the Preacher speakes Marke 6.20 Herod heard Iohn gladly Acts 13 46. The Iewes refuse to heare the Gospell Psal. 58.4 The wicked stop their eares like the deafe Adder THE SECOND POSITION THere are certaine inward effects going before conversion or regeneration which by the power of the word and Spirit are stirred up in the hearts of men not yet justified As are a knowledge of Gods will a sense of sinne a feare of punishment a bethinking of freedome and some hope of pardon THE grace of God is not wont to bring men to the state of justification in which we have peace with God through our Lord Iesus Christ by a sudden Enthusiasme or rapture but by divers degrees of foregoing actions taming and preparing them through the Ministery of the word 1 This we may see in those who upon hearing S. Peters Sermon feele the burden of their sinne are stricken with feare and sorrow desire deliverance and conceive some hope of pardon All which may bee collected of those words Acts 2.37 When they heard this they were pricked in their hearts and said to Peter and the rest of the Apostles Men and brethren what shall we doe 2 This the very nature of the thing requires for as in the naturall generation of man there are many previous dispositions which go before the bringing in of the form so also in the spirituall generation by many actions of grace which must goe before doe we come to the spirituall nativity 3 To conclude this appeares by the instruments which God uses for the regenerating of men For he imployeth the Ministery of men and the instrument of the word 1 Cor. 4.15 I have begotten you through the Gospell But if God would regenerate or justifie a wicked man immediately being prepared by no knowledge no sorrow no desire no hope of pardon there would be no need of the ministery of men nor of the preaching of the word for this purpose neither would any care lye upon the Ministers dividing the word of God aright fitly and wisely first to wound the consciences of their auditors with the terrors of the Law then to raise them up with the promises of the Gospell and to exhort them to beg faith and repentance at Gods hand by prayers and teares THE THIRD POSITION WHom God doth thus prepare by his Spirit through the meanes of the word those doth hee truly and seriously call and invite to faith and conversion BY the nature of the benefit offered and by the evident word of God we must judge of those helpes of grace which are bestowed upon men and not by the abuse or the event Therefore when the Gospell of its owne nature calls men to repentance and salvation when the incitements of divine grace tend the same way we must not suppose any thing is done fainedly by God This is proved by those earnest and patheticall intreaties 2 Cor. 5.20 We pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled vnto God Those exhortations 2 Cor. 6.1 Wee beseech you that you receive not the grace of God in vaine those expostulations Gal. 1.6 I marvell that you are so soone removed from him that called you to the grace of Christ those promises Apoc. 3.20 Behold I stand at the doore and knocke if any man heare my voice and open the doore I will come in to him But if God should not seriously invite all whom he vouchsafes this gift of his word and Spirit to a serious conversion surely both God should deceive many whom he calls in his Sonnes name and the messengers of the Euangelicall promises might bee accused of false witnesse and those who being called to conversion doe neglect to obey might bee more excusable For that calling by the word and the Spirit cannot be thought to leave men unexcusable which is onely exhibited to this end to make them unexcusable THE FOVRTH POSITION THose whom God hath thus disposed he doth not forsake nor cease to further them in the true way to conversion before he be forsaken of them by a voluntary neglect or repulse of this initiall or entring grace THe talent of grace once given by God is taken from none but from him who first buries it by his owne fault Mat. 25.28 Hence is it that in the Scriptures every where wee are admonished that we resist not the Spirit that we quench not the Spirit that we receive not the grace of God in vaine that wee depart not from God Yea that is most evidently noted to bee the reason of Gods forsaking man because God is first forsaken by man Prov. 1.24 Because I have called and you refused I will laugh at your calamity 2 Chron. 24.20 Because yee have forsaken the Lord he hath also forsaken you But never in the Scriptures is there the least mention that God is wont or is willing at any time without some fault of man going before to take away from any man the aid of his exciting grace or any help which he hath once conferred towards mans conversion Thus the Orthodoxe Fathers who had to doe with the Pelagians ever taught It is the will of God that wee continue in a good will who before he be forsaken forsakes no man and oftentimes converts many that forsake him THE FIFTH POSITION THese foregoing effects wroght in the mindes of men by the power of the word and the Spirit may be stifled and utterly extinguished by the fault of our rebellious will and in many are so that some in whose hearts by the vertue of the word and the Spirit some knowledge of divine truth some sorrow for sin some desire and care of deliverance have beene imprinted are changed quite contrary reject and hate the truth deliver themselves up to their lusts are hardned in their sins and without all desire or care of freedome from them rot and putrifie in them MAtth. 13.19 The wicked one commeth and catcheth away that which was sowne in his heart 2 Pet. 2.21 It had beene better for them not to have knowne the way of righteousnesse then after they have knowne it to turne from the holy commandement delivered unto them But it is happened to them according to the true Proverb The dog is turned to his owne vomit Heb. 6.4 It is impossible for those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly gifts and were made partakers of the holy Ghost and have tasted of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they shall fall away to returne them againe to repentance Many doe quickly entertaine the light of the minde but the understanding it selfe hath not the same force or power in all and many when they seem enriched with faith and understanding yet they want charity and cannot hold fast to those things which they see by faith and understanding because there is no persevering in that which is not loved with the whole heart THE SIXT POSITION THe very elect in those acts going before
