Counsels edicts decrees of Emperours wherein that hereticall doctrine of denying this originall corruption is condemned cursed and exploded now amongst those many motives they had to proceed so severely against this heresie one especially inculcated deserves our consideration viz. That it overthrew the necessitie of Christs coming into the world to redeeme mankinde it is sinne onely that makes a Saviour necessary and shall Christians tollerate such an errour as by direct consequence inferres the coming of Iesus Christ into the world to be needlesse my purpose for the present is not to alleadge any testimonies of this kinde but holding my selfe close to my first intention to shew how farre in this Article as well as others the Arminians have Apostated from the pure doctrine of the word of God the consent of Orthodox Divines and the Confession of this Church of England In the ninth Article of our Church which is concerning originall sinne I observe especially foure things First that it is an inherent evill the fault and corruption of the nature of every man Secondly that it is a thing not subject or conformable to the Law of God but hath in it selfe even after Baptisme the nature of sinne Thirdly that by it we are averse from God and inclined to all manner of evill Fourthly that it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation all which are frequently and evidently taught in the word of God and every one denyed by the Arminians as it may appeare by these instances in someof them First That it is an inherent sinne and pollution of nature having a proper guilt of its owne making us responsable to the wrath of God and not a bare imputation of anothers fault to us his posteritie which because it would reflect upon us all with a charge of a native imbecillitie and insufficiency to good is by these self-idolizers quite exploded Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall saith Venator Neither is it all considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens and infidels for infants as infants have all the same innocency say they joyntly in their Apologie nay more plainly it can be no fault wherewith we are born in which last expression these bold innovators with one dash of their pens have quite overthrowne a sacred verity an Apostolike Catholike fundamentall Article of Christian Religion but truly to me there are no stronger Arguments of the sinfull corruption of our nature then to see such nefarious issues of unsanctified hearts let us looke then to the word of God confounding this Babylonish designe First That the nature of man which at first was created pure and holy after the image of God endowed with such a rectitude and righteousnesse as was necessary and due unto it to bring it unto that supernaturall end to which it was ordained is now altogether corrupted and become abominable sinfull and averse from goodnesse and that this corruption or concupiscence is originally inherent in us and derived from our first parents is plentifully delivered in holy writ as that which chiefly compels us to a self-deniall and drives us unto Christ Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me saith David Psal 51. 5. Where for the praise of Gods goodnesse towards him he begins with the confession of his native perversenesse and of the sinne wherein he was wrapped before he was born neither was this peculiar to him alone he had it not from the particular iniquitie of his next progenitors but by an ordinary propagation from the common parent of us all though in some of us Satan by this Pelagian attempt by hiding the disease hath made it almost incurable for even those infants of whose innocency the Arminians boast are uncleane in the verdict of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 7. 14. if not sanctified by an interest in the Promise of the Covenant and no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven The weaknesse of the members of infants is innocent and not their souls they want nothing but that the members of their bodies are not as yet ready instruments of sinne they are not sinfull only by an externall denomination accounted so because of the imputation of Adams actuall transgression unto them for they have all an uncleannesse in them by nature Iob 14. 4. from which they must be cleansed by the washing of water and the word Ephes 5. 20. their whole nature is overspread with such a pollution as is proper only to sinne inherent and doth not accompany sinne imputed as we may see in the example of our Saviour who was pure immaculate holy undefiled and yet the iniquity of us all was imputed unto him hence are those phrases of washing away sinne Acts 22. 16. of cleansing filth 1 Pet. 3. 21. Titus 3. 5. something there is in them as soone as they are borne excluding them from the kingdome of heaven for except they also be borne againe of the spirit they shall not enter into it Ioh. 3. 5. Secondly The opposition that is made between the righteousnesse of Christ and the sinne of Adam Rom. 5. which is the proper seat of this doctrine sheweth that there is in our nature an inbred sinfull corruption for the sinne of Adam holds such relation unto sinners proceeding from him by naturall propagation as the righteousnesse of Christ doth unto them who are borne againe of him by spirituall regeneration but we are truly intrinsecally and inherently sanctified by the spirit and grace of Christ and therefore there is no reason why being so often in this Chapter called sinners because of this originall sinne we should cast it off as if we were concerned only by an externall denomination for the right institution of the comparison and its Analogie quite overthrows the solitary imputation Thirdly All those places of Scripture which assert the pronnesse of our nature to all evill and the utter disabilitie that is in us to doe any good that wretched opposition to the power of godlinesse wherewith from the wombe we are replenished confirmes the same truth but of these places I shall have occasion to speake hereafter Fourthly The flesh in the Scripture phrase is a qualitie if I may so say inherent in us for that with its concupiscence is opposed to the spirit and his holinesse which is certainly inherent in us now the whole man by nature is flesh for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Ioh. 3. 6. it is an inhabiting thing a thing that dwelleth within us Rom. 7. 17. in briefe this vitiosity sinfulnesse and corruption of our nature is laid open First by all those places which cast an aspersion of guilt or desert of punishment or of pollution on nature it selfe as Ephes 2. 1 2 3. We are dead in trespasses and sinnes being by nature children of wrath as well as others being wholly incompassed by a sinne that doth easily beset us Secondly by them which fixe this
