and yet they that came last were rewarded with the first Mat. 20. The working will of the Pharisee seemed better but yet the Lords Will was rather to justifie the Publican Luk. 18. The elder Son had a better will to tarry by his Father and so did indeed and yet the fat Calf was given to the younger Son that ran away Luk. 15. whereby we have to understand how the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept according as it is written non ex voluntate carnis neque ex voluntate viri sed ex Deo nati sunt c. Which are born not of the will of the flesh nor yet of the will of man but of God Furthermore as all then goeth by the will of God only and not by the will of man So again here is to be noted that the will of God never goeth without faith in Christ Jesus his Son And therefore fourthly is this clause added in the definition through faith in Christ his Son which faith in Christ to us-ward maketh altogether For first it certifieth us of Gods Election as this Epistle of Mr. Bradford doth well express For whosoever will be certain of his Election in God let him first begin with faith in Christ which if he find in him to stand firm he may be sure and nothing doubt but that he is one of the number of Gods Elect. Secondly the said faith and nothing else is the only condition and means whereupon Gods mercy grace Election vocation and all Gods promises to salvation do stay accordingly the word of St. Paul si permanseritis in fide and if ye abide in the faith Col. 1.3 This faith is the mediate and next cause of our justification simply without any condition annexed For as the mercy of God his grace Election vocation and other precedent causes do save and justifie us upon condition if we believe in Christ so this faith only in Christ without condition is the next and immediate cause which by Gods promise worketh out justification according as it is written crede in dominum Jesum salvus eris tu domus tus Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thy whole house And thus much touching the Definition of Election with the causes thereof declared which you see now to be no merits or works of man whether they go before or come after faith For like as all they that be born of Adam do taste of his Malediction though they tasted not of the Apple so all they that be born of Christ which is by faith take part of the obedience of Christ although they never did that obedience themselves which was in him Rom. 5. Now to the second consideration Let us see likewise how and in what order this Election of God proceedeth in choosing and electing them which he ordaineth to salvation which order is this In them that be chosen to life first Gods mercy and free grace bringeth forth Election Election worketh Vocation or Gods holy calling which Vocation though hearing bringeth knowledge and faith in Christ Faith through promise obtaineth justification justification through hope waiteth for glorification Election is before time Vocation and Faith cometh in time Justification and Glorification is without end Election depending upon Gods free grace and will excludeth all mans will blind fortune chance and all peradventures Vocation standing upon Gods Election excludeth all mans wisdom cunning learning intention power and presumption Faith in Christ proceeding by the gift of the Holy Ghost and freely justifying man by Gods promises excludeth all other merits of men all condition of deserving and all works of the Law both Gods Law and mans Law with all other outward means whatsoever Justification coming freely by Faith standeth sure by Promise without doubt fear or wavering in this life Glorification appertaining only to the life to come by hope is looked for Grace and Mercy preventeth Election ordaineth Vocation prepareth and receiveth the Word whereby cometh Faith Faith justifieth Justification bringeth glory Election is the immediate and next cause of Vocation Vocation which is the working of Gods Spirit by the Word is the immediate and next cause of Faith Faith is the immediate and next cause of Justification And this order and connexion of causes is diligently to be observed because of the Papists which have miserably confounded and inverted this doctrine thus teaching that Almighty God so far as he foreseeth mans merits before to come so doth he dispence his Election Dominus prout cujusque merita fore praevidet ita dispensat electionis gratiam futuris tamen concedere That is that the Lord recompenseth the grace of Election not to any merits proceeding but yet granteth the same to the merits that follow after and not rather have our holiness by Gods Election going before But we following the Scripture say otherwise that the cause only of God Election is his own free mercy and the cause only of our justification is our faith in Christ and nothing else As for example first concerning Election if the question be asked why was Abraham chosen and not Nathor why was Jacob chosen and not Esau why was Moses Elected and Pharaoh hardened why David accepted and Saul refused why few be chosen and the most forsaken It cannot be answered otherwise but thus because so was the good will of God In like manner touching Vocation and also Faith if the question be asked why this Vocation and gift of Faith was given to Cornelius the Gentile and not to Tertullus the Jew why to the Poor the Babes and the little ones of the world of whom Christ speaketh I thank the Father which hast hid these from the wise c. Matth. 11. why to the unwise the simple abjects and out-casts of the world of whom speaketh Saint Paul 1 Cor. 1. You see your calling my Brethren why not many of you c. Why to the sinners and not to the just why the Beggars by the high-ways were called and the bidden guests excluded We can ascribe no other cause but to Gods purpose and Election and say with Christ our Saviour quia Pater sic complacitum est ante te Yea Father for that it seemed good in thy sight Luk. 10. And so it is for Justification likewise if the question be asked why the Publican was justified and not the Pharisee Luk. 18. Why Mary the sinner and not Simon the inviter Luk. 11. Why Harlots and Publicans go before the Scribes and Pharisees in the Kingdom Matth. 21. why the Son of the Free-woman was received and the Bond-womans Son being his elder rejected Gen 21. why Israel which so long sought for righteousness found it not and the Gentiles which sought it not found it Rom. 9. We have no other cause hereof to render but to say with Saint Paul because they sought for it by works of the Law and not by Faith which
Faith as it cometh not by mans will as the Papists falsly pretend but only by the Election and free gift of God so it is only the immediate cause whereto the promise of our salvation is annexed according as we read And therefore of faith is the inheritance given as after grace that the promise might stand sure to every side Rom. 4. and in the same Chapter Faith believing in him that justifieth the wicked is imputed to righteousness And this concerning the causes of our salvation you see how Faith in Christ immediately and without condition doth justifie us being solicited with Gods mercy and Election that wheresoever Election goeth before Faith in Christ must needs follow after And again whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus through the vocation of God he must needs be partaker of Gods election whereupon resulteth the third note or consideration which is to consider whether a man in this life may be certain of his election To answer to which question this first is to be understood that although our election and vocation simply indeed be known to God only in himself a priore yet notwithstanding it may be known to every particular faithful man a posteriore that is by means which means is Faith in Christ Jesus crucified For as much as by Faith in Christ a man is justified and thereby made the child of salvation reason must needs lead the same to be then the child of election chosen of God to everlasting life For how can a man be saved but by consequence it followeth that he must also be elected And therefore of election it is truly said de electione judicandum est à posteriore that is to say we must judge of election by that which cometh after that is by our faith and belief in Christ which faith although in time it followeth after election yet this the proper immediate cause assigned by the Scripture which not only justifieth us but also certifieth us of this election of God whereunto likewise well agreeth this present Letter of Mr. Bradford wherein he saith Election albeit in God it be the first yet to us it is the last opened And therefore beginning first saith he with Creation I come from thence to Redemption and Justification by faith so to election not that faith is the cause efficient of election being rather the effect thereof but is to us the cause certificatory or the cause of our certification whereby we are brought to the feeling and knowledge of our election in Christ For albeit the election first be certain in the knowledge of God yet in our knowledge Faith only that we have in Christ is the thing that giveth to us our certificate and comfort of this election Wherefore whosoever desireth to be assured that he is one of the Elect number of God let him not climb up to Heaven to know but let him descend into himself and there search his faith in Christ the Son of God which if he find in him not feigned by the working of Gods Spirit accordingly thereupon let him stay and so wrap himself wholly both body and soul under Gods general promise and cumber his head with no further speculations knowing this that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish Joh. 3. shall not be confounded Rom. 9. shall not see death Joh. 8. shall not enter into judgment Joh. 5. shall have everlasting life Joh. 3.7 shall be saved Matth. 28. Act. 16. shall have remission of all his sins Act. 10. shall be justified Rom. 3. Gal. 2. shall have floods flowing out of him of the water of life Joh. 7. shall never die Joh. 11. shall be raised at the lest day Joh. 6. shall find rest in his soul and be refreshed Matth. 11. c. Such is the judgment and opinion of our Martyrologist in the great point of Predestination unto life the residue thereof touching justification being here purposely cut off with an c. as nothing pertinent to the business which we have in hand But between the Comment and the Text there is a great deal of difference the Comment laying the foundation of Election on the Will of God according to the Zuinglian or Calvinian way but the Text laying it wholly upon faith in Christ whom God the Father hath Predestinate in Christ unto eternal life according to the doctrine of the Church of England The Text first presupposeth an estate of sin and misery into which man was fallen a ransom paid by Christ for man and his whole Posterity a freedom left in man thus ransomed either to take or finally to refuse the benefit of so great mercy and then fixing or appropriating the benefit of so great a mercy as Christ and all his merits do amount to upon such only as believe But the Comment takes no notice of the fall of man grounding both Reprobation and Election on Gods absolute pleasure without relation to mans sin or our Saviours sufferings or any acceptation or refusal of his mercies in them As great a difference there is between the Author of the Comment and Bishop Hooper as between the Comment and the Text Bishop Hooper telleth us cap. 10. num 2. that Saul was no more excluded from the promise of Christ than David Esau than Jacob Judas than Peter c. if they had not excluded themselves quite contrary to that of our present Author who having asked the question why Jacob was chosen and not Esau why David accepted and Saul refused c. makes answer that it cannot otherwise be answered than that so was the good will of God And this being said I would fain know upon what authority the Author hath placed Nachor amongst the Reprobates in the same rank with Esan Pharaoh and Saul all which he hath marked out to reprobation the Scripture laying no such censure on Nachor or his Posterity as the Author doth Or else the Author must know more of the estate of Nachor than Abraham his Brother did who certainly would never have chosen a Wife for his Son Isaac out of Nachors line if he had looked upon them as reprobated and accursed of God I observe secondly that plainly God is made an accepter of persons by the Authors doctrine For first he telleth us that the elder Son had a better will to tarry by his Father and so did indeed but the fatted Calf was given to the younger Son that ran away and thereupon he doth infer that the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept I observe thirdly that Vocation in the Authors judgment standeth upon Gods Election as the work thereof whereas Vocation is more general and is extended unto those also whom they call the Reprobate and therefore standeth not on Election as the Author hath it For many are called though out of those many which are called but a few are chosen Fourthly I observe that notwithstanding the Author builds the doctrine of Election on Gods
