Christs death hath obtained for all men restitution into the state of grace and salvation 1 SAlvation is a thing promised by the new covenāt neither is it promised but upon the condition of faith Whosoever beleeveth shall be saved Since therefore all men have not faith in Christ under which only condition salvation is promised it is certaine that the death of Christ did not obtaine for all but for the faithfull alone a restoring into the state of grace and salvation which is abundantly proved by that of the Apostle Rom. 5.1 Being justified by faith we have peace with God By peace in that place we understand our reconciliatiō with God who were formerly enemies and our restoring into the bosome of grace This is also further enforced by those places Rom. 3.4 Gal. 2.16 Which prove that we are justified by faith alone in Christ that is accounted by God for just persons 2 Without faith in Christ man doth remaine in the state of damnation Iohn 3.18 He is already judged Iohn 3.36 He shall not see life but the wrath of God remaineth on him But they whosoever are restored into the bosome of grace every one of them hath remission of sinnes which makes men happy Psal. 32.1 neither doe they remaine in condemnation neither doth the wrath of God remaine upon them They therefore who want faith are not restored by the death of Christ into the state of grace or salvation since through the name of Christ no man obtaineth remission of sinnes except hee who beleeves in him Acts 10.43 3 If so be the death of Christ hath obtained restitution for all then are they restored either then when Christ from all eternity was destinated to death which is false For so no man should be borne a child of wrath neither should originall sinne any whit damage mankinde being according to this opinion from all eternity forgiven them neither should infants and other need the laver of regeneration which is contrary to the assertion of our Saviour Iohn 3.5 Except a man be borne of water and the spirit he cannot enter into the Kingdome of Heaven Or else they were restored in the person of our first parents when the promise of the seed of the woman was proclaimed Which cannot be For our first parents were not restored into the state of grace but by faith in Christ and consequently their posterity in like manner Therefore not all whether beleevers or unbeleevers are restored Or lastly when Christ himselfe suffered death upon the Crosse which cannot be For so no man before that moment should have beene restored which will not be granted by any neither are all restored from that time because without doubt even at that moment and afterward the anger of God waxed hot against some of his accusers condemners crucifiers and mockers Their Suffrage concerning the third and fourth ARTICLES First of the strength of freewill in man after the fall THE FIRST POSITION THe will of man being falne is deprived of the supernaturall and saving graces with which it was endowed in the state of innocency and therefore to the performing of any spirituall actions it is able to doe nothing without the assistance of grace THat the will of man was endowed with excellent graces it is hence manifest because man was made after the Image of God But the jmage of God had the prime place in the cheife faculty of the soule and what these graces were with which the will of man was beautified in the Creation it is evident out of those things which are restored for the making whole againe of this Image Ephes. 4.24 Put yee on that new man which after God is created in righteousnesse and true holinesse And that this righteousnesse holiness and uprightnesse of our will was lost by the fall it is cleare by this second receiving the same being recovered by the grace of God in Christ. For wee are to put on anew that which we put off in Adam when hee was stript and left naked And that such a will as this of ours availes nothing to the performance of supernaturall actions the Scripture cleerely witnesseth Iohn 15.5 Without me you can doe nothing Rom. 5.6 When as yet wee were of no strength c. 2 Cor. 3.5 We are not sufficient of our selves to thinke any thing as of our selves Hence is that saying of St. Austin What good can a wicked man doe except so farre forth as hee is freed from perdition And againe Our will is so farre said to be free as it is freed THE SECOND POSITION THere is in the will of a man being fallen not onely a possibility of sinning but also an headlong inclination to sinne THis possibility was in the will even when it was incorrupt as it is too evident by the event But after the fall even by the fall there was over and above added a greedy thirst and desire to sinne Iob 15.16 Man drinkes iniquity like water A content and delight in sinne Prov. 2.14 Who rejoyce to doe evill and delight in the frowardnesse of the wicked Gen. 6.5 Every imagination of the thoughts of mans heart was evill continually A slavery under sinne Rom. 6.17 Ye were the servants of sinne Lastly death in sinne Ephes. 2.2 You were dead in sinnes and trespasses Neither can the case stand otherwise in corrupt man not yet restored by the grace of God since that such is the nature of the will that it cannot remaine single or utterly unfurnished but falling frō one object to which it did adhere it pursues another eagerly to embrace it And therefore being by a voluntary Apostasie habitually turned from God the Creator it runnes to the creature with an unbridled appetite and in a lustful and base manner commits fornication with it being alwayes desirous to set her heart and rest on those things which ought only to be used on the By and to attempt and accomplish things forbidden What maruell then if such a will be the bondslave of the deuill Luk. 11.21 When a strong man armed keepes his place his goods are in peace c. The will without charity is nothing but a vicious desire Of those things that goe before Conversion THE FIRST POSITION THere are certaine externall workes ordinarily required of men before they be brought to the state of regeneration or conversion which are wont sometimes to be performed freely by them and otherwhiles freely omitted as to goe to Church to hear the word preached or the like THat such things are required it is manifest Rom. 10.4 How shall they beleeve in him of whom they have not heard And that they are in our power both reason tells us seeing it is in every mans power to rule his mouing faculty and experience proves it because wee see in outward things men as they will thēselves doe this or that or omit both They can therefore sit at home when they should go to Church It is in their power to stoppe their eares when
