For so great and so important a Matter as this is must be supposed to be either expresly declared in the Scriptures or not at all The Article affirming That some General Councils have erred must be understood of Councils that pass for such and that may be called General Councils much better than many others that go by that Name For that at Arimini was both very Numerous and was drawn out of many different Provinces As to the strict Notion of a General Council there is great Reason to believe that there was never any Assembly to which it will be found to agree And for the Four General Councils which this Church declares she receives they are received only because we are persuaded from the Scriptures that their Decisions were made according to them That the Son is truly God of the same Substance with the Father That the Holy Ghost is also truly God That the Divine Nature was truly united to the Human in Christ and that in One Person That both Natures remain distinct and that the Human Nature was not swallowed up of the Divine These Truths we find in the Scriptures and therefore we believe them We reverence those Councils for the sake of their Doctrine but do not believe the Doctrine for the Authority of the Councils There appeared too much of Human Frailty in some of their other Proceedings to give us such an Implicite Submission to them as to believe things only because they so Decided them ARTICLE XXII Of Purgatory The Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory Pardons Worshipping and Adoration as well of Images as of Relicks and also Invocation of Saints is a fond thing vainly invented and grounded upon no warrant of Scripture but rather repugnant to the Word of God THERE are two small Variations in this Article from that published in King Edward's Reign What is here called the Romish Doctrine is there called the Doctrine of School-men The plain reason of this is that these Errors were not so fully espoused by the Body of the Roman Church when those Articles were first published so that some Writers that softened matters threw them upon the School-men and therefore the Article was cautiously worded in laying them there But before these that we have now were published the Decree and Canons concerning the Mass had passed at Trent in which most of the Heads of this Article are either affirmed or supposed though the formal Decree concerning them was made some Months after these Articles were published This will serve to justifie that diversity The second difference is only the leaving out a severe word Perniciously repugnant to the Word of God was put at first but perniciously being considered to be only a hard word they judged very right in the Second Edition of them that it was enough to say repugnant to the Word of God There are in this Article five Particulars that are all Ingredients in the Doctrine and Worship of the Church of Rome Purgatory Pardons the Worship of Images and of Relicks and the Invocation of Saints that are rejected not only as ill grounded brought in and maintained without good warrants from the Scripture but as contrary to it The first of these is Purgatory concerning which the Doctrine of the Church of Rome is that every Man is liable both to Temporal and to Eternal Punishment for his Sins that God upon the Account of the Death and Intercession of Christ does indeed pardon Sin as to its Eternal Punishment but the Sinner is still liable to Temporal Punishment which he must expiate by Acts of Pennance and Sorrow in this World together with such other Sufferings as God shall think fit to lay upon him but if he does not expiate these in this Life there is a State of Suffering and Misery in the next World where the Soul is to bear the Temporal punishment of its Sins which may continue longer or shorter till the Day of Judgment And in order to the shortening this the Prayers and Supererogations of Men here on Earth or the Intercession of the Saints in Heaven but above all things the Sacrifice of the Mass are of great Efficacy This is the Doctrine of the Church of Rome asserted in the Councils of Florence and Trent What has been taught among them concerning the Nature and the Degrees of those Torments though supported by many pretended Apparitions and Revelations is not to be imputed to the whole Body and is indeed only the Doctrine of Schoolmen though it is generally preached and infused into the Consciences of the People Therefore I shall only examine that which is the established Doctrine of the whole Roman Church And first as to the Foundation of it that Sins are only pardoned as to their Eternal Punishment to those who being justified by faith have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ. Rom. 5.1 There is not a colour for it in the Scriptures Remission of Sins is in general that with which the Preaching of the Gospel ought always to begin and this is so often repeated without any such reserve that it is a high assuming upon God and his Attributes of Goodness and Mercy to limit these when he has not limited them but has expresly said that this is a main part of the New Covenant Jer. 31.34 Heb. 8.12 that he will remember our sins and iniquities no more Now it seems to be a Maxim not only of the Law of Nations but of Nature that all offers of Pardon are to be understood in the full extent of the Words without any secret Reserves or Limitations unless they are plainly expressed An Indemnity being offered by a Prince to persuade his Subjects to return to their Obedience in the fullest Words possible without any reserves made in it it would be lookt on as a very perfidious thing if when the Subjects come in upon it trusting to it they should be told that they were to be secured by it against Capital Punishments but that as to all Inferior Punishments they were still at Mercy We do not dispute whether God if he had thought fit so to do might not have made this distinction nor do we deny that the Grace of the Gospel had been infinitely valuable if it had offered us only the Pardon of Sin with relation to its Eternal Punishment and had left the Temporal Punishment on us to be expiated by our selves but then we say this ought to have been expressed The Distinction ought to have been made between Temporal and Eternal and we ought not to have been drawn into a Covenant with God by words that do plainly import an intire Pardon and Oblivion upon which there lay a limited Sense that was not to be told the World till it was once well engaged in the Christian Religion Upon these Reasons it is that we conclude that this Doctrine not being contained in the Scriptures is not only without any warrant in them but that it is contrary to those full offers of
particular for themselves is That the Scripture has not declared any thing concerning the Fall of Adam in such formal terms that they can affirm any thing concerning it A Liberty of another kind seems to have been then in Man when he was made after the Image of God and before he was corrupted by Sin And therefore though it is not easy to clear all difficulties in so Intricate a matter yet it seems reasonable to think that Man in a state of Innocency was a purer and a freer Creature to good than now he is But after all this seems to be only a fleeing from the difficulty to a less offensive way of talking of it for if the Prescience of future Contingents cannot be certain unless they are decreed then God could not certainly foreknow Adam's Sin without he had made an Absolute Decree about it and that as was just now said is the same thing with the Supralapsarians Hypothesis of which shall say no more having now laid together in a small compass the full Strength of this Argument I go next to set out with the same Fidelity and Exactness the Remonstrants Arguments They begin with this That God is Just Holy and Merciful That in speaking of himself in the Scripture with relation to those Attributes he is pleased to make Appeals to Men to call them to reason with him Thus his Prophets did often bespeak the Iewish Nation the meaning of which is That God Acts so that Men according to the Notions that they have of those Attributes may examine them and will be forced to justify and approve them Nay in these God proposes himself to us as our Pattern we ought to imitate him in them and by consequence we may frame just Notions of them We are required to be holy and merciful as he is merciful What then can we think of a Justice that shall condemn us for a Fact that we never committed and that was done many Years before we were born As also that designs first of all to be glorified by our being eternally miserable and that decrees that we shall commit sins to justify the previous Decree of our Reprobation If those Decrees are thus originally designed by God and are certainly effectuated then it is unconceivable how there should be a Justice in punishing that which God himself appointed by an Antecedent and Irreversible Decree should be done So this seems to lye hard upon Justice It is no less hard upon Infinite Holiness to imagine that a Being of purer eyes than that it can behold iniquity Heb. 1.13 should by an Antecedent Decree fix our committing so many Sins in such a manner that it is not possible for us to avoid them This is to make us to be born indeed under a Necessity of Sin and yet this necessity is said to flow from the Act and Decrees of God God represents himself always 〈◊〉 the Scriptures as gracious merciful slow to anger and abundant in goodness and truth Exod. 34.6 2 Pet. 3.9 Ezek. 18.12.33.11 It is often said That he desires that no man should perish but that all should come to the knowledge of the truth And this is said sometimes with the Solemnity of an Oath As I live saith the Lord I take no pleasure in the death of sinners They ask What sense can such words bear if we can believe that God did by an Absolute Decree reprobate so many of them If all things that happen do arise out of the Decree of God as its First Cause then we must believe that God takes pleasure both in his own Decrees and in the execution of them and by consequence that he takes pleasure in the death of sinners and that in contradiction to the most express and most solemn words of Scripture Besides what can we think of the Truth of God and of the Sincerity of those Offers of Grace and Mercy with the Obtestations the Exhortations and Expostulations upon them that occur so often in Scripture if we can think that by Antecedent Acts of God he determined that all these should be ineffectual so that they are only so many solemn words that do indeed signify nothing if God intended that all things should fall out as they do and if they do so fall out only because he intended it The chief Foundation of this Opinion lies in this Argument as its Basis That nothing can be believed that contradicts the Justice Holiness the Truth and Purity of God that these Attributes are in God according to our Notions concerning them only they are in him infinitely more perfect since we are required to imitate them Whereas the Doctrine of Absolute Decrees does manifestly contradict the clearest Ideas that we can form of Justice Holiness Truth and Goodness From the Nature of God they go to the Nature of Man and they think that such an inward Freedom by which a Man is the Master of his own Actions and can do or not do what he pleases is so necessary to the Morality of our Actions that without it our Actions are neither good nor evil neither capable of Rewards or Punishments Mad Men or Men asleep are not to be charged with the good or evil of what they do therefore at least some degrees of Liberty must be left with us otherwise why are we praised or blamed for any thing that we do If a Man thinks that he is under an Inevitable Decree as he will have little remorse for all the Evil he does while he imputes it to that inevitable Force that constrains him so he will naturally conclude that it is to no purpose for him to struggle with Impossibilities And Men being inclined both to throw all blame off from themselves and to indulge themselves in Laziness and Sloth these Practices are too natural to Mankind to be encouraged by Opinions that favour them All Virtue and Religion all Discipline and Industry must arise from this as their first Principle That there is a Power in us to govern our own Thoughts and Actions and to raise and improve our Faculties If this is denied all Endeavours all Education all pains either on our selves or others are vain and fruitless things Nor is it possible to make a Man believe other than this for he does so plainly perceive that he is a free Agent he feels himself balance matters in his Thoughts and deliberate about them so evidently that he certainly knows he is a free Being This is the Image of God that is stampt upon his Nature and tho' he feels himself often hurried on so impetuously that he may seem to have lost his Freâ—dom in some Turns and upon some Occasions yet he feels that he might have restrained that Heat in its first beginning he feels he can divert his Thoughts and master himself in most things when he sets himself to it He finds that Knowledge and Reflection that good Company and good Exercises do tame and soften him and that bad ones makes him
