there are not onely vessels of gold and siluer but also of wood and earth and some to honour some to dishonour Apoc. 13. and 17. it is said of the beast that all the inhabitants of the earth whose names are not written in the books of life from the foundations of the world should worship and haue it in high estimation The reprobates and such as perish are expressed in many words against whome the elect are opposed whose names are written in the booke of life before the creation of the world and whom Gods mercie doth so defend that they cannot be seduced at the least finally Iude also in his epistle testifieth that seducers were of old ordained or forewritten to this condemnation which the Glosse and Aquinas least any man should blame our men to bee the makers of such Glosses do expound that they were from euerlasting in the fore knowledge of God foreseen for this iudgement of present reprobation that they should waxe vile themselues and cast others into vncleanenes In the bookes of the old Testament we read the same doctrine to be taught for the Lord saith to Moses Testimonies of the olde Testament Exod. 33. I will haue mercie on whom I will haue mercie and I will haue compassion on whom I will haue compassion And of Pharao the Scripture saith Exod. 9. for this cause haue I raised thee vp to shew in thee my power and that my name might be declared in all the earth Other such testimonies are mencioned in the disputation of Pauls epistle to the Romans Whereunto adde that which is Prouerbs 16. God made all things for his owne sake euen the vngodly against the euill day And 1. Sam. 2. it is said of Elies sonnes that they would not heare the voice of their father because the Lord would slaie them Again 2. Chron. 25 vers 16. the prophet saith to king Amasia I knowe that God hath purposed to destroie thee because thou hast not obeyed my worde By these and the like sentences of the sacred scriptures all men perceiue that loue the truth more than contention that election comprehendeth not whole mankind but that some among them are elected to saluation others are reiected from the same according to the eternal counsell and good pleasure of God The same men also vnderstand that the definition of predestination which is brought of some men is insufficient as though predestination of the Saints or election were nothing else than the decree of God touching the maner of obtayning saluation through Christ and reprobation were no other thing than his decree of the daÌ„ning of vnbeeleuers and such as abide without Christ There is no doubte but God hath so decreed and keepeth these things but the proofes and testimonies alledged do further strongly prooue that God hath also decreed to whom he will giue or not giue faith whereby wee are ingrafted into Christ for saluation in him and through him CHAP. IIII. A confutation of certaine obiections BVt what say the aduersaries to these things God say they would haue all men to bee saued 1. Tim. 2. 〈◊〉 obiection and to come to the knowledge of the truth Therefore on Gods part eternall life is prepared for all men neither doth anie perish because God will not bestow any grace vpon him but because he hath refused grace receiued In this opinion were those remnants of Pelagians in Prosper of whom hee writeth in his epistle to Augustine Answere I answere the Apostle saith not that he would saue al but he willeth all to be saued namely by inuiting all men to saluation How God would haue all men to be saued and the knowledge of the truth and also by approuing of the conuersion of all But he wil not effectually worke in all and euery one that they may beleeue and be saued For if he willed this his will should be altogether fulfilled and no man should be damned But now he hath mercie on whom he will and whom he will hee hardeneth and in his counsell hath appoynted whom and what maner of men he will haue to be partakers of mercie preached and offered vnto them as in these verie same words Cap. 107. Luther in ser arbit beateth into our heads where this and the like places I will not the death of a sinner Ierusalem how often would I gather Enchir. aâ—â—dur cap. 103. c. expoundeth after the same maner Augustine also teacheth that the saying of the Apostle is rightly so to be vnderstood he willeth that all men bee saued that is all kind of men howsoeuer differing kings princes rich poore base c. Cap. 117. The same man elsewhere expoundeth he willeth all men to be saued that all the predestinate be meant because all kind of men bee in them But of this place wee haue more largelie dealt aboue in the second booke and third chapter Obiection A place not vnlike to this there is 2. Pet. 3. The Lord is not slacke of his promises as some count slacknes but he is patient toward vs not willing that any should perish but that al should come to repentance If hee willeth none to perish it is false that in his eternall counsell hee hath decreed and therefore willeth that