which are alleaged for God's stirring up to sin are only meant of his permission When this is done the Scripture will exclaim no more against Mr. B. in this particular then as he saith it does against me But I must hasten to his next invention viz. That Antiquity as well as Scripture will exclaim against me 1. What he means by Antiquity we may guesse by his Catalogue to which he recommends me p. 194. where amongst his Antient Authors he reckons Historia Gottescalci written by the late Bishop of Armagh about 25. years since Yet to that Author I will give ear if I may also be allowed to read the Predestinarian heresie set set out lately by Sirmondus and also Vossius his Pelagian Historie 2. His very antientest Author there mentioned is no more â—…ntient then St. Austin who lived above 400. years after Christ whereas I derive my Antiquity in behalf of my opinions from as far as St. Ignatius who lived together with the Apostles And 3. even Austin Prosper Fulgentius and Hilarie who are in effect no more then one Austin the three latter following him as Scholars commonly their Master are as exactly for my opinions as Mr. B. can pretend them to be for his as I have and shall shew upon just occasion And if they speak on both sides let them signifie nothing with him or me but let us be tried by their Fathers to whom they will humbly submit themselves and who are granted to be for that which I asserted in my Notes by the very Enemies of my opinion But 4. if this one Austin had been only for Mr. B. his opinions it had not been argumentative that they are true For that Father was subject to divers errors as himself confessed and his very admirers cannot deny It was one of his Errors that Infants as soon as they were baptized should receive the other Sacrament of the Lord's supper Which Mr. B. sure will grant was no small error since he himself with-holds it from men of ripe age And that was founded upon another error far worse then the former viz the damnation of Infants dying unbaptized From whence he worthily was stiled Durus pater Infantum Besides 5. It is the judgement even of Grotius that wonder of this age much more of the next for his profoundnesse of judgement as well as learning That Austin is not reconcileable with himself that he cast him self into Ambages in the heat of disputations from which he could not disintangle himself that he used violent interpretations of many cleare Scriptures now one anon another as being doubtfull which way to turn himself that he was usefull for instruction but unhappy in interpreting Scripture and far inferiour to the Greeks This is the upshot of Grotius his judgement which I do not set down in derogation to that Father who speak's as much for my opinions as he can possibly speak against them but that the plain Reader may know what he ought to think of Mr. B. his notion of Antiquity 6. Though Prosper did erre the same error with his Master touching the Damnation of unbaqtized Infants yet he sufficiently overthrowe's it by his other opinions As of predestination being founded in prescience Of universal Grace to all that are baptized Of universall Redâ—…ption to all without exception as well to the wicked as to the just Of falling away from sancttity Of free will to evill and withall to h good per divinum adjutorium Of Gods not impelling any man to evill Of Gods prescience not being his will Of God's not forsaking untill he is forsaken And very much more I could alleage to shew him speaking for me against our Correptory Corrector out of his Answers to the Objections of Vincentius And from his choise Sentences collected out of St. Austin's Works And it ought to be remembred that Austin and Prosper are no where so likely to declare in plain terms their true opinions as where they wipe off such Calumnies as their Correptorie Correctors had laid upon them 7. St. Hilarie was so far from Mr. B. his opinions that he was contrary to them as Mr. B. himselfe must say if that is true which Prosper himself speaks of him in his Epistle to Austin concerning the Reliques of the Pelagian Heresie For when Prosper had reckon'd up what he there doth call the Pelagian Reliques he concludes that St. Hilarie Arch Bishop of Arles a great man and a good one was one of their number who taught those Doctrines however in all other things an absolute follower of Austins Doctrine And if Prosper were not one himself he must be acknowledged to have receded from what he spake in Resp ad excerp Genuens ad Dub. 8. p. 356. nay Hilarie saith farther that that very Faith in the praescience of which men were praedestinated to life is a mans by Nature and not by Grace Which though he saith they gather from Austin on the Romans Quod credimus nostrum est quod autem operamur illius yet do I utterly disapprove it and so am less Pelagian then Austin or Hilarie for certainly Faith is the gift of God wrought by his Grace as well as good works although the one is before the other This Epistle of Hilarie as that other of Prosper two Admirers of Austin were written upon occasion of many things which were disliked in Austin's Books de Correptione Gratiâ contra Julianum and wrought upon him so much as to occasion his writing those other books de Perseverantiâ sanctorum de bono Perseverantiae Thus unlucky and unskilful is Mr. B. in his pretensions to Antiquity from but a few noe very antient Fathers who cannot stand him in any stead neither And 8. what he boasteth of the Neotericks doth shew his Infirmity as plainly because by adding the word Orthodox which is like Manna with the Israelites of several Tasts to the several Palats of them that tast it And so the profound fetch of Mr. B. is merely this That they only are Orthodox who are exactly of his opinion and they that are of his opinion are not of mine and they that are not of my opinion will exclaim against me because I am not of theirs Lastly his sentence out of S. Austin wherewith he shuts up his Title-page doth plainly argue these 5 things 1. That Austin is a strong Assertor of free-will even as well as Arminius 2. That the free-will of man doth consist very well with the Grace of God and so he confirms my whole fourth Chapter Nay 3. That the will is truly made free by the Grace of God in perfect agreement with what I said p. 58. Nay 4. That they who oppose the free-will of man do also oppose the Grace of God and Mr. B. is a Pelagian if he is not so far an Arminian as to assert the freedom of the will 5. The whole
the other weaknesses of this Incomparable Antagonist A Catalogue of some Books printed for Rich. Royston at the Angel in Ivie-lane London Books written by the Author of the Divine Philanthropie A Correct Copie of some Notes concerning Gods decrees especially of Reprobation The 2. Edit Now at the Press with some Additionals The Sinner Impleaded in his own Court wherein are represented the great discouragements from Sinning which the Sinner receiveth from Sin it selfe Books written by H. Hammond D. D. A Paraphrase and Annotataions upon all the Books of the New-Test by H. Hammond D. D. in fol. 2. The Practical Catechism with all other English Treatises of H. Hammond D. D. in two volumes in 4. 3. Dissertationes quatuor quibus Episcoprtus Jura ex S. Scripturis primaeva Antiquitate adstruntur contra sententiam D. Blondelli aliorum Authore Henrico Hammond in 4. 4. A Letter of Resolution of six Quires in 12. 5. Of Schism A defence of the Church of England against the exceptions of the Romanists in 12. 6. Of Fundamentals in a notion referring to practice by H. Hammond D. D. in 12. 7. Six books of late Controversie in defence of the Church of England in two volumes in 4. Newly published Books and Sermons written by Jer. Taylor D. D. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Course of Sermons for all the Sundayes in the year together with a Discourse of the Divine Institution Necessity and Separation of the Office Ministerial in fol. 2. The History of the Life and Death of the Ever-blessed Jesus Christ 2 Edit in fol. 7. The Rule and Exercises of holy dying in 12 8. The Rule and Exercises of holy living in 12. 