of the Articles fashioning them to their own fancies as they please themselves Each of the parties in those curious points in which the present differences do most consist conceive the Articles of the Church to speak for them exclusive wholly of the other but with a notable difference in the Application The Calvinists by which name they love to be called endeavour to captivate the sense of the Article and bring it to the bent of their own understanding but the true English Protestants whom for distinction sake we may call Confessionists accommodate though they do not captivate their own sense to the sense of the Church according to the plain and full meaning of the Articles in the points disputed But because possibly both parties may not be agreed on a Rule or Medium by which the proper sense and meaning of the Articles may be best discovered it will not be amiss to follow the directions of the Civil Laws in cases of like doubtful nature which is briefly this viz. Si de interpretatione Legis quaeritur iâ—â—riâ—â—is insp câ—endum est quo jure Civitas â—â—â—â—â— in hujâ—smodi casibus usa fuit And this we shall the better do if we enquire into the Doctrine of those Learned Religious and Godly men who either had a principal hand in the Reformation or were most conversant with them and beloved of them in their several stations taking along with us the Authority of the Homilies and publique Liturgie to which all parties have subscribed In order whereunto it will first be necessary to lay down the definition of Predestination as before we had it in the Article to sum up the particular points and contents thereof to shew the sense of one phrase in it and then to travel more exactly in this enquiry whether the method of Predestination illustrated by the story of Agilmond and Amistus Kings of Lombardy cap. 7. num 4. agree not more harmoniously with the true sense and meaning of the Church of England than any other whatsoever 2. First then ' Predestination unto life is defined in the 17 Article to be the Everlasting purpose of God whereby and before the foundations of the world were laid he hath constantly decreed by his Council secret unto us to deliver from damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankinde and to bring them by Christ unto everlasting salvation ' In which definition there are these things to be observed First That Predestination doth presuppose a curse or state of damnation in which all mankinde was represented to the sight of God which plainly crosseth the opinion of the Supra-Lapsarians the Supra-Creaturians or Creabilitarians as some call them now Secondly That it is an act of his from Everlasting because from Everlasting he foresaw into what misery whretched man would fall by the abuse of that liberty in which first he stood Thirdly That he founded it and resolved for it in the Man and Mediator Christ Jesus both for the purpose and performance which crosseth as directly with the Sublapsarians who place the absolute decree of Predestination to life and of Reprobation unto death both of body and soul before the decree or consideration of sending his onely beloved Son Jesus Christ into the world to be the common Propitiation for the sins of men Fourthly That it was of some special ones alone Elect called fort and reserved in Christ and not generally extended unto all mankinde a General Election as they say being no Election Fifthly That being thus elected in Christ they shall be brought by Christ but not without their own consent and co-operation to everlasting salvation And finally That this Council is secret unto us for though there be revealed to us some hopeful signs of our Election and Predestation destination unto life yet the certainty thereof is a secret hidden in God and in this life unknown to us For who hath known the minde of the Lord or hath been his Counsellour or of his Secret Council saith the great Apostle 3. Such is the definition of Predestination and the substance of it in which there is nothing so obscure no term so intricate as to need any especial or distinct explication as those words Whom he hath chosen in Christ which being the very words of the same Apostle Ephesians first cap. 4. we will first paraphrase in the words of some ancient Writers and then illustrate them by others of our holiest Martyrs who had a principal hand in the Reformation First S. Ambrose amongst others sâ—cut elegit nos in ipso as he hath chosen us in him Praescivit enim Deus omnes scil qui credituri essent in Christum For God saith he by his general prescience did foreknow every man that would believe in Christ To the same purpose speaks S. Chrysostome saying Quod dicit perinde est ac â—si dicat Per quem nos benedixit per eundem elegit and a little after Quid est in ipso elegit per eam quae in ipso habenda esset fidem For praestitit prius quam ipsi essemus magis autem prius quam mundi hujus jacerentur Fundamenta Which is as much as to say saith he as if he had said That we are blessed in him in whom we are chosen and we are chosen in him in whom we believe which he performed before we our selves had any being or rather before the foundations of the world were laid And to the same effect the Commentary upon S. Pauls Epistles ascribed to S. Jerome viz. in hoc praedestavit ut haberent potestatem filii Dei fieri homines qui credere voluissent that is to say in this he hath predestinated us to Eternal life that men may be made the sons of God if they will believe Which sayings of those ancient Writers we shall expound by others of our holy Martyrs and first Archbishop Cranmer in his Answer to Gardiner touching the holy Sacrament telleth us this viz. ' Christ saith he took unto himself not onely their sins that many years before were dead and put their trust in him but also the sins of those that until his coming again should truly believe in his Gospel ' More fully Bishop Latimer thus ' When saith he we hear that some be chosen and some be damned let us have good hope that we be amongst the chosen and live after this hope that is uprightly and godly then shall we not be deceived think that God hath chosen those that believe in Christ and Christ is the Book of Life If thou believest in him then art thou written in the Book of Life and shalt be saved ' By which we may the better understand that passage in the Book of Homilies where it said ' That the Scripture shutteth up all under sin that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ should be given unto them that believe ' which is as much as can be comprehended in so narrow a compass 4.
