things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned No Sir it is the peculiar work of the Spirit to regenerate and convert Lydia's heart was opened Acts 16. Mat. 13.3 Rom. 1.16 before she so diligently attended to Pauls words The word of God that brought forth fruit did not make the ground good but it was so before by the special working of that Spirit The word which is the power of God to salvation doth not make believers but God first makes them so by sanctifying of their natures and giving them to believe Phil. 1.29 The word of God in Regeneration hath no greater force or power then the word of the Prophets and Apostles had in raising of the dead which had no other operation then to be tanquam signum as a sign of the thing done or as a moral instrument for there is no lesser power requirable in the recovery of a poor soul from a spiritual death to a spiritual life then there is from a natural death to a natural life And therefore as it is Gods peculiar to raise from death to life natural so it is his alone prerogative to raise from a spiritual death to a spiritual life The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall live Ioh. 5.25 Yea the same power is exerted in the work of Regeneration or the new creation as was at first in the work of the old creation 1 Cor. 4.6 no less then an hand of omnipotency in them both and therefore not communicable to any creature From all of which I shall hence infer that if it be Gods peculiar work to regenerate and not the word in the hearing of it and that Regeneration is principally necessary to give us ingress into heaven Joh. 3.3 Mat. 5.8 God may then as well regenerate infants by his secret power unsearchable to us though they neither hear nor understand as he doth those that are of riper years by so weak an instrument as the word and Gospel is which hath no such inherent power in and of it self Secondly this your assertion labours of another sickness viz. a false supposition that nothing but actual sins expose men to the danger of being cast into the lake of fire whereas the truth is That original sin or that hereditary pravity we brought with us into the world deriving it from our parents Psal 51.5 who conceived us in sin hath so much of filthiness and uncleanness in it that God may justly cast a new-born infant into the lake of fire for it unless it be washed clean by the blood of Jesus who is the alone way the truth the life Joh. 14.6 and through whose alone merits we have an access into the Holy of Holies into which place are admitted onely these whose names are written in the Lambs book of life Rev. 21.27 Luke 10.20 Rev. 20.15 whose names are written in heaven registred there in the eternal immutable decree of Gods election unto life all the rest whose names are not there recorded infants as well as others are cast into the lake of fire which is the second death But enough of this at present I shall be sure to meet you again more about this when you lay out your strength against original sinne Another thing which you give out in the nature of a reason why infants cannot be damned is viz. for that their not having of faith will never be charged upon them as sin Sir suppose I grant so much and so likewise what you produce out of Rom. 4.15 as a confirmation or rather as a reason of your reason for where no law is there is no transgression both may be very true as set disjunctively but as you have woven them both into one sentence they may not be true nor applicable to your purpose for herein you vary your terms that which you write takes notice of sin the text speaks of transgression wherein I conceive sin and transgression are not terms convertible for though every transgression of the law be a sin yet every sin is not a transgression of the law as in the case now before us for original sin though it be a sin properly and really yet it is not a transgression of the law as personally acted in and by the infants but as imputatively and as a defect of original righteousness So what you further say by way of illustration that there can be no law to infants as such and sin is not imputed where there is no law I grant you as to infants now in existence which law might require the exerting or putting out of any act or duty which their minority is uncapable to receive or to perform But I must withall tell you that as Adam as a publick person as a root and stock received Grace righteousness and holiness for him and his even for those in his loins so he received a law to him and his even the Covenant of works do this and live which law was incumbent not onely on Adam himself but likewise on all those that were in his loins So that infants now are born under a law and their want of original righteousness and that for the defect thereof their being conceived and born in sin and uncleanness shall be a deserving cause of their just condemnation What you bring forth in evidence to what you here aim at viz. Rom. 5.13 sin is not imputed where there is no law is so far from answering your desire that it cuts the throat of your assertion For the clearing whereof its expedient to search into the mind of the Spirit by the scope of the place The Apostle in this Chapter is prosecuting that grand point of Justification by faith in Christ and ver 11. laies down this that we have received attonement by him whence he makes this corollary ver 12. that as by the first Adam sin and death entred into the world so by Iesus Christ righteousness and life are restored to us But ver 13. he meets with an objection that sin is not imputed where there is no law where he argues after this manner If all have sinned in the loins of Adam then those likewise have sinned who lived before the law was given by Moses but before the law was given there could be no sin because where there is no law there is no transgression as Chap. 4.15 and therefore all have not sinned in Adam Now here the Apostle denies the assumption or minor proposition affirming the contrary that sin was before the law given by Moses constantly affirming that howsoever it was not imputed i. e. reckoned or accounted or reputed to be sin yet indeed and in truth sin was then in the world and this being of sin in the world before the law ver 14. he proves by the effect viz. death was then in the world and that all had sinned because that
by a comparison of our righteousness and life received by Jesus Christ with sin and death contracted from Adam that as by the disobedience of Adam we were made sinners viz. sinners by imputation his sin being laid upon our account as much as if we our selves had eaten of the forbidden fruit So by the obedience of Christ we are made righteous i. e. righteous by imputation God being so pleased to accept of Christ his righteousness as though we in our own persons had fulfilled all righteousness either in doing or in suffering See for further satisfaction 1. Cor. 1.30 and 15.22 and 2 Cor. 5.15 The second thing considerable in original sin is a privation of the Image of God the glory of God or original righteousness of this see Rom. 3.23 Eccles 7.29 Ephes 4.24 which uprightness had been hereditary had man kept his first station but he failing in the breach of the holy law of God he lost that righteousness both to himself and all his posterity So that there unavoidably succeeding a defect of conformity to the law of God which sinless nature did enjoy necessarily must it draw with it the sin of that nature which it voluntarily had contracted viz. Original unrighteousness Whence I reason thus Every transgression of the law of God takes along with it the true and proper name and nature of sin and to have eternal death as the reward thereof 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 3.23 But every defect of conformity with the law of God is such a transgression Therefore c. The Minor is proved from those places 1 Cor. 2.14 and 2 Cor. 3.5 Rom. 3.10 and Rom. 7.18 cum multis aliis The third thing considerable is a proneness aptitude and bentness to sin not by imputation but by inclination As the young Lion and the young Serpent have not the bloudy and stinging nature of the old Lion and the old Serpent by imputation but by natural and intrinsecal inherencie so it is with men from the womb they are sinners from the birth bringing into the world a body of sin and death Whence I argue thus Every evill concupiscence or proneness in man to sin or rebellion to the law of God or enmity to God carries with it the name and nature of sin But original sin Synecdochically taken for the habit of original unrighteousness is that evil Concupiscence or proneness to sin c. Therefore For the Major I presume none dare question it and for the Minor that is confirmed abundantly and that in a special manner in the greatest part of Rom. 7. where the nature of original sin is most lively represented and the Apostle not onely for himself but for all others bemoanes their sad estate in respect of the natural inherency of that depravation of our nature And whereas you Sir were pleased to supply me with places to prove what I intended as to original sin I must tell you it was not for want of stock that I had then in store but onely because I would not then in so short an epitome be tedious and troublesome to such dissatisfied persons for whose alone satisfaction I composed that breviary but never intending it should have been exposed to publick view it was onely your pleasure to bring it into the sun light naked and bare as it was And therefore that you may see that the subject is not any wayes lame or defective for want of sufficient authority to support it take these texts of Scripture ex abundanti for the confirmation of it Gen. 6.5 and 8.21 Iob 14.5 Psal 57.7 Isa 64.10 Ier. 17.9 Matth. 15.12 Ioh. 3.6 Rom. 5.12 c. and 6.16 c. and 8.6 7. c. Eph. 2.3 and 4.22 Col. 3.9 11. Tit. 3.3 Heb. 12.1 Iam. 1.14 15 c. For what you conclude this paragraph with that if sinners should repent confess and forsake their sins they should find mercy And if the elect should continue in sin and not repent c. they should be equally lyable to the decree of Reprobation I say Sir though to affirm this doth utterly interfere with your first position where you affirm that the elect cannot become reprobates neither can reprobates become elect And yet there is some truth in it according to the Gospel manner of expressions but this hath been fully spoken to already Your next encounter is to answer a place by me quoted where you write thus But yet lest it should be thought that there is some weight in that Scripture which he quoteth out of Ephes 2.1 2 3. Children of wrath even as others to prove that reprobation to the second death is for that sin in Adam or that infants dying in infancy should be cast into the lake of fire for the same I doubt not but by the help of my God I shall make it appear that there is no such thing in it for first consider that these words in ver 1. you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins cannot relate to their being in the corrupt mass or lump of Adams transgression for that is but one being in the singular number but that which is there spoken of is in the plural number or more than one to wit trespases and sins Secondly it doth appear that it doth not relate to that sin they had as they were new born infants because it relateth to their conversation or course of life as they had a being in this world ver 2.3 wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world amongst whom we all had our conversation in times past c. By which it doth appear that he doth not speak to the Ephesians of what they were as they first came into the world as Infants for they could not upon that account be said to walk according to the course of this world neither can new born Infants as such be said to have their conversation in times past in the lust of the flesh of the mind and therefore they were not children of wrath upon that account but the Apostle there speaketh of that course of life or conversation in which they lived in time past as they were grown persons in the lusts of the flesh and the mind fulfilling the desires thereof and being by nature the children of wrath even as others Answ What man are you so confident of this first fruits of your brain as to think that you have answered all things of weight in what I have formerly written to your positions Truly Sir if I have any judgement at all there is not one parcel of all that I have delivered that you have given the least colour of satisfaction to But let us examine the reasons you give in why those words were the children of wrath even as others cannot prove reprobation to the second death or expose infants to a desert of the lake of fire Your first reason is because those words ver 1. you hath he quickned who were dead in trespasses and sins cannot