10. The Golden Grove or A Mannual of daily Prayers fitted to the dayes of the week together with a short Method of Peace and Holiness 11. The Doctrine and Practise of Repentance rescued from Popular Errors in a large 8. Newly published A Compendious Discourse upon the Case as it stands between the Church of England and those Congregations that have divided from it by Hen. Fern. D. D. New The History of the Church of Scotland by Job spot-sword Arch-Bishop of S. Andrews in fol. New Dr. Cousins Devotions in 12. The Quakers wilde Questions objected against the Ministers of the Gospel and many sacred Acts and Offices of Religion c. by R. Sherlock B. D. in 4. New The persecuted Minister in 4. New The Excellency of the Civil Law by Robert Wisâ—man Dr. of the Civil Law New CHAP. I. A Discovery of the Frailties and Misadventures in Mr. Barlee's Triumphant Title-page and his Dedicatory Epistles § 1. AS there is one sort of Creatures whose chiefest strength is in their Taile and another sort of Creatures whose chiefest strength is in their Teeth and a third sort of Creatures whose chiefest strength is in their Tongue so amongst the many skirmishes whether of truly-polemical or of meerly-troublesome and wrangling writers it is easy to observe their several strengths their sundry weapons and wayes of hurting There is one sort of writers who are not for threats but Execution All their premises are fair and Candid they only sting in the Conclusion There is another sort of writers who are incessantly biting in every part of their Discourses In every page and period they leave an evident Impression upon the party with whom they deal But a third sort there is whose chiefest strength is in their Title with that they bite very shrewdly in the thoughts of some who look no farther whereas in every thing that follows and doth denominate a Book they appear to do little more then only to wagg and to shew their Teeth As we know some Insects though they sting very smartly yet they presently leave their sting behind them and from that time forward they will buzz and be angry but cannot hurt And truly this is the Reason why I ought to consider the very Title of Mr. B. before I enter upon his Book For it speaks more in two words then his Book can attain to in 30 sheets His Title is magisterial and gives me Correptory Correction whereas his whole Book doth render him liable to the lash They that are of his Paste who either cannot or will not read him but only hear of his Title a Correptory Correction may take it for granted that I am beaten in my Notes stat Bellum famâ and so his Title may do him service Whereas his Book like the wicked ingrateful Vrchin that sucks the milke and spoyls the udder at the vary same Instant doth sadly betray both it and him So that if I were sure that all the Readers of his Title would be the Readers of his Book too I should not desire any other Vindication But because I am assured by very intelligent and practical Persons that very few will buy his book who are not prodigal of their mony and that fewer will read it who are not prodigal of their Time and that hardly any will compare it with the particulars of mine and that almost all who are abettors of his Cause and Doctrine will help to propagate his Title that is his strength and indeavour so to worke upon the letterless multitude in their Reports as to make his Confidence to pass for Courage his Impatience for Zeal and his Ovation instead of Conquest I think it not useless to admonish my Reader as Polybius did his concerning Fabius that they gaze not so much upon his Title as consider the matters of his book to which his Title is but a vizard Indeed Mr. B. doth but do his endeavour to make good his promise For he sent me a message long since by a Neighbour Minister that I should be whipt And now in his book he somewhere tell 's me he brings a Rod. And professeth in his Title to give me Correptory Correction Thus the Scythyans in Herodotus did encounter their slaves not with spears and arrows but with whips and switches Whilst they fought as with a just Enemy their Army of slaves still got the better but immediately fled away when they saw their Masters came Arm'd with switches it did so minde them that they were Sâ—rvants In the very same manner my Master would be being utterly out of hope that he can vanquish my Notes by force of Argument and Reason the proper weapons of a polemick hath thought it fitter for his purpose to use a Rod. Perhaps supposing I will not dare to turn my Pen upon them who take themselves to be Masters in this our Israel and if my Author hath muster'd his men aright did vanquish seven or eight thousand in less then three or foure years Indeed Favorinus did so far gratifie the Emperour Hadrian as to yield him the better in Disputation preferring the favour of an Emperour before the Truth of his Cause And being chid by his friends for that compliance he ask't them this Question will ye not suffer me to yield that he is more
have been taught rather to hate Arminius then understand him may very usefully be told some few things of him First he was plainly a Presbyterian and so is Mr. Barlee so am not I. Next he taught and beleeved that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth justifie so I suppose doth Mr. Barlee so do not I. Thirdly Arminius was for free will and so is Mr. B. as well as I. So as he confesseth are all his Party who are ready to take up that with Austin that the will is alwayes free but not alwayes good yet in a fit of forgetfulness p. 219. he saith that Austin and Melancthon scarce durst to name the free will of man since Adams Fall Not knowing perhaps or perhaps concealing that Arminius was a Follower and Admirer of Melancthon 4. Arminius was of opinion that the considerations of sub and supra in stating the object of Gods decree were but ingenti figmenta meer tricks and devices in the Anti-Arminians And Mr. B. confesseâ—h the very same in his p. 114. where though he saith that they are honest ingenious devices yet Dr. Twisse calls the former by very foule names as inferring God saith he to be the Author of sin the very thing they would avoid in the supralapsarian way 5. Arminius disputeth against Gods Absolute Power or Will as it is separate from his Justice and Mr. B. confesseth that Calvin himselfe doth do the same yea that he bitterly declaim's against it 6. Though Mr. Barlee most times affirme's God to decree and praedetermin that sin shall be done as I shall largely shew anon yet forgetfull of himself in his p. 138. He saith that God's decree is only permissive and governing of every sinful thing in which he jumps with Arminius extreamly well 7. Mr. B. confesseth that he and his party do in part admit of some Arminian Principles p. 106. and yet he makes a cleere distinction betwixt me and the Arminians p. 66. But 8. Arminius denyed the working of Grace irresistibly and Mr. B. professeth that the terms resistible and irresistble were never willingly owned by him and his party I am sure they use extreamly often the word irresistibiliter if not willingly it seems they do it unwillingly and why then do they do it if they are asham'd of it they should not be asham'd to mend 9. Arminius hold's that God never intended to punish any one with temporal and then lesse with eternal death but for sin And Mr. B. professeth to hold the same even in those very words What God decreed he intended and vice versâ and so Mr. B. is an Arminian perhaps before he is aware or understand's not the things whereof he speaketh 10. Mr. B. is a Calvinist and saith that Calvin and Melanchthon did but seemingly not really differ Yet Arminius was so much a follower of Melanchthon that we may call him a Melanchthenian Sure Mr. B. will agree as soon with Pelagius as with himself 11. To conclude where Arminius is in an Error Mr. B. is sure to erre with him but hates Arminius where he is Orthodox although he is constrain'd to speak