desired him to shew him his glory The Lord saith hee mercifull and gracious and that will by no meanes cleare the guilty visiting iniquity Where God declareth and proclaimeth his chiefe glory to stand partly of attributes and the work of grace in the one hand and of justice in the other for God in like sort declareth wherein hee delighteth chiefly to glorifie himselfe viz. in the exercise of loving kindnesse and righteousnesse and judgement Jer. 9. 24. I should think whatsoever is in God is equally glorious even his strength as well as his mercy wherewith the Lord begins in the place alledged though here pretermitted Neither doth it follow that because these only are here mentioned therefore the glory of God doth principally consist in these And besides there is the glory of his soveraignty expressed even then when the promise of this revelation here mentioned was made to Moses to wit in shewing mercy and having compassion on whom hee will I beseech thee shew mee thy glory And hee answered I will make all my good goe before thee and I will proclaime the Name of the Lord before thee for I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion And this is it the Apostle doth most insist upon Rom. 9. yet I make no question but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the various wisdome of God is as glorious as any of the rest and this appeareth in the incarnation of the Sonne of God and in the complete execution of his office as in nothing more But I conceive that glory of God represented to Moses Exod. 34. 6 7. was expressed to a speciall end unto his people namely to compose them to a greater reverence of his Majesty which reverence is a quality consisting of a mixture of love and feare a morall gesture Not to speak how the execution of mercy and justice are competent unto the creatue nor to mention that wherein Vasquez and Suarez concutre otherwise much different about their conceptions of Gods justice namely that there is no justice in God toward the creature which is not grounded upon the determination of his will and so undoubtedly is the execution of his mercy also onely with this difference God hath revealed unto us rules according to which hee will proceed in the execution of his justice no such rules hath hee revealed to us or prescribed to himselfe according to which he wil proceed in the execution of his mercy It is well observed by others that those vertues which grace the Will are more honourable than those which grace the Understanding or other parts It is a greater honour to a Prince to be gratious and just then to bee wise and powerfull power and wisedome may bee found in a vitious Prince not grace and justice If then grace and justice doe more set forth the glory of their soveraignty surely God who aimeth at his highest glory in the highest and first place he aimed chiefly at the manifestation of his grace and justice above the manifestation of his power and dominion 1. First concerning the instance it selfe I answer 1. It is not to be expected I confesse that vertue should be found in a vitious person but yet Princes commonly make more accompt of their absolutenesse then of their vertue 2. And the most capitall crime against them consists rather in the derogation to their power then to their vertue 3. And vertue is common to all and if all were as they ought to be what glory were it to a King to be vertuous 2. But as for the accomodation of it though all were granted yet it concludes nothing To be vertuous is honourable to a man because he is indifferent to execute his power in the way of vice as well as in the way of vertue But there is no such indifferency found in God Gods gratious disposition tyes him to doe good to none but to whom he will Had he never made the world nor purposed to produce any creature he had beene notwithstanding the same he now is yea the very execution of justice in God doth presuppose the determination of his owne will whereupon it is that Bradwardine distinguisheth betweene meritum aptitudinale meritum actuale Aptitudinale meritū is the merit of such good as God can bestow in the way of reward if he will or such evill as God can inflict in the way of punishment if he will Actuale meritum is the merit of such good or evill as God hath determined to bestow or inflict Answerable hereunto Gerson professeth that when a sinne is committed it is meerely at the pleasure of God to inflict what punishment he will And withall he professeth that God doth actually remunerate every good worke ultra condignum and punish every evill worke citra condignum all which I hold to be Orthodox and sound And let me intreat and prevaile with you in this that you will not thinke any thing in the nature of God to be lesse glorious then another howsoever to our apprehension some attributes may seem more glorious then others Consider what you finde last in the execution of Gods decree and from thence gather what was first in his intention Now at the last judgement as likewise in the course of his providence in this world God doth chiefly manifest the glory of his grace to the elect and the glory of his justice upon the world When God in his wayes towards the elect blesseth them with all spirituall blessings in Christ what doth he rather aime at then the praise of the glory of his grace When God destroyeth the wicked in their flourishing estate and causeth the righteous to flourish in their weake and decayed age what doth be rather aime at then to shew that the Lord is upright and there is noe unrighteousnesse with him When Christ shall come to judgement at the last day what will he rather shew forth then the righteous judgement of God upon the world of the ungodly and the admirable glory of his grace to the Saints Since then all the wayes of God doe finally worke to this issue the setting forth of his grace and justice surely we are so to conceive it as his primary aime and intent to be to glorifie rather his grace and justice then his power and soveraignty 1. That God doth manifest the glory of his grace to the elect and the glory of his justice upon the world both in this life and at the day of judgement I grant But that he doth chiefly manifest this is not proved save only there is a propension in the phrase to signifie as much as properly and then it is true indeed His grace properly on the one his justice properly on the other whereas the glory of his power and soveraignty and wisdome is promiseuously shewed on both yet there is not taken so distinct a consideration of justice as seems fit For
