consolation in God even to the assurance of their election If weake in faith and oppressed vnder the burthen of their sinnes yet is there no cause why they should despayre by reason of any doctrine of ours but rather good hope that these troubles of minde may proove as panges of childbirth to deliver their soules into the world of grace 2. Of any doctrine Canonized eyther in the Synod of Dort which we knowe or in the Synod of Arles which I knowe not I am utteâ—lâ— ignorant The course of comprehending the doctrine of the Church concerning certeyne points in severall theses and denominating them canons hath bene anciently of use in Councells and Synods but of canonizing any doctrine therby I never heard nor read till now But if the Church be the pillar and butteresse of truthe the authoritie therof is of no small force for the establishment therof albeit we acknowledge no infallible rule of faith but the word of God The quaestion in praesent is whether election be upon the foresight of mans obedience or according to the meere pleasure of God and in the issue it comes to this as in due place I will shewe whether God hath mercy on whom he will by giving faith and repentance vnto them and whom he will he hardeneth by denying faith and repentance Or rather in the dispensation distribution of these graces proceedeth according to mens workes Now to me it seemes a strange course when a quaestion is moved as touching two contrary opinions which of them is true and to be embraced to drawe the resolution herof to the consideration of the usefulnes of the opinions or doctrines quaestioned As if because an opinion is usefull therfore it is to be coÌ„cluded that it is true and not rather in case it be founde to be true yea the very truthe of God the rule wherof alone is Gods word therfore we ought to conclude that it is vsefull and be carefull to make such use of it as it doth bespeake Nay is it not most indecent for man to presume â—o obâ—rude opinions upon Gods word upon a bare praetence of the usefulnes of them in mans iudgment to serve turnes as he thinkes good And doe not as many as take such courses for the mayntenance of their owne way manifest hereby that their cause is desperate and that it seemes they have very litle or no ground for their opinions out of the word of God when they runne out vnto such divinations as these for the supporting of their labouring and wavering cause As for example if the Apostle shall playnly professe that election is not of workes shall not we embrace this for truth unles we finde it to be more usefull to the purposes here specified then the contrary and if we seeme to finde the contrary doctrine more usefull then this in our phantasy shall we therfore contradict the Apostle in expresse termes or set our wits on worke so to fashion the Apostles meaninge by a forced interpretation as to make him to contradict his owne wordes In like sort if the Apostle sayth God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth Rom. 9.18 And withall manifests that by obteyning mercy at Gods handes he understandeth the obteyning of faith Rom. 11.30 that even in the former place being manifest enough by the antithesis of it unto obduration Shall we hang still in suspense as touching the acknowledging of S. Pauls meaninge untill we have well weighed and considered the usefulnes of this doctrine in comparison with the usefulnes of the contrary doctrine and according to the weight of each by such weights and in the scale of our judgment pronounce judicially eyther for Paul or against him or at least make the holy Apostle by some practise or other to eate his owne wordes as Saturne did his children And verily in the cause of such a triall a good witt will serve a disputant in good steade who can if he list bring forth pleasant ejaculations in commendation of a bald head or of folly with Erasmus or of a louse with Daniel Heinsius and with our English Sonnetters of a stâ—aweâ— to witnesse thâ— songe O the strawe the strawe and then let them take forth and singe Now here is a jolly couâ—se quoth the minstrill And others like eâ—ough will be furnished with as good witt to the contrary in displaying the unnecessary condition of ought â—ike him who having fâ—â—st made an excellent speech in the commendation of justice afterwards spake as wiâ—â—ily to the contrary shewing that there was no justice at all in the World And I have heard of a Gentleman that would discourse against any neede we have at all of fire saying that at the end he was driven to a non plus for as much as he could not devise how his horse could be shod without it And in like manner I have with admiration receaved a relation concerning a Gentleman in an Assembly of States such as we call Parliaments namely that he was absolutely the best speaker yet nothing respected and that for a most sufficient reason which was this They knew full well that he could speake as well and as movingly to that which was quite contrary And I willingly professe the Author of this