congruous ends being his justice as Aquinas acknowledgeth Christ was willing and earnest to gather Jerusalem under his wings and no marvell hee was bound to doe all hee could as the Minister of Circumcision to save his brethren for hee was made under the Law and was bound to love not onely his brethren but his enemies also as well as wee are bound to shew the like love to all But to inferre here-hence that therefore it was the will of God to have healed and saved that part of Jerusalem that would not is a liberty which affection to a cause may take but no reason doth justifie it Like as our Saviour in his ministery so the Prophets in theirs desired to doe as much good as they could to all but here-hence it followeth not that it was the will of God to convert all whom the Prophets desired to convert And as our Saviour by his teares so the Prophets by their teares did manifest their desire to bring them to repentance to doe the uttermost of their power to bring them hereunto but will you inferre here-hence that God also did desire to bring them to repentance As for the phrase of carrying thoughts of peace towards them that is generall and therefore ambiguous and to what specialty you doe referre it I know not Yet according to the Scripture sense thereof it is nothing correspondent to your opinion For Gods thoughts of peace in Scripture phrase towards his people consist not onely in affording meanes but in making them effectuall also to the procuring of such a gracious disposition in his people as to make them fit for the mercies which God hath resolved to conferre upon them as Jer. 29. 10. But thus saith the Lord That after seventy years be accomplished at Babel I will visit you and performe my good promise towards you and cause you to returne to this place Verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I have thought towards you saith the Lord even the thoughts of peace and not of trouble to give you an end and your hope Verse 12. Then shall yee cry unto mee and yee shall goe and pray unto me and I will heare you Ver. 13. And yee shall seek me and find me because yee shall seek me with all your heart Ver. 14. And I will be found of you saith the Lord and I will turne your captivity And as for the former phrase in saying It was the will of God to have healed them In proportion to the place now alledged out of Jeremy it may be granted that God would have healed them to wit in case they would have converted unto God with all their heart and with all their soule as our Saviour signifies Joh. 12. 40. and that out of Esay 6. and like as God himselfe expresly professeth Deut. 4. 29. If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soule But is it thinke you in any unregenerate mans power to seek God with all their heart and with all their soule I thinke this is no more in the power of a man unregenerate than it is in his power to love the Lord his God with all his heart and with all his soule Now this is expresly attributed to the circumcision of the heart wrought by God Deut. 30. 6. When you adde that the will of God is the world of unbeleevers shall not be shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves through unbeleefe This assertion of yours is such as no man that I know denyes And it is as true of the Elect as of the Reprobate namely that they should be utterly shut out of Christ if they should shut out themselves by small unbeleefe for undoubtedly the word of God is true that saith Whosoever beleeveth shall be saved whosoever beleeveth not shall be damned But lest we should seeme to be pleased with our owne errors let us speake distinctly and keep our selves from confusion To be shut out of Christ is to be shut off from some benefit that is to be obtained by Christ Now if wee speake of the benefit of forgivenesse of sinnes and of salvation the truth is plaine and distinct that no man is bereaved of salvation and forgiveness of sinnes by Christ but through unbeleefe and whosoever beleeveth not is excluded from pardon and salvation by Christ But is there no other benefit wee obtaine by Christ besides forgivenesse of sinnes and salvation What thinke you of the gift of faith and repentance are not those spirituall blessings which wee obtaine in Christ and for Christs sake Ephes 1. 3. If it be so I pray consider Is it handsome to say that none is shut off from the gift of faith but through unbeleefe Certainly unbeleefe is no tolerable cause why God should deny them the gift of faith seeing all are in anbeleefe till God bestowes upon them the gift of faith neither can it be expected a man should beleeve till God gives him the gift of faith if so be faith be indeed the gift of God and not the work of mans free-will without any gift of God As for your discourse though it tends to a conclusion which rightly understood no man denyes in one sense nor will any wise man affirme in another sense I thinke fit to consider that also The Spirit you say convinceth the world of sinne because they beleeved not in Christ but the Spirit of God moveth to nothing but what hee knoweth to be according to the will of God Let all this be granted yet nothing followeth here-hence but that it was the will of God that the world should be convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ which no intelligent man will deny But yet by your leave it is no good consequence to inferre here-hence that therefore it is the will of God that the world of unbeleevers shall not be shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves by unbeleefe Therefore we grant both the antecedent and the consequent yet by the way as touching that which you affirme that God sent his Spirit to convince the world of sinne because they beleeve not in Christ this is a truth wee confesse but perhaps wee may be to seeke of the right accommodation hereof for where is the world convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ or to whom I grant to all beleevers the world of unbeleevers is by the Spirit of God convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ but are they convinced hereof to themselves and in their owne consciences I grant this also as often as it pleaseth God to convert them by the power of his Spirit then they are convicted of the sinfull nature of their owne unbeleefe Yet be it granted that an unbeleever continuing in unbeleefe may be and is sometimes convicted of the sinfull nature of his unbeleefe because the Apostle saith of an heretique that hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet
confesse this course of justifying a tenet by the usefulnesse of it is usually much made of by the Arminians but I could never brooke it in any This is a faire way to make a rule of faith unto our selves and under colour of usefulnesse to shape the doctrine of the Gospel after our owne fancies yet I am willing to examine what here you deliver also in every particular 1. As touching the first Use I finde you serve your turne with a manifest confusion of the grace of vocation with the grace of salvation Thus God of free grace saves in the one in justice damnes in the other But the comparison you make is nothing congruous For it is so carried by you as if in this dealing of God the case were alike with mans dealing as when a Judge amongst many malefactors equally guiltie of death saves some and damnes others These are nothing equall for the one die in faith and repentance the other die void of faith and in the state of impenitency Therefore to help this incongruitie you will be driven to fly to effectuall vocation And indeed before God doth effectually call some by such a grace as he denies others they whom hee cals were no better then others But let us make way for the truth to appeare in her proper colours by distinguishing those things which ought to be distinguished lest wee be found to be in love with our owne errours As touching Vocation 1. we acknowledge with you and you with us the freenesse of Gods efficacious grace bestowed on some and denyed to others and herein magnified that whereas God might have bestowed it on others and not on them he hath bestowed it on them and not on others yea on them who are but few in comparison permitting a farre greater multitude of others and which is especially to be considered though you are not willing to take notice of it Like as God hath mercy on some in giving them this efficacious grace we speak of meerely according to the good pleasure of his owne will so he hardens others denying them the same grace and that meerely according to the good pleasure of his owne will And thus the freenesse of his grace is magnified towards the elect by his severitie and freenesse of his will in denying it unto others whereas you so carry it as if the freenesse of his grace to the one were magnified in respect of his justice toward the world of mankinde in dealing with them according to their workes which is a plausible speech and of common course usually admitted but utterly void of truth The truth being this That like as God in inflicting damnation on men doth not proceed according to the meer pleasure of his own will but according to the works of men so in denying grace efficacious he doth not proceed according to the workes of men but meerely according to the good pleasure of his owne will For the Apostle plainely professeth in this case that looke how he hath mercie on whom hee will so likewise he hardens whom hee will And to cleare the truth in this point because as many as vary from the truth of God in this point are not very prone to heare on this eare let us consider that justice hath different acceptions In a common notion it is no otherwise taken then for justitia condecentiae as the Schoolemen call it Thus whatsoever God doth is an act of Gods justice whether it be an act of power as in makeing the world out of nothing or an act of liberalitie in doing good to the creature without cause or an act of mercy in pardoning sin all these are acts of justice in this sense The meaning whereof is no more but this In all these actions God doth no other thing then what himselfe hath lawfull power to doe In this sense it is just with God as well to have mercy on whom he will as to harden whom hee will And so your comparison here made should have no life at all to that purpose whereunto you accommodate it For in this sense the justice of God shall equally appeare on both sides Whereas you make the freenesse of Gods grace only on the one side to be magnified the more by the consideration of his justice which hath course on the other So that to hold up your owne comparison as decently proposed you must be driven to forgoe this common notion of justice and sticke to a more strict and peculiar notion thereof and that is when God rewards or punisheth men according to their workes Now I say that God doth not deny efficacious grace to any man according to his workes which I demonstrate thus The execution of justice in this kinde doth alwayes proceed according to some law which law is made to man by some superior power but unto God not by any superior power for hee acknowledgeth no superior power but by his owne will As for example Wherefore doth God crowne all them with glory who die in faith and in repentance To wit because he hath ordained and made a law that whosoever continueth to the end in the state of faith and repentance shall be saved Againe why doth God damne them to everlasting fire who die in sinne void of faith void of repentance To wit because God hath ordained and made a law that whosoever beleeveth not provided that he continueth in unbeliefe unto the end shall be damned For undoubtedly God could have turned men into nothing had it so pleased him and had hee not decreed the contrary like as hee brought men out of nothing Now shew me that God hath