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
the sight of God Loc. com de Praedest q. 20. 8. The Contra-Remonstrants We do professe that God in his Election had no respect to faith foreseen perseverance or any other good quality Collat. Hag. pag. 126. 4. Damman Scribe to the Synode The Election was made without any consideration of faith foreseen In suo consens To whom I may adde Lubbertus a Synodist too who saith 'T is a humane invention that God decreed Salvation to us upon this condition if we would repent In Declar. Respons pag. 50. 3. Master Baxter excepts He unworthily feigneth them to say that God appointeth them to eternall damnation without any regard to their impenitency or infidelity The truth of this shall be tried by the Suffrages of 1. Calvin Predestination is Gods eternall decree whereby he appointed what he would have done concerning every man All are created in a like condition But eternall life is preordained for some eternall damnation for others And therefore as every man is created for either end so we say he is predestinated either to eternall life or eternall death Instit l. 3. c. 21. § 5. Therefore that frivilous shift of the Schoolemen concerning prescience is overthrown For Paul doth not say the ruine of the wicked is foreseen of the Lord but ordained by his counsell and will Idem ad Rom. 9.18 2. P. Martyr That any should be created of God that they might perish seems absurd at first sight But the Scripture speaks it In app loc com in loc de Praedest 3. Polanus Whom God predestinated to eternall destruction those he created to eternal destruction In Hoseam 13.9 4. Beza God destin'd to destruction not for corruption or the fruits of it but because so it seemed good to him de Praedest contra Castol pag. 416. in Notia min. N. T. ad Rom. 9.21 Seeing therefore that the shame of death eternall is signified by the name of dishonour they speak like Paul who say some are created of God to just destruction and they that are offended with this forme of speech do betray their ignorance 5. Perkins Every man is to God as a masse of clay in the hand of the Potter a◠Paul affirms and therefore God by his absolute soveraignty doth make vessels of wrath and not find them But he should not make them but finde them made of themselves if we should say that in his eternall counsil he passed them by onely as sinners and not as men De Praedest Gratia Dei pag. 16. 6. Ant. Thysius a Synodist Reprobation is decreed without any regard had to sin Ad Summ. Baronis ex Piscat Let not Master Baxter except against this and say that Reprobation is not the same with Damnation for it doth inevitably draw damnation after it as is acknowledged by Festus Hommius Scribe to the Synod in these words The fruits that follow Rejection are 1. The creation of the Reprobate 2. Desertion or withdrawing of Gods grace and means 3. Blinding and hardening 4. Perseverance in sin Thesaur Catech. fol. 216. Lastly all the Supra-lapsarians must give their votes for this opinion who make the object of Predestination Man considered either as created and not faln or as yet not created but possible to be created Thus Amesius 'T is neither necessary nor consonant to Scripture to assign any pre-required quality in man as the formall object of Predestination or any certain state of man so as to exclude the rest for it is sufficient to understand that man is the object of this Decree so that the difference which is found in men may follow from the Decree In Medull Theol. l. 1. c. 25. th 10. And Gomarus a Synodist Predestination is twofold One to Supernaturall ends which though at once in the accounts of eternity yet in order of nature goes before because the end for which a thing is is first in the intention of the wise The other unto Creation in Originall righteousnesse and other meanes Thes de Praedest disput 1604. Thes 12. Thes 13. The object of Predestination are Rationall Creatures not as really to be saved or damned created about to fall or about to stand about to be repaired but as in a remote and indefinite power are saveable damnable creable fallable repairable c. And upon these very grounds of Gomarus Maccovius disputes the point stifly for the Affirmative Theol. Disput 17. mihi pag. 59. From hence ariseth that bitter dissension betwixt the Supralapsarians and the Sublapsarians wherewith Grevinchovius so worthily upbraideth Smoutius in these words Gomarus Festus and other Supralapsarians and thy self also if I be not deceived do contend bitterly against Donteclock Acronius c. That nothing more foolish ot more sottish can be fastened upon God then that He should have created Man not having first appointed his end that is to say the salvation or damnation of every one or rather the shewing forth of his wrath and power in the perdition of the Reprobates On the other side Acronius and the rest of the Sublapsarians exclaime as much against the Supralapsarians That nothing can be conceived more unjust than that Man should be reprobated and created to destruction whilest considered as not yet corrupted by sin Absters Calum Smout p. 51. And this I hope is sufficient for the proof of the first Article as to the matter of Fact The II. Article runs thus That Christ Jesus hath not suffered death for any other but for those Elect onely having neither had any intent nor commandment of his Father to make satisfaction for the sins of the whole world What saith M. Baxter to this Article Why A most shamelesse falshood made as they say of his fingers ends We must Impannell an honest Jury to try this too and 1. That Christ is said to have suffered onely for the Elect. Call in the Witnesses under written 1. Geselius what say you to the matter in question They do greatly erre that teach Christ died for all and every man Specim c. 9. fol. 36. 2. M. Perkins 't is expected you should give in a full testimonie for the Plaintiffe what say you The Ransome was designed by the Decree of the Father and by the intercession and oblation of the Son for the Elect onely De Praedest p. 20. 3. Piscator a knowing man he will speak the truth and the whole truth and nothing but the truth That Christ died sufficiently for every one is a false Proposition For he died onely for the Elect paying a most sufficient price of redemption for them namely his own precious blood the blood of the Son of God the blood of God himself But for the Reprobate he dyed in no wise whether sufficiently or effectually Contr. Schaff Th. 209. 4. Beza what can you say to this point for the acquitting of Tilenus I say Whether you consider the counsil of God or the effect of the Passion or both Christ died no way for the wicked In Thes cum D.
