to worke by the Gospell upon a sinner convict humbled and prepared by the Law And looke what proportion of power the Spirit had in the Law upon an unregenerate Man to humble him the same hath it in the Gospell upon the humbled to worke in him Hope him Hoping to winne to Wish and Pray to him Praying Wishing Willing to give Repentance unto him Repenting to instill Faith and so to justifie him being justifyed by Faith again by the Law and the Gospell together to mortifie corruptions to quicken in him a new life and to strengthen him to new obedience Now thinke not that the Spirit is present in the preaching of the Law to an unregenerate Man to give him strength to new obedience because it is present to convince and condemne his wickednesse or because it is so present to a justifyed Man to give him strength to new obedience Thinke not that the Spirit is present in the preaching of the Gospell to a Man yet not penitent nor believing to worke in him Peace Joy Love because it is present to worke these in the Believer Degrees here are not given per saltum The sum is The Spirit of God is annexed to his Word for such gifts and operations as to which the hearer is a fit disposed subject There is an order in the Divine working wherein there are things antecedent preparatives to things subsequent which antecedents if they found no place and were not admitted the subsequent are suspended Hence is there so frequent and just separations of the Spirit from the Word by the great Pastor of Soules who walketh in the midst of the Churches and scarcheth the hearts and reynes Hear what saith our Homily of declining from God When God withdrawes from us his Word the right Doctrine of Christ his gracious assistance and aide which is ever joyned to his Word and leaveth us to our own wit our own will and strength hee declareth then that he beginneth to forsake us And againe hear The words of the holy Scripture bee called words of eternall life for they be Gods Instrument ordained for the same purpose they have power to convert through Gods Promise and they be effectuall through Gods assistance So our Church in the first exhortation to the reading of the Scriptures and the first Booke of Homilies Thus much for Declaration of this point For Confirmation of it I allege all the Elogia of the Word of God as Psal 19. The Law of the Lord is perfect converting the Soule c. Heb. 4. 12. The Word of God is quick and powerfull c. Joh. 17. 17. Sanctifie them by this Truth Thy word is truth Joh. 20. 21. When Christ ordained his Apostles hee breathed on them and said Receive the holy Ghost to testifie that the power of the holy Ghost should goe with them Hence is the Gospell call'd the Ministration of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3. 8. and the Ministers of the new Testament Ministers of the Spirit not of the Letter vers 6. because the Gospell dat quod jubet whereas the law jubet sed non juvat but without the Spirit the Word of the Gospell it selfe is but a dead letter whence it is said Joh. 1. 17. That the Law was given by Moses but wee had no hearts to receive it The Gospell Grace and Truth was not only given but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But why should I multiply places The learned Divines in suffrâ—gio Collegiali de 20. Articulo Thesi 5a. doe allege some of these and other more places to prove aliquam mensuram gratiae ordinarie in Ministerio Evangelii administrari quae sufficiat ad convincendos omnes impoenitentes incredulos contemptus vel saltem neglectus ob non impletam conditionem though by their favour the places prove a great deale more than Eam mensuram gratiae supernaturalis administrari quae sufficiat ad convincendos c. namely quae sufficiat ad convertendos The sentence of Prosper which they alleage speakes more home Non omnes vocari ad gratiam quibus omnibus Evangelium praedicatur non rectè dicitur etiamsi sint qui Evangelio non obedâ—ant But that Calling is the same to them that obey not as to them that obey I shall urge onely these two places more Mat. 22. 14. Many are called but few chosen Here Many are distributed into two sorts some that are called and not chosen some that are called and also chosen for these few chosen are a part of the many called so that the whole many are put under one and the same Calling which Calling is not by the outward Word alone for from that Calling arise none chosen therefore the Calling was by the Word and Spirit common to both and the few chosen excelled not in Calling but in some thing else viz. in obeying the Calling to come when others refused or in comming worthily in a wedding garment according to the Parable Mat. 12. 