be saved such as are to turne unto God to beleeve to persevere and particular ensuing acts which being considered by themselves are not absolutely necessary to salvation as the avoyding of this and that sinne the not omitting of such and such a good deed For the performing of the former actions grace doth so worke that it gives the Elect both power and will to accomplish them But as for the latter there is not wanting unto us the motion and guidance of Gods Spirit through the whole course of our lives yet so that wee may bee wanting unto those motions of grace yea and too too often wee are wanting unto them and ever and an on we both freely and foully obey our owne corruptions Hence that of the Apostle Gal. 5.16 Walke in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the spirit of God by whom yee are sealed unto the day of redemption For they are said to grieve the holy Spirit who resist the guidance thereof and with a servile libertie goe after their owne concupiscenes contrary to the motion of grace and suggestion of their own conscience Erroneous Opinions which wee reject THE FIRST THat the will is not capable of spirituall gifts and that therefore there never were any spirituall gifts in the will of man before his fall that these graces were never severed from the will of man upon his fall and that such graces are never infused in regeneration into the wills of men THe holy Scripture in placing Gods spirituall gifts in the heart acknowledgeth also them to be in the will As namely uprightnesse or truth Psal. 32.12 Rejoyce all yee that are true in heart puritie Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart goodnes Luke 8.15 They are those which with an honest and good heart heare the word of God and keepe it 1 But if any man shall referre these graces to the affections and place them without the will he shall which were a foule enormity settle the chiefest gifts of divine grace in the unreasonable part of the soule Moreover the very habituall conversiō of the will unto God the Creator the aversion or turning away thereof from the inordinate desire it had to commit fornication with the creature without doubt is to be counted a chiefe and principal gift And that the will was capable of this gift it doth hence plainly appeare because it was created with such uprightnesse For God in the beginning made man righteous But that this righteousnes is lost it is over manifest by the effects seeing that now the will being carnall cannot choose but injoy and rest in those things which it ought onely to make use of and use the things which it ought rather to injoy forasmuch as a whole trope of sinfull dispositions have rushed and broke in upon the will 2 Furthermore as the will of a meere naturall man is said to be vicious frō a certaine inbred inherēt wickednes which in a wicked man even thē when he doth nothing is habituall so againe we must acknowledge that in the will of the regenerate there is a certaine righteousnesse infused and given from God which is presupposed in their religious actions Saint Austin in many places setteth forth this habituall righteousnesse The good will of man goes before many graces of God but not before all and this good will it selfe is to be reckoned among those gifts which it selfe cannot precede But lest any man should dreame that this goodnesse of the will is not an inward gift infused into that very faculty but onely a bare denomination fetched from the act of the will Prosper calls it the first plantation of the heavenly husbandman Now a plantation notes something engrafted in the soule not an act or action flowing from the soule THE SECOND ERRONEOVS OPINION THat that grace by which wee are converted is onely a gentle and moral swasion or inducement WEE deny not but in the worke of conversion whether in fitting us for that future grace or in confirming us therein as already performed God useth the perswasive force of his threats promises exhortations by which he allureth stirreth and ploweth up the fallowes of mens hearts But moreover for adding without faile the last close to this operation hee works more powerfully and unconquerably according to the exceeding greatnesse of his power and the working of his might Ephes. 1.19 Neither is swasion sufficient which no more then contingently affecteth and inviteth the will 1 For morall swasion moveth onely by way of object and so farre forth as the end propounded can allure But the Philosophers rightly determine that as the inclination of any one is accordingly hee apprehends the end So long therefore as a man is carnall and unregenerate his will cannot so bee affected with supernaturall benefits proposed unto it that by the desire of them hee should bee throughly enflamed to beleeve and convert But the will must be overcome and changed by a powerfull operation exceeding all swasion that so it may effectually embrace the good represented unto it 2 If men should be converted unto God onely by a morall swasion then this question why upon profer of equall grace one man beleeves another doth not might be answered out of the free wils owne power of willing or nilling neither should we have herein any cause to admire the unsearchable wisedome and justice of our God But this sound doctrine hath alwaies beene defended against the Pelagians That conversion faith comes from the secret grace of God which according to his mercie is afforded to some and according to his justice is not vouchsafed to others 3 If men were converted onely by morall swasion he which receives this swasive grace might truly say I have separated my selfe For I have received this gentle and swasive grace which hath solicited me to faith and conversion but no more then it solicited others they by the liberty of their free-will did reject this morall swasion and therefore they still remaine unconverted but I by the libertie of my free-will have given way and embraced the same swasion and therefore I am converted To what purpose then is that of Saint Paul Who hath separated thee What hast thou which thou hast not received Faith both begunne and perfected is the gift of God and no man who doth not oppose most manifest Scripture will doubt but that this gift is given to some and not given to other some THE THIRD ERRONEOVS OPINION THat presupposing all the operations of grace which God useth for the effecting of this conversion yet the will of man is still left in an equall ballance either to beleeve or not to beleeve to convert or not to convert it selfe to God 1 IF after all the workings of grace the will of man be left in eaven point it will necessarily follow that not God by his grace but man by his free-will is the chiefe cause and author
