They therefore doe inuert the nature of things who say that God decreed that Adam should sinne because hee had determined to send Christ who should cure Adams sinne when rather God decreed to send Christ because Adam was to sinne Man did not sinne that Christ should abolish sinne but Christ came that he might abolish sinne Here is nothing said that ought to trouble tender eares or which should make God partaker of sinne which yet if any one doth either not conceiue or not digest it is better to accuse his owne dulnesse then accuse the iustice of God and to abstaine from lawfull things then attempt vnlawfull things CHAP. VII That all mankinde is infected with Originall sinne I. SInne is either Originall or Actuall I vse the accustomed words for clearenesse of speech for if one would deale strictly he shou d abstaine from these tearmes seeing it is certaine that Originall sin is in act and therefore is actuall But vse hath obtained that that sinne should be called actuall which is committed in action or in deede and that originall which we haue from the birth that hereditary blot which is sent into vs from our Parents II. Of Originall sinne Saint Paul doth treat in the fifth and seauenth Chapter to the Romanes In the fifth Chapter how it hath passage into all mankinde in the seauenth Chapter how it doth remaine in him in whose minde the law of God is perfectly written III. That no man is free from this blot the Scripture doth cry and experience doth witnesse Whatsoeuer is borne of the flesh is flesh saith Christ Iohn 3. And there he doth plainely teach that all men are defiled with Originall sinne when he saith that it is necessary to be borne againe and to be formed anew We are by nature the children of wrath Eph. 2.3 Who can bring forth a cleane thing out of an vncleaâ—e there is not one Iob 14. Dauid acknowledgeth himselfe infected with this contagion Psal 51. Behold saith he I was formed in iniquity and in sinne my mother conceiued me He doth not acâ—use his father nor expostulate with his mother but although hee was adorned with fingular prerogatiue and replenished with benefits yet hee doth confesse himselfe to be defi ed with that vniuersall contagion he fetcheth the cause of his sinne from that originall and in this common lot he doth lament his owne Circumcision signiâ—ied this for by that externall symbole â—e Church was warned that there was something â—n man 〈◊〉 soone as he was borne that ought to be cut off and â—â—â—râ— ted The end of Baptisme is the same watch 〈◊〉 the Sacrament of our cleansing in the bloud of Christ by which our naturall filthinesse is washed away IV. Not onely the progenie of Ethnicks and Infidels or euill Christians is borne in this Originall sinne but also the off-spring of the godly and faithfull No otherwise then he that was Circumcised begat one that was vncircumcised and as a graine of Wheate well cleansed and receiued in the lap of the earth afterward growing doth bring forth Wheate with chaffe Then was Adam iustified then did hee by his faith cleaue to the promise of his seede that should bruise the serpents head when he begot Cain the heire of his naturall wickednesse and not of his faith or repentance Piety is not hereditary to be deriued to ones heires neither doth holinâ—sse come into vs by nature but by grace not generation but regeneration doth make men holy and good After the same manner that Aristotle lib 2. Phisic doth teach That artificiall formes as the forme of a statue or image are not begotten but onely naturall formes Therefore in the children of the best man as soone as they beginne to speake you may see a crafty and lying disposition and prone to reuenge stubbornenesse against those that admonish them prickes of glory and sporting vanity also that great honour wherewith they prosecute their puppets and babyes are no obscure seedes of their inclinablenesse to Idolatry For as puppets are the Idols of infants so Idols are the puppets of those that are growne in age And therefore when any man hath children of euill manners he ought to acknowledge his image in them when he hath good children he ought to admire the worke of God in them For these are they of whom Saint Iohn saith Chap. 1. who are not borne of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God V. The second Canon of the Mileuitan counsell is expresly to this thing It pleaseth vs that whosoeuer doth deny little ones that are new borne to be Baptised or doth say that indeede they are Baptised for the remission of their sinnes but yet they drew no originall sinne from Adam which is to be taken away by the lauar of regeneration whence it followeth that the forme of Baptisme in them is to be vnderstood not to be true but false be an Anathema VI. Christ alone was free from this blot he deriued not Originall sinne from his Mother Saint Paul indeede Rom. 5.10 saith that all men sinned in Adam neither is it any doubt but that Christ was in Adam as being one of his posterity but that sentence of the Apostle doth not concerne Christ because the person of Christ was not in Adam but onely his humaine nature neither is he from Adam as from the agent principle and from the seminating power but thence he tooke that matter which by the ouer-shadowing of the holy Ghost was freed from the common contagion VII Now if you should aske me whether Originall sinne is done away by Baptisme or whether that blot doth yet remaine in those that are regenerated by the holy Ghost it is readily answered out of the Scripture and experience which is so certaine here that there is no place left for doubting Dauid was circumcised and plentifully instructed with the gifts of the holy Ghost and yet he doth confesse that he was not free from this staine but was polluted in an equall contagion with others And Saint Paul Rom. 7. speaking vnder his owne person of euery man in whose minde the law of God is faithfully imprinted doth acknowledge that sinne doth dwell in him which he â—aileth the law of sinne because it doth stirre him vp to sinne We see infants dye as soone as they are baptised and death the Apostle being witnesse Rom. 6. is the wages of sinne I demand for what sinne doe those Baptised infants dye is it for actuall sinne but they haue committed none therefore it is for Originall sinne Whence it appeareth that Originall sinne doth remaine after Baptisme wherein sinne is remitted as touching the guilt although it remaine in the act as Saint Austen teacheth at large in his first Booke against Iulian concerning Marriage and concupiscence Cap. 25. and 26. The concupiscence of the flesh saith he is forgiuen in Baptisme not that it should not be at all but that it should not be imputed for sinne VIII
