damnation necessarily follows Molin knew well enough that to Reprobate is as it were a putting the fatall rope about the mans neck and tying his hands behind him and whatever follows whether exhortations or prayers is but in order to a preparation for turning the Ladder Hereupon he concluded that no man is Reprobated but for sin ibid. parag 3. But M. Baxter would make us believe in his next words that the Synod and himself too are of this opinion for he goes on and saith They do not onely respect Infidelity and other sins as the cause of damnation but as the state in which God findeth many when he denyeth them the grace of Faith You speak not a word of Impenitency 't is clearly granted by you all that that was not looked upon in the Act of Preterition But for its companion as Tilenus had linked them together though you divorce them for your advantage remembring the old Rule Divide Impera I mean Infidelity God had respect to that as the state wherein he found many c. I pray how many are they and which Infants or Adult onely 2. Is there not a Fallacy in those words When he denyeth them the grace of Faith He denyeth it to the Reprobates for ever and therefore if you understand it of his deniall of This grace in the last stage of their lives He must needs find them then in a state of Infidelity Or 3. do you mean the Heathens by these Many What state can they possibly be found in else when God denyeth them the Grace of Faith But if this be your meaning you have placed that Infidelity amongst very unfit Associates For this can be but a Negative not a Positive Infidelity and so whether it can be reckoned amongst their other sins as being a sin it selfe is another question †That men cannot see or believe without a certain Medium or object this is no more their fault then it is that they see not non-existents c. M. Baxter of saving faith pag. 53. f. But 4. did God find any really in the state of Infidelity when he denyed them the Grace of Faith according to the Doctrine of the Synod Do not they and you conclude that Preterition is the denyall of this Grace 'T is proved sufficiently already that they do so And you know some of them are of opinion and that opinion not rejected by the rest that in his Preterition God considered mankinde onely as having a possibility of being in regard of the sufficiency of his divine power Did God finde any then in a state of Infidelity They that bring the Decree of Reprobation down lowest amongst the Synodists do affirme that it was passed in consideration of the Fall of Adam To this purpose I might produce a cloud of witnesses Act. Synod Dord 2. part pag. 77. q. 5. 3. part pag. 24. thes 7. p. 123. f. were it not needlesse seeing we find so much in confirmation of it amongst the very Decrees and Articles of the Synod to which all those Divines subscribed That God out of his mere just will hath not decreed to leave any man in the fall of Adam and common state of sin and damnation or to passe over any in the communication of grace necessary unto faith and conversion This they reject as one of the troublesome errours Cap. 1. Reject 8. and cap. 2. Re ect 5. That all men are received into the state of reconciliation and grace of the Covenant so that no body shall be condemned for originall sin nor in respect of it be liable unto death or damnation but that all are acquitted and freed from the guilt of that sin This they reject as the same errour too To the like purpose is the first Rejection of the 3. and 4. Chapters Where we have not onely rejection or denyal of grace but damnation also intailed upon Original sin And if the grace of faith was denyed to them upon that account how could God find them before it in the state of Infidelity Sure you will not make it Adams state before his fall for he had no need and therefore it was no part of his duty to believe in the Gospel sense of believing and consequently Originall sin whether as committed by him or derived unto us cannot be Infidelity Therefore that was not the state he left men in and yet the Decree of Reprobation had no other lower Prospect of man as a condition to passe him by upon but that wherein Adam left him as the Synod hath defined And therefore your other sins must disband together with your state of Infidelity unlesse Originall sin be a Noun of Multitude For that is that which the Synod calls the common state of sin and damnation wherein they say God left the Reprobate when he denyed them the grace of Faith But M. Baxter proceeds and tells us of the Synod further that Of all the Non-elect they determine that God leaves them but in that misery into which by their own fault they precipitate themselves and that he leaves them by his just Judgement to the Malice and Hardnesse of their own hearts 'T is most certain when ever God leaves men he doth it by his most just judgement but that He should leave them to the Malice and Hardnesse of their own hearts before this Malice and Hardnesse be found in them were very strange And unlesse Adams sin or Originall sin upon which the Decree of Reprobation passed against them be Malice and Hardnesse of heart I see no truth in that assertion that God leaves them then to the Malice and Hardnesse of their own hearts This is indeed a misery into which men by their own personall faults do precipitate themselves such is not that which you and the Synod speak of neither by omission nor by commission nor by consent How then It is the fault of their Nature which they are made guilty of onely by imputation saith Master Calvin as you may finde him cited in the Preface to Tilenus his Examination To which I will adde that of Lubbertus †A Synodist In Declaratione Respons pag. 105. Our Carnall generation from Adam fal'n and guilty neither is neither can it be the cause of that originall guilt which we derive from him but the imputation of sinne committed by him c. And if it be thus then you cannot say they are but left in that misery into which by their own if you mean proper personall fault they ptecipitate themselves Neither is it true that they are but left in this misery for according to the nature of the means designed by this very Decree and subordinated to the execution of it they are subjected inevitably to a far greater misery 1. of sin and 2. of condemnation and punishment To proceed You say Though they deny Election to proceed upon foreseen saith because God decrees to give that faith before we can be foreseen to have it yet they purposely passe by
the Decree doth tie the End and Means together and what is the Means of Damnation but Infidelity and Impenitency c. as he tells us from the Synod in the seventh Section of his Preface There is a necessity therefore of these sins in the Reprobate †Loquimur de adultis vocatis else he should not perish as such an infidel and impepenitent Whence is this necessity not from the nature or will of the creature therefore from some Act of God and what is this Act of God but that Reprobation whereby he denies unto the Reprobate Grace sufficient and necessary unto Faith and Repentance and then his Law whereby he requires the performance of those duties which without that Grace are not performable But saith the Synod Reprobation is not the cause of Infidelity and impiety in the same manner as Election is the fountain and cause of Faith and piety But whatever fallacy there be in those words in the same manner certainly according to their Doctrine Infidelity and Impiety do flow by as inevitable a necessity from the one Decree as Faith and Piety doth from the other Vid. Antidotum p. 47 c. so that it is no lesse impossible †Quod aliqui in tempore fide à Deo donentur aliqui non donantur id ab aeterno ipsius decreto provenit Syn. Dor. cap. 1. Art 6. for those who are Reprobated to believe and repent than it is for those who are Elected to remain impenitent and unbelievers Contrariorum eadem ratio eadem scientia est say the Divines of the Palatinate * De Repro prepos 1. p. 19. par 2. Ex iis igitur quae de Electione supra dicta sunt de opposita Reprobatione ejusque descriptione quid statuendum videatur haud difficile est pronunciare Reprobation then is no lesse the fountain of Infidelity and Impiety than Election is the fountain of Faith and Piety If we list to cavill about the word Cause which is here made use of to impose upon the unwary Reader we could tell them that 't is an improper and inept expression to say Election is the Cause of Faith For Election in an immanent Act in the minde of God not an Egression out of him that produceth