gratiâ NULLA possunt esse liberi arbitrij bona merita saith the Controversor But wee need a supply continually of Divine Operation Protection Direction and new Inspiration to goe on with Free-will which is Comes non Dux Pedissequa non Praevia as S. AUSTEN speaketh Epist 106. If this were not so then faith and repentance were not the actions of man neither could man be said to beleeve or repent but the holy Spirit that infuseth grace Now Id agit gratia ut sanata natura quod vitiata non potest POSSIT per cum qui venit quaerere salvare id quod perierat S. AUGUST Retract 1. cap. XIII We may saith RUARD TAPPER consider in every vertuous action of man two things the qualitie of goodnesse and the work it selfe The qualitie of goodnesse is WHOLLY from grace the worke it selfe is wrought by the FREE-WILL of man ASSISTED by grace Opera pietatis Credere poenitere c. fiunt per NATURALEM virtutem liberi arbitrij in quantum LIBERE fiunt OPERA sunt à gratiâ verò ut PIETATIS opera sunt Tamen UT SIC à libero arbitrio gratiâ informato EFFECTIVE fiunt non autem à SOLA gratiâ He that saith thus doth not say nor thinke that man can by any NATURALL power EXCITE and prepare himself to grace or apply himselfe unto GOD to the motions of his Spirit as if GOD'S concurse needed not or that man by the power of his owne will without any speciall help of grace could sorrow for sinne or by his PURE NATURALS had power to love GOD above all or to do works holy and acceptable unto GOD as some have prodigiously thought and written nay not that the grace of GOD and power of WILL are ex aequo joint copartners to goe passibus equis much lesse that man's will can outstrip the grace of GOD. This is denied and cannot be inferred upon the activenesse intended or actions insisted on in and of our wills prevented and enabled by grace all that is said is COOPERAMUR SEQUIMURQUE PATREM NON PASSIBUS AEQUIS as that childe did his father in the Poet. This is I conceive it the doctrine of the Protestant Schooles Vbi interim DUO observanda esse docemus say the Helvetians in their Confession PRIMUM regeneratos in boni electione operatione non tantùm agere PASSIVE sed ACTIVE Aguntur enim à DEO ut AGANT IPSI quod agunt Rectè enim AUGUSTINUS adducit illud quòd DEUS dicitur noster ADIUTOR nequit autem ADIUVARI nisi is qui IPSE ALIQUID AGIT S. PAUL speaking of Beleevers saith You have obeyed from the heart that forme of Doctrine whereunto you were received ROM VI. XVII And SALOMON saith PRO. IV. XXIII Keepe thine heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life OUR SAVIOUR saith A good tree bringeth foorth good fruit The WILL of man is a true naturall faculty given to man in his creation In the state of corruption this naturall faculty is a true efficient cause of sinne and this naturall faculty is punished for sinne In the state of justification the same naturall faculty is truely and really endued with grace and bringeth forth the works of righteousnes and shall be rewarded with glory and immortality In both these states the WILL is a TRUE Efficient but differently a PRINCIPALL Efficient in the first state a SUBORDINATE Efficient in the second because the holy Ghost activateth and enableth it For By the grace of GOD wee are that wee are and that grace is not in vaine in us in the Doctrine of the Church of England ARTIC X. working with us when we have that good will GOD'S preeminence in the worke of our salvation his chiefe hand in the businesse his GRACE preventing inspiring enlightning exciting upholding sustaining and concurring doth not take away mans FREE-WILL in cases where Will hath any interest at all The STOICKS amongst others held that Paradox of old DEUM ire per omnes Terras tractusque maris coelumque profundum they meant it substantially and so impiously CHRISTIANS doe hold and beleeve it too but disposingly c. in his providence according to that Axiome of the wise Perting it à fine ad finem fortiter disponens omnia suaviter according to the severall natures and exigences of things to which he gave being and power to worke so not DESPOILING them of their OWNE by CONCURRING with them nor by any accesse ANNIHILATING his former grants or indowments conferred on them Thus having with as great diligence as I could examined this question inter partes of FREE-WILL so farre as was coïncident unto my purpose I do ingenuously