be the better able as you read along to understand this and to make a judgment of both and therefore that you may the better compare both of them together I have added a common Index of the chief Heads of both at the latter end So that all you have to do is only by Preface in the beginning to understand Postscript and by the word following in several places to understand as much as if I had said foregoing which it is no great matter for one friend to do for another and then all is well and as it should be or if you do not like this way of interpretation though it be as good as many that come from very able Expositors and profound Divines then take your own way And though you laugh at the Title which you may do and welcome if you please yet be so just to the Argument notwithstanding as to give it that respect which it deserves I cannot pretend to add much in this place to what I have already written but because being lately injured by the malice of an ill man whom I know not and therefore forgive him unsight and unseen I did in the heat of my resentment draw up a just and true Character and representation of my self which upon second thoughts I have supprest as I have many other things to the great detriment and destruction of Pen Ink and Paper which might be imployed for better uses in which tumultuary scrible I did among other things declare my opinion as to the points in difference betwixt those whom they call in Holland the Remonstrants and Contra-remonstrants so far as those points are determinable upon the Principles of nature the inserting of which in this place may do some service to the cause I have undertaken therefore I have thought fit to insert it in the words that follow and to beg of you no greater favour than what in justice I may challenge at your hands that you would read it with the same ingenuity candor and good meaning with which it was written by me For the points in Dispute betwixt the Arminian and Calvinistical Doctors I make no manner of scruple to affirm that the former of these are certainly in the right and that the latter of them by turning men into Beasts and by making it impossible for a man by his natural strength to make the least attempt at any thing that is good or to harbour the least degree of a virtuous inclination but on the contrary to be carried forth by an irresistible propensity of will to all manner of wickedness and to the highest degrees of sin as well as to the most detestable instances of it as Mr. Calvin and his Followers in so many words are pleased to do have done a very great and a very unpardonable affront to humane nature and that it would never be endured if any one man should bespatter his Neighbour at that rate at which they have taken the confidence upon them to reproach and vilify the whole race of Mankind I reckon that they are every whit as bad Philosophers as they are Divines and that since men do naturally carry different constitutions and temperaments about them by which it appears plainly that some men are by nature and by the particular happiness of their constitution more vertuously disposed than others which dispositions may either be heightned or corrupted or perfectly destroyed by difference of Company different ways of Study different courses of Life and different methods of Education Again since as some constitutions are in the general more virtuously dispos'd than others so there is none so good as not to be carried forth with a greater or lesser inclination to sin and since it appears in every man's observation that one temperament is naturally inclined to one sort or species of evil and another to another which inclinations may likewise be heightened or in a great measure conquered and subdued by the same means by which the dispositions to vertue and good manners are either cultivated or lessened or destroyed I say since these things are so in the open view and appearance of all mankind since they are so plain so manifest so undenyably certain from the daily experience both of our selves and others what can be more foolish then to say that all men are irresistibly that is equally inclined by nature to all manner of vice or to affirm that nothing but an irresistible Grace can hinder the best of men from being worse than the most fierce untameable and savage Beasts themselves as Mr. Calvin expresly does and it is no more then what does unavoidably follow from his doctrine of irresistible pravity and corruption But yet I am very far from bidding defyance to the spirit of Grace very far from sinking into the Pelagian or so much as into the Massilian or Semi-pelagian error I do believe and am taught by the word of God and by my own experience of my self and others that without the Grace of God it is impossible to do that which is truly pleasing and acceptable in his sight I believe there will always be through the confessed pravity of the best natures such a mixture of corruption by the interposition or intervention of carnal or prohibited desires by which our zeal for Goodness will be always either cool'd diverted or destroyed that even our best Actions will not be accepted of God without the assistance of his Grace to give them a beauty consummation and perfection which they could not have received from our selves I believe that as virtuous actions or dispositions cannot be perfect so much less can virtuous habits be attained without the supernatural and perpetual though not irresistible assistance of the same spirit which is as necessary to create in us sometimes good dispositions and much more good habits but always to assure and perfect them as the Death of Christ was to attone for our bad ones or his intercession to apply the merits of that death and passion to the several imperfect degrees of our repentance or amendment of life I do believe and am verily in my conscience perswaded that God who in the Creation of the world and in the admirable contrivance of it for its own preservation and for the well-being and happiness of its inhabitants hath discovered so much goodness he that in the structure of the bodies of all Animals and in the provision which he hath made for the respective subsistence of them all according to their several natures and constitutions hath plainly shewed himself to be a very merciful and Gracious Being he that hath ordered and created all things in number weight and measure he that out of nothing hath rear'd this comely Fabrick of the World so full of usefulness as well as beauty both of which do almost equally declare him to be not an angry merciless and revengeful but a serene composed benevolent and Gracious mind I say I do believe and am verily perswaded that such a