regeneration do not carie themselves so but that for their negligence and resistance they may justly be relinquished and forsaken of God but such is the speciall mercy of God towards them that though they doe for a while repell and choake the grace of God exciting or enlightning them yet God doth urge them againe and againe nor doth he cease to stirre them forward till hee have throughly subdued them to his grace and set them in the state of regenerate sonnes IOhn 6.37 Whatsoever my Father gives me shall come to me and him that commeth unto mee I will in no wise cast out Ier. 14.7 O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us doe thou it for thy names sake for our backslidings are many And 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever Philip. 1.6 He that hath begunne a good worke in you will performe it untill the day of Iesus Christ. But if God should not goe on thus to follow even those that hold off and retire from him no calling would bee effectuall there would be no filiall adoption and even election it selfe grounded upon the good pleasure of God would be frustrated Since the fall of man God would have it ascribed to his grace that a man doth come unto him neither will he have it ascribed to any thing but his grace that a man doth not goe from him THE SEVENTH POSITION THose that are not elected when they resist the Spirit of God and his grace in these acts foregoing regeneration and extinguish the initiall effects of the same in themselves by the fault of their own free-will are justly forsaken by God whensoever it pleases him whom by their owne fault so forsaken we truly pronounce to remaine by the same demerit hardened and unconverted WE thinke it to be without all doubt that no mortal man doth so cary himselfe toward God but that either by omitting that which he should have done or committing that which hee should not have done he deserves to have the grace taken frō him which hee hath Which ground being forelayed it is cleere that God without all injustice and cruelty may take from such men that grace which hee hath extended to them and leave them to the hardnesse of their own hearts Rom. 9.18 Hee hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy and whom hee will hee hardeneth God oweth this to no man that when he resists enlightening exciting grace and serves his own lusts he should then soften and mollifie him by that speciall grace which no hard heart doth resist Rom. 11.35 Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompenced unto him againe Againe he that is thus forsaken being not converted perishes through his owne fault Iohn 5.34.40 I say these things that yee might be saved and ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Acts 28. The heart of this people is waxed grosse lest they should be converted and I should heale them Of conversion as it designes the immediate worke of God regenerating men THE FIRST POSITION GOd doth regenerate by a certaine inward and wonderfull operation the soules of the elect being stirred up and prepared by the aforesaid acts of his grace and doth as it were create them anew by infusing his quickning spirit and seasoning all the faculties of the soule with new qualities HEre by regeneration we understand not every act of the holy Spirit which goes before or tends to regeneration but that act which as soone as it is there we conclude presently this man is now borne of God This spirituall birth presupposes a minde moved by the spirit using the instrument of Gods Word whence also wee are said to bee borne againe by the incorruptible seed of the word 1 Pet. 1.23 Which must be observed lest any one should idlely and slothfully expect an Enthusiasticall regeneration that is to say wrought by a sudden rapture without any foregoing action either of God the Word or himselfe Furthermore wee conclude that the spirit regenerating us doth convey it selfe into the most inward closset of the heart and frame the minde anew by curing the sinfull inclinations therof by giving it strength and infusing into it a formall originall cause or active power to produce spirituall actions tending to salvation Ephes. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus to good works Ezek. 36.26 I will take away your stony heart and give you an heart of flesh From this worke of God commeth our ability of performing spiritual actions leading to salvation As the act of beleeving 1 Iohn 5.1 Whosoever beleeves that Iesus is the Christ is borne of God Of loving 1 Iohn 4.7 Every one that loveth is borne of God Lastly all works of piety Iohn 15.5 Without me ye can doe nothing Prosper saith that Grace creates good in us The Schoolemen doe not deny so manifest a truth Thomas Aquinas affirmes that this grace of which we speake doth give a certaine spirituall being to the soule that it is a certaine supernaturall pertaking of the divine nature that it is in respect of the soule as health is in respect of the body THE SECOND POSITION IN this worke of regeneration man is meerly passive neither is it in the power of mans will to hinder God regenerating thus immediately IOhn 1.13 Which were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God For if in the naturall creation it be true that God made us and not we ourselves much more in the spirituall recreation Ier 13.23 If the Ethiopian cannot change his skin neither can man defiled with sinne correct his naturall corruption In the will depraved there is the passive power to receive this supernaturall being comming from without but not the active to produce it of it selfe or with another Ier. 17.14 Heale me O Lord and I shall be healed In quickning of men God doth expect no beginning from mans will but hee quickneth the will it selfe by making it good What doth freewill I answer briefly It is saved This worke cannot be effected without two one by whom it is done the other in whom it is done God is the Author of salvatiō freewil is only capable of it Our creation in Christ was made into the freedome of the will and without us if into freedome then not out of freedome If without us then it is not in us to hinder this worke of God When God determineth to save no will of man resisteth Of Conversion as it imports what man himselfe doth in turning to God by faith and saving repentance THE FIRST POSITION VPon the former conversion followeth this our actual conversion wherein out of our reformed will God himselfe draweth forth the very act of our beleeving and converting and this our will being first moved by God doth it selfe also worke by turning unto God and beleeving that is by executing withall its
