is well known that youth goeth before old age yet no man will say that the opinions of men in their youth are more likely to be sound then the opinions of riper age Neither doth any man call or account youth Antiquity Yet our Fathers we call our Ancients because they have gone before us but little reason there is in my judgement to count their faith the more sound by reason of such Antiquity no more then why the opinions of man in his youth should be reputed more sound then the opinions of his age For as there is a youth in man so there is to be acknowledged a youth of the world and so likewise of the Christian World even of the Church of God The Holy Ghost speaks in this language For even they who were the great Ancestors of the Jews in the daies of Jeremy are called the youth of Israell as the youth of Gods Church Jerem. 2. 2. I remember thee with the kindnesse of thy youth and the love of thy marriage when thou wentst after me in the wildernesse in a land that was not sowen Israel was as a thing hallowed unto the Lord c Ezech. 16. 60. I will remember my Covenant made with thee in the daies of thy youth In like sort the Ancients counting them immediately from the Apostles daies are the very youth of the Church Christian Now like as it is not to be exspected that a man should have as great perfection of knowledge in his youth as in his age so neither is it to be supposed that the Church of Christ should have as great perfection of knowledge in her youth as in her age This is to be understood caeteris paribus otherwise there lies a double exception against it the One in the way of Gods extraordinary mercy the Other in the way of Gods extraordinary judgement For God may extraordinarily inspire a young man with the spirit of Prophecy and so make him wiser then the aged Such was the condition of Gods exuberant grace in the daies of the Apostles enduing them with power from on high not only to instruct them with all spirituall wisdome and understanding in the mysteries of the Gospell but enabling them also to expresse it in diverse languages that so they might be able Ministers of Christ to carry the glad tidings of salvation over all the World On the other side the sinnes of the Christian world not embracing Gods Truth with love may deserve at the hands of God that he should give them over to illusions to believe lies Then no marvaile if our former light set in obscure darknesse and degenerate daies come in place of better and more noble times which may more easily come to passe considering that the light of the Gospell is a spirituall light of faith no naturall light of reason though even this naturall light of reason comes to be amended and perfected by that light of grace But it may be said that They who lived neer the Apostles daies are like to be better acquainted with the truth of God then wee I have found some to please themselves in this conceit and it runns smooth and glibb and it seems very plausible to winne approbation But as Austin saith of some things that acutule sonant but discussa reperiuntur obtusa so many times it falls out that reasons plausible at first when exploration comes prove very unsound like the fruit Solinus writes of which grew about Sodome Faire to the eye but being crushed in cineres abeunt vanam fuliginem And for the discovering of the emptinesse of this reason I proceed thus When you say of those Ancients that they were neer to the Apostles I demand whether the meaning be they were neer to the times of the Apostles or neer to the Persons of the Apostles or neer to the word of the Apostles The former two doe nothing at all conduce to the perfection of Christian knowledge or soundnesse of faith For certainly both Jews and Heathens professed enemies to the crosse of Christ were as neer to their Times and Persons as believing Christians but they were not so familiarly acquainted with their word But as touching familiar acquaintance with the word of the Apostles as also the embracing of it by faith Nothing I trust hindereth us from being as neer to the Apostles as the Ancients were Nay it is well known that as touching divers peeces of the books of the New Testament we receive them for Canonicall which many of the Ancients doubted of And as touching divers books concerning the times of the Old Testament they are discovered unto us to be Apocryphall which to many of the Ancients were not But it may be said that these Ancients to whom they pretend so much reverence which indeed is but reverence to themselves and to serve their own turnes were so neer to the Apostles that they not only were partakers of their writings but of their Preaching also by word of mouth To this I answer 1. That it is a very rare thing to meet with any such now adaies unlesse it be some counterfeit Author neither doe I find any such alleadged by any least of all by any Arminian who yet upon my knowledge doe discourse after this manner as touching their neernesse to the Apostles 2. But suppose there were any such and they should tell us what they heard preached by the Apostles shall we take their relations for Oracles and make the word of God to consist partly of that which is written by them and partly of that which is not written but delivered by word of mouth and commended unto us by tradition Then farewell the doctrine of Protestants concerning the rule of faith that it is only the written-word and let us with the Papists joyne thereunto traditions to make up a compleat Rule of Faith It may be farther said that by reason of their neernesse to the Apostles they may be better acquainted with the meaning of the word written To which I answer if so then either from the Apostles own mouthes or by relation from others Of any that report what they heard from the Apostles own mouths they alleadge none If they did what were this other then to bring in Tradition to be a Rule if not of faith yet of interpretation of Gods word which is as foule every way as the former considering that soundnesse of faith is grounded upon the soundnesse of interpretation of Gods word If only by relation from others the same exceptions lye against this and over and above this must be of somewhat farre lesse authority then the former it being so difficult a matter to report from another without adding somewhat of his own whether it be much or little as Chaucer speaketh Lastly let the Commentaries of these daies be compared with the Commentaries of the Ancients and let the indifferent reader judge which of them are most true most learned most substantiall So that I suppose I may be bold to
make them confident and insolent and in a word Magnas Tragoedias excitare But take a way the confusion of things that differ their combes are cut their locks are shorne and they are but as another man Now having shewed in what sense every hearer is bound to believe that Christ died for him and in what sense not let us consider of what worth this Authors arguments are breathing nothing but smoak and fire I will not say like the great Potan but like fell Dragon but I nothing doubt we shall pare his nailes and make him calme enough ere we have done with him so that a little child shall be able enough to lead him Now that they cannot be justly bound to believe if they be absolute reprobates he takes upon him to prove by three reasons 1. The first is because it is Gods will that they shall not believe because it is his peremptory will that they shall have no power to believe I answere it is indeed the will of Gods decree that is he hath decreed not to give any Reprobate a justifying faith but hence it followeth not that therefore they cannot believe thus farre the contents of the Gospell namely that both Christ hath merited and God hath ordained that as many as doe believe shall be saved For this as I take it is not usually accounted by our Divines a justifying faith but rather it comes within the compasse of such a faith as is commonly counted faith historicall Secondly I answer it followeth not that because God hath decreed to deny them the grace of faith therefore they are not bound to believe which I prove by Scripture For was not Pharaoh bound to let Israel goe when Moses was sent to him from the Lord to command him in the name of the Lord to let Israel goe Yet the Scripture plainly teacheth us that the Lord told Moses that he would harden Pharaohs heart and that he should not let Israel goe What I pray is now become of his reason compared with the light of Scripture And what have we to doe to enquire into Gods counsells as whether he hath decreed to give us grace or no Is it not enough to bind us to obedience for God to command this or that unto us Did Abraham enquire in his thoughts whether it were his purpose yea or no that Isaack should be sacrificed Nothing lesse but upon the Lords command he forthwith addresseth himselfe to the worke rising early in the morning and going forward in the Lords businesse Then again we find by common experience that naturall men are too to confident rather and presumptuous of their power then diffident and distrustfull dicere solet humana superbia saith Austin si scissem fecissem it were better for them if they did acknowledge their impotency and by what means this corruption of theirs is brought upon them that would bring them nearer to the Kingdome of God But if I have a debtor whom I know to be a Bankerupt but he knowes it not but having many bagges of Brasse or Copper pieces which he takes to be Gold conceits himselfe able enough to pay all his debts and more too shall I be said to commit any indecent thing by urging him to pay that he oweth This argument is as old as Pelagius but what was Austin his answer In mandato cognosce quid debeas habere in corruptione cognosce t uo te vitio non habere in oratione cognosce unde possis habere 3. Lastly if God cannot justly command and by command bind man to obey in case he hath no power to obey in like sort God cannot justly complaine of their disobedience who being hardned by God cannot obey him And indeed as this Author argueth against the justice of Gods commands in this case so the Apostle brings in one arguing the injustice of Gods complaints in the like case For having delivered this Doctrine that God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth forthwith he brings in one tumultuating against it in this manner Thou wilt say then why doth he yet complaine for who hath resisted his will And if any man be not ashamed to argue as he did saith Austin let us not be ashamed to answer as the Apostle did and how was that Surely only thus O man who art thou that disputest with God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour And albeit this I trow should be sufficient to satisfy a Christian yet we observe farther how this Author confounds impotency Morall which consisteth in the corruption of mans powers naturall and impotency naturall which consisteth in bereaving him of power naturall The Lord tells us by his Prophet Jeremy that Like as a Blackamore cannot change his skinne nor a Leopard his spotts no more can they doe good that are accustomed unto evill Now if a man taken in stealth shall plead thus before a Judge My Lord I beseech you have compassion upon me for I have so long time inured my hands to pilfering that now I cannot forbeare it will this be accepted as a good plea to save him from the Gallowes Again it is observed that men are naturally prone to runne upon the committing of things forbidden them Gens humana ruit per vetitum nefas nitimur in vetitum yet this is no just excuse Lastly as for faith it is well known that Divines distinguish between fides acquisita and fides infusa that we may call a faith naturally acquired which is found in carnall persons whether prophane or Hypocriticall and this is a faith inspired by Gods spirit The object of each is all one and a Man may suffer Martyrdome for the one as well as for the other which manifesteth the pertinacious adherence thereunto And it appears that all professions have had their Martyrs Ucali Fartax a Calabrian borne endured the Gallies fourteen years rather then he would turne Turke yet at length he became a Turke and only in spleen to be revenged on a Turke who had given him a boxe on the eare and became a great man amongst them And at the famous battell of Lepanto he alone maintained his Squadron entire and beat the Christians But to returne albeit it be not in the power of nature to believe fide infusâ yet is it in the power of nature to believe the Gospell fide acquisitâ which depends partly upon a mans education and partly upon reason considering the credibility of the Christian way by light of naturall observations above all other waies in the World And when men refuse to embrace the Gospell not so much because of the credibility of it but because it is not congruous to their naturall affections as our Saviour tells the Jewes Light came into the World and men loved darknesse rather then light
