able of our selves so much as to think well and where in giving the cause why some have revolted from the Faith and some stand firm he said it was because the Foundation of God standeth sure and hath this seal the Lord knoweth who are his They added divers passages of the Gospel of S. John and infinite Anthorities of S. Augustine because the Saint wrote nothing in his old Age but in favour of this Doctrine But some others though of Iess esteem opposed this opinion calling it hard cruel inhumane horrible impious and that it shewed partiality in God if without any motive cause he elected one and rejected another and unjust if he damned men for his own will and not for their faults and had created so great a multitude to condemn it They said it destroyed Free-will because the Elect cannot finally do evil nor the Reprobate good that it casteth men into a gulph of desperation doubting that they be Reprobates That it giveth occasion to the wicked of bad thoughts not caring for Pennance but thinking if they be elected they shall not perish if Reprobates it is in vain to do well because it will not help them They confessed that not only works are not the cause of Gods election because that is before them and eternal but that neither Works foreseen can move God to Predestinate who is willing for his infinite mercy that all should be saved to this end prepareth sufficient assistance for all which every man having Free-will receiveth or refuseth as pleaseth him and God in his eternity foreseeth those who will receive his help and use it to good and those who will refuse and rejecteth these electeth and predestinateth those They added That otherwise there was no cause why God in the Scriptures should complain of sinners nor why he should exhort all to repentance and conversion if they have not sufficient means to get them that the sufficient assistance invented by the others is insufficient because in their opinion it never had nor shall have any effect The first Opinion as it is mystical and hidden keeping the mind humble and relying on God without any confidence in it self knowing the deformity of sin and the excellency of Divine Grace so this second was plausible and popular cherishing humane presumption and making a great shew and it pleased more the preaching Fryers than the understanding Divines And the Council thought it probable as consonant to politick Reason It was maintained by the Bishop of Bitonto and the Bishop of Salpi shewed himself very partial The Defenders of this using humane Reasons prevailed against the others but coming to the testimonies of Scripture they were manifestly overcome Calarinus holding the same Opinion to resolve the places of Scripture which troubled them all invented a middle way That God of his goodness had elected some few whom he will save absolutely to whom he hath prepared most potent effectual and infallible means the rest he desireth for his part they should be saved and to that end hath promised sufficient means for all leaving it to their choice to accept them and be saved or refuse them and be damned Amongst these there are some who receive them and are saved though they be not of the number of the Elect of which kind there are very many Other refusing to co-operate with God who wisheth their salvation are damned The cause why the first are predestinated is only the will of God why the others are saved is the acceptation good use and co-operation with the Divine assistance foreseen by God why the last are reprobated is the foreseeing of their perverse will in refusing or abusing it That S. John S. Paul and all the places of Scripture alledged by the other part where all is given to God and which do shew infallibility are understood only of the first who are particularly priviledged and in other for whom the common way is left the admonitions exhortations and general assistances are verified unto which he that will give ear and follow them is saved and he that will not perisheth by his own fault Of these few who are priviledged above the common condition the number is determinate and certain with God but not of those who are saved by the common way depend on humane liberty but only in regard of the fore-knowledge of the works of every one Catarinus said He wondred at the stupidity of those who say the number is certain and determined and yet they add that others may be saved which is as much as to say that the number is certain and yet it may be enlarged And likewise of those who say That the Reprobates have sufficient assistance for salvation though it be necessary for him that is saved to have a greater which is to say a sufficient unsufficient He added that S. Augustins Opinion was not heard of before his time and himself confesseth it cannot be found in the works of any who wrote before him neither did himself always think it true but ascribed the cause of Gods will to merits saying God taketh compassion on and hardneth whom he listeth But that will of God cannot be unjust because it is caused by most secret merits and that there is diversity of sinners some who though they be justified deserve justification But after the heat of Disputation against the Pelagians transported him to think and speak the contrary yet when his opinion was heard all the Catholicks were scandalized as S. Prosper wrote to him and Genadius of Marselles fifty years after in his judgment which he maketh of the famous Writers said That it hapned to him according to the words of Solomon That in much speaking one cannot avoid sin and that by his fault exagitated by his Enemies the question was not then risen which might afterwards bring forth Heresie whereby the good Father did intimate his fear of that which now appeareth that is that by that opposition some Sect and Division might arise The censure of the second Article was diverse according to the three related Opinions Catarinus thought the first part true in regard of the efficacy of the Divine Will towards those who were particularly favoured But the second false concerning the sufficiency of Gods assistance unto all and mans liberty in co-operating Others ascribing the cause of Predestination in all to humane consent condemned the whole Article in both parts But those that adhered unto S. Augustine and the common opinion of the Theologans did distinguish it and said it was true in a compound sense but damnable in a divided a subtilty which confounded the minds of the Prelates and his own though he did exemplifie it by saying he that moveth cannot stand still it is true in a compound sense but is understood while he moveth but in a divided sonse it is false that is in another time Yet it was not well understood because applying it to his purpose It cannot be said that a man predestinated can be damned
turneth his faced for the time and as long as he so doth so should they more and more â—â—ir us to cry unto God with all our heart that we may not be brought into the state which doubtless is so sorrowful so miserable and so dreadful as no Tongue can sufficiently express nor any heart can think for what deadly grief can a man suppose it is to be under the wrath of God to be forsaken of him to have his holy Spirit the Author of all goodness to be taken from him to be brought to so vile a condition that he shall be lâ—ft meet for no better purpose than to be for ever condemned to Hell for not only such places of David de shew that upon the turning of Gods face from any persons they stall be lâ—ft bare from all goodness and far from hope of remedy but also the place rehearsed last before of Isaiah doth mean the same which sheweth that God at length doth so fosake his unfruitful Vineyard that he will notonly suffer it to bring forth weeds bryars and thorns but also further to punish the unfruitfulness of it he saith he will not cut it he will not delve it and he will command the clouds that they shall not rain upon it whereby is signified the teaching of the holy Word which St Paul after a like manner expressed by planting and watering Meaning that he will take that away from them so that they shall be no longer of his Kingdom they shall be no longer governed by his holy Spirit they shall be put from the grace and benefits they had and ever might have