cause and head of our Election c. Answ Doubtless our Authour is frequently disposed to pretend amazement at my doings and yet without all peradventure when he never shakes or shivers at all Cum frigidus nullus obstruit praecordia sanguis He doth it without once changing colour for else 1. when I did but say that he gives out Faith and I might rather have said good works of all sorts to be the cause of Election for them in all his writings he rather delights to name than Faith he could have had no reason of complaining I specified not what kind of causes he took them to be I only said he took them to be causes And I trow he will grant me that Causa sine qua non or conditio sine qua non which even p. 39. whilest he disputes against me he grants Faith and good works to be of Election are in their kind to be reputed Causes 2. Whilest in the very next lines to the words which I have transcribed he doth out of § 55. of his Correct Copy quote it that good works are required as a necessary condition though very unworthy to be the cause of our Election 3. I will leave it to understanding Readers to judge whether this necessary condition which here he talks of amount not to somewhat more then a bare antecedent or a mere Causa sine qua non The rather because in other places he calls it the important coâ—â—â—tion without which Election cannot be had Nay that which p. 70. of his Correct Copy the very page which I had quoted against him makes the difference betwixt the Elect and Reprobate and that because as there he speaks as well as elsewhere those who are in Christ by faith are better then those who are out of Christ by infidelity who therefore are chosen when as others are left yea that without which it would be unjust for God to elect any man Correct Copy p. 71. Justification precedeth Election because no man is elected unless he differ from him that is rejected p. 69. Correct Copy whatsoever is justly decreed may be justly executed as it is decreed If he decreed to save any without regard or respect of their being such he might actually save them without respect to their being such So that â—e needed not so thrasonically to have boasted of his logical skill against me whom he looks upon and represents p. 63. as a meer ignaro in these matters to distinguish p. 63. betwixt the Cause propter quam res est for which a thing is and the necessary condition sine quâ non est without which it is not whilest in his own mentioned expressions he doth sufficiently confound them 3. Though he do very often times gull us as p. 70. Correct Copy Philanthrop Chap. p. 80. with good words that God makes the difference and crowns his own gifts in us c. yet how will it be possible for him to put any good sense upon these words who every where teacheth that these previous dispositions are precedent to Election that we are not choâ—en to Faith and good works and perseverance in them but that we are by Gods choosing foreseen to have them He likewise maintains Correct Copy p. 69. That God no otherwise executes his Decrees then he made them and ergo if in our first and eternal Election there were respect had to our faith good works and perseverance in them then suâ—e when in time he doth call us effectually Rom. 8. 28. which most Divines use to call our temporal Election from 1 Cor. 1. 26 27. he doth in like sort chuâ—e us for our Faith good works perseverance c. and all this sure will make them to be somewhat more then Causa sine qua non or conditio sine qua non even such things as being performed according to what the Judge requires do move his will to bestow Election as a reward upon us as I have told him that one of his dear Remonstrants speaks (a) Nic. Grevinchov contra Ames p. 24. Contendo naturae legum ac conditionum praescriptarum omninó conveniens esse ut voluntas Judicis à conditione postulatâ praestitâ moveatur ad praemium Just as the Massilians of old Prosper in Resp ad 8. dubium Genuens Ipsa Electorum Praedestinatio non est nisi retributio Et evidenter Faustus Lib. 2. Cap. 3. Praescientia gerenda praenoscit post modum praedestinatio retribuenda praescribit Illa praevidet merita haec praeordinat praemia praescientia ad potentiam praedestinatio ad justitiam pertinet Philanthr p. 66. Reprobation is said to be an act of Justice and good works c. are the important condition without which Election will not be had 4ly Who that observes how often in the Correct Copy and elsewhere Mr. T. P. doth consound the Decree of Election with the Decree of Salvation will believe that Mr. T. P. makes Faith and obedience c. only to be necessary prâ—cedents unto life and Salvation and that he doth not also take them to be Causes of Salvation if not directly meritorious yet in some more then ordinary way procuring and causing Salvation Mind the drift of his Discourse against the Solifidians Sinner Impleaded from p. 332. to 337. 