perversly said that originall sinne makes a man guilty of death Of any death it should seeme temporall eternall or that annihillation they dreame of and he said true enough Arminius doth affirme it adding this reason because it is onely the punishment of Adams actuall sinne now what kinde of punishment they make this to be I shewed you before But truely I wonder seeing they are every where so peremptorie that the same thing cannot be a sin and a punishment why they doe so often nick-name this infirmity of nature and call it a sinne which they suppose to be as farre different from it as fire from water is it because they are unwilling by new naming it to contradict St. Paul in expresse termes never proposing it under any other denomination or if they can get a sophisticall elusion for him is it least by so doing Christians should the more plainely discerne their heresie or what ever other cause it be in this I am sure they contradict themselves notwithstanding in this they agree full well That God reiecteth none for originall sinne onely as Episcopius speakes and here if you tell them that the question is not de facto what God doth but de iure what such sinne deservers they tell us plainly That God will not destinate any infants to eternall punishment for originall sinne without their owne proper actuall sinnes neither can he doe so by right or in iustice so that the children of Turkes Pagans and the like Infidels strangers from the covenant of grace departing in their infancie are farre happier then any Christian men who must under-goe a hard warfare against sinne and Satan in danger to fall finally away at the last houre and through many difficulties entering the kingdome of heaven when they without further trouble are presently assumed thither for their innocency Yea although they are neither elected of God for as they affirme he chooseth none but for their faith which they have not nor redeemed by Christ for he died onely for sinners he saved his people from their sinnes which they are not guiltie of nor sanctified by the holy Ghost all whose operations they restraine to a morall swasion whereof infants are not a capable subject Which is not much to the honour of the blessed Trinitie that heaven should be replenished with them whom the Father never elected the Sonne never redeemed nor the holy Ghost sanctified And thus you see what they make of this originall pravitie of our nature at most an infirmitie or languor thereof neither a sinne nor the punishment of sinne properly so called nor yet a thing that deserves punishment as a sinne Which last assertion whether it be agreeable to holy Scripture or no these two following observations will declare First there is no confusion no disorder no vanitie in the whole world in any of Gods creatures that is not a punishment of our sinne in Adam That great and almost universall ruine of Nature proceeding from the curse of God overgrowing the earth and the wrath of God revealing it selfe from heaven is the proper issue of his transgression It was of the great mercy of God that the whole frame of Nature was not presently rolled up in darkenesse and reduced to its primitive confusion Had we our selves beene deprived of those remaining sparkes of Gods Image in our soules which vindicates us from the number of the Beasts that perish had we beene all borne fooles and voyd of reason by dealing so with some in particular he sheweth us it had beene but justice to have wrapped us in the same miserie all in generall all things when God first created them were exceeding good and thought so by the wisedome of God himselfe but our sinne even compelled that good and wise Creator to hate and curse the worke of his owne hands Cursed is the ground saith he to Adam for thy sake in sorrow shalt thou eate of it all the dayes of thy life thornes also and thistles shall it bring forth unto thee Gen. 3. 17 18. hence was that heavie burden of vanitie that bondage of corruption under which to this day the whole Creation groaneth and travelleth in paine untill it be delivered Rom. 8. 21 22. Now if our sinne had such a strange malignant influence upon those things which have no relation unto us but onely as they were created for our use surely it is of the great mercy of God that we our selves are not quite confounded which doth not yet so interpose it self but that we are all compassed with divers sad effects of this iniquitie lying actually under divers pressing miseries and deservedly obnoxious to everlasting destruction so that Secondly death temporall with all its antecedents and attendants all infirmities miseries sicknesses wasting destroying passions casualties that are poenall all evill conducing thereunto or waiting on it is a punishment of originall sinne and this not onely because the first actuall sinne of Adam is imputed to us but most of them are the proper issues of that native corruption and pollution of sinne which is stirring and operative within us for the production of such sad effects our whole nature being by it throughly defiled hence are all the distortures and distemperatures of the soule by lusts concupiscence passions blindnesse of minde perversenesse of will inordinatenesse of affections wherewith we are pressed and turmoiled even proper issues of that inherent sinne which possesseth our whole soules Vpon the body also it hath such an influence in disposing it to corruption and mortality as it the originall of all those infirmities sicknesses and diseases which make us nothing but a shop of such miseries for death it selfe as these and the like degrees are the steps which leade us on apace in the road that tends unto it so they are the direct internall efficient cause thereof in subordination to the justice of Almighty God by such meanes inflicting it as a punishment of our sinnes in Adam Man before his fall though not in regard of the matter whereof he was made nor yet meerely in respect of his quickning forme yet in regard of Gods ordination was immortall a keeper of his owne everlastingnesse Death to which before he was not obnoxious was threatned as a punishment of his sinne In the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die the exposition of which words given by God at the time of his inflicting this punishment and pronouncing man subject to mortalitie cleerely sheweth that it comprehendeth temporall death also dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt returne our returne to dust is nothing but the soules leaving the body whereby before it was preserved from corruption Further Saint Paul opposeth that death we had by the sinne of Adam to the resurrection of the body by the power of Christ for since by man came death by man also came the resurrection from the dead For as in Adam all die so in Christ shall all be made alive 1 Cor. 15. 21. 22.