confesse that I cannot find any such MATERIALL difference between the Pontificians at least of better temper and OUR Church But if the Informers can make the contrary appeare submittam fasceis and turne over a new leafe even in this Article opposing the Church of ROME as farre as any of the preciser Cut or zealous Disciples of THOMAS CARTWRIGHT'S Schoole whosoever Then then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am a man reserved abhorring to multiply controversies where is no cause CHAP. X. The Councell of Trent not wholly to bee condemned Man's Will not meerely passive but active and free in the proper acts thereof The memorable saying of SCOTUS The power of the Will in things divine INFORMERS IN the next page thrice hee approveth the Doctrine of the Councell of Trent touching Free-will MOUNTAGU WHolly or in part It would have beene explaned by honest men For say I beseech you will not your owne wisedomes or charity or common sense or understanding or what you will call it commend and approve some Determinations of the Councell of TRENT Saepè etenim est olitor valdè opportuna loquutus And why not they learned men at least resolve some thing truely where was no cause of Faction to be opposite Secondly whatsoever I approve in that Councell is not thrice approved as you doe enlarge in your suggestions but twice at most nor yet twice but by repeating the same thing twice remembred occasionally That which is so approved is this Sess VI. cap. V. Si quis LIBERUM hominis ARBITRIUM post ADAE lapsum amissum extinctum esse dixerit aut rem esse de SOLO TITULO imò TITULUM SINE RE FIGMENTUM denique A SATANA INVECTUM in Ecclesiam Anathema sit And so say I and so I hope if your wits be your owne will you say Man ever since the Fall of ADAM is not senselesse a stocke a stone meerly PASSIVE in all things active and AGENT voluntarily in nothing That which hee doth at least something that hee doth he doth it willingly and freely QUUM homini non sit per peccatum adempta neque intelligendi neque volendi facult as sed duntaxat RECTE intelligendi volendi facult as saith BEZA at least hee doth it according to his WILL not compellable in the
influxum liberi arbitrij ad actiones supernaturales tanquam CAUSSA PRINCIPIUM EFFICIENS in liberum arbitrium immissum Quo mediante DEUS ulterius unà cum libero influxu ejusdem arbitrij in actiones supernaturales influit So also as I have beene by a most learned friend admonished CABRERA in 3. THO. qu. 26. Disp 6. art 4. dub 3. num 17. CUMEI var. disp part 3. pag. 69. MARTINEZ in 1. 2 ae qu. 10. ar 4. dub 1. pa. 693. LORINUS in Psal 22. ver 6. NAZARIUS in 1. part THO. q. 23. art 3. controv 2. pa. 713. CLINGIUS in locis p. 152. And so CAIETAN FERRARIENSIS ALVARES SALAS CURIEL VIGUERIUS LEDESM MONTESINUS and OTHERS Now let us also hear the PROTESTANTS speak WHITAKER de peccato orig pag. 149. Homo gratiam Dei LIBERE accipit CHEMNIT Loc. com to 1. pa. 508. Voluntas mota adjuta à Spiritu sancto non recipit impressionem sicut lapis sed incipit VELLE COOPERARI MOLLERUS in Psal 65. Voluntas non habet se ut TRUNCUS sed mota à Spiritu sancto ACCEDIT SEQUITUR vocantem DEUM c. Quarè execrandae sunt illae voces FLACCII and are they not YOURS also Homo habet se in conversione REPUGNATIVE HOSTILITER ADVERSATIVE PERKINS reform Cath in Free-will In the FIRST conversion of a sinner MAN'S FREE-WILL CONCURRETH with GOD'S grace as a FELLOW or COWORKER in some sort Mans will is NOT PASSIVE in all and every respect but hath an ACTION in the FIRST conversion and change of the soule SNEGANUS and HEMINGIUS are confessed by WILLET to bee of this mind and if my Notes faile me not for I have not now the Book by me diverse other Protestants in Mr. FOX pag. 1533. In the latter Helvet Confession In regeneratione intellectus illuminatur per Spiritum sanctum ut mysteria voluntatem DEI intelligat Et voluntas ipsa non tantùm mutatur per Spiritum sed instruitur facultatibus ut SPONTE velit possit Bonum Nisi hoc dederimus negabimus CHRISTIANAM LIBERTATEM inducemus SERVITUTEM and in the Confession of Saxony Voluntas statim accepto Spiritu NON EST IAM OCIOSA Now if the Councell of TRENT intendeth to say no more where is that vast difference imagined inter partes those of the Romish and Protestant Confessions These clamorous Promoters do not reade so much it seemeth as their owne ordinary Protestant Writers