5ly If he will maintain that there is any the least Analogy betwixt his Doctrines of Election and Reprobation then as every where he maintains sin to be the meritorious Cause of Reprobation what reason hath he to deny that Faith and obedience are the meritorious Causes of Election which is opposite to Reprobation 6ly Who can believe that all in haste Mr. T. P. will in heart differ whatsoever in words he may seem to do from what he doth after his fashion most solemnly quote out of Prosper Austin Melancthon (b) Phil. Chap. 3. p. 77 Saints whom for his own turn he will elsewhere be thought to adore who as he saith did all agree That Gods Predestination was accordâ—ng to foreknowledge so as he made some Vessels of honour and some of dishonour even for this cause because he foresaw their several ends of what wills they would be and what would be their actions under the assistance and help of grace Mark that Prosper in these words speaks neither his own or Austins sense but that of the Massilians or Semi-Pelagians Is there any thing in the genius of any of Mr. T. P's singular Doctrines which should move him to enter a dissent from these sayings § 2. As for what he adds of Christs being the means and the meritorious cause of our Election Answ There might be some reason to take some more then ordinary notice of it 1. If he had made it his business as well to have proved it as after Arminius and others to have dictated it 2. If he would have thought it worth the while to have confuted any of Dr. Twisse his large Discourses against it unto which I had about it referred him in my Corrept
be and what their actions 5ly As for future morall good things especially such as accompany Salvation such as are effectual vocation justification sanctification c. he eternally foresaw they would be in his Own because he did from eternity resolve or decree to bestow them graciously upon his own 1 Tim. 3. 9. But as for future moral evil things whether original or actual sins God foreknew them all in the same moment of eternity because even then he did by his permissive and ordinative will determine that they should fall out Act. 2. 23. 4. 28. (c) Carthus Lib. 1. disc 40. qu. 3. p. 580. q. 3. p. 580. vide Aquin. Part. 1. qu. 23. Art 3. Bonum subjacet providentiae divinae tanquam ordinatum causatum ab eâ ideò praedestinatio est causa Gratiae Gloriae sed quoniam malum culpae non subjacet providentiae Divinae ut intentum causatum sed solum tanquam praescitum ordinatum hinc reprobatio est The sum then is we do not first in any moment of time deny Gods Omniscience and Praescience only we make them not as to the determinate futurition of any thing as we conceive matters antecedent to Gods Decrees but either Concomitant or at most in the same moments of time and nature subordinate 2ly We do not as the learned Bishop of Salisbury well observes deny praescience in the matter of Praedestination of either good or bad actions only we deny an Arminian praescience (d) Solum praescientia culpae non paenae Davant p. 25. 45. sed praecipue p. 153. of such actions foreseen in men as caused or preceded the different decrees of God in electing some men mercifully unto salvation and leaving others through their own default to plunge themselves into eternal damnation We grant it is not only untrue but unpossible that God should decree the salvation of any man without the foresight of those acts viz. of faith perseverance c. We deny not the foresight of faith and perseverance in the Catholick sense and the like sure in point of Reprobation may be said of persevering in infidelity that is of effects and Consequents of divine Praedestination or Election but in the Arminian sense that is as of antecedent motives reasons causes or conditions foreseen in men and drawing after them the Decree of Predestination Whether this determination of his long Question will please him yea or no I know not if he like it not as learned enough let him take heed lest he meet not with one which is more rash but not so soâ—â—nd (e) Consilium Dei velle nosse multorum est nosse autem vel paucisâ—imorum hominum vel omnino nullorum Aâ—gust lib. 2. opier Imp. Contra Jut f. 346. I may justly fear how much soever as yet he will seem to be for an eternal Praescience of all things yet if he do but go on to hugg his beloved S. Episcopius f as he hath begun to do Mr. T. P. his principles will quickly prompt him much better to like of that which Episcopius sets down (g) Episcopius disp 4. Thes 10. Et si non negemus Deo scientiam futurorum attribui posse imprimis quia eam Scriptura Deo tribuere passim videtur tamen an necessarium scâ—â—u sit ad hoc ut Deus colatur ejusmodi scientiam Dâ—o competere examinari permiâ—â—imus An cognoscat Deus possibilia an infinita absoluâ—e necessarium scitu non credimus Though we do not deny but that the Science of future contingent things may be attributed to God especially because the Scripture doth up and down seem to ascribe it to God yet whether it be necessary to be known for this end that God may be worshipped that such a knowledge doth belong to God we permit it to be examined Whether God know possible things infinite things we do not believe to be absolutely necessary to be known 6th He saith p. 6. That I do betray a third fort of weakness c. for that as he saith I know that he doth as much as any assert eternal Praedestination only I prove it against him to be respective of final impenitence in all that shall be damned Answ 1. How I could so much as divine that he should assert eternal Praedestination I cannot tell when as the face and true Genius of his opinion looks quite another way and when but once if once he had in his Correct Copy so much as mentioned the word Eternall and that only in the matter of praescience and not in the matter of Predestination or Predetermination which are acts of Gods will as the former is of his knowledge 2. It is not to him or to any man in the World conceiveable or explicable how an eternal immanent Act of Gods Counsel should be founded upon the temporal Act of the free will of a versatile Creature and yet such is the Act of final impenitence elicited by the wicked free will of a Reprobate or of him that shall be damned 3dly He expresseth himself that he may the more easily deceive unwary souls in too mild a manner when he saith that the Decree of Reprobation hath