expresly granteth that the Saints many times are so far from obeying these Exhortations that they walke for a long time in full opposition to them as in security loosenesse vile Practises c. Nor have they yet proved nor I believe ever will prove but that they may walke yea and that many have thus walked I mean in full opposition to the said Exhortations to their dying day 2. If God by his Spirit irresistibly drawes his Saints to obey the exhortations we speak of he thus draweth them either by such a force or Power immediately acted upon their wills by which they are made willing to obey them or else he maketh use of the said Exhortations so to work or affect their wills that they become willing accordingly If the former be asserted Then 1. The said Exhortations are no means whereby the Perseverance of the Saints is effected but God alone and immediately by His Spirit For if the Will be immediately affected by God after such a manner or brought to such a bent and inclination as that it cannot but obey the said Exhortations i. e. doe the things which the said Exhortations require then would it have done the same things whether there had been any such Exhortations in being or no and consequently these Exhortations could have no manner of efficiency about their Perseverance For the will according to the common saying is of it self caeca potentia a blind faculty and followes its own predominant bent and inclination without taking knowledge whether the wayes or actions towards which it stands bent be commanded or exhorted unto by God or no. 2. If the will of a Saint be immediately so affected by God that it stands inclin'd and bent to doe the things which are proper to cause them to Persevere then is this bent and inclination wrought in the will of such a Person after his being a Saint and consequently is not essentiall to him as a Saint but meerly accidentall and adventitious And if so then is there no inclination or bent in the will of a Saint as such or from his first being a Saint to Persevere or to do the things which accompany Perseverance but they come to be wrought in him afterwards Which how consistent it is with the Principles either of Reason or Religion or their own I am content that my Adversaries themselves shall judge 3. If God doth immediately and irresistibly incline or move the wills of the Saints to doe the things which accompany Perseverance the said Exhortations can be no means of effecting this Perseverance For the will being Physically and irresistibly acted and drawn by God to doe such and such things needeth no addition of morall means such as Exhortations are if they be any in order hereunto What a Man is necessitated unto he needeth no further help or means to doe it 4. And lastly for this the things which accompany Perseverance import a continuance in Faith and Love unto the end If then the wills of the Saints be immediately and irresistibly moved by God thus to continue I mean in Faith and Love unto the end what place is there for Exhortations to come in with their efficiency towards their Perseverance Need they be exhorted to continue in Faith and Love or to Persevere after the end Thus then we clearly see that the former of the two consequences mentioned cannot stand God doth not by His Spirit irresistibly draw or move the wills of the Saints to doe the things which are necessary for the procuring their Perseverance immediately or without the instrumentall interposure of the said exhortations Secondly neither can the latter of the said consequences stand God doth §. 6. not make use of the said Exhortations to influence or affect the wills of the Saints upon any such terms as hereby to make them infallibly infrustrably necessitatingly willing to Persevere or to doe the things upon which Perseverance dependeth For 1. If so then one and the same act of the will should be both Physicall and morall and so be specifically distinguished in and from it self For so far as it is produced by the irresistible force or power of the Spirit of God it must needs be Physicall the said irresistible working of the Spirit being a Physicall action and so not proper to produce a morall effect Againe as far as the said Exhortations are means to produce or raise this act of the will or contribute any thing towards it it must needs be morall because Exhortations are morall causes and so not capable of producing naturall physicall or necessary effects Now then if it be unpossible that one and the same act of the will should be both physicall and morall that is necessary and noâ— necessary unpossible also it is that it should be produced by the irresistible Working of God and by Exhortations in a joynt efficiencie It may be objected They who hold or grant such an influence or operation of the Spirit of God upon the will which is frustrable and resistible doe or must suppose it to be a physicall action as well as that which is irresistible If so then the act of the will so far as it is raised by means of â—his action or operation of God must according to the tenor of the former argument be physicall also and so the pretended impossibility is no more avoided by this Opinion then by the other I answer Though such an operation of God upon the will as is here mentioned be in respect of God and of the manner of its proceeding from Him physicall yet in respect of the nature and substance of it it is properly morall because it impresseth or affecteth the will upon which it is acted after the manner of morall causes properly so called i. e. perswadingly not Ravishingly or necessitatingly When a Minister of the Gospell in his Preaching Presseth or Perswadeth Men to such and such duties or actions this act as it proceedeth from Him I meane as it is raised by His naturall abilities of understanding and speaking is physicall or naturallâ— but in respect of the substance or native tendency of it it is clearly morall viz. because it tendeth to incline or move the wills of Men to such or such elections without necessitating them hereunto and so comports with those Arguments or Exhortations in their manner of efficiency by which he presseth or moveth them to such things By the way to prevent stumbling and quarrelling it no wayes followeth from the Premisses that a Minister by his Preaching and perswading unto duties should doe as much as God Himself doth in or towards a perswading of Men hereunto It onely followeth that the Minister doth co-operate with God which the Apostle Himâ—elf affirmeth a 1 Cor. 3. 9. 2 Cor. 6. 1. in order to one and the same effect i. e. that he operateth by one and the same kinde of efficiency with God viz. morally or perswadeingly not necessitatingly For when one necessitates and another onely perswades
viz. when the race is not to the swift nor the battell to the strong c. Eccles 9. 11. Eccles 9. 11. §. 9. If it be here demanded In as much as second Causes and created Principles especially in men act notwithstanding such a substraction of the Divine Presence from them as hath been declared though not according to the perfection of their natures but in a troubled and miscarrying manner the eyes of the two Disciples we spake of though they were so held that they knew not Christ viz. to be the person which he was yet they represented him unto them as a man c. Whether do such actings as these proceed from their Principles without any such presence of the first Cause with them as that which we have asserted to be simply necessary for and with second Causes whensoever they go forth into action Or what manner of presence of this first Cause or how differing from that which is constant and more agreeable to their natures shall we suppose they have with them when they act irregularly or deficiently To this I answer 1. Whensoever second Causes move into action whether they act congruously to their respective natures and kinds or whether defectively they still have and must have a presence of the first Cause with them as hath beene already argued But 2. When they faile or faulter in their motions or actings if their motions be such which are not morall or commanded by the will of which kind the mis representation of the person of Christ by the eyes or visive faculty of the two Apostles was I conceive that the presence or concourse of the first cause with them is attempered and proportioned in order to the deficiency of the action I mean as well to the degree as kind of this deficiency and is not the same with it selfe in the ordinary and proper actings of these faculties The reason hereof is because faculties meerly naturall act determinately and uniformly after one and the same manner unlesse they be troubled and put out of their way by a superior power But in morall actions and such whose deficiency proceedeth from the wills of men or other creatures indued with the Whether or how the concurrence of God with the wils of men in good actions dister from that which is afforded unto them in evill actions shall God willing be taken into consideration in the second part of this work same faculty the presence and concourse of the first Cause with the Principles producing them is not at least ordinarily different from that which is naturall and proper to them and by vertue whereof at other times they act regularly or at least may The Reason hereof is because the nature and intrinsecall frame and constitution of the will importeth a liberty or freedom of chusing its own motions or acts this being the essentiall and characteristicall property of it whereby it is distinguished from causes meerly naturall Now then if this faculty when it moves or acts inordinately should be so influenced by the first Cause as hereby to be determined or necessitated to the inordinacy of its actings 1. That distinguishing property we speak of should be dissolved or destroyed and the will it selfe hereby reduced to the Order and Laws of Causes meerly naturall 2. The inordinatenesse or sinfulnesse of the motions and actings of it could not be resolved into it selfe or its own corruption but into that over ruling and necessitating influence of the first Cause upon it which it was not able to withstand nor to act besides or contrary unto the determinating exigency thereof And thus God shall be made the Author of Sin which is the first born of abominations even in the eye of Reason and Nature it selfe But of these things more hereafter Though all the motions and actings of the creature and created Principles §. 10. or faculties are absolutely suspended upon the association of the first Cause with them in their actings yet do they very seldom suffer any detriment or actuall suspension of their motions or actings hereby God never denying suspending or withdrawing that concurrence or conjunction of himself with them without which they cannot act but only upon some speciall design as for example now and then to be a Remembrancer unto the world that Nature and Second Causes are not autocratoricall i. e. do not perform what ordinarily they do perform independently and of themselves but that he is the soveraign Lord of them and hath all the strength and operations of them in his hand The battell commonly is to the strong and the race ordinarily to the swift and bread most frequently to men of understanding c. But more of this also in the following Chapter The Apostle affirming That in God we live and move in the sence declared §. 11. passeth the sentence of condemnation against two opinions which yet condemn one the other also being two extreams leaving the Truth between them in the middle The former denies all co-operation of the first Cause with the second affirming That God only communicateth that operating virtue unto them which they respectively exert and put forth and preserveth it but doth not at all co-operate with it The latter affirmeth That it is God only who acteth or worketh at the presence of Second Causes and that these do nothing but stand by act not at all The former of these opinions wâ—â— held by Durandus the Schoolman and by some others far more ancient then he against whom Augustin disputeth Lib. 5. dâ— Geâ— ad lit c. 20. The latteâ— by Gabriel Biel a School man also and some others of that Learning The Apostles assertion That we move in God in the sence asserted is visibly attended with these two consequentiall Truths 1. That God doth associate himselfe and communicate with Second Causes and all created Principles in their respective motions and operations and consequently contributes more towards their motions and operations then only by a collation and conservation of a sufficient strength or virtue in their respective causes to produce them 2. That the ordinary effects acts and operations produced in these sublunary parts are not so or upon any such terms attributable unto God but that they have their Second Causes also respectively producing them whereunto they may as truly and perhaps more properly be ascribed as unto God CHAP. II. Though there be as absolute and essential a Dependance of Second Causes upon the first in point of motion action and operation as of simple Existence or Being yet are not the motions actions or operations of Second Causes at least ordinarily so immediately or precisely determined by that Dependance which they have upon the first Cause as their respective Beings are THe simple Existences or Beings of things may be said to be determined §. 1. by God the first Cause three ways 1. In respect of their Natures or constituting Principles of their respective Beings 2. In respect of their