of his Scene whereunto it is fit he should be serviceable And as for the two Articles here mentioned wherein they are said unanimously to agree and which he calls maxima gravamina It is true they doe agree herein but it may be in a farre other sense then he is willing should be taken notice of For as for the first 1. That the moving cause of reprobation is the alone will of God and not the sinne of man originall or actuall 1. This is true in proportion to election that like as no good work of man is the moving cause of election but only the will of God so no sinne or evill work of man is the cause of reprobation but only the will of God 1. That so it is of election the Apostle both 1. Saith Election is not of Workes but of him that calleth 2. And proveth thus Before Esau and Iacob were borne or had done good or evill it was said The Elder shall serve the Younger therefore Election is not of Workes that is of good workes but of him that calleth 2. That so it is of reprobation I prove by the same argument of the Apostle thus Before Esau and Iacob were borne or had done good or evill it was said the Elder shall serve the Younger therefore reprobation stands not of workes that is of evill workes but of the meer pleasure of God 1. And like as this is farther evident by Gods course of calling in the point of Election as the Apostle intimateth for as much as God calleth effectually whom he will in bestowing faith and repentance upon them For as the Apostle afterwards professeth He hath mercy on whom he will 2. So it is as evident in the point of reprobation in as much as God refuseth to call whom he will by denying faith and repentance unto them as afterwards the same Apostle professeth saying that God hardneth whom he will 2. And this doctrine we doe explicate by distinguishing that which our Adversaries desire to confound least their cheating carriage should be discovered as formerly I have shewed For Predestination and Reprobation may be considered either quoad Praedestinantis Reprobantis actum or quoad Praedestinationis Reprobationis terminum as much as to say quoad res praedestinatione reprobatione praeparatas that is either as touching the act of Predestination and Reprobation or as touching the things decreed by Predestination or Reprobation Now as touching the act of Predestination never any man saith Aquinas was so mad as to say that the merits of man are the cause of predestination And why so Because the act of predestination is the act of Gods will and formerly saith he I have shewed that there can be no cause of the will of God as touching the act of God willing but only as touching the things willed by God Now apply this to reprobation For is not reprobation as touching the act of God reprobating the very act also of Gods will This cannot be denied and herehence it followes that like as there can be no cause of Gods will as touching the act of God willing so there can be no cause of reprobation as touching the act of God reprobating And like as it was a mad thing in Aquinas his judgement to say that merits were the cause of predestination as touching the act of God predestinating so it is no lesse madnesse in his judgement to maintain that either sinne originall or actuall can be the meritorious cause of reprobation as touching the act of God reprobating And what are the reasons hereof in School-divinity Why surely these 1. Predestination and Reprobation are eternall but good workes and evill workes of the creature are temporall but impossible it is that a thing temporall can be the cause of that which is eternall 2. The act of Predestination and Reprobation is the act of Gods will and the act of Gods will like as the act of his knowledge is the very essence of God even God himselfe and therefore to introduce a cause of Gods will is to bring in a cause of God himselfe 3. If works or faith foreseen be any moving cause of Divine election then either they are so of their own nature or by the meer constitution of God Not of their own nature as it is apparent therefore by the constitution of God but this cannot stand neither For if by the constitution of God then it would follow that God did constitute that upon foresight of mans faith he would elect him that is ordaine him to salvation And what I pray is to constitute Is it any other then to ordaine And herehence it followeth God did ordaine that upon foresight of mans faith he would ordaine him unto salvation Whereby the eternall ordination of God is made the object of his eternall ordination whereas it is well known and generally received that nothing but that which is temporall can be the object of divine ordination which is eternall In like sort I dispute of reprobation if sinne be the cause thereof then either of its own nature it is the cause thereof or by the ordinance of God Not of its own nature as all are ready to confesse if you say by the ordinance of God then it follows God did ordaine that upon the foresight of mans sinne he would ordaine him unto damnation For reprobation is Gods ordaining a man unto damnation as touching one part of the things decreed thereby which we come to consider in the next place and that both in election and in reprobation having hitherto considered them as touching the act of God electing or reprobating and shewed that thus they can have no cause But as touching the things decreed thereby they may have a cause as Aquinas professeth and we professe with him As for example to begin with election The things decreed or destinated to a man in election are two Grace and Glory Now both these may have a cause For both Grace is the cause of glory and Christs merits are the cause both of grace and glory But let grace be rightly understood For in the confuse notion of grace many are apt to lurke thereby to shut their eyes against the evidence of truth For no marvail if men be in love with their own errours and in proportion to the love of errour such is their hatred of Divine truth opposite thereunto Now by grace we understand the grace of regeneration whereby that naturall corruption of mind and will commonly called blindnesse of mind and hardnesse of heart which we all bring into the world with us through originall sin is in part cured More distinctly we call this grace the grace of faith and repentance whereby our naturall infidelity and impenitency is cured Now this grace we say God bestowes on whom he will finding all equall in infidelity and impenitency For so the Apostle tells us that God hath mercy on whom he will And as God bestowes it on whom he will not finding any
of God is it a Christian course to renounce it or to question the integrity of it because he finds no footing in Antiquity for it What then shall become of the faith of Laicks and such as are unlearned Must the writings of the Fathers be translated into all vulgar Languages and the unlearned addict themselves to the study of them least otherwise their faith prove a wavering faith for want of finding Antiquity to favour it Belike the writings of the Prophets and Apostles are no part of Antiquity in this Authors more mature judgement But if formerly the doctrine of absolute reprobation were received upon the evidence of Gods word as it is fit the faith of every Christian should be grounded thereupon especially the faith of a Divine called to be a Teacher of others I should think there were no just cause of alteration but upon discovery of the errour of those grounds whereupon formerly it was builded and the discovery hereof alone were chiefly to the present purpose namely to shew just cause of change of mind alteration of judgement but no such course doe I find taken here These motives and reasons here proposed may carry a shew of reason why a man being yet to chuse his faith in these particulars possessed with neither way but indifferent might preferre one way before another one opinion before another but nothing sufficient to justify a change unlesse the weaknesse of former grounds be laid open For it may be that the former grounds might be such as upon due comparison would be found to overweigh these pretences For upon view that I have taken of the discourse following I find not one argument drawn from those places of Scripture that treat of election and reprobation these I find are purposely declined as so many rocks as if the Author feared to make shipwrack of his errours pardon my boldnesse in so naming them Austin is my precedent in this saying Hoc scio contra istam praedestinationem quam secundum scripturas defendimus neminem nisi errando disputare posse but in the mean time while he fears to make shipwrack of his errours let him take heed least he make shipwrack of a good conscience But proceed we with him about the inquiry what footing this doctrine finds in Antiquity He saith he cannot find it but it is more then I find that ever he made any convenient search after it his whole discourse hereupon is of so hungry a nature The absolutenesse of election and reprobation we conclude in Christian reason from Gods absolute carriage in giving and denying grace understanding thereby the grace of regeneration Now the absolutenesse herein as we suppose consists in bestowing this grace on some and denying it to others according to the meer pleasure of the Lords will Now hath not the Apostle more ancient then all the Antiquity he speaketh of professed in expresse termes that God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth What need we seek farther amongst the Ancients for the iustification of this And that mercy here is meant such a mercy in bestowing faith on some which is denied to others in converting the wills of some unto good when others are not converted I could prove by variety of places out of Austin whose authority in this case is farre more worthy then all the authority this Author produceth Neither is this the voyce of Austin only but of Ambrose also in that famous saying of his Quem vult religiosum facit so much magnified by Austin And not Ambrose alone but Nazianzen also and Cyprian are alleaged by him as concurring with him in the foundation of the doctrine of predestination which he makes to be the freedome of Gods grace in converting whom he will And which is farre more then this yea farre more then all that can be produced to the contrary by the very Prayers of the Church every where in use he iustifies the generall concurrence in that which he accounts the foundation of predestination As when their common course was to pray unto God that he would be pleased to convert unto the faith of Christ the hearts of Heathens and wherein did this conversion consist but in giving them faith and repentance manifestly giving us to understand thereby that the whole Catholique Church did concurre in this Article of Faith that it was in the power of God according to his free grace to convert whom he would unto the faith of Christ and consequently not to convert whom he would For if there were any cause on mans part why he doth not convert some converting others then there were also on mans part a cause why God doth convert some not converting others and consequently grace should be given according unto works that is in the phrase of the Ancients Gratiam dari secundum merita as Bellarmine acknowledgeth which was ever accounted expresse Pelagianisme and was as expressely condemned in the Councel of Palestina above 1200 years agoe and Pelagius himselfe was driven to subscribe unto it by shamefull dissimulation so to prevent Anathematization of his own person But the upper way saith this Author was never taught or approved by any of the Fathers for 600 years Here breaks forth another reason of this Authors or his that directed him cunning carriage in distinguishing the two waies of our Divines in maintaining the absolutenesse of election and reprobation to wit that in the course of his discourse he might serve his turne with both and where Antiquity served not his turne against the one yet might it serve his turne as he thought against the other But the truth is there was no such question at all ventilated in those daies as touching the obiect of predestination no nor in Austins neither nor many hundred years after that I know And no marvell For it concernes the ordering of Gods decree aright which is meerly Logicall as I have shewed in my Vind. Grat. Dei It s true that S t Austin doth usually accommodate that of S t Paul Rom. 9. 21. concerning the Masse unto mankind considered in Massa damnata as he commonly calls it that is in the corrupt Masse but not alwaies but sometimes he speaks of it and accommodates it cleerely unto the Masse of mankind uncorrupt yea as yet not created as there I have shewed And as for the right ordering of Gods decrees and the right stating of the object of predestination and reprobation We desire no better nor other ground then that of the Apostle God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth that is he cures infidelity and hardnes of heart in whom he will by bestowing faith and repentance upon them and leaves it uncured in whom he will by denying faith and repentance unto them And as for the rigour of this Tenent as it is commonly accounted of making the Masse of mankind not created the object of predestination I have already shewed the vanity of that
