the act another speciall as touching the manner of performing it Lastly as touching the manner how all things shall come to passe by vertue of Gods decree this Author lurkes purposely under a miserable confusion which we cleere thus All things come to passe we say by Gods decree whether they are such things as come to passe necessarily by second causes working necessarily Or such as come to passe contingently by second causes working contingently and freely And accordingly upon supposition of Gods decree we say it is necessary that such things as God hath decreed shall com to passe but how Not necessarily allwayes but eyther necessarily or contingently and freely according to the condition of second causes some of them onely working necessarily but others working contingently freely All this this Author most judiciously confoundes as whose ende is to serve his owne turne and the advantage of his owne cause but not the cause of God in the sincere and faithfull investigation of his truth As in the very next sentence he manifesteth himself deep in this confusion as when he saith That the first cause doth in such manner moove and direct the second among which is the will of man that they cannot otherwise stirre then they are stirred For here he confoundes the different manner of Gods mooving and directing second causes as if there were no difference herin wheras indeede there is a very vast difference For wheras of second causes some worke necessarily some contingently God mooves them all not after one manner but differently that is agreably to their different conditions Second causes working necessarily he mooves and directs to worke necessarily in such sort as they cannot otherwise stirre then they are stirred but as for second causes working contingently and freely he mooves and directs them to worke accordingly that is contingently and freely to witt so as they have power eyther to suspende their operation which is their libertie quoad exercitium or to produce another operation which is their libertie quoad specificationem Thus he mooved Cyrus to builde his cittie and lett goe his captives as he had foretolde long before thus he mooved Iosiah to burne the prophets bones upon the altar which was foretold in the dayes of Ieroboam many hundred yeares before and no sober man makes doubt but that these workes of theirs though predetermined by God yet were performed as freely by them as any other workes of theirs In like manner he mooved the souldiers to absteyne from breaking of Christs bones prophecyed of about a thousand yeares before and the bordering nations to forbeare to invade the land of Israel when all the males came up thrise in the yeare before the Lord in Ierusalem according to the promise made unto them Exod. 34.24 I will cast out the nations before thee enlarge thy coasts so that no man shall desire thy land when thou shalt come up to appeare before the Lord thy God thrisâ— in the yeare Yet who doubts but they did as freely forbeare this as ought els and that the souldiours as freely absteyned from breaking Christs bones as they did freely breake the bones of them who were crucified with him But these Lucifugae delight in confusion like owles that are in love with darkenes that is their best time for prey In that which followes I confesse he deales clearly saying that though a man be given to sinne yet in case he knowes God would have it so by his secret will and that God hath predestinated him therunto this is a comfort unto him and truly I doe not envy him such a comfort and I see no reason but in the midst of the torments of hell it shoulde be likewise a comfort unto him that God did predestinate him therunto by his secret will Only he is pleased to speake in his owne phrase when he talkes of predestinating unto sinne Of predestinating unto damnation the Ancients spake acknowledging such a predestination But they acknowledged no predestinating unto sinne for as much as they tooke predestination to be only of those things which were wrought by God not of sinnes which are only permitted by God Yet these even as foule sinnes as were committed Herod and Pilate together with the Gentiles and people of Israel when they were gathered together against the holy Sonne of God are in the mouthes of the Apostles confessed to have bene foredetermined by the hand and counsel of God which wee understand thus God did fore-determine they should come to passe by his permission as touching the sinfulnes of them Now as for the Spirit of this Author how well it suiteth with the Spirit of Gods Saints we may easily judge by the word of God For when they doe expostulate with God in this manner Lord why hast thou caused us to erre from thy ways and hardned our hearts against thy feare it seemes apparantly that they tooke no comfort at all in this that God hardned their hearts against his feare and caused them to erre from his wayes And when the Lord revealed unto Moses that he would harden Pharaohs heart wherupon he should not let Israel goe for a long time I never perceaved that herby any comfortable condition was denoted that shoulde be unto Pharao in case he had known so much It seemes allso S. Paul tooke no notice of any such comfortable condition when having taught that God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth he bringâ—s in one herupon expostulating thus why then doth he yet complayne For who hath resisted his will Neyther doth the Apostle take any such course to pacifie him as by representing any coÌ„fortable condition redounding unto him hereby namely in as much as God it is who hath hardned him unto disobedience But the course he takes to stop his mouth is of another nature thus