the light of Gods marvellous mercy toward sinners of Christs infinit lov in dying for them the inestimable merits of his death the powerful Gifts Graces and aids of the holy Ghost To pour into sinners hearts hope which shal stay them from desperat sinning To inspire the Grace of praier that they may escape the wrath to com and receiv Gods favor to beget repentance and work Faith that they rely wholy on him and cast themselfs into the arms of his goodnes to be saved by him Thes Graces the holy Ghost is stil ready to work by the Gospel in a repentant sinner humbled and prepared by the Law for what proportion of power the Spirit had in the Law on Unregenerats to humble them the same it hath in the Gospel on the humbled to work hope and infer the other Graces of Praier Repentance Faith Justification Mortification Vivification and new Obedience Howbeit if the Spirit is not present in preaching the Law to giv Unregenerats strength of new obedience becaus 't is present to convince and condemn their wickednes Nor is it present in preaching the Gospel to one not yet penitent or beleeving to giv new obedience or work Peace Joy and Lov as it doth in Beleevers for such degrees com not per saltum The sum is Gods Spirit is annexed to his Word for such Gifts and operations as the hearer is a fit disposed subject to receiv for God works by order of things antecedent or preparativ which if they find no admission the subsequent are suspended Hence coms the frequent just separation of the Spirit by the word by the great Pastor of Souls who sercheth the heart and renes To prov this point that Gods Word in the Law and Gospel is perfect and powerful to convert Souls read Psal 9. 7. Joh. 17. 17. Joh. 20. 21. 2 Cor. 3. 8. Heb. 4 12. wher the Gospel is caled the ministration of the Spirit not of the Letter becaus it givs what it commands but the Law commands and givs no help for the Law was given by Moses not hearts to receiv it Joh. 1. 17. but Grace and Truth cam by Jesus Christ saith S. John To prov that Caling is al one to them that obey not and obey Christs words are cleer Many are caled but few chosen Here Mat. 22. 14. two sorts are specified som caled but not chosen and som caled and chosen of thos many yet the Caling one of both which is not by the outward Word alone for by it none are chosen but by the Word and Spirit in common So the few chosen excelled not in number or Caling but in obeying when the rest refused as the Sun hardens clay and melts wax Christ saith The Ninivets shal rise in judgment with this generation Mat. 12. 41. and condemn it If Jonas preached without the Spirit how did they repent If Jesus preached without it how is he greater then Jonas If refusers be not al equaly caled how can Ninivets rise in Judgment they can answer we were not caled like you by Gods voice speaking to the heart but by Mans barely to the ear If God had excited us as he did you we would repent as you did The Jews exemple confirms the same being yet uncaled not becaus they liv without the Gospels sound sith they convers scatterdly with Christians and may hear Sermons or read Scriptures but becaus they persist obdurat and reject the illumining softning Spirit often offered therfore the distinction of Caling into outward ineffectual and inward effectual is fals or frivolous Bare preaching may be a commanding like the Law not a Caling as the Gospel for God may stil require obedience as a natural duty sith he created Man able but becaus the new Covenant cals Men to Faith and Repentance being unable to rise or recover of themselfs it were a mock and no cal to say turn repent beleev and liv unles som Grace be prepared to doo it The effect of this Caling is ascribed to one caus chefly the Spirits operation yet ther be mo and if any fails the effect fals for obedience to Gods Caling is an act of Mans wil under aid of the Spirit which is oft refused or resisted and Grace offered in vain sith God doth not cross the cours of the secund Causes established at first It also makes Gods Covenant differ from al other in which no party performs al but ech a part for himself wheras here God is made to perform al pacts and promises for both who only undertakes to make his conditions feasible and afford his help so far as is needful as Isaiah intimats For 't is not safe to rely soly on Isai 59. 21. Gods absolut Wil as if we were tied to nothing or to gul our selfs as if God required nothing of us For this Covenant of Grace hath som conditions for Man to fulfil which by Gods universal Grace he is able to doo as shal be shewed 11. Conversion of a Sinner which is the end of Gods Caling 11 Conversion Men by the Word is the obedience of him that is Caled for he must hear and obey els no conversion The terms a Quo ad Quem are from Satans power to God viz. in his mind from darknes to light in wil from Idols to serv the living God Acts 26. 18. and in his whol life from unrighteousnes to holines This conversion is duple 1. When a natural Man is regenerat and made a Member of Gods Church as the Gentils being Aliens were converted 2. When a Regenerat faling into sin returns 1 Thes 1. 9 Acts 1â— 3. by repentance as Peter being converted after his Apâ—stasy was bid strengthen his Brethren The prime principal Caus of Luke 22. 32. Lam. 5. 21. conversion is Gods holy Spirit working on a sinners heart both at beginning middle and end The ordinary instrumental is the word preached the adjuvant means are the cross that chastens Jer. 31. 18. blessings which draw or allure others praiers and exemples of Men already converted The main scruple is what part a sinner to be converted bears in it being a living rational subject whether he be Activ or meerly Passiv whether he can further or hinder it whether supposing two equaly Caled one may be converted and not the other if so whether it riseth from God or Man 12. Gods Grace is al that proceds from him of free favour 12 Free Grace universal tending to a sinners salvation wherby is not meant the remains of Nature as som light of Reason sens of Conscience though thes by Grace were left after the Fal nor the Law describing the righteousnes of Works though the Preacher of Grace useth it to prepare a sinner for Christ nor the bare outward Word of the Gospel though cal'd the Word of Grace becaus internal Grace goes with it but only the inward illuminations teachings tractions motions operations inspirations and gifts of the holy Ghost merited by Christ for