in regard of his owne will is truly innocent God neither doth nor can in iustice appoint any to hell for originall sinne Rem Apol. It is perversly spoken that originall sinne makes any one guiltie of death Armin. We no way doubt to affirme that never any one was damned for originall sinne Corvinus CHAP. VIII Of the state of Adam before the fall or of originall Righteousnesse IN the last Chapter we discovered the Arminian attempt of readvancing the corrupted nature of man into that state of innocency and holinesse wherein it was at first by God created in which designe because they cannot but discerne that the successe is not answerable to their desires and not being able to deny but that for so much good as we want having cast it away or evill of sinne that we are subject unto more then we were at our first creation we must be responsable for to the justice of God they labour to draw down our first parents even from the instant of their forming into the same condition wherein we are ingaged by reason of corrupted nature but truly I feare they will scarse obtaine so prosperous an issue of their endeavour as Mahomet had when he promised the people he would call a mountaine unto him which miracle when they assembled to behold but the mountaine would not stirre for all his calling he replyed if the mountaine will not come to Mahomet Mahomet will goe to the mountaine and away he packed towards it but we shall finde that our Arminians can neither themselves climbe the high mountaine of innocency nor yet call it down into the valley of sinne and corruption wherein they are lodged we have seene already how vaine and frustrate was their former attempt let us now take a view of their aspiring insolence in making the pure creatures of God holy and undefiled with any sinne to be invested with the same wretchednesse and perversenesse of nature with our selves It is not my intention to enter into any curious discourse concerning the state and grace of Adam before his fall but only to give a faithfull assent to what God himselfe affirmed of all the works of his hands they were exceeding good no evill no deformitie or any thing tending thereunto did immediately issue from that fountaine of goodnesse and wisdome and therefore doubtlesse man the most excellent worke of his hands the greatest glory of his Creator was then without spot or blemish endued with all those perfections his nature and state of obedience was capable of and carefull we must be of casting any aspersions of defect on him that we will not with equall boldnesse ascribe to the image of God Nothing doth more manifest the deviation of our nature from its first institution and declare the corruption wherewith we are polluted then that propensitie which is in us to every thing that is evill that inclination of the flesh which lusteth alwayes against the spirit that lust and concupiscence which fomenteth conceiveth hatcheth bringeth forth and nourisheth sinne that perpetuall pronenesse that is in unregenerate nature to every thing that is contrary to the pure and holy Law of God now because neither Scripture nor experience will suffer Christians quite to deny this pravitie of our nature this aversenesse from all good and propensitie to sinne the Arminians extenuate it as much as they are able affirming that it is no great matter no more then Adam was subject unto in the state of innocency but what did God create in Adam a pronenesse unto evill was that a part of his glorious image in whose likenesse he was framed yea saith Corvinus By reason of his creation man had an affection to what was forbidden by the Law but yet this seemes injustice that God should give a man a law to keepe and put upon his nature a repugnancy to that law as one of them affirmed at the Synod of Dort No saith the former Author Man had not been fit to have had a law given unto him had he not been endued with a propension and naturall inclination to that which is forbidden by the law but why is this so necessary in men rather then Angels no doubt there was a law a rule for their obedience given unto them at their first creation which some transgressed when others kept it inviolate had they also a propensitie to sinne concreated with their nature had they a naturall affection put upon them by God to that which was forbidden by the law let them only who will be wise beyond the word of God affixe such injustice on the righteous Iudge of all the earth but so it seemes it must be There was an inclination in man to sin before the fall though not altogether so vehement and inordinate as it is now saith Arminius hitherto we have thought that the originall righteousnesse wherein Adam was created had comprehended the integritie and perfection of the whole man not only that whereby the body was obedient unto the soule and all the affections subservient to the rule of reason for the performance of all naturall actions but also a light uprightnesse and holinesse of grace in the minde and will whereby he was enabled to yeeld obedience unto God for the attaining of that supernatural end whereunto he was created No but originall righteousnesse say our new Doctors was nothing but a bridle to helpe keepe mans inordinate concupiscence within bounds so that the faculties of our souls were never indued with any proper innate holinesse of their owne In the spirituall death of sinne there are no spirituall gifts properly wanting in the will because they were never there say the sixe Collocutors at the Hague The summe is man was created with a nature not only weak and imperfect unable by its native strength and endowments to attaine that supernaturall end for which he was made and which he was commanded to seeke but depraved also with a love and desire of things repugnant to the will of God by reason of an inbred inclination to sinning It doth not properly belong to this place to shew how they extenuate those gifts also with which they cannot deny but that he was indued and also deny those which he had as a power to beleeve in Christ or to assent unto any truth that God should reveale unto him and yet they grant this priviledge to every one of his posterity in that depraved condition of nature whereinto by sinne he cast himselfe and us we have all now a power of beleeving in Christ that is Adam by his fall obtained a supernaturall endowment farre more excellent then any he had before and let them not here pretend the universalitie of the new covenant untill they can prove it and I am certaine it will be long enough but this I say belongs not to this place only let us see how from the word of God we may overthrow the former odious heresie God in the beginning created man
