lin 6. to 15. Thomas is of opinion that Christ should never have been predestinated if man had not sinned Whence it seemeth to follow by consequence that sinne was first seen by God and the permission thereof willed before the incarnation of the Word was willed So that in the way of the Thomists it appeares not how it can stand that the first decree of God was the incarnation or predestination of the Word if so be the permission and fore-sight of sin was before it but if Christ were predestinate before sin was fore-seen then though sin had not been yet Christ should have come into the world who was predestinate before the fore-sight of sin lin 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38. That God did first will the hypostaticall union and incarnation of the Word before he willed the permission of sin and before he determined to make the nature of man and of the whole universe Yet because the incarnation was not willed without the consideration of sin but was willed dependently upon the permission of sin and of the nature of things as upon the meanes therefore it followeth not that Christ should come into the world if sinne had not entred or if the world had not at all been means tending to the incarnation of Christ Pag. 32. l. 20. From the greatnesse of the remedy take notice of the greatnesse of the danger Pag 36 l 26. beyond the worthinesse of it l. 27. lesse then it deserves Pag 40. l. 4. who by profiting write and by writing profit l. 16. the masse not made l. 17. made not yet corrupted l. 18. the masse corrupt Pag. 41. lin 23. the masse not yet created l. 28. the masse corrupt Pag. 43. lin 34 35. God willed glory unto Peter he willed nothing unto Judas l. 36. God willed grace unto Peter hee willed nothing unto Judas l. 37. God would have each of them to exist in the corrupt masse Pag. 44. l. 2. It is something to come thus farre l. 4. will damnation unto Judas l. 14. of every thing that is and of every thing that is not l. 33 34. If God did not will glory to Judas then God did will that hee should have no glory Pag. 45. l. 13. to hate l. 14. not to will grace and glory to some one Pag. 47. l. 23. as a crown of justice Pag. 51. l. 25 26. Reprobation includes the will of suffering sin and inflicting damnation for sin Pag. 53. l. 22. We know l. 23. not onely wills averse from faith but wills adverse to faith l. 29. Of the vocation of the Gentiles Pag. 54. l. 20. in the masse from the beginning corrupt Page 55. l. 34. in the masse of Adam lin 36 37. to consider to erre or feign lin 27 28. as to come in the masse of Adam Page 56. lin 5 6. as should be faithfull and repent and persevere in faith and repentance Pag. 59. lin 13 14. Let me not live if I delight in the death of a wicked man but I delight when a wicked man returns that hee may live lin 21 22. Because our defections and our sins lye upon us therefore we pine away in them and should we live lin 24 25 26. Say unto them Let me not live saith the Lord if I delight in the death of the wicked but when the wicked returnes from his way that hee may live Returne ye returne yee from your most evill wayes for why should yee die O house of Isreal Pag. 60. lin 3 4. by almighty facility convert and of unwilling make them willing lin 38. the will of signe the will of good pleasure l. 39. the will of precept Pag. 61. l. 1. the will of purpose l. 14. the will of sign and the will of good pleasure Pag. 63. l. 18. as touching the act of God willing l. 19. as touching the things willed Pag. 67. l. 20. the decrees being changed the Court of heaven had mourned lin 24. in a greater measure succoured Pag. 68. lin 23 24. Not any thing comes unlesse God will have it come to passe either by suffering it to come to passe or himselfe working it l. 25. suffers to come to passe hee will have it come to passe Pag. 69. l. 11. middle knowledge l. 21. in part lin 22. simply or thoroughly Pag. 71. l. 2 3. the pride of man is wont to say If I had known it I would have done it Pag. 72. l. 32. This is an hard saying Pag. 76. l. 1 2 c. Each part of man the spirit and the heart that is the superiour and inferiour ill disposed by God understand it negatively as touching the giving of free grace but positively as touching the judgement inclination to and prosecution of a sensible good So that God made the Kings spirit hard that is not yeelding to the requests made and not giving him grace to yeeld and working with him to the affection of security and his own good Pag. 77. lin 31 32. by works by writing Pag. 78. lin 16 17. How great patience soever God affords who will repent unlesse God give repentance Pag. 79. l. 11 12. that they may profit so farre as to performe outward repentance that so their punishment may be the lesse l. 24 25. by will of precept by will of purpose or good pleasure Pag. 82. l 4. that hee might afflict thee l. 28. of duty by conformity to the affections of men Pag. 86. l. 6 7. Fair Laverna teach me to deceive teach me to seem just and holy Cast darknesse over my sins and a cloud over my deceits lin 38 39. Liberty without grace is not liberty but wilfulnesse Pag. 89. l. 3. doe that which is just l. 4. because they will not why will they not l. 5. we goe farre without prejudice of a more diligent search l. 6 7. Either because the goodnesse of it lies hid or because 't is such as delights not l. 8. but that what lay hid is made known and that is made sweet which formerly did not delight this is from the grace of God which succoureth mens wills l. 34 35. averse from true faith but adverse to true faith Pag. 94. l. 27 28. whom no mans will resists for of unwilling he makes them willing l. 32 33. the pride of man is wont to say Had I known it I would have done it Pag. 95. l. 5 6. faith is the cause of salvation cause meritorious l. 7. cause of damnation causes disposing Pag. 97. l. 3. Of the vocation of Gentiles Pag. 99. l. 34. Justice of condecency Pag. 105. l. 29. university of elect a world of elect l. 30. Of the vocation of Gentiles Pag. 108. l. 10. the will cannot be constrained lin 15 16. God by almighty ease converts men and of unwilling makes them willing Pag. 109. l. 21. in the masse at the first corrupt Pag. 111. l. 24. of former and latter Pag. 114. lin 31 32. includes the will of suffering sin and inflicting damnation for sin l. 36.
