Jesus is a fall to Reprobates which yet perish through their own Defaults so is his Word yea the whole Book of God a cause of Damnation unto them through their Incredulity c. Furthermore Christ Jesus the Prophets the Apostles Pag. 16. and all the true Ministers of his Word yea every jot and tittle in the Holy Scripture have been is and shall be for evermore the Sauour of Life unto eternal Life unto all those whose Hearts God hath purified by true Faith c. God of his mercy and special Favour towards them whom he hath appointed to everlasting Salvation hath so offered his Grace especially and they have received it so fruitfully that altho' by reason of their sinful living outwardly they seemed before to have been the Children of Wrath and Perdition yet now the Spirit of God mightily working in them unto the obedience to God's Will and Commandments they declare by their outward Deeds and Life in the shewing of Mercy and Charity which cannot come but of the Spirit of God and his special Grace that they are the undoubted Children of God appointed to everlasting Life c. For a further confirmation of this 't is said The reasonable and Godly as they must certainly know and perswade themselves Part 2. p. 172. that all Goodness all Bounty all Mercy all Benefits all Forgiveness of Sins and whatsoever can be named good and profitable either for the Body or for the Soul do come only of God's Mercy and meer Favour and not of themselves So c. p. 199. we have thus It is the Holy Ghost and no other thing that doth quicken the Minds of Men stirring up good and godly Motions in their Hearts which are agreeable to the Will and Commandment of God such as otherwise of their own crooked and perverse nature they should never have Man of his own Nature is carnal corrupt and naught sinful and disobedient to God without any spark of Goodness in him without any vertuous or godly motion only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds as for the works of the spirit the fruits of faith charitable and good motions if he have any at all in him they proceed only of the holy ghost who is the only worker of our sanctification and maketh us new men in Jesus Christ And page 219. his power and wisdom compell us to take him for God Omnipotent having all thing in his subjection and will have none in Council with him nor any to ask the reason of his doing for he may do what liketh him and none can resist him for he worketh all things in his secret judgment to his own pleasure yea even the wicked to damnation saith Solomon .... David would make answer for all know ye for surely even the Lord is God he hath made us and not we our selves .... Not to us O Lord not to us but to thy name give all the thanks for thy loving mercy .... Verily the holy prophet Esay beareth record and saith O Lord it is then of thy goodness that hath wrought all our works in us not we our selves .... St. Paul bringeth in his belief We be not saith he sufficient of our selves as of our selves once to think any thing but all our ableness is of God's goodness for he it is in whom we have all our being our living and moving And pag. 228. It is he that preventeth our will and disposeth us thereunto That is as said before Faith Charity and Repentance And p. 229. For without his secret and lively inspiration can we not once so much as speak the name of our mediator ... It is he that purgeth and purifieth the mind by his secret working .... He lightneth the heart c. And p. 263. We must beware and take heed that we do in no wise think in our hearts imagine or believe that we are able to repent aright or to turn effectually unto the Lord by our own strength ... For this cause although Jeremiah had said before If thou return O Israel return unto me yet afterwards he saith Turn thou me O Lord and I shall be turned c. Why should I longer insist upon this which is so full and so clear let those that have a mind to know more of it read the First and Second Parts of the Homilies of the misery of Man with the Homilies of Christ's Nativity Passion and Resurrection The first on Whitsunday the First Second and Third part of that on Rogation-week and the First part of that of Repentance And as to the points of our Election Vocation Justification Sanctification and Salvation besides the foresaid let them read the First Second and Third parts of the Homilies of Salvation and Faith And out of all they shall find that there is an eternal and immutable predestination of certain Men unto eternal Life out of meer grace and free-mercy and a passing by or reprobation of others to eternal Death out of Gods meer pleasure That there is no free-will or sufficient grace communicated unto all men whereby they may convert and save themselves if they will on the contrary that Man without the special help of Gods spirit and grace is so weak that he can neither think any thing that is good nor prepare his heart to seek for grace That Christ dyed intentionally and effectually for none but the Elect that Gods grace and spirit do always work effectually in the hearts of the Elect in the act of their Conversion which they can never totally nor finally resist and that the same Elect do never nor can wholly and finally fall from the state of grace In these Homilies which for the most part were compiled by the learned Martyr Cranmer doth appear the spirit of our first Reformers to have been wholly for free-grace against free-will or any thing of merit or strength in man Another Authentick proof of the Doctrine of the Church against Arminianism is taken out of a short Catechism published in the time of good King Edward 6th It was Composed by John Ponet Bishop of Winchester and before its publication was presented to the King who committed the perusal thereof to some Bishops and other learned men who assured his Majesty it agreed with Scripture and the Statutes of the Kingdom whereupon by his special command it was not only Printed in Latine and English in the Year 1553 The next after the first publishing of the 39 Articles So that we may well look upon it as a perfect Comment on them but he also prefixed his own Epistle wherein he did command all School-masters within the Kingdom carefully and diligently to teach it in all their Schools There in one of the Scholars answers to the Master 't is said But as many as are in the faith stedfast were fore-chosen predestinate and appointed to everlasting life before the world was made And in another thus The first principal and most proper cause of our Justification and Salvation is the goodness
Province which Articles are a sentence past against Arminianism as the fit and proper remedy for the Disease the Antidote was specifical and composed against the Poyson which because they are few short and altogether to our purpose I shall here set down in English as they were in Latin I. God from Eternity hath predestinated certain men unto life certain men he hath reprobated to death II. The moving or sufficient cause of predestination unto life is not the fore-sight of Faith or of Perseverance or of Good works or of any thing that is in the persons predestinated but only the good will and pleasure of God III. There is a predetermined and certain number of the predestinate which can never be augmented nor diminished IV. Those who are not predestinated to Salvation shall necessarily be damned for their sins V. A true living and justifying Faith and the spirit of God justifying is not extinguished it falleth not away or vanisheth not away in the Elect either finally or totally VI. A Man truly faithful that is such a one who is endued with a justifying Faith is certain of the full assurance of Faith of the remission of his sins and of his everlasting Salvation by Christ VII Saving grace is not given is not communicated is not granted to all men by which they may be saved if they will VIII No Man can come unto Christ unless it shall be given him and unless the Father shall draw him And all Men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son IX It is not in the will or power of any Man to be saved These Articles upon serious debate and mature deliberation having been agreed on by the persons before named very Eminent and Considerable Men were afterwards sent to the University of Cambridge by their Deputies where they were received with the unanimous approbation of the whole University with such success that of the two Arminians Baroe not long after left the University and went away and Barret was forced solemnly to recant which recantation was Registred Thus a full stop was put to those Innovations and since that time till Laud's Faction got the upper-hand this and no other contrary Doctrine was taught there as being the true Orthodox according to Scriptures and the Church of England's but since that time the Party have done what they could to suppress and discredit it Yet though sometimes truth be driven into corners we doubt not but at last it will prevail notwithstanding the opposition of Men and Devils as it happened in the case of Arrianism An Heresie against the person of Christ as Arminianism is against his grace though to our great grief we see Arrianism revived in Socinianism as Pelagianism is in Arminianism But we must go on in our design In these 9 Articles we see the true Sence and Doctrine of the Church explained by those that by their office and learning are the fittest Interpreters thereof so we may conclude that to be at that time the Doctrine of the Church which we have asserted But we have farther proofs which to bring in I must skip over some passages but with an intent to make use of them in due place the reason I have to do so is because what I am going upon carries along with it the stamp of Publick Authority and Influence I mean the confession of Faith and Articles of the general Convocation of Ireland held in Dublin 1605 That is 20 years after the Articles of Lambeth By the grace of God I shall here set down those Articles of that Convocation which are to our present purpose and so shall begin with the Eleventh XI God from all eternity did by his unchangaeble Counsel ordain whatsoever in time should come to pass yet so as no violence is offered to the wills of the reasonable Creatures and neither the liberty nor the contingency of the second causes is taken away but rather established XII By the same eternal Counsel God hath predestinated some unto life and reprobated some unto death of both which there is a certain number known only to God which can neither be increased nor diminished XIII Predestination unto life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the Foundations of the World were laid he hath constantly decreed in his secret Council to deliver from Curse and Condemnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankind and to bring them by Christ unto everlasting Salvation as vessels made to honour XIV The cause moving God to predestinate unto life is not the fore-seeing of Faith or Perseverance or of good works or of any thing which is in the person predestinated but only the good pleasure of God himself for all things being ordained for the manifestation of his glory and his glory being to appear both in the works of his Mercy and his Justice It seemed good to his heavenly wisdom to chuse out a certain number towards whom he would extend his undeserved mercy leaving the rest to be spectacles of his Justice XV. Such as are predestinated unto life he called according unto God's purpose his spirit working in due season and through grace they obey the calling they be justified freely they be made Sons of God by adoption they be made like the image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk religiously in good works and at length by God's mercy they attain to everlasting felicity But such as are not predestinated to Salvation shall finally be condemned for their sins XXV The condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith and calling upon God wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable unto God without the grace of God preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will XXXII None can come unto Christ unless it be given unto him and unless the Father draw him and all men are not so drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son Neither is there such a sufficient measure of grace vouchsafed unto every Man whereby he is enabled to come to everlasting life XXXIII All God's Elect are in their time inseparably united unto Christ by the effectual and vital influence of the holy Ghost derived from him as from the head unto every true member of his mystical Body and being thus made one with Christ they are regenerated and made partakers of him and of all his benefits XXXVII By justfying Faith we understand not only the common belief of the Articles of Christian Religion and a persuasion of the truth of God's word in general But also a particular application of the promises of the Gospel to the comfort of our own souls whereby we lay hold on Christ with all his benefits having an earnest trust and confidence in God that he will be merciful to us for his Sons
