and common to all another particular which is onely peculiar to the elect VIII We doe very much differ from this opinion We acknowledge that Christ died for all but we denie that by his death saluation and forgiuenesse of sinne is obtained for all men Or that reconciliation is made for Cain Pharaoh Saul Iudas c. Neither doe wee thinke that remission of sinnes is obtained for any one whose sinnes are not remitted or that saluation was purchased for him whom God from eternity hath decreed to condemne For this were a vaine purchaâ—e We denie that election is after the death of Christ as for many other causes so also because Christ in the very agony of death gaue a notable proofe of election in the theefe whose heart he affected and enlightned his minde after an vnvtterable manner the other theefe being left and neglected And seeing Christ doth euery where say that he died for his sheepe and for those whom his father gaue him he doth sufficiently declare that he died for the elect IX And when we say that Christ died for all we take it thus to wit that the death of Christ is sufficient to saue whosoeuer doe beleeue yea and that it is sufficient to saue all men if all men in the whole world did beleeue in him And that the cause why all men are not saued is not in the insufficiency of the death of Christ but in the wickednesse and incredulity of man Finally Christ may be said to reconcile all men to God by his death after the same manner that we say that the Sunne doth enlighten the eyes of all men although many are blinde many sleepe and many are hid in darkenesse Because if all and seuerall men had their eyes and were awake and were in the middest of the light the light of the Sunne were sufficient to enlighten them Neither is it any doubt but that it may be said not onely that Christ died for all men but also that all men are saued by Christ because among men there is none saued but by Christ After the same manner that the Apostle saith 1. Cor. 15.20 that all men are made aliue by Christ because no man is made aliue but by him CHAP. XXVIII That reconciliation remission of sinnes and saluation is not obtained nor purchased for all and particular men by the death of Christ I. FIrst whosoeuer saith that by the death of Christ reconciliation is obtained for all and singular men although hee consider Pharaoh and Iudas not as reprobates but simply as sinners yet hee saith that reconciliation is obtained for them who haue neuer beleeued nor neuer were to beleeue And seeing it is not equall nor iust that reconciliation should bee obtained for such the death of Christ is vsed wrongfully to obtaine something that is vniust and to doe something which is contrary to the iustice of God II. And who but hee that doth willingly shut his eyes will euer beleeue that the reconciliation of Iudas was obtained by the death of Christ seeing that the death of Christ was the very crime of Iudas and by it he was brought to the halter III. And seeing that at the very time in which Christ did die many were already tormented in hell he must needes be of a shallow braine who thinketh that by the death of Christ saluation or reconciliation was obtained for them IV. Also by this doctrine God is openly mocked For Christ is imagined to obtaine that from his father which he knew would neuer profit as if God should grant to his sonne the saluation of that man which from eternity he decreed to condemne For if Christ obtained reconciliation and remission of sinnes for Pharaoh and Iudas whether considered as Reprobates or considered as sinners hee knew well enough that that obtaining of it would not be for their good or profit Christ therefore is brought in asking this of his father I pray thee receiue into grace those whom I know thou wilt neuer receiue into grace and whom I know certainely are to be condemned For Christ in his death and before his death knew full well the secrets of election Surely these men seeme to doe their endeauour that Christian Religion should be made a laughing stocke V. Also they expose God to derision while they will haue God at the same time to loue and hate the same man to loue him because hee giueth his sonne for him and would haue reconciliation to be obtained for him but to haue hated him because from eternity he decreed to condemne him VI. And if Christ obtained remission of sins for Iudas it must needs be that God granted that to Christ asking it that he forgaue the sins of Iudas Which if it be true it necessarily followeth that God doth abolish his owne acts and condemning Iudas punished those sins which were remitted and so men should be punished for those sins the pardon whereof is obtained the testament of Christ by which they wil haue saluation to be purchased for all men should be made void VII Neither is God onely thus mocked but also he is made to mocke mankinde For it is manifest by vse and by the experience of all ages that the Gospell is scarce preached to euery tenth man and that the name of Christ is vnknowne to the greatest part of the world which thing that it is done by the prouidence of God so dispensing there is none that will deny vnlesse he that thinkes that all things are carried confusedly and that they doe proceede without reason or order And if reconciliation and saluation by Christ be purchased for all men why doth not God publish this benefit through the whole world Why doth he suffer this reconciliation to be vnknowne to the greatest part of mankinde Why doth he keepe in and hide from so many men the grace which doth belong to them and which is obtained for them without the knowledge of which no man can be saued They answere that God doth it because men shew themselues vnworthy of this grace As if any man could be worthy of it or could shew himselfe worthy of it Who knoweth not that the Gospell is preached to them that are most vnworthy And where sinne hath abounded Rom. 5.20 there grace hath abounded And if God is hindred by the vnworthinesse of man that he should not make knowne to him the reconciliation obtained the same vnworthinesse could and ought to hinder the obtaining of reconciliation For when reconciliation was obtained God did then fore-know the vnworthinesse that would follow with no lesse certainty then if it had beene present VIII And when they say that Christ died for all as concerning the obtaining of saluation but not as concerning the application of it they doe plainely confesse that Christ did not obtaine that this reconciliation should be applied to all Whence it commeth to passe that this obtaining of reconciliation is vaine yea and ridiculous For they speake as much as if
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
vnwilling wee cannot be made willing of dead aliue vnlesse God draw vs and make vs aliue XII And to ouerthrow those preparations by which the sectaries thinke that an vnregenerate man well vsing vniuersall grace and naturall light doth dispose and prepare himselfe to regeneration that which God saith Ezech. 36. doth greatly preuaile I will giue you a new heart and a new spirit will I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of you and I will giue you an heart of flesh I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walke in my statutes For seeing that God himselfe witnesseth that in those things which belong to the worship of God and to saluation man hath naturally a stony heart which hath neede to be taken away and another to be giuen by God in which God should imprint the character of faith and repentance it manifestly appeareth that an vnregenerate man cannot prepare himselfe to his regeneration For that which must be taken away and must be changed for another that we may be regenerated certainely that doth not further regeneration nor doth prepare vs to it for otherwise we should be helped by the impediments themselues XIII Arnoldus pag. 461. doth answere that this phrase of a stony and fleshly heart is figuratiue and Symbolicall diuinitie cannot proue any thing I answere that figuratiue speeches haue the force of those that are properly spoken when they are expounded by the Scripture it selfe when it is euident to what end and in what sence they are vsed Now in the same place of Ezechiel there are many words that are plaine and not figuratiue which doe make cleare this figure for in the same place God doth promise that