him to whom it is offered But such an offering your self confesse doth savour of a covenant of works but when the condition is meerly for Christs sake that you say makes the covenant of grace Now to that which followeth If God offer say you and give it to wit grace though never so small even as a grain of mustard seed and promiseth to uphold it freely for Christs sake and not according to our works it is a covenant of grace But if hee offer and give never so many helps and means and gifts and uphold them according to the works of the creature it is still a covenant of workes as it was to the Angels that fell and to Adam Here you continue your former confusion for pretending to maintain the difference between them within and them without the covenant of grace as depending meerely upon the condition whereupon things are given you notwithstanding this make a difference also in the things given For the one thing given to them within the covenant of grace you seem to make grace it self though perhaps as small as a grain of mustard seed and not onely helpes of grace but the things given to them without the Covenant are onely gracious helps and means And withall you deale not fairely in the expression of that which you intend for you do not make it plainly appeare that you put a difference between the things given lest you should contradict your self for you place the difference onely in the condition whereupon the thing given is given but that which is given to them within the covenant of grace you formerly expressed by the relative it which made mee in doubt whether I should referre it to grace it self or to the helps of grace yet forthwith on the other side running again to helps you doe not style them helps of grace as before you did which doth manifestly distinguish helps of grace from grace it self but you call them gratious helps and means and not contented with that you adde gifts also as if your purpose were not to distinguish them from grace in the other member of the comparison mentioned but rather to confound them therewith Which I confesse sorts best with your rule which placeth the difference only in the condition of the things given and not in the things given themselves And this is further confirmed by the instance given in Angels and Adam where you plainly give us to understand that by gracious helps and means and gifts given them you understand the Image of God which clearly signifies not any outward help and means after which manner I was prone to interpret this phrase of yours but the very inward sanctification of their natures which in my judgement is very untowardly called means of grace or helps of grace Whereas it is rather that holy power wherewith God had indued them to perform that which hee had commanded them For of Adam that is undoubtedly true which Austin saith namely that God gave Adam posse si voluit non dedit velle quod potuit power to obey if hee would but not a will to doe that which hee could and questionlesse it is as true of the Angels as of Adam And this power I confesse had continued in them had they performed actuall obedience according to that power whereof by their disobedience they were deprived Whereby you give mee good ground to guesse what that opinion of yours is which you carry wondrous closely and I verily beleeve because of the offensive nature thereof to good men such as your self namely That power to beleeve and repent is given to them as well without the covenant as to them within like as both Angels and Adam before their fall had power to perform obedience to Gods Commands But to them within the covenant of grace it is given and upheld onely for Christs sake to others it is to bee given and upheld onely according to the covenant of worke that is upon condition of some performance of theirs But yet of the full pourtraiture of your opinion I am to seek in some particulars As First what the condition is upon the performance whereof they shall have power given them to beleeve and repent Whatsoever you say or give instance in if it bee a work of nature it will necessarily follow that grace shall bee possibly at least resolved into a work of nature then wee are where wee are and still to seek how they came by power to perform that work of grace Secondly I am to seek by what means God doth work this power whether onely by perswasion which is onely a morall action or by an immediate change of their natures by the inspiration of Gods Spirit Now the first of these cannot bee for perswasion hath no power to change the nature of ought and work new powers in it which are not wrought without giving a new life And indeed perswasion tends rather to move men to doe that which they have power to doe then from thence to receive a power of doing Wee doe not perswade men ut possint aliquid facere sed ut velint ut faciant to bee able to do ought but to move them to bee willing to doe it If by immediate inspiration giving a new life then it follows that regeneration is a common grace possible at least given to them as well without the Covenant of grace as to them within to the Reprobates as well as to the Elect and that upon performance of a work of nature