for them is either eternall happinesse or eternall miserie I speake onely of the former the act of Gods predestination transmitting men to everlasting happinesse and in this restrained sense it differs not at all from election and we may use them as Synonyma termes of the same importance though by some affirming that God predestinateth them to faith whom he hath chosen they seeme to be distinguished as the decrees of the end and the meanes conducing thereunto whereof the first is Election intending the end and then takes place Predestination providing the meanes but this exact distinction appeareth not directly in the Scripture This Election the word of God proposeth unto us as the gracious immutable decree of Almightie God whereby before the foundation of the world out of his owne good pleasure he chose certaine men determining to free them from sinne and miserie to bestow upon them grace and faith to give them unto Christ to bring them to everlasting blessednesse for the praise of his glorious grace or as it is expressed in our Church Articles Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the foundations of the world were laid he hath constantly decreed by his counsell secret to us to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankinde and to bring them by Christ unto everlasting salvation as vessels made unto honour wherefore they who are endued with so excellent a benefit of God be called according to Gods purpose c. Now to avoid prolixitie I will annex onely such annotations as may cleere the sense and confirme the truth of the Article by the Scriptures and shew briefly how it is overthrowne by the Arminians in every particular thereof First the Article consonantly to the Scripture affirmeth that it is an eternall decree made before the foundations of the world were laid so that by it we must needs be chosen before we are borne before we have done either good or evill the words of the Article are cleere and so also is the Scripture He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world Ephes Chap. 1. vers 4. The children being not yet borne before they had done either good or evill it was said c. Rom. 9. 11. We are called with an holy calling not according to our workes but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9. Now from hence it would undoubtedly follow that no good thing in us can be the cause of our election for every cause must in order praecede its effect but all things whereof we by any meanes are partakers in as much as they are ours are temporarie and so cannot be the cause of that which is eternall things with that qualification must have reference to the sole will and good pleasure of God which inference would breake the necke of the Arminian election wherefore to prevent such a fatall ruine they deny the principle to wit that election is eternall So the Remonstrants in their Apologie Compleate election regardeth none but him that is dying for this peremptorie election decreeth the whole accomplishment and consummation of salvation and therefore requireth in the obiect the finished course of faith and obedience saith Grevinchovius which is to make Gods election nothing but an act of his justice approving our obedience and such an act as is incident to any weake man who knowes not what will happen in the next houre that is yet for to come and is this post-destination that which is proposed to us in the Scripture as the unsearchable fountaine of all Gods love towards us in Christ yea say they we acknowledge no other predestination to be revealed in the Gospel besides that whereby God decreeth to save them who should persevere in faith that is Gods determination concerning their salvation is pendulous untill he finde by experience that they will persevere in obedience But I wonder why seeing election is confessedly one of the greatest expressions of Gods infinite goodnesse love and mercy towards us if it follow our obedience we have it not like all other blessings and mercies promised unto us is it because such propositions as these beleeve Peter and continue in the faith unto the end and I will choose thee before the foundation of the world are fitter for the writings of the Arminians then the word of God neither will we be their rivals in such an election as from whence no fruit no effect no consolation be derived to any mortall man whilest he lives in this world Secondly the Article affirmeth that it is constant that is one immutable decree agreeably also to the Scriptures teaching but one purpose but one fore-knowledge one good pleasure one decree of God concerning the infallible ordination of his elect unto glory although of this decree there may be said to be two acts one concerning the means the other concerning the end but both knit up in the immutabilitie of Gods will Heb. 6. 17. The foundation of God standeth sure having this seale God knoweth who are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. His gifts and calling are without recalling not be repented of Rom. 11. 29. now what say our Arminians to this why a whole multitude of new notions and termes have they invented to obscure the doctrine Election say they is either Legall or Evangelicall generall or particular complete or incomplete revocable or irrevocable peremptory or not peremptory with I know not how many more distinctions of one single eternall act of Almightie God whereof there is neither volanec vestigium signe or token in the whole Bible or any approved Author and to these quavering divisions they accommodate their doctrine or rather they purposely invented them to make their errours unintelligible yet something agreeably thus they dictate There is a complete election belonging to none but those that are dying and there is another incomplete common to all that beleeve as the good things of salvation are incomplete which are continued whilest faith is continued and revoked when that is denied so election is complete in this life and revocable againe there are say they in their confession three orders of beleevers and repenters in the Scripture whereof some are beginners others having continued for a time and some perseverants the two first orders are chosen vere truly but not absolute prorsus absolutely but only for a time so long as they will remaine as they are the third are chosen finally and peremptorily for this act of God is either continued or interrupted according as we fulfill the condition but whence learned the Arminians this doctrine not one word of it from the word of truth no mention there of any such desultory election no speech of faith but such as is consequent to the one eternall irrevocable decree of predestination they beleeved who were ordained to eternall life Acts 13. 48.