discourse seemes to be a witâ—y Gentleman and to enterteyne his readers in the following treatise with a pretty enterlude no mervail if he makes choyse of a fiâ—t scene wherein to shew the feates of his activitie Wherein how well he caryeth himselfe when he comes to the triall of our Doctrine by the serviceablenes thereof to the three endes here proposed we shall by Gods helpe inquire in due place But surely though it be not serviceable to any of these ends yet if it be as serviceable to other ends above specified out of the history of the Counsell of TreÌ„t as also out of the 17. article of our church of EnglaÌ„d as also to the glorifying of God in acknowledging the prerogative of his grace as onely effectuall to every thinge that is good the prerogative of Gods soveraintie over his Creatures in making whom he will Vessells of mercy and whom he will Vessells of wrath â—o witt by shewing mercy on whom he will and hardening whom he will This I hope shall be sufficient to uphold the reputatioÌ„ of it yea albeit it be found contrary to other endes which yet I deny like as comforts are contrary to the use of terrifying and terrours are contrary to the use of comfortinge and yet Gods word coâ—taines both kindes of discipline Like as Martin Luther and Melancthon were of different dispositions and Erasmus his censure of them was this that Melancthon followed Luther as Litae followeth Atae in Homer yet Chytraeus in his Historiae confessionis Augustanae as I remember professeth that God in his gracious providence made good use of both for the service of his Church and propagation of the Gospell in these latter dayes And I well observe
of his will but according to a lawe which is this whosoever believeth not shall be damned And albeit God made that lawe according to the mere pleasure of his will yet no wise man will say that God denyes glory and inflicts damnation on men according to the mere pleasure of his will the case being cleere that God denyes the one and inflâ—cts the other merely for their sinnes who are thus dealt withall And indeede albeit men are founde aequall in their moralitie when God denyes the grace of faith and repentance unto some which he bestowes on others yet when he comes to deny glory and inflict damnation on men dealing otherwise with others he doth not finde all to be aequall but some he findes to have ended their dayes in the state of faith and true repentance others to have finished their dayes in sinn in infidelitie or impaenitencye And accordingly we distinguishe betweene absolute election unto salvation election unto salvation absolute absolute reprobation unto damnation and reprobation unto damnation absolute we grant absolute election unto salvation and absolute reprobation unto damnation but we deny eyther election to be unto salvation absolute or reprobation unto damnation absolute Yet there is a considerable difference betweene these for as much as finall infidelitie and impenitency are the meritorious causes of damnation but faith repentance and good workes are but the disposing causes of salvation Yet like as God inflicts not damnation but by way of punishment so he doth not bestowe salvation on any of ripe yeares but by way of reward Yet here allso is a difference for damnation is inflicted by way of punishment for the evill workes sake which are committed but salvation is not conferred by way of reward for the good workes sake which are performed but merely for Christs sake All this this Author as I sayde doth very judiciously confounde for the advantage of his cause taking no notice at all of these distinctions whether wittingly dissembling them or ignorantly not discerning them albeit the genuine condition of our Tenet rightly understood doth clearly bespeake them So that if he woulde fairely sett hâ—mselfe to the impugning of our Tenet as touching the absolutenes of Gods decree he should leave the consideration of election and reprobation as touching those things willed by them which we call salvation and damnation insist upon the consideration of election and reprobation as touching those other things willed therby which we call the giving of faith and repentance unto some and the denyall of faith and repentance unto others wherin we willingly professe that God caryeth himselfe absolutely throughout not only decreeing thâ—se according to the mere pleasure of his will without all consideration of ought in man but giving them allso unto some and denying them unto others according to the mere pleasure of his will without the consideration of ought in man Now in this point this Author is content to be silent for he findes no such harshnes imputable unto us in this Tenet of ours Neyther indeede can he stande to maynteyne his owne Tenet without plunging himselfe into manifest Pelagianisme For if God doth not give faith repentance unto men according to the mere pleasure of his will but upon consideration of somewhat founde in man then grace shall be given according unto workes which was condemned