Scripture in matter of Predestination speaks only of men we shall consider it only as men are the object thereof but before I must shew what a Decree is because it entereth within our definition now God's Decrees are the eternal and unchangeable counsels and resolutions he hath taken from all Eternity about what he purposed to do in time according to the first rule we have laid down These Decrees are called God's essential works ad intra inward according to our capacity and manner of conceiving which himself in his word is pleased to condescend to We then call them Decrees after the manner of Men for Decrees and Resolutions of Men are works or acts really distinct from Man from his Understanding and his Will By this way we do conceive God's Decrees or rather God Decreeing though properly they may not be called his Works for every act so properly called is an effect really distinct from the Agent But in God 't is not so or else his supream Simplicity would come to nothing when 't is said of God are known all his works that knowledge is nothing else but his Decree of doing all things to be done in time Of ELECTION PRedestination hath two parts Election and Reprobation the word is not restrained only to Election as Papists and some others would have it It is in vain amongst Hebrews or Greeks to search the Original of the word which is Latin The ancient Latin Authors used the word destinare to destinate or appoint for Pains as well as Rewards so did the ancient Doctors of the Church as (a) Enchirid. cap. 100. de Civit. Dei lib. 12. cap. 24. Austin (b) Ad. capital Gallor Prosper (c) Lib. 1. ad Monim Fulgentius Now the Election we here speak of is not to an Office in which (d) 1 Sam. 10 24. Saul and David were chosen Kings over Israel So Matthias (e) Acts 1.24 26. was by lot chosen one of the twelve But 't is Election to Eternal Life and Salvation Now Election is a Predestination of some Men to Eternal Life to be obtained by Faith in Christ only out of God's pleasure in them to declare his Divine Mercy Every part of which definition we by the grace of God shall speak of This point most of any is to be taken notice of because it is the ground of our Hope Faith Holiness in a word of the whole mystery of our Salvation which doth wholly run and depend upon the decree of our Election therefore to darken it the Devil hath stired up so many instruments to oppose it In Scripture among many Texts we have one specially lays open the whole matter before us which here I quote to be read with great application (a) Ephes 1.3 4 5 6 7. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy and without blame before him in love having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood c. The eternity of God's decree of Election is here asserted he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World this Election is affirmed to be the cause of all spiritual blessings which God hath blessed us with some of those blessings are named as Holiness Blamelessness and Adoption Now Faith Repentance Charity and such graces are parts of Holiness and the fruits of the Spirit Holiness is posteriour to our Election All those blessings are in and by Jesus Christ Out of this Text it also appeareth that the good pleasure of God is the only impulsive or moving cause if we may use such a word which is improper here to Elect us nothing from without all from within according to the good pleasure of his will Hence between Papists Arminians and Us for I must say in matters of grace they both joyn against us ariseth the question What it is that moved God to appoint some Men to Eternal Life We say nothing but God's good will and pleasure moved him to it Amongst several reasons we have to prove it I will only bring two of the chief The first because Scripture assigneth no other cause but that as the only and when the word is silent we ought not to speak The whole 9th Chapter to the Romans is a sentence of condemnation against the Adversaries there St. Paul saith of Election (†) Rom. 9.16 15. It is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Which is but a conclusion out of what God said to Moses in the foregoing verse verse 18. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion whence he thus concludes so then it is not of him c. 't is only of free grace Why three verses after the Apostle gives the reason He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardeneth This is very plain if any one is willing to dispute God's right herein let him do 't but he shall find God is a strong party (a) 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us before the world began Here the Decree of Election is made the cause of calling and other graces we receive in time The other reason is because in those that were elected was nothing at all that could move him to love them (b) Ephes 2.1 We were men dead in trespasses and sins unfit for any good thing and guilty of eternal death They say God hath chosen some because from Eternity he foresaw they would believe in Christ and continue in the Faith to which some add the foresight of some good works with Faith but against this I say God could foresee in sinful Man no spiritual good but what out of his mercy he was to give him this none but Pelagians can deny consequently God could not foresee Faith or Good Works as a motive to his Decree God elected us to be holy and without blame before him That is to the end we should be and not because we were such Holiness is an effect and not a cause of Election Faith also is an effect of Election as clearly expressed in Scripture (c) Acts 13.48 And as many as were ordained to eternal life believed If so then Faith is not the cause that moved God to elect us we were elected to believe not because we believed before for then we had chosen Christ and not he us contrary to what he positively saith
The Doctrines contained in every Article he reduces under several Heads and Propositions which he proves out of Scripture and these Propositions he in his Epistle Dedicatory affirmeth to be maintained by the Church of England which if it had not been true he would not have had the Face to have said so in Print to the Primate of the whole Kingdom To add a greater weight to what he writes I must warn the Reader he was no Puritan nor Friend to them as it appeareth out of his Book and so no Calvinist to make use of their Words He out of this 17th Article draweth ten Propositions the 1st That there is a Predestination of Men unto everlasting Life 2. Predestination hath been from everlasting Here is the eternity 3. They which are predestinated unto Salvation cannot perish This is Perseverance and against the Apostacy of Saints 4. Not all Men but certain are predestinated to be saved Here is a certain number of Chosen and Elect 5. In Christ Jesus of the meer Will and purpose of God some are elected and not others unto Salvation Here are Election and Rebrobation and no outward Motive in God but his meer Will and Purpose In the 6th and 7th Propositions he makes the outward Calling by the Word and inward by the Holy Ghost the Justification by Faith of those that are predestinate their Sanctification by the Holy Ghost and Glorification in the Life to come to be infallible Effects of free Election Take notice also how in his Proofs of the first Proposition he makes use of the Examples of Abel and Cain Isaac and Ishmael Jacob and Esau as Examples of Election and Reprobation And amongst those whom he condemns as Adversaries to this Truth for of the Truth he asserts in every Proposition he names those that are against it he expresses those that say how some are appointed to be saved but none to be damned And upon the 4th Proposition he condemneth those who say no certain Company be fore-destined unto eternal Condemnation Upon his 5th Proposition he condemneth of Impiety that 's his Word those who say that Man maketh himself eligible for the Kingdom of Heaven those who say that God beheld in every Man whether he would use his Grace well and believe the Gospel or no and as he saw a Man affected so he did predestinate choose or refuse him And those that say that besides God's Will there was in him some other Cause why he chose one and cast off another O Arminians here by a true Son of the Church according to the Doctrine of the Church you are charged with Impiety for your Opinions More of this is to be seen in the Book which for Brevities sake I omit One Evidence more of a true Son of the Church I shall make use of upon this point which also proves our 13th Chapter in the very Words (a) Reply to Fisher p. 275. Although our Tenet concerning predestination be no other than St. Austin and his Scholars maintained against the Pelagians saith Dr. Francis White Dean of Carlisle As to Mr. Rogers's Book something else I shall add how therein in matter of Predestination he saith as do all the Churches Militant and Reformed with a sweet consent testifie and acknowledge Then all such Churches agree against Arminians in these points For free-Will we must read the 10th Article The Condition of Man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural Strength and good Works to Faith and calling upon God wherefore we have no power to do good Works pleasing and acceptable unto God without the Grace of God preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will This is plain enough as observed by Rogers how Man cannot do any good Work before he be regenerated and converted And he declares Adversaries to this Truth all such as hold that naturally there is free-will in us and that Man hath free-will to perform spiritual and heavenly things Again that Men believe not but of their own free-Will That it is in a Man's free-Will to believe or not to believe to obey or disobey the Gospel of Truth preached This is the Doctrine we assert in as plain and proper Words as can be expressed And on his 3d. Proposition upon the same Article he brings in the very same Texts we make use of for that purpose As (b) Acts 15. â— God purifieth man's heart (c) Phil. 2.13 works in us both the will and the deed (d) Rom. 8 2â— the Spirit helpeth our infirmities for we know not what to pray for as we ought (e) 1 Cor. 6.7 Such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God c. All this against free-Will and for God's free effectual Grace As to the certainty of Salvation and for Perseverance 't is contained in the already-quoted 17th Article where 't is said God hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to bring those he hath chosen in Christ and by Christ to everlasting Salvotion Whence it doth follow that certainly and infallibly such shall be brought to Salvation or else God could not execute that which he hath decreed to do which is Blasphemy Now the Adversaries are for Mutability and in constancy of Salvation which certainly this Article doth cross for it induceth a certain and constant Salvation and a constant Decree of Election constantly bringing to Salvation which must be by way of Perseverance in the State of Grace But they by inducing this Apostacy and that Men though elected may have leave to fall from Salvation if they will make an Election which followeth a Man upon condition of his fore-seen Perseverance a strange Election that waits upon Man to see whether he will give to himself a final Perseverance by his own free-Will an Election by which no Man is actually elected until he be no more that is after his death In this Article the Church hath another way to teach the certainty of Salvation which is to go upon the same Grounds St. Paul doth when he saith by Particulars to make the General sure (f) Rom. 8.29.3 Whom he did fore-know them he also did predestinate to be made like to the Image of his Son Whom he did predestinate them he also called whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified According to this Foundation in the said Article are these Words Wherefore they which be endued with so excellent a Benefit of God be called according to God's purpose by his Spirit working in due season they through Grace obey the Calling They be justified freely they be made Sons of God by Adoption they be made like unto the Image of his only begotten Son Jesus Christ they walk religiously in good works and at length by God's