We are called with a holy calling according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Iesus before the world beganne This purpose of God since it goes before this holy calling and forelayeth the foundation to it considers man as the subject of a sure election according to this purpose not as he standeth in the end of this life but as he was before the beginning of this life yea before the world beganne appointed by Gods purpose to a most complete Election Neither truly can there be settled any definite election to eternall grace to faith to adoption Eph. 1.5.8 if these things be considered as hanging in uncertainty neither shall the future perseverance of the Elect be fore-ordained by God but onely foreseene in the man to be elected and so this act of God shall bee only an approbation following such as may be performed by man that knowes not what is to come hereafter not a foregoing and operative Election such as all elections in reason and by force of the name of Election must needs be 4 Last of all Iohn 10.16 The Gentiles not yet called much lesse settled in finall perseverance are by our Saviour stiled his sheepe being indeed then separated by the foregoing mark of entire and complete election He that makes men sheepe doth make free mens wils unto obedience but why doth hee with whom there is no acception of persons make those men sheepe and makes not others O man who art thou that replyest against God Yee say that Iacob was elected for his future workes which God knew he would doe and so you contradict the Apostle saying Not of workes as if he could not have said Not of present workes but or workes of come They are elected before the foundation of the world by that predestination in which God foreknew what he would doe they are elected out of the world by that calling by which he fulfilled that which he did predestinate THE SIXT ERRONEOVS OPINION THat in this life no man can receive any fruit or perceive any sense of his owne election otherwise then conditionall FIliall adoption is the proper naturall and unseparable fruit of Election and is to be perceived by the Elect in this life the spirit of adoption revealing it to their hearts Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sonnes God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father If a son then an heire of God Rom. 8.15 16 Ye have received the spirit of adoption wherby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it selfe beareth witnes with our spirit that we are the children of God Eph. 1.14 Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance Hee saith the earnest of our inheritance which is an infallible signe that we shall never be dis-inherited but shall at length obtaine our inheritance Rom. 5.2 We glory in the hope of the glory of God And v. 5. This hope maketh us not ashamed Neither is there any falshood in this solid peace of conscience in the glorying of the godly or in this infused hope because these gifts are both sent by God to the elect and to this end are they fastened in their mindes that they may be certaine arguments of their unchangeable election We confesse our election is not to be perceived by us à priori by the causes but the proper effects of it may be knowne And from the proper effect upward to the cause the argument is good We likewise grant that the assurance of election in the children of God themselves is not alwayes so constant and continuall but that oftentimes it is shaken with temptations and for a time suppressed so that not onely the degree of assurance is lessened but even election it selfe in respect of the sense and apprehension of the Elect seemes uncertaine and ready to vanish Lastly we confesse that the Elect justified when they fall into grievous sinnes and cleave unto them are not onely deprived of the present taste of their election but also conceive a great feare of the contrary namely of Gods wrath and revenging justice and that deservedly seeing the holy Ghost vouchsafes not to communicate this heavenly and sweet Manna of comfort to a defiled conscience yet wallowing in its owne filthinesse but onely to a cleane heart and such an one as exerciseth it selfe in the practise of faith repentance and holinesse But we thinke that the mindes of the faithfull being wakened and rising out of their pollutions are renewed by God and comforted againe with a sweet sense of eternall life prepared for them before the foundation of the world and in due time undoubtedly to be conferred upon them A faithfull man hath received by faith that which is uncertaine to others and layeth hold on the promise That it might be certaine that wee are the sonnes of God he hath sent his Sonne into our hearts crying Abba Father Who is iust but bee that returnes love to God that loved him which comes not to passe but by the spirit revealing to a man by faith the eternall purpose of God concerning his salvation Which revelation is nothing else but an infusion of spirituall grace by which while the workes of the flesh are mortified man is prepared to that kingdome which flesh and blood doth not possesse receiving together in one spirit both whence bee may presume he is beloved and whence he may returne love lest he should be loved in vaine or without returning love againe THE SEVENTH ERRONEOVS OPINION THere is no election of Infants dying before they have the vse of reason IF one absurdity or unsound doctrine bee granted more of the like will follow This here followes upon that that they require in all divine Election faith fore-seene upon which it may bee grounded which indeed cannot be fore-seene in such infants But we on the contrary evidently prove that these tenets are against all Divinity 1 They who have an entrance in time vnto life eternall without all doubt were elected to life eternall before all time Otherwise the number of them that are glorified should exceed the number of them that are predestinated which is impossible For that proposition must be understood reciprocally with equall extension of both termes Whom hee hath predestinated those hee hath glorified namely these and no other as Saint Austin inferreth But the Scripture supposes the names of some Infants to bee written in the booke of life and that they must appeare before the judgement seat of God Rev. 20.12 and be admitted into the new Ierusalem Rev. 21.27 of such is the Kingdome of heaven Luke 8.16 2 Whosoeuer are admitted onely into the Kingdome of Heaven were before out of Gods free good pleasure chosen vnto the Kingdome of Heaven But to as many infants as enter into Heaven eternall life is a gracious gift through Iesus Christ Rom. 6.23 therefore they were chosen to that Kingdome in Christ. But if this
