that will be presumptuous where he hath little interest It is argument enough that the sinne hath gotten a great force in a man when it is presumptuous Upon this account it is that our Criminall prayes so earnestly at another time Psal 19.14 Keep back thy servant from presumptuous sins lest they get the dominion over me Upon which words Amesius saith In Psal 19. Talia flagitia non constunt cum timore Dei Such crimes cannot consist with the fear of God Indeed he infers from thence that the servants of God are not inthral'd to such contumacies And it is true in sensu composito as they are and whilest they are Gods servants But if they betake themselves to the service of another Master his lusts then they will do Shall a man need to serve an Apprentiship to the trade of sin before he can merit the title of being a servant to it His servants ye are to whom ye obey saith the Apostle Suppose David had onely been surprized at first with the beauty of the woman though indeed those sins whose horrid enormity is so great that the very light of nature commands us alwaies to be in arms and stand upon our guard against them can never be excused or extenuated upon the account of a surprizall But put case I say he had been surprized at first yet upon whose command was it 1. That after sufficient time of recollection and advisement when he should have been at prayers he sent Messengers and sure some preface of courtship was used to flatter and seduce her and so took her and lay with her 2 Sam. 12. 2. That he afterwards sent for her husband from his duty in the Leaguer 3. That he advised him so earnestly to go home and wash his feet and sent a messe of meat after him 4. That he blamed him under a pretence of pity that he went not down to his house 5. That he bad him tarry till the morrow and then invited him to an entertainment where he made him drunken 6. That he laid so cunning a plot to murder him whom he had so lately debauched that he was scarce awakened or at least scarce recovered out of his distemper and then wrote a letter with so much formality to Joab to acquaint him how he should manage and carry on this projected stratagem and lastly that he sent it by Uriah's own loyall hand making him carry the Warrant for his own unworthy and treacherous execution At whose command I say did David do all this Was it not at the command of Lust and then did he not obey her as her servant What clearer evidence can there be in the world then this to prove that sinne hath got the Dominion over a man I 'le offer you but one argument more from the doctrine of Saint John 1 Joh. 3.9 10 12 14 15 17. verses Take it in this form No man that is not of God that hath not eternall life nor the love of God abiding in him but is of the Devil and abideth in death no such man is in the state of justification But David guilty of the matter of Vriah is such a man viz. not of God not having eternall life not the love of God abiding in him but is of the Devil and abideth in death Therefore c. The Major is undeniable being the expresse words of S. John The Minor is thus proved out of the same Apostle He that committeth sin and doth not righteousnesse that loveth not his brother that shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him that not onely hates but actually murders him like Cain for the satisfaction of his lust he is not of God hath not eternall life nor the love of God abiding in him but is of the Devill and abideth in death But David in the matter of Uriah committeth sin doth not righteousnesse loveth not his brother shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him and actually murders him Ergo. The Major is again the expresse words of S. John and the Minor is proved evidently by the History which containeth the matter of Fact 2 Sam. 11. I am the more confirmed in the certain truth of this doctrine by reflecting upon the scope and method of the Apostles discourse upon it Having represented the great priviledge of Adoption he proceeds to declare that this priviledge is to be preserved by a purity of soul and life suitable to that state and because 1 Joh. 3. v. 4. to 17. as he urgeth injustice and uncharitablenesse are altogether inconsistent with it therefore he earnestly dissuades from them as a most certain means conducing to the forfeiture of the benefit thereof Beloved Ibid. v. 2. now are we the sonnes of God saith he by inchoation adopted into that state of speciall grace and favour to give probation of our filiall ingenuity and obedience in purifying our selves that we may be advanced to a due and fitting capacity for the glorious presence and communion of the Holy God Thus we are now the sons of God but it doth not yet appear what we shall be for that glory is not yet revealed in us neither have we yet performed the condition which is required to qualifie and dispose us for it Aug. doth distinguish betwixt sons by Regeneration and sons by Praedestination as in your Ac. of Persev pag. 16. 1 Pet. 1.14 15. for we must withdraw our selves from all pollutions and be devoted by a speciall separation to his service As obedient children not fashioning our selves according to the former lusts in our ignorance but as he which hath called us is holy so must we be holy in all manner of conversation Wherefore come out from among them Heathenish pollutions and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the unclean thing and I will receive you And will be a father unto you 2 Cor. 6.17 18. and ye shall be my sonnes and daughters saith the Lord Almighty This Priviledge of Adoption is not absolutely our own free-hold our tenure in it is conditionall no lesse than that of being his house and his Disciples which imports the same benefit under diversified expressions and this condition is the sincere and constant performance of our faithfull duty and service Heb. 3.6 14. Joh. 8.31 Rom. 2.7 which consists in a course of holinesse and righteousnesse before him all the dayes of our life Luk. 1.75 according to the covenant made with Abraham All the Divines that I have met with at least to my best remembrance do set Justification before Adoption in order of nature if not of time and yet you your self confesse Aphor. of Justif distinct 21. Those onely are his practicall conquering Disciples who actually persevere Disp of Sacram. pag. 94. that that justification of which the person hath true possession though it be ours actually after faith yet 't is but conditionally viz. upon condition of perseverance in faith and sincere obedience If that Justification which
