Selected quad for the lemma: conscience_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
conscience_n	evil_a	good_a	motive_n	1,128	5	11.3729	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64002	The riches of Gods love unto the vessells of mercy, consistent with his absolute hatred or reprobation of the vessells of wrath, or, An answer unto a book entituled, Gods love unto mankind ... in two bookes, the first being a refutation of the said booke, as it was presented in manuscript by Mr Hord unto Sir Nath. Rich., the second being an examination of certain passages inserted into M. Hords discourse (formerly answered) by an author that conceales his name, but was supposed to be Mr Mason ... / by ... William Twisse ... ; whereunto are annexed two tractates of the same author in answer unto D.H. ... ; together with a vindication of D. Twisse from the exceptions of Mr John Goodwin in his Redemption redeemed, by Henry Jeanes ...	Twisse, William, 1578?-1646.; Jeanes, Henry, 1611-1662. Vindication of Dr. Twisse.; Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1653 (1653)	Wing T3423; ESTC R12334	968,546	592

sub nomine gratiae Fatum asserimus quia nullis hominum meritis dicimus Dei gratiam antecedi Si autem quibusdam omnipotentis Dei voluntatem placet Fati nomine nuncupari profanas quidem verborum novitates evitamus sed de verbis contendere non amamus Yet because we are to give the Devill his right With what conscience could this Author professe of this Fatum of the Heathens that their faith thereof did take away all conscience of sinne seeing it did not take away the conscience of sinne in her who is made by the Poet to utter this as appears in the same Author within a few lines after For there she professeth that if God the creator of all should make his wrath break forth against her and strike her with a thunderbolt from heaven yet this were no sufficient punishment for her sinnes Queen Iocastas word are these Non si ipse mundum concitans divum sator Corusca saeva teia jaculetur manu Unquam rependam sceleribus paenas pares Shee justifies God and condemnes her selfe notwithstanding her former words used only as it seems to pacify the furious moode of her Sonne and Husband Oaedipus Will not such one day rise up in judgement against many Christians who unlesse themselves may be exempted from that providence divine whereby he moves all things agreeable to their natures are so apt to condemne God of injustice and justify themselves as needing not to have any conscience of sinne And which is most strange they acknowledge Fate in this case to be such as that it necessitated even God himselfe as appears by the last Chorus Fatis agimur cedite Fatis Non sollicitae possunt curae Mutare rati stamina fusi Quicquid patimur mortale Genus Quicquid facimus venit ex alto Servátque sua decreta colus Lachesis durâ revoluta manu Omnia certo tramite vadunt Primúsque dies dedit extremum Non illa Deo vertisse licet Quae nexa suis currunt causis It cuique ratus prece non ullâ Mobilis ordo multis ipsum Timuisse nocet multi ad fatum Venere suum dum fata timent But as I said before whatsoever they conceived of Fate and howsoever they fashioned it their opinion thereof did not expectorate all conscience of sinne in them or urge them to justify or excuse themselves in their courses For it appears both of Oaedipus and Iocasta that they not only condemned themselves but became selfe executioners of punishment upon themselves for their foule crimes the one pulling out his own eyes judging himselfe unworthy to see the light and the other destroying herselfe Though whatsoever they or the Poets that set them forth conceived of Fate in this case of theirs it was only the Oracles of the Devills and his illusions that abused them God giving them over thereunto and that no doubt most justly when in a wicked curiosity they desire to know what shall become of them and their children the Devill gives forth his Oracles as he thinks good afterwards sets his witts on work to accomplish them thereby to gain the greater credit and reputation to himselfe and so much the more forcibly holds them in his snares But to proceed This argument or motive is not yet at an end but like as this doctrine is pretended to take away all conscience of sinne which is as much as to say all desert of sinne on the one side so it may be extended to shew how it takes away all conscience of obedience and all desert thereupon on the other side to wit in good actions And indeed were it true that the doctrine did bereave a man of all free will it were true as Hierome saith that where such necessity is nec damnatio nec Corona est But Austin hath spent an whole Book in proofe of this namely that grace consists with freedome of will unto that which is good and want of grace together with God's efficacious operation even in the worst of things doth consist also with freedome of will unto that which is evill But that in the state of nature man hath no free will to that which is good but is a servant unto sin I know no man