathen many of whom never having either refused the means of grace for as much as they never injoyed them and having lived civilly and morally all their dayes Philosopher-like free from grosse and unnaturall iniquity And though all this bee granted you yet if God to that end refuse to shew mercy on them in giving them Faith and Repentance and continues to harden them by denying such grace look how rigorous or unreasonable soever the objection pretended Gods course to bee in complaining of them for their disobedience when God himself hath hardned them in the same degree of rigour and unreasonablenesse it continues still without all mitigation notwithstanding all that you have said hitherto to the contrary Fourthly as for the fourth I have no desire to quarrell with you thereabout Gods judgements indeed Rom. 11. 33. that is his agendirationes as Piscator interpreteth it are unsearchable and his wayes past finding out But you take a course quite contrary to make them nothing unsearchable but easie to be found out For if obduration bee in respect of sin surely there is no unsearchable depth in this And in my opinion the chief wayes of God which the Apostle aimes it in the place alledged consists in having mercy on whom hee will and hardning whom he will and in generall thus in proportion to that which goeth before There was a time when God had a Church without distinction of Jews and Gentiles as before the Flood and after till the bringing of the children of Israel out of Aegypt Again there was a time after this for about 1600. yeers that God had a Church of the Jews in distinction from the Gentiles And since that for the space of about 1600. yeers God hath had a Church among the Gentiles in distinction from the Jews And we look for a time to come when God shall have a Church and that here on earth consisting both of the Nation of the Jews and of the Nations of the Gentiles Three of these states are signifyed by the Apostle immediately before Rom. 11. 30. For even as yee in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 past have not beleeved God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeleef there have wee two of them one past another then present Then follows the third ver 31. Even so now have they not beleeved by the mercy shewed unto you this is part of the second that they also may obtain mercy This is the third which wee look for ver 32. For God hath shut up all in unbeleefe that hee might have mercy upon all Then follows the exclamation ver 33. O the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God for hee knows all courses possible to bee taken both wise and unwise and out of the depth of his wisdome makes choyce of what hee thinks fit O how unsearchable are his judgements for out of all these different courses results such a splendor of the glory of God as no creature till it bee revealed can project nor devise any courses countervailable thereunto when it is revealed and his wayes past finding out FINIS The English of the Latine passages in this Treatise in the severall Pages thereof that are not formerly englished PAge 10. lin 2 3 4. The Apostle saith that we are chosen in Christ as in a Mediatour by whose bloud salvation is procured for us lin 5. As touching the act of God choosing lin 17 18. as in the head The nature of an head is not the nature of a cause meritorious lin 19 20 21. The Apostle saith that we are elect in Christ as in a Mediatour by whose bloud life is precured for us l. 21. a meritorious cause lin 22 23 24. and as in an head from whence these good things are derived to us So that the reason of an head is the reason of a meritorious cause not morally but naturally l. 26. as in the head l. 27. as dead and raised again l. 37. Christ is the head of the predestinate Page 11. lin 5 6. The other reason concerning Christ considered as the head seemeth to depend on these parts Page 12. l. 5. a thing being by accident l. 28. Predestination puts nothing in the thing predestinated l. 31. in all things Page 13. lin 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. By the comparing of which sentense it appeares that the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here rightly rendred among all It is a Greek phrase lest some one might conceive it ought to be translated in all to wit in all things We are to remember that the Apostle from this verse began to discourse of Christs kingdom in his Church which no man will deny if hee doth but lightly consider the very words themselves and therefore under the universall particle no other thing is comprehended but all believers of all times Christ is the first of them that rise again that among all the Saints both of them that went before and of them that came after he might have the primacy of dignity power and holinesse that so among all hee might have the preheminence not onely in respect of men but also of
heart out of their bowels and give them an heart of flesh when he resolves to afford this grace unto some but not unto others let every one judge hereby whether God can be said earnestly to desire the changing of their hearts when hee resolves to forbeare that course which alone can change them No no this discourse favoureth strongly of a conceit that it is in the power of an unregenerate man to change his owne heart and of an heart of stone to change it into an heart of flesh And in this case I confesse it were very probable that God should earnestly desire it provided that any ineffectuall and changeable desires were incident unto God That when God putteth forth the second act of positive retribution viz. the rejection of the world or decree of their condemnation God doth behold and consider the world especially men of riper yeares not in massa primitus corrupta nor as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience To prove this I need not produce other reasons then what I have formerly alledged in the fone-going Point for when God did expresse by his oath his will and good pleasure to be not for the death but life and conversion of sinners was it not after the fall of Adam and all his posterity in him then notwithstanding the presupposall of the fall God had not yet rejected the creature but as hee there