And also 2. Per impossibilitatem Causae First because God hath not onely Decreed the Perseverance of the Sanctified but also the Holy Ghost hath undertaken it as his speciall charge Secondly And the Faithfulnesse of God as far as I can yet understand is by his promise ingaged for the Perseverance of all the truely Justified and Sanctified Believers It is not therefore such a Logicall Impossibility of Apostasie that the Synod and you contend for But of this Question we shall have occasion to speak more hereafter In the mean time let us consider your Interrogatory in the next words wherein you demand Will not any Jesuite confesse this that All that suppose on foreknowledge God electeth to salvation must necessitate consequentiae infallibly be saved No doubt they will and some of them much more We have told you already which you know well enough that that Necessity Consequentiall upon Gods foreknowledge doth suppose the operation of mans will as determined freely of it self not as begotten or effected of another And this as it implies no inconvenience so it breeds no controversie But you love not to be tied to the true state of the Question lest you should lose your licence of Sophistry and dawbing which is here very palpable In your Account of Perseverance now mentioned Pag. 14. you deliver it as the opinion of the Antients Jesuites Arminians and Lutherans that they deny an absolute personall Election of men to Faith and Perseverance and so maintain indefinitely a totall and finall falling from a state of Justification without excepting such Elect themselves But a little after you adde Yet note that the Jesuits themselves may confesse that the Elect shall none of them finally fall away but shall all persevere But that is because they hold that Election is upon foresight of Perseverance and so that these Propositions This man is Elected and This man shall not Persevere are inconsistent as to their trueth But they do not make Election or differencing grace the cause of Faith and Perseverance This being most undoubtedly true the Reader must needs conclude that their Authority is very impertinently alleaged for the justification of yours and the Synods Doctrine In your XVII Section you tell Tilenus Your addition is a perverse insinuation notwithstanding the most enormous sins they can commit How readily ill language flowes from this supercilious froward man A perverse insinuation Why The Synod doth professe it as was evidenced above out of their very Canons and your selfe acknowledge as much assoon as ever you had evaporated your Bilious passion Is it a perfect truth in your mouthes and a perverse insinuation when it falls from the pen of Tilenus Doth his quill stain it more then yours Why a perverse insinuation It seems you say to intimate If it doth but seem to intimate haply it may not really intimate But what That they may commit as enormous sins as others this were a very perverse insinuation indeed especially if we take in what follows and yet not fall away But why have you changed Tilenus his bare assertive notwithstanding the most enormous sins they can commit into a comparative expression that they may commit as enormous sins as others Comparisons you know are odious especially such as are made betwixt your selves and such others as some of your Party are too apt to account Reprobates for no other Reason than that they cannot digest your rigid doctrine of Reprobation But cannot the once Faithfull commit as enormous sins as others What think you of Adultery and Murder or if they be not enormous enough Of Idolatry c. then what think you of * execrations of a mans self and Perjury and these repeated over and over to gain belief in the denyall of the Son of God Such sins the Regenerate may fall into But yet the Synod saith they cannot fall into so enormous sins as others Cup. 5. Art 6. for they cannot commit the sin unto death or against the Holy Ghost so as to be altogether forsaken of God and throw themselves headlong into everlasting destruction and therefore they cannot fall away But is not M. Baxter himselfe guilty of a perverse insinuation here Do not his words intimate that at least if they commit as enormous sins as others they do fall away This must be the meaning of his words if there be good sense in them But then his next words containe such a poor ordinary piece of Sophistry as every Freshman that hath but looked upon Burgerdicius's Logick would discover 'T is the Fallacy called Ignoratio Elenchi a mistaking of the Question Observe how his discourse runs It seems saith he to intimate that they may commit as enormous sins as others and yet not fall away when the Synod holds that in committing grosse sins they fall into a present incapacity of Salvation Tilenus Asserts the denyall of a finall and totall falling away to be the doctrine of the Synod Master Baxter seems to conclude against it but omits the