Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	word_n	world_n	worship_v	343	4	7.6317	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A86612	The pagan preacher silenced. Or, an answer to a treatise of Mr. John Goodwin, entituled, the pagans debt & dowry. Wherein is discovered the weaknesse of his arguments, and that it doth not yet appear by scripture, reason, or the testimony of the best of his own side, that the heathen who never heard of the letter of the Gospel, are either obliged to, or enabled for the believing in Christ; and that they are either engaged to matrimonial debt, or admitted to a matrimonial dowry. Wherein also is historically discovered, and polemically discussed the doctrin of Universal grace, with the original, growth and fall thereof; as it hath been held forth by the most rigid patrons of it. / By Obadiah Howe, A.M. and pastor of Horne-Castle in Lincolnshire. With a verdict on the case depending between Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Howe, by the learned George Kendal, DD.	Howe, Obadiah, 1615 or 16-1683.; Kendall, George, 1610-1663.	1655 (1655)	Wing H3051; Thomason E851_16; ESTC R207423	163,028	140

hear it should ever be Preached to the Gentiles so little did they conceive what Master Goodwin could have taught them that the Sun Preached words of eternall life as well as those which as Peter acknowledgeth our Saviour himself had to speak Pag. Debt and Dow. P. 11. Sure I am Astrologers the more they have observed the Sunne the lesse they have acknowledged our Saviour as not conceiving how he who guides the Sunne should have been carried in the arms or he who governs that Chariot suffer on a Crosse The glory of the Sunne made them scorn the obscurity of Christ which was to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishnesse Had not those wise men which came from the East had a Revelation of the Spirit besides the apparition of a Starre they had never worshipped him as a King of the Jews much lesse as Saviour of the world whom they found so contemptibly Cradled in a common Manger In a word the Mystery of Christ had been hid at this day all as much as it was in any former ages had he not sent othergates Heraulds then Sunne Moon and Stars to publish it It is enough they proclaim so much as serves to condemn men for not obeying their Creator they say nothing of our being to be saved by the man Christ Jesus The Pagans are left without excuse for rebelling against the Law which is written on their hearts As for the Gospel as they sin without it so may they justly perish without it and have nothing at all to say for themselves as much as Master Goodwin is pleased to plead for them little to the benefit of them poor wretches exceeding much to the dishonour of Gods grace That which makes his Learned Congregagation with some others of the same hair so readily to swallow this his tough Paradox is his superficial pretence of magnifying the riches of Gods general grace and mercy but whiles the grace and mercy of God are seemingly advanced his being gracious to whom he will be gracious and merciful to whom he will be merciful is most insolently oppugned and this crotchet is quickly discovered to be deeply guilty of a desperate design to unchristen England while it pretends to Christen the unknown parts of America Certainly Master Goodwins talents had been farre better employed in endeavouring to keep Christians from degenerating into Pagans sleighting the Gospel both in deeds and words then in shewing how Pagans may bee saved though they never come to bee Christians It would have turned better to his account to have shewed what a shame it is for Christians to live as Pagans then so industriously to have essaied to prove that Pagans may while Pagans believe as Christians But it seems he had so fully indoctrinated his dear flock in all things concerning themselves that he had nothing left to deliver them but such notorious impertinencies And yet I cannot think but he might more profitably have spent his labours in shewing the best Christians their sins against God then in this superfl●ous displaying of this pretended goodnesse of God to the worst Pagans Surely there was lesse need of an Apology for Gods ways then a reproof of those of the best Saints nor was there so much cause to clear God as to condemn our selves The Learned Authour of this Answer hath to better purpose travelled in Gods cause may God have the glory the Reader the benefit himself the reward of his labours that is a thankful acceptance of them And he may challenge it the more for that he dares appear so fully against Master Goodwin in this juncture of time when he is crowned with so many Lawrels for his late signal Victory over no lesse then a double Triumvirate of 〈◊〉 Book-sellers whom notwithstanding all the Learning they have in their shops