Hearers in the most difficult and many times disputable points of the Christian Religion and fill their heads with unprofitable opinions while they neglected the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the more serious and weighty matters of Justice Mercy and Compassion From hence came it that in their Catechisms and Confessions of Faith they crowded so many unnecessary and fruitless Doctrines under the name and notion of Indubitable Articles of the Christian Faith and which were necessary to be believed in order to Salvation such as are the Positions concerning Gods Decree of Election and Reprobation c. And here I cannot but with all due regard and honour commend the great Prudence of the Compilers as of the whole Liturgie and Service so particularly of the Catechisme of the Church of England for the Instructing of the younger sort in the Rudiments and Principles of Christianity wherein as there is nothing propounded as indispensably necessary to be believed but what is undoubtedly so in like manner they modestly contented themselves in inserting only such things as were by all the reformed part of Christendome looked upon as unquestionably true and the contrary condemned as false and adulterate so that I may say of it as David of Goliahs Sword There is none like it Thus Reader I have given thee a full Account and Reason of the following Discourse and of the Necessity of some such way and method of Instructing the People as I have here described which certainly is not to fill their brains with puffie Opinions and jejune Disputations but a zealous cautioning them against all Vice and Immorality whatever and a serious exhorting them to the practice of Holyness Justice and Equity Obedience to their Lawful Prince and to all inferior Magistrates to do good and communicate to the Necessities of the Indigent and Calamitous and when the case requires a further instruction in the Mysteries of Religion such a full and easie Explication of the several Articles and Doctrines contained in it as may best suit with their Capacities and the plain Texts of Holy Scripture which as it is recommended as most useful for the promotion of Piety by our Mother the Church of England so it is most agreeable with the Nature of the thing it self GODS GOODNESS VINDICATED Against Absolute Reprobation CHAP. I. Inconditionate Reprobation inconsistent with the Declarations of God in Holy Scripture THERE is scarce any Doctrine or Opinion maintain'd in the World be it never so Monstrous and Irrational but pleads Scripture to countenance and authorize it and though Truth be but one yet every Sect and Faction claims an Interest in it and that Error may pass more freely disguised and undiscerned amongst men it is now-become a fashion to alledge the Divinely-inspired Writings as an unquestionable Evidence for the reasonableness and Truth of whatever strange and uncouth conceits men please to divulge in the World Such is the Hypothesis of Absolute Reprobation we have in hand And he that shall peruse the Writings of those who desire to maintain it and consider with what wonderful confidence they assert it and how thick-set the Margins of their Treatises are with citations of Scripture to patronize and defend it and yet how little or nothing there is in that Sacred Volume that in good earnest looks that way will be soon perswaded that it is an inveterate prejudice rather then any probability of Truth which makes them such pertinacious Adherents to so ill-framed a Doctrine And that I may make good what I have affirmed I shall begin with Divine Revelation wherein God declares his gratious Oeconomy and Dispensation with mankind and Vindicates the glory and honour of his Nature and Attributes from the aspersions and imputations of cruelty and injustice asserting his Rule and Dominion in the World to be Righteous and Equal and perfectly agreeable to the highest Wisdome and Goodness so that none of his Creatures unless it be such who are desperately forlorn and wicked can possibly wish his Not-being in the World This is his Name whereby he proclaims himself to Moses The Lord the Lord God Exod. xxxiv 6. merciful and gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth and this Name God hath verified in the whole Oeconomy of his Providence to the lapsed World Deut. v. 29. Oh that my people had such an heart in them sayes he that they would fear me and keep my Commandements But why doth God wish this not for any self design or particular interest for our goodness extendeth not unto him nor can our sins detract any thing from the sedate and composed happiness of his everblessed Nature but that it might go well with them and their Children for ever Behold here the flagrant love and intense affection of the God of Israel to a stiff-necked and disobedient people Do not these passionate streins proceed from his whole heart and are they not Arguments of the greatest seriousness How then can he unfeignedly desire that they should walk in the wayes of life when his own good Pleasure from the out-goings of Eternity hath irresistibly determined their motion into the pathes of destruction Can a tender Mother expose her innocent Babe to be devoured by wilde Beasts or sawn asunder before her eyes Isai xlix 15. Can she forget her sucking Child that she should not have compassion upon the Son of her womb Suppose there may be some so obdurate and