within ye are full of hypocrisie and iniquity and except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot be saved Matth. 5.20 This Pharisaical righteousness was not really such but hypocritical only in shew and for ostentation men do sometimes fansie themselves to be righteous when they are not Thus Solomon adviseth be not righteous over much that is in thine own conceit such was the Angel of the Church of Laodicea Eccles 7.16 Rev. 3.17 who said I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing when he was wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked Now to come just to the point God having declared unto the people their transgressions as the Cause of his Judgments he commandeth them to repent and turn from all their sins having shewed the distemper doth propose the remedy and presses the use of it herein God revealeth to them their duty what they ought but not what they can do they may not pretend ignorance for here is a warning and thereby they are acquainted with the Masters will and if they do not what they are commanded Death lies at their door and they are without excuse Here as Moses had done before are set before them life and death Deut. 30. â—â— but being like not to chuse well God expostulates with them why will ye die O house of Israel No Man but very few wretches whom God leaves under a fit of despair is willing to die of a natural death but would gladly live a day longer even those that are most submissive to God's Providence much less is any willing to die of eternal death wherefore we must observe that the question doth not directly tend to shew the house of Israel is willing to die but rather that the ways of the house of Israel tend to death Death it self is no good nor desirable thing 't is a deprivation of life the best thing in nature and destruction for a time of a strict union and of a noble Being but often that which men desire not befalls them because they fall into a way conducing to it 't is not the end they propose to themselves but 't is the event that happens unto them A man who is very prodigal of his Estate fallen into great excess of intemperance and debauchery may very well be asked Why will you ruin and kill your self though he intends no such thing but is engaged in a course of life that will lead him to it Thus upon such a bottom is grounded this expostulation of God with the house of Israel as if he had said the way ye are in shall bring you to death and destruction therefore turn from it if you will live and avoid judgments temporal as spiritual for we see the former are meant as out of Ezech. 33.21 A thing here chiefly to be taken notice of is that all this doth wholly run upon the Covenant of works the Law of Moses for 't is said Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness Ezech. 20. â—0 11. and gave them my statutes and shewed them my judgments which if a man do he shall live in them And consequently doth not reach our question about the Covenant of Grace and receiving of Christ when offered upon his own terms Now Christians do not or must not stand upon that old Covenant which was not faultless Heb. 8.6 7. or else no place should have been found out for the second which is a better covenant established upon better promises Now as Perfect Obedience the condition of the old Covenant was impossible for Men to perform so is Faith under the new Covenant a condition impossible for Men of themselves to attain unto 't is not found in Nature nor amongst Works but 't is a gift of God and none have it but those whom he is pleased to bestow it upon The house of Israel is willing to die and the reason is because naturally they are so inclined darkness ignorance and blindness are the natural portion of humane nature John 14 10.11 When he that was and is the life and light of men came into the world and that the light shined in dark ness yet darkness comprehended him not The world was made by him and the world knew him not He came to his own and his own received him not because Men loved darkness more than light This is the reason why people will die because they love not life there is a natural impossiblity 1 Cor. 2.14 How can Men naturally dead in trespasses and sins be willing to live What will is left in them tends not to spiritual life but for death if there be such strong inclinations in a good Man what must it be in the wicked Though the Angels had assured Lot they were come to destroy Sodom and hastned him out of it yet he lingered had no mind to come out till they to save him were forced to lay hold upon his hand and as it were force him out of it they certainly might have put to him the question why wilt thou die Seeing he staied as it were to be involved in the destruction of the place and his Wife how unwilling was she to leave it and contrary to the Angels order she must needs look behind either out of curiosity or a desire to go back So the Children of Israel had preferred to have continued under bondage in Egypt Genes 19. Numb 11.5 if they might but eat their Leeks Onions and Garlick than being in the Wilderness free from Slavery 'T is an amazement to think and see how averse Men are from their good and prone to their own mischief we must conclude those Men to be willing to die that are unwilling to live which will not turn from the paths of death There are in the world