hee will giue them a new spirit by which he would cause that they should walke in his waies XIV Wherefore Arnoldus with a superfluous diligence and nothing to the purpose doth heape together the differences betweene the heart and a stone A stone hath not life the heart hath a stone cannot be softned without the taking away of the substantiall forme the hart may the stone caÌ„not resist his own softning the heart may All besides the matter for in that one thing of which it is spoken here the comparison is most apt For euen as the stone cannot soften it selfe but it is softned onely by the power of an outward agent so the vnregenerate heart cannot conuert it selfe or dispose it selfe to regeneration but it is done onely by the efficacy of the spirit of God He that without this shall seeke comparisons shall finde infinite differences as that a stone may be engrauen and broken may be taken out of the quarries and be laid on the building c. but the heart cannot XV. The words of Saint Paul doe vexe these Semipelagians when he saith that man is dead in sinne and he speaketh of the vnregenerate man The point of which dart that they might auoide and make frustrate they doe laboriously heape together differences betweene a dead corps and an vnregenerate man which doe tend thither that they might proue that an vnregenerate man is not altogether dead in sinne and as Arnoldus saith hath some reliques of the spirituall life To which naturall reliques and remainds of vniuersall and sufficient grace he added which they say is giuen to all men euen vnregenerates and reprobates by which there is no man but may fulfill the law and obtaine faith certainely there will be found in an vnregenerate man very much life and there will be none or very little conueniency or similitude with him that is dead It is well therefore that these sectaries doe thither apply all their force that they might shew that Saint Paul doth not speake so properly as he should Arnoldus layeth downe these differences pag 466. and 468. In resurrection the soule is insused in regeneration it is onely changed in resurrection there doth no dispositions and preparations goe before but regeneration is made after some fore-going dispositions Also our resurrection is done in an instant but our regeneration by degrees Resurrection is done necessarily but regeneration is wrought our free will remaining In the dead carkasse there are no reliques of life but in an vnregenerate man there are some reliques of spirituall life God doth not speake to a dead carkas but he speaketh to them that are dead in sinne and doth propound his word to them He that is dead cannot resist his resurrection the vnregenerate man may I doe not deny but that this similitude doth not square in all things there is no doubt but that Arnoldus could haue found many other differences as that the resurrection of the body shall not be till the last day that it shall be at the trumpe of the Angell c. But it is sufficient that this similitude doth well square in that which is the principall of the matter and in that concerning which the controuersie is betweene vs to wit in this that as the dead corps is altogether vnapt to motion and cannot dispose nor prepare it selfe to the resurrection so the soule of a man that is vnregenerate and dead in sinne doth want in things spirituall and pertaining to saâ—uation all sense and motion and cannot prepare nor dispose it selfe to regeneration vntill the spirit of regeneration descend into the heart stirre vp new motions and doth worke the first beginnings of the new life By sense in spirituall things I vnderstand zeale by motion good workes And surely these things seeme to me to be repugnant vâ—z to be dead in sinne as Saint Paul saith and to haue reliques and remainds of spirituall life as Arnoldus saith For death in spirituall things doth altogether exclude spirituall life I willingly acknowledge that there are some motions of truth and spurkes of light in an vnregenerate man some obscure prints of the Image of God But these reliques are not any part of spirituall life regeration the diuels themselues haue much more light derstanding and yet they are altogether dead in sins XVI Neither are all those differences true which they doe bring First we deny that God hath respect to the dispositions of free-will or that a man by free-will can prepure himselfe to regeneration God indeede doth by a mans calamities and by his freedome out of them and by the examples of the vengance that he taketh of the wicked sometimes make way to himselfe for his regeneration Also a man by a seruile feare and dread of punishment may profitably be troubled but I maintaine that those inward motions doe then begin to be laudable and acceptable to God when they are produced by the holy spirit and not before which when it is done then I say such morions are a part of regeneration and the first motions pulses of the new man although weake yet sure beginnings of the new life not preparations of the free-will which goe before regeneration and by which God is
due to vs for the sinne of Adam vnlesse we be freed by Christ The Arminians doe not much differ from this opinion who doe not care who they imitate so they inuent something that may make for the safeguard of their errour Pag. 388. in Tilenum Arnoldus after Arminius doth teach that Originall sinne hath no respect of vice or sinne properly so called for nothing is sinne or vice vnlesse it be committed by the free-will In the same place hee denieth that Originall sin deserues punishment but saith that it is a punishment And he doth confesse Pag. 389. 390. that Arminius doth deny that Originall sinne is sinne properly so called Arminius himselfe Resp ad 9. Quaest P. 174. hath these words It is peruersely said that Originall sinne doth make a man guilty of death XIII The reasoning then of Saint Paule the Apostle doth fall to the ground Rom. 5.13.14 where speaking of sinne which hath flowed from Adam into his posterity when he had said That sinne was in the world vntill the Law hee afterward proues it by the death of the infants who were dead before the daies of Moses Death saith he raigned from Adam to Moses euen ouer them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adams transgression that is ouer infants which had not sinned actually Hee thereby proueth that sinne was in those infants because death is the fruit and punishment of sinne Seeing therefore the death of infants is a punishment of Originall sinne if this Originall sinne were not truely sinne but onely the punishment of sinne then this death of infants would be the punishment of a punishment and not the punishment of sinne but to say that God doth punish punishments and not sinnes is vncomely for any especially for those who professe themselues to be maintainers of Gods iustice XIV And if the Originall blot of infants is not sinne but onely the punishment of sinne they are baptised in vaine For baptisme is not profitable to wash away punishments but to wash away sinnes In vain are they washed that are without the filth of sin Why is it necessary men should be borne againe but because they are dead in sinne Whence is that peruersenes by which naturally men are prone to euill but from vice and what is this vice but sinne XV. But you say it is not sinne vnlesse it be voluntary I confesse it if you speake of actuall sinnes but if you speake of the naturall staine and blot it is not necessary that this naturall blot be procured by euery one 's owne will it is enough if it be contrary to the Law For this is the best difinition of sinne that Saint Iohn layeth downe that sinne is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the breach of the Law And it cannot be doubted but that that is contrary to the law which doth stirre vp a man to rebell against the law For although Originall sinne hath not yet stirred vp the infant to sinne in act yet is it apt and prone to stirre him vp No otherwise then the Snake which hath not yet infected any one with her poysoning biting hath yet an engrafted poyson in her and a naturall readinesse to hurt Originall sinne also may be said to be voluntary because by it we sinne voluntarily and also because we sinned in Adam and therefore in him wee were desirous of this corruption Finally wee must rather beleeue Saint Paul that teacheth vs that