might avoyd all inconveniences the thing which I desire to doe by the light of Gods Holy Spirit and Word 1. So conceiving the order of Divine Predestination as that wee set not forth onely some one or two of the Divine attributes and properties but preserve and present them all His Dominion and Power as the first Opinion would His Mercy and Justice as the second Opinion would His Truth and speciall Grace as the third Opinion would His Wisdome and foreknowledge as the fourth Opinion would And yet to acknowledge his judgements unsearchable c. as the Apostle would Rom. 11. 33. 2. So conceiving it as may agree with the holy Scripture expounded literally without Tropes in the greatest Propriety and by the light of the most the plainest the most fundamentall places and principles therein 3. So conceiving it as that the order in Grace doth not subvert the order in nature but that wee confesse the Wisedome of God so to worke his Will as yet hee preserveth the nature freedome and properties of the Creature in which hee worketh 4. Lastly conceiving it so as that God may both save the World in mercy and judge the World in righteousnesse CHAP. V. The fifth Opinion THe Fifth Opinion may be lesse acceptable to some for the Teachers and the defenders sake but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 accepts no persons These are Arminius himself if he be interpreted according to his owne principles in his Theses de naturâ Dei and Vorstius in his Tractate De Deo and the Jesuits Molina Vasquez Zuarez Becanus and others Besides that this is the Opinion of the Fathers Greeke and Latine before St. Augustine if their Doctrine concerning Prescience be rightly examined and declared namely 1. That God by his infinite understanding from all Eternity knew all things possible to bee seeing them in his owne Omnipotency 2. That among other infinite things possible in his understanding he conceived all this one frame of the World that now is and in it all the Race of Mankinde from the first man to the last every one in his severall order government and event only as possible to be if he will say the Word Wherein hee understood there might be things necessary things contingent some things causes some effects some as ends some as meanes to ends some Acts of God some acts of a free Creature some good some evill some things as rewards some as punishments 3. That hee knowes how to vary or alter the ordering either of all or of any part or person in the race of men so as other effects and other ends than those that now are might be brought forth if hee would otherwise order them 4. But considering this frame of the world and order of mankinde as now it is but then onely as possible that he judged it was exceeding good for the manifestation of the glory of his Wisdome Power Goodnesse Mercy Justice Dominion and Lordship if hee should will or decree to put it into execution and into being 5. That God infallibly foreknew that if hee should decree to put it into execution that then these and these particular persons would certainly by this order of meanes and government be transmitted and brought to eternall life and that those other particular persons under their order of meanes and government through their owne fault would goe into perdition if Justice should bee done them 6. That though hee knew what these would be yet hee determined and decreed out of his owne absolute Will and pleasure to say Fiat Be it so and to put into execution and into being all this which he had in his understanding and in so doing hee predestinated all men either to life or death Eternall For he predestinated to life those particular men to whom out of his owne good pleasure he decreed to give those happy meanes wherby hee foreknew they would be Vessells fit for honour being given unto them Hee rejected those letting them to perish to whom he decreed to give no other meanes than such under which hee foreknew that through their owne ingratitude they would be fit for wrath if no other were given them and out of his owne just Will when as hee could have ordered them otherwise to the producing of another event he would not doe it but make them vessells of his wrath With reference to this order the Elect are stiled by St. Luke Acts 13. 48. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Such as were ordained to eternall life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and the reprobate by St. Jude vers 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 †Such as were before of old ordained to this condemnation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for Providence in generall see Acts 17. 27. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 determining the foreappointed times 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and for Predestination in speciall see Rom. 8. 28. And Ephes 1. 