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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A75616	Armilla catechetica. A chain of principles; or, An orderly concatenation of theological aphorismes and exercitations; wherein, the chief heads of Christian religion are asserted and improved: by John Arrowsmith, D.D. late master both of St Johns and Trinity-Colledge successively, and Regius professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge. Published since his death according to his own manuscript allowed by himself in his life time under his own hand.	Arrowsmith, John, 1602-1659.	1659 (1659)	Wing A3772; Thomason E1007_1; ESTC R207935	193,137	525

also as relating to that His words are these This his Justice upon the wicked is a part of his goodness towards his people as it is said The just shall rejoyce when he sees the vengeance He Psalm 58. 11. shall wash his feet in the bloud of the wicked A gloss that may receive confirmation from certain passages in Psalm one hundred thirty six Where the destruction of opposite Princes is recorded as an evidence of Gods mercy to his Church He slew famous kings for his mercy endureth for ever Sihon king of the Amorites for his mercy endureth for ever And Og the king of Bashan for his Psal 136. v. 18 19 20. mercy endureth for ever As also from that in the first of Nahum The Lord is good a Nahum 1. 7 8. strong hold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him But with an overflowing floud he will make an utter end of the place thereof that is the oppressing city Niniveh and darkness shall pursue his enemies § 2. But the learned Critick Ludovicus de Dieu considering that in other places by name Zechar. 5. 3. the word Nakah signifieth to make void and to cut off by altering the translation of these words puts them into a posture of looking directly at the goodness of God and not with an oblique glance He renders them thus Evacuating cutting Evacuando non evacuabit succidendo non succidet Lud. de Dieu Animadvers in Exod. pag. 81 82. off or destroying he will not evacuate cut off or destroy visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation making this the sense So great is Gods goodness that even when he is angry and punisheth yet he will not utterly overthrow He visiteth indeed the sins of the fathers upon the children but it is to the third and fourth generation onely not for ever Now according to this interpretation which for ought I know may well be received the expressions import an eighth branch of divine goodness to wit Clemency in correcting here set forth by a generall declaration and by a particular instance First by a generall declaration in these words VENAKKEH LO IENAKKEH destroying he will not destroy that is not altogether not so destroy as to make a full end according to the expression in Jeremy Thus in like forms of Jerem. 46. 28. speech Delivering thou hast not delivered that is say our Translatours Neither hast thou delivered this people at all Redeeming he cannot redeem that is say they None of them can by any means Exod. 5. 22. Psal 49. 7. redeem his brother Proportionably here Destroying he will not destroy that is God wil not at all he wil not by any means utterly destroy his people however he may correct and chasten for some time Suitable whereunto is that in Amos his Prophesie Behold the eyes of the Lord God Amos 9. 8. are upon the sinfull kingdome and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob saith the Lord. § 3. This sense is exceedingly favoured by a parallel place in Jeremy I am with thee saith the Lord to save thee Jer. 30. 11. Though I make a full end of all Nations whither I have scattered thee yet will I not make a full end of thee but I will correct thee in measure Then followeth VENAKKEH LO ANAKKECA which Pagnin rendereth And destroying I will not destroy thee It may further and yet more strongly be confirmed by a passage in the fourteenth of Numbers The hand of faith having once fastned upon God will not readily let go his hold Moses had taken fast hold of that discovery which the Lord was pleased to make of himself in this place of Exodus and accordingly upon occasion improveth it by pleading with him for Israels preservation from a totall ruine which was then deserved and threatned making use to that end of those very terms the discovery was made in and among others of those now under debate as most argumentative in the sense contended for It is as if he had said Wilt thou O Lord Numb 14. 17 18. bring an utter destruction upon this whole people What shall then become of that goodness of thine which it pleased thee to proclaim to thy servant in Sinai If thou beest resolved to punish them yet remember what thou hast said Destryoing he will not destroy If their iniquities must be visited upon their children O let it not be for ever Lord but onely to the third and fourth generation as thou hast spoken Whereas from the words in that other sense which is commonly received Moses could not possibly have drawn so strong a plea. For if God will by no means clear the guilty all Israel having at that time contracted a deep and deadly guilt what inference could be made from thence but that all Israel were of necessity to perish § 4. Secondly by a particular instance contained in the last clause Visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children and upon the childrens children unto the third and fourth generation For the cleerer explication whereof it will be requisite to demonstrate that God in so doing exerciseth both equity and clemency lest either should be doubted of Concerning the former Although by an express law Magistrates Deut. 24. 