issues doe justly befall them because they abhorre to professe that God causeth us to walke in his statutes and to keepe his judgements and doe them The course that Junius took to quiet her conscience who thought she was damned for neglecting to goe to Masse by proving unto her that the Masse was a meere wil-worship was faire and reasonable but the course this Author takes to comfort an afflicted soule I have shewed to be most unreasonable Absolute reprobate hath a different sense according as it is differently applyed If applyed unto damnation or the denyall of glory we utterly deny that either the one is inflicted or glory is denyed absolutely but meerely upon supposition of sinne But applyed to grace we willingly confesse that God doth absolutely give the grace of regeneration the grace of faith and repentance to whom he will according to that of Saint Paul He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth Rom. 9. 18. compared with Rom. 11. 30. Where to shew mercy is apparently to bring men unto faith neither can it have any other sense Rom. 9. 18. being set in opposition to hardening and in reference to the objection rising therehence in the words following Thou wilt say then why doth he yet complaine for who hath resisted his will v. 19. And while this Author denies that faith and repentance are given according to the good pleasure of Gods will which is to give them absolutely he must be driven to confesse that they are given conditionally and if a man will take any comfort therehence he must be acquainted with the condition which yet this Author undertaking the office of consolation upon this ground doth from the first to the last conceale as if he feared to discover the shamefull nakednesse of his cause which I have adventured to display and whereof I desire the indifferent reader would judge So that indeed this discourse is a new snare rather to entangle a poore soule in sadnesse and heavinesse inextricable fowler-like then any true office of consolation where she may escape as a bird out of the first snare of the Fowler by breaking it and delivering her Indeed these grounds of hope and comfort a Minister cannot make use of that holds absolute Reprobation What sober man would expect he should but such a one is never a whit the worse comforter for that For as for these grounds I have already discovered them to be voyd of all truth of all sobriety For if men be not absolutely Reprobated from the grace of faith and of repentance but conditionally For as for the denying of glory or inflicting damnation we utterly deny that God hath decreed that they shall have their course absolutely according to the meere pleasure of his will having made a Law according whereunto he purposeth to proceed therein it became this Author performing the part of a Comforter on this ground to make knowne the condition which he utterly declineth And with all I have shewed the reasons of his carriage thus in Hugger Mugger to wit that their shamefull Tenets might not breake forth and be brought to light We abhorre to say that God gives the grace of faith and repentance according to mens workes Wee abhorre to say that God workes in men the act of believing and repenting provided they will believe and repent or that he workes in them the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 velle of every good worke modovelint But our comsolations proceed as I have shewed in this manner If any man man doth believe and repent we can assure such a one by our doctrine that he is an elect of God this Arminians by their doctrine cannot as who maintaine that a true believer may fall a way from grace and be damned which is to hold the soules of the best children of God upon the rack of feares and terrours and tortures continually and make them walke as it were upon pinacles of the Temple for they have no assurance of stedfastnesse but in their owne wills to keepe them from dropping into Hell fire which burneth under them If men doe not believe and repent we will enquire into the cause of their feares grounds of their apprehentions that they are Reprobates and shew that they have no just cause for such apprehensions whether it be the conscience of their sinne or want of faith that doth affright them For as much as the holiest meÌ„ living before their calling had as great cause to be affrighted as they yet had they thereupon conceived themselves to be Reprobates this had been but an erronious conceit If perhaps it be not the conscience of sinne in generall that affrights them but rather the conscience of some sinne in speciall which they conceive to be a sinne unto death or a sinne against the Holy Ghost which they conceive to be unpardonable we will conferre with them thereabouts and try whether they understand aright the nature of that sinne and endeavour to scatter those mists of illusions in this particular which Satan hath raised desiring to swallow them up in desperation if it doe not prove to be a sinne against the Holy Ghost we will set them in a course to get the spirit of faith and of repentance For albeit God alone can give them yet seeing his Word is a Word of power even a voyce that pearceth the graves we willperswade them to give themselves to be wrought upon by Gods Word and we will pray for them who yet want spirit to pray for themselves And albeit they cannot prepare themselves in a gratious manner to the hearing of Gods Word yet let them come and when they are come let his Word worke yet if forthwith we have not that comfortable experience of Gods goodnesse towards us let us not give over to wait at the lords gates and to give attendance at the posts of his doore Give him leave to be the Master of his own times let us not prescribe unto him We know his course is to call some at one houre of the day some at an other and at the very last hour he calleth some This is the way of consolation that we take We doe not take any such course as this Author at his pleasure obtrudes upon us that God would have all to be saved and that Christ died for all I have allready set forth this Authors collusions in his triple universality of Gods love Christs death and and of the Covenant of grace We rather will exhort him to believe and herein we will take such course as God in his Word hath directed us unto and we will pray unto God that his Word may be as the raine that cometh downe and the snow from Heaven returneth not thither but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth buâ—d hat it may give seed to the sower and bread to him that eateth So his Word may be that goeth out of his mouth it may not returne unto him voyd but accomplish that
which he will and proper in the thing whereto he sends it And remove all vaine grounds of apprehensions of terrible things against themselves What if a great many be reprobated from grace and shall never have any part in Christ it doth not follow that this afflicted soule is any of them what one is there of the children of God which was not sometimes dead in sinne and if pangs of childbirth goe before the delivering of a child into the world of nature why should it seeme strange that pangs of childbirth are suffered before a man be brought forth in to the world of grace And these feares and terrours wherwith this poore soule is perplexed may be unto her as pangs of childbirth to bring her forth into a new world We say that by Gods Word we are to conceive that ye are elected upon our faith and repentance Thus Paul concluded the election of the Thessalonians 1 Thess 1. 3 4. And 2 Thess 2. 13. Thus Melancthon would have us seeke it but by the Arminian doctrine it is in vaine to seeke after it for as much as none can find it We acknowledge that as our Saviour saith Few are chosen therefore we admonish every one to strive to enter in at the straight gate This was our Saviours exhortation delivered by way of answer to a question made unto him by his Apostles Whether there were but few that should be saved We teach that Christ hath died for the people of God for the elect of God for his Church for his body not only to make satisfaction for sinne and to procure salvation for them in case they believe but to procure also the Holy Spirit for them to make them believe and repent c. And this is wrought by the word which is the sword of the spirit We take not the course he obtrudes upon us We make no such distinctions for the consolation of the afflicted as he faignes We deale plainly and spare not to professe that albeit salvation is open to all that believe and that by the ordinance of God yet that no man is able of himselfe to believe or repent for as much as the Scripture testifies that all are dead in sinne in the state of nature and led captive by the Divell to doe his will and that the very Law of God doth strengthen sinne such being the course of mans corruption that the more he is forbidden this or that the more it provokes him to transgresse taking occasion by the law to work in mans heart all manner of concupiscence this is our course to beat downe the pride of man and beat out of him all conceit of ability to doe any good as of himselfe and so to cast him downe at the feet of Gods mercy Yet God is able by his grace to quicken him and being brought up in the Church of God wherein is the balme of Gilead able to heale our waies be they never so sinfull and that that is administred not according to the vile workes of men as if they had any power to prepare them for the participation of Gods grace but of the meere favour and good pleasure of God Who calleth as the Apostle speakes 2 Tim. 1. 9. with an holy calling not according to our own workes but according to his own purpose and grace And that for the merits of Christ who hath merited not only pardon of sinne and salvation for all that believe but faith also and regeneration for all his elect and being as we are members of Gods Church we have no cause to despaire but sooner or later God may call us as continually he doth some or other and we know not how soone our turne may come And as for Gods purpose touching the performance of the condition of faith we plainly professe That God purposed to give faith and repentance only to his elect according to that Act. 13. 48. As many believed as were ordained to everlasting life And Acts 2. last God added daily to his Church such as should be saved Now heare I pray their doctrine on the other side which set out our manner of consolation devised most ridiculously at their own pleasure so to expose our doctrine to scorne Doth God purpose to bestow faith and repentance upon any other besides his elect This they must avouch if they contradict us and that he purposeth to bestow it on all and every one but how Not absolutely on any that is not according to the meere pleasure of his will how then Surely conditionally to wit according to mens workes that so not Semi-Pelagianisme only but plain Pelagianisme may be commended unto Gods Church for true Christianisme And what is that worke in man whereupon God workes faith or repentance in them Surely the will to believe the will to repent So that if all men will believe will repent then in good time through Gods grace they shall believe they shall repent and if this be not to crowne Gods grace with a crowne of scornes as Christ himselfe was crowned with a Crowne of Thornes I willingly professe I know not what it is We utterly deny that God hath two wills one contrary to the other We acknowledge that in Scripture phrase Gods commandement is called his will as This is the will of God even your sanctification 1 Thess 4. 3. But this is not that will of God which the Apostle speakes of when he saith Who hath resisted his will Rom. 9. 19 For his will of commandement is resisted too oft But the will he speaketh off there is the will of Gods purpose and decree whereof the Psalmist speakes saying Whatsoever the Lord will that hath he done both in Heaven and earth Now suppose God command Abraham to sacrifice his sonne Isaack and yet decrees that Isaack shall not be sacrificed both which are as true as the word of God is true yet there is no contradiction For as much as his commandement signifies only Gods will what shall be Abrahams duty to doe not what shall be done by Abraham On the other side Gods decree signifies what shall not be done by Abraham Now what contradiction I pray is there betweene these It is Gods will that it shall be Abrahams duty to sacrifice Isaack but it is not Gods will that Isaack shall be sacrificed by Abraham for as much as when Abraham comes to the poynt of sacrificing Isaack the Lord purposeth to hold his hand In like manner God commanded Pharaoh to let Israell goe It was his will then that it should be Pharaohs duty to let Israel goe but withall he toâ—d Moses that he would harden Pharaohs heart that he should not let Israel goe whereby it is man iâ— est that God decreed that Israel should not be dismissed by Pharaoh for a while and that as is signified in the Text to make way for his judgements to be brought upon the land of Egypt whereby God meant to glorify himselfe as in the sight of Pharaoh and of his
sober conscience that is able to judge indifferently between us in this But if to avoid this they deny that the concurrence is equall but that God's concurrence is conditionall to wit in case the creature will and so man is to be accounted the Authour of sinne and not God hence it followeth that seeing God's concurrence unto the act of faith and repentance is of the same nature in the opinion of these men God is not the Authour of faith and repentance any more then he is the Authour of sinne in the language of these disputers Or if they fly not to this as I have found this Authour as I guesse to deny God's concourse to stand in subordination to man's then my former argument is not avoided But a third reason ariseth herehence against his former discourse of God's concourse namely that if God and man doe equally concurre unto the act of sinne then as I have already shewed that they are equally guilty of sin So in the working of faith and repentance man is as forward as God and as much the Authour of his own fatih and repentance as God is in direct contradiction to the Apostle who saith that Faithis the guift of God not of our selves We willingly grant that God is the principall agent in producing every act whether it be naturall or supernaturall For in him we move as well as in him we live have our being But we deny sin as sin to be any act but a privation of obedience to the law of God as the Apostle defines it to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Yet let us examine that which he delivers of the principall agent the texts produced by him that we may not be carried away as he is with a superficiary apprehension of things And first consider we might plead as well for such acts as this Authour calls sins as he doth for acts gracious by his superficiary discourse For doth not Ioseph comforting his brethren say unto them in like manner Now then you sent me not hither but God But consider farther in that passage alleadged by him out of Mat 10. 20. It is not ye that speak but the spirit of my Father which speaketh in you Was not this speech of the Apostles a free action The labour of Paul more abundantly then of all the rest of the Apostles was it not a free action in Paul â—f God determined theÌ„ unto these actions then freedome of will humane stands not in opposition to determination divine and consequently though the act be evill that is done by man yet may God determine the creature to the doing of that act without any impeachment of the creatures liberty If God did not determine the wills of his Servants but only afford a simultaneous concourse to their actions why is he called the cause principall since it is confessed God doth afford the like concourse to every sinfull act as touching the substance thereof Againe he repeates the same when in case of divine determination he saith the sinne cannot be so rightly ascribed to man's will the inferiour as to God's necessitating decree the superiour cause To which I answer againe being drawen thereunto by his Tautologies by the same reason it may be inferred that when the fire burnes any combustible thing the burning is rather to be ascribed to God the more principall cause then to the fire the lesse principall the first cause being more principall then the second and if it please God so to order it the fire shall not burne as it appeares in the three noble children cast into the furnace of Babylon when they came forth there was not so much as the smell of fire upon them Secondly I answer as before by the same reason when the concourse unto the sinfull act is equall on man's part on God's each shall equally be accounted the Authour of that sinne and not man more then God Now such a concourse is maintained by this Authour Thirdly in the working of faith and repentance since by these mens opinions God affords only his concourse he shall be no more the Authour of man's faith and repentance then man himselfe is Lastly be it granted that God is a more principall cause then maÌ„ in producing the act yet there is no colour of imputing unto God the causality of the sin who hath no Agency therein by doing what he ought not to doe or not in that manner he should doe this is found only in the creature who being a free Agent otherwise then as originall sinne hath impaired liberty which I hope this Authour will not deny is justly answerable for his own transgression As for example God determined that Cyrus should give the Jewes liberty to returne into their own land yet this action of Cyrus was as free an action as any that was performed by him throughout his life God determined that Josiah should burne the Prophets bones upon the Altar at Bethel yet Iosiah did this as freely as ought else God determined that Christ's bones should not be broken yet the souldiours abstained from the breaking of his bones with as much liberty as they had used in case they had broken them This divine providence we willingly confesse is very mysterious and as Cajetan saith the distinctions used to accommodate it to our capacitie doe not quiet the understanding therefore he thought it his duty to captivate his into the obedience of faith And Alvarez in a solemne disputation proves that it is incomprehensible by the wit of man 4. His last is delivered most perplexedly I can make no sense of it as the words lie but I see his meaning He supposeth that God by our Tenet makes a man to sin willingly that he saith is worse then to constraine a man to sinne against his will Where observe how this man's spirit is intoxicated when he delivered this For first he calls that worse which is merely impossible and that by his own rules For he holds that sinne cannot be except it be voluntary speaking of sinne committed by any particular person Secondly he supposeth that by our opinion God makes a man to sinne which is most untrue For when he acknowledgeth that no sin can be committed by man without God's concourse will he say that God by his concourse helps a man to sinne He helps him to the producing of the act not to the committing of the sinne And indeed be the act never so vertuous if it proceed not out of the love and feare of God it is no better then such as the Heathens performed of which Austin hath professed that they were no better then splendida peccata glorious sins So that if God doth not give a man these graces of his holy Spirit in every act that is performed by him he shall sinne and not only in acts vitious and God is not bound to bestow these graces on any Section 9. Sinne may be considered as sinne or as a meanes of