Condition that should make his conclusion a Contradiction to the Assertion for he tells us upon their commission of grosse sinnes they fall into a present incapacity of Salvation but this doth not contradict the thing in Question their finall and totall falling which the Synod peremptorily denies just as Tilenus hath charged them in this Article and so Master Baxter professeth in the very next words which tells us though the Synod holds that in committing grosse sins they fall into a present incapacity of Salvation yet there follows a But which yields the Question as to matter of Fact and the proof of this is all that the Ghost of Tilenus pretends here to aim at That God will keep them from such sins as are inconsistent with Habituall Grace For the truth of which Doctrine we may take a convenient time to examine it It shall suffice here to take notice of the opinion of the Synod That such as are Habitually Gracious may be uncapable of salvation And yet such is the superabundant favour extended to them more than others They are 1. Elected Irrespectively 2. Converted Irresistibly and 3. Conducted insuperably and infallibly to their eternall Salvation Hereupon They do affirm concerning these Elect 1. That it implyes a Contradiction that they should live after the flesh M. Norton's Orthodox Evangelist p. 79 80. and 83. and so M. Baxter in his Call c. in the Pref. Gods Decrees separate not the end and means but tie them together Lit. c. 3. Because the Decree consists not of the end without the means nor of the means without the end but of both together Both end and means are contained in one Decree Yea so far is the Decree from admitting such an inference as that the contrary infallibly followeth thereupon and in point of Election is not onely necessarily concluded but irresistibly caused Faith Repentance New-obedience and Perseverance being the effects of Election Thus Master Norton But because
to the Elect ONEly and that according to the counsil will and intention of the Father and this Master Baxter had under his view when he exprest so much wrath against Tilenus and therefore he confutes himself with this Confession They do indeed assert Art 2. Sect. 8. That it was onely the Elect that God the Father intended by the death of Christ effectually to bring to faith justification and salvation which is the same Doctrine with that of Election before mentioned Who ought Master Baxter this shame to betray him to this incogitancy The same Doctrine with that of Election before mentioned Why was not that Election of some certain culled out Persons as the Synod declares So we see what Master Baxters Universall Redemption comes to His Redeemed All are no more then his Elected All 't is an All in respect of kindes not of Persons But Christ is theirs to be sute according to the most Free Counsil gracious will and intention of God the Father So saith the Synod and this Master Baxter will subscribe to when he is Disputing against Tilenus though when he gets into the Pulpit he declares this to be a Doctrine of an ill influence for he saith Christ and salvation are made light of because of this disjunctive Presumption either that he is sure enough theirs already Making light of Christ pag. 21. and God that is so mercifull and Christ that hath suffered so much for them is surely resolved to save them or else it may easily be obtained at any time if it be not yet so Is it not the expresse Doctrine of the Synod and Master Baxter that Christ is sure enough the Elects and that God and Christ are resolved to save them and that this will most infallibly be obtained at God's time if it be not so yet This disjunctive presumption which he preacheth down in his Church he disputes up in his Closet And though when he is conversing with his papers inter Adversaria and drawing Diagrams concerning the Divine Decrees his good wits jump with the Synod and tells us The Father intended by the death of Christ effectually to bring to Faith justification and salvation none but the Elect yet when he hath his Crown which is his crowd of Auditors about him he forgets himself and if not his love to truth his zeale to souls transports him into other language much more patheticall then this Doctrine will allow of For thus he addresseth his exhortation to them Ibid. pag. 29.30 Beloved hearers the office that God hath call'd us to is by declaring the glory of his Grace to help under Christ to the saving of mens souls I hope you think not that I come hither to day of any other Errand The Lord knowes I had not set a foot out of doores but in hope to succeed in this work for your soules I have considered and often considered what is the matter that so many thousand should perish Now the man is in a rapture and hath quite forgotten his Decree of Reprobation when God hath done so much for their salvation and I find this that is mentioned in my Text Mat. 22.5 But they made light of it is the cause It is one of the wonders of the world that when God hath so loved the world as to send his Son and Christ hath made a satisfaction by his death sufficient for them all and offereth the benefits thereof so freely to them even without money or price that yet the most of the world should perish yea the most of those that are thus called by his word Is it one of the wonders of the world that Gods eternall and immutable Decrees concerning them should be executed Why here is the reason saith Master Baxter when Christ hath done all this men make light of it God hath shewed that he is not unwilling but your Synod hath shewed otherwise and Christ hath shewed that he is not unwilling that men should be restored to Gods favour and be saved but men are actually unwilling themselves God takes no pleasure