in the Synod of Palestine above 1200. yeares agoe all along impugned by the orthodoxe in opposition to the Pelagians and Semipelagians But I am willing to proceede further with this Author and to proove that God shoulde not be unjust though he inflict torment upon a creature though never so innocent For consider shall it not be lawfull with God to doe what he will with his creature Hath not man power to doe what he will with the workmanship of his owne handes And shall this power be denyed unto God How did he afflict his most holy and innocent Sonne only to make his soule an offering for the sins of others And what power hath God given us over inferior creatures that are not capable of sinne are capable of payne enough through diseases and through our imployment of them to doe us their faithfull services we put them to death after such a manner as wherby they may proove beneficiall unto us eyther for food or physicke neyther doe we offende God in this though some kindes of death proove more paynfull unto them yet so long as hereby they proove more usefull unto us we doe not transgresse And now adayes all sides confesse that it is in the power of God to annihilate the holiest Angell in heaven and that in the execution herof he shoulde execute no other then a lawfull power And who had not rather be content to suffer a continuall payne so it be tolerable then to dye much more then to have both body soule turned into nothing When the old world was drowned how many thousands of infants perished in that deluge choaked in the waters which were guiltie of no other sinne then what they sinned in our common Father Adam So in the destruction of Sodom and Gommorrha by fire how many Infants were burnt to ashes some in their mothers wombe some hanging on their mothers breasts when the earth opened and swallowed up the congregation of Dathan and Abâ—ram their litle ones were swallowed up together with their rebellious parents and shall we say that God was unjust in the execution of these and such like judgments Yet Medina professeth that God as Lord of life and death hath power to inflict any payne on any creature be he never so innocent and this he delivers ex concordi omnium Theologorum Sententia And indeed no reason can define those boundes limits of payne and sorrowe eyther as touching intension or duration within which in the execution of payne God must consist beyond which he cannot proceede incolumi justitia And will thâ—s Author deny that by the sinne of one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne hath spread it selfe over all even over those that did not sinne after the similitude of Adams transgression that is over Infants Is this the fruite of God his making us after his owne image that herupon we shoulde circumscribe and lâ—mit the execution of his power over us in comparison with others and that only by rules devised by fleshe and blood And if he doth execute no other then a lawfull power can he be justly censured of crueltie But seing he ordeynes no man to damnation but for sinne and that to the manifestation of his justice which is his glory is he lesse good or wise or just in this The scripture playnely teacheth us that God made all thinges for himselfe even the wicked against the day of evill and shall we suspende our judgements as touching our adherence unto this divine and sacred truth untill such time as we have made triall how this doctrine will relish with infidells What
then of the great seeing that you my Pastor and Comforter will not that the promises of salvation in Christ are made vniversally vnto all and that those places of Scripture which seeme generall according to your opinion are to be restreyned onely to the vniversalitie of the elect And that in all the rest of Holy Scripture there is no more speciall promise nor mention made of my self in particular who also besides the Holy Scripture have no testimony whether of Angell or Prophet to assure me thereof When our Saviour sayd unto his Apostles One of you shall betray me Although this concerned but one of them yet were they all exceedingly troubled therewith So then were there but a small number of Reprobates for whom as you sayd Christ dyed not yet should I have just reason to feare or thinke that I were one of them but much rather seeing their number is so great Consid. Now we are to proceed to tâ—e third Act of this Authors Comedy and the severall scenes thereof We have considered how well he had playde the part of an Infidell refusing to be converted by us as also of a bad living Christian refusing to be reformed at our hands Now we are to consider how well he performs the part of an afflicted Christian refusing all consolation that we can minister unto him I finde he hath a good witt and Proteus like can transforme himself into the likenesse of any condition and can act more parts then many In this last personation of his he is well neere as large as in both the former which whether it proceedes from greater confidence of his cause in this