to defend themselves with hee hath laid as low at the feet of his writings as ever hee did high Presbytery and her sons though as they lie sprawling there their Vindicatour plaguily bites his heels with a stinging Apology I doubt not but this glorious Conquest flusheth him in his attempts against the Synod of Dort which being once devoured he may bee at leasure to digest Doctour Owen and my self whom he hath already thrown down his throat in his Horn-spoon In the mean time he satisfies himself with this that Doctour Owen hath not answered Master Horn nor I Master Baxter to both which I humbly reply First for Master Vice-Chancellour that it may bee a question whether he ever heard of Master Horns Book till I gave him notice of it about some three years after it was printed I can scarce say published but since there is a second Edition of the Title Page which I know not but Master Vice-Chancellour may one day have leasure to consider In the interim as I am informed the case stands thus Master Horns Open door was shut up as it were with a Red Crosse on it for some years till it was unlocked by Tho Johnson at his golden Key in Pauls Church-yard who bought it for Lumber and to make the best of his bargain new printed the Postes of it by which means he hopes to secure it a while from being dishonored down to mens back-doors Next for my self may it please Master Goodwin to know that Master Baxter and I are grown wiser th●n to engage one another any more not that I mean to spend my inke as Master Goodwin will upon better men but upon worse And the truth is Master Baxter and I differ not so much as Master Goodwin may chance to conceive for there being two points handled in that digression which Master Goodwin saith Master Baxter encounters with as much facility and like successe as fire doth the dried stubble as to the first concerning the impossibility of new immanent acts in God Master Baxter professeth to oppose my Doctrine not as untrue but uncertain Section 5. pag. 16. And after hee hath produced several arguments against me he is pleased to say he knows several things that I may say against his reasonings p. 19. and that he doth not own all these arguments which he toucheth upon p. 29. and that he mentions them only to shew that a full or clear solution of these doubts is not so facile and obvious as you seem to imagine p. 29. and again professeth that if he would be of any side in that Controversie he would be of Master Kendals side p. 29. Besides Master Goodwin himself professeth the same if I understand him Red. Redeemed Chap. 16. Sect. 14. pag. 425 426. though I cannot blame him for being angry with that passage which unawares baffled a considerable part of his Book And in that respect I will God willing for his satisfaction without breach of the Agreement between Master Baxter and me handle that point in Latine which is the only fit Language for such a Discourse long before Master Goodwin shall hang up the least member of the Synod of Dort

immediate sufficiency and pleads for a mediate sufficiencie in pag. 15. to this effect Not that they can by the light of nature discover a Christ pag. 1● but they may by nature do those things and so please God that he wil not faile to reveale his son Christ and this he proves from the parable of the Talents wherein it is expedient for him to resolve what those Talents are which are given upon the improvement of which Christ is revealed but when he is resolved himselfe he wil resolve u● For in pag. 20. he saith thus The Talents cannot signifie any thing but natural gifts and abilities Yet in pag. 21. he saith These Talents or abilities given to men to improve are more commonly then properly called natural Againe doth he not seat his controversie not in any sufficiency either immediate or mediate as he pretendeth but pag. 23. in a remote capacity which is far different from the former two and in this sense that they are capable of it viz. the Gospel as any Nation is capable of the Commodities that are exportable out of another Nation by equitable adresses to it Yea sometimes thus that the Gospel is preacht to all the world just the assertion of his brethren and in him we may see their fluctuations In pag. 23 24 25 26. he earnestly contends that the Gospel is actually preacht to the world But in pag. 34. he contendeth not for an Actual but a Virtual and constructive preaching in this sense The Gospel is preached in some eminent places of the world and it s interpreted and constructively preached all the world over For upon Rom. 10.18 he saith How can this assertion stand but in the strength of this supposition that the Apostles publishing of it in the places where they had opportunity to come was virtually and constructively a preaching through the world But lest this should fail he is content with a potential preaching