Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	bondage_n	fear_n	work_a	44	3	17.2801	5	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A64002	The riches of Gods love unto the vessells of mercy, consistent with his absolute hatred or reprobation of the vessells of wrath, or, An answer unto a book entituled, Gods love unto mankind ... in two bookes, the first being a refutation of the said booke, as it was presented in manuscript by Mr Hord unto Sir Nath. Rich., the second being an examination of certain passages inserted into M. Hords discourse (formerly answered) by an author that conceales his name, but was supposed to be Mr Mason ... / by ... William Twisse ... ; whereunto are annexed two tractates of the same author in answer unto D.H. ... ; together with a vindication of D. Twisse from the exceptions of Mr John Goodwin in his Redemption redeemed, by Henry Jeanes ...	Twisse, William, 1578?-1646.; Jeanes, Henry, 1611-1662. Vindication of Dr. Twisse.; Goodwin, John, 1594?-1665.	1653 (1653)	Wing T3423; ESTC R12334	968,546	592

pleasing to them At saith he ut innotescat quod latebat suave fiat quod non delectabat Dei gratia est quae humanas adjuvat voluntates We doe not smother this truth of God that we may delude men we rather represent how all flesh are obnoxious and endangered unto God that all are borne in sinne and therewithall children of wrath and such as deserve to be made the generation of Gods curse and that it is at his pleasure to shew mercy on any only the word of God hath power to raise us from the dead his voyce pierceth the graves and makes dead Lazarus heare it and it is his course to call some at the first some at the last hower of the day Thus we desire to bring them acquainted first with the spirit of bondage to make them feare that so they may be prepared for the spirit of Adoption whereby they shall cry Abba father neither doe we despaire of any that are humbled with feare we count rather their case most desperate who are nothing moved hereby or that perswade themselves they have power to believe when they will and repent when they will we account no greater illusions of Satan then these yet these abominable opinions may be fostered by some and masked with a pretence of great piety forsooth and a shew of holinesse and a zeale of defending Gods glory and salving the honour of his mercy justice and truth 3. The third is in their obligation to believe and the aggravation of their punishment by not believing The Divells because they must be damned are not commanded to believe in Christ yet poore men must be tied to believe in Christ and their torments must be encreased if they believe not I make no doubt but this Author is as confident of his learned and judicious carriage in shaping this comparison as that the fruit of Adams sinne is the guilt of eternall death in all mankind But none so bold we commonly say as blind Bayard and it seems either he knowes not or considers not that the first sinne of Angells was unto them as death unto man that sinne placed them extra viam and in termino incur abilis miseriae as death only placeth wicked men in the like case Now we doe not say that God commands man after he is dead to believe in Christ any more then he commands obedience unto Angells since their case is become desperate The Divells are not commanded to believe or repent because God doth not nor never did purpose to damne any of them for want of faith or of repentance but for their first Apostacy from God But it is otherwise with man for God doth not purpose to damne any of them but for sinne unrepented of And therefore as good reason there is why their damnation should be encreased for want of repentance and acknowledging of Gods truth as why the Devills should be damned for their first Apostacy If perhaps as it is likely enough this Author to hold up his comparison shall fly to God decree of reprobation upon supposition whereof it was impossible that men should either believe or repent I answere first that in like sort upon supposition of Gods foreknowledge that they would neither believe nor repent it followeth as necessarily as it is necessary that Gods knowledge should be infallible that it was impossible they should believe and repent and the like followeth as necessarily of the Apostacy of Angells as of the infidelity and impenitency of man And as men are pretended to harden themselves in vitious courses upon supposition of the unalterable nature of Gods decree So Austin gives instance in like manner of one that hardened himselfe upon pretence of Gods infallible knowledge De bono persever cap. 15. Fuit quidem in nostro Monasterio qui corripientibus fratribus our quaedam nonfacienda faceret facienda non faceret respondebat quali●cunque nunc sim talis ero qualem me Deus esse futurum praescivit Qui profecto verum dic●hat hoc vero non proficiebat in ●onum sed vsque adeo profecit in malum ut deserta Monasterii societ●te fieret canis reversus ad ●uum vonutum tamen adbuc qualis sit futurus incertum est Secondly I answer that the like may be said of Angells upon presupposition of Gods decree to deny the grace of standing unto them which Austin professeth expressely namely that either in their creation minorem acceperunt amoris divini grattam or that afterwards the reason why the one sort stood when the other fell was this to wit because they were amplius adjuti then their fellowes and consequently the other minus adjuti And as God gave grace to the elect Angells which he denyed to others So it cannot be denied but that from everlasting he decreed both to bestow it upon the one and deny it unto the other Now howsoever I know the Arminian party cannot swallow this morsell yet by this it appears how supersiciary is that augmentation of the difference between Men and Angells wherewith this Author contents himselfe yet notwithstanding