Scripture in matter of Predestination speaks only of men we shall consider it only as men are the object thereof but before I must shew what a Decree is because it entereth within our definition now God's Decrees are the eternal and unchangeable counsels and resolutions he hath taken from all Eternity about what he purposed to do in time according to the first rule we have laid down These Decrees are called God's essential works ad intra inward according to our capacity and manner of conceiving which himself in his word is pleased to condescend to We then call them Decrees after the manner of Men for Decrees and Resolutions of Men are works or acts really distinct from Man from his Understanding and his Will By this way we do conceive God's Decrees or rather God Decreeing though properly they may not be called his Works for every act so properly called is an effect really distinct from the Agent But in God 't is not so or else his supream Simplicity would come to nothing when 't is said of God are known all his works that knowledge is nothing else but his Decree of doing all things to be done in time Of ELECTION PRedestination hath two parts Election and Reprobation the word is not restrained only to Election as Papists and some others would have it It is in vain amongst Hebrews or Greeks to search the Original of the word which is Latin The ancient Latin Authors used the word destinare to destinate or appoint for Pains as well as Rewards so did the ancient Doctors of the Church as (a) Enchirid. cap. 100. de Civit. Dei lib. 12. cap. 24. Austin (b) Ad. capital Gallor Prosper (c) Lib. 1. ad Monim Fulgentius Now the Election we here speak of is not to an Office in which (d) 1 Sam. 10 24. Saul and David were chosen Kings over Israel So Matthias (e) Acts 1.24 26. was by lot chosen one of the twelve But 't is Election to Eternal Life and Salvation Now Election is a Predestination of some Men to Eternal Life to be obtained by Faith in Christ only out of God's pleasure in them to declare his Divine Mercy Every part of which definition we by the grace of God shall speak of This point most of any is to be taken notice of because it is the ground of our Hope Faith Holiness in a word of the whole mystery of our Salvation which doth wholly run and depend upon the decree of our Election therefore to darken it the Devil hath stired up so many instruments to oppose it In Scripture among many Texts we have one specially lays open the whole matter before us which here I quote to be read with great application (a) Ephes 1.3 4 5 6 7. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood c. The eternity of God's decree of Election is here asserted he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World this Election is affirmed to be the cause of all spiritual blessings which God hath blessed us with some of those blessings are named as Holiness Blamelessness and Adoption Now Faith Repentance Charity and such graces are parts of Holiness and the fruits of the Spirit Holiness is posteriour to our Election All those blessings are in and by Jesus Christ Out of this Text it also appeareth that the good pleasure of God is the only impulsive or moving cause if we may use such a word which is improper here to Elect us nothing from without all from within according to the good pleasure of his will Hence between Papists Arminians and Us for I must say in matters of grace they both joyn against us ariseth the question What it is that moved God to appoint some Men to Eternal Life We say nothing but God's good will and pleasure moved him to it Amongst several reasons we have to prove it I will only bring two of the chief The first because Scripture assigneth no other cause but that as the only and when the word is silent we ought not to speak The whole 9th Chapter to the Romans is a sentence of condemnation against the Adversaries there St. Paul saith of Election (†) Rom. 9.16 15. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Which is but a conclusion out of what God said to Moses in the foregoing verse verse 18. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion whence he thus concludes so then it is not of him c. 't is only of free grace Why three verses after the Apostle gives the reason He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth This is very plain if any one is willing to dispute God's right herein let him do 't but he shall find God is a strong party (a) 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us before the world began Here the Decree of Election is made the cause of calling and other graces we receive in time The other reason is because in those that were elected was nothing at all that could move him to love them (b) Ephes 2.1 We were men dead in trespasses and sins unfit for any good thing and guilty of eternal death They say God hath chosen some because from Eternity he foresaw they would believe in Christ and continue in the Faith to which some add the foresight of some good works with Faith but against this I say God could foresee in sinful Man no spiritual good but what out of his mercy he was to give him this none but Pelagians can deny consequently God could not foresee Faith or Good Works as a motive to his Decree God elected us to be holy and without blame before him That is to the end we should be and not because we were such Holiness is an effect and not a cause of Election Faith also is an effect of Election as clearly expressed in Scripture (c) Acts 13.48 And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed If so then Faith is not the cause that moved God to elect us we were elected to believe not because we believed before for then we had chosen Christ and not he us contrary to what he positively saith to his disciples (d) John 15.16 chap. 13 1◠Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and I know whom I have chosen Now though Election be the cause of Faith it
a Convocatio of a Synod at last it began in 1618 to be held at Dort Where did meet Divines not only within the Dominions of Holland and the Seven Provinces but also out of England and from most if not all other Reformed Churches T is true the French did not send in any solemn deputation for they dared not do it without leave of that Popish Court and they chose rather not to ask than to do it and be denyed however the sense of that Church was by the French Churches gathered in those Provinces and then by Peter Du-Moulin in his Letters and Book of Anatomy of Arminianism sufficiently made known to that Synod and afterwards a French (a) Held at Aleâ—zon Octob. 6. 