some yea very many should perish Againe if he willeth all to repent it shall be false that God wil not that all by repentance should be brought to Christ and liue In these Huber wonderfully delighteth himselfe Hub. thes 94. sequent but all in vaine so long as that of the Psalmist standeth Our God is in heauen he doth whatsoeuer he will and that of the Apostle on whom he will he hath mercie and whom he will he hardeneth But least we should seeme to set one Scripture against an other to reconcile them wee must know The meaning of Peters words that the saying of Peter is not without cause expounded by learned men of the vniuersalitie of the elect not onely because the like restraint is very often in the like phrases of the sacred Scriptures but also because the matter it selfe seemeth here to require it For what is the end of the world deferred for the reprobates sake and not rather for Gods elect sake In 1. Tim. 2. When they shall beleeue saith Ambrose that are predestinate vnto eternal life the resurrection shall come Which thing how truly it is spoken the answere testifieth in the Apocalyps chap. 6. vers 11. Yet if we stand in the generalitie of all men the sense will be that Thom. Com. in hunc locum aed Rom. 2. which Thomas and others doe assigne that hee willeth not that any should perish by his signified will as they speak as farre forth as hee inuiteth all men to repentance by precepts threatnings rewards and also by his patience and long sufferance as it is written Doest thou despise the riches of his mercie and long sufferance Doest thou not know that the bountifulnes of God
reason of the election of the one so of the reiection of the other but because it so pleaseth God for the manifestation of his mercie or iudgement Hereunto may be added the case of innumerable children without the Church who are preuented with death The 5. reason before they haue the iudgement of reason and cannot bee iustly reproued for the neglect of helping grace If such as dissent from vs be asked concerning these whether they thinke that none of them doe perish they dare not I suppose denie If they perish they are reckoned among those whom God hath reiected yet he could foresee in them no contempt of grace seeing they should not haue it yea he foreknew rather that they should not contemne grace Neither doth that deuice any thing helpe them that God saw what they would doe if they had recouered For God in punishing and pardoning respecteth not what any man would doe but what good or euill he hath done in his body Thus it is manifest that the reprobation of the vngodly no lesse than the election of the Saints dependeth vpon the only will of God and not vpon the foreseene good or euill wils of men Neither is it materiall that some persons defame this doctrine by this or that name and endeuour to make it odious It is the doctrine of the Scriptures and defended by Augustine constantly as we see Augustine and many other writers auouch and maintaine this doctrine of reprobatioÌ„ according to the Scriptures As also by Hilarie Prosper Primasius and others who long agoe well perceiued the naughtines of the Pelagian spirit Prospers words out of his epistle to Augustine of the remnants of Pelagian heresie are That according to Gods purpose before the world there was made a difference betweene them that were to bee elected and reiected and that some were created vessels of honor and others vessels of dishonor according to the good pleasure of the creator And againe he saith that God according to the purpose and counsell of his owne will in his secret iudgement but yet in a manifest worke made one vessell to honour another to dishonour whereas no man is iustified but by grace and no man is borne but in sinne And this saith he they of necessitie graunt that confesse that all good merits are preuented by grace and by it haue this free gift that they might be Lib. 1. dist 4â— Thom. part 1. q. 23. in 9. ad Rom. Neither is the doctrine any other of the Master of Sentences as they call him for he saith He chose whom it pleased him of his free mercie not because they would be faithfull but that they might be faithfull So also he reprobated whom he would not for future merits which he foresaw yet in most vpright trueth and beyond our vnderstanding The same opinion Thomas Aquinas and other Schoolemen of no obscure account doe follow and doe confirme it with strong reasons Looke also Luthers iudgement in his booke of seruile will where vpon the place of Malachie hee boldlie writeth these wordes Eternall and vnchangeable is the loue of God Luther de seruo arbis eternall is the hatred of God towards men before the world was made not onely before the merite and worke of frewill And he manifestly reiecteth it as a fained thing that God should bee said to hate them while they were yet vnborne because hee foreknewe that they would commit things worthy of hatred Rom. 11. Neither is this anie hindrance saith he because we