respect unto finall impenitence as if by that terme in shew harmless he did only understand that it were nudum antecedens whâ—reas it is plain by all the Discourses elsewhere against the distinction of positive and Negative Reprobation he understands by respect a meritorious Cause such as abaeterno moves the will of God to make his Decree of Reprobation And the like fallacy lurks in the same word Respective which he by and by applyeth to the Decree of Election and which requires Faith Repentance and Perseverance to the end in all of ripe age which some where (b) Sinner impleaded he calls the Important Conditions of Election and by which as one of his beloved Remonstrants (c) Vic. Grevin chov Contra Ames p. 24. whom he hath reason as much to hugg as he doth his Associate S. Episcopius (d) Philanthr Chap. 4. p. 14. well expresseth Mr. T. P. his true sense Voluntas judicis à conditione postulata et praestita movetur ad praemium à neglectâ aut repudiatâ— ad poenâ—us idque contendit conveniens esse naturae legum ac conditionum praescriptarum i. e. by which the will of the judge is moved to confer a Reward or infer a punishment by vertue of a Condition required and performed and that in congruity to the nature of Lawes and Conditions prescribed 4ly Why should I have any the least reason to suspect that Mr. T P. by virtue of any of his principles which are all but borrowed from Arminius or from men of that stamp should be any better able to maintaine Eternal Reprobation and then not eternal Election neither and then not sure Eternal predestâ—nation than his Reverend Father Arminius himselfe who professeth it (e) J. Armin. in Examin Perkinâ— de â—lectione Sect. 14. Certum autem
that is known at once to renounce all he had formerly said and draw a crosse line over all he had wrote and that in a Sermon not made of purpose for that end which had been very requisite and which must have been of too narrow a limitt in relation to so many Subjects here intimated but only as on the bye I say when his workes wherein he is clearly seen and largely declared with a cloud of eare witnesses for many yeats both in publique and private confirming his constancie in them through the diverse changes of the times to his last shall be produced and layd in one ballance And a few witnesses of some few passages at one Sermon who in a croud might be mistaken and the apter to be so by the interest of their own opinion put into the other will not all unbiassed persons cast the Errata into the latter I shall conclude with a coorse complement to your self that I have not thus appeared for your sake to whom I am a stranger nor out of any opposition to Mr. Pierce who appears to me to be a person of value but only out of my duty and high account I must ever have of the memorie of that judicious holy and eminent Primate and so I commit you to Gods protection and direction and rest Your assured friend N. Bernard Graies Inn June 10. 1657. A Short INTRODUCTION DEBATING The Reasons of this Second undertaking SECT I. I Cannot justly determine how long my feircely active Neighbour and Antagonist was to use his own Phrase (a) Advertisement to the Reader pag. 2. somewhat like Buridans asse a ballancing himself whether as he hath it too (b) Epist Dedication pag. 7. I was for my late Correptory Correction published against him to be punished by his venerable and awfull Silence or as at last he concluded by his more Magisterial and smarting Tongue-lash wherein he hath according to his wont and naturall Genius so superlatively Hyperboâ—ized as that the least jerke of the tip of his Tongue is much sharper then all the Correptory Rodds which towards his amendment I had bestowed upon him before he doth not so much Chastise me with Whips as with Stinging Scorpions his very little nimble taâ—t fingers are much more heavy then all my Loynes yet as for my self if I may but as well be believed as I am sure I shall speak truth I have almost this two months day been at a hard debate with my self whether I should at all take my self concerned the second time to take up a pen against his continued Satyrisms and Sarcasms rather then serious disputes imprinted against me and even yet I should be apt to conclude in the Negative were it not for the importunity of some unto whom it is fit I should yeild who will have me concluded in the affirmative First Verely though I cannot but be and I hope by Gods grace to continue in it to the end a very vehement Assertor according to my poor power of Gods omnipotent Soveraignity and grace yet I cannot be perswaded that that blessed cause which for above these twelve hundred years hath from Austine downwards in all Countries had so many invincible Champions who have crushed the Heads of all Dragons and Leviathans who have sharpned their Tongues â—eâ—s and wits against it and who have made it every where to go forth conquering and to conquet I say I cannot believe that this cause doth any thing lowdly call for any more of the best Contributions which I am able to afford towards the support of it Secondly Nay nor yet how ill soever my ill Neighbour may take it can I be so far out of conceit with my own Christianity Schollership Humanity in any of which my Antagonist will not allow me the least Scruple or dram as to think any of them to be in any terrible Agony though he hath most industriously and if it were in him unto all Posterity represented me as a most ugly dreadfull dark Monster in the Phrase of the Poet as a Virgâ—l Monstrum horendum informe ingens cui Lumen ademptum Blessed be God for ever for his grace who for well nigh these fourteen years