〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 OR A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISME BEING A DISCOVERY of the old Pelagian Idol Free-will with the new Goddesse Contingency advancing themselves into the Throne of the God of heaven to the prejudice of his Grace Providence and Supreme Dominion over the children of men Wherein the maine errors of the Arminians are laid open by which they are fallen off from the received Doctrine of all the Reformed Churches with their opposition in divers particulars to the Doctrine established in the Church of England Discovered out of their owne writings and confessions and confuted by the Word of God By Iohn Owen Master of Arts of Queens Colledge in Oxon. Produce your cause saith the Lord bring forth your strong reasons saith the King of Iacob Isa 41. 21. Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker let the pot sheards strive with the potsheards of the earth Chap. 45. 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Constant apud Socrat. Lib. 1. Cap. 10. LONDON Printed by I. L. for Phil. Stephens at the golden Lion in Pauls Church-yard 1643. TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE THE LORDS AND GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMITTEE FOR RELIGION THe many ample testimonies of zealous reverence to the providence of God as well as affectionate care for the priviledges of men which have beene given by this Honourable Assembly of Parliament incourage the adorers of the one no lesse then the Lovers of the other to vindicate that also from the incroachments of men And as it was not doubtlesse without divine disposition that those should be the chiefest Agents in robbing men of their priviledges who had nefariously attēpted to spoile God of his providence so we hope the same All-ruling hand hath disposed of them to be glorious instruments of re-advancing his right and supreme dominion over the hearts of men whose hearts he hath prepared with courage and constancy to establish men in their inviolated rights by reducing a sweet Harmony between awfull Sovereigntie and a well moderated libertie Now the first of these being demandated to your particular care I come unto you with a Bill of Complaint against no small number in this Kingdome who have wickedly violated our interest in the providence of God and have attempted to bring in the forreigne power of an old Idol to the great prejudice of all the true subjects and servants of the most High My accusation I make good by the evidence of the fact joyned with their owne confessions And because to wave the imputation of violent intrusion into the dominion of another they lay some claime and pretend some title unto it I shall briefely shew how it is contrary to the expresse termes of the Great Charter of heaven to have any such power introduced amongst men Your knowne Love to truth and the Gospel of Christ makes it altogether needlesse for me to stirre you up by any motives to hearken to this just Complaint and provide a timely remedy for this growing evill especially since experience hath so cleerely taught us here in England that not onely eternall but temporall happinesse also dependeth on the flourishing of the Truth of Christs Gospel Iustice and Religion were alwaies conceived as the maine Columnes and upholders of any State or Common-wealth like two pillars in a building whereof the one cannot stand without the other nor the whole fabricke without them both As the Philosopher spake of Logick and Rhetoricke they are Artes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 mutually ayding each other and both ayming at the same end though in different manners so they without repugnancie concurre and sweetely fall in one with another for the reiglement and direction of every person in a Common-wealth to make the whole happy and blessed and where they are both thus united there and onely there is the blessing in assurance whereof Hezekiah rejoyced Truth and Peace An agreement without Truth is no Peace but a covenant with Death a league with Hell a conspiracie against the Kingdome of Christ a stout rebellion against the God of Heaven and without Iustice great Common-wealths are but great troopes of Robbers Now the result of the one of these is civill Peace of the other Ecclesiasticall betwixt which two there is a great sympathie a strict connexion having on each other a mutuall dependence Is there any disturbance of the State it is usually attended with Schismes and factions in the Church and the divisions of the Church are too often even the subversions of the Common-wealth Thus it hath beene ever since that unhappy difference betweene Cain and Abel which was not concerning the bounds and limits of their inheritance nor which of them should be heire to the whole world but about the Dictates of Religion the offering of their sacrifices This fire also of dissention hath beene more stirred up since the Prince of Peace hath by his Gospel sent the Sword amongst us for the preaching thereof meeting with the strong holds of Satan and the depraved corruption of humane nature must needs occasion a great shaking of the earth But most especially distracted Christendome hath found fearefull issues of this discord since the proud Romish Prelates have sought to establish their hell-broached errors by inventing and maintaining uncharitable destructive censures against all that oppose them which first causing Schismes and distractions in the Church then being helped forwards by the blindnesse and cruelty of ambitious Potentates have raised war of nation against nation witnesse the Spanish Invasion of 88. of a people within themselves as in the late Civill wars of France where after divers horrible Massacres many chose rather to die Souldiers then Martyrs And Oh that this truth might not at this day be written with the blood of almost expiring Ireland Yea it hath lastly descended to dissention betwixt private parties witnesse the horrible murder of Diazius whose brains were chopt out with an axe by his own brother Alphonsus for forsaking the Romish Religion what rents in State what grudgings hatreds and exasperations of mind among private men have happened by reason of some inferiour differences we all at this day grieve to behold tantum Religio potuit suadere malorum most concerning then is it for us to endevour obedience to our Saviours precept of seeking first the kingdome of God that we may be partakers of the good things comprised in the promise annexed were there but this one Argument for to seek the peace of the Church because thereon depends the peace of the Common wealth it were sufficient to quicken our utmost industry for the attaining of it Now what peace in the Church without Truth all conformitie to any thing else is but the agreement of Herod and Pilate to destroy Christ and his Kingdome neither is it this or that particular truth but the whole Counsell of God revealed unto us without adding or detracting whose embracement is required to make our Peace firme and stable No halting betwixt Iehovah and Baal Christ and Antichrist as good be all
