c. And after pag. 27. Non hic queritur c. It is not questioned here simply whether God in the work of Conversion or in any other good worke doth move the Will resistibly for that we have affirmed formerly This is given then that Resistibility is never taken away See then secondly what remaines in Controversie De modo Resistibilitatis totalis est c. Touching the manner of Resistibility all question is made for this is that which we say when God by his effectuall Grace works in the Will Ipsum velle this Grace doth effectually produce Non-resistency and so for that time take away actuall resistance which is brought to passe by certaine knowledge and the prevalency of delight saith August Therefore doe we maintaine actuall resistence for that time to be certainly taken away because t is impossible such a resistence should consist together with effectuall Grace received in the Will Because these two things cannot co-exist together or be composed in the Will namely The Will to be wrought upon by effectuall Grace and the Will at the same time to resist which were as much as to say in the same Instant the Will not to resist and to resist or velle non resistere velle resistere Let us have leave a litle to search into this mystery De modo resistibilitatis tota lis est nay truly nulla lis est de modo resistibilitatis for resistibilit as est potentia resistendi actus now about resistibilitas the power there is no controversie for you grant neque innata neque adnata tollitur per gratiam in conversione here can be no question de modo resistibilitatis all must be de ipsa resistitentiâ or de modo non resistentiae for hoc est quod dicimus c. rem haud magnam dicitis Ideo enim contendimus c. de re minime dubiâ contenditis for is there any Remonstrant so silly to say Posit â gratiâ efficaci resistentiam ipsam manere that when the will doth actually yeeld that then it doth and can resist who beares a part in hac lite Plainly the State of the question is changed for the question of Contingency is not when things are in esse but before they were whether they were not possible to be otherwise Scholastici utuntur hîc erudita distinctione Quod fit consideratur duobus modis uno ut est jam in se extra suas causas hoc modo ipsum fieri transit in factum esse praesens in praeteritum proinde res illa non potest non esse dum est quia non potest non facta esse quae facta est Altero modo ut fluit à causa sive ut habet ordinem ad causam id est Quatenus est adhuc in manu causae atque hoc modo si causa est libera contingens potest res illa non esse contingenter est non necessario quia habet ordinem ad causam seu ut loquar cum Zabarella connexioneÌ„ cum causa non necessarium sed contingentem ita Goclenius The Question then of the Resistibility is before the very act of good or evill not in it It were sense I trow to say A regenerate man willeth sinne resistibly not in the very moment when he willeth it but because ere he willed it he could have resisted it so a Convert obeyeth Grace or willeth his conversion resistibly because ere he willed it he could have dissented Sinne is resistible though it be too late to resist when it is consented unto and Grace may be resisted though to say so is too late when it is accepted in the Will for to be received and then to be resistible cannot Coexistere 3. Againe granting that non resistentiam which is in the very act of consenting the question is still as doubtfull what is the Cause of this Non-resistance in cujus causae manu sita erat whether Gratia efficax be the cause or voluntas efficax for the selfe-same may be said of the Will that you say of Grace when the Will obeyeth it is impossible it should disobey or wil to resist No man can tell by the very act of obeying which is the cause of not resisting for put either of the two Grace or Will to remove resistance it is surely gone in the act of consenting And to me it seemes demonstrable that the Will is the proper cause that ends resistance or refuseth to resist First because that gratia efficax which you speak of so much is but nomen sine re there being no such Grace that can determine the Will but it destroyes it the nature of the Will being to determine it selfe Secondly because to resist and not resist are the proper acts of the Will as to convert repent beleeve are the immediate acts of man who converteth repenteth beleeveth and are not the acts of God though without his help and power they are not produced which is a plaine signe that man is later in the operation than God in the order of Nature by whom the act was terminated Our Church in the Homily of Salvation 1. tomo understands the matter thus First for the necessity of something to be done on our part for our justification to Gods mercy on his part and Christs satisfaction on his part concurs on our part a true and lively Faith in the merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by Gods working in us Secondly how it understands this Not ours but by Gods working in us a lâ—â—tle lower it declarerh Lively faith is the gift of God and not mans onely worke without God This might suffice sober wits that all confesse Gods grace to prevent to operate to helpe mans Will and the Will of man to have some office and part under the Grace of God though we were not able to expresse or declare the manner of the coworking God promiseth to Circumcise the Heart Deut. 30. 