in his owne image Gen. 1. 26. that is upright Eccles 7. 29. indued with a nature composed to obedience and holinesse that habituall grace and originall righteousnesse wherewith he was invested was in a manner due unto him for the obtaining of that supernaturall end whereunto he was created an universall rectitude of all the faculties of his soule advanced by supernaturall graces enabling him to the performance of those duties whereunto they were required is that which we call the innocency of our first parents our nature was then enclined to good only and adorned with all those qualifications that were necessary to make it acceptable unto God and able to doe what was required of us by the law under the condition of everlasting happinesse Nature and grace or originall righteousnesse before the fall ought not to be so distinguished as if the one were a thing prone to evill resisted and quelled by the other for both complyed in a sweet union and harmony to carry us along in the way of obedience to eternall blessednesse no contention betweene the flesh and the spirit but as all other things at theirs so the whole man joyntly aymed at his own chiefest good having all means of attaining it in his power that there was then no inclination to sinne no concupiscence of that which is evill no repugnancy to the Law of God in the pure nature of man is proved because First The Scripture describing the condition of our nature at the first creation thereof intimates no such propensitie to evill but rather an holy perfection quite excluding it we are created in the image of God Gen. 1. 27. in such a perfect uprightnesse as is opposite to all evill inventions Eccles 7. 29. to which image when we are againe in some measure renewed by the grace of Christ Colos 3. 10. We see by the first fruits that it consisted in righteousnesse and holinesse in truth and perfect holinesse Ephes 4. 24. Secondly An inclination to evill and a lusting after that which is forbidden is that inordinate concupiscence wherewith our nature is now infected which is every where in the Scripture condemned as a sinne Saint Paul in the seventh to the Romans affirming expressely that it is a sinne and forbidden by the Law vers 1. producing all manner of evill and hindering all that is good a body of death vers 24 and Saint Iames maketh it even the wombe of all iniquitie Iames 1. 14 15. surely our nature was not at first yoked with such a troublesome inmate where is the uprightnesse and innocency we have hitherto conceived our first parents to have enjoyed before the fall a repugnancy to the law must needs be a thing sinfull an inclination to evill to a thing forbidden is an anomie a deviation and discrepancy from the pure and holy law of God we must speake no more then of the state of innocency but only of a short space wherein no outward actuall sins were committed their proper root if this be true was concreated with our nature is this that obedientiall harmony to all the commandements of God which is necessary for a pure and innocent creature that hath a law prescribed unto him by which of the ten precepts is this inclination to evill required is it by the last thou shalt not covet or by that summe of them all thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. is this all the happinesse of Paradise to be turmoyled with a nature swelling with aboundance of vaine desires and with a maine streame carried headlong to all iniquitie if its violent appetite be not powerfully kept in by the bit and bridle of originall righteousnesse So it is we see with children now and so it should have been with them in Paradise if they were subject to this rebellious inclination to sinne Thirdly and principally whence had our primitive nature this affections to those things that were forbidden it this rebellion repugnancy to the law which must needs be an anomie and so a thing sinfull there was as yet no demerit to deserve it as a punishment what fault is it to be created The operation of any thing which hath its original with the being of the thing it self must needs proceed from the same cause as doth the essence or being it self as the fires tending upwards relates to the same original with the fire and therefore this inclination or affection can have no other Author but God by which means he is entitled not only to the first sinne as the efficient cause but to all the sins in the world arising from thence plainly and without any strained consequencies he is made the author of sinne for even those positive properties which can have no other fountaine but the authour of Nature being set on evill are directly sinfull And here the Idoll of free-will may triumph in this victory over the God of heaven heretofore all the blame of sinne lay upon his shoulders but now he begins to complaine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is God and the fate of our creation that hath placed us in this condition of naturally affecting that which is evill backe with all your charges against the ill government of this new Deitie within his imaginary dominion what hurt doth he doe but incline men unto evill and God himselfe did no lesse at the first but let them that will rejoyce in these blasphemies it sufficeth us to know that God created man upright though he hath sought out many inventions so that in this following dissonancy we cleave to the better part S. S. So God created man in his own image in the likenesse of God created he him male and female created he them Gen 1. 27. Put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that made him Colos 3. 10. which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse Ephes 4. 24. Loe this onely have I found that God hath made man upright but he hath sought out many inventions Eccles 7. â—9 By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne Rom. 5. 12. Let no man say when he is tempted I am tempted of God for God tempteth no man but every one is tempted when he is drawne away of his own lust Iam. 1. 13. 14. Lib. Arbit There was in man before the fall an inclination to sinning though not so vehement and inordinate as now it is Armin. God put upon man a repugnancy to his law Gesteranus in the Synod Man by reason of his creation had an affection to those things that are forbidden by the Law Corvinus The will of man had never any spirituall endowments Rem Apol. It was not fit that man should have a law given him unlesse he had an naturall inclination to what was forbidden by the Law Corvinus CHAP. IX Of the death of Christ and of the efficacie of his merits THe summe of those Controversies wherewith the Arminians and