ordained or made a law that men found in such or such a condition shall be denyed efficacious grace if you cannot shew any such ordinance or law of God then doe not say that God in denying grace proceeds according to mens workes in justice And indeed if any such law could be assigned it would follow that in the communicating of grace also God should proceed not according to the good pleasure of his will but in justice according to mens workes Consider a second argument What is sinne originall but the spirituall death of the soule By Regeneration man formerly dead in sinne is revived Now is it congruous to say that because man is dead in sinne therefore it is just with God not to revive him Because a man is blind therefore it is just with God not to open his eyes Or because he is deafe therefore it is just with God not to open his eares Suppose sin were but the sicknesse of the soule is it congruous to say that because a man is sicke therefore it is just with God not to cure him Whereas it is manifest that unlesse a man were first sicke it were impossible to cure him unlesse first blinde or deafe it were impossible to restore sight or hearing unto him unlesse first dead it were utterly impossible to revive him Come wee now to salvation and
communicating life and glory unto him Which to my judgement doth manifestly intimate that you acknowledge in God a purpose to communicate life and glory to Esau some way or other And if you did acknowledge a purpose in God not to communicate life and glory at all unto him this Aquinas confesseth and wee joyntly with Aquinas confesse that it is nothing lesse then to hate him For if God will have a man to bee and will not have him to bee saved surely hee will have him in the end to bee damned For in the end there will bee found no middle state equally remote from salvation and damnation But you doe in plain termes acknowledge a purpose in God to deale in justice with Esau and to give him life or death according to his works I presume you will not avouch this of all them that you account the world of mankinde For I doubt not but you will except Infants As for men of ripe years is it not as true of the elect as of those you call the men of the world that they shall bee dealt withall according to their workes I doe not say according to their deserts but according to their works keeping my self to your own phrase Hath not the Apostle professed 2 Cor. 5. 10. That wee must all appeare before the judgement seate of Christ that every man may receive the things which are done in his body according to that hee hath done whether it be good or evill But these works I confesse are different for either they consist in obedience or disobedience either to the Covenant of the Law or to the Covenant of Grace either to the Law of works or to a Law of Faith Now as for those whom you call the world of mankinde and concerning whom you professe God hath a purpose to judge them according to their works I demand whether your meaning is God wil judge them according to their works in reference to the Covenant of the Law or in reference to the Covenant of Grace If in reference to the Covenant of the Law then the meaning must bee this God hath a purpose to save them in case they perform exact obedience to his Law But in case they continue not in every thing that is writen in the book of the Law to doe it Gods purpose is to condemn them to everlasting death Now I appeale to every sober Christians judgement whether if God hath no purpose to save them but upon condition of such obedience and withall hath a purpose to damne them upon condition of such disobedience whether all things considered it may not bee more truely avouched that God hath a purpose to damne them but no purpose at all to save them If it bee spoken in reference to the Covenant of Grace I dispute against it first in the same manner The conditions of the Covenant of Grace on mans part being Faith and Repentance if God will not save them but upon condition of faith and repentance and will damne them in case of infidelity and impenitency then surely if it shall bee found that the men of this world are far more prone to infidelity and impenitency then unto faith and repentance it followeth that God purposeth rather to damne them then to save them But in case they are naturally carryed to infidelity and impenitency and have no power to beleeve in Christ and to break off their sinnes by true repentance then it followeth as well in respect of this Covenant of grace according whereunto God will deale with them as in respect of the former Covenant of the Law that God hath no purpose to save them but hath a purpose to damne them unto everlasting fire But so it is of all those whom you call the world of mankind namely that they have no power to believe in Christ or to break off their sinnes by repentance but are naturally carryed on unto infidelity and impenitency as I prove thus They that cannot discern the things of God but account them foolishnesse they cannot beleeve in Christ But such are all they whom you call the world of mankind for they are not regenerate and consequently they are meere naturals Now the naturall man as the Apostle speakes perceives not the things of God for they are foolishnesse unto him Again all such persons are still in the flesh Now the affection of the flesh is enmity against God is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can bee Secondly I prove that God cannot deale with them whom you call the world of mankinde according to the Covenant of Grace For if hee should hee should save them all as I prove thus If whatsoever God requires by this covenant on mans part God undertakes to perform on his part then it is impossible but that all must bee saved with whom hee meanes to deale according to this covenant But whatsoever by this covenant God requires on mans part God himself undertakes to perform on his part as I prove thus First in generall God undertakes in this covenant to bee our Lord and our God to sanctifie us Therefore hee undertakes to give us faith and repentance Secondly in speciall and first doth God require at our hands that wee should love him with all our hearts and with all our soules God undertakes to perform this I will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy children that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soule Doth God require at our hands that wee feare him And God also undertakes on his part to work us unto this Jer. 32. 