weake one 1. Because that they that understand it of the Elect understand it so in no other sense but as I have expounded it 2. If I should say of the twelve Apostles Judas excluded and Matthias substituted in his roome that God so loved them that he gave his only begotten Sonne that whosoever of them believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life who can deny but that this was a truth accommodated unto them but will it here hence follow that among those Apostles some were believers some unbelievers Suppose all the World were Elect and it pleased God to give them all Faith should this Doctrine be the lesse true whosoever believes shall be saved yet in this case it would not follow that amongst the World of men some were believers and some unbelievers But whereas he faines that some of our Divines should interpret the word World here of Believers that is such a fiction as is incredible I come to the fourth DISCOURSE SECT IV. 1. TImoth 2. 4. Who would have all to be saved and come to the knowledge of his truth In these words the Apostle delivers two things 1. That it is Gods will that all men should obtain an happy end viz. Salvation 2. That it is his will also that they should use and enjoy the means which is the knowledge of his truth that so they might obtain the end the salvation of their soules there is no let in God but that all men may believe and be saved and therefore there is no absolute will that many thousands of men shall never believe nor be saved Two answers are usually returned which give me little satisfaction The first is that by All we are to understand all sorts and not every particular man in every sort and condition It is true that all is sometimes so used in Scripture but I believe not here for the very Text shewes that we are to understand by it the Individualls and not the kindes v. 1. There is a duty enjoyned I will that prayers and supplications be made for all men and in this verse the motive is annexed God will have all to be saved as if he should have said our charity must reach to all whom God extends his love to God will have all to be saved therefore we must pray for all Now in the duty All signifies every man for no man though wicked and prophane is to be excluded from our prayers pray for them saith our Saviour that persecute you And pray saith the Apostle here for Kings and all that are in Authority men in those daies though the greatest yet the worst yea very Wolves and Lyons and Bears of the Church pray for them and if for them then for any other thus in the duty it signifies every man and if it doe so in the duty it must have the same extent in the motive too or else the motive will not reach home nor have strength enough to enforce the duty The second answer is that God will have all to be saved with his revealed will have Millions to be damned with his secret will If this answer stand then in my understanding these inconveniences will follow 1. That Gods words which are his revealed will are not interpretations of his mind and meaning and by consequence are not true for Oratio quae non est mentis significatio simulatio est 2. That there are two contrary willes in God a secret will that many Sonnes of Adam shall irrevocably be damned and a revealed will that all the Sonnes of Adam may be saved 3. That one of Gods wills must needs be bad either the secret will or the revealed for of contraries if the one be good the other is bad and so of Gods contrary wills if the one be good the other must needs be bad for malum is contrarium bono TWISSE Consideration THe Conclusion here is very loose the Arguments being thus It is Gods will that all should be saved therefore there is no absolute will that many thousands of men shall never believe nor be saved and the vanity of this consequence I will shew more waies then one 1. The Apostle doth not say It is the absolute will of God that all men shall be saved nay Vossius interprets this place and that according to the meaning of the Ancients of voluntas conditionata a conditionall will in God not absolute and he gives instance of it thus It is the will of God that all shall be saved in case they believe in Christ Now albeit it be the conditionall will of God that all and every one shall be saved in case they believe yet this hinders not but that it may be the absolute will of God that many thousands of men shall never be saved as in case his will be to deny the grace of faith and repentance to many thousands as it is cleare and undeniable that he doth Nay the Remonstrants themselves and particularly an Arminian that I had to doe withall lately spared not to professe that Election is absolute if so then reprobation also is absolute and I doubt not but that they will all confesse that howbeit Gods will be that all should be saved yet thousands are reprobated 2. Suppose the Apostle had said it is the absolute will of God that all men shall be saved yet I say it followes not herehence but that by the absolute will of God many might faile of falvation for it was the absolute will of God that every foure footed beast should be represented to Peter let downe unto him in a linnen vessell yet neverthelesse it might be that many thousands were not represented to him and that by the will of God Thus having discovered the vanity of this conclusion I will now proceed to demonstrate that this place cannot be understood of Gods will in proper speech viz. willing all and every one to be saved 1. Like as it is impossible that a man at the same time should be saved and damned so it is impossible that God should at the same time and duration both will to save and will to damne the same man But God from everlasting did will to damne many thousands therefore it was impossible that from everlasting he should will to save them 2. If it be Gods will that all and every one shall be saved then all and every one shall be saved For who hath resisted his will Rom. 9. 19. And for confirmation hereof we find in our selves that if we will doe ought we doe it if we can and if we doe not ought the reason is either because we have no will to doe it or because we have no power to doe it In like sort that God doth not save many thousands the reason must be either because he will not or because he cannot not because he will not for these professe that it is his will to save all and every one Therefore the reason why he doth not save all
another man made theirs only By Gods order and pleasure 2. In their inevitable destination to destruction under a shew of the contrary The Devills as they are decreed to damnation so they know it they expect it they look for no other but men even those that are appoynted unto wrath are yet fed up with hopes of Salvation and made to believe that the whole businesse is put into their hands so as that if they doe perish it is not defectu misericordiae because God hath no mercy on them but defeclu voluntatis propriae because they will not be saved when yet there is no such mercy Now if it be worse to be deluded in misery then simply to be miserable then the condition of men in this respect is made by this decree to be worse then the state of Devills 3. In their obligation to believe and the aggravation of their punishment by not believing The Devills because they must be damned are not commanded to believe in Christ nor is their punishment encreased by not believing but poore men who by this decree can scape Hell no more then the Devills must yet be tied to believe in Christ and must have their torments encreased if they believe not These things being so I think I may conclude that this decree of absolute reprobation overthrowes the mercy of God in generall and toward mankind Nor doth that quiet my mind which is usually answered to these objections viz. That God by this decree doth fully manifest his justice and his mercy too his justice towards the Reprobates and his mercy toward the chosen vessells and that it is necessary that his decrees shall be so ordered as that both these may be clearly manifested by them This I say doth not satisfy for 1. Gods mercy is revealed to be rich mercy abundant long suffering beyond apprehension and surmounting his justice in its objects and expressions Now such a mercy as this set forth with such glorious titles cloathed with such lovely properties and exceeding the ability of any mans conception such a mercy I say is not manifested by this decree 2. Neither is the pure and spotlesse justice of God set forth by this absolute decree as I now come to shew this being my second argument drawn from the Attributes of God against absolute reprobation TWISSE Consideration HEre we have a great deale of noyse and the most wastfull discourse that ever I yet met withall in the enlarging of a most hungry argument the answer whereunto himselfe perceives and sets down as he thinks good in a few words after three large leaves spent in the enlarging of his opposition namely to this effect that whatsoever he can say in the advancing of Gods mercy we willingly acknowledge but withall we say this mercy of God which makes God so glorious is peculiarly manifested towards the vessells of mercy whom God hath prepared unto glory in distinction from the vessells of wrath as we read Rom. 9. 23. and that in a higher degree then he hath mentioned this being one speciall end why God suffereth with long patience the vessells of wrath prepared to destruction Rom. 9. 22. namely That he might declare the riches of his glory upon the vessells of mercy which he hath prepared unto glory v. 23. And after so much froth of words spent to no purpose unlesse to beguile his reader and dull him with verbosity that he might not attend and observe how accurately he performes in the issue that which he intends Consider I beseech you what a meager and starveling reply he puts to this Gods mercy saith he is revealed to be rich mercy abundant long suffering beyond apppehension we grant all this and adde that it is glorious also and makes the partakers of it to rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious but this belongs only to them that believe and to certain who are called vessells of mercy in distinction from vessells of wrath Rom. 9. 22 23. which vessells of mercy in distinction from vessells of wrath must needs be the elect only in distinction from Reprobates with what face can he deny that such a mercy is manifested on the Elect by our Doctrine 2. I farther adde that such a mercy is not manifested by his Doctrine as by ours for the glory of Gods mercy consists in this that it is of free grace pardoning our sinnes regenerating us changing our hearts giving faith and repentance to some when he denies it to others all this I say is of meere grace by our Doctrine without respect to any preparation or qualification in man according to that of the Apostle He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth this is not their Doctrine if it were I see no cause of any materiall difference between us 3. And I find it strange that men should grow to such a degree of immodesty as to affect singularity and to shew a dexterity in such sort to advance Gods mercy as to obscure and deface his grace as this Author doth for all along you shall not find him to magnify Gods free grace whereas Mercy shewed to one rather then to another in respect of his being better disposed for the receiving of it more then another is rather of the nature of justice then of Mercy distinct from justice 4. And to this purpose he takes no pains to set down wherein this mercy consists which he so much amplifies but carryeth it throughout in hugger mugger and in the clouds of generality that it might appeare the more likely to be indifferently extended to all and albeit sometimes he expresseth it to be the love of a Father towards his children yet it is too too probable that he extends this to all and every one as the children of God by creation And therefore particulates not wherein it consists as namely whether in mercy temporall or spirituall and as touching mercy spirituall whether this be not the pardoning of mens sinnes together with the illumination of the mind sanctification of the will change of the heart and giving of faith repentance obedience and finall perseverance therein For had he particulated those he had apparently marred his own market and been driven to loose that in retaile which he hoped to gaine in grosse For these mercies are not extended to all But their meaning is God offers these to all and that any faile of them it is because man disposeth not himselfe for the receiving of them This is the issue of his advancing Gods mercy utterly to disparage the freedome of Gods grace Now of the Divine mercy in this sense to wit as freely extended to all he hath not one word throughout as I can remember in so vast premises all that he speaks of the extention of Gods mercy to variety of objects is dispatched in three lines of these his three large leaves as where he saith his mercy is more largely extended then his justice and that look how much three or foure come short
