congruous ends being his justice as Aquinas acknowledgeth Christ was willing and earnest to gather Jerusalem under his wings and no marvell hee was bound to doe all hee could as the Minister of Circumcision to save his brethren for hee was made under the Law and was bound to love not onely his brethren but his enemies also as well as wee are bound to shew the like love to all But to inferre here-hence that therefore it was the will of God to have healed and saved that part of Jerusalem that would not is a liberty which affection to a cause may take but no reason doth justifie it Like as our Saviour in his ministery so the Prophets in theirs desired to doe as much good as they could to all but here-hence it followeth not that it was the will of God to convert all whom the Prophets desired to convert And as our Saviour by his teares so the Prophets by their teares did manifest their desire to bring them to repentance to doe the uttermost of their power to bring them hereunto but will you inferre here-hence that God also did desire to bring them to repentance As for the phrase of carrying thoughts of peace towards them that is generall and therefore ambiguous and to what specialty you doe referre it I know not Yet according to the Scripture sense thereof it is nothing correspondent to your opinion For Gods thoughts of peace in Scripture phrase towards his people consist not onely in affording meanes but in making them effectuall also to the procuring of such a gracious disposition in his people as to make them fit for the mercies which God hath resolved to conferre upon them as Jer. 29. 10. But thus saith the Lord That after seventy years be accomplished at Babel I will visit you and performe my good promise towards you and cause you to returne to this place Verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I have thought towards you saith the Lord even the thoughts of peace and not of trouble to give you an end and your hope Verse 12. Then shall yee cry unto mee and yee shall goe and pray unto me and I will heare you Ver. 13. And yee shall seek me and find me because yee shall seek me with all your heart Ver. 14. And I will be found of you saith the Lord and I will turne your captivity And as for the former phrase in saying It was the will of God to have healed them In proportion to the place now alledged out of Jeremy it may be granted that God would have healed them to wit in case they would have converted unto God with all their heart and with all their soule as our Saviour signifies Joh. 12. 40. and that out of Esay 6. and like as God himselfe expresly professeth Deut. 4. 29. If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soule But is it thinke you in any unregenerate mans power to seek God with all their heart and with all their soule I thinke this is no more in the power of a man unregenerate than it is in his power to love the Lord his God with all his heart and with all his soule Now this is expresly attributed to the circumcision of the heart wrought by God Deut. 30. 6. When you adde that the will of God is the world of unbeleevers shall not be shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves through unbeleefe This assertion of yours is such as no man that I know denyes And it is as true of the Elect as of the Reprobate namely that they should be utterly shut out of Christ if they should shut out themselves by small unbeleefe for undoubtedly the word of God is true that saith Whosoever beleeveth shall be saved whosoever beleeveth not shall be damned But lest we should seeme to be pleased with our owne errors let us speake distinctly and keep our selves from confusion To be shut out of Christ is to be shut off from some benefit that is to be obtained by Christ Now if wee speake of the benefit of forgivenesse of sinnes and of salvation the truth is plaine and distinct that no man is bereaved of salvation and forgiveness of sinnes by Christ but through unbeleefe and whosoever beleeveth not is excluded from pardon and salvation by Christ But is there no other benefit wee obtaine by Christ besides forgivenesse of sinnes and salvation What thinke you of the gift of faith and repentance are not those spirituall blessings which wee obtaine in Christ and for Christs sake Ephes 1. 3. If it be so I pray consider Is it handsome to say that none is shut off from the gift of faith but through unbeleefe Certainly unbeleefe is no tolerable cause why God should deny them the gift of faith seeing all are in anbeleefe till God bestowes upon them the gift of faith neither can it be expected a man should beleeve till God gives him the gift of faith if so be faith be indeed the gift of God and not the work of mans free-will without any gift of God As for your discourse though it tends to a conclusion which rightly understood no man denyes in one sense nor will any wise man affirme in another sense I thinke fit to consider that also The Spirit you say convinceth the world of sinne because they beleeved not in Christ but the Spirit of God moveth to nothing but what hee knoweth to be according to the will of God Let all this be granted yet nothing followeth here-hence but that it was the will of God that the world should be convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ which no intelligent man will deny But yet by your leave it is no good consequence to inferre here-hence that therefore it is the will of God that the world of unbeleevers shall not be shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves by unbeleefe Therefore we grant both the antecedent and the consequent yet by the way as touching that which you affirme that God sent his Spirit to convince the world of sinne because they beleeve not in Christ this is a truth wee confesse but perhaps wee may be to seeke of the right accommodation hereof for where is the world convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ or to whom I grant to all beleevers the world of unbeleevers is by the Spirit of God convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ but are they convinced hereof to themselves and in their owne consciences I grant this also as often as it pleaseth God to convert them by the power of his Spirit then they are convicted of the sinfull nature of their owne unbeleefe Yet be it granted that an unbeleever continuing in unbeleefe may be and is sometimes convicted of the sinfull nature of his unbeleefe because the Apostle saith of an heretique that hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet
rewarding him according to his deserts in conformity to that of the Apostle Therefore hath God exalted him But neither this advancement of his is the end of his humiliation nor either of these the end of his assumption into an hypostaticall union with the Sonne of God Nor his hypostaticall union with the second person in Trinity the end of any of these and therfore they are to be accompted rather co-ordinate then subordinate in the intention of God 2. Now I come to examine how this doubt is cleered Here we have first a rule then the accomodation of this rule Touching the rule I acknowledge it and I adde something to the cleering of it Granting that there is no order in Gods decrees but such as is grounded upon this that God purposeth one thing for another This one thing and another are only the end and the means between which we say in the intention of God there is onely prioritas rationis priority of reason which in my judgement is well expounded thus when ratio unius petitur à ratione alterius the reason of the one is taken from the reason of the other as ratio mediorum petitur à ratione sinis the reason of the means is taken from the reason of the end And therefore we say The end is first in intention and then the meanes As for the accomodation of the rule it seems to me to be nothing at all to the purpose for the doubt proposed was not how it might appeare that there was any thought of the glorifying of God before the presupposall of Adams fall and of Christs humiliation We willingly acknowledge the glory of God was thought on before them all both before the incarnation advancement of the man Christ mans fall and Christs humiliation I say before them all prioritate rationis by priority of reason for undoubtedly both the incarnation of the Son of God That is the hypostaticall union of Christs manhood to the second person in the Trinitie and the advancement of the man Christ was to the glory of God as the end thereof as well as ought else And this glory of God hath been specified at least in part And as for the glorifying of himself in Christ this still denotes the glory of God as the end though it addes withall the matter wherein it shines to wit the man Christ And to prevent the errour of equivocation that usually lurkes under generalls This glorifying of God in Christ consists either in severall or in common with the glorifying of himself in man also to wit in the elect considered in severall I confesse there is a double glory of God manifested in Christ The one is the glory of his pure grace in conferring the greatest good and honour that the creature is capable of as namely in the hypostaticall union of the manhood of Christ to the second person in the Trinitie Secondly the glory of Gods remunerative justice in the highest degree possible both in respect of the reward the greatest that possibly could be deserved for that hypostaticall union could not be deserved and that is the glorisication of the humane nature of Christ both in respect of his glory absolute and of his glory relative as by whom salvation is procured to others as also in respect of the desert the greatest I thinke that possibly could be to wit the humiliation of the Sonne of God to the death of the crosse in way of obedience to his Fathers will There is also a glory of God that appeares in Christ not in severall as a sole meanes thereof but in common with other meanes joyntly concurring thereunto and that is the glory of God in the way of mercie mixt with justice in saving sinners for the obedience of Christ The glory of God in all these severall wayes was in the first place intended by God before ought else prioritate rationis in prioritie of reason and afterwards the congruous meanes to these severall ends as the ends them selves did bespeake were intended by him for ratio mediorū petitur à ratione sinis the reason of the meanes is taken from the reason of the end But all this is nothing to shew that the incarnation of the second person or advancement of the man Christ should be before the consideration of mans fall or Christs humiliation Yet let us examine that which followeth delivered by way of proof of that which no man that I know makes question of Because Christ was ordained before the world was therefore before the consideration either of Creation or Fall For in scripture phrase when God is said to doe one thing before another he meaneth before the existence or being of it in his consideration as an inducement leading him unto it as well as before the existence of it by nature As when God is said to have loved Jacob rather then Esau before they had done either good or evill Rom. 9. 