hath not suffered me in this very Country amongst many disceâ—ning graâ—ious Christians amongst divers most venerabâ—e and Eminent Schollers to behave my self so Unchristianly Ignorantly or Rudely as that it is any way probable to be believed by any of them that I am any thing near so oâ—ious as he would have the world believe me to be * Virgil. Non sum adeó informis nuper in melittore vidi Thirdly Yea nor am I able to be so creduâ—ous that those most Illustrious Luminaries of our Church who have been pleased to grace my Labours with their unexpected Encomiâ—ms and who by their Gratious Lord and Masters adorning of them have as fixed Stars shined in the Firmament of Gods Church before such time as their Bespatterer was brought forth in Divi Luminis Auras saw the Light of the Sun or at least was allowed so much as to be a Smatterer in Divinity or as now he appears to all the Christian Reformed world a very Erra Pater in it Verely I do not believe that their Splendid names and well sounding fames need any vindication of mine who are aboâ—e all his Calumnies and in Christs and the Churches diptyâ—hs will have to all posterity their names written fairely although he be so impudent as in effect to proclaime it to the world that they are but black Souls in white Sheets whiâ—â—t he writes (a) Adâ—â—â—â—iseâ—ent to the â—â—ader â—â—â—dida dâ—â—â—gris de câ—dentibus 〈◊〉 that they have done a kind of publick pennance by making it known unto the Worâ—â— whaâ— kâ—nd oâ— things they do approve Thus good is our Painter at 〈◊〉 Whites into Blacks and Blacks into Whites Praeteriens Coâ—vos vexat Censura Columâ—es Fourthly Nay nor lastly can I entertain any considerabâ—e hopes that I shall be in a Capacity to reclaime those who have been misled by him and who as may be feared may be for want of Elegancy in my Style and because of down-right plainnesse in all my Ministeriall Proceedings as adverse from reading of me as some want on Italâ—anâ— are said to be (a) Bishop Jewells Apolog Ecces Anglic from reading of the sacred Scriptures lest it should marr the neatnesse of their Style All these things considered I might well have been allowed to have injoyned Silence to my self and to have retiâ—ed to my wonted Rest However because there be divers whose Iudgments I cannot but revere who are of opinion First that Gods Truth Counsells Wayes and People ought by their friends to be as often defended as by their virulent Foes they be any thing fiercely craftily and wittily opposed Secondly That the high flown spirit of our fresh inâ—ulting Thraso ought by all meanes to be taken down who Hor tensius â—oster sufflaminandus est Cic. though he hardly strike stroke
but by his sharp Tongue and Teeth yet in the Beginning Progresse and Conclusion of his Book doth most insolently boast quasi devicisset omnes Manichaeos as if he had beaten all Manichees out of the field as abusively he affects to Style Reformed Protestants differing from him in Judgment (b) Correct Cap. 1. Edit primó pag. 55. Thirdly That I ought not to be so neglectful of the credit of my ministeriall Office or of my name and fame as by my totall Silence though I am most content to be looked on as a minimus Fratrum and as the least of all those whom God counting faithfull had put into the Ministery as it were to give him a License as if Conscienâ—e did tell me that I do deserve it to be by him at his pleasure trampled upon as salt who have lost all Savor and am fit for nothing but to be cast upon a Dunghill Fourthly That it doth not concern Ministers Tacit Annal. 2. Non est viri fortis dâ—sperare de Repubiliâ—â in this last and worst of ages to deâ—pond altogether of the Conviction or even conâ—ersion of those who for the present to use Austins Phrase are not only aversi à vera fide but adversi verae fidei averse from the true faith but adverse to it by way of masculine opposition The Aug. Lib. 4. ad Bonifac. Cap. 9. Quid ergo peâ—imus nisi ut fiant ex nolentibus volentes ex repugnantibus consentientes ex oppugnantibus amantes Lord calls at the Last as well as at the first hower and hath often turned even Sauls into Pauls Upon these and other Grounds I shall once more put my self to the Toile of disquieting my self by writing Agricolis redit labor actus in orbem We are Gods Husbandmen and their work is never done I humbly beseech the God of all Grace and the Giver of every good and perfect gift that in the defence of his Grace which is his own I may be so mightily assisted and wisely directed in the mannagment of this great work that if through my exceeding great weaknesse as is the Judgment of divers good men I did give too much way to my passions at first whilst I had Pro. 26. 5. in mine eye but wandred somewhat from it by not hitting upon the golden mean I may be more successfull in my second Attempt in following the Counsell given in the foregoing vers 4th lest the Church and the world complain of me as well as of my Adversary That Terra malos homines jam procreat atque pusillos The Earth now a dayes brings forth little and naughty men Or turn that into a Necessary which at worst is but a Topicall fallible Maxime Homines brevis Staturae sunt cholerici Little men are still fretfull and cholerick SECT II. Now seeing I am called out to threshing again I who in this kind care not how little work I have to do â—or that I am extreame averse from the very Act of writing fairly and so slowly I am very glad that my adversary hath left me no imaginable work beyond these fowre things First The Apologizing for my former vehemency of Passion and acrimony of Style Secondly The wiping off of all