in the death of sinners but rather that they return and live Ezek. 33.11 How came he then to reject them upon Adam's sin and deny them Grace sufficient unto salvation as you teach But men take such pleasure in sinne that they will die before they will returne The Lord Jesus was content to be their Physitian and hath provided them a sufficient plaister of his own blood but such as his Father intended should not be effectuall by your doctrine but if men make light of it and will not apply it which your Party confess they are not inabled to do what wonder if they perish after all This Scripture giveth us the reason of their perdition It is a most lamentable thing to see how most men do spend their care their time their pains for known vanities while God and Glory are cast aside and a little after Oh how should we marvell at their madnesse and lament their self-delusion who preach such contradictions Oh poore distracted world â— what is it that you run after and what is it that you neglect If God had never told them what they were sent into the world to do or whither they were going or what was before them in another world or what Decrees had past to shut them up under sin and deny them the Grace of Faith and Repentance according to your Disputations then they had been excufable but he hath told them over and over till they were weary of it This is Master Baxters preaching vein by which his vulgar flock would be ready to flatter themselves that they had their Teachers warrant to be confident that God doth earnestly intend the salvation of them all But when this pang of soul-saving zeal is over that he gets into his Polemicall strain then he disputes them out of all their hopes again for thus he proceeds If this Tilenus think that God intended the justification and Salvation of all by Christ it 's absolutely or conditionally Here I wish Master Baxter had positively spake out what it is that God intends them whom he calls the Reprobate or Non-elect if not their Justification and salvation then I know nothing else it can be but their greater condemnation and then sure he is unwilling they should be restored to his favour which is opposite point blank against Master Baxters popular exhortations But if God intended their justification and salvation absolutely they shall be saved saith Master Baxter which no Christian that I know believeth Tilenus as little Christian as you make him is of This Faith too and therefore he saith God intended this but Conditionally But then Master Baxter tells us The rigidest Anti-Arminians even Doctor Twisse doth over and over grant it you and I thank him for nothing of Justification and salvation that Christ died to procure this Common Grace that men shall be justified and saved if they will believe The Reader perhaps may be amused
your sins What pleasure is it to you to provoke your God to anger who loveth Righteousnesse and hateth iniquity 'T is very true and I know it right well that you cannot but Rebell against me because I have deprived you of the power to will and to do rightly and from all eternity rejected you from all communion in my saving Grace but yet I do seriously affirm it and protest and swear by my Holinesse that your Repentance will be very acceptable to me And do you but Repent thorowly and I will unfeignedly give you Pardon and Salvation Behold what a Patheticall Scheme of Persuasion God should use Behold what affections and bowels his Invitation of the Non-elect should be cloathed with according to this Doctrine And yet for all this in the next 10. Sect. Master Baxter puts it home to Master Pierce with sufficient confidence in these words Can Tilenus or you or any that is most passionate in these points tell us of one jot more that you ascribe to the death of Christ for all then the Synod of Dort doth I must say if you can it 's yet beyond my reach or my remembrance Then I must say you have a shallow reach or a Treacherous memory or a Partiall judgement The first if you could not apprehend the second if you have forgotten the third which lyes most under my suspicion †Because I find you referring your Reader to Books that are confuted and yet you take no notice of it E. G. Saints Rest. par 1. pag. 154. in the Margin Bogerman Vedelius c. I pray see Corvinus against Bogerman and Vedelius Rhapsodus if you will so rashly condemn whom you will not vouchsafe to hear pleading Gods cause as well as their own so earnestly and so convincingly in their many Writings But t is time to take up here that we may reserve our strength and patience to follow you in your next stage where you run on in Tautologies of a tedious length You set forth after this manner They give more to Christs death for the Elect then you but no lesse that I know of the more shame for you then to condemn opinions and persons unheard and unexamined to his death for all then you For you say that he dyed to bring it to mens choice whether they will have Christ and life or not and so say they you should adde EQUIVOCALLY and perhaps you may say true and Calvinists commonly as Dallaeus hath told you in the very words of abundance of them If you say that according to you Christ hath purchased Grace for all or for more then the Elect to Cause them to believe I answer I. That the highest Grace with you doth but bring it to their choice and help but not determine their wills and this but not verily this they grant to others as well as you do 2. Is it the Name of sufficient Grace or the Thing The thing that you call so as I said too often already unlesse it had been to more purpose they grant to be as common as you can Reasonably expect them to imagine you say right considering the rest of their Principles and Christ did not die to