enjoyed through Christ they shall be deprived of the heavenly light and life which they had in Christ whilst they abode in him they shall be as they were once as men without God in the world or rather in a worse taking And to be short they shall be given into the power of the Devil which beareth the rule of all men which be cast away fro God as he did in Saul and Judas and generally in all such as work after their own wills the Children of wistrust and unbelief let us beware therefore good Christian people lest that we rejecting or casting away Gods Word by which we obtain and retain true faith in God be not at length cast so far off that we become as the Children of unbelief which be of two sorts far diverse yea almost clean contrary and yet both be very far from returning to God the one sort only weighing their sinful and detestable living with the right judgment and straitness of Gods righteousness be so without content and be so comfortless as they all must needs be from whom the Spirit of counsel and comfort is gone that they will not be persuaded in their hearts but that either God cannot or else that he will not take them again to his favour and mercy the other hearing the loving and large promises of Gods mercy and so not conceiving a right faith thereof make those promises larger than ever God did Trusting that although they continue in their sinful and detestable living never so long yet that God at the end of their life will shew his mercy upon them and that then they will return And that both these two sorts of men be in a damnable estate and yet nevertheless God who willeth not the death of the wicked hath shewed means whereby both the same if they take heed in season may escape The first as they defend Gods rightful justice in punishing sinners whereby they should be dismayed and should despair indeed as touching any hopes that may be in themselves so if they would constantly and stedfastly believe that Gods mercy is the remedy prepared against such despair and distrust not only for them but generally for all that be sorry and truly repentant and will therewithal stick to Gods mercy they may be sure they shall obtain mercy and enter into the Port or Haven of safeguard into the which whosoever do come be they before time never so wicked they shall be out of danger of everlasting damnation as godly Ezekiel saith What time soever a sinner doth return and take earnest of true Repentance I will forgive all his wickedness The other as they be ready to believe Gods promises so they should be as ready to believe the threatnings of God as well believe the Law as the Gospel as well that there is an Hell and everlasting fire as there is an Heaven and everlasting joy as well they should believe damnation to the threatned to the wicked and evil doers Ezek. 3. as salvation to be promised to the faithful in Word and Works as well they should believe God to be true in the one as the other And for sinners that continue in this wicked living they ought to think that the promises of Gods mercy and the Gospel pertain not unto them being in that state but only the Law and those Scriptures which contain the wrath and indignation of God and his threatnings which should certifie them that as they do over-boldly presume of Gods mercy and live dissolutely so doth God still more and more withdraw his mercy from them as he is so provoked thereby to wrath at length that he destroyeth such presumers many times suddenly for of such St Paul said thus When they shall say it is peace there is no danger then shall sudden destruction come upon them 1 Thess 5. let us beware therefore of such naughty boldness to sin For God which hath promised his mercy to them that be truly penitent although it be at the latter end hath not promised to the presumptuous sinner either that he shall have long life or that he shall have true Repentance at the last end But for that purpose hath he made every mans death uncertain that he should not put his hope in the end and in the mean season 〈◊〉 to Gods high displeasure live ungodlily Wherefore let us follow the counsel of the Wise man let us make no tarrying to turn unto the Lord let us not put off from day to day for sudenly his wrath comes and in time of vengeance he will destroy the wicked let us therefore turn betimes and when we turn let us pray to God as Hosea teached saying Forgive ad our sins receive us graciously Hosea 14. And if we turn to him with an humble and a very penitent heart he will receive us to his favour and grace for his holy Names sake for his Promise sake for his Truth and Mercies sake promised to all faithful Believers in Jesus Christ his only natural Son To whom the only Saviour of the world with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour glory and power world without end Amen These are the very words of the second Himily touching falling from God in which we have many evident proofs not only that there is a Falling and a frequent Falling but also a Total yea a final
not only a strong interruption for the present to the proceeding of the Church but an occasion also of great discord and dissention in it for the time to come For many of our Divines who had fled beyond the Sea of avoid the hurry of her Reign though otherwise men of good abilities in most parts of Learning returned so altered in their principals as to points of Doctrine so disaffected to the Government Forms of worship here by Law established that they seem'd not to be the same men at their coming home as they had been at their going hence yet such was the necessity which the Church was under of filling up the vacant places and preferments which had been made void either by the voluntary discession or positive deprivation of the Popish Cleergy that they wer fain to take in all of any condition which were able to do the publick service without relation to their private opinions in doctrine or discipline nothing so much regarded in the chice of men for Bishopricks Deanries Dignities in Cathedral Churches the richest Benefices in the Countrey and places of most command and trust in the Universities as their known zeal against the Papists together with such a sufficiency of learning as might enable them for writing and preaching against the Popes Supremacy the carnal presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament the superstitions of the Mass the half Communion the celebrating of Divine service in a tongue not known unto the People the inforced single life of Priests the worshipping of Images and other the like points of Popery which had given most offence and were the principal causes of that separation On this account we find Mr. Pilkington preferred to the See of Durham and Whittingham to the rich Deanry of the Church of which the one proved a grear favourer of the Non-conformists as is confessed by one who challengeth a relation to his blood and family the other associated himself with Goodman as after Goodman did with Knox for lanting Puritanism and sedition in the Kirk of Scotland On this account Dr. Lawrence Humphrey a professed Calvinian in point of doctrine and a Non-conformist but qualified with the title of a moderate one is made the Queens Professor for Divinity in the University of Oxon Thomas Cartwright that great Incendiary of this Church preferred to be the Lady Margarets Professor in the University of Cambridge Sampson made Dean of Christ-church and presently propter Puritanismum Exacutoratus Godw. in Catal Episc Oxon. turned out again for Puritanism as my Author hath it Hardiman made one of the first Prebends of Westminister of the Queens foundation and not long after deprived of it by the high Commissioners for breaking down the Altar there and defacing the ancient utepsils and ornaments which belonged to the Church And finally upon this account as Whitehead who had been Chaplain to Queen Anne Bullain refused the Archbishoprick of Canterbury before it was offered unto Parker and Coverdale to be restored to the See of Exon which he had chearfully accepted in the time of K. Edward so Mr. John Fox of great esteem for his painful and laborious work of Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs would not accept of any preferment in the Church but a Prebends place in Salisbury which tied him not to any residence in the same And this he did especially as it after proved to avoid subscription shewing a greater willingness to leave his place than to subscribe unto the Articles of Religion then by Law established when he was legally required to do it by Arch-bishop Parker Of this man there remains a short discourse in his Acts and Monuments of Predestination occasioned by a Letter of Mr. Bradfords before remembred whose Orthodox doctrine in that point he feared might create some danger unto that of Calvin which then began to find a more general entertainment than could be rationally expected in so short a time And therefore as a counter-ballance he annexeth this discourse of his own with this following title viz. Notes on the same Epistle and the manner of Election thereunto appertaining As touching the Doctrine of Election whereof this Letter of Mr. Bradford and many other of his Letters more do much intreat three things must be considered Fox in Acts and Mon. fol. 1505. 