cause and head of our Election c. Answ Doubtless our Authour is frequently disposed to pretend amazement at my doings and yet without all peradventure when he never shakes or shivers at all Cum frigidus nullus obstruit praecordia sanguis He doth it without once changing colour for else 1. when I did but say that he gives out Faith and I might rather have said good works of all sorts to be the cause of Election for them in all his writings he rather delights to name than Faith he could have had no reason of complaining I specified not what kind of causes he took them to be I only said he took them to be causes And I trow he will grant me that Causa sine qua non or conditio sine qua non which even p. 39. whilest he disputes against me he grants Faith and good works to be of Election are in their kind to be reputed Causes 2. Whilest in the very next lines to the words which I have transcribed he doth out of § 55. of his Correct Copy quote it that good works are required as a necessary condition though very unworthy to be the cause of our Election 3. I will leave it to understanding Readers to judge whether this necessary condition which here he talks of amount not to somewhat more then a bare antecedent or a mere Causa sine qua non The rather because in other places he calls it the important coâ—â—â—tion without which Election cannot be had Nay that which p. 70. of his Correct Copy the very page which I had quoted against him makes the difference betwixt the Elect and Reprobate and that because as there he speaks as well as elsewhere those who are in Christ by faith are better then those who are out of Christ by infidelity who therefore are chosen when as others are left yea that without which it would be unjust for God to elect any man Correct Copy p. 71. Justification precedeth Election because no man is elected unless he differ from him that is rejected p. 69. Correct Copy whatsoever is justly decreed may be justly executed as it is decreed If he decreed to save any without regard or respect of their being such he might actually save them without respect to their being such So that â—e needed not so thrasonically to have boasted of his logical skill against me whom he looks upon and represents p. 63. as a meer ignaro in these matters to distinguish p. 63. betwixt the Cause propter quam res est for which a thing is and the necessary condition sine quâ non est without which it is not whilest in his own mentioned expressions he doth sufficiently confound them 3. Though he do very often times gull us as p. 70. Correct Copy Philanthrop Chap. p. 80. with good words that God makes the difference and crowns his own gifts in us c. yet how will it be possible for him to put any good sense upon these words who every where teacheth that these previous dispositions are precedent to Election that we are not choâ—en to Faith and good works and perseverance in them but that we are by Gods choosing foreseen to have them He likewise maintains Correct Copy p. 69. That God no otherwise executes his Decrees then he made them and ergo if in our first and eternal Election there were respect had to our faith good works and perseverance in them then suâ—e when in time he doth call us effectually Rom. 8. 28. which most Divines use to call our temporal Election from 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. he doth in like sort chuâ—e us for our Faith good works perseverance c. and all this sure will make them to be somewhat more then Causa sine qua non or conditio sine qua non even such things as being performed according to what the Judge requires do move his will to bestow Election as a reward upon us as I have told him that one of his dear Remonstrants speaks (a) Nic. Grevinchov contra Ames p. 24. Contendo naturae legum ac conditionum praescriptarum omninó conveniens esse ut voluntas Judicis à conditione postulatâ praestitâ moveatur ad praemium Just as the Massilians of old Prosper in Resp ad 8. dubium Genuens Ipsa Electorum Praedestinatio non est nisi retributio Et evidenter Faustus Lib. 2. Cap. 3. Praescientia gerenda praenoscit post modum praedestinatio retribuenda praescribit Illa praevidet merita haec praeordinat praemia praescientia ad potentiam praedestinatio ad justitiam pertinet Philanthr p. 66. Reprobation is said to be an act of Justice and good works c. are the important condition without which Election will not be had 4ly Who that observes how often in the Correct Copy and elsewhere Mr. T. P. doth consound the Decree of Election with the Decree of Salvation will believe that Mr. T. P. makes Faith and obedience c. only to be necessary prâ—cedents unto life and Salvation and that he doth not also take them to be Causes of Salvation if not directly meritorious yet in some more then ordinary way procuring and causing Salvation Mind the drift of his Discourse against the Solifidians Sinner Impleaded from p. 332. to 337. 5ly If he will maintain that there is any the least Analogy betwixt his Doctrines of Election and Reprobation then as every where he maintains sin to be the meritorious Cause of Reprobation what reason hath he to deny that Faith and obedience are the meritorious Causes of Election which is opposite to Reprobation 6ly Who can believe that all in haste Mr. T. P. will in heart differ whatsoever in words he may seem to do from what he doth after his fashion most solemnly quote out of Prosper Austin Melancthon (b) Phil. Chap. 3. p. 77 Saints whom for his own turn he will elsewhere be thought to adore who as he saith did all agree That Gods Predestination was accordâ—ng to foreknowledge so as he made some Vessels of honour and some of dishonour even for this cause because he foresaw their several ends of what wills they would be and what would be their actions under the assistance and help of grace Mark that Prosper in these words speaks neither his own or Austins sense but that of the Massilians or Semi-Pelagians Is there any thing in the genius of any of Mr. T. P's singular Doctrines which should move him to enter a dissent from these sayings § 2. As for what he adds of Christs being the means and the meritorious cause of our Election Answ There might be some reason to take some more then ordinary notice of it 1. If he had made it his business as well to have proved it as after Arminius and others to have dictated it 2. If he would have thought it worth the while to have confuted any of Dr. Twisse his large Discourses against it unto which I had about it referred him in my Corrept