purchase empty Names as a benefit I pray what is that Remisson of sins and eternall life which you say he purchased for Reprobates Is there Name and Thing too They heare the sound of it but never any of them tasted how sweet it is The difference you conclude is plainly but in this The Synod thought that Christ purchased more for some then you do but no lesse for others Here we have Master Baxter in extreams he is excessive in his bounty towards the Elect but defective in his Charity towards the Reprobates and therefore no wonder he is out in the mean which is that Grace that brings Salvation to Man's choice as stated not by him but by the Remonstrants For the First he is deficient even in his Pretended Sufficiency and the Accompts being truly and exactly cast up we shall find the Reprobates are very little obliged to him or to the Synod for their Alms of sufficient Grace For when they speak of Grace they understand either Gods Love and favour or the effects of it Gods Grace in the first sense is either Generall extended to all mankind considered as Rationall Creatures but out of Christ and this though the Reprobates have an interest in it will not serve the turne or Speciall which passeth into a Decree of Election and thereby provides Christ and all other means necessary to the working of Conversion and bringing Salvation as they affirm insuperably And this is a peculiar Inclosure to the Elect. If we take Grace in the Second sense for the effects of Gods free Love and favour this Grace is divided as the former into Generall and Speciall The Speciall Grace which is saving is Proper to the Heirs of Salvation saith M. Baxter and the Synod too that is to the Elect. The Generall is that Common Grace consisting of such effects as flow from Gods Generall Love and this is vouchsafed to the Reprobate Which Grace though adorned with the Title of Sufficient to tickle the fancy of the unwary vulgar and flatter him into an apprehension that it containes all that is needfull unto his salvation yet really it signifies onely in the very acknowledgement of the more ingenuous sort of Calvinists so much as is sufficient to Convince men of their sinne and misery of their infirmity and want of a Redeemer and because it informs them likewise that Christ is such an one sent to give life and pardon upon condition of Faith and Repentance though intentionally designed for the benefit onely of the Elect and that life and pardon is tender'd to them upon those conditions which are irresistibly effected in those Elect but made impossible to the Reprobate therefore by the administration of this Common Grace they become guilty of impenitency and unbelief and so this Grace is inservient to the execution of the Decree of Reprobation And this is all the Sufficiency I can find in it whether I examine it by Perkins his Table or the Doctrine of the Synod We see how little the Reprobates are beholding to you for your bounty For this your sufficient Grace both Name and Thing is of no more value then a New Nothing which many times is promised unto children to please them but with an intent really to cousen them and therefore discovering the fallacy we account it a piece of ingenuity in them to slight the offer If the Non-elect neither have nor can have interest in that Grace of God by what name soever you will call it which is of force to procure Conversion and a saving faith what do you telling them of the rest by which never man was nor ever shall be nor ever can be saved And is it possible for any man to arrive at Salvation who lies under the Decree of Preterition and is thereby
be accounted of so great validity as D. Tilenus's affirmation who as we have been informed was privy to the transactions of their very close-Committees 2. The Calvinists do impute far worse matters to Almighty God himself as appears by sundry of their Testimonies cited above to which one thousand more might be added out of their writings if it were needfull and what think you of that modest expression lately mentioned of D. Damman a Synodist That if God performs his part we cannot omit ours 3. I make a very great difference betwixt the Forein Divines and the Provinciall and betwixt the single Doctors and the †Where not the best arguments but the most votes do carry it as Luk. 23.23 Synod And M. Baxter is a man of so much observation if affection hath not darkened his sight that he cannot but see when men have espoused a Cause what unworthy * See Antidotum in Praefat. p. 130 131. courses to say no worse they will take to provide a Dowry for it and make it fruitfull These Divines took a solemn Oath at their entrance into the Synod as was said above to examine these controversies impartially without affection or prejudice according to the word of God yet so unmindfull were they hereof that they condemned the Remonstrants unheard shut them out of the Synod See ibid. p. 7. c. not permitting them the liberty promised in their Letters of Citation to explain and defend their opinions By which it appears clearly that they were a Party indeed in another sense than M. Baxter takes the word and therefore as unfit to be Judge in these Controversies as the Councel of Trent was to be Judge of those betwixt the Church of Rome and the Protestants That they were such a Party †And 't is the more scandalous that a Synod should be such a Party is further evident by the Diligence used in exploring the Judgement of Divines before they were invited to this Assembly To which purpose they solicited the Prince of Anhalt by Letters that he would transmit the Confession of his Divines that they might examine whether it were calculated to serve the interest of that Doctrine See ibid. p. 7. c. which they were resolved