that my people had bin thus and thus or would be thus and thus Thou art a gracious God and mercifull slow to anger and of great kindness and repentest thee of the evill And why may we not frame our notion of God from such texts of Scripture as these as well as from others and rather than from the definition of the Schools Especially if we can make God more lovely to our selves more adorable than by their conceptions There is nothing that God does will now but what he did decree always And why so Because the Schools say there will else be composition in God the composition of an essence and accident and God is a pure act ens simplicissimum But what if the Conceptions of those holy men who would have God like to man in regard of the Scripture expressions wherein they were so zealous as we have a famous Ecclesiastical story about it should not be so injurious on one hand to the Almighty as such Conceptions as these on the other which do quite puzzle our Intellectuals and leave us without any quick sense at all of him It is certain that God is Good Righteous Vnchangeable but we must have a Conception of goodness righteousness and unchangeableness and that which is agreeable to that herein which we esteem perfections in our selves before we attribute them to him When we make God then to be always gracious to those that do well and displeased with evil and so brings or determines to bring a Judgment on one and bestows a Blessing on another according as he sees at the present the Provocation of the one and Obedience of the other without any other determination before besides that of his Law why is not this an Vnchangeableness more worthy the Divine Excellence than that by which he being conceived a pure act must be made never to will any thing else than what he wills at once from all Eternity Upon the like Hypothesis as this one may also propose a sutable notion of Praedestination To wit that the Scripture being skanned to the bottom Election perhaps may be found indeed nothing else but Gods determination to save Men and Women by the Covenant of Grace and not by the Covenant of our Greation or by the Righteousness of God declared in the Gospel and not by the Righteousness of Works This definition should be founded on such Texts where the purpose of God according to Election is said to be not of Works but of him that calleth And He hath called us not according to our works but according to his purpose and Grace It should be founded also on the instances of Isaack and Jacob in whom the Children of the Promise are Elected in opposition to the Children of the flesh that is those that look for Justification by the deeds of the Law And thus have we the example of the Jews rejection upon that account And thus when a Pharisee hath lived so Righteously that as to the whole Law he is blameless and so trusts to his Righteousness shall say And why am I rejected for all this and such a Publican onely for his repenting and trusting on the mercy of God through Christ is accepted it may be answered the reason is plain because it is God that makes the difference by decreeing and appointing what terms he pleases upon which one shall be saved and not another Hath not the Potter power over his Clay of what sort he will to make Vessels of honour and dishonour so that it is not of him that Willeth or Runneth it is not upon such terms as a man himself sets or would set of works but it is of Grace of him that sheweth mercy Well! But what would be the Consequent of such Doctrine as this Why the Consequent no doubt must be the same in effect with the Pelagian which is Vniversal Grace and Free will to purpose But I confess my self to have imbibed the Doctrine of St Augustine from my younger years that I am convinced by it believing that nothing can be set up against it with any strength which is short of Vorstius while Pelagius and Vorstius both are names we know that do so male audire Are of such ill report in the Church as the Arminians themselves will not bear For our apprehensions then of God according to the Schools it must be acknowledged that he is said in holy Scripture to dwell in the Clouds and thick darkness and into such darkness or those Clouds will I account indeed that he is put while he is made to be actus purus and wrapt in their notions which if they served no other they do yet serve this end even most reverendly and exceedingly to hide him from us and render him thereby but as he is very truly incomprehensible to us To reflect then back on the difficulty before as to the Consequent of Election our way if any say they are not satisfied with what I have said because a power never produced into act is as good as none I answer if I propose that which they would have and it be all can be had there is a measure in things which when we have set in any point so as the Determination cannot be passed but we shall run into the extreams on one side or the other which we seek to avoid we ought to be satisfied Especially when such a power alone as this which in the effect without Grace is none will do our work If we allow not a power to man how shall God be just how shall God condemn any which is that lyes at bottome still of of what is said for not doing that which was not in his power or which was not possible If when a man hath Power he does also exert that power and wills of himself how shall such Scriptures be true which have been urged It is God that makes us to differ Of him we have the Will and the Deed Nay such Texts more especially as speak expresly of a Cannot when the true intent and meaning of them is this that we do not and never will as I have had it before till God prevents us by his effectual Grace Without Christ we can do nothing All our sufficiency is of God No man can come to him unless he be drawen Si non est liberum arbitrium quomodo Deus judicabit mundum Si est liberum arbitrium quomodo salvabit mundum If man have not Free-will how shall God judg him If he have how shall he save him This is the difficulty of the Father If then there be such a liberum arbitrium to be found out which quodam modo is sine libero arbitrio such a power as in the effect is no power that is such as without Grace which also is efficacious comes to nothing then can we decide this business for him Suppose a Magistrate for some fault shall cut off a Malefactors hands and then command him to write and promise him great