declareth himselfe still retaineth and reserveth thoughts of peace towards them even a desire of their conversion unto life Againe with whom did the Lord enter into a Covenant of life and death upon condition of obedience and disobedience was it not with Adam onely and his posterity in his loynes in the state of innocency by the law written in their heart Was it not also after Adams fall renewed to all his posterity both Jewes and Gentiles Then yet God had not cast them away in the fall though the fall had justly deserved it but expecteth yet further to see how they will yet keep this renewed Covenant with him before hee cast them off as Reprobates Even Cain himselfe the eldest sonne of Reprobation is after the fall offered acceptance of Gods hand if hee doe well Moreover is it not after the fall that the Father by his workes of creation and providence judgements and mercies c. the Sonne by his enlightening the world by his death and ministery of his servants and the Holy Ghost by his calling and knocking at the hearts of the wicked doe all strive with men even to this very end to turne them to the Lord that iniquity may not be their destruction If therefore all the Persons in the Trinity doe provide severall helpfull meanes for the conversion and salvation of the world of the world I say now after the fall lying in wickednesse surely God did not then upon the fall reprobate the world unto eternall condemnation and perdition If you say God might well reprobate the world unto condemnation upon the fall and yet still after the fall usâ— meanes for their conversion and salvation because those meanes doe but further aggravate their condemnation I answer these doe indeed further aggravate their condemnation but it is but by accident onely by their neglect and abuse of them but the proper end which God himselfe of himselfe aimes at in the use of these meanes himselfe plainly expresseth it to be not the aggravation or procurement of their condemnation but the restoring of them to salvation and life as hath been before declared So then to draw all to an head the summe of this first reason is If God after the fall doe retaine a will and purpose to restore life to the world upon an equall condition then hee did not upon the fall or upon the onely consideration of the fall reject the world of the ungodly unto their utter perdition But you see God retaineth after the fall an holy will and purpose of restoring life unto the world upon an equall condition as appeareth by his Oath by his Covenant and by his Workes therefore the conclusion which is the point in hand is evident I marvell what you meane to call Gods decree of condemnation his act of retribution retribution being an act temporall and transient the decree of God is an act immanent and eternall And therefore it is not so handsomely said to be the putting forth of an act for so much as it is immanent and not transient 'T is manifest I confesse that sin is alwayes precedent to the retribution of punishment as it is without controversie that sinne neither is nor can be antecedent to Gods decree sinne being temporall but all Gods decrees eternall And I have found it by experience to be an usuall course with our Adversaries to confound condemnation with the decree of condemnation And Junius himselfe very incongruously in my judgement calls this decree Praedamnatio to make the fairer place as I guesse for sins praecedencie thereunto at least in consideration But no necessity urgeth us to any such course and wee may well maintaine that God in this decree of condemnation hath alwayes the consideration of that sinne for which hee purposeth to damne them for undoubtedly hee decrees to condemne no man but for sinne It is impossible it should be otherwise condemnation in the notion thereof formally including sinne But I like not your expressions in the distinction you make saying God considers men in this sinne not as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off you mean long after by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience When God made this decree they were not newly that is a little before fallen in Adam for that fall in Adam was temporall but the decrees of God are eternall And to consider as newly fallen when as yet they were not much lesse were they fallen is not so much to consider as to erre or feigne But like as God decreed to suffer all to fall in Adam and many also to continue both therein and in bringing forth the bitter fruits thereof even untill death so he purposed to condemne them for those sinnes but take heed you doe not make an order of prius and posterius between these decrees lest either you make the decree of condemnation precedent to the decree of permission of those sinnes for which they shall be condemned which will be directly contradictory to your Tenet here or making Gods decree of permitting such sinnes for which they shall be condemned precedent to his decree of condemnation whereunto you doe encline unawares which will cast you upon miserable inconveniences and that by your owne rule already delivered for if the decree of permitting sinne be first in intention then by the rules received by you it should be last in execution that is men should be condemned for sinne before they be permitted to sinne But the conjunction of these decrees into one as in the same