101. 3. Mehnius Justifying faith can never be lost because it is peremptorily given to the faithfull in perpetuum In Anchor Animarum pag 107 4. Whitaker This is that justifying faith with its necessary fruits which we maintain that we can never wholly lose In cygn. Cant. 20. 5. Piscator It is impossible true believers should fall from the faith the Decree and federall promise of God withstanding it In Resp ad Duplic Vorstii pag. 246. pag. 326. The naturall infirmity of the flesh whereby they may lose faith is so restrained and hindered by the absolute and effectuall decree of God that it cannot break forth into act Et pag. 238. There is a fatall necessity of the perseverance of the faithfull because it depends upon Gods absolute Decree 6. Contra-Remonstrantes They who have once believed have no need to feare perdition In Collat. Hagi p. 32. 7. Gomarus They who have received the gifts of faith and charity though in respect of their humane frailty 't is possible they may totally lose them yet in respect of the will of God and his gracious Conservation by his Spirit 't is impossible In Declar. sententia suae pag. 33. 8. D. Damman The Elect can never fall totally nor finally De Persever pag. 169. pag. 27. We know though the Spirit may be grieved in the faithfull yet can he not be totally excussed or quenched 9 Thysius But what is this to the Elect who though they do fall yet they cannot but be renewed Ad Sum. Baron pag. 73. And because M. Baxter calls that addition notwithstanding the most enormous sins they can commit a perverse insinuation Behold the Authors of it are 1 Contra-Remonstrants It is not true that they who may fall into grievous sinnes and commit the works of the flesh may fall wholly from the faith In Coll. Hag. in 5. Artic. 2. Zanchy Though by their grievous sins they may trouble the spirit and weaken faith yet the Spirit doth not wholly depart from them nor is faith wholly extinguished L. Miscel in depuls Calum pag. 305. 3. Rennercherus Those whom God hath once received into favour their sin and guilt being abolished them he preserves in his grace as just persons so that they cannot fall from grace and perish through any sins because they are and remain pardoned in them In Catena cap. 27. 4. Piscator The tenth head of Doctrine objected to our Divine is That the Regenerate cannot lose their faith through any heynous sins But this is the Doctrine that John teacheth Contra Schaff pag. 12. 5. Mehnius The sonnes of God though they fall into all the sins that Solomon committed they are alwayes converted before the day of death In Anchor Anim. p. 125. 6. Perkins The foundation of our salvation is laid in the eternall Election of God so that a thousand sins yea the sins of the whole world and all the Devils that are in hell can never make void God's election It may come to passe that sins may harden our hearts and weaken our faith and grieve the Spirit of God in us but they cannot take away faith nor quite excusse the Holy Spirit God doth not condemn any man for sinne whom he hath adopted into the number of his children in Christ Jesus In dialogo de statu homin pag 44. 7. D. Damman The Regenerate heaping up many sins cannot proceed so far as to excusse the Spirit of grace utterly through an universall Apostasie Et mox Because this seed of God cannot be ejected but onely by sinne therefore the Regenerate cannot eject it De perseverant pag. 33. pag. 20. If none can pluck them out of Christ or his fathers hands therefore not the Devill nor sin And pag. 128. The Regenerate when he sins against conscience he retains so much grace and hath so much of Gods favour that he cannot but rise again Item pag. 193. To the objection of Bertius It follows that if the Elect cannot die in mortall sins then if they alwayes go on in mortall sin they shall never die To this Doctor Damman answers I grant it But the question is whether the Elect can alwayes goe on in sinne and pag. 144. The decree of Election doth imprint upon man and his affections an inevitable necessity both of believing and persevering and therefore we think the righteous do alwayes persevere and cannot but persevere pag. 146. and therefore he concludes they need not consult about their perseverance nor feare falling from grace pag. 123. Thus we see the matter of fact is made evident throughout every one of the Five Articles and I hope this is more then abundantly sufficient to clear Tilenus from the guilt of the forgery unworthy falsification and perverse insinuations In Praefat. Sect. 5. which M. Baxter hath laid to his charge But Master Baxter will be ready to object you know that the Synod of Dort owneth none of these and it is that Synod that is the Test of the Calvinists Anti-Arminianisme How far the Synod owns these Doctrines we shall examine anon In the interim M. Baxter must not think to escape by telling us That Synod is the Test of the Calvinists Anti-Arminianism For that is not in question Every one may observe that the Project which that Synod did drive at and carried on was to cry down the Arminian Cause and Party and in this the Synodists agreed together †Adeo facile cocunt qui in fatalitatem absolutam