the glory of Christ only should be considered as the meanes of advancing the glory of God the Father I conceive the glory of God is as much seen in the abasing of his Sonne as in his exaltation and if this very abasing of himselfe be called his glory as indeed it may for even on the crosse he spoyled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly and triumphed over them Col. 2. then this discourse shall labour with a new aequivocation In like sort Is nothing but our glory a fit meanes to advance the glory of Christ and of God Is not God glorified as well in the martyrdome of his Saints This is my confidence saith Paul that God shall be glorified in my body whether by life or by death Philip. 1. yea and Christ also Even when we beare about us the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus might also be made manifest in our bodies 2 Cor. 4. 10 If our glory also be extended unto martyrdome this is a very sore aequivocation especially considering how the scripture doth distinguish them first to suffer then to enter into glory Luk. 24. 26. and if we suffer with him we shall also reigne with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. 4. But as it lyeth let us discusse it as well as we can Therfore I say first Gods glory is not onely last in execution but first also even from the very first creation even then when the stars of the morning praysed him and all the Sonnes of God rejoyced Job 38. 7. And I will deale plainely and shew what glory of his was manifested herein to wit the glory of his power Revel 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy wills sake they have beene and are created Yea and his wisdome also Psal 130. 5. which by his wisdome made the heavens Jeremiah puts them both together He hath made the earth by his power and established the World by his wisdome and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion And as in the creation so the same glory of God doth send forth ' its beames in the preservation and governance of all things In the meanest creatures we behold the glory of God neither are we able to comprehend the wisdome of God therein every thing therein as in a Bee or silke-worme coming to passe by course of nature yet who is able to give a reason of it I thinke if Solomon had continued to this day and his wisdome with him yet had he not beene able to finde it out for although the spirit of man be as the lampe of God which searcheth all inwardnesse and God hath set the world in mans heart yet is he not able to finde out the worke that he hath wrought from the beginning to the end I behold the flowers of my garden in great varietie of colours yet wonder at their uniformitie each single one hath five leaves each most uniforme in the colour in the shape rising and spreading and indented alike in their edges all together make a most comely proportion of the whole round in forme only indented in the edges which is as bonelace to set it forth some of one colour throughout the pageant speckled having strakes like lines so direct and proportionable in all that it represents unto me some curious Mathematicall circle cut thorough with lines the matter of many curious demonstrations And what a curious speculation would it appeare to represent the causes of all this varietie In the meane time our contemplation is broken off and loseth it selfe and turnes into admiration at the wisdome of God which confounds us in the contemplation of a flower which is worn in the breast at morning and troden under foot at night But to returne you will say Another kind of glory is seene in the advancement of Christ but then you should have specified it which had you done I doubt not but it would have afforded good matter to have wrought upon in the investigation of truth 2. As the glorifying of God the Father was the very first even from the creation before either Christ man was or we so I say it is not so last as if it should be after Christs glory and our glory shall cease to be for certainly the glory of Christ and the glory of the elect shall continue for ever and the glory of God cannot continue any longer then for ever 3. Come wee to the consideration of the glory of Christ There is a glory of Christ which he receiveth from man and there is a glory of Christ which hee receiveth from God That glory which hee receiveth from man he hath received in greatest part long before wee were born for it is the Fathers pleasure That all men should honour the Sonne as they honour the Father Joh. 5. 23. There is the Rule here followeth the Example Worthy is the Lambe that was killed to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and praise And all the creatures which are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying Praise and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore Revel 5. 12 13. As for the glory which he receives from his Father that he hath already received above 1500. yeers agoe I have overcome and am sate with my Father in his Throne Revel 3. If God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himselfe and shall straight-way glorifie him Joh. 13. 32. So that every way the glory of Christ is afore ours not after ours for when the elect are once glorified their glory shall continue for the time to come as long as Christs glory but for the time past certainely Christs glory and his advancement you here speak of noting thereby what you meane by Christs glory in this place was long before ours Whereas you say that Christ as man was first humbled before hee was glorified if we consider the greatest advancement of Christ it is untrue for his greatest advancement was the assuming of his nature into an hypostaticall union with the Sonne of God and this was afore his humiliation in the sense you speake of to wit in humbling himselfe to the death even to the death of the Crosse though I willingly confesse the humiliation of the Godhead went joyntly along with the advancement of the manhood even to this hypostaticall union You say His advancement was purposed before his humiliation I deny it You will say that was the meanes tending to his advancement as the end for so I take your meaning to be leaving the consideration of the phrase mentioned of making way which if it be delivered in any other sense then to signifie the meanes of his advancement will make your cause worse and nothing better For now I deny that
Christs humiliation was the meanes of Christs advancement and I prove it Those only are to bee accounted meanes to such an end quorum ratio petitur a ratione finis designati that is the means are onely such as the nature of the end duly considered doth bespeake But the advancement of Christ doth not bespeake any such meanes for undoubtedly God could advance Christ without any such humiliation nay having taken his manhood into an hypostaticall union with his Son even in this respect his advancement was far more requisite than in respect of his humiliation You will say God purposed to advance him no other way then this I grant it and if you consider it well you shall find the reason of it by considering the right ends hereof in the counsell of God And these are different one was in respect of others to wit that he might be a fit Saviour of Gods elect not that their salvation was the end of his humiliation but the glory of God in a certain kind the end of both to wit both of his humiliation and our salvation namely the glory of his free grace in the way of mercy mixt with justice This end required satisfaction as without which it could not be procured But here I confesse the advancement of Christ hath no place but in another consideration it shall find place and that as a joynt meanes together with his humiliation for another kind of glory would God the Father manifest in Christ And indeed the Nation of mankind is as a glasse wherein a very complete body of Gods glory doth appear in very great variety and that was the manifestation of his glory in the way of remunerative justice in the highest degree remunerating obedience I say in the highest degree both in respect of the reward deserved and also in respect of the desert it selfe the reward being the sitting in the Throne of his Father and to have all judgment committed unto the Sonne the desert being the obedience of the Son of God one and the same God with his Father humbling himselfe to death even to the death of the crosse for the salvation of Gods elect But perhaps you may further say It is not necessary that the means should bee only such as the end doth naturally require For God could have brought man to salvation the same way he brought Angels without faith and repentance yea hee could have made them and immediatly have translated them into glory yet wee commonly say Faith and Repentance are the means of salvation I answer granting not onely that wee commonly say so but that wee truly say so in respect of our selves namely that as salvation is the scope and end wee aime at so faith and repentance are the onely meanes to bring us thereunto but in respect of God it is utterly untrue for neither is our salvation the end of Gods actions but his owne glory Hee made all things for himselfe Prov. 16. 4. And if it were his end hee could have brought it about divers other wayes besides this but in that hee brings it to passe this way there is good reason for it as wee shall well perceive if wee take the end of God aright namely to manifest his glory in doing good to man in the highest degree and that in the way of mercy mixt with justice This end doth necessarily require a permission of sin again it doth require satisfaction as by the death of Christ and thirdly it doth require faith and repentance that so hee may doe him good by way of reward and lastly a glorious salvation which is the doing of him good in the highest degree And as mans salvation is not the end of Gods actions so neither is the glory of Christ as hee is man the end of Gods actions for such a glory inherent can but bee a created glory and no created thing can be the end of Gods actions but onely God himselfe For as he is the chiefe efficient of all so must hee bee the supreme end of all and as hee is most lovely and most good so must hee necessarily love that most which is most lovely even himselfe and aime at his owne glory in all 2 Now I come to the Apostles Text wherewith this Argument is backt 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All are yours and yee Christs and Christ Gods that is say you The world for the Church and the Church for Christ and Christ for God thereby giving us to understand That God first intended his glory for which are all things and then Christ for whom the Church is and then the Church for which the world is and then the world last of all But I pray you consider whether this Interpretation and Collection thereupon be not more superficiary than sound First when he saith All are yours is the world only to be understood by all Is not the world expresly named but as a member of this universall Are not Paul Apollos and Cephas also joyned with it together with life and death and things present and things to come and joyntly comprehended under the word all Verse 21. Let no man rejoyce in men for all things are yours Verse 22. Whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death whether they be things present or things to come even all are yours 23. And yee Christs and Christ Gods As he was perswaded Rom. 8. 