your principles for if Gods foresight of faith and the embracing of the means be the ground-work of election as it is by you and that in children dying in infancy nothing either of faith or works can be foreseen because never reducible into any act of faith upon what ground with you can such be elected is a riddle to me Your next work is to make an apology for your tediousness in these words I am constrained to be larger in answering these arguments because I cannot but a little follow him that I may find him out in his crooked waies that so he may be discovered and therefore I cannot but take notice of this expression before they had the use of faith by which one would think that the man is of that opinion that faith comes by generation because his words do seem to intimate as if infants had faith but not the use of faith but Paul certainly was of another mind when he said faith cometh by hearing Rom 10.17 Answ Sir to let pass your crooked words you seem to make it a wonder for one to affirm that infants may have faith but not the act or use of faith and from such an opinion to conclude that faith then might come by generation which indeed were an absurdity in grain But Sir are you onely a stranger in Jerusalem and know not these things or have you not learnt to distinguish between the habit of faith and the act of faith I know a regenerate person when he sleeps hath the habit of faith though at that time he want the act and use of faith A convert likewise under a spiritual desertion may have the principle and seed of faith and yet want an active and an operating faith And so an elect Infant though in respect of the imperfection of its natural faculties he is indisposed actually to believe yet in regard he is a subject capable of the inward workings of the Spirit of God to sanctifie his corrupt nature he may passively receive the grace of sanctification and therewith the habit root seed or principle of faith and from thence to be denominated a believer Infants are reputed in the number of reasonable creatures yea even before they have the act or use of reason onely because they have it in semine in the seed or root of reason and why not alike to have faith in the habit or root and so reputed for believers though they cannot actually exert it Phil. 19 Sir I must tell you first that faith is infused not acquired t is given to believe which passively infants are in a capacity of as well as those that are adult 2. That their souls may as well be now sanctified by infused grace as if Adam had not fallen they should have been holy from the womb by original justice propagated unto them and inherent in them 3. That the humanity of Christ was in this manner holy even from the conception which was therein by special priviledge like unto that course which should have been ordinary in our conceptions and births if we had not sinned in Adam 4. That it cannot fairly be denyed to be so in Iohn Baptist but that so great a Prophet was sanctified by the holy Ghost even from the womb which may be confirmed by that his extraordinary motion upon the salutation of Mary the mother of our blessed Saviour and of Ieremy it is not improbable by that which God saith of him Ier. 1.5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a Prophet unto the nations But wonder I know to be the fecundous spawn and brood of ignorance and therefore I cannot wonder at the wonder Yet to extricate your self out of this absurdity you undertake thus But whereas he seemeth to make it a very doubtful thing if not altogether impossible that children dying in infancy should be elected to life and salvation from what we hold I must tell him there is a great ground to hope if not a certainty whereby we may believe that no child dying in infancy before they come to have a being to act shall ever be cast into the lake of fire which is the second death because they not having the use of those faculties as hearing together with the use of reason to understand what is spoken and being not capable of any embracing of the means and which never had a being to act therefore they cannot reject the means of salvation and their not having of faith will never be charged upon them as sin for where no law is there can be no transgression Rom. 4.15 and there can be no law to infants as such because they cannot know it when they are Infants and sin is not imputed where there is no law Rom. 5.13 and also we find that Christ himself said Luke 18.16 That of such is the Kingdom of God and hath no where said that such are reprobated to everlasting destruction if he hath shew us where he hath spoken it in Scripture or appointed it to be spoken by any of his Ministers It is true we find that we shall appear before the judgement seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his body according to what he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5.10 but we do not find that any shall receive any thing at the day of judgement as a punishment for what hath been done in the body of another although we 1 Cor. 11.22 all dye and go to the dust in the first Adam in that all have sinned or in whom all have sinned Rom. 5. ver 12. compared with the Margin and God himself hath declared against such iniquitie of proceeding in Ezek. 18.20 The soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father c. Now that this was a dying that was more then to dye and to go to the dust it is evident for all must undergo that whether they be righteous or unrighteous and we find ver 26. that when a righteous man turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity and dieth in them he shall dye which doth imply that it was a death that is to be the portion of those that dye and go to the dust in wickedness and impenitency after that death when the judgement cometh which is called in Scripture the second death and it doth appear that that death will not be the portion of any for any thing that is acted in or by another but for the wickedness and impenitency of every particular soul that liveth and dieth therein In answer to this rabble I say that as there is salvation for all sorts and degrees of persons of age in covenant but not to be extended to all of those sorts and degrees to reach every individual person so in a parallel way we may think of infants I know no Text giving us
a can or a will I mean power or desire that there is neither of them in professed Christians Phil. 2.13 but what is of Gods own working who giveth both to will and to do according to his good pleasure And as for the heathen instead of doing or any desires thereunto as to good there is nothing but backwardness indisposition aversness yea an enmity against any thing that is really good at least in a saving way But alas what persons or cause is there in the world that are so base and degenerate that cannot suborne some luxuriant tongues to plead their case though never so abominable I have now done with this and so proceed to hear what you can speak for your selfe in the defence of the position from the third absurdity which is this The third absurdity If the foresight of sin should be the cause of reprobation then the elect should be equally lyable to the decree of reprobation as the reprobates themselves they all being alike in the corrupt mass and lump of Adams transgression Answ See how he minceth his argument that he may bring forth absurdities from his own expressions and then father them upon us In the front of his argument he putteth in unbelief and the rejecting of the means but leaveth out the word continuing and now he hath thrust out all except it be this one single term Sin that he may bring reprobation to eternal destruction to the narrow scantling of Adams transgression but that shall never be granted by me until I see a better proof for it than he hath yet brought and I can allow him more Scriptures then he hath set down to his argument Iob 14.4 and 15.14 Psal 51.5 all which together with the Scriptures he bringeth do I confess prove that the whole lump of mankind is polluted with Sin and I deny not but that this pollution or corruption is in a measure from Adams transgression but that any ones being reprobated to everlasting destruction in the lake of fire which is the second death is for Adams transgression I deny for although all the fruits and effects of that sin in the first Adam do accompany us untill we come to the dust from whence we were taken which is Gen. 3.16 17 18 19. Womens sorrow being multiplyed and their conception and bringing forth children in sorrow together with the curse that is upon the ground for mans sake so as that man must eat of it in sorrow all the dayes of his life eating bread in the sweat of his face being accompanied with pain and sickness which are the companions of death till he return to the ground for out of it was he taken for saith God dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return and this was the sentence of that condemnation that God hath pronounced against the first Adam or 1 Cor. 15.27 earthy man and we being then in him when the sin was committed and the sentence pronounced we have our part with him in these things as our portion in this life for the original sin or first transgression But the holy Spirit in Scripture doth no where declare as I could ever yet find nor as any one could ever yet shew me that mans reprobation to the second death is for being in Adams sin nor for sin in their own persons no nor yet for unbelief simply so considered but for continuing in sin and unbelief For if they do repent confess and forsake their sins they shall find mercy and be saved as hath been already proved and if the elect should continue in sin and unbelief and not repent and believe or imbrace the means of Salvation they should be equally lyable to the decree of Reprobation as the reprobates themselves and there would be no difference but they in repenting believing and embracing the means of salvation fall under the unchangeable decree of Gods election so as they cannot miss of salvation as hath been already shewed Answ Truly Sir before this I did not rightly apprehend where the shooe did wring but now I find that it is Original sin that pinches you so sore that you cannot well endure the name of it which had I foreseen I would not have minced any thing in the Argument no not so much as the continuing in sin for howsoever it is that we affirm that Original sin is an hereditary disease which every soul brings with it into the world yet it leaves not a man suddenly no not when he is regenerate but continues to the end of a mans dayes It is the very last enemy of ours that death destroyes so that in respect of this Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet dici beatus Now what you have to say against our doctrine of Original sin I find not much in this your discourse for this you grant First that the whole lump of mankind is polluted with sin and which pollution as you say flows from Adams transgression And secondly that all the fruits and effects of that sin do accompany us till death there is onely then your bare denial that eternal death is not the reward or wages of this sinful pollution the contrary whereof is incumbent on me to prove to make my charge good against you with that third absurdity Now to prove that the first sin of Adam was ours not because he is our father by nature though that be a ground of the imputation also but because he is such a father by Covenant and law the law and Covenant of works being laid in pawn in his hand we are to understand that there be three parts in Original sinne 1. First a partaking of the first sin of Adam we all sinned in him Rom. 5.12 14 15. 2. Secondly the want of the Image of God Rom. 3.23 called the glory of God or original righteousness 3. Thirdly Concupiscence or a bentness or proneness of nature unto sin Rom. 7.7 14 17 23 24. As to the first Adams sin is ours really and truly not so much because it is ours as because it is imputed to be ours by God who so contrived the law of works as that it should be made with Adam not as a single father or person but with Adam as a publique person representing all mankind and having our common nature as a father both by nature and law which came from the meer free-will of God He was as the root and stock of all mankind Rom. 5.19 By one mans disobedience many were made sinners i. e. morally and legally but not physically and personally the fruit and effect of which is death and damnation for Rom. 6.23 The wages of sin is death not onely temporal or natural death but as the Apostles Antithesis necessarily carries it spiritual and eternal death in opposition to eternal life acquired by Jesus Christ the second Adam Yea and the whole series and purport of the Apostles discourse Rom. 5.12 to ver 19. carries this clear that every mouth may be stopped