does not fetch the reason out of any disparity among them but onely out of Gods free pleasure to show forth here his rich glory there his just wrath when he makes these such as they were not vessels of mercy those such as they very neere were vessels of wrath A type hereof is represented unto us Ezek. 1.16 where the naturall impurity of all men is set downe v 4. and the goodnesse of God choosing v 6. When thou wast in thy blood I said unto thee live yea I said unto thee others being left in their impurity He which is freed let him love Gods grace hee which is not freed let him acknowledge his owne debt although all men out of the same masse of perdition and damnation according to the hardnesse of their heart doe treasure up for themselves wrath as much as in them lyes God notwithstanding through his mercifull goodnesse does bring from that state some to repentance others according to his just judgment be does not bring Grace doth find some whom it may adopt among the most wicked at their last end when many which seeme lesse guilty have no part in this gift THE THIRD POSITION WHen God affordeth his saving Gospel to save Nations hee doth not this out of consideration of speciall worth in them And when hee denies this benefit to others there is alwaies a concomitant unworthinesse in them to whom it is denied But the meere will of God is the onely cause why to these he will not show that mercy which out of his good pleasure he vouchsafed to others no lesse unworthy thereof DEut. 9.4 Say not in thine heart for my righteousnesse the Lord hath brought mee in to possesse this land when for the wickedness of those Nations he hath driven them out from before thee and v. 5. That he might performe the word that he sware unto thy Fathers Vpon the like motives God alwayes finds in all places why he should not giue his Gospel to be preached or why hee should take it away being once given But where hee affordeth it to a people it is not for their righteousnesse or lesse wickednesse then is otherwhere found as if it were out of a kinde of congruity or desert but for his good pleasure and freedome of his spirit which blowes where it listeth and as long as it will If we will ascribe this to the merits of mens wills that grace should bee said to passe by the bad and choose the good the state of many innumerable Nations will confute us to whom for so many ages the light of heavenly doctrine hath not shined Neither can we say that their posterity were better men of whom it was written The Gentiles which sate in darkenesse have seene a great light THE FOVRTH POSITION TO some of those to whom the Gospel hath shined although they bee indued with many gifts of grace yet of their owne accord and withall infallibly they by Gods permission fall into those sinnes in which being forsaken and so remaining till death they make themselves liable to just damnation WE doe not deny but these though being not elected yet receive many effects of grace such as reckoned up Heb. 6.4 Illumination tast of the heavenly gift of the good word and of the powers of the world to come All which they turne to their owne greater destruction being left to their owne wills and not being founded upon Christ according to the decree of Election Rom. 11.7 The election hath obtained it and the rest were blinded He that falls away from Christ and ends his life being an alien from grace shall bee damned for his last sinnes And because his Apostacy could not be hidden from Gods foreknowledge nor frustrate the same without doubt God never chose such a man be never predestinated him yea hee never set apart from eternall death him who was to perish Some receive the grace of God but for a time they persevere not they forsake God and are forsaken of him for they are left to their owne freewill THE FIFT POSITION GOd damnes none or destinates to damnation except in consideration of sinne 1 GOd dispenseth the gifts of grace to his free will Matt. 20. 15. It is not lawfull for me to doe what I will with mine owne Yet hee never appoints the evill of punishment but upon the fore-seene guilt of men Rom. 3. 9. The Iewes and Greekes are all under sinne v. 19. That every mouth may be stopped and all the world guiltie before God Rom. 2. 