any of these things if once by the fault of the creature per accidens sinne do but cleave to them 2. God may not nor doth at any time punish sinne with sinne contrary to Rom. 1. 24. 1. Thes 2. 9 10. or doe any of those many things which even by Arminius (n) Arminius and others I have elsewhere transcribed at large looke after them Armin. Disp 9. pub Tilenus in no lesse then 8 positions in Collat. cum camerone The Remonstrants in script is Synodalâ—bus who as they do all confute the aequitable sense so let Austin shut up the reare in proving Gods punishing sinne with sinne and pleading for other acts of Gods providence about sin lib. 5 contra Julian Pelag. cap. 3. Per totum fer mè caput Nec tacetur de coecitate Israel Quarâ— donec plenitudo gentium inquit Rom. 11. intraret nisi sortiter istam poenam negabis esse quam si lucis internae amator esses non solum aliquam sed valde magnam poenam esse clamares Aâ— ista caecitas suit judae is grande incredulitatis maluÌ„ grandis causa peccati ut occiderent Christum Jam istam caecitatâ—m si poena fuisse negaveris similâ—m te perpeti etiam non confitens indicaâ—is Similia habeâ—us passim alâ—bi Tilenus and others are granted for the avoiding of Atheisme in the deniall of Gods soveraign providence to belong to him 4. You would make us beleeve that God hath no other waies of with-holding us from sinne but by destroying us robbing us of our free will turning us into stocks uncreating his creature Which if so pray what becommeth 1. Of al Gods diverting waies by common and speciall providence 2. Of all his restraining waies by Lawes inward feares c. his waies of conviction by common graces Heb. 6. Besides what is done by arts and civilities didicisse fideliter artes c. 4. What of his converting waies of the worst of sinners when ex nolentibus he makes them volenâ—es 5. Of his preservatives of the good Angels who per magis auxilium by the super-addition of greater grace preserved in their first station which surely if it had pleased God he could have given unto man also for the preventing of his fall 6. Of his timelie taking men out of the world or translating them to glory lest as the antients were used to say our of Ecclesiastic Malitia mutaret inâ—ellctum ejus If any of these waies of hindering sin tend to the destruction of free will I beseech God demolish that Idoll as much in me as ever Moses did the Golden Calfe when he beat it to powder Exod. 32. 20. 2. As for what you in the second place quote out of Mr Hooker I am sure enough of it were it not that you were a Platonick lover you see I borrow a fine phrase from you p. 24. rather of his Ecclesiasticall policy then of his Divinitie you would not have made him your spokesman who saith nothing to God's meere speculative permission of evill I think you would rather have snibbed him for his so profuse commendation of Calvin as you know we have had out of him 2. All that he saith hath been most readilie consented unto by men because in another Classe of Church-policie lesse liked by you (o) Let one who hath been long an Advocate foâ— Protestants speake in his wâ—y for the rest Dâ— Ames Rescript schol ad Grevinchâ— cap. 3. Dâ—â—o igitur quod antea dixi recte à scholasticis haec ita exponi ut non sit assignanda causa divinae voluntatis ex parte actus volendâ— quamvis potest â—ssignari ratio ex parte volâ—torum in quantum scilicet Deus vult esse aliquid propter aliud Th. 1. q 23. a. 5. Quo sensu rectè etiam dicunt Deus vult hoc esse propter hoc sed non propter hoc vult hoc q. 19. a. 15. illud ordinationem unius rei ut causae ad aliam affectam notat hoc verò motum ipsius voluntatis divinae ab externo medio quod jure dixi indignum Deo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For what saith he in effect but this 1. That though considering all inferiour causes and things as they stand in subordination to God his absolute will is the cause of them yet as they stand in relation to each other so they have many other causes and lawes besides God's absolute will In a word God's absolute will is the sole cause of the making of his decrees and it is Atheisticall to say otherwise even Arminius himselfe being judge (p) Armin. Disp publ 4. Thes 51. Non movetur a causâ externâ ut velit non ab â—fficiente alio non a fine qui extra ipsum sit ne ab objecto quidem quod non sit ipse Etrectè Augustinus apud Lombard l. 1. d 45. Qui causam quaerit voluntatis divinae aliquid majus â—â quaerit cum nihil eâ majus sit Et si habeat causam voluntas est aliquid quod antecedit voluntatem Dei quod neâ—as est credere but there be many causes besides of the execution of his decrees If to this true and undeniable assertion you would but take in what all your adversaries will as willingly yield unto you that God in his absolute decrees the results of his will and wisedome and praescience doth not only determine all things and actions but their severall modalities too as to the manner of their being whether as necessary contingent or voluntary and so that his decrees are the supreme cause not onely of all necessitie but of all contingencie and voluntarinesse too q I know you Deus ordinat omnia ut proprios motus exercere sinat August Tho. Aquin. Ordo praedestinationis est certus tamen libertas arbitrii non tollitur ex quâ contingenter provenit praedestinationis effectus Idem Aquinas ad object ad art 4. de provident In hoc est immutabilitas certus divinae providentiae ordo quod â—a quae ab ipso providentur cuncta eveniunt eo modo quo ipse providet sive necessario sive contingenter out of your Jac. Armâ—n would not keep such a pudder as you doe about necessity and freedome as if it were impossible they should proceed out of the womb of one and the same decree caderent omnes de crinibus hydrae but of this when I come to your p. 47 48. 3. As for what you say p. 14. that no other reason is knowne to us of Gods works besides his absolute will and that hee workes all things according to the counsell of his will 1. The latter part of this saying is most true and strenuouslie pleaded for by your enemies especiallie by Calvin (r) Vide Calvinum fusè l. de praedestin p. 700. 728. who was not so mad as all along you would have the Christian world beleeve hee was as to hold that Gods wils and decrees were
own will therefore he did ab aeterno decree to permit it for otherwise he could by confirming grace have hindered and prevented the committing of it as well in all Angels as in some as well in Adam as in Angels and that without any violence offered to their nature at all Gen. 20. 5. Gen. 31. 7. 1 Cor. 10. 13. neither can there be given any cause out of God himselfe and the counsell of his owne will leading and inducing him rather to permit then hinder it He did decree to permit it in order to his own glory which is the supreme end and therefore by him absolutely willed because the being thereof by his unsearchable wisdome and power was ordinable thereunto He may out of that common and equall masse wherein he did decree to permit it decree in some in whom he did permit it to pardon it and on them to shew free mercy in others to punish it and in them to shew due and deserved justice the one having nothing to boast of because the grace which saves them was Gods the other nothing to complaine of because the sinne which ruines them is their owne He may by this huge discrimination of persons who were in their lump and mass equall and in themselves indiscriminated shew the absolute soveraignty which he hath over them as the Potter over his clay He may by his most sweet and yet most powerfull efficacie work the graces of faith repentance new obedience and perseverance in the wils and hearts of those on whom he will shew mercy giving them efficaciously both to will and to doe of his own good pleasure and leave others to their own pride and stubburnness his grace being his own to do what he will withall And I say once againe in all this there is neither modest nor immodest blasphemy 1. Gods glory is dearer to him then all the things in the world besides are or can be 2. Every attribute of God is infinitely and absolutely glorious and the glory of every one of them infinitely deare unto him 3. Whatever is infinitely and absolutely glorious in God he may by an absolute will and purpose decree to shew forth the glory thereof in his works without fetching an antecedent Reason ab extra from without himselfe leading and inducing him to make such a decree 4. The subject on which God is absolutely pleased to manifest the glory of his mercy and justice as to mankinde is massa perdita 5. Out of this mass of lost or lapsed mankinde he hath ex mero beneplacito chosen some unto glory and salvation for the manifestation of his free and undeserved mercy and passed by others leaving them under deserved wrath for the manifestation of his justice 6. That such and such particular persons out of the same equally corrupted mass are chosen and others are rejected belongeth unto the deep and hidden counsell of God whose judgements are unsearchable and his waies past finding out to whose soveraignty it appertaineth to forme out of the same lump one vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour to shew mercy on whom hee will shew mercy and to pass by whom he will pass by 7. God doth so absolutely will and decree ab aeterno the manifestation of the glory of his attributes in his works as that withall he purposeth that the temporary execution of those eternall and absolute decrees shall finally be in materia apta disposita for such a manifestation 8. All those intermediate dispositions between the decree and the execution thereof whereby the subject is fitted for such manifestation of Gods glory if they be