11. He meaneth before they had done it in his consideration as a cause or condition leading him to love or hatred as well as in actuall performance in their owne persons I pray consider why was Christ ordained and to what end before the world was Was he not ordained to be incarnate in the womb of the Virgin and to be a Lambe for a burnt offering to make satisfaction for sins And was it possible that this ordination could have course without consideration of the creation and fall And though this be confessed yet will it not here hence follow that the decree of creation and permission of mans fall was before the decree of the incarnation of the Sonne of God which alone as I conceive casteth some mens inventions upon the platforme of a new course And consequently it will not follow that in this case the consideration of creation and fall should precede as motives to God to send his Sonne For first I say the considerations hereof are not all precedent but conjunct and concomitant like as are the decrees Secondly if they did precede yet should they not precede as motives Good or evill workes are fit motives I confesse of election and reprobation if it were possible their considerations could precede the one or the other But creation and fall are no fit motives of ordaining Christ for they were found in Angels as well as in men though the consideration of them could precede this ordination 2. Election is as expresly said to be before the foundation of the world as the ordination of Christ And was not reprobation in opposition to election in the same moment of time and nature also Doth not election connotate reprobation But it will be said that this phrase before the world signifies not any measure of duration when that worke was done but a negation of any consideration had of the creation or fall This seems a very strange construction therefore it deserves to be discussed 3. Before Abraham was I am would you interpret it thus Before the
many wholesome afflictions yea sent his holy Spirit among them And all this in the first place not to harden no not carnall Israel nor to leave them without excuse but to purge them to humble them and to prove them and to doe them good in the latter end And when these ends were not attained hee complaines hee had used these meanes in vaine which plainly argueth his first and chiefest intent was to heale and not to harden In fulnesse of time God sent his Sonne into the world not to condemne it or any thing in it but that the world might bee saved through him implying that even that part of the world which is condemned for refusing of Christ it was not Gods chiese intent to send Christ to procure their condemnation but their salvation rather If they should plead their condemnation to bee unjust for unbeleese because they were not able to beleeve Ver. 18. our Saviour answers by a reasonable prevention Ver. 19. This is their condemnation viz. the just cause of their condemnation that when light came into the world men loved darknesse rather then light men chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the meanes of grace which might have brought them on forward to beleeve in Christ Again when Christ lived here in the world and was the Minister of Circumcision and so might speake and doe some thing as man yet as man he went not to doe his owne will but the will of his Father who sent him and yet how willing and earnest was hee to gather Jerusalem under his wings even his wings in which lay healing and salvation A signe it was the will of God to have healed and saved that part of Jerusalem which would not And when our Saviour with tears tells Jerusalem Oh that thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that doe belong unto thy peace doth hee not intimate that God had even to that day carried thoughts of peace unto them and accordingly to send them meanes of peace even those that should never from that day forward enjoy the like means of peace Finally God sent his Spirit into the world to convince it of sin because they beleeved not in Christ Which argueth that the Spirit did not onely perswade them to beleeve in Christ but did convince them also that it was their sin that they did not attaine to beleeve on him Now the Spirit of God moveth to nothing but what hee knoweth to bee according to the will of God And therefore the Spirit beares witnesse the will of God is the world of unbeleevers shall not bee shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves through unbeleefe Still you proceed to prove that which no man denyes namely that God purposed life to the world upon condition of obedience and repentance provided that you understand it aright namely that obedience and repentance is ordained of God as a condition of life not of Gods purpose Otherwise it were a very wild expression to say that God ordained that obedience and repentance should be the condition of Gods ordination Or that God purposed that obedience and repentance should be the condition of Gods purpose Yet by the way I desire to know whether you exclude faith If you doe what ground have you to prove that God ever purposed that any of Adams posterity coming to ripenesse of age should be saved upon the condition of obedience and repentance without faith Last of all on the other side it is as undoubtedly true that God ordained that whosoever coming to ripe yeares should not beleeve and repent should be damned the very elect not excepted Not that any such conditionate decrees are agreeable unto God but upon such decrees as were absolute in God such Propositions as these are naturally inferred Whosoever beleeveth and repenteth shall be saved Whosoever beleeveth not and repenteth not shall be damned One thing I had almost forgotten In the former Section you spake of a Purpose of God to save the world upon condition of obedience or repentance in a disjunctive manner now you are come off from that and turne your former disjunctive into a copulative saying that