you say there are many other passages of Scripture on which 't is founded I shall mention but two 1. that of the Apostle who cals preaching the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the administration of the Spirit which the Father expresses by verbum vehiculum Spiritus the word is the chariot in which the Spirit descends to us 2. that description of resisting the holy spirit which S. Stephen gives us Act. vii 51. by their being like the Jews which persecuted the Prophets which spake unto them which concludes the holy spirit to be given with the preaching of the Gospel else how could the rejecting and persecuting the one be the resisting of the other So likewise though you mention but one reason yet that is as constringent as many nothing but sufficiency of supernaturall Grace being competent to render him that is acknowledged naturally impotent unexcusable And therefore deeming that abundantly confirmed to advance it above a disputable probleme I proceed to the next Proposition the third which you rank under the style of Conjectures It is this § 52. That because the sufficiency of this General Grace notwithstanding through the strength of naturall corruption it might happen to prove uneffectuall to all persons God vouchsafed out of the supereffluence of his goodness yet ex mero beneplacito without any thing on their part to deserve it to confer upon such persons as it pleased him to fix upon without inquiring into under what qualifications preparations or dispositions considered a more speciall measure of Grace which should effectually work in them faith and perseverance unto salvation This you say you take to be the election especially spoken of in the Scriptures and if so then the Decree of Reprobation must be nothing els but the dereliction or preterition of the rest as to that special favour of conferring upon them this higher degree of effectuall Grace Against this you say you know enough may be objected and much more then you esteem your self able to answer yet to your apprehension somewhat less then may be objected against either of the extreme opinions § 53. Of this Proposition as being the first by you produced to which your caution seems to be due some things may in passing be fitly noted First that for the stating of that community which is here set down as the object of Election and reprobation and exprest by a generall style all persons this Caution is necessarily to be taken in that the proposition is not to be interpreted in the utmost latitude that the style all persons is capable of but as analogy with your former doctrine strictly requires for the generality of men preach'd to and so neither belongs to heathens nor to the Infants or Idiots or uninstructed among Christians but to those that having the Gospel revealed to them and sufficient grace to enable them to receive it are yet left in the hand of their own counsell whether they will actually receive it or no. § 54. Now of these which is the second thing to be observed in your proposition it is manifest that if as you suppose both in the former and in this Proposition they have grace truly sufficient afforded them then they want nothing necessary to a faln weak sinful creature to conversion perseverance and salvation and if so then by the strength of this Grace without addition of any more they may effectually convert persevere and be saved and then though what may be may also not be and so it be also possible that of all that are thus preach'd to and made partakers of this Grace no one shall make use of it to these effects yet this is but barely possible and not rendred so much as probable either upon any grounds of Scripture or Reason In the Scripture there is no word revealed to that sense or that I ever heard of produced or applyed to it but on the contrary in the Parable of the Talents which seems to respect this matter particularly they that received the Talents to negotiate with did all of them except one make profit of them and bring in that account to their Master which received a reward which is utterly unreconcileable with the hypothesis of Gods foreseeing that the talent of sufficient Grace would be made use of by none that received no more then so As for that one that made not use of it all that is intimated concerning him is that if his share comparatively was mean yet by the Lord he is charged as guilty for not putting it into the bank that at his coming he might receive his own with usury which certainly evinces that that lazy servant is there considered as one that might have managed his stock as well as the rest and that that stock was improvable no less then the other according to their severall proportions and so herein there is no difference taken notice of in favour to your Conjecture And in Reason it hath no sound of probability that of so great a number of Christians sufficiently furnished by God no one should make use of it to their souls health 't is evident in the Apostles preaching at Jerusalem and elswhere that at the first proposal of the truth of Christ to them and the Doctrine of Repentance whole multitudes received the Faith and came in and no doubt many of them proved true and constant Christians and it is not amiss to observe of the heads of Doctrine which the Apostles agreed to publish in all their peregrinations that they are of such force and were on that account pitcht on by them as might reasonably and probably with the supposed concurrence of Gods Grace beget repentance and new life in all to whom they were preach'd over the whole world and then what