their miseries are so unknowne unto us Yet as conceiving your selfe to have beene somewhat free inâ—venting somewhat which alas is but a vaine ostentation of some momentous matter which hath no moment at all in it you demand whether God may yet inspire these castawayes with mischievous thoughts seeing their mischievous thoughts worke for our good A very vaine objection as if the devill and his Angels had need of any prompting unto villany or as if prompting unto villany were fit to bee called inspiration which is never used but either in the way of prophecy or in the way of some gracious suggestion Yet as touching any thought or action of Satan your selfe dare not deny Gods concourse to the substance of the action and as for the manner of concourse we are willing to undergoe with you or any man else that breathes any scholasticall discourse or inquisition hereupon as whether the will of the creature determines the will of his Creator or whether the will of the Creator determines the will of the creature rather As touching the evill it selfe whether from our opinion can be inferred any more then this that Gods will is it shall come to passe by his permission and whether we cannot shew better reason for this our tenet then you or any man else for the contrary As for the intending of the creatures woe and miserie as occasions or meanes of Gods glory what sober man can doubt but that God is the efficient cause of their woe and miserie as it signifies the misery of punishment and in inflicting punishment on transgressors undoubtedly hee doth advance the glory of his justice yea and the glory of his Saints also who may see in others sufferings what might have beene their portion if God had shewed no more grace unto them then unto others and hereupon have cause to be so much the more ravished with the contemplation of Gods goodnesse toward them As for the miserie of sinne be the sinne as great as the crucifying of Christ God determined it should be done Act. 4. be it as great as the Kings giving their kingdome to the beast little lesse then the giving of their kingdomes to the devill yet God it is that hath put into their hearts to doe his will even in this also and even this undoubtedly shall redound to the glory of God and the good of his elect For both heresies must be that they which are approved may bee manifested and God raiseth tyrants up to exercise the patience of his children yea their own sinnes redound to the profit of Gods elect Utile est superbis in aliquod apertum manifestamque cadere peccatum But hereupon to make use of that maxime Gods will is the rule of goodnesse is most absurd for the rule of goodnesse is Gods will of commandement but the will of God that signifieth his determination to have this or that come to passe is farre different neither I hope will you make question in case God willeth any thing to come to passe whether God doth well in willing it though that which hee willeth or determineth bee the crucifying of Christ Iesus As for the will of commandement that is onely the will of God touching what is our duty to doe or to leave undone and accordingly called voluntas approbans for certainly he approves obedience unto his will in whatsoever he injoyneth us yet this wide leape hath cast your meditations upon this point to enquire forsooth whether Gods will bee the rule of goodnesse But as you have entred upon it without distinction of will and will so you carrie your selfe therein with miserable confusion CHAP. XIII In what sense or how Gods infinite will is said to bee the rule of goodnesse THe question was never before that I know proposed in this manner viz. of Gods infinite wil but only of Gods will The Heathens painted Iustice as an assistant of Iupiter Anaxarchus to comfort Alexander cast downe with conscience of his foule fact inmurthering his deare friend Clitus deviseth an interpretation of this pageant sutable and serviceable to the consolation of Alexander and that was this Iupiters actions must alwaies be esteemed just So saith the great Monarchs who are Gods on earth their actions must bee accounted just Anaxarchus is censured by Arrian and justly for his grosse flattery in the application of this unto Kings on earth who it is well knowne may degenerate into tyrants But I hope you will not dislike this interpretation as applied unto God you will not make question I trow whether God be righteous in all his waies and holy in all his workes much lesse deny it although he commanded Abraham to sacrifice his sonne allowed Samson to sacrifice himselfe the Israelites to rob the Egyptians though he send an evill spirit betweene Abimelech and the men of Shechem though hee put a lying spirit in the mouthes of all Ahabs Prophets to seduce the King and to perswade him to goe up against Ramoth Gilead that he may fall there though he sends to Pharaoh a commandement to let Israel goe yet tels Moses hee will harden Pharaohs heart that he shall not let Israel goe though that worke of the rending of the ten Tribes from the two comprehending the defection of people from their lawfull King he by open protestation takes unto himselfe as his own work like as touching the defiling of Davids concubines he telleth David to his face that he would doe this openly saying I will take thy wives from thee and give them to thy neighbour and he shall lye with them in the sight of the Sunne 2. Your comparison of Gods power with his goodnesse I doe not much mislike onely your comparing of him with Monarchs in goodnesse is not so fit for alas what prerogative have they of goodnesse above other men They are to bee borne withall though they are not so good as others because they are exposed to greater temptations then others and the greater is the temptation the lesse is the sinne No great commendation to exceed Sardanapalus or Heliogabalus in goodnesse yet wee know there is a great deale of difference betweene the goodnesse of God and the goodnesse of man in the course thereof for mans goodnesse in the exercise thereof is subordinate to a law and they are bound to exercise it towards all Gods goodnesse is of no such condition nothing could binde him to the making of the world or to the making of any creature at all They being made hee exerciseth his goodnes towards whom he will for though in the course of his naturall providence he causeth his Sun to shine and his raine to fall both upon the just and unjust yet as touching the dispensation of his chiefest blessings his spirituall blessings in heavenly things he hath mercy on whom he will yea and whom he will he hardeneth also And though ordinarily all are partakers of his temporall blessings yet sometimes he puts a great difference even in the
