due to vs for the sinne of Adam vnlesse we be freed by Christ The Arminians doe not much differ from this opinion who doe not care who they imitate so they inuent something that may make for the safeguard of their errour Pag. 388. in Tilenum Arnoldus after Arminius doth teach that Originall sinne hath no respect of vice or sinne properly so called for nothing is sinne or vice vnlesse it be committed by the free-will In the same place hee denieth that Originall sin deserues punishment but saith that it is a punishment And he doth confesse Pag. 389. 390. that Arminius doth deny that Originall sinne is sinne properly so called Arminius himselfe Resp ad 9. Quaest P. 174. hath these words It is peruersely said that Originall sinne doth make a man guilty of death XIII The reasoning then of Saint Paule the Apostle doth fall to the ground Rom. 5.13.14 where speaking of sinne which hath flowed from Adam into his posterity when he had said That sinne was in the world vntill the Law hee afterward proues it by the death of the infants who were dead before the daies of Moses Death saith he raigned from Adam to Moses euen ouer them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression that is ouer infants which had not sinned actually Hee thereby proueth that sinne was in those infants because death is the fruit and punishment of sinne Seeing therefore the death of infants is a punishment of Originall sinne if this Originall sinne were not truely sinne but onely the punishment of sinne then this death of infants would be the punishment of a punishment and not the punishment of sinne but to say that God doth punish punishments and not sinnes is vncomely for any especially for those who professe themselues to be maintainers of Gods iustice XIV And if the Originall blot of infants is not sinne but onely the punishment of sinne they are baptised in vaine For baptisme is not profitable to wash away punishments but to wash away sinnes In vain are they washed that are without the filth of sin Why is it necessary men should be borne againe but because they are dead in sinne Whence is that peruersenes by which naturally men are prone to euill but from vice and what is this vice but sinne XV. But you say it is not sinne vnlesse it be voluntary I confesse it if you speake of actuall sinnes but if you speake of the naturall staine and blot it is not necessary that this naturall blot be procured by euery one 's owne will it is enough if it be contrary to the Law For this is the best difinition of sinne that Saint Iohn layeth downe that sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the breach of the Law And it cannot be doubted but that that is contrary to the law which doth stirre vp a man to rebell against the law For although Originall sinne hath not yet stirred vp the infant to sinne in act yet is it apt and prone to stirre him vp No otherwise then the Snake which hath not yet infected any one with her poysoning biting hath yet an engrafted poyson in her and a naturall readinesse to hurt Originall sinne also may be said to be voluntary because by it we sinne voluntarily and also because we sinned in Adam and therefore in him wee were desirous of this corruption Finally wee must rather beleeue Saint Paul that teacheth vs that sinne is in infants then these men who strike themselues with their owne stings and entangle themselues XVI For seeing that the Arminians teach that by the death of Christ all mankinde is reconciled to God and that remission of sinnes is obtained for all men I demand for what sinnes are infants punished and doe fall into torments of body and doe suffer the assaults of Diuels Is it for the sinne of Adam that the Arminians affirme is forgiuen them Is it for any actuall sinne they haue committed none It remaines therefore that they are punished for Originall sinne Vide Aransic Concil secund Chap. 2. vnlesse we will brand God with the marke of iniustice as he that torments the innocents and they that are guilty of no sinne CHAP. IX How the sinne of Adam may belong to his posteritie and how many waies it may passe to his of spring And first of the imputation and whether the sinnes of the Grandfather and great-Grandfathers are imputed to their posterity I. THe sinne of Adam doth passe to his posterity by two meanes by imputation propagation II. The punishments which all men suffer in the name of Adam doe argue that the sinne of Adam is imputed to vs This the Apostle teacheth Rom. 5.12 Death passed on all men by one man in whom all men sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or because all men sinned in him For the sinne of Adam was not onely personall neither did hee sinne as a singular person but as carrying all mankinde in the stocke and originall no otherwise then Christ satisfying for vs on the crosse hath not suffred as a priuate person but as sustaining and representing the whole Church in the head Saint Paul 2 Cor. 5.15 speaketh thus If one dyed for all all likewise were dead And Rom. 6. doth affirme that we are dead and crucified with Christ If therefore we dyed in Christ dying and were crucified with him it is no doubt but that it may likewise be said that we sinned in Adam For if the satisfaction and righteousnesse of the second Adam be imputed to vs why shall not the sinne of the first Adam be imputed to vs seeing that therefore the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed to vs that the sinne of Adam might not be imputed to vs III. Reason it selfe doth consent to this for if Adam had receiued good things not for himself alone but for his posterity it is no maruell if being spoiled of these good things he lost them for himselfe and his posterity If any one be capitally punished for treason and brought to extreame pouerty his children also with him doe loose their Nobility Nor is any thing more equall then that the sonne should pay his fathers debts and that as they are heires of their estates so they might be heires of their debts IV. But in this similitude there is one and that a notable difference that is when the debter hath wasted the inheritance and there is more in debt then in goods the sonne may renounce the inheritance and leaue his fathers goods But here this yeelding vp cannot be made because to the guilt by the sinne of Adam there commeth also the naturall deprauation and contagion like as he that is borne of parents infected which leprosie which contagion cannot be put off when they please V. Although these things are grounded vpon the word of God and the very rule of iustice yet they seeme to be charged and followed with great discommodities First that in Ezekiell Chap. 18. v. 20. doth offer it selfe The
They therefore doe inuert the nature of things who say that God decreed that Adam should sinne because hee had determined to send Christ who should cure Adams sinne when rather God decreed to send Christ because Adam was to sinne Man did not sinne that Christ should abolish sinne but Christ came that he might abolish sinne Here is nothing said that ought to trouble tender eares or which should make God partaker of sinne which yet if any one doth either not conceiue or not digest it is better to accuse his owne dulnesse then accuse the iustice of God and to abstaine from lawfull things then attempt vnlawfull things CHAP. VII That all mankinde is infected with Originall sinne I. SInne is either Originall or Actuall I vse the accustomed words for clearenesse of speech for if one would deale strictly he shou d abstaine from these tearmes seeing it is certaine that Originall sin is in act and therefore is actuall But vse hath obtained that that sinne should be called actuall which is committed in action or in deede and that originall which we haue from the birth that hereditary blot which is sent into vs from our Parents II. Of Originall sinne Saint Paul doth treat in the fifth and seauenth Chapter to the Romanes In the fifth Chapter how it hath passage into all mankinde in the seauenth Chapter how it doth remaine in him in whose minde the law of God is perfectly written III. That no man is free from this blot the Scripture doth cry and experience doth witnesse Whatsoeuer is borne of the flesh is flesh saith Christ Iohn 3. And there he doth plainely teach that all men are defiled with Originall sinne when he saith that it is necessary to be borne againe and to be formed anew We are by nature the children of wrath Eph. 2.3 Who can bring forth a cleane thing out of an vncleaâ—e there is not one Iob 14. Dauid acknowledgeth himselfe infected with this contagion Psal 51. Behold saith he I was formed in iniquity and in sinne my mother conceiued me He doth not acâ—use his father nor expostulate with his mother but although hee was adorned with fingular prerogatiue and replenished with benefits yet hee doth confesse himselfe to be defi ed with that vniuersall contagion he fetcheth the cause of his sinne from that originall and in this common lot he doth lament his owne Circumcision signiâ—ied this for by that externall symbole â—e Church was warned that there was something â—n man 〈◊〉 soone as he was borne that ought to be cut off and â—â—â—râ— ted The end of Baptisme is the same watch 〈◊〉 the Sacrament of our cleansing in the bloud of Christ by which our naturall filthinesse is washed away IV. Not onely the progenie of Ethnicks and Infidels or euill Christians is borne in this Originall sinne but also the off-spring of the godly and faithfull No otherwise then he that was Circumcised begat one that was vncircumcised and as a graine of Wheate well cleansed and receiued in the lap of the earth afterward growing doth bring forth Wheate with chaffe Then was Adam iustified then did hee by his faith cleaue to the promise of his seede that should bruise the serpents head when he begot Cain the heire of his naturall wickednesse and not of his faith or repentance Piety is not hereditary to be deriued to ones heires neither doth holinâ—sse come into vs by nature but by grace not generation but regeneration doth make men holy and good After the same manner that Aristotle lib 2. Phisic doth teach That artificiall formes as the forme of a statue or image are not begotten but onely naturall formes Therefore in the children of the best man as soone as they beginne to speake you may see a crafty and lying disposition and prone to reuenge stubbornenesse against those that admonish them prickes of glory and sporting vanity also that great honour wherewith they prosecute their puppets and babyes are no obscure seedes of their inclinablenesse to Idolatry For as puppets are the Idols of infants so Idols are the puppets of those that are growne in age And therefore when any man hath children of euill manners he ought to acknowledge his image in them when he hath good children he ought to admire the worke of God in them For these are they of whom Saint Iohn saith Chap. 1. who are not borne of bloud nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God V. The second Canon of the Mileuitan counsell is expresly to this thing It pleaseth vs that whosoeuer doth deny little ones that are new borne to be Baptised or doth say that indeede they are Baptised for the remission of their sinnes but yet they drew no originall sinne from Adam which is to be taken away by the lauar of regeneration whence it followeth that the forme of Baptisme in them is to be vnderstood not to be true but false be an Anathema VI. Christ alone was free from this blot he deriued not Originall sinne from his Mother Saint Paul indeede Rom. 5.10 saith that all men sinned in Adam neither is it any doubt but that Christ was in Adam as being one of his posterity but that sentence of the Apostle doth not concerne Christ because the person of Christ was not in Adam but onely his humaine nature neither is he from Adam as from the agent principle and from the seminating power but thence he tooke that matter which by the ouer-shadowing of the holy Ghost was freed from the common contagion VII Now if you should aske me whether Originall sinne is done away by Baptisme or whether that blot doth yet remaine in those that are regenerated by the holy Ghost it is readily answered out of the Scripture and experience which is so certaine here that there is no place left for doubting Dauid was circumcised and plentifully instructed with the gifts of the holy Ghost and yet he doth confesse that he was not free from this staine but was polluted in an equall contagion with others And Saint Paul Rom. 7. speaking vnder his owne person of euery man in whose minde the law of God is faithfully imprinted doth acknowledge that sinne doth dwell in him which he â—aileth the law of sinne because it doth stirre him vp to sinne We see infants dye as soone as they are baptised and death the Apostle being witnesse Rom. 6. is the wages of sinne I demand for what sinne doe those Baptised infants dye is it for actuall sinne but they haue committed none therefore it is for Originall sinne Whence it appeareth that Originall sinne doth remaine after Baptisme wherein sinne is remitted as touching the guilt although it remaine in the act as Saint Austen teacheth at large in his first Booke against Iulian concerning Marriage and concupiscence Cap. 25. and 26. The concupiscence of the flesh saith he is forgiuen in Baptisme not that it should not be at all but that it should not be imputed for sinne VIII