16. compared with 2 Kings 14. 6. Vide Grotium de jure belli pacis lib. 2. cap. 21. §. 14. be forbidden to put children to death for their parents sins yet God who is authour of life and death hath reserved to himself a liberty of so doing whensoever it pleaseth him by reason of his supreme dominion over all and therefore for him to inflict inferiour temporal punishments in that case cannot but be accounted just The rather if we take into consideration that children may be accounted part of the parents themselves for as a mans wife is himself divided so his children are himself multiplied However they are undoubtedly part of their parents goods and so esteemed When God had once said concerning Job Behold Job 1. 12. all that he hath is in thy power Satan by vertue of that Commission slew not his cattel and servants onely but his sons and daughters And when he had determined concerning Achan Let Josua 7. 15 24 25. him and all that he hath be burnt with fire the Israelites in obedience to that command burnt his children together with his other substance § 5. As to the latter Gods visiting on this wise will be found an act of clemency as well as of equity if it be considered First That it is but to the third and fourth generation not to all generations and for ever according to the Psalmists expostulation Wilt thou be angry Psal 85. 5. with us for ever wilt thou draw out shine anger to all generations Not to do thus is mercy witness that in

good thing is commended by its antiquity One said well that Old wood is best to burn old friends best to trust and old Sir Fr. Bacon books best to read What price do Scholars put upon an ancient Manuscript Doubtless the oldest of all Manuscripts is the book of life and the writing of our names therein the first-born of all Gods favours If God so value the first-fruits of our services as he doth how carefull should we be to magnifie the first-fruits of his goodness If old charters be of so great esteem as they are in the world how great an estimate should we set upon the most ancient Magna Charta of our Election having this seal The Lord knows who are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Fourthly A leading favour Those are the most valuable blessings that have influence upon sundry others which they draw infallibly after them Such is Election Paul makes it the first linck of his golden chain and shews how introductive it is of all the rest whom God did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also Rom. 8. 30. justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Here is a chain which God Quatuor annuli sunt unius catenae quâ è coelo demissa Pater in coelum trahit electos Primus est Pr●destinatio ad vitam in Christo Secundus Vocatio efficax ad Christum Tertius Justificatio per Christum Quartus Glorificatio cum Christo Zanch. Tom. 7. col 177. lets down from heaven that by it he may draw up his Elect thither The first linck of it is Predestination taken in a restrained sense for the Election of grace The next Effectual Vocation into this the former hath a causal influence according to what the Lord once said by his Prophet Jeremy chap. 31. 3. I have loved thee with an everlasting love therefore with loving kindenes have I drawn thee Election having once pitch't upon a man it will finde him out and call him home where ever he be Zacheus out of cursed Jericho Abraham out of idolotrous Ur of the Chaldeans Nicodemus and Paul out of the Colledge of the Pharisees Christs sworn enemies Dionysius and Damaris out of superstitious Athens In what dunghil soever Gods jewels be hid Election will both finde them out there and fetch them out from thence The third linck is Justification the dependance thereof upon Election may be gathered from that passage in the same chapter to the Romans Who shall lay Rom. 8. 33. any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that justifies As also from the vision in Zechary where Joshuah the high priest representing the people appeared clothed with filthy garments in signe of guilt by them contracted Zechar. 3. 34. till God had commanded saying Take away the filthy garments from him Ib. v. 5. Behold I have caused thine iniquitie to pass from thee Whereupon there was a fair Miter put upon his head and he clothed with change of garments in reference to their change of condition from guilt to free justification the spring whereof is hinted to in that speech The Lord said unto Satan The Lord rebuke Ib. v. 2. thee O Satan even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee The Fourth and last is Glorification That takes in both the beginnings of glory in sanctification of which Paul in his second to the Corinthians the third chapter and last verse We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the Lord and of which he telleth us elsewhere that all the graces of which it consists proceed from this prime grace of Election saying God hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ according Ephes 1. 