God purposed to save the world upon condition of their obedience and repentance This argueth that you are not well grounded in your owne opinion Howsoever your third reason is drawn from the end which God aimed at in offering meanes of salvation to the world which is not say you in the first place to harden or leave them without excuse but to bring them to the knowledge of God and of themselves to repentance to the seeking after God to the purging of themselves from sinne and to peace I am content first to consider what you say secondly how you prove who ever said that God offered meanes of salvation to any to this end that hee might harden them Meanes of grace were never that I know of called meanes of obduration Hardening followeth hereupon by accident but meanes of grace harden not But when meanes of grace are offered the corruption of mans heart uncorrected by the spirit of regeneration is apt to suggest carnall considerations such as are apt to make a man obstinately stand out against them The motion that Israel made to Sihon to passe through his Country hardened him not but the feare of inconveniencies and dangers more than enough upon the passage of so great an Army through his Country in all likelihood was it that hardened him and God is said to harden him in not correcting that feare but moving him according to that projecting disposition wherein hee found him And mark how Cajetan commenteth upon these words Utramque hominis partem spiritum cor hoc est superiorem inferiorem malè dispositum à Deo intellige negative penes dona gratuita positivè autem quoad judicum inclinationem prosecutionem boni sensibilis It à quod Deus spiritum regis durum hoc est non cedentem petitionibus reddidit non dando ci gratiam acquiescends cooperanda cidem ad affectum securitatis boni proprii When Moses came to Pharaoh to require him in the name of the Lord to let Israel goe this was not that that hardened him but his owne pride superstition and covetousnesse Neither did Gods judgements harden him for it is divers times signified that when hee found himselfe eased then hee hardned his heart and in other places in the way of an adversative when 't is said that yet Pharaoh hardened his heart and the like This also doth remove the cause of hardening his heart from Gods judgements yet notwithstanding it cannot bee denyed but that when God offers the meanes of grace to many hee doth it with a purpose to harden their hearts if so be hee entertaines any such purpose at all as your selfe grants hee doth for Gods purposes are eternall and immutable As for your qualification
then is the meaning of the Lord saying I have smitten your children in vaine they have received no correction I answer we are to conceive Gods corrections to tend to this according to that of Peter knowing that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation or God speakes this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of earthly parents seeking their childrens amendment by correction but not obtaining it And this being an end of correction in Gods children in the wicked this end is not obtained And what difference is there between meanes naturall and meanes morall but this meanes naturall have power to effect their ends meanes morall are to admonish morall agents of their duty to doe this or that and so the ends of Gods punishment is that by them wee should learne to amend our lives as is signified in the Collects of our Church In a word naturall means tend to ends that shall be thereupon morall means tend to ends that should be and each are usually said to be in vaine when the end according to each kind is not obtained God sent his Sonne into the world not that hee should condemne the world but that the world should be saved by him Most true for hee sent his Son into the world to dye for the world and to dye for them is to save them and not to condemne them But for whom did hee send his Sonne into the world to dye Surely for the world of Elect even for those whom God the Father had given him Thou hast given him power over all flesh that hee should give eternall life to all them that thou hast given him Joh. 17. 2. And if wee consider the world in distinction from those whom God hath given him hee plainly professeth that as hee did not pray for them Joh. 17. 9. so hee did not sanctifie himselfe for them Verse 19. that is offer himselfe up upon the Crosse as Maldonate acknowledgeth to be the joynt interpretation of all the Fathers whom hee had read And your selfe have but earst confessed that God did not Joh. 3. 17. give the world unto Christ by him of grace to be bought or brought unto salvation Undoubtedly hee sent not Christ into the world at all to procure any mans condemnation neither doth Christ procure any mans condemnation although infidelity and disobedience to the word of Christ procures the condemnation of many And I wonder what moved you so to speake as to imply it was Gods intent though not chiefe intent to send Christ into the world to procure the condemnation of any At length wee are come to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the point controverted between us in the words following If they should plead their condemnation to be unjust for unbeleefe because they were not able to beleeve Ver. 18. our Saviour answers by a reasonable prevention ver 19. This is their condemnation viz. the just cause of their condemnation that when light came into the world men loved darknesse rather than light men chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the means of grace which might have brought them on to beleeve in Christ First let us consider the Text it selfe then your interpretation and accommodation thereof Our Saviour doth plainly derive the cause of their unbeleefe or disapprobation of the Gospel signified in these words They loved darknesse rather than light I say the cause of this our Saviour referres to their workes of darknesse expressed in these words Because their deeds were evill The full meaning whereof I take to be this The workes wherein they delight are evill that is workes of darknesse and therefore no marvell if they hate the light and preferre darknesse before it Pulchra Lavernae Da mihi fallere da justum sanctumque videri Noctem peccatis fraudibus objice nubem But give mee leave to make an honest motion As it becomes us to take notice of this cause mentioned here so it becomes us nothing lesse to take notice of other causes mentioned in other places Now another cause of unbeleefe is mentioned Joh. 5. 