This said as in the way of Explication we will next see what hath been positively delivered by our first Reformers concerning the fatality or absoluteness of Gods Decrees maintained by Calvin then and his followers since Of which thus Bishop Latimer in his Sermon upon Septuagâ—sâ—mâ— ' Some vain fellows make their reckoning thus What need I to mortifie my body with abstaining from all sin and wickedness I perceive God hath chosen some and some are rejected now if I be in the number of the chosen I cannot be damned but if I be accounted amongst the condeâ—ned number then I cannot be saved For Gods judgements are immutable such foolish and wicked reasons some have which bringeth them either to carnal liberty or to desperation Therefore it is as needful to beware of such reason or Exposition of the Scriptures as it is to beware of the Devil himself To the same purpose in his third Sermon after the Epiphany viz. We read in the Acts of the Apostles that when S. Paul had made a long Sermon at Antioch there believed saith the Evangilist as many as were ordained unto everlasting life With the which saying a great number of people have been offended and have said We perceive that onely those shall come to believe and so to everlasting life which are chosen of God unto it therefore it is no matter whatsoever we do for if we be chosen to everlasting life we shall have it And so they have opened a door unto themselves of all wickedness and carnal liberty against the true meaning of the Scripture For if they must be damned the fault is not in God but in themselves for it is written Deus vâ—lt omnes homines salvos fieire God would have all men should be saved But they themselves procure their own damnation and despise the passion of Christ by their own wicked and inordinate living ' 5. Hooper is bolder yet than he even to the censuring of those who by the fatality of these Decrees make God to be the Author of sin And first he lets us know in general ' That the blinde Southsayers that write of things to come were more to be esteemed of than our curious and high-climing wits for they attribute the cause of ill to the evil Aspect and sinister conjunctions of the Planets ' Which said we shall hear him speaking more particularly to the present point in this manner following viz. ' It is not a Christian mans part to attribute to his own freewil with the Pelagian and extenuate Original sin nor to make God the Author of evil and our damnation nor yet to say God hath written fatal Laws with the Stoicks and in the necessity of Destiny violently pulleth one by the hair into Heaven and thrusteth the other headlong into Hell ' And in another place 'Our Gospellists saâ—th he be better learned than the Holy Ghost for they wickedly attribute the cause of punishment and adversity to Gods Providence which is the cause of no ill as he himself could do no ill and every mischief that is done they say it is Gods will ' And then again ' Howsoever man judgeth of Predestination God is not the cause of sin thou art not the God that willest sin and it is said That thy perdition O Israel is of thy self and thy succour onely of me ' And finally to shut up his discourse hereof with some Application he shall tell us thus ' Being admonished by the Scripture that we must leave sin and do the works commanded of God it will prove but a carnal opinion which we blinde our selves withal of Fatal Destiny and in case there follow not in us knowledge of Christ amendment of life it is not a lively faith that we have but rather a vain knowledge and meer presumption ' 6. Next let us look upon such passages in the writings of those those godly men which teach us to enquire no further after our Election than as it is to be found in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Of which Bishop Latimer in the first place thus viz. ' If thou art desirous to know whether thou art chosen to everlasting life thou mayest not begin with God for God is too high thou canst not comprehend him the judgements of God are unknown to man therefore thou must not begin there But begin with Christ and learn to know Christ and wherefore that he came namely That he came to save sinners and made himself a subject of the Law and fulfiller of the same to deliver us from the wrath and danger thereof and therefore was crucified for our sins c. Consider I say Christ and his coming and then begin to try thy self whether thou art in the Book of Life or not If thou findest thy self in Christ then thou art sure of everlasting life If thou be without him then thou art in an evil case for it is written nemo venit ad patrem nisi pâ—r me that is no man cometh to my Father but through me therefore if thou knowest Christ thou mayest know further of thy Election ' And then in another place ' When we are troubled within our selves whether we be elected or no we must ever have this Maxime or principal rule before our eyes namely that God beareth a good will towards us God loveth us God beareth a Fatherly heart towards us But you will say How shall I know that or how shall I believe that We may know Gods good will towards us through Christ for so saith John the Evangelist Filius qui est in sinu patris ipse revelavit that is The Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath revealed it Therefore we may perceive his good will and love towards us He hath sent the same Son into the world which hath suffered most painful death for us Shall I now think that God hateth me or shall I doubt of his love towards me ' And in another place ' Here you see how you shall avoid the scrupulous and most dangerous question of the Predestination of God for if thou wilt enquire into his Councils and search his Consistory thy wit will deceive thee for thou shalt not be able to search the Council of God But if thou begin with Christ and consider his coming into the world and dost believe that God hath sent him for thy sake to suffer for thee and to deliver thee from sin death the Devil and Hell Then when thou art so armed with the knowledge of Christ then I say this simple question cannot hurt thee for thou art in the Book of Life which is Christ himself For thus it is writ Sice Deus dilexit mundum that God so entirely loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son to the end that all that believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life whereby appeareth most plainly that Christ is the Book of Life and that all that believe in