reade that the Iews for the merits of their vnbeliefe were cut off from the oliue tree and that the Gentiles were graffed in by faith We knowe that men by faith are ingraffed and by infidelity cut off and that they are to be exhorted to beleene leaest they be cut off The very poynt of the controuersie of predestination But we dispute not what followeth beleeuers or vnbeleeuers but by what merite by what helpe doe men attaine to faith whereby they are ingraffed or to vnbelief whereby they are cut off This merite Paul describing vnto vs teacheth that by no worke of ours but by the onely loue hatred of God it commeth to passe All these words are Luthers The same man afterward vpon the similitude of the potter and claie answering the cauill that this potter as Erasmus in his Diatribe did interperet maketh a vessell to dishonour through precedent merits as he reiected the Iewes for vnbeliefe and receiued the Gentils for their faith If God saith he do thus why murmure they and find themselues grieued why saie they wherefore doth he complaine who shall resist his will Marke this wel what neede had Paul to represse them further where is the power that the potter hath to do what he will if being subiect to merites and lawes he is not suffered to doe what he will for the respect of merites fighteth with the power and libertie to doe what he will c. Therefore what vnreasonable dealing is it and what enuie against the truth to cast in our teeth Caluinisme because we auouch that neither the righteousnes nor maliciousnes of men but the secret will of God is the cause why grace plucketh some out of the common destruction whereunto we are all subiect by nature and doth not plucke others If this be Caluinisme what shall be done to Luther to saie nothing of the auncient writers Yet it is to be obserued that we doe not maintaine as our aduersaries spitefully doe imagine of vs The slaunders of Hub. thes 350. Zanch de nat Deâ—fol 669. Visi admon Neost pag. 113. Bez. resp 2. ad Col. Momp fol. 223. That no man is condemned for sinnes or vnbeliefe as the foregoing cause We teach the contrary and our men with one consent haue alwaies taught that God taketh punishment of none and no man shal be damned of him but for sin For punishment hath no place but in respect of sin Moreouer this is also true That as God damneth not anie but sinners and such as deserue damnation for sins so also he hath not decreed to damne anie but for sin For whatsoeuer God doth in his time also he determined froÌ„ euerlasting to do after the very same way as it is done Therefore because he damneth the reprobates and wil damne them for sins doubtles he also decreed from euerlasting to damne them for sins And from hence againe the deprauing of our doctrine by the aduersaries appeareth when they faine that wee teach that God without respect of sin Note God decreed to condemne none but for sinne of his sole and absolute will hath appointed some men to damnation Yea Gods decree is of the condemnation of sinners onely and that for sins But seeing wee bee all sinners and worthy of damnation why God hath predestinated these men to bestowe vpon them freely glory and hath predestinated others to bee punished in his iust iudgement for sins hereof wee haue
OF THE REDEMPTION OF MANKIND THREE BOOKES Wherein the controuersie of the vniuersalitie of Redemption and grace by Christ and of his death for all men is largely handled HEREVNTO IS ANNEXED A TREAtise of Gods Predestination in one booke Written in Latin by IACOB KIMEDONCIVS D. and professor of Diuinitie at Heidelberge and translated into English by HVGH INCE Preacher of the word of God BY WISDOME PEACE BY PEACE PLENTY AT LONDON Imprinted by FELIX KINGSTON for HVMFREY LOVVNES 1598. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE SIR THOMAS EGERTON KNIGHT LORD Keeper of the Great Seale of England and one of her Maiesties most honorable priuie Councell HAuing finished the translation of this volume Right Honorable I was in doubt whether I might safely send it forth as a matter that would as it ought to be imbraced fauored of eueryone into whose hands it should come or to offer it to the view of some honorable person and to commend it to his fauourable protection and in his name to publish it If I had resolued vpon the first way as I doubt not but it should haue found many friends euen all the louers of the trueth that would gladly haue accepted it so I know it should haue had many aduersaries among vs in this land as it hath had in other countries alreadie and commeth now abroad in our owne tongue from thence greatly reproched and withstood with a spitefull enemie albeit to his shamefull foyle and disgrace in the end And therefore I thought it best to follow mine author as he offereth the knowledge and custodie of the trueth which he here maintaineth vnto a high and mightie Prince so I am bold to offer my translation of so worthie a worke vnto your honorable protection and