Selected quad for the lemma: book_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
book_n	call_v	church_n	time_n	2,817	5	3.2368	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A78160	Prædestination, as before privately, so now at last openly defended against post-destination. In a correptorie correction, given in by way of answer to, a (so called) correct copy of some notes concerning Gods decrees, especially of reprobation; published the last summer, by Mr. T.P. in which correct copy of his, he left so much of pelagianisme, massilianisme, arminianisme uncorrected, as Scripture, antiquity, the Church of England, schoolmen, and all orthodox neotericks will exclaime against to his shame, as is manifestly evinced, / by William Barlee, rector of Brock-hole in Northamptonshire. To which are prefixed the epistles of Dr. Edward Reynolds, and Mr. Daniel Cawdrey.	Barlee, William.; Reynolds, Edward, 1599-1676.; Cawdrey, Daniel, 1588-1664.	1657 (1657)	Wing B819; Thomason E904_1; ESTC R19533	287,178	284

the Church of God and in our memory so much danger and distemper to the Belgick Nation whereof King James was so sensible that in a Letter to the States King James his Declarat against Vorstius in his works in Engl●sh p. 350. 355. he calleth Arminius an enemy of God and chargeth Bertius with grossely lying against the Church of England in avowing that the Heresies contained in his blasphemous book of the Apostacie of the Saints they are the Kings own words were agreeable with the Religion and profession of this Church And he did solemnlie desire the Embassadors of that State to forewarn them from him to beware of the disciples of Arminius of whom though himselfe lately dead he had left too many behind him When you first acquainted me with your purpose to answer that tract which was before I had seen it it being then but manuscript and had onely heard from you the drift of it you well remember what my judgement was that in polemicall writings it was best to forbeare the persons of men and to hold close to the Argument I learned it of Tertullian a grave writer Tertul. advers Hermog c. 1. viderit persona cum doctrina mihi quaestio est And it was the speech of an aged holy divine of this Country now with God that in disputes soft words and hard arguments were best Yet I deny not but the case may so be that in writings of this nature there may be a necessitie as well of sharp rebukes as of strong refutations Tit. 1. 13. And truly it was matter of much trouble to me to finde in that Treatise a distinction of Modest Blasphemers and others who are for Ligonem Ligonem And to finde so eminent servants of Christ as Calvin Dr Twisse and others to bee ranged under one of those members as men that tell the world though such words are no where found in them but the quite contrary that the evill of sinne in man proceedeth from God onely as the author and from man onely as the instrument yea to be worse then the Manichees and Marcionites of old as to this particular blasphemie Vide Aug. cont Julian lib. 1. cap. 2. For though the names of the authors are not as is said in civilitie cited yet the references in the margin of the book which surely were not set there to beare no signification make me think of Tacitus his observation Tacit. Annal. lib. 3. verbis ultim●is touching the Effigies of Brutus and Cassius in the funerall of Junia praefulgebant Brutus Cassius eo ipso quod effigies eorum non visebantur It had been much to be wished that imputations of such a straine had been left by men professing modestie and ingenuitie unto Bolsec and others of his complexion But by whomsoever used they are but as the Confectioners beating of his spices which doth not at all hinder but strengthen the fragrancie of them I do not jurare in verba either of Calvin or any other man But I cannot but with griefe bee sensible of so high a charge as blasphemie to bee laid upon persons so deeplie acquainted with the mind of God in his word as they were The vindicating of them I leave to you and shall onely say that their Lord and their Brethren before them have met with the same measure Mar. 2. 7. Mat. 26 65. Acts 6. 13. And that there have been men of great learning and not wholly devoted to the judgement B. Andrewes opuscul p. 115 of Calvin who have taught even dissenters thus to speak of him Calvino illustri viro nec unquam sine summi honoris praefatione nominando non assentior But it is no new thing to draw invidious consequents from such opinions as we have a minde to render odious unto the world A fate which hath ever Vide etiam contra Julian 6. 2. cap. 1. l. 3. cap. 24 lib. 4. cap. 3. followed these controversies from the beginning of them Nine or ten Pelagian calumnies Austin that renowned Champion of grace is put to remove in his second and third books contra duas Epistolas Pelagianorum In the Epistles of Prosper and Hilary unto him we finde many heavy consequents charged by the Massilienses upon his doctrine de vocatione secundum propositum de praedestionatione that it giveth occasion of sinning makes men carelesse of standing carelesse after lapses of rising againe taketh away all industry and regard of vertue induceth a fatall necessitie weakneth vigour of preaching is contrary to the edification of hearers rendreth fruitlesse all Christian correption and driveth men unto despaire Yea that holy man or Prosper his follower for the worke goes under both In respons ad Articulos si bi falso impositos in edit Basil Prosper ad capitula object Vicentian Histor Gotschalc cap. 2 3. Amica Collatio p. 294. names was faine to conflict with these very objections of Gods making men to destroy them and of his being the author of sinne And after that the same objections were made against the same doctrine of Austin under the odious name of Haeresis praedestinatiana as the renowned Bp Usher and learned Camero have observed And the same wee finde revived in handling the same controversies in our daies rendring those opinions which please us not as fore impedidiments unto true piety by the Author of the book called Gods love to mankinde and others From which charge they have been sufficiently vindicated Prosper ad capitul Gallor Histor Gotschalc cap. 5. as of old by Prosper Aquitanicus Rhemigius Lugdunensis and others so of late by those learned men who have answered the forenamed book But this being a taking medium I finde used also by the Socinians Jonas Schlingius hath written a disputation against Meisner a Lutheran divine in defence of Socinus to this very effect But how ill it beseemeth sonnes of the reformed Church of England to take up that charge * Bolsec in vita Calvini cap. 23. Bellarmin de Amiss grat statu peccat lib. 2. cap. 4 5 6 Becan opuscul to 1. opusc 3. 11. Kellisous Survay lib. 5. cap. 1 2 3. Fitz Simon Britannomach lib. 1. cap. 12. Stapleton de justific lib. 11. Fevardent dialog to 2. p. 155-195 Maldonat in Mat. 26. 14. 24. Pineda in Job 1. 21. Horontius loc catholic lib. 3. cap. 2 3 4. Possevin select biblioth l. 8. cap. 32. which Bolsec Bellarmine Becanus Kellison Fitz Simon Stapleton Fevardentius and others of that party have unjustly cast upon the worthy instruments of God in the reformation of the Church and which have been so expressely disavowed and so fully wiped off by a whole cloud of learned Writers some † Calvin instit lib. 1. cap. 17 §. 3. cap. 18. Sect. 4 lib 2. cap. 4. Sect. 1 2. in Psal 105. 25. in Hos 13. 11. cont Libertinos cont calumnias adversus doctrinam ejus de occulta Dei providentia opusc