any effect in man though Faith doth infallibly follow that Act by the emanation of another power which God according to the Decree of Election will exercise to the irresistible production of Faith And thus it is acknowledged by Piscator that although the Decree of Reprobation be not effective in respect of infidelity in the Reprobate because it doth not properly effect or produce that infidelity yet it is efficax efficacious Antidot p. 48. because that Decree being made infidelity follows of necessity For example Suppose a man blind by nature or made blinde by the infliction of punishment upon him for some crime He that commands such a man upon pain of death to read a Proclamation though to speak properly he cannot be said to be the cause that that man reades not the Proclamation for his blindnesse is the next and proper cause hereof yet in sense of Law and to speak Morally he may be said to be the Cause that by not reading that blinde man becomes defective as it were in a duty injoyn'd him and so guilty of death not by way of efficiencie as producing the defect of reading in him but by commanding that Reading to whom it is impossible to read in whom therefore after that command the defect of Reading cannot but follow After the same manner according to their Doctrine God deals by the Reprobates first for the transgression of Adam they are punished with blindenesse of minde in things spirituall so that 't is no lesse impossible for them to believe when God commands it than for a blind man to read a proclamation And yet notwithstanding they are thus punished with spirituall blindnesse God commands them to believe under pain of eternall death Which when God doth he doth not indeed by way of efficiency produce infidelity and impenitency in them but by his command God is the Cause or brings it to passe that they become as it were unbelievers and impenitent because it is impossible on the one part that they should become unbelievers unlesse the command of Faith doth intervene and on the other part the command of Faith being given they cannot in regard of that innate pravitie and blindnesse but be and remain unbelievers And this is the means which for all their Profest detestation is tied to the End by the Decree of Reprobation in order to the execution of the said Decree by the Damnation of the Reprobates Another Doctrine which saith M. Baxter the Synod doth purposely disown and publickly professe to detest is That many harmlesse Infants of Believers are snatch't from the mothers breasts and tyrannically cast into Hell so that neither Baptisme nor the Churches prayers in Baptisme can profit them That many Infants of Believers are cast into Hell notwithstanding the Prayers of the Church and the Sacrament of Baptism administred according to Christs institution and command for their Salvation is the expresse Doctrine of Calvin Beza Zuinglius Martyr Zanchy Piscator Paraeus Perkins c. For the Infants of unbelievers it is the Doctrine of Gomarus and the Divines of Drent expresly that they are Reprobates Act. Synod Dor. par 3. pag. 24. pag. 83. Gomar de Reprob th 7. Judic Drent circa 1. Art thes 18. For the Infants of Believers dying in their Infancy whether the Decree of Reprobation layeth hold on them and makes them liable to damnation the Divines of South-Hollands judgement is Ibid. pag. 36 pr. Non esse curiosè inquirendum we ought not to be curious in inquiring after it and the British Divines say De primo Articulo ubi supra par 2. p. 10. thes 7. Ad rationem electionis divinae sive ponendam sive tollendam circumstantia atatis est quiddam impertinens nihil prorsus operatur The circumstance of age is a thing altogether impertinent and works nothing touching the Decree of Election or Reprobation Their meaning is plain enough and 't is consonant no doubt to the sense of the whole Synod We may therefore observe a twofold Fallacy in the Proposition which they publickly professe to detest 1. In the word Innoxios harmelesse Infants See the Antidonum cap. 4 5. pag. 52. c. For the truth is they acknowledge none such every Infant of a span long from its first Conception being guilty of Adams sin for which it is justly liable to condemnation and for that sin many are damned * Act. Synod Dor. as is delivered in Reject 8. Cap. 1. Another Fallacy is in the word Tyrannicè tyrannically cast into Hell For when God doth Reprobate such Infants and cast them into Hell he doth not do it they say after the manner of a Tyrant who is bound by some
judged too But how can the Creature bring in a verdict to cleare Him if he hath not a Competent capacitie in some measure to judge of the Equitie of his Proceedings I need adde no more for the force of those sacred Engines is abundantly sufficient to overthrow his Hypothesis though it had farre stronger props than such Arguments as he produceth to support it But these being so feeble I shall not give you or my self the trouble to handle them Onely I shall vindicate the Sacred Text from his misconstruction and take my leave of this part of his Discourse Nay but O man Quis tu who art Thou He interprets this of Man In whatever capacity considered When 't is as clear as the Sunne by the foregoing verses that he speaks it of Man made obnoxious to the Sword of Divine justice by having filled up the Measure of his sinne in despising Gods Gracious Methods and Dispensations for his Conversion For of whom speaketh the Apostle this Is it not spoken of the stubborn Jews who would not have Christ to reign over them who would not be gathered by his Gospell but abused Gods Patience Christs intercession and the Miracles of the Holy Ghost as Pharaoh had done those vouchsafed by the Lord and his servant Moses What then if God deals by these Jews now stubborn and Rebellious as they are as he dealt then by Pharaoh whom though he highly deserved it and had been swept away by that Plague according to Gods ordinary course of Justice yet †Exod. 9.16 He made him to stand or kept him alive still to serve other ends of his Divine Providence 'T is none but such clay as this that vessels of wrath are made a Seâ— Jer. 18. throughout of And it is such a man whose insolency the Apostle checks with his Homo Quis tu Nay but O man who art thou If the Malefactor comes to dispute the just sentence of his upright Judge 't is time to take him up as the Lord doth Jer. 2.29 Wherefore will ye plead with me ye all have transgressed against me saith the Lord. Such persons therefore when God enters into Judgement with them must lay their hands upon their mouthes †Job 40.4 But this doth not debarre men the Priviledge to examine the Equity and Justice of those Decrees and Laws by which they are Governed and upon which their Eternall Weal or Woe dependeth In this case Abraham thinks it no undutifulnesse to be inquisitive into Gods Counsels and Proceedings Gen. 18.23 25. and to expostulate about them Wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked That be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right But whether your Discourser be of Abraham's Judgement I leave you to collect from his own words Pag. 2. Pag. 3. He layes down this sense That God acts all things according to the Dictates of his Absolute Soveraign and unaccountable will And hereby the greatest part of mankind are left in an hopelesse and irrecoverable condition Then he brings in and presseth an objection Rom. 9. out of vers 19. Thou wilt then say unto me if our wills are tyed up so close to the will of God that like lesser wheels they move onely as that great Mover doth guide them then why is God so Angry with sin and sinners why doth he forbid dehort and threaten by his Prophets To what end serve all those examples of vengeance which we â—remble to read of for if it be so with us we may be miserable but we cannot be sinfull if our spirits be put into an unsuitable frame so as that we walk contrary to God it is our sad necessity and not our fault since none can alter much less resist the will of God which alone hath made us so This is the objection How doth your Discourser answer it Doth he vindicate the Goodnesse and Justice of God from the blasphemy of this imputation No. In stead of a Solution to that purpose here follows a clear Concession as if the Objection were a perfect Truth For thus he proceeds And now the 0bjection being pressed to such a degree of impiety that it doth tacitely lay the guilt of all mens Transgressions upon God the Apostle thinks it high time to cut off all further arguing which he doth in these words