that doth or can deny unlesse withall he deny Originall sinne with the Pelagians like as indeed it is written of Grevincovius that great Arminian that Grevincovius negavit peccatum Originale quod testibus convinci potest And indeed this Authors discourse bears strongly this way whatsoever Protestation in shew of words he makes hereafter to the contrary For it is apparent that in this place the face of his discourse stands for freedome of will in all as well unto that which is good as unto that which is evill And albeit there is so little difference between this and his former motive touching the conscience of sinne that it seems to be added only to make way for this sentence of Hierome which yet is nothing to the purpose unlesse he can prove that Gods decrees doe bereave men of liberty of their wills yet very unhappily doth he carry himself herein and in farre different manner from Hierom's expression though he placeth Corona in opposition to damnation one whereof to wit damnation implies the merit of sinne preceding but the other to wit Corona no way implies any meritorious nature of obedience precedanious thereunto But this Author sticks not to apply a meritorious condition to good actions on the one side as well as to evill actions on the other And if good actions were as meritorious and that naturally too of the crown of righteousnesse as evill actions are of damnation And withall he will have no more to decree or work the faith and repentance and obedience of one then he doth the infidelity and impenitency and disobedience of another least this his will operation prove an adamantine chaine of necessity to draw them to faith and repentance and obedience whereas his wisdome thinks it fit they should be left to their own choyce whetherthey will believe and repent yea or no. For he doth very considently presume that every man hath power to believe and repent and doe any good work which is as good as in expresse termes to professe that there is no originall sinne at all Notwithstanding so many expresse testimonies of holy writ to the contrary namely Iohn 12. of some that They could not believe Rom. 2. of others that They could not repent Rom. 8. of all that are in the flesh that They cannot please God 1 Cor. 2. of the natural man that He neither perceives the things of God nor can know them of the Israelites in the Wildernesse that God had not given them an heart to perceive nor eyes to see nor eares to heare unto that day Deutr. 29. 4. But these passages of holy Scripture seem to have no place in this Authors consideration if so be they have in his Creed This bed is something too short for him

that is pleasing in his sight Heb. 13. 20. to cause us to walk in his statutes and judgements and to doe them Ezech. 36. 28. yea to keep us from presumptious sins and that they get not the dominion over us Psal 19. 14. yea to deliver us from every evill work 2 Timoth. 4. 18. But perhaps some may say Our doctrine is that God willeth sin to be committed for which men may and shall be punished like as Tiberius would the Virgins should be defloured that they might be strangled And I answer that Arminius himselfe professeth that Deus voluit Achabum mensuram scelerum suorum implere God would have Ahab fill up the measure of his sinne that he might be condignely punished And why may we not say as well that God would have Tiberius to fill up the measure of his sinnes And yet like as Tiberius would have the Virgins to be defloured that they might be strangled so Ahab would have Naboth accused of blasphemy that he might be condemned for it and so put to death and stoned and all these things were done under colour of Religion Yet Arminius in reference to these very courses spares not to professe that God would have Ahab to fill up the measure of his sinnes yet doth not Bertius upbraid him for defaming God with imputing cruelty unto him Againe the same Arminius professeth that in their ignominious handling of Christ God would have the Jewes progredi quousque progressi sunt proceed so farre as they did proceed And was it not Gods will in like manner that the Gentiles should proceed as farre as they did in the same businesse Now we know full well by the story Evangelical how farre they went in their mischievous courses against the Son of God For Judas betrayed him and the high Priests both hired Judas hereunto and suborned false witnesses against him and both the Herodians and Souldiers mocked him and the people urged Pilate to crucify him and to dismisse 〈◊〉 and Pilate yeelded to the peoples desire took order to have him first scourged then crucified And if it may be truely and piously said that in these ignominious usages of the Son of God they went as farre as God would have them to goe why may it not with as great truth and piety be avouched that Tiberius also in these his barbarous courses went as farre as God would have him Neither doth Arminius give himselfe to qualify the harshnesse of these his affirmations We say that whatsoever comes to passe it is Gods will it should come to passe as Austin expresly professeth Enchir. cap. 95. Nec aliquid fit nisi Omnipotens fieri velit and the Articles of Ireland Artic. 