That no Humane Laws or Constitutions do oblige a Christian 11. And finally That God never gave grace nor knowledge to a great person or rich man and that they in no wise fâ—llow the same What Anabaptists Brownists Ranters Quakers may not as well pretend that our first Reformers were of their Religion as the Calvinists can if Wicklifs Doctrine be the rule of our Reformation Which because possibly it may obtain the less belief if they were found only in the works of Harpsfield and Waldensis before remembred the Reader may look for them in the catalogue of those Mala Dogmâ—ta complained of by the Prolocutor in the Convocation An. 1536. to have been publikely preached printed and professed by some of Wicklifs Followers for which consult the Church History lib. 4. fol. 208. and there he shall be sure to finde them 6. It is alledged in the next place that the Calvinistical Doctrines in these points may be found in the writings of John Frith William Tyndall and Dr. Barns collected into one volume and printed by Jâ—ha Day 1563. of which the first suffered death for his conscience An. 1533. the second An. 1536. and the third An. 1540. called therefore by Mr. Fox in a Preface of his before the Book the Ring-leaders of the Church of England And thereupon it is inferred that the Calvinian Doctrine of Predestination must be the same with that which was embraced and countenanced by the first Reformers But first admitting that they speak as much in Honour of Calvins Doctrine as can be possibly desired yet being of different judgements in the points disputed and not so Orthodox in all others as might make them any way considerable in the Reformation it is not to be thought that either their writings or opinions should be looked on by us for our direction in this case Barns was directly a Dominican in point of Doctrine Frith soared so high upon the wing and quite out-flew the mark that Tyndal thought it not unfit to call him down and lure him back unto his pearch and as for Tyndal he declares himself with such care and caution excepting one of his flyings out against Freewil that nothing to their purpose can be gathered from him Secondly I do not look on Mr. Fox as a competent Judge in matters which concern the Church of England the Articles of whose Confession he refused to subscribe he being thereunto required by Archbishop Paâ—ker and therefore Tyndal Frith and Barns not to be hearkned to the more for his commendation Thirdly if the testimony of Frith and Tyndall be of any force for defence of the Calvinists the Anti-Sabbatarians may more justly make use of it in defence of themselves against the new Sabbath speculations of Dr. Bond and his adherents embraced more passionately of late then any Article of Religion here by Law established Of which the first declares the Lords day to be no other than an Ecclesiastical Institution or Church Ordinance the last that it is still changeable from one day to another if the Church so please For which consult the Hist of Sab. l. 2. c. 8. Let Frith and Tyndal be admitted as sufficient witnesses when they speak against the new Sabbath Doctrines or not admitted when they speak in behalf of Calvins and then I am sure his followers will lose more on the one side thâ—n they gained on the other and will prove one of the crossest bargains to them which they ever made And then it is in the fourth place to be observed that the greatest treasury of learning which those and the Famerlines could boast of was lockt up in the Cloisters of the Begging Friers of which the Franciscans were accounted the most nimble Disputants the Dominicans the most diligent and painful Preachers the Augustinians for the most part siding with the one and the Carmilites or White Friers joyning with the other so that admitting Frith and Tindal to maintain the same Doctrine in these points which afterwards was held forth by Calvin yet possibly they maintained them not as any points of Protestant Doctrine in opposition to the errours of the Church of Rome which had not then declared it self on either side but as the received opinions of the Dominican Friers in opposition to the Franciscans The Doctrine of which Dominican Friers by reason of their diligent preaching had met with more plausible entertainment not onely amongst the inferiour sort of people but also amongst many others of parts and learning 7. And as for Barns the far most learned of the three he had been once Prior of the Augustinian Friers in Cambridge whose Doctrines he had sucked in at his first coming thither and therefore might retain them to the very last without relation to the Zuinglian or Calvinian Tenents or any differences then on foot between the Protestant Doctors and the Church of Rome Besides being of the same Order which Luther had quitted the might the more willingly encline to Luthers first opinion touching servitude of the will mans inability in cooperating with the grace of God and being forcibly drawn in his own conversion velut inanimatum quiddam like a stock or stone in which he