perceives not the things of the Spirit nor is there any such power given them of God for unto you is given to know the secrets of the kingdome of heaven but unto them it is not given Joh. 15.5 and without Christ they can do nothing What then was become of this mans reason thus to bragg of men in their pure naturals which are so befogged that they are never able to extricate themselves I have done with the first reason and left it naked and bare I shall next proceed to your second reason which as it is by you worded is scarce common sense but such as it is take it thus 2. Because those that were given over of God to a reprobate mind being filled with all unrighteousness Rom. 1.28 are said ver 31. to to be without natural affections now if natural affections had been such an unrighteous thing as that it should lead them into sin and they being filled with all unrighteousness could not have been without it To which I answer First you mistake in your reading t is affection in the singular number and not affections Secondly the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred by the Translators natural affection is yet by them in the margent rendred unsociable and if Scapulaes Lexicon be consulted with such are there denoted and so the word properly signifies in quo non inest affectus amoris illius mutui inter parentes liberos who are destitute of that reciprocal love that ought to be between husband and wise parents and children And now be judge your self what a sad reason you have brought upon the Stage for the advancing of nature that as you say it is so far from leading men to sin that the teachings of it are against sin because for such is the strength of your reason or else it is nothing such given over by God to a reprobate mind are without that reciprocal or mutual love that ought to be between husband and wife parents and children I pray Sir in the next look before you leap And now for the third and last reason which is of the same size the former were and this it is Because the Apostle himself directeth the Saints to the teaching of nature it self 1 Cor. 11.14 and certainly if Paul had been of that mind that nature had been such an evil principle as that it being followed would lead men into a wicked and filthy conversation he would never have mentioned it as a teacher unto them therefore the teaching of nature doth not lead men into sin but the contrary Answ The Apostle in this part of the Chapter is giving directions what suits best with decency and order in their Church-assemblies and in particular concerning prayer whether covered or uncovered and thereby occasionally of short hair and long hair and ver 14. Doth not nature it self teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him the doubt now is what is meant by nature here and first not any principle connatural to man in the state of innocency for thereof there is neither precept nor rule nor example either for long hair or short hair But secondly by nature is to be understood that which by a common consent was taken up and brought it into a custom or fashion and that especially among the Greeks for if we look upon other nations and take the pains to search Antiquity concerning their fashions you shall find that it was a long time before the Romans used any clipping of the hair neither was it practised in France or Germany till of later years nor would Lycurgus suffer it among the Lacedemonians and if it were unnatural why did Absalom were long hair 2 Sam. 18.9 or why was the law of the Nazarites permitted It is very apparent therefore that the Apostles meaning is that custome being as it were another nature it was not the manner custome and fashion of these parts at least among the Corinthians to weare long hair because it was an Argument of too much effeminacy And now Sir do but revise the strength of your reason as I have clothed it and see what weight it may bear which any man of common reason and thus it lies the teachings of nature lead not to sin because the Apostle directs the Saints what is fit for them to do about long hair from what the custome was then in use among the Grecians I pray Sir take more reason with you when you next offer any reason to a reasonable man Your next endeavour is to make a gloss upon this text but it is such a one as doth corrupt the text and thus it is But as the law written in tables of stone did discover or make known sin to the Jews so the law of nature did discover or make known sin to the Gentiles and so the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and all unrighteousness of men as well the Gentiles as the Jews as appeareth Rom. 1.18 and as the law written doth work wrath to the Iews Rom. 4.15 when they sin against it so the law of nature doth work wrath to the Gentiles when they do that which is contrary thereunto and so the Ephesiaens which Paul directeth these words unto being Gentiles were not lead unto sin by nature but nature did in its measure and degree witness against sin and did by its teaching declare them to be the children of wrath when they lived in such an evil conversation which was contrary to the teaching of it Answ In answer to this paraphrase of yours it is not enough for me to unsay what you have said but rather to say that you cannot gainsay in giving of the genuine sense of the words we are all by nature the children of wrath i. e. we that are converted whether Jews or Gentiles all were alike children of wrath wherein there are two things to be opened first what it is to be a child of wrath secondly what it is to be so by nature First what it is to be a child of wrath First some by this do understand one that is guilty of and obnoxious to eternal death and condemnation because of sin but this though it be somewhat yet it is not the whole for Adam after his sin committed was made obnoxious to the wrath of God and guilty of eternal death and yet he could not be said to be a son or child of wrath for by this manner of speaking such an one is denoted as is born such and by his nature is such For the clearing whereof take notice of some such parallel places It is well known to those who are Divines indeed that these are Hebraismes to say one is a son or child of perdition as Ioh. 17.12 2 Thes 2.3 or that one is a child of disobedience Eph. 2.2 and 5.6 and Col. 3.6 and hence this manner of speaking doth a I se because whosoever is begotten or born of a man is a man that which is
of the spirit of Adoption for love is strong as death And then I pray tell me what will all your publications tendences and conducements avail where God hath decreed to deny effectual grace and faith to believe what is so published But there is enough of this we shall have more to say to what follows whiâ—h is this And as God hath thus bound himself by his purpose decree and promise to the doing of the things aforesaid that so they must come to pass in their season and it being also his pleasure to let the sons of men enjoy a sufficiency of means while the day of grace lasteth to be used by them in order to their everlasting good so he giveth them liberty in the right use thereof in that day of grace to choose or refuse and it cannot be otherwise for a choice must needs be at liberty and if there were not a liberty given of God in these things then those expressions in Scripture were in vain as in Deut. 30.19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death blessing and cursing therefore choose life Object But to this it will be objected that that which they might choose or refuse was the temporal or earthly Canaan Answ That there was such a thing intended in it I deny not but that was not all for in those typical things that did belong to them as they were the Children of Abraham according to the flesh there was held forth that which did lead them up to faith in Christ in order to their being children of Abraham also by faith that so they might be heires also of the heavenly inheritance and this the words immediately going before do prove being compared with what Paul had said Rom. 10. For as it is said Deut. 30. vers 14. the word is nigh thee even in thy mouth and in thy heart that thou mayest do it the very same word is said by Paul Rom. 10. vers 8. to be the word of faith which they preached and we find the like of Moses Heb. 11.24 25. He refused to be called the son of Phraohs daughter Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season also Luk. 10.42 Mary hath chosen that good part Answ Sir if by sons of men your meaning be to take them collectively and universally viz. all men of all sorts that they all enjoy a sufficiency of means in order to their everlasting good then I utterly deny it and I have formerly proved it contrary that whereas he shewed his word unto Iacob his statutes and judgements unto Israel yet he had not dealt so with other nations Psal 145.19 Matth. 13.11 Acts 16. for unto some it was given to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven but to others it was not given the Spirit would not suffer the Apostle to preach the Gospel to the Bithynians and certainly you will never prove any such sufficiency of Grace tendered to every person all the world over unless you do suborn those silent Orators the Sun Moon and Stars to plead your cause by a discovery of what feats they have done and how many they have converted amongst the Indians Americans Antipodes and other unknown places of the world by their dumb preaching of the everlasting Gospel in order to the everlasting good of these forlorn creatures The next point I shall take notice of in this Section is the liberty of the will concerning which you spake before but somewhat lispingly like an Ephraimite Judg. 12.6 but now like a flesht Gileadite you speak with a full mouth and in plain English that it is in a mans liberty to choose or refuse things to their everlasting good And this indeed is that unknown Goddess to whom you sacrifice all the strength of your other Positions for if this liberty of will should miscarry all the superstructure of your other Positions must needs disshevell and moulder to powder I have not much to say unto it because you have said so little that choice must needs be at liberty And though I need not hunt after fresh work yet thus much I shall say that there was in Adams will besides the liberty thereof an habitual holy inclination to all that was good though with a possibility of embracing evil But that since the fall besides some kind of liberty an habitual vicious quality in man making him averse and froward in choosing the good Job 15.16 Pro. 2.14 prone and inclinable to embrace the evil so that man now doth naturally drink iniquity like water and make a pastime of doing evil and therefore as Adams will was truly good not onely in the actions but in the inward qualities thereof so our will is truely and properly corrupt not onely as to its evil actions but also the inward vicious disposition thereof And until such time as God is pleased to heal the disease and replant in our wills their primitive integrity they are utterly dead in sin captives and bondslaves of corruption So that however they have some liberty in naturall civill or externall spiritual things yet in regard of true grace and holiness they have no liberty at all to chuse that but are wholly enthralled unto sin according to that of the Apostle Rom. 6.20 When ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness and Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be And therefore the man doth in plain terms give the lye to the Spirit of God speaking in the Scriptures that dares to affirm that a man in the estate of unregeneracy who without doubt is if any be a servant of sin and carnally minded is notwithstanding free unto righteousness and may be even of his own natural power subject to the law of God commanding him faith and obedience and that he hath a liberty and power to choose grace when it is offered strong arguments might be brought to overturn this power upside down but I am weary of what is already upon my hands For the objection that you offer let those vindicate it whosoever made it for my part I do not insist upon it but shall answer to that place by you quoted Deut. 39.19 after another manner And I do indeed conceive that this allegation is not any thing ad rem not at all to the business in hand For first Moses here speaks unto the Israelites not as then in a state of sinful unregeneracy but rather as in a state of grace for they were then the Church and people of God and he speaks unto them as they were a Church wherein because of their holy calling by the law of charity he accounts of them all as in a state of grace but if any were in a state of unregeneracy as doubtless there were he counsels them to choose life yet