44. and that of the same generall nature with this but expressed in more speciall manner by our Saviour thus How can yee beleeve which receive honour one of another and seeke not the honour that cometh from God onely Yet this is not all the cause of unbeleefe which the Scripture commends unto us for the Apostle also takes notice of Sathans illusions in this worke of unbeleefe 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost Whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded c. And because it is in the power of God to correct this delight wee take in evill workes and to deliver us from the illusions of Sathan if it please him to shew such mercy towards us and when he doth not he is said to harden us The hand of God in this our Saviour takes notice of as the cause of unbeleefe in man Joh. 12. 39 40. Therefore they could not beleeve because Esaias saith againe Hee hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart and be converted and I should heale them Like as Moses of old told the Jewes saying Deut. 29. 2 3. Yee have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and unto all his land The great temptations which thine eyes have seen the signes and those great miracles Ver. 4. Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day And this hee doth even then when his purpose was to reprove them for their naturall incorrigiblenesse for men sinne never the lesse obstinately because God denyes them grace but rather so much the more obstinately because as Austin well saith Libertas sine gratia non est libertas sed contumacia and consequently they are never a whit the lesse faulty though it be not in their power to correct that corruption of their hearts whence this faultinesse proceeds And hereupon the Apostle gives way to the same objection in effect which you propose for having concluded that God hath mercy on whom hee will and whom hee will hee hardeneth hee gives place to such an objection Thou wilt say then Why doth hee yet complaine for who hath resisted his will and answers it not as our Saviour doth for our Saviour proposed no such objection to be answered as you feigne the Apostle doth plainly and in expresse termes Our Saviour discovers the immediate cause of unbeleefe to wit because their hearts were set on evill as it was sometimes with the Colossians Col. 1. 21. yet because it was not in their power to change their hearts but God alone who will change them through mercy in whom hee will and will not change them in others
but harden them Hereupon the Apostle gives way to an objection in a matter more sublime than yours as before mentioned and answers it in this manner O man who art thou that disputest with God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made mee thus Hath not the Potter power c. which is an answer to such a question as this Why doth God complaine of us for that which proceeds from the hardnesse of our hearts which God alone can cure but will not but rather by denying us mercy continues to harden us But now let us consider the interpretation and accommodation of this place to the plea devised by you The reason you say why men loved darknesse rather than light is because men chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the meanes of grace which might have brought them on to beleeve in Christ It is great pity that by our owne phrasiologies wee should raise unto our selves a mist whereby wee should be the more unable to discerne the truth of God Suppose the Paraphrase were both sound in it selfe and congruous to the Text yet give way I pray to such a question in the second place What was the reason that they chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the meanes of grace If you answer any thing but that of our Saviour Joh. 12. 39. Therefore they could not beleeve because Esaias saith againe Hee hath blinded their eyes and hardned their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them I will not cease to pursue you untill you come to this and withall put you to give a reason why you should not take hold of this answer of our Saviour Joh. 12. 39. as of that Joh. 3. 19. especially considering that if a question were moved Why some chose rather to follow the light of the meanes of grace than to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse I doubt not but you would forth with answer Because God had mercy on them and gave them hearts to know Christ and to beleeve in him 1 Joh. 5. 20. Phil. 1. 29. And seeing God doth not shew the like favour to others to shew them the like mercy which is in Scripture phrase to harden Rom. 9. 18. and Rom. 11. 7. or not to give hearts to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare Deut. 29. 4. why should wee not say plainly that whereas the one takes a right way it is because God shewes mercy towards them to give them so much grace and whereas the other takes not the right but the wrong way it is because God hardens them in denying the like mercy and grace to them like as our Saviour expresly signifieth also Joh. 8. 