Augustine in these words Jubet Deus quae non possumus ut noverimus quae ab illo petere debemus God commands us what we cannot do to intimate unto us what we ought to crave of him namely what we cannot do of our selves And hence are those many prayers of several sorts of persons in the Scripture as Psalm 51.10 Create in me a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within me And Jer. 31.18 Convert thou me and I shall be converted And Lament 5.21 Turn thou us unto thee O Lord and we shall be turned Fourthly I answer that God commands us this though we cannot do it of our selves that we may be excited to use such means as are by God's ordinance and appointment conducible and available thereunto and which we have of our selves power to use which are Prayer the Word and the Sacraments for his calling to us to repent and return unto him is a provocation or calling to us to use such means as he hath appointed to produce the same in us Fifthly and lastly I answer That such commands aim not only at our first conversion but at our secondary and subsequent returns to God when after our first conversion we prevaricate and digress from him in which secondary return mans will cooperates with the grace of God as formerly hath beeen said And therefore God's invitation of men to these returns wherein their wills have some ability to cooperate with his grace is not vain or needlesse but very efficacious to allure and induce them thereunto Not to tire the Reader with any further dispute about this controversie I will close it up with the addition of these two reasons to the former Arguments to induce all persons to adhere to this opinion as the safest which I have here asserted First because this opinion makes a clearer reconciliation of those Texts of Scripture which hold forth a seeming contradiction about this point then the other doth for according to the other opinon they are not reconciled without some scruple Secondly because this opinion ascribes most glory to God to whom all glory belongs wherein there is no danger though men detract from themselves For to detract from nature and give to grace is no danger but to detract from grace and give to nature cannot but be dangerous This was the saying of Peter Lumbard and is of all acknowledged and owned for truth The fourth Controversie About the merit of good works THe Papists opinion about this and Mr. Haggar's in affirming good works to be causes of salvation which both they do and he also in the 9. page of his forenamed discourse hath so little appearance of truth that it deserves to be exploded rather then refuted And I have good ground for what I affirm First Because it 's so apparently repugnant to Scripture as to Ephes 2.8.9 where it 's said By grace ye are saved through faith and that not of your selves it is the gift of God not of works lest any should boast And Tit. 3.5 Not by the works of righteousnesse which we have done but according to his mercy he saved us And whereas to salve up the discord between Paul's affirmation and theirs they make a distinction of good works of which some say they go before justification and some follow after it and St. Paul they say speaks of those that go before but they speak of such as follow after and therefore they do not contradict him I have formerly declared namely in my 4th Argument about the first Controversie in page the 20. that the Apostle speaks of the same good works which they speak of namely of good works after justification and regeneration And therefore they are herein contradictors of holy Scripture Another ground for what I affirmed before is this Because I never had conference with any Papist yet and I have conferred with many in my time but they all disclaimed the merit of their own works when upon occasion of discourse I have charged them with this grosse Tenet I have yet a third ground for what I said and that is because I find Bellarmine their Arch champion after his affirmation of the merit of good works and that they are true causes of salvation and that some confidence may be placed in them in his book of Controversies namely Libr. 5. cap. 7. de Justificat to give men counsel within ten lines after to put no confidence in their merits but in the alone mercy and benignity of God as the safest way So that there is no great necessity to confute this opinion of the merit of works seeing themselves do distrust it and after a sort desert it But yet some short confutation of this palpable error I will deliver which I hope shall sufficiently convince it And the first Argument I frame thus Argument 1. IF eternal life or salvation be Gods gfit then it is not merited by man's good works so the Apostle argues Rom. 11.6 If it be of grace it is no more of works But eternal life is God's gift so saith our Saviour Luke 12.32 Fear not little flock for it is your Father's pleasure to give you a Kingdom where note that it 's said to be a gift and from no other motive but from his own good pleasure And John 10.27 My sheep hear my voice and I know them they follow me and I give unto them eternal life And saith S. Paul Rom. 6.23 The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Therefore eternal life is not merited by man's good works Argument 2. IF all the good works which possibly we can do be due debt to Almighty God then can they not merit Heaven at his hand for merit and debt cannot stand together a man cannot be said to merit by paying that which he oweth But they are due debts so our Saviour teacheth Luke 17. â—0 When ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you say We are unprofitable servants we have done that which was our duty to do Therefore they cannot merit Argument 3. IF our good works be not properly our own but proceed from the grace of God which worketh them in us and by us then can they not be said to merit from God though they may merit from others because we return no more to God then what we have received from him we give him but a cluster of grapes out of his own Vineyard and water out of his own Fountain If any man discern not the necessity of this consequent it 's for want of perspicacity in his own understanding and not for want of truth in the consequence And Bellarmine doth acknowledge it in Libr. 5. cap. 15. De Grat. Lib. Arb. Good works are not properly our own but proceed from the grace of God which worketh the same in us and by us so it 's said Isa 26.12 Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou also hast wrought all our works in us
And Phil. 2.13 It 's God that gives to will and to work of his good pleasure Therefore the conclusion is true Argument 4. IF our good works be not every way responsible suitable to the Law of God which requires them at our hands then can they not be meritorious this is clear But they are not so Therefore they cannot merit That they are not answerable and agreeable to God's Law is most evident because they are imperfect and defective whereas the Law of God is perfect as David affirms Psalm 19.7 Now that they are imperfect and defective it 's divers times affirmed in Scripture Isa 64.6 All our righteousnesses are as filthy rags Rom. 7.18 To will is present with me but how to perform that which is good I find not And again in the 21. verse When I would do good evill is present with me Argument 5. IF there be no analogy and proportion between eternal life and our good works then cannot our good works merit eternal life This consequence is a clear truth in reason for a reward is to be adequated and proportioned unto the work But there is no analogy and proportion between eternal life and good works for the reward of eternal life is infinite but man's good works are finite and finiti ad infinitum nulla est proportio between a finite thing and an infinite there is no proportion Therefore the Conclusion holds That eternal life cannot be merited by mens good works I will answer the main Argument for the merit of works so I will conclude concerning this Controversie It 's alledged for defence of the merit of works That the Scripture affirms that they shall be rewarded with eternal life and that very often as Matth. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you c. Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in Heaven Luke 14.14 When thou makest a feast call the poor c. and thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just Heb. 11.26 It 's said That Moses esteemed the rebuke of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt becaus behad respect unto the recompence of reward And oft elsewhere eternal life is called a reward which say the Adversaries imports the merit of good works because merces meritum reward and merit are relatives To this I answer That there is a double reward 1. A reward of merit or debt and 2. A reward of mercy or favour And this distinction is not devised or coyned by man's wit nor hewen out of the quarry of his brain but is framed by the holy Ghost himself Rom. 4.4 where it 's thus written Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of debt where he bath made an apparent distribution of reward in these two sorts 1. A reward of grace and 2. A reward of debt Now eternal life is a reward of grace mercy or favour and not a reward of debt or merit as the Texts before quoted demonstrate scil Luke 12.32 John 10 28. Rom. 6.23 In all which places it's called the gift of God and a gift proceeding from his own pleasure and therefore can be no debt that God oweth to men for their good works for a gift and debt are so dissentaneous that they cannot consist together nor be predicated of one and the same subject And hence it is that though God hath oft promised to reward such as do good works with everlasting life that he may provoke all men unto them yet it is nowhere said that they shall be rewarded for them for that might have been interpreted to have intimated and imported some merit in them but the Scripture in mentioning God's reward of good works useth this phrase That they shall be rewarded according to their works which intimates the reward to be given of God's mercy and not to be obtained by man's merits Thus it 's expressed Psalm 62.12 Vnto thee O Lord belongeth mercy for thou renderest to every man according to his works Matth. 16.27 The Son of man shall come in the glory of the Father with his Angels and then he shall reward every man according to his works 2 Cor. 5.10 We must all appear before the tribunal seat of Christ that every man may receive according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad Rev. 20.12 13. verses It 's twice said of the dead that they were judged according to their works and in Chapter the 22 and verse the 12. Beheld saith Christ I come quickly and my reward is with me to give to every man according as his work shall be This is the constant expression of Scripture in speaking of the reward of good works to phrase it according to works and no where for them lest men should presume to ascribe some merit unto them And this makes it evident that the Popish distinction of the merit of condignity and the merit of congruity is but