40. And I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall never depart away from mee Doth God require Faith this also on his part hee performes Act. 2. ult God added to the Church dayly such as should bee saved And Philip. 1. 29. To you it is given to beleeve in him and to suffer for him Doth God require Repentance Even to this end God sent his Sonne to give repentance unto Israel and forgivenesse of sins In a word it is God that makes us perfect unto every good work to do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Heb. 13. 21. Answ But in the second place it may bee argued that Gods raising up of Pharaoh to this intent to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow argueth the like hatred of Esau as of Pharaoh viz. a purpose of passing both by without communicating grace or glory unto them To which I answer a difference there is between Esau and Pharaoh though not in their finall condition nor in 〈◊〉 purpose concerning them Yet in the degree of their present estate whereunto they were severally come when God gave out his severall Oracles concerning them both for hee saith not of Pharaoh God raised him up to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow before hee had done good or evill as hee said of
many wholesome afflictions yea sent his holy Spirit among them And all this in the first place not to harden no not carnall Israel nor to leave them without excuse but to purge them to humble them and to prove them and to doe them good in the latter end And when these ends were not attained hee complaines hee had used these meanes in vaine which plainly argueth his first and chiefest intent was to heale and not to harden In fulnesse of time God sent his Sonne into the world not to condemne it or any thing in it but that the world might bee saved through him implying that even that part of the world which is condemned for refusing of Christ it was not Gods chiese intent to send Christ to procure their condemnation but their salvation rather If they should plead their condemnation to bee unjust for unbeleese because they were not able to beleeve Ver. 18. our Saviour answers by a reasonable prevention Ver. 19. This is their condemnation viz. the just cause of their condemnation that when light came into the world men loved darknesse rather then light men chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the meanes of grace which might have brought them on forward to beleeve in Christ Again when Christ lived here in the world and was the Minister of Circumcision and so might speake and doe some thing as man yet as man he went not to doe his owne will but the will of his Father who sent him and yet how willing and earnest was hee to gather Jerusalem under his wings even his wings in which lay healing and salvation A signe it was the will of God to have healed and saved that part of Jerusalem which would not And when our Saviour with tears tells Jerusalem Oh that thou hadst known at least in this thy day the things that doe belong unto thy peace doth hee not intimate that God had even to that day carried thoughts of peace unto them and accordingly to send them meanes of peace even those that should never from that day forward enjoy the like means of peace Finally God sent his Spirit into the world to convince it of sin because they beleeved not in Christ Which argueth that the Spirit did not onely perswade them to beleeve in Christ but did convince them also that it was their sin that they did not attaine to beleeve on him Now the Spirit of God moveth to nothing but what hee knoweth to bee according to the will of God And therefore the Spirit beares witnesse the will of God is the world of unbeleevers shall not bee shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves through unbeleefe Still you proceed to prove that which no man denyes namely that God purposed life to the world upon condition of obedience and repentance provided that you understand it aright namely that obedience and repentance is ordained of God as a condition of life not of Gods purpose Otherwise it were a very wild expression to say that God ordained that obedience and repentance should be the condition of Gods ordination Or that God purposed that obedience and repentance should be the condition of Gods purpose Yet by the way I desire to know whether you exclude faith If you doe what ground have you to prove that God ever purposed that any of Adams posterity coming to ripenesse of age should be saved upon the condition of obedience and repentance without faith Last of all on the other side it is as undoubtedly true that God ordained that whosoever coming to ripe yeares should not beleeve and repent should be damned the very elect not excepted Not that any such conditionate decrees are agreeable unto God but upon such decrees as were absolute in God such Propositions as these are naturally inferred Whosoever beleeveth and repenteth shall be saved Whosoever beleeveth not and repenteth not shall be damned One thing I had almost forgotten In the former Section you spake of a Purpose of God to save the world upon condition of obedience or repentance in a disjunctive manner now you are come off from that and turne your former disjunctive into a copulative saying that God purposed to save the world upon condition