Nay but what art thou O Man who replyest against God As if he had said Dost thou know who thou art thou bold inquisitive Creature or who it is thou dealest with Consider that thou art but a Man and wilt thou question thy Makers Justice Forbear vain presumptuous man stand off and lay thy hand upon thy mouth for God is in the Bush God is at the bottome of this dispute and therefore admire with reverence what thou canst not comprehend with reason What the Objector in the Apostle did but tacitely he doth most expresly viz. lay All mens Transgressions and Misery upon the Absolute and unaccountable will of God and no man may dispute against it For this is his Doctrine Man in whatever Capacity considered is not a Competent Judge of the Equity and Justice of the Proceedings wayes and Counsels of God in the disposing and ordering of his Creatures And what remains then in this case but that Option of the Psalmist Arise O Lord plead thine own cause For his Discourse on Act. 13.48 I need say no more then to evince how palpably he mistakes the sense of the Text. To this purpose I shall not tyre you out to examine a cloud of witnesses that might be produced in favour of the sense which he rejects but satisfie my self in discovering some of those grosse Absurdities which follow upon his interpretation If by Ordained to eternall life we understand Absolutely Elected then it will follow 1. That All the Praedestinated unto life that were in this place believed at once And 2. that those which did believe could not but believe 3. That All they who did now embrace the Faith upon this preaching of the Apostle were Absolutely Elected and that not one of them could forsake the Faith which he had embraced 4. That this was revealed not onely to S. Paul but to S. Luke also concerning the Absolute election of every Individuall of these new Converts How inevitable are these inferences and yet how Absurd how ridiculous On the other side what shall we conclude of the rest who did not believe at this Sermon 1. It followes that they were All absolutely Reprobated and yet 2. that God would have S. Paul command them All to believe in Christ and 3. that S. Paul when he knew them to be Reprobates and so in no capacitie to believe and be saved yet He calls them unto Faith and Salvation and 4. threatens them with eternall destruction for not believing and 5. afterwards upbraids them that they judged themselves unworthy of eternall life and 6. at last when they would not believe that he did for that cause turne to the Gentiles what a heap of foule Absurdities are here And which is none of the least that S. Luke should give notice by this writing That such as now believed were all absolutely elected the rest absolutely Reprobate To what purpose should this be or what influence could it have upon them It could serve no end of Divine providence but might very well serve the interest of Satan as a means to tempt those Believers to security and the unbelievers to desperation and a contempt of those Ordinances which if this exposition of the Text were true they were assured by S. Lukes Testimony could never bring them benefit Having thus bereaved him of His Senses his Reason must needs want that solidity that should make it considerable in the accounts of Dear Sir Your Faithfull Friend For Master B. Errata In the Preface Pag. 3. l. 25. r. As M. B. himself sp 20. l. 10 r. de fato l. 25. blot out had p. 24 l. 3. r. positivity p. 42. l. 8 9. r. Master In the Apologie Pag. 22. l. 21. r. in 18. Art l. 26. r. third and fourth l. 30. r. into fifteen Art p. 31. l. 4. r. not effect p. 37. l. 12. r. Not. 6. p. 39. l. 23. r. and omit p. 45. l. 19. r. costs and dam. p. 62. l. 5. r. adde to p. 6. â— l. 14. r. Hols p. 90. l. 2. r. Supralapsarian neither Existentialist nor Creabilitarian as drosse line 28. read persons pag. 94. lin 24. read Supralapsarian Creabilitarian pag. 99. lin 5. read Existentialists and Creabilitarians as well as Sublapsarians do all p. 118. l. 14. propalandis l. 24. judicaret p. 131. l. 3 r. if I adde in Tilenus his behalf that l. 24. r. ex post factum p. 188. l. 29. r. they tell us pag. 189. in mar l. 2. r. par 2. pag. 79. p. 200. l. 24. r. cast p. 224. in marg l. 5. r. Reject 4 5. p. 231. l. 25. r. effectuall p. 237. l 18. r. Amesius p. 242. l. 27. r. Martinius p. 253. l. 27. r. was one of the Synod p. 259. l. 21. r. elicited p. 272. l. 9. r. imbuing it p. 283. dele marg note 289. dele generosity in marg p. 335. l. 22. r. as wel as p. 345. l. 19. r. if it be p. 361. l. 19. r. impotency p. 366. in marg for 38 and 4. r. 3. and 4. p. 386. l. 10. r Sancti p. 388. l. 28. r. defend d. p. 400. marg r. Digress p. 434. l. 21. r. indefectibilis p. 438. l. 4. 454. l. 15. r. quin. p. 459. l. 9. r. superesse p. 470. l. 15. r. And. p. 480. l 11. r. willfully p. 488. l. 17. but 't is in l. last r. and the winds blew p. 493. l. 28. r. his Election p. 516 l. 13. r. papers The End
Ptinciple in the one nor power to resist in the other and what else is to be alleaged I cannot imagine it is to be remembred that according to this Doctrine the will of man in sinning is full as much acted by Allmighty God as the hand of the child and dead man in those instances are by those who make use of them respectively That is the will is merely passive and how can it be otherwise For every Act is from God and if God useth the will to this Act of sinning how can the will avoid it Should the will resist Gods motion when he does Act it That is impossible 1. Because that Motion according to the Doctrine of the Calvinists is omnipotent and insuperable 2. Because to resist is to act and every Act is from God and produced by him And now we see how little reason Master Hickman had to sleight and reject the Answer which Gregory de Valent and Bradwardine give to that Objection from the hating of God as he doth pag. 89 90. I recite not their words saith he because I need not their help and because they seem to make impossible hypotheses as if the hatred of God were produced by God in a stone whereas it cannot be that there should be the hatred of God in a stone which neither hath nor can have any knowledge The stone is like to be the less miserable for wanting this capacitie But how much doth Master Hickman make man better He allows him a will and understanding I suppose but no more use of these faculties is ascribed to man by his Metaphysicks than to a stone For to use them is to Act them and Act them a man cannot because he can produce no action without another action and so in infinitum and then the youngsters will fall aboard us again If Master Hickman will not see these absurdities and what reproach falls upon the Holinesse of Almighty God by this Doctrine yet Master Baxter doth consider and sufficiently censure it for he saith in his Call to the Unconverted pag. 229. Some are so loth to think that God can make a self-determining creature that they dare not deny him that which they take to be his prerogative to be the determiner of the will in every sin as the first efficient immediate Physicall cause And many could be content to acquit God from so much causing †Mark that word of evil if they could but reconcile it with his being the chief cause of good as if truths must be no longer truths then we are able to see them in their perfect order and coherence because our ravelled wits cannot set them right together nor assign each truth its proper place we presume to conclude that some truth must be cast away This is the fruit saith he of proud self-conceitedness when men receive not Gods truth as a childe his lesson in a holy submission to the omniscience of our Teacher but as Censurers that are too wise to learn I hope Master Hickman will become at least M. Baxters Proselyte especially if he considers how impossible it is that his Doctrine should hold good in reference to the first sin of the first Angel that fell from God For I argue thus The Materiality of that first sinfull Act granted to be from God from whence will he derive the formality or irregularity which is the sinfulnesse of it Was it from the Angels own Corruption or the Malice of his Tempter this could not possibly be for he had neither Therefore it must either be from God and then God is the Cause and Authour of that sin or else from the self-determination of his own will and then if that determination be an Act we have at last found an Act whereof God is not the first immediate Physicall cause What can Master Hickman say to this Truely he seems very fairely to grant it if I be able