persevere unto the end though they sometimes fall through infirmity into grievous sins yet they never fall totally or finally from the habits seeds and state of Grace They say that true justifying Faith is neither a true special fruit of Election Arm. IV. nor yet proper to the Elect alone that 't is often found in Reprobates And that the very Elect by falling into sin may and often do fall totally and finally from the very habit seeds and state of Grace We say that Christ's death is of sufficient intrinsecal merit in it self Orth. V. though not in God's intention or his holy Spirit 's application to redeem and save all mankind wherefore he died really and effectually for none but the Elect for whom alone he actually and effectually hath obtained remission of sins and everlasting life They say Jesus Christ died effectually alike for all men whatsoever Arm. V. whether Elect or Reprobates without any special intent to save the Elect alone or any particular persons more than others With a general purpose to save all men alike upon condition of their believing and applying of his death which dependeth principally upon every man's own actual will and powers not of Christ's actual application of it to them by his Spirit To this one thing more I shall add against one of their Opinions Orth. VI. We say there is not any such Free-will any such universal and sufficient Grace communicated unto all men whereby they may Repent believe and be Saved if they will themselves They say there is an universal sufficient Grace derived upon all men since the fall of Adam Arm. VI. by vertue of which they may all Repent Believe and be Saved if they will themselves These and several other things of that kind as namely the important point of Justification which they so highly have corrupted of Providence and others which by the grace of God in due time we shall have occasion to speak of are the matters we do differ about yet to what we already said of their adhering to Pelagians Massilienses and Semipelagians we may add how some of them own Socinus's and Worstius his Blasphemies against the Trinity of the Divine Persons the simplicity of divine Nature it self c. as King James charges them with it and well so he might for after Arminius's Death they were so desirous to be headed by Worstins that they used all their endeavours to have had him to succeed the other in his place of Professor of Divinity at Leyden Hence it is that they openly declared they had nothing against Worstius nor had found any thing in his Writings contrary to Truth and Piety and that it would be most profitable for Church and Commonwealth if his calling should go on This account we have in the Preface of the Acts of the Synod of Dort And it is well known how King James opposed effectually that man's promotion to that place and whose Book De Deo Attributis was here burnt by the hand of the Hangman according to King James's special Order and by advice of the Archbishop of Canterbury But because it is not enough to affirm things without proofs therefore now before I proceed I must bring in evidence for the Articles I set down Scripture which in this is Judge and Rule affordeth us a great cloud of Witnesses And to begin with our first Article clearly proved out of that excellent place of (a) Ephes 1.4 c. St. Paul which hereafter I shall have occasion to make use of but for the present omit to prove first the Eternity of God's Decree out of another Text of the same Apostle God who (b) 2 Tim. 1.9 hath saved us and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began This Text is very comprehensive here is the Decree under the name of his own purpose out of which are excluded any thing of our own not according to our works but attributed only to his Free-grace according to his own purpose and grace The eternity of this Decree is thus expressed before the world began this Decree of Election is the ground of our Salvation God who hath saved us the next effect is our Vocation and called us with an holy that is an effectual calling We want not other places of God's word to prove the Eternity of his Decree but afterwards we shall have occasion to make use of them for often one and the same Text doth prove several things As for the Immutability of God's Decree of Predestination we have clear and undeniable proofs (c) Psal 33.11 David saith The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever the thoughts of his heart to all generations As positive as this is what he saith in another place (d) Psal 89.28 33.34 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore and my covenant shall stand fast with him And a little below nevertheless my loving-kindness will I not utterly take from him nor suffer my faithfulness to fail My covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that is gone out of my mouth Here we see how the Counsel of the Lord and the thoughts of his heart which are his Decree shall stand that is are unchangeable so are his mercies his loving-kindness his faithfulness which the Decree of Election is grounded upon as to his Covenant called the thing that is gone out of his mouth it shall not be broken nor alter'd but it shall stand All this is for its immutability And the prophet saith (e) Isai 14.24 The Lord of hosts hath sworn saying surely as I have thought so shall it come to pass and as I have purposed so shall it stand Vers. 7 We have not only God's Word but his Oath for his Truth which must needs convince us of what a high concernment it is yet as if 't was not enough three verses lower 't is added For the Lord of hosts hath purposed and who shall disanul and his hand is stretched and who shall turn it back This makes good the immutability of a Decree both of Election and Reprobation so it doth the final unrefistibility of Grace and of the works of his Providence St. Paul that great Preacher of Free-grace out of a sense of the great mercy God had shewed him doth almost every where batter down Works Free-will and all pretences of man's strength to set up the Grace and Power of God specially in his Epistle to the Romans but above all in the 9th chap. which before we have done we shall often have occasion to make use of for it seems to have been written to condemn Arminianism In a place there the Apostle saith (a) Rom. 9.11 For the Children being not yet born neither having done any good or any evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of works but of him