11. There is †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the setting and placing of things by the counsell of his owne will in that order of Causes and of meanes which he infallibly understands will bring forth such ends and such effects if he please to doe his part as is laid out by himselfe in this order and please to permit the creature to doe its part as is observed in the same Order By this Order meanes government benefits aides c. I understand the creation of man righteous the permission of his fall the corrections of his sinne the meanes of his restauration by the Sonne of God made man the calling the converting of a Sinner his faith repentance perseverance his blessings chastisements tryalls and whatsoever else is now found in the order of any mans salvation or in the aberrations from that order whereby men come to destruction And to this agrees the antient definition of Predestination that it is Praeparatio beneficiorum Dei quibus liberantur quicunque liberantur * The preparation of Gods benefits whereby all are delivered that are set free And Fulgentius his definition lib. 2. ad Monimum Praedestinatio Dei nihil est aliud quam praeparatio operum ejus quae in aeterna sua dispositione aut misericorditer se facturum praescivit aut juste that is Divine Predestination is nothing else but the preparation of Gods workes Which in his eternall providence he foreknew he would doe either mercifully Vid. infra 3. part cap. 20. or justly CHAP. 6. An 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the fifth Opinion THis Opinion in the decree of Predestination observeth 1. An Act of Gods understanding and an Act of his will 2. The Act of his Understanding is his knowledge in respect of things not yet in being call'd foreknowledg which foreknowledge is put by this Opinion before the act of Predestinating according to the Scriptures Rom. 8. 28. 1 Pet. 1. 1. 2. Whom he foreknew he Predestinated 3. It taketh knowledge here properly and without any trope for that within Schooles
ac fine ipso beatorum praevisis Molina q. 23. Art 1. Desp. 2. pag. 305. The predestinating to some Men but those meanes which God foreknowes through their owne fault will not bring them to life is the Reprobating of them namely with that Reprobation which is Negative That those meanes bring them not to life is not ever from the insufficiency of the meanes for by the same meanes in the Church of God others come to life but from the personall fault and disobedience of them that use not the meanes or their fault that have charge of them That no better meanes are given them which Gods knowledge understood would save them if they were given ariseth only from the just Will Pleasure of God Neither can this be disgraced by a nick-name of Post-destination because it is after the knowledge of Gods simple understanding for that knowledge is not of things absolutely to be but onely conditionally if God please to say They shall be seeing these things are not known scientia Visionis it is Praedestination properly that gives them being CHAP. IV. Of Election and Reprobation BEcause in these acts God useth both his Knowledge and his Will therefore the holy Scriptures name the Elect sometimes from one head sometimes from the other sometimes those whom God foreknew as Rom. 11. 2. Sometimes those Whom he did Praedestinate according to purpose Rom. 8. 28. whence Election and Reprobation may be defined either of these wayes 1. Election is the foreknowledge of those benefits of God whereby a man will be saved if they be given him and the Will to give them unto him Or thus 2. Election is the purpose or Will of God to give to one man those benefits whereby he knoweth the man will be saved if they be given him These agree with the old definition Praedestinatio est praescientia praeparatio beneficiorum dei quibus certissmè liberantur quicunque liberantur 1. Reprobation is the foreknowledge of those benefits of God under which a man through his owne ingratitude will perish if no other be given unto him and the will to give him no other Or thus 2. Reprobation is the Decree of God to give to a man no other benefits than those under which he doth foreknow the man through his owne ingratitude will perish if no other be given him Here foreknowledge looks directly uppon the ingratitude of the man neglecting benefits and the Will denyes to give any new or more benefits than these ineffectuall to Salvation onely by the abuse or neglect of the ingratefull Thus God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth not alwayes taken immediately for I except Infants not surviving out of the Masse of Originall sinne giving to one man the Grace of most certaine repentance and leaving another in his corruption without releefe able to save him But thus in the dispensation of his benefits and meanes of Grace outward and inward granting unto one those benefits which he infallibly knowes will save him and denying another those Graces which he likewise knowes would save him if they were granted Not that he gave him no grace at all sufficient unto life for he gave him much which the man received in vaine through his owne fault but more God pleased not to give For to harden is not to deny all Grace sufficient to Salvation but to deny that high secret Grace hidden in the Treasury of Gods power which God knowes would speed convert and save if it were given Thus doth man first harden his owne heart disobeying the Grace which God doth offer Ps 95. 8. and God doth harden mans heart in not adding or increasing a stronger grace to the former which would overcome all the hardnesse and disobedience of man if it were the pleasure of God to give it which if it were so to all he should permit no man to perish rather it is his pleasure to exercise his justice upon the despisers of his sufficient Grace and to make them Vessels of his wrath to teach the Creature what it is to tempt the Creator to put forth the uttermost of his wisdome and power to save the sloathfull and ingratefull CHAP. V. The Transition to the third part THus have I spoken sparingly and with reverence of these high things conceived by us as eternall and before all time Next I am to declare the things done in time opening revealing of those Eternall Counsels which two parts I think good to unite as it were by a strong joynt set betweene them taken and transcribed out of that judicious Divine M. Richard Hooker lib. 5. par 56. Wherein let the Ingenuous Reader tell me whether I do not shew him faire prints of my fifth Opinion That which moveth God to work is Goodnesse R. H. and that which ordereth his work is Wisdome and that which perfecteth his work is Power All things which God in their times seasons hath brought forth were Eternally and before all times in God as a work unbegun is in the Artificer which afterward bringeth it unto effect Therefore whatsoever we doe behold now in this present world it was inwrapped within the bowels of divine Mercy written in the booke of Eternall wisdome and held in the hands of omnipotent Power the first foundation of the world being yet unlaid so that all things which God hath made are in that respect the off-spring of God they are in Act. 17. 