6. and Man is commanded to Circumcise his owne heart Deut. 10. 16. Jer. 4. 4. God promiseth to put a new spirit into man Ezek. 11. 19 and men are commanded to make them a new heart and a new spirit This promise and this commandement are both Evangelicall The promise supposeth and implyeth our utter impotency of our selves to doe these supernaturall acts and tendreth unto us the power assistance and operation of God to comfort and encourage us The commandment supposeth and implieth a power in us by the power of God to endeavour and to doe something towards these supernaturall acts and that they are our acts doth appear for that they savour of our imperfections from whence it is that we daily accuse our selves and complaine of the weaknesse of our faith the coldesse of our love the pride of our hearts though it be true that God hath given us faith love humility Why doe we not rather magnifie the gifts and graces of God but extenuate and disgrace them like
exemplary blessing to be chosen in Christ as to bee justified in Christ to be sanctified and glorified be following blessings imitating the first And if wee were elected without respect to Christ then have wee one spirituall blessing and not the meanest but the first and the greatest and not from or by Christ contrary to the Apostle saying God hath blessed us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Christ Christ is therefore not onely the head of the Elect but also the Fountaine and Foundation of Election God not choosing Christ for an head untill hee knew his Members and together with him choosing them else this great grace and benefit of Election shall flow out of some other Fountaine than Christ 3. Consider that when these words he hath chosen us in Christ bee interpreted Hee hath appointed us to Salvation to be obtained in or by Christ applying Christ to our obtaining Salvation by him and not our Election and choosing marke I say our Article to despise this interpretation when it plainly severs these two and presevereth them both distinct to choose in Christ and to bring to Salvation by Christ So that Christ is as wel respected in our Election as in our justification and glorification which are things obtained to us by Christ if therefore Election bee virtutis signum as Chrysostome saith on Rom. 8. Quis intentabit crimina adversùs Electos Dei All that vertue which the chosen did approve was from Christ in whom hee accepted those whom hee found in him not from faith not from works but from Christ as it is in the cause of Justification If it be objected that by this the Election of God is quite taken away and his Justification is onely left him for to take Believers is an act of Justice and not of choise I answer that Election and Justification differ not in this that Faith in Christ is requisite to Justification but not to Election but the difference lyeth in a difference of time though in both faith in Christ be requisite The difference in time is this Before the Decree of God be past or when the Decree is past and gone out while the Decree was in making or was not yet determined that which did conclude it and determine it was choice and not justice for then God is said to have chosen Believers in Christ because when things were under deliberation and consultation what should be done choice had place and swayed all But after the Decree is pronounced and established when God beholdeth a Believer as infallible futurum then he justifyeth properly and electeth him not for his Election is already upon the infallibility of Gods foreknowledge and the immutability of his Will And this difference onely observed the Doctrine of our Election in Christ doth strongly confirme our Faith of Justification and Salvation by Christ as our Article saith after And our Justification by Christ doth much enlighten and cleare the Doctrine of our Election in Christ according to the three Hypotheses of Melancthon loco de praedestinatione 1. Iudicandum esse de Electione ex Evangelio 2. Totum numerum Electorum propter Christum electum esse 3. Non aliam Justificationis aliam Electionis esse causam Thus much of the first addition chosen Chosen in Christ 2. The Second Adjunct unto chosen is that they were chosen out of Mankinde Then by our Article all Mankinde was not chosen but some out of Mankind yet all Mankind was considered in the Omniscience of God frō the first man to the last for he that chooseth out of all must weigh and examine all Out of Mankinde