againe their negligence can hurt none but those whom God will absolutely destroy and who cannot be saued The Pelagians obiected the same things to Saint Austin Lib. de bono perseu Chap. 14. August de bono perseu cap. 14. â—iunt praedestinationis definitionem vtilitati praeâ—â—catronis aduersam Whereunto wee haue already largely answered For the same reasons which stirre vp the carefulnesse of the hearers to repentance and good workes are also of power to stirre vp pastors diligently to vndergo their office and to prick forward their hearers to repentance For although the elect cannot perish yet wee know that God doth bring the elect to saluation by the word and sacraments and by the ministery of the Gospell whose decree our obedience must serue And although the minister of the word dealing perfunctoriously and carelesly cannot cause that he that is elected should perish yet hee hurts himselfe and shall beare the punishment of that negligence in the day of iudgement Therefore although he did not hurt others yet hee should very much wrong himselfe Saint Paul a most vehement maintainer of election doth professe that he endureth all things for the elect that they may obtaine saluation 2. Tim. 2.10 XXXVIII As concerning the Reprobates if this reason of Arminius preuaile by the like reason we shall neyther eate nor drinke nor shall parents be bound to be carefull of the health of their children because this negligence can hurt none but them whom God will haue to perish who by his decree hath set sure bounds to the life of euery particular person which cannot be pulled backe nor passed ouer And if it were manifest to the pastors which of their flocke were Reprobates then there were some colour for the doubting whether they ought to be carefull for the saluation of them that are Reprobates But seeing that this is vnknowne to them they ought to scatter the seede of the word euery where and leaue the euent to God XXXIX Arnoldus Page 307. saith that which in my iudgement is exceeding bad If any one saith he should teach that God himselfe hath precisely appointed to nourish one for some time in this life and that he would so prouide the bread where with he should be nourished that he could not but haue it aboundantly I grant that such a one neede not be warned that hee should be carefull how to prouide himselfe bread But I affirme that such an one needes and ought to be warned to prepare himselfe bread because the same God who doth promise bread and hath decreed to giue it doth also declare in his word that he will giue this bread to our labour and by the meanes of our carefulnesse Therefore he that will giue the bread doth also giue strength will and industry whereby this bread should be prepared So that Arnoldus yeelds that to himselfe which no man in his right sense would yeeld to him XL. Furthermore the certainty of Election may be taken two manner of waies eyther for the immutability of the decree of God or for that certaine perswasion whereby any one doth beleeue that he is elected Of the former kinde of certainty it is onely spoken here the latter doth require a peculiar treatise But by the way we say that we beleeue none of those things which Arnoldus doth falsely attribute to vs whereof this is one that all men are bound to beleeue that they are elected to eternall life Nay we teach that he that will not beleeue in Christ and repent is bound to beleeue that saluation gotten by the death of Christ doth not pertaine to him Of the same stampe is that calumny when he saith that we command wicked men to be secure as they that can lose saluation by no euill deedes Fie on that abhominable doctrine To say I am elected therefore I may be wicked is the speech of a reprobate man who will therefore be wicked because God is good By this meanes that loue wherewith God in Christ hath loued vs which is the most vehement incitation to loue God is turned into a pillow on which prophane security may sleepe Whosoeuer God hath elected he hath giuen him or will giue him the holy-Ghost by which he abstaineth from so prophane a thought So him whom hee hath appointed to life he hath appointed also to foode and to breathing He were ridiculous who should say if God hath decreed that I should liue till I am eighty yeeres old what neede I eate seeing it cannot be but I must liue so long Surely the destruction of such a man is neere for God hath determined to vse this his sencelesse peeuishnesse to punish him XLI In the meane while wee admonish that the certainty of the election of seuerall persons is carefully to be distinguished from that certainty whereby seuerall men beleeue themselues to be elected The former is the certainty of the decree the latter is the certainty of faith For if Arminius could proue that piety and the endeauour of good workes is extinguished by the perswasion of election yet it would not thence follow that the decree of God concerning the election of particular persons is not certaine and precise But it would onely follow that this decree is not to be beleeued by vs to be certaine Whence it appeares how ill Arminius and Arnoldus doe reason who thereby inferre that the decree of God concerning the election of particular persons is not absolute nor precise because the confidence of election doth make some men more negligent to the workes of piety XLII Adde to these those things which we haue laid downe in the second chapter where we haue shewed how many waies the doctrine concerning election is profitable to good manners and to the discipline of piety which notwithstanding wee would haue thus to be taken not that euery one is to expect a reuelation of his election but the Gospell