was tenaciously followed by the rigid Lutherans though he had afterwards changed his judgement touching that particular So that beholding Dr. Barns either as one that followed Luther in his first opinions or travelled the Dominican way in the present points as an Augustinian it is no marvel if we finde somewhat in his writings agreeable to the palate of the Calvinists and rigid Lutherans From whence it is that laying down the Doctrine of Predestination he discourseth thus viz. ' But yet sayest thou that he giveth to the one mercy and the other none I answer what is that to thee is not his mercy his own is it not lawful for him to give it to whom he will is thine eye evil because his is good take that which is thine and go thy way for if he will shew his wrath and make his power known over the vessels of wrath ordained to damnation and to declare the riches of his glory unto the vessels of mercy which he hath prepared and elected unto glory what hast thou therewith to do But here will subtil blindeness say God saw before that Jacob should do good and therefore did he chuse him he saw also that Esau should do evil therefore did he condemn him Alas for blindness what will you judge of that which God foresaw how know we that God saw that and if he saw it how know we that it was the cause of Jacobs Election These children being unborn they had done neitheir good nor bad and yet one of them is chosen and the other is refused S. Paul knoweth no other cause but the will of God and will you needs discuss another He saith not I will have mercy on him that I see shall do good but I will shew mercy to whom I will He saith not I will
to be superfluous because both Life and Death are rather the Acts of Gods Will then of his Prescience or fore-knowledge And then he adds as of his own that if God did but fore-see the successes of men and did not also dispose and order them by his Will then this Question should not without cause be moved Whether his fore seeing any thing availed to the necessity of them But since sayth he he doth no otherwise fore-see the things that shall come to pass then because he hath decreed that they should so come to pass it is in vain to move any Controversy about Gods fore-knowledge where it is certain that all things do happen rather by divine Ordinance and appointment ' Yet notwithstanding all these shifts he is forced to acknowledge the Decree of Adams Fall to be Horribile decretum A cruell and horrible Decree as indeed it is a cruell and horrible Decree to pre-ordain so many Millions to destruction and consequently unto sinne that he might destroy them And then what can the wicked and Impenitent do but ascribe all their sinnes to God by whose inevitable Will they are lost in Adam by whom they were particularly and personally necessitated to death and so by consequence to sin A Doctrine so injurious to God so destructive of Piety of such reproach amongst the Papists and so offensive to the Lutherans of what sort soever that they profess a greater readiness to fall back to Popery then to give way to this Predestinarian Pestilence by which name they call it to come in amongst them V. But howsoever having so great a Founder as Calvin was it came to be generally entertained in all the Churches of his Plat-form strongly opposed by Sebastian Castellino in Geneva it self but the poor man so despightfully handled both by him and Beza who followed him in all and went beyond him in some of his Devises that they never left pursuing him with Complaints and Clamours till they had first cast him out of the City and at the last brought him to his Grave The terrour of which example and the great name which Calvin had attained unto not only by his diligent Preaching but also by his laborious Writings in the eye of the World As it confirmed his power at home so did it make his Doctrines the more acceptable and esteemed abroad More generally diffused and more pertinaciously adhered unto in all those Churches which either had received the Genevian Discipline or whose Divines did most industriously labour to advance the same By means whereof it came to pass as one well observeth ' that of what account the Master of the Sentences was in the Church of Rome the same and more amongst the Preachers of the Reformed Churches Calvin had purchased so that they were deemed to be the most perfect Divines who were most skilful in his Writings His Books almost the very Canon by which both Doctrine and Discipline were to be judged The French Churches both under others abroad or at home in their own Country all cast according to the Mold which he had made The Church of Scotland in erecting the Fabrick of their own Reformation took the self same pattern ' Received not long after in the Palatine Churches and in those of the Netherlands In all which as his Doctrine made way to bring in the Discipline so was it no hard matter for the Discipline to support the Doctrine and crush all those who durst oppose it Only it was permitted unto Beza and his Disciples to be somewhat wilder