it is not want of faith alone that condemneth any man by want of Faith man is lest to the covenant of works to stand or fall according to his own righteousnesse or unrighteousnesse whereof if he faile and withall despiseth the counsell or God offered him in his Gospell is there noe good reason his condemnation should be the greater For certainly it is in the power of a naturall man to afford as much faith to this as to many a vile and fabulous relation which is farre lesse credible by judgement naturall we see both prophane persons and hypocrites so farre to believe the Gospell as to embrace a formall profession thereof and sometimes proceed so farre therein as that 't is a hard matter to distinguish them from sincere professors yet we say a true faith is only such as is infused into the heart of man by the spirit of God in regeneration Now what one of our Divines can be represented that ever was known to affirme that the damnation of any man shall be encreased because God did not regenerate him and in regeneration inspire a Divine faith into him As for our answer in generall to this argument considered in briefe and this Authors reply my refutation thereof I dispatcht in the first place Although he carrieth himselfe not fairely in relating the answer on our part in as much as therein he mixeth the consideration of justice divine which is aliene from the present purpose with the consideration of mercy divine which alone is congruous that so while he puts off the plenary justification of his reply to that which is aliene he may seem to undertake a full justification of his reply to the whole But I hope we shall be as able by Gods assistance to manifest his sinister carriage in the interpretation of Gods justice as we have done already as touching his accommodation of

come and spoken to them they should not have had sinne but now they have no cloake for their sinne doe say it is evident that Christ in his Preaching did administer so much inward grace as was sufficient to convince those that rejected the Gospell of positive unbeliefe and so to render them obnoxious to just punishment and consequently say I so much as sufficed by their good husbandry to have converted and saved them For that grace leaves none inexcusable which is unsufficient to convert them I will conclude that which they say of this gratious intention of God in the Ministry of the Word with that speech of Prosper cited by them in the same place non omnes vocari ad gratiam eos quibus omnibus Evangelium praedicatur nonrecte dicitur etiamsi sint qui Evangelio non obaudiant They that say that all those to whom the Gospell is Preached even those that obay not the Gospell are not called to grace they say an untruth God looks for grapes sayth the text Isai 5. 2. What doth this imply but that it was Gods principall aime in the husbandry which he bestowed upon the Church of Israell that it should bring forth good fruit though in the end it did not How oft would I have gathered you sayth Christ to Jerusalem Math. 23. 37. and in John 5. 34. These things have I spoken to you that ye might be saved but ye will not come unto me that ye might have life v. 40. Intimating no lesse than this that it was his full intent by his preaching to gather and to save those very particular men that in the end were not gathered nor saved through their neglect or contempt of Christs Ministry TWISSE Consideration NO question but The word of God is the sword of the spirit Ephes 6. And the Law of the Lord is a perfect Law converting the Soule Psal 19. And it seemes to be delivered in opposition to the Book of the creatures as if he had said though The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work yet this is the peculiar prerogative of the Book of Gods word and the Doctrine contained therein that it converteth the soule and upon this is grounded the great preferment of the Jews above the Gentiles chiefely that unto them were committed the Oracles of God Yet this Author is content to make no difference between the use and end of the Book of Creatures and the Book of Gods word but professeth the use and end of both to be the very same The passage alleadged out of the suffrages of the Brittain Divines is most aliene from the present purpose For the Thesis of theirs proceedeth of the administration of grace by the word not of regeneration but of conviction of all such who believe not and continue impenitent that through their own fault they perish for neglecting or contemning the Gospell In Ecclesia ubi juxta promissum hoc Evangelii salus omnibus offertur ea est administratio gratiae quae sufficit ad convincendos omnes impenitentes incredulos quod sua culpa voluntaria vel neglectu vel contemptu Evangelii perierint oblatum beneficium amiserint And in the explication of this Thesis they propose two things to be cleared 1. That some measure of grace is ordinarily administred in the Ministry of the Gospell aliquam mensuram gratiae ordinarie in Ministerio Evangelii administrari and for proofe hereof alone they alleadge this passage out of Isai 59. ult This is my covenant with them saith the Lord My spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth So that the word and spirit are joyned togeather alwaies but not alwaies to regenerate but either to regenerate and bring to obedience or to convict of disobedience And accordingly The Ministers of the New Testament are called Ministers not of the letter but of the spirit that is not of the Law the Ministry whereof is not the Ministry of the spirit but yet this is rightly to be understood to wit of the spirit of adoption for undoubtedly even the Ministry of the Law is the Ministry of the Spirit also but of the spirit of bondage to hold men under feare it is called the Ministry of condemnation and the reason hereof I conceive to be because God doth not concurre with