as well that it is extended to frogges and toads to Angells and Devills as well as to mankinde This is onely to professe that it extends to all Now this is a very improper interpretarion of infinite love for lesse love and lesse liberality may extend to more then greater love and greater liberality for he that gives ten shillings to one person is more liberall then that divides five shillings amongst threescore persons in giving them a peny apiece Lastly the fruit of this love can be but being and is it not a proper commendation of Gods infinite love towards mankinde to say that he gives being unto all And doth Gods love to man appeare more herein then to the vilest creature that is 2 In the next Section you discourse at large after your manner of the amplitude of Gods love in comparison which is nothing at all to your purpose whose chiefe aime is to insinuae that Gods love is alike to all Yet having proceeded thus farre my resolution is to go on and to consider what you bring What thinke you of Adams love in the state of innocency was it perfect or no Though without sinne awhile yet hee fell into sinne so did the Angells before him so should wee though as perfect as they if God should not uphold us Yet our love in greatest perfection could not be so much as a shadow of Gods love there being no resemblance betweene them our love being a love of duety Gods love to us of meere grace and mercy Besides betweene the fruits of Gods love to us and the fruits of our love towards God no colour of resemblance Man is bound heartily to desire the good of all but God is free and hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth Many widowes were in Israel in the daies of Elias when heaven was shut three yeares and six months and great famine was throughout all the land But unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta a city of Sidone unto a certaine widow Also many lepers were in Israel in the dayes of Elesaeus the prophet yet none of them was made cleane but Naaman the Syrian And if Gods will had beene to doe the best that might be hee could have cured no doubt all other lepers as well as Naaman and succoured other widows as well as the widow of Sarepta Yet I confesse Gods good will exceeds ours not intensively onely but extensively also for not a sparrow falleth to the ground without the providence of our heavenly Father hee saveth both man and beast and heareth the young Ravens that call upon him the eyes of all doe wait upon the Lord and hee gives them their meat in due season And as touching the conferring both of grace and glory therein hee saveth more then wee know or are acquainted with The number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea that cannot bee counted for multitude As touching temporall blessings all partake of his goodnesse therein in their naturall preservation and consolation therein wee must imitate him in doing good to all as it lieth in our power though chiefly to the houshold of faith yet not to them onely but to others also But though he causeth his sun to shine and his raine to fall upon the just and unjust yet pronounceth not the sentence of salvation on all promiscuously whether they be just or unjust And whereas all are equally corrupt in state of nature yet he doth not equally shew mercy on all or bestow the meanes of grace on all or where he doth bestow these meanes of salvation he doth not make them effectuall unto us He blindes the eyes and hardens the hearts of some that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts and be converted that he might heale them Whereby it comes to passe that the word of God though it be the savour of life unto life unto some yet it is the savour of death unto death unto others and the Ministers of God are a good savour unto God in both even both in them that are saved and in them that perish For God made all things for himselfe even the wicked against the day of evill Mercie you say is not restrained from ill deservers in distresse so long as the exercise of it breeds no harme to such as are more capable of bountifull love and favour This is a consideration which I confesse hath place among men sometimes and in some cases Yet hardly can I devise how to suit with a fit instance For no states for ought I find doe take notice of any such distinction of times wherein the exercise of mercy will not breed harme and wherein it will but they execute condigne punishment upon malefactors according to the lawes that all may see and feare to doe the like not be encouraged malorum facta imitari but rather eorum exitus perhorrescere God doth not so His patience and long suffering is exceeding great yet if hee should give every man repentance in his death bed and save their soules what one in the world should be the worse for this And though the wicked many times spend their daies in mirth and sodainly goe downe to the grave yet by the grace of God we shall be nothing the worse for this nor provoked hereupon to condemne the generation of Gods children Yet what is it that makes one man more capable of bountifull love and favour then another I know not what makes him more capable of love in the execution of reward I know but what makes him more capable of love in the communication of grace and in shewing mercy towards him I know not Sure I am that woman who had many sinnes forgiven her loved so much the more the ninety nine just persons that thinke they need no repentance like enough love so much the lesse It is true the lawes of States take order for the just execution of punishment upon offenders for the common good yet by your leave Kings on earth by their absolutenesse doe give pardons to whom they will respecting more their own pleasure then the common good And withall I thinke Princes doe lesse offend if at all offend in refusing to pardon malefactors then in granting pardons unto them As for God to whom you say the execution of justice is unnaturall he being the Father of mercy I pray consider if God should give repentance to all on their death-beds and consequently save all what common good of mankinde would be hindred by this And as God is the father of mercy so is he also the Iudge of all the world and I conceive the execution of justice punitive to be as naturall to him as he is Iudge of all the world as the execution of mercy is naturall unto him as he is the Father of mercy Yet you seeme to have a place of Scripture to prove a
ambagibus si in coelo in terra sicut veritas dicit qucunque voluit fecit profecto facere noluit quaecunque non fecit Let it saith hee be understood after what other manner soever it may be construed so that wee be not constrained to maintaine that the Almighty God would have something come to passe which notwithstanding comes not to passe For without fetching any further compasse if he hath done whatsoever hee will both in heaven and in earth as the truth witnesseth certainly hee would not doe whatsoever he hath not done 2 But you proceed to shew that both this duty of ours to pray for all sorts and for every man of what sort soever and also that Gods will is that all without exception should come unto the trueth and be saved are expresly included in the praiers appointed by the Church of England And the Collects whence you gather this are in number three they are I take it all appointed for Good Friday In the first wee pray that God would graciously behold this his family for â—he which our Lord Iesus Christ was contented to be betraied Now this family being the present congregation wherein the prayer is made it is very strange that hereby should be signified all sorts of men and every man of what sort soever throughout the world And what expresse signification doe wee finde here that Gods will is that all without exception should come unto the trueth and be saved To helpe your argument drawn herehence as if you should reason thus Wee must pray for this family therefore wee must pray for every one throughout the world You tell us that The tenour of this petition if wee respect onely the forme is indefinite not universall but being in a necessary matter it is equivalent to an universall as every logician knowes To which I answer first that the tenour of the petition is not indefinite but definite to follow you in your owne language for therein wee pray definitely for that family which is before us Now that family is a particular family and never any Logician was so simple as to thinke it law full to inferre an universall out of a particular Againe here is no necessary matter in it For to use such a forme of prayer is meerly the arbitrary constitution of our Church Suppose God had bid us to pray in this forme to wit for this family present yet this makes not the matter necessary absolutely but meerely upon supposition of the will of God and yet in this particular onely As for example Our Saviour prayed for them that his father gave him and for all those that should afterward believe through their word will you inferre herehence that therefore he was to pray for the world also Againe God hath expresly bidden us to pray for them that sinne unto death and therefore unlesse I may be assured that there is none in the world that sinneth a sinne unto death I have no reason to pray for all and every one though I were bound to doe so it would nothing pleasure and advantage you Hitherto I have followed you in your owne most unlogicall discourse the absurdity whereof every simple Logician may easily discover Where have you beene taught that petitions indefinite in a necessary matter are universall we were taught indeed that propositions indefinite in a necessary matter are as good as universall but for petitions indefinite to be counted universall in a matter necessary is one of the absurdest notions that ever I heard to proceede from the mouth of a Logician You proceede to prove that the forme of the petition is in the intention of the Church of England to be extended to all and every one of the congregation present But erst you told us the matter indeed was universall but not the forme which you acknowledged to be indefinite Now the very forme you say is to be universally extended this is not to extend but to destroy But this that you labour for in so uncouth a manner I never doubted of namely that by this family is understood all and every one of the Congregation there present onely I deny that herehence it followeth that our Church bindes us to pray for all and every one throughout the world and if it doth wee must comprehend even those that sinne sinnes unto death amongst the rest unlesse wee believe that there are no such sinners in the world and hee had need bee of a strong faith and have some extraordinary