other Person or Persons by Name should have acted this his determination knowing certainly 1. That these men would act it freely and without being any wayes determined yea or in the least degree excited by him hereunto 2. That in case these had not acted it there were enough in the World besides that would But 4. Concerning those actions of men with their Consequences Productions §. 16. and Events which are so emphatically and signally as hath been said attributed unto God the reason of this attribution I conceive is partly because the conjunction of such Principles in men and Providences about men between which the actions we speake of are begotten and produced is somewhat particular and rare partly also and chiefly because the event and consequence of such actions are some speciall designe and intendment of God as is cleerly to be seen in the instances already pointed at Deut. 2. 27. compared with v. 30. Jos 11. 20. 2 Sam. 17. 14. 1 King 12. 15. Act. 4. 28. compared with Rom. 4. 25. 8. 32. c. Therefore 5. Concerning the ordinary and constant motions and actions of other §. 17. Creatures in the World though the least of them commeth not to passe without the knowledge and fore-knowledge of God in such a sence as foreknowledge is attributable unto him nor without his Prudentiall disposall of them to their or rather his respective ends yet can they not be said be to determined by him in any other sence or consideration then this viz. as he was the Author of such and such determinate Natures Properties and Beings in the Creation which by his ordinary concurrence with them for support and action are apt to move or to act after such or such a manner determinately The regular and respective motions shinings influences of the Sun Moon and Starres the flowing of Rivers from their Fountaines together with the decurrency of their Waters into the Sea with a thousand things besides of like consideration are no otherwise determined by God then as hath beene said 6. Concerning the particular motions actions and exertions of such Creatures §. 18. or Causes which though meerly naturall do not move act or exert uniformly or without variation but with a latitude and disproportion in their motions and effects there is ground I conceive to judge that God doth at least sometimes though not so frequently as is commonly presum'd Providentially interpose beyond his ordinary concurrence to occasion or bring to passe such a variation As for example that the same ground with the same labour cost and skill of the Husbandman bestowed on it doth not yeild a like proportion of increase one year which it doth another so againe that the same fruit-bearing Trees are barren one year and well-bearing another that the Seas are Pacifique and commodious for Passage at one time in such parts and places of them as when such and such Ships with such and such Persons in them passe thorough them where they are turbulent and dangerous at another time when such and such other Ships and Persons in them passe the same way with many more particulars of like consideration the reason doubtlesse of the variety and diversity of occurrences or effects in this kinde is not alwayes to be resolved either divisim or conjunction only into the native Properties of the Causes whether mediately or immediately producing them or into the ordinary and standing concurrence of God with these Causes for or in producing them but there is somewhat a more particular hand of the great Ruler of the World which formes and fashions them in such different shapes and that in order to such and such ends which though sometimes apprehensible enough yet for the most part are very hard for men to call by their Names Only this remaines true that in such occurrences and events as those now specified notwithstanding that great diversity found between them yet ordinarily all Particular Causes interessed in the Production of them act in a regular and due conformity to their respective Natures and Properties and are not forced or turned out their way by any immediate Power or interposall of God And that which he doth in order to a diversification when the difference is Preter-naturall and signally from him consists either in a multiplication of or a substraction from the number of Causes which according to the course of nature and ordinary Providence would have joyned in raising the effect or else in suspending either in whole or in part or in augmenting the operating vertue of one cause or more present with those which together raise and produce the effect Which suspension and augmentation though in a sence they may be called miraculous yet are they not direct or perfect miracles partly because they are not so obvious to any of the outward senses partly also because though they be unusuall and rare compared with the co 〈…〉 of ordinary Providence yet are they frequent in such kindes of dispensations which are either signally penall or munificent 7. Concerning such occurrences and casuall events wherein or whereby §. 19. any creature suffers losse either of being or of well-being in what kinde or degree soever neither are these determined by God though he takes speciall knowledge of them both before and when they come to passe and contrives them accordingly to their most appropriate ends When our Saviour reacheth his Disciples that a Sparrow shall not fall to the ground i. e. be taken kil'd or hurt without his Heavenly Father his meaning is not to assert a particular Decree or determination in God concerning the death or hurt of every Sparrow that either dieth or receiveth harme but to shew that God is vigilant and carefull in his Rule and Government of the World and taketh exact notice how his Creatures suffer or are diminished It is more proper of the two and neerer to the truth to say and hold that God determineth the preservation or keeping alive of those Sparrowes which fall not to the ground then that he determineth the falling to the grounds of every one that so falleth The reason is because the object of Gods determinations or Decrees is only that which is good whereas things indifferent and things that are evill are the object of his knowledge as well as that which is good But of this more hereafter So when any mans Person House or Goods are consum'd or hurt by Fire there is no competent ground to say or thinke that any of these were determined by God or that they might not have been prevented For certaine it is that he Decreed not either the negligence or carelesnesse nor yet the malice of those who thorough either the one or the other were the Authors of such accidents If it be said yea but the permission of such accidents as these is good §. 20. otherwise God would not permit them to be And if so then such a Permission may be the object of Gods
we are not to conceive that upon the multiplication or new production of Entities or Beings the acts of God are multiplied for or in their production but that whatsoever is produced by him or receives being from him as all things that have being do when or at what time soever they receive this being they receive it by vertue of that one creative act of his by which at once in the beginning as the Scripture phrase is he gave being to all things Past Present and yet to Come Nor are we to conceive that when Moses reporteth the History of the Creation thus And God said let there be light a Gen. 1. 3. and afterwards viz. after a dayes space that he said Let there be a Firmament b Gen. 1. 6. and again after the same distance of time Let the waters under the Heaven he gathered together into one place c Gen. 1. 9. c. that he spake these things at three severall distinct times or that he waited the just space of a day between speech and speech but that Moses his intent in this description or relation was to declare by what successive spaces or distances of time that one Creative Word of God which he spake at once took place and gave being to the severall and respective parts of the Universe So that for example when by way of Preface to the second dayes worke he writeth thus And God said let there be a Firmament c. His meaning only was to signifie what that one creative Word of God once and at once spoken did produce or give being unto towards the compleating of the Universe the second day after the Creation was begun not that God rested or kept silence for a dayes space and then fell to work again This truth I mean that all temporary and successive effects in the World §. 16. whether produced by the intervening and concourse of second Causes or without are produced by the impression and vigour of that one great act of God we speak of and not by any new act exercised or exerted by him in order to their severall and particular Productions is frequently insinuated in the Scriptures themselves yea and is demonstrable by ground of reason and nothing but what hath been the judgement of severall learned men and of Augustine by name The context of Moses Gen. 2. 4. tenoureth thus These are the generations of the Heavens and of the Earth when they were created IN THE DAY that the Lord made the Earth and the Heavens and every plant of the field BEFORE IT WAS IN THE EARTH and every herb of the Field BEFORE IT GREVV Here he plainly affirmeth that God created the Earth and the Heavens in the same day and every Plant of the Field BEFORE it was in the Earth c. Cleerly implying that though the Earth and the Heavens received their respective beings on two severall dayes successively yet that which God acted or did towards their Productions was done by him in one and the same day i. e. at once and again that although no Plant of the Field was actually produced before it was in the Earth for no Plant was made out of the Earth and afterwards by God put into it yet that on Gods part and in respect of what he contributed towards their actuall Production they were produced before viz. by that one Creative act we spake of Consonant to this deduction from as also to the exposition lately given unto the context of Moses is this passage of Augustine When thou hearest that all things were then made when the day was made conceive if thou beest able that six or seven fold repetition which is made or to be made without any intervalls of delayes or spaces of time or if thou beest not able so to conceive of it leave it for those to conceive who are able and go thou forward with the Scripture which forsaketh not thy infirmity but walketh a Mothers pace slowly with thee and which so speaketh that with her height shee laughs at the proud with her depth shee amazeth the considerate with her Truth shee feeds the strong or well-grown and with her affability nourisheth little ones a Et cum audis tunc facta omnia cum factus est dies illam senariam vel septenariam repetitionem sine intervallis moraâ—um spaciorumque temporalium factam si possis apprehendas si autem non possis haec relinquas conspicienda valentibus tu autem cum Scriptura non deserente infirmitatem tuam materno incessu tecum tardius ambulante proficias quae sic loquitur ut altitudine superbos irrideat profunditate attentos terreat veritate magnos pascat affabilitate parvos nutriat Aug. de Gen. ad lit l. 5. c. 3. The same Author elsewhere For God saith he made all time with all corporall Creatures together or at once which visible Creatures are signified by the Name of Heaven and Earth b Fecit enim Deus omne tempus simul cum omnibus creaturis corporalibus quae creaturae visibiles nomine coeli terrae significantur Aug. lib. 1. de Gen. contra Manich. c 3. Quod futurum est jam factum est Idem Soliq cap. 26. This to have been his positive and cleer judgement many other passages in his writings give plenary and pregnant testimony and more particularly his 105th Tractate upon John and his Books upon Genesis But to returne to the Scriptures Those words Psal 115. 3. He God hath done whatsoever he pleased in the best sence and interpretation of them and that which is closest to the letter are thus to be understood viz. that whatsoever God willeth or hath willed should at any time come to passe he hath already done viz. all that he meaneth or which is any wayes necessary for him to do towards the effecting of it In this sence also that of the Apostle Rom. 8. 30. with many other places of Scripture of like Phrase and consideration is to be understood Moreover whom he hath predestinated them also hath he called and whom he hath called them hath he also justified and whom he hath justified them hath he also glorified God is said to have already called justified glorified all those whom he did foreknow ver 29. i. e. preapprove viz. as lovers of God Vers 28. and so predestinated to be conformed to the Image of his Sonne because he hath already done whatsoever is requisite for him to doe for the procurement and effecting of them in due time By the way lest the Table of this Doctrine should prove a snare of error §. 17. or mistake unto any foure things are diligently to be minded First that that one great Act of God by which he gave Being in time unto the World and unto all things that either have been or ever shall be produced or done in it was not exercised or acted by him in time but from or in eternity The reason hereof is