11. professe the same But withall we explicate it as Austin dothin the words following by adding the different manner how they shall come to passe by the will of God according to the different condition of things that come to passe namely good or evill thus Vult fieri but how vel sinendo ut fiat to wit in case they are evill vel ipse faciendo to wit in case they are good So then good things God will have come to passe by his effection evill things only by his permission And Bellarmine opposing our Divines to the uttermost of his power in this particular being convicted in conscience by the evidence of truth is driven to confesse Bonum esse ut malum fiat Deo permittente It is good that evill should come to passe by Gods permission or Gods permitting it Tiberius willed that the Virgins should be defloured and impiously he willed it God willed that Davids Concubines should be defloured and holily he willed it neither is he delighted with impurity For the Scripture attributes this unto God I will give thy Wives unto thy Neighbour and he shall lye with them in the sight of all Israel and before the sunne And this constupration of Davids Concubines served for the chastising of David as Arminius professeth Inserviit castigando Davidi omnes paenae habent Deum authorem All punishments have God for their author they are the words of the same Arminius It was impiety and cruelty in Tiberius to cause the Virgins to be defloured and strangled But what Christian dares to impute impiety or cruelty unto God for causing the Children of the Sodomites some in their Mothers wombe some hanging upon their Mothers breasts to be consumed with fire and brimstone It was impiety and cruelty in Tiberius to will the deflouring of those Virgins that they might be strangled But Arminius thought it neither impiety nor cruelty for God to will that Ahab should fill up the measure of his sinne that so he might accumulate unto himselfe wrath in the day of wrath for if he had I presume he would not have ascribed any such will unto God as he doth in expresse termes Although he well knew the vast difference between the power of man and the power of God in executing vengeance the ones power extending only to the execution of vengeance temporall but Gods power extends to the execution of vengeance eternall Now I find a story immediatly following this very story alleadged by this Author out of Suetonius expressing the cruelty of Tiberius in a farther degree as not contented with the death of them whom he would destroy and therefore he would keep them alive to torment them Mori volentibus vis adhibita vivendi when they desired to dye he caused them to live by force Nam mortem adeò leve supplicium putabat ut cum audisset unum è reis anticipasse eam exclamaverit Carnutius me evasit For he accounted death so light a punishment that when he heard one of the condemned persons to have anticipated it he cryed out Carnutius hath escaped me for that was the condemned persons name And when he took notice of them that were inward when one desired to suffer betimes he answered him Nondum tecum in gratiam redii I doe not as yet beare these so much good will Now why may not some Atheisticall person track the steps of this Author and in this particular exaggerate the hainousnesse of Gods holy courses as savouring of cruelty beyond all example beyond the cruelty of Tiberius because he holds delinquent creatures upon the rack of eternall torment in hell fire For certain vindicative courses in Tiberius inferior unto these are accounted abominable cruell and impious how much more if this Authors argumentation be of force those courses which the word of God hath informed us to be the courses divine infinitely beyond the courses of Tiberius in the way of severity and rigour As for the power of God in producing sinne we acknowledge none Above 1200 years agoe it was delivered by Austin that sinne hath no efficient cause but deficient only But when the creature sinneth he sinneth in doing that he ought not to doe or in doing what he doth not in that manner he ought to doe or in not doing what he

day But to beat them out of the conceit of any sufficiency in them to profit either by Gods word or by his works so as to be drawn thereby to doe any thing that was pleasing in the sight of God and can there be any true holinesse where humility is wanting Againe they are only thankfull unto God for giving them power to believe to repent and for exciting them hereunto and concurring with them to the act of faith and repentance for they acknowledge no other grace but this We are bound by our doctrine to be thankfull not only for these operations but also for causing us to walke in his statutes to keepe his judgements and doe them for healing our wayes our back-slidings our Rebellions they by their Doctrine are bound to be thankfull unto God for no other grace in the way of grace prevenient