that calleth any thing of works and of Faith too for they could have no Faith before they were born or had done any good or any evil are here excluded and all attributed to the purpose of God according to Election The same Apostle saith in another place that though some have erred concerning the Truth even those who before were professors of it such as (b) 2 Tim. 2.17 19. Hymineus and Philetus yet Nevertheless the foundation of the Lord standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his 't is no prejudice to neither can it change God's Decree And still to make use of the same authority St. Paul saith elsewhere (c) Ephes 1.9 Having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself Not only that purpose in himself but also the declaration to us of that my stery of his will are altogether attributed to his good-pleasure not to any thing without him or in the Creature and all this to the end (d) Ephes 2.7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness tovards us through Christ Jesus Here is Grace here are riches of Grace yea exceeding riches of Grace and kindness towards us in Christ Jesus through whom only these graces are conveyed to us and who is the sole dispenser thereof and he addeth (f) Ephes 1.11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will Here every word is a sentence against our Adversaries and after this t is an amazement to me that amongst those who pretend to be Christians and to receive the word of God for rule of the Truth there should be some who go about to set up Free-will and Man's strength to the prejudice of Grace and forge Motives and Counsellours for God besides his own good-will and pleasure We say further there is a certain small select number of those that are predestinated to Glory this we speak after St. Paul (g) Rom. 11.5 6. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace and if by grace then it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace but if it be of works then it is no more grace otherwise work is no more work Here the reason is given why amongst the unbelieving obstinate Jews there was a small remnant which did believe and were saved The Faith Grace and Salvation of this remnant is ascribed to their Election as to the cause and this Election affirmed to come only of God's grace and deny'd to have proceeded from any of their works not by a simple affirmation but by a double opposition of Works and Grace as incompatible in point of Election Arminians must not think to blind this with saying they do not attribute Election to a foresight of Works but of Faith 'T is true their Father Arminius doth not openly assert it this Text being so clear and so positive however he minced the matter for he made Election and Justification to depend upon Faith not as an Instrument applying Christ but as an Evangelical Work in the Gospel appointed of God to be a saving quality in it self as a perfect Obedience should have been under the Law but his Followers are not so scrupulons as he But the Apostle denies it to be of Faith as of Works wholly ascribing it to the Election or Grace But as to the point of the small number of the Elect our blessed Saviour himself decides it when he saith (a) Matth. 20.10 Many be called but few chosen and St. Paul to shew the small number of those that are elected and shall be saved is not satisfied to call it a remnant in the place already quoted but in another of the same Epistle he also makes use of the word remnart (b) Rom. 9.27 Though the number of the children of Israel be as the Sand of the Sea a remnant shall be saved Only a remnant and this after the Prophet Isaiah 10.20 21. Who elsewhere calls it (c) Isai 1.9 A very small remnant which the Apostle in the same Chapter doth call a Seed (d) Rom. 9.29 Except the Lord of Sabbath had left us a seed which is only as much as sufficeth to sow the ground (e) Heb. 12.23 These are called the general Assembly and Church of the first born which are written in Heaven in the Book of God's Election which can never be encreased nor diminished and this (f) Ephes 4.12 13. for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the body of Christ till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Which meaneth that there is a fullness of the mystical body of Christ that is so many Members and that every Member is to come unto a degree of Stature unto a perfect Man as a certain number of Martyrs that shall be fulfilled Rev. 6.9 11. All those and those only (g) Rom. 8.30 whom God did predestinate them he also called with an inward and effectual calling and whom he called all and only them he also justified all and only them he also glorified This is the Golden Chain of our Salvation and the thing so certain and so sure that though to some it be to come 't is represented as already past and as if they were in actual possession of Glory There shall be no more nor less and though to the eye of Man in this there may seem to be some alteration some falling from the Truth it is only as to the outward shew and profession not as to the Election Wherefore St. John (h) 1 John 2.19 saith They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no doubt have continued with us And this also is a strong proof and evidence of the perseverance and against the final Apostacy of Saints which Arminians are stiff asserters of And that Election is the sole cause of everlasting Salvation it appears because into the heavenly City (i) Rev. 21.27 none shall enter but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life In another place this Book is mentioned (k) Rev. 13.8 and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him the Beast whose names are not written in the book of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world This is the Book of God's Decree of Election all that have names written in it shall enter into new Jerusalem or Heaven but those whose names are not written therein and do worship the Beast (l) Rev. 20.10 12. shall with the devil the beast and the false prophet be cast into