9. Tribulation and anguish be unto the soule of every man that worketh evill 2 Moreover damnation is an act of vindicative justice and therefore it must necessarily presuppose a precedent fault A man that is not predestinated perisheth by voluntary not by constrained infidelity The predestination of God hath neither excited perswaded nor forced the falls of those which perish nor the untowardnesse of wicked men nor the wicked desires of sinners but God hath fore-ordained his owne judgement by which hee will render to every one according to that he hath done Erroneous Opinions THE FIRST THat the decree by which God from all eternitie and that irrevocably hath purposed out of lapsed mankinde to leave none but the impenitent and incredulous in sinne and under the wrath of God as being aliens from Christ is the whole andentire decree of Reprobation 1 THis we deny for the reasons alledged by us against the first erroneous position of Election 2 Besides in this decree there is not contained the speciall will of God not to take pitie of whom he will in which the decree of reprobation as it is opposed to Election is formally contained 3 Adde to this that if this decree were granted it might come to pass that God might passed by none but that all might hee chosen and brought to eternall life THE SECOND THat Reprobation from salvation is not of one kinde onely but is either indefinite and generall or else definite and particular and that this is also diverse either incomplete revocable mutable or else complete irrevocable immutable REprobation which is the negation of Election doth set downe to us the immutable will of God by which he hath decreed not to take pitie of that person whom he passeth by so farre forth as to bestow upon him eternall life Now this will of God doth not admit any change at all Esa. 46.10 My counsell shall stand Malach. 3.6 I am the Lord I change not Hereto may be added what wee have formerly set downe at the fourth orthodoxall position and at the fourth erroneous position concerning Election All the children of adoption before the foundation of the world were chosen In which election what man soever was not foreknowne in Christ shall not by any meanes be joyned unto him THE THIRD THat no man after Adams fall was overpassed by the meere will of God but all reprobation of particular persons was made upon consideration of their
sinnes by his name as many as beleeve in him c. Rom. 3.24.25 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood Therefore although this promise bee not divulged unto all in every time and place yet it is of that nature that it may be truly published to all and every one For the nature of the promise extends it selfe perpetually to mankinde although the knowledge of the promise according to the speciall providence of God is published sometimes to these sometimes to other Nations Marke 16.15 Goe into all the world and preach the Gospell to every creature He that beleeveth c. THE FIFTH POSITION IN the Church wherein according to the promise of the Gospel salvation is offered to all there is such an administration of grace as is sufficient to convince all impenitents and unbeleevers that by their owne voluntary default either through neglect or contempt of the Gospell they perish and come short of the benefit offered unto them CHrist by his death not onely established the euangelicall covenant but moreover obtained of his Father that wheresoever this Covenant should bee published there also together with it ordinarily such a measure of supernaturall grace should bee dispensed as may suffice to convince all impenitents and unbeleevers of contempt or at least of neglect in that the condition was not fulfilled by them Here two things are briefly to bee explained Whereof the first we put downe for a supposition That some measure of grace is ordinarily offered by the Ministerie of the Gospell The second for a position That that grace is sufficient to convince all impenitents and incredulous persons either of contempt or at least of neglect The first is plaine out of the Scriptures Esay 59. and the last verse This is my covenant with them saith the Lord My Spirit that is upon thee and my word which I have put in thy mouth shall not depart out of thy mouth from henceforth and for ever Hence it is evident that the word and the Spirit are inseparably joyned together by the promise of God in the Ministery of the word Hence the Ministers of the new Testament are called the Ministers not of the letter but of the spirit not of the killing letter but of the spirit that giveth life 2 Cor. 3.6 The ministery of the Gospell v. 8. is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The ministration of the Spirit Hence is the Gospell styled Tit. 2.11 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saving grace or the grace that bringeth salvation and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 5.19 The word of reconciliation And our Saviour Luke 10.9.11 when he sent the 70. Disciples to preach the Gospell commanded them that they should say to the people to whom they preached it The kingdome of Heaven is come neare unto them Because that some supernaturall grace is offered unto them to whom the Gospell is preached It is not well said that all those are not called to grace to all whom the Gospell is preached although there may be some who obey not the Gospell The second is proved out of the 15 of Iohn 22. If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sinne but now have they no cloake for their sinne Out of this place it is certaine that Christ in propounding the Gospell did withall dispence that internall grace which so far forth sufficed that in that they accepted not or rejected the Gospell they might bee justly taxed of positive infidelity Iohn 3.19 This is condemnation that light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light So are men justly damned because they turne away from the light of the Gospell Heb. 2.3 How shall we escape if we neglect so great salvation For the neglect of salvation offered in the Gospell we are subject to just punishment therefore salvation is offered in the Gospell Heb. 4.12 The Word of God is quicke and powerfull and sharper then any two edged sword piercing even to dividing asunder of soule and spirit and of the joynts and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart Hence it comes to be manifest that there is such power and efficacie of the word that it insinuates it selfe even into the secretest closets of the soule and as it doth without faile quicken those which truely beleeve so it doth truely inflict a deadly wound upon the