1. What Gods Election is and what the cause thereof 2. How Gods Election proceedeth in working our salvation 3. To whom Gods Election pertaineth and how a Man may be certain thereof Between Predestination and Election this difference there is Predestination is as well to the Reprobate as to the Elect Election pertaineth only to them that be saved Predestination in that it respecteth the Rebate is called Reprobation in that it respected the saved is called Election and is thus defined Predestination is the eternal decreement of God purposed before in himself what shall befal all men either to salvation or damnation Election is the free mercy and grace of God in his own will through faith in Christ his Son choosing and preferring to life such as pleaseth him In this definition of Election first goeth before the mercy and grace of God as the causes thereof whereby are excluded all works of the Law and merits of deserving whether they go before faith or come after so was Jacob chosen and Esau refused before either of them began to work c. Secondly in that the mercy of God in this Definition is said to be free thereby is to be noted the proceeding and working of God not to be bound to any ordinary place or to any succession of choice nor to state and dignity of person nor to worthiness of blood c. but all goeth by the meer will of his own purpose as it is written spiritus ubi vult spirat c. And thus was the outward race and stock of Abraham after flesh refused which seemed to have the preheminence and another seed after the Spirit raised by Abraham of the stones that is of the Gentiles So was the outward Temple of Jerusalem and Chair of Moses which seem'd to be of price forsaken and Gods Chair advanced in other Nations So was tall Saul refused and little David accepted the Rich the Proud and the Wise of this world rejected and the word of salvation daily opened to the poor and miserable abjects the high Mountains cast under and the low valleys exalted c. And in the next place it is added in his own will by this falleth down the free will and purpose of man with all his actions counsels and strength of nature according as it is written non est volentis neque currentis sed miserentis Dei c. It is not him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy So we see how Israel ran long and yet got nothing The Gentile runneth began to set out late and yet got the game So they which came at the first which did labour more
whereas the later Councils stand on three precisely whereof prehaps this was the reason because in later times there was a greater number of Bishops in the Church of God than had been before and so the number of three Bishops to concur together not so hard to meet with Now they that search into the first occasion of the present Canon fetch it from a Tradition on Record in Clemens viz. that James the Proto-Bishop Philodox ap Masonum de Minist Anglic. l. 1. c. 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Clem. Alex. ap Euseb l. 2. c. 1. the first that ever had a fixt Episcopal See was ordained Bishop of Hierusalem by Peter James and John the sons of Zebedee Peter saith he and James and John being by our Redeemer most esteemed of contended not amongst themselves after his ascension for the highest place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but rather made choice of James the Just to be the Bishop of Hierusalem But this if looked on well was no Ordination for James being one of the Apostles needed no such Ceremony but only an agreement made by that goodly fellowship amongst themselves that whilst the rest did Preach the Gospel in the world abroad Objected by Philodix ap Masonum l. 1. cap. 7. Saint James should take the charge of the Mother-City The Ordination of Saint Paul and Barnabas unto the Apostleship by the hands of Lucius Simeon and Manaen is indeed more pertinent but that being an extraordinary case it can make no precedent But what need any further pedegree be sought to raise the reputation of this Canon It is antiquity enough that it stands in front and leads on all the residue of the Canons ascribed of old to the Apostles And yet we must observe withal that as there is no general rule but hath some exception so the necessities of the Church have many times dispensed with these ancient Canons Anastas in vita Pelagii Synadol Ep. Episcoporum Ponti ap Binium p. 173. Tom. 2. Theodo Hist lib. 5. c. 23. the Ordination of Pelagius the first once a Pope of Rome and of Dioscorus Patriarch of Alexandria being performed by two Bishops only contrary to the Councils of Nice and Arles that of P. Evagrius Patriarch of Antiochia but by one alone contrary to the old Apostolick Canon But then we must observe withal that these exceptions being in extraordinary cases and occasions are rather a confirmation of the Canons than any diminution to them according to the good old rule Exceptio firmat regulam in non exceptis The Bishop being thus admitted to his charge and function by a peculiar Ordination we must next see what is prescribed him in these Canons touching his behaviour whether Domestick in his Family or Publick in the Common-wealth For his Domestick carriage Canon 5. it is ordered thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he do not put away his Wife on pain of Excommunication on any shaddow or pretence of Piety whatever I know my Masters in the Church of Rome would fain shift this off Binius in Annot in Can. 5. by saying that there is nothing else required by the present Canon but that they ought to have a care of them ipsisque de omnibus quae ad vitam honestè degendem requiruntur provideant and to provide them all things necessary for this present life But surely Zonaras gives a fairer and more likely gloss Zonar Com. in can Apo. by whom it is affirmed that if a Bishop or any other person in holy orders for the Canon doth extend to all particularly should under colour of Religion put away his Wife He was to be excluded from the Church by this present Canon till he admitted her again Admitted her again to what Assuredly unto his bed to cohabitation Should he do otherwise saith he it would redound to the reproach of Marriage 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if that conjugal society did beget uncleanness whereas the Scripture saith that Marriage is honourable and the Bed undefiled adding withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. that lawful Wedlock in those times was left free to Bishops and that it was restrained first by the Synod in Trullo many hundreds after An. 692. Which being so the following Canon must admit of some qualification Can. Apost 6. by which it is decreed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that he do not take upon him any worldly cares or secular affairs be it which it will For if he was allowed to have Wife and Children and consequently was necessitated to maintain a family it could not be but he must needs be subject to some worldly cares 1 Tim. 5.8 in making fit provision for them Saint Paul determining that If any man provide not for his own especially for those of his own House he hath denied the faith and is worse than an Infidel So that these being not the worldly cares which are