she cannot be understood by the â—ight of Sense or Nature is justly placed amongst the number of those things which are to be believed and is therefore called the Catholick that is the universal Assembly of the faithful because it is not tyed to any certain place God who rules and governs all things can do all things No man is of so great power that he can so much as withstand him but he gives whatsoever he shall decree according to his own pleasure and those things which are given to us by him he is able to take them away ' 4. ' After the Lord God had made the Heaven and Earth he determined to have for himself a most beautiful Kingdom and holy Common-wealth The Apostles and Ancient Fathers that writ in Greek called it Ecclesia in English a Congregation or Assembly into the which he hath admitted an infinite number of men that should be subject to one King as their Soveraign and only Head him we call Christ which is as much as to say Anointed or to the furnishing of this Common-wealth belong all they as many as do truely fear honour and call upon God daily applying their minds to holy and godly living and and all those that putting all their hope and trust in him do assuredly look for bliâ—s of everlasting life But as many as are in this Faith stedfast were fore-chosen predestinate and appointed to everlasting life before the world was made witness whereof they have within their hearts the merit of Christ the Authour earnest and unfallable pledge of their Faith which Faith only is able to perceive the mysteries of God only brings peace unto the heart only taketh hold on the Righteousness which is in Christ Jesus Master ' Doth then the Spirit alone and Faith sleep we never so securely or stand we never so wrestless or slothfull work all things for us as without any help of our own to convey us to heaven Scholar ' Just Master as you have taught me to make a difference between the Cause and the Effect The first principal and most proper cause of our Justification and Salvation is the goodness and love of God whereby he chose us for his before he made the world After that God granteth us to be called by preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ when the Spirit of the Lord is poured upon us by whose guiding and governance we be led to settle our trust in God and hope for the performance of his promise With this choice is joyned as companion the mortifying of the Old man that is of our affections and Iusts from the same Spirit also cometh our Sanctification the love of God and of our neighbour justice and uprightness of life Finally to say all in summe whatever is in us or may be done of us honest pure true and good that altogether springeth out of this most pleasant Rock from this most plentiful Fountain the goodness love choice and unchangeable purpose of God he is the cause the rest are the fruits and effects Yet are also the choice and Spirit of God and Christ himself causes conioyned and coupled each with other which may be reckoned amongst the principal causes of salvation As oft therefore as we use to say that we are made righteous and saved by Faith only it is meant thereby that faith or rather trust alone doth lay hard upon understand and perceive our righteous making to be given us of God freely that is to say by no deserts of our own but by the free grace of the Almighty Father Moreover Faith doth ingender in us love of our neighbour and such works as God is pleased withall For if it be a lively and true Faith quickned by the Holy Ghost she is the Mother of all good saying and doing by this short tale it is evident by what means we attain to be righteous For not by the worthiness of our deservings were we heretofore chosen or long ago saved but by the only mercy of God and pure grace of Christ our Lord whereby we were in him made to do those good works that God had appointed for us to walk in And although good works cannot deserve to make us righteous before God yet do they so cleave unto Faith that neither Faith can be found without them nor good works be any where found without Faith immortality and blessed life God hath provided for his chosen before the foundations of the world were laid ' 3. These are the passages which Mr. Prin hath gathered out of Poynets Catechism to prove that Calvinism is the true genuine and Original Doctrine of the reformed Church of England in the Points disputed for my part I can see no possible inconvenience which can follow on it in yeilding so far to his desires as to admit the passages before recited to be fully consonant to the true genuine sense and proper meaning of all but more especially of our 9. 10. 13. 16. and 17. Articles then newly composed so that whatsoever is positively and clearly affirmed in this Catechisme of any of the Points now controverted may be safely implied as the undoubted Doctrine of our Church and Articles For who can find if he looks upon them with a single and impartial eye that all or any of the passages before treated can be made use of for the countenancing of such a personal and eternal election without relation unto sin as is supposed by the Supra-Lapsarians or without reference to Christs death and sufferings as is defended by the Sublapsarians in the Schools of Calvin what ground can a man find here for the Horribile Decretum that cruel and most unmerciful decree of preordaining the far greatest part of all mankind to everlasting damnation and consequently unto sin that they might be damned What passage find we in all these either in opposition to the Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption though that be afore said to be here condemned or in maintenance of the irresistible working of the grace of God as takes away all freedom and cooperation from the will of man and renders him as unable to his own conversion as to the work of his own being begotten to the life of nature or to the raising of his dead body to life of glory And finally what assurance is here that the man once justified shall not fal into deadly sin or not continue in the same multiplying one sin upon another till he hath made up the measure of his iniquities and yet all this while remain in the favour of God and be as sure and certain of his own salvation by the like unresistible working of the holy Spirit as if he had never wandred from the ways of Righteousness He must see further into a Milstone then all men living who can conclude from all or any of these passages that the Zuinglian and Calvinian Doctrines the Anti Arminian Doctrines as that Author calls them are manifestly approved and undeniably confirmed by
them as the only ancient established and professed Doctrines of our Church and Articles or that can honestly affirme as his echo doth that both the Master and the Scholar declare themselves plainly in that Catechisme to be no friends to any of the Tenents which those of the opposite side contend for 4. Which said we will endeavour to finde out Bishop Poynes judgement in the points disputed or so many of them at the least as are touched upon as well from such fragments as are offered to us in the Anti-Arminianisme as from such passages as have been cunningly slipt over of purpose to subduct them from the eye of the Reader And first the Author let us know that God created man after his own Image that is to say in ea absolutissima Justitia perfectissima sanctimonia c. in such a high degree of righteousness and perfect holinesse as came most neare unto the nature of God himselfe that this Divine image was so defaced by the sin of our first parents Adam and Eve that those lineaments of righteousnesse holinesse truth and knowledge of God were disordered and almost obliterated that man being in this wretched case it pleased God to raise him to a new hope of Restitution in the seed of the woman that is to say in Jesus-Christ his only Son conceived of the holy Ghost and born of the pure and most immaculate Virgin Mary the Actions of whose life do so much redound to our benefit and commodity that if we cleave fast unto them with a true and lively faith they shall be as much ours as his and finally that as many as are in this faith stedfast were fore-chosen predestinate and appointed to everlasting life before the world was made 2. In the next place he lets us know which the Author hath amongst his fragments that the sacrificings cleansings washings and other Ceremonies of the Law were shadows types images and figures of the true and eternal sacrifice of Jesus Christ made upon the Crosse by whose benefit alone all the sins of all believers from the beginning of the world are pardoned by the sole mercy of God and not by any deserts of their own But then he lets us know withal which that Author doth not that he did truly die and was truly buried ut â—ratum humano generâ— Patrem suavissimo sacrificio placaret that by so sweet a sacrifice he might reconcile his angry and offended father unto all mankinde 3. In the third place by asking this question viz. whether the Spirit alone and faith sleep we never so securely or stand we never so worthlesse or slothful work all things for us as without any help of our own to carry us to heaven He plainly sheweth first that some men there were who did so conceive it but that they were to be condemned for conceiving so of it And secondly that all men were to lend a helping hand toward their salvation not only by laying hold on Christ with the hand of faith but in being fruitful of good works without which faith is neither to be reckoned true and lively or animated by the holy Ghost 4. He telleth us finally that the Church is the company of them that are called to eternal life by the holy Ghost by whom she is guided and governed And yet it cannot but be feared that many of those who are called to eternal life by the holy Ghost and chearfully for a time obey the calling and live continually within the pale of the Church which is guided by the most blessed spirit do fall away from God and the grace received and thereby bring themselues into a state of damnation from which they never do recover by sincere repentance 5. As little comfort can be drawn from that Argument by which they hope to make the Articles in these points to speak no otherwise then according to the sense of Martin Bucer and Peter Martyr by whose Disciples and Auditors they are alledged to have been composed or at the least by such as hold consent with them in Doctrine but unto this it hath been answered that our first reformers were two old Arch-Bishops Deans and Arch-Deacons most of them to be put to School again to either of them Secondly the first Liturgy of King Edward the sixth which was the key to the whole work was finished confirmed and put in execution before either of them were brought over Dispatcht soon after their arrival to their several chaires Martyr to the Divinity Lecture in Oxon and Bucer unto that of Cambridge where he lived not long And dying so quickly as he did Luctu Academiae as my Author hath it though he had many Auditors there yet could he not gain many Disciples in so short a time Thirdly that though Peter Martyr lived to see the Death of King Edward and consequently the end of the Convocation An. 1552. in which the Articles of Religion were first composed and agreed on yet there was little use made of him in advising and much lesse in directing any thing which concerned that business for being a stranger and but one and such an one who had no Authority in Church or State he could not be considered as a Master-builder though some use might be made of him as a labourer to advance the work And fourthly as to their consent in point of doctrine it must be granted in such things and in such things only in which they joyn together against the Papists not in such points wherein those learned men agreed not between themselves and therefore could be no foundation of consent in others 6. For they who have consulted the Lives and Writings of these learned men have generally observed that Bucer having spent the most part of his time in the Lutheran Churches was more agreeable to the doctrines which were there maintained as Martyr who was most conversant amongst the Suitzers shewed himself more inclinable to the Zuinglian or Calvinian Tenents And it is generally observed also that Bucer was a man of moderate counsel and for that received a check from Calvin at his first coming hither putting him in remembrance of his old fault for a fault he thought it Mâ—dici consiliis Autorem esse vel approbatorem of being an Author or an approver of such moderate courses as the hot and fiery temper of the Calvinists could by no means like And governing himself with such moderation he well approved of the first Liturgie translated into Latine by Alexander Alesius a learned Scot that he might be the better able to understand the composure of it and passe his judgment on the same accordingly And yet it cannot be denied but that there are many passages in the first Liturgie which tend directly to the maintenance of universal Redemption by the death of Christ of the co-operation of mans will with the grace of God and finally of the possibility of falling from that grace and other the benefits and fruits thereof before received