38. That neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come 39. Nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature should bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and therefore wee need not feare them So here he goes further and tells us that all are put as it were in subjection unto us to worke for our good and therefore wee should not rejoyce in them but rather in Christ and in God who hath wrought this and ordered all this for our good through the merits of Christ not only Apostles and Pastours but even the very Angels also who pitch their tent about us and have charge given them to keep us in all our wayes and all of them are sent forth for the good of them that are heires of salvation Yet this subjection is onely of a spirituall and gracious nature nothing prejudicing their advancement above them whom they thus serve in love and that for this their service performed for Gods sake to whom rather they are in subjection then unto us yet so farre in subjection to worke our good that it becomes us not to rejoyce in any of them but rather in God who hath thus ordered them for our good and Christ for whose sake they are thus ordered An Argument like to that the Lord useth Deut. 4. 19. Take heed lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven and when thou seest the sunne and the moon and the starres with all the host of heaven shouldst bee driven to worship them
by the eares not considering the dangerous consequence here-hence utterly overthrowing the Orthodox doctrine of our Churches in the very point of Election and bringing in Arminianisme entire and whole not in Reprobation only as Master Moulin doth and you seeme to doe but in Election it selfe unavoidably though hitherto I confesse the Arminians have not been so happy as to discerne it I doubt not but your meaning is in that Proposition That sinne is not only the cause of damnation but of Gods decree also of ordaining thereunto But to affirme this seemed so foule to Aquinas namely that there should be conceived a cause of Gods will or Gods decree that hee professeth never any man was so madde as to affirme it But because the saying of Aquinas moves you little why should it seeing it little hindered not onely Valentianus the Jesuite from saying as you doe but Alvarez also the Thomist and a great Thomist therefore I will proceed further What should move you to affirme That to ordaine to condemnation is an act of vindicative justice Condemnation I grant is an act of vindicative justice like as remuneration is an act of justice remunerative but will it follow here-hence that to ordaine to condemnation is an act of vindicative justice I will not presse you with the authority of Master Baynes who denyes Reprobation to be an act of justice but thus I dispute If Gods purpose to condemne to death be an act of justice vindicative then also Gods purpose to remunerate with eternall life is an act of justice remunerative And if Gods purpose of condemnation presuppose sinne it followes that Gods purpose of remunerating with eternall life must also presuppose obedience even obedience of faith repentance and good works for all these God doth remunerate with eternall life Here appeareth the foule tayle of Arminianisme in the doctrine of Election which this plausible doctrine of yours and of Master Moulins in the point of Reprobation drawes after it The consequence is manifest though few or none consider it even of them that are both Orthodox in Election and most versed in the examining and discerning of just consequences Now because this consequence I presume is unexpected I imagine men may bee moved to cast about and consider how they may wind themselves out of this dangerous inconvenience And perhaps it may come to their mindes to affirme that they doe not conceive Election under this forme namely to bee the decree of God to remunerate with everlasting life And I verily believe they doe not for if they did it were not possible they should continue Orthodox in the point of Election but miserably betray their cause by giving way to a doctrine plainly contradictory in the point of Reprobation But why then doe they not consider Election as they ought Is it not generally confessed that Election and Reprobation are contrary why then should they not be shapen under contrarient formes and what act I pray you is contrary to the act of justice vindicative but the act of justice remunerative But perhaps you may say Though this bee true yet there is no place for such an opposition here for as much as though a man may merit damnation by sinne yet hee cannot merit salvation by obedience I answer therefore that this onely shewes there can be no opposition between them in a speciall kind of retribution to wit in the way of retribution according to desert on both sides yet this hinders not but that there may be and indeed is an opposition in the generall of retribution For it is well knowne that God will reward every one according to his works and that he means to bestow salvation upon every one of ripe yeares by way of reward and tanquam coronam justitiae as the Arminians urge and justly though with no just advantage to their cause but according to their shallow and unlearned conceits as if therefore God should first fore-see their obedience before hee should ordaine them to a reward which yet will follow if on the other side wee grant them that God first fore-seeth mans finall impenitency and thereupon ordaines them to condemnation Perhaps you may say Is not the contrariety between Election and Reprobation sufficiently maintained by saying the one is Gods purpose ordaining to salvation the other Gods purpose ordaining to condemnation I confesse it seemes so and is generally reputed to be so and this I take to bee the principall cause of this error one confusion drawing on more and more after it But I say there is no congruous opposition between salvation and damnation for to damne is either finally to punish or to adjudge to punishment Now as the Negative opposition hereunto is onely not to punish or to adjudge to punishment so the contrary opposition hereunto is to reward or to adjudge to a reward So that Election as it is Gods purpose ordaining to salvation by way of reward is onely opposite contrarily to Reprobation as it signifies Gods purpose ordaining to condemnation More fairly and voyd of all equivocation thus Like as Reprobation is Gods purpose to punish with everlasting death so Election is Gods purpose to remunerate with everlasting life And thus the contrariety of these acts being rightly stated it followes as evidently that Election must presuppose not obedience but the fore-sight of obedience as Reprobation presupposeth not sinne but the fore-sight of sin And thus are wee tumbled into the very gulfe of Arminianisme over head and eares before wee are aware But it may bee this discourse of mine may raise such a Spirit as will not easily bee laid and hereupon some may the more profusely bee carryed to embrace Arminianisme in the very point of Election also because as Reprobation seemes to bee an act of justice vindicative so Election also as here it is stated seemes to bee an act of justice remunerative And I willingly confesse I never found any Arminian that discernes the advantage which our Divines doe afford them by shaping the doctrine of Reprobation as they doe Therefore I will endeavour to quiet this Spirit that I have raised first by discovering the Sophistry that bleares our eyes in this and secondly by cleare demonstration I will prove that no fore-sight of sinne and obedience can precede the purpose of God ordaining to salvation and damnation As for the discovering of the Sophistry which hath place herein consider first It is agreed between Vasquez and Suarez though otherwise much at odds about the nature of justice in God that there is no justice in God towards his creature but upon the presupposition of his will whence it followeth manifestly that the purposes of God being the very acts of his will are no acts of justice but onely the executions of these purposes may bee acts of justice to wit upon the presupposition of some act or purpose of his will And the reason hereof not to insist wholly upon any humane authority is manifest for as much as in remunerating
of disobedience and impenitency appeareth from Gods Oath As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the wicked mans death but rather that hee should turne from his wickednesse and live The usuall answer made to this place seems to once to straine the word beyond his native simplicity 1. Some say that God speakes not of all the wicked but of some of the elect onely who in time are brought on to repentance but the truth is hee speaketh of such wicked men whereof some dye in their sinnes as is evident by the parallel place 2. Others say that God speaketh of his antecedent will going before all causes in the creature not of his consequent will following the creature in sinne but plaine it is hee speaketh of men now wicked defiled with originall and actuall sin 3. Others say againe God speakes not of the secret will of his good pleasure but of his revealed will but though I know there be sundry parts of Gods secret will which are not revealed yet I know no part of his will by oath doctrine or historicall narration that is discrepant from his secret will as all Object If you say Yes Gods revealed will is that all should repent Resp 1. I answer It is not a part of Gods will revealed by hath doctrine or historicall narration but by a word of command 2. I say it is a part of his secret will too I meane of his good pleasure that all men should repent and it is his displeasure if they repent not 3. But there is another part of his good will also that if they repent they shall not perish and this also revealed in his word And thus the will of God revealed in a distâ—â—â—â— axiome is alwayes consonant to his secret will and never frustrated 4. Finally others say that God delights not in the death of a sinner as it is the destruction of the creature but as it is a meanes of the manifestation of his justice