particular than in the former and that makes his witt to exuberate the more or that he meetes with more difficulties in this passage then in the former and therfore is put to the more paynes in Mastering them I knowe not He feignes us in his introduction unto this perhaps able to acquitt our selves farre better in undergoing the office of a comforter but the fictions of poeticall and comicall witts are nothing to be regarded as of any force to discover unto us their true meaninge As for us we neyther take upon us to convert or reforme or comfort any but only to minister a word of comfort to a weary soule a word of terrour to humble a debaucht Christian and a word of conversion unto an Infidell we leave it unto God and pray unto him by the powerfull operation of his Spirit to strike the stroke in any mans conversion reformation consolation Neyther is our doctrine of predestination and reprobation that word which we minister eyther for the conversion of the one or for the reformation of the other or for the consolation of the third but the terrors of the lawe we make use of for mans humiliation therby to praepare him for the grace of the Gospell and being humbled the gracious promises of the Gospell we make use of to rayse him by bringing him to faith in Christ then we instruct him in the dueties of Christianitie exhorting him to walke answerably to his profession and if he fayle herof we sett the wrath of God before him and shewe him how it had bene better for him he had never knowne the way of righteousnes then after he have knowne it to depart from the holy commandement given unto him Or if in the course of Christianitie he walkes uncomfortably according as we shall finde the cause of his disconsolate condition we will endeavour to fitt our consolations thereunto If affliction be the cause we will represent unto him how that this is the common condition of Christians and that through manifold temtations we must enter into the Kingdom of God that God sheweth hereby that he receaves us for his owne Children and not as bastards If conscience of sinne and of walking litle answearable to our profession we will represent unto him how that if we judge our selves we shall not be judged of the Lord that griefe for this doth argue a desire of the contrary and that God accepteth the will for the deede and hath promised that if we confesse our sinnes he is faithfull and just he will forgive them If weakenes of faith be the cause of disquietnes without any farther cause we will represent unto him how Gods gracious course is not to breake the bruised reede nor to quenche the smoaking flaxe and stirre him up to pray unto God to encrease his faith or to helpe his unbeliefe That this disquietnes doth manifestly argue a desire to believe and God hath promised to fulfill the desire of them that feare him If he hath atteyned to faith and holines we can assure him of his election by our doctrine which the Arminians doctrine cannot If he hath neyther yet there is no cause of desperation forasmuchas his condition is no worse then Saulâ— was before his callinge yen and the holyest servant of God God calls some at the first houre of the day some not till the last Nothing but finall impenitencie or the sinne against the holy Ghost is an assurance of reprobation But let us proceede along with this Authors discourse to examine it as we goe This Author hath but one ground of consolation I have lately had to deale with another of his Spirit that makes three grounds of consolation to witt the universalitie of Gods love the universalitie of Christs death the universalitie of the covenant of grace By which it is manifest that he makes a Christian capable of no better consolation then a Turke or Saracen is capable an elect then a reprobate And if in all three he thrives no better in his course of consolation what shall we thinke of this Authors successe in the worke of consolation who insists but upon one of those three Yet I commend him for being sensible of the unseasonablenes of his consolation had he rested as the other doth only in this that Christ having by his death and passion satisfied the justice of his Father he obteyned reconciliation for all mankind But this Author caryeth not himselfe so covertly but addes that this reconciliation is appliable to all those who acknowledging the infinitenes of the benefite doe therupon embrace the Author of it with a true and lively faith wherby it is manifest that in this Authors judgment consolation arising from the death and passion of Christ is appliable to none and consequently none are capable of it but such as believe in Christ which he calls the embracing of the Author of the benefite with a true lively faith Now we willingly confesse that we cannot finde any other foundation wherby to consolate and assure any afflicted soule against the terrors of Gods justice the condemnation of the lawe and accusation of his owne conscience But wheras he saith that the afflicted can never make this true foundation of Gods word agree with the second article of the Synod of Dort which he calleth false foundations but prooves it not