not out of Angells kinde for seeing the Election is in Christ and Christ tooke not hold of the nature of Angels but of humane nature the Election must be out of humane kinde as taken hold on by Christ Christ being provided and Preached to humane kinde as one Mediator betweene God and Man The Man Christ Jesus who for us Men and for our Salvation came down from Heaven and was incarnate Lastly if humane kinde bee it out of which the Election is made it must bee distributed into two parts either as found in Christ or as found out of Christ because the Election is in Christ therefore out of Mankinde as something to doe with or some relation to Christ for if God in his Predestination had bent his consideration unto the Masse of Mankinde innocent and uncorrupted there had hee found no man Reprobable being that worke of his owne hand If to the Masse of Mankinde fallen and corrupt there had been found no man Eligible all being under the curse But considering Mankinde as under Christ that should die for it and should be Preached to the World there he found some eligible viz. such as laid hold on Christ by faith and some reprobable that being sinners received not the Saviour that would be sent to deliver them from curse and condemnation And thus much for the first act of God in the order of nature though the third thing mentioned in the letter of the Definition those whom God hath chosen in Christ out of Mankinde Now I come to the first thing in the Letter of the Definition but the second inward act of God touching them whom hee hath chosen viz. his everlasting Purpose and decree what to doe for them and how to doe it And first let mee treate of the Principal the purpose it selfe then of the additions and properties of this purpose The Article calleth it the purpose of God and not the purpose of man Every thing that is read though in ancient Fathers is not presently to be embraced as made our owne The word is S. Pauls Rom. 9. 11. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though there 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 bee not ambiguous whether it belong to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but is true in both First 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may signifie two things first the same that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Typus or Archetypus the plot the forme or frame of allt things according to which all things that now are were made and wrought by God it selfe being first wrought that is devised and contrived and set in order by him The understanding of God is the Seat and Subject in which this plot and frame is described and as it were written as the plot of an Architect is drawne and set out in paper or in the sand for the helpe of his weakenesse that hee may see with his eye a modell of that which is in his minde and in time it may bee should be raised and builded by him Thus seemes S. Paul to use the word Eph. 3. 11. when hee saith The various Wisdome of God is knowne to Angels by the Church 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 implyeth a patterne that is followed and this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the patterne was made by God himselfe in Christ Jesus as God doing
is called Scientia simplicis intelligentiae and that extended even to things future contingent sub hypothesi God knowing by his infinite understanding infallibly what things will follow if this or that be done by himselfe or by a Creature 4. This knowledge is the highest that we can conceive in an intelligent Nature and necessary to any that worketh with wisdome and therefore most worthy to be attributed to the first highest and most wise Agent especially in the first contriving disposing and ordering of all things 5. A knowledge most necessary for him that must governe contingent Events and Acts of a free Creature if he will have any such to be under his government 6. A knowledge confessed and supposed by the defenders of the second third and fourth Opinions who teach that by his knowledge God did foreknow the fall of Adam before he decreed to create him and before he decreed to send his Son to redeeme him for with them and with truth God did not first decree to create man and to permit him to fall and then was to seeke a remedy how to relieve him but foreknew the remedy that he could use if he should fall before he decreed to permit him to fall or to create him yea so infallibly did God foreknow the sinfull fall of man which yet was not Gods Act but mans and a contingent Act of a free creature that upon this foreknowledge he contrived the whole mystery of Christ and of our Redemption Now if this knowledge were used in one contingent thing it might have been used in a Million if in one free Act of the first man then in all the free Acts of all men and if in that which was the occasion of Gods mercy in our Redemption then in all occasions of Gods Acts that are consequent Acts even of the Generall Judgement which shall be at the last day For Gods knowledge is infinite 7. This knowledge of God being previall to his predestinating did not look therefore to the Masse of mankind as created and uncorrupted nor to the Masse fallen and corrupted nor to Christ beleeved on only but to these and beyond all these to the first middle and finall state of every particular man and the Universall state of all men This here for the Act of Gods Understanding whereof more anon the Act of his will followeth 1. To predestinate is the proper Act of the will of God His knowledge is his Counsellor but his will is King and they are both himselfe Ephess 1. 