intended as they relate to his domestick carriage in his private family we must next see how far it doth extend to those worldly cares or rather secular affairs if any shall so choose to read it which do concern him in the publick And here we must first know whether that all intermedling in secular affairs or worldly matters be interdicted by this Canon meerly quà tales for themselves or as they were an avocation from the work of the holy Ministery Not of themselves quà tales there 's no doubt of that for then their private and domestick cares must also undergo the same prohibition Zon. Comment in Apost Can. It seems then only as an avocation as they diverted Bishops and the rest in Orders from doing the work of their vocation Zonaras doth conceive it so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the purpose of the Canon is that they should attend the holy Ministery keeping themselves from all disturbances and the tumultuousness of business But then withal we must observe that Zonaras alloweth them to take care of Orphans and to administer their estate to the best advantage which is one secular imployment and no mean one neither In this the Council of Chalcedon Can. 3. doth agree with Zonaras allowing Clergy-men to be Guardians as we call it unto those in Wardship Can. 3. Though the providing for the Fatherless be a work of mercy 〈◊〉 the administration of their estates 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as it is there called is a work of business And this allowance is affirmed by Zonaras to be consistent with the Canon which is one thing more and such a one as will make way for many others The arbitrating of emergent differences between man and man for the advancement both of peace and justice is a worldly work a secular imployment past all question May not the Canon be persuaded to admit of this and not to have it laid in bar against the Bishop that he hath left his holy calling and made himself a Judge amongst his Neighbours Out of doubt it will And which
maximi eorum fanis jus Asyli manere c. neque cogi ad praestanda vadimonia sabbatis aut pridie sabbatorum post horam nonam in Parasceve Quod si quis contra decretum ausus fuerit gravi poena mulctabitur This Edict was set forth Anno 4045. and after many of that kind were published in several Provinces by Mar. Agrippa Provost General under Caesar Phil. legat ad Caium as also by Norbanus Flaceus and Julius Antonius Proconsuls at that time whereof see Josephus Nay when the Jews were grown so strict that it was thought unlawful either to give or take an Alms on the Sabbath day Augustus for his part was willing not to break them of it yet so to order and dispose his Bounties that they might be no losers by so fond a strictness For whereas he did use to distribute monthly a certain Donative either in Mony or in Corn this distribution sometimes happened on the Sabbath days 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Philo hath it whereon the Jews might neither give nor take neither indeed do any thing that did tend to sustenance Therefore saith he it was provided that their proportion should be given them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 on the next day after that so they might be made partakers of the publick benefit Not give nor take an Alms on the Sabbath day Their superstition sure was now very vehement seeing it would not suffer men to do the works of mercy on the day of mercy And therefore it was more than time they should be sent to School again to learn this Lesson I will have mercy and not sacrifice And so indeed they were sent unto School to him who in himself was both the Teacher and the Truth For at this time our Saviour came into the World And had there been no other business for him to do this only might have seemed to require his presence viz. to rectifie those dangerous Errours which had been spread abroad in these latter times about the Sabbath The service of the Sabbath in the Congregation he found full enough The custom was to read a Section of the Law out of the Pentateuch or five Books of Moses and after to illustrate or confirm the same out of some parallel place amongst the Prophets That ended if occasion were and that the Rulers of the Synagogue did consent unto it there was a word of Exhortation made unto the people Chap. 13.15 conducing to obedience and the works of Piety So far it is apparent by that passage in the Acts of the Apostles touching Paul and Barnabas that being at Antioch in Pisidia on the Sabbath day after the reading of the Law and Prophets the Rulers of the Synagogue sent unto them saying Ye men and brethren if ye have any word of exhortation to speak unto the people dicite say on As for the Law I note this only by the way they had divided it into 54 Sections which they read over in the two and fifty sabbaths joyning two of the shortest twice together that so it might be all read over within the year beginning on the Sabbath which next followed the Feast of Tabernacles ending on that which came before it So far our Saviour found no fault but rather countenanced and confirmed the custom by his gracious presence and example But in these rigid Vanities and absurd Traditions by which the Scribes and Pharisees had abused the Sabbath and made it of an ease to become a drudgery in those he thought it requisite to detect their follies and ease the people of that bondage which they in their proud humours had imposed upon them The Pharisees had taught that it was unlawful on the sabbath day either to heal the impotent or relieve the sick or feed the hungry but he confutes them in them all both by his Acts and by his Disputations Whatever he maintain'd by Argument he made good by Practice Did they accuse his followers of gathering Corn upon the Sabbath being then an hungred he le ts them know what David did in the same extremity Their eating or their gathering on the Sabbath day take you which you will was not more blameable nay not so blameable by the Law as David's eating of the Shew-bread which plainly was not to be eaten by any but the Priest alone The Cures he did upon the Sabbath what were they more than which themselves did daily do in laying salves unto those Infants whom on the Sabbath day they had Circumcised His bidding of the impotent man to take up his Bed and get him gone which seemed so odious in their eyes was it so great a toyl as to walk round the walls of Hiericho and bear the Ark upon their shoulders or any greater burden to their idle backs than to lift up the Ox and set him free out of that dangerous Ditch into the which the hasty Beast might fall as well upon the Sabbath as the other days Should men take care of Oxen and not God of Man Not so The Sabbath was not made for a lazy Idol which all the Nations of the World should fall down and worship but for the ease and comfort of the labouring man that he might have some time to refresh his spirits Sabbatum propter hominem factum est The Sabbath saith our Saviour was made for man man was not made to serve the Sabbath Nor had God so irrevocably spoke the word touching the sanctifying of the Sabbath that he had left himself no power to repeal that Law in case he saw the purpose of the Law perverted the Son of man even he that was the Son both of God and Man being Lord also of the Sabbath Nay it is rightly marked by some that Christ our Saviour did more works of Charity on the Sabbath day than on all days else Zanchius observes it out of Irenaeus In Mandat 4. Saepius multo Christum in die Sabbati praestitisse opera charitatis quam in aliis diebus and his note is good Not that there was some urgent and extream necessity either the Cures to be performed that day or the man to perish For if we look into the story of our Saviours actions we find no such matter It 's true that the Centurions son and Peters mother-in-law were even sick to death and there might be some reason in it why he should haste unto their Cures on the Sabbath day But on the other side the man that had the withered Hand Matth. 13. and the Woman with her flux of Blood eighteen years together Luke 13. he that was troubled with the Dropsie Luke 14. and the poor wretch which was afflicted with the Palsie John 5. in none of these was found any such necessity but that the Cure might have been respited to another day What then Shall it be thought our Saviour came to destroy the Law No. God forbid Himself hath told us that he came to fulfil it rather He came to let them understand