stubborne Lastly the Scripture threatneth most bitter punishments to those who doe not receive who neglect who despise the preaching of the Gospell Mat. 10.14 Whosoever shall not heare your words It shall be easier for Sodom Heb. 6.4 It is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted of the good gift of God c. For the earth which drinketh in the raine and yet beareth thornes and bryars is nigh unto cursing THE SIXT POSITION NOtwithstanding this generall Covenant of saving those that beleeve God is not tyed by any covenant or promise to afford the Gospel or saving grace to all and every one But the reason why hee affords it to some and passeth by others is his owne mercie and absolute freedome 1 CHrist hath no otherwise established this covenant then that the communicatiō of this covenant shold remaine in the free full power of the Father But God in giving one grace is not tyed to the giving of another Matt. 10.15 Is it not lawfull for me to doe with my owne what I will No such covenant or promise is to be found in the Scriptures God promiseth in the old Testament that the preaching of the Gospell should be communicated to the Gentiles In the new Testament the partition wall is broken downe and it is given in charge to the Apostles Marke 16.15 Goe into all the world and preach the Gospell unto every creature but God no where promised that universally in the world at one and the same time it should be preached Nay rather as is well noted by Prosper Even at that very time in which the preaching of the Gospell was sent to all Nations hee who would have all men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the truth yet forbad the Apostles to goe to some places And so by this stopping or delaying of the Gospel many were so foreslowen or hindred that they dyed without the knowledge of the truth and without sanctifying regeneration Let the Scripture speak what was done But passing through Phrygia and the Region of Galatia they are forbidden by the holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia but after they were come to Mysia they assayed to goe into Bithynia but the spirit suffered them not Thus farre Prosper 2 Moreover it is plainly evident notwithstanding this universal Covenant which was of force even in the old Testament that God revealed not the knowledge hereof unto the Gentiles Psal. 147.8.19.20 Hee sheweth his word unto Iacob he hath not dealt so with any Nation and therefore they knew not these
regeneration do not carie themselves so but that for their negligence and resistance they may justly be relinquished and forsaken of God but such is the speciall mercy of God towards them that though they doe for a while repell and choake the grace of God exciting or enlightning them yet God doth urge them againe and againe nor doth he cease to stirre them forward till hee have throughly subdued them to his grace and set them in the state of regenerate sonnes IOhn 6.37 Whatsoever my Father gives me shall come to me and him that commeth unto mee I will in no wise cast out Ier. 14.7 O Lord though our iniquities testifie against us doe thou it for thy names sake for our backslidings are many And 32.39 I will give them one heart and one way that they may feare me for ever Philip. 1.6 He that hath begunne a good worke in you will performe it untill the day of Iesus Christ. But if God should not goe on thus to follow even those that hold off and retire from him no calling would bee effectuall there would be no filiall adoption and even election it selfe grounded upon the good pleasure of God would be frustrated Since the fall of man God would have it ascribed to his grace that a man doth come unto him neither will he have it ascribed to any thing but his grace that a man doth not goe from him THE SEVENTH POSITION THose that are not elected when they resist the Spirit of God and his grace in these acts foregoing regeneration and extinguish the initiall effects of the same in themselves by the fault of their own free-will are justly forsaken by God whensoever it pleases him whom by their owne fault so forsaken we truly pronounce to remaine by the same demerit hardened and unconverted WE thinke it to be without all doubt that no mortal man doth so cary himselfe toward God but that either by omitting that which he should have done or committing that which hee should not have done he deserves to have the grace taken frō him which hee hath Which ground being forelayed it is cleere that God without all injustice and cruelty may take from such men that grace which hee hath extended to them and leave them to the hardnesse of their own hearts Rom. 9.18 Hee hath mercy on whom hee will have mercy and whom hee will hee hardeneth God oweth this to no man that when he resists enlightening exciting grace and serves his own lusts he should then soften and mollifie him by that speciall grace which no hard heart doth resist Rom. 11.35 Who hath first given unto him and it shall be recompenced unto him againe Againe he that is thus forsaken being not converted perishes through his owne fault Iohn 5.34.40 I say these things that yee might be saved and ye will not come unto me that ye might have life Acts 28. The heart of this people is waxed grosse lest they should be converted and I should heale them Of conversion as it designes the immediate worke of God regenerating men THE FIRST POSITION GOd doth regenerate by a certaine inward and wonderfull operation the soules of the elect being stirred up and prepared by the aforesaid acts of his grace and doth as it were create them anew by infusing his quickning spirit and seasoning all the faculties of the soule with new qualities HEre by regeneration we understand not every act of the holy Spirit which goes before or tends to regeneration but that act which as soone as it is there we conclude presently this man is now borne of God This spirituall birth presupposes a minde moved by the spirit using the instrument of Gods Word whence also wee are said to bee borne againe by the incorruptible seed of the word 1 Pet. 1.23 Which must be observed lest any one should idlely and slothfully expect an Enthusiasticall regeneration that is to say wrought by a sudden rapture without any foregoing action either of God the Word or himselfe Furthermore wee conclude that the spirit regenerating us doth convey it selfe into the most inward closset of the heart and frame the minde anew by curing the sinfull inclinations therof by giving it strength and infusing into it a formall originall cause or active power to produce spirituall actions tending to salvation Ephes. 