the parts of it selfe 1. To the matter whereunto it is applyed For it is proposed in such a case as men could not obtaine a certaine incorporation though they much desired it Now such a thing is not incident to Reprobates namely that they cannot believe though they would For had they a will to believe undoubtedly that would be accepted of God Then 2 it is incongruous to the parts of the Simile it selfe For incorporation only is precluded unto Germans by the unrepealable law he feignes without common understanding For undoubtedly all lawes of men are repealable by the same authority whereby they are made And afterwards the condition of obtaining certaine bountifull gratuities by vertue of the foresaid incorporation is proposed most undecently not of their being incorporated into that society but of their will to be incorporated Now it is apparent that by the case feigned their incorporation only is precluded unto them not their will to be incorporated In the accommodation he saith God hath made a decree by our doctrin that such men shall never believe Now what one of our Divines can be produce to justifie this We say God hath decreed not to give them grace to work them unto faith but to leave them unto themselves And is not this Authour of the same opinion Nay doth he not extend it farther then we doe even to the Elect as well as Reprobates We say not so but that his elect he doth not leave unto themselves to worke out their faith if they can but workes them by his grace and holy Spirit thereunto Himselfe seemes to be conscious of the falshood of this his imputation dealing upon the point of God's justice Sub-sect 2. For having there proposed three causes why Reprobates cannot justly be bound to believe The second of them was this in M. Hord's discourse Because it is impossible that they should believe because God hath decreed they shall have no power to believe till their dying day This reason is changed in this Authour 's refining of that discourse as indeed all these reasons are changed by him more or lesse without replying upon ought that I have answered thereunto but only putting out or putting in at his pleasure to cast a shew that the former discourse of M. Hord's is not answered such is his subdolous cariage to undermine that truth which he is not able to oppose in a faire manner with any sound reason least of all by evidence of Scripture that flying in his face at every turne and therefore his best wisdome is to shut his eyes against it And here he sayth not in representing his second reason that God hath decreed they shall have no power to believe to their dying day but thus rather Because it is not God's unfeigned will they shall believe But now againe in this supplement of his he returnes to the first and saith that by our doctrine God hath made a decree that such men shall never believe Quo teneam vultus mutantem Protea nodo But I confesse it is an honour to God's truth that it cannot be opposed but in so vile a manner Yet I have already shewed that we deny not unto reprobates a power to believe if they will We deny not the ministery of the word unto them exhorting them to believe We deny not but that whosoever hath a will to believe or doth believe God must necessarily concurre to the producing of that will and that act of his All this we grant which is the uttermost whereunto this Authour comes but over and above we say that God doth not only give his elect a power to believe if they will and perswade them to believe but that also he works them to believe and not only concurres with them in producing gracious acts but makes them to concurre with him also this is the grace and this alone that he denies to reprobates Pag. 85. Treating of the use and end of God's gifts the Authour hath an addition of some seven lines concerning the Lord's supper but nothing at all to purpose Pag. 87. Of the fift Section next following The passages out of the suffrages of our Brittain Divines in the Synod of Dort quoted by M. Hord here they are expressed namely that there are certaine internall workes preparing a man to justification which by the power of the word and Spirit are wrought in the hearts of men not yet justified such as are the knowledge of God's will and sense of sinne feare of punishment Now I have shewed that these our Brittish Divines goe much farther and yet in their fift Article and fourth position they professe of all such as are none of Gods Elect that it is manifest they never really and truly attaine that change and renovation of the mind and affections which accompanieth justification nay nor that which doth immediately prepare and dispose unto justification And therefore the preparation that this Authour speaks of as out of them must needs be a remote preparation And withall they adde that They never seriously repent they are never affected with hearty sorrow for offending God for sinning neither doe they come to any humble contrition of heart nor conceive a firme resolution not to offend any more Now let every sober person judge whether God proceeding no farther with them then this can be said to intend their conversion and salvation The other position of theirs is this Those whom God by his word and Spirit affecteth after this manner those he truly and seriously calleth and inviteth unto conversion I make no question but whom God calleth he calleth seriously and whom he inviteth unto conversion that is as I take it unto repentance he inviteth truly seriously thereunto But that God intendeth either their conversion or salvation I utterly deny For did he intend it undoubtedly he would worke it For certainly this is in his power Faith is his gift and repentance is his gift and perseverance in both is his gift And unlesse he gives faith and repentance we hold it impossible that any man should believe or repent And what a monster is it in Divinity to maintaine that God's intentions are frustrated which cannot be maintained without denying God's omnipotency For no man's intentions are frustrated but because it lyeth not in his power to bring to passe the things intended by him Pag. 88. In the next section following is inserted a sentence of Prosper which no man denies It is this They that have despised God's inviting will shall feele his revenging will but it is rightly to be understood namely of despising his inviting will all along and finally Otherwise if they break of their contempt by repentance there is mercy enough in store with God to pardon them and his revengefull hand shall not be felt by them Pag. 89. And seventh section concerning the use and end of God's gifts divers passages of our Divines are mentioned shewing the end of God's providence in affording his word unto reprobates As first
no lesse then abominable most damnable sins Yet undoubtedly God did not animate Herod Pontius Pilate together with the Gentiles and people of Israel to do what they did against our Saviour but rather left them to be ordered by his Law wherein such things are prohibited And neverthelesse the Apostles in their pious meditation with one voyce professe that All these were gathered together against the holy Son of God to doe those things which Gods hand and Gods councell had predestinated to be done and why the like is not to be acknowledged of the most barbarous facts committed by Tiberius or any other monster of nature I know no reason And as touching shamefull courses no lesse abominable in the kind of acts flagitious as these here mentioned of Tiberius were in the kind of acts facinorous The Apostle professeth both that God gave them up to vile affections and to the lusts of their own hearts to the committing of such abominations and also that herein they received such recompence of their errour as was meet and the errour which God avenged in this manner what was it but such wherein Tiberius was as deep as those whom the Apostle speaks of namely in changing the glory of the incorruptible God to the similitude of the image of a corruptible man and of birds and of four footed beasts and of creeping things And they were but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which God delivered up Tiberius and to such God delivered up them of whom the Apostle speaks and his actions as well as theirs were equally the fruits of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into which God gave them up that so they might receive that recompence of their errour as was meet I come to the second instance here made of Tiberius his cruelty which he compares to those courses which we out of holy Scripture have learned to be attributed unto God himselfe Now this hath long agoe been objected by Bertius in his Preface to the Conference of Arminius with Iunius I say objected by him unto Piscator thereunto Piscator also hath answered long agoe And whereas Bertius hath replyed and allowed Piscator a year for putting in his answer thereunto whereof had he failed he would interpret it as a confession of his insufficiency to make good the cause maintained by him Piscator answers that he had no need of so long a time as he prescribed him for after he had read over his book in the space of two or three daies he addressed himselfe to an answer thereunto and within a month finished it Now if the Author of this discourse were ignorant hereof his ignorance might excuse him if otherwise he might have with more credit occupied himselfe in the answering at the least of some chief particulars whereupon Piscator stands for the justifying of his doctrine delivered by him not of his own brain but according to the word of God then hand over head to hold up the crimination without taking notice of the dilution thereof many years a goe proposed and set forth to the judgement of the world But I am content to take into consideration how Scholastically and judiciously he carrieth himselfe in this crimination as well as in the former and the rather because it may be that this odious cōparison he makes more account of for the preparation of his Auditors to entertain that which followes with the more propitious affectiō then he doth of the strength of ought that follows whatsoever he doth or may pretēd to the cōtrary to the point thē Tiberius commanded the Virgins to be defloured that they might be strangled Now is there any carriage of God taught by us like unto this If God were disposed to strangle any certainly he hath no need to have thē defloured first For it is now a daies confessed even by Arminius himselfe that God can lawfully annihilate the holiest creature that lives and that without all respect to sin or the vitiation of them And annihilation I think is much more then strangulation this causing only a dissolution between the body and soule but annihilation setting an utter end to body soule by turning them both into nothing And farther had Tiberius only permitted the deflouring of them whē he might have hindered it though this were a foule part in him yet I hope no Christian will say it is a foule part in God to permit any act never so flagitious or facinorous when he is able to hinder it especially when he may hinder it without any prejudice to the liberty of mans will and that this is in Gods power Arminius acknowledgeth and supposeth at large in his Examen and Treatise there De Permissione But Tiberius commanded the Hangman to defloure them But is this our doctrine that God commanded the ravishing of any the murthering of any or any other sin whatsoever Do we not all teach rather that God forbids it and that under penalty of everlasting death yet it is true the word of God expressely professeth out of the mouth of David that God bad Shimei to curse David and that he bid the evill spirit to seduce Ahab that he might goe up to Ramoth-Gilead and that not to be strangled I confesse but which was nothing better to him that he might fall and be slain there But this is a figurative speech and signifies not properly any command of God but rather denotes the secret operation of Gods providence in the hearts of men even of wicked men for those as well as Devills God knows how to make use of to serve his own turne And Austin professeth Deum operari in cordibus hominum ad inclinandas eorum voluntates quocunque voluerit sive ad bona pro suâ misericordiâ sive ad mala pro meritis eorum judicio utique suo aliquando aperto aliquando occulto semper autem justo And touching the particular of Shimei writes thus ejus voluntatem proprio suo vitio malam in hoc peccatum judicio suo justo occulto inclinavit As for Tiberius his causing the little maides to be defloured that might be done without their sinne they might be ravished and in that case that might be their sorrow but not their sin And as for the hangmans fault in this he was not excusable by Tiberius his causing him to defloure them For Tiberius his causation herein extended no farther then to command them And I hope it was no just excuse for the people of Israel in their Idolatrous courses that therein they did but keep the statutes of Omri and all the manner of the house of Ahab Mic. 6. Yet neither doth God command any man to doe that which his Law forbids or to sin against him And farther we acknowledge with Austin that sin hath no efficient cause but deficient And it is enough with God to expose any man to sin by not working him to that which is good it being his office to work us to every thing
ought to doe or not in what manner he ought to doe it not one of all which is incident unto God All efficiency both divine and humane is found only about the act substrate unto sinne and all sides now a daies acknowledge that God is the author thereof as well as man by an effective concourse though difference there is about the manner of the concourse and particularly these Arminius will have Gods concourse to an evill act to be every way as much as his concourse to a good and that he concurres to the working of a good act no more then to the working of an evill act Which we utterly deny requiring a double concourse to every good act that is not supernaturall as touching the substance of the act One to the producing of the substance of the act another to the producing the goodnesse thereof that is the gracious manner of performing it For even a naturall man may abstaine from lying stealing whoring blaspheaming but no naturall man can abstaine from these in a gracious manner that is out of the love of God and that such a love as is Amor Dei usque ad contemptum sui the love of God to the contempt of himselfe For this manner of performing it is supernaturall Secondly as touching the matter of divine concourse to the substance of any naturall act We say God moves the will to the doing of it as it becomes the first cause to move the second but how agreeable to the nature of it that is like as he moves naturall agents to doe that which they doe necessarily so he moves all rationall agents to doe that which they doe contingently and freely What is the Arminian tenent to the contrary namely this that God workes in man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Velle modo velit as absurd an assertion as ever any man breathed It is true many times our Divines in speaking of the secret providence of God in evill doe expresse themselves in phrases of a very harsh accent in the judgement of flesh and blood but herein they doe nothing exceed sobriety forasmuch as usually they contemper themselves to Scripture phrase rather within the compasse thereof then beyond it Yet Blasphemy is usually imputed unto them without all feare or wit not considering that herein they impute blasphemy to the language of the Holy Ghost As for example What an horrible sinne is it for Kings and Princes to imploy their power and authority not for the supporting of the Kingdome of Christ by whom Kings reigne but for the supporting and establishing of the kingdome of Antichrist as in the Martyrdome of Gods Saints delivered over to the secular power to that end and that by censures Ecclesiasticall Now if we should say that it is God that works thus in the hearts of Kings thus to imploy their power for the supporting of Antichrist we should be censured for blasphemers Yet the Holy Ghost spares not to professe that God hath put into their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their Kingdome to the Beast untill the words of God be fulfilled In like sort from the first Preaching of the Gospell unto this day many there have been and at this day are who are disobedient unto it and stumble at it either in the whole or in part If we should say that they who thus disobey and stumble at the word of God are ordained thereunto such as this Author and his Complices are ready to cry out upon us as Blaspheamers and to professe that they will rather deny that there is a God then hold with the Contra-Remonstrants Yet S. Peter budgeth not to professe that Christ is a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence even to them which stumble at the word of God being disobedient whereunto also they were ordained When we professe that not any thing in the world comes to passe but Deo volente God willing it We are censured as Blasphemers in professing that God doth will that which is evill and sinne yet not only the Articles of Ireland Artic. 11. professe as much and Austin Enchir. 95. Non aliquid fit nisi Omnipotens fieri velit but the Apostles with one voyce as touching the contumelious usages of the Sonne of God both by Jewes and Gentiles Herod and Pilate in their picus meditation poured forth before the face of God professe that Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and People of Israel were gathered together against the holy Sonne of God to doe that which Gods hand and Gods councell had before determined to be done In like sort when we speak of Gods giving men over to illusions to believe lies others to vile affections and to uncleannesse through the lusts of their own hearts to dishonour their own bodies between themselves which consisted in this that The Women did change their naturall use into that which is against nature and likewise the men leaving the naturall use of the Women burned in their lusts one towards another men with men working that which is unseemely and receiving in themselves the recompence of their errour which was meet and observe herehence that it is just with God to punish sinne with sinne And as it hath been observed before us from the daies of Austin who when Iulian the Pelagian said this was done deserendo replies taking him at his word who could not but professe that God doth thus the Scripture expresly testifying as much and touching the manner mentioned by him addeth whether God doth this deserendo or alio modo sive explicabili sive inexplicabili it matters not An Arminian spirit spares not to joyne himselfe with Iulian the Pelagian in affronting Austin thus discoursing out of the word of God and to professe that that doctrine of Gods punishing sinne with sinne is a common errour whereas the Apostle professeth in expresse termes that Herein they received such recompence of their errour as was meet and what is recompence here but punishment and wherein consisted it but in defiling themselves contrary to nature as the Scripture plainly testifies saying Men with men working that which is unseemely and receiving in themselves such recompence of their errour as was meet And Arminius spares not to professe that Omnis paena Deum authorem habet Wherein yet we concurre not with Arminius Wee deny that Omnis paena habet Deum authorem It is true that Paena positiva not of all punishment that consists in privation such as sinne is For Malum as Austin long agoe pronounced non habet causam efficientem but deficientem Yet we confesse that God could keep any man from any sinne but if he will not this is not sufficient to make him the author of it It is only a culpable defect that makes one the author of sinne that is when he failes of doing that which he ought to doe But God is bound to none to preserve him from sinne any otherwise then his own free will doth
loose and dissolute discourse is most suitable with his Genius 1. Adams sinne was no mans personall sinne but Adams true for there was no man then but Adam but all men being the posterity of Adam were then in Adam in that one person of Adam and in him all have sinned saith the Apostle Rom. 5. and without consent to sinne they could not sinne 2. When he saith this sinne of Adam was not the sinne of our nature by generation it is so wild an expression that I professe I cannot devise any tolerable sense of it That we were in Adam when he sinned it was fully sufficient to bring upon us that corruption that depth of corruption wherein we are all conceived and borne and not by imputation What Divine amongst Papists or Protestants is he that maintains that Adams sinne was the sinne of our nature by imputation This is undoubtedly one of Arminius his flowers which this Author takes up among the rest to make himselfe a nosegay to smell unto It was Gods will that all should stand or fall in him For if it had pleased him he could have destroyed Adam for his transgression and made a new stock from whom to derive the World of Mankind But resolving all should descend from him he must withall resolve that upon the sinne of Adam and of them all in him they must take from him such natures as Adams nature and therein all our natures were made corrupt by sinne excepting Gods grace to provide better both for Adam and his posterity as he thought good So that look in what sort Adams nature was corrupted by sinne in such sort must we receive corrupt natures from him Here Calvin is brought in with a robe of commendation as an excellent servant of God But God knowes his heart and the hearts of all that oppose Gods truth in these poynts T is true that Calvin saith both in respect of Gods power to have propagated Mankind from another originall then from Adam as also in respect of his power to reforme corrupt nature in whomsoever it pleased him But did Calvin think it possible for corrupt nature to propagate any other nature then it selfe is God made man after his Image and likenesse but afterwards we read that Adam brought forth a sonne after his Image and likenesse who can bring a clean thing out of that which is uncleane saith the book of Job And that which is borne of flesh is flesh saith our Saviour But doth it herehence follow or doth Calvin or any Calvinist or Lutheran or Papist say that Adams sinne is made ours only by imputation The case is not alike of other parents For Adam was created in grace and endued with the spirit of God this holy condition was lost by the sinne of Adam and we receiving our natures from him in the state of his corruption must therewithall receive natures bereaved of grace and of the spirit of God No such detriment to our pure nature was wrought or could be wrought by the transgression of any other progenitor no nor by any other sinne of Adam besides the first 3. God did pardon it in Adam upon his repentance so is he ready to pardon it and all actuall sinnes also of all men upon their repentance And God renewed Adam too of his free grace after he was corrupt and regenerated him by shewing mercy upon him But this work proceeds according to the meer pleasure of Gods will as the Apostle witnesseth saying He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth 4. Christ came into the World to take away the sinnes of the World that is by satisfaction for sinne to merit the pardon of it nor pardon of sinne only but salvation of soule also but for whom surely for none but such as should sooner or latter believe in him for God hath ordained that these benefits of Christs death and obedience should not be distributed absolutely but conditionally to wit upon the condition of faith But as for the benefits of faith and repentance these are not benefits communicable upon a condition for what condition can precede them but a worke of man and it was condemned 1200 years agoe to say grace is given according unto merits that Bellarmine interprets simply of works though Papists are apt enough to stand for merits and the Apostle saith in plain tearmes that God doth not call us according unto works these therefore are communicated according to the meere pleasure of Gods will He might have given faith to all but he would not I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion Exod. 33. These things he saith being well considered will make any man as he thinks to conclude in his thoughts that if there be any such decree God is not mercifull to men at all A most unshamefac't pretence and savouring of a spirit that hath expectorated all naturall ingenuity doth not every one perceive that all this nothing at all hinders the incomprehensible nature of Gods mercy towards his Elect Dares he himselfe in plain termes deny this namely that it nothing prejudiceth the course of Gods mercy towards his Elect For what if by the sinne wherein they are borne they be made guilty of eternall death yet if God be pleased to pardon this sinne nor this only but all actuall transgressions of theirs yea and break the yoake of their corruption and as he seeth their wayes so to heale them yea to heale their rebellions and backslidings to subdue their iniquities to rule them with a mighty hand to make them passe under the rod and bring them unto the bond of the covenant and when he hath brought them thither to hold them there to perfect the good work he hath begun in them As he hath laid the foundation of his temple in their hearts so to finish it to be the Author and finisher of their faith and as of their faith so of their repentance to hold them in his hands so that none shall take them therehence to keep them by the power of God through faith unto salvation to build them upon a rock that the gates of hell shall not prevaile against them either to deliver them from the howre of temptation or to deliver them out of it or so to order it that it shall not be above their strength to be with them when they goe through the water and through the fire that the floods shall not overwhelme them the fire shall not burne them but as he leads them into it so he will support them in it and lead them through it as he led the Children of Israel into the red sea and in the red sea as an horse in the Wildernesse that they should not stumble and out of the red sea into the Wildernesse and in the Wildernesse and out of the Wildernesse In a word to fulfill the good pleasure of his goodnesse towards them his grace in them