the act another speciall as touching the manner of performing it Lastly as touching the manner how all things shall come to passe by vertue of Gods decree this Author lurkes purposely under a miserable confusion which we cleere thus All things come to passe we say by Gods decree whether they are such things as come to passe necessarily by second causes working necessarily Or such as come to passe contingently by second causes working contingently and freely And accordingly upon supposition of Gods decree we say it is necessary that such things as God hath decreed shall com to passe but how Not necessarily allwayes but eyther necessarily or contingently and freely according to the condition of second causes some of them onely working necessarily but others working contingently freely All this this Author most judiciously confoundes as whose ende is to serve his owne turne and the advantage of his owne cause but not the cause of God in the sincere and faithfull investigation of his truth As in the very next sentence he manifesteth himself deep in this confusion as when he saith That the first cause doth in such manner moove and direct the second among which is the will of man that they cannot otherwise stirre then they are stirred For here he confoundes the different manner of Gods mooving and directing second causes as if there were no difference herin wheras indeede there is a very vast difference For wheras of second causes some worke necessarily some contingently God mooves them all not after one manner but differently that is agreably to their different conditions Second causes working necessarily he mooves and directs to worke necessarily in such sort as they cannot otherwise stirre then they are stirred but as for second causes working contingently and freely he mooves and directs them to worke accordingly that is contingently and freely to witt so as they have power eyther to suspende their operation which is their libertie quoad exercitium or to produce another operation which is their libertie quoad specificationem Thus he mooved Cyrus to builde his cittie and lett goe his captives as he had foretolde long before thus he mooved Iosiah to burne the prophets bones upon the altar which was foretold in the dayes of Ieroboam many hundred yeares before and no sober man makes doubt but that these workes of theirs though predetermined by God yet were performed as freely by them as any other workes of theirs In like manner he mooved the souldiers to absteyne from breaking of Christs bones prophecyed of about a thousand yeares before and the bordering nations to forbeare to invade the land of Israel when all the males came up thrise in the yeare before the Lord in Ierusalem according to the promise made unto them Exod. 34.24 I will cast out the nations before thee enlarge thy coasts so that no man shall desire thy land when thou shalt come up to appeare before the Lord thy God thrisâ— in the yeare Yet who doubts but they did as freely forbeare this as ought els and that the souldiours as freely absteyned from breaking Christs bones as they did freely breake the bones of them who were crucified with him But these Lucifugae delight in confusion like owles that are in love with darkenes that is their best time for prey In that which followes I confesse he deales clearly saying that though a man be given to sinne yet in case he knowes God would have it so by his secret will and that God hath predestinated him therunto this is a comfort unto him and truly I doe not envy him such a comfort and I see no reason but in the midst of the torments of hell it shoulde be likewise a comfort unto him that God did predestinate him therunto by his secret will Only he is pleased to speake in his owne phrase when he talkes of predestinating unto sinne Of predestinating unto damnation the Ancients spake acknowledging such a predestination But they acknowledged no predestinating unto sinne for as much as they tooke predestination to be only of those things which were wrought by God not of sinnes which are only permitted by God Yet these even as foule sinnes as were committed Herod and Pilate together with the Gentiles and people of Israel when they were gathered together against the holy Sonne of God are in the mouthes of the Apostles confessed to have bene foredetermined by the hand and counsel of God which wee understand thus God did fore-determine they should come to passe by his permission as touching the sinfulnes of them Now as for the Spirit of this Author how well it suiteth with the Spirit of Gods Saints we may easily judge by the word of God For when they doe expostulate with God in this manner Lord why hast thou caused us to erre from thy ways and hardned our hearts against thy feare it seemes apparantly that they tooke no comfort at all in this that God hardned their hearts against his feare and caused them to erre from