A PLEA FOR FREE-GRACE AGAINST FREE-WILL WHEREIN Matters about Grace and Providence are plainly and fully cleared and contrary Opinions demonstrated to be against Scripture the Judgment of the Primitive Church and the Doctrine of the Church of England By J. GAILHARD Gent. For I know this that after my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in amongst you not sparing the flock Also of your own Selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them Acts 20.29 30. By the grace of God I am what I am ... Yet not I but the grace of God which was with me 1 Cor. 15.10 LONDON Printed for George Grafton in Middle-Temple-lane in Fleet-street MDCXCVI THE PREFACE THE Church of God is in Scripture under the name of his Love compared to (a) Cant. 2.2 the Lilie among Thorns which not only make her uneasie but also do often strike deep wounds into her sides The two head Thorns which from the beginning prickt her sometimes to the very bowels and will do so to the worlds end are Tiranny whence ariseth Persecutions and Heresie the cause of great Disorders and Confusion this is the worst of the two for tho' the other destroyeth several of the members yet it purges the dross and makes the blood of Martyrs the Seed of the Church But this reacheth the very vitals lays her in a languishing and fainting condition (b) Gal. 5 20. Tiranny is a foraign Enemy for tho sometimes persecutions were raised by some that had been members yet they were fallen off and had declared open war against it But Heresie rockoned among the works of the flesh is a Domestick Enemy living within her pales yet so unnatural a child to the Mother as to divide rent and tear her The Holy Ghost forewarned us that such things should happen to the end we should not be surprized when they do Our Blessed Saviour fore-told his Disciples that there shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and to make the Prophecy the more to be taken notice of he addeth in the next verse (c) Matth. 24.24 25. behold I have told you before After him St. Paul shews a necessity for it and gives the reason for (d) 1 Cor. 11.19 there must be also heresies among you that they which are approved may be made manifest among you And elsewhere he saith not of himself but (e) 1 Tim. 4.1 the spirit speaketh expresly that in the latter days some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of Devils St. John gives the like warning how (f) 1 Joh. 4.1 many false prophets are gone out into the world There be false Prophets that are to come in among the flock in Sheeps cloathing (g) Matth 7.15 to do the more mischief but inwardly they are ravening Wolves Wherefore 't is a truth beyond all dispute that Men teaching false Doctrines are to arise out of the bosom of the Church for as Christ's love is compared to the Lilly so are the Daughters compared to Thorns It would be tedious and superfluous to name those Plants which our heavenly Father having not planted have been or ought to be rooted out and those Tares which the enemy the Devil hath sowed in the Field only out of the vast number of those that have been notorious we shall mention two Heresiarcks Authors of abominable Doctrines one against the Person of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ the other against his Grace The first Arrius who afterwards was followed by Photinus and others and of late years by Socinus denied and opposed the Deity of Christ and in number prevailed to astonishment for though that pestilent Heresie had in the days of Constantine the Great been condemned at the first Nicene Council yet afterwards being maintained and upheld by some Emperors in some other Councils as Sirmiense and Seleucense especially in that numerous meeting of Bishops at Rimini that abominable Heresie was approved of and confirmed The other infamous and notorious Heresiarch which opposed the Grace of Christ to set up Nature and Free-will was Pelagius who afterwards was followed by the Semipelagians Papists and of late by Arminians and now unhappily at this time the Church is troubled and pester'd with both Arminianism and Socinianism and to explode this last the true way is to begin with the first which also once was here and is still a Shooing-horn to draw on Popery Yet herein we ought to admire at and adore the most wise Providence of God who thereby not only tryed his Church but also out of those Heresies brought forth this great Good that several truths which before were not so well nor so publickly known and in the dark have been brought to a greater and a more universal light for ever God raised some eminent Instruments to maintain the Truth Thus Athanasius was raised against Arianism and endued with such courage and other necessary qualifications that tho' Error seemed to triumph in number of Men yet he stood fast for the Truth hence it was said of him Athanasius against the whole World and the whole World against Athanasius If there had never been a Pelagius or some such a Man very likely we would never have had those excellent Writings of Austin which so well enlarged upon and cleared Matters of Grace so that after St. Paul the great Apostle for free Grace no Man hath upon those points written better than Austin Thus those Rocks which once others made Shipwrack upon are to us become Buoys and Warnings It hath been and still is God's Method from time to time to exerciâ—â— the Faith of his Church upon several and different Matters by means of heterodox and unsound Men so that though Truth in it self be always Truth yet some may well be called Truths of the Times because sometimes they were not at all spoken for or against and at one time they were opposed more than at another especially at that very time when old Errors were revived or new ones invented for afterwards new things being brought upon the Stage old questions did wear off and People minded new ones yet with this good effect That after all oppositions Truth appeared the more glorious like the Sun after it hath dispersed the Clouds that stood between it and our aspect Thus after the Roman blast had for a long time almost withered the face of the Church and the Frosts and Snows of the Alpes almost starved it in appearance yet when once more the light of the Gospel began to shine the World was made sensible how all fires of Persecution could not consume the Truths of God nor all the Waters of Affliction drown them that Church which seemed to have been buried under the violence and cruelties of Antichrist and wholly overlaid with all his Errors in Doctrine with Superstition and Idolatry in Worship yet when God's time for (a) Heb. 9.10 Reformation was come though that light of the Truth appear'd but dim
to his disciples (d) John 15.16 chap. 13 1â— Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and I know whom I have chosen Now though Election be the cause of Faith it doth not follow by the rule of relatives which are said to be the cause of one another that Faith should be the cause of Election that maxim is to be understood of the natural respect and relation of the Subjects not of the Subjects themselves of relations else it would a so follow That because the Creator is the cause of the Creature the Creature ought also to be the cause of the Creator which is Blasphemy It is the part of a wise Agent when he doth appoint to the end also to appoint to and provide the means So the only wise God having predestinated us to the end eternal life hath also predestinated us to the means namely Faith For saith the Apostle (a) 2 Thes 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth here are the decree election chosen the efficient cause God the Object you the end to salvation with the means sanctification of the spirit and belief of the Truth or Faith Farther I say if prevision of Faith had been the cause of our Election it would also be the cause of our Vocation in time which is contrary to the word (b) 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath called us with his holy calling not according to our works but according to his purpose and grace I bring one Argument more which is this if Faith and Holiness fore-seen had been the cause of our Election it would follow that the object of Election had been Man already restored through Grace and justified which is false Take notice that there are not two Decrees one to Grace the other to glory as they say Scripture maketh no mention of a double Election by one and the same Decree we are elected to Glory through Grace as the means and way for the first in Intention is last in Execution We are saved by Faith yet not elected by Faith the reason of both being different Election is an eternal act of God inward and immediately proceeding from God but Salvation is a temporal act of God outward and mediate which is perfected thorough many other means and second causes if the causes of Election and Salvation be the same then the Law of God the Gospel Sacraments and Ministers are the causes of our Election for God makes use of all these means to bring us to eternal life We are elected in Christ not for Christ God was never moved by the merit of Christ to Elect us but he decreed to save us in Christ who is not the cause of the Decree but a medium or means appointed in the Election to execute it We must have a care not to confound between the cause and sign of things which do very much differ thus the Rainbow is not the cause why the world shall no more be drowned with a general Flood 't is only the sign of it the cause is God's Will and Promise thus Sacraments are signs not causes of the things they represent Circumcision was the sign of God's Covenant with Abraham but not the cause which was God's Free-grace and Mercy to him the Lords Supper is the sign of Christ's Passion but not the cause which is God's Free-grace and Mercy to mankind When our blessed Saviour saith (a) Matth. 