gracious they are by Gods eternall will decreed to be wrought and accordingly are in time effectually wrought by himselfe and his grace in and with the will of the creature If they be evill and sinfull they are in his eternall purpose permitted to bee wrought and are in time actually wrought by the deficient and corrupt will of the creature and being so wrought are powerfully ordered by the wise and holy will of the Creator to his glory 1. So then God did ab aeterno most absolutely wil and decree his owne glory as the supreme end of all consulting therein the counsell of his owne will and not the wils of any of his creatures 2. In order unto that supreme end he did freely elect some Angels and some lapsed men unto blessednesse for he might do with his own gifts what hee would himselfe 3. In order to the same supreme end he did leave some Angels and some lapsed men to themselves to their own mutability and corruption not being a debtor unto any of them 4. But he did not ordaine any creature to absolute damnation but to damniaton for sin into which they fal as they themselves know by their own wils whereof they are themselves the alone causes and authors Gods work about sinne being only a willing permission and a wise powerfull and holy Gubernation but no actuall efficiency unto the formall being and obliquity thereof I am sorry I am led on by mine own thoughts thus farre into your proper work But here I stop I was glad to see two Orthodox and sound Axioms stand before the book of your Author as the basis of his superstructure Two men of quite different judgements in these very arguments I finde to have done so Prosper cont Collat. c. 14. before The one Cassianus the Collator of whom Prosper hath these words Catholicarum tibi aurium judicia conciliare voluisti quibus de praemissae professionis fronte securis facile sequentia irreperent si prima Liv. decad 3. lib. 8. placuissent Which words of his bring into my mind a saying of the Historian fraus fidem in parvis sibi praestruit Ang de grat Chrâ—sti cap. 39. ut cum operae pretium sit cum magna mercede fallat and the censure of Austin upon Pelagius Gratiae Vid. Savilii praefat ad lectorem Andr. Rivet Grotian discuss 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. 8. Sect. 11. Voss Hist Pelag lib. 1. cap. 26. vocabulo frangit invidiam offensionem declinat The other the famous Arch-Bishop Bradwardine whom learned and good men will honour notwithstanding the hard censure passed by Hugo Grotius upon him who premiseth two Hypotheses as the ground of that profound work of his de causa Dei I will have so faire and just an opinion of your Author as to beleeve that he did this in candor and integrity following therein rather the learned example of Bradwardin then if Prospers censure may be taken the artifice and cunning of Cassianus yet because this is a course which may by the credit of true principles draw the lesse cautelous and circumspect Readers to consent to deductions not naturally consequent upon them It is requisite as for writers as Pliny adviseth saepius respicere titulum so for Readers to follow the Apostles counsell to prove all things and hold fast that which is
good I observe in your author much credit given to a paper published under the name of Bp Andrewes If controversies were to borrow their credit from the names of men you could easily oppose the great Bp of Hippo and a cloud of many other learned men unto that great name But I know not whether the ipse dixit of an Anonymous publisher bee attestation enough to prove the authenticalnesse of that paper Dr Sanderson a learned writer who once drew the divers opinions touching these controversies into Tables speaketh of Dr Overals judgement but maketh no mention of this And the two Prelates unto whom the publication of his opuscula was by speciall order referred do not give any accompt of this paper to the world but that which seems to induce the contrary they diligently satisfie the Reader cur haec non alia speaking of the things by them published sibi ad scribendum delegerit Therefore it is probable that either they owned not this as his or willingly suppressed it for something they did suppresse as they intimate in these words illud quidem nobis curae fuit ne quicquam prodiret cujus occasione sancti manes queri jure possent famae suae apud posteros male consultum à nobis esse Therefore till I come to have a better assurance of it then the testimony of the two letters F. G. and the company of Fur Praedestinatus I shall take the liberty of an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this particular I now conclude with answering your desire which was that upon reading your book I would give you my opinion of it I have read it so well as I could a Copy not in all places alike plainly transcribed And truly so far as my weakness is able to judge for the theological argumentative parts of it it is so solid and substantial as that I assure my self it will be very acceptable to many learned men very useful to the Church of God You have therein given a good account to the world that you did converse with that second Bradwardine Dr Twisse unto very good purpose I heartily with that there may be no further reciprocation of the law of contention between you but that truth may so prevaile as that you may become both one both in opinion and affection It will be a happy time with the Church of God when swords shall be beaten into plow-shares and spears into pruning hooks when the earth shall be so filled with the knowledge of the Lord as that all polemicall writing shall be out of date when the Lord shall be one and his name one and we shall all serve him with one shoulder Unto this let all our writings tend for this let all our prayers contend I commend your person and labours unto Gods blessing and remaine Your most loving Friend and fellow-Labourer Ed. Reynolds For the Reverend my very good friend Mr William Barlee Preacher of the word at Brockhole Reverend Sir I Return you many thanks that you were pleased to gratifie me with a sight of and liberty to peruse your elaborate correction of a Correct so called and Uncorrect Copy wherein to my apprehension you have done your selfe and the Truth it selfe much right 1. In your dextrous discoveries of the ambiguities wherein that sort of men doe use to hide themselves and their poisonous doctrine 2. In your solid rescuing the Augustinian and English Church from his interpolations 3. In battering his flourishing but weak Arguments borrowed from the Pelagian and Arminian Schools And lastly in a right stating of the Questions between you and your adversary which he altogether neglected or willingly mistated for his next undertaking which if he doe I beleeve he will discover himselfe far worse then yet he appears I perceive you are sometimes pleasant with him ridentem Convenit veritati ridere quia tuta est Tertul. dicere verum quid vetat and sometimes you are sharp enough but you could hardly otherwise doe the Truth and Grace of God right seeing nature and errour ready to insult and tyrannize over them And he hath little Grace or Truth whose heart rises not with indignation against the oppugners and opressors thereof Go on Sir to improve your Learning and Parts in vindication of those which alone can make you free You shall I verily perswade my self much honor God his Grace his Truth the true Church and your selfe Commending you and your labours to the blessing of the God of all Grace and Truth and wishing those your papers and paines good success upon the hearts of all those that love the Lord Jesus Christ and his free Grace I am Sir Your Brother and Fellow-laborer in the worke of the Lord Dan. Cawdrey Decemb. 8. 1655. Some generall observations upon the Vncorrect Copy SIR THE Authour of this Copy for the sight whereof I thank you as hee discovers himselfe to be a man of an insolent spirit slighting his adversaries under the notion of the halfe witted rabble of absolute praedestinarians so he seems to be some Novitius in these controversies being either grosly ignorant of the answers given long since to his Arguments or scornfully negligent to take any notice of them The mischiefe which these notions may do upon weake and unstable judgements justly cals for your best endeavours to antidote and prevent it For as they say poison given in strongest wines is most deadly so is error tempered or administred by men of Parts and Wit whereof this author is supposed to have his portion Had he which I wish but as much grace he would not exercise his Parts of Nature against the free grace of God To speake to each particular is your undertaking I shall onely make some generall Animadversions and leave them to you to improve them to the best advantage of the truth 1. Hee takes no notice of the usuall distinction betwixt Gods decree and the execution of it but jumbles these both together It is granted that conditions goe before the execution but not the decree Chusing of good goes before salvation but not before the decree to salvation All conditions are means tending to an end and appointed for the sake of the end therefore the end is first intended and appointed so farre as they are meanes they have an efficacy in producing the end and so are causes of it Gods decree is actus ad intra ergo eternall ergo hath nothing going before it It is actus independens ergo without causes or conditions All those whom God chooseth to salvation he brings them to it by fit meanes as primarily by making them of an unwilling will to have a willing will and therefore willingly to chuse good and refuse the contrary Himselfe grants so much if he mean clearly and candidly when he saith that the power to chuse good is given us meerly of Gods grace But I doubt that here latet anguis in herba that by this power he means not any new created