Scripture that cannot lye saith that euery man is a lyar The same Law commandeth that God be loued withall our heart and all our strength which thing how can it be performed by the vnregenerate seeing it was neuer peeformed by the regenerate themselues That which a liuing man neuer performed how can it be performed by him that is dead Finally we must bid Christian religion farewell and another Gospell must be coyned if this prodigious doctrine be admitted IX But that we may come to that double spirit of God Arminius and according to him Arnoldus pag. 399. doe deuise two spirits or rather two acts of the same spirit The one of these spirits they will haue to be common to all men euen to the vnregenerate yea and to heathen men to whom the Gospell hath not come by which spirit they thinke that God doth worke in all men and is idle in none This is that spirit which they call the spirit of bondage of which it is spoken Rom. 8.15 which is opposed in that place to the spirit of Adoption which is peculiar to the true faithfull This spirit of bondage the Arminiaâ—s will haue to be effectuall in the law not onely in the written law but also in that which is naturally imprinted in mens hearts By this spirit they thinke that vnregenerate men doe tremble with a sauing feare doe acknowledge and confesse their sinnes doe implore the grace of God and apply themselues to the obedience of the law of nature these they thinke are preparation and dispositions to regeneration if so be that free-will doth vse well that vniuersall and sufficient grace which is common to all men These are the decrees of this new sect full of many perplexities and filled with nice and slender points X. I finde in the holy Scripture the spirit of adoption the first fruits of the spirit the spirit of sanctification but I no where finde a spirit of God that is tyed to the law and common to all men Nor can the spirit of God working in our hearts be without very great wickednesse seperated from the knowledge of Christ 2 Cor. 3.6 Ministers of the new Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit for the letter killeth but the spirit giueth life Nor doe I see how there can be in them whom Saint Paul Ephes 2. saith to be dead in sinne strangers from the life of God and without God in the world either any spirituall life or the spirit of God dwelling in their hearts and sauingly mouing and affecting them Certainely the Apostle had neuer called the Law seperated from the Gospell a killing letter nor had opposed it to the spirit if the spirit of God were alway ioyned to the law or if the spirit of God did worke in mens hearts and dispose them to faith and conuersion without the knowledge of the Gospell Nor is the Law a Schoole-master vnto Christ vntill the grace of Christ is offred to vs for then the Law with terrour and threats doth compell vs to imbrace the grace offred XI But that is most dangerous which the Arminians presse downe and hide but dare not vtter to wit that the holy spirit is naturally in euery man For if the spirit of God be effectuall in the law and the law be naturally engrauen in euery man it must needes be that the spirit of God is naturally in euery man And so whatsoeuer the Scripture speaketh of the second birth by the spirit of the creation of the new man and of the spirituall resurrection will fall to the ground yea will be ridiculous For what neede were there to infuse a new spirit for regeneration if the same spirit of God did already dwell in the hearts of the vnregenerate XII And that place of Saint Paul Rom. 8. Ye haue not receiued the spirit of bondage againe to feare they doe falsely and against the Apostles will draw to this matter For Saint Paul neuer called the spirit of God the spirit of bondage for so he had reproached the spirit of God but he onely saith that the spirit that was giuen to them was not seruile and such as should strike their hearts with a slauish feare For where the spirit of God is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3. If I should say that we haue not receiued from God the spirit of lying should I therefore say that there is a spirit of God that compels to lying Is the spirit of God contrary to it selfe that one spirit of God should be called the spirit of bondage and another the spirit of liberty The plaine and simple meaning therefore of the words of the Apostle is this Ye haue receiued the spirit of God not that which should terrifie your consciences with a slauish feare which made you vncertaine and doubtfull before the grace of God and the adoption of Christ was reueiled to you c. XIII And they doe extreamely dote when they put the feare and terrour wherewith the law destitute of the spirit of regeneration and the knowledge of Christ doth strike mens hearts among the effects of the spirit of God For the law thus receiued can onely restraine the raging affections with the feare of punishment and frame a man to certaine outward obedience but it will neuer purge the inward filthinesse or instill any one drop of true repentance yea rather it will stirre vp the inward lusts by the resistance of it as it is engrafted in euery man to encline to that which is forbidden and wheresoeuer hope of impunity is propounded men hauing broken their barres doe so much the more outragiously riot by how much they were straightly bridled in This is that which the Apostle would expresse Rom. 7.5.8 The motions of sinnes by the law did worke in our members and sinne taking occasion by the commandement it selfe wrought concupiscence And that vntill the spirit of life which in Christ frees vs from the law of sinne and death as it is said Chapter 8.2 that is vntill the powerfull efficacy of that quickning which we haue from Christ free vs from that bondage of deadly sinne XIV It is vaine and idle which they obiect that the corruption of an vnregenerate man is compared to sleepe and to an Vlcer I confesse it is compared to a sleepe but to a deadly one and such a one out of which man cannot awaken and raise himselfe That Vlcer and scarre which is spoken of Esay 53.1 and 1 Pet. 2. doth not signifie sinne it selfe but the punishment of sin This therefore is nothing to the reliques and remainds of spirituall life in an vnregenerate man CHAP. XXXV The Obiections which the Arminians borrow from the Pelagians and Papists are answered Whether an vnregenerate man doth necessarily sinne and whether necessitie excuseth the sinner Also whether God doth command those things which cannot be performed by man I. THese thornes and difficulties being taken away wee are to come to the Arguments or rather Declamations with which they
But seeing the regenerate doe afterward sinne whence are these sinnes but from their inward corruption For that being taken away the effects also which doe flow onely from this cause would be taken away IX And what shall we say to this that the best men beget their children tainted with this blot and therefore standing in neede of Baptisme Now if the parents begetting children were without originall sinne how could they send this blemish to their issue and giue that to their children which themselues haue not X. Therefore say you marriage is euill seeing by it children of wrath are begotten and sinne is propagated which ought rather to be pulled vp by the roote and to be choaked in the very seede I answere that marriage is more ancient then sinne and instituted by God himselfe the sinne that came vpon it doth not hinder but that marriage is naturally a good thing No otherwise then meate and drinke are things that are good and to be desired although thereby the life of wicked men is sustained Besides marriage doth bring forth sonnes to God and doth serue to fill vp the number of the Elect. I let passe that the faithfull couple doe ioyne their prayers doe stirre vp one another to good workes doe cure one anothers incontinency and in slippery places doe stretch forth the hand one to another Neither are there wanting examples of wicked men to whom by Gods benefit there haue happened good and godly children euen as God doth send seasonable raine on those seeds which were stollen and sowed by a theefe CHAP. VIII What Originall sinne is and whether it be truely and properly sinne I. ORiginall sinne is the deprauation of mans nature contracted and drawne from the very generation it selfe and deriued from Adam into all mankinde consisting of the priuation or want of originall righteousnesse and the pronenesse to euill II. These two things to wit the priuation or want of originall righteousnesse and the inclinablenesse to euill are in originall sinne For as sicknesse is not onely a priuation of health but also an euill affection of the body from the distemper of the humours so this hereditary blot is not onely the want of righteousnesse but also the inclinablenesse to vnrighteousnesse III. The last of these proceedes from the former For the soule which by originall sinne hath ceased to be good is necessarily euill and the soule being instructed by the will which cannot be idle holines and righteousnesse being lost must needes turne to the contrary part IV. This corruption brings blindnesse to the minde peruersenesse to the will perturbation to the appetites the losse of supernaturall gifts and the corruption of those that are naturall V. And although in Adam the minde was first stained with errour before the will was infected with peruersenesse yet is the corruption of the will farre worse and that blot more foule because wee are not made good or euill by the vnderstanding but by the wiâ—l for whatsoeuer euill is committed it is the sinne of the will the committing of wickednesse is a greater sinne then the ignorance of the truth VI. The guilt or obliging to punishment cannot be any part of the definition of Originall sinne Lombard lib. 2. dist 30. Thâ—mas t. 2 Quest â—2 art 3. seeing it is the effect of it VII Lombard