other Church has them equally with her or beyond her If all these must be discussed before we can settle this Question Which is the true Infallible Church A Man must stay long e're he can come to a point in it Therefore there can be no other way taken here but to examine first What makes a particular Church And then since the Catholick Church is an united Body of all particular Churches when the true Notion of a particular Church is fixed it will be easy from that to form a Notion of the Catholick Church It would seem reasonable by the Method of all Creeds in particular of that called the Apostles Creed that we ought first to settle our Faith as to the great Points of the Christian Religion and from thence go to settle the Notion of a true Church And that we ought not to begin with the Notion of a Church and from thence go to the Doctrine The Doctrine of Christianity must be first stated and from this we are to take our measures of all Churches and that chiefly with respect to that Doctrine which every Christian is bound to believe Here a distinction is to be made between those Capital and Fundamental Articles without which a Man cannot be esteemed a true Christian nor a Church a true Church And other Truths which being delivered in Scripture all Men are indeed obliged to believe them yet they are not of that nature that the Ignorance of them or an Error in them can exclude from Salvation To make this sensible It is a Proposition of another sort That Christ died for Sinners than this That he died at the Third or at the Sixth Hour And yet if the Second Proposition is expresly revealed in Scripture we are bound to believe it Since God has said it though it is not of the same nature with the other Here a Controversie does naturally arise that wise People are unwilling to meddle with What Articles are Fundamental and what are not The defining of Fundamental Articles seems on the one hand to deny Salvation to such as do not receive them all which Men are not willing to do And on the other hand it may seem a leaving Men at liberty as to all other particulars that are not reckoned up among the Fundamentals But after all the Covenant of Grace the Terms of Salvation and the Grounds on which we expect it seem to be things of another nature than all other truths which though revealed are not of themselves the Means or Conditions of Salvation Wheresoever true Baptism is there it seems the Essentials of this Covenant are preserved For if we look on Baptism as a Foederal admission into Christianity there can be no Baptism where the Essence of Christianity is not preserved As far then as we believe that any Society has preserved that so far we are bound to receive her Baptism and no further For unless we consider Baptism as a sort of a Charm that such words joined with a washing with Water make one a Christian which seems to be expresly contrary to what St. Peter says of it 1 Pet. â— 21 That it is not the washing away the filth of the flesh but the answer of a good Conscience towards God that saves us We must conclude That Baptism is a Foederal thing in which after that the Sponsions are made the Seal of Regeneration is added From hence it will follow That all who have a true Baptism that makes Men Believers and Christians must also have the true Faith as to the Essentials of Christianity The Fundamentals of Christirnity seems to be all that is necessary to make Baptism True and Valid And upon this a distinction is to be made that will discover and destroy a Sophism that is often used on this occasion A True Church is in one sense a Society that preserves the Essentials and Fundamentals of Christianity In another sense it stands for a Society all whose Doctrines are true that has corrupted no part of this Religion nor mixed any Errors with it A true Man is one who has a Soul and a Body that are the Essential Constituents of a Man Whereas in another sense a Man of Sincerity and Candor is called a true Man Truth in the one Sense imports the Essential Constitution and in the other it imports only a Quality that is accidental to it So when we acknowledge that any Society is a true Church we ought to be supposed to mean no other than that the Covenant of Grace in its Essential Constituent parts is preserved entire in that Body and not that it is true in all its Doctrines and Decisions The Second thing to be considered in a Church is their Association together in the use of the Sacraments For these are given by Christ to the Society as the Rites and Badges of that Body That which makes particular Men Believers is their receiving the Fundamentals of Christianity so that which constitutes the Body of the Church is the Profession of that Faith and the use of those Sacraments which are the Rites and Distinctions of those who profess it In this likewise a distinction is to be made between what is Essential to a Sacrament and what is the exact observance of it according to the Institution Additions to the Sacraments do not annul them though they corrupt them with that adulterate mixture Therefore where the Sponsions are made and washing with Water is used with the words of Christ there we own that there is a true Baptism Though there may be a large Addition of other Rites which we reject as Superstitious though we do not pretend that they null the Baptism But if any part of the Institution is cut off there we do not own the Sacrament to be true Because it being an Institution of Christ's it can no more be esteemed a true Sacrament than as it retains all that which by the Institution appears to be the main and essential parts of the Action Upon this account it is That since Christ appointed Bread and Wine fo his other Sacrament and that he not only blessed both but distributed both with words appropriated to each kind we do not esteem that to be a true Sacrament in which either the one or the other of these kinds is w ithdrawn But in the next place there may be many things necessary in the way of Precept and Order both with relation to the Sacraments and to the other publick Acts of Worship in which tho' Additions or Defects are Erroneous and Faulty yet they do not annul the Sacraments We think none ought to Baptize but Men dedicated to the Service of God and Ordained according to that Constitution that was settled in the Church by the Apostles and yet Baptism by Laicks or by Women such as is most commonly practiced in the Roman Church is not esteemed null by us nor is it repeated Because we make a difference between what is Essential to a Sacrament and what is
taken from the Power of Evil Spirits is sometimes to be made use of when extraordinary things are well attested and urged in proof of that which upon other Reasons we are assured is false It is certain That as we have a great power over vast quantities of gross and heavy Matter which by the motion of a very subtile Body our Animal Spirits we can master and manage So Angels Good or Bad may by virtue of subtile Bodies in which they may dwell or which upon occasion they may assume do many things vastly above either our Force to do or our Imagination to apprehend how it is done by them Therefore an Action that exceeds all the known Powers in Nature may yet be done by an Evil Spirit that is in Rebellion against its Maker and that designs to impose upon us by such a mighty performance But then the measure by which we must judge of this is by considering what is the End or Design driven at in such a wonderful Work If it is a good one if it tends to reform the Manners of Men to bring them off from Magick Idolatry and Superstition to the Worship of one Pure and Eternal Mind And if it tends to Reform their Actions as well as their Speculations and their Worship to turn them from Immorality Falsehood and Malice to a Pure a Sincere and a Mild Temper if it tends to Regulate Society as well as to Perfect the Nature and Faculties of every single man Then we may well conclude That no evil Spirit can so far depart from its own Nature as to join its Forces and co-operate in such a Design Mat. 12 25 26. For then the Kingdom of Satan could not stand if he were thus divided against himself according to what our Saviour said when this was Objected against the Miracles that he wrought These are all the General Considerations that concur to prove the Truth of the History of the Gospel of which the Resurrection and Ascension of Christ are the Two main Articles for they being well proved give Authority to all the rest As to the Resurrection in particular it is certain the Apostles could not be deceived in that matter They saw Christ frequently after he Rose from the Dead they met him once with a great Company of Five hundred with them They heard him Talk and Argue with them he opened the Scriptures to them with so peculiar an Energy that they felt their Hearts set on fire even when they did not yet perceive that it was He himself They did not at first either look for his Resurrection nor believe those who reported him risen They made all due Enquiry and some of them went beyond all reasonable bounds in their doubting So far were they from an easy and scon-imposed-on Credulity His Sufferings and their own Fears had so amazed them that they were contriving how to separate and disperse themselves when he at first appeared to them Men so full of Fear and so far from all Hope are not apt to be easy in believing So it must be concluded That either the account which the Apostles gave the World of Christ's Resurrection is true or they were gross Impostors since it is clear That the Circumstances and Numbers mentioned in that History shew there could be no deception in it And it is as little possible to conceive that there could be any Imposture in it For not to repeat again what has been already said That they were under no Temptations to set about any such Deceit but very much to the contrary and that there is no reason to think they were either bad enough to enter upon such a design or capable and skilful enough to manage it they being many of 'em illiterate Fishermen of Galilee who had no Acquaintance at Ierusalem to furnish them with that which might be necessary for executing such a contrivance The Circumstanâ—es of that Transaction are to be well examined and then it will appear that no Number of bold and dextrous men furnished with all Advantages whatsoever could have effected this matter Great Numbers had been engaged in the procuring our Saviour to be Crucified The whole Sanhedrim besides Multitudes of the People who upon all occasions are easily drawn in to engage in Tumultuary Commotions All these were concerned to examine the Event of this matter He was Buried in a New Sepulchre lately hewed out of a Rock so that there was no coming at it by any secret ways A Watch was set and all this at a time in which the Full-Moon gave a great Light all the Night long And Ierusalem being very full of People who were then there in great Numbers to keep the Passover that being the second Night of so vast a Rendevouz it is reasonable to think That great Numbers were walking in the Fields or at least might be so some later and some earlier Now if an Imposture was to be set about the Guard was to be frighted or mastered which could not be done without giving the Alarm and that must have quickly brought a Multitude upon them Christ's Body must have been disposed of Some other Tomb was to be lookt for to lodge it in The Wounds that were in it would have made it to be soon known if found Here a bold Attempt was to be undertaken by a company of poor irresolute Men who must trust one another intirely otherways they knew all might be soon discovered One of their Number had betrayed Christ a few days before Another had forsworn him and all had forsaken him And yet these men are supposed all of the sudden so firm in themselves and so sure of one another as to venture on the most daring thing that was ever undertaken by men when not a Circumstance could ever be found out to fix upon them the least suspicion The Priests and the Pharisees must be thought a strange stupid fort of Creatures if they did not examine where the Apostles were all that Night Besides many other particulars which might have been a thread to lead them into strict Inquiries unless it was because they believed the Report that the Watch had brought them of Christ's Rising again When they had this certain reason to believe it and yet resolved to oppose it the only thing they could do was to seem to neglect the Matter and only to decry it in general as an Imposture without going into Particulars which certainly they would not have done if they themselves had not been but too sure of the Truth of it When all this is laid together it is the most unreasonable thing imaginable to think that there was an Imposture in this Matter when no Colour nor shadow of it ever appeared and when all the Circumstances and not only probabilities but even Moral possibilities are so full to the contrary The Ascension of Christ has not indeed so full a proof Nor is it capable of it neither does it need it for the Resurrection well proved makes