should be thus used for using a School-term Gomarus very wisely had a fling at the Two and telleth the Synod that since some men thought to carry it away annorum numero he himself had been a Professor not only 25 but 35 years Next he falleth upon Grotius and biddeth the Synod take heed of these men that brought in the Monstra Portenta vocabulorum the Barbarisms of the Schools of the Jesuits determinare non determinare voluntatem with many such speeches delivered with such sparklings of his eyes and fireceness of pronunciation as every man wondred the President did not cut him off at last he cut off himself I think for want of breath and the President giveth Celeberrimo Doctori Gomaro many thanks for that his Grave and accurate speech the Exteri wondred at it at last my Lord of Landaff in Good faith in a very grave short speech for which as for one of the least I am perswaded he ever delivered we and all the Exteri thought he deserved infinite Commendations he spake to the President to this purpose That this Synod called Disquisition was instituted for Edification not for any man to shew Studium Contentionis and therefore did desire him to look that the knot of Unity were not broken In this his Lordships speech he named no man the last word was hardly out of my Lordships mouth but furious Gomarus knowing himself guilty delivered this wise Speech Reverendissime D. Praesul non agendum est hic in Synodo authoritate sed ratione That it was free for him to speak in his own place which no man must think to abridge him of by their Authority My Lord replyed nothing but the President told my Lord that Celeberrimus D. Gom. had sayd nothing against mens Persons but their Opinions and therefore that he had sayd nothing worthy of Reprehension This gave every man just occasion to think the President was of the Plot. Martimus against this Speech of Gomarus sayd nothing but that he was sorry that he should have this Reward for his far Journey The Disquisition went on to Thysius who very discreetly told the Synod he was sorry Martinius should be so exagitated for a speech which according to Martinius his explication was true Just as Thysius was thus speaking Gomarus and Sibrandus who sate next him pulled him by the Sleeve talked to him in a confused angry noise in the hearing and seeing of all the Synod chiding him that he would say so afterwards Thysius with great moderation desired Martinius to give him satisfaction of one or two doubtful Sentences he had delivered which Martinius thanking him for his Courtesie fully did The President was certainly in this Plot against Martinius for at the same time he read out of a Paper publickly a note of all the hard Speeches Martinius had used All this while D. Grotius his patience was admired by all men who being so grosly abused and disgraced could get leave of his affections to hold his peace IX I could pursue these Differences further both in weight and number without any great trouble but that I have some ther work to do which is the pressing of some other Conformities between this Synod and the Councel the same Arts being used in drawing up the Cannons and Conclusions of the one as were observed in the other what Care and Artifice was used in the Councel of Trent so to draw up the Canons and Decrees thereof as to please all the differing Parties hath been already shewn in the third Chapter of this Book And in the History of the Councels we shall finde this passage Viz. That immediatly after the Session Fryer Dominicus Sâ—to principal of the Dominicans wrote three Books and did Intitle them of Nature and of Grace for Commentary of this Doctrine and in his Expositions all his Opinions are found When this Work was published Fryer Andrew Vega the most esteemed of the Franciscans set forth fifteen great Books for Commentarys upon the sixteen Points of that Decree and did expound it all according to his own Opinion which two Opinions sayth my Author do not only differ in almost all the Articles but in many of them are expresly contrary A perfect parallel to which we may finde in this Synod the Conclusions and Results whereof being so drawn up for giving satisfaction to the Sublapsarians that those of the Supralapsarian Faction might pretend some Title to them also Concerning which take here this passage from the Arcan Dogm Remonstr long since published where we are told of a bitter Contention betwixt Voetius and Maresius about the sense of this Synod the one of them maintaining that the Synod determined the Decree of Predestination and Reprobation to antecede the consideration of the Fall of Adam the other opposing him with an Apology in behalf of the Synod against that Assertion So that though assembled on purpose to decide these Controversies and appease the Broyls that Emerged and were inflamed upon them yet that they might seem to agree together in some thing have they wrapt up their Decrees and Canons in so many Clouds and confounded them with so many Intricacies if a man hath recourse to their Suffrages for an Interpretation that they are like to fall into a greater new Schism before they come to a setled Resolution of knowing what the meaning of that Synod is And so much of the parallel between the councel of Trent the synod of Dâ—rt touching the managery of all affairs both in fact and post fact X. It was to be supposed in the midst of so many Differences and disorders the Remonstrants might have found a way to have saved themselves either by fomenting the Contentions or by finding some Favours at their hands who seemed to be any thing inclinable to their Opinions but no such favour could be gained not so much as hoped for though Ephraim was against Manasses and Manasses against Ephraim yet were they both together against Judah as the Scripture tells us Nor did the differences between the Supralapsarians and the Sublapsarians or those which were of equal moment in the other Points extend so far as to be any hindrance to the condemning of those poor men to whom they were resolved not to give an equal hearing before the final sentence of their recondemnation so truly was it sayd by some of the Remonstrants themselves Adeo facile Coeunt qui in fatalitatem absolutam tantum consentiunt In order whereunto many indirect proceedings had been used to hinder those of the Remonstrant or Arminian Party by excommunicating some and citing others to appear as criminal persons from being returned Commissioners from their several Classes and to refuse admittance to them into the Synod upon such Returns except they would oblige themselves to desert their Party as in the case of those of Vtrecht there when the Parties whom they cited were authorized by the rest to present themselves before the Synod and to press
lay open to such further informations as were offered to him which drew him to a better liking both of the Men and their Opinions then he had formerly entertained of either of them IV. It is objected secondly that these Doctrines symbolize so much with the Church of Rome that they serve only for a Bridge for Popery to passe over into any Church into which they can obtain admittance This Calumny first laid upon them in a Declaration of the States Generall against Barnevelt before remembred wherein they charge him with a design of confederating with the Spaniard to change the Religion of those Countreys and countenancing to that end the Arminian party as his fittest Instruments which clamor being first raised in Holland was afterwards much cherished and made use of by the Puritan or Calvinian party amongst us in England By one of which it is alleadged that Mr. Pym being to make a report to the House of Commons An. 1626. touching the Books of Richard Mountague after Bishop of Chichester affirmed expressely that the whole scope of his Booke was to discourage the well-affected in Religion and as much as in him lay to reconcile them unto Popery He gives us secondly a Fragment of a scattered Paper pretended to be written to the Rector of the Jesuites Colledge in Bruxells in which the Writer lets him know that they had strongly fortified their Faction here in England by planting the Soveraign Drug Arminianisme which he hoped would purge the Protestants from their Heresie Thirdly he backs this Paper with a Clause in the Remonstrance of the House of Commons 1628. where it is said that the hearts of his Majesties Subjects were perplexed in beholding the daily growth and spreading of the Faction of Arminianisme that being as his Majesty well knew so they say at least but a cunning way to bring in Popery To all which being but the same words out of divers