that calleth any thing of works and of Faith too for they could have no Faith before they were born or had done any good or any evil are here excluded and all attributed to the purpose of God according to Election The same Apostle saith in another place that though some have erred concerning the Truth even those who before were professors of it such as (b) 2 Tim. 2.17 19. Hymineus and Philetus yet Nevertheless the foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his 't is no prejudice to neither can it change God's Decree And still to make use of the same authority St. Paul saith elsewhere (c) Ephes 1.9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself Not only that purpose in himself but also the declaration to us of that my stery of his will are altogether attributed to his good-pleasure not to any thing without him or in the Creature and all this to the end (d) Ephes 2.7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness tovards us through Christ Jesus Here is Grace here are riches of Grace yea exceeding riches of Grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus through whom only these graces are conveyed to us and who is the sole dispenser thereof and he addeth (f) Ephes 1.11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Here every word is a sentence against our Adversaries and after this t is an amazement to me that amongst those who pretend to be Christians and to receive the word of God for rule of the Truth there should be some who go about to set up Free-will and Man's strength to the prejudice of Grace and forge Motives and Counsellours for God besides his own good-will and pleasure We say further there is a certain small select number of those that are predestinated to Glory this we speak after St. Paul (g) Rom. 11.5 6. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise work is no more work Here the reason is given why amongst the unbelieving obstinate Jews there was a small remnant which did believe and were saved The Faith Grace and Salvation of this remnant is ascribed to their Election as to the cause and this Election affirmed to come only of God's grace and deny'd to have proceeded from any of their works not by a simple affirmation but by a double opposition of Works and Grace as incompatible in point of Election Arminians must not think to blind this with saying they do not attribute Election to a foresight of Works but of Faith 'T is true their Father Arminius doth not openly assert it this Text being so clear and so positive however he minced the matter for he made Election and Justification to depend upon Faith not as an Instrument applying Christ but as an Evangelical Work in the Gospel appointed of God to be a saving quality in it self as a perfect Obedience should have been under the Law but his Followers are not so scrupulons as he But the Apostle denies it to be of Faith as of Works wholly ascribing it to the Election or Grace But as to the point of the small number of the Elect our blessed Saviour himself decides it when he saith (a) Matth. 20.10 Many be called but few chosen and St. Paul to shew the small number of those that are elected and shall be saved is not satisfied to call it a remnant in the place already quoted but in another of the same Epistle he also makes use of the word remnart (b) Rom. 9.27 Though the number of the children of Israel be as the Sand of the Sea a remnant shall be saved Only a remnant and this after the Prophet Isaiah 10.20 21. Who elsewhere calls it (c) Isai 1.9 A very small remnant which the Apostle in the same Chapter doth call a Seed (d) Rom. 9.29 Except the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed which is only as much as sufficeth to sow the ground (e) Heb. 12.23 These are called the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven in the Book of God's Election which can never be encreased nor diminished and this (f) Ephes 4.12 13. for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Which meaneth that there is a fullness of the mystical body of Christ that is so many Members and that every Member is to come unto a degree of Stature unto a perfect Man as a certain number of Martyrs that shall be fulfilled Rev. 6.9 11. All those and those only (g) Rom. 8.30 whom God did predestinate them he also called with an inward and effectual calling and whom he called all and only them he also justified all and only them he also glorified This is the Golden Chain of our Salvation and the thing so certain and so sure that though to some it be to come 't is represented as already past and as if they were in actual possession of Glory There shall be no more nor less and though to the eye of Man in this there may seem to be some alteration some falling from the Truth it is only as to the outward shew and profession not as to the Election Wherefore St. John (h) 1 John 2.19 saith They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us And this also is a strong proof and evidence of the perseverance and against the final Apostacy of Saints which Arminians are stiff asserters of And that Election is the sole cause of everlasting Salvation it appears because into the heavenly City (i) Rev. 21.27 none shall enter but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life In another place this Book is mentioned (k) Rev. 13.8 and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him the Beast whose names are not written in the book of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world This is the Book of God's Decree of Election all that have names written in it shall enter into new Jerusalem or Heaven but those whose names are not written therein and do worship the Beast (l) Rev. 20.10 12. shall with the devil the beast and the false prophet be cast into
the lake of fire and brimstone that is Hell and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever and in that same chap. ver 12. again amongst the Books that were opened a particular mention is made of the Book of Life the opening of which Book is mentioned by a (m) Dan. 7.10 and 12.1 Philip. 4.3 Prophet and by an Apostle speaking of some whose names are written in the Book of Life On the other side we say that as God hath elected some to everlasting Life so others he hath reprobated and appointed to eternal Death The Decree of Predestination is the sentence of both of Pardon and Absolution for some and of Condemnation for others See the proof of this (n) Rom. 9.22 What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known to men endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction Such as Esan whom God hated such as Pharaoh (o) Ver. 13 17. whom God raised for this same purpose that I might shew my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth All the earth is God's and so are all that dwell therein and this calls to my mind a common saying we have my Lord is Lord and Master at home where as he pleases he may order things as they best conduce to his honour and convenience and if we may argue from the less to the greater why should we not say Heaven and Earth are God's why then should not the Lord dispose of all things therein for his Glory as it best seems good unto him Scripture speaks of it as matter of Fact I hope no Man may or will question the matter of Right (p) Jude 4. There are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation c. So that as some are ordained to eternal life others are to condemnation this is a Scripture phrase not of our making We have a third witness for this Truth Christ is a stone (d) 1 Pet. 2.8 a stumbling and a rock of offence to them which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed As some are vessels of honour appointed to obedience of Faith so others are vessels of dishonour appointed to disobedience and this we do clearly see in the next verse by the opposition he makes between some men and others But ye saith he are a chosen generation Vers 9. a Royal Priesthood an holy Nation a peculiar people The Lord Jesus saith clearly how at the last day there shall be two sorts of men To his sheep at the right hand he will say Matth. 