Philistine and worshippers of Dagon as to speake part the language of Ashdod and part the language of the Iewes hence hence hath been the rise of all our miseries of all our dissentions whilest factious men laboured every day to commend themselves to them who sate aloft in the Temple of God by introducing new Popish Arminian errors whose Patronage they had wickedly undertaken who would have thought that our Church would ever have given entertainment to these Belgicke Semipelagians who have cast dirt upon the faces and raked up the ashes of all those great and pious soules whom God magnified in using as his instruments to reforme his Church to the least of which the whole troope of Arminians shall never make themselves equall though they swell till they breake what benefit did ever come to this Church by attempting to prove that the chiefe part in the severall degrees of our salvation is to be ascribed unto our selves rather then God which is the head and summe of all the Controversies between them and us and must not the introducing and fomenting of a doctrine so opposite to that truth our Church hath quietly enjoyed ever since the first reformation necessarily bring along with it Schismes and dissentions so long as any remaine who love the truth or esteeme the Gospel above preferment Neither let any deceive your Wisdomes by affirming that they are differences of an inferiour nature that are at this day agitated between the Arminians and the Orthodox Divines of the reformed Church be pleased but to cast an eye on the following instances and you will finde them hewing at the very root of Christianity Consider seriously their denying of that fundamentall Article of Originall sin Is this but a small escape in Theologie why what need of the Gospel what need of Christ himselfe if our nature be not guilty depraved corrupted neither are many of the rest of lesse importance surely these are not things in quibus possimus dissentire salva pace ac charitate as Austin speaks about which we may differ without losse of peace or charitie one Church cannot wrap in her communion Austin and Pelagius Calvine and Arminius I have here onely given you a taste whereby you may judge of the rest of their fruit mors in olla mors in olla their doctrine of the finall apostasie of the elect of true beleevers of a wavering haesitancy concerning our present grace and future glory with divers others I have wholly omitted those I have produced are enough to make their abettors uncapable of our Church communion the Sacred bond of peace compasseth onely the unitie of that Spirit which leadeth into all truth We must not offer the right hand of fellowship but rather proclaime 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an holy warre to such enemies of Gods providence Christs merit and the powerfull operation of the holy Spirit neither let any object that all the Arminians do not openly professe all these errours I have recounted let ours then shew wherein they differ from their Masters we see their owne confessions we know their arts 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the depths and crafts of Satan we know the several wayes they have to introduce and insinuate their Heterodoxies into the mindes of men with some they appeare onely to dislike our doctrine of reprobation with others to claime an allowable libertie of the will but yet for the most part like the Serpent where ever she gets in her head she will wriggle in her whole body sting and all give but the least admission and the whole poyson must be swallowed What was the intention of the maintainers of these strange assertions amongst us I know not whether the efficacie of errour prevailed really with them or no or whether it were the better to comply with Popery and thereby to draw us back againe unto Egypt but this I have heard that it was affirmed on knowledge in a former Parliament that the introduction of Arminianisme amongst us was the issue of a Spanish consultation it is a strange story that learned Zanchius tels us how upon the death of the Cardinall of Lorraigne there was found in his Study a note of the names of divers Germane Doctors and Ministers being Lutherans to whom was paid an annuall pension by the assignment of the Cardinall that they might take pains to oppose the Calvinists and so by cherishing dissention reduce the people againe to Popery If there be any such amongst us who upon such poore inconsiderable motives would be wonne to betray the Gospel of Christ God grant them repentance before it be too late however vpon what grounds with what intentions for what ends soever these Tares have been sowed amongst us by envious men the hope of all the piously learned in the Kingdome is that by your effectuall care and diligence some meanes may be found to root them out Now God Almightie increase and fill your whole Honourable Societie with wisedome zeale knowledge and all other Christian graces necessary for your great calling and employments which is the daily prayer of Your most humble and devoted servant IOHN OVVEN To the Christian Reader READER THou canst not be such a stranger in our Izrael as that it should be necessary for me to acquaint thee with the first sowing and spreading of these Tares in the Field of the Church much lesse to declare what divisions and thoughts of heart what open bitter contentions to the losse of Ecclesiasticall peace have beene stirred up amongst us about them onely some few things relating to this my particular endeavour I would willingly premonish thee of First Never were so many prodigious errours introduced into a Church with so high a hand and so little opposition as these into ours since the nation of Christians was known in the world the chiefe cause I take to be that which Aeneas Sylvius gave why more maintained the Pope to be above the Councel then the Councel above the Pope because Popes gave Archbishopricks Bishopricks c. but the Councels sued in forma pauperis and therefore could scarse get an Advocate to plead their cause the fates of our Church having of late devolved the government thereof into the hands of men tainted with this poyson Arminianisme became backed with the powerfull Arguments of praise and preferment and quickly prevailed to beat poore naked truth into a corner It is high time then for all the lovers of the old way to oppose this innovation prevailing by such unworthy means before our breach grow great like the Sea and there be none to heale it My intention in this weake indeavour which is but the undigested issue of a few broken houres too many causes in these furious malignant dayes continually interrupting the course of my studies is but to stirre up such who having more leasure and greater abilities will not as yet move a finger to help vindicate oppressed Truth In the meane time I hope this discovery may not be