then such as he vouchsafeth to reprobates and did vouchsafe to Cain to Judas and to the Divells themselves how is it that they are not stricken with feare least in this case their condition be no better then the condition of reprobates though God in good time may provide better things for them then their opinions have any congruity unto having course only to the obscuring and defacing of Gods grace We by our doctrine are bound to give God thanks for ruling us with a mighty hand and making us to passe under the rod and bringing us unto the bond of the Covenant for taking away our stony heart and giving us an heart of flesh for circumcising our hearts to love him with all our heart for raising us out of the dead when he found us dead in sinne for working in us both the will and the deed of every good worke not according to any thing in us but according to his good pleasure And this is so farre from breeding sloth in us or to drowne us in carnall security in the Apostles judgement as that upon this very ground as by a forceable inducement he exhorts us to worke out our Salvation with feare and trembling manifestly implying that when men are of another opinion as namely to thinke that the will and deed of any good thing is their owne worke or if they doe acknowledge it to be Gods work yet if they doe not acknowledge it to be wrought by God according to his good pleasure but according to some disposition whereby they dispose themselves thereunto that is the high-way to make them carnally secure and how but by a carnall confidence that they have power to turne to God when they list to believe and repent when they will and withall that their wills are as pliable to good as to evill and so make it an easy mater at any time to turne to God I appeale to the judgment of every sober conscience to judge betweene us which of our Doctrines most tends to the countenancing of carnall security according to the Tenor of the Apostles exhortation in this place and that in coherence with the reason whereby he doth enforce it theirs or ours But to proceed they acknowledge Christ to have merited for them only a power to believe and repent and meanes to excite them hereunto and concourse divine to the act of believing and repenting in case they will we acknowledge not only all this but over and above that Christ hath merited for us the working of our wills effectually and predominantly hereunto and that God makes us perfect to every good worke working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Nay what will you say if the Remonstrants now a dayes openly professe that Christ merited not for any man faith and regeneration and I commend them for their ingenuity in dealing fairly and plainly confessing that which their opinion doth manifestly drive unto Lastly we confesse that God hath power as to shew mercy on whom he will and harden whom he will so to make whom he will a vessell of mercy and whom he will a vessell of wrath this we clearely professe namely that God hath such power even over our selves and our childeren and all those that are neere and deare unto us as over any others But this these adversaries of ours now a days utterly deny now I pray consider whose doctrine savoreth of greater holinesse in acknowledging the soveraignty of God over his creatures theirs or ours But it will not be labour lost altogether to consider those causes whereunto he is pleased to impute that Godlinesse which is found in us The first is Gods providence and indeed I find them liberall enough in acknowledging Gods providence in generall termes and as forward to blast it when they come to particulars Now as for that providence which is the cause of Godlinesse we like plaine fellowes comonly call it grace and the ground of this Authors subtility in calling it providence and not grace I comprehend not But what is that operation of providence divine or grace which is the cause of Godlinesse Is it any other in his opinion then that universall grace whereby they have power to be Godly and which grace God affords unto Reprobates and that exciting grace whereby God perswades them to be Godly and his readinesse to concurre to any act of Godlinesse in case we will and is not all this afforded in his opinion to Reprobates as well as to the elect to them that have no Godlinesse at all in them as to them that have And why may not this doctrine of ours whereby we maintaine that God workes in us both the will and the deed according to his goodpleasure be a meanes to make us set our selves to the working out of our Salvation with feare and trembling considering that the Apostle professeth this doctrine of Gods energeticall operation of every good thing in us as a strong inducement to worke out our Salvation with feare and trembling and wherein consists any mans Godlinesse if not in this to wit in working out his Salvation with feare and trembling And is it not apparent that we maintaine this doctrine namely that God is he who workes in us both the will and the deed and every good thing and that according to his good pleasure in farre more undoubted manner then they doe And how can it appeare that they doe acknowledge this To give us power to will that which i good which is the effect of that universall grace they talke of is this to worke in us either the will or the deed To excite us by perswasion and exhortation to will doe that which is good to believe and to repent is to worke either in us the will or deed of that which is good of faith of repentance Lastly to be ready to concurre with us to the will or deed of faith and repentance if so be we will concurre with him to the same or to concurre with us to the producing of the act of willing the act of doing that which is good in