is to be heard and this promise whereby God doth promise life to them that beleeue is throughly to be fastned in our minde and to be embraced with our whole heart By which perswasion whosoeuer shall feele himselfe to be liuely affected with the loue of God and to be driuen to repentance shall easily gather that he is elected and that the thing promised in the Gospell doth belong to him For although election is in nature before faith and repentance as the cause from whence these vertues flow yet faith and repentance is better knowne to vs and we are alwaies to proceede from the things that best are knowne whence it commeth to passe that many times we goe to the cause by the effects which order in the schooles is called Resolutiuus XLIII And if we would imitate Arminius it were an easie thing to lay these things vpon him and to teach how many waies his doctrine doth offend against the wisedome and goodnesse of God and therefore also against his iustice How many waies occasion may thence be taken either of distrust or of
before the decree of sending his sonne seeing Christ himselfe doth witnesse it Iohn 3.16 God so loued the world that he gaue his onely begotten sonne c. where the loue of the father is manifestly set before the sending of the sonne which is so to be vnderstood as that the sonne is not excluded from the act of election it selfe seeing that he also is one God with the father but this was done by him not as hee is mediator but as he is God VII Neither is any iniury done to Christ if the will of the father concerning the sauing of men be said to goe before the redemption of Christ seeing that this redemption is also after sinne for the disease is before the medicine VIII Nor is any thing detracted from the greatnesse of the price of our redemption if his will who offered the price be said to goe before it IX The very definition of the decree of election doth proue this thing for election is the decree of sauing certaine men by Christ in which definition Christ is laid downe not as the cause of election but as the meanes of the execution of it and as the meritorious cause of saluation X. It is maruailous how much the Arminians insult here For because wee make the loue of God to goe not in time but in order before the mediation of the sonne they so deale with vs as if we taught that God loued vs without Christ and as being considered without faith in Christ which doth differ as much from our opinion as that which doth differ most Be it farre from vs that wee should say that God would euer bestow saluation vpon vs but that together and in the same moment he considered vs in Christ as being to be saued by him Nor was there any cause why we for that thing should be accused of Sicianisme we haue nothing to doe with that Alastor and hellish monster which doth altogether ouerthrow the benefit of Christ But it is one thing to say that the loue of the father doth in order goe before the mediation of the sonne and another thing to say that God loueth vs without the sonne It is one thing to dispose the thoughts of God in order and another thing to separate them and pull them asunder Arminius who in the beginning of his booke against Perkins calleth himselfe a wirty fellow doâ—h craftily yea wickedly catch at and hunt after points of priority in order to pull asunder those things which cannot be seperated Hee doth therefore as much as if one should say that the thought of creating man was first in order in God before the thought of adorning him with holinesse and righteousnes and would thence inferrre that God would first create man not iust or first to haue considered him as not holy If any man saith that in the decree of God the thought of ouerthrowing of the world was before the thought of ouerthrowing it by fire hee doth not therefore say that God first thought of ouerthrowing it without fire All the purposes of God are eternall although there be a certaine order and dependency betweene them XI That place of Saint Iohn Chap. 3. vexeth Arminius God so loued the world that hee gaue his onely begotten sonne c. where the loue of God is laide downe as the cause by which it came to passe that he gaue the sonne He doth therefore endeauour to delude so direct a place by a witlesse cauell That loue saith he is not that by which he will giue eternall life which appeareth by the very words of Iohn who doth ioyne faith betweene this loue and eternall life The Reader therefore shall obserue that Arminius himselfe doth acknowledge that there is a kinde of loue of God towards men which doth goe before his decree of sending his sonne But hee saith that God by that loue is not willing to giue eternall life What then will hee doe by it For this thing hee ought to shew Will God by that loue leaue men in death Is it possible that God should loue the creature created by him to life but he must needes by the same loue will that it should liue I am ashamed of so weake a subtilty Yea truely in that he sent his sonne by that loue it is sufficiently manifest that by that loue he was willing man should be restored to life But saith he faith commeth betweene that loue and eternall life What then Cannot I will the recouery of him that is sicke although the Phisition come betweene my will and his recouery Surely he maketh those things opposite and contrary which are appolite and ioyned together But I doe not see how he rather fauoureth Socinus who saith that Christ is not the cause of Election then he that saith that Christ is not the cause of the loue whereby God would send Christ into the world and prouide for vs a redeemer Or why there should be a greater offence in making the redemption of Christ to be the medium and meane betweene the loue of God by which hee elected vs and betweene our saluation then if it be made the medium a meane betweene the loue of God by which he will giue Christ for vs and betweene our saluation For on both sides redemption is made the meanes and not the first cause Let vs not therefore enuy God the father this praise that his good pleasure thould be made the fountaine and first originall of our Election XII Obserue moreouer that that Election whereof Arminius will haue Christ to be the foundation is that generall election whereby all men are conditionally elected which seeing wee haue largely consuted Chap. 18. whatsoeuer the Arminians doe bring to proue that Christ is the foundation of election doth vanish away Surely there was no cause why they should so earnestly labour to proue that Christ was the foundation of that election by which Pharaoh and Iudas were elected Of which imaginary election he shall haue the true character and portraiture who hath brought in God speaking thus I decreed to send my sonne to saue all men who shall beleeue but who and how many they shall be I haue not determined onely I will giue to all men sufficient power to beleeue but he shall belecue who will himselfe XIII Arminius doth defend himselfe against so euident a truth by one little word of the Apostle Ephes 1.4 He hath elected vs in Christ But it is one thing to be elected in Christ and another thing to be elected for Christ so that Christ should be the cause why one is elected rather then another The meaning of the Apostle is cleere To elect is nothing else then to appoint to saluation Therfore to elect in Christ is to appoint to saluation to be obtained in or by Christ For whosoeuer God hath decreed to saue he hath giuen them to Christ and hath considered them as ioyned to Christ Hee seeketh a knot in a bulrush who by farre fetched interpretations would darken
ill of himselfe then to measure other men by his owne foote and to iudge of others confidence by his owne incredulitie XXV The Apostle to the Hebrewes Chap. 3. Vers 6. doth command vs to hold fast the confidence and the reioycing of the hope firme vnto the end And Cha. 10. Vers 22. Let vs draw neere with a true heart in full assurance of faith And Ephes 3.12 In Christ we haue boldnesse and accesse with confidence by the faith of him And 1 Iohn 5.13 These things haue I written vnto you that beleeue on the name of the sonne of God that ye may know that ye haue eternall life XXVI Our Sauiour himselfe doth promise that hee will giue vs all things which wee shall aske in his name Iohn 14.13 If therefore wee aske grace which cannot be ouercome nor extinguished and perseuerance in the faith Christ promiseth that wee shall receiue what we aske XXVII Doth Dauid speake as one doubting of his saluation Psal 17. I shall see thy face in righteousnesse and I shall be satisfied with thy likenesse Or Simeon speaking thus Luke 2. Now lettest thou thy seruant depart in peace according to thy word Or Stephen who his enemies gnashing their teeth at him and being certaine of death did cry out I see the heauens open and the sonne of man sitting at the right hand of God Could the grace of God be ouercome by free-will in those men Or was their confidence deceitfull and failing and the decree of God concerning their saluation yet reuocable as these Sectaries speake XXVIII Why should I speake of Saint Paul who desiring to be dissolued and to be with Christ being full of faith speaketh thus 2 Tim. 4.18 The Lord shall deliuer me from euery euill worke and will preserue me vnto his heauenly kingdome And in the same place after he had endured so many labours he doth vtter this as his victorious song I haue fought a good fight I haue finished my course I haue kept the faith Henceforth there is laid vp for me a crowne of righteousnesse c. With no lesse confidence doth hee speake both in his owne and in our name long before the end of his strife Rom. 8.38 I am perswaded that neither death nor life c nor any other creature shall be able to seperate vs from the loue of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. XXIX But the doubting of our saluation doth please these Sectaries who are stuffed and strouted out with pretended modesty and humility Their words against the Walachrians pag. 76. are these Whether any one can be certaine that hee shall perseuere in the faith We will not say yea we suppose it to be very profitable to doubt of these things and that it is laudible for a Christian Souldier to the shaking off the sloathfulnesse and the drowsinesse of the soule in the worke of Religion In the same place they admit onely that certainetie whereby one doth know that God and sufficient helpe shall not be wanting to him so that hee be not wanting to himselfe which certainty surely may be in any reprobate They doe instill these things with a goodly shew vnder the pretence of instigation to good workes that they might secretly ouerturne the foundation of faith as it were by vndermining it and as if there were no way of stirring vp sluggishnesse but by the damage of Faith It is prophane modestie which maketh men incredulous and vnbeleeuing and vnder a shew of humilitie doth teach them to distrust God But they themselues who teach these things doe boast that God hath giuen them what hee ought yea and that God is bound to giue them sufficient grace that it might appeare that vnder this affected humilitie there is much pride CHAP. XLVII The iudgement of Saint Austin concerning this controuersie I. THe certainty of perseuerance may be taken two waies Either for the certainty of the decree of God by which God decreed to giue