of those godly men which teach us to enquire no further after our Election than as it is to be found in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ Of which Bishop Latimer in the first place thus viz. Lat. in Serm. on Septuages p. 3. fol. 214. If thou art desirous to know whether thou art chosen to everlasting life thou maist not begin with God for God is too high thou canst not comprehend him the judgments of God are unknown to man therefore thou must not begin there But begin with Christ and learn to know Christ and wherefore that he came namely That he came to save sinners and made himself a subject of the Law and fulfiller of the same to deliver us from the wrath and danger thereof and therefore was crucified for our sins c. Consider I say Christ and his coming and then begin to try thy self whether thou art in the Book of Life or not If thou findest thy self in Christ then thou art sure of everlasting life If thou be without him then thou art in an evil case for it is written nemo venit ad patrem nisi per me that is no man cometh to my Father but through me therefore if thou knowest Christ thou maist know further of thy Election And then in another place When we are troubled within our selves whether we be elected or no we must ever have this Maxim or principal rule before our eyes namely that God beareth a good will towards us God loveth us God beareth a Fatherly heart towards us But you will say How shall I know that or how shall I believe that We may know Gods good will towards us through Christ for so saith John the Evangelist Filius qui est in sinu patris ipse revelavit that is The Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath revealeed it Therefore we may perceive his good will and love towards us He hath sens the same Son into the World which hath suffered most painful death for us Shall I now think that God hateth me or shall I doubt of his love towards me And in another place Here you see how you shall avoid the scrupulous and most dangerous question of the Predestination of God for if thou wilt enquire into his Councils and search his Consistory thy wit will deceive thee for thou shalt not be able to search the Council of God But if thou begin with Christ and consider his coming into the World and dost believe that God hath sent him for thy sake to suffer for thee and to deliver thee from Sin Death the Devil and Hell Then when thou art so armed with the knowledge of Christ then I say this simple question cannot hurt thee for thou art in the Book of Life which is Christ himself For thus it is writ Sic Deus dilexit mundum that God so entirely loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son to the end that all that believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life whereby appeareth most plainly that Christ is the Book of Life and that all that believe in him are of the same Book and so are chosen to everlasting life for only those are ordained that believe Not stays that godly Bishop here but proceeds after some intervening passages towards this Conclusion Here is now taught you saith he how to try your Election namely in Christ For Christ is the Accompting Book and Register of God and even in the same Book that is Christ are written all the names of the Elect therefore we cannot find our Election in our selves neither yet the high Council of God for inscrutabilia sunt judicia Altissimi Where then shall I find my Election in the Compting Book of God which is Christ c. Agreeable whereunto we find Bishop Hooper speaking thus The cause of our Election is the mercy of God in Christ howbeit he that will be partaker of this Election must receive the promise in Christ by faith for therefore we be Elected because afterwards we are made the Members of Christ So we judge of Election by the event or success that hapneth in the life of man those only to be Elected that by faith apprehend the mercy promised in Christ To the same purpose also but not so clearly and perspicuously speaks the Book of Homilies Hom. of the misery of man fol. 11. where we find it thus viz. That of our selves as in our selves we find nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable captivity in which we were cast through the envy of the Devil by breaking Gods Commandment in our first Parent Adam It is the Lord with whom is plenteous Redemption he is the God which of his own mercy saveth us c. not for our own deserts merits or good deeds c. but of his meer mercy freely and for whose sake truly for Christ Jesus sake the pure and undesiled Lamb of God c. for whose sake God is fully pacified satisfied and set at one with man Such is the Doctrine of the Church in the matter of Predestination unto life according to the judgment of these learned men and godly Martyrs who were of such Authority in the Reformation Proceed we next to one of an inferiour Order the testimony of John Bradford Martyr a man in very high esteem with Martin Bucer made one of the Prebends of S. Pauls Church by Bishop Ridley and one who glorified God in the midst of the flames with as great courage as his Patron of whom we find a Letter extant in the Acts and Monuments Fox Acts and Mon. fol. 1505. directed to his friends N. S. and R. C. being at that time not thoroughly instructed in the Doctrine of Gods Election The words of which Letter are as followeth I wish to you my good Brethren the same grace of God in Christ which I wish and pray the Father of mercies to give me for his holy names sake Amen Your Letter though I have not read my self because I would not alienate my mind from conceived things to write to others yet I have heard the sum of it that it is of Gods Election wherein I wil briefly relate to you my faith and how for I think it good and meet for a Christian to wade in I believe that man made after the Image of God did fall from that blessed estate to the condemnation of him and all his posterity I believe that Christ for man being then fallen did oppose himself to the judgment of God as a Mediator paying the ransom and price of Redemption for Adam and his whole Posterity that refuse it not finally I believe that all that believe I speak of such as be of years of discretion are partakers of Christ and all his merits I believe that faith and belief in Christ is the work and gift of God given to no other than to those which be his Children that is to those whom God the Father before the
ΚΕΙΜΗΛΙΑ ' ΕΚΚΛΗΣΙΑΣΤΙΚΑ THE HISTORICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS TRACTS Of the Reverend and Learned Peter Heylyn D. D. Now Collected into one Volume I. Ecclesia Vindicata Or The Church of ENGLAND Justified 1. In the Way and Manner of her Reformation 2. In Officiating by a Publick Liturgy 3. In prescribing a set Form of Prayer to be used by Preachers before their Sermons 4. In her Right and Patrimony of Tythes 5. In retaining the Episcopal Government 6. And the Canonical Ordination of Priests and Deacons II. The History of the SABBATH in two Parts III. Historia Quinquarticularis Or A Historical Declaration of the Judgment of the Western Churches and more particularly of the Church of England in the Five Controverted Points reproach'd in these last times with the Name of Arminianism IV. The Stumbling-Block of Disobedience and Rebellion proving the Kingly Power to be neither Co-ordinate nor Subordinate to any other upon Earth To which are Added V. A Treatise de jure Paritatis Episcoporum Or A Defence of the Right of Peerage of the English Bishops AND An Account of the Life of the AUTHOR Never before Published With an exact Table to the whole LONDON Printed by M. Clark for Charles Harper at the Flower-de-luce over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet 1681. THE LIFE OF The most Learned and Reverend Dr. PETER HEYLYN TO Write the Lives of worthy Personages was ever accounted a most laudable custom amongst the Heathens For to perpetuate the memory of the Dead who were eminent in Vertue did manifestly conduce to the publique benefit of the Living much more the Ancient Christians in their time both solemnly retained this practice and adjudged it an act of Piety and Justice to the Deceased If they were Men of Fame for Learning or other Virtues to Celebrate their praises to Posterity and by this means stir up Emulation in others to follow so noble precedents before them For which cause S. Jerom writ his Catalogus illustrium Virorum before whom also Eusebius with others in short recorded to future Ages the holy Lives of those Primitive Fathers who were signally active or passive for the Christian Faith Tacit. lib. 4. Suum cuique decus posteritas rependit saith the Historian Posterity doth render to every man the Commendation he deserves Therefore for the Reverend Authors sake and in due Veneration of his Name which I doubt not is honoured by all true Sons of the Church of England both for his Learned Writings and constant Sufferings in defence of her Doctrine and Discipline established by Law here is faithfully presented to them a true and compleat Narrative of his Life before his Elaborate Works Reprinted to answer the common expectation of men in this case who would read his Person together with the ordinary and extraordinary occurrences of Providence that befel him as well as his Books that were long before published to the World To give satisfaction in the former here is nothing inserted but the Relations of truth which hath been often heard from his own mouth spoken to his dearest Friends or written by his Pen in some loose fragments of Paper that were found left in his Study after his death upon which as on a sure foundation the whole Series and Structure of the following Discourse is laid together but would have been more happily done if he had left larger Memoirs for it Nothing was more usual in ancient times than for good men saith Tacitus to describe their own Lives Suam ipsi vitam narrare In vita Jul. Agric. fiduciam potius morum quam arrogantiam arbitrati sunt Upon a confidence of their right behaviour rather