sinne is in infants then these men who strike themselues with their owne stings and entangle themselues XVI For seeing that the Arminians teach that by the death of Christ all mankinde is reconciled to God and that remission of sinnes is obtained for all men I demand for what sinnes are infants punished and doe fall into torments of body and doe suffer the assaults of Diuels Is it for the sinne of Adam that the Arminians affirme is forgiuen them Is it for any actuall sinne they haue committed none It remaines therefore that they are punished for Originall sinne Vide Aransic Concil secund Chap. 2. vnlesse we will brand God with the marke of iniustice as he that torments the innocents and they that are guilty of no sinne CHAP. IX How the sinne of Adam may belong to his posteritie and how many waies it may passe to his of spring And first of the imputation and whether the sinnes of the Grandfather and great-Grandfathers are imputed to their posterity I. THe sinne of Adam doth passe to his posterity by two meanes by imputation propagation II. The punishments which all men suffer in the name of Adam doe argue that the sinne of Adam is imputed to vs This the Apostle teacheth Rom. 5.12 Death passed on all men by one man in whom all men sinned 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or because all men sinned in him For the sinne of Adam was not onely personall neither did hee sinne as a singular person but as carrying all mankinde in the stocke and originall no otherwise then Christ satisfying for vs on the crosse hath not suffred as a priuate person but as sustaining and representing the whole Church in the head Saint Paul 2 Cor. 5.15 speaketh thus If one dyed for all all likewise were dead And Rom. 6. doth affirme that we are dead and crucified with Christ If therefore we dyed in Christ dying and were crucified with him it is no doubt but that it may likewise be said that we sinned in Adam For if the satisfaction and righteousnesse of the second Adam be imputed to vs why shall not the sinne of the first Adam be imputed to vs seeing that therefore the righteousnesse of Christ is imputed to vs that the sinne of Adam might not be imputed to vs III. Reason it selfe doth consent to this for if Adam had receiued good things not for himself alone but for his posterity it is no maruell if being spoiled of these good things he lost them for himselfe and his posterity If any one be capitally punished for treason and brought to extreame pouerty his children also with him doe loose their Nobility Nor is any thing more equall then that the sonne should pay his fathers debts and that as they are heires of their estates so they might be heires of their debts IV. But in this similitude there is one and that a notable difference that is when the debter hath wasted the inheritance and there is more in debt then in goods the sonne may renounce the inheritance and leaue his fathers goods But here this yeelding vp cannot be made because to the guilt by the sinne of Adam there commeth also the naturall deprauation and contagion like as he that is borne of parents infected which leprosie which contagion cannot be put off when they please V. Although these things are grounded vpon the word of God and the very rule of iustice yet they seeme to be charged and followed with great discommodities First that in Ezekiell Chap. 18. v. 20. doth offer it selfe The
condition which they might fulfill It might therefore haue come to passe that before this wicked deede they might haue beene conuerted and become faithfull and so had not crucified Christ And truely it cannot be said that Iudas and Caiaphas were elected to saluation vnder the condition of beleeuing in the death of Christ seeing they were appointed to that very thing that by their incredulity and wickednesse Christ might be deliuered to death but if Iudas and Caiaphas had beleeued in Christ Christ had not beene deliuered to death and therefore this decree whereby the Arminians will haue God to haue elected Iudas and Caiaphas and Pilate vnder this condition if they would beleeue in Christ doth infolde a contradiction For they doe as much as if they should bring in God speaking thus I appointed to saue Iudas and Caiaphas if they will beleeue in the death of Christ But if they shall beleeue and shall be faithfull Christ should not be deliuered to death nor be crucified Also of the foure decrees of the Arminians the two former are contrary one to another For by the first decree God decreed to vse the incredulity and perfidiousnesse of Iudas to deliuer Christ to death But by the second decree God elected Iudas vnder the condition of faith in the death of Christ Therefore by the former decree Iudas is absolutely considered as an vnbeleeuer and a reprobate but by the second he is considered as one conditionally elected The schoole of Arminius is painted about with these monsters and Chimeraes contrary one to another which would moue laughter if the church were not troubled by them and the wisedome of God exposed to reproach VII Furthermore by that generall decree whereby all men are said to be elected vnder the condition of faith to be performed Greuinch p. 101 DecretuÌ„ conditionale de quolibet si credat seruando Pag. 2. Decreuit salutem conferre sub conditione fidei prestande ab ijs qui. bus salutem ap plitaret God is openly mocked For it is a foolish decree which is made vnder a condition which condition he that decreed it knew certainely in the very moment he decreed it that it would not be fulfilled especially if this condition cannot be fulfilled but by the helpe and power of him who decrees it For by such a decree God should set a law to himselfe not to man But it is manifest by experience that God doth not minister to all men the meanes that are necessary to the fulfilling of this condition For he will not haue his Gospell preached to all neither doth he giue the spirit of regeneration to all VIII Finally what is to be iudged of this generall election appeares by the consectaries and conclusions which are drawne thence whereof that is the chiefest and farre the worst whereby they denie that the number of the elect is certaine and determined by the will of God electing whence it followeth that the election of particular persons is not certaine by the will of God For if it were certaine by the decree of God that this or that man were of the number of the elect then of seuerall persons ioyned together the whole summe and certaine number would be made vp But that which Arnoldus saith Arnold P. 192. Numerum statuitis certum esse ex precisa dei ordinatione determinatum qui nec angeri nâ—â— minui possit idque ex eadem ordinatione longe viro aliter Euangelium vera predestinationis doctrina que in genera tantum docet quales sunt electi Pag. 192. That the number of the elect may be increased or diminished is such a thing that there is no good man who doth not tremble at the hearing of it For what is it in God to diminish the number of the elect but to change his opinion and to take from the number of the elect those which indeede being not sufficiently well considered of and as hauing cast his accounts amisse he had brought into the white roule of the elect which should rather haue beene carried into the blacke booke of reprobates IX Of the same euill stampe is that of Greuinchouius against Ames Pag. 136. making a halfe an incompleate and so a reuocable election In the Scriptures saith hee men are called elect 1. incompleately according to the present state in as much as they are such to wit faithfull men for the present time the last tearme of their life being excepted in which 2. Election is fulfilled Behold a depending election by which euery most wicked man is incompleately elect and the decree of God is incompleate vntill it be made compleate by man which surely are not dogmata but portenta not doctrines but monstrous opinions which neuer came into the minde of any one of whom the name of Christ is any where heard of X. But the Scripture teacheth that the number of the elect is certaine Reuel 6. The soules which are vnder the Altar are commanded to waite while the number of the brethren is fulfilled Also that which Christ saith of the sheepe that were giuen him euen before their conuersion Iohn 10.1 As also that he saith that all shall come to him as many as are giuen him by the