take upon him that which he cals p. 20. the drudgery of a Reply let him do it candidly not so much against the more lighter parts of my book wherein after some worke I took a little leave to play as against that wherein every judicious person will say the strength of it lies If he doe otherwise he shall henceforth sibi Musis canere take all the sport to himselfe as for me I will be as a deafe man who will never dance at any such musick As for you my deare and Reverend Brethren as I have had so I humbly begge the continuance of your prayers upon my Ministry labours person for the afflicted Church and people of God amongst us that it may at length enjoy truth peace righteousnesse in a setled way according to Christs mind that we may all speak and mind those things whereby both we and those who heare us may be saved In Christ I continue your indebted Brother and fellow-Labourer William Barlee Brockhole Febr. 6. 1655 6 A Post-SCRIPT to be subjoined to the DEDICAT Reverend Brethren FOure full moneths after the winding up of my first Dedicat. to you and the dispatching of it away from me to the Printers it hath been my happy unhappinesse to light upon a third piece of Mr T. P's which he seems not to be very unwilling in his Epist Dedicat. we should call his monumentall OBELISK for the eternizing of his memory and which some in intuition of many passages in it might think reasonable enough to call the REPROBATES PLEA for sinning drawn up by his faire spoken and last Advocate rather then as he or some friend for him doth entitle it The sinner impleaded in his owne COVRT In this tract it is most certeine that there bee many bona mixta malis and almost as many mala mixta bonis as if hee had been ambitious to make it knowne to the world that where he doth well none can do Vbi benè nemo melius ubi maelè nemo pejus better and where he doth ill none shall or will do worse I doubt not but that as many of you as have had leisure or opportunity to peruse it in any or all the obnoxious passages of it will with me conclude that I may be very well allowed to call in my Apology in my first addresse to you f●r my appearing at last in the world against a Minister nunc dierum in a polemicall way for my not intended prolixity for the Acrimony of my stile As to the first I thinke I am rather now bound upon the bended knees of my soule and body to ask God and you his Ministers together with our deare Country pardon for deferring the publication of my writing so long Had that been forth presently after it was in September last finished by me possibly the author of this last Pamphlet might have thought it reasonable to have abated much of his scornefull insolency in many things which he hath again belched out now this third time against Gods absolute Decrees and Counsels from p. 241. usque ad 250. and else where up and downe The best is and it s that wherein I am bound not only to observe but even to adore the Divine over-ruling Providence my plea for my otherwise as might be thought unexcusable prolixity is become very easie and it is this That my one book gives a ful answer to all materiall passages of no lesse then three of my Antagonists viz. To his first Cryptick one which as yet is so to most of the world To his CORRECT published Copy which I use to call his Daemon Meridianum And now to his third piece which was altogether in Cryptis to me when I wrote mine If this by any rationall body can be proved to be otherwise I shall bee content to bee by you put to the penance of writing a third volume for answering all but I know you will not judge it needfull As for the third thing the tartnesse and acrimony of my stile which some before out of love to me and undeserved respects to Mr T. P. weresomewhat stumbled at who yet from many acts and deed publike and private was then as well known to me as he is now Sic mihi notus Vlysses I do now feare since in his last he hath to the open view of the world so fully displaied himselfe in his unconscionable wilfull and not weak or childish misrepresenting of the opinions of his adversaries for the making of them odious so as a Bellarmin from Rome or a Stapleton from Doway would hardly have done as you will easilie see if you doe but peruse what he like another slanderous Dragon Rev. 12. 15. casts out of his mouth p. 320 321 332 333 334. 368 circa finem 383. alibi passim I say I do now feare that against so stomachfull and railing an Adversary I shall rather bee judged too soft and playfull rather then too sharp and serious against one who in many things behaves himselfe but too like Elymas in drawing away the Deputy from the faith and may seem to deserve as cutting a reproof as he received from Paul Acts 13. 10. sed reprimam me Oh my worthy deare brethren what now remaines but that we should be First deeply humbled before the Lord and if it were possible with floods of teares be waile it that from among our selves and our own sacred order there is one arisen furnished with the greatest advantages of wit Art Oratory Applause of no beggars to speake such perverse things to draw no meane Disciples after him Secondly That with all possible Alacrity and Vigour wee should go on with what we seem some way to be beginning to unite into an Ecclesiasticall and spirituall association that to use Cyprians phrase we may Deificam confaederare disciplinam that by word tongue and penne and Christian censures we may what lies in u● suppresse the growing up of such errors which threat our Churches with as much mischiefe as ever F. Socinus and his followers brought upon the Polonian or since Arminius and Vorstius brought upon the Batavian verbum sapienti sat est principiis obsta c. within the meer orb of an Ecclesiasticall spheare you shall finde me as truly yours as I am or desire to be my own Dum meus ipse mihi dum spiritus hos regit artus W. B. Brockhole June 30. 1656. For his Reverend and worthy Friend Mr William Barlee Minister of the Word at Brockhole in Northamptonshire SIR I Returne you many thanks for communicating unto mee your elaborate and learned answer to an Anonymous book lately published concerning Gods decrees reported to be written by one whom for his polite parts of wit and learning I have and do respect but have been long since taught a very good rule by Aristotle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. lib. 1. cap. 4. I was sorry to see this controversy revived amongst us which caused antiently so much trouble to