unrelenting that their bowels will not yern over such a dismal spectacle yet they are but few that have degenerated so deeply into this more then brutish stupidity and can we think the compassionate Father of Spirits who is infinitely more pitiful in all the degrees of intension and extension then the best of the Sons of Men will betray his own dear off-spring or prove so unnatural to design them to the most acute torments the wit and subtilty of Men or Devils can invent and that to eternal ages before ever their Existence gave them the least opportunity of offending him 1 Joh. iv 16. God is Love it self whose nature is ever to be diffusive and communicative to all the possibilities of beings and therefore glories not in this that he is powerful to slay to damne and excruciate in unheard and perpetual torments Isa lxiii 1. but that he speaks in righteousness and is mighty to save And that he might fully convince the World of this gracious property of his he hath pronounced Judgment to be his Strange work and his Strange act which mens Impenitencies only force him to for he will not that any perish but that every Creature should be happy in it's measure and capacity And lest we Sons of Darkness should entertain any such thought of the God of Light as if he pleased himself in our ruin he hath joyned an Oath to it Ezek. xxxiii 11. and hath sworn As he liveth he hath no pleasure in the death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his
be quenched and then making bare his arme and demonstrating his Power by lifting them up from thence into the warm Sun-shine of his favour where they shall remain as secure of Heaven as if they were there already till God please by death to translate them unto glory And being taught on the other hand that whoever finds not this mighty work of Grace within him and feels not this great change wrought in his spirit it is a certain sign he is in the state of Reprobation and one of those who were of old ordained to condemnation Men I say being thus instructed and misguided by Pragmatick zeal that sets up it self in the place of Reason and not knowing that ever they had any sense or perception of those forementioned effects being wrought in them presently conclude that there is nothing to be expected for them but a sure and inevitable Damnation They never heard the sound of that breath of heaven which quickens dry bones and makes them stand up and live nor ever were acquainted with those impetuous agitations and convulsions of spirit whereby the New-birth is formed in them they never took notice of any such audible Voice behind them saying unto them this is the way walk in it Nor ever felt any such black tempest of horror and trembling seazing on them which presently the cloud being blown over was turned into a serene gale of quietness and peace Now it being thus with them what other conclusion can they draw from such Premises but that they are the objects of Gods hatred and are utterly excluded from all hope of happyness by a Decree unalterable as the Laws of the Medes and Persians For God hath determined say the Reprobationists and purposed in himself and he is not as Man that he should lye or the son of Man that he should repent that he will shew mercy to none but those few whom he hath pre-ordained to Salvation for the illustration of the Glory of his free Grace What shall I now comfort those despairing and disconsolate souls withal Should I tell them that God hates nothing that he hath made that he is the Father of Spirits and no Parent will tare out the tender bowels of his own dear off-spring they will presently reply that though the number of souls be as the sand of the Sea a remnant only shall be saved a little flock a tenth as the shaking of an Olive tree two or three berries on the top of the uppermost bough four or five in the outmost fruitful branches and though it be true that God is the Father of Spirits yet he is likewise the Supreme Lord of his Creation and May he not do what he will with his own hath not the potter power over the clay and therefore they are certainly vessels of dishonour and included in that great multitude which shall inherit bitterness and sorrow Should I declare to them that God is merciful and will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledg of the truth and to this end hath sent down the Lord Christ from heaven to declare to mankind that he is reconciled unto them and thinks thoughts of Love and Goodness towards them and that if they will repent and turn to him he will blot out their transgressions and remember their sins no more that Jesus Christ is become an Alsufficient sacrifice for the sins of the whole World and hath taken away that anger and displeasure that was conceived against the Sons of Men having tasted Death for every Man and that now he invites all in the most condescending terms to come unto him and hath promised that Whosoever comes unto him he will in no wise cast out And what return now shall I have to these perswasions they will tell me that it 's true God is merciful and would have All that is some of all sorts and conditions of men to be Saved and to this end Christ came down from heaven and was made man that he might gather together the World of his Elect and tasted Death for every one of them and these he invites and these shall come to him but none else for no man can come unto Christ except the