to understand him whether this be out of inadvertency or conviction I determine not But in contradiction to what he had said before he saith Pag. 97. Suppose the first sin of Angels to have been a proud desire to be equall unto God the cause of this proud desire was the will of the Angel but it was the Cause of the action in such a sense as a causality may be said to have a Cause Per se of the vitiosity of the action it was onely the Cause Per accidens per concomitantiam Thus far M. Hickman And now as Poelenburg saith of Doctor Twisse In confut Disp inaugur Fred. Span. that being affrighted partly by his insolent asperity and partly by the tedious prolixity of his Volumes he would not undertake him wholely but satisfie himself with a Confutation of that one Argument whereof his Confidence boasted that the Devil and his Angels were not able to Answer it and by his performance in that the Judicious Reader might judge what returns might be made to the rest if any man would give himself the Leisure and trouble to attempt it So shall I resolve concerning M. Hickman though neither the strength of his Arguments nor the length of his Discourse be very formidable yet there is so much asperity in his style which brings no advantage at all to the Cause he undertakes to manage as deterrs me from a further procedure in the examination of his Pretensions What is already done is sufficient to evince that his Armour is not inchanted or impenetrable nor his weapons mortall But such is his provocation he must expect a sharper assault when it shall be seasonable from a hand that will strike home and lose no advantage to defeat him being guided by an eye so piercing that it discovers every posture that layes his weaknesse open and exposes him unguarded to the mercy of his Adversary Sir If you would be kept upright you must not suffer your self to be led by them who could never keep their own judgements steady in these Controversies After your recourse to God and the Holy Scriptures you will finde Primitive Antiquity your best Directory and the nearer you approach the fountain head the purer you may be confident to find the stream you drink at But if you come down to S. Austin so many Adversaries had padled and troubled and spil'd the waters of his Cistern that he could scarce see his own face in it For instance in that one Question Whether the truly Regenerate may totally fall away and perish Master Baxter is very confident he was for the Affirmative †Account of Persever p. 5. c. and calls them immodest that deny it yet M. Calamy * His Serm. at the E. of Warwicks Funerall p. 19. c. tells us this learned Brothers evidence is all slur'd and made invalid by Bishop Abbot and that there is in S. Austins writings sufficient proof to the contrary It may conduce something to ones settlement to consider seriously how many of the most Learned and judicious Heads these
Decree from admitting such an inference as that the contrary infallibly followeth thereupon and in point of Election is not onely necessarily concluded but irresistibly caused Faith Repentance New-Obedience and Perseverance being the effect of Election Thus farre Master Norton and what can ye wish more But stay the Divines of the Synod told us the Elect might fall into most grosse foul heinous wasting sinnes Do these move upon another Center without the Decree or hath the Decree of Election made Provision for them This looks like a very hard Chapter M. Norton udi supra p. 5◠but Master Norton and Master Perkins will help us to spell it out The Creation of Man mutable you had the words before but being so comfortable Decies repetita c. the permission of sin and not onely that of Adam's Fall but toties quotiès by parity of Reason to advance God's grace and glory else it will not serve our turn here and then the renewed effectuall Application of Free-Grace and Glory notwithstanding sin for the merit sake of Jesus Christ make up one full medium conducing to this end Gods Glory as concerning the Elect To this purpose Master Perkins reckons the sins of the Predestinate amongst the number of their Priviledges upon their Adoption First saith He They are Heirs of God then Coheirs with Christ and Kings 3. All their afflictions as also their defects and slips or falls are onely paternall castigations for their good In his Armilla Aurea cap. 37. Q. 4. Now can any Calvinist but M. Baxter call it abusive language and a perverse insinuation to say That such as have received that Speciall Regenerating Grace which is the fruit of Election can never fall from it notwithstanding the most enormous sins they can commit Why man they have an Absolute Decree passed in heaven for their Indempuity And what is that Decree Vbi supra pag. 51. The Decree saith M. Norton is God by one eternall-free-constant Act absolutely determining the futurition i. e. the infallible future being of whatsoever is besides himself unto the praise of his own Glory If Election which is God himself according to this Doctrine be absolutely theirs there can be no more danger of miscarriage in their salvation than there is that God Almighty should lose his very being and therefore the Assembly of Divines consonantly to these principles have peremptorily defined that They whom God hath accepted in his beloved effectually called and sanctified by his Spirit neither totally nor finally can fall away from the state of Grace but shall certainly persevere therein unto the end and be eternally saved In their Confess Chap. 17. Th. 1. Thus if Master Baxter will not other Readers will be satisfied that the severall Articles of Tilenus stand impregnable as to the matter of Fact against the very Synod of Dort their Predecessors and their late and Present Adkerents And now where shall Master Baxter erect a new Forge for Calumny and Falshoods to justifie his uncharitablenesse to say no more in casting out a suspicion whether Tilenus were a Christian in the 8 and 13. Sections of his Preface I Have done with the reproachfull part of Master Baxter's discourse in defence of the innocent Tilenus There is a Rationall part yet behind such as 't is and that Master Baxter may have no occasion to blame our neglect of that or triumph over it we shall make Reflexions upon the severall remarkable periods of it beginning where Tilenus is first ingaged at the Sixth Section of his Preface Where Master Baxter breaks off from Master Pierce and goes out of his way though he thinks it is a stepping into his duty to Rebuke the unworthy dealing of Master Pierce his friend whom he protests not to have sock or known to this day Tilenus He pretends saith Master Baxter to give us concisely but truly the summe of the Doctrine of the Synod of Dort in the five Articles And when he hath made this promise he presently falls to falsifying and calumny unworthy a Divine a Christian or a Man the weight of the case and greatnesse of his sinne command me to be thus plain yea were I of his Party I must say the same What! Catholicke M. Baxter come already to espouse a Party Tilenus will one day thank you for the intended charity of your Rebukes In the meane time on his behalf I desire the Indifferent Reader but to lay this childe at the own Fathers doore and so to his discretion I shall leave it But What! saith M. Baxter shall so many Countries purposely Consult to declare their thoughts and their writings be common in the hands of all and the adversary purposely write against them and pretend to be acquainted with their Doctrine and make it his design to bring it to be odious to the world and yet shall falsly tell the world that they hold and assert the things that they are not onely silent in but disown detest and are contrary to their Doctrine Ans 1. For the Convention of so many Countreys to consult that is no more then may be alleaged by the Fautors of the Trent Councill 2. Writings that are commonly in mens hands are not commonly read not alwayes understood never sifted to a discovery of their absurdities by Persons that swear alleageance to their admired Authors upon others commendations as too too many do of all Sects whatsoever 3. The Adversaries design was not to bring that Doctrine to be odious but to evince it to be unpracticable at least and uselesse which I think is yet sufficiently done for all your pretended Vindication 4. Whether he tells the World false tales more then Master Baxter is submitted to the Judgement of the Reader 5. If they be silent in these things their silence is consent for they declare the end of their Convention to be to suppresse errours c. and therefore 6. If they had detested these certainly they would have disowned them However I am glad the Doctrines which Tilenus charges them with are detestable in the judgement of Master Baxter I pray God keep him still in this minde though he proceeds to rebuke Tilenus in these words Truly this is an exceeding shame to the Arminian and Jesuit Cause to find the learned Patrons of it to deal so unconscionably that a Reader cannot believe them and that where it is so easie to any to see their falshoods Answ 1. The Jesuite Cause is lest to their own vindication or your Catholick charity But 2. For the Patrons of that Cause you call Arminian being the Catholicke Doctrine of Christ's Church as you acknowledge for some of its Branches in your Account of Perseverance for one thousand foure hundred years together what is the Reason you cannot believe them Perhaps because you will not read them How shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard As to your Controversie with Tilenus read that Antidotum forementioned after a serious and impartiall perusall whereof if
