owne proper lively act 1 IN order of time the worke of God converting man and the act of man turning himselfe to God can hardly be distinguished but in order of causality or efficiency Gods worke must needs goe before and ours follow An evill tree naturally bringing forth evill fruit must needs be changed into a good tree before it can beare any good fruit but the will of an unregenerate man is not onely as a bad but as a dead tree Therefore if it bring forth good fruit it doth it not that thereby it may be bettered or that by its owne cooperation it may be quickned but it doth it because it is already changed and quickned This is elegantly expressed by Saint Austin A wheele saith he doth not therefore run well that it may be round but because it is round So say we the will runnes well not that it may be regenerated but because it is already regenerated Hugo de sancto Victore to the same purpose Renewing grace saith he causeth a reformed will first to exist then gives power to this will to be moved first it works the will afterward it workes by the will 2 Secondly wee say that God doth not onely worked this habituall conversion wherby a man gets new spirituall ability to beleeve and convert but also that God doth by a certaine wonderfull efficacy of his secret operation extract out of our regenerated will the very act of beleeving and converting So the Scripture speaketh in divers places Iohn 6.66 The Father giveth us power to come unto the Sonne that is to beleeve Phil. 1.29 To you it is given to beleeve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very act of beleeving 2 Tim. 2.26 God giveth repentance But if God by infusing some strength into us should only give us a possibility or power of beleeving a possibility or power of converting and so leave the act to the free will of men surely we should all doe as our first father did by our free will we should fall from God neither should we ever bring this possibility into act This therefore is that excellent special grace granted to the elect in Christ wherby they not only can beleeve if they will but also will beleeve then when they can Phil. 2.13 God worketh in us the will and the deed This working grace the Fathers of the Catholick Church have maintained against the Pelagians God commands a man to wil but he also works in him this very thing namely he commands him to doe but also workes in him the doing Every one that hath learned of the Father hath not onely power to come but commeth indeed where there is both the progresse of our possibility the desire of our will and the very effect of action God effecteth our faith working in our hearts after a wonderfull manner to make us beleeve 3 Lastly this also we adde that this action of God in producing faith doth not hinder but rather is the cause that the will doth worke together with God and produce its owne act And therefore this act of beleeving howsoever it is sent from God yet because it is performed by man is attributed to man himselfe Rom. 10.10 With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse 2 Cor. 4.13 I beleeved therefore have I spoken It is God not who beleeveth all things in all men but who worketh all things in all men it is certaine we beleeve when we beleeve but it is God who brings to passe that we beleeve wee are they that worke but God workes in us the very working THE SECOND POSITION THis action of God doth not hinder the freedome of the wil but strengthen it neither doth it root out the vicious power we have to resist but it doth effectually and sweetly bestow on a man a resolute will to obey 1 HEre we deny two things first that by the divine operation there is any wrong offered to the will For God doth so worke in nature even when hee raiseth and advanceth it above its proper spheare that he doth not destroy the particular nature and being of any thing but leaves to every thing it s owne way and motion to performe the action When therefore God worketh in the wills of men by his Spirit of grace he makes them move in their naturall course that is freely and then doe they worke the more freely by how much they are the more effectually stirred up by the Spirit Iohn 8.36 If the Sonne shall make you free you shall be free indeed 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty Verily it seemeth incredible to us that God who made our wills and gifted them with liberty should not bee able to worke on them or in them after such a manner as that without hurting the natures of them he may freely to produce any good action by them He doth what he pleaseth with the wills of men and when he pleaseth having an all-sufficient power to incline mens hearts which way he listeth We so beleeve this more abundant grace to be powerfull that we withall deny it to be violent 2 A second thing which we here disclaime is the whole extirpation of corruption For although God in the very act of regeneration doth worke so powerfully upon the will that actually the present power to resist is suspended for that time yet doth hee not plucke up by the roots no not for that time the remote power of resisting which as the Schoolemen speake is potentia in actu primo posita a power of the first and youngest growth but hee suffers it to lurke and lye hid in the bitter root thereof For so long as that root of corrupt and corrupting concupiscence remaines in the soule of man certaine it is that there must needs be there withall not onely a possibility but also a pronenesse to resist the motions of the holy spirit Gal. 5.7 The flesh lusteth against the spirit But this reluctant power by reason of the most forcible and yet sweet or gentle motion of grace cannot in this case and at this time breake forth in actum secundum into present operation and exercise Pro. 21.2 The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him And consequently the hearts of other men lesse free This grace cannot be resisted because first it worketh in us to will that is not to resist for he can no farther resist from whom to will to resist is taken away as excellently writeth our Reverend late Bishop of Salisbury THE THIRD POSITION GOd doth not alwayes so move a converted and faithfull man to godly ensuing actions that hee takes from him the very will of resisting but sometimes hee suffers him through his owne weaknesse to stray from the direction of grace and in many particular actions to follow his owne concupiscence WEE must alwayes put a difference betweene those principall acts without which the Elect cannot