but the meer good pleasure of Gods most holy and righteous Will who will do with his creature what he will do neither can any expostulate why hast thou done thus Esa 45.9 It is true that sin and unbelief and the rejecting of the means are just causes why God decrees such persons to hell and eternal torments but yet not the causes of their reprobation that is solely and singly in the good pleasure of his Will Ephes 1.5 which I prove by these Arguments 1. Arg. That which the holy Ghost in the Scripture ascribes unto the sole will and good pleasure of God that we are not to assign other causes to But the Scripture assigns reprobation solely to Gods will Therefore For proof of the minor proposition see these texts Rom. 7.18 whom he will he hardeneth ver 20 21. Nay but O man who art thou that replyest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell unto honour and another unto dishonour ver 22. What if God willing to shew his wrath and make his power known endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted or made up for destruction Matth. 11.26 Even so O Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Matth. 10.15 Is it not lawful to do what I will with mine own ver 16. Many called few chosen Prov. 16.4 The Lord hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil Rom. 9.11 12 13. for the children being not yet born ver 17. for this same purpose have I raised thee 2. Arg. That which is the efflux and consequent of Reprobation cannot be the cause of it But sin unbelief and rejecting the means is the efflux and consequent of Reprobation Therefore The major is as clear as the sun The minor proposition is proved from these texts Math. 11.25 26. I thank thee father c. for so it seemed good in thy sight He hid those things not outwardly but inwardly Ioh. 6.36 37. Christ to the Capernaites I said unto you that ye also have seen me believed not all that the father giveth me shall come to me signifying that they are not given to him of the father and therefore reprobated Ioh. 8.46 47. Christ to the Pharisees If I say the truth why do ye not believe me he that is of God heareth Gods word ye therefore hear them not because ye are not of God i.e. ye are reprobates Ioh. 10.26 Ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep i. e. not of the number of my elect Ioh. 12.39 40. Of the whole company of the Jews Therefore they could not believe because Esaias said he hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts viz. God according to his decree Rom. 9.18 whom he will he hardens and ver 33. Behold I lay in Sion a stumbling-stone and rock of offence Rom. 11.7 8. the election hath obtained it the rest are hardened for God hath given them the spirit of slumber c. 1 Pet. 2.8 which stumble at the word being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed 3. Arg. If sin and unbelief and rejecting of the means of salvation are the onely causes why God reprobates any then there is no such mystery in the decree of reprobation neither are Gods waies herein so unsearchable and past finding out but that the true and undoubted cause may be assigned But yet they are mysterious and unsearchable See Rom. 9.14 What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid Rom. 1.33 34. O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God how unsearchable are his judgements and his waies past finding out for who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellour 4. Arg. If the foresight of sin and unbelief and rejecting the means of salvation be the causes of Reprobation then these absurdities will unavoidably follow 1. That no child dying in infancy can possibly be reprobated 2. Neither such Gentiles or Turks Indians or Salvages that never heard of Christ who never enjoyed the Gospel nor ever had the means tendred to them for how can they believe in him on whom they have not heard Rom. 10. and how can they reject that which was never tendred unto them as many nations in the world who are strangers from the life of God Ephe. 1.12 3. If the foresight of sin should be the cause of Reprobation then the elect should be equally lyable to the decree of reprobation as the Reprobates themselves they all being alike in the corrupt mass and lump of Adams transgression Rom. 9.21 22 23 24. Iohn 15.19 20. If ye were of the world c. Ephes 2.1 2 3. children of wrath as well as others Rom. 3.10 and there is none righteous no not one 4. Then Paul was mistaken Rom. 9.11 in not assigning sin to be the cause of Reprobation 5. The same Apostle then answered very unsoundly to those objections Rom. 9.13 14. The first is if God reprobated Esau because he hated him then he was unjust The second ver 19. Why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will For he might in one word have answered to both the objections and said that sin was the cause of reprobating both of Esau and Pharaoh but he saith the contrary ver 11. When they had done neither good nor evil Iacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Mal. 1.2 6. Hereby we confine Gods infinite soveraignty over his creatures to the narrow scantling of our subordinate power as though he might not do with his own what he lists without our controll and not make a vessel either of honour or of dishonour unless he were accountable to us for the reason of his so doing For the fourth and fifth Positions These may pass with a grain of Salt bating some impropriety in the expressions and I am not so at leisure to teach such men to express themselves after a Theological manner either in their teaching or writing For the sixth Thesis I must ingenuously confess it is such a Mystery or Paradox and so involved with seeming contradictions that I want an Oedipus to unriddle the meaning of it I have been a little acquainted with the opinions of the Pelagians Semipelagians Papists Arminians Socinians and Anabaptists and amongst them all can observe none of them jumping in with this mans judgement for thus he writes All men are sometimes convinced of sin and the state of nature What his meaning is by the state of nature I cannot divine If his sense be that every man is at one time or other convinced that by nature he is a child of wrath and disobedience and dead in trespasses and sins and so t is false for most men have not such convictions Next And are made alive by the works of the spirit by this all men should be
17. God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world but that the world through him might be saved Answ That God doth put forth acts of Grace of free and undeserved love unto his worthless creatures we have willingly acknowledged we further say that that love of God is no passion not proper affection in God who is not capable of such but onely a purpose in God of willing well and doing well unto the creature and that out of the wel-spring of that love did slow that good pleasure of his of the sending of his Son into the world But that either it was the purpose of God in sending or the intention of Christ in coming into the world to be a Redeemer of all and every particular person or to offer himself a sacrifice for all this text doth not evinâ—e Yet I say that this love here spoken of may be said to be universal in respect of the Elect and of believing persons answerable to that Rom. 3.22 Rom. 3.22 The righteousness of God which is of faith of Iesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe and yet withall particular in respect of the whole mass and lump of mankind according to that Rom. 9.13 Rom. 9.13 Iacob have I loved and Esau have I hated and ver 18. he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Neither doth Christ intend any other universality here then this mentioned first because that those for whom Christ came into the world are also saved for what shall be able to hinder his purpose or resist his will Secondly because believers onely are saved Rom. 8.19 Phil. 1.2 Mat. 13.11 and shall not be condemned onely to the Elect it is given that they shall believe Phil. 1.29 Matth. 13.11 And thirdly to what purpose was this pretended love and affection in God if it never did nor can take any gracious effect in saving any reprobate That which takes the fourth place is Rom. 5.18 As by the offence of one judgement came upon all men to condemnation even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life Answ That by All men unto whom did slow the benefit purchased by Christ is not meant of all and singular men absolutely but all men that did appertain unto him who were given him of the Father i. e. the elect and believers For the Apostle here makes a comparison between the first Adam and the second Adam as being two roots either of whom do communicate unto their several branches i. e. unto a certain company descending from them what they have do or shall enjoy and therefore saith that as the first Adam by his carnal generation did communicate two pestilent evils Sin and Death unto all descending from him So Christ the second Adam by his spiritual generation did communicate two contrary blessings viz. Righteousness and Life to all that did believe in him The truth of this interpretation is clear from the scope of the Apostle which is to compare Christ the Authour of Righteousness and Life with Adam the Authour of Sin and Death from ver 12. to the end of the Chapter and therefore hereupon ver 19. repeating the same matter which in probability should be more clear the word all is interpreted by many For had it been otherwise the Apostle would have pulled down what before he had built up and clearly contradicted himself in that doctrine which he had before delivered in the third and fourth Chapters therein asserting the justification onely of believers and therefore here is but little advantage to be gotten from this Antithesis But you will say if more perished in Adam then are saved in Christ his Grace then should be weaker then Adams sin where is then the much more abounding grace spoken of ver 17. To which I answer that the greatness and power of grace above â—n ought not to be esteemed according to the multitude of those that are condemned in Adam and of those that are justified and glorified in Christ for so Grace should be equal onely and nothing at all stronger then sin if every of these should be made righteous in Christ as many as were born sinners in Adam But herein consists the extensiveness of Grace beyond what sin did First in that whereas sin brought forth death and grace righteousness and life now it s well known t is easier to destroy and condemn an innumerable company then to quicken and save one single person all the world compacted together could not save one but Adams single sin could make obnoxious the whole world Secondly In Adam all the whole world are involved and made liable to condemnation by his one only offence but Christ doth emancipate his little flock not onely from that one original sin contracted by stain and imputation but likewise from all actual sins wherein they themselves are personally culpable neither is there any Righteousness besides Christ as there be some sins besides the sin of Adam And how mighty is this gift which innumerable sinners cannot withstand and this is that which the Apostle hinteth ver 17. and not as c. And so I proceed to your fifth Text prest to give in evidence which is 2 Cor. 5.14 15. For the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which dyed for them and rose again True it is Christ is said here that he died for all but for what all therein lies the doubt truly then the resolve must be that Christ died first for those all to whom his death is imputed viz. such who through the virtue and efficacy of the death of Christ which he underwent for them are accounted as dead and secondly Rom. 13.14 for such as do repent i. e. whereas before they did indulge their pleasures and lived to the satisfying of the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof now they live no longer to themselves but do endeavour to live conformably to the will and honour of him that died for them Now whether this can be extended to any but believers let my adversary judge for it were blasphemy to think that Christ could not obtain the end of his death had it been intended by him for any else besides believers yea even those to whom he had purposed to give them power to believe and to become sons of God The sixth Text forced by you to give its vote is 1 Tim. 2.1 c. I exhort therefore that first of all supplications prayers intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men for Kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and