25.33 3â— c. come ye blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Which proveth their Election to Glory from Eternity as blessed of the Father In these words I think I read God's Decree of Election of those blessed ones But Christ will say to those on the left depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his Angels Here is a Kingdom prepared for the blessed of the Father from the foundation of the World here is an everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels so that in that very place me may see Christ opening the Books of Election and Reprobation of Salvation and Damnation not only the Names but the Persons of the Elect may be seen on the right-hand as those of the reprobate may be seen on the left This everlasting fire is prepared not only for the Devil and his Angels but also for the Devil and his Children for so our Saviour calleth some Jews (e) John 8.44 Ye are of your father the Devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning c. he is a lyar and the father of it Thus Elymas the Sorcerer is by St. Paul call'd (f) Acts 13.10 thou child of the devil thou enemy of all righteousness Such was Judas by our Saviour called (g) Joh. 17.12 the son of perdition who as Peter saith (h) Acts 1.25 was gone to his own place If there be as certainly there is a place for the Devils and wicked Men prepared from Eternity there is reason also why from Eternity wicked men should he appointed for that place upon which account as I said before they are vessels of wrath fitted for destruction Now that God is the efficient cause of both Election and Reprobation 't is plain out of what the Apostle saith (i) 1 Thes 5 9. God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Then God doth appoint some Men to Wrath and some to Salvation Thus the Reader may see how strong in that way cometh the stream of Scripture which we do but follow Our Second Article is this The only moving cause of our Election is the meer good pleasure love free-grace and mercy of God This truth we also have many proofs of I (k) Exod. 33.19 will saith God be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy What can Men object against this By the mouth of his Prophet he saith (l) Hos 14.4 I will love them freely We use to say nothing is more free than Love Yet amongst Men some motive or pretence may happen to be assigned but in relation to God's love to the Creature no such thing may be pleaded for even in this world when God prefereth a people or one person before another there is nothing in that subject to move him to it as in the case of the Children of Israel Moses tells them plainly first not for their number (m) Deut. 7.7 8. the Lord did not set his love upon you nor chuse you because you were more in number than any people for ye were the fewest of all people but because the Lord loved you and would keep the oath he had sworn unto your fathers Let this stop every Man's mouth God loves because he will love let who can go further and fathom that which is infinite neither were they chosen and loved for their wisdom for (n) Deut. 32.21 they were a nation void of counsel neither was there any understanding in them Nor for their uprightness of heart or for (o) chap. 9.4 5 6. their righteousness for they were a stiff-necked people Neither was it for any power of theirs (p) chap. 8.17 18. to do to say not so much as in thine heart my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth And (q) chap. 4.38 the nations that were driven out before them were greater and mightier than they So none of the things mentioned nor any thing else in them commended them to God We see how careful was that faithful Servant of God to beat them out of the conceit of any merits of their own
in a little corner of Germany and upon occasion only of Indulgences at first how suddenly upon new inquiries and new discoveries notwithstanding the rage and craftiness of those that held it in unrighteousness did it spread abroad almost all Europe over So that the Lilly though amongst Thorns by the dew from Heaven the heat of the Sun of righteousness and the fatness of the Soil watered with the Blood of so many thousands of Martys became extraordinary fruitful Germany Bohemia Hungary Sweden Denmark Poland England Scotland Ireland the Low Countries France Swisserland generally and for the most part and some Persons in Italy received it But since whilest the Protestant Reformed Churches though in some of their Members lying under Persecution from Worldly Powers were undisturbed amongst themselves and agreed upon these Points the Enemy again sowed Tares which out of Flanders spread into Holland whence not just presently but soon after that Poyson crept over hither where it was opposed and condemned as contrary to the professed Doctrine of the Church as by the Grace of God I shall clearly make it appear Though upon these Matters several Books have been written in Defence of Truth yet 't is long since so that many of them are almost out of Print and those that remain do not fall into every one's hands wherefore it will not be amiss sometimes and upon occasion for some to publish their thoughts to assert and vindicate Matters of God's Grace and Providence in opposition to what Adversaries do write or say against it in their Discourses and in the Pulpits and upon that same account I now do bring in my Evidence That which chiefly engages me upon this present Design is to hear upon all occasions these unsound Doctrines ring out of the Pulpits which for the most part they have been in possession of for several years they having taken effectual care to keep those that are for the Truth from going up to such publick Places so that they would create a belief in People that what they teach is the Doctrine of the Gospel received by the Church and by those means infuse into common capacities those evil Principles which do puff up Men with the Opinion of their Natural Strength which must needs produce dangerous practises We teach how God from Eternity hath freely Decreed our Salvation in the fulness of time Christ purchas'd it and in time 't is promised and offered us in the Word and thereby we are called to come in to Christ upon his own terms Sacraments do seal it the Holy Ghost applieth it Faith receives it and Holiness with other good Works do bear Witness to it In few Words out of the whole corrupt lump of Mankind God hath freely chosen some to be Objects of his Mercy and hath elected them to eternal life through Faith in Christ our Lord which Faith and other necessary means to come to Glory in execution of his Decree he doth in time give us till at last through these means of Grace we are brought into eternal life and all this meerly out of his Mercy and only through his free Grace the rest of Mankind he leaves in their Natural corruption at last to have his Justice executed upon them We attribute our whole Salvation to God's free Grace and they to Natural Strength and Free-will which is clearly made out But a further reason to engage me upon this Design is the great affinity between Socinians and Arminians for in some things they border so near one upon the other and in others are so united that specially they agreeing with Papists in most of those Points wherein they differ from us I am afraid of the production of some new Monstrous Opinion now when Socinians increase come fast upon us and even in Print without any check grow bolder every day God knows what the effect of such an Vnion may prove and how pernicious to the Souls of many as some of them formerly turned Papists so now others may happen to become rank Socinians Once Arminianism had very near brought in Popery and now 't is a-pace ushering in Socinianism these are great Judgments though most Men seem not to be sensible thereat which at last may happen to deprive us of the light of the Gospel all this danger and evil if it doth