THE COLLEGIAT SVFFRAGE OF THE DIVINES OF GREAT BRITAINE CONCERNING THE FIVE ARTICLES CONTROVERTED IN the Low Countries Which Suffrage was by them delivered in the Synod of Dort March 6. Anno 1619. Being their vote or voice foregoing the joint and publique judgment of that Synod LONDON Printed for Robert Milbourne and are to be sold at his Shop in Pauls Churchyard at the signe of the Greyhound 1629. The five Articles controverted in the Low-Countries and discussed in the Synod of Dort 1. Concerning Gods Predestination 2. Of Christs death and mans Redemption thereby 3. Of Freewill in the state of corruption 4. Of conversion unto God and the manner thereof 5. Of the Perseverance of the Saints THE SVFFRAGE OF THE DIVINES OF GREAT BRITAINE CONCERNING THE FIRST ARTICLE That is of Election That is of Reprobation First of Election Orthodoxall which wee lay downe and confirme First of Election Erroneous which wee reiect and confute The Positions Orthodoxall which wee lay downe and confirme The Positions Erroneous which wee reiect and confute THE FIRST ORTHODOXALL POSITION THe decree of Election or predestination unto salvation is the effectuall will of God by which according to his good pleasure for demonstration of his mercy he purposed the salvation of man being fallen and prepared for him such meanes by which he would effectually and vnfallibly bring the Elect to the selfe same end THE EXPOSITION AND CONFIRMATION OF THE POSITION WE call this Decree of Election an effectuall will of God because it respects not meerely and onely a way set downe and leading to life leaving man so ordained in the power of his owne free will after such manner as Adam was ordained to happinesse but it doth respect and fore-appoint the very issue of this Ordinance For this will is conjoyned with the power of God Esa. 14.24 The Lord of hosts hath sworne saying Surely as I have thought so shall it come to passe and as I have purposed so shall it stand Psal. 113. Whatsoever the Lord would that did hee in heaven and in earth upon which place see St. Austin Enchirid. c. 75. Rom. 8.30 Whom hee hath predestinated those he glorified Iohn 6.39 This is the Fathers will that sent mee that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing And vers 37. All that the Father giveth me shall come unto me We acknowledge no other moving cause of this will besides the meere good pleasure of God Rom. 1.18 He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Ephes. 1.11 Being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsell of his owne will Rom. 9.11 Before the children were borne when they had done neither good nor evill that the purpose of God according to Election might stand But God doth deale with certaine men after this especiall manner for manifestation of his owne mercy Rom. 9.23 That God might make knowne the riches of his glory toward the vessels of mercy Yea and to them considered in the state of Adams fall namely for the freeing them out of the masse of perdition Eph. 1.4 In him to with Christ he hath chosen vs. 1 Tim. 1.15 Christ came to save sinners Finally lest Gods working in time should vary from his eternall purpose hee who did effectually destinate the elect unto salvation doth also afford them meanes agreeable to this foresaid intention that is to say those meanes which God knew would without faile bring them to salvation 2. Tim. 1.9 Hee hath saved us with an holy calling 2 Thess. 2.13 God hath chosen you unto salvation in the sanctification of the Spirit and beleefe of the truth to which he hath also called you by our Gospell Ephes. 1.4 He hath chosen us that we might be holy and without blame Mat. 13.11 To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdome of heaven Out of which testimonies of Scripture it is evident that God by his foregoing decree of Election hath subordained all these things to wit the knowledge of the Gospell Vocation Faith Iustification Sanctification and Perseverance for the obtaining of the fore-determined salvation Out of many sayings of the Fathers wee gather a few When he predestinated us he foresaw his owne worke who maketh us both holy and without blame When God determineth to save a man no will of man resisteth God for to will or to nill is so far forth in the power of him that wils or nils that it can neither hinder the wil of God nor yet surpass his power He doth so teach them who are called according to his purpose bestowing at once both to know what they are to performe and also to performe what they know Although a great part of mankinde doe either reject or sleight the grace of the Saviour yet the elect and those which are foreknowne and so differenced from the many are reckoned for a certaine speciall collective body so that out of the whole world another entire world may seeme to be freed There is a portion of mankinde which is promoted by the meanes of faith enspired from God to high and eternall salvation by speciall graces THE SECOND POSITION CHrist is the head and foundation of the Elect so that all saving graces prepared in the decree of Election are bestowed upon the elect onely for Christ through Christ and in Christ. GOD in the eternall Election of particular men by one and the selfe same act both doth assigne Christ their head and also doth appoint them according to his good pleasure the members of Christ out of which purpose even before their vocation which is afterward performed in time God doth behold them as given unto Christ and chosen in him and accepted of himselfe Ephes. 1.3 He hath blessed us in all spirituall benediction in Christ. v. 4. He hath chosen us in him v. 7. In whom we have redemption and remission of sinnes v. 13. In him we are sealed Whatsoever is intended to the Elect from all eternity is as we may so say shut up in the will of God neither is it immediately imparted unto us but for Christ in Christ and by Christ. Coloss. 2.3 In whom are hid all the treasures of wisedome and knowledge v. 7. Wee are rooted and built up in him v. 10. Ye are complete in him Lastly he is the fountaine from which all the streames of saving grace doe flow to us Iohn 1.16 Of his fulnesse have all we received grace for grace 2 Tim. 1.9 He hath called us with an holy calling according to his purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Iesus before the world beganne As he was predestinated that one that he might be our head so we being many are predestinated that we might be his members God calls many predestinated his sonnes that hee might make them the members of his owne predestinated onely Sonne After the fall of man God would have it an act of his meere grace