be more loued then by dying for them For although it be greater loue to die for ones enemies then for his friends yet it is certaine that nothing can be performed for thy friends sake by which thou maist more testifie thy loue to them then if thou die for them Seeing therefore that this is the greatest loue to die for one whether friend or enemie it must needes be that Christ equally loued all men with his greatest loue They must therefore affirme if they will be constant to themselues that Christ in dying loued with his greatest loue Iudas Pilate yea Cain and Pharaoh who were already in hell XVIII The conferrers at the Hage doe endeauour to quit themselues If say they to loue in the highest degree is not onely to merit saluation but also to bestow it we denie that Christ did generally loue all those in the highest degree for whom he died They therefore condemne Christ and accuse him of a lie who will haue this to be the greatest degree of loue to die for one And it is impossible that Christ should loue any one in the highest degree of loue but that also hee should bestow saluation vpon him And if these things could be separated yet this would remaine firme and sure that Christ loued him with his greatest loue for whom hee died although hee hath not afterwards bestowed saluation vpon him because the greatnesse of the loue of Christ is to be esteemed not by the profit that commeth to him for whom hee died but by the greatnesse of the sorrowes which hee suffered for him Yea whosoeuer shall weigh these things in the exact scale of iudgement shall finde that it is greater loue to suffer death for one to procure for him some little good then to procure great good So it is more flagrant loue to expose himselfe to death that his friend might not be hurt no not a little then if he should doe it that his friend should not perish by being burnt aliue XIX Nor doe they escape by the distinction of this loue into Antecedent and Consequent seeing the Antecedent loue wherewith they will haue Iudas and Pharaoh to be loued by Christ cannot but be the greatest and that beyond which as Christ himselfe witnesseth none can be extended These are not two loues to be willing to haue mercy before faith and to be willing to saue after faith but they are two effects of one and the same loue XX. And if Christ by his death was the pledge and price of redemption for Iudas Pharaoh Saul c. The marke of iniustice would be set vpon God who hath taken two punishments for the same sinnes when the first satisfaction did suffice and hath twice giuen iudgement vpon the same thing For once they were dead in Christ seeing Christ sustained their person vpon the crosse and yet the same men doe die the eternall death in their owne persons Thence also it will follow that Christ did in vaine beare the punishments due to Iudas and Pharaoh and that hee in vaine made himselfe a pledge for them For surely if Christ on the crosse was the pledge of all and seuerall men and made himselfe for them as a surety it must needes be that hee supplied their place on the crosse and sustained their person And so that may be said of all men without exception which the Apostle saith 2. Corinth 5.14 If one died for all then were all dead But no man yet as I know hath dared to say that the reprobates died with Christ or in Christ And truely the following words of the Apostle doe argue that he doth not speake of all men in the whole world but of all those to whom the fruit of the resurrection of Christ doth pertaine and who are become new creatures XXI That reconciliation is purchased onely for the elect the Apostle teacheth Rom. 5.11 Wee ioy in God through Iesus Christ our Lord by whom wee haue now receiued reconciliation Did S. Paul so greatly reioyce in that benefit which was common to him with Herod and Pilate And C. 3. v. 25. God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood There is therefore no propâ—tiation without faith and therefore no obtaining of reconciliation For hereby it is perceiued that God is pacified to a sinner and his propitiation is made because Christ hath obtained reconciliation for him XXII In the eight Chapter and foure and thirtieth verse of the same Epistle it is not onely said that Christ died for the elect but because that Christ died for them the Apostle doth thence inferre that no accusation can be laid against them Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that iustifieth Who shall condemne It is Christ that died c. Out of which place we thus argue They for whom Christ died cannot be condemned nor can any thing be laid to their charge But the reprobates are condemned and something is laid to their charge therefore Christ died not for them So it be vnderstood in that sence which I said at the beginning to wit that Christ by his death did not obtaine reconciliation and saluation for them XXIII Those for whom Christ obtained reconciliation and remission of sinnes for those he also prayed and made intercession But he doth not make intercession nor pray for the world but onely for the faithfull as Christ himselfe saith Iohn 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast giuen me It is no doubt but that by the world those that doe not beleeue are to be vnderstood and those that haue not receiued the grace of Christ amongst whom also are refractary persons For these Christ saith he doth not pray Now all men are such by nature being destitute not onely of faith but also of the power of beleeuing But among these God giueth some men to Christ to whom also hee giueth faith in Christ For these alone Christ doth professe that he maketh intercession to his father XXIV Here the sectaries after their manner doe vse a sleight distinction For they make a double intercession one generall whereby Christ doth make intercession for all the other particular whereby hee doth make intercession onely for the faithfull By the first reconciliation of sinnes is obtained by the other the applying of reconciliation and saluation But this generall intercession is plainely needelesse for in vaine is reconciliation asked without the application of saluation By that generall intercession Christ eyther asked saluation for Iudas and Pilate or else hee did not aske If he asked not his intercession was to no purpose If he asked he suffered the repulse and so in vaine he made intercession But hee himselfe saith Iohn 11.42 that he was alwaies heard by his father But perhaps they will haue Christ to haue asked the application of saluation for all men on a condition to wit if they will beleeue and with this respect