41. The Men of Nineveh shall rise up in judgement with this Generation and shall condemne it c. If Jonas preached to the Ninevites without the Spirit how did they repent If Jesus Preached without the same Spirit how is he greater than Jonas nay how is hee equall in the power of Preaching If they that disobey be not equally called with them that obey how can these rise up in judgement against them when their answer is ready wee had not the same Calling with you ours differed toto genere you were partakers of an Heavenly calling wee but of an Earthly you were called by the Voyce of God speaking to your hearts we but by the bare voyce of Men speaking to the eare If God had moved and excited us as much as hee did you wee would have done as well as you For vocatio refertur ad auxilium Dei interius moventis excitantis mentem ad deserendum peccatum Thomas 12 ae 113. 1. ad 3m. The example of the Jewes at this day confirmeth this for they are said to be yet uncalled not because they live without the sound of the Gospell as the Indians have done for they may heare our Sermons and reade our Scriptures living in Rome Italy and Spaine but because the veile is not taken from their hearts because the Spirit of illumination and softning is as yet withheld from them which is granted gratiously to us Gentiles To conclude That Distinction of Calling propounded in the beginning of this Chapter into Outward Inward Effectuall Ineffectual seemeth to be vaine 1. Because it giveth unworthily the name of Calling to the bare outward Preaching of the Word which may bee a Commanding but not a Calling a Commanding as of the Law not a Calling as of the Gospell for God may still require to be obeyed in whatsoever new thing hee shall command because it is our duty naturall whether wee be now able to doe it or no being wee were able But seeing the word of the new Covenant comes to call Men to Repentance and
Faith for their recovery after notice taken of their impotency to rise again of themselves it seems an insulting mock and not a Call to say to sinners Turne repent believe and live unlesse there be some grace prepared for them whereby they may be able to repent and believe 2. Because it attributeth the Effect of obeying the Calling to the kinde of Calling it selfe and onely to one cause the operation of the Spirit as if many causes did not concur to produce an Effect and if any one faile the Effect faileth As if obedience to the Calling of God were not an Act of the will of Man under the ayde of the Spirit of God as if the ayde of the Spirit were never refused nor the Grace of God never received in vaine For though God be almighty and able to draw all second Causes unto his part and side yet he doth not use to disturbe or crosse the Nature of Causes nor the order of things which himselfe hath established 3. Because it maketh Gods Covenant to differ from all Covenants in humane affaires even in that which is essentiall to a Covenant yet this terme and title is borrowed from men the better to conceive of the Grace of God the duty of man In our Covenants each party hath something to performe and no one party doth all in a Covenant but by this distinction God is supposed both to provide infallibly to have the conditions fulfilled and also to fulfill his owne promises whereas all that he undertaketh for us is to make the conditions possible and not to be wanting in his helpe so far as is needfull for us Esay 59. ult And check me not that I am afraid to give too much to God lest I check you againe that you looke to be so much favoured as to be tyed to nothing Truth flattereth neither God nor Man Non est bonae solidae fidei c. T is not the part of a good and sound faith so to referre all things to Gods will and so to flatter every one by saying Nothing can come to passe without Gods permission that so we may imagine our selves are to doe nothing Tert. de Exhort Castitatis not far from the beginning CHAP. VIII Of Conversion THe Conversion of a sinner is the End which God seeketh in sending his Word and in Calling men Act. 3. 26. The Effect of Calling when it speedeth It may shortly be defined The Obedience of him that is called for it his part Vocantem audire obedire In Conversion there be two Termes A quo Ad quem From the power of Satan unto God Act. 26. 18. It is in all parts of Man In his Vnderstanding he is turned from darknesse to light In his Will from Idols of all sorts to serve the living God 1 Thes 1. 9. In his whole life from unrighteousnesse to Holinesse Rom 6. The Conversion of a sinner is also to be considered as Prima or Posterior The first is when a man of a naturall man is made a regenerate man and a member of Gods Church as the Gentiles called by the Apostles Act. 15. 3. Such were we all that are converted unto God having been first averted foolish disobedient deceived serving divers lusts Tit. 3. 3. The latter Conversion is when a regenerate man having committed iniquity and fallen into sin returneth unto God by repentance of that sinne Thus Peter that was foretold of denying Christ and that yet his faith should not finally faile was willed that he being converted should strengthen his Brethren Luk. 22. 