against its precepts or commission against its prohibitions although by our so omitting or committing of any thing the secret will or purpose of God be fulfilled Had Abraham disobeyed Gods precept when he was commanded to sacrifice his sonne Isaac though Gods will had been accomplished thereby who never intended it yet Abraham had grievously sinned against the revealed will of God the rule of his duty the holinesse of our actions consisteth in a conformity unto his precepts and not unto his purposes on this ground Gregory affirmeth that many fulfill the will of God that is his intentions when they thinke to change it by transgressing his precepts and by resisting imprudently obey Gods purpose and to shew how meerely we in our actions are tied to this rule of our duty Saint Austine shews how a man may do good in a thing crosse to Gods secret will and evill in that which complyeth with it which he illustrates by the example of a sicke parent having two children the one wicked who desires his fathers death the other godly and he prayes for his life but the will of God is he shall die agreeably to the desire of the wicked childe and yet it is the other who hath performed his duty and done what is pleasing unto God Thirdly to returne from this unnecessarie digression that which we have now in agitation is the secret will of God which we have before unfolded and this it is that we charge the Arminians for affirming that it may be resisted that is That God may faile in his purposes come short of what he earnestly intendeth or be frustrated of his aime and end as if he should determinately resolve the faith and salvation of any man it is in the power of that man to make void his determination and not beleeve and not be saved now it is onely in cases of this nature wherein our owne Free-wils have an interest that they thus limit and circumscribe the power of the most high in other things they grant his omnipotencie to be of no lesse extent then others doe but in this case they are peremptory and resolute without any colouring or tergiversation for whereas there is a question proposed by the Apostle Rom. 9. 19. Who hath resisted his will which that none hath or can he grants in the following verses Corvinus affirmes it is onely an obiection of the Jewes reiected by the Apostle which is much like an answer young schollers usually give to some difficult place in Aristotle when they cannot thinke of a better loquitur ex aliorum sententia for there is no signe of any such rejection of it by the Apostle in the whole following discourse Yea and it is not the Iewes that Saint Paul disputeth withall here but weaker brethren concerning the Iewes which is manifest from the first verse of the next Chapter where he distinguisheth betweene brethren to whom and Israel of whom he spake Secondly he speakes of the Iewes in the whole Treatise in the third person but of the disputer in the second Thirdly it is taken for a confessed principle betweene Saint Paul and the disputer as he cals him that the Iewes were rejected which surely themselves would not readily acknowledge So that Corvinus rejects as an objection of the Iewes a granted principle of Saint Paul and the other Christians of his time with the like confidence the same Authour affirmeth That they nothing doubt but that many things are not done which God would have to be done Vorstius goes further teaching That not onely many things are done which he would have done but also that many things are done which he would not have done He meanes not our transgressing of his Law but Gods failing in his purpose as Corvinus cleares it acknowledging that the execution of Gods will is suspended or hindered by man to whom Episcopius subscribes as for example God purposeth and intendeth the conversion of a sinner suppose it were Mary Magdalen Can this intention of his be crossed and his will resisted yea say the Arminians for God converts sinners by his grace but we can resist God when he would convert us by his grace say sixe of them ioyntly in their meeting at the Hague But some one may here object say they that thus God faileth of his intention doth not attaine the end at which he aimes we answer this we grant or be it the salvation of men they say They are certain that God intendeth that for many which never obtaine it that end he cannot compasse And here me thinkes they place God in a most unhappy condition by affirming that they are often damned whom he would have to be saved though he desires their salvation with a most vehement desire and naturall affection such I thinke as Crowes have to the good of their young ones for that there are in him such desires as are never fulfilled because not regulated by wisedome and iustice they plainly affirme For although by his infinite power perhaps he might accomplish them yet it would not become him so to doe Now let any good natured man who hath beene a little troubled for poore Jupiter in Homer mourning for the death of his sonne Sarpedon which he could not prevent or hath beene grieved for the sorrow of a distressed father not able to remove the wickednesse and inevitable ruine of an onely sonne droppe one teare for the restrained condition of the God of heaven who when he would have all and every man in the world to come to heaven to escape the torments of hell and that with a serious purpose and intention that it shall be so a vehement affection and fervent naturall desire that it should be so yet being not in himselfe alone able to save one must be forced to loose his desire lay downe his affection change his purpose and see the greatest part of them to perish everlastingly yea notwithstanding that he had provided a sufficient meanes for them all to escape with a purpose and intention that they should so doe In briefe their whole doctrine in this point is laid downe by Corvinus Chap. 3. against Moulin and the third Section where first he alloweth of the distinction of the will of God into that whereby he will have us doe something and that whereby he will doe any thing himselfe the first is nothing but his Law and Precepts which we with him affirme may be said to be resisted in as much as it is transgressed the latter he saith If it respect any act of mans may be considered as praeceding that act or following it If praeceding it then it may be resisted if man will not co-operate Now this is the will of God whereby himselfe intendeth to doe any thing The summe of which distinction is this the will of God concerning the future being of any thing may be considered as it goeth before the actuall existence of the thing it selfe and in this
their abettors have troubled the Church about the death of Christ may be reduced to heads First concerning the object of his merit or whom he died for Secondly concerning the efficacie and end of his death or what he deserved procured merited and obtained for them for whom he died in resolution of the first they affirme that he died for all and every one of the second that he died for no one man at all in that sense Christians have hitherto beleeved that he laid downe his life and submitted himselfe to beare the burden of his Fathers wrath for their sakes It seemes to me a strange extenuation of the merit of Christ to teach that no good at all by his death doth redound to divers of them for whom he died what participation in the benefit of his suffering had Pharaoh or Judas doe they not at this houre and shall they not to eternitie feele the waite and burden of their owne sinnes had they either grace in this world or glory in the other that they should be said to have an interest in the death of our Saviour Christians have hitherto beleeved that for whom Christ died for their sinnes he made satisfaction that they themselves should not externally suffer for them is God unist to punish twice for the same fault his owne Sonne once and againe the poore sinners for whom he suffered I cannot conceive an intention in God that Christ should satisfie his justice for the sinne of them that were in hell some thousands of yeeres before and yet be still resolved to continue then punishment on them to all eternitie no doubtlesse Christ giveth life to everyone for whom he gave his life hee looseth not one of them whom he purchased with his blood The first part of this Controversie may be handled under these two questions First whether God giving his Sonne and Christ making his soule a ransome for sinne intended thereby to redeeme all and every one from their sins that all and every one alike from the beginning of the world to the last day should all equally be partakers of the fruits of his death and passion which purpose of theirs is in the most frustrate Secondly whether God had not a certaine infallible intention of gathering unto himselfe a chosen people of collecting a Church of first borne of saving his little flocke of bringing some certainly to happinesse by the death of his onely Sonne which in the event he doth accomplish The second part also may be reduced to these two heads first whether Christ did not make full satisfaction for all their sinnes for whom he died and merited glory or everlasting happinesse to be bestowed on them upon the performance of those conditions God should require Secondly which is the proper Controversie I shall chiefly insist upon whether Christ did not procure for his own people a power to