revelation that believeth that So that your second place tending to no other end but to prove that which wee never doubted to be comprehended in the first wee need not trouble our selves about any answer thereunto save onely this though we are bound to pray not onely for the congregation present but for the whole Church and every member of it yet there is a great gulfe of separation betweene the Citie of God and the citie of the Devill which makes me remember what Abraham answered Dives and therefore wee can no way approve this consequence We are bound to pray for all Christians therefore we are bound to pray for all Atheists and heathens Wee are bound to pray for Christs members therefore wee are bound to pray for Antichrist and his members Therefore you tell us the third and last prayer will cleerly quit this exception and free both the foremr petitions from these and the like restrictions But in this last clause you overlash miserably I see no reason but I may as well say that the restrictions in the former prayer will quit this latter prayer for its extension Certainly two of the three prayers you proposed to evince your Tenent are nothing to the purpose Herein indeed we pray unto God to have mercy upon all Jewes Turkes and Heriticks which in effect is no more then to pray that the fulnesse of the Gentiles may come in and thereupon the calling of the Iewes And whereas you desire to inferre herehence that it is Gods will that all these should come to his truth and knowledge and be saved As the consequence you shall never bee able to make good so the consequent is directly contrary to the word of God for it is not nor ever was it the will of God that all this should be done together but one after another namely that the fulnesse of the Gentiles shall come in first and after that the calling of the Iewes Rom. 11. Luc. 21. 24. Hence you conclude That if God will not the death of any Turke Jew or Infidell because of nothing he made them men wee may safely conclude that he willeth not the death of any but the life of all whom of men or infidels he hath made Christians In reading your antecedent I wondred at your boldnesse in supposing that which you are never able to gaine by force of argument but when I view your consequence I wonder what giddinesse possessed you to take so wilde a course in
as for others Againe if sinne hath made them hatefull is there not sinne enough in the world in Iewes Turkes and Infidels to make them hatefull Wherefore though in case they were in the same state wherein God made them then they should not be hatefull to God and thereupon be thought fit matter of prayers yet seeing they are in the state of sinne and consequently hatefull to God for the same cause in just proportion of reason they are no fit matter for our praiers Though a full measure onely of enmitie against God exempt men from Gods love yet will you denie that such a full measure is found in many throughout the world and will not this be sufficient to forbid our praiers for all and everie one Sure I am if there be anie in the world that sin a sinne unto death we may not pray for such an one 3. From the authorized devotions in our Church you proceed to the Catechisme and aske what can be more cleare then that as God the Father doth love all mankinde without exception so the Sonne of God did redeeme all mankinde not onely some of all sorts but all mankinde universally taken And I thinke indeed that the one is as cleare as the other Throughout the Scriptures shew me one passage wherein the love of God is expressed to Reprobates If the Sonne of God did redeeme all and everie one then all and everie one have redemption in Christ through his bloud and consequently the forgivenesse of their sinnes For in Scripture phrase remission of sinnes is that redemption which we have in Christ so is reconciliation also all one with forgivenesse of sinnes Sure I am Christ professeth Iohn 17. 9. that he would not pray for the world but for those whom his heavenly Father had given him and for those that should beleeve through their word And for their sakes did he sanctifie himselfe for whom he prayed and to what did he sanctifie himselfe but unto his death and passion by the consent of as many Fathers as Maldonate had seene as the Iesuit himselfe professeth on that 17. of Iohn and he had seene very many as there hee signifieth namely Chrysostome Cyril Austine Theodorus Mopsuestenus and Heracleotes Leontius Beda Theophilact Enthymius Rupertus But to proceed out of our Catechisme you alledge that God the Father made us and all the world now the Church our mother hath taught us that God hateth nothing that hee hath made The booke of Wisedome saith so indeed but because of the little authority that booke hath in matter of faith from God our Father therefore you charge us with the authority of the Church our Mother Now you are not ignorant I suppose whence the Church our mother taketh this which hath its course amongst Papists as well as amongst us And you know of what authority Aquinas is amongst Papists and what interpretation he makes of this place though received to bee canonicall Scripture amongst them I have already shewed out of his Summes God saith he loves all things in as much as he willeth unto them some good or other but in as much as he willeth not a certaine good to some to wit eternall life he is said to hate them and reprobate them And indeed God saveth both man and beast as the Psalmist speaketh and so he may bee said to love them all and so the Apostle acknowledgeth him to bee the Saviour of all men but especially of them that beleeve And to professe ingenuously what I thinke I see no cause of controversie hereabouts if so be the question be rightly stated For when we say Christ died for mankinde our meaning is that Christ died for the benefit of mankinde Now let this benefit bee distinguished and considered apart and forth with contentious hereabouts will cease For if this benefit be considered as the remission of sinnes and the salvation of our soules these being benefits obtainable onely upon the condition of faith and repentance As on the one side no man will affirme that Christ died to this end namely to procure forgivenesse of sinne and salvation to all and every one whether they beleeve or no so on the other side none will deny but that he dyed to this end that salvation and remission of sinne should redound to all and every one in case they should beleeve and repent For this depends upon the sufficiency of that price which Christ paid to God his Father for the redemption of the world But there be other benefits which Christ merited for us also even the very grace of faith and of repentance For all Gods promises are Yea and Amen in Christ and amongst these promises one is the circumcision of the heart the healing of our waies of our rebellions These promises doe include the grace of faith and of repentance Now consider ingenuously did Christ die to this end that the grace of faith and repentance should bee bestowed absolutely or conditionally Not conditionally for before the grace of faith and repentance and regeneration comes there is nothing to bee found in man but workes of nature Now it is meere Pelagianisme to affirme that God bestoweth grace on man upon the performing of a worke of nature And the Apostle clearely professeth that God doth not call us according to our works Therefore it remaines that albeit remission of sinnes and salvation are conferred unto us conditionally to wit upon the condition of faith and repentance yet the grace of faith and repentance cannot be so conferred and consequently they must be conferred absolutely If then Christ died for the purchasing of faith and repentance to all and every one absolutely it would follow herehence that all and every one should beleeve and repent But this being found to bee a notorious untruth it followeth that Christ died for the purchasing of these graces onely unto some and who can those bee other then the elect of God Accordingly as our Saviour professeth that for those who were Gods and whom he had given unto Christ or should in time to come give unto him the rest excluded for those he sanctified himselfe that is offered himselfe upon the Crosse which interpretation of Christs sanctifying of himselfe Maldonate professeth was received by all the Fathers whom he had seene Now to goe along with you Secondly we are taught you say by the same Catechisme to beleeve in God who hath redeemed us and all mankinde What I pray is this more then to say He hath redeemed us and all men Is all mankinde more then all men and in the straining of this phrase we have tried your strength and the issue of all was to prove but this that God willeth not the death of any but the life of all whom of men and Infidels he hath made Christians By the way I observe an incongruity Of Infidels wee are made Christians as whereby we cease any longer to bee Infidels but I hope of men we are
warnes Timothy to cary himself gently towards them that are without waiting the time when God will give them repentance that they may acknowledge the truth and come to amendment out of the snare of the Devill by whom they were led captive to doe his will By this let every one judge what strength there is in your illation when you say Wheresoever God hath laid the one to wit naturall being it is to all that rightly consider his wisedome truth and goodnesse and assured pledge of his will and pleasure to finish it with the other Why the truth of God is directly against it professing that he hath mercy on whom he will and heardeneth whom he will and that the same word of God is a savour of life unto life to them that are saved hee doth not say to them that are carefull to prepare themselves and a savour of death unto death unto them that perish and a good savour unto God in both he doth not say to them that do not prepare themselves And by comparing that place with Act. 13. 48. it appeareth who the saved are even those whom God hath ordained unto salvation for they believed as there the Apostle professeth as much as to say the word preached was a savour of life unto life unto them and wot you the reason hereof Why surely because they were ordained to salvation like as Act. 2. 