Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	see_v	2,875	5	3.5208	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96265	A discovery, and confutation of the opinions, and practises of some false brethren, betwixt Bridge, and Lincolne: shewing how they agree in their opinions, with Pelagians; Papists; Arminians; in their practises, with Anabaptists. Wherein univerall redemption is confuted; and Gods absolute decree confirmed. / By John Wetherall, minister of Spridlington, near Lincolne. March 22. 1651. Imprimatur. John Downame.	Wetherall, John, minister of Spridlington.	1652 (1652)	Wing W1523; Thomason E661_1; ESTC R206761	53,660	88

house may hee not take them in and refuse to afford me that favour and for no other Reason but because he will not If I should say Sir shew mee a Reason wherefore you reject mee may he not answer it is because he will not accept me must there needs be a quarrell or hee may not So heere must there needs be infidelity evill Workes Originall sinne or some other ill condition in me or else God may not do with his owne as he lift sure none will say so against themselves then how can they suppose it so of God The Master whose Scholers we may nay wee must be Mat. 20. 15. said it was lawfull for him to doe with his owne as hee lifted and may not God have the same leave as that Parable seems to prove Stat pro ratione voluntas is most proper to Almighty God Reprobation by it selfe considered is no punishment therefore it supposeth no fault the name signifieth no more but not to allow of sola voluntas decretum beneplacitum propositum Dei all or any of these cannot stand with the fore-sight of Faith or Infidelity good or evill Workes Indeed God foresees all sinnes Originall and Actuall it were Atheisme to deny it but that any sin Originall or Actuall ought to goe before the first Act of God called Reprobation I utterly deny let them call Faith Infidelity good and evill Workes but Objects Motives Reasons Circumstances considerable in Gods Decree yet if they looke into their Logicke it will let them see that the least of Causes Causa sine quâ non is yet a Cause and God if hee regard any thing but his owne Will in Election or Reprobation must goe extrase to say as they say to salve the Justice of God that he could not Elect without looking on man in massa Corrupta and yet that he did not consider it as any Reason of his Decree is without Reason I know my wise Adversaries the Black-smith or whosoever sent abroad that bable Object against these things and so do the Papists because they will not seeme to play the Fooles without Reason that by this it followes the Freedome of mans Will must perish Gods Glory is obscured saith Mr. T. if he punish necessitated wickednesses The Papists and Pelagians are of this Opinion then a Murtherer saith Pighius when he killeth a man may be excused because he hath executed the Decree of God then all care diligence and endeavour is taken away if our Thoughts Words Deeds be determined of God to such I may answer or aske this Question Can they doe any thing that God hath not decreed They are almost Atheists that say they can then it followes they can doe nothing but it is decreed Let Pet. Mart. answer for me part 3. pa. 6. I wonder saith he speaking of these and other Objections of Pighius that any Divine could let such an old Wifes Talecome out of his mouth Can Judas be excused of his wicked treason against our Saviour because he heard the Lord fore-tell his mischievous designe John 13. 21. So then it is a simple nay it is a sinfull thing to excuse any sinne by the eternall or absolute Decree of God it is his owne Will not the Will of God that the mischiefe-munger or the murtherer regards he cannot doe otherwise nay but aske himselfe and hee 'l say he will not Such as maintaine Gods absolute Decree hold necessity infallibilitatis not coactionis they say that God determines mans Will and yet it is Free as I shewed before and followes the dictate of its owne Intellect to reason thus God hath eternally fore-seene Judas his impenitency therefore decreed him to eternall damnation therefore Judas shal infallibly continue impenitent and at length be damned is a true inference but this God hath eternally fore-seene Judas his impenitency therefore Judas shall by coaction or compulsion of his Will be made unalterably impenitent and so be damned is a false Conclusion The Agent is yet as free as if God had not foreseene the absolute will of God to worke faith repentance c. in Peter maketh not these actions compulsory but maketh the agent most free for it giveth him that spirit of which the Apostle sayth ubi spiritus ibi libertas true and perfect liberty and Gods Spirit goe both together and e contra non-Election denieth men that Grace which would effectually