unusefull especially to such who wanting either will or abilities to peruse larger discourses may yet be allured by their words which are smoother then oyle to tast the poyson of Aspes that is under their lips Satan hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 depths where to hide and methods how to broach his lies and never did any of his Emissaries employ his received talents with more skill and diligence then our Arminians labouring earnestly in the first place to in still some errors that are most plausible intending chiefly an introduction of them that are more palpable knowing that if those be for a time suppressed untill these be well digested they will follow of their owne accord wherefore I have endeavoured to lay open to the view of all some of their foundation errors not usually discussed on which the whole inconsistent superstructure is erected whereby it will appeare how under a most â—â—ine pretence of furthering Piety they have prevaricated against the very grounds of Christianitie wherein First I have not observed the same method in handling each particular Controversie but followed such severall waies as seemed most convenient to cleere the truth and discover their heresies Secondly some of their errors I have not touched at all as those concerning universall grace justification the finall Apostacy of true beleevers because they came not within the compasse of my proposed method as you may see Chap. 1. where you have the summe of the whole discourse Thirdly I have given some instances of their opposing the received Doctrine of the Church of England contained in divers of the 39. Articles which would it did not yeeld us iust cause of further complaint against the iniquitie of those times whereinto we were lately fallen Had a poor Puritan offended against halfe so many Canons as they opposed Articles he had forfeited his livelihood if not endangered his life I would I could heare any other probable reason why divers Prelates were so zealous for the discipline and so negligent of the Doctrine of the Church but because the one was reformed by the word of God the other remaining as we found it in the times of Popery Fourthly I have not purposely undertaken to answer any of their Arguments referring that labour to a further designe even a clearing of our Doctrine of reprobation and of the administration of Gods providence towards the Reprobates and over all their actions from those calumnious aspersions they cast upon it but concerning this I feare the discouragements of these wofull dayes will leave me nothing but a desire that so necessary a worke may finde a more able Pen IOHN OVVEN Arma Vt omnis controversia dirimatur per verbum Dei consilium hoc suspectum videre debet non uno nomine pernitiosum est Remon vindic ad Videl p. 30. 1. Lib. Arbitrium 2. Contingentia 3. Indifferentia ad 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 velle nolle 4. Supremum actus sui dominium 5. Ens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 independens in agendo divinam 1. Voluntatem mutabilem 2 Scientiam fallibilem conjecturalem 3. Providentiam otiosam Constituentia 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Specimen Primus Copiarum impetus in Campo qui de nomine alterius ducis Lib. Arbit dicitur seu humanarum actionum ditio Vtrinque autem á voluntate humana remota confossa jacent 1. Coactio 2. Necessitas absoluta interna 3. Mera seu solitaria spontaneitas Arma Ad Legem ad Prophetas Scrutamini Scripturas Iohan. 5. 39. 1. Decretum absolutum immutabile 2. Praescientia infallibilis 3. Providentia per 1. Sustentationem 2. Determinationem 3. Gubernationem 4. Directionem summe efficaâ— quibus omnem creaturam 1. Essentiam 2. Subsistentiam 3. Motionem 4. Determinationem ad actum 5. Efficientiam in agendo realem debere necesse est 1. Lib. Arbit 2. Integritas naturae 3. Lumen naturale 4. Actus elicitus 5. Faciens quod in se est 6. Faedus novum universale 7. Vires credendi per lapsum non amissae 8. Potentia active obedientialis ad bonum morale 9. Suasio moralis Lingua nostra praevaleamus labia nostra penes nos sunt quis esset nobis Dominus Psal 12. His tu gradibus Romule Arpin ascendisti in coelum Dei munus est quod vivimus nostrum vero quod bene sancteque vivimus fortunam a Deo petendam à seipso sumendam esse sapientiam Quia sibi quisque virtutem aâ—quirit nemo de sapientibus de ea gratias Deo egit Impetus copiarum secundus circa gratiam naturam ubi adversis frontibus cominus pugnatur Campus autem hic status naturae post lapsum vocetur cujus loca praecipua quae in mappa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 delineantur sunt 1. Reatus primi peccati 2. Corruptio naturae 3. Mors spiritualis ubi multa mortuorum sepulchra e quibus resurgente Christo exierunt pauci 4. Impotentia credendi 5. Caecitas intellectus 6. Pravitas voluntatis 7. Obduratio cordis 8. Aversio à bono incommutabili 9. Propensio ad bonum commutabile 1. Praedestinatio gratuita 2. Meritum Christi 3. Operatio Spiritus 4. Gratia efficax 5. Infusio habituum 6. Vocatio secundum immutabile dei proposituÌ„ 7. Evangelium Iesu Christi 8. Liber vitae Non nobis Domine non nobis sed nomini tuo da honorem Psal 114. Nam quos praescivit etiam praedestinavit conformandos imagini filii sui ut is sit primogenitus inter multos fratres quos vero praedestinavit eos etiam vocavit quos vocavit eos etiam iustificavit quos justificavit eos etiam glorificavit Rom. 8. Cui soli sapienti gloria sit per Iesum Christum in secula Reader SOme sheets of this Treatise being printed after the first draught of the Authour and a great part of it in his absence makes it require thy courtesie favourably to correct any misprinting or greater oversight that may prejudice the sense thereof to take notice also of these follow Errata but account them as not committed because corrected PAg. 17. l 9. read mutability p. 25. l. 5 dele and p. 29. l. 23. r. cap. p. 34. l. 17. for essence r. esteeme p. 36. l 21 22. r. his law cannot possibly aime at nothing p. 37. l. 20. d. it p. 40. l. 5. r. tolerable l 6. r. them p. 42. l. 1. r. and yet it is not l. 2. d yet l. 8. d neither l. 22. r. that we p. 44. l 18. or no. in p. 45. l. 24. r. not unneces 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 corrupted p. 53. l. 15. r. can be deriv p. 56. l. 25. r. as equall an as p. 59. l. 3 â— r. laid downe p. 62. l. 25. us first p. 63. l. 2. for events r deserts p. 68. l. 27. of God in p. 78. l 36. r. sinners deserve p. 116. l. 12. r. for granted p. 119. l. 12. by those p. 120. l. 25. r. his will and heavenly instructions p. 128. l. 1.