47. It is said that God added to the Church day by day such as should be saved You might with as much modesty professe that in as much as God hath made every man It is an assured pledge of his will and pleasure to give every man repentance before he drops out of the world Gods gifts are without repentance it is true of the gifts of sanctification but it is as true that God repented that he made man That the current of Gods joyfull benificence can admit no intermission is most untrue for he dispenseth it freely so he continueth it as freely For he worketh all things according to the counsell of his owne will that is nullo necessitatis obsequio as Ambrose expoundeth it Nay it doth admit intermission in this world In the world to come indeed it shall admit no intermission in this it doth both in respect of blessings temporall and in respect of motions spirituall For as touching blessings temporall God sheweth the back sometimes and not the face Ier. 18. 17. And as touching spirituall motions and consolations what moved the Lord to cry out upon the crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken me but the intermission of these It is true sorrow to us hath no other originall then our own sinne yet no sinne in Christ could be found to bee the originall of his sorrow And though the woman by reason of sinne hath ever since conceived in sorrow yet bruit beasts conceive in sorrow notwithstanding that they are incapable of sinne And albeit God be an ocean of joy yet the dispensation of joy unto creatures is meerly according to the good pleasure of his will And though all sorrow proceeds from sinne in the way of a meritorious cause yet all sorrow proceeds from God in the way of an efficient cause Hee is the great Iudge that inflicteth sorrow on some as well as hee causeth joy to others 9. The comparison is most absurd For illumination proceeds from the Sunne as from a naturall cause working by necessity of nature but to say that God in such sort doth communicate ought or send forth any influence is more Atheisticall then Christian. The devils belike have seeds of joy and happinesse wherewith they were sowne in their first creation for undoubtedly they were capable of them before their fall as well as the Angels of light And all the influence that God sends forth you say is apt to cherish the seeds of joy and happinesse whence it followeth that God at this day doth by his influence cherish the seeds of joy and happinesse in the verie Devils And seeing Gods concurrence to the actions of men and Angels is a part of that influence that proceeds from God and one action of the Devils is their assurance that they are damned spirits without hope of recovery in concurring to this assurance God doth cherish the seeds of joy and happinesse in them Besides this with Devils and Men God affordeth his concourse to all their most sinfull actions this your selfe have often acknowledged and this concourse of his is a part of his influence and no influence you say can proceed from him but such as is apt to cherish the seeds of joy and happinesse wherewith their natures were sowne in their creation Therefore this concourse of God also to their sinfull actions doth cherish the seeds of joy and happinesse in reprobate men and Angels also Now proceed we along with you God you say doth inspire all that are conformable to his will with desire of doing to others that which he hath done to them This is a bone very well worth the picking I am perswaded many a sweet morsell will be found about it You doe not tell us that God doth inspire any man with a conformity to his will but as many as are conformable to his will hee inspires with other good desires whence I pray then comes conformity to his will if not from the inspiration of God doe you make conformity to Gods will to bee the inspiration of the flesh For I presume you make it not an inspiration of the world or of the devill Yet S. Paul saith that it is God that worketh in us both the will and the deed not by any necessary emanation as light issueth from the Sunne but according to his owne good pleasure Againe this very desire of doing others good is it not a part of our conformity to the will of God Now if God inspire us with one part of conformity to Gods will why not also with another And so why may we not runne over all parts of conformity to the will of God and finde as good cause to ascribe them all to the inspiration of God as the cause of them The mystery of your meaning in this the next sentence serves as a key to open when you say that such as wilfully strive against the stream of his over-flowing goodnesse or boisterously counterblast the sweet and placid spirations of celestiall influence become creators of their owne woe and raise unto themselves those stormes wherein they perish So then Gods influence is to all like as the light of the Sunne onely the difference ariseth herehence that some resist it others yeeld unto it As good Arminianisme and Pelagianisme as ever dropt from the mouth or pen of Arminius or Pelagius himselfe So then it is not God that ex nolentibus volentes facit but mans free will And in spight of St. Paul it shall be volentis currentis and not miserentis Dei. For these spirations you speake of can be no other then
her doctrine for the preventing of schismes and distractions in opinion Againe had she intended to prevent as you say distractions in opinion about the extension of Gods love would shee not have done it rather expresly then onely in such a manner as to leave it to others to draw consequeâ—s therefrom for the manifesting of her opinion about the large extent of Gods love to mankinde Who would thinke that a sober man should be caried away with such vaine and frivolous presumptions without all tolerable ground But let us come to the particular scanning of the places All of them I marke are onely the expression of prayer for others Whence it no way followeth that God will therefore save them because wee pray for their salvation The childe prayeth for his father the father for the childe the brother for the brother but hence it followeth not that God will save them though wee are bound to pray for the salvation of one another Moses prayed God to wipe him out of the booke of life rather then to destroy his people in the wildernesse God had no such resolution and what sober Divine could doubt but that Moses knew well that this could not be yet hee shewes hereby what his desire was secluding the consideration of Gods will to the contrary and what he would preferre â—f hee were left to himselfe even his owne eternall confusion rather then the glory of God should bee obscured And who ever censured this prayer of Moses for sinne I am sure God doth not so S. Paul could wish himselfe separate from Christ for his brethrens sake which were his kinsmen according to the flesh Rom. 9. 2. yet he well knew that nothing could separate him from the love of God in Christ. Our Saviour in like sort well knew that the cup must not passe from him yet neverthelesse he prayed earnestly that that cup might passe if it were possible and with finall submission of his will to the will of his Father The first place you alledge is that passage of the Liturgy where we pray unto God that it may please him to have mercy upon all men And for good reason doe we pray so for is not every one bound to seeke the salvation of all men as much as lyeth in his power did not the Apostles labour for this in their place And is not prayer a speciall meanes for this We are bound to pray for them that persecute us wee are bound to pray for them that hate us For what if God will not save all and wee know so much shall that hinder us from doing our duty in seeking by all meanes the salvation of all specially considering we are not able to put a difference and to discerne who are elect and who are not S. Paul though he saved but some yet would he become all things unto all men that he might save them Yet he well knew that the word in his mouth was the savour of death unto death unto many yea to Israel in speciall manner and yet notwithstanding his hearty desire and prayer unto God for Israel waâ— that they might be saved And albeit God should save all and every one that live in some one time or age yet were this â—o prejudice to the doctrine of election For the number of Gods chosen for all this might be but few in comparison to the reprobate And therefore we see no cause why you should upbraid your opposites as if they thought this practice of the ancient and moderne Church had need of reformation As for the restraint of the universall all men in the place of Timothy by S. Austin unto genera singulorum it is according to the usuall Scripture phrase For Matth. 3. 5. it is said that There went out unto John the Baptist Jerusalem and all Iudea and all the region round about Jordan what sober Divine doth extend the signification hereof any father then to give to understand that some from all parts of Iudea and of the region round about Iordan had resort unto him Matth. 4. 23. it is likewise said that Iesus went about all Galile teaching in their Synagogues and preaching the Gospel of the Kingdome and healing every sicknesse and every disease among the people and that his fame spred throughout all Syria and they brought unto him all sicke people Doe you thinke there was not one sicke person left in all Galile and Syria that was not brought unto him Act. 10. it is said that while Peter was in a trance he saw in a vision a vessell let downe from heaven wherein was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every foure-footed beast who doubts but that the meaning hereof is no more then this that of all sorts some or rather of most sorts some 1 Cor. 15. 22. it is said that in Christ all shall be made alive is this true thinke you of all and every one All flesh shall see the salvation of God what sober man will apply this to all and every man Rom. 5. 18. As by the offence of one man the fault came upon all unto condemnation so by the obedience of one righteousnesse came upon all men to the justification of life will you hereupon extend the benefit of Christs death to the justification of all men unto everlasting life like as all and every one are fallen into condemnation by the sinne of Adam Rom. 7. 8. the Apostle professeth that sinne wrought in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 can this possibly bee applyed to every particular concupiscence But by the way what doe you meane to apply S. Austins restraint to this universall in this place whereas Austin applyeth it onely to this universall in the place following where it is said that God will have all to be saved And if no other place did afford us any such restraint of course yet wee must 〈◊〉 driven so to interpret it in this place lest otherwise we be cast upon denying the first Article of our Creed For seeing all are not saved and the cause thereof is not because God will not save them it necessarily followeth that the cause thereof must be because God cannot save them And it would have becommed you well to have answered this argument and not presumed to cary your Reader to the embracing of your construction hand over head in spight of so manifest a reason to the contrary Now if you had but accommodated your selfe to make answer hereunto I doubt not but wee should have had good matter to worke upon which I speake upon experience of another discourse of yours that passeth by tradition but you were loth to intersert it there and made choice rather to pitch upon the universall in the former place that so you might be out of danger of that gun-shot that must needs have rung a peale in your eares from this place Yet in this place alone S. Austine interprets the universall according to the restraint mentioned and not in the former And