habit or gracious quality which God infuseth into mans soule whereby the naturall motion of mans will is changed though the lâ—berty of it be not taken away but onely some externum auxilium by precepts promises threatnings c. whereby the naturall power that is in it to good is excited and stirred up His similitude of the bladders plainly intimate so much which can yield no help to a dead man but to one that hath a principle within to set them on worke 2. Hee takes no notice of that usuall distinction of voluntas decreti and voluntas praecepti For from that saying that God wils not the death of a sinner he concludes that God decrees not the death of a sinner nor the salvation of a beleever but conditionally for saith he Gods will and decree are both one whereas the will of his decree and the will of his praecept are really distinct for 1. The will of his decree cannot be resisted who hath resisted his will but the will of his command is daily resisted by wicked men 2. The will of his decree is eternall being actus ad intra but his commands are given forth in time one after another 3. The will of his decree is immutable being all one with himselfe the will of his command is mutable as in Abrahams case 4. The will of his decree is alwaies fulfilled he doth what soever he will the will of his command is seldome fulfilled by wicked men and not alwaies by good men 5. The will of his decree is within himselfe the will of his command is that which he puts forth from himselfe and therefore as much differing as the creature and the Creator 3. He takes no notice betwixt an absolute and a conditionall necessity or which is the same a causall and consequentiall necessity The first of these arising from the necessary connexion of causes and their effects the other from Gods decree Hence he infers that if God hath decreed a man should do good then he doth it not freely but forcedly against his will which is altogether false For Gods decree doth not infringe the liberty of the second causes but rather establish it 1. That it doth not infringe it appears 1. Because Christs death was decreed yet hee dyed voluntarily and freely otherwise it had not been meritorious 2. The Angels in Heaven obey freely and voluntarily yet is this decreed for they are called elect Angels 3. When the faithfull beleeve they doe it freely yet they are elected to doe this 2 Thes 2. 18. 4. If all our free actions and motions are not determined we shall exclude God from a great part of that his providence which he exerciseth in governing the world 2. The decrees of God d ee stablish the liberty of the creatures because he hath decreed not only rem ipsam which comes to passe but modum rei the manner of them Why doe some things come to passe necessarily but because God hath decreed they shall come to passe by necessary causes Why doe other things come to passe contingenuly but because he hath decreed they shall so come to passe by contingent causes and the certainty of his knowledge doth as much hinder the liberty of the creature as the certainety of his decree For as he cannot be frustrated in his purpose and decree so he cannot be deceived in his knowledge therefore what he knowes must necessarily come to passe by this consequentiall necessity yet none will say this takes away the liberty of the creature Had this Objector been pleased to take notice of these distinctions and throughly digested them he might easily have seen that they would have utterly enervated those his paralogismes which he cals demonstrations and holds forth with such confidence He grants afterwards that God foreknowes all things and that his certaine foreknowledge doth not hinder the liberty of mans will And upon the same ground he must grant it of his decree also for they are both actus ad intra of which the rule is that they do nihil ponere in objecto The decree of God being an act within himself whiles he puts it forth in some outward act tending to execution works nothing upon the creature Now let him shew if he can in what outward acts upon the creature tending to the execution of his decree he doth any way necessitate mans will For outwardly he works upon him onely by morall suasion and inwardly by infusing gracious habits which sweetly incline and dispose him freely to choose what is good in good actions In evill actions he works not inwardly at all by infusion of any ill quality or principles but onely by leaving him to the liberty and free motion of his wicked will which he is not bound to restraine and outwardly by propounding such outward objects as are in themselves good By which it is apparent that Gods decree doth not at all necessitate mans will Yet upon this false foundation that the will is necessitated by Gods decree he goes on usque ad nauseam to inferre most absurdly irrationally and contrary to all Logicall principles that if the end be certaine the meanes are needlesse If mans salvation be certainely determined then no need of faith and repentance obedience and the like then all praecepts threatnings c. are to no purpose Whereas he cannot be ignorant that media sunt propter finem and that finis intentionis est causa mediorum and media sunt causae executionis And whereas the Apostle useth this as an argument to make us carefull to be sober and to put on the breast plate of faith and love and the helmet of hope 1 Thes 5. 8. is parts of that spirituall armour whereby we must mainteâ—ne the spirituall combat because God hath not appoiâ—ted us unto wrath but to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ ver 9. He argues the quite contrary way that if we be appointed to salvation these things are needlesse And whereas the Apostle saith that we are chosen to alvation through the sanctification of the spirit and beliefe of the truth 2 Thes 2. 15. and so makes sanctification and faith as certeine and necessary as salvation it selfe we being chosen to both by one act of Gods decree which is both eternall and unchangeable he saith no if wee bee chosen to salvation by any unchangeable decree then neither sanctification nor faith are needfull and so severs the end and meanes which God hath inseparably joined together He might as well argue that because God had determined that Hezekiah should live fifteen yeares after his sicknesse therefore hee need no longer make any use either of food or physick yet this is his manner of arguing all along his discourse 4. His conditionall decree drawes after it these absurdities 1. He takes away all difference between election and reprobation betwixt love and hatred For by this Esau is loved as well as Jacob if he chuseth good and Jacob hated as well as Esau if hee chuseth evill
which I have elsewhere of my first papers given an account who yet will not serve your turne one whit as to the matters now in debate wherein it is most plaine hee is as deadly an enemy to you as any that you can have (Å¿) See his Epistle ad Johan a Bauchtim And then least of all will that which you quote out of Dr Twisse be any way subservient to you who by what you say out of him here doth neither contradict nor so much as seem to contradict what he delivers elsewhere for do not the words which you rehearse out of him relate to the decree not of preterition but of damnation not to the moulding and making of it in the intention but to the temporall execution of it and doth Dr Twisse any where else denie these latter to have been without the consideration of sinne and not rather for the consideration of sin (t) A thousand places out of his Latine and English books might be produced for this Let that remarkeable one serve p. 8. answer to Mr Hoard wherein consists this harshnes viz. of Gods decrees in intention depending meerely on Gods will Is it in this that nothing is the cause of Gods decree and will nothing temper the harshnesse of it unlesse a thing temporall as sin be made the cause of God's will which is eternal and even God himselfe But let us deale plainly and tell me in truth whether the harshnesle doth not consist in this that the meere pleasure of Gods will seems to be made the cause not of Gods decree onely but of damnation also as if God did damn men not for sinne but of his meer pleasure And this I confesse is wondrous harsh yet no more harsh then it is untrue though in this jugling world things are so carried by some who wil both shuffle and cut and deale themselves as if we made God of meer pleasure to damn men and not for sin which is a thing uâ—terly impossible damnation being such a notion as hath essentiall reference to sinne But if God damn no man but for sin decreed to damn no man but for sin what if the meer pleasure of God be cause of this decree what harshnesse is this either then you doe which I am sure is common enough with you abuse the admirers of Dr Twisse or else they admired what they understood not I suppose they may be of yeares to answer for themselves 2. In the next place you serve us in with a promise of a recantation in case the unhappinesse of your pen or the unsteadinesse of your braine hath let fall any thing contrary to the two principles just now laid downe O how well I should like you if you would but keep touch stare promissis that your recantation either Sermon or Epistle would be ready both ad clerum ad populum so soon as either my selfe or some you would like better of shall have proved that of ten parts of your booke nine at least must be revoked if you will allow nothing to stand in it that is contrary to the true scripturall catholike orthodox sense of your second principle laid down p 6. How quickly should we like brethren and neighbours shake hands rather then in a way of writing against each other be like Ishmael Gen. 16. 