than to be supposed any arrogancy or presumption in them First of all I shall begin with his Birth In that Country above all other enobled with the famous seat of the Muses to which he was a constant Votary Cambd. Britt by Cambden Oxford is called the Sun Eye and Soul of Great Britain by Matthew Paris the second School of the Church the present Author saith co-eval to Paris if not before it the glory of this Island and of the Western parts near which place or noble Athens Peter Heylyn was Born at Burford an ancient Town of good Note in the County of Oxford upon the 29th day of Novemb. An. Dom. 1600. in the same year with the Celebrated Historian Quensted Dialog de pat illust vir Jacobus Aug. Thuanus on both whom the Stars poured forth the like benign influences But the former viz. Peter Heylyn had not only the faculty of an Historian but the gift of a general Scholar in other Learning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as will appear to any one that reads his laborious Writings He was second Son of Henry Heylyn Gentleman Descended from the Ancient Family of the Heylyns of Pentre-Heylyn in Moungomery-Shire then part of Powis-Land from the Princes whereof they were derived and unto whom they were Hereditary Cup-Bearers for so the word Heylyn doth signifie in the Welsh or Brittish Language An Honourable Office in most Nations which we find in Divine as well as Profane History Neh. 1.11 Magni honoris erat Pincernae munus apud Persás saith Alex. ab Alex. And if Cambden Clarencieux be of good Authority the Reverend Doctor deriveth his Pedegree from Greno ap Heylyn who descended from Brockwell Skythrac one of the Princes of Powis-Land a man of so great Authority with the Princes of North-Wales that Llewellyn the last Prince of that Country made choice of the said Grono-ap-Heylyn to treat with the Commissioners of Edward I. King of England for the concluding a final Peace between them which afterwards being broken by L'lewellyn in him ended all the Princes of North-Wales after they had Reigned for the space of 405. years a goodly time that scarcely the greatest Monarchies in the World have withstood their fatal period and dissolution Yet the Family of Pentre Heylyn from whom the said Grono-ap-Heylyn descended in a direct Line continued their Seat until the year Anno Dom 1637. at which time Rowland Heylyn Alderman and Sheriff of London and Cousin-german to Dr. Heylyn's Father dying without Issue-Male the Seat was transferred into another Family into which the Heiresses Married but if the Doctor had lived a little longer he intended to have repurchased that Seat and bring it back again into the Name and Family His Cousin Mr. Rowland Heylyn before his death caused the Welch and Brittish Bible to be Printed at his own Charges in a portable Volume for the benefit of his Country-men which was before in a large Church Folio also the Practice of Piety in Welch a Book though common not to be despised besides a Welch Dictionary for the better understanding of that Language One thing of chief remark is a Tradition among the Heylyns deriving their Pedigree from Brockwell Skythrac in whose Family was ever observed that one of them had a gag Tooth and the same a notable Omen of good
time contracted somewhat of that rust and rubbish wherewith the middle ages of the Church did so much abound Yet if mine own opinion were demanded in it though I agree unto the story both for the number of the Bishops and the Metropolitans I must needs think there was some other reason for it than the relation of the number of the Flamines and Archiflamines which is there pretended And that this was not done at once but in a longer tract of time than the Reign of Lucius as was in part affirmed before That Lucius did convert the Temples of the Idols into Christian Churches setled the revenues of the same upon the Churches by him founded I shall easily grant so far forth as the bounds of his dominions will give way unto it but being there were but 28 Cities in all that part of Britain which we now call England as both from Huntingdon and Beda was before delivered and that King Lucius was but a Tributary Prince of those Regions only which were inhabited by the Trinobantes and Cattieuchlani as I do verily conceive he was I believe rather that the number of the Bishops and Archbishops which our stories speak of related to the form of government as it was afterwards established in the Roman Empire Notitia Provinc in div cap. and not to any other cause whatever Now they which have delivered to us the state of the Roman Empire inform us this That for the easier government and administration of the same it was divided into fourteen Diocesses for so they called those greater portions into the which it was divided every Diocess being subdivided into several Provinces and every Province in the same conteining many several Cities And they which have delivered to us the estate of the Christian Church Notitia Prov. dignitat c. have informed us this that in each City of the Empire wherein the Romans had a Defensor Civitatis as they called that Magistrate the Christians when they gain'd that City to the holy faith did ordain a Bishop that over every Province in which the Romans had their Presidents they did place an Arch-bishop whose seat being commonly in the Metropolis of the Province gave him the name of Metropolitan and finally that in every Diocess in which the Romans had their Vicarius or Lieutenant-General the Christians also had their Primate and seated him in the same City also where the other was This ground thus layed it will appear upon examination that Britain in the time of the Roman Empire was a full Diocese of it self no way depending upon any other portion of that mighty State Ib. in Provinc Occident sup c. 3. as any way subordinate thereunto And being a Diocese in it self it was divided in those times into these three Provinces viz. Britannia prima Cambd. de divisione Britan. containing all the Countrys on the South of the River Thames and those inhabited by the Trinobantes Cattieuchlani and Iceni 2. Britannia secunda comprising all the Nations within the Severn and 3. Maxima Caesariensis which comprehended all the residue to the Northern border In the which Provinces there were no less than 28 Cities as before is said of which York was the chief in Maxima Caesariensis London the principal in Britannia prima Caer-Leon upon Vsk being the Metropolis in Britannia secunda And so we have a plain and apparent reason not only of the 28 Episcopal Sees erected anciently in the British Church but why three of them and three only should be Metropolitans For howsoever after this there were two other Provinces taken out of the former three viz. Valentia and Flavia Caesariensis which added to the former Id. ibid. made up five in all yet this being after the conclusion of the Nicene Council the Metropolitan dignity in the Church remained as before it did without division or abatement according to the Canon of that famous Synod Concil Nicen. Can. 6. And herewithal we have a pregnant and infallible Argument that Britain being in it self a whole and compleat Diocese of the Roman Empire no way subordinate unto the Praefect of the City of Rome but under the command of its own Vicarius or Lieutenant-General the British Church was also absolute and independent owing nor suit nor service as we use to say unto the Patriarch or Primate of the Church of Rome but only to its own peculiar and immediate Primate as it was elsewhere in the Churches of the other Dioceses of the Roman Empire This I conceive to be the true condition of the British Church and the most likely reason for the number of Bishops and Arch-bishops here established according to the truth of Story abstracted from those errours and mistakes which in the middle Ages of the Church have by the Monkish Writers of those times been made up with them But for the substance of the story as by them delivered which is the planting of the Church with Bishops in eminent places that appears evidently true by such remainders of antiquity as have escaped the tyranny and wrack of time For in the Council held at Arles in France Anno 314. Tom. 1. Concilior Gall. Ã Sirmundo edit we find three British Bishops at once subscribing viz. Eborius Bish of York Restitutus B. of London and Adelfus B. of Colchester there called Colonia Londinensium Gennadius also in his Tract de viris illustribus mentioneth one Fastidius by the name of Fastidius Britanniarum Episcopus Gennad in Catal amongst the famous Writers of old time placing him Anno 420 or thereabouts whom B. God win I cannot tell upon what reasons Godwin in Catal. Episc Londinens Cit. ap Armachan de Primor c. 5. Cambden in Brigant reckoneth amongst the Bishops of the See of London Particularly for the Bishops or Archbishops of the British Church we have a Catalogue of the Metropolitans of London collected or made up by Joceline a Monk of Fournest an ancient Monastery in the North being 14 in all which howsoever the validity thereof may perhaps be questioned by more curious Wits yet I shall lay down as I find it taking their names from him that little story which concerns them out of other Writers First then we have Theon or Theonus 2 Eluanus one of the two Ambassadours sent by King Lucius to the Pope 3 Cadar or Cadoeus 4 Obinus or Owinus 5 Conanus 6 Palladius 7 Stephanus 8 Iltutus 9 Theodwinus 10 Theodredus 11 Hilarius Geosr Monmouth hist Brit. Speed in descr Britan. 12 Guitelinus sent as Ambassadour to Aldrocnus King of Armorica or Little-Britain to crave his aid against the Scots and Picts who then plagued the Britains 13 Vodius or Vodinus slain by Hengist but some say by Vortiger at the first entrance of the Sateons into this Isle 14 And last of all Theonus who had been sometimes Bishop of Gloncester but was after translated hither and was the last Bishop of London of this line or Series Of