burdensome there being many casus reservati wherein they could dispense with the fourth Commandment though not with any of the other Had they been all alike equally natural and moral as it is conceived they had been all alike observed all alike immutable no jot or syllable of that Law which was ingraft by nature in the soul of man being to fall unto the ground till Heaven and Earth shall pass away and decay together till the whole frame of Nature Luk. 16.17 for preservation of the which the Law was given be dissolved for ever The Abrogation of the Sabbath which before we spake of shews plainly that it was no part of the Moral Law or Law of Nature there being no Law natural which is not perpetual Tertullian takes it for confest or at least makes it plain and evident Contr. Mare l. 2. Temporale fuisse mandatum quod quandoque cessaret that it was only a temporary constitution which was in time to have an end And after him Procopius Gazaeus in his notes on Exodus e. 16. lays down two several sorts of Laws whereof some were to be perpetual and some were not of which last sort were Circumcision and the Sabbath Quae duraverunt usque in adventum Christi which lasted till our Saviours coming and he being come went out insensibly of themselves For as S. Ambrose rightly tells us In Col. 2.16 Absent imperatore imago ejus habet autoritatem praesente non habet c. What time the Emperour is absent we give some honour to his State or representation but none at all when he is present And so saith he the Sabbaths and New-moons and the other Festivals before our Saviours coming had a time of honour during the which they were observed but he being present once they became neglected But hereof we have spoke more fully in our former Book Neglected not at once and upon the sudden but leisurely and by degrees There were preparatives unto the Sabbath as before we shewed before it was proclaimed as a Law by Moses and there were some preparatives required before that Law of Moses was to be repealed These we shall easiliest discover if we shall please to look on our Saviours actions who gave the first hint unto his Disciples for the abolishing of the Sabbath amongst other ceremonies It 's true that he did frequently repair unto the Synagogues on the Sabbath days and on those days did frequently both read and expound the Law unto the People And he came to Nazareth saith the Text where be had been brought up and as his custom was he went into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day Luk. 4.16 and stood up to read It was his custom so to do both when he lived a private life to frequent the Synagogue that other men might do the like by his good example and after when he undertook the Ministery to expound the Law unto them there that they might be the better by his good instructions Yet did not he conceive that teaching or expounding the Word of God was annexed only to the Synagogue or to the Sabbath That most divine and heavenly Sermon which takes up three whole Chapters of S. Matthew's Gospel was questionless a weak days work and so were most of those delivered to us in S. John as also that which he did preach unto them from the Ship side and divers others Nay the Text tells us that he went through every City and Village Preaching and shewing the glad tydings of God Luk. 8.1 Too great a task to be performed only on the Sabbath days and therefore doubt we not but that all days equally were taken up for so great a business So when he sent out his Apostles to Preach the Kingdom of God he bound them not to days and times but left all at liberty that they might take their best advantages as occasion was and lose no time in the advancing of their Masters service Now as in this he seemed to give all days the like prerogative with the Sabbath so many other ways did he abate that estimation which generally the People had conceived of the Sabbath day And howsoever the opinion which the People generally had conceived thereof was grounded as the times then were on superstition rather than true sense of piety yet that opinion once abated it was more easily prepared for a dissolution and went away at last with less noise and clamour Particulars of this nature we will take along as they lie in order His casting out the unclean spirit out of a man in the Synagogue of Caperndum on the Sabbath day his curing of Peters Wives Mother and healing many which were sick of divers diseases on the self same day being all works of marvellous mercy and effected only by his word brought no clamour with them But when he cured the impotent man at the Pool of Bethesda and had commanded him to take up his Bed and walk Joh. 5. then did the Jews begin to Persecute him and seek to slay him And how did he excuse the matter My Father worketh bitherto saith he and I also work Hom. 23. in Numer Ostendens per hac in nullo seculi bujus Sabbato requiescere Deum à dispensationibus mundi provisionibus generis humani Whereby saith Origen he let them understand that there was never any Sabbath wherein God rested or left off from having a due care of man-kind and therefore neither would he intermit such a weighty business in any reference to the Sabbath Joh. 7. Which answer when it pleased them not but that they sought their times to kill him he then remembreth them how they upon the Sabbath used to Circumcise a man and that as lawfully he might do the one as they the other This precedent made his Disciples a little bolder than otherwise perhaps they would have been Pulling the ears of Corn Matth. 12. and rubbing them with their hands and eating them to satisfie and allay their hunger Li. 1. haeres 30. n. 32. which Epiphanius thinks they would not have done though they were an hungred had they not found both by his doctrine and example that the Sabbath did begin to be in its declination For which when he and they were joyntly questioned by the Pharisees he choaks them with the instances of what David did in the same extremity when he ate the Shew-bread and what the Priests did every Sabbath when they slew the Sacrifices In which it is to be considered that in these several defences our Saviour goes no higher than the legal Ceremonies the Sacrifice the Shew-bread and the Circumcision No argument or parallel case drawn for his justification from the moral Law or any such neglect thereof on the like occasions Which plainly shews that he conceived the Sabbath to be no part or member of the moral Law Luk. 6.6 Hom. de Semente but only to be ranked amongst the Mosaical Ordinances It happened
Learning And as for Barns the far most learned of the three he had been once Prior of the Augustinian Fryers in Cambridge whose Doctrines he had sucked in at his first coming thither and therefore might retain them to the very last without relation to the Zuinglian or Calvinian Tenents or any differences then on foot between the Protestant Doctors and the Church of Rome Besides being of the same Order which Luther had quitted he might the more willingly encline to Luthers first opinion touching servitude of the will mans inability in co-operating with the Grace of God and being forcibly drawn in his own conversion velut inanimatum quiddam like a stock or stone in which he was tenaciously followed by the rigid Lutherans though he had afterwards changed his judgment touching that particular So that beholding Dr. Barns either as one that followed Luther in his first Opinions or travelled the Dominican way in the present points as an Augustinian it is no marvel if we find somewhat in his Writings agreeable to the palate of the Calvinists and rigid Lutherans From whence it is Dise of Free-will p. 278. that laying down the Doctrine of Predestination he discourseth thus viz. But yet sayst thou that he giveth to the one mercy and the other none I answer what is that to thee is not his mercy his own is it not lawful for him to give it to whom he will is thine eye evil because his is good take that which is thine and go thy way for if he will shew his wrath and make his power