all impure Desires being enjoined as indispensably necessary for without holiness no man can see the Lord. And thus every thing relating to this Article is considered and I hope both explained and proved ARTICLE VIII Of the Three Creeds The Three Creeds Nice Creed Athanasius Creed and that which is commonly called the Apostles Creed ought throughly to be received and believed for they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scripture ALthough no doubt seems to be here made of the Names or Designations given to those Creeds except of that which is ascribed to the Apostles yet none of them are named with any exactness Since the Article of the Procession of the Holy Ghost and all that follows it is not in the Nicene Creed but was used in the Church as a part of it for so it is in Epiphanius In Anchoreto before the Second General Council at Constantinople and it was confirmed and established in that Council Only the Article of the Holy Ghost's proceeding from the Son was afterwards added first in Spain Anno 447. which spread it self over all the West So that the Creed here called the Nice Creed is indeed the Constantinopolitan Creed together with the Addition of Filioque made by the Western Church That which is called Athanasius's Creed is not his neither â—or as it is not among his Works so that great Article of the Christian Religion having been settled at Nice and he and all the rest of the Orthodox referring themselves always to the Creed made by that Council there is no reason to imagine that he would have made a Creed of his own besides that not only the Macedonian but both the Nestorian and the Eutychian Heresies are expresly condemned by this Creed and yet those Authorities never being urged in those Disputes it is clear from thence that no such Creed was then known in the World as indeed it was never heard of before the Eighth Century and then it was given out as the Creed of Athanasius or as a Representation of his Doctrine and so it grew to be received by the Western Church perhaps the more early because it went under so great a Name in Ages that were not Critical enough to judge of what was genuine and what was spurious There is one great difficulty that arises out of several Expressions in this Câ—â—ed in which it is said That whosover will be saved must believe it That the Belief of it is necessary to Salvation and that such as do not hold it pure and undefiled shall without doubt perish everlastingly Where many Explanations of a Mystery hard to be understood are made indispensably necessary to Salvation and it is affirmed That all such as do not so believe must perish everlastingly To this two Answers are made 1. That it is only the Christian Faith in general that is hereby meant and not every Period and Article of this Creed so that all those severe Expressions are thought to import only the necessity of believing the Christian Religion But this seems forced for the words that follow And the Catholick Faith is do so plainly determine the sâ—gnification of that word to the Explanation that comes after that the word Catholick Faith in the first Verse can be no other than the same word as it is defined in the third and following Verses so that this Answer seems not natural 2. The common Answer in which the most Eminent Men of this Church as far as the Memory of all such as I have known could go up have agreed is this That these Condemnatory Expressions are only to be understood to relate to those who having the Means of Instruction offered to them have rejected them and have stifled their own Convictions holding the Truth in Unrighteousness and chusing darkness rather than light Upon such as do thus reject this great Article of the Christian Doctrine concerning One God and Three Persons Father Son and Holy Ghost and that other concerning the Incarnation of Christ by which God and Man were so united as to make one Person together with the other Doctrines that follow these are those Anathâ—maes denounced Not so as if it were hereby meant that every man who does not believe this in every tittle must certainly perish unless he has been furnished with sufficient means of conviction and that he has rejected them and hardned himself against them The Wrath of God is revealed against all sin and the wages of sin is Death So that every Sinner has the Wrath of God abiding on him and is in a state of Damnation yet a sincere Repentance delivers him out of it even though he lives and dies in some sins of Ignorance which though they may make him liable to damnation so that nothing but true Repentance can deliver him from it yet a general Repentance when it is also special for all known sins does certainly deliver a man from the guilt of unknown sins and from the Wrath of God due to them God only knows our hearts the degrees of our knowledge and the measure of our obstinacy and how far our Ignorance is affected or invincible and therefore he will deal with every man according to what he has received So that we may believe that some Doctrines are necessary to Salvation as well as that there are some Commandments necessary for Practice and we may also believe that some Errors as well as some Sins are exclusive of Salvation all which imports no more than that we believe such things are sufficiently revealed and that they are necessary Conditions of Salvation but by this we do not limit the Mercies of God towards those who are under such darkness as not to be able to see through it and to discern and acknowledge these Truths It were indeed to be wished that some express Declaration to this purpose were made by those who have Authority to do it But in the mean while this being the Sense in which the Words of this Creed are universally taken and it agreeing with the Phraseology of the Scripture upon the like occasions this is that which may be rested upon And allowing this large Explanation of these severe words the rest of this Creed imports no more than the Belief of the Doctrine of the Trinity which has been already proved in treating of the former Articles As for the Creed called the Apostles Creed there is good reason for speaking so doubtfully of it as the Article does since it does not appear that any determinate Creed was made by them None of the first Writers agree in delivering their Faith in a certain Form of Words every one of them gives an Abstract of his Faith in Words that differ both from one another and from this Form From thence it is clear that there was no common Form delivered to all the Churches And if there had been any Tradition after the Times of the Council of Nice of such a Creed composed by the Apostles the Arians
all are not actually good and so put in a way to be saved that God did not intend that it should be so for who hath resisted his will The Counsel of the Lord standeth fast and the Thoughts of his heart to all Generations It is true Rom. 9.10 Ps. 33.12 His Laws are his Will in one respect He requires all to obey them He approves them and he obliges all Men to keep them All the Expressions of his desires that all Men should bâ— saved are to be explained of the Will of Revelation commonly called the Sign of his Will When it is said What more could have been done Isa. 5.4 that is to be understood of outward Means and Blessings But still God has a secret Will of his good pleasure in which he designs all things and this can neaver be frustrated From this they do also conclude That though Christ's Death was to be offered to all Christians yet that Intentionally and Actually he only died for those whom the Father had chosen and given to him to be saved by him They cannot think that Christ could have died in vain which St. Paul speaks of as a vast Absurdity Now since if he had died for all Gal. 2.21 he should have died in vain with relation to the far greater part of Mankind who are not to be saved by him they from thence conclude That all those for whom he died are certainly saved by him Perhaps with relation to some subaltern Blessings which are through him Communicated if not to all Mankind yet to all Christians he may be said to have died for all But as to Eternal Salvation they believe his Design went no further than the secret Purpose and Election of God and this they think is implied in these words John 17.9.10 all that are given me of my Father Thine they were and thou gavest them me He also limits his Intercession to those only I pray not for the world but for those that thou hast given me for they are thine and all thine are mine and mine are thine They believe that he also limited to them the extent of his Death and of that Sacrifice which he offered in it It is true the Christian Religion being to be distinguished from the Iewish in this main Point that whereas the Iewish was restrained to Abraham's Posterity and confined within oneRace and Nation the Christian was to be preached to every Creature Universal words are used concerning the Death of Christ But as the words Mark 16.15 preaching to every Creature and to all the World are not to be understood in the utmost extent for then they have never been verified since the Gospel has never yet for ought that appears to us been preached to every Nation under Heaven but are only to be explained generally of a Commission not limited to one or more Nations none being excluded from it The Apostles were to execute it in going from City to City as they should be inwardly moved to it by the Holy Ghost So they think that those large words that are applied to the Death of Christ are to be understood in the same qualified manner that no Nation or sort of Men are excluded from it and that some of all kinds and sorts shall be saved by him And this is to be carried no further without an Imputation on the Justice of God For if he has received a sufficient Oblation and Satisfaction for the Sins of the whole World it is not reconcileable to Justice that all should not be saved by it or should not at least have the Offer and Promulgation of it made them that so a trial may be made whether they will accept of it or not The Grace of God is set forth in Scripture by such Figures and Expressions as do plainly intimate itâ— efficacy and that it does not depend upon us to use it Eph. 2.10 2 Cor. 5.17 Phil. 2.13 Ps. 110.3 Jerem. 31.33 34. Ezek. 36.26 27. Rom. 9.21 or not to use it at pleasure It it said to be a Creation we are created unto good works and we become new Creatures It is called a Regeneration or a New Birth it is called a Quickning and a Resurrection as our former state is compared to a feebleness a blindness and a death God is said to work in us both to will and to do His people shall be willing in the day of his power He will write his Laws in their hearts and make them to walk in them Mankind is compared to a Mass of Clay in the hands of the Potter who of the same lump makes at his pleasure Vessels of honour or of dishonour These passages this last in particular do insinuate an Absolute and a Conquering power in Grace and that the love of God constrains us as S. Paul speaks expresly All outward coaction is contrary to the nature of liberty and all those inward Impressions that drove on the Prophets so that they had not the free use of their Faculties but felt themselves carried they knew not how are inconsistent with it yet when a Man feels that his Faculties go in their method and that he assents or chuses from a thread of inward Conviction and Ratiocination he still acts freely that is by an Internal Principle of Reason and Thought A Man acts as much according to his Faculties when he assents to a Truth as when he chuses what he is to do And if his Mind were so enlightned that he saw as clearly the good of Moral Things as he percieves Speculative Truths so that he felt himself as little able to resist the one as the other he would be no less a free and a rational Creature than if he were left to a more unlimited Range Nay the more evidently that he saw the true good of things and the more that he were determined by it he should then act more suitably to his Faculties and to the Excellence of his Nature For though the Saints in Heaven being made perfect in Glory are no more capable of further Rewards yet it cannot be denied but they act with a more accomplished Liberty because they see all things in a true Light according to that in thy light we shall see light Psal. 26.9 And therefore they conclude that such an overcoming degree of Grace by which a Man is made willing through the Illumination of his Understanding and not by any blind or violent Impulse is no way contrary to the true Notion of Liberty After all they think That if a Debate falls to be between the Sovereignty of God his Acts and his Purposes and the freedom of Man's will it is modest and decent rather to make the abatement on Man's part than on God's but they think there is no need of this They infer That besides the outward Enlightening of a Man by Knowledge there is an inward Enlightening of the Mind and a secret forcible conviction stampt on it otherwise what can be meant