12. Amon it a faxit Deus that wee may agree and both in the principles you speake of p 6. 3. Your third is a franke offer to be restored in the spirit of meeknesse if you should be overtaken in a fault Gal. 6. 1. A gallant resolution if it were but seriouslie in you Errare possum Hareticus esse nolo was an excellent saying but trulie you have given small cause to your fellow brethren Presbyters in these parts to believe you to be in good earnest Did you ever impart your doctrinall scruples first of all to the most pious and learned of them before you vented them among to say no worse of them unwary and weake Gentlemen when you had made a promise as I am informed to some of your best friends in the Ministrie about us that you would in Pulpit at Lectures vent nothing but what was agreeable to their knowne tenents Did you keep your promises any better with them at Northampton or Daintrey then Jac. Arminius did his first at Amsterdam with the Consistory there or afterwards with the Curatores Academiae Leidensis (u) G. Van Roggen lib. Belgic praefat ad Syn. Dordracenam Are you ready to referre matters in debate betwixt us to the ministeriall decision of any ten of the gravest incumbents known antient staied protestant preaching Presbyters of our Country who have least been upon their tropicks in these tropicall times if so and that they will vote for your opinions against mine I 'll promise for ever hereafter as to all writing against you to become a Siliturnian nay to cry peccavi Pray De Siliturnis vide Fred. Wend. praefat ad Loc. Commun you let it be tried who is most ready to be reclaimed by the Spirit of meeknesse 4. You conclude your Section with excuses for your dissenting from your want of infallibility apprehension company of thousands of thousands your invincible ignorance c. Unto all which in few words 1. You know none of your brethren Ministers who doe maintaine that either conjunctim or divisim they be infallible they leave that to the papall Church unto which you approach much nearer when p. 10. of your first papers you cry up Cassander so highly for moderation and are not ashamed to cry up Hoffmisterus for a choice Protestant who was a knowne Papist (x) Vide A. Rivet Dialys cont discurs H. Grotii yet they may infalliblie tell you that it hath been a proud and malapert error in you to slight their judgements piety and learning so much as you have done who every where disswade whom you can from comming into their combinations and yet without arrogance they think they may tell you you might from some of them have learned to have mended your positive polemical and practick Divinity too had you not scorned to have been more conversant with them 2. Your apprehension is well known not to be stupid but your malice to be very great against those you like not and that occasions but too much your stupefaction none you know is so blinde as those who will not see (y) Periit omne judicium cum res transit in affectum 3. The thousands of thousands you speake of of your side is feared to bee no other then the croud of carnall Idiots mentioned lately out of Castalio or those thousands of thousands who either wittinglie or unwittinglie suffer themselves to be befool'd by the polite and politicke sons of the Devill the Jesuites and their followers or indeed the Devill and his angels who truly make a great but not a creditable company from all whom good Lord deliver me and you As for
blasphemers as you call them p. 23. Quis talia fando temperet à lacrymis 3. That they seldome enter upon the treating of these high arguments of reprobation desertion c. punishing of sinne with sinne or the like but with some profession of amazement at the height of these mysteries (i) Twisse lib. 2. prae 2. crim 4. edit 40. p. 341. Locum hunc de permissione cujus executionem sibi proponit Arminius fateor quod res est non semel à me tentatum gravibus subinde difficultatibus obsitum circum septum expertus sum adeo ut ad extremum vix ac ne vix quidem mihi per omnia satisfecerim c. Vide Calvin lib. 3. cap. 23 sect 5. and some fearfulness of their being enforced to expresse themselves in the language they cannot but doe 4. That when the wiser sort of them such as Calvin and Twisse in their expressions rise highest they seldome rise higher if so high as all sorts of parties have done when they have spoken to these arguments Witnesse Austin (k) August in lib. de predistinatione gratia c. 16. Si humanum genus quod creatum primitus constat ex nihilo non cum debita mortis peccati origine nasceretur tamen ex eâ—s creator omnipotens in aeternum nonnullos damnare vellet interitum quis omnipotenti creatori diceret quare fecisti sic qui enim cum non essent esse donarat quo sine non essent habuit potestatem c. the Pontificians (l) Similia citantur ex scholasticis Greg. Armin. in 1 sent dist 1. dub 1 Deum non injustum futurum si pro arbitrio absque peccati interventu B. Virginem addiceret aeternis suppliciis Gab. Bâ—el in eadem distin Si justus aliquis sic immeritò esset condemnatus gratias Deo ageret quod esset objectum divinae justitiae Pet. Alliacens in 1. 4 12. artic 3. fol. 185. nullam injustitiam crudelitatem esse etiamsi aliquam creaturam Deus aeternitate puniret vel affligeret sine ullo peccato Occam in 4. 9 3. ad dub 2. Deum post opera dilectionis posse non dare vitam aeternam sine injuria Holcum de imput peccati ad 2. priuc artic 1. ad 12. Deum sicut posset infigere poenam sine merito poenae si vellet it a pâ—sse punire peccatum poena majore quam sibi condigna whether Jesuits (m) Medina in 1 2. 9. â—9 a. 2. confitetur Ocham Gabriel affirmare quod Deus in rigore in proprietate locutionis est causa peccati An expression I am sure you shall not finde in any Calvinist of note unlesse perchance in a book which the Assembly of Divines judged worthy of the fire unto which the Parliament did condemn it whom you would be ready enough to call a rabble of halfe witted Praedestinarians p. 10. first papers Catechismus Triden in explicat primi articuli symbol Bellarm. cap. 13. lib. 2. de peccato Deus dicitur per quendam tropum imperare atque excitare ad malum praesidet ipsis voluntatibus malis easque regit gubernat torquet flectit or Dominicans (n) Alvares disp sect 7. Deus aeterno suo decreto atque absoluta efficaci voluntate praedeterminavit omnes actus nostros â—n particuâ—ari ante corum praevisionem independenter ab omni scientiae media liberae creatâ—onis futurae ex Hypothesi Haec est sententia Thomae omnium Thomistarum Scoti Vegae sanctorum patrum De utrisque Jesuitis vâ—z Dominicanis notentur illa quae habet D. D. Twisse lib. 2. p. 1. crim 3. sect 1. p. 52. Negari non potest Aquinatem jamolim docuisse ipsum actum peccatiesse â Deo Idem docent hodiè Jesuitae ex quibus quam facile quaeso fuit viris istis indoctis quales erant Libertini colligere Deum auctorem fuisse omnium scelerum quae ab hominibus perpetrantur Addunt Dominicani Deum determinare voluntatem creaturae ad omne actumm suum etiam ad actum peccati Nunquam tam formaliter diserte sententiam suam expressisse hactenus reperti sunt Calviniani the very Batavian Remonstrants Belike Dr Twisse may not doe what every body else of all parties may doe 5. It is easie to be discerned why in these your last and in this respect your worst papers you have not perchance altered your minde but I am sure most odiouslie and enviouslie you have altered your method In your first you began with Election and so with an affirmation in these you begin with matters belonging to reprobation and damnation and so with a negation before you assert any thing A way most unscripturall Rom. 9. 11 18. unscholasticall and illogicall a course taken up by none but by a company of wrangling sophisters who strive not for truth but for victory not so much for the credit of their own opinions as for the discrediting the opinions of their Antagonists It is easie to discerne throughout all your papers you are as fell and fierce upon this way and that for the very same reasons as ever the Batavian Remonstrants were in the Synod of Dort who rather then not to begin at the wrong end and not to reserve unto themselves a liberty perpetually to nibble at Calvin's Beza's and other reformers expressions shamefully deserted their owne cause and were hisâ—ed out of the Synod together (o) See Synod Dodracâ—n à Session 25. ad 63. inclusive like will to like you be birds of a feather 6. Whosoever they be that shall denie to use such expressions and interpretations or their like in sense as Calvin and Twisse have done they must as we shall see in the progresse 1. Denie most plaine and palpable scriptures 2. They must exclude God from the rectory of by farre the major part of the actions which are acted in the world they must turne him as wee shall see p. 14. into a meer speculator and denie his soveraignty and working providence Qui tollit providentiam tollit Deum And thus have I done with the first thing propounded I proceed to the second viz. To the wiping off of the aspersion of blasphemy from Mr Calvin and Dr Twisse good Lord what kinde of men when compared with this upstart Mr T. P. their faire names endeavoured to be dawbed on by the foule fingers of our Gentleman in the margent And now trulie having spoken so much to this in the first thing proposed I might wholly decline this second taske but that I greatly feare that few of your admirers who are flattered by you and for it flatter you againe either can or will so much as looke into the severall Sections in Calvin or Twisse unto which you direct them They like enough will take all upon your publique faith and from the shell of their words represented by you conclude without more adoe that the kernell of