known over the vessels of wrath ordained to damnation and to declare the riches of his glory unto the vessels of mercy Id. ib. which he hath prepared and elected unto Glory what hast thou therewith to do But here will subtil blindness say God saw before that Jacob should do good and therefore did he choose him he saw also that Esau should do evil therefore did he condemn him Alas for blindness what will you judg of that which God foresaw how know we that God saw that and if he saw it how know we that it was the cause of Jacobs Election These Children being unborn they had done neither good nor bad and yet one of them is chosen and the other is refused St. Paul knoweth no other cause but the will of God and will you needs discuss another He saith not I will have mercy on him that I see shall do good but I will shew mercy to whom I will He saith not I will have compassion on him that shall deserve it de congruo but Of him of whom I will have compassion Now as he followeth the Dominicans or rigid Lutherans in laying down the grounds and method of Predestination so he draws more to them also and the Zuinglians also touching Gods workings on the will than possibly may be capable of a good construction Ib. p. 281. Gods saith he of his infinite power letteth nothing to be exempted from him but all things to be subject unto his action and nothing can be done by them but by his principal motion So that he worketh in all manner of things that be either good or had not changing their nature but only moving them to work after their natures So that good worketh good and evil worketh evil and God useth them both as instruments and yet doth he nothing evil but evil is done alone through the will of man God working by him but not evil as by an instrument Which last Position notwithstanding all the subtilty in the close thereof how far it is from making God to be the Author of sin I leave to be determined by men of more Sholastical and Metaphysical heads than my simplicity can pretend to For Tyndal next though I shall not derogate in any thing from his great pains in translating the Bible nor from the glory of his suffering in defence of those Truths for which he died yet there were so many Heterodoxes in the most of his Writings as render them no fit rule for a Reformation no more than those of Wicklif before remembred the number and particulars whereof I had rather the Reader should look for in the Acts and Monuments where they are mustered up together about the latter end of the Reign of King Henry the eighth than expect them here That which occurreth in him touchin Predestination is no more than this Prolog in Epist to the Romans p. 42. 1. Grace saith he is properly Gods favour benevolence or kind mind which of his own self without our deservings he reacheth to us whereby he was moved and inclined to give Christ unto us with all other gifts of Grace Which having told us in his Preface to Sr. Pauls Epistle to the Romans he telleth us not long after that in the 9 10 11. Chapters of the Epistle the Apostle teacheth us of Gods Predestination From whence it springeth altogether whether we shall believe or not believe be loosed from sin or not be loosed By which Predestination our Justifying and Salvation are clear taken out of our hands and put into the hands of God only which thing is most necessary of all for we are so weak and so uncertain that if it stood in us there would of truth no man be saved Ibid. 15. the Devil no doubt would deceive him but now God is sure of his Predestination neither can any man withstand or let him else why do we hope and sigh against sin Discoursing in another place of the act the Will hath on the Understanding he telleth us That the Will of man followeth the Wit that as the Wit erreth so doth the Will and as the Wit is in captivity so is the Will neither is it possible that the Will should be free when the Wit is in bondage c. as I err in my Wit so I err in my Will when I judg that to be evil which is good then indeed do I hate that which is good and then when I perceive that which is good to bee evil then indeed do I love the evil Finally in the heats of his Disputation with Sir Thomas Moor who had affirmed That men were to endeavour themselves and captivate their understandings if they would believe He first cryes out lib. 3. Hist Moor p. 306. How Beetle-blind is fleshly reason and then subjoyns that the Will hath no operation at all in the working of faith in my soul no more than the Child hath in begetting of his Father for saith Paul it is the gift of God and not of us my Wit must conclude good or had yet my Will can leave or take my Wit must shew me a true or an apparent cause why yet my Will have any working at all I had almost forgot John Frith and if I had it had been no great loss to our rigid Calvinists who not content to guide themselves in these Disputes by Gods Will revealed have too audaciously pried into the
Churches Protestant which make man in the work of his own Conversion to be no other than a Statue or a senseless stock Exhort to the reading of the Scrip. p. 6. Contrary whereunto we are instructed in the Homily exhorting to the reading of holy Scripture to use all possible endeavours in our own Salvation If we read once twice or thrice and understand not let us not cease so but still continue reading praying asking of other men and so by still knocking at last the door shall be opened as S. Augustine hath it which counsel had been vain and idle if man were not invested with a liberty of complying with it More plainly is the same exprest in many of our publick Prayers Collect for Easter day as partly in the Collect for Easter day in which we humbly beseech Almighty God That as by his special Grace preventing us he doth put in our mind good desires so by his continual fellowship that he would bring the same to good effect Col. after Trin. And in that on the seventh Sunday after Trinity That his Grace may always prevent and follow us and make us continually to be given to all good works But most significantly we have it in one of the Collects after the Communion that namely in which we pray to the Lord Col. before the Communion To prevent us in all our doings by his most glorious favour and further us with his continual help that in all our works begun and continued in him we may so glorifie his holy Name that finally by his mercy we may obtain life everlasting through Christ Jesus our Lord. So that upon the whole matter it needs must follow that as we can do nothing acceptable in the sight of God without Grace preventing so by the freedom of mans will co-operating with the Grace preventing and by the subsequent Grace of God co-operating with the Will of man we have a power of doing such works as are agreeable to the will of our Heavenly Father Now to this plain Song of the Articles the Homilies and the Publique Liturgy it may be thought superfluous to make a descant or add the light of any Commentary to so clear a Text. And yet I cannot baulk some passages in Bishop Hooper which declare his judgment in the point where he not only speaks of mans concurrence or co-operation with the Grace of God but lays his whole damnation on the want thereof Look not therefore saith he on the promises of God Preface to his Exposities c. but also what diligence and obedience he requireth of thee lest thou exclude thy self from the promise There was promised to all those that went out of Egypt with Moses the Land of Canaan howbeit for disobedience of Gods Commandments there were but one or two that entred This he affords in his Preface and more than this in his tenth Chapter of the Exposition relating to the common pretence of Ignorance For though saith he thou canst not come to so far knowledge in the Scripture as others that believe by reason thou art unlearned or else thy vocation will not suffer thee all days of thy life to be a Student yet must thou know and upon pain of damnation art bound to know God in Christ and the holy Catholick Church Hoop cap. dign by the Word written the Ten Commandments to know what works thou shouldst do and what to leave undone the Pater noster Christ his Prayer which is an Abridgement Epitomy or compendious Collection of all the Psalms and Prayers written in