not made Christians so as to cease any longer to be men Yet you couple them together under one yoke though very unequall heyfers you should have said rather of meere men we are made Christians All that are redeemed are unfainedly loved but if all mankinde signifie no more then all men and all men no more then all sorts of men what are you the nearer to that you reach after And you know I suppose that this was Austins interpretation of that universality and hee gives reasons for it though you magisterially will have your owne way in spite of the pie without answering his reasons Againe consider whether to pay a price which is sufficient for the redemption of all and every one be not in a faire sense to redeem all every one And what one of our Church will maintaine that any one obtaines actuall redemption by Christ without faith especially considering that redemption by the bloud of Christ and forgivenesse of sins are all one I would you would speake plainely and tell us what is meant by redemption which you say every one hath in Christ denying that every one hath sanctification So that whereas the Apostle joynes these two together where hee saith Christ is of God made unto us wisedome righteousnesse sanctification and redemption you divide them telling us that Christ is made redemption to all and every one but not sanctification And truely I had thought that Christ had deserved the one as well as the other for all those for whom he died And it is very strange that God should be said to love them whom he never meanes to sanctifie But I pray answer me Doth he unfainedly love the Devils I thinke you will say he doth not what reason have you then to say that hee loveth all men though you will easily perswade your selfe that the most part of them are reprobates and whom hee never will bring unto wholesome and spirituall repentance whereby a man is reconciled unto God in Christ as Austine writes lib. 5. cont Iulian Pelag. cap 4. and whether you meane to contradict Austine in this also I know not as yet yet one word more with you before wee part How long doth God continue to love them till the measure of their sinne is at full t is your owne oracle in the former Section And then belike hee beginnes and continues to hate them But I pray consider how can this change this alteration stand with the nature of God that his love his will to save them should bee changed into hatred into a purpose to damme them considering that Gods will is his essence And the Lord professeth of himselfe saying I the Lord am not changed and yee sonnes of Iacob are not consumed Mal. 3. 6. All that are baptized in your opinion are not sanctified yet some others much agreeing with you in other opinions maintaine that all that are baptized are regenerate and they alledge a better testimony out of the book of Common prayer then any you have brought to serve your turne namely the profession that is made by the Minister thus Now this childe is regenerate and grafted into the body of Christs congregation Yet that hath beene answered by a Bishop of our Church and that out of the doctrine of Austine Yet I grant baptisme is the seale of redemption and of forgivenesse of sinnes also but to whom to none but such as believe for God hath not ordained that the benefit of Christs bloud shall redound to the redemption and forgivenesse of the sinnes of any man unlesse hee believeth For God hath set him forth to be a propitiation for our sinnes through faith in his bloud But your inferences you conceive to bee as cleere as christall so that the consideration of them makes you doubt whether such amongst us as teach the contrary to these have at any time subscribed to the booke of Common prayer And no question is to be made of your subscription which deny all them to bee sanctified that are baptized though in plaine termes the booke of Common prayer professeth of every baptized childe that hee is regenerate And now you have plaide your part so well in working our authorized devotions as you call them and Catechisme to serve your turn you promise to performe as much touching the book of Homilies but wee must expect your performance therein untill you come to the article concerning Christ in the meane time you will give us space to breathe and take notice of your concludent proofe as you call it thus God wills the salvation of all that are saved and all that are not saved therefore hee wills the salvation of all and every one Now the second part of the Antecedent which alone is called in question is proved out of that of Ezech As I live I will not the death of him that dieth I had thought you had done with this but if it bee your course to tautologize in repeating former arguments I may take liberty to repeat without tautologie my former answer First therefore I say the words as they lye in proper speech are contradictions to your tenent in two respects First because in another discourse of yours you maintaine that hee whose death God wills not is the penitent but here you professe that God willeth not the death of them that are not saved when they die which as as much as to say that God willeth not the death of impenitent sinners Secondly there is a time you confesse in the former Section when God hates sinners to wit when the measure of their sinne is full and if then he hates them he may then as well be said to will their death and damnation as he was said to will their salvation while he loved them In the second place the words as they lye in proper speech are contradictions to manifest reason for seeing God is he that inflicts death and damnation upon them hee must needes will their death and damnation because whatsoever God doth hee doth it according to the counsell of his owne will Eph. 1. 11. Secondly if God doth not will the death which he inflicts then neither doth he will the punishment that he inflicteth nor the chastisement that he inflicteth and so indeed it is said Lam. 3. That he doth not punish willingly nor afflict the children of men which cannot bee understood in proper speech for then it would follow that God doth afflict and chastise the children of men against his will Therefore I say this must be understood by a figure of speech to wit by a metaphor and God said not to will or this or that which hee doth because in the doing of it hee is similis nolenti as first when hee doth it not according to the Latine phrase animi causa for his pleasures sake but being provoked and yet not hastily neither though provoked but after long forbearance and giving time of repentance upon the despising of this goodnesse of God as
onely voluntate signi that he doth not will it is voluntate beneplaciti and this will which is called the will of good pleasure is onely the will of God in proper speech and that S. Paul speakes of when he saith Who hath resisted his will the other to wit voluntas signi is improperly though usually called the will of God It being indeed nothing else but Gods commandement in which sense he willed Abraham to sacrifice his sonne yet who doubts but that it was Gods will in proper speech that Isaak should not be sacrificed And because you perceived how easily the shew of contradiction might be washed off if it were proposed in this manner therfore you made bold upon dame Logicke and without her leave and in despight of her faine a contradiction under another forme by way of consequence which indeed proves most inconsequent Thirdly you speake in a strange language when you say that the affirmation and negation of salvation falling upon the personall being of men containes contradiction implying that it might fall otherwise then upon the personall being of men and in that case it would not prove contradictious both which are not onely untrue but absurd also For the affirmation of the salvation of man cannot fall otherwise then upon the person of man and consequently upon the personall being of man whatsoever be the cause of it which cause you most preposterously conceive to give unto man a being different from his personall being whereupon and not upon his personall being his salvation should fall Againe no distinction of personall being and other being will serve your turne to save the affirmation and negation of salvation of one and the same man from contradiction I say of one and the same man which is of principall consideration in the course of contradiction and yet wholly permitted by you in this proposition though therein you talke of the strictest point of contradiction Straine your invention while you will you shall never be able to free these propositions from contradiction Peter shall be saved Peter shall not be saved But to change the nature of these propositions and of absolute to make them conditionall thus Peter shall be saved if he beleeve and repent Peter shall not be saved if he beleeve and repent not is neither to affirme nor deny the salvation of Peter For to affirme or deny the salvation of Peter is categoricall not hypotheticall What you want of force of argument you supply with devotion as if you came to enchant your reader and not to informe him as when you say Farre be it from us to thinke that God should sweare to this universall negative I will not the death of him that dieth and yet beleeve withall that he wils the death of some men that die as they are men or as they are the sonnes of Adam This is proposed by way of an holy and confident asseveration but consider how sottish it is and most averse from sobriety For first what if God had not sworne it but onely said it had there been the lesse truth in it for this Is not Gods word sure enough without an oath yet before wee heard that in things determined by divine oath the distinction of voluntas signi and voluntas beneplaciti could have no place Secondly where were your logicall wits when you said this was an universall negative I will not the death of a sinner I pray examine your rules well and see whether it bee not a singular will you measure the quantity of a proportion by the predicate and not rather by the subject Yet if you should doe so it would not serve your turne For both Aristotle of old hath taught us that it is absurd to put an universall signe to the predicate and here is no universality added either to the whole predicate which is Nolens mortem peccatoris nor to any part of it which you seeme to confound For he that dyeth is a terme indefinite Neither is it in a necessary matter For the most holy Angell God could turne into nothing if it pleased him And in the 18. chapter of Ezekiel it is apparant that this is restrained to him that repenteth without any mentall reservation but by plaine evidence of the Text it selfe Thirdly you harpe upon a false string and an erroneous translation as it were in spight of the most authorized translation of our owne Church and follow the vulgar Latine herein And withall in opposition to manifest reason to the contrary for seeing God doth inflict death and damnation upon every one that dyeth and is damned and he doth all things according to the counsell of his owne will Eph. 1. 