is to neglect the meanes And consequently to use the meanes aright was to doe accordingly as they were informed And indeed if they had done otherwise then they did they had not done so bad as they did I finde such giddinesse of discourse usually amongst the Arminians while they satisfie themselves with phrases never examining particularly the matter and substance of their own expressions Because of the abuse of these talents and meanes of grace God therefore doth deny to the men of this world such powerfull and gracious helpes as hee vouchsafeth freely to the Elect to draw them on effectually to repentance and salvation The Gentiles abusing the light of nature God gave them up to vile affections yea even to a reprobate minde The Pharisees because they employed the talent of their wealth unfaithfully God would not trust them with the true riches The Jews because they rejected Christ and his Word and his Messengers with scornfull and bitter malignity and brought forth grapes of gall and wormwood therefore God took his Word from them and hid from them the things that did belong unto their peace hee took the kingdome of God from them and gave them as a prey to sinne and misery and derision Psal 81. 11 12. What if none of the world as opposed to the Elect ever came to Christ or made such use of the means and helpes offered in him unto them as to obtaine salvation and regenerating grace by him yet might they have made better use of the means then they did which because they did not it was just with God to deny them greater means who thus abused the lesser In all this wee have as pure Arminianisme tendred unto us as could drop from the pen of Arminius himselfe or Corvinus Yet God forbid wee should co nomine for that cause dislike it It truth wee must embrace it though it come out of the mouth of the Devill If falshood wee shall by Gods grace disclaim it though it proceed out of the mouth of Angels of light and not disclaim it onely but disprove it also You may as well say that God doth not draw the men of this world effectually to Repentance because they doe abuse the talents and means of grace but this I disprove thus First if this bee the cause why God doth not draw them to repentance then this is the cause why hee sheweth not to them that mercy which hee doth to the Elect but this is not the cause thereof which I prove thus The meer pleasure of God is the cause therefore that is not The antecedent thus God shews mercy on whom hee will and hardens that is denies mercy to whom hee will If to harden were not to deny mercy it could not stand in opposition to shewing mercy The consequence I demonstrate thus If to deny mercy to whom hee will doth not inferre that mercy is not denyed according unto works then to shew mercy to whom hee will doth not inferre that mercy is not shewed according unto works Secondly if mens evil works were the cause why God denies them mercy then it could not bee said that God denies mercy because it is the pleasure of his will to deny it For if a reason bee demanded why a malefactor is hanged it were very absurd to answer that the reason is because it was the pleasure of the Magistrate to have him hanged Thirdly if evill works bee the deserving cause why Gods mercy is denyed unto men then either by necessity of nature or by constitution of God Not by necessity of nature in opposition to the constitution of God for then by necessity of nature God must bee compelled to deny mercy unto such what then shall become of Gods Elect unlesse you will say that their workes before mercy shewed them were not so bad as others which were equally to contradict both experience and the Word of God For in this case men should have mercy shewed on them according to their works to wit as they were found lesse evill then the works of others Nor by constitution of God For first shew mee any such constitution that men in such a condition of evill works shall bee denyed mercy Secondly by the same constitution mercy should bee denyed to the Elect also When you speak of the Gentiles in this case abusing the light of Nature and given over to vile affections you take your aime miserably amisse For the Gentiles are not the men of the world in opposition to the Elect. But God forbid that the Gentiles and the men of the world should bee terms convertible in this kinde for then what should become of us Certainly the number of Gods Elect is greater amongst the Gentiles then among the Jews and even of those that were given over to vile affections some were Elect as appears 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. And to say that the cause why God denies them mercy was because they abused the light of nature I have freshly disproved this and that evidently as I presume the intelligent Reader will observe though the contrary I confesse bee very plausible at the first sight and before wee come to the discussing of it Thirdly you take your aime amisse also though not in so great measure as in the former in the phrases For even of the Pharisees some were Elect witnesse holy Paul Who abused his zeale of the Law more foully then hee even to the persecuring of Gods Church yet was not the true treasure denyed to him and that in the highest measure And as for Reprobates if you think their unfaithfulnesse in the use of their wealth was the cause why mercy was denyed them for the disproofe hereof I refer mee to my former arguments Fourthly the very Elect of God not onely rejected Christ for a time but also crucifyed him That which you urge of Gods taking his word and Kingdom in plain terms the means of grace from such a Nation as contemns them is nothing to the purpose For wee treat of Gods shewing and denying mercy not in the means but as touching the grace it self of Repentance But this benefit you have confounded by comprehending both under the name of meanes and helpes for your advantage to passe from the one to the other as you see good Here indeed it is as true that because men doe make precious account of the means of grace therefore God continueth these means unto them like as because of mens perseverance in Faith and Repentance and good works God rewards them with everlasting life like as because men die in their sins therefore God inflicts on them everlasting death Onely with this difference Sin on the one side is the meritorious cause both of withdrawing the means of grace and of damnation but conscionable walking before God in the use of the means is only the disposing cause both to the continuance of the means and to eternall salvation For God by grace makes us meet partakers of