2.10 We are his workmanship created in Christ Iesus to good works Ezek. 36.26 I will take away your stony heart and give you an heart of flesh From this worke of God commeth our ability of performing spiritual actions leading to salvation As the act of beleeving 1 Iohn 5.1 Whosoever beleeves that Iesus is the Christ is borne of God Of loving 1 Iohn 4.7 Every one that loveth is borne of God Lastly all works of piety Iohn 15.5 Without me ye can doe nothing Prosper saith that Grace creates good in us The Schoolemen doe not deny so manifest a truth Thomas Aquinas affirmes that this grace of which we speake doth give a certaine spirituall being to the soule that it is a certaine supernaturall pertaking of the divine nature that it is in respect of the soule as health is in respect of the body THE SECOND POSITION IN this worke of regeneration man is meerly passive neither is it in the power of mans will to hinder God regenerating thus immediately IOhn 1.13 Which were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man but of God For if in the naturall creation it be true that God made us and not we ourselves much more in the spirituall recreation Ier 13.23 If the Ethiopian cannot change his skin neither can man defiled with sinne correct his naturall corruption In the will depraved there is the passive power to receive this supernaturall being comming from without but not the active to produce it of it selfe or with another Ier. 17.14 Heale me O Lord and I shall be healed In quickning of men God doth expect no beginning from mans will but hee quickneth the will it selfe by making it good What doth freewill I answer briefly It is saved This worke cannot be effected without two one by whom it is done the other in whom it is done God is the Author of salvatiō freewil is only capable of it Our creation in Christ was made into the freedome of the will and without us if into freedome then not out of freedome If without us then it is not in us to hinder this worke of God When God determineth to save no will of man resisteth Of Conversion as it imports what man himselfe doth in turning to God by faith and saving repentance THE FIRST POSITION VPon the former conversion followeth this our actual conversion wherein out of our reformed will God himselfe draweth forth the very act of our beleeving and converting and this our will being first moved by God doth it selfe also worke by turning unto God and beleeving that is by executing withall its
owne proper lively act 1 IN order of time the worke of God converting man and the act of man turning himselfe to God can hardly be distinguished but in order of causality or efficiency Gods worke must needs goe before and ours follow An evill tree naturally bringing forth evill fruit must needs be changed into a good tree before it can beare any good fruit but the will of an unregenerate man is not onely as a bad but as a dead tree Therefore if it bring forth good fruit it doth it not that thereby it may be bettered or that by its owne cooperation it may be quickned but it doth it because it is already changed and quickned This is elegantly expressed by Saint Austin A wheele saith he doth not therefore run well that it may be round but because it is round So say we the will runnes well not that it may be regenerated but because it is already regenerated Hugo de sancto Victore to the same purpose Renewing grace saith he causeth a reformed will first to exist then gives power to this will to be moved first it works the will afterward it workes by the will 2 Secondly wee say that God doth not onely worked this habituall conversion wherby a man gets new spirituall ability to beleeve and convert but also that God doth by a certaine wonderfull efficacy of his secret operation extract out of our regenerated will the very act of beleeving and converting So the Scripture speaketh in divers places Iohn 6.66 The Father giveth us power to come unto the Sonne that is to beleeve Phil. 1.29 To you it is given to beleeve 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the very act of beleeving 2 Tim. 2.26 God giveth repentance But if God by infusing some strength into us should only give us a possibility or power of beleeving a possibility or power of converting and so leave the act to the free will of men surely we should all doe as our first father did by our free will we should fall from God neither should we ever bring this possibility into act This therefore is that excellent special grace granted to the elect in Christ wherby they not only can beleeve if they will but also will beleeve then when they can Phil. 2.13 God worketh in us the will and the deed This working grace the Fathers of the Catholick Church have maintained against the Pelagians God commands a man to wil but he also works in him this very thing namely he commands him to doe but also workes in him the doing Every one that hath learned of the Father hath not onely power to come but commeth indeed where there is both the progresse of our possibility the desire