wild loose and irregular Frâ—m all this they conclude that Man is free and not under Inevitable Fate or Irresistable Motions either to good or evil All this they confirm from the whole Current of the Scripture that is full of Persuasions Exhortations Reproofs Expostulations Encouragements and Terrors which are all vain and Theatrical things if there are no free Powers in us to which they are addrest To what purpose is it to speak to dead Men to persuade the Blind to see or the Lame to run If we are under an impotence till the Irresistable Grace comes and if when it comes nothing can withstand it then what occasion is there for all those solemn Discourses if they can have no effect on us They cannot render us inexcusable unless it were in our power to be bettered by them and to imagine that God gives Light and Blessings to those whom he before intended to Damn only to make them inexcusable when they could do them no good and they will serve only to aggravate their Condemnation gives so strange an Idea of that Infinite Goodness that it is not fit to express it by those Terms which do naturally arise upon it It is as hard to suppose two contrary Wills in God the one commanding us our Duty and requiring us with the most solemn Obtestations to do it and the other putting a certain Bar in our way by Decreeing that we shall do the contrary This makes God look as if he had a Will and a Will though a Heart and a Heart import no good quality when applied to Men The one Will requires us to do our Duty and the other makes it impossible for us not to sin The Will for the good is ineffectual while the Will that makes us sin is infallible These things seem very hard to be apprehended and whereas the Root of True Religion is the having right and high Ideas of God and of his Attributes here such Ideas arise as naturally give us strange Thoughts of God and if they are received by us as Originals upon which we are to Form our own Natures such Notions may make us grow to be Spiteful Imperious and without Bowels but do not seem proper to inspire us with Love Mercy and Compassion tho' God is always proposed to us in that view All Preaching and Instruction does also suppose this For to what purpose are Men called upon taught and endeavoured to be persuaded if they are not free Agents and have not a power over their own Thoughts and if they are not to be convinced and turned by Reason The Offers of Peace and Pardon that are made to all Men are delusory things if they are by an Antecedent Act of God restrained only to a few and all others are barred from them It is further to be considered say they That God having made Men free Creatures his Governing them accordingly and making his own Administration of the World suitable to it is no diminution of his own Authority it is only the carrying on of his own Creation according to the several Natures that he has put in that variety of Beings of which this World is composed and with which it is diversified Therefore if some of the Acts of God with relation to-Man are not so free as his other Acts are and as we may suppose necessary to the ultimate Perfection of an Independent Being This arises not from any defect in the Acts of God but because the Nature of the Creature that he intended to make free is inconsistent with such Acts. The Divine Omnipotence is not lessened when we observe some of his Works to be more beautiful and useful than others are and the Irregular Productions of Nature do not derogate from the Order in which all Things appear lovely to the Divine Mind So if that Liberty with which he intended to endue Thinking Beings is incompatible with such positive Acts and so positive a Providence as governs Natural Things and this material World then this is no way derogatory to the Sovereignty of his Mind This does also give such an account of the Evil that is in the World as does no way accuse or lessen the Purity and Holiness of God since he only suffers his Creatures to go on in the free use of those Powers that he has given them about which he exercises a special Providence making some Mens Sins to be the immediate Punishments of their own or of other Mens Sins and restraining them often in a great deal of that Evil that they do design and bringing out of it a great deal of Good that they did not design but all is done in a way suitable to their Natures without any violence to them It is true it is not easy to shew how those future Contingences which depend upon the free choice of the Will should be certain and infallible But we are on other accounts certain that it is so for we see through the whole Scriptures a Thread of very positive Prophecies the accomplishment of which depended on the free Will of Man and these Predictions as they were made very precisely so they were no less punctually accomplished Not to mention any other Prophecies all those that related to the Death and Sufferings of Christ were fulfilled by the free Acts of the Priests and People of the Iews They sinned in doing it which proves that they acted in it with their Natural Liberty By these and all the other Prophecies that are in both Testaments it must be confessed that these things were certainly foreknown but where to found that Certainy cannot be easily resolved The Infinite Perfection of the Divine Mind ought here to silence all Objections A clear Idea by which we apprehend a thing to be plainly contrary to the Attributes of God is indeed a just ground of rejecting it and therefore they think that they are in the right to deny all such to be in God as they plainly apprehend to be contrary to Justice Truth and Goodness But if the Objection against any thing supposed to be in God lies only against the manner and the unconceivableness of it there the Infinite Perfection of God answers all It is further to be considered That this Prescience does not make the Effects certain because they are foreseen but they are foreseen because that they are to be So that the Certainty of the Prescience is not antecedent or causal but subsequent and eventual Whatsoever happens was future before it happened and since it happened it was certainly future from all Eternity not by a Certainty of Fate but by a Certainty that arises out of its being once from which this Truth That it was future was eternally certain Therefore the Divine Prescience being only the knowing all things that were to come that â—oes not infer a Necessity or Causality The Scripture plaiâ—â—y shews on some occasions a conditionate Prescience God answered David That Saul was to come to Keilah and that the Men of Keilah
Controversy with that which they think they can the most easily prove the one at the Establishing of Election and the other at the overthrowing of Reprobation Some have studied to seek out middle-ways For they observing that the Scriptures are writ in a great diversity of Stile in Treating of the Good or Evil that happens to us ascribing the one to God and imputing the other to our selves teaching us to ascribe the honour of all that is Good to God and to cast the blame of all that is Evil upon our selves have from thence concluded That God must have a different Influence and Causality in the one from what he has in the other But when they go to make this out they meet with great Difficulties yet they chuse to bear these rather than to involve themselves in those equally great if not greater Difficulties that are in either of the other Opinions They wrap up all in Two General Assertions that are great Practical Truths Let us Arrogate no good to our selves and impute no evil to God and so let the whole matter rest This may be thought by some the lazier as well as the safer way which avoids Difficulties rather than answers them whereas they say of both the Contending Sides That they are better at the starting of Difficulties than at the resolving of them Thus far I have gone upon the general in making such Reflections as will appear but too well grounded to those who have with any Attention read the chief Disputants of both Sides In these great Points all agree That Mercy is freely offered to the World in Christ Jesus That God did freely offer his Son to be our Propitiation and has freely accepted the Sacrifice of his Death in our stead whereas he might have Condemned every Man to have perished for his own Sins That God does in the Dispensation of this Gospel and the Promulgation of it to the several Nations act according to the Freedom of his Grace upon Reasons that are to us mysterious and past finding out That every Man is inexcusable in the sight of God That all Men are so far free as to be praise-worthy or blame-worthy for the Good or Evil that they do That every Man ought to employ his Faculties all he can and to pray and depend earnestly upon God for his Protection and Assistance That no Man in Practice ought to think that there is a Fate or Decree hanging over him and so become slothful in his Duty but that every Man ought to do the best he can as if there were no such Decree since whether there is or is not it is not possible for him to know what it is That every Man ought to be deeply humbled for his Sins in the sight of God without excusing himself by pretending a Decree was upon him or a want of Power in him That all Men are bound to obey the Rules set them in the Gospel and are to expect neither Mercy nor Favour from God but as they set themselves diligently about that And finally That at the Last Day all Men shall be Judged not according to secret Decrees but according to their own Works In these great Truths of which the greater part are Practical all Men agree If they would agree as honestly in the Practice of them as they do in Confessing them to be true they would do that which is much more important and necessary than to speculate and dispute about Niceties by which the World would quickly put on a new Face and then those few that might delight in curious Searches and Arguments would manage them with more Modesty and less Heat and be both less positive and less supercilious I have hitherto insisted on such general Reflections as seemed proper to these Questions I come now in the last place to examine how far our Church hath determined the Matter either in this Article or elsewhere How far she hath restrained her Sons and how far she hath left them at liberty For those different Opinions being so intricate in themselves and so apt â—o raise hot Disputes and to kindle lasting Quarrels it will not be suitable to that Moderation which our Church hath observed in all other things to sâ—retch her Words on these Heads beyond their strict sense The natural equity or reason of things ought rather to carry us on the other hand to as great a Comprehensiveness of all sides as may well consist with the Words in which our Church has expressed herself on those Heads It is not to be denied but that the Article seems to be framed according to St. Austin's Doctrine It supposes Men to be under a Curse and Damnation antecedently to Predestination from which they are delivered by it so it is directly against the Sâ—pralapsarian Doctrine Nor does the Article make any mention of Reprobation no not in a hint no Definition is made concerning it The Article does also seem to assert the Efficacy of Grace That in which the Knot of the whole Dfficulty lies is not Defined that is Whether God's Eternal Purpose or Decree was made according to what he foresaw his Creatures would do or purely upon an Absolute Will in order to his own Glory It is very probable that those who Penned it meant that the Decree was Absolute but yet since they have not said it those who subscribe the Articles do not seem to be bound to any thing that is not expressed in them And therefore since the Remonstrants do not deny but that God having foreseen what all Mankind would according to all the different Circumstances in which they should be put do or not do he upon that did by a firm and Eternal Decree lay that whole Design in all its Branches which he Executes in time they may subscribe this Article without renouncing their Opinion as to this matter On the other hand the Calvinists have less occasion for Scruple since the Article does seem more plainly to favour them The Three Cautions that are added to it do likewise intimate that St. Austin's Doctrine was designed to be settled by the Article For the danger of Mens having the sentence of God's Predestination always before their eyes which may occasion either desperation on the one hand or the wretchlesness of most unclean living on the other belongs only to that side since these Mischiefs do not arise out of the other Hypothesis The other Two of taking the Promises of God in the sense in which they are set forth to us in Holy Scriptures and of following that Will of God that is expresly declared to us in the Word of God relate very visibly to the same Opinion Though others do infer from these Cautions That the Doctrine laid down in the Article must be so understood as to agree with these Cautions and therefore they argue That since Absolute Predestination cannot consist with them that therefore the Article is to be otherwise explained They say the natural Consequence of an Absolute