a meer gingle and shift to evade the force of the former Arguments against the merit of good works for the merit of congruity which they attribute to good works proceeds from mercy as they confesse themselves and therefore cannot properly be called merit for mercy and merit are contradistinct and inconsistent it 's the very affirmation of Scripture Rom. 11.6 If by grace then it 's no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then is it no more grace otherwise work is no more work Here the Apostle makes a flat opposition between grace and works and there is the very same opposition between mercy and merit which hath forced that confession from Bellarmine which hath oft dropped from his pen in his book of Controversies Merita nostra sunt Dei munera The like was S. Bernard his confession to Almighty God Meritum meum est misericordia tua my merit is thy mercy Both which are agreeable to the sentence of S. Augustine in his Book of Homiles in Homil. the 14 Quum bona â—pera nostra remunerat Deus non merita nostra sed sua dona coronat When God rewardeth our good works he crowns his own gifts and not our merits From this premised discourse I deduct this corolary or capitulation of the causes of salvation as they are in order manifested in Scripture First God's free grace and love is the primary and principal efficient cause of election unto salvation This is justified by these Texts beside many other Rom. 11.5 Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace Ephes 1.5 Having predestinated us to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will And again in the 11. verse following of the same Chapter In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his own will Secondly Christ's obedience
Ptolomy King of Egypt enquired once of the Roman Embassadors that came to his Court about the estate and government of the great and famous City of Rome he received this answer from them That at Rome the gods were honoured Magistrates reverenced the good rewarded and the bad punished This they spake to magnifie the glory and flourishing estate of their City And indeed when the Chariot of a Christian Common-wealth is moved upon these four wheels and they also turn upon the axle-tree of holy writ we may fitly apply unto it that laudatory congratulation wherewith the Psalmist salutes the Church Ride prosperously because of truth and meeknesse and righteousnesse and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things thine arrows shall be sharp in the heart of the Kings (a) Psal 45.4 enemies For this verily comes to passe when superiour Powers make God's written word the rule and levell of their Government and the honour and observance of it the aim and end of the same Whereas on the contrary when such higher Powers slight God's word so far forth as to omit to execute justice by the right rules of it and in room thereof dare substitute their own private thoughts and affections as the ballance by which to measure it forth then are they the very bane and blame and shame of a Common-wealth and like a canker in a tree which both disgraceth the beauty of it and also corrodeth to the utter mortification and destruction of the whole body of it except it be pared away I have read that ever in the first and best Councels as in the Councels of Chalcedon Nice and Ephesus the holy Orthodox Fathers and Bishops were wont to have the Bible placed on a desk or such like convenient supporter in the midst of the room before them that by the sight thereof they might be put in mind to conclude and determine nothing against the honour and contents thereof It were to be wished that all in place of Magistracy and Judicature would be pleased so far forth to follow the example of these grave and reverend Fathers as to have this Book of God if not in their hands or before their eyes yet at least in their mindes and memories at all times when they are imployed about the administration of justice and judgement that it might be a remembrance unto them to do nothing against the contents of it as they desire to escape the curses that are denounced in it against such as violate the sacred laws and rules of it Secondly As Princes and Rulers should protect so Ministers should preach this word because it 's God's yea Be instant in season and out of season reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and (a) 2 Tim. 4.2 doctrine For If the Lord God have spoken who can but (b) Amos 3.8 prophesie When the chief Priests and Rulers of the Jews forbad Peter and John to teach any more the Gospel of Christ they answered We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and (c) Acts 4.20 heard The reason is premised in the precedent verse namely because they were so commanded of God For Apostles and Ministers their successors are Embassadors for (d) 2 Cor. 5.20 Christ And therefore may not unfaithfully conceal their embassy but A necessity is laid upon them and woe is unto them if they preach not the (e) 1 Cor. 9.16 Gospell And they are disposers of the mysteries of God and it is required of the disposers saith S. Paul that a man be found (f) 1 Cor. 4.1 2. faithful And great necessity there is of the faithful dispensation of this Word by the Ministers thereof as in regard of their duty to God who sends them so in respect of the good of men to whom they are sent For it is the food and physick of their souls by which the spiritual life of grace is first inspired and ever after conserved in them Hence is that speech of Moses to the Israelites Set your hearts unto all the words