unbeleevers not yet washed in the blood of Christ nor the guilt of any whatsoever degree but such a guilt as for which the hostile anger and vengeance of God lieth heavily upon the guiltie person Whosoever is justified by a true faith can never afterward bee guiltie after this manner We may therefore say that the effect of justification is for a time suspended by the entercourse of such a particular sin because the person by reason of this new guilt needeth a particular absolution But wee cannot say that the state of justification is dissolved forasmuch as the same person doth not fall from the generall pardon of his forecommitted sins nor is deprived of that speciall intercession which our Saviour hath promised to all the faithfull nor of the free love of God his Father The same case holds in adoption For God never adopted to himselfe a Sonne in Christ whom afterwards he either must or would dis-inherit and cast out of his familie The children of God may indeed sinne and that very grievously but the providence and mercie of God will not suffer them so farre to sin as that they should thereby be bereft of their heavenly home and Father The servant abideth not in the house for ever but the sonne abideth for ever For as Saint Ambrose speakes God doth not make void the gift of adoption To conclude the seed of regeneration with those fundamentall gifts without which the spirituall life cannot subsist are preserved in safetie This is hence evident because that the same holy Spirit who doth infuse this seed into the hearts of the regenerate doth imprint into the same seed a certaine heavenly and incorruptible vertue and doth perpetually cherish and keepe the same Iohn 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up unto everlasting life 1 Iohn 3.5 Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sinne because hee is borne of God This seed of life remaining in them it is altogether impossible that the gifts of lively faith charitie should be quite extinguished Hence Gregory rightly sayes In holy mens hearts the Spirit alwayes abides according to some vertues or graces according to others he comes to depart and departs to returne but in the hearts of his Elect he remaineth in those vertues without which eternall life is not attained THE SEVENTH POSITION THat the regenerate doe not altogether fall from faith holinesse and adoption proceeds not from themselves nor from their owne will but from Gods speciall love divine operation and from Christs intercession and custody IT is certaine that if God would deale with us upon strict termes he might most justly for our ungratitude untowardnesse withdraw from us his fatherly favour and gifts of saving grace But for as much as even by the determination of the Schoolemen sinne doth not take away grace efficiently that is by certaine expulsion but by way of demerit that is deservingly surely unlesse it can bee proved that God deales with his according to their deserts it will not follow that upon the committing of a grievous sinne they lose faith or fall away from the state of justification and adoption For that which in regard of our ill desert might justly be done is by the mercie of God and by Christs intercession and the operation of the holie Ghost hindred from being done No creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Not the Devill for God shall bruise him under our feet Not the world for Christ hath overcome the world And he doth so worke in all his that they also at length overcome through faith Lastly not those things from whence is our greatest danger our own weaknesse the inclination and pronenesse of our owne free will to wickednesse for the goodnesse of God is alwaies shewed in this weaknesse of the faithfull and through the intercession of Christ for them is obtained that they shall not fall off from their faith Luke 22.32 I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Iohn 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their word We doe not therefore fetch this perseverance of the faithfull in their faith and Gods grace from their owne free will but from Christ that frees them The Lord shall deliver me from every evill worke and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdome 2 Tim. 4.18 To this purpose are those words of Saint Augustine We live safer if wee trust all to God and doe not commit our selves partly to God and partly to our selves As God workes that we come to him so he works also that we depart not from him THE EIGHTH POSITION THe perseverance therefore of holy men is the free gift of God and is derived unto us out of the decree of election THis conclusion ariseth out of those things which are said before but that it may more manifestly appeare we will adde somewhat more First that it is the free gift of God is proved out of the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive why dost thou glorie as if thou hadst not received If any thing can give a just cause to men of glorying surely this that they have persevered in good unto the end then when they could at their owne pleasure not have made use of those meanes which in themselves were sufficient for perseverance Either therefore this doth betide the faithfull by way of speciall gift or they have something which they have not received in which they may greatly glorie But wee affirme on the contrarie whether by perseverance be understood either that power which doth propp and hold up the faithfull or the stabilitie it selfe and the unconquered firmenesse of their faith or lastly the very act of persevering that there is none of these which is not the gift of God Touching that power by which the will is stayed up that it may persevere the Remonstrants easily grant that it is the onely grace of GOD which doth arme a man with this strength to persevere Touching the stability and firmenesse which is considered as the manner or adjunct of true faith this also is to bee numbred among the gifts of God For he which doth give the thing it selfe to wit faith doth also give the manner of the thing to wit the stability and firmenesse of the same faith 2 Thes. 3.3 The Lord is faithfull who shall establish you 1 Cor. 1.7.8 Yee come behinde in no gift waiting for the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall confirme you unto the end that ye may be blamelesse Out of which words it is manifest that faith is the gift of God as well in the