whom your reaâ—l adversary Mr Calvin with much gallant theologicall animosity made up himselfe in severall books for maintaining as they did sinne to consist in a meer negation not as indeed it doth in a privation and so to have neither as is impossible an efficient but not so much as a deficient cause the deficâ—ent wicked will of man did offer to maintaine God to bee the Author of sinne but that Sir N. N. was the doer of all you fling your last killing stones at him from the authorities of Christians of Jewes and Gentiles Oh triumphant Mr T. P. the mighty conquerour But not to detract any thing from your valiant atchievements against your phantasticke adversary give a poor suppliant leave to aske so great a conquerour 1. What reason you had to expresse so much reverence to the Augustan Confession when as one of the chiefe compilers of it Ph. Melancthon of whom you and your partie use to boast much when you have small reason for it as we shall see when we come to your p. 29. acknowledged the imperfection of it (x) See Contra Remonstrantia secunda Lugduni Batavorum 1617. p. 20. c. Et denuo multa huc refâ—rentia lectu dignissiâ—a ad modum rara quae hic iâ—serta fuissent ni marginis angustia prohibuisset a. p. 69. ad 71. All the Latter Lutherans and you with them have reason to follow thaâ— good counsell which Reverend Bp Morton gives them Sentent D. Morton de pace Evangelica eos ebaâ—xè â—râ— precorque inquit ille primum ut in hac causâ â—n gratiam redire vâ—lint cum suo Luthero qui prout decuit filium gratiae gratiam Dâ—â— omnimodo gratuitam esse semper arcte tenâ—bat accuratéque dâ—fendebat Dâ—inde ne patiantur se ab ipsis Papistis etiam Jesuitâ—cae sectae doctoribus primarii Bellarmino Toleto Suaâ—zio Salme rono Maldonatâ— in gratiae dâ—vinae patrocinio propugnatione superari à quibus doctrina dâ— praedestinatione ex praevisione fidei aut opeâ—uÌ„ tanquam purus putus Pelâ— gianismus explosa est postâ—emò non ultima prudentiae laus est ex hoste utilitatem capere Prodiit duobus abhinc annis Liber Guil. de Gibiensse Ordinis Oratorii Presb. doct Sorbâ—nici hodierno Papae Vrbano dicatus in quo inseruntur verba Clementis octavi de aux iliu gratiae Summa est â—otam cam doctrinam ad noâ—mam doctâ—inae sancti Augustini de gratiâ astringi debere eundem Augustinum ducem agnoscendum esse atque sequendum when as not only the foure Imperiall Cities of Argentorat Constance Memming and Lindow but the Protestant party in the Kingdome of Bohemia Moravia the Marquesdome of Baden the Earledome of Emden and East Friezland did doe the like and did declare their minde in the Controversall points to bee just the same with that of the Contra-Remonstrants in Belgia with whom did joine the Churches of the principalitie of Bipont the Lantgrave of Hassia of the Republique of Bremen and of the Electorate of Brandeburg and especiallie the Churches under Fredericus Pius who in the publike Imperiall Diet held at Augusta in the yeare 1566. did declare that he did indeed continue in the faith of the Augustane confession but as a fuller and exacter explanation of it did add the Catechisme of Heidelberg 3. When as the Protestant Churches of Palatinate in the Newstad Admonition p 18. did complaine that it was plaine by the Historie of the Augustane Confession and by many of Luther and Melancthon's Epistles that there were many Articles which should have been expressed in that confession but were omitted because they were accounted odious by some and might have cast in some impediment to the whole businesse of Religion amongst which yet verily there bee some concerning which it were necessary to have the Churches Declaration as viz. of Providence of Freewill of the Politique Domination of Bishops with the causes of Divine election c. And from thence it is evident that the perfection of the Augustane Confession was not so great as some Divines tooke it to be and that therefore the Church would be ill provided for if shee were alone to depend upon it as the sole Rule of all Ecclesiasticall Doctrine 4. Though your very good friends whom yet disingenuously enough p. 4. you have no minde to owne the Low-Country Remonstrants when they were picking out of that Confession as much for themselves as possibly they could gather yet poor men they bring in but this sorrie crop as making for them that the Augustane Confession did not forsooth in this matter teach the Contra-Remonstrants opinion (y) Remonstr secunda Lug. Bat. p 17. Quae viz Augustaâ—a Confessio in hac materiâ Contra RemonstraÌ„tium confessiâ—nem non docer And sure enough it is that it taught not the Remonstrants 5. That wheÌ„ as your selfe in your first papers p. 9 10. upon another occasion had commended the Ratisbone Synod and the Augustane Confession and yet as I have there largely shewed are forced to recede from them both See my first Answer p. 4. But as Mr Hoard Mr Mason (z) See Dr Twisse against them p. 87. and give reverend Bp Dâ—venant in his Animadversions p. 61. leave gravely to read you a Caâ—oâ—icall checke for this If you embrace the Lutherans opinion and bring within the compasse of the Pâ—aedestâ—nary Pestilence the Doctrine of praedestination which they disallow you maniâ—estly brand the Church of England with this note of infamy and might as well charge us with the Sacramentary Pâ—stilence for denying their faigned Consubstantiation as with the praedâ—stinary pestâ—lence for denying theiâ— conditionall praedestination upâ—n foresight of mens beliefe in Christ and all of the English Arminian faction before you had against all good Conscience and Reason asserted much like the same with you that the 39 Articles of the English Church have the greatest regard and conformity to that Confession which is so untrue as that blessed be God the Articles of our Church fill up the vacuities of that Confession in the matters complained of by the Palatines and were drawne up as saith Bp Carleton against Mont. (a) Exâ—minat of appeale ch 2. à principio by men adhering in those matters more to the principles of the first Lutherans then to the principles of the latter So you in a speciall manner out of love to the Masse of Ceremonies left in the Lutheran Churches and alas as you cry out now with much adoe cast out of our Mother English Church thought it reasonable out of love to that Ceremonious litter rather then out of any reall compliance with the doctrines of the first and best Lutheran Reformers to expresse your reverentiall consent to the Augustane Confession 2. As for the greater reverence which I am sure you owe and here expresse to beare to our owne 39. Articles of the Protestant Reformed Church of England I were easily able to prove it were it
God 1. We were never so wicked as to attempt that we praise God we need not doe it who know him to be holinesse it selfe holy harmless separate from sinne and sinners Heb. 7. 26. Jer. 12. 1. Hab. 1. 13. even when he willingly permits them Only we are forced often to stop such wranglers mouths as yours are here when they be wide open against truth which they do not or will not understand 2. If you will needs have it so now we excuse God no otherwise by the distinction you so scornfully jeer at then Jac. Armin himselfe your great Master had taught Dr Twisse as may be seen in that very place (x) Textus Arminii citatus â—à D. Twisse sect 13. Tertia distinctio qua Deus dicitur velle peccatum non qua peccatum est sed qua est medium illustrandae gloriae ipsiuâ— c. Caeterum ut istam distinctionem rectè usurpemus ut aliquis sanè aliquis est usus dicendum est Deum permittere peccatum non qua tale sed ea de causa quia novit potest illud facere medium Imo potiùs uti tanquam medio ad gloriam suam illustrandam Ita ut peccati ratio qua tale objiciatur permissioni Dei causante interim permissionem ipsam tum consideratione quod istud peccatum medium esse potest gloriae divinae illustrandae tum ordinatione ut peccatum permissum medium sit reipsa illustrandae gloriae ejusdem for the repeating of which you so fiercely oppose him I say notwithstanding those salt stinging jeeres and the hast you pretend to be in to gain some refreshment from your next 18. Section You will find one day that it would have been much better that leaving your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Homer you had orderlie put your bridle upon your horse and with it rid upon a slow pace ad Garamantas usque Indos then thus to play the Lucian and elsewhere the Carpocratian p. 42. against Heaven lest which God avert you with Achiâ—ophel one day saddle your Asse and speed no better then he did If you judge me now as once you did Epist 2. upon a slight occasion to be in a high phrensie you must pardon me Your rage against Heaven hath put me out of all patience with you Severum medicum intemperans aeger facit And now it is fallen to my turne at least to endeavour to be your Physitian who have been long a physicking of me to no purpose §. 