which I testifie among you this day which ye shall command your children to observe to do all the words of this law For it is not a vain thing for you because it is your (a) Deut. 32.46 47. life So that there is the same necessity of it to the conservation of the life spiritual as there is of food and physick to the maintenance of the life natural For though the words of men be but wind and so can feed neither the body nor the soul yet God's words are both spirit and (b) Joh. 6.63 life and so have an occult and hidden power in them above all other words enabling them to feed not the soul only but even the body also and that to life eternal and therefore are compared both to (c) 1 Pet. 2.2 milk and strong (d) Heb. 5.12 13 14. meat fit food both for young and old Whence also is that sentence of the wise man The lips of the righteous feed (e) Prov. 10.21 many that is with God's word And that saying in the Prophet Jeremiah I will give you Pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and (f) Jer. 3.15 understanding And for this cause both our Saviour charged Peter very strictly to feed his (g) John 21.15 16 17. sheep meaning with God's word and S. Paul to the Elders of the Church of Ephesus Take heed saith he unto your selves and to all the flock over the which the holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the Church of God which he hath purchased with his own (a) Acts 20.28 bloud And S. Peter also those Elders to whom he writ Feed the flock of God which is among (b) 1 Pet. 5.2 you And again though the words of men cannot heal yet God's word can and doth so saith the Psalmist He sendeth forth his word and healeth (c) Psal 107.20 them Yea The word of the Lord healeth all things saith the wise (d) Wisd 16.12 man Which the Centurion believing said therefore to Christ But speak the word only and my servant shall be (e) Matth. 8.8 whole I aim not here to prescribe one manner and measure of preaching to all for some are endued with more ample and excellent gifts for the performance of this work then others and therefore have a greater task enjoyned them then others For unto whom much is given of him shall be much (f) Luke 12.48 required But this I urge with the Apostle Peter Let every man as he hath received the gift minister the same one to another as good disposers of the manifold grace of (g) 1 Pet. 4.10 God For Cursed is he that doth the work of the Lord (h) Jer. 48.10 negligently And the unprofitable servant who hides his Lord's talent shall be cast into utter darknesse where shall be weeping and gnashing of (i) Mat. 25.30 teeth I confesse there be some such now
in these times as God himself complained of by his Prophet Jeremiah who ran about this important businesse before they were (a) Jer. 23.21 sent and so going without their errand do ventilate their own fancies and dreams instead of preaching God's word To these my exhortation is not directed as who need no spur to hasten them into God's house but rather a scourge to drive them out as our Saviour did with the money-changers and such as bought and sold in the (b) John 2 14 15. Temple But my desire is hereby to quicken both my self and other my fellow labourers in the work of the Ministry about our heavenly Father's businesse To which I will add but this one needful caution which is that we be careful and watchful to preach both verbo vita both ore opere as well by the example of our lives as by the doctrine of our lips according to the charge S. Paul gave to Timothy and Titus two Bishops of his own ordination his charge to Timothy was this Let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation in charity in spirit in faith in (c) 1 Tim. 4.12 purity And such like was his charge to Titus In all things shew thy self a pattern of good (d) Tit. 2.7 works This if we do not we shall not only prefer and multiply new indictments against our selves by every Sermon and so give the Lord numerous evidences and testimonies from our own mouths whereby to condemn us but shall bereave others also of the fruit and benefit of this divine ordinance for who will not nauseate and despise the counsel of that man who acts contrary to the advice and counsel that he gives unto another And this our Saviour intimates where he saith How wilt thou say to thy brother Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye and behold a beam is in thine own eye Thou hypocrite first cast out the beam out of thine own eye and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brothers (a) Mat. 7.4 5. eye It 's out of question that the vigour and prevalence of preaching depends much upon the good life of the Preacher as which sets an edge upon that sword of God's Spirit and makes it more powerful to cut down the strong holds of sin And so on the other side it 's as true that the loose life of some Preachers so dulls and bluts this sword that it prevails little or nothing at all against our spiritual enemies sin and Satan against which it's brandished but rebounds back and hurts themselves like arrows shot at the Sun which wanting force to carry them to the mark intended fall down again upon the heads of them that shot them Thirdly This doctrine urgeth upon all people in general a fourfold duty First Seeing this Word is God's therefore all should be studious of it and careful to learn it for can we have a better teacher then God himself or can any instruct with better principles then he For The Lord giveth wisedom out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding saith the wise (a) Prov. 2.6 man