perseuerance in faith to them whom hee elected to saluation Or for that confidence by which one doth certainely perswade himselfe that he shall neuer be forsaken by God The first certainty is necessarily drawne from that election which is absolute and is not for faith fore-seene but not the latter Because God hath decreed many things concerning vs whereof hee hath not yet giuen vs the full knowledge II. The full perswasion of the faithfull doth not rest on any reuelation whereby God hath laid open to vs the secrets of his counsels but on the promises of the Gospel and on the inward feeling whereby one searching himselfe doth feele that he doth seriously beleeue in Christ and on the inward testimony of the spirit witnessing in our hearts that we are the sonnes of God Yet there may be many and those good and godly men who although they belong to the election of God haue not come to this full confidence III. Saint Austin being beaten in this question and exercised in often contentions of the Pelagians is a most earnest maintainer of the former certainty and doth gather from the election of God according to his purpose that the elect can neuer be forsaken by God and that grace is giuen which can neuer faile and by which they shall certainely perseuere There are many excellent things in his workes to this purpose but he doth no where speake more plainely then in his booke de correp gratia which hee writ when he was very old In the twelfth Chapter hee hath these words There is giuen to the Saints that are predestinated by the grace of God to the kingdome of God not onely such helpe of grace but also such a helpe that perseuerance it selfe is giuen them not onely that without that gift they could not perseuere but also that by this gift they cannot but perseuere For he hath not onely said without me ye can doe nothing but he hath also said yee haue not chosen me but I haue chosen you and haue appointed you that you might goe on and might beare fruit and that your fruit might remaine In which words hee declareth that he hath giuen them not onely righteousnesse but also perseuerance in righteousnesse For Christ so appointing them that they should goe on and beare fruit and that their fruit should remaine who dare say that perhaps it shall not remaine For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance that is the calling of them who are called according to his purpose Christ therefore making intercession for these that their faith should not faile without doubt it shall not faile to the end and by this it shall perseuere to the end and the end of this life shall finde it remaining And a little after The will of them is so much enflamed by the holy-Ghost that they therefore are able because they so will and they doe therefore so will because God worketh in them that they may will For if in so great infirmity of this life in which notwithstanding
they should say that freedome was obtained for one but not that he should be freed or that foode was obtained for one but it was not procured that hee should be fed with this foode IX And seeing that by faith the application of the death of Christ is made if Christ by his death hath not obtained for vs the application of this reconciliation it will follow that he hath not obtained faith for vs For they must needes deny that faith is obtained for vs who will not haue faith to be from grace alone but to be partly from free-will in whose power they will haue it to be to refuse or admit grace to beleeue in act or not to beleeue X. And surely hee that shall more attentiuely consider what these words meane The obtaining of application and the application of the thing obtained will finde that it is a meere Meteor or building of Castles in the ayre and that they are vnseasonable trifles with which they enwrap mens wits seeing Christ doth obtaine nothing which he doth not apply nor doth he apply any thing which he hath not obtained Otherwise in vaine were the obtaining of that benefit which both he that obtaineth it and he of whom it is obtained knoweth that it will neuer be applied and that it will neuer profit him for whom it is obtained Nor is it credible that the remission of that sinne which shall neuer be remitted is procured XI Yea these innouators doe so speake as they that would haue by the death of Christ something to be procured not for vs but for God For they say that by the death of Christ God obtained power of sauing vs but they denie that the application or conferring of saluation was obtained by the death of Christ for Peter or Paul but that onely a gate and way was opened for them by which they might come to saluation Wherefore Christ by his death will be said to be not the giuer but the preparer of saluation And certainly the opinion of Arminius doth tend thither that Christ should be said not to haue obtained reconciliation for any one but to haue laid open a way for God by which he might bestow saluation XII They doe no lesse trifle when they confesse that the fruit of the resurrection of Christ Aduer Walach P. 51. Non ad eos omnes fructus resurrectionis extenditor prâ— quibus mâ—rtem oppetijt Christâ—â— pertained onely to the faithfull but the fruit of his death that is reconciliation and remission of sinnes they extend to all and seuerall men Ther fore if these men be beleeued there will be some mâ—n to whom the fruit of the death of Christ doth pertaine but the fruit of his resurrection doth not pertaine As if they should say that Christ died for some men for whom hee hath not ouercome death And that the fruit of the fight belonged to all but not the fruit of the victory And there will be some men for whom although he hath