Gods mercy DISCOURSE SECT III. This I divide into Five Subsections SUBSECT I. IT Fights with the justice of God c. The Lord saith David is righteous in all his waies Psal 145. The judgements of the Lord saith Solomon are weight and measure Prov. 16. 11. That is exact and without all exception So just is God that he offers the justice of his decrees and waies to the triall of humane understanding Isai 5. 3. Judge I pray you between me and my vineyard and Ezech. 18. 25. He is content to prove himselfe just by plain arguments through the whole chapter Are not my waies equall and your waies unequall And he permitted Abraham when he was in his greatest humility acknowledging himselfe to be but Dust and Ashes to reason with him about the equity of his doings Wilt thou slay the righteous with the wicked Shall not the judge of all the earth doe right Gen. 18. 23 25. And Moses also Num. 16. 22. is suffered to argue Gods justice in the same manner Shall one man sinne and wilt thou â—e â—â—oth with all the Congregation In a word so evidently just is God in all his proceedings that many both good and bad who have felt his justice have cleared God and deepely charged themselves witnesse Ezra Nehemiah and Daniell in their ninth Chapters and Adonibezek Judges 1. â— and the Emperour Mauricius who having seen his children butchered and waiting every minute for the bloudy stroake of death brake out into these words Justus es Domine justum est judicium tuum Righteous art thou O Lord and just is thy judgement With this inviolable justice of God absolute reprobation of such especially as are commanded to believe and called to Salvation cannot be reconciled My reasons are these 1. Because it makes God to punish the righteous with the wicked as it is taught the Supralapsarian way directly as it is defended the Sublapsarian way by good consequence The Sublapsarians present man to God in his decrees of reprobation considered without sinne and will have God to determine the infliction of unspeakable misery upon millions of men without consideration of any evill in them originall or actuall as I have touched before and so they make him plainly to be a destroyer of the righteous The Sublapsarians for against their way have I tied my selfe to bend my reasons present man to God considered indeed in originall sinne which is a sinne so farre as it concernes Adams posterity made ours only by Gods order and appointment and so in effect they say 1. That God did lay upon every man a necessity of being borne in originall sinne 2. That he hath determined for that sinne to cast away the farre greater part of Mankind for ever and so they make God to doe by two acts the one accompanying the other which the other say he did by one and they will not stick if they be put to it to say as D. Twisse doth Quod Deus potest intercedente libera sua â—â—stitutione illud etiam absolute poterit vel sine ali â—â—â— constitutione intercedentâ— That is God may decree men to hell for that is the thing he speaks of for Adams sinne which is derived to them by the only constitution of God he may as well doe it absolutely without any such constitution It is all one in substance to decree the misery of an innocent man and to purpose that he shall be involved in a sinne that so he may be brought to misery neither of these Decrees are just Non iustitia iusta dicetur saith Fulgentius si puniendum reum non invenisse sed fecisse dicatur major vero eâ—it iniustitia si lapso Deus retribuat poenam quem stantem praedestinasse dicitur ad ruinam TWISSE Consideration VVIth us Christians there is no doubt or question made of the truth of this that God is righteous in all his waies yea though he command Abraham to sacrifice his sonne and though he caused not only Achan to be stoned for his trespassing about the excommunicate thing but his children also with him and though he visit the sinne of Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him And though in the drowning of the World he caused Infants to perish with their parents some in their Mothers wombe some hanging on their Mothers breasts And so in the destruction of Sodome and Gomorrah with fire from heaven And not so only but the righteous God hath given us power over inferiour creatures to weare them out in serving our turnes with them yea and to knock them in the heads to cut their throats and strangle them as we think good and we are no whit the more unrighteous in executing this power which God hath given us upon them yea in giving his own and holy Sonne to be reviled blaspheamed betrayed condemned crucified so to make his soule an offering for our sinnes In all these waies the Lord is righteous and holy in all his works Solomon saith Prov. 16. 11. That a just weight and ballance are the Lords all the weights of the bagge are his worke And the same Solomon in the same chapter saith v. 4. The Lord hath made all things for himselfe yea even the wâ—â—ed against the day of evill This revives in me the remembrance of a pretty story An odde fellow came to his Neighbour to borrow a bushell of Malt saying the mercifull is righteous and lendeth the other answered him in the same element saying The ungodly borroweth and payeth not againe Where is that saith the borrower Where is yours saith the other Why saith he the place I mentioned is in the 37 Psahne So is mine too saith the other But proceed we along with him Whereas he saith Gods judgements are without exception that is untrue for we find the Apostle Saint Paul to take notice of exceptions made against the waies of God in some particular casts as when God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth upon the proposall of this Doctrine the Apostle takes notice of such an exception as this Thou wilt say then why doth he yet complaine for who hath resisted his will and the justification hereof the Apostle derives from no other consideration then this that God is our Creator and we are his creatures And that as the Potter hath power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell to honour and another to dishonour so hath God O man saith Paul who art thou that disputest with God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over the clay And as the Psalmist saith That Gods judgements are like a great deepe So the Apostle professeth That his judgements are unsearcheable and his waies past finding out And in the common opinion this is delivered as touching the depth of Gods counsell in reprobation and predestination and by the
described to wit as having their understandings purged from prejudice and false principles undoubtedly like as the Church of Rome when they have once brought the matter hitherto that the last resolution of faith must be made into the voyce of the Church are confident enough that when the question is made of the voyce of the Church where that is to be found they shall undoubtedly be able to carry it for the Church of Rome So these Arminians or Socinians rather when they have once brought the matter to this passe that the last resolution of our faith must be made into the judgement of mens understandings purged from prejudice and false principles and that the question beginneth to be made of understandings thus purified where they are to be found they will be so favourable to themselves as to conceive that such understandings are to be found no where but amongst the nation of the Arminians or at least among such whose judgements are naturally inclined towards their Tenets But is this a decent course to rest in the judgement of any mans understanding whereas the soundnes of his understanding is not nor cannot be discerned but by the strength of his argument and again considering the judgement of man is miserably corrupted in such sort as that the things of God seem foolishnesse unto them Is it not much fitter that we should judge of every mans understanding by Gods word which cannot erre rather then judge of the meaning of the word by the understanding of man Let any man use his understanding in opening and interpreting the word of God unto us and clearing the meaning thereof unto us as much as he can by reason by argument by demonstration but still let it be indifferent for any to judge in what congruity his interpretation stands with the Text it selfe and no mans judgement to be a rule of Faith unto others Before he goes off from this he gives another description of those whose judgements must be the rule of the right interpretation of Scripture to wit such as stand indifferent to the entertainment of any truths Now this seems to me to be as poore as the former or rather much poorer For this indifferency as I take it is in respect of affections now albeit a man may be thus disposed in respect of his affections yet he may be of a very weak judgement as for example I have heard of a good man that was sometimes wavering about the poynt of Ceremonies yet very willing to receive information and therefore conferres with both sides as well such as held them lawfull in the use as with those that held them unlawfull and still was carried every way with the force of their reasons who conferred with him for the present Then again suppose the indifferent were most fit to judge where shall we find those indifferent persons or who shall give rules and what rules according whereto to proceed in this our inquisition Again who are to be presupposed in likelihood to be the more indifferent then such as have not hitherto been versed in these controversies and is it fit that they who have been many years versed in them should stand to the judgement of those who are little or nothing exercised therein Lastly is the creature fit to judge of the Soveraignty of his creator or being conceived of the freedome of his own will to judge how farre it is reasonable God should have power over his will and no farther When the Apostle calls upon the Corinthians to judge whether that which he wrote unto them were the commandements of God or no whom doth he call unto this office Doth he call any other but such as are spirituall If there be any amongst you that is a Prophet or spirituall let him know that these things are the commandements of God 1 Cor. 14. He doth not say if there be any amongst you that hath his understanding purged from prejudice and false principles let him know that these things which I write unto you are the commandements of God And the same Apostle tells us that the things of God are spiritually to be discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. Yet it is remarkable that he appeals to the judgement not of the best only but the worst also in this but something qualified I confesse to wit provided that they stand indifferent to the entertainment of any truths Marke it well of any truths and who are these Not possessed with the entertainment of any Truths but indifferent to the entertainment of them I say who are these The regenerate or unregenerate Here I am at a stand not knowing which way to take But it may be this is spoken only in reference to our Doctrine of absolute Reprobation But of whatsoever it be spoken let him give instance in either or in both it seems he is indifferent to have it take place either way for he proposed it of best and worst But why should he presuppose an unregenerate man to be indifferent to the entertainment of any truth Whereas the Apostle professeth of a naturall man that he cannot know the things of God and he gives the reason of it because they are spiritually discerned and formerly said that they were foolishnesse unto him Yet I willingly confesse the Doctrine of absolute Reprobation is very harsh to the judgement and affections of carnall men and such as we had never embraced had it not been for the word of God which plainly professeth that election is not of good works and that by such an argument as whereby it is manifest 1. That election is as well proved not to be of faith as not of works 2. That reprobation is not of evill works yet the harshnesse hereof is nothing like so much appearing in its proper colours as upon their deciphering and blazing of it who are as zealous for making election to be upon foresight of faith and works though this latter member they are loath to have the World take notice of as they are opposite to the absolutenesse of reprobation Now whereas before I have shewed that there is a great deale of difference between absolute election unto salvation and election unto salvation absolute And that not one of our Divines doth maintain that God doth elect men unto salvation absolute but to obtain salvation upon their faith and repentance and finall perseverance therein In like sort there is as great difference between absolute reprobation unto damnation and reprobation unto damnation absolute And if none of our Divines doe maintain that God ordains any man of ripe years to obtain salvation otherwise then upon their faith and repentance and finall perseverance how much lesse doe they maintain that God ordains any man unto damnation otherwise then for his sinne and finall perseverance therein without repentance Whereas these enemies of the grace of God as Saint Austin sometimes called the Pelagians to make their cause more plausible to the affections or carnall men carry the matter
