not that whereby God determineth to give some unto Christ to ingraft them in him by faith and bring them by him unto glory which giveth light to that place of Arminius where he affirmeth That God loveth none precisely to eternall life but considered as iust either with Legall or Evangelicall righteousnesse Now to love one to eternall life is to destinate one to obtaine eternall life by Christ and so it is co-incident with the former assertion that our election or choosing unto grace and glory is upon the fore-sight of our good workes which containes a doctrine so contradictorie to the words and meaning of the Apostle Rom. 9. 11. condemned in so many Councels suppressed by so many Edicts and Decrees of Emperours and Governours opposed as a pestilent heresie ever since it was first hatched by so many Orthodoxe Fathers and learned Schoole men so directly contrary to the Doctrine of this Church so injurious to the grace and supreame power of Almightie God that I much wonder any one in this light of the Gospel and flourishing time of learning should be so boldly ignorant or impudent as to broach it amongst Christians to prove this to be a heresie exploded by all Orthodoxe and Catholique antiquitie were to light a candle in the Sunne for it cannot but be knowne to all and every one who ever heard or read any thing of the state of Christs Church after the rising of the Pelagian tumults To accumulate testimonies of the Ancient is quite beside my purpose I will onely adde the confession of Bellarmine a man otherwise not over-well affected to truth Predestination saith he from the fore-sight of workes cannot be maintained unlesse we should suppose something in the righteous man which should make him differ from the wicked that he doth not receive from God which truly all the Fathers with unanimous consent doe reiect but we have a more sure testimonie to which we will take heed even the holy Scripture pleading strongly for Gods free and undeserved grace First our Saviour Christ Matth. 11. 26. declaring how God revealeth the Gospel unto some which is hidden from others a speciall fruit of election resteth in his will and good pleasure as the onely cause thereof even so O Father for so it seemed good in thy sight so comforting his little flock Luk. 12. 32. he bids them feare not for it is your Fathers good pleasure to give you the kingdome his good pleasure is the onely cause why his kingdome is prepared for you rather then others but is there no other reason of this discrimination No he doth it all that his purpose according to election might stand firme Rom. 9. 11. For we are predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsell of his owne will Ephes 1. 11. But did not this counsell of God direct him to choose us rather then others because we had something to commend us more then they No The Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because you were more in number then any people but because the Lord loved you Deut. 7. 7 8. He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy yea before the children were borne and had done either good or evill that the purpose of God according to election might stand not of workes but of him that calleth it was said unto her the elder shall serve the younger as it is written Jacob have I loved but Esau have I hated Rom. 9. 11 12. In briefe where ever there is any mention of election or predestination it is still accompanied with the purpose love or will of God his foreknowledge whereby he knoweth them that are his his free power and supreame dominion over all things of our faith obedience or any thing importing so much not one syllable no mention unlesse it be as the fruit and effect thereof it is the sole act of his free grace and good pleasure that he might make knowne the riches of his glory towards the vessels of mercy Rom. 9. 23. for this onely end hath he saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our workes but according to his owne purpose and grace which was given in Iesus Christ before the world began 2 Tim. 1. 9. Even our calling is free and undeserved because flowing from that most free grace of election whereof we are partakers before we are it were needlesse to heape up more testimonies in a thing so cleere and evident when God and man stand in competition who shall be accounted the cause of an eternall good we may be sure the Scripture will passe the verdict on the part of the most high and the sentence in this case may be derived from thence by these following reasons First If finall perseverance in faith and obedience be the cause of or a condition required unto election then none can be said in this life to be elected for no man is a finall perseverer untill he be dead untill he hath finished his course and consummated the faith but certaine it is that it is spoken of some in the Scripture that they are even in this life elected few are chosen Mat. 20. 16. for the elects sake those dayes shall be shortned Matth. 24. and shall seduce if it were possible the very elect vers 24. where it is evident that election is required to make one persevere in the faith but no where is perseverance in the faith required to election yea and Peter gives us all a command that we should give all diligence to get an assurance of our election even in this life 2 Pet. 1. 10. and therefore surely it cannot be a decree presupposing consummated faith and obedience Secondly consider two things of our estate before the first temporall act of Gods free grace for grace is no grace if it be not free which is the first effect of our predestination comprehendeth us Were we better then others no in no wise both Iewes and Gentiles were all under sinne Rom. 3. 9. there is no difference for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God vers 23. being all dead in trespasses and sinnes Ephes 2. 1. Being by nature children of wrath as well as others vers 3. a farre off untill we are made nigh by the blood of Christ vers 12. we were enemies against God Rom. 5. 10. Titus 3. 3. and looke what desert there is in us with these qualifications when our vocation the first effect of our predestination as Saint Paul sheweth Rom. 8. 30. and as I shall prove hereafter separateth us from the world of unbeleevers so much there is in respect of predestination it selfe so that if we have any way deserved it it is by being sinners enemies children of wrath and dead in trespasses these are our events this is the glory whereof we ought to be ashamed But secondly when they are in the same state of actuall alienation from God yet