of their obedience and repentance This argueth that you are not well grounded in your owne opinion Howsoever your third reason is drawn from the end which God aimed at in offering meanes of salvation to the world which is not say you in the first place to harden or leave them without excuse but to bring them to the knowledge of God and of themselves to repentance to the seeking after God to the purging of themselves from sinne and to peace I am content first to consider what you say secondly how you prove who ever said that God offered meanes of salvation to any to this end that hee might harden them Meanes of grace were never that I know of called meanes of obduration Hardening followeth hereupon by accident but meanes of grace harden not But when meanes of grace are offered the corruption of mans heart uncorrected by the spirit of regeneration is apt to suggest carnall considerations such as are apt to make a man obstinately stand out against them The motion that Israel made to Sihon to passe through his Country hardened him not but the feare of inconveniencies and dangers more than enough upon the passage of so great an Army through his Country in all likelihood was it that hardened him and God is said to harden him in not correcting that feare but moving him according to that projecting disposition wherein hee found him And mark how Cajetan commenteth upon these words Utramque hominis partem spiritum cor hoc est superiorem inferiorem malè dispositum à Deo intellige negative penes dona gratuita positivè autem quoad judicum inclinationem prosecutionem boni sensibilis It à quod Deus spiritum regis durum hoc est non cedentem petitionibus reddidit non dando ci gratiam acquiescends cooperanda cidem ad affectum securitatis boni proprii When Moses came to Pharaoh to require him in the name of the Lord to let Israel goe this was not that that hardened him but his owne pride superstition and covetousnesse Neither did Gods judgements harden him for it is divers times signified that when hee found himselfe eased then hee hardned his heart and in other places in the way of an adversative when 't is said that yet Pharaoh hardened his heart and the like This also doth remove the cause of hardening his heart from Gods judgements yet notwithstanding it cannot bee denyed but that when God offers the meanes of grace to many hee doth it with a purpose to harden their hearts if so be hee entertaines any such purpose at all as your selfe grants hee doth for Gods purposes are eternall and immutable As for your qualification
that is not till after one and another admonition neverthelesse this makes nothing for you unlesse you maintain that Gods Spirit convicts them also of this that it is in their power to beleeve which power of beleeving you seeme to attribute to a man unregenerate though you are loath to speake plainly in expressing so much And you seem to intimate such an Argument as this They sinne in not beleeving therefore it is in their power to beleeve But you may as well inferre that wee sinne in not keeping Gods Law therefore it is in our power to keep it Or if you dispute thus The world is convicted of sinne in not beleeving therefore they have power to beleeve You may as well dispute thus The regenerate are convicted that they sinne in that their flesh lusteth against the Spirit therefore it is in their power to keep the flesh from lusting against the Spirit Besides when men quench the motions of the Spirit and persecute the Ministers of the word how can they be said in so doing to resist the Holy Ghost if the Holy Ghost went not about such a worke as to bring them to Christ and to life by him Could they be said to resist the Holy Ghost if the workes of the Holy Ghost had never striven with them to worke this worke in them Thus then you see those three that beare witnesse in heaven the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost they all from heaven beare witnesse of this point in hand concerning the truth hereof The Father by the end of the creation of his workes and providence the Sonne by his end of enlightening the world and of his coming into it to dye for it the Holy Ghost by his inward wrestling in the hearts of men doe all of them really proclaime that it is the will and good pleasure of God as to save the Elect not according to their owne workes but his grace so likewise to save the world of mankind if their workes hinder not his good will towards them Thus you see also a sweet harmony between the Purpose and the Covenant or Promise and the Providence of God This Purpose willeth life unto the world upon the condition of their obedience and repentance the Promise in the Covenant of Workes offereth life unto them likewise upon the same condition the Providence of God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost provideth and applieth severall meanes of life unto the world upon the same tearmes And there is in every godly man renewed after the Image of God a just concord betwixt his Purpose his Covenant or Promise and his Performance So is there here the like in God You may read what Gods purpose is toward the world by his Covenant made with the world and you may see both what his Covenant with them and purpose of them is by his performance and axecution of them both in his actuall providence in the fulnesse of time If you ask how God may be said to purpose any thing that is not effectually accomplished I answer the act of Gods will which hee is pleased to put forth is alwayes accomplished There is no good thing possible to be though it never come to passe as that all men should in all things obey the word of God but God passeth upon it some act of his will hee at least approveth it to be good and good it is though it never come to passe This act is not disappointed for as hee will prove it so likewise doth hee approve it Doth God command this or that good duty to be done