1620. National Synod approved of and inserted amongst their one resolutions the Acts of the Synod of Dort where the Arminian Errors were unanimously condemned This the Arminians from the beginning thought would be the conclusion of such a Solemn Assembly wherefore like Popes Papists and Hereticks they were afraid to have things discussed in a free Council where the word of God is the only Rule and therefore they used their utmost endeavours to stop it as long as they could As to Arminius his Opinions they are part from Pelagius and part from Papists Against the first God raised Austin who by force of Scripture did beat the Heretick in all his Errors yet after his Death (a) Faustus and Cassianus those of his Sectators that remained thinking it not fit for them to own things to the height as Pelagius had done abated something of it and made alterations and got the name of Semipelagians whom also Austin and his Followers did write against with the same success he before had obtained against their Founder In the Eighth Century Semipelagians caused a great deal of trouble as we see in the Cause of Gottescalk whereof Worthy and Famous Primate Vsher hath given so true and so good an account About the Year 1590 Molina a Jesuit renewed the old Errors but was opposed at Rome by Alvarez a Dominican Fryar who followed the Principles of Thomas Aquinas hence to this very day continues the dispute about these matters between Jesuits and Dominicans Lessius another Jesuit at Lovain in the Spanish Netherlands became a Second to Molina and under the favour of the Neighbourhood those Errors passed into Holland where Arminius entertained them Let those who have a mind to a fuller account of Pelagius his Errors read what (a) Joh. Ger. hardi Vossii Hist Pelag. one hath written upon that Subject for I mention it only by the by and as it leads me to the Arminians who here durst not appear during King James's Life but in his Sons Reign under Archbishop Laud's Favour and Protection in they came with a full Sail and then indeed but not before begins our Arminian Church but with this difference from those in Holland that they incline more to Socinianism and ours more to Popery hence it is that at last some of them as Barret Montague c. turned Papists Now 't is true and to be observed how concerning the controverted points we hold the same as did the ancient Fathers who did write against Pelagius and Arminians assert some of the same things if not all which Pelagius did so that 't is the same Cause and as by the grace of God we shall see anon Pelagians did cast on their Adversaries the same aspersions as Arminians do upon us But first we must set down what are their Opinions contained in several Articles which they themselves at the Hague-Conference and at the Synod of Dort reduced to five the Chief though there be more Here I will in substance set them down but to help the Reader I must first write the Orthodox Doctrine in opposition to every Article of theirs as an Antidote and Preservative against the Poyson Afterwards I shall endeavour out of Scripture to prove it and so confute their Notions and this as shortly as I can and as far as I am able accommodating things with the capacity of the unlearned Reader which being done then by the grace of God I shall go on and as far as God will be pleased to enable me enlarge somewhat in the School way upon every point First Orthedox I. We say that from all Eternity God hath by his unchangeable Decree and Purpose predestinated unto life not all Men nor any undetermined but a certain select number of particular Men commonly called the Elect which number can neither be encreased nor diminished Others he hath passed by and predestinated to eternal Death They say Arminian I. there is no absolute or unrevocable but only a conditional and mutable Decree of Predestination both to Life and Death and that not of any particular persons but indefinitely of all Believers and Unbelievers and that the number of the Elect and Reprobate is not so certain but that it may be either increased or lessened We say that the only moving and esficient cause of Predestination or Election unto Life Orth. II. is the meer good Pleasure Love Free-grace and Mercy of God not the foresight of faith perseverance good works good will or any other quality whatsoever in the persons elected And that though sin be the only cause of Damnation yet the sole and primary cause of non-Election or Reprobation or why God doth not Elect those that Perish is the meer Free-will and Pleasure of God not the foresight of any actual sin unbelief or final impenitency in the person rejected They say Arm. II. the foreknowledge of Faith Perseverance Good-works and the right use of Grace received are the pre-required Conditions and the efficient causes of Election unto Life not God's free-grace and mercy only without respect to these as to a cause and that the original and moving cause of reprobation that is of the Decree not of its Execution is only the foresight of sin unbelief or final impenitency in the persons rejected not the meer free-will and pleasure of God We say that the Elect do always obey Orth. III. when the time appointed for their Conversion is come neither do or can they finally or totally resist the inward powerful and effectual call or working of God's spirit in their Hearts in the very act of their Conversion neither is it in their own power to Convert or not Convert themselves at that very time when they are converted They say it is in the will and power of men Arm. III. either finally or totally to resist the inward call the effectual working of God's Spirit in their Hearts in the very act of Conversion so that they may at that very instant and all times else either withstand or embrace their Conversion as they please We say that true justifing saving faith Orth. IV. is proper and peculiar to the Elect alone who after they are once truly regenerated and by faith ingrafted in Christ do always and constantly
that calleth any thing of works and of Faith too for they could have no Faith before they were born or had done any good or any evil are here excluded and all attributed to the purpose of God according to Election The same Apostle saith in another place that though some have erred concerning the Truth even those who before were professors of it such as (b) 2 Tim. 2.17 19. Hymineus and Philetus yet Nevertheless the foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his 't is no prejudice to neither can it change God's Decree And still to make use of the same authority St. Paul saith elsewhere (c) Ephes 1.9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself Not only that purpose in himself but also the declaration to us of that my stery of his will are altogether attributed to his good-pleasure not to any thing without him or in the Creature and all this to the end (d) Ephes 2.7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness tovards us through Christ Jesus Here is Grace here are riches of Grace yea exceeding riches of Grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus through whom only these graces are conveyed to us and who is the sole dispenser thereof and he addeth (f) Ephes 1.11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Here every word is a sentence against our Adversaries and after this t is an amazement to me that amongst those who pretend to be Christians and to receive the word of God for rule of the Truth there should be some who go about to set up Free-will and Man's strength to the prejudice of Grace and forge Motives and Counsellours for God besides his own good-will and pleasure We say further there is a certain small select number of those that are predestinated to Glory this we speak after St. Paul (g) Rom. 11.5 6. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise work is no more work Here the reason is given why amongst the unbelieving obstinate Jews there was a small remnant which did believe and were saved The Faith Grace and Salvation of this remnant is ascribed to their Election as to the cause and this Election affirmed to come only of God's grace and deny'd to have proceeded from any of their works not by a simple affirmation but by a double opposition of Works and Grace as incompatible in point of Election Arminians must not think to blind this with saying they do not attribute Election to a foresight of Works but of Faith 'T is true their Father Arminius doth not openly assert it this Text being so clear and so positive however he minced the matter for he made Election and Justification to depend upon Faith not as an Instrument applying Christ but as an Evangelical Work in the Gospel appointed of God to be a saving quality in it self as a perfect Obedience should have been under the Law but his Followers are not so scrupulons as he But the Apostle denies it to be of Faith as of Works wholly ascribing it to the Election or Grace But as to the point of the small number of the Elect our blessed Saviour himself decides it when he saith (a) Matth. 20.10 Many be called but few chosen and St. Paul to shew the small number of those that are elected and shall be saved is not satisfied to call it a remnant in the place already quoted but in another of the same Epistle he also makes use of the word remnart (b) Rom. 9.27 Though the number of the children of Israel be as the Sand of the Sea a remnant shall be saved Only a remnant and this after the Prophet Isaiah 10.20 21. Who elsewhere calls it (c) Isai 1.9 A very small remnant which the Apostle in the same Chapter doth call a Seed (d) Rom. 9.29 Except the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed which is only as much as sufficeth to sow the ground (e) Heb. 12.23 These are called the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven in the Book of God's Election which can never be encreased nor diminished and this (f) Ephes 4.12 13. for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Which meaneth that there is a fullness of the mystical body of Christ that is so many Members and that every Member is to come unto a degree of Stature unto a perfect Man as a certain number of Martyrs that shall be fulfilled Rev. 6.9 11. All those and those only (g) Rom. 8.30 whom God did predestinate them he also called with an inward and effectual calling and whom he called all and only them he also justified all and only them he also glorified This is the Golden Chain of our Salvation and the thing so certain and so sure that though to some it be to come 't is represented as already past and as if they were in actual possession of Glory There shall be no more nor less and though to the eye of Man in this there may seem to be some alteration some falling from the Truth it is only as to the outward shew and profession not as to the Election Wherefore St. John (h) 1 John 2.19 saith They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us And this also is a strong proof and evidence of the perseverance and against the final Apostacy of Saints which Arminians are stiff asserters of And that Election is the sole cause of everlasting Salvation it appears because into the heavenly City (i) Rev. 21.27 none shall enter but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life In another place this Book is mentioned (k) Rev. 13.8 and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him the Beast whose names are not written in the book of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world This is the Book of God's Decree of Election all that have names written in it shall enter into new Jerusalem or Heaven but those whose names are not written therein and do worship the Beast (l) Rev. 20.10 12. shall with the devil the beast and the false prophet be cast into
to move the Lord God to do them good Hence it is that Samuel saith to Israel (r) 1 Sam. 12.22 the Lord will not forsake his people and the reason he gives is this because it hath pleased him to make you his people Thus it is with God upon the account of any mercy he bestoweth upon the Creature of any nature whatsoever David declareth the same (i) Psal 44.3 for they got not the land in possession by their own sword neither did their own arm save them but thy right hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance because thou hadst a favour unto them Thus we read in the Gospel when the Lord Jesus worked a Cure of any bodily or spiritual Disease he made it wholly depend upon his will as in the Miracle upon the Leper he said (k) Matth. 8.3 I will be thou clean and in the case of working Faith (l) chap 11.27 neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him So (m) Joh 5.21 the Son quickneth whom he will Thus as of our Election so of our Regeneration and Conversion there is no other cause but the will of God for (n) Jam. 1.18 of his own will begat he us with the word of truth In few words the whole work of Salvation is an effect of his free-grace (o) Ephes 2 â— ad vers 8. When we were dead in sin he hath quickned us the reason he giveth there is this by grace ye are saved in both verses for he repeats it three verses lower by grace ye are saved through faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God We further say there was no foresight or consideration of any work faith or merit in us why God should Elect us (p) Ezck. 16.6 And when I passed by thee and saw thee polluted in thine own blood I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live yea I said unto thee when thou wast in thy blood live What sign of Faith or comeliness in that condition was there in us what ornaments in us there have been since they are the work of God in us whether repentance faith holiness or any other grace For after God said to us live he washed and anointed us clothed and decked us c. as may be seen in the following verses vers 8 9 10 11 12 13. We add that sin is the only cause of damnation as in St. Matthews (q) Matth 25.42 43. Gospel by me quoted already (r) Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of man that doth evil In another place of Scripture he says positively (s) Rom. 6.23 the wages of sin is death But here by the by this I must take notice of how though Damnation be the reward for Sin it doth not follow that Salvation should be the reward of Faith or good Works the just reward of Sin is Death it is its due but the Apostle doth not say that Eternal Life is the wages of Faith or Righteousness as Death is of Sin (a) Ver. 23. but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. There is a great disparity between the rules and means of Justice and of Mercy as hereafter we shall have occasion to shew as also why God leaves and Elects one and not the other as in the ease of Esau and Jacob. (b) Malach. 