may be represented as we see at the latter end of the 4th verse 't is called the border of wickedness and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever So this hatred is extended upon his Posterity But as to the scope of the place we can neither desire nor have a better interpreter than St. Paul Rom. 9. Where we find he doth apply it to spiritual things not only to temporal Mercies and Judgments but also to eternal as 't is the whole scope of the Chap. Wherein from the beginning the Apostle sheweth God's distinguishing mercy in matters of Religion between Jews and Gentiles to the first beloved the Adoption and the Glory and the Covenants and the giving of the Law and the Service of God and the Promises which our Saviour reduceth to Salvation when he saith Salvation is of the Jews John 4.22 All which privileges the Gentiles were excluded from as the Apostle saith elsewhere they were without Christ being aliens from the common wealth of Israel and strangers from the Covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world Ephes 2.12 Another great privilege of the Jews by the Apstle mention ed is this of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came who is God blessed for ever The very naming of Christ the promised Messiah shews St. Paul speaks of higher things than are worldly and temporal He goes farther for he declareth distinguishing mercies between the Jews themselves when he saith They are not all Israel that are of Israel And what also meaneth his opposition of the children of the flesh to the children of God of the promise and of the seed Doth he not make a palpable distinction and visible opposition between Isaac and Ishmael when he saith In Isaac shall thy seed be called which afterwards doth continue in the persons of Jacob and Esau the first 〈◊〉 loved the other he hated before they were born and had done any good or evil the ground of which love or hatred he attributes to Election when he saith That the lave of God according to election might stand not of works but of him that calleth Hence doth it not appear how God not in consideration of any works which could not be before men were born loved and elected Jacob hated and reprobated Esau and that without any injustice in the least or the least ground in the Creature to complain whether Jews or Gentiles for he speaks generally of both when he saith Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth and this out of his absolute power over the Creature as the Potter hath over the Clay Can any one without blushing say that by making vessels to honour and vessels to dishonour that by these words God willing to shew his wrath and to make his power known to men endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction and by these other words that God might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had before prepared unto glory I say can any man of sense affirm this to be spoken of outward and temporal things and not of Spiritual and Eternal of Election and Reprobation whereunto in the next verse he joyneth vocation of himself and others when he saith Even of us whom he hath called not of the Jews only but also of the Gentiles which hath a Connexion with and must be applyed to those vessels of mercy afore prepared unto glory mentioned just the verse before amongst whom he declareth himself The whole rest of the Chapter doth evidence and confirm our assertion wherefore we shall no longer stand upon it to say some few words more to the instance of Jacob and Esau Esau had Temporal Blessings his Father gave him the Fatness of the Earth and the dew of Heaven from above he grew Strong and Mighty so the great difference between him and Jacob consisted not in worldly advantages it was of another nature in Scripture he is branded with the name of prophane who after he had sold his Birth-right yet before his Father called himself his first Born and would as such have inherited the Blessing which though his Father intended for him as we see by his being so cautious to know when Jacob came for it whether or not he was Esau indeed yet thorough Gods providence and Rebeckah's direction he was deprived of and as Scripture saith when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected Gen. 27. Heb. 12.16 17. Part of Isaac's blessing to Jacob was this Blessed be he that blesseth thee and cursed be every one that curseth thee which curse lighted upon Esau who afterwards hated Jacob Gen. 27.41 because of the blessing wherewith his Father had blessed him 'T is natural for one that hateth another to Curse and wish him Evil and Esau so hated his Brother that he would have served him as Cain served his being fully resolved to have killed him which in the sight of God was accounted as if he had done it Obid 10. For thy violence against thy brother Jacob. 'T is not in vain but surely for good reason that the spirit of God by the mouth of two of his Prophets Ezech. 35.5 Amos 1.11 takes notice of the hatred of Esau against his Brother Jacob and of his Posterity against Jacob's as if it had been entailed Well upon this hatred of Esau Jacob was forced to leave his Father's House but God to shew the difference he made between the two Brothers appeared unto Jacob in the way and to him renewed the promise made unto Abraham and to Isaac and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed Gen. 28.13.14 Which was a Spiritual and Evangelical promise by virtue of that choice which God from Eternity had made of him preferably and exclusively to Esau So then this love to Jacob and this hatred to Esau before they were born and had done any Good or Evil had a relation to future Spiritual and Eternal Privileges This matter of Predestination may very well be illustrated out of the consideration of the execution here in a visible way of his Eternal Decree So we shall begin immediately after sin with that Divine Oracle (a) Gen. 3.15 I will put enmity between thee the Serpent and the woman and between thy seed and her seed it shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel This first promise of a Messiah includeth not only that conflict and victory of his over the Serpent but also an enmity between their Seeds for though the Woman's Seed and the Serpent's be only mentioned yet the enmity is to be between the Serpent's and the Messiah's Seeds for he though he be the Woman's Seed yet also hath his Seed for saith the Prophet (b) Isai 53.10 When thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin he shall see his seed The special Seed therein mentioned was the Messiah