meaning before Heaven and Earth were made For thâ—re was no THEN where there was no time Neither dost thou precede times in time for if so thou couldst not precede or be before all times But thou precedest all times that are past with the statelinesse or transcendent height of thine eternity which is alwayes present and art above all times that are future because they are yet to come and when they are come they will be past but thou art the same and thy yeares faile not a Si autem ante coelum terram nullum erat tempus cur quaeritur quid tunc faciebas Non enim erat Tunc ubi non erat tempus nec tu tempora tempore praecedis alioquin non omnia tempora praecederes Sed praecedis omnia tempora prâ—terita câ—lsitudine semper praesentis aeternitatis superas omnia futura quia illa futura sunt cùm venerint praeterita erunt tu autem idem ipse es anni tui non deficient Aug. Confess l. 11. c. 13. Consonant hereunto is the saying of Boetius a Philosopher Nor ought God saith he be conceived by us as more ancient then his Creatures in respect of any quantity of time but rather in respect of the propriety of his simple Nature b Neque Deus conditis rebus antiquâ—or videri debet temporis quantitate sed simplicis potiûs proprietate naturae Boet. de Consol Philos l. 5. pros 6. Fr. Arriba a late Writer and acute throughly versed in the learning of the Fathers and Schoolemen hath notably cleered this point and fully answered all Objections which as far as I am able to apprehend can be brought against it I shall present the Reader with two or three passages from him relating unto it When the Holy Scripture saith he and our Schoole-Doctors with it say and teach that things which are eternall are before things made in time they speake truly not of a priority FORMALLY so called such as that is which is found in those things unto which the consideration of what is before and what is after doth belong which I have often said cannot agree to eternity but they speake of a kinde of EMINENTIALL priority in respect of which those things which never faile but are alwayes the same indefinently are truly said to be before things that are temporall or in time not indeed formally but eminently For speaking properly of this eminentiall priority or of an eternall permanency that which is indefinently i. e. without end or ceasing is before that which sometimes is and sometimes is not c Dum Scriptura sacra simulque Doctores Scholastici dicunt aeterna esse priora temporalibus vere loquuntur non de prioritate formali qualis est illa quae reperitur in â—is rebus quibus convenit ratio prioris posterioris quod saepe diximus aeternitati convenire non posse sed loquuntur de prioritate sub quadam eminentiali ratione quatenùs illa quae nunquam deficiunt quae indesinenter sunt verè dicuntur priora temporalibus non quidem formaliter sed éminenter Proprie enim loquendo de ista prioritate eminentiali sive de aeternâ permanentiâ illud quod indesinenter est priùs esse dicitur quam illud quod aliquando est aliquando verò non est Fran. de Arriba Operis Con. l. 3. c. 15. Sect. 7. In another place he expresseth himself thus Our former Doctrine supposed it manifestly followes from thence that those words of Christ Joh. 8. Before Abraham was I am and that of Paul Eph. 1. He chose us in him before the World was made with many other like places of Scripture every where obvious are to be taken according to the manner of our understandings as meant of this eminentiall priority not of an antecedency in respect of time not of any priority properly and formally so called d Ex praesuppositâ Doctrinâ manifeste deducitur illa verba Christi Antequam Abraham fierit ego sum illud Pauli ad Eph. 1. Elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutione plurima alia Scripturae Sacrae similia loca qua passim occurrunt accipienda esse nostro modo intelligendi de istâ eminentiali antecedentiâ ad tempus non verò de Antecedentiâ propriè formaliter sumptâ c. Ibid. Sect. 11. The same Author elsewhere hath these words In as much as the proper and formall reason or Nature of mutability wherein the ratio or Nature of time consisteth is intrinsecall or essentiall unto time and to the differences of it as Past Present and to Come and consequently imperfection must needs be intrinsecall to them also mutability alwayes including imperfection evident it is that fuit and erit was and will be whereby that which is past and that which is to come are signified cannot with truth formally or properly be attributed unto God e Cum Tempora ejusque differentiis quales sunt praesens praeteritum futurum sit intrinseca formalis ratio mutabilitatis in qua consistit ratio temporis consequenter sit illis intrinseca imperfectio non debet tribui Deo formaliter fuit vel erit quibus praeteritum futurum significantur Ibid. c. 14. Sect. 7. This then is a third thing to be diligently considered and remembred to prevent all misprision about the point in hand no act of God is before any act of the Creature in respect of time The fourth and last thing of like necessity to be considered for the same §. 19. end is this No act of God nor Co-operation of his with his Creature imposeth any necessity upon any free-working cause I mean upon any cause which is free in the nature or constitution of it to work or not to work and to work variously to act so or so determinately nor yet supposeth any necessity or infallibility of any act or effect producible by such causes before or untill they be actually produced Nor is this any thing but the received Doctrine of Orthodox and approved Divines God saith Austine so administreth or governeth all things which he hath Created that he suffereth them to exercise and act their own proper motions a Sic administrat omniâ— quae creavit Deus ut etiam ipsa propâ—â—os exercere agere motus sinat Aug. de Civit. l. 7. c. 30. This saying of Austin is frequently cited and made use of by our best Reformed Divines as P. Martyr b Loc. Com. Class 1. cap. 14. Sect. 2. Polanus c Symph Cathol cap. 6. Thes 5. and others in their explications of the Providence of God and the manner of his concurrence with second Causes in their motions Now if God notwithstanding any influence of his upon or any Co-operation with his Creature in their motions or actings yet so far comports with them as to leave them to their native Principles Properties and Propensions in their actings doubtlesse he doth not
perish but on the contrary that whosoever of them should not believe should perish Which according to their Principles against whom we now argue is as if a man should say which soever of my sheep is no sheep but a goate shall have no pasture with his fellowes 3. They who by the World here understand the Elect must if they will §. 14. not baulk with their Principles suppose that Christ speaks at no better Rate of Wisdom or Sence in this Scripture then thus So God loved the World that He gave His only begotten Sonne that whosoever did that which was not possible for them to decline or not to do should not perish but c. Who ever being serious and in his wits required that in the nature of a condition from any Man especially in order to the obtaining of some great and important thing which he of whom it was required upon such terms was necessitated or had no Liberty or Power but to performe what Father ever promised his Son his Estate either in whole or in part upon condition that whilest he rode upon an Horse he should not go on foote or upon condition that he would do that which a force greater he was able to resist should necessitate him to do So that the whole tenor and carriage of the verse renders the interpretation of the word World hitherto encountred a meer nullity in Sence Reason and Truth 5. The Context and words immediately preceding will at no hand endure §. 15. that sence of the word World against which we have declared hitherto This little word for FOR God so loved c. being causall importeth not only a connexion of these words with what went before but such a connexion or Relation as that which intercedes between the cause and the effect So that the words in hand must be looked upon as assigning or exhibiting the Cause or Reason of that effect which was immediately before mentioned This being granted as without breach of conscience it can hardly be denied it will appear as cleer as the light of the Sun that by the word World in the place under Contest cannot be meant the Elect only The tenor of the two next foregoing Verses for together they make but one intire sentence is this And as Moses lifted up the Serpent in the Wildernesse even so must the Sonne of Man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in Him or every one believing in Him should not perish but have everlasting Life So that the effect here mentioned and expressed is the Salvation and everlasting happinesse of what Person or Persons soever of Men or of Man-kinde that shall believe in Christ The Reason or Cause hereof our Saviour discovers and asserts in the words in hand For God so loved the World that He gave c. If now by the World we shall understand only the Elect the Reason or Cause here assigned of the pre-mentioned effect will be found inadequate to it and insufficient to produce it For Gods Love to the Elect and his giving his Son for their Salvation only is no sufficient cause to procure or produce the Salvation of WHOSOEVER shall or should believe on him For certaine it is that there is Salvation in Christ for no more then for whom God intended there should be Salvation in him If there be Salvation in him for none but for the Elect only then is it not true that whosoever believes in him shall be saved For certaine it is that no Mans believing puts any Salvation into Christ for him therefore if it were not there for him before he believed yea or whether he beleeved or not neither would it be there for him though or in case he should believe 6. And lastly that by the word World in the Scripture in hand is not meant the Elect nor any thing equivalent hereunto is evident also from the Context in the Verse and words immediately following where our Saviour goeth forward in his Doctrine Thus. For God sent not His Sonne into the World to condemne the World but that the World through him might be saved a Ioh. 3. 17. This Particle for being as we lately noted Causall or Raciocinative plainly sheweth that he useth the word World or speaks of the World in this Verse where he speaks of the condemnation of it in the same sence wherein he spake of it in the former and the meanes of the Salvation of it otherwise he should not argue ad idem i. e. to the point in hand Now then to make him here to say that God sent not his Sonne into the World i. e. to take the nature or to live in the condition of the Elest to condemne the Elect but that the Elect c. is to make him speak as never man I suppose spake but not for excellency of Wisdom or gracefulnesse of expression but for weaknesse in both To say that God sent not his Sonne into the World to condemne his Elect were but to beate the Aire or to fight against a shadow I mean solemnly to deny that which no man was ever likely to imagine or affirm For â—ow or by what way of apprehension should it ever enter into any mans thoughts that God should send his Sonne into the World to condemne those whom out of his infinite love he had from eternity decreed to save with a strong Hand out-stretched Arme and Power omnipotent and invincible Or are not these the Elect in their notion of Election with whom we have now to do Therefore certainly the World in the Scripture before us doth not signifie the Elect. A second interpretation of this word asserted by some is that by the §. 16. World is meant genus humanum or Mankinde indefinitely considered i. e. if I rightly understand the minde of those who thus interpret as neither importing all nor any of the individiuums or persons contained in or under this species or kinde but only the specificall nature of Man common to them all as when the Jewes said of the Centurion that he loved their nation * Luke 7. 5. their meaning was not either that he loved all that were Jewes without exception of any nor yet that he loved any particular person of them more then another but only that he was lovingly disposed towards them as they were such a particular Nation as viz. Jewes But that this Interpretation either falls in in substance with the former and so is already condemn'd with the condemnation thereof or else with the third and last which as we shall hear presently findeth in this Scripture a Love in God towards all the individuall Persons of Man-kinde without exception of any or else that it vanisheth into nothing and hath no substance at all in it may be thus demonstrated If by Man-kinde indefinitely considered be neither meant a speciall or determinate number of the persons of Men which the former interpretation asserteth nor yet the universality or intire body of Men consisting
a Temptation from it Another place insisted upon upon the last mentioned account presenteth §. 20. it self in these words And the very God of Peace sanctifie you wholly and I pray God that your whole Spirit and Soule and Body be preserved blamelesse unto the comming of our Lord Jesus Christ * 1 Thess 5. 23 I answer 1. These words suppose no Promise much lesse any absolute Promise made by God to preserve their Spirit Soule or Body blamelesse but only containe a Prayer or holy desire conceived by the Apostle for such a gracious vouchsafement from God unto them Which rather proveth that such a preservation might possibly have been withheld or denyed by God unto them then the contrary For those things are more likely to be sought by Prayer which may possibly not be granted or obtained otherwise then such which might with the greatest confidence be expected upon another account and without such Prayer And besides what Efficacy or Prevalency with God can be ascribed unto such a Prayer which seeketh such things at His hand to the exhibition whereof He stands absolutely ingaged by Promise Purpose or the like and which should have been exhibited and given by Him whether such Prayer had been made unto Him or no 2. The same thing in effect which the Apostle here prayeth that God would do for the Thessalonians in other places he exhorteth men themselves to do which plainly sheweth that the intent and purport of the Apostles Prayer in this place was not that he would by a peremptory and irresistible hand preserve them blameless c. which is His manner of acting in the Performance of all His absolute Promises but that he would afford unto them such gracious excitements quickenings and enlargements of Heart and spirit by His Spirit whereby they might be effectually provoked and engaged to put forth themselves to do what was requisite on their parts for and towards such an actual preserving of themselves which notwithstanding he clearly supposeth in the Passages immediately subjoyned that they very possibly might not do even under such excitements and enlargements I give thee charge saith this Apostle to Timothy in the sight of God who quickeneth all things and before Jesus Christ That thou keep this Commandment without spot unrebukeable until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ b 1 Tim 6. 13 14 So also Peter to his Proselytes Wherefore beloved seeing that ye look for such things BE DILIGENT that ye may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless c 2 Pet. 3. 14 wherein that very possibly they might miscarry appears yet further from these words not long after Ye therefore Beloved seeing ye know these things before beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steâ—fastness a 2 Pet. 3. 