the Authority of the Scripture then that in the compass of so few Lines which are immediately joyned to one another it should so grosly contradict it self But the main inconvenience of the Doctrine of absolute reprobation is this that though it should be granted to be no other than the constant tenour and Language of the Scriptures which is all that its hottest assertours can desire yet this instead of proving that Doctrine to be true will but prove the Scriptures upon which it is founded to be of no Force or Authority in the World For if God Almighty in the distribution of Eternal Punishment or Happiness to Men have no regard to any Principle of Goodness or Justice in his Nature as he must not have if he proceed only by arbitrary Measures and if God may deceive as I have proved that in some cases he may and as it is granted to a degree of impiety by the Calvinists themselves when they distinguish so boldly betwixt his secret and revealed Will by the one of which he Damns the far greatest part of Mankind and by the other exhorts and threatens them and uses such other means as if he intended their Happiness and Salvation Nay if we all seem to our selves to be free when yet notwithstanding we are indeed necessary Agents which is a strange and a perpetual delusion imposed upon all Mankind I say if all this be granted then though we should suppose the Doctrine of irrespective Reprobation to be the genuine and onely Language of the Scriptures yet how can we tell notwithstanding that there is any Truth in it Or if we could be secured of its Truth and were as sure that we are of the number of the Elect which is a very comfortable assurance when there are so many that go the other way yet how can we tell that we shall be so to Morrow What Hopes What Confidence or Affyance can we put in so arbitrary so deceitful and so uncertain a Being Again when he doomes so many to Eternal Flames and so few to the blessedness of a better State if this depend only upon his arbitrary Will founded upon no Reason that Will may alter for as little reason as it was made or if it be that there is a greater propensity in his nature to Cruelty then Mercy that Cruelty will be better gratified by the Destruction of all and the consideration of it will but serve to afford us a very lamentable prospect of what we are all to expect so true is it that this Doctrine is so far from being solidly demonstrable out of Scripture that it plainly undermines the authority of Scripture as well as the very nature of Morality and Goodness Much good therefore may it do our Adversaries with their new-Friends the Articles of the Church of England which how favorable they are to them we have already seen and if they had been never so favourable yet afterwards when they Confess that even general Councils may Err and when they refer all to the decision of Scripture as the only sufficient rule of Christian Faith and Practice they would by this means perfectly have overthrown themselves or if the Scripture could be supposed to favour such a Doctrine that very supposition would overthrow the truth and certainty of the Scriptures but if the Scripture and the Articles should happen to Disagree as I see no danger that they ever will In this case it must be remembred that we have subscribed to those very Articles no further than they shall be found consonant to the Scripture and therefore unless we have a mind to be forsworn and Damned into the bargain we must relinquish our Articles rather than our Bibles But all this while I would not be so understood as if I thought there never was or could be such a thing as an irresistable Grace for this would be in effect to assert that the power of God was not superiour to that of a Mortal Man Besides that perhaps I have observed more Instances of it up and down the Scriptures both of the Old Testament and the New then those who have made the greatest Noise and Clamor about it The Song of Moses and the Children of Israel in the 15th of Fxodus after their deliverance from the pursuit of the Egyptians and the Dangers of the Red-Sea the prophetick Benediction of Jacob to his Sons in the 49th of Genesis and the Song of Deborah and Barak in the 5th of Judges seem all of them to me to have been inspired and uttered by an irresistable Grace as likewise in the new Testament the Songs of Mary and Zachary and old Simeon upon occasion of the Births of John the Baptist and of Christ either shortly expected or already Accomplisht are without question owing to the same Cause When Balaam being sent for by Balack to Curse the people of Israel could not do it though he would never so fain but on the Contrary delivered himself in words Expressive of the greatest Blessings which God could bestow upon his chosen People when Cajaphas being High Priest prophesied by virâ—ue of his Office when Pilate notwithstanding the repeated instances of the Sanhedrim and chief Priests could not be diverted from an unaccountable pertinaciousness in asserting the Kingship and