then the rest in placing the Decree of Predestination before the Fall which Calvin himself had more rightly placed in Massa corrupta in the corrupted Mass of Man-kinde and the more moderate Calvinians as rightly presuppose for a matter necessary before there could be any place for the Election or Reprobation of particular persons But being they concurred with the rest as to the personal Election or Reprobation of particular persons the restraining of the Benefit of our Saviours Sufferings to those few particulars whom only they had honoured with the glorious name of the Elect the working on them by the irresistible powers of Grace in the Act of Conversion and bringing them infallibly by the continual assistance of the sayd Grace unto life everlasting there was hardly any notice taken of their Deviation they being scarce beheld in the condition of erring brethren though they differed from them in the main Foundation which they built upon but passing under the name of Calvinists as they thus did And though such of the Divines of the Belgick Churches as were of the old Lutheran Stock were better affected unto the Melancthonian Doctrine of Predestination then to that of Calvin yet knowing how pretious the Name and Memory of Calvin was held amongst them or being unwilling to fall foul upon one another they suffered his Opinions to prevail without opposition And so it stood till the year 1592. when Mr. William Perkins an eminent Divine of Cambridge published his Book called the Armilla Aurea c. containing such a Doctrine of Predestination as Beza had before delivered but cast into a more distinct and methodical Form With him as being a Foreiner both by Birth and Dwelling a Supralapsarian in Opinion and one who had no personal Relations amongst themselves it was thought fittest to begin to confute Calvins Doctrines in the person of Perkins as many times a Lion is sayd to be corrected by the well Cudgelling of a Dog without fear of danger And against him it was his order in delivering the Decree of Predestination that Arminius first took up the Bucklers in his Book intituled Examen Praedestinationis Perkinsoniae which gave the first occasion to those Controversies which afterwards involved the Sublapsarians also of which more hereafter VI. In the mean time let us behold the Doctrine of the Supralapsarians first broacht by Calvin maintained by almost all his Followers and at last polished and lickt over by the sayd Mr. Perkings as it was charged upon the Contra Remonstrants in the Conference at the Hague Anno 1610. in these following words Viz. ' That God as some speak by an eternal and unchangable Decree from amongst men whom he considered as not created much less as falâ— ordained certain to eternal life certain to eternal death without any regard had to their righteousness or sin to their obedience or disobedience only because it was his pleasure or so it seemed good to him to the praise of his Justice and Mercy or as others like better to declare his saving Grace Wisdom and free Authority or Jurisdiction ' many being also so ordained by his eternal and unchangable decree fit for the execution of the same by the power or force whereof it is necessary that they be saved after a necessary and unavoidable manner who are ordained to Salvation so that 't is not possible that they should perish but they who are destined to destruction who are
they ought earnestly and with a fervent devotion and stedfast faith to aske of him which gave the beginning that he would vouchsafe to performe it which thing God will undoubtedly grant according to his promise to such as persevere in calling upon him For he is naturally good and willeth all men to be saved and careth for them and provideth all things by which they may be saved except BY THEIR OWN MALICE they will be evil and so by the righteous judgement of God perish and be lost For truly men be to themselves the AUTHOR OF SIN and DAMNATION God is neither the AUTHOR of SIN nor the CAUSE OF DAMNATION And yet doth he most righteously damne those men that do with vices corrupt their nature which he made good and do abuse the same to evil desires against his most holy will wherefore men be to be warned that they do not impute to God their vice or their damnation but to themselves who by Free-will have abused the grace and benefits of God All men be also to be monished and chiefly Preachers that in this high matter they looking on both sides so attemper and moderate themselves that neither they so preach the Grace of God as to take away thereby Free-will Nor on the other side so extol Free-will that injury be done to the grace of God 3. Such was the judgment of the Bishops and Clergy assembled in Convocation An. 1543. touching the nature of Free-will and the co-operations of it with the grace of God In which I can see nothing not agreeable to the present establisht Doctrine of the Church of England And if it be objected as perhaps it may that this Convocation was held in times of Popery and managed by a Popish Clergy it may