to his disciples (d) John 15.16 chap. 13 1â— Ye have not chosen me but I have chosen you and I know whom I have chosen Now though Election be the cause of Faith it doth not follow by the rule of relatives which are said to be the cause of one another that Faith should be the cause of Election that maxim is to be understood of the natural respect and relation of the Subjects not of the Subjects themselves of relations else it would a so follow That because the Creator is the cause of the Creature the Creature ought also to be the cause of the Creator which is Blasphemy It is the part of a wise Agent when he doth appoint to the end also to appoint to and provide the means So the only wise God having predestinated us to the end eternal life hath also predestinated us to the means namely Faith For saith the Apostle (a) 2 Thes 2.13 God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth here are the decree election chosen the efficient cause God the Object you the end to salvation with the means sanctification of the spirit and belief of the Truth or Faith Farther I say if prevision of Faith had been the cause of our Election it would also be the cause of our Vocation in time which is contrary to the word (b) 2 Tim. 1.9 God hath called us with his holy calling not according to our works but according to his purpose and grace I bring one Argument more which is this if Faith and Holiness fore-seen had been the cause of our Election it would follow that the object of Election had been Man already restored through Grace and justified which is false Take notice that there are not two Decrees one to Grace the other to glory as they say Scripture maketh no mention of a double Election by one and the same Decree we are elected to Glory through Grace as the means and way for the first in Intention is last in Execution We are saved by Faith yet not elected by Faith the reason of both being different Election is an eternal act of God inward and immediately proceeding from God but Salvation is a temporal act of God outward and mediate which is perfected thorough many other means and second causes if the causes of Election and Salvation be the same then the Law of God the Gospel Sacraments and Ministers are the causes of our Election for God makes use of all these means to bring us to eternal life We are elected in Christ not for Christ God was never moved by the merit of Christ to Elect us but he decreed to save us in Christ who is not the cause of the Decree but a medium or means appointed in the Election to execute it We must have a care not to confound between the cause and sign of things which do very much differ thus the Rainbow is not the cause why the world shall no more be drowned with a general Flood 't is only the sign of it the cause is God's Will and Promise thus Sacraments are signs not causes of the things they represent Circumcision was the sign of God's Covenant with Abraham but not the cause which was God's Free-grace and Mercy to him the Lords Supper is the sign of Christ's Passion but not the cause which is God's Free-grace and Mercy to mankind When our blessed Saviour saith (a) Matth. 16.2 3. When it is evening ye say it will be fair weather for the Sky is red c. that colour of the Sky is not the cause but the sign of fair or foul weather Thus to make an Application to our Subject I say we must take heed not to make Faith the cause of our Election when it is the sign and effect of it so much posteriour to it for Election is from eternity when Faith is given but in time and yet serveth to prove Election for wheresoever true saving Faith is there is an infallible sign but no cause of Election which far from being caused by any grace is the sole and only ground of all and every grace we receive Faith it self the chief Gospel grace is an effect of it as it appears out of many places of Scripture which I already quoted so out of (b) Acts 18.27 Acts where 't is said Apollos helped them much which had believed through grace And those men who will not believe this will have much cause to fear they are of the same sort of those whom our Saviour speak of when he saith (c) John 9.39 For judgment I am come into this world that they which see not may see and that they which see might be made blind There is mercy for the first and judgment for the last for certainly Christ came into the world both for mercy and for judgment to make some unexcusable (d) John 15.22 If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sin It was said of Christ almost after his very Birth That (a) Luk. 2.34 he was set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against And as the Prophet says (b) Isa 3.14 a stone of stumbling a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and for a snare to Jerusalem And Men are too apt to fansie things to be the cause of God's actings which are not thus the Disciples themselves thought because a Man was born blind the Man's sins or his Parents must be the cause of it but our Saviour tells them they were in an error for (c) Joh. 9.3 neither hath the man sinned nor his parents but he was born blind that the works of God should be made manifest in him This place sheweth clearly how God in whatsoever he doth in upon or for Men he minds chiefly his own Glory and followeth his own will and pleasure Thus (d) Chap. 11.4 Lazarus's Sickness and Death was for the glory of God and of Christ God denyed the Man his sight from his Birth here are his Will his Power and Justice over his Creature the Lord Jesus gives him his sight there is mercy thus the works of God are made manifest in this Man and why not so too in others in relation to eternity as well as to time This Man was naturally blind but God is pleased to give him his sight as he might without any wrong have left him in his blindness if it had been his pleasure So if God be pleased to leave some Men naturally dead in that condition and quicken others that were in the same state what hath wretched Man to do to cavil against or find fault with it Or presumptuously not to be satisfied with this cause the meer will and pleasure of God but must prye into his Secrets and forge other Motives instead