regeneration do not carie themselves so but that for their negligence and resistance they may justly be relinquished and forsaken of God but such is the speciall mercy of God towards them that though they doe for a while repell and choake the grace of God exciting or enlightning them yet God doth urge them againe and againe nor doth he cease to stirre them forward till hee have throughly subdued them to his grace and set them in the state of regenerate sonnes IOhn 6.37 Whatsoever my Father gives me shall come to me and him that commeth unto mee I will in no wise cast out Ier. 14.7 O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us doe thou it for thy names sake for our backslidings are many And 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever Philip. 1.6 He that hath begunne a good worke in you will performe it untill the day of Iesus Christ. But if God should not goe on thus to follow even those that hold off and retire from him no calling would bee effectuall there would be no filiall adoption and even election it selfe grounded upon the good pleasure of God would be frustrated Since the fall of man God would have it ascribed to his grace that a man doth come unto him neither will he have it ascribed to any thing but his grace that a man doth not goe from him THE SEVENTH POSITION THose that are not elected when they resist the Spirit of God and his grace in these acts foregoing regeneration and extinguish the initiall effects of the same in themselves by the fault of their own free-will are justly forsaken by God whensoever it pleases him whom by their owne fault so forsaken we truly pronounce to remaine by the same demerit hardened and unconverted WE thinke it to be without all doubt that no mortal man doth so cary himselfe toward God but that either by omitting that which he should have done or committing that which hee should not have done he deserves to have the grace taken frō him which hee hath Which ground being forelayed it is cleere that God without all injustice and cruelty may take from such men that grace which hee hath extended to them and leave them to the hardnesse of their own hearts Rom. 9.18 Hee hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy and whom hee will hee hardeneth God oweth this to no man that when he resists enlightening exciting grace and serves his own lusts he should then soften and mollifie him by that speciall grace which no hard heart doth resist Rom. 11.35 Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompenced unto him againe Againe he that is thus forsaken being not converted perishes through his owne fault Iohn 5.34.40 I say these things that yee might be saved and ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Acts 28. The heart of this people is waxed grosse lest they should be converted and I should heale them Of conversion as it designes the immediate worke of God regenerating men THE FIRST POSITION GOd doth regenerate by a certaine inward and wonderfull operation the soules of the elect being stirred up and prepared by the aforesaid acts of his grace and doth as it were create them anew by infusing his quickning spirit and seasoning all the faculties of the soule with new qualities HEre by regeneration we understand not every act of the holy Spirit which goes before or tends to regeneration but that act which as soone as it is there we conclude presently this man is now borne of God This spirituall birth presupposes a minde moved by the spirit using the instrument of Gods Word whence also wee are said to bee borne againe by the incorruptible seed of the word 1 Pet. 1.23 Which must be observed lest any one should idlely and slothfully expect an Enthusiasticall regeneration that is to say wrought by a sudden rapture without any foregoing action either of God the Word or himselfe Furthermore wee conclude that the spirit regenerating us doth convey it selfe into the most inward closset of the heart and frame the minde anew by curing the sinfull inclinations therof by giving it strength and infusing into it a formall originall cause or active power to produce spirituall actions tending to salvation Ephes. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus to good works Ezek. 36.26 I will take away your stony heart and give you an heart of flesh From this worke of God commeth our ability of performing spiritual actions leading to salvation As the act of beleeving 1 Iohn 5.1 Whosoever beleeves that Iesus is the Christ is borne of God Of loving 1 Iohn 4.7 Every one that loveth is borne of God Lastly all works of piety Iohn 15.5 Without me ye can doe nothing Prosper saith that Grace creates good in us The Schoolemen doe not deny so manifest a truth Thomas Aquinas affirmes that this grace of which we speake doth give a certaine spirituall being to the soule that it is a certaine supernaturall pertaking of the divine nature that it is in respect of the soule as health is in respect of the body THE SECOND POSITION IN this worke of regeneration man is meerly passive neither is it in the power of mans will to hinder God regenerating thus immediately IOhn 1.13 Which were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God For if in the naturall creation it be true that God made us and not we ourselves much more in the spirituall recreation Ier 13.23 If the Ethiopian cannot change his skin neither can man defiled with sinne correct his naturall corruption In the will depraved there is the passive power to receive this supernaturall being comming from without but not the active to produce it of it selfe or with another Ier. 17.14 Heale me O Lord and I shall be healed In quickning of men God doth expect no beginning from mans will but hee quickneth the will it selfe by making it good What doth freewill I answer briefly It is saved This worke cannot be effected without two one by whom it is done the other in whom it is done God is the Author of salvatiō freewil is only capable of it Our creation in Christ was made into the freedome of the will and without us if into freedome then not out of freedome If without us then it is not in us to hinder this worke of God When God determineth to save no will of man resisteth Of Conversion as it imports what man himselfe doth in turning to God by faith and saving repentance THE FIRST POSITION VPon the former conversion followeth this our actual conversion wherein out of our reformed will God himselfe draweth forth the very act of our beleeving and converting and this our will being first moved by God doth it selfe also worke by turning unto God and beleeving that is by executing withall its