considerable Aspersions from mine own name Ministry c. and for the performing the like good office for my speciall friends as well as for all my Neighbours round about me and almost for all the Charets and horsemen of Reformed Israel whether considered single or in their Synodick Combinations or Associations all who are by our Conceited Conqueror Triumphed over Thirdly The enervating of the force of any thing which lookes like new force either as relating to his whole Book or referring to whole Chapters or else to any materiall Sections Fourthly The giving in reasons why I must and will shift my hands from an endlesse Sophisticall wrangler unlesse he speedâ—ly betake himself to the contracted Fist of fair reasoning rather than the extended Palme of his Rhetorications Ecce Rhodus Ecce Saltus CHAP. I. Assigning the Reasons of former Vehemency of affection and acrimony of Style SECT I. IT is most easy for me who ought to be best acquainted with my own disposition and frailties the rather because I have not wanted hints from my very best friends unto whom I do here most solemnly give thanks for them for to believe that in my passions against so dangerous an Enemy as my self and the Church hath met with to have been somewhat over-heated He that knowing what I know of him and seeing and feeling what I continually am forced to see and feell having made a very competent discovery of him not by secret search but by his discourses Letters behaviour c. Let him cast the first Stone at me whensoever he shall meet with the like and behave himself more modestly In the mean while as for the But say as Dr. Twisse did Lib. 1. vindic p. 22. Col. 2. Edit 4. Si cui quid hic peccatum videbitur si quid intumuit pietas si quid slagrantius actum est ignoscat 1 Sam. 17. 29. main of my demeanour towards my Adversary for as to some Extravagancies I can be content neither to defend my self nor to be defended by any let him believe that I have in my way and measure all circumstances cast up that to say for my self which David had to his Eldest Brother Eliab contesting with him what have I now done Is there not a cause Pray first Against the false doctrines and Leven of the Pharisees against their demure but indeed Hypocriticall and superstitious piety eâ—pecially when they opposed the power of true Piety by their gâ—osse yet diminishing Glosses Math. 5. and the necessity of his imputed righteousnesse by establishing their own Legall inhaerent was not our (a) Psal 118. 12. Math. 21. 42. Luke 20. 17. Saviour suffiâ—iently zealous And did not all the Apostles but especially one of the Chief of them (b) Gal. Rom. Phil. 3. 2. Saint Paul in almost all his Epistles imitate our Saviour in this And if Arminian Doctrines and their followers and this Author how much soever he may make a Semblâ—nce to the contrary be not well nigh as deeply guilty as the Pharisees were I can be content that my adversary should not by sixteen most ridiculous Sophiâ—â—icall Arguments (c) Philanthropy from p. 12. to 16. but if he were any wayes able by 66. serious and sound ones prove me to be an Arminian Secondly Do I at any time rise higher against him and his party than he doth openly against the Orthodox whom he Styles modest immodest Correct Copy p. 23. blasphemers some of wdom are for the Ligonem Ligonem (d) Nunquam perichtatur Religio nisi inter Râ—verendissimos Luther of Gods being the Author of sin whom he calls pernitious Haereticks Manichees Helvidians Carpocratians â—urks Stoicks and what not to say nothing of his private cruell causelesse Epistolary Provocations
and that at such a time the work of an impotent Scribler as the saith (b) Philanth Dedic Epist which deserves only to dye in silence and to prevent ill smells to be quietly buried in silence to sleep upon a stall (c) Chap. 3. p. 55. c. I say all men acquainted with them and their Behaviour will as soon believe that they would rather have suffered their hands to have been cut off from their wrists than to have been accessary to any such foul crime so contrary to the Churches wellfare and their own Credits Secondly I trust they will never have cause to do pennance for bearing witnesse to the Truth which for so many years they have preached or for strengthening the hands of their poor Friend and Fellow-Labourer who never had nor can be phansied to pretend a power over them to make them speak in his behalfe any thing but what they judged most meet and seasonable Secondly Ibid. That in all which they have spoken they have not adventured one syllable against any one Argument in my Book but onely have told their severall Tales after their manners of expression shewing whom they are for whom they are against c. Answ First It is not the proper work of Encomiasts to answer Arguments answered to their hands but to speak their thoughts concerning the solutions of Arguments by him whom they commend Secondly yet two of these great Divines have so fully spoken to the chief Arguments in his Book that could I have known before hand that they would so concisely have answered his whole Pamphlet either I would have returned no answer at all to it or have done it much more Compendiously Is it indeed no Syllable of Answer to all his arguments to shew that he foulely Mistakes the Questions Controversal all along That his Objections are meerly Pelagian Jesuiticall Socâ—nian Bolsecian and such as become any body but as so called Protestant of the Church of England (d) Se Dr. Reynolds Epistle per totum Secondly Had not they before I was so much as by name known to them sufficiently in their SERMONS and writings declared to the world