it so safe for you to divend your poisonous heterodoxall grace-blasting doctrines A liberty which now adaies you have in common and of course with some Weavers in the West (b) See Mr Whitefields Refutation of loose opinions And Mr Wetherhall his discovery of false betwixt Bridge and Lincoln and Blacksmiths (c) See Mr Whitefields Refutation of loose opinions And Mr Wetherhall his discovery of false betwixt Bridge and Lincoln in the North. Jam est is ergo Pares 3. Next to the continuall feast of a good conscience if it be any way haveable in the way you be in you doe well not to be indifferent to the good opinion of good men (d) Sufficit mibi consci●ntia mea necessaria est aliis fama mea Augustin but then sithence the great coil which hath been kept against Monopolies of all sorts you doe not so well to monopolize in your first and second papers the opinion of good men to Cassandrians p. 11. of the first papers Lutherans p. 16. of these admirable Grotians whom you prefer above Austin himselfe in the matters to be debated p. 28. altogether excluding those good men Allobrogenses by most called Calvinists Genevenses in England Puritans Presbyterians or any such like goodish things these as you know I cannot since your Endoctrinating of me by your private Epistles to the contrary according to you reckon amongst the good men you would be well thought of Yea all these kinds of good men of the first or second Reformation must bee ranked amongst modest or immodest blasphemers with Manichees Marcionites Carpocratians Turkes in that p 11. 35 55. passim alibi very writing vvhich you do offer to the vievv and reading of Quicunque vult 4. You may too as the times are be vvell enough allovved to betake your selfe to your crypts to bury your selfe amongst your books Eas tu mi frater in sellam dic miserere I my selfe in my time even in these times have not a little been wonted to that (e) Ier. 9 1. Montes sylvae mihi tutiores quam concursus hominum Hilary somewhere to that purpose But would to God you were not so much in your Muses for poring upon or believing in the points controverted Molina Bellarmine Lessius rather then Cornelius Jansenius for Hugo Grotius the admirable man with you and vvho indeed to you is in all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rather then L. J. Bogerman or J. Latius for the Remonstrants rather then the Contra-Remonstrants though p. 4. most disingenuously you are loath to ovvn either of them you then vvould not have put me to a hard study of the latter in opposition to the former vvhom you like better Similes labra lactuc as 5. But though vvith some grains of allovvance you may be very vvell borne vvith in the former yet that vvhy you vvho vvould be thought to be so much against all wilfull and premeditated lies p. 1. should I cannot say vveakely (f) Under my hand and seale Feb. 25. 1655. he had this Say and write in a way that you dare to own as just occasion shal be givē I wil not be afraid nor ashamed to give you and the Church of God some account of what I have been doing against a trifling pamphlet savouring of your Genius and said and believed to bee yours If it be not no man in the world should more rejoice then my selfe if you would renounce the Pelagiana Semipelagiana dogmata conteined in it If you be wronged in the transcribing you will exceedingly gratify me and right your self if you would pleasure mee with a copy which you will avouch Feb. 27. in answer to a terrible long-winded pasquil he had thus much more from me You may then know how much I understand of Pelagianisme and how well I can prove you to be one when your insolency shall have provoked mee to make more publick use of an answer to your pamphlet then in all likelihood it might otherwise have been put unto by the author of it c. turne vvhat you had under my hand and seale in Hypothesi of your insolency into an absolute saying that I intended to make your first papers publicke p. 2. Dedic I cannot divine unlesse perhaps your mistaken charity take all my vvils to be absolute vvho vvill to the Almighty himselfe allovv no other then an Hypotheticall one or that having fulfilled the condition of insolency against Gods truth as vvell as my ministry flock name c. You your selfe did even thinke it fitting that my othervvise Hypotheticall vvill should to use your Nic. Grevinchovius his phrase transire in absolutam Truly else had you been but as vvise as your friendly DANIEL vvould have had you to have been as since your threatning you have liv'd long unanswer'd so sure as for me you might have staied til St Neverstide unto vvhich there is a long day 2. I can lesse give any honest reasons though some others I think I can give vvhy you should so peremptorilie deny the former papers to have been yours vvhich I must thinke say and vvrite to be yours If either I must beleeve your selfe vvho up and dovvne oppose this your correct smooth faire Copie to your other uncorrect one An uncorrect one of yours is some vvay yours though a thousand times over you should repeat that of the Poets unto me vvhich you doe in your Epist 4. Meus est quem recit as O fidentine Libellus Ast male dum recitas incipit esse tuus Thus I must thinke untill you tell me by whom in what cur quomodo quando you have been wronged 2. If against your ipse dixit in your own cause I may but be allowed to give credit to the testimony of two Reverend Divines who have professed to me to have seen one and one to have transcribed one from under your hand which is as like to that first one which fel into my hand as face answereth to face ovum ovo non similius some politick omissions only excepted 3. To say nothing of a third grave antient Reverend Divine from whom I had mine who hath oftentimes told me that when you would have had the papers out of his hand which he put into mine you did not deny them to be yours nay but confessed them so to be and against him endeavoured to maintaine the Materia substrata conteined in them Another very honest man who by the Gentleman you mention p. 4. was put upon the transcribing of your first papers upon the sight of your hand which I shewed him told me that he wondred you should deny the first papers to be yours or against him who had an extraordinary care in transcribing of them and from whose copie mine came under the hand of a very Reverend and Learned Divine give out that in transcription you had been wronged 4 The consanguinity of matter stile very words sparkling wit when compared with your publick owned copy