father Iohn 6.37 And that none of his sheepe can be taken out of his hand Iohn 10.28 doe all plainely declare that the number of them is determined by the purpose of God Saint Luke doth also accord in whom Chap. 10. v. 20. Christ thus speaketh to the Apostles Reioyce not that the spirits are subiect to you but rather reioyce that your names are written in heauen No lesse expressely doth the Apostle to the Hebrewes speake Chap. 12. v. 22.23 where hee calleth the church the heauenly Ierusalem the assembly of the first borne which are written in Heauen Hitherto pertaines that book of life concerning which it is spoken in other places And Reuel 20. where they are said to be cast into the lake of fire which are not found written in the booke of life The Arminians Pag. 96. of the conference at Hage doe with a vaine interpretation expound those words of Christ Reioyce that your names are written in the booke of life For they will not haue these words to be taken of election to saluation but they will haue this to be the sence of it Reioyce that according to the present state of faith righteousnesse and obedience ye are accounted for pious and godly men yea for the sonnes of God O good God where is modesty Here is neyther reason nor colour for this For to be accounted faithfull by men is not to haue their names written in heauen Nor was there any cause that the Apostle should so reioyce because men thought well of them seeing that often times happeneth to him that is most wicked and this had beene much lesse then that the diuels did tremble at their voice and fled from them which yet Christ reckons to be but a small thing in
cause of this difference is in readinesse to wit in the one faith was fore-seene in the other vnbeleefe was foreseene Did Saint Paul seeme to Arminius eyther not to be quick of vnderstanding or to be scrupulous without cause But least he should be compelled to say this he hath deuised I know not what subtilties and monsters of interpretations Such as are these Of him that calleth that is of Faith And of God that sheweth mercy that is that iustifieth not for workes but for Faith which mercy notwithstanding is common to many reprobates Then also that speech I will haue mercy on whom I will haue mercy by cuius whom hee would haue qualium what sort of men to be vnderstood And it is not of him that willeth to wit righteousnesse is not For he denyeth that these are to be vnderstood of saluation as if saluation were of him that willeth Euen as to haue mercy if Arminius be beleeued is not to saue but to giue the meanes to righteousnesse And many more such like which are eyther inconuenient or wrested which we haue examined in the 15. chapter XI Adde to these that which is in the eleuenth to the Romanes Rom. 11.5 At this present there is a remnant according to the election of Grace By this remnant or reserued portion are vnderstood those Iewes who cleaued to Christ and who did not fall from the couenant with the rest We haue here therefore the cause why these perseuered in the Faith and haue not fallen from grace to wit because the reseruation was made according to the election of grace Therefore perseuerance in Faith is according to the election of grace and not election according to perseuerance in Faith as Arminius would haue it Arminius that he might shift off this place saith that it is here spoken of election to righteousnesse not of election to Faith which although it be false yet it doth not infringe the force and euidence of this place For whosoeuer is elected to righteousnesse is elected to Faith And surely I cannot sufficiently maruaile at that which Arminius saith Pag. 222. What is that which is by grace Armin. in Perk. pag. 222. It is election to Faith nothing lesse but it is election to righteousnesse as if there were any righteousnesse without Faith Or as if he who refuseth Faith doth not also refuse righteousnesse Surely these things sound of Socianisme and doe shew that there is vnder them some hidden vlcer Also what is it to the purpose to contend that it is here spoken of election to righteousnesse seeing according to Arminius this is not certaine by the will of God but doth depend on mans free-will XII Arnoldus Pag. 346. dealeth more warily He thinks that it is spoken here of the reiection of the Iewes and taking in of the Gentiles But the word remnant or reseruation doth confute this for from hence as also from the former verses it is manifest that he doth enquire the cause why a few of the Iewes onely a remnant doe belong to the couenant being afterwards to explaine how the Gentiles were engrafted into the place of the rest which were reiected and cut off Finally against these places of Scripture the Arminians although they be acute and witty men doe so flye the encounter they doe fight so recoylingly they doe so intangle themselues that they seeme eyther to be vnwilling to be vnderstood or to distrust their owne cause Furthermore if they say true no man yet had vnderstood what Christian Religion is CHAP. XXII The same Election in respect of Faith fore-seene is confuted by Reason I. REason it selfe doth agree to the Scripture For if perseuerance in Faith be considered in Election as a thing already performed no man is elected but he is considered as dead and as hauing finished his course for no man can be said to haue perseuered vntill the end but hee which is come vnto the end II. Hence also it appeareth that Arminius is contrary to himselfe For hee saith Election is of them that beleeue But they that are dead cease to beleeue Therefore that Arminius might be constant to himselfe hee ought to say that Election is of them that cease to beleeue and not of them that beleeue III. Also if election to glory be made for some fore-seene vertue Christ himselfe as hee was man was not predestinated to glory for he was not carried to such a height of glory for the fore-seeing eyther of faith or workes or any vertue for whatsoeuer vertue or holinesse is in Christ as he is man doth flow from the personall vnion with the diuinity and from the purity of his conception by which he was free from originall sinne Therefore this his holinesse cannot be said to be fore-seene but to be decreed Nor was he predestinated for holinesse but to holinesse And that the election of the head should be contrary to the election of the members and that the head should be elected to vertue the members for vertue no reason doth admit IV. Adde to these that while election is said to be for faith fore-seene there is appointed an election which doth not belong to infants that are taken away by an immature and vntimely death because they want faith V. Yea election for faith fore seene cannot be called election but it is an admission and receiuing of them who come to Christ by Faith and of them who by their free-will vsing Grace well doe first choose God in whom they put their trust before they be chosen by God Christ on the contary side saith Iohn 15.16 Ye haue not chosen me but I haue chosen you The Arminians while they contend that it is here spoken onely of election to their Apostâ—ship doe not obscurely confesse that this place doth hurt them if it be there spoken of election to saluation their will is therefore in the worke of saluation that God be chosen by man before man be chosen by God Goe to then let vs grant that it is here spoken onely of election to their Apostleship for that doth not a little further our cause For if the Apostles were elected to their Apostleship not for any fore-seene vertue but were elected to receiue those vertues and gifts by which they might execute their Apostleship it is much more likely that man is not elected to saluation for any fore-seene vertue seeing eternall saluation is a farre greater benefit then the Apostleship and further remoued from the power of man and more exceeding our capacity and therefore it is a thing whereunto we haue much more neede of the helpe of God and which is lesse in the power of mans free-will then the obtaining of an Apostleship VI. By the same doctrine faith in Christ is made a thing of mans free-will in the power whereof it is to vse grace or not to vse it to beleeue or not to beleeue and to vse or not to vse those powers to beleeue which are giuen vnresistably Surely Arminius had