to establish before they would admit them to their Convention which motion that Prince resented so ill that he rejected it not without disdain and indignation The onely Divines that carried themselves worthily that is with prudence and equity towards the Remonstrants were the Helvetians who darkly taxed the crafty practices and prejudice of the rest and profest a desire to suspend their judgement concerning either Party till the whole cause were fully known For they say Caeterum ut criminatio acerba est venerandam hanc Synodum appellare Schismaticam Act. Synod Dord p. 102 f. par 1. edit in fol. ita intempestivum nobis videri non diffitemur Remonstrantes criminis ejusdem hoc quidem tempore agere reos condemnare Est enim veneranda sancta haec Synodus congregata eum in finem ut Doctrinam Remonstrantium propositam explicatam defensamque audiat ad Dei verbum probè examinet de ejus vel veritate vel falsitate pronunciet Eo usque igitur sententiam de schismate ejusque Authoribus suspendendam esse sentimus quandoquidem pars ea quae post examen convicta fuerit doctrinae erroneae hoc ipso Schismatica quoque intelligetur nisi cum corpore à quo se sentit avulsam rursus coalescat But their judgement was not followed by the rest who were so much the lesse worthy for dealing so unworthily See the Antidotum c. both in word and deed with their Reverend Brethren You go on The Question is Whether men have Originall sin or not Those of you that are of Doctor Jeremy Taylor 's minde in this speak out and disown the Pelagians no more but speak as bitterly of Austin as of the Synod of Dort To which I answer 1. That men have originall sinne the remote Cause whereof is Gods imputation of it but the next Cause is their Carnall Generation For the sin of Adam is therefore of right imputed to us because we are carnally propagated from him now become guilty and so according to the flesh we were as a certain part of him sinning because we then existed in his loines when he sinned The like in a manner is said of Levi paying tithes in the loines of Abraham Heb. 7.9 10. The Question then is not whether men have originall sin derived to them from Adam for that is yielded but whether being called they have a new power given them by Christ to become Evangelically Righteous and this question M. Baxter stated with some shew of moderation in his first Assize Sermon Pag. 12 13. and resolved it seemingly according to the sense and meaning of Tilenus His words are these The last Question is Who they be that are and may be urged to glorifie God on this ground that he hath bought them Doubtlesse onely those whom he hath bought but who are those It discourageth me to tell you because among the godly it is a controversie but if they will controvert points of such great moment they cannot disoblige or excuse us from preaching them Among the variety of mens opinions it is safe to speak in the language of the holy Ghost and accordingly to believe viz. that As by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousnesse of one the free gift came upon all men to justification of life Rom. 5.18 And that he gave himself a ransome for all and is the onely Mediator between God and man 1 Tim. 2.5 6. That he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world 1 Joh. 2.2 That God is the Saviour of all men especially of those that believe 1 Tim. 4.10 That he is the Saviour of the world Joh. 4.42 1 Joh. 4.14 15 That he tasted death for every man From which cleare evidence Master Baxter is so fully convinced that he doth acknowledge a Generall Grace in words though indeed in the result as he defines it it is not so much Grace as Severity having no power to save and being designed onely to render the persons upon whom it is conferred inexcusable and their damnation the more intollerable But Tilenus farre more to the advancement of Gods Grace and Christs merits doth conclude from those Texts by him alledged That God for Christs sake doth conferre upon all those who are called by the Gospel a new power whereby they are inabled if they use their diligent endeavour and be not wanting to themselves and that divine Grace to expedite and free themselves from the servitude of sin But by what consequence this should be drawn to prove a denyall of Originall sin I am not able to imagine seeing this Sufficient power all men will
nationall Church I know not but what ever they are I am confidâ—nt I shall be able to answer them out of your own doctrine delivered in your Disputations of Right to Sacraments 5. That the new Creation another expression as you acknowledge Treatise of Conversion pag. 8. to describe Regeneration may be repeated sundry Scripture instances will evince As Ezek. 18.31 Make you a new heart and a new spirit and that of David who certainly had this new creature or the new creation wrought in him once before Psal 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me And to whom doth the Apostle direct his Epistle to the Ephesians Ephes 1.1 but to the Saints and faithfull in Christ Jesus Cap. 4.24 Yet he exhorts them to be renewed in the spirit of their minds To put on the new man as was said above 6. Repentance you say signifieth the same work upon the soul as Regeneration doth What shall we turn Novatians No iteration of Repentance neither Why was that title given to Repentance by Tertullian Hierom and the rest that followed why did they call it Secunda Tabula post Naufragium Concil provinc Colon. mihi pa. 121. a. b. Prima tabula qua subnixi ex diluvio peccatorum tam in Adam veluti stirpe quam postea malè vivendo quacunque tandem ratione contractorum enatamus Baptismus est post quem acceptum si rursus naufragium fecerimus nulla pro peccatis nova hostia restat sed tantum