faire a representation of it as you might do as shall be somewhat more cleared in my next position 3. As for the Authors of the third or lowest Classis we should be agreed in it that they are no farther to be valued than as they agree with Scripture pure antiquity and the harmony of the Protestant Confessions as indeed no meer humane authorities are to be set up higher Isa 8. 20. You quote but one Anselme p. 27. who yet 1. Saith nothing of Gods intention equally to save all but rather the contrary in the very words cited by you His words must needs be understood de voluntate signi of what his dispensations import and not de voluntate 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of what he hath decreed to bring to passe 2. It is famously knowne that Anselme as wel as a number of Pontificians more are against you in the matter of praedestination (t) Anselm de Concord cap. 2. Necesse est fieri quae praesciuntur quae praedestinantur and also in their magnifying of the distinction of the sufficiency of Christs death in reference to Reprobates (u) Ansel in Elucidario Innocent 3. l. 2. de officio missae c. 4. sanguis Christi pro solis praedestinatis effusus est quantum ad efficientiam sed procunctis hominibus quantum ●d sufficientiam Sic. Th. Aquin. super Rev. 5. De passione loqui est dupliciter aut secundum sufficientiam sic passio redemit omnes omnibus n. redimendis salvandis sufficiens est etiamsi plures essent mundi ut dicit Anselm lib. 2. Cur Deus homo cap. 14. Aut secundum efficientiam sic non omnes redempti sunt per passionem Sic Stapulens ad Rom. 5. Tapper Artic. 6. Sonnius lib. 3. Relig. Christianae cap. 19. and of the efficiency of it onely to the Elect. The Protestants you call on your side 1. Phil. Melancth p. 29. but quote nothing out of him advantageous to you if by reprobation hee meane but positive reprobation or damnation the meritorious cause whereof no man denies to bee sinne Melancthon was a man who because he ever had a name in the Church and that deservedly for depth of learning for calmnesse prudence and moderation your vapouring party use much to glory in upon a pretence that he is one of theirs when as the contrary is most evident 1. From his intin acie which to the last he maintained with Calvin who also dedicated his booke against Pighius such another wrangler as your selfe unto him as to a Patron and chief Vindex of the doctrine conteined therein 2. From a testimonie under Melancthons own hand and that towards the time of his death Anno 1543. that hee Calvin Epist 48. agreed with Calvin in the doctrine of praedestination free will c. save that Calvins way was the more profound but that his waies were to use his owne words simpliciora 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usui accommodatiora 3. Indeed his scholer Christoph. Pezelius (x) See Pezelius Joh. Bogerm contra Grotium a. p. 160. ad 179. and concludes with a strong syllogisme p. 179. thus Qui sententiam Lutheri Calvini in quibusdam scriptis ●radidit plenè aperte à priori in nonnullis prolixe cam inculcat à posteriori is c. who was to Melancthon what Timothy to Paul or Prosper to Austin hath so abundantly made it evident that there was no other difference betwixt their doctrine of praedestination save in the manner of delivering Melancth beginning à posteriori from vocation wrought in the heart c. Calvin speaking of it often à priori as conceived in the bosome of the Almighty as that to all the Arminian party who boast of Melancthon hee hath left nothing but falsehood joined with impudence as often as they make him of their partie 2. Next you produce P. Moulin a man in all the five Articles controverted in that very Anatome by you cited against you and your great Dr Arminius that a man would wonder what was become of your forehead when you call for help from him For what though in some one odd notion of yours about the object of reprobation he may seem to be yours should that embolden you to produce him as if hee were compleatly yours If you had the spirit of valour in you you should take up the bucklers for him against Dr Twisse who hath made it evident in the point you quote him for that Non tenetur Magister sententiarum in hoc Articulo 3. The last man you quote for you with a superlative encomium given him p. 29 c. is our own Dr Overall though some (y) As they who subjoin'd it to his dissert de praedest repr ascribe that treatise to Dr Davenant As for him 1. If hee will in the laxe generall phra●es bee no otherwise understood then as Dr Davenant expounds them of a sufficiency in the death of Christ for all together with an intention that Christs death should be a generall remedy not actuallie to bee applied to all but applicable to all upon condition of faith and repentance (z) Though reverend B●sh●p Davenant in his dissert seem to g●e a way by himselfe yet the summe of all hee would have himself being judge p. 23. is but this Non est al●enum à divina sapientia statuere ordinare media ad finem aliquem appl●cabil●a licet intelligat interveniente aliquo obstac●lo quod ipse removere non d●crevit ipsam application●m fieri impediendam Huc of ferri potest illud Aquinatis de vest disp de praed●st ubi discrimen ponit inter providentiam communit●r sumptam praedestinationem quae est specialis pars providentiae providentia inquit ordinem finem respicit tantum praed●stinatio respicit exitum vel eventum ordinis Quae per providentiam illam communiorem ad si nem ordinantur non semper finem consequuntur at quae per praedestinationem singularem ordinantur semper consequuntur c. When I shall understand this to be all which you plead for in this point I shall be willing that whatsoever difference about this may remaine betwixt us may be determined in a coole conference 2. I doubt not but therefore Dr Overall is so high in your favour not so much because he symbolizeth with you in opinion as because you are tickled at the very heart that he as well as you plaies upon Calvin as elsewhere he doth traduce the Puritans also who have been cleared of the crimes by as wise learned and more moderate a * Bishop Vsher in his Sermon before the Commons 1620. Bishop Carleton against Montague quo supra c. Bishop then himselfe for heterodoxie about praedestination yet what both you and he bring out of Calvin doth you not the least service For 1. If in both places Calvin as he doth understand the all for all of a certaine sort viz. for all