or thin For Mans Soul they say 't is created by pouring in and poured in by creating what 's that For the caus of Sens they make an ubiquity of Species or shews of objects which appeering to the Ey make sight to the Ear hearing to the Palat tast to the Nostril smelling and to the rest of the Body feeling For the caus of willing to doo any act they make the faculty or wil it self doo somtime one thing somtime another making the Power caus of the act as if on should assign Mens ability to doo any things the very â—aus of good or evil acts Yet oftimes they put their own ignorance to be caus of natural events or effects but disguised in other words as when they make Fortune a caus of contingents wherof they know no caus or when they ascribe effects to occult qualities not known to them nor as they sâ—rmise to any els or to Sympathy Antiphaty Antiperistasis specifical properties which neither signify the agent producing nor operation produced being only Clokes to cover ignorance Their Moral and Politic Philosophy hath the like or greater Politics absonances for if any doo injury or injustice contrary to Law they say God is prime Caus of the Action but not of the injustice or deviation this is vain Philosophy as to say that one makes a right and crooked line but another the incongruity or inconformity This distinction was devised to defend the doctrin of Free wil not subject to Gods wil. Why not to vindicat God from being Author of sin notwithstanding Quaere his absolut irrespectiv Decree to Reprobat men who must needs sin Aristotle defines Good and Evil by mens appetit which may seem tru sith every one is ruled by his own list or lore but in a Common-wealth the measure is fals wher not mens privat appetits but public Law of the State is sole Rule yet their doctrin soly practised wher every one doth what seems good in his own eys To make lawful mariage unchast or impure as they doo who deny it to the Clergy under color of continual chast continence to attend at the Altar and administer the holy Eucharist is vain Philosophy wherby they make mariage a moral vice and themselfs by abstaining spiritual like the Angels in Heaven From Aristotles Civil Polity they cal al Common-wealths sav the popular such as then Athens was Tyranny and al Kings Tyrans so they termed thirty Legislators set up by the Lacedemonians who subdued Athens thirty Tyrans and Democraty liberty yet Tyran truly taken signifies simply a Monarch but when that Government grew odious in all Greece it was branded with the Popular hatred of Tyranny and when Kings were expeld from Rome they did the like So when the same men are displeased with Democraty or Aristocraty they nickname the first Anarchy the last Oligarchy or Tyranny of a few Hence riseth another error of Aristotle that Laws not men should govern as if men wil be ruled by words or paper and not by men which hav power by the Sword to punish or put them to death giving life to the Laws this is a pestilent pernitious error wherby they seduce men so oft as they like not their Governors to rais war against them which the Clergy cherisheth Another error in Civil Philosophy which they never learned of Pagans is to extend the Law the Rule only of actions to mens very thoughts and Consciences by examination or inquisition of what they hold tho they conform in Words and Actions Herby they are forced to answer the truth of their thoughts or an untruth for fear of punishment Another error not drawn from Heathens is that a privat Man without the CoÌ„mon-wealths authority may interpret the Law by his own Spirit but are not Scriptures wher they are a Law made a Law by the CoÌ„monwealths authority and consequently a part of the Civil Law So they which impropriat Preaching to one certain Order of Men wher the State leavs it free commit the like error for if the State forbids me not to Preach none els can If I be among Judians or Infidels shal I being not in Orders think it sin to Preach Christ Jesus or expound Scriptures In such cases of necessity say they wher is no Ministry it may be doon without mission as wherever a dispensation is du for necessity ther needs none when no Law forbids it Ergo to deny thes functions to whom the civil Soveraign denies them not is to take away lawful liberty The Schoolmens writings are mostly insignificant terms or trains of strange barbarous words otherwise used then in common Latin language which would pose Cicero Varro or any Grammarian of antient Rome For let any try whether he can translat them into any modern Toung which if he cannot how can that be intelligible in Latin which is not so in other languages Howbeit this insignificance of speech is no fals Philosophy but both a quality to hide the truth and make Men think they hav it being skild in School-notions and so desist from farther serch of it in others He saith elswher what kind of felicity God ordains for them that devoutly serv him one shal no sooner know then enjoy being Quaere jois now so incomprehensible as the School-mens words beatific Vision unintelligible but doth not that signify to enjoy the perpetual presence of the divine Trinity as Men delight in ech others company face to face Which if Christ must reign on a new finit Earth with his Saints for ever none ever shal doo For beatific Vision is to see the blessed Trinity face 4 Caus to face in his eternal mansion The last caus of spiritual Darknes is to mix uncertain Traditions and untru Histories like the golden legion of fals fictious miracles in Saints lifes of Ghosts Goblins and Apparitions alleged by Romish Doctors to varnish their Doctrins of Hel Purgatory Exoâ—cisms and such like Which tho som pious Fathers Pope Gregory 1. St. Bernard c. broched yet they were Men and might take it on trust from others as Beda also did but if any speak it of their own knowledg 't is no confirmation of such vanity but a detection of their fraud fallacy or frailty The suppression of tru Philosophy by Men that hav no authority nor sufficient study may be joind with the introduction of falsâ— for our late Navigators and al learned Men acknowledg Antipodes as it appeers daily more that yeers and dais are determined by the Earths motions yet such as only supposed it heretofore were punishd by Ecclesiastic power What reason had they Is it becaus 't is contrary to tru Religion That cannot be if the opinions be truâ— let the truth be first disquired by competent Judges or refuted by such as pretend to know the contrary Is it becaus they disturb Government or Religion established Let the Teachers be silenced or punished by civil Rulers who can chastise disobedience in thos that teach
Dominions to whom the chief Government of all estates whether Ecclesiastic or Civil in al Causes doth appertain nor ought to be subject unto any forren Jurisdiction Whereas we attribute chief Government to the Kings Majestie wherby we understand the minds of som slanderous folks to be offended we giv not to our Prince the ministring of Gods word or Sacraments which thing the Injunctions also somtime set forth by our late Queen Elizabeth doe plainly testify But that only Prerogativ which was ever given to al Godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himself which is That they shal rule al Estates and Degrees committed to their charge whether Ecclesiastic or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword al stuâ—born and evil doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of the Land may punish Christian men with death for hainous grievous offences It is lawful for Christians at commandment of the Magistrat to wear Weapons and serv in Wars Article 38. The Goods of Christians are not common touching the right title and possession of the same as Anabaptists falsly boast yet every man ought of such things as he hath liberaly to give Alms to the Poor according to his ability Article 39. As we confess vain and rash swearing to be forbid in Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle so we judg that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but a man may swear when a Magistrat requires it in a caus of Faith and Charity so that it be done as the Prophets teach according to Justice Judgment and Truth for the composing of strife Articuli Lambethae cusi The Articles of Lambeth An Appendix of nine Articles touching Praedestination agitated by