pleasing to them At saith he ut innotescat quod latebat suave fiat quod non delectabat Dei gratia est quae humanas adjuvat voluntates We doe not smother this truth of God that we may delude men we rather represent how all flesh are obnoxious and endangered unto God that all are borne in sinne and therewithall children of wrath and such as deserve to be made the generation of Gods curse and that it is at his pleasure to shew mercy on any only the word of God hath power to raise us from the dead his voyce pierceth the graves and makes dead Lazarus heare it and it is his course to call some at the first some at the last hower of the day Thus we desire to bring them acquainted first with the spirit of bondage to make them feare that so they may be prepared for the spirit of Adoption whereby they shall cry Abba father neither doe we despaire of any that are humbled with feare we count rather their case most desperate who are nothing moved hereby or that perswade themselves they have power to believe when they will and repent when they will we account no greater illusions of Satan then these yet these abominable opinions may be fostered by some and masked with a pretence of great piety forsooth and a shew of holinesse and a zeale of defending Gods glory and salving the honour of his mercy justice and truth 3. The third is in their obligation to believe and the aggravation of their punishment by not believing The Divells because they must be damned are not commanded to believe in Christ yet poore men must be tied to believe in Christ and their torments must be encreased if they believe not I make no doubt but this Author is as confident of his learned and judicious carriage in shaping this comparison as that the fruit of Adams sinne is the guilt of eternall death in all mankind But none so bold we commonly say as blind Bayard and it seems either he knowes not or considers not that the first sinne of Angells was unto them as death unto man that sinne placed them extra viam and in termino incur abilis miseriae as death only placeth wicked men in the like case Now we doe not say that God commands man after he is dead to believe in Christ any more then he commands obedience unto Angells since their case is become desperate The Divells are not commanded to believe or repent because God doth not nor never did purpose to damne any of them for want of faith or of repentance but for their first Apostacy from God But it is otherwise with man for God doth not purpose to damne any of them but for sinne unrepented of And therefore as good reason there is why their damnation should be encreased for want of repentance and acknowledging of Gods truth as why the Devills should be damned for their first Apostacy If perhaps as it is likely enough this Author to hold up his comparison shall fly to God decree of reprobation upon supposition whereof it was impossible that men should either believe or repent I answere first that in like sort upon supposition of Gods foreknowledge that they would neither believe nor repent it followeth as necessarily as it is necessary that Gods knowledge should be infallible that it was impossible they should believe and repent and the like followeth as necessarily of the Apostacy of Angells as of the infidelity and impenitency of man And as men are pretended to harden themselves in vitious courses upon supposition of the unalterable nature of Gods decree So Austin gives instance in like manner of one that hardened himselfe upon pretence of Gods infallible knowledge De bono persever cap. 15. Fuit quidem in nostro Monasterio qui corripientibus fratribus our quaedam nonfacienda faceret facienda non faceret respondebat qualiâ—cunque nunc sim talis ero qualem me Deus esse futurum praescivit Qui profecto verum dicâ—hat hoc vero non proficiebat in â—onum sed vsque adeo profecit in malum ut deserta Monasterii societâ—te fieret canis reversus ad â—uum vonutum tamen adbuc qualis sit futurus incertum est Secondly I answer that the like may be said of Angells upon presupposition of Gods decree to deny the grace of standing unto them which Austin professeth expressely namely that either in their creation minorem acceperunt amoris divini grattam or that afterwards the reason why the one sort stood when the other fell was this to wit because they were amplius adjuti then their fellowes and consequently the other minus adjuti And as God gave grace to the elect Angells which he denyed to others So it cannot be denied but that from everlasting he decreed both to bestow it upon the one and deny it unto the other Now howsoever I know the Arminian party cannot swallow this morsell yet by this it appears how supersiciary is that augmentation of the difference between Men and Angells wherewith this Author contents himselfe yet notwithstanding it is not want of faith alone that condemneth any man by want of Faith man is lest to the covenant of works to stand or fall according to his own righteousnesse or unrighteousnesse whereof if he faile and withall despiseth the counsell or God offered him in his Gospell is there noe good reason his condemnation should be the greater For certainly it is in the power of a naturall man to afford as much faith to this as to many a vile and fabulous relation which is farre lesse credible by judgement naturall we see both prophane persons and hypocrites so farre to believe the Gospell as to embrace a formall profession thereof and sometimes proceed so farre therein as that 't is a hard matter to distinguish them from sincere professors yet we say a true faith is only such as is infused into the heart of man by the spirit of God in regeneration Now what one of our Divines can be represented that ever was known to affirme that the damnation of any man shall be encreased because God did not regenerate him and in regeneration inspire a Divine faith into him As for our answer in generall to this argument considered in briefe and this Authors reply my refutation thereof I dispatcht in the first place Although he carrieth himselfe not fairely in relating the answer on our part in as much as therein he mixeth the consideration of justice divine which is aliene from the present purpose with the consideration of mercy divine which alone is congruous that so while he puts off the plenary justification of his reply to that which is aliene he may seem to undertake a full justification of his reply to the whole But I hope we shall be as able by Gods assistance to manifest his sinister carriage in the interpretation of Gods justice as we have done already as touching his accommodation of
damned for it is apparent God might have annihilated them had it so pleased him yet is it never a whit the lesse just In like sort it is by the sole constitution of God that originall sinne is propagated to all men Christ excepted for God could have derived mankind from another stock after Adams fall and as he doth regenerate men usually by his word so he might if it pleased him in their very conception give them his spirit and those supernaturall graces whereof Adam was deprived by sinne yet the propagation of sinne from Adam to posterity is never a whit the lesse just no nor any whit the lesse naturall like as the whole course of nature depends upon the alone constitution of God But when I say that God can without respect of sinne inflict any torment upon his creature this is delivered of power absolute This power the Lord did execute upon his own sonne for what was his sinne Was he not the spotlesse lamb of God Yet what agonies did he suffer in the garden what torments and terrours upon the crosse when hee cryed out My God my God Why hast thou forsaken mee But the like power he doth not execute on us only he gives us authority to exercise the like power over other creatures if the powder of an Hare burnt alive in an Oven be found to be wholsome for us he gives us leave thus to deale with him and the like yet have not these creatures sinned either against God or against us Of this absolute power of God I have discoursed more sparingly in the place cited by him Lib. 1. p. 2. De Electione digres 3. If this Author hath any mind to except against it either in whole or in part he might have tried his strength and not contented himselfe with shewing his teeth only Yet by his leave whether those he speaks of will concurre with me in this it is more then I know but to serve his turne at this present against those whom he hath tyed himselfe to oppose as he professeth he cares little what he avoucheth to save himselfe of farther pains By the way let me take notice of one argument more then I dreamt of for the maintenance of Gods absolute power to inflict any pain upon a creature and that of his meer pleasure which this Author ere he is aware suggests unto me And accordingly thus I dispute If God can out of his meer pleasure make a man guilty of eternall death surely it seems that of his meer pleasure he may inflict eternall death on any But God can of his meer pleasure make a man guilty of eternall death as I prove out of this Author who professeth that God out of his meer pleasure made all mankind guilty of eternall death Now we commonly say that ab actu ad potentiam valet argumentum And see farther how miserably he overlasheth The highest degree whereunto he can improve the harshnesse of our Doctrine is this that we should teach that God doth decree the misery of an innocent man Now I pray consider is it not as harsh that God should decree the death the agonics the sorrowes and tortures of an innocent man And is it not apparent that God decreed the death and those unspeakable sorrowes of his innocent sonne Yet we say not that God decreed any other mans death or damnation but only for sinne But it is all one in his opinion to say God decrees the misery of an innocent man and to purpose that he shall be involved in a sinne that so he may be brought to misery First I say his opinion is no Oracle if it were the world would soon grow wild Secondly this sufficeth not to prove his crimination which was this that by our Doctrine we make God to punish the righteous with the wicked not that we make God to doe that which is all one in substance Thirdly his best arguments are his phrases whereby he hopes to season others affections as well as his own as in saying God purposed man shall be involved in sinne For if he speake of mankind made guilty of the sinne of Adam he forgets his own Tenet that God of his meer pleasure makes Adams sinne the sinne of his posterity and thereby of his meer pleasure makes them guilty of eternall death And as touching our Tenet herein is there any such harshnesse in saying that God causeth a leprous child to be borne of Leprous parents But if he speak it in generall of any sinne for which any man is damned our Doctrine is that the sinnes which come to passe must needs be permitted by God and for God to permit any sinne is to will that such a sinne shall come to passe by Gods permission Arminius himselfe professing that if God permit a man to will that which is evill Necesse est ut nullo argumentorum genere persuadeatur ad nolendum And the Scripture is expresse as touching the foulest actions that ever were committed by man to wit in the most contumelious usages of the sonne of God namely that both Herod and Pontius Pilate together with the Gentiles and people of Israell were gathered together to doe what Gods hand and Gods Counsell had predetermined to be done And when Fulgentius saith that God had been unjust if he had predestinated stantem ad ruinam ad ruinam here is ad peccatum and Predestination in the Fathers sense is only eorum quae Deus ipse facturus erat which God himselfe meant to effect not what he meant to suffer That they took predestination in this sense it appears by Austin lib. 2. de bono persever c. 17. his words are these In sua quae falli mutarique non potest praescientia opera sua futura disponere illud omnino nec aliud quicquam est praedestinare Marke it well opera sua his works now sinne is no work of God but a work of the creature only I come to his second reason DISCOURSE SUBSECT II. IT is against Gods Justice because it makes him to require faith in Christ of those to whom he hath in his absolute purpose denied both ability to believe and a Christ to believe in That Reprobates are bound to believe as well as others it is the constant Doctrine of Divines amongst whom Zanchius delivers it for a Thesis Quisque saith he mandato Dei tenctur credere se ad salutem aeternam in Christo fuisse electum maxime is qui fidem in Christum profitetur And in his explication of this Thesis he saith Cum dicimus unumquemque teneri hoc credtre neminem ne reproios quidem qui neque unquam credent nec credere in Christum possunt excipimus nisi credant gravissime ommum peccant Every man especially he that professeth Christ is bound to believe that he is chosen in Christ to salvation every man without exception even the Reprobate himselfe and if he believe it not he commits a most grievous sinne above all others This
because their deeds are evill Is there any reason why their condemnation should be any whit the easier for this Neither have I ever read or heard it taught by any that men shall be damned for not believing fide infusâ which is as much as to say because God hath not regenerated them but either because they have refused to believe or else if they have embraced the Gospell for not living answerable thereunto which also is in their power quoad exteriorem vitae emendationem though it be not in their power to regenerate their wills and change their hearts any more then it is to illuminate their minds yet I never read that any mans damnation was any whit the more encreased for not performing these acts Thus farre I have been content to expatiate in the way of reasonable discourse to meet with this Disputer in his own element though every sober Christian I should think should rest satisfied with the word of God which both teacheth us that the naturall man perceiveth not the things of God neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned that all men are found dead in trespasses and sinnes before the spirit of regeneration comes that men cannot believe that they cannot repent that they that are in the flesh cannot please God and that a man hardned cannot obey and yet withall that God doth command faith repentance and obedience and complaines of default in performance And if any man charge such courses as unjust what is the Apostles course in meeting with such imputations but either to shew that the word attributes such a course to God and therefore it cannot be unjust as Rom. 9. 14. What shall we say then is there unrighteousnesse with God God forbid for he saith to Moses I will have compassion on him on whom I will have compassion and I will shew mercy on him to whom I will shew mecy or to fly to the consideration of the Lords dominion over all as Creator over his creatures I come to his second reason 2. And that is because it is impossible that they should believe they want power to believe and must want it still God hath decreed they shall have none to their dying day I answer This argument is the very same with the former not so much as differently drâ—st or crambe bis cocta and therefore my former answer will serve in every particular Yet adde this also this impossibility is only upon supposition of Gods Decree which nothing hinders the liberty of the creature in doing freely what he doth and freely leaving undone what he doth not as appears manifestly by divers instances For upon supposition of Gods decree that not a bone of Christ should be broken it was impossible they should be broken yet who doubts but that the Souldiers did as freely abstaine from the breaking of Christs bones as they did freely break the others bones And the Text notes the reason why they brake not Christs bones to wit because they saw he was dead already In like sort upon supposition of Gods decree that Josiah by name should burne the Prophets bones upon the Altar Cyrus by name should build him a Citty and let goe his captives it was impossible that it should be otherwise yet I think no wise man doubts but that Josiah did the one and Cyrus the other as freely as they did any thing in their lives And therefore this Author doth miserably overlash in the element of his Philosophy and rationall discourse in saying a man in justice can be tyed to believe no more then a man can be bound to fly like a Bird or to reach heaven with the top of his finger He might as well say that because God had determined that the Souldiers should not breake Christs bones therefore they had no more power to breake Christs bones then they had power to fly like a Bird or to reach Heaven with the top of their finger Certainly there is no man but by grace may be enabled to believe but never was any man known to affirme that by grace a man may be enabled to fly like a Bird or to reach Heaven with the top of his finger If this be not miserably to over-reach I know not what is As for his rule Nemo obligatur ad impossibile judge I pray of the truth of it by this What if a man by a vitious conversation hath made it as impossible for him to doe good as it is impossible for a Blackemore to change his skinne or a Leopard his spots Shall he therefore be obliged no longer to doe good And as by our own sinnes committed by our persons so by the sinne of Adam which was the sinne of our nature upon the whole nature of man was this impotency brought as the Scriptures teach and none that I know were known in the dayes of Austin to deny but the Plagians I come to the Third 3. Now this depends upon a notorious confusion of things that differ For I have shewed how the Lord hath given them a sufficient object of that faith which he requires of them as touching Christs dyeing for them namily to believe that Christ hath merited the pardon of sinne and salvation for as many as believe in him in such sort that if all and every one throughout the World should believe in him they should be saved by him And this depends meerely upon the sufficiency of Christs merits and undoubtedly it was the will of God that Christs merits should be of such a value as was sufficient for the salvation of all and every one otherwise it were not true that if all and every one should believe in Christ they should be saved by the vertue of Christ merits But as for any obligation to believe that Christ died to procure faith and repentance for all and every one I never yet heard or read of any Arminian that he believed it Nay in their Apologia Remonstrantium or Censura Censurae they plainly professe that Christ died not at all to merit faith and regeneration for any In like sort it is not credible to me that any Arminian believes that Christ dyed for any so as to procure pardon of sinne and salvation absolutely for him whether he believe or no provided that he live to be capable of faith and repentance and to enjoy the Gospell and the Preaching of Christ crucified And like as it is no lye but truth that Christ dyed to procure salvation to as many as believe in him so in being obliged to believe this or punished for not believing it is neither to be obliged to the believing of a lye nor punished for not believing it Therefore it is false to say there is no such matter For look in what sense they are bound to believe that Christ died for them in the same sense it is most true that Christ died for them they are bound to believe that Christ dyed to procure salvation for every one