mouths it is answered first That the points which are now debated between the Calvinians and the old Protestants in England between the Remonstrants and the Contra-Remonstrants in the Belgick Churches and finally between the rigid and moderate Lutherans in the upper Germany have been as fiercely agitated between the Franciscans and the Dominicans in the Church of Rome The old English Protestants the Remonstrants and the moderate Lutherans agreeing in these points with the Franciscans as the English Calvinists the Contra-Remonstrants and the rigid Lutherans do with the Dominicans So that there is a compliance on all sides with one of the said two differing parties in the Church of Rome And therefore why a generall complyance in these poynts with the Fryers of St. Dominick the principall sticklers promoters of that Inquisition should not be thought as ready a way to bring in Popery as any such complyance with the Fryers of St. Francis he must be a very wise man indeed which can give the reason Secondly it is answered that the Melanctonian or moderate Lutherans which make up infinitely the greatest part of the Lutheran Churches agree in these points with the Jesuites or Franciscan Fryers and yet are still as far from relapsing to the Church of Rome as when they made the first separation from it And therefore thirdly that if Arminianisme as they call it be so ready a Bridge for passing over to Popery it would be very well worth the knowing how and by what means it should come to passe that so few of the Remonstrants in the Belgick Provinces and none of those whom they call Arminians in the Church of England should in so long a time pass over that Bridge notwithstanding all the Provocations of want and scorn which were put upon the one and have been since multiplyed upon the other V. In the next place it is objected that the Arminian Doctrines naturally incline a man to the sin of pride in attributing so much to the power of his own will so little to the Grace of God in choosing both the means and working out of the end of his own salvation And for the proof hereof a passage is alleadged out of the History of the Councell of Trent that the first opinion that is to say the Doctrin of Predestination according to the opinion of the Dominican Fryers as it is hidden and mysticall keeping the minde humble and relying on God without any confidence in it self knowing the deformity of Sin and the excellency of Divine Grace so the Second being that maintained by the Franciscans was plausible and popular and cherished humane presumption c. The whole passage we have had before in the Second Chapter Num. 4. but we shall answer to no more of it then the former Clause Concerning which it may be said that though Father Paul the Author of the History hath filled the Christian World with admiration yet it is obvious to the eye of any discerning Reader that in many places he savoureth not so much of the Historian as he doth of the Party and that being carryed by the Interest of his Native Countrey which was the Signory of Venice he seldome speaks favourably of the Jesuites and their adherents amongst which the Franciscans in these poynts are to be accounted Secondly that either Father Paul did mistake himself or else that his Translator hath mistaken his meaning in making the Second Opinion to be more pleasing to the Preaching Fryers then the understanding Divines the name of Preaching Fryers being so appropriated in common speech to those of the Dominican Order that it is never applyed unto any other And Thirdly that the Authority of Father Paul is no otherwise to be embraced in Doctrinall matters what credit soever may be given to him in point of History then as it is seconded by Reason And certainly if we proceed by the rule of Reason that Doctrine must needs more cherish humane presumption which puffeth men up with the certainty of their Election the infallibility of assisting and persisting Grace the impossibility of falling from the attaining of that salvation which they have promised to themselves then that which leaves these poynts uncertain which puts a man to the continuall necessity of calling on God and working out the way unto his salvation with fear and trembling He that is once possessed with this perswasion that all the sins which he can possibly commit were they as many as have been committed by all Mankinde since the beginning of the World are not able to frustrate his Election or separate him from the love and favour of Almighty God will be too apt to swell with Pharisaicall pride and despise all other men as Heathens and Publicans when such poor Publicans as have their minds humble and relying â—n God will stand aloof not daring to approach too neer the Divine Majesty but crying out with God be mercifull unto me a sinner and yet shall be more justified in the sight of God then the others are For this we need produce no proof
him are of the same Book and so are chosen to everlasting life for onely those are ordained that believe ' Nor stays that godly Bishop here but proceeds after some intervening passages towards this Conclusion ' Here is now taught you saith he how to try your Election namely in Christ For Christ is the Accompting Book and Register of God and even in the same Book that is Christ are witten all the names of the Elect therefore we cannot finde our Election in our selves neither yet the high Council of God for inscrutabilia suâ—t judicia Altissimi Where then shall I finde my Election in the Compting Book of God which is Christ c. ' Agreeable whereunto we finde Bishop Hooper speaking thus ' The cause of our Election is the mercy of God in Christ howbeit he that will be partaker of this Election must receive the promise in Christ by faith for therefore we be elected because afterwards we are made the members of Christ So we judge of Election by the event or success that hapneth in the life of man those onely to be elected ' that by faith apprehend the mercy promised in Christ To the same purpose also but not so clearly and perspicuously speaks the Book of Homilies where we finde it thus viz. ' That of our selves as in our selves we finde nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable captivity in which we were cast through the envy of the Devil by breaking Gods Commandment in our first Parent Adam It is the Lord with whom is plenteous Redemption he is the God which of his own mercy saveth us c. not for our own deserts merits or good deeds c. but of his meer mercy freely and for whose sake truly for Christ Jesus sake the pure and undesiled Lamb of God c. for whose sake God is fully pacified satisfied and set at one with man Such is the Doctrine of the Church in the matter of Predestination unto life according to the judgement of these learned men and godly Martyrs who were of such Authority in the Reformation ' 8. Proceed we next to one of an inferiour Order the testimony of John Bradford Martyr a man in very high esteem with Martin Bucer made one of the Prebends of S. Pauls Church by Bishop Ridley and one who glorified God in the midst of the flames with as great courage as his Patron of whom we finde a Letter extant in the Acts and Monuments directed to his friends N. S. and R. â— being at that time not thorowly instructed in the Doctrine of Gods Election The words of which Letter are as followeth ' I wish to you my good Brethren the same grace of God in Christ which I wish and pray the Father of mercies to give me for his holy names sake amen Your Letter though I have not read my