the Apostles deemed a rationall and probable means to that end there is no reason or probability to think should never in any produce this effect according to that of Athanasius that the Faith confest by the Fathers of Nice according to holy Writ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sufficient for the averting of all impiety and the establishment of all piety in Christ To which may be applyed that of S. Augustine of the Creed Quae pauca verba fidelibus nota sunt ut credendo subjugentur Deo ut subjugati recte vivant recte vivendo cor mundent corde mundo quod credant intelligant These few words are known to believers that by believing they may be subjugated to God that by being subjugated they way live well that by living well they may cleanse their hearts that by cleansing their hearts they may understand what they believe And herein the all-wise providence and infinite mercy of God seems to be engaged who in the Parable of his dealing with his Vineyard Isa v. not onely expostulates What could I have done more to my vineyard which I have not done but also affirmeth that he looked it should bring forth grapes and
your willingness to be thus detained by me which yet here you shall not loco non suo § 9. Then for the second In what manner and measure the effectuall Grace of God cooperateth or concurreth with the free will of man in his conversion you seem to me to have given a punctuall account of each part of that also in the said second Letter in these words That God worketh not by his Grace irresistibly but yet so effectually on those whom he hath ex beneplacito appointed to salvation in ordering the means occasions and opportunities with such congruity to that end as that de facto it is not finally resisted Here it is evident your resolution comes home to each terme in the difficulty For if effectuall Grace worke not irresistibly then we see in what manner it cooperates with the free will of man viz. so as it still remains possible for him to resist it And if the effectualness of his working consist in ordering the means occasions and opportunities with such congruity c. then as that stateth the measure of the cooperation the onely second part of the difficulty and doth it expresly in Bishop Overals way so this supposeth Grace sufficient to conversion and salvation to be given to those who are not converted and saved quite contrary to the three grand praetensions of Doctor Twisse the Supralapsarians and Sublapsarians and whether it be true or no is presently freed from all the odious consequences charged on the several Schemes of the Antiremonstrants and so may safely be granted or not opposed by them who yet want evidence of Scripture to establish it and so this is not likely to bring any uneasie engagement upon you § 10. And then as there remains no more difficulties but the third so if you mark it the grounds are already laid whereby that is unquestionably resolved for having granted that God gives sufficient Grace and yet when he cooperates most effectually he doth it not irresistibly this is the very thred you seek to cut by so as to devolve the whole blame of all our miscarriages on our selves and the entire glory and praise of all our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good performances or good successes on his Grace Were any of us so left or past by as to be denyed sufficient grace and yet destined to perish meerly through want of necessaries the whole blame could not rationally fall on our selves it could not be said of Christs yoke that it were easie or his Commandment not far from us the fault that was found with the Mosaical oeconomy Heb. viii 8. and which made another the Evangelical necessary would still lye against this viz. that men were not enabled to perform what was required and yet the non-performance eternally revenged on many of them But sufficient Grace being tendred by God and by no default but their own proving ineffectuall the entire blame falls unavoidably on those who do not thus open to him that knocks so receive as to make use of it but resist or grieve or quench what was so mercifully designed and might have been improved by the humble and diligent receivers unto their greatest advantages § 11. On the other side if our nature being universally corrupted by Adam's fall all possibility of rising out of that grave of sin be the effect and benefit of the Grace as that is of the death of Christ if it be God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure the first by his preventing the second by his assisting Grace and both those bottom'd meerly in his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 good pleasure nothing in us any way meriting the first act or purpose of Giving Grace any farther then our wants and miseries rendered us the proper objects of his compassions and reliefs and the subsequent aids in like manner challengeable onely from his promise and the purport of the parable of the Talents of Giving to him that hath rewarding the use of the lower with the gift of an higher degree of Grace then still is this the attributing nothing to our selves but demerits and provocations and giving the whole glory to God § 12. Having gone thus far without any considerable disagreement about the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 how to reconcile these three seeming repugnancies wherein you apprehended the greatest difficulty to lye and being hereby as by so many postulata accorded between us competently provided and furnished of a standard and umpire in case any light difference should