his life for his friends for his sheepe for them that were given him of his Father but now it should seeme he was ordained to be a King when it was altogether uncertaine whether he should ever have any subjects to be a head without a body or to such a Church whose collection and continuance depends wholly and solely on the will of men These are doctrines that I beleeve searchers of the Scripture had scarse ever been acquainted withall had they not lighted on such Expositors as teach that the only cause why God loveth or chooseth any person is because the honesty faith and pietie wherewith according to Gods command and his own dutie he is endued are acceptable to God which though we grant it true of Gods consequent or approving love yet surely there is a divine love wherewith he looks upon us otherwise when he gives us unto Christ else either our giving unto Christ is not out of love or we are pious just and faithfull before we come unto him that is we have no need of him at all against either way though we may blot these testimonies out of our hearts yet they will stand still recorded in holy Scripture viz. that God so loved us when we were his enemies Rom. 5. 8. sinners vers 10. of no strength that he sent his only begotten Sonne to die that we should not perish but have life everlasting Ioh. 3. 16. but of this enough Fourthly Another thing that the Article asserteth according to the Scripture is that there is no other cause of our election but Gods own counsell it recounteth no motives in us nothing impelling the will of God to choose some out of mankinde rejecting others but his own decree that is his absolute will and good pleasure so that as there is no cause in any thing without himselfe why he would create the world or elect any at all for he doth all these things for himselfe for the praise of his own glory so there is no cause in singular elected persons why God should choose them rather then others he looked upon all mankinde in the same condition vested with the same qualifications or rather without any at all for it is the children not yet borne before they do either good or evill that are chosen or reiected his free grace embracing the one and passing over the other yet here we must observe that although God freely without any desert of theirs chooseth some men to be partakers both of the end and the means yet he bestoweth faith or the means on none but for the merit of Christ neither doe any attaine the end or salvation but by their own faith through that righteousnesse of his the free grace of God notwithstanding choosing Iacob when Esau is rejected the only antecedent cause of any difference betweene the elect and reprobates remaineth firme and unshaken and surely unlesse men were resolved to trust wholly to their own bottomes to take nothing gratis at the hands of God they would not endeavour to rob him of his glory of having mercy on whom he will have mercy of loving us without our desert before the world began if we must claime an interest in obtaining the temporall acts of his favour by our own indeavours yet oh let us grant him the glory of being good unto us only for his own sake when we were in his hand as the clay in the hand of the potter what made this piece of clay fit for comely service and not a vessell wherein there is no pleasure but the power and will of the framer it is enough yea too much for them to repine and say why hast thou made us thus who are vessels fitted for wratth let not them who are prepared for honour exalt themselves against him and sacrifice to their own nets as the sole providers of their glory but so it is humane vilenesse will still be declaring it selfe by claiming a worth no way due unto it of a furtherance of which claim if the Arminians be not guiltie let the following declaration of their opinions in this particular determine We confesse say they roundly that faith in the consideration of God choosing us unto salvation doth precede and not follow as a fruit of election so that whereas Christians have hitherto beleeved that God bestoweth faith on them that are chosen it seemes now it is no such matter but that those whom God findeth to beleeve upon the stocke of their own abilities he afterwards chooseth Neither is faith in their judgement only required as a necessary condition in him that is to be chosen but as a cause moving the will of God to elect him that hath it as the will of the Iudge is moved to bestow a reward on him who according to the law hath deserved it as Grevinchovius speaks which words of his indeed Corvinus strives to temper but all in vaine though he wrest them contrary to the intention of the Author for with him agree all his fellows the one only absolute cause of election is not the will of God but the respect of our obedience saith Episcopius At first they required nothing but faith and that as a condition not as a cause then perseverance in faith which at length they began to call obedience comprehending all our dutie to the precepts of Christ for the cause say they of this love to any person is the righteousnesse faith and pietie wherewith he is endued which being all the good works of a Christian they in effect affirme a man to be chosen for them that our good works are the cause of election which whither it were ever so grossely taught either by Pelagians or Papists I something doubt And here observe that this doth not thwart my former assertion where I shewed that they deny the election of any particular persons which here they seeme to grant upon a fore-sight of their faith and good workes for there is not any one person as such a person notwithstanding all this that in their judgement is in this life elected but onely as he is considered with those qualifications of which he may at any time divest himselfe and so become againe to be no more elected then Iudas The summe of their Doctrine in this particular is laid by one of ours in a Tract intituled Gods love to mankinde c. a Booke full of palpable ignorance grosse sophistrie and abominable blasphemie whose Authour seemes to have proposed nothing unto himselfe but to rake all the dunghils of a few the most invective Arminians and to collect the most filthy scumme and pollution of their railings to cast upon the truth of God and under I know not what selfe-coyned pretences belch out odious blasphemies against his holy name The summe saith he of all these speeches he cited to his purpose is That there is no decree of saving men but what is built on Gods fore-knowledge of the good actions of men No decree no
then in respect of his purpose to save them by Christ some are said to be his thine they were and thou gavest them unto me Iohn 17. 6. they were his before they came unto Christ by faith the sheepe of Christ before they are called for he calleth his sheepe by name Iohn 10. 30. before they come into the flocke or congregation for other sheepe saith he I have which are not of this fold which must also be gathered Ioh. 10. 16. to be beleved of God before they love him herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us 1 Ioh. 4. 10. Now all this must be with reference to Gods purpose of bringing them unto Christ and by him unto glory which we see goeth before all their faith and obedience Thirdly Election is an eternall act of Gods will he hath chosen us before the foundation of the world Ephes 1. 4. consummated antecedently to all dutie of ours Rom. 9. 11. now every cause must in order of nature praecede its effect nothing hath an activitie in causing before it hath a being operation in every kinde is a second act flowing from the essence of a thing which is the first but all our graces and workes our faith obedience pietie and charitie are all temporall of yesterday the same standing with our selves and no longer and therefore cannot be the cause of no nor so much as a condition necessarily required for the accomplishment of an eternall act of God irrevocably established before we are Fourthly If Predestination be for faith foreseene these three things with divers such absurdities will necessarily follow first that election is not of him that calleth as the Apostle speakes Rom. 9. 11. that is of the good pleasure of God who calleth us with an holy calling but of him that is called for depending on faith it must be his whose faith is that doth beleeve secondly God cannot have mercy on whom he will have mercy for the very purpose of it is thus tied to the qualities of faith and obedience so that he must have mercy only on beleevers antecedently to his decree which thirdly hinders him from being an absolute free agent and doing of what he will with his owne of having such a power over us as the Potter hath over his Clay for he findes us of different matter one clay another gold when he comes to appoint us to different uses and ends Fifthly God sees no saith no obedience perseverance nothing but sinne and wickednesse in any man but what himselfe intendeth graciously and freely to bestow upon them for faith is not of our selves it is the gift of God it is the worke of God that we doe beleeve Iohn 6. 29. he blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in Christ Ephes 1. Now all these gifts and graces God bestoweth onely upon those whom he hath antecedently ordained to everlasting life For the election obtained it and the rest were blinded Rom. 11. 7. God added to his Church daily those that should be saved Acts 2. 