to permit that they being tempted by Sathan should of their owne free-will fall into sinne and should fall into the pit of eternall death as the most iust stipend of their sinne Secondly of his grace by Christ to free some of them out of the pit of sinne and death by certaine meanes and to accompany them with his spirit whom he freed and at length to giue them eternall life and to others he decreed not to vouchsafe this grace but rather to blinde them and harden them with Sathan and to destroy them with eternall destruction c. The same man in the same place The speciall predestination of the elect is the eternall most wise and immutable decree of God whereby he determined with himselfe from eternity according to the good pleasure of his will freely to deliuer by Christ some certaine and set men fallen with all the rest into the deepe pit of sinne and death The same man lib. 5. de Natura Dei cap. 2. quest 4. By ascending after this order from the effects to the causes and by descending from the causes to the effects Election and Reprobation may and ought to be considered by vs to wit that God from eternity determined by a firme decree first to create all men then to suffer them to fall into sinne and for sinne to be obnoxious to eternall death Lastly to free by that meanes which he hath freed some men by Christ and to giue them eternall life but to reiect the rest from this grace and being left in their sinnes at length to punish them eternally for their sinnes Bucer vpon the ninth Chapter to the Romanes They that will plainly and simply follow Gods word may easily free themselues from these things for they stick fast to this that God doth witnesse of himselfe viz. that he out of mankinde destroyed by their first father chose some men to be framed by him to a new and blessed life and he accounted the rest the vessels of his wrath Philip Melanchton in his Theologicall Common places loco de Praedestin doth repeate these words more then once It is certaine that this is the cause of Reprobation to wit sinne in man Vuolfangus Musculus loco de Elect. Chap. 5. It is manifest that our election is not made for any respect of our quality It must needes be therefore that we seeke the respect of our election in God electing For the sence of our owne basenesse and deprauation doth driue vs thither Dauid said What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the son of man that thou didst predestinate him when thou didst fore-know that he would be euill and depraued Dauid Paraeus in his commentary on the ninth chapter to the Romanes Page eight hundred and sixeteene will haue Iacob and Esau to be considered as sinners by God electing The cause saith he was the eternall purpose of God whereby he determined to make such difference of them Esau was wicked and Iacob was no lesse wicked for they were both conceiued in sinne and yet God loued the one and hated the other not for any inherent or fore-seene difference but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to election whereby he elected one but not the other The same man page 819. The pleasure or will of God calling is his purpose according to election in Christ that is the purpose of God whereby out of the perished masse he seperated some from others by choosing these and leauing the rest which purpose is called Predestination containing vnder it Election and Abiection The Pastors of the Walachrian Churches in their Epistle doe with one consent thus define Predestination This is the opinion of them who cleaue to the old and receiued confession of our Churches That God from eternity according to the immutable good pleasure of his will decreed to saue some men whom by his meere bounty in Christ Iesus he seuered out of corrupted mankinde c. Iohn Piscator a most rigorous maintainer of Predestination out of the entire and vncorrupted Masse and of reprobation without the beholding of sinne hath very lately set forth a treatise digested into ten Aphorismes the second whereof is conceiued in these words This Predestination hath two species or kindes the one whereof is called Election the other Reprobation by a Metonimy of the effect For election and reprobation are properly referred to mankinde already made and fallen but Metonimically the decree it selfe of Electing or Reprobating is so named The learned man doth at length see that it must needes be that in election and reprobation man be considered as already fallen and in the corrupted Masse But he hath deuised another higher decree whereby God doth neither elect nor reprobate but doth only decree to elect and reprobate Of which decree there is no mention made in the Scripture Finally the Synode of Dordt in the seuenth Canon doth thus define election Election is the vnchangeable purpose of God by which before the foundation of the world according to the free good pleasure of his will of his meere grace he hath chosen out of all mankinde to saluation in Christ a certaine and set number of men neither better nor more worthy then others but lying in the common misery with others and fallen from originall righteousnesse into sinne and destruction by their owne fault c. The same Fathers in the 15. Canon of Reprobation doe thus speake The holy Scripture doth manifest and commend vnto vs this eternall and free grace especially when it doth further witnesse that not all men are elected but that some are not elected or are passed by in the eternall election of God To wit those whom God according to his free iust vnreprouable and immutable good pleasure decreed to leaue in the common misery into which they had cast themselues by their owne fault and not to giue to them sauing faith and the grace of conuersion c. FINIS