of the very act of beleeving and converting For he who by the utmost dint and straine of his grace prevailed no further then to raise up a mans will to an indifferency or estate of equall ballance doth not concur as a principall and predominant or over-ruler but onely as an associate and contingently that is upon this condition if so be that the will by its owne naturall power first shall have removed it selfe from that equalitie That therefore which is of lesse moment the will receives from God namely that it should be placed in a certaine middle estate equally inclined to beleeve or not to beleeve but that which is of greater moment as specifying the very event that is actually to beleeve this the will by its owne power hath performed 2 It would else follow that God affordeth no more grace to the Elect then to those who are not elected and that those owe no more thanke to God then the other in as much as the hand of God hath wrought in both nothing else but an eaven stand of the will which equally consists in a point and is not capable of any latitude or degree 3 The grace of conversion is given with that intention that it shall become effectuall and shall not onely set a man forward on his way but also bring him to performe the very act of faith whither although such grace might perchance sometime reach by the sway of mans will equally poised to embrace and follow the motions of grace yet no lesse often should such grace be frustrated by reason of the same free will likewise placed at eaven ballance and freely thence setling it selfe to refuse grace and to resist it For in levell counterpoise there is alwaies presupposed an equal hazard of setling to either side This grace is refused by no hard heart For it is therefore given that the hardnesse of the heart bee first taken away THE FOVRTH ERRONEOVS OPINION THat a man cannot doe any more good then he doth nor omit any more evill then he doth omit THis is most false and absurd whether it be spoken of an unregenerate and naturall man or of one that is regenerate and supported by sanctifying grace 1 First concerning the state of a naturall man although hee cannot put off his inbred corruption nor shake off the dominion of sinne in generall yet can he represse many outward actions in which he lets loose the reines to his owne concupiscences Corrupt concupiscence enclines a wicked man to all kinde of evill yet it doth not determine or confine him unavoydably to commit this or that sinne in particular as to act this murder that robbery that adultery 2 This is manifest also in that the very lewdest men attempt their wickednesse not without some precedent deliberation and most free contriving of the meanes tending thereto and being ready to commit the act they have power to hold in and restraine themselves being awed by the reverence of some other man or through some present feare of danger 3 Lastly punishments by the Lawes of men should be without cause menaced if no man could omit those crimes which he doth commit But as for actions which are in themselves good certaine it is that unregenerate men doe omit many outward morall acts which for the substance of the worke they could performe and for the voluntary neglect of such actions they are justly condemned Matt. 25. 42. I was an hungry and ye gave me no meat I was athirst and ye gave me no drinke c. Likewise the same is to bee avowed concerning those that are regenerated and truly sanctified to wit that although they are freed from the dominion of sinne Rom. 6.14.18 Being made the servants of righteousnesse Rom. 8.1 Which walke not after the flesh but after the spirit They can notwithstanding and that voluntarily step out of the strait path of righteousnesse even then also when they doe not transgresse In like manner then when they fell or slipped they were able by the helpe and power of grace through their free that is freed will to have resisted their owne concupiscence and to have avoided those manifest workes of the flesh recounted Gal. 5.9 Fornication uncleannesse debate contentions c. What man of sound judgement will say that David could not but commit adulterie and that being committed that hee could not choose but by a leud and deliberate plot take away the life of him to whom hee had offered that extreame wrong But that we goe not far for examples we appeale unto the consciences of all godly men Who is hee that daily praying unto God Forgive us our trespasses doth not also acknowledge that through the grace of God it was in his power to performe divers good workes which yet hee hath omitted and likewise to overcome divers temptations to which he notwithstanding hath yeelded 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithfull who will not suffer you to bee tempted above that you be able but will even give the issue with the tentation that you may be able to beare it Their Suffrage concerning the fift ARTICLE Which is of the perseverance of the Saints IN this Article when question is made concerning the perseverance of the Saints it is to be understood that wee treat of those Saints onely which are come to the use of reason and are justified by the Act of faith formed in them by the preaching of the Gospell and who are supposed by the act of their owne wills to persevere in the same faith or else to faile in their perseverance 1 It is manifest out of the fift Article of the Remonstrants that they are here intended who are grafted into Christ by a true actuall faith But those onely who are of ripe yeares are grafted into Christ by a lively faith 2 It is also proved by the connexion of the Articles For in the fourth article the Remonstrants labour to prove that God worketh faith in men by such a power and grace as man may resist and consequently that God by a resistible power doth keepe and preserve faith already wrought in the hearts of the faithfull whereupon they inferre that that man who once had faith may lose the same as further appeareth in the state of this controversie set downe by the Remonstrants But God doth effect and preserve faith in that manner in those onely who are growne to ripe yeares For as much as they onely have power freely to withstand grace 3 Thirdly the Remonstrants affirme that perseverance of which we treat here to bee a gift offered equally to all the faithfull with this condition namely if they shall not bee wanting to themselves in the entertainment of this sufficient grace which assertion plainly supposeth that this Article ought to bee understood concerning the perseverance of them who are come unto ripe yeares onely they being able through the use of their freewill to be wanting to this sufficient grace as those in whose power the use of this