Agent p. 130. l. 21. r. nor any thing In the Margin Pag. 7. h omiss grat p. 15. c datrib lib. 3 p. 24 c dele Aristot p 46. f vellet p. 47. m desiderio p. 65. m de bono perseve p. 75. k dimanet 3 p. 117. c Fest Hom. Peltium p. 134. f praecipienti p. 135. 1. Cor. ad Molin A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISME 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. I. THe soule of man by reason of the corruption of nature is not only darkened with a mist of ignorance whereby he is dis-inabled for the comprehending of divine truth but is also armed with prejudice and opposition against some parts thereof which are either most above or most contrarie to some false principles which he hath framed unto himselfe As a desire of selfe-sufficiencie was the first cause of this infirmitie so a conceit thereof is that where with he still languisheth nothing doth he more contend for then an independencie of any supreme power which might either helpe hinder or controll him in his actions This is that bitter root from whence have sprung all those heresies and wretched contentions which have troubled the Church concerning the power of man in working his owne happinesse and his exemption from the over-ruling providence of Almightie God All which wrangling disputes of carnall reason against the word of God come at last to this head whether the first and chiefest part in disposing of things in this world ought to be ascribed to God or man men for the most part have vindicated this preheminence unto themselves by exclamations that so it must be or else that God is unjust and his waies unequall never did any men postquam Christiana gens esse caepit more eagerly endeavour the erecting of this Babel then the Arminians the modern blinded Patrons of humane selfe-sufficiencie All whose innovations in the received doctrine of the reformed Churches aime at and tend to one of these two ends First to exempt themselves from Gods jurisdiction to free themselves from the supreme dominion of his all-ruling providence not to live and move in him but to have an absolute independent power in all their actions so that the event of all things wherein they have any interest might have a considerable relation to nothing but chance contingencie and their owne wils a most nefarious sacrilegious attempt to this end First they deny the eternitie and unchangeablenesse of Gods decrees for those being established they feare they should be kept within bounds from doing any thing but what his counsel hath determined should be done if the purposes of the strength of Israel be eternall and immutable their idoll Free-will must be limited their independencie prejudiced wherefore they chuse rather to affirme that his decrees are temporary and changeable yea that he doth really change them according to the severall mutations he sees in us which how a wild a conceit it is how contrary to the pure nature of God how destructive to his attributes I shall shew in the second Chapter Secondly they question the praescience or foreknowledge of God for if knowne unto God are all his workes from the beginning if he certainely foreknow all things that shall hereafter come to passe it seemes to cast an infallibilitie of event upon all their actions which encroaches upon the large territory of their new goddesse contingencie nay it would quite dethrone the Queene of heaven and induce a kinde of necessitie of our doing all and nothing but what God foreknows now that to deny this praescience is destructive to the very essence of the Deitie and plain atheisme shall be declared Chapter the third Thirdly they depose the all-governing providence of this King of Nations denying its energeticall effectuall power in turning the hearts ruling the thoughts determining the wils and disposing the actions of men by granting nothing unto it but a generall power and influence to be limited and used according to the inclination and will of every particular agent so making Almighty God a desirer that many things were otherwise then they are and an idle spectator of most things that are done in the world the falsenesse of which assertions shall be proved Chapter the fourth Fourthly they denie the irresistibilitie and uncontrolable power of Gods will affirming that oftentimes he seriously willeth and intendeth what he cannot accomplish and so is deceived of his ayme nay whereas he desireth and really intendeth to save every man it is wholly in their owne power whether he shall save any one or no otherwise their Idol Free-will should have but a poore deitie if God could how and when he would crosse and resist him in his dominion concerning this see Chapter the fifth His gradibus itur in coelum corrupted nature is still readie either nefariously with Adam to attempt to be like God or to thinke foolishly that he is altogether like unto us one of which inconveniences all men runne into who have not learned to submit their fraile wils to the Almightie will of God and captivate their understandings to the obedience of faith Secondly the second end at which the new doctrine of the Arminians aimeth is to cleere humane nature from the heavie imputation of being sinfull corrupted wise to doe evill but unable to doe good and so to vindicate unto themselves a power and abilitie of doing all that good which God can justly require to be done by them in the state wherein they are of making themselves differ from other who will not make so good use of the endowments of their natures that so the first and chiefest part in the worke of their salvation may be ascribed unto themselves a proud Luciferian endeavour to this end First they deny that doctrine of predestination whereby God is affirmed to have chosen certaine men before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and obtaine everlasting life by the merit of Christ to the praise of his glorious grace any such predestination which may be the fountaine and cause of grace or glory determining the persons according to Gods good pleasure on whom they shall be bestowed for this doctrine would make the speciall grace of God to be the sole cause of all the good that is in the elect more then the reprobates would make faith the worke and gift of God with divers other things which would shew their Idol to be nothing of no value wherefore what a corrupt heresie they have substitute into the place hereof see Chapter the sixth Secondly they denie originall sinne and its demerit which being rightly understood would easily demonstrate that notwithstanding all the labour of the Smith the Carpenter and the Painter yet their Idol is of its owne nature but an unprofitable blocke it will discover not onely the impotencie of doing good which is in our nature but shew also whence we have it see Chapter the seventh Thirdly if ye will charge our humane nature with a