which is not done Yet that act of his will which hee puts forth is done as hee willed to command it so hee did command it Doth God purpose to give life to the world upon condition of obedience and accordingly give means to help them to the performance of this obedience so farre as it is meet for them to doe Surely God performeth it on his part although men performe it not on their part their salvation is indeed disappointed but not Gods will who never willed to give salvation to them but upon that condition The motions of the Spirit which are quenched are godly motions in the way of admonition perswasion exhortation and they are quenched not onely in the men of the world but too often in the children of God the flesh too often prevailing in their lustings against the spirit whereby are quenched for a time the motions of the Spirit that is the regenerate part lusting against the flesh and consequently the motions also of the Spirit of God admonishing and inviting unto good either by the hearing of the word or by the observation of Gods works This worke of morall motion and invitation is wrought sometimes with a purpose to worke obedience conformable thereunto sometimes with no such purpose as often as God doth not make them effectuall to the working of obedience whether in the unregenerate or regenerate for even these sometimes yea too oft erre from Gods wayes and have their hearts hardened against his feare for if God had a purpose to make them effectuall who should hinder him Who hath resisted his will cui nullum humanum resist it arbitrium saith Austin for ex nolentibus volentes facit Undoubtedly morall invitations if they be not yeelded unto are justly said to be resisted to what end soever they be made whether to convert them or to leave them without excuse even such an excuse as Austin speaks of when hee saith Dicere solet humana suporbia Si scissem fecissem I see no reason why you should deny the Elect to be saved according to their workes our Saviour doth manifest Mat. 25. that they are so Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you c. For I was an hungred and you fed mee c. and can it be denyed but that God rewardeth every man according to his workes I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith saith Paul Henceforth there is laid up for mee a crown of righteousnesse God is not unrighteous to forget the labour of your love c. Looke to your selves saith John that wee may not lose the things that wee have done but wee may receive a full reward Piscator a precise Divine spareth not to professe that fides is causa salutis They are not I confesse causa meritoria as sinne is causa damnationis but they are causae dispositivae according to the Apostles phrase God hath made us meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Neither doe I see any reason why you should oppose grace and good workes in the point of salvation howsoever they are opposed in the point of justification The place you point unto for proofe treats not of the salvation of glory but of the salvation of grace consisting in effectuall calling as the Text it selfe manifesteth Had you spoken plainly as you might and as
of sin because they beleeved not in mee It seems you insist onely upon the latter in as much as the allegation reacheth no further The other parts being explicated in the Verses following Cannot Christ reprove the world of infidelity for not beleeving in him unlesse thereby bee acknowledged a power in a carnall man to doe more good then hee doth in the way of seeking the Lord Surely if any power in man hereto is to bee acknowledged it must bee a power to beleeve in Christ seeing infidelity is the sin whereof the world shall bee reproved by Christ and not the sin of not doing the good they could in the way of seeking the Lord. But your self acknowledge in this section that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to Faith and Repentance Much lesse doth it prove your present distinction namely that albeit God deprives them of such means without which none can come to Faith and Repentance yet they are inabled to doe more good then they doe in the way of seeking the Lord. Means of the knowledge of God wee confesse to bee partly the administration of his providence in his works which is the book of his creatures and there was a time when God did teach the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his Works as Chrysostome observeth and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his Writings and partly by the revelation of his word in the Scriptures And one of these meanes ever was and is afforded unto all But whereas you say God affords them to this end to lead them to salvation and repentance Here is first an incongruity which you are content to swallow to hold up your opinion For in truth the administration of Gods Providence in his works and the revelation of himself in his word is the very leading of them to that whereunto hee leads them to wit by admonition And as it is absurd to say that God doth admonish men to the end hee may admonish them so is it no lesse absurd to say that hee doth lead them to the end hee may lead them As for the things whereof hee doth admonish them repentance and salvation are ill matched And even such an incongruity doth serve your turn to blear both your own eyes and others also If these were the things God leads men to by his works and word it were but in this manner hee leads them to repentance that they may bee saved As for repentance it self admonition hereof the Apostle doth so manifestly attribute in such sort unto the ministry of his word as withall hee derogates it from the bare administration of his providence in his works Act. 17. 