in another I will manifest how very patly those Censures do hit themselves § 6. Sixthly therefore Is it not so that Mr. Calvin disputing against the Libertines is fain to say in plain terms that from this one Article God worketh all things three things do follow extremely frightful of which the first is that there will be no difference between God and the Devil c. nay further in the next Chapter that God must be renouuced by himself and be transmuted into the Devil And doth not Beza himself incur that censure whilst he so interprets that Text God worketh all things Ep. 1. 11. As to say to that that unversal particle all could not be restrained by any the least exception that sins themselves cannot be excepted And doth not Calvin say again the direct contrary to Beza that S. Paul there speaks only of the graces of the Holy Ghost and yet doth not Beza cite Calvins own judgement for his exposition which is so contrary to Calvins as when he saith that in the judgement of Calvin those things which are wickedly done by Men are the righteous works of God And again doth not Calvin incur his own censure by what he saith in my greater and lesser Catalogue and in many other places which I can name if challenged to it or if he had not thus spoken against himself yet is it sufficient for my plea against my Assailant that he hath spoken such bitter things as have lighted so heavily upon his own Party He saith expresly elsewhere that it is a monstrous prodigious Blasphemy to say that God is the Author of Sin and consents that any thing be said against it Now it having been evidenced as it shall be also farther that the chief men of his Party have affirmed that horrible proposition both in equivalent and down-right Terms and in Terms of a more fulsom and blacker strain it being worse to compel men to sin than to be simpliciter an Author of it I was permitted by his leave to have spoken as sharply as any Bolsec of those expressions which I mentioned and I had thanks due to me for having been no sharper 2. Doctor Whitaker himself hath these words following If Calvin or Martyr or any of our Men affirm God to be the Author and cause of sin I do not deny our being guilty all of us of detestable Blasphemy and wickednesse Here the Reader may observe a very remarkable Concession in 3. respects First if any of their Party shall so affirm not only Calvin and Martyr Secondly if any shall so affirm they are all of them guilty without exception of which the reason must needs be this because they do all without exception hold the very same principles of irrespective Decrees of Reprobation c. and the absolute necessity of all events from whence any of them do draw such detestable conclusions Thirdly that they are all of them guilty of horrible blasphemy and wickednes if there is any Truth in that supposition From which three things I do in charity conclude that if Doctor Whitaker had observed such affirmations of his party as have been observed by Melancthon learned Moulin my insignificant self and many others without number he would have been frighted out of their Tenents of unconditional reprobation as Melancthon and Moulin are known to have been For Zuinglius Martin Borrhaeus and others have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and in plain Terms that God is the Author of the evil of sin and that sin is the work of God and particulariz'd in Adultery and Murther Zanchy hath said that Men were prae-ordained by God to sin as sin Piscator hath assirmed that Reprobates are predestin'd to the very Causes of Damnation that is to sins and that Incredulity by name doth depend upon God's Predestination as the Cause upon the effect Triglandius saith God willeth and effectheth that ungodly Men do live in their concupiscences Musculus avoweth that God's Reprobation is the hidden Cause of final despair no peccadillo These are some of that party and of the chief Come now to those Men which he particularly nameth viz. Calvin and Martyr Calvin saith That there is no other cause of the Angels Defection which was the first and greatest sin that ever was but God's rejection or Reprobation Nay farther that Men do sin by God's Impulse And Peter Martyr speaks as broadly as ever Man did which though I have publickly shewed already yet because he is the Man whom Doctor Whitaker thought fit to Name I shall set down a passage which I have since observed in reading his Comment upon the Book of Samuel The vulgar sort saith he are of opinion that when God is said to blind to harden to deliver up to send delusions and to deceive nothing else is signified but that he permitteth that those things be done And to that same purpose very many of the Fathers he should have said all do interpret those expressions And doubtless they were induced so to do because they thought it impious and blasphemous that God should be accounted the Author of sin and because they were unwilling that Men should lay the causes of their sins upon God himself But he would have them all to know that God doth not only permit but also Will Sin Here we have a Taste of this valiant Florentine who contemns the cowardize of the vulgar such as