like him there too when the necessity of his affaire's doth drive him to it or when he is forgetfull of the part which he is acting 12. For my self I do declare that I was then in the opinions I now am in when I had not read one page of Arminius his works nor do I agree with him any farther then he agree's with Scripture Antiquity the Church of England and Melanchthon after the time of his conversion from the Errors of Luther and Mr. Calvin this Melanchthon at first had been as it were the Scholar of Lu her and drew from him his first Errors But being apious learned and unpassionate man pursuing Truth not Faction he saw his Error and forsook it embracing those opinions concerning the liberty of the will the cause of sinne the universality of Grace and the respectivenesse of God's Decrees which I asserted in those Notes which Mr. B. now declaims against This Melanchthon was and is still the Darling more then any one man of the Reformed part of the Christian world so much the rather because besides his vast learning unbyass't judgement and transcendent piety he was almost proverbial for moderation For this was he chosen to write the Augustan Confession for this he was much considered by them that composed our Book of Articles and our other book of Homilies which shew's us what is the Doctrine of the true Church of England For this he was imitated and admired by the glorious Martyrs of our Religion in the dayes of Q. Mary for this he was esteemed farre above Mr. Calvin by Jacobus Arminius the famous professor of Divinity in the Vniversity of Leyden who however a Presbyterian as to matter of Discipline did yet so very far excell the other Divines of that sect in exactnesse of learning as well as life that we may say he became Melanchthon's Convert If Mr. B. would needs call me by any new Name it should have been a Melanchthonian not a Pelagian or an Arminian much lesse a Satanical and diabolical Blasphemer and Atheist an a what-not But neither am I a Melanchthonian in any other respect then as I apprehend Melanchthon to be a true and an Orthodox and a peaceable-minded Christian I leave it to M. B. to give up his Faith to Mr. Calvin and to follow him at aventure through thick and thin but neither Melanchthon nor Mr. Calvin did dye for me no was I baptized in the name of either It is my sole desire and ambition to be a follower of Christ and one of Christs school to imitate the example and adorne the Doctrine not of Calvin or of Arminius but of Jesus Christ Let Mr. B. be a Calvinist an Aeâ—ian or what he will I have vow'd for my part not to be any thing but a Christian And if that is good logick to say that I am an Arminian because in some things I do not differ from Arminius then Mr. B. by the same Logick is not only an Arminian where I am none but he is also a Papist because he is at agreement with the Jansenians and the Dominicans and in many respects with the Jesuites too Yet 13. I was in my childhood of those Opinions which Mr. B. doth now contend for So was Melanchthon himself as well as I but through the infinite mercy and Grace of God I have obtained conversion as well as Melanthon and being converted from the practice as well as from the opinion which I was of I will to my poore utmost at least endeavour to confirm or convert my brethren 14. The chief head of Arminianism as Mr. B. will call it do what I can is Vniversal Grace and Redemption with which the other opinions in debate must stand or fall as I conceive a point so cleer both from Scripture Reason and
Antiquity that the most learned Anti-arminians have been fain to assert it as well as Arminius or Melanchthon Among us Bishop Davenant and the late Bishop of Armagh This latter a little before his Death having also professed his utter dislike to the whole Doctrine of Geneva in these affairs and the former is plain enough in his parcificatory to Dureus So in France the learned Testard and Amirald and Daille lately in his defence of Amirald Mr. Baxter himself in this point must be an Arminian with Mr. B. and so must Prosper c or St. Hillarie which soever of them writ the Books De vocatione Gentium and so must Dr. Ward and many a noble Divine besides in the confession of Mr. B. who saith they have so many hardsome Orthodox putoffs that he will inquire farther before he passe any damnatory censure upon them thus doth he speak like some Pope out of his porphirie chaire of no lesse men then Bishop Davenant and Dr. Ward and other noble Divines as he himself call's them 15. Arminius held the respectivenesse of God's Decrees yet is it so far from being Arminianism to do the same that it 's confess 't to be the doctrine of all the Fathers of the Church before St. Austin many hundreds of years before Arminius was borne and that as well by the Enemies as by Friends of this Doctrine Beza is faine to say the Fathers are not to be heard And Dr. Twisse professeth to consider none but S. Austin and yet his single Father S. Austin will faile him too who placeth the object of election in Fide praevisâ in diverse places of his no-babelike writings And so doth Prosper as well as He. And therefore they must fall into the Catalogue of Mr. Barlee's Arminians Nay his beloved Polanus will not escape him any more then Du Moulin could escape Dr. Twisse or any more then Mr. B. can escape himself p. 121. 130. if I or my Reader were at leisure to shew how he is intangled as well in that as in other places by the necessary sequels of his unskilful Talkings To conclude 16. Mr. B. and his Masters have fastned the Name of Arminianisme upon so many very good and very necessary Doctrines that some of the wisest of their own Party have been heard to say that when all comes to all if they intend to preach to the people so as to do them any good they must preach Arminianisme do what they can For if the will of man is not free to avoid the sins which are preached down by the mighty assistance of Gods free grace and to perform the duties which are preached up by the same assistance of the same Grace but so tied and fetter'd and predetermin'd that it cannot possibly be one jot better or one jot worse then now it is all our lawes and precepts consultations and conditions exhortations and admonitions promises and threats praises and dispraises rewards and punishments would not only be useless but ridiculous things And therefore as we tender the good of souls and desire to be useful in what we speak or write we must be so far in danger of being call'd Arminians by such a Correptory Corrector as lies before us as to endeavour by our doctrines of Grace and liberty of liberty by and under Grace that all care and diligence and Circumspection may not be banish't out of the world as nothing else but Names and Notions And Mr. B. doth very ill in saying that Bishop Overal doth play upon Calvin and traduce the Puritans for heterodoxie about Predestination siince the most learned of his own party are grown asham'd of their Doctrines and that Incomparable Bishop doth but speak the very minde of the Church of England Which doth put me in minde of another great and strange Calumnie in Mr. Barlee's Title-page viz. § 4. That the Church of England will exclaim against me to my shame This they say is such a jest as nere was heard of That he should jeere me so often for my over-great Constancy to this my persecuted Mother and publish himself a Presbyterian and yet not allow me to be a dutiful Son 2. If we will hearken to the voice of the Church of England we must hear her speaking to us in the publick monuments of her Doctrine Such are the 39 Articles the Homilies the Liturgie the Catechisme the book of Ordination the book of Canons and Constitutions All which will prove that I if any man living am a dutiful son of the Church of England and that the Correptory Corrector is nothing less Well he may be of the Consistory of Geneva or of the Kirke of Scotland but as a most learned Doctor hath lately told us from the Press he and such as he is are as much of the Church of England as the