And because it were in vain to speak of upholding it after it is given unlesse it were given indeed you imply hereby that even this power is given to Reprobates But whereas it is to bee upholden but upon condition yet you doe not expresse what this condition is But I guesse the condition hereof is the exercising of this power like as upon the exercising of the power which God gave Angels and Adam before the fall they had been confirmed in their integrity But what if they do not beleeve or repent for a year or two together yet I presume you will not say they are thereupon deprived of this power but that it continueth for ought wee know to the contrary to their lives end though it fell out quite contrarily with Angels and Adam who immediately upon their disobedience were deprived of this power What is your meaning when you say God offers mankinde in Christ greater grace and helps to keep the Covenant of works then after the fall they could have attained to without Christ I cannot easily comprehend and throughout finde you very close and reserved hereupon which to speak like a free man is no good dealing First I know not what that grace and help is which here you speak of If your meaning bee no more but this that they have more power to perform the Covenant of works through Christ then otherwise as I guesse it will come to no more in the end I pray you what think
whereas justice is as well remunerative as vindicative as this hath place only on the wicked so the other on the good I meane those that departed the world after they came to yeares of discretion yet consider I pray you what thinke you of them that perish in no other sinne but originall derived unto them by the fall of Adam which Adam we beleeve to be saved In the condemnation of these what glory of God doth appeare more either of his justice or of his soveraignty 2. But be it granted that these glories doe appeare chiefly at such times yet if other glories doe appeare also in the same last execution how will you deduce herehence that only those glories you mention were first in intention Will it not rather follow that seeing other glories as well as these did appeare in execution though not chiefly therefore other glories as well as these were first in intention though not chiefly 3. When God blesseth his elect with all spirituall blessings in Christ we need not say he aimes rather at somewhat else then the praise of the glory of his grace when out of meere grace he made his glorious selfe known unto us he made not only his grace known unto us but all his attributes more or lesse which to our understanding are equally glorious in themselves though we take more comfort in the speculation of his grace which yet is more wonderfull when we consider his soveraignty over us his creatures and that it was indifferent to him to make us vessells of wrath as well as vessells of mercy and in this very consideration the very damnation of reprobates shall improve our glorious joyes in the apprehension of Gods free love to us at the day of judgement according to that of the Apostle Rom. 9. 22. You are to looke to it how you make your Tenent good who maintaine that God doth rather aime at the one then at the other 4. As for the wicked the righteousnesse of Gods judgement upon them we can in some measure conceive at this present But as for the power of God in executing such judgements maintaining the creature in the suffering of eternall sorrows wee are not able to conceive and therefore the glory hereof is farre more admirable then the other So likewise what shall be the fruits of the grace of God towards us at that day and after neither eye hath seene nor eare hath heard c. nor that glory contained in seeing the face of God If God should but reveale unto us the wisdome whereby he hath managed his providence towards us before he called us and since the calling of us immediatly by himselfe mediatly by the ministry of good Angels contending with and crossing the counsells and practises of wicked Angels what a body of glory would appeare unto us and how should we be ravished with the contemplation of it How much more with the contemplation of his providence thoroughout both in managing the whole course of nature and the whole course of grace QUESTION â— How and by what demonstrative reasons may it appeare that there is a necessity of a departing from the doctrine delivered in our Church The reasons which moved me a little and but a little to depart from the forme of words usually received in delivering the doctrine of Reprobation are such as to me seeme if not demonstrative yet convincing And though I have learned to suspect mine owne judgement where I differ never so little from my godly and reverend loarned Brethren yet I consider we are taught to trie all things likewise and to hold fast that which is good and as wee believe so to speake submitting our selves to the feare of God But before I come to the ground wherupon I have beene led to believe and speake somewhat otherwise of this point then is commonly received let me first shew you how farre I consent with the received opinon even in all usefull truthes and how little it is then wherin I dissent In the doctrine of election I consent wholly with Augustine Calvin Beza Martyr Zanehy Perkins Paraeus and others who have taught us by plaine evidence and that from scripture 1. That before the world was God out of his free will hath chosen the elect by name by an unchangeable decree unto grace and glory in Christ Jesus to the shewing forth of the riches of the glory of his grace 2. That to restore them who were losâ— in Adam he sent forth the Lord Jesus to be obedient to the death for them and by his death to redeeme them as effectually as if they