will to save and decree to save is all one and election we say is the decree of salvation And as God hath not elected all unto salvation nor ordained all unto eternall life so neither hath he willed to save all For hence two absurdities doe manifestly follow first that the reason why many are not saved must bee because God cannot save them which is the argument of S. Austin Another is that Gods will shall bee changed for undoubtedly when God damnes any man then he will not save him and therefore if before he did will to save them his will is afterwards changed both by changing his old will which was everlasting and by entertaining a new will which was not everlasting Hemnigius a great patron of universall grace interpreteth the place of S. Paul 2 Tim. 2. 4. Deus vult omnes homines salvos fieri modo fide oblatam salutem recipere non recusaverint Neither doe I like Cajetans interpretation after this manner when he saith Est sermo devoluntate signi qua Deus proponit omnibus hominibus praecepta salutis doctrinamque Euangelij and that for two reasons First because God doth not propose his Gospel to all Secondly if God should propose the Gospell to all and bid all men to beleeve this is no certaine signe that God will have them to beleeve like as it is no certaine signe that God will give them grace to beleeve without which they cannot beleeve for it is manifest that God doth not give the grace of faith and repentance to all that heare the Gospell nor to a major part of them but it is a signe I confesse that God will have it our duty to beleeve by commanding us to beleeve Gods commandement is usually called his will and the commandement of God Schoolmen make to be one of the signes of Gods will So he commanded Abraham to sacrifice his sonne Isaak This they call voluntas signi but yet hee was determined that Isaak should not bee sacrificed as appeared by the event this they call voluntas beneplaciti So he commanded Pharaoh to let Israel goe this was his voluntas signi but yet he told Moses he would harden Pharoahs heart that hee should not let Israel goe this they call his voluntas beneplaciti the end whereof was that God might have occasion to shew his power and magnifie himselfe in his plagues brought upon the Aegyptians to breake those hearts that would not bend unto him So that you are out in the interpretation of voluntas signi and beneplaciti as well as in the accommodation of it as out of our opinion God proposeth no signification of his good will to any man as touching the saving of him otherwise then by faith and repentance and plainly protests that without faith and repentance they shall not be saved You would faine have your adversaries grant that God doth will the salvation of all men by his revealed will or voluntate signi Indeed if you may have the fashioning of our opinion you may soone be victorious in conquering men of straw in stead of reall opposites This distinction of yours is absurdly applied to our opinion in this case who deny that God doth at all or any manner of way will the salvation of reprobates For revealed will and voluntas signi is the will of Gods commandement and the objects of commandements are onely morall duties and not the rewards of them such as is salvation Yet it is truth that what God is said to will by his will of commandement so usually called though improperly the will of God the same at once he doth not will but rather the contrary sometimes by his voluntas propositi will of purpose and decree which alone is properly to bee accounted the will of God and which none can resist Rom. 9. 19. And this we can prove and have alreaby proved by two instances the one as touching the sacrificing of Isaak commanded to Abraham but not determined by God that it should be brought to pass as also in the letting of Israel goe commanded unto Pharaoh yet God resolving for a long time to harden Pharaohs heart that he should not let them goe Neither will it herehence follow that there are two wills in God as you most unlearnedly urge but that God may command one thing which yet he is resolved shall not come to passe so that the thing commanded may be contrary to the thing determined by God as when he commanded Abraham to sacrifice Isaak but withall determined that Isaak should not be sacrificed But Gods commandement though it be usually called his will yet it is improperly so called onely the will of purpose and decree is properly Gods will according to that of the Apostle Rom. 9. 19. Who hath resisted his will For the commandement signifieth onely what is our duty to doe it doth not signifie what God hath determined shall be done For as for the crucifying of the Sonne of God Gods hand and his counsell had determined before that it should bee done but he commanded none to crucifie him but rather commanded all the contrary namely in forbidding the shedding of innocent bloud Neither shall there be a contradiction betweene the objects of Gods will which is one but onely betwixt the objects of his commandement and the object of his will and determination as in the instances proposed I have manifested As for your applications of the distinction of voluntas signi and voluntas beneplaciti to the salvation of mankinde I know none of our Divines that embrace it Wee plainly deny that God willeth the salvation of any but of his elect For Gods will we conceive to be all one with his decree and election we define to be the decree of salvation or the ordaining of men to everlasting life So that we may well give you leave to runne riot in your fruitlesse argumentation You on the contrary doe apparantly maintaine a manifest contradiction betweene the object of Gods will For seeing God doth damne many it followeth that he did will to damne many and that from everlasting though onely for their sinne yet these whom from everlasting he did will to damne you maintaine that out of infinite love he did will to save till the measure of their sinne was full So that at once he did will to save and will to damne the same persons by your opinion thus the contradiction fairely and fully lights upon your selfe which upon a meere fiction of yours and that contrary to our professed opinion you charged upon us Wee grant the will of God is but one but we say his will properly so called and his commandement usually called also his will though improperly are two distinct things For by the one he sheweth what is our duty to doe or to leave undone by the other he determineth what shall be done or not done what shall come to passe or not come to passe in the world Of what force and credit your