written spiritus ubi vult spirat c. And thus was the outward race and stock of Abraham after flesh refused which seemed to have the preheminence and another seed after the Spirit raised by Abraham of the stones that is of the Gentiles So was the outward Temple of Jerusalem and chaire of Moses which seem'd to be of price forsaken and Gods chaire advanced in other Nations So was tall Saul refused and little David accepted the rich the proud and the wise of this world rejected and the word of salvation daily opened to the poore and miserable Abjects the high mountaines cast under and the low valleys exalted c. And in the next place it is added in his own will by this falleth down the free will and purpose of man with all his actions councels and strength of nature according as it is written non est volentis neque currentis sed miserentis Dei c. It is not him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth mercy So we see how Israel ran long and yet got nothing The Gentile runneth began to set out late and yet got the game So they which came at the first which did labour more and yet they that came last were rewarded with the first Mat. 20. The working will of the Pharisee seemed better but yet the Lords Will was rather to justifie the Publican Luk. 18. The elder son had a better will to tarry by his father and so did indeed and yet the fat calf was given to the younger son that ran away Luk. 15. whereby we have to understand how the matter goeth not by the will of man but by the will of God as it pleaseth him to accept according as it is written non ex voluntate carnis neque ex voluntate viri sed ex Deo nati sunt c. Which are born not of the will of the flesh nor yet of the will of man but of God Furthermore as all then goeth by the will of God only and not by the will of man So againe here is to be noted that the will of God never goeth without faith in Christ Jesus his Son And therefore fourthly is this clâ—use added in the definition through faith in Christ his Sonne which faith in Christ to us-ward maketh altogether For first it certifieth us of Gods Election as this Epistle of Mr. Bradford doth well expresse For whosoever will be certain of his Election in God let him first begin with faith in Christ which if he finde in him to stand firme he may be sure and nothing doubt but that he is one of the number of Gods Elect. Secondly the said faith and nothing else is the only condition and meanes whereupon Gods mercy grace Election vocation and all Gods promises to salvation do stay accordingly the word of St. Paul si permanseritis in fide and if ye abide in the faith Col. 1. 3. This faith is the mediate and next cause of our justification simply without any condition annexed For as the mercy of God his grace Election vocation and other precedent causes do save and justifie us upon condition if we believe in Christ so this faith onely in Christ without condition is the next and immediate cause which by Gods promise worketh our justification according as it is written crede in dominum Jesum salvus eris tu domus tua Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved thou and thy whole house And thus much touching the Definition of Election with the causes thereof declared which you see now to be no merits or works of man whither they go before or come after faith For like as all they that be borne of Adam do taste of his Malediction though they tasted not of the Apple so all they that be born of Christ which is by faith take part of the obedience of Christ although they never did that obedience themselves which was in him Rom. 5. Now to the second consideration Let us see likewise how and in what order this Election of God proceedeth in choosing and electing them which he ordaineth to salvation which order is this In them that be chosen to life first Gods mercy and free grace bringeth forth Election Election worketh Vocation or Gods holy calling which Vocation though hearing bringeth knowledge and faith in Christ Faith through promise obtaineth justification juctification through hope waiteth for glorification Election is before time vocation and faith cometh in time justification and glorification is without end Election depending upon Gods free grace and will excludeth all mans will blinde fortune chance and all peradventures Vocation standing upon Gods Election excludeth all mans wisdome cunning learning intention power and presumption Faith in Christ proceeding by the gift of the holy Ghost and freely justifying man by Gods promise excludetâ—â— all other merits of men all condition of deserving and all works of the Law both Gods Law and mans Law with all other outward means whatsoever Justification coming freely by faith standeth sure by promise without doubt fear or wavering in this life Glorification appertaining only to the life to come by hope is looked for Grace and Mercy preventeth Election ordaineth Vocation prepareth and receiveth the Word whereby cometh faith Faith justifieth Justification bringeth glory Election is the immediate and next cause of Vocation Vocation which is the working of Gods Spirit by the Word is the immediate and next cause of faith Faith is the immediate and next cause of justification And this order and connexion of causes is diligently to be observed because of the Papists which have miserably confounded and inverted this doctrine thus teaching that Almighty God so far as he foreseeth mans merits before to come so doth he dispense his Election Dominus prout â—njusque merita fore previdet ita dispensat electionis gratiam futuris tamen concedere That is that the Lord recompenseth the grace of Election not to any merits proceeding but yet granteth the same to the merits that follow after and not rather have our holinesse by Gods Election going before But we following the Scripture say otherwise that the cause onely of Gods Election is his own free mercy and the cause onely of our justification is our faith in Christ and nothing else As for example first concerning Election if the question be asked why was Aâ—raham chosen and not Naâ—hâ—â— why was Jacob chosen and not Esâ—u why was Moses 〈◊〉 and Pharâ—â—â—â—â—â—dened â—â—â—dened why Dâ—vid accepted and Saul refused why few be chosen and the most forsaken It cannot be answered otherwise but thus because so was the good will of God In like manner touching vocation and also faith if the question be asked why this vocation and gift of faith was given to Cornelius the Gentile and not to Tertullus the Jew why to the poore the babes and the little ones of the world of whom Christ speaketh I thank the Father which hast hid these from
Turky Gowns to shew as Bishop Bancroft tartly noted they desired rather to conform themselves in outward Ceremonies with the Turks then they did with the Papists 2. The first day of the Conference being spent betwixt the King and the Bishops the second which was the 16. of the same moneth was given to the Plantiffes to present their grievances and to remonstrate their desires amongst which it was named by Dr. Reynolds as the mouth of the rest That the nine Assertions Orthodoxal as he termed them concluded upon at Lambeth might be inserted into the book of Articles which when King James seemed not to understand as having never heard before of those nine Assertions ' He was informed that by reason of some Controversies arising in Cambridge about certain points of Divinity my Lords Grace assembled some Divines of especial note to set down their opinions which they drew into nine Assertions and sent so them to the Vniversity for the appeasing of those Quarrels and thereupon his Majesty resolved thus that when such questions arise amongst Scholars the quietest proceeding were to determine them in the Vniversity and not to stuff the book with all Conclusions Theological ' Out of which passage I observed First that the Attribute of Orthodoxal is ascribed to the said nine Assertions by none but Dr. Reynolds who termed them so and not by Dr. Barlow then Dean of Chester who related the conference and had been present at the making of the said Assertions being at that time one of the domestick Chaplains of Arch-Bishop Whitgift And secondly That they were not made to be a standing Rule to the Church of England but only for the present pacifying of some differences which arose in Cambridge as is here acknowledged I observe thirdly that King James did utterly eject the motion as to the inserting of the said nine Assertions amongst the Articles of the Church leaving them to be canvased and disputed in the Schools as more proper for them And fourthly That being left to be disputed in the Schools they might beheld in the Affirmative or in the Negative as best pleased the Respondent 3. It was also moved by Dr. Reynolds That the book of Articles of Religion concluded 1562. might be explained in places obscure and enlarged where some things were defective And in particular he desired that an explanation might be made of the 23d Article for ministring in the Congregation of the 25. touching Confirmation and of the 37th concerning the Authority of the Pope of Rome as also that these words viz. That the intention of the Minister is not of the Essence of the Sacrament might be added in some fit place to the book of Articles But that which Dr. Reynolds did most insist upon was the 16. Article where it is said That after we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from Grace The meaning whereof though he acknowledged to be sound yet he desired that because they may seem to be contrary to the Doctrine of Election and Predestination in the 17th Article those words may seem to be explained with this or the like addition viz. That neither totally nor finally Which motion or proposal concerning Dr. Overald more then any other he took occasion thereupon to acquaint his Majesty with that which had happened to him at Cambridge concerning the Estate of a justified man fallen into any grievous sin as Murder Treason Adultery and the like as hath been shewn at large in the former Chapter But the result of all was this that after a full debate and consideration concerning every one of the said Articles and the doubts moved about the same there was no cause sound for altering any thing in any of them and as little for the 16th as for any other For though the said Dr. Overald had declared it for his own opinion that he who was called and justified according to the purpose of Gods Election being brought into a state of wrath and damnation did neither fall totally from all the graces of God nor finally from the possibility of being renewed again by Gods holy Spirit as before is said and that King James himself had left it to be considered whether the word Often might not be added to the 16. Article as thus viz. We may often depart from Grace c. yet being left to the consideration of the Prelates as were all the rest the said Article remained without any alteration as before they found it and as it still continueth to this very day 4. But here is to be observed ' that upon the first motion concerning falling from Grace the Bishop of London took occasion to signifie to his Majesty how very many in these dayes neglecting holiness of life presumed too much of persisting in Grace laying all their Religion upon Predestination If I shall be saved I shall be saved which he termed a desperate Doctrine shewing it to be contrary to good divinity and the true Doctrine of Predestination wherein we should rather reason Ascendendo then Discendendo thus I live in obedience to God in love with my neighbour I follow my occasion c. Therefore I trust God hath elected me and predestinated me to salvation not thus which is the usual course of argument God hath predestinate and chosen me to life therefore though I sin never so grievously yet I shall not be damned for whom he once loveth he loveth to the end Whereupon he shewed his Majesty out of the next Article what was the Doctrine of the Church of England touching predestination in the very last Paragraph scilicet We must receive Gods promises in such wise as these be generally set forth to us in holy Scriture and in all our doings the Will of God to be followed which we have delivered to us in holy Scripture Which part of the Article his Majesty very well approved and after he had according to his manner very singularly discoursed on that place of Paul Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling he left it to be considered wither any thing were not to be added for the clearing of the Doctors doubt by putting in the word often or the like as thus We may often depart from Grace but in the mean time wished that the Doctrine of Predestination might be very tenderly handled and with great discretion lest on the one side Gods omnipotency might be called in question by impeaching the Doctrine of his eternal Predestination or on the other a desperate Resumption might be arreared by inferring the necessary certainty of standing and persisting in grace After which upon occasion of Dr. Overals discourse concerning his affairs at Cambridge his Majesty entred into a longer discourse of Predestination and Reproation then before and of the necessary conjoyning Repentance and holiness of life with true faith concluding that it was Hypocrysie and not true justifying faith which was severed from them For although Predestination and Election depend not upon any Qualities Actions or works of