the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. thereby reconciling us unto God vers 19. he died to reconcile us unto God in the body of his flesh through death that we might be holy and unblameable Colos 1. 21 22. to purge our sins Heb. 1. 3. to obtaine an everlasting redemption for us Heb. 9. 12. so that if Christ by his death obtained what he did intend he hath purchased for us not only a possibilitie of salvation but holinesse righteousnesse reconciliation with God justification freedome from the guilt and condemning power of sin everlasting redemption eternall life and glory in heaven Thirdly I appeale unto the consciences of all Christians First whether they doe not suppose the very foundation of all their consolation to be stricken at when they shall finde those places of Scripture that affirme Christ to have died to take away our sins to reconcile us unto God to put away or abolish our transgressions to wash and regenerate us perfectly to save us and purchase for us an everlasting redemption whereby he is become unto us righteousnesse and redemption and sanctification the Lord our righteousnesse and we become the righteousnesse of God in him to be so wrested as if he should be said only to have done something which these things might happily follow Secondly whither they thinke it not a ready way to impaire their love and to weaken their faith in Christ when they shall be taught that Christ hath done no more for them then for those that are damned in hell that be their assurance never so great that Christ died for them yet there is enough to be laid to their charge to condemne them that though God is said to have reconciled them unto himselfe in Christ Colos 1. 19 20. yet indeed he is as angry with them as with any reprobate in the world that God loveth us not first but so long as we continue in a state of enmitie against him before our conversion he continues our enemy also so that the first act of friendship or love must be performed on our part notwithstanding that the Scripture saith we were reconciled unto God being enemies Romanes 5. vers 10. Thirdly Whither they have not hitherto supposed themselves bound to beleeve that Christ died for their sins and rose for their justification do they not thinke it lawfull to pray that God would bestow upon them grace and glory for Christs sake and to beleeve that Iesus Christ was such a Mediatour of the new Covenant as procured for the persons Covenanted withall all the good things comprehended in the promise of that Covenant I will not further presse upon this prevarication against Christian Religion only I would desire all the lovers of Iesus Christ seriously to consider whether these men doe truly ayme at his honour and advancing the dignitie of his merit and not rather at the crying up of their own indeavours seeing the sole cause of their denying these glorious effects of the blood of Christ is to appropriate the praise of them unto themselves as we shall see in the next Chapter These charges are never to be waved by the vanitie of their sophisticall distinctions as of that of impetration and application which though it may be received in an Orthodox meaning yet not in that sense or rather non-sense whereunto they abuse it viz. As though Christ had obtained that for some which shall never be imparted unto them that all the blessings procured by his death are proper to none but pendent in the aire for them that can or will catch them whereupon when we object that by this means all the efficacie of the merit of Christ is in our own power they readily grant it and say it cannot otherwise be let them that can receive these monsters in Christianitie for my part in these following contradictory assertions I will choose rather to adhere to the authoritie of the word of God then of Arminius and his sectaries S. S. He made him to be sinne for us who knew no sinne that we might become the righteousnesse of God in him 2 Cor. 5. 21. He loved his Church and gave himselfe for it that he might present it unto himselfe a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such things Ephes 5. 26 27. God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himselfe 2 Cor. 5. 19. When thou shalt make his soule an offering for sin he shall see his seed he shall prolong his dayes and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand Isa 53. 10. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant iustifie many for he shall beare their iniquities vers 11. Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Heb. 9. 28. By his own blood he entred in once into the holy place having obtained eternall redemption for us vers 12. He hath reconciled you in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and unblamable Colos 1. 22. Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins c. that he might be iust and the iustifier of him that beleeveth in Iesus Rom. 3. 25 26. Who his own selfe bare our sins in his own body on the tree that we being dead to sinne should live unto righteousnesse by whose stripes we are healed 1 Peter 2. 24. Lib. Arbit The immediate effect of the death of Christ is not the remission of sins or the actuall redemption of any Armin. Christ did not properly die to save any one Grevinch A potentiall and conditionate reconciliation not actuall and absolute is obtained by the death of Christ Corvin I beleeve it might have come to passe that the death of Christ might have had its end though never any man had beleeved Corvi The death and satisfaction of Christ being accomplished yet it may so come to passe that none at all fulfilling the condition of the new covenant none might be saved idem The impetration of salvation for all by the death of Christ is nothing but the obtaining of a possibilitie thereof that God without wronging his iustice may open unto them a gate of mercy to be entred on some condition Rem Coll. Hag. Notwithstanding the death of Christ God might have assigned any other condition of salvation as well as faith or have chosen the Iews following the righteousnesse of the law Grevin Why then the efficacie of the death of Christ depends wholly on us true it cannot otherwise be Rem Apol. CHAP. X. Of the cause of faith grace and righteousnesse THE second part of this controversie is in particular concerning grace faith and holinesse sincere obedience to the precepts of the new Covenant all whose praise we appropriate to the most high by reason of a double interest First of the merit of Christ which doth procure them for us Secondly of the holy Spirit which works them in us the death of Christ is their
a vitall act but causaliter only in being a principle moving to such vitall acts within us It is the habit of faith bestowed upon a man that he may be able to elicate and performe the acts thereof giving new light to the understanding new inclinations to the will and new affections unto the heart For the infallible efficacie of which grace it is that we plead against the Arminians and amongst those innumerable places of holy Scripture confirming this truth I shall make use only of a very few reduced to these three heads First Our conversion is wrought by a divine Almighty action which the will of man will not and therefore cannot resist the impotency thereof ought not to be opposed to this omnipotent grace which will certainly effect the worke for which it is ordained being an action not inferiour to the greatnesse of his mightie power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead Ephes 1. 19 20. and shall not that power which could overcome hell and loose the bonds of death be effectuall for the raising of a sinner from the death of sinne when by Gods intention it is appointed unto that worke He accomplisheth the worke of faith with power 2 Thess 1. 11. It is his divine power that gives unto us all things that appertaine to life and godlinesse 2 Pet. 1. 3. surely a morall resistible perswasion would not be thus often tearmed the power of God which denoteth an actuall efficacie to which no creature is able to resist Secondly That which consisteth in a reall efficiency and is not at all but when and where it actually worketh what it intendeth cannot without a contradiction be said to be so resisted that it should not worke the whole nature thereof consisting in such a reall operation Now that the very essence of divine grace consisteth in such a formall act may be proved by all those places of Scripture that affirme God by his grace or the grace of God actually to accomplish our conversion as Deut. 30. 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and all thy soule that thou mayest live The circumcision of our hearts that we may love the Lord with all our hearts and with all our souls is our conversion which the Lord affirmeth here that he himselfe will doe not only enable us to doe it but he himselfe really and effectually will accomplish it And againe I will put my Law into them and write it in their hearts Ierem. 31. 33. I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me Chap. 32. 39. he will not offer his feare unto them but actually put it into them and most clearely Ezek. 36. 26. A new heart also will I give you a new spirit will I put within you and I will take the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you an heart of flesh and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walke in my statutes Are these expressions of a morall perswasion only doth God affirme here he will doe what he intends only to perswade us to and which we may refuse to do if we will is it in the power of a stony heart to remove it self what an active stone is this in mounting upwards what doth it at all differ from that heart of flesh that God promiseth shall a stony heart be said to have a power to change it selfe into such a heart of flesh as shall cause us to walke in Gods Statutes Surely unlesse men were wilfull blind they must needs here perceive such an action of God denoted as effectually solely and infallibly worketh our conversion opening our hearts that we may attend unto the word Acts 16. 14. Granting us on the behalfe of Christ to beleeve in him Philip. 1. 29. Now these and the like places prove both the nature of Gods grace to consist in a reall efficiency and the operation thereof to be certainly effectuall Thirdly our conversion is a new creation a resurrection a new birth Now he that createth a man doth not perswade him to create himselfe neither can he if he should nor hath he any power to resist him that will create him that is as we now take it translate him from some thing that he is to what he is not What arguments doe you thinke were sufficient to perswade a dead man to rise or what great aid can he contribute to his own resurrection neither doth a man beget himselfe a new reall forme was never yet introduced into any matter by subtle arguments These are the tearmes the Scripture is pleased to use concerning our conversion If any man be in Christ he is a new creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. The new man after God is created in righteousnesse and holinesse Ephes 4. 24. it is our new birth Except a man be borne againe he cannot see the kingdome of God Ioh. 3. 3. Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth Iam. 1. 18. and so we become borne againe Not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1. 23. it is our vivification and resurrection The sonne quickeneth whom he will Ioh. 5. 21. even those dead who heare his voice and live vers 25. When we were dead in sins we are quickned together with Christ by grace Ephes 2. 5. For being buried with him by Baptisme we are also risen with him through the faith of the operation of God Coloss 2. 12. and blessed and holy is he that hath part in that first resurrection on such the second death hath no power but they shall be Priests of God and of Christ and shall raigne with him a thousand yeers 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sleid. Com. Greg. Naz. Profitentur Remonst hasce ad promotionem causae suae artes adhibere ut apud vulgus non ulterius progrediantur quam de articulis vulgo notis ut pro ingeniorum diversitate quosdam lacte diualant aliis solidiore cibo c. Festus Hom. praestat ad specimen Con. Bel. Hieron Zanch. ad Holderum Res Miscel a Ephes 4. 18. Iohn 1. 5. 1 Cor. 2. 14. b Iohn 6. 42. and 7. 52. Natura sic apparet vitiata ut hoc majoris vitii sit non videre Aug. Pelag Semipelag Scholastico In hac causa non judicant secundum aequitatem sed secundum affectum commodi sui Luth. de erv Arbit Psal 50. Phil lib quod sit Deus immutabilis a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaedam sunt quae omnem actum 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quaedam quae 〈◊〉 cap. 5. see 1. pag 67. b Certum est Deum quaedam velle quae non velle niâ—i aliqua 〈◊〉 humana antecederet Aâ— min. Antipe kâ—p 211. c Multa tamen arbitror Deum velle quae non vellet adeoque nec justâ— velle posset nisi aliqua actio creatuâ—â—