30. And the time of this ignorance God regarded not but now hee admonisheth all men every where to repent manifestly giving to understand that the Gentiles were not admonished till now In the time of extraordinary affliction brought upon them by the administration of Gods providence in his works men may bee stricken with feares that they have provoked a divine providence and hereupon they may bee stirred up to take a course to pacifie the wrath of God according to that counsell Non te nullius exercent numinis irae c. therefore faciles venerare Napaeas namque dabunt veniam votis irasque remittent But when they neither know God whom they have offended nor the sidne whereby they have provoked him nor the right way to pacifie him as a Jew sometimes being taken in a foule fact of collusion with the place where hee had been kindly intreated and desiring to make remonstrance of his repentance out of his familiarity with mee came to mee privatly and inquired of mee what it was to repent for saith hee I doe fast and macerate my body This manner of admonition deserves not to bee called an admonition to repentance In such a case the Athenians were sometimes brought about to erect an Altar to an unknown God as much as to say to pacifie they knew not whom nor how nor for what It is true God is said Rom. 1. 19. to manifest to the Gentiles that which may bee known of him by his works Yet not all that may bee known of him for even the wisdome of the world after all their paines and studious courses are said not to have known God no not in the wisdome of God 1 Cor. 1. 21. But his eternall power and God-head is generally made known to the world sufficiently to convict them of Idolatry â—nd the Apostle delivers no more in that place I hope wee Christians by the help of Gods Word are now adaies brought to such a measure of understanding of God by his workes that wee are able even by discourse of reason to prove many a faire attribute of God which the greatest Philosophers were ignorant of though some things are found in them concerning the nature of God which wee cannot read without admiration You adde also that God hath made manifest that which may bee known of him by his Law also writen in their hearts These you couple together though little or nothing Homogeneall The Law of God writen in our hearts is concerning mans duty no part whereof is contained in his Works His eternall power and God-head the Apostle tels us is made manifest by his works no such content doth hee make of the Law writen in our hearts Rom. 2. 14. but when you say this is done to this end to move them to seek after the Lord you fall upon the incongruity formerly spoken of For the very administration of Gods providence is the moving of them to seek after the Lord. I say the administration of Gods providence in his works moves men as the Apostle signifies to seek after the Lord. The Apostle no where refers this to the Law writen in mens hearts but you put all together and that for a speciall purpose as it serves For the phrase of seeking after the Lord Act. 17. seemes onely to import the seeking after his nature manifested by his works but you desire as it seemes to bend it to denote such a seeking after the Lord as whereby to pacifie him and to finde mercy from him In which sense you say it was farre more accommodable to the Law of God writen in mans heart then to the Administration of his providence in his works and therefore you couple both these courses together and then assign the end of them both to seek after the Lord which through the ambiguous signification thereof is applicable to both though the Apostle utters it in such a sense onely as whereby it is applyed to one course onely namely to the administration of his providence in his works Which yet I doe not conceive to proceed from any ill minde in you but out of a desire to hold our tenets up in that course of opinion which pleaseth us which is a common fault of all But with this difference some affect those opinions which are most
the criticall point Pag. 115. l. 33. the outward works of the Trinity are indivisible Pag. 121. l. 2. such as should be saved Pag. 122. l 1 2. they encreased the errour concerning God they took away the feare of God Pag. 125. l. 11 12. into a mind void of all judgement l 20. from the beginning Pag. 127. l. 10. of old fore-written to this judgement Pag. 129. l. 28. the pure masse l. 29. the corrupt masse Pag. 132. l. 38. suits at law Pag. 133. lin 31 32 33. moreover this metaphor is taken from hence that Gods eternall whereby the believers are ordained to salvation is called a book Pag. 137. l. 24. righteousnesse of condecency Pag. 140. l. 20 21. The love of good liking the love of wel-doing Pag. 141. l. 10. the will of the flesh l. 25. to an outward amendment of life Pag. 146. l. 11. is not liberty but contumacy Pag. 147. l. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21. what patience soever God shewes yet who shall repent unlesse God gives repentance None of these whom God hath not predestinated doth God bring unto true and wholsome repentance whereby man is reconciled unto God in Christ whether hee affords them greater patience or as great God brings to repentance but whom whom hee hath predestinated Pag. 185. lin 9 10. more helped l. 11 12. to be able if hee would to will what he could l. 13. helps or succours Pag. 187. l. 22. as touching the act of God predestinating l. 23. as touching the act of God reprobating l. 25. as touching the act of God willing Pag. 191. l. 4. not by infusing malice or naughtinesse but by not infusing grace Pag. 193. l. 15. no man becomes most foule at first l. 18. No old man fears God Pag. 195. lin 21 22. The same as the same alwayes works the same Pag. 202. l. 12. unequall heifers are not fit to plough under the same yoke Pag. 203. l. 17. by infusing malice but by not infusing grace Pag. 205. l. 3. not as touching the affection l. 4. but as touching the effect Pag. 212. l. 15. In the generall lurk many equivocations Pag. 224. lin 27 28 29. Thou art under the wrath of God therefore worship God who is easie