and infallibly make them produce good Actions but it depriveth them not of their owne naturall freedome neither doth it compell them to evill actions Divina Voluntas non tollit potentiam ad oppositum God hath determined to permit men to faile in attaining eternall life but he is not Authour of their sinnes whereby they incur eternall death In good Actions the Freedome of men Elected is not vaine though the End be determined because God hath determined together with the End that by their free Actions they shall attaine it and in bad their Freedome is not vaine because thereby their Consciences are convinced of their guilt and Gods Justice cleared in their damnation Reprobation and the permission thereto annexed importeth not a witholding of Grace necessary for the avoyding of sinne so permitted much lesse a necessitation of Sinners to their severall sinnes but a witholding of all Grace which would de facto be effectuall to the avoyding of sinne so that sinne flowes not from this 〈◊〉 and Permission as an Effect from the Cause but 〈◊〉 Consequence from the Antecedent necessitate infallibilitatis as the Sunne witholding his Beames causeth not darknesse yet darknesse is a Consequent Neither doth this Preterition or Reprobation imply a substraction of any Graces or helpes obtained but a non-Donation of such Graces without which God foresaw that Reprobates out of their own Free-Will would infallibly perish in their sins Deo Reprobante non irrogatur aliquid quo homo fit deterior sed tantùm non irrogatur quo fiat melior man is not made worser but he is not made better by this Act of Preterition or Reprobation Nay there is not only a bare permissive but there is also an energeticall and operative Will in God conjoyned with the permissive Will and this operative or energeticall Will of God is apparent in these six Circumstances 1. God eternally decreeth and accordingly when sinfull Actions are committed giveth the sinner power and use of Understanding and Free Will without which he could not sinne 2. God thereby eternally decreed to concurre and doth concurre ad materialem actum peccati to the sinne as it is an Action 3. God decreed the Circumstances or Occasions good as from God whereupon he saw the sinner would make evill use and sinne 4. God decreed to deny the Meanes that he knew would have prevented such sinnes and offered onely such as he knew the sinner would abuse to the committing of sinne 5. God limiteth and ordereth their sinnes so that they breake forth in no other measure at no other time upon no other persons then

moved to their Effects by the First and in their operations reduced to the motion of one universall prime Cause that is God Therefore it is the Scriptures say that the way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man to direct his owne steps Jer. 10. 28. It is God that gives a new heart and puts a new spirit in man Jer. 31. 33. God placed the members in mans body and orders them as it pleaseth him 1. Cor. 12. 18. It is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord and he turneth it as it pleaseth him Prov. 21. 1. He hardened Pharaohs heart Exod. 7. 3. as hard as a stone and he takes away our stony hearts and gives us hearts of flesh he hath done he doth and he will doe what he will The will of God was but fulfilled when Judas did betray Jesus Act. 1. 16. Herod Pontius Pilate and the whole Synagogue of the Jewes did no more then what God had determined to be done Act. 2. 23. and Act. 4. 28. The whole World united can doe nothing but what God will and God is not moved consequently by any thing which he as a superiour Cause moves and determines to the Effect but God himselfe antecedently as a superiour Cause moves and determines the Will of man to the Effect or that which it wils be it good or ill Therefore it follows God is not consequently moved by the good or ill use of the Free Will of man therefore the good use of mans Will foreseen moved not God to Elect him and the evill use of mans Will foreseen was not the Cause that God Reprobated him Therefore God had no Antecedent Will to save the Reprobate if they would by their Free Will receive and use his Grace aright therefore Gods Decree touching the Salvation and Reprobation of men is lastly and finally resolved into his owne pure Will Universalist thou tellest me of the love of God to Man and in that thou tellest me true for if all the World were full of Bookes if all the men in the world were Writers and if all the water in the Sea were Inke yet the Bookes would bee written the Writers weary the Inke spent and yet the Love of God to us poorely expressed but then let me tell thee that this Love of God to man should make a reflection towards this Sun and move man to love God againe and nothing but God and himselfe