11. Who worketh all things according to the counsell of his will And to predestinate is the part and office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which most properly is Gods that supremely orders all things choosing and allowing what shall be and in what manner and to what end Thus Saint Paul Rom. 9. 18. 19. speakes of the will of God but as of the prime and highest and most universall cause of things approving or permitting all other inferiour causes which because they might have been restrained or changed by the supreme cause and were not they are said all at last to be resolved into the will of God as the prime Cause 2. This will of God is absolute Independent having no other cause but his owne good pleasure for when as untill God make his decrees all things are knowne but as possible and are yet under the pleasure of God whether they shall be or no how can they possibly be the Causes of his will He understandeth them indeed as he hath contrived them fit to be willed because they are fit to shew forth all his glory and therefore in the end he willeth them but he could contrive other things than these or set these some other way as fit to shew forth his glory if he would Therefore that he willeth these it is his own most free pleasure Hinc autem nullam esse Praedestinationis causam in praedestinato patet quia cum homo praedestinandus nullo modo censeatur propriè existere sed conditionaliter tantum nihil potest esse in eo quod Deus moveat ad illū Predestinandum That is Hence it plainly appeares there can be no cause of Predestination in him that is Predestinated because when as the man that is to be predestinated can be thought no manner of way properly to be but onely conditionally there can be nothing in him which may move God to predestinate him P. Ferrius Spec. Schol. c. 24. p. 253. Furthermore this opinion avoideth all the Inconveniences that any of the former foure doe fall into for 1. It exalteth and magnifieth all the attributes of God and not some onely As His wisdome and knowledge In foreknowing not onely his owne works but also all the workes of every free creature and that to every circumstance of every particular in this numberlesse number and how to governe them to his glory P. 139. In using the reasonable creature according to its nature in the permission of Sinne in the obedience or disobedience to grace that he may judge the world in Righteousnesse His Power In creating and governing all things bringing light out of darknesse and happinesse out of misery His goodnesse In making all good at the first and overcomming evill with goodnesse His Universall Grace and Mercy In preparing Redemption for all men that had made themselves bond slaves to Satan and in providing meanes to apply and to communicate this Redemption His Truth In that his promises are meant to all to whom they are sent and performed to all that keepe his conditions Ideò veracem Tert. in Praxeam Deum credens scio illum non aliter quam disposuit pronunciasse nec aliter disposuisse quam prenunciavit His Justice In punishing all such as use not either the Rectitude of their nature or the benefit of their Redemption offered sincerely and constantly His speciall grace and singular Love In them whom he foreknew would use his benefits if they were granted them in whose Salvation and glory he was so well pleased that he confirmed to them by his decree that course and calling which he saw would infallibly bring them unto it Lesse grace being shewed unto them whom he foreknew would faile of Salvation through their owne infidelity ingratitude or security in the good way wherein they were set or under the sufficient calling which they had which faile of theirs he could have mended by bettering his benefits if he would but rather decreed to make them deserved Vessels of his wrath and subjects for his Justice His Dominion and soveraign Lordship In that he being the highest and supreme cause of all things ordered them after his own pleasure making happy whom he will and forsaking whom he will finding them in cause worthy to be forsaken after they so often have forsaken him Irenaeus lib. 3. cap. 43. Sapientiâ praecellet Pater c. In wisdome the Father excelleth all humane and Angelicall wisdome because he is Lord and a just Judge and Ruler