John Archbishop of Canterbury and others An. 1595. at Dr. Whitakers instance against three Propositions of Dr. Baro a Frenchman Lady Margarets Professor at Cambridg Article 1. GOd from eternity predestinated som men to life and reprobated the rest to death or damnation Article 2. The moving or efficient caus of Predestination to life is not any foresight of Faith Perseverance good Works or any thing in the persons praedestinated but only in the Wil of Gods good pleasure Article 3. Of the Predestinat ther is a prefined certain number which can neither be increased nor diminished Article 4. They that are not predestinat to salvation shal necessarily be condemned for their sins Article 5. Tru livly justifying Faith and sanctifying Spirit of God is not extinguished doth not fall off nor vanish in the Elect either finaly or totally Article 6. A man truly beleeving or indued with justifying Faith is certain by or with ful perswasion of Faith of his sins forgivenes and everlasting salvation by Christ Article 7. Saving Grace is not given nor communicated nor granted to al men whereby they may be saved if they will Article 8. No man can come to Christ unles it be given to him and unless the Father draw him nor are al men drawn of the Father that they come to the Son Article 9. It is not in the free choice and power of every man to be saved These Assertious or Positions like many mo are obtruded in general obscure ambiguous terms subject to divers interpretations Animadversio apposita A usefull Animadversion THe first Proposition is tru de facto but treats not of the order and manner why God elected som and reprobated the rest which is the debate The second designs the moving efficient caus of election but mentions not the object whether it be man simply or man a sinner or man repentant or man persisting obstinat and obdurat which is al the question for Gods foresight is no efficient caus of his Predestination but his Wil. The third of a set number not to be increased or diminished is a very verity in regard of Gods infallible foreknowledge and immutable Wil. The fourth is a bifront Janus most ambiguous for if it suppose non-praedestination to necessitat condemnation for sin it puts non causam pro causa but if it make non-praedestination a meer negativ in God and supposes sin unrepented the caus God may in true Justice condemn the sinner that neglects the remedy for every one perisheth by his own default as Preachers inculcat dayly The fifth is generally granted That the elect doo not fal away finaly or totaly but who they are no mortal man knows and al men may fal The sixth in a tru sens is tru That Beleevers being reconciled to God by repentance may be certain of their present condition by a ful perswasion of Faith yet must not presume of infallible perseverance sith many Saints through frailty have faln dangerously The seventh is tru in part That effectual saving Grace is not given to al that they may be saved if they wil but sufficient is offered to al and that seriously or intentionaly if they wil use and not refuse reject or resist the means working out their salvation with fear and trembling The eighth is to be rightly expounded that no man can com to the Son unless the Father draw him and al men are not drawn by him but 't is becaus he foresees that they be obdurat and wil not com when caled for his prescience is the condition not the caus of proceeding The last is indubitat that 't is not in every mans nay in no mans free choice and power to be saved without Grace but by help thereof and use of the means prescribed in the Gospel any man may be saved if he wil cooperat with Gods Grace and not wilfully reject the same Dr. John Rainolds at Hampton-Court Conference beside many mo both before and since petioned that thes 9 Lambethian Articles might be annexed to the other 39 by public authority but could never obtain it becaus their meaning or construction was very dubious or dissonant to the tru sens of our Churches seventeenth Article which handles the point of Predestination more plainly and perfectly then thes 'T is said that Dr. Whitgift Archbishop granted this discussion to gratify Dr. Whitakers importunity and pacify that present Cantabrigian fury but left it in such doubtful terms that no prejudice might occur to the said Article of Predestination predefined THESIS I. Animae Humanae productio Production of Mans Soul 1 A solen Question Whether every Mans Soul since Adams be created or procreated THE Case is cleer for creating Adams Gen 2. 3. Soul God breathed into his nostrils the Spirit of life whereof S. Austins Axiom respect stil had to this first Souls production is infallibly tru 't is created in infusing and infused in creating Of Eve 't is said God in a deep Gen. 2. 21. 23. sleep took one of Adams ribs closing up flesh in its stead and the Rib he made a Woman The learned say it was no dead bone but animat the material part being extended to a shapeful human body and the spiritual at the same instant diffused over
others by Grace if then he requires since Mans fal faith repentance obedience and perseverance to work out our salvation by his Grace certes he givs ability to beleev repent obey and persever by cooperating with it but doth not cross-bar it by any contrary decree which were meer mockery far from Mercy for if one ly on the ground bound hand foot 't is mockery to bid him rise or run away but mercy to loose or let him go The Case is quadratly semblable and aptly applicable Our good God is no mocker but al Mercy nor respecter of persons but receivs al that cal on him 12. God delights not in the death of a sinner but would hav al to be saved he hath spoken it who wil not beleev him so wel as beleev in him But if he hath absolutly and peremptorily decreed from which is no appeal nor repeal that Man shal sin and consequently dy he delights in his death and wil hav but a few saved Hath he made him according to his own Image purposly to make him the wrechedest of al Creatures Surely his Wil and Decree is to reward every Man according to his works Thes twelv stones thus laid like Josuas twelv stones paralel to Jos 4. 20. Israels twelv Tribes set up in Gilgal for a memorial of Jordans retroversion for a fair foundation the fabric wil be the better finished but becaus Mr. Plaifer wel versed in this point hath handled it at large in his Appâ—liâ— Evangelium the chief contents shal be sincerly abstracted or abbreviated and applied to common capacities sans ambiguity He reckons fiv dissident Opinions touching the order of 1 Opinon Predestination 1. Calvin Beza Piscator Whitaker Perkins c. hold that God eternaly Decreed to creat a set number of Men wherof he elected som to everlasting life and reprobated the rest to eternal death of his free wil pleasure only to shew his Grace Goodnes or Mercy on the one and his Justice Power or Dominion on the other To which end he Decreed sin should enter on al that he might justly punish most part for sin and to send his Son for redemption of the Elect in Mercy by free Grace This peremptory position is generaly condemned by Papists Refutation Lutherans Arminians and divers Reformed Divines as perilous and erroneus becaus it makes God the prime Author of sin rejecting Men before they were evil by an antecedent absolut Decree without respect to Adams future fal but elects som before they are considered as sinners sans respect