Counsels edicts decrees of Emperours wherein that hereticall doctrine of denying this originall corruption is condemned cursed and exploded now amongst those many motives they had to proceed so severely against this heresie one especially inculcated deserves our consideration viz. That it overthrew the necessitie of Christs coming into the world to redeeme mankinde it is sinne onely that makes a Saviour necessary and shall Christians tollerate such an errour as by direct consequence inferres the coming of Iesus Christ into the world to be needlesse my purpose for the present is not to alleadge any testimonies of this kinde but holding my selfe close to my first intention to shew how farre in this Article as well as others the Arminians have Apostated from the pure doctrine of the word of God the consent of Orthodox Divines and the Confession of this Church of England In the ninth Article of our Church which is concerning originall sinne I observe especially foure things First that it is an inherent evill the fault and corruption of the nature of every man Secondly that it is a thing not subject or conformable to the Law of God but hath in it selfe even after Baptisme the nature of sinne Thirdly that by it we are averse from God and inclined to all manner of evill Fourthly that it deserveth Gods wrath and damnation all which are frequently and evidently taught in the word of God and every one denyed by the Arminians as it may appeare by these instances in someof them First That it is an inherent sinne and pollution of nature having a proper guilt of its owne making us responsable to the wrath of God and not a bare imputation of anothers fault to us his posteritie which because it would reflect upon us all with a charge of a native imbecillitie and insufficiency to good is by these self-idolizers quite exploded Infants are simply in that estate in which Adam was before his fall saith Venator Neither is it all considerable whether they be the children of beleevers or of heathens and infidels for infants as infants have all the same innocency say they joyntly in their Apologie nay more plainly it can be no fault wherewith we are born in which last expression these bold innovators with one dash of their pens have quite overthrowne a sacred verity an Apostolike Catholike fundamentall Article of Christian Religion but truly to me there are no stronger Arguments of the sinfull corruption of our nature then to see such nefarious issues of unsanctified hearts let us looke then to the word of God confounding this Babylonish designe First That the nature of man which at first was created pure and holy after the image of God endowed with such a rectitude and righteousnesse as was necessary and due unto it to bring it unto that supernaturall end to which it was ordained is now altogether corrupted and become abominable sinfull and averse from goodnesse and that this corruption or concupiscence is originally inherent in us and derived from our first parents is plentifully delivered in holy writ as that which chiefly compels us to a self-deniall and drives us unto Christ Behold I was shapen in iniquitie and in sinne did my mother conceive me saith David Psal 51. 5. Where for the praise of Gods goodnesse towards him he begins with the confession of his native perversenesse and of the sinne wherein he was wrapped before he was born neither was this peculiar to him alone he had it not from the particular iniquitie of his next progenitors but by an ordinary propagation from the common parent of us all though in some of us Satan by this Pelagian attempt by hiding the disease hath made it almost incurable for even those infants of whose innocency the Arminians boast are uncleane in the verdict of Saint Paul 1 Cor. 7. 14. if not sanctified by an interest in the Promise of the Covenant and no uncleane thing shall enter into the kingdome of heaven The weaknesse of the members of infants is innocent and not their souls they want nothing but that the members of their bodies are not as yet ready instruments of sinne they are not sinfull only by an externall denomination accounted so because of the imputation of Adams actuall transgression unto them for they have all an uncleannesse in them by nature Iob 14. 4. from which they must be cleansed by the washing of water and the word Ephes 5. 20. their whole nature is overspread with such a pollution as is proper only to sinne inherent and doth not accompany sinne imputed as we may see in the example of our Saviour who was pure immaculate holy undefiled and yet the iniquity of us all was imputed unto him hence are those phrases of washing away sinne Acts 22. 16. of cleansing filth 1 Pet. 3. 21. Titus 3. 5. something there is in them as soone as they are borne excluding them from the kingdome of heaven for except they also be borne againe of the spirit they shall not enter into it Ioh. 3. 5. Secondly The opposition that is made between the righteousnesse of Christ and the sinne of Adam Rom. 5. which is the proper seat of this doctrine sheweth that there is in our nature an inbred sinfull corruption for the sinne of Adam holds such relation unto sinners proceeding from him by naturall propagation as the righteousnesse of Christ doth unto them who are borne againe of him by spirituall regeneration but we are truly intrinsecally and inherently sanctified by the spirit and grace of Christ and therefore there is no reason why being so often in this Chapter called sinners because of this originall sinne we should cast it off as if we were concerned only by an externall denomination for the right institution of the comparison and its Analogie quite overthrows the solitary imputation Thirdly All those places of Scripture which assert the pronnesse of our nature to all evill and the utter disabilitie that is in us to doe any good that wretched opposition to the power of godlinesse wherewith from the wombe we are replenished confirmes the same truth but of these places I shall have occasion to speake hereafter Fourthly The flesh in the Scripture phrase is a qualitie if I may so say inherent in us for that with its concupiscence is opposed to the spirit and his holinesse which is certainly inherent in us now the whole man by nature is flesh for that which is borne of the flesh is flesh Ioh. 3. 6. it is an inhabiting thing a thing that dwelleth within us Rom. 7. 17. in briefe this vitiosity sinfulnesse and corruption of our nature is laid open First by all those places which cast an aspersion of guilt or desert of punishment or of pollution on nature it selfe as Ephes 2. 1 2 3. We are dead in trespasses and sinnes being by nature children of wrath as well as others being wholly incompassed by a sinne that doth easily beset us Secondly by them which fixe this