to be decreed or inflicted but for sinne (i) So Dr Twisse often Calvin in 2 Thes 2. Reprobi suo delicto morti devoti sunt non pereunt nisi qui digni sunt Zanc. de nat Dei l. 5. p. 712. peccatum non est causa rejectionis sed est causa damnationis 2. That by condition you doe not understand the condition of Gods eternall internall immanent act of willing but of the thing willed or the damnation to bee inflicted (k) D Riv. de reprob 12. Decrevit eos quos reprobavit propter peccatum damnare neque tamen propterea sequitur peccatum esse causam decreti quam●is est causa rei decretae quia potuisset Deus etiam considerato peccati merito homines illos revocare ad meliorem viam quod aliis accidit qui non minus in se habebāt causam damnationis Sed tamen non decrevit Deus absolutè eis infligere poenam sine conditione peccati et si conditione posita potuisset non infligore 3. That by condition you doe not understand such a causall condition as was in no sort arbitrary unto God to have taken or not have taken the advantage of for if so we must all have been damned for God saw sin enough in all And now we seem to have made up the composition you put in for p. 47. I might allow my selfe an holy day with my Mr T. P's good leave as finding little worke for mee to doe about this Chapter But that you may know how much better I like to keep at my worke then to play I will adventure to doe two things 1. Without all craft and deceit as much of it lurks in generals to put in some generals which to any intelligent attentive Reader shall quite overthrow all or most of the particulars of this Chapter untill p. 47. 2 Out of my free heartednesse towards you I shall affixe some Animadversions to your text where you are jeering railing at or nibling at doctrine that cannot must not be gainsaid In reference to the first I have as briefly as the matter will beare these foure things to say 1. In what sense our Divines say or say not that Gods decree of election or reprobation is absolute 2. That in the sense to be opened that of irrefragable Archbishop Bradwardine must needs be true that all Gods decrees or wils are absolute 3. That reverend Mr T. P. in this very Chapter saith as much in effect 4. I shall shew what be Mr T. P's chiefe mistakes and grand sophismes throughout the body of this Chapter As to the first I might justly referre to the very first thing which I have done in my first papers wherein I have at large handled this the rather because I may hope that that which relates to the stating of the questions belonging to these 3 4 5. Chapters may come to light not long after this Yet lest any disaster should fall out take the very abstract of all thus 1. As for the termes absolute necessary irrespective fatall irresistible c. they are not chosen by us (l) Bp Carletons Exam. p. 14. Wee use not these termes we reject them we need them not we have enough in Scripture to maintaine this doctrine who have others more scripturall as these are not to expresse our meaning about Gods decrees but rather imposed upon us by our adversaries who also in that imposition usually understand them not in that sense which wee sometimes have when wee are forced to make use of some of them but in the sense they are pleased to give them for the making of us and our doctrine odious But as for the termes of irrespective conditionall incomplete indefinite not peremptorie they are termes of our adversaries owne coining though farre lesse scripturall than most of the former and therefore ought not by them to bee disowned When we say then e. gr at any time That Gods decree is absolute we meane not that it is 1. Irrationall that were an abhorred blasphemy against the God of all reason As he can doe no unrighteous thing so nor irrationall how little soever men or Angels may be able to give a reason of that justice (m) See Calvin at large before citing Scripture Austin for his de praedest 700. 728. voluntati ejus quis resistit nunquid responsum est ab Apostolo O homo falsum est quod dixisti Non sed responsum est O homo quis tu es qui responsas Deo 2. Or that it is devoid of and hath no respect to an efficient materiall formall or finall cause ab interno movens moving from within though we denie all cause moving from without causam procatarcticam and all distinctive conditions formall in or from an externall object (n) Riv. disp 5 Thes 3 4 D Dav. in prolegom de Rep. moving from without It will be an aeternall truth that praedestinatio non egreditur extra se 3. Or that it is without all science or praescience of what shall be or shall not be future as to different conditions and qualifications in the object this were horribile dictu to throw dust in the Almighties eies (o) V●de Walaeum cap. 3. de provid cont Corvin p. 71. Licet verum sit quod decretum ejus antecedat scientiam visionis quia alioqui 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aut temeraria existentia induceretur tamen boc verum est scientiam sapientiam Dei hic esse divinae voluntatis quasi norma 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though we say not dare not say cannot prove it when we have said it that God doth from aeternity discerne this or that upon the praescience of or for the sake of those different qualifications 4. Lesse by an absolute decree doe we understand as Mr T. P. and all the Jesuiticall Anticalvinisticall c. associates with him would faine make the world beleeve that we hold such a decree which for salvation or damnation was intended to be executed without all consideration of the different wils and behaviours of men (p) That would bee decretum horribile indeed even a very cyclopick one monstrum horrendum c. Vide Apol. Remonstr so as that though men had beleeved or repented never so much from their whole heart yet by vertue of an absolute decree they should bee designed to eternall torments and dragged to them and others againe whom Episcopius in scorn speaking of the Elect cals albae gallinae filios by vertue of their election should bee as certaine for heaven whatever their lives and faiths had been As that fur praedestinatus a booke which extremely all the Batavian and English Arminian partie are taken with nota loquor would have the world beleeve that upon our principles he was after his horrid debaucheries and his impenitence in them all (q) See fur praedest ad finem when he comes to his Te Deum p. 64 65 c. where hee