18. from p. 24 to 32. AND now we are come to this Section I am glad I shall have some refreshment as well as your self p. 24. Eja age tripudiemus Arcum non semper tendit Apollo You have gladded me much by what you have told me you aimed at in the drawing up of this Catalogue p. 16. sect 13. what p. 17. sect 14. you tell me they must say for you viz. as to the first That God is not the author of sinne let that same wicked Sir N. N. errant villaine as he is looke to that As to the second That God is not the efficient cause of eternall punishment most of them will be testes muti as to that and those who speake any thing speake the quite contrary way as Basil p. 26. Chrysost ibid. Damascen p. 27. Oh how much more propitious is this list to me then that of your 7. Section p. 10 11. But lest you should vapour among your associates that I bring in a nihil dicit to what they seem to speake for Gods aequall love to all mankind Christs as aequally diffusive Redemption your much beloved Helena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in one of your Epistles you doe still so valiantlie appeare for I must say something 1. To the Praeface prefixed to the second Catalogue or Jurie if you will impannelled for your selfe as your first was p. 10 11. drawne up in terrorem Calvinistarum 2. Something in generall and but in generall I have to say to the Authors you would have to bring in verdict for you For the first I hope before I have done with you if there bee any front left in you to blush to make you change colour for abusing of Austins almost sacred name as if he had any thing to say on your side who doth so perfectlie appeare against you every where Yet if hee and all the Greeke and Latine Fathers to boot before Pelagius or upon Pelagius his first appearing to the world in a meer Ethnick garbe (y) Vid. Cornel. Jansen Augustinum tom 1. l. 5. c. 1. p. 130. Hunc statum haeresis ista in ipsis suis habuit incunabulis quando primò à Pelagio proferri praedicari caepit Tuncâ—n puram putamque naturam sicut à Deo conditur ex utero matris prodit nullo externo sive scientiae sive potentiae praesidio sed solo liberae voluntatis arbitrio naturali illa possibilitate ad omnia omnino quae ad bonam beatamque vitam magna facilitate consequendam pertinent abundè sufficere docuerint as a denier of all Grace and a meer champion of Nature should seem some way to plead for you when as a diminutive grace mainteined by them was enough to overthrow the first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wherein Pelagianisme appeared it would bee very little for your credit onely thus farre to concurre with the former Fatheâ—s or St Austin himselfe and then afterwards to leave Austin when the necessitie of the cause against Pelagius drew him out to a more ample declaration and vindication of grace This will at least argue which yet you denie p. 4. that you stick in Massilianisme that you are willing to begin but not to end with St Austin 2. You here and every where confounding the decree of Reprobation negative with that of positive condemnation I know not one either of the antient or moderne orthodoxe Writers who will not readilie yield That God did not absolutely decree the reprobation positive of any creature but upon praescience and supposition of wilfull rebellion and impenitence You must still be allowed to skirmish with your implacable enemie Sir N. N. You have small reason to be over-confident of your great Collector Vossius 1. For that before the Synod of Dort he was knowne meerly to be of the Arminian party for which too he was put by his Regency of the Belgick Colledge in Leyden and therefore is at best but testis ex sinâ— 2. For that he was not over-stedfast in his faith who upon all occasions of turnings discovered much levitie and by facing about recovered some kinde of station among the orthodoxe at Leyden as Historiarum professor there 3. He may well be suspected not to deale so candidly in other matters as were to be wished when as he is not afraid against the credit of all the orthodoxe to ranke Faustus Rheginensis and Lucidus the Pelagian who were the known Leaders of Pelagians and Semipelagians (z) See Dr Twisse against Mr
not to be wise at all times nemo sapit omnibus horis So neither are the wildest alwaies out they have their dilucida intervalla est olitor aliquando opportuna loquutus In the odnesse of the looke and meane of your booke to phrasifie a little with you you are all for the conditionality of Gods decrees and staringly against all absolutenesse but here all upon a sodaine in this your saying you are as much for an absolute decree as any of your Calvinisticall Adversaries would have you You belike are one of the modern Polititians you doe loqui cum vulgo but sentire cum sapientibus If so Sir let wise men have more of your meaning and fools more of your gaping But if yet you doe not understand how fairely by this grant you have broken the back of your finically fine Corrected Copy learn it from Doctor Twisse for once whom you have so often wrested and abused who though hee never thought of you when he wrote it yet now speaks very pertinently to you thus (g) Dr Twisse against Mr Hoard p. 49. I would not have any think that I reject any of those ancient Fathers that seem to bee most opposite to Austins opinion in the point of praedestination I think they may be fairely and scholastically reconciled without acknowledging of so much difference betwixt them as Vossias maketh and thaâ— by such an interpretation as sometimes is admitted by Vossius himselfe of his owne phrase of his owne distinction though hee dreams not of the applicable nature of the same to the will of God in praedestination (h) Hist Pelag. lib. 7. His distinction is of voluntas Dei antecedens consequens and this he makes aequivalent to that other distinction of the will of God absolute and conditionall Now this conditionall will of God he interprets not quoad actum volentis but quoad res volitas Like as Dr Jackson professeth in expresse termes that the former distinction of voluntas antecedens consequens is to be interpreted namely quoad res volitas and not quoad actum volentis Now according to this construction there is no difference between them and Austin nor the least impediment to the making of the will of God both in praedestination and reprobation to be most absolute For though sinne be acknowledged to be the cause of the will of God in reprobation quoad res volitas in respect of the punishment willed thereby this hinders not the absolutenesse of reprobation quoad actum reprobantis And unlesse we understand the Fathers thus we must necessarily charge them with such an opinion whereof Aquinas (i) Aquinas affirmat nem nem esse tam insanae mentis ut diceret merita esse causas praedestinationis ex parte actus praedestinantis lib. 1. q. 23. a. 5. is bold to profess that never any man was so mad as to affirme to wit That any merits should bee the cause of praedestination quoad actum praedestinantis And why so because praedestination is the act of Gods will and there can be no cause of Gods will quoad actum volentis Now who seeth not that by the same reason there can be no cause of divine reprobation quoad actum reprobantis for even reprobation is the act of Gods will as well as praedestination and every way it must be as mad a thing to devise a cause of reprobation quod actum reprobantis Thus farre that learned Dr all which if it be true quite overthrowes your book and if not pray confute it and your own grant too 4. As for the grand sophisms and numerous mistakes they be especially these relating to this Chapter as to what for arguments sake must be reduced to it out of others 1. Wee have a parcell of wild consequences so extremely remote from the premises as if at the same time you had sent a bill of divorce to Calvinisme p. 24 and 48. You had with it also manumitted all naturall and artificiall Logick ex gr p. 33. God hath a true will which is usually called voluntas signi a commanding threatning promising wil ergo That is all the will he hath he hath no other above it or besides it for no body mainteins he hath any contrary to it 2. Upon the perpetuall confusion of election and salvation as if they were one and the same throughout Chapter 3. and 5. Salvation is actually bestowed upon none viz. of yeares for other wise it is false but upon faith and repentance and perseverance in it p. 69. None were elected to them but upon foresight of them they be the conditions of election as well as of salvation 3. Upon a like mistake that there is the same reason for the making of Gods decree that there is in the intended execution thereof p. 39. (k) The falshood whereof Doctor Ames Rescrip scholast ad N. Grevinch cap. 5. and Doctor Twiss also have confuted by many instances In his answer to Mr Hoard p. â—89 The decree of shewing mercy in pardoning of sin doth no more preâ—uppose sinne then the decree of shewing the power of balm in curing a green wound doth presuppose the wound or the decree of shewing the power of a cordiall against poison doth presuppose the poisoning of a mans body or the decree of advancing a subject by way of reward doth presuppose his service or the decree of a patron to preferre his son to a benefice doth presuppose his fitnesse for it or the decree of Solomon to bring Shimei his gray haires to the grave in blood did presuppose the offence for which this was brought to passe but rather from these decrees and intentions each author in his kind proceedeth to bring to passe every thing that is required to the accomplishment of the end which he intends c. You conclude with a sure but not surely that which is the reason of their condemnation was the condition upon which they were determined to be damned If you dispute concerning the cause of Gods internall will quoad actum volentis as you must or else you pinch no body with it but Sir N. N. 4. Promises of rewards threatnings of punishment some covenants evangelicall are proposed and published with conditions p. 33. A blessing if yee obey and a curse if yee obey not c. ergo God takes up his eternall decrees concerning events and persons upon the same conditions And in this latter way of arguing you do so please your selfe as your brother Arminian Mr Hoard had done before you as that from p. 33. to 36. you make 4. or 5. Arguments of one and that a very lame and inconsequent one as if the punishments rewards promises threats exhortations c. would afford you different mediums for different arguments Just as we might conceive that that Herauld who by command of his Master in opposition to the long catalogue of Kingdomes enumerated in the title of the King of Spaine cryed out The King of France the King