O man who art thou that disputest with God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lumpe to make one a vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour And whatsoever a debaucht Christian may be feigned to conceave for mine owne part and so I thinke I may be bold to say of every one of our profession whose hearts God hath seasoned with his feare I may be bolde to professe a truth that albeit I take notice of Gods hand sometimes hardening me against his feare yet God knowes I take no comfort in it but rather in this that God knowes how to worke it for my good according to that of Austin Audeo dicere vtile est superbis in aliquod apertum manisestumque cadere peccatuÌ„ c. when I find that my sinnes doe not make a finall or a totall separation betweene my soule God this may well tende to the corrobaration of my faith and persuade my soule that nothing shall be able to separate me from the love of God in Christ Iesus our
there immediate where the meanes are used We reade of Ionathan that he put off the robe that was upon him and gave it David and his garments even to his sword and to his bowe and to his girdle And the reason was because he loved him as his owne soule In like sort this bad living Christian whom here this Author represents to play a part for him is such a one as with whom he is in love for somewhat though not for his faâ—th For I see he is willing to aray him with his owne sufficiency and to bestowe his owne armour upon him the best armour of his witt even to his sword and to his bowe and to his girdle and the truth is he playes his part for him though the scene requires that another should make shewe to personate him and so the Arminian takes upon him the shape and vizard of a debaucht Christian on our side Now I willingly professe he makes the most of his wares in the utterance of them that words can and delivers himselfe with very great confidence which though it be no to pick place yet usually it is his best strength And I have heard of a French Gentleman who in the troubles of France when it behooved every man to stand upon his guard having unadvisedly lett into his house certeyn freebooters perceaving his error too late sett himselfe to seeke to help it with his witt caryed himself with such freenes and confidence in the enterteyning of them that therby he overcame them and they parted without doing him any wrong and at parting bid him thanke his confidence that he escaped so well And truly coulde the matter beare it we might suffer him to enâ—oy the benefite and comfort of his confidence But we are upon the point of investigation of divine truth and to spare him herin were to undoe him and others with him More profitable it is for him by much to be beaten quite out of his fools paradise then to suffer him to enioy his errours and so lace himselfe with them and to corrupt others allso Now as for explication of what was delivered as he requires we see no neede therof at all the playne truth therof is so visible that he who will not shutt his eyes against it cannot but take notice of it this is to requite confidence with confidence for is it not fitt to pay him in his owne coyne And consider I pray let exhortation be made unto repentance let this exhortation be backt with the most forcible motives therunto drawne from promises divine of no lesse reward then aeternall life from menaces divine to the impenitent and that of the wrath of God and that of such a condition as wherin a fire is kindled which burneth unto the bottome of hell Yet is it not in the power of man to assent to this exhortation or dissent from it And in case he doe assent after a while as he shall thinke good and take time to deliberate shall not he be accoumpted and his will the sole cause yea and immediate also in producing this operation I say the sole cause in reference to the exhortation premised which still leaves a man indifferent whether he will yeelde thereunto or no I should thinke the exhortation hinders not the will of man at all from being the sole yea and immediate cause of willinge which if it cannot be denyed as I should thinke it cannot if withall the Spirit of God doth worke the will sooner or later to yeilde unto it why should not that be accoumpted the sole cause therof yea and immediate allso though that terme was not specified in the premises And as for the clearing of the contradiction the shew whereof is brought in afterwards by foysting in the terme immediate into the place of the word sole I answere that man being a rationall agent and working upon deliberation the judgement must first be informed before he can worke deliberately Now the immediate work of exhortation tendes no farther then to the information of the judgement And as reasons are given on the one side out of Gods word to urge the necessitie of repentance so reasons are given on the other sid partly by flesh and blood partly by the suggestions of Satan to represent the needelesse condition thereof eyther alltogether or at least for the present And the will freely makes choyse to follow the one or the other sometimes giving way to exhortations divine sometimes to contrariant suggestions carnall or diabolicall And if God be pleased to rebuke Satan and to dashe out of countenance the motions of the flesh and make the will to yeelde to the ministers exhortations unto repentance what shall hinder him from being the sole and immediate cause hereof Againe this Author considers not or wilfully dissembles that exhortations are onely a cause morall but Gods working immediately upoÌ„ the will after that the judgment is wrought uppon by exhortations instructions for Austin comprehends these under one saying that