47. therefore surely God chooseth us not because he foreseeth those things in us seeing he bestoweth those graces because he hath chosen us Wherefore saith Austine doth Christ say you have not chosen me but I have chosen you but because they did not chuse him that he should chuse them but he chose them that they might chuse him We choose Christ by faith God chooseth us by his decree of election the question is whether we choose him because he hath chosen us or he chooseth us because we have chosen him and so indeed choose our selves we affirme the former and that because our choyce of him is a gift he himselfe bestoweth onely on them whom he hath chosen Sixthly and principally the effects of election infallibly following it cannot be the causes of election certainly praeceding it this is evident for nothing can be the cause and the effect of the same thing before and after it selfe but all our faith our obedience repentance good workes are the effects of election flowing from it as their proper fountaine erected on it as the foundation of this spirituall building and for this the Article of our Church is evident and cleere Those saith it that are indued with this excellent benefit of God are called according to Gods purpose are iustified freely are made the sonnes of God by adoption they be made like the image of Christ they walke religiously in good workes c. Where first they are said to be partakers of this benefit of election and then by vertue thereof to be entitled to the fruition of all those graces Secondly it saith those who are endued with this benefit enioy those blessings intimating that election is the rule whereby God proceedeth in bestowing those graces restraining the objects of the temporall acts of Gods speciall favour to them onely whom his eternall decree doth embrace both these indeed are denied by the Arminians which maketh a further discovery of their Heterodoxies in this particular You say saith Arminius to Perkins that election is the rule of giving or not giving of faith and therefore election is not of the faithfull but faith of the elect but by your leave this I must deny but yet what ever it is the sophisticall heretique here denies either antecedent or conclusion he fals foule on the word of God they beleeved saith the holy Ghost who were ordained to eternall life Act. 3. 48. And the Lord added daily to his Church such as should de saved Act. 2. 47. from both which places it is evident that God bestoweth faith onely on them whom he hath praeordained eternall life but most cleerely Rom. 8. 29 30. for whom he did fore-know he also predestinated to be conformed to the Image of his Sonne moreover whom he did predestinate them also he called and whom he called them he also iustified and whom he iustified them also glorified Saint Austin interpreted this place by adding in every linke of the chaine onely those how ever the words directly import a precedency of predestination before the bestowing of other graces and also a restraint of those graces to them onely that are so predestinate Now the inference from this is not onely for the forme Logicall but for the matter also it containeth the very words of Scripture faith is of Gods elect Titus 1. 1. For the other part of the proposition that faith and obedience are the fruits of election they cannot be more peremptory in its denyall then the Scripture is plentifull in its confirmation He hath chosen us in Christ that we should be holy Ephes 1. 4. not because we were holy but that we should be so holinesse whereof faith is the root and obedience the body is that whereunto and not for which we are elected the end and the meritorious cause of any one act cannot be the same they have divers respects and require repugnant conditions againe we are predestinated unto the adoption of
Agent p. 130. l. 21. r. nor any thing In the Margin Pag. 7. h omiss grat p. 15. c datrib lib. 3 p. 24 c dele Aristot p 46. f vellet p. 47. m desiderio p. 65. m de bono perseve p. 75. k dimanet 3 p. 117. c Fest Hom. Peltium p. 134. f praecipienti p. 135. 1. Cor. ad Molin A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISME 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. I. THe soule of man by reason of the corruption of nature is not only darkened with a mist of ignorance whereby he is dis-inabled for the comprehending of divine truth but is also armed with prejudice and opposition against some parts thereof which are either most above or most contrarie to some false principles which he hath framed unto himselfe As a desire of selfe-sufficiencie was the first cause of this infirmitie so a conceit thereof is that where with he still languisheth nothing doth he more contend for then an independencie of any supreme power which might either helpe hinder or controll him in his actions This is that bitter root from whence have sprung all those heresies and wretched contentions which have troubled the Church concerning the power of man in working his owne happinesse and his exemption from the over-ruling providence of Almightie God All which wrangling disputes of carnall reason against the word of God come at last to this head whether the first and chiefest part in disposing of things in this world ought to be ascribed to God or man men for the most part have vindicated this preheminence unto themselves by exclamations that so it must be or else that God is unjust and his waies unequall never did any men postquam Christiana gens esse caepit more eagerly endeavour the erecting of this Babel then the Arminians the modern blinded Patrons of humane selfe-sufficiencie All whose innovations in the received doctrine of the reformed Churches aime at and tend to one of these two ends First to exempt themselves from Gods jurisdiction to free themselves from the supreme dominion of his all-ruling providence not to live and move in him but to have an absolute independent power in all their actions so that the event of all things wherein they have any interest might have a considerable relation to nothing but chance contingencie and their owne wils a most nefarious sacrilegious attempt to this end First they deny the eternitie and unchangeablenesse of Gods decrees for those being established they feare they should be kept within bounds from doing any thing but what his counsel hath determined should be done if the purposes of the strength of Israel be eternall and immutable their idoll Free-will must be limited their independencie prejudiced wherefore they chuse rather to affirme that his decrees are temporary and changeable yea that he doth really change them according to the severall mutations he sees in us which how a wild a conceit it is how contrary to the pure nature of God how destructive to his attributes I shall shew in the second Chapter Secondly they question the praescience or foreknowledge of God for if knowne unto God are all his workes from the beginning if he certainely foreknow all things that shall hereafter come to passe it seemes to cast an infallibilitie of event upon all their actions which encroaches upon the large territory of their new goddesse contingencie nay it would quite dethrone the Queene of heaven and induce a kinde of necessitie of our doing all and nothing but what God foreknows now that to deny this praescience is destructive to the very essence of the Deitie and plain atheisme shall be declared Chapter the third Thirdly they depose the all-governing providence of this King of Nations denying its energeticall effectuall power in turning the hearts ruling the thoughts determining the wils and disposing the actions of men by granting nothing unto it but a generall power and influence to be limited and used according to the inclination and will of every particular agent so making Almighty God a desirer that many things were otherwise then they are and an idle spectator of most things that are done in the world the falsenesse of which assertions shall be proved Chapter the fourth Fourthly they denie the irresistibilitie and uncontrolable power of Gods will affirming that oftentimes he seriously willeth and intendeth what he cannot accomplish and so is deceived of his ayme nay whereas he desireth and really intendeth to save every man it is wholly in their owne power whether he shall save any one or no otherwise their Idol Free-will should have but a poore deitie if God could how and when he would crosse and resist him in his dominion concerning this see Chapter the fifth His gradibus itur in coelum corrupted nature is still readie either nefariously with Adam to attempt to be like God or to thinke foolishly that he is altogether like unto us one of which inconveniences all men runne into who have not learned to submit their fraile wils to the Almightie will of God and captivate their understandings to the obedience of faith Secondly the second end at which the new doctrine of the Arminians aimeth is to cleere humane nature from the heavie imputation of being sinfull corrupted wise to doe evill but unable to doe good and so to vindicate unto themselves a power and abilitie of doing all that good which God can justly require to be done by them in the state wherein they are of making themselves differ from other who will not make so good use of the endowments of their natures that so the first and chiefest part in the worke of their salvation may be ascribed unto themselves a proud Luciferian endeavour to this end First they deny that doctrine of predestination whereby God is affirmed to have chosen certaine men before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and obtaine everlasting life by the merit of Christ to the praise of his glorious grace any such predestination which may be the fountaine and cause of grace or glory determining the persons according to Gods good pleasure on whom they shall be bestowed for this doctrine would make the speciall grace of God to be the sole cause of all the good that is in the elect more then the reprobates would make faith the worke and gift of God with divers other things which would shew their Idol to be nothing of no value wherefore what a corrupt heresie they have substitute into the place hereof see Chapter the sixth Secondly they denie originall sinne and its demerit which being rightly understood would easily demonstrate that notwithstanding all the labour of the Smith the Carpenter and the Painter yet their Idol is of its owne nature but an unprofitable blocke it will discover not onely the impotencie of doing good which is in our nature but shew also whence we have it see Chapter the seventh Thirdly if ye will charge our humane nature with a