and Thomas and the other schoolemen who say that originall sinne is concupiscence doe not attaine sufficiently to the nature of concupiscence For Originall sinne doth infect all the faculties of the reasonable soule and concupiscence is the disease of the will and appetite also concupiscence is contrary to one commandement of the Law and Originall sinne is contrary to the whole Law Neither by it doe men sinne more against the second table of the law then against the first What that concupiscence is forbidden by a proper law But I know not whether Originall sin may be said to be forbidden by the law for God doth not command that wee should be generated or begotten pure without sin for so God should speak to man before he were born Surely man is not bound to obey the law before he be man and seeing the law doth not speak but to them that heare are partakers of reason to think that the law commands a man that is growne to age to be born without sin is a ridiculous thing well nigh a dreame For so the law should command him to be born that is already born him to be begotten that is already grown a man The law doth not command but presuppose Originall righteousnes doth speake to man being considered in the state wherein he was before the fall requiring that old debt and naturall obedience Whence it is manifest that Originall sin is condemned by the law but not forbidden VIII Of this sinne although the Scripture speaketh so expressely and sense it selfe and experience doth abundantly testifie it yet there haue not beene wanting some who did deny this sinne and would not acknowledge mankinde from his first stock and originall to be infected with sinne Cyrillus Ierosolomytanus or whosoeuer else is the author of those Catechismes which goe vnder his name in his fourth part of his Catechisme hath these words Thou dost not sinne by generation thou dost play the adulterer by fortune And a little after Wee come without sinne but now we sinne by our owne election IX In Saint Austins age Pelagius Celestius did deny Originall sinne and did contend that sinne did passe from fathers to their issue onely by example and imitation They did deny that sinne was remitted to infants by Baptisme because they had none and did affirme that by it onely the kingdome of heauen was opened to them whose heresie is long agoe hissed out and strongly confuted by Saint Austin X. Saint Hierome or whosoeuer else is the author of those briefe comentaries vpon the Epistle of Saint Paule which are put in among Saint Hieromes works doth fauour Pelagius For those words of the Apostle Rom. 5. in whom all haue sinned he restraines to example and doth take them as spoken of the imitation of the sinne of Adam XI Saint Chrisostome in many places doth seeme to creepe into this error In his Homily vpon new Conuerts he denyeth Baptisme to be profitable only to the remission of sinnes For saith he wee Baptise infants although they are not polluted with sinne that holinesse and righteousnesse adoption and the inheritance c may be added to them And in his tenth Homisie vpon the Epistle to the Romanes expounding that of Saint Paule Rom. 5. By the disobedience of one many were made sinners by sinners hee would haue vs vnderstand those that are guilty of punishment and mortall and not those that are defiled by the blot of sinne XII Lombard lib 2. distinct 30. litera E. saith there were some that said Originall sinne was no vice in vs but onely the guilt of punishment euen of that eternall punishment which is
soule that sinneth shall die The sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the father Whereunto the law of God Deut. 24. is consonant and agreeable which law doth forbid children to be punished for the sinnes of their parents Why then doe we die for anothers sinne Why is the sinne of Adam imputed to vs Or is it credible that he that forgiues vs our sinnes will impute to any one anothers sins What that the punishment is greater then the sinne For when we sinned in Adam onely in potentia in power and possibility yet we are punished in actu in act And that seemeth most cruell that Adam which sinned in act is saued and for the same sinne many are damned who sinned in Adam onely in power and possibility I answere the place in Ezechiel must be taken thus the innocent sonne shall not beare the punishment of his fathers sinne So when God saith in the law that he will visit the iniquity of fathers vpon the children he speaketh of children which walke in their fathers steps and are partakers of the same fault But the sonnes of Adam cannot be said to be innocent as they which not onely sinned in Adam as in the stocke and roote of mankinde but also themselues are borne stained with the same deprauation and prone to the same sinne Secondly I say that that place in Ezechiel makes nothing to the present matter for hee speaketh of the sinnes of the fathers whose sinnes are personall and who in sinning doe not sustaine the persons of their children For Arminius is deceiued in setting downe the cause why those Infidels are reprobated who haue not refused the Gospell viz. Because saith he they refused the grace of the Gospell in their parents In Perkins p. 92. grandfathers great-grandfathers and their fathers by which act they deserued that they should be forsaken by God For I would haue them shew me a solid and sound reason why Infants haue not sinned against the grace of the Gospell in their Parents to whom the grace of the Gospell was offred and by whom it was refused seeing in Adam all his posterity sinned against the Law and by it deserued punishment and forsaking For the reason of the couenant of God is perpetuall that children are comprehended in their Parents VI. Let therefore the Schoole and followers of Arminius learne the cause of this difference and why the sinne of Adam should be imputed to his posteritie but the sinnes of other fathers should not be imputed to their children These therefore I say to be the causes of this difference 1. Because by the sinne of Adam we lost originall purity but wee haue not lost it by the sinnes of our Grand-fathers or great-Grandfathers 2. Because Adam receiued gifts which as he had for himselfe so hee should haue conueyed them to his posterity which seeing hee lost it iustly comes to passe that his posterity should be depriued of those gifts But my Grand-father or great-Grandfather receiued no supernatural gifts from God which by an hereditary right they should deriue to their posterity 3. Then also the sinnes of my Grand-father and great-Grandfather were personall sinnes neither did they in their sinning sustaine the persons of their posterity which cannot be said of Adam Vide Tho. 1.2 quest 81. Art 2. Surely I think that it cannot be said that Ezechias or Iosias who were the posterity of Dauid did in Dauid murther Vrias 4. I will say somewhat more Adam while hee liued committed many sinnes yet I thinke that onely that first sinne of Adam was imputed to his posterity because onely by this sinne he violated that couenant which was made with him as with the author of mankinde 5. And if any one at this day is depriued of the light of the Gospell because some of his ancestors a thousand yeeres since refused the Gospell as Arminius thinks there is no cause why on the other side one may not be called effectually to saluation because some one of his ancestors beleeued the Gospell For why shall the infidelity of the great-Grandfather be imputed to the great-grandsonne and his faith be not imputed But that the faith of one is imputed to another Arminius himselfe is not of opinion when he saith out of Habacuk 2. The iust shall liue by his owne faith and not by anothers Nor because Adam beleeued the promise of his seede that should breake the serpents head is this his faith therefore imputed to any of his posterity Arnoldus doth seeme to consent to this but I cannot be brought to thinke that the other sectaries doe beleeue the same 6. To beleeue that any one is reprobated because hee resused the Gospell in his greatgrandfathers or their Fathers is plainely conrâ—ary to the opinion of Saint Paul 2 Cor. 5.10 where he saith that euery one shall receiue the things done in his body whether it be good or euill therefore not according to those things which he hath done in anothers body 7. I let passe he absurdities into which Arminius by this meanes would plunge himselfe For it may come to passe that ones Grandfather by the fathers side hath beleeued the Gospell his Grand-father by his mothers side hath refused the Gospell It may come to passe that ones Grandfathers or greatgrandfathers so vpward part haue beleeued and part haue not beleeued I demand of which of them in the purpose of God shall respect be had Shall the faith of the one or the infidelitie of the other be imputed to their posteritie Then also as often as the Gospell is offred to any Nation or Citie there is nothing so likely as that some of those people were borne of Ancestors that were Infidels and that some of them were borne of faithfull Ancestors yet is the Gospell offred to all without any difference Also it will come to passe that some one proceeding of faithfull Ancestors may refuse the Gospell and on the otherside one proceeding of Insideâ—s may be conuerted 8. And if one may be an Infidell by anothers infidelity and may be said to haue refused the Gospell in his Ancestors because some one of his progenitors refused the Gospell a thousand yeares before there will scarce be any of the godly that after this manner hath not refused the Gospell 9. But what will they say to this That it is found by experience that the worst and most wicked progeny of very wicked Ancestors haue beene conuerted to the faith and as the Apostle saith Rom. 5.20 Where sinne abounded there grace abounded What were the ancient Romanes but theeues depopulating and wasting the world and a scourge in the hand of God What was Corinth but the stewes of all Graecia and the Mart or faire of most foule lusts yet neuerthelesse in those cities God by the preaching of the Gospell raised vp most flourishing Churches and there were very many in those dregges which did belong to the election of God 10. But if at any time the posterity is punished for