to the ones faith or the others failing as if prescience had no place in Praedestination 2. The Synod of Dort Peter Moulin and many English 2 Opin Theologists defend That God eternaly decreed to make Man holy and good giving him perfect Free-wil but foreseing he would by Satans tentation fal into sin if he hindred it not decreed to permit it and out of this lost lapsed lump chos a certain number to salvation suffering the rest to perish in sin whom he passeth by of free pleasure but punisheth for just demerits Yet decreed to send his Son to redeem or sav the elect and his Spirit to cal or sanctify them that they may be glorified The first sort are stiled Supralapsarians having no respect to Adams fal decreed to send his Son so they grant prescience in order to preced Decree This opinion freeth Gods justice on Infants dying unbaptised which the first doth not who hav no other desert of death but original sin This Tenet is scarce veritable or warrantable which Refut to defend divine justice supposeth mankind corrupted before any Decree of election passed which seems needless becaus ther be good and bad Angels without any corruption or fal and Christ was not in the lapsed lump yet as man elected to life It also supposeth Original sin to be caus of Reprobation which is remitted to many Reprobats condemned for actual sins as Doctor Whitaker avers it likewise teacheth that Christ is sent to sav the elect only as dying for them alone who are to be caled by the Word and Spirit but Reprobats being outwardly caled who are barred from obeying are more deeply condemned for refusing it yet hav no power to embrace it which is harsh doctrin 3. Doctor Overald a late learned Bisshop coined a new 3 Opin Tenet That God decreed to creat man good but foreseeing his fal appointed his Son to dy for al and to cal men by his Word offering Salvation to al with common suffiâ—ient Grace to work Faith by the ordinary means if they be not wanting to themselves but knowing our infirmity that none would beleev by the common Grace decreed to ad a more special effectual to whom he pleased being chosen according to his purpos wherby they shal not only be able but actualy and necessarily beleev being drawn by the Father irresistibly This is plausible but scars solid for that common Grace Refut which savs none is not Gospel Grace offered to al nor deservs that name nor indeed is any such sith it never produced the effect Nor can a special superabundant Grace be it sith 't is rejected by none to whom 't is offered but tru Gospel Grace is received by som and refused or resisted by others Thes three Opinions infer a kind of despair into mens minds becaus none shal be saved by that special Grace given to a few according to Gods secret purpos which whether he intends to giv or not the general promises cannot assure to any Soul 4. The Lutherans with som Papists maintain that God decreed 4 Opin to make Man a free Creature but permit him to stand or fal and to send his Son upon foresight of his fal for redemption of al by a general conditionat Decree of Faith Repentance Perseverance with a special absolut of electing such as he knew would beleev and persever under the means but to pass by and damn the rest whom he foresaw incredulous and impenitent making Prescience or Prevision the occasion on which his Decrees proced This is faulty in som points 1. Becaus ther is no such general Refut conditionat Predestination 2. Becaus the special Decree of Election makes Men chus God first rather then God them which is preposterous 3. Becaus the Decree of Justification and Condemnation is confounded with election and Reprobation which S. Paul distinguisheth 4. Becaus it allows no more Rom. 8 19. Grace given to the Elect then Reprobats nor greater caus of gratitud Yet this opinion rightly extends the objects of Prescience not only to Adams fal but to Christ Incarnat and beleeved on in the World to the last end of al that shal persever in Faith or unbeleef This sutes with Scripture which builds Predestination on Foreknowledg simply and properly taken at large promising salvation to al beleevers which shal persever to the end Thes four opinions ech of which hath som peeces of truth giv great light to this
whol Church 2. Mans Wil without Grace cannot wil good but being inabled by it can after sans farther Grace both wil and perform alone this is the Massiliens or Semipelagians error 3. By or through Gods Grace working on the Wil it can both wil and doo good but not without it nor can continu without farther assisting Grace this is truly orthodox which subjoins Mans Wil to Gods Grace in willing and acting good 4. The Wil by or through Grace working on it cannot but wil and perform good this S. Austin held in heat of arguing against Pelagians and Massiliens who fel too far into the extrem like such as bow a crooked stick back to make it streight as S. Chrysostom compares S. Austin asserted that Grace affords such help to the Predestinat as they were not only unable to persever without it but by means of it could not chus but persever The state of the Question which if rightly put is like an Hebr. 6. 16. Oath to end strife consists about the maner and measure how Grace works on the Wil or with it whether the Wil cooperats as the third Proposition holds or whether it so works that the Wil must needs concur as the fourth avers For explaining wherof Grace meant in the third shal be stiled efficient that in the fourth which works necessarily or infallibly causing the Wil to consent efficacious Which in tru terms is whether Grace be resistible or not If it be so prevalent or Of resisting Grace prepotent as it carries the Wil to obey willingly if that be willing which cannot doo otherwise the fourth is tru But if Grace be only an efficient adjuvant prior Caus and Mans Wil prepared by it a cooperant secund Caus in the work of Conversion which may fail resist or disobey then the third is more authentic To prov it for brevity sake read Acts 5. 32. Acts 7. 5. Rom. 10. 16. 2 Cor. 9. 13. Gal. 3. 1. Gal. 5. 7. 2 Thes 5. 8. Al which places are most plain that one may disobey Gospel Grace Dr. Ward a stif Stickler for effectual Grace defines thus We freely confess that neither operating nor cooperating Grace at Conversion or after doth take off from Mans Wil the power to resist if it wil for resistibility is natural born with us and inseperable from the Wil as a nativ faculty but 't is not questioned simply whether God in the work of Conversion or any other doth mov the Wil resistibly for that 's granted only the maner of resistibility is in controversy wherin we say when God works in the Wil ipsum Velle to wil Grace produceth non resilience which is effected by certain knowledg and prevalence of delight as S. Austin saith Therfore we avow actual resistence to be taken away for that time sith 't is impossible such should stand with effectual Grace for two opposits the Wil to be wrought on by effectual Grace and to resist it at once cannot coexist which were to make the Wil obey and resist at one instant Thes shifâ—s pass current among Partialists but he saith al the Controversy is about the maner or resistibility which indeed is none at al for al grant resistibility or power to resist is not removed by Grace the Question only is of actual resistence or maner of not resisting wherin none is so silly to say that when the Wil yeelds actualy