be answered that the Bishops and Clergy then assembled were such as had a principal hand in the Reformation and generally subscribed unto the Articles of Religion agreed upon and published in King Edwards time Anno 1552. At which time fifteen of the Bishops which had been present at the Convocation Anno 1543. were not only living but present and consenting to the Articles in King Edwards time that is to say Cranmer Arch-bishop of Canterbury Parfew Bishop of Saint Asaph Buchely Bishop of Bangor Bush Bishop of Bristol Sampson Bishop of Litchfield Butler Bishop of Saint David Goodrich Bishop of Elie Ship Bishop of Hereford Folgate Bishop of Landaff and afterwards Arch-bishop of York King Bishop of Oxon Chambers Bishop of Peterborough Cepon Bishop of Sarum Thiâ—bly then Bishop of Westminster Aldrich then Bishop of Caerlile and Bird Bishop of Chester By which proportion we may conclude that a farre greater number of the Deans and Arch-deacons who have a personal right of voting in all Convocations and coming to the number of eighty and thereabouts must be living and consenting also to the Reformation as being younger men than the Bishops were not to say any thing of the Clerks or Procurates of Cathedral Churches and those of the Diocesan Clergy as being variable and changeable from time to time though possibly a great part of them might be present and consenting also 1552. Nor stood this Book nor the Article of Free-will therein contained upon the order and authority only of this Convocation but had as good countenance and encouragement to walk abroad as could be superadded to it by an Act of Parliament as appears plainly by the Kings Preface to that Book and the Act it self to which for brevity sake I refer the Reader 4. But if it be replyed that there is no relying on the Acts of Parliament which were generally swayed changed and over-ruled by the power and passions of the King and that the Act of Parliament which approved this Book was repealed in the first year of King Edward the sixth as indeed it was we might refer the Reader to a passage in the Kings Epistle before remembred in which the doctrine of Free-will is affirmed to have been purged of all Popish errors concerning which take here the words of the Epistle viz. And forasmuch as the heads and senses of our people have been imbusied and in these days travelled with the understanding of Free-will Justification c. We have by the advice of our Clergy for the purgation of Erroneous Doctrine declared and set forth openly plainly and without ambiguity of speech the meere and certaine truth of them so as we verily trust that to know God and how to live after his pleasure to the attaining of everlasting life in the erd this Book containeth a perfect and sufficient Doctrine grounded and established in holy Scriptures And if it be rejoyned as perhaps it may that King Henry used to shift opinion in matters which concerned Religion according unto interest and reason of State it must be answered that the whole Book and every Tract therein contained was carefully corrected by Arch-bishop Cranmer the most blessed instrument under God of the Reformation before it was committed to the Prolocutor and the rest of the Celrgy For proof whereof I am to put the Reader in minde of a Letter of the said Archbishop relating to the eighth Chapter of this Book in which he signified to an honourable friend of his that he had taken the more paines in it because the Book being to be set forth by his Graces that is to say the Kings censure and judgement he could have nothing in it that Momus himself could reprehend as before was said And this I hope will be sufficient to free this Treatise of Free-will from the crime of Popery 5. But finally if notwithstanding all these Reasons it shall be still pressed by those of the Calvinian party that the Doctrine of Free-will which is there delivered is in all points the same with that which was concluded and agreed on in the Council of Trent as appears Cap. de fructibus justificationis merito bonorum operum Can. 34. and therefore not to be accounted any part of the Protestant Doctrine which was defended and maintained by the Church of England according to the first Rules of her Reformation the answers will be many and every answer not without its weight and moment For first it was not the intent of the first Reformers to depart farther from the Rites and Doctrines of the Church of Rome than that Church had departed from the simplicity both of Doctrine and Ceremonies which had been publickly maintained and used in the Primitive times as appears plainly by the whole course of their proceedings so much commended by King James in the Conference at Hampton Court Secondly this Doctrine must be granted also to be the same with that of the Melancthonian Divines or moderate Lutherans as was confessed by Andreas Vega one of the chief sticklers in the Council of Trent who on the agitating of the Point did confesse ingenuously that there was no difference betwixt the Lutherans and the Church touching that particular And then it must be confessed also