and meanes another and therefore dissembles This is so evident that some maintainers of absolute reprobation doe not deny it but ascribe unto God Sanctam Simulationem duplicem personam duplicem voluntatem a Holy counterfeiting a double face a double will by which they offer extreame injury unto God for tolerabilius est saith Tertullian duos divisos quam unum versipellem Deum praedicare It is more tolerable to set up two Gods then a double and deceitfull God If this be granted Iesuits have no cause to be ashamed of their equivocations nor Polititians of their Holy water and crafty dissimulations men need not be afraid to cogge and lye and deale deceitfully one with another but are â—ather to be commended for their courtship and complements and false-heartednesse because in this they doe but imitate God to whom whosoever they be that come nearest they are the best But howsoever some doe inconsideratly ascribe such things to God the most I know would tremble to entertaine such thoughts and therefore the more horrible it is to lay such things to the charge of the Almighty the farther I take this opinion to be from all truth and honesty TWISSE Consideration GOD he saith by our Doctrine is made full of guile in his passionate wishes that even these men might repent that repent not The guile I guesse consists in this that God hereby makes shew that he would have them to repent when yet indeed he hath no such will To this I answer that by the same reason he might conclude that God carrieth himselfe with guile in taking unto himselfe eyes and eares and hands and heart for hereby he makes shew that he hath the members of a man But to this we answer that this shew is only unto them that understand that properly which is to be taken figuratively so that it is not the word of God so much as the weaknesse of men in understanding it that casts this colour For these things indeed are spoken only per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is a metaphoricall kind of speech And if God takes liberty to conforme himselfe to the members of our body may not he take as great liberty to conforme himselfe to the passions of our minds and to assume unto him the passions of feare wrath and jealousy joy sorrow and such like Isai 63. 8. For he said surely they are my people Children that will not lye so he was their Saviour yet what followeth in the next verse save one But they rebelled and vexed his holy spirit According to the course of this Divines superficiall consideration a man might conceive that God is subject to errour and improvidence as well as man for God said surely they will not lye but it appeared by the event that they did lye So that hereupon we are driven to conclude that the former passage is delivered per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in conformity to a mans judgement who promiseth unto himselfe better obedience from his child for the time to come then afterwards he finds In like sort God in his passionate wishes conformes himselfe to the condition of man who useth this sometimes as a means to worke impression upon his child to be more carefull to order his conversation towards his parents And this being apt to work upon a child though but naturally ingenuous why may not God use this course nay if he should not use this course he could not be said to doe all for his vineyard that could be done in the way of outward husbandry So that passionate wishes are but a passionate kind of exhortation God through us doth beseech you saith Paul we pray you in Christs stead to be reconciled unto God 2 Cor. 5. 20. Yet neverthelesse the same Apostle professeth that the Gospell was a savour of death unto death to some 2 Cor. 2. 15. Now the Gospell includes all these and such like patheticall admonitions And hereby God doth effectually signify how much he delights in the obedience of the creature and in the glorifying of his mercy in their salvation But yet this mercy of God in giving the grace of obedience is not shewed indifferently towards all but only to some even whom the Lord will Rom. 9. 18. And this consideration drives us to interpret such passionate wishes not properly but figuratively For whereas the Lord saith Deut. 5. 29. Oh that there were such an heart in them to feare me Who can deny but that God could give them such an heart if it pleased him And the same Moses professeth of these very people of Israell that God had not given them such an heart for the space of 40 years Deut. 29. 4. you have seen the great temptations and signes But the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive nor eyes to see nor eares to heare unto this day and Jerem. 32. 40. He makes promise of giving it to some I will put my feare in their heart that they shall never depart away from me In like sort whereas the Lord saith Isai 48. 18. Oh that thou hadst hearkened unto my commandements Psal 81. 13. Oh that my people had hearkened unto me and Israel had walked in my waies who doubts but that it was in the power of God to work them hereunto by boaring their eares and circumcising them by regenerating them and so making them to be borne of God that so being of God they might heare his words Iohn 8. 47. As also to put his own spirit within them and cause them to walke in his statutes and keep his judgements and doe them Ezek. 36. 27. 2. In his expostulations in that Isai 5. 3. What could I have done more for my vineyard What doth this signify more than that more could not be done But how In the way of outward Husbandry conforming himselfe to an husbandman that hath planted a vineyard For can it be denied but that God could have made them fruitfull had it pleased him and though Paul plants and Apollo watereth yet Is it not Gods peculiar office to give the encrease Is it not he that worketh in us every good thing that is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Heb. 13. 21. Is not he both the Author and finisher of our faith Was it not he that gave repentance unto Israell Acts 5. 31. And to the Gentiles Acts 11. 18. And must we not waite with our hearers if so be God may give them repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. And as for that of Jerem. 2. 32. Can a Maid forget her Ornament or a Bride her attire yet my people have forgotten mee And have I been a Wildernesse unto Israell or a land of darknesse Is not this exprobration of their unthankfulnesse just and without guile unlesse God doe actually change all their hearts Yet this might be a means and also was and is and ever shall continue to be a means to bring Gods people to repentance And undoubtedly the worst of them had power
such as believe and repent and undoubtedly if all and every one should believe and repent all and every one should be saved by him on the other side if not one should believe and repent not one should be saved by him But what doth this Author think of faith and repentance Are these also benefits purchased unto us by the merits of Christ This is the poynt that puts all the Arminians to their purgation If they be so then I demand Whether Christ purchased these to be obtained by all and every one absolutely or conditionally if absolutely then all and every one must have faith and repentance and consequently all and every one must be saved if only conditionally then let them name upon what condition the gift of faith is to be obtained and let them look to it how they avoyd the giving of grace according to mens works which in the phrase of the Ancients is the giving of grace according to mens merits The sonne of man came to seeke that which was lost Luk. 19. 10. We grant that but when it is added that is every man we deny this As for the reason added for every man was lost put these propositions into a Syllogisme and see what stuffe it will make thus Christ came to save that which was lost every man was lost therefore Christ came to save every man Now let every young Sophister judge whether here be not foure termes had it been said that Christ came to save every one that is lost the place had been indeed alleadged to the purpose It is also said I am not sent but to the lost sheepe of the house of Israel let this be understood only as touching the exercising of Christs Ministry among them for this Author I suppose will not say he was sent to redeem them only will it herehence follow that seeing every one of them was lost therefore he exercised his Ministry unto every one of them how improbable a thing is this How much lesse did he exercise his Ministry amongst the twelve Tribes dispersed in Pontus Galatia Cappadocia c. Yet my former distinction may serve to accommodate the businesse and to cleare the truth although we prove so liberall as to grant him his hearts desire Lastly as touching that Acts 3. 26. To you hath God sent his Sonne to blesse you in turning every one of you from your iniquities every one of you that is saith this Authors glosse as well you that receive him as you that receive him not But let us not carry the matter in hugger mugger without distinction If this were the end of Christs coming into the world then it was intended by some one or other and that must needs be God Now did God intend that they should be turned from their iniquities absolutely or conditionally If absolutely then all must be turned from them if conditionally then shew what that condition is if faith we willingly grant that as many as believe shall be blessed and turned from their iniquities For Christ indeed dyed for this end namely to redeeme us from our iniquities and to purge us a peculiar people unto himselfe zealous of good workes But as for faith and repentance which is also a gift of Christ Christ did not purchase this for all absolutely for if he did then all should believe if conditionally then upon some work of man and consequently the gift and grace of faith shall be bestowed according unto mans works which is expresse Pelagianisme To the contrary that Christ died not for all I prove thus First the reason why none can lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect is because Christ died for them Rom. 8. If therefore Christ died for all none can lay any thing to the charge of a Reprobate more then to the charge of Gods Elect. Secondly Christ prayed only for those who either did or should believe in him and for whom he prayed for them only he sanctified himselfe Ioh. 17. And what is the meaning of the sanctifying of himselfe for them but that he meant to offer up himselfe in Sacrifice upon the crosse for them as Maldonate confesseth was the joynt interpretation of all the Fathers whom he had read Thirdly did he dye only for all then living or which should afterwards be brought forth into the World or for all from the beginning of the world If so then he dyed for all those that already were damned Fourthly if he dyed for them then Christ hath made satisfaction for their sinnes and is it decent that any man should fry in Hell for those sinnes for which Christ hath satisfied Lastly if Christ hath died for all then hath he merited Salvation for all and shall any faile of that salvation which Christ hath merited for them Is it decent that God the Father should deale with Christ his Sonne not according to the exigence of his merits If we had merited salvation for our selves would God in justice have denied it unto us Why then should he deny any man salvation in case Christ hath merited salvation for him DISCOURSE SECT III. 1. THe Ministry of the Word and Sacraments is given also to the same end and is in its owne proper nature and use an instrument of conveying the spirit of regeneration to those that enjoy it and to all those I cannot have better proofes for this than those that our Reverend Divines of Dort have gathered to my hands Isa 59. 21. This is my Covenant with them sayth the Lord my spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth nor out of the mouth of thy seed nor seeds seed for ever Hinc patet say they from these words it appears that the Word and Spirit are joyned together in the Ministry of the Word with an inseperable bond by promise of God Hence it is that the Ministers of the New Testament are called Ministers not of the letter but of the Spirit not of the letter which kills but of the Spirit which gives life and the Ministry of the Gospell is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the same place v. 8. the Ministry of the Spirit Hence is the Gospell called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grace bringing Salvation Tit. 2. 11. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. To these let me adde 1 Pet. 1. 23. where the word is called the seed of the new birth and 2 Cor. 5. 20. where Ministers are called Embassadours for Christ to beseech men to be reconciled to God and they are so called to shew that the Word preached is by Gods appointment an instrument to make men new creatures and that the matter of Ministers errand is peace and reconciliation and the proper fruit of it in Gods intent is not the obduration and destruction but the conversion and salvation of men The same men out of Ioh. 15. 22. if I had not
come and spoken to them they should not have had sinne but now they have no cloake for their sinne doe say it is evident that Christ in his Preaching did administer so much inward grace as was sufficient to convince those that rejected the Gospell of positive unbeliefe and so to render them obnoxious to just punishment and consequently say I so much as sufficed by their good husbandry to have converted and saved them For that grace leaves none inexcusable which is unsufficient to convert them I will conclude that which they say of this gratious intention of God in the Ministry of the Word with that speech of Prosper cited by them in the same place non omnes vocari ad gratiam eos quibus omnibus Evangelium praedicatur nonrecte dicitur etiamsi sint qui Evangelio non obaudiant They that say that all those to whom the Gospell is Preached even those that obay not the Gospell are not called to grace they say an untruth God looks for grapes sayth the text Isai 5. 2. What doth this imply but that it was Gods principall aime in the husbandry which he bestowed upon the Church of Israell that it should bring forth good fruit though in the end it did not How oft would I have gathered you sayth Christ to Jerusalem Math. 23. 37. and in John 5. 34. These things have I spoken to you that ye might be saved but ye will not come unto me that ye might have life v. 40. Intimating no lesse than this that it was his full intent by his preaching to gather and to save those very particular men that in the end were not gathered nor saved through their neglect or contempt of Christs Ministry TWISSE Consideration NO question but The word of God is the sword of the spirit Ephes 6. And the Law of the Lord is a perfect Law converting the Soule Psal 19. And it seemes to be delivered in opposition to the Book of the creatures as if he had said though The Heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheweth his handy work yet this is the peculiar prerogative of the Book of Gods word and the Doctrine contained therein that it converteth the soule and upon this is grounded the great preferment of the Jews above the Gentiles chiefely that unto them were committed the Oracles of God Yet this Author is content to make no difference between the use and end of the Book of Creatures and the Book of Gods word but professeth the use and end of both to be the very same The passage alleadged out of the suffrages of the Brittain Divines is most aliene from the present purpose For the Thesis of theirs proceedeth of the administration of grace by the word not of regeneration but of conviction of all such who believe not and continue impenitent that through their own fault they perish for neglecting or contemning the Gospell In Ecclesia ubi juxta promissum hoc Evangelii salus omnibus offertur ea est administratio gratiae quae sufficit ad convincendos omnes impenitentes incredulos quod sua culpa voluntaria vel neglectu vel contemptu Evangelii perierint oblatum beneficium amiserint And in the explication of this Thesis they propose two things to be cleared 1. That some measure of grace is ordinarily administred in the Ministry of the Gospell aliquam mensuram gratiae ordinarie in Ministerio Evangelii administrari and for proofe hereof alone they alleadge this passage out of Isai 59. ult This is my covenant with them saith the Lord My spirit which is upon thee and my words which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth So that the word and spirit are joyned togeather alwaies but not alwaies to regenerate but either to regenerate and bring to obedience or to convict of disobedience And accordingly The Ministers of the New Testament are called Ministers not of the letter but of the spirit that is not of the Law the Ministry whereof is not the Ministry of the spirit but yet this is rightly to be understood to wit of the spirit of adoption for undoubtedly even the Ministry of the Law is the Ministry of the Spirit also but of the spirit of bondage to hold men under feare it is called the Ministry of condemnation and the reason hereof I conceive to be because God doth not concurre with the Ministry of the Law by the holy Spirit to worke any man to the performance of the condition of the Law which is exact and perfect obedience but thus he doth concurre with the Ministry of the Gospell namely by his spirit to work men to the performance of the condition thereof which is faith in Christ and true repentance therefore the letter to wit of the Law is called a killing letter but the Gospell is joyned with a quickning spirit and therefore Piscator conceives that the Gospell in this place is called by the name of the spirit Soe then the Gospell giveth life by the spirit which accompanyeth the Ministry thereof but to whom To all as this Author supposeth Nothing lesse the generall experience of the world doth manifest the untruth thereof But this Author is ready to suppose though not very forward to speake out in this that it would regenerate if men were not defective to them selves So then man must first performe some worke on his part and then the spirit of the Gospell doth regenerate them as much as to say the grace of regeneration is dispensed by God according to some work of man which in plain termes Pelagius durst not professe but joyned with others to anathematize it in the Synod of Palastine Yet this Doctrine is the very Helena wherewith the Arminians are enamored Now the Apostle professeth in plaine termes of himselfe and his fellow-labourers we are unto God the sweet savour of Christ in them that are saved and in them which perish to the one we are the savour of death unto death and to the other a savour of life unto life So then it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Tit. 2. 11. and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word of reconciliation 2 Cor. 5. 19. And the seed of the new birth 1 Pet. 1. 23. As where by God regenerates man according to that of Saint Iames of his owne will hath he begotten us by the word of truth Iam. 1. 18. Not whereby man doth regenerate himselfe according to the Arminian tenet whose doctrine it is that God workes in us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 velle credere and resipiscere modò velimus Now as God hath mercy on wom he will in converting his heart unto obedience of faith and repentance Rom. 9. 18. and 11. 30. So God regenerates whom he will So that we all grant that Gods word is by Gods appointment an instrument to make men new creatures But whom Not all indifferently but the elect of God called the sheepe of Christ Iohn 10. 16. Other sheepe have
did bring to passe also but withall let us consider what the Apostle teacheth us and take that along with us also namely that all are not Israel that are of Israel and so in his elect he effecteth this 3. I doubt not but this is pronounced chiefely for the elects sake and though they are not as yet so fruitfull as they should be yet I nothing doubt but this passionate expostulation was a means to turne them to the Lord that is some of them For God calls them not all at once but some at one houre of the day some at another 4. It might be a means to bring others also though not to true conversion yet ad exteriorem vitae emendationem As for that of our Saviour over Jerusalem Math. 23. 37. That is of another condition in two respects Jerusalem neither saw his teares nor heard his bemoaning of it but we heare of it and read it in his word and it is equally effectuall with the elect of God and others also as the expostulation we read Isai 5. Secondly our Saviour was a man as well as God and though the Sonne of God yet made under the Law and accordingly as much bound to desire and endeavour the salvation of all amongst whom he was sent as any Prophet or Apostle or Minister of Gods word That in the 5. Ioh. 34. These things have I spoken unto you that ye might be saved What is the meaning thereof but this These things have I spoken unto you exhorting you to believe that ye might be saved according to that v. 24. He that heareth me and believeth him that sent me hath everlasting life and shall not come into condemnation but hath passed from death to life and by the words following in the words alleadged by him it appears that there is no other intention of salvation meant than in case they believe But ye will not come unto me that ye might have life v. 40. And as before I said Christ being made under the Law was bound as well as we are to desire the salvation of his Brethren that is to desire and labour the conversion of those to whom he was sent that so they might be saved DISCOURSE SECT IV. THis is also the use and end for which the Sacraments were ordained as we may see Luk. 7. 30. Where we have these wordes But the Scribes and Pharisees and expounders of the Law despised the councell of God against them selves and were not Baptized of Iohn In which words thus much is plainly included that it was Gods counsell and purpose in Iohns Baptisme to bring them to Christ and in him to Heaven much more is it in the end of Christs Baptisme which is more excellent than Iohns was not in substance but in the fulnesse of grace administred and dispensed by it All that have been Baptized into Christ sayth the Apostle have been Baptized unto his death Rom. 6. 3. And Gal. 3. 29. All ye that are Baptized into Christ have put on Christ the very phrases there used shew that Baptisme is in its originall intention an instrument of uniting men to Christ and giving them communion with him in the benefits of his death except a man be borne of water saith Christ and of the spirit he cannot c. Ioh. 3. 5. In which words are delivered two things 1. The necessity of regeneration except a man be born again 2. The working causes of it efficient the Spirit of God instrumentall the Sacrament of Baptisme there called water from the outward matter of it Baptisme therefore is appointed to be a means of regeneration to all those that are Baptized and doth effect it in all that doe not put an obstacle in the way to hinder it For this cause doth the Apostell dignifye it the layer of regeneration Titus 3. 5. I will shut up this with Acts. 2. 38. Where Peter sayth repent and be Baptized every one of you for the remission of sinnes plainly implying that therefore is Baptisme ordained to be received that those who doe receive it might have their sinnes remitted The patience of God also which is another singular donation and gift of God to men is exercised to this very end as appeares Rom. 2. 4. Despisest thou the riches of his goodnesse and forbearance and long suffering not knowing that the goodnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance But thou after thy hardnesse of heart that canst not repent heapest up c. In these words we may note for our purpose 1. Gods end and intent in forbearing sinners and that is the leading of them to repentance and so to Salvation for repentance is Per se ordinata ad salutem as a means to the end 2. The persons to whom God intends this good by his forbearance and they are such as dispise the riches of his goodnesse and have hard and impenitent hearts 3. The issue and event of this theire contempt of Gods patience and that is a treasuring up wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath Out of all which laid togeher ariseth thus much That God by sparing wicked men who have hard and impenitent hearts intends their everlasting good though they by the abuse of his patience and refusall to repent doe treasure up to themselues wrath and eternall misery The like to this is delivered in the 2 Peter 3. 9. God is not slack as some men count slacknesse but patient toward us that is us men And why patient towards us Because he would have none to perish The end therefore of Gods patience is mans repentance and Salvation TWISSE Consideration THough this Author doth little answer your expectation in confining himselfe to Reprobation therein to give you satisfaction as touching the reason why he hath changed his mind in certain controversies yet it may be his purpose is to make you amends by acquainting you with some misteries of his concerning Baptisme out of Luk. 7. 30. Where it is said of the Scribes and Pharises that in refusing to be Baptized of Iohn they despised the counsell of God against themselves hence he inferres that it was Gods counsell and purpose in Iohns Baptisme to bring them to Christ and in him to heaven as much as to say God purposed to bring them to Christ and to heaven but they would not and so it came to passe that Omnipotentis Dei voluntatis effectus was hindered by the will of the creature which Austin accounted a very foule absurdity as if God were not able to bring them to Christ yet our Saviour professeth that like as none can come unto him except the Father draw him so on the other side every one that the Father giveth me comes unto me Ioh. 6. And the Apostle saith Who hath resisted his will Omnipotente facilitate convertit saith Austin ex nolentibus volentes facit But as for the Text suppose the Evangelist had called it the purpose of God yet the object of his purpose is not