be and what their actions 5ly As for future morall good things especially such as accompany Salvation such as are effectual vocation justification sanctification c. he eternally foresaw they would be in his Own because he did from eternity resolve or decree to bestow them graciously upon his own 1 Tim. 3. 9. But as for future moral evil things whether original or actual sins God foreknew them all in the same moment of eternity because even then he did by his permissive and ordinative will determine that they should fall out Act. 2. 23. 4. 28. (c) Carthus Lib. 1. disc 40. qu. 3. p. 580. q. 3. p. 580. vide Aquin. Part. 1. qu. 23. Art 3. Bonum subjacet providentiae divinae tanquam ordinatum causatum ab eâ ideò praedestinatio est causa Gratiae Gloriae sed quoniam malum culpae non subjacet providentiae Divinae ut intentum causatum sed solum tanquam praescitum ordinatum hinc reprobatio est The sum then is we do not first in any moment of time deny Gods Omniscience and Praescience only we make them not as to the determinate futurition of any thing as we conceive matters antecedent to Gods Decrees but either Concomitant or at most in the same moments of time and nature subordinate 2ly We do not as the learned Bishop of Salisbury well observes deny praescience in the matter of Praedestination of either good or bad actions only we deny an Arminian praescience (d) Solum praescientia culpae non paenae Davant p. 25. 45. sed praecipue p. 153. of such actions foreseen in men as caused or preceded the different decrees of God in electing some men mercifully unto salvation and leaving others through their own default to plunge themselves into eternal damnation We grant it is not only untrue but unpossible that God should decree the salvation of any man without the foresight of those acts viz. of faith perseverance c. We deny not the foresight of faith and perseverance in the Catholick sense and the like sure in point of Reprobation may be said of persevering in infidelity that is of effects and Consequents of divine Praedestination or Election but in the Arminian sense that is as of antecedent motives reasons causes or conditions foreseen in men and drawing after them the Decree of Predestination Whether this determination of his long Question will please him yea or no I know not if he like it not as learned enough let him take heed lest he meet not with one which is more rash but not so soâ—â—nd (e) Consilium Dei velle nosse multorum est nosse autem vel paucisâ—imorum hominum vel omnino nullorum Aâ—gust lib. 2. opier Imp. Contra Jut f. 346. I may justly fear how much soever as yet he will seem to be for an eternal Praescience of all things yet if he do but go on to hugg his beloved S. Episcopius f as he hath begun to do Mr. T. P. his principles will quickly prompt him much better to like of that which Episcopius sets down (g) Episcopius disp 4. Thes 10. Et si non negemus Deo scientiam futurorum attribui posse imprimis quia eam Scriptura Deo tribuere passim videtur tamen an necessarium scâ—â—u sit ad hoc ut Deus colatur ejusmodi scientiam Dâ—o competere examinari permiâ—â—imus An cognoscat Deus possibilia an infinita absoluâ—e necessarium scitu non credimus Though we do not deny but that the Science of future contingent things may be attributed to God especially because the Scripture doth up and down seem to ascribe it to God yet whether it be necessary to be known for this end that God may be worshipped that such a knowledge doth belong to God we permit it to be examined Whether God know possible things infinite things we do not believe to be absolutely necessary to be known 6th He saith p. 6. That I do betray a third fort of weakness c. for that as he saith I know that he doth as much as any assert eternal Praedestination only I prove it against him to be respective of final impenitence in all that shall be damned Answ 1. How I could so much as divine that he should assert eternal Praedestination I cannot tell when as the face and true Genius of his opinion looks quite another way and when but once if once he had in his Correct Copy so much as mentioned the word Eternall and that only in the matter of praescience and not in the matter of Predestination or Predetermination which are acts of Gods will as the former is of his knowledge 2. It is not to him or to any man in the World conceiveable or explicable how an eternal immanent Act of Gods Counsel should be founded upon the temporal Act of the free will of a versatile Creature and yet such is the Act of final impenitence elicited by the wicked free will of a Reprobate or of him that shall be damned 3dly He expresseth himself that he may the more easily deceive unwary souls in too mild a manner when he saith that the Decree of Reprobation hath respect unto finall impenitence as if by that terme in shew harmless he did only understand that it were nudum antecedens whâ—reas it is plain by all the Discourses elsewhere against the distinction of positive and Negative Reprobation he understands by respect a meritorious Cause such as abaeterno moves the will of God to make his Decree of Reprobation And the like fallacy lurks in the same word Respective which he by and by applyeth to the Decree of Election and which requires Faith Repentance and Perseverance to the end in all of ripe age which some where (b) Sinner impleaded he calls the Important Conditions of Election and by which as one of his beloved Remonstrants (c) Vic. Grevin chov Contra Ames p. 24. whom he hath reason as much to hugg as he doth his Associate S. Episcopius (d) Philanthr Chap. 4. p. 14. well expresseth Mr. T. P. his true sense Voluntas judicis à conditione postulata et praestita movetur ad praemium à neglectâ aut repudiatâ— ad poenâ—us idque contendit conveniens esse naturae legum ac conditionum praescriptarum i. e. by which the will of the judge is moved to confer a Reward or infer a punishment by vertue of a Condition required and performed and that in congruity to the nature of Lawes and Conditions prescribed 4ly Why should I have any the least reason to suspect that Mr. T P. by virtue of any of his principles which are all but borrowed from Arminius or from men of that stamp should be any better able to maintaine Eternal Reprobation and then not eternal Election neither and then not sure Eternal predestâ—nation than his Reverend Father Arminius himselfe who professeth it (e) J. Armin. in Examin Perkinâ— de â—lectione Sect. 14. Certum autem