not that whereby God determineth to give some unto Christ to ingraft them in him by faith and bring them by him unto glory which giveth light to that place of Arminius where he affirmeth That God loveth none precisely to eternall life but considered as iust either with Legall or Evangelicall righteousnesse Now to love one to eternall life is to destinate one to obtaine eternall life by Christ and so it is co-incident with the former assertion that our election or choosing unto grace and glory is upon the fore-sight of our good workes which containes a doctrine so contradictorie to the words and meaning of the Apostle Rom. 9. 11. condemned in so many Councels suppressed by so many Edicts and Decrees of Emperours and Governours opposed as a pestilent heresie ever since it was first hatched by so many Orthodoxe Fathers and learned Schoole men so directly contrary to the Doctrine of this Church so injurious to the grace and supreame power of Almightie God that I much wonder any one in this light of the Gospel and flourishing time of learning should be so boldly ignorant or impudent as to broach it amongst Christians to prove this to be a heresie exploded by all Orthodoxe and Catholique antiquitie were to light a candle in the Sunne for it cannot but be knowne to all and every one who ever heard or read any thing of the state of Christs Church after the rising of the Pelagian tumults To accumulate testimonies of the Ancient is quite beside my purpose I will onely adde the confession of Bellarmine a man otherwise not over-well affected to truth Predestination saith he from the fore-sight of workes cannot be maintained unlesse we should suppose something in the righteous man which should make him differ from the wicked that he doth not receive from God which truly all the Fathers with unanimous consent doe reiect but we have a more sure testimonie to which we will take heed even the holy Scripture pleading strongly for Gods free and undeserved grace First our Saviour Christ Matth. 11. 26. declaring how God revealeth the Gospel unto some which is hidden from others a speciall fruit of election resteth in his will and good pleasure as the onely cause thereof even so O Father for so it seemed good in thy sight so comforting his little flock Luk. 12. 32. he bids them feare not for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdome his good pleasure is the onely cause why his kingdome is prepared for you rather then others but is there no other reason of this discrimination No he doth it all that his purpose according to election might stand firme Rom. 9. 11. For we are predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will Ephes 1. 11. But did not this counsell of God direct him to choose us rather then others because we had something to commend us more then they No The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number then any people but because the Lord loved you Deut. 7. 7 8. He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy yea before the children were borne and had done either good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of workes but of him that calleth it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Rom. 9. 11 12. In briefe where ever there is any mention of election or predestination it is still accompanied with the purpose love or will of God his foreknowledge whereby he knoweth them that are his his free power and supreame dominion over all things of our faith obedience or any thing importing so much not one syllable no mention unlesse it be as the fruit and effect thereof it is the sole act of his free grace and good pleasure that he might make knowne the riches of his glory towards the vessels of mercy Rom. 9. 23. for this onely end hath he saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our workes but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given in Iesus Christ before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9. Even our calling is free and undeserved because flowing from that most free grace of election whereof we are partakers before we are it were needlesse to heape up more testimonies in a thing so cleere and evident when God and man stand in competition who shall be accounted the cause of an eternall good we may be sure the Scripture will passe the verdict on the part of the most high and the sentence in this case may be derived from thence by these following reasons First If finall perseverance in faith and obedience be the cause of or a condition required unto election then none can be said in this life to be elected for no man is a finall perseverer untill he be dead untill he hath finished his course and consummated the faith but certaine it is that it is spoken of some in the Scripture that they are even in this life elected few are chosen Mat. 20. 16. for the elects sake those dayes shall be shortned Matth. 24. and shall seduce if it were possible the very elect vers 24. where it is evident that election is required to make one persevere in the faith but no where is perseverance in the faith required to election yea and Peter gives us all a command that we should give all diligence to get an assurance of our election even in this life 2 Pet. 1. 10. and therefore surely it cannot be a decree presupposing consummated faith and obedience Secondly consider two things of our estate before the first temporall act of Gods free grace for grace is no grace if it be not free which is the first effect of our predestination comprehendeth us Were we better then others no in no wise both Iewes and Gentiles were all under sinne Rom. 3. 9. there is no difference for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God vers 23. being all dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephes 2. 1. Being by nature children of wrath as well as others vers 3. a farre off untill we are made nigh by the blood of Christ vers 12. we were enemies against God Rom. 5. 10. Titus 3. 3. and looke what desert there is in us with these qualifications when our vocation the first effect of our predestination as Saint Paul sheweth Rom. 8. 30. and as I shall prove hereafter separateth us from the world of unbeleevers so much there is in respect of predestination it selfe so that if we have any way deserved it it is by being sinners enemies children of wrath and dead in trespasses these are our events this is the glory whereof we ought to be ashamed But secondly when they are in the same state of actuall alienation from God yet
and reiect that preaching of the Gospell I shall not need to prove this for it is that which in direct tearmes they plead for which also they must doe if they will comply with their former principles For granting all these to have no influence upon any man but by the way of morall perswasion we must not onely grant that it may be resisted but also utterly deny that it can be obeyed We may resist it I say as having both a disability to good and repugnancie against it but for obeying it unlesse we will deny all inherent corruption and depravation of nature we cannot attribute any such sufficiency unto our selves Now concerning this weaknes of grace that it is not able to overcome the opposing power of sinfull nature one testimony of Arminius shall suffice It alwaies remaineth in the power of Free-will to reiect grace that is given and to refuse that which followeth for grace is no Almightie action of God to which Free-will cannot resist Not that I would assert in opposition to this such an operation of grace as should as it were violently overcome the will of man and force him to obedience which must needs bee prejudicial unto our libertie but onely consisting in such a sweet effectuall working as doth infallibly promote our conversion make us willing who before were unwilling and obedient who were not obedient that createth cleane hearts and reneweth right spirits within us That then which we assert in opposition to these Arminian Heterodoxies is that the effectuall grace which God useth in the great worke of our conversion by reason of its owne nature being also the instrument of and Gods intention for that purpose doth surely produce the effect intended without successefull resistance and solely without any considerable co-operation of our owne wils untill they are prepared and changed by that very grace The infallibilitie of its effect depends chiefely on the purpose of God when by any meanes he intends a mans conversion those meanes must have such an efficacie added unto them as may make them fit instruments for the accomplishment of that intention that the counsell of the Lord may prosper and his word not returne empty But the manner of its operation that it requires no humane assistance and is able to overcome all repugnance is proper to the being of such an act as wherein it doth consist Which nature and efficacie of grace in opposition to an indifferent influence of the holy Spirit a metaphoricall motion a working by the way of morall perswasion onely proposing a desireable object easie to be resisted and not effectuall unlesse it be helped by an inbred abilitie of our owne which is the Arminian grace I will briefly confirme having promised these few things First although God doth not use the wills of men in their conversion as maligne Spirits use the members of men in enthusiasmes by a violently wrested motion but sweetly and agreeably to their owne free nature yet in the first act of our conversion the will is meerely passive as a capable subject of such a worke not at all concurring co-operatively to our turning It is not I say the cause of the worke but the subject wherein it is wrought having only a passive capabilitie for the receiving of that supernaturall being which is introduced by grace The beginning of this good worke is meerely from God Phil. 1. 