defence against euill tongues and erronious spirits The cause that is handled here is Gods the ground that it hath is the trueth of his holy word the witnesse and testimonie thereof is the vniforme consent of the Church of Christ beleeuing and confessing the same the matter hereof is the redemption of our soules the comfort of our consciences the stay of our faith and the anchor of our hope If the certaintie of these things right Honourable be called in question and taken from vs that are mortall men what ioy can we haue in any thing that here for a time wee enioy What hope can wee haue of a better life when this fraile one shall be taken from vs and wee all shall be called to giue our account But as Satan the enemie of our saluation hath alwaies heretofore sowed tares among the wheate and corrupted the sinceritie of the trueth with errors and lyes and that vnder a faire pretence so at this day when he could not effect his purpose so farre as he desired by the late and lamentable strife that he hath raised among vs though thereby he hath quenched the zeale of many and made them fall from their first loue hath euen now in our Church as he hath done in others raised a doubt and broâ—hed a controuersie in the maine grounds of our Religion and faith to wit in the doctrine of mans Redemption by the death of Christ and of Gods eternall predestination Wherein as he doth not greatly preuaile because the gouernours of our Church and the consent of all that bee godly and learned for the most part therein are against him so that hee may proceede no further in time to come and that the mindes of men may bee setled in the trueth of their saluation I haue thought it my dutie to the Church of God to testifie my loue of the trueth and my vnfained care of the knowledge of the fame among vs and continuance thereof in our posteritie by taking paines to translate into our vulgar tongue these bookes Herein you shall plainly see that albeit the death of Christ the sonne of God as touching the greatnes of the price be sufficient for the redemption of whole mankinde in the world yea if there were many worlds of them as Anselme saith yet the proprietie of redemption belongeth to those that are not the vessels of the deuill but the members of Christ by faith and the grace of regeneration the rest who liue without faith and regeneration not belonging to this redemption from sinne and death Or which is all one you shall see it proued by infallible testimonies of Scripture by generall consent of antiquitie and of new writers and by substantiall arguments that redemption from sinnes righteousnes and saluation are benefits proper to the Church and not common to all and euery one elect and reprobate beleeuer and vnbeleeuer to the saued and damned You shall plainly see I say that the Sauiour promised to the world and preached of alwaies in the Church by the mouth of all the holy prophets and Apostles is appoynted by the father to be a propitiation through faith in his blood in all and vpon all that beleeue onely and that this benefite of the restoring and redemption of mankinde albeit it be proper and peculiar to the Church as touching the efficacie of it yet it is vniuersall altogether in that sense wherein we beleeue and confesse the holy Church of Christ to be vniuersall Against this trueth the aduersarie fighteth eagerly and impudently with bitter reproches and lyes grieuous blasphemies flat contrarieties grosse absurdities peruerting the naturall sense of the sacred Scripture and abusing the ancient writers But all these his weapons wins him not the victory for either they be blunt and cannot hurt our cause or else the edge of them is turned against himselfe and his owne masters in whom he glorieth Luther Brentius and the rest whose disciple and follower he would faine be leaue him in his bad cause nay are brought in plainely reprouing and condemning his opinion as erronious and speaking for the trueth on our side Nay further it is here flatly auouched that the olde Pelagian heresie and impietie which Augustine long agoe confuted and the Church of God then condemned is the father of the birth and beginning of our aduersaries opinion As for the treatise of Predestination annexed hereto it serueth specially for the fuller euidence and greater certaintie of those things that are handled in the former bookes concerning the vniuersalitie of grace and redemption For the remnants of the Pelagians of old and at this day affirming none at all to bee excepted from the redemption of Christs blood and in respect of God maintaining eternall life to bee prepared for all are therefore fallen to the extolling of such grace because they would in no case confesse that God according to the purpose couÌ„sel of his own will in his secret iudgement but manifest worke maketh one vessell to honor and another to dishonour nor will assent hereto that the number of the predestinate can neither be increased nor diminished Both which points are fully handled and plainly proued against them in this booke Praefat. ad Rom. Luther saith notably