thinke he could this is a bit you can swallow easily and digest with as great facility And so belike your opinion is of the Angels to wit that the good Angels stood by the meere freedome of their owne wils having no other adjutorium gratiae then the reprobate Angels had directly against Austin de Civitate Dei l. 12. c. 9. You beginne to discover the mystery of your meaning when you say that Many whom this infinite love doth daily imbrace because they apprehend not it are never brought by the attractions of it to true repentance So then the attractions of Gods infinite love are the causa sine qua non but what is the cause qua posita ponitur effectus O this is our apprehending of it And I pray what stile doe the learned give to that causa sine qua non doe they not commonly account it causam fatuam So then you make shew to magnifie the attractions of Gods love and the efficacy thereof but t is onely in a fatuous manner and you make but a fatuous efficacy thereof but mans will alone in the apprehending of it hath the true efficacie of repentance in the course of your Divinity Now I pray what is this love you speake of and what manner of attraction is it and wherin doth it consist and how are we said to apprehend it and wherein doth that consist By the place alledged out of Rom. 2. 4. you signifie that this love of God is no other then that goodnesse whereby he leadeth unto repentance and that goodnesse there mentioned seemes to bee no other then Gods forbearance and long suffering Call you this the attractions of his infinite love Yet notwithstanding Austin was bold to professe Quantamlibet praebuerit patientiam nisâ— Deus dederit quis aget poenitentiam Though God affords never so much patience yet who shall repent except God gives repentance your present discourse preacheth unto us another doctrine to this effect Quantamlibet praebuerit patientiam nisi homo apprehenderit quis aget poenitentiam Though God affords never so much patience yet who shall repent except he apprehends it And I pray what is it to apprehend Gods patience or his leading of us to repentance by his goodnesse and patience Can it be any thing else then the taking of the opportunity offered and to repent indeed So then your meaning is this in plaine termes Many whom this infinite love of God doth embrace to wit in leading them by his goodnesse and patience unto repentance yet are never brought by the attraction of it to true repentance and all because they doe not apprehend it that is because they doe not repent Is not this issue of your discourse very grave and Theologicall yet when you say the reason why by this love they are not brought to repentance is because they doe not apprehend it you seeme to imply that they may apprehend it if they will Yet because the Text alledged by you is expresly against this therefore you are contont to nicke your former assertion your selfe with a crosse blow that so your selfe may have the first credit of contradicting and confuting your selfe as when you say of whom speakes he thus of sueh onely as truly repent A mad question as ever was proposed as if there were any colour that the Apostle should say of them that repent that they despise the riches of Gods goodnesse leading them to repentance yet that you may have some matter to worke upon having erected an enemy of straw you foile him most valiantly by answering Nay but of them who for hardnesse of heart cannot repent Not considering how fondly herein you contradict your selfe Nay by the way I note an aknowledgement of yours to wit that a man may despise the goodnesse of God leading him to repentance though through the hardnesse of his heart he cannot repent at all 4. You demand in the next place whether the riches of Gods bountie were fained or whether hee did onely profer but not purpose to draw them to repentance which repented not I answer it was not fained neither doe I finde any thing that he profered at all in this passage of the Apostles But that this is a meere fiction of yours ut recto stet fabula talo and that hee did truly draw them to repentance but how as by patience and long-suffering he may be said to draw them and no other goodnesse of God drawing them to repentance is mentioned in this place Like as opportunity is said to draw and invite men to the doing of something in season In like sort the judgements of God invite unto repentance the mercies of God provoke unto obedience to thankfulnesse But yet Austin was bold to say Quantamlibet praebuerit patientiam nisi Deus dederit quis aget poenitentiam So that this is a tacite exhortation and invitation to repentance by Gods workes And much inferiour to the power of the exhortations of his word yet God doth exhort by the ministery of his word many whose hearts notwithstanding he hardneth As is apparent in sending unto Pharaoh and commanding him to let Israel goe yet withall made knowne to Moses that hee would harden Pharaohs heart that hee should not let Israel goe And dare you professe this course of his so plainly testified in holy Scripture to be no part of Gods protection no fruit of that wisedome which is from above but a point of earthly policie devoid of honesty a meere tricke of worldly wit to whose practise nothing but weaknesse and impotency to accomplish great designes can misinâ—line mans corrupted nature And the truth is in this course of God nothing is profered at all but onely something suspended to wit the execution of just vengeance In his word something is profered but what is that Not repentance as you misconceive that rather is required and commanded onely upon repentance remission of sinnes and salvation is profered And if repentance were profered I pray upon what termes you will say in case they would apprehend it This have I already shewed to be all one as if you should say In case they did repent and of the sobriety hereof let any man judge Againe you professe that this is profered to such men as through the hardnesse of their hearts cannot repent and judge whether the same incongruities which you charge upon our Tenet are upon any other ground then this and while you maintaine this whether they doe not reflect upon your Tenet also Now on the contrary whereas we object against you that if God willeth and so ardently as you speake that all men should repent and be saved how comes it to passe that they doe not repent Considering that the Apostle professeth that Gods will cannot be resisted and that it manifestly implies an impotency or weaknesse in God in not being able to bring to passe what he so ardently desires Now to the latter objection of these you answer by deniall that it