Dominion of Christ over the Jews all this was by an irresistible Grace or Spirit When the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost descended on the Apostles enduing them with a gift of Tongue not understood by themselves by which they delivered themselves to a mixt assembly made up of divers Nations so as every Man heard the glad tidings of Salvation in his own Language when the primitive Christians upon their being brought before the Magistrates and Judges of the Heathen world instead of being abash'd or dismay'd out of an apprehension of Fear or Danger expressed so strange a confidence and assurance as struck a Dread and Terror into their very Enemies themselves and besides were endued with a gift of utterance peculiar to those times and in vain pretended to in these by which they expressed themselves without Fear or Hesitancy and beyond their own natural faculties and skill in the defence of themselves and to the advantage of the Gospel when three Thousand and five Thousand and multitudes were converted to the Christian Faith and received the Holy Ghost upon the hearing of one Sermon all this was by an irresistible Grace Nay the very phrases of receiveing the Holy Ghost and of the Holy Ghost falling upon them and of being full of the Holy Ghost and being in the Spirit which we find in several places of the new Testament imply a strong and powerful influence of the Spirit upon their Minds which they could easily distinguish from the ordinary results of their own thoughts though we cannot do it now adays and from hence it is that St. Paul speaking of Marriage and a single Life and of the respective Obligation to each for the better furtherance and
so far bear with one another as is consistent with the peace of the world and every man ought to endeavour so far as Religion and virtue will permit to render his humour and his manners as agreeable as he can to those with whom he converses for the greater comfort of Humane life for the preservation of friendship and charity in the world and for the mutual benefit and advantage of Mankind And now I see nothing that remains which hath not been sufficiently considered upon this Argument of Liberty and Necessity either in this introduction or in the book it self unless it be one of these three things which I shall pass over very briefly The first is the case of the divine Prescience which is pretended to be inconsistent with humane freedom To which it is sufficient to answer that extend the foreknowledge of God as wide as you please yet knowledge is but knowledge all this while and can have no external Physical causality for this were to confound the notions of knowledge and of power together so that the only reason why there can be no such thing as a free agent is not because this freedom is inconsistent with the divine Prescience which can have no Physical influence upon it and there is no other influence in the nature of things but because the notion of a free agent considered by it self is an impossible notion that is it is impossible there should be any such thing as an immaterial being for I have proved at large in one Part of this Discourse that an immaterial and a free agent are the same and this being a point upon which all Religion depends I leave the Calvinists to consider of it Secondly Mr. Hobs his Arguments against Freedom are objected and those Arguments as I remember for I have not his Book by me are these two which follow the first is contained in this syllogism Every Cause is a sufficient cause Every sufficient cause is a necessary cause Therefore every cause is a necessary cause Which is no more then to say in fewer words Every cause is a cause Which being an Identical Proposition must needs be true for nothing is a cause till it have produced an effect and then indeed it is necessary that the effect should have been because that which is past can never be to come but yet it does not follow but that there might be a causality or causability residing in a subject or substance though it do not yet exert it self by any express or actual operation and Mr. Hobs in this sence might have been said to be a cause of the Leviathan and the book de Cive many years before he wrote the Books themselves His second argument is taken from the nature of a disjunctive proposition concerning an action which is supposed to be future and contingent as thus Either Socrates shall dispute to morrow or he shall not dispute to morrow and it is certain that this Proposition is unquestionably true because it consists of contradicting parts which contain the whole circuit of things within themselves for everything in the world besides disputing is not disputing and if Socrates should dye or should be annihilated to morrow yet to be annihilated or to dye is not to dispute so that the whole Proposition is unavoidably true but it does not follow that either of its parts are so determinately at this time and that was Mr. Hobs his mistake as I will prove by altering the Proposition a very little Either Socrates shall dispute freely to morrow or he shall not dispute freely Now the nature of a Disjunctive Proposition is this that all the parts taken asunder cannot be true at the same time because they are supposed to be incompetible and inconsistent with one another otherwise there is no disjunction further it is certain that there can but one part of a Disjunctive Proposition which concerns the present be true at the same time and in a Proposition de futuro there can be but one part eventually true but this depends upon the nature of the thing and upon the issue of the expected event not upon the nature of the Proposition to which it is necessary that it should consist of several parts and therefore the truth of it as such must depend upon the just and full enumeration of all those parts of which it