Father draw him and we have no evidence or but plausible grounds to think that he either hath or will draw any of us his Sheep only know his voice and follow him but we have no proof whereby we can collect our selves to be of his fold Wherefore all our arguments are fruitless and vain and you can give us no solid and substantial comfort to uphold our weak and dying hopes that we are not in a state of Reprobation I might here before I leave this Argument demand of the stout Champions and Promoters of this rigid Doctrine of Absolute Reprobation What they think of those general calls and invitations of all lapsed Mankind in the Gospel and How they will make them consistent with that sower Dogma for to what end or purpose were these and such like expressions inserted Mat. xi 28. Come unto me all ye that are weary and heaven laden and I will give you rest If any man thirst Joh. vii 37. Isai lv 1. let him come unto me and drink Ho every one that thirsteth come ye to the waters and he that hath no money Come ye Behold I stand at the door and knock Rev. iii. 20. if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come in to him and will sup with him and he with me Wisdom cryeth without Prov. i. she uttereth her voice in the streets How long ye simple ones Turn ye at my reproof The Spirit and the Bride say Come and let him that heareth say Revel xxii 17. Come and let him that is athirst come and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Why doth Christ invite Reprobates to come to him when he denies them his gracious Assistance and intends they shall not come For that they are included here I think none can question that attends how general the terms are and if the balance be cast on either side the advantage will accrue to Reprobates for Christ came not to call the Righteous those who presume themselves to be Elected but Sinners such as the World judges Castawayes to repentance and besides the Text plainly implyes the same for who are more weary and heavy laden than those who are dayly burdened and know not where to rest Who are more thirsty than those who are scorcht with perpetual heats and travel in unknown deserts and solitudes panting and gasping and lifting up their dying eyes to Heaven and yet cannot obtain so much as one drop of cooling dew to allay the flames and ardors of their parched souls And if it be certain as it cannot be denyed that all men whatever are interessed and concern'd in these passionate invitations it is likewise clear as the Noon-day Sun that all may come and receive the benefit designed
understandings but when our wills are conformable to reason and spontaneously elect that which the Intellect propounds to them as best and in it self most eligible Having thus declared the amplitude and extent of the liberty of mans Will in all it 's respective capacities I shall now manifest and shew how it 's taken away by asserting and maintaining of Inconditionate Decrees which will be no hard matter to evince if we consider that both the Predestination of the Good to life and of the Reprobates to destruction necessarily pervades and casts a fatal influence upon their whole lives I mean that that eternal decree invincibly orders and disposes the actions of men to their respective ends so that he who is preordained to happiness shall certainly and necessarily be good and the other who is destin'd to perdition shall inevitably be wicked and vitious A cast of which Doctrine we have delivered to us by Zanchy in these words De Nat. Dei cap. 2. in Resp ad Sophism Non dubitamus itaque confiteri ex immutabili Reprobatione necessitatem peccandi quidem sine resipiscentia ad mortem usque peccandi eóque aeternas poenas dandi reprobis incumbere that is We doubt not to profess that from the immutable Decree of Reprobation there lies upon Reprobates a necessity of sinning and that without Repentance even unto death and consequently of suffering eternal punishments Ad amicdupl Vorst p. 175. Piscator likewise will aver the same and more if you desire it In summa se tueri fatetur Deum absolutè decrevisse ab aeterno efficaciter ne quispiam hominum plus bont faciat quà m reipsâ facit aut plus mali omittat quà m reipsa omittit that is That he defends this conclusion that God hath efficaciously from all eternity so predetermin'd the will of man to every individual action that none can do any more good than really he doth or omit any more evil then ipso facto he omitteth To these I shall add Szydlovius as the worst of the three Apud Curcellaeum de jure Dei in creaturas innocentes p. 25 26. Fateor ipse ad communem sentiendi consuetadinem crudum nimis hoc videri Deum posse blasphemiam perjurium mendacium c. imperare quod tamen Verissimum est in se c. that is I confess that according to common sense it seems very crude to assert that God can command blasphemy perjury lying c. which yet is most true in it self Now following these Principles it is impossible there should be any such things as Vertue and Vice existing in the World for all our acions whether Good or Evil are the necessary effects of an external principle acting and overruling our wills and we are but the instruments which that invincible Power makes use of for the doing such and such actions and can no more withstand it then the Sun cease to make day and night 1 Cor. iv 5. The Apostle speaks of mens receiving praise of God for their good deeds