able of our selves so much as to think well and where in giving the cause why some have revolted from the Faith and some stand firm he said it was because the Foundation of God standeth sure and hath this seal the Lord knoweth who are his They added divers passages of the Gospel of S. John and infinite Anthorities of S. Augustine because the Saint wrote nothing in his old Age but in favour of this Doctrine But some others though of Iess esteem opposed this opinion calling it hard cruel inhumane horrible impious and that it shewed partiality in God if without any motive cause he elected one and rejected another and unjust if he damned men for his own will and not for their faults and had created so great a multitude to condemn it They said it destroyed Free-will because the Elect cannot finally do evil nor the Reprobate good that it casteth men into a gulph of desperation doubting that they be Reprobates That it giveth occasion to the wicked of bad thoughts not caring for Pennance but thinking if they be elected they shall not perish if Reprobates it is in vain to do well because it will not help them They confessed that not only works are not the cause of Gods election because that is before them and eternal but that neither Works foreseen can move God to Predestinate who is willing for his infinite mercy that all should be saved to this end prepareth sufficient assistance for all which every man having Free-will receiveth or refuseth as pleaseth him and God in his eternity foreseeth those who will receive his help and use it to good and those who will refuse and rejecteth these electeth and predestinateth those They added That otherwise there was no cause why God in the Scriptures should complain of sinners nor why he should exhort all to repentance and conversion if they have not sufficient means to get them that the sufficient assistance invented by the others is insufficient because in their opinion it never had nor shall have any effect The first Opinion as it is mystical and hidden keeping the mind humble and relying on God without any confidence in it self knowing the deformity of sin and the excellency of Divine Grace so this second was plausible and popular cherishing humane presumption and making a great shew and it pleased more the preaching Fryers than the understanding Divines And the Council thought it probable as consonant to politick Reason It was maintained by the Bishop of Bitonto and the Bishop of Salpi shewed himself very partial The Defenders of this using humane Reasons prevailed against the others but coming to the testimonies of Scripture they were manifestly overcome Calarinus holding the same Opinion to resolve the places of Scripture which troubled them all invented a middle way That God of his goodness had elected some few whom he will save absolutely to whom he hath prepared most potent effectual and infallible means the rest he desireth for his part they should be saved and to that end hath promised sufficient means for all leaving it to their choice to accept them and be saved or refuse them and be damned Amongst these there are some who receive them and are saved though they be not of the number of the Elect of which kind there are very many Other refusing to co-operate with God who wisheth their salvation are damned The cause why the first are predestinated is only the will of God why the others are saved is the acceptation good use and co-operation with the Divine assistance foreseen by God why the last are reprobated is the foreseeing of their perverse will in refusing or abusing it That S. John S. Paul and all the places of Scripture alledged by the other part where all is given to God and which do shew infallibility are understood only of the first who are particularly priviledged and in other for whom the common way is left the admonitions exhortations and general assistances are verified unto which he that will give ear and follow them is saved and he that will not perisheth by his own fault Of these few who are priviledged above the common condition the number is determinate and certain with God but not of those who are saved by the common way depend on humane liberty but only in regard of the fore-knowledge of the works of every one Catarinus said He wondred at the stupidity of those who say the number is certain and determined and yet they add that others may be saved which is as much as to say that the number is certain and yet it may be enlarged And likewise of those who say That the Reprobates have sufficient assistance for salvation though it be necessary for him that is saved to have a greater which is to say a sufficient unsufficient He added that S. Augustins Opinion was not heard of before his time and himself confesseth it cannot be found in the works of any who wrote before him neither did himself always think it true but ascribed the cause of Gods will to merits saying God taketh compassion on and hardneth whom he listeth But that will of God cannot be unjust because it is caused by most secret merits and that there is diversity of sinners some who though they be justified deserve justification But after the heat of Disputation against the Pelagians transported him to think and speak the contrary yet when his opinion was heard all the Catholicks were scandalized as S. Prosper wrote to him and Genadius of Marselles fifty years after in his judgment which he maketh of the famous Writers said That it hapned to him according to the words of Solomon That in much speaking one cannot avoid sin and that by his fault exagitated by his Enemies the question was not then risen which might afterwards bring forth Heresie whereby the good Father did intimate his fear of that which now appeareth that is that by that opposition some Sect and Division might arise The censure of the second Article was diverse according to the three related Opinions Catarinus thought the first part true in regard of the efficacy of the Divine Will towards those who were particularly favoured But the second false concerning the sufficiency of Gods assistance unto all and mans liberty in co-operating Others ascribing the cause of Predestination in all to humane consent condemned the whole Article in both parts But those that adhered unto S. Augustine and the common opinion of the Theologans did distinguish it and said it was true in a compound sense but damnable in a divided a subtilty which confounded the minds of the Prelates and his own though he did exemplifie it by saying he that moveth cannot stand still it is true in a compound sense but is understood while he moveth but in a divided sonse it is false that is in another time Yet it was not well understood because applying it to his purpose It cannot be said that a man predestinated can be damned
they were over-ruled by the Entreaties of some and the power of others A matter so unpleasing to the rigid Calvinians that they informed against him to the State for divers Heterodoxies which they had noted in his Writings But the business being heard at the Hague he was acquitted by his Judge dispatcht for Leyden and there confirmed in his place Toward which the Testimonial Letters sent from the Church of Amsterdam did not help a little In which he stands commended Ob vitae inculpatae sanae doctrinae morum summam integritatem That is to say for a man of an unblameable life sound Doctrine and fair behaviour as may be seen at large in the Oration which was made at his Funeral in the Divinity Schools of Leyden on the 22. day of October 1609. Thus died Arminius but the Cause did not so die with him For during the first time of his sitting in the Chair of Leyden he drew unto him a great part of the University who by the Piety oâ—he man his powerful Arguments his extream diligence in that place and the clear light of Reason which appeared in all his Discourses were so wedded unto his Opinions that no time nor trouble could drown them For Arminius dying in the year 1609 as before was said the heats betwixt the Scholars and those of the contrary persuasion were rather increased than abated the more increased for want of such a prudent Moderator as had before preserved the Churches from a publick Rupture The breach between them growing wider and wider each side thought fit to seek the Countenance of the State and they did accordingly for in the year 1610. the followers of Arminius address their Remonstrnace containing the Antiquity of their Doctrines and the substance of them to the States of Holland which was encountred presently by a Contra Remonstrance exhibited by those of Calvins Party from hence the names of Remonstrants and Contra Remonstrants so frequent in their Books and Writings each Party taking opportunity to disperse their Doctrines the Remonstrants gained exceedingly upon their Adversaries For the whole Controversie being reduced to these five Points Viz. The Method and Order of Predestination The Efficacy of Christs Death The Operations of Grace both before and after mans Conversion and perseverance in the same the Parties were admitted to a publick Conference at the Hague in the year 1611. in which the Remonstrants were conceived to have had much the better of the day Now for the five Articles above mentioned they were these that follow VIZ. I. De Electione ex fide praevisa DEus aeterno immutabili Decreto in Jesu Christo filio suo ante jactum mundum fundamentum statuit ex lapso peccatis obnoxio humano genere illos in Christo propter Christum per Christum servare qui spiritus sancti gratia in eundem filium ejus credunt in ea fide fideique obedientia per eandem gratiam usque ad finem perseverant II. De Redemptione Universali Proinde Deus Christus pro omnibus ac singulis mortuuus est atque id ita quidem ut omnibus per mortem crucis Reconciliationem Peccatorum Remissionem impetrarit Ea tamen conditione ut nemo illa peccatorum Remisione fruatur praeter hominem fidelem John 2.26 1 John 2.2 III. De causa fidei Homo fidem salutarem à seipso non habet nec vi liberi sui arbitrii quandoquidem in statu defectionis peccati nihil boni quod quidem vere est bonum quale est fides salutaris ex se potest cogitare velle aut facere sed necessarium est eum à Deo in Christo per spiritum ejus sanctum regigni renovari mente affctibus seu voluntate omnibus facultatibus ut aliquid boni posset intelligere cogitare velle perficere secundum illu JOhn 15.5 sine me potestis nihil IV. De Conversionis modo De gratia est initiumi progressus perfectio omnis boni atque adeo quidem ut ipse homo Kegenitus absque hac praecedanea seu Adventitia excitante consequente co-operante gratia neq boni quid cogitare velle aut facere potest neq etiam ulli male tentationi resistere adeo quidem ut omnia bona opera quae excogitare possumus Dei gratiae in Christo tribuenda sunt Quoad vero modum co-operationis illius gratiae illa non est irresistibilis de multis enim dicitur eos spiritui sancto refistisse Actotum 7. alibi multis locis V. De Perseverantia incerta Qui Jesu Christo per veram fidem sunt insiti ac proinde spiritus ejus vivificantis participes ii abunde habent facultatum quibus contra Satanam peccatum mundum propriam suam carnem pugnent victoriam obtineant verumtamen per gratiae spiritus sancti subsidium Jesus Christus quidem illis spiritu sus in omnibus tentatinnibus adest manum porrigit modo sint ad certamen prompti ejus Auxilium Petant neque officio suo desint eos confirmat adeo quidem ut nulla satanae fraude aut vi seduci vel e manibus Christi eripi possint secundum illud Johannis 10. Nemo illos è manu mea eripiet Sed an illi ipsi negligentia sua principium illud quo sustentantur in Christo deserere non possint praesentem mundum iterum amplecti à sancta doctrina ipsis semel tradita deficere conscientiae naufragium facere à gratia excidere penitus ex sacra scriptura esset expendendum antequam illud cum plena animi tranquillitate Plerephoria dicere possumus VIZ. I. Of Election on t of Faith foreseen ALmighty God by an Eternal and unchangeable Decree ordained in Jesus Christ his only Son before the foundations of the World were laid to save all those in Christ for Christ and through Christ who being faln and under the command of sin by the assistance of the Grace of the Holy Ghost do persevere in Faith and Obedience to the very end II. Of universal Redemption To this end Jesus Christ suffered Death for all men and in every man that by his death upon the Cross he might obtain for all mankind both the forgiveness of their sins and Reconciliation with the Lord their God with this Condition notwithstanding that none but true Believers should enjoy the benefit of the Reconciliation and forgiveness of sins John 2.16 1 John 2.2 III. Of the cause or means of attaining Faith Man hath not saving Faith in and of himself nor can it attain it by the power of his own Free-will in regard that living in an estate of sin and defection from God he is not able of himself to think well or do any thing which is really or truly good amongst which sort saving Faith is to be accounted And therefore it is necessary that by God in Christ and through the Workings of the Holy Ghost he be regenerated and renewed