obserued that the Apostle speaking of reprobates doth say that they are vessels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fitted or prepared to destruction He doth not say that God prepared or sitted them least he should seeme to say that God put sinne in them by which they might be prepared to destruction but when he speaketh of the elect hauing turned his speech saith that God prepared them for glory which God doth by giuing them the spirit and faith It is not without consideration that the Apostle would not after the same manner speake in both places viz. because God found some vessels fitted to destruction but made others vessels appointed to glory and that by hauing mercy on them X. Saint Austen is expresse to this purpose For in sixe hundred places either explaning or touching this place of Saint Paul hee doth vnderstand by the name Masse the Masse corrupted and polluted with sinne So Epist 105. Because that whole Masse is iustly condemned iustice hath giuen that contumely and disgrace that is due and grace doth giue that honour which is not due and in the same Epistle The vniuersall Masse is iustly condemned of sinne and a little after If they are the vessels of wrath which are made for that destruction which is duâ—ly giuen to them let them impute this to themselues because they are made of that Masse which for the sinne of one man is iustly and deseruedly condemned of God He doth repeate the same thing Epist 106. and Encherid cap. 98 99. and 107. where he calleth it the Masse of destruction See also the 2. lib. against the two Epistles of the Pelagians cap. 7. and lib. 5. against Iulian cap. 3. Neither did euer any among the ancient thinke that Paul speakes of the sound and not corrupted Masse CHAP. XV. That Arminius doth willingly darken the words of the Apostle which are cleare and expresse ARminius with a carefull subtilty but with an vnhappy successe hath written a Treatise vpon the ninth Chapter to the Romanes for hee doth torment the Apostle and doth as it were with wracks draw from him against his will what things he thinks may make for the patronage of his errour of Election for faith fore-seene I. He faines that the Apostles minde is to teach that they onely of the Iewes were to be reckoned the sonnes of Abraham who letting passe iustification by the law doe follow after righteousnesse and faith and the purpose according to Election hee denyeth to be the decree of the election of seuerall men but the generall and condition all decree of sauing all who were to beleeue By which decree Arminius will haue all men to be elected conditionally which surely is no election seeing election is not but of seueral men who are chosen out of the multitude others being reiected II. I confesse indeede that the doctrine of election by free grace doth make the way to the doctrine of righteousnesse by faith yet all this dispute of Saint Paul concerning election which reacheth from the sixt verse to the thirteenth doth not deale of iustification by faith neither would the Apostle proue in this place that man is iustified by faith or that God doth elect those which apprehend Christ by faith But by the doctrine of election doth frame to himself an entrance to the treatise of iustification by faith which afterwards he addes Hee would here proue this one thing that man is not truely the sonne of the promise by the workes of the law but by the election of free grace and by the mercy of God for it is manifest that here workes are not opposed to faith but to election and to God calling So Verse the 11. he doth not say not by workes but by faith but he saith not by workes but by him that calleth So Verse 16. when he had said It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth hee doth not adde but of him that beleeueth What then but of God that sheweth mercy III. For when it is spoken of the cause why of two that are equally conceiued in sinne such as were Esau and Iacob God should preferre the one afore the other the onely mercy of God and the election by grace is to be considered and not faith which is not the cause but the effect of our election neither doth it goe before election but followeth it So Saint Paul 1 Cor. 7.25 saith that he obtained mercy from God to be faithfull and not because he was after to be so Wherefore Saint Paul in all this speech wherein hee speaks of the cause of the difference which God makes betweene two that were by nature alike makes no mention of faith But this Treatise being finished he doth descend verse 30. to the righteousnesse of faith as to the fruit which doth follow election IV. But Arminius for the safegard of his cause doth change the words of Saint Paul and doth thrust in something of his owne Pag. 27. For in the place of that which Saint Paul saith not of workes but of him that calleth he doth substitute these his words feigned by himselfe not of worke but of faith whereby God calling should be obeyed when notwithstanding in all that disputation which dealeth concerning election there is no mention made of faith neither doth the least steppe thereof appeare V. It is meruailous how much Arminius doth abuse the examples of Isaac and Ishmael and also of Iacob and Esau He doth contend that they are here propounded not as examples but as types of them who followed after righteousnesse by workes not by faith Certainely there must be some agreement betweene the type and the thing signified by the type But who euer heard it said that Ishmael would haue beene iustified by the workes of the Law and not by faith seeing at that time the law was not giuen neither were these differences of iustification by the law and by faith knowne neither is it credible that Ishmael euer thought of or regarded these things Therefore Arminius doth as much as if Nimrod should be made a type of the Pharisaicall righteousnesse Can the night be a type of the light or can Esau whom the Apostle Heb. 12.16 calleth prophane and therefore also a despiser of the Law be a type of them who being set on fire with the zeale of the Law would be iustified by their workes But it is worth the labour to here why he would haue Esau be a type of the sonnes of the flesh and of them which affâ—ct rightâ—ousnesse by workes Because saith he he was first borne O acutely spoken He should haue said because he was red or because he was a hunter I am ashamed to refute these things and yet in these figments and forgeries the good man doth place the chiefe safegard of his doctrine of election for faith fore-seene VI. Then also see how licentiously he mookes the Apostle For when he layeth downe Ishmael and Esau not as examples of reâ—ection by the secret counseâ—l of God
God crept vpon them and that sometimes they felt some temptations of desparation But as soone as they shooke off that opinion of precise election they were healed of these diseases and their piety grew hot No doubt wee had bid piety and sanctitie of manners farewell if this sect had not rose vp which hath triumphed ouer vices and hath raised vp piety almost dead I doe not search into their manners thus much I say their writings relish of anger and are full of bitternesse But to the purpose I deny that by our doctrine iust occasion of sinning is taken and the raines let loose to intemperance But nothing hath euer beene said so holily nor so truely which may not be drawn to the worser part and be corrupted by a sinister interpretation Saint Paul suffered the same calumny who in the sixt Chapter to the Romanes doth with an opportune prolepsis and timely preuention remoue from himselfe this opinion speaking thus Shall we continue in sinne that grace may abound XXX Wee deny therefore that these things which they imagine doe follow of our doctrine If God hath predestinated any one to faith and repentance he ought not therefore to be lesse carefull how he may please God and yeelde obedience to him For repentance is carefulnesse it selfe They therefore so speake as if they should say that the elect ought to want carefulnesse because God hath predestinated them to carefulnesse XXXI Neither doth the beneficence and bounty of God hinder the vigilancy and watchfulnesse of man So God giueth vs our daily bread and yet by this he doth not hinder our labour He doth in vaine expect from God succours for his life who doth sit idle with his armes a crosse The same God which giueth vs foode exhorts vs to labour for his blessing doth not come vpon sloath but vpon diligence XXXII Furthermore nothing letteth that a man should with lesse diligence follow that labour the euent whereof is determined by the certaine decree of God whether this decree be knowne to vs or whether it be not knowne Christ was not ignorant of the tearme of his life vpon earth and yet did hee auoide the dangers and escaped the hands of the Iewes more then once Ezechias being recouered from his disease knew that he had yet fifteene yeeres to liue in which time it is no doubt but he receiued foode and had care of his health God had reuealed to Paul that none of the passengers that were in the same ship should be drowned and yet for all that he exhorted the Saylors to labour and commanded them to be kept in the ship who hauing let downe the boate would haue fled The Arminians will not deny but that the euent of their warres was determined by the purpose of God yet they would not thence inferre that it was in vaine to sight couragiously The Scripture doth testifie in many places that God hath set to euery one the limits of his life and that the number of our daies is determined by the purpose of God and yet he is not to be dispraised who sends for the Phisitian in his sicknesse or hee who before the battell puts on armour For the industry of man must serue the decree of God neither is it right that the liberality of God should be a cause of negligence to vs. So the infant moueth it selfe in the wombe and doth it selfe helpe its owne natiuity although that power which it hath of mouing is from God Surely seeing faith and repentance are the meanes to saluation nothing is so contrary to reason as to vse the end for the abolishing of the meanes Wherefore Saint Paul Philip. 2. doth acknowledge that it is receiued from God both to will and to doe and yet in the same place he doth exhort to worke out our saluation with feare and trembling whom wee had rather beleeue then Arnoldus whose words are these Page 273. It seemes to me that the conscience of sinne is altogether extinguished in him who knoweth that he is deliuered from sinne by the absolute and immutable ordinance of God What Was the conscience of Dauid hardned to sinne or did he loose the sence of sinne after that God signified to him by the Prophet Nathan that he had taken away his sinne No he sorroweth and doth grieuously lament his sinne for griefe and repentance doth stick fast in the minde euer after pardon is obtained So Saint Paul 1. Tim. 1. saith that God had mercy on him and yet in the same place he doth detest his sinne XXXIII Wee are to thinke the same thing concerning prayer as concerning the labour and endeauour of good workes For we doe rightly and piously aske of God those things which are determined by his certaine purpose For God who hath determined to doe good to vs will giue that good to our prayers and not to sloathfulnesse and security Iosaphat did not in vaine pray before the fight 2. Chro. 20. although he was not ignorant that God had already decreed what should be the euent of the battell The Apostles knew well enough that their sinnes were forgiuen them by God and yet they did daily pray Forgiue vs our trespasses Christ did not doubt of his resurrection and of the obtaining of glory after the combat and yet he did pray by night and went aside into the mountaine to pray XXXIV I let passe that euery man euen the best is obnoxious and subiect to temptations which assailing him he is to flie for the helpe of God least his faith faile or sloathfulnesse and negligence creepe vpon him XXXV Doth not Saint Paul also witnesse Rom. 8. that the holy-Ghost prayeth in vs and doth suggest sighes and prayers whence hee is called by Zacharie the spirit of supplication Zach. 12.10 Which seeing it is the effect of the good pleasure of God and the fruit of election it were a maruaile if election it selfe should keepe vs back from prayer XXXVI And if any man that is elected doth yet doubt of his saluation he hath somewhat to aske of God to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a full perswasion and the sustaining of his staggering faith and the increase of charity and zeale and the obtayning of glory and if he be certaine of his saluation hee must aske the increase of this confidence hee must aske perseuerance in faith and good works hee must pray to bee kept backe from sinne to which he feeleth himselfe prone he must pray for the fulfilling of the promises of God he must pray against the temptations of Sathan who although hee cannot ouerthrow the elect yet he doth prick their heele and doth dig into them with his goades XXXVII That is of the same lumpe wherewith Arnoldus from Arminius Pag. 304. doth vpbraide vs. Your doctrine saith he doth make the seruants and Ministers of God sloathfull in their ministery because from thence it followeth that their diligence can profit none but those whom God will absolutely saue and who cannot perish and