ought to consist so that whatever becomes of the nature of the thing the Disjunctive Proposition hinders not but Socrates may be free since freedom is supposed in one of its members but yet if it be necessary that he shall dispute freely to morrow as Mr. Hobs must own if he will be consistent to himself then he will be free and necessary at the same time which is absurd The third and last thing which may be and is usually objected concerns those places of Scripture wherein the days of a man are said to be numbred and the time of every respective personalities continuance upon the earth predetermined and preordained which if it be true then it will follow unavoidably that the actions of a mans life are necessary and fatal for there may be a thousand several actions that may conspire to bring a man into a Chronical distemper which shall be the cause of his death if he be predetermined to dye at such a time of the Plague it must likewise be so ordered that he shall necessarily reside there where it is or repair thither that he may catch it and if his fate be to be knockt on the head by the fall of any Stone or Timber from an House it is necessary that he be abroad and passing by that place where the Stone or Timber may be sure to meet him in its fall and the like But I do absolutely deny that the days of a man are any where in Scripture affirmed to be thus limited or predetermined but that which is called the appointed time is the utmost distance of time from the day of a mans birth to which the stamina vitae will extend or to which the respective constitutions will last if they be well used and what that time is God certainly who is the Author of nature and hath all causes and effects perpetually present to him and always in his sight cannot chuse but understand very well but yet it does not follow but a man may anticipate this time by intemperance or by want of skill or want of care nay I suppose we may affirm it for a certain truth that no man ever did yet live so long as he might possibly have done had he understood his own constitution and the respective usefulness or annoyance of all other things to it together with the true proportions in which they are to be taken and avoided and had he lived a life answerable to so exact a knowledge and yet after all humane life would be but of short continuance and after all we should have reason to pray with the Prophet David that
do the same at which immediately the Magicians threw down their Rods which were converted presently into Serpents like that of Aaron and gave new strength to the obstinacy of Pharaoh's heart These were the two rational motives upon which Pharaoh proceeded The First was properly a reason of State and interest why he should not suffer the Israelites to depart The Second was an argument with him and his people not to give that credit to the miracles of Moses which otherwise they might have done But this is not all the account Josephus gives he does manifestly suppose likewise the Concurrence of a necessary together with the voluntary and spontaneous principle without which it would have been impossible but so many and so great Plagues must needs have melted the Egyptian King into a compliance with the demands of Moses and into a final Resolution not any more to be recall'd of suffering the Israelites quietly to go their way For when the rod of Aaron had swallowed those of the Magicians which was a sufficient testimony of a Power superiour to theirs yet he makes the King of Egypt insensible of any such thing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. He was fill'd with rage but not with fear or admiration at what had happened And when Moses not at all discouraged by his former course Entertainment and contemptuous usage accosted him a fresh upon the same errant adding menaces of the utmost Plagues and Calamities to befall him and his people in case he still continued obstinate and refractory against the divine will and Message Yet Josephus makes him to take so little notice of it as if he had not heard what Moses had said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Again whereas I have compared this hardness of Pharaoh's heart to a Lethargick or Apoplectick fit which is awakened sometimes into some degree of sensation by the application of Caustick and painful Remedies but frequently upon the abatement of that Pain relapses into its former security and forgetful Slumber as Pharaoh was frequently of the mind to yield to the pressing importunity of Moses when it was backed with the dreadful sollicitation of the most dismal Plagues but yet upon the least relaxation or intermission of those Plagues was just the same insensible and stupid Creature that ever he was before I am in this likewise very strongly supported by the Authority of the same Josephus of the Rivers being turned into blood and of the removal of that Calamity he says thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The King being startled at this unexpected event and being perfectly at his wits end not knowing at this rate what would become of the Egyptians who must all perish if the Waters continued to be poisoned gave leave to the Hebrews immediately to depart but no sooner was the hand of God removed but he returned to his former mind and would by no means permit them to be gone So likewise when the Plague of Frogs was by the Mercy of God at the Prayer of Moses removed he makes him to have been so stupid that he was no more moved than if no such Judgment had ever been inflicted his words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is But Pharaoh was no sooner freed from this Judgment but he forgat the cause and would not dimiss the people Again when the Plague of Lice that loathsome and abominable Calamity had filled all Egypt with Terrour and deformity together he makes him then like