againe their negligence can hurt none but those whom God will absolutely destroy and who cannot be saued The Pelagians obiected the same things to Saint Austin Lib. de bono perseu Chap. 14. August de bono perseu cap. 14. â—iunt praedestinationis definitionem vtilitati praeâ—â—catronis aduersam Whereunto wee haue already largely answered For the same reasons which stirre vp the carefulnesse of the hearers to repentance and good workes are also of power to stirre vp pastors diligently to vndergo their office and to prick forward their hearers to repentance For although the elect cannot perish yet wee know that God doth bring the elect to saluation by the word and sacraments and by the ministery of the Gospell whose decree our obedience must serue And although the minister of the word dealing perfunctoriously and carelesly cannot cause that he that is elected should perish yet hee hurts himselfe and shall beare the punishment of that negligence in the day of iudgement Therefore although he did not hurt others yet hee should very much wrong himselfe Saint Paul a most vehement maintainer of election doth professe that he endureth all things for the elect that they may obtaine saluation 2. Tim. 2.10 XXXVIII As concerning the Reprobates if this reason of Arminius preuaile by the like reason we shall neyther eate nor drinke nor shall parents be bound to be carefull of the health of their children because this negligence can hurt none but them whom God will haue to perish who by his decree hath set sure bounds to the life of euery particular person which cannot be pulled backe nor passed ouer And if it were manifest to the pastors which of their flocke were Reprobates then there were some colour for the doubting whether they ought to be carefull for the saluation of them that are Reprobates But seeing that this is vnknowne to them they ought to scatter the seede of the word euery where and leaue the euent to God XXXIX Arnoldus Page 307. saith that which in my iudgement is exceeding bad If any one saith he should teach that God himselfe hath precisely appointed to nourish one for some time in this life and that he would so prouide the bread where with he should be nourished that he could not but haue it aboundantly I grant that such a one neede not be warned that hee should be carefull how to prouide himselfe bread But I affirme that such an one needes and ought to be warned to prepare himselfe bread because the same God who doth promise bread and hath decreed to giue it doth also declare in his word that he will giue this bread to our labour and by the meanes of our carefulnesse Therefore he that will giue the bread doth also giue strength will and industry whereby this bread should be prepared So that Arnoldus yeelds that to himselfe which no man in his right sense would yeeld to him XL. Furthermore the certainty of Election may be taken two manner of waies eyther for the immutability of the decree of God or for that certaine perswasion whereby any one doth beleeue that he is elected Of the former kinde of certainty it is onely spoken here the latter doth require a peculiar treatise But by the way we say that we beleeue none of those things which Arnoldus doth falsely attribute to vs whereof this is one that all men are bound to beleeue that they are elected to eternall life Nay we teach that he that will not beleeue in Christ and repent is bound to beleeue that saluation gotten by the death of Christ doth not pertaine to him Of the same stampe is that calumny when he saith that we command wicked men to be secure as they that can lose saluation by no euill deedes Fie on that abhominable doctrine To say I am elected therefore I may be wicked is the speech of a reprobate man who will therefore be wicked because God is good By this meanes that loue wherewith God in Christ hath loued vs which is the most vehement incitation to loue God is turned into a pillow on which prophane security may sleepe Whosoeuer God hath elected he hath giuen him or will giue him the holy-Ghost by which he abstaineth from so prophane a thought So him whom hee hath appointed to life he hath appointed also to foode and to breathing He were ridiculous who should say if God hath decreed that I should liue till I am eighty yeeres old what neede I eate seeing it cannot be but I must liue so long Surely the destruction of such a man is neere for God hath determined to vse this his sencelesse peeuishnesse to punish him XLI In the meane while wee admonish that the certainty of the election of seuerall persons is carefully to be distinguished from that certainty whereby seuerall men beleeue themselues to be elected The former is the certainty of the decree the latter is the certainty of faith For if Arminius could proue that piety and the endeauour of good workes is extinguished by the perswasion of election yet it would not thence follow that the decree of God concerning the election of particular persons is not certaine and precise But it would onely follow that this decree is not to be beleeued by vs to be certaine Whence it appeares how ill Arminius and Arnoldus doe reason who thereby inferre that the decree of God concerning the election of particular persons is not absolute nor precise because the confidence of election doth make some men more negligent to the workes of piety XLII Adde to these those things which we haue laid downe in the second chapter where we haue shewed how many waies the doctrine concerning election is profitable to good manners and to the discipline of piety which notwithstanding wee would haue thus to be taken not that euery one is to expect a reuelation of his election but the Gospell is to be heard and this promise whereby God doth promise life to them that beleeue is throughly to be fastned in our minde and to be embraced with our whole heart By which perswasion whosoeuer shall feele himselfe to be liuely affected with the loue of God and to be driuen to repentance shall easily gather that he is elected and that the thing promised in the Gospell doth belong to him For although election is in nature before faith and repentance as the cause from whence these vertues flow yet faith and repentance is better knowne to vs and we are alwaies to proceede from the things that best are knowne whence it commeth to passe that many times we goe to the cause by the effects which order in the schooles is called Resolutiuus XLIII And if we would imitate Arminius it were an easie thing to lay these things vpon him and to teach how many waies his doctrine doth offend against the wisedome and goodnesse of God and therefore also against his iustice How many waies occasion may thence be taken either of distrust or of