as well that it is extended to frogges and toads to Angells and Devills as well as to mankinde This is onely to professe that it extends to all Now this is a very improper interpretarion of infinite love for lesse love and lesse liberality may extend to more then greater love and greater liberality for he that gives ten shillings to one person is more liberall then that divides five shillings amongst threescore persons in giving them a peny apiece Lastly the fruit of this love can be but being and is it not a proper commendation of Gods infinite love towards mankinde to say that he gives being unto all And doth Gods love to man appeare more herein then to the vilest creature that is 2 In the next Section you discourse at large after your manner of the amplitude of Gods love in comparison which is nothing at all to your purpose whose chiefe aime is to insinuae that Gods love is alike to all Yet having proceeded thus farre my resolution is to go on and to consider what you bring What thinke you of Adams love in the state of innocency was it perfect or no Though without sinne awhile yet hee fell into sinne so did the Angells before him so should wee though as perfect as they if God should not uphold us Yet our love in greatest perfection could not be so much as a shadow of Gods love there being no resemblance betweene them our love being a love of duety Gods love to us of meere grace and mercy Besides betweene the fruits of Gods love to us and the fruits of our love towards God no colour of resemblance Man is bound heartily to desire the good of all but God is free and hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth Many widowes were in Israel in the daies of Elias when heaven was shut three yeares and six months and great famine was throughout all the land But unto none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta a city of Sidone unto a certaine widow Also many lepers were in Israel in the dayes of Elesaeus the prophet yet none of them was made cleane but Naaman the Syrian And if Gods will had beene to doe the best that might be hee could have cured no doubt all other lepers as well as Naaman and succoured other widows as well as the widow of Sarepta Yet I confesse Gods good will exceeds ours not intensively onely but extensively also for not a sparrow falleth to the ground without the providence of our heavenly Father hee saveth both man and beast and heareth the young Ravens that call upon him the eyes of all doe wait upon the Lord and hee gives them their meat in due season And as touching the conferring both of grace and glory therein hee saveth more then wee know or are acquainted with The number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea that cannot bee counted for multitude As touching temporall blessings all partake of his goodnesse therein in their naturall preservation and consolation therein wee must imitate him in doing good to all as it lieth in our power though chiefly to the houshold of faith yet not to them onely but to others also But though he causeth his sun to shine and his raine to fall upon the just and unjust yet pronounceth not the sentence of salvation on all promiscuously whether they be just or unjust And whereas all are equally corrupt in state of nature yet he doth not equally shew mercy on all or bestow the meanes of grace on all or where he doth bestow these meanes of salvation he doth not make them effectuall unto us He blindes the eyes and hardens the hearts of some that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts and be converted that he might heale them Whereby it comes to passe that the word of God though it be the savour of life unto life unto some yet it is the savour of death unto death unto others and the Ministers of God are a good savour unto God in both even both in them that are saved and in them that perish For God made all things for himselfe even the wicked against the day of evill Mercie you say is not restrained from ill deservers in distresse so long as the exercise of it breeds no harme to such as are more capable of bountifull love and favour This is a consideration which I confesse hath place among men sometimes and in some cases Yet hardly can I devise how to suit with a fit instance For no states for ought I find doe take notice of any such distinction of times wherein the exercise of mercy will not breed harme and wherein it will but they execute condigne punishment upon malefactors according to the lawes that all may see and feare to doe the like not be encouraged malorum facta imitari but rather eorum exitus perhorrescere God doth not so His patience and long suffering is exceeding great yet if hee should give every man repentance in his death bed and save their soules what one in the world should be the worse for this And though the wicked many times spend their daies in mirth and sodainly goe downe to the grave yet by the grace of God we shall be nothing the worse for this nor provoked hereupon to condemne the generation of Gods children Yet what is it that makes one man more capable of bountifull love and favour then another I know not what makes him more capable of love in the execution of reward I know but what makes him more capable of love in the communication of grace and in shewing mercy towards him I know not Sure I am that woman who had many sinnes forgiven her loved so much the more the ninety nine just persons that thinke they need no repentance like enough love so much the lesse It is true the lawes of States take order for the just execution of punishment upon offenders for the common good yet by your leave Kings on earth by their absolutenesse doe give pardons to whom they will respecting more their own pleasure then the common good And withall I thinke Princes doe lesse offend if at all offend in refusing to pardon malefactors then in granting pardons unto them As for God to whom you say the execution of justice is unnaturall he being the Father of mercy I pray consider if God should give repentance to all on their death-beds and consequently save all what common good of mankinde would be hindred by this And as God is the father of mercy so is he also the Iudge of all the world and I conceive the execution of justice punitive to be as naturall to him as he is Iudge of all the world as the execution of mercy is naturall unto him as he is the Father of mercy Yet you seeme to have a place of Scripture to prove a