befal us we do and shall owe to Arminianism Here we have a large Field to bring in the Evidence and Authority of several of the Ancient Fathers of the Church engaged in the Defence of the same Cause with us which have spoken clearly fully and to the purpose but because the Rule I mean the Word of God is so clear I think it were needless to borrow the Authority of Man which we may believe no farther than it agrees with Scripture after God hath declared his Holy Will and Mind neither are there such difficulties as do need the interpretation of most or many Ancient Doctors Besides it would be tedious for common capacities which I desire to make these Matters intelligible to as mach as I can and the subject will admit to run over several passages of the Fathers for 't is not material chiefly for a kind of Readers to know what Austin Hilary Prosper Fulgentius Hierom and so many others with Bertram Bernard c. have written upon the matter as what the Word of God saith about it wherefore for Proofs we shall stick chiefly to the Law and to the Testimony The Church like the Ship in the (a) Marth 8.24 25 26. Gospel is tossed up and down with Winds and Waves exposed to Rocks Sands and many other Dangers in such a case what 's to be done In Storm time like the Disciples we must go to the Lord Jesus with Cries and Prayers awake him and say Lord save us we perish for our Comfort we must not go far he is in the Ship and though he be asleep and to make us call the louder seems to be so for (b) Psal 121.4 he that keepeth Israel doth neither slumber nor sleep yet in good time he will awake arise and rebuke the Winds and the Sea and there shall be a great Calm may the Lord do so in his due time Yet sometime some Jonah who is the cause of the Tempest must be cast over-board some are by Christ (c) Rev. 3.16 spued out of his Mouth and (d) 1 Tim. 1.2 delivered unto Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme This is the end of many a disturber of the Peace of the Church which we are sure cannot miscarry but shall at last come to a good Harbor for though sometimes the Body be under Water as long as its Head is above it there is no danger of being drowned TO THE READER THE following Sheets I once intended to Dedicate to my Lord Carteret thereby to shew my singular esteem for his Piety Virtue and Merits But God By a late untimely Death and much to be lamented having taken him to
himself That design vanish't and my measures were broken and so I now leave only these few words of my respect for his Memory ERRATA PAg. 1. last line but one before and what r. wait for p. 15. in the Margin r. Deut. 28 p. 18. in the Marg. r. Psal 135 p. 19. l. 1. r. bow p. 25. l. 24. after which r. Sence p. 33. l. 7. r. that all p. 50. in the Margin r. Isaiah 12.40 p. 60. l. 5. before question add to p. 104. l. 14. r. Elijah p. 120. l. 7. before lookt add God p. 128. l. 37. for naturally r. wholly p. 135. in rhe Margin for John r. Joshua p. 142. l. 29. after but add be is p. 170. in the Margin for John r. Jonah p. 217. l. 32. r. 1615 p. 222. last l. for mistake r. mislike p. 231. for beg r. buy besides few mistakes in the Marginal Quotations CHAP. I. A Plea for Free-Grace against Free-Will SO much and by several hands hath already been said upon the points I now go about to handle that I must not pretend to bring many new lights to the matter Only what I propose to my self is as much as I can and the nature of the thing will give me leave to make it clear to a common Capacity that ordinary people may not as often they are be easily imposed upon by those who disguise and defame the Truth whither out of Ignorance or Malice or both let God and their Conscience be their Judge all they could they have done upon wrong suggestions to influence a prejudice not only against the things but the very names so that some are come to that length as to slight and leave off reading a Book if they see the word Predestination in it as if they were frighted with the name or there was some dangerous Poison under it but after this rate such must also leave off reading some places of Scripture wherein the word to Predestinate is several times contained I know how to write Truth upon the Mind and the Heart is the proper work of God's own Spirit specially those Truths that are contrary and cross to Man's natural Pride and Inclination Only I desire the Reader to remove all prejudices so quietly and patiently to peruse those few sheets and what God will do for him in the discovery of these truths which the Adversaries thereof have done what they could to confine and hide in Corners and if thereby he meets with satisfaction and advantage in the discoveries of it let him thankfully give God the Glory But this is certain how those errours which tend to destroy Grace and set up a strength in Nature began some years ago to be so propagated by a sort of Men who designed to meet with and be reconciled to the Church of Rome that they went about and too far prevailed in 't to corrupt the very Springs of Learning with keeping out of the Vniversities those that were for free Grace against free Will and bringing in only those whom they thought fit for their purpose wherefore 't is no wonder if so many Streams derived from thence have been infected with that Corruption infused into and influenced upon them and if the Disease is become Epidemical amongst that party wherein to profess such Opinions was a great qualification for Places and Preferments But every sound and Orthodox Christian must own that in matter of Salvation we cannot attribute too much to free Grace nor too little to Nature and to our own Strength which is the true State of the Dispute CHAP. II. Who Arminius was and what are his Opinions BUT before we proceed it will be necessary for a better information of the Reader to give some account of the Author and of his Opinions Arminius or James Van Hermin a Dutchman from whom they are called Arminians though they take the name of Remonstrants was not properly the Author but Reviver of old Errors with some kind of alteration 'T is commonly known in Holland whence we have this account of his Person how at first let it be spoken without any design to reflect he was a Tapster or Chamberlain in a Publick-house from whence by the care of some Guests who were pleased with his Wit he was sent to School and there maintained out of the publick Treasury of Amsterdam where he afterwards was admitted to be a Preacher whence after the Death of Learned Junius he was called to Leyden to be Divinity Professor in his place but upon condition that before his admittance he should have a Conference with Gomarus c. and in that Conference he should by an open Declaration of his Opinion clear himself of all suspicion of unsoundness in Doctrine and that he should promise if he had any singular Opinions he would not discover them to the disturbance of the Churches Which Conference was accordingly held before the Curators of the University and the Deputies of the Synod in which Arminius most expresly denyed and condemned the Opinions of Pelagius about Grace Free-Will Original Sin Perfection in this Life and Predestination adding that he approved all that Austin and other Fathers had written against Pelagius promising also to read nothing different from the received Doctrine hereupon he was admitted Professor and for some time taught the Doctrine of the Reformed Churches in the points of Christ's Satisfaction Justification by Faith Perseverance in Faith Certainty of Salvation and such other matters as afterwards he denyed this breach of his promifes was so notorious and he went so far on that to remedy this evil the calling a Synod was thought necessary which he by means of Friends and Credit which was considerable amongst great Men as Barnevelt who afterwards lost his Head Vtengobard of Grotius c. he did stop it as much as he could knowing he there should be called to answer for himself But seeing how for all his oppositions a Synod was like to be he fell Sick for Grief as generally believed and died October 19. 1609. He was so full of Envy against the reputation of the first Reformers that one of his chief designs ever was how to discredit their Persons and Labours which spirit of his in a high degree is transmitted to his Sectators For certainly no Papist can or doth express a greater Contempt Hatred and Malice against the Blessed Memory of those Eminent instruments of Reformation than most Arminians do After his Death his Party used the same means to prevent a Synod nay rather than not to do it they would have betaken themselves to their Arms had they not been prevented by the extraordinary care and diligence of Maurice Prince of Orange in Conformity to Orders from the States Before this they had so shuffled things that with their tricks they hindered it for some Years till the disease and danger of ruin not only in that Church but in the State also growing worse and worse And King James from hence pressing strongly the States General for