Sauiour be rightly said to be crucified for the redemption of the whole worlde because he truely tooke mans nature vpon him Marke Augustine before meant this by the common cause and because of the common perdition in the first man yet he may be said to be crucified for them onely whom his death did profite for the Euangelist Iohn saith cap. 11. that Iesus should die for the nation and not onely that nation but also to gather in one the sonnes of God The same writer or whosoeuer hee was that wrote the Booke Of the Calling of the Gentiles denieth that the saying of the Apostle Ephe. 1. Lib. 1. cap. 3. Of the reconciliation of all in Christ is thus to be vnderstood as though none ought to be thought to bee not reconciled And a litle after he setteth downe a rule which like to the North starre in all their controuersie is to bee regarded to wit that in the elect and foreknowen A rule well to be marked and in those that be separated from the generality of all men there is to be considered a certaine speciall vniuersalitie and fulnesse of the people of God so that out of the whole world the whole world seemeth to be set free and out of all men all men may seeme to bee taken For most often in the Scriptures all the earth is named for a part of the earth the whole world for a part of the world Lib. 2. cap. â— and al men for a part of men Vnto which rule afterward he squareth the words of Iohn Hee is the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole worlde and he expoundeth them of the fulnesse of the faithful and not of the generalitie of al men as our aduersaries do Furthermore Primasius Comment ad Heb. 2. vpon the saying he tasted death for all compriseth the whole matter His words are whereas he saith that Christ tasted of death for all Primasius some Doctors take the sense thus absolutely that it said for al for whom he tasted that is for the elect predestinated to eternal life Behold a restraint vnto the vniuersalitie of the elect But he goeth on But some take it so generally that he is said to die for all albeit all are not saued For albeit not all beleeue yet he did that which was his part to doe And he alleageth Prospers similitude which Augustine also vseth before Prosper of the cup of immortalitie which finally hath in it selfe that it can profit all although it profiteth none in very deede but those that drinke thereof So also Christ saith he as much as was in him died for all although his passion profiteth none but those onely who beleeue in him Worthy also to be remembred here is that that is set down lib. 1. cap. vlt. de vocat gent. The same nature in all men being euill in all being miserable before reconciliation is not made righteous in all and it is discerned in some part thereof from them that perish by him that came to seeke and to saue that which was lost Pope Leo Serm. 7. mensis writeth Pope Lee. The shedding of the blood of the iust for the vniust was so mightie a priuiledge so rich a price that if the whole number of captiues should beleeue in the redeemer no tyrannous bands could detaine them Gregorie the great Hom. 2. in Ezechiel For the life of the elect Gregorie the Lord of life gaue himselfe euen to death Beda Beda vpon that in the Gospell The sonne of man came to giue his life a redemption for many He saith not for all but for many that is those that will beleeue So Origene and Hierome Com. in Matth. expound the same things Bernard Moreouer Bernard Serm. 10. of the 9. verse of the Psalme He that dwelleth c. Christ saith he according to the time surely died for the vngodly but according to predestination he died for his brethren and friends Of this number they that shall be damned are not to whom it shall be said I neuer knew you Rupert lib. 12. comment in Io. To these may be added those sayings which vnto the places of Apoc. 1. and 5. wee before haue produced out of Rupertus Tuitiensis who liued in Bernards time whose saying also this is Woe to the reioycing world when Christ the only begotten sonne of God prayeth for his that is dieth and offereth himselfe a sacrifice vpon the altar of the crosse because I pray for them whom thou gauest me and not for the world By the world are the louers of the world here meant so diuerse from them for whom Christ crucified prayeth as the Egyptians were before God from the children of Israel who marked their posts with the sacred blood of the Lamb. Woe therefore to such a world because what Christ the true Lambe of God prayeth for doth them no good at all they onely escaping by his crosse and blood whom the father gaue to the sonne These things he Of all which sayings now it is more cleere then the light that the opinion which wee maintaine is not new and vnheard of but receiued in all ages among the people of God and plentifully proued by the testimonies iudgements and expositions of the