world The like saith Bishop Hooper also telling us Pref. to his Exposition There was no diversity in Christ of Jew or Gentile that it was never forbid but that all sorts of people and every propeny of the World to be made partakers of the Jews Religion And then again in the example of the Ninevites Thou hast saith he good Christian Reader the mercy of God and general promise of salvation performed in Christ for whose sake only God and man were set at one The less assistance we had from Bishop Hooper in the former points the more we shall receive in this touching the causes why this great benefit is not made effectual unto all alike Concerning which he lets us know That to the obtaining the first end of his justice he allureth as many as be not utterly wicked and may be helped Ibid. partly with threatnings and partly with promises and so provoketh them unto amendment of life c. and would have all men to be saved therefore provoketh now by fair means now by foul that the sinner should satisfie his just and righteous pleasure not that the promises of God appertain to such as will not repent or his threatnings unto him that doth repent but these means he useth to save his creature this way useth he to nurture us until such time as the holy Spirit worketh such a perfection in us that we will obey him though there were neither pain nor joy mentioned at all And in another place more briefly That if either out of a contempt or hate of Gods Word we fall into sin and transform our selves into the image of the Devil then we exclude our selves by this means from the promises and merits of Christ Serm. 1. Sund. after Epiph. Bishop Latimer to the same point also His salvation is sufficient to satisfie for all the World as concerning it self but as concerning us he saveth no more than such as put their trust in him and as many as believe in him shall be saved the other shall be cast out as Infidels into everlasting damnation not for lack of salvation but for infidelity and lack of faith which is the only cause of their damnation One word more out of Bishop Hooper to conclude this point which in fine is this To the Objection saith he touching that S. Peter speaketh of such as shall perish for their false doctrine c. this the Scripture answereth that the promise of grace appertaineth to every sort of men in the world and comprehendeth them all howbeit within certain limits and bounds the which if men neglect to pass over they exclude themselves from the promise of Christ CHAP. XI Of the Heavenly influences of Gods grace in the Conversion of a Sinner and mans co-operation with those Heavenly influences 1. The Doctrine of Deserving Grace ex congruo maintained in the Roman Schools before the Council of Trent rejected by our ancient Martyrs and the Book of Articles 2. The judgment of Dr. Barns and Mr. Tyndal touching the necessary workings of Gods grace on the will of man not different from that of the Church of England 3. Vniversal grace maintained by Bishop Hooper and proved by some passages in the Liturgy and Book of Homilies 4. The offer of Vniversal grace made ineffectual to some for want of faith and to others for want of repentance according to the judgment of Bishop Hooper 5. The necessity of Grace preventing and the free co-operation of mans will being so prevented maintained in the Articles in the Homilies and the publick Liturgy 6. The necessity of this co-operation on the part of man defended and applied to the exercise of a godly life by Bishop Hooper 7. The Doctrine of Irresistibility first broached by Calvin pertinaciously maintained by most of his followers and by Gomarus amongst others 8. Gainsaid by Bishop Hooper and Bishop Latimer 9. And their gainsayings justified by the tenth Article of King Edwards Books And 10. The Book of Homilies THIS leads me unto the Disputes touching the influences of Grace and the co-operation of mans will with those Heavenly influences in which the received Doctrine of the Church of Rome seems to have had some alteration to the better since the debating and concluding of those points in the Council of Trent before which time the Doctrine of the Roman Schools was thought to draw too near to the lees of Pelagianism to ascribe too much to mans Free-will or so much to it at the least as by the right use of the powers of nature might merit grace ex congruo as the School-men phrase it of the hands of God Against this it was that Dr. Barnes declared as before was said in his discourse about Free-will and against which the Church of England then declared in the 13 Article His works p. 821. affirming That such works as are done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spirit do not make men meet to receive grace or as the School-men say deserve grace of Congruity Against which Tyndal gives this note That Free-will preventeth not Grace which certainly he had never done if somewhat to the contrary had not been delivered in the Church of Rome and against which it was declared by John Lambert another of our ancient Martyrs in these following words viz. Concerning Free-will saith he I mean altogether as doth S. Augustine that of our selves we have no liberty nor ability to do the will of God but are subject unto sin Acts and Mn. fol. 1009. and thrals of the same conclusi sub peccato or as witnesseth S. Paul But by the grace of God we are rid and set at liberty according to the proportion that every man hath taken of the same some more some less But none more fully shewed himself against this opinion than Dr. Barnes before remembred not touching only on the by Collection of his works by I. D. sol 266. but writing a Discourse particularly against the errours of that time in this very point But here saith he we will search what strength is of man in his natural power without the Spirit of God to will or do those things that be acceptable before God unto the fulfilling of the will of God c. A search which had been vain and needless if nothing could be found which tended to the maintenance of acting in spiritual matters by mans natural power without the workings of the Spirit And therefore he saith very truly That man can do nothing by his Free-will as Christ teacheth for without me ye can do nothing c. where it is opened that Free-will without Grace can do nothing he speak not of eating and drinking though they be works of Grace but nothing that is fruitful that is meritorious that is worthy of thanks that is acceptable before God To which effect we also find these brief Remembrances Mans Free-will without Gods Grace can do nothing that is good p. 268. that all which
whether he be worthy of hath or love of Wisdom which commandeth not to be without fear of these sins pardoned of Saint Peter to work out our salvation with fear and trembling of Saint Paul who said of himself though my Conscience accuse me not yet I am not thereby justified These Reasons and Testimonies together with many places of the Fathers were brought and amplified especially by Levipandus Vega and Soto But Catarinus and Marinarus had other places of the same Fathers to the contrary which shewed they had spoken accidentally in this particular as the occasions made most for their purpose sometimes t comfort the scrupulous sometimes to repress the audacious yet they kept themselves close to the authority of the Scripture They said that to as many as it is read in the Gospel that Christ hath forgiven sins to all them he said Believe that your sins are forgiven and it would be an absurdity that Christ should give an occasion of temerity and pride or if the contrary were profitable or a merit that he would deprive all men of it That the Scripture bindeth us to give God thanks for our justification which cannot be given except we know that we have obtained it for to give them when we are uncertain would be most foolish and impertinent That St. Paul doth plainly confirm the certainty when he putteth the Corinthians in mind to know that Christ is in them except they be Reprobates And when he saith we have received from God the Spirit to know what is given us by his divine Majesty and more clearly that the holy Spirit doth bear witness to our spirit that we are the Sons of God and it is much to accuse them of rashness who believe the Holy Ghost that speaketh with them For St. Ambrose saith that the Holy Ghost doth never speak unto us but doth make us know that it is he that speaketh After this he added the words of Christ in St. John that the world cannot receive the Holy Ghost because it seeth him not nor knoweth him but that the Disciples shall know him because he shall dwell in them Calarinus did fortifie himself strongly by saying that it was the opinion of a man in a dream to defend that Grace is valuntarily received when we know not whether we have it or not as if to receive a thing willingly it be not necessary that the willing receive should know it is given him that he doth really receive it and that after it is received he doth possess it The force of these Reasons made them first retire a little that censured the opinion of Temerity and yield that there might be a conjecture though not an ordinary certainty yet they acknowledged a certainty in the Martyrs in the newly Baptized and in some by special revelation and from conjecture they were brought to call it moral Faith And that Vego who in the beginning admitted probability only overcome by these Reasons and beginning of favour the certainty for fear of conforming himself to the Lutheran opinion said that there was so much certainty as did exclude all doubt and could not be deceived yet that it was not Christian Faith but humane and experimental But Catarinus and his party which were all the Carmelites not resting satisfied either in the terms of an experimental faith or a moral persuasion did press the certainty so far that many of the Prelates began to incline to that opinion and to persuade themselves that certainty of Grace was founded upon such an assurance as might in some sort be called divine though when they came to draw up the Decree therein they found themselves involved in more perplexities than they were aware of For the Point being followed with great heat between the parties and each of them conceiving that the truth was clearly on their side it was found necessary to cast the Decree into such a mold as those of the two contrary opinions might repose themselves on it And certainly he that looks on the ninth Chapter of the sixth Session of the Council entituled Contra inanem Haereticorum siduciam may easily perceive into what streights they were reduced by seeking to content the Leaders of the several factions For when the Decree came to be discussed it was no hard matter to make them joyn against that confidence which was maintained by many of Luthers followers as if a man were no otherwise justified than by the confidence which he had in his own justification yet when they came to express that certainty which had occasioned that intricate and perplexed dispute they were not so well able to state the point as not to shew their own irresolution and uncertainty in it For in the conclusion of the Decree in which they were to declare some cause for which no man could certainly know that he hath obtained Grace at the hands of God the Cardinal to satisfie one part added certainty of faith and he with the Dominicans not thinking it to be enough urged him to add the word Catholick to it so that the sence thereof might seem to be to this effect that no man could assure himself of obtaining Grace by any such certainty of Faith as may come under the notion of Catholick But because the Adherents of Catarinus were not so contented Hist of the Coun. of Trent fel. 215. instead of those words of Catholick Faith no which the Dominicans insisted it was thought necessary to declare that they meant it not of such a faith cui non potest subesse falsum which cannot be subject to falshood And thereupon the conclusion was drawn up in these following words viz. Quilibet dum seipsum suamque propriam infirmitatem indispositionem respicit de gratia formidare timere potest cum nullus scire valeat certitudine Fidei cui non potest subesse falsum se gratiam Dei esse consecutum that every one in regard of his own disposition and infirmity may doubt with himself whether he hath received this Grace or not because he cannot know by certainty of infallible faith that he hath obtained it A temperament which contented both sides For one party inferred that all the certainty of faith which could be had herein might be false or fallible and therefore to be thought uncertain the others inferred with equal confidence and content that the certainty therein declared could have no doubt of fashood or fallibility Hict of Coun. p. 21â— for the time that it remained in us and that it could no otherwise become false or fallible than by changing from the state of grace to the state of sin as all contingent truths by the alteration of their subjects may be made false also By which last clause it doth appear that all the certainty which Catarinus and the Carmelites contended for was no more but this that the Regenerate and righteous man might be certain of grace and his own justification quoad statum praesentem but not that he