17 3. If it shall be supposed that the Apostle in the Passage in hand any ways supposeth a certainty or necessity in respect of any absolute Promise or Decree that God would actually â—nd with success preserve them blameless c. he should clearly destroy or at least much shake and weaken what he had built up in all his preceding Exhortations and Admonitions the joynt tendency of them all being this to preserve them blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ For to inform or insinuate unto such men whom we have most seriously admonished and exhorted to be studious and careful of doing such and such things that so they may be blameless unto the coming of Christ that they shall certainly and without any possibility of miscarrying be preserved by God blameless hereunto is nothing else being truly interpreted but to tempt them to neglect all our Admonitions and Exhortations in that behalf 4. Nor do the words following Faithful is he that calleth you who also §. 22. will do it b 1 Thes 5. 24 imply any such thing but onely this that God was and would be careful and tender over them in preserving them blameless c. so far as His Interest lieth or is any ways meet for Him to interpose act or assist in or towards such their preservation This sence we have formerly asserted unto like passages and expressions in this Chapter c Sect. 17 18 19 c. See also Cap. 10 Sect. 20. To heal the offence of such explications or limitations as these as far as His Interest lieth as far as is proper or appertaineth unto him to do with the like when the doing or performance of such things is attributed unto God wherein men also are to joyn and act with Him I shall here add 1. That such explications or limitations as these in the said cases and others of like consideration are frequently used both by the Ancient Fathers and by our late Divines also even such as are supposed our greatest Adversaries in the present Controversies Therefore saith Austin speaking of Christs coming to save the world AS MVCH AS LIETH IN THE PHYSICIAN he came to save or heal the sick He slayeth himself who will not observe the Precepts of the Physician d Ergo quantum in Medico est sanare venit aegrotum Ipsese interimit qui praecepta Medici observare non vult Aug. in Johan Tract 12. So Chrysostom For what saith he if all men do not beleeve yet HE HATH DONE HIS PART or fully performed that which was proper for him to do a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Heb. Serm. 4. And elsewhere For although Christ was not like to win or gain all men yet did he dye for all men So FVLFILLING THAT WHICH WAS PROPER FOR HIM or which appertained to Him b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chrysost in Rom. Serm. 26. Yea AS MVCH AS IN THEM LIETH saith Calvin speaking of wicked Apostates they profane and abrogate the inviolable Covenant of God ratified by the blood of Christ c Imò quantum in se est inviolabile Dei foedus ac sancitum Christi sanguine profanant abrogant Calv. in 2 Pet. 2. 20. Piscator also in a like case useth the same explication Thy weak Brother shall perish viz. saith he AS TO THEE or as much as in thee lieth d Peribit nempe per te quidem seu quantum per te stat Piscat in 1 Cor. 8. 11. Our English Divines make use of the same explicatory expression in their Annotations upon the same place 2. Upon the same account I add this further that there is very good reason §. 23. for such Attributions as we now speak of whether unto God or men or any other efficient cause I mean why such effects should be ascribed unto them towards the production whereof they contribute any considerable degree of efficiency whether the said effects be ever actually produced or no viz. because they do as much and altogether the same in such a case of a non-production of the effect as they should do in a case of
rather importeth he implyeth not only that all our vitall actions and motions are exercised and performed by the gracious concurrence and compliance of God with us as well as our lives themselves and Principles of action preserved but further that there is a further and appropriate concurrence of God required and by him accordingly exhibited to enable men to act those very Principles of action and motion that are in them distinct from that by which their lives and Principles of action in every kind are preserved Insomuch that though men be never so well appointed or provided for action in one kind or other in respect of suitable proper and sufficiently-disposed Principles thereunto yet upon a suspension of that particular influence or concurrence by God which is appropriate and necessary both for the leading forth unto and for the supporting of these Principles in and under their proper actions there is none of them will go forth into action nor is able to maintain or support it selfe in acting But whether such a concurrence of God supposed and actually granted as is sufficient both for the leading forth unto and for the support of the Principles we speak of in their proper actings these Principles notwithstanding at least such of them whose actions lie under the command of the will may not refuse or forbear to act is another Question wherein more may be said hereafter In the mean time that God may at any time separate between Principles §. 7. and their actings even those that are most proper and connaturall to them only by with-holding that compliance of his with them which is appropriate and necessary for their conducting unto action is evident from severall passages in the Scriptures Doubtlesse the heat of the fire in Nebuchadnezzars furnace being het seven times hotter then ordinary was as proper as likely a means to have consumed Shadrach Meshach and Abednego being cast into the midst of this furnace as those who were imployed by the King only to cast them into it Nor can it reasonably be said That God separated the heat or burning property from the fire or annihilated it all the time that these three men were in the furnace For 1. unlesse we shall suppose the subject it self I mean the fire to have been destroyed or annihilated we cannot suppose that heat or a burning property being â— property inseparable from such a subject should be taken from it 2. It appears by the story that those who cast the three Servants of God mentioned into the furnace were consumed by the fire of it whilst the Servants of God remained in the furnace Therefore certainly there was true fire and true heat in the furnace whilest the three men continued in it 3. And lastly The story saith That the Princes Governors and Captains c. being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power * Dan. 3. 27. So that there is not the least question but that there was reall fire and reall heat and that in abundance in the furnace which notwithstanding had no power no not so much as over the hair of their heads or the garments they wore What now was the Reason why this fire and this heat prevailed not over those that were cast into the midst of them as they did over those who cast them in Was it any other then this The Lord of hoasts his withdrawing the wonted conjunction of himselfe from the heat of the fire and refusing to comply with it in that expedition or attempt which it naturally inclined to make upon these men as well as upon any others to destroy them whereas he kept his naturall and accustomed union with this heat in that attempt which it made upon those other men who cast these into the furnace by means whereof it suddenly prevail'd upon them and consumed them There was the same Reason why the Bush which Moses saw burning with fire was not consumed by it The Reason likewise in all likelihood why the men of Sodom could not find the door of Lots house was because God withdrew his usuall concurrence from their visive faculty in order to the discerning of that object For that other things were all this while visible enough to them appears from their continued endevours even unto weariness in seeking this door If they had bin wholy blind so that they could have seen nothing at all it is no ways credible but that they would have desisted their enterprize at the very first This withdrawing or suspension of the wonted Presence of God with the Seeing faculty of men is called the holding of their eyes Luk. Luke 24 16. 24. 16. But their eyes were holden that they could not know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were mightily or powerfully held they could not act or perform that which otherwise was most naturall and proper for them to do in receiving and representing to the Sensus Communis or adjudging faculty of the Soul the true species and shape of a Person standing visibly before them and neer to them through the want of that accustomed co-operative Presence of God with them in order to this act which untill now it is like had never failed them upon the like occasion Other instances we have in Scripture of such like impotencies and deficiences as these in naturall faculties through the suspension of that soveraign presence with them upon which all their motions and actions depend See Ioh. 20. 14 15. 2 Kings 6. 17 18 c. When God threatned his People of old That the wisdome of their wise men §. 8. Esa 29. 14 should perish and the understanding of their prudent men he hid Isai 29. 14. he doth not I suppose threaten an utter annihilation of those Principles or habits of wisdome and understanding in these men but only an intercision or failing of such interposals and actings from and by these Principles in order to the safety and preservatioâ—â—oth of themselves and their state which might reasonably and accordinâ— to the common course of second Causes be expected from them which wonder as he calls it was I conceive to be effected only by the hiding of his face from them without the beholding whereof no second Cause whatsoever is able to move no not in those ways of acting which are most appropriate to them This manner of execution of the judgment here threatened seems to be implyed in those latter words And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid i. e. shall not be conspicuous or discernable in any fruits or effects worthy of it not that the Principle it self should be absolutely destroyed or devested of Being This Liberty or great Interest of God which we speak of I mean to suspend the proper and most accustomed effects of second Causes by refusing to joyn in action with them causeth that time and chance as the wise man calleth them which happen now and then in those occurrences of humane affairs as
doe not flow from that concurrence of God with it when it acteth but from that intrinsecall form or those naturall Properties which he hath vested in it by the Law of Creation There is the same reason of other causes of this kinde in their respective actions or effects Nor are the motions or actings of the second kinde of causes mentioned as of Birds Beasts c. any whit more determined then of the former by the Presence of God with them in their actions but partly by their naturall abilities for action or motion partly by the naturall proportions and disproportions between their respective Estimatives or Phantasies and such and such Creatures or Objects whose natures are either proportioned or disproportioned unto them As for example the reason why a lamb runneth to the dam and fleeth from the Wolfe is partly the naturall sympathy between the phantasie of the lamb and the dam and the antipathy betweene the said phantasie and the Wolfe partly also that ability or nimblenesse of motion which God hath given unto this creature for the conveyance of it selfe this way or that according as the phantasie of it is affected The concurrence of God with it when it runneth to the dam and when it fleeth from the Wolfe is doubtlesse one and the same So that the difference of these two motions in this Creature doth not arise from any diversity therein but from one of the causes now mentioned In like manner the actions and motions of the third and lâ—st kinde of §. 9. causes which we termed rationall and voluntary are not determined i. e. made rationall and voluntary much lesse are they necessitated by the conjunction or Presence of God with them when they act or move but by their owne proper and free election of what they act or move unto Whilst it remained Acts 5. 4. saith Peter to Ananias speaking of his possession whilst it was yet unsold and remained with him in specie was it not thine owne i. e. Wert thou not at full liberry to have retained and kept it for thine own private use there being no Law of God imposing it as a duty upon thee to sell it And when it was sold was it not in thy power viz. whether thou wouldst part with the money which thou receivedst for it or no The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Power doth not only signifie a Power of right but of liberty also or a freedome of will to dispose of it as he pleased otherwise a Power of right had been of no accommodation unto him nor any competent matter of the aggravation of his sin Why hast thou put this thing into thy heart viz. to dissemble and lye pretending and professing to bring the whole money which thou receivedst for the possession when as thou bringest a part of it only God concurred with the motion of Ananias will when he resolved to bring his money to the Apostles for publique distribution and so likewise when he brought it otherwise he could not have resolved or willed to do it Yet this concurrence of God with him in his act of willing or resolving did not make it necessary for him so to will or resolve because he had a Power this notwithstanding to have willed or resolved the contrary I meane either the keeping of the Possession to himself being yet unsold or the not-bringing the money received for it to the Apostles Otherwise both the act of selling it and also of bringing the money to the Apostles must be looked upon not as the acts of Ananias but of God himselfe For whatsoever a man is necessitated to do especially by a Principle of force or power out of himselfe is the act of the necessiâ—ator not his Yea the Apostle Paul counteth it no flattery either of himselfe or any other man to acquit both himself and them of all such irregular acts whereunto they are necessitated though by an inward and inherent Principle Now saith he if I doe that I would not it is no more I that do it but sinne that dwelleth in me a Rom. 7. 