colourable but proceeded out of the power of those dispositions unto grace and from the inspiration of the holy Ghost which they felt in themselves for a time as is evident by their affections their joy sorrow and zeale which they doe not so much faine and make a shew of as find to be truely in themselves Of such Saint Augustine thus speaketh They were not sonnes then when they were in the profession and had the name of sonnes not because they fained their righteousnesse but because they remained not in that righteousnesse THE THIRD POSITION VPon those good beginnings testified by the externall works of obedience they are reputed and by a charitable construction ought to be taken for beleevers justified and sanctified men THey who to these inward gifts of the holy Ghost have added the outward profession of a Christian faith together with the amendment of their lives ought of right to be reckoned by us who cannot finde out or search into the inward secrets of mens hearts in the number of the faithfull of the justified and sanctified This is plainly proved out of the Apostle Saint Paul who in his Epistles which hee wrote to particular Churches at Rome Corinth Ephesus c. entitles them all promiscuously beloved of God Saints sanctified Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 1.2 Ephes. 1.1 Phil. 1.1 In like manner the Apostle Peter in the beginning of his first Epistle speaketh unto the dispersed strangers in this forme of speach To the Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the spirit Adde we to these the note of Saint Augustine speaking of those who were not elect These because they live godly are called the sons of God And afterwards againe There are some who are called of us the sons of God because of the grace received by them for a time but yet they are not the sons of God THE FOVRTH POSITION THey who are not elect although they thus far proceed yet they never attaine unto the state of adoption and justification and therefore by the Apostasie of these men the Apostasie of the Saints is very erroneously concluded ALthough they who are not elect being brought up cherished in the Churches bosome are in their minds will and affections disposed by the aforesaid preparatives tending in some sort to justification yet are they not thereupon placed in the state of justification or adoption For they still retain throughly setled in their hearts the strings and roots of their leud desires to which they give themselves over still they remaine wedded to the love of earthly things and the hardnesse lurking in the secret corners of their hearts is not taken away so that either persecution or tentation arising they retire from grace and being either intangled with the love of pleasures and enticements of the flesh or caried away with some other vicious affections at length they shew that they are lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasures rather then lovers of God and that they enjoy nothing lesse then God howsoever they may flatter themselves but indeed that they would make use of God that they may enjoy the world as S. Augustine speakes Whence it is manifest that they never really and truly attaine that change and renovation of the minde and affections which accompanieth justification nay nor that which doth immediately prepare and dispose unto justification For they never seriously repent they are never affected with hearty sorrow for this cause they have offended God by sinning nor doe they come to any humble contrition of heart nor conceive a firme resolution not to offend any more unto them is not given repentance unto life which is mentioned Acts 10.18 nor that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation never to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 they are not poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of God Mat. 5.13 To this purpose is that of Saint Augustine who speaking of the reprobate saith God bringeth none of them to that wholesome and spirituall repentance by which a man is reconciled to God in Christ. Adde also that such doe never feele in themselves an earnest desire of reconciliation They doe not hunger and thirst after righteousnesse For such shall be filled Matth. 5.6 And to them shall be given of the fountaine of living water which shall be in them a well of water springing up to eternall life Iohn 4.14 Also they doe neither denie themselves nor seriously bid defiance to their owne lusts nor doe they once feele in their hearts any such accounting of all things but losse that they may winne Christ as the Apostle did Phil. 3.8 And to conclude they never attaine to that unfained lively faith which justifieth a sinner and worketh through love 2 Tim. 1.5 For this faith is the peculiar of the Elect and is not afforded to the not elected Furthermore that onely the Elect are justified it is plaine by that golden chaine of the Apostle Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified Those onely and no other as out of S. Augustine we have shewne at the first Article Againe the same Saint Augustine God doth not forgive the sinnes of all men but of those whom he foreknew and predestinated It is plaine also out of the Scriptures that they who are not elect never come unto the estate of adoption For first the estate of adoption is grounded upon predestination Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Christ Iesus Secondly the state of adoption as also the right and priviledge of sons is not obtained but by a lively faith For as many as received him to thē he gave power that is aright priviledge that they should be the Sons of God to wit to such as beleeve in his name Also ye are all the sonnes of God by faith in Christ Iesus But this faith is proper to the Elect as was before declared 3 All that are adopted for sonnes are regenerated and that by the incorruptible seed by the word of the living God Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne because his seed remaineth in him 4 Those adopted sons are also heires heires of God and coheires with Christ and doe receive the earnest of their inheritance But they who are not elect are never regenerated by this incorruptible seed neither have they the seed of God remaining in them neither are they assigned to be heires with Christ. Hence is that of Saint Augustine They were not in the number of sonnes no not when they were in the faith of sonnes Againe As they were not the true Disciples of Christ so neither were they the true Sonnes of God yea even when they seemed to be and were so called And Saint Ambrose What can God the Father make void those gifts he hath bestowed and banish those from the grace of his fatherly affection whom he