est hominem actu reprobum dici non posse in quo Deus Decretum Reprobationis nullo adhuc interno actu coepit exequi Ibid. Primus actuâ— externus in hominem vel circa hominem re ipsa jam existentem facit illum actu reprobum to be certain that a man cannot be said to be actually reprobated on whom God did not by any internal act beginne to execute the decree of Reprobation which sure he did not or could not execute but in time for it implies a manifest contradiction 5ly Yet if it were any way possible for to found the Eternal decrees of God upon the foreseen acts of the Creature yet could he by virtue of this his praedestination grounded on and dependent on Praescience gaine nothing according to his own manner of reasoning in all his Decachorde of Reasons produced in his CORRECT Copy (f) p. 34. ad 42. for the avoiding of all those foul absurdities and blasphemies which he labours to asperse Gods Absolute Eternal decrees with as they are maintained by us but they will all if his arguments be of any force against Eternall praedestination grounded on deliberate praedetermâ—nation rise up as much against Eternall predâ—stination grounded on praescience they introduce a like infallâ—bâ—lâ—ty in both a like coaction as they call it on the will and like frustration of Admonitions Exhortations (g) Aug. de dono perseveranâ— Lib. 2. c. 15. Ajunt viz Semipelagâ—ani neminem â—osse Correptâ—onis stimulis excitar si dâ—catur in conventu Ecclesiae Itase habet de praedestinatione definita sententia voluntatis Dâ—â— c Ista dum dicunt ita nos à confitenda Dei gratia id est quae non secundum merita nostra datur à confitenda secundum eam praedestinatione Sanctorum deterrere non debet sicut non deterremur â— confitâ—nda praescientia Dei si quis de illo populo sic loquatur ut dicat sive nunc recte vivatis sive non tales vos eritis quales vos Deus fuâ—uros esse praescivit And therefore I doubt not but if he would but seriously in any sense preach Eternall praedestination he would lose most of his customers his forsooth tender Proselytes who with his learned P. Bertius (h) P. Bertius praefat dedicat ad Examen I. Arminii contra Peâ—kins unum quemque nostâ—um invariabilem vitae atque mortis Aeternae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unà cum ipso ortu in lucem hanc nobiscum adferre atque adeò ad hoc nasci hancque diversitatem aliquomodo ad universi perfectionem facere are offended at nothing so much as that God from eternity should have predetermined mens everlasting conditions for Aeternal life or death and not have left it in utramque partem to mans free will to be fabros fortunae suae to be Carvers of their own fortunes Seventhly and lastly he saith of the decree of Election p. 7. that it is Respective of Faith and Repentance and perseverance to the end in all of ripe age who shall be saved and for such as die infants before they can actually Beleive or Repent Gods Eternall predestination or purpose of Electing them unto blâ—sse was also respective of theâ—r being in Christ and this he tells us the Church of England hath taught us out of the Scriptures Answ So much having been spoken against what he brought about Reprobation little need to be said about what we have here concerning Election the rather because he returnes at all no Answer to what I produce against it in my CORREPT Correct p. 228. and where I dispute against his St. Andrean way of ordering of Gods decrees p. 206. ad 209. Only let me say first that I cannot tell whether his former opinion about Reprobation were more destructive to Gods Soveraignity than this is most portentously (a) A. Rvet saith well disp 4. Thes 6. according to this opinion In dubio haeret Deus donec ex ipso effectu videat quinam fint in illa side perseveraturi sub cuâ—us nomine poenitenâ—iam bona opera comprehendunt uti facit Dr. T. P. Quod atheismi rudimentum à Socino haustum multi nunc pleno poculo populis bibendum propinant quo nescimus an aliquid à Christianismi incunabulis ad haec usque tempora perniciosum magis suggestum sit in quo praeter impietatem in Deum totaâ— Justificationis gratuitae rationem cum impurioribus Scholasticis convellunt and after a Socâ—nian â—ashion destructive to the nature power efficacy and peculiarity of Gods grace for say he what he will in words to the contrary that he believes Faith and Repentance to be the gifts of God that Gods grace makes us to differ Philanth c whiâ—st this opinion of his standeth and is mainteined by him they are but delusory words to catch the simple withall for first it is impossible that Faith or any other saving grace should be the fruites of Election when as here they be made to be the Antecedents to it and the important conditions of it his own Phrase We cannot be chosen unto Faith c in which sense faith is said to be the faith of Gods elect Tit. 1. 1. if we be choâ—en in respect unto it or for it 1 Cor. 7. 25. 2ly We do rather yea altogether choose our selves rather then that God can be said to choose us he only chooseth upon what condition we shall be Elected but we upon choosing of his conditions proposed unto us determine him to choose or Elect us and that interpretativé is all one as to choos our selves 3ly How shy soever elsewhere he will seem to be of the word merit in the cause of Election yet if faith may but be allowed to be a good work which sure is one of the best especially wâ—en as here he proposeth it as accompanied with Repentance from dead works attended with perseverance to the end wâ—ich comprehends all good works imaginable to be performed by any Christian I say if this may but be granted he doth directly maintaine Electâ—on according to the praevâ—sion of works expressely against the holy Scripture (b) Rom. 9. 8. 30. Act. 13. 48. Ephes 1. 11. 3. 4. 1 Thess 1. 3. 2 Tim. 1. 9 2 Thess 2. 13. c. pious Antiquity (c) Augustin de praedestinat Sanctor cap. 17. Haec est immobilis veritas praedestinationis gratiae Nam quid est quod ait Apostolus Sicut elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutionem quod profâ—ro si propterea dâ—ctum est quia praescivit deus credituros non quia facturus erat ipse credentes contra istam praescientiam loquitur Filius dicens Non vos me elegistis sed ego â—legi vos Electi sunt it aque ante mundi constitutionem ea praedâ—stinatione in qua Deus sua futura opera praescivit who by merits understood nothing else but good works and thus he is a down