become the Sonnes of God merit and deserve at the hands of God for them grace faith righteousnesse and sanctification whereby they may be enabled infallibly to performe the conditions of the new Covenant upon the which they shall be admitted to glory To the first Question of the first part of the Controversie the Arminians answer affirmatively to wit that Christ died for all alike the benefit of his Passion belongs equally to all the posteritie of Adam and to the second negatively that God had no such intention of bringing many chosen sonnes unto salvation by the death of Christ but determined of grace and glory no more precisely to one then to another to Iohn then Iudas Abraham then Pharaoh both which as the learned Moulin observed seeme to be invented to make Christianitie ridiculous and expose our Religion to the derision of all knowing men for who can possibly conceive that one by the appointment of God should die for another and yet that other by the same justice be allotted unto death himselfe when ones death onely was due that Christ hath made a full satisfaction for their sinnes who shall everlastingly feele the waight of them themselves that he should merit and obtaine reconciliation with God for them who live and die his enemies grace and glory for them who are gracelesse in this life and damned in that which is to come that he should get remission of sinnes for them whose sinnes were never pardoned in briefe if this sentence be true either Christ by his death did not reconcile us unto God make satisfaction to his justice for our iniquities redeeme us from our sinnes purchase a kingdome an everlasting inheritance for us which I hope no Christian will say or else all the former absurdities must necessarily follow which no rationall man will ever admit Neither may we be charged as straitners of the merit of Christ for we advance the true value and worth thereof as hereafter will appeare farre beyond all that the Arminians ascribe unto it we confesse that that blood of God Acts 20. 28. of the Lambe without spot or blemish 1. Pet. 1. 19. was so exceedingly precious of that infinite worth and value that it might have saved a thousand beleeving worlds Iohn 3. 16. Rom. 3. 22. his death was of sufficient dignitie to have beene made a ransome for all the sinnes of every one in the world and on this internall sufficiencie of his death and passion is grounded the universalitie of Evangelicall promises which have no such restriction in their own nature as that they should not be made to all and every one though the promulgation and knowledge of them is tied onely to the good pleasure of Gods speciall providence Matth. 16. 17. as also that Oeconomie and dispensation of the new Covenant whereby the partition wall being broken downe there remaines no more difference betweene Iew and Gentile the utmost borders of the Earth being given in for Christs inheritance so that in some sense Christ may be said to die for all and the whole world first in as much as the worth and value of his death was very sufficient to have beene made a price for all their sinnes secondly in as much as this word All is taken for some of all sorts not for every one of every sort as it is frequently used in the holy Scripture so Christ being lifted up drew all unto him Iohn 12. 32. that is beleevers out of all sorts of men the Apostles cured all diseases or some of all sorts they did not cure every particular disease but there was no kinde of disease that was exempted from their power of healing so that where it is said that Christ died for all it is meant either first all the faithfull or secondly some of all sorts thirdly not onely Iewes but Gentiles For Secondly the proper counsell and intention of God in sending his Sonne into the world to die was that thereby he might confirme and ratifie the new Covenant to his elect and purchase for them all the good things which are contained in the tenure of that
Covenant to wit grace and glory that by his death he might bring many yet some certaine children to glorie obtaining for them that were given unto him by his Father that is his whole Church reconciliation with God remission of sinnes faith righteousnesse sanctification and life eternall that is the end to which they are to be brought and the meanes whereby God will have them attaine it he died that he might gather the dispersed children of God and make them partakers of everlasting glory to give eternall life to all that God gave unto him Iohn 17. 2. And on this purpose of himselfe and his Father is founded the intercession of Christ for his elect and chosen people performed partly on the earth Iohn 17. partly in heaven before the Throne of grace which is nothing but a presentation of himselfe and his merits accompanied with the prayers of his Mediatour-ship before God that he would be pleased to grant and effectually to apply the good things he hath by them obtained to all for whom he hath obtained them his intercession in heaven is nothing but a continued oblation of himselfe So that whatsoever Christ impetrated merited or obtained by his death and passion must be infallibly applied unto and bestowed upon them for whom he intended to obtaine it or else his intercession is vaine he is not heard in the prayers of his mediatourship an actuall reconciliation with God and communication of grace and glory must needs betide all them that have any such interest in the righteousnesse of Christ as to have it accepted for their good the sole end why Christ would so dearely purchase those good things is an actuall application of them unto his chosen God set forth the propitiation of his blood for the remission of sinnes that he might be the iustifier of him that beleeveth on Jesus Rom 3. 25 26. But this part of the Controversie is not that which I principally intend onely I will give you a briefe summe of those reasons which overthrow their heresie in this particular branch thereof First the death of Christ is in divers places of the Scripture restrained to his people and elect his Church and sheepe Matth. 1. 21. Iohn 10. 11 12 13. Acts 20. 28. Ephes 5. 25. Iohn 11. 52. Rom. 8. 32 33. Heb 2. 10. 13. Revel 5. 9. Dan. 9. 27. and therefore the good purchased thereby ought not to be extended to dogges reprobates and those that are without Secondly for whom Christ died he died as their sponsor in their roome and turne that he might free them from the guilt and desert of death which is cleerely expressed Rom. 5. 6 7 8. He was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed Isa 53. 5 6 c. He hath redeemed us from the curse being made a curse for us Galat. 3. 13. He made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne 1 Cor. 5. 21. Evidently he changeth turnes with us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him yea in other things it is plaine in the Scripture that to die for another is to take his place and roome with an intention that he should live 2 Sam 18. 33. Rom. 5. So that Christ dying for men made satisfaction for their sins that they should not die now for what sins he made satisfaction for them the justice of God is satisfied which surely is not done for the sinnes of the reprobates because he justly punisheth them to eternitie upon themselves Matth. 5. 26. Thirdly for whom Christ died for them also he rose againe to make intercession for them for whose offences he was delivered for their iustification he was raised Rom. 4. 25. and Chap. 5. 10. He is a high Priest to make intercession for them in the holiest of holies for whom by his bloud he obtained everlasting redemption Heb. 9. 11. 12. Those two acts of his Priesthood are not to be separated it belongs to the same Mediator for sinne to sacrifice and pray our assurance that he is our Advocate is grounded on his being a propitiation for our sinnes he is an Advocate for every one for whose sinnes his blood was a propitiation 1 Iohn 2 1 2. But Christ doth not intercede and pray for all as himselfe often witnesseth Iohn 17. He maketh intercession onely for them who come unto God by him Heb. 7. 24. He is not a Mediatour of them that perish no more then and Advocate of them that faile in their suits and therefore the benefit of his death also must be restrained to them who are finally partakers of both we must not so dis-joyne the offices of Christs Mediatorship that one of them may be versated about some towards whom he exerciseth not the other much lesse ought we so to separate the severall acts of the same office For whom Christ is a Priest to offer himselfe a sacrifice for their sinnes he is surely a King to apply the good things purchased by his death unto them asb Arminius himselfe confesseth much more to whom he is a Priest by sacrifice he will be a Priest by intercession and therefore seeing he doth not intercede and pray for every one he did not die for every one Fourthly for whom Christ died he merited grace and glory faith and salvation and reconciliation with God as I shall shew hereafter but this he hath not done for all and every one many doe never beleeve the wrath of God remaineth upon some the wrath of God abideth on them that doe not beleeve 1 Iohn 3. 16. To abide argueth a continued uninterrupted act now to be reconciled to one and yet to lie under his heavie anger seeme to me 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things that will scarce consist together the reasons are many I onely point at the heads of some of them Fifthly Christ died for them whom God gave unto him to be saved Thine they were and thou gavest them unto me Ioh. 17. 6. He layeth downe his life for the sheepe committed to his charge Iohn 10. 11. But all are not the sheepe of Christ all are not given unto him of God to be brought to glory for of those that are so given there is not one that perisheth for he giveth eternall life to as many as God hath given him Iohn 17. 2. No man is able to plucke them out of his Fathers hands Chap. 10. 28 29. Sixthly looke whom and how many that love of God embraced that was the cause of sending his Son to redeeme them for them and so many did Christ according to the counsell of his Father and in himselfe intentionally lay downe his life now this love is not universall being his good pleasure of blessing with spirituall blessings and saving some in Christ Ephes 1. 4 5. which good pleasure of his evidently comprehendeth some when others are excluded Matth. 11. 25 26. yea the love of God in giving