of God Secondly We ought to put our trust and confidence in God as a Father who takes a special care of all his Thirdly In adversity we must not look so much upon Second Causes as upon the first and whatsoever we suffer we must own it to come from the hand of God and in prosperity we must acknowledge and praise God as the Author of every good thing we enjoy (a) Job 2.10 For at the hand of God we receive both good and evil Then we ought to fear and reverence so potent a God in whose hands is every Creature which he can arm all against us David saith Fire and hail snow and vapour stormy winde fullfilling his word Psal 148.8 So we may say of every other Creature they all are his Servants Psal 119.91 Further more we must love God who out of his Fatherly care watcheth for and promoteth our good and hereby ought to be excited a mutal love amongst us who are Children of the same Father This also layes an obligation upon us when there is occasion to make use of the means God hath prescribed yet not so as to put our trust in them neither are we to despair in case they fail us knowing how God is not so tyed to them but that he may help us without so that upon all occasions of whatsoever nature they be we ought to submit to trust and depend upon God's providence and in conformity to God we ought to follow our Work and Duty The Psalmist in the whole 107. Psalm having exhorted the redeemed of the Lord to praise God for his manifold providence as over Travellers Captives Sick-men Seamen and several other varieties of life in the last verse of all to bring them into a serious consideration of the right use they ought to make of it saith Who so is wise and will observe those things even they shall understand the loving-kindness of the Lord. We must not be as idle and unconcerned Spectators for such are not wise But it is a part of wisdom in us to take a special notice of all effects of God's wise mighty and gracious Providence CHAP. V. Of GRACE WIth corrupt Men 't is natural to have too good an opinion of themselves and too mean of God therefore they are pleased with what exalteth humane strength and Free-will though Free-grace be thereby abased the more a Doctrine is suitable with Holy Scripture the less 't is acceptable to humane affections People must not dispute about these matters as some do to try their Wits and make a shew of their Parts but to find out the truth as revealed in God's word and then receive adhere to and profess it About this important matter of grace several parts are controverted between Arminians and us As first About Resistiblity of it Secondly About the Amissibility Thirdly About universal grace Fourthly About Faith the chief Gospel Grace which hath several branches By the grace of God we intend of every one of these to speak in its due place but in order thereunto we must endeavour first to beat down Free-will opposite to grace Here I put them together not by reason of their affinity but of their contrariety about this matter though in some different degrees we have for Adversaries Pelagians Papists and Arminians CHAP. VI. Of FREE-WILL THE Word Free-will doth properly denote the faculty of the Soul called the Will but in the present Question the Understanding and other faculties of the Soul are also understood thereby in as much as the Will is enlightned by the Intellect and followeth the last Dictates of it so that it is the guide of Will and Affections Now the Question is about the power of all Natural faculties of Man how far they may go in promoting of his own Salvation This is called Free-will and we are to see how much Nature which here is opposed to Grace can promote or hinder our Salvation Pelagians do say that by Obedience to the Law of Nature through the direction of right Reason Men may be saved that is by Nature without Grace So that the right use of Nature by infallible dependence draws the Grace of Regeneration which is to settle a soundness of Nature so contrary to what is expressed in the whole course of Scripture But these I pass by to come to others Papists who go not so far yet in matter of Salvation give Nature too much for in part they attribute it to Nature and in part to Grace Sin say they hath not taken away the Power of the Understanding and of the Will of Man to obey God and to believe but only the exercise of that Power that the power of Man's Soul to all good Works is not dead but only chained up and bound and in the act of Conversion the effect of it doth depend part upon Grace and part upon Man's own Strength About this part of farthering our Salvation Arminians do mince the matter and are sometimes on and off if not wholly yet in part but as to the other point of Man's natural power to hinder Grace and Salvation they highly and altogether are for it as it will appear when we speak about resistibility of Grace But as neither Free-will nor any natural faculty hath any power to purchase the beginning or progress of our Salvation for both Grace and Glory as after David I said before Psal 84.11 come from God who alone quickeneth Nature dead in Sin so Nature cannot hinder the Almighty power of God in the Conversion of Sinners except one will affirm the power of Men to be greater than that of God which is downright Blasphemy We say First That Man through his Fall is so corrupt that by Nature there is not in him any power at all to any Spiritual good rather a propensity and inclination to all kind of Spiritual evil so that our Will instead of being free is a Servant and a Slave to sin The consideration whereof made Luther give a Book he did write upon this Subject the Title de Servo Arbitrio the Will Slave or Servant The first Part that is our unableness is clear (a) Joh. 6.44 No man can come to me except the Father draw him (b) Jer 13.23 Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then may ye also do good that are used to do evil St. Peter speaks of those who (c) 2 Pet. 2 19. promise others liberty whilest they themselves are the servants of corruption for of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in bondage How far this Text is appliable to those who boast of a Power of Free-will in themselves and promise it to others I leave it to God and their Consciences sure I am the best of us (d) Eph. 2.3 5. are by nature Children of wrath even as others and dead in Sins This Natural and Moral impotency is by St. Paul clearly set down (e) 1 Cor. 2.14 The natural Man receiveth