the whole Scripture in the which thou prayest for the remission of sin as well for thy self as for all others desirest the Grace of the Holy Ghost to preserve thee in vertue givest thanks for the goodness of God toward thee and all others He that knoweth less than this cannot be saved and he that knoweth no more than this if be follow his knowledge cannot be damned But the main Controversie in the point of mans Conversion moves upon this hinge that is to say whether the influences of gods Grace be so strong and powerful that withal they are absolutely irresistible so that it is not possible for the will of man not to consent unto the same Calvin first harped upon this string and all his followers since have danced to the tune thereof Illud toties à Chrysostomo repetitum repudiari necesse est Calv. Institut lib. 2. cap. 3. Quem trabit volentem trahit quo insinuat Dominum porrecta tantum manu expectare an suo auxilio juvari nobis adlubescat These words saith he so often repeated by Chrysostom viz. That God draws none but such as are willing to go are to be condemned the Father intimating by those words that God expecteth only with an out-stretched and ready arm whether we be willing or not In which though he doth not express clearly the good Fathers meaning yet he plainly doth declare his own insinuating Declar. p. 20. that God draws men forcibly and against their will to his Heavenly Kingdom Gomarus one of later date and a chief stickler in these Controversies comes up more fully to the sense which Calvin drives at For putting the question in this manner An gratia haec datur vi irresistibili id est efficaci operatione Dei ita ut voluntas ejus qui regeneratur facultatem non habeat illi resistendi He answereth presently Credo profiteor ita esse that is to say his question is Whether the Grace of God be given in an irresistible manner that is to say with such an efficacious operation that the will of him who is to be regenerated hath not the power to make resistance And then the answer follows thus I believe and profess it to be so More of which kind might be produced from other Authors but that this serves sufficiently to set forth a Doctrine which is so little countenanced by the burning and most shining lights of the Church of England Beginning first with Bishop Hooper we shall find it thus It is not saith he a Christian mans part to attribute his salvation to his own Free-will with the Pelagian Pres to his Exp. and extenuate Original sin nor to make God the Author of ill and damnation with the Maniche nor yet to say that God hath written Fatal Laws and with necessity of Destiny violently pulleth the one by the hair into Heaven and thrusteth the other headlong into Hell c. More fully in his gloss on the Text of St. John viz. No man cometh to me except my Father draw him chap. 6.44 Many saith he understand these words in a wrong sence as if God required no more in a reasonable man than in a dead post and mark not the words which follow Every man that heareth and learneth of my Father cometh unto me c. God draweth with his Word and the Holy Ghost but mans duty is to hear and learn that is
and yet they that came last were rewarded with the first Mat. 20. The working will of the Pharisee seemed better but yet the Lords Will was rather to justifie the Publican Luk. 18. The elder Son had a better will to tarry by his Father and so did indeed and yet the fat Calf was given to the younger Son that ran away Luk. 15. whereby we have to understand how the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept according as it is written non ex voluntate carnis neque ex voluntate viri sed ex Deo nati sunt c. Which are born not of the will of the flesh nor yet of the will of man but of God Furthermore as all then goeth by the will of God only and not by the will of man So again here is to be noted that the will of God never goeth without faith in Christ Jesus his Son And therefore fourthly is this clause added in the definition through faith in Christ his Son which faith in Christ to us-ward maketh altogether For first it certifieth us of Gods Election as this Epistle of Mr. Bradford doth well express For whosoever will be certain of his Election in God let him first begin with faith in Christ which if he find in him to stand firm he may be sure and nothing doubt but that he is one of the number of Gods Elect. Secondly the said faith and nothing else is the only condition and means whereupon Gods mercy grace Election vocation and all Gods promises to salvation do stay accordingly the word of St. Paul si permanseritis in fide and if ye abide in the faith Col. 1.3 This faith is the mediate and next cause of our justification simply without any condition annexed For as the mercy of God his grace Election vocation and other precedent causes do save and justifie us upon condition if we believe in Christ so this faith only in Christ without condition is the next and immediate cause which by Gods promise worketh out justification according as it is written crede in dominum Jesum salvus eris tu domus tus Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thy whole house And thus much touching the Definition of Election with the causes thereof declared which you see now to be no merits or works of man whether they go before or come after faith For like as all they that be born of Adam do taste of his Malediction though they tasted not of the Apple so all they that be born of Christ which is by faith take part of the obedience of Christ although they never did that obedience themselves which was in him Rom. 5. Now to the second consideration Let us see likewise how and in what order this Election of God proceedeth in choosing and electing them which he ordaineth to salvation which order is this In them that be chosen to life first Gods mercy and free grace bringeth forth Election Election worketh Vocation or Gods holy calling which Vocation though hearing bringeth knowledge and faith in Christ Faith through promise obtaineth justification justification through hope waiteth for glorification Election is before time Vocation and Faith cometh in time Justification and Glorification is without end Election depending upon Gods free grace and will excludeth all mans will blind fortune chance and all peradventures Vocation standing upon Gods Election excludeth all mans wisdom cunning learning intention power and presumption Faith in Christ proceeding by the gift of the Holy Ghost and freely justifying man by Gods promises excludeth all other merits of men all condition of deserving and all works of the Law both Gods Law and mans Law with all other outward means whatsoever Justification coming freely by Faith standeth sure by Promise without doubt fear or wavering in this life Glorification appertaining only to the life to come by hope is looked for Grace and Mercy preventeth Election ordaineth Vocation prepareth and receiveth the Word whereby cometh Faith Faith justifieth Justification bringeth glory Election is the immediate and next cause of Vocation Vocation which is the working of Gods Spirit by the Word is the immediate and next cause of Faith Faith is the immediate and next cause of Justification And this order and connexion of causes is diligently to be observed because of the Papists which have miserably confounded and inverted this doctrine thus teaching that Almighty God so far as he foreseeth mans merits before to come so doth he dispence his Election Dominus prout cujusque merita fore praevidet ita dispensat electionis gratiam futuris tamen concedere That is that the Lord recompenseth the grace of Election not to any merits proceeding but yet granteth the same to the merits that follow after and not rather have our holiness by Gods Election going before But we following the Scripture say otherwise that the cause only of God Election is his own free mercy and the cause only of our justification is our faith in Christ and nothing else As for example first concerning Election if the question be asked why was Abraham chosen and not Nathor why was Jacob chosen and not Esau why was Moses Elected and Pharaoh hardened why David accepted and Saul refused why few be chosen and the most forsaken It cannot be answered otherwise but thus because so was the good will of God In like manner touching Vocation and also Faith if the question be asked why this Vocation and gift of Faith was given to Cornelius the Gentile and not to Tertullus the Jew why to the Poor the Babes and the little ones of the world of whom Christ speaketh I thank the Father which hast hid these from the wise c. Matth. 