offered himselfe on earth yet hee doth not offer himselfe in heauen But the Scripture ioyneth these things as inseuerable and vnseperable that hee died for vs and that he rose againe for vs Rom 8.34 It is Christ that died yea rather that is risâ—n againe who is at the right hand of God making intercession for vs. And the 2. Co. 5.14 That they which liue should not henceforth liue vnto themselues but vnto him that died for them and rose againe Because no man is made partaker of the fruite of the death of Christ but by his resurrection XIII It is of no small moment that if reconciliation were obtained for all mankind it must needs be that all infants borne without the couenant are reconciled their sinne is forgiuen them Whence it would come to passe that they could not haue a greater benefit bestowed vpon them then if one in a gentle cruelty should kill them in their cradles For if they die in this state of reconciliation their saluation is certaine but if they liue they shall be brought vp in paganisme which is the most sure way to eternall destruction XIV And seeing no man can be saued but hee for whom reconciliation hath beene obtained and hath also beene applied I doe not see what the obtaining of reconciliation doth differ from the application of it in infants which are taken away by an vntimely death For by the doctrine of Arminius they are saued by reconciliation alone Here therefore that distinction of the obtaining of reconciliation and of applying of it doth vanish away Which distinction although it may haue place among men yet with God it cannot haue place who granteth nothing which he doth not giue from whom nothing is obtained which hee doth not giue and conferre in act For to him all things are fore-seene neyther can any thing happen by which hee should be compelled to deny what hee hath granted to change his counsell or to abolish his acts XV. And if these two things be compared betweene themselues to obtaine reconciliation for his enemies that they might be saued and to bestow saluation on them that are already reconciled it is no doubt but that it is farre greater loue to die to reconcile his enemies then to giue saluation to them that are reconciled The Apostle teacheth thâ—s expresly Rom. 5.10 If when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his sonne much more being reconciled we shall be saued by his life If Saint Paul be beleeued it is an easier and more likely thing to saue him that is reconciled then to reconcile him that is an enemy by dying for him Seeing therefore that Christ if we giue credit to Arminius hath performed for all men that which is farre the greatest and is an argument of his highest loue it will be said that Christ in dying for vs loued Pilate Iudas Saul and Pharaoh no lesse then Peter and Iohn But there is no man can make himselfe beleeue vnlesse it be hee that is willing to be deceiued that Christ loued those with his greatest loue whom his father from eternity hated and whom the sonne himselfe knew were from eternity appointed to punishment XVI Yea truely seeing Christ as hee is one God with the father hath from eternity predestinated the reprobates to damnation it is not likely yea not possible that the same Christ hath obtained reconciliation for Iudas as hee is man and a mediator and hath from eternity reprobated the same man as hee is God For although these sectaries will haue the decree of reprobation to be in order after the obtaining of reconciliation yet neither of them is in time before the other and it must needes be that the desire of reconciling and the decree of reprobating were together in one and the same minde XVII Notable is the speech of Christ Iohn 15.13 Greater loue hath no man then this that one lay downe his life for his friends The meaning of Christ is that friends cannot
be more loued then by dying for them For although it be greater loue to die for ones enemies then for his friends yet it is certaine that nothing can be performed for thy friends sake by which thou maist more testifie thy loue to them then if thou die for them Seeing therefore that this is the greatest loue to die for one whether friend or enemie it must needes be that Christ equally loued all men with his greatest loue They must therefore affirme if they will be constant to themselues that Christ in dying loued with his greatest loue Iudas Pilate yea Cain and Pharaoh who were already in hell XVIII The conferrers at the Hage doe endeauour to quit themselues If say they to loue in the highest degree is not onely to merit saluation but also to bestow it we denie that Christ did generally loue all those in the highest degree for whom he died They therefore condemne Christ and accuse him of a lie who will haue this to be the greatest degree of loue to die for one And it is impossible that Christ should loue any one in the highest degree of loue but that also hee should bestow saluation vpon him And if these things could be separated yet this would remaine firme and sure that Christ loued him with his greatest loue for whom hee died although hee hath not afterwards bestowed saluation vpon him because the greatnesse of the loue of Christ is to be esteemed not by the profit that commeth to him for whom hee died but by the greatnesse of the sorrowes which hee suffered for him Yea whosoeuer shall weigh these things in the exact scale of iudgement shall finde that it is greater loue to suffer death for one to procure for him some little good then to procure great good So it is more flagrant loue to expose himselfe to death that his friend might not be hurt no not a little then if he should doe it that his friend should not perish by being