and therefore in their Sermons Lectures and Pulpits they brawle at the shadow of their owne fancies as dogs hark at the Moon and in fighting the Lords battels as they would seeme and their silly Auditors conceive they fight with Shaw-fowles of their owne setting up abusing the simple credulity of the unlearned making themselves ridiculous to the Papists hardning them rather in their superstition when they heare them talk so confidently and traduce so virulently as their manner is and yet mistake so ignorantly that which they do not understand The Councell of TRENT resolveth thus Si quis dixerit liberum hominis arbitrium à DEO motum excitatum NIHIL COOPERARI assentiendo DEO excitanti atque vocanti neque POSSE DISSENTIRE si velit sed veluti INANIME instrumentum NIHIL OMNINO agere mereque PASSIVE se habere Anathema sit Well and what of this Doe not WHITAKER CHEMNITIUS MOLLERUS PERKINS other Protestant Divines and Churches teach the very same concerning this first branch and doth not MOLLERUS anathematise ILLYRICUS for holding so The Councell addeth A man may RESIST the grace of God Admit then first man hath Free-will against GOD and what said OUR SAVIOUR concerning Ierusalem HOW often would I and THOU WOULDEST NOT But S. STEPHEN in terminis hath the very word Acts VII LI. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 YOU RESIST nay FALL CROSSE with the holy Ghost not suffering him to worke the worke of grace in you If the Councell meant it de gratiâ excitante praveniente operante I thinke no man will deny it if de gratiâ adjuvante subsequente cooperante there is without question in the naturall will of a regenerate man so much of ADAM remaining and carnall concupiscence as may make him RESIST and REBELL against the Law of the Spirit And if a man justified may FALL AWAY FROM GRACE which is the doctrine of the Church of England then without question your selves being Iudges he may RESIST the grace of GOD offred Hitherto M. MOUNTAGU can see no such difference inter partes If you with your new learning for old you have little or none can teach me more than yet I know I will yeeld and thank you for such instructions But it may be objected that Pontificians hold when the will of man is once informed moved incited and holpen by divine grace that then it concurreth it is active hath an efficiencie in the work of godlinesse by the owne proper NATURALL force and condition I answer The moderate and discreet Pontificians for there are Factious and Furious amongst them as well as amongst you that will exceed say no more than S. AUGUSTINE put into their mouthes Vult DEUS omnes homines salvos fieri in agnitionem veritatis venire non tamen sic ut ijs adimat liberum arbitrium And therefore vocante DEO surgit de libero arbitrio quod NATURALITER cùm crearetur accepit VOLUNTATEM LIBERAM dedisti mihi sed SINE TE NIHIL EST conatus ejus IDEM in Ps XXVI therefore DEO adjuvante conatur ambulat And FULGENTIUS de Incarnat ca. XXIII Potest home DEO donante NATURALITER in DEUM credere who intend this That the WILL of man beeing first informed enlightned healed by grace and then assisted continually by the same concurring grace is Pedissequa an hand-maid and a subordinate AGENT with and under grace and that beleefe repentance and the like are TRUE and REALL operations of MAN'S understanding and will and proceed as actions NATURALL out of the powers of the reasonable soule elevated and ACTUATED to that height and actuality by GOD'S grace Illud si qui dicant sufficere homini liberum arbitrium ad Dominica praecepta implenda etiamsi DEI gratiâ Spiritus sancti dono ad opera bona NON ADIUVETUR omnino ANATHEMATIZANDUM est omnibus execrationibus detestandum Qui enim hoc asserunt à gratiâ DEI penitus alieni sunt qui ignorantes DEI justitiam sicut de Iudaeis dicit APOSTOLUS suam volentes constituere justitiae DEI non sunt subjecti Plenitudo quippe legis non est nisi charitas Et utique charitas DEI diffusa est in cordibus nostris NON PER NOS IPSOS nec VIRIBUS PROPRIAE VOLUNTATIS sed per SPIRITUM SANCTUM qui datus est nobis VALET itaque LIBERUM ARBITRIUM ad opera bona SI DIVINITÙS ADIUVETUR quod fit humiliter patendo faciendo Thus S. AUGUSTINE and so discreet and moderate Pontificians Sine DEI