11. it is impossible he should doe any thing and not will it that he should inflict death on him that dieth and not will it Fourthly be it as you will have it that God doth not will the death of him that dieth will you herehence inferre that God willeth not the death of him that dyeth as man or as the son of Adam implying that notwithstanding hee may will the death of him that dieth in some other respect without any prejudice to his oath what a senselesse collection and interpretation is this You may as well say God willeth the life of him that liveth ergo farre be it from us to say that hee willeth not the life of him that liveth as he is a man or as he is the son of Adam implying that for all this God may be said not to will the life of him that liveth in some other respect But I say that if God willeth not the death of any man that dieth as you will have it and to be confirmed also with the Lords oath then in no respect can it be said that hee willeth the death of any man that dieth For it is both ad idem death is the same in both and it is secundum idem for we speak of the same man in both and it is eodem modo for we speake of the will of God in the same sense in both and it is at the same time and must be for Gods will is everlasting and therefore willing whatsoever he doth everlastingly he cannot bee said at any time not to will it As for the cause of death and damnation willed by God we maintaine that God willeth not the death of any man or the condemnation of any man but for sinne But I pray what thinke you of infants perishing in originall sin If Goth doth not will their death as the sonnes of Adam how doth he will it Or had you rather shake hands with Arminius in this also and professe that no man is damned for originall sinne onely but that all the children of Turkes and Sarazens and Iewes and Caniballs that die in their infancie are saved and enjoy the joyes of heaven as well as the children of the faithfull You proceede in your devout asseveration and will have it to bee farre from us to thinke
that God should by his secret or reserved will recall any part of his will declared by oath We are so farre from thinking that God recalls any part of his will declared by oath that wee doe not believe that hee doth or can recall any patt of his will that hee hath declared by his bare word And wee thinke it equally impossible for God to lye and to perjure himselfe for he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Neither when hee kept Abraham from sacrificing his sonne Isaac doe wee say that he recalled any part of his will which he had formerly declared by his word although he commanded Abraham to sacrifice his sonne for Gods will of commandement signifieth onely what God will have to be our duety to doe not what hee hath determined to be done though you confound these usually and that as wilfully and unlearnedly as Arminius himselfe because it serves your turne and advantageth your cause to confound them But looke you to it how you free your selfe from maintaining that God doth recall something which hee hath properly willed and determined to be done For that God willeth the death of no man that dieth you make to bee the word of God confirmed by oath and you understand it of Gods will properly so called and yet you maintaine that God willeth the death of him that dieth though not as man and as the sonne of Adam yet in some other manner which either is flat contradiction or else God doth recall and change his will The last part of your devout asseveration is Farre be it from us to thinke that God should proclaime an universall pardon to all the sonnes of Adam under the seale of his oath and yet exempt many from all possibilitie of receiving any benefit by it Here you seeme to shew your teeth but I had rather understand your meaning for to proclaime pardon to all is ambiguous for it may bee done absolutely as kings on earth grant pardons and usually our kings grant pardons at the end and conclusion of parliaments I doe not thinke this is your meaning for then all should be pardoned for to proclaime pardon is to signifie his Majesties pleasure that hee doth pardon them But if conditionally it is true God proclaimes that whosoever believeth shall be saved this is a knowne truth no man takes exception against it And how doe we exempt any from all possibility of receiving it You will say that this we doe in exempting many from all possibility of performing the condition to wit of believing I answer that your owne opinion is to be charged with this ours is not for you maintain that Pharaoh after the seventh wonder was exempt from all possibility of repentance and the like you avouch of all reprobates and such as have filled up the measure of their sinne which according to your opinion may be many yeares before their death and in the seventh Section following you expresse it thus Having their soules betrothed unto wickednesse such undoubtedly was Ahab that sold himselfe to worke wickednesse and many such like And in this case you professe in your owne phrase that the doore of repentance is shut upon them But wee like not this opinion of yours wee know no measure of sinne nor continuance of sinne that doth prescribe unto the grace of God and forbids the banes of matrimony betwixt him and his Church but that in a due time the power of Gods grace shall breake through all obstacles even through the furious idolatry of Manasses in giving his children unto Devills and that sealed with bloud wherewith hee filled Ierusalem from corner to corner yea and through his sorcery and witchcraft also and through the rage of Saul persecuting Gods saints and making havocke of the Church of God And for as much as wee maintaine it to be possible for every one to believe and repent through Gods grace it is manifest that we exempt no man from all possibility of believing and repenting to wit in consideration of the power of God But in consideration of the power of man wee exempt not many onely but all and every one from possibility of beleeving and repenting by power of nature And dare you avouch the contrary It is apparant that whatsoever you thinke you dare not openly professe thus much And therefore are content to hide your head and lurke under generalities So that the case is cleare that you doe us wrong in saying wee exempt many from all possibility of repenting I say it is a notorious slander for we exempt men from possibility of repenting onely by power of nature and so we exempt not onely many but all and every one from possibility of repenting But perhaps you may say that withall wee maintaine that God doth not purpose to give the grace of faith and repentance unto all but to deny it unto many yea unto most and upon this supposition we exempt them from all possibility of repenting But I pray consider to exempt some from possibility of repenting upon supposition is this to exempt from all possibility without supposition For you have delivered this without all supposition And then the issue is to enquire whether God hath decreed to give the grace of faith and repentance unto all or rather to deny it to many yea to most And dare you affirme that God hath decreed to give the grace of faith and repentance unto all It is apparant you dare not openly professe this and therefore carie your selfe in the clouds without any cleare and distinct proposing of your meaning In S. Pauls daies there was a remnant amongst Israel which are called Gods election Rom. 11. and these had obtained this grace of faith and repentance as there the Apostle signifieth but the rost were hardned And if God hath purposed to give grace unto all you may as well say God hath elected all But the Holy Ghost witnesseth that many are called and but few are chosen Many I say are called not all neither nor the most part as all experience and the histories of the world doe manifest and therefore though God proclaimes in his word pardon of sinne to all that beleeve yet he doth not proclaimethis unto all By the way I observe that whereas you say that God doth proclaime an universall pardon to all the sonnes of Adam under the seale of his oath this of Gods oath which you adde doth draw us to conceive that the meaning of those words As I live I will not the death of him that dies containes this sense in your construction that God will pardon the sinnes of all and since these words as you understand them doe not runne conditionally but absolutely herehence it followeth that according to your opinion God hath sworne absolutely to pardon the sinnes of all men the absurdity whereof I leave to everie mans sober consideration 7. Hitherto you have told us in what matters the distinction of voluntas signi and voluntas beneplaciti cannot