frowardnesse by what meanes it doth blow vp a man while he burst and lift him vp on high that it might throw him downe headlong For one that is filled with Armianisme may say thus God indeede is willing to saue me but he may be disappointed of his will hee may be defrauded of his naturall defires which are farre the best Those whom God will saue by his Antecedent will hee will destroy by his Consequent will Also his election doth rest on the fore-seeing of mans will I were a miserable man if my saluation depended vpon so vnstable a thing The same man will also reason thus God giueth to all men sufficient grace but hee hath not manifested Christ to all men therefore there is some grace sufficient without the knowledge of Christ Also the same man will easily beleeue that God doth mocke men for he hath learned in the schoole of Arminius that God doth seriously desire intend the saluation of all and singular men and yet that neuerthelesse he doth call very many by a meanes that is not congruent that is by a meanes in a time and measure which is not apt nor fit by which meanes whosoeuer is called doth neuer follow God calling But what doe I know whether he calleth by a congruent and agreeable meanes or no Adde also these famous opinions that vnregenerate men doe good workes that they are meeke thirsting after and doing the will of the Father that faith is partly from grace and partly from free-will Nay what that any maintainer of the sect of Arminius shall dare to set lawes to God himselfe and to say that God is bound to giue to all men power of beleeuing And that the iustice of God doth require that he may giue to man that which is his owne and that man himselfe may determine and open his owne heart to receiue the word of God O your fidelity Are these your famous incitations to holinesse of life Doth Arminius traine vp men to piety by these instructions Surely if any one is stirred vp to good workes by these things hee is thereby the more corrupted For God had rather haue sinnes with repentance then righteousnesse with pride God will not stirre vp men to repentance with the losse eyther of our faith or his glory Nor are we onely to doe our endeauour that men be stirred vp to repentance but we must also see that it be done by meanes that are conuenient and not contumelious against God CHAP. XXV Whether Christ be the cause and foundation of Election I. WE say that no man is saued but by and for Christ and that Christ is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and price of our redemption the foundation and meritorious cause of our saluation But we doe not say that he is the cause of election or the cause why of two considered in the corrupted masse one is preferred before another There are not wanting examples of most wicked men to one whereof God so dispensing the Gospell hath beene preached whence it came to passe that he was conuerted and did beleeue but to the other the Gospell hath not beene preached The Scripture doth not say that the death of Christ is the cause of this but doth fetch the cause from the good pleasure of God who hath mercy on whom he will For the loue of the father doth alwaies goe before the mediation of the sonne seeing that the loue of the father to the world was the cause why he sent his sonne Yea truely seeing Christ himselfe as he is man is elected and the head of the elect hee cannot be the foundation and cause of election For as hee is the head of men as he is a man so is he the head of them that are predestinated as he is a man predestinated to so great honour which came to him by the meere grace of God II. Wherefore the Apostle calleth Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the price of our redemption and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the propitiation Coloss 1. Rom. 3. but he doth not say that he is the cause why some men should be elected rather then others III. Reason it selfe doth consent For as the recouery of the sicke-man doth in the intention alwaies goe before the vsing of the Phisitian so it must needes be that in the minde of God the thought of sauing men was not in time but in order before the thought of sending the Sauiour IV. Adde to these that the mediation and redemption of Christ is an action whereby the iustice of God is satisfied which is not signified by the word Election for it is one thing to be a mediator and another thing to be the cause of Election or of the preferring of one before another in the secret counsell of God Whence it is that Christ is the meritorious cause of our saluation but not of our election which is as much as if I should say that Christ is the foundation and cause of the execution of the decree of Election but not the cause of Election it selfe V. It is of no small moment that Christ Iohn 15.13 saith That he layeth downe his life for his friends chap. 10. v. 11. he calleth himselfe the good shepheard that layeth downe his life for his sheepe And if Christ be dead for his friends and for his sheepe it must needs be that when he died for them he did consider them as being already friends and sheepe although many of them were not then called as Christ himselfe doth testifie who in the sixteenth verse of the same chapter doth call those also his sheepe who were not yet conuerted And if Christ dying for vs considered vs as his friends and sheepe it is plaine that before the death of Christ there was already destinction made betweene his friends and enemies betweene the sheep and goates and therefore that the decree of Election was in order before the death of Christ and that the opinion of Arminius is to be hissed out as an opinion subuerting the Gospell whereby hee thinkes that the election had not place when Christ died Certainly he that died for his sheepe died for the elect and not for them who were to be elected after hee was dead By these things it is plaine that by those friends and sheepe for which Christ died are not vnderstood those onely who loue God and follow Christ but all those whom God loueth and whose saluation hee decreed for whom Christ died when they did not yet loue God and when they were enemies to him And therefore they are called enemies Rom. 5.10 because they did not loue God but yet euen then they were highly loued by God and were appointged to saluation in Christ For in a diuers respect they were both friends and enemies sheepe and goates Friends because God loued them enemies because they did not yet loue God VI. Neither is iniurie done to Christ if the loue of the Father and his good pleasure be said to goe in order
that they should beleeue Truely if it be so then Christ hath not made intercession for all For that which is asked on a condition take away the condition and it is not asked He that saith to God I pray to thee for all so they beleeue doth plainely declare that he doth not pray for them which doe not beleeue Wherefore Christ himselfe doth restraine his sending into the world and therefore also his intercession to the faithfull alone Iohn 3.13 God so loued the world that he sent his onely begotten sonne that whosoeuer beleeueth in him should not perish but haue euerlasting life There you see that not onely the fruit or application of the donation and giuing of the Sonne that I may so speake but also the donation it selfe doth belong onely to beleeuers XXV But it is worth the labour to know what that particular intercession is with which as these sectaries doe confesse Christ Iohn 17. doth make intercession for the faithfull alone and to know what it is that he asketh by it Father saith he keepe them And a little after I pray thee that thou wouldest keepe them from the euill If this intercession be peculiar to the faithfull I doe not see what remaineth for the generall intercession For without these things all intercession is vaine And seeing in the Lords prayer these two things are asked ioyntly and together to wit remission of sinnes and freedome from euill who would endure such a bold forgery whereby the Arminians doe pull asunder these things and will haue Christ to obtaine remission of sinnes for all but not freedome from the euill XXVI And if Christ prayeth for all he prayeth also for them whom hee knoweth doe sinne the sinne vnto death for which Saint Iohn doth not suffer vs to pray Iohn 5.16 XXVII Yea the Arminians here are not constant to themselues when they say that Christ did intercede by a particular intercession