11. why to the unwise the simple abjects and out-casts of the world of whom speaketh Saint Paul 1 Cor. 1. You see your calling my Brethren why not many of you c. Why to the sinners and not to the just why the Beggars by the high-ways were called and the bidden guests excluded We can ascribe no other cause but to Gods purpose and Election and say with Christ our Saviour quia Pater sic complacitum est ante te Yea Father for that it seemed good in thy sight Luk. 10. And so it is for Justification likewise if the question be asked why the Publican was justified and not the Pharisee Luk. 18. Why Mary the sinner and not Simon the inviter Luk. 11. Why Harlots and Publicans go before the Scribes and Pharisees in the Kingdom Matth. 21. why the Son of the Free-woman was received and the Bond-womans Son being his elder rejected Gen 21. why Israel which so long sought for righteousness found it not and the Gentiles which sought it not found it Rom. 9. We have no other cause hereof to render but to say with Saint Paul because they sought for it by works of the Law and not by Faith which
touching the divine Decrees upon occasion of Gods denounced Judgment against the Ninevites 5. His constant opposition to the Predestinarians and the great increase of his Adherents 6. The Articles collected out of Barrets Sermon derogatory to the Doctrine and persons of the chief Calvinians 7. Barret convented for the same and the proceedings had against him at his first conventing 8. A form of Recantation delivered to him but not the same which doth occur in the Anti-Arminianism to be found in the Records of the Vniversity 9. Several Arguments to prove that Barret never published the Recantation imposed upon him 10. The rest of Barrets story related in his own Letter to Dr. Goad being then Vice-Chancellor 11. The sentencing of Barret to a Recantatation no argument that his Doctrine was repugnant to the Church of England and that the body of the same Vniversity differed from the heads in that particular THIS great breach being thus made by Fox in his Acts and Monuments was afterwards open'd wider by William Perkins an eminent Divine of Cambridge of great esteem amongst the Puritans for his zeal and piety but more for his dislike of the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established of no less fame among those of the Calvinian party both at home and abroad for a Treatise of Predestination published in the year 1592. entituled Armilla Aurea or the Golden Chain containing the order of the causes of salvation and damnation according to Gods Word First written by the Author in Larin for the use of Students and in the same year translated into English at his Request by one Robert Hill who afterwards was Dr. of Divinity and Rector of St. Bartholomews Church near the Royal Exchange In the Preface unto which discourse the Author telleth us that there was at that day four several Opinions of the order of Gods Predestination The first was of the old and new Pelagians who placed the cause of Gods Predestination in than in that they hold that God did ordain men to life or death according as he did foresee that they would by their natural free-will either reject or receive Grace offered The second of them who of some are termed Lutherans which taught that God foreseeing that all man-kind being shut under unbelief would therefore reject Grace offered did hereupon purpose to choose some to salvation of his meer mercy without any respect of their faith or good works and the rest to reject being moved to do this because he did eternally fore-see that they would reject his Grace offered them in the Gospel The third of Semi-palagian Papists which ascribe Gods Predestination partly to mercy and partly to mens foreseen Preparations and meritorious works The fourth of such as teach that the cause of the execution of Gods Predestination is his mercy in Christ in them which are saved and in them which perish the fall and corruption of man yet so as that the Decree and Eternal Counsel of God concerning them both hath not any cause besides his will and pleasure In which Preface whether he hath stated the opinions of the parties right may be discerned by that which hath been said in the former Chapters and whether the last of these opinions ascribe so much to Gods mercy in Christ in them that are saved and to mans natural Corruption in them that perish will best be seen by taking a brief view of the opinion it self The Author taking on him to oppugn the three first as erroneous and only to maintain the last as being a truth which will bear weight in the ballance of the Sanctuary as in his Preface he assures us Now in this book Predestination is defined to be the Decree of God by the which he hath ordained all men to a certain and everlasting Estate that is Golden chain either to salvation or condemnation to his own Glory He tells us secondly that the means for putting this decree in execution were the creation and the fall 3. Ibid. p. 52. That mans fall was neither by chance or by Gods not knowing it or by his bare permission or against his will but rather miraculously not without the Will of God but yet without all approbation of it Which passage being somewhat obscure may be explained by another some leases before In which the Question being asked Whether all things and actions were subject unto Gods Decree He answereth Yes surely and therefore the Lord according to his good pleasure hath most certainly decreed every both thing and action whether past present or to come together with their circumstances of place time means and end And then the Question being prest to this particular what even the wickedness of the wicked The answer is affirmative Yes he hath most justly decreed the wicked works of the wicked Ibid. 29. For if it had not pleased him they had never been at all And albeit they of their own natures are and remain wicked yet in respect of Gods decree they are to be accounted good Which Doctrine though it be no other than that which had before been taught by Beza yet being published more copiously insisted on and put into a more methodical way it became wondrous acceptable amongst those of the Calvinian party both at home and abroad as before was said Insomuch that it was Printed several times after the Latin edition with the general approbation of the French and Belgick Churches and no less than 15. times within the space of twenty years in the English tongue At the end of which term in the year 1612. the English book was turned by the Translator into Questions and Answers but without any alteration of the words of the Author as he informs us in the last page of his Preface after which it might have sundry other impressions that which I follow being of the year 1621. And though the Supra-lapsarians or rigid Calvinists or Supra-creatarians rather as a late judicious Writer calls them differ exceedingly in these points from many of their more moderate Brethren distiguished from them by the name of Sub-lapsarians yet in all points touching the specifying of their several supposed Degrees they agree well enough together and therefore wink at one another as before was noted Notwithstanding the esteem wherewith both sorts of Calvinists entertained the book it found not the like welcome in all places 〈◊〉 Dedi nor from all mens hands Amongst other Parsons the Jesuite gives this censure of him viz. That by the deep humour of fancy he hath published and written many books with strange Titles which neither he nor his Reader do understand as namely about the Concatenation or laying together of the causes of mans Predestination and Reprobation c. Jacob van Harmine afterwards better known by the name of Arminius being then Preacher of the Church of Amsterdam not only censured in brief as Parsons did but wrote a full discourse against it entituled Examen Predestinationis Perkinsanae which gave the first