is because it wants the Saving effect on mans part Perque solam hominis voluntariam ac vincibilem culpam infructuosa est sive eventum optatum ac debitum non sortitur and that it obtains not the due and desired event but becomes unfruitfull is through the sole voluntary and avoidable fault of man 3. This Grace doth not onely Prevent the will and conferre a power of willing upon them that are Called for I think it unprofitable to speak of the rest but if they oppose not a new contumacie to check it it doth also accompany and help the Will of man so that the will when it actually willeth that is believes and obeys God ought to ascribe this to that very Grace as the Principall Moving Cause by the prevention and concomitant assistance whereof men duely cooperating with it are many times really converted and sanctified to such a degree that there is nothing wanting but Perseverance to obtain the crown To which purpose our Saviour Christ saith He that continueth unto the end shall be saved which saying of His doth not onely imply a Possiblity of defection and consequently of destruction for want of continuance but an assurance also of the happinesse of such if God should please to put a present period to their life in that condition 4. Doe not the Remonstrants hold that 't is possible for a man to fall Totally and Finally from a true justifying Faith or saving Grace and that this doth sometimes eventually come to passe and yet Master Baxter will not allow this to be speciall Grace flowing from that Fountain of Election which Grace according to his opinion can never be lost this therefore at least in his sense is but Sufficient Grace and yet 't is farre more then that common sufficient Grace which the Synod speaks of and how could this be either out of Master Baxters reach or memory having so lately before this put forth his Account of Perseverance More distinctly for the satisfaction of the Reader touching the Remonstrants opinion of the operations of Divine Grace 1. They hold that it works upon the understanding inlightening and induing it with the knowledge of Divine truth Act. Synod Remonst de Grat. p. 14. And that God by the sole illumination of the understanding without any formal immediate or direct impression or action upon the will makes all the Elect of children of wrath and servants of sinne to become children of light and servants of Righteousnesse This is all that Camero requires unto their Regeneration as appears in his Theses and his Conference with Tilenus where he saith Fidem proficisci ab illuminatione Spiritus Sancti That Faith proceeds from the illumination of the holy Spirit and also Thesi 3. animo percipi non posse quo pacto liberum arbitrium quod principium Ethicum est aliter quam Ethice moveri posse It is not to be understood how Free will being a Morall Principle can be moved otherwise then Morally But the Remonstrants say 2. That the Divine Grace worketh upon the affections also and that irresistibly as likewise it doth upon the understanding to which purpose we may consider those Passages There came a fear on all Luk. 7.16 and Did not our hearts burne within us while he talked with us Luk. 24.32 3. That it works directly and immediately upon the Will too and that irresistibly as to the collation of power to believe Praeterea minime quoque diffitemur Spiritum Sanctum immediatè agere in voluntatem in illam vires infundendo ac potentiam supernaturalem ad credendum That the Holy Ghost worketh immediately upon the will Act. Synod Remonst de Gratia p. 14 infusing strength into it and a supernaturall power to believe we doe not deny and in the next Page Si per gratiam habitualem intelligere libeat potentiam quandam supernaturalem concessam voluntati ad hoc ut credere benè agere possit eam libentèr admittimus If by habituall Grace be understood a supernaturall power conferred upon the will to this end that it may be able to believe and act well we admit of it willingly And after If any one demand of us Ibid. pag. 20 whether the action of God converting a sinner be onely morall consisting of proposals invitations suasions we answer say They that it is more then Morall and in respect of exciting Grace we say there is also a supernaturall power infused into the will distinct from the illumination of the understanding and if we respect cooperating Grace we say that may be called Physicall and hath a reall and proper efficiency If it be demanded whether there be any immediate action of the Spirit upon the will they say we do not deny it If it be demanded whether besides the illumination of the minde and excitation of the affections and invitation of the will Grace doth nothing after the manner of a principle or antecedently unto Conversion Pag. 21. we say it doth And after pag. 62. Potentiam credendi ante omnia conferri dicimus per irresistibilem Gratiam We say the power of believing is conferd by an irresistible Grace And If it be demanded whether he who doth not oppose a new contumacy or rebellion but yields to the motions and operations of Grace and consequently is converted hath more grace then he that doth oppose and check them and consequently is not converted we answer the antecedent and preventing Grace may be equall Pag. 21. but the first hath cooperating Grace which the later hath not Indeed after a man is instructed with this Supernatural power to believe they acknowledge no other Grace necessary towards the Eliciting or educing the act of faith but what is Morall or that which useth the word as the instrument not excluding sundry secret inspirations impressions and motions of Gods Gracious dispensing which yet do not produce consent otherwise then in a morall way of working For if the Actuall consent to what is offerd in the word be instill'd or inspired into the will as it is a Principle of Election Then 1. there is a Consent in the Will before it be elected or drawn out by the will which is absurd 2. Then it is not the Wills consent unto the motions of Grace but Grace that imprints that Actuall consent doth consent unto it self which is no lesse absurd then the Former 3. Then a power of believing in the Will were unnecessary and it would be in vain to conferre it because the Consent or Act of Believing should not be drawn out of that power but be imprinted upon the will by another internall force or mition 4. Then the word should conduce nothing to the begetting or effecting of faith or consent in the will of man For the word cannot concurre but as a morall Instrument nor act but objective and morally and such actions are resistible and may be uneffectuall which such an Actuall consent instilled into or imprinted upon the