1.2 3. I have loved you saith the Lord yet ye say wherein hast thou loved us Was not Esau Jacob's Brother yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau of which no account but God's pleasure for St. Paul makes to the same purpose use of the place in Rom. 9. as already quoted But now we must come to the proof of our 3d. Article namely that the Elect do constantly obey God's call when the time is come when (c) Cant. 1.4 God draweth they follow nay they run draw me we will run after thee and (d) Lament 5.21 turn thou us unto thee and we shall be turned The Elect obey the call When St. Paul heard the voice from Heaven he said (e) Acts 9.6 Lord what wilt thou have me to do This inward call for St. Paul's was such as well as outward makes a great change in Man how willing how ready to obey (f) Gal. 1.16 he confered not with flesh and blood but submitted So did the Jailour he said to Paul and Silas (g) Act. 16 30. Sirs what must I do to be saved The new Converts willing to be directed said unto Peter and other Apostles * Acts. 2.37 men and brethren wha shall we do though at first all know not what to do ye are prepared to obey and desirous to be instructed when the Lord said unto Paul arise and go into the City and it shall be told thee what thou must do he complied and went So Samuel assoon as (h) 1 Sam. 3.4 6 8 10. the Lord called Samuel he answered Here I am and though he at first did not well know the nature of the voice nor whose it was yet he ran to the place whence he thought the voice came disposed to obey and when heat last was better informed then he said Speak Lord for thy servant heareth For though may be at first God's people do not distinctly understand the call yet God never gives over calling till we are come to him God makes known unto us the mystery of his will to this end saith St. Paul (i) Ephes 1.10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ both which are in heaven and which are on earth even in him But God is never disappointed of his ends he worketh effectually and unresistibly Ver. 19. wherefore this is called the exceeding greatness of his power to us ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power Observe the Emphasis This dealing of God in and towards Believers is in one and the same verse called the working of Gods power yea his Mighty Power and in the beginning of the verse not only his Power but the greatness and the exceeding greatness of his Power The effectual preaching of the Gospel to People or Persons is an effect of their Election as the Cause is known by the effect so a posteriori Election is by a powerful preaching of the Gospel (k) 1 Thes 1.4 5. Knowing beloved your election of God saith St. Paul for our Gospel came not you unto in word only but also in power and in the holy Ghost and in much assurance c. to the Elect ever it comes so in the due time and by its coming so they may judge themselves to be Elect for he saith also in much assurance We add further that the Elect neither do nor can finally and totally resist the inward powerful and effectually calling of God's spirit in the very
doth not follow by the rule of relatives which are said to be the cause of one another that Faith should be the cause of Election that maxim is to be understood of the natural respect and relation of the Subjects not of the Subjects themselves of relations else it would a so follow That because the Creator is the cause of the Creature the Creature ought also to be the cause of the Creator which is Blasphemy It is the part of a wise Agent when he doth appoint to the end also to appoint to and provide the means So the only wise God having predestinated us to the end eternal life hath also predestinated us to the means namely Faith For saith the Apostle (a) 2 Thes 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth here are the decree election chosen the efficient cause God the Object you the end to salvation with the means sanctification of the spirit and belief of the Truth or Faith Farther I say if prevision of Faith had been the cause of our Election it would also be the cause of our Vocation in time which is contrary to the word (b) 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath called us with his holy calling not according to our works but according to his purpose and grace I bring one Argument more which is this if Faith and Holiness fore-seen had been the cause of our Election it would follow that the object of Election had been Man already restored through Grace and justified which is false Take notice that there are not two Decrees one to Grace the other to glory as they say Scripture maketh no mention of a double Election by one and the same Decree we are elected to Glory through Grace as the means and way for the first in Intention is last in Execution We are saved by Faith yet not elected by Faith the reason of both being different Election is an eternal act of God inward and immediately proceeding from God but Salvation is a temporal act of God outward and mediate which is perfected thorough many other means and second causes if the causes of Election and Salvation be the same then the Law of God the Gospel Sacraments and Ministers are the causes of our Election for God makes use of all these means to bring us to eternal life We are elected in Christ not for Christ God was never moved by the merit of Christ to Elect us but he decreed to save us in Christ who is not the cause of the Decree but a medium or means appointed in the Election to execute it We must have a care not to confound between the cause and sign of things which do very much differ thus the Rainbow is not the cause why the world shall no more be drowned with a general Flood 't is only the sign of it the cause is God's Will and Promise thus Sacraments are signs not causes of the things they represent Circumcision was the sign of God's Covenant with Abraham but not the cause which was God's Free-grace and Mercy to him the Lords Supper is the sign of Christ's Passion but not the cause which is God's Free-grace and Mercy to mankind When our blessed Saviour saith (a) Matth. 