at last that it may be preached And this he doth pag. 23. in this sense It is preacht in some place of the world and the rest of the world may addresse themselves to that place and so come to hear of it As the Queene of Sheba came from the South to heare the wisdome of Solomon And are not these fit men to be encountred with reason whose reason is not yet so much resolved as to give a setled ground of dispute It is the desire of my heart and my taske to grapple with the first borne of Mr. Goodwins strength But I have this disadvantage that Reuben like it is as unstable as water I have not hitherto annexed any answer to Mr. Goodwins or the remonstrants because my task hath been historicall not disputative to show the rise and progresse of this doctrine of universal saving grace and hitherto it appears to have had its rise out of a mist not the cleare Sun-light a mist of uncertainties and conjectures not out of the Sun-light of a setled and well grounded truth And as to Mr. Goodwin I say Quorsum hae erroris latebra what means these starting holes which truth never seeketh which are demonstrative not of a desire to vindicate the truth but an unwillingnesse to relinquish an errour these are but the doubles and the retropasses of the subtle fox to foile the sent meerely to retard the pursuer And as their labouring to prove an universal grace is demonstrative of the validity of the proposition so their dark and unresolved progresse in proving of it gives much credit and strength to the assumption of our argument and lets me see that their invented method for such an universal grace is not able to abide the light or to give satisfaction to any rational scrutiny And I am now come to examine Mr. Goodwins assertion and probation thereof all along his whole treatise That which he asserteth is that every heathen man to whom the letter of the Gospel never came is yet bound to believe in Christ and that upon this ground because they have sufficient meanes by the creatures and light of nature to discover Christ and the summe of the Gospel as he saith almost as often as he hath pages an attempt that none of his predecessors durst ever so roundly and professedly make In the Examen of which I must propound a few things by way of stating right understāding of the question in difference betwixt us First when he saith those that never hear of the letter of the Gospel are yet bound to beleive in Jesus Christ I suppose by the letter of the Gospel he understandeth the commands as well as the promises of the Gospel the one is Gospel as well as the other Hence wee find in the Scripture obedience to the Gospel as well as faith of the Gospel 2 Thes 1.8 and indeed the commands of the Gospel are good newes as well as any other part thereof they being evidences to us that God will again take us into his service and give us further work to doe when wee deserve to be banished from his face for ever Then the question will arise to this whether those that never heard the letter of the Gospel viz. neither the commands nor promises nor any other part of that which wee cal the Gospel are yet bound to believe in Christ Secondly he must not think that we confine the discovery of Christ and salvation by him to the oral preaching of men or that the question betwixt us turneth upon this hinge I leave to the Almighty his liberty to use what meanes he pleaseth to discover his holy will to men I will thus far comply with Mr. Goodwin that whether men come to know God in Christ by reading any part of the written word or by hearing of it preached or by immediate revelation of the spirit of God or by an angel as to the shepherds or by a voyce from heaven as to Paul these wayes may all lay an obligation upon us to believe but then in all these they enjoy the letter of the Gospel The matter betwixt us in controversie is whether those heathen who have onely the light of nature and the creature and the works of common providence to direct them have such discoveries of Christ as that they become bound to believe in him This is the purport of Mr. Goodwins whole treatise as I shal cleare in some few instances Pag. 10. In one place he saith thus The Scripture intimateth that all men by the light of nature by such a rational discourse can draw out this Evangelical conclusion that an attonement is made And in another place thus That hearing by which faith comes or which is sufficient to produce it is the hearing of the found and those words which the heavens Ibid. and the day and night speake And the constant course of providence speaks in the ears of all nations the words of eternal life as well as those words of Christ himselfe when he was upon earth And in