the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. thereby reconciling us unto God vers 19. he died to reconcile us unto God in the body of his flesh through death that we might be holy and unblameable Colos 1. 21 22. to purge our sins Heb. 1. 3. to obtaine an everlasting redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. so that if Christ by his death obtained what he did intend he hath purchased for us not only a possibilitie of salvation but holinesse righteousnesse reconciliation with God justification freedome from the guilt and condemning power of sin everlasting redemption eternall life and glory in heaven Thirdly I appeale unto the consciences of all Christians First whether they doe not suppose the very foundation of all their consolation to be stricken at when they shall finde those places of Scripture that affirme Christ to have died to take away our sins to reconcile us unto God to put away or abolish our transgressions to wash and regenerate us perfectly to save us and purchase for us an everlasting redemption whereby he is become unto us righteousnesse and redemption and sanctification the Lord our righteousnesse and we become the righteousnesse of God in him to be so wrested as if he should be said only to have done something which these things might happily follow Secondly whither they thinke it not a ready way to impaire their love and to weaken their faith in Christ when they shall be taught that Christ hath done no more for them then for those that are damned in hell that be their assurance never so great that Christ died for them yet there is enough to be laid to their charge to condemne them that though God is said to have reconciled them unto himselfe in Christ Colos 1. 19 20. yet indeed he is as angry with them as with any reprobate in the world that God loveth us not first but so long as we continue in a state of enmitie against him before our conversion he continues our enemy also so that the first act of friendship or love must be performed on our part notwithstanding that the Scripture saith we were reconciled unto God being enemies Romanes 5. vers 10. Thirdly Whither they have not hitherto supposed themselves bound to beleeve that Christ died for their sins and rose for their justification do they not thinke it lawfull to pray that God would bestow upon them grace and glory for Christs sake and to beleeve that Iesus Christ was such a Mediatour of the new Covenant as procured for the persons Covenanted withall all the good things comprehended in the promise of that Covenant I will not further presse upon this prevarication against Christian Religion only I would desire all the lovers of Iesus Christ seriously to consider whether these men doe truly ayme at his honour and advancing the dignitie of his merit and not rather at the crying up of their own indeavours seeing the sole cause of their denying these glorious effects of the blood of Christ is to appropriate the praise of them unto themselves as we shall see in the next Chapter These charges are never to be waved by the vanitie of their sophisticall distinctions as of that of impetration and application which though it may be received in an Orthodox meaning yet not in that sense or rather non-sense whereunto they abuse it viz. As though Christ had obtained that for some which shall never be imparted unto them that all the blessings procured by his death are proper to none but pendent in the aire for them that can or will catch them whereupon when we object that by this means all the efficacie of the merit of Christ is in our own power they readily grant it and say it cannot otherwise be let them that can receive these monsters in Christianitie for my part in these following contradictory assertions I will choose rather to adhere to the authoritie of the word of God then of Arminius and his sectaries S. S. He made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might become the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. He loved his Church and gave himselfe for it that he might present it unto himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such things Ephes 5. 26 27. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe 2 Cor. 5. 19. When thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53. 10. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant iustifie many for he shall beare their iniquities vers 11. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb. 9. 28. By his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption for us vers 12. He hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable Colos 1. 22. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins c. that he might be iust and the iustifier of him that beleeveth in Iesus Rom. 3. 25 26. Who his own selfe bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse by whose stripes we are healed 1 Peter 2. 24. Lib. Arbit The immediate effect of the death of Christ is not the remission of sins or the actuall redemption of any Armin. Christ did not properly die to save any one Grevinch A potentiall and conditionate reconciliation not actuall and absolute is obtained by the death of Christ Corvin I beleeve it might have come to passe that the death of Christ might have had its end though never any man had beleeved Corvi The death and satisfaction of Christ being accomplished yet it may so come to passe that none at all fulfilling the condition of the new covenant none might be saved idem The impetration of salvation for all by the death of Christ is nothing but the obtaining of a possibilitie thereof that God without wronging his iustice may open unto them a gate of mercy to be entred on some condition Rem Coll. Hag. Notwithstanding the death of Christ God might have assigned any other condition of salvation as well as faith or have chosen the Iews following the righteousnesse of the law Grevin Why then the efficacie of the death of Christ depends wholly on us true it cannot otherwise be Rem Apol. CHAP. X. Of the cause of faith grace and righteousnesse THE second part of this controversie is in particular concerning grace faith and holinesse sincere obedience to the precepts of the new Covenant all whose praise we appropriate to the most high by reason of a double interest First of the merit of Christ which doth procure them for us Secondly of the holy Spirit which works them in us the death of Christ is their
meritorious cause the Spirit of God and his effectuall grace their efficient working instrumentally with power by the word and ordinances now because this would deprive the Idoll of his chiefest glory and expose him to open shame like the bird furtivis nudata coloribus the Arminians advance themselves in his quarrell and in behalfe of their darling quite exclude both merit of Christ and Spirit of God from any title to their production First For the merit of Christ whereas we affirme that God blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in him or for his sake Eph. 1. 3. amongst which doubtlesse faith possesseth not the lowest roome that he is made unto us righteousnesse and sanctification and redemption he was made sinne for us that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him that he is the Lord our righteousnesse and glories to be called by that name and whatsoever he is unto us it is chiefely by the way of merit that to us it is given 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for Christs sake to beleeve on him Phil. 1. 