16.2 3. When it is evening ye say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red c. that colour of the Sky is not the cause but the sign of fair or foul weather Thus to make an Application to our Subject I say we must take heed not to make Faith the cause of our Election when it is the sign and effect of it so much posteriour to it for Election is from eternity when Faith is given but in time and yet serveth to prove Election for wheresoever true saving Faith is there is an infallible sign but no cause of Election which far from being caused by any grace is the sole and only ground of all and every grace we receive Faith it self the chief Gospel grace is an effect of it as it appears out of many places of Scripture which I already quoted so out of (b) Acts 18.27 Acts where 't is said Apollos helped them much which had believed through grace And those men who will not believe this will have much cause to fear they are of the same sort of those whom our Saviour speak of when he saith (c) John 9.39 For judgment I am come into this world that they which see not may see and that they which see might be made blind There is mercy for the first and judgment for the last for certainly Christ came into the world both for mercy and for judgment to make some unexcusable (d) John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin It was said of Christ almost after his very Birth That (a) Luk. 2.34 he was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against And as the Prophet says (b) Isa 3.14 a stone of stumbling a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to Jerusalem And Men are too apt to fansie things to be the cause of God's actings which are not thus the Disciples themselves thought because a Man was born blind the Man's sins or his Parents must be the cause of it but our Saviour tells them they were in an error for (c) Joh. 9.3 neither hath the man sinned nor his parents but he was born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him This place sheweth clearly how God in whatsoever he doth in upon or for Men he minds chiefly his own Glory and followeth his own will and pleasure Thus (d) Chap. 11.4 Lazarus's Sickness and Death was for the glory of God and of Christ God denyed the Man his sight from his Birth here are his Will his Power and Justice over his Creature the Lord Jesus gives him his sight there is mercy thus the works of God are made manifest in this Man and why not so too in others in relation to eternity as well as to time This Man was naturally blind but God is pleased to give him his sight as he might without any wrong have left him in his blindness if it had been his pleasure So if God be pleased to leave some Men naturally dead in that condition and quicken others that were in the same state what hath wretched Man to do to cavil against or find fault with it Or presumptuously not to be satisfied with this cause the meer will and pleasure of God but must prye into his Secrets and forge other Motives instead
can know it to be so then they must be sure of their faith that is have a certitude of it In the case of the two blind men (d) Matth. 9.28 our Saviour asked them believe ye that I am able to do this they said unto him yea Lord. When believers are seriously asked whether they have faith They may well and do confess it in conscience to the Lord himself which must arise out of a certitude of it Then (e) 1 Cor. 2.11.12 the spirit a man which is in him knoweth the things of a man and in the next verse he addeth we have received the spirit of which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God And we can distinctly perceive the proper acts of faith as when one out of a sincere and pious affection findeth himself ready to deny the world and himself to serve and obey God according to his holy will To the question how can a man know when he is elected And how see he hath Faith I say Election is evidenced by effectual calling by Faith and Repentance so is Faith by the fruits and effects thereof as are good works as certainly-as one may conclude where a fire is there is heat and when the Sun shineth it is day-light Thus the cause is proved by the effect and the effect by the cause Where is motion either natural or spiritual we may confidently assirm there is life accordingly Thus we need not to go up to Heaven to dive into the secret Council of God nor to turn the leaves of the Book of Life to see whether our names be written in it but to search into our own souls and examine our own Thoughts Affections and Actings if there be holiness love and other fruits of the spirit Now they object that this certitude must be expressed or implyed in the word and thence drawen by a consequence but we say it doth not arise out of the letter of the word but out of the inward testimony of our understanding being enlightened by the holy Ghost which beareth witness to our spirit that we are the Children of God and consequently that we have true faith This is not written in the Book of Scripture but in the Book of our Heart with the very finger of the Holy Ghost hence it is that we do not believe we do believe but we feel and perceive it as we do not believe we think of God when we do 't but we know and feel it in our minds One thing here I must take notice of upon the matter in relation to that Exhertation of St. Paul to the Corinthians to examine themselves that it is a great deal of pity that many I dare say good people do not set themselves upon that tryal but do either wholly or in part neglect it but if they be of God's Elect at one time or other they must come to 't the sooner the better and the more often to known what progress they made in faith what degrees of strength it hath gotten and for neglecting this so necessary a duty they thereby deprive themselves of much comfort which would accrue to them To make an end of this matter I shall add that this certitude is very much improved when we can clearly make out we have an interest in Christ and are Christ's For saith the Apostle (a) 1 Cor. 3.22 Ye are Christ's and Christ is God's To know whether we be Christ's we have a certain rule to know it by that is if the spirit of Christ be in us (b) Rom. 8.9 For if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his How then to know whether the spirit be in us St. Paul giveth a rule by (c) Gal. 5.22 23. the fruits of the spirit as love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith c. Now we are come to a great question why of so many that hear the word of God there are so few that believe What may be the cause of it at the same word and under the same Ministery so different and contrary effect is produced some like Wax at the fire are softned and melted when others at the same time like Clay and Dirt are hardened whilst some believe others continue in unbelief and harden themselves some are the better others the worse for it Like (d) Joh. 13.27 Judas into whom the Devil entred after our Saviour had given him the sop The word is a wholesome Physick to some and as deadly poyson to others the Lord Jesus is a (e) 1 Cor. 23. 2 Pet. 2 8. stumbling-block and a rock of offence and foolishmess to some and the (f) 1 Cor. 2.6 7. wisdom of God in a mystery to others so that this word and they that preach it are unto some those that are saved (g) 2 Cor. 2.15.16 a Savour of life unto life and to others to them that perish a Savour of death unto death All this is truth Scripture teaches and Experience confirms how all that hear the word of God do no believe for all men have not Faith 2 Thess 3.2 Now we are to inquire into the reasons of it First 'T is not for any Dignity Merit Natural Capacity or any other quality in the hearer seeing the (h) 1 Cor. 2.14 natural man such we are all by nature receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them Which the same Apostle doth confirm in another place (a) Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Neither is it for any depth of knowledge learning eloquence or other abilities in the Minister who preacheth the word (b) 1 Cor 3.6 Paul may plant Apollos may water but neither of them can give the increase (c) 2 Cor. 2. 