the Ministry of the Law by the holy Spirit to worke any man to the performance of the condition of the Law which is exact and perfect obedience but thus he doth concurre with the Ministry of the Gospell namely by his spirit to work men to the performance of the condition thereof which is faith in Christ and true repentance therefore the letter to wit of the Law is called a killing letter but the Gospell is joyned with a quickning spirit and therefore Piscator conceives that the Gospell in this place is called by the name of the spirit Soe then the Gospell giveth life by the spirit which accompanyeth the Ministry thereof but to whom To all as this Author supposeth Nothing lesse the generall experience of the world doth manifest the untruth thereof But this Author is ready to suppose though not very forward to speake out in this that it would regenerate if men were not defective to them selves So then man must first performe some worke on his part and then the spirit of the Gospell doth regenerate them as much as to say the grace of regeneration is dispensed by God according to some work of man which in plain termes Pelagius durst not professe but joyned with others to anathematize it in the Synod of Palastine Yet this Doctrine is the very Helena wherewith the Arminians are enamored Now the Apostle professeth in plaine termes of himselfe and his fellow-labourers we are unto God the sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them which perish to the one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other a savour of life unto life So then it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2. 11. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. And the seed of the new birth 1 Pet. 1. 23. As where by God regenerates man according to that of Saint Iames of his owne will hath he begotten us by the word of truth Iam. 1. 18. Not whereby man doth regenerate himselfe according to the Arminian tenet whose doctrine it is that God workes in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 velle credere and resipiscere modò velimus Now as God hath mercy on wom he will in converting his heart unto obedience of faith and repentance Rom. 9. 18. and 11. 30. So God regenerates whom he will So that we all grant that Gods word is by Gods appointment an instrument to make men new creatures But whom Not all indifferently but the elect of God called the sheepe of Christ Iohn 10. 16. Other sheepe have

them to be a good man or to have the grace of faith repentance or any other truly planted in his heart Which being so I say that the Minister cannot by the eternall acts and fruits of faith and repentance which he seeth come from him make it evident to the tempted for the silencing of all replies that he is without doubt a true believer and a true repentant and consequently no reprobate For still the tempted may say You may be deceived in me for you can see not a whit more in me then hath been seen in many a Reprobate If this be all you can say to prove me to be none I am not satisfied I may be a Reprobate nay I am a Reprobate and you are but a miserable comforter a Physitian of no value This that I say Piseator doth ingeniously confesse where he saith that no comfort can possibly be instilled into the soules of Reprobates afflicted with this temptation Whence it followes that the greatest part of men must beare their burthen if they fall into this trouble as wel as they can the Gospell cannot afford them any sound comfort 2. That the elect in this case may be comforted but it must be this way viz. by their feeling of the burthen of sinne and their desire to be freed from it by Christ which proofs as I have said are but only probable not infallible arguments of a mans election and therefore unsufficient comforts And in the end of the same Thesis where he saith That a man should reason thus with himselfe Grace is offered to some with a mind of communicating it to them therefore it may be that I am in that number he implyes that the doctrine of absolute Reprobation which teacheth this communication of grace to some few only affords but a fieri potest a peradventure I am elected for a poore soule to comfort himselfe withall TWISSE Consideration IN the last place we are to consider how truly he affirmeth that our doctrine leaveth a Minister none but weake grounds and those insufficient to quiet the tempted And whereas he saith We cannot conceive and make it evident to the understanding of the tempted that he is not that which he feares a Reprobate we willingly acknowledge it For not to be a reprobate is to be an elect Now how can any Arminian convince and make it evident to the understanding I doe not say of the tempted but of one that is a believer and walkes on comfortablely in the wayes of Godlinesse is he I say able to convince such a one and make it evident unto him that he is one of Gods elect I doe not think they dare professe that they presume they can or make it evident to their owne understanding that themselves are of the number of Gods elect How unreasonable then is this course to require of us to convince a man that acknowledgeth neither faith nor repentance in him for this is the condition of a man tempted as himselfe fashioneth it and to make it evident to his understanding that he is an elect and no reprobate when himselfe cannot convict him that believeth of this no nor their owne consciences neither notwithstanding all their confidence that they alone are in the right way of salvation Was there ever heard a more unreasonable course then this Againe to feare to be a reprobate or least he be a Reprobate is one thing to perswade himselfe that he is a Reprobate and to despaire thereupon is another thing We say and that according to our Doctrine that there is no cause why any man who hath not sinned the sinne unto death the sinne against the