can know it to be so then they must be sure of their faith that is have a certitude of it In the case of the two blind men (d) Matth. 9.28 our Saviour asked them believe ye that I am able to do this they said unto him yea Lord. When believers are seriously asked whether they have faith They may well and do confess it in conscience to the Lord himself which must arise out of a certitude of it Then (e) 1 Cor. 2.11.12 the spirit a man which is in him knoweth the things of a man and in the next verse he addeth we have received the spirit of which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God And we can distinctly perceive the proper acts of faith as when one out of a sincere and pious affection findeth himself ready to deny the world and himself to serve and obey God according to his holy will To the question how can a man know when he is elected And how see he hath Faith I say Election is evidenced by effectual calling by Faith and Repentance so is Faith by the fruits and effects thereof as are good works as certainly-as one may conclude where a fire is there is heat and when the Sun shineth it is day-light Thus the cause is proved by the effect and the effect by the cause Where is motion either natural or spiritual we may confidently assirm there is life accordingly Thus we need not to go up to Heaven to dive into the secret Council of God nor to turn the leaves of the Book of Life to see whether our names be written in it but to search into our own souls and examine our own Thoughts Affections and Actings if there be holiness love and other fruits of the spirit Now they object that this certitude must be expressed or implyed in the word and thence drawen by a consequence but we say it doth not arise out of the letter of the word but out of the inward testimony of our understanding being enlightened by the holy Ghost which beareth witness to our spirit that we are the Children of God and consequently that we have true faith This is not written in the Book of Scripture but in the Book of our Heart with the very finger of the Holy Ghost hence it is that we do not believe we do believe but we feel and perceive it as we do not believe we think of God when we do 't but we know and feel it in our minds One thing here I must take notice of upon the matter in relation to that Exhertation of St. Paul to the Corinthians to examine themselves that it is a great deal of pity that many I dare say good people do not set themselves upon that tryal but do either wholly or in part neglect it but if they be of God's Elect at one time or other they must come to 't the sooner the better and the more often to known what progress they made in faith what degrees of strength it hath gotten and for neglecting this so necessary a duty they thereby deprive themselves of much comfort which would accrue to them To make an end of this matter I shall add that this certitude is very much improved when we can clearly make out we have an interest in Christ and are Christ's For saith the Apostle (a) 1 Cor. 3.22 Ye are Christ's and Christ is God's To know whether we be Christ's we have a certain rule to know it by that is if the spirit of Christ be in us (b) Rom. 8.9 For if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his How then to know whether the spirit be in us St. Paul giveth a rule by (c) Gal. 5.22 23. the fruits of the spirit as love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith c. Now we are come to a great question why of so many that hear the word of God there are so few that believe What may be the cause of it at the same word and under the same Ministery so different and contrary effect is produced some like Wax at the fire are softned and melted when others at the same time like Clay and Dirt are hardened whilst some believe others continue in unbelief and harden themselves some are the better others the worse for it Like (d) Joh. 13.27 Judas into whom the Devil entred after our Saviour had given him the sop The word is a wholesome Physick to some and as deadly poyson to others the Lord Jesus is a (e) 1 Cor. 23. 2 Pet. 2 8. stumbling-block and a rock of offence and foolishmess to some and the (f) 1 Cor. 2.6 7. wisdom of God in a mystery to others so that this word and they that preach it are unto some those that are saved (g) 2 Cor. 2.15.16 a Savour of life unto life and to others to them that perish a Savour of death unto death All this is truth Scripture teaches and Experience confirms how all that hear the word of God do no believe for all men have not Faith 2 Thess 3.2 Now we are to inquire into the reasons of it First 'T is not for any Dignity Merit Natural Capacity or any other quality in the hearer seeing the (h) 1 Cor. 2.14 natural man such we are all by nature receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them Which the same Apostle doth confirm in another place (a) Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Neither is it for any depth of knowledge learning eloquence or other abilities in the Minister who preacheth the word (b) 1 Cor 3.6 Paul may plant Apollos may water but neither of them can give the increase (c) 2 Cor. 2. 2 Cor. 4.7 Who is sufficient for these things For saith he in another place this treasure we have in earthen vessels that the excellency be of God and not of us The most fervent and excellent Servants of God commonly complain of the hardness and impenitency of their hearers and let Isaiah speak for all (d) Isai 53.1 16. Who hath believed our report And our Blessed Saviour should if any have had cause to expect a good success of his outward teaching yet how often doth he complain of the hardness stubbornness impenitency and unbelief of his hearers How few of the great multitudes he taught were converted to him So that we must not seek in the dispensers of the word for the cause why some believe and others do not The cause why all do not believe is not as the Adversaries would have it because they do not all they can and do not make use of all the power remaining in them out of their natural corruption that they do not go to Church do not hear nor read
proceed farther I have an occasion to say something on the behalf of that faithful Servant of Christ in whose Written Life the world hath such a Character of him as becomes a Pious Laborious and learned Man and though I am not sworn to his or any Man's words yet for truths sake I shall speak some few words relating to us here in Queen Elizabeth's days a Convocation at Oxford approved the Book of Calvins Institution and appointed it by Tutors to be read to their Pupils an infallible sign of a perfect agreement of our Church with the Doctrines therein contained which was to joyn it with our Articles That Book indeed is a Master-piece and deserves well the Commendation following given it by a learned Pen. Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempora chartas Huic peperere libro secula nulla parem Whereof the sence is Since the birth of Christ no Age hath after the writings of the Apostles produced so excellent a Book as is Calvin's Institution Johannis Stormius an Eminent Divine of Strasbourgh who with his Brother through their singular Prudence and Eminent Piety did by the grace of God prevail without any Tumult to have the true Religion at the beginning of Reformation received in that City gives the following Character of Calvin John Calvin Joannes Calvinus homo acuâ—issimo judicio sum maque doctrina Egregia Memoria praeditus est c. a man endowed with most acute judgement of very great learning and of an excellent memory in his Writtings are variety plenty and purity witness whereof is his Institution of the Christian Religion which having first began then enlarged and inriched and at last finished he hath published this year Neither do I know in this kind any thing better or more perfect to teach Religion to Reform Manners and remove Errors And let any man think himself to be therein very well settled and grounded who hath attained to the things contained in that Book Beza saith he read it one and twenty times and at every time out of it he learned something Our first Reformers had a great respect and value for him amongst the several opinions about the Lord's Supper they received his as the true and they sent over for three Men that had been influenced by him Martyr Bucer and Fagius to help them in the Work of Reformation Archbishop Cranmer did kindly write to him and desired his assistance in things tending to a farther settlement of the Church and acquainted him he could do nothing more profitable than