Hence is that commendation which Moses gives of God's Law to the Israelites to induce them to the study of it and obedience unto it Behold saith he I have taught you Ordinances and Laws as the Lord my God commanded me keep them therefore and do them for that is your wisedom and your understanding in the sight of the Nations which shall hear all these statutes and say Surely this great Nation is a wise and understanding people For what Nation is so great that hath statutes and judgements so righteous as all this Law which I set before you this (b) Deut. 4.5 6 8. day Hence did David learn to be wiser then his enemies and to have more understanding then his (c) Psal 119.98 99. teachers And hence are those earnest exhortations in it to the study of it as that of our Saviour Search the (d) Joh. 5.39 Scriptures And that of the Apostle Paul Let the word of Christ dwell in you plenteously in all (e) Colos 3.16 wisedom with many such like But most ample and emphatical are the wise Solomons descriptions of the excellency of this knowledge and most plausible and powerful his reasons to allure all to the study of it and most transcendently high his commendations that he gives of it in the eight first Chapters of the Proverbs which because the Reader may easily find forth of himself I will omit to rehearse and will alledge only some reasons collected thence and out of other passages of Scripture to manifest the great necessity of learning and knowing this blessed Word of God and to excite all persons of all degrees and conditions to the serious and sedulous study of it First Because this learning is the only true wisedom for it and only it is able to make a man wise unto (a) 2 Tim. 5 15. salvation Nay it is life (b) John 17.3 eternal and there is no wisedome without it For so saith the Prophet The wise men are ashamed they are afraid and taken loe they have rejected the word of the Lord and what wisedome is in (c) Jer. 8.9 them Yea all other wisedom is but foolishnesse to this and all other learning without this doth but make men the more unhappy in the conclusion Whereas this sanctifies all other wisedom and learning teaching men a holy use of them both and how to be bettered and benefitted by them Hence is that profound saying of S. Augustine Infaelix homo qui scit alia omnia te autem nescit beatus autem qui te scit etiamsi illa nesciat qui vero te illa novit non propter illa beatior sed propter te solùm beatus (d) Aug. Confess lib. 5. est He is a miserable man saith he speaking to God Almighty that knows all other things but knows not thee But he is happy who knows thee though he know nothing else And he who knows both thee and them is not the happier for them but is only happy because he knoweth thee Secondly Here is set up the Christians staff of comfort in the time of trouble and in the hour of death and which can be met withal nowhere else This is my comfort in my affliction saith David speaking (a) Psal 119.50 hereof And again Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evill for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff they comfort (b) Psal 23.4 me By which is understood this written word And saith the Apostle Paul Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have (c) Rom. 15.4 hope And hence is that advice of the Prophet Isaiah to the people to suck the brests
We read in the Book of Exodus that when God commanded the Israelites to contribute to the building of the Tabernacle Moses was directed to take their offerings that gave them willingly with their (b) Exod. 25.2 hearts This made David give this charge to his son Solomon And thou Solomon my son know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing (c) 1 Chro. 28.9 mind And himself to promise God to sacrifice freely unto (d) Psal 54.6 him And to professe his delight in his (e) Psal 119.143 commandements This is oft required also elsewhere in the word of God If ye be willing and obedient saith the Lord ye shall eat the good of the (a) Isa 1.19 Land And God loves a cheerful giver saith the (b) 2 Cor. 9.9 Apostle Fourthly and lastly Obedience must be constant continued unto the end without giving over or it 's frustrate and lost so saith our Saviour No man having put his hand to the Plough and looking back is fit for the Kingdom of (c) Luke 9.62 God For the righteous bring forth fruit in old (d) Psal 92.14 age Hence are thâ—se and many such like sentences of Scripture Blessed are they that keep judgement and do righteousnesse at all (e) Psal 106.3 times And He that shall endure to the end the same shall be (f) Mat. 24.13 saved And We are delivered out of the hands of our enemies that we might serve God without fear in holiness and righteousnesse before him all the days of our (g) Luke 1.74 75. life I will close up all with that exhortation of S. Paul to the Corinthians Therefore my beloved brethren be we stedfast unmoveable always abounding in the work of the Lord and so our labour shall not be in vain in the (h) 1 Cor. 15.58 Lord. So be it FINIS A DISCUSSION AND DECISSION OF SOME GREAT CONTROVERSIES IN RELIGION BEING An Antidote against some Erroneous Pamphlets Published of late to the suppression of God's Truth The Contents whereof followeth in the next Page By THO. GERY B.D. and Rector of Barwell in Leicestershire Beloved believe not every spirit but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets are gone out into the world 1 John 4.1 LONDON Printed for N. Webb and W. Grantham 1657. The Contents 1. Controversie About God's election of men to eternall life