for this God that loved him when he was nothing submitting himselfe wholy and soly to the Will of God There are foure degrees of Love First a man loves himselfe for his owne sake for he is flesh and so naturally can love nothing but himselfe but when he sees that he cannot subsist without God then necessity compels him but for his owne sake still to flie to God and when he has begun to love God though but for his owne sake and begins withall to taste and see how sweet God is then he loves God no more for his owne sake but for Gods sake and when he has attained to this third step to love God for Gods sake he staies there and strives if it be possible for any man to obtaine this heavenly happynesse heere on Earth to love himselfe onely for Gods sake Thus the true love of God should both begin and end onely in God like a Circle which begins and ends in it selfe Now let Mr. T. take heed how hee preach against this absolute Will and Power in God and plead his owne Faith and Workes lest God at length be avenged on him God hath leaden heeles but iron hands he seemes to winke with his eyes but it is as Gunners use that they may hit surer when they shoot Origen in his second Booke against Celsus saith thus A certaine man gave counsell to his friend that was sick not to send for the Physitian because sayd he it is already appoynted by Destiny either that thou shalt recover of this Disease or that thou shalt not if it be appoynted by God or by thy Destiny that thou shalt recover thou shalt then not need the Physitian if it be not appoynted by God if it be not thy Destiny to recover the Physitian though hee come cannot helpe thee wherefore whether God have decreed thou shalt recover or not the Physitian will be called in vaine Another by the like Argument disswaded his Friend from Marriage Thou wilt marry a Wife sayd he to beget Children but if it be thy Destiny to have Children thou shalt have them without a Wife if it be not thy Destiny it will nothing further thee to marry a Wife for whatsoever Destiny hath decreed in this kinde will come to passe it is in vaine therefore to marry a Wife Thus wicked men deride and would rather that blind-man-buffle in the World then that God determine every Action and Event or fix his Decree But the first did send for the Physitian and the second did marry a Wife Hee us'd a wiser Argument who told them that God having Predestinated Men to such Ends Predestinated also that they should use the Means The sick man might safely answer nay rather if God have Decreed I shall recover therefore I will send for the Physitian that by his means I may attaine to that which God hath Decreed Thus Hezekiah had fifteen years added to his life by using the meanes and yet he 's a Devill that denies God did from all eternity determine the certaine number of his dayes And that other might answer if God have appoynted I shall have children seeing it can or ought to come to passe by no other meanes I will marry a Wife In this absolute Predestination we are far enough from the Stoicks Fate they subjected God himselfe to Fate we subject Fate that is the necessity of things to Gods most Free-Will they under the name of Fate understood a necessary connexion of naturall Causes and Effects we teach that God can and often doth suspend these Effects and works besides nay against Nature The Stoicks tooke away all contingency Wee admit contingency in respect of second Causes but we say there is a certaine prescience in the first Cause all things are ordered by the providence of God Indeed the Turks out of their obstinate beliefe of Predestination brutishly contemne all kindes of dangers for they say that as soone as man comes out of his mothers Wombe to enjoy the light of the world God writes in his forehead all the good or evill that shall happen unto him and particularly of what death hee shall dye the necessity whereof they say no humane power can avoyd and hence it came to passe that Anno 1611. there died of the Plague in Constantinople 200000. in five months every day 12 or 15 hundred for they will not turn away from a body dead of this disease nor forbeare to visit