whom they are for and whom they are against as to need by setting of their hands to so worthlesse a Scrible as he thinks mine to be to purge themselves from a Crime wch they were never so much as by any suspected of of not adhering fast enough to the good true and Christian party which they were of Obiect Chap. 1. p. 11. I but neither Mr. B. nor his Prefacers have named any one passage in my Book which they can tolerably pretend to be Pelagian or Semipelagian but only have framed an accusation in Generall c. Answ First This is notoriously false concerning Mr. B. if any body will but be pleased attentively to heed his Text or Margin throughout almost his whole Book but especially if he do but any thing heedfully peruse what I have at large set down in my Parallel of his opinions with the Pelagians and Semi-pelagians or Massilians Chap. 5. Cor-Rept Cor-Rect from p. 201. to 206. Secondly It is not the work of Generall Prefacers to descend to Particulars yet while Dr. Reynolds hath fully shewed that he scarce uâ—eth an Argument which is not taken out of the Pelagian or Smâ—ipelagian Schoole as any body may see who reads but the Cor-Rect Copy and that Drs. Epistle together he will be abundantly convinced of the impudence and falsenesse of this Assertion Secondly But besides these abuses which he puts upon them all Joyntly he hath something against two of them in severall viz. First against incomparable Dr. Reynolds and sage Mr. White field Against the former can any man think him the lesse abusive against him because he saith First p. 2. a that he doth seriously respect (d) Advertis to the Reader p. 2. him for his Gravity Learning and Comparative moderation Believes Mr. T. P. this to be a competent Plaister for breaking of his head together with that of his brethrens as we have seen Dolus an virtus quis ab hoste requirat Secondly Are not his Comparative and so Diminutive Commendations of him absolute Disparagements to him Thirdly Since he hath made a foul shiâ—t Philanthr Chap. 1. p. 11. to hook in that holy and gracious as well as most Learned Divine amongst those who make God to be the Author of sin and speaking of him and others he wisheth that their expressions were no worse then so too and since elsewhere he hath told the world (b) Sinner Impleaded p. â—48 that his opinions to be sure of those he approves of are cruell and Sanguinarian that if that too be true of him as he saith it is that God is the Author of sin then in the like sort he declares his opinion of him (c) Ibid. p. 241. That there is no God would be the very worst Tenent in all the world were it not worse to conclude him the cause of sin as he there and every where else maintaines that absolute Praedestinarians do I say after these foul affronts put upon him and other Diâ—ines at home and abroad whom he doth Reverence love and honour though now he should fawningly tell him that though he be (d) Adverâ—is to the â—eadeâ— p. 5. an Anti-Remonstrant yet he knows him to be a learned pious man and upon whom he never meant to fasten any ill names but really payes him every whit as much Reverence as if he were of his opinion or he of his Can he from hence forward think him so vainly Credulous as to believe a word of that he saith Nay can he do otherwise then believe but since he hath so Whipt and Stripped all or most of his Neighbours Country Divines whom such hath been been his humility he hath much loved and reâ—pected that he will not rather think himself disgraced then honoured by his Oratoriall Quil and that henceforth it will be really a disparagement for any Godly Orthodox Divine to have his good word and his favourable opinion Fourthly I think the Dr. would have taken it farr better if he had Compared him and me not to Mezentius his Couples whose cruelty it was to yoke the Living with the dead but rather with Aeneas and Ascanius who strive in my poor measure and pace to walk after him but do I what I can to the Contrary it will be Impari passu Secondly As for what with a viruâ—ent spirit with height of proud scorne and fuâ—ious indignation he doth in measures pressed down and running over slanderously powre forth against Mr. White-field (a) Advertiseâ—â—nt to the Reader p. 5. 6. Chap. 1. p. 11. Answ I am sure if any Reverence had been left in him to Gray haires found in the way of Righteousnesse to profoundness of Learning to holâ—nesse of an exactly Religious Conversation he would have trembled at the thoughts of affronting of a man of his worth and note in the
Corrept Correct p. 56. and divers more which D. Reynolds had quored in his Epistle p. 5. in a meer literal sense when as yet first in my Corrept Correct p. 69. 70. I had expresly told him that that saying of mine out of D. Ames Sensus Scripturae est tantum unicus isque Grammaticus holds not alwayes but only then when the Letter is not plainly metaphorical typical or contrary to other more plain places and the clear Analogy of faith And sure I take it to be against the two latter for to maintain God to be the Authour of sin or as he most maliciously and hatefully expresseth me the Fountain or cause of sin 2. It is plain to any who doth but list to take notice how I explain the places formerly mentioned whensoever I touch upon them that I do not take the most of them in a mere Grammatical and literal sense but in a figurative for whereas God according to the Letter of many of those Texts seems to be made a moral cause of sin as sin I do every where make it evidenâ— that I do only believe God to be a natural Cause of the mere act of sin (a) Dominicus à Soto de Nat. Grat. lib. 1. cap. 18. Quamvis