Irish are English 3. He hath by much the worst luck of any Subsannator I ever knew For as if he had forgotten what he here speaks of me he speaks a great deale worse of his beloved selfe and of all his Sympresbyters to whom he Dedicates his Book For whilst he tells them in his Addresse that they do still adhere to the Dogmatical part of the 39. Articles of the Church of England he proclaims to the world that they adhere to a part only and not to the whole and that there is another part of those 39 Articles from which they have Apostatiz'd the particle Yet is very emphatical and im-ports thus much That whereas heretofore they did impartially subscribe to all the 39 Articles without exception and have since accommodated their principles to the great Turnings of the Times so as to violaâ—e their former faith they are not yet so totally fallen off from the Church but that they still adhere to the dogmatical part of the English Creed as Mr. Thomas Rogers himself doth call it which is to say in effect that though they are Schismatical in some points yet they are not in all though they beleeve the Church of England is a very false speaker in many things yet in many other things they beleeve she speaks truly though they have cast off their obedience to their common mother where her commands are not pleasing at least in these times yet to this very day they are loyal to her in part as farr as 't is safe or useful or secularly convenient Though they are not wholy of the Church of England yet they are halfe way And what a complement is this from Mr. B. to all his Sympresbyters to the Seniors of them especially to tell them they have receded from their subscriptions What greater reproach could he have fasten'd on them And how little have many of them deserved this usage at his hands I will take upon me to be an Advocate for the better sort of those Persons whom he hath thus publickly stigmatiz'd as if they were men of his Paste and Patronizers
that from which he blest God he had been personally free Nor that he ever so much as privately rebuked his brethren for what he called an unchristian ungentlemanly unscholarly unneighbourly unecclesiastical thing From hence it will publickly appear that Mr. Barlee had accused his own Dear Brethren of what he judged to be hainous in five respects and that I very justly rebuk't him for it I mean for giving their practice so black a character behinde their backs as he durst not own before their faces So well hath he requited his three special Benefactors for their commendatory Epistles before his Book § 6. That I make God to be worse then the Divel himself p 10. quoting my 24 page Where he knows as well as I. 1. That there are no such words in all my page 2. That what I say of Gods being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is only inferred from that Doctrine which I resist and he defendeth 3. Mr. B. doth make this inference to the reproach of his own opinion which I could never have done that if Gods absolute Decree doth necessitate the misery of all the reprobated Crew and by consequence slay them from all eternity as Christ is said to be slain from the foundation of the world Rev. 13. 8. he is not only inferred to doe more then the Divel but to be worse then the Divel himselfe In what a lamentable case is my Declamator if he be now observed to say 115. that Punishment must needs be decreed before the permission of sin And p. 87. That God is the determiner not only of all things and actions but of their several modalities too c. And Mr. Calvin That Reprobates were predestin'd to that corruption which is the Cause of Condemnation And that no other Cause can be given for the apostacy of Angels then that God did reprobate and reject them Never did I inferr so foule a consequence from any doctrine as the Declamator hath from his own propriis perire pennis grave He could not have miscarried worse if I had hir'd him § 6. His 7th That I in my 24th page have tartly and sarcastically gibed against Calvin p. 14. Yet 1. I only name his words a horrible Decree not bestowing on him any one of those termes which my liberal Corrector bestowes on me in all the pages of his Book 2. Having spar'd his Person it was my Duty to shew his words and to observe their Inconvenience Why else are Books printed on either side Let the Reader be judge how I could have said less unless by losing my advantage which had been Treason to my Cause 3. Is it not strange that Mr. Barlee should reprove a man for being bitter How men do hate their own vices when they but fancy them in others which in themselves they love most dearly 4. How unsound are those words confess'd to be when he that doth faithfully repeat them is thought to gibe if I had not said the Truth he would have told me that I had Lied and yet because I said the whole Truth he calls me Giber § 8. His 8th that in my 70 page I give out Faith and Infidelity to be the causes of Election and Reprobation p. 15. Still my amazemen grows more and more that any man even in Print should speak so clearly against his knowledge and contradict his own Eyes and the Eyes of as many as ever have or shall read me For 1. there is not any such word in all that page which he citeth or in any other which he citeth not 2. In the page going before § 55. not many lines before the passage which Mr. B. citeth I had said expresly that our Election is not of works but of him that calleth that good works are required as a necessary condition though â—…erly unworthy to be the Cause of our Election 3. In the page which he citeth I say that Christ is the means the meritorious Cause and the head of our Election And that upon the condition of beleeving in his Son God gave the promise of eternal life from Joh. 3. 26. what I called the condition why doth he say I gave out to be the Cause if he knew no difference betwixt the cause and the condition why would he meddle in these affairs for which he is not qualified with any tolerable skill it is indeed for my Humiliation that I must be whipt by that man whom I must Teach to distinguish betwixt the Cause propter quam res est for which a thing is and the necessary condition sine quâ non est without which it is not I have no way to help him out in his great extremity and distress but by saying that such a condition is causa-sine-quâ non Yet that will do him but little service For Gods Commandments written or unwritten are not the Cause of sin and yet they are the Causa-sine-quâ-non without which it is impossible that there should be a Transgression My Declamator it seems cannot write a great book without Calumnies and railings but it follows not they are the Cause unless he will have them a material Cause of which his book is Composed as of a very essential part Suppose a man should say that without a Magistrate there can be no Rebellion who is therefore a condition without which it is impossible for any Rebellion to be committed can we affirme with any Truth that he gives out the Magistrate to be the Cause of the Rebellion if Mr. B. shall alleage that he knew the difference betwixt the Cause and Condition of our Election and needed none of my Teaching his case is worse then before and he confesseth it a studied or wilfull misdemeanour If he mislik't my words why did he not faithfully repeat them and shew the reason of his mislike But if he did not why would he proclaim that my page was innocent by shewing he needed to forge it guilty 4. If I had spoken that which he knows I did not I had not spoken no more then what Polanus himselfe hath yielded Who to the ninth Argument brought to prove that Faith is one of those Causes for which God decreed to make men safe he gives a willing concession and professeth to be of that opinion and reckon's it as a calumny to be said to speak otherwise So that Polanus an Anti-Remonstrant I am sure is more that which is call'd Arminian then Mr. T. P. or perhaps then Arminius himself Let Mr. B. contend against him 5. As if Mr. B. took care not to speak a true word he add's the word Reprobation for which he quotes the same page When first there is not any mention nor any the least occasion for it Secondly If I had said it elsewhere why did he not refer us to it Thirdly I had never so little Logick as to say that any thing in man which is the object could be the