and common to all another particular which is onely peculiar to the elect VIII We doe very much differ from this opinion We acknowledge that Christ died for all but we denie that by his death saluation and forgiuenesse of sinne is obtained for all men Or that reconciliation is made for Cain Pharaoh Saul Iudas c. Neither doe wee thinke that remission of sinnes is obtained for any one whose sinnes are not remitted or that saluation was purchased for him whom God from eternity hath decreed to condemne For this were a vaine purchaâ—e We denie that election is after the death of Christ as for many other causes so also because Christ in the very agony of death gaue a notable proofe of election in the theefe whose heart he affected and enlightned his minde after an vnvtterable manner the other theefe being left and neglected And seeing Christ doth euery where say that he died for his sheepe and for those whom his father gaue him he doth sufficiently declare that he died for the elect IX And when we say that Christ died for all we take it thus to wit that the death of Christ is sufficient to saue whosoeuer doe beleeue yea and that it is sufficient to saue all men if all men in the whole world did beleeue in him And that the cause why all men are not saued is not in the insufficiency of the death of Christ but in the wickednesse and incredulity of man Finally Christ may be said to reconcile all men to God by his death after the same manner that we say that the Sunne doth enlighten the eyes of all men although many are blinde many sleepe and many are hid in darkenesse Because if all and seuerall men had their eyes and were awake and were in the middest of the light the light of the Sunne were sufficient to enlighten them Neither is it any doubt but that it may be said not onely that Christ died for all men but also that all men are saued by Christ because among men there is none saued but by Christ After the same manner that the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 15.20 that all men are made aliue by Christ because no man is made aliue but by him CHAP. XXVIII That reconciliation remission of sinnes and saluation is not obtained nor purchased for all and particular men by the death of Christ I. FIrst whosoeuer saith that by the death of Christ reconciliation is obtained for all and singular men although hee consider Pharaoh and Iudas not as reprobates but simply as sinners yet hee saith that reconciliation is obtained for them who haue neuer beleeued nor neuer were to beleeue And seeing it is not equall nor iust that reconciliation should bee obtained for such the death of Christ is vsed wrongfully to obtaine something that is vniust and to doe something which is contrary to the iustice of God II. And who but hee that doth willingly shut his eyes will euer beleeue that the reconciliation of Iudas was obtained by the death of Christ seeing that the death of Christ was the very crime of Iudas and by it he was brought to the halter III. And seeing that at the very time in which Christ did die many were already tormented in hell he must needes be of a shallow braine who thinketh that by the death of Christ saluation or reconciliation was obtained for them IV. Also by this doctrine God is openly mocked For Christ is imagined to obtaine that from his father which he knew would neuer profit as if God should grant to his sonne the saluation of that man which from eternity he decreed to condemne For if Christ obtained reconciliation and remission of sinnes for Pharaoh and Iudas whether considered as Reprobates or considered as sinners hee knew well enough that that obtaining of it would not be for their good or profit Christ therefore is brought in asking this of his father I pray thee receiue into grace those whom I know thou wilt neuer receiue into grace and whom I know certainely are to be condemned For Christ in his death and before his death knew full well the secrets of election Surely these men seeme to doe their endeauour that Christian Religion should be made a laughing stocke V. Also they expose God to derision while they will haue God at the same time to loue and hate the same man to loue him because hee giueth his sonne for him and would haue reconciliation to be obtained for him but to haue hated him because from eternity he decreed to condemne him VI. And if Christ obtained remission of sins for Iudas it must needs be that God granted that to Christ asking it that he forgaue the sins of Iudas Which if it be true it necessarily followeth that God doth abolish his owne acts and condemning Iudas punished those sins which were remitted and so men should be punished for those sins the pardon whereof is obtained the testament of Christ by which they wil haue saluation to be purchased for all men should be made void VII Neither is God onely thus mocked but also he is made to mocke mankinde For it is manifest by vse and by the experience of all ages that the Gospell is scarce preached to euery tenth man and that the name of Christ is vnknowne to the greatest part of the world which thing that it is done by the prouidence of God so dispensing there is none that will deny vnlesse he that thinkes that all things are carried confusedly and that they doe proceede without reason or order And if reconciliation and saluation by Christ be purchased for all men why doth not God publish this benefit through the whole world Why doth he suffer this reconciliation to be vnknowne to the greatest part of mankinde Why doth he keepe in and hide from so many men the grace which doth belong to them and which is obtained for them without the knowledge of which no man can be saued They answere that God doth it because men shew themselues vnworthy of this grace As if any man could be worthy of it or could shew himselfe worthy of it Who knoweth not that the Gospell is preached to them that are most vnworthy And where sinne hath abounded Rom. 5.20 there grace hath abounded And if God is hindred by the vnworthinesse of man that he should not make knowne to him the reconciliation obtained the same vnworthinesse could and ought to hinder the obtaining of reconciliation For when reconciliation was obtained God did then fore-know the vnworthinesse that would follow with no lesse certainty then if it had beene present VIII And when they say that Christ died for all as concerning the obtaining of saluation but not as concerning the application of it they doe plainely confesse that Christ did not obtaine that this reconciliation should be applied to all Whence it commeth to passe that this obtaining of reconciliation is vaine yea and ridiculous For they speake as much as if
the end that is saluation then also hee will equally suggest vnto them the meanes to the end to wit the word faith and the spirit But he doth not suggest these things equally to all neither can any thing be imagined more absurd then that God should equally will that all particular men should beleeue and be saued and yet suggest to some men the meanes that are congruent and fit and will certainely profit but to others meanes that are not congruent nor fit and that certainely will not profit which yet is the doctrine of Arminius XXVII And in setting downe the causes of the greater loue of God towards some one nation and his lesse loue towards some other it cannot be said how coldly they deale Sometimes they make the disposition of the one which is better then the other to be the cause which we deny For Rome or Corinth or Ephesus were not more prone to piety a little before the light of the Gospell was brought to them then they were some ages before Yea at that time prodigious lust riot pride and rapine had so immeasurably increased that they could goe no further At the same time there were many nations euen stupid with their barbarous lewdnesse and seemed more worthy of pitty if the heauenly calling were gouerned by mans reason and not by the secret purpose of God Surely before the comming of Saint Paul God had much people at Corinth as God himselfe saith Acts 18.10 and that among the most foule and common lusts of that most impure citie For which elects sake God in his appointed time sent to Corinth such an excellent Apostle so cleere a trumpet of the Gospell whose preaching and miracles he vsed to the conuersion of them who belonged to his election XXVIII Finally seeing that there is no man who by himselfe and of his owne nature is not vndisposed to faith and conuersion no man that is not dead in sinne no man that is not vnable to follow God calling He is ridiculous who in the worke of regeneration and spirituall resurrection doth seeke for dispositions and inclinations to life among the dead and who doth faigne that God hath a will of sauing vs which doth follow mans free-will and doth depend on it XXIX But to make the fault of their ancestors to be cause of this and to thinke that God therefore would not haue his Gospell to be preached to this nation because their ancestors a thousand or two thousand yeers before refused the grace of God is absurd and nothing to the purpose For the Romanes and Corinthians that liued in the time of the Apostle Paul were sprung of the same ancestors which the Romanes and Corinthians were which liued thirty or forty yeeres before the preaching of Saint Paul Nor is it equall that the ofspring should be punished for the sinnes of their ancestors The sonne shall not beare the iniquity of the father Ezechiel 18. Nor doth the law extend the visitation of the fathers vpon the children beyond the third and fourth generation although also there it is spoken of children that shall walke in the steppes of their fathers and doe imitate their fathers wickednesse Further also by warres by colonies and companies by banishments and by marriages there is a maruailous permixtion and mingling together of mankinde and in one and the same nation there are some who haue proceeded from other ancestors whose manners were diuers Yea one and the same man hath proceeded from ancestors whereof some haue refused the grace of God and some haue not Of all which if regard is to be had if God will haue his Gospell preached or not preached to a nation according as their ancestors haue behaued themselues it will be impossible but that he must be distracted with diuers and contrary thoughts and that his wisedome must be bound with ridiculous bonds and contrary purposes XXX Yet the Arminians doe obstinately persist in their opinion and although they know that in all ages and see that in this our age the name of Christ is vnknowne to many nations yet they doe harden their minde and doe contend that God would haue the Gospell to be preached to all Arnoldus Page 97. doth deny that it may be said that God would not haue the Gospell to be preached to all And Page 397. It is true indeede saith he that the Gospell is not euery where preached to all yet it doth not thence follow that God will not bring all men to faith but this happeneth because by their owne affected malice and peruersity they make themselues vnworthy of that Grace Which words doe seeme to mee to imply a contradiction for if the cause why the Gospell is not preached to a nation is the wickednesse and prauity of it it is playne that God will not haue his Gospell preached to that nation because by this punishment he would reuenge the stubbornnesse and