to Grace ther is then any renitence sith contingence is not when things are in Esse but before they were so whether they might not possibly be otherwise that is resist when it did obey so the debat lies in resistibility before the act of good or evil not in it for a Regenerat may sin resistibly not in the very moment of willing it but becaus he could hav resisted yer he willed it So a Convert obeyeth Grace or willeth his conversion resistibly becaus yer he willed it he could hav resisted els why doth S. Paul so seriously exhort not to resist the Spirit Sin may be resisted but not after consent so may Grace but not when the Wil haâ—h embraced it for to be actualy received and then resistible cannot cohere Howbeit if non-resistence be granted 't is dubâ—ous what the caus is and wherin it consists whether in effectual Grace or effectual Wil for what is said of the one may be verified of the other sith when it obeys 't is impossible it should wil to resist but it may before Nor can any tel by the very act of obeying which is caus of non-resisting for put either to remov resistence 't is surely gon by consenting and it seems Wil is â—hâ— proper caus which ends resistence 1. Becaus effectual Grace is nâ—men sine re which cannot determ in the Wil without destroying it whos nature is to determin it self 2. Becaus to resist or not are special acts of the Wil as to convert repent beleev belongs to Man who converts repents beleevs for God promiseth only to circumcise Deut. 30. 6. the heart and Man is bid to circumcise his own heart so Deâ—t 10. 16. God promiseth to put a new Spirit into Man and Men are injoined Jer. 4. 4. Ezek. 11. 1â— to make them a new heart and Spirit both being evangelical So the promiss implies or supposes an impotence in us to doo supernatural acts tendering Gods power assistance and operation to incourage us but the Precept imports som power in us under his assisting Grace to indeavor or doo somwhat toward thos acts which appeer to be ours becaus they savour of our imperfections Hence we stil accuse our selfs complaining on the weaknes of Faith Lord I beleev help my unbelief coldnes of lov pride of heart yet God givs Faith Lov Humility who is al perfect Why then doo we not rather magnify his Goodnes and Graces if he doth al then ingratly disgrace them as being impotent or imperfect sav only becaus we hav impaired or made them defectiv by being wanting to Grace Let sweet Bernard a magnifier of Grace end this point Grace so operats with Free-wil as it only prevents in the first act and accompanies in the rest but is so far preventing as it even cooperats with Grace yet so that what is begun by Grace alone is perfected by both alike so they work jointly not severaly together not by turns in particular degrees not partly Grace partly Free-wil but ech jontly performs the whol Free-wil doth al and Grace al but as the whol is wrought in the Wil so is it wholy doon by Grace Thus he which is the tâ—u state of the whol debate This wil better appear by consistence of Grace and Free-wil in Mans four estates 1. Of Nature sound 2. Of Nature lapsed 3. Of Nature renewed 4. Of Nature glorified which shâ—l be particularly agitated together with the order of a sinners Conversion Man at Creation had to wil or nil naturaly by supernatural Grace to wil more fully which took not away
the flesh and make God to decree sin efficatiously with an energetical working wil blaming thos that refer ought to Gods prescience only Permission properly is an act of Gods consequent judiciary Wil by which he punisheth Men for abusing their freedom in committing sins day by day which they might hav declined and 't is caled his long-suffering proceding to punish with a slow unwilling pace See Ps 81. 11 12. Ezek. 18 39. Rom. 1. 21 24. Rev. 22. 11. but Permission by them intended is an act of Gods antecedent Wil exercised on innocent men lying under no guilt whom he eternaly preordains to sin and punishment So tru Permission about whomever exercised is only not to hinder them from faling which are able to stand and supposeth a possibility in the party permitted to sin or not but in their sens 't is a withdrawing or with-holding of Grace needful to shun sin and so infolds an absolut necessity of sinning as the fal of Dagons hous folowed Sampsons plucking down the Pillars which supported it So Maccovius saith Permission is a subtraction of divine assistance necessary to prevent sin so Dr. Whitaker Permission is a privation of that aid which bâ—ing present would hav prevented sin So Pareus That help which God witheld from Adam made that he could not so use his indowments as to persever which he saith is the doctrin generaly defended by their side So their Permission of sin being a subtraction of necessary Grace is equivalent to an actual effectual procuring and woking of it for a deficient caus in things necessary is truly efficient so this devise is a very figleaf to cover the ugly nakednes of their Opinion Others consider two things in every evil act 1. The matter 2 Devise or Entity wherof God is Author 2. The form or Obliquity which proceds from Satan as in a lame Hors This distinction halts wors then the Hors nor holds in al Answer sins sith in many the very acts are sinful as Adams eating the forbidden fruit and Sauls sparing Agag which in others had not bin sin NOE wil it serv their turn for they make Gods Decree caus of al thos means which lead to damnation therfore of sinful actions as sinful and not as bare Entities sith they deserv death not as simple actions but as transgressions of the Law As to their sly Simile that Master or Owner who shal first resolv to kil his Hors and after lames him that he may hav color to doo it is cruel to his Beast and Author both of his halting and death so if God first decree to cast Men into Hel and then bring them into a state of sin that he may effect his purpose justly he must needs be Author of sin so wel as the actions to which it cleavs sith he intends destruction Thes are horrid aspersions Som coin a third evasion that the Wil is determined to an 3 Devise object two wais 1. By compulsion against its inclination so God forceth no Man 2. By complying with its natural appetit or liking So God may lead a Man to what he would yet not be Author of sin but only necessitats it When Men sin 't is tru they cannot chuse and as tru they wil not but sin so 't is not Gods Decree but their own wicked Wil which is caus of their sin and death The Fathers and School-men make Compulsion and Necessity Answer al one denying that God necessitats any to sin for then he is Author of it so wel as if he compeld Men sith therby it must inevitably be committed which els might be declined Nay what necessitats the Wil to sin is more the caus then the Wil it self becaus it overruleth and bears most sway bereaving al tâ—â— liberty to dispos it s own acts which should be free Lord of it self For the Necessitater is Commander Comptroler and Compeller but the Wil a servil instrument determined by divine Decree from which al such acts rather proced then from Mens wicked Wils When two Causes concur to produce an Effect one principal overruling the other instrumental at the principals devotion the Effect is ascribed to the influx or impression of the former and not to the later which is only a subservient Servant See Mat. 10. 20. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Gal. 2. 