20. It is true the act of Ananias his will both for the selling of his Possession and bringing the money to the Apostles in the very instant of the Elicitation or Production of it was necessary in this respect viz. because now it could not be unproduced according to the common maxime every thing that is when it is must of necessity be b Unumquodque quod est quando est necesse est esse but it was not the concurrency of God with his Will that imposed any necessity upon him to produce it because then it had not been in his own power neither had it been properly his own act when produced But it may be here objected and said that though the specificall actions §. 10. or motions of all the causes mentioned be determined as hath been proved by the specificall natures or properties of every of them respectively and not by any concurrence of God with them yet their individuall and particular actions and motions are determined by some kinde of concurrence or Providentiall interposall of God As for example that Fire in the generall burneth that which is combustible being put to it is from the nature of it not from any concurrence of God with it but that it burneth such or such a mans house goods or the like this is not simply from the nature of it without some speciall disposall of Divine Providence So againe that wicked and ungodly men should in the generall do wickedly as for instance plot contrive accomplish the death of such as are godly proceedeth from themselves and from the corruption of their wills not from any concurrence of God with them nor from any speciall interposall of his in such actings But that such and such wicked men by name should plot and effect the deaths of such and such godly men by name and not the death of others godly also proceedeth not so much from the wickednesse of such men as from some speciall decree of God together with a suteable interposall of his Providence and Power for the effecting of it That which Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jewes did in and about the crucifying of Christ Peter saith that the hand and counsell of God had determined before to be done * Acts 4 28. §. 11. To this I answer 1. That this particular and signall attribution of some speciall actions or events unto God or to the determination of his hand and counsell other instances whereof are to be seene 1 King 12. 15. 2 Sam. 17. 14. Jos 11. 20. Deut. 2. 30. c. cleerly argueth that ordinarily actions are performed by men and events come to passe upon other terms I meane without any such particular or extraordinary interposition by God either by way of Decree or of Providentiall efficiency or contribution towards them Emphaticall and remarkable appropriations are unsavoury and
Mind of God and present with him after some such manner as the Idea or modell of an house is in the mind of the Architect before there be so much as a stone of it laid To this I answer according to the tenor of what hath been lately argued and proved concerning the simplicity of the Divine Essence that if they had any being from eternity it could be none other then the Divine Being it self for there were no plurality of beings from eternity All beings without beginnings may be numbred by the figure of one and this unmultiplied Therefore if God justified any from eternity it must be himself if he condemned or reprobated any from eternity it must be himself likewise No◠can men be said to have been in the mind of God from eternity after any such manner as the Idea or Platforme of an house is in the mind of the Artificer before he begins to build because such an Idea is no part of the Artificer nor yet of his mind but is cleerly separable from both whereas there was nothing in God from eternity but his own Essence and that which is altogether inseparable from him Or if it should be granted that men were in God or in the mind of God from eternity after such a manner as is contended for yet could it not be said that men men themselves i. e. those Creatures which consist of bodies and souls and have sinned on Earth were either justified or condemned from eternity but only their Idea's or representations in the mind of God Yet how or in what Sence or Notion these should be said to be either justified or condemned when as they never sinned nor are capable of sinning is out of the reach of my understanding to conceive If it be yet further demanded but were not men and all things besides §. 9. in some consideration or sence in God from eternity and may it not be said that in this sence whatever it be they were some justified and some condemned I answer 1. By concession that men and all things besides were in God from eternity tanquam in fonte seu radice vel causâ productivâ i. e. as in the fountaine roote or Productive cause of their respective beings There is nothing capable of receiving an existence or actuall being but what had a Potentiall or seminall Being in some Productive cause or other one or more before Therefore if this Universe with all the Parts and Members of it had not been in God as in the Productive Cause doubtlesse they had never been produced or received being But 2. I answer further by way of exception that men considered in that being which they had in God from eternity were no wayes capable either of justification or of condemnation or of any such difference or distinction between them as these two acts or conditions infer For as God himself the common roote or producent cause of all men was one singly simply and most undividedly one from eternity so were all men singly and simply one in him all alike holy all alike innocent and free from sin and consequently all alike beloved of him all being yet nothing but himself It cannot be said of the Roses which in the winter time were vertually and seminally in one and the same roote that some of them flourished and prospered others were blasted or eaten up with Wormes whilest they were together in the roote though afterwards when they come to receive actuall Production and to subsist extra causas respectively this difference may very possibly befall them Yea but were not some men justified and others condemned in the Counsell §. 10. Purpose and Decree of God from eternity I answer If the meaning of the Question be only this whether God from eternity did not Purpose or Decree to justifie some men and condemne others that God from eternity did Purpose and Decree to justifie in time all those who should in time believe and to condemne all those who living to years of discretion should die in their unbeliefe yet these Decrees though in their respective executions they make a great difference indeed between Persons and Persons yet in their making or enacting by God they made none at all This Decree of God whosoever believeth shall be justified doth neither make nor suppose any one man any whit neerer either to believing or to justification then another nor on the other hand doth this Decree He that believes not shall be condemned either make or suppose one man neerer either to unbeliefe or condemnation through unbeliefe then another A Law that is made for the punishing of Murder or Adultery with death relates no more in the intention of the Law-makers at the time of the making or enacting of it to one man then to another i. e. they intended no more the punishment or death of one man then of another personally considered much lesse did they intend to make any man or to permit any man to become a Murtherer or Adulterer by the enacting of such a Law but the contrary yet this Law when it comes to be put in execution for the crimes made punishable by it and voluntarily committed by men makes as great a difference between men and men and somewhat greater as is between the living and the dead If the meaning of the Question last propounded be whether God did not §. 11. from eternity Decree the justification of such and such particular men by Name and so the condemnation of others after the same manner I answer that doubtlesse he did from eternity Decree equivalently though not formally the justification of all those particular Persons by Name who in time come to be justified and so again the condemnation of all those by Name who in time come to be condemned My meaning is that no particular Person whatsoever his Name be who comes to be justified but his justification flowes from that Decree of God from eternity wherein he decreed to justifie all those by their Names who should believe For had not God made such a Decree as this and make it he must from eternity if he made it at all certainly no man could ever be justified upon such terms In like manner God from eternity Decreed the condemnation of all such particular Persons whatever their Names be who living to maturity of years should die in unbeliefe In this sence and consideration and in this only as far as yet I apprehend God may be said to have Decreed both the justification and the condemnation of particular men and women from eternity viz. because he made two such Decrees from eternity by the one of which all particular Persons come to be justified who ever are justified and by the other all particular Persons to be condemned who are condemned But we shall have opportunity to argue the unsoundnesse of both the opinions especially of the latter upon other grounds in reference whereunto we supersede any further inquiry into them for
making away themselves or destroying their own lives though there be no absolute Decree of God to secure them in this behalf the Naturall desire of self-preservation which God hath planted in them easily over ruling by the Power and Strength of it all motions â—or dispositions towards self-destroying which are wont to arise from such occasions in like manner the strength of that inclination or desire which is or ought to be and very possibly as hath been Proved might be in the Saints to save their Soules and consequently to preserve themselves from apostasie is sufficient without any such Decree in God as was mentioned to secure them both from all danger and from all feare of apostatizing to destruction notwithstanding all weaknesses or infirmities that they are subject unto The truth is that the infirmities and weaknesses of the Saints as such are so far from being any necessary or just ground of fear unto them that they shall fall away that the sence and acknowledgement of them are most cleer pregnant and effectuall Antidotes and Preservatives against falling away For he that is inwardly and truly sensible of his own weaknesse and inability to stand will especially being a Saint or Believer most certainly depend upon him for strength who is both able and willing to supply and furnish him upon such terms 3. And lastly upon the former accompt and for a close of this Chapter §. 36. I answer that if the Doctrine of falling away be so uncomfortable unto the Saints as the objection pretends the truth is as we have in the Premisses of this Chapter made it to appear they are not much relieved at this Point by the Received Doctrine of Perseverance For this Doctrine as hath been shewed scarce suffereth any man to believe upon any Rationall competent or sufficient grounds that he is a true Saint or Believer yea and doth little lesse then tempt him to such things which are exceeding apt and likely to fill him with feares and questionings touching the truth of his Faith And what great comfort can it then be unto him to hear or believe that true Believers cannot fall away or perish whereas the other Doctrine leaveth them a good latitude of competent ground whereon to judge themselves true Saints and true Believers nor doth it deprive them of sufficient ground on which to secure themselves both against the danger and against all feare of the danger of Apostatizing or falling away to Perdition This Doctrine therefore of the two is questionless of the more benevolous aspect and influence upon the Peace and Comforts of the Saints CHAP. X. A Continuation of the former Digression wherein the Texts of Scripture commonly alledged to prove the impossibility of Saints declining unto Death are taken into consideration and discharged from that Service BEing occasioned and after a sort necessitated for the securing of §. 1. some passages of interpretation Cap. 8. being of main concernment to the Principall cause undertaken in this Discourse to ingage home in the Question about Preseverance I should according to ordinary Method and that hitherto observed in the traverse of the maine Doctrine first have argued my Sence and Judgement in the Question 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assertively and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. by answering such Objections whether from Scripture or otherwise which are wont to be levied by Men of contrary judgement in opposition thereunto But finding by experience that weaker men through too much fulnesse and aboundance in their own sence in matters of Controversie and this chiefly by meanes of some Texts of Scripture running still and working in their heads which in sound of words and surface of Letter seeme to stand by them in their Sence and Notion are under a very great disadvantage either for minding or understanding such things which are spoken unto them for their information in the Truth I thought it best for their relief in this case to invert that Method in the present Dispute and first to endeavour to take from them those weapons whether of Scripture or argument wherein they trust and afterwards present them with such other Scriptures and grounds which are Able Pregnant and Proper to build them up and establish them in the Truth We shall not tie our selves to any Rule or Prescript of Order in bringing §. 