the Apostles or teach their Mother the Church of England any better Catechism then she had taught them 3. I never saw those things which Mr. B. saith I durst not mention But I durst have nam'd any thing that I had known and I durst have shew'd my dislike if I saw occasion And I dare now say in the words of Mr. Cheynell upon another occasion that they might have contented themselves with that Catechism which was before in the Church of England unlesse they could have made a better And if this false saying of Mr. B. was cast out purposely by him to draw me into the danger of saying what I have said I am well pleased with my self that I have not spoken like a Hypocrite § 15. His 15 That in mp 13. 17. 34. pages I cast in Texts by dozens as if Baker-like I were bound to throw in so many fine manchets into a Buttery hatch p. 26. I have survey'd the three pages but cannot find where lyes the jest For in the first I find but six Texts in the second I find but seven and but eleven in the third But suppose that I had thrown in Texts by dozens Had it advantaged his Cause or hindred mine Polybius pardons such falsities as are invented for the good of Religion as he thought they might be in certain cases wherein he spake like himself a Politician and a Heathen But what excuse can he have who speaks untruly to no imaginable end when he gets nothing by the bargain § 16. His 16. That in my p. 35. I have a charitable wish that the absolute Reprobatarians should be shipt over for Turkey p. 27. 1. There is no wish at all 2. There is nothing spoken of any person but meerly of an opinion 3. That opinion there mentioned was no other then that all we doe however sinful is by an absolute Decree which I said and said truly as I yet conceive came out of Turky into Christendome or was at least a Transcript of the Heathen Stoicks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But 4. I spake not a word of shipping thither only said that that opinion would be rooted out in the next Reformation So manifold is each Forgery that if I did not omit many of them and study brevity in those I mention I should be as tedious as the Correptory Corrector § 17. His 17. That I take my selfe to be wiser then Austin whose manlike writings I confute by his more infantile and babelike writings p. 27. Here the unhappy Corrector hath bewrayed himself many wayes For 1. I no where confront S. Austin to himself but alwayes alleage him in behalf of that Doctrine which I assert 2. He calumniates that Father and gives him Correptory Correction calling him a babelike and infant-like writer whensoever his writings are not pleasing to Mr. B. 3. That very passage of S. Austin in my p. 44. which is referred to by Mr. B. was written by him in that book which he writ being a Bishop and not a bare Presbyter and which S. Austin himself commended as very sufficient to confute Pelagius his opinion And was Austin the Bishop a very babe and Infant in the sight of Mr. B. who is at the most but a Presbyterian 4. did Mr. B. know that Austin was a Bishop when he writ to Simplician or did he not if he did why did he meanly prevaricate with me and his Reader by calling those his babelike writings if he did not why was he so dogmaticall in what he did not understand but parachronismes with him are his very best faults So in his p. 117. he would have Calvin be thought to say no more then what multitudes of Schoolmen some hundreds of years before Calvin was born had said quoting only two men and who should they be but. Scotus and Suarez 5. He doth forget or conceal that in my p. 28. I mentioned 4 expositions which Austin made on 1 Tim. 2. 4. preferring that which was written after the time that the heresie of Pelagius was on foot Which was I hope no babelike writing 6. I hope that Austins Retractations being the last thing he writ as I suppose are no Infantile or babelike writings where yet he speaks for me against Mr. B. as much as I could desire him His words are these in the Margin which I thus translate to Mr. B. what I said It belongs to us to will and to beleeve But it belongs to God to give unto us so willing and beleeving the ability of well-doing through the holy Ghost by whom his love is shed abroad in our hearts is indeed very true but by the same rule they are both pertaining unto God because it is he hat prepares our will and both partaining unto us too because they are noâ— wrought in us unless we are willing If I had used these expressions as mine own they had been branded with Palagia â—…sme at least But since the words are Austins and in his book of Reâ—racta ions and if not more yet at least as much sounding to the displeasure of Mr. B. as any thing I ever spake I know not how our Corrector can either swallow them down or cast them up Mr. Calvin Beza and Dr. Twisâ—e have very publickly confessed that all the Fathers before S. Austin a very great number are quite against their way Only they make much of him and of his Disciples by misexpounding some places which fell from him unawares who yet declares himself so plainly even in his Retractations as I could shew more largely if my desires of brevity would permit and may have occasion to doe it hereafter that they have not left them so much as one Mr. Calvin confesseth in effect that all the Latine Fathers did own free-will and that all the Greek ones did speak more arrogantly then the Latins Using the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if it were in man to do what he pleased Nay farther The Greeks and the Latins were so far from speaking as Mr. Calvin would have had them that he even rails at them as drawing too neere the very Heathen Philosophers as in his Anger he is pleased to say when he findes their Doctrine doth ruine his who boasted themselves the Disciples of Christ and speaking of mans will as if he were yet in a stare of Innocence He there particularly singles out S. Chrâ—sâ—stome from the Greeks and S. Hierome from the Latins and bestows upon them both some such Correptory Correction as Mr. B. bestows on me As that they ascribed more to man towards the study or desire or love of vertue then it was just for them to doe Which was to accuse them of Pelagianisme or Massilianisme at least although the words of S. Hierome were spoken in his book against Pelagius and indeed did more sound towards it then any thing the Declamator can finde in me Farther yet It was the saying of
plain words or a fallacy which is worse For it makes not only an affirmation of two contrary things He is the propitiation for our sins only intentionaliter and also for the sins of the whole world sufficienter but an affirmation and negation of the very same thing He is the propitiation for the sins of the whole world sufficienter and he is not the propitiation for the sins of the whole world intentionaliter And now 5. That what I have said may be useful to such very plain Readers who alone may be in danger of being debauched by Mr. B. I will denudate that distinction by a familiar Illustration Suppose the King of Spain hath a thousand Christian subjects taken captive by the Turks He gives as much for the Ransom of 2 or 3 hundred as would have been required for all the whole Thousand But he will giue the whole sum because he will and because he will too he will have released not all the Thousand but only two or three hundred intending all the rest shall be Captives still And this he will doe to shew his power over the greater number and his partiality towards the lesser Can that King say with Truth or Modesty that he is the Redeemer of all those Captives because he paid a sum of mony which had been sufficient to redeem them all but did not intend that they should be taken into the Bargain No. It only proves