not perish for ever neither shall any one take them out of my hand neither can any one of them take them out of my Fathers hand Mat. 24.24 That they should seduce if it were possible the verie Elect. Since therefore perseverance in faith is grounded upon the Election of God Election cannot proceed from the fore-required condition of persevering faith 2. Furthermore the decree of giving glorie and salvation vnto stedfast beleevers in the end of this life as the reward of faith and obedience performed is an act of Iustice or at least of faithfulnesse and truth But according to the Scriptures Election is a free act not of debt but of grace an act of loue and speciall mercy founded upon the meere good will of God Luke 12.32 It is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdome Eph. 1.11 Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will 3. By the like reason faith foreseene is to be excluded frō Election as fore-seen works that is to say God may be sayd as well to haue elected holy men for the condition of sanctification as beleeuers for the condition of faith For who seeth not that this faith foreseene doth in truth passe into the nature of a worke which appeares more evidently by the annexed condition of perseverance by which is intended nothing else but the fruits of obedience and holinesse and the whole harvest of all good workes 4. Lastlie by granting this Election upon Gods foresight it followes that Christ was chosen by vs before we were chosen by him contrary to that Ioh. 15.16 Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you Which divine Oracle is often urged by St. Augustine to this purpose Neither doth faith it selfe goe before that Election which the Lord intendeth saying yee haue not chosen me but I have chosen you for he did not choose us because we have beleued but that we may beleeue lest we should be said to have chosen him first No merits of man-doe goe before the Election of grace yea and faith it selfe whence begin all merits is the gift of God lest grace should not bee grace if any thing should goe before it for which it may bee given THE THIRD ERRONEOVS OPINION THat faith and perseverance in faith are not fruits or effects of Election to salvation IF God who is the onely giver of persevering faith before he gives such faith or decrees to give it doth foresee that it will by the very giving of it bring salvation to the receiver then without doubt hee gives it also with this intent and absolute purpose that it shall bring salvation But so to give is to give out of a foregoing purpose infallibly to save which is all one as to give by the decree of Election Therefore persevering faith is the fruit of this decree or a speciall grace prepared in this decree Whence it is called Tit. 1.1 The faith of the elect of God Ephes. 1.5 Having praedestinated us into the adoption of Children But into the actuall estate of this adoption we are admitted by faith Ioh. 1.12 He gave them the power or priviledge to become the Sonnes of God even to them that beleeve on his name Therefore faith it selfe arises from praedestination THE FOVRTH ERRONEOVS OPINION THat Election to salvation is not one and the same but that there is one indefinite another definite and this either incomplete revocable changeable Or complete irrevocable unchangeable ALthough there are divers acts of Gods Election which may bee assigned according to divers objects namely of the end and of the meanes yet the Scripture no where makes mention either of the divers degrees or kindes of Election 1 For Election is a certaine infallible ordaining of severall persons to salvation in the minde and will of God Therefore this indefinite Election here supposed is no true election because it ordaines no singular person to salvation but it onely shewes and prescribes the manner of comming to salvation promiscuously to all 2 Besides seeing Election is perfited with one act and ex natura rei according to the nature of the thing it selfe is as the Schoolemen speake in the number of those things which doe not grow and increase by degrees as sanctification mortification and such like but which doe consist in indivisibili without latitude such as justification or absolution from sinnes surely it cannot bee imagined to be capable of intention or remission and therfore by no meanes doth it admit a graduall perfection that it may be thought to bee incomplete or unfinished to day and complete or fully finished to morrow Much lesse can this maimed halfe-election be accompted election which doth not ordaine to salvation infallibly but disposes onely by some qualitie or contingent act which in the judgement of the very devisers thereof hath no necessarie connexion with eternall life 3 Lastly that which is said to bee revocable and changeable cannot be true election because election signifies the constant purpose and unchangeable counsell of God ordaining the elect unto blisse Heb. 6.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God shewes unto the heires of promise the immutability of his counsell Two things follow predestination an affording of aid to obtaine the end and the very obtaining of the end it selfe He that will have Gods disposall of things to bee changed according to the mutability of free will professeth that the judgements of God can be searched by him THE FIFT ERRONEOVS OPINION THat the object of peremptory and complete Election is man considered no otherwise than in the end of his life 1 IN the end of this life a beleever is considered not as to bee elected but to bee brought into the kingdome prepared for him before the foundation of the world 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight I have finished my course Henceforth there is laid up for me a Crowne of righteousnesse which the Lord the righteous Iudge shall give me at that day The Apostle did not say henceforth now God shall elect me to the Crowne of righteousnesse but shall give it 2 Furtherfmore if election should beginne at the end onely of this life the reason or argument drawne from predestination or election could conferre nothing at all to the faithfull for finishing their course in faith and godlinesse But predestination extends it selfe as well to the meanes in the way as to the end in the conclusion of our life and as it were carieth the Elect by infallible meanes to the appointed marke or goale Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom hee called them he also justified and whom he justified them hee also glorified But if man considered onely as in the last moment of this life were the object of complete election all those things should bee inverted thus Whom hee called those he will justifie and whom hee justifies those hee will hereafter predestinate 3 Moreover 2 Tim. 1.9