3. 4. as he hath chosen us in him and the consummation of glory in heaven the foundation whereof is by our Saviour clearly laid in the Fathers giving us to him by Election at first This saith he is the Fathers will which hath sent me that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing but should raise John 6. 39. it up again at the last day So true is that of a Modern writer Election depends Caetera pendent ab Electione Electio à Deo Heins Hom. in Job 17. 9. p. 46. upon God alone all other blessings upon Election Fifthly A standing favour The favours of men may be suddenly changed into frowns as those of King Ahashuerus towards Hamon were who but he over night in the Kings esteem next day he will not endure the sight of him But God's are immutable All the blessings of the Covenant of grace are sure mercies according to that by the Prophet Isaiah I will make an everlasting covenant with Jsai 55. 3. you even the sure mercies of David Election in a special manner Our Apostle accordingly intimates in one place that the purpose of God according Rom. 9. 11. to election must stand and affirms in another that this foundation of God stands 2 Tim. 2. 19. sure having this seal The Lord knows who are his In which few words we have no fewer then three grounds of its stability a Foundation a Seal and a Science Election is the Foundation of God a firm Foundation that stands sure With us things founded upon a rock have great stability the rock of ages as he is called even God himself his good pleasure and counsel Isal 26. 4. is that upon which our Election is founded With us writings once sealed receive a confirmation thereby and become unrepealable God hath set his seal to this Decree With us knowledge or science is of things certain and unalterable not as opinion which being of things onely probable may be changed The seal here is The Lord knows who are his No wonder then if the Lord be for ever found to make good that which he said by his Apostle God hath not cast away his people whom he foreknew If having named Election in the foregoing verse he presently subjoyns The gifts and calling of God are without repentance Rom. 11. 2. Rom. 11. 29. EXERCITATION 3. Exerc. 3. An Introduction to Romans 9. Most part of that chapter expounded together with sundry passages in chapter 10 and 11. for proof of these two conclusions 1. That Paul in Rom. 9. doth upon occasion propound and prosecute the doctrine of Predestination 2. That he derives the Decree of preterition from the Sovereign greatness of God A Consectary shewing how usefull the said doctrine is to sober mindes § 1. FOr a full proof of our second Assertion That the greatness of God is abundantly manifested by his decree of Preterition we must of necessity have recourse to the ninth chapter of Pauls Epistle to the Romans as unto the proper seat of that argument although divers from abroad and some at home by forreign interpretations forced

wrath verses 22 23. What if God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had afore prepared unto glory Where I desire to have it punctually observed that the vessels of wrath are onely said to be fitted to destruction without naming by whom God Satan or themselves whereas on the other side God himself Electio non est caus● tantum salutis sed o●nium corum quae causae rationem habent ad salute● R●probatio v●rò neque damnationis ●eque pe●●ati quod meretur dann ationem est prop●iè causa sed antecedens tantum Ames medu● l. 1. c. 25. thes 40. is expresly said to have prepared his chosen vessels of mercy unto glory Which was purposely done as I humbly conceive to intimate a remarkable difference between election and preterition in that Election is a proper cause not onely of salvation it self but of all the graces which have any causal tendency thereunto and therefore God is said to prepare his elect to glory Whereas negative reprobation is no proper cause either of damnation it self or of the sin that bringeth it but an antecedent onely wherefore the Non-elect are indeed said to be fitted to that destruction which their sins in the conclusion bring upon them but not by God I call it a remarkable difference because where it is once rightly apprehended and truly beleeved it sufficeth to stop the mouth of one of those greatest calumnies and odiums which are usually cast upon our doctrine of predestination viz. that God made sundry of his creatures on purpose to damn them a thing which the rhetorick of our adversaries is wont to blow up to the highest pitch of aggravation But is as soon blown away by such as can tell them in the words of the Excellent Dr Davenant B. Daven Ani●adve●s on Gods l●ve to mankinde pag. 89. It is true that the elect are severally created to the end intent that they may be glorified together with their head Christ Jesus But for the Non-elect we cannot truly say that they are created to the end they may be tormented with the Devil and his Angels For we may then say God maketh such a thing for such an end when he giveth the thing a nature and qualities fitted for such an end e. gr that he made the sun to enlighten the world because he filled it with lightsomeness Now no man is created by God with a nature and quality fitting him to damnation Yea neither in the state of his innocency nor in the state of the fall and his corruption doth he receive any thing from God which is a proper and fit means of bringing him to his damnation And therefore damnation is not the end of any mans creation § 4. We have seen our Apostle propounding the doctrine of predestination in this his discourse see how he prosecutes the same more ways then one I. By producing certain instances The persons he instanceth in if not as solemn examples yet as types and figures are at least of election Isaac and Jacob of reprobation Ismael and Esau It is the grand priviledge of Gods elect to have his covenant established with them in special manner The Messias saith the Angel in Daniel was cut off Dan. 9. 