arise what objection can S. Pauls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. xi 33. belonging expresly to another matter the cutting off the obdurate and gathering all perswasible believing Jews and Gentiles and no way applicable to this interpose why we should not proceed together to the consideration of the Doctrine of Decrees as it hath been variously debated by others and by you perspicuously recapitulated in the process of your papers § 13. To this therefore I presume of your good leave that we now proceed and whereas you have prudently chosen to begin with an history of your own thoughts on this subject which you have laid down with great particularity I shall set out with a bare transcript of that which will need no comment of mine to render it usefull to the Reader in discovering to him the true and sole originall of the thriving for some time of those Doctrines among us and how so many of our Church came to be seasoned with them and in giving him a but necessary caution for the laying the grounds of the study of Divinity in the writings of the antient Church rather then in our modern systemes and Institutions Your words are these § 14. When I began to set my self to the Study of Divinity as my proper business which was after I had the degree of Master of Arts being then newly xxi years of age the first thing I thought fit for me to do was to consider well of the Articles of the Church of England which I had formerly read over twice or thrice and whereunto I had subscribed And because I had then met with some Puritanicall Pamphlets written against the Liturgie and Ceremonies although most of the Arguments therein were such as needed no great skill to give satisfactory answers unto yet for my fuller satisfaction the questions being de rebus agendis and so the more suitable to my proper inclination I read over with great diligence and no less delight that excellent piece of Learned Hooker's Ecclesiasticall Politie And I have great cause to bless God for it that so I did not onely for that it much both cleared and setled my judgement for ever after in very many weighty points as of Scandall Christian Liberty Obligation of Laws Obedience c. but that it also proved by his good providence a good preparative to me that I say not Antidote for the reading of Calvin's Institutions with more caution then perhaps otherwise
and setting up our own imaginations if not prejudices for the oracles of God If this were well thought of it would infallibly set a period to all further disputes on this subject And the proposition which I have last set down from you is so irrefragably convincing that I hope it may be successful to so good an end and all men that read it resolve it their duty to preach no other Decrees of God from Scripture but this that all that receive the Gospel preached and live according to the praescript rule thereof for that is to receive Christ as there he is offered to them as a Lord and Saviour shall be saved and all they that reject it when it is thus revealed or live in contradiction to the terms whereon it is established shall be damned This would probably change curiosity into industry unprofitable disquisitions into the search and trying of our own wayes and working out our own salvation § 39. To this proposition if it shall be granted you annex two Corollaries and I that have not onely yielded but challenged the undoubted truth of the Proposition can make no question of the Corollaries The first is this § 40. That it will be impossible to maintain the Doctrine of Vniversal Grace in that manner as the Remonstrants are said to assert it against the objection which is usually made by their adversaries how evangelical Grace can be offer'd to such nations or persons as never had the Gospel preached unto them § 41. The truth of this Corollary as of all other must be judged of by the dependence from the Principle the connexion it hath with the former proposition That spake of the Decrees as they are set forth in Scripture and of the condition required of them that are elected to salvation receiving Christ preached as he is offered in the Gospel and accordingly it is most evident that they that will found their Doctrine on Scripture must find not onely difficulty but impossibility to maintain the gift of evangelicall Grace which I suppose to be a supernaturall power to believe and obey the Gospel to those to whom the Gospel hath never been revealed What the Remonstrants are said to assert in this matter I shall forbear to examine because I design not to engage in any controversie at this time with any onely as on one side it is evident that their adversaries can receive no benefit by the objection the salvability of all to whom the Gospel is preached being as contrary to their Doctrine of onely the Elect as it would be if extended to the heathens also all Christians being not with them in the number of the Elect so on the other side I should think it strange that in our present notion of Evangelical grace for a strength from God to receive and obey the Gospel preached it should by the Remonstrants or any other be affirmed from Scripture that it is given or offered to those to whom the Gospel hath not been revealed S. Paul stiles the Gospel the power of God unto salvation and the preaching of it the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 administration of the spirit and indeed the spirit is in Scripture promised onely to them who believe in Christ and therefore speaking of what may be maintained by Scripture and confining the speech to evangelical