charity is that which disposes to good works Good works therefore he counts must be of grace and Gods spirit and to follow justification which is with him this infused grace But as for beleeving which is the first thing upon which the Spirit it self is given to infuse this grace from whence our good works doe spring this must arise he accounts from mans free will or else the fault will not be in himself which is the argument convinces him but it must lye on the will of God onely that he hath not the spirit and so no grace and so does not well and is not saved Whether this argument be irrefragable or no we shall see by what will follow 2. There are two questions raised together by the Apostle Who maketh thee to differ from another and What hast thou O man that thou didst not receive The chief difficulty lyes in answering the former question for by that is the second to be regulated Now if that we have from God is onely this middle faculty which we may use to beleeve or not Who is it makes the difference in one mans using it to faith and another's to infidelity That which is the less the Posse velle The power to will shall be of God that is of Nature and so of God but the Ipsum velle The will or willing it self which is the greater and which indeed saves us shall be of our selves 3. The Scripture is express concerning faith and that not of our selves it is the gift of God If the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there referrs to the whole sentence we have other texts No man cometh to me that is beleeveth in me unless the Father draw him To you it is given not only to believe but to sufther for his name This is the work of God that you beleeve Who hath first given to him Of him and to him are all things I obtained mercy That I should be faithfull not Because I was faithfull But ye beleeve not because ye are not of my sheep Again As many as were ordained to salvation beleeved It seems here that the cause why some beleeve and some beleeve not is their being or not being of the number of those who are ordained to be of his flock The like text in reference to works as these to faith is that to the Ephesians He hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world that we should be holy It is not therefore mans faith or holiness is the cause of Gods Election but it is Gods election is the cause of mans holiness and faith A prime and eternal cause say our Divines cannot depend upon the self same temporal effects which are thereby caused If therefore the Ordination of God be the cause from whence mans faith and holiness are derived his foreseen-faith or foreseen-works are not to be imagined antecedent causes merits conditions or motives unto the Divine Predestination 4. We have St. Augustine acknowledging himself to have bin herein in an errour So that these arguments must be no longer against Augustine but against those who have taken up that opinion he forsook In nullo gloriandum est dixit Cyprianus quoniam nostrum nihil sit Quod ut ostenderet adhibuit Apostolum Quid autem habes quod non accepisti Quo praecipue testimonio convict us sum cum errarem putans fidem qua in Deum exedimus non esse donum Dei sed a nobis esse in nobis per illam nos impetrare Dei dona quibus temperanter juste pie vivamus in hoc seculo Quem errorem nonnulla opuscula mea satis indicant It was the saying of blessed Cyprian that we may glory in nothing because that which is ours is nothing This he proved by the words of the Apostle By which testimony I was first convinced when I erred thinking that faith was of our selves and then good works obtained by it Which errour several of my former pieces do sufficiently shew De praedestinatione sanctor c. 3. I wish he had mentioned the book here which I am citing as he does one or two other that I might have known his solution to the difficulty which himself hath urged but left unanswered upon our hands To return then to the Father's question Whether the Voluntas qua credimus The will whereby we beleeve be of our selves or God's gift I must not choose the first with him in that book but the last according to other of his works Nevertheless we must carefully distinguish the two things whereof he hath made two questions Vtrum fides in nostra constituta sit potestate Whether faith be in our power in one chapter and Vtrum voluntas qua credimus donum sit Dei an ex libertate arbitrii Whether the will whereby we do beleeve be the gift of God or the effect of our own liberty in another I do apprehend here that both these two things are to be held That faith is in our power and That the will whereby we beleeve is not of our selves but of Gods grace or gift The holding both these is that which cuts the thread of all difficulties in this matter For the one That faith is in mans power we are beholding