much lesse in their sinnes whereby they bring destruction upon themselves but God delights both in the faith and repentance of his elect and in their salvation But this signification of good pleasure is nothing to the purpose in this distinction for no Schooleman understands it in this sense And I well know Arminius considering the usuall acception of Voluntas beneplaciti amongst Divines professeth he had rather call it Voluntas placiti then Voluntas beneplaciti If such lettice like your lips you may make your selfe merry with them A second extent and accommodation of this distinction of Uoluntas signi and Voluntas beneplaciti you allow of applyed to men after they have made up the full measure of their iniquity and are cut off from all possibilitie of repentance I had thought no man had filled up the full measure of his sinne untill his death like as on the other side no man hath fulfilled the measure of his obedience untill hee hath finished his course as Revel 11. 7. When the witnesses had finished their testimonie the beast that came out of the bottomlesse pit made warre against them and slew them You seeme to speake it of a certaine measure whereupon the doore of repentance is shut upon them and thereupon excluded from all possibility of repentance as here you say it was with Pharaoh especially after the 7. plague upon Aegypt whereupon you have taken great paines to discourse at large in another Treatise which I have well considered and examined your reasons throughout and that following you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet there you confesse that it must have beene so with Pharaoh at Moses first comming unto him yea and was possible to have beene so when he was but 3. yeares old And indeed I doe not see how it can bee avoided but that as many as depart this life in their infancy are excluded from all possibility of repentance But it may be you will apply this only to men of ripe years but by your leave such Pharaoh was not at three yeares old And though God willed Pharaoh to let his people goe and sent Moses and Aaron to him to that purpose yet you say It was no branch of Gods good will and pleasure that Pharaoh should now repent Rather it was his good will and pleasure to have the heart of Pharaoh hardned though you restraine this to Pharaohs condition after the seventh plague for which I see no reason So that in such a case you will have it lawfull for God by his reserved will to recall that part of his will which hee hath declared by his word or oath and therefore as touching your holy asseveration mentioned in the sixth Section it must be restrained to them that have not yet filled up the measure of their sinne as Pharaoh had after the seventh plague For in such a case God may will their death notwithstanding his oath in shew to the contrary For his meaning is this As I live I will not the death of him that dieth that is I will not his death as a man or as the sonne of Adam neither doe I herein deifie Iesuiticall equivocations or mentall reservations for I take libertie to charge that upon mine adversaries and therefore you may well think I would not be so simple as to transgresse in the same kind my selfe And I thinke so too if God had not confounded your wits but it is Gods course and most just to strike with confusion those that build Babel and he makes the Aegyptians to erre in their counsels as a drunken man erreth in his vomite the issue whereof is to defile himselfe and his owne favourites even those that sit next unto him In the same spirit you professe that God did punish Pharaoh for not letting his people goe as though it had beene free and possible for him to repent though indeed in your opinion it was not But Pharaohs case was extraordinary you say and not to be drawne into example But by your leave if God did so but once it is no unjust thing for God to do so oftner and therefore pray looke unto it that whensoever it is your lot to oppose your adversaries in such a point you doe not lay to their charge that they make God to be unjust if not for conscience sake of the truth yet at least for feare of contradicting your selfe As for the Apostles intimation you touch upon by the way that it was an argument of Gods great mercy and long suffering to permit Pharaoh to live any longer upon earth after he was become a vessell of wrath destinated to everlasting punishment in hell I professe I am not so quicke or accurate as to observe any such intimation of the Apostle What if you devised this to make good some fictions of yours to that purpose in another Treatise of yours which I have already weighed in the ballance and found them a great deale too light of worth to move any sober man to concurre with you in opinion thereabouts But whatsoever it be that the Apostle intimates you seeme to expresse strange conceits when you talke of Gods providence in suffering Pharaoh to live longer on earth after hee was become a vessell of wrath destinated to everlasting punishment in hell I had thought every reprobate had beene destinated to everlasting punishment in hell before hee was borne For Gods destination of them is the ordination of his will and that I had thought you had not denied to be everlasting But you referre it to a certaine time as in speciall to Pharaoh after the seventh plague and in speciall to all after they have filled up a certaine measure of iniquitie and shall not men in like sort be destinated to everlasting joies in heaven after they have filled up a certaine measure of obedience And so a little after you tell us that men doe not become reprobates till a certaine measure of iniquitie bee filled up and so in proportion men are not elect till a certaine proportion of obedience bee filled up Yet the Apostle plainly telleth us that the elect are elect of God before the foundation of the world Eph. 1. 4. and consequently so are reprobates reprobated before the foundation of the world for the word election of some doth connotate the reprobation of others Yea Iacob was loved of God before he was borne and was not Esau hated also before he was borne Rom. 9. Did God wait till the measure of Esaus sinnes was full and the measure of Iacobs obedience before he did elect the one and reprobate the other And if destination unto the punishment of hell and on the other side destination unto the joyes of heaven beginne in time after the obedience of some and disobedience of others what is the meaning of predestination for what is that but the destination of some to the joyes of heaven and others to the sorrowes of hell No doubt but if you proceed as you beginne we shall have a