Grace the Universality of it can no farther be by that maintained to extend then to those to whom the Gospel is preached for if Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word i. e. preaching the Gospel it must follow they cannot believe and so have not Evangelical Grace or strength to believe without a Preacher § 42. And therefore I remember the Learned Bishop of Sarisbury Doctor Davenant in his Lent Sermon I think the last he preached before the King declared his opinion to be as for Vniversal Redemption so for Vniversal Grace within the Church and as for this he was I think by none accounted an Arminian so I never heard any that was of the Remonstrant perswasions unsatisfied with the scantness of that declaration but thought it as much as speaking of Grace in the Scripture notion of it evangelical Grace could with any reason be required of him § 43. As for the state and condition of heathens to whom the Gospel is not revealed and yet it is no fault of theirs that it is not as all those that lived before Christ and many since as it is evident the Scripture was not delivered to them nor consequently gave to us Christians rules for the judging of them so it is most reasonable which you add in your second Corollary which is this § 44. That into the consideration of Gods Decrees such nations or persons are not at all to be taken as never heard of the Gospel but they are to be left wholly to the judgement of God since he hath not thought fit to reveal to us any certainty concerning their condition but reserved it to himself amongst his other secret counsels the reasons of his wonderful and unsearchable dispensations in that kind To which I most willingly subscribe in every tittle and challenge it as the just debt to the force of that reason that shines in it that no man pass fatall decretory sentences on so great a part of mankind by force of those rules which they never heard of nor without hearing could possibly know that they were to be sentenced by them And this the rather upon four considerations which Scripture assures us of First that as all men were dead in Adam so Christ died for all that were thus dead for every man even for those that deny him and finally perish which as it must needs extend and be intended by him that thus tasted death for them to the benefit of those that knew him not for if he died for them that deny him why not for them that are less guilty as having never heard of him especially when 't is not the Revelation of Christ to which the Redemption is affixt but his Death so the certain truth of this is most expresly revealed and frequently inculcated in the Scripture though nothing be there found of Gods decrees concerning them upon this ground especially that no person of what nation soever should have any prejudice to Christian Religion when it should be first revealed to him when he finds his interest so expresly provided for by so gracious a Redeemer who if he had not dyed for every man 't were impossible for any Preacher to assure an Infidel that he dyed for him or propose any constringent reason to him why he should believe on him for salvation To this it is consequent that whatsoever Gods unrevealed wayes are to deal with any heathen what degree of repentance from Dead works obedience or performance soever he accept from them this must needs be founded in the Covenant made with mankind in Christ which you most truly have established there being no other name under heaven
Gospel and whilest he preacheth to others supposes it possible that himself if he do not bring his body in subjection may become a castaway and till he hath fought his good fight and finish'd his course and constantly kept the faith we never find him confident of receiving his crown which then he challenges from Gods righteousness or fidelity 2. whether the extraordinary favour of God which some men receive and by vertue of which over and above the sufficient Grace they may be thought to be wrought on effectually may not rather be imputed to Gods special providence then his special Grace so in Bishop Overals way it seems affirmable for in his Scheme the effectualness seems to be attributed to the giving what is given tempore congruo at a time when whether by sickness or by any other circumstance of their state they are foreseen by God to be so qualified and disposed that they shall infallibly accept Christ offered on his own conditions and so convert and receive the seed into good ground and so persevere and be saved when the same man out of those circumstances would not have been wrought on by the same means And if this be it which you mean as I doubt not but it is and that herein you perfectly agree with Bishop Overall then I say the question is whether the seasonable application or timeing be not rather to be imputed to speciall Providence the mercy of Gods wise and gracious disposal to those men that are thus favoured then to special Grace as that signifies an higher degree of Gods grace then is that sufficient measure which is afforded to others it being possible that an equall nay a lower degree of Grace being congruously timed and tendred may prove effectual when the like nay an higher at another time proves uneffectual And though all acts of Gods good providence may in some sense be styled acts of his Grace and so extraordinary providences may be styled special Graces in which sense the striking Paul in his journey to Damascus and calling to him out of heaven with grace proportionable to that call may fitly be called a work of Gods special Grace and so is