to write often to the King Bucer at Cambridge where he was Professor in Divinity hearing his Letters prevailed upon the Protector Duke of Somerset desired him to write to that Noble Lord concerning some matters And Bishop Hooper valued him so much as from his Prison to write to him calling him vir praestantissime and subscribing himself pietatis tuae studiosissimus Jo. Hooperus When Calvin did write to the Duke of Somerset it was very kindly taken Mr. Thomas Rogers in his Analysis of the 39 Articles doth speak honorably of him in the 2d page of his Preface and the first Letter he did write to the King was very well received and the whole Council whom the King shewed it to was well pleased with it This sheweth at that time he was not such a monster in the eyes of great and good men as Arminians have since traduced him he was a Man of great and good fame for all the malice of his enemies and of the truths who from first to last thought they might write or say any thing against him I shall instance only one who called him a pragmatical Fellow c. who died Bishop of (a) Parket Oxford but such a Man's standers strike no blow for after he had by Mr. Malvile been reduced to a nonplus and to have nothing more to the purpose to say for himself in our strugling here against Popery made himself sufficiently known to the world before his death Such virulent Pens and Serpentine Tongues must spue out their venom against the Works and Memory of Pious Learned and Extraordinary Men whose Books they never were worthy to carry But we must not wonder that sort of people doth speak so ill of the Eminent instruments of Reformation which they were and are enemies to and to friends of Reformation (b) Heylin Histay of Reformation Preface page 4. Doth not one of their chief Men abominably say whose death Edward 6th I cannot reckon for an infelicity to the Church of England for being ill principled in himself c. None but Papists can account it an infelicity that so good a Protestant Prince should die so soon if so then it was no infelicity to England that he was so soon succeeded by such a Bloody Persecutor of Religion as Queen Mary was After that they are licensed to speak ill of any Man The most pious hopefull and knowing Prince for his Age that ever sat upon an English Throne comparable to Josiah in his Zeal for the glory of God his loss the more to be pityed that he did not go off the Stage without suspition of being poysoned which very reason should have stoped such foul-mouths for fear of being thought to approve of such abominable courses which were not only suspected at home but also reported and credited abroad as mentioned by an (a) Sleidâ—â— Author of very good reputation who gives a worthy and deserved Character of that young King which an English Man will not afford him The Court intrigues in his Reign are well known how at first through the Division then the ruin of the two Brothers his Unkles he was laid open to the attempts of his Enemies As a violent Arminian attempted to tread upon the memory of that Excellent King (b) Iohn Goodwin another stiff that way hath in print justified the death of King Charles they spare no body Hear how the same Heylin in his quin-quarticular History speaks of that worthy Primate Vsher the Irish Articles saith he were drawn up by Doctor Vsher a professed Calvinian who not only thrust in the Lambeth Articles but also made others of his own c. But let us return to our immediate Subject about Arminians Pelagius was their Grand-father whose Errors Austin overthrew with Scripture and Reason God at that time having raised him up to be Champion for Grace who in this matter handled the word of God so powerfully and like a wise Master-builder and in so successful a way that the unsound Tenets were beaten down and the upholders thereof highly discountenanced But after Pelagius his death his Sectators appeared but under another shape not altogether so hideous for they did not positively deny Original Sin but so had however that the same Doctor took up the Cudgels against those Semipelagians Arminius in his days renewed the dispute on the behalf of the Semipelagians in a time when all the Reformed Churches both here and abroad quietly
and without disturbance taught the truth of all those Doctrines The truth was then in possession of the Pulpits of Divinity Schools and of Presses but what when this Man appeared the most Famous and Learned Protestant Divines at home and abroad opposed him and did write against him If any one hath a mind to know the shifts and tricks of that Party to strengthen themselves and undermine their opposers and to prevent the calling of a General Synod which was sued for as the best way effectually to maintain truth and oppose falsehood let him read the Acts of the Synod of Dort with the Preface to it where they had all the fair play that might reasonably be wished for But because about these matters in the eighth Century disputes did break out again as it appeared in the case of Gottescalk wherein Hinemarus of Rheims and Remigius Archbishop of Lyons with the Churches of his Diocese were highly engaged these last for and the other against Gottescalk which if any one desireth to be well informed of let him read the Honest and Excellent account of it given by that worthy and Eminent Prinate of Ireland James Vsher which I quoted before A thing much to be taken notice of in all these disputes and which is the chief Subject of this Chapter is this that Arminius and his Followers do hold the opinions of Pelagians and Semipelagians and that Calvin whom they make the head against their opinions and we hold the same with Austin Hilarius Prosper Fulgentius and other Orthodox Doctors of the Primitive Church we hitherto have sufficiently declared ours what remaineth is for me to shew what those Fathers of the Church did hold about these points but that shall be briefly because the trouble of proving it hath been saved me by others who make good out of the writings of those ancient Fathers the things now in question First As to Predestination (a) Justin Martyr dialog cum Triph. Sect. 2. God elected us and was made manifest to them that sought him not And do you think O man that we could ever have understood these things in the Scripture except we had received grace by the will of God of which grace ye Jews being destitute have understood none of them Another saith (b) Cyprian de Mort. num 2. there is no need of Money Industry and Man's Hand but it is the free and ready gift of God as freely as the Sun shineth the Fountain watereth the shower moisteneth so doth the heavenly spirit power it self into us The great asserter of Christ's Divinity speaks thus (a) Athanas cont Aâ—â—â—â—n 4. Pag. 175. The Apostle James hath taught of his own will begat he us with the word of truth Therefore of all the regenerate yea and of all that by creation were generated it is the will of God by the word of God that doth create and regenerate whatsoever pleaseth him Let us hear what saith another (b) Ambros in Psal 118. Serm. 10. Perseverance is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth for it is not in the power of man but in God that sheweth mercy that thou shouldest be able to accomplish that which thou hast began Another saith (c) Hieron ad Ruff. lib. 1. Paul and those that are like him are not elected because they were holy and unspotted but they are elected and predestinated that afterwards in their lives in good works and vertues they may be unspotted and holy These Doctors attribute it to grace to the free gift of God to his own will and pleasure perseverance is not in the will or power of man but in Gods mercy neither were we elected for our Faith or Holiness but to be unspotted and holy all this is the sense of the fore-quoted Doctors which agreeth with what we said But because in Austin's days chiefly that Heresie sprung up and that he was the man who most laid it to heart and made it his main business to oppose it he hath written against it