32. See Bilson of supremacy pag. 278. 279. in 4. Next the Causes of our Conversion are to be considered without question Gods holy spirit working upon the heart of a sinner is the prime principall efficient powerfull Cause of his Conversion Turne us and we shall be turned Lam. 5. 21. in the beginning in the middle and in the end of it The word preached is the ordinary Instrumentall Cause Psal 19. 7. Adjuvant Causes are the Crosse that chastneth Jer. 31. 18. Blessings that draw and allure the prayers of others the holy example of others already converted c. But it is in question what part the Sinner himselfe who is the subject to be converted beareth in his owne Conversion being a living and reasonable Subject Whether he be active or passive in it when and how far whether he can further it or hinder it or whether it be possible for two supposed equally called one to be converted and not the other If so then whence this difference shall arise whether from God or from Man The determination of these questions cannot be cleare nor the manner of our conversion opened untill we have declared what is to be holden according to the Scriptures touching Gods free Grace and Mans freewill which we will indeavour to bring into more manifest light after so vehement Conflicts of the learned in all Ages which have raised clouds of obscurity to the losse of Truth amongst the strivers for it CHAP. IX Of Grace OF Grace and Freewill I will speak by Gods grace first severally then joyntly that so we may returne to the point of our Conversion to behold what be the parts of God therein and what of Man Of Grace I shall endeavour to declare the Thing the Distinctions the Necessity the Amplitude the Power and force thereof By Grace may be understood all that proceedeth from God out of free favour to an unworthy sinner tending to his Salvation yet here by Grace I will not understand the remaines of Nature as some light of Reason some sense of Conscience and the like though it was of Grace that these were spared and left to remaine in Man fallen Neither will I by Grace understand the Law describing the righteousnesse of works though the preacher of Grace doth use the Law to shew a sinner his Estate and to prepare him to Christ Nor will I understand the bare outward word of the Gospel though it be called Verbum gratiae Act. 20. 32. if not rather it be so called because the internall Grace of God goeth with it But by Grace I understand the internall Illuminations Teachings Motions Tractions Inspirations Operations Gifts of the holy Ghost merited by Christ to be given to the sinfull Sons of Adam in their fit time and order to the end to raise them fallen and to save them lost whence I shall call it with Saint August Gratiam Christi There is in man no merit of Grace for then grace were no grace there is only an occasion namely the wofull misery of Man which yet was in Gods pleasure to take as an occasion or to refuse it Even the good use of former Graces is no merit or cause of the giving of following Graces but the second are as freely given as the first for Gods good pleasure alone is the Author and Cause of that order and succession that is in graces in which he hath appointed to doe one thing in
in himselfe but in all his posterity because God held him not as one person but as the whole nature of mankinde untill such time as he was come into that state in which God thought it best to governe the race of mankinde to the end of the World whereto hee foreknew that he would soone come namely the state of sinne and misery needing grace and mercy No doubt God in justice might have here rejected and condemned for ever not onely the greater part but the whole of mankinde for this Apostacy from him as hee did the Angells that fell But the Scripture testifieth greater grace Rom. 5. 12. 16. deinceps Jeremy 3. 1. Tu autem fornicata es cum amatoribus multis tamen revertere ad me dicit Dominus ego suscipiaÌ„te verba Domini sunt Non est fas suspendere fidem saith Bern. 84. in Cantic applying that to every sinfull soule which Jeremy applies to Israel and I may well to all mankinde in Adam after whom God call'd Adam ubi es And to the same purpose heare what the confession of the Church of England saith in the tenth Article The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that hee cannot turne and prepare himselfe by his owne naturall strength and good worth to Faith and calling upon God wherefore we have no power to doe good workes pleasant and acceptable to God without the Grace of God by Christ preventing us that he may have a good will and working with us when wee have that good will CHAP. V. Of Gods Government of Man under the Covenant of Grace THe third act of Execution of Gods Eternall Counsell was the Restauration of man fallen For the most Wise and Mighty