Selected quad for the lemma: mercy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
mercy_n	prepare_v	vessel_n	wrath_n	3,005	5	9.3678	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96830	Arcana dogmatum anti-remonstrantium. Or the Calvinists cabinet unlock'd. In an apology for Tilenus, against a pretended vindication of the synod of Dort. At the provocation of Master R. Baxter, held forth in the preface to his Grotian religion. Together, with a few soft drops let fall upon the papers of Master Hickman.	Womock, Laurence, 1612-1685.	1659 (1659)	Wing W3336; Thomason E1854_2; ESTC R204117	284,533	643

Baxter's bare word for such a Test he that would not be deceived must learn to distrust Indeed it appears that there was a great deale of wash and Fucus c Deus bone Vidimus atque experiundo didicimus quanta illi arte quanto studio sententiam suam incrustare tegere ac caelare semper conati fuerint bodieque adhuc conentur Vix credo humanam industriam comminisci plura posse quam commenti sunt isti mortales ut sententiae ipsorum à sententiae Supralapsariorum differre non videretur ibid. of daubing and paintry used at the drawing up the Canons touching the severall Articles to make them look of the same complexion but if we examine the Doctors as Daniel did his Elders apart we shall finde their opinions to stand at push o'pike one against another For instance If you would inquire Whether the Election be necessarily made out of the Corrupt Masse some of those Divines will tell you it is and some as positively affirm it is not That the Decree of Election is of certain men out of mankind fallen into sin and lost is collected out of Rom. 9.15 16. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy and verse 23. The vessels of mercy prepared unto glory and verse 22. the Reprobates are called vessels of wrath But the wrath of God towards men doth presuppose their sin Rom. 1.18 The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against the ungodlinesse and unrighteousnesse of men Also Eph. 1. we are said to be elected in Christ that we might be holy Also we are said to be predestinated unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ which cannot be said but with respect to sin The Belgick Professors Act. Synod Dort Part. 3. Pag. 4. And the Divines of Zeeland ibid. pag. 43. That Election is made out of mankind fallen is proved out of Rom. 9.15 16. where the purpose of Election is called Having mercy and vers 23. the Elect are called vessels of Mercy Now mercy supposeth misery Rom. 11.32 God hath shut up all in unbelief that he might have mercy upon all and 2 Tim. 1.9 He hath called us according to his purpose and grace c. That mercy given to us in Christ doth presuppose sin and shew us the remedy of it But the Deputies of the Synod of South-Holland are of another judgement ibid. pag. 34. f. Whether in his election God considered man as faln or not faln they think it not necessary to determine so that it be concluded that God considered all men in a like state in his election that the Elect were no better then the Non-elect whether in themselves or in Gods gracious estimation And Gomarus is most positive in this opinion and therefore he profest in the open Synod that he could not approve of the judgement of the foure Belgick Professors concerning the object of Predestination because he thought God did consider man as not faln in his predestination of him Vt supra in Sess 107. part 1. Whereupon he set down his own judgement apart by it self wherein he makes mankind simply considered the object of the Decree part 3. pag. 21. II. If you inquire whether Christ be the foundation of Election you will finde them divided in their judgement here too The Drent Divines say that Christ is the foundation of Election not as he is God nor as he is man but as he is God-man our head and eternall Redeemer by whom we are saved because he by his merit hath procured the grace of God for us and by his spirit he effecteth faith in us Eph. 1.4 5 6. Art Syn. Dord part 3. pag. 80. f. Thes 8. And the Hassien Divines to the same purpose ibid. part 2. pag. 25. But Pet. Molin saith otherwise ibid. part 1. pag. 290. m. Christ as he is man and the mediator he is head of the elect but not the cause of election seeing he himself as he is man is elect He is the meritorious cause of our salvation and our Ransome But of two alike sinfull he is not the cause why the one is preferred before the other The Cause is to be sought in Gods beneplaciture and free love which in order goes before the intercession of the Son For the Father sent the Son and gave him