a man between sleeping and waking to give his half consent that they should depart 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. Opinor 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. At this horrible Calamity the. King of Egypt being affrightned and fearing at once the Destruction of his people and recounting with himself the shameful and ignominious manner by which they were about to perish was now half perswaded to lay aside his perversness and hearken to sober Counsels But the Concurrence of these two Causes is most plainly intimated by him at the close of that Chapter out of which the above mentioned Citations are taken in the following words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is The aforesaid mischiefs must needs have been sufficient to bring him to a sense of what was equally his interest and his Duty if he had not lost the use of Reason together with the sense of Goodness but he not so much out of Ignorance as out of perfect Malice being sensible of the cause on which all these Judgments depended would yet notwithstanding set himself in opposition to God Almighty was a wilful betrayer of himself and his people to Destruction and did what he knew to be for the worse at that very time when he did it Neither is Josephus less favourable to my sentiments in the case of Rehoboam than in that of Pharaoh but rather more for he does not only attribute the infatuation of Rehoboam himself to a positive Act of the divine will but he makes his advisers to have been exactly in the same predicament with himself being all of them alike infatuated and deceived so that as he could not take so neither could they give any other Counsel than they did his words are these speaking first of Rehoboam's rejecting the Counsel of the old men Antiq. L. 8. c. 3. and then of his applying himself to the younger Fry for their opinion in the case proposed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 L. fortasse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is But he Rehohoam neglected the Counsel of the old men how good soever in its self and how suitable soever to the present Circumstance of time wherein it was given God himself as I conceive making him to condemn and disallow that which was most for his advantage Wherefore assembling his young men and Camerades that had been bred up together with him he acquainted them with the advice of the old men desiring likewise their opinion of the matter but they partly from the heat and inconsiderate rashness of Youth and partly because God would not suffer them to discern any thing better advised him to give for answer that it was in vain to expect a redress of grievances from him for that he was so far from it that they should find his little finger heavier than his Father's loins Nay Curcelleus and Episcopius themselves who are my great opposers in this point yet when they are sifted to the bottom they confess the very same though at first they are mealy mouth'd and will not acknowledge so much So Curcelleus L. 6. c. 9. p. 382. Semper enim iis satis lucis relinquit ad omnem justam excusationem adimendum qualis vel illa sola est quae ex operibus Dei apparet ex quibus potentia ejus aeterna divinitas perspicitur Rom. 1. 20. Nisi fortè mentem iis eripiat obbrutescant ut olim contigit
which is the only Effectual and certainly productive principle of Godly Fervour and Zeal Such a zeal as no Predominancy of Lust or Evil Concupiscence from within no allurement of any Temptation from without can withdraw from its wistly intention and devout prospect upon that Glorious Object to which it is directed such a zeal as having burnt up all the tares and cockle of the fleshly Life is fruitful in pious and virtuous Resolutions and effectual for the bringing them to their intended Issue Now it being very rarely if ever seen that such extraordinary influences of the Divine Spirit are bestowed upon such as have no manner of preparation in their Hearts to Receive them and have not made some sincere at least though weak and ineffectual attempts towards the Conquest of themselves from hence it comes to pass that the whole Action resulting from the common Efficiency of humane Endeavours assisted by the Divine Spirit may in some Sense be attributed wholly to the first of these Causes as being the Causa sine quâ non as the Schools love to speak without which the other would not have exerted it self and the whole Action is acceptable to God on our behalf for the sake of that part of it which is owing to our selves or for the sake of those Virtuous dispositions of Mind to which the influences of Gods holy Spirit which are always carried forth in Streams of Love and Goodness towards the whole Creation have such an unalterable Congruity that they will never fail to be inseparably united to them nither will they ever forsake us till we have first deserted and forsaken our selves Besides that in those good Actions or those pious Inclinations of ours in which the Holy Spirit has the greatest share there may yet notwithstanding be more of our own then we are usually wont or then we ought with any thing of Arrogance or self Conceit to attribute to our selves for a man without this Assistance endeavouring to make a perfect Conquest of his inordinate Appetites and Desires would find them so unruly and ungovernable and Springing with such perpetual Fruitfulness one out of another that he would give over the Conflict out of meer Despair and yield himself tamely into an utter Vassalage and Captivity to them but when assisted by so potent Aydes this wonderfully Excites the natural Chearfulness and Vigor of his own Mind and he Exerts those Faculties and Powers which God has given him with more Alacrity and with better Success it being the same Case as if coming to lift a Burthen which is plainly too heavy and unwieldy