verily to that Father A thing is in a mans power which he may do if he will Hane dicimus potestatem ubi voluntati adiacet facultas faciendi When he accounts Faith then to be in mans power he understands this That he may beleeve if he will And this is a truth of great necessity yet hath difficulty But when he proceeds hereupon so farre as to make the will therefore whereby we beleeve to be of our selves it was a step which himself saw need to draw back There are many things that are possible which yet never shall be as this Father himself gives instances of upon another occasion in the first chapter of this book There are likewise many things which a man can do that yet he never will or is like to do without some speciall cause moving him to it Such is the business of mans Conversion There is no man we are to hold with him but he may beleeve I will adde repent and be saved if he will yet is this to be known and held also That there is no man for certain ever will unless it be from that one special cause which is Gods grace or the Spirit 's motion that works his heart thereunto Now then Shall a man remain an unbeleever and impenitent and perish the fault shall lye upon himself and God shall be just because we place faith in his own power He may believe and repent and be saved if he will If God would and he will not he may thank himself Again if he do believe and repent and is saved he shall have no cause to boast or glory in himself because that though he might believe and repent if he would yet would he never have repented while the world lasted
intend in that expression 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is as much as to say The Law in that through the weakness of the flesh none is able to perform it cannot possibly justifie any The impossibility lying on us in regard to the performance not in it True it were possible through such an extraordinary measure of the Spirit as the Man-Christ had not to leave Augustine quite but that measure being not to be given to any body else it is best said to be Impossible even by the strength of Nature by Grace according to its ordinary measure on Earth Impossible when yet as for the terms of the Law of Faith I hold it fit still to say they are Possible to all though there is none do perform them but by Grace Upon this there is one thing needs must yet be spoken to for it hath stuck some time upon my self It is this when Augustine is telling us that Faith is in our power he offers us this Reason Because a man may believe or not believe he accounts what he will Hoc quisque in potestate habere dicitur quod si vult facit si non vult non facit Vide nunc utrum quisquam credat si noluerit aut non credat si voluerit That every man is said to have in his power which if he will he does and if he will not he does not Consider now whether there be any that believe if they will not or do not believe if they will The contrary to this I judg is certain that there are some things I cannot believe though I would and some things that I cannot but believe though I would not never so fain From whence I should oppose therefore that Faith then whatsoever else is cannot be in mans Power no more than it is of his own Will For satisfaction to which I acknowledg that there are Doctrines or Propositions which are true that many a man cannot believe if he will nay perhaps some Articles that the Ancients have imposed as necessary to Salvation I say I acknowledg that a man cannot make himself to believe what he will nor otherwise than he does believe nevertheless I do apprehend that that-Faith which is the condition of the covenant of grace is indeed in mans power I apprehend that whereas the conditions of the Covenant of grace are and must be such as are possible there is no man who believes as much as he can but his will shall be accepted for whatsoever is required more which he cannot and which is not given Or else we had a good have bin left still to the covenant of works The condition then of the Covenant of grace or those â—erms which remain of necessity of salvation does not lye in an assent to every doctrine and article which is true in the Christian religion but to so much as serves to bring a man unto Christ or unto God Without faith it is impossible to please God for he that comes unto him must beleeve that he is and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him And such a faith as this will the light of Nature instruct every man to Though where the Gospel is preached the beliefe of Christ also in his person offices word and works will and must necessarily follow seeing To whom much is given of him shall much be required Ye beleeve in God beleeve also in mee Vnless ye beleeve I am he ye shall dye in your sins Now let us bring that faith a man has to the test If my beleeving of God or Christ that he will be good to me if I repent does produce this repentance then is my faith saving and effectual if it do not then is the fault in my will When it lyes on my will then it is in my power yet if I will I must hold it to be still of the grace of God Huc valere debet tota Dei notitia sayes Calvin ut omne bonum ab illo petere illi acceptum ferre discamus To this purpose does the whole knowledge of God which is taught us in Scripture conduce that we should learne to seek all our good at his hands and live in the return of our thank-fulness to him When God made man he must know the end of his work He must foresee what man will do what his posterity will do all that they will do the end of all When God foresees the actions of man it must be conceived in the order of