Holy Ghost should perswade himselfe that he is a Reprobate and despaire thereupon we doe not say there is no cause of feare In as much as he hath no evidence of his election there is just cause to feare but then againe seeing he neither hath nor can have any evidence of his reprobation excepting the guilt of the sinne against the Holy Ghost he hath every way as good cause to hope And for the comforting of such a one I would make bold to tell him that there is more hope of such a one as himselfe then of those who goe on in the wayes of their owne heart and in the light of their owne eyes without all remorse and check of conscience without feare or wit not considering that for all these things God will bring them to judgment And towards such I would think it fit to use all meanes and motives to make them feare The Apostle seemes to me to take the like course with better men then such even with such as went on in a faire and comfortable profession of Gospell namely to make them feare and suspect themselves as when he saith Prove youre selves whether you are in the faith examine your selves Know ye not that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. And for good reason for as Paul was jealous over the Corinthians with a Godly jealousy for feare least as the Serpent beguilde Eve through his subtilty so their minds should be corrupt from that simplicity which is in Christ 2 Cor. 11. 2 3. And in like manner entertained feare least when he came he should not find them such as he would and that he should be found unto them such as they would not c. 2 Cor. 12. In like manner I should think it is good for a man to be jealous over himselfe with a godly jealousy least their minds should be corrupt their wayes corrupt more then they are a ware of and there upon give themselves to the examining of themselves and to the searching and trying of their wayes whereunto the Holy Ghost exhorts us Lament 3. 40. And there is good comfort to be taken in such a jealousy such a feare such a course For we find that the spirit of bondage making us to feare is the forerunner of the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father Rom. 8. 15. Certainely they are in better case and nearer to the Kingdome of God then such as feare not yet is their no cause of despaire for as much as the elect of God had no evidence of their election before their calling Nay after their calling they may be much afflicted with the feares and terrours of God thinking themselves to be in worse case then indeed they are David found cause to pray that God would restore him to the joy of his Salvation yet Bertius would not say that David was fallen from grace and that propter graves causas yet who hath written more eagarly to maintaine that Saints may fall away from grace then Bertius But this Author beares before him such a spirit of confidence as if he would have all men ordered by his rules When Manoahs Wife Judg. 13. 22 23. discourseth thus If the Lord would kill us he would not have received a burnt offering at our hands nor shewed us these things He

did bring to passe also but withall let us consider what the Apostle teacheth us and take that along with us also namely that all are not Israel that are of Israel and so in his elect he effecteth this 3. I doubt not but this is pronounced chiefely for the elects sake and though they are not as yet so fruitfull as they should be yet I nothing doubt but this passionate expostulation was a means to turne them to the Lord that is some of them For God calls them not all at once but some at one houre of the day some at another 4. It might be a means to bring others also though not to true conversion yet ad exteriorem vitae emendationem As for that of our Saviour over Jerusalem Math. 23. 37. That is of another condition in two respects Jerusalem neither saw his teares nor heard his bemoaning of it but we heare of it and read it in his word and it is equally effectuall with the elect of God and others also as the expostulation we read Isai 5. Secondly our Saviour was a man as well as God and though the Sonne of God yet made under the Law and accordingly as much bound to desire and endeavour the salvation of all amongst whom he was sent as any Prophet or Apostle or Minister of Gods word That in the 5. Ioh. 34. These things have I spoken unto you that ye might be saved What is the meaning thereof but this These things have I spoken unto you exhorting you to believe that ye might be saved according to that v. 24. He that heareth me and believeth him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life and by the words following in the words alleadged by him it appears that there is no other intention of salvation meant than in case they believe But ye will not come unto me that ye might have life v. 40. And as before I said Christ being made under the Law was bound as well as we are to desire the salvation of his Brethren that is to desire and labour the conversion of those to whom he was sent that so they might be saved DISCOURSE SECT IV. THis is also the use and end for which the Sacraments were ordained as we may see Luk. 7. 30. Where we have these wordes But the Scribes and Pharisees and expounders of the Law despised the councell of God against them selves and were not Baptized of Iohn In which words thus much is plainly included that it was Gods counsell and purpose in Iohns Baptisme to bring them to Christ and in him to Heaven much more is it in the end of Christs Baptisme which is more excellent than Iohns was not in substance but in the fulnesse of grace administred and dispensed by it All that have been Baptized into Christ sayth the Apostle have been Baptized unto his death Rom. 6. 3. And Gal. 3. 