as doth Grevinchovius I make my selfe saith he differ from another when I doe not resist God and his divine predetermination which I could have resisted why may I not boast of this as of mine own that I could is of Gods mercy endowing his nature with such an abilitie as you heard before but that I would when I might have done otherwise is of mine power Now when after all this they are forced to confesse some Evangelicall grace though consisting only in a morall perswasion by the outward preaching of the word they teach Thirdly That God sendeth the Gospel and revealeth Christ Iesus unto men according as they well dispose themselves for such a blessing Sometimes say they in their Synodicall writings God calleth this or that nation people citie or person to the communion of Evangelicall grace whom he himselfe pronounceth worthy of it in comparison of others So that whereas Acts 18. 10. God encourageth Paul to preach at Corinth by affirming that he had much people in that citie which doubtlesse were his people then only by vertue of their election in these mens judgements they were called so because that even then they feared God and served him with all their hearts according to that knowledge they had of him and so were ready to obey the preaching of Saint Paul strange doctrine that men should feare God know him serve him in sinceritie before they ever heard of the Gospel and by those means deserve that it should be preached unto them this is that pleasing of God before faith that they plead for Act. Synod fol. 60. That preparation and disposition to beleeve which men attaine by the Law and vertuous education that something which is in sinners whereby though they are not iustified yet they are made worthy of iustification for conversion and the performance of good works is in their apprehension a condition prerequired to iustification for so speake the children of Arminius which which if it be not an expression not to be paralelled in the writings of any Christian I am something mistaken the summe of their doctrine then in this particular concerning the power of Free-will in the state of sin and unregeneration is That every man having a native inbred power of beleeving in Christ upon the revelation of the Gospel hath also an abilitie of doing so much good as shall procure of God that the Gospel be preached unto him to which without any internall assistance of grace he can give assent and yeeld obedience the preparatory acts of his own will alwayes proceeding so farre as to make him excell others who do not performe them and are therefore excluded from further grace Which is more grosse Pelagianisme then Pelagius himselfe would ever justifie wherefore we reject all the former positions as so many monsters in Christian Religion in whose roome we assert these that follow First That we being by nature dead in trespasses and sinnes have no power to prepare our selves for the receiving of Gods grace nor in the least measure to beleeve and turne our selves unto him Not that we deny that there are any conditions pre-required in us for our conversion dispositions preparing us in some measure for our new birth or regeneration but we affirme that all these also are the effects of the grace of God relating to that alone as their proper cause for of our selves Without him we can do nothing Ioh. 15. 15. We are not able of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3. 5. much lesse doe that which is good in respect of that every one of our mouthes must be stopped for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 5. 19. 23. We are by nature the children of wrath dead in trespasses and sins Ephes 2. 1. Rom. 8. 9. our new birth is a resurrection from death wrought by the greatnesse of Gods power and what abilitie I pray hath a dead man to prepare himselfe for for his resurrection can he collect his scattered dust or renew his perished senses If the Leopard can change his spots and the Aethiopian his skin then can we doe good who by nature are taught to doe evill Ierem. 13. 23. we are all ungodly and without strength considered when Christ died for us Rom. 5. 6. wise to do evill but to doe good we have no strength no knowledge Yea all the faculties of our soules by reason of that spirituall death under which we are detained by the corruption of nature are altogether uselesse in respect of any power for the doing of that which is truly good our understandings are blind or darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in us because of the blindnesse of our hearts Ephes 4. 18. whereby we become even darknesse it selfe Chap. 5. 8. so voide is the understanding of true knowledge that the naturall man receiveth not the things that are of God they are foolishnesse unto him 1 Cor. 2. 14. nothing but confounded and amazed at spirituall things and if he doth not mocke can doe nothing but wonder and say what meaneth this Act. 2. 12 13. Secondly we are not only blind in our understandings but captives also to sinne in our wils Luk. 4. 18. Whereby we are servants to sinne Iohn 8. 34. Free onely in our obedience to that Tyran Rom. 6. Yea thirdly all our affections are wholly corrupted for every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evill continually Genes 6. 5. While we are in the flesh the motions of sinne doe worke in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Rom. 7. 5. These are the endowments of our nature these are the preparations of our hearts for the grace of God which we have within our selves Nay Secondly there is not onely an impotencie but an enmitie in corrupted nature to any thing spiritually good The things that are of God are foolishnesse unto a naturall man 1 Cor. 2. 14. And there is nothing that men doe more hate and contemne then that which they account as folly They mock at it as a ridiculous drunkennesse Act. 2. 13. And would to God our dayes yeelded us not too evident proofes of that universall opposition that is betweene light and darkenesse Christ and Beliall Nature and Grace that we could not see every day the prodigious issues of this in-bred corruption swelling over all bounds and breaking forth into a contempt of the Gospel and all wayes of godlinesse So true it is that the carnall minde is enmitie against God it is not subiect unto his law neither indeed can it be Rom. 8. 7. So that Thirdly as a naturall man by the strength of his owne free-will neither knoweth nor willeth so it is utterly impossible he should doe any thing pleasing unto God Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then can he doe good Ieremy 13. An evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit
Agent p. 130. l. 21. r. nor any thing In the Margin Pag. 7. h omiss grat p. 15. c datrib lib. 3 p. 24 c dele Aristot p 46. f vellet p. 47. m desiderio p. 65. m de bono perseve p. 75. k dimanet 3 p. 117. c Fest Hom. Peltium p. 134. f praecipienti p. 135. 1. Cor. ad Molin A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISME 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. I. THe soule of man by reason of the corruption of nature is not only darkened with a mist of ignorance whereby he is dis-inabled for the comprehending of divine truth but is also armed with prejudice and opposition against some parts thereof which are either most above or most contrarie to some false principles which he hath framed unto himselfe As a desire of selfe-sufficiencie was the first cause of this infirmitie so a conceit thereof is that where with he still languisheth nothing doth he more contend for then an independencie of any supreme power which might either helpe hinder or controll him in his actions This is that bitter root from whence have sprung all those heresies and wretched contentions which have troubled the Church concerning the power of man in working his owne happinesse and his exemption from the over-ruling providence of Almightie God All which wrangling disputes of carnall reason against the word of God come at last to this head whether the first and chiefest part in disposing of things in this world ought to be ascribed to God or man men for the most part have vindicated this preheminence unto themselves by exclamations that so it must be or else that God is unjust and his waies unequall never did any men postquam Christiana gens esse caepit more eagerly endeavour the erecting of this Babel then the Arminians the modern blinded Patrons of humane selfe-sufficiencie All whose innovations in the received doctrine of the reformed Churches aime at and tend to one of these two ends First to exempt themselves from Gods jurisdiction to free themselves from the supreme dominion of his all-ruling providence not to live and move in him but to have an absolute independent power in all their actions so that the event of all things wherein they have any interest might have a considerable relation to nothing but chance contingencie and their owne wils a most nefarious sacrilegious attempt to this end First they deny the eternitie and unchangeablenesse of Gods decrees for those being established they feare they should be kept within bounds from doing any thing but what his counsel hath determined should be done if the purposes of the strength of Israel be eternall and immutable their idoll Free-will must be limited their independencie prejudiced wherefore they chuse rather to affirme that his decrees are temporary and changeable yea that he doth really change them according to the severall mutations he sees in us which how a wild a conceit it is how contrary to the pure nature of God how destructive to his attributes I shall shew in the second Chapter Secondly they question the praescience or foreknowledge of God for if knowne unto God are all his workes from the beginning if he certainely foreknow all things that shall hereafter come to passe it seemes to cast an infallibilitie of event upon all their actions which encroaches upon the large territory of their new goddesse contingencie nay it would quite dethrone the Queene of heaven and induce a kinde of necessitie of our doing all and nothing but what God foreknows now that to deny this praescience is destructive to the very essence of the Deitie and plain atheisme shall be declared Chapter the third Thirdly they depose the all-governing providence of this King of Nations denying its energeticall effectuall power in turning the hearts ruling the thoughts determining the wils and disposing the actions of men by granting nothing unto it but a generall power and influence to be limited and used according to the inclination and will of every particular agent so making Almighty God a desirer that many things were otherwise then they are and an idle spectator of most things that are done in the world the falsenesse of which assertions shall be proved Chapter the fourth Fourthly they denie the irresistibilitie and uncontrolable power of Gods will affirming that oftentimes he seriously willeth and intendeth what he cannot accomplish and so is deceived of his ayme nay whereas he desireth and really intendeth to save every man it is wholly in their owne power whether he shall save any one or no otherwise their Idol Free-will should have but a poore deitie if God could how and when he would crosse and resist him in his dominion concerning this see Chapter the fifth His gradibus itur in coelum corrupted nature is still readie either nefariously with Adam to attempt to be like God or to thinke foolishly that he is altogether like unto us one of which inconveniences all men runne into who have not learned to submit their fraile wils to the Almightie will of God and captivate their understandings to the obedience of faith Secondly the second end at which the new doctrine of the Arminians aimeth is to cleere humane nature from the heavie imputation of being sinfull corrupted wise to doe evill but unable to doe good and so to vindicate unto themselves a power and abilitie of doing all that good which God can justly require to be done by them in the state wherein they are of making themselves differ from other who will not make so good use of the endowments of their natures that so the first and chiefest part in the worke of their salvation may be ascribed unto themselves a proud Luciferian endeavour to this end First they deny that doctrine of predestination whereby God is affirmed to have chosen certaine men before the foundation of the world that they should be holy and obtaine everlasting life by the merit of Christ to the praise of his glorious grace any such predestination which may be the fountaine and cause of grace or glory determining the persons according to Gods good pleasure on whom they shall be bestowed for this doctrine would make the speciall grace of God to be the sole cause of all the good that is in the elect more then the reprobates would make faith the worke and gift of God with divers other things which would shew their Idol to be nothing of no value wherefore what a corrupt heresie they have substitute into the place hereof see Chapter the sixth Secondly they denie originall sinne and its demerit which being rightly understood would easily demonstrate that notwithstanding all the labour of the Smith the Carpenter and the Painter yet their Idol is of its owne nature but an unprofitable blocke it will discover not onely the impotencie of doing good which is in our nature but shew also whence we have it see Chapter the seventh Thirdly if ye will charge our humane nature with a