of a divine power supreame Now as God made himself known by his works so I nothing doubt but herewithall it was their duty to know him and according to their knowledge to serve him and glorifie him in acknowledgment of his glorious nature so farre as they took notice of it But as for a rule whereby they should worship him I know none that God had given them or that they could gather from contemplation of the creatures And surely the knowledge of God as a Creator only is nothing sufficient to salvation but the knowledge of him as a redeemer And therefore seeing the World by wisdome knew not God in the wisdome of God it pleased God by the foolishnesse of Preaching to save them that believe 1 Cor. 1. 21. And the Gentiles are set forth unto us in Scripture as such who knew not God 1 Thes 4. 5. 2 Thes 1. 8. And had they means sufficient without and ability sufficient within to know him How could it be that none of them should know him Was it because they would not How absurd a conceit is this to every one that understands and considers common Principles of Philosophy namely that the things that are subject to our free-will are contingentia aequaliter as soon falling out one way as the other And it is well known not only what paines they have taken but also with what strange successe in searching after the nature of the first mover as appears by Aristotle in the 12 th of his Metaphysicks Yet did not he attain for ought ever I could find to the acknowledgement of his free agency in the making of the world and in the government thereof Yet were they inexcusable and thus farre their knowledge brought them Rom. 1. 20. in changing the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birds and of fourefooted beasts and of creeping things The other place is Acts 17. 26. That he takes to be more full for his purpose there the Apostle speaking in an University and which had been miserably corrupted with the Atheisticall doctrine of Aristotle concerning an eternity of the World and Gods working necessarily not freely tending to the quenching of that light of naturall instinct which is more or lesse found in all as touching the Divine providence yet the Apostle even amongst such makes bold to suppose the creation of the World by God and that therefore he is Lord of Heaven and Earth and also obtrudeth upon their naturall consciences that God it is who giveth life and breath and all things and that he of one bloud whom we know to be Adam made all mankind to dwell on all the face of the Earth that he hath assigned the seasons of the yeare and what are they but Spring Summer Autumne Winter depending upon the motions of the heaven above and the bounds of their habitations what is that but the severall habitable parts of the earth for the habitation of all creatures in whose Nostrills is the breath of life not that every man or Nation hath his place of habitation appoynted by God though this also be true but nothing agreeable to Arminian Divinity which like an East wind blasts the providence of God throughout this the Apostle doth not obtrude upon them but the former generalls only and all this God hath done 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that they should seeke the Lord now this may be understood two waies either de facto God did intend that this indeed should be done by them or ex officio that it should be their duty of this distinction this Author takes no notice but hand over head takes it in the first sense as it were in spight both of the Apostle saying Who hath resisted his will And of the Psalmist professing that what he willeth he hath done both in Heaven and Earth But indeed this is mans duty to endeavour to know him that made him to this purpose he hath indued him with an understanding heart The spirit of man being as the lampe of God which searcheth all inwardnesse But as for the words following if happily they might seeke after him and find him though he be not farre from every one of us so that though he be not farre from every one of us in as much as in him we live and move and have our being and though they should seeke after him yet upon an if the Apostle plainly puts the finding of him For albeit Durand professeth that by the very light of nature we may attaine to the knowledge of God touching these things that belong to the unity of his nature yet who ever amongst the Gentiles attained hereunto after all their search God hath set the World in mans heart saith Solomon yet can he not find out the worke that he hath wrought from the beginning to the end we are yet to seeke in the knowledge of the creature how much more in the knowledge of the Creator Yet what shall all such knowledge profit a man if he be ignorant in the knowledge of him as a redeemer I come to Prosper l. 2. De vocatione Gentium cap. 4. God hath so disposed of the World as that the reasonable creature by the contemplation of Gods workes and tast of so many blessings imbuerctur he doth not say might be drawne but imbueretur might be indued to wit with the knowledge of God in such sort as to move him ad cultum dilectionem Dei. And all here mentioned both as touching the knowledge of God and touching the service and love of him is but as the object of mans duty signifying what ought to be done by him not as the object of Gods decree as whereby he determined what should be done indeed by him For had he determined this who could have resisted him Shall we say that voluntatis omnipotentis effectus impeditur a voluntate creaturae as Austin expresseth the absurdity hereof As for that which followeth not in the same Chapter as this Author writes whether out of his own reading or mistaking anothers dictates I know not but in the chapter following to wit c. 2. the former place being indeed c. 1. according to my book not cap. 4. As this Author quotes it And it is a truth considered in generall for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seeke the Lord God did move both Jewes and Gentiles the Jewes by his word over above his workes but the Gentiles only by his workes But the manner of the revelation made to the one and to the other was farre different as the same Author expresseth cap. 3. Aliter eos juvit quos ad cognoscendum se caeli terrae testimoniis conveniebat aliter illos quibus non solum elementorum famulatu sed etiam doctrina legis Prophetarum oraculis miraculorum signis Angelorum cooperationibus consulebat c. God he saith intended not to feed the Gentiles with outward and more common blessings
contrary vices And therefore they turne not their backs from these meanes but industriously embrace and prosecute them 1 Iohn 3. 3. Every man that hath this hope in himselfe purifyeth himselfe even as he is pure Esay 38. 5. When Hezechiah had received that promise from God of an addition of fifteen years to his life he did not therefore neglect the use of medicines or meat but that this promised event might be brought into act he applyed for the cure of his body the plaister which was prescribed unto him by the Prophet The Apostle doth altogether reiect this consequence of carnall security imputed to this Doctrine and that with a kind of indignation Rom. 6. 1. Shall we continue in sinne that grace may abound God forbid How shall we which are dead to sinne live any longer therein As if S. Paul would intimate unto us not only the incongruity but also the impossibility of such a sequel 2. As touching the event true it is that any the most wholsome truth of God may be perverted by the abuse of men But upon this doctrine we cannot acknowledge that there groweth any such inconvenience no not de facto that is in the event it selfe Let us take a view of the reformed Churches in which this confidence of perseverance and inviolable adoption is believed and maintained Doe we find that thereupon the bridle is let loose unto ryot That piety is trampled downe We give thankes unto God through our Lord Jesus Christ that amongst ours who enjoy this full perswasion of spirituall comfort and are confident that there is an inheritance which cannot be lost laid up for them in Heaven there is not found lesse care of Godlinesse nor lesse endeavour so farre forth as mans infirmity will suffer to live an unblameable life then is to be found among any sort of these who pinne their perseverance on their own free will and will not grant it to flow from any foregoing election of God This may suffice for answer to the generality of the crimination From the generality he descends to specialties And in the first place he urgeth It takes away hope and feare He beginnes with hope and enlargeth himselfe in the commendation thereof out of Scripture By this hope of Heaven did our Saviour stirre up himselfe to endure the crosse and despise the shame Heb. 12. He could not alleadge a more pregnant passage to cut his own throat and mortify the vigour of his argument For in this place it depends upon such a notion of hope as signifies only a possibility of obtaining a future good and not a necessity of obtaining it as afterwards himselfe accommodates it and so he will have the hope which here he insists upon such as is mixed with feare as if our Saviour were in doubt of obtaining a Crowne of glory By this he heartned his Disciples to suffer for his sake Math. 5. 12. Rejoyce and be glad for great is your reward in heaven Here also we have no hope mixed with fear whereupon he heartens them but the very assurance of faith grounded upon Christs promise and what greater assurance then this The like promise for assurance of faith is made Math. 10. 32. And indeed hope in the Scripture phrase though in these places there is no mention thereof is but an expectation of enjoying that whereof we have a certain assurance by Faith The object of faith being Verbum rei of hope res verbi as Luther is said to distinguish them Such is the hope signified by our looking for the Saviour Phil. 3. 20. For therefore we look for him because we are perswaded by the assurance of faith that he shall come and that as a Saviour unto us as there 't is expressed in these words Who shall change our vile bodies and make them like to his glorious body Such is the hope mentioned Col. 1. 5. as grounded upon their true knowledge of the grace of Christ v. 6. And upon their Faith v. 4. For upon believing we rejoyce with joy unspeakable and glorious 1 Pet. 1. And this joy is in hope of the glory of God Rom. 5. 2. Of the same nature is that hope Tit. 2. 13. So Abrahams looking for a City whose builder and maker is God Heb. 11. 8 9 10. But was not this hope of his grounded upon assurance of faith to enjoy it So Moses his seeing of him that was invisible was by the eye of faith And the scope of that whole Chapter is for the commendation of faith a faith therefore they had of a better resurrection and the certainty hereof was the certainty of faith Now let every sober reader judge which of our doctrines doth more tend to the justifying of a certainty of salvation the Arminians or ours That which followeth of the Husbandmen Merchants Souldiers is farre of another nature their hopes of their ends have no ground of faith many times it comes to passe that spem mentita seges though aliquis pendens in cruce vota facit yet most commonly it proves but a vaine hope Merchants many times prove bankrupts and Souldiers when they are most erected with hope of victory doe sometimes most shamefully take the foyle What a proud message did Benhadab send to Ahab 1 King 20. 10. The Gods doe so to mee and more also if the dust of Samaria be enough to all the people that follow mee for every man an handfull But Ahab answered him saying Let not him that girdeth his harnesse boast himselfe as he that putteth it off At the battle of Lipsich upon Tillies defeating of the Duke of Saxony word hereof was dispatched with post hast to the Emperour together with some of the Dukes Ensignes and scoffes upon the Duke himselfe they were confident of beating Sweden and that so all Germany should be theirs but herein that old Lad reckoned before his host the same Post brought heavy newes to Vienna at length of a great discomfiture to the Imperialists and of the victorious Army of the King of Sweden Yet a hope not only upon weake but sometimes upon very vaine grounds stirres up the spirit how much more upon certain grounds of good successe as that of the Apostle Rom. 6. Sinne shall not have the dominion over you for yee are not under the Law but under grace therefore let not sinne raigne over you as much as to say Play the men fight valiantly the Lords battailes against sinne and Satan for yee shall have the victory in the end The feare of Hell is a curbe to hold men in from wickednesse I willingly confesse but the knowledge hereof is not naturall but by revelation divine which to carnall men who live by fight is of little force Witnesse the story of the Welch-man who robbing an honest man upon the high way and being told by him that he should answer for it at the day of judgement saist thou me so quoth the thiefe and wilt thou trust me till that day then give me thy