Neither can he seriously will or intend their faith and repentance For their Reprobation from Faith and Repentance follows unavoidably their Reprobation from Salvation so that whose salvation God seriously wills not their faith and repentance he cannot will seriously lest he should seriously will things contrary and disagreeing But saith Martinius with much reason Vbi supra Quomodo ex beneficio sufficiente quidem at mihi non destinato per veram intentionem deducetur necessitas credendi quod illud ad me pertineat If the benefit though never so sufficient be not really intended and designed for me how can a necessity be imposed upon me to believe that it belongs unto me Master Perkins distinction offers its service to this cause De Praedest and t is most exactly consonant to their Doctrine †Though it no way satisfieth Martinius his argument Every man within the Pale of the Church saith he is bound by the tenour of the Gospel to believe himself redeemed by Christ whether he be Elect or Reprobate but upon a different account The Elect is bound to believe it ut credendo electionis particeps fiat that by believing he may be made partaker of the benefit of Election The Reprobate ut non credendo fiat inexcusabilis etiam ex intentione Dei that by not believing he may become inexcusable and this according to Gods intention And in his book De libera Gratia libero hominis Arbitrio pag. 48. he saith The commandement of Faith and Repentance is to such as are ordained to eternall life a Precept of Obedience because God doth inable and confirm them to perform it To the rest 't is a Commandment onely for their triall and conviction that their sin may be detected and all occasion of pretense taken away Thus therefore when faith is commanded and yet the gift of Faith or power of Believing not conferred Deus minime ludificatur sed homines incredulitatis idque in justitia sua redarguit convincitque God doth not mock but in his righteousnesse he doth reprove and convince men of unbelief And Maccovius delivers his minde as fully Colleg. disp 2. pag. 7. disp 15. pag. 49. That God in Commanding men to come unto him which is to believe in him and to be converted though he wills not that they should come yet he Acteth herein very seriously because he hath a fourfold end hereby to be accomplished upon them though he doth not propound their obedience for any of them 1. ut explorentur 2. ut convincantur 3. ut exprobret illis impotentiam 4. ut condemnationem in illis augeat 1. To try them 2. To convince them 3. To upbraid them with their impenitency and 4. To augment their condemnation By these Lights I presume we may see to read Master Baxters meaning and gain the perfect sense of his Rationall conceit and his as full a Purpose c. namely that God hath other designes and ends to serve upon them and therefore in sending Christ to die and the word and Spirit to be administred he hath no purpose at all that these shall be effectuall to convert and save them they come not from a resolution to renew them And this is the summe totall that Master Baxters Passive obedientiall Power and his Naturall Active Faculty and his Sufficient Grace that brings Christ and life as he saith to every mans choice do amount unto 5. God certainly foreknew the Non-conversion of these men you speak of to be a sinne of ingratitude and perversenesse of Contumacie and Rebellion and decreed therefore to damn them for it And if he did foreknow their sin to be such then he did also consider them under such a dispensation of meanes as might possibly render them ingratefull perverse contumacious and Rebellious But if in seâ—ding Christ to die and the word and Spirit to convert them he hath no purpose that these shall be effectuall to convert and save them then these Non-converted cannot be ingratefull perverse contumacious or rebellious Do you think God in his foreknowledge can look upon men as obstinate and ingratefull towards the tendries of his Grace unlesse he sees also that such Grace hath been seriously intended and offered to them for their Conversion If he sends not his Preachers with a serious and gracious intention and purpose to save them and in order thereunto to hinder or recall them from a course of Rebellion and obstinacie how is it possible his Goodnesse should finde a will to convince them of Rebellion and ingratitude and not being convicted what Right can so pure a Justice finde to proceed against them in judgement as persons obstinate and ingratefull when he never had a serious intention to save them or to free them from such Rebellion and obstinacie For what ingratitude can there be against a Person that hath no will to do a benefit but onely a will to seem to do it What obstinacy can have place against him that calls not out of a purpose to save or with an intention to benefit No man can be ungratefull towards a Cruel Hypocrite No man can be obstinate against an unmercifull Deluder And is it not a Cruell Hypocrisie and an unmercifull Delusion to carry a will of seeming to convince those persons of Ingratitude and Obstinacie for their rejection of Grace and favour whom we have Antecedently for some fault of their Ancestors imputed to them secluded from all the salutary effects and benefits thereof with a design and purpose to take advantage of the next plausible pretense to ruine them Can the odious crimes of ingratitude and obstinacie have place in such a case The Jews might with as good reason have condemned our Saviour of Ingratitude and Obstinacy against that invitation to accept their faith and his own deliverance when having first nail'd him to it they in mockery cryed out to him Come down from the Crosse and we will believe on thee What is offered in a lusory way or onely tendred to render us inexcusable nothing in the whole world can be more excusable then to reject it †Neque enim ea fingi potest homines reddere inexcusabiles per verbum Spiritum vocatio quae eo tantum fine exhibetur ut reddat inexcusabiles Suffrag Brit. de 3 4. Art thes 3. pag. 129. par 2. We are not wont to beat our children but to commend their ingenuitie when in such cases they turn Recusants I hope we will allow Almighty God to be full as equall if not an infinitely more indulgent Father than man is Master Baxter shuts up his discourse upon this Article with these words And will not most of your most odious inferences fall upon your own Doctrines if you confesse Gods Foreknowledge as well as upon theirs that maintain his Decree of giving effectuall Grace to some I pray what are those odious inferences you mean that are drawn from Gods Decree of giving effectuall grace to some
certain Law the transgression whereof is Tyranny but he doth it jure dominii as an Absolute Lord whose Soveraignty is without Law or controll and therefore he may dispose of them at his pleasure That this is their sense notwithstanding what they publickly professe to detest may easily be collected from the 18. Art of the 1. Chap. Of Predestination where to stop the mouthes as they pretend of such as murmur at the grace of free Election and severity of just Reprobation as they call it they alleage that of the Apostle Rom. 9.20 O man who art thou that replyest against God And that of our Saviour Mat. 10.15 Is it not Lawfull for me to do what I will with my own Texts of Scripture which the Creabilitarian-Supralapsarians as well as the Existentialists make use of for proof of their Decrees and they are just as much to their purpose that is altogether impertinent to the use those severall Parties do make of them Amongst those Doctrines which the Synod doth purposely disown and publickly professe to detest there is another which I wonder Master Baxter hath omitted which is this That this Doctrine of the Calvinists maketh God the Author of sin But perhaps he hath smelt out the Fallacy exprest in the Fifth Article of the first Chapter where they say Incrodulitatis istius ut omnium aliorum peccatorum causa seu culpa neutiquam est in Deo sed in homine The cause or fault of unbelief as of all other sins is in no wise in God but in man Here are two words made use of as of the same importance Causa seu culpa Cause or fault by which while many of their Doctors do affirme that God doth incite and irritate urge and impell necesitate and constraine men to sin nay worketh sin in them yet shall they be excused from prevaricating the Doctrine of the Synod for though to speak properly God be the cause of sin by such manner of working to the production of it yet Culpa the fault of sin can in no wise be ascribed to him Zuinglius and Keckerman have given the Reason of it because there is no law made to bind Almighty God to the contrary but man onely For confirmation hereof they adde Sicut Taurus cum nunc has nanc illas vaceas promiscua vaga Venere init adulterii culpa non tenetur sed homo si cum aliorum uxoribus rem habeat eo quod huic non illi prohibens lex lata fit ita Deus peccato seu culpa non tenetur cum creaturam ad hos illos actus movet sed tantummodo creatura ipsa quia ei lex prohibens lata est non Deo I shall not so much as English it for shame I cannot leave Master Baxter till I have followed him to the very last stage of his Preface which he shuts up thus We should live in peace if the advise of the Synod ibid. were