for the five Articles above mentioned they were these that follow VIZ. I. De Electione ex fide praevisa DEus aeterno immutabili Decreto in Jesu Christo filio suo ante jactum mundi fundamentum statuit ex lapso peccatis obnoxio humano genere illos in Christo propter Christum per Christum servare qui spiritus sancti gratia in eundem filium ejus credunt in ea fide fideique obedientia per eandem gratiam usque ad finem perseverant VIZ. I. Of Election out of Faith foreseen ALmighty God by an eternal and unchangable Decree ordained in Jesus Christ his only Son before the Foundations of the World were layd to save all those in Christ for Christ and through Christ who being faln and under the command of sin by the assistance of the Grace of the Holy Ghost do persevere in faith and obedience to the very end II. De Redemptione universali Proinde Deus Christus pro omnibus ac singulis mortuus est atque id ita quidem ut omnibus per mortem crucis Reconciliationem Peccatorum Remissionem impetrarit Ea tamen conditione ut nemo illa peccatorum Remissione fruatur praeter hominem fidelem Joh. 2. 16. 1 Joh. 2. 2. II. Of universal Redemption To which end Jesus Christ suffered death for all men and in every man that by his death upon the Cross he might obtain for all mankind both the forgiveness of their sins and Reconciliation with the Lord their God with this Condition notwithstanding that none but true believers should enjoy the benefit of the Reconciliation and forgiveness of sins John 2. 16. 1 John 2. 2. III. De causa fidei Homo fidem salutarem a seipso non habet nec vi liberi sui arbitrii quandoquidem in statu defectionis peccati nihil boni quod quidem vere est bonum quale est fides salutaris ex se potest cogitare velle aut facere sed necessarium est eum a Deo in Christo per spiritum ejus sanctum regigni renovari mente affectibus seu voluntate omnibus facultatibus ut aliquid boni posset intelligere cogitare velle perficere secundum illud John 15. 5. sine me potestis nihil III. Of the cause or means of attaining Faith Man hath not saving Faith in and of himself nor can attain it by the power of his own Free-will in regard that living in an estate of sin and defection from God he is not able of himself to think well or do any thing which is really or truly good amongst which sort saving faith is to be accounted And therfore it is necessary that by God in Christ and through the Workings of the Holy Ghost he be regenerated and renewed in his understanding will affections and all his other faculties that so he may be able to understand think will and bring to pass any thing that is good according to that of Saint John 15. 5. Without me you can do nothing IV. De Conversionis modo Dei gratia est initium progressus perfectio omnis boni atque adeo quidem ut ipse homo Regenitus absque hae praecedanea seu Adventitia excitante consequente co-operante gratia neque boni quid cagitare velle aut facere potest neque etiam ulli malae tentationae resistere adeo quidem ut omnia bona opera quae excogitare possumus Deigratiae in Christo tribuenda sunt Quoad vero modum co-operationis illius gratiae illa non est irresistibilis de multis enim dicitur eos spiritui sancto Resistisse Actorum 7. alibi multis locis IV. Of the manner of Conversion The Grace of God is the beginning promotion and accomplishment of every thing that is good in us insomuch that the Regenerate man can neither think well nor do any thing that is good or resist any sinfull temptations without this Grace preventing co-operating and assisting and consequently all good works which any man in his life can attain unto are to be attributed and ascribed to the grace of God But as for the manner of the co-operation of this Grace it is not to be thought to be irresistable in regard that it is sayd of many in the holy Scriptures that they did resist the Holy Ghost as in Acts 7. and in other places V. De Perseverantia incerta Qui Jesu Christo per veram fidem sunt insiti ac proinde spiritus ejus vivificantis participes ii abundehabent facultatum quibus contra Satanam peccatum mundum propriam suam carnem pugnent victoriam obtineant verum tamen per gratiae spiritus sancti subsidium Jesus Christus quidem illis spiritu suo in omnibus tentationibus adest manum porrigit modo sint ad certamen prompti ejus Auxilium Petant neque officio suo desint eos confirmat adeo quidem ut nulla satanae fraude aut vi seduci vel e manibus Christi eripi possint secundum illud Johannis 10. Nemo illos e manu mea eripiet Sed an illi ipsi negligentia sua principium illud quo sustentantur in Christo deserere non possint praesentem mundum iterum amplecti a sancta doctrina ipsis semel tradita deficere conscientiae naufragium facere a gratia excidere penitus ex sacra scriptura esset expendendum antequam illud cumplena animi tranquillitate Plerephoria dicere possumus V. Of the uncertainty of Perseverance They who are grafted into Christ by a lively Faith and are throughly made Partakers of his quickning Spirit have a sufficiency of strength by which the Holy Ghost contributing his Assistance to them they may not only fight but obtain the Victory against the Devil Sin the World and all infirmities of the flesh Most true it is that Jesus Christ is present with them by his Spirit in all their temptations that he reacheth out his hand unto them and shews himself ready to support them if for their parts they prepare themselves to the encounter and beseech his help and are not wanting to themselves in performing their duties so that they cannot be seduced by the cunning or taken out of the hands of Christ by the power of Satan according to that of S. John No man taketh them out of my hand c. cap. 10. But it is first to be well weighed and proved by the holy Scripture whether by their own negligence they may not forsake those Principles of saving Grace by which they are sustained in Christ embrace the present World again Apostatize from the saving doctrine once delivered to them suffer a Shipwrack of their Conscience and fall away from the Grace of God before we can publickly teach these doctrines with any sufficient trauquillity or assurance of mind ' V. It is reported that at the end of the Conference between the Protestants and Papists in the first Convocation of Qâ—een Maries Reign the Protestants were
the Book being to be set fâ—rth by his Graâ—es censure and judgement he would have nâ—thing therein that Momus himself could reprehend referring notwithstanding all his Annotations to his Majesties exacter judgement Nor staid it here but being committed by the King to both Houses of Parliament and by them very well approved of as appears by the Statutes of this year Cap. 1. concerning the Advancing of true Religion and the abolition of the contrary it was published again by the Kings command under the title of Neâ—essary Doctrine and Erudition for any Christian man And it was published with an Epistle of the Kings before it directed to all his faithful and loving Subjects wherein it is affirmed 'To be a true Declaration of the true knowledge of God and his Word with the principal Articles of Religion whereby men may uniformly be led and taught the true understanding of that which is necessary for every Christian man to know for the ordering of himself in this life agreeable unto the will and pleasure of Almighty God ' 5. Now from these Books the Doctrine of Predestination may be gathered into these particulars which I desire the Reader to take notice of that he may judge the better of the Conformity which it hath with the established Doctrine of the Church of England 1. That man by his own nature was born in sin and in the indignation and displeasure of God and was the very childe of Wrath condemned to everlasting death subject and thrall to the power of the Devil and sin having all the principal parts or portions of his soul as Reason and understanding and free-wil and all other powers of his soul and body not onely so destituted and deprived of the gifts of God wherewith they were firstendued but also so blinded corrupted and poysoned with errour ignorance and carnal concupiscence that neither his said powers could exercise the natural function and office for which they were ordained by God at the first Creation nor could he by them do any thing which might be acceptable to God 2. That Jesus Christ the onely begotten Son of God the Father was eternally pre-ordained and appointed by the Decree of the Holy Trinity to be our Lord that is to say to be the onely Redeemer and Saviour of Mankinde and to reduce and bring the same from under the Dominion of the Devil and sin unto his onely Dominion Kingdom Lordship and Governance 3. That when the time was come in the which it was before ordained and appointed by the Decree of the Holy Trinity That Mankinde should be saved and redeemed then the Son of God the second Person in the Trinity and very God descended from Heaven into the world to take upon him the very habit form and nature of man and in the same nature to suffer his glorious Passion for the Redemption and Salvation of all Mankinde 4. That by this Passion and Death of our Saviour Jesus Christ not onely Corporal death is so destroyed that it shall never hurt us but rather that it is made wholesome and profitable unto us but also that all our sins and the sins also of all them that do believe in him and follow him be mortified and dead that is to say all the guilt and offence thereof as also the damnation and pains due for the same is clearly extincted abolished and washed away so that the same shall never afterwards be imputed and inflicted on us 5. That this Redemption and Justification of Mankinde could not have been wrought or brought to pass by any other means in the world but by the means of this Jesus Christ Gods onely Son and that never man could yet nor never shall be able to come unto God the Father or to believe in him or to attain his favour by his own wit and reason or by his own science and learning or by any his own works or by whatsosoever may be named in Heaven or Earth but by faith in the Name and Power of Jesus Christ and by the gifts and graces of his Holy Spirit 6. But to proceed the way to the ensuing Reformation being thus laid open The first great work which was accomplished in pursuance of it was the compiling of that famous Liturgie of the year 1549. commanded by King Edward the sixth that is to say the Lord Protector and the rest of the Privy Council acting in his Name and by his Authority performed by Archbishop Cramner and the other six before remembred assisted by Thirdby Bishop of Westminster Day Bishop of Chichester Ridley Bishop of Rochester Taylor then Dean after Bishop of Lincoln Redman then Master of Trinity Colledge in Cambridge and Hains Dean of Exeter all men of great abilities in their several stations and finally confirmed by the King the Lords Spiritual and Temporal and the Commons in Parliament assembled 23 Edw. 6. In which Confirmatory act it is said expresly to have been done by the especial aid of the Holy Ghost which testimony I finde also of it in the Acts and Monuments fol. 1184. But being disliked by Calvin who would needs be meddling in all matters which concerned Religion and disliked it chiefly for no other reason as appears in one of his Epistles to the Lord Protector but because it savoured too much of the ancient forms it was brought under a review the cause of the reviewing of it being given out to be no other than that there had risen divers doubts in the Exercise of the said Book for the fashion and manner of the Ministration though risen rather by the curiosity of the Ministers and Mistakers then of any other cause 5 6 Edw. 6. cap. 1. The review made by those who had first compiled it though Hobeach and Redman might be dead before the confirmation of it by Act of Parliament some of the New Bishops added to the former number and being reviewed was brought into the same form in which now it stands save that a clause was taken out of the Letany and a sentence added to the destribution of the blessed Sacrament in the first year of Queen Elizabeth and that some alteration was made in two or three of the Rubricks with an addition of Thansgiving in the end of the Letany as also of a Prayer for the Queen and the Royal Issue in the first of King James 7. At the same time and by the same hands which gave us the First Liturgie of King Edward the sixth was the first Book of Homilies composed also in which I have some cause to think that Bishop Latimer was made use of amongst the rest as one who had subscribed the first other two Books before mentioned as Bishop of Worcester anno 1537. and ever since continued zealous for a Reformation quitting in that respect such a wealthy Bishoprick because he neither would nor could conform his judgement to the Doctrine of the six Articles Authorized by Parliament For it will easily appear to any who is