for us we find a strange unwillingness so much as to attempt it but when encouraged by the assistance of another we then with Chearfulness apply our Hands and Shoulders to it and each man puts forth so much strength and Vigour as is almost sufficient to surmount the whole difficulty by its self and this is plainly the meaning of that Phrase which we Translate by helping our Infirmities The Spirit also helpeth our Infirmities in the Greek it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is it bears a part of the Burthen together with us Neither is it true only of Prayer to which this Text has a more immediate Relation that the Spirit of God helpeth our Infirmities in the performance of it but it is the same case in all other Duties of the Christian Life that these also in their utmost Beauty and perfection are owing to a Concurrence and Cooperation of the same Blessed Spirit as is very reasonable to believe from this that Prayer is only a means for the better attainment of that great End the regular and steady performance of all other Duties in order to Eternal Happiness By calling off the mind from Objects of a more gross and Earthly Nature and by engaging our thoughts in a pursuit after and insinuating them into a Communion with God it Creates in us those Calm Peaceable and quiet Dispositions which put us in the best Condition both to know our Duty and to practise it by a perpetual but humble importunity before the Foot-stool of his Mercy It calls down those Graces and Influences upon us whose design and Business is to guide us into all Truth and to encourage us in every good and Virtuous Undertaking and it is still further to be considered that the performance of our Duty its self is in the nature of a perpetual Prayer and carrys along with it a most powerful intercession on our behalf and therefore may Expect and will Receive the Encouragements of Divine Assistance upon the same Account upon which they are afforded to our very Prayers themselves Another way by which it comes to pass that the whole Action of a virtuous and good Man becomes well-pleasing and acceptable to God on his behalf though in its utmost Integrity and perfection it be owing to a concurrence of the Divine Spirit is from hence that his mind is not only in some degree of preparedness to receive those Blessed irradiations from above but that when he has received them he affords them a wellcome and suitable Entertainment he Improves and Thrives under the Influences of Grace he Warmes and Cherishes his Virtue by that Heavenly Fire and makes himself every day by an improvement of inward Purity and outward Cleanness a more agreeable receptacle for the Holy Ghost and he that does not quench and resist the Influences of the Spirit by slothful Negligence or willful Sin he that when it was in his power to obstruct and hinder it does on the contrary promote its Operations and conspire with it for the Accomplishment of the same Ends and Designs may not improperly be said to be the Author of those either good Actions or pious Thoughts or virtuous Intentions in which he has so great a share and which it was in his power utterly to have Obstructed And from hence it is that we are exhorted in Scripture to be Watchful and Diligent and Sober to be frequent in Prayer and Holy Meditation because these are natural means to preserve us in that temper of Mind which fits us best for the performance of our Duty and for the preserving an uninterrupted Intercourse and Communion with the Spirit of God Again it is to be observed that the Spirit helps the Infirmities of a good Man not only by Warming his Affections but by Enlightening his Understanding and so far as his Actions or his Inclinations depend only upon this latter Cause they are as properly his own as if no such illumination had been the case being the same as if in any matter of Difficulty or Moment in which I am not so throughly versed my self I should take the Advice of another more skilful than I am and if being convinced in my self of the reasonableness of that Course which he propounds to me I shall afterwards follow his Advice yet the Action is nevertheless mine for having done it by the direction of another for so soon
punishment which is due to it may be or may possibly be fancied to be obtained the three first of which viz. past innocence present repentance and future obedience are shewn to be naturally insufficient in order to this end from p. 241 to 244 The fourth possible expedient is that of a gratuitous remission on Gods part and the fifth a proxenetical or vicarious expiation in our stead p. 244 245 Three reasons especially why the later of these was pitcht upon as the most proper method of Justifying Offenders from p. 245 to 247. to which a fourth possible consideration is subjoynâ—d p. 247 But though this vicarious expiration by the death of his Son was the greatest Testimony that God could possibly give us of his love to mankind yet this will but serve to aggrevate our disobedience if we shall neglect so great Salvation p. 248 249 A more particular application of the premises to the nature of Justification wherein is shewn that though Repentance and obedience be required as conditions on our part yet this hinders not but that our Justification is meerly and solely the effect of Grace and that we be justifyed by faith only by which the merits and satisfaction of Christ are applyed to every true believer with some fresh remarks of the inconsistence of the Calvinistical doctrine to the general strain and tenour of the Gospel from p. 249 to 257 The conclusion of this whole matter concerning justification with an appeal to the Reader whether the account that hath been given be not such as ought to satisfy every unprejudic'd and impartial person from p. 257 to 259 The second account of the rise and progress of Calvinistical