more clearly and most to the full of any Out of so many Treatises he hath written about it which are so well known we shall quote only one or two places (d) August de praedest grat cap. 13. Out of those to whom the severity of Justice adjudgeth punishment according to the unexpressible mercy of his secret dispensation he chose out vessels which he might fit unto honour both delivering some from wrath to come and leaving others to the sentence of Justice Enchirid. ad Laurent cap. 99. And in another place he hath mercy with goodness he hardeneth without injustice so that he that is freed may not boast of his merits neither he that is damned may complain of any thing but his merits for grace alone maketh a difference between the redeemed and the lost whom one common cause derived from the root had united together in one lump of destruction With this concurred another when he saith (e) Prosper ad except genu resp ad dub 9. Austin by a godly and constant doctrine hath abundantly proved that predestination was to be preached to the Church in which it is the preparation of grace and grace is to be preached in which is the effect of predestination and the fore-knowledge of God wherein he fore-knoweth before all ages on whom he would bestow his gifts Which preaching whosoever is against he is a most open defender of Pelagian Pride And in another place he saith from himself No Catholick doth deny the predestination of God The faith of predestination is established by many authorities of holy Scriptures yet unto it Ad capit Gall. cap. 1. it is not lawful to attribute any of the sins of men who came to their inclination to sin not by God's Creation but by their first Fathers transgression from the punishment whereof no man is free but only by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ prepared and predestinated in the eternal counsel of God before the foundation of the world An excellent testimony about all these Doctrines by Austin asserted is given by Hormisda a Bishop of Rome to a Bishop of Africa who desired his advise about the Books of Faustus the Semipelagian in these words (a) Epist ad Possessor They know how not only the Roman and African Church and all the Sons of promise through all parts of the world do agree with this man's Austin Doctrine as in the whole Faith so in the confession of Grace But let us come to another (b) Fulgent de incar grat in fine God who made man by his predestination fore-appointed to whom he would give the gift of illumination to believe and the gift of perseverance to profit and persevere and the gift of glorification to reign who no otherwise performed indeed then he hath ordained in his unchangeable will The truth of which predestination by which the Apostle witnesseth that we are predestinated in Christ before the foundation
Faith their perseverance their good use of grace received their original and actual sins and final impenitency why one man is predestinated to salvation not another So it unveils to them those high and unsearchable mysteries of Gods decrees which put St. Paul to a nonplus or else he had not been strucken with such amazing admiration as made him cry out (a) Rom. 11.33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding-out Surely he wanted that universal grace or else he would not have thought those judgments so incomprehensible though I would have the Adversaries of the truth to know that St. Paul wanted no grace he had a sufficient grace (b) 2 Cor. 12 9. My grace is sufficient unto thee But that sufficient grace in Paul was for another end it never went so far as Arminians pretends theirs doth yet they must give us leave to think he was inferiour in grace to none of them nor David who saith (c) Psal 36.6 thy judgments are a great deep I shewed how Arminians have renewed several of Pelagius his Errors but I did not fasten upon them his denying Original Sin which I must now do (d) Contra Tilen pag. 388. Corvinus one of their great men saith that with Arminius orginal sin hath not the nature of sin or fault properly so called and Arminius himself affirmeth that it is wrongfully said (e) Pag. 174. That original sin makes a man guilty of death And one of our own who is highly esteemed by his own Party in his Book Vnum Necessarium doth expressly deny original sin and the imputation thereof and takes a great deal of pains to answer arguments drawn out of Scripture and experimental reasons to prove it and what he had written he goes about to justifie in his answer to the then Bishop of Rochester's Letter which he had written to shew him his Error Here and there I shewed how about these matters Arminians do joyn with Papists and Pelagians against us Now I say they do so with Socinians so no wonder if they have and still usher in Socinianism For both Arminians and Socinians do affirm that the causes of predestination are not in God but in us That he doth not predestinate to Salvation any certain or particular persons and that predestination may be changed and frustrated also that theâ—e is a free-will to good in us And as to Providence that God hath not determined contingencies nor foreseen future contingents and such others as Arminians have borrowed from Socinians as in the mistakes concerning the high point of justification Christ's satisfaction c. Then they deny the knowledge and confession of the mystery of the Trinity to be absolutely necessary to Salvation and that the Doctrine of the three persons of the Godhead specially of Christ's being God from Eternity are not a fundamental Article of our Faith as affirmed in their Apolog. Vindic. Respons ad except Leyd nay in vindic cap. 7. lib. 1. pag. 37 38. With Socinians and some Anabaptists they falsely say that the Doctrine of the Trinity began in the time of the Council of Nice and they are so good friends that in the same Apol. Vindic. they affirm Socinians to be Pious nay most Pious Men whom all Protestants ought to take for example of Piety wherefore no wonder if they say we ought to keep Communion with them that is Socinians Some of them say the Father to be Essentiantem and the Son Essentiatum and subordinate to the Father In few words that most of the Arminian Doctors do in the Article of the Trinity which they make to be of no great moment go hand in hand with Socinians hath clearly been made out by Vedclius Part 2. Arcanorum Armin. and what I have here charged them with and other things too I am able to make good out of their publick writings as the Apology Vindic. and out of the works of their most approved eminent Authors as Worstius whom they would have had promoted to be Divinity Professor at Leyden after Arminius's death Episcopius the chief manager of their Affairs in the Synod of Dort Curcelaeus c. But all these and more too ill consequences in matters of Doctrine I now must conclude with the bad influence it hath upon life and conversation It is too true as we find it by experience that there are multitudes of wretches kept in their carnal security by a perswasion that there is an universal grace offered unto all by which they may repent and believe when they will this makes them resolve to enjoy the pleasures of sin a little longer and then they will receive and entertain grace and so easily get to Heaven which is a great encouragement to all wickedness but it suits with the nature and desire of wicked presumptuous and prophane sinners who though they were not fully perswaded of it yet for them t is a pretence to continue in sin 'T is said of one Thompson a great propagator of Arminianism that when he was in his fits of intemperance if any one minded him of the wrath of God threatned against such courses he would answer I am a child of the devil to day but I have free-will and to morrow I will make my self a child of God Jansenius hath made this general observation that the Pelagians were generally loose in their lives which he taketh abundance of good Pains to prove and I conceive it cannot be too much considered in this controversie