which reason cannot fathome if their wills are necessarily determin'd ad unum as the Moralists speak and acted by a supernatural and irresistible power No man ever praised the Sun for circling the Earth or the Moon for keeping her course because it is impossible they should do otherwise being destitute of any spontaneous principle and carryed by the violent stream of matter No more can any one praise or dispraise the actions of Mankind when they have no power to do otherwise but are inevitably determin'd to such and no other and can no more resist than the Planets stop their constant gyres in the vast whirlpools of heaven He that merits praise for doing well it is upon this account that he might have done otherwise but when God by a Physical application of his Power determines the soul to act thus and leaves it not any power or ability of resisting all the praise of that action must be due to God himself not to Man who was but the instrument and could not avoid it Nemo peccat in eo quod vitare non potest sayes St. Austin Neither can any action whatever be called a sin in Man because he is not left a free agent but acts fatally and unavoidably and cannot be disobedient to that superior force that inacts his will so that Murder Adultery Oppression contempt of Government and whatever brutish action there is else cannot come under the denomination of crimes but he that commits them may justly plead that he could not avoid them his will being never undetermin'd and it was not possible that his weak soul should hinder the stronger and more powerful bent and resolution of heaven How then can God in justice punish any man for doing that which he could not help and How can that be called a sin which is the effect of a necessary cause The distinction between the act and the pravity of the act the former of which God wills say they and works in us but not the latter will stand them in no stead for in many actions the formality of sin consists in the very act it self as in Murder Adultery and such like Thus the eating of the forbidden fruit was a sin in it self and we cannot distinguish between the act and the vitiosity for the very act was forbidden and the formality of the crime consisted not in Adam or Eve's eating after any undue manner but simply and barely in the very act of eating And so in sins of Omission this distinction likewise fails nor will it free Almighty God from the imputation of being the Author of Iniquity and Vice And it is no wonder to see this unworthy Doctrine take such deep footing in some mens minds when they are so obstinately set and fixed upon it that they will entertain any absurdity rather then free and unprejudice their understandings Yea so hot was this Dispute grown at Geneva that Melanchton in an Epistle to Caspar Peucerus amongst other things relates this Scribit ad me Lelius de Stoico fato usque adeo litem Genevae moveri ut quidam in carcerem conjectus sit propterea quod à Zenone differret O misera tempora Doctrina salutis peregrinis quibusdam disputationibus obscuratur And truly if Men would leave off these dry reasonings and altercations about words and entertain Truth in the love and simplicity of it and as it is in Jesus in that Divine and Meek Spirit it is to be hoped that God would soon put an end to the dayes of unrighteousness of formal and outside profession and the glory of the Lord would cover the Earth as the waters cover the Sea Chap. VI. An Explication of several Citations of Scripture suborned to attest the Doctrine of Inconditionate Decrees together with a brief examination of some Positions of the Contra-Remonstrants I Have now finished the principal and most material Arguments I shall at this time make use of which I have
denoted and depainted out in their proper colours and lineaments Such is the propriety of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 only here by the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it signifies Prophesie as is intimated in ver 17 18. of this Epistle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to this judgment that since they rejected the truth and turned the grace of God into lasciviousness and denyed the Lord Christ that bought them they might be as instruments for the exploration of Saints and true Believers as God is said to make use of false Prophets to try his People Deut. xiii 3. and after be destroyed with all false Christians and Rebellious Jews Mark xiii 22. For false Christs and false Prophets shall rise and shall shew signs and wonders to seduce if it were possible even the Elect. Hence the Contra-remonstrants collect an Absolute and peremptory Decree because 't is utterly impossible to seduce or draw the Elect from the Faith but while they argue thus they declare to the World that they neither understand the impossibility nor Elect here mentioned For 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in this place doth not denote an absolute impossibility otherwise Christ's exhortation to them ver 23. to take heed had been wholly useless and supervacaneous but is used to express the intent and design of the False-Christs and false-Prophets as if he should say They will omit nothing nor leave any means untryed whereby to compass their pernicious and wicked purpose The same form or speech we have Rom. xii 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 If it be possible as much as in you