29. All ye that are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ the very phrases there used shew that Baptisme is in its originall intention an instrument of uniting men to Christ and giving them communion with him in the benefits of his death except a man be borne of water saith Christ and of the spirit he cannot c. Ioh. 3. 5. In which words are delivered two things 1. The necessity of regeneration except a man be born again 2. The working causes of it efficient the Spirit of God instrumentall the Sacrament of Baptisme there called water from the outward matter of it Baptisme therefore is appointed to be a means of regeneration to all those that are Baptized and doth effect it in all that doe not put an obstacle in the way to hinder it For this cause doth the Apostell dignifye it the layer of regeneration Titus 3. 5. I will shut up this with Acts. 2. 38. Where Peter sayth repent and be Baptized every one of you for the remission of sinnes plainly implying that therefore is Baptisme ordained to be received that those who doe receive it might have their sinnes remitted The patience of God also which is another singular donation and gift of God to men is exercised to this very end as appeares Rom. 2. 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance But thou after thy hardnesse of heart that canst not repent heapest up c. In these words we may note for our purpose 1. Gods end and intent in forbearing sinners and that is the leading of them to repentance and so to Salvation for repentance is Per se ordinata ad salutem as a means to the end 2. The persons to whom God intends this good by his forbearance and they are such as dispise the riches of his goodnesse and have hard and impenitent hearts 3. The issue and event of this theire contempt of Gods patience and that is a treasuring up wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath Out of all which laid togeher ariseth thus much That God by sparing wicked men who have hard and impenitent hearts intends their everlasting good though they by the abuse of his patience and refusall to repent doe treasure up to themselues wrath and eternall misery The like to this is delivered in the 2 Peter 3. 9. God is not slack as some men count slacknesse but patient toward us that is us men And why patient towards us Because he would have none to perish The end therefore of Gods patience is mans repentance and Salvation TWISSE Consideration THough this Author doth little answer your expectation in confining himselfe to Reprobation therein to give you satisfaction as touching the reason why he hath changed his mind in certain controversies yet it may be his purpose is to make you amends by acquainting you with some misteries of his concerning Baptisme out of Luk. 7. 30. Where it is said of the Scribes and Pharises that in refusing to be Baptized of Iohn they despised the counsell of God against themselves hence he inferres that it was Gods counsell and purpose in Iohns Baptisme to bring them to Christ and in him to heaven as much as to say God purposed to bring them to Christ and to heaven but they would not and so it came to passe that Omnipotentis Dei voluntatis effectus was hindered by the will of the creature which Austin accounted a very foule absurdity as if God were not able to bring them to Christ yet our Saviour professeth that like as none can come unto him except the Father draw him so on the other side every one that the Father giveth me comes unto me Ioh. 6. And the Apostle saith Who hath resisted his will Omnipotente facilitate convertit saith Austin ex nolentibus volentes facit But as for the Text suppose the Evangelist had called it the purpose of God yet the object of his purpose is not

I will not leave thee nor give over all hope of thee for I am glad to heare thee confesse that though thou desirest thy sinne may be pardoned and thy soule saved yet thou hast no desire that thy soule should be sanctified therefore answer me but to one thing more and I have done with thee Is it thy griefe and sorrow that thou hast no desire that thy nature may be sanctified or is it no griefe at all unto thee If it be no griefe unto thee then still thou takest delight in sinne and how can delight in sinne stand with the feare of Gods judgements and if thou fearest not God how canst thou breake out into such complaints Woe is me for I am a Cast-away These motions usually proceed from the terrours of God And if thou art once acquainted with Gods terrours in consideration of thy sinnefull condition then be of good cheere for these symptomes are commonly as the pangs of Child-birth whereby it comes to passe that a Christian soule is at length brought forth into the world of grace And therefore the spirit of bondage to make us feare doth prepare and make way for the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father And by experience I have known some being thus cast downe and stricken with feares of being cast-awayes when they have been demanded which condition they have thought better of either this present condition of feare and terrour or the former condition of their prophanenesse when they were without all remorse or check of consciences they have readily professed that this present condition of feare and terrour was the better of the two Now let us heare how well the comforter plaies his part Minister God so loves all men as that he desires their eternall good for the Apostle saith he would have all to be saved and he would have no man perish nor thee in particular CONSIDERATION He proceeds very judiciously I confesse by way of gradation from the Apocryphall to the Canonicall but at once he makes use both of corruptor stilus and adulter sensus The very words of the Apostle he corrupts for the Apostle no where saith that God would have all to be saved that God would have none to perish 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 who will have all to be saved in the one and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not