because Pelagius urged nothing more vehemently than this that the extolling of the grace of God and lessening the liberty of man's will is the readiest way to destroy all Piety By those that for a considerable time have conversed amongst Papists 't is observed how the Jansenists are the best moral livers amongst them of a much better life and conversation than the rest so it cannot but be taken notice of that amongst us the greatest sticklers for Arminianism even amongst some of the Clergy are the proudest most vicious Ambitious Voluptuous Drunkards prophane livers of any making little or no conscience to seek the glory of God to feed their flocks amongst which they seldom are resident except in sheering time for to feed they care not so much as to fleece the Flock making not much conscience of performing Pastoral Duties being more for wealth and preferment than for the good of souls If their Doctrine be good why are their lives and actions so vicious I speak for the generality their practice contradicteth what they would have us to believe of their Doctrine their bad lives they would shelter under the notion of a good Doctrine the goodness of their Religion must be a cloak but we with a good life would as much as the frailty and corruption of our nature can permit endeavour to credit the doctrine we profess and because we will not run into the same excesses
which are beginning to bud forth amongst you We must not omit giving the King the due commendation he deserveth for the pains he took to write against Worstius After all this let Arminians for shame leave off the Plea that their Errors are the Doctrine of our Church which is as true and no more than when Papists do pretend their Religion to be the true Apostolical Faith even in those Articles that are so contrary to it but farther to shew how perswaded King James was of the mischief of those unsound opinions he was very active in suppressing them to prevent those evil consequences that might happen thereby and this not only at home but also abroad upon this account he did write to the States general and ordered his Ambassador there to be instant and to follow the business close and we may say the meeting of the general Synod of Dort is in a high degree due to the King 's earnest solicitations So to encourage and countenance it he sent thither Divines from hence whereof Dr. Field Bishop of Landaff was the chief Dr. Davenant afterwards Bishop of Salisbury Dr Hall was there at first but upon account of indisposition of health he came back Dr. Ward Dr. Goad and Balcanquall instead of Dr. Hall in all they were five who signed the Acts of the Synod of Condemnation of Arminianism We have more witnesses to bring in if we would but we want them not though they be men of note but what need bringing in particular men after the whole body have declared against our and the truths Adversaries We might bring in (a) Exposition on the Creed Dr. Babington Bishop of Worcester (b) Certainty of Salvation against Dr. Bishop Dr. Abbot Bishop of Salisbury (c) Answer to the Rhemish Testam on Rom. 8. Dr. Fulke (d) Of the Church lib. 1. cap. 3. and cap. 17. and in his Digres 41 and 43. Dr. Field (e) Reply to Fisher Dr. White (f) Descript Eccles Thes â— Dr. Reynolds though some may happen to except against him yet what he saith in the quoted place is approved by the fore-named Dean of Carlisle Dr. White Nay in this case we have for us (g) Discouse of Justification Hooker with some a man without exception all whose evidence is much to our purpose but to quote all their words it were too long after so many other Quotations yet they who have a mind and leisure may peruse them as quoted in the Margin So then during K. James's time Arminianism had nothing to do here and continued so in Charles Reign till Laud came into favour and was made Archbishop and yet at first those Errors were ill lookt upon for Mr. Richard Mountague in his Appeal having written for Arminianism his Book was answered by five or six of the most considerable men in the Nation all agreeing he had departed from the Doctrine of the Church he was thrice about it before the Parliament and his Book condemned as contrary to the Articles of the Church Under his Hand and Seal he renounced his Errors in a letter of his written to the Archbishop of Canterbury he thought he stood in need of a Pardon which King Charles gave him for all his writings and at last called in his Book as the great occasion of many unnecessary troubles After him Dr. Thomas Jackson came upon the Stage but for those Arminian Books of his was censured in Parliament and excepted against by the Convocation and in the following Parliaments Complaints even by some of the best Sons of the Church were made against those Innovations and Errors in Doctrine under the name and notion of Arminianism Yet under the favour of Bishop Laud and his Faction being encouraged with Protection and Preferments got much ground and corrupted many members of the Clergy who became rotten branches of a sound and wholesome tree yet for all the violent stream some had the courage and zeal to appear in writing against it though they smarted for it they charged Arminians of being favourers and maintainers of Popery of renouncing the Doctrine of the Church of England of being pestilent Hereticks Enemies of God and of his grace for the most part licentious proud vicious and bitter Enemies to the practical power of godliness whereof some turned Papists Innovators and disturbers of the Peace of both Church and State And any impartial Reader that will take the pains to read some of those Books may find the charge well proved Indeed the serious consideration of these things doth afford matter for sad thoughts and sufficient cause of grief to those who love the glory of God and the good of his Church after so much pains taken by the first instruments of our Reformation to remove abuses in Doctrine and bring things into the true Primitive Channel who left us Articles and other Works in writing according to the true Apostolical Doctrine contained in the word of God believed and professed by the Orthodox Primitive Church which these first Reformers sealed with their own Blood for they were Martyrs not only for refusing to joyn with the Church of Rome in her Idolatry but also for the testimony of the grace of God in Christ to exclude all humane help power strength abilities from working our Salvation by means of any dispositions free-will improvement of graces and merits of our own these things they laid down their lives for and to maintain that our whole Salvation comes from the free grace of God alone and from nothing at all of our own For to believe one is and may be saved by his own merits and workings or by those of another or even in part through grace and in part through our care and endeavours in the bottom 't is all one for thereby Salvation is divided between God and Man when God alone will be owned to be the sole Author and Finisher of it Well those directions for our Faith left by those eminent instruments of Reformation were (h) Dr Abbâ—◠〈…〉 in his Discourse De Perseverantia Saâ—ct in the Epistle dedicated to King Charles the 1st then Prince of Wales complaineth of some of our Divines that foll wing the by-paths of Arminius Dogmate etiam nunc destruunt articulos Religionis quos â—â—sus propria manu confirmerunt They destroy'd those very Articles of Religion which they had subscribed before subscribed by those who in and about the time I mentioned before embraced and promoted Arminianism and by those who now own it in as much as they could wresting the Sense of those thus doing what they could or can to poison the very Springs But let them do their worst the Truth and meaning of those Rules of our Faith is still the same but they are bad Children of a good Mother from whose Counsels and Directions they are degenerated and about things in Question apostatized So that in this respect they have cruelly divided rent and torn Mother-Church which if