as I have shewed in my Vinaiciae For Peter Lombard disputing on either side about this concurrence leaves it indifferent to the Reader to imbrace either part Either the affirmative that God doth concurre to every act though it be sinfull or the negative Yet I say as many as doe maintaine the affirmative doe so maintaine God's motion upon the creatures will as to move it only agreably unto it's nature namely to work freely not necessarily Like as he moves necessary Agents to work necessarily and contingent Agents to worke contingently And if this Authour be ignorant hereof which may well give him boldnes For who so bold as blind Bayard What doth he other in all this but betray his own shame comming to discourse on such an argument as an asse comes to play upon an harp as the proverbe speaks But if he be not ignorant of this what unshamefastnesse doth he manifest all along making bold only upon the simplicity and ignorance of his Reader to gull him and abuse him and draw him along to oppose the free grace of God in predestination and regeneration under colour of making God the Authour of sinne in the point of reprobation which yet he despaires of making good against us without notorious untruths and that undoubtedly delivered against his own knowledge For what Authour hath he produced to justifie this that any of our Divines maintaines that God necessitates the will of man to sin Not any that I know using this phrase Necessitate but Papists and among'st them none that I know but Bradwardine a man renowned in his time both for eminent learning and eminent piety as appeares by Sir Henry Savill's preface unto that book of his and he no where affirming that God necessitates any man unto sinne but only to the substance of the act that not so as to make the will work necessarily as the phrase imports in a vulgar eare and unto a popular judgment whereupon alone this Author takes his advantage most unconscionably but agreably to ' its nature that is contingently and freely For were he able to produce any one of our Divines that affirmeth this why doth he not Is there any●hing throughout this whole discourse that more requires he should name the man and quote the places where this is affirmed then this Yet here we find a blank he carrieth it on magnificently upon his own bare word which deserves no credit at our hands And is it possible to believe so foule a crimination without all evidence produced unlesse faction and partiallity hath blinded his eyes Should he have laied to our charge that we maintaine that God necessitates the will to any good act and to overrule the will therein we should utterly deny it without distinction It is true he overrules the will of the flesh but not the will of the Spirit the regenerate part but moves it agreably to ' its nature and to worke not only voluntarily but freely whatsoever it worketh For albeit the regenerate part is like a morall vertue though as much transcendent to it as a thing supernaturall transcends a thing naturall inclining only to that which is good yet is it alwaies moved to this particular good rather then unto an other most freely Like as a man's naturall corruption inclines a man only to evill yet to this kind of evill or to this particular evill rather then to that Man is moved most freely So that if we maintaine not that God workes a man to every good act otherwise then freely let the very conscience of our enemies judge whether we can maintaine that God necessitates the will either of men or of Devills unto sinne For it is apparent that God hath a Double influence unto a good act One unto it as unto an act and that is influence generall Another unto it as unto a good and gracious act and that we acknowledge to be an influence speciall and supernaturall But as touching an evill act all sides confesse that God hath but a single influence thereunto and that generall namely as it is an act not as it is evill And albeit this influence which we call concurrence unto the act be joyned with an influence into the will of the creature to move it to the producing of the same act yet this motion is no other thē whereby the will is moved to worke agreably to ' its nature that is freely Like as all other Agents are moved by God the first Agents to worke agreably to their natures necessary things to worke necessarily contingent things