I answer It is true but the manifestation of his justice stands as hee expresseth himselfe in the removall of the cause of their destruction from his owne will to their will As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner Turne yee turne yee why will yee dye O house of Israel First here is some Philosophicall error in distinguishing betweene justice distributive and justice vindicative which are no more to be distinguished than a genus is to be distinguished from his species Justice commutative is only opposite to justice distributive but justice distributive comprehends under it as well justice vindicative as justice remunerative 2. Here wee have an anxious discourse to prove that which no man denyes as before hath been shewed And on the other side it is equally as true that God hath a willingnesse to glorifie his vindicative justice as well as remunerative to punish with death any one of his Elect upon condition of finall disobedience and impenitency as well as to reward with life upon condition of obedience and repentance 3. But it appeares by the Proofe that some further Point is intended then is yet manifested and such a one as you seeme rather to insinuate then expresse For whereas hitherto you have proposed a will of God onely conditionate the place of Scripture alledged mentions no such conditionate will which is indifferent to passe either upon the life or death of a man accordingly as hee shall be found to repent or not to repent but rather intimates a will of God inclining to affect rather the life of man then his death as it is manifested in these words I have no pleasure in the wicked mans death but rather that hee repent and live Now this is nothing congruous to a conditionate will as before premised First because a conditionate will at the best is but indifferent to passe either upon life or death according to the condition proposed Secondly if the condition of life be such as whereunto man is not so well disposed and the condition of death such as whereunto man is most prone it will follow here-hence that such a conditionate will is more propense to affect a mans death than life Thirdly most of all in case it be such as that the condition of life is never performed and the condition of death alwayes performed and the event hereof well knowne to God when hee made this conditionate decree 4. But whereas you would I guesse insinuate that God doth will the life of the wicked distinguished from Gods Elect rather then their death the place alledged is nothing to this purpose as not signifying what God doth rather will to come to passe but what God doth take most pleasure in when it doth come to passe whether it doth come to passe or no for certainly the life and repentance of the world doth never come to passe according to your opinion 5. Junius renders the place so as that Gods delight is signified to be placed in the repentance of a sinner Ne vivam fi delector morte improbi sed delector cum revertitur improbus ut vivat And indeed God is glorified by our obedience as whereby hee is acknowledged to be our supreme Lord not so by our disobedience And indeed did God take pleasure in the death of a sinner what should move him to wait for his repentance and use all perswasive meanes to bring him to repentance And it is proposed to take them off from a desperate condition proposed in these words Quia defectiones nostrae peccata nostra incumbunt nobis ideò ipsis nos tabescimus ecqui viveremus To take them off from this the Lord sends his Prophet charging him and saying Dic eis ne vivam ego dictum Domini si delector morte improbi sed cum revertitur improbus à via sua ut vivat Revertimini revertimini à viis vestris pessimis cur enim moreremini domus Israelis 6. Be it spoken in generall both of Elect and Reprobate yet onely is it directed to them to whom the Prophets of God are sent it followeth not that God doth will or desire the repentance of any Reprobate though to the confirmation hereof you chiefly tend certainly whosoever repents God takes pleasure in his repentance and the Scripture saith no more But that he doth not will it or desire it out of your owne mouth may bee convinced seeing that God affords not any Reprobate such an effectuall grace as hee fore-sees will bring them to repentance but reserving that for the Elect alone unto all others hee vouchsafeth onely such a grace as hee knowes full well will never bring any of them unto repentance And if God would bring any man unto repentance who should hinder him shall the will of man how doth it hinder him in working the repentance of his Elect cannot hee omnipotenti facilitate convertere as Austin speakes whom he will ex nolentibus volentes facere Againe doth God continue
to will their repentance after they are damned or no If no then is hee changed if ever hee willed their repentance 7. Certainly he speaks of men defiled with originall and actuall sinne for hee speakes of such whom he exhorts to repentance yet this hinders not but that it may proceed of his antecedent will for nothing but finall impenitency makes way for Gods consequent will concerning damnation 8. Saint Paul of all his labours tendred to the good of all sorts professeth that hee suffered them for Gods Elect How much more in Gods intention was the Ministry of his Prophets for the Elect sake The question is not so much about Gods delight in the death of the wicked as about his delight concerning their repentance and life and this hath no parallel Ezech. 18. applying it to other then Gods Elect. 9. The third Answer though it seemes to mee not congruous enough in respect of life because revealed will in this distinction is usually taken onely for Gods commandement and life is no precept yet is it congruous enough in respect of repentance for it is generally commanded and consequently Gods will of life if it be called his will revealed may be reduced to congruity as consequent to repentance which God commands to all and consequently hee may be said by his revealed will to will the salvation of all The Answer to this is nothing to purpose as sticking upon the termes secret and revealed and not applied to the usuall acceptions of this distinction which is onely to signifie Gods will of commandement which wee all know to be revealed and Gods will of purpose which mostly is not revealed 10. It is untrue that it is Gods good pleasure that all should repent for the will of Gods good pleasure in the acception of all that ever I read is onely of that which God will have come to passe and consequently of what shall come to passe not of what should come to passe to wit of mans duty that is generally accounted voluntas signi in distinction from voluntas beneplaciti and in speciall wee may call it voluntas praecepti and distinguish it from voluntas propositi this is What God will have to bee done that is what God will have to be our duty to doe And thus farre it may be accounted the will of Gods good pleasure as you call it But then Gods displeasure following hath no congruous opposition hereunto as when you say It is his displeasure if they repent not the contrary whereunto is not as you shape it It is his good pleasure that all men should repent but rather thus It is his good pleasure if they doe repent That distinction tends to meere confusion Neither yet doe I like this expression shaped never so congruously rather it should runne thus God is well pleased when men doe repent and most displeased when they doe not repent which is most true but least to the present purpose as touching the distinction ventilated betweene us concerning voluntas signi voluntas beneplaciti Your second instance of voluntas beneplaciti is no lesse extravagant as when you make the object thereof thus If they repent they shall not perish If they repent not they shall perish for promises and rewards are but adjuncts to voluntas signi and nothing secret but plainly revealed But to whom God will make his commandements back'd with promises and threats effectuall to the working of repentance this is a secret and this wee commonly account voluntas beneplaciti When you adde saying Thus the will of God revealed in a distinct axiome is alwayes consonant to his revealed will and never frustrated You continue still in a miserable confusion worse rather then better as when you talke of a disjunct axiome in reference to that which went before when no disjunct axiome at all went before but certaine conditionate axiomes as these If they repent they shall not perish If they repent not they shall perish whereas disjunct oppositions are such as these They shall repent or no They shall perish or no And to say such axiomes are consonant to Gods secret will is a wild expression whereas indeed they are neither consonant nor dissonant save onely in enuntiating that in an indeterminate manner which Gods will hath made determinate and in that respect it is dissonant enough Of the cause of the death of a sinner there needeth not to be any question for undoubtedly the sinne of man is the cause thereof in the way of a cause meritorious but not in the way of a cause naturally efficient And as undoubted it is that Gods will is the cause thereof as a Judge in the way of a cause naturally efficient but not in the way of a cause meritorious And as cleare it is that onely the meritorious cause is the chiefe cause in this kind for as much as by the rendring thereof alone satisfaction is made to him that demands the reason why such a one suffereth death But I wonder what you meane to change the former Translation of the Text thus I have no pleasure in the wicked mans death into another thus I will not the death of a sinner For is it not God that inflicteth death and doth hee not doe all things according to the counsell of his will Ephes 1. 11. Yet if it were so to be rendred it will nothing advantage you And in no other sense can it be said that hee doth not will it then in that in which hee is said not to punish willingly Lam. 3. according to the Latine phrase when hee doth not punish Animi causa but by reason of some provocation the sinne of man urging and moving him thereunto as is fairely intimated in that Hos 11. 8. How shall I give thee up Ephraim how shall I deliver thee Israel And Esay 3. They provoke the eyes of his glory For a second ground In the Covenant of Workes you may see as in a glasse what the purpose of God is in the manifesting his Justice upon the world of mankind as in the Covenant of Grace you may see as in a mirrour what the purpose of God is in manifesting his mercy upon the Elect For as it is in men renued after the Image of God so likewise it is in God himselfe Such as his Covenant or Promise is such is his Purpose God doth covenant and promise in the Covenant of Grace to give life to the Elect out of his grace in Christ So here doth God covenant and promise in the Covenant of Workes to give life to Adam and all his posterity if they continue in obedience of his Law or if breaking this Law they return again to him by repentance as it is described at large Gen. 4. 7. Levit. 18. 5. Ezek. 18. 5. 20. 11. 40. 21. Gal. 3. 12. Surely then the purpose of Gods just retribution is to give life to the world of mankind upon condition of their obedience or of their repentance