2. those Scriptures upon the theatre of our Discourse which men of differing judgement in the cause in hand are wont to plead in defence thereof themselves as far as I have observed observing none but shall produce them one by one as God shall please to bring them to mind unlesse haply two or more of them by reason of affinity or likenesse in Phrase or import may commodiously enough be handled together Most of the places compelled to serve in this warfare I finde scituate in the New Testament The first that commeth to hand is that of our Saviour unto Peter and upon this Rock will I build my Church and the gates of Hell shall not prevaile against it a Mat. 16. 18 From hence it is argued that those that are once built by Faith upon the Rock Christ or upon the truth of the Gospell are not in danger or in a possibility of being prevailed against viz. to destruction by all the Powers of darkness whatsoever I answer 1. That this promissory assertion of Christ the Gates of Hell shall not prevaile §. 3. c. doth not necessarily respect every individuall and single Person who de praesenti is a Member of his Church so as to secure him of his Salvation against all possible sins or wayes of sinning whereunto he may or can be drawn by Satan but may well be understood of the Church in generall i. e. considered as a body of men separate and distinguished from the world Now the Church in this sence may be said to stand and be secured against all the Power and Attempts of the Devill though not only some but even all the Particular Saints of which this body consists at present should be prevailed against by Satan to destruction Because the ratio formalis or essence of the Church in this sence doth not consist in the Persons of those who do at present believe and so are members of it for then it would follow that in case these should die or when they shall die Christ should have no Church at all upon the Earth in as much as nothing can be without the essence of it but in the successive Generation of those who in their respective times believe whether they be fewer or whether they be more whether they be such and such Persons or whether others As suppose there be not now one drop of that Water in the chanell of the River of Thames as it is like there is not which was in it seven years since yet is it one and the same River which it was then and so put the case there be not one Person now alive in any
greatnesse of His Power to preserve them against all enemies and threatning obstacles and oppositions whatsoever for His Heavenly Kingdome only upon condition that they shall not willingly willfully desperately destroy themselves or render themselves uncapable of such His preservation by apostatizing from that Faith in His Son Jesus Christ which He by His especiall Grace hath Planted in them and by which they stand at present in favour and acceptation with Him 2. Though God hath not simply and absolutely undertaken for their preseverance §. 20. or continuation of their Faith unto the end nor upon any such terms but that if they will be brutishly and desperately carelesse of so high a concernment to themselves as a blessed Eternity is they may make defection from it and turne Proselites to Hell yet hath He laid a rich foundation for their Perseverance in those many precious Promises and incouragements which He hath given unto those who shall persevere as also in those most severe and dreadfull threatnings bent against the faces of all Apostates and backsliders together with those frequent Promises or Declarations which He hath made to continue yea and to inlarge upon occasion the inward contributions of His Spirit the motions excitements and directions thereof in order to the plentifull inabling of His Saints to persevere untill they shall willingly and willfully turne their backs upon them and reject them Upon the account of all these gracious Promises and Declarations made by God unto His Saints for or towards the effectuall accomplishment of their Perseverance the Apostle Paul frequently incourageth them to the hope and expectation of it But the Lord is faithfull who shall stablish you and keepe you from evill a 2 Thess 3. 3 Who shall also confirme you unto the end that yee may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ b 1 Cor. 1. 8 God according to the common Dialect and Notion of Scripture language is said to establish confirme and keepe men from evill when He doth that which is of a proper tendency and sufficient thereunto whither the effects or ends themselves of establishments confirmation c. be actually obtained or no For there is nothing more frequent or familiar in Scripture then to ascribe the effects themselves sometimes unto God sometimes unto Men only upon their respective actings or doings of such things which are of a Naturall Proper and Direct tendency to produce them whether they be actually and de facto produced or no. Thus our Saviour chargeth Him who shall put away his Wife for any other cause then Fornication with causing her to commit Fornication c Mat. 5. 32 whether the Woman thus put away committeth Fornication or no viz. because in that act of putting her away upon such terms He doth that which hath a proper and direct tendency to cause Her to commit this sin For it is not necessary to suppose that every Woman thus divourced or put away committeth or will commit Fornication But whether she doth or no the sin of Him that put Her away is one and the same He in our Saviours Dialect caused Her to commit Fornication Thus also He who eates to the offence of a weake Brother is charged by the Apostle with destroying him with his Meate for whom Christ Died d Rom. 14 15 20. i. e. with doing that which is apt and proper to occasion His destruction whether He be actually destroyed or no. In this idiome likewise of speaking God expresly saith that He had purged Jerusalem and yet in the same place saith also that Jerusalem notwithstanding was not purged In thy filthinesse is lewdnesse i. e. notorious and desperate obstinacy because I HAVE PVRGED THEE AND THOV WAST NOT PVRGED thou shalt not be purged from thy filthinesse any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee a Ezek. 24 13 God is said to have purged Jerusalem because He vouchsafed proper and sufficient means unto Her for Her purging as the Ministry of His Word and Spirit frequent Admonitions Exhortations Expostulations Promises Threatnings c. by His Prophets however Jerusalem by Her rebellious obstinacy hindered and obstructed the through and kindly working of these means by reason whereof the desireable effect of Her purging was not obtained In such a Sence and Phrase as this the goodnesse of God is said to lead such Men to Repentance who yet are so far from Repenting that after their hardnesse and impenitent heart they threasure up wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath c. b Rom. 2. 4 5 meaning that the goodnesse of God in His Patience and Long-sufferance towards wicked and ungodly Men ministreth many occasions and opportunities unto them by the advantage whereof they might easily be drawn to repent did they not willingly indulge themselves in that hardnesse of Heart which in the fruits of it tends to nothing but to the treasuring up of wrath to themselves c. In the same construction Christ is stiled the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the World c Ioh. 1. 29. and so to be the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole World d 1 Ioh. 2. 2 not as if or because the sin of the World is actually or compleatly taken away by Him or so that this whole sin either is or at any time must needs be pardoned or actually taken away in all the fruits consequents or effects of it because He is said to have taken it away but because He hath done and suffered that which hath a glorious efficacy and tendency in it to or towards such a taking of it away so that if it be not actually and compleatly taken away the cause of it is somewhere else to be sought and found as viz. in the sinners or men themselves and not in Him In this sence likewise He is said to be the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole World not because the sinnes of the whole World are actually compleatly or with succesfulnesse in the event propitiated or attoned by Him but because that Sacrifice of Himself which He hath offered in order to a propitiating or attoning the sinnes of the whole World is so pregnant and full of a propitiatory efficacy and vertue and withall is so propounded and held forth by God unto the whole World that if any mans sin remaines actually unpropitiated or un-pardoned it is through his own voluntary neglect of this Sacrifice and not from any intention on Gods Part that his sin should not be attoned or propitiated by this Sacrifice as well as any other Mans. It were easie to multiply examples of that propriety of expression now under observation from the Scriptures And I desire the rather that it may be carefully minded and remembred because I verily believe that the non-advertency of it by Men of learning and worth with some few others of like consideration whereof we may give notice in time hath mainly occasioned the dividing of
an actual production and the reason of the non-attainment or non-production of the effect resteth not at all in them but in some other cause one or more which should have contributed their efficiency or strength likewise towards the same production but did not As for example Suppose four or five Horses yoked in a Team and that one or two of these should pull or draw lustily yet because the rest are jadish and lazy and will not put their shoulders to it the wain being heavy laden sticks fast in the slow is not drawn out in this case because the Horses supposed to pull stoutly do as much for their parts as was requisite for them to do towards the drawing of it out and that which would actually have drawn it out in case their fellows had joyned as they ought and might in the same act of drawing with them there is no reason why they should lose the credit or commendation of their activity through the jadishness of their fellows nor consequently why they should not be said to have drawn the Wain out of the mire In like manner when God contributes his efficiency towards the keeping of men blameless and that such an efficiency which being seconded and complied with by them according to their duties and abilities for the action would actually produce the effect and keep them blameless indeed there is no reason why he should be deprived of the honor of his action because men are slothful and will not act with him and consequently why he should not be said to keep them blameless how blame-worthy in the mean time soever they be through their own default For of the two it is a more honorable expression to say that a man did such or such a worthy action then that he did somewhat towards it And for as much as 1. God doth no more towards the keeping of those Saints of his blameless who are actually and indeed kept blameless then he either doth or is ready to do in a regular way towards the keeping of others of them blameless who yet miscarry And 2. considering that when any of the Saints are actually kept blamelesse through that gracious supply of his Spirit and other means vouchsafed by him in order thereunto though not without their own care and concurrence with him herein the honor of this action or keeping blamelesse is most properly due unto him there is no reason why it should not be ascribed unto him in the former case as well as in the latter or that he should not be as well said to keep those blamelesse who only through their own unworthinesse prove blame-worthy as those who through his grace attended with their own endeavours are kept blameless It is a saying approved I suppose on all hands careat successibus opto Quisquis ab eventu facta notanda putet i. e. Successe in his attempts I wish him none Who by th' event will judg an action Therefore when God acteth uniformly in a way of grace he is uniformly to be honoured what difformity soever there be found in the event issue or consequent of his action 5. And lastly the words in hand cannot be judged Promissory or to suppose a Promise because then it would follow that God should stand ingaged by Promise to preserve Believers not only from totall and finall Apostacy but from all partiall and temporary declinings also For they that are sanctified wholly or throughout and whose whole Spirit and Soule and Body are preserved blamelesse c. are in the same sence preserved from all and all manner of declining The last piece of Scripture frequently called upon for support of this second §. 24. Argument answereth in these words Being confident of this very thing that He which hath begun a good worke in you will performe it untill the day of Jesus Christ a Philip. 1. 6 This Text is of the same interpretation with the former only it hath not so much of the letter or face as some of them have for an absolute Promise from God unto the Saints that He will cause them to Persevere For 1. That confidence or perswasion rather 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which the Apostle here professeth is not said nor insinuated to be built upon any Promise much lesse upon any absolute Promise of God to interpose after any such manner for their Perseverance that it should not be possible for them to decline or not to persevere but upon a charitable or equitable apprehension he had of the ingenuous integrity and simplicity of their hearts towards Christ His Saints and Gospell which kinde of temper or frame of spirit in Men is of all others most promising of perseverance in well doing through the Grace of God and consequently of the continuation of this grace unto Men in as much as according to the common saying of Divines Deus non deserit nisi deserentem God forsakes no Man but those who forsake Him first That such an apprehension of the holy ingenuity and uprightnesse of their Hearts as we speak of in conjunction with that gracious Principle or Disposition in God now hinted was the ground of that good perswasion which he here expresseth most evidently appeareth from the words immediately following Even as it is meet for me to thinke this of you all viz. that He who hath begun a good work in you will performe it c. because I have you in my Heart in as much as both in my bonds and in the defence and confirmation of the Gospell yee all are partakers of my Grace b Philip. 1. 7. Therefore it was the present goodnesse or honestnesse of their Hearts expressed by their willingness to partake of the afflictions of the Gospell and of the Saints not any Promise of God which was the ground of that perswasion in him which he here mentioneth 2. Had he had any absolute Promise of God for the ground of that his perswasion doubtlesse he would not have expressed himself with so much tendernesse and warinesse as to say even as it is meet for me to think c. The Promises of God would have taught Paul to speak at another manner of rate of confidence then so 3. And lastly had he here given unto these Philippians any absolute assureance of Gods performing the good worke begun in them untill the day c. or such which might have satisfied or made them confident that the good worke He speaks of should have been continued and perfected by God without all interposall or means to be used on their part he had layed a very slippery foundation to build all those Exhortations upon which with much earnestness he presseth upon them in the sequell of his Epistle and more particularly these Only let your conversation be as it becommeth the Gospell of Christ that yee stand fast in one spirit with one minde striving together for the Faith of the Gospell c Philip. 1. 27. c. And againe Wherefore my