followed A Phrasibus denique iis omnibus abstineant quae praescriptos nobis genuini Sanctarum Scripturarum sensus limites excedunt protervis sophistis justam ansam praebere possint doctrinam Ecclesiarum Reformâ—tarum sugillandi aut calumniandi But the Synod should have done well to have left us an example herein by their own practice But we find that when the British Hassien and Bremish Divines moved to have the harsh and incommodious speeches of some of their Doctors declared against and rejected they were out-voted and cried down upon this account Ne Phrasium istarum rejectione Orthodoxa doctrina ab illis asserta defensa paritèr damnari videretur Session 13â— We may see by this it is a great deal easier to give good advise than to follow it And this appears further by that Admonition of Master Baxter in the next words And if withall we were humbly Conscious of our own frailty and fallibility and could maintain that unfeigned charity to our Brethren which beseemeth all the Disciples of Christ and which would cause us to say and do by others even in our Controversall writings and private Speeches of them as we would have them say and do by us But alas the Disciples of that Synod will neither be persuaded to be the first nor do the last they will follow none of these Prescriptions no not so much as Singular M. Baxter †Physician heal thy self witnesse his proceedings against A Table of Decrees of Salvation Damnnation Ye shall live therefore ye shall mortifie the deeds of the Body Ye shall die therefore ye shall live after the Flesh Delineated by Mr. W. Perkins In his Armilla Aurea Predestination Creation Election The Fall Reprobation Supralapsarian Creabilitarians Supral Existentialists Sublapsarians Suprulap Creabilitar Sup Existent Sublapsarians God's Love in Christ towards the Elect Effectuall Calling Justification Sanctification Glorification Eternall Life The Word Softning Faith Remission Imputation Mortification Vivification Repentance New Obedience CHRIST the Mediator His Holinesse Obedience Death Buriall Dominion of the grave Resurrection Ascension Session Intercession Illumination Repentance Faith Tast Zeale Deception of Sinne. Obduration Malice Vnbeliefe Apostacy Calling Vneffectual Agnition of that Call Relapse Gad's hatred towards the Reprobate No Calling Ignorance Blindnesse Reprobate Sense Greedinesse in sinning Pollution Damnation Death Eternall Death Judgment Declaration of Mercie Declaration of Justice GOD's GLORY Place this at Page 411 M. Perkins his Synopsis or Table In Armilla Aurea shewing according to his account the Series of Causes both of Salvation and Damnation or the Decrees of Election and Reprobation with the Means and Order of their Execution BEcause this Table contains an Ocular demonstration of the matter of Fact charged upon the Calvinists and their Synod by Tilenus I thought it convenient to insert it and to make some Reflexions and Observations upon it for the benefit of the Reader who upon a view of this Diagram may take notice with me 1. That there are three severall Sects contending as well against one another as against the Remonstrants They are usually divided into two Parties Supralapsarians and Sublapsarians But because Supralapsarians are of two sorts I shall distinguish them by severall Names The first sort who make the creature Gomar disp de Praedest 1604. thes 13. not in its Actuall existence but in its condition of Possibility the Obâ—ect of the Decree These I shall call Supralapsarian Creabilitarians The second sort who make the creature in its Actuall Existence but yet Innocent the Object of that Decree These I shall call Supralapsarian-Existentialists The third sort who make mankinde faln in Adam and by Divine imputation guilty of Originall sin the Object of the said Decree These are called Sublapsarians * Piscator indeavours to reconcile all three opinions Considerationes illa non sunt opposiâ—ae sed tantùm diversae ac proinde omnes locum habere possunt sicut revera habent Objectum praedestinationis esse hominem consideratum ut nondum
without consulting it that you were like to make no impression with such blunt weapons as you manage against him You must therefore be content till you can come better arm'd to leave the Field and the victory behinde you which your Confidence no doubt at your Marching forth promised you the Glory of in this attempt But this Ghost must follow you into the next Field where he is to try your strength and skill a little further which is That God to save his elect from the corrupt Masse doth beget faith in them by a power equall to that whereby he created the world and raised up the dead insomuch that such unto whom he gives that Grace cannot reject it and the rest being Reprobate cannot accept of it though it be offered unto both by the same Preaching and Ministery That the work of Regeneration or Conversion for mightinesse is not inferiour to the creation of the world or raising up of the dead * Cap. 3. 4. Arb. 12. suffrag Gamvens de 2 〈◊〉 4 cap. Th. 10 et 13. is the expresse Affirmation of the Synod in terminis What is it then that Master Baxter hath to object against the Article 1. Where did the Synod say that this was to save his Elect from the corrupt Masse excluding all others salvation Tilenus hath not the words excluding all others salvation but the Synod hath the Thing sure enough for they conclude that the Election of some implye †Electio quam de Jacobo intelligit absque reprobatione quam vi oppositionis intelligit de Esavo ne cogitari quidem potest Piscat Respon ad Syllog 1. Taufreri Contra absol Reprob Decret the Rejection of others and that is exclusion in Zanchy's sense as was shewed above and in any mans sense I think but M. Baxters Do they not say many of them and 't is the judgement of them all that the number of the Elect can neither be diminished nor increased and are not the rest excluded then by that Doctrine And although you say God invites them to salvation upon Faith and Repentance yet this Condition is impossible and made so by his own Antecedent Decree which first ordained their fall * Oportuit ergo Deum quoque hanc unicam viam sibi aperire id est Adami Lapsum ordinare sed ad eum quem dixi finem Beza in resp ad S. Castel de Praedest in refutat secundae Calum p. 361. as many Calvinists do teach and then the deniall of Sufficient and Necessary Grace unto Faith and Repentance as the whole Synod hath declared and thereby they exclude all others Salvation Master Baxter goes on And if you quarrell not with a supposed exclusion but an inclusion then he that denyeth a necessity of salvation from the corrupted Masse may tell God he will not be beholding for such a mercy and stand to the venture Here you are really guilty of a perverse insinuation to render Tilenus and his Doctrine odious to the world whereof you falsly charge him in other parts of your Preface Sect. 6. 16. Why else should you hold forth such a supposition if it were not to impose upon your Reader that Tilenus or the Remonstrants deny a necessity of salvation from the corrupt Masse Where do they say this or what temptation have you to suspect they think so if you had no such intent your Inclusion might have been excluded and so might the other branch of your distinction which follows in these words But if you mean it Exclusively they professe that Faith is the means of our Salvation not onely from the corrupted Masse but from Infidelity and the Curse of the Law and from damnation and all the sin that would procure it Before Master Baxter spake of an Exclusion of Persons but now he comes to resume this Exclusion as the second branch of his distinction he speaks of an Exclusion of Things which is not very Artificiall in the way of discourse But why do you professe Faith is the means of our salvation not onely from the corrupt Masse but c. Who said onely from the corrupt Masse And surely the corrupt Masse is the Terminus à quo and if you be a Sublapsarian you must conclude that as Mans Misery so Gods Mercy and Salvation must begin there otherwise if men be lest in the corrupt Masse till they arrive at finall damnation Faith will come too late then to save them 2. Here you separate Infidelity from the corrupt Masse and hereby you implyedly acknowledge that we are not made guilty of Infidelity by Adams sin and consequently that men being Reprobated upon the account of this sinne were Reprobated without any respect to their Infidelity as Tilenus chargeth the Synod to hold in his first Article But why do you separate the curse