will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Iohn 4.14 The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto eternall life 1 Cor. 10.13 But will with the tentation make a way to escape 2 It is false that it is offered equally to all as appeares out of our Positions set downe before in the first Article Where wee have proved that perseverance in faith doth belong to the Elect alone 3 It is false that perseverance is a grace offered upon condition for it is a gift promised absolutely by God without any respect at all of condition The reason is this Some promises of God are touching the end others touching the meanes which conduce to the end The promises concerning the end that is to say Salvation are conditionall Beleeve and thou shalt be saved Bee faithfull unto the death that is persever and I will give thee the Crowne of life But for as much as no man is able to performe the conditions God also hath made most free and absolute promises to give the very conditions which he workes in us that so by them as by meanes we may attaine the end Deut. 36.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live The end here promised is life which the Israelites could never attaine without the performance of the condition namely their love of God But here God promiseth absolutely that hee will give unto them this condition Since therefore the promises of Faith and perseverance in Faith are promises concerning the meanes they are expresly to bee reckoned among those absolute gifts by which God considering mans disability both to attaine the end without the meanes and also to performe the meanes or conditions of himselfe doth promise that he will make them able to performe the conditions God promiseth life to those that constantly feare him the promise of life is conditionall but of constant feare it is absolute I will put my feare in their hearts that they may not depart from me 4 Be it so that this gift were conditionall yet it is not offered upon this condition if men will not be wanting to themselves in the entertainment of this sufficient grace Against this condition those reasons are of force which we brought before against the strength of free wil in mans conversion to which we adde also these 1 First it will follow out of this condition that wee doe in vaine intreat God in the behalfe of any men that he would give unto them the gift of perseverance because of course he offers them universall and sufficient grace to which if they themselves will not be wanting they shall persevere 2 This is an idle condition For it makes perseverance to be the condition of perseverance For to persevere is nothing else but not to be wanting unto this sufficient grace If therefore God offers perseverance upon this condition he offers the same upon condition of it selfe 3 Lastly the second part of this opinion is soundly confuted by Saint Austine de corrept grat cap. 11. 12. of which disputation this is the summe It was given to Adam that hee might if he would persevere in good but it was not granted to him to will to persevere But such grace is given to us who are truly engrafted into Christ that not onely we may if we will but also that wee shall will to persevere in Christ. Againe in his booke de unitate Ecclesiae cap. 9. the same Austine doth contemne this very opinion maintained by the Donatists namely that Men beleeve if they will if they will they persevere in that which they beleeve if they will not they persevere not THE SECOND THat perseverance is a condition required in the new Covenant and foregoing Gods Election SEE the second and fift Erroneous Opinion rejected by us in the first Article THE THIRD THat hee who doth truely beleeve may sinne against the Holy Ghost These reasons confute this Opinion 1 FIrst to sinne against the Holy Ghost is to sinne unto death 1 Iohn 5.16 Those who are truely faithfull cannot sinne unto death Because to sinne unto death is to commit that sinne upon which death shall surely follow to wit that eternall and second death which never hath power over those who are truely faithfull as being those who dye unto sinne and doe rise againe from their sinnes unto newnesse of life Apoc. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power 2 They who sin against the Holy Ghost shall never come unto glory or unto the Kingdome of Heaven to which all true beleevers do without faile come For it is the same to bee a true beleever as to bee justified and to be the adopted Sonne of God but the justified shall come to glory Rom. 8. Whom he justified them also he glorified and the adopted sonnes of God shall attaine the Kingdome of Heaven Gal. 4.7 If sonnes then also beires of God through Christ. 3 1 Iohn 3.9 Whosoever is borne of God as is every true beleever doth not commit sinne which by the Apostles owne interpretation ver 8. He that commiteth sinne is of the Divell is to be understood of those sinnes which estate a man under the Kingdome and power of the Divell such as principally the sinne against the holy Ghost is Hither tends the speech of the Apostle 2. Tim. 4.18 The Lord shall deliver mee from every evill worke and will preserve mee unto his heavenly Kingdome What From every evill worke without exception Not so But from every such evill worke which might wholy deprive him of all right to the Kingdome of Heaven of which kind no question the sinne against the holy Ghost is not onely for the inward malice but also for the finall impenitency joyned to it THE FOVRTH THat no true beleever or regenerate person can be assured in this life of his perseverance and salvation without speciall revelation OF the first part of this position we handled before in this Article But now that a man may know that his perseverance for the future may be secured without any speciall revelation wee prove by this reason T is confessed that some Saints especially Saint Paul did obtaine this certainty Rom. 8. I am perswaded that neither life nor death c. But Saint Paul did not fetch this perswasion from extraordinary revelation but from those grounds which are common to him with other the faithfull vers 32. He that spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth vers 33. It is Christ that makes intercession for us What was Christ only given for Paul and not for other beleevers also Was Paul