Election and Reprobation now in question against Pelagians and Semipelagians or Arminians The first objection is as if God was unjust in his absolute Decree of Predestination The question is set down verse the 14. in these words What shall we say then is there unrighteousness with God The answer is in the same verse God forbid (a) Rom. 9.14 The ground of the question is in verses 11.12 13. Wherein by the examples of Jacob and Esau is demonstrated that there was nothing in the subject elected or reprobated to move God to chuse or reject but the only cause is the purpose of God according to election not of works but of him that calleth The circumstance of the persons doth afford us these Considerations First no difference could be pretended from nature they were Brothers by the same Father and Mother nay born at the same time for they were Twains so that on that account no priviledge or advantage to plead for Secondly Not any thing of works or of Faith for before the Children were born neither having done any good or any evil it was said the Elder shall serve the younger Mark that if there had been any natural priviledge it had been on Esau's side who was the Elder yet the Elder was to serve the Younger for God loved Jacob and hated Esau of which no other cause assigned but the will and purpose of God What saith carnal reason to make so great a difference where is such an equality to love and to hate those which had not deserved it cannot be without some injustice yet ye see the Apostle saith no such thing God forbid for the Lord is just in all his ways and the reason of this by the Apostle given in the following verse is this the will of God I will have mercy one whom I will have mercy Out of this we say the purpose of God according to Election is here understood of God's eternal Predestination which Election is ascribed only to God who calleth all works excluded because there were none nor could be none the persons not yet being born 'T is an idle distinction to say not for works present but for works to come since if it had been necessary the Apostle might have made the distinction but he absolutely say not of works After Semipelagians Arminians saith not of works but of Faith As St. Austin answereth against works so he doth against Faith being the cause why God loved Jacob It can be no better done then in his words (a) August de dotâ— je severaâ—ntiae cap. 7. Did the Apostle say not of works but of him that believeth even this also did the Apostle take from men that he might give all to God saying but of him that calleth not with every call but by such a call whereby we are made to believe We now come to the second objection Verse 19. (a) Rom. 919 Thou wilt say then unto me why doth he yet find fault For who hath resisted his will As if he had said if I be reprobated I cannot help it 't is not my fault if I be damned I cannot resist his will neither my self nor (b) Job 10.7 none can deliver me out of his hands To know the occasion of this second Objection we must go back to the 15 verse and so down to the 19th St. Paul not being content to say God forbid there should be any unrighteousness in God giveth a reason out of God's own mouth for he saith to Moses I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy Rom. 9.15 16. c. and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion Which makes the Apostle draw this Consequence So then it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy To this purpose he brings out of Scripture an argument concerning Pharaoh Verse 17 For this same purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth The History of Pharaoh is well known The Apostle here makes use of that example to shew how God raiseth up some to be subservient to his ends and this particularly to shew on him the glory of his power to be manifested either in this world or in that which is to come or in both Hence he draweth this Conclusion Verse 18 Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Which giveth occasion to the question why doth he find fault Which puts the Apostle upon a high strain as mightily concerned for the Right and Honour of God which this Objection seems to strick at Wherefore to stop the mouth of such he saith Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hath thou made me thus Shall Man expostulate with God The Creature with his Maker as if he were accountable Hath not the Potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel to honour and another to dishonour Hereat let every mouth be stopped the Plea is the soveraign and absolute power of God over the Creature The Clay is the Potters and what hath any one to do to question what he doth with it Let me answer such wretches in the words of the Prophet (a) Isai 45.9 Wo unto him that striveth with his maker let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it what makest thou or thy work he hath no hands As amongst Men question a lawful Princes Right is Treason so to question God's Right is no less than Blasphemy In Scripture when God is willing to demonstrate his Absolute Power he makes use of the comparison of the Potter and the Clay Thus Jeremiah is sent to the Potters House (b) Jerem. 18.2 3 4 6. O house of Israel cannot I do with you as this Potter saith the Lord behold as the clay is in the potters hand so are you in mine hand O house of Israel The same comparison is used in another place by the Prophet Isaiah (c) Isa 29.16 Shall the work say of him that made it he made me not or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it he had no understanding God cannot endure to have his Soveraign Right and Power called in Question and good reason too (d) Matth. 20 2â— Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with my own No say some besides his good will and pleasure he must give the reason why he reprobates some and not others Why he elected Peter and reprobated Judas Why he loved Jacob and hated Esau To say it is according to his Will and Pleasure that doth not satisfie us what reason can we have above the Will of God which is the rule of all Equity Reason and Wisdom Herein we are not to presume beyond what is written For