best writers Wherefore let the aduersaries learne to deale more modestly and not straightwaies condemne as vnheard of among the people of God and Saracenicall what they see disagree perchance from their opinion or els if they goe on as they haue begun all shall know with what vnderstanding and conscience these kind of disputers too too confident and censorious are occupied in reading of the fathers I am not ignorant that sometime it is read in the fathers that Christ came for the redemption of all that he descended for all to forgiue all their sinnes and to giue libertie to all and such like Such speeches as these they vnderstand Marke this well as we may see by their owne interpretations alreadie alleadged not as touching the effect of the Lords incarnation and passion in al men But first as touching the sufficiencie greatnes and dignitie of the price and merite of Christ Secondly as touching the common cause of mankinde Thirdly respecting also the efficacie of the merits of Christ they are wont to vse those kinde of speeches as the Scripture vseth to doe because of the vniuersalitie of the faithfull and the fulnes of Gods people as we more at large shewed in the second booke the 12. chapter Also because by all men they will haue to bee vsually meant all sorts of men Hereupon Ambrose Serm. 55. saith The Lord did hang vpon the crosse that he might deliuer all kinde of men from the shipwracke of the world And Serm. 53. When he had said that Christ by rising againe obtained resurrection for all by and by he expoundeth himselfe of all Christians and such as be the members of Christ So de fuga seculi cap. 3. Christ saith he doth infuse
the beginning is of the vnchangeablenes of predestination Where wee must consider that election and reprobation namely the decree of God concerning the either sauing of men in mercie or the punishing of them in iustice cannot be changed so that of the number of the elect any one perisheth or contrarily any of the reprobates be saued but as well the one be vnfallibly saued as the other be vnfallibly damned This opinion may be confirmed by many testimonies of the sacred Scriptures Ioh. 6. the Lord saith The elect cannot perish not the reprobates be sauâ—d because Gods decree is vnchangeable towards both proued by many places euery one that the father giueth me shall come vnto me and all that commeth vnto me I will not cast forth And chap. 10. My sheepe heare my voice and I know them and I giue vnto them eternall life neither shall they perish for euer and no man shall plucke them out of my hand My father who gaue them me is greater then all neither can any man pull them out of my fathers hand 1. Ioh. 2. They went of from vs but they were not of vs. For if they had been they had surely continued with vs. 2. Tim. 2. The foundation of God standeth sure hauing this seale God knoweth who are his As also Apoc. 7. there is mention made of the seale of the liuing God and of the certaine number of them that are sealed in their foreheads to wit of the seruants of God whom his grace preserueth harmeles and vntouched among the midst of the stormes of calamities vpon sea and land So afterward in the same booke chapter 13. and 17. power is giuen to the Dragon and beast to seduce the whole earth yet the elect are excepted whose names are written in the booke of life from the foundation of the world Therefore the elect cannot be deceiued at the least finally As also Mat. 24. False Christs and Prophets shall arise and shall worke great signes and miracles to seduce if it might bee the very elect What meaneth that saying of Paul Rom. 8. Wee know that all things worke for good to them that loue God that is that are called of purpose In Soliloq c. 28. All things he saith euen euill things yea sinnes themselues as Augustine witnesseth And most plainly the Apostle confirming the same addeth For whom hee foreknew them hee predestinated also to bee made conformable to the image of his sonne Whom he predestinated them he hath iustified and glorified also What shall we say then to these things If God be for vs who can be against vs euen he who spared not his owne sonne but gaue him for vs all how shal he not with him giue vs all things also Who shall accuse the elect of God who shall condemne who shall separate vs from the loue of Christ Neither death nor life c. And in the 9. chapter of the same Epistle It cannot bee that the word of God should faile On whom he will he hath mercie and whom he will hee hardeneth Who shall resist his will And chap. 11. God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew which thing he there sheweth by the example of Elias times and of the Iewes of his time among whom albeit farre degenerate and enemies to the Gospell yet God reserued to himselfe a remnant according to the election of grace And he annexeth a saying worthie to bee remembred Israel obtained not that he sought for but the elect attained it and the rest were hardened And