originall pravitie in the heart will minde and understanding Ephes 4. 18. Rom. 12. 2. Gen. 6. 5. Thirdly by those which positively decypher this naturall depravation 1 Corinth 2. 14. Rom. 8. 7. or Fourthly that place it in the flesh or whole man Rom. 6. 6. Gal. 5. 16. so that it is not a bare imputation of anothers fault but an intrinsecall adjacent corruption of our nature it selfe that we call by this name of originall sinne but alas it seemes we are too large carvers for our selves in that wherewith we will not be contented the Arminians deny all such imputation as to heavy a charge for the pure unblameable condition wherein they are brought into this world they deny I say that they are guiltie of Adams sinne as sinning in him or that his sinne is any way imputed unto us which is their second assault upon the truth of this Article of faith Adam sinned in his owne proper person and there is no reason why God should impute that sinne of his unto infants saith Boreus The nature of the first Covenant the right and power of God the comparison instituted by the Apostle between Adam and Christ the divine constitution whereby Adam was appointed to be the head fountaine and origen of all humane kinde are with him no reasons at all to perswade it For it is against equitie saith their Apologie that one should be counted guiltie for a sinne that is not his owne that he should be reputed nocent who in regard of his owne will is truly innocent and here Christian Reader behold plaine Pelagianisme obtruded on us without either welt or guard men on a sudden made pure and truly innocent notwithstanding all that naturall pollution and corruption the Scripture every where proclaimes them to be replenished withall neither is the reason they intimate of any value that their wils assented not to it and which a little before they plainly urge It is say they against the nature of sinne that that should be counted a sinne or be imputed as a sinne to any by whose own proper will it was not committed which being all they have to say they repeat it over and over in this case it must be voluntary or it is no sinne but I say this is of no force at all for first Saint Iohn in his most exact definition of sinne requires not voluntarinesse to the nature of it but only an obliquitie a deviation from the rule it is an anomie a discrepancie from the Law which whither voluntary or no it skils not much but sure enough there is in our nature such a repugnancie to the Law of God so that secondly if originally we are free from a voluntary actuall transgression yet we are not from an habituall voluntary digression and exorbitancy from the Law but thirdly in respect of our wils we are not thus innocent neither for we all sinned in Adam as the Apostle affirmeth now all sinne is voluntary say the Remonstrants and therefore Adams transgression was our voluntary sinne also and that in divers respects First In that his voluntary act is imputed to us as ours by reason of the covenant which was made with him on our behalfe but because this consisting in an imputation must needs be extrinsecall unto us therefore secondly we say that Adam being the roote and head of all humane kinde and we all branches from that root all parts of that body whereof he was the head his will may be said to be ours we were then all that one man we were all in him and had no other will but his so that though that be extrinsecall unto us considered as particular persons yet it is intrinsecall as we are all parts of one common nature as in him we sinned so in him we had a will of sinning thirdly Originall sinne is a defect of nature and not of this or that particular person whereon Alvarez grounds this difference of actuall and originall sinne that the one is alwayes committed by the proper will of the sinner to the other is required only the will of our first parent who was the head of humane nature Fourthly It is hereditary naturall and no way involuntary or put into us against our wils it possesseth our wils and inclines us to voluntary sins I see no reason then why Corvinus should affirme as he doth that it is absurd that by one mans disobedience many should be made actually disobedient unlesse he did it purposely to contradict St. Paul teaching us that by one mans disobedience many were made sinners Rom. 5. 19. Paulus ait Corvinus negat eligite cui credatis choose whom you will beleeve St. Paul or the Arminians the summe of their indeavour in this particular is to cleare the nature of man from being any way guiltie of Adams actuall sin as being then in him a member and part of that body whereof he was the head or from being obnoxious unto an imputation of it by reason of that Covenant which God made with us all in him so that denying as you saw before all inherent corruption and pravitie of nature and now all participation by any means of Adams transgression me thinks they cast a great aspersion on Almighty God however he dealt with Adam for his own particular yet for casting us his most innocent posteritie out of Paradise it seemes a hard case that having no obliquitie or sinne in our nature to deserve it nor no interest in his disobedience whose obedience had been the means of conveying so much happinesse unto us we should yet be involved in so great a punishment as we are For that we are not now by birth under a great curse and punishment they shall never be able to perswade any poore soul who ever heard of Paradise or the garden where God first placed Adam and though all the rest in their judgement be no great matter but an infirmitie and languor of nature or some such thing yet what ever it be they confesse it lights on us as well as him We confesse say they that the sinne of Adam may be thus farre said to be imputed to his posteritie inasmuch as God would have them all borne obnoxious to that punishment which Adam incurred by his sinne or permitted that evill which was inflicted on him to descend on them Now be this punishment what it will never so small yet if we have no demerit of our own nor interest in Adams sinne it is such an act of injustice as we must reject from the most holy with a God forbid farre be it from the Iudge of all the world to punish the righteous with the ungodly if God should impute the sinne of Adam unto us and thereon pronounce us obnoxious to the curse deserved by it if we have a pure sinlesse unspotted nature even this could scarse be reconciled with that rule of his proceeding in justice with the sonnes of men the soule that sinneth it shall