of our will and the very effect of action God effecteth our faith working in our hearts after a wonderfull manner to make us beleeve 3 Lastly this also we adde that this action of God in producing faith doth not hinder but rather is the cause that the will doth worke together with God and produce its owne act And therefore this act of beleeving howsoever it is sent from God yet because it is performed by man is attributed to man himselfe Rom. 10.10 With the heart man beleeveth unto righteousnesse 2 Cor. 4.13 I beleeved therefore have I spoken It is God not who beleeveth all things in all men but who worketh all things in all men it is certaine we beleeve when we beleeve but it is God who brings to passe that we beleeve wee are they that worke but God workes in us the very working THE SECOND POSITION THis action of God doth not hinder the freedome of the wil but strengthen it neither doth it root out the vicious power we have to resist but it doth effectually and sweetly bestow on a man a resolute will to obey 1 HEre we deny two things first that by the divine operation there is any wrong offered to the will For God doth so worke in nature even when hee raiseth and advanceth it above its proper spheare that he doth not destroy the particular nature and being of any thing but leaves to every thing it s owne way and motion to performe the action When therefore God worketh in the wills of men by his Spirit of grace he makes them move in their naturall course that is freely and then doe they worke the more freely by how much they are the more effectually stirred up by the Spirit Iohn 8.36 If the Sonne shall make you free you shall be free indeed 2 Cor. 3.17 Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty Verily it seemeth incredible to us that God who made our wills and gifted them with liberty should not bee able to worke on them or in them after such a manner as that without hurting the natures of them he may freely to produce any good action by them He doth what he pleaseth with the wills of men and when he pleaseth having an all-sufficient power to incline mens hearts which way he listeth We so beleeve this more abundant grace to be powerfull that we withall deny it to be violent 2 A second thing which we here disclaime is the whole extirpation of corruption For although God in the very act of regeneration doth worke so powerfully upon the will that actually the present power to resist is suspended for that time yet doth hee not plucke up by the roots no not for that time the remote power of resisting which as the Schoolemen speake is potentia in actu primo posita a power of the first and youngest growth but hee suffers it to lurke and lye hid in the bitter root thereof For so long as that root of corrupt and corrupting concupiscence remaines in the soule of man certaine it is that there must needs be there withall not onely a possibility but also a pronenesse to resist the motions of the holy spirit Gal. 5.7 The flesh lusteth against the spirit But this reluctant power by reason of the most forcible and yet sweet or gentle motion of grace cannot in this case and at this time breake forth in actum secundum into present operation and exercise Pro. 21.2 The Kings heart is in the hand of the Lord he turneth it whithersoever it pleaseth him And consequently the hearts of other men lesse free This grace cannot be resisted because first it worketh in us to will that is not to resist for he can no farther resist from whom to will to resist is taken away as excellently writeth our Reverend late Bishop of Salisbury THE THIRD POSITION GOd doth not alwayes so move a converted and faithfull man to godly ensuing actions that hee takes from him the very will of resisting but sometimes hee suffers him through his owne weaknesse to stray from the direction of grace and in many particular actions to follow his owne concupiscence WEE must alwayes put a difference betweene those principall acts without which the Elect cannot
be saved such as are to turne unto God to beleeve to persevere and particular ensuing acts which being considered by themselves are not absolutely necessary to salvation as the avoyding of this and that sinne the not omitting of such and such a good deed For the performing of the former actions grace doth so worke that it gives the Elect both power and will to accomplish them But as for the latter there is not wanting unto us the motion and guidance of Gods Spirit through the whole course of our lives yet so that wee may bee wanting unto those motions of grace yea and too too often wee are wanting unto them and ever and an on we both freely and foully obey our owne corruptions Hence that of the Apostle Gal. 5.16 Walke in the spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh Ephes. 4.30 Grieve not the spirit of God by whom yee are sealed unto the day of redemption For they are said to grieve the holy Spirit who resist the guidance thereof and with a servile libertie goe after their owne concupiscenes contrary to the motion of grace and suggestion of their own conscience Erroneous Opinions which wee reject THE FIRST THat the will is not capable of spirituall gifts and that therefore there never were any spirituall gifts in the will of man before his fall that these graces were never severed from the will of man upon his fall and that such graces are never infused in regeneration into the wills of men THe holy Scripture in placing Gods spirituall gifts in the heart acknowledgeth also them to be in the will As namely uprightnesse or truth Psal. 32.12 Rejoyce all yee that are true in heart puritie Mat. 5.8 Blessed are the pure in heart goodnes Luke 8.15 They are those which with an honest and good heart heare the word of God and keepe it 1 But if any man shall referre these graces to the affections and place