Ioh. 10.26 Ioh. 12.39 40. Rom. 9.18 33. Rom. 11.7 8. 1 Pet. 2.8 Whereunto you say To which I answer first by distingushing upon his Major proposition and to enquire into his meaning therein now if he mean by Reprobation the decree of God before time distinct from Reprobation in time or Rom. 1.28 Gods giving them over to a reprobate mind which is the execution of the decree then I deny that sin and unbelief is the effect of it for God is so far from decreeing and appointing men to commit sin or that sin is an effect that cometh to pass by his decree and appointment that he doth not so much as tempt any man to sin as we may see Iam. 1.13 yea the Apostle Iames is so far from laying sin upon Gods decree as if that should be the cause that should produce such an effect as sin and unbelief that he saith v. 14. that every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and inticed and then v. 15. he saith when lust hath conceived it bringeth forth sin and sin when it is finished bringeth forth death By which we may see that the Apostle doth not make Gods decree the cause of sin but that indeed which is the cause which bringeth it forth is even lust Quem recitas meus est Sed male dum recitas incipit esse tuus Answ Here were matter for you to work upon indeed if I would own the Argument as it is by you thus mistated and truly I do not well know how this error crept in as you have thus translated my second Argument whether you lookt upon it with a squint eye or a wry neck and so had a mind to pervert both the words and sense of it but I am sure in mine own written paper which one alone and no more I ever had which is now in my custody where as your pamphlet hath it That which is the effect and consequent of Reprobation is and so should be That which is the efflux and consequent of Reprobation which one word of effect for efflux doth much vary the case and overthrows at least silenceth a great part if not all what you have said against it for I utterly disown the word effect I know sin followes negative Reprobation or non-election not as an effect the cause but as the consequent flowing from and following its antecedent and therefore I protest against the word as spurious and illegitimate and no brood of my brain But yet if cause may be lookt upon in the latitude it is many times used and taken for I see not but that in a large sense Reprobation may be said to be a cause of sin viz. causa sine qua non for had there not been such a negative reprobation or non-election as the mother sin at least actual sin had never been born nor brought into the world as the daughter Had God elected all at least had not God decreed to permit the sin of Adam and of his posterity he had not permitted it at all for whatsoever he purposed to do or permitted to be done in time the same he did decree before all time so to do or to permit to be done and if he had not permitted sin at all and so decreed to permit it sin would never have been but it must have been hindred But I insist not upon this but apply my self to that member of your distinction of Reprobation viz. that which is before all time Wherein for so much as is contended for by you in this paragraph if I may gratifie you in it I will sâ—bscribe unto it abating me but this that whereas you say lust is the cause of sin I say the devil combining with the corruption of mans nature which is originally and totally depraved and hath little of other proper and innate quality but to sin and so I come to the other member of your distinction which is worded thus Secondly if by Reprobation he meaneth the act or execution of Gods decree in time which is Gods giving up of people to their own hearts lust and to a Reprobate mind as aforesaid then also we find that Gods act in the first place is not the cause of mans sin but mans disobedience in the first place is the cause why God doth execute the same as his just and righteous judgement upon them for their continuance in sin c. as it is expressed in this Position as appeareth Psal 81.11 12. Rom. 1.22 23 24 25 26 27 28. and yet I do not deny but sin and unbelief may be the effect and consequence of Reprobation in this sense as mens delaying and not coming in while the door is open is the cause of the door being shut against them and the door being shut against them is the cause of their abiding still without Wherefore strive to enter in at the straite gate before the good man of the house be risen up and hath shut to the door Luke 13.24 25. While it is called to day lest any of you be hardned through the deceitfulness of sin Heb. 3.13 Answ I wonder why you should think I meant it of Reprobation in time which is not in the decree about which our controversie is but onely the execution of the decree though this be your practise yet I use no such extravagancies as to run from the question which is onely about Reprobation before all time and therefore this requiring no other answer I proceed to that where you hit the nail on the head for thus you write But I do partly believe that his meaning by reprobation in his argument is that which is generally held amongst them That Gods will and decree before any thing was brought forth in order or before man had any being is the onely and alone cause of Reprobation and so consequently of sin and unbelief and the rejecting of the means of salvation and that no other fruits at any time can be brought forth by them notwithstanding all that they can do but that these things must unavoydably follow they being bound up thereunto by the decree of God and that which doth make me inclinable to believe that his meaning is so is because I find his Arguments tend much to the maintaining of such a thing Answ All this I stedfastly believe saving an ill-favoured expression that is interwoven viz. That being bound up thereunto by the decree of God which in my subsequent discourse shall be clearly refused But as though that in thus affirming I had maintained some formidable doctrine abhorrent to the Churches of the Saints he seems to bless himself from it thus But as I tender the honour and glory of God in the exaltation of his Psal 145.8 9. tender mercies over all his works and the purity of that truth and sincerity that is in himself together with his faithfulness in his upright and sincere dealings towards the sons of men and also when I think upon the excellency of
counsel hath decreed appointed to permit in the manner to come to pass But you have another bout with this text and say But secondly I do therefore affirme that the disobedience o◠unbelievers is in not doing of that which they should do by the appointment of God and as some of the former translations 〈◊〉 read being disobedient to that whereon they were set and if this man do but look on his Greek Testament and say no otherwise o◠this text then in his own conscience he judgeth to be the clea◠sense of it as he is freely willing to answer the same before the great and righteous Iudge the Lord Iesus at his appearing when he shall sit upon the throne of his glory Then I am perswaded that he will say no otherwise of it Answ Sir in answer to this your conclusive cathedral gloss viz. that the disobedience of unbelievers is in not doing of that which they should do by the appointment of God I must tell you it is very luxuriant and corrupts the text and perverts the whole scope of the Holy Ghost and sense of the words both of which according to the mind of the Spirit and given in before I need not to repeat it The word which the Translators here render disobedient is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which properly signifies an unperswaded person an incredulous unbelieving and refractory person that wil give no assent unto that which he hears And now I pray learn me one lesson In what Grammatical construction can these words whereunto they were appointed have any manner of relation but onely unto their antecedent disobedient or unbelieving and not to any implicit command or injunction of God as it is by you feigned And then it must necessarily carry this Interpretation being disobedient unperswaded or incredulous unto which their disobedience misperswasion or incredulity they were before hand even from all eternity predetermined predestinated or appointed of God But that which followes of yours puts me into a wonder as it was to the Jews concerning Christ Ioh. 7.15 How knoweth this man Letters or Learning as it is in the Margin having never learned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I suppose you are not a pretender to any Enthusiastical raptures as if you could speak any exotick languages as by an immediate divine inspiration which you never learned as one in London once did in my hearing pretending a miraculous gift in his speaking of Hebrew and Greek he being no scholar but let that pass and him too that set you on this buz which onely makes a noise but comes to nothing For those former translations you mention which render the words being disobedient to that whereon they were set I have not met with any such and therefore leave them to their own sense But upon your proposal and heavy charge thereon I have surveyed the original the words are these 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it properly signifies as I said before a person unperswaded not believing and for the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 whereon you lay the stress of your interpretation if we shall follow the usual sense of the holy Ghost in divers other such like places it cannot in any other fair construction be rendred then Appointed ordained viz. by the decree of God and so is the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 usually taken as Ioh. 15.16 I have chosen you and ordained you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 1 Thes 5.9 God hath not appointed us to wrath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 now why you should tread in a path by your self and wave the best received Interpretation I know no cogent reason for it but that you have a vain affectati-of singularity Nor indeed much would it conduce to your purpose had you your desire in this sense of the word but such men as you are when they can no wayes evade the power of the Spirit speaking in any Scripture then they fall to their wrenches and turnings and doubles as the Hate doth when she is hard hunted and in danger to be taken and can find no other way to escape and therefore I will leave you to your vain subterfuges and attend to what you further say Object But the objection that usually is made against this is grounded upon Rom. 9.19 20. Thou wilt say unto me why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God c. Now that which some do infer from it is That God doth Reprobate men to eternal destruction without assigning or ascribing any other thing to be the cause of it but the will of God as this man doth in his argument Answ To which I answer that there is no need at all for men to dispute with God so as to demand of him a ground or cause of mans Reprobation for he hath shewed them the things of himself by the things that are made even his eternal power and God-head so that they are without excuse Rom. 1.20 and hath shewed sufficiently in the Scripture that the rejecting the means of salvation continuing in sin and unbelief is the cause of it as hath been already proved and yet I shall by the help and assistance of God endeavour to make it more plain for consider that the people that Paul speaks to in these words Thou wilt say unto me why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will c. were the Iews which notwithstanding all that God did publish and declare unto them by Jesus Christ and by his Apostles first tendring unto them the choice and precious mercies of himself in his Son Christ that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations beginning at Ierusalem and so it was declared unto them Acts 4.10 11 12. that there was no other name under heaven given among men whereby they must be saved but onely by the name of Iesus of Nazareth whom they had crucified whom God hath raised from the dead Which is the stone that was set at nought by the builders the Iews yea this truth was plainly declared by Paul also in Acts 13. from ver 16. to ver 46. and he applying his speech to the men of Israel and children of the seed of Abraham in the conclusion thereof ver 38 39. saith these words Be it known unto you therefore men and brethren that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which they could not be justified by the law of Moses Beware therefore saith he ver 40 41. Lest that come upon you whsch is spoken of in the Prophets Behold ye despisers and wonder and perish for I work a work in your dayes which ye shall or see Hab. 1.5 will in no wise believe though a man declare it unto you and by this it may solely be concluded that Paul was not of