before the decree of sending his sonne seeing Christ himselfe doth witnesse it Iohn 3.16 God so loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten sonne c. where the loue of the father is manifestly set before the sending of the sonne which is so to be vnderstood as that the sonne is not excluded from the act of election it selfe seeing that he also is one God with the father but this was done by him not as hee is mediator but as he is God VII Neither is any iniury done to Christ if the will of the father concerning the sauing of men be said to goe before the redemption of Christ seeing that this redemption is also after sinne for the disease is before the medicine VIII Nor is any thing detracted from the greatnesse of the price of our redemption if his will who offered the price be said to goe before it IX The very definition of the decree of election doth proue this thing for election is the decree of sauing certaine men by Christ in which definition Christ is laid downe not as the cause of election but as the meanes of the execution of it and as the meritorious cause of saluation X. It is maruailous how much the Arminians insult here For because wee make the loue of God to goe not in time but in order before the mediation of the sonne they so deale with vs as if we taught that God loued vs without Christ and as being considered without faith in Christ which doth differ as much from our opinion as that which doth differ most Be it farre from vs that wee should say that God would euer bestow saluation vpon vs but that together and in the same moment he considered vs in Christ as being to be saued by him Nor was there any cause why we for that thing should be accused of Sicianisme we haue nothing to doe with that Alastor and hellish monster which doth altogether ouerthrow the benefit of Christ But it is one thing to say that the loue of the father doth in order goe before the mediation of the sonne and another thing to say that God loueth vs without the sonne It is one thing to dispose the thoughts of God in order and another thing to separate them and pull them asunder Arminius who in the beginning of his booke against Perkins calleth himselfe a wirty fellow doâ—h craftily yea wickedly catch at and hunt after points of priority in order to pull asunder those things which cannot be seperated Hee doth therefore as much as if one should say that the thought of creating man was first in order in God before the thought of adorning him with holinesse and righteousnes and would thence inferrre that God would first create man not iust or first to haue considered him as not holy If any man saith that in the decree of God the thought of ouerthrowing of the world was before the thought of ouerthrowing it by fire hee doth not therefore say that God first thought of ouerthrowing it without fire All the purposes of God are eternall although there be a certaine order and dependency betweene them XI That place of Saint Iohn Chap. 3. vexeth Arminius God so loued the world that hee gaue his onely begotten sonne c. where the loue of God is laide downe as the cause by which it came to passe that he gaue the sonne He doth therefore endeauour to delude so direct a place by a witlesse cauell That loue saith he is not that by which he will giue eternall life which appeareth by the very words of Iohn who doth ioyne faith betweene this loue and eternall life The Reader therefore shall obserue that Arminius himselfe doth acknowledge that there is a kinde of loue of God towards men which doth goe before his decree of sending his sonne But hee saith that God by that loue is not willing to giue eternall life What then will hee doe by it For this thing hee ought to shew Will God by that loue leaue men in death Is it possible that God should loue the creature created by him to life but he must needes by the same loue will that it should liue I am ashamed of so weake a subtilty Yea truely in that he sent his sonne by that loue it is sufficiently manifest that by that loue he was willing man should be restored to life But saith he faith commeth betweene that loue and eternall life What then Cannot I will the recouery of him that is sicke although the Phisition come betweene my will and his recouery Surely he maketh those things opposite and contrary which are appolite and ioyned together But I doe not see how he rather fauoureth Socinus who saith that Christ is not the cause of Election then he that saith that Christ is not the cause of the loue whereby God would send Christ into the world and prouide for vs a redeemer Or why there should be a greater offence in making the redemption of Christ to be the medium and meane betweene the loue of God by which hee elected vs and betweene our saluation then if it be made the medium a meane betweene the loue of God by which he will giue Christ for vs and betweene our saluation For on both sides redemption is made the meanes and not the first cause Let vs not therefore enuy God the father this praise that his good pleasure thould be made the fountaine and first originall of our Election XII Obserue moreouer that that Election whereof Arminius will haue Christ to be the foundation is that generall election whereby all men are conditionally elected which seeing wee haue largely consuted Chap. 18. whatsoeuer the Arminians doe bring to proue that Christ is the foundation of election doth vanish away Surely there was no cause why they should so earnestly labour to proue that Christ was the foundation of that election by which Pharaoh and Iudas were elected Of which imaginary election he shall haue the true character and portraiture who hath brought in God speaking thus I decreed to send my sonne to saue all men who shall beleeue but who and how many they shall be I haue not determined onely I will giue to all men sufficient power to beleeue but he shall belecue who will himselfe XIII Arminius doth defend himselfe against so euident a truth by one little word of the Apostle Ephes 1.4 He hath elected vs in Christ But it is one thing to be elected in Christ and another thing to be elected for Christ so that Christ should be the cause why one is elected rather then another The meaning of the Apostle is cleere To elect is nothing else then to appoint to saluation Therfore to elect in Christ is to appoint to saluation to be obtained in or by Christ For whosoeuer God hath decreed to saue he hath giuen them to Christ and hath considered them as ioyned to Christ Hee seeketh a knot in a bulrush who by farre fetched interpretations would darken