Church teacheth men to pray to Almighty God not to take his holy Spirit from us And in another place that he suffer us not at our last hour for any pains of death to fall from him which certainly she had never done were it not possible for a man so far to grieve and vex the Holy Spirit of God and so far to despair of his gracious mercy as to occasion him at the last to deprive us both of the one and the other Next for the Homilies as they commend unto Gods People a probable and stedfast hope of their salvation in Christ Jesus so they allow no such infallibility of persisting in grace as to secure them from a total and final falling In reference to the first they tell us in the second part of the Sermon against the fear of death That none of those their causes of the fear of death that is to say the sorrow of repenting from our worldly pleasures the terrible apprehension of the pangs of death and the more terrible apprehension of the pains of Hell do make any trouble to good men Hom. p. 67. because they stay themselves by true faith perfect charity and sure hope of the endless joy and bliss everlasting All therefore have great cause to be full of joy that he joyned to Christ with true Faith stedfast hope and perfect charity and not to fear death nor everlasting damnation The like we find not long after where it speaks of those Who being truly penitent for their offences depart hence in perfect charity and in sure trust that God is merciful to them forgiving them their sins for the merits of Jesus Christ the only natural Son In the third part of which Sermon it is thus concluded He that conceiveth all these things and believeth them assuredly Ibid. p. 68. as they ought to be believed even from the bottom of his heart being established in God in his true faith having a quiet Conscience in Christ a firm hope and assured trust in Gods mercy through the merits of Jesus Christ to obtain this rest quietness and everlasting joy shall not only be without fear of godly death when it cometh but greatly desire in his heart as St. Paul did to be rid from all these occasions of evil and live ever to Gods pleasure in perfect obedience of his Will with Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour to whose gracious presence c By all which passages it is clear and evident that the Church teacheth us to entertain a probable and stedfast hope of our salvation in Christ Jesus but whether it teacheth also such an infallibility of persisting in grace such a certainty of perseverance as to exclude all possibility of a total or a sinal falling we are next to see And see it we may without the help of Spectacles or any of the Optical instruments if we go no farther than the title of two of those Homilies the first whereof is thus inscribed viz. A Sermon shewing how dangerous a thing it is to fall from God And it had been ridiculous if not somewhat worse to write a Sermon de non ente to terrifie the people with the danger of that misfortune which they were well enough assured they should never suffer Out of which Homilies the Appellant makes no use but of these words only Whereas God hath shewed unto all them that truly do believe his Gospel his face of mercy in Christ Jesus which doth so enlighten their hearts that they be transformed into his Image be made partakers of the Heavenly light and of his holy Spirit Hom. p. 54. be fashioned to him in all goodness requisite to the Child of God So if they do afterwards neglect the same if they be unthankful unto him if they order not their lives according unto his Doctrine and Example and to the setting forth of his glory he will take from them his holy Word his Kingdom whereby be should reign in them because they bring not forth fruit which he looked for besides which there are mony other passages to this effect where it is said that as by pride and sin we fall from God Ibid. p 50. so shall God and all goodness go from us that sometimes men go from God by lack of faith and mistrusting of God and somâ—tâ—â—te by neglecting his Commandments concerning their Neighbours And after some examples given in these several cases it followeth that by these examples of holy Scripture we may know that as we forsake God Id. p 54. so shall he forsake us And what a miserable estate doth consequently and necessarily follow thereupon a man may easily consider by the horrible threatnings of God c. And finally having not only laid before us the said horrible threatnings but the recital also of those gentle courses by which he doth endeavour to gain us to him it concludeth thus viz. that if these will not serve but still remain disobedient to his Word and Will not knowing him or loving him not fearing him nor putting our whole trust and confidence in him and on the other side to our Neighbours behaving our selves uncharitably by disdain envy malice or by committing murder robbery adultery gluttony deceit lying swearing or other like detestable works and ungodly behaviour then he threatneth us by terrible comminations swearing in great anger that whosoever doth these works shall never enter into his rest which is the Kingdom of Heaven CHAP. XIV The Plain Song of the second Homily touching the falling from God and the Descants made upon it 1. More from some other Homilies touching the possibility of falling from the grace received 2. The second Homily or Sermon touching falling from God laid down verbatim 3. The sorry shifts of Mr. Yates to elude the true meaning of the Homily plainly discovered and confuted 4. An Answer unto his Objection touching the passage cited from the former Homily in Mr. Mountagues Appeal 5. The Judgment of Mr. Ridley Archdeacon of Canterbury in the points of Election and Redemption 6. As also touching the Reasons why the Word was not preached unto the Gentiles till the coming of Christ the influences of of grace the co-workings of man and the possibility of falling from the truth of Christ NOR doth the Church declare this only in the former Homily where the poin is purposely maintained but in some others also obiter and upon the by whert it discourseth principally on some other subject Hom. of good works p. 32. for in the second part of the Sermon of good Works we shall find St. Chrysostom speaking thus viz. The Thief thawas hanged when Christ suffered did believe only and the most merciful God justified himt And because no man shall say again that he wanted time to do good works for else he could have done them truth it is and I will not contend herein but this I will surely affirm that faith only saved him If he had lived and not regarded Faith and
granteth us to be calledby preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ when the Spirit of the Lord is poured upon us by whose guiding and governance we be led to settle our trust in God and hope for the performance of his promise With this choice is joyned as companion the mortifying of the Old man that is of our affections and lusts from the same Spirit also cometh our Sanctification the love of God and of our Neighbour justice and uprightness of life Finally to say all in sum whatever is in us or may be done of us honest pure true and good that altogether springeth out of this most pleasant Rock from this most plentiful Fountain the goodness love choice and unchangable purpose of God he is the cause the rest are the fruits and effects Yet are also the choice and Spirit of God and Christ himself causes conjoyned and coupled each with other which may be reckoned amongst the principal causes of salvation As oft therefore as we use to say that we are made righteous and saved by Faith only it is meant thereby that faith or rather trust alone doth lay hard upon understand and perceive our righteous making to be given us of God freely that is to say by no deserts of our own but by the free grace of the Almighty Father Moreover Faith doth ingender in us love of our Neighbour and such works as God is pleased withal for if it be a lively and true faith quickned by the Holy Ghost she is the mother of all good saying and doing By this short tale it is evident by what means we attain to be righteous For not by the worthiness of our deservings were we heretofore chosen or long ago saved but by the only mercy of God and pure grace of Christ our Lord whereby we were in him made to do those good works that God had appointed for us to walk in And although good works cannot deserve to make us righteous before God yet do they so cleave unto Faith that neither Faith can be found without them nor good works be any where found without Faith Fol. 68. immortality and blesse life God hath provided for his chosen before the foundations of the World were laid These are the passages which Mr. Prin hath gathered out of Poynets Catechism to prove that Calvinism is the true genuine and original Doctrine of the reformed Church of England in the Points disputed for my part I can see no possible inconvenience which can follow on it in yielding so far to his desires as to admit the passages before recited to be fully consonant to the true genuine sense and proper meaning of all but more especially of our 9 10 13 16 and 17. Articles then newly composed so that whatsoever is positively and clearly affirmed in this Catechism of any of the Points now controverted may be safely implied as the undoubted Doctrine of our Church and Articles For who can find if he looks upon them with a single and impartial eye that all or any of the passages before treated can be made use of for the countenancing of such a personal and eternal election without relation unto sin as is supposed by the Supralapsarians or without reference to Christs death and sufferings as is defended by the Sublapsarians in the Schools of Calvin What ground can a man find here for the Horribile Decretum that cruel and most unmerciful decree of pre-ordaining the far greatest part of all man-kind to everlasting damnation and consequently unto sin that they might be damned What passage find we in all these either in opposition to