whom they have not heard how shall they heare without a preacher And that all these interogatories are understood of the oral preaching of the gospel if Mr. Goodwin did not acknowledge it pag. 31 32. I should easily prove it Some I confesse may be so perverse but none so blind as to think that those words preaching hearing word gospel believing so often repeated in this chapter are not understood and relate to the oral preaching of the Gospel and in the letter of it And thus till he produce further proofe on all hands we shall conclude his interpretation a meer forgery against a clear text and so adjudged against him by the current of interpreters the judgement of the best of his owne side his own expresses and the cleare genius of the whole chapter 2. Having examined his interpretation I proceed to the confirmation and illustration of his interpretation He would establish it by affirming that the voice of the heavens and the night and the day and the words which they speak are the words of eternal life as well as those which Christ himselfe spake when he was upon earth which I charged with impious blasphemy and proceed thus to make it good If to affirme any thing from Christ that derogateth either from the dignity of his person or office be truely to be termed blasphemy then they may be termed so for herein he doth both advance the creatures into the Chaire of Christ and reduce Christ into the ranke of the creatures Christ hath received an universal charter and patent to bee the publisher of the Gospel and that out of his mouth should proceed the words of eternal life according to that text Luke 4.18 the spirit of the Lord is upon me to preach c. We find a dicotomy in Heb. 2 2. of Gods speaking by the prophets and speaking by his Son but of his speaking the things of the gospel by the heavens no where Had such a pregnant suggester stood at Peters elbow when he asked this question Whither shall we goe Lord thou hast the words of eternal life Ioh. 6.68 he would have told him that he was not a well tutoured scholler in the schoole of Christ And as the wiseman sends the sluggard to the ant so he would have sent Peter to the heavens the Moon and the Sun and Stars to hear them preach the words of eternal life What futilousnesse and vanity doth this assertion of his introduce into the words of the Apostle 2 Tim. 1.10 But is made appear by the appearing of Jesus Christ who hath brought immortality and life to light through the gospel And this gospel is that which Paul was appointed to preach in the next verse what need the Apostle wrap up all in expressions at such a distance as to say Now it is manifest and that by the coming of Christ and that Hee hath brought immortality and life to light And that in that Gospel which Paul was sent to preach if that life and immortality and the saving grace of God be clearely discovered by the creatures Nay I intreat Mr. Goodwin to consider whether he doth not by this introduce a needlesnesse and uselesnesse of Christ coming to discover the mysteries of the gospel to the Gentiles or of any oral preaching thereof either to Jew or Gentile if that in the heavens and the creatures there be so much seen of the Gospel as to make men wise unto salvation And so good old Simeon must stand charged rather with dotage then devotion in waiting for Christ to be the light of the Gentiles How doth he in this utterly make voyd the dignity and preheminence of the Scriptures which are said to make men wise to salvation 2 Tim. 3.15 and to be the words of eternal life Ioh. 5.39 If that both these may be as truly recorded of the book of the creatures as of the book of the Scriptures Lastly let Mr. Goodwin upon better thoughts consider whether the creatures and the motions of the heavens be truly and properly said to carry in them the words of eternal life at all 1. We find the Scriptures the words which Christ and his Apostles orally preached to the world to be called the word of Life Phil. 2.16 so Ioh. 6.63 the words which I speak unto you are life And the words of eternal life in many texts But I intreat Mr Goodwin to produce one text that either expressely or by intimation calls the sound of the heavens so Me thinks his reason should bespeak it too great presumption for any man to make the words of Christ to bee no more the words of eternal life then the sound of the heavens which never in Scripture are honoured with that dignifying title 2. The words of eternal life must discover not only God but Christ without the knowledg of both no salvation Iohn 17.3 This is life eternal to know God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent But how long long will it be ere he prove that the creatures can give the knowledge of Christ I expect that Mr. Goodwin give me some pertinent Scriptures to prove it Psal 19.1 2 3 4. Rom. 1.20 Act. 17.27 go no further then the glorie of God the invisible things of God and that they might seek after God but that the creatures of themselves discover a Christ the Scriptures say no where 3. The words of eternal life are the charter and magna charta of the Church Hence he knowes it is a rule extra ecclesiam nulla salus and also that of the Apostle Act. 2.47 The Lord added to the Church such as should be saved To be brought into the Church was to be brought in seriem salvandorum and both by the word of eternal life Then if the heavens declare the words of eternal life either that distinction betwixt the church of Christ and them that are without falls to the ground or else the word of eternal life is given as the ordinary means to bring men to faith in Jesus Christ to others besides the Church of God And then what transcendent love is there in Christ towards the Church in washing of it with water by the word Eph 5.25 26 4. The words of eternal life must convert the soule open the eyes make wise the simple otherwise they are not to bee called the words of eternal life But if Mr. Goodwin say that the creatures and voice of the heavens doe convert the soule c. then let him consider whether hee doth not overthrow that plaine distinction of the Psalmist Ps 19.4 6 7 8. where he saith the heavens declare the glory of God and the law converteth the soule He speaketh not of converting the soule til he passeth by the heavens and speaketh of the law of God 5. The word of eternal life is the ordinary meanes which God hath appointed to bring men to life But if Mr. Goodwin say that the heavens and the creatures are the ordinary way to bring men to salvation then he

conversion and faith and those to eternal life Hence they inferre that that common grace is mediately saving but I herein break the chaine and have proved that they are not dispositions to regeneration but many of them effects of regeneration to which they themselves grant all men have not sufficient grace and therefore not to those invented actions and so by consequence to nothing Secondly I shall further examine whether if we granted that such works were dispositions to converting g●● they can prove that all men have a sufficiency of means to do a●l those particulars mentioned viz. to know God d●sire good thirst after saving grace grieve for sinne strive against in ●r●inate desires c. Whether have all men sufficient mea●s to do ●hes● And this is most directly pertinent to our purpose They must affirm it I may deny it and to clear it I thus proceede Corvinus treating about sufficient grace thus saith (b) Monemus iterum qu●cquid de suffic●entia dicimus assistentiae Sp●ritus tribui à n●bis C. 8. sect 2. This I give as a Caution that alwayes when we speak of sufficiency we intend it to be attributed to the assistance of the Spirit of God Out of which words I can draw out no other meaning but this that they doe n●t hold any sufficiency where there is not the actual assistance of the Spirit of God Then I p●sse to another expression of his in the same Ch●●ter ●hus (a) Non statuimus Gratiam habitualem omnibus communem sed ac●udem ●piritus assistentiam ad singulos actus quae licè omnibus praestò sic quaterus ag●t secundum rationem pri●●pii praevenientis pe●ialis tamen est cum in actu adjuvat cooperat Ibid. sect 8. Wee hold no habitual grace common to all but only the assisting grace of God to every act which although it be common to all as it is prevenient yet it is but special as it is adjutant and cooperant with them in doing In al which I will not inculcate the palpable implications of that accurate Remonstrant whereby hee must grant the same grace both common to all and yet special to some common to all because sufficient and yet special because assisting Wee must note also that assisting grace is in agendo in doing Sufficient is ad agendum to the doing any act and adjuvant and Cooperant and assistant I take to be termes equipollent Therfore to let the mplication die by the helpe of these two places of Corvinus I thus arue which wil bring mee to a fair issue in this point My Argument this If all men have not the assisting grace of God to do all those actions then they have not a sufficient grace But all men have not the assistant grace of God to and in those actions Ergo Not sufficient grace The Proposition of this syllogism is grounded upon Corvinus his first expression What-ever wee speak of sufficiency we ascribe it to the assistance of Gods Spirit The minor proposition is grounded upon his second Which grace is common to all as it is prevenient but special as it is adjuvant and cooperant which are all one with assistant But I further prove the minor thus If all men do not actually do those actions then all men have not the assisting grace of God But all men do not c Therefore they have not c. The Proposition of this argument is grounded upon this truth The assisting spirit of God is only had in doing God then assists and helpes and cooperateth when wee actually