against its exaltation to this height of independencie I oppose First every thing that is independent of any else in operation is purely active and so consequently a God for nothing but a divine will can be a pure act possessing such a libertie by vertue of its owne essence every created will must have a libertie by participation which includeth such an imperfect potentiality as cannot be brought into act without some praemotion as I may so say of a Superiour Agent neither doth this motion being extrinsecall at all prejudice the true libertie of the will which requireth indeed that the internall principle of operation be active and free but not that that principle be not moved to that operation by an outward Superiour Agent nothing in this sense can have an independent principle of operation which hath not an independent being it is no more necessary to the nature of a free cause from whence a free action must proceed that it be the first beginning of it then it is necessarie to the nature of a cause that it be the first cause Secondly if the free acts of our wils are so subservient to the providence of God as that he useth them to what end he will and by them effecteth many of his purposes then they cannot of themselves be so absolutely independent as to have in their owne power every necessarie circumstance and condition that thoy may use or not use at their pleasure Now the former is proved by all those reasons and Texts of Scripture I before produced to shew that the providence of God overruleth the actions and determineth the wils of men freely to doe that which he hath appointed and truely were it otherwise Gods dominion over the most things that are in the world were quite excluded he had not power to determine that any one thing should ever come to passe which hath any reference to the wils of men Thirdly all the acts of the will being positive entities were it not previously moved by God himselfe in whom we live move and have our being must needs have their essence and existence solely from the will it selfe which is thereby made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a first and supreame cause indued with an underived being and so much to that particular Let us now in the second place looke upon the power of our free-will in doing that which is morally good where we shall finde not onely an essentiall imperfection in as much as it is created but also a contracted defect in as much as it is corrupted the abilitie which the Arminians ascribe unto it in this kinke of doing that which is morally and spiritually good is as large as themselves will confesse to be competent unto it in the state of innocencie even a power of beleeving and a power of resisting the Gospel of obeying and not obeying of turning or of not being converted The Scripture as I observed before hath no such terme at all nor nothing equivalent unto it but the expressions it useth concerning our nature and all the faculties thereof in this state of sinne and unregeneration seeme to imply the quite contrary as that we are in bondage Heb. 2. 15. dead in sinne Ephes 2. 3. and so free from righteousnesse Rom. 6. servants of sinne ver 16. under the reigne and dominion thereof vers 12. all our members being instruments of unrighteousnesse vers 13. Not free indeed untill the Sonne make us free so that this Idol of free-will in respect of spirituall things is not one whit better then the other Idols of the heathen Though it looke like silver and gold it is the worke of mens hands it hath a mouth but it speakes not it hath eyes but it sees not it hath eares but it heares not a nose but it smels not it hath hands but it handleth not feet but it walkes not neither speaketh it through the throat all they that made it are like unto it and so is every one that trusteth in it O Israel trust thou in the Lord c. That it is the worke of mens hands or a humane invention I shewed before for the rest it hath a mouth unacquainted with the mysteries of godlinesse full onely of cursing and bitternesse Rom. 3. 14. speaking great swelling words Iude vers 16. great things and blasphemies Revel 13. 5. a mouth causing the flesh to sinne Eccles 6. 5. his eyes are blinde not able to perceive those things that are of God nor to know those things that are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. eyes before which there is no feare of God Rom. 3. 18. his understanding is darkened because of the blindnesse of his heart Ephes 4. 18. wise to doe evill but to doe good he hath no knowledge Ierem. 4. 22. So that without farther light all the world is but a meere darkenesse Iohn 1. 5. he hath eares but they are like the eares of the deafe Adder to the word of God refusing to heare the voyce of the Charmer charme he never so wisely Psal 54. 8. beeing dead when this voyce first cals it Iohn 5. 25. eares stopped that they should not heare Zach. 8. 11. heavie eares that cannot heare Isa 6. 10. a nose to which the Gospel is the savour of death unto death 2 Cor. 2. 16. hands full of blood Isa 1. 15. and fingers defiled with iniquitie Chap. 59. 3. feet indeed but like Mephibosheth lame in both by a fall so that he cannot at all walke in the path of goodnesse but swift to shed blood destruction and miserie are in their waies and the way of peace they have not knowne Rom. 3. 15 16 17. These and divers other such endowments and excellent qualifications doth the Scripture attribute to this Idol which it cals the old man as I shall more fully discover in the next Chapter and is not this a goodly Reed whereon to rely in the paths of godlinesse a powerfull Deitie whereunto we may repaire for a power to become the sonnes of God and attaining eternall happinesse the abilities of Free-will in particular I shall consider hereafter now onely I will by one or two reasons shew that it cannot be the sole and proper cause of any truely good and spirituall act well pleasing unto God First all spirituall acts well pleasing unto God as faith repentance obedience are supernaturall flesh and blood revealeth not these things not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of the will of God Iohn 1. 13. That which is borne of the flesh is flesh and that which is borne of the spirit is spirit Iohn 3. 6. Now to the performance of any supernaturall act it is required that the productive power thereof be also supernaturall for nothing hath an activitie in causing above its own sphere nec imbelles generant feroces aquilas columbae but our free-will is a meerly naturall faculty betwixt which and those spirituall supernaturall acts there is no proportion unlesse