unbeleevers not yet washed in the blood of Christ nor the guilt of any whatsoever degree but such a guilt as for which the hostile anger and vengeance of God lieth heavily upon the guiltie person Whosoever is justified by a true faith can never afterward bee guiltie after this manner We may therefore say that the effect of justification is for a time suspended by the entercourse of such a particular sin because the person by reason of this new guilt needeth a particular absolution But wee cannot say that the state of justification is dissolved forasmuch as the same person doth not fall from the generall pardon of his forecommitted sins nor is deprived of that speciall intercession which our Saviour hath promised to all the faithfull nor of the free love of God his Father The same case holds in adoption For God never adopted to himselfe a Sonne in Christ whom afterwards he either must or would dis-inherit and cast out of his familie The children of God may indeed sinne and that very grievously but the providence and mercie of God will not suffer them so farre to sin as that they should thereby be bereft of their heavenly home and Father The servant abideth not in the house for ever but the sonne abideth for ever For as Saint Ambrose speakes God doth not make void the gift of adoption To conclude the seed of regeneration with those fundamentall gifts without which the spirituall life cannot subsist are preserved in safetie This is hence evident because that the same holy Spirit who doth infuse this seed into the hearts of the regenerate doth imprint into the same seed a certaine heavenly and incorruptible vertue and doth perpetually cherish and keepe the same Iohn 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up unto everlasting life 1 Iohn 3.5 Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sinne because hee is borne of God This seed of life remaining in them it is altogether impossible that the gifts of lively faith charitie should be quite extinguished Hence Gregory rightly sayes In holy mens hearts the Spirit alwayes abides according to some vertues or graces according to others he comes to depart and departs to returne but in the hearts of his Elect he remaineth in those vertues without which eternall life is not attained THE SEVENTH POSITION THat the regenerate doe not altogether fall from faith holinesse and adoption proceeds not from themselves nor from their owne will but from Gods speciall love divine operation and from Christs intercession and custody IT is certaine that if God would deale with us upon strict termes he might most justly for our ungratitude untowardnesse withdraw from us his fatherly favour and gifts of saving grace But for as much as even by the determination of the Schoolemen sinne doth not take away grace efficiently that is by certaine expulsion but by way of demerit that is deservingly surely unlesse it can bee proved that God deales with his according to their deserts it will not follow that upon the committing of a grievous sinne they lose faith or fall away from the state of justification and adoption For that which in regard of our ill desert might justly be done is by the mercie of God and by Christs intercession and the operation of the holie Ghost hindred from being done No creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Not the Devill for God shall bruise him under our feet Not the world for Christ hath overcome the world And he doth so worke in all his that they also at length overcome through faith Lastly not those things from whence is our greatest danger our own weaknesse the inclination and pronenesse of our owne free will to wickednesse for the goodnesse of God is alwaies shewed in this weaknesse of the faithfull and through the intercession of Christ for them is obtained that they shall not fall off from their faith Luke 22.32 I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Iohn 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their word We doe not therefore fetch this perseverance of the faithfull in their faith and Gods grace from their owne free will but from Christ that frees them The Lord shall deliver me from every evill worke and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdome 2 Tim. 4.18 To this purpose are those words of Saint Augustine We live safer if wee trust all to God and doe not commit our selves partly to God and partly to our selves As God workes that we come to him so he works also that we depart not from him THE EIGHTH POSITION THe perseverance therefore of holy men is the free gift of God and is derived unto us out of the decree of election THis conclusion ariseth out of those things which are said before but that it may more manifestly appeare we will adde somewhat more First that it is the free gift of God is proved out of the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive why dost thou glorie as if thou hadst not received If any thing can give a just cause to men of glorying surely this that they have persevered in good unto the end then when they could at their owne pleasure not have made use of those meanes which in themselves were sufficient for perseverance Either therefore this doth betide the faithfull by way of speciall gift or they have something which they have not received in which they may greatly glorie But wee affirme on the contrarie whether by perseverance be understood either that power which doth propp and hold up the faithfull or the stabilitie it selfe and the unconquered firmenesse of their faith or lastly the very act of persevering that there is none of these which is not the gift of God Touching that power by which the will is stayed up that it may persevere the Remonstrants easily grant that it is the onely grace of GOD which doth arme a man with this strength to persevere Touching the stability and firmenesse which is considered as the manner or adjunct of true faith this also is to bee numbred among the gifts of God For he which doth give the thing it selfe to wit faith doth also give the manner of the thing to wit the stability and firmenesse of the same faith 2 Thes. 3.3 The Lord is faithfull who shall establish you 1 Cor. 1.7.8 Yee come behinde in no gift waiting for the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall confirme you unto the end that ye may be blamelesse Out of which words it is manifest that faith is the gift of God as well in the