we say the Will is free only to do Evil most willing with greediness In this case with Scripture we call it a Slave a Drudge and a Servant to Sin for it cannot cease from Sin wise and willing enough to Sin but without knowledge and willingness to do good (a) Rom. 6.16 Whom man doth obey his servant he is to whom he doth obey That Will that obeys Sin in the lusts thereof as every Will in its state of Nature doth Sin saith the Apostle reigneth in it as in the Mortal body such Will is in the snare of the Devil and (b) 2 Tim. 2.26 taken Captive by him at his Will saith the same Apostle In this unregenerate state the Soul and consequently the Will is dead in trespasses and sins the natural man receives not the things of the spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him neither can he know them for they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 And the carnal Mind and Will too is enmity against God before our reconciliation to God we are his enemies Rom. 5.10 both in Soul and Body in every faculty of the one and in every member of the other In short the whole stream of Scripture runs strong that way to shew how in the state of Nature there is no more possibility for our Will of it self to be carried to good Spiritual objects Jerem. 13.23 than there is in the Aethiopian to change his skin or in the Leopard to change his spots Now in the state of Grace as to Free-will in relation to spiritual things for those of another nature come not within the question though the Will remaineth free from compulsion yet we ought to consider it in a twofold respect according to the two different Principles that are in us the Flesh and the Spirit the Old and the New Man of a quite different and contrary nature one to another the Flesh hath her Lusts which must be Crucified the Old Man hath his Deeds which ought to be Mortified all by degrees and after a fight wherein the Spirit of God thorough Christ's Blood giveth a regenerate Man the Victory not the Israel after the flesh 1 Cor. 10.18 but to that after the spirit and the promise What this New Man is St. Paul mentions to the Galatians 4.19 My little Children of whom I travail in birth until Christ be formed in you that is the Image and likeness of Christ in Righteousness Holiness and every Christian Virtue of this formation the Apostle by the means of the Ministery of the Word was the Instrument but the Holy Ghost not the Will of Man the Efficient Cause it is that Wind that bloweth where it listeth and though one heareth the sound thereof one cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth Joh. 3.8 In some kind we may say of it what David speaks of his Body made in secret at first imperfect but in continuance fashioned Psal 139.15 16. This puts a new or spiritual Life in us so that every one in that blessed condition may with St. Paul say I live yet not I but Christ lives in me Gal. 2.20 I know I will I love and I do yet not I but Christ by his holy Spirit knoweth willeth loveth and doth in me and even as after the birth of our Body to preserve and strengthen it food must be given it and Milk is the first so must the New Man be fed with Milk till it be able to bear Meat 1 Cor. 3.2 but this forming feeding and digesting is the Work of God and not an effect of the choice of our Will Thus much I could not forbear taking notice of as to that Spiritual Principle within us Well both these Principles retain the Nature whence they come The first of the earth earthy the second is the Lord from heaven heavenly 1 Cor. 15.47 Now that first and Old Man answereth The Jerusalem that now is and is in bondage with her Children but Jerusalem which is above is free Gal. 4.25 26. We then must say that where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty 2 Cor. 3.17 where that Spirit is not there is nothing but bondage so then in the twain Man are both liberty and bondage upon different accounts What Paul doth he alloweth not for what I would that I do not but what I hate that do I. He delighteth in the Law of God after the inward Man but the Law of the Members bringeth him into Captivity to the Law of Sin which he desired to be delivered from and obtained it through Jesus Christ Rom. 7. Wherefore in that state though the corrupt principle would pull back and mislead our Will yet by the guidance and direction of the Holy Ghost our Will is made tractable inclined and without any violence turned willingly to Spiritual things Thus we are made a free willing People in the day of God's Power to the pulling down of strong holds casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth it self against the knowledge of God and bringing every thought and every desire too into Captivity to the obedience of Christ 2 Cor. 10.4 5. As to our Free-will in the State of Glory I pass it by there being no question made about it The Controversie about Free-will is a large Subject yet I think we said enough to our present purpose what remains to be spoken about it shall be under another head which that we now leave doth directly lead us to Arminians are stiff sticklers for a Free-will in Man to receive or reject Grace when offered by the Preaching of the Gospel as the outward means appointed for that end Now we proceed CHAP. VII About Resistibility of GRACE TO understand this well it must be well stated the Question is not whether Man can and doth resist Grace when offered in the Preaching of the Word or even some good motions of the spirit of God we are all agreed it can and doth But the true state of the Question between Papists with Arminians and us is this Whether when God doth offer men Grace with a design to have them thereby converted Whether or not I say those Men shall actually be converted Or Whether the Free-will and Corruption of Man shall overcome the motions of the spirit of God when he purposeth actually to convert We say at that time God works irresistibly and invincibly that is they shall be converted they say no. To prove this we have many Texts of Scripture There is in God (e) Philip. 3.21 a power whereby he is able to subdue all things unto himself so that when he is willing he cannot miss of his aim If the difficulty lies in the Understanding he can bring light out of darkness and enlighten the eyes of our Vnderstanding if in the Will (g) 2 Cor. 4.6 Ephes 1.18 he can make us willing in the day of his power if we be unwilling he maketh us willing and able to do too (h)