doe assisting is properly only in doing Improperly ad agendum to the doing The minor is clear by experience and many Scriptures Now I have waded so farre in this Argument because it so fairly leads mee to a businesse of very great concernment touching the nature of sufficiency and that is whether any thing can be truly said to be sufficient to the working of any good in man but what is efficient And seeing wee are so fairly led by the hand of their owne concession I shall assume that liberty at this time to deny it and to say that no grace is sufficient to conversion or to work any good but what is efficient and doth actually work it And to prove it I shall in the first place make use of their definition of sufficiency in general which was that it is a position of all things that are requisite and necessary to that action to which a sufficiencie is granted Secondly I must also adapt the Question to the particular state and condition of man as he is now corrupt and fallen and by reason of that corruption many impediments and hinderances lie in the way to his conversion or doing any thing that may be called good which I hope all will grant must bee removed before hee can bee said to be sufficiently enabled to be converted or to do any good as the woman in the Gospel could not be said to be sufficiently enabled to enter the sepulchre till the stone was rolled away from the doore Thirdly I must premise also that amongst other impediments the depravation and aversation in the wil of man John 5.40 2 Pet. 3.5 Weems in Portraiture of Image of God in man p. 98. Act. Synod Art 30. p. 1. to convert or doe any good is one of the main as Christ said to the Jewes I would have gathered you but yee would not and againe Yee will not come to mee that yee might have life And the Apostle Your minds are set upon evil works which wil of man hath such a reflexive influence upon the understanding that it is kept off thereby from giving in a true dictamen and as the Apostle saith for the most part men are willingly ignorant and this the Remonstrants grant when they say That no man can do any good until the wil be regenerate as well as other faculties Fourthly I must also premise this that when the will is regenerate and men of unwilling are made willing whether it be a physicall efficiency of Gods spirit or by moral suasion only it mattereth nor then is the grace of God truly said to be efficient for velle convertere est converti velle credere est credere this is my method by which I use to prove that there is no sufficient grace but that which is efficient and it is so plausible that it hath some assertours besides my self Singularis illa gratia quâ reipsa salvos justos efficit promiscuè dari omnibus negatur quae quia sola eatenus efficax est quatenus hominem in peccato immersum non modo evocat sed excitat solâ etiam respectu eventus hominis jam corru ti dici possit Conrad Vorst Antibellarm pag. 555. Conradus Vorstius gives his judgment thus That singular and special grace by which he indeed makes men just and saveth them is so farre efficacious as it not only calls but also excites man drowned in sinne

41. §. 5. For as much as appertaineth to that proverbial sentence To him that hath shall be given by it we confine our sentence of rewarding the right use of former grace by the increase of a greater following grace So that now those talents must be grace and yet this doth not please but in the words immediatly following another spirit possesseth his pen thus (c) Sententia est generalis nihil aliud Dominus dictum vult quàm hoc quòd Deus compensat rectum usum donorum majori liberalitate Ibidem Pag. 20. The sentence is general wherein the Lord speaks nothing but this that he will compensate the right use of gifts received with greater liberality Here the talents are so laxly interpreted as that we may make them either nature or grace or both or if such could possibly be neither Sometimes the talents are natural light sometimes grace sometimes either or both and may we finde Master Goodwin any thing more certain to his principles In the 20th page of his Book he urgeth that the talents are natural gifts and can be understood of nothing else by any colour of reason and yet in the 18th page he gives himself a little more room and saith that that text avoucheth that That whatsoever a mans stock or endowments is in one kinde or other from Gods hand yet by a careful improvement it may arise to a spiritual estate and in the 21th page further saith quite contrary that Those abilities that are given to man are more commonly then properly called natural and is it not likely that we should give satisfactory answers to them who cannot yet make any setled and satisfactory demands but it seems I must do it as well as I may And because Mr. Goodwin toucheth upon these things I shall examine First