Melancthon and Hemmingius and the squeamishnesse of the Primitive Fathers because they were startled at such Buggs as God's being the Author or cause of sin So again in his Comment upon the Epistle to the Romans he confesseth that all the Fathers at least almost all do teach that to deliver up to sin doth signify no more than to suffer or permit or forsake because they have an abhorence to the saying that God is the cause of sin But he rejects their opinion and pretends to refel it by striving to dissipate their Reasons p. 79 80. and so he finally concludes against them and to confirm what he hath done without the least fear of the Fathers Scar-Crowes he makes Austin to be for him whom he confesseth to be against him and whose words against him he first of all citeth before those others which he will have to make for him From all which it followes that I had the favourable allowance of Mr. Calvin and Dr. Whitaker to accuse those writers of horrid Blasphemy and wickedness who are commended by my Adversary for their deep acquaintance with the mind of God But I have not yet shewed him the last degree of his misfortune in that Assault which he made upon my Cause and Reputation For § 7. Seventhly I have the suffrage and Vote almost of all and of such whom I am sure he will not dare to contradict that the men of that party which he defendeth are guilty of all and
wipe off the stains which his unwary Admirers are wont to fasten upon his Name whil'st instead of contending that he was sorry for his failings and intended to publish his Recantation they indeavour to justifie what he condemn'd and so the Calvinists in effect do write the most against Calvin So vast a difference there is betwixt them that are but the Followers of that Learned man and us who are his real Friends Who do not follow him where he erred through thick and thin but just as far as he follow'd Truth and as far as we hope he did intend his Retractations § 6. Whereas my Assailant is pleas'd to add that they intended no more than by multitudes of places of Scripture they were led unto referring by figures to many Texts but in words at length not naming One I have several things in answer to him First who told him that they intended no more or that places of Scripture did lead them to the speaking of what they speak 2. What Errors or Heresies have there been within Christendome which have not pretended the very same thing that multitudes of Scripture did lead them to their assertions 3. Why did he not compare one of the frightfullest speeches which I accused with any one Text of Scripture by him producible 4. Let him name for the future one place of Scripture whereby Zuinglius was led to say That God makes a man Transgressor that Adultery or Murder is the work of God the Author Mover and Impeller what places of Scripture led Smoutius Vermilius Beza Triglondius Musculus Sturmius Piscator Borrhaeus not to mention the Doctrines of Mr. Calvin Dr. Twisse Mr. Hobs and a multitude the like to say that God is the Author of evil whether of punishment or of sin that wicked men sin by the force of Gods will that God effecteth those things that are sins that his Reprobation is the cause of incurable despair that both the Elect and the Reprobates were ordained to sin Quatenns Sin that he is the cause not only of the actions but of the very defects and privations that is of the obliquities irregularities and sinfulnesses themselves Thus we see who they are whose Doctrines of irrespective and unconditional Reprobation not places of Scripture have led them to charge God with sinfull actions sins sinfulnesse metaphysically abstracted beyond which no language no tongue can speak above which no fancy no wit can reach 5. Though the wonder already is very great yet will it still be much greater if we compare one of the Texts by which they are said to be led to their Intentions of speaking thus The first Text he refers to is Gen. 45. 5 6 7 8. from which place it is evident that God is affirmed by Ioseph to be the Author of much good which his guilty Brethren never thought of but not at all of the evil which they thought against him And it will seem to me somewhat more than strange if Dr. Reynolds cannot distinguish betwixt God's permitting or suffering evil to fall out by the wills of wicked men which are free to evil and by which they are said not to be unavoidably fatally or necessarily wicked but to be voluntarily and wilfully wicked I say it is somewhat more than strange if he cannot distinguish betwixt Gods permitting that evil that he might draw good out of it and his being the Author or Cause of that Evill upon occasion of which the good is wrought Before he had resolved to give an instance from that Text he should have compared it with what went before chap. 37. where because Iacob loved Ioseph more than all his Brethren v. 4. and therefore made him a finer Coat v. 3. they hated Ioseph and could not speak peaceably unto him v. 4. but they did not hate him by the Impulse of God as Mr. Calvin at first spake nor did God urge them or smite their mindes as Dr. Twisse For the Devil and their own Flesh one or both did intice and