a Foederal State of Salvation but Christians To them is given the Covenant of Grace and to them the promises of God are made and offered So that they have a certainty of it upon their performing those conditions that are put in the promises All others are out of this Promise to whom the Tidings of it were never brought but yet a great difference is to be made between them and those who have been invited to this Covenant and admitted to the outward Profession and the common Privileges of it and that yet have in effect rejected it These are under such positive denunciations of Wrath and Judgment that there is no room left for any charitable Thoughts or Hopes concerning them So that if any part of the Gospel is true that must be also true that they are under Condemnation Joh. 3.19 for having lov d darkness more than light when the Light shone upon them and visitâ—d them But as for them whom God has left in Darkness they are certainly out of the Covenant out of those Promises and Declarations that are made in it So that they have no Foederal Right to be saved neither can we affirm that they shall be saved But on the other hand they are not under those positive denunciations because they were never made to them Therefore since God has not declared that they shall be damned no more ought we to take upon us to damn them Instead of stretching the severity of Justice by an Inference we may rather venter to stretch the Mercy of God since that is the Attribute which of all others is the most Magnificently spoken of in the Scriptures So that we ought to think of it in the largest and most comprehensive manner But indeed the most proper way is for us to stop where the Revelation of God stops And not to be wise beyond what is written but to leave the secrets of God as Mysteries too far above us to examine or to sound their depth We do certainly know on what terms we our selves shall be saved or damned And we ought to be contented with that and rather study to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling than to let our minds run out into uncertain Speculations concerning the Measures and the Conditions of God's uncovenanted Mercies We ought to take all possible care that we our selves come not into Condemnation rather than to define positively of others who must or who must not be condemned It is therefore enough to fix this according to the Design of the Article That it is not to free Men to chuse at pleasure what Religion they will as if that were left to them or that all Religions were alike which strikes at the Foundation and undermines the Truth of all Revealed Religion None are within the Covenant of Grace but true Christians and all are excluded out of it to whom it is offered who do not receive and believe it and live according to it So in a word all that are saved are saved through Christ but whether all these shall be called to the Explicite Knowledge of him is more than we have any good ground to affirm Nor are we to go into that other Question Whether any that are only in a state of Nature live fully up to its Light This is that about which we can have no certainty no more than whether there may be a Common Grace given to them all proportioned to their State and to the Obligations of it This in general may be safely believed That God will never be wanting to such as do their utmost endeavours in order to the saving of their Souls But that as in the Case of Cornelius an Angel will be sent and a Miracle be wrought rather than that such a Person shall be left to perish But whether any of them do ever arrive at that state is more than we can determine and it is a vain attempt for us to endeavour to find it out ARTICLE XIX Of the Church The Uisible Church of Christ is a Congregation of faithful men in the which the pure Word of God is preached and the Sacraments be duely administred according to Christ's Ordinance in all those things that of necessity are requisite to the same As the Church of Jerusalem Alexandria and Antioch have erred so also the Church of Rome hath erred not only in their Living and manner of Ceremonies but also in matters of Faith THIS Article together with some that follow it Relates to the Fundamental difference between us and the Church of Rome They teaching that we are to judge of Doctrines by the Authority and the Decisions of the Church whereas we affirm That we are first to examine the Doctrine and according to that to judge of the Purity of a Church Somewhat was already said on the Sixth Article relating to this matter What remains is now to be considered The whole Question is to be reduced to this Point Whether we ought to Examine and Judge of Matters of Religion according to the Light and Faculty of judging that we have or if we are bound to submit in all things to the Decision of the Church Here the matter must be determined against private Judgment by very express and clear Authorities other wise the other side proves it self For we having naturally a Faculty of judging for our selves and using it in all other things this freedom being the greatest of all our other Rights must be still asserted unless it can be made appear that God has in some things put a Bar upon it by his Supreme Authority That Authority must be very express if we are required to submit to it in a Point of such vast Importance to us We do also see that Men are apt to be mistaken and are apt likewise willingly to mistake and to mislead others and that particularly in matters of Religion the World has been so much imposed upon and abused that we cannot be bound to submit to any sort of persons implicitely without very good and clear grounds that do assure us of their Infallibility Otherwise we have just reason to suspect that in matters of Religion chiefly in Points in which Human Interests are concerned Men may either through Ignorance and Weakness or Corruption and on Design abuse and mislead us So that the Authorities or Proofs of this Infallibility must be very express since we are sure no Man nor Body of Men can have it among them but by a Privilege from God and a Privilege of so extraordinary a nature must be given if at all in very plain and with very evident Characters since without these Human Nature cannot and ought not to be so tame as to receive it We must not draw it from an Inference because we think we need it and cannot be safe without it That therefore it must be so because if it were not so great Disorder would arise from the want of it This is certainly a wrong way of arguing
belong'd to it but challenging a great many that were flatly denied and rejected Such as the right of receiving Appeals from the African Churches in which reiterated Instances and a bould Claim upon a Spurious Canon pretended to be of the Council of Nice were long pursued but those Churches asserted their Authority of ending all matters within themselves In all this Contest Infallibility was never claimed no more than it had been by Victor when he excommunicated the Asian Churches for observing Easter on the Fourteenth Day of the Moon and not on the Lord's-Day after according to the Custon of the Roman as well as of other Churches When Pope Stephen quarrelled with St. Cyprian about the rebaptizing of Hereticks Euseb. Hist. Eccl. l. 5. c. 23 24 25. Cypr. Ep. 74 75. Firmil Con. Sard. C. 3 7. Cyprian and Firmilian were so far from submitting to his Authority that they speak of him with a freedom used by Equals and with severity that shewed they were far from thinking him Infallible When the whole East was distracted with the Disputes occasioned by the Arian Controversy there was so much Partiality in all their Councils that it was decreed That Appeals should be made to Pope Iulius and afterwards to his Successors though here was an occasion given to assert this Infallibility if it had been thought on yet none ever spoke of it Great Reverence was paid to that Church both because they believed it was founded by St. Peter and St. Paul and chiefly because it was the Imperial City for we see that all other Sees had that degree of Dignity given them which by the Constitution of the Roman Empire was lodged in their Cities And so when Byance was made the Imperial City and called New Rome though more commonly Constantinople it had a Patriarchal Dignity bestowed on it and was in all things declared equal to Old Rome only the point of Rank and Order excepted This was decreed in two General Councils the Second and the Fourth Con. Constant Can. 3. Con. Chalced C 28. in so express a manner that it alone before equitable Judges would fully shew the Sense of the Church in the Fourth and Fifth Century upon this Head When Pope Liberius condemned Athanasius and subscribed to Semi-Arianism this was never considered as a New Decision in that matter so that it altered the the state of it No use was made of it nor was any Argument drawn from it Liberius was universally condemned for what he done and when he repented of it and retracted it he was again owned by the Church We have in the Sixth Century a most undeniable Instance of the Sense of the whole Church in this matter Pope Honorius was by the Sixth General Council condemned as a Monothelite and this in the presence of the Popes Legates and he was anathematized by several of the succeeding Popes It is to no purpose here to examine whether he was justly or unjustly condemned it is e nough that the Sense both of the Eaâ—tern and Western Church appeared evidently in that Age upon these two Points That a Pope might be a Heretick and that being such he might be held accursed for it Con. Sinuess An. 303. Tom. 1. Conc. And in that time there was not any one that suggested that either he could not fall into Heresy since our Saviour had prayed that St. Peter's Faith might not fail or that if he had fallen into it he must be left to the Judgment of God but that the Holy See according to the Fable of P. Marcellin could be judged by no body The Confusions that followed for some Ages in the Western Parts of Europe more particularly in Italy gave occasion to the Bishops of Rome to extend their Authority The Emperors at Constantinople and their Exarchs at Ravenna studied to make them sure to their Interests yet still asserting their Authority over them The new Conquerors studied also to gain them to their side and they managed their matter so dextrously that they went on still increasing and extending their Authority till being much straitned by the Kings of the Lombards they were protected by a new Conquering Family that arose in France in the Eighth Century who to give Credit both to their Usurpation of that Crown and to the extending their Dominions into Italy and the assuming the Empire of the West did both protect and enrich them and enlarged their Authority the greatness of which they reckoned could do them no hurt as long as they kept the Confirmation of their Election to themselves That Family became quickly too feeble to hold that Power long and then an Imposture was published of a Volume of the Decretal Epistles of the Popes of the first Ages in which they were represented as acting according to those high Claims to which they were then beginning to pretend Those Ages were too blind and too ignorant to be capable of searching critically into the truth of this Collection it quickly passed for â—urrent and though some in the beginning disputed it yet that was soon born down and the Credit of that Work was established It furnished them with Precedents that they were careful enough not only to follow but to outdo Thus a Work which is now as universally rejected by the Learned Men of their own Body as spurious as it was then implicity taken for genuine gave the chief Foundation during many Ages to their unbounded Authority And this furnishes us with a very just Prejudice against it That it was managed with so much Fraud and Imposture to which they added afterwards much Cruelty and Violence the two worst Characters possible and the least likely to be found joined with Infallibility For it is reasonable enough to apprehend that if God had lodged such a Privilege any where that he would have so influenced those who were the Depositaries of it that they should have appeared somewhat like that Authority to which they laid Claim and that he would not have forsaken them so that for above Eight hundred Years the Papacy as it is represented by their own Writers is perhaps the worst Succession of Men that is to be found in History But now to come more close to prove what is here asserted in this part of the Article If all those Doctrines which were established at Trent and that have been confirmed by Popes and most of them brought into a new Creed and made parts of it are found to be gross Errors or if but any one of them should be found to be an Error then there is no doubt to be made but that the Church of Rome hath erred So the Proof brought against every one of these is likewise a proof against their Infallibility But I shall here give one Instance of an Error which will not be denied by the greater part of the Church of Rome They have now for above Six hundred Years asserted That they had an Authority over Princes not only to convict and