plainly would come to this When he signified by Ionah to the Ninevites that Ninevie should be destroyed at forty daies end the meaning was but this that in case they continued in their sinnes without repentance they should be destroyed but in case they repented they should not be destroyed I find no fault in this as touching the substance of truth but I wonder not a little to see you faile in the accommodation of it both to the distinction of voluntas signi and beneplaciti as also in the reconciling of your selfe unto your selfe in respect of what formerly you have delivered concerning the meaning of Ionahs message to the Ninevites For you doe not tell us which of these doomes is Voluntas signi and which of the doomes is voluntas beneplaciti or if both be voluntas signi as indeed they are what is left for voluntas beneplaciti to be distinguished from voluntas signi in this place It seemes you distribute those doomes and make one the object of voluntas signi and the other the object of volâ—itas beneplaciti in which course there 〈◊〉 no sobriety in comparison to your owne dictates For you make voluntas signi to differ from voluntas beneplaciti in this that voluntas signi is Gods will declared voluntas beneplaciti is his will concealed According to the tenour of which distinction both these decrees are to be accounted voluntas signi for God hath declared this to be his usuall course as namely Jer. 18. 7. I will speake suddenly against a nation or a kingdome to plucke it up and to root it out and to destroy it 8. But if this nation against whom I have pronounced turne from their wickednesse I will repent of the plague that I thought to bring upon them 9. And I will speake suddenly concerning a nation and concerning a kingdome to build it up and to plant it But if it doe evill in my sight and heare not my voice I will repent of the good that I thought to doe for them Neither indeed can you in reason maintaine the one of the doomes to be the object of voluntas signi and the other the object of voluntas beneplaciti For if Ionas had delivered his message thus God seeth in what sinfull courses you are and hath determined that you continuing in the same your Citie shall be destroyed at fortie dayes end they would never have doubted but that the Lords determination was that upon their humiliation and repentance and turning from their evill waies Ninevie should not have beene destroyed and so each doome had beene the object of voluntas signi and nothing for ought I can gather out of your discourse should remaine to be the object of voluntas beneplaciti Againe this elucidation of the doubt doth contradict your former assertion when in contradictious manner you affirmed that God at the same time did both will that Ninevie should be destroyed and also intend that Ninevie should not be destroyed whereas by the interpretation which here you make of Ionahs message to the Ninivites according to the two doomes by you mentioned God was so farre from intending both the destruction and the not destruction of Ninevie as that he intended neither the one nor the other For to determine to destroy them in case they continued in their sinnes without repentance and not otherwise is to resolve neither one way nor other but to remaine in suspence which is a kinde of reservation of liberty which heretofore you have so much magnified as a point of very great perfection and therefore fit to be attributed unto God But then I pray consider did not God from everlasting know whether they would repent or no I thinke you doubt not but that God knew they would repent And I pray what need was there then of any two such doomes as you have devised when one would serve the turne and that absolute to wit that God from everlasting determined they should not be destroyed and thereupon tooke a course whereby they might be brought to repentance By the way I am glad to heare you make the repentance of the Ninevites the object of Gods will which is called voluntas beneplaciti which wee take to be all one with Gods decree but I have no cause to rejoyce to see you thus contradict your selfe for you have in divers places maintained that no contingent thing especially no act of man is the object of Gods decree but to the contrary have professed that God though he decreed the contingencie of things yet hee doth not decree the contingent things themselves You must bee driven to take the same course in respect of Gods promises of blessing as well as of his threatnings of judgement But to distinguish herein as you do between Gods word and his oath is most out of season For suppose God had sent Ionah with the same message in this manner say unto them As I live saith the Lord yet fourty dayes and Ninevie shall be destroyed might it not admit the same justification according to the doomes proposed by you thus As I live Ninevie continuing in this sinfull course wherein I finde it shall be destroyed at fourty dayes end not otherwise Or if God should have beene charged with perjury in saying this As I live yet fourty dayes and Ninevie shall bee destroyed should hee not as well bee charged with untruth in saying barely thus Yet fourty dayes Ninevic shall be destroyed Now whereas in the judgement pronounced by Ionah against Ninevic you never speake of any revoking the judgement threatned though your tenent carried you as there I signified so to speake yet here the case as you professe being all one you are bold to professe that God may revoke the blessing promised and why I pray you may hee not revoke his blessing promised upon oath as well as a blessing promised upon his bare word for if he may the one without breaking his word why may hee not doe the other without breaking his oath Or if it bee not lawfull for God to break his oath dare you say it is lawfull for him to breake his word Alas doe your wits carry you and whither would you carry us if wee should suffer our selves to be led by you You conclude with a qualification thus Yet may wee not say that the death or destruction of any to whom God promiseth life is so truely the object of his good will and pleasure as the life and salvation of them is unto whom he threatneth destruction This you say but I had rather heare what you prove By the will of God called voluntas beneplaciti we understand no other thing then Gods decree or the determination of his will And hath not God as truely willed the destruction of them that die in sinne without faith and repentance as hee wills the salvation of them that die in faith and repentance It is true God takes no delight in the destruction of any considered in it selfe
much lesse in their sinnes whereby they bring destruction upon themselves but God delights both in the faith and repentance of his elect and in their salvation But this signification of good pleasure is nothing to the purpose in this distinction for no Schooleman understands it in this sense And I well know Arminius considering the usuall acception of Voluntas beneplaciti amongst Divines professeth he had rather call it Voluntas placiti then Voluntas beneplaciti If such lettice like your lips you may make your selfe merry with them A second extent and accommodation of this distinction of Uoluntas signi and Voluntas beneplaciti you allow of applyed to men after they have made up the full measure of their iniquity and are cut off from all possibilitie of repentance I had thought no man had filled up the full measure of his sinne untill his death like as on the other side no man hath fulfilled the measure of his obedience untill hee hath finished his course as Revel 11. 7. When the witnesses had finished their testimonie the beast that came out of the bottomlesse pit made warre against them and slew them You seeme to speake it of a certaine measure whereupon the doore of repentance is shut upon them and thereupon excluded from all possibility of repentance as here you say it was with Pharaoh especially after the 7. plague upon Aegypt whereupon you have taken great paines to discourse at large in another Treatise which I have well considered and examined your reasons throughout and that following you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet there you confesse that it must have beene so with Pharaoh at Moses first comming unto him yea and was possible to have beene so when he was but 3. yeares old And indeed I doe not see how it can bee avoided but that as many as depart this life in their infancy are excluded from all possibility of repentance But it may be you will apply this only to men of ripe years but by your leave such Pharaoh was not at three yeares old And though God willed Pharaoh to let his people goe and sent Moses and Aaron to him to that purpose yet you say It was no branch of Gods good will and pleasure that Pharaoh should now repent Rather it was his good will and pleasure to have the heart of Pharaoh hardned though you restraine this to Pharaohs condition after the seventh plague for which I see no reason So that in such a case you will have it lawfull for God by his reserved will to recall that part of his will which hee hath declared by his word or oath and therefore as touching your holy asseveration mentioned in the sixth Section it must be restrained to them that have not yet filled up the measure of their sinne as Pharaoh had after the seventh plague For in such a case God may will their death notwithstanding his oath in shew to the contrary For his meaning is this As I live I will not the death of him that dieth that is I will not his death as a man or as the sonne of Adam neither doe I herein deifie Iesuiticall equivocations or mentall reservations for I take libertie to charge that upon mine adversaries and therefore you may well think I would not be so simple as to transgresse in the same kind my selfe And I thinke so too if God had not confounded your wits but it is Gods course and most just to strike with confusion those that build Babel and he makes the Aegyptians to erre in their counsels as a drunken man erreth in his vomite the issue whereof is to defile himselfe and his owne favourites even those that sit next unto him In the same spirit you professe that God did punish Pharaoh for not letting his people goe as though it had beene free and possible for him to repent though indeed in your opinion it was not But Pharaohs case was extraordinary you say and not to be drawne into example But by your leave if God did so but once it is no unjust thing for God to do so oftner and therefore pray looke unto it that whensoever it is your lot to oppose your adversaries in such a point you doe not lay to their charge that they make God to be unjust if not for conscience sake of the truth yet at least for feare of contradicting your selfe As for the Apostles intimation you touch upon by the way that it was an argument of Gods great mercy and long suffering to permit Pharaoh to live any longer upon earth after he was become a vessell of wrath destinated to everlasting punishment in hell I professe I am not so quicke or accurate as to observe any such intimation of the Apostle What if you devised this to make good some fictions of yours to that purpose in another Treatise of yours which I have already weighed in the ballance and found them a great deale too light of worth to move any sober man to concurre with you in opinion thereabouts But whatsoever it be that the Apostle intimates you seeme to expresse strange conceits when you talke of Gods providence in suffering Pharaoh to live longer on earth after hee was become a vessell of wrath destinated to everlasting punishment in hell I had thought every reprobate had beene destinated to everlasting punishment in hell before hee was borne For Gods destination of them is the ordination of his will and that I had thought you had not denied to be everlasting But you referre it to a certaine time as in speciall to Pharaoh after the seventh plague and in speciall to all after they have filled up a certaine measure of iniquitie and shall not men in like sort be destinated to everlasting joies in heaven after they have filled up a certaine measure of obedience And so a little after you tell us that men doe not become reprobates till a certaine measure of iniquitie bee filled up and so in proportion men are not elect till a certaine proportion of obedience bee filled up Yet the Apostle plainly telleth us that the elect are elect of God before the foundation of the world Eph. 1. 4. and consequently so are reprobates reprobated before the foundation of the world for the word election of some doth connotate the reprobation of others Yea Iacob was loved of God before he was borne and was not Esau hated also before he was borne Rom. 9. Did God wait till the measure of Esaus sinnes was full and the measure of Iacobs obedience before he did elect the one and reprobate the other And if destination unto the punishment of hell and on the other side destination unto the joyes of heaven beginne in time after the obedience of some and disobedience of others what is the meaning of predestination for what is that but the destination of some to the joyes of heaven and others to the sorrowes of hell No doubt but if you proceed as you beginne we shall have a