tempt though they could not force them to hate their Brother Well Joseph dreamed a Dream which was also a Prophecy that his Brethrens sheaves should make obeisance to his v. 6 7. which dream was from God and accordingly both good and true But his brethren hated him the mor◠v. 8. which greater hatred was from the Flesh and the Devil Joseph kind to his brethren as well as obedient to his Father went to seek out his brethren from the vale of Hebron to Sichem and thence to Dothan v. 14 17. This was from God But before he came to them they conspired against him to slay him v. 18. This from the flesh and the Devil Reuben said let us not kill him shed no bloud and would fain have rid him out of their hands to deliver him again unto his Father v. 21 22. This was from God the wise and holy disposer of all that happens to his Glory But they plunder'd Ioseph of his Coat and sold his Body to the Ishmalites for 20. pieces of silver v. 23 28. This was meerly from the flesh and the Devil being not hindered but permitted by the long-suffering God to execute their wills against his own And this he suffered the rather that he might order and dispose their wicked Fact of cruelty to their innocent Brother which was also their Rebellion against the commandement and will of their patient God to many great aud good ends which never could enter into their thoughts For by the wise and holy providence of God whose excellency it is to draw good out of evil not evil out of Good Joseph was sold by the Midianites into Egypt v. 36. and aduanced in Potiphar's House c. 39. 5. and by his Interpreting of Dreams which was a gift from God and not from Satan he was so advanced from one degree to another that he was made a Father to King Pharaoh Lord of his House aud Ruler over his land ch 45. 8. This was Gods doing but no sin sure for injured Ioseph to be advanced There was a Famine in all lands over the face of the Earth ch 41. 54 56. But that was no sin Iosephs brethren went up to Egypt for a supply c. 42. 43. still no sin Joseph supplyeth them c. 45. which was charitably done and so without sin What said Ioseph of Gods oeconomy to comfort his brethren when they wept aloud and were troubled at his presence v. 2 3. He said no worse things of God than that he sent him before to preserve life aud that I hope is no sin to preserve his brethren a posterity in the Earth and to save their lives by a great deliverance who had delivered him up to be destroyed with vassalage Nor was it his si◠to requite them with so much love for their hatred with so much good for their Evil. Ioseph goes on it was not you that sent me hither but God For they sent him no whither but sold him to
I have collected in no more than 8. or 9. pages in my Accompt of the Correptory Correction If such of these are no Blasphemies then am not I to be excused for having avowed them to be such But if they are Blaspemies in grain and published to the world by the Authors of them and if the Authors of these Blasphemies are led into them by those opinions which my Reverend Adversary asserteth and I resist how will he make me a reparation for having publickly done me so great a wrong as to blame me for my distinction How can he answer to all good Men to the Church of God and to God himself that it was matter of trouble to him that I should make a distinction of modest Blasphemers and others who for Ligionem Ligonem Is it not a Blasphemy to speak against God Is it not the very blackest and most insufferable-Blasphemy to speak against the very purity and holinesse of God Is not his Purity himself and therefore it is not worse to asperse his purity than to deny his being And have not those Men whom Dr. Reynolds pleads for aspersed the purity of God with all the Fowlest Affirmations that can be thought on Let him or any Man living sit down and study with what variety of words and phrases it is possible to express the Author of sin and I will publickly demonstrate that all that variety of words and phrases hath been used even in print by the Men of that way which he asserteth and I resist in direct Affirmations of God himself I am sufficiently prepared to shew a very large Catalogue besides the several Catalogues already shewn And though I was so courteous as not to name them at the first yet I had reason to say that there were some in the world for Ligonem Ligonem And § 3. Thirdly when I said that some were modest Blasphemers that is bashful and shamefac'd but did not name any Creature I meant Such Writers as have only made God to be the Author of sin by way of necessary consequence and unavoidably deduction but have not said with Borrhaeus that God is the Author of evil whether of punishment or of sin nor with Zuinglius That Adultery or Murder is the work of God nor with Piscator That whatsoever sinners and flagitious men do they do it by the sorce of God's own will nor with Sturmius That God effecteth those things which are sins nor with Musculus that Gods Reprobation is the cause of the incurable Despair nor with Triglandius That both the Elect and Reprobates were preordained to sin quatenus sin nor with Beza That God predestin'd whom he pleased