tantū consentiunt An Deus ex parte una statuatur insipiens ex altera injustus fusque deque habent Salvo tantum fato Syncretismus Orthodoxus constat Hoc qui non admittit etiamsi non nisi verissima dicat in spongiam incumbat ex albo Orthodoxorum deleatur necesse est Absolutum Decretum id est fatum tessera est ex qua dignoscitur an quis sit Orthodoxus etiamsi id dicat unde necessario consequitur Deum esse insipientem stulium injustum Tyranno quovis crudeliorum peccati Authorem si quae alia ejus generis blasphema sunt Exam. Cens p. 63. b. sive Apol. pro Confes Remonstrant Supralapsarians of all sorts as well as Sublapsarians conspired in this But it is the Test of their Calvinisme that we are to bring them to And where shall we find such a Test as will secure us of the sincerity of these mens judgements Calvin himself is not such a Test He sometimes personates the Sublapsarian as the Synod of Dort a Act. Synod ed. in fol. 1. part p. 203. m. hath drest him up Otherwhiles he Acts the part of a Supralapsarian as he is brought upon the stage by the Remonstrants b Apolog. pro Confes Remonstr p. 64 65. And Beza treads in the very footsteps of his Master in this Art of double dealing as will plainly appeare to any that shall for his satisfaction consult the Remonstrants Apology cited in the Margin Shall we take the Synod of Dort upon M.
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
of the faithfull that practicall Divines especially do resolve that God doth often permit such sins in them that their justification and adoption may be the more confirmed to them If notwithstanding the good service their soule sins is designed to do them any of the faithfull should be so tender hearted as to be affraid of them They assure them 6. That there is no such reason For they cannot die in their sins so the Deputies of the Synod of Groningen Vbi supra Non tamen manent in peccatis sed aut externè per castigationes Dei admonitiones aut internè per Spiritus Sanctus gratiam excitati moti resipiscunt resurgunt They do not remain in their sins but being stirred up and moved either outwardly by Gods admonitions and chastisements or inwardly by the grace of the Holy Spirit they do repent and arise And so the whole Synod in the 7. Artic. of Cap. 5. In these slips God preserveth in them that his immortall seed by which they were once borne again that it die not nor be lost by them afterward by his word and Spirit he effectually and certainly reneweth them again unto repentance But suppose a tender conscience should call for a solid proof of this Doctrine out of Holy Scripture and because there is none to be produced should be troubled with doubtings fears and jealousies about it Why then in the last place Master Baxter himself hath resolved Of Justif. Disp 3. pag. 398. at the end of his Discussion of Master Tombes his Animadversions That if you can prove it profitable for such a man to be suddenly cut off before Repentance and that such a thing will be I should incline saith he to think that he will be fully pardoned at the instant of Death and so saved because the Lord knoweth that he repented Habitually and virtually and would have done it Actually if he had had time for consideration But Quo warranto is all this spoken For my part I shall ever think it my duty to admonish my Reader to remember the terrour of the evil day and to take heed strictly that he falls not under the Arrest of it at unawares * Luk. 21.34 35. for it is a fearfull thing to fall into the hands of the everliving God And thus much shall suffice in return to Master Baxters objections against the Articles of Tilenus BUt we have another task behind For though we have cleared the Field before us and seem to have given a total defeat to all Master Baxters Pretentions in behalf of the Synod of Dort yet he hath a Reserve behind which he leads up to fall on the Reer of Master Pierce and if he can with the strength of that charge thorow His forces he may take the confidence to proceed and to renew his charge upon Tilenus also Before we disband therefore we will advance to find out that Reserve and fall upon it that it may not be able to annoy us when we are retired to repose in our Winter Quarters This Reserve I find in his 37. Section And with it he makes his Charge and Onset upon Master Pierce after this manner And for them whom he styles the choisest of Gods servants and the Synod of Dort I may well challenge that Justice from you as to impute no such opinions to them which they purposely disown and publickly professe to detest Master Baxters demand seems very Reasonable if there be not some ambiguitie or equivocation in those words purposely disown and publickly professe to detest For what saith the Apostle of some in his time Tit. 1. last They professe they know God but in works they deny him Men may professe publickly to detest what they heartily affect and purposely disown what they like and approve of well enough in it self but because they see it grows scandalous and unsavoury to a multitude of Judicious Godly men and not well to be defended without further scandall therefore for shame of the world they may publickly