if there be any difference between docere suadere or exhortari yet eveÌ„ this doctrinae generalitate coÌ„prehenditur this he workes as a cause physicall therfore albeit ther be a presupposall of a cause preceding working morally yet the Spirit of God in striking the stroake is the sole and immediate cause working physicallie Lastly he that persuadeth say the Bellarmine and light of nature justifies it worketh only per modum proponentis objectum only he setts it foorth in the most alluring manner that he can Now the object proposed is well knowne to work only in genere causae finalis the motion wherof is commonly called motus metaphoricus or metaphoricè so called But Gods operation immediate in working upon the will is in genere causae efficientis so that albeit a cause working in genere causae finalis be presupposed yet still it is cleere that the Spirit of God works immediatly upon the will in converting it in genere causae efficientis Now the ignorance herof is it that makes this Author so bold and confident in talking of manifest contradiction and who so bold as blinde bayard but I woulde the scales might at lenght fall from their eyes that they might see upon what rotten grounds they proceede in impugning the precious truth of God we willingly grant that information of the understanding is necessarily required both to faith and to repentance otherwise they were not acts rationall but that this information shoulde be made by the minister that is I confesse ordinarily required by the vertue of Gods ordinance but not necessarily which whether this Author takes notice of or no I knowe not I finde him litle sâ—nsible of any such distinction And we willingly confesse that as often as men are found to resist these exhortatâ—ons divine though delivered by Gods minister they may justly be sayde to resist God working morally and besâ—eching them as the Apostle speaketh 2. Cor. 5.20 as though God through us
of his will but according to a lawe which is this whosoever believeth not shall be damned And albeit God made that lawe according to the mere pleasure of his will yet no wise man will say that God denyes glory and inflicts damnation on men according to the mere pleasure of his will the case being cleere that God denyes the one and inflâ—cts the other merely for their sinnes who are thus dealt withall And indeede albeit men are founde aequall in their moralitie when God denyes the grace of faith and repentance unto some which he bestowes on others yet when he comes to deny glory and inflict damnation on men dealing otherwise with others he doth not finde all to be aequall but some he findes to have ended their dayes in the state of faith and true repentance others to have finished their dayes in sinn in infidelitie or impaenitencye And accordingly we distinguishe betweene absolute election unto salvation election unto salvation absolute absolute reprobation unto damnation and reprobation unto damnation absolute we grant absolute election unto salvation and absolute reprobation unto damnation but we deny eyther election to be unto salvation absolute or reprobation unto damnation absolute Yet there is a considerable difference betweene these for as much as finall infidelitie and impenitency are the meritorious causes of damnation but faith repentance and good workes are but the disposing causes of salvation Yet like as God inflicts not damnation but by way of punishment so he doth not bestowe salvation on any of ripe yeares but by way of reward Yet here allso is a difference for damnation is inflicted by way of punishment for the evill workes sake which are committed but salvation is not conferred by way of reward for the good workes sake which are performed but merely for Christs sake All this this Author as I sayde doth very judiciously confounde for the advantage of his cause taking no notice at all of these distinctions whether wittingly dissembling them or ignorantly not discerning them albeit the genuine condition of our Tenet rightly understood doth clearly bespeake them So that if he woulde fairely sett hâ—mselfe to the impugning of our Tenet as touching the absolutenes of Gods decree he should leave the consideration of election and reprobation as touching those things willed by them which we call salvation and damnation insist upon the consideration of election and reprobation as touching those other things willed therby which we call the giving of faith and repentance unto some and the denyall of faith and repentance unto others wherin we willingly professe that God caryeth himselfe absolutely throughout not only decreeing thâ—se according to the mere pleasure of his will without all consideration of ought in man but giving them allso unto some and denying them unto others according to the mere pleasure of his will without the consideration of ought in man Now in this point this Author is content to be silent for he findes no such harshnes imputable unto us in this Tenet of ours Neyther indeede can he stande to maynteyne his owne Tenet without plunging himselfe into manifest Pelagianisme For if God doth not give faith repentance unto men according to the mere pleasure of his will but upon consideration of somewhat founde in man then grace shall be given according unto workes which was condemned in the Synod of Palestine above 1200. yeares agoe all along impugned by the orthodoxe in opposition to the Pelagians and Semipelagians But I am willing to proceede further with this Author and to proove that God shoulde not be unjust though he inflict torment upon a creature though never so innocent For consider shall it not be lawfull with God to doe what he will with his creature Hath not man