same measure of affection wherewith hee loves the whole World Therefore indeed was hee offered a Sacrifice for our whole nature and 't was sufficient to save all but to them onely it will be profitable and usefull who have believed Neverthelesse hee was not skared from this kinde of dispensation because all would not come but in like manner as in the Gospell the feast was made ready for all but because they which were invited would not come he did not presently take away what was provided but called others thereto August ad artic falso sibi impositos art 1. Quod ad magnitudinem potentiam preti◠c. As to the Greatnesse and vertue of the price and as far as concernes the sole cause of Mankinde Christs blood is the Redemption of the whole World but such as passe away this present life without Faith in Christ and the mystery of the New birth are aliens to that Redemption when therefore by that one Nature of us all which for all our sakes was truly taken by our Lord and Saviour all of us are rightly said to be redeem'd yet are we not all freed from captivity c. That Cup of Immortality which was prepared partly out of our infirmity and partly out of Gods Power hath enough in it to profit all but if it be not drunke off it is nothing profitable Homily 2. Concerning the Death and Passion of our Saviour Christ Concerning the great Mercy and Goodnesse of our Saviour Christ in suffering Death Vniversally for all Men in the very beginning And afterwards But to whom did God give his Sonne Hee gave him to the whole World namely to Adam and all that should come of him And after It remaines that I shew you how to apply Christs Death to our comfort as a medicine to our wounds so that it may worke the same effect in us wherefore it was given namely the health and salvation of our Soules for as it profiteth a Man nothing to have salve unlesse it be well applyed to the part infected so the Death of Christ shall stand us in no stead unlesse wee apply it to our selves in such sort as God hath appointed Of Free-will CHAP. X. THis title now adayes is in great disgrace and envy invisum nomen Dr. Abbot Sarisbur in Thompsoni Diatribam pag. 143. Ille verò Thompsonus sc hîc mereticulam suam Arbitrii libertatem quem commendaverat antè timidius in theatrum Ecclesiae productam palà m exosculatur Sic ille But time was when the Church of Christ stood and strove as earnestly in the defence of this Lady ut Gratiae pedissaeque as the handmaid of Grace against the Manichees and other Heretikes as any do now against her which when learned Men doe finde in Irenaeus Origen Chrysostome and other great Fathers I can but wonder they should bee so carelesse of their lavish termes as also I marvell they should be so mindfull of the one part of a wise saying Si non sit gratia Dei quomodo mundum salvabit Deus and so forgetfull of the other part Si non sit liberum Arbitrium quomodo judicabit mundum Deus when they finde both in the same Authors Aug. Epist 46. Valentino Hieronym If the thing be of God I will not feare the envy of the Name and my defence thereof shall be with such caution as I will not offend against the grace of God by the helpe of Gods grace Freewill is a naturall power in a reasonable Creature whereby it can will or nill this or that chuse it or refuse it be it good be it evill Of Freewill to Good Freewill to Good was put into the first Man by God at his Creation a faculty of his reasonable soule created good It was corroborated and guarded then by an assistance of supernaturall grace given by God to make him will good more cheerfully constantly and the highest eminent kinde of good But by the fall of Adam this supernaturall grace fortifying the will to good was utterly lost and Secondly the very freedome to any good of the superiour kinde 1. Spirituall as to love God above all to worke the righteousnes of the Law as the Law is spirituall to doe any act sutable or equall to these as to repent to believe in Christ This freedome to good is wholy lost Some freedome to humane naturall civill and morall good acts is onely remaining and freedome to the outward good acts of Religion as to goe to a Church to heare to attend to consider and compare the things delivered by the Preacher of Gods Word as a man can doe the rules or definition of any act or Science in the Schooles If then wee seeke for a freedome of will to spirituall and supernaturall good in the nature of man now fallen wee shall not finde it there unlesse we find it restored and renewed by the grace of Christ that goes with the Gospell If the Sonne makes us free wee shall be free indeed Without Grace Freewill to Good is not once to bee imagined in fallen man I must declare this by distinguishing the spirituall good to which freedome is restored by grace There is the spiritual good commanded by the Law as Righteousnesse and true Holinesse To this good