that is known at once to renounce all he had formerly said and draw a crosse line over all he had wrote and that in a Sermon not made of purpose for that end which had been very requisite and which must have been of too narrow a limitt in relation to so many Subjects here intimated but only as on the bye I say when his workes wherein he is clearly seen and largely declared with a cloud of eare witnesses for many yeats both in publique and private confirming his constancie in them through the diverse changes of the times to his last shall be produced and layd in one ballance And a few witnesses of some few passages at one Sermon who in a croud might be mistaken and the apter to be so by the interest of their own opinion put into the other will not all unbiassed persons cast the Errata into the latter I shall conclude with a coorse complement to your self that I have not thus appeared for your sake to whom I am a stranger nor out of any opposition to Mr. Pierce who appears to me to be a person of value but only out of my duty and high account I must ever have of the memorie of that judicious holy and eminent Primate and so I commit you to Gods protection and direction and rest Your assured friend N. Bernard Graies Inn June 10. 1657. A Short INTRODUCTION DEBATING The Reasons of this Second undertaking SECT I. I Cannot justly determine how long my feircely active Neighbour and Antagonist was to use his own Phrase (a) Advertisement to the Reader pag. 2. somewhat like Buridans asse a ballancing himself whether as he hath it too (b) Epist Dedication pag. 7. I was for my late Correptory Correction published against him to be punished by his venerable and awfull Silence or as at last he concluded by his more Magisterial and smarting Tongue-lash wherein he hath according to his wont and naturall Genius so superlatively Hyperboâ—ized as that the least jerke of the tip of his Tongue is much sharper then all the Correptory Rodds which towards his amendment I had bestowed upon him before he doth not so much Chastise me with Whips as with Stinging Scorpions his very little nimble taâ—t fingers are much more heavy then all my Loynes yet as for my self if I may but as well be believed as I am sure I shall speak truth I have almost this two months day been at a hard debate with my self whether I should at all take my self concerned the second time to take up a pen against his continued Satyrisms and Sarcasms rather then serious disputes imprinted against me and even yet I should be apt to conclude in the Negative were it not for the importunity of some unto whom it is fit I should yeild who will have me concluded in the affirmative First Verely though I cannot but be and I hope by Gods grace to continue in it to the end a very vehement Assertor according to my poor power of Gods omnipotent Soveraignity and grace yet I cannot be perswaded that that blessed cause which for above these twelve hundred years hath from Austine downwards in all Countries had so many invincible Champions who have crushed the Heads of all Dragons and Leviathans who have sharpned their Tongues â—eâ—s and wits against it and who have made it every where to go forth conquering and to conquet I say I cannot believe that this cause doth any thing lowdly call for any more of the best Contributions which I am able to afford towards the support of it Secondly Nay nor yet how ill soever my ill Neighbour may take it can I be so far out of conceit with my own Christianity Schollership Humanity in any of which my Antagonist will not allow me the least Scruple or dram as to think any of them to be in any terrible Agony though he hath most industriously and if it were in him unto all Posterity represented me as a most ugly dreadfull dark Monster in the Phrase of the Poet as a Virgâ—l Monstrum horendum informe ingens cui Lumen ademptum Blessed be God for ever for his grace who for well nigh these fourteen years hath not suffered me in this very Country amongst many disceâ—ning graâ—ious Christians amongst divers most venerabâ—e and Eminent Schollers to behave my self so Unchristianly Ignorantly or Rudely as that it is any way probable to be believed by any of them that I am any thing near so oâ—ious as he would have the world believe me to be * Virgil. Non sum adeó informis nuper in melittore vidi Thirdly Yea nor am I able to be so creduâ—ous that those most Illustrious Luminaries of our Church who have been pleased to grace my Labours with their unexpected Encomiâ—ms and who by their Gratious Lord and Masters adorning of them have as fixed Stars shined in the Firmament of Gods Church before such time as their Bespatterer was brought forth in Divi Luminis Auras saw the Light of the Sun or at least was allowed so much as to be a Smatterer in Divinity or as now he appears to all the Christian Reformed world a very Erra Pater in it Verely I do not believe that their Splendid names and well sounding fames need any vindication of mine who are aboâ—e all his Calumnies and in Christs and the Churches diptyâ—hs will have to all posterity their names written fairely although he be so impudent as in effect to proclaime it to the world that they are but black Souls in white Sheets whiâ—â—t he writes (a) Adâ—â—â—â—iseâ—ent to the â—â—ader â—â—â—dida dâ—â—â—gris de câ—dentibus 〈◊〉 that they have done a kind of publick pennance by making it known unto the Worâ—â— whaâ— kâ—nd oâ— things they do approve Thus good is our Painter at 〈◊〉 Whites into Blacks and Blacks into Whites Praeteriens Coâ—vos vexat Censura Columâ—es Fourthly Nay nor lastly can I entertain any considerabâ—e hopes that I shall be in a Capacity to reclaime those who have been misled by him and who as may be feared may be for want of Elegancy in my Style and because of down-right plainnesse in all my Ministeriall Proceedings as adverse from reading of me as some want on Italâ—anâ— are said to be (a) Bishop Jewells Apolog Ecces Anglic from reading of the sacred Scriptures lest it should marr the neatnesse of their Style All these things considered I might well have been allowed to have injoyned Silence to my self and to have retiâ—ed to my wonted Rest However because there be divers whose Iudgments I cannot but revere who are of opinion First that Gods Truth Counsells Wayes and People ought by their friends to be as often defended as by their virulent Foes they be any thing fiercely craftily and wittily opposed Secondly That the high flown spirit of our fresh inâ—ulting Thraso ought by all meanes to be taken down who Hor tensius â—oster sufflaminandus est Cic. though he hardly strike stroke