28 29. him as effects in their highest cause he likewise actually is in them the assistance and influence of his Deity is their life Let hereunto saving grace be added and it bringeth forth a speciall off spring amongst men conteyning them to whom God himselfe hath given the gracious and amiable name of Sons We are by Nature the Sonnes of Adam when God created Adam he created us and as many as are descended from Adam have in themselves the root out of which they spring The Sonnes of God we neither are all nor any one of us otherwise than only by Grace and favour The Sonnes of God have Gods owne naturall Sonne as a second Adam from heaven whose care Progeny they are by Spirituall and heavenly birth God therefore loving eternally his Sonne he must needs eternally in him have loved and preferred before all others them which are spiritually sithence descended and sprung Eph. 1. 3. out of him These were in God as in their Saviour and not as in their Creator onely It was the purpose of his saving goodnesse his saving wisdome and his saving power which inclineth it selfe towards them They which thus were in God eternally by their intended admission to life have by vocation or adoption God actually now in them as the Artificer is in the worke which his hand doth presently frame We are therefore in God through Christ eternally according to that intent and purpose whereby we were chosen to be made his in this present world before the world it selfe
over all For he is both good and mercifull and patient and saves whom he ought nor is here wanting to him the good effect of a just Judge nor is his wisdome diminish'd for he saves whom he ought to save and judges those that are worthy of Judgement yet is not his justice to be counted cruelty considering his foregoing and preventing goodnesse 2. This Opinion avoideth the imputation of Stoicall Fate which the 3. first cannot possibly avoid though they put it from them for they make mans salvation or damnation necessary by an externall and an antecedent necessity of a Decree of God But this Opinion placing Gods Decree after his foreknowledge makes mans salvation or damnation only infallible to Gods knowledge but free and contingent to man Gods knowledge as knowledge causing nothing and his Decree not altering or crossing but ratifying that which he knew would be the worke of Man working out his owne salvation by co-working with the Grace of God or working his owne damnation by forsaking his owne mercy 3. It avoideth the accusations laid against the fourth Opinion for it maketh the Election of God absolute definite inconditionall complete irrevocable and immutable It maketh God to chuse man and not man first to chuse God It hath no affinitie with Pelagianisme in the matter of Predestination at all nor in the matter of Grace unlesse this be Pelagianisme to hold that under the aydes of Grace the will is yet free to evill of which we shall dispute in the third part It maketh Predestination the root and cause of Calling justifying glorifying of faith repentance perseverance and of all the good that is in us which are the effects of Predestination and effect of the love of God predestinating them unto us 4. It ministreth no matter of despaire nor of Presumption but cherisheth both hope and feare Not of Despaire For 1. No man is decreed against but upon the foreknowledge of his owne refusall of life offered him 2. The Promises are generall and hee may truly thinke them to belong to him 3. There is sufficient Grace in the means of Conversion to remedy all the weaknesse or perversnesse that is in mans depraved nature He may hope therefore Not of Presumption For 1. No man is decreed for but with the foreknowledge of his owne acceptance of life offered him 2. The Promises of God are generall but they have conditions which he must be carefull to observe that will inherit the things promised 3. The Grace that is in the meanes of Conversion is not tyed unto them by any physicall connexion but is dispensed by the good pleasure of God who may offer and unite it to the World when and how long hee will or may withhold the influence of it and so harden or forsake the carelesse or the proud Hee may feare therefore 5. It ministreth as much sweet comfort to all godly persons that finde themselves walking in the wayes that leade to life and confirmeth their Faith of eternall salvation to be enjoyed through Christ and as fervently kindleth their love to God as any way or order of our Election conceived otherwise 6. Lastly it acknowledgeth the deepnesse of Gods judgements and the unsearchablenesse of his Counsels for who can tell why God by his Decree settled upon Peter rather than upon Judas why hee loved Esau lesse than Jacob why hee suffered one man to perish and not another when he was able out of the treasures