power to doe what he will with the workmanship of his owne handes And shall this power be denyed unto God How did he afflict his most holy and innocent Sonne only to make his soule an offering for the sins of others And what power hath God given us over inferior creatures that are not capable of sinne are capable of payne enough through diseases and through our imployment of them to doe us their faithfull services we put them to death after such a manner as wherby they may proove beneficiall unto us eyther for food or physicke neyther doe we offende God in this though some kindes of death proove more paynfull unto them yet so long as hereby they proove more usefull unto us we doe not transgresse And now adayes all sides confesse that it is in the power of God to annihilate the holiest Angell in heaven and that in the execution herof he shoulde execute no other then a lawfull power And who had not rather be content to suffer a continuall payne so it be tolerable then to dye much more then to have both body soule turned into nothing When the old world was drowned how many thousands of infants perished in that deluge choaked in the waters which were guiltie of no other sinne then what they sinned in our common Father Adam So in the destruction of Sodom and Gommorrha by fire how many Infants were burnt to ashes some in their mothers wombe some hanging on their mothers breasts when the earth opened and swallowed up the congregation of Dathan and Abâ—ram their litle ones were swallowed up together with their rebellious parents and shall we say that God was unjust in the execution of these and such like judgments Yet Medina professeth that God as Lord of life and death hath power to inflict any payne on any creature be he never so innocent and this he delivers ex concordi omnium Theologorum Sententia And indeed no reason can define those boundes limits of payne and sorrowe eyther as touching intension or duration within which in the execution of payne God must consist beyond which he cannot proceede incolumi justitia And will thâ—s Author deny that by the sinne of one man sinne entred into the world and death by sinne hath spread it selfe over all even over those that did not sinne after the similitude of Adams transgression that is over Infants Is this the fruite of God his making us after his owne image that herupon we shoulde circumscribe and lâ—mit the execution of his power over us in comparison with others and that only by rules devised by fleshe and blood And if he doth execute no other then a lawfull power can he be justly censured of crueltie But seing he ordeynes no man to damnation but for sinne and that to the manifestation of his justice which is his glory is he lesse good or wise or just in this The scripture playnely teacheth us that God made all thinges for himselfe even the wicked against the day of evill and shall we suspende our judgements as touching our adherence unto this divine and sacred truth untill such time as we have made triall how this doctrine will relish with infidells What
against the holy Sonne of God to doe that which Gods hand and Gods counsell had foredetermined to be done Belike Arminius himself was a Manichee in this shallow caps judgement when he said Deus voluit Achabum mensuram scelerum suorum implere and that when God permits a man to will ought whether good or evill necesse est ut nullo argumentorum genere persuadeatur ad nolendum Brad wardine no doubt shall in thâ—s Authors deepe and judicious censure be reckoned for a Manichee where he professeth that Circa quodcunque versatur Dei permissio circa idem versatur eius volitio actualis Yet the Manichees denyed the books of the old Testament to be the word of God at least of the good God and indeed they doe affoord plentifull testimony of the secret providence of God in evill and to my judgement the Nation of Arminians are farre more likely to concurre with the Manichees in this particular then we As for the interpretation of that passage of Scripture intimated by him but untruly represented I have already spoken thereof and justifyed our interpretation by the analogy of the Text of Scripture Phrase by cleare reason and by the authoritie of Austin concurring with us herein As for his argument here intimated that an honest man might be angry to have his words so interpreted I willingly graÌ„t it For truly my desire is that all and every one in my congregation would beleeve and repent that he might be saved but I have no power to worke this but God is armed with power to effect this and therefore vvere it his vvill or desire to save all all should be saved For who hath resisteth his vvill But this is the usuall course of Arminians to compare man with God and not so only but to build arguments upon such a comparison as if the weake desires of man were very decently to be attributed unto God Yet this Author comes not directly to obtrude upon us such consequences but cunningly insinuates them so to creepe serpentlike upon a mans affections to infect them He talkes how that it followeth that God is the Author of all wickednesse yet gives no premises where hence to conclude it leaving it to us to picke them out of his drossy warehouse be like from Gods decreee whereby things are decreed by our opinion which yet he brought in Musis Apolline nullo not so much as mentioning the Author by whom or place where this is delivered And indeed these men are so zealous in opposing Gods decree as that they have an edge so farre as we may guesse by the face of their discourse to deny that foolish repentance and obedience is decreed by God And some have not blushed to professe that God decreed contingency but not the contingent