not only to damnation but to the causes of damnation nor yet with Peter Vermilius That God seemeth to be the cause not only of humane actions but of their very defects and privations nor yet with Smoutius that Man ought to have sinned and to have fallen from grace that God might have matter whereon to manifest his Iustice. Now if I was so civil as not to name either the modest or the immodest Blasphemers I should rather have been thank'd by their Disciples and Followers than have been reviled for my civility But § 4. Fourthly Let us descend in particular to those Things and Persons of which my Reverend Antagonist hath undertaken a defense I mean the Citations in my Notes p. 9. and 10. I will begin with that of Zuinglius because neither Mr. B. nor his Friends have yet discovered it to be his at least they have not owned it under its Authors own Name When God makes an Angel or a Man a Transgressor he himself doth not transgresse because he doth not break a Law The very same sin viz. Adultery or Murder in as much as it is the work of God the Author Mover and Compellor it is not a Crime but in as much as it is of Man it is a wickednesse Is not the scope of those words undeniably this That although God is not a sinner yet he maketh both Angels and Men to be so That Adultery or Murder is the work of God although it is not evil in as much as it is his that God is the Author of sin viz. Adultery or Murder though sin is not sin in as much as He is the Author of it nay that God is a Compeller of Men to sin though it is only sin as Men commit it and not as God compels them to it If this cannot be denied why then said the Prefacer that such words are no where to be found in them but rather the contrary That they are there to be found is apparent to all eyes which shall examine the place by my quotation and is abundantly confessed by Dr. Twisse Whom I observe in that place not only approving but commending Zuinglius for those expressions which being every whit as bad as if he had spoken the words himself is all that here needeth to be said of him besides that the sixth seventh ninth and tenth instance in my Notes may here be noted to have been his My first Citation from Mr. Calvin That all things happen by God's Decree c. Without any the least exception of all ungodly and sinful things nay purposely including as well the evil as the good as I shall prove by and by will soon appear to be a Blasphemy to wit a constituting God the Author of sin by the publick confession of Mr. Calvin himself For in a fit of Anger against the Libertines and in other fit of Forgetfulness which Anger easily produceth what himself had said at other times he chanced to let fall these expressions Whilst the drunken Libertines do jabber that all things are made or done by God they constitnte him the Author of Sin Yet Beza saith plainly more plainly than the Libertines That God efficaciously acteth or effecteth all things without any the least exception whatsoever And that Calvin means the same thing when he saith that all things happen by God's Decree is not only very evident by his agreement with Beza in these affairs but by his own positions in other parts of his works as when he saith for example that God did therefore Foresee things because he decreed them and again that no other cause can be rendred for the defection of Angels then that God did reject them Which is to say in effect That God by his rejection or reprobation was the only cause of the first and greatest sin that ever was to wit the defection or rebellion or Apostacy of Angels and again he saith that Man doth sin or do that which is not lawful for him to do which we know is all one impulsu Dei by God's impulse or compulsion or inforcement let him translate impulsus which way he pleaseth And this last as well as the first being one of my instances p. 9. I admire the Author of
corrupt will is not fit to be punished or to manifest Gods Glory in being punished and if so then how could that be the subject in the fourth proposition on which God is absolutely pleased to manifest the glory of his Iustice In plainer words If untill the Creature hath actually sinned it is not materia apta disposita matter fitly disposed for the eternal vengeance of the Almighty or for the manifesting his Glory in their eternal punishment then even my Adversary must acknowledge upon his own grounds that there cannot in massâ be any absolute Preterition Thus his seventh proposition is the destruction of his fifth and brings him over to my opinion by irresistible consequence even before he is aware for he confesseth that the matter of Reprobation must be fitly disposed and that it must be by the corrupt will of the Creature but he knows that the Reprobates had no such thing as a will when they were in massâ some thousands of years before they were born and therefore they must be born and have wills of their own before their wills can be corrupted or make them matter adapted for condemnation and as they are in time just so they were considered from all Eternity But to conclude this Chapter If all were granted which is desired in these eight propositions yet would it