his wayes And when the Lord revealed unto Moses that he would harden Pharaohs heart wherupon he should not let Israel goe for a long time I never perceaved that herby any comfortable condition was denoted that shoulde be unto Pharao in case he had known so much It seemes allso S. Paul tooke no notice of any such comfortable condition when having taught that God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth he bringâ—s in one herupon expostulating thus why then doth he yet complayne For who hath resisted his will Neyther doth the Apostle take any such course to pacifie him as by representing any coÌ„fortable condition redounding unto him hereby namely in as much as God it is who hath hardned him unto disobedience But the course he takes to stop his mouth is of another nature thus O man who art thou that disputest with God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lumpe to make one a vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour And whatsoever a debaucht Christian may be feigned to conceave for mine owne part and so I thinke I may be bold to say of every one of our profession whose hearts God hath seasoned with his feare I may be bolde to professe a truth that albeit I take notice of Gods hand sometimes hardening me against his feare yet God knowes I take no comfort in it but rather in this that God knowes how to worke it for my good according to that of Austin Audeo dicere vtile est superbis in aliquod apertum manisestumque cadere peccatuÌ„ c. when I find that my sinnes doe not make a finall or a totall separation betweene my soule God this may well tende to the corrobaration of my faith and persuade my soule that nothing shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Iesus our
one hayre of his head he might well prescribe the time and houre of his conversion But seeing it is Gods worke alone to circumcise our heartes Deut. 30.6 to take away the stony heart and give us an heart of flesh and put his owne spirit within us Ezech. 36 27. to quicken us when we are dead in trespasses and sinnes Eph. 2.15 Surely it belongs to God alone to prescribe the time and houre when a man shall be converted And accordingly our Saviour gives us to understand that some are called at the first houre of the day some at the third some not untill the last And the Apostle exhorts Timothy in effect by his meeke cariage to wayte when God will give them repentance that are without that so they may acknowledge his truth and come out of the snare of the devill by whom they are led captive to doe his will 2. Tim. 2. last And albeit men are living as beasts why should they be thought to have any more power to rayse themselves or quicken themselves unto life spirituall then a dead man hath to quicken himself to life naturall Now that men are dead in sinne the scripture teacheth evidently and that the worke of conversion is called regeneration but the Scriptures are a strange Language to these Arminians They are diserti lingua sua And they discourse amongst Christians as if they should discourse among Cannibals Yet there is a difference betweene him that is dead naturally and him that is dead spiritually For he that is dead naturally can performe no naturall action at all but he that is dead only spiritually is able enough to perform any action naturall And some naturall actions are required without which a man cannot be converted As for Example it is requisite a man should be acquainted with Gods word which alone is the ordinary means whereby the Spirit workes in mans conversion Now it is in the power of man to heare the word And albeit he cannot hearken unto it in a gracious manner pleasing unto God yet shall not that hinder the efficacy of Gods word if God be pleased to shew mercy on him No though he comes to the hearing of it with a wicked minde As they that came to take Christ Iohn 7. yet when they heard him were taken by him and returned without him saying Never man spake as this man speaketh So is it in the power of a man to reade the word Now suppose he exercise this power and that with a minde averse from it yet may this word proove a word of power to the changing of his heart As Vergetius tooke Melanthons writings to reade with a purpose to confute them yet in the reading himself was confuted by them and this was a meanes of hâ—s conversion from Popery to the Protestant confession This Author discourseth in such sort as if the power of God to quicken a man though 4 dayes dead and stinking in the grave as Lazarus were taken up in his mouth in scorne For such is the manner and strengâ—h of his discourse in the most hungry fashion that ever I thinke proceeded from a reasonable man Our Saviour hath given us to understand that some are not called till the last houre we have an example of it in the thiefe upon the crosse If God hath not giveÌ„ him as yet the grace to cry Abba Father that Spirit of adoption requiring a spirit of bondage to precede it Rom. 8.15 Yet this houre and that by our admoniâ—ion and conviction of