obstinacy of it And to think that any punishments are inflicted on any nations God being vnwilling especially in the worke of our saluation is to accuse God of cruell negligence and to desire to put out the eyes of his prouidence Also wee haue largely taught that all men are vnworthy and that God so dispensing the Gospell is preached to the most vnworthy and to the worst nations According to that Rom. 10.20 I was found of them that sought me not I was made manifest to them that asked not after me XXXI Being driuen therfore from hence they haue deuised another thing then which nothing is more weake They say that it cannot be said that God is vnwilling that the Gospell should be preached to all nations but that many nations sit in darkenesse because there are wanting those who wil preach to them and that this commeth to passe because the zeale of Christians doth grow cold and because of the sloathfulnesse of the pastors of the Church who will not goe thither to preach But if all Christians were affected as it is meete they should and were touched with a zeale of the house of God the preaching of the Gospell would be wanting to no people I answere that I am not hee who will affirme that Christians are altogether faultlesse in this thing Yet notwithstanding it cannot be doubted but that these things are gouerned by the counsell and prouidence of God For if God would haue brought the light of the Gospell to the people of America who haue lyen for many ages in the thicke night of ignorance be had not suffered them for so many ages to be vnknowne to the Christian world For how can they be accused for not preaching the Gospell to the Americans who did not know that there were any such people or that that prat of the earth was inhabited Neither is it credible that God can be disappointed of his intent and of his desire of sauing any Nation by the negligence of some Ministers Nor is it equall that enumerable people should for euer beare the punishment
truth but a naturall auersion and disability II. Wherefore the Scripture doth call the change of man by the spirit of regeneration sometimes another birth Iohn 3. sometimes the creation of the new man Ephes 4.24 It calleth it another resurrection from the dead Reucl. 20.6 Luke 15.32 Iohn 5.25 Not that creation and resurrection is in all things like to regeneration and the change of the soule but only in this thing of which it is here spoken to wit as the Carkasse cannot dispose nor prepare it selfe to the resurrection and a thing that is not created cannot further any thing to the creation of it So man in the state of sinne and before his regeneration hath nothing whereby he may dispose himselfe or further his regeneration and spirituall new birth III. The Arminian conferrers at the Hage Page 279. doe roundly confesse that by our spirituall death the liberty of doing well or ill is separated from the soule I demand therefore whether an vnregenerate man furnished with that sufficient and vniuersall grace which is giuen euen to Reprobates hath free-will of doing well or ill in those things which belong to saluation If he haue not why doe the Arminians contend he hath If hee hath it is plaine by their owne confession that he is not dead in sinne But there is a speciall force in the word borne For if there were any seeds and reliques of spirituall life in an vnregenerate man as Arnoldus is of opinion there were no neede to be borne againe and that the new man should be formed but God were to be prayed to that he would againe raise vp those sparkes and reliques of spirituall life and would vouchsafe to kindle and increase it as it were by adding fuell to it IV. Adde to these those places which teach vs that without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. That all men haue not faith 2. Thess 3. because it is the gift of God Philip. 1.19 Ephes 2.8 Seeing therefore what soeuer is not of faith is sinne Rom. 14.25 it is plain that in things which belong to saluation and to the worship of God hee doth nothing but sinne that wants faith such as are all the heathen and vnregenerate men In which place to the Romanes it is to be noted that the Apostle speaketh of the vse of meates which he will haue vs to eate with faith that is with a certaine knowledge that the vse of meates is allowed by God and is agreeable to his word Seeing therefore that euen in things which are of their owne nature indifferent wee sinne when we vse them without such a faith how much more are we to thinke that the heathens sinne in euery action that pertaineth to saluation and the worship of God because they are altogether destitute of this faith Hitherto pertaine those places which teach vs that God is the author of euery vertue and euery good worke that is done by vs. We are not sufficient of our selues to thinke any thing as of our selues but our sufficiency is of God 2. Cor. 3.5 And Christ himselfe Iohn 15.5 Without me ye can doe nothing And in the same place we are compared to branches cut off and appointed to the fire vnlesse wee haue beene engrafted into Christ by whom wee liue and beare fruit The Apostle Ephes 2.8 doth teach that saluation and faith is not of our selues but of the gift of God For by grace ye are saued through faith and that not of your selues it is the gift of God How farre is this from Arminius who will haue the totall cause of faith not to be grace alone but grace and free-will And least any of Arminius followers should seeke a refuge and should say that the power of beleeuing is giuen to all vnresistably but that the act of beleeuing is so helped by grace that it is also from free-wil the Apostle doth fitly preuent such a weake subtilty Phil. 1.29 where he saith It is giuen to you in the behalfe of Christ not onely to beleeue on him but also to suffer for his sake You see that not onely the power of beleeuing is giuen vs but also the act it selfe to beleeue Agreeable to this is that Iohn 6. No man can come to me vnlesse my father draw him Where to come is to beleeue in act and not to haue the power and faculty of beleeuing which is brought into act by free-will No lesse direct is that of the Apostle Philip. 2.13 It is God which worketh in you both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Now to will is to will in act and not to haue the power of willing God himselfe Ezechiel 36.27 saith I will put my spirit within you and will cause you to walke in my statutes Therefore hee doth not onely giue the power of walking in his statutes but also doth cause that we really walke and doth worke in vs the very act After what manner and how farre the elect may resist the efficacy of the spirit shall hereafter be seene It is sufficient to the present question if we winne this of them that God doth not onely giue the power whereby we may beleeue but also that hee doth giue and worke in vs the act of beleeuing to beleeue it selfe We meete sometimes with places where the Arminians say that not onely the power of beleeuing but that also the act of beleeuing to beleeue it selfe is giuen by God But they will haue this act so to be giuen by God in as much as he giueth knowledge to the minde and doth raise vp the fainting affections which doe put forward the will to beleeue and that this is done by a morall perswasion and after the same manner that wee are moued by obiects But this is not to giue faith and the act of beleeuing For surely hee that doth perswade that doth propound obiects and doth inuite the appetite to runne doth not giue the act of running to runne it selfe Wherefore the Arminians doe deny that faith it selfe is infused or imprinted on the heart by God but that the will is inuited to beleeue onely by a morall perswasion and by a courteous allurement With a like fraud that they might seeme to attribute some great thing to God they say that God doth giue the power of beleeuing and that vnresistably But when they come to explane the manner whereby these powers are supplied it is manifest that they deny that the power of beleeuing is giuen to man by God For they thinke that God doth giue these powers no otherwise then by enlightning the vnderstanding with knowledge and by stirring vp the appetites which certainely is not to giue the power of beleeuing For hee which in the darke doth with a torch giue light to the wandring traueller and doth stirre him vp to goe doth not thereby giue him the power of going VI. And least any man should in any part arrogate to himself the prayse eyther of that knowledge which he hath obtained
moued to gine a greater measure of grace But it is so farre that God in beginning regeneration should haue respect to fore-going dispositions that on the contrary they are called who are the greatest strangers from the kingdome of heauen and who are ouer whelmed in greatest darknesse Let the Thiefe on the crosse be an example also the Romanes the people of Alexandria of Antioch the Corinthians and the Ephesians then which people there were neuer any more wicked in lust nor more effeminate in luxurie of greater ignorance or of more prodigious idolatry whom yet so euill affected and dispoled God called by an effectuall calling and hauing sent his Apostles to them gained them to Christ that where sinne did more abound there grace also might more abound XVII And that regeneration is not alwayes wrought by degrees the example of the conuerted Thiefe doth shew who in the extreame inuasion of spirituall agony in one moment passed ouer an vnmeasurable space and oâ— the contrary that the resurrection of the body may be done by degrees Ezechiel teacheth Chap. 37. XVIII That is no truer which they say that regeneration is wrought free-will remayning For if free-will doth remaine in regeneration it must needes be that it goeth before regeneration but in things that are spirituall and which belong to saluation there was no free-will before regeneration XIX It is of the same sort yea farre worse which they adde that in an vnregenerate man there are some reliques of the spirituall life for so they aske that to be granted to them which is the question and which we haue already proued to be false XX. Neither yet is that true which they say that God doth not speake to a dead corps for Christ spake these words to Lazarus that was dead Lazarus come forth Luk. 11. And Eze. 37.4 God doth thus speake to the bones that were long before withered Oye dry bones heare the word of the Lord. God calleth those who are not as if they were but in that he calleth them he causeth that they may be The words of Christ Iohn 5.25 are direct to this purpose The dead shall heare the voice of the sonne of God and they that heare shall liue For as God with his light doth so enlighten the blinde that he also giueth them eyes so by his word he doth so speake to the dead that by that word he doth make them aliue XXI Maruailous is the wittinesse of the Arminian conferrers at the Hage who doe thence proue that there is some ability left in man that is spiritually dead because we acknowledge that man may resist grace Passing well spoken for they proue that a man is not dead in sinne because he can resist the spirit of God as if the remainds of our spirituall life were placed in the faculty of resisting God when on the contrary a man is therefore dead in sinne because he can doe nothing but resist They doe therefore as much as if they should say that a man is not therefore dead in sinne because he is dead in sinne XXII And that which they say that he which is dead cannot resist his resurrection but hee that is vnregenerated may resist his viuification maketh for vs and doth burden the cause of these innouators For thence it