and salvation whether or no it be grounded upon the fore-sight of their faith and obedience 2. Controversie About the universality of Christ's Redemption 3. Controversie About the power of Man's free-will 4. Controversie About the Merit of good works 5. Controversie About Original sin 6. Controversie About Tithes A Preface to the Reader HAving a Pamplet accidentally put into my hands twisted of inconsequences incongruities and misapplications and depravations of holy Scripture entituled The order of causes Of God's foreknowledge election and predestination and of mans salvation or damnation I thought I might do a charitable work to detect the impostures of it Especially considering that it had gotten some entertainment with some persons within mine own charge and cure For albeit there be little hope of prevailing with these false teachers in these times especially which have so long connived at their erroneous and seditious courses to renounce their errors though never so fairly and fully confuted as who have resolved to hold the conclusion whether the premises be true or false which every Novice in Logick knows to be an absurdity to be hissed at yet may this detection of their falcies in some measure prevent the further diffusion and spreading of their pernicious errors which is the fole end wherefore these plain ensuing lines were hastily compiled and penned And in this regard the courteous Reader is intreated to vouchsafe a candid and benevolent construction of them as which upon more mature deliberation might either have been kept private or appearing in publique might happily have been clad in a more sightly dresse which is the humble request of A Friend and Servant to all that follow the truth in love THOMAS GERY IT hath ever been the artifice and deceitfull dealing of Hereticks to pick out some such Texts of Scripture wherewith to cloak their errors as by their false interpretation of them in not comparing them with other Texts of Scripture treating of the same subject might afford some colour and countenance unto them Thus the old Serpent the first deviser of this fallacy dealt with our blessed Saviour when he tempted him in the Wildernesse he alledged a piece of Scripture out of Psalm 91.11 where it 's said He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee and skips over the next words in all thy ways and so goeth to the 12. verse as knowing that the words which he left out would quite alter the Text from that purpose for which he alledged the same And thus deal the Heretical Sectaries and Separatists that are of late started up They alledge some sayings of Scripture which considered by themselves without any reference had to other Texts of Scripture which afford light to the right meaning of them seem at the first superficial view of them to speak something for them about some of their erroneous Tenets whereas compared with other sayings of Scripture where the same point is more fully and plainly expressed they make nothing at all for proof of that for which they are alledged as shall be discovered in some particulars in this ensuing Treatise Amongst a Fardle of their palpable and prodigious Errors some whereof are utterly unworthy the refutation being manifest contradictions of holy Scripture As their denial of Faith to be the gift of God which I have heard to proceed out of the mouth of divers of no small esteem amongst them with incredible impudence I have here undertaken the confutation of these six of which some are Popish which I find in the fornamed book and in another which I shall hereafter mention 1. They affirm That God's election of men to salvation is from his fore-sight of their Faith and Obedience Or as some of them phrase it from his fore-sight of their Sanctification and Good Works 2. That Christ's Redemption is universall extending it self to all men in the World indiscriminatim indifferently 3. That men have Free-will to repent and believe and so may be saved if they will 4. That Good Works or Obedience are meritorious causes of salvation 5. That children are not born in sin 6. That the payment of Tithes to the Ministers of the Gospel is not agreeable to Scripture Now that these are false Tenents not justifiable from Scripture but repugnant unto it I shall I hope make manifest to all that are not byassed with prejudice And because I am not to enter the Lists and contest with pertinacious Adversaries who sometime will neither hear right Reason nor yield to Scripture but as they themselves shall expound
what they would demand for then it's probable some would have too much nor yet that people should give them but what they pleased for then it's more then probable they would give too little It remains therefore that the payment of Tithes to Ministers as the case stands here in England is both equal and just as being justified both by the Law of God and man and by the peoples own assent and Vote in Parliament And that therefore all Opposers of the same are by necessary consequence Opposers both of the Law of God and the lawful Magistrate and their own Vote Argument 4. I come now to a fourth and last argument for proofe of this point of the Clergies just title to Tithes which though it will be most cavilled at by Gainsayers yet to such as are truly religious and not possest with prejudice it will be of very great force to bend and bind their consciences to a free and a full acknowledgement of this truth I find in Scripture by comparing one Text with another that God himself in his first general Grant to Adam and his