to be the Redeemer This is his Answer to that Question whether Christ be the Foundation of Election which is negative III. If you inquire whether the elect be beloved out of Christ they are at odds here too for some of them say When we affirme that the love of the Father whereby he chose us goes in order before the intercession of the Son our meaning is not that the elect are beloved of God out of Christ For though the love of the Father went before the sending of his Son yet he never loved us but in consideration of his Son neither would he ever confer any benefit upon the elect but in and through his Son Pet. Molin ubi supra Yet the Synod rejects it as an errour in them who teach that Christ neither could nor ought to die for those whom God dearly loved and chose unto eternall life seeing such stood in no need of Christs death Cap. 2. Reject 7. pag. 253. part 1. Act. Syn. Dord IV. If you inquire whether Reprobation hath respect onely or not at all to the fall of Mankinde They run division likewise upon this Article for some of them say it hath and others as confidently averre that it hath not Sibrandus Lubbertus saith We do not teach that God by his absolute will and decree without any respect to sin hath ordained any to damnation But we say God would declare his iustice in the damnation of the Reprobate and therefore he would not appoint any to damnation but for sin Act. Syn. Dord part 3. pag. 14. And the Divines of Great Britaine say Reprobation or Non-election is Gods eternall decree whereby for his own most free good pleasure he determined not to have mercy upon some persons faln in Adam so farre forth as to deliver them effectually from the state of misery by Christ and bring them infallibly unto blessednesse De Reprob Thes 1 pag. 11 part 2. But Gomarus saith God had no respect at all to sin as going before it in the Decree of Reprobation For saith He Peremptory Reprobation is the Decree of God whereby for his own most free pleasure to the declaration of his avenging justice he determined to give neither grace nor glory to certain men out of universall mankind but to suffer them freely to fall into sin and to leave them in their sins and at last justly to condemn them for their sinnes ibid. part 3. pag. 24. Thes 2. And their Deputies of the Synod of South-Holland to the same sense making mankind in generall not considered as fallen and in the corrupt masse the object of the Decree of Election and Reprobation ibid. pag. 35. p. V. If you inquire concerning the

Lordship not of his justice If the Assembly of Divines came any lower yet not so low as the Sublapsarian way For they say Confess of Faith ch 3. th 3. By the Decree of God for the manifestation of his Glory some men and Angels are Predestinated unto everlasting life and others fore-ordained to everlasting death By ranking Men and Angels in the same Decree it is evident they conclude men to be Elected and Reprobate antecedently to the fall of Adam which appears more fully by comparing the 6. and 7. Theses of that Chapter with this third The Calvinists that speak most warily doe yet maintain an Absolute and irrespective Decree not as to the end but as to the means Dr Kendal De Doct. Neopel oratio habita in Comit. Oxonii p. 36. Asserimus Decretum Absolutum quod nullum Motivum ut loquuntur admittat ex parte Dei We assert an absolute Decree because it admits of no Motive on Gods part Non negamus fidem conditionem esse salutis Asserimus vero fidem dari absque omni conditione Similiter de damnatione philosophari solemus Non negamus impoenitentiam finalem esse conditionem damnationis Asserimus vero Deum absolutè decrevisse reprobos omnes impoenitentiae suae permittendos fidem verò in Electis omnipotenti Gratia suo tempore creandam We do not deny faith to be the condition of salvation But we affirme that faith is given without any condition In like manner also we are wont to speak concerning damnation we do not deny finall impenitency to be the condition of damnation But we affirm God absolutely decreed to permit all Reprobates to their own impenitency but to create faith in his own time in the Elect by his omnipotent Grace And a little after Decretum illud irrespectivum non est de salute sed side nec de instigendis poenis sed non concedendâ Poenitentiâ That irrespective Decree 〈◊〉 not such as to salvation but as to faith nor as to the infliction of punishment but as to the non-concession of repentance As well Sublapsarians as Supralapsarians of both forts though they frame a Decree that suspends the benefit of salvation upon a condition yet it makes that condition