colourable but proceeded out of the power of those dispositions unto grace and from the inspiration of the holy Ghost which they felt in themselves for a time as is evident by their affections their joy sorrow and zeale which they doe not so much faine and make a shew of as find to be truely in themselves Of such Saint Augustine thus speaketh They were not sonnes then when they were in the profession and had the name of sonnes not because they fained their righteousnesse but because they remained not in that righteousnesse THE THIRD POSITION VPon those good beginnings testified by the externall works of obedience they are reputed and by a charitable construction ought to be taken for beleevers justified and sanctified men THey who to these inward gifts of the holy Ghost have added the outward profession of a Christian faith together with the amendment of their lives ought of right to be reckoned by us who cannot finde out or search into the inward secrets of mens hearts in the number of the faithfull of the justified and sanctified This is plainly proved out of the Apostle Saint Paul who in his Epistles which hee wrote to particular Churches at Rome Corinth Ephesus c. entitles them all promiscuously beloved of God Saints sanctified Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 1.2 Ephes. 1.1 Phil. 1.1 In like manner the Apostle Peter in the beginning of his first Epistle speaketh unto the dispersed strangers in this forme of speach To the Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the spirit Adde we to these the note of Saint Augustine speaking of those who were not elect These because they live godly are called the sons of God And afterwards againe There are some who are called of us the sons of God because of the grace received by them for a time but yet they are not the sons of God THE FOVRTH POSITION THey who are not elect although they thus far proceed yet they never attaine unto the state of adoption and justification and therefore by the Apostasie of these men the Apostasie of the Saints is very erroneously concluded ALthough they who are not elect being brought up cherished in the Churches bosome are in their minds will and affections disposed by the aforesaid preparatives tending in some sort to justification yet are they not thereupon placed in the state of justification or adoption For they still retain throughly setled in their hearts the strings and roots of their leud desires to which they give themselves over still they remaine wedded to the love of earthly things and the hardnesse lurking in the secret corners of their hearts is not taken away so that either persecution or tentation arising they retire from grace and being either intangled with the love of pleasures and enticements of the flesh or caried away with some other vicious affections at length they shew that they are lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasures rather then lovers of God and that they enjoy nothing lesse then God howsoever they may flatter themselves but indeed that they would make use of God that they may enjoy the world as S. Augustine speakes Whence it is manifest that they never really and truly attaine that change and renovation of the minde and affections which accompanieth justification nay nor that which doth immediately prepare and dispose unto justification For they never seriously repent they are never affected with hearty sorrow for this cause they have offended God by sinning nor doe they come to any humble contrition of heart nor conceive a firme resolution not to offend any more unto them is not given repentance unto life which is mentioned Acts 10.18 nor that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation never to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 they are not poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of God Mat. 5.13 To this purpose is that of Saint Augustine who speaking of the reprobate saith God bringeth none of them to that wholesome and spirituall repentance by which a man is reconciled to God in Christ. Adde also that such doe never feele in themselves an earnest desire of reconciliation They doe not hunger and thirst after righteousnesse For such shall be filled Matth. 5.6 And to them shall be given of the fountaine of living water which shall be in them a well of water springing up to eternall life Iohn 4.14 Also they doe neither denie themselves nor seriously bid defiance to their owne lusts nor doe they once feele in their hearts any such accounting of all things but losse that they may winne Christ as the Apostle did Phil. 3.8 And to conclude they never attaine to that unfained lively faith which justifieth a sinner and worketh through love 2 Tim. 1.5 For this faith is the peculiar of the Elect and is not afforded to the not elected Furthermore that onely the Elect are justified it is plaine by that golden chaine of the Apostle Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified Those onely and no other as out of S. Augustine we have shewne at the first Article Againe the same Saint Augustine God doth not forgive the sinnes of all men but of those whom he foreknew and predestinated It is plaine also out of the Scriptures that they who are not elect never come unto the estate of adoption For first the estate of adoption is grounded upon predestination Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Christ Iesus Secondly the state of adoption as also the right and priviledge of sons is not obtained but by a lively faith For as many as received him to thē he gave power that is aright priviledge that they should be the Sons of God to wit to such as beleeve in his name Also ye are all the sonnes of God by faith in Christ Iesus But this faith is proper to the Elect as was before declared 3 All that are adopted for sonnes are regenerated and that by the incorruptible seed by the word of the living God Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne because his seed remaineth in him 4 Those adopted sons are also heires heires of God and coheires with Christ and doe receive the earnest of their inheritance But they who are not elect are never regenerated by this incorruptible seed neither have they the seed of God remaining in them neither are they assigned to be heires with Christ. Hence is that of Saint Augustine They were not in the number of sonnes no not when they were in the faith of sonnes Againe As they were not the true Disciples of Christ so neither were they the true Sonnes of God yea even when they seemed to be and were so called And Saint Ambrose What can God the Father make void those gifts he hath bestowed and banish those from the grace of his fatherly affection whom he