the life which all shall receive by the power of Christ at the last day is essentially a re-union of soule and body and therefore their separation is a thing we incurred by the sinne of Adam the same Apostle also Rom. 5. describeth an universall reigne of death over all by reason of the first transgression even diseases also in the Scripture are attributed unto sinne as their meritorious cause Iohn 5. 14. 1 Cor. 11. 30. Revel 2. 22. and in respect of all these the mercy of God doth not so interpose it selfe but that all the sonnes of men are in some sort partakers of them Thirdly the finall desert of originall sinne as our article speaketh is damnation the wrath of God to be poured on us in eternall torments of body and soule To this end also many praevious judgements of God are subservient as the privation of originall righteousnesse which he tooke and withheld upon Adams throwing it away spirituall desertion permission of sinne with all other destroying depravations of our nature as farre as they are meerely paenall some of which are immediate consequents of Adams singular actuall transgression as privation of originall righteousnesse others as damnation it selfe the proper effects of that derived sinne and pollution that is in us there is none damned but for their owne sinne when Divines affirme that by Adams sinne we are guilty of damnation they doe not meane that any are actually damned for his particular fact but that by his sinne and our sinning in him by Gods most just ordination we have contracted that exceeding pravitie and sinfulnesse of nature which deserveth the curse of God and eternall damnation it must be an inherent uncleanesse that actually excludes out of the kingdome of heaven Revel 21. 27. which uncleannesse the Apostle shewes to be in infants not sanctified by an interest in the Covenant in briefe we are baptized unto the remission of sinne that we may be saved Act. 2. 38. that then which is taken away by Baptisme is that which hinders our salvation which is not the first sinne of Adam imputed but our owne inherent lust and pollution we cannot be washed and cleansed and purged from an imputed sinne which is done by the layer of regeneration from that which lies upon us onely by an externall denomination we have no need of cleansing we may be said to be freed from it or justified but not purged the soule then that is guilty of sinne shall die and that for its owne guilt if God should condemne us for originall sinne onely it were not by reason of the imputation of Adams fault but of the iniquitie of that portion of nature in which we are proprietaries Now here to shut up all observe that in this inquiry of the desert of originall sinne the Question is not What shall be the certaine lot of those that depart this life under the guilt of this sin only but what this haereditary and and native corruption doth desrve in all those in whom it is for as Saint Paul saith we iudge not them that are without especially infants 1 Cor. 5. 13. but for the demerit of it in the justice of God our Saviour expresly affirmeth that unlesse a man be borne againe he cannot enter into the kingdome of heaven Iohn 3. and let them that can distinguish betweene a not going to heaven and a going to hell a third receptacle of soules in the Scripture we finde not Saint Paul also tels us that by nature we are children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. even originally and actually we are guilty of and obnoxious unto that wrath which is accompanied with fiery indignation that shall consume the adversaries againe we are assured that no uncleane thing shall enter into heaven Revel 21. with which hell-deserving uncleanesse children are polluted and therefore unlesse it be purged with the bloud of Christ they have no interest in everlasting happinesse by this meanes sinne is come upon all to condemnation and yet doe we not peremptorily censure to hell all infants departing this world without the layer of regeneration the ordinary means of waveing the punishment due to this pollution that is the Question de facto which we before rejected yea and two wayes there are whereby God saveth such infants snatching them like brands out of the fire First by interesting them into the Covenant if their immediate or remote parents have beene beleevers he is a God of them and of their seed extending his mercy unto a thousand generations of them that feare him Secondly by his grace of election which is most free and not tied to any conditions by which I make no doubt but God taketh many unto him in Christ whose parents never knew or had beene despisers of the Gospel and this is the doctrine of our Church agreeable to the Scripture affirming the desert of originall sinne to be Gods wrath and damnation to both which how opposite is the Arminian doctrine may thus appeare S. S. By the offence of one man iudgement came upon all to condemnation Rom. 5. 18. By one mans disobedience many were made sinners vers 19. Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me Psalme 51. 5. else were your chidren unclean but now they are holy 1 Cor. 7. 14. Who can bring a clean thing out of an uncleane not one Iob 14. 4. Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God Iohn 3. 3. That which is born of the flesh is flesh Iohn 3. 6. We were by nature the children of wrath even as others Ephes 2. 3. By one man sinne entered into the world and death by sinne and so death passed upon all men for that all have sinned to wit in him Rom. 5. 12. For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing Rom. 7. 18. In the day you eate thereof you shall surely die Gen. 2. 17. For as in Adam all die so 1 Cor. 15. 22. By nature children of wrath Ephes 2. 3. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth Revel 21. 27. Lib. Arbit Adam sinned in his owne proper person onely and there is no reason why God should impute that sinne unto infants Borraeus It is absurd that by one mans disobedience many should be made actually disobedient Corvinus Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall Venator Neither is it considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens for all infants have the same innocencie Rem Apol. That which we have by birth can be no evill of sinne because to be borne is plainely involuntarie Idem Originall sinne is neither a sinne properly so called which should make the posteritie of Adam guilty of Gods wrath nor yet a punishment of any sinne on them Rem Apol. It is against equitie that one should be accounted guilty of a sinne that is not his owne that he should be iudged nocent who