that he is not their Redeemer but might have been if he had pleas'd And that the Turk was lese merciless then He who would have given all back if the King of Spain would have had him I intend nothing in this similitude but to illustrate the vanity of that Distinction He is the Saviour even of Reprobates sufficiently but not intentionally That the lowest capacity may not faile to comprehend how vast a difference there is betwixt the being sufficient to doe a Thing and the doing of a thing sufficiently Which are fallaciously confounded the later used for the former by the necessitous Inventors of that Distinction And if in the last place I shall observe that Pelagius himselfe by denying Original sin denied universal Redemption too and that no Antient did it so much as He I suppose Mr. B. will be more Pelagian then I am or confess in time that I have made it appear a Pernicious Heresie And I have for so doing a very excellent Precedent in the second or third year of Q. Elizabeth who flourished in the time of King Edward the sixt and Q. Elizabeth and in the time of Q. Mary for his conscience sake indured voluntary exile His words are these ☞ But this appeareth to be one of Pelagius his damnable Errors that Christ was not a generall Saviour if Christ offer'd not up the Sacrifice of Redemption for all the whole world Contrary to the manifest Scripture Which saith he it is that obtained grace for our sinnes and not for our sins only but also for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2. the same also is manifestly declared in these Scriptures following and many other 1 Joh. 1. a. b. f. and 12. g. Rom. 5. d. 1 Cor. 8. d. 2 Cor. 5. c. Heb. 2. c. and 2 Pet. 2. a. This Heresie of Pelagius as well as of Mr. B. so directly contrary to the Scripture he flatly call's damnable which is more then I have ever done and Pelagius himself was so asham'd of it that he was faine to make a Recantation in the Councel of Palestine as S. Austin himself declareth Epist 106. Tom. 2. I wish Mr. B. may do no worse Farther yet That most learned Divine and holy Confessor doth make an excellent Observation from St. Austins Recital of the fourth Error of Pelagius the worthier of all men to be observed who shall peruse what I am writing because the Book I suppose is not commonly to be had And further saith he there is to be noted that the first part of the fourth Error is manifestly the very same which is the second and third Error before rehearsed and by the same Scriptures plainly condemned But to make the latter part of this Error more plaine it was necessary and thought good of St. Augustine to rehearse the first again That by the comparison of condemnation in Adam and Redemption in Christ it might the more plainly be perceived that Christ was not inferiour to Adam nor grace inferiour to sin and that as all the generation of man is condemned in Adam so is all the generation of man redeemed in Christ And as generall a Saviour is Christ by Redemption as Adam is a condemner by Transgression Which comparison is taken out of St. Paul his Epistle to the Romans where he saith likewise then as by the sin of one Condemnation came upon all men even so by the justifying of one cometh the Righteousnesse which bringeth life upon all men Yet shall not all men be condemned by Adam eternally for there is ordained of God again a way to life which way is Christ Neither shall all be eternally saved by Christ For there is of God DECLARED a way again unto death which way is sin and the wilfull contempt of God's mercy in Christ. I have insisted the longer upon this Point because if this one Error be once disclaimed by the Adversary all the rest will tumble of their own accord § 24. His 24. That I neither do nor can maintain no speciall Grace as by which any special habits of Grace viz. of Conversion Regeneration Sanctification c. are infused into my soul as any abiding seed of grace or life of God For in both my Papers I am highly silent as to these matters though ad phaler and â—m populum p. 56. I make some slight mention of grace infused by God c. p. 41. Yet 1. he confesseth that in my p. 56. I do maintain what he saith I cannot 2. So far are those mentions from being slight that I could not have spoken more distinctly if it had been for a wager as any man will say who reads that page 3. I there affirm most expresly not only preventing and subsequent assisting Grace but the perfecting grace of Perseverance And yet is he so strange a speaker as to say that I neither do nor can maintain any abiding seed of Grace c. and this he calls light Coruscations only as if any grace could go farther then the grace of Perseverance unto the end 4. If I had not mention'd what I did he had sadly argued from a Negative For many things might be in my opinion which were not set down in those few Papers By such Logick he may conclude as some have done against others that I am a Socinian because in my Book I do not treat of the Trinity 5. Being forced to confesse that I did that which in the same period he said I did not he is faine to say I
because I knew not the Author of it of what Credit he might be and because I would not have it possible for any Correptory Corrector to abuse himselfe by aspersing me And I can never enough admire Mr. B. his slanders in this particular since upon examination whether my Ten Quotations p. 9. 10. or any of them were accidentally also in that Dialogue I finde Mr. B. to have chosen his Fiction the worst that could be for his turne and because it is my business to give an account of his dealings that the unwary Reader may know what kinde of Author he takes in hand I will detect him by these Degrees First in my Decachorde p. 9 10. I have foure Citations out of Dr. Twisse who is not at all mentioned in Fur praedestinatus 2. That Dialogue cites Zuing. de Prov. c. 6. But my Citation was thus Zuing. in Serm. de Prov. c. 5. 6. which I also cited from Dr. Twisse himselfe l. 2. part 1. p. 36. where'tis verbatim to be found Nor did Mr. B. know that I had any thing of Zuinglius as I have shewed before 3. Of the five places from Calvin foure are wanting in that Dialogue And 4. The one place remaining though by accident in the Dialogue is only fetcht from the Book Chap. and § whereas I fetch 't it from the page 324. which shews I used mine own Calvin Inst Edit Genev. A. D. 1637. and farther I quoted these words in a different manner from Mr. Calvin then that Dialogue doth which shews I had them not thence but from the Fountain But 5. Suppose I had agreed in each circumstance of that one Quotation with the Dialogue would it have followed that I had taken it out thence 〈◊〉 might not one Testimony of Ten be lighted upon by me and by another from such an ordinary Book as Calvin's Institutions But 6. When on the contrary I did abstain from the reading of that Fur Praedestinatus and did studiously avoid the having any commerce with him or of taking from him any syllable with what modesty or conscience or shew of Charity could Mr. B. say even in print where every Readers light might be able to manifest the exceeding blackness of such a Deed that I was beholding to Thieves and Roguish Pamphlets nay that I was my selfe a very Thief p. 158 when he called me Thief by a Paralepsis in the first of his letters which he so often alludeth to throughout his Book he was somewhat the less unpardonable because he was robbed as he worded it of a considerable part of his Auditors But here his Calumny is absurd as if he should say that Dr. Twisse did filtch Quotations out of Arminius He had not spoken a greater falsehood though to some less credible if he had said that Mr. Barlee took all his Sermons out of Ben Johnson And hence it follows 7. That if those words of Mr. B. have either Truth or Sense in them Calvin Beza and Dr. Twisse writt Roguish Pamphlets and were themselves Thieves in the unworthy Character of their Admirer for theirs were the Books from which I cited those things to which I fasten their Names And this is such language bestowed upon his friends as I could never have given my bitterest Enemies Nor can be possibly prove that he hath not thus defamed them unless he will confess he injur'd me But 8. if Mr. B. his Book is but a Rapsodie or Cento Patch't up out of the writings of Dr. Twisse and the rest of those Absolute Reprobatarians except the major part of it which is foule or false language he had less reason then any man to say that I rifled a Cabinet I never sam or was beholding to a Pamphlet from which I never received so much as the black of a Beane 9. He speaks in the Plural of Râ—guish Pamphlets as if in that number he would include the great and good men Bishop Andrew's and Vossius whom he so much reviles in his p. 190. 