conversant in Latimers writings and will compare them carefully with the Book of Homilies that they do not onely savour of the same spirit in point of Doctrine but also of the same popular and familiar stile which that godly Martyr followed in the course of his preachings for though the making of these Homilies be commonly ascribed and in particularr by Mr. Fox to Archbishop Cranmer yet it is to be understood no otherwise of him then that it was chiefly done by encouragement and direction not sparing his own hand to advance the work as his great occasions did permit That they were made at the same time with King Edwards first Liturgie will appear as clearly first by the Rubrick in the said Liturgie it self in which it is directed that after the Creed shall follow the Sermon or Homily or some portion of one of them as they shall be hereafter divided It appears secondly by a Letter writ by Matrin Bucer inscribed To the holy Church of England and the Ministers of the same in the year 1549. in the very beginning whereof he lets them know That their Sermons â—r Homilies were come to his hands wherein they godlily and effectually exhort their people to the reading of Holy Scripture that being the scope and substance of the first Homily which occurs in that Book and thâ—rein expounded the sense of the faith whereby we hold our Christianity and Justification whereupon all our help consisteth and other most holy principles of our Religion with most godly zeal And as it is reported of the Earl of Gondomar Ambassador to King James from the King of Stain that having seen the eleganâ— disposition of the Rooms and Offices in Burleigh-House not far from Stansord erected by Sir William Cecâ—l principal Secretary of State and Lord Treasurer to Queen Elizabeth he very pleasantly affirmed That he was able to discern the excellent judgement of the great Statesman by the neat contrivance of his house So we may say of those who composed this Book in reference to the points disputed A man may easily discern of what judgement they were in the Doctrine of Predestination by the method which they have observed in the course of these Homilies Beginning first with a Discourse of the misery of man in the state of nature proceeding next to that of the salvation of mankinde by Christ our Saviour onely from sin and death everlasting from thence to a Declaration of a true lively and Christian faith and after that of good works annexed unto faith by which our Justification and Salvation are to be obtained and in the end descending unto the Homily bearing this inscription How dangerous a thing it is to fall from God Which Homilies in the same form and order in which they stand were first authorized by King Edward the sixth afterwards tacitly approved in the Rubrick of the first Liturgie before remembred by Act of Parliament and finally confirmed and ratified in the Book of Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergie of the Convocation anno 1552. and legally confirmed by the said King Edward 8. Such were the hands and such the helps which co-operated to the making of the two Liturgies and this Book of Homilies but to the making of the Articles of Religion there was necessary the concurrence of the Bishops and Clergy assembled in Convocation in due form of Law amongst which there were many of those which had subscribed to the Bishops Book anno 1537. and most of those who had been formerly advised with in the reviewing of the Book by the Commandment of King Henry the eighth 1543. To which were added amongst others Dr. John Point Bishop of Winchester an excellent Grecian well studied with the ancient Fathers and one of the ablest Mathamaticians which those times produced Dr. Miles Coverdale Bishop of Exon who had spent much of his time in the Lutheran Churches amongst whom he received the degree of Doctor Mr. John Story Bishop of Rochester Ridley being then preferred to the See of London from thence removed to Chichester and in the end by Queen Elizabeth to the Church of Hereford Mr. Rob. Farran Bishop of St. Davids and Martyr a man much favoured by the Lord Protector Sommerset in the time of his greatness and finally not to descend to those of the lower Clergie Mr. John Hooker Bishop of Gloucester and Martyr of whose Exposition of the Ten Commandments and his short Paraphrase on Romans 13. we shall make frequent use hereafter a man whose works were well approved of by Bishop Ridley the most learned and judicious of all the Prelates who notwithstanding they differed in some points of Ceremony professeth an agreement with him in all points of Doctrine as appears by a Letter written to him when they were both Prisoners for the truth and ready to give up their lives as they after did in defence thereof Now the words of the Letter are as followeth But now my dear Brother forasmuch as I understand by your works which I have but superficially seen that we throughly agree and wholly consent together in those things which are the grounds and substantial points of our Religion against the which the world now so rageth in these our days Howsosoever in times past in certain by-matters circumstances of Religion your wisdom and my simplicity and ignorace have jarred each of us following the abundance of his own sense and judgement Now I say be you assured that even with my whole heart God is he witness in the bowels of Christ I love you in truth and for the truths sake that abideth in us and I am perswaded by the grace of God shall abide in us for evermore The like agreement there was also between Ridley and Cranmer Cranmer ascribing very much to the judgement and opinion of the learned Prelate as himself was not ashamed to confess at his Examination for which see Fox in the Acts and Monuments fol. 1702. 9. By these men and the rest of the Convocation the Articles of Religion being in number 41 were agreed upon ratified by the Kings Authority and published both in Latine and English with these following Titles viz. Articuli de quibus in Synodo Londinens A. D. 1552. ad tollendam opinionum dissentionem consensum verae Religionis firmandum inter Episcopos alios eruditos viros convenerat Regia authoritate Londin editi that is to say ' Articles agreed upon by the Bishops and other learned men assembled in the Synod at London anno 1552. and published by the Kings authority for the avoiding of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of consent to the loving of true Religion ' Amongst which Articles countenanced in Convocation by Queen Elizabeth an 1562. the Doctrine of the Church in the five controverted points is thus delivered according to the form and order which we have observed in the rest before 1. Of Divine Predestination Predestination to life is the everlasting purpose of God whereby
before the foundations of the world were laid he hath constantly ordered by his Council secret unto us to deliver from curse and damnation those whom he hath chosen in Christ out of mankinde and to bring them by Christ to everlasting salvation as vessels made to honour Furthermore we must receive Gods promises in such wise as they be generally set forth to us in holy Scripture and in our doing the will of God that is to be followed which we have expresly declared to us in the Word of God 2. Of the Redemption of the world by the faith of Christ The Son which is the Word begotten of the Father begotten from everlasting of the Father c. and being very God and very man did truly suffer was crucified dead and buried to reconcile his Father to us and be a Sacrifice not onely for Original guilt but also for the actual sins of men The Offering of Christ once made is this perfect Redemption Propitiation and Satisfaction to all the sinnes of the whole world both Original and Actual 3. Of mans will in â—he state of depraved nature Man by Original sin is so far gone from Original â—ighteousness that of his own nature he is inclined to evil so that the flesh lusteth always contrary to the Spirit and therefore Works done before the grace of Christ and the inspiration of his Spiriâ— are not pleasant to God forasmuch as they spring not of faith in Jesus Christ neither do they make men meet to receive grace or as the School Authors say deserve graâ—e of Congruity 4. Of the manner of Conversion The condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith and calling upon God wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable to God without the grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will 5. Of the uncertainty of Perseverance The Grace of Repentance is nâ—t to be denyed to such as fall into sin after Baptism in regard that after we have received the Holy Ghost we may depart from grace giâ—en and fall into sin and by the grace of God we may arise again and amend our lives and therefore they are to be condemned which say they can no more sin as long as they live here or deny the place of Repentance to such as truly repent 10. Now in these Articles as in all others of the Book there are these two things to be observed 1. What Authority they carried in respect of the making And 2. How we are to understand them in respect of the meaning And first for their Authority it was as good in all regards as the Laws could give them being first treated and agreed upon by the Bishops and Clergie in their Convocation and afterwards confirmed by the Letters Patents of Edw. 6. under the Great Seal of England But against this it is objected That the Records of this Convocation are but a degree above blanks that the Bishops and Clergie then assembled had no Commission from the King to meddle in Church business that the King durst not trust the Clergie of that time in so great a matter on a just jealousie which he had of the ill affections of the major part and therefore the trust of this great business was committed unto some few Confidents cordial to the cause of Religion and not unto the body of a Convocation To which it hath been already answered That the Objector is here guilty of a greater crime than that of Scandalum magnatum making King Edward the sixth of pious memory no better than an impious and lewd Impostor in fathering those children on the Convocation which had not been of their begetting For first the title to the Articles runneth thus at large Artâ—culi de quibus c. as before we had it which title none durst adventure to set before them had they not really been the products of the Convocation Secondly the King had no reason to have any such jealousie at that time of the major part of the Clergie but that he might trust them with a power to meddle with matters of Religion this Convocation being holden the sixth year of his Reign when Gardiner Bonner Day and Tunstall and others of the stiffest Romanists were put out of their places most of the Episcopal Sees and Parochial Churches being filled with men according unto his desires and generally conâ—ormable to the Forms of Worship here by Law established Thirdly the Church of England for the first five years of Queen Elizabeth retained these Articles and no other as the publike â—endries of the Church in point of Doctrine which certainly she had not done had it been recommended to her by a less Authority than a Convocation lawfully assembled and confirmed And Fourthly that it is true that the Records of Convocation during this King and the first years of Queen Mary are very defective and imperfect most of them lost amongst others those of this present year And yet one may conclude as strongly that my mother dyed childeless because my Christening is not to be found in the Parish Register as that the Convocation of this year was barren because the Acts and Articles of it were not entred in the Journal Book 11. To salve this sore it is conceived by the Objector that the Bishops and Clergie had passed over their power to some ' select Divines appointed by the King in which sense they may be said to have made these Articles themselves by their delegates to whom they had deputed their Authority the case not being so clear but that it occasioned a cavil at the next Convocation the first of Queen Mary when the Papists therein assembled renounced the legality of any such former transactions ' And unto this it shall be answered That no such defect of legality as was here pretended was charged against the Book of Articles it self but onely against a Catechism which was bound up with it countenanced by the Kings Letters Patents prefixt before it approved by many Bishops and learned men and generally voyced to be another of the products of this Convocation And therefore for so much as concerns this Catechism it was replied by Mr. John Philpot Archdeacon of Winchester who had been a member in the former and was now a member of the Convocation in the first of Queen Mary That he thought they were deceived in the Title of it in that it owned the Title of the last Synod of London many which were then present not being made privy to the making or publishing of it He added That the said former Convocation had granted the Authority of making excellent Laws unto certain persons to be appointed by the Kings Majestie so as whatsoever Ecclesiastical Laws they or the most part of them did set