he the Lord knoweth Now who doubts but that our doctrine of justification by faith and not by workes may be an occasion to some to abuse the grace of God unto wantonnesse such there were even in the Apostles daies but what Shall we therefore renounce that doctrine I am not yet come to the tempering of the manner of proposing this doctrine I have more to say before I come to that What difference is there in harshnesse between these doctrines If ye doe not believe therefore ye doe not believe because God hath ordained you to destruction and this If ye doe not believe therefore ye doe not believe because God hath not regenerated you Let any man shew how a doore is open to slothfulnesse more by the one then by the other especially considering the ground of all is mans inability to believe without this grace of God effectually preventing and working him unto faith Now this doctine is plainly taught and that particularly of certain persons to their faces Ioh 8. He that is of God heareth Gods word ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God The phrase to be of God I interpret here of regeneration but both Austin of old and our Divines of late doe interpret of election and so it is precisely the same with the Preaching of reprobation in his true colours as this Author interprets it and passeth this censure upon it as opening a doore to liberty and profanenesse which may I confesse well be occasionally to carnall men or to men possest with prejudicate opinions yet here it appears plainly to be in effect the same with that which our Saviour himselfe Preached But take this withall as it may be an occasion of slothfulnesse so it may be a meanes to humble men and beat them out of the presumptuous conceit of their own sufficiency to heare Gods word to believe to repent and the like and thereby to prepare them to look up unto God and to waite for him in his ordinances if so be as the Angell came downe to move the waters in the poole of Bethesda to make them medicinable so Gods spirit may come downe and make his word powerfull to the regenerating of them to the working of faith and repentance in them And I appeale to every sober mans judgement whether to this end tended not the very like Doctrine and admonition proposed by Moses to the Children of Israel in the Wildernesse Deut. 29. 2 3 4. Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and all his servants and unto all his Land The great temptations which thine eyes have seene those great miracles and wonders Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day For is it not Moses his purpose to set before their eyes how little they have profited in obedience and thankfulnesse unto God and amendment of life by all those great workes of his in the way of mercy towards them and in the way of judgement towards the Egyptians And what was the cause of all this but the hardnesse of their hearts and the blindnesse of their eyes and to what end doth he tell them that God alone can take away this hardnesse of heart and blindnesse of mind which hitherto he had not done Might he not seem to justify them in walking after the hardnesse of their hearts by this and harden them therein by this Doctrine of his like as this Author casts the like aspersion in part upon the like Doctrine of ours Yet Moses passeth not for this so he might set them in a right course to be made partakers of Gods grace and that by the ministry of the Law to humble and prepare them for the grace of God which is the Evangelicall use of the Law And it is remarkable that in the first verse of this Chapter these words are said to be the words of the Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Children of Israel in the land of Moab beside the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Wherefore seeing the Covenant made in Horeb was the Covenant of the Law it followeth that this Covenant is the Covenant of grace and these words are the words of the Covenant of grace which is plainly expressed in the next Chapter v. 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed that thou maiest love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maiest live And what is the usuall preparation hereunto but to humble men by convicting them of sinne and of their utter inability to help themselves and that nothing but Gods grace is able to give them an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare But yet because we doe not speake in the same measure of the spirit and of power as Moses and our Saviour did therefore we labour to decline all harshnesse as much as lyeth in our power where we see occasion is like to be taken of offence Therefore first as touching this discourse of Calvins If you believe not therefore it is because you are already destinated unto damnation I say this is untrue more waies then one First if he conceives destination unto damnation goes before Gods decree to deny faith this I utterly deny and have already proved that in no moment of reason doth the decree of damnation precede the decree of denying grace Therefore Gods decree to deny them grace is rather the cause why they believe not then the decree of damnation Secondly whether we take it of the one or of the other or of both yet the proposition is utterly untrue For it doth not follow that because a man doth not as yet believe therefore God hath decreed to deny him faith and because he hath so decreed therefore he denies him faith For he that believes not to day may believe to morrow Saul was sometimes a persecutor of Gods Church but was it at that time lawfull to conclude that because he did not then believe therefore he was destinated unto damnation so that the reason indeed is either because God hath not decreed at all to give them faith or because the time which God hath ordained for their conversion is not yet come This is so cleare that Calvin himselfe were he alive would not gainsay upon consideration Neither doth he justify this discourse but only saith we must be more wise then so to discourse to our Auditors But this Author in saying this is to set downe our doctrine of reprobation in its colours delivers that which is shamefully untrue and nothing sutable with our doctrine More necre to the matter we should say rather That like as therefore a man heareth Gods word because he is of God that is as I interpret it because he is regenerated of God so therefore men heare them not because they are not of
new like as a man regenerate is called a new man though as he hath the same members of his body nor more nor lesse so he hath still the same faculties and passions of the soule no more nor no lesse but these faculties are better seasoned these passions are better ordered and in like sort these members of the body are better employed then they were before before they were made weapons of unrighteousnesse unto sinne now they are made weapons of righteousnesse unto God Rom. 6. 13. Thirdly let us enquire whether by this pretended enlivening of the will common to all men there are any new habits engendred For that is the most probable And so we commonly say that in regeneration besides the receiving of the spirit of God to dwell in our hearts which is a great mistery there are certaine habits whereby our naturall powers are elevated unto supernaturall objects and thereby fitted to performe supernaturall acts and these are but three and accordingly but three sorts of supernatuall acts and commonly accounted the three Theologicall vertues Faith Hope and Charity And all morall vertues which for the substance of them in reference to their acts whereby they are acquired and which they doe bring forth are found in naturall men doe become Christian graces as they are sanctified by these three and as their actions doe proceed from these By faith we apprehend things beyond the compasse of reason by hope we wait for the enjoying of such things which neither eye hath seen c. And by charity we love God whom yet we have not seene even to the contempt of our selves Now I presume they will not say that these habits of Faith Hope and Charity are bestowed upon all and every one by that fained universall grace of theirs And what other habits they doe or can devise I have had as yet no experience neither am I able to comprehend And indeed faith doth not leave a man in indifferency to believe or no nor hope to wait or no nor charity to love God or no but they doe all dispose the heart of man to believe only to wait upon God only to love God only they being the curing of infidelity and despaire hatred of God or rather the removing of them yet but in part as regeneration in this life is but in part there being still a flesh in us lusting against the spirit Gal. 5. 17. Thus we may maintaine that albeit every man hath power to believe if he will and repent if he will a will to believe and a will to repent being the greatest worke in the work of grace I meane the renovation of the will and making it willing to that which is good though it requires strength also to master the lusting of the flesh whereby it growes simply and absolutely potent to doe every good thing without any effectuall impediment from within yet neverthelesse till this renovation be wrought by the hand of God we may well say there is an utter impotency morall to doe any thing that is good and pleasing in the sight of God whereby they cannot believe they cannot repent they cannot be subject to the law of God And if to Preach this doctrine be to breed sloth to drowne men in carnall security and to countenance carnall liberty then our Saviour did breed sloth c. when he told his hearers plainly He that is of God heareth Gods words ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God Ioh. 8. 47. As likewise when he Preached unto them in this maner No man can come to me except the Father which sent me draw him Ioh. 6. 44. And the Evangelist also in saying He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts and should be converted and I should heale them Ioh. 12. 40. And none more then Moses when he tells the people of Israel in the Wildernesse saying Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and to all his land The great temptations which thine eyes have seen those great miracles and wonders yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day Yet this Author confesseth that our Saviours hearers and Moses his hearers many of them might be Godly men but no thankes to this doctrine of theirs that they were so the true and naturall genius whereof to wit of Christs doctrine and Moses his doctrine for it is apparent that it is the same with ours in this particular we now speake of is to breed sloth to drowne men in carnall security and to countenance carnall liberty but to some thing else either to Gods providence who will not suffer this Doctrine for his own glory and the good of men to have any great stroake in their lives or to mens incogitancy who think not of reducing it ad praxim or drawing conclusions out of it but rest in the naked speculation of it as they doe of many others or lastly to some good practicall conclusions which they meet with in Gods word and apply to their lives as they doe not the former deductions such as these are Be ye holy as I am holy without holinesse no man shall see God Spectatum admissi risum teneatis amici Yet I pray restraine that and give your sorrow course rather in beholding such prophane aspersions cast upon the holy Doctrine of Christ his Prophets and Apostles as if thereby sloth were bred and men drowned in carnall security and carnall liberty countenanced We are of another mind for Wisedome is justified of her Children we observe the wisedome of God herein to prevent the greatest illusions of Satan and such Doctrines as stand in most opposition unto grace The morality of Heathen men was admirable yet were it farre greater we conceive no greater opposition unto grace then to look for justification by it In the next place we conceive there is no greater opposition unto grace then for a man to arrogate unto himselfe ability to doe that which is pleasing in the sight of God Our Saviour hath said Iohn 15. 4. that As the branch cannot beare fruit of it selfe except it abide in the Vine so neither can wee except we abide in him So that either all the World must be engrafted into Christ or else it is not possible they should bring forth sweet grapes Yet these men will have all and every one to have their wills enlivened and enabled to will any spirituall good whereby they shall be excited Is this doctrine of theirs fit to humble them and not rather to puffe them up with a conceit of their own sufficiency Is not our doctrine farre more fit to humble us and to what other end tendeth that of Moses The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive eyes to see and eares to heare unto this