as doth Grevinchovius I make my selfe saith he differ from another when I doe not resist God and his divine predetermination which I could have resisted why may I not boast of this as of mine own that I could is of Gods mercy endowing his nature with such an abilitie as you heard before but that I would when I might have done otherwise is of mine power Now when after all this they are forced to confesse some Evangelicall grace though consisting only in a morall perswasion by the outward preaching of the word they teach Thirdly That God sendeth the Gospel and revealeth Christ Iesus unto men according as they well dispose themselves for such a blessing Sometimes say they in their Synodicall writings God calleth this or that nation people citie or person to the communion of Evangelicall grace whom he himselfe pronounceth worthy of it in comparison of others So that whereas Acts 18. 10. God encourageth Paul to preach at Corinth by affirming that he had much people in that citie which doubtlesse were his people then only by vertue of their election in these mens judgements they were called so because that even then they feared God and served him with all their hearts according to that knowledge they had of him and so were ready to obey the preaching of Saint Paul strange doctrine that men should feare God know him serve him in sinceritie before they ever heard of the Gospel and by those means deserve that it should be preached unto them this is that pleasing of God before faith that they plead for Act. Synod fol. 60. That preparation and disposition to beleeve which men attaine by the Law and vertuous education that something which is in sinners whereby though they are not iustified yet they are made worthy of iustification for conversion and the performance of good works is in their apprehension a condition prerequired to iustification for so speake the children of Arminius which which if it be not an expression not to be paralelled in the writings of any Christian I am something mistaken the summe of their doctrine then in this particular concerning the power of Free-will in the state of sin and unregeneration is That every man having a native inbred power of beleeving in Christ upon the revelation of the Gospel hath also an abilitie of doing so much good as shall procure of God that the Gospel be preached unto him to which without any internall assistance of grace he can give assent and yeeld obedience the preparatory acts of his own will alwayes proceeding so farre as to make him excell others who do not performe them and are therefore excluded from further grace Which is more grosse Pelagianisme then Pelagius himselfe would ever justifie wherefore we reject all the former positions as so many monsters in Christian Religion in whose roome we assert these that follow First That we being by nature dead in trespasses and sinnes have no power to prepare our selves for the receiving of Gods grace nor in the least measure to beleeve and turne our selves unto him Not that we deny that there are any conditions pre-required in us for our conversion dispositions preparing us in some measure for our new birth or regeneration but we affirme that all these also are the effects of the grace of God relating to that alone as their proper cause for of our selves Without him we can do nothing Ioh. 15. 15. We are not able of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3. 5. much lesse doe that which is good in respect of that every one of our mouthes must be stopped for we have all sinned and come short of the glory of God Rom. 5. 19. 23. We are by nature the children of wrath dead in trespasses and sins Ephes 2. 1. Rom. 8. 9. our new birth is a resurrection from death wrought by the greatnesse of Gods power and what abilitie I pray hath a dead man to prepare himselfe for for his resurrection can he collect his scattered dust or renew his perished senses If the Leopard can change his spots and the Aethiopian his skin then can we doe good who by nature are taught to doe evill Ierem. 13. 23. we are all ungodly and without strength considered when Christ died for us Rom. 5. 6. wise to do evill but to doe good we have no strength no knowledge Yea all the faculties of our soules by reason of that spirituall death under which we are detained by the corruption of nature are altogether uselesse in respect of any power for the doing of that which is truly good our understandings are blind or darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in us because of the blindnesse of our hearts Ephes 4. 18. whereby we become even darknesse it selfe Chap. 5. 8. so voide is the understanding of true knowledge that the naturall man receiveth not the things that are of God they are foolishnesse unto him 1 Cor. 2. 14. nothing but confounded and amazed at spirituall things and if he doth not mocke can doe nothing but wonder and say what meaneth this Act. 2. 12 13. Secondly we are not only blind in our understandings but captives also to sinne in our wils Luk. 4. 18. Whereby we are servants to sinne Iohn 8. 34. Free onely in our obedience to that Tyran Rom. 6. Yea thirdly all our affections are wholly corrupted for every imagination of the thoughts of the heart of man is evill continually Genes 6. 5. While we are in the flesh the motions of sinne doe worke in our members to bring forth fruit unto death Rom. 7. 5. These are the endowments of our nature these are the preparations of our hearts for the grace of God which we have within our selves Nay Secondly there is not onely an impotencie but an enmitie in corrupted nature to any thing spiritually good The things that are of God are foolishnesse unto a naturall man 1 Cor. 2. 14. And there is nothing that men doe more hate and contemne then that which they account as folly They mock at it as a ridiculous drunkennesse Act. 2. 13. And would to God our dayes yeelded us not too evident proofes of that universall opposition that is betweene light and darkenesse Christ and Beliall Nature and Grace that we could not see every day the prodigious issues of this in-bred corruption swelling over all bounds and breaking forth into a contempt of the Gospel and all wayes of godlinesse So true it is that the carnall minde is enmitie against God it is not subiect unto his law neither indeed can it be Rom. 8. 7. So that Thirdly as a naturall man by the strength of his owne free-will neither knoweth nor willeth so it is utterly impossible he should doe any thing pleasing unto God Can the Aethiopian change his skin or the Leopard his spots then can he doe good Ieremy 13. An evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit
without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6. And that is not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. So that though Almightie God according to the unsearchablenesse of his wisedome worketh divers waies and in sundry manners for the translating of his chosen ones from the power of darkenesse to his marvellous light calling some powerfully in the middest of their march in the wayes of ungodlinesse as he did Paul preparing others by outward meanes and helpes of common restraining grace moralizing nature before it bee gotten anew by the immortall seed of the Word yet this is certaine that all good in this kinde is from his free grace there is nothing in our selves as of our selves but sinne yea and all those previous dispositions wherewith our hearts are prepared by vertue of common grace doe not at all enable us to concurre by any vitall operation with that powerfull blessed renewing grace of regeneration whereby we become the sonnes of God Neither is there any disposition unto grace so remote as that possibly it can proceed from a meere facultie of nature for every such disposition must be of the same order with the forme that is to be introduced but Nature in respect of Grace is a thing of an inferiour allay betweene which there is no proportion a good use of gifts may have a promise of an addition of more provided it be in the same kinde There is no rule law or promise that should make grace due upon the good use of naturall endowments But you will say here I quite overthrow Free-will which before I seemed to grant to which I answer That in regard of that object concerning which now we treat a naturall man hath no such thing as Free-will at all if you take it for a power of doing that which is good and well pleasing unto God in things spirituall for an abilitie of preparing our hearts unto faith and calling upon God as our Church Article speakes a home-bred selfe-sufficiencie preceding the change of our wils by the Almightie grace of God whereby any good should be said to dwell in us and we utterly deny that there is any such thing in the world The will though in it selfe radically free yet in respect of the terme or object to which in this regard it should tend is corrupted enthralled and under a miserable bondage tied to such a necessitie of sinning in generall that though unregenerate men are not restrained to this or that sinne in particular yet for the maine they can doe nothing but sinne All their actions wherein there is any moralitie are attended with iniquitie an evill tree cannot bring forth good fruit even the sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord. These things being thus cleered from the Scripture the former Arminian positions will of themselves fall to the ground having no foundation but their owne authoritie for any pretence of proofe they make none from the word of God The first two I considered in the last Chapter and now adde onely concerning the third That the sole cause why the Gospel is sent unto some and not unto others is not any dignitie worth or desert of it in them to whom it is sent more then in the rest that are suffered to remaine in the shadow of death but onely the sole good pleasure of God that it may be a subservient meanes for the execution of his Decree of Election I have much people in this citie Acts 20. I thanke thee Father Lord of heaven and earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and hast revealed them unto babes even so Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Mat. 11. 25 26. So that the Arminian opposition to the truth of the Gospel in this particular is cleerely manifest S. S. Of our selves we can doe nothing Iohn 15. 5. We are not able of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves 2 Cor. 3. 5. We are by nature children of wrath dead in trespasses and sins Ephes 2. 1. Faith is not of our selves it is the gift of God Ephes 2. Who maketh thee differ from another or what hast thou that thou hast not received and if thou hast received why boastest thou as if thou hadst not received 1 Cor. 4. 7 If the Leopard can change his spots and the Aethiopian his skin then can ye doe good who are taught to doe evil Ier. 13. 23. Beleeving on him who iustifieth the ungodly Rom. 4. 5. Being iustified freely by his grace Rom. 3. 24. I thanke thee Father Lord of heaven and earth that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent and revealed them babes even so O Father for so it seemed good in thy sight Mat. 11. 25. 26. Lib. Arbit We retaine still after the fall a power of beleeving and of repentance because Adam lost not this abilitie Rem Declarat Sen. in Syn. Faith is said to be the worke of God because he commandeth us to performe it Rem Apol. There is no infusion of any habit or spirituall vitall principle necessary to enable a man to beleeve Corvin There is nothing truer then that one man maketh himselfe differ from another he who beleeveth when God commandeth maketh himselfe differ from him who will not Rem Apol. I may boast of mine own when I obey Gods grace which it was in my power not to obey as well as to obey Grevinch True conversion and the performance of good workes is a condition required on our part before iustification Filii Armin. God sendeth the Gospel to such persons or Nations that in comparison of others may be said to be worthy of it Rem Apol. CHAP. XIIII Of our conversion to God HOw little or nothing at all it is that the Arminians assigne to the grace of God in performing the great worke of our Conversion may plainly appeare from what I have shewed already that they ascribe to our owne free-will So that I shall briefly passe that over which otherwise is so copiously delivered in holy Scripture that it would require a farre larger discussion A prolixe confirmation of the truth we professe will not suit so well with my intention which is meerly to make a discovery of their errors by not knowing the depths whereof so many are deceived and inveigled Two things in this great conjunction of grace and nature the Arminians ascribe unto Free-will First a power of co-operation and working with grace to make it at all effectuall Secondly a power of resisting its operation and making it altogether in effectuall God in the meane time bestowing no grace but what awaits an act issuing from one of these two abilities and hath its effect accordingly If a man will co-operate then grace attaines its end if he will resist it returnes emptie To this end they feigne all the grace of God bestowed upon us for our conversion to be but a morall perswasion by his word not an infusion