themselves had suffered in their owne persons 3. That in the fulnesse of time he calleth each one of them by an effectuall and invincible drawing even by such an almighty worke of his quickning spirit as he did put forth in raising Christ from the dead 4. That those whom he so calleth he preserveth by some powerfull worke of his spirit to himselfe in Christ so as they never fall from him totally or finally Only herein take it not amisse if I place the subject of Election in Persons considered in Christ before the world or themselves were and not in massa corrupta with the late venerable Synod For though herein they follow Augustine and Zanchy and some others yet have they dissented from the chiefe instruments of the reformation of our Religion And with reverence I speake it as I am led to conceive that it need not trouble any if taking Christ to be the head of the elect I conceive him to be first thought upon and chosen and we in him Mr. Baynes followeth the schoole in so expressing it and the reasons delivered above in the first point have carryed me with them and the difference lyeth in opening the purpose of Reprobation But see here how farre I goe with the streamâ— and â—hen I goe aside how little and upon what ground How convincing or demonstrative the reasons are I addresse my selfe to consider It is good to make progresse in the investigation of truth Austin professeth himselfe to be of the number of those qui proficiendo scribunt scribendo proficiunt only our care must be that we goe not backward and make things worse then wee found them which comes to passe especially with good men many times not so much by falling into error as by confusion of method for hereby it comes to passe that the passages opening the way to the investigation of truth are stopt up and we find our selves in a brake and see no way out To prevent them I am perswaded it is a profitable consideration to thinke with our selves that different opinions especially amongst godly Divines may be no other then the dividing of the truth betweene them About the object of predestination there hath bin a triple difference in opinion some standing for massa nondum condita others for massa pura that is condita but nondum corrupta others for massa corrupta yet
congruous ends being his justice as Aquinas acknowledgeth Christ was willing and earnest to gather Jerusalem under his wings and no marvell hee was bound to doe all hee could as the Minister of Circumcision to save his brethren for hee was made under the Law and was bound to love not onely his brethren but his enemies also as well as wee are bound to shew the like love to all But to inferre here-hence that therefore it was the will of God to have healed and saved that part of Jerusalem that would not is a liberty which affection to a cause may take but no reason doth justifie it Like as our Saviour in his ministery so the Prophets in theirs desired to doe as much good as they could to all but here-hence it followeth not that it was the will of God to convert all whom the Prophets desired to convert And as our Saviour by his teares so the Prophets by their teares did manifest their desire to bring them to repentance to doe the uttermost of their power to bring them hereunto but will you inferre here-hence that God also did desire to bring them to repentance As for the phrase of carrying thoughts of peace towards them that is generall and therefore ambiguous and to what specialty you doe referre it I know not Yet according to the Scripture sense thereof it is nothing correspondent to your opinion For Gods thoughts of peace in Scripture phrase towards his people consist not onely in affording meanes but in making them effectuall also to the procuring of such a gracious disposition in his people as to make them fit for the mercies which God hath resolved to conferre upon them as Jer. 29. 10. But thus saith the Lord That after seventy years be accomplished at Babel I will visit you and performe my good promise towards you and cause you to returne to this place Verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I have thought towards you saith the Lord even the thoughts of peace and not of trouble to give you an end and your hope Verse 12. Then shall yee cry unto mee and yee shall goe and pray unto me and I will heare you Ver. 13. And yee shall seek me and find me because yee shall seek me with all your heart Ver. 14. And I will be found of you saith the Lord and I will turne your captivity And as for the former phrase in saying It was the will of God to have healed them In proportion to the place now alledged out of Jeremy it may be granted that God would have healed them to wit in case they would have converted unto God with all their heart and with all their soule as our Saviour signifies Joh. 12. 40. and that out of Esay 6. and like as God himselfe expresly professeth Deut. 4. 29. If from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God thou shalt find him if thou seek him with all thine heart and with all thy soule But is it thinke you in any unregenerate mans power to seek God with all their heart and with all their soule I thinke this is no more in the power of a man unregenerate than it is in his power to love the Lord his God with all his heart and with all his soule Now this is expresly attributed to the circumcision of the heart wrought by God Deut. 30. 