a little after Therefore as touching the Gospell they are enemies for your sakes but in respect of election they are loued for their fathers sakes For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance that is surely fixed without changing as Augustine expoundeth who also warneth vs to vnderstand this saying not of that calling whereof it is sayd Many are called c. but of that whereby the elect are called Secondly Predestination is vnchangeable The 1. reason the propounded sentence leaneth on most effectuall reasons For what things God from eternitie foreknoweth they must needes certainly and vnfallibly come to passe as they be foreknowne of him For foreknowledge is the knowledge of a thing that shall be And that which shal come to passe must needes bee done And it is confessed already that God foreknoweth who shall be saued and who shall be damned Ergo c. Further the decrees of God are vnchangeable The 2. reason But election and reprobation as it is said be the decrees of God of sauing whom he will in mercie and condemning whom hee will in iustice Therefore it cannot be but both election and also reprobation is firme and immutable so that neither the elect can perish nor the reprobates be saued For of the immutabilitie of Gods secrets it is said 1. Sam. 15 2â— Numb 23.23 The strength of Israel will not lye nor repent For he is not a man that he should repent Also God is not as a man that he should lye nor as the sonne of man that he should be changed He hath said and shall he not doe he hath spoken and shall he not accomplish And in Esay The Lord of hosts hath decreed and who can breake it Esay 14. â—4 27. The hand of the Lord is stretched out and who shal turne it away And My counsell shall stand and I will doe all my will Cap. 46.10 But in that God now and then denounceth and threatneth some things which yet afterwards he doth not A doubte by the example of the Niniuites and of Ezechias wee must vnderstand that therein the Scripture speaketh according to the nature of second causes or els with the condition secretly vnderstood of repentance and prayer as Iere. 18. such like sayings are expounded and not in respect of Gods simple and absolute decree In which sense it is well said of Gregorie The Lord knoweth how to change his saying but neuer knoweth how to change his counsell And of Augustine God knoweth how to change his saying if we would change our life Thirdly The 3. reason examples manifestly proue the infalliblenes of predestination Pharao Sehon and the kings of the Canaanites with their subiects were appointed to destruction What was done their hearts were hardened that they might fight against Israel and perish for their sinnes And it is expressely written Exod. 4. Deut 2. â—s 11. 1. Sam. 2. 2. King 12. It came of the Lord to harden their hearts to fight with Israel that he might destroy them So Elies sonnes hearkened not to the voyce of their father because the Lord had appointed to destroy them Roboam heard not the people because it pleased the Lord by that meanes to rent the kingdome 2. Sam. 7. and to pull it away from Salomons race Absalom and euery man of Israel despised the good counsell of Achitophel and heard Husai because the Lord minded to destroy Achitophels counsell to
whereof heareafter we wil speake and it is another whether the firmenes of election serue to desperation rather than consolation Then this being now granted albeit it ought not to bee granted that Gods will is vncertaine vnto vs concerning our saluation is thy will concerning thy selfe certaine vnto thee De praedest sanct cap. 9. He that seemeth to stand let him take heed least hee fall Therefore seeing both Gods will and thyne owne that is thyne endeuor and perseuerance as from thy selfe as vncertayne why doth not man commit his faith hope and charity vnto the stronger rather than to the weaker And let these things bee spoken against the obiections of the first sort that is the consequences of humane reason CHAP. XXII Answeres to some places of scripture vsually obiected against the certainety of Predestination BVt they that make the grace of election common to all and will haue it made frustrate of many afterwards through vnthankefulnes for the most part obiect these places out of the sacred Scriptures First The Pharises and lawyers are sated to reiect the counsell of God against themselues The first place obiected is Luke 7. ver 30. Hub. thes 784. therefore they made frustrate vnto themselues election which was common to them and others I answere By the counsell of God in that place is not meant election or the ordination of the Pharisees to eternall life For if they had been ordayned thereto doubtles they had beleeued Acts 13.48 But the will of God reuealed by the ministery of Iohn Baptist is noted that such as desire to bee saued and to flee from the wrath to come should be baptized with the baptisme of repentance and beleeue in him that was to come after him that is in Christ Iesu Therefore this the Euangelist meaneth that the people and the Publicanes obeyed the doctrine of Iohn to saluation and that the Pharisees and Scribes did not obey to their great harme indeuoring to establish their owne righteousnes Acts 20. After this maner Paul to expresse his faithfulnes in his ministery which he had receiued to testify the Gospell of the grace of God saith that he eschewed nothing to the intent he might declare to the Ephesians all the counsell of God that is faith and conuersion as the text there sheweth Obiection 2 2. Obiection They to whom some of the epistles of the Apostles were written were Saincts and elect yet in them many 1. Thess 1. 