for the faithfull and for those whom the father gaue to the Sonne for seeing they teach that the faithfull godly men may fall from the faith be condemned it appeareth that they will haue Christ to intercede for many reprobates by a particular intercession if many of the faithfull are reprobates XXVIII Arminius p 70. against Perkins doth bring for this purpose many things which I doe not know whether they will be alowed by his followers First he thinks that Christ doth sacrifice himself for many for whom he doth not make intercession because his sacrificing was before his intercessiō For he wil haue the sacrificing of Christ to pertaine to his meriting his intercession to pertain to the application of his merit These things seeme to me to be repugnant not onely to the truth but euen to common sence For whosoeuer doth prepare himselfe to be a purging sacrifice for another doth necessarily pray that the sacrifice which he is to offer may be pleasing and acceptable for him for whom he doth offer himselfe for a sacrifice And whosoeuer doth offer a price of redemption doth first intreate this price may be receiued as that Chryses in Homer speaking thus Iliad ◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Release to me my louing daughter and accept the gifts See in the first place his prayers and then the offering of the price Therefore intercession doth necessarily goe before the sacrifice Arminius addes It is true indeede that Christ in the daies of his flesh offered vp prayers and teares to God the father but those prayers were not made for the obtaining of those good things he merited for vs that is for the obtaining of saluation but for the assistance of the spirit that he might stand in the combat An impious and wicked opinion for by it it is denyed that Christ prayed for our saluation before he died when yet Iohn 17. hee prayeth thus before his death Keepe them in thy name And Father I desire that those which thou hast giuen me may be with me that they may see the glory which thou hast giuen me Arminius himselfe is ashamed of so false a doctrine for by a certaine doubtfull Epanorthosis or correction he doth seeme to condemne that which hee said for he addes But if he did then offer prayers for the obtaining of this application they did depend on his sacrifice that was to be finished as if it were finished That speech But if is the speech of one doubting when yet it is a thing most certaine But what is this against Perkins who saith that Christ doth not sacrifice himselfe for them for whom hee doth not pray Surely these things which Arminius doth heape vp are nothing to the purpose nor doe they touch the matter For although the prayers which Christ offered vp for our saluation before his death are grounded on the merit of his death that was to come yet that remaineth which Perkins saith that Christ doth not sacrifice himselfe for them for whom hee doth not pray For the death of Christ had not beene a sacrifice vnlesse hee had prayed that it might be accepted of the father for their life for whom he died For griefe and torment is not of its owne nature a sacrifice vnlesse there be also such a petition XXIX I doe not deny but that Christ in his death prayed for them that crucified him But I denie that he prayed for all without exception but for them alone who did it by ignorance for he saith Father forgiue them for they know not what they doe Luke 23.24 Whom a little after as Saint Luke doth testifie were conuerted to the faith Act. 2. and Chap. 3.17 Doth not Christ say this with an humane affection and not as the redeemer For as he was man he might wish well to those whom as he was God he knew were reprobates Thus hee wept ouer the inhabitants of Ierusalem the fall and reiection of which Citty as he was God he had decreed XXX And when the sectaries doe deny that Christ on the crosse sustained the person of the elect they doe openly impugne that speech of Christ Iohn 10.11 I am that good shepheard the good shepheard giueth his life for his sheepe And Iohn 15.13 Greater loue then this hath no man that one should lay downe his life for his friends And Ephes 5.25 Christ loued his Church and gaue himselfe for it Christ therefore died for his sheepe for his friends for his Church and what are these but the faithfull and elect Can Pharaoh Iudas c. in any respect be called the sheepe of Christ The Arminians answere that they are called sheepe not in respect of the present condition but of that to come A vaine thing For the condition to come was already present in the decree of God in respect of which decree they are called sheep before their conuersion Iohn 10.16 For they are called sheepe not onely because they were to gather themselus to the fould of Christ but because God in his eternall counsell decreed to giue them faith by
gouerned by the will In these actions the will is free vnlesse when some externall force compels or some vnauoidable necessity doth vrge men being vnwilling XII There are also some actions that are ciuill as to sell to buy to bargaine to play to build to paint In these things the will of man is free and doth freely incline it selfe to one or other For hee that doth these things at the command of another yet is willing to obey him that commandeth and therefore is driuen to doe it not onely by anothers will but also by his owne Of this liberty the Apostle speaketh Corinth 7.37 He that standeth stedfast in his heart hauing no necessity but hath power ouer his owne will hath so decreed in his heart that he will keep his virgin doth well For in this place the Apostle vnderstandeth by that which is done well not that which is done agreeable to Gods law but that which is done prudently and fitly to the present time and purpose XIII Also in actions that are ciuilly honest the will of man is moued by its owne pleasure as when a heathen man helpes vp him that is fallen or sheweth the way to him that is out of it XIV The like liberty is in the obseruation of Ecclesiasticall pollicy and in those workes commanded by the law of God which doe belong to an outward operation for the most wicked men doe performe holy rites and religious ceremonies doe bestow almes doe heare and reade the word of God XV. But especially in euill actions man is free For hee is not onely of his owne accord carried to sinne but also of two or more euills most freely hee doth choose eyther and doth voluntarily apply himselfe to that to which his minde leads him Wherefore seeing man that is naturally euill is gouerned by his owne euill will and that one is for that cause said to be free because he doth what he listeth it is manifest that man is therefore the seruant of sinne because he is in subiection to his owne will and because he doth sinne voluntarily and freely and that man is therefore a seruant because he is free XVI They that say that an vnregenerate man by this seruitude naturall deprauation doth necessarily sin ought not to be reprehended for an vnregenerate man must needes sin Thus the diuels doe necessarily sinne but yet freely for they sinne being not constrained nor determined and appointed to any one thing onely by any outward cause forcing them But they are led by their owne motion by their ingrafted wickednesse and with their knowledge after the same manner that the Saints that are glorified are necessarily and immutably good but yet voluntarily and freely For it is not credible that the Saints haue lost their liberty by their glorification There is a kinde of necessity which is voluntary neither is liberty contrary to necessity but to constraint and seruitude Wherefore Saint Austin Enchirid. Chap. August lib. 22. de ciuit Cap. 30. Nec ideo libertō arbitrium non habebunt quia peccata eos delectare non poterunt c. Enchirid cap. 105. Multo liberius◠erit arbitrium quod omnino non poterit seruire peccato 105. ciuitat lib. 22. Cap. vlt. doth teach that by the necessity of not sinning which shall be in the Saints their free-will shall be rather increased and confirmed then diminished What is more free then God And yet he is necessarily good and doth good things For as Thomas saith Tom 8. De libro arbitrio Quest 24. Art 3. It is no part of free-will to be able to choose euill The same man doth in many places say that constraint and not necessity is contrary to the liberty of the will but especially in the same