of his wisdome and knowledge to have disposed their course calling and government to quite contrary ends who can tell a reason why hee distributed the gifts of Nature and of Grace so diversly why hee beareth some with so long patience and cuts off others in so great severity why some have so much some so little both of temporall and spirituall blessings Quis novit sensum Domini or who hath beene his Counsellour Or who hath first given unto him for of him and through him and to him are all things To whom bee glory for ever The end of the first Part. The Transition to the second Part. NOw having propounded that which I conceive to bee the Truth and commended it by comparison with other Opinions that seeme defective I have yet one thing more to doe necessary for the confirming and testifying of this truth against all exceptions either of haeresie in generall or of schisme at home in this Church of England I am therefore to shew how all the Articles or heads of Divinity that necessarily runne into this question being rightly declared doe cohere and consent to this Doctrine that wee may make it good which the Philosopher saith Ethic. 1. c. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I am to declare then the Orthodox Doctrine both of the ancient Church and of the Church of England First of these things as Eternall Of Gods Knowledge Will Providence Predestination Election Reprobation These shall make a second Part. 2. Of these things as done in Time Of the Creation of the fall of Man the effects of the Fall the Restauration of Man his Vocation Conversion Of Grace Freewill Perseverance and of the last judgement which is commonly neglected and left out by them that dispute of these matters And these shall make a third part of this worke through God Goodnesse and assistance CHAP. I. Of Gods Knowledge ST James saith Acts 15. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Knowne from everlasting are unto God all his Workes S. Paul saith Rom. 8. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whom he foreknew he Predestinated S. Peter saith 1 Pet. 1. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the strangers Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father There be that interpret these two places rather by the Word Precognition than by the Word Prescience and tropically as to signifie approbation and love rather than Knowledge properly taken and they complaine of the ignorance of the Latines that understood not the Greeke and of the ignorance of the Greekes that understood not the Hebrew phrase in this word and that by the Word Prescience they occasioned the Pelagian Heresie of election upon prescience of workes So Pareus yet Origen is hee to whom they are beholden for this their interpretation one neither ignorant of Greeke nor Hebrew nor thought guiltlesse by them of giving occasion to Pelagius his Heresie But if it be their mindes by the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so to include approbation as they would exclude 1. Foreknowledge properly taken I will fetch a poore Almanake to wipe away this Glosse by the common use of the word Prognostication 2. Next I will say that an Hebraism or Grammaticall quillet is too weake a thing to sway a cause of this weight and value 3. I say that it is very improbable that S. Paul and S. Peter being not in any poeticall or popular veine but in a sad and grave discourse doe use any figurative or improper term where most propriety and perspicuity and
all and over all the whole the parts universa singula genus species individua demum ipsa individuorum ortus progressus successiones facta dicta cogitata sua aliena even to the last ends and events of things which will be manifested at the last judgement This they meane that would have Christ and Faith in him foreknowne by this science of simple Understanding before the Act of God Electing or Predestinating not staying at the foreknowledge of the fall not that they would make the Faith of the believers or Christ himselfe the causes of Gods Predestination but the Objects in Gods Knowledge when hee Predestinated both Christ and us 1 Pet. 1. 20. Eph. 1. 4 5. out of no cause but the good pleasure of his owne Will Now after the view of the whole World God finding this frame both possible to his Power and Good in his Wisdome to declare thereby his Justice and Mercy and all other his excellent attributes of perfection decreed to put it into being and into execution which was the first act of his practicall Knowledge calling up his Will to allow and approve and decree this goodly and glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the mirror of his eternall Arist lib. de Mundo Power and Godhead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and this order of all things specially of humane kinde that great Masse out of which his Mercy and Justice and soveraigne Power draws forth vessells to honour and vessels to dishonor CHAP. II. Of the Will of God and the distinctions thereof IT is the proper worke of the Will to Predestinate or to Decree what of those infinite things which the understanding presented shall bee and come into light for unlesse the Will of God with his Power come to them their being knowne makes them not to be Praedestinatio est propositum propositum est actus practicus ultimus voluntatis ergo Praedestinatio magis importat voluntatē quà m scientiam P Ferrius p. 232. He saith Vltimus because there is an act of the Will even in knowing Primò enim volumus aliquid scire quam sciamus vel intelligamus deinde intelligimus tunc quod intelleximus voluntate probamus as it is a little above in the same Author Here then is the first Act of Gods Will chusing and refusing chusing these things that now are to bee refusing all the rest which he knew notitiâ simplicis intelligentiae of infinite variety but hee cast them into perpetuall darknesse and silence so according to the Psal 115. 