Pharaoh after the seventh plague And notwithstanding the former contempt of Gods word and his law you professe that God unfainedly loves all such in whom such a contempt is found because for sooth as yet they have not filled up the full measure of their contempt And as for such in whom is found a farther degree of contempt then this all possibility of amendment is taken from them Now Mr. Hooper doth not make any such distinction much lesse doth hee cast himselfe upon any such uncoth assertions as you deliver hereupon as before I have shewed Secondly your doctrine of filling up the measure of iniquity proceeds of men in state of nature but Mr. Hooper delivers that before rehearsed of men in the state of grace And in my judgement his meaning is no more then this that imperfections of faith and holinesse may and doe still consist with the â—ate of grace in this life but contempt or hate of Gods word and transformation of our selves into the image of the Devill cannot stand with the state of grace not denying but that all contempt and hatred of Gods word and the fruits of the image of the Devill in us in case they are broken off and an end is set unto them by repentance are borne by Christ upon the Crosse and satisfaction made for them by the death of Christ as well as for originall sinne nor affirming that any man once brought unto the state of grace doth at any time breake forth so farre as to contemne or hate Gods word or to transforme himselfe into the image of the Devill But his meaning in my judgement is onely this that Christ hath made satisfaction for the imperfections of our faith and holinesse although wee continue therein untill death but hee hath not made satisfaction for the contempt and hatred of his word and for our transformation of our selves into the image of the Divell as hâ— calleth it in case men doe continue therein unto death Imperfections may and shall continue and still bee pardoned but contempt must not This hath seemed to others as well as to my selfe an harsh sentence and I have taken some paines to cleare it but how little it serves your turne to that purpose whereto you alledge it is easily discovered SECT III. That Gods will and pleasure is never frustrated albeit his unspeakable love take no effect in many to whom it is unfainedly tendered CHAP. XVI In what sense God may be said to have done all that he could for his vineyard and for such as perish I Have now waded thorow fifteene Chapters of these your Contemplations and should by this in reason be pretie well acquainted with the manner of your discourse But I finde my selfe as much pusâ—ed in searching after the coherence of the parts of the first Section here as hitherto I have beene in any part of the Treatise But it may be I doe but labour to gather that which you never strewed and then no marvell if I labour in vaine As in other parts so in this it may be your purpose was to write Quodlibets well such as they are I purpose to consider them as I finde them To summe up the particulars in the first place you discover unto us the causes of conceiving difficulties and of ignorance in assoiling them and that is because we extend this Maxime Both parts of contradictories cannot bee true not so farre as we should and the reason thereof is you say because we extend our power to the utmost yea farther then justice or goodnesse can accompany it To this you adde 〈◊〉 our nature is humourous and inconstant and therefore nothing can imply any constant contradiction to our nature and that looke what is constant and still the same that will at one time or other contradict our humour And humours you say enraged with contradiction arme power against whatsoever contradicts them By the way you tell us that the use of power in creatures sensitive is to satiate their appetite of sense in man to accomplish his will and desire of good And that being corrupt his power becomes an under-commander unto his unruly appetites as in voluptuous men and that in men esteemed good motions of equity are so weake that men yeeld their consents to such proposals as were they firme they would offensively contradict them And the reason why they yeeld is lest upstart appetites which custome countenanceth should bee enlarged by reluctance But love you say is not alike set on divers objects but divides itselfe unequally when it comes to opposition betweene sense reason our selves and friends or common equity And the inconveniences whereto the world and flesh exposeth us are reducible to two heads the blinding of the judgement and consequently the abusing of power and authority Then againe you returne to our unconstant humour and upon the backe of that tell us that though none doth good yet we may doe lesse evill then others And lastly that they who love equity are hardly drawn to dispense with injustice and at last having sate long you hatch an excellent Maxime that where judgement is infallible and love to justice invincible there â—s not possible to transgresse in judgement All which when I compare together and with your theame proposed How God may be said to have done all that he could for his vineyard it cals to my remembrance a certaine mad fellowes discourse when I was a Scholler at Winchester that would talke of master Killigree and Abbey lands fat venison and such like uncoherences a long time together But let us examine them apart Both parts of contradiction cannot be true and it is as true that both parts of contradiction cannot be false But whereto this tends and how pertinent to your purpose in this place I cannot devise Onely you tell us that the not extending of this Maxime so farre as we should is the cause why wee conceive difficulties in your wilde discourse premised as also of our ignorance in assoiling them A strange conceit and whereof I see no colour of reason neither do you take any paines to explicate it by accommodation or instance but let flie at randome as if you would imploy your readers in seeking after sense and reason where there is none to be found And if this were true your selfe should have assoiled the difficulties conceived in the points proposed by extending this Maxime to the utmost to serve your turne and shewed how by not extending it so farre as is meet difficulties are conceived and no meanes found to assoile them but your selfe have taken no such course And who was ever knowne not to extend this Maxime to the uttermost where can you finde any limitation or confining of it what doe you meane to abuse your readers patience with such incredible fictions Againe herehence it followeth that whosoever doe extend this maxime so farre as naturally it would reach they shall not be apt to conceive difficulties in the points proposed nor be
manner I confesse for your impugnation is not like to do any great harme save onely to your selfe Our Saviour was the Sonne of man as well as hee was the Sonne of God and made under the law and therefore was bound to bee as compassionate to his people as Ieremy was Ier. 13. 17. But if you will not heare this my soule shall weepe in secret for your pride and mine eye shall weep and drop down tears because the Lords slock is carried away captive So our Saviour wept over Ierusalem saying Jf thou hadst knowne even then aâ— the least in this thy day the things which belong unto thy peace but now they are hid from thine eies Luk. 19. 42. You aske whether hee spake this as man or whether the spirit doth not say the same and I aske whether your wits were your own when you made such a question Who could weepe and speake but man and how could man weepe or speake this but as man Hath God any heart to be filled with woe or eies to bee filled with teares yet the Spirit moved him to speake this So if any Prophet had said it as hee might have said it the Spirit of God had moved him hereunto And when Ieremy said My soule shall weepe in secret for your pride and mine eye shall drop downe teares the Spirit of God moved him to utter this for Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost 2 Pet. 1. 21. The truth is the words are congruous to him both as God and as man but the sorrow of heart and teares of eies wherewith it was uttered are onely agreable to the nature of man How doe you prove that he that spake this spake nothing but words of Spirit and life because our Saviour saith Ioh. 6. 