16.2 3. When it is evening ye say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red c. that colour of the Sky is not the cause but the sign of fair or foul weather Thus to make an Application to our Subject I say we must take heed not to make Faith the cause of our Election when it is the sign and effect of it so much posteriour to it for Election is from eternity when Faith is given but in time and yet serveth to prove Election for wheresoever true saving Faith is there is an infallible sign but no cause of Election which far from being caused by any grace is the sole and only ground of all and every grace we receive Faith it self the chief Gospel grace is an effect of it as it appears out of many places of Scripture which I already quoted so out of (b) Acts 18.27 Acts where 't is said Apollos helped them much which had believed through grace And those men who will not believe this will have much cause to fear they are of the same sort of those whom our Saviour speak of when he saith (c) John 9.39 For judgment I am come into this world that they which see not may see and that they which see might be made blind There is mercy for the first and judgment for the last for certainly Christ came into the world both for mercy and for judgment to make some unexcusable (d) John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin It was said of Christ almost after his very Birth That (a) Luk. 2.34 he was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against And as the Prophet says (b) Isa 3.14 a stone of stumbling a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to Jerusalem And Men are too apt to fansie things to be the cause of God's actings which are not thus the Disciples themselves thought because a Man was born blind the Man's sins or his Parents must be the cause of it but our Saviour tells them they were in an error for (c) Joh. 9.3 neither hath the man sinned nor his parents but he was born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him This place sheweth clearly how God in whatsoever he doth in upon or for Men he minds chiefly his own Glory and followeth his own will and pleasure Thus (d) Chap. 11.4 Lazarus's Sickness and Death was for the glory of God and of Christ God denyed the Man his sight from his Birth here are his Will his Power and Justice over his Creature the Lord Jesus gives him his sight there is mercy thus the works of God are made manifest in this Man and why not so too in others in relation to eternity as well as to time This Man was naturally blind but God is pleased to give him his sight as he might without any wrong have left him in his blindness if it had been his pleasure So if God be pleased to leave some Men naturally dead in that condition and quicken others that were in the same state what hath wretched Man to do to cavil against or find fault with it Or presumptuously not to be satisfied with this cause the meer will and pleasure of God but must prye into his Secrets and forge other Motives instead
not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness to him neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned Our most blessed Saviour speaks home and positively upon the matter (f) Matt. 12.34.33 O generation of Vipers how can ye being evil speak good things after he had said in the foregoing verse either make the tree good and his fruit good or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt for the tree is known by his fruit The words of Austin upon the matter are excellent (g) Mea bona nec mea sunt nec perfecte bona mea mala mea sunt perfeste mala The good I do is neither mine nor perfectly good but the evil I do is both mine and perfectly evil But this is not all for not only there is an impotency to all Spiritual good but also a propensity and inclination to all Spiritual evil through a perverseness that is in our nature (g) Gen. 6.5 God saw that every imagination of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually The Text is very full and comprehensive in every word thereof if any thing can be added to it elsewhere we find it thus (h) Jer. 17.9 The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it We sometimes find by experience how a Man desperately in love with a Daughter of Belial I mean a Woman without any Fortune Honour or Virtue will confess he is in an error and over-ruled by a Passion yet though to the ruin of himself and Fortune he must have her or else he cannot live and is not a Natural man's Will desperately wicked So that though he hath checks and convictions of Conscience about his evil courses with his being so fond of the World and so much in love with Sin and though he knows better yet he neither can nor will leave it where is here Free-will where sufficient Grace If it is not to be found in those Natural and Temporal things much less in Spiritual and Eternal O let every one lay his hand upon his Conscience and seriously examine himself Another thing we assert is That whatsoever good or spiritual working is found in any Man it comes from God who worketh it in Man nothing of Nature but all of Grace Our being Enlightned Conversion Repentance Holiness Faith c. come all from God alone (a) Isa 26.12 for he works all our works in and for us and (b) Eph. 2.10 we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works Also (c) Phil. 2.13 It is God that worketh in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure It doth not lye in our free-will nor is it in our power to receive or reject Grace neither do we thereby destroy the natural liberty of the Will which doth not consist in indifferency that is to choose or to reject this or that but in a freedom from compulsion neither doth the immutability of the Decree take it away that which God hath Decreed shall indeed necessarily be but a thing may be done voluntarily and necessarily too for necessity and liberty in one subject do very well agree Thus God is necessarily good yet most freely good the Devil is freely evil yet necessarily evil Saints in Heaven do necessarily praise God for they can do no otherwise yet they do it most freely and voluntarily nothing but a necessity of coaction a forcible necessity takes away liberty and this the Will of Man is free from Wicked Men do necessarily yet freely sin with pleasure and delight (d) 2 Pet. 2.14 they cannot cease from sin These are Scripture words yet our Adversaries as before clamour thus then after this all Precepts Promises Threatnings and Exhortations to make Men abstain from Sin will be in vain if they cannot forbear sinning But I say though some be not the better rather the worse for these things yet such things are not in vain for thereby they are taught their Duty and commanded and exhorted to perform it and thereby unpenitent and unbelievers become unexcusable for they cannot pretend ignorance Neither is it in vain in relation to the Elect who enjoy these outward means together with Reprobates because thorough the inward working of the Spirit the Preaching of these things becomes effectual in them and puts them upon avoiding of Sin In few words the better to understand this matter of Free-will two things ought chiefly to be considered First What a state Man is in when we speak of his Free-will Secondly The nature of the things which he doth exercise his Free-will about There are four states of Man which Schoolmen call Institutus Destitutus Restitutus Praestitutus that is to be more plain of Innocency Nature Grace and Glory The things are either necessary or natural indifferent mix'd or spiritual The state of Innocency needs not to be spoken of 't is lost and gone in Adam of whom Divines say Habebat posse quod veltet He had Free-will and Power to do what he would though at last he wanted the Will to do what he could for he would not continue in his Integrity In the other three states the Will is free from compulsion and coaction else instead of being voluntas it would be noluntas not Will but Vnwill God himself never offers such a violence whereby its nature would be destroyed So then in the state of Nature the Will is free only to Evil in that of Grace part to Good and part to Evil yet so that the Evil is wholly from our selves and the Good only from God in that of Glory only to Good 'T is to be observed how in the passing out of the state of Nature into that of Grace that is at the time of our Conversion God by his holy Spirit works in us against us I mean our natural corrupt inclinations But afterwards he works in us and by us that is he guides inclines and turns our faculties to that which is good and acceptable in his sight But to come nearer We say in the state of Nature in Natural and Necessary things as to eat and to drink which are natural and necessary to preserve Life yea this or that kind of Meat and Drink man's Will is most free so 't is in indifferent things as to Walk Stand or Sit to Game Sing or the like The Will is very free even in those things that are of a mix'd nature and which seem to imply a violence as when a Man gives his Purse to a High-way-Man to save his Life when in a Storm Merchants and Seamen cast the Wares into the Sea to save the Ship and themselves Though in such cases there be an unwillingness and a repugnancy to the thing yet the Will determines it self of two Evils to choose the least but our Question concerning Free-will is not about such Objects but about Spiritual things in this state of Nature and before Conversion Hereupon
we say the Will is free only to do Evil most willing with greediness In this case with Scripture we call it a Slave a Drudge and a Servant to Sin for it cannot cease from Sin wise and willing enough to Sin but without knowledge and willingness to do good (a) Rom. 6.16 Whom man doth obey his servant he is to whom he doth obey That Will that obeys Sin in the lusts thereof as every Will in its state of Nature doth Sin saith the Apostle reigneth in it as in the Mortal body such Will is in the snare of the Devil and (b) 2 Tim. 2.26 taken Captive by him at his Will saith the same Apostle In this unregenerate state the Soul and consequently the Will is dead in trespasses and sins the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 And the carnal Mind and Will too is enmity against God before our reconciliation to God we are his enemies Rom. 5.10 both in Soul and Body in every faculty of the one and in every member of the other In short the whole stream of Scripture runs strong that way to shew how in the state of Nature there is no more possibility for our Will of it self to be carried to good Spiritual objects Jerem. 