God that of his comparative and absolute wil p. 51 52. of his inviting revenging wil of God of his mercy of his justice ibid. you shal not apply them to the mould and making of Gods decrees as they are in themselves but to the execution of them in time which you ought to yield to who have unwarily I wish but cordially confessed that in Gods will simply there is neither prius nor posterius p. 51. And then as to all what you have Sect. 40 41. excepting alwaies that which you put into a parenthesis p. 53. about the dependency or independency of Gods will which we must ever mainteine to be independent wee shall bee marvellous like to accord with you Article 4. You shall for the future next to the holy blessed unerring book of God in the Quinque-Articularian Controversy and what depends upon it study the best and most choice orthodox authors such as of old hath been Austin Prosper Fulgentius Hilary Historia Gottes c. and of late that you may know that we are not so Presbyterian as in every thing to crosse the Episcopall humour Matthew Hutton Archiepiscop Eborac Jacob. Armachanus Rob. Abbot Satisburiens Jos Exon. John Dav. Sarisburiens Georg. Cicistrens and a number more Article 5. You shall not for after times with Tilenus be such an Antizelote as hee was in his Paraenesis ad Scotoâ— disciplinae Genevensis zelotas to Presbyterian discipline as out of hatred to it to abhor all the doctrines which are delivered by the men of that way and order and so in opposition to them turne Arminian and Thompsonian and then yet call your selfe in despite of all the orthodox Fathers and Articles of the Church of England a very orthodox Protestant of the Church of England p. 4. For indeed now if you have such tricks with you you will not only deserve to be disciplined as somewhere Hieron professeth of himselfe that he was by the Lady M. in a vision Quod potius Ciceronianus quà m Christianus esset and as you might bee for your Boethian rather then Christian Philosophy But you will give cause to your Mother the Church of England to looke upon you as a son that causeth shame to desire your room rather then your company and to tell you that at Rome as appeares by the Bull of Innocent the tenth you and your doctrines shall be more welcome then they can be to England whiles the Articles of the Church are in any credit with the sons of the Church 3. As to the third thing promised viz. the clearing of the passage quoted p. 50. out of Mr Calvins 4. Section of the 23. chap. of the 3. book of Institutions hee shall not need to be reverenced any thing the lesse or suspected any thing the more for what he saith there if that may be but considered what hath been said often in his behalfe already upon occasion of such like passages in answer to p 9 10. But you lessen your own reverence and give reason enough to Protestants for to the marking you atro carbone with the black coale of their censures for your so frequent branding of Calvin whose spots whereover they doe appear in his writings were but like those of Cyprians Naevi in candido pectore whereas yours doe but appear to be like those which are not the spots of Gods children Deut. 32. 5. you doe but in your censures resemble him in the Poet too much who did passe by the Crowes and shoot at the Pigeons 〈…〉 Praeteriens Corvos vexat Censura Columbas But what must Mr Calvin bee suspected for for mainteining that God did praedestinate Adam and in him all men to the cause of their damnation sinne But first that which is in the objection which was made against Calvins Doctrine which he had delivered in his former third Chapter is it also in Calvins Resolution Doth hee consent to the whole of that objection (k) Doth hee not deny it with a non protinus sequitur Deum huic obirectationi sub jacere Doth he joine his fateor I confesse to the all of it as it lies or doth he onely say which unanimously enough School-men (l) Caâ—thus in 4. q. 1. dist 46. Causa naturae proprietatum â—jus est divina voluntas vel eligentis vel reprobantâ—s ideo totus ordo jâ—stâ—tiae orâ—ginaliter ad divâ—nam voluntatem reduciâ—ur dist 41. Dâ—â—o quoâ— Deus ordâ—navit A. ad essectum praedestinationis non B c. had said before him that Gods will was the only prime soveraigne cause why Adam and in him all men were at first left to their owne free sinfull wils from falling into which God might have preserved them if hee had been so pleased as well as he did uphold Adam any one hour before his fall or doth the Angels unto this day 2. You misrerresent Calvin most shamefully contrary to his clear Doctrine in the foregoing Section (m) What Ruiz de voâ— dâ—sp 39. S. 3. saies Aliqâ—i modi in voluntate non reducuntur in Deum tanquam in coâ—sâ—m prasâ—rtim quando culpabilis est nodus se habendi vid. disp 6. n. 12. when as you would have him teach that God doth as much praedestinate men to the misety of sinne as to the misery of punishment which followed upon it that very thing which he had confuted Section 3. just before the objection which you would have him in the whole to consent to 3. You fear not or be not ashamed to add to his answer when you say that by the expresse will of God c. The word expresse is an expresse forgery fingis non leg is you foist it in but read it not in Calvins text and it so sounds as if by an expresse warrant or approbation from Gods will Adam had fallen into sinne whereas Calvins decidisse filios Adam Dei voluntate signifies in him at the utmost but an efficacious permissive will which differs much from his will of approbation or his effective will as we have heard long since 4. You will take no notice either of what Calvin disputes against the Sorbonists who were for Gods absolute power and will devoid of all reason known to himselfe (n) lib. 3. c. 23. s 2. Commentum non ingâ—rimus absolutae potentiae quod sicut profanum est it a meritò detestabile nobis esse dâ—bet Non singimus Deum exlegem qui sibi ipsi lex est c. Section 2. nor of what he doth in this very fourth Section as well as Section 2. before and Section 4. immediately behind produce for Gods unaccountablenesse for any of his decrees or doings to any of the children of men And yet these Reasons to the Apostle to Austin and others as Calvin shewes you before and behinde the place which you quote out of him were judged very weightie But about these and other such Cavils of yours against Calvin I hope ere long you will bee soundlie
reject your haeresy as it did that of Pelagianisme and then it would be done effectually You would bee soundly rated for Courting that Mistresse and in the mean while lying and committing spirituall fornication with that more beloved Hand-maid Dame Nature After you would be shent Can. 7. An Haeretico falleris spiritu An Resistis ipsi spiritui sancto Nay the Anathema of the 4. Canon Concil Milev Can. 4. c. And then 2. As to Massilianisme which once your great Oracle Jacob. Arminius (z) Art 10. with some grains of allowance would have questioned whether it were not to be looked upon as verus Christianismus true Christianity none shall have any the least shadow of reason to doubt of that who either can or will but compare what you have in your fifth Chapter about conditionall election (a) Massilianisme or Semipelagianisme may as well be denied by you as that your nose stands in your face unlesse you will blot out most of all your fifth Chapter There 1. to you Election is founded upon praescience p. 69. 71. So the Mâ—ssilians Psosp Epist ad August Qui credituri sunt quivè in eaâ—fide quae deinceps per Dei gratiam sit juvanda mansuri sunt praescisse ante mundi constitutionem Deum eos praedestinasse in regnum suum quos gratis vocatos dignos suturos electione de hac vitae bono fine esse excessuros praeviderit 2. Faith in Christ which you make the difference between the elect and reprobate and a difference you say there must be before there can be an election So they as Austin himselfe did when he held their errour August Epist ad Hilar. Non potest in rebus omnino aequalib electio nominari quoniam sp sanctus non datur nisi credentib 3. Election to you is a retribution p. 70. reprobation a punishment passim cap. 3. So they Prosp resp ad dub Genuens ut ipsa electorum praedestinatio non sit nisi retributio 4. The number of the elect or reprobate is not to you fixed nor determinate if it bee conditionall how can that be But you say most expressely in your first papers p. 4. That God praedestinated Israel both to salvation and reprobation God does write and blot and write againe p. 8. So they Prosp ad August Nec acquiescunt praedestinatorum electorum numerum nec augeri posse nec minui Sic Hilar. Arelat ad August 5. According to you none can be certaine of election till he have beleeved obeied and persevered in both p. 69. So they Jansen l 8 de Pelag. haeres Ab electione sola ad bona opera nemo secundum illos de quibus loquitur nemo potest simpliciter electus aut praedestinatus esse vel dici hoc enim nemini competit nisi postquaÌ„ non soluÌ„ sanctus esse bene vivere sed etiam in eadem sanctâ—tate ac bona actione permansurus esse praescitur 6. Add to this your doctrine about universall grace and free will p. 64. 