every sickness or other judgement that is sent to melt any supposeable to have a proportionable and that is an extraordinary and special Grace annext to it and the providence and so the grace is the greater if it be applyed tempore congruo when there is no potent obstacle or principle for resistance yet still the question is seasonable whether this be all that is meant by this speciall measure of Grace which shall work effectually or if more be meant what ground there is for it in the Scripture § 60. To this second question your advertisement by letter hath given the satisfaction I expected that you were not curious to consider the distinction between the Grace and the Providence of God there being no necessity for so doing as to your purpose which was onely to express your sense that it must be the work of God whether of Grace or Providence it matters not that must do the deed and make the sufficient Grace effectuall This answer I accept and make no farther return to it onely from the uncertainty of the former as to any establishment from scripture-Scripture-grounds and so likewise of this latter till it shall appear by any sure word of promise to have any reall influence on the mattèr in hand there is way made for a third question § 61. Whether granting the truth of all that is pretended for the supereffluence of Gods goodness to some this can fitly de defined the thing whereto Election is determined and whether all that have not their part in this are in Scripture-style said to be Reprobated This I say not to propose any new matter of dispute or to require answer to all that may be objected against this notion of Decrees which you and other very Learned and sober men have proposed by way of conjecture onely but rather to demonstrate my concurrence with you that this can amount no higher at most then to a matter of conjecture § 62. And having said this I shall propose it to your impartial consideration I. Whether the Scripture ought not to be our guide in all even opining and conjecturing in such matters which are so much above our reason II. Whether the Scripture do not furnish us with these express grounds 1. that there are some sort of auditors that come to Christ become his Proselytes embrace the Gospel when 't is preach'd unto them that are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fit or prepared or disposed for the kingdome of God obedience to the Gospel 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disposed for eternall life on file for it in opposition to others who are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. 46. not worthy of meet or qualified for the Evangelical state 2. that probity of mind is specified to be this temper a willingness to do Gods will that in the parable of the good ground and the honest heart meant by it 3. that the Evangelical dispensations are governed by the maxime of habenti dabitur to the humble he gives more grace the poor are Evangelized the children and poor in spirit of such and of them is the kingdome of heaven and lastly that God hath chosen the foolish things of the world the weak the degenerous the vilified those that are not in opposition to the mighty powerful noble and wise III. Whether on these and many other the like fundamentall Truths of the Gospel it be not more reasonable to fetch the ground of the effectualness of that sufficient Grace to one which is not effectuall to another from the temper and disposition of the heart to which the Gospel is preached then from any other circumstance especially when this doth not deny or exclude the proper efficacy of those circumstances whatsoever they or it shall any way appear to be God having made the Baptist the forerunner to Christ repentance to Faith the breaking up our fallow grounds to his not sowing among thorns and the very nature of the Gospel being such that all that are truly sensible of their sins the odiousness and danger of them and heartily desirous to get out of that state the weary and heavy laden the humble docile tractable honest heart willing to take Christs yoke upon them are constantly wrought on and converted when the promulgate mercies or promises of the Gospel and the Grace annext to it are addrest to them whereas the very same nay perhaps a greater degree of light and Grace meeting with a proud refractary pleasurable or any way hypocritical and deceitful heart either is not at all heeded and received or takes no firm root in it § 63. And if now the onely objection I can foresee it be demanded whether this of probity humility c. the subactum solum soyl mellow'd and prepared for this
one in his sins and when this comes our former supposall of sufficient grace as of the preaching of the word and God's calls are utterly at an end but this breeds no shew of difficulty that man having enjoyed and mispent his time of sufficient grace and now the store-houses are shut up § 39. But there is yet possibly a sixth state of with-drawing when before either cutting off or with-drawing Gods outward calls whilst life and the preaching of the word is continued the obdurate sinner that hath long hardened his own heart against God thereby provokes him totally to with-draw all inward Grace from him as much as if he were already in hell This seems to be Pharaoh's case after the sixth judgement and was designed by God to very excellent ends to make him an example to all those that should be inclined to harden their hearts against God And though we know not that God thus deals with any others yet it is sure he justly may with all whom he may justly cut