among themselves one to another but rather it is a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ's Death Insomuch that to such as rightly worthily and with faith receive the same the Bread which we break is a partaking of the Body of Christ and likewise the Cup of Blessing is a partaking of the Blood of Christ. Transubstantiation or the change of the Substance of Bread and Wine in the Supper of the Lord cannot be Proved by Holy Writ but it is repugnant to the plain words of Scripture overthroweth the nature of a Sacrament and hath given occasion to many Superstitions The Body of Christ is given taken and eaten in the Supper only after a Heavenly and Spiritual manner and the mean whereby the Body of Christ is received and eaten in the Supper is Faith The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper was not by Christ's Ordinance reserved carried about lifted up and Worshipped In the Edition of these Articles in Edward the VIth's Reign there was another long Paragraph against Transubstantiation added in these words Forasmuch as the Truth of Man's Nature requireth that the Body of one and the self-same Man cannot be at one time in divers places but must needs be in one certain place therefore the Body of Christ cannot be present at one time in many and divers places And because as Holy Scripture doth teach Christ was taken up into Heaven and there shall continue unto the end of the World a Faithful Man ought not either to Believe or openly Confess the Real and Bodily Presence as they term it of Christ's Flesh and Blood in the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper WHEN these Articles were at first prepared by the Convocation in Queen Elizabeth's Reign this Paragraph was made a part of them for the Original Subscription by both Houses of Convocation yet extant shews this But the design of the Government was at that time much turned to the drawing over the Body of the Nation to the Reformation in whom the old Leven had gone deep and no part of it deeper than the belief of the Corporeal Presence of Christ in the Sacrament therefore it was thought not expedient to offend them by so particular a Definition in this matter in which the very word Real Presence was rejected It might perhaps be also suggested that here a Definition was made that went too much upon the Principles of Natural Philosophy which how true soever they might not be the proper subject of an Article of Religion Therefore it was thought fit to suppress this Paragraph though it was a part of the Article that was Subscribed yet it was not published but the Paragraph that follows The Body of Christ c. was put in its stead and was received and published by the next Convocation which upon the matter was a full Explanation of the way of Christ's Presence in this Sacrament that he is present in a heavenly and spiritual Manner and that Faith is the mean by which he is received This seemed to be more Theological and it does indeed amount to the same thing But howsoever we see what was the Sense of the first Convocation in Queen Elizabeth's Reign it differed in nothing from that in King Edward's Time And therefore though this Paragraph is now no Part of our Articles yet we are certain that the Clergy at that time did not at all doubt of the Truth of it we are sure it was their Opinion Since they subscribed it though they did not think fit to publish it at first and though it was afterwards changed for another that was the same in Sense In the treating of this Article I shall first lay down the Doctrine of this Church with the Grounds of it and then I shall examine the Doctrine of the Church of Rome which must be done copiously For next to the Doctrine of Infallibility this is the most valued of all their other Tenets this is the most Important in it self since it is the main Part of their Worship and the chief Subject of all their Devotions There is not any one thing in which both Clergy and Laity are more concerned which is more generally studied and for which they pretend they have more plausible Colours both from Scripture and the Fathers and if Sense and Reason seem to press hard upon it they reckon that as they understand the Words of St. Paul every thought must be captivated into the obedience of Faith 2 Cor. 10.5 In order to the expounding our Doctrine we must consider the Occasion and the Institution of this Sacrament The Iews were required once a Year to meet at Ierusalem in remembrance of the deliverance of their Fathers out of Egypt Exod. 12.11 Moses appointed that every Family should kill a Lamb whose Blood was to be sprinkled on their Door-posts and Lintels and whose Flesh they were to eat at the sight of which Blood thus sprinkled the destroying Angel that was to be sent out to kill the First-born of every Family in Egypt was to pass over all the Houses that were so marked And from that passing by or over the Israelites the Lamb was called the Lord's passover as being then the Sacrifice and afterwards the Memorial of that Passover The People of Israel were required to keep up the Memorial of that Transaction by slaying a Lamb before the Place where God should set his Name and by eating it up that Night They were also to eat with it a Sallet of bitter Herbs and unleavened Bread and when they went to eat of the Lamb they repeated these Words of Moses That it was the Lord's Passover Now tho' the first Lamb that was killed in Egypt was indeed the Sacrifice upon which God promised to pass over their Houses yet the Lambs that were afterwards offered were only the Memorials of it though they still carried that Name which was given to the First And were called the Lord's Passover So that the Iews were in the Paschal-Supper accustomed to call the Memorial of a thing by the Name of that of which it was the Memorial And as the Deliverance out of Egypt was a Type and Representation of that greater Deliverance that we were to have by the Messias the first Lamb being the Sacrifice of that Deliverance 1 Cor. 5.7 John 1.29 Compare Matt. 26.26 Mark 14.22 and the succeeding Lambs the Memorials of it so in order to this new and greater Deliverance Christ himself was our Passover that was sacrificed for us He was the Lamb of God that was both to take away the Sins of the World and was to lead Captivity Captive To bring us out of the Bondage of Sin and Satan into the Obedience of his Gospel He therefore chose the time of the Passover that he might be then offered up for us And did Institute this Memorial of it while he was celebrating the Iewish Pascha with his Disciples who were so much accustomed to the Forms and Phrases of that Supper in which every Master of a
given either to Superstition or Irreverence And for the Sick or the Prisoners we think it is a greater Mean to quicken their Devotion as well as it is a closer adhering to the Words of the Institution to Consecrate in their Presence for tho' we can bear with the practice of the Greek Church of reserving and sending about the Eucharist when there is no Idolatry joyned with it yet we cannot but think that this is the continuance of a practice which the state of the first Ages introduced and that was afterwards kept up out of a too scrupulous imitation of that time without considering that the difference of the state of the Christians in the former and in the succeeding Ages made that what was at first innocently practised since a real necessity may well excuse a want of exactness in some matters that are only positive became afterwards an occasion of much Superstition and in conclusion ended in Idolatry Those ill effects that it had are more than is necessary to justifie our practice in reducing this strictly to the first Institution As for the lifting up of the Eucharist there is not a word of it in the Gospel nor is it mentioned by St. Paul Neither Iustin Martyr nor Cyril of Ierusalem speak of it there is nothing concerning it neither in the Constitutions nor in the Areopagite In those first Ages all the Elevation that is spoken of is the lifting up their Hearts to God The Elevation of the Sacrament began to be practised in the Sixth Century for it is mentioned in the Liturgy called St. Chrysostome's but believed to be much latter than his time â—erm Const. in Theor. Tit. 12. Bibl. patr Ivo Carn Ep. de Sacr Missae T. 2. Bibl. pat German a Writer of the Greek Church of the Thirteenth Century is the first that descants upon it he speaks not of it as done in order to the Adoration of it but makes it to represent both Christ's being lifted up on the Cross and also his Resurrection Ivo of Chartres who lived in the end of the 11 th Century is the first of all the Latins that speaks of it but then it was not commonly practised for the Author of the Micrologus tho' he writ at the same time yet does not mention it who yet is very minute upon all particulars relating to this Sacrament Nor does Ivo speak of it as done in order to Adoration but only as a form of shewing it to the People Dur. Rat. div offic lib. 4. de Sexta parte Can. Durand a Writer of the 13 th Century is the first that speaks of the Elevation as done in order to the Adoration So it appears that our Church by cutting off these Abuses has restored this Sacrament to its Primitive Simplicity according to the Institution and the practice of the first Ages ARTICLE XXIX Of the Wicked which eat not the Body of Christ in the Use of the Lord's-Supper The wicked and such as be void of a lively Faith altho they do carnally and visibly press with their Teeth as St. Austin saith the Sacrament of the Body and Blood of Christ yet in no wise are they partakers of Christ but rather to their condemnation do eat and drink the Sign or Sacrament of so great a thing THIS Article arises naturally out of the Former and depends upon it For if Christ's Body is corporally present in the Sacrament then all Persons good or bad who receive the Sacrament do also receive Christ On the other hand if Christ is Present only in a Spiritual Manner and if the Mean that receives Christ is Faith then such as believe not do not receive him So that to prove that the Wicked do not receive Christ's Body and Blood is upon the Matter the same thing with the proving that he is not corporally Present And it is a very considerable Branch of our Argument by which we prove that the Fathers did not believe the corporal Presence because they do very often say That the Wicked do not receive Christ in the Sacrament Here the same distinction is to be made that was mentioned upon the Article of Baptism The Sacraments are to be considered either as they are Acts of Church-Communion or as they are federal Acts by which we enter into Covenant with God With respect to the Former the visible Profession that is made and the Action that is done are all that can fall under human cognisance So a Sacrament must be held to be good and valid when as to outward appearance all things are done according to the Institution But as to the internal Effect and Benefit of it that turns upon the Truth of the Profession that is made and the sincerity of those Acts which do accompany it For if these are not seriously and sincerely performed God is dishonoured and his Institution is prophaned Our Saviour has expresly said that whosoever eats his Flesh and drinks his Blood has eternal Life From thence we conclude that no Man does truly receive Christ who does not at the same time receive with him both a Right to eternal Life and likewise the beginnings and earnests of it The Sacrament being a federal Act he who dishonours God and prophanes this Institution by receiving it unworthily becomes highly guilty before God and draws down Judgments upon himself And as it is confessed on all hands that the inward and spiritual Effects of the Sacrament depend upon the State and Disposition of him that Communicates so we who own no other Presence but an inward and spiritual one cannot conceive that the Wicked who believe not in Christ do receive him In this Point several of the Fathers have delivered themselves very plainly Origen says Christ is the true Food whosoever eats him shall live for ever of whom no wicked Person can eat Comment in Matth. c. 15. for if it were possible that any who continues Wicked should eat the Word that was made Flesh it had never been written Whoso eats this Bread shall live for ever This comes after a Discourse of the Sacrament which he calls the typical and symbolical Body and so it can only belong to it In another place he says The Good eat the living Bread which came down from Heaven but the Wicked eat dead Bread which is Death Tom. â— Spiâ—il Sacr. d' Achâ—ry Zeno Bishop of Verona who is believed to have lived near Origen's time has these words There is cause to fear that he in whom the Devil dwells does not eat the Flesh of our Lord nor drink his Blood though he seems to communicate with the Faithful since our Lord has said He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood dwells in me and I in him St. Ierom says They that are not Holy in Body and Spirit do neither eat the Flesh of Iesus nor drink his Blood In cap. 66. Isaiae of which he said He that eats my Flesh and drinks my Blood hath eternal Life Tract