publick service if otherwise of known zeale against the Papists 2. Several examples of that kinde in the places of greatest power and trust in the Church of England particularly of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist and the occasion which he took of publishing his opinion in the point of predestination 3. His notes on one of the Letters of John Bradford Martyr touching the matter of Election therein contained 4. The difference between the Comment and the Text and between the authour of the Comment and Bishop Hooper 5. Exceptions against some passages and observations upon others in the said Notes of Mr. Fox 6. The great breach made hereby in the Churches Doctrine made greater by the countenance which was given to the Book of Acts and Monuments by the Convocation An. 1571. 7. No argument to be drawn from hence touching the approbation of his doctrine by that Convocation no more then for the Approbation of his Marginal Notes and some particular passages in it disgraceful to the Rites of the Church attire of the Bishops 8. A counterballance made in the Convocation against Fox his Doctrine and all other Novelismes of that kinde 1. IT was not long that Queen Mary sate upon the Throne and yet as short time as it was it gave not only a strong interruption for the present to the proceedings of the Church but an occasion also of great discord and dissention in it for the time to come For many of our Divines who had fled beyond the Sea to avoid the hurry of her Reign though otherwise men of good abilities in most parts of Learning returned so altered in their principals as to points of Doctrine so disaffected to the Government formes of worship here by Law established that they seem'd not to be the same men at their coming home as they had been at their going hence yet such was the necessity which the Church was under of filling up the vacant places and preferments which had been made void either by the voluntary discession or positive deprivation of the Popish Clergie that they were faine to take in all of any condition which were able to do the publick service without relation to their private opinions in doctrine or discipline nothing so much regarded in the choice of men for Bishopricks Deanries Dignities in Cathedral Churches the richest Bâ—nefices in the Countrey and places of most command and trust in the Universities as their known â—eal against the Papists together with such a sufficiency of learning as might enable them for writing and preaching against the Popes supremacy the carnal presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament the superstition of the Masse the halfe communion the celâ—bratin of Divine service in a tongue not known unto the people the inforced single life of Priests the worshiping of Images and other the like points of Popery which had given most offence and were the principal causes of that separation 2. On this account we finde Mr. Pilkington preferred to the See of Durham and Whittingham to the rich Deanry of the Church of which the one proved a great favourer of the Non-conformists as is confessed by one who challengeth a relation to his blood and family the other associated himself with Goodman as after Goodman did with Knox for planting Puritanisme and sedition in the Kirk of Scotland On this account Dr. Lawrence Humphrey a professed Calvinian in point of doctrine and a Non-conformist but qualified with the title of a moderate one is made the Queens professor for Divinity in the University of Oxon Thomas Cartwright that great Incendiary of this Church preferred to be the Lady Margarets professor in the University of Cambridge Sampson made Dean of Christ-church and presently proptor Puritaxismum Exauctoratus turned out again for Puritanisme as my Authour hath it Hardiman made one of the first Prebends of Westminster of the Queens foundation and not long after deprived of it by the high Commissioners for breaking down the Altar there and defacing the ancient utensils and ornaments which belonged to the Church And finally upon this account as Whitehead who had been Chaplaine to Queen Anne Bulline refused the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury before it was offered unto Parker and Covâ—rdale to be restored to the See of Exon which he had chearfully accepted in the time of King Edward so Mr. John Fox of great esteem for his painful and laborious work of Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs would not accept of any preferment in the Church but a Prebends place in Salisbury which tide him not to any residence in the same And this he did especially as it after proved to avoid subscription shewing a greater willingnesse to leaue his place then to subscribe unto the Articles of Religion then by Law established when he was legally required to do it by Arch-Bishop Parker Of this man there remains a short Discourse in his Acts and Monuments of Predestination occasioned by a letter of Mr. Bradfords before remembred