13.23 than there is in the Aethiopian to change his skin or in the Leopard to change his spots Now in the state of Grace as to Free-will in relation to spiritual things for those of another nature come not within the question though the Will remaineth free from compulsion yet we ought to consider it in a twofold respect according to the two different Principles that are in us the Flesh and the Spirit the Old and the New Man of a quite different and contrary nature one to another the Flesh hath her Lusts which must be Crucified the Old Man hath his Deeds which ought to be Mortified all by degrees and after a fight wherein the Spirit of God thorough Christ's Blood giveth a regenerate Man the Victory not the Israel after the flesh 1 Cor. 10.18 but to that after the spirit and the promise What this New Man is St. Paul mentions to the Galatians 4.19 My little Children of whom I travail in birth until Christ be formed in you that is the Image and likeness of Christ in Righteousness Holiness and every Christian Virtue of this formation the Apostle by the means of the Ministery of the Word was the Instrument but the Holy Ghost not the Will of Man the Efficient Cause it is that Wind that bloweth where it listeth and though one heareth the sound thereof one cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth Joh. 3.8 In some kind we may say of it what David speaks of his Body made in secret at first imperfect but in continuance fashioned Psal 139.15 16. This puts a new or spiritual Life in us so that every one in that blessed condition may with St. Paul say I live yet not I but Christ lives in me Gal. 2.20 I know I will I love and I do yet not I but Christ by his holy Spirit knoweth willeth loveth and doth in me and even as after the birth of our Body to preserve and strengthen it food must be given it and Milk is the first so must the New Man be fed with Milk till it be able to bear Meat 1 Cor. 3.2 but this forming feeding and digesting is the Work of God and not an effect of the choice of our Will Thus much I could not forbear taking notice of as to that Spiritual Principle within us Well both these Principles retain the Nature whence they come The first of the earth earthy the second is the Lord from heaven heavenly 1 Cor. 15.47 Now that first and Old Man answereth The Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her Children but Jerusalem which is above is free Gal. 4.25 26. We then must say that where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 where that Spirit is not there is nothing but bondage so then in the twain Man are both liberty and bondage upon different accounts What Paul doth he alloweth not for what I would that I do not but what I hate that do I. He delighteth in the Law of God after the inward Man but the Law of the Members bringeth him into Captivity to the Law of Sin which he desired to be delivered from and obtained it through Jesus Christ Rom. 7. Wherefore in that state though the corrupt principle would pull back and mislead our Will yet by the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost our Will is made tractable inclined and without any violence turned willingly to Spiritual things Thus we are made a free willing People in the day of God's Power to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought and every desire too into Captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. As to our Free-will in the State of Glory I pass it by there being no question made about it The Controversie about Free-will is a large Subject yet I think we said enough to our present purpose what remains to be spoken about it shall be under another head which that we now leave doth directly lead us to Arminians are stiff sticklers for a Free-will in Man to receive or reject Grace when offered by the Preaching of the Gospel as the outward means appointed for that end Now we proceed CHAP. VII About Resistibility of GRACE TO understand this well it must be well stated the Question is not whether Man can and doth resist Grace when offered in the Preaching of the Word or even some good motions of the spirit of God we are all agreed it can and doth But the true state of the Question between Papists with Arminians and us is this Whether when God doth offer men Grace with a design to have them thereby converted Whether or not I say those Men shall actually be converted Or Whether the Free-will and Corruption of Man shall overcome the motions of the spirit of God when he purposeth actually to convert We say at that time God works irresistibly and invincibly that is they shall be converted they say no. To prove this we have many Texts of Scripture There is in God (e) Philip. 3.21 a power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself so that when he is willing he cannot miss of his aim If the difficulty lies in the Understanding he can bring light out of darkness and enlighten the eyes of our Vnderstanding if in the Will (g) 2 Cor. 4.6 Ephes 1.18 he can make us willing in the day of his power if we be unwilling he maketh us willing and able to do too (h)
Psal 110.3 for it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure And how so (i) Phil. 2.13 2 Pet. 1.3 His divine power gives unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge here he works upon the Intellect of him that hath called us to glory and vertue If he gives all things then nothing is wanting if so how can it fail of a success Doth not St. Paul as plainly as can be assert this (a) Rom. 9.19 who hath resisted his will Surely this concludeth negatively and ab impossibili As if he had said t is not possible for any Man to resist his Will What then his Power no for 't is (b) Ephes 1.19 17 18. a might power a power of exceeding greatness And he saith in the two foregoing verses that God gives the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him and as we said before enlightneth the eyes of our understanding c. Now that power of God working in us is no less effectual and mighty than it was Verse 20 when it raised Christ from the dead Which is confirmed when the Apostle saith in another place As we were buried with Christ in baptism so also we are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God Doth not our Saviour himself say that (c) John 6 3â— all the father giveth him by the decree of Election for in him they are elected shall come to him Vers 45 And that every man that hath heard and learned of the father cometh to him And shall Men attempt to break that link of Salvation (d) Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called Whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified If God be willing the thing is done Lord if thou wilt thou canst make me clean the answer and effect is I will be thou clean The will of Man not only doth ever obey effectual calling but it must do so for the effectualness of God's calling consists in the removing of all stubbornness and perverseness that is in the will and giving a new heart soft and pliable to the call (e) Luk. 5.12 13. A new heart will I give you and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart and give you a heart of flesh And ye shall be clean c. And who shall hinder him (f) Ezech. 36.26.1.25 (g) Prov. 21.1 Are not the hearts of men in the hand of God be turneth them whithersoever he will But how doth the Lord make that great change in the heart In the same chapter of Ezechiel and the next verse it is thus exprest I will it is my pleasure and it shall be so put my spirit within you Ezech. 36.27 and cause you to walk in mystatutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them If God speaks truth we shall do all these when he will have it to be so and nothing shall hinder it The Creature cannot hinder its own Creation nor the Dead his own Resurrection nor the Child his own Generation nor Darkness its own Illumination nor White-paper writing on it self Most of these Comparisons are taken out of Scripture to represent the act of the spirit converting a Soul Moreover if the evil Man could overcome the effectual working of the spirit of God then could the decree of our Election be made altogether uncertain and often void and null so God could be disappointed of his ends which how injurious it is to God's Wisdom and Power let every one judge But (a) Isai 14.24 surely as God hath thought so shall it come to pass and as he purposed so shall it stand So many other Texts we have to this purpose some of which I already made use of in the very beginning If I would make use of Man's authority in this matter how many places out of Austin and others could I quote to this purpose This only I shall be content with (b) Depredest sanct cap. 8. Essicacious grace cannot be rejected by any hard heart because God softneth the heart and no will of any man resists God's when he hath a mind to save The rest I omit for the matter is very clear However let us hear what they can say for themselves Arminians as well as papists are of a contrary opinion they assert Conversion to depend so much upon Man's free-will that there shall be no efficacy of Grace no effect of God's Mind to Convert all things used towards it shall be in vain if Man doth not answer God's end and therein he hath his Free will so far as not to answer if he hath not a mind and wholly disappoint God's design to convert him thus converting grace may be resisted and in vain God will attempt if Man be not willing to it which is to make God depend upon Man and not Man upon God In effect they own no other converting grace but a moral persuasion whereby out of God's words unregenerate Men are preprevailed upon to believe to repent hope just as one Man bringeth arguments to persuade another thus Conversion is not wrought in Man but by Man which is meer Pelagianism This they endeavour to prove out of Scripture and bring examples of some whom God would have Converted towards whose Conversion he made use of means yet to no purpose because those people would not be Converted The first Is from the Gospel (a) Matth. 23 37. Jerusalem c. How often would I have gathered thy children together even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and ye would not The Second is this (b) Acts 7.51 Ye do always resist the holy ghost And another is (c) Isai 65.2 I have spread out my hands all the day unto a rebellious people which walketh in a way that was not good To this I answer there always hath been some who obeyed not the outward Call and Precept of God but God never intended the Conversion of such because he did not bestow upon them true Converting Grace which consisteth in the working of the Holy Ghost upon their hearts As to the place about Jerusalem Christ would have gathered them with the will of precept that is he commanded them to come and be gathered to him to shew them their Duty But Christ would never gather them with the will of the Decree whereby he is willing to Convert the Elect who are the only Men actually to be coverted As to the Second Text those Men are said to resist the Holy Ghost who refuse to obey what he doth command and these Precepts are directed either to Reprobates or to the Elect to the former Converting Grace is never given so they are never Converted but ever continue disobedient As for the Elect though sometimes they reject the outward vocation yet at last by the inward calling they are all converted
far from a Free will to receive good as evil This I shall conclude with an observation upon the remedy which God proposeth to prevent their death and ruin namely to repent v. 30. and to make them a new heart and a new spirit Here God speaks as one who insists upon performance of Articles thus Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soul Deut. 6.5 and with all thy might But saith God that ye have not done wherefore make you a new heart and a new spirit to enable you to perform what hitherto hath been wanting for why will ye die O house of Israel He commands them to do 't themselves which they are able to do no more than to repent because all is a gift of God Psal 51.19 which David knew well when he prays thus Create in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Let us take notice of two different methods of God upon this account here God commandeth things to be done as they ought as performance of conditions but he promiseth nothing Do your duty which for them 't is impossible to perform wherefore he hath another way of speaking for those whom he is graciously pleased to favour he doth not command to do but promiseth himself to do for them (a) Ezek. 11.19 And I will give them one heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and I will give them an heart of flesh Which is repeated with this addition (b) Chap. 36.27 And I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them To the same effect speaks another Prophet (c) Jer. 32.39 And I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever Here are the most gracious promises of a Gospel-Covenant what we cannot do our selves he will do for us he will give us that heart and that spirit whereby we shall be enabled to keep and do his judgments and fear him for ever hereby we are secured from the danger of a final Apostasie The same Prophet just the Chapter before saith (d) Vers 33. I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall not teach c. and that this is the true Evangelical sence of the place it appears out of the application of it made by the Author of the Epistle to the Hebrews who doth quote the very same words and concludes all in these (c) Heb. 8. from 6. to 13. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more This is God's way with those whom he is pleased to save from dying and perishing as all must do whom he leaves to make themselves a new heart and a new spirit for Man's Will far from being free and able to contribute to Conversion the new Creation and Salvation is a perfect Slave to Sin till God be pleased to work upon and turn it which once being effected there is no danger of a final Apostacy for thereby we are secured against a total falling from grace and that is the Subject of the following Chapter CHAP. VIII About Amissibility of GRACE AS one depth calleth to another so doth one Error to another our Adversaries are not satisified to make Man if he be willful and obstinate stronger than God when he hath a mind to take possession of a Soul but they go farther and assert That after God is actually in possession of that Soul he may be turned out of possession which is their true sence of the point we are now going upon The Question is Whether a Man truly converted and regenerated can to the end persevere in the state of Salvation he is actually in And whether it be possible for such a one who is Elected in Christ called with an effectual Calling totally and finally to fall from God and be Damned This is the true state of the case and not whether the Elect and true Believers can fall into great sins which they do too often as it appeareth out of Scripture and Experience We say That God makes to persevere and go on to the end all the Elect and true Believers whether their Faith be strong or weak provided it be true that when once they are in the right way of Grace they shall infallibly come to Glory it being not possible for the Elect to become Reprobates to Apostatize and finally fall to Damnation Our Adversaries affirm the contrary though Arminius himself finding the stream of Scriptures and Fathers run so strong against the total and final Apostasie of Saints durst not openly declare for it yet his Followers have strongly set themselves against this Article which is the chief ground of all the comfort the Soul hath in this World to know 't is not in the power of the Devil or any other creature whatsoever to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now to prove this Doctrine we can begin no better than with that place of St. Paul's who in (a) Rom. 8.30 ver 31. that Chapter from verse 28. to the last giveth us the greatest grounds of assurance that can possibly be expected grounded upon our Election Calling Justification c. whence he proceedeth to a defiance to all (b) Vers 33 34. which is taken out of Isai 50.7 8 9. If God be for us who can be against us And (c) Ver. 32. who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's Elect It is God that justifieth who is he that condemneth Now if Christ hath loved us which is clear in that he hath given himself for us and (d) Ver. 35. God delivered him up for us all After this the Apostle argueth from a thing impossible Who shall separate us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword (e) Vers 37 38 39. Nay in all these things we are more than conquerors Take notice with what assurance he speaketh in the two next verses for I am perswaded that neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord I would be loth to lose one word of these wherein the Apostle speaks so fully so clearly and so much to the purpose that if to confirm this Doctrine we had had the penning of the words we could not have done it with so good effect to prove that God's Elect and Believers cannot finally fall and totally be separated from Christ and we know (f) Joh. 13. whom Christ loveth them
witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria Acts 1.8 13.31 Of whom 't is said in the same Book who are his witnesses unto the people And as they were witnesses unto the people of what they had seen so on the last day they shall be God's witnesses against the people of what they had done and preached to them The second sort of witnesses are from or within men themselves that are guilty Wherefore saith our Saviour to the Jews ye be witnesses unto your selves that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets Matth. 23.31 And with the Gentiles their conscience also bearing Rom. 2.15 16. and shall bear witness and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another I a word God can never want witnesses for if these held their peace saith Christ the very stones would speak and be witnesses according to what Joshua said Jâ—sh 24.27 This stone shall be a witness Thus to our present purpose God doth outwardly call reprobates and commands them to repent not with an intent they should do so for he denys them the grace of repentance and faith without which they cannot repent and believe For if God would effectually have it so it should infallibly be according to what we have in a place of the prayer book Whose power no creature is able to resist grounded on St. Paul's saying who hath resisted his will But God doth it to shew them their duty and leave them without excuse seeing they had Christ offered to them Here they object a place I answered before about Jerusalem but because they lay a stress upon the comparison as the Hen gathereth her Chickens a sign say they that Christ intended their Salvation to what I said I shall add that Christ doth use the comparison of his being willing to gather Jerusalem as a Hen gathereth her Chickens Matth. 23.27 not in relation to the end and intention but as to the effect if their affection had been answerable They say farther if when Christ calleth Reprobates to come to him he doth not intend thereby to save them then the outward vocation doth differ from his inward purpose which we deny For by the outward calling God actually doth with Reprobates what in the call he proposed within himself for God purposed to call reprobates to promise them Salvation upon account of Obedience to the end they should learn the way to Salvation to know their Duty and at last confess they are justly Damned and he obtaineth the end he aimed at But here followeth a high charge God promising Salvation to reprobates upon an impossible condition which he is not willing to give them grace to perform doth but mock and deceive them We answer the promise of Salvation made to reprobates upon an impossible condition is no delusion but a denyal of Salvation for want of performance of the condition without which no Man can be saved even according to God's Decree for as in time God denyeth reprobates Salvation by reason of impenitency so from eternity he decreed to damn them for impenitency the end of the Promise and of the Vocation are the same When God commandeth all men every where to repent 't is not meant the end of the declaration as if it was God's purpose it should be so but 't is the thing commanded and which those who are called ought to do We must in this matter have a care not to confound the intention of the Minister with that of God who from eternity knows every individual reprobate the Minister not so for being not able to know reprobates from the elect he must have a real intention in his station to save every one that heareth him and if he be mistaken and disappointed of his end he being neither All-mighty nor All-knowing there is no absurdity therein but here we speak of the end of the vocation of reprobates in relation to God Two things more I am to answer First That God is not an hypocrite though he doth not intend the Salvation of all those whom he calleth to 't an hypocrite would seem to be what he is not but there is no such intention in God only he points at and sheweth reprobates the cause why he denyeth them Salvation The second thing I am now to do is to shew that God in his outwardly calling of reprobates is not unjust though he requireth of them impossible things But before I must answer an Objection I had omitted to shew that 't is in Man's power to save himself if he will 't is taken out of St. Paul's words (a) Philip. 2.12 13. Work out your salvation with fear and trembling But this goeth from the state of the question which is about Conversion before it be effected but in this place the Apostle speaks to regenarated Men for he saith they always obeyed now as in the act of Conversion we are meerly Passive after it is effected and there is the new Man created in us we are not like Stone and Stocks we move as we are acted by the spirit of God This is an Exhortation to Holiness and every good Work but to shew how the Apostle doth not think it is in their power to work their own Salvation of themselves in the next verse he addeth For it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure This explantation he giveth for fear they should misunderstand what he said about working their Salvation and we see how to keep them from Pride and Presumption he saith work it with fear and trembling But now I must return where I left and say of things unpossible some are so absolutely and of their nature others are such only in some respect and accident that obedience which God requireth of Men is not of absolute impossibility for if there was any injustice in the case here it would lay but what God requires of Men was once possible but man through his own fault lost that power what in the state of Innocency namely obedience was possible for Man is by his fall become unpossible to him yet for all this he still is bound to do his Duty the more because he hath no excuse to plead for in relation to God who neither inticed him nor commanded or compelled him but rather expresly with threatnings did forbid him to sin so that God is most just in calling for his own This is as if a Man had lent me Money when it was lent I was able to pay but since through my own ill management I ruined my whole Estate and made it unpossible for me to pay the Debt must my Creditor suffer for my evil Courses after I am become a prodigal Son Is he unjust to call for his Money and make me pay the Debt No surely as you see the (b) Matth. 18. from 24. to 35. Lord did by that servant of his who had no mercy upon his