willing any to perish in the other Men would doe many things that they cannot it is not so with God And if it be not adulter sensus to apply this to all and every one here is comfort indeed with a witnesse For if God will save every one and withall can save them whereof there is no doubt to be made then there are no Reprobates at all every one is predestinate to salvation by the will that is by the decree of God And who hath resisted his will saith S. Paul And will he not have all every one to believe repent If not then seeing he will have all to be saved it follows that God wil have all men to be saved whether they believe or no repent or no But if he will have all to believe repent by that will whereby he will have all to be saved seeing God can give all men faith and repentance what followes but that all and every one shall believe and repent be saved and consequently there are no Reprobates at all But I know full well what their interpretation of this is namely that God is ready to give faith and repentance unto all to wit in case they will but doth not God give the very will to believe and repent Yes in case they will Take this comfort then into thy bosome and make the best use of it to perswade thee that thou art no cast-away For if thou believest and repentest all is safe thou hast as good assurance of thy salvation as Gods word can give thee And though faith and repentance be the gift of God yet this comforter doth assure thee that if thou wilt believe thou shalt believe if thou wilt repent thou shalt repent For God doth not give the grace of faith and repentance according to the meere pleasure of his own will but according to mens workes for albeit the Apostle saith God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth yet that is not to be understood of vocation but rather of justification And let it not startle thee that justification in Scripture phrase is opposed to condemnation and not to obduration but to thy comfort be it spoken it must be opposed to obduration here least otherwise faith and repentance should not be given according to mens workes but according to the meere pleasure of God which is a very uncomfortable doctrine But be thou assured that if thou wilt believe and repent thou shalt believe and repent such is Gods grace and though it be as true I confesse on the other side that if thou wilt not believe and repent thou shalt not believe and repent yet that is not to be accounted Gods grace least so we should say that Gods grace is as active to evill as it is unto good So that hereby thou maist still perceive that all thy comfort depends on this that the grace of faith and repentance is given according to mens works Tempted All is taken two waies for all sorts and conditions of men and for all particular men God would have all sorts of men to be saved but not all or mee in particular 2. Or if he will have all particular men to be saved yet he wills it only with a revealed Will but not with a secret will for with that he will have a great company damned Under his revealed will am I not the secret CONSIDERATION 1. That All is taken after these two waies in Scripture and that in this place 1 Tim. 2. it is to be taken of genera singulorum I have formerly proved both by the circumstances of the Text and by the analogy of faith for otherwise we should trench upon Gods omnipotency and unchangeablenesse and lastly by the judgement of Austin But take the meaning aright not that God would but that God will have all men that is of all sorts even of Kings and Princes some to be saved but not all and every one As for the distinction of a revealed will and secret will applyed to salvation thou maist learne that somewhere of Papists but not of us For the revealed will is Gods commandement now that which God commands is a part of his Law so is not salvation but rather a reward of obedience Yet they apply this distinction only in reference to faith and repentance whereunto God hath annexed salvation And it is Gods revealed will that all who heare the Gospell should believe and repent ex officio but it is not Gods will to give every one of them grace to believe and repent as we find by manifest experience It was Gods will in like

all manner of sinnes doth flow in Reprobates But not from these principles mentioned by this Authour but rather from two other principles The 1. that God destinated Reprobates to everlasting punishment as to their end and unto sinnes as to the meanes thereof The 2. is that man doth nothing freely in negotio damnationis suae but that in all things he is driven of God as a bowle by him that throwes it as an hatchet by him that hewes with it and as Clay is moved by the Potter whom he cannot resist This he imputes to the defenders of Reprobation the lower way and particularly to Calvin This Cornelius denyes not for ought I know that by the just judgement of God though executed according to his will and pleasure hath brought all men forth into the world in originall sinne or that any man can be recovered out of it whiles he lives in this world And as for these two conclusions which he imputes to Calvin as they are false in themselves so they are as falsely charged upon Calvin Haec loquendi ratio nunquam apud me occurret finem creationis esse aeternum interitum Calvin expresly denyes that God creates any man to this end that he may damne him Neither is sinne any meanes whereby God brings a man to damnation but the permission of sinne is Gods meanes and that together with damning for sinne is the compleate meanes whereby God brings to passe his end concerning Reprobates which is the manifestation of his glory in the way of vindicative justice called his wrath upon those Reprobates and in the way of mercy upon his elect vessells of mercy whom he hath prepared unto glory as S. Paul plainely teacheth us The other