29. where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is plainly referred to 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is given as if the Apostle should have said Christ is the meritorious cause of the bestowing of those good gifts faith and constancy unto martyrdome upon you when I say we professe all these to be the proper and immediate products of the passion and blood of Christ these turbulent Davusses come in with a prohibition and quite expell it from having any interest therein There is nothing more vaine nothing more foolish say they in their Apologie then to attribute our regeneration and faith unto the death of Christ for if Christ may be said to have merited for us faith and regeneration then faith cannot be a condition whose performance God should require at the hands of sinners under the paine of eternall damnation And again If faith be the effect of the merit of Christ it cannot be our dutie No Suppose then that the Church should pray that it would please God for Christs sake to call home those sheepe that belong to his fold not as yet collected that he would grant faith and repentance for the merit of his Sonne to them that are as yet a farre off were this an altogether vaine and foolish prayer let others thinke as they please it is such a vanitie as I desire not to be weaned from nor any one else I beleeve that loves the Lord Iesus in sinceritie Oh that Christians should patiently endure such a diminution of their Saviours honour as with one dash of an Arminian pen to have the chiefe effects of his death and passion quite obliterated if this be a motive to the love and honour of the Son of God if this be a way to set forth the preciousnesse of his blood by denying the efficacy thereof in enabling us by faith to get an interest in the new covenant most Christians in the world are under a necessity of being new Catechised by these Seraphicall Doctors Vntill when they must give us leave to beleeve with the Apostle that God blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in Christ Ephes 1. 3. and we will take leave to account faith a spirituall blessing and therefore bestowed on us for Christs sake againe since our regeneration is nothing but a purging of our consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God which being done by the blood of Christ as the Apostle witnesseth Heb. 9. 14. we will ascribe our new birth or forming anew to the vertue of that grace which is purchased by his blood that precious blood it is which redeemeth us from our vaine conversation 1 Pet. 1. 18 19. by whose efficacie we are vindicated from the state of sin and corrupted nature wherein we are born The Arminians have but one argument that ever I could meet with whereby they strive to rob Christ of this glory of meriting and procuring for us faith and repentance and that is because they are such acts of ours as in dutie and obedience to the precepts of the Gospel we are bound to performe and this they every where presse at large usque usque in plain tearms they will not suffer their Idoll to be accounted defective in any thing that is necessary to bring us unto heaven now concerning this argument that nothing which God requireth of us can be procured for us by Christ I would have two things noted First that the strength of it consists in this that no gift of God bestowed upon us can be a thing well pleasing to him as being in us for all his precepts and commands signifie only what is well pleasing unto him that we should be or doe and it is not the meriting of any thing by Christ but Gods bestowing of it as the effect thereof which hinders it from being a thing requireable of us as a part of our dutie which I shall consider hereafter only now observe that there being nothing in us by the way of habit or act from the beginning of our faith to the consummation thereof from our new birth untill we become perfect men in Christ by the finishing of our course that is not required of us in the Gospel all and every grace whereof we are in this life partakers are by this means denied to be gifts of God Secondly consider the extent of this argument it selfe nothing whose performance is our dutie can be merited for us by Christ when the Apostle beseecheth us to be reconciled unto God I would know whether it be not a part of our duty to yeeld obedience to the Apostles exhortation if not his exhortation is frivolous and vaine if so then to be reconciled unto God is a part of our dutie and yet the Arminians sometime seeme to confesse that Christ hath obtained for us a reconciliation with God the like may be said in divers other particulars so that this argument either proveth that we enjoy no fruit of the death of Christ in this life or which is most true it proveth nothing at all for neither the merit of Christ procuring nor God bestowing any grace in the habit doth at all hinder but that in the exercise thereof it may be a duty of ours inasmuch as it is done in us and by us notwithstanding then this exception which cannot stand by it selfe alone without the helpe of some other not as yet discovered we will continue our prayers as we are commanded in the name of Christ that is that God would bestow upon us those things we ask for Christs sake and that by an immediate collation yea even then when we cry with the poore penitent Lord helpe our unbeliefe or with the Apostles Lord increase our faith Secondly the second plea on Gods behalfe to prove him the Authour and finisher of all those graces whereof in this life we are partakers ariseth from what the Scripture affirmeth concerning his working these graces in us
and that powerfully by the effectuall operation of his holy Spirit to which the Arminians oppose a seeming necessitie that they must needs be our owne acts contradistinct from his gifts because they are in us and commanded by him the head then of this contention betwixt our God and their Idol about the living child of grace is whether he can worke that in us which he requireth of us let us heare them pleading their cause It is most certaine that that ought not to be commanded which is wrought in us and that cannot be wrought in us which is commanded he foolishly commandeth that to be done of others who will worke in them what he commandeth saith their Apologie O foolish Saint Prosper who thought that it was the whole Pelagian heresie to say That there is neither praise nor worth as ours in that which Christ bestoweth upon us foolish Saint Augustine praying Give us O Lord what thou commandest and command what thou wilt foolish Benedict Bishop of Rome who gave such a forme to his prayer as must needs cast an aspersion of folly on the most high O Lord saith he teach us what we should do shew us whither we should goe worke in us what we ought to performe O foolish Fathers of the second Arausican Councel affirming that many good things are done in man which he doth not himselfe but a man doth no good which God doth not so worke that he should doe it And againe as often as we doe good God worketh in us and with us that we may so worke In one word this makes fooles of all the Doctors of the Church who ever opposed the Pelagian heresie in as much as they all unanimously maintained that we are partakers of no good thing in this kinde without the effectuall powerfull operation of the Almightie grace of God and yet our faith and obedience so wrought in us to be most acceptable unto him yea what shall we say to the Lord himselfe in one place commanding us to feare him and in another promising that he will put his feare into our hearts that we shall not depart from him is his command foolish or his promise false the Arminians must affirme the one or renounce their heresie but of this after I have a little farther laid open this monstrous errour from their owne words and writings Can any one say they wisely and seriously prescribe the performance of a condition to another under the promise of a reward and threatning of punishment who will effect it in him to whom it is prescribed this is a ridiculous action scarce worthy of the Stage that is seeing Christ hath affirmed that whosoever beleeveth shall be saved and he that beleeveth not shall be damned Matth. 16. 16. whereby faith is established the condition of salvation and unbeleefe threatned with hell If God should by his holy Spirit ingenerate faith in the hearts of any causing them so to fulfill the condition it were a meere mockery to be exploded from a Theater as an unlikely fiction which what an aspersion it casts upon the whole Gospel of Christ yea on all Gods dealling with the children of men ever since by reason of the fall they became unable of themselves to fulfill his commands I leave to all mens silent judgements well then seeing they must be accounted 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 things inconsistent that God should be so righteous as to shew us our dutie and yet so good and mercifull as to bestow his graces on us let us heare more of this stuffe faith and conversion cannot be our obedience if they are worught in us by God say they at the Hague and Episcopius That it is a most absurd thing to affirme that God either effects by his power or procureth by his wisedeme that the elect should doe those things that he requireth of them So that where the Scripture cals faith the gift and worke of God they say it is an improper locution in as much as he commands it properly it is an act or worke of our owne And for that renowned saying of Saint Augustine that God crowneth his own gifts in us that it is not to be received without a graine of salt That is some such glosse as wherewith they corrupt the Scripture the summe at which they aime is that to affirme that God bestoweth any grace upon us or effectually worketh them in us contradicteth his word requiring them as our dutie and obedience by which means they have erected their Idol into the throne of Gods free grace and mercy and attribute unto it all the praise due to those many heavenly qualifications the servants of God are endowed withall for they never have more good in them no nor so much as is required all that they have or doe is but their dutie which how derogatorie it is to the merit of Christ themselves seeme to acknowledge when they affirme that he is no otherwise said to be a Saviour then are all they who confirme the way to salvation by preaching miracles martyrdome and example so that having quite overthrowne the merits of Christ they grant us to be our owne Saviours in a very large sense Rem Apol. fol. 96. All which assertions how contrary they are to the expresse word of God I shall now demonstrate There is not one of all those plaine texts of Scripture not one of those innumerable and invincible arguments whereby the effectuall working of Gods grace in the conversion of a sinner his powerfull translating us from death to life from the state of sinne and bondage to the libertie of the sonnes of God which doth not overthrow this prodigious error I will content my selfe with instancing in some few of them which are directly opposite unto it even in termes First Deuter. 