Freewill is lost and is not restored by grace at first and immediately but late after a man is justified and made a new creature by grace There is another kinde of spirituall good not simply good but in a case when sinne is once committed as Aristotle saith of Verecundia that it is good Ex hypothesi of a fault that is Compunction Feare Conscience accusing sense of guiltinesse The freedome of will to this good remaines commonly in a sinner after his fall nay sometime hee is smitten with terror will hee nill hee As Adam when hee had sinned feared and fled and hid his head But if by custome in sinne this also be lost the Spirit of God in the Law setteth upon the will to free it from the bondage of this security and under the Law the will is free to feare There is a third kinde of spirituall good commanded by the Gospell To repent and to believe in Christ To these the will of Man is not free of it selfe but the same Gospell that commands them brings to the will a freedome to them which may be conceived possible to be done by two manner of wayes 1. By framing the Commandments of the Gospell so easy and accomodate to the weaknesse and misery of the Will of man that there may be a proportion betweene the will of a sinner and the Commandement of the Gospell and then the grace of the Gospell shall lie in this descending to the imbecility of the will and in accomodating the worke to the workeman the task to the labourer 2. Or by bringing and giving to the will so much power and helpe as is requisite to make a sinner able to doe the Commandements of the Gospell admitting the Commandements
to lay on him a worke as hard and as heavy as the workes of the Law I will not bee so stiffe to maintaine the first way as the second although to repent of sinne to believe in the Mercy of God to rest in the Merits of the Sonne of God seeme to be acts and duties very mercifully prepared by God as tendring the weakness and misery of a sinner and fitted to his Estate But I maintaine that the grace which restores freedome to the will to will the good of the Gospell comes with the Gospell which preventeth mans will and prepares it by infusing into it the power to will the spirituall good things required by the Gospell in that order and processe which was declared before in the Doctrine of Calling Depresse the nature of man as much as you will call his Arbitrium servum arbitrium the more I predicate the grace of God which is proportion'd and fitted in goodnesse and power to quicken the dead to strengthen the impotent to loosen the captive and most miserable will of Man This being the very grace of the Gospell that it makes the Commandements of it possible to be obeyed by man fallen which the Law doth not so that no Man under the Gospell can be excused in his disobeying the Gospell from his want of power or impotency to repent or believe And this was one reason of my Title chosen with respect to this part of my Disputation Appello Evangelium Freedome on the left side of the will as I may call it is to will Evill that is under the grace of God or notwithstanding the grace of God whereby I may will good yet I may decline to evill and leave the good This was in Adam before his Fall a single innocent possibility to decline to evill the very mutability of the Creature seeing it is proper to God to be immutably good So that the very supernaturall grace that Adam had for his corroboration to God yet did not immobilitate his will to evill This is the root of the praise of humane righteousnesse for hee is to be commended that could transgresse and would not not hee that was good and could bee no other The example of the righteous God is not here to be objected since he is above and out of all predicaments wherein wee are This is called Resistentia connata which Dr. Ward confesseth is not taken away by grace This naturall freedome to evill remaineth in Man fallen and there is now come to it over and above Resistentia adnata ◠precipitate pronenesse unto evill out of our thraldome to the dominion and tyranny of Satan These two must carefully be sever'd for when I use these termes the freedome to sinne presently some body takes me down that the freedome to sinne is a servitude the bondage and misery of the Will not observing that the freedome to sinne is naturall and before the fall the bondage to sinne since the fall and of corrupted nature and these two differ asmuch as a live mortall man and a dead man The freedome to evill is not evill but the use and practise of that freedom is evill The pronenesse to evill which is now in us is evill That naturall freedome to evill grace attempteth not in this life to take away but to keepe it in from comming into practice That pronenesse to evill grace attempteth to take away or to weaken and restraine yet salvâ libertate naturali ad malum Of this liberty to evill let Scholars read a determination of Dr. Baro without disdaine published at