analogous to the business in hand Yet I have not spared to set the whole down having proposed that to my self to be my method at first that so it might apppear that I had not put a slur upon any part of his writing which had any appearance of substance in it And yet in my answer hereunto I shall not confine my self to such strict terms as to pursue him so closely in his wildgoose chace through thick and thin over hills and over dales Ultra Garamantas et Indos and so to wait upon him in his crooked waies or follow him in his extravagancies he gleans up and patcheth together divers impertinent places of Scripture as Act. 4.10 c. Act. 13.16 c. Ioh. 9.28 c. Rom. 2.17 Gal. 4.22 Gen. 25.23 Obad. 10. Rom. 10.18 and Ier. 18.4 and 2 Thes 2.10 11. and from these to drain out the Apostles meaning in this place But my purpose is to keep me close to the words of the Apostle who best knew the meaning of the Spirit and who alone is sufficient to be his own interpreter and from thence to infer so much as to a rational man may give a full decision to the matter in controversie viz. that sin and unbelief is not the cause of Reprobation before all time but that it proceeds solely from the good pleasure of Gods most holy will to reprobate or pass by whom he pleaseth though this confident I might say impudent man saith he hath already proved the contrary But sure then it must be in one of his former printed volumes I am certain it cannot be found in this pamphlet But before I undertake to make an entry on the words I cannot over-slip one of his new discoveries whereof he desires the Reader to consider that the people that Paul speaketh to in these words Rom. 9.19 Thou wilt say unto me why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will c. were the Jews c. Sir may I be beholding to you for this your rare invention Your skill in Chorography it seems is not ordinary such a dull brain as I have did believe that Rome stood in Italy within the bounds of Europe but your dextrous art hath espied it out in Iudea within the climates of Asia many hundreds of miles distant from what I ever apprehended of it I pray Sir in your next inform me whether Rome stood in Ierusalem yea or no But what need I to wonder at thi for with such fopperies you gull your deluded Auditors who swallow down worse falsities then these without straining at such Camels For truly Sir I must tell you that you must help me to such a faith that can remove mountains in the twinkling of an eye nay cities too before I can yield to you that Paul here speaks to the Jews For if I may safely believe Paul rather then you it was directed to the Romans Rom. 1.7 for all that be in Rome and the Postscript written to the Romans from Corinthus Now who can be so ignorant as not to know that the Romans were Gentiles and not Jews and though in this chapter mention be made of the Jews his sorrow for them in respect of his near relation to them their ancient pedigree and great priviledges yet it is directed particularly to the Gentiles that they might make a holy use thereof So that your fabrick raised on so sandy a foundation your Babel consisting of a bare circumlocution of several texts of Scripture forced by you to speak what was never intended by the Holy Ghost in them it all moulders to powder But lest this may seem rather a tergiversation then an answer I will as I intended offer to the Readers view the genuine Analysis of the Apostle in this part of the chapter that so sorting it as collateral to your forced interpretation the judicious Reader may thereby censure whether is more suitable to the mind of the Holy Ghost yours or mine In the former part of this chapter the Apostle had been treating of the predestination of the Saints by the examples of Isaac and Iacob and now is he entred upon the doctrine of reprobation by the examples of Ishmael and Esau under which all Reprobates may be comprehended Of whom when he had concluded that it was not for any of their evil deeds but the meet good pleasure of Gods will that so rejected them and having proposed an objection to himself which carnal wisdome might alledge that if the matter were so then there was unrighteousness with God to deal so unequally with persons that were in all things in an equal condition He repulseth this objection as most absurd saying God forbid and withal he aggravates his protestation against such a conclusion as the charging of God with injustice by the testimony of God to Moses Exod. 33.9 I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy c. the reason whereof is drawn from Gods absolute and most free power that he hath over all his creatures to do with them what he pleaseth The same absolute sovereignty is likewise ratified by the example of Pharaoh in whom there is such a series and concatenation of acts of the divine providence in hardening and destroying and that written in such large Characters that all the future ages of the world might know that God is Lord Paramount over all the works of the creation and therefore that he may when and whom and where he pleaseth raise up some to be as potsheards that were made of purpose that his absolute power might be shewen on them as to shew mercy on whom he will so to harden whom he pleaseth This block being removed and thereby the point of absolute soveraignty being confirmed the Apostle now meets with another objection ver 19. Thou wilt say unto me why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will now from what the Apostle here objects it is palpable that in himself he concludes that it depends meerly on the will of God that some are Reprobated or not elected and thereby hardened and being hardened do unavoidably sin and perish For humane reason from what was said whom he will he hardens might conclude that the Apostles doctrine leads to an absurdity for if it must be so how can it be that God can justly complain of those which are hardened and so of those who are Reprobated when they do sin How may it be said can God complain and that for a double reason First because those who are hardened or reprobated when they sin they do onely such things as God doth will to permit by them to be done Secondly because those who are so reprobated and hardened they can do no other then thus sin if that unto that purpose they were so hardened and reprobated Now both of these things are very true neither doth the Apostle deny either of them But that which humane reason doth infer from thence viz. that therefore God cannot in justice find fault
to his people they remaining faithful for he hath confirmed it with an oath which to men is an end of all strife Heb. 6.16 17 18. Wherein God willing the more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel confirmed it by an oath that by two immutable things in which it is impossible for God to lye we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us Fourthly let the express words of Jesus Christ be accepted of as a sweet counsel to all people Ioh. 12.35 36. Yet a litle while is the light with you walk while ye have the light lest darkness come upon you while you have the light believe in the light that ye may be the children of the light also Heb. 3.13 exhort one another daily while it is called to day lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin Hearken unto these things ye sons of men seek ye the Lord while he may be found call upon him while he is near Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts let him return unto the Lord and he will have mercy upon him and to our God for he will abundantly pardon Answ Sir I shall not have much to say to your uses as containing little of controversie though somewhat might be said to each of them but I shall wink at small faults as being weary with your former doctrine and therefore insâ—eâ—d of answering any one of yours I shall deduce from the doctrine that I have delivered certain consectaries flowing from the breasts of consolation Isa 66.11 and naturally arising from the subsequent words of the Apostle which may conduce much if well applied to the business now in controversie between us First here we may behold as in a glass the hatred of God against sin and for the sake thereof against sinners viz. that whiles we see him by his vindictive justice executing of wrath upon sinners he hereby declares himself to be a God hating sin neither that any iniquity can dwell with him Psal 5.4 And as his anger is extended against sin so it is onely against sin sin is none of Gods creatures no part of the creation for all that he made was good and therefore God is not angry with nor hates the devil intensively and that immediately as to his person and nature for that is good but as he hath contracted sin and so that renders him hateful and abominable How then can God be charged with any iniquity when he is pleased for the manifestation of his justice and therein of his hatred unto sin he is pleased I say not to elect but to reprobate some and fits them makes them up or appoints them to destruction that all the world may ring of his anger and hatred against sin Secondly and as God was willing to shew his wrath so was it needfull there should be such subjects even the Reprobates on whom he might make his power known that whiles we look upon God avenging himself on his enemies the Reprobates Isa 1.24 and therein shews us his wrath against their sin so withal we might take notice of his power Psal 2.9 that he may break them with a rod of Iron and dash them in pieces like a potters vessel and that onely because of their sin Psa 2.11 and that we might hence learn to serve the Lord with fear and rejoyce with trembling Thirdly this may likewise serve as a watch-tower or warning-piece to the elect that when as they see how infinite the anger of God is against sin and how full of power he is to take vengeance for sin Jude 23. they might thence be provoked to hate the garment spotted with the flesh and alwayes stand in awe and reverence of the most mighty God Heb. 12.29 whose wrath is like a consuming fire And therefore it is not said what if God willing to be angry and to put forth his power as though that God were delighted in anger and in the acting of such a power and therefore to this end did not elect or Reprobate such a multitude of men But it is said What if God willing to shew his wrath and make his power known viz. to all the men in the world in all ages and generations to the Reprobate that they thence may be made inexcusable But to the elect that they having in their eye so many examples of Gods wrath and power upon the reprobrates for their sins they might thereby be stirred up to serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear Heb. 12.28 Phil. 2.12 so working out their salvation with fear and trembling Fourthly this will serve as a Mercuries finger to point unto the honour of the Saints and to set forth the high advancement that from all eternity they have had in the bosome of God viz. that God could be well pleased that a greater part of the sons of men should be passed by as not known of God Pro. 8.31 and so left to the original hardness of their own hearts which Adam voluntarily drew upon himself and all his posterity and for which to be doomed to everlasting torments to this end among the rest that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy Rom. 9.23 contraria juxta se posita mutuo se illustrant But how are the riches of his glory made known to the Saints by the reprobating of some Why herein it is manifested that when as there was an equality of condition in all all alike lookt upon as in one corrupt lump and mass of perdition wherein it was in the free power and holy liberty of God to have reprobated those whom he hath elected and to have elected those whom he hath reprobated from eternity 1 Thes 5.9 Yet he hath not appointed us unto wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Iesus Christ all which doth proceed from the riches of his glory and no foreseen worth or works or faith in us And now worthy Sir by comparing of your Enthusiasms with my Analysis and practical uses thereupon let the impartial Reader judge whether hath more candidly represented the scope sense and mind of the holy Ghost you or I. So that now after this tedious conflict for the defence of my second Argument I must attend your summons to see what you can say against my third Argument which followeth His third Argument is this If sin and unbelief and the rejecting of the means of salvation are the onely causes why God reprobates any to destruction then there is no such mystery in the decree of reprobation neither are Gods wayes therein so unsearchable but that the true and undoubted cause may be assigned But yet they are mysterious and unsearchable See saith he Rom. 9.14 What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God God forbid Rom. 11.33 34. O the depth