2 Cor. 4.7 Who is sufficient for these things For saith he in another place this treasure we have in earthen vessels that the excellency be of God and not of us The most fervent and excellent Servants of God commonly complain of the hardness and impenitency of their hearers and let Isaiah speak for all (d) Isai 53.1 16. Who hath believed our report And our Blessed Saviour should if any have had cause to expect a good success of his outward teaching yet how often doth he complain of the hardness stubbornness impenitency and unbelief of his hearers How few of the great multitudes he taught were converted to him So that we must not seek in the dispensers of the word for the cause why some believe and others do not The cause why all do not believe is not as the Adversaries would have it because they do not all they can and do not make use of all the power remaining in them out of their natural corruption that they do not go to Church do not hear nor read
Adversaries conclude from hence out of their principle and according to their way now of arguing against us They will say then you are well enough trouble not your selves any further live as ye will do what ye please ye are sure of Heaven Oh but St. Peter is of another mind if we ask him to what purpose and for what end are these excellent privileges bestowed upon us in the same verse he tells us what use we ought to make of this That ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness unto his marvellous light Wherefore 't is not to do the works of darkness which can never shew forth God's praises We abhor such wicked Consequences and Practices out of such an holy Doctrine as is that of the immutability of our Election That Doctrine of Free-grace and Election is the same which St. Paul as we proved it out of so many Texts in his Epistles so earnestly preached and asserted how earnest was he to put Men upon the study and practice of Holiness Sanctification Rom. 3.8 and all good works In his time was abroad the same spirit as now as then upon his Doctrine so now upon ours which is the very same he preached there were aspersions cast though not by the same men yet by the same spirit which is a liar from the beginning That holy Man complaineth of it (a) Rom. 3.8 as we be slanderously reported and as some affirm that we say let us do evil that good may come But see their doom whose damnation is just They were most impudent liars for they affirmed that he said so when there was no such thing wherefore he reproveth such unjust and abominable consequences Chap. 6.1.2 What shall we say then shall we continue in sin that grace may abound God forbid Thus shall we say We are Elected and let us do all the evil we can yet we shall be saved God fordid Blessed Apostle from these Men we suffer the same thou didst from those for the same cause St. Paul and we after him are for Free-grace against Free-will and our common adversaries are for Free-will against Free-grace We have upon this matter about Election a very considerable Text of Scripture which I desire to be specially taken notice of 'T is our blessed Saviours answer to the Mother of Zebedee's Children who asked of him that her two Sons might sit one on his right hand the other on his left in his Kingdom which answer the Lord doth thus conclude But to sit on my right-hand and on my left is not mine to give but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my father Matth. 20.23 The meaning of sitting on the right and left-hand in Christ's Kingdom is to be glorified with him which is the same as to have Salvation and enjoy eternal life By the Father's having prepared is understood the Decree of Election whereby some are appointed to eternal life hence are deduced these several truths First There are places in the Kingdom of Christ's glory That is in Heaven prepared of the Father Secondly Those places are prepared not for all but only for some Thirdly Those whom those Seats and places are prepared for shall have them it shall be given them Fourthly The Lord Jesus declares it is not his or in him to give those Seats and to dispose of those Places otherwise than the Father hath prepared and ordered of before The first of these teaches us how our glorification is an effect of and depends upon his Decree of Election which is meant by the word prepared as if he had said Decreed Resolved and Ordained before From the second we learn how there is a certain number of those whom these places are prepared for and consequently it cannot be encreased or lessened Out of the third we are taught the certainty of Salvation for if those whom they are prepared for shall have those places then they cannot tall from their Election nor miss Salvation and come short of Heaven The fourth informs us of the unchangeableness of the Decree of Election which admits of no alteration for if our Saviour declareth as he doth how those places are kept only for those whom they are prepared for by the Father and that he may not dispose of any otherwise than the Father hath I know not who can besides him if there be any let him speak Our Blessed Saviour the Mediator of the New Covenant saith he may not reverse nor alter that Decree about some men elected to have place in Heaven This also teaches us how our whole Salvation dependeth upon the Decree of Election as the â—â—â—und and foundation thereof how reverently doth 〈◊〉 of God himself speak of that adorable Decree whâ—â—â— some Men in the world make bold with God do ridicule it and do make of it a Nose of Wax to be turned as it pleaseth the will and fancy of Men to make it effectual or uneffectual to believe or not believe persevere or not persevere To this place answereth that other about the last Judgement Matthew 25.34 c. Come ye blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world Here is Christ sitting indeed in his Kingdom of Glory to Judge the whole World divided into two parts in execution of the Decree of Predestination some standing on the right-hand and others on the left those Blessed these Cursed here is a call come ye to the Elect blessed of my Father the spring of all Blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord the call is to inherit the Kingdom prepared and foreordained a Kingdom that imports honour and glory joy and power and an happy eternal life to be enjoyed in the sight of God in whose presence is fullness of joy and at whose right-hand are pleasures for ever-more Psal 16.11 All these prepared for you all and none else that are chosen of my Father Yea prepared from the foundation of the world here is the certainty of the Decree here lies his Mercy and Free-grace that he most graciously provided for us before we had a Being O what a distinguishing mercy whilst the Cursed are commanded to depart an eternal separation from God the spring of all Joy and Goodness into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels God hath prepared the Kingdom for the Blessed and Elect and everlasting fire for the Cursed and Reprobates Doth not this to the life represent Election and Reprobation whereof God is the efficient cause from Eternity so before the Blessed or Cursed had done any Good or Evil to move God Thus it doth declare the Sentence and Execution thereof Hereunto and to the same purpose may be added that other Text of Scripture Luke 2.32 Fear not little flock for it is your Father's good pleasure to give the Kingdom The Elect are here called little flock to shew the smallness of the number in comparison of the Reprobates Heaven