3. Quaecunque voluit fecit The Will of God being in it selfe one and simple may be considered with diversity onely as conversant about things that are diverse his Will allowing them to bee diverse 1. There be some things therefore which God willeth as to bee done by himselfe by his owne Power as the World to bee created of nothing his Sonne to be sent into the World made of a Woman and such like This first Will of God never faileth because hee workes it himselfe alone by his Almighty power 2. There be some things which God willeth as to bee done by the Creature either as a naturall Agent as flowers to be drawne out of the Earth by the Sunne in the Spring or as by a voluntary Agent as righteous and good workes to be done by man yet God himselfe concurring and coworking with the Creature a naturall and voluntary Agent according to its kinde This second will oftentimes fayleth by the Creatures failing by whom God would have the worke wrought God permitting and not hindering the faile as he could 3. Some things God willeth and doth himselfe or with others as leading 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 antecedent out of himselfe his own goodnesse and mercy as all the good wee have in Nature or in Grace our Creation our Calling our glory God beginning following perfecting all our good out of his abundant and never-failing bounty Some things hee willeth and doth as following 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 led or urged thereunto upon occasion of some evill of the Creature as to forsake to punish or to destroy it and this is the Will of his Justice the maker of all the evill of paine which wee suffer This Distinction Damascen tooke out of Chrysostome on the first to the Ephesians and Anselme calls it voluntatem Misericordiae voluntatem Justitiae wherewith why some Divines should finde such fault I know not nor why it should not bee call'd the primary and chiefe Will of God and not a Velleity or a simple complacentia and the second a secondary and lesse desirable for these two may well stand and remaine together as in a tempest the will of the Merchant to save his goods abideth in him as his chiefe desire though now as the case stands hee by another will casts them into the Sea neither are they contrary one to the other seeing they have two objects diversly qualifyed a man as hee is Gods Creature and as hee is an impenitent Sinner him God would have sav'd and yet this God wills to perish There be many other distinctions of the Will of God which doe not availe to the opening of the Doctrine of Predestination and some of them availe not to the clearing of any Doctrine but rather to the obscuring of truth which we will omit I will shut up this head with this sentence There is nothing in the World that did not passe under the censure of the Will of God of some sort or kinde or other before it was as it passed under the view of his knowledge Voluntas Dei est prima summa causa c. The Will of God is the prime and highest cause of all spirituall and corporall motions for there is nothing visibly or sensibly which is not from the invisible and intelligible Court of the King of Kings either commanded or permitted according to the ineffable justice of Rewards and Punishments of thankes and retributions in that most ample and immense Republike of the whole Creation Prosper Epigram 58. Aug. de Trin. l. 3. c. 4. CHAP. III. Of Providence and Predestination THe Decree of the Will of God determining all other things besides those about man is called by the generall name of Providence The Decree of God whereby he determined concerning Man as a speciall and principall part of his Providence is called by a peculiar name Predestination Predestination is an Act of Gods Will from all eternity decreeing the Ends of all Men the meanes which he foreknows will bring them to those ends The ends be Life or Death eternall the meanes be the government of every particular Man in this life under more or lesse of the goodnesse or of the severity of God The Predestinating to some Men those meanes which God doth foreknow will bring them unto life is the Electing of them to life Deus praedestinatos non aliâ ratione in vitam aeternam elegit quam complacendo sibi in mediis
Hee shall not pronounce thus But what then shall he say Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire for yee saw me an hungry and fed mee not c. But these are not the common sinnes of all mankinde but the particular faults of every particular man which therefore shall then be specially objected to every one lest in that sharpe torment and griefe of minde they should presume to beg mercy of God who themselves have denyed mercy to their poore Brethren craving it CHAP. XX. An Abridgement of the whole Doctrine of this Booke TExts the Foundation of it Acts 15. 18. Knowne unto God are all his Workes from everlasting Psal 135. 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in Heaven and in Earth Rom. 8. 29. Whom he did foreknow he did predestinate 1 Pet. 1. 2. To the Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father Ephes 1. 3 4. Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as hee hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the World To conceive aright of the Order and Manner of the Divine Predestination in the Minde of God revealed unto us in the holy Scriptures after our manner of Understanding It is necessary to consider something of the Nature of God who did predestinate and something of the Nature of man who was predestinated Of the Nature of God chiefly in this matter must be considered with humble Reverence His infinite Vnderstanding or knowledge His just Will His Soveraigne Dominion His knowledge may be conceived of two sorts that which is called Scientia Visionis knowledge of Vision or that which is scientia simplicis intelligentiae knowledge of simple or meere Understanding that is called also scientia libera because it followeth some free act of the Will of God this is called Naturalis Naturall because it is in God who is of Infinite Understanding before any act of his Will be supposed to have passed His knowledge of Vision or of sight is onely of those things which either have or shall have a being and therefore this knowledge is after Predestination and builded upon it for when Predestination hath decreed what things shall be then God by his Understanding of Vision doth know them as beholding them Seeing then this knowledge is after Predestination is finished and concluded it hath no place in the Act of God predestinating neither can any thing that is under such knowledge or sight be any cause or rule of Predestination whence it appeareth that Rom. 8. 29. Whom he foreknew he did predestinate such foreknowledge of Vision cannot be understood seeing there Foreknowledge goes before Predestinating as Predestinating goes before Calling and Calling before Justifying So that they speak improperly that use the termes of praevisa fides for fides Praecognita in the Question whether Faith foreknown have any place in Gods Predestination with this knowledge then of Vision we have no more to doe in this matter Gods knowledge of pure or simple Vnderstanding is of the same things that are predestinate to be but before they were predestinated and of infinite things more besides them all which it understood and compared together before any thing was decreed or determined to be This knowledge is founded on Gods Omnipotency for he knoweth his owne power and so it is of things but as possible to be if he please to give them being and he knoweth also by this his Understanding if he please to give them being what will be their Operations and effects and what may flow or issue from them either as they are Naturall Agents or Voluntary So by this meanes the knowledge of God ariseth to an infinitenesse and to be without number as the Psalm saith 147. 5. But if it should be limitted to these things alone which have a being and are within the circle of heaven or within the compasse of the ages of the world the knowledge of God should in a sort be finite since these things though to us they be many yet certainly they are finite Now the first act of Predestination was in choosing these things to be which now are and the decree to put them into being refusing and rejecting infinite other things which God knew as possible as these and which might have beene if it had pleased him But of this predestination of all things that are and the rejection of such things as are not our inquiry and dispute is not but of Angels and Men that have a being in what order and manner some were predestinated to life and some rejected To which my answer is that this was not done without that selfe-same foreknowledge of simple Understanding of this part of the world Angels and Men which was used in the predestinating of the whole That is to say 1. That God did Understand that if it pleased him to create among other his glorious workes some creatures endued with reason and of a free Nature they would be more fit than the rest for him to shew forth in them his wisdome goodnesse bounty justice mercy fidelity and all his glorious properties yet it remained at his pleasure to create them or not 2. That he did understand that such creatures according to their freedome would vary in their choices some cleaving fast to good some declining to evill he knew this not onely in generall and as possible but particularly the very persons if they were created and put to the tryall yet it remained at his pleasure to create them or to try them or no to permit or hinder any of them in their choices which he knew how to doe if he would 3. That he did understand that of them whom he knew would forsake their first good estate if he permitted them hee might justly forsake some and punish them for their rebellion or he could find means to restore them and reconcile them to himselfe but yet he determined neither 4. That he understood that it might be more justifiable and equall not to spare Angels but to shew mercy to Men as more fraile and weake as also deceived by Angels Yet he would consider what to doe 5. That he understood that if he should out of that mercy provide excellent meanes sufficient to raise men fallen and to restore to them power and freedome to work like reasonable and free Agents in the Use of those meanes to their Salvation he understood I say that among many some would thankfully receive his mercy some ungratefully reject it for the sake of the pleasures of sin the very particulars he knew of al his own mercies in their several degrees and varieties of all the Persons in their severall conditions and events but still the determination what should be done or permitted of all this was as it were held in suspence 6. That he understood that if he should condemne them that had refused his many mercies and should receive them to favour that returned to him he should doe justly to
