remission of sinnes to every one but yet upon condition they will repent beleeve and doe that which hee meaneth the greatest part of men shall never doe nor me among the rest Min. God hath a true meaning that all men who are called should repent and beleeve that so they might be saved as he would have all to be saved so he would have them come to the knowledge of the truth and as he would have no man to perish so he would have all men to repent and therefore he calleth them in the preaching of the word to the one as well as to the other Tempt God hath a double call an outward by the preaching of the word in mens eares an inward by the irresistible work of the Spirit in their hearts The outward call is a part of Gods outward will with that he calleth every man to beleeve the inward and effectuall call is a part of his secret will and with that he calleth not every man to beleeve but a very few onely whom he hath inevitably ordain'd to eternall life And therefore by the outward call which I enjoy among many others I cannot be assured of Gods good will and meaning that I should beleeve repent and be saved By this we may see that no sound comfort can be fastned upon a poore soule rooted in this opinion when he lyeth under this horrible Temptation The example of Francis Spiera an Italian Lawyer will give some further light and proofe to this This Spiera about the yeare 1548. against his knowledge and conscience did openly abjure his Religion and subscribe to Popery that therby he might preserve his life and goods and liberty Not long after he fell into a deepe distresse of conscience out of which he could never wrestle but ended his wofull dayes in despaire To comfort him came many Divines of worth and note but against all the comforts which they applyed to him hee opposed two things especially 1 The greatnesse of his sinne it was a sinne sayd he of a deep dye committed with many urging and aggravating circumstances and therefore could not be forgiven This argument they quickly took from him and convinced him by the example of Peter that there was nothing in his sinne that could make it irremissible Peter that committed the same sinne and with some more odious circumstances repented and was pardoned and so no doubt might he 2 He apposed his absolute Reprobation and with that he put off all their comforts Peter sayth he repented indeed and was pardoned because he was elected as for me I was utterly rejected before I was borne and therefore I cannot possibly repent or be saved If any man be elected he shall be saved though he have committed sinnes for number many and haynous in degree but if he be ex repudiatis one of the Cast-awayes necessario condemnabitur he shall be inevitably condemned though his sinnes be small and few (w) Nihil interest an multa an pauca an magna an parva sint quando nec Dei misericordia nec Christi sanguis quicquam ad eos pertinet A Reprobate must be damned be his sinnes many or few great or little because Gods mercy and CHRISTS merits belong not to him In this Story recorded by Coelius Secundus and Calvin with some others who lived at that time and wrote of it to theyr friends as in a glasse we may see the disconsolate condition of a poore Soule that is strongly conceited that the greatest part of the world are absolute Reprobates and that he is one of them he sticketh so fast in the myre and clay that he can very hardly be drawne out 2 It maketh Ministers unable to afford true comfort to the Tempted and this it doth because it 1 Taketh from them all solid grounds of comfort 2 Leaveth them onely weak and insufficient grounds 1 It bereaveth them of all solid arguments of comfort which are these The universality of Gods love of CHRISTS death and of the new Covenant of grace That Minister which doth explaine and apply these three things soundly and wisely to him which is tempted in this kinde doth that which is aboundantly enough for the releeving and releasing of him from this Temptation And he that doth not apply these leaveth him as he found him in the midst of the Temptation still whatsoever may be sayd to the contrary in the heate of Disputation (x) Melâ—nct loc com p. 52 c. 1 Pred Etli maleâ— disputantur dumâ—ùs â—men necesse est in veâ—o agone ad hanc arcem confugere videlicet quò i de voluntate dei judicaÌ„dum sit ex presto verbo quòd promissio sit universalis quòd sit mandatum Dei aeternum immutabile audire filiuÌ„ assentiri promissioni Though sayth Melancthon there be many things disputed in this point more harshly yet when all is done the universall promise of Grace and Salvation is a Christians onely Bulwark in this temptation and combate (y) Obtemperemus igitur nè vagentur animi quaerentes electionem extra verbuÌ„ relicto Christo omisso mandato de amplectenda promissione sed teneamus ceâ—â indubitatâ fide promitioneÌ„ gratiae non inanem esse fabulam sed Deum verè patefecisse voluntateÌ„ suam in promissione vaerè praestare quod promisit Let us not therefore sayth he leave CHRIST and seek for an Election out of the word but let us judge of Gods will of saving men by the promise and commandement which are both universall And in another place of the same Book he hath these words (z) P. 230. de prom Evang. Sicut est necesse scire EvangeliuÌ„ esse promissione gratuitam ita necesse est scire Evangelium promissionem universale esse Hanc universaleÌ„ tenere necesse est adversus periculosas imaginationes deprae destinatione ne disputemus hanc promissionem ad paucos quosdam alios pertinere non pertinere ad nos Non enim dubiâ—m est qum omnium animos haec cogitatio exerceat As it is needfull to know that the promise of Salvation is free so it is needfull to know that it is universall against some dangerous conceits of Predestination By these speeches we see clearely what this learned man thought to be the true balm of Gilead wherby a wouÌ„ded soule should be cured viz. The universality of the promise and of Gods love and of CHRISTS death for they all hang together and cannot be dis-joyned The reason why those grounds are able to helpe a man in such a case is two-fold 1 Because they are directly contradictory to the temptation a will to save all a giving of CHRIST to death for all a serious offer of grace to all cannot possibly stand with an absolute antecedent will and intent of casting away the greatest part of mankind or to say the truth of any one man in the world Vpon this followeth the second reason 2 Because they serve
therefore he bindeth his speech with an oath (x) O beatos nos quorum causâ Deus juâ—at O miserrimos si nec juranti domino credimus Happy are we for whose take the Lord vouchsafeth to sweare but most â—nhappy if we beleeve him not when he sweareth Now if God delight not in the destruction of wicked men certainely he never did out of his absolute pleasure seale up so many millions of men lying in the fall under invincible damnation for such a decreeing of men to eternall death is directly opposite to a delight in their repentance and everlasting life Rom. 11.2 God hath shut up all in unbeleefe that he might have mercy over all In these the Apostles words are two All 's of equall extent the one standing against the other An All of unbeleevers and an All of objects of mercy looke how many unbeleevers there be on so many hath God a will of shewing mercy And therefore if all men of all sorts and conditions and every man in every sort be an unbeleever then is every man of every condition under mercy and if every man be under mercy then there is no precise antecedent will of God of shutting up some and those the most from all possibility of obtaining mercy For these two are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and cannot stand together Ioh. 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his onely begotten Sonne that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish c. God loved the world sayth the Text that is the whole lumpe of mankinde therefore he did not absolutely hate the greatest part of men Againe God loved it fallen into a gulph of sinne and misery For he so loved them as to send his sonne to redeem them and a Saviour presupposeth sinne He did not therefore hate the most of them lying in the fall for love and hatred are contrary acts in God and cannot be exercised about the same objects Many Expositers I know doe take world here in a restrained sense and understand by it the company of the Elect or the world of Beleevers onely but they have little reason for it in my opinion for 1 I thinke there can be no place of Scripture alledged wherein this word world especially with the addition of whole as 1. Epist of Joh. cap. 2. v. 2. a place equivalent to this for the matter of it and a comment upon it I say no place I thinke can be produced where world doth signifie onely the Elect or onely beleevers but it signifyeth eyther all men or at least the most men living in some certaine place and at some certaine time but without distinction of good and bad or if it be used any where more restraynedly it is applyed onely to wicked and Reprobate men who in their affections are wedded to the world and its transitory delights and therefore do most properly deserve this name 2 Suppose it be granted that World in some Scriptures is restrayned to the Elect yet it cannot beare this signification here because 1 The words then would have a sencelesse construction For thus would they runne God so loved the Elect that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish c. and if they run thus this would follow There are two sorts of the Elect some that do beleeve and shall be saved others that do not beleeve and shall be damned which is a division or distinction unknowne in Divinity 2 Beleevers and unbeleevers damned and saved comprehend all mankinde for there is no man but he is one of these Now world in this place includeth beleevers and unbeleevers the saved and the damned as appeareth most plainly to him that layeth the 16 17. and 18. verses together Therefore it signifyeth here all mankind without exception of any Who would have all to be saved â— Tim. â— 4 and to come to the knowledge of the truth In these words the Apostle delivereth two things 1 That it is Gods will that men should enjoy a happy end and be saved 2 That it is also his will they should have the meanes and make a good use of them in comming to the knowledge of the truth that so they