contingently So that in all this there is no overruling of the will no liberty taken from her but rather she is maintained and established in her free condition and moved agreably thereunto like as in the eleaventh Article of Ireland it is expressed For after it is laid downe that God from all eternity did by his unchangable counsell ordaine whatsoever in time should come to passe It is forthwith added that hereby no violence us offered to the wills of the reasonable creatures and neither the liberty nor the contingency of the second causes is taken away but established rather But because of another claw that here is subjoyned by this Authour it is to be considered that the liberty of the creature is not equall unto the liberty of the Creator God himselfe But like as all other causes are but second causes God alone the prime cause All other Agents but second Agents God alone the first Agent So likewise all other free Agents are but second free Agents God alone primum liberum the first free Agent So that no liberty of the creature doth or can exempt it from the Agency of God In whom we live and move and have our being what a proud thing presumptuous were it for the creature to aspire unto such an exemption Who oppose us in the point of free will more then Papists Yet see how Alvarez disputes against this vise and presumptuous conceit so much maintained by the Jesuites and after taken up by the Arminians who live by their scraps as if they would be content to wash their dishes The Jesuites discourse thus That the will may be free she must have the Dominion of her act true saith Alvarez debet habere Dominium sui actûs non tamen oportet quod habeat primum absolutum Dominium sui actus she must have the dominion overher act but not the first and absolute deminion of her act And Disput 117 he proposeth this question Whether the will hath her dominion of her act and what dominion this is In the resolution whereof he proposeth three conclusions 1. The free will of man hath the dominion of her act as the next cause thereof In this conclusion the Divines on both sides doe concurre 2. Free will created in the actuall use of Dominion and power which she hath over her acts depends on God as of an absolute Lord predeliberating and predetermining before the foreknowledge

bind him for he hath mercy on whom he will and so also on the other side He hardneth whom he will Yet I have given no instances in any passages of the Old Testament which give plentifull testimony of Gods secret providence of evill the evidence whereof did wring from Austin this confession Contra Iulian. Pelag. lib. 5. cap. 3. Et multa alia commemorare possemus in quibus aliquando appareat occulto judicio Dei fieri perversitatem cordis ut non audiatur quod verum dicitur inde peccetur si● ipsum peccatum praecedentis paena peccati Nam credere mendacio non credere veritati utique peccatum est Venit tamen ab eâ caecitate cordis quae occulto judicio Dei sed tamen justo etiam paena peccati monstratur And in his Book De Grat lib. arbitr cap. 20. inquiring how it is said that the Lord bid Shimei to curse David Quomodo dixit Dominus huic homini maledicere David Quis sapiens intelligit How did God bid this man curse David Who is wise and he shall understand Non enim jubendo dixit ubi obedientia laudaretur sed quod ejus voluntatem proprio vitio suo malum in hoc peccatum judicio suo justo occulto inclinavit Ideo dictum est dixit ei dominus Nam si jubenti obtemperasset Deo laudandus potius quàm puniendus esset sicut ex hoc peccato postea novimus esse punitum Neither saith he is the cause concealed why God thus dealt with Shimei Hoc est cor ejus malum in hoc peccatum miserit vel dimiserit I expresse it rather in Austins words then mine own because the adversaries of Gods truth think it enough to passe the censure of blasphemy upon ought that we deliver herein Now the cause was Ut videat Dominus inquit humilitatem meam retribuat mihi bona pro delicto ejus in die isto That God may see my humility saith David and recompence me good for his cursing this day Ecce quomodo probatur thus Austin goes on Deum uti cordibus etiam malorum ad laudem atque adjumentum honorum Thus saith he he used Iudas betraying Christ thus he used the Iewes crucifying Christ and how great good things did he thereby procure to all that should at any time believe Who also useth the Devill himselfe though most wicked yet he useth him optimè most holily for the exercising and proving of the faith and Piety of the righteous not to himselfe who knowes all things before they come to passe but to us who had need that after such manner God should proceed with us The adding hereunto how God wrought in the heart of Absalom to confound the counsell of Achitophel he breaks forth into this exclamation in the beginning of the next chapter Who would not tremble at the consideration of these judgements divine whereby God workes even in the hearts of wicked men what he will yet rendring unto them according to their deserts Then making mention of Rehoboam his despising the counsell of the Antients as also that 2 Chron. 