20. wher the work is wholy imputed to the principal Agent Adams Wil in innocence was whit paper or a clean-Table equaly inclined to good or evil So if God decreed his Fal as Supralapsarians say that necessity was a coaction but al others by depraved Nature are disposed to evil yet determined by divine decree both Elect and Reprobats Wils Though then Mans Wil works with Gods Decree in sinning yet siâ—h it doth it by the commanding power of his irresistible Decree the sin cannot so rightly be attributed to Mans Wil the inferior as to Gods Decree the superior Caus Yea that which makes a Man sin by necessity with and not against his Wil is caus of his sin in worâ— sort then he which constrains him against his wil as he that by powerful perswasion draws one to kâ—l himself is more gâ—osly the caus of his self-homiciâ— then he who inforceth him to it becaus it makes him consent to his own death So if Gods Decree makes Men sin and willingly too which is both to act and wil evil he hath a deeper stroke in the sin Another shift is suggested that sin is considered as sin and 4 Devise so God doth not destinat Men to it Or as a means to manifest his Justice and so he doth decree to punish it yet is not the Author of sin This is a silly slide for a good end cannot justify an il actions Answer Both end matter and maner too must be good els the act is evil If a Man shal steal to giv Alms as Robin Hooa did or commit whordom to beget Children for the Church as the Harlot did which was mother to three famous School-Doctors or the like be his end never so good he sinneth hainously sith 't is a violation of Gods Majesty and directly opposit to divine Good as S. Paul saith We must not doo evil that good may insu If then God willeth evil for ends never so Rom. 3. 8. good yet sith he decrees it with a powerful necessitating Wil he is Author of it For sin simply is a means of punishment If then he wils it as a means of punishment he wils it as simply sin by an absolut Decree Absit omen This Position loads him with three indignities 1. Want of Wisdom which must needs be weak if he can find no way to glorify his Justice but by bringing in sin which his Soul hates that he may manifest it in punishing 2. Want of sincerity or plain dealing as Tiberius purposing to destroy Drusus and Nero sons to Germanicus provoked them to revile him that so he might justly put them to death So if God appointing Men to eternal
not most part lying in laps predecreed to Reprobation Som slily expound the word World for a World of Elect or Beleevers only which is no wher so taken but either for al Men or al living in som certain place or at som certain time sans distinction of good or bad Or if it be any wher restrained 't is applied to wicked Men wedded to this World Yet if it be somwher limited to the Elect 't is not so here for then the words would bear a sensless sens God so loved the Elect that whoever beleevs in his Son should not perish which imports two sorts of Elect som that beleev and shal be saved others which beleev not and shal perish but Beleevers and Uunbeleevers saved and damned includ al Mankind which S. John cals elswher the whol World as an exposition of the former S. Paul 1 John 2. 2. 1 Tim. 2. â— saith God wil hav al Men to be saved and com to the knowledg of the truth Ergo his wil is that al shal hav the means of knowledg and be saved but none shut up under unbeleef Som by Al understand al sorts of Men but not al particulars in ech sort which is a silly shift Indeed 't is somtimes so taken but not here as the context shews for in the first vers a duty is injoined to make praiers and supplications for al Men and then a motiv annexed God wil hav al to be saved The duty extends to every particular we must in charity pray for al even Tyrans Persecutors prophane Persons Ergo the motiv intends al individuals or els reacheth not home to inforce the duty Others answer That God intends al to be saved by his reveled Wil but millions damned by his secret O beware of ascribing two several Wils to God who is no dissembler sith one must needs be good the other bad For if his Word be his reveled Wil and repugnant to his secret Mind or meaning it must be untru or simulatory and consequently a ly S. Peter saith The 2 Pet. 3. 9. Lord would hav none perish but al com to repentance Som fully it That he means only the Elect or Beleevers but the context flatly contradicts it For the next preceding words speak of patience or long-sufferance toward Men which must be Reprobats rather who dy in their sins as the same Apostle tels That Christ in spirit preached to the spirits which in Noahs dais 1 Pet 3. 19 20 were disobediens and now in prison or Hel for it Yea Reprobats are the most proper objects of his patience as S. Paul saith He useth much patience and long-suffering to them that Rom. 2 4. go on in sin that he might lead them to repentance Again he suffers Rom 9 22. with long patience Vessels of wrath prepared not decreed to destruction See Isai 5. 2. Isai 65. 2. So S. Peters words intend Reprobats so wel as others or rather them then others that God wil hav none to perish by his power or pleasure except by their own fault or folly This is confirmed by som conditional passages If thou seek him he wil be found but if then forsake him he wil cast thee off So God said to Cain If thou doâ— wel shalt thou not be accepted but if thou doo il sin lies at dore S. Paul saith The just shal liv by faith but if any draw back Hebâ— 1â— 38. my soul shal 〈◊〉 no pleasure in him By which conditions 't is clear that God forsakes no Man simply considered in the fal til he first forsakes him The result is That he rejects none by previous Decree sav such as he foresaw would cast him off by continuance in sin and contempt of Grace For Gods acts in time are regulated by his Decrees before time as 't is said He works al according to Eph. â— â—â— the Counsil of his Wil. For ther is an exact conformity betwen the Rule and thing squared by it therfore whatever God doth in the World he purposed before the World and by actual casting Men off when they grow rebellious or impenitent we may be sure he decreed to doo it for foreseen rebellion and impenitence Som obscure Texts may seem to favour the Opinion of free pleasure as Men mis-interpret them which by presupposing prevision are rightly reconciled But S. Austins rule is we must not contradict plain places becaus we cannot comprehend obscure And Tertullian teacheth that a few places are to be understood after the current sens of most part and not contrary to it as in this case for the most part it seems to be 2. It crosseth som chief Attributs of God Mercy Justice 2 Reason Truth Holines which are his perfections wherby he exerciseth his acts among Men conform to them For they are the same in God with thos virtues in Men but infinitly differing in degree sith what is just tru holy or merciful in Men is superlativly so in God Els cannot Man be properly made after his Image nor renewed in Regeneration after the same or made Col. 3. 10. partaker of divine Nature but 't is commanded Be ye perfect Mat. 5. 