burnt aliue XIX Nor doe they escape by the distinction of this loue into Antecedent and Consequent seeing the Antecedent loue wherewith they will haue Iudas and Pharaoh to be loued by Christ cannot but be the greatest and that beyond which as Christ himselfe witnesseth none can be extended These are not two loues to be willing to haue mercy before faith and to be willing to saue after faith but they are two effects of one and the same loue XX. And if Christ by his death was the pledge and price of redemption for Iudas Pharaoh Saul c. The marke of iniustice would be set vpon God who hath taken two punishments for the same sinnes when the first satisfaction did suffice and hath twice giuen iudgement vpon the same thing For once they were dead in Christ seeing Christ sustained their person vpon the crosse and yet the same men doe die the eternall death in their owne persons Thence also it will follow that Christ did in vaine beare the punishments due to Iudas and Pharaoh and that hee in vaine made himselfe a pledge for them For surely if Christ on the crosse was the pledge of all and seuerall men and made himselfe for them as a surety it must needes be that hee supplied their place on the crosse and sustained their person And so that may be said of all men without exception which the Apostle saith 2. Corinth 5.14 If one died for all then were all dead But no man yet as I know hath dared to say that the reprobates died with Christ or in Christ And truely the following words of the Apostle doe argue that he doth not speake of all men in the whole world but of all those to whom the fruit of the resurrection of Christ doth pertaine and who are become new creatures XXI That reconciliation is purchased onely for the elect the Apostle teacheth Rom. 5.11 Wee ioy in God through Iesus Christ our Lord by whom wee haue now receiued reconciliation Did S. Paul so greatly reioyce in that benefit which was common to him with Herod and Pilate And C. 3. v. 25. God hath set forth Christ to be a propitiation through faith in his blood There is therefore no propâ—tiation without faith and therefore no obtaining of reconciliation For hereby it is perceiued that God is pacified to a sinner and his propitiation is made because Christ hath obtained reconciliation for him XXII In the eight Chapter and foure and thirtieth verse of the same Epistle it is not onely said that Christ died for the elect but because that Christ died for them the Apostle doth thence inferre that no accusation can be laid against them Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods elect It is God that iustifieth Who shall condemne It is Christ that died c. Out of which place we thus argue They for whom Christ died cannot be condemned nor can any thing be laid to their charge But the reprobates are condemned and something is laid to their charge therefore Christ died not for them So it be vnderstood in that sence which I said at the beginning to wit that Christ by his death did not obtaine reconciliation and saluation for them XXIII Those for whom Christ obtained reconciliation and remission of sinnes for those he also prayed and made intercession But he doth not make intercession nor pray for the world but onely for the faithfull as Christ himselfe saith Iohn 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the world but for them which thou hast giuen me It is no doubt but that by the world those that doe not beleeue are to be vnderstood and those that haue not receiued the grace of Christ amongst whom also are refractary persons For these Christ saith he doth not pray Now all men are such by nature being destitute not onely of faith but also of the power of beleeuing But among these God giueth some men to Christ to whom also hee giueth faith in Christ For these alone Christ doth professe that he maketh intercession to his father XXIV Here the sectaries after their manner doe vse a sleight distinction For they make a double intercession one generall whereby Christ doth make intercession for all the other particular whereby hee doth make intercession onely for the faithfull By the first reconciliation of sinnes is obtained by the other the applying of reconciliation and saluation But this generall intercession is plainely needelesse for in vaine is reconciliation asked without the application of saluation By that generall intercession Christ eyther asked saluation for Iudas and Pilate or else hee did not aske If he asked not his intercession was to no purpose If he asked he suffered the repulse and so in vaine he made intercession But hee himselfe saith Iohn 11.42 that he was alwaies heard by his father But perhaps they will haue Christ to haue asked the application of saluation for all men on a condition to wit if they will beleeue and with this respect
knowledge of the truth And Verse 6. Christ gaue himfelfe a ransome for all Also that to Titus Chap. 2. The grace of God that bringeth saluation vnto all men hath appeared But that here by all are vnderstood any and men of whatsoeuer state and condition the very context and coherence of the place doth proue In that place to Timothy the Apostle would haue Kings to be prayed for in that place to Titus hee commandeth seruants to be faithfull and not to purlome Of this exhortation this is the cause and reason because the promise of saluation did belong to Kings although at that time they were strangers from Christ and to seruants although they were of an abiect and base state neither is any condition of men excluded from saluation Saint Austin doth thus take this place of the first to Timothy Enchirid. ad Laurent Cap. 103. And Thomas in his commentary vpon this Epistle