Doctrines taken from those places of St. Paul wherein he describes the lucta or contention between the two Principles of the flesh and spirit with a description of those two Principles what they are and wherein the nature and notion of Virtue and Vice do consist from p. 259 to 261. The Description of these two Principles together with an enumeration of the genuine productions and effects of both in the words of St. Paul from p. 261 to 264 From the respective predominancy of these two principles either the one or the other in every man so he is denominated in Scripture either natural or spiritual in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from p. 264 to 266 This notion of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 seems to be borrowed from the school of Plato p. 266 A comparison betwixt the several Hypostases or personalities of the Platonick Triad with so many distinct resemblances of them in the humane nature from p. 226 to 268 Two reasons why the notion of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or natural in the N. T. seems to be borrowed from the Platonick School from p. 268 to 272 However it is certain that in the Language of the N. T. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 are the same in opposition to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by which the purely cogitant intellectual and abstracted nature is denoted from p. 272 to 276 The natural body and the spiritual body what they signify in that place of St. Paul 1. Cor. 15. v. 44. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 p. 275 276 Two possible advantages to be made of that contention which there is betwixt the two Principles of the flesh and spirit as that contention is described by Saint Paul p. 276 277. First advantage that St. Paul seems to speak in such a manner of the spiritual principle as if it were perpetually overcome by the carnal and were utterly unable to bring any thing to effect of it self as appears by the places there subjoyned Rom. 7. v. 14 15 17 18 23. p. 277. This difficulty capable of a fourfold solution First that even in prophane Authors there are expressions to be met with that speak every whit as fully or rather more of the necessity of humane nature by which notwithstanding not a natural necessity but only a moral is to be understood and that moral necessity is to be understood not of any one action but of the whole series and course of a man's life taken together with instances of such expressions out of Euripides Lactantius and Seneca from p. 278 to 280 That the Stoicks and Epicureans notwithstanding their Principles supposed nothing but matter in the world yet by the evidence of sence and experience which gives perpetual attestation to it in the inwardconsciousness and feeling of every man they were forced to admit the liberty of the will as the Stoicks sometimes do and the Epicureans pretended to explain it by material causes and at other times being convinced that such causes were altogether insufficient for the explaining such Phaenomena they had recourse to an immaterial nature both in God and mens all which is largely proved out of Seneca and Manilius from p. 282 to 297 The true notion of the word Aeternus that it signifyes nothing but the Aetherial matter proved out of several passages of Seneca Pacatus Mamertinus and from the antient Glossaries from p. 214 to 290 How the word Aeternus comes to denote an infinite duration p. 287 That Decartez who was as very a Materialist as the Stoicks or Epicureans did acknowledge the liberty of theâ— will p. 297 298 An Appeal to the Reader concerning the infinite folly and madness of obstinately denying the liberty of the humane will notwithstanding we do perpetually feel it p. 298 299 Second answer to the first advantage taken from the consideration of the contention between the two principles as that contention is described by St. Paul viz. that if the words of St. Paul produced p. 277. be to be understood of an absolute Fatalty this does not only destroy the necessity but the nature of obedience p. 300 Third answer that by these means God is represented as the most cruel being that can possibly be conceiv'd and that he begins the Tragedy of Damnation in this life that he may perfect it in the other p. 300 301. Fourthly and Lastly it is manifest from the words of St. Paul himself that we have some degree of strength and ability of our own though it be not sufficient to produce a perfect and entire obedience and though it be morally impossible for it to bear us harmless through all the parts of our lives p. 301 302 It is so far from being true what the Calvinistical Doctors are used to maintain that in the nature of man considered abstractedly from the assistances of Divine Grace there is nothing to be found but an irresistible propensity to all manner of evil that on the contrary St. Paul himself supposes that there are very strong desires and tendencies to goodness implanted in us by nature and it is manifest by experience that the first beginnings of Sin are accompanyed with a sensible regret and pain and that it requires a considerable time and