those that cannot cease from sin 2 Pet. 2.14 There are those that cannot recover themselves out of the snare of the devil who are taken captive by him at his will 2 Tim. 2.26 And who are bent upon and willing to die in whom is a repugnancy to their good and reluctancy to their happiness because born and bred under slavery I say a thing which to some will seem strange yet to my certain knowledge 't is very true how in some parts of Italy chiefly in the State of Venice there are those men who sell themselves to be Slaves in the Galleys some for a shorter some for a longer time and some for life and undergo the same Drudgery as do those who are put in there for great crimes Nay there be those who having as Malefactors continued there for a long time after their time was expired of their own accord returned thither This Paw I produce only thereby to judge of the Lyon how corrupt is man's nature and how willing and naturally inclined they are to ruine and destroy themselves
look upon any thing in the Creature when we seek amongst men that which we can find only with God this makes our Saviour say (d) Joh. 5 44. How can ye believe which receive honour one of another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Thus we have done with this great Subject as much as relateth to our present purpose CHAP. XII Christ dyed not for All. WE are now come to another Point about the extent of our Saviours death This is a matter of very great importance both in it self and in the consequence thereof and because the deciding of a question doth sometimes much depend upon the right stating of it I will endeavour so to do in this in order to it in few words I here lay down what Papists and Arminians say 't is thus They teach that Christ by his death intended the universal redemption of all and every particular Man whether Elect or Reprobate without distinction that by his death he actually obtained for all the grace and favour of God That the application of these graces thus obtained dependeth only on the free-will of Man some according to their liberty making use of that purchased gift others to whom that Grace and Salvation was alike purchased and intended on God's part do by their own contempt and neglect according to the same liberty of their will reject it But we say that the Lord Jesus did not give his Blood and Life for all only for the Elect his Members and that by his death he hath satisfied Gods Justice only for those who get good by it that is all Believers before his death in the time of or after his death to the worlds end In the beginning of this Treatise I made use of a kind of argument which here I shall not repeat only say that Scripture reduces it to many and who are to be understood by the many I instanced out of several Texts of Scripture Now we proceed to other proofs and argue thus He who will not do the least thing for one will not do the greatest for him He who will not speak a good word for a man surely will not dye for that man but our Saviour would not pray for the world for Reprobates therefore he would not dye for Reprobates Our Saviour is plain upon this (a) Joh. 17. in that Prayer of his which makes up a whole Chapter just before he was taken where after he had prayed for himself he prayed also for them whom the Father had given him out of the world for his Elect and Believers He solemnly declares he excludeth the wicked from his Prayer (b) Vers 9. I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast given me out of the world This he saith if I may so say upon his death bed when he was about going to dye 't is as good as if he had said I dye not for the world the world of Reprobates for that 's the signification of the word in that place as anon by the grace of God we shall make it appear Again those for whom Christ dyed he loved so as that he could love them no more for he saith himself (c) Joh. 15.13 Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends But it cannot be said that Christ loved Reprobates so that he could love them no more therefore he dyed not for them I say farther surely Christ would not dye for those whom he will never own nor suffer to come near him but he saith and we ought to believe him how at the last day (d) Matth. 7.23 He will profess unto them I never knew you Depart from me ye that work iniquity 'T is not to be supposed he would dye for those whom he will use so at last as to deny he ever knew them with that knowledge which is joyned with special love and favour Farthermore (e) Rom. 5.10 They for whom Christ dyed were reconciled to God by his death and being reconciled shall be saved by his life But it cannot be said that Reprobates were reconciled to God or shall be saved therefore Christ dyed not for them Now sins are not imputed to those who thorough Christ's death are reconciled to God but sins are imputed to all that are damned wherefore none of those that are damned were reconciled to God by the death of his Son The major or first part of our argument is grounded upon Scripture (f) 2 Cor. 5.19 God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their sins unto them Neither doth the Lord Jesus as we said before cause his death to be preached to all for 't is said in relation to this (a) Eph. 2.12 That the Gentiles were without Christ aliens from the common wealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise having no hope and without God in the world If so then certainly he dyed not for all if his death was not published to all and it was not to those that were without Christ and there can be no benefit by Christ's death for men come to age except that death be preached but it is much less and more easie to have a death preached to one than to die for him Lastly I say if Christ be dead for all and every man without exception then he dyed for those that were in Hell long before his death and to whom he knew his death would do no good And do we take that precious Blood of the Covenant to be so slight a thing as to be shed in vain for those who could not be the better for it Nay for (b) Heb. 10.20 those who had trodden or should tread under foot the Son of God and count the blood of the Covenant an unholy thing This were too much to prophane it that this holy blood should be shed for Judas who as our Saviour said (c) John 6.70 was a devil (d) John 17.12 the Son of perdition against whom he pronounceth a woe (e) Luke 22.22 Matth. 26.24 Woe unto that man by whom he is betrayed it had been good for that man if he had not been born Christ then had dyed in vain if for those that were in Hell out of which there is no redemption and this with an intent to procure them Salvation What an Opinion is this How injurious to the wisdom of Christ So the word all is to be restrained as when John's Disciples said John 3.26 of Christ all men come to him surely not every individual man All the Arguments whereby they endeavour to oppose this Dectrine may be reduced under two Heads for they lay a stress chiefly upon two words in Scripture the first is the word world the other the word all Under the first come in several Texts of Holy Scripture as these (f) John 1.29 Behold the lamb of God which taketh away the sins of
BUT because some of the unlearned sort of people and others have a prejudice against the word as I have done about the name Predestination so I must shew Reprobation to be a Scripture Phrase always taken in an ill sence Thus St. Paul speaking of the (b) Rom 1.18 28 29 30 31. ungodliness and unrighteousness of some men against which the wrath of God is revealed from heaven he saith God gave them over to a reprobate mind that is to do all the wickedness expressed in the three following verses which are the works of reprobate and wicked Men. and in another place the Apostl speaks of some that (a) Tit. 1.16 are unto every good work reprobate unfit for and uncapable of it Some (b) 2 Tim. 3.8 are reprobate concerning the faith so elsewhere he speaks of it in the proper sence and to our present purpose (c) 2 Cor. 13.5 Know ye not your own selves how that Jesus Christ is in you except ye be reprobates Where Christ is not there is the reprobate but Christ hath nothing to do as Mediator with those who lay under the Decree of reprobation thus it appears how reprobation is a Scripture word and consequently may well be used in its sence Now to the thing as there is Election so there is Reprobation St. Paul speaks of both as parts of Predestination when he saith (d) 1 Thes 5.9 God hath not appointed us to wrath but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ Hence it is clear how God appointed some to Salvation through Christ and others to Wrath which is Reprobation In God's work of Mercy and Salvation ever mention is made of Christ but not in those of Justice and Damnation because there is no mercy from God but through the Lord Jesus and where is no interest in Christ there is no true saving mercy The world may be called the house of God so may National Churches or particular Congregations wherein are Believers and Hypocrites therefore as (e) 2 Tim. 2.20 21. in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and vessels of silver but also of wood and of earth and some to honour and some to dishonour and as those unto honour are through grate prepared unto every good work so those of dishonour are by nature fitted for pains and torments the just reward of sin (f) Job 21.30 The wicked saith Job is reserved to the day of destruction they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath and as (g) Matth. 3.7 John Baptist said to the Scribes and Pharisees there is the wrath to come Reprobation is the Predestination of some to eternal death to be inflicted upon them by reason of their sins for the manifestation of the justice of God Now God and none but God is the author of the Decree as of Election so o Reprobation For as in time he damneth some as scripture expresses it in several places so God from eternity reprobated them and appointed them to damnation because as I said before nothing is done in time but what from eternity God ordered should be so As there is Election so there must be a Reprobation for if all were elected God would be all Mercy and no Justice and if all were reprobated then he would be all Justice and no Mercy therefore as both these Attributes must be manifested so there ought to be both Elect and Reprobate (a) Job 9.12 chap. 11.10 Who can hinder him who will say unto him what dost thou Let men hereupon not quarrel with his Justice but tremble at his Judgments God saith (b) Prov. 16.4 Solomon hath made all things for himself yea even the wicked for the day of evil which is generally interpreted the day of Judgment