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 In the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Apostle alludeth to the common course of Judges and suites in the law or of wrestlings in the Olympian or of captaines in the war who were wont conscribere to designe afore-hand or set downe in writing the names of such adversaries as were to have their causes or tryalls tryed before them And as for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies of old I dare not stretch it so farre as to reach it to eternitie neither doth the place require it nor any other in scripture to my remembrance Yea God himselfe in Jeremy plainly distinguisheth time of old from eternitie as the lesser from the greater If you then aske what is that old time Jude here speakes of wherein God wrought afore-hand and as it were designed viz. these false teachers to the tryall of his Church and contention with him I answere About 4040. yeares before Jude wrote this Epistle when God pronounced in ' Paradise that ancient curse upon the serpent and his seed I will put enmitie saith he between thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed then was that of old when God did assigne and appoint these false teachers under these generall words the seed of the serpent to this enmitie and contention with the Church concerning the faith once given to the Saints And indeed the description which Jude gives of these false teachers thus set out by God unto this contention doth plainly decipher them as the seed of the serpent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ungodly men turning the grace of God into wantonnesse denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ Thus have I declared how farre or rather how little I have departed and upon what grounds not so much from the received doctrine of our Church as the received manner of the explication of it In all which I humbly submit my spirit not only to the judgment of the reformed Churches whether of England or of foreigne countries if ever they come to take notice hereof but also of every learned godly brother into whose hands this discourse may fall As for that place of Jude 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sense hereof you say is given to be that these false teachers were of old ordained to judgement viz. As they take it from eternitie and so before themselves were and had given any former cause of such condemnation This you make the interpretation of the place given by others and their doctrine accordingly And the consequent thereof you make to be this namely That according to this sense the subject whereabout the decree of Reprobation is conversant is not the world as fallen in Adam much lesse as fallen from Christ but as considered in massa pura before they had done good or evill yea before they were Now I have diverse things to object against you in this First were I of your opinion in the point of Reprobation I should utterly deny that there is any such consequent that may be lawfully inferred from the former interpretation and doctrine For albeit men are from eternitie ordained to condemnation and consequently before themselves were or had given any former cause of such condemnation yet if when God did ordaine them hereunto he did foresee not only their fall in Adam but their finall infidelitie and impenitency also and thereupon did proceed to ordaine them to condemnation as it is acknowledged on all hands at this day both Papists Arminians and orthodox Protestants your selfe onely that I know excepted then surely herehence it will not follow that massapura should be the object of Reprobation but massa corrupta and that not in Adam onely but with actuall sinnes and that throughout the whole course of their lives all along even untill death And I perswade my selfe you also will be of the same opinion if you give your selfe to a due and serious consideration of it which might have saved you all this paines in straining a poore text to serve your turne in a miserable manner and that most causelesly For certainely you feare in this place where there is no cause of feare at all on your part Secondly why should you straine courtesie to acknowledge Gods ordination which is no other then Gods decree of men unto condemnation to have been from all eternitie For what Papist Arminian Lutheran or orthodox Protestant provided that he be learned withall is found to deny this Was it not one of the prodigious doctrines of Vorstius to maintaine that Gods decrees are not eternall Whence it should manifestly follow that God is changeable For if God should now begin to will that which formerly hee willed not this would introduce a change in God as well as if hee should cease to will that which formerly hee willed Can it be denyed but that God did everlastingly foresee whatsoever should come to passe If hee did then he did from everlasting foresee the finall infidelitie and impenitency of every one that in such a condition departs out of the world And why then should it not become God from everlasting to ordaine all such unto condemnation Thirdly who are they that interpret St. Jude in such a manner as you obtrude upon them I cannot beleeve any is found so absurd What that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 should signifie no more then ordaine to judgement What shall become of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 then a word in this place most significant I perswade my selfe you cannot name one the Author of so loose an interpretation But let us consider how you carry your selfe in the clearing of it as you speak which indeed is to raise a mist rather in the clear 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 you say in the first place signifies judgement and I say neither doe they render it otherwise whom you undertake to confute Yet holding the translation here as it were at bay without specification it cannot stand with your interpretation to wit of Gods ordaining men to judgement in generall according to their workes a judgement of mercy in case their workes prove good or of wrath in case they prove evill whatsoever you pretend to the contrary but most improvidently For albeit the word judgement be generall and indifferently appliable to either kind yet the Apostles phrase here this judgement 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot be understood and maintained in any such generalitie and indifferencie And therefore you could not rest in this sense without much oversight as your selfe observe and forthwith confesse Therefore you proceed further to observe that the Apostle v. 3. thought it needfull to exhort them to contend earnestly for the faith once given to the Saints That is true In the v. 4. hee addes the reason hereof that also is true in these words For there are certaine men crept in of old ordained 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And these men you call Antagonists hawking thereby after some congruitie to your interpretation following And thirdly you observe that