him are of the same Book and so are chosen to everlasting life for onely those are ordained that believe ' Nor stays that godly Bishop here but proceeds after some intervening passages towards this Conclusion ' Here is now taught you saith he how to try your Election namely in Christ For Christ is the Accompting Book and Register of God and even in the same Book that is Christ are witten all the names of the Elect therefore we cannot finde our Election in our selves neither yet the high Council of God for inscrutabilia suâ—t judicia Altissimi Where then shall I finde my Election in the Compting Book of God which is Christ c. ' Agreeable whereunto we finde Bishop Hooper speaking thus ' The cause of our Election is the mercy of God in Christ howbeit he that will be partaker of this Election must receive the promise in Christ by faith for therefore we be elected because afterwards we are made the members of Christ So we judge of Election by the event or success that hapneth in the life of man those onely to be elected ' that by faith apprehend the mercy promised in Christ To the same purpose also but not so clearly and perspicuously speaks the Book of Homilies where we finde it thus viz. ' That of our selves as in our selves we finde nothing whereby we may be delivered from this miserable captivity in which we were cast through the envy of the Devil by breaking Gods Commandment in our first Parent Adam It is the Lord with whom is plenteous Redemption he is the God which of his own mercy saveth us c. not for our own deserts merits or good deeds c. but of his meer mercy freely and for whose sake truly for Christ Jesus sake the pure and undesiled Lamb of God c. for whose sake God is fully pacified satisfied and set at one with man Such is the Doctrine of the Church in the matter of Predestination unto life according to the judgement of these learned men and godly Martyrs who were of such Authority in the Reformation ' 8. Proceed we next to one of an inferiour Order the testimony of John Bradford Martyr a man in very high esteem with Martin Bucer made one of the Prebends of S. Pauls Church by Bishop Ridley and one who glorified God in the midst of the flames with as great courage as his Patron of whom we finde a Letter extant in the Acts and Monuments directed to his friends N. S. and R. â— being at that time not thorowly instructed in the Doctrine of Gods Election The words of which Letter are as followeth ' I wish to you my good Brethren the same grace of God in Christ which I wish and pray the Father of mercies to give me for his holy names sake amen Your Letter though I have not read my self because I would not alienate my minde from conceived things to write to others yet I have heard the sum of it that it is of Gods Election wherein I will briefly relate to you my faith and how far I think it good and meet for a Christian to wade in I believe That man made after the image of God did fall from that pleased estate to the condemnation of him and all his posterity I believe that Christ for man being then fallen did oppose himself to the judgement of God as a Mediator paying the ransome and price of Redemption for Adam and his whole posterity that refuse it not finally I believe that all that believe I speak of such as be of years of discretion are partakers of Christ and all his merits I believe that faith and belief in Christ is the work and gift of God given to no other then to those which be his children that is to those whom God the Father before the beginning of the world hath Predestinated in Christ unto Eternal life Thus do I wade in Predestination in such sort as God hath patefied and opened it Though to God it be the first yet to us it is the last opened and therefore I begin with Creation from whence I come to Redemption so to Justification so to Election On this sort I am sure that warily and wisely a man may walk it easily by the light of Gods Spirit in and by his Word seeing this faith is not to be given to all men 2 Thess 3. but to such as are born of God Predestinated before the world was made after the purpose and good will of God c. ' Which judgement of this holy man comes up so close to that of the former Martyrs and is so plainly cross to that of the Calvinistical party that Mr. Fox was fain to make soom Scholia's on it to reconcile a gloss like that of Orleance which corrupts the Text and therefore to have no place here however it may be disposed of at another time But besides the Epistle above mentioned there is extant a Discourse of the said godly Martyr entituled The sum of the Doctrine of Predestination and Reprobation in which is affirmed That our own wilfulness sin and contemning of Christ are the cause of Reprobation as is confessed by the Author of the Anti-Arminianism p. 103. though afterwards he puts such a gloss upon it as he doth also on the like passages in Bishop Hooper as makes the sin of man to be the cause onely of the execution and not of the decree of Reprobation 9. But it is said That any one that reads the Common-Prayer Book with an unprejudiced minde cannot chuse but observe divers passages that make for a Personal Eternal Election So it is said of late and till of late never so said by any that ever I heard of the whose frame and fabrick of the Publique Liturgie being directly opposite to this new conceit For in the general Confession we beseech the Lord to spare them that confess their faults and restore them that be penitent according to his promises declared unto mankinde in Christ Jesus our Lord In the Te Deum it is said that Christ our Saviour having overcome the sharpness of death did open the Kingdâ—m of heaven to all believers In the Prayer for the first day of Lent That God hateth nothing which he hath made but doth forgive the sins of all them that be penitent In the Prayer at the end of the Commination That God hath compassion of all men that he hateth nothing which he hath made that he would not the death of a sinner but rather that he should turn from sin and repent In the Absolution before the Communion That God of his great mercy hath promised forgiveness of sins to all them which with hearty repentance and truâ— faith turn unto him Can any one which comes with an unprejudiced minde to the Common-Prayer Book observe any thing that savoureth of a Personal Election in all these passages or can he hope to finde them in any other Look then upon the last Exhortation
What more comfortable to a man deprived of the outward benefit of the Word and Sacraments than that clause in the Homily where it is said That if we lack a Learned man to instruct and teach us God himself from above will give light unto our mindes and teach us those things which are necessary for us 4. If then it be demanded How it comes to pass that this general Overture of Grace becomes so little efficacious in the hearts of men we shall finde Bishop Hooper ascribing it in some men to the lack of faith and in others to the want of repentance Touching the first he tells us this ' That S. Paul concludes and in a manner includeth the Divine Grace and Promise of God with in certain terms and limits that onely Christ should be profitable and efficacious to those that apprehend and receive this abundant Grace by faith and to such as have not the use of faith neither Christ nor Gods Grace to appertain ' After which he proceedeth in this manner toward the other sort of men which make not a right use of this general Grace for want of Repentance ' Howbeit saith he that we know by the Scripture that notwithstanding this imperfection of faith many shall be saved and likewise notwithstanding that Gods pro 〈…〉 be general unto all people of the world yet many shall be damned These two points must therefore diligently be discussed first how this faith being unperfect is accepted of God then how we be excluded from the promise of grace that extendeth to all men c. To which first it is thus answered That S. Paul S. John and Christ himself damneth the contemnets of God or such as willingly continue in sin and will not repent these the Scripture excludeth from the general promise of Grace ' 5. Here then we have the Doctrine of the Church of England delivered in the Liturgie and the Book of Homilies more punctually pressed and applied in the words of godly Bishop Hooper concerning Universal Grace and somewhat also of the reasons of its not being efficacious in all sorts of men relating to that liberty which remains in man of closing or contending with it as he is either ruled by reason or else misguided by the tyranny of his lusts and passions But before I come unto this point we may behold the necessary workings of Gods Grace preventing man by the inspirations of his holy Spirit and the concurrence or co-operation of mans will being so prevented which is the Celestial influences of the Grace of God Of which the Church hath spoke so fully in all the Authentick Monuments and Records thereof that no true English Protestant can make question of it For thus she tells us in the tenth Article of her Confession viz. That the condition of man after the fall of Adam is such that he cannot turn and prepare himself by his own natural strength and good works to faith and calling upon God Wherefore we have no power to do good works pleasant and acceptable â—nto God without the Grace of God by Christ preventing us that we may have a good will and working with us when we have that good will In the first clause the Church declares her self against the old Pelagians and some of the great Schoolmen in the Church of Rome and in the last against the Maniches and some of the more rigid Lutherans in the Churches Protestant which make man in the work of his own Conversion to be no other than a Statue or a senseless stock Contrary whereunto we are instructed in the Homily exhorting to the reading of Holy Scripture to use all possible endeavours in our own Salvation If we read once twice or thrice and understand not let us not cease so but still continue reading praying asking of other men and so by still knocking at last the door shall be opened as S. Augustine hath it which counsel had been vain and idle if man were not invested with a liberty of complying with it More plainly is the same exprest in many of our Publique Prayers as partly in the Collect for Easter-Day in which we humbly beseech Almighty God That as by his special Grace preventing us he doth put in our minde good desires so by his continual Fellowship that he would bring the same to good effect And in that on the sevententh Sunday after Trinity That his Grace may always prevent and follow us and make us continually to be given to all good works But most significantly we have it in one of the Collects after the Communion that namely in which we pray to the Lord To prevent us in all our doings by his most gracious favour and further us with his continual help that in all our works begun continued in him we may so glorifie his holy Name that finally by his mercy we may obtain life everlasting through Christ Jesus our Lord. So that upon the whole matter it needs must follow that as we can do nothing acceptable in the sight of God without Grace preventing so by the freedom of mans will co-operating with the Grace preventing and by the subsequent Grace of God Cooperating with the will of man we have a power of doing such works as are agreeable to the will of our Heavenly Father 6. Now to this Plain Song of the Articles the Homilies and the Publique Liturgie it may be thought superfluous to make a descant or adde the light of any Commentary to so clear a Text. And yet I cannot baulk some passages in Bishop Hooper which declare his judgement in the point where he not onely speaks of mans concurrence or co-operation with the Grace of God but lays his whole damnation on the want thereof ' Look not therefore saith he on the promises of God but also what diligence and obedience he requireth of thee lest thou exclude thy self from the promise There was promised to all those that went out of Egypt with Moses the Land of Canaan howbeit for disobedience of Gods Commandments there were but one or two that entred ' This he affords in his Preface and more than this in his tenth Chapter of the Exposition relating to the common pretence of Ignorance ' For though saith he thou canst not come to so far knowledge in the Scripture as others that believe by reason thou art unlearned or else thy vocation will not suffer thee all days of thy â—â—â—e to be a student yet must thou know and upon pain of damnation art bound to know God in Christ and the Holy Catholick Church by the Word written the Ten Commandments to know what works thou shouldst do and what to leave undone the Pater noster Christ his Prayer which is an Abridgement Epitome or compendious Collection of all the Psalms and Prayers written in the whole Scripture in the which thou prayest for the remission of sin as well for thy self as for all others desirest the