of their Crucifying him should be Forgiven them i. e. should not be imputed unto them by way of bar to their Repentance either by any suddaine or speedy destruction or by a delivering them up to such a spirit of obstinacy or obduration under which Men seldome or never repent which was also the sence of Stephens prayer for those who stoned him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lay not this sin to their charge c Acts 7. 60. So from Christs Prayer for all those that should believe in him that they might all be one as the Father and He were one and as the Father was in Him and He in the Father d Joh. 17. 21 22. it cannot be concluded that therefore there should never fall out any difference in judgement any dis-union in affection between the Saints because there is neither between him and the Father the intent of this Prayer being only this that God would vouchsafe gracious and plentifull means unto them as well for the uniting of them in judgement as affection not that he would necessitate or compell them into either of these unions either by such means or without So againe when he Prayeth to the Father to keepe his Disciples from evill a Joh. 17. 15. it cannot be gathered that therefore they never sinned or never did that which was evill or if it be to be understood of the evill of suffering as some conceive that they never suffered Therefore 2. To the Scripture cited for proof of the said Proposition And I knew §. 29. that thou hearest me alwayes b Ioh. 11. 42. I answer that the cleer sence of these words is that Christ knew and doubted not but that God the Father perfectly knowing the secret of his heart and soul in every Prayer that he made unto him had formerly and would still accordingly answer him and gratifie him in every thing according to the true intention of his Prayer He knew that what he prayed for absoutely God the Father would absolutely grant and doe and what he prayed for with or under a reserve exception or condition that he would grant and doe where and as far as such a reserve exception or condition did not take place and interpose Whensoever he prayed for the Fathers concurrence with him to work Miracles for the confirmation of his Doctrine he prayed absolutely and consequently was heard absolutely the matter and letter of his Prayer was never denied unto him in such cases but when he prayed that the Cup which he afterwards drank might passe by him without his drinking it though he prayed thrice and that very earnestly as the Text saith yet because he prayed this Prayer with a Reservation desiring what he prayed for only conditionally and with submission to his Fathers Will and the great exigency of Mankinde these standing in opposition to what he prayed for it was not granted unto him Now certaine it is that Christ never prayed for the absolute Perseverance of Believers in their Faith yea it is no wayes likely that he would have prayed for it as he did I mean with so much seriousnesse and affectionatenesse of spirit if God had absolutely Decreed the giving of it unto them whether he had prayed for it or no. Therefore 3. And lastly concerning His praying for Peter that his Faith might not faile which is all the strength of the minor proposition I answer 1. That from hence it apparantly followeth that therefore Peters Faith §. 30. was in danger of failing or might have failed had not Christ interceded for him and consequently that God had not absolutely decreed the Perseverance or non-failing of Peters Faith or of the Faith of any other Man Otherwise what efficacy can we ascribe to the Prayer of Christ for Peters Faith Or how can it be known upon what account Peters Faith was preserved whether that of Christs Prayer or that of Gods Decree for the non failing of it 2. Neither can it be proved that Christ Prayed that Peters Faith might never faile totally but only if so much that it might not faile upon that particular and sore rentation which He knew would soone after come upon Him It is evident from the Context that this was all if not more then all that Christ Prayed for on the behalf of Peters Faith And the Lord said Simon Simon behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat But I have prayed for thee that thy Faith faile not and when thou art converted strengthen thy Brethren c Luk. 22. 31 32. Now then to infer from Christs Prayer that Peters Faith might not faile by or under a particular temptation that therefore it could or should never faile is a straine of no better Logique then it would be to conclude that those who were with Paul in the ship never died because God made a Promise unto Paul that He would give their lives unto Him a Act. 27. 24. as for that Voyage 3. If it be by the vertue and efficacy of Christs Prayer for Peters Faith that the Faith of true Believers can never faile then was the Faith of all true Believers before this Prayer made by Christ obnoxious unto a failing If this then neither was there nor is there any peremptory Decree of God concerning the non failing of the Faith of Believers If so then is there a possibility that their Faith may faile For whatsoever is possible in respect of the nature of the thing and of second causes sufficient to produce it may very possibly come to passe where no Decree of God to the contrary obstructeth the possibility Now our adversaries themselves acknowledge that the Faith of true Believers is in it self faileable and in respect of severall causes destructive to it might perish 4. Nor is it so cleer from the tenor of Christs Prayer intimated by him §. 31. that He prayed against the totall failing of Peters Faith under the said temptation much lesse against the finall failing of it afterwards but most likely it is that what He Prayed for was only this that Peters yeelding to the tentation or his being overcome by it might not extinguish his Faith upon any such terms but that he might and should eft-soones recover it by Repentance If this were that which Christ Prayed for on His behalf then might His Faith faile totally under the temptation as Ambrose amongst the Fathers conceiveth that it did notwithstanding Christs Prayer though not finally And that Peters Faith did indeed faile totally by the force of the temptation seemes very probable at least from those words of Christ to Him when thou art CONVERTED strengthen c. Men are not said to be CONVERTED a gradu ad gradum sed a specie ad speciem i. e. from a lesser degree of Faith to a greater but from unbelief unto Faith And besides that Peter upon His deniall of Christ was untill His Repentance in the state and condition of those
men in most things and in the main orthodox are any demonstrative grounds of the unsoundness of this Opinion or that it is not from God How much less when that Opinion indeed which suffers rebuke from men upon such terms was neither taught nor held by the one nor rejected or opposed by the other but onely an Opinion in some outward lineaments somewhat like unto it but in heart and substance of matter altogether differing from it The Doctrine of Election or Predestination unto Life from foreseen Faith or Works is commonly decryed and made odious unto men upon this pretence that it was a Doctrine held by Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians and condemned and cast out of the Church for an Error by all the Orthodox Fathers long since Whereas it is evident from the Records of Antiquity that the Opinion concerning Predestination from foreseen Faith or Works which was held by the Pelagians and rejected by the Orthodox Fathers was not simply this that God Predestinated those unto Life whom He foresaw would beleeve or live holily but whom He foresaw would beleeve or live holily out of the strength or abilities of Nature The Orthodox Fathers themselves held and taught Predestination from foreseen Faith and Holiness as well as the Pelagians but with this difference The Fathers taught it from the foresight of such a Faith and Holiness which men should be enabled unto by Grace the Pelagians from such whether Faith or Holiness which men should raise or exhibit by the strength of Nature This is evident from what Gerardus Vossius a diligent and faithful Surveyor of Antiquity demonstrateth in the sixth Book of his Pelagian History The Greek Fathers saith He always and all the Latine Fathers who lived before Austine are wont to say that they are Predestinated unto Life whom God foresaw would live godlily and well or as some others speak whom He foresaw would beleeve and persevere who should beleeve on Him to Eternal Life 1 Tim. 1. 16. Which they so interpret as to say that Predestination unto Glory is made by God according to His foreknowledg of Faith and Perseverance But they did not mean the foresight or foreknowledg of such things which a man was to do by the abilities of Nature but by the strength and assistance of Grace as well preventing as subsequent So that this consent of Antiquity no ways helpeth either the Pelagians or Semi-Pelagians in their cause For both these held that the cause of Predestination is assignable on mans part according to all the effects of it whereas the Orthodox Fathers acknowledg that the first or preventing Grace is conferr'd not of merit but freely So that their Opinion was that there was no cause assignable on mans part of Predestination unto preventing Grace a Graeci Patres semper Patrum Latinorum verò illi qui ante Augustinum vixerunt dicere solent eos esse praedestinatos ad vitaÌ„ quos Deus piè rectéque victuros praevidit sive ut alij loquuÌ„tur quos praevidit credituros perseveraturos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ut est 1 Tim. 1. Quod ita in terpretaÌ„tur ut Praedestinatio ad Gloriam â—acta dicatur secundum praescientiam fidei perseverantiae Verum non intellexerunt praescientiam eorum quae homo acturus erat ex viribus naturae sed quae esset facturus ex viribus gratiae tum praevenientis tum subsequentis eóque antiquitatis ille consensus nihil vel Pelagianos vel Semi-Pelagianos juvat Nam utrique illi crediderunt Praedestinationis causam dari ex parte hominis secundum omnes effectus At Catholici agnoverunt gratiam primaÌ„ non ex merito sed gratis conferri Quare nec putârunt ex parte hominis causam dari Prâ—destinationis ad gratiam praevenientem c. Gerard. Johan Vossius Hist Pelag. lib. 6. Thes 8. c. This to have been the true and clear difference between the Ancient Orthodox Fathers and the Pelagians and Semi-Pelagians touching the Point of Predestination He sheweth with an high Hand of Evidence and Proof from several Passages cited out of the Authors themselves in the Prosecution and Proof of His said Thesis As the Doctrine of Predestination from foreseen Faith and Perseverance §. 2. as it is at this day held and taught by some which yet is none of my Sence or Opinion as I may have occasion I conceive more particularly to declare in the Progress of the Work in Hand is unjustly traduced as if it savored of Pelagianism and had been long since thrown out of the Church by all Orthodox Antiquity whereas it was the express Doctrine as we have heard generally held and taught by them so is the Doctrine of Conditional Perseverance and which asserteth an amissibility of Grace and true Faith both total and final most unduly and unworthily branded with this reproach that it is a rotten Popish Error and was never heâ—d by Orthodox Men. We shall therefore in the former part of this Chapter wipe off this aspersion and prove by express Testimonies and these not a few that this Doctrine was a branch of the Faith of the Primitive Christians and of those who were and are at this day esteemed to have been the most Orthodox and sound in their generation Some Testimonies of this import we have already as I remember cited upon other occasions in the preceding part of this Discourse and to save transcriptions as much as with convenience may be we shall not repeat the words of any Author which have been already expressed but onely give the sence of the said words in English and for the words themselves send you to those quarters of the Discourse where they are lodged and easie to be found We shall do the like in the latter part of this Chapter in respect of such Testimonies from Modern Writers which have been already presented in the express words of their respective Authors upon another account In the first place I shall account unto the Reader what the forementioned §. 3. Author Gerard Vossius delivers in His said Pelagian History for the sence and judgment of Orthodox Antiquity in the present Question about Perseverance From this additament of Austin's Opinion saith He speaking Ex altero hoc Augustinianae senteÌ„tiae additamento satis clarè liquet tam Augustinum Prosperum quà m Pelagium ejus reliquias super eo convenisse quòd Fides justificanâ— et gratia regeneranâ— amitti possit à plerisque amittatur of what this Father had added to the common Doctrine of those who had gone before Him touching Perseverance which He had expressed in His former Thesis it is manifest enough that both Austin and Prosper and Pelagius with His Followers agreed in this That Justifying Faith and Regenerating Grace may be lost and that they are lost by very many A little after Therefore they understand not the Doctrine or Judgment of Antiquity who when they read in Augustin and others that the Elect of God