a Lanthorn and Candle lighted is better then a Man that hath a Torch if it be unlighted now in all these 4. or 5. years that they have roved in our corner of the Country I heard of none that made day resistance or did or durst say Sir Why doe you so The feare of Captaine T. and his Troops did shake some Ministers and many other men besides like a Fever or as the Trees of the Forest are shaken with the Wind Therefore rather then Gods Cause should sustaine such damage as I saw it did by a general silence I stept forth like the Lacedemonian Soldiour impotent of his legs and neither meet to fight nor to flie yet had he this hope that he might blunt the edge of his Enemies swords and set on or make others ashamed that were more able to fight Silver and Gold have I none but Goats hair or Rammes skins or such as I have I give to cover the Tabernacle of my God It pitied mee to see the Sheepe of Christ like Wolves swallow down whole whatsoever was put into their mouthes by such Carvers and if I gain or beget but one Soule it will be some comfort to me That one in time may beget another and that other another and so I may bee a means to beget many Soules to God I shall pray as it is my part that my poore paines may profit thee Reader and prevaile to the beating down of Sinnes and Schismes which God grant for Christ Jesus his sake our only Lord and Saviour It shall be in the dayly devotions of Thy Brother in Christ JOHN WETHERALL In pag. 4. line 17. for Earth read Church A Discovery and Confutation of the Opinions and Practises of some false Brethren c. SUch as are Adversaries to the Truth slaunder our Doctrine touching Predestination and Free Will as if thereby we led men to bee carelesse in their lives because as they urge it God having Predestinated all things mans Free Will is lost thereby so that he can not doe otherwise then he doth but God himselfe by our Doctrine must be the Authour of sinne Wherein they shew their unsatiable desire of contētion that besides the Grave the barren Womb the Earth the Fire which are never satisfied Pro. 30. 15. There is yet a fifth thing as unsatiable as they that is the Contentious Spirit of an Adversary never satisfied with lying and contradiction For let them say directly what they mislike Is it our Doctrine of Predestination Yea besides that it is the Profession of all the Protestant Churches you shall see it presently proved by one who is able to say the least of ten thousand Is it because we deny Free Will Yea they bely their owne knowledge they know we deny it but in part In statu integro it was Free in statu laeso it is Free from constraint Is it because we teach God is the Authour of sinne Even the Jesuits excuse us the Protestants know well saith Suarez that God intendeth not that Opuse lib. 2. cap. 2. which is formall in sinne nor inclineth the Will of man that he should intend it Or is it finally because we hold some fatall necessity constraining the Will of man that he cannot doe otherwise then he doth That so all care and consultation should be to no purpose Indeed some of the old Philosophers and new Mahumetans tell such Tales but we teach the contrary These and the like being malicious and base imputations devised by men in their fury and desperate adventures against us to seduce the ignorant and make our Cause odious which even their owne people would embrace if they knew it And my selfe being threatned by many ignorant men of meane condition set on by others not onely with the losse of my Living but I may almost say of my life besides the slaunders cast upon me by such as can doe nothing else I am forced therefore to this Defence for my selfe the Church of England and other Reformed Protestant Churches against Pelagians Papists Arminians Universalists I have read of a studious Father who meditating very much upon the Mystery of the Trinity there appeared unto him a Childe that with a Shell was lading the Sea into a little hole he demanded of the Child what he was about to doe I intend sayd the Childe to empty all the Ocean into this Pit it is impossible for thee sayd the Father as possible the Childe replyed as for thee to comprehend this profound Mystery in thy shallow capacity De me nunc narratur fabula and this is the Case of the most able men in these deepe Divine Mysteries Simonides being asked by Hiero King of Sicily what God was he desired a day to deliberate then being asked again he desired two daies and being asked again he desired four daies and ever as he was asked he gave no other answer but desired to have the dayes doubled but double and triple daies and yeares yet that time is no time for such an undertaking For the men of this World to undertake to tell what God did even before there was one man or a world is but a desperate adventure even beyond the Gyants of old but it is able to make any mans heart ake and his haire stand upright to heare how our ignorant people prate as boldly as if they had beene by and say what they say concerning the secret unsearchable Decree of our Great God Almighty if any man list to heare he may for they will speake that which I may not write For my owne part in this mysterious point of Predestination I could have chosen rather to ascend by Repentance New Obedience Good Workes c. Then descend diving into or determining Gods Decree For I know that in the true Doctrine of Predestination we should reason rather ascendendo then descendendo thus