professe to detest and disown it for this purpose And whether it were not so with the Synod in what they disown and professe publickly to detest we shall the better judge by examining each particular here mentioned by M. Baxter The first whereof is That the most heinous sins do not hinder the salvation of the Elect however they live Doth the Synod cordially detest and judiciously disown this Doctrine You heard above what was the opinion of Master Perkins and others that mille-peccata a thousand sinnes nay the sins of the whole world nay all the Devils in hell were not able to make void Gods Election Is it not the Generall Doctrine of the whole Synod as well as the Suffrage of the Divines of the Palatinate †De Artic. primo prop. 5. Electio ad Salutem immutabilis est nec defectibus aut lapsibus electorum etiam gravioribus interrumpitur aut abrumpitur That Election unto Salvation is immutable and that it is neither broken nor interrupted by their failings or most grievous falls Do not the Divines of Drent say that the sins of the Elect cooperate to their benefit and the Divines of Great Britain affirm Vbi supra as you heard even now that their sins are so farre from interrupting or disturbing the justification and adoption of the Faithfull Vbi supra that they serve the more to confirm them And the whole Synod in their Sixth Rejection of the first Chapter do Reject it as a grosse Errour in them who teach That not all Election unto Salvation is unchangeable but that some which are Elected notwithstanding Gods decree may perish and for ever do perish This is their avowed Canonicall Doctrine yet as if some men of another mind had drawn up this Conclusion of those Decrees and Canons here for what purpose the Reader may gather by what hath been already hinted to him they publickly professe to detest this opinion †This Riddle may be and is to be read by the explication of the next here following that the most heinous sins do not hinder the salvation of the Elect however they live And they do no lesse detest the next opiniopinion That the Reprobate cannot be saved though they truly perform all the works of the Saints But did Marlorat detest this opinion In Joh. 15.2 when he saith Stat igitur firma sententia quemcunque Deus ante conditum orbem elegerit eum non posse perire quem verò rejecerit eum non posse salvari etiamsi omnia Sanctorum opera fecerit Usque adeo irretractabilis est sententia Whom God hath elected he cannot perish whom he hath rejected he cannot be saved though he should perform all the good works of the Saints The sentence past from all eternity is so irrevocable And amongst the Acts of the Synod we finde this of Doctor Molin Par. 1. pag. 290. f. Reprobos posse salvari dogma est Arminianum Christianis auribus
it in without resistance and permits it to levy forces and stand in competition with the spirit and much more if he shall invite it in and assist it against his interest Whether the sin of Peter or David were of this nature we shall examine in the sequel In the mean while let us consider what is granted concerning the danger or sad estate that the regenerate men fall into by their perpetration of foul sins De Persev Sanctorum Spiritum contristant indignationem Dei paternam incurrunt reatum damnabilem contrahunt sic ut demeritoriè saltem licet non effectivè jus ad regnum coelorum penitùs admittunt fideles regeniti justificati saith Doctor Prideaux Some resemble their estate to the condition of a man excommunicated or outlaw'd who loseth his actuall claim to whatsoever is due to him upon never so good assurance D. Field Ap. to 2. B. of the Ch. pag. 313. 834. so that albeit the right and title to it is yet invested in them yet all prosecution of that right is suspended during the time he continues in that estate Others represent their estate by the condition of the Leper amongst the Jews who for the time was debarted the use of his own habitation yet he lost not his right to it for after he was healed he might reenter and keep possession But by the way if he died before his actuall cleansing he could not do so I suppose rather that their estate might be represented by the Law made against the presumptuous sinner Num. 15.30 The Soul that doth ought presumptuously or with a high hand whether he be born in the land or a stranger the same reproacheth the Lord and there was no sacrifice to make his atonement that soul shall be cut off from among his people His punishment was not sequestration or exclusion from his People but excision I do not here take upon me to determine what the finall and eternall estate of such a person was that must be according to the quality and degrees of his repentance before his execution but I observe that by the sentence of God declared in that law presumptuous sins do ipso facto make an alteration of estate as great an alteration as is from life to death in the person that commits them Now to give us to understand that Davids sin was of such a nature there is the very character of a Presumptuous sin set upon it which is that the Lord is reproached by it ib. and so 't is said of Davids sin 2 Sam. 12.14 By this