Vengeance and Perdition Again the Lord from Eternity (c) Rom. 9. from 13. to 19. hated some and loved others decreed to harden some and shew others mercy as St. Paul by the examples of Esau Pharaoh and Jacob doth clearly demonstrate it in the 9th to the Romans where the Apostle compares God to a Potter who of the same lump makes one vessel to honour and another to dishonour By this making vessels to Honour is meant Election as Reprobation is by others to dishonour Thus in Scripture Reprobation is represented under different expressions as making the wicked for the Evil Day hating and hardening some making some vessels to dishonour and in the Gospel our Saviour expresses it thus out of Isaiah (d) John 12.40 He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts and be converted and I should heal them For they who are not converted nor healed must be damned With Job and David we must say (e) Job 9.10 Psal 36.6 Rom. 11.33 God doth great things past finding out Except he be pleased to reveal them They who grumble or fret at these actings of God in matter of Reprobation may well be asked the question which God puts to Job in point of his Justice (f) Job 40.8 Wilt thou also disanul my judgments Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous To these several Texts I shall add only one reason which is this If God had predestinated no Man to damnation either no body is damned which is contrary to Scripture as I shewed already or else if any be damned 't is by chance or else out of an extemporal or sudden change in the will of God all which are absurd and false Though God be merciful in the highest degree it doth not hinder its being perfectly just He doth not use his mercy towards all but only those on whom he will have mercy by his Justice he doth reprobate and harden men for their sins neither is this contrary to the goodness of God for that perfection whereby he doth good to some doth not hinder his Justice and Judgment against others Neither doth it follow that because 't is the duty of one Man to wish another Man well therefore God is bound for this is the objection to wish and do good to all God and Men are not bound by the same rule a Man is bound to wish his neighbour well in as much as he knoweth it not to be contrary but according to the word of God but not withstanding any Law God willeth all things for himself therefore he willeth evil to the wicked for himself that is for the glory of his Justice Sin is the reason for Reprobation if we absolutely inquire into the cause for Man fallen and sinner is reprobated But if comparatively there is no other cause but the pleasure of God Hence arise two questions The first why from eternity God hath decreed to damn some Men The answer is God hath so decreed for sin which in his sight they were guilty of and this to declare his Justice nevertheless sin alone is not the cause of Reprobation the will of
Messiah Jesus Christ that should be born of his Seed but also this other promise that he should be (b) Gen. 17.4 7. Father of many Nations and that he would be a God to him and to his seed after him and these promises the Apostle calls (c) Gal. 3.8 The Gospel preached before unto Abraham And to shew how this relateth to the Elect and Believers the Apostle saith (d) Rom. 4.16 Therefore it is of faith that it may be by grace to the end the promise may be sure to all the seed not only to that which is of the law but that a so which is of the faith of Abraham who is the Father of us all That is of all Believers so then there was a double Seed that which is of Faith and that which is of the Law and accordingly a double promise one of Temporal the other of Spiritual Blessings which both were surely performed and this the same Apostle enlargeth upon and spiritualiseth the promise with saying that (e) Rom. 9. â— 3. all the seed of Abraham are not children of Abraham for there are the children of the flesh and the children of God But the children of the promise are counted for the seed And he instances it not only in Isaac who was the son of the promise but also in Jacob and Esau the first a child of God and of the promise the other the child of the flesh one was loved the other hated but there is in the Book of (a) Rev. 12.5 Revelation something much to our purpose the Woman was delivered of a Man-child that is the Lord Jesus for two reasons The first by the character therein given of him who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron a thing applyable to none but him The second reason is the attempt of the Dragon at his birth for that ancient Dragon would have destroyed him in his very Cradle by the means of Herod (b) Matth. 