his sinnes God may humble him and make him feare and thereby prepare him to the Spirit of adoption For his word is as a fire as an hammat that breaketh the bones the Infidell findes this by good experience when hearing one prophecy he is rebuked of all judged of all the thoughts of his heart are made manifest and he falls downe on his face and confesseth thaâ— God is in his ministers of a truth 1. Cor. 14.24 The Iewes did finde this power of the word when hearing Peter discoursing how God made him both Lord and Christ whom they had crucified they were pricked in their hearts and sayd Men and Bretheren what shall we doe Act. 2. When in the course of his histrionicall fictions he feignes his Factor not daring to endeavour to doe well He supposeth and insinuateth that he would endeavour it but dares not for his hatred to the Arminian doctrine which is nothing answerable to our doctrine who deny that there is any such will in a carnall man We say the maine reformation of man consists in the change of the will from evill to good we know that God accepteth the will for the deede And the Saints of God commend themselves in this manner unto God We that desire to feare thy name Nehem. 1. And the desire of our hearts is towards thy name Esa. 26. And we desire to live honestly Heb. 13. And Austin mainteynes as I remember that the Saints of God no otherwise fullfill the Law of God then desiderio conatu And albeit this Author at pleasure feigneth his prolocutor to embrace our Tenets yet if he be but a carnall Christian he cannot embrace them or any doctrine of faith Fide vera infusa but onely fide acquisita Yet againe it is in the power of any man not onely to desire and endeavour to doe well but also to doe indeed quoad exteriorem vitae emendationem All the morall vertues as they were found in Heathen men so are they atteynable by a naturall man For even Heathens were famous and renowned some of them not onely for their good rules but for their vertuous practise of moralitie which yet nothing hindered Austin from passing his censure upon their best actions professing them to be no better then splendida peccata and for a rule of direction to judge aright herein he tells us non officijs sed finibus discernendas esse virtutes And therefore there is no cause of so superficiary a conceyte forged in this Authors braines as if endeavours to such moralitie should any way obscure the prerogative of Gods grace as only effectuall to the working of that which is pleasing in the sight of God Such moralitie shall nothing at all commend the will for any goodnesse in the sight of God any more thâ—n Socrates or Plato or Aristides their moralitie did though their damnation shal be farre lesse then the damnation of such who among the Heathens have bene given to a debaucht life and conversation Good motions undoubtedly God can rayse by his Spirit in the heart of the most wicked in the Church of God but like as the devills suggestions are not our fault if we resist them so such good motions of God doe nothing commend us in the sight of God if we doe not give way unto them but rather one day rise up in judgment against us to our greater and more inexcusable condemnation But that a carnall man is here brought-in conceyted
The Doctrine of the SYNOD OF DORT And ARLES reduced to the practise With a consideration thereof and representation with what sobriety it proceeds I devide This discourse into two parts 1. Preface 2. Treatise 1. The preface likewise hath two parts 1. A rule of Tryall to wit by reference to practise in 3 cases 1. The converting of a stranger 2. The correcting of a leud Christian. 3. The comforting of the afflicted 2. The doctrine to bet tryed 2. The treatise is the tryall it self of the former doctrine according unto the former rule accordingly divides it self into 3 parts and ech of them I devide into several sections SEing the doctrine of the Gospell tyeth not the disciples unto bare speculation and mere knowledge of the history but allso bindeth them to the practise aedification of their neâ—ghbours every man will say that the use therof consisteth principally in these 3 things which every Christian but more especially a faithfull Pastor ought to procure so farre forth as in him lieth where The 1. Is the conversion of a stranger to the faith 2. The amendment of a bad-living Christian. 3. The consolation of the sick or otherwise afflicted 2. If then that doctrine established and canonized in the two Synods the one held at Doâ—t in Holland 1618. 