door to all such prophane and wicked licentiousness and security as the hearts of men can admit Farthermore this makes all men equal puts them in the same condition whether Elect or Reprobate Heathen or Christians Godly or Ungodly since all of them may be saved or damned if they will for thereby their Salvation is laid in their hand Now what can be more derogatory to God's special grace and love more uncomfortable to all good Christians more acceptable to all licentious persons more advantageous to Satan and pernicious to mankind than to remove the bounds of God's all limiting and immutable decrees and throw down the walls hedges and partitions he hath made himself of his special love and to lay them common unto all without distinction and as much as in them lays to ruin the order which God hath settled and thereby bring in a general confusion Again this takes away repentance and salvation it self also the hopes and possibility of repentance for if our conversion grace and Salvation depend upon our unsettled corrupt wills who can be saved If Adam in a state of Innocency could not preserve himself from falling when he had power not to sin how can we who since his fall lay under a necessity of sinning even in a regenerate state by any sufficient universal grace or any power of our own raise convert or save our selves St. Paul in whom the grace of God did abound thought he could not do 't (a) Rom. 7.14 15 17 c. To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not for the good that I would I do not but the evil which I would not that I do If our Salvation was in our own hands it should soon be lost and forfeited but thanks be to God 't is in sure hands (b) John 10.28 29. My sheep shall never perish neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand Our saving graces cannot be lost for they are (c) Acts 13.34 the sure mercies of David This also doth exclude Infants from Salvation for they want knowledge to discern and will for to desire it because they know not what it meaneth Moreover this revives the old Pelagian Error that a man may live and keep himself without sin for if men have such an ability of will of universal grace to convert themselves when they are in the state of nature much more shall they in the state of grace when they enjoy the help of God's spirit keep themselves free from sin if once through their strength men have mastered sin much more may they totally suppress it being wounded but Scripture teacheth there is no perfection to be attained to in this life no perfect man in the world (d) Jam. 3.2 chap. 2.10 for in many things we offend all and though we should offend only in one he who offendeth in one is guilty of all The beloved disciple of Christ and in whom his grace aboundeth saith (e) 1 John 1.8 If we say that we have no sin we deceive our selves and the truth is not in us Their opinions do cross one another for to put in man's will to keep himself from sin if he willeth doth not agree with their doctrine against perseverance for 't is to be supposed no man is willingly damned the desire of well being is in the Creature and to be against perseverance doth continually bring a servile fear upon men and always keeps them under uncertainty as to their future state contrary to that of St. Paul (f) Rom. 8.15 Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear Now saith another Apostle (g) 1 John 4.18 Fear hath torment he that feareth is not made perfect in love for perfect love casteth out fear This also maketh grace of a larger extent than the decree of God's Election and the inward or outward means of grace That is the effect is more general than its cause which is a very great absurdity God hath not actually decreed to save nor by a call to offer soul-saving means of grace to all men for if it were so as they would have it I see no reason but that all men should be converted and saved because God's decrees and his words are always true and never fall to ground for want of execution but Scripture and Experience teach the contrary Wherefore either we must admit an universal Election of all men to life which necessarily implyeth an universal Salvation of all Men or else we must disclaim a Chimaera of universal grace which may well be called a Monster in Divinity Another ill consequence of this universal grace is that it makes this pretended grace which is not sufficient to Salvation seeing it doth not produce it Mother to true saving grace which is of a quite different nature but such is the cause such the effect (a) Matth. 7.16 Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles Either this universal grace is saving grace which cannot be for all men would be saved by it or else it cannot be the Mother or Author of true saving grace which so far differeth from it in kind or nature We own there are God's common temporal favours whereof Reprobates are made partakers because living in the visible Society of the Elect they thereby receive some outward benefits which in that respect may be called universal graces but the question is about effectual and saving grace such as inward calling Conversion Justification Sanctification Faith Repentance c. which are peculiar to God's Elect and not extended to Heathen and other Infidels who are no part nor members of the visible Church much less of the universal Church which promises and saving graces do only belong to so that without the Pales of it no true saving grace to be had to the end that universal grace be sufficient it must contain other particular graces as Faith if it be Faith it ceases to be universal for it doth not belong to all or else what our Saviour saith (b) Luke 18.8 when the Son of Man cometh shall he find faith in the Earth Were but a tale if it be not faith it signifieth nothing and will do no good 't is not sufficient for (c) Heb. 11.6 without faith it is unpossible to please God If this be a true universal grace it must be a grace for every thing or else 't is not universal it must unfold to us all the mysteries of God's proceeding's specially those which relate to Salvation as for us who do not believe it when we inquire into things the last reason that can be given us is the will of God no higher can be assigned therewith we are satisfied and do acquiesce we go no further for thereby a stop is put to all our queries But for them that universal grace giveth an apparent cause even in men themselves besides the absolute disposing will of God namely the prevision of their