the end of his Lectures on Jonas Dei decretum pravae voluntatis libertatem non tollit CHAP. XI Of Grace and Free will conjunctim TO declare how these two are conjoynd in every spirituall worke let me first possesse you with three Principles or Axiomes 1. That in all the operations of these two if wee suppose them Co-workers either in our first conversion or in every good worke Grace is evermore foremost the beginner leader principall in all not onely in the first but also in the second third and fourth operations to the last The will of man never working alone never working foremost but as the wheele of the Water-mill is set a going and kept a going by the continuall following of the water which being stayd the wheele soone stayeth So mans will is set a going and kept on going by the perpetuall streame of Gods grace Phil. 2. 13. and this ariseth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of Gods good will and desire of our salvation Veteres dixerunt precedente gratiâ comitante voluntate bona opera fieri Melancto loc com de lib. arbitr 2. That when Grace worketh upon mans understanding will or affections it worketh so as it preserveth and useth the naturall Properties Powers and Motions of a reasonable Creature compounded as man is Gratia non tollit naturam sed proficit nec natura gratiam repellit sed suscipit Hence it is that though the habits of Faith Hope and Charity and the like are not acquisite by mans industry alone but infused by God yet they are infused after the manner of acquisites God having ordained not to infuse them but upon the means of Hearing Praying Caring Studying and endeavouring Non ego sed gratia Dei mecum id est non solus sed gratia Dei mecum ac per hoc nec gratia Dei sola nec ipse solus sed gratia Dei cum illo Aug. de grat lib. arbitr Cap. 5. 3. That in all the operations of Grace the nature and will of man being prevented by grace is to depend upon God as the Creature upon the Creator the receiver upon the giver the weak upon the strong the imperfect upon the perficient and the supplyant on his Lord as the Earth depends upon the Heavens for showers for heat and influence which when man neglecteth forgetteth or refuseth to doe he is dry barren and unfruitfull in all spirituall fruit Opus imperfectum in Mat. Homil. 14. ex cap. 6. in illa Fiat voluntas tua c. Vide quam caute loquutus est c. Behold how cautelously he speaketh He saith not Father sanctifie thy Name in us bring thy Kingdome upon us make thy will to bee done of us lest God should seeme to sanctifie himself upon men or to bring his Kingdome upon whom hee list or to make his will be done by whom he please and in regard thereof God should be perceived to be a Respecter of persons Againe neither hath hee said Let us sanctifie thy Name let us take thy Kingdome let us doe thy Will in Earth as it is in Heaven lest it should seeme that it proceeded from men alone that they sanctifyed Gods Name or that they receiv'd his Kingdome or that they did his Will But hee speakes in a middle way and impersonally Hallowed be thy Name Thy Kingdome come Thy will be done that he may manifest how needfull the worke of both parties
the promise testifyeth against them that say God hath decreed afore to whom to give Faith and to whom to deny it out of the multitude of Mankinde fallen out of his owne pleasure that they asmuch as in them lyeth make God a Lyer and a Dissembler The last Caveat or direction is not much different from the former That in our doings that Will of God is to be followed which wee have expresly declared unto us in the Word for this Doctrine ariseth from the true and necessary distinction of the Will of God which is Deut. 29. 29. into secret and revealed and that of the Schoole into Signi Beneplaciti which some abusing by thinking that God may have another will secret and different about the same thing whereof hee hath a declared and revealed Will or that which is signifyed is lesse pleasing than that which is secret called Beneplaciti doe forsake or neglect his Will revealed to fulfill his Will secret which they count to be his onely Will As in this present matter when the Word of God revealeth it to be the Will of God that every hearer of the Gospell doe repent beleeve and be saved some man granting this to be Gods revealed Will and signifyed Will may notwithstanding imagine that God hath another secret Will and that of his good Pleasure which shall stand not to have him repent nor to beleeve nor to be saved And this imagination is commonly founded upon the Doctrine of Predestination which excludeth Prescience and makes God to proceede immediatly to his Election upon the consideration of the fall of Mankinde But against this our Article adviseth to follow in our doings the Will of God declared in his Word and this it doth not onely by way of advice as if it were at our liberty and onely the best and safest way but even out of necessary grounds