to the Practice of the second Branch of it We see what particular Care God took of the Poor in the Old Dispensation and what variety of Provision was made for them all which must certainly be carried as much higher among Christians as the Laws of Love and Charity are raised to a higher degree in the Gospel Christ represents the Essay that he gives of the Day of Judgment in this Article of Charity and expresses it in the most emphatical words possible as if what is given to the Poor were to be reckoned for as if it had been given personally to Christ himself And in a great variety of other Passages this matter is so oft insisted on that no man can resist it who reads them and acknowledges the Authority of the New Testament It is not possible to fix a determined Quota as was done under the Law in which every Family had their peculiar Allotment which had a certain Charge specified in the Law that was laid upon it But under the Gospel as men may be under greater Inequalities of Fortune than they could have been under the Old Dispensation so that vast variety of mens Circumstances makes that such Proportions as would be intolerable Burdens upon some would be too light and disproportioned to the Wealth of others Those words of our Saviour come pretty near the marking out every mans measure Luk. 21.4 These have of their abundance cast into the offerings of God but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had Abundance is Superfluity in the Greek which imports that which is over and above the food that is convenient Prov. 30.8 that which one can well spare and lay aside Now by our Saviour's design it plainly appears that this is a low degree of Charity when men give only out of this though God knows it is far beyond what is done by the greater part of Christians Whereas that which is so peculiarly acceptable to God is when men give out of their Penury that is out of what is necessary to them when they are ready especially upon great and crying occasions even to pinch Nature and straiten themselves within what upon other occasions they may allow themselves that so they may distribute to the necessities of others who are more pinched and are in great extremities By this every man ought to judg himself as knowing that he must give a most particular Account to God of that which God hath reserved to himself and ordered the distribution of it to the Poor out of all that Abundance with which he has bless'd some far beyond others ARTICLE XXXIX Of a Christian Man's Oath As we confess that vain and rash swearing is forbidden Christian men by our Lord Iesus Christ and James his Apostle so we judg that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but that a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth in a Cause of Faith and Charity so it be done according to the Prophets teaching in Iustice Iudgment and Truth AN Oath is an Appeal to God either upon a Testimony that is given or a Promise that is made confirming the Truth of the one and the Fidelity of the other It is an Appeal to God who knows all things and will judg all men So it is an Act that acknowledges both his Omniscience and his being the Governor of this World who will judg all at the Last Day according to their deeds and must be supposed to have a more immediate regard to such Acts in which men made him a Party An Appeal truly made is a committing the matter to God A false one is an Act of open defiance which must either suppose a denial of his knowing all things or a belief that he has forsaken the Earth and has no regard to the Actions of Mortals or finally it is a bold venturing on the Justice and Wrath of God for the serving some present end or the gaining of some present advantage And which of these soever gives a man that brutal Confidence of adventuring on a false Oath we must conclude it to be a very crying Sin which must be expiated with a very severe Repentance or will bring down verry terrible Judgments on those who are guilty of it Thus if we consider the matter upon the Principles of Natural Religion an Oath is an Act of Worship and Homage done to God and is a very powerful mean for preserving the Justice and Order of the World All Decisions in Justice must be founded upon evidence two must be believed rather than one therefore the more Terror that is struck into the minds of men either when they give their Testimony or when they bind themselves by Promises and the deeper that this goes it will both oblige them to the greater Caution in what they say and to the greater Strictness in what they promise Since therefore Truth and Fidelity are so necessary to the Security and Commerce of the World and since an Appeal to God is the greatest Mean that can be thought on to bind men to an exactness and strictness in every thing with which that Appeal is joined therefore the use of an Oath is fully justified upon the Principles of Natural Religion This has spread it self so universally through the World and began so early that it may well be reckoned a Branch of the Law and Light of Nature We find this was practised by the Patriarchs Abimelech reckoned that he was safe if he could persuade Abraham to swear to him by God Gen. 21.23.26.28.31.53 That he would not deal falsly with him and Abraham consented so to swear Either the same Abimelech or another of that Name desired that an Oath might be between Isaac and him and they sware one to another Iacob did also swear to Laban Thus we find the Patriarchs practising this before the Mosaical Law Under that Law we find many Covenants sealed by an Oath and that was a Sacred Bond as appears from the Story of the Gibeonites There was also a special Constitution in the Iewish Religion by which one in Authority might put others under an Oath and adjure them either to do somewhat or to declare some Truth The Law was That when any Soul i. e. man sinned Lev. 5.1 and heard the voice of swearing Adjuration and was a witness whether he hath seen it or known it if he do not utter it then he shall bear his Iniquity that is he shall be guilty of Perjury So the Form then was the Judg or the Parent did adjure all persons to declare their knowledg of any particular They charged this upon them with an Oath or Curse and all persons were then bound by that Oath to tell the truth So Micah came and confessed Judg. 17.2 upon his Mother's Adjuration That he had the Eleven hundred Shekels for which he heard her put all under a Curse and upon that she blessed him 1 Sam. 14.24 28 44. Saul when he was pursuing
the Philistines put the People under a Curse if they should eat any Food till Night and this was thought to be so obligatory that the Violation of it was Capital and Ionathan was put in hazard of his Life upon it Thus the High-Priest put our Saviour under the Oath of Cursing Matth. 26.63 64. when he required him to tell Whether he was the Messias or not Upon which our Saviour was according to that Law upon his Oath and though he had continued silent till then as long as it was free to him to speak or not at his pleasure yet then he was bound to speak and so he did speak and owned himself to be what he truly was This was the Form of that Constitution but if by practice it were found that mens pronouncing the words of the Oath themselves when required by a Person in Authority to do it and that such Actions as their lifting up their Hand to Heaven or their laying it on a Bible as importing their Sense of the Terrors contained in that Book were like to make a deeper Impression on them than barely the Judges charging them with the Oath or Curse it seems to be within the compass of Human Authority to change the Rites and Manner of this Oath and to put it in such a Method as might probably work most on the minds of those who were to take it The Institution in general is plain and the making of such Alterations seems to be clearly in the Power of any State or Society of men In the New Testament we find St. Paul prosecuting a Discourse concerning the Oath which God sware to Abraham Heb. 6.13 14 15. who not having a greater to swear by swore by himself and to enforce the Importance of that it is added An oath for confirmation that is Ver. 16. for the affirming or assuring of any thing is the end of all controversy Which plainly shews us what Notion the Author of that Epistle had of an Oath He did not consider it as an Impiety or Prophanation of the Name of God Rev. 10.6 In St. Iohn's Visions an Angel is represented as lifting up his hand and swearing by him that liveth for ever and ever And the Apostles even in their Epistles Rom. 1.9 Gal. 1.20 that are acknowledged to be writ by Divine Inspiration do frequently appeal to God in these words God is witness which contain the whole Essence of an Oath Once St. Paul carries the Expression to a Form of Imprecation 2 Cor. 1.23 when he calls God to a record upon or against his soul. These seem to be Authorities beyond exception justifying the use of an Oath upon a great occasion or before a competent Authority according to that Prophecy quoted in the Article which is thought to relate to the Times of the Messias And thou shalt swear The Lord liveth in truth in judgment and in righteousness and the nations shall bless themselves in him Jer. 4.2 and in him shall they glory These last words seem evidently to relate to the days of the Messiah So here an Oath religiously taken is represented as a part of that Worship which all Nations shall offer up to God under the New Dispensation Against all this the great Objection is That when Christ is correcting the Glosses that the Pharisees put upon the Law whereas they only taught that men should not forswear themselves but perform their oaths unto the Lord our Saviour says Swear not at all neither by the Heaven nor the earth Matth. 5.34 35 36 37. James 5.12 nor by Ierusalem nor by the head but let your communication be yea yea and nay nay for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil And St. Iames speaking of the enduring Afflictions and of the Patience of Iob adds But above all things my brethren swear not neither by the heaven neither by the earth neither by any other oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest ye fall into condemnation It must be confessed that these words seem to be so express and positive that great regard is to be had to a Scruple that is founded on an Authority that seems to be so full But according to what was formerly observed of the manner of the Judiciary Oaths among the Iews these words cannot belong to them Those Oaths were bound upon the Party by the Authority of the Judg in which he was passive and so could not help his being put under an Oath Whereas our Saviour's words relate only to those Oaths which a man took voluntarily on himself but not to those under which he was bound according to the Law of God If our Saviour had intended to have forbidden all Judiciary Oaths he must have annulled that part of the Authority of Magistrates and Parents and have forbid them to put others under Oaths The word Communication that comes afterwards seems to be a Key to our Saviour's words to shew that they ought only to be applied to their Communication or Commerce to those Discourses that pass among men in which it is but too customary to give Oaths a very large share Or since the words that went before concerning the performing of Vows seem to limit the Discourse to them the meaning of Swear not at all may be this Be not ready as the Iews were to make Vows on all occasions to devote themselves or others Instead of those he requires them to use a greater Simplicity in their Communication And St. Iames's words may be also very fitly applied to this since men in their Afflictions are apt to make very indiscreet Vows without considering whether they either can or probably will pay them as if they would pretend by such profuse Vows to overcome or corrupt God This Sense will well agree both to our Saviour's words and to St. Iames's and it seems most reasonable to believe that this is their true Sense for it agrees with every thing else whereas if we understand theâ— in that strict Sense of condemning all Oaths we cannot tell what to make of those Oaths which occur in several Passages of St. Paul's Epistles and least of all what to say to our Saviour's own answering upon Oath when adjured Therefore all rash and vain swearing all swearing in the Communication or Intercourse of Mankind is certainly condemned as well as all Imprecatory Vows But since we have so great Authorities from the Scriptures in both Testaments for other Oaths and since that agrees so evidently with the Principles of Natural Religion we may conclude with the Article That a man may swear when the Magistrate requireth it It is added in a Cause of Faith and Charity for certainly in trifling matters such Reverence is due to the Holy Name of God that swearing ought to be avoided But when it is necessary it ought to be set about with those regards that are due to the Great God who is appealed to A Gravity of Deportment and an Exactness of weighing the truth of what we say are highly necessary here Certainly our Words ought to be few and our Hearts full of the Apprehensions of the Majesty of that God with whom we have to do before whom we stand and to whom we appeal who knows all things and will bring every work to judgment with every secret thing whether it be good or whether it be evil FINIS