things themselves which is as good as in plaine termes to professe that God decreeth no mans faith and repentance But Austin is expresse Non aliquid fit nisi omnipotens fieri velit The Scriptures are expresse concerning the betraying mocking scourging buffeting crucifying the Sonne of God to witt that in all these things they did what God had fore-determined to be done Hence he inferreth that God is the Author of all wickednesse I have mett with many dissolute discourses of this sect but like to this I have not hitherto mett with any Of wickednesse we say with Austin that none can be the Author of it by way of a cause efficient the cause therof being only a cause deficient Now man may thus be the Author of it to witt eyther in doing what he ought not to doe or leaving undone what he ought to doe but this cannot possibly be incident unto God namely that he shoulde eyther doe what he ought not to doe or leave undone what he ought to doe and if to determine that the crucifying of the Sonne of God be to be Author of the wickednesse committed in the crucifying the Sonne of God the scripture in testifying this makes God the Author of wickednesse by the learning of this divine That the act which is sinfull and the sinfulnes therof are to be distinguished that God is the cause of the one only the permitter of the other is not our doctrine only but of Arminius allso As for the exception herunto proposed of the Doctors of the Synods namely that God hath predestinated men as well unto the meanes as to the ende is of so base a condition as if this Author came not so much to dispute as to vent spleene and gall and therfore cared not much whether he spake sense or non sense this being the fitter to confounde thinges and he litle or nothing cares to explicate ought That he who intends an ende doth allso intende the meanes the very light of nature suggesteth unto us Now the ende that God aymes at is his owne glory for he made all thinges for himselfe And if he meanes to manifest his glory on any in the way of vindicative justice it stands him upon both to create them and permitt them to sinne and finally to persevere therin and to damne them for their sinnes Here we have the ende and the meanes intended by God this Author talkes of predestinating men to the ende and to the meanes in his owne language The sinfull act is the cause of damnation as wrought freely by them and thoughe the sinfulnes be only from man yet the act is not but as well from God as from man as all sides now a dayes confesse even Arminius himselfe but this Author so caryeth himselfe as if he woulde deny the act it selfe to be from God not by any strenght of argument but merely by a loose discourse and I have a long time looked that they should come to this but withall I looke they shoulde bring reason with them and not in a base manner this Author like to begge the question That reprobates have no power to absteyne from sinne we grant as reprobation signifies the denyall of grace which this Author denying he must be driven to confesse that men may absteyne from sinne without grace that of themselves they are able to regenerate themselfes Yet the Apostle tells us that they who are in the flleshe cannot please God and our Saviour that none can come unto him except the Father drawe him and that therfore men heare not his words because they are not of God And this discourse in the face of it tends plainly to the maynteyning that neyther faith nor repentance are the gifts of God but the workes of mans free will Yet we doe not like this comparison that a man can no more absteyne from sin then shunne his damnation For though a man would he cannot shunne his damnation but if a man would absteyne from sinne certainly he not only coulde but de facto shoulde in good measure absteyne from sinne For as sinne is chiefly in the will so is the absteyning from sinne but such aliene comparisons are as
be one of Gods elect which may be for ought we know to the contrary And if it proove otherwise and we have cause to complayne that we have laboured in vayne and that we have spent our strenght in vayne this ought to be nothing strange to us seing it hath bene the condition of better and more eminent servants of God then we are neyther are we to seeke how to comfort our selves but in the Prophets language Yet my labour is with the Lord and my judgment with my God though we have laboured all night yea and many dayes also and caught nothinge in S. Pauls language we are unto God the sweete savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them that perishe To the one we are the Savour of death unto death and to the other a Savour of life unto life and herby we doe God service in bereaving them of excuse for they cannot but by these meanes know that a Prophet hath bene amongst them yea and by molesting them with the torments of hell and stirring up a worme in their conscience to gnawe them we may as it were throwe water in their faces and quash their furious courses in satisfying their lusts so that hereby they may proficere ad exteriorem vitae emendationem quo mitiùs puniantur Now judge of the soliditie of this Authors discourse who conscious of giving litle satisfaction in good earnest affects to refresh the spirit of his propitious reader with a jest saying that his personate Actor will not affirme himself to be a Reprobate for feare of being held so indeed by the Synods But where doth eyther of these Synods teach that who so conceaves himself to be a reprobate is to be held by them to be such a one indeed For albeit eyther of them did affirme every Christian to be bound to beleeve that he is an elect for which we have no stronger evidence then the honesty