principle which he obtrudes upon Calvin is as false and as falsely layd to his charge In good actions he grants the elect are so caryed to that which is good as not freely For he takes Liberty to consist in an indifferency to do that which is good or no wherein I willingly confesse he is in an errour but that reprobates do not that evill freely which they do is no where affirmed by Calvin that I know nor by any learned or sober Divine For albeit we all concurre in this with Bernard that no naturall man hath libertatem a peccato liberty to keep himselfe from sinne Yet that he is carryed into this or that particular sinne we all confesse it is done freely And the reason is evident drawen from the difference betweene gracious actions and sinfull actions Every gracious action is supernaturall either as touching the substance of the act such as are the acts of faith hope and love or as touching the manner of performing them such as are all vertuous actions which are not acceptable unto God unlesse they flow from the former principles faith hope and love Hereupon there is some colour that such are not performed freely but there is no such colour as if man were not free in performing actions vitious considering that all vitious actions are naturall actions none of them supernaturall And surely every naturall man as he hath power to performe any action naturall so hath he power to abstaine from it But proceed we along with our present Authour 1 The first doctrine that he obtrudes upon us is such that I little thought there had beene any difference betweene him and us thereabouts consisting of two particulars 1. The one that God brings all men forth into the world in the corrupt masse or in the state of originall sinne 2 The other that man in the state of originall sinne or naturall corruption devoyd of the spirit of regeneration is under the servitude of sinne hath no liberty from it Now in these particulars I could not imagine that this Authour differed from us unlesse with Pelagius he entertaines an affection to deny originall sinne For if all men be borne in originall sinne seing it is God that takes us out of our mothers wombe and by whom we are brought forth into this world it cannot be denyed I should thinke that God bringeth all men forth into the world in originall sinne As for the second Doctor Potter confesseth it as the doctrine of the Church of England that man in state of nature hath no liberty from sinne It is true this liberty he distinguisheth from that liberty which is called liberty from necessity which he grants to a naturall man to whom he denyes the former which cannot stand without contradiction For if a man hath no liberty from sinne he must needs sinne And therefore Doctor Fulke upon the Remish Testament doth usually distinguish betweene liberty from sinne and liberty from coaction And both Arminius and Corvinus confesse that by the sinne of Adam all men are cast upon a necessity of sinning though God be ready to deliver us from this necessity of sinning upon reasonable termes to be performed on mans part which latter doctrine we utterly renounce as manifestly breathing the spirit of Pelagius in a particular generally condemned in the Church of God namely that grace is conferred according to works or merits This makes me conceive that this Authour carryeth himselfe cunningly in the proposition of this doctrine which he imputes unto us and that he hath a reach more then every one is aware of And indeed the phrase he useth of bringing men into an estate is very harsh though applyed to Adam and Eve our first parents much more applyed to their race and posterity For albeit Adam was created in a better state and afterwards brought into the state of sinne and bondage of corruption yet what sinister judgement moved this Authour to impute this unto God rather then to Adam himselfe what if God tooke his holy spirit from them upon their fall whereupon they found themselves naked and were ashamed was it not just with God to do so Doth not M. Hord professe that it were just with God to damne all for originall sinne if he would which doctrine was delivered by this Authour in his Lectures at Magdalen Hall my selfe being an hearer and a taker of notes from him upon this very argument But it may be this is to be accounted amongst the errours of his youth mistaking Bellermine which now he is to wise to correct in his age Who brings malefactors to the Gallowes is it the Judge or Sheriffe and not their sins rather Yet this though absurd enough satisfies him not but withall he adds that God doth this of his own will and pleasure which phrase is prone to worke a perswasion in the Reader that hereby is sign●●ed that God brought not man in this state in the way of justice for his sinne but merely of his own will or pleasure But what Divine of ours was ever known to maintaine any such prodigious assertion Who can deny but that the Judge condemnes a malefactor unto death Sheriffe takes order to execute him Now if question be made why such a man be hanged will