day But to beat them out of the conceit of any sufficiency in them to profit either by Gods word or by his works so as to be drawn thereby to doe any thing that was pleasing in the sight of God and can there be any true holinesse where humility is wanting Againe they are only thankfull unto God for giving them power to believe to repent and for exciting them hereunto and concurring with them to the act of faith and repentance for they acknowledge no other grace but this We are bound by our doctrine to be thankfull not only for these operations but also for causing us to walke in his statutes to keepe his judgements and doe them for healing our wayes our back-slidings our Rebellions they by their Doctrine are bound to be thankfull unto God for no other grace in the way of grace prevenient then such as he vouchsafeth to reprobates and did vouchsafe to Cain to Judas and to the Divells themselves how is it that they are not stricken with feare least in this case their condition be no better then the condition of reprobates though God in good time may provide better things for them then their opinions have any congruity unto having course only to the obscuring and defacing of Gods grace We by our doctrine are bound to give God thanks for ruling us with a mighty hand and making us to passe under the rod and bringing us unto the bond of the Covenant for taking away our stony heart and giving us an heart of flesh for circumcising our hearts to love him with all our heart for raising us out of the dead when he found us dead in sinne for working in us both the will and the deed of every good worke not according to any thing in us but according to his good pleasure And this is so farre from breeding sloth in us or to drowne us in carnall security in the Apostles judgement as that upon this very ground as by a forceable inducement he exhorts us to worke out our Salvation with feare and trembling manifestly implying that when men are of another opinion as namely to thinke that the will and deed of any good thing is their owne worke or if they doe acknowledge it to be Gods work yet if they doe not acknowledge it to be wrought by God according to his good pleasure but according to some disposition whereby they dispose themselves thereunto that is the high-way to make them carnally secure and how but by a carnall confidence that they have power to turne to God when they list to believe and repent when they will and withall that their wills are as pliable to good as to evill and so make it an easy mater at any time to turne to God I appeale to the judgment of every sober conscience to judge betweene us which of our Doctrines most tends to the countenancing of carnall security according to the Tenor of the Apostles exhortation in this place and that in coherence with the reason whereby he doth enforce it theirs or ours But to proceed they acknowledge Christ to have merited for them only a power to believe and repent and meanes to excite them hereunto and concourse divine to the act of believing and repenting in case they will we acknowledge not only all this but over and above that Christ hath merited for us the working of our wills effectually and predominantly hereunto and that God makes us perfect to every good worke working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Nay what will you say if the Remonstrants now a dayes openly professe that Christ merited not for any man faith and regeneration and I commend them for their ingenuity in dealing fairly and plainly confessing that which their opinion doth manifestly drive unto Lastly we confesse that God hath power as to shew mercy on whom he will and harden whom he will so to make whom he will a vessell of mercy and whom he will a vessell of wrath this we clearely professe namely that God hath such power even over our selves and our childeren and all those that are neere and deare unto us as over any others But this these adversaries of ours now a days utterly deny now I pray consider whose doctrine savoreth of greater holinesse in acknowledging the soveraignty of God over his creatures theirs or ours But it will not be labour lost altogether to consider those causes whereunto he is pleased to impute that Godlinesse which is found in us The first is Gods providence and indeed I find them liberall enough in acknowledging Gods providence in generall termes and as forward to blast it when they come to particulars Now as for that providence which is the cause of Godlinesse we like plaine fellowes comonly call it grace and the ground of this Authors subtility in calling it providence and not grace I comprehend not But what is that operation of providence divine or grace which is the cause of Godlinesse Is it any other in his opinion then that universall grace whereby they have power to be Godly and which grace God affords unto Reprobates and that exciting grace whereby God perswades them to be Godly and his readinesse to concurre to any act of Godlinesse in case we will and is not all this afforded in his opinion to Reprobates as well as to the elect to them that have no Godlinesse at all in them as to them that have And why may not this doctrine of ours whereby we maintaine that God workes in us both the will and the deed according to his goodpleasure be a meanes to make us set our selves to the working out of our Salvation with feare and trembling considering that the Apostle professeth this doctrine of Gods energeticall operation of every good thing in us as a strong inducement to worke out our Salvation with feare and trembling and wherein consists any mans Godlinesse if not in this to wit in working out his Salvation with feare and trembling And is it not apparent that we maintaine this doctrine namely that God is he who workes in us both the will and the deed and every good thing and that according to his good pleasure in farre more undoubted manner then they doe And how can it appeare that they doe acknowledge this To give us power to will that which i good which is the effect of that universall grace they talke of is this to worke in us either the will or the deed To excite us by perswasion and exhortation to will doe that which is good to believe and to repent is to worke either in us the will or deed of that which is good of faith of repentance Lastly to be ready to concurre with us to the will or deed of faith and repentance if so be we will concurre with him to the same or to concurre with us to the producing of the act of willing the act of doing that which is good in
like as none were more opposite to the Epicures then they so none were more religious and devout among the Heathens then they Yet there is no opinion so true or good but by a prophane heart may be abused But as for the efficacy of Gods will we are so farre from maintaining that it takes away either the liberty of mans will or the contingency of second causes that we professe with Aquinas that the root of all contingency is the efficacious will of God and with the Authors of the Articles of the Church of Ireland Artic. 11. That God did from all eternity ordaine whatsoever in time should come to passe and yet neither the liberty nor the contingency of second causes is thereby destroyed but established rather DISCOURSE The Fift and last sort of Reasons It is an Enimy to True Comfort SECT I. I Am come to my last reason against it drawn from the Vncomfortablenesse of it It is a doctrine full of desperation both to them that stand and to them that are fallen to men out of temptation and in it It 1. Leads men into temptation 2. Leaves men in it And therefore it is no part of Gods word for that is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good newes to men a store-house of sweet consolations for them that stand and such as are fallen These things are written saith the Apostle Rom. 15. 4. That by patience and consolation of the Scriptures we might have hope implying that therefore was the word written and left to the Church that by the comforts contained in it those poore soules that look towards heaven might never want in any changes or chances of this mortall life a sweet gale of hope to refresh them and carry on their ship full merrily towards the Haven It leads men into temptation and into such a one too as is as sharpe and dangerous as any the tempter hath The Devill can easily perswade any man that makes absolute reprobation a part of his creed that he is one of those absolute Reprobates because there are more absolute Reprobates even an hundred for one then absolute chosen ones and a man hath a great deale more reason to think that he is one of the most then one of the least one of the huge multitude of inevitable castawaies then one of the little flock for whom God hath absolutely prepared a Kingdome Such a man is not only capable of but framed and fashioned by his opinion for this suggestion which is a very sore one if we may believe Calvin Bucer and Zanchius Calvin tells us Quod nulla tentatione vel gravius vel periculosius fideles percellit Satan that the Devill cannot assault a believer with a temptation more dangerous And a little after he saith It is so much the deadlier by how much commoner it is then any other Rarissimus est cujus non interdum animus hac cogitatione feriatur unde tibi salus nisi ex Dei electione Electionis autem quae tibi revelatio Quae si apud quempiam semel invaluit aut diris tormentis miserum perpetuo exeruciat aut reddit penitus attonitum So ordinary is the temptation that he who is at all times free from it is a rare man we are to conceive that he speakes of those that believe absolute reprobation and so dangerous it is that if it get strength he which is under it is either miserably tormented or mightily astonished And a little after this he saith againe Ergo si naufragium timemus sollicité ab hoc scopulo cavendum in quem nunquam sine exitio impingitur He that will not wrack his soule must keep from this rock Bucer also hath a passage like to this Vt caput omnis noxiae tentationis saith he repellenda est quaestio sumusnè praedestinati Nam qui de hoc dubitat nec vocatumse nec justificatum esse credere poterit hoc est nequit esse Christianus This doubt whether we are predestinated or no Must be repelled as the head of every pernitious temptation for he that doubts of this cannot be a Christian Praesumendum igitur ut principium fidei nos omnes esse a Deo praescitos Every man therefore must presume it as a principle of faith that he is elected This very speech of Bucers Zanchy makes use of to the same purpose We see then by the restimony of these worthy men that this temptation is very dangerous and ordinary too to such as think there are absolute reprobates The truth of both will farther appeare by the example of Petrus Hosuanus a Schoolemaster in Hungary who intending to hang himselfe signified in a letter which he left in his study for the satisfaction of his friends and Countrymen the cause of it in that writing he delivered these three things 1. That he was of Calvins and S. Austins opinion that men are not dealt withall secundum bona or mala opera according to their works good or evill but that there are occultiores causae more hidden causes of mens eternall condition 2. That he was one of that woefull company of absolute castawaies Vas formatum in ignominiam a vessell prepared to dishonour and that therefore though his life had been none of the worst he could not possibly be saved 3. That being unable to beare the dreadfull apprehensions of wrath with which he was affrighted he hanged himselfe For these are some of his last words there recorded Discedo igitur ad Lacus Infernales aeternum dedecus patriae meae Deo vos commendo cujus misericordia mihi negata est I goe to those infernall lakes a perpetuall reproach to my Country commending you to God whose mercy is denyed mee Out of this example we may easily collect two things 1. That men who think that there are many whom God hath utterly rejected out of his only will and pleasure may be easily brought to think by Satans suggestion that they are of that company And 2. That this temptation is very dangerous I conclude therefore the first part of my last Reason that absolute Reprobation leads men into temptation TWISSE Consideration AS I remember when this Author first had resort unto some prime stickler for the Arminian way to conferre with him there about it was told me that this Authour should alledge that our doctrine of election was a comfortable doctrine but then on the other side it was alledged that granting that yet with all it did expose to dessolutenes of life And therefore I little expect any such argument as this to be proposed least of all to be ranged amonst the nūber of those that are taken to be of a convincing nature Yet is it the lesse strange because the Apostle telleth us of some that their course is proficere in pejus to growe worse and worse But let us consider whether he speeds any better in this then in the former And whereas he saith It is a doctrine full of desperation both to them that stand