proper acts thereof To will though drawne to performe many acts in course of life as willingly it could wish them to be otherwise Those in that Councell were Men as well as Pontificians learned men they were at least the major part and spake as well like men as for a factious party in the Church In that place they speak of Free-will in enlarged tearms and not in reference unto actions of grace of piety of repentance or regeneration and godlinesse toward GOD. Now it is I take it a ruled case with all reasonable men that in ADAM and through his Fall non amisimus naturam sed gratiam Indowments of grace above nature or additaments unto nature wee lost in ADAM Nature and naturall indowments were impaired and not extinct and abolished in his Fall Nec qui à Spiritu DEI igitur ideò se putet LIBERUM NON HABERE ARBITRIUM quod ne tunc quidem perdidit saith PROSPER quando Diabolo voluntate suâ se dedit à quo IUDICIUM VOLUNTATIS DEPRAVATUM EST NON ABLATUM Quod ergo NON INTERFECTUM EST per vulnerantem NON TOLLITUR per medentem vulnus sanatur non natura removetur In which sense and regard I inferred then and there a second decision of that Councell Liberum arbitrium non quidem EXTINCTUM esse sed viribus ATTENUATUM The which I might have enlarged and commented upon by the XVI Canon of the Synod of Dort in the IIII. Decision de conversionis modo where the Conveners will in these words proove either themselves Arminians or you Ignorántees or malicious Calumniators will they not Sicuti verò per lapsum homo non desiit esse homo intellectu voluntate praeditus nec peccatum quod universum genus humanum pervasit naturam generis humani sustulit sed depravavit spiritualiter occidit It a etiam haec divina regenerationis gratia non agit in hominibus tanquam TRUNCIS stipitibus nec VOLUNTATEM EIUS QUE PROPRIETATES TOLLIT aut INVITAM VIOLENTER COGIT No otherwise than so saith M. MOUNTAGU peradventure not so much as so but you say He concludeth this his Chapter thus Our Conclusion and yours is all one wee cannot wee doe not deny freedome of will in man whoso doth so is no CATHOLICKE I adde no nor PROTESTANT For I did not conceive that any Protestant till you professed your selves so senselesse would have denied that Conclusion There is FREE-WILL We eat we drinke we sleep wee wake wee walk we rest wee runne wee talk wee hold our peace we consent assent disagree freely wittingly willingly without any constraint out of the naturall power of our Free-will And yet further for your sakes I adde It were well done and worth the while as SCOTUS said well to cudgell him well and thriftily that should deny FREE-WILL so long untill hee did confesse it to be in our power to goe on to cease or hold our hands And if he should commence an action of battery to put in this Barre It was not I that beat him it was FATALL NECESSITY and I was thereby compelled to doe it I had not any FREE-WILL to resist it was not in my power to doe or not to doe otherwise But concerning Freewill the power possibility and activity of the will in the things of GOD towards GOD in the state of grace I have set downe my Errors as you call them in two propositions tendred unto mee and unto you also of the Church of England First that Man in state of naturall corruption cannot turne nor prepare himselfe unto GOD by or through his owne naturall and humane power and strength Secondly that Prevented by grace and by grace assisted hee putteth to his hand to procure augmentation of that grace as also continuance unto the end in that grace No man commeth unto GOD but he is drawne being drawne hee runneth or walketh as his assistance is and his owne agility and disposition unto the end No man beareth fruit in CHRIST IESUS the Vine unlesse that by the Husbandman hee bee engraffed To engraffe is opus Hortulani ALONE When as the branch is engraffed that it may prosper and beare fruit the root must supply the slip sucke and retaine sap supplied from the root This is enough no more need bee curiously insisted on or disputed of The Church of England doth no way contradict this it is the precise doctrine of our Church ARTIC X. The condition of man after the Fall of ADAM it such that he cannot turne nor prepare himselfe by his owne naturall strength and good works to faith and calling upon GOD. Wherefore we have no power to doe good works pleasant and acceptable unto GOD without the grace of GOD by CHRIST preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have it Man is heer in this passage by the