after disobedience Say not Surely God purposed nothing but death to the world of mankind whom hee elected not because hee offered them life upon such condition which hee knew was impossible for them to keep for first in Adam they were enabled to keep it neither impotency in Adam nor efficacy of Gods decree did put upon Adam any necessity of breaking it Againe in Christ they have so much knowledge and grace revealed to them and offered as is sufficient to bring them on to see their impotency in themselves and to stirre them up to seeke for help and strength and life in him where it is to be found which if they neglect or despise as the Pharisees did and all the rest of impenitent sinners doe God and his Covenant are blamelesse in offering them life and the meanes of it their destruction is of themselves That Proposition of yours As it is in men renued after the Image of God so likewise it is in God himselfe had need of much limitation and qualification lest it prove as often false as true or rather more That which followes Such as is his Covenant or Promise such is his Purpose is likewise as often false as true If the Promises of God are absolute such are his Purposes but if his Promises bee conditionall such are not his Purposes Both Piscator of late by evidence of Scripture and Bradwardine long before by demonstration of Reason have proved that no will in God is conditionate quoad actum volentis all the conditions are found quoad res volitas And indeed though the Purposes of God are absolute yet his Promises are therefore conditionate because they are conformed to the manner of Gods operation with man For as God workes in all things agreeable to their natures so in man hee useth to worke agreeable to his nature And therefore albeit his Purpose bee absolute to bring them to grace and glory to faith repentance and salvation yet hee allures them to faith and repentance by promises and threatnings When you say that God doth covenant and promise to give life to the Elect out of his grace in Christ You might as well have said that God promiseth to give life to them that beleeve and repent and more congruously a great deale seeing the conscience of our faith and repentance brings us to the assurance of our Election the conscience of our Election or of the assurance thereof brings us not unto faith and repentance But it seemes you desire to shape the Promises of God in the Covenant of Grace and in the Covenant of Workes in so different a manner that the one may seeme to bee absolute the other conditionall whereas they are of the same nature in both And as God doth withall intend to give the grace of obedience to the Elect so doth hee as absolutely intend to deny it to the other And I wonder you make not mention of the Reprobate in the latter as of the Elect in the former Undoubtedly the Covenant of Workes concernes all to whom it is preached as well the Elect as the Reprobate And the Covenant of Grace likewise concernes all to whom it is preached as well the Reprobate as the Elect. To all it is preached Whosoever beleeveth shall be saved as well to the Reprobate as to the Elect To all it is preached indifferently Whosoever beleeveth not shall bee damned as well to the Elect as to the Reprobate onely God shewes mercy on whom hee will in giving the grace of faith and hardens whom he will in denying it God doth covenant you say to give life to Adam and all his posterity if they continue in obedience to his Law This then undoubtedly concernes the Elect as well as the Reprobate For they are a part of Adams posterity But I wonder not a little at this language speaking in the Present Tense that God doth covenant to give Adam life whereas Adam many thousand yeares agoe hath ceased to have any thing to doe with any such Covenant Therefore this is for some speciall purpose in joyning Adam and his posterity together as persons covenanted with by God And I imagine the reason of it to be this Lest otherwise there could bee no place for continuance in obedience required of all Adams posterity for that presupposeth them to be in the estate of obedience which was never verified of them all but as they were in Adam and that in his state of Innocency But why should wee please our selves with such confusion Let us consider them apart and say that God did covenant with Adam that if hee continued in obedience to his Law or if breaking his Law hee did returne againe to him by repentance hee should have life But what evidence I pray have you for this namely that God made any such Covenant with Adam in the state of Innocency who ever was found to entertaine any such conceit before you why might not you as well devise the like Covenant to be made by God with the Angels Nay is not the contrary manifest In the day thou sinnest thou shalt dye the death How could this be verified if God made any such Covenant with Adam For if hee were under such a Covenant hee could not be said to violate it by sinning but onely by refusing to repent after hee had sinned And I verily beleeve you have no such meaning as if you conceived any such Covenant to bee made with Adam before his fall and therefore you clapt Adam and his posterity together to the end that if that which you delivered might not hold of the one it might of the other And though it hold of Adams posterity as touching this part of turning unto God by repentance after sinne committed yet of them it holds not as touching the other part of the condition to wit of continuance in obedience for the posterity of Adam through his fall are quite out of the estate of obedience till God restores them Nay God in this life never restores any to the estate of obedience which was found in Adam before his fall Out of this confusion you inferre that Surely the purpose of Gods just retribution is to give life to the world of mankind upon condition of their obedience or of their repentance As before wee were troubled with confusion so here wee are againe troubled with an unhappy distinction For what doe you meane to distinguish Obedience from Repentance as if Repentance were not Obedience Doth not God say as well unto us Repent and beleeve the Gospel as If you consent and obey you shall eat the good things of the land Is it fit to distinguish the Genus from the Species so as to set one in opposition to the other Though the contentions of Brethren are as the barrs of a Palace yet as Brethren they are all the Children of the same Father or Mother or both But take wee your meaning and that by Obedience is to be understood such a state or
condition of obedience as is without all sinne then let your Position runne plainly thus Surely the purpose of Gods just retribution is to give life to the world of mankind upon condition of their being without sinne or of their repentance after obedience To this I answer That there never was any such Covenant of God with man I meane in such sort conditionate and consequently there never was any purpose in God to make any such Covenant with man at least for the time past As for the times to come let them speake for themselves by their owne experience when they come But that never any such Covenant had place hitherto between God and man it is manifest For since the Fall of Adam all being borne in sinne there is no place for such a Covenant as touching the first part of the condition which is of being without sinne And before the Fall of Adam there was no place for this Covenant as touching the latter part of the condition as I presume you will not deny onely the confusion of these two states before the Fall and after the Fall hath brought forth this wild conceit of such a Covenant By that which followeth it seemes that all these conceptions tend to no worse end then to justifie Gods disposition towards the Reprobate And it is great pity that so good an end as the justifying of God should bee brought about by no more congruous courses then these But I would faine know what blemish should redound to the nature of God if hee should intend nothing but death to the world of mankind yet your selfe will acknowledge that hee might have intended nothing but annihilation And is not annihilation as bad as death But your meaning is by death to understand sorrow And is there not just cause to preferre sorrow before death Yea but your meaning is of sorrow in the highest degree and that everlasting Why but if it be no blemish to God to intend nothing but sorrow in seven degrees to the world of mankind why should it be any blemish to him to intend nothing but sorrow in a degree more And if it be no blemish to God to intend nothing but sorrow to the world of mankind for millions of yeares why should it be any blemish to his reputation to intend to the world of mankind nothing but everlasting sorrow Yet whom doe you oppose in this Who ever said that God did intend nothing but death to the world of mankind those on whom you obtrude this conceit doe not affirme this of the world of mankind but onely of the Reprobates if they doe affirme any such thing And why I pray should the Reprobates be taken for the world of mankind rather than the Elect Neither doth any man say that God did intend nothing but death to the Reprobates Hee did intend to them all life as well as death but withall that all the posterity of Adam should be borne or at least conceived in sinne and also that many thousands should perish in that sinne wherein they were conceived and borne And I presume you dare not deny this which yet is the harshest proceeding of God above all others except his dealing with his owne Sonne As for others he intended to expose them to actuall sinnes of infidelity and impenitency by denying to them that grace which alone would preserve them from such sinnes as your selfe spare not to professe and yet for all this you would obtrude upon us a strange conceit and that as very reasonable namely That God did not intend their death onely but their life also whereas God is nothing at all advantaged hereby in his reputation but onely in words which is no reall reliefe to his honour but the adding of another injury if that bee an injury unto him as you conceive namely to mock him also And if wee shall nothing pleasure him by a lye lying for God as man doth for man to gratifie him surely wee shall doe him no pleasure by thus mocking