whose Orthodox doctrine in that point he feared might create some danger unto that of Calvin which then began to finde a more general entertainment then could be rationally expected in so short a time And therefore as a counter-ballance he annexeth this discourse of his own with this following title viz. Notes on the same Epistle and the matter of Election thereunto appertaining ' 3. As touching the Doctrine of Election whereof this letter of Mr. Bradford and many other of his Letters more do much intreat three things must be considered 1. What Gods Election is and what the cause thereof 2. How Gods Election proceedeth in working our salvation 3. To whom Gods election pertaineth and how a man may be certaine thereof Between Predestination and Election this difference there is Predestination is as well to the Reprobate as to the Elect Election pertaineth onely to them that be saved Predestination in that it respecteth the reprobate is called reprobation in that it respected the saved is called Election and is thus defined Predestination is the eternall decreement of God purposed before in himself what shall befal all men either to salvation or damnation Election is the free mercy and grace of God in his own will through faith in Christ his Sonne choosing and preferring to life such as pleaseth him In this definition of Election first goeth before the mercy and grace of God as the causes thereof whereby are excluded all works of the Law and merits of deserving whither they go before faith or come after so was Jacob chosen and Esau refused before either of them began to work c. Secondly in that the mercy of God in this Definition is said to be free thereby is to be noted the proceeding and working of God not to be bound to any ordinary place or to any succession of choice nor to state and dignity of person nor to worthinesse of blood c. but all goeth by the meere will of his own purpose as it is
written spiritus ubi vult spirat c. And thus was the outward race and stock of Abraham after flesh refused which seemed to have the preheminence and another seed after the Spirit raised by Abraham of the stones that is of the Gentiles So was the outward Temple of Jerusalem and chaire of Moses which seem'd to be of price forsaken and Gods chaire advanced in other Nations So was tall Saul refused and little David accepted the rich the proud and the wise of this world rejected and the word of salvation daily opened to the poore and miserable Abjects the high mountaines cast under and the low valleys exalted c. And in the next place it is added in his own will by this falleth down the free will and purpose of man with all his actions councels and strength of nature according as it is written non est volentis neque currentis sed miserentis Dei c. It is not him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy So we see how Israel ran long and yet got nothing The Gentile runneth began to set out late and yet got the game So they which came at the first which did labour more and yet they that came last were rewarded with the first Mat. 20. The working will of the Pharisee seemed better but yet the Lords Will was rather to justifie the Publican Luk. 18. The elder son had a better will to tarry by his father and so did indeed and yet the fat calf was given to the younger son that ran away Luk. 15. whereby we have to understand how the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept according as it is written non ex voluntate carnis neque ex voluntate viri sed ex Deo nati sunt c. Which are born not of the will of the flesh nor yet of the will of man but of God Furthermore as all then goeth by the will of God only and not by the will of man So againe here is to be noted that the will of God never goeth without faith in Christ Jesus his Son And therefore fourthly is this clâ—use added in the definition through faith in Christ his Sonne which faith in Christ to us-ward maketh altogether For first it certifieth us of Gods Election as this Epistle of Mr. Bradford doth well expresse For whosoever will be certain of his Election in God let him first begin with faith in Christ which if he finde in him to stand firme he may be sure and nothing doubt but that he is one of the number of Gods Elect. Secondly the said faith and nothing else is the only condition and meanes whereupon Gods mercy grace Election vocation and all Gods promises to salvation do stay accordingly the word of St. Paul si permanseritis in fide and if ye abide in the faith Col. 1. 