as others do we presently are by them branded with the name of precise and morose Puritans If they do well they attribute it to themselves to the right use they make of their free-will to their own will and inclination But if in us there be any thing better than in others we wholly as 't is most due attribute it to free-grace the glory of all we return to God and not to any will of ours for no good is done in or by us but what comes from God's free-grace to which specially in matter of Salvation we can never attribute too much nor too little to our own strength So that whilst their principles lead them to looseness and licentiousness ours or rather Gods in us lead us to holiness and vertuous practices and if thorough the corruption of our nature they do not as it should we confess it ought so to be Let them shew us their faith by their works for by the fruit we judge of the Tree Now bad actions and a vitiout life do naturally and necessarily flow from their principles and whilst as I said before (a) 2 Pet. 2.19 they promise others liberty they themselves are the servants of corruption Now if there be such an universal sufficient grace imparted to all men whereby they may be saved if they will why then from the Creation till now have not the effectual means of saving grace been imparted alike which if so then all or most had been saved which not being it must proceed from a want either of will or of power I cannot believe it is for want of a will for though people out of their own corruption be willing enough to procrastinate repentance and like Sampson be lulled a sleep in their Dalilah's bosom yet when they hear or see the Philistines (b) Judg. 16.19 the approaches of death dangerous sicknesses heavy afflictions and terrors of Conscience are coming upon them surely none are so prodigal of their own Souls or so desirous of damnation but would unfeignedly desire to be saved (a) Numb 23.1 let me die the death of the righteous and let my last end be like his was the desire of that wicked false Prophet Balaam And as Sampson would have drawn up together all his forces to have overcome his Enemies he found his strength was gone The Lord was departed from him So those sinners who were lulled a sleep with those pretty fancies of a power to repent believe and be saved when it comes to the push they find there is no such thing in them as they were made to believe In Sampson his strength was gone for once he had it but that free-will and power which Arminians do brag of no man ever had Therefore at last they must be convinced how in man is no such a power whereby to be saved when he will Now to sum up all in few words Horrible absurdities follow on the Arminian opinions some whereof they acknowledge and others are bound on their back by unavoidable consequences Namely that the fruit of Christ's death doth absolutely depend upon the accidental assent of man's free-will that notwithstanding his death it was possible and very contingent that all men had perished That no soul had been free from Hell by his Blood That God should never have had any Church at all That now by vertue of his death true grace is given to all That all Pagans as well under the Law as the Gospel who never heard of Scripture are truly reconciled to God by the death of his Son That all Infants even of Heathens who die before the years of discretion are saved by Christ That in no man is any original sin but every one when he is born is put in the state of Innocency That Baptism is not necessary for no sin is therein remitted because there is none then to be remitted CHAP. XV. How Arminianism is contrary to the Doctrine of the Church of England WIth a sort of men namely those that are zealous for the Religion of their Fathers and true Sons of the Church of England I make no doubt but that this will be a weighty and prevailing Argument which for their sake and information before I have done I hope by the grace of God to make good and thereby to shew the disingenuity and design of those who to impose upon several people have the face to affirm Arminianism to be the Doctrine of the Church of England which is so contrary to truth To understand this well it must be explained what is meant by the Doctrine of the Church 't is not the opinions of some corrupt Members of the Church whom that Mother disowns as spurious because fallen from her Principles and having set up Errors of their own which she never taught them though they would father them upon her she hath fed them with pure and sincere milk which their own ill constitution hath turned into Poyson But what we call the true Doctrine of the Church is that which was received believed and taught in the very beginning of the Reformation from errors and abuses of the Church of Rome and without alteration by her self lasted for above threescore years after till a party here combined to bring in erroneous innovations of their own In few words we call that the Doctrine of the Church of England which concerning these controverted points is contained in the 39 Articles in the Common Prayer Book the Book of Homilies and the Catechism of Edward the 6th These are the general publick and authentical Records and Evidences of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of England and we shall not want the Testimony of the most Eminent and famous Doctors thereof to prove what we say So then we shall make it appear how Arminiamsm is contrary to all this I mean in every one of these we shall find Testimonies against it First of all to begin with the Articles of Faith We have the 17th about Predestination in these Words Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby before the Foundation of the World was laid he hath constantly decreed by his Counsel secret to us to deliver from Curse and Damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ and to bring them unto everlasting Salvation c. Let the whole be read with Attention and what we have asserted about that Point will be found therein to be contained as the eternity of God's Decree everlasting Purpose its immutability hath constantly decreed c. But because if I should point at every Word confirming what I am about proving out of this Article it would take up too much time To do it more effectually I shall make use of another Man's Pen I mean of Mr. Thomas Rogers a Man beyond exception in the Case who was a Chaplain to Archbishop Bancroft He hath written an Analysis upon all the 39 Articles which he doth dedicate to the Archbishop and the Book is licens'd and printed by Authority