him I would you had tried your strength in oppugning their opinion to the uttermost who maintaine God to carry himselfe as absolutely in the way of Reprobation as in the way of Election I would gladly have considered it But let us consider your present discourse First you say They were in Adam enabled to keep the condition therefore say not God intended nothing but death to them I pray transferre the case to the Angels were not they also enabled to keep the condition of life as well as their fellowes yet did not God grant his Elect Angels such a grace as whereby hee knew they would stand denying such a grace unto the others and that as absolutely as hee granted it unto the other And could hee not as absolutely have granted this grace unto them 〈…〉 and denyed it to them that stood And what would have 〈◊〉 the issue but quite contrary versis luxisset curia fatis Now let any man that is not possessed with a prejudicate conceit consider whether God did not as absolutely will the damnation of the one as the salvation of the other making the one amplius adjutos as Austin speakes then the other For the absolutenesse of Gods Election of Angels is seene by the absolutenesse of his giving them such a grace as to keep them from sinne And if hee doth as absolutely deny others the same grace as hee must needs for before the first sinne of Angels there could bee no cause moving God to deny them grace it will follow that their Reprobation was as absolute as the others Election Yet what a poore relieving of Gods reputation is this to say that Judas had power in Adam to keep the condition of life proposed to him though since his Fall hee hath not yet wee beleeve that Adam is saved who bereaved Judas of his ability and Judas damned for not keeping that whereunto hee had no ability and that through the Fall of Adam Further observe I pray you the miserable consequents of this your Argument as it runnes thus in few words In Adam we were enabled to keep the Condition Therefore say not that God intended nothing but death to the Reprobate By the same reason I may dispute thus In Adam they were enabled to breake the condition of life therefore Say not that God intended nothing but life to his Elect. But as hee intended salvation and not damnation onely to the Reprobates In like sort hee intended damnation and not salvation onely to the Elect Especially considering that not in Adam onely but in themselves also they are able enough to breake it and the best of them have that in them that deserves damnation nothing that deserves salvation As for the Reprobates there neither was nor is any thing in them that sits them for salvation It is strange that these incongruities should not bee discerned or being discerned men should be so little moved with them But these are dayes of vengeance and when a good
this people an heart to feare mee and to keep my commandements alwayes that it may goe well with them and with their children for ever Oh that they were wise that they understood this that they would consider their latter end Oh that my people had hearkened unto mee and that Israel had walked in my wayes I should soon have subdued their enemies and turned my hand against their adversaries Do not all these speeches expresse an earnest and serious affection in God as concerning the conversion and salvation of this people whereof sundry died in their sinnes It is true God might have given them such hearts as to have feared and obeyed him which though hee did not yet his will that they had such hearts was serious still To cleare it by a comparison The father of the family hath both his son and servant dangerously sick of the stone to heale them both the father useth sundry medicines even all that art prescribeth except cutting when hee seeth no other remedy he perswades them both to suffer cutting to save their lives they both refuse it yet his sonne hee taketh and bindeth him hand and foot and causeth him to endure it and so saveth his life His servant also hee urgeth with many vehement inducements to submit himselfe to the same remedy but if a servant obstinately refuse hee will not alwayes strive with him nor enforce him to such breaking and renting of his body But yet did not his Master seriously desire his healing and life though hee did not proceed to the cutting asunder of his flesh which hee saw his servant would not abide to heare of So in this case both the elect and men of this world are dangerously sicke of a stony heart to heale both sorts the Lord useth sundry meanes promises judgements threatnings and mercies when all faile hee perswades them to breake their hearts and the stone thereof with cutting and wounding of their consciences when they refuse hee draweth them both the one with his almighty power the other with the cords of man viz. such as are resistible to this cutting and wounding that their soules might live and the elect are brought to yeeld and the men of this world break all cords asunder and cast away such bonds from them Shall we now say God did not seriously desire the healing of such mens hearts because hee procured not to bind them with strong cords to breake them with such woundings as they will not abide to heare of Thus having laid downe the grounds of my judgement touching the first Point That there is a will and purpose in God for to reward the world as well with life upon condition of obedience as with death upon condition of disobedience I come now to the grounds of the second Point You proceed in clearing a difficulty devised and shaped without all ground as if any sober man would find it strange that a conditionate will of God should not be accomplished as often as the condition failes And to this purpose you make use of the nature of a disjunct axiome All-along I savour others that have grased here yet have not rested themselves contented with this but proceeded further to more erroneous opinions A second objection you propose in the second place the solution whereof you seeme to travell with much more than of the former and yet the objection is altogether as causelesse and without all just ground as the former I have now been something more than ordinarily conversant in these Controversies for the space of seventeen yeares I never yet met with any of our Divines or any other that made any question whether Gods will being granted to passe on any object were serious yea or no I should thinke there is no intelligent man living that makes any doubt of this but puts it rather out of all question that whatsoever God wills hee wills it seriously I confesse the Arminians doe usually obtrude some such things on our Divines yet not altogether such for they doe not obtrude upon us as if wee said God doth not will seriously that which hee willeth but rather that hee doth not seriously exhort and admonish all those whom hee doth admonish to beleeve and repent as if hee made shew onely of desiring their obedience and salvation when indeed hee doth not Yet you seeme to sweat not a little in debellating this man of straw Upon these termes I might easily dispatch my selfe of all further trouble in examining your elaborate Answer to so causelesse an Objection but I will not for it may be you insperse something by the way of opposition to that which you doe professe which is this That God doth not at all will the obedience and repentance of any but those who are his Elect. And I would not pretermit any evidence you bring to countenance your cause in opposition to our Tenent unanswered That Gods Oath or Covenant or the workes of any Person in the Trinity tends to the end by you mentioned namely to give life to the world is utterly untrue Likewise it is utterly untrue that you have hitherunto proved any such thing For that which you here deliver as Gods end in giving life is proposed simply and absolutely but that which hitherunto you have endeavoured to prove is onely this that Gods will was to give the world life conditionally to wit upon their obedience and repentance and that as in the last place coming to the point you have expressed it in a disjunct axiome thus To give life to the creature upon his obedieace or to inflict death upon his disobedience Now let any sober man judge whether in this case the will of God be more to give life than to inflict death more passing upon the salvation of the creature than upon his eternall condemnation Could you prove that God doth will at all the salvation of any other save his Elect I would forthwith grant hee wills it seriously I should thinke it no lesse than blasphemy to thinke that God doth either will or sweare or covenant or doe that which hee doth not seriously as blasphemy consists in attributing that to God which doth not become him I nothing doubt but that if all and every one should beleeve and repent all and every one should be saved and none other thing hitherto have you so much as adventured to prove in this particular whereupon now we are But then it behoves you to look unto it on the other side how you cleare your selfe from blasphemy in the same kind while you maintain that God doth will the salvation of those which shall never be saved which not in my judgement only but in the judgement of Austin of old doth mainly trench upon Gods omnipotency for if hee would save them but doth not hee is hindered and resisted by somewhat and consequently his will is not omnipotent nor irresistible And more than this here-hence it will follow that either God continues still to will their