self because I would not alienate my minde from conceived things to write to others yet I have heard the sum of it that it is of Gods Election wherein I will briefly relate to you my faith and how far I think it good and meet for a Christian to wade in I believe That man made after the image of God did fall from that pleased estate to the condemnation of him and all his posterity I believe that Christ for man being then fallen did oppose himself to the judgement of God as a Mediator paying the ransome and price of Redemption for Adam and his whole posterity that refuse it not finally I believe that all that believe I speak of such as be of years of discretion are partakers of Christ and all his merits I believe that faith and belief in Christ is the work and gift of God given to no other then to those which be his children that is to those whom God the Father before the beginning of the world hath Predestinated in Christ unto Eternal life Thus do I wade in Predestination in such sort as God hath patefied and opened it Though to God it be the first yet to us it is the last opened and therefore I begin with Creation from whence I come to Redemption so to Justification so to Election On this sort I am sure that warily and wisely a man may walk it easily by the light of Gods Spirit in and by his Word seeing this faith is not to be given to all men 2 Thess 3. but to such as are born of God Predestinated before the world was made after the purpose and good will of God c. ' Which judgement of this holy man comes up so close to that of the former Martyrs and is so plainly cross to that of the Calvinistical party that Mr. Fox was fain to make soom Scholia's on it to reconcile a gloss like that of Orleance which corrupts the Text and therefore to have no place here however it may be disposed of at another time But besides the Epistle above mentioned there is extant a Discourse of the said godly Martyr entituled The sum of the Doctrine of Predestination and Reprobation in which is affirmed That our own wilfulness sin and contemning of Christ are the cause of Reprobation as is confessed by the Author of the Anti-Arminianism p. 103. though afterwards he puts such a gloss upon it as he doth also on the like passages in Bishop Hooper as makes the sin of man to be the cause onely of the execution and not of the decree of Reprobation 9. But it is said That any one that reads the Common-Prayer Book with an unprejudiced minde cannot chuse but observe divers passages that make for a Personal Eternal Election So it is said of late and till of late never so said by any that ever I heard of the whose frame and fabrick of the Publique Liturgie being directly opposite to this new conceit For in the general Confession we beseech the Lord to spare them that confess their faults and restore them that be penitent according to his promises declared unto mankinde in Christ Jesus our Lord In the Te Deum it is said that Christ our Saviour having overcome the sharpness of death did open the Kingdâ—m of heaven to all believers In the Prayer for the first day of Lent That God hateth nothing which he hath made but doth forgive the sins of all them that be penitent In the Prayer at the end of the Commination That God hath compassion of all men that he hateth nothing which he hath made that he would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from sin and repent In the Absolution before the Communion That God of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them which with hearty repentance and truâ— faith turn unto him Can any one which comes with an unprejudiced minde to the Common-Prayer Book observe any thing that savoureth of a Personal Election in all these passages or can he hope to finde them in any other Look then upon the last Exhortation
inconstant constant in our works And thereupon it is inferred in behalf of those who maintain the infallibility of such assurance that they mean no otherwise than this that is to say that in regard of God faithful and true in respect of his promises Yea and Amen every child of God renewed by Grace may and ought infallibly assure himself of his own salvation procured in Christ who yet in regard of his own infirmity and inconstancy cannot chuse but waver in his assurance and feare the worst though he hope the best And this if Bellarmine say right is Saint Augustines doctrine out of whom he collects thus much Ex promissione Christi potest unusquisque colligere se transisse à morte ad vitam in â—udicium non venire that is to say that every man he means it only of the regenerate man may collect from the promise of Christ that he is translated from death to life and shall not be brought unto the judgement of condemnation the Cardinal thereupon resolves that a man may collect so much by infallible assurance and divine if he look into theâ— faithfulnesse of him that promiseth but if he consider his own disposition we assigne no more but probable and conjectural assurance only 6. Which said as to the certainty and incertainty of the assurance which a man may have within himself not only concerning his present being in the state of Grace as his continuance and perseverance in it for time to come we must next look into the Doctrine of this Church in the point it self For having formerly maintained in the tenth Article of her Confession that there remains a freedome of the Will in man for laying or not laying hold upon those means which are offered by the Grace of God for our salvation she must by consequence maintaine also that there is a freedome from the Will in standing unto Grace received or departing from it Certaine I am that it is so resolved in the sixteenth Article for her Confession in which it is declared that after we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from the Grace given and fall into sin and by the Grace of God we may arise again and amend our lives where plainly the Church teacheth a possibility of falling or departing from the Grace of the Holy Ghost which is given unto us and that our rising again and amending of our lives upon such a rising is a matter of contingency only and no way necessary on Gods part to assure us of a Doctrine so repugnant to that of the Calvinists that to make the Article come up to their opinion they would faine adde neither finally nor totally as appears by that of Doctor Reynolds at Hampton Court to the first clause of it By which Addition as they would make the last part of it to be absolutely unprofitable and of no effect so do they wilfully oppose themselves against the known maxim in the Civil Laws which telleth us Non esse distinguendum ubi lex non distinguit that no distinctions must be made in the explicating or expounding of any Law which is not to be found in the Law it self And therefore for the clear understanding of the Churches meaning we must have recourse in this as in other Articles to the plain words of Bishop Latimer and Bishop Hooper so often mentioned in this Work 7. And first we finde Bishop Latimer discoursing thus ' Let us not do saith he as the Jewes did which were stiff-necked they would not leave their sinnes they had a pleasure in the same they would follow their old Traditions refusing the Word of God therefore their destruction came worthily upon them And therefore I say let us not follow them lest we receive such a reward as they had lest everlasting destruction come upon us and so we be cast out of the favour of God and finally lost world without end And in another place I say there be two manner of men