6. Yea faith is ascribed unto grace not by the way of conjunction with but of opposition unto our wils not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. Not that we are sufficient of our selves our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. Turne thou me O Lord and I shall be turned Secondly though the will of man conferreth nothing to the infusion of the first grace but a subjective receiving of it yet in the very first act that is wrought in and by the will it most freely co-operateth by the way of subordination with the grace of God and the more effectually it is moved by grace the more freely it worketh with it Man being converted converteth himselfe Thirdly we doe not affirme grace to be irresistible as though it came upon the will with such an over-flowing violence as to beat it downe before it and subdue it by compulsion to what it is no way inclinable but if that terme must be used it denoteth in our sense onely such an unconquerable efficacie of grace as alwaies and infallibly produceth its effect For Who is it that can withstand God Acts 11. 17. As also it may be used on the part of the will it selfe which will not resist it all that the Father gives unto Christ will come unto him Ioh. 6. 37. The operation of grace is resisted by no hard heart because it mollifies the heart it selfe It doth not so much take away a power of resisting as give a will of obeying whereby the powerfull impotencie of resistance is removed Fourthly Concerning grace it selfe it is either common or speciall common or generall grace consisteth in the externall revelation of the will of God by his word with some illumination of the mind to perceive it and correction of the affections not to much to contemne it and this in some degree or other to some more to some lesse is common to all that are called speciall grace is the grace of regeneration comprehending the former adding more spirituall acts but especially presupposing the purpose of God on which its efficacy doth chiefly depend Fifthly This saving grace whereby the Lord converteth or regenerateth a sinner translating him from death to life is either externall or internall externall consisteth in the preaching of the word c. whose operation is by the way of morall perswasion when by it we beseech our hearers in Christs stead that they would be reconciled unto God 2 Corinth 5. 20. and this in our conversion is the instrumentall organ thereof and may be said to be a sufficient cause of our regeneration in as much as no other in the same kinde is necessary it may also be resisted in sensa diviso abstracting from that consideration wherein it is looked on as the instrument of God for such an end Sixthly internall grace is by Divines distinguished into the first or preventing grace and the second following cooperating grace the first is that spirituall vitall principle that is infused into us by the holy Spirit that new creation and bestowing of new strength whereby we are made fit and able for the producing of spirituall acts to beleeve and yeeld Evangelicall obedience For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Iesus unto good workes Ephes 2. 10. By this God gives us a new heart and a new spirit he puts within us he taketh the stony hearts out of our flesh and gives us a heart of flesh he puts his spirit within us to cause us to walke in his statues Ezek. 36. 26 27. Now this first grace is not properly and formally
to do what he will then grant him to be contented to do what he may and not much repine at his hard condition certainly if but for this favour he is a debtor to the Arminians theeves give what they do not take having robbed God of his power they will yet leave him so much goodnesse as that he shall not be troubled at it though he be sometimes compelled to what he is very loath to do how doe they and their fellows the Iesuits exclaime upon poore Calvin for sometimes using the harsh word of compulsion describing the effectuall powerfull working of the providence of God in the actions of men but they can fasten the same terme on the will of God and no harme done surely he will one day plead his own cause against them but yet blame them not si violandum est ius regnandi causa violandum est it is to make themselves absolute that they thus cast off the yoke of the Almightie and that both in things concerning this life and that which is to come they are much troubled that it should be said that every one of us bring along with us into the world an unchangeable preordination of life and death eternall for such a supposall would quite overthrow the maine foundation of their heresie viz. that men can make their election voide and frustrate as they joyntly lay it down in their Apologie nay it is a dreame saith Dr. Iackson to thinke of Gods decrees concerning things to come as of acts irrevocably finished which would hinder that which Welsingius laies down for a truth to wit that the elect may become reprobates and the reprobates elect now to these particular sayings is their whole doctrine concerning the decrees of God inasmuch as they have any reference to the actions of men most exactly conformable as First their distinction of them into peremptory and not peremptory termes rather used in the citations of litigious courts then as expressions of Gods purpose in sacred Scripture is not as by them applyed compatible with the unchangeablenesse of Gods eternall purposes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 say they or temporary beleevers are elected though not peremptorily with such an act of Gods will as hath a coexistence every way commensurate both in its originall continuance and end with their fading faith which sometimes like Ionas gourd is but filia unius noctis in the morning it flourisheth in the evening it is cut down dried up and withereth a man in Christ by faith or actually beleeving which to do is as they say in every one 's own power is in their opinion the proper object of election of election I say not peremptory which is an act pendent expecting the finall perserverance and consummation of his faith and therefore immutable because man having fulfilled his course God hath no cause to change his purpose of crowning him with reward thus also as they teach a man according to his infidelitie whether present and removeable or obdurate and finall is the only object of reprobation which in the latter cause is peremptory and absolute in the former conditionall and alterable it is the qualities of faith and unbeliefe on which their election and reprobation doe attend Now let a faithfull man elected of God according to his present righteousnesse apostate totally from grace as to affirme that there is any promise of God implying his perseverance is with them to overthrow all religion and let the unbeleeving reprobate depose his incredulitie and turne himselfe unto the Lord answerable to this mutation of their conditions are the changings of the purpose of the Almightie concerning their everlasting estate againe suppose these two by alternate courses as the doctrine of Apostacie maintaineth they may should returne each to their former estate the decrees of God concerning them must againe be changed for it is injust with him either not to elect him that beleeves though it be but for an houre or not to reprobate unbeleevers now what unchangeablenesse can we affixe to these decrees which it lies it in the power of man to make as inconstant as Euripus making it beside to be possible that all the members of Christs Church whose names are written in heaven should within one houre be enrolled in the blacke book of damnation Secondly as these not-peremptory decrees are mutable so they make the peremptory decrees of God to be temporall finall impenitencie say they is the only cause and the finally unrepenting sinner is the only object of reprobation peremptory and irrevocable as the Poet thought none happy so they thinke no man to be elected or a reprobate before his death now that denomination he doth receive from the decree of God concerning his eternall estate which must necessarily then be first enacted the relation that is betweene the act of reprobation and the person reprobated importeth a coexistence of denomination when God reprobates a man he then becomes a reprobate which if it be not before he hath actually fulfilled