cannot be judged by your text what you borrow out of Bishop Hooper and what you doe not Yet upon consulting Bishop Hoopers Preface unto his exposition of the tenne Commandements I finde that both this sentence following Every man is called in the Scripture wicked and the enemy of God for the privation and lacke of faith and love that he oweth to God and all that followeth hereupon to the end of this eighth Section of yours is taken out of that Preface of his and I wonder not a little what you meant not to discover so much neither by expresse profession nor by changing the letter that thereby at least it might be taken to be another mans discourse and not your owne Well I am willing to consider what you alledge out of him and whether his writings bee so consonant as you speake to your deductions First you call him A learned Bishop and blessed Martyr Et quis Herculem vituperat You adde that this exposition of the ten Commandements made by him Is a fit Catechisme for a Bishop to make I am perswaded the whole Church of England hath a reverend opinion of his learning of his holinesse of his martyrdome and that this Catechisme of his is worthy of a Bishop but it followeth not herehence that every Bishop in England doth neither doe I thinke you your selfe expect they should concurre with him in every opinion of his expressed in this booke In his declaration of the ninth Commandement Fol. 80. he justifieth mendatium ossiciosum and professeth that it is required in some cases Doe you looke that all the Bishops of England should concurre rather with Bishop Hooper then with Bishop Austine in this opinion Vpon the eighth Commandement Fol. 74. he complaines saying A great pitty it is to see how farre that office of a Bishop is degenerated from the originall in the Scripture it was not so at the beginning when Bishops were at the best as the Epistle of Paul to Titus testifieth that willed him to ordain in every City of Creet a Bishop and Fol. 79. as sharpely as closely censureth the Bishops of his dayes for arrogating to themselves so much wit as to rule serve in both states in the Church and in the Civill policie and to the contrary professeth that one of them is more then any man is able to satisfie and that it is not possible that one should doe both well and that it is a great oversight of the Princes and higher powers of the earth so to charge them with two burthens when none of them as hee saith is able to beare the least of them both Doe you expect that all the Bishops in England should bee of his judgement in this On the same commandement Fol. 73. as touching those who have great Forrests or Parkes of Deere or Conies which pasture and feed upon their neighbours ground or Columbaries whereas Doves assemble and haunâ— and those feede on the poores corne hee referres it to the charitie of every man whether the keeping of such beasts bee not against Gods lawes and mans lawes and whether it bee not suffered rather for a few mens pleasures then for many mens prosit Doe you thinke that either Church or State are precisely of his opinion as it is manifested by this Vpon the seventh Commandement Fol. 69. he maintains that upon divorse in case of adultery it is lawfull to marry another and not so onely but that the adulterous partie ought to be put to death Do you wish that the Church and State of England would bee of the same minde with him in this Vpon the fourth Commandement he avoucheth that although the ceremony of the Sabbath be taken away which appertained onely to the common wealth of the Hebrews yet one day of the weeke to preserve and use the word of God and his Sacraments is not abrogated and that therefore in this are two things to bee observed the one ceremoniall during for the time the other morall and never to be abolished as long as the Church of Christ shall continue upon the earth Againe This Sunday saith he that we observe is not the commandement of man as many say that would under the pretence of this one law binde the Church of Christ to all other laws that men have ungodly prescribed unto the Church but it is by expresse words commanded that wee should observe this day the Sunday for our Sabbath as the words of Saint Paul declareth commanding every man to appoint his almes for the poore in Sunday the text saith in one of the Sabbath it is an Hebrew phrase and it is as much as to say in the Sunday as you may read the same manner of speech in Luke and John of the women that came to the Sepulchre to annoint the dead body of Christ. Luke saith In one of the Sabbaths early they came to the Sepulchre and so saith Iohn by the same words the which was the Sunday as no man doubteth for t is our faith that Christ roso the third day I presume you will not prescribe to all the Bishops and Divines in this kingdome to bee of Bishop Hoopers opinion in this point Now if in these particulars it bee lawfull to differ from him in opinion without offence of Church or State I hope wee shall have as great liberty to differ from him in other things also upon good ground Yet I speake not this as if I found this godly Bishop to justifie that Tenet of yours for confirmation whereof you make use of his authority And that Tenet of yours is this that there is a certaine time when the wicked have filled up the full measure of their iniquity though they live many years after and such you conceive was the case of Pharaoh after the seventh plague And that from that time forwards all possibility of amendment is taken from them And until that time God doth unfainedly love them But having made up that measure and so having their soules betrothed unto wickednesse he hates them That then they become reprobates and not till then and from thence to their lives end it is not Gods will and pleasure they should repent but rather that it is Gods good will and pleasure that they should have their hearts hardned Your words are these in the precedent Section pag. 180. God loves all men unfainedly as they are men or aâ— men which have not made up the full measure of iniquity but having made up that or having their soules betrothed unto wickednesse he hates them And againe He necessarily hates them being once become reprobates or having made up the full measure of iniquitie And pag. 179. It was no branch of Gods good will and pleasure that Pharaoh should now repent or be willing to let Israel goe Rather it was his good will and pleasure specially after the seventh plague to have the heart of Pharaoh hardned And a little after God plagued Pharaoh for not doing that which now he could