heart out of their bowels and give them an heart of flesh when he resolves to afford this grace unto some but not unto others let every one judge hereby whether God can be said earnestly to desire the changing of their hearts when hee resolves to forbeare that course which alone can change them No no this discourse favoureth strongly of a conceit that it is in the power of an unregenerate man to change his owne heart and of an heart of stone to change it into an heart of flesh And in this case I confesse it were very probable that God should earnestly desire it provided that any ineffectuall and changeable desires were incident unto God That when God putteth forth the second act of positive retribution viz. the rejection of the world or decree of their condemnation God doth behold and consider the world especially men of riper yeares not in massa primitus corrupta nor as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience To prove this I need not produce other reasons then what I have formerly alledged in the fone-going Point for when God did expresse by his oath his will and good pleasure to be not for the death but life and conversion of sinners was it not after the fall of Adam and all his posterity in him then notwithstanding the presupposall of the fall God had not yet rejected the creature but as hee there declareth himselfe still retaineth and reserveth thoughts of peace towards them even a desire of their conversion unto life Againe with whom did the Lord enter into a Covenant of life and death upon condition of obedience and disobedience was it not with Adam onely and his posterity in his loynes in the state of innocency by the law written in their heart Was it not also after Adams fall renewed to all his posterity both Jewes and Gentiles Then yet God had not cast them away in the fall though the fall had justly deserved it but expecteth yet further to see how they will yet keep this renewed Covenant with him before hee cast them off as Reprobates Even Cain himselfe the eldest sonne of Reprobation is after the fall offered acceptance of Gods hand if hee doe well Moreover is it not after the fall that the Father by his workes of creation and providence judgements and mercies c. the Sonne by his enlightening the world by his death and ministery of his servants and the Holy Ghost by his calling and knocking at the hearts of the wicked doe all strive with men even to this very end to turne them to the Lord that iniquity may not be their destruction If therefore all the Persons in the Trinity doe provide severall helpfull meanes for the conversion and salvation of the world of the world I say now after the fall lying in wickednesse surely God did not then upon the fall reprobate the world unto eternall condemnation and perdition If you say God might well reprobate the world unto condemnation upon the fall and yet still after the fall usâ— meanes for their conversion and salvation because those meanes doe but further aggravate their condemnation I answer these doe indeed further aggravate their condemnation but it is but by accident onely by their neglect and abuse of them but the proper end which God himselfe of himselfe aimes at in the use of these meanes himselfe plainly expresseth it to be not the aggravation or procurement of their condemnation but the restoring of them to salvation and life as hath been before declared So then to draw all to an head the summe of this first reason is If God after the fall doe retaine a will and purpose to restore life to the world upon an equall condition then hee did not upon the fall or upon the onely consideration of the fall reject the world of the ungodly unto their utter perdition But you see God retaineth after the fall an holy will and purpose of restoring life unto the world upon an equall condition as appeareth by his Oath by his Covenant and by his Workes therefore the conclusion which is the point in hand is evident I marvell what you meane to call Gods decree of condemnation his act of retribution retribution being an act temporall and transient the decree of God is an act immanent and eternall And therefore it is not so handsomely said to be the putting forth of an act for so much as it is immanent and not transient 'T is manifest I confesse that sin is alwayes precedent to the retribution of punishment as it is without controversie that sinne neither is nor can be antecedent to Gods decree sinne being temporall but all Gods decrees eternall And I have found it by experience to be an usuall course with our Adversaries to confound condemnation with the decree of condemnation And Junius himselfe very incongruously in my judgement calls this decree Praedamnatio to make the fairer place as I guesse for sins praecedencie thereunto at least in consideration But no necessity urgeth us to any such course and wee may well maintaine that God in this decree of condemnation hath alwayes the consideration of that sinne for which hee purposeth to damne them for undoubtedly hee decrees to condemne no man but for sinne It is impossible it should be otherwise condemnation in the notion thereof formally including sinne But I like not your expressions in the distinction you make saying God considers men in this sinne not as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off you mean long after by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience When God made this decree they were not newly that is a little before fallen in Adam for that fall in Adam was temporall but the decrees of God are eternall And to consider as newly fallen when as yet they were not much lesse were they fallen is not so much to consider as to erre or feigne But like as God decreed to suffer all to fall in Adam and many also to continue both therein and in bringing forth the bitter fruits thereof even untill death so he purposed to condemne them for those sinnes but take heed you doe not make an order of prius and posterius between these decrees lest either you make the decree of condemnation precedent to the decree of permission of those sinnes for which they shall be condemned which will be directly contradictory to your Tenet here or making Gods decree of permitting such sinnes for which they shall be condemned precedent to his decree of condemnation whereunto you doe encline unawares which will cast you upon miserable inconveniences and that by your owne rule already delivered for if the decree of permitting sinne be first in intention then by the rules received by you it should be last in execution that is men should be condemned for sinne before they be permitted to sinne But the conjunction of these decrees into one as in the same
moment of nature and reason will both prevent this inconvenience and also justifie Gods decree of condemnation to proceed upon the consideration of those sinnes for which hee purposeth to condemne them But then there is another point of great moment which in like manner must be accorded unto though you seeme to be little aware of it though I willingly confesse this over-sight is very generall namely that God decreeth the salvation of none of ripe yeares but upon or with a joynt consideration of their faith repentance and good workes For let us first make the decrees of salvation and condemnation matches As for example Reprobation as it is accounted the decree of condemnation is a decree of punishing with everlasting death Now if you will match Election unto this as it is the decree of salvation it must be conceived as a decree of rewarding with everlasting life Now let any man judge whether this decree must not as necessarily be conjoyned with the consideration of faith repentance and good works in men of ripe years as the decree of condemnation or of punishing with everlasting death must be conjoyned with the consideration of those sinnes for which God purposeth to punish them And I will further demonstrate it thus Like as the decree of permitting some men to sinne and to continue therein to the end and Gods decree of condemning for sinne are joynt decrees neither afore nor after other and consequently the decree of condemning for sinne must necessarily be conjoyned with the consideration of sinne In like sort Gods decree of giving some faith repentance and good workes and his decree of rewarding them with everlasting life are joynt decrees neither of them afore or after other and consequently Gods decree of saving them and rewarding them with everlasting life is joyned with the consideration of their faith repentance and good workes Now that these are joynt decrees I prove thus First the decree of salvation cannot precede the decree of giving faith and repentance for if it should then salvation were the end of faith and repentance but salvation is not the end as I prove thus The end is such as doth necessarily bespeake the meanes tending thereunto but salvation doth not necessarily bespeake faith and repentance tending thereunto for God intending the salvation of Angels brought it to passe without faith and repentance as likewise the salvation of many an infant hee brings to passe without faith and repentance Secondly the end of Gods actions can be nothing but himselfe and his owne glory and therefore salvation it selfe must have for end the glory of God Now examine what glory of God is manifested in mans salvation and it will forth with appeare upon due examination that the glory of God manifested in mans salvation is such as whereunto not salvation only doth tend but diverse other things joyntly concurring with salvation thereunto As for example Gods glory manifested on the elect is in the highest degree of grace but in the way of mercie mixt with justice This requires permission of sin the sending of Christ to make satisfaction for sinne faith and repentance for Gods justice is seen partly in conferring salvation by way of reward and last of all salvation Out of all these results the glory of God in doing good to his creature in the highest degree of grace proceeding in the way of mercie mixt with justice Thirdly if God gave faith and repentance to this end to bring his elect unto salvation as to the end thereof then by just proportion of reason God should deny the gift of faith and repentance unto others that is to permit them finally to persevere in their sinners thereby to procure their condemnation as the end thereof which you will not affirme neither can it with any sobrietie be affirmed In the next place I will shew that neither can the decree of giving faith and repentance precede the decree of salvation for if it should then should faith repentance be the last in execution to wit if it were first in intention and consequently men should first be saved and afterwards have faith and repentance granted unto them Thus I have shewed my readinesse to concurre with you in opinion in this particular and that upon other grounds than yours and whose grounds are more sound yours or mine I am content to remit it to the judgement of any indifferent Reader As for your reason here mentioned repeating onely what you have formerly delivered as touching the will and good pleasure of God not for the death but for the life not onely of the elect but of all others also the vanitie of this assertion of yours I thinke I have sufficiently discovered And I wonder you should carry it thus not of the death but of the life when most an end you have carried it onely thus hitherunto that Gods willing their life is onely upon condition of their obedience and repentance not otherwise Or in a disjunct axiome thus Either of life in case they repent or of death in case they did not repent and what should move you to call this a willing to give them life and not to inflict death Why should you not rather call it a will to inflict death and not to give life considering that God was resolved to deny them such grace as would effectually bring them to obedience and repentance and to grant them only such a grace as he fore-knew full well would never bring them to obedience and repentance 1. Cain was of the familie of Adam to whom the promise was made concerning the seed of the woman that he should break the serpents head and although Cain was offered acceptance upon his repentance yet it followeth not that all were offered the same acceptance even those that never received any tidings or promise concerning the Messiah And the Apostle plainly signifies that the Gentiles were not admonished to repent untill Christ was preached unto them Act. 17. 30. But suppose it were so yet this hinders nothing at all the precedencie of the decree of condemnation unto the decree of giving such a Covenant and permitting them to dispise it For because God purposed to damne them for such a sinne therefore hee might decree to give them such a Covenant and permit them or expose them by leaving them destitute of his grace to the despising of it Not that I doe approve of any such conceit as before I have manifested but to shew how short your discourse falls of making good that which you undertake to prove And I am much deceived if you mistake not their tenet who make reprobation to proceed upon the consideration of the corrupt masle in Adam For undoubtedly their meaning hereupon is not to maintaine that God did purpose to condemne all reprobates only for the sin of Adam or for originall sinne drawne from him this were a very mad conceit But supposing that by Adams fall an impotency of doing that which is good is come upon