And this thing is confirmed by the very words of the Apostle for he saith God would haue all men be saued and come to the knowledge of the truth Now it is manifest by experience that God doth not giue yea nor doth not offer to all and particular men the knowledge of the truth V. It is frequent in the Scripture to take the word all for the word any as Luke 12.42 Ye tithe Mint and Rue omneolus and all manner of hearbs And Mat. 9.35 Christ healed omnem morbum euery disease for euery kinde of disease You haue the like example Colos 1.28 In this sense Heb. 2. Christ is said to haue dyed for all VI. Furthermore there is no doubt but that the Apostle commandeth vs to pray not onely for Kings in generall but also for all seuerall Kings For we to whom the secrets of Election are vnknowne ought to hope well of euery one But he that commandeth vs to pray for Nero doth not therefore determine that God will saue Nero but onely forbiddeth vs to despaire of him VII The sense therefore of these words God would haue all men to be saued is this God doth inuite men of all sorts to saluation and doth exclude no condition of men from saluation For if God should absolutely will or should seriously desire all and particular men to be saued there would not be wanting meanes to him whereby he might effect what hee would and be made partaker of his desire his iustice yet remaining intire and mans liberty being not touched nor infringed VIII That place maketh no more to the purpose which they bring out of Rom. 14.15 Destroy not him with thy meate for whom Christ dyed For to destroy there is not to condemne but to scandalize and to offend the conscience of any by which deede as much as is in vs we would lead him to destruction For to destroy any one absolutely is not in our power So with the Apostle 2 Cor. 10.8 to destroy is the same thing as to offend with scandall and to slacken him that is doing the workes of piety IX In the second Epistle of Peter Chap 2. Vers 1. Christ is said to haue redeemed the false Prophets who denyed him but there it is not spoken of redemption from eternall death but of the freedome from ignorance and errour and the darkenesse of that age by the light of the Gospell which those false Prophets did corrupt by the mingling of false doctrine For to take redemption for any kinde of freedome is vsuall in the Scripture insomuch that resurrection is called the redemption of our bodies Rom. 8.22 Ephes 4.30 X. In the same Epistle Chap. 3. ver 9. Peter saith God is not willing that any should perish to wit because he is not the cause of the perishing of any one and because he admitteth all who are conuerted neither doth he reiect any one But he is not bound to restore to all those powers which were lost by mans fault nor to giue faith to all seeing man by his owne fault brought vpon himselfe the inability of beleeuing as wee haue proued at large in the eleauenth Chapter XI Ezechiel 18.23 God saith these words I am not delighted with the death of a sinner but that he should be conuerted and liue These words say nothing else then that God will not the death of that sinner who is conuerted But if he be not conuerted Arminius himselfe will not deny but that God doth will his death as the Iudge doth will the punishment of him that is gui ty God is not delighted with the death of a sinner as hee is a man but yet no man can deny but that God loueth the execution of his iustice XII Indeede in the 1 Tim. 4.10 God is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the sauiour of all men But the Apostle there speaketh of the preseruation in this present life and of the prouidence of God which is extended to the preseruation of all men which care Dauid Psal 36. doth extend euen to the beasts for there God is called the preseruer of men and beasts The precedent words of the Apostle doth declare this We hope in the liuing God for he speaketh of God as he doth giue life to things created by him Alike place you haue Act. 17.25 XIII Arminius pag. 220. against Perkins doth bring the promise made to Adam concerning the seede of the Woman which saith hee doth belong to all particular men I answere that by this promise it is onely promised that Sathan shall be ouercome by the seede of the Woman but that it belongeth to all and particular men it is no where said The doctrine of the Gospell preached to Adam doth not so pertaine to all his posteritie as the precepts of the naturall law because the obedience of the law is a naturall debt but the doctrine of the Gospell is a supernaturall remedy Thence it is that the sinne of Adam against the law of God is imputed to all his posteritie but his faith by which he beleeued the Gospell is not imputed to his posteritie Nor if Adam by his incredulitie had refused the promise of the seede of the woman had therefore his posteritie fell from the hope of saluation Nay what that this promise of the seede of the Woman to breake the Serpents head is manifestly restrained to the faithfull alone For Sathan doth bruise the heele of the children of God alone seeing he killeth the rest with a deadly wound XIV The Arminians being driuen from the holy Scripture flie to their reasons and as they vse the Scripture without reason so they vrge reasons without Scripture They charge vpon vs this syllogisme as it were with a great dart when yet it is but a slender twig Whatsoeuer all men are bound to beleeue is true But all men are bound to beleeue that Christ dyed for them Therefore that is true The minor part of this Syllogisme is false and doth beare many exceptions For they to whom Christ hath not beene preached and who haue heard nothing of