of this Authors word which of what price it deserves to be let the indifferent judge yet that they should hold every one to be a reprobate indeed who conceaves himself to be such a one is altogether incredible Yet notwithstanding these and such like immodest and shamelesse pretences this Author will not want some to applaude him herein as a resolute champion of their cause And albeit he shapes his Actor such as feare not God yet to serve his turne he must shape him so as to stand in feare of the censure of Arles and of their hard opinion of him The third Section IF hereupon the Censurer proceede That allthough the Spirit alone doth produce repentance in the heart of a sinner yet notwithstanding that exhortations and threatnings are the meanes and instruments which it useth in the worke The other will demaund further of him the explication of his saying therein observing a most manifest contradiction in that on the one side repentance is immediately attributed to the holy Ghost and on the other side these exhortations and threatnings are held as means and instruments of this worke the operation not being there immediate where the meanes are used That if these meanes of exhortation be necessary or at least if it be ordinarily required in the operation how can it be that they who resist it and reject the instrument doe not nay cannot likewise resist the principall cause which is the holy Ghost He that will not suffer the rasour the instrument of his cure doth he not therein also reject the Chirurgeon The Censurer will say that the elect reject neither the one nor the other the holy Ghost pearcing the eare to make it heare and opening the heart to make it receave those admonitions which are alltogether vaine unprofitable untill the holy Ghost doth so worke in them Thereupon the other will make him confesse that the word preached for the most part is destitute of that operation of the holy Ghost as it appeareth by the misprise that the most part make of it which cannot be when the efficacy of the Spirit doth accompany it it followeth then that the whole ministery is but a dance no more cooperating with mans conversion then the clay which our Saviour applyed to the eyes of the blind did unto his sight or the sole voyce calling upon Lazarus made him to rise out of his grave He will also demand of him why it is seing nature doth nothing in vayne that the Author of nature did appoynt the ministery of the word and why those things which the Censurer attributeth onely to the Holy Spirit are yet notwithstanding in the Scripture attributed likewise to the word preached and how it is that thereby we are said to be begotten renued edified nourished and purified c. whereas the new doctrine of the Synod leaveth it no other function then to serve as an object and to represent that without which the Holy Spirit hath already wrought within as well in the will as in the understanding without any cooperation of the word not onely unprofitable without the Spirit but also dangerous and aggravating the damnation of its contemners although it were impossible to receave and cherish it even as it is unpossibâ—e for them to adde the efficacy of the Spirit which is not in their power Consid. Here the Censurer is brought in without any decent occasion to discourse of the Spirits operation alone in producing repentance and yet notwithstanding that exhortations and threatnings are the meanes and instruments which it useth in the worke so to make way for the discharging of some shot he hath in readinesse against this By the way I observe that howsoever he puts upon his Actor in this seene the name of a Censurer yet he might be called as well an exhorter and threatner The word of God S. Paul tels us is profitable to teach to coÌ„vince to correct to instruct in righteousnesse but no where doe I finde any such act as censuring attributed unto it But as for the mayne we acknowledge that it is the Spirits operation alone that changeth the heart and yet notwithstanding that exhortations backt with promises upon our obedience threatnings upon our disobedience are the meanes for as much as God worketh in all agreably to their natures Now having made man after his owne image indued with an understanding heart and rationall affections wherby he is fitt to be wrought upon unto that which is good and from that which is evill by way of instruction exhortation persuasion therfore it pleaseth God accordingly to bring him unto faith repentance and obedience Now let us consider what he hath to say against this herupon he saith the other will demaund further of him the explication of his sayings therin objecting a most manifest contradiction in that on the one side repentance is immediately attributed to the holy Ghost and on the other side these exhortations and threatnings are helde as meanes instruments of this worke the operation not being