him will you say that every naturall man hath power to discern the nature of God in such sort as to preserve himself from blasphemy every way The third place is out of Rom. 2. 4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the bountifulnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance 5. But thou after thine hardnesse and heart that cannot repent heapest up unto thy self as a treasure wrath against the day of wrath Now if this doth imply any ability in man of seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him it must needs bee in the way of repentance And this I confesse is a cleare way both of seeking the Lord and of finding mercy from him But dare you say that a naturall man hath power to repent I presume you will not unlesse you frame repentance after such a notion as will bee found to bee neither seeking of the Lord nor finding mercy from him And you your self here professe that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to repentance And in the very place alledged it is expressely said of them whom God is said to lead to repentance that the hardnesse of their heart is such that they cannot repent The fourth is taken out of Rom. 2. 14 15. When the Gentiles which have not the Law doe by nature the things contained in the Law they having not the Law are a law unto themselves which shew the effect of the Law written in their heart their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing I wish things were carryed with lesse ostentation and with more judgement then to alledge Scriptures and put the Reader upon making Arguments for them thence For my part I see no colour in all this to justifie any power and sufficiency in a Reprobate to seek the Lord and to finde mercy from him though I make no question but they have power to abstain from many things prohibited in the Law of God and to doe things commanded as touching the substance of the duty commanded or the action forbidden though they are farre enough off from doing it for Gods sake and out of the love of God with all their heart and with all their soule as whom they knew not even the very best of them 1 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Thess 4. 5. The fifth is drawn out of Luk. 16. 11 12. If yee have not been faithfull in the wicked riches who will trust you in the true treasures And if you have not been faithfull in another mans goods who shall give you that which is your own Hence you seem to infer that carnall men naturall men have power and ability to perform faithfulnesse in the administration of temporall riches and you might proceed further to inferre that by performing such fidelity which is in their power to perform they should have true riches and such as should never bee taken from them And what is to maintain that God doth dispence grace according to works if this bee not And yet this latter is with more probability inferred then the former For certainly God doth reward faithfulnesse in little with the bestowing of greater gifts as Matth. 25. 21. 23. But albeit they that are unfaithfull in little are unworthy to have greater gifts bestowed upon them yet herehence it doth not follow that meer naturall men have so much power of goodnesse in them as to bee faithfull unto God in the use of those naturall gifts which God hath bestowed upon them yet in spight of this unworthinesse which God findes in his Elect before their calling hee doth neverthelesse trust them with true riches And if they were faithfull therein they would bee found faithfull also in greater things For ver 10. our Saviour professeth That hee who is faithfull in the least is also faithfull in much The sixth place is Act. 7. 51 52. Yee stiffe-necked and of uncircumcised hearts and eares yee have alwayes resisted the Holy Ghost 52. Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted That which you stick upon I doubt not is this that they are said alway to have resisted the Holy Ghost both they and their Fathers Wee deny it not but will you herehence infer that they had power and ability to yeeld to the Holy Ghost If this inference like you then you may bee bold to inferre in like manner That because many resist the Holy Ghost moving them to faith and repentance therefore they have power and ability to yeeld to the Holy Ghost in this also that is to beleeve and repent Yet your self professe in this very Section that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to wit to the Lord and finde mercy from him which yet undoubtedly they should do did they beleeve and repent Yet I deny not but they might have abstained from persecuting the Prophets but I deny that it was in the power of any of them being but naturall men to abstaine from it in a gratious manner and acceptable in the sight of God And so long as they did not abstain so is it fit to call it a seeking after the Lord or finding of mercy from him I presume you will not deny but that many a Jew in the Apostles daies were free from faction contenting himself to enjoy his own course quietly and peaceably was yet further off from grace then Paul that persecuted the Church God calling him in the midst of his furious pursuite and not calling others though farre more peaceably disposed toward the Church of God then Saul The seventh place alledged is Act. 13. 46. Then Paul and Barnabas spake boldly and said It was necessary that the Word should first have been spoken unto you but seeing you put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life wee turn unto the Gentiles Hence you inferre that these Jewes were inabled to doe more then they did in seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him But I would gladly know wherein that seeking of the Lord consists Had they not railed against Paul as I confesse they had power to spare that had they not contraryed him nor spoken against those things which were spoken by him as I confesse they might have held their tongue had this been to seek the Lord more then they did or in better manner then they did I think not for they might have contained themselves from all this nay they might have pretended some propensions to imbrace the Gospel which yet had it been performed in hypocrisie it had nothing commended them in the sight of God As Diasius when hee could not prevaile with his brother to draw him back to Popery pretended some propension in himself to hearken unto him but wee know what the issue was even to slit his head as the issue of Judas his following Christ was to betray him I think they that deale so and through zeale