absolutely irrepudiable and irresistible as to some persons and absolutely impossible unto others and so takes away the proper nature of sin and duty and by consequence saves and damns respectively without them 2. If we consider the Article of Redemption by Christ however M. Baxter finds an Universality of it in the decisions of that Synod yet Doctor Thomas Hill Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and able sure to understand a piece of Latin as well as Master Baxter could find no such matter For to signifie his esteem of that Assembly he calls it a happy remedy against Arminianisme in his Epistle to the Christian Reader before Master Fenners Willfull Impenitency a. 3. yet two pages after he breaks out into this Lamentation But alas Arminius now appears amongst us not so much in the Schools and Pulpits as in popular meetings For as Zanchius complained with much regret of the Sulteran I suppose it should be Lutheran Ubiquitaries that he found them ubique every where to vex and molest him so may we grieve O that we could with brokennesse of heart bewaile it that our Universalists are almost universally spread amongst us It is gotten into our Netherlands much into the Fennish and Moorish parts of this Kingdome yea amongst many people that love Jesus Christ and therefore entertain it as conceiving it most for his Honour the more are they to be pitied c. Thus Doctor Hill who certainly did not think his happy Remedy to be infected with that he accounts disease and so much bewailes as if it were as mortall as he conceived it Epidemicall Good God! That mans eye should be so evil because God is so good and gracious That he should think it a matter of humiliation and that with brokennesse of heart that the Name of the Lord Jesus and the Merits of his Death and the emanations of his Grace should be so much magnified And yet we finde the whole Assembly of Divines if we may collect their Judgement out of their Publick Confession rather then take it from what a single member it seems hath whispered into M. Baxter's eare had so narrow a Faith they could not admit this Point to be an Article of their Belief For they speak restrictively of Christs Sacrifice Chap. 8. th 5. that it hath fully satisfied the justice of his Father and purchased not onely reconciliation but an everlasting inheritance in the kingdome of Heaven for all those whom the Father hath given unto him And more fully thes 8. To all those for whom Christ hath purchased Redemption He doth certainly and effectually apply and communicate the same making intercession for them c. And this is very probably collected out of the third Chapter too comparing the 6. and 7. Theses together They who are Elected being fallen in Adam are redeemed by Christ The rest of mankinde God was pleased according to the unsearchable counsil of his own will whereby he extendeth or with-holdeth mercy as he pleaseth for the glory of his not Justice but NB. Soveraign Power over his creatures to passe by and to ordain them to dishonour and wrath for their sin to the praise of his glorious justice ˙ ˙ Besides Master Baxter hath had some contest as I remember with Adversaries who make the remission of sins the immediate effect of Christs death and maintain that it is granted unto the elect before they do Actually believe I suppose Master Baxter will not say these men are for universall Redemption though perhaps as great Admirers of the Synod as himself and I doubt these are not a very few 3. As touching the unavoidable necessity of all humane Actions in regard of the effectuall Decree that the Calvinists do commonly maintain it is evident That I may not tire the Reader with a multitude of testimonies I shall satisfie my self with one or two The first cause so concurreth as it determineth the second cause in its operation saith M. Norton This is readily granted in naturall Agents in free-rationall Agents it is proved thus If the futurition of the operation of the second Cause is determined by the Decree of God then the operation is self is determined by the efficiency of God The Orthodox Evangelist p. 110. m. And a little after If as often as the will doth not will it therefore doth not will because God hath not determined that it should will then as often as it willeth any thing it therefore willeth because God hath determined that it should will But as often as the Will doth not will it therefore doth not will because God hath not determined that it should will Therefore p. 126. f. Notwithstanding sin is wholly of man and subordinate efficiency in sinfull actions belongs formally unto the