Tome Quest 10. De process diuin personarū Art 2. XVII There are moreouer habits and actions that is vertues and workes which doe helpe forward to saluation and which are proper to the faithfull Such as are the true knowledge and feruent loue of God saith and repentance and holy actions flowing from these vertues In and about these things the will of a man that is vnregenerate and standing in his pure and meere naturals is not free here is no free-will of man no inclination no disposition Surely it had beene a very hard thing to finde in Paul raging against the Church and in the theefe crucified for his robberies whom Christ conuerted in the very agony of his death any dispositions or preparations to repentance XVIII I doe not deny but that there are memorized many things of heathen men which were done honestly and profitably for ciuill society for concord and for the defence of their countrie But seeing Without faith we cannot please God Heb. 11.6 And seeing that that action alone is acceptable to God which is done with Faith for Whatsoeuer is done without faith is sinne Rom. 14.23 and which is referred to the glory of God as the Apostle commandeth 1. Cor. 10.31 It is plaine that those honest deedes of the heathen were not without fault and that they could not come to saluation by such ciuill vertues nor that any one could by them be disposed to faith or true repentance The right outward duties of ciuill vertues are of one sort the duties of faith and Christian piety are of another sort And truly in my iudgement the heathen iudge who in giuing sentence and in diuiding possessions doth iudge equally and well is no more iust before the tribunall of God then the theeues who equally and iustly diuide the pray among themselues For whosoeuer doth want faith in Christ is not the Sonne of God and therefore cannot be an heire and iust possessor of worldly goods although he excell in ciuill vertues For a kinde of doubtfull light and some seedes of equity are left in man for ciuill society And they to whom the light of the Gospell doth shine if they giue themselues ouer to vices should be confounded with shame being vrged by these examples XIX But after God hath enlightned the minde of any one with his light and hath touched his heart with repentance and hath wrought in him faith in Christ then the will of man beginneth to moue it selfe willingly and freely to holy actions to which it is not forced by phisicall or naturall necessity but it is so turned by a milde and effectuall eyther perswasion or influence that the will may freely and willingly follow God calling For otherwise that were not a good worke whereunto one should be drawne by constraint or should be compelled by a naturall necessity He that doth good vnwillingly doth wickedly Such a man is sufficiently rewarded if God pardon his obedience for although God hate euill yet he will not therefore compell to good Because a good worke is not good but when it is voluntarily XX. And although man is freely moued to the workes of piety yet the whole praise of the good worke is due to God who worketh in vs
come and that heart-turning might of the holy-Ghost whose efficacy cannot be explained Surely there is a certaine perswasiue necessity and a perswasion more mighty then any command which doth so bend those that are willing that they would rather endure any thing then not to will what they desire Reason it selfe doth adde credit to these things and the nature of mans will in which it is engrafted to moue it selfe to the prescript and perswasion of the minde vnlesse when the indocible affections doe resist reason But as often as reason doth conspire and agree with the affections it is impossible but the will should moue it selfe thither whether the minde doth perswade it and the appetites doe incite it for what should call it away seeing it can be moued with no other impulsion Nor is it any doubt that God who doth throughly know our soules and the most fit occasions by which the soule being apprehended cannot resist him calling and doth know in what part it is more flexible should not be able so to enlighten the minde and imprint on the fancy which hath the naturall command ouer the appetites so cleere an image so terrifie the conscience by the propounding of punishments so stirre it vp by laying before it the eternall rewards so gently inuite and so fitly perswade that presently all resistance should cease and all contrariety fall to the ground Wherefore Arnoldus against Tilenus pag. 251. spake inconsiderately when hee said that the liberty of the will consisted in this that all things which are required to an action being granted and being present the will might suspend and stoppe the action He ought to haue said that the liberty of the will consisteth in this that it doth with a free and spontaneus motion apply it selfe to those things which the vnderstanding and the appetites doe perswade or if the appetites doe disagree with reason and diuers obiects are propounded that the will may by a free election moue it selfe to what part it will Let the soules which doe enioy the sight of God in heauen be for an example to whom all things are fully supplied which are required to stirre vp the will to loue God yet their will cannot suspend that action nor forbid and auert that act of loue wherewith they loue God Neither can it be said although it maketh little to the present matter that the cause why they cannot hate God is because occasions of hatred and incitations to sinne are wanting For the Angels before the fall had no greater occasion The same occasions of sinning which ouerthrew the Angels were neuer wanting The too much admiration and too great loue of themselues and by it a more slacke contemplation and a more backward loue of God carried those most excellent creatures headlong and stirred them vp to rebellion The will indeede is affected to two or more things and betweene two propounded obiects doth freely choose vnlesse when the last and best end is desired But it doth often so strongly apply it selfe to some one thing that it cannot resist it selfe And if the efficacy of the holy-Ghost turning the heart working in the elect shal also come to it which doth so draw gouern the raines of the affections that it may bend and turne the will following of its owne accord what meruaile is it if such a rider cannot be finally shaken off although the appetites doe so much resist and doe hardly giue ouer that rule and command which besides right and equity they haue ceased on All these these things pertaine thither that we may teach that the euent of conuersion is not thereby vncertaine or as these innouators speake resistible although God should moue the heart by a morall perswasion and should allure the will by a congruent and meete invitation But yet whosoeuer shall heare the Scripture or shall descend to examples and to experience shall finde that the efficacy of the holy-Ghost working in mens hearts ought not to be restrained to morall perswasion For it is a hard thing to conceiue in ones minde what perswasion God vsed in the conuersion of Saint Paul who was cast downe as it were with lightning and whose stubbornnesse kicking against the pricks was broken The same may be said of the Theefe into whom in the midst of torments and in the very agony of death God did infuse faith after an vnvtterable manner For what Doe these Sectaries thinke that he obtained faith by vse and by the frequent actions of pietie Surely that cannot be said seeing that in one moment he came from the height of incredulitie and from most desperately wicked manners to a most strong faith Was he inuited by a gentle perswasion No surely For whatsoeuer things were present before him were so many disswasions and they so powerfull that the faith of the Apostles themselues did then faile The very torments which the miserable man did then suffer could easily haue taken away the sense of that allurement and perswasion vnlesse the secret power of the spirit of Christ had broken through all obstacles Would the Apostle Paul Ephes 1.19.20 and Coloss 2.12 say that that power of God whereby he doth effectually worke in the hearts of beleeuers is the same with that whereby hee raised Christ from the dead if hee should onely conuert mens hearts by a morall perswasion and by a gentle invitation Saul being fully