1. Pet. 1. fell away from the faith and perished Therefore some elect doe perish Answere Vnto the Maior is answered that they were Saints and elect but not all because many are hypocrites in the assembly of the visible church Therefore the argument consisteth of pure particulars Further the name of the Elect is not vsed after one sort in the Scriptures Beside the speciall signification whereby such as before ordayned to eternall life are called Elect there is also this vse of the word that generally speaking after the rule of charity and not of faith they are called Elect whosoeuer by outward calling are numbered with the people of God whether in deed they bee already faithfull and sanctified and elect before God or not and according to this general signification we graunt the whole argument Obiection 3 3. Obiection of the booke of life is somewhat harder Psalm 69. Exod. 32. when Dauid saith Let them be blotted out of the booke of the liuing and not be written with the iust As also Moses intreating for the people praied Either forgiue their sinnes or if not blot me I praie thee out of the booke that thou hast written The booke of life To whom the Lorde answered Him that sinneth against me will I blot out of the booke of life Therefore some written in the booke of life may be thence blotted out and consequently some predestinate to life doe perish because the predestination of Saints and the booke of life are all one at the least in substance How predestination and the booke of life differ albeit they somewhat differ in reason For predestination is the very ordination of the Saintes to eternall life But the booke of life metaphorically is nothing else than the knowledge in the minde of God of them that be predestinate as Tho. in 4 cap. ad Phillip and others expound Answere I answere Augustine handling that place of the Psalme answereth this doubt after this sort that who so be in very deede written in the booke of life not one of them is blotted out How a man is blotted out of the booke of life but blotting out pertayneth to them onely that not in very deede but onely in their owne and other mens opinions are written therin and that such are said to be blotted out when it is manifest in this world or that which is to come that they were not in the number of the predestinate Some men make a distinction thus The booke of life taken two wayes that the booke of life is taken two maner of waies either for the catalogue of the elect vnto eternall life or els for the catalogue of them that professe the saith of Christ and are counted among the members of the Church whereof many doubtles are blotted out So Ezechiel 13. it is said of the false prophets They shall not be in the assembly of my people and shall not be written in the writing that is in the booke of the house of Israel He meaneth that albeit false prophets would seeme to bee the people and Church of God yea the piller thereof they should be so farre from beeing reckoned in that degree as that they should be accounted altogether strangers from Gods people The matter commeth all to one point Augustine confirmeth the said exposition partly by that that followeth in the words of Dauid and let them not he written with the righteous from whence he gathereth that such men as touching Gods iudgement were not yet written in the booke of the liuing partly by other places of Scripture concerning the booke of life as that which the spirit of God saith in the Apocal. Apoc. 13. 20. vers 15. 21.27 Act. 1. That they all shall worship the beast whose names are not written in the booke of life Therefore saith Augustine they shall not worship that are written Further Dauids prophesie is wholy directed against Iudas the traytor other obstinate enemies of Christ strangers from the grace of election reprobates and children of perdition as it is plaine by the interpretation of Paul For thus he saith Israel obtained not that which he sought for Rom. 11. but the elect haue obtayned it and the rest were hardened as it is written let their table be their snare let their eyes be darkened c. These bee Dauids very words out of this very Psalme which seeing the spirit of God expoundeth of the reprobate Iewes such as pertaine not to election it appeareth that their writing in the