nature that they will be before he foresees them and if they will be they must have some cause and that cause must depend on the first Cause and so all be resolved into God's will It is true that he foresees also what is possible as well as future but a thing is possible only because he will it not future because he wills it I say not that this inferrs a Physical determinate influx into every act of man which proceeding from his free will is sometimes good and sometimes evill it is sufficient that there is such a complexion of circumstances provided as that a vaga moralis infallibilitas a morall indetermined certainty as to the event shall arise out of the whole together according to his eternal counsel As for sin or evill it is a defect of Entity or good a privative no positive thing and so is of our selves and not of Him as Augustine against the Manichees and the Schools after him have it What followes now upon this but that there is not an act of a mans whole life or will so farre as either sub genere Entis or sub genere Morum it is good but it must be of God And what then is there to mate that Father's doctrine of Election as it is laid on this fonndation Let us give the mind its greatest liberty One may think As there are some things which are not possible it is no derogation to Gods power to say he cannot do them so may there be some things non scibilia not knowable it shall not derogate from his Omnisciency to say he foreknows not them Such things as are left altogether to the will of a free agent may be thought such There are some things depend on mans will which God determines and here hee foreknows mens wills because he knowes as well as does whatsoever he will and there are some things depend on mans will which we are to conceive that he determines not but will have contingent and here to make God such a one as that he must foresee every thing whether he will or no and that a contingent to him shall be impossible though he would have a contingent does seem to be an affront to his Majestie rather than a perfection To this purpose we read that when God saw that the thoughts of mans heart were evill continually it is said it repented him that he made man And we have many expressions of the like import O
Nature and into what inconveniences especially in reference to our Prayers they must be lead that maintain it I shall not be able to say presently Cur admonemur orare pro inimicis nostris vtique nolentibus pie vivere nisi ut Deus in illis operetur velle Item cur admonemur petere ut accipiamus nisi ab illo fiat quod volumus a quo factum est ut velimus Again Cur petitur quod ad nostram pertinet potestatem si Deus non adjuvat veluntatem Why are we bid to Pray for our Enemies whose Hearts we know are Averse Why are we bid to ask any thing which is in our own Power but that it is God who turns the Will Augustine Enchir ad Laur. c. 31. Item De Gra. alibi passim It is certain that St. Austine speaking of what Grace Adam had and what We have De correptione Gratia c. 11. does ascribe the Posse permanere si vellet The power of standing if he would unto Grace Prima gratia quae dâ—…a est Adam est qua fit ut habeat homo justitiam si velit Secunda ergo plus potest qua etiam fit ut velit Again Posse permanere si vellet quia dederat adjutorium per quod posset He could have stood if he would because God vouchsafed help whereby he could I must confess I should have judged it not to be of Grace that Adam had his Posse perseverare his strength to persenere but of Nature or his Original Righteousness And that Grace which he calls Adjutorium is proper to our falne Estate for the relieving of Nature But if it were of Grace that Adam had the posse only when he had not the velle then may we assert universal Grace with the more Authority while we say that there is a posse now in Man falne as to the performance of the Covenant of Grace no less than in Adam at first as to his keeping the Covenant of Works when yet the velle which is of special Grace is not vouchsafed There may be here indeed a most difficult Demand and that must not be baulked Whether the Power which is universal be of Nature or Grace And I must profess it is an Entanglement to my Thoughts to distinguish Nature at all from that Grace which is universal Although for the sake I suppose of some Texts which attribute our sufficiency our can our power as well as our will and deed to God when they say too it is not of our selves Divines do it There is that Concourse or Operation of God with Us as reaches to the Endowing us with Power or that which reaches to the Endowing us with the Will The last of these only if I might choose I would have called Grace Yet seeing Divines speak otherwise whether the former also be called Grace or Nature so long as it be held universal I desire to move no Contention And you see me speak as one indifferent in it If we consult the Schools we shall find them giving as little to the strengh of nature as any others can doe Nullum initium justificationis potest fieri sine gratia Sive lllud initium sit causa sive meritum condigni aut congrui sive impetratio dispositio conditio ad quodlibet aliquid quocunque modo per se ratione sui conducens ad justificationem There is nothing that we can doe of our own strengh without grace that is any cause merit disposition condition or occasion of our justification or the beginning of it Ruiz De praedestinationis exordio Trac 3. Disp 17. By justification they understand in effect regeneration and they distinguish of an occasion which is active or given of men and passive or taken of God They will allow