the measure of his iniquitie and sealed it up with the talent of finall impenitencie in his death the decree of God must needs be temporall the just judge of all the world having till then suspended his determination expecting the last resolution of this changeable Proteus nay that Gods decrees concerning mens eternall estates are in their judgement temporall and not beginning untill their death is plaine from the whole course of their doctrine especially where they strive to prove that if there were any such determination God could not threaten punishments or promise rewards Who say they ean threaten punishment to him whom by a peremptory decree he will have to be free from punishment it seemes he cannot have determined to save any whom he threatens to punish if they sinne which is evident he doth all so long as they live in this world which makes God not only mutable but quite deprives him of his foreknowledge and makes the forme of his decree run thus if man will beleeve I determine he shall be saved if he will not I determine he shall be damned that is I must leave him in the meane time to doe what he will so I may meet with him in the end Thirdly they affirme no decree of Almightie God concerning men is so unalterable but that all those who are now in rest or misery might have had contrary lots that those which are damned as Pharaoh Iudas c. might have been saved and those which are saved as the blessed Virgin Poten Iohn might have been damned which must needs reflect with a strong charge of mutabilitie on Almightie God who knoweth who are his divers other instances in this nature I could produce whereby it would be further evident that these innovators in Christian religion doe overthrow the eternitie and unchangeablenesse of Gods decrees but these are sufficient to any discerning man and I will adde in the close an
together with the same ligament quo ille mortua iungebat corpora vivis wherewith the tyrant tied dead bodies to living men This strange advancement of the clay against the potter not by the way of repining and to say why hast thou made me thus but by the way of emulation I wil not be so I wil advance my self to the skie to the sides of thy throne was heretofore unknown to the more refined Paganisme as these of contingency so they with a better error made a goddesse of providence because as they faigned she helped Latona to bring forth in the I le of Delos intimating that Latona or nature though bigge and great with sundry sorts of effects could yet produce nothing without the interceding helpe of divine providence which mythologie of theirs seemes to containe a sweeter gust of divine truth then any we can expect from their towring fancies who are inclinable to beleeve that God for no other reason is said to sustaine all things but because he doth not destroy them now that their proud God-opposing errors may the better appeare according to my former method I will plainly shew what the Scripture teacheth us concerning this providence with what is agreeable to right and Christian reason not what is dictated by tumultuating affections Providence is a word which in its proper signification may seeme to comprehend all the actions of God that outwardly are of him that have any respect unto his creatures all his works that are not ad intra essentially belonging unto the Deitie now because God worketh all things according to his decree or the counsell of his will Ephes 1. 11. for whatsoever he doth now it pleased him from the beginning Psal 115. seeing also that knowne unto God are all his works from eternitie therefore three things concerning his providence are considerable 1. His decree or purpose whereby he hath disposed of all things in order and appointed them for certaine ends which he hath foreordained 2. His prescience whereby he certainly foreknoweth all things that shall come to passe 3. His temporall operation or working in time My Father worketh hitherto Ioh. 5. 17. whereby he actually executeth all his good pleasure the first and second of these have been the subject of the former Chapters the latter only now requireth our consideration This then we may conceive as an ineffable act or worke of Almightie God whereby he cherisheth sustaineth and governeth the world or all things by him created moving them agreeably to those natures which he endowed them withall in the beginning unto those ends which he hath proposed to confirme this I will first prove this position that the whol world is cared for by God and by him governed and therein all men good or bad all things in particular be they never so small and in our eyes inconsiderable secondly shew the manner how God worketh all in all things and according to the diversitie of secondary causes which he hath created whereof some are necessary some free others contingent which produce their effects nec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nec 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meerely by accident The providence of God in governing the world is plentifully made knowne unto us both by his works and by his word I will give a few instances of either sort 1. in generall that the Almightie 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and framer of this whole universe should propose unto himselfe no end in the creation of all things that he should want either power goodnesse will or wisdome to order and dispose the works of his own hands is altogether impossible 2. Take a particular instance in one concerning accident the knowledge whereof by some means or other in some degree or other hath spread it selfe throughout the world and that is that almost universall destruction of all by the flood whereby the whole world was well-nigh reduced to its primitive confusion is there nothing but chance to be seene in this was there any circumstance about it that did not show a God and his providence not to speake of those revelations whereby God foretold that he would bring such a deluge what chance fortune could collect such a small number of individuals of all sorts wherein the whole kinde might be preserved what hand guided that poor vessell from the rocks and gave it a resting place on the mountains certainly the very reading of that story Gen. 7. having for confirmation the Catholike tradition of all mankinde were enough to startle the stubborne heart of an Atheist The word of God doth not lesse fully relate it then his works doe declare it Psal 19. My Father worketh hitherto saith our Saviour Ioh. 5. 17. but did not God end his worke on the seventh day and did he not then rest from all his works Gen. 2. 2. True from his worke of creation by his omnipotence but his worke of gubernation by his providence as yet knows no end yea and divers particular things he doth besides the ordinary course only to make known that he thus worketh Ioh. 9. 3. as he hath framed all things by his wisdome so he continueth them by his providence in excellent order as is at large declared in that golden Psal 104. and this is not bounded to any particular places or things but his eyes are in every place beholding the evill and the good Prov. 15. 3. so that none can hide himselfe in secret places that he shall not see him Ierem. 23. 24. Acts 17. 24. Iob 5. 10 11. Exod. 4. 11. and all this he saith that men may know from the rising of the Sun and from the West that there is none besides him he is the Lord and there is none else he formeth the light and createth darknesse he maketh peace and createth evill he doth all these things Isaiah 45. 7. in these and innumerable like places doth the Lord declare that there is nothing which he hath made that with the good hand of his providence he doth not govern and sustaine Now this generall extent of his common providence to all doth no way hinder but that he may exercise certaine speciall acts thereof towards some in particular even by how much neerer then other things they approach unto him and are more assimilated unto his goodnesse I meane his Church here on earth and those whereof it doth consist for what nation is there so great that hath God so nigh unto them Deut. 4. 7. in the government hereof he most eminently sheweth his glory and exerciseth his power joyne here his works with his word what he hath done with what he hath promised to doe for the conservation of his Church and people and you will finde admirable issues of a more speciall providence against this he promiseth the gates of hell shall not prevaile Mat. 16. 18. amiddest of those he hath promised to remaine Matth. 18. 20. supplying them with an addition of all things necessary Matth. 6. 33. desiring that all