47. Hee that is of God heareth Gods words yee therefore heare them not because yee are not of God But if any man shall inquire What then moved our Saviour to give this reason why men loved darknesse rather than light to wit this because their deeds were evill I answer hee gives the immediate cause why they loved not the light that is they had no mind to heare the doctrine of our Saviour and that was in respect of the convincing nature of it and therein like unto light which makes every thing to appeare and be manifest according to its proper hiew whereas in darknesse all things are confounded according to that Ephes 5. 13. Now they who brought ill consciences along with them no marvell if they were quickly weary of our Saviours company A pregnant example whereof wee have Joh. 8. 7. For when our Saviour said unto them who brought unto him a woman taken in adultery Let him that is among you without sinne cast the first stone at her Ver. 9. When they heard this being accused by their owne conscience they went out one by one beginning at the eldest even to the last So that indeed the reason given by our Saviour Joh. 3. 19. is not so much a reason why they beleeved not as why they liked not to heare him Many did endure the hearing of him yet were not brought to beleeve in him Austin sometimes proposed such a question as this Why doe not men doe this or that As for example Why doe they not facere quod justum est and hee answers Quia nolunt But if you aske mee Quare nolunt Imus in longum saith Austin Yet sine prejudicio diligentioris inquisitionis hee takes upon him to answer it thus Vel quia latet vel quia non delectat But marke what hee brings in upon the back of this Sed ut innotescat quod latebat suave fiat quod minime delectabat gratia Dei est quae hominum adjuvat voluntates But the face of your discourse tends to this as if you were of opinion that every naturall man hath so sufficient grace as to choose to follow the light of the meanes of grace rather than to cleave to his sinfull estate and wayes of darknesse and that not onely if hee will for if hee will the greatest part of the worke is done already but that his will is indifferently of it self inclinable to the one as well as to the other which is so dangerous an opinion and so opposite to the doctrine of Gods word representing the miserable corruption of mans heart and the peculiar power of Gods regenerating grace that you are loath to breake out in plaine termes to professe as much Lastly whereas you say The light of the meanes of grace had it been followed might have brought them to beleeve in Christ You will not say upon the following hereof they had been brought but they might have beene brought to beleeve By following the light of the meanes of grace I understand a continuing to heare the word of God Now it is well knowne that many nay most in all probability though they continue all their dayes to be hearers yet as the Apostle speakes of some so may wee say of them They are ever learning and never come to the knowledge at least to any saving knowledge of the truth On the contrary Saul persecuting the Church of God even in the way marching furiously Jehu like against the Professors of the Gospel it pleased God to call him and convert him Wee know saith Austin that God hath converted the wills of men not onely aversas à verae side sed adversas verae sidei So that even opposition to grace God can cure if it please him and regenerate a man to bring him to faith and repentance if it please him and if hee doth not certainly the reasons can be no other then because hee will not and that to his owne glorious ends which is reason enough for the Creator to doe what hee will his wisedome in referring all to
salvation even after they are damned or else God is changed And if these be not blasphemies and foule ones too I know not what is blasphemy I know not what you meane by slighting the salvation of mankind but sure I am it is your own opinion that in case man slights the working out of his salvation God is so farre from willing his salvation that hee hath unretractably decreed his everlasting condemnation As for the salvation of mankind this being an indefinite speech wee are ready with your selfe to maintaine that God hath peremptorily decreed to wit the salvation of his Elect and it is not faire to make use of indefinite speeches the truth whereof is confessed on all hands by prejudice of an indefinite truth to draw your Readers to the embracing of your definite Tenet which is void of truth And can it be denyed by you that God from everlasting hath decreed the condemnation of them whose salvation you would not have us thinke he slighteth Our Saviours teares not onely argued in him a serious compassion as man but a serious desire also of their salvation and whom hee wept over out of that love hee owed unto them being made under the Law hee was bound to desire their salvation as wee are bound to desire the salvation of all those to whom we are sent though this desire on all hands ought to have course and that by the very Law of God with submission to his will But that it argued in him as God a will or desire to save them your modesty would not permit you to expresse although the face of your Tenet is as manifestly set towards this marke as ever our Saviours face was set towards Jerusalem As for the consideration of their peace which you attribute unto him were it extant it were impossible but as God hee should consider it were it to come to passe it were no lesse impossible but hee should purpose it and effect it but seeing it