26 27. but not for himself And he shall confirm the Covenant with many The word is Larabbim with those excellent ones by whom Piscator understandeth the elect those Many whom God's righteous servant is said to justifie Isaiah 53. 11. where we meet with the same word If so who more fit to figure out them then our father Isaac concerning whom the Lord said to Abraham I will establish Gen. 17. 19. my Covenant with him for an everlasting Covenant and with his seed after him Again the style of all those who are written in heaven that is of the Elect is Hebr. 12. 23. the generall Assembly and Church of the 〈◊〉 stborn If so who more fit to typifie them then Jacob a man of all others most famous for procuring a primogeniture in an extraordinary way As for reprobation the obiects whereof are castaways well might Ismael stand for a figure of them because of him Sarah said unto her husband Cast out Gen. 21. 10 12. this bond-woman and her son for the son of the bond-woman shall not be heir with my son even with Isaac And her word was ratified by God himself saying to Abraham In all that Sarah hath said unto thee hearken unto her voice for in Isaac shall thy ●eed be called As also Esau who here falleth under two sad characters One of Gods hatred then which nothing more dreadfull Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated verse 13. the other of servitude verse 12. The elder shall serve the younger Concerning which Mr Ainsworth hath these words Servitude came in with a curse and figureth reprobation Ainsworth on Gen. 25. 23. Gen. 9. 25. John 8. 34 35. Gal. 4. 30 31. Therefore from hence the Prophet teacheth that God loved Jacob and hated Esau and the Apostle gathereth the doctrine of election and reprobation Romanes 9. 10 11 12 13. So he § 5. The main exception which our adversaries hitherto have been wont to take at this and the like expositions ariseth thus Jacob and Esau are considerable in a double capacity the one Personal as they were this and that individual member of mankinde the other Patriarchal as they were heads of several Nations Jacob of the Israelites Esau of the Edomites or Idumeans They suppose we cannot safely apply the oracle delivered to Rebecca unto their persons seeing Malachy long since expounded it of their posterity in these words Was not Esau Jacobs brother saith Malach. 1. 2. 3. the Lord yet I loved Jacob and I hated Esau and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness c. My conceptions concerning this matter which as I would not impose upon any far be such presumption from me so I would have no Reader contemn till he have considered them are as followeth According to their double capacity the answer of God to Rebecca about them seemeth to have had a double aspect One to their posterity regarding temporal things especially of which Malachy speaketh another to their persons eying chiefly their spiritual concernments and of that Paul treats in Romanes 9. as the context importeth Nor can this be wondered at by such as consider how usuall it hath been with God as to discover himself by degrees witness that in Deuteronomy The Lord came from Sinai Deut. 33. 2. and rose up from Seir unto them he shined forth from mount Paran so to reserve more spiritual discoveries for Gospel-times § 6. Whereas it is further objected that the Elders serving the Younger was never verified in the

Glosses and strained Paraphrases have endeavoured to carry the sense quite another way against the poyson of whose endeavours our people may perhaps stand in need of an Antidote It shall be my care by Divine assistance which is alwaies needfull especially in the debating of such mysteries to present them with one and in as calm a way as may be without provoking however without reproching such as are contrary minded to demonstrate these two Conclusions viz. That Paul in the ninth to the Romans doth upon occasion propound and prosecute the doctrine of Predestination And that he plainly derives the Decree of Preterition from the Sovereign greatness of God But before we enter upon so great a depth which I do with fear and trembling let it be observed that our Apostle from the end of the eight to the beginning of his twelfth chapter continues a profound complicate discourse wholly about the main concernments of his countreymen the Jews and that the best help we have for enlightening certain clauses in the ninth ought to be fe●ched from passages in the tenth and eleventh Chapters the neglect whereof I verily think hath occasioned the miscarriages of so many in their interpretations of that Scripture I shall hope to improve the Observation to good purpose § 2. Concerning the former of our Conclusions there will be no need of going far to seek the occasion of Pauls falling upon this Doctrine He had carefully and continually preached faith in Christ as the onely way of salvation in opposition to all others This however embraced by divers Gentiles could by no means finde entertainment with the Jews Be pleased to compare Chapter 9. 