I live in obedience to God in love with my Neighbour I follow my Vocation honestly and therefore I trust that God hath Elected and Predestinated mee to salvation not thus which is the usuall course of Argument God hath Predestinated and chosen me to life therefore though I sinne never so grievously yet I shall not be damned For whom he once loveeth hee loveth to the end I say that this is the right manner of reasoning in the point of Predestination But unlesse we will suffer our people to be led I verily believe they will be loth to let me tell the manner how they are led I must declare my conscience to cleare my self that it is none of my fault if any persevere and perish in this rent now new made in the Earth through which they may as easily fall into Hell as Korah and his Company did through that rent in the Earth therefore with as great a care as I can to avoyd Presumption I proceed First touching Predestination we hold according Rom. 9. Eph. 1. 4 5. 1. Thes 5. Acts 2. 23. 2. Tim. 2. 20. to the Scriptures

himselfe hath fore-appoynted 6. God ordereth all these sinnes to his owne Glory and the good of his Elect. For the most sinfull Actions of man tend to the manifestation of Gods Glory either as Acts of mercy to the godly in whom sinne produceth punishment punishment Repentance Repentance Faith Faith the Favour of God and the Favour of God Life and Salvation or as Acts of Justice to the Wicked in whom sinne produceth punishment punishment hardnesse of heart hardnesse of heart incredulity incredulity hatred of God and hatred of God death and destruction All which is manifest in the different effects which sinne produced in godly David and in ungodly Pharoah as for example Davids Murther and Adultery occasioned Reproofes and Corrections from God 2. Sam. 12. Psal 6. Psal 22. These corrections and punishments wrought sorrow and Repentance in Davids heart Psal 5. that Repentance Faith and trust in God Psal 30. Psal 31. Psal 52. Psal 23. That Faith and Trust obtained Love and Favour from God Psal 27. and that Love and Favour an assured hope of Life and Salvation Psal 12. But Pharaohs oppressions provoaked God to send his judgements and plagues upon him these plagues they hardned Pharoahs heart that hardnesse of heart caused incredulity that incredulity the hatred of God and that hatred occasioned Pharaohs ruine and destruction in the red Sea as it is Exod. 14. Yea the goodnesse of God made the very drunkenesse and incest of Lot the incest of Judah the malice of the Jewes the treason of Judas and the injustice of Pilate Meanes of mans salvation yea even Adams Fall the fountaine of sinne and misery in man was by the wisdome of God made a meanes of greater happinesse to the Godly then his perseverance and continuance in Innocency could have been For if life had been given as a reward of our just Workes so the wittiest of the Schoolemen Scotus then our Worke being finite could not have merited an infinite reward the enjoyment whereof but one minute had passed our merit whereas life eternall being now conferred upon the faithfull not by way of Debt but by the Free Grace and Mercy of God this infinite Gift is proportioned not according to the meane merits of the Receiver but according to the goodnesse of God the Giver So that even Sinne it selfe on this manner that I have shewed may be said to be of God Let a man spur forward a lame Horse in that he moveth forward the Rider is Cause but that he halteth he himselfe is the cause When we see the Sun Beames shining through a Glasse the Light is from the Sun the Colour not from the Sun but from the Glasse For talis Actio cum tali defectu is not of God as sinfull Actions have in them formalem rationem peccati and are opposite to the Rule of Gods Law so God neither is nor can be the Causer of them yet is he the Cause of that inward or outward naturall Action wherein this defect of mans Will is found Entitas pravae actionis cadit in Voluntatem Divinam yet man hath not onely potentiam in se liberam but liberum usum potentiae not onely free power but also free use of his power as it appeares in Thieves Adulterers and the like who when there is danger doe not yet after do commit such sins God is no Enforcer in sinfull Actions yet may he be a Decreer or Permitter suffering persōs not elected to fall volūtarily into sins to continue volūtarily in thē to their lives end for thē to undergo endless misery in another life God decreed the permission disposing of sin which he fore-saw upon his permission would be but he did not decree the effecting or Existence of it that it should be it more appertained to Gods Omnipotent Goodnesse to draw good out of evill then not to suffer evill to be And as in bad so also in good Actions God not onely fore-sees that a man will use his