they should say that freedome was obtained for one but not that he should be freed or that foode was obtained for one but it was not procured that hee should be fed with this foode IX And seeing that by faith the application of the death of Christ is made if Christ by his death hath not obtained for vs the application of this reconciliation it will follow that he hath not obtained faith for vs For they must needes deny that faith is obtained for vs who will not haue faith to be from grace alone but to be partly from free-will in whose power they will haue it to be to refuse or admit grace to beleeue in act or not to beleeue X. And surely hee that shall more attentiuely consider what these words meane The obtaining of application and the application of the thing obtained will finde that it is a meere Meteor or building of Castles in the ayre and that they are vnseasonable trifles with which they enwrap mens wits seeing Christ doth obtaine nothing which he doth not apply nor doth he apply any thing which he hath not obtained Otherwise in vaine were the obtaining of that benefit which both he that obtaineth it and he of whom it is obtained knoweth that it will neuer be applied and that it will neuer profit him for whom it is obtained Nor is it credible that the remission of that sinne which shall neuer be remitted is procured XI Yea these innouators doe so speake as they that would haue by the death of Christ something to be procured not for vs but for God For they say that by the death of Christ God obtained power of sauing vs but they denie that the application or conferring of saluation was obtained by the death of Christ for Peter or Paul but that onely a gate and way was opened for them by which they might come to saluation Wherefore Christ by his death will be said to be not the giuer but the preparer of saluation And certainly the opinion of Arminius doth tend thither that Christ should be said not to haue obtained reconciliation for any one but to haue laid open a way for God by which he might bestow saluation XII They doe no lesse trifle when they confesse that the fruit of the resurrection of Christ Aduer Walach P. 51. Non ad eos omnes fructus resurrectionis extenditor prâ— quibus mâ—rtem oppetijt Christâ—â— pertained onely to the faithfull but the fruit of his death that is reconciliation and remission of sinnes they extend to all and seuerall men Ther fore if these men be beleeued there will be some mâ—n to whom the fruit of the death of Christ doth pertaine but the fruit of his resurrection doth not pertaine As if they should say that Christ died for some men for whom hee hath not ouercome death And that the fruit of the fight belonged to all but not the fruit of the victory And there will be some men for whom although he hath offered himselfe on earth yet hee doth not offer himselfe in heauen But the Scripture ioyneth these things as inseuerable and vnseperable that hee died for vs and that he rose againe for vs Rom 8.34 It is Christ that died yea rather that is risâ—n againe who is at the right hand of God making intercession for vs. And the 2. Co. 5.14 That they which liue should not henceforth liue vnto themselues but vnto him that died for them and rose againe Because no man is made partaker of the fruite of the death of Christ but by his resurrection XIII It is of no small moment that if reconciliation were obtained for all mankind it must needs be that all infants borne without the couenant are reconciled their sinne is forgiuen them Whence it would come to passe that they could not haue a greater benefit bestowed vpon them then if one in a gentle cruelty should kill them in their cradles For if they die in this state of reconciliation their saluation is certaine but if they liue they shall be brought vp in paganisme which is the most sure way to eternall destruction XIV And seeing no man can be saued but hee for whom reconciliation hath beene obtained and hath also beene applied I doe not see what the obtaining of reconciliation doth differ from the application of it in infants which are taken away by an vntimely death For by the doctrine of Arminius they are saued by reconciliation alone Here therefore that distinction of the obtaining of reconciliation and of applying of it doth vanish away Which distinction although it may haue place among men yet with God it cannot haue place who granteth nothing which he doth not giue from whom nothing is obtained which hee doth not giue and conferre in act For to him all things are fore-seene neyther can any thing happen by which hee should be compelled to deny what hee hath granted to change his counsell or to abolish his acts XV. And if these two things be compared betweene themselues to obtaine reconciliation for his enemies that they might be saued and to bestow saluation on them that are already reconciled it is no doubt but that it is farre greater loue to die to reconcile his enemies then to giue saluation to them that are reconciled The Apostle teacheth thâ—s expresly Rom. 5.10 If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne much more being reconciled we shall be saued by his life If Saint Paul be beleeued it is an easier and more likely thing to saue him that is reconciled then to reconcile him that is an enemy by dying for him Seeing therefore that Christ if we giue credit to Arminius hath performed for all men that which is farre the greatest and is an argument of his highest loue it will be said that Christ in dying for vs loued Pilate Iudas Saul and Pharaoh no lesse then Peter and Iohn But there is no man can make himselfe beleeue vnlesse it be hee that is willing to be deceiued that Christ loued those with his greatest loue whom his father from eternity hated and whom the sonne himselfe knew were from eternity appointed to punishment XVI Yea truely seeing Christ as hee is one God with the father hath from eternity predestinated the reprobates to damnation it is not likely yea not possible that the same Christ hath obtained reconciliation for Iudas as hee is man and a mediator and hath from eternity reprobated the same man as hee is God For although these sectaries will haue the decree of reprobation to be in order after the obtaining of reconciliation yet neither of them is in time before the other and it must needes be that the desire of reconciling and the decree of reprobating were together in one and the same minde XVII Notable is the speech of Christ Iohn 15.13 Greater loue hath no man then this that one lay downe his life for his friends The meaning of Christ is that friends cannot