3. This faith is the mediate and next cause of our justification simply without any condition annexed For as the mercy of God his grace Election vocation and other precedent causes do save and justifie us upon condition if we believe in Christ so this faith onely in Christ without condition is the next and immediate cause which by Gods promise worketh our justification according as it is written crede in dominum Jesum salvus eris tu domus tua Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thy whole house And thus much touching the Definition of Election with the causes thereof declared which you see now to be no merits or works of man whither they go before or come after faith For like as all they that be borne of Adam do taste of his Malediction though they tasted not of the Apple so all they that be born of Christ which is by faith take part of the obedience of Christ although they never did that obedience themselves which was in him Rom. 5. Now to the second consideration Let us see likewise how and in what order this Election of God proceedeth in choosing and electing them which he ordaineth to salvation which order is this In them that be chosen to life first Gods mercy and free grace bringeth forth Election Election worketh Vocation or Gods holy calling which Vocation though hearing bringeth knowledge and faith in Christ Faith through promise obtaineth justification juctification through hope waiteth for glorification Election is before time vocation and faith cometh in time justification and glorification is without end Election depending upon Gods free grace and will excludeth all mans will blinde fortune chance and all peradventures Vocation standing upon Gods Election excludeth all mans wisdome cunning learning intention power and presumption Faith in Christ proceeding by the gift of the holy Ghost and freely justifying man by Gods promise excludetâ—â— all other merits of men all condition of deserving and all works of the Law both Gods Law and mans Law with all other outward means whatsoever Justification coming freely by faith standeth sure by promise without doubt fear or wavering in this life Glorification appertaining only to the life to come by hope is looked for Grace and Mercy preventeth Election ordaineth Vocation prepareth and receiveth the Word whereby cometh faith Faith justifieth Justification bringeth glory Election is the immediate and next cause of Vocation Vocation which is the working of Gods Spirit by the Word is the immediate and next cause of faith Faith is the immediate and next cause of justification And this order and connexion of causes is diligently to be observed because of the Papists which have miserably confounded and inverted this doctrine thus teaching that Almighty God so far as he foreseeth mans merits before to come so doth he dispense his Election Dominus prout â—njusque merita fore previdet ita dispensat electionis gratiam futuris tamen concedere That is that the Lord recompenseth the grace of Election not to any merits proceeding but yet granteth the same to the merits that follow after and not rather have our holinesse by Gods Election going before But we following the Scripture say otherwise that the cause onely of Gods Election is his own free mercy and the cause onely of our justification is our faith in Christ and nothing else As for example first concerning Election if the question be asked why was Aâ—raham chosen and not Naâ—hâ—â— why was Jacob chosen and not Esâ—u why was Moses 〈◊〉 and Pharâ—â—â—â—â—â—dened â—â—â—dened why Dâ—vid accepted and Saul refused why few be chosen and the most forsaken It cannot be answered otherwise but thus because so was the good will of God In like manner touching vocation and also faith if the question be asked why this vocation and gift of faith was given to Cornelius the Gentile and not to Tertullus the Jew why to the poore the babes and the little ones of the world of whom Christ speaketh I thank the Father which hast hid these from
the wise c. Mat. 11. why to the unwise the simple abjects and out-casts of the world of whom speaketh Saint Paul 1 Cor. 1 You see your calling my brethren why not many of you c. Why to the sinners and not to the just why the beggars by the high-wayes were called and the bidden guests excluded We can ascribe no other cause but to Gods purpose and Election and say with Christ our Saviour quia Pater sic complacitum est ante te ye Father for that it seemed good in thy sight Luk. 10. And so it is for justification likewise if the question be asked why the Publican was justified and not the Pharisee Luk. 18. Why Mary the sinner and not Simon the inviter Luke 11. Why Harlots and Publicans go before the Scribes and Pharisees in the Kingdome Mat. 21. why the sonne of the Free-woman was received and the bond-womans Son being his elder rejected Gen. 21. why Israel which so long sought for righteousnesse found it not and the Gentiles which sought it not found it Rom. 9. We have no other cause hereof to render but to say with Saint Paul because they sought for it by works of the Law and not by faith which faith as it cometh not by mans will as the Papists falsely pretendeth but onely by the election and free gift of God so it is onely the immediate cause whereto the promise of our salvation is annexed according as we read And therefore of faith is the inheritance given as after grace that the promise might stand sure to every side Rom. 4. and in the same Chapter Faith believing in him that justifieth the wicked is imputed to righteousnesse And this concerning the