infinite Now of Gods infinite will I never heard before his power we say is infinite because hee can doe every thing that is possible to bee done his knowledge is infinite because hee knowes all things that may bee knowne but God doth not will all things that may bee willed by him Nay his power receives limitation and restriction by his will as touching the execution thereof for hee doth no more then what hee will Likewise wee say Gods love is infinite in the way of extention for it neither had beginning neither shall it have end But such is not Gods love towards them that perish for it ceaseth by your doctrine when the measure of their iniquity is filled up but such as it is you say it layeth no necessity upon their wills A most ridiculous speech as much as to say it doth not make men repent necessarily whereas concerning them that perish it is apparant that it neither makes them repent necessarily nor contingently And as for the elect hee gives them repentance which he doth not to the reprobates as Austine long agoe professed Istorum neminem adducit Deus ad salubrem spiritualemque poenitentiam qua homo reconciliatur Deo in Christo sive illis ampliorem patientiam sive non imparem praebeat Nyither doe wee say that to whom God gives repentance he gives obedience he makes them to repent necessarily to obey necessarily but freely For it is manifest that grace takes not away the power of disobedience but onely prevents the act of disobedience and that not in all particulars neither for the children of God sinne too often And as for those which want this grace which God bestowes on his elect they have not onely liberty left them unto sinne but also this liberty turnes into wilfulnesse according to that of Austine Libertas sine gratia non est libertas sed contumacia Liberty without grace is not liberty but wilfulnesse But yet wee say upon supposition that God will give any man repentance and that at such a time that man shall repent at such a time and t is impossible hee should not repent yet in repenting hee shall repent freely and not necessarily Like as God ordaining Christs bones should not be broken upon this supposition it was impossible it should be otherwise albeit the soldiers abstained from breaking of his bones not necessarily but deliberately and freely It is true the Lord saith Open thy mouth wide and I will fill it but his people would not hearken unto his voice And now the question is onely as touching their obedience whether God did any otherwise will that then by commanding it in respect of those that perish wee say hee did onely command it in respect of such wee say hee did not resolve to give them repentance to give them obedience though he could have done this and doth doe this unto his elect making them to passe under the rod and bringing them under the bond of the covenant not onely seeing their wayes but healing them also healing their rebellions and subduing their iniquities and treading Satan under their feet opening their eies and bringing them out of darkenesse into light and from the power of Satan unto God quickning them when they were dead in trespasses and sinnes creating a new heart and renewing a right spirit within them Doe you but acknowledge this as you must unlesse you will renounce the Scriptures and wee will never quarrell with you for saying God doth all this contingently and not necessarily 2 The Apostles move a question to our Saviour concerning him that was borne blinde Ioh. 9. whether hee had sinned or his fathers that he was horne blinde this was in respect of judgement corporall you apply this to a judgement spirituall that judgement was positive to bee bereaved of sight which in course of nature is otherwise then onely permissive in suffering them to be such as hee found them That was spoken in respect of some not common but extraordinary sinne for though there bee sinne common unto all yet this judgement is not and therefore they might well thinke if sinne were the cause it must bee some extraordinary sinne but our Saviour signifieth that it befell him in the course of Gods providence not so much in respect of sinne as in respect of a certaine end whereto God had ordained it But I hope neither the Apostles nor any sober man would imagine that some extraordinary sinne was required unto this that God should leave men as hee findes them without bestowing some supernaturall grace upon them And in despight of sinne God doth afford this grace to many thousands for God hath mercy on whom he will like as on the other side in despight of mens civility and naturall morality whom hee will he hardeneth Yet to the question by you proposed at pleasure you make no answer but adde hereunto out of Ion. 2. 8. They that follow lying vanities forsake their owne mercies as if you had a minde to imply that there is something in man that makes a difference why some are suffered to walke in their owne waies some are not wherein you doe but corrupt the state of the question after your usuall manner For the question is not about the consequent of lying vanities or not observing them but about the observing of lying vanities it selfe or not observing them that is how cometh it to passe that some are suffered to goe on in the course of their lying vanities some are not but rather are taken off from those ungodly courses wherein they have beene brought up as many thousands were taken off thus in the Apostles daies wee say it is the meere good pleasure of God that puts this difference having mercy on some and hardning others you take another course as when you say in your familiar and soliloquiall meditations with God Never hadst thou given them up to their owne hearts lust to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath had they not despised the riches of thy bounty Here you mixe different courses of God together for when you talke of giving them over to their owne hearts lusts Which scripture applieth to Gods dealing with his own people Israel upon the despising of his grace offered them in his word but the rest as this also being accomodated unto the heathens you seeme to referre to the despising of the riches of Gods bounty declared to them in his workes for as for the riches of Gods bounty declared in his word the heathen were not pertakers of this untill the dayes of the Gospell and whereas by the phrase of speech used you seeme to have an eye to that of the Apostle Rom. 2 3. 4. the riches of Gods bounty in that place is specified onely to consist in patience and long-suffering And how did they refuse it but in refusing to repent For the bounty there mentioned is noted to be a bounty leading unto repentance So that in the issue your