followeth that the death in sinne is farre the worse death and that he that is dead in sinne is bound with stronger bonds if he resist his owne resurrection not onely in the beginnings of his regeneration but also in the progresse of it Yea that very inclination to resist God is the chiefest part of that death and naturall corruption XXIII In the meane while the Reader shall obserue how artificiall a couert Arnoldus doth vse while he saith that he which is dead cannot resist his resurrection but he that is dead in sinne may resist his viuification The opinion of the Arminians is that an vnregenerate man hath free-will by which he may vse sufficient grace or not vse it beleeue or not beleeue Arnoldus therefore ought thus to haue framed his comparison saying he that is dead cannot hinder or further his owne resurrection but hee that is vnregenerate may hinder or further his regeneration But Arnoldus doth not here make mention of that helpe that he might put by the enuie and suspâ—tion of Semipelagianisme Thus they are wont to doe that are ashamed of their owne opinion XXIV That is not to be passed ouer with silence which the Arminians of the conference at the Hage pag. 81. doe say For there they make two kindes of vnregenerate men some who being left without any calling of God doe walke in the vanity of their minde and thoughts These they confesse are dead in sinne but there are some who are already called and stirred vp by the grace of God whose vnderstandings being enlightned and their affections being enflamed doe stirre vp the will to the apprehension of the truth They deny that those are dead in sinne because their vnderstandings and appetites are viuified although the will is not yet drawne here are many absurdities First because they thinke that some are vnregenerate who are already viuified and made aliue when yet viuification and regeneration are the same thing For if ones minde be quickned it must needes also be regenerated Secondly With the like error they place viuification there where there is not faith seeing as the Apostle witnesseth the iust doth liue by faith and it is impious to acknowledge any viuification to be in an infidell and vnregenerate man Thirdly And they dispute vntowardly when they iudge it to be possible the vnderstanding being enlightned with the knowledge of the truth and the appetite enflamed with the loue of it that the will should be auerse from this truth And that a man may be quickned in his minde and affections and yet his will remaines without life For what should turne away the will when they two doe instigate and stirre it vp seeing that the will is moued by these two alone Nor doth the will euer stand in doubt but when reason stirreth it vp one way and the appetites draw it another way and the will is forced hither and thither by the contrary suggestions of the minde and the appetites Fourthly Nor doe they agree to themselues when they say that there are some left without any calling of God seeing that they maintaine with great contention that all men are called to saluation not onely by an outward but also by an inward calling and that sufficient grace is administred to all Fiftly Finally I demand whence they haue these two kindes of vnregenerate persons If out of the Scripture let them shew the place If out of their owne coniecture wee doe not beleeue them XXV Arnoldus against Tilenus Page 134. doth say that it may come to passe that of two men furnished with an equall helpe of grace one may be conuerted one not But he ought also to shew whether it may come to passe
speake of my selfe Hence they would proue that one may doe the will of God before he know Christ and his doctrine This is to delude the Scripture and to wrest it at their pleasure For they speake as if Christ had said Hee that doth fulfill the commandements of God shall afterward know of my doctrine whether it be of God c. Also by the words to doe the will of God they vnderstand to acknowledge their sinnes to feare God with a seruile and slauish feare seriously to wish the grace of God and remission of sinnes to doe those things which are of the law c. All false For to doe the will of God in this place is nothing else then to beleeue Christ speaking for this is that which Christ doth vrge that this is the will of the father that we should beleeue on the Sonne Whose words if any man beleeues hee thereby knoweth that his doctrine is heauenly and diuine wherefore we are not to thinke that we doe the will of God before we beleeue in his Sonne Thus although it be true that he who is moued doth liue yet it doth not thence follow that motion is before life So in that Christ saith Whosoeuer will doe the will of the father shall know that my doctrine is from God It doth not thence follow that the will of the father must be done before it can be knowne that his doctrine is from God But if there is any order of time here it must needes be that the doctrine of Christ be first knowne to be from God before he can be beleeued or obeyed when he speakes For no man doth beleeue that which hee doth not in some part know Christ followeth this order Iohn 17.8 They haue knowne that I came out from thee and they haue beleeued that thou didst send mee And Chap. 14.17 he saith that the spirit of truth is not receiued by the world because the world doth not know him To know therefore is before to receiue V. That is no better which Arnoldus doth adde Page 409. The feare of the Lord is the beginning of wisedome Prou. 1. And The Lord reuealeth his secrets to them that feare him Psal 25. But I deny that the feare of the Lord of which it is spoken here can agree to vnbeleeuers and vnregenerate men Salomon saith that the feare of the Lord is the head of wisedome that is the chiefe part and that wherein wisedome doth chiefely consist for this the Hebrew word Reshith doth plainely signifie And those that feare God to whom he reuealeth his secrets are not vnregenerate persons but those which are truely godly to whom hee doth daily giue increase of wisedome and of the true knowledge of God VI. To the same end Arnoldus Page 397. doth bring the words of the 51. Psalme A contrite spirit is an acceptable sacrifice to God And Esay 66. God will dwell in a contrite spirit Arnoldus thinketh that these things are spoken of an vnregenerate man but yet such a one as doth confesse his sinnes doth grieue hath the beginning of feare c. But hee eyther deceiues or is deceiued For there Dauid lamenting his sinnes with a large confession doth comfort himselfe with this hope and doth promise to himselfe that his contrition will be an acceptable sacrifice to God Whosoeuer therefore doth say that Dauid there speaketh of the contrition of an vnregenerate man doth affirme that Dauid himselfe was vnregenerate And there is no man but seeth that Esay doth speake of them that are truely faithfull and of a filiall feare and contrition and not of that feare which may be in the vnregenerate and in the heathen who haue not heard the word of God For the Prophet saith To whom shall I looke To him that is afflicted and of a contrite heart and trembleth at my word Hee speaketh of the man who is instructed in the word of God and who with a holy feare is moued to the hearing of it VII Arnoldus a little before had reckoned vp the good workes which may be done by an vnregenerate man viz. To doe those things which are of the law to haue some sparkes of light and knowledge engrauen on his heart to grieue for his sinnes to implore the grace of remission of sinnes and of the new spirit But how many nations are there who doe not know what this new spirit is nor haue euer heard any thing of the grace of remission of sins Also I would know whether such things that are done by the vnregenerate without faith are truely good If they be truely good then we can doe that which is truely good without Christ without his spirit and without faith If they are not truely good how can that not be truely good and iust which God alone intendeth and which alone nothing more if Arminius be beleeued he doth require from the vnregenerate man as long as he is vnregenerate VIII A little after he saith that the same worke cannot be performed as perfect in its essence without the faith of Christ and he doth put this difference betweene workes which are done before regeneration and they which are done after regeneration to wit that they are imperfect these are perfect These are the two kindes of merits with which in the Schooles of the Papists make such a noyse merits of congruity and merits of condignity but new dressed and cloathed with other names The Reader therefore shall note that the Arminians place in a regenerate man perfect workes and a perfect loue of God For they thinke that the regenerate may by the spirit of Christ so conforme their life according to that law that they may come to that degree of obedience which God doth require of them These are the words of Arnoldus pag. 492. and pag. 399. according to Arminius he saith that there is a double spirit one that doth goe before regeneration and doth tend to it which is the spirit of bondage to feare the other which doth regenerate and doth perfect regeneration Arminius Resp ad 31. Art pa. 164. and 165. I doe not repugne that opinion of Austin whereby he determines that man may be without sinne in this life Truely it is boldly spoken The Arminians then are better then the Apostle Iames who speaketh thus Chap. 3. In many things we offend all In which speech he doth account himselfe among them who offend in many things Better then Saint Iohn whose confession is this If we say we haue no sinne wee deceiue our selues and the truth is not in vs Yea better then all the Apostles who did daily say Forgiue vs our trespasses Neither is it to be maruailed at if the Arminians thinke that the regenerate can fulfill the Law seeing they also say that the Law of nature may be fulfilled by the heathen and vnregenerate Now the Law of nature is that to which Adam before his fall stood bound which bond passed to his posteritie This Law forbids a man to lye but the