6. When you adde that the will of God is the world of unbeleevers shall not be shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves through unbeleefe This assertion of yours is such as no man that I know denyes And it is as true of the Elect as of the Reprobate namely that they should be utterly shut out of Christ if they should shut out themselves by small unbeleefe for undoubtedly the word of God is true that saith Whosoever beleeveth shall be saved whosoever beleeveth not shall be damned But lest we should seeme to be pleased with our owne errors let us speake distinctly and keep our selves from confusion To be shut out of Christ is to be shut off from some benefit that is to be obtained by Christ Now if wee speake of the benefit of forgivenesse of sinnes and of salvation the truth is plaine and distinct that no man is bereaved of salvation and forgiveness of sinnes by Christ but through unbeleefe and whosoever beleeveth not is excluded from pardon and salvation by Christ But is there no other benefit wee obtaine by Christ besides forgivenesse of sinnes and salvation What thinke you of the gift of faith and repentance are not those spirituall blessings which wee obtaine in Christ and for Christs sake Ephes 1. 3. If it be so I pray consider Is it handsome to say that none is shut off from the gift of faith but through unbeleefe Certainly unbeleefe is no tolerable cause why God should deny them the gift of faith seeing all are in anbeleefe till God bestowes upon them the gift of faith neither can it be expected a man should beleeve till God gives him the gift of faith if so be faith be indeed the gift of God and not the work of mans free-will without any gift of God As for your discourse though it tends to a conclusion which rightly understood no man denyes in one sense nor will any wise man affirme in another sense I thinke fit to consider that also The Spirit you say convinceth the world of sinne because they beleeved not in Christ but the Spirit of God moveth to nothing but what hee knoweth to be according to the will of God Let all this be granted yet nothing followeth here-hence but that it was the will of God that the world should be convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ which no intelligent man will deny But yet by your leave it is no good consequence to inferre here-hence that therefore it is the will of God that the world of unbeleevers shall not be shut out from Christ if they shut not out themselves by unbeleefe Therefore we grant both the antecedent and the consequent yet by the way as touching that which you affirme that God sent his Spirit to convince the world of sinne because they beleeve not in Christ this is a truth wee confesse but perhaps wee may be to seeke of the right accommodation hereof for where is the world convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ or to whom I grant to all beleevers the world of unbeleevers is by the Spirit of God convinced of sinne in not beleeving in Christ but are they convinced hereof to themselves and in their owne consciences I grant this also as often as it pleaseth God to convert them by the power of his Spirit then they are convicted of the sinfull nature of their owne unbeleefe Yet be it granted that an unbeleever continuing in unbeleefe may be and is sometimes convicted of the sinfull nature of his unbeleefe because the Apostle saith of an heretique that hee is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet
all as it is free for God to give grace to whom he will and so to bring them to salvation the purpose whereof is called Gods election so is it enough for God to deny grace to whom he will and thereby to expose them to condemnation the purpose whereof in God is that which wee call Reprobation which as Aquinas saith Includit voluntatem permittendi peccatum damnationem inferendi pro peccato Now of this generall impotency of doing good which cleaves unto all since the fall of Adam you take no notice at all though herein consists the very 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of these controversies but carry your selfe throughout in such manner as if notwithstanding that shipwracke of grace which all humane soules made in Adam it were still as much in mans power to obey God as it was before or as much in mans power to rise by repentance now after he is fallen as it was in his power to stand in his integrity and in obedience unto God before he was fallen Put the case all were true that you deliver in the next place namely that God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost proceed in the way of admonition and exhortation to turne themselves to the Lord that iniquitie might not be their ruine yet this hinders not but that the decree of condemnation might be precedent to Gods decree of taking such a course and permitting them to resist it For upon a purpose to condemne them for such a sinne he might thereupon resolve to expose them to such a sinne And if God should first decree to permit such a sinne and then decree to condemne them for it the permission of this sinne being first in intention should by your owne rule be last in execution that is first men should be condemned for such a sin and afterwards they should be suffered to commit it Not that I maintaine any such order but onely to represent the weaknesse of your discourse approaching shrewdly to such a disorderly constitution of Gods decrees and nothing at all preventing the most harsh tenet that can be devised Againe this that here you deliver were it granted you yet doth it nothing hinder the corrupt masse in Adam to be the object of Gods decree of condemnation For albeit God the Father and God the Sonne faile not of performing all this you speak of yet if by reason of the generall impotency which is come on all they are nothing able to obey these motions of Gods spirit and withall God purposeth to deny them a further grace to make them to obey shall not this be sufficient to expose them to condemnation even for this sinne of resisting the motions of Gods spirit But now let us consider your discourse