indeed that what we doe may be a Passive occasion or opportunity to God for the infusing his grace which is with them to justify us but no Active Illae occasiones perse ratione sui nullam Physican nec moralem causalitatem exercent ad obtinendam miscriocordiam Dei sed Deus pro sua intriuscca bonitate Sapientia ex illis occasionem accipit Jb. Dist 16 Sec. 2. The sum is that whatsoever man does by the strengh of nature conduces to his effectuall conversion onely as a removens prohibens by removing the hindrance which otherwise we might put if we with drew from the means that God hath appointed to obtain his grace Licet cuim aliquis per motum liberi arbitris divinam gratiam nec promercri nec acquirere possit potest tamen seipsum impedire ne eam recipiat sayes Aquinas Though a man by the motion of his freewill cannot merit or procure the divine grace yet can he hinder himself from receiving it They said unto God Depart from us we desire not the knowledg of thy ways Quilibet acius qui a nobis eliciatur per vires naturae sine anxilio gratiae nihil ad gratiam justificantem nee ad auxiliatricem gratiam insluit nihilue conducit aut confert perse ratione sui sed soluwnmodo quasi causa per accidens remonendo prohibens aut tanquam occasio opportunitas passiua a Deo accepta non ab hominibus data Jb. Dist 20. Having gon thus far in abasing the strengh of nature we shall find how they make it up again with advancing an universall Sufficient grace by the help of which lever the free will of man shall be lifted into the same throne from whence before they threw it down For when that grace which they set up must be such only as gives a next power to beleeve and repent if we will but leaves the will undetermined and uninclined and this being Supposed to be vouchsafed to all according to the condition they are in whether Elect or Reprobate alike it is apparent that mans free will by the cooperation with this grace or refusal is that which begins or puts by his own justification and causequently makes the differenee in the upshot between him that is saved and him that is damned Supponimus omnibus adultis nullo excepto dari auxilia sufficientia ad salutem non impedita sed ita expedita ut in potestate cujusque sit illis cooperando ulteriora auxilia obtinere quanrvis per vires naturae non possint obtinere auxilia gratiae Again Barbari ignorantissimi per interiorem gratiam moventur ad cognoseendum non explicite sed implicite virtualiter non certo sed subdubio non in particulari sed in universali aliquid supernaturale atque ad illud desiderandum Idque sufficit ut illustrationes inspirationes siut quidditative supernaturales sufficientes ad justificationis initium Idem ib Disp 25. Now what my thoughts are of this I have offered as I pass and more particularly at the end upon the first Head of Election There is universal Grace consistent with the Special Grace of Gods Elect Or inconsisient with it The
he would have bin damn'd first if it had not bin for the grace of God that wrought him over after he had stood so long out And this is a sad truth I grant which needs not the proof of one or two single texts when the scope of the whole Scripture which attributes our destructon to our selves and our life and help unto God does seal to it Who is it hath made thee to differ Of him we have the will and the deed By grace ye are saved You may say If the will then be of God why does he not give the will as well as the power to all seeing he would have all men to be saved I answer in the first place what Augustine hath before that God will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth but yet so as the free will of man be not destroyed My meaning though is not as I take the Father 's to be there as if the will in believeing could not be of God of unwilling making man willing but this freedome were lost when I doubt not but the case is the same in believeing as in well-doing where mans free will and Gods grace would stand together alwayes in his account I say farther God will have all to be saved in vouchsafing the means to all to be saved if they will This appeares in these three particulars 1. That he hath given his Son to dye for all the world 2. The Lord Jesus hath by his death procured the New Covenant or such termes upon which Salvation may be had as are possible to all the World This is a point to be known that there is this difference between the Covenant of Works under which we are by Nature and the Covenant of Grace unto which we are Redeemed that The condition of the one as to our falne Estate is Impossible and the condition of the other is Possible If it be not possible or in Mans Power to perform if he will then hath Christ done nothing for the World but died onely for his Elect. For To procure a Benefit on a Condition that is impossible is all one as to procure no Benefit at all 3. There is sufficient light by the Gospel or by other means from within and without to instruct all men so that if they be not wanting to that Light they may be saved And thus are we to make good this Truth God will have all to be saved if they will of themselves which yet doth not hinder but he may will the Salvation of some more than so that is not only if they Will of themselves but if they Will by his Grace which he gives or refuses to whom he pleases Cur autem illum adjuvet Deus illum non adjuvet Illum tantum illum non tantum istum illo illum isto modo penes ipsum est aequitatis tam secreta ratio excellentia potestatis But why He helps this man and not that this man so much and that man not so much this man one way that man another we