fellow servant for though it was unpossible for him to pay the ten thousand talents yet he delivered him to the Tormentors till he should pay all that was due that is for-ever for he could never do 't here the torments of Hell are meant so God may justly do with every Man whom he hath no mind to be merciful to I do add one thing more how the Law promised life upon unpossible conditions of a mans own perfect obedience yet we do not read that any of the Jews ever said the Law was unjust on the contrary we find the Law was confessed to be holy just and good Rom. 7.12 and let some men say what they will we all know and must own that faith the condition upon which eternal life is promised in the Gospel is unpossible for men because 't is a gift of God Let therefore God be owned to be just in all his ways 2 Thes 2.12 though all may be damned who believe not the truth God sent them strong delusions to believe a lye that they might be damned as if he had said that there might be a just cause of their damnation CHAP. XI Of FAITH NOW we must come to the chief and most excellent Gospel Grace which is Faith concerning which also Arminians do teach many unsound things we intend by the Grace of God to speak of every one of them in order Satan ever raised his strongest batteries against this (a) Ephes 6.16 shield wherewith we are able to quench his fiery darts To have a right understanding of this matter we must know Scripture doth mention four kinds of Faith First Historical whereby we believe the Word of God to be true as 't is revealed in Scriptures and God to be the God of Truth the Devils have this Faith (b) Jam. 2.19 for they believe and tremble Secondly The Faith of Miracles which at first was granted thereby to confirm the Doctrine of the Cospel for (c) 1 Cor. 14.22 tongues a sort of Miracles aâ—â— a sign not to believere but to unvelievers t is a certain persuasion grounded upon some Revelation or a special Promise of some miraculous work to be done Our Saviour granted it to the Apostles but it ceased long ago Thirdly Temporal Faith is a knowledge and assent to Truth contained in God's Word but only for a time hence called Temporal attended with some joy arising out of the consideration of some worldly advantages or of the thoughts and bare notion of a future happiness which at last vanish away Some Reprobates have this Faith This our Saviour speaks of when he mentions that part of the (d) Matth. 13.20 21. Seed which fell into stony places where it is received with joy Thus (e) Mark 6.20 Herod heard gladly John the Baptist and went farther for he did many things and observed him Whether this as (f) Acts 26.28 Agrippa's being almost perswaded to be a Christian may be said of Temporal or only of Historical Faith I will not dispute it being nothing at all material for my purpose but this I say that this Temporal Faith sometimes goeth so far that they who have it are said (g) Heb. 6.4 to have tasted of the heavenly gift and been made partakers of the holy Ghost The spirit of God sometimes bestoweth grace upon some which graces are not common nor saving neither our Saviour saith to the man in the Gospel who had discreetly answered him (h) Mark 12.34 Thou art not far from the Kingdom of Heaven for a man may go far on the way and yet fall short of it All that came out of Egypt though they went far into the wilderness nay some came within sight of the Land of Promise yet never entred into it so many (i) Matth. 7.14 strive to enter in at the straight gate who cannot find it We read of one (k) Mark 10.20 21. who observed all the commandments from his youth and in part he spok the truth for 't is said our Saviour beholding him loved him which he would not have done if he had told him a lye This I insist the more upon to make this temporal Faith better known and how far it bordereth upon true faith because our Adversaries do confound it with the true faith which is the fourth kind of Faith This is the only true faith otherwise called saving and justifying faith which doth consist not only in knowledge of things necessary to Salvation and also in an assent to all truths revealed in Gods word which reprobates may have but also in a trust and confidence and relying upon Christ and in a special way applying unto the Soul the general promises of God without this there is no true faith and here we are to do two things First To shew the difference between temporal and justifying faith and then prove that assurance is essential to true faith without which it cannot be such As to the first saving faith is attended with a real spiritual joy not arising out of any humane consideration but only out of the sence of God's mercy this temporal faith hath not nor the following signs of saving faith Secondly True faith hath a love of Christ overcoming all difficulties which love is attended with a religious fear of offending God and with a studying how to promote his glory Thirdly A sence of a future happiness amidst the greatest troubles and calamities Fourthly A hope of glory which maketh not ashamed raised within us by the spirit (a) Rom. 8.15 which beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God Lastly A special unmoveable trust and confidence in the mercy of God and an application of Christ's merits Temporal faith hath nothing to do with these but they are proper to true saving faith Hence may appear the error of our Adversaries or rather of the truth who would have temporal and saving faith to be the same in nature and to differ only as to duration of time Now as to the other thing that a trust and confidence in God is of the nature of faith it doth appear from the names given faith in the word of God 'T is called boldness and confidence (b) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 3.12 In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him or a strong persuasion A liberty of confidence (c) And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 3. chap. 10.19 and 1 Joh. 5.14 If we hold fast the confidence and the rejoycing of the hope firm unto the end A full assurance (d) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 10.22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith A (e) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hâ— 11.1 substance of things hoped for the evidence of things not seen Also confidence (f) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 John 16.33 This is the confidence we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his will he
can know it to be so then they must be sure of their faith that is have a certitude of it In the case of the two blind men (d) Matth. 9.28 our Saviour asked them believe ye that I am able to do this they said unto him yea Lord. When believers are seriously asked whether they have faith They may well and do confess it in conscience to the Lord himself which must arise out of a certitude of it Then (e) 1 Cor. 2.11.12 the spirit a man which is in him knoweth the things of a man and in the next verse he addeth we have received the spirit of which is of God that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God And we can distinctly perceive the proper acts of faith as when one out of a sincere and pious affection findeth himself ready to deny the world and himself to serve and obey God according to his holy will To the question how can a man know when he is elected And how see he hath Faith I say Election is evidenced by effectual calling by Faith and Repentance so is Faith by the fruits and effects thereof as are good works as certainly-as one may conclude where a fire is there is heat and when the Sun shineth it is day-light Thus the cause is proved by the effect and the effect by the cause Where is motion either natural or spiritual we may confidently assirm there is life accordingly Thus we need not to go up to Heaven to dive into the secret Council of God nor to turn the leaves of the Book of Life to see whether our names be written in it but to search into our own souls and examine our own Thoughts Affections and Actings if there be holiness love and other fruits of the spirit Now they object that this certitude must be expressed or implyed in the word and thence drawen by a consequence but we say it doth not arise out of the letter of the word but out of the inward testimony of our understanding being enlightened by the holy Ghost which beareth witness to our spirit that we are the Children of God and consequently that we have true faith This is not written in the Book of Scripture but in the Book of our Heart with the very finger of the Holy Ghost hence it is that we do not believe we do believe but we feel and perceive it as we do not believe we think of God when we do 't but we know and feel it in our minds One thing here I must take notice of upon the matter in relation to that Exhertation of St. Paul to the Corinthians to examine themselves that it is a great deal of pity that many I dare say good people do not set themselves upon that tryal but do either wholly or in part neglect it but if they be of God's Elect at one time or other they must come to 't the sooner the better and the more often to known what progress they made in faith what degrees of strength it hath gotten and for neglecting this so necessary a duty they thereby deprive themselves of much comfort which would accrue to them To make an end of this matter I shall add that this certitude is very much improved when we can clearly make out we have an interest in Christ and are Christ's For saith the Apostle (a) 1 Cor. 3.22 Ye are Christ's and Christ is God's To know whether we be Christ's we have a certain rule to know it by that is if the spirit of Christ be in us (b) Rom. 8.9 For if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of his How then to know whether the spirit be in us St. Paul giveth a rule by (c) Gal. 5.22 23. the fruits of the spirit as love joy peace long suffering gentleness goodness faith c. Now we are come to a great question why of so many that hear the word of God there are so few that believe What may be the cause of it at the same word and under the same Ministery so different and contrary effect is produced some like Wax at the fire are softned and melted when others at the same time like Clay and Dirt are hardened whilst some believe others continue in unbelief and harden themselves some are the better others the worse for it Like (d) Joh. 13.27 Judas into whom the Devil entred after our Saviour had given him the sop The word is a wholesome Physick to some and as deadly poyson to others the Lord Jesus is a (e) 1 Cor. 23. 2 Pet. 2 8. stumbling-block and a rock of offence and foolishmess to some and the (f) 1 Cor. 2.6 7. wisdom of God in a mystery to others so that this word and they that preach it are unto some those that are saved (g) 2 Cor. 2.15.16 a Savour of life unto life and to others to them that perish a Savour of death unto death All this is truth Scripture teaches and Experience confirms how all that hear the word of God do no believe for all men have not Faith 2 Thess 3.2 Now we are to inquire into the reasons of it First 'T is not for any Dignity Merit Natural Capacity or any other quality in the hearer seeing the (h) 1 Cor. 2.14 natural man such we are all by nature receiveth not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them Which the same Apostle doth confirm in another place (a) Rom. 8.7 The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be Neither is it for any depth of knowledge learning eloquence or other abilities in the Minister who preacheth the word (b) 1 Cor 3.6 Paul may plant Apollos may water but neither of them can give the increase (c) 2 Cor. 2. 2 Cor. 4.7 Who is sufficient for these things For saith he in another place this treasure we have in earthen vessels that the excellency be of God and not of us The most fervent and excellent Servants of God commonly complain of the hardness and impenitency of their hearers and let Isaiah speak for all (d) Isai 53.1 16. Who hath believed our report And our Blessed Saviour should if any have had cause to expect a good success of his outward teaching yet how often doth he complain of the hardness stubbornness impenitency and unbelief of his hearers How few of the great multitudes he taught were converted to him So that we must not seek in the dispensers of the word for the cause why some believe and others do not The cause why all do not believe is not as the Adversaries would have it because they do not all they can and do not make use of all the power remaining in them out of their natural corruption that they do not go to Church do not hear nor read