it selfe and what weight it carrieth which onely makes a shew of much but comes to nothing in the end First you please your selfe in devising distinct workes applyed to the distinct persons in the Trinitie without all ground in my judgement Wee commonly say Opera Trinitatis ad extra sunt indivisibilia Were not the Sonne and the Holy Ghost as active in the creation and are still in the workes of providence as the Father How Christ enlightned the world by his death is a mystery to me his doctrine I confesse did and much more the doctrine of his Apostles But in this ministerie of Christs servants were not the Father and the Holy Ghost as operative as the Sonne As for the knocking of the spirit at mens hearts you nothing distinguish it for ought I found hitherto from the ministerie of Christs servants in admonishing and exhorting which worke is yet the Fathers and the Sonnes aswell as the Spirits But whereas you say all this is done for this very end To turne them to the Lord that iniquitie might not be their destruction I pray you observe your owne words well all the operations you specifie are drawn from these two heads Instruction and Admonition to turn to the Lord and the end of all this you say is to turne to the Lord. Put these together that you may behold the sobrietie of this discourse God exhorts them to turne to the Lord to this end to turne them to the Lord As much as to say God exhorts them to turne to the Lord to this end that in case they obey his voice and turne to the Lord which is their part then God will performe his part also and turne them to the Lord. But what need I pray of Gods worke in turning them to the Lord after they have performed their part so well as to turne themselves to the Lord Againe if God hath a purpose to turne them to the Lord why doth he not Is it because they refuse to performe some act upon the performance whereof God would turne them to himself Now I would gladly know what act that is which God expects to be performed that so he might turne them to the Lord. I am verily perswaded your selfe are not willing to be put to designe this Is it the very act of turning to the Lord or lesse or more If the very act of turning to the Lord you fall upon a manifest absurditie before specified if lesse then turning to the Lord then 't is lesse than a good act and shall God reward that which is lesse then a good act with conversion unto him What is it to conferre grace according to the workes of nature if this be not Yet I would faine know what this act is Least of all will you say 't is more than turning to the Lord for that should suppose conversion unto the Lord already wrought and consequently no need that God should turne them to the Lord which supposeth that they were not before turned to the Lord at all The providing of severall helpfull meanes for the salvation of the world after the fall doth nothing hinder Gods reprobating of the world upon the fall unto eternall condemnation and perdition For if hee purpose to deny them grace to obey these meanes this shall bee sufficient to expose them to condemnation even for the despising of those meanes of grace which God purposeth to provide for them and accordingly the objection here proposed is sound And whereas you answere that these meanes doe aggravate their condemnation by accident onely to wit through their neglect and abuse of them I answere that this their neglect and abuse doth by necessary consequence follow upon Gods purpose to deny them effectuall grace for the using of those meanes aright like as upon Gods purpose to harden Pharaohs heart that hee should not let Israel goe it followed by necessary consequence that Pharaoh through the hardnesse of his heart would not let Israel goe But that Gods end is as you say the restoring of men to salvation and life as if God did will and purpose any such thing is utterly untrue and nothing proved by you hitherto but rather flatly contradictorie to that you have most an end delivered partly in
damnation you seeme to say that God of his free grace doth save a man In my judgement it is an improvident speech For consider whom doth God save of ripe yeares Doth hee save any other but those that die in the Lord That is such as die in the state of grace in the state of faith and repentance Now judge I pray Is it fit to say It is free and indifferent with God either to save or damne them who die in the Lord in the state of grace in the state of repentance For hath not God made as well such a law that whosoever beleeves and repents he shall be saved As such a law Whosoever beleeves not nor repents shall be damned And in respect of the former law is not God as much obliged to save them that beleeve and repent as in respect of the latter law hee is obliged to damne them that beleeve not that repent not So that the comparison is miserably to blame made between the freenesse of Gods grace in saving the one and his severitie and justice in condemning others And the confounding of effectuall vocation and salvation on the one side and obduration with damnation on the other hath exposed you to this incongruitie ere you are aware So that whereas I thought to have least to doe about this use a greater businesse is made unto me in clearing the truth of God herein then I could imagine and yet I am not come to an end This may suffice to discover the unsoundnesse of the maine body of your comparison But there are some other things to be considered on the by First by way of amplifying the largenesse of the riches of the grace of God You tell us how the Lord carrieth the salvation of his Elect in all the wayes of it c. And forthwith by way of addition you say that under them also are spread the everlastig armes of Gods power and eternall