1. how God stirred up the spirit of the Philistins and Arabians against Ioram and they came up upon the land of Judah and laid it wast Here saith Austin it is manifest that God doth raise up enemies to lay such countries wast whom he judgeth worthy of such punishments But yet saith he will you say they came not up by their own will or did they so come up by their own will as to make that untrue which the Scripture saith namely that God stirred them up Nay rather both are true for both they came up by their own will and yet God stirred up their spirits to come which also saith he may be delivered in this manner namely that both God stirred up their spirit and also they came up by their own will Agit enim Omnipotens in cordibus hominum etiam motum voluntatis eorum For the Almighty doth worke in the hearts of men the very motion of their will that he may work by them that which he thinks good to work by them even he who knoweth not how to work any thing unjustly Unto these he addeth variety of other testimonies all drawn out of the Word and concludes His talibus testimoniis divinorum eloquiorum quae omnia commemorare nimis longum est quantum existimo minifestetur Operari Deum in cordibus hominum ad inclinandas eorum voluntates quocunque voluerit sive ad bona pro suâ misericordiâ sive ad mala pro meritis eorum judicio utique suo aliquando aperto aliquando occulto semper autem justo INTRODUCTION SECT III. BEsides it takes from men all conscience of sinne and makes sinne to be no sinne we use to say Necessitas non habet legem Necessity hath no law c. ut est in superiori Sectione usque ad finem Sectionis TWISSE Consideration THis Motive as this Author calleth it hath the first place in the 16 th reason of Arminius whereby he laboureth to disprove their opinion who conceive the object of Predestination to be the Masse of mankind not created as appears in the declaration of his opinion made before the States of Holland c. and it is the first particular of six mentioned in that sixteenth reason of his And why should he divide it from the rest and not clap them together into this ranke of motives to prepare him to the renouncing of that Tenent which here he impugneth and adde Arminius his other ninteen reasons hereunto to the same purpose if himselfe be privy to the cause thereof I am not But as it lieth I will consider it Now it proceedeth upon supposition that such a necessity of sinning is brought upon man by this decree as stands in opposition unto liberty Whereunto I answere 1. That this decree in reference to the act of denying grace brings no necessity at all of sinning upon man it being only the divine decree of not cureing by the grace of regeneration that is by the grace of faith and repentance that naturall infidelity and impenitency wherein every man is borne all men being conjecti in necessitatem peccandi through the sinne of Adam as Corvinus confesseth they being his own words Now let every sober man judge whether to leave that infidelity and impenitency which God findes in a man uncured be to bring a necessity of sinning upon him 2. Secondly we answer that notwithstanding that necessity of sinning whereupon all are cast as Cornivus speaketh yet there is no sinne committed by a naturall and carnall man which is not committed by him freely The act of lying the act of blaspheaming the act of whoring the act of drunkennesse gluttony rayling and in generall every sinfull act being freely committed by every one by whom it is commited as is apparent by this that there is not one of these sinfull acts but is forborne by divers

them to be a good man or to have the grace of faith repentance or any other truly planted in his heart Which being so I say that the Minister cannot by the eternall acts and fruits of faith and repentance which he seeth come from him make it evident to the tempted for the silencing of all replies that he is without doubt a true believer and a true repentant and consequently no reprobate For still the tempted may say You may be deceived in me for you can see not a whit more in me then hath been seen in many a Reprobate If this be all you can say to prove me to be none I am not satisfied I may be a Reprobate nay I am a Reprobate and you are but a miserable comforter a Physitian of no value This that I say Piseator doth ingeniously confesse where he saith that no comfort can possibly be instilled into the soules of Reprobates afflicted with this temptation Whence it followes that the greatest part of men must beare their burthen if they fall into this trouble as wel as they can the Gospell cannot afford them any sound comfort 2. That the elect in this case may be comforted but it must be this way viz. by their feeling of the burthen of sinne and their desire to be freed from it by Christ which proofs as I have said are but only probable not infallible arguments of a mans election and therefore unsufficient comforts And in the end of the same Thesis where he saith That a man should reason