was never to come to passe hee could no otherwise consider it then as a thing possible but such as should never come to passe and it was equally impossible as the former that hee should not so consider it But I doe easily imagine what you meane though you are very loath to speake it out which to deale plainly with you is nothing faire save that I am verily perswaded it proceeds not out of any ill mind in you but partly out of feare by speaking plainly to give offence to good men and partly out of some conscientiousnesse of your inability to justifie it namely that Christ as God did consider it as a thing possible with a tender affection desiring it And indeed otherwise the word tender added to consideration attributed to God comes in very incongruously for in proper speech to consider a thing tenderly is to consider a thing passionately which is incident to man but not to God As for the other object which you make of Gods consideration namely the providing of means for their peace this is brought in too too unseasonably for the time thereof was at this time out of season as our Saviour himselfe signifieth when hee saith But now they are hid from thine eyes And were it never so seasonable yet were it little or nothing to the purpose for what outward meanes soever he affords them yet if hee afford them not the efficacious operation of his holy spirit it is a manifest document that his purpose is to glorifie himselfe in their everlasting condemnation rather than in their salvation But whereas hitherto you have but prevaricuted pleading for that which no man denyes namely that Gods purpose towards them is but in a disjunct manner either for salvation if they obey or for condemnation in case they disobey or onely in a conditionate manner willing life unto them and that upon such a condition as hee well knowes will never be performed by them all-along concealing your opinion and sparing to deale plainly in an open profession thereof Now at length you are come to broach it and that is not onely that God wills either their salvation or condemnation according as they shall be found to repent or not repent or that hee wills life unto them upon condition of their obedience and repentance giving hitherto not the least inckling of your meaning to be this that hee wills also and desires their obedience and repentance Now you take heart to open this mystery of your meaning also namely that there is in God an earnest and serious affection as concerning the conversion and salvation of the world which never are nor shall be saved Yet here also you give cause to complain that you walk not with a right foot sparing to expresse your meaning home for you apply it onely to the people of Israel which is an indefinite terme and may be applied to the Elect concerning whom there is no question of Gods earnest and serious affection concerning their salvation All are not Israel that are of Israel saith the Apostle So that Israel are Gods chosen in the Apostles phrase And there is an universitas electorum yea and mundus electorum too as the Author of the bookes De vocatione Gentium observeth Againe that which in the places alledged by you is applied to Israel onely you by your Tenet doe and must extend to all that are not elect to the very Turks and Saracens of these dayes though you have no such exclamations to serve your turne withall to prove Gods earnest and serious affection concerning their salvation though this be the most colourable Argument which you have to stand you in stead in this particular But why should a slight and colourable interpretation of holy Scripture cast you or any sober man upon such an opinion the absurdity whereof is evident by the light of nature For doth not God know full well that notwithstanding all the meanes which hee useth to bring them to obedience they will still continue in the hardnesse of their heart Doth hee not also know full well that hee could give them such a grace as should break the hardnesse of their heart and make them humble and obedient with upright hearts And withall hath hee not resolved to deny them this grace which he knew full well would prove effectuall to their conversion and to grant them only such a grace as hee knew would prove ineffectuall Now in this case let every sober Reader judge whether God hath any affection to all much lesse earnest unto their salvation and whether hee meaneth not rather to glorisie himselfe in their utter condemnation To pretermit here my former Arguments as namely That this serious and earnest affection concerning their salvation must still continue even after they are damned or else God is mutable And that if God doth earnestly desire their obedience and repentance that they might be saved in case they doe not obey and repent it followeth that God is not able to effect it But neverthelesse
is to neglect the meanes And consequently to use the meanes aright was to doe accordingly as they were informed And indeed if they had done otherwise then they did they had not done so bad as they did I finde such giddinesse of discourse usually amongst the Arminians while they satisfie themselves with phrases never examining particularly the matter and substance of their own expressions Because of the abuse of these talents and meanes of grace God therefore doth deny to the men of this world such powerfull and gracious helpes as hee vouchsafeth freely to the Elect to draw them on effectually to repentance and salvation The Gentiles abusing the light of nature God gave them up to vile affections yea even to a reprobate minde The Pharisees because they employed the talent of their wealth unfaithfully God would not trust them with the true riches The Jews because they rejected Christ and his Word and his Messengers with scornfull and bitter malignity and brought forth grapes of gall and wormwood therefore God took his Word from them and hid from them the things that did belong unto their peace hee took the kingdome of God from them and gave them as a prey to sinne and misery and derision Psal 81. 