in carnall Christians Whereas if things were distinguished aright it would more easily appeare what is within the region of nature and what beyond it as meerely imputable to the speciall grace of God and operation of his spirit 3 As for dogs and swine wee are forbidden to give our holy things or to cast our pearles before them at all And therefore are wee not to trouble our selves in considering to what end this doctrine is to be preached unto them And yet as for the testifications proposed as proper unto them it is nothing so for not to them only but to carnall Christians also doe such belong yea to the very Children of God also to wit That God is just in all that cometh on them and his wayes equall As when after Davids foule sinnes in the matter of Uriah the sword pursued his house and Absolon defiled his fathers concubines and hee was driven to flie from Jerusalem and Shimei meeting him on the way cursed him c. And I pray you what unregenerate man throughout the world doth not love the cursed wayes of sin in some kind or other though not in all kinds And no marvell for vice is like a pike in a pond it devoures both vertue and lesser vices One vice is opposite to another and not onely unto vertue And therefore no mervaile if no man be found vicious in all kinds 4 As for the Lutheran and Arminian you professe that this Tenet of yours removes such stumbling blocks out of their way as have hitherto turned them out of the way of truth and peace But what these stumbling blocks are which you have removed I know not It seemes this hath been a chiefe inducement unto you to decline from that which you confesse to be the most received opinion of our Church and to shape unto your selfe a new forme of opinion different from that which is received if not to remove some stumbling blocks out of your owne way Now if it be so the fairest course had been to have expressed what these offences are Secondly how our most received Tenet doth either cast them in tho way of others or at least doth not remove them and thirdly to shew how by this opinion of yours they are removed But none of these have been performed by you Againe Mr. Moulin being very orthodox in the point of Election as you are varieth from us as you doe in the point of Reprobation maintaining Reprobation to be instituted upon the foresight of mans finall impenitency in his Anatome Arminianismi Corvinus an Arminan hath taken him to taske in a worke of his and is never a whit the more forward to concurre with us in the point of Election because Moulin concurres with them in the point of Reprobation Nay what doe Papists say about Durham by occasion of our complying with them but this They need not comply with us for wee come fast enough forwards to comply with them And more then this I have already shewed that this tempering or corrupting rather of the doctrine of Reprobation maketh a faire way for the utter overthrowing of that which you call the sound and comfortable doctrine of Election Forasmuch as looke by what reason you maintaine the foresight of small impenitencie and infidelitie to goe before Reprobation as it signifies the punishing with everlasting death by the same reason it will appeare that the foresight of finall perseverance in faith repentance and good workes must necessarily goe before Election as it signifies Gods decree of rewarding with everlasting life In which notion alone election or the decree of salvation is contrarily opposite to reprobation or the decree of condemnation For in maintaining that Reprobation as a purpose of God to condemne for sin doth presuppose the foresight of sinne you doe thereby imply that Election as a purpose of God to reward for righteousnesse of faith and repentance doth presuppose the foresight of faith and repentance But if your meaning be no other than this that God hath ordained no man unto damnation but for sinne what offence or scandall doe you remove hereby which wee doe not remove also who concurre with you herein And which is more wee are ready not onely to affirme but to make good also that in no moment of nature doth the purpose of Condemnation goe before the foresight of sinne even of that sinne for which men shall be damned Whereas you in maintaining that the foresight of sinne is precedent to the purpose of condemnation are not able to make it good but must necessarily fall foule upon a manifest contradiction to your owne rules For if the foresight of sinne be precedent to the decree of condemnation then God did first decree to permit sinne before hee did decree to damne for it And herehence it followeth that permission of sinne in Gods intention was before condemnation and if it were first in intention then by your owne rules it must be last in execution that is men shall be condemned for sinne before ever they be permitted to sinne Nay I appeale to your owne conscience whether wee doe not open a fairer way for composition in the point of election then you doe in the point of Reprobation Considering that like as in Reprobation Gods decree to condemne is in no moment of nature precedent to Gods foresight of sinne so in Election I am bold to affirme that Gods purpose to save is in no moment of nature before his foresight of faith repentance and good workes and finall perseverance in them all Will not you thinke that you have cause to feare hereupon that I am more dissolute in the point of Election than rigid in the point of Reprobation Yet if you will confesse that herein is a faire way opened for composition in the point of Election I dare undertake to perswade you that this shall be maintained without any prejudice either to the freenesse of Gods grace or to the absolutnesse of his power The truth is our Divines have a long time erred in making different decrees of those which are but one I mean formall decree to wit of the meanes though materially different which is nothing strange For why should it seeme strange that many meanes should be required to the same end Wee commonly say that Gods decree to give salvation is the decree of the end and his decree to give faith and repentance is the decree of the meanes yet they dare not say commonly that Gods decree to inflict damnation is the decree of the end and Gods decree to deny grace is the decree of the meanes And so they are driven to overthrow all Analogie between Election and Reprobation I say that Gods decree of giving faith and salvation unto sinners are but one formall decree of God concerning the meanes the end whereof is the manifestation of Gods glory in the way of mercie mixt with justice And indeed nothing can be the end of Gods actions but his owne glory for hee made all things
with death in case of disobedience I began to conceive that as the purpose of election was sutable to the Covenant of grace so sutable unto a Covenant of works must bee a purpose of retribution For how shall God covenant to retribute or recompence with life or death according to works if hee have no purpose at all of such retribution How shall the Covenant of works promise life upon condition of obedience if the purpose of reprobation have absolutely determined death upon all them within that Covenant without all respect of good or evill obedience or disobedience in any of them the grace of redemption offering the death of Christ and reaching forth some fruites thereof unto all as the promising and offering sufficient help to bring them to the knowledge of God and means of grace yea and sometime bestowing on them the participation of some excellent and common graces doth not make a third covenant partly of grace partly of works but bindeth such so much the more to keep the Covenants of works by how much the more helps and means God vouchsafeth them to keep it It is not the helps of grace offered or given that includeth men with in any part of the Covenant of grace but the condition whereupon it is offered or given Secondly if God offer grace and give though never so small even as a grain of Mustard-seed and promise to uphold it freely for Christ his sake and not according to our works it is a Covenant of Grace But if hee offer and give never so many gracious helps and means and gifts and uphold them according to the works of the creature it is still a Covenant of works as it was to the Angels that fell and to Adam though hee gave to both of them the whole Image of God and besides heaven it self to the one a Paradise to the other it is but the same covenant of works which God made with the world of mankinde after the fall and with Adam before the fall though Adam received greater means and helps to keep it then his posterity had after the fall Because still the condition of the Covenant was the same in both to reward them both according to their works So is it still but the same Covenant of works which God makes with mankinde when hee offereth them in Christ greater grace and helps to keep it then after the fall they could have attained unto without Christ because still the condition of the Covenant runneth in the same tenour to deal with them according to their works Neither doe I conceive any danger in the point though by this means obedience to Christ and walking worthy of him should bee commanded in the Law which is a covenant of works For if the infidelity and disobedience of the men of this world to the Gospel of Christ bee sin then are they also transgressors of the Law