some there be that are not justified not regenerate not yet in the state of salvation that is to say not Gods servants they take the Renovation or Regeneration they be not come yet to Christ or if they were be fallen again from him and so lost their justification as there be many of us when we fall willingly into sin against conscience we lose the favour of God and finally the Holy Ghost But you will say How shall I know that I am in the Book of Life I answer that we may be one time in the Book and another time come out of it again as it appeareth by David who was written in the Book of Life but when he sinned â—oully at that time came out of the favour of God until he repented and was sorry for his faults so that we may be in the Book one time and afterwards when we forget God and his Word and do wickedly we come out of the Book which is Christ The like we finde in Bishop Hooper first telling us that the causes of Rejection or Damnation is sinne in man that will not hear neither receive the promise of the Gospel or else after he hath received it by accustomed doing of ill falleth either unto a contempt of the Gospel or will not study to live thereafter or else he hateth the Gospel because it condemneth his ungodly life After which he proceedeth to the application Refuse not therefore the Grace offered nor once received banish it with ill conversation If we fall let us hear Almighty God that calleth us to repent and with his Word and return let us not continue in sinne nor heap one sinne upon another lest at last we come to a contempt of God and his Word ' In the beginning of his Paraphrase or Exposition to the thirteenth Chapter of the Romans he speaks as plainly to this purpose which passage might here deserve place also but that I am called upon by Master Tyndall whose testimony I am sure will be worth the having and in the Prologue to his Exposition on the same Epistle he informs us thus ' None of us saith he can be received to Grace but upon a condition to keep the Law neither yet continue any longer in Grace than that promise lasteth And if we break the Law we must sue for a new pardon and have a new light against sinne hell and desperation yet we can come to a quiet faith again and feele that sinne is forgiven neither can there be in thee a stable and undoubted faith that thy sinne is forgiven thee except there be also a lusty courage in thy heart and trust that thou wilt sinne no more for on this condition that thou wilt sinne no more is the promise of mercie and forgivenesse made unto thee ' 8. But against all this it is objected that Montague himself both in his Gag and his Appeale confesseth that the Church hath left this undecided that is to say neither determining
threatnings of God as well believe the Law as the Gospel as well that there is an hell and everlasting fire as there is an heaven and everlasting joy as well they should believe damnation to be threatned to the wicked and evil doers as salvation to be promised to the faithful in Word and Works as well they should believe God to be true in the one as the other ' And for sinners that continue in this wicked living they ought to think that the promises of Gods mercy and the Gospel pertain not unto them being in that state but only the Law and those Scriptures which contain the wrath and indignation of God and his threatnings which should certifie them that as they do over boldly presume of Gods mercy and live dissolutely so doth God still more and more withdraw his mercy from them as he is so provoked thereby to wrath at length that he destroyeth such presumers many times suddenly for of such Saint Paul said thus When they shall say it is peace there is no danger then shall sudden destruction come upon them let us beware therefore of such naughty boldness to sin for God which hath promised his mercy to them that be truly penitent although it be at the latter end hath not promised to the presumptuous sinner either that he shall have long life or that he shall have true Repentance at the last end But for that purpose hath he made every mans death uncertain that he should not put his hope in the end and in the mean season to Gods high displeasure live ungodlily Wherefore let us follow the counsel of the Wise man let us make no sarrying to turn unto the Lord let us not put off from day to day for suddenly his wrath comes and in time of vengeance he will destroy the wicked let us therefore turn betimes and when we turn let us pray to God as Hosea teached saying Forgive all our sins receive us graciously And if we turn to him with an humble and a very penitent heart he will receive us to his favour and grace for his holy Names sake for his Promise sake for his Truth and Mercies sake promised to all faithful believers in Jesus Christ his only natural Son To whom the only Saviour of the world with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour glory and power world without end Amen ' 3. These are the very words of the second Homily touching falling from God in which we have many evident proofs not only that there is a falling and a frequent falling but also a total yea a final falling from the grace of God according to the Doctrine of the Church of England And hereunto I must needs say that I never met with any satisfactory and sufficient Answer how much soever some have slighted the authority of it or the strength rather of the Argument which is taken from it for Mr. Yates of Ipswitch from whose candle most of them that followed borrow all their light in his book intituled Ibis ad Caesarem writ against Montagues Appeal can finde no better answers to it or evasions from it then they four that follow viz. 1. That the Homily speaks of the visible Church and therefore is not to be construed in the same sense of all whereas the Homily speaketh of Gods chosen people his chosen Vineyard are the words and consequently not only of the mixed multitude in a visible Church He answers secondly That it speaks with limitation and distinction some beholding the face of Gods mercy aright others not as they ought to do the one of which may fall quite away the other being transformed can never be wholly deformed by Satan But this is such a pitiful shift as could not save the man from the scorn of laughter had he been dealt with in his kind the Homily speaking largely of those men which having beheld Gods face of mercy in Jesus Christ as they ought to do do afterwards neglect the same prove unthankful to him and order not their lives according to his Example and Doctrine c. for which consult the place at large in the former Church He answers thirdly that the Homily speaks conditionally if they afterwards c. that is to say if afterwards they neglect the same prove unthankful to him and order not their lives according to his Example and Doctrine c. and so concludes nothing positively and determinately which is a sorrier shift than that which you had before for if such conditional Propositions conclude nothing positively what will become of all those Propositions in the Scriptures by which we are assured That if a sinner do repent him of his sins and wickednesses he shall find mercy from the Lord Do they conclude nothing positively neither most miserable were the state of man if these conditional Propositions should conclude nothing to the comfort of a troubled conscience And finally he answereth thus that the Homily speaks of Gods dreadful countenance appearing in plagues sword famine and such like temporal punishments wherewith the Elect may be chastened