your demonstration here p. 47. and every where else the motives to the execution of a decree of God which is according to his decree and the motives to the decree it selfe as it is actus imman●ns in Deo even whilst you your selfe are forced to confesse p. 51. that there is neither prius nor posterius in Gods simple act of willing 3. If much more fitly you would have called p. 33. no● Gods promises and threats the copies adn transcripts of his eternall and impervestigable decrees which cannot be so but in part but rather have much more called Gods works done in time so which are much more fitly and fully by divines called specula praedestinationis (q) Vide Theologos Embdanos Nassovicos in Synod Dord●ac cirta primum articulum do praedestinatione and that you would but have granted what even Mr. J. Goodwin doth confess that nothing fals out in time but what God hath decreed before all time viz. either to do or voluntarilie and not against his will to suffer to be done you would not then throughout your book have been so much mis-lead your selfe or have been an ignis fatuus to all your Readers For then ex gr from Gods permitting and ordering Adams first fall in time you would have concluded that God did decree to permit his fall before the praevision of it 2. From Gods effectuall calling of some onelie in time according to purpose Rom. 8. 28. not a whit better yea oftentimes worse then those who are not vouchsafed such a call you would have concluded with the Apostle Rom. 9. 11. that God decrees to give grace to whom he will and whom he will he hardens Rom. 9. 18. 3. That because Christ doth not in time promiscuouslie save al ergo God did not decree that he should promiscuouslie dye for all 4. That because many who doe enjoy the same externall yea the same internall common means of grace do yet not attaine to the same speciall graces of faith repentance c. that God did decree therefore otherwise to work upon these latter by some what a more efficacious work then he puts forth towards the former 5. That because the faith of the elect of God is upheld Tit. 1. 1. by the mighty power of God unto salvation 1 Pet. 1. 5. when as the temporarie faith of others is not that therefore the faith of the former is of another kind then the faith of the latter and that all those who have true justifying faith shall by vertue of Gods decree persevere to the end But if this had been done by you what use would there have been of your Uncorrect or even your Correct Copie §. 36. p. 47. WE have words againe and nothing but words as if you would have me say of you as the fellow said of his Nightingale vox es praeterea nihil 1. You put us in hopes after all your quarrellings and wranglings of a composition and reconcilement with you about swallowing the word necessity whereas I suppose were the Church in statu quo prius it would expect a recantation and abjuration from you before it would admit you to composition you were to satisfie for wongs done to your mother and choice sonnes nay Reverend Fathers in Christ before it would so much as treat with you upon Articles of composition 2. You needed not at all to have stumbled at the word necessity applied to Gods decrees unlesse you had been 1. disposed to quarrell with Scripture expressions Mat. 187. 1 Cor. 11. 19. 2. With the expressions of witnesses of all sorts (r) Among whom such or the like expressions are frequent Nemo potest corrigere quem Deus despexerit Ruiz de scient disp 66. Sect 1. p. 634. Cogenti cupiditati bona voluntate resistere non potest Idem de perfect Just resp 5. de Pharaone obtemperare Deo non potuit Ratio est quia infallibilitas actus est aliqua impotentia omittendi infallibilitas omittendi est aliqua impotentia operandi tal●m actum De scient Dei disp S. 6. 3. If you had not been set upon confounding necessity with necessitation n●cessitatem infallibilitatis with necessitatem coactionis 4. If without infringment of mans liberty you would have but allowed that to the praevious determination of Gods will in determining mans free will which all allow to man himselfe he but a meer creature spoiles not his owne libertie by determining it to one Quicquid est vel agit necessario est vel agit quando est vel agit And yet if God do so by his decree he overturns mans liberty forsooth 3. You give us little hopes that you will keep your composition Articles when you have made them because throughout all your Boethian discourse Sect. 39. from p. 48. to the end of the Chapter and especiallie in your instance about necessarily going to London p 62. (ſ) Where you renounce the received distinction of a necessity of coaction and infallibility and if you allow of neither what shall we get by the widenesse of your swallow in taking down the word necessity or what third one will you devise The same may be said to what you have ad Nauseam p. 60 61 ● you breake all againe and are faedifragus But I should remember that p. 7. and 8. you put in earlie cautions for contradictions 2. You discover your intolerable partialitie in degrading and what lies in your power unsainting Dr Whitaker a knowne Regius Dr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before Mr T. P. could either pipe or peep or be known by the letters T. P. whilst hee must onely bee stiled Mr Whitaker and Dr Andrewes loaden with the epithites of Learned Reverend Saintlike when as it is well known to the Christian Church that Dr Whit. was before Dr Andr. in time not a whit behind him in solid learning and in all probabilitie farre before him in sanctity Had not Dr Andrewes in some other of his writings discovered more of learning or sanctitie then in that which you doe now the second time so highly commend and every where so much follow but especially p. 56. where you order Gods decrees by the Andraean order p. 70. where you affirme as it were out of Pelagius his mouth as well as his That there must be a difference before there can be an election and confirme this by a place out of Augustine ad Simplic produced as simplie by him as by you had he not I say got himself a better fame in the Church by some writings of good note especiallie that of his Catechisticall doctrine written by him when as most think that knew him he was as much if not more a Saint then when B. of Winchest Yet I would not have any mistake me as if 1. Either I took it for granted that that whiffling writing fathered upon him by F. G. was truly his any more then Fur Praedest at the taile of it was a genuine sonne of