quam absconditam ac â—enitus â—ncompraehensibilem inquiramus in Dei praedestinatione Neque immensae Dei Sapientiae submittere hucusque ingenium pigeat ut in multis ejus arcanis succumbat Eorum exim quaescire nec datur nec fas est docta est ignorantia scientiae appetentia insaniâ— species That is Here there are some that are used to betake themselves to a dictinction betwixt the positive and the negative will of God or betwixt his decree and his permission by vertue of which distinction they think to gain this point that wicked Men perish not because God ordaineth or appointeth that they should but only because he doth not hinder it or because he stands by and permits it to be done but how can we say that he permits it unless it be because he wills it also or that he is not willing it should come to pass for nothing can resist his will But neither is it so probable in it self that men perish by the Divine permission and not by his appointment as if God had not beforehand determined with himself what should be the fate of the noblest of his Creatures Wherefore I will not doubt to affirm plainly with St. Austine that the will of God is that necessity by which all things come to pass and that whatsoever he wills must of necessity be as that will truly and certainly fall out whatsoever it is that he foresees But now if either the Pelagians the Manichees the Anabaptists or the Epicureans for we have to do in this argument with these four sorts of men if all or any of these shall in defence and justification of themselves plead that necessity in which they are bound up and fettered by the eternal decrees so that they cannot act or move otherwise then they do though they would never so fain this will by no means serve their turn For if nothing else be meant by Predestination but only that it is the dispensation or distribution of the Divine justice which proceeds upon hidden but yet without question upon very good and worthy grounds from hence it follows because the reprobate were not worthy to perish that it is just they should Add to this that their Destruction depends in such manner upon Predestination as that all this while the cause and matter of their ruine is in themselves For the first Man fell because God saw it good that he should fall but why he thought it good we cannot tell only thus much we Certum tamen est non know that he would not aliter censuisse nisi c. have decreed the fall of our first Parent but only that he saw his Glory would be deservedly illustrated by it And when you hear mention of the Glory of God then think of his justice For that must at least be just which deserves praise and commendation Wherefore though the fall of Man was ordained by the providence of God yet he fell by occasion of his own corruption God when he made all things gave them this character that they were exceeding good that it might not be thought the corruption of any nature was a thing of Gods making Therefore it is plain that Man by his own pravity corrupted that nature which he had received pure and untainted from the hands of God and drew posterity after him into the common ruine Wherefore let us rather betake our selves to that clear and apparent cause of Damnation which is to be found in the corruption of humane nature a cause that is more near and present to us then to seek for it in the hidden and incomprehensible predestination of God and let it not be thought a thing unreasonable for an humane understanding which is finite to acknowledge that there are some effects of the Divine Wisedome which it cannot fathom and into which it ought not with a too nice and sollicitous curiosity to pry for it is a piece of Learning or at least of ingenuity to confess our selves ignorant of those things which cannot be known or into which is not lawful for us to inquire and a too great desire of knowledge in cases of this Nature is in effect nothing better than a sort of madness In which Citation of Mr. Calvin it is admirable to observe what artificial shuffling and cutting he hath used and how he hath endeavoured to oppress the truth under a load of words that either have no sence or a sence repugnant to and inconsistent with their Neighbours for first he seems to make the Divine permission and appointment to be exactly the same then he takes them in sunder and will not allow the former to be sufficient he grants the predestination to be of it self sufficient to produce the predetermined effect and yet to avoid the inconvenience of the objection made by the Pelagians and others he hath recourse to the corruption of our natures which he imputes to our selves But now either Adam corrupted his nature voluntarily or he did not if he did then he was a free and voluntary agent which Mr. Calvin denies as may be seen in what hath been already cited out of him if he did not then he acted necessarily and it is all one whether the necessity were a necessity of Nature or a superinduced necessity from without it is equally a necessity in both cases but let it fare how it will with Adam all the Calvinistical tribe is agreed in this that we that are his posterity are always concluded under an irresistible fate and so the Pelagian and Epicurean objection returnes with a force as irresistible as that fate by which humane Nature is pretended to be acted Again I do not understand how God is Glorified in the Damnation of necessary agents but I understand very well that it is the greatest reflection that either wit or folly in combination with malice and prophaness can throw upon his justice And I grant as well as he that the Divine Nature is infinite and incomprehensible but what is this to affirming those things which we know to be false concerning it and which being once received into our Creed will in their just and unavoidable consequence destroy all morality and all Religion To conclude is it not a fine argument it is unreasonable to think that God had not determined with himself what he would do with the noblest of his Creatures that therefore he would condemn so vast a proportion of them to eternal torments a Man would think he might have found a better fate for the noblest of his Creatures There is but one thing more and I have done with Mr. Calvin till I come to sum up the Evidence which I shall do immediately in the conclusion of this work and that is that where I speak of the spiritual and Heavenly Principle I make the one to be as much and as really a part of our selves as the other from P. 368 to 370. But Mr. Calvin saith l. 2. c. 2. s 27. Spiritus non Ã