law God might allowe the Israelits in robbing the Egyptians Abraham in sacrificing his sonne Sampson in sacrificing himselfe we may not allowe any in the like God hath power to expose men unto sinne to harden mens hearts we may not take any such courses but rather doe all we can to keepe our bretheren from sinne Now from your discourse it no more followeth that God cannot be unjustly mercyfull then that he cannot be unmercifully just especially towards those whom he loves more dearely then any man doth himselfe as you speake And if you would be pleased to take notice by the way of the oracles of God and not follow still the course of your owne inventions you might find that God hath mercy on whome he will and hardneth whome he will Yet is not he either unjustly mercyfull in the one or unmercyfully just in the other Neyther should he be though the case were altered and he were mercyfull to those whome now he hardneth and hardned those whome now he comiserateth satis contraria fata reponens But let us goe with you along the coast of Barbarie Gods love you say extends it selfe unto our nature so polluted with corruption It is true and that not only in respect of corruption by sinne orginall but by sinne actuall For he gave his sonne to dy for us when we were his enimyes and when we were dead in sinne and walked after the Prince of the ayre and fashions of the world he quickned us Ephes. 2. 29. The effects of this love you say are limited towards men by the correspondency which they hold or loose with that absolute goodnesse or with those rules of equity in which his will is to have man made like him This manner of limitation is unsound and fowly unsounde as that which apparantly excludeth our correspondency to Gods goodnesse and unto Gods love out of the number of the effects of Gods love as much as to say that faith and repentance thankfulnesse and obedience are no effects of Gods love but merely works of nature as if it were not God that worketh in us both the will the deede according to his good pleasure As if regeneration were but the imagination of a vayne thing For I presume you will not say it is in the power of man to regenerate himselfe And how can it be a work of God if not an effect of his love and correspondency unto Gods goodnesse you make to prevent the effects of Gods love Agayne the effects of Gods love the Scripture teacheth us are limited according to the good pleasure of God both as touching graces of edification for he distributes to every one as he will 1. Cor. 12. and as touching the graces of sanctification For he hath mercy on whome he will Rom. 9. And according to his purpose and grace he hath saved us and called us not according to our works 2 Tim. 1. 9. And of his owne will hath he begotten us c. There is a condition of morall goodnesse which God doth accept to reward with glory but there is no condition of morall goodnesse which God doth accept to reward with grace For then grace were of works and consequently no more grace And then God should call us accordinge to our works which he expresly denyeth Tit. 3. 5. and 2 Tim. 1. 9. There is no condition of morall viciousnesse that excludes Gods mercy in calling men unto faith and salvation Austine coumpts it impiety and madnesse to thinke otherwise as I have often alleaged him Enchirid. 96. He calls some at the first houre of the day some at the last And what absurde conceyte is it to require some mitigation of sinne or morall good qualification to make correspondency unto mercy in pardoning sinne and curing it As no disease of the body is uncurable by God so no disease of the soule or simfull course is unpardonable or uncurable by the mercy of God the Father the merits of God the sonne For each are infinite but the sinnes of all the world are finite God himselfe may limite the demonstration and exercise of his mercy as he thinks good Now as touching the limitation hereof nothing is revealed unto us but only this that the sinne against the Holy Ghost shall not be pardoned and cured no small infidelity and impenitency All other limitations are merely revelations of flesh and blood and the inventions of idle Braines that impugne the prerogative of Gods grace and in the place thereof advance the operation of nature as that which first commends us in some sort unto Gods grace you are apt to discourse of Gods inviting men unto God and of the riches of his bounty that way but of Gods working men unto God and of the riches of his bounty that may never any Arminian or Pelagian spake lesse then you Yet the despising of Gods goodnesse shewed eyther in his word or in his works shall indoubtedly increase mens condemnation But God can breake of these their contemptiouse courses in whome he will and when he will and where he will as Austine professeth with such confidence as that he censureth him of impiety and dotery whosoever he be that denyeth it A silly course it is to inferre that vicious courses doe exclude men from Gods mercy because God hates filthinesse or uncleanesse For God undoubtedly hates all manner of filthinesse and uncleanesse whether the measure of it be filled up or no For did he not hate Manasses his idolatry and his bloody courses and his using them that were given to sorcery and witchcrast Yet all this excluded him not from the participation of Gods mercy And if for this reason to wit because God hates filthinesse men are excluded from Gods favour so as to be uncapable of his mercy then every man shoulde be a reprobate and incapable of mercy and abandoned as a vessel of wrath unto everlasting condemnation And you consider not that to be uncapable of mercy is to be uncapable of Gods love even in your owne discourse whence it followeth that God must after a certayne time cease to love them as in reason it should be acknowledged by you according to the tenour of your opinion and that when the doore of repentance is shut upon them as your selfe have phrasified it most of all when God condemnes them to everlasting torments in hell fire he must needs cease to love them And consequently you must necessarily admit mutability in the nature of God which is directly contrary to the perfection of God delivered unto us in holy Scripture I the Lord am not changed and you sonnes of Iacob are not consumed Mala. 3. 6. And with God is no variablenesse nor shadow of change Iac. 1. 19. This rocke you have in your eye labour to keepe your Tenet from dashing it selfe desperately against it Wherin how well you have carryed your selfe we are to consider in the next place CHAP. XX. Whilst God of a loving Father becomes a severe