Faith their perseverance their good use of grace received their original and actual sins and final impenitency why one man is predestinated to salvation not another So it unveils to them those high and unsearchable mysteries of Gods decrees which put St. Paul to a nonplus or else he had not been strucken with such amazing admiration as made him cry out (a) Rom. 11.33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding-out Surely he wanted that universal grace or else he would not have thought those judgments so incomprehensible though I would have the Adversaries of the truth to know that St. Paul wanted no grace he had a sufficient grace (b) 2 Cor. 12 9. My grace is sufficient unto thee But that sufficient grace in Paul was for another end it never went so far as Arminians pretends theirs doth yet they must give us leave to think he was inferiour in grace to none of them nor David who saith (c) Psal 36.6 thy judgments are a great deep I shewed how Arminians have renewed several of Pelagius his Errors but I did not fasten upon them his denying Original Sin which I must now do (d) Contra Tilen pag. 388. Corvinus one of their great men saith that with Arminius orginal sin hath not the nature of sin or fault properly so called and Arminius himself affirmeth that it is wrongfully said (e) Pag. 174. That original sin makes a man guilty of death And one of our own who is highly esteemed by his own Party in his Book Vnum Necessarium doth expressly deny original sin and the imputation thereof and takes a great deal of pains to answer arguments drawn out of Scripture and experimental reasons to prove it and what he had written he goes about to justifie in his answer to the then Bishop of Rochester's Letter which he had written to shew him his Error Here and there I shewed how about these matters Arminians do joyn with Papists and Pelagians against us Now I say they do so with Socinians so no wonder if they have and still usher in Socinianism For both Arminians and Socinians do affirm that the causes of predestination are not in God but in us That he doth not predestinate to Salvation any certain or particular persons and that predestination may be changed and frustrated also that theâ—e is a free-will to good in us And as to Providence that God hath not determined contingencies nor foreseen future contingents and such others as Arminians have borrowed from Socinians as in the mistakes concerning the high point of justification Christ's satisfaction c. Then they deny the knowledge and confession of the mystery of the Trinity to be absolutely necessary to Salvation and that the Doctrine of the three persons of the Godhead specially of Christ's being God from Eternity are not a fundamental Article of our Faith as affirmed in their Apolog. Vindic. Respons ad except Leyd nay in vindic cap. 7. lib. 1. pag. 37 38. With Socinians and some Anabaptists they falsely say that the Doctrine of the Trinity began in the time of the Council of Nice and they are so good friends that in the same Apol. Vindic. they affirm Socinians to be Pious nay most Pious Men whom all Protestants ought to take for example of Piety wherefore no wonder if they say we ought to keep Communion with them that is Socinians Some of them say the Father to be Essentiantem and the Son Essentiatum and subordinate to the Father In few words that most of the Arminian Doctors do in the Article of the Trinity which they make to be of no great moment go hand in hand with Socinians hath clearly been made out by Vedclius Part 2. Arcanorum Armin. and what I have here charged them with and other things too I am able to make good out of their publick writings as the Apology Vindic. and out of the works of their most approved eminent Authors as Worstius whom they would have had promoted to be Divinity Professor at Leyden after Arminius's death Episcopius the chief manager of their Affairs in the Synod of Dort Curcelaeus c. But all these and more too ill consequences in matters of Doctrine I now must conclude with the bad influence it hath upon life and conversation It is too true as we find it by experience that there are multitudes of wretches kept in their carnal security by a perswasion that there is an universal grace offered unto all by which they may repent and believe when they will this makes them resolve to enjoy the pleasures of sin a little longer and then they will receive and entertain grace and so easily get to Heaven which is a great encouragement to all wickedness but it suits with the nature and desire of wicked presumptuous and prophane sinners who though they were not fully perswaded of it yet for them t is a pretence to continue in sin 'T is said of one Thompson a great propagator of Arminianism that when he was in his fits of intemperance if any one minded him of the wrath of God threatned against such courses he would answer I am a child of the devil to day but I have free-will and to morrow I will make my self a child of God Jansenius hath made this general observation that the Pelagians were generally loose in their lives which he taketh abundance of good Pains to prove and I conceive it cannot be too much considered in this controversie because Pelagius urged nothing more vehemently than this that the extolling of the grace of God and lessening the liberty of man's will is the readiest way to destroy all Piety By those that for a considerable time have conversed amongst Papists 't is observed how the Jansenists are the best moral livers amongst them of a much better life and conversation than the rest so it cannot but be taken notice of that amongst us the greatest sticklers for Arminianism even amongst some of the Clergy are the proudest most vicious Ambitious Voluptuous Drunkards prophane livers of any making little or no conscience to seek the glory of God to feed their flocks amongst which they seldom are resident except in sheering time for to feed they care not so much as to fleece the Flock making not much conscience of performing Pastoral Duties being more for wealth and preferment than for the good of souls If their Doctrine be good why are their lives and actions so vicious I speak for the generality their practice contradicteth what they would have us to believe of their Doctrine their bad lives they would shelter under the notion of a good Doctrine the goodness of their Religion must be a cloak but we with a good life would as much as the frailty and corruption of our nature can permit endeavour to credit the doctrine we profess and because we will not run into the same excesses