no distinction of men halfe and wholly elected where it is affirmed that it is impossible the elect should be seduced Matth. 24. 24. that none shall snatch Christs sheep out of his fathers hand Ioh. 11. 28 29. what would they have more Gods purpose of election is sealed up 2 Tim. 2. 19. and therefore cannot be revoked it must stand firme Rom. 9. 11. in spight of all opposition neither will reason allow us to thinke any immanent act of God to be incomplete or revocable because of the neere alliance it hath with his very nature but reason Scripture God himselfe all must give place to any absurdities if they stand in the Arminian way bringing in their Idoll with shouts and preparing his throne by claiming the cause of their predestination to be in themselves Thirdly the Article is cleere that the object of this predestion is some particular men chosen out of mankinde that is it is such an act of God as concerneth some men in particular taking them as it were aside from the middest of their brethren and designing them for some speciall end and purpose the Scripture also aboundeth in asserting this veritie calling them that are so chosen a few Mat. 20. 16. which must needs denote some certaine persons and the residue according to election Rom. 11. 5. those whom God knows to be his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Men ordained to eternall life Acts 13. 48. us Rom. 8. 39. those that are written in the Lambes booke of life Revel 21. 27. all which and divers others clearely prove that the number of the elect is certaine not only materially as they say that there are so many but formally also that these particular persons and no other are they which cannot be altered nay the very nature of the thing it selfe doth so demonstratively evince it that I wonder it can possibly be conceived under any other notion to apprehend an election of men not circumscribed with the circumstance of particular persons is such a conceited Platonicall abstraction as it seemes strange that any one dares professe to understand that there should be a predestination and none predestinated an election and none elected a choise amongst many yet none left or taken a decree to save men and yet thereby salvation destinated to no one man either re aut spe indeed or in expectation in a word that there should be a purpose of God to bring men unto glory standing inviolable though never any one attained the proposed end is such a riddle as no Oedipus can unfold now such an election such a predestination have the Arminians substituted in the place of Gods everlasting decree we deny say they that Gods election extendeth it selfe to any singular persons as singular persons that is that any particular persons as Peter Paul Iohn are by it elected no how then Why God hath appointed without difference to dispense the means of faith and as he seeth these persons to beleeve or not to beleeve by the use of those means so at length he determineth of them as saith Corvinus well then God chooseth no particular man to salvation but whom he seeth beleeving by his own power with the helpe only of such means as are affoorded unto others who never beleeve and as he maketh himselfe thus differ from them by a good use of his own abilities so also he may be reduced againe into the same predicament and then his election which respecteth not him in his person but only his qualification quite vanisheth but is this Gods decree of election yes say they and make a dolefull complaint that any other doctrine should be taught in the Church it is obtruded say the true born sons of Arminius on the Church as a most holy doctrine that God by an absolute immutable decree from all eternitie out of his own good pleasure hath chosen certaine persons and those but a few in comparison without any respect had to their faith and obedience and predestinated them to everlasting life but what so great exception is this doctrine lyable unto what wickednesse doth it include that it should not be accounted most holy nay is not only the matter but the very tearmes of it contained in the Scripture doth not it say the elect are few and they chosen before the foundation of the world without any respect to their obedience or any thing that they had done out of Gods meere gracious good pleasure that his free purpose according to election might stand even because so it pleased him and this that they might be holy beleeve and be sanctified that they might come unto Christ and by him be preserved into everlasting life yea this is that which gals them no such will can be ascribed unto God whereby he so willeth any one to be saved as that thence their salvation should be sure and infallible saith the father of those children Well then let St. Austine his definition be quite rejected that predestination is a preparation of such benefits whereby some are most certainly freed and delivered from sinne and brought to glory and that also of Saint Paul that by reason of this nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ what is this election in your judgement Nothing but a decree whereby God hath appointed to save them that beleeve in Christ saith Corvinus be they who they will or a generall purpose of God whereby he hath ordained faith in Christ to be the means of salvation yea but this belongs to Iudas as well as to Peter this decree carrieth an equall aspect to those that are damned as to those that are saved salvation under the condition of faith in Christ was also proposed to them but was Iudas and all his company elected how came they then to be seduced and perish that any of Gods elect goe to hell is as yet a strange assertion in Christianity notwithstanding this decree none may beleeve or all that doe may fall away and so none at all be saved which is a strange kinde of predestination or all may beleeve continue in faith and be saved which were a more strange kinde of election We poore souls thought hitherto that we might have beleeved according unto Scripture that some by this purpose were in a peculiar manner made the Fathers thine they were and by him given unto Christ that he might bring them unto glory and that these men were so certaine and unchangeable a number that not only God knoweth them as being his but also that Christ calleth them all by name Ioh. 10. 3. and looketh that none taketh them out of his hand we never imagined before that Christ hath been the Mediatour of an uncertaine Covenant because there are no certaine persons covenanted withall but such as may or may not fulfill the condition we alway thought that some had been separated before by Gods purpose from the rest of the perishing world that Christ might lay down
his life for his friends for his sheepe for them that were given him of his Father but now it should seeme he was ordained to be a King when it was altogether uncertaine whether he should ever have any subjects to be a head without a body or to such a Church whose collection and continuance depends wholly and solely on the will of men These are doctrines that I beleeve searchers of the Scripture had scarse ever been acquainted withall had they not lighted on such Expositors as teach that the only cause why God loveth or chooseth any person is because the honesty faith and pietie wherewith according to Gods command and his own dutie he is endued are acceptable to God which though we grant it true of Gods consequent or approving love yet surely there is a divine love wherewith he looks upon us otherwise when he gives us unto Christ else either our giving unto Christ is not out of love or we are pious just and faithfull before we come unto him that is we have no need of him at all against either way though we may blot these testimonies out of our hearts yet they will stand still recorded in holy Scripture viz. that God so loved us when we were his enemies Rom. 5. 8. sinners vers 10. of no strength that he sent his only begotten Sonne to die that we should not perish but have life everlasting Ioh. 3. 16. but of this enough Fourthly Another thing that the Article asserteth according to the Scripture is that there is no other cause of our election but Gods own counsell it recounteth no motives in us nothing impelling the will of God to choose some out of mankinde rejecting others but his own decree that is his absolute will and good pleasure so that as there is no cause in any thing without himselfe why he would create the world or elect any at all for he doth all these things for himselfe for the praise of his own glory so there is no cause in singular elected persons why God should choose them rather then others he looked upon all mankinde in the same condition vested with the same qualifications or rather without any at all for it is the children not yet borne before they do either good or evill that are chosen or reiected his free grace embracing the one and passing over the other yet here we must observe that although God freely without any desert of theirs chooseth some men to be partakers both of the end and the means yet he bestoweth faith or the means on none but for the merit of Christ neither doe any attaine the end or salvation but by their own faith through that righteousnesse