206. p. 121. and other places In such a case he should have signified what men he meant if he cannot name any he confesseth the nature of his Invention 10. Let him shew in what page I use Invectives against the three men he mentions Had there been any such thing he would have given his Reader my very words at least have shewed him where to finde them I suppose he must mean the Terme of blasphemy which I give to those speeches whereby God is affirmed in effect to be the Author of sin But whether I did amiss to call that blasphemy which is contrary to the Nature and Glory and word of God and whether it is not contrary to each of them to say that God is expresly the Cause of sin the Necessitator of sin that he commands men to sin draws men to sin seduceth men to sin incites men to sin and even effecteth grievous sins all which amounts to what is much more ugly then if they only affirm'd him the Author of sin Whether this I say is not blasphemy I intend to try with the Reverend Author of the first Epistle prefixed to these Behaviours of our Correptory Corrector or at least in my next accompt of Mr. Barlee's Dealings And let it be marked in the conclusion That I affirmed those writers to blaspheme whom I conceived to have written to the Dishonour of God whereas Mr. B. calls me Blasphemer whom he conceives to have written to the Dishonour of men only and of such men only as I have mentioned Of which I doubt not but I shall publish a very satisfactory accompt if yet there are any who are not satisfied already § 37. These are some of those groundless and uncharitable Inventions which I have observed within the compass of his first nine sheets Which we may easily conclude the most tolerable part of his Book as that on which he confesseth he bestowed most pains Should I continue my accompt throughout the rest I leave the Reader to judge how great a Volume must be made on so slight a Subject It shall therefore suffice me to give my Reader but a Taste of Mr. Barlees entertainment in the following sheets § 38. In his p. 125. He saith that I am much beholding to my Domestick Dr. Jackson for abusing the world with my two first principles p. 6. which I took from him If this were true it were a commendable thing And I heartily wish it had been true that I had had the happiness and the leisure from other studies and employments to have read any one of those inestimable books which I have heard commended as such by very learned and pious men But 2. Though I have seen and am possessed of two little pieces of that Great Author intending long and often to make a severe perusal of them yet such have been my prae-engagements in other methods that I have not read six pages in
God's Decrees which he pretended to confute as I exprest them in my Notes And indeed to what end should he publish this Invention if not to represent me as one that administers to Vanity and so unfit for the ministery and by consequence fit for a Sequestration The Reverend Author of his first Preface may be my witness for he was the Author of what I say that I suffered the loss of what I thought the pleasant'st possession upon Earth for being secretly suggested he did not tell me by whom to be the Author of some books which to this very day I could never heare named And though I earnestly desir'd that I might heare my selâ—e accused and know distinctly my Accusation and be heard speak for my selfe yet was he not able as he told me to obtain that for me Which I should not have said in this place unless it were to this end that men may know how it concerns me to publish the falsehood of such Reports 4. It doth sufficiently appear that Mr. B. is the Author of Artificial Ugliness For to make me odious to his Readers he hath drawâ— me out in the worst Colours that he was able to fancy Not only as an Arminian which yet with him is no small Crime but as a Socinian a Massilian a Pelagian a Jesuite an Atheist a Ranter a huge Independent a pharisaical Battologist and twenty other things which his Reader will meet with as I have done He shews a willingness somewhere to make me a Quaker Where I vindicate God from being inferred by his Doctrines to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he tells me that in blaspheming I doe exceed the Divel himself And salutes me in these words Avant Avant depart from O thou Satanical Blasphemer Thou art an offence unto me 'T is in his p. 102. Where I contended for nothing less then the glory of God's mercy he saith I blurrd my Paper with Diabolicall stuff p. 178. and professeth seriously in the presence of God and how frequently doth he take that Great Name in vain he much feares no man could write thus but one well nigh in the same condition with Simon Magus p. 174. But the most horrible thing of all is in his p. 22. where notwithstanding such bitter language and such spightful Inventions as I have quoted out of his Book which have as dismal a Character in the Scriptures as any sins whatsoever he saith in his excuse That God gave him the leisure to say thus And God would have it at this time to be so And it may be of some Vse to the Church of God So said he in the Comedian after some great sin I know not whether so great as this Quid si hoc quispiam voluit Deus What if some God would have it to be so Thus he dares doe who is secure he cannot fall p. 35. and who saith in his 165 page that God did play upon Adam presently after his Fall Gen. 3. 22. He forsooth is one of them who are faithful chosen and true p. 10. 'T is within his commission to be cutting p. 12. He tells us he ought not to be a dumbe Dogg nor ought his tongue to be toothless p. 12. and that nothing drops from his Pen which was not usual to Austin against Pelagius p. 6 7. Which by the way is as foule and as false an aspersion as was ever cast on that Father by the Pelagians themselves CHAP. IV. A Miscellaneous Discovery of Mr. Barlee's strange Failings in several kinds § 1. TO those words in my Title concerning Gods Decrees Mr. B. opposeth that I might have said more truly against God's Decrees p 1. In how very few words how many Falsities can he comprize For 1. Decrees dependent and conditional are as truly called Decrees as those that are absolute and Independent The Decree of damning impenitent Sinners is as much a Decree as that other Decree of creating a World and much more worthy of that compassionate Father and righteous Judge then the decree of reprobating the greater part of mankinde without the least respect or intuition of their impenitence Am I against God's Decrees because I reconcile them as well with his Justice as with his Power in confutation of their opinion who asscribe them to his Power without his Justice is not the Iustice of the Omnipotent in his Decrees as essential to him as his Omnipotence and can I be said to be against them by being an Advocate in their behalf and that by proving them just as well as mighty and that they do not run counter to his compassion which is as natural to him as to be just I ever contended for God's Decrees of Reprobation which I proved to have respect unto the sinfulnesse of the Reprobates and so indeed am against tâ—e Poetical Decrees of Mr. Barlee which consider only the punishment but not the sin By his unsound way of reasoning a Man may say of Mr. B. that he leaves God