Church considered two waies as in Nature depraved as in Nature againe by Grace restored In Nature depraved Freewill is totally denied unto man for any workes of righteousnesse acceptable or pleasing unto GOD before conversion or for works of actuall concurrency in the very act of first converting but not for workes of Nature or Morality of which works only the Proposition was to be understood Si per morale opus virtutes intelligas Philosophicas non neganius posse hominem sine speciali gratiâ multa fortiter temperanter juste agere saith D. WHITAKER And that saying of DAMASCEN is denyed of no man that hath his braines in his head 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man being a creature endued with reason doth rather leà de nature than is led by nature and upon appetite or desire may shake off if he please and acquit himself of that desire or close in with it and give consent unto it In state of Grace repayring and restoring Nature Free-will is not denyed man but how Not as in or unto naturall objects hic mota movet It worketh with us we with it together with Grace when wee have once that good will wrought in us And surely if wee have it working at all it is not titulus sine re nor is it inane nihil as some it seemeth thought which the Councell of TRENT condemneth very justly This is not my singular fancy as your opinions most-what are private imaginations of opiniative men ignorant of others wedded to their owne conceits OPERATUR ille COOPERAMUR nos NON enim AUFERT sed ADIUVAT bone voluntatis arbitrium saith S. AUGUSTINE Quaest XV. super Deuteron And againe Quaest L. In spirit ualibus conflictibus sperandum est et petendum est adjutorium DEI. Non ut NOS NIHIL OPEREMUR sed ut ADIUTI COOPEREMUR And again Retract I. XXIII Vtrumque Credere velle DEI est NOSTRÛM utrumque est DEI DEI est quiae praeparat voluntatem NOSTRÛM est quia non fit nisi volentibus nobis and Epist CVII Quomodo dicuntur
it were true which is most false wherewith I am charged by these honest men yet I might answer and what if I doe Who bound the Church of England or Me a Priest and a Member of the Church of England unto defence of all the Decrees or Determinations of that Synod Hath Prince or Parliament or Convocation Edict Statute or Canon I knowe none I have heard of none nor ever shall I hope And till I heare of such quod 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I answer Let them that are interessed plead for themselves For my part I nor have nor ever will subscribe that Synode absolutely and in all points for in some it condemneth upon the Bye even the discipline of the Church of England but so farre forth onely as their Determinations shall bee found and made conformable unto the doctrine of OUR Church nor I think will the Ferventest amongst you subscribe it in every point For sure I am YOUR Divines as you call them have disavowed sometimes some things resolved of in that Synod as for instance Cooperation of Free-will and Grace Reprobation negative rather than positive But as I said the Synod of Dort is not MY Rule and your Magisteriall Conclusions are NO Rule I hope all not violently precise will say Ampliandum upon your bare imputations who bring nothing to prove me an ARMINIAN but your 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hee saith thus and thus and we say this is ARMINIANISME Absque hoc And thus much for Arminianisme THE SECOND PART TOUCHING POINTS OF POPERY IN GENERALL CHAP. I. The Author uncharitably traduced His profession for the doctrine and discipline received and commanded in the Church of England Conformable Puritans Furious zeale The Church of Rome not a sound yet a true Church Private opinions disclaimed The Church of England asserted to her owne publick and proper Tenents The cause of all these Imputations NOw come they to POPERY in a larger extent A strange imputation in my opinion considering the subject upon which they work which may argue in them with any indifferent Reader an uncharitable unchristian fiery Puritanicall zeale malice and indiscretion too For did I prevaricate was it a compact between Me and the Papists to collude If I favoured them would I so have handled them as few have beside me in so exasperating a stile Sure A Kingdome I know divided cannot stand But the truth is As with the IESUITE he is an Heretick that is not furioso more a Roman