Ob[jection]. But as Christ is willing to save all, so he is also, to give and impart all saving gifts, and graces unto all.
A[nswer]. Christ is willing to save all, and he is very free to give, and very free in his gifts, and graces; yet notwithstanding, he gives according to his good pleasure. As a charitable man, wishes well to all poor people, yet he is free to give his charity, to whom he pleaseth. And as it is [Rev. 17:17] said (in another case) Its God that puts it in men’s hearts, to do his will: So it may be said here, when God makes men willing, then they become willing, and when God works power, then men are enabled, and not till then: for no man (as Christ saith [in John 6:44]) can come to him except the Father draw him. And no man can have a sanctified will, till the Lord [Jam. 1:18] by his own will, begets it in him. Therefore you that are willing, oh, bless and praise God, who hath made you so! and you that are unwilling, pray and wait, for the day of his power in which you shall be made willing.
Vavasor Powell, Christ and Moses’ Excellency, or Sion and Sinai’s Glory (London: Printed by R. I. for Hannah Allen, at the Crown in Popes-head-Alley, 1650), 163–64. Some spelling has been modernized.
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