deâ—â— thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme Before I proceed further I could wish you would seriously consider the importance of that caution given by the Apostle Heb. 12.15 16. Looking diligently lest any man fail or fall from the grace of God lest any root of bitternesse springing up trouble you and thereby many be defiled lest there be any fornicator or profane person as Esau who for one morsell of meat sold his birth-right for ye know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected If you think such caveats and threatnings being applyed as preservations against defection do alwaies become a means of perseverance to the regenerate and at most imply but a possibility of their Apostasie in regard of themselves not the certain futurity of it unlesse it be in the Non-elect God having put in a bar against it for the rest I desire you to consider that a Type being given and an instance made in a person who certainly had once a just right to inherit whether this must not needs imply a reall danger of the event viz. of falling to those who for the present have a true right and title to the Evangelicall blessing and celestiall inheritance I say a reall danger of falling and in some case which is here set down to aggravate the danger and consequently to excite their care to avoid it to the highest pitch irrecoverably But to return to David I think it very easie to conclude him in an unjustified estate out of your own principles In your Account of Perseverance Pag. 40. you lay these for grounds n. 5. The Dominion of any one sin is inconsistent with saving grace and justification n. 7. You say He that hath not more hatred then love to any sin and that had not rather be rid of it even in the use of Gods means then keep it in regard of the Habituated state of his will is under the dominion of sin and in the state of damnation n. 8. He that is thus resolved and affected against a grosse sin or any known sinne that is under the power of hâ—s will is not like to live in or give up himself to it Nay he cannot commit it without renewed resolutions against it and a restlesse importunity of soul to to be delivered which will prevail If this be true as I am ready to subscribe to it David was in a much more sad condition then you are apt to believe him in For that he was guilty of a grosse known sin you cannot you will not deny but where were his renewed resolutions against it where was the use of Gods means or the restlesse importunity of his soul to be delivered from it Did he not give up himself to it and industriously make provision for it and live in it Nay did he not upon design and contrivance against all the ingagements of noblenesse ingenuity and humanitie proceed from one wickednesse to nother It cannot with any colour be denied There is but one Salvo in all your three propositions to help you you will say perhaps that in regard of the habituated state of his will he had rather have been rid of it then have kept it That does not appear but very much against it If it had been so why did he not consult his Prophet or fast and mourne as he did afterward for the sicknesse of his child His habituated estate it seems was a very secure state that the accustomed ministery of the Church would not serve the turn but God was faln to discharge an especiall piece of his Ordnance to awaken him out of it You adde in your 10. Proposition That sin doth as naturally breed troubles and feares as the setting of the Sun causeth darknesse or as a grosse substance in the Sunshine causeth a shadow And this from the nature of the thing and by the will of God If it be so what can we conclude from the want of such feares and troubles in him but that 't is probable God left him for the time under some degrees of obduration And indeed not so much the palpitation and trembling of the heart through fears and troubles as the hardning of it is the inseparable companion of presumptuous sinning The Devill carries himself with a kind of bashfulnesse till he finds incouragement And that man must be lustily steeld with impudence
no perjur'd no seditious no disobedient hereticall unrighteous person nor doer of any of those works of the flesh mentioned by the Apostle can enter into the kingdome of heaven Then no man whose entrance into that kingdome is Immutably and irrespectively determined can be an Adulterer incestuous perjur'd seditious disobedient hereticall unrighteous person If you say he may be such and yet Repent and then be capable of entring into that kingdome which he was not before I answer That his entrance being immutably and irrespectively determined his want of Repentance can no more hinder his entrance than it can rescind the Decrees of God and therefore though you do but incline to think so of a person once sanctified that though he doth fall into such wasting sins Disput of Justific pag. 398. if he be cut off by death before repentance he shall be fully pardoned at the instant of death and so be saved yet you say of all the Elect Account of Persever pag. you are sure of it Hence it appears that you hold such persons to be lesse sinfull then those of the Non-elect Yea their very sins of