but one thing though expressed under different phrases What is this to the purpose Say they are not condemned till then I say nor then neither 1. Unlesse they continue finally therein for were not the very Elect sometimes strangers and enemies Rom. 5-10 Col. 1. 12. Be it so hatred of the light goeth before condemnation therfore the consideration of this hatred goes before Gods purpose to condemne them If this Logick likes you like this also Faith repentance and good workes goe before salvation therefore they are before Gods purpose to save them whom he saves But wheras you seeme to denote that after a certaine continuance in hatred of the light a mans case is desperate which you seeme to signifie by a phrase of shutting up besides that it is nothing at all to the present purpose but matter of another question I shall beleeve it when I finde your selfe or any man else to prove it In the meane time I continue as I am and rest contented with the reasons formerly mentioned for the disproving of it Undoubtedly by the seed of the serpent cannot be meant all men fallen and corrupted in Adam by originall sinne for they are expresly proposed in opposition to the seed of the woman Gen. 3. 15. Herein I concurre with you but I concurre not with you in the description of the seed of the serpent for that agrees to all even to the Elect as well as to the Reprobate before the time comes that God hath appointed for their effectuall calling for till then they have the Image of the old serpent as you call it stamped upon them for they are in blindnesse of minde and hardnesse of heart which undoubtedly are the chiefe workes of the devill which Christ came into the world to loose Their will is to doe the lusts of the devill for the devill workes in them and being taken in his snare they are led captive by him to doe his will yea Paul himselfe had an hatred of the light and loved darknesse above it But assure your selfe no hatred of the light except it be finall is the cause why our Saviour shuts any man under condemnation I verily thought with my selfe saith St. Paul that I ought to doe many contrary things against the name of Jesus of Nazareth 10. Which things I also did in Jerusalem for many of the Saints did I shut up in prison having received authoritie from the chiefe Priests and when they were put to death I gave my voice against them 11. And I punished them oft in every synagogue and compelled them to blaspheme and being excedingly mad against them I persecuted them even unto strange Cities I see no reason why the prophaneness of Esau should stand in greater opposition unto grace then the zeale of Paul while he was a persecuter Esau intreated Jacob kindly in his returne from Mesopotamia but Esau continued finally in his prophanenesse Paul continued not in the course of his blind persecuting zeale and this puts the true difference between them Though with God there was a difference put between them from everlasting in his counsels to make the one a vessell of mercy the other a vessell of wrath And I see no reason why the reprobates should not be accounted the seed of the serpent from their first conception not because of their originall pollution for that is common to them with Gods Elect but because God doth not purpose to cure it in them as hee will cure it in the Elect though this naturall corruption cannot break forth into actuall hatred of the truth till they were brought acquainted with it and the like actuall hatred breakes forth also in Gods Elect as it did in Paul untill the time comes which God hath appointed for the curing of it But hee will never cure it in the Reprobate Against the point I know nothing of worth besides that in the Rom. interpreted and opened in the answere to the fourth Doubt following save onely that place in Jude where it is said of the false teachers as it is commonly translated that they were ordained of old to condemnation The words in the originall are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The sense whereof is given to be that these false teachers were of old ordained to judgement viz. As they take it from eternitie and so before themselves were or had given any former cause of such condemnation and according to this sense the subject whereabouts the decree of reprobation is conversant is not the world as fallen in Adam much lesse as fallen from Christ but as considered in massa pura before they had done good or evil yea before they were To cleare this objection I am to crave leave to depart from the usuall translation and interpretation of this place For first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth not in the first place signifie condemnation but as you well know judgement rather And so if I should give the sense they were of old ordained to judgement viz. according to their workes this would not at all touch the second act of positive Reprobation the point now in hand but only confirme the first point touching the former act of positive Retribution spoken of before viz. before the world was God then ordained the men of this world to judgment according to their works And surely I should have rested in this sense but that I see the Apostle Jude interposing the Pronounc◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 doth thereby point at some spirituall kind of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or judgement spoken of by him in the wordes before v. 3. Hee thought it needfull to exhort them to contend earnestly for the faith once given to the Saints In the v. 4. Hee rendreth a just reason hereof from the antagonists which were crept in amongst them and whom God himselfe as the chiefe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 had designed and sent amongst them to put them to this contention and tryall For so the coherence requires this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be here translated for 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 coming of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies decerno dimico to contend in law or warre and then judico and last of all condemno doth first signifie lis or certamen contention or tryall and then judgement and at the last hand condemnation Thus Paul takes this word in the first sense with Jude here 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for suits or tryalls or contentions There is utterly saith hee a fault amongst you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in that you have contentions or suits or tryalls one with another If you take the primitive sense of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and also consider the coherence of the Apostles words in this place this will appeare to bee his native and true meaning 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who were of old designed to this contention Yet for a little further clearing of the text let me adde a word touching the sense of the other two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