to condemnation so by the righteousness of one Rom. 5.18 the free gift came upon all men to justification of life The all of the one fide must be of the same extent with the all of the other So since all are concerned in Adam's Sin all must be likewise concerned in the Death of Christ. This they urge further with this Argument That all Men are obliged to believe in the Death of Christ but no Man can be obliged to believe a Lye therefore it follows that he must have died for all Nor can it be thought that Grace is so efficacious of it self as to determine us otherwise why are we required not to grieve God's Spirit Why is it said Acts 7.51 Matth. 23 37. Ye do always resist the Holy Ghost as your fathers did so do ye How often would I have gathered you under my wings but ye would not What more could I have done in my vineyard that has not been done in it These seem to be plain Intimations of a Power in us Isa. 5.4 by which we not only can but often do resist the Motions of Grace If the determining Efficacy of Grace is not acknowledged it will be yet much harder to believe that we are efficaciously determined to Sin This seems to be not only contrary to the Purity and Holiness of God but is so manifestly contrary to the whole Strain of the Scriptures that charges Sin upon Men that in so copious a Subject it is not necessary to bring Proofs Hos. 13.9 Joh. 5.40 Ezâ—k 33.14 O Israel thou hast destroyed thy self but in me is thy help And ye will not come unto me that ye may have life Why will you dye O house of Israel And as for that Nicety of saying That the Evil of Sin consists in a Negation which is not a positive Being so that though God should determine Men to the Action that is sinful yet he is not concerned in the Sin of it They think it is too Metaphysical to put the Honour of God and his Attributes upon such a Subtilty For in Sins against Moral Laws there seems to be an Antecedent Immorality in the Action it self which is inseparable from it But suppose that Sin consisted in a Negative yet that Privation does immediately and necessarily result out of the Action without any other thing whatsoever intervening So that if God does infallibly determine a Sinner to commit the Action to which that Guilt belongs tho' that should be a Sin only by reason of a Privation that is dependent upon it then it does not appear but that he is really the Author of Sin since if he is the Author of the sinful Action on which the Sin depends as a Shadow upon its Substance he must be esteemed say they the Author of Sin And though it may be said That Sin being a Violation of God's Law he himself who is not bound by his Law cannot be guilty of Sin yet an Action that is Immoral is so essentially opposite to Infinite Perfection that God cannot be capable of it as being a contradiction to his own Nature Nor is it to be supposed that he can Damn Men for that which is the necessary result of an Action to which he himself determined them As for Perseverance the many Promises made in the Scriptures to them that overcome Rev. 2 3. that continue stedfast and faithful to the death seem to insinuate that a Man may fall from a good state Those famous Words in the Sixth of the Hebrews Heb. 6. do plainly intimate That such men may so fall away that it may be impossible to renew them again by repentance And in that Epistle Heb. 10. where it is said The just shall live by faith it is added but if he draw back any man is not in the Original my Soul shall have no pleasure in him And it is positively said by the Prophet Ezek. 18.24 When the righteous turneth away from his righteousness and committeth iniquity all his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his sin that he hath sinned shall he dye These Suppositions with a great many more of the same strain that may be brought out of other places do give us all possible reason to believe that a good Man may fall from a good state as well as that a wicked Man may turn from a bad one In conclusion the End of all things the Final Judgment at the Last Day which shall be pronounced according to what Men have done whether good or evil and their being to be rewarded and punished according to it seems so effectually to assert a Freedom in our Wills that they think this alone might serve to prove the whole Cause So far I have set forth the Force of the Argument on the side of the Remonstrants As for the Socinians they make their Plea out of what is said by the one and by the other side They agree with the Remonstrants in all that they say against Absolute Decrees and in urging all those Consequences that do arise out of them And they do also agree with the Calvinists in all that they urge against the possibility of a certain Prescience of future Contingents So that it will not be necessary to set forth their Plea more specially nor needs more be said in opposition to it than what was already said as part of the Remonstrants Plea Therefore without dwelling any longer on that I come now to make some Reflections upon the whole Matter It is at first view apparent That there is a great deal of weight in what has been said of both Sides So much that it is no wonder if Education the constant attending more to the Difficulties of the one side than of the other and a Temper some way proportioned to it does fix Men very steddily to either the one or the other Persuasion Both Sides have their Difficulties so it will be natural to chuse that Side where the Difficulties are least felt But it is plain there is no reason for either of them to despise the other since the Arguments of both are far from being contemptible It is further to be observed That both Sides seem to be chiefly concerned to assert the Honour of God and of his Attributes Both agree in this That whatever is fixed as the primary Idea of God all other things must be Explained so as to be consistent with that Contradictions are never to be admitted but things may be justly believed against which Objections may be formed that cannot be easily answered The one Side think That we must begin with the Idea of Infinite Perfection of Independency and Absolute Soveraignty And if in the Sequel Difficulties occur which cannot be cleared that ought not to shake us from this primary Idea of God Others think That we cannot frame such clear Notions of Independency Soveraignty and Infinite Perfection as we can do of Justice Truth Holiness Goodness and
Mercy And since the Scripture proposes God to us most frequently under those Ideas they think that we ought to fix on these as the primary Ideas of God and then reduce all other things to them Thus both Sides seem zealous for God and his Glory Both lay down General Maxims that can hardly be Disputed and both argue justly from their First Principles These are great Grounds for mutual Charity and Forbearance in these Matters It is certain That one who has long interwoven his Thoughts of Infinite Perfection with the Notions of Absolute and Unchangeable Decrees of carrying on every thing by a positive Will of doing every thing for his own Glory cannot apprehend Decrees depending on a foreseen Free-will a Grace Subject to it a Merit of Christ's Death that 's lost and a Man's being at one time loved and yet finally hated of God without horror These things seem to carry in them an appearance of feebleness of dependence and of changeableness On the other hand a Man that has accustomed himself to think often on the Infinite Goodness and Mercy the Long-suffering Patience and Slowness to Anger that appears in God he cannot let the Thought of Absolute Reprobation or of determining Men to Sin or of not giving them the Grace necessary to keep them from Sin and Damnation enter into his Mind without the same horror that another feels in the Reverse of all this So that the Source of both Opinions being the different Ideas that they have of God and both these Ideas being true Men only mistaking in the Extent of them and in the Consequences drawn from them here are the clearest Grounds imaginable for a mutual Forbearance for not judging Men imperiously nor censuring them severely upon either Side And those who have at different Times of their Lives been of both Opinions and who upon the Evidence of Reason as it has appeared to them have changed their Persuasions can speak more affirmatively here For they know that in great sincerity of Heart they have thought both ways Each Opinion has some Practical Advantages of its side A Calvinist is â—aught by his Opinions To think meanly of himself and to ascribâ— the honour of all to God Which lays in him a deep foundation for Humility he is also much inclined to secret Prayer and to a fixed dependence on God which naturally both brings his Mind to a good state and fixes it in it And so though perhaps he cannot give a coherent account of the Grounds of his Watchfulness and Care of himself yet that Temper arises out of his Humility and his Earnestness in Prayer A Remonstrant on the other hand is ingaged to awaken and improve his Faculties to fill his Mind with good Notions to raise them in himself by frequent Reflection and by a constant Attention to his own Actions He sees causâ— to reproach himself for his Sins and to set about his Duty to purpose Being assured that it is through his own fault if he miscarries He has no dreadful Terrors upon his Mind nor is he tempted to an undue Security or to swell up in perhaps an imaginary Conceit of his being unalterably in the Favour of God Both Sides have their peculiar Temptatiâ—ns as well as their Advantages The Calvinist is tempted to a false Security and Sloth And the Arminian may be tempted to trust too much to himself and too little to God So equally may a Man of a calm Temper and of moderate Thoughts balance this Matter between both the Sides And so unreasonable it is to give way to a positive and dictating Temper in this Point If the Arminian is zealous to assert Liberty it is because he cannot see how there can be Good or Evil in the World without it He thinks it is the Work of God that he has made for great Ends and therefore he can allow of nothing that he thinks destroys it If on the othâ—r hand a Calvinist seems to break in upon Liberty it is because he cannot reconcile it with the Sovereignty of God and the Freedom of his Grace And he grows to think that it is an Act of Devotion to offer up the one to save the other The common Fault of both Sides is To charge one another with the Consequences of their Opinions as if they were truly their Tenets Whereas they are apprehensive enough of these Consequences they have no mind to them and they fancy that by a few distinctions they can avoid them But each Side thinks the Consequences of the other are both worse and more certainly fastned to that Doctrine than the Consequences that are urged against himself are And so they think they must chuse that Opinion that is the least perplexed and difficult Not but that Ingenuous and Learned Men of all Sides confess that they feel themselves very often pinched in these Matters Another very indecent way of managing these Points is That both Sides do too often speak very boldly of God Some petulent Wits in order to the representing the contrary Opinion as Absurd and Ridiculous have brought in God representing him with indecent Expressions as Acting or Decreeing according to their Hypothesis in a manner that is not only Unbecoming but that borders upon Blasphemy From which though they think to escape by saying That they are only shewing what must follow if the other Opinion were believed yet there is a Solemnity and Gravity of Stile that ought to be most religiously observed when we poor Mortals take upon us to speak of the Glory or Attributes the Decrees or Operations of the Great God of Heaven and Earth And every thing relating to this that is put in a burlesque Air is intolerable It is a sign of a very daring Presumption to pretend to assign the Order of all the Acts of God the Ends proposed in them and the Methods by which they are Executed We who do not know how our Thoughts carry our Bodies to obey and second our Minds should not imagine that we can conceive how God may move or bend our Wills The hard thing to digest in this whole Matter is Reprobation They who think it necessary to assert the freedom of Election would fain avoid it They seek soft words for it such as the passing by or leaving Men to perish They study to put that on Adam's Sin and they take all the methods they can to soften an Opinion that seems harsh and that sounds ill But howsoever they will bear all the Consequences of it rather than let the Point of Absolute Election go On the other side Those who do once persuade themselves that the Doctrine of Reprobation is false do not see how they can deny it and yet ascribe a free Election to God They are once persuaded that there can be no Reprobation but what is conditionate and founded on what is foreseen concerning Mens Sins And from this they are forced to say the same thing of Election And both sides study to begin the