but by his sharp Tongue and Teeth yet in the Beginning Progresse and Conclusion of his Book doth most insolently boast quasi devicisset omnes Manichaeos as if he had beaten all Manichees out of the field as abusively he affects to Style Reformed Protestants differing from him in Judgment (b) Correct Cap. 1. Edit primó pag. 55. Thirdly That I ought not to be so neglectful of the credit of my ministeriall Office or of my name and fame as by my totall Silence though I am most content to be looked on as a minimus Fratrum and as the least of all those whom God counting faithfull had put into the Ministery as it were to give him a License as if Conscienâ—e did tell me that I do deserve it to be by him at his pleasure trampled upon as salt who have lost all Savor and am fit for nothing but to be cast upon a Dunghill Fourthly That it doth not concern Ministers Tacit Annal. 2. Non est viri fortis dâ—sperare de Repubiliâ—â in this last and worst of ages to deâ—pond altogether of the Conviction or even conâ—ersion of those who for the present to use Austins Phrase are not only aversi à vera fide but adversi verae fidei averse from the true faith but adverse to it by way of masculine opposition The Aug. Lib. 4. ad Bonifac. Cap. 9. Quid ergo peâ—imus nisi ut fiant ex nolentibus volentes ex repugnantibus consentientes ex oppugnantibus amantes Lord calls at the Last as well as at the first hower and hath often turned even Sauls into Pauls Upon these and other Grounds I shall once more put my self to the Toile of disquieting my self by writing Agricolis redit labor actus in orbem We are Gods Husbandmen and their work is never done I humbly beseech the God of all Grace and the Giver of every good and perfect gift that in the defence of his Grace which is his own I may be so mightily assisted and wisely directed in the mannagment of this great work that if through my exceeding great weaknesse as is the Judgment of divers good men I did give too much way to my passions at first whilst I had Pro. 26. 5. in mine eye but wandred somewhat from it by not hitting upon the golden mean I may be more successfull in my second Attempt in following the Counsell given in the foregoing vers 4th lest the Church and the world complain of me as well as of my Adversary That Terra malos homines jam procreat atque pusillos The Earth now a dayes brings forth little and naughty men Or turn that into a Necessary which at worst is but a Topicall fallible Maxime Homines brevis Staturae sunt cholerici Little men are still fretfull and cholerick SECT II. Now seeing I am called out to threshing again I who in this kind care not how little work I have to do â—or that I am extreame averse from the very Act of writing fairly and so slowly I am very glad that my adversary hath left me no imaginable work beyond these fowre things First The Apologizing for my former vehemency of Passion and acrimony of Style Secondly The wiping off of all considerable Aspersions from mine own name Ministry c. and for the performing the like good office for my speciall friends as well as for all my Neighbours round about me and almost for all the Charets and horsemen of Reformed Israel whether considered single or in their Synodick Combinations or Associations all who are by our Conceited Conqueror Triumphed over Thirdly The enervating of the force of any thing which lookes like new force either as relating to his whole Book or referring to whole Chapters or else to any materiall Sections Fourthly The giving in reasons why I must and will shift my hands from an endlesse Sophisticall wrangler unlesse he speedâ—ly betake himself to the contracted Fist of fair reasoning rather than the extended Palme of his Rhetorications Ecce Rhodus Ecce Saltus CHAP. I. Assigning the Reasons of former Vehemency of affection and acrimony of Style SECT I. IT is most easy for me who ought to be best acquainted with my own disposition and frailties the rather because I have not wanted hints from my very best friends unto whom I do here most solemnly give thanks for them for to believe that in my passions against so dangerous an Enemy as my self and the Church hath met with to have been somewhat over-heated He that knowing what I know of him and seeing and feeling what I continually am forced to see and feell having made a very competent discovery of him not by secret search but by his discourses Letters behaviour c. Let him cast the first Stone at me whensoever he shall meet with the like and behave himself more modestly In the mean while as for the But say as Dr. Twisse did Lib. 1. vindic p. 22. Col. 2. Edit 4. Si cui quid hic peccatum videbitur si quid intumuit pietas si quid slagrantius actum est ignoscat 1 Sam. 17. 29. main of my demeanour towards my Adversary for as to some Extravagancies I can be content neither to defend my self nor to be defended by any let him believe that I have in my way and measure all circumstances cast up that to say for my self which David had to his Eldest Brother Eliab contesting with him what have I now done Is there not a cause Pray first Against the false doctrines and Leven of the Pharisees against their demure but indeed Hypocriticall and superstitious piety eâ—pecially when they opposed the power of true Piety by their gâ—osse yet diminishing Glosses Math. 5. and the necessity of his imputed righteousnesse by establishing their own Legall inhaerent was not our (a) Psal 118. 12. Math. 21. 42. Luke 20. 17. Saviour suffiâ—iently zealous And did not all the Apostles but especially one of the Chief of them (b) Gal. Rom. Phil. 3. 2. Saint Paul in almost all his Epistles imitate our Saviour in this And if Arminian Doctrines and their followers and this Author how much soever he may make a Semblâ—nce to the contrary be not well nigh as deeply guilty as the Pharisees were I can be content that my adversary should not by sixteen most ridiculous Sophiâ—â—icall Arguments (c) Philanthropy from p. 12. to 16. but if he were any wayes able by 66. serious and sound ones prove me to be an Arminian Secondly Do I at any time rise higher against him and his party than he doth openly against the Orthodox whom he Styles modest immodest Correct Copy p. 23. blasphemers some of wdom are for the Ligonem Ligonem (d) Nunquam perichtatur Religio nisi inter Râ—verendissimos Luther of Gods being the Author of sin whom he calls pernitious Haereticks Manichees Helvidians Carpocratians â—urks Stoicks and what not to say nothing of his private cruell causelesse Epistolary Provocations