to be intreated For upon thy prayers hee will pardon thee and his anger will be appeased Pag. 227. l. 27. of duty not of fact Pag. 229. lin 17 18 19 20 21 22 23. To God without doubt look how easie it is to doe what he will as easie it is not to suffer that to be which he will not have to be Unlesse we believe this wee must renounce the first article of our Creed whereby wee professe to believe in God the Father who is almighty For he is not called omnipotent but to shew that whatsoever hee will doe that he can doe neither can the effect of an almighty power be hindered by the will of any creature Pag. 230. lin 28 29. Exhortation not made but despised l. 32. if I had known it I would have done it if I had heard I would have believed Pag. 232. l. 33. on Gods part on mans part Pag. 258. lin 7 8. O Roman thou dost undeservedly suffer for the sins of thine Ancestors Pag. 262. lin 31 32. that they may profit to the outward amendment of their life to the end that their punishment may be the milder Pag. 263. l. 24. the will of suffering sin and inflicting damnation for their sin Pag. 283. lin 31 c. what is this that you say when they are said to be given over to their lusts they are to be understood as men left by divine patience not compelled into sins by Gods power as if the Apostle had not put both these together both patience and power when hee saith But if God willing to shew wrath and demonstrate his power suffered in much patience the vessels of Gods wrath fitted or prepared for destruction Yet which of these two doe you say is that which is written And the Prophet if hee shall erre and speake I the Lord have deceived that Prophet and I will stretch out mine arme upon him and cut him off out of the midst of my people Israel Is this patience or power choose which you will or confesse both Yet you see that the sin of him who prophecyeth falsly is also a punishment of sin And when it is said I the Lord have deceived that Prophet will you say here also that this is to be understood as if it were said I have deserted him that by reason of his merits he is seduced that he might erre Be it so if you will yet after this manner he was punished for his sins that by prophecying that which was false hee might sin But look unto that which the Prophet Micheas saw to wit The Lord sitting upon his throne and the whole army of heaven stood about him on his right hand and on his left And the Lord said Who shall perswade Ahab the King of Israel that he may goe up and fall at Ramoth Gilead and one spake on this manner and another on that And there came forth a Spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will perswade him And the Lord aid unto him Wherewith And he said I will goe forth and will be a lying Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets But this very thing was also a punishment of sin God judging God sending an evill Angel That wee may more clearly understand how it is said in the Psalme that hee sent the wrath of his indignation by evill Angels But did God erre in this did he judge or doe ought unjustly or rashly in this Farre be it from us so to think But the Prophet spake not in vaine when hee said Thy judgements are a great depth The Apost be doth not cry out in vaine when hee saith O the depth of the riches of the wisdome and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgements and his wayes past finding out For who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellour or who first gave unto him that hee might be recompensed And againe in the same Chapter it followeth For this cause God gave them over to the lusts of uncleannesse You heare that for this God gave them over and you vainly inquire How it is to be understood that God gave them over taking much paines to shew that God gives men over in such manner by deserting them But after what manner soever God gives them over for this cause God gave them over For this hee deserted them And you see Gods giving of them over what kind of desertion soever it be and after what manner soever you understand the things which followed hereupon For the Apostles care was to shew how great a punishment it is to be given over of God to the lusts of uncleannesse whether by forsaking them or after what other manner soever whether explicable or inexplicable whereby God doth this who is both good and just in an unspeakable manner FINIS Answ Exam. Phil. 2. Answ 1. Exam. 2 Tim. 1. 9. Answ 2. Exam. Answ 3. Col. 1. 18. Rom. 8. 29. Col. 1. 16. Exam. Answ 4. Exam. 1. Vers 10 27. Eccles 3. 11. Answ Exam. Answ 1 Tim. 1. 16. Exam. Answ Exam. Answ Examin Answ Examin Answ Exod. 34. 6 7. Examin * Exod. 34 6. Exod. 31. 28 29. Answ Examin Answ Examin Answ Examin 2 Tim 4. 2 Thessa 1. Answ Examin Vindiciae gratiae ' Dei lib 3. dig 2. Answ Examin Answ Examin 〈…〉 10. Answ Examin Gen. â— Esa 1. Enchirid. cap. 95. Judg. 9. Answ Examin Jer. 13. 17. Answ Examin 2 Tim. 4. 1 Thes 1. 2 Tim. 1 9. Answ Examin Answ Examin Answ 2. John 8. John 3. Examin Act. 26. 9. Answ Examin Answ Use 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Examin 4 Doubt Quest 4. Answer Exam. 1 Cor. 2. 14. Rom. 8. Dent. 30. 6. Exam. Exam. Answer Rom. 11. 1. 8. 9 10. compared with Psal 69. 21 to 28. See also Rom 1. 26 27 28 Psal 81. 11 12. Exam. Rom. 9. 18. Exam. Jer. 32. 40. Answer Exam. Answ Exam. Psal 191. 1. Rom. 1. 20. Act. 14. 17. Act 17. 26 27. Esa 63. 17. Deut. 29 4. seems Ezek. 24. 13. Exam. Answ Rom. 1. 21. 28. Act. 7 51. Luk. 19. 24. Mat. 27. 21 22 Joh. 3. 43. Exam. Answ Rom. 1. 29. Luk. 16. 11 12. Acts 16. 46. Lukc 19. 42. Mat. 21 41 42. Exam. Col. â— Exam. Answer Col. 1. 3. Rom. 14. 9. John 3. 35. Mar. 28. 18. Phil 1. 8 9 10 11. Mark 10. 14. â—â—am The Examination must proceed according to this correction Exam. * Indeed it should bee not Covenant as my Copy had it but current as a friend shewed mee how to correct it Rom. 8. Analysis Exam. Exam. Exam. 1 Cor 7 Exam.