and then the contrary vertues are commanded in the Law Thirdly the Ceremonies of the Old Testament which were figures of Christ were commanded in the second precept of the Law was not Christ himself under those figures commanded also were they commanded to lay their hands on the sacrifices and not withall to lay their Faith on Christ were they commanded to look on the Brazen Serpent and not withall to behold Christ were they commanded to obey Moses and not withall the Prophet like unto Moses What then doe wee confound the Law and the Gospel God forbid The Law indeed commandeth to obey God in whatsoever hee had of old or in fulnesse of time should afterwards reveale to bee his will but it is one thing to command Christ to bee obeyed and revealed which after Christ is revealed even the Law also doth to all that heare it another thing it is to give Christ freely and faith to receive him and the spirit likewise to obey him yea and perseverance also notwithstanding our unworthinesse to continue in him all which the Gospel promiseth to the Elect of God Glory bee to God in Christ and peace upon Israel If the serious consideration of two convenants did turn the stream of your thoughts into this covenant it should seem you doe acknowledge a third covenant distinct from the former two Therefore I conceive there is an errour in the writing and that whereunto the stream of your thoughts was turned is not a different covenant from the former two but rather an opinion concerning reprobation different from that which is most generally received amongst our Divines And albeit hereupon you fell on this yet herehence it followeth not but that you might hereby fall upon laying a ground for three covenants ere you are aware Yet do I not charge you with this As in some respect you may seem to make three so in another respect you may seem to make but one if the covenant of retribution according unto works bee but one For I see no reason but Gods purpose of election may well passe for a purpose of retribution and consequently if the purpose of election and reprobation bee reduced unto one why may not the covenant of works and the covenant of grace by your rules bee reduced into one As election is Gods purpose to bestow everlasting life seeing God doth not purpose to bestow it but by way of reward of obedience of faith and repentance and good works it necessarily followeth that Gods election is his purpose of retribution But there is besides in election a purpose to work a certain number of men unto faith obedience and good works and unto a finall perseverance in them all So likewise between the covenant of the Law and the covenant of Grace there is this principall difference that God inables his elect to the performance of the one not of the other but as touching the reprobate hee inableth them to the performance of neither condition Subservient to Gods election of some is each covenant The covenant of works to humble them not onely upon the consideration of their sins whereby they have merited eternall death but especially upon consideration how their naturall corruption is so farre from being mastered and corrected by the Law as that on the contrary it is irritated and exasperated so much the more Then the covenant of grace to comfort them considering how the condition of life is adulced and tempered being from exact and strict obedience changed into faith and repentance but chiefely upon consideration that the word of this covenant is a word of power mastering their corruption and inabling to perform faith repentance and Evangelicall obedience in an acceptuble manner unto the Lord. Subservient to the purpose of reprobation may bee the Law only writen in mens hearts which very obscurely intimateth if at all any covenant made of everlasting life between God and man Where the word is revealed that in generall comprehending both Law and Gospel is subservient thereunto in the way of instruction and exhortation and the like thereby taking
away all excuse Of any other end intended towards them I know not except sometimes as Austin observeth Ut proficiant ad exteriorem vitae emendationem quo mitius puniantur And why I pray may not the covenant of workes promise life upon condition of obedience notwithstanding the purpose of reprobation hath absolutely determined death upon all them within the Covenant as well as the Covenant of grace threatens death upon condition of disobedience of faith and repentance notwithstanding that the purpose of election hath absolutely determined life upon all them within that Covenant And yet like as in election wee acknowledge a respect to obedience consequent thereunto in as much as it includes a purpose to give grace to work them to obedience though not any respect therto as antecedent to the decree it self how much more may you easily conceive that in reprobation wee deny not a respect to disobedience consequent for as much as it includes a purpose to deny grace which alone can prevent disobedience though not any respect to disobedience as antecedent to the decree of reprobation And to repeate by the way that which formerly hath been delivered Respect to disobedience as antecedent to the decree of damnation cannot bee imagined unlesse withall you imagine God did first decree to permit it and thereupon for the foresight thereof decree to damne for it Whence it followeth that permission of disobedience must bee first in intention in comparison with condemnation and consequently it must bee last in execution by your own rules formerly laid down as unquestionable foundations Yet doe not I maintain that God in any moment of nature doth first decree damnation and then decree the permission of sin for which hee damnes them I make these decrees not subordinate as most doe but co-ordinate and joynt decrees being onely concerning meanes tending to the same end And with Aquinas I say that reprobation includes Voluntatem permittendi culpam condemnationem inferendi proculpa The end whereof is the demonstration of his glory in the way of justice But withall I desire that culpa in this description of reprobation may bee understood aright and not as Arminius doth whose superficiall consideration of things is usually for his advantage making him thereby the more to abound in arguments for the impugning of his adversaries opinions according to his own shaping of them quite beside their meaning For culpa is not fin in generall in this definition but onely such a sin propter quod quis damnatur for which a man is damned that is finall perseverance in insidelity or impenitency When you say the grace of redemption offers the death of Christ and reacheth forth some fruite thereof unto all you walk according to your course in the clouds of your own mysteries What you mean by these fruites you speak of and by the reaching of them forth I am utterly to seek neither doth ought you have formerly delivered helpe mee in this But in these particulars it seems you love to speak darkly and keep your self to generall terms I know no condition proposed in the Gospel for receiving of any benefit from Christ but faith and repentance But you seem to bring in gracious helps for the obtaining of faith and repentance to bee tendred unto us for Christs sake upon other conditions I know not what neither have I hitherto received any ground of assurance from this your discourse that your self know what In the next place you seem to specifie what these fruites are as when you say that it promiseth and offereth sufficient helpe to bring them to the knowledge of God and means of grace still keeping your self in the generall as if you feared to bee understood And I wonder not a little that your self being a man of such reputation and much exercised in giving satisfaction addressing your self to give satisfactivn in so tender and precious points of Divinity as these should deliver your self in so strange a language But let us take the more paines in discussing the clouds of your Phrasiologies When you say the grace of redemption promiseth and offereth sufficient helps your meaning must bee that the Gospel of Christ doth promise and offer this for as much as wee are acquainted with no promises of Grace but in the Gospel Yet this phrase of expressing used by you is enough to trouble a Reader who when the matter wee treat of is difficult enough might justly desire that hee might not bee put to other trouble as to interpret mens expressions Yet it may bee you may think to have a ground for this out of Saint Paul where hee saith The grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared unto all teaching us to deny ungodlinesse and by which grace hee seemes to meane the Gospel Bee it so yet Saint Paul doth not call it the grace of redemption as you doe Redemption in Scripture phrase signifies forgivenesse of sins Ephes 1. 7. and Col. 1. 14. If this bee your meaning I finde no congruity in this your affirmation For what will you say the Gospel preached doth promise and offer to bring men to the knowledge of God and means of grace I had thought rather it had brought the knowledge of God and meanes of grace to them Or rather is the very bringing of it or to speak more properly is the very means of grace it self All which considered I am yet to seek of your meaning I finde it so miserably involved and that in the very close of all enough to make any intelligent Reader despaire to receive satisfaction from you when in the very last act hee shall finde himselfe so farre from making any tolerable construction of your words thereby to pick out any sober meaning Then againe by offering helps you seem to imply some termes or condition whereupon it is offered them but no such condition is expressed by you If it had perhaps thereby wee might have taken the altitude I mean the depth of your meaning throughout The same grace of redemption bestows also you say sometimes some excellent though common graces I have heard I confesse you stand much upon common graces But what they are and to what end they tend and whether absolutely or conditionally imparted according to your opinion when I shall bee sufficiently informed I will doe my best indevour to weigh them in the ballance of Christian and Scholasticall examination and accordingly to give them that due respect which belongs unto them It may bee about a third covenant which they might seem to make partly of grace and partly of works I should not bee much contentious Yet it followeth not that because they doe binde the more to the keeping of the Covenant of works as having more means and helps vouchsafed unto them therefore it doth not make a third Covenant You say it is not the helps of grace offered or given that include men within any part of the covenant of grace but the condition whereupon it is