determined to kill Dauid came to Naioth whither Dauid was fled 1 Sam. 19. but as soone as he came thither vnmindfull of Dauid he is catched with a propheticall inspiration Where is there here any morall perswasion or invitation If therefore God changeth the mindes of wicked men without any morall perswasion why shall hee not exercise the same power towards his elect And I doe not see how those speeches of creating a new heart of raising man from the dead and of giuing new life by which the Scripture doth expresse our conuersion may be applyed to note out morall perswasion The new man is not created by perswasion but by the infusion of new life and it must needes be that some supernaturall thing must come which cannot be explained by man And if God should allure men to beleeue by a meere perswasion and invitation God should not be the efficient cause of faith For hee that doth onely exhort and perswade that we may beleeue doth not giue beleeuing it selfe no nor he who doth suggest the powers of beleeuing as we haue said before but hee doth moue metaphorically and intentionally as wee are moued by Obiects and by a knowne end And that here is something else beside perswasion may hence be gathered in that you see some men are vehemently set on fire by a small perswasion some on the other side who know the truth are yet in the midst of some euident and most certaine perswasions cold and not at all affected Former times and our owne age hath brought forth many Martyrs who haue beene vnlearned and but lightly
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
grace that grace may be ouercome and finally extinguished This which is the thing to be proued and is the state of the question they leaue vntouched XIV Being driuen from the Scripture they flye to Reason and thus frame a Syllogisme That which is required of vs in the Gospell for due and filiall obedience that is not wronght in vs by an vnresistible power But faith and repentance are required of vs in the Gospell for due and filiall obedience Therefore they are not wrought in vs by an vnresistible power The Minor hath no neede of proofe The Maior they proue thus because that which is onely done in man by another so that he onely behaueth himselfe passiuely in it cannot be called obedience All these things are grounded on a double calumny The first is whereby they faigne that wee teach that conuersion is wrought in vs vnresistibly The other whereby they attribute to vs that we say conuersion and faith is wrought by God without vs and that men in conuersion behaue themselues onely passiuely Truely we acknowledge no such conuersion in which man should doe nothing but onely suffer we know that man is so drawne by a sweet and effectuall motion and that his will is so bent and turned that of vnwilling he is made willing and doth worke and is moued of his owne accord We know that it is man himselfe that doth beleeue and repent and not God But we say that God doth giue to man that he may be able to beleeue and repent No otherwise then the fruit doth moue it selfe in the wombe and yet the motion it selfe and the power of mouing it hath from God It is sufficient to obedience that man doth voluntarily obey God XV. And here we entreate the Reader that hee would stay a little and take notice how inconsiderately the Arminians deale here and how aduerse and contrary they are to themselues They deny that conuersion can be called obedience if man doe onely behaue himselfe passiuely in it But they themselues teach that man doth onely behaue himselfe passiuely in the beginning of his conuersion which yet all the Arminians acknowledge to be obedience Their words are these in their Epistle against the Walachrians pag. 69. and 70. Whether we say that the will is moued by the spirit onely by the fore-going operations of the vnderstanding or that there is a certaine new energeticall and operatiue quality infused to it we alwaies determine that the will is first moued that is behaueth it selfe passiuely before it doth actiuely moue it selfe to that which is good This they say but that is especially to be noted that the Arminians doe with one mouth teach that the vnderstanding is vnresistibly enlightned by God that is that knowledge is so giuen by God that it cannot be resisted when yet that knowledge is a kinde of obedience For the Scripture doth euery where command vs to know and vnderstand Psalme 2.10 Mat. 15.10 and 2 Tim. 2.7 Is not the earnest alacrity of the Angels to fulfill the commands of God obedience yet they cannot resist God commanding nor can they desire to resist XVI Lastly they heape together absurdities which they think may be drawn for that power which they call irresistible They say that it doth follow from thence that no other can be conuerted then they that are indeede conuerted And that no man can be conuerted before hee be conuerted indeede But this ought to be so farre from seeming absurd that on the contrary it is impious to beleeue that any one may be conuerted and regenerated but hee whom God doth conuert and regenerate and to whom he giueth faith and the spirit of adoption or that any one can be conuerted before God conuert him For if we be all by nature dead in sinne it is certaine that there are no other that can rise out of that spirituall death then they that doe indeede rise And if faith and the spirit of adoption is a gift of God proceeding from his meere grace it is plaine that they at length can be conuerted to whom God doth giue grace whereby they may be conuerted in act And seeing we are brought to that passe that there is no man who doth not resist God calling it appeareth that no man can be conuerted but he from whom God hath taken away this resistance and hath broke his hardnesse Let these new Semipelagians looke to it and consider with what face they dare maintaine that an vnregenerate man hath power of conuerting himselfe before God conuert him in act and how they can defend themselues against so many places of Scripture and so many reasons and proofes which we haue brought in the three and thirty Chapter Can they bring an example out of all records of Stories of any one who hath obtained faith and saluation by those gifts which doe happen to all men euen to Heathens and vnregenerate persons XVII That no man can conuert himselfe before he be conuerted and drawne by God the Scripture doth euery where witnesse Conuert vs and we shall be conuerted Ier. 31.18 Lament 5.21 Draw me and wee will runne after thee Cant. 1.4 Could the Thiefe conuert himselfe before Christ after a meruailous and vtterable manner changed his heart among so many occasions of doubting and in the flight and feare of the Apostles themselues Could Paul conuert himselfe before he was called from heauen by Christ Surely godly mens eares are vnacquainted with this opinion and it is of the Pelagian vaine By this meanes the decree of God is abolished by which he determined to vse the miraculous confession of the Thiefe to shew the efficacy of the death of Christ and his diuine power in the very height of griefes and reproaches and for a notable euidence of the election of grace God might haue beene disappointed of these ends if the Thiefe might haue conuerted himselfe some years before God indeede did not hinder that hee should not be conuerted but whereas all men of themselues and of their owne nature are vnable to conuert themselues concerning those whom he decreed to conuert he determined with himselfe in what time and manner he would conuert them XVIII But say they if no man can be conuerted but he whom God doth conuert in deede and in act it will thence follow that the rest who are called are called in vaine and that God should deale dissemblingly and vnwisely who should call them to saluation and yet withdraw the meanes necessary to obtaine saluation I answere that this word withdrawing doth sufficiently proue how vnfaithfully they deale For there is none of vs thinkes that God doth withdraw from them who are not conuerted the meanes necessary to saluation For if he should withdraw those meanes from them hee should take from them that which they had But no vnregenerate man euer had all the meanes necessary to saluation It is one thing to withdraw the meanes necessary to saluation and another thing not to giue them It
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