48. as your havenly Father is perfect and holy as I am holy Nor is soveraign power or dominion an Attribut moraly good in it self sith it may be shewed in cruel unjust acts so wel as contrary But our good God is Justice in the Abstract and wil not exercise it tyrannously contrary to his other Attributs 1. Now absolut Reprobation repugns his Holines making him the chief caus of sin in most Men sith he brings them into a state of sin which they cannot decline For al are guilty of Adams transgression and Natures corruption yet not by natural generation so much as by divine Ordination as Calvin â— 3. Inst â— 23. â— 7â— faith Al Men are held under guilt of eternal death in the person of one Man which cannot be ascribed to any natural caus but must com from Gods wonderful Counsil who would hav it so Doctor Twiss saith the same The guilt of Original sin is derived only by imputation the stain only by propagation and both meerly by Gods free constitution So saith S. Bernard Adams sin is anothers becaus we knew not Serm. 1 Dom. â— past 8. Epiâ—â— of it yet ours too becaus by Gods just though secret Judgment reputed ours This agrees with reason for if we incur guilt of the first sin and Natures corruption only as being in Adams loins when he sinned then are we guilty of al his other sins being virtualy or potentialy in his loins after the fal so wel as before But Scripture intitles only the first sin which entred the World and invaded al Mankind Yea Children should be guilty of al their Progenitors specialy the next Parents sins as being in their loins when they sinned more immediatly then in Adams yet Children partake not their Parents guilt nor punishments unles they hate
God like them and imitat their Exod. 20 5. sins God swears that the Proverb The Fathers hav eaten Ezek 18 2 c. sour Grapes and Childrens teeth are set on edg shal be used no more the Soul that sins shal dy But if a Man be just and doo right he shal surely liv The Son shal not bear his Fathers iniquity nor Father his Sons but the Soul only that Sins shal dy Wretched would be our case on whom the ends of al the World are com if children should be guilty of al their Progenitors sins or liable to their plagues and punishments who can bear it Yet 't is asserted that God decrees to leav Reprobats in this impotent irrecoverable condition affording no ability to rise from sin by Grace which Decree he executs in time of his Free-wil and Pleasure leaving them under a necessity of sinning by the act of absolut Reprobation both Negativ which is a flat denial of Grace and Positiv which is a preordination of them to endless torments Som grant common Graces to Reprobats but not sufficient to sav them So saith Lubbert God reveles not the way of salvation to Reprobats nor givs Faith and Regeneration but leavs them in sin and perdition Nor doth afford them any sufficient means of salvation with an intention of saving them Thes two Positions that God necessitats Reprobats to sin and leavs them in the snds make him chief Author of al their sins for a Caus of the Caus is Caus of the thing produced Causa Cauâ—â— â—â—â— Causa Causati whether Negativ or Positiv acts Ergo if God be chief Caus of their impenitence by want or withdrawing supernatural Grace he is tru caus of their sin according to the saying He that forbids or hinders not what is in his power bids and furthers it as they say God doth effectually wil it 'T is a poor pretext that God by withdrawing his Grace is only accidental not a direct proper caus of their sins For an accidental is when the effect is beside the Agents intention or expectation as if one in digging his ground finds gold But when an effect is expected intended or contrived the caus cannot be caled accidental as a Pilot witholding his care or skil from a Ship when he knows it wil perish by such neglect is caus of casting it away So if God detains Grace necessary not as ignorant what wil insu but precisely determins Reprobats ruin by their impenitence he becoms a tru direct caus of their sins which no wiles of wit sav among their partial poor blind Disciples can possibly decline 2. It opposeth Gods Mercy which is his Nature in the Abstract See Exod. 34 6. Mat. 7. 11. Mat. 23. 37. 2 Cor. 1. 3. Eph. 2. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 2. 1 John 4. 16. But such matchless Mercy cannot stand with a peremptory Decree of absolut Reprobation which if God doth of free pleasure he is rather a Father of Cruelties then Mercies and a Destroier then Saviour What Parent wil destin their Children to eternal death and torments for one only offens and that not committed by them but by others and imputed to them Is Gods Mercy abundant if limited to a few Elect scarsone of a hundred shal be inevitably saved Ponder thes points duly 1. That Adams sin is personaly none sav his but a sin of Nature not committed or consented to by any of his posterity which is derived by traduction but made the sin of Nature by Gods arbitrary imputation not ordinary generation 2. That God as 't is generaly beleeved pardoned Adam who freely committed it Can it then stand with his Mercy to punish others for the same sin not perpetrated by them 3. That his only Son was sent into the John 1. 29 World and suffred death for the sins of the World which might suffice to satisfy his wronged Justice for al Mankind and open a way of salvation to every Man without respect of persons But to damn a world of Reprobats by free Decree only to shew his dominion no way savours of Mercy for he is far crueler to them then any Creature els or to the very Devils who are damned for their own personal pride and rebellion but Reprobats by an absolut Decree for anothers crime The one know their doom and expect it but the other are deluded with hope and made beleev the matter is in their own hand so that if they perish 't is not for want of Mercy in God but oâ— wil in themselfs Yet by their doctrin al depends on the peremptory punctilio of Gods arbitrary absolut Decree So Devils are in better case becaus they are not injoined to beleev in Christ nor to repent fast and pray as Reprobats are Nor punished the more for not beleeving as Men are In al which regards their condition is far more ruful then cursed Fiends who are made the tormentors over them Concerning other Creatures the very basest hav a being though despicable which is better then no being Yet who would not wish if he might chuse to be resolved into nothing then in such doleful direful condition yea that they had been Toads or Serpents then Men Or what Parents wil procreat if they be perswaded they shal beget Children Fire-brands for Hel and Slavs to Satan yet not for their faults nor hav they power to help it Let Prosper shape the period He which saith God wil not hav al to be saved but a few predestinat persons only he speaks harshly of Gods high inscrutable Grace Som say Gods Mercy by this absolut Decree is sufficiently shewed to the Elect and Justice to Reprobats but the one is clothed with partial respect of persons and the other clouded with extrem rigour or severity as shal appeer 3. It is incompatible with divine Justice See Ps 145. 17. Prov. 16. 11. Isai 5. 3. Ezek. 18. 25. but the absolut decreâ— of Reprobation cannot consist with it sith it makes God punish the righteous with rebellious and innocent Men with bad Angels For Antelapsarians say expresly That God decreed Mans Fal or Fate considered without sin and therfore innocent Postlapsarians vouch the same by consequent That he lais a necessity on every Man to be born under original sin decreeing to Reprobat most part for that sin so they make God to doo 〈◊〉 3 Inst c. 23. § 7. 23. by two acts which their brethren impute to one Calvin contests That God may with equal Justice decree Men to damnation the first way so wel as the last for al are made guilty of Adams sin by Gods Decree only why then not he by the same Thes kind Patrons of divine Justice wil seem to stumble at a straw and leap over a block why els wil they not grant that of one Man which they doo of al hence we may see what to judg of this opinion That God cannot justly ordain Men to destruction sans consideration of sin for which is greater to impute another