71. wherein you and they are one Prosp ad August universis hominib aiunt propitiationem quae est in sacramento sanguinis Christi esse propositam ut qâ—icuâ—que ad fidem ad baptismum accedere voluerint salvi esse possint August lib. de gra contr Petag Habere nos possibilitatem utriusque partis à Deo insitam velut quandam radicem fructiseram soecundam quae possit ad proprii culâ—oris arbitrium vel niâ—ere flore virtutum vel sentibus horrere vitiorum p 69. and other matters with the marginall parallels which I have drawn up in short and may have occasion as to Pelagianisme and Semi-Pelagiaâ—isme to draw out more at large some other time The third thing proposed hath been proved already in the second for whosoever proves you a Pelagian or Massilian proves you either no Christian or but a piece of one and as good never a whit as never the better But that you may know how kinde hearted I am to you after all the many course salutes which I have had from you I will add somewhat to what already in these and much more to what I have had in answer to your first papers towards the probatum est that in words you doe indeed say over your second principle p. 55. but that it is impossible that it should be consistent with the rest of your tenents for which in this book and in these very last Chapters of it you doe appeare like another pugnacious Bellarmine Anagrammaticè spirans Bella Arma minas Take these few Arguments as a supra-pondium or auctarium to what hath been brought in alreadie Argument 1. He defends not the speciall evangelicall grace of Jesus Christ of which Christ said you have not chosen me but I have chosen you John 15. 16. who mainteins his good workes to be a necessary condition we shall finde that to be tantamount when wee come to it if leisure wil serve to speak to it to a necessary cause of our election But that doth Mr. T. P. indeed and in ipsis terminis p. 69. Ergò quod est causa cansae est causa causati If Mr T. P. his good works be a necessary cause or say but a necessary condition of his election it must much more be so of his vocation justification adoption c. For as Bishop Carleton learnedly proves it 's possible that a prior grace may in some sort and sense be said to be the cause of a posterior as ex gr election of vocation vocation of justification and Sanctification c. but that a posterior grace should be the cause or a necessary condition of a prior is most absurd and impossible (b) See B. Carleton at large exam of the Author of the appeale p. 52 53 54. c. where these words are most remarkable To hold the contrary to this is for love to hold with Pelagius to say something wherein they forsake understanding reason Divinity and Philosophy speak non-sense For that I call non-sense that is against Divinity Philosophy and common sense as this is which maketh a subsequeÌ„t gtace to be the cause of a precedent grace to set the effect before the cause If then faith and good works and perseverance in them be before election it selfe the very first grace and fountaine of all grace Rom. 8. 30. Eph. 1. 4. then of necessitie mans free will and good works must be before all true Christian speciall grace according to you Arg. 2. That grace which for kinde and species is but the same with the grace which was given to the first Adam from whence he fell totally and finally that is none of the speciall grace procured and purchased by Jesus Christ. But such is the grace which Mr T. P. doth most â—ouragiouslie stand up for p. 95. Sect. 52. which as Jansenius doth most learnedlie out of Austin dispute did only afford unto Adam adjutorium sine quo non without which
it had been impossible for Adam to have stood at all but did not afford him Adjutorium quo by which he was enabled certainely to stand Ergo. Arg. 3. That grace which doth not absolutelie give us to will and doe according to Gods will and pleasure but only upon condition of our willing and doing and that in the very first act of our regeneration and conversion that is not the speciall grace of Jesus Christ Phil. 2. 12 13. But no other grace doth Mr T. P. stand up for either before regeneration as may be seen and read of all men in the application of his illustrious simile taken from the opening of the eye-lid as a necessary condition for the intromitting of light p. 63. A thing which as Austin hath well cleared is most necessary even sanis oculis to those who see best and unto whom not a faculty of seeing is given but externall light nor after regeneration as is plaine Sect. 45. p. 57 58. by what he disputes there and what is not greatly as he might have known disputed betwixt him and his adversaries who denie not but that after the first grace received and after the habits of grace infixed and impacted into the will that doth voluntarily act being acted But T. P. mainteins the will to be not only the materiall cause or rather the subject in which and upon which as not a blockish and brute instrument as he represents it but upon a rationall intelligent subject grace workes (c) Bernard de lib. arb gra opus hoc sine duobus perfici non potest uno a quo sit altero in quo sit Deus est Author salutis liberum arbitrium tantum capax De hoc primo actu intelligendum est quod Augustinus dicit Deum ut velimus in nobis sine nobis operari Idem quod Thomas in primo actu voluntatis qui procedit à gratia praeveniente voluntatem esse motam non moventem or the formall cause which doth elicite the acts of willing believing doing for questionlesse we will when we will we beleeve when we believe and God doth not will believe repent (d) August de gra lib. arb c. 16. Certum est nos velle cum volumus sed ille facit ut velimus bonum c. Certum est nos facere cum faciamus sed ille facit ut faciamus praebendo vires efficacissimas voluntati vid. de bon persev cap. 13. but he doth as hath been seen often and in his never to be forgotten simile p. 63. make the will as very an efficient cause of its own willing as the faculty of seeing is of the eie-lids opening ergo T. P. defends not the speciall grace of Christ Arg. 4. He that mainteines no other grace then what is conveied by a generall covenant founded oâ—â—y upon conditionall promises he doth not mainteine the speciall grace of Jesus Christ Jer. 31. 33. Heb. 10. 16. But that doth Mr T. P. p. 36. 71. Ergo. Arg. 5. Hee that so interprets those scriptures which speake of Gods most efficacious omnipotent wonder-working grace as to allow grace not a supernaturall reall efficacious worke but only a forinsecall morall suasive worke he say he what he will to the contrary shuts Christs speciall grace out of doors and makes it stand in the cold lackying upon mans will Pelagian like e But that doth Mr T. P. by his glosses d August de gra cont Peag Celest l. 1. cap. 7 Adjuvat nos Deus per doctrinam revelationem suam dum cordis nostri oculos aperit dum nobis ne praesentib occupemur futura demonstrat dum Diaboli pandit insidias dum multâ—formi ineffabili dono gratiae coelestis illuminat Nay doth Mr T. P. allow so much as Pelagius doth who c. 38. ibid. hath these words Nâ—s qui per Christi gratiam in meliorem hominem renati sumus qui sanguine ejus expiati mundati upon Phil. 2. 12 13. Sect 45. and upon Ezek. 26 27. Cant. 1. 14. 1 John 3. 9. Sect. 47. p. 60. c. Ergo. Arg. 6. And last He that mainteins Christ himself to jeer at sinners p. 37. c. alibi and every where jeers at Christs faithfull servants for mainteining with Christ and his Apostles John 15. 2. Rom. 8. 7. 1 Cor. 2. 14. men to be so impotent since their fall as that they cannot come to Christ unlesse Christ and the Father draw them by their speciall all conquering power of grace not communicated unto all John 6. 44 But this doth Mr T. P. p. 37. and in this Chapter from Sect. 44. p. 56. almost to the end of it Ergo I trust I may upon the whole matter something more theologically and logically conclude with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then Mr T. P. that though in aemulation to Dr Jackson (f) Of divine Attri praef the very oracle and Arminius revived to all English Arminians you did think it most conducing to the credit of your interest to maintein God to be the speciall author of all grace and goodnesse p. 5. yet you will never be able without contradicting most of your whole book to defend it If the three faire lines and a halfe set downe p. 55. or the foure and a halfe set down p. 6. must stand uncrossed you must provide a deleatur and an Index expurgatorius for many five hundred lines of good English but bad Theology in your book 4. As to the fourth thing promised touching your ordering of Gods decrees proposed by you p. 56. 1. The Father loves the Sonne c. I list not much in these high points to contend with any man about meer matters of order (g) D. Riv. disp de praedest thes 12. Certè inter eos qui credunt praedestinationis causam referendam esse ad summam voluntatis divinae libertatem non ad prae visa bona vel mala in hominibus controversia in re nulla est etsi in loquendi modo videantur dissentire if all other matters were but right especially in an age and Church which after many vows and Covenants for good order and discipline seems to have adjured both good order and all Ecclesiasticall discipline but yet I must needs confesse I think not yours though it be verbatim a Saint Andrean order to bee either soundly 1. Theologicall 2. Rightly rationall 3. Or so passable as that of Arminius himselfe 1. It is Atheologicall without any necessity to multiply decrees in God who is purus putus actus and in whose will simply as you say very truly p. 51. there cannot be either prius or posterius first or second Frustra fit per plura quod fieri potest per pauciora The orthodox do much better who for their own ease distinguish one entire decree of praedestination into that about the end and that about the meanes according not to the diversity of Gods acts as according to the great