lies live peaceable with all men that is doe your endeavour do what lies in you 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as much as lies in your power being an Exegesis of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 if it be possible But why must the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be such as are absolutely and immutably Elected Sure I am the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used where there is no denotation of any Election from all eternity To avoid multiplicity of quotations we may instance in two or three more remarkable passages The Hebrew word to which this answers is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies to approve examine and chuse and accordingly Prov. vii 3. the Hebrew word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and our English Version reads The Lord tryeth the heart and the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hearts elect before the Lord. And in Esay xxviii 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred a tryed stone To this purpose Eccles xlix 7. Jerusalem is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an elect City that is preferred and esteemed before others Sometimes the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies the designing and chusing to some office and peculiar employment a sequestring some from others Luke vi 13. And when it was day he called unto him his Disciples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of them be chose twelve To add no more Rufus is called by St. Paul Rom. xvi 13. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chosen in the Lord that is a special Believer for as to his particular person what Decree had passed on him was unknown to the Apostle therefore it must be that he receive this Elogium from his visible Christian deportment 2 Thess ii 13. But we are bound to give thanks alwayes to God for you brethren beloved of the Lord because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth That the Apostle treats of no such absolute and eternal Election as our Antagonists imagine appears 1. In that this form of speech being directed to all the Thessalonians it would follow that the whole visible Church of them were elected unto glory which were a very precarious Assertion 2. This kind of Election being absolute and irreversible it were impossible that any of the Believers mentioned in the Text should fall and desert the faith of the Gospel which is altogether inconsistent with that solicitous and earnest Exhortation twice inculcated in this Chapter ver 1 2 15. wherein he beseeches them by the coming of the Lord Jesus that they be not soon shaken in mind or troubled and again That they stand fast and hold the traditions which they have heen taught by word or Epistle 3. This Separation of them from the rest of the Heathen World was grounded upon their good conversation and belief of the Gospel which directly thwarts an Inconditionate Decree Through Sanctification of the Sprit and belief of the truth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Chosen or separated you from the beginning that is from the beginning of the Preaching of the Gospel so that they were among the first of those that gave up themselves to the obedience of the faith This is all the import of this phrase the former part of it we have Deut. xxvi 18. The Lord hath avouched thee this day to be his people in the Septuagint 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which respected Temporal benefits but here by the Apostle 't is added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to Eternal Salvation which is reserved only for Christians Now as the Jews by their disobedience might become non populus so Christians may disinherit themselves and frustrate by their evil wayes Gods intentions of bringing them unto glory As for the addition of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it no way extends it to an Eternal but Temporal Election or Separation and is used in Scripture to denote the beginning of the Preaching of the Gospel as in 1 Joh. ii 7 24. I write no new Commandment to you but an old Commandment which ye had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning the old Commandment is the word which ye have heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning Again Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from the beginning See Joh. xv 27. The old Latine translation reads it Primitias 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is that they were set apart and consecrated to God as first-fruits by the Preaching of the Gospel which phrase the Apostle likewise useth Rom. xvi 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who is the first-fruits of Achaia unto Christ Rom. viii 28 29 30. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose For whom he did foreknow he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son that he might be the first-born amongst many brethren Moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified and whom he justified them he also glorified Here say the Calvinists you may see the chain of Salvation and behold how the beloved of God are drawn by each golden link till they are brought to their appointed bliss and happiness This is the sacred method of Gods Predestination in which he goes by certain steps and degrees and in every one of them