the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption though that be afore said to be here condemned or in maintenance of the irresistible working of the grace of God as takes away all freedom and co-operation from the will of man and renders him as unable to his own conversion as to the work of his own being begotten to the life of nature or to the raising of his dead body to life of glory And finally what assurance is here that the man once justified shall not fall into deadly sin or not continue in the same multiplying one sin upon another till he hath made up the measure of his iniquities and yet all this while remain in the favour of God and be as sure and certain of his own salvation by the like unresistible working of the holy Spirit as if he had never wandred from the ways of Righteousness He must see further into a Mill-stone than all men living who can conclude from all or any of those passages that the Zuinglian and Calvinian Doctrines the Anti Arminian Doctrines Antiaâ—m as that Author calls them are manifestly approved and undeniably confirmed by them as the only ancient established and professed Doctrines of our Church and Articles or that can honestly affirm as his eccho doth that both the Master and the Scholar declare themselves plainly in that Catechism to be no friends to any of the Tenents which those of the opposite side contend for Which said 〈◊〉 Faith 〈◊〉 -arm p. 102. we will endeavour to find out Bishop Poynets judgment in the points disputed or so many of them at the least as are touched upon as well from such fragments as are offered to us in the Anti-Arminianism as from such passages as have been cunningly slipt over of purpose to subduct them from the eye of the Reader And first the Author lets us know that God created man after his own Image that is to say in ea absolutissima Justitia perfectissima sanctimonia c. in such a high degree of righteousness and perfect holiness as came most near unto the nature of God himself that this Divine image was so defaced by the sin of our first Parents Adam and Eve that those lineaments of righteousness holiness truth and knowledge of God were disordered and almost obliterated that man being in this wretched case it pleased God to raise him to a new hope of Restitution in the seed of the Woman that is to say in Jesus Christ his only Son conceived of the Holy Ghost and born of the pure and most immaculate Virgin Mary the actions of whose life do so much redound to our benefit and commodity that if we cleave fast unto them with a true and lively faith they shall be as much ours as his and finally that as many as are in this faith stedfast were fore-chosen predestinate and appointed to everlasting life before the world was made 2. In the next place he lets us know which the Author hath amongst his fragments that the sacrificings cleansings washings and other Ceremonies of the Law were Shadows Types Images and Figures of the true and eternal Sacrifice of Jesus Christ made upon the Cross by whose benefit alone all the sins of all Believers from the beginning of the World are pardoned by the sore mercy of God and not by any deserts of their own But then he lets us
not only a strong interruption for the present to the proceeding of the Church but an occasion also of great discord and dissention in it for the time to come For many of our Divines who had fled beyond the Sea of avoid the hurry of her Reign though otherwise men of good abilities in most parts of Learning returned so altered in their principals as to points of Doctrine so disaffected to the Government Forms of worship here by Law established that they seem'd not to be the same men at their coming home as they had been at their going hence yet such was the necessity which the Church was under of filling up the vacant places and preferments which had been made void either by the voluntary discession or positive deprivation of the Popish Cleergy that they wer fain to take in all of any condition which were able to do the publick service without relation to their private opinions in doctrine or discipline nothing so much regarded in the chice of men for Bishopricks Deanries Dignities in Cathedral Churches the richest Benefices in the Countrey and places of most command and trust in the Universities as their known zeal against the Papists together with such a sufficiency of learning as might enable them for writing and preaching against the Popes Supremacy the carnal presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament the superstitions of the Mass the half Communion the celebrating of Divine service in a tongue not known unto the People the inforced single life of Priests the worshipping of Images and other the like points of Popery which had given most offence and were the principal causes of that separation On this account we find Mr. Pilkington preferred to the See of Durham and Whittingham to the rich Deanry of the Church of which the one proved a grear favourer of the Non-conformists as is confessed by one who challengeth a relation to his blood and family the other associated himself with Goodman as after Goodman did with Knox for lanting Puritanism and sedition in the Kirk of Scotland On this account Dr. Lawrence Humphrey a professed Calvinian in point of doctrine and a Non-conformist but qualified with the title of a moderate one is made the Queens Professor for Divinity in the University of Oxon Thomas Cartwright that great Incendiary of this Church preferred to be the Lady Margarets Professor in the University of Cambridge Sampson made Dean of Christ-church and presently propter Puritanismum Exacutoratus Godw. in Catal Episc Oxon. turned out again for Puritanism as my Author hath it Hardiman made one of the first Prebends of Westminister of the Queens foundation and not long after deprived of it by the high Commissioners for breaking down the Altar there and defacing the ancient utepsils and ornaments which belonged to the Church And finally upon this account as Whitehead who had been Chaplain to Queen Anne Bullain refused the Archbishoprick of Canterbury before it was offered unto Parker and Coverdale to be restored to the See of Exon which he had chearfully accepted in the time of K. Edward so Mr. John Fox of great esteem for his painful and laborious work of Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs would not accept of any preferment in the Church but a Prebends place in Salisbury which tied him not to any residence in the same And this he did especially as it after proved to avoid subscription shewing a greater willingness to leave his place than to subscribe unto the Articles of Religion then by Law established when he was legally required to do it by Arch-bishop Parker Of this man there remains a short discourse in his Acts and Monuments of Predestination occasioned by a Letter of Mr. Bradfords before remembred whose Orthodox doctrine in that point he feared might create some danger unto that of Calvin which then began to find a more general entertainment than could be rationally expected in so short a time And therefore as a counter-ballance he annexeth this discourse of his own with this following title viz. Notes on the same Epistle and the manner of Election thereunto appertaining As touching the Doctrine of Election whereof this Letter of Mr. Bradford and many other of his Letters more do much intreat three things must be considered Fox in Acts and Mon. fol. 1505. 1. What Gods Election is and what the cause thereof 2. How Gods Election proceedeth in working our salvation 3. To whom Gods Election pertaineth and how a Man may be certain thereof Between Predestination and Election this difference there is Predestination is as well to the Reprobate as to the Elect Election pertaineth only to them that be saved Predestination in that it respecteth the Rebate is called Reprobation in that it respected the saved is called Election and is thus defined Predestination is the eternal decreement of God purposed before in himself what shall befal all men either to salvation or damnation Election is the free mercy and grace of God in his own will through faith in Christ his Son choosing and preferring to life such as pleaseth him In this definition of Election first goeth before the mercy and grace of God as the causes thereof whereby are excluded all works of the Law and merits of deserving whether they go before faith or come after so was Jacob chosen and Esau refused before either of them began to work c. Secondly in that the mercy of God in this Definition is said to be free thereby is to be noted the proceeding and working of God not to be bound to any ordinary place or to any succession of choice nor to state and dignity of person nor to worthiness of blood c. but all goeth by the meer will of his own purpose as it is written spiritus ubi vult spirat c. And thus was the outward race and stock of Abraham after flesh refused which seemed to have the preheminence and another seed after the Spirit raised by Abraham of the stones that is of the Gentiles So was the outward Temple of Jerusalem and Chair of Moses which seem'd to be of price forsaken and Gods Chair advanced in other Nations So was tall Saul refused and little David accepted the Rich the Proud and the Wise of this world rejected and the word of salvation daily opened to the poor and miserable abjects the high Mountains cast under and the low valleys exalted c. And in the next place it is added in his own will by this falleth down the free will and purpose of man with all his actions counsels and strength of nature according as it is written non est volentis neque currentis sed miserentis Dei c. It is not him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy So we see how Israel ran long and yet got nothing The Gentile runneth began to set out late and yet got the game So they which came at the first which did labour more