superest haec secunda tabula Poenitentia quam si gnaviter donec vita superstes est apprehenderimus ac apprehensam persequuti fuerimus non dubium quem rursus ad salutis portum pertingemus quamlibet etiam pericalosi sint in quos postea incidimus peccatorum scopuli It is not onely possible for the vessels of the Regenerate to leak and let in a litttle salt water but they may run against the rock of Presumptuous sinne and make shipwrack of faith and a good conscience 1 Tit. 1.19 for that is the dammage sustained by their miscarriage who are embarqued upon the bottome of Christianity as S Paul tells us and this plank of Repentance is thrown out by speciall indulgence and grace to such to preserve them from immersion and utter ruine and transport them again to the desired haven of eternall happinesse The institution of the discipâ—â—ne 〈◊〉 R pentance or as the Antients call it Pâ—nnance imports no lesse And the Practise of the Ancient Church confirms it The Apostle delivers up the Incestuous Corinthian to Satan to what end for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5.5 That is saith Deodati to macorate and pull down the body extreamly even to death iâ— God would have it so as oftentimes by means of the aforesaid things viz. excommunication Annot. in Engl. with its attendants in those first daies of the Christian Church horrours anguishes of spirit and torments of body death did follow and at his last passage if the sinner did shew a lively repentance he was loosed from those bonds of excommunication and readmitted into the peace of the Church and into the Grace of God and so died with comfort eased and relieved with the publick and private prayers of the faithfull Finis excommunicationi propositus non est excommunicati exitium sed salus Beza not minor ut videlicet hoc remedio dâ—metur ipsius caro ut dâ—sâ—aâ— spiritui vivere Whence it clearly appears that in the judgement of these Learned men grovnded upon the Scripture such as lay under the sentence of excommunication were not in a state of justification and consequently that by the use and practise of this wholesome Discipline they were to be regenerated and brought forth as it were anew unto it And this was the end of the same Censures inflicted upon Hymenaeus and Alexander who had actually repelled a good conscience 1 Tim. 1.19 and 20. And this was no more than was contained in the commission upon the donation of the Power of the Keyes Mat. 18.18 Joh 20.23 What ye bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whosesoever sins ye remit they are remitted and whosesoever sins ye retain they are retained I am not ignorant that there is an extemporary Repentance †1 Joh. 1.9 this was signified Lotione pedum Joh. 13.10 as Meisner calls it in order to the continuall expiation of intercurrent sins in the bloud of Christ sins of ignorance and infirmity of inadvertency and sudden surreption which the regenerate daily fall into Luk. 15.7 who yet are said in respect of the change of state to need no repentance But there is a Solemn repentance after enormous wasting sins commonly called Mortal sins Why was this instituted and to be performed with so much discipline of severity as we find it practised by the Apostle and the Primitive Church for 7 9 13 years together upon one and the same person before his restitution to thâ— peace of the Church and the grace of God and hopes of pardon but to signifie that such persons had extreme need of such a Repentance as might import a change of state whereby they might be recovered again after a fall wherein they were given for lost and this is called repentance unto salvation 2 Cor. 7.10 That this Discipline should be instituted onely for the use and benefit of such as never were regenerate and I cannot see what else is to be alleaged to avoid the force of the argument for a second Regeneration is so ridiculous to imagine that I presume no rationall man will offer to affirm it To conclude this argument then Whosoever may Repent and be converted and be renewed and sanctified and become a new creature a second or third time he may be twise or thrise Regenerated But a poore sinner may repent and be converted and renewed and sanctified and become a new creature a second or third time Ergo. The Major Proposition is undeniable because Repentance Conversion Renovation Sanctification and Regeneration do all signifie one and the same work upon the soul as is acknowledged not onely by Bucan and the Professors of Leiden Buc. loc com 30. p. 294. Synops disp 32. thes 2. p. 420. Treatise of Conversion pag. 7. but also by your self The Minor is evident by the proofs alleaged I shall but adde what is said by the Provinciall Councell before named touching this matter of Repentance after grosse sins Remedium sanè in Ecclesia summè necessarium Vbi supra quo sublato quantula quaeso hominum pars fuerit quae post baptismum nullius peccati aut etiam criminis sibi conscia vitae aeternae participationem sperare queat Vt nulli nobis immaeniores Haeritici unquam fuisse videantur quà m Novatiani qui tam necessarium animae medicamentum medio tollere conati