repose themselves on it And certainly he that looks on the ninth Chapter of the sixth Session of the Council entituled Contra inanem Haereticorum fiduciam may easily perceive into what streights they were reduced by seeking to content the Leaders of the several factions For when the Decree came to be discussed it was no hard matter to make them joyne against that confidence which was maintained by many of Luthers followers as if a man were no otherwise justified than by the confidence which he had in his own justification yet when they came to expresse that certainty which had occasioned that intricate and perplexed dispute they were not so well able to state the point as not to shew their own irresolution and uncertainty in it For in the conclusion of the Decree in which they were to declare some cause for which no man could certainly know that he hath obtained Grace at the hands of God the Cardinal to satisfie one part added certainty of faith and he with the Dominicans not thinking it to be enough urged him to adde the word Catholick to it so that the sence thereof might seeme to be to this effect that no man could assure himself of obtaining Grace by any such certainty of Faith as may come under the notion of Catholick But because the Adherents of Calarius were not so contented instead of those words of Catholick Faith on which the Deminicans insisted it was thought necessary to declare that they meant it not of such a faith cui non potest subesse falsum which cannot be subject to falshood And thereupon the conclusion was drawn up in these following words viz. Quilibet dum seipsum â—uanâ—que propriam infirmitatem indispositionem respicit de gratia formidare timere potest cum nullus scire valeat certitudine Fidei cui non potest subesse falsum se gratiam Dei esse consecutum that is to say that every one in regard of his own disposition and infirmity may doubt with himself whether he hath received this Grace or not because he cannot know by certainty of infallible faith that he hath obtained it A temperament which contented both sides For one party inferred that all the certainty of faith which could be had herein might be false or fallible and therefore to be thought uncertaine the others inferred with equal confidence and content that the certainty therein declared could have no doubt of falshood or fallibility for the time that it remained in us and that it could no otherwise become false or fallible than by changing from the state of grace to the state of sinne as all contingent truths by the alteration of their subjects may be made false also 4. By which last clause it doth appear that all the certainty with Catarinus and the Carmelites contended for was no more but this that the Regenerate and righteous man might be certaine of grace and his own justification quo ad statum praesentem but not that he could challenge or pretend to any such certainty quo ad statum futurum or build on a continual perseverance in it for the time to come For even those men who stickled most in maintenance of the certainty of Grace quo ad statum praesentem concurred with those who maintained the uncertainty of perseverance together with the possibility of falling Totally and Finally from the Grace received for which see Chap. 2. Num. 8. of this present Book But the Calvinists being men of another making presume not only as one saith of them to know all things that belong to their present justification as assuredly as they know that Christ is in heaven but are as sure of their eternal election and of their future glorification as they are of this Article of our Creed that Christ was borne of the Virgin Mary And that he may not be thought to have spoken this without good authority we need look no farther than the fifth Article of the Contra-Romonstrants which was disputed at the Hague according as it is laid down in our fourth Chap. Numb 7. compared with the determination of the Council of Dort touching the point of Perseverance the summe whereof is briefly this viz. ' That God will preserve in the Faith all those who are absolutely elected from eternity and are in time brought to faith by an almighty and irresistible operation or working so that though they fall into detestable wickednesses and villanies and continue in them some space of time against their conscience yet the said wicked villanies do not hinder so much as a straw amounts to theit election or salvation neither do they or can they by means of or because of these fall from the Grace of Adoption and from the state of Justification or lose their faith but all their sinnes how great soever they be both which heretofore they have committed and those which after they will or shall commit are surer than assuredly forgiven them yea and moreover they themselves at last though it be at the last gasp shall be called to repentance and brought out into possession of salvation ' To which determination of the Synod it self it may be thought impertinent to subjoyne the words and suffrages of particular men though those of Roger Donlebeck are by no means to be omitted by whom it is affirmed That if it were possible for any one man to commit all the sinnes over again which have been acted in the world it would neither frustrate his election nor alienate him from the love and favour of God For which and many other passages of like nature too frequent in the writings of the Contra-Remonstrants the Reader may consult the Appendix to the book called Preâ— Declaratio Sententiae Remonstratium printed at Leiden Anno 1616. and there he may be satisfied in his curiosity 5. But on the other side such as have looked into the mysteries of Eternal life with the eye of Reverence are neither so confident in the point nor so unadvised in their expressions as Donlebeck and others of the presumptuous sort of our moderne Calvinists by whom we are informed that all assurance is twofold that is to say in respect of the object known believed and in regard of the subject believing knowing As man relyeth upon his Evidence or as his Evidence to relie upon that all Evidence is divine or humane from God or man that Evidence divine if apprehended is ever certaine and infallible both for the necessity of our object God in whom is nor change nor shadow of change as also for the manner of determining the Evidence whereby that is certaine or necessary for effect which is but contingent otherwise in it self that such Evidence as is most clear and such assurance as is most certaine in it self may be contingent and uncertaine as we may both use it and dispose it who are here and there off and on as our judgements vary being irresolute in our wayes and as
publick service if otherwise of known zeale against the Papists 2. Several examples of that kinde in the places of greatest power and trust in the Church of England particularly of Mr. Fox the Martyrologist and the occasion which he took of publishing his opinion in the point of predestination 3. His notes on one of the Letters of John Bradford Martyr touching the matter of Election therein contained 4. The difference between the Comment and the Text and between the authour of the Comment and Bishop Hooper 5. Exceptions against some passages and observations upon others in the said Notes of Mr. Fox 6. The great breach made hereby in the Churches Doctrine made greater by the countenance which was given to the Book of Acts and Monuments by the Convocation An. 1571. 7. No argument to be drawn from hence touching the approbation of his doctrine by that Convocation no more then for the Approbation of his Marginal Notes and some particular passages in it disgraceful to the Rites of the Church attire of the Bishops 8. A counterballance made in the Convocation against Fox his Doctrine and all other Novelismes of that kinde 1. IT was not long that Queen Mary sate upon the Throne and yet as short time as it was it gave not only a strong interruption for the present to the proceedings of the Church but an occasion also of great discord and dissention in it for the time to come For many of our Divines who had fled beyond the Sea to avoid the hurry of her Reign though otherwise men of good abilities in most parts of Learning returned so altered in their principals as to points of Doctrine so disaffected to the Government formes of worship here by Law established that they seem'd not to be the same men at their coming home as they had been at their going hence yet such was the necessity which the Church was under of filling up the vacant places and preferments which had been made void either by the voluntary discession or positive deprivation of the Popish Clergie that they were faine to take in all of any condition which were able to do the publick service without relation to their private opinions in doctrine or discipline nothing so much regarded in the choice of men for Bishopricks Deanries Dignities in Cathedral Churches the richest Bâ—nefices in the Countrey and places of most command and trust in the Universities as their known â—eal against the Papists together with such a sufficiency of learning as might enable them for writing and preaching against the Popes supremacy the carnal presence of Christ in the blessed Sacrament the superstition of the Masse the halfe communion the celâ—bratin of Divine service in a tongue not known unto the people the inforced single life of Priests the worshiping of Images and other the like points of Popery which had given most offence and were the principal causes of that separation 2. On this account we finde Mr. Pilkington preferred to the See of Durham and Whittingham to the rich Deanry of the Church of which the one proved a great favourer of the Non-conformists as is confessed by one who challengeth a relation to his blood and family the other associated himself with Goodman as after Goodman did with Knox for planting Puritanisme and sedition in the Kirk of Scotland On this account Dr. Lawrence Humphrey a professed Calvinian in point of doctrine and a Non-conformist but qualified with the title of a moderate one is made the Queens professor for Divinity in the University of Oxon Thomas Cartwright that great Incendiary of this Church preferred to be the Lady Margarets professor in the University of Cambridge Sampson made Dean of Christ-church and presently proptor Puritaxismum Exauctoratus turned out again for Puritanisme as my Authour hath it Hardiman made one of the first Prebends of Westminster of the Queens foundation and not long after deprived of it by the high Commissioners for breaking down the Altar there and defacing the ancient utensils and ornaments which belonged to the Church And finally upon this account as Whitehead who had been Chaplaine to Queen Anne Bulline refused the Arch-Bishoprick of Canterbury before it was offered unto Parker and Covâ—rdale to be restored to the See of Exon which he had chearfully accepted in the time of King Edward so Mr. John Fox of great esteem for his painful and laborious work of Acts and Monuments commonly called the Book of Martyrs would not accept of any preferment in the Church but a Prebends place in Salisbury which tide him not to any residence in the same And this he did especially as it after proved to avoid subscription shewing a greater willingnesse to leaue his place then to subscribe unto the Articles of Religion then by Law established when he was legally required to do it by Arch-Bishop Parker Of this man there remains a short Discourse in his Acts and Monuments of Predestination occasioned by a letter of Mr. Bradfords before remembred whose Orthodox doctrine in that point he feared might create some danger unto that of Calvin which then began to finde a more general entertainment then could be rationally expected in so short a time And therefore as a counter-ballance he annexeth this discourse of his own with this following title viz. Notes on the same Epistle and the matter of Election thereunto appertaining ' 3. As touching the Doctrine of Election whereof this letter of Mr. Bradford and many other of his Letters more do much intreat three things must be considered 1. What Gods Election is and what the cause thereof 2. How Gods Election proceedeth in working our salvation 3. To whom Gods election pertaineth and how a man may be certaine thereof Between Predestination and Election this difference there is Predestination is as well to the Reprobate as to the Elect Election pertaineth onely to them that be saved Predestination in that it respecteth the reprobate is called reprobation in that it respected the saved is called Election and is thus defined Predestination is the eternall decreement of God purposed before in himself what shall befal all men either to salvation or damnation Election is the free mercy and grace of God in his own will through faith in Christ his Sonne choosing and preferring to life such as pleaseth him In this definition of Election first goeth before the mercy and grace of God as the causes thereof whereby are excluded all works of the Law and merits of deserving whither they go before faith or come after so was Jacob chosen and Esau refused before either of them began to work c. Secondly in that the mercy of God in this Definition is said to be free thereby is to be noted the proceeding and working of God not to be bound to any ordinary place or to any succession of choice nor to state and dignity of person nor to worthinesse of blood c. but all goeth by the meere will of his own purpose as it is