2.19 20. who sought his life So that Christ was that true individual person promised under the name of the Woman's Seed but there is besides her the remnant of her Seed for when the Dragon could hurt neither the Man-child nor the Woman he went (c) Rev. 12.17 to make war with the remnant of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ That is the Elect and Believers This hath not led us out of our way but all along shewed us a distinguishing mercy of God upon some which others were excluded from and that nothing of a natural privilege moved God to do so only out of his own good-will even in some places against the intentions of the good Instruments he made use of and this hath by degrees led us to the great points of Vocation and Election which St. Paul doth treat of in the last quoted place all which together doth concur to the clearing and further manifestation of the truth I could carry it on further in both branches as to the person of the Messiah and as to his Seed and his Chosen and to entail those promises chiefly upon the Tribe of Judah and the Family of David and also to shew how great and visible a difference there was after Solomon's death and the renting of Ten Tribes only Judah and Benjamin adhering to Reoboham David's Grandson How Jeroboam upon a Politick account altered the true worship of God whereby he made Israel to sin after that division not one good King over Israel they all generally fell into Idolatry and all manner of wickedness till after several interruptions in the Succession and after the cutting short the Tribes of Gad Reuben and Manasseh and how by Tiglath-Pileser the people of (a) 2 Kings 15.29 Gilead and Galilee and of Naphtali were carried into Assyria And at last in the days (b) Chap. 17.6 Chap. 25. of Hoshea the Ten Tribes were by Shalmaneser transported into Captivity and about 140 years after in Zedechiah's time Jerusalem was taken by Nebuchadnezzar and Judah carried into Babylon whence after 70 years Captivity they returned the City was newly built and also a new Temple but they could never recover themselves as before Antiochus came after upon them then they passed under the Dominion of the Romans and then in the fullness of times after great Confusions and Revolutions the promised Messiah the Lord Jesus Christ came into the World whose coming made a new face of the Church then the Woman's Seed bruised the Serpent's Head the Ceremonial Law was abrogated a new Ministry instituted the Gospel Preached the Gentiles called and though the Oracles concerning the coming of the Messiah be fullfilled yet the promises about his Seed do go on and will till all be gathered in one and their number perfected So with David we must say his work is honourable and glorious Psal 111.3 All these things I say I could have insisted upon to shew the wonderful and adorable Providence according to his Eternal Purpose (c) Heb. 2.10 In bringing many sons into glory by the way of Grace and amidst a great variety of Dispensations but I think what hath already been spoken is sufficient for our present purpose and it directly leadeth us to say something about Providence CHAP. IV. Of PROVIDENCE GOD hath not only created the World but he doth also govern it this is called actual Providence whereby he ruleth all his Creatures specially mankind We shall not speak of it in its full extent for the whole world and every thing therein is the Object of God's Providence he takes care of and governs great and small things necessary and contingent good and evil but we shall speak of it only as much as is conducing to our present purpose and as it chiefly relates to good and wicked Men in order to their Salvation and Damnation as much as it leadeth to the execution of God's Decree of Predestination for this is the part of it which the Papists and Arminians do strike at and which by the help of God we now intend to vindicate as far as he will be pleased to enable us Some make a confusion of Predestination and Providence as if it was the same thing but there is a great difference this last is of a larger extent and as we already said is extended upon every Creature of what nature soever but Predestination regards only Men and Angels at the most yet such a relation they have that one is the Decree and the other the execution of it Whereof for the present we shall give but two instances to shew how these things which in the world seem to us to be in a Confusion and meer accidents of Man's malice and designs are by God's ordering most wisely directed to a good end to the unspeakable comfort of those who observe such effects of Providence The first instance is that (a) Gen. 3â— 21 of Joseph's being sold by his Brethren a most wicked thing in
proceed farther I have an occasion to say something on the behalf of that faithful Servant of Christ in whose Written Life the world hath such a Character of him as becomes a Pious Laborious and learned Man and though I am not sworn to his or any Man's words yet for truths sake I shall speak some few words relating to us here in Queen Elizabeth's days a Convocation at Oxford approved the Book of Calvins Institution and appointed it by Tutors to be read to their Pupils an infallible sign of a perfect agreement of our Church with the Doctrines therein contained which was to joyn it with our Articles That Book indeed is a Master-piece and deserves well the Commendation following given it by a learned Pen. Praeter Apostolicas post Christi tempora chartas Huic peperere libro secula nulla parem Whereof the sence is Since the birth of Christ no Age hath after the writings of the Apostles produced so excellent a Book as is Calvin's Institution Johannis Stormius an Eminent Divine of Strasbourgh who with his Brother through their singular Prudence and Eminent Piety did by the grace of God prevail without any Tumult to have the true Religion at the beginning of Reformation received in that City gives the following Character of Calvin John Calvin Joannes Calvinus homo acuâ—issimo judicio sum maque