sunt ipsa est causa Sin habet causam voluntas Dei est aliquid quod antecedit voluntasem Dei quod nefas est credere Vide Walaeum contra Corvin cap. 3. de provid p. 98 99. And truly what more essentiall to God as such then to be the first and chiefe of all things which are or shall be This once denied overturnes all Deitie and so I think introduceth a worse mischiefe then the most hurtfull evill which even the praedominancie of splendida bilis in Mr T. P. durst object against us when p. 55. he chargeth us with Manichisme which as cursed as it is is some what better then Atheisme by how much better it is to have one God too much then none at all 2. It introduceth a most fatall fatality worse then any of the Stoicks feigning with which also in the same place hee doth upbraid us viz. such a fate as doth not onely bind the creatures according to the decree and appointment of the great God but which doth bind the supremum numen it selfe according to the vertible cylindricall will of a vaine creature turning upon his tropicks contrary to the will and determination of God 3. It introduceth an eternall futurtion of all contingent voluntary things before any decree either of God or of man hath passed upon them No decree of God say our great patrons every where hath passed upon them for that would bring in praedetermination before praescience a thing which to their soule is more hatefull then the lame and the blind were to Davids 2 Sam. 5. 6. No decree of man could who certainly ab aeterno could not determine himselfe this or the other way Non ens non habet affectiones 4. It divorceth yea nullifieth aeternall praescience in God and it was Austins saying many hundred yeares agoe Qui tollit praescientiam tollit Deum It divorceth praescience from praedetermination for according to our Mr T. P. and the rest of the upholders of the respective decree all future contingent things are only foreknowne but not determined See Mr T. P. throughout all his Boethian discourse à. p. 48. to the end of the Chapter And thus we have an absolute praescience but a conditionall praedetermination so that whereas in men it is yet an undetermined question in the schools (b) Dr Riv. Synops purior Theolog. disp de lib. arb cap. 8. Thes 5. whether mans rationall judgement and his rationall will make two distinct faculties really rather then notionally onely distinct in God praescience and praedetermination must be both in nature and in time distinct nay it nullifieth all eternall praescience for never yet have the Arminians though provoked by their adversaries to doe it a thousand times been able or willing to shew how all meer contingent things as for example in themselves as the foreseen faith of Paul (c) Austin de bon perseverant Haec dona Dei quae dantur electis secundum Dei propositum quibus datum est incipere credere in fide usque ad vitae hujus terminum perseverare sicut tanta rationum atque authoritatum contestatione probavimus haec inquam Dei dona si nulla est praedestinatio quam defendimus non praesciuntur à Deo praesciuntur autem Haec est igitur praedestinatio quam defendimus Vnde aliquando eadem praedestinatio significatur etiam nomine praescientiae and the infidelity of Judas should from eternity passe from the condition of meer possibility or contingency into a condition to be certainly foreseen as future before all divine praedetermination He that among the Arminians can unriddle this erit mihi magnus Apollo which because the wisest of them could never doe therefore Episcopius leaves it questionable whether there be any such matter (d) Episcop Thes privat and the rest though otherwise vocall enough are Mutes about it throughout their Synodalia Scripta 5. It is most praejudiciall to Gods wisdome and power as well as to divers other attributes which I will not now mention 1. To his wisdome God and Nature we use to say make nothing in vaine But according to the opinion if a man may so speak in imitation of our Mr T. P. p. 13. of the conditionall praedestinarians and reprobatarians God hath made all rationall creatures men Angels in vain contrary to Prov. 16. 14. before hee could foretell or had determined their temporall or eternall conditions what should become of them for good or evill 2. To his power in bringing to passe whatsoever he will in heaven or in earth Psal 135. 6. (e) Aust Enchirid. cap. 90. Nisi hoc credamus periclitatur ipsum confessionis initium quia in Deum patrem omnipotentem credere confitemur neque enim ob aliud veraciter omnipotens diceretur nisi quia quicquid vult potest nec voluntate cujusquam creaturae voluntatis omnipotentis impeditur effectus What man is there who if it lay in his power would not make all his purposes absolute and shall not this be in the power of God yea effected by him 6. According to this Divinity we are not to pray Mat. 6. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven but contrà Thy will be done in heaven as men shall conclude upon it on earth 7. It introduceth a number of uncerteine velleities and wouldbees in the Almighty in propriety of speech an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the which belike our Mr T. P. p. 40. is not affraid to ascribe to him though his Arminius (f) Armin. disput 4. de Deo thinke and that truly that it is most unbecomming the divine Majesty By these and I cannot tell how many myriads more of absurdities it is easie to see whither conditionall decrees would carry us even to put it into our creed Deum non curare mortalia quenquam 3. For that was the third thing proposed by me Reverend Mr T. P. himselfe our ipse dixit himselfe for I am sure we have in this Pamphlet a world of dictates rather then Arguments from him is forced to yield to the substance of all that hath been said for the absolutenesse of Gods decrees in the sense declared when he tels us p. 51. That the distinction of voluntas antecedens consequens and he explaines the Antecedent will of God by conditionall upon the place is not made in respect of Gods will simply in which there cannot be either prius or posterius but in respect of the things which are the objects of his will And good Sir ought you not to have knowne that all the dispute betwixt you and your adversaries is about the internall simple act of Gods will and not about the externall object or thing willed by him Doe you not then perceive as yet how handsomely and soberly by this concession you doe quite and clean overthrow all that you labour to build up throughout your whole book and especially this Chapter Truly as the wisest are observed