If any man therefore walke in a way contrarie to Gods ordinance namely that broad way of uncleannesse and impenitencie which leads directly downe to hell he can never come by this meanes to the kingdome of heaven Yea and if death shall overtake him wandring in this by-path hee cannot but fall into everlasting death This is the constant and manifest voice of the holy Scripture Except ye repent yee shall all likewise perish Be not deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters c. shall inherit the kingdome of heaven They are deceived therefore that thinke the elect wallowing in such crimes and so dying must notwithstanding needs be saved throgh the force of election For the salvation of the Elect is sure indeed God so decreeing but withall by the decree of the same our God not otherwise sure then through the way of faith repentance and holinesse Without holinesse no man shall see God Heb. 12.14 The foundation of God standeth sure Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity 2 Tim. 2.19 As therefore it was sure out of the decree and promise of God that all those who sailed in the ship with Saint Paul should escape alive out of shipwracke and notwithstanding Pauls saying was also as certaine Vnlesse these remaine in the ship ye cannot be saved So also it was certaine that the elect servants of God David and Peter should come to the kingdome of heaven yet withall it was no lesse certaine that if they had remained unrepentant the one in his homicide and adultery the other in his denying and forswearing Christ neither of them both could have beene saved For that Theologicall rule is most true Any one defect maketh a thing bad but to make truly good no parcell requirable must bee wanting Therefore for that incomparable good of life eternall wee are not fitted out of that onely that wee are elected unlesse there concurre other things which are by Gods decree necessarily required to the accomplishing of Election If any of these things be wanting nay if the contrary hereto bee in the elected there seemes then to arise a strange impossibility thwarting on both sides As for example It is unpossible that Paul being chosen should perish T is also unpossible that Paul being a blasphemer against Christ and an unbeleever if he dye in this state should not perish Or thus It is unpossible that David being chosen should perish T is also unpossible that David being a man-slayer and an Adulterer dying impenitent should not perish But Gods providence and mercy doth easily loose this knot by taking care that none of the elect dye in such estate by which according to some ordinance of Gods will he must be excluded from eternall life THE FIFTH POSITION IN the meane time betweene the guilt of a grievous sinne and the renewed act of faith and repentance such an offender stands by his owne desert to bee condemned by Christs merit and Gods decree to be acquitted but actually absolved he is net until he hath obtained pardon by renued faith repentance THere can bee no question of the merit of damnation for such a sinne They which doe such things shall not inherit the Kingdome of God Gal. 5.21 Notwithstanding in such a guilt the faithfull are not in the like case with the wicked To the faithfull the blood of Christ is a prepared antidote at hand ready to be applyed which as soone as their faith is awaked and rouzed up they can use to the overcomming of this deadly poyson But to the unfaithfull this inward active cause is wanting to wit faith without which the remedy though soveraigne in it selfe is as if it were layed afarre off out of reach neither can it be made their owne or actually applyed to them Ad moreover hereunto Gods speciall love which though it doth not hinder but that his fatherly indignation ariseth against an undutifull sonne yet it keepes of hostile hatred such as carieth with it a purpose of condemning 1 Corinth 11.32 When we are judged wee are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world Notwithstanding in this case the Father of mercies who will not condemne with the world his children though bound with the guilt of sinne yet on the other side he will not have them lye still sleeping in their sinnes together with the world And therefore hath he set downe this order that the act of repentance must goe before the benefit of forgivenesse Psal. 32.5 I acknowledge my sinne unto thee and mine iniquitie have I not hid I said I would confesse my transgression unto the Lord and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sinne Ezek. 18.27 When the wicked man turneth away from the wickednesse that hee hath committed he shall save his soule alive If any man therefore would know the very moment in which after the guilt procured by a grievous sin he becommeth actually absolved Saint Cyprian seemes manifestly to have shewne it in these words When I see thee sighing in the sight of God I doe not doubt but the holy Ghost breatheth with thy sighes When I behold thee weeping I perceive God forgiving THE SIXT POSITION IN the foresaid space the right to the Kingdome of God is not taken away universall justification is not defeated the state of adoption remaineth undissolved and by the custody of the holy Spirit the seed of regeneration with all those fundamentall graces without which the state of a regenerate man cannot stand is preserved whole and sound OVr right to the Kingdome of Heaven is not founded on our actions but on the free gift of adoption and on our union with Christ. And consequently the right to the Kingdome of Heaven is not taken away unlesse that be first taken away upon which it is founded If Children then heires heires of God and coheires with Christ. Therefore adoption remaining and the engrafture into Christ the faithfull may wander out of the way which leadeth to the Kingdome of heaven but hee cannot be said to lose his right of inheritance to that Kingdome For as he which fell into a leprosie was debarred from his own house untill hee was clensed and yet in the meane space lost not his right to his owne house So the adopted sonne of God taken with the Leprosie of adultery or murder or any other grievous sinne cannot indeed enter into the Kingdome of Heaven unlesse he first be purged from this contagion by renewed faith and repentance yet all this while his hereditary right is not quite lost Furthermore that universall and most properly called justification which the Apostle so lively sets forth Rom. 3.24 25. is not frustrated by the enterposed guilt of a particular sinne though heynous and grievously wounding the conscience For against this justification is directly opposed not every guilt of every sinne but the universall unremitted guilt of all sinnes nor the guilt of every person whatsoever but the guilt of