off in their sins And in this case I acknowledge the non-conversion of such a man is not onely imputable to the indisposition of the person to be wrought on but also to the withdrawing of the divine grace for then as I said the former supposal of the like sufficiency remaining ceaseth and is out-dated § 40. What fresh difficulties can arise from this concession I cannot divine unless 1. it should be objected that then it seems the word is not alwayes the vehicle of Grace and then 2. who knows when it is so when not And how then is this reconcileable with the doctrine of sufficient grace alwayes accompanying the word And to these the answers are obvious 1. that it is granted that the Word is not the vehicle of Grace to the Divils who believe and tremble to the damned who have received their sentence nay nor to those that are thus arrived to the highest degree of obduration in this life and have as Pharaoh this exterminating sentence passed upon them It is sufficient if it be so to them that are in a capacity to make use of it and have not utterly hardened themselves against it the Scripture-expression being that the Gospel is the power of God to salvation to every one that believes it and this is enough to establish our pretensions the doctrine of sufficient grace There is a competent time allowed every man and 't is certain death is the conclusion of it 't is possible some space before death § 41. As for the second if it were on the premised grounds granted that sometimes it cannot be known whether or no the preaching of the Word do then bring this Grace with it yet the one regular consequence would be that we should all be the more carefull to make use of Grace when it is afforded But when to this is added that this barren season is alwayes the reward of obstinate obduration and of nothing less then that As long as we have any softness left that is our assurance that this sad time is not yet come upon us They that go on in their obdurate course have reason to expect this fatal period every hour but they that have remorse and any degree of sincere relenting may know by this that this state of spiritual death hath not yet seized them and that is sufficient to guard this doctrine from all noxious consequences having provided that none shall hereby think his state desperate that is willing to reform it § 42. But then it is farther to be remembred that there appears not in the word of God any other example of this totall spirituall dereliction finally inflicted before death but onely that of Pharaoh after the time that God is said to have hardened his heart and the reason of this is set down God keeps him alive after the time due to his excision that he might shew in him his power And such singular examples ought no farther to be taken into consideration by us at this distance from them then to warn us that we keep as far as it is possible from the like provocations And then there remains not that I discern any farther appearance of difficulty in this matter § 43. As for any others that shall be apt to occur when men set themselves to consider of these points not divining what they are I may not pretend to speak to them any farther then thus that in all probability they may be measured by these which you have chosen to mention and by nearer approach to them be likewise found not to be so deep as at the distance they are conceited to be This then concludes your trouble It remains that according to my promise I now onely annex the Letters of Praescience and hasten to subscribe my self Your most affectionate brother and servant H. HAMMOND The Extracts of three LETTERS Concerning Gods Praescience reconciled with Liberty and Contingency referred to and promised in the first Letter to D. Sanderson §. 8. THE FIRST LETTER § 1. AS to the distinction betwixt inevitably and infallibly of which you desire my sence it is certain you must understand no more by the infallibility then is vulgarly meant by Necessitas ex hypothesi which is no more then that whatsoever is cannot not be or omne quod est eo ipso quod est necessariò est For so whatsoever is seen or which is all one in an infinite Deity foreseen by God is thereby supposed to have in that science of his an objective being If it were not or did not come to pass it should have no such objective being if it have it is thereby evidenced to be seen by him who was is and is to come and so being infinite is equally present to all and equally sees and knows all from all eternity What therefore you conclude as it is most agreeable to this so it is most true that God knows all things as they are such as come to pass contingently he knows to come contingently and from thence I undeniably conclude therefore they are contingent As for Socinus's resolution that he foresees onely what are foreseeable and that contingents are not such but onely those that come to pass by his decree I conceive it as dangerous as M. Calvins that he predetermines all things and it is visibly as false For it is evident by the prophecies of Judas c. that God long before foresees sins which are as certainly contingent and not decreed or decreeable by God If therefore any that writes against the Remonstrants go about to retort their arguments and conclude from their acknowledgements of Gods praescience what is charged on their adversaries doctrine of praedetermination I conceive it is but a boast that hath no least force in it praedetermination having a visible influence and causality on the object but eternal vision or praevision being so far from imposing necessity on the