expressed and why might it not be Gods purpose to make it their duty to hearken to Iohn and to submit to the Lords Ordinance administred by Iohn as well as Gods purpose that they should obey him and be perswaded to be Baptized by him yea and much rather too considering the foule absurdity wherewith this interpretation is charged as formerly I have shewed and he must have the stomack of an Ostrich that can digest it But where I pray was it ever read or heard before that Gods purpose is at any time despised Gods counsell indeed is too often despised as when he saith I councell thee to buy of mee gold c. Revel 3. And the counsell of God signifieth no other will of God than is the will of commandement of admonition of exhortation and such like But whereas he talkes of a greater fulnesse of grace in the Baptisme of Christ than in the Baptisme of Iohn this beliefe is one of his mysteries concerning Baptisme Iohn Preached Christ unto the people Acts 19. 4. And Iohns Baptisme was the Baptisme of repentance for the remission of sinnes that is Preaching of repentance he administred Baptisme unto them in assurance of the forgivenesse of their sinnes upon their repentance And therefore he put off the Scribes and Pharises calling upon them to bring forth fruits of repentance first So Peter speakes of the Baptisme of Christ Acts 2. Repent and be Baptized for the forgivenesse of your sinnes So was circumcision unto the Jewes a Seale of the righteousnesse of faith that is of the forgivenesse of sinnes through faith It seems this Author is none of the Rhemists adversary in this who upon Math. 3. 11. writes thus It is an Article of our adversaries that the Baptisme of Christ is no better then the Baptisme of Iohn they make it of no more value or efficacy for remission of sinnes and grace and justification than was Iohns whereunto M r Fulke makes answer saying Remission of sinne is proper unto God as well in Iohns Baptisme as in the Baptisme of Christ and that Iohn in that place compares the Ministry of Man with the authority and power of God and though some of the ancient Fathers were of another opinion yet Saint Marke saith expressely That Iohn Preached the Baptisme of repentance unto forgivenesse of sinnes And who can separate forgivenesse of sinnes from true repentance When the Lord promiseth at what time soever the sinner repenteth to pardon his sinnes The seale of Baptisme also added to the doctrine of Repentance must needs testify remission of sinnes namely the soule to be washed by mercy as the body is with water Neither doth this doctrine derogate any thing from the Baptisme of Christ seeing it is Christ that forgiveth sinnes and giveth grace in the Baptisme ministred by Iohn and ministred by his Apostles For Iohns Baptisme was by Gods institution not of Iohns devising It is true All that have been Baptized into Christ have been Baptized into his death Rom. 6. 3. and Gal. 3. 26. All that have been Baptized into Christ have put on Christ But take Baptisme aright and let Peter be an interpreter of Paul Baptisme saveth us saith he 1 Pet. 3. 21. But least you should mistake him marke what he addes Not the putting away the filth of the flesh here is the outward Baptizing with water but the interrogation which a good conscience makes to God Nay let Paul be an interpreter of himselfe 1 Cor. 6. 12 But ye are washed but ye are sanctifyed but ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the spirit of our God Now I willingly confesse that as many as are washed and sanctified and justified by the spirit of God have put on Christ and are Baptized into his death to the mortifying and crucifying the old man in them And as by the Baptisme of the spirit we doe put on Christ so are we united unto Christ and have a communion with him in the benefits of his death But as for the intention of Baptisme of water I know none it hath much lesse doe I know how to put a difference between intention originall and some other intention which he conceales content to suffer the distinction to fly with one wing The Baptize is intention I am somewhat acquainted with On mans part to Baptize such as are brought to the font for that purpose and by Baptisme to consecrate them to the service of that God who is one in nature but three in persons Father Sonne and Holy Ghost on Gods part to seale unto us the righteousnesse of faith which I learne out of Rom. 4. 11. In the description of Circumcision and the meaning thereof I take to be the assuring of forgivenesse of sinnes to them that believe and this is congruous to the description both of Johns Baptisme and Christs Baptisme set forth unto us in holy Scripture As for that Iohn 3. 5. Except a man be borne of Water and of the Spirit he cannot c. Master Fulke in his answer to the Rhemists on that verse writes thus It is not necessary in this place by Water to understand materiall Water but rather the purifying grace of Christ as cap. 4. v. 11. Whereof the washing with water in Baptisme is an outward signe and seale which also is termed fire Math. 3. 11. The water therefore in Baptisme is not our regeneration properly but a Sacrament and seale thereof Isid Origen l. 7. cap. de Spiritu Sancto Aliud est aqua Sacramenti aliud aqua quae significat Spiritum Dei aqua enim Sacramenti visibilis est aqua spiritus sancti invisibilis est ista abluit corpus significat quid sit in anima per illum autem spiritum Sanctum anima mundatur saginatur And a little after Indeed saith he the words of our Saviour Christ are not properly of the externall Sacrament more then Ioh. 6. Of the other Sacrament except you eate the flesh of the Sonne of man and drinke his bloud you have no life in you whereas all Infants are excluded from that Sacrament and consequently should be excluded from life if the words were meant of the outward Sacraments And the Fathers of the ancient Church which thought Baptisme was necessary did likewise think the communion to be as necessary for Infants as Augustine Innocentius Bishop of Rome and all the Church of their time for any thing we can gather by their writings Finally when the word of Water in this Text signifieth the purifying grace of Christ rather than the outward element of Baptisme here can be no argument drawn out of this place that Sacraments conferre grace of the worke wrought but according to the dispensation of Gods spirit who worketh according to his own pleasure as in this chap. v. 8. 1 Cor. 12. When this Author talkes of the necessity of regeneration I doubt he considers not that hence it followeth that either all that dye unbaptized are damned for I presume he
speaks of the necessity of it unto salvation or that many thousands are now adaies regenerated without any Sacrament of regeneration That the Spirit of God is the efficient cause of Regeneration I think no Christian doubteth but this Author maketh the Baptizing with Water to be an efficient also as when he saith Baptisme is appoynted to be a means of Regeneration to all that are Baptized and not only so but that it doth effect it also in all that doe not put an obstacle in the way to hinder it I acknowledge willingly that Baptisme materiall is an instrument to wit both as a signe as a seale But that it is an instrument in any other kind of operation than belongs to a signe and seale I have not hitherto learned out of the word of God And as I remember Arminius was sometimes challenged for Heterodoxy about the Sacraments and withall that his Apology was this he never ascribed any other efficacy unto the Sacraments than is denoted under the tearmes of Signes and Seales but no marvaile if a degenerated condition hath seized on any that such proficiunt in pejus and grow more and more degenerate The phrase used here in calling Baptisme a means of regeneration sounds harsh in my eares we commonly say and it is the doctrine of our Catechisme that a Sacrament is an outward and visible signe of an inward and invisible grace now this grace in Baptisme I take to be the grace of regeneration and is it a decent expression to say that the signe of Regeneration is the means of Regeneration As for Baptismus spiritus the Baptisme of the spirit that is the very working of regeneration but Baptismus fluminis the Baptisme of water that is the administration of the outward signe and seale of the grace of regeneration The word Preacheth forgivenesse of sinnes to all that believe so doth the Sacrament of Baptisme but the word Preacheth this to the eare the Sacrament to the eye The word assureth it for it is Gods word the Sacrament assures it for it is Gods seale but neither of these worketh the assurance without the spirit of God and as for the working of Faith it selfe I have read that Faith comes by hearing I no where read that Faith comes by the being Baptized And sure I am when men of ripe yeares came to be Baptized they were first Catechumini then competentes and none admitted unto Baptisme unlesse the word had formerly brought them unto faith The Apostle calls Baptisme the laver of regeneration by the Rhemists translation the fountain of regeneration by the former English translation the washing of regeneration by the last but whereas this Author dignifies it with this title because it doth effect regeneration in all that doe not put an obstacle in the way to hinder it if this Author shall prove it while his head is hot we shall give that credence to it as it deserves in the mean time it stands for a bold affirmation let him take his time to make it appeare to be sound the Rhemists upon the place have this note As before in the Sacrament of holy Orders 1 Tim. 4. 2 Tim. 1. So here it is plaine that Baptisme giveth grace and that by it as by an instrumentall cause we be saved Master Fulkes answer is this Here is no word to prove that Baptisme giveth grace of the worke wrought but the Apostle saith that God hath saved us by the renewing of the Holy Ghost which is testified by the Sacrament of Baptisme marke I pray the office of Baptisme in Master Fulkes judgement to testify the renewing which is Sacramentally the laver of regeneration not by the worke wrought but by the grace of Gods spirit by which we are justified So speaketh Saint Peter and explicateth himselfe 1 Pet. 3. 21. Baptisme saveth us not the washing of the flesh of the body but the interrogation of a good conscience And because I know no obstacle that an Infant can put to hinder the effect of it for I suppose the obstacle must be rationall and Infants are not come to the use of reason to performe any rationall act which may prove any rationall obstacle therefore it seems this Authors opinion is that all who are Baptized in the Church are regenerate this indeed was the profession of Master Mountague before he was Bishop and was answered by Bishop Carelton as touching the best firmament of his opinion the Book of our Common-Prayer where the Child Baptized is said to be regenerate that is to be understood Sacramento tenus which is Saint Austins phrase and which he distinguisheth from truly regenerate And Bishop Usher in his History of Gotteschaleus alleadgeth out of the Author of the imperfect work upon Mathew Hom. 5. this sentence Eos qui cum tentati fuerint superantur pereunt videri quidem filios Dei factos propter aquam Baptismatis revera tamen non esse filios Dei quia non sunt in Spiritu Baptizati As also out of Austin De Unitate Ecclesiae cap. 19. Visibilem Baptismum posse habere alienos qui regnum Dei non possidebunt sed esse donum Spiritus Sancti quod proprium eorum est tantum qui regnabunt cum Christo in aeternum And lastly out of the same Austin as he is alleadged by Peter Lombard l. 4. Sent. dis 4. Sacramenta in solis electis efficere quod figurant All this is to be found in that Book of Bishop Usher p. 188. Besides many more pregnant passages are collected by him for the same purpose And not to charge him with authority only but with some reason when Saint James saith Jam. 1. 18. Of his own will he hath begotten us by the word of truth what I pray is here meant by the word of truth Is it not the Gospell to wit The Preaching of Christ crucified Now consider to whom doth he write but to the twelve Tribes that is to the Christian Jewes such as were begotten to a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ as Saint Peter speakes writing also to the Jewes If then these Jewes were regenerated by the Preaching of the Gospell surely they were not regenerated by Circumcision and if regeneration were not necessarily annexed to the Sacrament of Circumcision amongst the Jewes then neither is it necessarily affixed to the Sacrament of Baptisme amongst the Christians For our Divines doe usually maintaine against the Papists that the Sacraments of the Old Testament were as effectuall to the Jewes as the Sacraments of the New Testament are effectuall unto us Christians It is true Baptisme is ordained that those which doe receive it may have the remission of their sinnes but not absolutely but conditionally to wit in case they believe and repent as appears both in that place Acts 2. 38. and Rom. 4. 11. And Baptisme as a Seale doth assure hereof only in case they believe and repent and therefore none of ripe years were admitted unto Baptisme untill
instructer think that Christ was sent to merit faith and regeneration for all then either absolutely or conditionally if absolutely then all must believe de facto and be regenerated if conditionally then let them discover unto us this condition and avoyd direct Pelagianisme if they can 2. Indeed we think the word is not sent to all that perish we find it by manifest experience in reference to Ministry humane and if they have so strenuously rubd their own foreheads as to faine out of their own heads a Ministry Angelicall let them not expect that we should take their forgeries for Oracles Divine 3. It is not true that where it is sent among them that perish 't is sent only that they should slight it it may be sent as well ut proficiant ad exteriorem vitae emendationem quo mitius puniantur as for those that doe slight it and stumble at it being disobedient Saint Peter plainly saith that hereunto they were ordained Let them therefore cry downe Peter first and then we will take it in good part to be cryed downe also And if God sent his Sonne into the World to be crucified by some why might not he as well send the Preaching of Christ into the World to be slighted and despised by others and Saint Paul hath professed that the Preachers of it are unto God a sweet savour in Christ even in them that perish Yet we say not that this is the end why God sends it to any But we say God both sends it and permits many to slight it and to persevere in the contempt of it that he may manifest his glory in their just condemnation and declare thereby also the riches of his glory on the vessells of mercy whom he hath prepared unto glory by making it appeare what a mercifull difference God hath put between them and others To the particulars subordinate hereunto I answer distinctly thus 1. God deceives none in calling them to Salvation in the name of his Sonne by the preaching of his Word any more by our Doctrine than by the Doctrine of this Author for as he maintaines that God intends Salvation to all men no otherwise than in case they believe so doe we and as we maintaine that God doth fully intend to most the contrary but no otherwise than in case they believe not so doth he only as touching the obtaining of faith and regeneration here is the difference between us we maintaine with Saint Paul that God hath mercy on whom he will in bestowing the grace of faith and regeneration and hardeneth whom he will by denying of it soe doth not he and accordingly we say Christ merited faith and regeneration for his elect But the Remonstrants openly professe that he merited faith and regeneration for none at all Hereby let the indifferent judge which of us makes God the greatest deceiver they or we And the truth is this Author nor his instructer are willing to discover themselves in this poynt for feare least nothing should save them from breaking their necks but to be received upon the featherbed of Pelagianisme so fearfull a precipice is likely there to meet with them at the margent of this there stands a wild quotation thus Suffrag Britaine p. 43. as if the Author was loath his meaning should be found or it may be in transcribing the coppy sent him he did mistake But the Article upon which these Theses are dilivered he utterly leaves out like as in his former quotation of the sufferages But after much searching I guesse I find that which he refers unto on the 3. Article 3. Position which is pag 166. in Synod Dordare and in the English sufferages of our Divines of Great Britaine the position is this whome God doth thus prepare by his Spirit as was signifyed in the former position through the meanes of the word those doth he truly and seriously invite and call to faith and conversion I make no question but whatsoever God doth he doth truly and seriously And as for that sancta simulatio which this Author formerly upbraided our Divines with for attributing it unto God I have formerly discovered the false nature of that aspertion though he thought to walke in the clouds that his jugling might not be discovered The explicatiō of the position is added thus By the nature of the benefit offered and by the evident word of God we must judge of those helpes of graces which are bestowed on men and not by the abuse of them Therefore when the Gospell of its ' owne nature calls men unto repentance and Salvation when the incitements and Divine graces tend the same way wee must not thinke any thing is done fainedly by God this is proved too All these I willingly acknowledge neither doe I know any of our Divines that deny it and more particularly I am willing to particulate wherein I take it to consist God hereby doth signify that as many as believe shall be Saved and so I say he doth seriously intend as much as likewise that none shall be saved without faith likewise God doth signify that he is well pleased with faith and conversion in whomsoever he finds it and herein he deales most truly and seriously likewise hereby he signifies his own will to make it their duty to believe which also is most true and serious But none of all these I know full well will satisfy these with whom wee deale unlesse we acknowledge that God hath a kind of velleity also both of their conversion and salvation but let them shew me any passage out of these Suffrages where this is acknowledged They adde If God should not seriously invite all whom he vouchsafeth this gift of his Word and spirite to a serious conversion surely both God should deceive many whom he calls in his Sonnes name and the messengers of the Evangelicall promise might be accused of falsewitnesse and those which being called to conversion doe neglect to obey might be more excusable All this I willingly grant neither doe I know any Divine of ours that denyes it according to the three particulars formerly specifyed wherein I desired to explicate the truth and seriousnesse of all this though those worthy Divines of ours goe not so farre As for their last clause which is this For that calling by the Word and spirit cannot be thought to leave men unexcusable which is only exhibited to this end to make them unexcusable I willingly confesse I doe not sufficiently understand them in this For albeit I have already particulated divers things werein the seriousnesse of this Divine invitation doth consist neither doe I find any end of this Divine invitation mentioned at all by these our Divines whom from my heart I honour for their just desert yet to me it seemes most cleare that Revelation doth so necessarily take away excuse upon pretence of ignorance and admonition and invitation as necessarily takes away excuse upon pretence of not being admonished and invited that if God