the wise c. Mat. 11. why to the unwise the simple abjects and out-casts of the world of whom speaketh Saint Paul 1 Cor. 1 You see your calling my brethren why not many of you c. Why to the sinners and not to the just why the beggars by the high-wayes were called and the bidden guests excluded We can ascribe no other cause but to Gods purpose and Election and say with Christ our Saviour quia Pater sic complacitum est ante te ye Father for that it seemed good in thy sight Luk. 10. And so it is for justification likewise if the question be asked why the Publican was justified and not the Pharisee Luk. 18. Why Mary the sinner and not Simon the inviter Luke 11. Why Harlots and Publicans go before the Scribes and Pharisees in the Kingdome Mat. 21. why the sonne of the Free-woman was received and the bond-womans Son being his elder rejected Gen. 21. why Israel which so long sought for righteousnesse found it not and the Gentiles which sought it not found it Rom. 9. We have no other cause hereof to render but to say with Saint Paul because they sought for it by works of the Law and not by faith which faith as it cometh not by mans will as the Papists falsely pretendeth but onely by the election and free gift of God so it is onely the immediate cause whereto the promise of our salvation is annexed according as we read And therefore of faith is the inheritance given as after grace that the promise might stand sure to every side Rom. 4. and in the same Chapter Faith believing in him that justifieth the wicked is imputed to righteousnesse And this concerning the causes of our salvation you you see how faith in Christ immediately and without condition doth justifie us being solicited with Gods mercy and election that wheresoever election goeth before faith in Christ must needs follow after And again whosoever believeth in Christ Jesus through the vocation of God he must needs be partaker of Gods election whereupon resulteth the third note or consideration which is to consider whither a man in this life may be certaine of his election To answer to which question this first is to be understood that although our election and vocation simply indeed be known to God onely in himselfe a priore yet notwithstanding it may be known to every particular faithful man a Posteriore that is by means which means is faith in Christ Jesus crucified For as much as by faith in Christ a man is justified and thereby made the childe of salvation reason must needs lead the same to be then the childe of election chosen of God to everlasting life For how can a man be saved but by consequence it followeth that he must also be elected And therefore of election it is truly said de electione judicandum est a posteriore that is to say we must judge of election by that which cometh after that is by our faith and belief in Christ which faith although in time it followeth after election yet this the proper immediate cause assigned by the Scripture which not onely justifieth us but also certifieth us of this election of God whereunto likewise well agreeth this present Letter of Mr. Bradford wherein he saith Election albeit in God it be the first yet to us it is the last opened And therefore beginning first saith he with Creation I come from thence to Redemption and justification by faith so to election not that faith is the cause efficient of election being rather the effect thereof but is to us the cause certificatory or the cause of our certification whereby we are brought to the feeling and knowledge of our election in Christ For albeit the election first be certain in the knowledge of God yet in our knowledge faith only that we have in Christ is the thing that giveth to us our certificate and comfort of this election Wherefore whosoever desireth to be assured that he is one of the Elect number of God let him not climbe up to heaven to know but let him descend into himself and there search his faith in Christ the Son of God which if he find in him not feigned by the working of Gods Spirit accordingly thereupon let him stay and so wrap himself wholly both body and foul under Gods general promise and cumber his head with no further speculations knowing this that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish John 3. shall not be confounded Rom. 9. shall not see death John 8. shall not enter into judgement John 5. shall have everlasting life John 3. 7. shall be saved Mat. 28. Acts 16. shall have remission of all his sins Act. 10. shall be justified Rom. 3. Cal. 2. shall have floods flowing out of him of the water of life Joh. 7. shall never die John 11. shall be raised at the last day John 6. shall finde rest in his soul and be refreshed Mat. 11 c. 4. Such is the judgement and opinion of our Martyrologist in the great point of Predestination unto life the residue thereof touching justification being here purposely cut off with an c. as nothing pertinent to the businesse which we have in hand But between the Comment and the Text there is a great deal of difference the Comment laying the foundation of Election on the Will of God according to the Zuinglian or Calvinian way but the Text laying it wholly upon faith in Christ whom God the Father hath Predestinate in Christ unto eternal life according to the doctrine of the Church of England The Text first presupposeth an estate of sin and misery into which man was fallen a ransom paid by Christ for man and his whole Posterity a freedome left in man thus ransomed either to take or finally to refuse the benefit of so great mercy and then fixing or appropriating the benefit of so great a mercy as Christ and all his merits do amount to upon such only as believe But the Comment takes no notice of the fall of man grounding both Reprobation and Election on Gods â—bsolute pleasure without relation to mans sin or our Saviours sufferings or any acceptation or refusal of his mercies in them As great a difference there is between the Authour of the Comment and Bishop Hooper as between the Comment and the Text Bishop Hooper telling us cap. 10. num 2. that Saul was no more excluded from the promise of Christ then David Esau then Jacob Judas then Peter c. if they had not excluded themselves quite contrary to that of our present Authour who having asked the question why Jacob was chosen and not Esau why David accepted and Saul refused c. makes answer that it cannot otherwise be answered then that so was the good Will of God 5. And this being said I would faine know upon what authority the Authour hath placed Nachor amongst the reprobates in the same Ranck with Esau Pharaoh and Saul all
to the doctrine of the Old and New Testament and had from thence been gathered by the Catholick or Orthodox Fathers and ancient Bishops of the Church To which rule if they held themselvs as they ought to do no countenance could be given to Calvines Doctrines or Fox his judgment in these points maintained by one of the Catholick Fathers and ancient Bishops of the Church but St. Augustine only who though he were a godly man and a learned Prelate yet was he but one Bishop not Bishops in the plural number but one father and not all the fathers and therefore his opinion not to be maintained against all the rest CHAP. XX. Of the great Innovation made by Perkins in the publick Doctrine the stirs arising thence in Cambridge and Mr. Barrets carriage in them 1 OF Mr. Perkins and his Doctrine of Predestination with his recital of the four opinions which were then maintained about the same 2. The sum and substance of his Doctrine according to the Supralapsarian or Supra-creatarian way 3. The several censures past upon it both by Papists and Protestants by none more sharply then by Dr. Rob. Abbots after Bishop of Sarum 4. Of Dr. Baroe the Lady Margarets Professor in the University and his Doctrine touching the divine Decrees upon occasion of Gods denounced Judgement against the Ninivites 5. His constant opposition to the Predestinarians and the great increase of his Adherents 6. The Articles collected out of Barrets Sermon derogatory to the Doctrine and persons of the chief Calvinians 7. Barret convented for the same and the proceedings had against him at his first conventing 8. A form of Recantation delivered to him but not the same which doth occur in the Anti-Arminianism to be found in the Records of the University 9. Several arguments to prove that Barret never published the Recantation imposed upon him 10. The rest of Barrets story related in his own letter to Dr. Goad being then Vice-Chancelour 11. The sentencing of Barret to a Recantation no argument that his Doctrine was repugnant to the Church of England and that the body of the same University differed from the heads in that particular 1. THis great Breach being thus made by Fox in his Acts and Monuments was afterwards open'd wider by William Perkins an eminent Devine of Cambridge of great esteem amongst the Puritans for his zeal and piety but more for his dislike of the Rites and Ceremonies here by Law established of no less fame among those of the Calvinian party both at home and abroad for a Treatise of Predestination published in the year 1592. entituled Armilla Aurea or the Golden Chain containing the order of the causes of salvation and damnation according to Gods word First written by the Author in Latin for the use of Students and in the same year translated into English at his Request by one Robert Hill who afterwards was Dr. of Divinity and Rector of St. Bartholomews Church near the royal Exchange In the preface unto which Discourse the Author telleth us ' that there was at that day four several Opinions of the order of Gods Predestination The first was of the old and new Pelagians who placed the cause of Gods Predestination in man in that they hold that God did ordain men to life or death according as he did foresee that they would by their natural free-will either reject or receive Grace offered The second of them who of some are termed Lutherans which taught that God foreseeing that all mankind being shut under unbelief would therefore reject Grace offered did hereupon purpose to chuse some to salvation of his meer mercy without any respect of their faith or good works and the rest to reject being moved to do this because he did eternally fore-see that they would reject his Grace offered them in the Gospel The third of Semi-palagian Papists which ascribe Gods Predestination partly to mercy and partly to mens foreseen Preparations and meritorious works The fourth of such as teach that the cause of the execution of Gods Predestination is his mercy in Christ in them which are saved and in them which perish the fall and corruption of man yet so as that the Decree and eternal Counsel of God concerning them both hath not any cause besides his Will and pleasure ' In which Preface whither he hath stated the opinions of the parties right may be discerned by that which hath been said in the former Chapters and whither the last of these opinions ascribe so much to Gods Mercy in Christ in them that are saved and to mans natural Corruption in them that perish will best be seen by taking a brief view of the opinion it self The Author taking on him to oppugn the three first as erroneous and only to maintain the last as being a truth which will bear weight in the ballance of the Sanctuary as in his Preface he assures us 2. ' Now in this book Predestination is defined to be the Decree of God by the which he hath ordained all men to a certain and everlasting Estate that is either to salvation or condemnation to his own Glory He tells us secondly that the means for putting this decree in execution were the creation and the fall 3. That mans fall was neither by chance or by Gods not knowing it or by his bare permission or against his Will but rather miraculously not without the Will of God but yet without all approbation of it ' Which passage being somewhat obscure may be explained by another some leaves before In which the Question being asked Whether all things and actions were subject unto Gods Decree He answereth ' Yes surely and therefore the Lord according to his good pleasure hath most certainly decreed every both thing and action whether past present or to come together with their circumstances of place time means and end ' And then the Question being prest to this particular What even the wickedness of the wicked The answer is affirmative ' Yes he hath most justly decreed the wicked works of the wicked For if it had not pleased him they had never been at all And albeit they of their own natures are and remain wicked yet in respect of Gods decree they are to be accounted good ' Which Doctrine though it be no other then that which had before been taught by Beza yet being published more copiously insisted on and put into a more methodical way it became wondrous acceptable amongst those of the Calvinian party both at home and abroad as before was said Insomuch that it was printed several times after the Latin edition with the general approbation of the French and Belgick Churches and no less then 15. times within the space of twenty years in the English tongue At the end of which term in the year 1612. the English book was turned by the Translator into Questions and Answers but without any alteration of the words of the Author as he informs us in the last page