more excellent power over Mankinde his Masse than any Potter hath of his Clay to make Vessels to honour or dishonour whereby at last all is resolved into the Will of God but as it is the supreme and universall cause which doth allow all inferiour causes to move and worke according to their Natures which movings and workings hee orders and applyes to his owne Glory of Justice or Mercy as seemeth agreeable to his Will Vide Epiphan Haeres 64. contra Orig. p. 246. Et Hieronimum Hebdiae Quaest. 10. Thus much for the first branch of the first paragraph viz. The Definition of Predestination to life Now followeth the second Branch which is a Description of the Execution or of the manifestation of our Predestination to life which is expressed in these words Wherefore they that be endued with so excellent a benefit of God bee called according to Gods Purpose by his Spirit working in due season This straine seemes to be an Imitation of S. Paul Rom. 8. 29. and it is a good explication thereof saving that S. Paul tyeth the Linkes together one unto another by a repetition or replication Those whom hee foreknew hee did predestinate And whom hee did predestinate them hee also called whom hee called hee also justifyed and whom hee justifyed hee also glorifyed But our Article uniteth all these latter unto one the first as so many effects of one cause and implyeth the connexion of one of them to the other onely by the order of their enumeration saying thus They that bee endued with so excellent a benefit of God which is as much as they that bee elected by Christ as foreknowne they be called they be justifyed they be glorifyed So the imitation agreeth well without any materiall difference The Explication our Article makes appeares most by the additions which it putteth to S. Paul 1. As first instead of whom hee foreknew it calleth our Predestination praeclarum Dei Donum those that hee endued with so excellent a benefit with reference to the Definition afore 2. That it esteemeth this excellent benefit the Fountaine and the cause of all spirituall blessings that follow in the Article viz. Calling Justifying Glorifying for it saith Vnde qui tam praeclaro Dei beneficio sunt donati vocantur wherefore they that be endued with so excellent a benefit of God are called 3. That to S. Pauls words called according to purpose the Article addeth by his Spirit working in due season and they through grace obey the Calling By which two additions the Article declareth what Calling according to purpose is viz. when Gods Spirit worketh in Calling and not the outward word alone and when by grace that Calling is obeyed for these two are in the course and plot approved by God 4. When to S. Pauls justifyed the Article addeth They be made the Sonnes of God by adoption they bee made like to the Image of his holy Sonne Jesus Christ they walke righteously in good Workes These are added as so many effects of our Election originally and as so many effects of our Justification immediately and as so many pledges and signes of our future Glorification for upon this is concluded that at length by Gods Mercy they attaine to everlasting felicity Out of this Declaration which the Article maketh of the Execution and Manifestation of Predestination there bee foure things especially to bee learned 1. That the Article intendeth the same thing which Melanchton sayes S. Paul intended Rom. 8. 29. Totum ordinem complecti voluit quo Ecclesia condita est à Deo To the end that our Faith of eternall Salvation by Christ might bee established and confirmed since God hath contrived the whole course whereby hee will build his Church that is whereby hee will have on Earth a chosen Generation that shall inherit in Heaven everlasting felicity And this wee may certainly beleeve because the Knowledge of God which is infallible his purpose which is unchangeable his Calling according to purpose which cannot bee frustrate his justifying which cannot be controuled and his glory which is invincible are all found in this order and course here set downe besides the Scripture saith The Counsell of the Lord standeth sure and the thoughts of his heart to all Generations Psal 33. 11. 2. Secondly whereas in this chaine there is one linke which is put not onely as the first in order but also as the cause and fountaine of all the rest which are not onely tyed to it but derived from it namely the excellent benefit of our Election and Predestination in Christ which was given unto us by God and settled upon us by his purpose before the Foundation of the World 2 Tim. 1. 9. from whence doe flow all the lower blessings of Calling according to purpose justifying glorifying as effects as issues out of the first and highest Therefore wee are bound to blesse God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as S. Paul doth who hath blessed us with all Spirituall blessings viz. with calling justifying and according as hee hath chosen us in him that wee should be holy and unblameable before him in love Eph. 1. 