founder melteth in vaine for the wicked are not plucked away Reprobate silver shall man call them because the Lord hath rejected them And like as the sowing of seed is sometimes in vaine Levit. 26 16. So why may not Preaching be in vaine which is a sowing of seed also Yet in respect of Gods end it is not in vaine For he hath the ends he aimed at for even in them that perish there ariseth a sweet savour unto God 2 Cor. 2. 15. As well as in them that are saved And if they stumble at the word being disobedient Saint Peter telleth us that hereunto they were odained 1 Pet. 2. 8. Yea and Austin tells us that even Reprobates by the Ministry of Gods word are sometimes brought ad exteriorem vitae emendationem quo mitius puniantur And as for the Preachers of the Word their labour is not in vaine in the Lord. 1 Cor. 15. last And Esay 49. 4. My judgement is with the Lord and my worke with my God For even Christ himselfe was forsaken of many Iohn 6. Yet was that no disparagement to him before God They desire indeed that all men might be saved that are partakers of their Ministry as they are bound in charity but with submission to the will of God so that finally their desires in the issue are terminated only in the elect They became all things to all men that they may save some 1 Cor. 6. And who are they let Paul speake I endure all things for the elect sake As for the hearers themselves as many as are elect they believe by it sooner or later and are brought to repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25. And finally to salvation That thou maist both save thy selfe and them that heare thee saith Paul to Timothy So that to them surely 't is not in vaine And as for Reprobates they are convicted by it of their unbeliefe Suffrag Britt on the 3. 4. Articles Excuse is taken from them for they cannot plead that they never heard the Gospel whereby mē are admonished to repent Act. 17. 30. Thereby to excuse themselves yea sometimes they may be the better for it in respect of an outward cōformity only it is in vain in respect that salvation is not obtained by them though the Gospel the Ministry thereof be a means tēding thereunto in as much as it openeth the way of salvation discovereth all false waies But paines for obtaining salvation and Hell are ill joyned together For therefore hell is their portion because they neglect the means of salvation and take no paines about it at least good paines For our Saviour plainly tells us of some that they shall seek to enter in at the straight gate and shall not be able Luk. 13. 24. It seems they took some paines though they were not able to enter We are accounted Predestinarian Heretiques for saying so much but I hope he will not reckon our Saviour too amongst the number So Esay 58. 2. Yet they seeke mee daily and will know my waies even as a Nation that did righteously and had not forsaken the statutes of their God They aske of me ordinances of justice They will draw neer unto God saying Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest it not We have punished our selves thou regardest it not Here is devotion and paines too in the way thereof but I think they had never a whit the better interest in heaven for this Doth this doctrine also savour of the Predestinarian heresy As for that pretended passage out of Acts 9. It is in vain for thee to kick against the pricks I find no such saying of Christ to Saul but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an hard thing for shall he not wound himselfe that doth so more then hurt the pricks themselves So was Paul by those persecuting courses of his in the high-way to damnation yet it is true also Gods Church is nothing damnified by the persecutions and martyrdomes of Gods Saints For sanguis Martyrum semen Ecclesiae one is cut off but many rise up in the place of a few Like as a seed of corne falls into the ground and dyes but a blade springs out of that one that dyes and brings forth an eare of many graines By the way I am wondrous glad to heare the acknowledgement of a precious truth to breake forth out of the mouth of this Author ere he is aware namely That the preservation of Gods Church is absolutely decreed in heaven For marke I beseech you wherein the preservation of Gods Church consists 1. One is in preserving them that are called from Apostacy If this be absolutely decreed then the perseverance of men in the state of grace is absolutely decreed and consequently it is absolutely maintained And if perseverance in faith be absolutely maintained then faith it selfe was absolutely wrought and absolutely decreed to every one that enjoyeth it 2. Another is the restraining of Tyrants from persecuting the professors of Christ If this be absolutely decreed then the free actions of men are absolutely decreed by God for to abstaine from persecuting is undoubtedly a free action of man 3. But in case both Tyrants are permitted to rage and many are permitted to fall away And all are mortall and must dye therefore the next effectuall meanes of preserving the Church is the raising of others in their place to professe the Gospell Now this is wrought by the effectuall calling and converting of men unto faith in Christ and consequently the effectuall calling and converting of men is absolutely decreed by God Thus truth hath prevailed over the mouth of errour to make it testify for Gods truth and against errour Magna est veritas ut praevalebit Here this Author hath raised spirits against himselfe improvidently let him try how he can lay them and conjure them downe againe 3. I come unto the third I willingly grant that men are not willing to be exercised about fruitlesse actions And as for the actions specified by Saint Paul as they were not fruitlesse to him so I make no question but that they are in like manner profitable to all that performe them as Paul did namely the actions of mortification We have Saint Pauls word for it which is of some force if so be he be not reputed among the number of Predestinarian heretiques as well as Austin and our Divines If by the spirit you mortify the deeds of the flesh ye shall live Endeavour goes beyond desire yet Nehemiah commends himselfe to God in this manner We that desire to feare thy name And the holy Prophet Esay The desire of our hearts is towards thy name and to the remembrance of thee And S. Paul We desire to live honestly And to fight with the temptations of the Devill the allurements of the World and a mans own corruptions is undoubtedly a manifest token of a true Souldier of Christ Jesus And mortification in speciall such need not doubt but that they shall crucify
he the Lord knoweth Now who doubts but that our doctrine of justification by faith and not by workes may be an occasion to some to abuse the grace of God unto wantonnesse such there were even in the Apostles daies but what Shall we therefore renounce that doctrine I am not yet come to the tempering of the manner of proposing this doctrine I have more to say before I come to that What difference is there in harshnesse between these doctrines If ye doe not believe therefore ye doe not believe because God hath ordained you to destruction and this If ye doe not believe therefore ye doe not believe because God hath not regenerated you Let any man shew how a doore is open to slothfulnesse more by the one then by the other especially considering the ground of all is mans inability to believe without this grace of God effectually preventing and working him unto faith Now this doctine is plainly taught and that particularly of certain persons to their faces Ioh 8. He that is of God heareth Gods word ye therefore heare them not because ye are not of God The phrase to be of God I interpret here of regeneration but both Austin of old and our Divines of late doe interpret of election and so it is precisely the same with the Preaching of reprobation in his true colours as this Author interprets it and passeth this censure upon it as opening a doore to liberty and profanenesse which may I confesse well be occasionally to carnall men or to men possest with prejudicate opinions yet here it appears plainly to be in effect the same with that which our Saviour himselfe Preached But take this withall as it may be an occasion of slothfulnesse so it may be a meanes to humble men and beat them out of the presumptuous conceit of their own sufficiency to heare Gods word to believe to repent and the like and thereby to prepare them to look up unto God and to waite for him in his ordinances if so be as the Angell came downe to move the waters in the poole of Bethesda to make them medicinable so Gods spirit may come downe and make his word powerfull to the regenerating of them to the working of faith and repentance in them And I appeale to every sober mans judgement whether to this end tended not the very like Doctrine and admonition proposed by Moses to the Children of Israel in the Wildernesse Deut. 29. 2 3 4. Ye have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and all his servants and unto all his Land The great temptations which thine eyes have seene those great miracles and wonders Yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day For is it not Moses his purpose to set before their eyes how little they have profited in obedience and thankfulnesse unto God and amendment of life by all those great workes of his in the way of mercy towards them and in the way of judgement towards the Egyptians And what was the cause of all this but the hardnesse of their hearts and the blindnesse of their eyes and to what end doth he tell them that God alone can take away this hardnesse of heart and blindnesse of mind which hitherto he had not done Might he not seem to justify them in walking after the hardnesse of their hearts by this and harden them therein by this Doctrine of his like as this Author casts the like aspersion in part upon the like Doctrine of ours Yet Moses passeth not for this so he might set them in a right course to be made partakers of Gods grace and that by the ministry of the Law to humble and prepare them for the grace of God which is the Evangelicall use of the Law And it is remarkable that in the first verse of this Chapter these words are said to be the words of the Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the Children of Israel in the land of Moab beside the Covenant which he made with them in Horeb. Wherefore seeing the Covenant made in Horeb was the Covenant of the Law it followeth that this Covenant is the Covenant of grace and these words are the words of the Covenant of grace which is plainly expressed in the next Chapter v. 6. And the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy seed that thou maiest love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maiest live And what is the usuall preparation hereunto but to humble men by convicting them of sinne and of their utter inability to help themselves and that nothing but Gods grace is able to give them an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare But yet because we doe not speake in the same measure of the spirit and of power as Moses and our Saviour did therefore we labour to decline all harshnesse as much as lyeth in our power where we see occasion is like to be taken of offence Therefore first as touching this discourse of Calvins If you believe not therefore it is because you are already destinated unto damnation I say this is untrue more waies then one First if he conceives destination unto damnation goes before Gods decree to deny faith this I utterly deny and have already proved that in no moment of reason doth the decree of damnation precede the decree of denying grace Therefore Gods decree to deny them grace is rather the cause why they believe not then the decree of damnation Secondly whether we take it of the one or of the other or of both yet the proposition is utterly untrue For it doth not follow that because a man doth not as yet believe therefore God hath decreed to deny him faith and because he hath so decreed therefore he denies him faith For he that believes not to day may believe to morrow Saul was sometimes a persecutor of Gods Church but was it at that time lawfull to conclude that because he did not then believe therefore he was destinated unto damnation so that the reason indeed is either because God hath not decreed at all to give them faith or because the time which God hath ordained for their conversion is not yet come This is so cleare that Calvin himselfe were he alive would not gainsay upon consideration Neither doth he justify this discourse but only saith we must be more wise then so to discourse to our Auditors But this Author in saying this is to set downe our doctrine of reprobation in its colours delivers that which is shamefully untrue and nothing sutable with our doctrine More necre to the matter we should say rather That like as therefore a man heareth Gods word because he is of God that is as I interpret it because he is regenerated of God so therefore men heare them not because they are not of
with as much art and cunning as can be will not fasten upon them With David they say in their feare that all men are lyars namely all such as come to comfort them in their temptation And the reason is because it is an opinion incompatible with any word of comfort that can be ministred to the distressed soule in this temptation Gods love to mankind Christs death for all mankind and the calling of poore sinners without exception to repentance or salvation with all other grounds of consolation the tempted will easily elude with the grounds of his opinion which that we may the better see let us imagine that we heare a Minister and a tempted soule reasoning in this or the like manner Tempted Woe is me I am a castaway I am absolutely rejected from Grace and glory Minister Discourage not thy selfe thou poore afflicted soule God hath not cast thee off For he hateth nothing that he hath made but bears a love to all men and to thee amongst the rest Tempted God hateth no man as he is his creature but he hateth a great many as they are involv'd in the first transgression and become guilty of Adams sinne And God hath a two-fold love as I have learned a generall love which puts forth it selfe in outward and temporall blessings only and with this he loved all men And a speciall love by which he provideth everlasting life for men and with this he loves only a very few which out of his alone will and pleasure he singled from the rest Under this generall love am I not the speciall Minister God so loves all men as that he desires their eternall good for the Apostle saith he would have all to be saved and he would have no man perish nor thee in particular Tempted All is taken two waies for all sorts and conditions of men high and low rich and poore bond and free Jew and Gentile and for all particular men in those severall sorts and conditions God would have all sorts of men to be saved but not all particular men of these sorts some of my Country and my calling c. but not all or mee in particular Or if it be true that God would have all particular men to be saved yet he wills it only with a revealed Will not with a secret will for with that he will have a great company to be damned absolutely Under this revealed will am I not the secret Minister Christ came into the World to seeke and to save what was lost and is a propitiation not for our sinnes only idest the sinnes of a few particular men or the sinnes of all sorts of men but for the sinnes of the whole world therefore he came to save thee for thou wast lost and to be a propitiation for thy sinnes for thou art part of the whole world Tempted The World as I have heard is taken two waies in Scripture largely for all mankind and strictly in a more restrained signification for the elect or for believers Or if it be true that he dyed for all mankind yet he dyed for them but after a sort he dyed for them all dignitate pretii he did enough to have redeemed all if God would have had it so but he did not dye for all voluntate propositi God never intended that he should shed his bloud for all and every man but for a few select ones only with whom it is my lot not to be numbred Minister God hath founded an universali Covenant with men upon the blood of Christ thy Mediator and therefore he intended it should be shed for all men universally He hath made a promise of salvation to every one that will believe and excludes none that doe not exclude themselves Tempted God purposed his Sonne should dye for all men and that in his name an offer of remission of sinnes and salvation should be made to every one but yet upon this condition that they will doe that which he meanes the greatest part of them shall never doe idest Repent and Believe nor I among the rest Minister God hath a true meaning that all men who are called should repent and believe that so they might be saved as he would have all to be saved so to come to the knowledge of the truth and as he would have no man to perish so he would have all men to repent and therefore he calls them in the Preaching of the word to the one as well as to the other Tempted God hath a double call an outward call by the Preaching of the word an inward call by the irresistible work of the spirit in mens hearts The outward call is a part of Gods outward will with that he calls every man to believe the inward and effectuall call is a part of his secret will and with that he doth not call every man to believe but a very few only whom he hath infallibly and inevitably ordained to eternall life And therefore by the outward will which I enjoy among many others I cannot be assured of Gods good will and meaning that I shall believe repent and be saved By this we may see that no sound comfort can be fastned upon a poore soule rooted in this opinion when he lyes under this horrible temptation The example of Francis Spira an Italian Lawyer will give some farther light and proofe to this This Spira about the yeare 1548 against his knowledge and conscience did openly abjure his religion and subscribe to Popery that thereby he might preserve his life and goods and liberty Not long after he fell into a deep distresse of Conscience out of which he could never wrestle but ended his woefull daies in despaire To comfort him came many Divines of worth and note but against all the comforts that they applyed unto him he opposed two things especially 1. The greatnesse of his sinne It was a sinne of a deep dye commited with many urging and aggravating circumstances and therefore could not be forgiven This argument they quickly took from him and convinced him by the example of Peter that there was nothing in his sinne that could make it irremissible Peter that committed the same sinne and with more odious circumstances repented and was pardoned and so no doubt might he 2 He opposed his absolute reprobation and with that he put off all their comforts Peter saith he repented and was pardoned indeed because he was elected as for me I was utterly rejected before I was borne and therefore I cannot possibly repent or be saved If any man be elected he shall be saved though he have committed sinnes for number many and haynous in degree but if he be ex repudiatis one of the castawaies necessario condemnabitur though his sinnes be small and sew Nihil interest an multa an pauca an magna an parva sint quando nec Dei misericordia nec sanguis Christi quicquam ad eos pertinet A reprobate must be damned be his sinnes many or few
of our Children to love the Lord our God with all our hearts to take the stony heart out of our bowells and give us an heart of flesh and to put his own spirit within us as he seeth our waies so to heale them yea to heale our back-slidings to heale our rebellions All this this sweet comforter takes no notice of contenting himselfe with such a grace to be merited for him by Christ as this if he will believe he shall believe if he will repent he shall repent if he will love God with all his heart he shall love him with all his heart Yet when a man doth believe they are able to give him no assurance of his salvation or of his election because they maintaine that a man may totally and finally fall away from grace And all because their doctrine is that Gods effectuall grace in working the act of faith and repentance is given meerely according to mens works Tempted God purposed that his Sonne should dye for all men and that in his name an offer of remission of sinnes and salvation should be made to every one but yet upon this condition that they will doe that which he meanes the greatest part shall never doe i. e. Repent and believe nor I among the rest CONSIDERATION How doth God meane that the greatest part of men shall never believe and repent by our opinion Is it in this sence that they shall not believe and repent if they will When was it ever knowne that any of our Divines ever wrote or taught this We think rather it is impossible it should be otherwise therefore say it is a very absurd thing to call this Grace as the Arminians doe Indeed we say that God doth not meane by his preventing grace to work the wills of the greatest part of men to believe repent Doe not the Arminians say so too Yes verily and a great deale more for they deny that he workes any mans will to believe and repent in this manner but we say God purchaseth thus to worke the wills of all his chosen ones and when he hath wrought them to keepe them by his power through faith unto Salvation and put his feare in their hearts that they shall never depart a way from him Jer 32. 40. And upon this ground we can assure believers of their election which Arminians cannot And them that believe not keepe from dispaire in better manner then the Arminians can for they leave them to themselves to believe whereas the Scriptures shew that to be impossible so that they take upon them to comfort such quite against the haire But we comfort them with a possibility of being converted unto God by representing his allmighty power whose voyce is able to pierce into the graves and make dead Lazarus heare it This power he shewed in converting Saul when he marched furiously Jehu like against the Church of God Therfore be thou of good comfort especially considering thou art as it were under the wings of God thou hearest his voyce many come out of their graves at his call some at one time some at another and so maist thou God knowes how soone then shalt thou be assured of thine election which by Arminianisme thou canst not be in the meane time thou hast no cause to conclude that thou art a Reprobate Minister God hath a true meaning that all men who are called should repent and believe that so they might be saved as he would have all to be saved so to come to the knowledge of the truth and as he would have no man to perish so he would have all men to repent and therefore he calls them in the Preaching of the word to the one as well as to the other CONSIDERATION He keepes his course to afford thee the best comfort his doctrine yeelds which is as much as is incident to a Reprobate and how that should make thee conceive better of thy selfe then as of a Reprobate I doe not perceive Gods meaning is that as many as heare the Gospell should believe and repent ex officio that is that it shall be their duty for he commands it but he hath no meaning to bestow on all and every one the grace of faith and repentance as appeares by experience And if God did will they should de facto believe and be saved then either God is not able to bring them to faith and to save them or else his will is changed In like sort if it were his will that all and every one should know his truth then God is not able to make all and every one know his truth for it is apparent that all doe not it is apparent that all have not the Gospell The Apostle saith That God will not have any of us to perish but all to come to repentance he doth not say he would but he will And this is true of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 such as the Apostle speakes of believers and elect But as for others the Scriptures plainly professe that God blinds them hardens them and of Israell in the wildernesse The Lord saith Moses hath not given you an heart to perceive nor eyes to see nor eares to heare unto this day Deut 29. 4. He calls all that heare the Gospell indifferently by the Ministry of the Word but he openeth not the heart of all to attend unto it as to the Word of God like as we read he opened the heart of â—idia Acts. 16. 14. Tempted God hath a double call outward by his word inward by the irresistible work of his spirit with this he doth not call every man to believe but a very few only whom he hath infallibly and inevitably ordained to eternall life and therefore by the outward call which I enjoy among many others I cannot be assured of Gods good will and meaning that I shall believe repent and be saved CONSIDERATION Our Doctrine teacheth not that God calls every one by his Word that is an Arminian interjection But the outward call belongs to many more then are chosen as our Saviour sayth many are called but few are chosen Indeed he gives faith and repentance to a very few which no Arminian denyes only the Question is Whether God gives faith and repentance to whom he will or according to mens works We saytis to whom he will proceeding herein according to the meere pleasure of his will and not according to mens workes which to affirme is manifest Pelagianisme and publikely condemned many hundred yeares agoe It is true if thou dost not believe Gods Word doth not assure thee that he will make thee believe that were to assure thee of thine election before thy vocation a most unreasonable thing to be expected But God by his word assures thee that t is his meaning that without faith thou shalt not be saved Yet there is no cause thou shouldest think thy selfe a Reprobate for this was the condition of every one of Gods elect before their calling