doctrina Egregia Memoria praeditus est c. a man endowed with most acute judgement of very great learning and of an excellent memory in his Writtings are variety plenty and purity witness whereof is his Institution of the Christian Religion which having first began then enlarged and inriched and at last finished he hath published this year Neither do I know in this kind any thing better or more perfect to teach Religion to Reform Manners and remove Errors And let any man think himself to be therein very well settled and grounded who hath attained to the things contained in that Book Beza saith he read it one and twenty times and at every time out of it he learned something Our first Reformers had a great respect and value for him amongst the several opinions about the Lord's Supper they received his as the true and they sent over for three Men that had been influenced by him Martyr Bucer and Fagius to help them in the Work of Reformation Archbishop Cranmer did kindly write to him and desired his assistance in things tending to a farther settlement of the Church and acquainted him he could do nothing more profitable than to write often to the King Bucer at Cambridge where he was Professor in Divinity hearing his Letters prevailed upon the Protector Duke of Somerset desired him to write to that Noble Lord concerning some matters And Bishop Hooper valued him so much as from his Prison to write to him calling him vir praestantissime and subscribing himself pietatis tuae studiosissimus Jo. Hooperus When Calvin did write to the Duke of Somerset it was very kindly taken Mr. Thomas Rogers in his Analysis of the 39 Articles doth speak honorably of him in the 2d page of his Preface and the first Letter he did write to the King was very well received and the whole Council whom the King shewed it to was well pleased with it This sheweth at that time he was not such a monster in the eyes of great and good men as Arminians have since traduced him he was a Man of great and good fame for all the malice of his enemies and of the truths who from first to last thought they might write or say any thing against him I shall instance only one who called him a pragmatical Fellow c. who died Bishop of (a) Parket Oxford but such a Man's standers strike no blow for after he had by Mr. Malvile been reduced to a nonplus and to have nothing more to the purpose to say for himself in our strugling here against Popery made himself sufficiently known to the world before his death Such virulent Pens and Serpentine Tongues must spue out their venom against the Works and Memory of Pious Learned and Extraordinary Men whose Books they never were worthy to carry But we must not wonder that sort of people doth speak so ill of the Eminent instruments of Reformation which they were and are enemies to and to friends of Reformation (b) Heylin Histay of Reformation Preface page 4. Doth not one of their chief Men abominably say whose death Edward 6th I cannot reckon for an infelicity to the Church of England for being ill principled in himself c. None but Papists can account it an infelicity that so good a Protestant Prince should die so soon if so then it was no infelicity to England that he was so soon succeeded by such a Bloody Persecutor of Religion as Queen Mary was After that they are licensed to speak ill of any Man The most pious hopefull and knowing Prince for his Age that ever sat upon an English Throne comparable to Josiah in his Zeal for the glory of God his loss the more to be pityed that he did not go off the Stage without suspition of being poysoned which very reason should have stoped such foul-mouths for fear of being thought to approve of such abominable courses which were not only suspected at home but also reported and credited abroad as mentioned by an (a) Sleidâ—â— Author of very good reputation who gives a worthy and deserved Character of that young King which an English Man will not afford him The Court intrigues in his Reign are well known how at first through the Division then the ruin of the two Brothers his Unkles he was laid open to the attempts of his Enemies As a violent Arminian attempted to tread upon the memory of that Excellent King (b) Iohn Goodwin another stiff that way hath in print justified the death of King Charles they spare no body Hear how the same Heylin in his quin-quarticular History speaks of that worthy Primate Vsher the Irish Articles saith he were drawn up by Doctor Vsher a professed Calvinian who not only thrust in the Lambeth Articles but also made others of his own c. But let us return to our immediate Subject about Arminians Pelagius was their Grand-father whose Errors Austin overthrew with Scripture and Reason God at that time having raised him up to be Champion for Grace who in this matter handled the word of God so powerfully and like a wise Master-builder and in so successful a way that the unsound Tenets were beaten down and the upholders thereof highly discountenanced But after Pelagius his death his Sectators appeared but under another shape not altogether so hideous for they did not positively deny Original Sin but so had however that the same Doctor took up the Cudgels against those Semipelagians Arminius in his days renewed the dispute on the behalf of the Semipelagians in a time when all the Reformed Churches both here and abroad quietly