Catholick so with the PURITAN he is a Papist that will not run a-madding with them It is not the first time for this very cause I have been talked of esteemed of traduced as a Papist which I can the better brooke because they have meted this measure to the Church of England it self as sympathizing with Papists in her Liturgy Discipline and Doctrine too It were to be wished that such transported spirits were taught to be more submisse and sparing in their talk I call GOD and all his holy Angels to witnesse I nor am nor have beene nor intend to be heerafter eyther Papist or ROMISH Catholick a Papist of State or of Religion but a Priest a member a follower of the Church and Doctrine of the Church of ENGLAND The Originall grounds of Popery are to my understanding against Reason have not their warrant from revealed Truth stand not with the purer practice of prime Antiquity I have been born and bred and brought up in the Confession of the Church of England I have learned loved admired and proposed unto my selfe to follow indeclinably not onely the Discipline of the Church of England whereunto the Puritans and Schismaticks themselves at least the wiser and subtiller sort of them come off roundly now for ends best known amongst themselves remaining quod erant quoad doctrinam tantum non in EPISCOPATU Puritani but the whole and entire Doctrine of that Church proposed in Synods confirmed by Law commanded and established by Act of PARLIAMENT This totall both Doctrine and Discipline I willingly and thoroughly embrace In profession thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have lived and will die and will maintaine it by GOD'S grace to bee Antient Catholick Orthodox and Apostolicall I say it againe a never was or will be a Papist no not in heart though many be arrant Puritans in heart that onely for preferment do conforme hold with the Hare and runne with the Hound who so they might vivere and valere would as willingly have up the Presbyterian Anarchie as would THO. CARTWRIGHT were he living though many once Puritans turne often Papists And no marvell for fleeting is commonly from one extreme unto another Men of moving violent Quick-silver Gun-powder spirits can never rely upon middling courses but dum furor in cursu est runne on headlong into extremes And so I may avow I will not bee a Papist in haste because I never was a Puritan in earnest or in jest having found it true in my small observation that our Revolters unto Popery were Puritans avowed or addicted first And yet it must bee granted All powder doth not take fire alike nor are all Puritan Spirits of one disposition With some of them more braine-sick than the rest all my Booke against the Gagger is quickly branded with Popery or scurrility With others more discreet I doe but walk upon the brinks of Popery wherein is some allaying of that former fervency for upon their better advice I am but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the next dore unto it What they thinke or speake I cannot hinder nor doe I greatly care I professe my selfe none of those furious ones in point of difference now-a-dayes whose profession and resolution is That the farther in any thing from communion with the Church of Rome the neerer unto GOD and Truth that we ought to have no commerce society or accordance with Papists in things divine nor almost humane upon pain of eternall damnation but must bid defiance irreconcileable unto them for ever I am absolutely perswaded and shall bee till I see cause to the contrary that the Church of Rome is a true though not a sound Church of CHRIST as well since as before the Councell of Trent a part of the Catholick though not the Catholick Church which wee doe professe to beleeve in our Creed a Church in which among many tares there remaineth some wheat In Essentials and Fundamentals they agree holding one Faith in one Lord into whom they are inserted through one Baptisme Ecclesia Papalis saith FRANCISCUS IUNIUS neither Papist nor Arminian quâ id habet in se quod ad definitionem Ecclesiae pertinet est Ecclesia And I verily am perswaded that I ought not to goe farther from the Church of Rome in these her worst daies than she hath gone away from her selfe in her best dayes I hold it to bee furious zeale without discretion issuing out of ignorance or malice or both in them who proceed so farre in their extravagant