God having created the World for Man and Man for happinesse in the fruition of himselfe would not suffer either the whole destruction of his Creature or the frustrating of his end though he pleased to permit the depraving of his Creature and to forsake one ill succeeding way to take a better for the attainment of this end Irenaeus lib. 3. c. 33. Omnis dispositio salutis quae circa hominem fuit c. The whole ordering of Salvation touching Man was wrought according to the good Pleasure of the Father so as God should not bee overcome nor his skill impair'd for if that man who was made of God to live here losing life being wounded by the Serpent which had deprav'd him should not againe returne to life but be wholly swallow'd up of death God had beene overcome and the Serpents craft had conquer'd the Will of God Hence God that foreknew before all time the fall of Man hee Dâ—creed in mercy to spare and preserve some degrees of his Imâ—ge in Man and so did and to suspend the Exâ—cution of some effects of his fall else hee had dyed presently or lived a mad or brutish creature that hee might be a subject possible to be repayred and capable of healing God in wisdome and goodnesse chose rather so to doe than to destroy him and wholly make him anew Moreover out of the same Wisdome and Goodnesse hee had Decreed to supply another way that which was lost and so bring Man back from the gates of Hell and to set him in a new and faire way to Heaven This his thought magnum cogitatum Patris as Tertul calls it from everlasting was now in due time the time of Mans misery revealed namely soone after the fall For this Gospell in effect was preached unto him That God would send his owne Sonne made of a woman that should dissolve the workes of the Devill and by See the Homily of the Nativity death overcoming him that had the power of death should deliver man from bondage and restore unto him righteousnesse and life Gen. 3. 15. Gal. 3. 16. Heb. 2. 14. Now what by the remaines of Gods Image left in man what by the supply that God would make by his gracious help miserable man fallen was reputed by God a fit person once againe to be a party in a Covenant A Covenant of new Conditions suiting to the state of a sinner but tending to the same Ends righteousnesse and life This new Covenant is called the Covenant of Grace 1. because it was freely made with man a sinner utterly unworthy to have any more communion with God Secondly Because in it the righteousnesse and salvation of man is wrought in him rather by God than by himselfe being more in receiving than in giving in beleeing than in doing Yet hath it the nature of a true Covenant both parties having something for either to performe God to send his Sonne and his spirit to releeve the miseries and wants of man and to forgive sinnes to impute righteousnesse and to give life to such as obey his Sonne and his Spirit This part of God in the Covenant the Prophet Jeremiah speaketh of cap. 31. ver 33. and 't is repeated Heb. 8. 8. Man to humble himselfe for his sins to God his Creator to beleeve in Christ his Redeemer and to yeeld himselfe to be led by the holy spirit his Sanctifyer This part of Man in the Covenant the whole Gospell speaketh of requiring Repentance and faith and new obedience Act. 20. 21. Here are 2. things affirmed which may seeme to require proofe 1. That the Covenant of grace was made with all mankind 2. That God supplyeth by his spirit whatsoever is needfull to the keeping of this Covenant on the behalfe of Man who is confessed impotent in himselfe through his former fall These 2. shall by Gods assistance be sufficiently proved hereafter under the heads of Calling Commission Grace Free-will Now let these suffice as prescriptions for the Truth 1. That we find here in the day of the first publishing of the Covenant all mankind in Adam and Eve receiving the promise of the Gospel at the same time that they received their penances which we see to be universall to all their Seed it is therefore probable that promises should be taken as universall since the wise doe say Ampliandi favores 2. That we find left after the fall Remaines of some part of the Image of God as life understanding of good and evill liberty of Will in naturall and civill things conscience accusing or excusing c. which though they were given at first by Creation and so belong to nature yet the staying of them to remaine in man after his fall was of Grace both to make him capabâ—e to contract and covenant withall and also to be some beginnings and principles in order to his Restauration but since these alone are not sufficient to make him able to rise againe or to recover righteousnesse or keep the new Covenant of the Gospel of himselfe and these remaines it is decent to think of God who doth nothing imperfectly and who in Covenanting is no hard Master That he would supply by his spirit whatsoever was needfull more to the keeping of that new