10. 16. The Lord commandeth the Israelites to circumcise the fore-skin of their hearts and to be no more stiffe necked so that the circumcising of their hearts was a part of their obedience it was their dutie so to do in obedience to Gods commands and yet in the 30. Chapter vers 6. he affirmeth that he will circumcise their hearts that they might love the Lord their God with all their hearts So that it seemes the same thing in divers respects may be Gods act in us and our dutie towards him and how the Lord will here escape the Arminian censure that if his words be true in the latter place his command in the former is vaine and foolish ipse viderit let him plead his cause and avenge himselfe on those that rise up against him Secondly Ezek. 18. 31. Make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will you die O house of Israel The making of a new heart and a new spirit is here required under a promise of a reward of life and a great threatning of eternall death so that so to doe must needs be a part of their dutie and obedience
as doth Grevinchovius I make my selfe saith he differ from another when I doe not resist God and his divine predetermination which I could have resisted why may I not boast of this as of mine own that I could is of Gods mercy endowing his nature with such an abilitie as you heard before but that I would when I might have done otherwise is of mine power Now when after all this they are forced to confesse some Evangelicall grace though consisting only in a morall perswasion by the outward preaching of the word they teach Thirdly That God sendeth the Gospel and revealeth Christ Iesus unto men according as they well dispose themselves for such a blessing Sometimes say they in their Synodicall writings God calleth this or that nation people citie or person to the communion of Evangelicall grace whom he himselfe pronounceth worthy of it in comparison of others So that whereas Acts 18. 10. God encourageth Paul to preach at Corinth by affirming that he had much people in that citie which doubtlesse were his people then only by vertue of their election in these mens judgements they were called so because that even then they feared God and served him with all their hearts according to that knowledge they had of him and so were ready to obey the preaching of Saint Paul strange doctrine that men should feare God know him serve him in sinceritie before they ever heard of the Gospel and by those means deserve that it should be preached unto them this is that pleasing of God before faith that they plead for Act. Synod fol. 60. That preparation and disposition to beleeve which men attaine by the Law and vertuous education that something which is in sinners whereby though they are not iustified yet they are made worthy of iustification for conversion and the performance of good works is in their apprehension a condition prerequired to iustification for so speake the children of Arminius which which if it be not an expression not to be paralelled in the writings of any Christian I am something mistaken the summe of their doctrine then in this particular concerning the power of Free-will in the state of sin and unregeneration is That every man having a native inbred power of beleeving in Christ upon the revelation of the Gospel hath also an abilitie of doing so much good as shall procure of God that the Gospel be preached unto him to which without any internall assistance of grace he can give assent and yeeld obedience the preparatory acts of his own will alwayes proceeding so farre as to make him excell others who do not performe them and are therefore excluded from further grace Which is more grosse Pelagianisme then Pelagius himselfe would ever justifie wherefore we reject all the former positions as so many monsters in Christian Religion in whose roome we assert these that follow First That we being by nature dead in trespasses and sinnes have no power to prepare our selves for the receiving of Gods grace nor in the least measure to beleeve and turne our selves unto him Not that we deny that there are any conditions pre-required in us for our conversion dispositions preparing us in some measure for our new birth or regeneration but we affirme that all these also are the effects of the grace of God relating to that alone as their proper cause for of our selves Without him we can do nothing Ioh. 15. 15. We are not able of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3. 5. much lesse doe that which is good in respect of that every one of our mouthes must be stopped for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 5. 19. 23. We are by nature the children of wrath dead in trespasses and sins Ephes 2. 1. Rom. 8. 9. our new birth is a resurrection from death wrought by the greatnesse of Gods power and what abilitie I pray hath a dead man to prepare himselfe for for his resurrection can he collect his scattered dust or renew his perished senses If the Leopard can change his spots and the Aethiopian his skin then can we doe good who by nature are taught to doe evill Ierem. 13. 23. we are all ungodly and without strength considered when Christ died for us Rom. 5. 6. wise to do evill but to doe good we have no strength no knowledge Yea all the faculties of our soules by reason of that spirituall death under which we are detained by the corruption of nature are altogether uselesse in respect of any power for the doing of that which is truly good our understandings are blind or darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in us because of the blindnesse of our hearts Ephes 4. 18. whereby we become even darknesse it selfe Chap. 5. 8. so voide is the understanding of true knowledge that the naturall man receiveth not the things that are of God they are foolishnesse unto him 1 Cor. 2. 14. nothing but confounded and amazed at spirituall things and if he doth not mocke can doe nothing but wonder and say what meaneth this Act. 2. 12 13. Secondly we are not only blind in our understandings but captives also to sinne in our wils Luk. 4. 18. Whereby we are servants to sinne Iohn 8. 34. Free onely in our obedience to that Tyran Rom. 6. Yea thirdly all our affections are wholly corrupted for every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evill continually Genes 6. 5. While we are in the flesh the motions of sinne doe worke in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Rom. 7. 5. These are the endowments of our nature these are the preparations of our hearts for the grace of God which we have within our selves Nay Secondly there is not onely an impotencie but an enmitie in corrupted nature to any thing spiritually good The things that are of God are foolishnesse unto a naturall man 1 Cor. 2. 14. And there is nothing that men doe more hate and contemne then that which they account as folly They mock at it as a ridiculous drunkennesse Act. 2. 13. And would to God our dayes yeelded us not too evident proofes of that universall opposition that is betweene light and darkenesse Christ and Beliall Nature and Grace that we could not see every day the prodigious issues of this in-bred corruption swelling over all bounds and breaking forth into a contempt of the Gospel and all wayes of godlinesse So true it is that the carnall minde is enmitie against God it is not subiect unto his law neither indeed can it be Rom. 8. 7. So that Thirdly as a naturall man by the strength of his owne free-will neither knoweth nor willeth so it is utterly impossible he should doe any thing pleasing unto God Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then can he doe good Ieremy 13. An evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit
and reiect that preaching of the Gospell I shall not need to prove this for it is that which in direct tearmes they plead for which also they must doe if they will comply with their former principles For granting all these to have no influence upon any man but by the way of morall perswasion we must not onely grant that it may be resisted but also utterly deny that it can be obeyed We may resist it I say as having both a disability to good and repugnancie against it but for obeying it unlesse we will deny all inherent corruption and depravation of nature we cannot attribute any such sufficiency unto our selves Now concerning this weaknes of grace that it is not able to overcome the opposing power of sinfull nature one testimony of Arminius shall suffice It alwaies remaineth in the power of Free-will to reiect grace that is given and to refuse that which followeth for grace is no Almightie action of God to which Free-will cannot resist Not that I would assert in opposition to this such an operation of grace as should as it were violently overcome the will of man and force him to obedience which must needs bee prejudicial unto our libertie but onely consisting in such a sweet effectuall working as doth infallibly promote our conversion make us willing who before were unwilling and obedient who were not obedient that createth cleane hearts and reneweth right spirits within us That then which we assert in opposition to these Arminian Heterodoxies is that the effectuall grace which God useth in the great worke of our conversion by reason of its owne nature being also the instrument of and Gods intention for that purpose doth surely produce the effect intended without successefull resistance and solely without any considerable co-operation of our owne wils untill they are prepared and changed by that very grace The infallibilitie of its effect depends chiefely on the purpose of God when by any meanes he intends a mans conversion those meanes must have such an efficacie added unto them as may make them fit instruments for the accomplishment of that intention that the counsell of the Lord may prosper and his word not returne empty But the manner of its operation that it requires no humane assistance and is able to overcome all repugnance is proper to the being of such an act as wherein it doth consist Which nature and efficacie of grace in opposition to an indifferent influence of the holy Spirit a metaphoricall motion a working by the way of morall perswasion onely proposing a desireable object easie to be resisted and not effectuall unlesse it be helped by an inbred abilitie of our owne which is the Arminian grace I will briefly confirme having promised these few things First although God doth not use the wills of men in their conversion as maligne Spirits use the members of men in enthusiasmes by a violently wrested motion but sweetly and agreeably to their owne free nature yet in the first act of our conversion the will is meerely passive as a capable subject of such a worke not at all concurring co-operatively to our turning It is not I say the cause of the worke but the subject wherein it is wrought having only a passive capabilitie for the receiving of that supernaturall being which is introduced by grace The beginning of this good worke is meerely from God Phil. 1. 6. Yea faith is ascribed unto grace not by the way of conjunction with but of opposition unto our wils not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. Not that we are sufficient of our selves our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. Turne thou me O Lord and I shall be turned Secondly though the will of man conferreth nothing to the infusion of the first grace but a subjective receiving of it yet in the very first act that is wrought in and by the will it most freely co-operateth by the way of subordination with the grace of God and the more effectually it is moved by grace the more freely it worketh with it Man being converted converteth himselfe Thirdly we doe not affirme grace to be irresistible as though it came upon the will with such an over-flowing violence as to beat it downe before it and subdue it by compulsion to what it is no way inclinable but if that terme must be used it denoteth in our sense onely such an unconquerable efficacie of grace as alwaies and infallibly produceth its effect For Who is it that can withstand God Acts 11. 17. As also it may be used on the part of the will it selfe which will not resist it all that the Father gives unto Christ will come unto him Ioh. 6. 37. The operation of grace is resisted by no hard heart because it mollifies the heart it selfe It doth not so much take away a power of resisting as give a will of obeying whereby the powerfull impotencie of resistance is removed Fourthly Concerning grace it selfe it is either common or speciall common or generall grace consisteth in the externall revelation of the will of God by his word with some illumination of the mind to perceive it and correction of the affections not to much to contemne it and this in some degree or other to some more to some lesse is common to all that are called speciall grace is the grace of regeneration comprehending the former adding more spirituall acts but especially presupposing the purpose of God on which its efficacy doth chiefly depend Fifthly This saving grace whereby the Lord converteth or regenerateth a sinner translating him from death to life is either externall or internall externall consisteth in the preaching of the word c. whose operation is by the way of morall perswasion when by it we beseech our hearers in Christs stead that they would be reconciled unto God 2 Corinth 5. 20. and this in our conversion is the instrumentall organ thereof and may be said to be a sufficient cause of our regeneration in as much as no other in the same kinde is necessary it may also be resisted in sensa diviso abstracting from that consideration wherein it is looked on as the instrument of God for such an end Sixthly internall grace is by Divines distinguished into the first or preventing grace and the second following cooperating grace the first is that spirituall vitall principle that is infused into us by the holy Spirit that new creation and bestowing of new strength whereby we are made fit and able for the producing of spirituall acts to beleeve and yeeld Evangelicall obedience For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Iesus unto good workes Ephes 2. 10. By this God gives us a new heart and a new spirit he puts within us he taketh the stony hearts out of our flesh and gives us a heart of flesh he puts his spirit within us to cause us to walke in his statues Ezek. 36. 26 27. Now this first grace is not properly and formally
a vitall act but causaliter only in being a principle moving to such vitall acts within us It is the habit of faith bestowed upon a man that he may be able to elicate and performe the acts thereof giving new light to the understanding new inclinations to the will and new affections unto the heart For the infallible efficacie of which grace it is that we plead against the Arminians and amongst those innumerable places of holy Scripture confirming this truth I shall make use only of a very few reduced to these three heads First Our conversion is wrought by a divine Almighty action which the will of man will not and therefore cannot resist the impotency thereof ought not to be opposed to this omnipotent grace which will certainly effect the worke for which it is ordained being an action not inferiour to the greatnesse of his mightie power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Ephes 1. 19 20. and shall not that power which could overcome hell and loose the bonds of death be effectuall for the raising of a sinner from the death of sinne when by Gods intention it is appointed unto that worke He accomplisheth the worke of faith with power 2 Thess 1. 11. It is his divine power that gives unto us all things that appertaine to life and godlinesse 2 Pet. 1. 3. surely a morall resistible perswasion would not be thus often tearmed the power of God which denoteth an actuall efficacie to which no creature is able to resist Secondly That which consisteth in a reall efficiency and is not at all but when and where it actually worketh what it intendeth cannot without a contradiction be said to be so resisted that it should not worke the whole nature thereof consisting in such a reall operation Now that the very essence of divine grace consisteth in such a formall act may be proved by all those places of Scripture that affirme God by his grace or the grace of God actually to accomplish our conversion as Deut. 30. 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soule that thou mayest live The circumcision of our hearts that we may love the Lord with all our hearts and with all our souls is our conversion which the Lord affirmeth here that he himselfe will doe not only enable us to doe it but he himselfe really and effectually will accomplish it And againe I will put my Law into them and write it in their hearts Ierem. 31. 33. I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Chap. 32. 39. he will not offer his feare unto them but actually put it into them and most clearely Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you a new spirit will I put within you and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walke in my statutes Are these expressions of a morall perswasion only doth God affirme here he will doe what he intends only to perswade us to and which we may refuse to do if we will is it in the power of a stony heart to remove it self what an active stone is this in mounting upwards what doth it at all differ from that heart of flesh that God promiseth shall a stony heart be said to have a power to change it selfe into such a heart of flesh as shall cause us to walke in Gods Statutes Surely unlesse men were wilfull blind they must needs here perceive such an action of God denoted as effectually solely and infallibly worketh our conversion opening our hearts that we may attend unto the word Acts 16. 