Jesus is a fall to Reprobates which yet perish through their own Defaults so is his Word yea the whole Book of God a cause of Damnation unto them through their Incredulity c. Furthermore Christ Jesus the Prophets the Apostles Pag. 16. and all the true Ministers of his Word yea every jot and tittle in the Holy Scripture have been is and shall be for evermore the Sauour of Life unto eternal Life unto all those whose Hearts God hath purified by true Faith c. God of his mercy and special Favour towards them whom he hath appointed to everlasting Salvation hath so offered his Grace especially and they have received it so fruitfully that altho' by reason of their sinful living outwardly they seemed before to have been the Children of Wrath and Perdition yet now the Spirit of God mightily working in them unto the obedience to God's Will and Commandments they declare by their outward Deeds and Life in the shewing of Mercy and Charity which cannot come but of the Spirit of God and his special Grace that they are the undoubted Children of God appointed to everlasting Life c. For a further confirmation of this 't is said The reasonable and Godly as they must certainly know and perswade themselves Part 2. p. 172. that all Goodness all Bounty all Mercy all Benefits all Forgiveness of Sins and whatsoever can be named good and profitable either for the Body or for the Soul do come only of God's Mercy and meer Favour and not of themselves So c. p. 199. we have thus It is the Holy Ghost and no other thing that doth quicken the Minds of Men stirring up good and godly Motions in their Hearts which are agreeable to the Will and Commandment of God such as otherwise of their own crooked and perverse nature they should never have Man of his own Nature is carnal corrupt and naught sinful and disobedient to God without any spark of Goodness in him without any vertuous or godly motion only given to evil thoughts and wicked deeds as for the works of the spirit the fruits of faith charitable and good motions if he have any at all in him they proceed only of the holy ghost who is the only worker of our sanctification and maketh us new men in Jesus Christ And page 219. his power and wisdom compell us to take him for God Omnipotent having all thing in his subjection and will have none in Council with him nor any to ask the reason of his doing for he may do what liketh him and none can resist him for he worketh all things in his secret judgment to his own pleasure yea even the wicked to damnation saith Solomon .... David would make answer for all know ye for surely even the Lord is God he hath made us and not we our selves .... Not to us O Lord not to us but to thy name give all the thanks for thy loving mercy .... Verily the holy prophet Esay beareth record and saith O Lord it is then of thy goodness that hath wrought all our works in us not we our selves .... St. Paul bringeth in his belief We be not saith he sufficient of our selves as of our selves once to think any thing but all our ableness is of God's goodness for he it is in whom we have all our being our living and moving And pag. 228. It is he that preventeth our will and disposeth us thereunto That is as said before Faith Charity and Repentance And p. 229. For without his secret and lively inspiration can we not once so much as speak the name of our mediator ... It is he that purgeth and purifieth the mind by his secret working .... He lightneth the heart c. And p. 263. We must beware and take heed that we do in no wise think in our hearts imagine or believe that we are able to repent aright or to turn effectually unto the Lord by our own strength ... For this cause although Jeremiah had said before If thou return O Israel return unto me yet afterwards he saith Turn thou me O Lord and I shall be turned c. Why should I longer insist upon this which is so full and so clear let those that have a mind to know more of it read the First and Second Parts of the Homilies of the misery of Man with the Homilies of Christ's Nativity Passion and Resurrection The first on Whitsunday the First Second and Third part of that on Rogation-week and the First part of that of Repentance And as to the points of our Election Vocation Justification Sanctification and Salvation besides the foresaid let them read the First Second and Third parts of the Homilies of Salvation and Faith And out of all they shall find that there is an eternal and immutable predestination of certain Men unto eternal Life out of meer grace and free-mercy and a passing by or reprobation of others to eternal Death out of Gods meer pleasure That there is no free-will or sufficient grace communicated unto all men whereby they may convert and save themselves if they will on the contrary that Man without the special help of Gods spirit and grace is so weak that he can neither think any thing that is good nor prepare his heart to seek for grace That Christ dyed intentionally and effectually for none but the Elect that Gods grace and spirit do always work effectually in the hearts of the Elect in the act of their Conversion which they can never totally nor finally resist and that the same Elect do never nor can wholly and finally fall from the state of grace In these Homilies which for the most part were compiled by the learned Martyr Cranmer doth appear the spirit of our first Reformers to have been wholly for free-grace against free-will or any thing of merit or strength in man Another Authentick proof of the Doctrine of the Church against Arminianism is taken out of a short Catechism published in the time of good King Edward 6th It was Composed by John Ponet Bishop of Winchester and before its publication was presented to the King who committed the perusal thereof to some Bishops and other learned men who assured his Majesty it agreed with Scripture and the Statutes of the Kingdom whereupon by his special command it was not only Printed in Latine and English in the Year 1553 The next after the first publishing of the 39 Articles So that we may well look upon it as a perfect Comment on them but he also prefixed his own Epistle wherein he did command all School-masters within the Kingdom carefully and diligently to teach it in all their Schools There in one of the Scholars answers to the Master 't is said But as many as are in the faith stedfast were fore-chosen predestinate and appointed to everlasting life before the world was made And in another thus The first principal and most proper cause of our Justification and Salvation is the goodness