of his the free grace of God notwithstanding choosing Iacob when Esau is rejected the only antecedent cause of any difference betweene the elect and reprobates remaineth firme and unshaken and surely unlesse men were resolved to trust wholly to their own bottomes to take nothing gratis at the hands of God they would not endeavour to rob him of his glory of having mercy on whom he will have mercy of loving us without our desert before the world began if we must claime an interest in obtaining the temporall acts of his favour by our own indeavours yet oh let us grant him the glory of being good unto us only for his own sake when we were in his hand as the clay in the hand of the potter what made this piece of clay fit for comely service and not a vessell wherein there is no pleasure but the power and will of the framer it is enough yea too much for them to repine and say why hast thou made us thus who are vessels fitted for wratth let not them who are prepared for honour exalt themselves against him and sacrifice to their own nets as the sole providers of their glory but so it is humane vilenesse will still be declaring it selfe by claiming a worth no way due unto it of a furtherance of which claim if the Arminians be not guiltie let the following declaration of their opinions in this particular determine We confesse say they roundly that faith in the consideration of God choosing us unto salvation doth precede and not follow as a fruit of election so that whereas Christians have hitherto beleeved that God bestoweth faith on them that are chosen it seemes now it is no such matter but that those whom God findeth to beleeve upon the stocke of their own abilities he afterwards chooseth Neither is faith in their judgement only required as a necessary condition in him that is to be chosen but as a cause moving the will of God to elect him that hath it as the will of the Iudge is moved to bestow a reward on him who according to the law hath deserved it as Grevinchovius speaks which words of his indeed Corvinus strives to temper but all in vaine though he wrest them contrary to the intention of the Author for with him agree all his fellows the one only absolute cause of election is not the will of God but the respect of our obedience saith Episcopius At first they required nothing but faith and that as a condition not as a cause then perseverance in faith which at length they began to call obedience comprehending all our dutie to the precepts of Christ for the cause say they of this love to any person is the righteousnesse faith and pietie wherewith he is endued which being all the good works of a Christian they in effect affirme a man to be chosen for them that our good works are the cause of election which whither it were ever so grossely taught either by Pelagians or Papists I something doubt And here observe that this doth not thwart my former assertion where I shewed that they deny the election of any particular persons which here they seeme to grant upon a fore-sight of their faith and good workes for there is not any one person as such a person notwithstanding all this that in their judgement is in this life elected but onely as he is considered with those qualifications of which he may at any time divest himselfe and so become againe to be no more elected then Iudas The summe of their Doctrine in this particular is laid by one of ours in a Tract intituled Gods love to mankinde c. a Booke full of palpable ignorance grosse sophistrie and abominable blasphemie whose Authour seemes to have proposed nothing unto himselfe but to rake all the dunghils of a few the most invective Arminians and to collect the most filthy scumme and pollution of their railings to cast upon the truth of God and under I know not what selfe-coyned pretences belch out odious blasphemies against his holy name The summe saith he of all these speeches he cited to his purpose is That there is no decree of saving men but what is built on Gods fore-knowledge of the good actions of men No decree no
the life which all shall receive by the power of Christ at the last day is essentially a re-union of soule and body and therefore their separation is a thing we incurred by the sinne of Adam the same Apostle also Rom. 5. describeth an universall reigne of death over all by reason of the first transgression even diseases also in the Scripture are attributed unto sinne as their meritorious cause Iohn 5. 14. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Revel 2. 22. and in respect of all these the mercy of God doth not so interpose it selfe but that all the sonnes of men are in some sort partakers of them Thirdly the finall desert of originall sinne as our article speaketh is damnation the wrath of God to be poured on us in eternall torments of body and soule To this end also many praevious judgements of God are subservient as the privation of originall righteousnesse which he tooke and withheld upon Adams throwing it away spirituall desertion permission of sinne with all other destroying depravations of our nature as farre as they are meerely paenall some of which are immediate consequents of Adams singular actuall transgression as privation of originall righteousnesse others as damnation it selfe the proper effects of that derived sinne and pollution that is in us there is none damned but for their owne sinne when Divines affirme that by Adams sinne we are guilty of damnation they doe not meane that any are actually damned for his particular fact but that by his sinne and our sinning in him by Gods most just ordination we have contracted that exceeding pravitie and sinfulnesse of nature which deserveth the curse of God and eternall damnation it must be an inherent uncleanesse that actually excludes out of the kingdome of heaven Revel 21. 27. which uncleannesse the Apostle shewes to be in infants not sanctified by an interest in the Covenant in briefe we are baptized unto the remission of sinne that we may be saved Act. 2. 38. that then which is taken away by Baptisme is that which hinders our salvation which is not the first sinne of Adam imputed but our owne inherent lust and pollution we cannot be washed and cleansed and purged from an imputed sinne which is done by the layer of regeneration from that which lies upon us onely by an externall denomination we have no need of cleansing we may be said to be freed from it or justified but not purged the soule then that is guilty of sinne shall die and that for its owne guilt if God should condemne us for originall sinne onely it were not by reason of the imputation of Adams fault but of the iniquitie of that portion of nature in which we are proprietaries Now here to shut up all observe that in this inquiry of the desert of originall sinne the Question is not What shall be the certaine lot of those that depart this life under the guilt of this sin only but what this haereditary and and native corruption doth desrve in all those in whom it is for as Saint Paul saith we iudge not them that are without especially infants 1 Cor. 5. 