and to them that are fallen I doe not find that in the accommodation of this argument he takes any more notice of this distinction throughout this Section The Gospell is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the power of God unto Salvation but to whom Surely to them that believe Rom. 1. 16. and preserve Be faithfull unto death and I will give thee a Crowne of Life Revel 2. 10. He that believeth in him is not condemned but he that believeth not is condemned alredy because he hath not believed in the name of that only begotten Sonne of God John 3. 18. Likewise the comfort which the Scripture ministreth to strengthen men with patience to hold out in the promise of Everlasting Life though it be long in comming as which is the portion only of such as are not weary of well-doing faint not for according to that of the Apostle Be not weary of well-doing so in good time yee shall reape if you faint not Gal. 6. 9. And as for poore soules if they be poore in spirit undoubtedly they are blessed for theirs is the Kingdome of Heaven And whose doctrine the Arminian or ours doth best maintaine poverty of spirit I am very willing the different may judge Yet of the poore of the world and most dispised God doth choose to be rich in faith and in this poverty of spirit heires of the Kingdome which God hath prepared for them that love him And Gods Kingdome doth most consist of such poore and dispised creatures 1 Cor 1. 27 28. And as for this love of God we acknowledge that God doth not leave it in his elect to the liberty of their wills but rather that he workes it in them by the circumcision of the heart Deut 30. 6. The Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and withall thy soule that thou mayst live And indeed the Kingdom is promised to none but such as love him Jac 2. 5. It is a singular consolation that all things work together for the good of man but this consolation is applyed only to them that love God which are called according to his purpose Rom 8. 28. And as for the phrase of looking towards Heaven if thereby be meant their waiting for Christs comming I make no question but such also shall be delivered from the wrath to come 1 Thess 1. 10. It being not possible they should waite for him unlesse they love his appearing and the Apostle hath assured such that the Lord hath a Crowne of Righteousnesse in store to bestowe upon them 2 Tim 4. 8. And I take the like phraise to signify no lesse then the conversion of their hearts to God Jer 50. 4. In those dayes and in that time sayth the Lord the children of Israell shall come they and the children of Judah together going and weeping shall they goe and seeke the Lord their God v. 5 They shall aske the way to Sion with their faces thither-wards saying come let us joyne our selves to the Lord in a perpetuall Covenant that shall not be forgotten Now I come to the particular accommodation of this argument against our doctrine And of this he sayth that It leads men into temptation and into such a one as is as sharpe and dangerous as any the tempter hath Now the temptation here spoken of consists in this that The Divell can easily perswade a man that makes absolute reprobation a part of his Creed that he is one of those absolute reprobates because those are more absolute reprobates even an hundred for one then absolute chosen on s and a man hath a greatdeale more reason to thinke that he is one of the most then one of the least one of the huge multitude of inevitable castawayes then on of that little flock for whom God hath absolutely prepared a Kingdome And this he pretends to prove out of Calvin Bucer and Zanchius and this togither with a story related out of Georgius Major a Lutheran concerning Petrus Glosuanus a Schoole-master in Hungary is all his proofe Now in answer hereunto I will proceed by degrees First he continueth still to serve his turne with the equivocation of this phraise of absolute reprobation without distinguishing And albeit it may be gathered by his discourse that as Others doe so he himselfe considers it not quoad actum volentis as touching the act of God willing but quoad res volitas as touching the things willed Yet he is well pleased to confound the things willed into one as if they had no difference as touching their absolutenesse whereas the deniall of grace together with the inflicting of damnation which are the things willed by reprobation which accordingly is distinguished into Roprobation from grace reprobation from glory or unto damnation are so different that God doth decree indeed the absolutenesse of the one but he doth not at all decree the absolutenesse of the other but meerly the conditionall nature thereof For grace he denieth and purposeth to deny absolutely For the Apostle plainly professeth That as God hath mercy on whom he will Rom 9. 18. By bringing them unto faith Rom. 11. 30. So he hardeneth whom he will by denying faith unto them But as for Glory and damnation like as God doth not absolutely so neither did he decree absolutely to deny the one inflict the other but only conditionally to wit in case of finall perseverance in sin Therefore I have reason to understand him of reprobation from grace as often as he speaks of absolute reprobation cōsequently his meaning must be that God doth not deny grace but upon condition of mans doing or not doing some thing so that if either man did something or leave undon some thing thē God would give him grace which for want thereof he doth not which is as good as in plain termes to professe That grace is given according to works Then againe consider what is that grace which is given upon condition and not absolutely by these mens opinion Is it which thy call universall and wherein consists the enlivening of mans will the enabling of him to will any spirituall good whereto he shall be excited This cannot be given any otherwise then absolutely for as much as they make it to be given when a man commeth into the world and to that purpose doe alleadge that John 1. 9. This is that true light which enlightens every man that commeth into the world Or Is it exciting grace that is not given absolutely This cannot be neither For this exciting grace is in the ministry of the Word Now when the Gospell is brought unto a Nation not only the civill sort but the most prophane are made partakers of it indifferently so that predestination hereunto must be acknowledged even by the Arminians themseves to be absolute as it signifies predestination unto grace prevenient So that if any predestination unto grace be not absolute but
himselfe confesseth to be the worke of God's providence in his Theses of providence and which in Scripture phrase is stiled the leading into temptation against which our Saviour taught his disciples to pray Thirdly the giving them over to the power of Satan And lastly God's generall concourse in moving all creatures to worke agreably to their natures necessary things necessarily contingent Agents contingently and free Agents freely But my answer to this I have prosecuted at large in more sheets then here are leaves in my answer to M. Hoord 3. As for want of mercy we willingly confesse according to the tenour of God's word as this Authour delivers himselfe without all respect thereunto that God shewes no mercy in hardning them For to harden in Scripture phrase is opposite to God's shewing mercy And as he is bound to none so he professeth that He will shew mercy on whom he will shew mercy and will have compassion on whom he will have compassion And this the Apostle takes hold of in prosecuting the doctrine of election and concludeth from hence in part in part from God's hardening of Pharaoh that God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth by hardning meaning such an operation the consequence whereof is alwaies disobedience as appeares by the objection derived therehence in the words following Thou wilt say then why doth he yet complaine now he complaines only of disobedience For who hath resisted his will Manifestly implying that when God hardens man unto disobedience it is his secret will that he shall disobey Like as when God hardned Pharaoh that he should not let Israel goe It was God's secret will that he should not let Israel goe for a good while Secret I say in distinction from the will of command which is alwaies made knowne to them who are commanded But it pleased the Lord to make this will of his knowne to Moses though it was kept secret from Pharaoh yet afterwards he told Pharaoh to his face by his servant Moses saying And indeed for this cause have I appointed thee to shew my power in thee and to declare my name to all the world though Pharaoh believed it not as appeares by that which followeth yet thou exaltest thy selfe against me and lettest them not goe But this Authour together with M. Hoord goeth by other rules which his own fancy suggest's unto him he will have God's love and mercy extended to all and every one Christ's redemption to extend to all and every one the Covenant of grace to comprehend all and every one and upon these universalities he grounds his transcendent consolations whence it comes to passe that Abraham the father of the faithfull was of no more comfortable condition then the grand Signior among the Turkes And the grand Siginior had as good grounds of consolatiō as Abraham himselfe Yet this not shewing of mercy on the vessells of wrath prepared unto destruction tends to the greater demonstration of his mercy on the vessells of mercy prepared unto glory As the Apostle testifies Ro 9. 23. And let this Author tell Saint Paul if he thinks good That this is the disposition of hang-men rather then of good Princes And this is the perpetuall tenour of this Authour's discourse to conforme God's courses to the conditions of courses humane Man is bound to shew mercy on all God is not God is free to pardon whom he will man is not If we permit men to sinne in case we can hinder them we shall be guilty with them but how innumerable are the sins committed in the world which if God would hinder could never be committed As Austin discourseth lib. 5. contra Iulian Pelag cap. 4 In nothing did Nero's cruelty shew it selfe more then in prolonging the lives of men that he might torment them the more What then Shall we taxe God for crueltie in keeping mens bodies and soules alive for ever in hell fire to torment them everlastingly without end See what a doore of blasphemy is opened against the just God that will doe no iniquity by this Authour 's unshamefast discourse By this let the indifferent Reader judge of this Authour 's present performance withall take notice of that which himselfe hath dissembled all along touching his own tenet namely that of every sinfull act committed by the creature God is the efficient cause as touching the substance of the act as for the sinfulnesse thereof we hold it impossible that God can have any agency at all therein or any culpable deficiency forasmuch as he neither doth ought which he should not doe or after what manner he should not nor leaves undone ought which he should doe or after what manner he should doe all which are incident to the creature who is subject to a law but not at all to the Creatour who gives lawes to others but himselfe works according to the counsell of his own will in all things The summe is whatsoever we deliver as touching God's secret providence in evill we have expresse scripture for us nothing but pretence of carnall reason against us which when it comes to be examined is found subject to manifest contradiction both as touching their feigning things future without the decree of God And as touching their conditionall decrees and conditionall concurrences ours is not in any particular The greatest shew of contradiction on our parts is in the point of necessitie and libertie Now to cleare this as others have taken paines so have I in my Vindiciae proving divers and sundry waies that these two doe amically conspire to wit the necessitie being only upon supposition the liberty and contingency simply so called only it is not to be expected that there should be no difference between the liberty of the creatures and the liberty of God the Creator Or that the creature in her operation should be exempt from the operation of God The second cause exempt from the motion of the first whereunto this Authour addresseth not the least answer As for the difference which this Authour puts between the upper way and the lower in making God the Authour of sinne compare this with Arminius his profession Namely that the same twenty reasons which he objected against the upper way may all of them be accommodated against the lower way all of them admitting of the same distinctions which this Authour invades to cleare God from being the Authour of sinne The second inconvenience Section 1. The second inconvenienceis the overthrow of true religion and good goverment among men To this this opinion seemeth to tend for these reasons 1. Because it maketh sinne to be no sinne indeed but only in opinion We use to say necessity hath no law creatures or actions in which necessity beares sway are without saw Lyons are not forbidden to prey birds to fly fishes to swimme or any bruit creatures to doe according to their kinds because their actions are naturall and necessary they cannot upon any