must leave it to Him whose Power and Wisdom is above our reach De peccatorum meritis remissione l. 2. c. 5. I know indeed The Scripture speaks ordinarily of a Cannot but there is a Cannot which denotes an Impossibility and a Cannot which denotes an Indisposition onely In the Parables the Steward says be cannot digg and the Man in Bed he cannot rise In the same sense the Scripture says We cannot come to Christ unless we be Drawen and we cannot learn to do well that are accustomed to do evil When a man is so disposed against any thing as that he certainly never will do it under that disposition it is common for us to say he cannot as of the Idle person we say he cannot work of the Abstemious he cannot drink The Scripture accommodates it self to our Language He that is born of God cannot sin sayes the Apostle That is he is under that disposition through the New Nature that he can no more find in his heart to live in any deliberate course of sin than the Wicked can endure to come up to an Universal unreserved Resignation of himself unto God Thus are we to understand such Texts St. Augustine I remember in the book last quoted which he persues De spiritu litera is very wary of denying a Possibility to a man even of living without sin when he is industriously proving that none in Earth but do sin and there are some learned Divines stand much on this that we have our faculties and the object sufficily proposed and therefore a Natural Power to every thing which is our duty But the Father is more cautious who distinguishes between what we can do by Nature and what by Grace Without me sayes Christ ye can do nothing and through Him sayes the Apostle I am able to do all things By Grace he thinks it safest to hold that Possible which by Nature or to our bare natural strength and faculties he doubts-not to count Impossible There is a medium therefore between both They that dare say If it be the duty of a man that is without Grace to live perfectly it is possible or That it is in the power of man in the state of Nature without Grace to keep all Gods Commandements and live without sin because it is his Duty are too boysterous on the one hand for Augustine does manifestly account this to be the extreamest Pelagianism and the Father I count in framing this distinction for this purpose is too tender on the other It is true a man hath his Natural Faculties and the Object may be revealed but these faculties are corrupt and unsutable to the object There is Nature then and corrupt Nature The Scripture speaks of Man as he is and that is impossible to Falne Nature which to Original Nature was possible The Law it self nevertheless being founded in Gods Nature and Man as Created after his Image is unchangable and cannot cease to require of all men what it did at first of Adam when given in Innocency It is the duty consequently of every body whether he hath Grace or hath not To keep this perfect Law of our Maker entire but we are not to affirm it to be Possible or within the power of any whatsoever No certainly seeing the Scripture tells us so often and so flatly that By the deeds of the Law no flesh living shall be justified Seeing there is no man but is born in original sin which he cannot help and the Apostle calls Concupiscence sin and seeing the Grace of God or the Spirit is not given to any for their fulfilling the Law ef Works but the Law of Grace which is a point not considered on by Augustine I take it and most others we must choose rather to say that the whole duty indeed of man according to the Law of Works take it together is Impossible for so does the Apostle I account
aequilibrio to be determined still of it self then the matter returns to the former issue I will therefore close up this point of Election with the observation of that very judicious person that wrote the Councel of Trent who having set down the debate of the Doctors about it and divided them into two opinions which comes in effect without reciting the whole to the tenents of absolute and conditional Election he gives us his judgment The first Opinion sayes he which is Augustines as it is mystical and hidden keeping the mind humble and relying on God without any confidence in it self knowing the deformity of Sin and excellency of Divine Grace So was the second plausible and popular cherishing Humane Presumption and making a great shew and it pleased more the Preaching Fryers than the Vnderstanding Divines The Defenders of this using Humane reasons prevailed against the others But coming to the Testimonies of Scripture they were manifestly evercom I descend not to the more minute Disputations De praedeterminatione physica between the Dominicans and Franciscans or De scentia media among the Jesuits which are of lower date I count in the World and ought not to make us trouble I leave also the Jansenist and Molinist to that Bone Haec praedestinatio Sanctorum nihil aliud est quam praescientia scilicet praeparatio beneficiorum Dei quibus certissime liberantur quicunque liberantur This Predestination of the Saints is nothing else but the Fore-knowledge and Preparation of those Benefits of God whereby they are most certainly saved that are saved Aug. De bono pers c. 14. There are two Opinions yet I shall mention which are singular I do not think them true yet am I pleased with any intent for composing the Scripture The one is that ascribed to Catarinus at Trent to Occam and others That there are indeed some few Persons who are Elected Absolutely of these God takes a special care that they never fail as we read of Peter But that the rest of Mankind are left to