Free-Will well but wils and preordaines that he shall use it well It is true that men justified by Gods Predestination by their endeavour and deliberation may be said to determine themselves to good Workes I say after Justification but it is God that moves and makes them thus to determine themselves and doe all these things with a Free Will This is a sure Rule a man doth not that good thing which by Grace he is able to doe unlesse God make him to doe it as he hath made him able to do it if he will Ad perseverantiam in Fide Gratia non opus est nova speciali Gratia sufficit ad hoc vel quod Naturà habemus vel quod semel per Spiritum adepti sumus to perseverance in Faith and Grace there needes no speciall Grace Nature or Grace once received is sufficient for this None have beene so bold to say thus but the old Pelagians and later Semi-Pelagians It is true that Christ saith of sinfull Jerusalem How often would I have gathered thy Children together as an Hen gathereth her Chickens and yee would not Mat. 23. 37. But he willed togather them not Voluntate beneplaciti which cannot be resisted but by his revealed Will using the meanes which might had man not falne have beene effectuall that impotency in our Wills comes not from the Creator but from man that fell from his Creator and the Will is now starke dead as to good Actions untill it be enlivened by God This damnable Doctrine that all men were redeemed by Christ but not made free because God distributeth his gifts according to the carelesnesse of such as came to receive them was an old rotten Heresie buried many hundred yeares since and raised up againe by the Devill to disturbe the peace of the Church in our dayes To drive this nayle any further were needlesse had I Men to deal with but my Adversaries many of them are such Beasts as fought with Paul at Ephesus therefore yet once over againe all this I have sayd shall bee poved both by evident Reasons and out of the Word of God For 1. I say God foresees all Contingent Effects to come in his own determination of the Causes thereof and therefore seeing the Contingent Operation of our Will hee determines it to the Effect 2. Els there should bee two severall beginnings of one and the same Effect in as much as Mans Will should begin to work as soon as God and concur to the Effect willed as principally as God 3. The Will of Man is but Gods Instrument the Hatchet the Hammer whereby God hewes out his own worke but every one that useth any Instrument moves applies and determines it to his own will 4. The Will of Man is but a secondary subordinate Cause under the first Cause which is God and exceeds not the measure of second Causes but if it were not determined by the first Cause it should be all one with the first Cause it selfe Second Causes are alwaies

their Friends being infected no they conclude it contrary to all reason that any good or evill can bee prevented seeing every thing is pre-ordayned of God But wee Christians are taught better things that we should not so foolishly examine the secret Counsells of God as to make them altogether agreeable to our blockish Reason I might enlarge my selfe on this Subject I want not matter to stop the widest mouth among my neighbors but I will draw towards a Conclusion Reader I pray thee seriously consider if both the Supra-lapsarian and the Sub-lapsarian may not meete and sweetly set forth the Mercy and Justice of God the Supra-lapsarians say that in the first Act of Reprobation God doth all for himself only in the second that is Damnation he does all for sin in this last the Supra-lapsarian and the Sub-lapsarian say that God doth the second for Sin I see not why he may not say hee doth the first for Himselfe and so be in that a Supra-lapsarian but foreseene Faith and Works in the first Act of God clashes ex Diametro against the Word of God I know in God there is no first or last prius or posterius but yet for our better understanding wee may conceive the Decrees of Election and Preterition in order of priority antecedent to the permission of sin and therefore much more to the prevision I conceive the Question is not whether God foresaw what Good and Bad would doe who dares doubt of that but whether the Different Actions of Men foreseen caused the Different Decrees of their Election and Preterition indeed it is impossible but that God should see all things at once therefore he could not Predestinate or Reprobate without prevision and permission of sin but even Originall sin alone though foreseene could not bee Cause why Peter was Predestinated and Judas not seeing it was foreseen in both and made both ex aequo Reprobabiles therefore it was Gods will that made a difference and not any Originall sin God determined to permit the Apostasie of Men and Angels to damne some of