not to be wise at all times nemo sapit omnibus horis So neither are the wildest alwaies out they have their dilucida intervalla est olitor aliquando opportuna loquutus In the odnesse of the looke and meane of your booke to phrasifie a little with you you are all for the conditionality of Gods decrees and staringly against all absolutenesse but here all upon a sodaine in this your saying you are as much for an absolute decree as any of your Calvinisticall Adversaries would have you You belike are one of the modern Polititians you doe loqui cum vulgo but sentire cum sapientibus If so Sir let wise men have more of your meaning and fools more of your gaping But if yet you doe not understand how fairely by this grant you have broken the back of your finically fine Corrected Copy learn it from Doctor Twisse for once whom you have so often wrested and abused who though hee never thought of you when he wrote it yet now speaks very pertinently to you thus (g) Dr Twisse against Mr Hoard p. 49. I would not have any think that I reject any of those ancient Fathers that seem to bee most opposite to Austins opinion in the point of praedestination I think they may be fairely and scholastically reconciled without acknowledging of so much difference betwixt them as Vossias maketh and tha● by such an interpretation as sometimes is admitted by Vossius himselfe of his owne phrase of his owne distinction though hee dreams not of the applicable nature of the same to the will of God in praedestination (h) Hist Pelag. lib. 7. His distinction is of voluntas Dei antecedens consequens and this he makes aequivalent to that other distinction of the will of God absolute and conditionall Now this conditionall will of God he interprets not quoad actum volentis but quoad res volitas Like as Dr Jackson professeth in expresse termes that the former distinction of voluntas antecedens consequens is to be interpreted namely quoad res volitas and not quoad actum volentis Now according to this construction there is no difference between them and Austin nor the least impediment to the making of the will of God both in praedestination and reprobation to be most absolute For though sinne be acknowledged to be the cause of the will of God in reprobation quoad res volitas in respect of the punishment willed thereby this hinders not the absolutenesse of reprobation quoad actum reprobantis And unlesse we understand the Fathers thus we must necessarily charge them with such an opinion whereof Aquinas (i) Aquinas affirmat nem nem esse tam insanae mentis ut diceret merita esse causas praedestinationis ex parte actus praedestinantis lib. 1. q. 23. a. 5. is bold to profess that never any man was so mad as to affirme to wit That any merits should bee the cause of praedestination quoad actum praedestinantis And why so because praedestination is the act of Gods will and there can be no cause of Gods will quoad actum volentis Now who seeth not that by the same reason there can be no cause of divine reprobation quoad actum reprobantis for even reprobation is the act of Gods will as well as praedestination and every way it must be as mad a thing to devise a cause of reprobation quod actum reprobantis Thus farre that learned Dr all which if it be true quite overthrowes your book and if not pray confute it and your own grant too 4. As for the grand sophisms and numerous mistakes they be especially these relating to this Chapter as to what for arguments sake must be reduced to it out of others 1. Wee have a parcell of wild consequences so extremely remote from the premises as if at the same time you had sent a bill of divorce to Calvinisme p. 24 and 48. You had with it also manumitted all naturall and artificiall Logick ex gr p. 33. God hath a true will which is usually called voluntas signi a commanding threatning promising wil ergo That is all the will he hath he hath no other above it or besides it for no body mainteins he hath any contrary to it 2. Upon the perpetuall confusion of election and salvation as if they were one and the same throughout Chapter 3. and 5. Salvation is actually bestowed upon none viz. of yeares for other wise it is false but upon faith and repentance and perseverance in it p. 69. None were elected to them but upon foresight of them they be the conditions of election as well as of salvation 3. Upon a like mistake that there is the same reason for the making of Gods decree that there is in the intended execution thereof p. 39. (k) The falshood whereof Doctor Ames Rescrip scholast ad N. Grevinch cap. 5. and Doctor Twiss also have confuted by many instances In his answer to Mr Hoard p. ●89 The decree of shewing mercy in pardoning of sin doth no more pre●uppose sinne then the decree of shewing the power of balm in curing a green wound doth presuppose the wound or the decree of shewing the power of a cordiall against poison doth presuppose the poisoning of a mans body or the decree of advancing a subject by way of reward doth presuppose his service or the decree of a patron to preferre his son to a benefice doth presuppose his fitnesse for it or the decree of Solomon to bring Shimei his gray haires to the grave in blood did presuppose the offence for which this was brought to passe but rather from these decrees and intentions each author in his kind proceedeth to bring to passe every thing that is required to the accomplishment of the end which he intends c. You conclude with a sure but not surely that which is the reason of their condemnation was the condition upon which they were determined to be damned If you dispute concerning the cause of Gods internall will quoad actum volentis as you must or else you pinch no body with it but Sir N. N. 4. Promises of rewards threatnings of punishment some covenants evangelicall are proposed and published with conditions p. 33. A blessing if yee obey and a curse if yee obey not c. ergo God takes up his eternall decrees concerning events and persons upon the same conditions And in this latter way of arguing you do so please your selfe as your brother Arminian Mr Hoard had done before you as that from p. 33. to 36. you make 4. or 5. Arguments of one and that a very lame and inconsequent one as if the punishments rewards promises threats exhortations c. would afford you different mediums for different arguments Just as we might conceive that that Herauld who by command of his Master in opposition to the long catalogue of Kingdomes enumerated in the title of the King of Spaine cryed out The King of France the King