13. but for the demerit of it in the justice of God our Saviour expresly affirmeth that unlesse a man be borne againe he cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven Iohn 3. and let them that can distinguish betweene a not going to heaven and a going to hell a third receptacle of soules in the Scripture we finde not Saint Paul also tels us that by nature we are children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. even originally and actually we are guilty of and obnoxious unto that wrath which is accompanied with fiery indignation that shall consume the adversaries againe we are assured that no uncleane thing shall enter into heaven Revel 21. with which hell-deserving uncleanesse children are polluted and therefore unlesse it be purged with the bloud of Christ they have no interest in everlasting happinesse by this meanes sinne is come upon all to condemnation and yet doe we not peremptorily censure to hell all infants departing this world without the layer of regeneration the ordinary means of waveing the punishment due to this pollution that is the Question de facto which we before rejected yea and two wayes there are whereby God saveth such infants snatching them like brands out of the fire First by interesting them into the Covenant if their immediate or remote parents have beene beleevers he is a God of them and of their seed extending his mercy unto a thousand generations of them that feare him Secondly by his grace of election which is most free and not tied to any conditions by which I make no doubt but God taketh many unto him in Christ whose parents never knew or had beene despisers of the Gospel and this is the doctrine of our Church agreeable to the Scripture affirming the desert of originall sinne to be Gods wrath and damnation to both which how opposite is the Arminian doctrine may thus appeare S. S. By the offence of one man iudgement came upon all to condemnation Rom. 5. 18. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners vers 19. Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me Psalme 51. 5. else were your chidren unclean but now they are holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. Who can bring a clean thing out of an uncleane not one Iob 14. 4. Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God Iohn 3. 3. That which is born of the flesh is flesh Iohn 3. 6. We were by nature the children of wrath even as others Ephes 2. 3. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned to wit in him Rom. 5. 12. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. In the day you eate thereof you shall surely die Gen. 2. 17. For as in Adam all die so 1 Cor. 15. 22. By nature children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Revel 21. 27. Lib. Arbit Adam sinned in his owne proper person onely and there is no reason why God should impute that sinne unto infants Borraeus It is absurd that by one mans disobedience many should be made actually disobedient Corvinus Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall Venator Neither is it considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens for all infants have the same innocencie Rem Apol. That which we have by birth can be no evill of sinne because to be borne is plainely involuntarie Idem Originall sinne is neither a sinne properly so called which should make the posteritie of Adam guilty of Gods wrath nor yet a punishment of any sinne on them Rem Apol. It is against equitie that one should be accounted guilty of a sinne that is not his owne that he should be iudged nocent who
children by Iesus Christ vers 5. adoption is that whereby we are assumed into the family of God when before we are forreigners aliens strangers a far off which we see is a fruit of our predestination though it be the very entrance into that estate wherein we begin first to please God in the least measure of the same nature are all those places of holy writ which speake of Gods giving some unto Christ of Christs sheepe hearing his voyce and of others not hearing because they are not of his sheepe all which and divers other invincible reasons I willingly omit with sundry other false assertions and hereticall positions of the Arminians about this fundamentall Article of our Religion concluding this Chapter with the following scheme S. S. Whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Sonne that he might be the first borne among many brethren moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also iustified and whom he iustified them he also glorified so that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Rom. 8. 29 30. 39. He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy Ephes 1. 4. Not for the workes that we have done but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Iesus Christ before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9. For the children being not yet borne before they had done either good or evill that the purpose of God which is according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth c. Rom. 9. 11. Whatsoever the Father giveth that cometh unto me Ioh. 11. Many are called but few are chosen Matth. 22. 14. Feare not little flock it is your Fathers pleasure to give you the kingdome Luk. 12. 32. What hast thou that thou hast not received 1 Cor. 4. 7. Are we better then they no in no wise Rom. 3. 9. But we are predestinated to the adoption of children by Iesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his will Ephes 1. 5. Iohn 6. 37. 39. Iohn 10. 3. Chap. 13. 18. and 17. 6. Act. 13. 48. Titus 1. 1. 2 Tim. 2. 19. Iames 1. 17 c. Lib. Arbit No such will can be ascribed unto God whereby he so would have any to be saved that from thence his salvation should bee sure and infallible Arminius I acknowledge no sense no perception of any such election in this life Grevinch We deny that Gods election unto salvation extendeth it selfe to singular persons Remonst Coll. Hag. As we are iustified by faith so we are not elected but by faith Grevinch We professe roundly that faith is considered by God as a condition preceding election and not following as a fruit thereof Rem Coll. Hag. The sole and onely cause of election is not the will of God but the respect of our obedience Episcopius For the cause of this love to any person is the goodnesse faith and piety wherewith according to Gods command and his owne dutie he is endued is pleasing to God Rem Apol. God hath determined to grant the meanes of salvation unto all without difference and according as he fore-seeth men will use those meanes so he determineth of them Corvin The summe of their doctrine is God hath appointed the obedience of faith to be the meanes of salvation if men fulfill this condition he determineth to save them which is their election but if after they have entred the way of godlines they fall frō it they loose also their predestination if they will returne againe they are chosen anew and if they can hold out to the end then and for that continuance they are peremptorily elected or postdestinated after they are saved now whether these positions may be gathered from those places of Scripture which deliver this doctrine lot any man iudge CHAP. VII Of Originall sinne and the corruption of nature HErod the great imparting his counsell of rebuilding the Temple unto the Iewes they much feared he would never be able to accomplish his intention but like an unwise builder having demolished the old before he had sate downe and cast up his account whether he were able to erect a new they should by his project be deprived of a Temple wherefore to satisfie their jealousies he resolved as he tooke downe any part of the other presently to erect a portion of the new in the place thereof Right so the Arminians determining to demolish the building of divine providence grace and favour by which men have hitherto ascended into heaven and fearing lest we should be troubled finding our selves on a sudden deprived of that wherein we reposed our confidence for happinesse they have by degrees erected a Babylonish Tower in the roome thereof whose top they would perswade us shall reach unto heaven First therefore the foundation stones they bring forth crying haile haile unto them and pitch them on the sandy rotten ground of our owne natures Now because heretofore some wise master-builders had discovered this ground to be very unfit to be the basis of such a lofty erection by reason of a corrupt issue of blood and filth arising in the middest thereof and over-spreading the whole platforme to incourage men to an association in this desperate attempt they proclaime to all that there is no such evill fountaine in the plaine which they have chosen for the foundation of their proud building setting up it selfe against the knowledge of God in plaine termes having rejected the providence of God from being the Originall of that goodnesse of entity which is in our actions and his predestination from being the cause of that morall and