unbeleevers not yet washed in the blood of Christ nor the guilt of any whatsoever degree but such a guilt as for which the hostile anger and vengeance of God lieth heavily upon the guiltie person Whosoever is justified by a true faith can never afterward bee guiltie after this manner We may therefore say that the effect of justification is for a time suspended by the entercourse of such a particular sin because the person by reason of this new guilt needeth a particular absolution But wee cannot say that the state of justification is dissolved forasmuch as the same person doth not fall from the generall pardon of his forecommitted sins nor is deprived of that speciall intercession which our Saviour hath promised to all the faithfull nor of the free love of God his Father The same case holds in adoption For God never adopted to himselfe a Sonne in Christ whom afterwards he either must or would dis-inherit and cast out of his familie The children of God may indeed sinne and that very grievously but the providence and mercie of God will not suffer them so farre to sin as that they should thereby be bereft of their heavenly home and Father The servant abideth not in the house for ever but the sonne abideth for ever For as Saint Ambrose speakes God doth not make void the gift of adoption To conclude the seed of regeneration with those fundamentall gifts without which the spirituall life cannot subsist are preserved in safetie This is hence evident because that the same holy Spirit who doth infuse this seed into the hearts of the regenerate doth imprint into the same seed a certaine heavenly and incorruptible vertue and doth perpetually cherish and keepe the same Iohn 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up unto everlasting life 1 Iohn 3.5 Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sinne because hee is borne of God This seed of life remaining in them it is altogether impossible that the gifts of lively faith charitie should be quite extinguished Hence Gregory rightly sayes In holy mens hearts the Spirit alwayes abides according to some vertues or graces according to others he comes to depart and departs to returne but in the hearts of his Elect he remaineth in those vertues without which eternall life is not attained THE SEVENTH POSITION THat the regenerate doe not altogether fall from faith holinesse and adoption proceeds not from themselves nor from their owne will but from Gods speciall love divine operation and from Christs intercession and custody IT is certaine that if God would deale with us upon strict termes he might most justly for our ungratitude untowardnesse withdraw from us his fatherly favour and gifts of saving grace But for as much as even by the determination of the Schoolemen sinne doth not take away grace efficiently that is by certaine expulsion but by way of demerit that is deservingly surely unlesse it can bee proved that God deales with his according to their deserts it will not follow that upon the committing of a grievous sinne they lose faith or fall away from the state of justification and adoption For that which in regard of our ill desert might justly be done is by the mercie of God and by Christs intercession and the operation of the holie Ghost hindred from being done No creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Not the Devill for God shall bruise him under our feet Not the world for Christ hath overcome the world And he doth so worke in all his that they also at length overcome through faith Lastly not those things from whence is our greatest danger our own weaknesse the inclination and pronenesse of our owne free will to wickednesse for the goodnesse of God is alwaies shewed in this weaknesse of the faithfull and through the intercession of Christ for them is obtained that they shall not fall off from their faith Luke 22.32 I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Iohn 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their word We doe not therefore fetch this perseverance of the faithfull in their faith and Gods grace from their owne free will but from Christ that frees them The Lord shall deliver me from every evill worke and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdome 2 Tim. 4.18 To this purpose are those words of Saint Augustine We live safer if wee trust all to God and doe not commit our selves partly to God and partly to our selves As God workes that we come to him so he works also that we depart not from him THE EIGHTH POSITION THe perseverance therefore of holy men is the free gift of God and is derived unto us out of the decree of election THis conclusion ariseth out of those things which are said before but that it may more manifestly appeare we will adde somewhat more First that it is the free gift of God is proved out of the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive why dost thou glorie as if thou hadst not received If any thing can give a just cause to men of glorying surely this that they have persevered in good unto the end then when they could at their owne pleasure not have made use of those meanes which in themselves were sufficient for perseverance Either therefore this doth betide the faithfull by way of speciall gift or they have something which they have not received in which they may greatly glorie But wee affirme on the contrarie whether by perseverance be understood either that power which doth propp and hold up the faithfull or the stabilitie it selfe and the unconquered firmenesse of their faith or lastly the very act of persevering that there is none of these which is not the gift of God Touching that power by which the will is stayed up that it may persevere the Remonstrants easily grant that it is the onely grace of GOD which doth arme a man with this strength to persevere Touching the stability and firmenesse which is considered as the manner or adjunct of true faith this also is to bee numbred among the gifts of God For he which doth give the thing it selfe to wit faith doth also give the manner of the thing to wit the stability and firmenesse of the same faith 2 Thes. 3.3 The Lord is faithfull who shall establish you 1 Cor. 1.7.8 Yee come behinde in no gift waiting for the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall confirme you unto the end that ye may be blamelesse Out of which words it is manifest that faith is the gift of God as well in the