1619. the other at Arles in Cevenes in France in 1620. cannot serve to any of these 3. endes nay if they are directly contrary therunto no Christian can doubt but that it is quite different from the doctrine of the holy Scripture which is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for reproofe for correction for iâ—struction in righteousnes 2. Tim. 3.16 What this Author is I knowe not but by conjecture he seems by certeyne passages mentioned in this discourse more naturally to speake French then Englishe Neythâ—r can I well tell in what â—aÌ„ke to place him of the three here meÌ„tioned for whose aedâ—fication principally he pretendes the doctrine of the Gospell to be usefull For first he seemes not to be a stranger vnto Christian faith for as much as here at the first he mentioneth a passage out of 2 Tim. 3.16 concerninge the profitablenes of holy scripture though thencefoorth he quotes not one place of scripture throughout no nor a stranger to Calvins doctrine for he quotes one passage allso out of him not one more throughout as I remember out of any author ancient or modern But he takes libertie to cry out upon a prodigious Labyrinth of Divinitye belike of those who desire to mould their faith in conformitie to the word of God in the first place and then also to take notice of what hath bene the most receaved doctrine of the Church of God in the severall ages therof And to take such a course in this authors judgment belike is for a man to cast himselfe into a Labyrinthe or maze I confesse it is a sweete thinge to wanton wits coelo liberiore frui And it may be the nature of man repines more agaâ—nst limits of faith then against limits of life and conversation Yet Adam found more roomâ— when he was cast out of Paradise then within but his condition I suppose was nothing more comfortable for that Neyther is it likely this Author is of the ranke of bad-living Christians for it is not their course to trouble their braynes about points of faithe well they may rayle against religion but they doe not use to dispute divinitie Neyther doth he seeme to stand in neede of a physician he seemes rather to feele the pulses of others and to professe out of deepe judgment the dangerous condition wherin others are through errour of faithe in tender points and in this censure of his he caryeth himselfe like a very confident divine all alonge whence it followeth that the doctrine of the Gospell is not so principally usefull for the aedification of such as himselfe For if it were I see no reason why such a condition shoulde be omitted for I praesume he will not say that every doctrine of the Gospell shoulde be alike usefull to all conditions of men There is good use to be made of terrors good use to be made of comforts But comforts are not fitt to terrifie nor can terrors be of use for consolation And truly our Church of England in her articles of religion artic 17 teacheth us that the godly consideration of Predestination our election in Christ is full of sweet pleasant vnspeakeable coÌ„forts to godly persons such as feele in theÌ„selves the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the works of the fleshe their earthly members and drawing up their minde to high and Heavenly thinges As well because it doth greatly establish confirme their faith of aeternall salvation to be enjoyed through Christ as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God But that for curious carnall persoÌ„s lacking the Spirite of Christ to have continually before their eyes the sentence of Gods praedestination is a most dangerous downe fall wherby â—he divill doth thrust them into desperation or into â—â—chlesnes of most vncleane living no lesse perilous then desperation And I râ—member to have read in the History of the Councell of Trent that the first opinion there mentioned concerning praedestination whith was the opinion of the Swinglians as there it is reported as it is mysticall hidden keeping the minde humble and relying on God without confidence in it selfe knowing the deformitie of of sinne and the excellency of divine grace which vndoubtedly are excellent uses for aedification in an eminent dâ—gree so the second opinion contrary to the former was plausible and popular cherishing humane praesumption and making a great shewe it pleased more the preaching fryars then the vnderstanding Divines And the courtiours thought it pâ—obable as consonant to politâ—que reason â—t was maynteyned by the Bishop of Biâ—onâ—o and the Bishop of Salpi shewed himselfe very partiall The defenders of this vsing humane reasons praevayled against the others but comming to the testimonies of scripture they were manyfestly overcome But to returne I had thought the written word of God had principally concerned believers and tended to the aedification of the body of Christ according to that we reade Eph. 4.11 12. that Christ gave some to be Apostles and some Prophets some Evangelists and som Pastors and Teachers now observe the ende of their ministery in the wordes followinge for the â—epayring of the Saints for the worke of the ministery and for the aedification of the body of Christ. As for Bad living Christians they have no delight in Gods word at all the ministery of the word is but a vexation vnto such and Gods ministers are accoumpted by such as Elias was no better then troublers of Israel and why But because they can prophecy no good vnto such but evil And as for the sicke though weak in body yet if not weak in faith we can affoord them abundance of