Gentiles called 2. That even yet hee should withhold from many Nations the very word and outward calling as the new-discover'd Indians doe shew being found as farre from the knowledge of Christ as ever the Heathen were before the Apostles preached to them But wee being under this grace of Gods Calling it behoveth us to looke that it be not in vaine unto us CHAP. VII Of the Concurrence of the Word and Spirit in Calling SOme great Divines do distinguish Calling into two kindes one outward of the Word onely another inward of the Spirit joyn'd with the Word That they say is Ineffectuall This Effectuall That common to the Reprobate This speciall and peculiar to the Elect That never obeyed with truth of heart This never disobeyed This Doctrine is to bee examined I distinguish not two Callings but compound one Calling of the Word and Spirit as it were of a Body and a Soule supposing it to have in it selfe power to bring forth Effect in all that are under it and if it doe not so the cause not to arise from the Calling but from the Called that obey not 1. For declaration of this Point it must not be thought that the Spirit goeth with the Word to make the hearer performe that which he can doe by naturall strength for the Spirit is given to helpe where nature faileth as to keepe waking and to be attentive for that which Men can bring of their owne strength God expecteth to finde and to meete One case then where to many the Spirit is not present to the Word is when they are not present to the very Word through their sottish carelesnesse 2. Againe it must not be thought that the concurrence of the Word and Spirit is as it were naturall necessary and inseparable but voluntary and arbitrary in the Will and good Pleasure of God and as grace is annexed to the Sacraments so is it to the Word onely by Divine Institution and Ordination Hence the Church prayeth before Sermons for the illumination and power of the Spirit to come with the Word God expecting to have this asked of him by them that can pray both for themselves and others Another case then where the Spirit is not co-working with the word many times is when it was not duly and diligently asked 3. There are men that are past grace to whom the Spirit is not present with the Word such as for their former neglect and contempt of the time of their visitation when God did call them are now given up to blindnesse and hardnesse and have the light of the Spirit and the dew of grace held back from that Word which is Preached in their hearing by accident not for their sakes though we know them not in particular and so admit all 4. It must not bee thought that the Spirit goes with the Word to worke any grace in any person whatsoever but according to the order of Divine Providence which dispenseth his grace wisely which is thus to be declar'd Wee are to distinguish the Word that calleth the Persons that are called and operations of the Spirit by the Word in those persons The Word is either the Law or the Gospell 1. The Law hath two parts as the Preacher of the Covenant of Grace useth the Law 1 The Precepts 2. The Curse to the transgressors of the Precepts So the Law hath a double use to accuse and convince with the Precepts to wound and to kill with the Curse and to these the Law is effectuall and of force after the fall of Man 2. The Persons called by the Minister of God using the Law are all naturall unregenerate sinfull men or the regenerate relapsed and fallen into grievous Sinne who are of two sorts either ignorant of their evill Estate to whom the Precepts of the Law are to be Preach'd to bring them to the knowledge of Sinne. Rom. 3. 20. Or they are such as know sin buâ— are sâ—cure benummed senselesse of theâ—â— miserable estate to these the Curse is to be denounced untill they begin to feare to be cast down and perplexed Act. 24. 25. 3. The Operations of the spirit upon these Men by the Ministry of the Law are two First to open their eyes to see their sinnes Second to prick their hearts with feare of the Curse Acts 2. 37. Rom. 8. 15. For these effects ordinarily the Spirit goeth with the Word of the Law calling Men out of the pit of sinne and they are more easily admitted and wrought into the heart upon those remaines of light in the minde discerning good and evill and of Conscience accusing it selfe consenting to the Law Rom. 2. 15. But that these workes of the Spirit by the Law are wrought in many Reprobates our adversaries deny not that grant some initiall parts of grace to be begotten even in castawayes The Ministry of John Baptist figured this of which S. Ambrose in 1. Lucae Hoc mysterium in hac vita nostra hodieque celebratur praecurrit enim animae nostrae quaedam virtus Johannis cum credere paramur in Christum ut paret ad fidem animae nostrae vias Thus much of the word of the Law with its persons and operations 1. The Gospell hath two parts A Commandement A Promise The Commandement To repent of Sin shewed by the Lawes Precepts To beleeve in Christ to give life to him whom the curse of the Law hath killed The Promise is of forgivenesse of sins and life everlasting to him that repenteth believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ Act. 2. 38 39. 2. The Persons called by God in the word of the Gospell are all manner of sinners but convict terrifyed wounded full of compunction and selfe-condemning wrought in them by the Spirit in the preaching of the Law Mat. 11. 28. 3. The Operations of the Spirit upon these Men by the Ministry of the Gospell are 1. To open their eyes to see the marvelous light of Gods Mercy to Sinners of the infinite love of Christ in dying for sinners and the inestimable Merits of his Death of the powerfull graces gifts and aides of the holy Ghost to helpe and relieve the impotency and misery of sinners to the end that by this light this Opinion may be begotten in them that it is possible for them to be recovered 2. To poure into their hearts hope or to stay them from desperate sinning or sorrowing 3. To inspire the grace of Prayer at least to wish or desire Oh that they might be so happy as to escape the wrath to come and recover the favour and love of God! 4. To give them repentance that is to sorrow for sin past with a godly sorrow and to purpose to break off sin to cease from any further offending God or endangering the Soule 5. To worke in them Faith that is To run to Christ and to cast themselves into the Armes of his goodnesse and power to be saved by him These Graces in this Order the holy Ghost is present and ready
c. And after pag. 27. Non hic queritur c. It is not questioned here simply whether God in the work of Conversion or in any other good worke doth move the Will resistibly for that we have affirmed formerly This is given then that Resistibility is never taken away See then secondly what remaines in Controversie De modo Resistibilitatis totalis est c. Touching the manner of Resistibility all question is made for this is that which we say when God by his effectuall Grace works in the Will Ipsum velle this Grace doth effectually produce Non-resistency and so for that time take away actuall resistance which is brought to passe by certaine knowledge and the prevalency of delight saith August Therefore doe we maintaine actuall resistence for that time to be certainly taken away because t is impossible such a resistence should consist together with effectuall Grace received in the Will Because these two things cannot co-exist together or be composed in the Will namely The Will to be wrought upon by effectuall Grace and the Will at the same time to resist which were as much as to say in the same Instant the Will not to resist and to resist or velle non resistere velle resistere Let us have leave a litle to search into this mystery De modo resistibilitatis tota lis est nay truly nulla lis est de modo resistibilitatis for resistibilit as est potentia resistendi actus now about resistibilitas the power there is no controversie for you grant neque innata neque adnata tollitur per gratiam in conversione here can be no question de modo resistibilitatis all must be de ipsa resistitentiâ or de modo non resistentiae for hoc est quod dicimus c. rem haud magnam dicitis Ideo enim contendimus c. de re minime dubiâ contenditis for is there any Remonstrant so silly to say Posit â gratiâ efficaci resistentiam ipsam manere that when the will doth actually yeeld that then it doth and can resist who beares a part in hac lite Plainly the State of the question is changed for the question of Contingency is not when things are in esse but before they were whether they were not possible to be otherwise Scholastici utuntur hîc erudita distinctione Quod fit consideratur duobus modis uno ut est jam in se extra suas causas hoc modo ipsum fieri transit in factum esse praesens in praeteritum proinde res illa non potest non esse dum est quia non potest non facta esse quae facta est Altero modo ut fluit à causa sive ut habet ordinem ad causam id est Quatenus est adhuc in manu causae atque hoc modo si causa est libera contingens potest res illa non esse contingenter est non necessario quia habet ordinem ad causam seu ut loquar cum Zabarella connexioneÌ„ cum causa non necessarium sed contingentem ita Goclenius The Question then of the Resistibility is before the very act of good or evill not in it It were sense I trow to say A regenerate man willeth sinne resistibly not in the very moment when he willeth it but because ere he willed it he could have resisted it so a Convert obeyeth Grace or willeth his conversion resistibly because ere he willed it he could have dissented Sinne is resistible though it be too late to resist when it is consented unto and Grace may be resisted though to say so is too