universal Grace and the liberty of their wills under a Conditional Election and Reprobation The other is an Opinion of a Learned Doctor of another Profession very Studious of the Holy Writings who is often telling me when I see him That Election is only to a Church-State and peculiar Priviledges But that we read of a Common Salvation Of Redemption I Do not remember any thing in St. Augustin that is peculiar about this Doctrine Only I take notice from several passages that he goes still the Narrow Way That the Elect only are redeemed That none but those who are brought into the Church by receiving all her Articles and being Baptized can be of that Number That no Heathen no Heretick no Separatist from the Church no Donatist no Infant though of Believing Parents that dies unbaptized can be saved I must confess here I am not of the mind with this Father And as I apprehend that Justine Martyr and some such Ancients who were Philosophers as well as Christians have spoken more nobly than thus So do I think that he goes not here the way of the Scriptures There is the universal Grace of God and special Grace of God I count held forth therein and both consistent with one another When Christ sayes He came to save the World that The Father so loved the World as to give his Son That he tasted Death for every Man and the like let not any think but the Grace of Redemption doth concern all the World And when we yet maintain special Grace with this let not any confine the same to this or that Sort or Sect of Religion but let him judge rather that the Elect are scattered throughout the Earth and it is God alone knows who are his There is the universal Grace of Origen that all at last shall be saved of Pelagius of Arminius There is also gratia universalis aqualis praecedanea of John Camero we are not bound to maintain either of these but there is Gratia universalis simpliciter which if we maintain not we must leave our Preaching and the Gospel The Followers of Truth and Mediocrity will be afraid to hold any other universal Grace but such as I suppose St. Ambrose holds in his Books De vocatione Gentium that will agree well with the special Grace also and Election of St. Augustine that is such only I count as may justly lay the blame of mans Sin and his Destruction altogether on himself when it gives the whole Glory of his Salvation unto God They that observe lying vanityes for sake their own mercy For my proceeding on this point it is not sutable to my purpose to be critical upon any words in the original Languages that Redemption is expressed by or to pretend to curiosity in the Laws and Customs of the Jews or other nations about Redemption at large which might be alluded to I will rather leave this Note in my way that as the curious oftentimes are least apt for plain things so must I say that whatsoever notion is offered upon this or any other head of Divinity by any who perhaps are of more exquisite learning and search in some things than others are if when they are sufficiently declared they are not apprehensible by common and ordinary people as well as themselves I do account them little worth in the Christina Religion They were plain men who at first Preached the Gospel and they were plain men for whose sake it was Preached and is Written When I see evidently that there must goe more skill to the finding such or such things out more learning subtil distinction and wit that I beleeve any of the Apostles if they were living ever had I cannot but think presently There is none of Christs disciples would have delivered this and it matters not my salvation whether it be so or not Neither do I entend a Common place upon this or other of the Heads which I treat on but an Exercitation onely in order to my particular design you must not expect any more There is one thing then I account here to be mainly of necessity or moment and that is the understanding our Redemption by Jesus Christ but so as that we may be solidly able to fix upon what that is which indeed accrewes to man from it or which we may avouch for the immediate and uncontrolable fruit or benefit to us by it I will not therefore make many words The Redemption of man by Christ I humbly conceive does lye chiefly in this The delivery of him from the Law as it was a Covenant of works that is requiring of him such conditions as he is not now in his faln estate ever able to perform and so must inevitably perish if he were not delivered from it When the fulness of time was come sayes the Apostle God sent his Son made under the Law c. The Law as given to the Jews was a representative of the Law of
Nature or Covenant of Works and in Christs redeeming the Jewes from it as given by Moses he does redeem the World from that covenant which it represented and there I say does lye the cheif point of our Redemption That very thing then or that great immediate effect or benefit which accrewes to man from Christs dying for him is his having other terms procured upon which he may be justified and saved than those which by the Covenant of nature were due from him to obtain that end For God so loved the World that he gave his onely begotten son that whosoever beleeveth in him should not perish but have everlasting life What is the immediate end here of God's giving his Son That must be the Immediate fruit of Christs coming dying and redeeming the World And what is that but that Whosoever beleeveth in him may not perish That is The delivery of him from the law of Works and bringing him under the Covenant or law of Faith that upon the performance only hereof who could not have it else