For 1. First That which is secret and hidden can be to us no certaine ground to build upon for who knowes God will not give him leave to repent beleeve or bee saved 2. That there can be no secret Will of God contrary to his revealed and declared Will for this were to make God a Lyer but even these two secret and revealed have two divers Objects or of one Object yet divers times wherein they are placed As for Example That there shall bee a day of judgement is the revealed Will of God but when that day shall be is secret to us though determined and knowne to God these be two Objects that a day shall be and when that day shall bee Againe the Gospell of our Salvation before the World was was a secret counsell and Will of God but since the World was it hath beene revealed and opened to the Prophets and Apostles and is no more hidden but manifested the same thing in both but in two times in the one hidden in the other revealed being well-pleasing unto God while it was secret and not ceased to be so being signifyed and declared to the sons of men To conclude This expressed Will of God whereby hee commands all men that heare the Gospell to beleeve it Joh. 6. 29. 1 Joh. 3. 23. and whereby the disobedience of them that believe not is aggravated Joh. 3. 19. 2 Thes 1. 8. strongly perswadeth mee that the way to life is yet open and that Salvation is to be had untill that Commandement come nay untill it bee contemned and despised And that the God of Truth who useth simplicity and sincerity in all his sayings and who will overcome when hee is judged hath not made so much as any secret Decree not to give a man Faith nor Salvation whom hee commandeth to beleeve the Gospell before the consideration of this Commandement given and the disobedience thereto observed in mente Divinâ omnisciâ And therefore all Opinions and Imaginations of Predestination determined before the consideration of obedience or disobedience to the Gospell in the Church where the Gospell is preached are utterly to bee excluded which if I obtaine in this Discourse Habeo intentum and for this Appello Evangelium Appello hunc Articulum Ecclesiae Anglicanae FINIS Dr. POTTER His own VINDICATION Of Himselfe By way of Letter unto Mr. V. touching the same Points VVritten Julii 7o. 1629. LONDON Printed by J. G. for John Clark and are to be sold at his Shop under S. Peters Church in Cornhill 1651. The Preface to the Reader AFter the publishing of the former Treatise was concluded on the ensuing Letter very fortunately was met withall and by the advice of grave and serious men judg'd fit to be made publike as well for strengthning of our Evidence touching the Points in difference that where a single Testimony though never so pregnant is not able to carry the Cause there according to Gods owne Rule this Word of Truth might be established in the Mouths of two or more witnesses as also to let the World see how the Eyes of specially the most sharp-sighted in both Universities looked one and the same way and that those famous Sisters unanimously concentred in their Opinions even in those dayes when these Controversies were first ventilated As for the Occasion of this Letter you may be pleased to understand Dr. Potter having Preached at the Consecration of the late Bishop of Carlisle 150. Martii 1628. did afterwards Print his Sermon Anno 1629. which his ancient Friend Mr. V. having perus'd it seemes hee boggled at some passages therein yet with a friendly though somewhat vehement affection in a Letter hee expostulates with the Doctor touching his change of Opinion as hee conceived The Doctor for his friends satisfaction and to quit himselfe of inconstancy presently returnes him this modest yet very judicious and Rationall Answer And for the Readers Ease that hee may rightly understand and judge whether Mr. V. had any just cause of exceptiō against the Doctor those passages of the Doctors Sermon at which the exceptions were taken are herewith Printed as followeth For our Controversies first let mee professe I favour not I rather suspect any new Inventions for ab Antiquitate non recedo nisi invitus especially renouncing all such as any way favour or flatter the depraved nature and will of man which I constantly beleeve to be free onely to evill and of it selfe to have no power at all meerely none to any act or thing spiritually good Most heartily embracing that Doctrine which most amply commends the Riches of Gods free Grace which I acknowledge to be the whole and sole cause of our Predestination Conversion and Salvation abhorring all damned Doctrines of the Pelagians Semipelagians Jesuites Socinians and of their ragges and reliques which helpe onely to pride and prick up corrupt nature humbly confessing in the words of S. * Test ad Quir. lib. 3. c. 4. Cyprian so often repeated by that worthy champion of grace S. †Cont. dua◠epist Pelag. l. 4. cap. 6. Austine In nullo gloriandum est quandoquidèm nostrum