't is of dangerous Consequence indeed if it be against Gods grace and fidelity c. but who saith it is Do the Maintainers of that opinion judge so No. Then 't is possible the inference of an Adversary may be drawn out by passion and prejudice and so not naturally follow but onely as it is forced to serve an interest Whether this be of such an extraction we shall examine presently assoon as I have demanded How those severall Parties forementioned could except such elect themselves as you speak when as you confesse they deny there are any such elect But let us look upon the dangerous Consequence of this which you call Errour 1. Against the Grace of God you say Then it seems the whole Church of God or next to the whole as you confesse hath held an errour of dangerous consequence against the Grace of God for thirteen or fourteen hundred years at least as you write Account of Persev pag. 18. though somewhat incongruously for it should have been more properly fourteen or thirteen hundred at least but as you tell M. Barlaw †Of Sav. Faith pag. 24. we all write incongruously sometimes therefore that may passe We cannot extoll the Grace of God sufficiently But we do not advance but undervalue it when we take upon us to bound it or weigh it out at our own pleasure Doctor Sanderson hath observed the word Grace is one of the three words that occasions most of the greatest controversies in the Church for want of a due explication But how were those Antients and how is that opinion which you call an Errour of dangerous consequence against Gods Grace Doth it conclude a man may be converted and saved without Gods Grace you will not affirm it Doth it follow from that opinion that a man may receive the Grace of God in vain or be wanting to it or fall from it If any of these or all of them be the Errour and of such a dangerous Consequence 't is at least a Consequence of Scripture 2 Cor. 6.1 Hebr. 12. Gal. 5. Receive not the grace of God in vain Take heed lest any man be wanting to the grace of God ye are fallen from Grace Lastly is this opinion against the Grace of God because it implies that mans Cooperation is indispensably necessary with it that it may avail unto his finall salvation This is not onely Bernard's Doctrine but Saint Austins also Tolle liberum Arbitrium non erit quod salvetur tolle gratiam non erit unde salvetur saith Bernard a Tract de grat lib. Arb and Augustine b Ep. 46. ad Valentinum to the same purpose Si non est Dei gratia quomodò salvat mundum Si non est liberum arbitrium quomodo judicat mundum If there be not grace how shall he save the world If there be not Free-will how shall he judge the world 2. You say this errour is of dangerous consequence against Gods Fidelity Why against his Fidelity Fidelity relates to ones word or promises Jacob. Laur. in 1 Pet. 4.61 Fidelis quia est verax in omni verbo ac speciatim in omni promisso suo Faithfull is he that hath promised saith the Apostle Heb. 10.23 But hath God passed his word or promise to any man for such an absolute personall Election to Faith and Perseverance as you there speak of I trow not There are conditions annexed to his promises upon which they are suspended Heb. 4.1 Let us therefore fear least a promise being left of entring into his rest any of you should come short of it Be thou faithfull unto the death and I will give thee a crown of life Rev. 2.10 If we fail not of our Fidelity to him doubtlesse he will not fail of his to us He will make good his word and perform his part Faithfull is he that hath called you who also will do it 1 Thes 5.25 Nay though we be unfaithfull See 2 Tim. 2 11 12 13. yet he abideth faithfull he cannot deny himself but having past his word to that purpose Account of Persev pag 37. if we deny him he will deny us You say indeed It is impossible that true Grace should be lost totally and finally First because God hath not onely decreed the perseverance of the sanctified but also the Holy Ghost hath undertaken it as his speciall charge To which I answer 1 Whether God hath decreed the perseverance of the Sanctified is the question and that you are not certain of the truth of it appears in that you dare not venture your salvation upon it as you confesse Ibid. p. 17. 2. If the Holy Ghost hath undertaken that charge absolutely then every miscarriage in such a person under his custody is that undertakers failing and argues want of power of care or fidelity If he hath undertaken that charge but conditionally then notwithstanding his office and Incumbency those under his charge as they may grieve him by abusing their liberty to evill so may they despite him and drive him quite away by their contumacy in it But Secondly you say Ibid. the faithfullnesse of God as farre as I can yet understand it is by his promise engaged for the perseverance of all the truly justified and sanctified Believers Answ Shew us such an absolute promise and it sufficeth If you cannot produce any but conditionall we are where we were and no further 3. You say If not against his wisdome and his power Why If not was it not a suggestion to render the opinion you contest against odious Sure you know there can be no such matter For 1. Who hath been Gods Counsellor must he forfeit his wisdome if his Decrees be not calculated to every man's humour And 2. for his Power how is that any way impeached by this opinion Doth it suppose him to Act to the uttermost of his power and yet to be defeated in his enterprise Thus never did any Divine that was well in his wits say Preface to Groo Relig. Sect. 12. as you confesse that Grace is the effect of Gods Omnipotency Well may a man despise the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long-sufferering Rom. 2.4 Rom. 9.19 But in this sense Who hath resisted his will Saint Augustine whom you look upon as your great Fautor and Patron in this cause though you dissent from him too shall shut up this To this question Whence the good will in men should be if by nature why is it not in all In libr. de Spiritu litera ad Marcellinum c. 33. seeing it is the same God that is the Creator of all If it be by the gift of God why is not this in all likewise seeing he would have all men to be saved To this question his Answer is very remarkable to our purpose Vult Deus omnes homines salvos fieri non sic tamen ut eis adimat liberum arbitrium quo vel benè vel