and that at such a time the work of an impotent Scribler as the saith (b) Philanth Dedic Epist which deserves only to dye in silence and to prevent ill smells to be quietly buried in silence to sleep upon a stall (c) Chap. 3. p. 55. c. I say all men acquainted with them and their Behaviour will as soon believe that they would rather have suffered their hands to have been cut off from their wrists than to have been accessary to any such foul crime so contrary to the Churches wellfare and their own Credits Secondly I trust they will never have cause to do pennance for bearing witnesse to the Truth which for so many years they have preached or for strengthening the hands of their poor Friend and Fellow-Labourer who never had nor can be phansied to pretend a power over them to make them speak in his behalfe any thing but what they judged most meet and seasonable Secondly Ibid. That in all which they have spoken they have not adventured one syllable against any one Argument in my Book but onely have told their severall Tales after their manners of expression shewing whom they are for whom they are against c. Answ First It is not the proper work of Encomiasts to answer Arguments answered to their hands but to speak their thoughts concerning the solutions of Arguments by him whom they commend Secondly yet two of these great Divines have so fully spoken to the chief Arguments in his Book that could I have known before hand that they would so concisely have answered his whole Pamphlet either I would have returned no answer at all to it or have done it much more Compendiously Is it indeed no Syllable of Answer to all his arguments to shew that he foulely Mistakes the Questions Controversal all along That his Objections are meerly Pelagian Jesuiticall Socâ—nian Bolsecian and such as become any body but as so called Protestant of the Church of England (d) Se Dr. Reynolds Epistle per totum Secondly Had not they before I was so much as by name known to them sufficiently in their SERMONS and writings declared to the world whom they are for and whom they are against as to need by setting of their hands to so worthlesse a Scrible as he thinks mine to be to purge themselves from a Crime wch they were never so much as by any suspected of of not adhering fast enough to the good true and Christian party which they were of Obiect Chap. 1. p. 11. I but neither Mr. B. nor his Prefacers have named any one passage in my Book which they can tolerably pretend to be Pelagian or Semipelagian but only have framed an accusation in Generall c. Answ First This is notoriously false concerning Mr. B. if any body will but be pleased attentively to heed his Text or Margin throughout almost his whole Book but especially if he do but any thing heedfully peruse what I have at large set down in my Parallel of his opinions with the Pelagians and Semi-pelagians or Massilians Chap. 5. Cor-Rept Cor-Rect from p. 201. to 206. Secondly It is not the work of Generall Prefacers to descend to Particulars yet while Dr. Reynolds hath fully shewed that he scarce uâ—eth an Argument which is not taken out of the Pelagian or Smâ—ipelagian Schoole as any body may see who reads but the Cor-Rect Copy and that Drs. Epistle together he will be abundantly convinced of the impudence and falsenesse of this Assertion Secondly But besides these abuses which he puts upon them all Joyntly he hath something against two of them in severall viz. First against incomparable Dr. Reynolds and sage Mr. White field Against the former can any man think him the lesse abusive against him because he saith First p. 2. a that he doth seriously respect (d) Advertis to the Reader p. 2. him for his Gravity Learning and Comparative moderation Believes Mr. T. P. this to be a competent Plaister for breaking of his head together with that of his brethrens as we have seen Dolus an virtus quis ab hoste requirat Secondly Are not his Comparative and so Diminutive Commendations of him absolute Disparagements to him Thirdly Since he hath made a foul shiâ—t Philanthr Chap. 1. p. 11. to hook in that holy and gracious as well as most Learned Divine amongst those who make God to be the Author of sin and speaking of him and others he wisheth that their expressions were no worse then so too and since elsewhere he hath told the world (b) Sinner Impleaded p. â—48 that his opinions to be sure of those he approves of are cruell and Sanguinarian that if that too be true of him as he saith it is that God is the Author of sin then in the like sort he declares his opinion of him (c) Ibid. p. 241. That there is no God would be the very worst Tenent in all the world were it not worse to conclude him the cause of sin as he there and every where else maintaines that absolute Praedestinarians do I say after these foul affronts put upon him and other Diâ—ines at home and abroad whom he doth Reverence love and honour though now he should fawningly tell him that though he be (d) Adverâ—is to the â—eadeâ— p. 5. an Anti-Remonstrant yet he knows him to be a learned pious man and upon whom he never meant to fasten any ill names but really payes him every whit as much Reverence as if he were of his opinion or he of his Can he from hence forward think him so vainly Credulous as to believe a word of that he saith Nay can he do otherwise then believe but since he hath so Whipt and Stripped all or most of his Neighbours Country Divines whom such hath been been his humility he hath much loved and reâ—pected that he will not rather think himself disgraced then honoured by his Oratoriall Quil and that henceforth it will be really a disparagement for any Godly Orthodox Divine to have his good word and his favourable opinion Fourthly I think the Dr. would have taken it farr better if he had Compared him and me not to Mezentius his Couples whose cruelty it was to yoke the Living with the dead but rather with Aeneas and Ascanius who strive in my poor measure and pace to walk after him but do I what I can to the Contrary it will be Impari passu Secondly As for what with a viruâ—ent spirit with height of proud scorne and fuâ—ious indignation he doth in measures pressed down and running over slanderously powre forth against Mr. White-field (a) Advertiseâ—â—nt to the Reader p. 5. 6. Chap. 1. p. 11. Answ I am sure if any Reverence had been left in him to Gray haires found in the way of Righteousnesse to profoundness of Learning to holâ—nesse of an exactly Religious Conversation he would have trembled at the thoughts of affronting of a man of his worth and note in the