of the Ninevites before the year 1574. being ten years before the preaching of Harsnets Sermon at St. Pauls Cross and more than twenty years before the stirs at Cambridge betwixt him and Whitacres In all which time or at lest the greatest part thereof he inclined rather unto the Melancthonian way according to the Judgment of the Church of England in laying down the Doctrine of Prodestination than to that of Calvin For fifteen years it is confest in a Letter sent by some of the heads of Cambridg to William Lord Burleigh then Chancellour of the University Anti-Arminian p. 256. bearing date March the 8. 1595. That he had taught in his Lectures preached in Sermons determined in the Schools and printed in several books a contrary Doctrine unto that which was maintained by Dr. Whitacres and had been taught and received in the University ever since the beginning of her Majesties Reign which last though it be gratis dictum without proof or evidence yet it is probable enough that it might be so Cartwright that unextinguished Firebrand being Professor in that place before him and no greater care taken in the first choice of the other before recited to have had the place than to supply it with a man of known aversness from all points of Popery And it seems also by that Letter that Baroe had not sown his seed in a barren soil but in such as brought forth fruit enough and yielded a greater increase of Followers than the Calvinians could have wished For in one place the Letter tells us that besides Mr. Barret of whom we shall speak more anon There were divers others who there attempted publickly to teach new and strange Oinions in Religion as the Subscribers of it call them And in another place it tells us of Dr. Baroe that he had many Disciples and Adherents whom he emboldned by his Example to maintain false Doctrine And by this check it may be said of Peter Baroe in reference to that University indangered to be overgrown with outlandish Doctrines as the Historian doth of Caius Marius with reference to the state of Rome in fear of being over-run by the Tribes of the Cymbri which were then breaking in upon it Actum esset de repub nisi Marius isti seculo contigisset the Commonwealth had then been utterly overthrown if Marius had not been then living Now as for Barret before mentioned he stands accused so far forth as we can discern by the Recantation which some report him to have made for preaching many strange and erroneous Doctrines that is to say 1. Anti-Armini p. 56. That no man in this transitory life is so strongly underpropped at lest by the certainty of saith that is to say as afterwards he explained himself by Revelation that he ought to be assured of his own salvation 2. That the faith of Peter could not fail but that the faith of other men might fail our Lord not praying for the faith of every particular man 3. That the certainty of perseverance for the time to come is a presumptuous and proud security forasmuch as it is in its own nature contingent and that it was not only a presumptuous but a wicked Doctrine 4. There was no distinction in the faith but in the persons believing 5. That the forgiveness of sins is an Article of the Faith but not the forgiveness of the sins particularly of this man or that and therefore that no true Believer either can or ought believe for certain that his sins are forgiven him 6. That he maintained against Calvin Peter Martyr and the rest cencernthose that are not saved that sin is the true proper and first cause of Reprobation 7. That he had taxed Calvin for lifting up himself above the high and Almighty God And 8thly That he had uttered many bitter words against Peter Martyr Theodore Beza Jerom Zanchius and Francis Junius c. calling them by the odious names of Cavinists and branding them with a most grievous mark of Reproach they being the Lights and Ornaments of our Church as is suggested in the Articles which were exhibited against him For having insisted or at lest touched upon these points in a Sermon preached at St. Maries on the â—9 of April Anno 1595. all the Calvinian heads of that University being laid together by Whitacres and inflamed by Perkins took fire immediately And in this Text he was convented on the fifth of May next following at nine of the clock in the morning before Dr. Some then Deputy Vice-Chancellour to Dr. Duport Dr. Goad Dr. Tyndal Dr. Whitacres Dr. Barwell Dr. Jegon Dr. Preston Mr. Chatterton and Mr. Claton in the presence of Thomas Smith publick Notary by whom he was appointed to attend again in the afternoon At which time the Articles above mentioned were read unto him which we alledged to be erroneous and false Et repugnantes esse religioni in regno Angliae legitima Authoritate receptae ac stabilitae that is to say contrary to the Religion received and established by publick Authority in the Realm of England To which Articles being required to give an Answer he confest that he had published in his Sermon all these positions which in the said Articles are contained sed quod contenta in iisdem Religioni Ecclesiae Angelicanae ut praefertur omnino non repugnant but denied them to be any way repugnant to the Doctrine of the Church of England Whereupon the Vice-Chancellour and the forenamed heads entring into mature deliberation and diligently weighing and examining these Positions because it did manifestly appear that the said Positions were false erroneous and likewise repugnant to the Religion received and established in the Church of England adjudged and declared that the said Barret had incurred the Penalty of the 45. Statute of the University de concionibus And by vertue and tenour of that Statute they decreed and adjudged the said Barret to make a publick Recanation in such words and form as by the Vice-Chancellour and the said heads or any three or two of them should be tendred to him or else upon his refusal to recant in that manner to be perpetually expelled both from his Colledg and the University binding him likewise in an Assumpsit of 40 l. to appear personally upon two days warning before the Vice-Chancellour or his Deputy at what time and place they should require It appears afterwards by the Register of the University that Barret being resummoned to appear before him though none but Goad Tyndal Barwell and Preston were present at that time with the Vice-Chancellour or his Deputy for I know not which a Recantation ready drawn was delivered to him which he was commanded to publish solemnly in St. Maries Church on Saturday the 10th of May then next ensuing And it is confidently affirmed by the Author of the Arminianism and his Eccho too that the said Recantation was publickly made by the said Barret at the time and place therein appointed Anti-Arminian p. 61.
composing those differences not by the way of an accommodation but an absolute conquest and to this end they dispatch'd to him certain of their number in the name of the rest such as were interessed in the Quarrel Dr. Whitacres himself for one and therefore like to stickle hard for the obtaining their ends the Articles to which they had reduced the whole state of the business being brought to them ready drawn and nothing wanting to them but the face of Authority wherewith as with Medusa's head to confound their Enemies and turn their Adversaries into stones And that they might be sent back with the face of Authority the most Reverend Archbishop Whitgift calling unto him Dr. Flecher Bishop of Bristol then newly elected unto London and Dr. Richard Vaughan Lord Elect of Bangor together with Dr. Tyndal Dean of Ely Dr. Whitacres and the rest of the Divines which came from Cambridg proposed the said Articles to their consideration at his House in Lambeth on the tenth of Novemb. Anno 1595. by whom those Articles were agreed on in these following words 1. Deus ab aeterno praedestinavit quosdam ad vitam quosdam reprobavit ad mortem 2. Causa movens aut efficiens praedestinationis ad vitam non est praevisio fidei aut perseverantiae aut bonorum operum aut ullius rei quae insit in personis Praedestinatis sed sola voluntas beneplaciti Dei 3. Praedestinatorum praefinitus certus est numerus qui nec augeri nec minui potest 4. Qui non sunt Praedestinati ad salutem necessario propter peccata sua damnabuntur 5. Vera viva justificans fides spiritus Dei justificantis non extinguitur non excidit non evanescit in Electis aut finaliter aut totaliter 6. Homo vere fidelis id est fide justificante praeditus certus est plerophoria Fidei de Remissione peccatorum suorum salute sempiterna sua per Christum 7. Gratia salutaris non tribuitur non incommunicatur non conceditur universis hominibus qua servari possint si velint 8. Nemo potest venire ad Christum nisi datum ei fuerit nisi pater eum traxerit omnes homines non trahuntur à patre ut veniant ad filium 9. Non est positum in arbitrio aut potestate uniuscujusque hominis servari 1. God from Eternity hath predestinate certain men unto life certain men he hath reprobate 2. The moving or efficient cause of predestination unto life is not the foresight of Faith or of perseverance or of good works or of any thing that is in the person predestinated but only the good will and pleasure of God 3. There is predetermined a certain number of the Predestinate which can neither be augmented or diminished 4. Those who are not predestinated to salvation shall be necessarily damned for their sins 5. A true living and justifying Faith and the Spirit of God justifying is not extinguished falleth not away it vanisheth not away in the Elect either totally or finally 6. A man truly faithful that is such an one who is indued with a justifying faith is certain with the full assurance of faith of the remission of his sins and of his everlasting salvation by Christ 7. Saving Grace is not given is not granted is not communicated to all men by which they may be saved if they will 8. No man can come unto Christ unless it be given unto him and unless the Father shall draw him and all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son 9. It is not in the will or power of every one to be saved Now in these Articles there are these two things to be considered first the Authority by which they were made and secondly the effect produced by them in order to the end proposed and first as touching the authority by which they were made it was so far from being legal and sufficient that it was plainly none at all For what authority could there be in so thin a meeting consisting only of the Archbishop himself two other Bishops of which but one had actually received consecration one Dean and half a dozen Doctors and other Ministers neither impowred to any such thing by the rest of the Clergy nor authorized to it by the Queen And therefore their determinations of no more Authority as to binding of the Church or prescribing to the judgment of particular persons than as if one Earl the eldest son of two or three others meeting with half a dozen Gentlemen in Westminster Hall can be affirmed to be in a capacity of making Orders which must be looked on by the Subject as Acts of Parliament A Declaration they might make of their own Opinions or of that which they thought fittest to be holden in the present case but neither Articles nor Canons to direct the Church for being but Opinions still and the Opinions of private and particular persons they were not to be looked upon as publick Doctrines And so much was confessed by the Archbishop himself when he was called in question for it before the Queen who being made acquainted with all that passed by the Lord Treasurer Burleigh who neither liked the Tenents nor the manner of proceeding in them was most passionately offended that any such Innovation should be made in the publicck Doctrine of this Church and once resolved to have them all attainted of a Premunire But afterwards upon the interposition of some Friends and the reverend esteem she had of the excellent Prelate the Lord Archbishop whom she commonly called her Black Husband she was willing to admit him to his defence and he accordingly declared in all humble manner that he and his Associates had not made any Articles Canons or decrees with an intent that they should serve hereafter for a standing Rule to direct the Church but only had resolved on some Propositions to be sent to Cambridge for the appeasing of some unhappy differences in the University with which Answer her Majesty being somewhat pacified commanded notwithstanding that he should speedily recall and suppress those Articles which was performed with such care and diligence that a Copy of them was not to be found for a long time after And though we may take up this relation upon the credit of History of the Lambeth Articles printed in Latin 1651. or on the credit of Bishop Mountague who affirms the same in his Appeal Appeal p. 71. Resp Nec p. 146 Anno 1525. yet since the Authority of both hath been called in question we will take our warrant for this Narrative from some other hands And first we have it in a book called Necessario Responsio published by the Remonstrants Anno 1618. who possibly might have the whole story of it from the mouth of Baroe or some other who lived at that time in Cambridge Cabul p. 117. and might be well acquainted with the former passages And secondly We find the same