might be saved There is no let in God but that all men may beleeve and be saved and therefore there is no absolute will that many thousand men shall dye in unbeleefe and be damned Two answers are usually returned which I confesse give me little satisfaction 1 That by All here we are to understand all sorts and not every particular man in those sorts It is true that All is sometimes so taken in Scripture but I beleeve not here for the very context sheweth that we are to understand by it the individuals and not the kinds In the first verse there is a duty enjoyned J will that prayers and supplications be made for all men and in this verse the motive is annexed God will have all to be saved As if he should have sayd Our charity must reach to all whom God extends his love to God out of his love will have all to be saved and therefore in charity we must pray for all Now in the duty All signifyeth every man for no man though wicked and prophane is to be included from our Prayers Pray for them sayth our Saviour that persecute you and pray sayth the Apostle here for Kings and all that are in authority men in those dayes though the greatest yet the worst the very Lyons Wolves and Beares of the Church Pray for them And if for them then for any other Thus in the duty it signifieth every man and therefore it must have the same extent in the motive too or else the motive doth not reach home nor is strong enough to enforce the duty The second answer is that God will have all to be saved with his revealed will but millions to be damned with his secret will But if this answer stand then in my apprehension these inconveniences will follow 1 That Gods words which are his revealed will are not interpretations of his minde and meaning and by consequence are not true for the speech which is not the signification of the minde is a lye 2 That there are two contrary wills in God a secret will that many sonnes of Adam shall irrevocably be damned and a revealed will that all the sonnes of Adam may be saved 3 That one of Gods wills must needs be bad eyther the secret or the revealed will For of contraries if the one be good the other is bad and so of Gods contrary wills if one be good the other must needs be bad For malum est contrarium bono 〈◊〉 3. â— Not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance c. This Scripture is not so liable to the exceptions against the former testimony For it is a negative proposition and must be taken distributively and therefore speaketh that in plaine termes which is contrary to absolute reprobatioÌ„
sayth he among the Canonists but (h) Ibi maxime verū est ubi rex justus est nihil vult nisi justum Quanto magis in regno Dei c. this is true where the King is just and willeth nothing but what is just In which words he plainly maketh the iustice of the King antecedent to that will of his which must be a law Many more speeches he useth there to the same purpose Gods will therefore is not a rule of Iustice to himself To whom then To us For by it we are 1 to square all our thoughts words and deeds 2 to examine them when they are spoken and done Primum in aliquo genere est regula posteriorum supremum inferiorum 2 I reply that these absolute decrees of mens inevitable salvation and damnation are no parts of Gods revealed will The Scriptures teach us no such matter And therefore to say they are is but a meere begging of the question It hath alwayes beene ordinary with false Teachers to make Gods word a Father to their false opinions that they may stand the faster and winne the greater credit The Papists ground their transubstantiation and the Lutherans their consubstantiation and ubiquity upon the Scripture Hoc est corpus meum This is my body Math. 26. And the defenders of absolute Reprobation do so too they make their cause to be Gods and entitle his word to it because they see it is the surest way to defend it being herein like to some contentious people who being in law and having a bad cause which they are like to lose they entitle the King to it that they may the better uphold it 3 Absolute Reprobation can be no part of Gods revealed will The reason is because it is odious to right reason and begetteth absurdities For Nulla veritas parit absurda no truth begetteth absurdities Divers truths are revealed in Scripture which are above but not contrary to right reason whether they be matters of faith or life faith and reason nature and scripture are both Gods excellent gifts and therefore though there may be a disproportion yet there can be no repugnancy between them The worship which God requireth is cultus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reasonable service Rom. 12.2 and the word of God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 milke reasonable and without guile 1 Pet. 2.2 These things therefore being layd together it will appeare to be but a meere shift and evasion when absolute Reprobation is proved to be unjust and therefore unworthy of God to say Gods will is the rule of Iustice this is part of Gods revealed will and therefore most just whatsoever reason may cavill and say to the contrary 3 Their third answer is that God is not bound to restore men power to beleeve