late when it is accepted in the Will for to be received and then to be resistible cannot Coexistere 3. Againe granting that non resistentiam which is in the very act of consenting the question is still as doubtfull what is the Cause of this Non-resistance in cujus causae manu sita erat whether Gratia efficax be the cause or voluntas efficax for the selfe-same may be said of the Will that you say of Grace when the Will obeyeth it is impossible it should disobey or wil to resist No man can tell by the very act of obeying which is the cause of not resisting for put either of the two Grace or Will to remove resistance it is surely gone in the act of consenting And to me it seemes demonstrable that the Will is the proper cause that ends resistance or refuseth to resist First because that gratia efficax which you speak of so much is but nomen sine re there being no such Grace that can determine the Will but it destroyes it the nature of the Will being to determine it selfe Secondly because to resist and not resist are the proper acts of the Will as to convert repent beleeve are the immediate acts of man who converteth repenteth beleeveth and are not the acts of God though without his help and power they are not produced which is a plaine signe that man is later in the operation than God in the order of Nature by whom the act was terminated Our Church in the Homily of Salvation 1. tomo understands the matter thus First for the necessity of something to be done on our part for our justification to Gods mercy on his part and Christs satisfaction on his part concurs on our part a true and lively Faith in the merits of Jesus Christ which yet is not ours but by Gods working in us Secondly how it understands this Not ours but by Gods working in us a lâ—â—tle lower it declarerh Lively faith is the gift of God and not mans onely worke without God This might suffice sober wits that all confesse Gods grace to prevent to operate to helpe mans Will and the Will of man to have some office and part under the Grace of God though we were not able to expresse or declare the manner of the coworking God promiseth to Circumcise the Heart Deut. 30. 6. and Man is commanded to Circumcise his owne heart Deut. 10. 16. Jer. 4. 4. God promiseth to put a new spirit into man Ezek. 11. 19 and men are commanded to make them a new heart and a new spirit This promise and this commandement are both Evangelicall The promise supposeth and implyeth our utter impotency of our selves to doe these supernaturall acts and tendreth unto us the power assistance and operation of God to comfort and encourage us The commandment supposeth and implieth a power in us by the power of God to endeavour and to doe something towards these supernaturall acts and that they are our acts doth appear for that they savour of our imperfections from whence it is that we daily accuse our selves and complaine of the weaknesse of our faith the coldesse of our love the pride of our hearts though it be true that God hath given us faith love humility Why doe we not rather magnifie the gifts and graces of God but extenuate and disgrace them like
and practice but of curious and carnall men and such as lack the Spirit of Christ to whom also these evills doe betide of despaire and security and therefore this would be shunn'd and avoyded as he that loves his safety would shun to walk upon or gaze from some high and deep downfall One point in this comparison needeth some more full Explication for it may be questioned whether the Article meanes that these different Effects of comfort or downfall doe proceed onely from the difference of the persons that doe consider being either pious or curious carnall or spirituall having the Spirit of Christ or lacking the Spirit of Christ or doe flow also from the difference of the things considered viz. either of Predestination or Election in Christ or the sentence of Gods Predestination There are that make no difference betweene these two and so to them the difference that the Article moteth must arise onely from the difference of the persons considering one and the same Doctrine of Predestination But I may bee bold to put a difference betweene the things considered aswell as betweene the persons considering because the Article doth so so for curious and carnall persons c. The Article doth not say it is a dangerous downefall namely the consideration of Predestination and Election in Christ as keeping the same subject whereof hee had spoken before as comfortable but it substituteth another subject to have continually before their Eyes the Doctrine of Gods Predestination that is a dangerous downefall and not the other And to mee it should seeme incredible that either the Article should say or that Doctor Bancroft should say That the sound full and whole Doctrine of Predestination and our Election in Christ such as is here delivered in the