knowledge of the truth And Verse 6. Christ gaue himfelfe a ransome for all Also that to Titus Chap. 2. The grace of God that bringeth saluation vnto all men hath appeared But that here by all are vnderstood any and men of whatsoeuer state and condition the very context and coherence of the place doth proue In that place to Timothy the Apostle would haue Kings to be prayed for in that place to Titus hee commandeth seruants to be faithfull and not to purlome Of this exhortation this is the cause and reason because the promise of saluation did belong to Kings although at that time they were strangers from Christ and to seruants although they were of an abiect and base state neither is any condition of men excluded from saluation Saint Austin doth thus take this place of the first to Timothy Enchirid. ad Laurent Cap. 103. And Thomas in his commentary vpon this Epistle And this thing is confirmed by the very words of the Apostle for he saith God would haue all men be saued and come to the knowledge of the truth Now it is manifest by experience that God doth not giue yea nor doth not offer to all and particular men the knowledge of the truth V. It is frequent in the Scripture to take the word all for the word any as Luke 12.42 Ye tithe Mint and Rue omneolus and all manner of hearbs And Mat. 9.35 Christ healed omnem morbum euery disease for euery kinde of disease You haue the like example Colos 1.28 In this sense Heb. 2. Christ is said to haue dyed for all VI. Furthermore there is no doubt but that the Apostle commandeth vs to pray not onely for Kings in generall but also for all seuerall Kings For we to whom the secrets of Election are vnknowne ought to hope well of euery one But he that commandeth vs to pray for Nero doth not therefore determine that God will saue Nero but onely forbiddeth vs to despaire of him VII The sense therefore of these words God would haue all men to be saued is this God doth inuite men of all sorts to saluation and doth exclude no condition of men from saluation For if God should absolutely will or should seriously desire all and particular men to be saued there would not be wanting meanes to him whereby he might effect what hee would and be made partaker of his desire his iustice yet remaining intire and mans liberty being not touched nor infringed VIII That place maketh no more to the purpose which they bring out of Rom. 14.15 Destroy not him with thy meate for whom Christ dyed For to destroy there is not to condemne but to scandalize and to offend the conscience of any by which deede as much as is in vs we would lead him to destruction For to destroy any one absolutely is not in our power So with the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.8 to destroy is the same thing as to offend with scandall and to slacken him that is doing the workes of piety IX In the second Epistle of Peter Chap 2. Vers 1. Christ is said to haue redeemed the false Prophets who denyed him but there it is not spoken of redemption from eternall death but of the freedome from ignorance and errour and the darkenesse of that age by the light of the Gospell which those false Prophets did corrupt by the mingling of false doctrine For to take redemption for any kinde of freedome is vsuall in the Scripture insomuch that resurrection is called the redemption of our bodies Rom. 8.22 Ephes 4.30 X. In the same Epistle Chap. 3. ver 9. Peter saith God is not willing that any should perish to wit because he is not the cause of the perishing of any one and because he admitteth all who are conuerted neither doth he reiect any one But he is not bound to restore to all those powers which were lost by mans fault nor to giue faith to all seeing man by his owne fault brought vpon himselfe the inability of beleeuing as wee haue proued at large in the eleauenth Chapter XI Ezechiel 18.23 God saith these words I am not delighted with the death of a sinner but that he should be conuerted and liue These words say nothing else then that God will not the death of that sinner who is conuerted But if he be not conuerted Arminius himselfe will not deny but that God doth will his death as the Iudge doth will the punishment of him that is gui ty God is not delighted with the death of a sinner as hee is a man but yet no man can deny but that God loueth the execution of his iustice XII Indeede in the 1 Tim. 4.10 God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sauiour of all men But the Apostle there speaketh of the preseruation in this present life and of the prouidence of God which is extended to the preseruation of all men which care Dauid Psal 36. doth extend euen to the beasts for there God is called the preseruer of men and beasts The precedent words of the Apostle doth declare this We hope in the liuing God for he speaketh of God as he doth giue life to things created by him Alike place you haue Act. 17.25 XIII Arminius pag. 220. against Perkins doth bring the promise made to Adam concerning the seede of the Woman which saith hee doth belong to all particular men I answere that by this promise it is onely promised that Sathan shall be ouercome by the seede of the Woman but that it belongeth to all and particular men it is no where said The doctrine of the Gospell preached to Adam doth not so pertaine to all his posteritie as the precepts of the naturall law because the obedience of the law is a naturall debt but the doctrine of the Gospell is a supernaturall remedy Thence it is that the sinne of Adam against the law of God is imputed to all his posteritie but his faith by which he beleeued the Gospell is not imputed to his posteritie Nor if Adam by his incredulitie had refused the promise of the seede of the woman had therefore his posteritie fell from the hope of saluation Nay what that this promise of the seede of the Woman to breake the Serpents head is manifestly restrained to the faithfull alone For Sathan doth bruise the heele of the children of God alone seeing he killeth the rest with a deadly wound XIV The Arminians being driuen from the holy Scripture flie to their reasons and as they vse the Scripture without reason so they vrge reasons without Scripture They charge vpon vs this syllogisme as it were with a great dart when yet it is but a slender twig Whatsoeuer all men are bound to beleeue is true But all men are bound to beleeue that Christ dyed for them Therefore that is true The minor part of this Syllogisme is false and doth beare many exceptions For they to whom Christ hath not beene preached and who haue heard nothing of