Men all the Apostate Angells yet God might have Elected Cain or Judas unto Glory without injustice and passed by Peter God forbid we should say the Divine Will was determined and could not doe otherwise yet Cain Judas and Peter were equally guilty of Originall sin Wee grant not that by this absolute Reprobation God Decreeth that Men not Predestinated should unavoydably sinne that so they may certainly be damned but we grant that God foreknoweth persons not elected will voluntarily commit those sinnes for which hee intends to damne them but Negative Reprobation neither procureth nor supposeth any sinne as damnation doth The Decrees of excluding men out of Heaven and tormenting them in Hell are different I say then that even Judas notwithstanding his Reprobation might have been saved had hee not continued voluntarily impenitent if any say he could not yea but I say he would not there was by Gods Act of Reprobation no necessity of coaction imposed on his will And now if any object that the salvation of all were more for Gods glory To this I answer God is not to learne of us what makes most for his Glory hee could have upheld the Angels Adam saved all and every particular but he did not he doth not therefore this absolute Decree to bring but some to salvation and permit others infallibly to fall doth make most for his glory Indeed Alphonsus K. of Castile sayd God might have made his Works and done many things much better then he did but it was Blasphemy take you heed Mr. T. I must not omit how that the 39. Articles agreed upon by the whole Clergie of England anno 1562. for establishing of Consent touching true Religion are flat opposite to these Opinions of our Universalists they are against the 10. Article which sayth That man since the fall of Adam hath no Free Will or Power to doe any thing pleasant and acceptable unto God they are against the 11. Article which saith Justification is not for any of our own works or deservings they are against the 12. Article which sayth Good works are onely fruits of Faith and follow after Justification and by Consequence Election they are against the 17. Article which calls Predestination to life the everlasting Purpose of God wherely before the Foundations of the World were layd he hath constantly Decreed by his Counsell secret to us to deliver from curse and damnation those whom hee hath chosen in Christ out of mankinde and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour c. So then the Foundation of Predestination to life is the purpose of God and his Counsell not foreseene Faith whereby hee hath constantly Decreed Predestination is immutable to deliver from Curse those only whom he had chosen in Christ hee had no purpose to save all and they are called Vessels made to honour which implies other Vessels made to dishonour If Mr. T. be a Minister then hee might remember that hee once consented to the truth of these Articles Indeed Arminius in his Declaration to the States of Holland and West-Frisland endeavoureth to prove by 20. Arg. That God hath not Decreed absolutely to save certaine particulars And Bertius his Scholar saith This absolute Decree openeth a gate on this side to a dissolute life on that side to desperation They say further That the Opinion of precise Election without respect of foreseene Faith in the Elect overthroneth all Religion But Reader thou mayst remember that these two are much like those Artists that found out the Trade they professed they are not the Children of our Mother both Arminians and our Universalists make a desperate use of this Doctrine but the Doctrine it self is no desperate Doctrine or Doctrine of desperation but of Heavenly consolation as wee read in our 17. Article the words are these The godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ is full of sweet pleasant and unspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feele in themselves the working of the spirit of Christ mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members and drawing up their mindes to high and heavenly things as well because it doth greatly establish and confirme the Faith of eternall Salvation to be enjoyed through Christ as because it doth fervently kindle their love towards God c. They that draw desperate Conclusions because of Gods Decree are condemned in that Article and I am sure our Doctrine of Predestination is a savour of life unto life if it prove a savour of death unto death it is onely to such as pervert the Doctrine of Holy Scriptures to their owne destruction 2. Pet. 3. 16. But the Doctrine of the Arminians and our Vniversalists which makes Gods Election depend upon the Will of man which may totally and finally fall from Grace is a most desperate Doctrine and deprives a Christian of all comfort both in life and