no Decrees but what are absolute and irrespective and what a horrible thing is that But 2. How can I be against the Decrees of God who assert his promises and his threats as the very Revelations or copyings-out of his Decrees Doth not the promise of Iesus Christ infer a Decree in the Almighty that he would give him to be the Saviour of the World Doth not his Threat of Perdition to all Impenitents and his Oath against such plainly prove his Decree that they should not enter into his rest But 3. I ever acknowledged Decrees independent on and antecedent to the will of man that is to say to its very consideration As 1. the Decree of creating a World and in it Men not as necessitated but as voluntary Agents not to do good or evil as Stones tend downwards but very freely and by consent 2 The Decree of giving life to the obedient and death eternal to the Rebellious Which being considered in it self and not in its effects is not depending on any act of man but 't is his absolute will that he will thus deal with us that he will proceed by this Rule of rewarding if we will obey and of punishing if we will not that is to say it is his absolute will that his Decrees of Mans End shall be conditional having respect and consideration of a Mans Faith or Infidelity his Obedience or Rebellion his Repentance or Impenitence 3. The sin of Adam being supposed I assert the Decree of giving Christ for as many as are fallen and dead in Adam the Decree of a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a propitiation for the sins not of us only but of the whole World 1 Iohn 2. 2. And also 4. The Decree of sufficient Grace sufficient I say for Evangelical obedience And 5. the Decree of accepting it instead of perfect obdience 6. The Decree of more Grace to him that useth his Talent and of taking it away from him
ib. p. 9. l Id. ib. p. 8. l Id. ib. p. 9. m Id. ibid. m Id. ibid. n p. 13. 14 15. c. o 2 Pet. 2. 2â— p peccavi faâ—â—or p. 9. q Epist Ded. 2. p. 13. r Id. ib. p. 14. s Id. ib. p. 10. t 2 Cor. 7. 10. u Ep. Ded. 2. p. 14. w Id. ib. p. 15. x p. 9. y Id. ib. p. 16. ** Act. 13. 8. z Id. ib. p. 16. a Act. 13. 10. * Sed reprimam me p. 16. b Id. ibid. c c p. 10. d d p. 17. e Gallum quemque procerum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sermonem Germanicum addiscere coegit ut triumphui inservirent Sueton. l. 4. ** Correp Corr. p. 1. * 1 Cor. 5. 11. †Jude 9. * Jer. 2. 19. * In his first letter it appears that this was the Ground of all his Correptory correction * Jer. 9. 3. †Psal 64. 3. * Jam. 3. 5. a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polyb lib. 3. * Ver. 6. * Tiâ— 2. 10. †Psal 57. 4. * These are some of those sayings which I call'd frightfull and for the confutation of which all my Notes were written on Gods Decrees And my proving these sayings to be false blasphemous is confessed by Mr. Bar. to be the Pillar on which my Book doth rest Corr. Cor. p. 68. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Polyb. l. 2. passim alibi * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Polyb 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * In his first Letter to me * Jer. 2. 19. * Jer. 2. 19. †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arrian l. 3. c. 26. * Rom. 12. 20. Psal 140. 5. 2. * Psal 69. 4. Scias illum profecisse cui Cicero valde placuit Quint. 3. * Correp Corr. p. 45. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Jam. 5. 20. 1. 2. 3. 4. * This he confesseth he doth feel full well but comforts himself with veritas â—dium pariâ— nothing comes amiss to him If but a few men love him 't is for his Excellence If most men hate him it is because of his Deserts 5. Of absolute Decrees a Agnoscimus docemus Deum non decrevisse quenquam damnare nisi justissime propter ipsius peccata Et hoc respectu decretum hoc non posse ita absolutum vocari ut Deus fine ullo peccatorum respectu decreverit quemquam damnare Suarez in 3. Disp 5 p. 103. Cor. Cor. 117. c Correp cor p. 121. d AbsolutuÌ„ Dei decretuÌ„ quo decrevit filium ponere me diatorem c. Armin. in Declarat sâ—ntent p. 95 96. b Dr. Twisse saith that sin is the cause of Reprobation quoad res volitas p. 49. against Mr. Hoard as Mr. B. confesseth p. 145. 2. e Eph. 5. 6. f Colos 3. 5. 3. 4. 2. 3. 4. 5. * Note that in his p. 5. l. 8 9. he confesseth he can give no honest reasons though some other he thinks he can give which must be sure dishonest reasons since he confesseth they are not honest why I should peremptorily deny my former papers speaking of the forged mishapen Manuscript in his Study to have been mine 2. * Correp Cor. p. 6. lin 20 21. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. * This is in the last Epistle of Mr. Barlee which I had etertally concealed had he not publickly laid his own faults to my charge 1. 2. * Nonne ad eam quae nunc pro damnatiâ—nis causâ obtenditur corruptionem Dei ordinatione praedestinatiâ—… ante fuerant c. fateor c. inferiùs de Angelorum Defectione loquens Cuiusâ—… rei causa inquit â—â—n poteâ—… alia adduci quà m reprobatio c. Calvin Inst l. 3. c. 23. Sect. 4. p. 323. * Calvin Inst l. 3. c. 23. Sect. 7. 1. 2. 3. 4. Of eternal Election and Reprobation 1. 2. 3. I. * A very gross Ignâ—rance * Correp Cor. p. 10. compared with his message II. * Or else a wilful deceit 4. * Conclusio istius Argumenti se Deum ab aeterno decrevisse illos his ipsis causis inter quas fides est salvos facere non contradicit nobis atque adeo totum illud argumentum lubentissime concedimus Credimus corde confitemur quicquid in isto argumento dicitur Polan Syntag. Theol. l. 4. c. 9. de elect ad vit aeter 5. Mr. B. Confession before he is aware of Conditional Reprobation * Note that Piscator himself affirmeth God to have decreed the damnation punishment of men without any condition or respect to their sins meerly because it was his pleasure And this Mr. B. must confess is positive Reprobation Piscat Resp ad Dupl Voâ—st par 1. p. 25. p. 106. Of the distinction of positive and Negative Reprobation * Note here that Mr. B. doth either inwardly acknowledge that this distinction is but a shift in his p. 197. or else in that place he must outwardly acknowledge something or other which is worse For to excuse Mr. Calvin from making God's Reprobation to be the cause of the Angel's defection he there saith that he meaneth God 's Reprobation is the cause of his Dereliction Upon which I offer him this Dilâ—mma He understands either the negative or the positive Reprobation If he say the negative he makes the same thing to be both the cause and the effect of the very same thing For what is Dereliction but negative Reprobation in his way of speaking and how absurd is it to sâ—y that God's Dereliction or negative Reprobation is the cause of his Dereliction or negative Reprobation if he say he means the positive Reprobation the speech is yet more absurd For that were to put the positive reprobation as the cause of the negative and so before it in order of nature The decree to damn before the decree to passe by or to relinquish And then according to his concession p. 121. God's first Decree would not be absolute but upon praescience and supposition of wilfull rebellion and impenitence which is to confesse the thing which he so vehemently denieth So that what course he will take to get out of this dilemma I leave the Reader to imagin * Cum verò â—inis quem intendit Deus sit gloriae suae patefactio per modum justitiae punientis hinc sequi tur non nisi damnatione hominis peccatoris ejusmodi gloriam posse patescere Twiss in praefat ad Vin. Gâ— p. 3. col 2. 3. a Nullus habetur intentionis ordo nisi qualis intercedit inter intentionem finis mediorum ad finem c. Twiss ibid. Correp Cor. p. 115. * In Angelis nullus occurrit locus massae coruptae cur null ratio habeatur c. Twiss in Praefat p. 3. b Calvin Inst. l. 3. c. 23. Sect. 4. 7. c Haec sunt monstra illa opinionâ—m portenta quae nobis parturit parit ista sententia Scholis Jesuitiâ—is aut Arminianis digmora quà m nostris c. Twis Vin. Grat. l. 1. cap. 4. p. 87. d Idem l. 1.