their care might be cast upon him who careth for them 1 Pet. 5. 7. forbidding any to touch his anoynted ones Psal 105. 15. and that because they are unto him as the apple of his eye Zach. 2. 8. now this speciall providence hath respect unto a supernaturall end to which that and that alone is to be convayed For wicked men as they are excepted from this speciall care and government so they are not exempted from the dominion of his Almightie hand he who hath created them for the day of evill Prov. 16. 4. and provided a place of their own Acts 1. 25. for them to goe unto doth not in this world suffer them to live without the verge of his all-ruling providence but by suffering and enduring their iniquities with great patience and long-suffering Rom. 9. 20. defending them oftentimes from the injuries of one another Gen. 4. 15. by granting unto them many temporall blessings Matth. 5. 45. disposing of all their works to the glory of his great name Prov. 21. 1 2. he declareth that they also live and move and have their being in him and are under the government of his providence Nay there is not the least thing in this world to which his care and knowledge doth not descend ill would it become his wisdome not to sustaine order and dispose of all things by him created but leave them to the ruine of uncertaine chance Hierome then was injurious to his providence and cast a blemish on his absolute perfection whilest he thought to have cleered his Maiestie from being defiled with the knowledge and care of the smallest reptiles and vermine every moment and St. Austine is expresse to the contrary who saith he hath disposed the severall members of the flea and gnat that hath given unto them order life and motion c. even most agreeable to holy Scriptures so Psal 104. 20 21. and 145. 15. Matth. 6. 26. He feedeth the fowles and cloatheth the grasse of the field Iob 39. 1 â— and Ionah 4. 6 7. sure it is not troublesome to God to take notice of all that he hath created did he use that great power in the production of the least of his creatures so farre beyond the united activitie of men and Angels for no end at all doubtlesse even they also must have a well disposed order for the manifestation of his glory not a sparrow falls to the ground without our Father Matth. 10. 29 30. even the haires of our head are numbred he cleatheth the lillies and grasse of the field which is to be cast into the even Luke 12. 27 28. Behold his knowledge and care of them again he used frogs and lice for the punishment of the Egyptians Exod. 8. with a gourd and a worme he exercised his servant Ionah Chap. 3. yea he cals the locusts his terrible Army and shall not God know and take care of the number of his souldiers the ordering of his dreadfull Hoast That God by his providence governeth and disposeth of all things by him created is sufficiently proved the manner how he worketh all in all how he ordereth the works of his owne hands in what this governing and disposing of his creatures doth chiefly consist comes now to be considered And here foure things are principally to be observed First the sustaining preserving and upholding of all things by his power For he upholdeth all things by the word of his power Heb. 1. 3. Secondly his working together with all things by an influence of causalitie into the agents themselves for he also hath wrought all our works in us Isaiah 26. 12. Thirdly his powerfull over-ruling of all events both necessary free and contingent and disposing of them to certaine ends for the manifestation of his glory So Ioseph tels his brethren as for you you thought evill against me but God meant it unto good to bring to passe as it is at this day to save much people alive Gen. 50. 20. Fourthly his determining and restraining second causes to such and such effects even the Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water he turneth it whither soever he will Prov. 21. 1. First his sustentation or upholding of all things is his powerfull continuing of their being naturall strength and faculties bestowed on them at their creation In him we live and move and have our being Acts 17. So that he doth neither worke all himselfe in them without any cooperation of theirs which would not only turn all things into stocks yea and take from stocks their own proper nature but also is contrary to that generall blessing he spread over the face of the whole world in the beginning increase and multiply Gen. 1. 22. nor yet leave them to a selfe subsistance he in the meane time only not destroying them which would make him an idle spectator of most things in the world not to worke hitherto as our Saviour speaks and grant to divers things here below an absolute being not derivative from him the first whereof is blasphemous the latter impossible Secondly for Gods working in and together with all second causes for the producing of their effects what part or portion in the worke punctually to assigne unto him what to the power of the inferiour causes seemes beyond the reach of mortals neither is an exact comprehension thereof any way necessary so that we make every thing beholding to his power for its being and to his assistance for its operation Thirdly his supreame dominion exerciseth it selfe in disposing of all things to certaine and determinate ends for his owne glory and is chiefly discerned advancing it self over those things which are most contingent and making them in some sort necessary inasmuch as they are certainly disposed of to some proposed ends betweene the birth and death of a man how many things meerely contingent doe occurre how many chances how many diseases in their owne nature all evitable and in regard of the event not one of them but to some prove mortall yet certaine it is that a mans dayes are determined the number of his moneths are with the Lord he hath appointed his bounds which he cannot passe Iob 14. 5. And oftentimes by things purely contingent and accidentall he executeth his purposes bestoweth rewards inflicteth punishments and accomplisheth his judgements as when he delivereth a man to be slaine by the head of an axe flying from the helve in the hand of a man cutting a tree by the way but in nothing is this more evident then in the ancient casting of lots a thing as casuall and accidentall as can be imagined hudled in the Cap at a venture yet God overruleth them to the declaring of his purpose freeing truth from doubts and manifestation of his power Prov. 16. 33. The lot is cast into the lap but the whole disposing of it is from the Lord as you may see in the examples of Achan Iosh 7. 16 17. Saul 1 Sam. 10. 21. Ionathan
1 Sam. 14. 41. Ionah chap. 1. 8. Matthias Act. 1. 26. And yet this overruling act of Gods providence as no other decree or act of his doth not rob things contingent of their proper nature for cannot he who effectually causeth that they shall come to passe cause also that they shall come to passe contingently Fourthly Gods predetermination of second causes which I name not last as though it were the last act of Gods providence about his creatures for indeed it is the first that concerneth their operation is that effectuall working of his according to his eternall purpose whereby though some agents as the wils of men are causes most free and indefinite or unlimited Lords of their owne actions in respect of their internall principle of operation that is their owne nature are yet all in respect of his decree and by his powerfull working determined to this or that effect in particular not that they are compelled to doe this or hindered from doing that but are inclined and disposed to doe this or that according to their proper manner of working that is most freely For truly such testimonies are every where obvious in Scripture of the stirring up of mens wils and minds of bending and inclining them to divers things of the governing of the secret thoughts and motions of the heart as cannot by any means be referred to a naked permission with a government of externall actions or to a generall influence whereby they should have power to doe this or that or any thing else wherein as some suppose his whole providence consisteth Let us now joyntly apply these severall acts to free agents working according to choyce or relation such as are the wils of men and that will open the way to take a view of Arminian Heterodoxies concerning this Article of Christian beliefe and here two things must be premised First that they be not deprived of their own radicall or originall internall libertie Secondly that they be not exempt from the moving influence gubernation of Gods providence the first whereof would leave no just roome for rewards and punishments the other as I said before is injurious to the majestie and power of God St. Augustine judged Cicero worthy of special blame even among the heathens for so attempting to make men free that he made them sacrilegious by denying them to be subject to an over-ruling providence which grosse errour was directly maintained by Damascen a learned Christian teaching things whereof we have any power not to depend on providence but on our owne free-will an opinion fitter for a hogge of the Epicures heard then for a Scholler in the Schoole of Christ and yet this proud prodigious error is now though in other termes stifly maintained For what doe they else who ascribe such an absolute independent libertie to the will of man that it should have in its owne power every circumstance every condition whatsoever that belongs to operation so that all things required on the part of God or otherwise to the performance of an action being accomplished it remaineth solely in the power of a mans owne will whether he will doe it or no which supreame and plainely divine liberty joyned with such an absolute uncontrollable power and dominion over all his actions would exempt and free the will of man not onely from all fore-determining to the production of such and such efffects but also from any effectuall working or influence of the providence of God into the will it selfe that should sustaine helpe or co-operate with it in doing or willing any thing and therefore the authours of this imaginarie liberty have wisely framed an imaginary concurrence of Gods providence answerable unto it viz. a generall and indifferent influence alwaies wayting and expecting the will of man to determine it selfe to this or that effect good or bad God being as it were alwaies ready at hand to doe that small part which