of the Law and Damnation from the corrupt Masse as if this alone were not sufficient to procure both as your words insinuate though I presume as much contrary to your own sense as it is most certainly †Cap. 1. Reject 8. to the doctrine of the Synod Master Baxter runs on in perverse Insinuations still saying 2. If you think that God doth not cause Faith in us you will not then pray for it nor be beholden for it I am so well assured that it is God that causeth Faith in us in the sense of Holy Scripture that I account my self obliged not onely to pray for the working and increase of it but most humbly and heartily to thank and blesse him also for the Possession and benefit But then saith Master Baxter If you yield that he causeth it but not by such a power as you mention you either think that God causeth it without power which is an opinion that needs no censure or that he hath many Powers and causeth one thing by one power and another thing by another which is as unbeseeming a Divine or Christian to assert Answ 'T is acknowledged that God causeth Faith and that by his Power which Power of his is one and the same Omnipotencie essentially but exerted and put forth to the production of severall effects not like the Powers of Naturall Agents which Act Ad Ultimum sui Posse to their utmost strength but in such a Proportion and Measure as seems meet to his All-wise Good pleasure to allow every Agent in order to its operation For it is a certain Rule Licet non possimus Deo tribuere virtutem agendi Lmitatam nil tamen vetat quod influxus extrinsecus ab eo ortus non contineat omnem perfectionem possibilem in ratione influxus Though God be omnipotent yet every influx of God is not omnipotent for what is Omnipotent is Infinite and what is Infinite can neither be increased nor diminished If therefore every influx of God unto Second Causes were Omnipotent or Infinite no one Influx of the Divine Power could be more strong or forcible than another But let us hear Master
Baxters Probleme upon the point in these next words Is not all the world of sober Christians agreed that Omnis Potentia Dei est Omnipotentia Either God Causeth faith by the same Omnipotency by which he created the world or else he causeth it not at all For he hath no power but one and that is Omnipotency Here Master Baxter straines his wits to palliate the Synods absurd Doctrine To which end he confounds Gods essentiall Power which is Omnipotencie with the Egressions of the same Power to diverse effects and purposes which as was proved even now are more or lesse powerfull as the wisdome of God is pleased to send them forth But let us try what use we can make of this captious way of arguing and I shall inferre from this Position of M. Baxter one of these two Conclusions either 1. That there is no Sufficient Grace given to the Non-Elect which is against M. Baxters Doctrine or 2. that those Non-elect can conquer Gods Omnipotencie which to use his words is as unbeseeming a Divine or Christian to assert Thus I argue Some power of God is exerted towards the Conversion of the Non-elect All power of God is Omnipotencie Therefore some Omnipotencie is exerted towards the conversion of the c. But that M. Baxter may not Cavill at the Form of the Argument being in the third figure we will reduce it according to the Rules of Art and 1. Ostensivé All the Power of God is Omnipotencie Towards the conversion of the Non-Elect is exerted some power of God Therefore to the Conversion of the Non-elect is exerted some Omnipotencie 2. We will reduce it Per Impossibile No omnipotencie is exerted towards the conversion of the Non-elect All power of God is Omnipotencie Therefore No power of God is exerted towards the Conversion of the Non-elect Now Master Baxter may take his choice of these two Conclusions If he saith there is no power of God exerted towards the conversion of the Non-elect then his sufficient Grace is vanisht for I presume he will not say that is sufficient to an effect which hath nothing of Gods power in it But if he saith the Omnipotency of God is exerted towards their Conversion then seeing they are not de Facto actually Converted it will follow that they can insuperably resist and prevaile against Omnipotencie which to take no advantage of the blasphemy of that assertion if they can do though they shall be the greatest Rebels in the world they will deserve to weare the crown for their exceeding prowesse This will awaken Master Baxter to the use of some of his Five senses which to make a show and fill up the Muster rather than for any great service in this Controversie are displayed in these words In these severall senses it may be said that a thing is the effect of Omnipotencie 1. Properly and strictly as denominating the cause And so all that God doth is the effect of Omnipotencie even the life of a Fly and therefore you cannot deny it of Grace This I shall not Question But 2. Improperly as meaning that the Agent doth Act to the utmost of his Power and could do no more and thus never did any Divine that was well in his wits say that Grace is the effect of Gods Omnipotency 3. Improperly also as meaning that so much power as was put forth in causing Faith would have created a world had it been that way imployed And this cannot be their meaning because sober Divines do not use to ascribe severall degreees of Power unlesse which is a good Reserve for you denominatively ab effectis to God and if they did yet would they not pretend to judge of the Scantling and say This work hath more power and this lesse especially in such Mysterious works Answ 1. Whether the Divines of the Synod were well in their wits I shall not examine 'T is too evident that many of their Followers are not which is the fairest excuse that can be made for many of their Doctrines and Practices And whether they thought that God did Act to the utmost of his Power and could do no more in the conversion of a Sinner I shall not dispute neither Nor shall I put any of their words upon the Rack to force them to speak their meaning to be this That so much Power as was put forth in causing faith would have created a world had it been that way imployed But whether their sobriety conteined them from ascribing severall degrees of power to God at least from implying them and judging of the Scantling I shall leave to the interpretation of the Judicious and Impartiall Reader having first set down their very words which are these Cap. 3. et 4. Reject 8. In the Regeneration of man they say God does suae Omnipotentiae vires adhibere exert or imploy the strength of his Omnipotencie They do not speak here of Gods Essentiall power which we doubt not to be Infinite or Omnipotent but of the influx or emanations of it applyed to or imployed in this work and these they say are vires Omnipotentiae suae the strength of his Omnipotencie And he that denies this they adde that he doth Actionem Dei Omnipotentis subjicere voluntati hominis subject the Action of the Allmighty God to the will of man Ibid. Art 12. Which Action or Operation Virtute sua nec creatione nec mortuorum resuscitatione minor aut inferior for the mightinesse thereof as the English Translator hath it is not less or inferiour to the creation of the world or the resuscitation of the dead If this be not a passing of Judgement upon the scantling of Gods Power I professe I know not what Master Baxter means by it And I would fain be informed whether of the work of Speciall Grace in Gods Elect and the work of Common Grace in the Reprobate we may not truely say That work hath more power and This lesse which yet saith Master Baxter Sober Divines do not Pretend to judge of especially in such Mysterious works But he summs up all in these word Gods will is sufficient to cause the thing Willed And the willing of Grace will not cause a world nor the willing of a world will not cause Grace Here 1. Master Baxter slips away from the Question which is not about the Object of Gods Will but about the Influx of his Power For 't is not the will of God Reduplicativè or quatenùs Will that causeth the Thing willed but quatenùs Potentia as it is Power as well as Will. And we must not forget to take notice that Things willed of Almighty God are either willed Absolutely as his own workes or disjunctively and conditionally as Mans duty Gods will alone is sufficient to cause the things willed in the first sense but not in the latter And this not because the Will of God alone cannot at least if it doth not imply a contradiction to say God can do that which is