11 12. What if none of the world as opposed to the Elect ever came to Christ or made such use of the means and helpes offered in him unto them as to obtaine salvation and regenerating grace by him yet might they have made better use of the means then they did which because they did not it was just with God to deny them greater means who thus abused the lesser In all this wee have as pure Arminianisme tendred unto us as could drop from the pen of Arminius himselfe or Corvinus Yet God forbid wee should co nomine for that cause dislike it It truth wee must embrace it though it come out of the mouth of the Devill If falshood wee shall by Gods grace disclaim it though it proceed out of the mouth of Angels of light and not disclaim it onely but disprove it also You may as well say that God doth not draw the men of this world effectually to Repentance because they doe abuse the talents and means of grace but this I disprove thus First if this bee the cause why God doth not draw them to repentance then this is the cause why hee sheweth not to them that mercy which hee doth to the Elect but this is not the cause thereof which I prove thus The meer pleasure of God is the cause therefore that is not The antecedent thus God shews mercy on whom hee will and hardens that is denies mercy to whom hee will If to harden were not to deny mercy it could not stand in opposition to shewing mercy The consequence I demonstrate thus If to deny mercy to whom hee will doth not inferre that mercy is not denyed according unto works then to shew mercy to whom hee will doth not inferre that mercy is not shewed according unto works Secondly if mens evil works were the cause why God denies them mercy then it could not bee said that God denies mercy because it is the pleasure of his will to deny it For if a reason bee demanded why a malefactor is hanged it were very absurd to answer that the reason is because it was the pleasure of the Magistrate to have him hanged Thirdly if evill works bee the deserving cause why Gods mercy is denyed unto men then either by necessity of nature or by constitution of God Not by necessity of nature in opposition to the constitution of God for then by necessity of nature God must bee compelled to deny mercy unto such what then shall become of Gods Elect unlesse you will say that their workes before mercy shewed them were not so bad as others which were equally to contradict both experience and the Word of God For in this case men should have mercy shewed on them according to their works to wit as they were found lesse evill then the works of others Nor by constitution of God For first shew mee any such constitution that men in such a condition of evill works shall bee denyed mercy Secondly by the same constitution mercy should bee denyed to the Elect also When you speak of the Gentiles in this case abusing the light of Nature and given over to vile affections you take your aime miserably amisse For the Gentiles are not the men of the world in opposition to the Elect. But God forbid that the Gentiles and the men of the world should bee terms convertible in this kinde for then what should become of us Certainly the number of Gods Elect is greater amongst the Gentiles then among the Jews and even of those that were given over to vile affections some were Elect as appears 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. And to say that the cause why God denies them mercy was because they abused the light of nature I have freshly disproved this and that evidently as I presume the intelligent Reader will observe though the contrary I confesse bee very plausible at the first sight and before wee come to the discussing of it Thirdly you take your aime amisse also though not in so great measure as in the former in the phrases For even of the Pharisees some were Elect witnesse holy Paul Who abused his zeale of the Law more foully then hee even to the persecuring of Gods Church yet was not the true treasure denyed to him and that in the highest measure And as for Reprobates if you think their unfaithfulnesse in the use of their wealth was the cause why mercy was denyed them for the disproofe hereof I refer mee to my former arguments Fourthly the very Elect of God not onely rejected Christ for a time but also crucifyed him That which you urge of Gods taking his word and Kingdom in plain terms the means of grace from such a Nation as contemns them is nothing to the purpose For wee treat of Gods shewing and denying mercy not in the means but as touching the grace it self of Repentance But this benefit you have confounded by comprehending both under the name of meanes and helpes for your advantage to passe from the one to the other as you see good Here indeed it is as true that because men doe make precious account of the means of grace therefore God continueth these means unto them like as because of mens perseverance in Faith and Repentance and good works God rewards them with everlasting life like as because men die in their sins therefore God inflicts on them everlasting death Onely with this difference Sin on the one side is the meritorious cause both of withdrawing the means of grace and of damnation but conscionable walking before God in the use of the means is only the disposing cause both to the continuance of the means and to eternall salvation For God by grace makes us meet partakers of