the fore-skinne of your heart All which places are besides the purpose for they doe not say that which Arnoldus doth apply to them to wit that these things are done by vs but they onely commanded them to be done and I meruaile how so great a negligence hath crept on a man of a sharpe and acute wit Yea if these places should say that man gaue himselfe a new heart that he did sanctifie and quicken and saue himselfe yet it would not thence follow that these things are done by our free-will for it is familiar to the Scripture to say that those are done by vs which God doth worke by vs Thus man openeth to God knocking Reuel 2.20 Thus the Apostles raised the dead Thus the Pastors of the Church forgiue sins Mat. 18. Iohn 21. Thus they saue soules 1 Tim. 4.16 When yet without wickednesse they cannot arrogate to themselues the title of the Sauiour of soules XVII And whether this doctrine tendeth of the concurrence of free-will with grace and of the faculty whereby man may beleeue vse grace if he will or not beleeue refuse grace and the totall cause of faith is assigned not to grace alone but to grace with free-will whether I say this doctrine drawne out of the ditches and puddles of the Semipelagians doth tend it is easie to know For it tendeth thither that mans merits might closely be brought in as it were by vndermining wayes For a though these Sectaries doe at the first view seeme to beare a hatred to merits yet in many places they doe establish them The Epistle against the Walachrians hath these words pag. 44. Those whom God calleth and to whom he doth before hand vouchsafe the grace of preaching we confesse for the most part to be such men that their vertues doe deserue no lesse then this free bestowing of gifts Behold then some men who deserue the bestowing of the gifts of God and that before regeneration Arnoldus pag. 328. God giueth to the creature performing obedience that which is theirs of due Arminius against Perkins pag. 218. God of his promise and of due debt doth giue life to him that worketh And Arnoldus pag. 433. doth speake of some who by the helpe of grace doe not make themselues vnworthy and doe not deserue that the spirit should cease to worke in them XVIII It liketh me well for a corollary to set downe here the famous sentence of Saint Austin ad Simplicium quest 2. This is manifest that we will in vaine vnlesse God shew mercy but I doe not know how it can be said that God sheweth mercy in vaine vnlesse we doe will for if God hath mercy we are willing because it belongeth to that mercy that we should be willing for it is God that doth worke in vs to will and to doe of his good will And in the same place The effect of the mercy of God cannot be in the power of man that he should in vaine haue mercy if man be vnwilling because if he will haue mercy on them he can call them after that manner that is fit for them that they should be moued and vnderstand and follow CHAP. XXXVI Of the outward and inward calling and whether the one be without the other I. ALthough the workes of God which are euery where before our eyes doe abundantly testifie and euen against mens wils do shew the infinite power goodnesse and wisdome of God yet this light is but dimme and nearer to darkenesse in comparison of the light of the word of God whereby hee doth not onely giue vs assurance of his omnipotency maiesty and prouidence but doth also reueile to vs his will For surely the contemplation of the creatures doth not touch men with the sence of sinne nor doth shew to a man the way of saluation and reconciliation with God yea there can be no profitable and sauing contemplation of nature vnlesse those things which in a doubtfull light and in worne-out letters are hardly read doe by the word of God as it were through spectacles appeare plaine and distinct to vs Then at length doe we contemplate heauen with filiall eyes as the entry of our fathers house when God by his word hath dispelled this mist from our mindes and hath declared sure tokens of his fatherly loue II. Furthermore although the knowledge of the creatures doth not suffice to saluation yet the Gentiles who were instructed by no other teacher then nature are therefore inexcusable because they doe not vse these although small helpes to as good purpose as they might and because they endeauour to choake or depraue those naturall good notions and sparkes of goodnesse and equity which are put into them by nature Therefore they alone doe profit in piety by the teaching of the creatures and are by the prickes of conscience stirred vp to the feare of God to whom God hath vouchsafed the prerogatiue of his word III. But yet not all they that heare the word of God doe come to saluation but those in whom the preaching of the Gospell piercing deepely and being admitted into them doth change their hearts and shed in their mindes a heauenly light And these sauing effects are not to be ascribed to the eloquence of man obtained to perswade but to the secret efficacy of the holy Ghost which is the true doctor of our soules and that singer of God engrauing the law on the stony tables of our hearts Thence it is that the Gospell is called in the Scripture a two-edged sword a hammer breaking the stone the arme of God and the power of God to saluation Without which efficacy of the holy Ghost preaching is but a dead letter and a vaine sound striking mens eares effectuall onely to this that the condemnation of the stubborne and rebellious hearer should be the greater Hence ariseth a double calling one outward which is wrought by the outward publishing of the Gospell the other inward which is wrought by the powerfull drawing and change of the heart by the Holy-Ghost by whom the word is made effectuall This inward change doth consist of two parts viz. The enlightning of the minde and the change of the will which change of the will though it be latter in time yet it is worthier in dignity In so much that the enlightning of the minde without the renewing of the heart doth turne to our greater condemnation This inward change is in the Scripture called conuersion regeneration the new birth creation and resurrection IV. Here wee haue somewhat to doe with the Arminians and there is no small controuersie betweene vs For they say that the word of God whensoeuer and amongst whomsoeuer it is preached is neuer destitute of its quickning power neither is any one outwardly called but hee is also inwardly drawne And therefore they refuse the distinction of vocation or calling into outward and inward These are the words of Arminius against Perkins Page 57. The word is vnprofitable without the Holy-Ghost wherefore
things the Arminians bring some arguments but so light that they are dispearsed onely with a breath Arminius against Perkins Page 57. doth say that Stephen Acts 7.51 doth vpbraide and reproach the Iewes that they did alwaies resist the Holy-Ghost Hence the accure man doth gather that these rebellious Iewes were inwardly affected with the Holy-Ghost But the following words doe declare what it is to resist the Holy-Ghost for Stephen addeth Which of the Prophets haue not your fathers persecuted to wit to persecute the Prophets speaking by the inspiration of the Holy-Ghost and to resist the spirit speaking by their mouths this was to resist the Holy-Ghost XI I confesse that there are some men who doe resist the spirit of grace of whom the Apostle speaketh Hebrewes 10.29 and who doe striue against the inward suggestion of the Holy-Ghost But there the Apostle speaketh of some few who hauing embraced the Gospell with ioy and hauing receiued some tast of the word of God doe a while after with an obstinate minde and on set purpose turne their back to God and doe cast out his grace with indignation and doe sinne wilfully after they haue receiued the knowledge of the truth as it is said verse 26. who that they are the same with them who sinne against the Holy-Ghost doth hence appeare in that the Apostle in the same place doth say that their sâ—luation was past hope and doth say that there remaineth no sacrifice for their sinnes and that there doth rest no hope of reconciliation for them But this doth agree but to some few and not to all to whom eyther the law alone or the Gospell with the law hath beene made knowne All which these Sectaries teach are moued inwardly by the Hoâ—y Ghost and haue a feeling of the true doctrine imprinted in them Neither doe I thinke that the gifts of the spirit which such men as these haue receiued are the gifts of regeneration or the spirit of adoption or the true proper and iustifying faith but onely some assayes of the spirit mouing the heart at whose suggestion the will being warmed with some slight heare rather then enflamed doth cleaue to the Gospell vntill the benummed appetites perceiuing warre to be intended against them haue raised themselues with greater force and hauing shaken out of the heart that superficiall piety haue turned it into hatred and by the very incitations of piety their hidden poyson hath more vehemently burst forth XII Arminius in the same place doth hold vp and as it were vnderproppe their tottering cause with that place of the Prophet Esay Chapter 55.11 where he hath these words So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth it shall not returne vnto me voide but shall accomplish that which I please and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I senâ—â— Surely this is to hit the nayle on the head The meaning of Esay is plaine for he saith that the promises and threats propounded in the word of God shall be executed and that nothing was saide in vaine and which should not be fulfilled Here is no mention of the quickning efficacy of the spirit affecting mens hearts nor if there were could it thence be proued that the spirit of God did worke in all but in them alone whom he decreed to saue XIII Arnoldus Page 443. doth poure out a showre of places of Scripture and yet hee doth not proue by them that which hee doth intend That place Matth. 23.37 doth not proue it How oft would I haue gathered thy children c. For we haue shewed in the fift Chapter that these children were gathered together Also if they were not gathered together it would not follow that they were called any otherwise then by an outward calling XIV That place Esay 65 2. doth not proue it I haue spread out my hands all the day to a rebellious people Nor that Prou. 1.24 I haue called and ye refused For there it is spoken of the outward calling and not of the efficacy of the spirit working in mens hearts XV. Nor that place Psal 81.14 O that my people had hearkened that Israell had walked in my wates I would soone haue subdued their enemies For these words meane nothing else then what they plainely found forth to wit that God would haue laid flat the enemies of Israell if Israell had obeyed God Here is no mention at all of the inward efficacy of the spirit XVI Nor that of Ezechiel Chapter 18. v. 31. Make ye a new heart and a new spirit For it is not proued by this place that man doth make himselfe a new heart seeing God in the 36. Chapter of the same Prophecy saith I will giue you a new heart and a new spirit Much lesse is it hence proued that the Holy-Ghost doth worke in all men XVII Nor that of Saint Iohn Chapter 5.34 I seeke not the testimony of men but these things I say that ye might be saued And verse 40. Ye will not come to me that ye might haue life By which words how it can be proued that the quickning power of the Holy-Ghost doth worke in all men I confesse and it is my dulnesse I cannot conceiue XVIII It is not proued by those words of Saint Paul 1. Tim. 2.4 God would haue all men be saued Of which words wee haue at large proued Chapter 29. that this is the sence God doth inuite to saluation men of any sort and of euery condition XIX Nor by that place of Peter Epphes 2. Chap. 3. v. 9. God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance For it cannot be drawne out of this place that the Holy-Ghost doth inwardly worke in all men euen in those to whom the Gospell is not preached but onely that God is not the cause of the ouerthrow of any one that he doth not reioyce in the destruction of man as he is man For otherwise as the same man is a sinner God doth loue the execution of his iustice XX. Nor is it proued by that place of Ezechiel Chapter 12.2 Sonne of man thou dwellest in the middest of a rebellious house which haue eyes to see and see not they haue eares to heare and heare not For there by eyes and eares is not to be vnderstood sufficient grace to saluation eyther mediately or immediately nor the operation of the Holy-Ghost working in the reprobates but a knowledge in the heart by which euen against their wills they did acknowledge that those things were right which were taught them by the Prophets for they were admonished by so cleere instructions and stirred vp with so seuere threates that they could not pretend ignorance This knowledge was giuen them not by supernaturall grace working inwardly nor by sufficient grace common to all men by which they might haue beleeued and beene conuerted if they would but by the instructions and documents of the Prophets and by the law of God knowne and perceiued in their minde