former paragraph should be a dangerous downfall even to carnall men and even them that lack the Spirit of Christ For although it be true that the fruit and comfort of this and many other Divine truths bee reaped onely by godly persons when they are come to have the Spirit of Christ c. And it be true also that our curiosity and carnall affections bee great impediments to the right conceiving and judging of Divine truths yet it is as true that every necessary Doctrine is in sacred Scripture so fully perfectly and coherently delivered and ought to be therefore fitly deduced by the Church that of it selfe it have no aptnesse to become a praecipitium even to carnall men and such as have not the Spirit of Christ since the Scripture was not written to be reade onely of them that doe already in humility beleeve it and are filled with the Spirit of Christ but even by naturall men having onely ordinary humane judgements and to taste of the things of God What then is it that the Article saith hath so much as a likelyhood of a downfall to the curious and carnall To have continually before their eyes the sentence of Gods Predestination what is this Sentence The bare and naked Sentence that very decree it selfe in generality That God hath Predestinated some men to life and hath reprobated some to death such is the first of the 9. Assertions at Lambeth without any mention or consideration of Christ of faith of Gods Prescience or any other of his Attributes This naked Sentence without any thing of the order or manner how this decree is concluded or come unto is that praecipitium that exceeding height from whence the Devill doth or may thrust men curious carnall into despaire or security laying all their religion upon Predestination If I shall be sav'd I shall be sav'd This is that which Bancroft calleth a desperate Doctrine pag. 29. of the Conference The selfe-same for substance methinks I find expressed by Hemingius in his Syntagm loco de praedest whom I beseech you heare with a little patience 1. De aeternâ praedestinatione rectè erudir◠ecclesiam summoperè necessarium est nam ut nulla doctrina uberiorem consolationem piis conscientiis afferre solet quam doctrina praedestinationis rectè explicita ita nihil periculosius est quam rectâ praedestinationis ratione aberrare 2. Nam qui à verâ deflectit in praecipitium fertur unde se recipere non potest 3. Sunt quidam qui cum audiunt nostram salutem in Dei electione proposito sitam esse modum verum haud observant somnia Stoica fabulas Parcarum fingunt quibus seipsos miserè implicant alios perniciosè seducunt vide Thes 4 5 6 7. 4. Modus autem praedestinationis verissimus est quem Paulus nobis commonstrat cum ad Ephes scribit Elegit nos in Christo 1. 9 10 11. in hoc modo conditio fidei includitur Nam cum fide inserimur Christo ejus membra efficimur ideo electi quia Christi membra sumus The Sentence therefore of Predestination without the Modus is Praecipitium but the Modus in Christo is the fountain of all comfort and hope and godliness which maketh this matter of so much worth to contend for The true Modus Praedestinationis divinae Now I come to the period of the second Paragraph and the whole Article Furthermore we must receive Gods promises in such wise as they be generally set forth unto us in holy Scripture and in our doings that Will of God is to be followed which we have expresly declared unto us in the word of God This part of the Article Bishop Bancroft shewed King James at Hampton Court pag. 29. line 19 20. as the Doctrine of the Church of England touching Predestination and it was there very well approved Moreover the Kings most excellent Majesty that now is in his Declaration commanding that all farther curious search be layd aside willeth that these disputes be shut up in Gods promises as they be generally set forth unto us in the holy Scripture as if the generall promises of God were the surest principles to determine all these doubts and differences by and they rest safely that rest in them The Authority of this Article together with other like passages in our Catechisme and Homilies constrained our divines that were at Dort to deliver in secundo Articulo these Theses for the third and fourth 3. Deus lapsi generis humani miseratus misit filium qui seipsum dedit precium redemptionis pro peccatis totius mundi 4. And for the fourth Thesis In hoc merito mortis Christi fundatur universale promissum Evangelicum juxta quod omnes in Christo credentes remissionem peccatorum vitam aeternam reipsâ consequantur which they confirme by Mark 16. 15. so that this part of the Article though it be the last yet it is not the last in worth and use For whereas it saith Furthermore we must receive c. It intendeth to give farther remedy against the harme which may be taken by curious and carnall persons from the Sentence of Predestination had continually before their Eyes Which