to say such a thing was not exprest in the position those who are acquainted not onely with the Anabaptists but likewise with the Arminians and Socinians of both which you have a tange know so much You say it is not expresly which doth admit that it is comprehended in it implicitly which is as much as I look for if it may be deduced thence Howsoever the best of it is that I have reum confitentem that rejecting the means of salvation continuing in sin and unbelief are in some measure the cause of Reprobation but where you have proved these to be the causes he that hath eyes to see let him see I am sure I cannot find it You conclude what you have to say against this Argument thus 3. To the Scripture which he quoteth out of Rom. 9.14 I have spoken to it already and to that in Rom. 11.33 34. it speaketh not at all to that particular business of Reprobation but of that great love and tender respect that God yet hath to Israel for their fathers sake as doth appear from ver 25. and so forward and of the great things which shall be done for them in the latter dayes when their deliverer shall come out of Sion and shall turn away ungodliness from Iacob which great work of God in respect of the manner of it is much mysterious inasmuch as there is so much of the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God that his judgements to us are unsearchable and his waies therein past finding out until the fulness of time shall come that the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea Isa 11.9 the Lord shal set again his hand the second time to recover the remnant of his people which shall be left from Assyria and from Egypt and from Pathros and from Cush and from Elam and from Shiner and from Hamath and from the Islands of the sea c. ver 11. to the end But here I must break off from saying any more of these things at present for my leisure will not serve and it is likely this man will call this Millenarianism as he calleth the other Pelagianism Answ T is very right Sir you have spoken to that place of Rom. 9.14 but at so pitiful a rate and to so little purpose that the Reader will find it would have stood more with your credit if you had holden your peace And for that place of Rom. 11.33 34. howsoever it mentioneth not Reprobation yet it is a solemn conclusion of the things before delivered in the ninth tenth and eleventh Chapter For the Apostle having spoken of many difficult points as Election Reprobation rejection of the Jews calling of the Gentiles recalling of the Jews and having answered many questions prevented many cavils satisfied many doubts he now sets a period to this discourse with a sad exclamation O the depth c. whereby he signifies that he was driven into a wonderful admiration of the wisdom and knowledge of God in the administration of his love to the elect and displeasure to the Reprobate As a man wading into a deep river that is not fordable when he comes up to the neck and feels the water begins to heave him up and his feet to fail him cries out O the depth c. and goes back so the Apostle having waded so far as he could by the leading of the Spirit in those unfordable mysteries and being almost swallowed up with admiration at Gods administrations unable to pass any further into that bottomless gulf he silenceth himself because the Spirit ceaseth to give him further discoveries and resolves to enter upon no more questions but to admire the depth of the wisdom and knowledge of God whose mind i. e. his will and pleasure is no waies to be known of us but by the effects and consequents And I pray learned Sir did I alledge this place to any other purpose then that whereas you and other bold baiards will desperately undertake to assign reasons and external causes for those immanent actings of God we do with fear and reverence ascribe all to the good will and pleasure of God because by that and no way else hath he discovered himself in his word We do plainly see by the effect of it that it was his will so to be else had it not been and therefore we say it was appointed and ordained to be so by his good will and pleasure as for other reasons or causes we see and know none and surely Sir you limit this too narrowly straitning it to the recalling of the Jews which would the scope and purpose of the Apostle beare it yet would it serve sufficiently for my purpose neither should I make any scruple thereby of your turning Millenary for to that and a hundred more of other unstable doctrines are such men of your temper inclined unto being constant onely in inconstancy persisting in nothing but change But whereas you seem to put Millenarianism into the scales as to poise against Pelagianism Sir herein thâ—s far I shall discover my judgement upon them both that a man may be a Millenary I mean in so much as the reign of Christ upon the earth for a thousand years and yet with a charitable interpretation hold all the Articles of the Christian faith and so be eternally saved I know many learned good and gracious men have been of that judgement but for Pelagianism their doctrine is so gross in the whole lump yea so destructive to and inconsistent with the fundamentals of Christian Religion that to be a Pelagian in all their known profest tenets and to live and die so I do much doubt whether any one of them can be saved But what have I to do to judge another mans servant to his own Master he standeth or falleth Rom. 14.4 I have enough to do to attend my own calling but in the mean time to wait what great matters will flow from your wisdom in the rear of all I mean what you have to say to my fourth and last Argument which is as followeth Arg. 4. If the foresight of sin and unbelief and the rejecting of the means of salvation be the causes of Reprobation then these absurdities will follow 1. That no child dying in infancy can possibly be Reprobated 2. Neither such Gentiles or Turks Indians and Savages that never head of Christ who never enjoyed the Gospel nor ever had the means tendred unto them for how can they believe in him of whom they never heard Rom. 10. and how can they reject that which was never tendred unto them as many nations in the world who are strangers from the life of God Ephes 2.12 3. If the foresight of sin should be the cause of Reprobation then the Elect should be equally lyable to the decree of Reprobation as the Reprobates themselves they all being alike in the corrupt mass and lump of Adams Transgression Rom.
all in their several generations had tasted of death and for a more full manifestation hereof he distinguisheth mankind into infants and those of ripe years wherein he affirms by the effect that not onely those that were of ripe years had died who had sinned in their own persons but even infants who had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression i. e. who had committed no actual sins in their own persons for which they should suffer death which is the wages of sin even they likewise had died Rom. 6.23 as having brought into the world with them the guilt of Adams transgression and therefore it could not be denied but that sin was likewise in them So that you that undertake to be a Proctor for all infants for ought you have proved from this text you will leave them all in a sad condition if a more sufficient Advocate may not be found to to plead their cause Another reason there is which you would fain have to be received from the authority of Christ himself Luke 18.16 Of such is the kingdom of God for the salving whereof I must open the words which do evidence that the Disciples had a prejudice and a cruell one too against infants thinking as the Anabaptists do that they understood nothing of Christ nor of the kingdom of Grace but Christ rebukes them and instates infants of believing parents as members of the visible Church Of such is the kingdom of God Now we cannot think that Christs meaning is of such as such is the kingdom of God as if all infants whether Jew or Gentile Turk or Pagan belonged as subjects to the visible Church for then the infants of all the heathens should be covenanted members of the Church visible and yet their parents are without the viâ—â—ble Church and when they should grow to age they should without any scandal be excommunicated which were monstrous to affirm much less can the invisible kingdom of God be of such as if all infants because infants were actually saved but all that our Saviour intends is Of such i. e. of such in covenant-relation is the kingdom of God of such subjects i. e. infants as well as others So that our Saviour did herein hold forth the common interest of the whole species of infants within the visible Church their common interest in Christ that he is a Saviour of them as well as a Saviour of the aged But to conclude thence of such Therefore all such is an unheard of non sequitur We find salvation entailed upon qualifications of Graces but not upon any age or period of life But that whether it be for matter of election or of reprobation young as well as old are lookt upon as in the corrupt lump and out of which some are elected the rest are left and so not elected which is to be Reprobated You have one reason more for the defence of your assertion that no child dying in infancy c. And that I conceive you offer by way of anticipation to what might be objected from Rom. 5.15 2 Cor. 5.10 16 17 18 19. concerning the imputation of Adams sin to all his posterity and thus you state it that when all shal appear before the judgement seat of Christ every one shall receive according to what he hath done in his body but not to receive any thing as a punishment for what hath been acted in the body of another And I pray Sir tell me you that are so accurate the reason of your limitation why none shall receive any thing as a punishment of that which hath been acted in the person of another but that we may receive a reward for the good which hath been acted in the person of another where if the text by you cited 2 Cor. 5.10 be that rule you walk by it should hold for good as well as bad But perhaps you foresaw the instance that would be given in against you in that man Christ Jesus from the acting of whose person in his own body all other bodies that do expect or hope for any reward of all their labours of love they do participate Joh. 1. Ezek. 16.14 for of his fulness have we all received and we all are made perfect through his comliness that he shall put upon us and by his obedience shall those that are justified be made righteous And therefore my good friends this is but gratis dictum Rom. 5.19 and you do herein grosly suborn and abuse that place of the Apostle to serve your base ends this sure is no better then the devils juggle Matth. 4. to mince so much of a text as will serve his turn and to leave out the rest so to delude the Readers I pray use fairer play in your next and deal above board The next thing I observe of your alike fair dealing is about that text 1 Cor. 15.22 that all die and go to the dust in the first Adam in that all have sinned or in whom all have sinned Rom. 5.12 and here sure the dust so flies in your eyes that all the skil and labour you can take will never wipe it away For first you do confess that all Infants as well as others sinned in Adam and why should you not alike confess from that very place Rom. 5.18 that therefore judgement upon all to condemnation should pass upon infants as well as others but probable it is that here your meaning is that Adams first transgression whereon I shall have occasion more fully to answer when I come to examine and resolve your postscript of Queries till when I shall dismiss this paradox and shall apply my self to enquire into the mind of God in that text by you cited Ezek. 18.20 the soul that sinneth it shall die the son shall not bear the iniquity of the father c. Upon which your comment is by death in this place is meant eternal death that which is the portion of the wiâ—ked for their wickedness for as for the temporal or natural death that is the portion as well of the righteous as unrighteous and therefore from this place you suppose it clear that no soul shall eternally be cast into the lake for the sin of another i. e. for Adams sin But I pray Sir what think you first of the sufferings of Christ both in his soul and body â—am 1.12 Isa 53.3 there was no sin inherent in himself neither of original nor actual sins yet was there never any sorrow or sufferings like unto his and therefore called a man of sorrowes which though they were not eternal in respect of duration yet were they eternal according to the nature and essence of them and in respect of the dignity of the person being God-man they were equivalent to any or all of those sufferings which are eternal for time and continuance and yet all this was undergone not for the satisfaction of any sin in himself but for what sins were acted in the