Corrept Correct p. 56. and divers more which D. Reynolds had quored in his Epistle p. 5. in a meer literal sense when as yet first in my Corrept Correct p. 69. 70. I had expresly told him that that saying of mine out of D. Ames Sensus Scripturae est tantum unicus isque Grammaticus holds not alwayes but only then when the Letter is not plainly metaphorical typical or contrary to other more plain places and the clear Analogy of faith And sure I take it to be against the two latter for to maintain God to be the Authour of sin or as he most maliciously and hatefully expresseth me the Fountain or cause of sin 2. It is plain to any who doth but list to take notice how I explain the places formerly mentioned whensoever I touch upon them that I do not take the most of them in a mere Grammatical and literal sense but in a figurative for whereas God according to the Letter of many of those Texts seems to be made a moral cause of sin as sin I do every where make it evidenâ— that I do only believe God to be a natural Cause of the mere act of sin (a) Dominicus à Soto de Nat. Grat. lib. 1. cap. 18. Quamvis permulti sint quibus non sit explicatu facile quo modo in odio Dei quod internam habet indivisam malignitatem posset Deus causam esse entitatis culpae vero non item non tamen est ita intellectu difficile In moralibus inquit ille prorsus est verò judicaturque causa qui lege ope consilio favore vel persuasu movet quempiam sive ad bonum sive ad malum At que his modis rationibus universos Deus movet ad bonum honestum neminem autem ad malum without which it is impossible that any sin can be committed but that he is only a mere accidental Cause of the obliquity of the act of sin wherein alone the formality of sin is consisting and from whence alone sin's denomination ought to be taken Thirdly I had just reason for bestowing some sound Correptory Correction on him and by many Arguments from Corrept Correct p. 84. to 86. to correct him for his receding too far from the literal sense of the fore-quoted Scriptures whilest as may be seen in his 14 15 16. pages of his Correct Copy and set down out of it by me Corrept Correct p. 83. unto all which he is as mute as a Fish he will not have them to allow of God's so much as permitting sin but in an equitable sense and that is as it signifies not to hinder by main force and that he disposes and orders them to the best advantage And yet never first will he or any body else by the help of his Melancthon and I cannot tell who besides whom he mentions p. 26. be ever able to prove that the Scripture-phrases of hardning of mens hearts of giving them over to their own hearts lusts of blinding their eyes c. as they are paenal acts of the Almighty can by so soft interpretations be put off Secondly Nothing hath been so usual to the men of his way I mean the Arminians as under colour of receding a little from the Letter of several Texts which in Rom. 9. 11. 18. Phil. 2. 13. Heb. 8. 10. 10. 16. and elsewhere make against them to overthrow all at once both the Letter and the true meaning of the Scriptures And some reason I had to be jealous of Mr. T. P. this way Fourthly Though I have in many places of my Correptory already shewed and shall be forced again else-where to do in what sense I maintain God efficaciously to permit sin viz. only in such a sense as renders God free from all guilt of sin is no way destructive to sinful mans Liberty when he sins and so makes him the only Delinquent yet I shall think it fitting once for all in the margin (b) Thes Salvian de providentiâ Dei in mal pag. 186. Praeter nudam permissionem esse aliquam Dei efficaciam in perpetratione mali contendunt alii alii negant acerrimè Illine quid Divinâ providentiá subtrahant aut eam in rerum humanarum procuratione negligentius versari dicant quà m admirabilem Dei sapientiam decet hinc Deo labem aliquam aspergant quasi esset auctor peccati utrique metuentes ne in scopulum aliquem incurrant Certè uti natura Dei à peccato abhorret summoperè alienos nos esse ab eá sententia quae Deum peccati causam statuit juxta oportet Verum haud facilè quicquam Deo indignius dici potest quà m ut vel conniventibus oculis omnia temerè ferri patiatur vel omnia inspectare dicatur quidem veruntamen brachiis quasi complicatis otiose torpere putetur quasi eo sese abdicârit imperio quod in Creaturarum ratione praeditarum facultates obtinet à naturâ Neque enim consentaneum est ut imperium illud peccato Diaboli hominum perdiderit neque ut id amplius exercere non possit immunis à labe Equidem non negaverim aliquibus in locis Scripturae Sacrae verba quae efficientiam Deo tribuere in eo genere videntur sic esse interpretanda ut facere dicatur quod non impedit quia solus id impedire potest veluti cum indurare hominum cerda dicitur quia non emollit ut Hebraicè vivificare dicitur is qui non occidit Quae est alicubi Augustini sententia At ut taceamus negationem illam actionis quâ sola indurationem impedire valuit esse ab aliquo Justo Judicio plurima loca sunt in quibus Scriptura magis emphaticè loquitur quà m ut ad solam permissionem revocari possint Scilicet cum Deus magnopere Iratus Davidi fore denunciat ut quod flagitium clanculum admisit id in apertâ luce adeoque in conspectu Solis vindicet putandumne est eum nihil aliud sibi velle quà m ut Absalomi nesarios coâ—atus non reprimat sinatque furere intemperanteâ— Aut cum Joseph negat alius quà m Dei ipsius operâ factum esse ut in Aegyptum descenderet nihil ne significat praeterquam quod non impedivit quominus venderetur Sonant sane illa verba aliquid amplius Istud verò quod nihil neque Judaei neque Judas in proditione crucifixione Christi fâ—cerunt quam quod Dei confilium atque manus factum iri decreverat non nisi admodum frigide dilutè sic tamen T. P. p. 9. alibi passim de nuda permissione explicari potest Aug. Lib. de praedestinat Gratiâ cap. 4. 2 Sam. 12. 11. Gen. 45. 8. Act. 4. 28. Huc accedit quod si Deus in eo genere efficit vitari quidem non possit quin mala perpetrentur haud enim aliter Creatura corrupta in peccatum ruit quà m ut aqua sponte naturá fluit