that worketh in us every thing that is pleasing in his sight doth the Physician sett the mans leggs whom he hath cured I thinke he hath enough to doe to sett his owne legges members going according to their severall motions was holy Paul nourished in his sloath who both professeth that he laboured more abundantly then they all yet in the same breath acknowledgeth that nevertheles it cannot he but rather the grace of God in him Nay how is it possible that God should bring a man to a sermon while he lyes lazy in his bed How is it possible he should continue that excesse which brought him to his sicknes when God workes in him that which is pleasing in his sight and fullfills the good pleasure of his goodnes towards him and the worke of faith in power But we may easily proceave the Spirit of his Author he would not be a child still he would goe on highe alone and not have any neede of the leading of his heavenly Father his owne Spirit serves his turne to performe any holy duetie any gracious worke And as Plato discerned the pride of Antisthenes through his patcht coate so may we thorough these wilde expressions as if God did mans worke for him while he lay in sleepe we may easily perceave the pride of his heart requiring no more succour from God to the performance of to velle agere of that which is good then Pelagius of olde did Yet the Lord by his prophet playnely professeth of himselfe that he causeth us to walke in his statutes and judgments and to doe them and the Apostle as playnely teacheth us that God workes in us both the will and the deede according to his good pleasure yea that he workes in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ. The meaning whereâ—â— Pelagius his opinion was only this that suadet omne quod bonum est and in all liklihood no other is the meaning of the Apostle in the opinion of this Author though he comes not so farre as to the discussing therof and to treate of Gods concourse For which kinde of exercise this comicall witt of his is nothing accommodated and like enough this discourse of his is plausible to none but such comicall witts as himselfe is of and no merveyle if it be magnified of them For Lactucas similes labra simillima habent like lettice like lips Yet he doth us wrong in saying we are not content that God should furnish us with necessary and sufficient grace to preserve and keepe us from sinne For albeit we doe require that God should immediately and irresistibly worke all our good workes in us yet surely we acknowledge this to be necessary unto every good act and no grace without this sufficient ad velle agere though there may be without this a grace sufficient ad posse and the word of God it selfe we acknowledge to be sufficient in its kinde to witt in the way of instruction but the ministery therof we willingly professe goes no farther then Pauls planting and Apollos wateringe over and above all which unles God be pleased to give the encrease we shall continue unfruitfull still only there is a sect that have a better opinion of their activitie unto that which is good then so Sure I am the Apostle tells us that God doth fulfill the good pleasure of his goodnes in us and the worke of faith with power and if he fulfill the worke of faith with power doth he not fulfill the worke of love of repentance of obedience of all holy conversation and godlines that with power Molira will have Gods concourse to be simultaneous with the will not antecedaneous in nature to the wills operation least otherwise God should not be the immediate cause of the act of the maintenance wherof he was zelous and it seemes Arminiâ—â—s tooke his conceyte from him of making God in the same manner an immediate cause of every act But Suares his fellowe Iesuite doth not approove of that Molinaes conceyte and is of opinion that albeit God doth worke the will to her operation yet this nothing hinders the immediate condition of Gods causalitie So that all of them stande for the maintenance of Gods immediate causalitie which this Author very judiciously and profoundely out of the depth of his scholasticalitie rejects and after his manner takes it in scorne that God shoulde be required to performe an immediate operation in producing any good worke he would have that left to the will of man not that he desires to have wherof to boast for he will be ready in great plerophory of wordes to professe that he gives God the glory of all but how Forsooth of working him so to that which is good as to leave it to his will at the pleasure therof to be the immediate operator in all Otherwise he should worke irresistibly which is a phrase of an ill accent in their eares and stickes as a burre in their throate it will not downe with them for they are verily persuaded it would breede no good blood in them not for feare least herby they should ascribe too much to God and too litle to themselves farre be that from the Spirit of their humilitie but they would have the Allmightie cary himselfe decently in dealing with them and sith he hath indued them with free will not to damnifie the free course therof which were to disanull his owne workmanship For as yet they are not arrived to any such faith as to believe that it is in the power of the Almightye to make them to worke this or that freely But let me have leave to spurre this Author one quaestion Cannot he endure that God should so powerfully worke them unto that which is good that the world should have no abilitie to resist him nor the divill and his Angells of darkenes We knowe the course and fashions of the one and the practises and suggestions of the other are prest and forward enough to hinder us in the good wayes of the Lord as much as ever the Angell of God was to hinder Balaam in his wicked courses Now why should you be so zealous of maynteyning the power eyther of the world or the divill to corrupt your soule and overthrowe your faith were it not rather cheifly to be desired that God should so worke us by his holy Spirit unto every thing that is pleasing in his sight that it shoulde not be in the power of the very gates of hell to prevayle against us that is I trowe to worke us unto that which is good irresistibly that is so that the world nor the divill should not be able to resist Gods operation though they much desire it I shoulde thinke it is not the genius of this Author to oppose irresistible operation divine in this sense though it may be he was never cast upon this distinction untill now In respect of whom then would he have this