them without the will he shall which were a foule enormity settle the chiefest gifts of divine grace in the unreasonable part of the soule Moreover the very habituall conversiō of the will unto God the Creator the aversion or turning away thereof from the inordinate desire it had to commit fornication with the creature without doubt is to be counted a chiefe and principal gift And that the will was capable of this gift it doth hence plainly appeare because it was created with such uprightnesse For God in the beginning made man righteous But that this righteousnes is lost it is over manifest by the effects seeing that now the will being carnall cannot choose but injoy and rest in those things which it ought onely to make use of and use the things which it ought rather to injoy forasmuch as a whole trope of sinfull dispositions have rushed and broke in upon the will 2 Furthermore as the will of a meere naturall man is said to be vicious frō a certaine inbred inherēt wickednes which in a wicked man even thē when he doth nothing is habituall so againe we must acknowledge that in the will of the regenerate there is a certaine righteousnesse infused and given from God which is presupposed in their religious actions Saint Austin in many places setteth forth this habituall righteousnesse The good will of man goes before many graces of God but not before all and this good will it selfe is to be reckoned among those gifts which it selfe cannot precede But lest any man should dreame that this goodnesse of the will is not an inward gift infused into that very faculty but onely a bare denomination fetched from the act of the will Prosper calls it the first plantation of the heavenly husbandman Now a plantation notes something engrafted in the soule not an act or action flowing from the soule THE SECOND ERRONEOVS OPINION THat that grace by which wee are converted is onely a gentle and moral swasion or inducement WEE deny not but in the worke of conversion whether in fitting us for that future grace or in confirming us therein as already performed God useth the perswasive force of his threats promises exhortations by which he allureth stirreth and ploweth up the fallowes of mens hearts But moreover for adding without faile the last close to this operation hee works more powerfully and unconquerably according to the exceeding greatnesse of his power and the working of his might Ephes. 1.19 Neither is swasion sufficient which no more then contingently affecteth and inviteth the will 1 For morall swasion moveth onely by way of object and so farre forth as the end propounded can allure But the Philosophers rightly determine that as the inclination of any one is accordingly hee apprehends the end So long therefore as a man is carnall and unregenerate his will cannot so bee affected with supernaturall benefits proposed unto it that by the desire of them hee should bee throughly enflamed to beleeve and convert But the will must be overcome and changed by a powerfull operation exceeding all swasion that so it may effectually embrace the good represented unto it 2 If men should be converted unto God onely by a morall swasion then this question why upon profer of equall grace one man beleeves another doth not might be answered out of the free wils owne power of willing or nilling neither should we have herein any cause to admire the unsearchable wisedome and justice of our God But this sound doctrine hath alwaies beene defended against the Pelagians That conversion faith comes from the secret grace of God which according to his mercie is afforded to some and according to his justice is not vouchsafed to others 3 If men were converted onely by morall swasion he which receives this swasive grace might truly say I have separated my selfe For I have received this gentle and swasive grace which hath solicited me to faith and conversion but no more then it solicited others they by the liberty of their free-will did reject this morall swasion and therefore they still remaine unconverted but I by the libertie of my free-will have given way and embraced the same swasion and therefore I am converted To what purpose then is that of Saint Paul Who hath separated thee What hast thou which thou hast not received Faith both begunne and perfected is the gift of God and no man who doth not oppose most manifest Scripture will doubt but that this gift is given to some and not given to other some THE THIRD ERRONEOVS OPINION THat presupposing all the operations of grace which God useth for the effecting of this conversion yet the will of man is still left in an equall ballance either to beleeve or not to beleeve to convert or not to convert it selfe to God 1 IF after all the workings of grace the will of man be left in eaven point it will necessarily follow that not God by his grace but man by his free-will is the chiefe cause and author
bearing witnesse to our spirit that we are the sonnes of God And this very testimony of the Spirit although the seed thereof be never utterly extinguished yet in regard of the fruit and sense thereof sometimes it either withdrawes it selfe so that our owne infirmity may be evident to us or else for a time it is as it were raked up under the ashes by our rebellion and ingratitude 2 Therefore that other weaknesse doth arise from temptations by which this perswasion is assaulted And those are partly afflictions which seeme to menace us with the evill of punishment and partly our owne perverse concupiscences which doe brand our soules with the evill of sinne and guilt thereof and partly the snares and assaults of the Devill by which he doth set upon us in both those kindes But the maine skirmish consists in the mutuall wrastling and strugling of the flesh and spirit Whilest this wrastling lasts our faith is weake but if so be the