That God doth supply to all men sufficient and necessary meanes of salvation with an intention of saving them letteth downe this Anti●hesis God doth not administer to all men meanes needfull and sufficient to salvation and that with an intention of saving them And to this his Antithesis Polyander Wal●us and Thyscus three other professours of Divinity in the Lowcountryes did set their hands It is a usuall course with this Authour to lay unto our charge that God hath immutably decreed this or that So that if we had said that all this were decreed by God not immutably but mutably we should not incurre the danger of his displeasure so immutably and unavoydably as we do Now to decree not immutably but mutably is a phrase that I no where meet with but among men of this Authours spirit the congruity whereof I willingly professe is so farre from mine understanding as no phrase more If they would in the name of common sense expound themselves unto us then we should soone consider what Answer we are to give in We willingly professe that all Gods decrees are unchangeable but of decreeing a thing unchangeably not any of our Divines discourse that I know of We say that God decreeth some things to come to passe necessarily and some things to come to passe contingently so doth Aquinas and we understand his language right well and approve his doctrine in this particular We willingly confesse that as God hath chosen some whom he meanes to deliver from that bondage of sinne and Satan whereinto all are cast by the transgression of Adam And how to deliver them Surely by bestowing the spirit of grace and regeneration upon them so to open their eyes and bring them out of darkenesse into light and from the power of Satan unto God In few words by bestowing faith and repentance upon them All others he hath from everlasting determined not to shew the like grace and favour unto For we see by experience that to many he gives not faith and repentance And looke how he carryeth himselfe towards any persons in time after the same manner he determined to carry himselfe from everlasting And the Scripture expresly tels us that even of them that are called but few are chosen and consequently the number of reprobates must needs be farre greater then the number of the elect Now as many as God hath decreed to deny faith and repentance unto we hold it impossibile for them upon this supposition to be recovered out of the bondage of sinne and Satan because the Scripture in divers places expresly tells us that faith is the gift of God repentance is the gift of God and therefore to whomsoever he will not be so gracious as to give faith and repentance we judge it a thing impossible upon this supposition that any of them should believe should repent And more then this as touching every particular here delivered we account it so apparently testified in holy Scripture that we wonder not a little with what face this Authour can deny it Nay we verily believe that he belives all these as well as we And the true point of Substantiall difference betweene us is conceled by him all along which is an argument of no ingenuity but yet I beare with him in following Lysanders counsell when the Lyons skin will not hold out to peece it out with a fox skin least otherwise his Pelagian tenet would be discovered in a most palpable and grosse manner For undoubtedly he believes that faith is the gift of God as also that it is impossible that they should believe to whom God will not give faith But his tenet is that God is ready and willing to give faith to all not absolutely but conditionally to wit in case they make themselves fit for it by performing somewhat on their parts Now this is as good as in expresse termes to professe that Grace is conferred according to merits or according unto workes For betweene works and merits in this controversy there is no difference as Bellarmine acknowledgeth And in the Epistle of Prosper to Austin they are taken promiscuously as of the same force and signification Now this doctrine is expresly contradictory to the word of God God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our owne workes but according to his owne purpose and grace The like we have Tit. 3. 5. And in like manner this doctrine hat beene condemned in the Church of God as the sowre leaven of Pelagianisme from the Synod of Palestine above 1200 yeares agoe all along and Pelagius himselfe was driven to subscribe to the Canons of that Synod of Palestine wherein Anathema was pronounced upon them that do or shall maintaine that Grace is conferred according unto workes If God hath decreed not to bestow faith upon a man if he hath not decreed to bestow upon him the gift of charity it is impossible that any worke can be done by such a one proceeding from faith and love and consequently such a one hath no liberty from sinne and that no such liberty is found in a naturall man in an unregenerate is the doctrine of our Church by D. Potters confession a Cathedrall Divine I do not say by the constant doctrine of D. Fulke in his answer to the Rhemish Testament and if no liberty from sinne be found in such a one it followes that such a one remaines under a necessity of sinning not that every sinne whether of lying stealing whoring murther or in any other kind is necessarily committed by him For a naturall man may be as morall as any heathen hath beene many of whom have beene very famous and renowned in the world for their morality But whether they are exercised in vertuous actions or in abstaining from actions vicious yet still they sinne forasmuch as they neither performe the one nor abstaine from the other in a gracious manner out of faith and love And therefore Austin was somewhere bold to stile them Splendida peccata glorious sinnes For novimus non officiis sed finibus discernendas esse virtutes Vertues are to be discerned not by their offices but by their ends The Helen we fight for is nothing but the word of God and the truth manifestly contained therein namely concerning the prerogative of his grace as effectuall to every good worke and most Freely given to some and denyed to others not according to mens workes according to that of S. Paul God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth This is a part of Gods soveraignty And it stands all true subjects upon to maintaine the lawfull Soveraignty of their Princes how much more doth it become the creature to stand for the lawfull prerogative and Soveraignty of his Creator especially when he proceeds herein according to the tenour of Gods word cleare reason and the unanimous consent of all the orthodoxe in the Church of God clearely opposing Pelagius herein from the