3 4. for the latter blessings doe call upon the first not onely as a patterne but as a Fountaine and root of them all Now if it should seeme strange that those should be the Effects of Predestination and yet bee foreknowne before Predestination according as S. Paul setteth Foreknowledge before Predestination and Calling after it as the Effect this doubt is cleered by the remembring that the foreknowledge that S. Paul speaketh of is that onely of Simple understanding which is not the cause of any thing absolutely to bee but onely as possible or futurum but sub Hypothesi if the Will of God say it and by remembring secondly that the Will and Decree of God wherein Predestination properly consisteth is onely the cause why any thing comes to act and into being absolutely God willing it to be indeed after that manner as hee knew it might be before hee willed it to bee So by this it is plaine that the things which were the Objects of the Understanding foreknowing them first as possible are after the Effects of the Will of God when they are commanded by a Decree absolutely to be and to come into act The knowledge of God being unto him a light and a guide but his Will being to us the Fountaine of all our good and the ground of the duties of thankfulnesse 3. Thirdly whereas the lower linkes say whom hee predestinated hee called c. we learne from hence that the ministery of the Word whereby the holy Ghost calleth justifyeth sanctifyeth the Elect people of God chiefly intendeth the Execution of Predestination according to S. Paul Eph. 4. 12. That Pastors and Teachers are given for the perfecting of the Saints for the worke of the Ministery for the Edifying of the Body of Christ Non ergo alios sed quos praedestinavit vocavit justicavit ipsos glorificavit
Absolute irrespective Decre◠In which point if you collect and number the suffrages ten for one against the Arminians Tho. Aquine you know was a great School-Master and had man Schollers observe and See whether they all and many more doe not strongly swim in the streame after Austine And the truth is our first reformers did herein but say over againe those Lessons which they had learned in the Roman Schooles And the hardest passages that have fallen from Calvin or Piscator may easily be Parallell'd with others as Rigorous in many Romish Doctours especially of late yeares the whole Dominican familie have beene zealous and voluminous in these questions which they call de Auxiliis wherein though they sweat to sever their Opinion from the Calvinists as they call us yet some Jesuites tell them and very truly that their labour is very vaine and ridiculous Among the Jesuites themselves the more Ancient Tollet Bellarmine Valentia Suarez doe not in effect dissent from the Dominicans onely some few new ones Molina Lessius and take up the Bucklers against them and bid them Battell but in very faire and friendly manner for they try it in a manly conflict not as we doe with Passionate and mutuall revilings but with reasons and arguments Salvâ semper charitate For so they are commanded by their great Dictator at Rome who indeed dares not otherwise decide the Doubts lest the grieved partie raise another more dangerous question Whether his Judgement be infallible In like manner the Councill of Trent if you marke it cunningly here declines the decision and lurks in such generall termes like him that was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the old Oracle that both sides confidently avow the sentence to be given for them when indeed it is given for neither It is high time to ease both you and my selfe for surely we are both weary of this tedious Letter I will draw to a conclusion I hold all necessary verities to be clearly revealed in Gods divine Booke and therein abhorre all Pyrrhonian suspension For he is an Atheist that will not beleeve God Almighty when he speakes I constantly beleeve all Scripture to be an heavenly Truth though I cannot comprehend it with my Reason I Beleeve likewise we shall know much more in Heaven than we can doe on Earth I resolve never to be an Arminian and ever to be moderate Howsoever some thoughts or perplexities may trouble my owne conscience yet I resolve never to trouble the Church with them They shall die in silence with me Errare Possum haereticus esse nolo Reason shall drive me from any opinion for I will espouse none out of obstinacy and truth ever command me I shall labour effectually as I can in the service of my Master Christ and preach him crucified I shall deplore with a bleeding heart the Schismes of the Church and ardently pray for her Peac and prosperity I shall study more to live than ro dispute for none but the Devill gaines by these contentions Who keeps mens heads thus busied whilst he seizes upon their hearts For these questions the next age may see their issue For me I rest in that of Gamaliel If this Counsell or worke be of men it cannot stand if it be of God it cannot be destroyed For my Sermon I shall desire you to give a faire and benigne interpretation and to take it no worse than I intended it when it was Preached It and I had many more thankes than wee deserved from the best of my Auditors among others from the Bishop of Coventry and Litchfield from the Deane of Winchester the Deane of Glocester Doctor Goad Doctor Harris and how thinke you of these are they Arminians Doe not helpe to cast upon your friend an odious and ungrounded imputation from which he is yet and ever will be free If you have any more to say yet write no more for I shall answer all your Letters in this kinde with silence When you and I next meet we may more freely and safely communicate our thoughts If I have beene vehement excuse mee and blame your selfe my Reputation is deare unto mee and I could not be patient in the reproach and suspition of Heresie In the meane while continue to love your poore Friend but especially to assist him with your Prayers I shall retaliate in both and so commending you with all that are deare unto you with my loving good Cosen Mr. Benson his Wife and Family to the rich Mercies of God in our Lord Jesus I cease to Write but never to be Your most affectionate true Friend and Brother in Christ Jesus C. 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