to Baroe betwixt whom and Dr. Whitacres there had been some clashings touching Predestination and Reprobation the certainty of salvation and the possibility of falling from the grace received And the heats grew so high at last that the Calvinians thought it necessary in point of prudence to effect that by power and favour which they were not able to obtaine by force of argument To which end they first addressed themselves to the Lord Treasurer Burleigh then being there Chancellor acquainting him by Dr. Some then Deputy Vice-Chancellor with the disturbances made by Barret thereby preparing him to hearken to such further motions as should be made unto him in pursuit of that quarrel Bat finding little comfort there they resolved to steere their course by another compass And having prepossest the most Reverend Arch-bishop Whitgift with the turbulent carriage of those men the affronts given to Dr. Whitacres whom for his learned and laborious Writings against Cardinal Bellarmine he most highly favoured and the great inconveniences like to grow by that publick discord they gave themselves good hopes of composing those differences not by the way of an accomodation but an absolute conquest and to this end they dispatcht to him certain of their number in the name of the rest such as were interessed in the quarrel Dr. Whitacres himself for one and therefore like to stickle hard for the obtaining their ends the Articles to which they had reduced the whole state of the business being brought to them ready drawn and nothing wanting to them but the face of Authority wherewith as with Medusa's head to confound their enemies and turne their adversaries into stones And that they might be sent back with the face of authority the most Reverend Arch-bishop Whitgift calling unto him Dr. Flecher Bishop of Bristol then newly elected unto London and Dr. Richard Vauhan Lord Elect of Bangor together with Dr. Tyndal Deane of Elie Dr. Whitacres and the rest of the Divines which came from Cambridge proposed the said Articles to their consideration at his house in Lambeth on the tenth of Novemb. An. 1595. by whom these Articles were agreed on in these following words 1. Deus ab eterno praedestinavit quosdam ad vitam quosdam reprobavit ad mortem 1. God from eternity hath predestinate certaine men unto life certaine men he hath reprobate 2. Causa movens aut efficiens predestinationâ—s ad vitam non est praevisio fidei aut perseverantiae aut bonorum operum aut ullius rei qui insit in personis Praedestinatis sed sola voluntas beneplaciti Dei 2. The moving or efficient cause of predestination unto life is not the foresight of faith or of perseverance or of good works or of any thing that is in the person predestinated but only the good will and pleasure of God 3. Praedestinatorum praefinitus certus est numerus qui nec angeri nec minui potest 3. There is predetermined a certaine number of the Predestinate which can neither be augmented or diminished 4. Qui non sunt Praedestinati adsalutem necessario propter peccata sua damnabuntur 4. Those who are not predestinated to salvation shall be necessarily damned for their sins 5. Vera viva justificans fides piritus Dei justificantis non extinguitur non excidit non evanescit in Electis aut finaliter aut totaliter 5. A true living and justifying faith and the Spirit of God justifying is not extinguished falleth not away it vanisheth not away in the Elect either totally or finally 6. Homo vere fidelis id est fide justificante praeditus certus est pleriphoria Fides de Remissione peccatorum suoâ—um salute sempiterna sua per Christum 6. A man truly faithful that is such an one who is endued with a justifying faith is certaine with the full assurance of faith of the remission of his sinnes and of his everlasting salvation by Christ 7. Gratia salutaris non tribuitur non incommunicatur non conceditur universis hominibus qua servari possint si velint 7. Saving grace is not given is not granted is not communicated to all men by which they may be saved if they will 8. Nemo potest venire ad Christum nisi datum ei fuâ—rit nisi pater eum tâ—axerit omnes homines non trahuntur a patre ut veniant ad filium 8. No man can come unto Christ unlesse it be given unto him and unlesse the father shal draw him and all men are not drawn by the Father that they may come to the Son 9. Non est positum in arbitrio aut potestate uniuscujusque hominis servari 9. It is not in the will or power of every one to be saved 3. Now in these Articles there are these two things to be considered first the Authority by which they were made and secondly the effect produced by them in order to the end proposed And first as touching the authority by which they were made it was so far from being legal and sufficient that it was plainly none at all For what authority could there be in so thin a meeting consisting only of the Arch-bishop himself two other Bishops of which but one had actually received consecration one Deane and half a dozen Doctors and other Ministers neither impowred to any such thing by the rest of the Clergy nor authorized to it by the Queen And therefore their determinations of no more Authority as to binding of the Church or prescribing to the judgement of particular persons then as if one Earl the eldest son of two or three others meeting with half a dozen Gentlemen in Westminster Hall can be affirmed to be in a capacity of making orders which must be looked on by the Subject as Acts of Parliament A Declaration they might make of their own opinions or of that which they they thought fittest to be holden in the present case but neither Articles nor Canons to direct the Church for being but opinions still and the opinions of private and particular persons they were not to be looked upon as publick Doctrines And so much was confessed by the Arch-Bishop himself when he was called in question for it before the Queen who being made acquainted with all that passed by the Lord Treasurer Burleigh who neither liked the Tenents nor the manner of proceeding in them was most passionately offended that any such Innovation should be made in the publick Doctrine of this Church and once resolved to have them all attainted of a Premunire But afterwards upon the interposition of some friends and the reverend esteem she had of the excellent Prelate the Lord Arch-Bishop whom she commonly called her Black Husband she was willing to admit him to his defence and he accordingly declared in all humble manner that he his associates had not made any Articles Canons or decrees with an intent that they should serve hereafter for a standing Rule to direct the Church but only had resolved
any point of Calvinisme in the Schooles of Oxon. from the year 1596. to the year 1616. and yet to make that number also he is fain to take in Dr. George Abbot and Dr. Benfield on no other account but for maintaining deum non esse authorem peccati that God is not the Author of sin which any Papist Lutheran or Arminian might have maintained as well as they 8. And yet it cannot be denyed but that by errour of these times the reputation which Calvin had attained to in both universities and the extreame diligence of his followers for the better carrying on of their own designes their was a generall tendency unto his opinions in the present controversies so that it is no marvell if many men of good affection to that Church in goverment and formes of worship might unawares be seasoned with his Principles in point of Doctrine his book of Institutes being for the most part the foundation on which the young Divines of those times did build their studies and having built their studies on a wrong foundation did publickly maintaine some point or other of his Doctrines which gave least offence and ouâ— of which no dangerous consequence could be drawne as they thought and hoped to the dishonor of God the disgrace of Religion the scandall of the Church or subversion of godliness amongst which if Judicious Mr. Hooker be named for one as for one I finde him to be named yet is he named only for maintaining one of the five points that namely of the not total or final falling away of Gods Elect as Dr. Overald also did in the Schools of Cambridge though neither of them can be challenged for maintaining any other point of Calvins Doctrine touching the absolute decree of Reprobation Election unto life without Reference to faith in Christ the unresistable workings of Grace the want of freedom in the will to concur therewith and the determining of all mens actions unto good or evill without leaving any power in men to do the contrary And therefore secondly Mr. Hookers discourse of Justification as it now comes into our hands might either be altered in some points after his discease by him that had the publishing of it or might be written by him as an essay of his younger years before he had confuted the booke of Homilies and perused every clause in the publick Liturgie as he after did or had so carefully examined every text of Scripture upon which he lays the weight of his judgment in it as might encourage him to have it printed when he was alive 9. Of any men who publickly opposed the Calvinian tenents in this Univesity till after the beginning of King James his raigne I must confesse that I have hitherto found no good assurance though some their were who spared not to declare their dislike thereof and secretly traind up their scholars in other principles An argument whereof may be that when Dr. Baroe dyed in London which was about three or four yeares after he had left his place in Cambridge his funerall was attended by most of the Divines then living in and about the City Dr. Bancroft then Bishop of London giving order in it which plainly showes that there were many of both Universities which openly favoured Baroes doctrines and did as openly dislike those of the Calvinians though we finde but few presented to us by their names Amongst which few I first reckon Dr. John Buckridge President of St. Johns Colledge and Tutor to Archbishop Laud who carried his Anti-Calvinian doctrins with him to the See of Rochester and publickly maintained them at a conference in York house An. 1626. And secondly Dr. John Houson one of the Cannons of Christ Church and Vice-Chancellor of the University An. 1602. so known an enemy to Calvin his opinions that he incurred a suspension by Dr. Robert Abbots then Vice-Chancellor And afterwards being Bishop of Oxon subscribed the letter amongst others to the Duke of Buckingham in favour of Mountague and his Book called Apello Cesarem as before was said And though we finde but these two named for Anti-Calvinist in the five controverted points yet might there be many houses perhaps some hundreds who held the same opinions with them though they discovered not themselves or break out in any open opposition as they did at Cambridge God had 7000. servants in the Realm of Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal though we find the name of none but the Prophet Eliah the residue keeping themselves so close for fear of danger that the Prophet himself complained to God that he alone was left to serve him A parallel case to which may be that the Christians during the power and prevalency of the Arian Hereticks St. Jerome giving us the names of no more them three who had stood up stoutly in defence of the Nicene councell and the points of Doctrine there established viz. 1. St. Athanasius Patriark of Alexandria in Egypt St. Hillarie Bishop of Poictious in France and St. Eusebius Bishop of Vevelli in Italy of which thus the Father Siquidem Arianis victis triumphatorem Athanasium suum Egyptus excepit Hillarium e prelio revertentem galliarum ecclesiia complexa est ad reditum Eusebii sui lugubres vestes Italia mutavit that is to say upon the overthrow of the Arians Egypt received her Athanasius now returned in triumph the Church of France embraced her Hillary coming home with victory from the battle and on the returne of Eusebius Italy changed her mourning garments By which it is most clear even to vulgar eys that not these Bishops only did defend the truth but that it was preserved by many others as well of the Clergy as of the people in their several Countreys who otherwise never had received them with such joy and triumph if a great part of them had not been of the same opinions though no more of them occur by name in the records of that age 10. But then againe If none but the three Bishops had stood unto the truth in the points disputed at that time between the Orthodox Christians and the Arian Hereticks yet had that been sufficient to preserve the Church from falling universally from the faith of Christ or deviating from the truth in those particulars the word of truth being established as say both Law and Gospel if there be only two or three witnesses to attest unto it two or three members of the Church may keep possession of a truth in all the rest and thereby save the whole from errour even as a King invaded by a foraign enemy doth keep possession of his Realme by some principall forrtesse the standing out whereof may in time regaine all the rest which I returne for answer to another objection touching the paucity of those Authors whom we have produced in Maintenance of the Anti-Calvinian or old English doctrines since the resetling of the Church under Queen Elizabeth for though they be but few in number