because they once had it and have lost it through their own fault as a master is not bound to renew his servants stocke if he have wasted it by bad husbandry This answer doth not satisfie me For I grant that God is simply and absolutely bound to no man because he is agent liherrimum a most free dispenser of his owne favours where and what and to whom he will and no man is aforehand with God Quis prior illi dedit ut retribuatur Who hath given unto him and it shall be recompensed again Rom. 11.35 But yet he is conditionally bound for he hath determined and tyed himselfe 3 wayes especially 1 Decernendo by decreeing The Almighty is eternally subject to his own ordinances or els he should be mutable And therefore what gifts soever he hath decreed to men he is bound to give them by vertue of his own decree 2 Promittendo by promising We use to say promise is debt it is Iustice to performe what it was free to promise and whosoever he be that promiseth and payeth not is guilty of a trespasse witnesse Ananias and Sapphira and unworthy of the kingdome of heaven Psal 15.4 If therefore God hath made a promise of any gift or grace to men his promise bindeth him to performance Nam semell emissum volat irrevocabile verbum 3 Legem ferendo by giving men a law to keep which without supernaturall grace they can no more keepe then they can eate a rock By such a law the supreme Lawgiver bindeth himself to his people to give them such power as may enable them to keep that law or else he becommeth as the evill servant in the parable stiled him a hard master reaping where he sowed not and the very true and proper cause of the transgression of that law We shall finde God alwayes giving strength when he giveth a command When he commandeth the creatures to increase and multiply he gave them a multiplying vertue when CHRIST bade the lame man arise take up his bed and walk he put into his limbs an ability of walking when Adam had a spirituall law given him to obey which without spirituall strength he could not God gave him strength answerable to the law as Divines agree consenting to that noted speech of St. Austin that Adam had posse non cadere though he never had non posse cadere a power and possibility though no necessity of continuing in obedience That I may bring this home to my purpose I say that God is bound to restore unto men power to beleeve supposing these things that follow 1 That he hath vouchsafed to enter into a new Covenant of peace with men when he needed not 2 That in that Covenant he requireth obedience at mens hands even at theirs that perish 3 That he promiseth eternall life to every man if he obey and keepe the Covenant 4 That he punisheth the disobedient with everlasting death These particulars supposed the most free God who is absolutely bound to none is engaged to give ability of beleeving unto men nor can he justly without this gift punish the disobedient any more then a Magistrate having put out a mans eyes for an offence can command this man with justice to reade a book and because he readeth not put him to death or then a Master that I may returne the Simile in the answer when he hath taken away from his servant the stocke which he hath misimployed can afterward exact of him a just imployment of the same stocke and punish him because he imployeth it not I conclude therefore that the absolute and inevitable reprobation of such men as are called to beleeve in CHRIST and punished if they beleeve not is utterly repugnant to the Iustice of God and therefore can be no part of his word 4 Opposite to Gods Truth FOurthly it oppugneth the truth and sincerity of God God is a God of truth Deut. 32.4 Truth it self Ioh. 14.6 so called because he is the fountaine of truth and the perfection of truth without the least mixture of falshood The strength of Jsraell cannot lye Rom. 3.4 1 Sam. 15.29 Let God be true and every man a lyar sayth the Apostle
when Balaam once saw that the Lord had fully determined blesse Jsrael Numb 24.1 and that all his Sorceries could not effect the coâ—trary he presently gave over and set no more Enchantment And reason teacheth every man to doe the like If any mâ— were fully possest with a perswasion that his temporall estaâ— were determined in Heaven and that hee should be wortâ— just so much neyther more nor lesse he would conclude iâ— his thoughts that his care and paines could nothing profâ— him nor his idlenesse impoverish him and so would quickly be perswaded to take his ease And were it evident thaâ— every common-wealth had terminum magnitudinis a condition appoynted for it which could not be altered and a fatalâ— period which could nor be avoyded then would the King call no Parliaments use no privie Counsellors make no lawes and Ordinances for the preventing of a Kingdomes ruine oâ— the procuring of its prosperity and continuance For it would be to little purpose as once a famous privie Counsellor told our late Queene Elizabeth but would follow the Poetâ— counsell Manilius Solvite mortales animos curisque levate Tot que super vacuis animum deplete querelis Fata regunt orbem certâ stant omnia lege From these three premisses layed together it followeth directly that the doctrine of an absolute decree which determineth mens ends precisely is no friend at all to a godly life For if events absolutely decreed be unavoydable if mens actions about unavoydable ends be unprofitable if in unprofitable imployments men will have no hand willingly whosoever they be that beleeve and consider this will have nothing to do with the practice of godlinesse For their ends being absolutely pitched and therefore unavoydable they will conclude that their labour in religion will be unprofitable and so will not labour in it at all That which hath been sayd may be yet confirmed by two Witnesses The one of them is Mr. Calvin who in his Institutions hath these words (f) Instit l. 3. c. 23. §. 