14. Granting us on the behalfe of Christ to beleeve in him Philip. 1. 29. Now these and the like places prove both the nature of Gods grace to consist in a reall efficiency and the operation thereof to be certainly effectuall Thirdly our conversion is a new creation a resurrection a new birth Now he that createth a man doth not perswade him to create himselfe neither can he if he should nor hath he any power to resist him that will create him that is as we now take it translate him from some thing that he is to what he is not What arguments doe you thinke were sufficient to perswade a dead man to rise or what great aid can he contribute to his own resurrection neither doth a man beget himselfe a new reall forme was never yet introduced into any matter by subtle arguments These are the tearmes the Scripture is pleased to use concerning our conversion If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. The new man after God is created in righteousnesse and holinesse Ephes 4. 24. it is our new birth Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God Ioh. 3. 3. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth Iam. 1. 18. and so we become borne againe Not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. it is our vivification and resurrection The sonne quickeneth whom he will Ioh. 5. 21. even those dead who heare his voice and live vers 25. When we were dead in sins we are quickned together with Christ by grace Ephes 2. 5. For being buried with him by Baptisme we are also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God Coloss 2. 12. and blessed and holy is he that hath part in that first resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall raigne with him a thousand yeers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sleid. Com. Greg. Naz. Profitentur Remonst hasce ad promotionem causae suae artes adhibere ut apud vulgus non ulterius progrediantur quam de articulis vulgo notis ut pro ingeniorum diversitate quosdam lacte diualant aliis solidiore cibo c. Festus Hom. praestat ad specimen Con. Bel. Hieron Zanch. ad Holderum Res Miscel a Ephes 4. 18. Iohn 1. 5. 1 Cor. 2. 14. b Iohn 6. 42. and 7. 52. Natura sic apparet vitiata ut hoc majoris vitii sit non videre Aug. Pelag Semipelag Scholastico In hac causa non judicant secundum aequitatem sed secundum affectum commodi sui Luth. de erv Arbit Psal 50. Phil lib quod sit Deus immutabilis a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaedam sunt quae omnem actum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaedam quae 〈◊〉 cap. 5. see 1. pag 67. b Certum est Deum quaedam velle quae non velle niâ—i aliqua 〈◊〉 humana antecederet Aâ— min. Antipe kâ—p 211. c Multa tamen arbitror Deum velle quae non vellet adeoque nec justâ— velle posset nisi aliqua actio creatuâ—â—
the life which all shall receive by the power of Christ at the last day is essentially a re-union of soule and body and therefore their separation is a thing we incurred by the sinne of Adam the same Apostle also Rom. 5. describeth an universall reigne of death over all by reason of the first transgression even diseases also in the Scripture are attributed unto sinne as their meritorious cause Iohn 5. 14. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Revel 2. 22. and in respect of all these the mercy of God doth not so interpose it selfe but that all the sonnes of men are in some sort partakers of them Thirdly the finall desert of originall sinne as our article speaketh is damnation the wrath of God to be poured on us in eternall torments of body and soule To this end also many praevious judgements of God are subservient as the privation of originall righteousnesse which he tooke and withheld upon Adams throwing it away spirituall desertion permission of sinne with all other destroying depravations of our nature as farre as they are meerely paenall some of which are immediate consequents of Adams singular actuall transgression as privation of originall righteousnesse others as damnation it selfe the proper effects of that derived sinne and pollution that is in us there is none damned but for their owne sinne when Divines affirme that by Adams sinne we are guilty of damnation they doe not meane that any are actually damned for his particular fact but that by his sinne and our sinning in him by Gods most just ordination we have contracted that exceeding pravitie and sinfulnesse of nature which deserveth the curse of God and eternall damnation it must be an inherent uncleanesse that actually excludes out of the kingdome of heaven Revel 21. 27. which uncleannesse the Apostle shewes to be in infants not sanctified by an interest in the Covenant in briefe we are baptized unto the remission of sinne that we may be saved Act. 2. 38. that then which is taken away by Baptisme is that which hinders our salvation which is not the first sinne of Adam imputed but our owne inherent lust and pollution we cannot be washed and cleansed and purged from an imputed sinne which is done by the layer of regeneration from that which lies upon us onely by an externall denomination we have no need of cleansing we may be said to be freed from it or justified but not purged the soule then that is guilty of sinne shall die and that for its owne guilt if God should condemne us for originall sinne onely it were not by reason of the imputation of Adams fault but of the iniquitie of that portion of nature in which we are proprietaries Now here to shut up all observe that in this inquiry of the desert of originall sinne the Question is not What shall be the certaine lot of those that depart this life under the guilt of this sin only but what this haereditary and and native corruption doth desrve in all those in whom it is for as Saint Paul saith we iudge not them that are without especially infants 1 Cor. 5. 13. but for the demerit of it in the justice of God our Saviour expresly affirmeth that unlesse a man be borne againe he cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven Iohn 3. and let them that can distinguish betweene a not going to heaven and a going to hell a third receptacle of soules in the Scripture we finde not Saint Paul also tels us that by nature we are children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. even originally and actually we are guilty of and obnoxious unto that wrath which is accompanied with fiery indignation that shall consume the adversaries againe we are assured that no uncleane thing shall enter into heaven Revel 21. with which hell-deserving uncleanesse children are polluted and therefore unlesse it be purged with the bloud of Christ they have no interest in everlasting happinesse by this meanes sinne is come upon all to condemnation and yet doe we not peremptorily censure to hell all infants departing this world without the layer of regeneration the ordinary means of waveing the punishment due to this pollution that is the Question de facto which we before rejected yea and two wayes there are whereby God saveth such infants snatching them like brands out of the fire First by interesting them into the Covenant if their immediate or remote parents have beene beleevers he is a God of them and of their seed extending his mercy unto a thousand generations of them that feare him Secondly by his grace of election which is most free and not tied to any conditions by which I make no doubt but God taketh many unto him in Christ whose parents never knew or had beene despisers of the Gospel and this is the doctrine of our Church agreeable to the Scripture affirming the desert of originall sinne to be Gods wrath and damnation to both which how opposite is the Arminian doctrine may thus appeare S. S. By the offence of one man iudgement came upon all to condemnation Rom. 5. 18. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners vers 19. Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me Psalme 51. 5. else were your chidren unclean but now they are holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. Who can bring a clean thing out of an uncleane not one Iob 14. 4. Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God Iohn 3. 3. That which is born of the flesh is flesh Iohn 3. 6. We were by nature the children of wrath even as others Ephes 2. 3. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned to wit in him Rom. 5. 12. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. In the day you eate thereof you shall surely die Gen. 2. 17. For as in Adam all die so 1 Cor. 15. 22. By nature children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Revel 21. 27. Lib. Arbit Adam sinned in his owne proper person onely and there is no reason why God should impute that sinne unto infants Borraeus It is absurd that by one mans disobedience many should be made actually disobedient Corvinus Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall Venator Neither is it considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens for all infants have the same innocencie Rem Apol. That which we have by birth can be no evill of sinne because to be borne is plainely involuntarie Idem Originall sinne is neither a sinne properly so called which should make the posteritie of Adam guilty of Gods wrath nor yet a punishment of any sinne on them Rem Apol. It is against equitie that one should be accounted guilty of a sinne that is not his owne that he should be iudged nocent who