of God in such a sence as that wherein we have now interpreted it is not material By that inhibition which was served upon him by the Angel to surcease all further Proceedings in and about the offering up of his Son by death before he was thus offered he clearly enough understood that to have been the sence and minde of God in the said Command which we have asserted So that 6. And lastly It is a clear case that the Explication and account given formerly in this Treatise concerning the Intentions of God or rather concerning the Ground and Reason why Intentions are attributed unto Him is no ways incumbred or disabled by the Instance of Gods Command given unto Abraham concerning the offering up of Isaac notwithstanding Isaac's non-oblation by death There is nothing in this Example to prove that God doth at any time vouchsafe means competent and proper for the bringing of any thing to pass especially when he commands that these means be used accordingly but that he truly and really intends as he is capable of intending any thing the coming to pass thereof Nor can it here with any face of Reason be replyed that by such a construction as we have put upon the words of God in His Command unto Abraham concerning the offering up of his Son when He vouchsafeth means of Salvation unto Men and commandeth them to use them accordingly it cannot be concluded from thence that therefore He really intendeth the Salvation of Men but onely that they should use the said Means to obtain Salvation Because though God in Abrahams case did in His Intentions separate the Means of offering up Isaac from the actual Oblation of Him this not being the end of His Command given unto Him as was said yet He did not separate between the said Means and that which was His true end in the Command which was the Tryal of Abrahams Faith and for the effecting whereof the said Command and all that which was meant thereby was as natural and proper a means as it was for the actual oblation of Isaac by death In like manner when He vouchsafeth Means of Salvation unto Men and commandeth the use of them accordingly He cannot be supposed to divide or separate in His Intentions between the use of these Means and their proper end Salvation there being no other end proper to be effected by the use of the Means of Salvation but Salvation it self or at least none but in conjunction with Salvation And certain it is that there is no man of wisdom who intends the use of such Means which are determinately appropriate to the production of one end and no more or however of no more but onely by and through the production of that one but that He intends the production of this end peculiarly How God may intend the Salvation of Men and yet Men never come to be saved hath been already explained t Cap. 3. Sect. 7 17. and that as I remember more then once and may be yet further opened upon occasion CHAP. XVIII Exhibiteth several Grounds and Reasons whereby the Vniversality of Redemption by Christ or Christs dying for All Men without Exception is Demonstratively evicted ALthough Scripture-Authority be greater then all Demonstration otherwise §. 1. for the Eviction and Confirmation of any Doctrine or Tenet in matter of Religion as simply and in it self so also with those whose Faith mainly or solely beareth upon the foundations of the Scriptures yet have Arguments and Grounds of Reason if they be pregnant and clear a very acceptable influence upon the Judgments and Consciences of Men when they are levyed and drawn up in the nature of Seconds or Assistants to the Scriptures and plead the same cause with them For when a Doctrine or Opinion is held forth as the Minde of God in the Scriptures and Scripture-Authority produced and insisted upon either singly or in consort for the proof thereof in case this Doctrine shall be found to have a fair and clear consistence with the unquestionable Principles of sound Reason there remains no place in the Consciences of Men for fear or jealousie concerning the Truth thereof God Himself being the Author of those noble endowments in Men Reason and Understanding must needs be conceived the Author also of whatsoever truly consorteth with them But in case the Authority of the Scriptures shall be urged and pressed upon the Consciences of Men in defence of such a Doctrine which grates or bears hard upon the common and clear Dictates of that Light which God hath planted in the Souls of Men it is unpossible but that a considering Man should much question such a sence or interpretation which is put upon the Scriptures in such a case The Reason hereof hath been given elsewhere a Epist to the Reader The Premisses considered I judg it a matter of signal consequence in order to the securing the Judgments and Consciences of Men about the truth of the main Doctrine maintained in this Discourse to demonstrate the perfect and clear consistency of it with Grounds of Reason though substantially proved already from the Scriptures yea and satisfactorily also I trust unto those who so understand the Scriptures as not to make either the Wisdom or Justice of God Sufferers by them My Reasons then for the Universality of Redemption by Jesus Christ in reference unto Men are these following If Christ dyed not for all Men without exception in the sence formerly declared §. 2. Argum. 1. then is that Great Covenant of Grace which God hath made with the World and ratified in His Blood made with unknown Persons and such who are no ways exprest in this Covenant neither by Name nor by any other Character or qualification by which they may at least for a long time be known or distinguished But this Great Covenant we speak of is not struck or made with unknown Persons I mean with such who for a long time if ever neither can tell themselves whether they be the Covenanted ones or no nor are capable of any reasonable information hereof by others Therefore Christ dyed for all men without exception The Reason of the former Proposition and the Consequence therein is this because the Elect so called in the common Notion of Election with whom onely this Covenant of Grace is pretended to be made and for whom onely Christ is supposed to have dyed are Persons no ways distinguishable from others neither before at all and very hardly if at all after their Regeneration and Conversion unto God That they are not at all discernable from others before Conversion is evident from several places For we our selves saith the Apostle to Titus meaning who are now so much altered and changed by a work of Grace and Regeneration in us were sometimes viz. before our Conversion foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts and pleasures living in malice and envy hateful and hating one another b Tit. 3. 3. Certainly these are no
accordingly once and again already or that this Covenant is not made upon the same terms and conditions with all those interessed or included in it which is a conceit of no whit better an accord either with Reason or Truth Secondly If all Men have not a sufficiency of Means granted unto them §. 28. by God then God dealeth with the generality or far greatest part of Men more rigorously and with less mercy and this under the Covenant of Grace then He doth with the Devils themselves The Reason is plain because in case Men have not a sufficiency of Means whereby to be saved they have onely Means given them whereby to increase their Condemnation yea such means and so and upon such terms given them that they cannot but use them to their greater and more heavy Condemnation then that whereunto they should or could have been liable had no such Covenant of Grace been made with them or tendered unto them For if they be not enabled by God to Repent and to beleeve the Gospel they must needs be subjected to an absolute necessity of despising or neglecting it there being no medium between accepting the great Salvation brought unto them therein which is done by Faith and the neglecting of it which is always accompanied with Unbelief Now a neglect of the Gospel and of the great Salvation tendred therein by God unto men is the first-born of Provocations in the sight of God and maketh men sevenfold more the Children of Wrath and of Death then otherwise they would have been How shall we escape saith the Apostle if we NEGLECT so great a Salvation z Heb. 2. 3 c. implying that this sin is unquestionably more exasperating incensing enraging the Almighty against His Creature Man then any other sin or sins whatsoever Yea if a man by means of the Gospel and the Grace offered unto him therein be not brought to Repentance and to a forsaking of ways and practices of sin the sins themselves which he shall commit under the Gospel will turn to a far deeper and more dreadful account in condemnation unto him then the like sins without the Gospel would have done So that it is clear on every side that in case men be not enabled by God to Repent and beleeve the Gospel the exhibition and tender of the Gospel unto them must needs be an heaping of coals of fire upon their heads by God a project and design â—o render them two-fold or rather an hundred-fold more the Children of Hell Misery and Torment then otherwise they had been Whereas most certain it is that God hath designed nothing acted nothing in one kinde or other to increase the Punishment or Condemnation of the Devils especially in any way of an unavoydable Necessity above the demerit of their first sin Thirdly If God doth not vouchsafe sufficient means unto all Men whereby §. 29. to repent beleeve and so to be saved then will He condemn and destroy or at least increase the Condemnation and Destruction of far the greatest part of Men for that which is no sin I mean Impenitency and Unbelief For 1. I suppose that it is no sin at all in the Creature not to perform or do any such act which is proper onely for God Himself to do or which requires the lighting down of His Omnipotent Arm to effect it 2. I suppose that which hath been both lately and formerly proved that God doth and will condemn and destroy men for Impenitency and Unbelief So then if to Repent and to Beleeve be such acts or works in the Soul which cannot be produced raised or performed by men by means of that strength or those abilities which are vouchsafed unto them but absolutely require the Omnipotent Power of God to effect them it is no ways more sinful in the Creature not to exert or perform them then it is not to be God and consequently if God should punish men for the non-performance of them He should punish them for that which in such a case and upon such a supposition would be no sin Yea if God should punish men for not endevoring or not doing that which is in their power to do in order to Repenting and Beleeving He should punish them for not attempting to make themselves equal in Power unto God Fourthly If God hath not vouchsafed a sufficiency of Power to beleeve §. 30. unto those who notwithstanding do not beleeve then did our Saviour without any ground or cause in the least wonder at the Unbelief of many in the Gospel yea and at the Faith of others And He could there do no mighty work save that He layd His Hands upon a few sick folk and healed them And He MARVFLLED BECAVSE OF THEIR UNBELIEF a Mark 6. 6 On the other hand When Jesus heard it i. e. the Answer of the Centurion He MARVELLED and said unto them that followed Verily I say unto you I have not found so GREAT FAITH no not in Israel b Mat. 8. 10 First there is not the least cause or occasion why any man should marvel that Creatures or second Causes should not act above their sphere yea though there be the greatest conjunction of such means which are proper and helpful unto them in order to such actings which lie within their sphere As for example though the year be never so seasonable and fruitful yet there is not the least occasion to marvel or think it strange that the Thorn should not bring forth grapes or the Thistle figs. So in case there be twenty great lights shining in a room it is no matter of wonder at all that a blinde man seeth nothing at all that is before him In like manner in case it be supposed that men are utterly destitute of a Power of Beleeving there is not the least ayr or colour of an occasion why any man should think it strange that they should not beleeve what helps or advantages soever for oâ— towards beleeving they have otherwise So again when causes or means which are known â—o act necessarily uniformly and constantly in their way do move and act accordingly there is not the least occasion given why any man should marvel or wonder at it When the Sun shineth or fire burneth when birds fly or fishes swim no man is tempted or provoked to the least degree of admiration Nor is there any whit more reason or cause of marvel that any Person at any time should beleeve though under the greatest disadvantages for beleeving in case it be supposed and known that that Cause which worketh or produceth Faith in Men as viz. the Power of God by which Faith is always produced in Men when they do beleeve should always work or act necessitatingly or irresistibly in the production of it Possibly the Grace of God by which men under signal disadvantages are according to our Adversaries Principles necessitated to beleeve may be just matter of admiration unto men but the vouchsafement of such grace