without perfect doing he may obtain everlasting life And whether this favour of Christs procuring new terms upon which man may be saved does belong to the Elect only or to all the world there will need no more but to ask To whom the Gospel is to be preached to decide that question It is true that the freedom of the Jewes from the Mosaical law the breaking down the partition-wall thereby for the Gentiles to be incorporated into one Church visible and a power in Christ himself to dispense all assistances necessary to both for their obedience to the Gospel as also a discharge of mankind from damnation for Adams sin onely are fruits of Christs death which may be said too immediate and universal but the great benefit which indeed comprehends these and the like in it and appeares so notorious in the whole New Testament is The reconciliation of the world unto God by his death or Redemption And what else such a reconciliation can eminently consistin but that I have named I leave to the understanding to give judgment Neither are we to forget that our Redemption in Scripture is said to be from Sin and the Devil as well as from the Law for the one is the Foundation of the other When man fell from God the Devil obtained a right and dominion over him This was not a right as Lord and Proprietour but as Goaler and Executioner that is by vertue of that sentence which the Law as the Covenant of works passed on him When Christ then by his Satisfaction to the Justice of God did put an end to that Covenant this Right which the Devil held thereby must cease with it In the Cessation of this Right As the Slave who is redeemed from his slavery is redeemed also from the work which he lives in as a Slave So must all Mankind be redeemed from sin only this Redemption must be distinguished in regard of Title and in regard of Possession It follows not because the World lies in Wickedness and the Prince of the Air still rules in the Children of Disobedience that Christ hath not done His part in their Redemption No while the Law which held them under an impossible Duty that is the Law of Sin and Condemnation is taken off and the New Law is such as every one is capable to perform the Terms of it if he will It is not for want of Right to come out of this slavery it is not for want of Power but it is because they are not willing to come out of it because they love their sins that the Devil keeps them still in Possession Even as the Hebrew Servant when the Jubile came if he said he loved his Master and would not go out free he was to have his Ears boared to the Door-posts of the House and remain his Slave for ever There is a double work therefore Christ has to do as our Lord-Redeemer The one is to procure Deliverance if we are willing that is our Redemption in regard of Title And the other is To make us Willing which is to put us also in Possession The one of these is that which is properly the work of our Redemption and Universal The other is peculiar to the Elect and hath another name in Scripture that is our Vocation Effectual Calling or Conversion Unless when this Possession comes to be perfectly compleat that is at Death and then it is again called the Day of Redemption Whom he did predestinate saith the Apostle them he also called and whom he called them he also justified And whom he justified them he also glorified If Redemption were not of a larger extent than Election Vocation Justification and Glory then would the Apostle have said Whom he did predestinate he redeemed And whom he redeemed he called But when we find no such Link in this Chain it is a convincing Argument to my understanding for the Vniversalitie of Redemption It is said of Christ that he is the Saviour of the world especially of his own body In that Sentence we have both universal and special Grace together and the one is Applicatory not Destructive to the other The Redemption of Christ is universal The Grace whereby a Man savingly believes and repents and so becomes one of his Body is special and belongs to Election The Death of Christ may be considered as it redounds to the purchasing Remission of Sin and Salvation upon condition or as it redounds to the purchasing the Condition for Remission and Salvation In the first sense Christs Redemption and Grace of the Gospel is universal Doctor Twisse and the like Divines will say twenty times over In the second sense they will have it for his Elect only For my own part I must go from them here and account That the work of Christs Redemption and whole Mediation upon Earth does terminate in the former consideration The business of a Mediatour between parties does lie in this To bring them to some New terms wherein they may be agreed when they were at odds before The business of Christs Mediation Redemption Reconciliation Propitiation Satisfaction or whatsoever word out of Scripture or Orthodox Writers is used does lie I account in this altogether That he hath taken that course with the Father that he shall not deal with the world according to the Covenant of our Creation which requires such terms as no Man now thereby can be justified or saved but according to the Covenant of Grace which is such that whosoever he be that trusting in his Mercy and Goodness through Christ does repent and walk sincerely before him though imperfectly shall be Pardoned Accepted and Saved and yet he be Righteous in so doing This I say is the res ipsa as I take it the thing it self intended in all these sorts of words with the connotations only of the modus also the mode or qualification thereof according to such several Expressions Here then