spirit overcomes the flesh then our spirit cheeres up and triumpheth in this manner Who shall separate us from the love of Christ But if which often falls out the spirit thus wearied and weakned receive the foile for a time being either overborne with the load of afflictions or tainted with the spots of hainous sinnes then there remaines no such actuall perswasion a stop is made of al spiritual comfort and the light of Gods countenance is hidden from us Hence those mournfull complaints of holy men Iob 6.4 The arrowes of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinkes up my spirit the terrors of God set themselves in aray against me Lament 3.42 We have transgressed and rebelled Thou hast not pardoned thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayers should not passe through But if the waves of temptation arise yet higher and the fiery darts of the devill doe wound the conscience already pressed downe with its owne burden then not onely this sweet perswasion is banished but also a perswasion utterly contrary commeth in stead thereof by force whereof holy men thus affrighted doe apprehend God as an angry Iudge and seeme to themselves to be now falling headlong into the open gates of Hell This case is set downe in those almost despairing speeches of Iob Let the day perish wherein I was borne And that of David I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eies THE FOVRTH POSITION WHen a faithfull man after much struggling hath got the upper hand of these temptations that act by which he doth apprehend the fatherly mercy of God toward him and eternall life to bee conferred without faile upon him is not an act of floating opinion or of conjecturall hope such as may be built on a false ground but it is an act of a true and lively faith stirred up and sealed in his heart by the spirit of adoption AS it fares in nature so in grace after the cloud is removed the day is the clearer and certaine diseases after they are overcome prove occasions of future health A faithfull man escaping out of the waves of great tentations doth not only receive the confidence which was almost extinguished but gaines a greater measure thereof For hee is made stronger by the conflict and more cheerefull by the conquest Nay if in this wrastling some of his bones bee broken after they be set againe they will knit the stronger Psal. 51.10 The bones which thou hast broken shall rejoyce 1 Because the life and state of a regenerate man is spirituall he may be said while he is transported by the force of sin or tentation to be with-held from his naturall place The spirit therefore doth easily returne backe again to his own bent and againe acknowledgeth his former confidence in the fatherly mercy of God This is manifest out of the examples of the Saints who have expressed their owne vehement conflicts still ending in the lively voyce of faith So Ionas being in the belly of the Whale said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will looke againe toward thy holy Temple And Saint Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from the body of this death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. In them both their conquest following their conflict breaks forth into a vigorous act of faith 2 Because the panting soule thirsting for Gods fatherly reconciliation doth run more greedily to the fountaine of living waters and relisheth more sweetly that whereof it perceived it selfe for a time debarred namely the fruition of God appeased Thence it acknowledgeth in it selfe the seed of faith by the force whereof it ariseth againe to repaire the very breaches made upon faith whose root indeed spreadeth the further by this loosening and sends forth new tendrells from which sprout our new shoots of greater certainty By this conflict and affliction the faithfull Christian learnes patience by which he mortifieth himselfe by patience probation by which he searcheth himselfe from probation hee mounts up to an hope of overcomming likewise future tentations Who delivered us from so great a death and will deliver us in whom wee trust that he will yet deliver us and of persevering and consequently attaining eternall life 1 Cor. 1.18 Who shall confirme you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ. And this same hope maketh not ashamed as it followes in the same Apostle It is not therefore a fleeting opinion or uncertaine conjecture but an hope which as it springs from faith so it hath the same certaintie with faith and therefore is solide and undeceivable Wee have in David an example of this renewed and confirmed confidence after that his spot of that great sinne was washed away Psal. 51. After that the assault of that dangerous temptation was abated Psal. 73. In both these cases there are to be seene cleerely shineing forth the spirit of prayer spirituall joy and the seale of adoption Take not thy holy spirit from me Thou hast holden mee by the right hand Thence proceeds that confident conclusion It is good for mee to draw neere unto God and to trust in the Lord. Erroneous Opinions rejected by us THE FIRST THat the perseverance of those who are truly faithfull is not an effect of Election but a benefit offered equally to all upon this condition namely if they shall not be wanting unto sufficient grace WE have confuted the first part hereof at the first Article in our third Position and in the third Erroneous Opinion and also in this fifth Article in the eighth Position Of the certainty of perseverance in it selfe The second part of this Opinion containes many incongruities 1 It is not true that perseverance is a gift onely offered and not given also For the Scriptures witnesse that God doth not onely offer unto his the grace of perseverance but also that he gives it them and puts it into their hearts Ier. 32.40 I