what we are to understand by the Talents Secondly who by servants Thirdly what by increase Fourthly what by the reward and when this is done this text will be sufficiently cleared First what is meant by talents the true examen of this will help us to decide all the rest and I shall proceed upon this ground if these words make any thing for their invented or standing providence they must either by talents understand natural gifts or else at least take them in but because I am to deal with Mr. Goodwin I shall consider his own words in this case There is no ground nor colour of reason to think but that all the talents mentioned in the parable the five the two and the one were all of one kinde and nature and signified not any supernatural or saving grace but only natural abilities and such as men unregenerate as well as regenerate are capable of But then 1 How inconstant is he to himself for in the 21 page he saith that these talents and endowments are more commonly then properly called natural yet here he is so assertive of this great Impropriety as to say that it cannot upon any ground or colour of reason be taken for any thing but natural endowments 2 I answer by concession grant all the talents to be of one kinde and nature yea and the increase to be of the same nature with the talents but this is no favourable plea for Mr. Goodwins cause which would have nature to be the talents and grace the increase but of this more presently 3 Supppse they be all of one kinde must that needs be natural what colour of reason is there for this inference may they not be supernatural and yet be all of one kinde also but he hath one expression that seemeth to carry in it the force of a reason and that is this Such as men unregenerate have as well as the regenerate and his reason seemeth to be this Those talents were given to that sernant that was cast into utter darkness and so to the unregenerate therefore it must be understood of natural abilities but this is very miserable reasoning as if supernatural grace was not given to the unregenerate how then should they come to be regenerate or if it be such as the regenerate have with the unregenerate it must be more then natural except he will say that men become regenerate meerly by nature but if he have here mistaké a word unregenerate putting men for men that shall perish as I think he hath because in the foregoing page I finde him molding the expression so I shall not take the advantage but consider it running thus and yet I say who ever hath said that God may not give supernatural grace to them that shall perish or that this is good reasoning such means are given to men that shall perish therefore they are only natural gifts Many shall say We have prophesied in thy Name of whom he shall say I know ye not the incredulous Jews were men that should perish yet I hope they had supernatural grace of the Gospel Now if he shall demand of me to what end God gives supernatural grace to them that shall perish I present Arminius himself giving an Answer Armin. Examen Perk. 154. and I say to the same end that he gives and affords sufficient impediment to hinder men from walking in their own ways when yet he certainly knoweth it shall not take effect Let him consult him at his leasure so that there is but small reason on his side to prove that by the talents are meant natural gifts But we have a very fair flourish and because reason is but slender authority must carry it for he saith That there is not one of our best Interpreters but they adjudge the case for him and that they are unanimous for natural abilities I am sorry that I am the messenger to tell him that either he hath not read those Interpreters or else that he hath too great inclinations to couzen the world he either knoweth or may know that Expositors are very much divided here and are far from being unanimous in the case in hand Marlorate and Stephanus in his Gloss upon the Evangelists assert the talents to signifie Election and the increase to be saving knowledge and their interpretation runs thus (a) Habentibus electionis donum dabitur scientia ad vitam Marlorate Stephanus Gloss in loc To those that have the gift of election shall be given the increase of saving knowledge The learned Deodati in his Annotations understands by those talents the operation of the Spirit in regeneration or regenerating and quickening grace and the increase to be the Word and Spirit of God as food of the new men and his interpretation is this To him that hath the talent of spiritual life shall be given the increase of spiritual food and in this he hath his followers Piscator by the Talents understandeth the offices in the Church and he interpreteth the text thus (b) Dominus est Christus servi sunt Christiani praesertim ii qui officium gerunt talenta sunt dona spiritualia praesertim officia ipsa