spirituall goodnesse where with any of them are cloathed they endeavour to draw the praise of both to the rectitude of their nature and the strength of their owne endeavours but this attempt in the latter case being thought to be altogether vaine because of the disabilitie and corruption of nature by reason of originall sinne propagated unto us all by our first Parents whereby it is become wholly voyd of integritie and holinesse and we all become wise and able to doe evill but to doe good have no power no understanding therefore they utterly reject this imputation of an inherent originall guilt and demerit of punishment as an enemie to our upright and well deserving condition and Oh that they were as able to root it out of the hearts of all men that it should never more be there as they have been to perswade the heads of divers that it was never there at all If any would know how considerable this Article concerning Originall sinne hath ever been accounted in the Church of Christ let him but consult the writings of Saint Augustine Prosper Hilary Fulgentius any of those learned Fathers whom God stirred up to resist and enabled to overcome the spreading Pelagian heresie or looke on those many
Counsels edicts decrees of Emperours wherein that hereticall doctrine of denying this originall corruption is condemned cursed and exploded now amongst those many motives they had to proceed so severely against this heresie one especially inculcated deserves our consideration viz. That it overthrew the necessitie of Christs coming into the world to redeeme mankinde it is sinne onely that makes a Saviour necessary and shall Christians tollerate such an errour as by direct consequence inferres the coming of Iesus Christ into the world to be needlesse my purpose for the present is not to alleadge any testimonies of this kinde but holding my selfe close to my first intention to shew how farre in this Article as well as others the Arminians have Apostated from the pure doctrine of the word of God the consent of Orthodox Divines and the Confession of this Church of England In the ninth Article of our Church which is concerning originall sinne I observe especially foure things First that it is an inherent evill the fault and corruption of the nature of every man Secondly that it is a thing not subject or conformable to the Law of God but hath in it selfe even after Baptisme the nature of sinne Thirdly that by it we are averse from God and inclined to all manner of evill Fourthly that it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation all which are frequently and evidently taught in the word of God and every one denyed by the Arminians as it may appeare by these instances in someof them First That it is an inherent sinne and pollution of nature having a proper guilt of its owne making us responsable to the wrath of God and not a bare imputation of anothers fault to us his posteritie which because it would reflect upon us all with a charge of a native imbecillitie and insufficiency to good is by these self-idolizers quite exploded Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall saith Venator Neither is it all considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens and infidels for infants as infants have all the same innocency say they joyntly in their Apologie nay more plainly it can be no fault wherewith we are born in which last expression these bold innovators with one dash of their pens have quite overthrowne a sacred verity an Apostolike Catholike fundamentall Article of Christian Religion but truly to me there are no stronger Arguments of the sinfull corruption of our nature then to see such nefarious issues of unsanctified hearts let us looke then to the word of God confounding this Babylonish designe First That the nature of man which at first was created pure and holy after the image of God endowed with such a rectitude and righteousnesse as was necessary and due unto it to bring it unto that supernaturall end to which it was ordained is now altogether corrupted and become abominable sinfull and averse from goodnesse and that this corruption or concupiscence is originally inherent in us and derived from our first parents is plentifully delivered in holy writ as that which chiefly compels us to a self-deniall and drives us unto Christ Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me saith David Psal 51. 5. Where for the praise of Gods goodnesse towards him he begins with the confession of his native perversenesse and of the sinne wherein he was wrapped before he was born neither was this peculiar to him alone he had it not from the particular iniquitie of his next progenitors but by an ordinary propagation from the common parent of us all though in some of us Satan by this Pelagian attempt by hiding the disease hath made it almost incurable for even those infants of whose innocency the Arminians boast are uncleane in the verdict of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 7. 14. if not sanctified by an interest in the Promise of the Covenant and no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven The weaknesse of the members of infants is innocent and not their souls they want nothing but that the members of their bodies are not as yet ready instruments of sinne they are not sinfull only by an externall denomination accounted so because of the imputation of Adams actuall transgression unto them for they have all an uncleannesse in them by nature Iob 14. 4. from which they must be cleansed by the washing of water and the word Ephes 5. 20. their whole nature is overspread with such a pollution as is proper only to sinne inherent and doth not accompany sinne imputed as we may see in the example of our Saviour who was pure immaculate holy undefiled and yet the iniquity of us all was imputed unto him hence are those phrases of washing away sinne Acts 22. 16. of cleansing filth 1 Pet. 3. 21. Titus 3. 5. something there is in them as soone as they are borne excluding them from the kingdome of heaven for except they also be borne againe of the spirit they shall not enter into it Ioh. 3. 5. Secondly The opposition that is made between the righteousnesse of Christ and the sinne of Adam Rom. 5. which is the proper seat of this doctrine sheweth that there is in our nature an inbred sinfull corruption for the sinne of Adam holds such relation unto sinners proceeding from him by naturall propagation as the righteousnesse of Christ doth unto them who are borne againe of him by spirituall regeneration but we are truly intrinsecally and inherently sanctified by the spirit and grace of Christ and therefore there is no reason why being so often in this Chapter called sinners because of this originall sinne we should cast it off as if we were concerned only by an externall denomination for the right institution of the comparison and its Analogie quite overthrows the solitary imputation Thirdly All those places of Scripture which assert the pronnesse of our nature to all evill and the utter disabilitie that is in us to doe any good that wretched opposition to the power of godlinesse wherewith from the wombe we are replenished confirmes the same truth but of these places I shall have occasion to speake hereafter Fourthly The flesh in the Scripture phrase is a qualitie if I may so say inherent in us for that with its concupiscence is opposed to the spirit and his holinesse which is certainly inherent in us now the whole man by nature is flesh for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Ioh. 3. 6. it is an inhabiting thing a thing that dwelleth within us Rom. 7. 17. in briefe this vitiosity sinfulnesse and corruption of our nature is laid open First by all those places which cast an aspersion of guilt or desert of punishment or of pollution on nature it selfe as Ephes 2. 1 2 3. We are dead in trespasses and sinnes being by nature children of wrath as well as others being wholly incompassed by a sinne that doth easily beset us Secondly by them which fixe this