love to guide them to his eternall kingdome Which is no different thing but meerely the same with the former of carrying their salvation along in all the wayes of it These expressions I confesse are momentuous to stir up gracious affections in the apprehension of the freenesse and power of Gods grace But if hereby our judgement in the meane time is not a little disturbed in discerning Gods truth so that wee embrace errour in stead thereof wee shall buy good affections at too deare a rate as is the losse of truth And hereby as I have shewed the freenesse of Gods grace is miserably weakned For if God be not acknowledged freely and of the meere pleasure of his will to deny grace unto some I cannot see how well it can be maintained that hee doth freely and according to the meere pleasure of his owne will bestow it upon others Againe that phrase of yours the equitic of Gods justice toward them that are damned seemes somewhat incongruous For equitie signifies the moderation of justice in such sort that the strictnesse thereof may not hinder mans good But what good the damned reap by this equitie you speak of you have not declared Lastly you say God loves the damned as they are his creatures And it is a phrase I confesse that hath ' its course with many hand over head In the very state of damnation in hell fire they are and still continue to be his creatures what I pray is that love of God that passeth upon them in that state Undoubtedly whatsoever it be it must consist with hatred in the highest degree I would willingly know whether it be Amor complacentiae or Amor beneficentiae If it bee complacentiae what is it that God likes in them unlesse it be his own worke the nature of men Or what good is it that God doth unto them in the state of damnation Can it be any other then the continuance of their being Yet most thinke that is nothing good to them in the state of damnation Whatsoever your meaning be if you did expresse it it may be you would fly from your owne caution in this place as Moses did from his rod when it was turned into a Serpent I am perswaded the apparent incongruitie thereof would little please you I come to the Consideration of the second Use 2 That the doctrine of our Church from which you swerve doth not offer as well as yours to carnall Christians a serious exhortation to seeke after Christ whilst he may be found Or that it doth not as earnestly as yours presse upon them those heartie and quickning expostulations of the Prophets Why will yee die O house of Israel Or What could I have done more for my vineyard that I have not done Turne yee turne yee that iniquitie may not be your destruction you doe not so much as goe about to prove But I have something more to except against this use of yours The description here given by you of a carnall Christian to wit That hee sinnes of ignorance and humane frailtie and not of prophane and wilfull contempt of the meanes of grace I had thought it had been proper to the regenerate and not at all belonging to the carnall Christians whom I thinke you make no better than naturall men to whom the things of God are foolishnesse and in whom 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is enmitie unto God in such sort that they are not subject unto the law of God nor can be But I presume you speak this of civill and morall Christians conforming to the meanes of grace and not giving any outward evidence of contemning them But herehence it followeth not that God who seeth their hearts finds not prophanenesse in them or vile estimation of the meanes of grace But howsoever whether they are prophane or formall wee exhort all wee presse the same expostulations upon all and dare you say that never any prophane or wilfull contemner of the meanes of grace is converted Though that these expostulations doe quicken any it is meerely of the spirit of God who bloweth where hee listeth But whereas you seeme to imply though you are not willing to deale plainly and expresse so much that a carnall Christian such as here you have shaped him hath power to yeeld to these exhortations and quickning expostulations a point that we dare not take hold of without much explication For to yeeld unto them in a gracious manner I conceive to be utterly out of the sphere of a naturall man or a carnall Christians activitie And I presume you will affirme as much but to yeeld unto them either hypocritically either according to the course of grosse hypocrisie or of that hypocrisie which is secret to him that is possessed with it or ad exteriorem vitae emendationem wee deny not such a power unto a carnall Christian as you describe him nor unto any prophane person whatsoever And I am perswaded it is onely a consideration of things in generall and in a confusaneous manner holds you on to imply such a power
Which how it can stand with a denyall of sufficient power to turn unto God I comprehend not Thirdly You plainly affirm that mankinde slights to work out with the Trinity their salvation Now no man can bee said to slight the doing thereof for the doing whereof hee hath no power You maintain there is in a reprobate mans power to work out his salvation with the Trinity Fourthly the comparison you make to represent Gods different dealing with his Elect and with the reprobate doth intimate as much The servant you say is only perswaded to yeeld himself to bee cut that hee may bee cured of the stone yet earnestly and forcibly perswaded The son over and above is taken by the Father and bound and cut that hee may bee cured Now as it is in the power of the servant to yeeld to bee cut that hee may bee cured so do you hereby intimate that it is in the power of a Reprobate to yeeld to bee converted that God may heale him Fifthly you doe