and reiect that preaching of the Gospell I shall not need to prove this for it is that which in direct tearmes they plead for which also they must doe if they will comply with their former principles For granting all these to have no influence upon any man but by the way of morall perswasion we must not onely grant that it may be resisted but also utterly deny that it can be obeyed We may resist it I say as having both a disability to good and repugnancie against it but for obeying it unlesse we will deny all inherent corruption and depravation of nature we cannot attribute any such sufficiency unto our selves Now concerning this weaknes of grace that it is not able to overcome the opposing power of sinfull nature one testimony of Arminius shall suffice It alwaies remaineth in the power of Free-will to reiect grace that is given and to refuse that which followeth for grace is no Almightie action of God to which Free-will cannot resist Not that I would assert in opposition to this such an operation of grace as should as it were violently overcome the will of man and force him to obedience which must needs bee prejudicial unto our libertie but onely consisting in such a sweet effectuall working as doth infallibly promote our conversion make us willing who before were unwilling and obedient who were not obedient that createth cleane hearts and reneweth right spirits within us That then which we assert in opposition to these Arminian Heterodoxies is that the effectuall grace which God useth in the great worke of our conversion by reason of its owne nature being also the instrument of and Gods intention for that purpose doth surely produce the effect intended without successefull resistance and solely without any considerable co-operation of our owne wils untill they are prepared and changed by that very grace The infallibilitie of its effect depends chiefely on the purpose of God when by any meanes he intends a mans conversion those meanes must have such an efficacie added unto them as may make them fit instruments for the accomplishment of that intention that the counsell of the Lord may prosper and his word not returne empty But the manner of its operation that it requires no humane assistance and is able to overcome all repugnance is proper to the being of such an act as wherein it doth consist Which nature and efficacie of grace in opposition to an indifferent influence of the holy Spirit a metaphoricall motion a working by the way of morall perswasion onely proposing a desireable object easie to be resisted and not effectuall unlesse it be helped by an inbred abilitie of our owne which is the Arminian grace I will briefly confirme having promised these few things First although God doth not use the wills of men in their conversion as maligne Spirits use the members of men in enthusiasmes by a violently wrested motion but sweetly and agreeably to their owne free nature yet in the first act of our conversion the will is meerely passive as a capable subject of such a worke not at all concurring co-operatively to our turning It is not I say the cause of the worke but the subject wherein it is wrought having only a passive capabilitie for the receiving of that supernaturall being which is introduced by grace The beginning of this good worke is meerely from God Phil. 1. 6. Yea faith is ascribed unto grace not by the way of conjunction with but of opposition unto our wils not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. 8. Not that we are sufficient of our selves our sufficiency is of God 2 Cor. 3. 5. Turne thou me O Lord and I shall be turned Secondly though the will of man conferreth nothing to the infusion of the first grace but a subjective receiving of it yet in the very first act that is wrought in and by the will it most freely co-operateth by the way of subordination with the grace of God and the more effectually it is moved by grace the more freely it worketh with it Man being converted converteth himselfe Thirdly we doe not affirme grace to be irresistible as though it came upon the will with such an over-flowing violence as to beat it downe before it and subdue it by compulsion to what it is no way inclinable but if that terme must be used it denoteth in our sense onely such an unconquerable efficacie of grace as alwaies and infallibly produceth its effect For Who is it that can withstand God Acts 11. 17. As also it may be used on the part of the will it selfe which will not resist it all that the Father gives unto Christ will come unto him Ioh. 6. 37. The operation of grace is resisted by no hard heart because it mollifies the heart it selfe It doth not so much take away a power of resisting as give a will of obeying whereby the powerfull impotencie of resistance is removed Fourthly Concerning grace it selfe it is either common or speciall common or generall grace consisteth in the externall revelation of the will of God by his word with some illumination of the mind to perceive it and correction of the affections not to much to contemne it and this in some degree or other to some more to some lesse is common to all that are called speciall grace is the grace of regeneration comprehending the former adding more spirituall acts but especially presupposing the purpose of God on which its efficacy doth chiefly depend Fifthly This saving grace whereby the Lord converteth or regenerateth a sinner translating him from death to life is either externall or internall externall consisteth in the preaching of the word c. whose operation is by the way of morall perswasion when by it we beseech our hearers in Christs stead that they would be reconciled unto God 2 Corinth 5. 20. and this in our conversion is the instrumentall organ thereof and may be said to be a sufficient cause of our regeneration in as much as no other in the same kinde is necessary it may also be resisted in sensa diviso abstracting from that consideration wherein it is looked on as the instrument of God for such an end Sixthly internall grace is by Divines distinguished into the first or preventing grace and the second following cooperating grace the first is that spirituall vitall principle that is infused into us by the holy Spirit that new creation and bestowing of new strength whereby we are made fit and able for the producing of spirituall acts to beleeve and yeeld Evangelicall obedience For we are the workmanship of God created in Christ Iesus unto good workes Ephes 2. 10. By this God gives us a new heart and a new spirit he puts within us he taketh the stony hearts out of our flesh and gives us a heart of flesh he puts his spirit within us to cause us to walke in his statues Ezek. 36. 26 27. Now this first grace is not properly and formally