as well as others that they may not for ever be condemned with the wicked the first part of which Allegation I confess to be true Gods judgements falling promiscuously on all sotts of people but the addition is unknown and is not to be found in the words of the Homily And secondly the Homily speaks not only of Gods temporal judgements with which the Elect be chastened as well as others that they may not for ever be condemned with the wicked but positively and determinately of taking from them his Kingdom and holy word as in the former so that they shall be no longer of his Kingdom governed no longer by his holy Spirit put from the Grace and benefit which they had c. 4. But Master Yates intends not so to leave the matter we must first see that he is as good at raising an Objection as at the making of an Answer and he objecteth out of another of the Homilies that though the godly do fall yet they walk not on purposely in sinne they stand not still to continue and tarry in sinne they sit not down like carelesse men without all fear of Gods just punishment for sinne through Gods great grace and infinite mercy they rise again and fight against sinne c. But first it may be hoped that Master Yates could not be ignorant how great a difference there is betwixt such passages as fall occasionally and on the by from the pen of a Writer discoursing on another Argument and those which do occur in such Discourses Sermons and other Tractates as purposely are made and fitted to the point in hand And secondly though it be affirmed in the said Homily that the godly man which shall adde sinne to sinne by Gods great grace and infinite mercy may arise again and fight against sinne Yet can it not be gathered thence that it is so at all times
Gospel viz. How many a time and oft have I assayed to gather thy children together and to joyn them to my self none otherwise then the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings that they may not miscarry But thy stubborness hath gone beyond my goodness and as though thou hadst even vow'd and devoted thy self to utter ruine so dost thou refuse all things whereby thou mighâ—est be recovered and made whole And finally as to the possibility of falling from the faith of Christ he thus declares himself in the Exposition of our Saviours Parable touching the sower and the seed viz. There is another sort of men which greedily hear the word of the Gospel and set it deep enough in their mind and keep it long but their minds being entangled and choaked with troublesome cares of this world and especially of riches as it were with certain thick thorns they cannot freely follow that he â—â—veth because they will not suffer these thornes which cleave together and be entangled one with another among themselves to be cut away the fruit of the seed which is sowen doth utterly perish Which being so either we must conclude the doctrine of this Church in the Book of Articles to be the same with that which is contained in the Paraphrases of this learned man or else condemn the godly Bishops of this Church and the religious Princes above mentioned of a great imprudence in recommending them to the diligent and careful reading both of â—â—iest and People HISTORIA QVINQV ARTICVLARIS OR A DECLARATION Of the Judgement of the WESTERN CHVRCHES And more particularly of the CHURCH of ENGLAND In the five Controverted Points Reproached in these last Times by the name of Arminianisme PART III. CONTAINING The first Breakin gs out of the Predestinarians in the Church of England and the Pursuance of those Quarrels from the Reign of King EDWARD the sixth to the death of King JAMES By P. HEYLIN D. D. LONDON Printed for T. Johnson at the sign of the Key in Pauls Church-yard 1660. PART III. CHAP. XVI Of the first Breakin gs out of the Predestinarians and their Proceedings in the same 1. THE Predestinarians called at first by the name of Gospellers 2. Campneys a professed enemy to the Predestinarians but neither Papist nor Pelagtan 3. The common practises of the Calvinists to defame their Adversaries the name of Free will men to whom given why 4. The Doctrine of John Knox. in restraining all mens actions either good or evil to the determinate Will and Counsel of God 5. The like affirmed by the Author of the Table of Predestination in whom and the Genevian Notes we find Christ to be excluded from being the foundation of mans Election and made to be an inferiour cause of salvation only 6. God made to be the Author of sin by the Author of a Pamphlet entituled against a Privy Papist and his secret Counsels called in for the proof thereof both by him and Knox with the mischiefs which ensued upon it 7. The Doctrine of Robert Crowly imputing all mens sins to Predestination his silly defences for the same made good by a distinction of John Verons and the weakness of that distinction shewed by Campneys 8. The Errours of the former Authors opposed by Campneys his book in answer to those Errours together with his Orthodoxie in the point of universal Redemption and what he builds upon the same 9. His solid Arguments against the imputing of all actions either good or evil to Predestination justified by a saying of Prosper of Aquitaine 10. The virulent prosecutions of Veron and Crowly according to the Genius of the sect of Calvin THus we have seen the Doctrine of the Church of England in the five â—nntroverted points according to the Principles perswasions of the first Reformers And to say truth it was but time that they should come to some conlusion in the points disputed there being some men who in the beginning of the Reign of King Edward the sixth busily stickled in the maintenance of Calvins Doctrines And thinking themselves to be more Evangelical then the rest of their brethren they either took unto themselves or had given by others the name of Gospellers Of this they were informed by the reverent Prelate and right godly Martyr Bishop Hooper in the Preface to his Exposition of the ten Commandments Our Gospellors saith he be better learned then the holy Ghost for they wickedly attribute the cause of Punishments and Adversity to Gods Providence which is the cause of no ill as he himself can do no ill and over every mischief that is done they say it is Gods Will. In which we have the men and their Doctrine how the name of Gospellers and the reason why that name was ascribed unto them It is observed by the judicious Author of the Book called Europae Speculum that Calvin was the first of these latter times who searcht into the Counsels the eternal Counsels of Almighty God And as it seems he found there some other Gospel then that which had been written by the four Evangelists from whence his followers in these Doctrines had the name of Gospellers for by that name I find them frequently called by Campneys also in an Epistolary Discourse where he clears himself from the crimes of Popery and Pelagianism which some of these new Gospellers had charged upon him which had I found in none but him it might have been ascribed to heat or passion in the agitation of these quarrels but finding it given to them also by Bishod Hooper a temperate and modest man I must needs look upon it as the name of the Sect by which they were distinguished from other men 2. And now I am fallen upon this Campneys it will not be unnecessary to say something of him in regard of the great part he is to act on the stage of this business Protestant he was of the first edition cordially affected to the Doctrine of the Church of England in the present points but of a sharp and eager spirit And being not well weaned from some points of Popery in the first dawning of the day of our Reformation he gave occasion unto some of those whom he had exasperated to inform against him that they prosecuted the complaint so far that he was forced to bear a faggot at St. Pauls Cross as the custome was in all such cases Miles Coverdale then or not long after Bishop of Exon preaching a Sermon at the same But whatsoever he was then in other Doctrinals he hath sufficiently purged himself from the crimes of Popery and Pelagianism wherewith he had been charged by those of the adverse party For whereas one William Samuel had either preached or written in Queen Maries time That a man might deserve God c. Campneys beholds it for a doctrine so blasphemous and abominable that neither Papists nor Pelagians nor any other Heretick old or new hath ever written or maintained a more filthy and execrable saying For