of a new vitall principle by the powerfull working of the holy Spirit And indeed granting this I shall most willingly comply with them in assigning to Free-will one of the endowments before recited a power of resisting the operation of grace but instead of the other must needs ascribe to our whole corrupted nature and every one that is partaker of it an universall disabilitie of obeying it or coupling in that worke which God by his grace doth intend If the grace of our conversion be nothing but a morall perswasion we have no more power of obeying it in that estate wherein we are dead in sinne then a man in his grave hath in himselfe to live a new and come out at the next call Gods promises and the Saints prayers in the holy Scripture seeme to designe such a kinde of grace as should give us a reall internall abilitie of doing that which is spiritually good but it seemes there is no such matter for if a man should perswade me to leape over the Thames or to flye in the Ayre be he never so eloquent his sole perswasion makes me no more able to doe it then I was before ever I saw him If Gods grace be nothing but a sweet perswasion though never so powerfull it is a thing extrinsecall consisting in the proposall of a desired object but gives us no new strength at all to doe any thing we had not before a power to doe But let us heare them pleading themselves to each of these particulars concerning Grace and Nature and first for the nature of Grace God hath appointed to save beleevers by grace that is a soft and sweet perswasion convenient and agreeing to their free-will and not by any Almighty action saith Arminius It seemes something strange that the carnall minde being enmitie against God and the will inthralled to sinne and full of wretched opposition to all his wayes yet God should have no other meanes to worke them over unto him but some perswasion that is sweet agreeable and congruous unto them in that estate wherein they are and a small exaltation it is of the dignitie and power of grace when the chiefe reason why it is effectuall as Alvarez observes may be reduced to a well digested supper or an indisturbed sleepe whereby some men may be brought into better temper then ordinarie to comply with this congruous grace But let us for the present accept of this and grant that God doth call some by such a congruous perswasion at such a time and place as he knows they will assent unto it I aske whether God thus calleth all men or onely some if all why are not all converted for the very granting of it to be congruous makes it effectuall If onely some then why they and not others Is it out of a speciall intention to have them obedient but let them take heed for this will goe neere to establish the decree of election and out of what other intention it should be they shall never be able to determine Wherefore Corvinus denies that any such congruitie is required to the grace whereby we are converted but onely that it be a morall perswasion which we may obey if we will and so make it effectuall Yea and Arminius himselfe after he had defended it as farre as he was able puts it off from himselfe and falsly fathers it upon Saint Austine So that as they joyntly affirme they confesse no grace for the begetting of faith to be necessary but onely that which is morall which one of them interpreteth to be a declaration of the Gospel unto us Right like their old Master Pelagius God saith he worketh in us to will that which is good and to will that which is holy whilest he stirs us up with promise of rewards and the greatnesse of the future glory who before were given over to earthly desires like bruit beasts loving nothing but things present stirring up our stupid wils to a desire of God by a revelation of wisedome and perswading us to all that is good Both of them affirme the grace of God to be nothing but a morall perswasion working by the way of powerfull convincing arguments but yet herein Pelagius seemes to ascribe a greater efficacie to it then the Arminians granting that it workes upon us when after the manner of bruit beasts we are set meerely on earthly things but these as they confesse that for the production of faith it is necessarie that such arguments be proposed on the part of God to which nothing can probably be opposed why they should not seeme credible so there is say they required on our part a pious docilitie and probitie of minde So that all the grace of God bestowed on us consisteth in perswasive arguments out of the word which if they meet with teachable mindes may worke their conversion Secondly having thus extenuated the grace of God they affirme That in operation the efficacie thereof dependeth on Free-will so the Remonstrants in their Apologie And to speake confidently saith Grevinchovius I say that the effect of grace in an ordinary course dependeth on some act of our free-will Suppose then that of two men made partakers of the same grace that is have the Gospel preached unto them by the same meanes one is converted and the other is not What may be the cause of this so great a difference Was there any intention or purpose in God that one should be changed rather then the other No He equally desireth and intendeth the conversion of all and every one Did then God worke more powerfully in the heart of the one by his holy Spirit then of the other No The same operation of the spirit alwayes accompanieth the same preaching of the word But was not one by some Almightie action made partaker of reall infused grace which the other attained not unto No for that would destroy the liberty of his will and deprive him of all the praise of beleeving How then came this extreme difference of effects Who made the one differ from the other or what hath he that he did not receive Why all this procedeth meerly from the strength of his owne free-will yeelding obedience to Gods gracious invitation which like the other he might have reiected This is the immediate cause of his conversion to which all the praise thereof is due And here the old Idol may glory to all the world that if he can but get his worshippers to prevaile in this he hath quite excluded the grace of Christ and made it nomen inane a meere title whereas there is no such thing in the world Thirdly they teach That notwithstanding any purpose and intention of God to convert and so to save a sinner notwithstanding the most powerfull and effectuall operation of the blessed spirit with the most winning perswasive preaching of the word yet it is in the power of a man to frustrate that purpose resist that operation