c. And accordingly Tilenus himself when he was on our side took exception against Arminius his stating the Decree of Predestination and Reprobation according to our Opinion to proceed citra omnem considerationem resipiscentiae sidei in illis an t impentitentiae infidelitatis in hisce i. e. without all consideration of Repentance and Faith in those or of impenitence and infidelity in these And this that Rev. Dr. further proves p. 11. out of Piscator and out of the Contra-Remonstrants in the Conference at the Hague c. So opposing his Adversary p. 38. and 39. he had these words Secondly He aggravates it by the circumstance of the least consideration of sin which we are said to deny to have place in Reprobation whereas Divine consideration hath no degrees at all whereby it may be capable of greater or lesse a fair answer to what Mr. T. P. hath p. 6. Sin hath degrees in man but Divine consideration hath no degrees at all To come nearer to the point to discover their jugling in stating our Tenet most calumniously Consider I pray do any of our Divines maintain that God did ordain to dimn any man but for sin and by positive Reprobation in my p. 121. I meant nothing or could mean nothing but damnation It is apparent they do not all acknowledging that like as God doth damn no man but for sin so doth he ordain to damn no man but for sin And a little after to add one thing more not for their sin which they sinnedin Adam only but for those very actual sins and transgressions which they are guilty of And if any thing can be spoken yet more plainly in the same Book p. 40 41. having spoken of Election he speaks thus about the decree of Reprobation The like distinction is considerable on the part of Reprobation which also is the will of God in a certain kind I say we must distinguish in this Decree the act of Gods decreeing and the things decreed by him And these things are of a different nature and so different that look what alone is the cause of the act that alone is the cause of one thing decreed by it but not so of the other As for example the things denyed by Reprobation are 1. The denyal of Grace 2. The denyal of glory together with the inflicting of damnation As touching the first of these look what is the cause of Reprobation as touching the act of God reprobating that and that alone is the cause of the denyal of Grace viz. that of Faith and Repentance to wit the mere pleasure of God But as touching the denyal of glory and inflicting of damnation God doth not proceed according to the mere pleasure of his will but according to a Law which is this whosoever believeth not shall be damned And albeit God made that Law according to the mere pleasure of his will yet no wise man will say that God denies glory and inflicteth damnation on men according to the mere pleasure of his will the case being clear that God denies the one and inflicts the other merely for their sins who are thus dealt withall Thus far that great Arminian Maule Dr. Twisse unto all which as a signal conclusion let that noted place be added Vind c. Lib. 2. p. 75. Nunquam mihi contigit incidere in quempiam è nostris asserentem impios Creatos esse ad gloriam Divinae Justitiae in eorum suppliciis demonstrandam ob dcretum Dei sed signanter hoc fieri passim profitentur ob peccata ipsorum impiorum non quod peccata impiorum dicant esse causam creationis sed quod peccata hominum tam in executione quà m in intentione Dei constituant causam damnationis ipsorum c. § 4. As for what he subjoynes next p. 65. against the distinction betwixt Reprobation Positive and Negative there is no real difference betwixt not choosing and refusing or betwixt not saving and damning in Gods Decree c. Answ 1. I trust Mr. T. P. notwithstanding all the many Proselytes which he glories his Correct Copy to have gained him (a) Phil. Chap. 3. p. 55. is not become so absolute a Dictator in the Church as to be able by some few scrats of his pen to overthrow a distinction so solemnly and so long received as I could show if need were at large this to have bin by Austin by multitudes of Schoolmen one of which is not afraid to question any mans prudence who shall deny so plain a thing (b) Pennot Lib. 7. §. 10. Quis tam imprudens qui dicat voluntatem excludendi efficaciter aliquem à fine voluntatem permittendi illum pro sua libertate deficere à fine non esse voluntates distinctas by his beloved Arminius himself or by all sorts of Neotericks Secondly Though in Gods decrees who is purus putus actus there be no multiplicity of acts one succeeding the other as in men yet ex parte rei and to us poor mortalls there must needs as to the matter be conceived as great a distinction betwixt these two as there would be betwixt an Earthly Judges leaving a Prisoner in Goal or not preferring of him at Court and his adjudging of him to the Gallowes for his fellonie § 5. As for the tedious Dilemma with which in the same page 65. he would fain gravel me upon occasion of what I had wrote p. 197. in defence of Calvin A. 1. Any wise body will easily perceive that none but a very absurd man would have put it seeing in that place I have no occasion at all nor do not make any the least use of the distinction betwixt Reprobation positive and Reprobation negative only I have occasion to distinguish Gods eternal Reprobation from the first Adams and the Angels temporal Apostacy And of the first I say with Calvin that Gods secret will was the sole cause but of the latter that Adam and the Angels sinful wilâ—s were the cause See Calvin de praedest p. 711. 2. Any body if he will but turn to what I wrote Corrept Correct p. 195 196. in defence of Calvin will easily discover Mr. T. P's unreasonable thriftiness in sparing to give any Answer to no lesse then four of my Replies against what he had said against Calvin and in nibling only a little at the fifth by the intrusion of a most unseasonable Dilemma for the making whereof here there was no other occasion given him then what he was pleased to take from his own working wormish fancy 3. Seeing Mr. Calvin whensoever he hath occasion to speak of Gods Decree of leaving Angels or the first Adam to themselves so as not to have decreed them that efficacious Grace by which they would certainly have preserved themselves from falling and did only afford them that sufficient Grace by which they might have stood if they had so willed the Lord gave them only posse stare vel non peccare si vellent