one in in ech of the seven Asian Churches to whom he directed his Episties For Bishops as Fathers ordeined Presbyters but not they Bishops nor can Sons ordein Sons without a Father or Bishop who is superior both in precedence of place and preeminence of power as is proved The twelv Apostles and seventy Disciples had equal charge Luke 10. 1. or Commission to preach the Gospel cure Diseases and cast out Devils yet the twelv superior to the seventy as al know Som too boldly say Both were one order becaus caled Disciples sit liber Judex let St. Luke decide it After this relating to what he premised of the Apostles he appointed other seventy Disciples also If other then not the same nor doth community of general title argu identity of special order or specifical Office For Apostles were caled Disciples but the seventy no Apostles and Matthias one of them was chosen Apostle as to an higher degree yea Dorotheus flatly avers that they were subordinat to them and many afterwards made Diocesan Bishops who succeded the twelv and Presbyters the seventy as al Antients Jeronimo non exempto unanimosly vote and inform Men who hav forfeted their Faith or resigned it to Faction fear not to vent untruths among the Vulgar being sure the simpler sort wil be seduced for lack of learning and their Proselits apt to accept shadows for substances or counterfet copper for current Coin But St. Austins saying to Julius the Heretic wil wel suit such Sectists Hath time so confounded al things is darknes turn'd to light or contrarily that Pelagius Celestin and Julius can see but Hilary Cyprian and Ambros becom blind semblably are al Fathers Councils and Ecclesiastic Writers blind Beetles not to perceiv how primitiv Churches not long before their dais were governed but Calvin Cartwright and Knox such Lynces to see so far into a Milston what was acted so many ages before their births without any Perspectivs of Human Histories a strange instinct if not inspiration Let St. Austins admonition shape the conclusion 'T is fit Christians should prefer Antiquity before your Novities and rather adhere to their solid Judgments then to your shalow fancies The Answer to nine Questions propounded at last Parliament to the Assembly of Divines touching Jus Divinum in Church Government is built on the proofs or Principles precited 1. That Elders and Elderships in Scripture were sacred Officers representing the Church 2. That Christ hath a temporal Kingdom wherof secular Magistrats are Vicegerents and a spiritual committed to Church Officers as 't is said Aaron and his Sons shal wait on the Priests Office and a Bâ—shops Numb 3. 10. Office is a good work for they are contra distinct and may 1 Tim. 3. 1. not confound their powers Say that Magistrats must guard the Church by positiv Laws yet not rule in it nor they to meddle with secular affairs 3. That no Independent congregational Elderships are Jure divino 4. That Christ gav the Keis to his Apostles and their spiritual successors but not to Mat. 16 19. Mat. 18 18. John 20 23. al Members of the Church Al which are tru Positions if the head Rulers be included els 't is no Church Government of divine Institution For no Societies Companies Colleges or Corporations can be complet without their several Heads as right Episcopacy is a regulated Presbytery but single Presbytery without a Bishop who may not be secluded or separated Episcopat beheaded 'T is said That in the black Moneth a headless Hors wanders the streets with a chain about his neck which haply now is fulfilled if the Church becom an Anarchical Acephalon and the World an Antipodical Anarchy That answer hath two main defects 1. In not declaring the whol truth that the Apostles were Heads or Presidents over al Presbyters and before their deaths deputed Bishops to be ordinary Rulers themselfs being extraordinary in their steads 2. In not explaining whether Lay-Elders may be admitted among Church-Officers which seems to bee a mungrel mixture But al Sects learn that craft of Satan to concele what makes most against them Certes Episcopat and Elderships are Correlats nor can ther be a tru Presbytery without a Prelat Whence Mr. Calvin at Geneva when they reformed Religion and had expelled their Popish Prelat Soveraign of the State offered to readmit him if he would renounce the Papacy but upon refusal erected this new form of Ministers and Laics to draw in joint yoke together to pleas his Popular Patrons He wished as his felows did to hav Protestant Prelats as in England or Superintendents which are analogical Bishops as elswher for they are truly Christian yea of Apostolic Institution not Anti-Christian unles Antichrist be the head and many hundreds suffred Martyry under Pagan tyranny beside som here in the Marian persecution therfore such aspersions savour more of ignorant malice then tru charity for it may sincerly be said sans scandal that Episcopacy stood established in this land ever since the dawn of Christianity under Lucius a Brytish King almost An C. 180. 1500 yeers both by antient and later Laws from age to age So that if the primitiv form of Church government be retained it cannot be exiled for if Titus Timothy and the rest were ruling Elders over Presbyters it should be so stil yet 't is not simply unalterable if weighty causes require an abolition Epiphanius rightly reputed Aerius an Heretic though it be no point of Faith but Faction and such since stiled Schismatics for opposing Episcopacy sith if it should be granted which can never be proved that 't is a meer Human Ordinance of Apostolic Men yet possession and prescription of 1500 yeers sans violence or usurpation is enough to instal it in a firm right free from extirpation if their be any sure setled state on Earth For St. Jerom no friend to that Order for his teen against John the proud Patriarch of Jerusalem under whos Jurisdiction he lived long at Bethleem Juda freely agniseth that the peace of particular Churches cannot be conserved without it being the best means to suppress Schisms Sects and Heresies which swarm like Locusts in the open Sun Many abuses are crept up specialy in committing too much power to Lay. Chancelors and detracting divers priviledges from Presbyters beside excessiv avarice of som Bishops which reigns in scarlet Robes so il as in lawn sleevs al which may be reformed and pristin procedings restored without weeding out pure Wheat with Tares Cockles and Darnel which wise Husbandmen wil not doo but what disorders may grow upon its utter eradication as al alterations are perilous none but Gods alseing Ey can foresee To sum up al thes are Oraculous verities 1. That Christ Summary during life kept al rule in his sole power but after Resurrection commended it to his Apostles by a Triple charge to Peter Feed my Sheep 2. That when Beleevers increased they erected Elders every wher to officiat under them 3. That