causes of our salvation you you see how faith in Christ immediately and without condition doth justifie us being solicited with Gods mercy and election that wheresoever election goeth before faith in Christ must needs follow after And again whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus through the vocation of God he must needs be partaker of Gods election whereupon resulteth the third note or consideration which is to consider whither a man in this life may be certaine of his election To answer to which question this first is to be understood that although our election and vocation simply indeed be known to God onely in himselfe a priore yet notwithstanding it may be known to every particular faithful man a Posteriore that is by means which means is faith in Christ Jesus crucified For as much as by faith in Christ a man is justified and thereby made the childe of salvation reason must needs lead the same to be then the childe of election chosen of God to everlasting life For how can a man be saved but by consequence it followeth that he must also be elected And therefore of election it is truly said de electione judicandum est a posteriore that is to say we must judge of election by that which cometh after that is by our faith and belief in Christ which faith although in time it followeth after election yet this the proper immediate cause assigned by the Scripture which not onely justifieth us but also certifieth us of this election of God whereunto likewise well agreeth this present Letter of Mr. Bradford wherein he saith Election albeit in God it be the first yet to us it is the last opened And therefore beginning first saith he with Creation I come from thence to Redemption and justification by faith so to election not that faith is the cause efficient of election being rather the effect thereof but is to us the cause certificatory or the cause of our certification whereby we are brought to the feeling and knowledge of our election in Christ For albeit the election first be certain in the knowledge of God yet in our knowledge faith only that we have in Christ is the thing that giveth to us our certificate and comfort of this election Wherefore whosoever desireth to be assured that he is one of the Elect number of God let him not climbe up to heaven to know but let him descend into himself and there search his faith in Christ the Son of God which if he find in him not feigned by the working of Gods Spirit accordingly thereupon let him stay and so wrap himself wholly both body and foul under Gods general promise and cumber his head with no further speculations knowing this that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish John 3. shall not be confounded Rom. 9. shall not see death John 8. shall not enter into judgement John 5. shall have everlasting life John 3. 7. shall be saved Mat. 28. Acts 16. shall have remission of all his sins Act. 10. shall be justified Rom. 3. Cal. 2. shall have floods flowing out of him of the water of life Joh. 7. shall never die John 11. shall be raised at the last day John 6. shall finde rest in his soul and be refreshed Mat. 11 c. 4. Such is the judgement and opinion of our Martyrologist in the great point of Predestination unto life the residue thereof touching justification being here purposely cut off with an c. as nothing pertinent to the businesse which we have in hand But between the Comment and the Text there is a great deal of difference the Comment laying the foundation of Election on the Will of God according to the Zuinglian or Calvinian way but the Text laying it wholly upon faith in Christ whom God the Father hath Predestinate in Christ unto eternal life according to the doctrine of the Church of England The Text first presupposeth an estate of sin and misery into which man was fallen a ransom paid by Christ for man and his whole Posterity a freedome left in man thus ransomed either to take or finally to refuse the benefit of so great mercy and then fixing or appropriating the benefit of so great a mercy as Christ and all his merits do amount to upon such only as believe But the Comment takes no notice of the fall of man grounding both Reprobation and Election on Gods â—bsolute pleasure without relation to mans sin or our Saviours sufferings or any acceptation or refusal of his mercies in them As great a difference there is between the Authour of the Comment and Bishop Hooper as between the Comment and the Text Bishop Hooper telling us cap. 10. num 2. that Saul was no more excluded from the promise of Christ then David Esau then Jacob Judas then Peter c. if they had not excluded themselves quite contrary to that of our present Authour who having asked the question why Jacob was chosen and not Esau why David accepted and Saul refused c. makes answer that it cannot otherwise be answered then that so was the good Will of God 5. And this being said I would faine know upon what authority the Authour hath placed Nachor amongst the reprobates in the same Ranck with Esau Pharaoh and Saul all