permulti sint quibus non sit explicatu facile quo modo in odio Dei quod internam habet indivisam malignitatem posset Deus causam esse entitatis culpae vero non item non tamen est ita intellectu difficile In moralibus inquit ille prorsus est verò judicaturque causa qui lege ope consilio favore vel persuasu movet quempiam sive ad bonum sive ad malum At que his modis rationibus universos Deus movet ad bonum honestum neminem autem ad malum without which it is impossible that any sin can be committed but that he is only a mere accidental Cause of the obliquity of the act of sin wherein alone the formality of sin is consisting and from whence alone sin's denomination ought to be taken Thirdly I had just reason for bestowing some sound Correptory Correction on him and by many Arguments from Corrept Correct p. 84. to 86. to correct him for his receding too far from the literal sense of the fore-quoted Scriptures whilest as may be seen in his 14 15 16. pages of his Correct Copy and set down out of it by me Corrept Correct p. 83. unto all which he is as mute as a Fish he will not have them to allow of God's so much as permitting sin but in an equitable sense and that is as it signifies not to hinder by main force and that he disposes and orders them to the best advantage And yet never first will he or any body else by the help of his Melancthon and I cannot tell who besides whom he mentions p. 26. be ever able to prove that the Scripture-phrases of hardning of mens hearts of giving them over to their own hearts lusts of blinding their eyes c. as they are paenal acts of the Almighty can by so soft interpretations be put off Secondly Nothing hath been so usual to the men of his way I mean the Arminians as under colour of receding a little from the Letter of several Texts which in Rom. 9. 11. 18. Phil. 2. 13. Heb. 8. 10. 10. 16. and elsewhere make against them to overthrow all at once both the Letter and the true meaning of the Scriptures And some reason I had to be jealous of Mr. T. P. this way Fourthly Though I have in many places of my Correptory already shewed and shall be forced again else-where to do in what sense I maintain God efficaciously to permit sin viz. only in such a sense as renders God free from all guilt of sin is no way destructive to sinful mans Liberty when he sins and so makes him the only Delinquent yet I shall think it fitting once for all in the margin (b) Thes Salvian de providentiâ Dei in mal pag. 186. Praeter nudam permissionem esse aliquam Dei efficaciam in perpetratione mali contendunt alii alii negant acerrimè Illine quid Divinâ providentiá subtrahant aut eam in rerum humanarum procuratione negligentius versari dicant quà m admirabilem Dei sapientiam decet hinc Deo labem aliquam aspergant quasi esset auctor peccati utrique metuentes ne in scopulum aliquem incurrant Certè uti natura Dei à peccato abhorret summoperè alienos nos esse ab eá sententia quae Deum peccati causam statuit juxta oportet Verum haud facilè quicquam Deo indignius dici potest quà m ut vel conniventibus oculis omnia temerè ferri patiatur vel omnia inspectare dicatur quidem veruntamen brachiis quasi complicatis otiose torpere putetur quasi eo sese abdicârit imperio quod in Creaturarum ratione praeditarum facultates obtinet à naturâ Neque enim consentaneum est ut imperium illud peccato Diaboli hominum perdiderit neque ut id amplius exercere non possit immunis à labe Equidem non negaverim aliquibus in locis Scripturae Sacrae verba quae efficientiam Deo tribuere in eo genere videntur sic esse interpretanda ut facere dicatur quod non impedit quia solus id impedire potest veluti cum indurare hominum cerda dicitur quia non emollit ut Hebraicè vivificare dicitur is qui non occidit Quae est alicubi Augustini sententia At ut taceamus negationem illam actionis quâ sola indurationem impedire valuit esse ab aliquo Justo Judicio plurima loca sunt in quibus Scriptura magis emphaticè loquitur quà m ut ad solam permissionem revocari possint Scilicet cum Deus magnopere Iratus Davidi fore denunciat ut quod flagitium clanculum admisit id in apertâ luce adeoque in conspectu Solis vindicet putandumne est eum nihil aliud sibi velle quà m ut Absalomi nesarios coâ—atus non reprimat sinatque furere intemperanteâ— Aut cum Joseph negat alius quà m Dei ipsius operâ factum esse ut in Aegyptum descenderet nihil ne significat praeterquam quod non impedivit quominus venderetur Sonant sane illa verba aliquid amplius Istud verò quod nihil neque Judaei neque Judas in proditione crucifixione Christi fâ—cerunt quam quod Dei confilium atque manus factum iri decreverat non nisi admodum frigide dilutè sic tamen T. P. p. 9. alibi passim de nuda permissione explicari potest Aug. Lib. de praedestinat Gratiâ cap. 4. 2 Sam. 12. 11. Gen. 45. 8. Act. 4. 28. Huc accedit quod si Deus in eo genere efficit vitari quidem non possit quin mala perpetrentur haud enim aliter Creatura corrupta in peccatum ruit quà m ut aqua sponte naturá fluit