gifts of God yet know that God doth not dispense them according to the meere pleasure of his will but according to mens workes whatsoever some men cry out to the contrary charging us with Pelagianisme but if thou art wise thou wilt take comfort in this as in true Christianisme As for those that maintaine absolute reprobation none of them is able to make it appeare unto thee that thou art no absolute reprobate And I willingly confesse that if faith and repentance be not evidences hereof we are not able to make it appeare either to others that they are not or to our selves that we are not Reprobates But by the way it is manifest that this Author by his grounds can give no assurance of election no not to a believer no certainty of salvation and yet he pretends to be a comforter when he leaves him in doubt whether he shall be saved or damned yet upon this pillow Arminians sleepe sweetly and presume that others may sleepe sweetly also that they are not absolutely reprobates And no marvaile for even in the course of the holiest conversation their doctrine can administer no assurance either of election or salvation But perhaps they will say though they can give no assurance of election absolute by their doctrine yet they can give assurance of election conditionall But wherein I pray doth this consist Forsooth in this that if they finally persevere in this their holy conversation they shall be saved But I pray consider Doth not our doctrine afford the same assurance as well as theirs It cannot be denied but that it doth and more then so for our doctrine gives assurance of perseverance in the state of grace to them that are once in the state of grace the Arminian doth not And the Apostle assures the Thessalonians that upon his knowledge they were the elect of God and that from the worke of their faith the labour of their love and the patience of their hope 1 Thess 1. 3. 4. And that the man of sinne shall not prevaile over them 2 Thess 2. 13. Because they are elect whereof also he was assured as there he signifies by their sanctification and faith It is true the outward acts of faith and repentance may be counterfited And it is as true that whether they be counterfeited or no it may be discerned otherwise why should the Apostle be so bold as to professe and that by observation of their workes that he knew they were elect of God 1 Thess 1. 4. The Devill may transforme himselfe into an Angell of light but yet we have a sure Word of God whereby to discerne his practises to corrupt either our faith or our manners otherwise we poore Creatures were but in a very evill case so his Ministers also transforme themselves crafty workers as they are into Ministers of righteousnesse but S t Paul discovered them and warned the Corinthians of them Wolves may goe in sheepes clothing but our Saviour assures us that we shall know them by their fruites none more proper fruite of a false Prophet then his false doctrine And we have a true touch-stone to discover that and make the Devills clawes to appeare in their proper forme and colours And we know how soone Simon Magus discovered himselfe to be in the very gall of betternesse and bond of iniquity Yet I nothing doubt but we may be deceived but most commonly it comes to passe that Hypocrites are the greatest deceivers and coseners of themselves and it is not their condition to be exercised with feares least they be Reprobates and to confesse that their faith their repentance is counterfit It is most likely they deale without Hypocrisy in this But when any doe lay such sinnes to their own charge we will not take them at their word but we will inquire upon what grounds they deliver this we will inquire whether now they are well pleased with this their former Hypocrisy If so what cause is there why they should be disquieted in themselves upon the consideration of that wherein they are well pleased But if it be their sorrow if this cause heavinesse of heart unto them here we have a double evidence of some sparkes of grace in them First in confessing their former Hypocrisy Secondly in being humbled with sorrow in the consideration of it Now God hath promised that if we confesse our sinnes God as he is faithfull and just will forgive them And if they are humbled in the consideration of it and tremble at the apprehension of Gods judgements against Hypocrites they are so much the fitter for God to take up his habitation in their contrite heart and humble spirit Es 57. 15. And Es 63. 2. I hope there is no miserable consolation in all this To minister this Physicke is to be a Phisitian of some value And certainly whatsoever was our former course whether in the way of profanesse or the way of hypocrisy when God brings us to consider it and to confesse it and to be acquainted with his feares and terrours here upon we have cause to conceive good hope that God is now in a gratious way to draw them neerer unto him who before were strangers from him Certainly we will be bold to tell them that there is no just cause why they should despaire I come to the last particular he insisteth upon and that is Piscators confession which because he conceives it serves his turne therefore he ascribes unto him ingenuity in this But what saith Piscator That no comfort can possibly be instilled into the soules of Reprobates Piscators words are these Reproborum anxiis animis nulla consolatio instillari potest This Author addes Possibly to make it the more waighty as he thinkes We acknowledg God to be the God of consolation and his spirit alone to be the comforter and if God will not give them Christ surely they can have no true consolation in Christ which yet depends meerely upon supposition of the will of God like as none but God can give raine and if it be his will it shall raine to morrow or not raine either shall come to passe according to his will and it is impossible it should be otherwise then he willeth yet is raine a contingent thing and God will have it come to passe contingently that is so as with a possibility to the contrary Now that God gives not all unto Christ our Saviour professeth John 17. Thine they were and thou hast given them unto me and afterwards for their sakes I sanctify my selfe This is spoken in reference unto the offering up of himself unto his Father upon the Crosse as Maldonate acknowledgeth to be the interpretation of all the Fathers whom he he had read He dyed we confesse to procure Salvation for all that believe but did he dye to procure faith for all If so then either absolutely or conditionally If absolutly then all must believe and be saved If conditionally to wit upon condition of some disposition
such words as might give offence to tender eares and could not well downe with those who are uncapable of such mysteries For all this the Authour quotes AntidotuÌ„ RemonstrantiuÌ„ pag 32 this booke I have not seen much lesse have I it at this time in my possession and therefore I must take it all upon trust And seeing this man was declared in the Synod of Dort as this Authour writes to be pure and Orthodox it seemes they did not censure these speeches of his as unsavorie speeches but rather justified them though with acknowledgment that they might give offence to tender eares and could not well downe with those who were as yet uncapable of such mysteries so that this Authour censureth these speeches of Maccovius for unsavory speeches without the least disproofe of them yet is Maccovius and then was a Professor of Divinity in the University of Franekar In like sort by consequent he censureth the judgment of the Synod as an unsavory judgment and their approbation of Maccovius as an unsavory approbation Let the Reader judge of what Spirit this Authour is and whether it may not be said of him as Moses said of Corah and his complices ye take to much upon you ye Sonnes of Aaron Nay what if this censure of his reflects upon the very Phrases of the Holy Ghost The two first phrases namely to will sinnes and to ordaine men to sinne are all one For to ordaine men to sinne is but to will that such men shall sinne or that there shall be such sinnes of men Now the Scripture frequently justifies this for the 10 Kings to give their Kingdomes to the Beast what is the meaning of it But to imploy their Regall power in supporting the Pope-dome Now was not this a great sinne Yet the Scripture expresly professeth that is was the will of God it should be so Rev 17. 17. For God hath put in their hearts to fullfill his will and to doe it with one consent for to give their Kingdome to the Beast untill the words of God be fulfilled As expresly doth Saint Peter testifie of some men that they are ordained to stumble at God's word and to be disobedient Christ is a stone to stumble at a Rock of offence even to them which stumble at the word being disobedient unto the which thing they were even ordained and by whom could they be ordained hereunto but by God In like sort we know the abominable Outrages committed by Herod Pontius Pilate together with the Gentiles and people of Israel against the Holy Sonne of God for Iudas betraied him the high Priests suborned witnesses against him Herod with his Herodians despitefully used him Pilate condemned him the Romane Souldiers scourged him spit in his face buffeted him arraied him like a King in scorne and crowned him with a Crowne of thornes and last of all Crucified him between two theeves yet of all these the Holy Ghost testifies That in this doing against the Holy Sonne of God they did what God had determined to be done The words of the Text are these and that as delivered with one accord by the Apostles and their fellowes for when Peter and Iohn were let goe they came to their fellowes and shewed all that the High Priests had said unto them And when they heard it they lift up their voices to God with one accord and said O Lord thou art the God which hath made Heaven and earth the sea and all things that are therein which by the mouth of thy servant David hast said why did the Gentiles rage and the people imagine a vaine thing The Kings of the earth assembled and the Rulers came together against the Lord and against his Christ for doubtlesse against thy Holy Son Iesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israell gathered themselves together to doe whatsoever thine hand and thy Counsell had determined before to be done Now every one knowes that to determine to be done and to ordaine to be done and to will to be done are all one why doth not this Authour censure these speeches for unsavory speeches as well as those of Maccovius Why doth not he expose this Synod of the Apostles and others to the same censure whereunto he exposeth the Synod of Dort Nay can it be avoided but that already he hath done so and that these censureâ— of his must necessarily prove the powring forth of Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost Seeing the speeches are used by the Apostles which he censureth for unsavorie being utteredly Maccovius Is it not apparent that whosoever renounceth those speeches most also renounce the word of God And shall it be a reproach to us that we cannot keep our owne ground unlesse the Holy Ghost keepes his ground and maintaine his owne Diâ—lect to be savorie in spite of the vise aspersions that this Authour or any other of his Spirit doth usually cast upon it not sparing to terme such speeches unsavorie speeches As for the last phrase That God would that all men should be saved this is no Scripture nay it doth imply a man fest Blasphemy namely that God cannot save them It is true the Scripture saith that God willeth that all men should be saved but what is meant by this note of universalities in Scripture let Scripture it selfe be Judge The Pharisees did Tâ—the omne olus as Austine observes not every particular her be to give the Tâ—th thereof but every kind of herbe to give the Tenth thereof so Peter saw in a vessell let downe from Heaven 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not every fower footed beast in particular but all manner of fower footed beasts see Mat 3. 5. It is said all Iudea went forth to Iohn and all the region round about Iordan what can the meaning of this be but that from all parts of Judea and the Region round about Jordan of all sorts some went forth to Iohn not that there was not one man left behind in all Judea and in all the Region round about Jordan And accordingly Saint Austine interpreted this place above 1200 yeares agoe namely that God will that of all sorts some be saved even of Kings and Nobles some though but few of such 1 Cor 1. 27. Now this is not denied either by Maccovius or by any other of our Divines only they deny it to be the will of God that all and every one shall be sayed for if this were his will it would follow first that God is not able to save them which is to deny the first Article of the Creed as Austine in this very particular disputed many hundred yeares agoe Secondly it would follow that God is changed for certainely when he damnes men he hath no will to save them And what is Election Divine is it any other then the will of God ordaining unto salvation Now who dares say that all are Elect Hath not our Saviour expresly told us that even
the Gospell as appeareth by the objection following Why then doth he complaine For who hath resisted his will And albeit the Saints of God expostulate with him in this manner Why hast thou caused us to erre from thy wayes and hardened our hearts against thy feare Yet we know that God takes no pleasure in disobedience or in the hardnesse of any mans heart nor can be the Authour of evill with Sir Francis Bacons distinction in the booke formerly mentioned by this Authour Non quià non Author sed quià non mali So that albeit he hardens whom he will unto disobedience in the prophet Esayes phrase causeth men to erre from his wayes Yet the Lord himselfe we know is righteous in all his wayes holy in all his workes though we are not able to dive into the gulfe and search out the bottome of his judgments and no marvaile For they are unsearchable Yet we make no question but through Gods mercy convenient satisfaction may be found without any such shaÌ„efull course of dismeÌ„bring scripture and taking notice only of such passages as represent Gods displeasure against sin sinners and dissembling all other passages which drave Austin to confesse occulto Dei judicio by the secret judgement of God fieri perversitatem cordis the perversity of mans heart hath its course much lesse by setting theÌ„ together by the eares And I nothing doubt but the issue will be on the part of such as are of this Authours spirit either wholly to deny originall sin or so to emasculate the vigor of it as to professe that it is in the power of maÌ„ to cure it or notwithstaÌ„ding the strength of it to beleive repeÌ„t if he will which though they preteÌ„d to be wrought by a certain universal grace Yet I nothing doubt but we shall be able to prove that such a power is mere nature and no grace Be it so that wicked men in their wicked courses do chose the things that God would not Who would thinke that this Author who makes such a florish should content himselfe with such beggarly arguments or that the world should be so simple as to be terrifyed with such scar-crowes For is it not apparent that in scripture phrase there is voluntas praecepti a will of commandement as well as voluntas propositi a will signifying Gods purpose and decree So theÌ„ though they chuse the things that God willed not in reference to his will of commandement yet it might be Gods will that is his purpose that even such sinnes should come to passe For was it not the will of God that Pharaoh should not let Israel goe for a while Did he not harden him to this purpose that so he might make himselfe knowne in the land of Egypt by his judgemeÌ„ts did he not reveale this to Moses to the coÌ„fort of the childreÌ„ of Israel keepe theÌ„ from despaire in conteÌ„plation of the obstinacy of Pharaoh's spirit when they were assured that God had an haÌ„d in hardening Pharaoh to staÌ„d out And doth not Bellarmine professe that maluÌ„ fieri permitt sin Deo bonuÌ„ est it is good that evill should coÌ„ to passe by Gods permission And shall it be unbecoÌ„ing the divine nature to will that which is good And where is it that Bellarmine affirmeth this even there where he opposeth the same Doctrine of ours which this Authour doth but with more learning an 100 fold then this Authour betrayeth and withall carryeth himselfe with farre more ingenuity For he takes notice of those places of Scripture whereupon our Divines do build and accommodates himselfe to aswer them by some intepretation that he thinks good to make of them which this Authour doth not 2. But what if there be no such text as this Authour builds upon For looke what the word is used in the originall Ps 5. 4. the same is used Es 66 4 Now that in Ps 5. 4 This Authour renders not that wouldest not iniquity but that hast no pleasure in iniquity And why then shall not that Es 66. 4. be accordingly rendred thus They choose the things wherein I had no pleasure or wherein I had no delight and not as he expresseth it the things that I would not Hereupon I imagined our Enlish tranlation had thus rendred it but consulting that I found the contrary For thus they render it They choose the things wherein I delighted not It is true the Geneva renders it thus But doth it become him to preferre and follow the Geneva translation before the last and most authenticall translation of the Church of England In like manner the practise of Geneva must be of authority to cry us downe in the point of the morality of the fourth commandement Were not the man well knowne to be sound at heart his favourites might well suspect him to praevaricate in making so great a cry and yet yeilding so little wooll In the next place he alleadgeth that of Iames. Let no man say when he is tempted that he is temptedof God For God tempteth no man But every man is tempted when he is drawen away with his owne concupiscence Now Peter Martyr on the first to the Romans deales at large upon this place and disputes strangely indiscoursing of Gods providence in evill I would this Authour had taken the paines to answer him at least that he might performe somewhat tanto dignum hiatu worthy of the great gaping he makes It is true Bellarmine hath taken him to taske after a sort in his eigth chapter of his second book de Amiss gratiae statu peccati And I have replyed upon Bellarmine at large in my Vindiciae in that large digression wherein I take Bellarmine to taske in that book of his whereunto I referre the Reader Yet to say somewhat of this place befor I passe It is apparent that the Apostle in this place doth not so put off from God the workes of tempting as to cast it upon Satan but onely so as to shew that whatsoever the divine providence is there about either by the ministry of Satan who is God's minister in hardening men to precipâ—tate courses I Kings the last or otherwise yet still the sinner is unexcusable for as much as he is then only tempted effectually For so it is to be understood otherwise it were not true as it appeares in the case of Joseph tempted by his Mistris when he is drawen away by his own concupiscence It is true the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and pride of life is not of the Father but of the world they are the members of that body of sin which we brought with us into the world This is propagated unto us all by naturall generation Holy Iacob the Son of holy Isaak a Patriach of holy Rebeccah a Prophetesse was borne in sin as well as Esau and Seth as well as Cain and this seemeth to be called the image of Adam
either by doing more he understands that God doth the same which the Devill wicked mē do more or though he does not the same yet he doth that which is more then that If his meaning be that God doth the same which the Devill wicked men doe this is notoriously untrue considering thē as tempters advizers and perswaders unto sin For God on the contrary forbids sin perswades to repentance to obedience both by his word and by his spirit and indeed the spirit workes not but by the word which is called the sword of the spirit All holines of life is comprised within the compasse of ten commandements these were given by the Lord frō mount Sinai pronounced by the sound of a trūpet to these the Lord calls his people saying stand in the waies and behold and aske for the old way which is the good way and walke therein ye shall find rest unto your soules For the transgression of these the Lord expostulates with thē Heare ô heavens and hearken ô earth I have nourished and brought up a people they have rebelled against me Whē they have gone astray he exhorts the and that most pathetically to returne by repentance by promise of salvation and threatning judgment if they doe not repent O Ierusalem wash thine heart from wickednes that thou maist be saved how long shall thy wicked thoughts remaine within thee I have seene thy adulteries and thy neighings the filthinesse of thy whoredome on the hills in the feilds and thine abominations Woe unto thee ô Ierusalem wilt thou not be made cleane When shall it once be And to provoak them the rather unto repentance he represents himselfe unto them as easy to be intreated as slow to wrath and one that by his patience and long suffering leades them to repentance And to this end he gives charge to his Ministers namely by representing the gracious nature of God to admonish them of their sinnes to call them to repentance to obedience And to this purpose to represent his promises which he hath annexed unto godlinesse both the promises of this life and the promises of a better life that is to come Yea and his threats also both of judgments in the world to come to the casting both of body and soule into hell fire and thereupon to exhort us to feare him above all others And judgments of this world as famine pestilence and the sword of the enemie To deliver them over into the hands of beastly people skilfull to destroy To send Serpents and Cockatrices among them that will not be charmed and that shall sting them and that without all mercy Surely these are not the courses of Satan or wicked counsellours Therefore they doe not as God doth neither doth God doe that which they doe and more also 2. If it be said that albeit the Lord doth not as the Devill doth and wicked men doe in perswading them to sinne yet he doth that which is more then this I answer that neverthelesse he cannot be accounted the Authour of sinne in case the doing of this alone doth constitute an Agent the Authour of sinne Now as formerly I have shewed this was the opinion of Dominicus Soto and of the Divines of Salamancha yea and Vasquez the Jesuite professeth that he was ever of that opinion Againe if to doe more then this be to become the Authour of sin both this Authour and all that are of his Spirit doe maintain as well we that God doth that which is farre more then this For I presume he will not deny but that God is he and he alone who doth support our natures in the committing of sin who maintaines our senses in their vigour and quicknesse without which we could take noe pleasure in sin and that concurres to every act of sin in the way of cause efficient not morally which alone makes one to become the Authour of sin by the judgment of Divines formerly mentioned but physically and naturally which no creature can doe namely become a naturall coefficient cause to the act of another man's will Nay which is most considerable I presume this Authour hath so much accuratenes in School-learning as not to deny that when the Devill tempts us or wicked counsellours doe tempt us to sin God concurres with them in this act and that in the kind of a cause efficient physicall For in him we live and move and have our being what is it to have our being from him but that he is the Authour of it in the kind of a cause efficient In the same sense doe we live in him and in the same sense doe we move in him It stands us upon as much to maintaine this as to maintaine that God is our Creatour For unlesse all things doe subsist in him neither were all things created by him Now this is a great deale more then to perswade For a weake man is able to perswade but noe creature is able to performe these parts which God doth in the act of every thing created by by him So that hereby the Reader may evidently perceive that the discourse is as farre off as ever from proving God by this Doctrine of ours to be the Authour of sin any more then he is constituted the Authour of sin by the doctrine of this Interpolator But I am content to examine the things he proposeth particularly and severely 1. The Devill saith he doth only allure men by inward suggestions and outward temptations to fall into sinne But God doth much more if he doe necessitate and by his decree first and next by his powerfull and secret working in the soules of men determine their wills irresistibly to sinne For to determine is infinitely more then to perswade Now to this I have already answered by shewing 1. That albeit God doth more then this yet seeing he doth not this if the doing of this alone constitutes one the Authour of sin as many great Divines have concurrently maintained still God is free from being the Authour of sin This Authour barely supposing not once offering to prove the contrary 2. Himselfe confesseth that God concurres to the act of every sinne and that in the kind of a cause efficient naturall And I may be as bold as to say of this that it is infinitely more then to perswade like as he saith of God's determining the will and necessitating thereof Now I proceed to a more particular examination of his discourse And here first I wonder not a little at this Authour's distinction of the Devill 's inward suggestion from his outward temptations For I confesse freely I know noe outward temptation of Satan distinct from his inward suggestions Outward occasions and provocations to sinne I know none wrought by Satan any farther then as he in some cases is God's instrument as in afflicting Iob. For surely God hath not given over the world or any part thereof to the goverment of Satan this is in