63 It is the spirit that quickeneth the flesh profiteth nothing the words that I speake unto you are spirit and life will it therefore follow that all that he spake was spirit and life Suppose it were so would it herehence follow that these words were not spoken by him as man Then belike when he said I thirst this also being words of Spirit and life as it needs must if all that he spake were spirit and life hee spake not this as man likewise when hee said My soule is heavy unto death and on the crosse My God my God why hast thou forsaken mee these words were not his words as hee was man and though hee spake nothing but what the Father gave him in commandement to speake yet herehence it followeth not that therefore he spake them not as man For by just proportion of reason if this were admitted it would follow that hee spake nothing as man no not that I have desired to eate this Passeover with you nor that How was it that hee sought after mee wist hee not that I must goe about my Fathers businesse nor that My Father is greater then I T is true His bowels of compassion were freely extended towards them in exact conformitie not so much to the love of God as you discourse at pleasure according to your owne extravagant conceits of the love of God equally extended to the elect and reprobate as to the will of God for being made under the law he was bound to the like compassion commiseration as to pray for his persecutors so to mourne for the judgements of God upon his brethren according to the flesh yet one word by the way concerning this Was the measure of Ierusalems iniquity at this time filled up or no It seemes it should be so in your computation for now it s said The things that belonged unto their peace were now hid from their eyes When should the doore of repentance be shut upon them if not at such a time and in such a case as this If so then by your owne doctrine Gods love ceaseth towards them as but in the former sentence you signified consequently Christs love and compassion should cease also if it were but in conformity to Gods love but rather it was in conformity to Gods law as I have shewed God the Father having made him in subjection to the law and consequently was he bound to mourne for them as well as to pray for them for he was by vertue of the law to love his neighbour as himselfe This incongruity as it seemes of yours you observed and therefore as I guesse you added that his bowels of compassion were restrained also by the same conformity and though you tell us that from different motions and distractions occasioned from the indissolvable union of his divisible soule this is your owne language with these two attributes of the indivisible nature to wit love and justice his teares were squeized out Yet neither doe you tell us how his bowels of compassion were restrained or wherein neither doe you make knowne unto us what these different motions and distractions in our Saviour were Neither doth the story of the Gospell afford us any discovery of any such different motions distractions you talke of But to the end hee continued in his bowells of compassion towards them as it appeares by his prayers for them upon the crosse for indeede his first comming was not to condemne the world but to save the world But in the old Testament God himselfe as God expresseth his desires of his peoples obedience O that my people had hearkened unto me This you will have to bee understood in proper speech Piscator by a figure of speech Talis optatio saith hee Deotribuitur per anthropopathiam Utri creditis With Piscator concurreth Iunius also And wee have reason for it because whatsoever God wills that brings hee to passe both in heaven and earth how much more what hee desires and that ardently Yet you keepe your course contrary to reason and authority in attributing desires unto God of such things which never come to passe which Austine long agoe professed to be all one with the denying of Gods omnipotencie And not content with this you most ridiculously contradict your selfe and call it also an unquenchable desire wheras your selfe have often professed that the filling up the measure of mans iniquity doth quench this desire in God thereby making God not onely impotent but mutable also Israel might have truely said Was there ever any love like unto this love wherewith the Lord embraced mee But what Israel even the true Israel of God wee say but the true Israel of God cannot say so the elect of God cannot say so according to your Tenet for as much as you make the love of God towards reprobates to bee as great as the love of God towards the elect yet as if you strained your words you call it the excessive fervency of his loving kindenesse to wit even towards them that perish and adde by way of Parenthesis that Gods will is infinite as if you had a minde to inferre thereby that his love towards them were
to be angry But if you take it for voluntas vindicandi this must needs be as everlasting as Gods will and if you deduce any cause herof from the creature you were as good to derive from the creature the cause of Gods will which Aquinas professeth never any man was so madde as to doe And Gods hatred of Esau is in Scripture made suitable to Gods love of Iacob and if this love be the will of election then hatred must be the will of reprobation And if the everlasting purpose of God to give both grace and glory be deservedly accoumpted Gods love why should not the everlasting purposu of God to deny unto others both grace and glory be as deservedly accoumpted Gods hatred You undertake to shew how Love and anger being passions or linkt with passions are rightly conceaved to be in God but I hope you will not attribute them unto God either a◠passibus or linkt with passions For albeit love and joy mans formally be attributed unto God because they include no imperfection yet not as passions saith Aquinas in the place lately alleaged out of him CHAP. XXI How Anger Love Compassion Mercy or other affections are in the divine nature II is true some Schoolemen thinke that distributive justice may be properly enough attributed unto God but not commutative not because this includes rationem dati accepti but rather because it includes aequalitatem dati accepti Yet others are of opinion that justice distributive can be attributed unto God with no greater propriety then justice commutative as may be seene in Vasque 1. in 1. part disput 86. Likewise I know none that thinke mercy is more properly to be attributed unto God then anger For voluntas vindicandi as properly and formally belongs to God as voluntas miserandi that being as easily abstracted from greife as this from compassion As for revenge there is no colour why that should not in greatest propriety be attributed unto God like as also reward To say that affections or morall qualities may be contayned in the divine essence eminently is a very poore justification of them to be the attributes of God For to be eminently in God is no more as your selfe heretofore have explicated it chap. 4. sect 2. then God to be the Author of them and produce them Now in this sense you may attribute the name of any body or beast unto God and say God is such or such a thing is God to wit eminently But who can doubt but voluntas miserandi and voluntas vindicandi are in God not eminently but formally Yet notwithstanding the very will of God is infinitly different from the will of man No passion as a passion is in God though that name which signifieth a passion in man may be truely verified of Gods signifying the nature of God in a certayne reference unto his creatures without all passion So there is a will and understanding in God but nothing like to the will and understanding of man For will and understanding in man are accidents they are not so in God Our anger at the best as being displeased only with such things that displease God though in some litle thing it be like Gods anger yet in many things it is very unlike For it is a passion in us not in God it riseth in us which before was not no such innovation in God Gods anger is vindicative ours ought not to be so but only in case we are his ministers For vengeance is myne I will repay sayth the Lord. I cannot justifie you in so speaking when you say that mercy is more reall and truly affectionate in God then his anger For taking them sequestred from theire imperfections each is formally attributed unto God though not as passions and not eminently only as you have delivered it As for the execution of each more or lesse that receaveth moderation merely from the pleasure of Gods will For he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth and farre more hath he made vessels of wrath amongst the nation of men then vessells of mercy though it be reputed otherwise amongst the nation of Angelis Mercy consists in pardoning sinnes and saving sinners and no passion at all is required unto this in the nature of God but passion enough even unto death upon the crosse in the nature of man person of the Sonne of God The better use men have of reason the lesse are they subject to perturbation but no whit lesse doe they participate of affection for vertues are not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Aristotle hath taught us but the right ordering of them Christs soule was heavy unto the death at the approaching of his passion and wept often before this yet had he never a whit the worse use of reason For all this But no passion at all can be in God for passions rise and fall upon new occasion but no such alteration is incident unto God I know not what you meane by devouring affections They may be concealed or restrained not in a vertuous manner but vitious only to keepe the rankor of theire hearts from discovery as Absolon a long time sayd nor good nor bad to Amnon after he had defloured his sister Thamar he was not any whit the more charitable in that but playd the foxe in waiting opportunity to doe mischeife Likewise when Haman saw Mordecai in the Kings gate that he stood not up nor mooved for him then was hee full of indignation at Mordecai Neverthelesse Haman refrayned himselfe though hee had plotted the destruction both of him and all his natiō To say that passions are moderate in matters which men least affect is as much as to say that affections are moderate in matters which men least affect And indeede affections must needes be moderate when they are least in motion But perpetuall minding of a thing should argue strength of passion in my judgement rather then moderation To my thinkinge now you are in a vaine of writing essayes Yet I find no greate substance of truth in them How secret cariages can be violently opposed I conceave not For if opposed then no longer secret And the more cunning men are the more notice I should thinke they take of violent opposition unlesse they doe apparently see such opposites are like to overshoote or come short which is a very race case and comes ofter into a schollars fancy then into reall practise I finde no greate passion in Achitophel but rather as Caesar came soberly to the ruinating of his country So Achitophel proceeded soberly to the destroying of himselfe To have the mastery of his passions like enough is a greate poynt of pollicy undoubtedly to have a gracious mastery of them is true Christianity not allwayes to restraine them but even profusely to enlarge them whatsoever the World thinkes of them As Moses in the cause of God was mooved so farre as to breake the