of his Preface after which it might have sundry other impressions that which I follow being of the year 1621. And though the Supra-lapsarians or rigid Calvinists or Supra-creatarians rather as a late judicious Writer calls them differ exceedingly in these points from many of their more moderate brethren distinguished from them by the name of Sub-lapsarians yet in all points touching the specifying of their several supposed Decrees they agree well enough together and therefore wink at one another as before was noted 3. Notwithstanding the esteem wherewith both sorts of Calvinists entertained the book it found not the like welcome in all places nor from all mens hands Amongst other Parsons the Jesuite gives this censure of him viz. That by the deep humour of fancy he hath published and writ many books with strange Titles which neither he nor his Reader do understand as namely about the Concatenation of laying together of the causes of mans Predestination and Reprobation c. Jacob van Harmine afterwards better known by the name of Arminius being then Preacher of the Church of Amsterdam not only censured in brief as Parsons did but wrote a full discourse against it entituled Examen Predestinationis Perkinsanae which gave the first occasion to these controversies many appearing in defence of Perkins and his Opinions which afterwards involved the Sub-lapsarians in the self same Quarrel Amongst our selves it was objected ' That his Doctrine referring all to an absolute decree ham-string'd all industry and cut off the sinews of mens endeavours towards salvation for ascribing all to the wind of Gods Spirit which bloweth where it listeth he leaveth nothing to the cares of mens diligence either to help or hinder to the attaining of happiness but rather opens a wide door to licentious security ' But none of all our English was so sharp in their censures of him as Dr. Robbert Abbot then Dr. of the Chair in Oxon. and not long after Bishop of Sarum who in his book against Tompson though others inclined too much to Calvins Doctrines gives this Judgement of Mr. Perkinsius viz. Alioqui eruditus pius in discriptione Divinae Praedestinationis quam ille contra nostram contra veteris Ecclesiae fidem citra lapsum Adami absolute decretum constituit erravit errorem non levem cujus adortis quibusdam viris inita jamdudum suscepta defensio turbas ecclesiis non necessarias dedit quas etiamnum non sine scandalo periculo haerere videmus dum viam quisque quam ingressus est sibi ante tenendum jndicat quam ductam sacrarum literarum authoritate lineam veritatis tanquam filum Ariadnaeum sibi ducem faciat that is to say Perkins though otherwise a godly and learned man in his description of Divine Predestination which contrary not only to the Doctrine of the primitive times but also unto that of the Church of England he builds upon an absolute decree of Almighty God without referrence to the Fall of Adam ran himself into no small error The defence whereof being undertaken by some learned men hath given the Church some more then necessary troubles which still continued not without manifest scandal and Danger to it whilst every one doth rather chuse to follow his own Way therein then suffer himself to be guided in the Labyrinth by the line of truth as by the clew of Ariadne drawn from the undeniable Authority of holy Scriptures And so I leave the man with this observation that he who in his writings had made the infinitly greatest part of all mankind uncapable of Gods grace and mercy by an absolute and irrespective decree of Reprobation who in expounding the Commandments when he was Catechist of Christs Colledge in Cambridge did lay the Law so home in the ears of his Auditors that it made their hearts fall down and yea their hair to stand almost upright and in his preaching use to pronounce the word Damned with so strong an Emphasis that it left an eccho in the ears of his hearers a long time after this man scarce lived out half his dayes being no more then fourty four years of age from the time of his death at the pangs conducing unto which he was noted to speak nothing so articulately as Mercy Mercy which I hope God did graciously vouchsafe to grant him in that wofull Agony 4. But to proceed this Doctrine finding many followers and Whitacres himself then Dr. of the Chair in Cambridge concurring in opinion with him it might have quickly over-spread the whole University had it not been in part prevented and in part suppressed by the care and diligence of Dr. Baroe and his Adherents who being a French man born of eminent piety and learning and not inclimable at all unto Calvins Doctrines had been made the Lady Margarets Professor for the University somewhat before the year 1574. For in that year he published his Lectures on the Prophet Jonah In one of which being the 29th in number he discourseth on these words of the Prophet viz. Yet forty dayes and Nineveh shall be destroyed cap. 3. ver 4. where we find it thus Haec denunciatio non est quasi Proclamatio decreti divini absoluti sed quaedam ratio praepâ—nendae divinae voluntatis qua Deus corum animos flectere voluit quare haec oratio et si simplex absoluta vâ—eatur tacitam tamen habet conditionem nisi rescipiscant namque hanc in esse conditionem eventus comprobavit The denouncing of this Judgement saith that learned man is not to be beheld as the publication of one of Gods absolute Decrees but only as a form observed in making Gods Will known unto them by which he ment to put them to it and rouse their spirits to Repentance Therefore saith he although the Denunciation of the following Judgement seem to be simply positive and absolute yet hath it notwithstanding this Condition that is to say unless they do repent included in it for that such a condition was included in it the event doth shew which said he leads us on to the denouncing of the like Judgement on the house of Abimileck which he had before in Dr. King chap. 18. num 11. who herein either followed Baroe or at the least concurred in opinion with him And in the next place he proceeds a little further then the case of the Ninivites touching upon the point of Election unto life eternal by the most proper superstructure could be laid upon such a foundation Dei voluntas non erat ut perirent si rescipiscerent non vult enim mortem peccatoris sed ut convertatur Et rursus Dei erat voluntas ut perirent nisi rescipiscerent Haec enim duo unum sunt ut Dei voluntas est ut vitam habeamus si credamus Et Dei voluntas non est ut vitam habeamus nisi credamus aut si credentes perseveremus non autem si aliquandiu credentes non persâ—veremus that