posterity of a Soveraignty over and a free use of these inferiour creatures mentioned Gen. 1.28 did reserve a Tenth out of the fruits of the land to himself which afterwards namely when he had instituted a Ministerial and Sacerdotal function for the performance of the publique duties of his own worship and service he gave to those that did officiate therein And therefore to that Function they belong still and are not alienable from it by any power on Earth because annexed appended and appropriated to it by a Divine Donation To make good this Argument I have two things to prove First that God reserved to himself a Tenth out of the increase and fruits of the Earth when he conferred upon Adam a power and property over these things below Secondly that he assigned and gave the same Tenth to the Priesthood for the support of his own Worship and Service For proof of the former I bring these three Texts of Scripture The first is in Gen. 28.21 22. Where I find the Patriarch Jacob vowing these two duties to God 1. His faith and affiance in God in these words Then shall the Lord be my God 2. His payment of Tithe to God in these words and I will surely give the tenth unto thee By which latter speech it appears that the Tenth of his increase was due to God For if it be objected that the payment of the Tenth to God might be a voluntary oblation and not a due or duty formerly belonging unto God To this I answer that the former branch of his vow being a necessary duty which he did owe unto God it 's very probable that this latter branch which is coupled with it should be a voluntary oblation but most probably that it was a duty of right appertaining to God as well as the other The second proof of Scripture which I produce is in Levit. 27.30 Where the Lord himself speaks thus to Moses All the Tithe of the land whether of the seed of the land or the fruit of the tree it is the Lord's it is holy unto the Lord. Here we have a special and peculiar appropriation of Tithes to Almighty God signified from his own mouth The third proof is in Mal. 3.8 where God again speaks after this manner Will a man rob God yet ye have robbed me but ye say wherein have we robbed thee in tithes and offerings This appropriation of Tithes to God in both these latter Texts argues undeniably a more special and peculiar right and property in them then appertains to him by his general right of creation which in all probability was a reservation of them to himself when he granted to man a Lordship and property in and over these sublunary and inferiour creatures And these he reserved as appeared by his disposal of them afterward for the maintenance and support of his own solemn worship and service as fore-seeing how penurious tenacious and strait-handed people would be in contributing to the support and furtherance of the same And that this is so may more clearly appear these two ways or by these two considerations First Because this claim was made by God before his institution of the Levitical function to which he gave the Tithes afterwards so that God could not then claim them in any reference to the Levites as otherwise might have been supposed because they were not appointed to their Sacerdotal office till afterwards as is manifested by the story following in the first and third Chapters of the book of Numbers where their first institution is recorded 2. Secondly Because God could not have claimed them as his own in this distinct way and sense from the rest if he had given them before to Adam And therefore this peculiar claim and property which God challengeth to Tithes which is in effect a denial of them to belong to man speaketh his reservation of them to himself when he first passed his original grant of all things here below to Adam 2. Secondly I have yet to prove that God gave these Tithes which he had reserved to himself to the Priests and Levites And this I prove by three Texts of Scripture First I read in Gen. 14.18.19 20. verses That when Melchi-zedek the Priest of the most high God had blessed the Patriarch Abraham he gave him Tithes of all that is Abraham gave Melchi-zedek the Priest the tenth of the spoyls that he had gotten in a battel as it 's expressed Heb. 7.4 This we may not imagine to be done by Abraham without special warrant from God though the Scripture makes no mention thereof as who is so highly commended in Scripture for his faith and upright walking with God And by this fact it appears that God appointed Tithes to be given to his Priests this being the first mention that is made of them in Scripture Secondly It 's clearly proved by a manifest of God's donation of Tithes to the Levites in Numb 18 21 24 25 26. verses where the Lord tells Aaron three several times that he had given the tithe of the children of Israel to the Levites Thirdly It 's affirmed by the Apostle Heb. 7.5 where we find it thus written And verily they that are of the sons of Levi who receive the office of the Priest-hood have a commandment to take tithes of the people according to the Law Now from the premises I collect that Tithes are due to God's Ministers by divine right as who have a just title unto them by a special donation and grant from God himself to whom they primitively belonged as hath been demonstrated And that therefore to alienate them from the Ministry and to put them into the hands of the Laity is apparent and manifest sacriledge I will make a short answer to the ridiculous objections of some irrational unjust and covetous people against the payment of Tithes and so conclude 1. Objection