it is not therefore ouerthrowne Our nature is necessarily determined and directed to the desiring of felicity and yet it is not therefore destroyed The will of the Israelites whose hearts God touched that they should cleaue vnto Saul 1 Sam. 10.26 The will of Esau yeelding with a suddaine change to the embracing of his brother Gen. 33. The will of the Thiefe crucified with Christ and of Paul in the very point of conuersion were determined limited to one thing and yet force was not therefore offered to their free-will or their nature destroyed The vehemency of him that is thirstie mouing him to the drinke that is offered is determined and limited to that one thing and yet he doth not therefore cease to be a man nor is his nature therefore ouerthrowne God hath some secret and vnperceiueable meanes by which he can bow mans will the liberty thereof being vntouched An addition to the thirteenth Chapter containing some places that are taken out of the confession of the Churches of France and out of the chiefest Doctors of this age concerning the obiect of Predestination THe twefth Article of the confession of the Church of France is this We beleeue that God out of that corruption and generall curse into which all men were plunged doth free those whom in his eternall and immutable counsell he elected of his meere goodnesse and mercy in our Lord Iesus Christ without the consideration of workes leauing the rest in the same corruption and damnation to shew forth in these his iustice and in them the riches of his mercy For none of them are better then others before God hath separated them c. Iohn Caluin in his Comentary vpon the ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romanes speaking of Iacob and Esau in the wombe hath these words God in the defiled nature of man such as was in man could consider nothing whereby be might be induced to doe good to it when therefore he saith that both of them had done neither good nor euill that also is to be added which he doth presuppose to wit that they were both the sonnes of Adam by nature sinners indued not with a mite of righteousnesse Esau was iustly reiected because he was naturally the childe of wrath yet least any scruple should remaine as if his condition had beene the worse for the beholding of any sinne or vice it was expedient that his sinnes should be no lesse excluded then his vertues It is true indeede that the neare cause of reprobation is because we are all cursed in Adam The same Caluin in his Booke of the eternall predestination of God in the beginning of the Epistle which is set before the booke The free Election of God saith he is whereby he adopted to himselfe out of mankinde lost and condemned those whom it seemed good to him Pag. 955. He doth allow the opinion of Saint Austin speaking thus They that are not to perseuere are not seperated by the Predestination and fore-knowledge of God from that masse of perdition and destruction and therefore are not called according to his purpose Pag. 691. I would know if Esay and Iacob should haue beene left to their common nature what good workes God should haue found in Iacob more then in Esau Surely they both by the hardnesse of their stony heart would haue alike refused saluation offered In the same place When Paul tooke that for granted which is incredible to these good Diuines that all men are equally vnworthy that alike corruption of nature is in all men hee thence safely determined that God doth by his free purpose elect whomsoeuer he electeth In the same place that of Austin is most true That those that are redeemed are seperated from those that perish onely by grace whom the common Masse deriued from the same originall had ioyned together to destruction Pag. 965. He doth witnesse that God prepared the vessels of mercy for his glory if this be speciall to the elect it is manifest that the rest are sitted to destruction because being left to their nature they are certainely deuoted to destruction Pag. 970. The Readers are to be admonished that both these are equally condemned by Pighius viz. That God from the beginning when yet the state of man was intire decreed what afterwards should come to passe and that now hee chose out of the perished Masse whom he would He mocketh Austin and all that are like him that is all the godly who doe thinke that God after he fore-knew the vniuersall ruine of mankinde in the person of Adam appointed some to life and some to destruction The same man in his Institutions Lib. 3. Chap. 22. Sect. 1. When Paul teacheth that we were elected in Christ before the creation of the world certainly he doth take away all respect of our owne worth for it is as much as if he should say Because our heauenly father found nothing worthy of Election in the whole seede of Adam he turned his eyes vpon Christ that as it were out of his body he might choose members whom he would after take into the fellowship of life Therefore let this reason preuaile with the faithfull that therefore God adopted vs in Christ to his heauenly inheritance because in our selues we were not capable of this excellency And Section 7. If any one aske from whence God elected he in another place answereth out of the world which he excludeth from his prayers when he doth commend his Disciples to his Father And Chap. 23. Sect. 3. If any one should set vpon vs with these words Why God from the beginning predestinated some men to death who when they were not could not deserue the iudgement of death Instead of an answer we may againe aske them What they thinke God is indebted to man if he will esteeme him according to his owne nature As we are all defiled with sinne we cannot but be odious to God and that not in a tyrannicall cruelty but in the most equall respect of iustice And if all they whom God doth predestinate to death are by a naturall condition obnoxious and subiect to the iudgement of death of what iniustice I pray you of his towards them can they complaine Let all the sonnes of Adam come let them contend and dispute with their Creatour because by his eternall prouidence they were appointed to perpetuall calamity before their generation What could they speake against this defence when as God shall on the contrary side call them to the knowledge of themselues If all are taken out of the corrupted Masse it is no meruaile if they lye vnder damnation Hieronymius Zanchius Miscellan Lib 3. In his Treatise of the Saints at the end of the first Chapter hath these words Generall Predestination that is the predestination of all men is the eternall most wise and immutable decree of God by which he determined with himselfe from eternity first to create all men iust and wise according to his image and likenesse and