to permit that they being tempted by Sathan should of their owne free-will fall into sinne and should fall into the pit of eternall death as the most iust stipend of their sinne Secondly of his grace by Christ to free some of them out of the pit of sinne and death by certaine meanes and to accompany them with his spirit whom he freed and at length to giue them eternall life and to others he decreed not to vouchsafe this grace but rather to blinde them and harden them with Sathan and to destroy them with eternall destruction c. The same man in the same place The speciall predestination of the elect is the eternall most wise and immutable decree of God whereby he determined with himselfe from eternity according to the good pleasure of his will freely to deliuer by Christ some certaine and set men fallen with all the rest into the deepe pit of sinne and death The same man lib. 5. de Natura Dei cap. 2. quest 4. By ascending after this order from the effects to the causes and by descending from the causes to the effects Election and Reprobation may and ought to be considered by vs to wit that God from eternity determined by a firme decree first to create all men then to suffer them to fall into sinne and for sinne to be obnoxious to eternall death Lastly to free by that meanes which he hath freed some men by Christ and to giue them eternall life but to reiect the rest from this grace and being left in their sinnes at length to punish them eternally for their sinnes Bucer vpon the ninth Chapter to the Romanes They that will plainly and simply follow Gods word may easily free themselues from these things for they stick fast to this that God doth witnesse of himselfe viz. that he out of mankinde destroyed by their first father chose some men to be framed by him to a new and blessed life and he accounted the rest the vessels of his wrath Philip Melanchton in his Theologicall Common places loco de Praedestin doth repeate these words more then once It is certaine that this is the cause of Reprobation to wit sinne in man Vuolfangus Musculus loco de Elect. Chap. 5. It is manifest that our election is not made for any respect of our quality It must needes be therefore that we seeke the respect of our election in God electing For the sence of our owne basenesse and deprauation doth driue vs thither Dauid said What is man that thou art mindfull of him and the son of man that thou didst predestinate him when thou didst fore-know that he would be euill and depraued Dauid Paraeus in his commentary on the ninth chapter to the Romanes Page eight hundred and sixeteene will haue Iacob and Esau to be considered as sinners by God electing The cause saith he was the eternall purpose of God whereby he determined to make such difference of them Esau was wicked and Iacob was no lesse wicked for they were both conceiued in sinne and yet God loued the one and hated the other not for any inherent or fore-seene difference but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 according to election whereby he elected one but not the other The same man page 819. The pleasure or will of God calling is his purpose according to election in Christ that is the purpose of God whereby out of the perished masse he seperated some from others by choosing these and leauing the rest which purpose is called Predestination containing vnder it Election and Abiection The Pastors of the Walachrian Churches in their Epistle doe with one consent thus define Predestination This is the opinion of them who cleaue to the old and receiued confession of our Churches That God from eternity according to the immutable good pleasure of his will decreed to saue some men whom by his meere bounty in Christ Iesus he seuered out of corrupted mankinde c. Iohn Piscator a most rigorous maintainer of Predestination out of the entire and vncorrupted Masse and of reprobation without the beholding of sinne hath very lately set forth a treatise digested into ten Aphorismes the second whereof is conceiued in these words This Predestination hath two species or kindes the one whereof is called Election the other Reprobation by a Metonimy of the effect For election and reprobation are properly referred to mankinde already made and fallen but Metonimically the decree it selfe of Electing or Reprobating is so named The learned man doth at length see that it must needes be that in election and reprobation man be considered as already fallen and in the corrupted Masse But he hath deuised another higher decree whereby God doth neither elect nor reprobate but doth only decree to elect and reprobate Of which decree there is no mention made in the Scripture Finally the Synode of Dordt in the seuenth Canon doth thus define election Election is the vnchangeable purpose of God by which before the foundation of the world according to the free good pleasure of his will of his meere grace he hath chosen out of all mankinde to saluation in Christ a certaine and set number of men neither better nor more worthy then others but lying in the common misery with others and fallen from originall righteousnesse into sinne and destruction by their owne fault c. The same Fathers in the 15. Canon of Reprobation doe thus speake The holy Scripture doth manifest and commend vnto vs this eternall and free grace especially when it doth further witnesse that not all men are elected but that some are not elected or are passed by in the eternall election of God To wit those whom God according to his free iust vnreprouable and immutable good pleasure decreed to leaue in the common misery into which they had cast themselues by their owne fault and not to giue to them sauing faith and the grace of conuersion c. FINIS