31 32 33. Israel which followed after the Law of righteousness hath not obtained to the Law of righteousness Wherefore because they sought it not by faith but as it were by the works of the law for they stumbled at that stumbling stone As it is written Behold I lay in S●on a stumbling-stone and rock of offence and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed with Chapter tenth verse 2 3 4. I bear them record that they have a zeal of God but not according to knowledge For they being ignorant of Gods righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submited themselves to the righteousness of God For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth This their stumbling at Christ as they generally did caused a great stumble in the thoughts of considering men who could not but stand amazed to see that whereas God had set up but one onely way to be laid hold upon for the attainment of blessedness his own onely people in the eye of the world should almost universally decline that and venture their souls upon another Yet this they did even they who are here so magnificently described Chapter 9. verse 4 5. Who were Israelites to whom pertained the Adoption and the glorie and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service of God and the promises Whose were the fathers and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is over all God blessed for evermore Amen Hereupon some were apt to crie out All is undone The word of God it self hath taken no effect The Promise to Abraham is fallen to the ground All Sermons and other Ordinances have been but a sso much rain upon rocks that glides off and leaves no impression Our Apostle to recover them out of these dumps leads them by degrees into the knowledge of Divine Predestination as the root of all this giving them first to understand that all who bore the name of Israelites and enjoyed the Ordinances were not indeed such children of God as belonged to the Election of grace and therefore did not close with Christ in the use of them as some few did upon whom the word of grace weas effectual and in whom as few as they were Gods promise to Abraham was preserved As for those unto whom his Gospel was hid they were as he elsewhere tels the Corinthians a sort of lost men and women 2 Cor. 4. 〈◊〉 For this see Chapter 9. verse 6 7 8. Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect For they are not all Israel which are of Israel Neither because they are the seed of Abraham are they all children But in Isaac shall thy seed be called That is They which are the children of the flesh these are not the children of God but the children of the promise are counted for the seed Where the Elect people of God who onely are accounted the spirituall seed and who onely in the conclusion will concur to constitute Christ Mystical are styled children of the Promise perhaps in reference to that grace and Promise of eternal life given to them in Christ Jesus before the world began to which I have spoken before in this Aphorisme Exercitation the first Paragraph the third however in allusion to the birth of Isaac who was produced above the power of nature by vertue of a promise declaring Gods will and pleasure to have it so for the Elect in the respective hours of their conversion are all of them born again John 1. 13. not of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God Who of his James 1. 18. own will begetteth them with the word of truth that they should be a kinde of first-fruits of his creatures § 3. Having thus given a more obscure intimation of some few elect ones complying with the Gospel although most part of the Jews were recusants as to that interest he goeth on to profess it more openly in the beginning of the eleventh chapter God hath not cast away his people which ●e foreknew verse the second the infallible meaning whereof may be gathered from that in Peter Elect according to the 1 Pet. 1. 2. foreknowledge of God the Father And more plainly yet in verse the seventh and eighth of the same chapter The Election hath obtained and the rest were blinded According as it is written God hath given them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and ears that they should not hear unto this day But to return to our ninth chapter Who can advisedly reade that passage in his discourse about Jacob and Esau That the purpose of God according to Election might stand and consult the circumstances of of it viz. the childrens not yet being born nor having done good or evil as also a choice no way founded upon him that willeth or upon him that runneth but upon God alone who sheweth mercy and not reflect upon that election by me described in the first Exercitation under this Aphorisme § 2. Add hereunto those Apostolical distributions of men into those on whom the Lord will have mercy and those whom he will harden in verse the eighteenth that is in other terms Elect and Reprobate Also into vessels of mercy and vessels of