of a horse is a horse c. and therefore by the name of the Son of man is understood him not which is simply a man as Adam was but him that is born of a man Adam was a man made not born and therefore he is called a man but not the Son of man It is observed therefore that the Hebrews in this their manner of speaking when they say thou art a son or child of disobedience a son of perdition c. that they assign as it were disobedience and perdition to be as the father and that thou art born of that and therefore that such expressions do not barely signifie that thou art disobedient but that thou wert born disobedient not that thou art in a perishing condition but that thou wert born a son of perdition not that thou art a sinner but that thou wast born a sinner So likewise in those words a child of wrath not that thou art obnoxious to wrath and condemnation because of thy sins but that thou art born a child of wrath guilty of eternal condemnation so much of the first The second thing considerable is how they were by nature the children of wrath The word nature hath several acceptations First sometimes it is taken for the substance and essence of a thing but thus acording to his essence and substance man is not a child of wrath because the substance is not sin though it be infected with sin Secondly for the first principle of motion and rest in every thing whether that principle be in the substance or that it be the natural quality and propriety of the thing And after this manner the first nature of man was good yea very good for in that the Lord did imprint a power of motion to that which was good to know love and worship God and thereby to have life everlasting but this nature was lost by the sin of Adam and instead thereof there succeeded a naughty quality whereby it comes to pass that there is no natural motion in us but unto that which is evil viz. against God and against his son Jesus Christ and no rest but in that which is not good This evil quality came by the temptation of the Devil and it is as a pestilence that hath infected both the soul and body of man man I say remaining the same in his essence and substance is infected with the venome of this evil quality so that he can effect or work nothing but that which is like himself because from this he is moved unto all actions Hence it is that there arise all the evil thougths in the mind all the perverse and distempered affections in the heart and all wicked motions and desires in the will And this corruption of the whole nature which is otherwise called concupiscence the Apostle cals in this place nature viz. the first principle or beginning of all evil actions and motions whether external or internal and therefore whereas this is sin it doth deservedly make such the children of wrath Thirdly nature is oftentimes taken for nativity or birth natura a nascendo because that every one being conceived in sins and born in iniquities Psalm 51.5 and that we are born ungodly and enemies to God and therefore most worthy that God should be angry with us and inflict eternal punishments on us and therefore in this sense likewise are we said to be the children of wrath i. e. rom our first conception and nativity and because we are descended from Adam and sinned in him and all are born children of wrath even infants likewise though they have not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression i. e. actually Rom. 5.14 yet because they are born of sinful parents the infection becomes hereditary to them and they likewise children of wrath as well as others After this manner of speech is that of the Apostle Gal. 2. We which are Iews by nature i. e. Jews by birth and nativity And by this I hope the judicious Reader will find that I have both confuted your reasons and confounded your gloss so that the third absurdity will stick as close to your proposition as the spots do to the Leopard and now I shall have leisure to attend your motion in the removal of your quarters to the fourth absurdity which is this Then Paul was mistaken Rom. 9.21 in not assigning sin to be the cause of reprobation Answ Paul was not mistaken for he hath assigned continuing in sin and unbelief to be the cause of reprobation Rom. 9.32 and 11.20 and 1.2 6 28. Answ Sir this hath been your dealing in all this tract of reprobation wherein you make no distinction between non-election or negative reprobation which is before all time whereon your position is built and against which my undertakings are as you deliver it and whereof there is no cause assignable besides the good pleasure of Gods most holy will and that reprobation which is in time and whereof sin is the cause and whereunto those Scriptures by you quoted do answer which no man contradicts But yet this last reprobation or that in time is not immutable as is the other Jer. 6.30 Isa 1.25 Zac. 13.9 Ro. 11.23 for a man or a nation may be as reprobated silver today and yet refined from the dross to morrow they may be broken off to day and grafted in again to morrow for God is able to graft them in again But for that reprobation whereabout our dispute is as it is immanent in God and eternal so it is also immutable and unchangeable as is God himself And so I pass to the fifth absurdity which is this Absurd 5. The same Apostle then answered very unsoundly to these objections Rom. 9.13 19. The first is If God reprobated Esau because he hated him he was unjust The second ver 19. why doth he yet find fault for who hath resisted his will for he might in one word have answered to both objections and said that sin was the cause of reprobating both Esau and Pharaoh but he saith the contrary ver 11. when they had done neither good nor evil Iacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Answ To the first when I shall hear any say that God reprobated Esau because he hated him without assigning any other cause and prove it I shall say more to it and in the mean time I shall desire to have this question resolved Whether those that shal preach such doctrine As that God reprobated Esau because he hated him and for no other cause do not make God much like the envious Jews Ioh. 15.25 who hated the man Christ Jesus without cause Answ Sir for the resolving of your question and satisfying of the scruple I must tell you first that God is said to have hated Esau before he was born or that he had done either good or evil that is called hatred comparatively in respect of that love he shewed unto Iacob he may be said to hate him
or be angry with the Reprobates when they sin this he takes for a false conclusion and therefore he checks the boldness and petulancy of wanton carnal reason saying Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God wherein the Apostle flatly condemns the daring boldness of such men who when God had plainly declared in his word that according to his free good will and pleasure he had elected whom he would and therewith had mercy on whom he would and that he had likewise not elected or reprobated and therewith hardened more and more whom he world yet they would be so adventurous as to reply answer again dispute or expostulate the case with God thereby tacitly accusing him of injustice and making him either the author or approver of sin and so extenuating their own wickedness In short it tends thus far to our purpose that the Apostle insists not on a refutation of these reasons but by his silence gives consent unto them onely he rejects the sequel thence deduced by this express reproof who art thou that repliest against God Next for a further confirmation of what he hath in hand he brings a similitude from the Potters house Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus In which words are condemned the desperate audaciousness of such who fear not to contend with God their maker why he had not made them otherwise then he hath a like parallel place we have Esa 45.9 Wo unto him that striveth with his maker let the potsheard strive with the potsheards of the earth shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it what makest thou Further in these words Hath not the potter power c. the Apostle by an argument a minori ad majus clearly evinceth that God may without the least tincture of unrighteousness elect or reprobate have mercy or harden appoint to salvation or damnation whom he will For if the potter may enjoy that freedom without the control of any that of the same lump of clay he may make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour how much more may God who is such a Lord that no man may say unto him Job 9.12 What doest thou Adde moreover this to make it weigh heavier the potter though he be the maker of the vessel yet he is not the maker of the clay whereof the vessel is made but God he made us of nothing at least he made the lump of clay whereof man was made Now the Apostle purposely made use of the word clay to prevent a cavil which might be made viz. that there is a great deal of difference betwixt us and earthen vessels be it so but yet what are we but as clay in the hands of God for thereof were we at first formed so Ier. 18.6 And therefore without dispute we are more properly as clay in the hands of God then the clay whereof the vessel is made in the hands of the potter And that the Lord hath a far greater power over us then the potter hath over his clay because we are more properly Gods then the clay is the potters for the potter made not the clay but God made both the clay and the potter he made the clay of nothing and of that clay fashioned man Besides the potter as he made not the clay so is it not in his power to unmake it but that it will be clay still but God as he formed man of nothing so if he would please he might reduce us to our first nothing Moreover we see that there is a great difference between the potter and his pot that he makes and yet it is but finite for both are creatures But between God the creatot of all and us his creatures there is an infinite disproportion so that hence it comes to pass that the power and soveraignty that God hath over the work of his hands is infinitely beyond what the potter hath over his clay If therefore the potter hath such power over his clay that is not simply his own but holding all in capite from God himself how much greater power then hath God over us worms and no men to frame fashion and do with us what seems good in his own eyes without any dispute to be made with him From all which it is as clear as the day that God in Reprobation or non-election though he had no respect to sin as to the decree yet in respect of the soveraignty that he hath over his creatures he may according to his good will and pleasure form and appoint any vessel to dishonour without being accountable to any or in the least measure charged of unrighteousness And thus having done with my Antagonist for his doctrinal part out of that ninth chapter of the Romans I must attend unto the practical uses that he draws from them which are these following Now the use that we make of this is first it doth hereby appear that Gods decree before the foundation of the world doth not hinder men from being eternally saved if they be not wanting to themselves in the use of that means and the exercise of that power that God giveth unto them for the accomplishing of their everlasting happiness Secondly It may be a precious incouragement to all people to go unto God by Jesus Christ in the use of that means that he hath appointed for life and salvation forasmuch as he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him Thirdly those that have embraced Jesus Christ by that way and means may be sweetly comforted in the everlasting love of the Father manifested to their souls through the precious promises of God in Christ Jesus which are not yea and nay but in him they are yea and amen which promises of remission of sins the everlasting inheritance and the holy Spirit of promise as Ephe. 1.13 14. 2 Cor. 1.12 a seal or earnest of the same inheritance and those promises are assigned and made over so firmly to penitent believers being baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus together with seeking for the same spirit by prayer and laying on of hands believing the resurrection of the dead and the eternal judgement and growing up upon those principles in holiness of life in the fear of God and with a single heart in obedience to Christ delighting to observe all his counsel and so going on unto perfection in the way of righteousness with perseverance enduring therein to the end of their lives that they shall undoubtedly be saved in the day of the Lord according to these and such like Scriptures Ioh. 3.15 16. Chap. 15.16 Matth. 18.14 It is not the will of your father which is in heaven that one of those little ones should perish Note It hath an allusion to ve 6. Those little ones that believe in me Mark 16.16 Acts 2.38 Chap. 16.31 32 33 34. Matth. 24.13 Rev. 2.10 for God cannot fail in making good his promises