God willing it he denies not any more then Beza doth that it comes to passe by God's permission of it But Calvin rests not in a bare permissions and no marvaile For the Scripture saith not that God permitted Pharaoh to refuse to let Israel goe but plainly and energetically thus I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall not let Israel goe I will harden Pharaoh's heart that he shall follow after them I will rent the Kingdome from Solomon not I will permit it to be rented and so throughout Bellarmine himselfe contents not himselfe with a bare permission but farther saith God doth rule and governe the wills of wicked men yea torquet flectit he wrests and bends them And Austin often saith he enclines them unto evill And whereas it is farther added out of Calvin that a man is blind volente jubente Deo God willing and commanding it Is it not expresse Scripture Es 6. 10. Make the heart of this people fat make their eares heavy and shut their eyes So that Calvin doth but accomodate himselfe to Scripture phrase But when we come to the explication of this either in Christian reason or by comparing one place of Scripture with an other we say that to Make their hearts fat their eares heavy and to shut their eys And to give them the Spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and eares that they should not heare Is no more then not to give them hearts to perceive nor eyes to see nor eares to heare Yet where Calvin saith this I cannot find the quotation here is so disturbed but I guesse the Authour would referre us to lib. 1. Institut cap. 18. prima secunda Sect But I find no such thing there but speaking of God's providence in blinding Ahab thus he writes Vult Deus perfidum Ahab decipi God will have perfidious Ahab to be deceived This is plaine out of the 1 Kings 22. 20. Who shall entise Ahab that he may goe and fall at Ramoth Gilead operam suam offert Diabolus ad eam rem The Divell offers his service for this saith Calvin And doth not the Scripture expresly testifie as much There came forth a Spirit and stood before the Lord and said I will entise him And the Lord said unto him wherewith And he said I will goe out and be a false Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets Calvin goes on Mittitur cum certo mandato ut sit Spiritus mendax in ore omnium Prophetarum God sends him with a certaine command to become a lying Spirit in the mouth of all Ahab's Prophets This also the Scripture testifies as expresly as the former Then the Lord said thou shalt entise him and prevaile also Goe forth and doe so Now let the indifferent judge whether this Authour might not as well calumniate the Holy Ghost the Inditer of this Scripture as Calvin who proceeds but according unto Scripture in that which he delivers Now let every sober man judge whether hereby it doth not manifestly appeare Excoecari Achabum that Ahab was blinded by the Devill Deo volente ac jubente the Lord willing and commanding it but this taken apart from the instance in reference whereunto it is delivered a man might suspect his meaning were that God commands a man to shut his own eyes blind himselfe And judge I pray whether to say that this whole providence of God concerning Ahab was no more then permission deserves not to be called figmentum a fiction as indeed Calvin calleth it To this he addes the joynt profession of the Apostles touching God's providence in crucifying of Christ in Absalom's incest the Chaldees bloudy execution in the land of Iuda and the Assyrians before them which in Scripture is called the worke of God c. And concludes it to be manifest Nugari eos ineptire qui in locum providentiae Dei nudam permissionem substituunt that they doe but toy and trifle who in place of God's providence substitute a naked permission And this Authour doth but calumniate Calvin's expression in rendring the word ineptire by playing the foole Ineptire in the proprietie thereof is in this case to faile of fit and congruous interpretation and accommodation And may he not justly taxe those who understand such Scriptures as speake of God's smiting men with the Spirit of slumber and giddinesse of blinding their mindes infatuating and hardning their hearts of a permission and suffering of men to be blinded and hardned I had thought common sense might have justified him in this taking Calvin aright who denies not permission in all this but nudam permissionem naked permission as much as to say these Scripture passages doe signifie more then permission And as I have said before Bellarmin himselfe doth not satisfie himselfe with a naked permission in such like providence divine as here is mentioned I thinke he may justly say that to explicate excecation and obduration by permission is such an explication as will satisfie no sober man and that such a solution is too frivolous And as for God's prescience it is apparent that the horrible outrages committed upon the holy Son of God the Scripture testifies not to have been foreknowen only by God but by the hand and counsell of God predetermined also more then this cleare reason doth justifie that the ground of God's foreknowing ought is his foredetermining of it as I have often proved by invincible demonstration 2. Who mistakes the nature of permission most we or this censurer let the indifferent judge It is apparent that he puts no difference between permission humane and permission Divine Sure I am Suarez requires to permission divine a concurrence to the act the obliquity whereof is permitted And more then that both Scotus of old without question and the Dominicans of late and Bradwardine before them maintaine this concurrence to be by way of determining the will to every act thereof But all these mistake the nature of permission if we believe this Authour upon his word wherein he carrieth himselfe very authoritatively no Pope like him Yet he is ready to give his reason for it though with manifest contradiction to himselfe but let us consider it 1. Permission is an act of God's consequent and judiciary will by which he punisheth men for abusing their freedom c. Most untrue and manifestly convictable of untruth by that which himselfe delivered but a little before in this very Section where he said It is true that God hath decreed to suffer sinne for otherwise there would be none By this it is manifest that whensoever sinne is committed there had place God's permission of sinne otherwise there would have been no sinne therefore permission had place in the very first sinne that was committed by man and Angells Judge Reader with what felicity he comes to censure and correct the mistakes of others about permission As Austin sometimes said of one opposing him noverit se esse
That which necessitateth the will to sinne is as truly the cause of sinne as that which forceth it because it maketh the sinne to be inevitably committed which otherwise might be avoided and therefore if the Divine decree necessitate man's will to sinne it is as truly the cause of sinne as if it did inforce it 3. That which necessitates the will to sinne is more truly the cause of the sinne then the will is because it overruleth the will and beareth all the stroke taketh from it ' its true liberty by which it should be Lord of it selfe and disporser of ' its own acts and in respect of which it hath been usually called by Philosophers and Fathers too 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a power which is under the insuperable check and controule of no Lord but it selfe It overruleth I say maketh it become but a servile instrument irresistably subject to superiour command and determination And therefore is a truer cause of all such acts and sins as proceed from the will so determined then the will is For when two Causes concurre to the producing of an effect the one a principle overruling cause the other but instrumentall and wholly at the Devotion of the principall then is the effect in all reason to be imputed to the principall which by the force of ' its influxe and impression produceth it rather then to the subordinate and instrumentall which is but a mere servant in the production of it We shall find it ordinary in Scripture to ascribe the effect to the principall Agent It is not ye that speak saith Christ but the Spirit of my Father that speaketh in you I laboured more abundantly then they all yet not I but the grace of God which was in me And I live yet not I but Christ liveth in me saith St. Paul Gal 2. 20. In these and many other places the effect or work spoken of is taken from the instrument and given to the principall agent Which being so though man's will worke with God's decree in the commission of sinne and willeth the sin which it doth yet seing what the will doth it doth by the commanding power of God's Allmighty decree and so it doth that otherwise it cannot doe the sin committed cannot so rightly be ascribed to man's will the inferiour as to God's necessitating decree the superiour cause 4. That which makes a man sinne by way of necessitie that is with and not against his will is the cause of sin in a worse manner then that which constraineth him to sinne against his will As he which by powerfull perswasions drawes a man to stab to hang to poison himselfe is in a grosser manner the cause of that evill and unnaturall action then he that by force compells him because he maketh him to consent to his own death And so if Gods decree doe not only make men sin but sin willingly too not only cause that they shall malè agere doe evill but malè velle will evill it hath the deeper hand in the sinne God determines the will to sinne by necessitie though not by compulsion this he obtrudes upon our Devines as their opinion but quotes none is it likely that he who quotes Beza to shew that in his opinion God doth not only permit sinne but will sinne And Calvin to shew that a man's mind is blinded volente jubente Deo would not quote some or other of our Divines to prove that which he obtrudes upon them If his common place booke could afford him any such quotation out of any one of them to shew who they be and where they say that God determines the will to sinne by necessity though not by compulsion Was there ever the like crimination made against any without naming them that say so and the place where and their own words Or hath this man or any of his spirit deserved any credit to be trusted this way The very phrase of determining in Latine is no word of course with our Divines in this argument It is the phrase of the Dominicans But doe they say that God determines the will to sinne I doe not thinke he can produce one of them that expresseth himselfe so unscholastically so absurdly Alvarez saith that God by his effectuall decree predetermineth second causes to worke He saith that God doth predetermine the will to the act of sinne as it is an act That the first root of contingency is the will of God Then to what doth God determine the will in their opinion Is it to the act only and not to the manner of its production Namely to produce it voluntarily and freely Nothing lesse though this Authour counts it his wisdome to conceale this God by his omnipotency doth cause that man whose heart he moves to will and will freely Againe God's generall concourse is a divine immediate influence into second causes whereby they are foremoved applyed and determined to worke every one according to the condition of its nature The naturall cause naturally the free cause freely as I have professedly delivered Disput 18. 23. And that in such sort freely as they can choose to doe otherwise if they will and that in the very instant wherin they doe what they doe But come we to consider his answer 1. Touching that which he saith of the Ancients he gives us his bare word for it as touching the confounding of necessitie and compulsion yet Bernard I confesse willingly in talking of liberty from necessity understands by necessity coaction He saith farther that those Ancients did deny that God did necessitate men to sinne least they should grant thereby that God is the Authour of sinne But I doe not thinke he can shew this phrase of necessitating the will any way to be found among the Ancients what he hath touched before I have considered what he shall intimate hereafter I hope I shall not let it passe unsaluted And the truth is to necessitate hath such an Emphasis with it as to perswade that whatsoever a man is necessitated to do that he doth by constraint against his will And it is a rule commonly received that Voluntas non potest cogi The will cannot be forced which is most true as touching Actus eliciti the acts of the will inward and immediate and not so of actus imperati acts outward and commanded But Bradwardine who alone useth this phrase among'st School-Divines takes it in no such sense but only for an effectuall operation of God upon the will moving it to worke this or that not necessarily but freely which this Authour most judiciously dissembleth all along for desparing to prevaile by true and substantiall information of the understanding perturbundis affectibus suffuratur by a corrupt proposition of his Adversaries tenet hopes to worke distast upon the Readers affections Bradwardines position is this God can after a sort necessitate every created will to ' its free act and to a free cessation vacation from act and
his will to be regusated thereby can the will be said to be the rule of justice to the will without contradiction The rule propounded was this God's will is the rule of all righteousnesse but the other rule is the rule corrupted by this Authour when he talks of a will as a rule of justice to the will 2. But whether things are therefore just because God wills them or that therefore God willeth them because they are just undoubtedly that which here is proposed is a truth namely that whatsoever the Scripture sets downe to be the will of God that must needs be just Neither have we any need to improve it any farther then thus For it is well known that our Divines in their doctrine of predestination and reprobation doe depend on nothing so much as the evidence of God's word As this Author throughout this discourse of his depends on nothing lesse And therefore he hath cast himselfe upon a strange practice in the former passage namely to evacuate all our reasons drawn out of the word of God to confirme our doctrine pleading that the interpretations we make of Scripture are all false because the contrary doctrine which he maintaines is justified before the tribunall of humane reason purged from prejudice and false principles corrupt affections and customes Which is as much as to professe in plaine termes that to find out the truth concerning the decrees of predestination and reprobation we must leave the oracles of God and hearken to the oracles of reason provided that it be purged from prejudice and false principles from corrupt affections and customes Now I had thought that the spirit of God alone could purge us from such prejudice and false principles corrupt affections and customes And that this spirit of God worketh only by the word herein which is called in Scripture the sword of the spirit Yet this Author tells us not where this reason thus purged is to be found save that in generall he saith that is just or unjust which is so esteemed in the judgment both of best and worst that stand indifferent to the entertainment of any truth as is to be seen in the former reason according to M. Hord's discourse Now who these best are but the Arminians in this Authours fancy the worst but Anabaptists or heathens or both I know not Sure we are none of them in his understanding purged from false principles and prejudice from corrupt affections and customes because we doe not stand indifferent to the entertainment of his tenets which he calls Truths 3. Where can he shew that I have made use of any such principles to answer any argument of his against us I doe not find that any where he can drive me to this though this be the Apostles course as we may see Ro 9. Is there any injustice with God God forbid how doth he prove it but thus because the Scripture attributes such a course to God I will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy and I will have compassion on whome I will have compassion 4. But where hath he learnt to be so audacious as to say that Things are not therefore just because God wills them but that his justice is rather a rule of his will and works Before he told us that justice in man and God were of the same nature Now that justice which is the rule of our will is Justitia obligans justice binding us to doe this or that and is Gods justice obligatory likewise to bind him In making the world I doe not doubt but God did that which was just but was there any justice in God obliging him to the making of the world who seeth not what an Atheisticall conclusion followeth herehence namely that the world was from everlasting if not necessarily by necessity of nature yet necessarily by obligation of justice otherwise for an infinite space of time wherein the world was not made which must needs have been if the world were not from everlasting God had been and continued to be unjust The Schooles have taught me that there is a justice of condecency consequent to all the actions of God noe justice of obligation precedent to it And whereas St. Paul tells us that God works all things according to the counsell of his will both Alvarez and Suarez though School Divines of opposite families yet concurre in this that this Counsell is à libera voluntate acceptum accepted of Gods free will And it is observable that the Apostle calls it not the Counsell of his understanding but the counsell of his will And Vasquâ—z and Suarez both Jesuites but very opposite about the nature of justice in God yet both concurre that there is no justice in God towards his creature but upon supposition of the determination of God's will It is most true that supposing the end which God intends the wisedome of God directs in the right use of congruous meanes and no other justice then this his wisedome doth Aquinas acknowledge in the Divine nature And great is the wisedome which God manifests in the goverment of this world yet the same wisedome as great as it is doth not equall the infinite wisdome of God But of this I have disputed more at large in my Vindiciae Where this question is discussed Whether the will of God be circumscribed or regulated by justice To no parcell whereof doe I find the least savour of an answer in this Authour But let us examine how well he proves his own Tenet And that is first by the authority of Hierome in his preface to his commentaries on Hosea 2. By the authority of Zanchy whereto I answer 1. That if the interpretations of Scripture must be judged of before the Tribunall of reason purged from prejudice and false principles from corrupt affections and customes must not the opinions of such as Hierome and Zanchy be judged of before the same tribunall also 2ly touching Hierome himselfe 1. It is true Hierome in that preface understands that command given Hosea to be only in a Type and for the reason here mentioned but in his Commentary he interpreteth it secundum historiam litterally Neither was the Prophet as he saith to be blamed in this For he was not the worse but he made her the better Praesertim especially he was not to be blamed because he did this not luxuriously or lustfully or of his own will but in obedience to the command of God Now let the indifferent judge whether Hierome be not as much for us upon the text as for our adversary in the preface 2. Observe that Hierome is nothing for him in the preface For Hierome speakes there of God's will of command but we treate of God's will as it signifies not his command given to man but his own purpose and decree to doe this or that himselfe Judge of the extravagancy of this Author by this and whether his understanding be sufficiently purged from prejudice and false principles from