persecute the Church as Soul did are nothing further off from seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him then the other These did manifest themselves unworthy of eternall life doe not all so who stumble at the Word of God and refuse to hearken to it For this is the condemnation of the world Light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light because their deeds were evill Joh. 3. 16. Will you therehence inferre that all such are inabled to obey it which is as much to say as that they are inabled to beleeve and repent The eighth is out of Mat. 23. 37 38. How often would I have gathered thy children together as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and yee would not Behold your habitation is left unto you desolate c. What I pray you is to bee gathered under his wings can it bee lesse then to come unto him nay is it not to bee healed by him since as your selfe observe healing was under his wings and if so to come to Christ is to bee healed by him can it bee any thing lesse then to beleeve and repent And will you herehence inferre that they had power thus to come under his wings and consequently to beleeve and repent And yet in this very place you professe that as touching all others except the Elect God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to Faith and Repentance Nay whatsoever it bee that lies in their power to perform besides by the performing of it doe they come any whit neerer to the participation of Grace I do not finde you adventure to professe so much for feare of falling into that which you call ungracious Pelagianisme The ninth is Luk. 19. 41 42. Which is of the same nature and of no greater force then the former Oh that thou hadst even known at the least in this thy day those things which belong unto thy peace but now are they hid from thine eyes For the daies shall come upon thee when thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee and make thee even with the ground because thou knewest not the season of thy visitation To know in Scripture phrase is of a complicate notion and signifyeth knowledge joyned with congruous affections and thus to know the things that belong unto our peace is so to know as therewithall to imbrace them and to know the time of our visitation is so to know as to accommodate our selves thereto in agreeable conversation as Jer. 8. 7. The Stork in the aire is said to know her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow are said to observe the time of their comming That is so to know it as accordingly to come so to know the time of our visitation is so to know it as accordingly to come unto God when hee visites us and according as his Visitation requires of us Now will you herehence inferre that they were inabled to perform all this and so to seek the Lord I appeale to your own conscience whether it might not bee as justly said of them as Moses said of the children of Israel in the wildernesse Deut. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day Nay doth not our Saviour himself say as much of these Jews Joh. 12. 39. Therefore they could not beleeve because that Esaias saith again 40. Hee hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and should bee converted and I should heale them Neither will it follow hereupon that they are excusable so much the more although this is a very plausible inference for our Saviour professeth notwithstanding this that they had no cloak for their sins Joh. 15. 22. And indeed onely such an inability doth excuse as hereby a man is unable to doe that which hee fain would doâ—â— As for the doing of that they did in resisting the Gospel they had rather too much will therein then too little and that through the want of grace For as Austin wisely observes Libertas sine gratia non est libertas sed contumacia Liberty without grace is not liberty but wilfulnesse The tenth is Ezek. 24. 13. Because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not bee purged from thy filthinesse till I have caused my wrath to light upon thee I should think this were spoken of Gods Elect not so much by observing that phrase till I have caused my wrath to light upon thee but chiefly by comparing it with Ezek. 22. 10. I will scatter thee among the heathen and disperse thee in the Countries and will cause thy filthinesse to depart from thee It may have place not onely of the Elect but of the regenerate also for even them sometimes God doth cause to erre from his wayes and harden their hearts against his feare Which though they have power to repent yet upon supposition of obduration and so long as that continues it may bee said that they cannot repent How much more may it bee verifyed of naturall men in the state of unregeneracy that they cannot repent And shall this any way hinder the course of Gods judgements against them for their sins unrepented of because without grace it is not in their power to purge themselves from their sins by repentance I deny not but they have power to performe feigned repentance as Jer. 3. 10. And shall feigned repentance think you bee of force to keep off the judgments of God or if Gods judgements shall have their course except they bee prevented by unfeigned repentance will it herehence follow that naturall men are inabled to perform unfeigned repentance The eleventh is Prov. 1. 20. to 30. Wisdome cryeth c. 20 How long will yee love foolishnesse ver 22. Turn you at my correction ver 23. Because I have called and yee have refused c. ver 24. I will also laugh at your destruction ver 28. Will you herehence infer that they were enabled to turn to hearken to wisdoms voyce and think to put a difference betwixt your opinion and that of the Pelagians of old by saying that though naturall men have not power to beleeve and repent yet they are inabled to doe more good then they doe in the way of seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him and pin upon every place you alledge such a distinction as this which you no where manifest sufficiently to understand your selfe as touching the latter part of it So loath you are to shew what are the particulars of seeking the Lord they doe attain to and to what particulars further they might attain and of what particulars they must necessarily fall short for want of certain helps Might you not as well infer that it is in the power of man to make him a new heart because God cals upon him to make him