14. Si quis ita plebem compellet Si non creditis ideo fit quia jam divinitus exitio praedestinati estis is non modò ignaviam fovet sed etiam indulget malitiae Jf any man sayth he should speake thus to the people If there be any among you that beleeve not it is because ye are ordained to destruction this man would not onely cherish slothfulnesse but wickednesse also Which is as much to say me thinks as this If a man should set forth the doctrine of Reprobation in its colours and explaine it to people in a cleare and lively fashion he would hereby open a doore to liberty and prophanenesse The other witnesse is a man of another stamp the miserable Landgrave of Thuring of whom it is recorded by Heisterbachius that being by his friends admonished of his vitious conversation and dangerous condition he made them this answer (g) Heist l. 1. de memor hist c. 27. pa. 38. Si praedestinatus sum nulla peccata proterunt mihi regnum coelorum auferre Si praescitus nulla opera mihi illud valebunt conferre Jf I be elected no sinnes can bereave me of Heaven if I be reprobated no good deeds can helpe me to Heaven I conclude therefore that by this opinion which is taught for one of Gods principall truths Religion eyther is or may be made a very great looser which is my fourth generall Reason against it But there are three things which are usually answered to vindicate this opinion from this crimination First that many of them which beleeve and defend this doctrine are holy and good men and therefore of it selfe it openeth no way for liberty of life but through the wickednesse of men who use to pervert the sweetest and surest truths of Scripture to their own damnation The like defence to this did the Epicures of old make in favour of their sensuall and Swinish doctrine which was that happinesse consisted in pleasure They sayd that many of their Sect were honest men and so much Tully granteth to be true but with exception still against their doctrine (h) Cic. l. 2. de finibus bon mal pag 117. Ac mihi quidem videtur quòd ipse vir bonus fuit multi Epicurei fuerunt hodiè sunt in amicitiis fideles in omni vitâ constantes graves nec voluptate sed officio consilia moderantes I take sayth he Epicurus himselfe to be an honest man yea and many Epicures have been and are faithfull in friendship square and constant men in all conditions of life ordering themselves and their lives not by pleasure by duty But sayth he (i) Hoc videtur maâ—s honestatis minor voluptatis this proceeded not from the principles of their opinion but from their own vertuous inclination and the force of honesty by their so doing appeared to be more prevailing in them then the force of pleasure which they pleaded for A little after he hath other words to the same purpose (k) Atque ut caeteri existimantur dicere melâ—ùs quà m facere sic hi mihi videntur meliùs facere quà m dicere As other mens doctrines are esteemed to be better then their deeds so these mens deeds seeme to me to be better then their doctrines Like to this answer of Tully to the defenders of Epicurisme will I shape mine It cannot I confesse be denyed that many of this opinion are godly men but it is no thanks to their opinion that they are so the true and naturall genius of which is to beget sloth to drowne men in security and to countenance carnall liberty but to something else eyther to Gods providence who will not suffer this doctrine for his own glories sake and the good of men to have any great stroke in their lives or to mens incogitancy who think not of reducing it ad praxim to practice and drawing conclusions out of it but rest in the naked speculation of it as they do of many others or lastly to some good practicall conclusions which they meet with in the word of God and apply to their lives as they do not the former deductions such as these are for example Be ye holy as I am holy Without Holinesse no man shall see God Jf ye consent and obey ye shall eate the good things of the land Godlinesse hath the promises of this life and of the life to come c. And hence we may learne to measure this opinion not by the lives of some few of the men that hold it but by the sequels which the logick even of simple men if they should apply their braines to consider it would fetch out of it No man that hath throughly suckt it in and understandeth the force of it but will eyther quite relinquish it or live according to the naturall importment of it that is licentiously Secondly it is sayd that albeit this doctrine teach That men