alone the Elect of God Doth God justifie Paul onely Or doth Christ make intercession for Paul alone Since therefore out of these premises common to the whole Church of the Elect Saint Paul in that place inferres that confident conclusion Who shall separate us and I am perswaded c. certaine it is that other beleevers also who have interest to the same meanes of salvation may hence deduce and apply unto themselves this full perswasion of their salvation and perseverance The same conclusion every faithfull soule is able to make out of other ordinary premises 1 From the faithfulnesse of God 1 Cor. 10.13 God is faithfull who will not suffer c. 2 From experience of his former good will Phil. 1.6 Being confident of this very thing that hee which hath begun a good worke in you will also perfect it c. 3 From the practise of good workes performed in faith 2 Pet. 1.10 If yee doe these things ye shall never fall and what those things are t is evident out of the 5. and 6. verses 4 From the testimony of the conscience 1 Iohn 3.21 If our hearts condemne us not then have we confidence toward God 5 By the testimony of former led life 2 Tim. 4.7 I have fought a good fight hence forth is there a Crowne laid up for me 6 Lastly the testimony of the Spirit doth seale all these things to us Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it selfe beareth witnesse with our spirit c. These and other evidences of the like kind are obvious to every faithfull soule and therefore likewise the conclusion But if this certainty should issue only from an extraordinary revelation Saint Peter shold in vaine exhort all the faithfull thus 2 Pet. 1.10 Give diligence to make your calling and election sure THE FIFT THat as often as any grievous carnall sinne is committed so often is the state of justification and adoption lost AGainst this opinion these arguments besides others are of force 1 Man cannot by any sinne make void any act of Gods But justification and adoption are Gods acts and those flowing from his owne good pleasure Ergo. When therefore it is questioned whether or no there may be an intercision of justifying grace caused by the sinnes of the flesh the question is not onely whether a man can lose any qualitie by sinne but we must fetch this question much further to wit whether mans sinne be of force to make void Gods acts or to alter that doome of God by which hee in himselfe hath already pronounced us just and adopted us into the right and title of Sonnes In vaine in this case some oppose against us the defect of the subject or failing on mans part Whereas God doth continually repaire the subject which of it selfe without doubt would faile by giving the faithfull perseverance that they may not faile For to the end that by faith he might keepe us he keepes also that very faith in us as elegantly that reverend late Bishop of Salisbury 2 So farre it is that every grievous sinne of the flesh should altogether devest a faithfull soule of the state of justification and adoption that on the contrary it is held especially by practicall Divines that God doth permit those sinnes very often in justified and adopted persons that both their justification and adoption might be afterward the more confirmed unto them according to that of the Prophet Psal. 119.71 It is good for me that thou hast humbled me that I might learne thy statutes This is evident in the falls not onely of David but also of Hezekias and Peter whereby occasionally the endevor of holinesse the acknowledgement of their owne infirmity and a more vehement suit unto God for the gift of perseverance were increased in them We conclude therefore that neither justification is broken off nor yet adoption lost by the falls of the Saints but that hence it comes to passe that rising againe they doe so much the more warily worke out their owne salvation with feare and trembling THE SIXT THat the doctrine of the certainty of perseverance and salvation is of its owne nature both hurtfull unto true piety and pernicious every way to Religion BOth Gods truth and mans experience easily wipe off this aspersion For this Christian perswasion of perseverance and salvation not onely in respect of its own nature But also according to the very event in the Church doth by Gods blessing produce a quite contrary effect 1 First in respect of the thing it selfe the certainty of the end doth not take away but establish the use of the meanes And the same holy men who upon sure grounds promise unto themselves both constancy in the way of this pilgrimage and fruition of God in their everlasting home know also that these are not obtained without performance of the duties of holinesse and the avoidance of contrary vices and therefore they turne not their backes from these meanes but industriously embrace and prosecute them 1 Iohn 3.3 Everie man that hath this hope in himselfe purifieth himselfe even as he is pure Esay 38.5 When Hezekiah had received that promise of God of an addition of fifteene yeares to his life he did not therefore neglect the use of medicines or meats but that this promised event might be brought into act he applied for the cure of his body the plaister which was prescribed unto him by the Prophet The Apostle doth altogether reject this consequence of carnall security imputed to this doctrine and that with a kinde of indignation Rom. 6.1 Shall we continue in sinne that grace may abound God forbid How shall we which are dead to sinne live any longer therein As if Saint Paul would intimate unto us not onely the incongruity but also impossibility of such a sequell 2 As touching the event true it is that any the most wholesome truth of God may bee perverted by the abuse of men But upon this doctrine wee cannot acknowledge that there groweth any such inconvenience no not de facto that is in the event it selfe Let us take a view of the Reformed Churches in which this confidence of perseverance and inviolable adoption is beleeved and maintained Doe we finde that thereupon the bridle is let loose unto riot That piety is trampled downe We give thankes unto God through our Lord Iesus Christ that among ours who enjoy this full perswasion of spirituall comfort and are confident that there is an inheritance which cannot bee lost laid up for them in heaven there is not found lesse care of godlinesse nor lesse endevor so far forth as mans infirmity will suffer to live an unblameable life than is to be found among any sort of those who pinne their perseverance on their owne free will and will not grant it to flow from any foregoing Election of GOD. THus have wee set downe our joynt Suffrage concerning these five controverted Articles which our judgement wee beleeve to be agreeato the word of God and sutable to