sake so that a true believer may be certain by the assurance of Faith of the forgiveness of his sins and of his everlasting Salvation by Christ XXXVIII A true lively justifying Faith and the sanctifying spirit of God is not extinguished nor vanisheth away in the regenerate either totally or finally The members that composed the Convocation which passed these Articles were for the most part English Divines of great learning who had made their studies in our Universities true members of the Church so that 't is the same as if they had been agreed here and the Lambeth Articles were inserted withall we look upon the Church of England and Ireland to be but one and the same The famous and for Piety and Learning eminent James Vsher afterwards Primate of that Kingdom was present at the Convocation and had a hand in penning the Articles which were approved of by King James Licensed and published here by Authority Our 39 Articles agreed upon in the Reign of Edward the VI. by the Convocation in 1552 several years before Arminianism was broached and appeared abroad could not be so plain and so full against it as are those of Lambeth and of Dublin For then the evil being broken out a fit and proper remedy was applyed against it Hence it is that in both we see those Errors so clearly and fully condemned that if we had been the Pen-men thereof we could not have drawn them otherwise than they are I must now return to my more ancient proofs but not generally publick as this last the first that broke the Ice as far as I have read upon these matters was one Samuel Harsnet who upon the 27th of October 1584 having at Paul's Cross preached a Sermon concerning those points his Sermon was censured and condemned and he at last declared his sorrow for it The ground of the complaint was that he had preached contrary to Truth and to the Doctrine of the Church About this time something having appeared abroad to favour those Errors amongst others one Veron did well handle the points in a Book called A Fruitful Treatise of Predestination with the Apology for the same against those who appeared in Cambridge and he Dedicated it to the Queen and it was received with approbation and applause But why should I stand upon naming of persons Seeing all our first Reformers sufficiently expressed their judgment in the 39 Articles the Common-Prayer-Book and Homilies which they compiled So we must name Bishop Cranmer Latimer Hooper Jewel Ridley Grindal and Martyr Bucer who though Foreigners were Divinity Professors one at Oxford the other at Cambridge and were made use of in the work of Reformation Tyndal Friths Barnes c. and since that time Edwin Archbishop of York the Bishop of Chichester in 1576 John Bridges Bishop of Oxford Babington Bishop of Worcester the fore-named Whitgift Archbishop of Canterbury and Hutton of York The Bishops of London of Bangor Dr. Will. Whitaker and since that time Perkins not excepting Mr. Hooker and who not Which it were too long to number we can bring a List of 300 English Scotch or Irish yet most English or thereabouts with whom in the controverted points agreed all the Considerable and Eminent Instruments of Reformation as others beyond the Seas Zuinglius Luther Calvin Beza Bullinger Zanchius Piscator Chamierus Paraeus Vrsinus Junius Molinaeus Rivetus Gomarus Scultetus Macovius c. But we must not go abroad we have enough at home to carry on the argument which I shall reduce within the time of King James's Reign and maybe go little after Every one may know he was a learned Prince and a true England Church-man during his life the Arminian Sect durst not appear here at least publickly For a Sermon in the year 1616 having been preached at Royston before the King concerning points of Arminianism a recantation was imposed upon Mr. Sympson who had preached it and he recanted and about six years after at Oxford one Mr. Gabriel Bridges having in the University Church preached a Sermon against the absolute Decree of Predestination he was accused for preaching contrary to Truth and to the Articles of Religion established in the Kingdom and was ordered to maintain in the Schools the contrary of what he had preached in the Pulpit which he did Now we will come to a Royal Evidence and that is King James in his own writings at the conference at Hampton-Court about predestination he delared against the Arminian opinion and was approved and applauded by all present He said how Predestination and Election depend not upon any qualities actions or works of Man which are mutable but upon God's Eternal and Immutable Decree and Purpose And before we leave off we shall by the grace of God shew his judgment about Arminius and his Errors First he calls Arminius a seditious and Heretical Preacher an Enemy of God the first in our age that infected Leyden with Heresie a man whom all the Reformed Churches of Germany had with open mouth complained of Anâ—n we shall see what he saith of his Followers But let us see something of what he writes against his and their opinions As to Predestination he expresseth thus much (a) Meditation the Lord's Prayer God hath two wills a revealed will towards us and that will is here understood he hath also a secret will in his eternal Counsel whereby all things are governed and in the end made over to turn to his glory oftentimes drawing good effects out of bad causes and light out of darkness to the fullfilling either of his mercy or his justice c. The first Article of the Apostles Creed teacheth us that God is Almighty however Vorstius and the Arminians think to rob him of his eternal Decree and secret Will making things to be done in this world whether he will or not And in his Declaration against Worstius he saith (b) Protestatio Antivorstiana We do not doubt but that their Ambassadors of Holland which were with us about two years since did inform them of a fore-warning that we wished the said Ambassadors to make unto them in our name to beware in time of Seditious and Heretical Preachers and not to suffer any such to creep into their State Our principal meaning was of Arminius who though himself were lately dead yet had he left too many of his disciples behind him which he mentioneth in what he addeth We had well hoped that the corrup seed which that Enemy of God Arminius did sow amongst you some few years since whose disciples and followers are yet too bold and frequent within your Dominions had given you a sufficient warning afterwards to take heed of such infected persons seeing your own Countrymen already divided into factions upon this occasion a matter so opposite to unity which is indeed the only prop and safety of your State next under God as of necessity it must by little and little bring you to utter ruin if wisely you do not provide
as for the blind Not only so but he will be a Guide to the Blind Chap. 42.16 And I will bring the blind by a way that they knew not I will lead them in the Paths that they have not known I will make darkness light before them and crooked things straight these things will I do unto them I know this may also be understood of Miracles by our Saviour wrought on the Bodies but it is chiefly meant of the spiritual Cures upon the Souls of Men 'T is not so much of the Eyes of the Body but as St. Paul explains it (m) Ephes 1.18 the eyes of your understanding being enlightened To this relateth the Eye-Salve by the Lord Jesus mentioned in Scripture who in the same place offereth poor Sinners Riches Raiment and Eye-Salve (n) Rev. 3.18 I counsel thee to beg of me gold tryed in the fire that thou mayest be rich and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear and anoint thine Eyes with Eye-Salve that thou mayest see So then no Remedy but in God for the blindness of our Understanding 2 Tim. 1.7 for God alone can give the Spirit of Power and of true Chap. 2.7 and of a sound Mind and understanding in all things As for the Heart God is also the sole Physician thereof (o) Psal 10.17 and 86.11 God doth prepare it and causeth it to fear his Name Take notice of God's working upon the Heart (p) Jer. 32.39.40 and chap. 24.7 chap. 31.33 I will put my Fear in their Hearts that they shall not depart from me and I will give them one heart and one way that they shall fear me for ever Moreover I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their Hearts And by the Mouth of Moses God promiseth (q) Deut. 30.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine Heart and the Heart of thy Seed But God goeth beyond for he gives a new Heart and a new Spirit (a) Ezec. 11.19 20. and I will give them one Heart and I will put a new spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and will give them an Heart of flesh that they may walk in my Statutes and keep mine Ordinances and do them God and none else must give or else we cannot have it See how positive and full Moses is upon this (b) Deut. 29.4 Yet the Lord hath not given you an Heart to perceive and Eyes to see and Ears to hear unto this day They had it not because God had not given it it did not depend upon their free Will to have it for then they had not wanted it God reneweth changeth and restraineth the Heart (c) Ezec. 39.7 I will not let them pollute my holy name any more And when it is wounded and (d) Psal 147.3 broken he healeth it and bindeth up the wound And when 't is in a good Frame he doth (e) 1 Thes 3.13 Psal 27.14 and Psal 31.24 stablish it unblameable in holiness before God he strengtheneth it Out of these and many more Texts which we omit appeareth the absolute power disposal of and ruling which God hath over the Heart How can after this Arminians deny it when they say 't is free to obey or disobey to reject or receive that which God offereth in few Words to disappoint God and do what it will in spite of God Is not this to make a God of it To this I add we cannot so much as mind or attend unto the Word of God preached except he be pleased to open our Hearts as he did that of (f) Acts 16.14 Lydia As to our Lameness and Impotency to walk in God's ways we must depend only upon God to be cured of it Wherefore David doth beseech him to order his steps (g) Psal 25.4 5. to shew him his ways to teach him his paths to lead him in his truth and to to teach him And God saith (h) Hos 11.3 I taught Ephraim also to go taking them by their Arms For they could not go of themselves they wanted a Guide and a Helper (i) Jer. 10.23 For the way of man is not in himself he cannot direct his steps (k) Psal 63.8 'T is God's right hand that upholdeth us Than every thing else conducing to our Salvation God doth it for us (l) Psal 143.10 he teaches us to do his will he draws and turns us when we go astray when we are dull slow and weak he quickeneth us How many times doth David in that 119th Psalm pray God to quicken him in his ways in his Righteousness c. but the great Work is to (*) Ephes 2. quicken us when we were dead in trespasses and sins Let us in very few words with admiration and thankfulness take notice of God's way and method in his gracious actings for us First He begins and prepares (a) Isai 57.14 Prepare the way take up the stumbling block out of the way of my people then (b) Chap. 26.12 he works in and for us afterwards he (c) Psal 68.28 strengthneth that which he hath wrought for us (d) Psal 3.5 he (e) 145.14 sustaineth and (f) Psal 57.2 upholdeth (g) Psal 138.8 he performeth all things for us But God is not content to do so he also (h) Heb. 13.21 doth perfect that which concerns us and as the Apostle saith he (i) 1 Pet. 5.10 makes us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight St. Peter is full upon the matter he prayes God to perfect stablish strengten and to settle believers In a word God saith David is the God of our salvation from whom we receive blessing and righteousness (k) Psal 24.5 I must not omit that admirable Text wherein God promiseth to plant the Gospel which is concluded thus (l) Ezech. 17.24 And all the trees of the field shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree have exalted the low tree have dryed up the green tree and have made the dry tree to flourish I the Lord have spoken and have done it God alone hath done it all To conclude these Evidences it must be granted how without faith and repentance we cannot be saved but with them we shall surely be For the substance and declaration of the Gospel is repent and believe Now 't is easie out of Scripture to shew how both repentance and saith do not depend upon the will and power of man but they are the gift of God As for repentance 't is clear Acts 5.31 Jesus hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins Repentance and forgiveness of sins which go together are not in the power of any man but God