he hath in our actions whensoever we please to use him or if we please to let him alone he no way moveth us to the performance of any thing now God forbid that we should give our consent to the choyce of such a Captaine under whose conduct we might goe downe againe unto Paganisme to the erecting of such an Idol into the Throne of the Almightie No doubtlesse let us be most indulgent to our wils and assigne them all the libertie that is competent unto a created nature to doe all things freely according to election and foregoing counsell being free from all naturall necessity and outward compulsion but for all this let us not presume to denie Gods effectuall assistance his particular powerfull influence into the wils and actions of his creatures directing of them to a voluntary performance of what he hath determined which the Arminians opposing in the behalfe of their darling Free-will doe worke in the hearts of men an overweening of their owne power and an absolute independence of the providence of God For First they deny that God in whom we live and move and have our being doth any thing by his providence whereby the creature should be stirred up or helped in any of his actions that is God wholly leaves a man in the hand of his owne counsell to the disposall of his owne absolute independent power without any respect to his providence at all whence as they doe they may well conclude That those things which God would have to be done of us freely such as are all humane actions he cannot himselfe will or worke more powerfull and effectually then by the way of wishing or desiring as Vorstius speakes which is no more then one man can doe concerning another perhaps farre lesse then an Angel I can wish or desire that another man would doe what I have a minde he should but truly to describe the providence of God by such expressions seemes to me intollerable blasphemie but thus it must be without such helpes as these Dagon cannot keepe on his head nor the Idoll of uncontroulable Free-will enioy his dominion Hence Corvinus will grant that the killing of a man by the slipping of an axes head from the helve although contingent may be said to happen according to Gods counsel and determinate will but on no termes will he yeeld that this may be applied to actions wherein the counsell and freedome of mans will doe take place as though that they also should have dependance on any such overruling power whereby he absolutely excludeth the providence of God from having any soveraigntie within the territory of humane actions which is plainly to shake off the yoke of his dominion and to make men Lords paramount within themselves so that they may well ascribe unto God as they doe onely a deceiveable expectation of those contingent things that are yet for to come there beeing no act of his owne in the producing of such effects on which he can ground any certainty onely he may take a
children by Iesus Christ vers 5. adoption is that whereby we are assumed into the family of God when before we are forreigners aliens strangers a far off which we see is a fruit of our predestination though it be the very entrance into that estate wherein we begin first to please God in the least measure of the same nature are all those places of holy writ which speake of Gods giving some unto Christ of Christs sheepe hearing his voyce and of others not hearing because they are not of his sheepe all which and divers other invincible reasons I willingly omit with sundry other false assertions and hereticall positions of the Arminians about this fundamentall Article of our Religion concluding this Chapter with the following scheme S. S. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne that he might be the first borne among many brethren moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also iustified and whom he iustified them he also glorified so that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Rom. 8. 29 30. 39. He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy Ephes 1. 4. Not for the workes that we have done but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Iesus Christ before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9. For the children being not yet borne before they had done either good or evill that the purpose of God which is according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth c. Rom. 9. 11. Whatsoever the Father giveth that cometh unto me Ioh. 11. Many are called but few are chosen Matth. 22. 14. Feare not little flock it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdome Luk. 12. 32. What hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4. 7. Are we better then they no in no wise Rom. 3. 9. But we are predestinated to the adoption of children by Iesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will Ephes 1. 5. Iohn 6. 37. 39. Iohn 10. 3. Chap. 13. 18. and 17. 6. Act. 13. 48. Titus 1. 1. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Iames 1. 17 c. Lib. Arbit No such will can be ascribed unto God whereby he so would have any to be saved that from thence his salvation should bee sure and infallible Arminius I acknowledge no sense no perception of any such election in this life Grevinch We deny that Gods election unto salvation extendeth it selfe to singular persons Remonst Coll. Hag. As we are iustified by faith so we are not elected but by faith Grevinch We professe roundly that faith is considered by God as a condition preceding election and not following as a fruit thereof Rem Coll. Hag. The sole and onely cause of election is not the will of God but the respect of our obedience Episcopius For the cause of this love to any person is the goodnesse faith and piety wherewith according to Gods command and his owne dutie he is endued is pleasing to God Rem Apol. God hath determined to grant the meanes of salvation unto all without difference and according as he fore-seeth men will use those meanes so he determineth of them Corvin The summe of their doctrine is God hath appointed the obedience of faith to be the meanes of salvation if men fulfill this condition he determineth to save them which is their election but if after they have entred the way of godlines they fall frō it they loose also their predestination if they will returne againe they are chosen anew and if they can hold out to the end then and for that continuance they are peremptorily elected or postdestinated after they are saved now whether these positions may be gathered from those places of Scripture which deliver this doctrine lot any man iudge CHAP. VII Of Originall sinne and the corruption of nature HErod the great imparting his counsell of rebuilding the Temple unto the Iewes they much feared he would never be able to accomplish his intention but like an unwise builder having demolished the old before he had sate downe and cast up his account whether he were able to erect a new they should by his project be deprived of a Temple wherefore to satisfie their jealousies he resolved as he tooke downe any part of the other presently to erect a portion of the new in the place thereof Right so the Arminians determining to demolish the building of divine providence grace and favour by which men have hitherto ascended into heaven and fearing lest we should be troubled finding our selves on a sudden deprived of that wherein we reposed our confidence for happinesse they have by degrees erected a Babylonish Tower in the roome thereof whose top they would perswade us shall reach unto heaven First therefore the foundation stones they bring forth crying haile haile unto them and pitch them on the sandy rotten ground of our owne natures Now because heretofore some wise master-builders had discovered this ground to be very unfit to be the basis of such a lofty erection by reason of a corrupt issue of blood and filth arising in the middest thereof and over-spreading the whole platforme to incourage men to an association in this desperate attempt they proclaime to all that there is no such evill fountaine in the plaine which they have chosen for the foundation of their proud building setting up it selfe against the knowledge of God in plaine termes having rejected the providence of God from being the Originall of that goodnesse of entity which is in our actions and his predestination from being the cause of that morall and spirituall goodnesse where with any of them are cloathed they endeavour to draw the praise of both to the rectitude of their nature and the strength of their owne endeavours but this attempt in the latter case being thought to be altogether vaine because of the disabilitie and corruption of nature by reason of originall sinne propagated unto us all by our first Parents whereby it is become wholly voyd of integritie and holinesse and we all become wise and able to doe evill but to doe good have no power no understanding therefore they utterly reject this imputation of an inherent originall guilt and demerit of punishment as an enemie to our upright and well deserving condition and Oh that they were as able to root it out of the hearts of all men that it should never more be there as they have been to perswade the heads of divers that it was never there at all If any would know how considerable this Article concerning Originall sinne hath ever been accounted in the Church of Christ let him but consult the writings of Saint Augustine Prosper Hilary Fulgentius any of those learned Fathers whom God stirred up to resist and enabled to overcome the spreading Pelagian heresie or looke on those many