acknowledge that Gods purpose to give life unto the world upon condition of obedience doth imply that God should accordingly give means to help them to the performance of this obedience for you plainly signifie that God purposing to give life unto the world upon condition of obedience doth accordingly give meanes to help them to the performance of this obedience Now I say Gods purpose to give life unto the world upon condition of obedience doth no more imply that God must accordingly give means to help them to the performance of this obedience then that God must accordingly give ability by the help of such means to perform obedience And indeed to what end tends the giving of means to help them to the performance of obedience if they have not ability by the help of those means to perform obedience In this very Section you professe the meanes which God affords are sufficient to bring them to those gracious ends which God you say intends if they bee not hindred by men Which doth imply that in your opinion the men of the world have power to give way unto them and not hinder them Yet I confesse you are very sparing to confesse so much But the more you are to blame by the face of your discourse to bespeak such opinions in your Readers and to draw unto them the maintenance whereof you dare not undertake your self But let us consider what you deliver hereupon And First though you doe not attribute unto a naturall man sufficiency and power to beleeve yet if you doe attribute unto him sufficiency of power to perform ought upon performance whereof grace shall bee given him whereby hee shall bee enabled to beleeve and to come to Christ you shall even in this bee guilty of that which you call ungracious Pelagianisme Now as for your opinion of the power of a naturall-man you here expresse it partly negatively partly affirmatively You confâ—â—â— they are deprived of those drawing and effectuall meanes without which none can come and with which none ever failed to come to Faith and Repentance Touching which I have something to oppose concerning the phrase and something concerning the assertion it self The word meanes used by you and which you call effectuall wee commonly understand as things outward such as either the Word of God and the Ministry thereof or the Works of God and the manifestation of his providence therein But you seem to goe further and comprehend thereby the effectuall operation of Gods Spirit which is very ambiguous and being delivered in the generall is the fitter to serve a mans turn sometimes in the one sometimes in the other signification As touching the assertion it self it utterly overthrowes all that you have delivered in clearing the fifth Doubt For with what sobriety can God bee said to entertain an earnest and serious affection concerning their conversion which is as much as to say concerning their repentance being resolved to deprive them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to repentance Again how can God bee said to entertain an earnest and serious affection concerning their Salvation being resolved to deprive them of those drawing and effectuall meanes without which none can come to Repentance and consequently without which none can bee saved As for the affirmative part you say the Reprobates are sufficiently enabled by God to do much more then they doe in seeking after the Lord and finding mercy from him and that by certain means and helpes Now in this place I conceive by means and helps you understand only outward things as either the administration of Gods providence in his Works or the ministry of his Word and not the effectuall operation of Gods Spirit bestowing any power upon them which naturally they had not though this must needs bee your meaning in the negative part of the assertion But as touching the assertion it self there is no question but every naturall man hath power to doe more then hee doth in the way of actions naturall but in the way of doing ought that is good and pleasing in the sight of God I know no power incident to a naturall man for as much as the Apostle saith They that are in the flesh cannot please God Yet I confesse according as the world accounts morality every naturall man hath power to doe more good then hee doth and to abstain more from evill then hee doth that is hee may give more Almes then hee doth hee may bee more temperate then hee is but whether hee doth that which for the substance of the action is accounted good or abstaines from some particular evill actions yet neither the one nor the other is or can bee performed by him in a gracious but rather in an ungracious manner and whether this bee accounted a seeking after the Lord and that to finde mercy from him I dare appeale to your own judgement yet this is not all you maintain For wheras the Lord may bee sought after as the God and governour of nature onely you further say in the next page that there is a sufficiency of power in the means to lead the men of this world to come to the knowledge of God and to grace in Christ But let us examine the places of Scripture which you muster up in great abundance The first is out of Act. 17. 25 26 27. There wee read that God is not worshipped with mens hands as though hee needed any thing seeing bee giveth to all life and breath and all things 26. And hath made of one blood all mankinde to dwell upon all the face of the earth and hath assigned the seasons which were ordained before and the bounds of their habitation 27. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That they should seek the Lord if so hee they might have groped after him and found him though doubtlesse hee bee not farre from every one of us 28. For in him wee live and move c. This seemes to bee the most