the same nature for substance and quality with those of the Non-elect to be lesse sinfull And this you averre expresly more than once in your Preface for you say Sect. 18 20. The sin of David Peter c. was exceeding different from the like Fact in a Gracelesse man in regard of End Manner Concomitants c. But here I must expostulate What other end would an unsanctified man propound in denying of Christ but his own safety to escape persecution and did not Peter propound that end to himself And after what other manner and with what Concomitants could it be attended in an unsanctified man would he have stood to it with more confidence or have used bigger oathes and execrations For Davids sin what the manner and concomitants of that were we have considered before and I would fain be satisfied what end he propounded to himself in that matter more than another Adulterer aimes at even the satisfaction of his lust He did not intertain such a thought surely that it should conduce to Gods glory You disclaim that opinion your self in your sheet annexed to your debate with M. Barlow †Of Saving Faith pag. 92. where you say Either David in Adultery did desire flesh-pleasing for it self or for some other end If for it self then it was his ultimate end in that Act If for somewhat else as his end For what No one will say it was for Gods Glory And there is nothing else to be it This was then your opinion Thus you see your Doctrine as it makes God lesse Gracious so it makes man lesse sinfull whether you understand the Elect or Non-elect And yet it makes man more impotent too a strange Paradox But a true saying for according to some of your Calvinists as Piscator and Maccovius it concludes No man can do lesse evill nor more good than he doth His will being infallible and irresistibly predetermined to every individual Act as was declared above so that he can no more advance one single step further towards hell or heaven but as he is so predetermined than adde a cubit to his stature And you make the Elect so impotent as I may say in respect of sin they cannot effectually and eventually hinder either their Conversion or finall Perseverance on the other side you make the Non-elect so impotent and under the influences of Common Grace too as you call and define it that they cannot so much as exert one a Preface Sect. 20. Act of Saving love nor intertain a good purpose or intention b Disp of Justis pag. 304. Such is your Sufficient Grace Of which enough before SACRED AMULETS OR Spirituall Charmes Against the poisonous suggestions of the Three Grand Tempters of Mankind to prevent Apostasie I. The DEVIL Luk. 22.31 Behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as wheat Revel 12.4 And the Dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered for to devoure her childe assoon as it was born The AMULET Heb. 3.12 Take heed brethren lest there be in any of you an evill heart of unbelief in departing from the living God 1 Pet. 5.8 9. Be sober be vigilant because your Adversary the Devill as a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devoure Jam. 4.7 Whom resist stedfast in the faith and he will flee from you II. The WORLD Mat. 4.8 9. Again the Devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain and sheweth him all the kingdomes of the world and the glory of them And saith unto him All these things will I give thee if thou wilt fall down and worship me 2 Cor. 6.8 By honour and dishonour by evil report and good report 2 Cor. 11.24 25 26 27. Of the Jews five times received I fourty stripes save one Thrice was I beaten with rods once was I stoned thrice I suffered shipwrack a night and a day I have been in the deep In journeyings â—ften in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils by mine own countrey-men in perils by the heathen in perils in the city in perils in the wildernesse in perils in the Sea in perils amongst false Brethren Joh. 16.1 2. These things have I spoken unto you that yee should not be offended They shall put you out of the Synagogues yea the time cometh that whosoever killeth you will think that he doth God service The AMULET 1 Joh. 2.15 17. Love not the world neither the things that are in the world For the world passeth away and the lust thereof but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever Phil. 4 11 12. I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content I know both how to be abased and I know how to abound every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me Luk. 12.4 5. Be not afraid of them that kill the body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him Rev. 2.10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the Devill shall cast some of you into prison that ye may be tried and ye shall have tribulation ten dayes be thou faithfull unto death and I will give thee a crown of life Mat. 26.41 Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation III. The FLESH Jer. 17.9 The heart is deceitfull above all things and desperately wicked Jam. 1.14 15. Every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and entised Then when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death The