hanc abyssum discutiendam inscrutabilia perscrutanda expectatio vestrae caritatis impingat Agnosco modulum meum sentire mâ—hi videor etiam modulum vestrum Altius est hoc incrementis meis fortius viribus meis puto quia vestris c. Si quis autem istam quaestionem liquidius ac melius nôrit se posse exponere absit ut non sim paratior discere quà m docere 2. When Mr. B. saith Corrept Correct p. 79. that the sinning Creature is the sole efficient Cause of his sin he quite forgets to subjoyn the very next words If there can be an efficient Cause of that whose very being is consisting in a deficâ—ency 3. Sin being such a complicated unhappy thing as it is alwayes made up of an act and its obliquity Mr. B. might well say in different respects that sin hath a true efficient Cause and yet hath only when he speaks most properly of sin as sin a deficient Cause which yet in this moral matter is tantamount to an efficient Cause as to the Sinner Defectus est causa secunda in Aquin. Lib. 3. advers Gent. Object 4. p. 113. He is for a necessity of infallibility as well as of Coaction Answ Neither he nor Doctor Twisse whom in these matters he hopes he shall never be ashamed to have followed very much allowes not at all of any necessitation or coaction of mans will which they hold (a) See Dr. Twisse vindic Lib. 2. p. 22. 27 28. 30. Sed quid dico motionem Dei qua voluntas humana movetur immediate non semper esse per viam compulsionis cum potius in confesso sit voluntatem ipsam cogi non posse neque compulsionem pati Thom. Aquin. Lib. 3. advers Gentiles Cap. 72. Divina Providentia non excludit contingentiam in rebus nec eis imponit necessitatem quia non excludit causas secundas Ex causis autem Proximis effectus dicuntur necessarii vel contingentes non ex Remotis Causis cannot be forced by God himself they allow only of a necessity of infallibility which by his principles Mr. T. P. nor any of his party will ever be able to maintain Object 5. If the Cause of sin is only deficient not efficient what will become of the difference betwixt sins of omission and sins of commission p. 113. Answ 1. It will be as easie to conceive how that distribution will hold as it is easie to conceive that Mr. T. P's Horse is ouâ— or is in an error as well when he goes too fast as when he goes too slow He may have heard of a Fellow who complained That his Horse did stand still faster then another mans could go on Salisbury Plain (b) Vide Dr. Twisse Answer to Dr. Jacksons vanities Dr. Ames medulla Lib. 1. Cap. 14. §. 12. 2. He is miserably out if he think the distribution betwixt sins of Omission and Commission to be a distribution of things different in their kinds when as they do only differ in their modes of acting for in every moral Omission there is a voluntary Commission more or lesse vice versâ and so both wayes there is a defect of what should be Object 6. Which in Mr. T. P's multifarious repetition of one and the same thing is his 7th and 8th p. 114. as if he wete rowling Sisyphus his cold stone How many Privations are there saith he of which God himself is the first and chiefest Cause The darkness of the night is a privation of light which yet was one of the famous works of his Creation Gen. 1. 4 5. The Stone and the Strangury the Feaver and the Pestilence are not only Privative of health and pleasure but they are constitutive of sickness and torment Answ 1. But will he allow of no difference betwixt Privations Physical and moral †Thom Bradward Lib. 1. Cap. 1. p. 65. Nonne secundum omnes vere Philosophantes omne malum scilicet pura malitia peccatum non est res aliqua positiva sed privatio vel carentia rei bonae aut cujuspiam bonitatis Privatio autem in Subjecto apto plenè tolli non potest nisi per plenam positionem habitus quem privabat non enim ibi potest medium inveniri Joh. Cameron defens contra Epistol Cujusdam viri docti p. 166. Tenebrae nil ut loquuntur in Scholis habent positivi Quâ—d enim aliud tenebrae sunt quà m lucis privatio betwixt Privations which are only Poenal in a moral sense as the Feaver Pestilence c. and Privations culpable Did ever man fansie that God by creating or effecting these things could become culpable but would not every one conclude that he would so if he were the proper Efficient Cause of sin as such Secondly By the help of all the Phylosophy and Divinity that he hath in his store it will be hard for him to show how God is the cause of the Privations which he mentions otherwise then by not affording or withdrawing light health ease c. Let that judicious both Divine and Philosopher the often mentioned Bishop of Salisbury be heard determining this point in his Animadvers p. 267. As for this distinction the same which Mr. T. P's p. 115. and in the same case of Negative and Positive Causing it is obscure and improper The Air hath heat and light from the Positive Cause of the Sun-beams darkness fogginess coldness followeth upon the Negation of the Sun-beams and yet neither the Sun nor his beams nor the retractions of his beams are the true and proper causes of coldness or darkness in the Air. The Reason himself hath touched upon because those dispositions or qualities in the Air issue not from the Sun per subordinationem effecti ad eausam but out of the nature of the Aire only That is a cause Per quam res est id quod est Thus the Sun is the true cause that the Air is hot and light If by vertue flowing from the absent Sun it be made dark then might we call the Sun a cause of darkness In proportion we say the same of God If from his decree of non-election there flow any darkness or pravity into mans will or any crookedness sinfulness into his actions there were some colour in terming him a negative cause of mans sin but this shall he never be able to demonstrate Object 7. In Mr. T. P. his p. 115. the 9th Every privation praesupposeth a habit which every sin cannot do because a man may be covetous or cruel who never was liberal or compassionate Answ And so in every sin committed by any sinner it cannot but be granâ—ed that he hath or at least in his first Parents once had an habit to forbear all sin which it is yet his duty to have and his defect to want Eccles 7. 29. Object 8. In him his tenth p. 115. is for the most part of it readily granted him viz. That the Agent that is