thus with himselfe Grace is offered to some with a mind of communicating it to them therefore it may be that I am in that number he implyes that the doctrine of absolute Reprobation which teacheth this communication of grace to some few only affords but a fieri potest a peradventure I am elected for a poore soule to comfort himselfe withall TWISSE Consideration IN the last place we are to consider how truly he affirmeth that our doctrine leaveth a Minister none but weake grounds and those insufficient to quiet the tempted And whereas he saith We cannot conceive and make it evident to the understanding of the tempted that he is not that which he feares a Reprobate we willingly acknowledge it For not to be a reprobate is to be an elect Now how can any Arminian convince and make it evident to the understanding I doe not say of the tempted but of one that is a believer and walkes on comfortablely in the wayes of Godlinesse is he I say able to convince such a one and make it evident unto him that he is one of Gods elect I doe not think they dare professe that they presume they can or make it evident to their owne understanding that themselves are of the number of Gods elect How unreasonable then is this course to require of us to convince a man that acknowledgeth neither faith nor repentance in him for this is the condition of a man tempted as himselfe fashioneth it and to make it evident to his understanding that he is an elect and no reprobate when himselfe cannot convict him that believeth of this no nor their owne consciences neither notwithstanding all their confidence that they alone are in the right way of salvation Was there ever heard a more unreasonable course then this Againe to feare to be a reprobate or least he be a Reprobate is one thing to perswade himselfe that he is a Reprobate and to despaire thereupon is another thing We say and that according to our Doctrine that there is no cause why any man who hath not sinned the sinne unto death the sinne against the Holy Ghost should perswade himselfe that he is a Reprobate and despaire thereupon we doe not say there is no cause of feare In as much as he hath no evidence of his election there is just cause to feare but then againe seeing he neither hath nor can have any evidence of his reprobation excepting the guilt of the sinne against the Holy Ghost he hath every way as good cause to hope And for the comforting of such a one I would make bold to tell him that there is more hope of such a one as himselfe then of those who goe on in the wayes of their owne heart and in the light of their owne eyes without all remorse and check of conscience without feare or wit not considering that for all these things God will bring them to judgment And towards such I would think it fit to use all meanes and motives to make them feare The Apostle seemes to me to take the like course with better men then such even with such as went on in a faire and comfortable profession of Gospell namely to make them feare and suspect themselves as when he saith Prove youre selves whether you are in the faith examine your selves Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. And for good reason for as Paul was jealous over the Corinthians with a Godly jealousy for feare least as the Serpent beguilde Eve through his subtilty so their minds should be corrupt from that simplicity which is in Christ 2 Cor. 11. 2 3. And in like manner entertained feare least when he came he should not find them such as he would and that he should be found unto them such as they would not c. 2 Cor. 12. In like manner I should think it is good for a man to be jealous over himselfe with a godly jealousy least their minds should be corrupt their wayes corrupt more then they are a ware of and there upon give themselves to the examining of themselves and to the searching and trying of their wayes whereunto the Holy Ghost exhorts us Lament 3. 40. And there is good comfort to be taken in such a jealousy such a feare such a course For we find that the spirit of bondage making us to feare is the forerunner of the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. Certainely they are in better case and nearer to the Kingdome of God then such as feare not yet is their no cause of despaire for as much as the elect of God had no evidence of their election before their calling Nay after their calling they may be much afflicted with the feares and terrours of God thinking themselves to be in worse case then indeed they are David found cause to pray that God would restore him to the joy of his Salvation yet Bertius would not say that David was fallen from grace and that propter graves causas yet who hath written more eagarly to maintaine that Saints may fall away from grace then Bertius But this Author beares before him such a spirit of confidence as if he would have all men ordered by his rules When Manoahs Wife Judg. 13. 22 23. discourseth thus If the Lord would kill us he would not have received a burnt offering at our hands nor shewed us these things He