not come home to Mr. Barlee's pretensions who saith that God is not a meer legislator of conditional Decrees Laws and Statutes but An absolute Determiner in a soveraign way of the several acts of Disobedience in relation to them though he saith also that God himself is without sin and determins the several acts of obedience also yet that doth not lessen but rather aggravate his Blasphemy because he makes no difference betwixt Gods determining the Acts of obedience and Disobedience whilst he saith he is an Absolute unconditional Determiner of both the one and the other Whither Iames Nayler hath said any thing like it I have not hitherto been inform'd but They who adored him as a Christ did give the Magistrate this reason That they were forced thereunto by the power of the Lord and commanded so of the Lord and thereunto moved of the Lord and directed by the spirit of the Lord. And when the Presbyterian Ministers of the Kirk of Scotland sent a Letter to the Lord Hamilton inviting Him to head their Forces which without the least pretense of Authority of Parliament the Preachers and They only had made to rise they told his Lordship in their Letter that the people were animated by the word and motion of Gods Spirit to take up Arms that is to Rebel Now by what principles and opinions they were betray'd to these things I leave it to be Iudged by other men It is in perfect hatred to blasphemous speeches against God but not for want of perfect charity to any mans person in the world that I am forced to name the Authors of such Impiety which if I should not do I might be suspcted by a few to have born falsewitness For the peace and safety of Church and State as well as for the Interest and good of Souls I am obliged and concerned to deliver mine own soul by giving fair warnings to other mens And may it for ever be remembred by such as are of a party which they are kinde to and extreamly willing to excuse That he who justifieth the wicked is an Abomination to the Lord as well as He who condemneth the just To shew my Innocence from so great a Transgression as the latter I have not whisperd my Accusations in a Corner but spoken them out unto the world nor have I urged them from giddy Rumors and Reports as one sort of men are wont to do but from the published writings which I accuse as may be seen in the Catalogues which I have heretofore made CHAP. XI E. R. So then 1. God did ab aeterno most absolutely will and decree his own Glory as the supream end of all consulting therein the counsel of his own will and not the wills of any of his Creatures 2. In order unto that supream end he did freely elect some Angels and some lapsed men unto blessedness for he might do with his own gifts what he would himself 3. In order to the same supream end he did leave some Angels and some lapsed men to themselves to their own mutability and corruption not being a debtor unto any of them 4. But he did not ordain any Creature to absolute Damnation but to damnation for sin into which they fall as they themselves know by their own wills and whereof they are themselves the alone Causes and Authors Gods work about sin being only a willing permission and a wise powerful and holy Gubernation but no actual efficiency unto the formal being and obliquity thereof I am sorry I am led on by mine own thoughts thus far into your proper work But here I stop T. P. § 1. ONce more he begins with four Positions trying whether this course will be more prosperous then the former So Dalilah cast about which way to binde Sampson that his strength might depart from him So when Balak was succesless upon the high places of Baal he brought Balaam to do his work into the field of Zophim on the top of Pisgah and when that also was in vain He would trie another mountain and therefore brought him to the Top of Peor for peradventure said he it will please God that thou may'st curse me them from thence But 't was strange that Balak should imagin any vertue in the meer change of places when the Cause of his war was still the same And I cannot but wonder that my Assailant should attaque me by several sets of Questions and Propositions when he knows the matter is still the same Mine Host in Livie did not amiss when he made such variety of unexpected Dishes all of one and the same Porket in entertainment of the Embassadors who came from Rome But in the management of a controversie it cannot be so graceful to say the same thing often in several shapes yet as a token of my respect I will proceed to say something to this last Quaternio of Propositions § 2. The first is granted by all the world for no man living can be so mad as to say or think that God consulted the will of the Creature in decreeing his own Glory The second is back't with a shew of Reason and it runs in this Form He did for he might but à potentiâ ad Actum non valet argumentum God might have made us all as he did Adam out of the Earth without the methods of generation and Birth but hence it follows not that he did Nor was there need of any proof much less of that which was worse then none for the confirming of an assertion which Nothing in Christendome ever denyed for all