RICHARD BAXTER'S Catholick Theologie PLAIN PURE PEACEABLE FOR PACIFICATION Of the DOGMATICAL WORD-WARRIOURS Who 1. By contending about things unrevealed or not understood 2. And by taking VERBAL differences for REAL and their arbitrary Notions for necessary Sacred Truths deceived and deceiving by Ambiguous unexplained WORDS have long been the Shame of the Christian Religion a Scandal and hardning to unbelievers the Incendiaries Dividers and Distracters of the Church the occasion of State Discords and Wars the Corrupters of the Christian Faith and the Subverters of their own Souls and their followers calling them to a blind Zeal and Wrathful Warfare against true Piety Love and Peace and teaching them to censure backbite slander and prate against each other for things which they never understood In Three BOOKS I. PACIFYING PRINCIPLES about Gods Decrees Fore-Knowledge Providence Operations Redemption Grace Mans Power Free-will Justification Merits Certainty of Salvation Perseverance c. II. A PACIFYING PRAXIS or Dialogue about the Five Articles Justification c. Proving that men here contend almost only about Ambiguous words and unrevealed things III. PACIFYING DISPUTATIONS against some Real Errors which hinder Reconciliation viz. About Physical Predetermination Original Sin the extent of Redemption Sufficient Grace Imputation of Righteousness c. Written chiefly for Posterity when sad Experience hath taught men to hate Theological Logical Wars and to love and seek and call for Peace Ex Bello Pax. LONDON Printed by Robert White for Nevill Simmons at the Princes Arms in S t. Pauls Church-yard MDCLXXV I intreat the WRATHFUL CONTENTIOUS ZEALOUS DOGMATISTS conscientiously to study these Texts of Scripture MATTH 28. 19 20. Go Teach all Nations Baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you Mar. 16. 16. He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved Acts 11. 26. The Disciples were called Christians 1 Cor. 15. 1 2 3 4. I declare to you the Gospel which I preached to you which also you have received and wherein ye stand by which also ye are saved if ye keep in memory what I preached to you unless ye have believed in vain That Christ dyed for our sins and that he was buryed and that he rose again the third day 2 Tim. 1. 13. Hold fast the FORM of sound words which thou hast heard of me in FAITH and LOVE which is in Christ Jesus 1 John 4. 15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God God dwelleth in him and he in God Rom. 10. 9 10. If thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy Heart that God hath raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved For with the Heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the Mouth confession is made to salvation Acts 8. 37. If thou believest with all thy heart thou maist be baptized And he said I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God Rom. 14. 1. 17 18 19. Him that is weak in the Faith receive but not to doubtful disputations For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink but Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace and things wherewith one may edifie another Rom. 15. 5 6 7. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be like minded one towards another or mind the same thing one with another according to Christ Jesus That ye may with one mind and one mouth glorifie God Wherefore Receive ye one another as Christ also received us to the glory of God 1 Tim. 1. 3 4 5. Charge some that they teach NO OTHER doctrine nor give heed to fables and endless Genealogies which minister Questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith Now the End of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned From which some having swerved have turned aside to vain janglings 1 Tim. 6. 3 4 5 6. If any man teach OTHERWISE and consent not to wholsome words the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and to the doctrine which is according to Godliness he is PROUD KNOWING NOTHING but DOTING about Questions and STRIFES of WORDS whereof cometh envy strife railings evil surmisings perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds and destitute of the truth supposing that gain is godliness or thinking that godliness is advantage from such turn away 2 Tim. 2. 22 23 24. Follow righteousness saith charity peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart But foolish and unlearned Questions avoid knowing that they do gender strifes and the servant of the Lord must not strive V. 15 16 17. Study to shew thy self approved unto God a workman that needeth not be ashamed RIGHTLY DIVIDING the word of truth But shun profane and vain bablings for they will increase to more ungodliness and their word will eat as doth a canker 2 Tim. 2. 14. Charging them before the Lord that they STRIVE not about WORDS to no profit to the subverting of the hearers 1 Cor. 8. 2 3. If any man think that he knoweth any thing he knoweth nothing as he ought to know But if any man LOVE GOD the same is KNOWN OF HIM Jam. 3. 1 13 c. My Brethren Be not Many Masters knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation Who is a wise man and indued with knowledge among you Let him shew out of a good conversation his WORKS with meekness of wisdom But if ye have bitter zeal or envying and strife in your hearts Glory not and Lye not against the truth This WISDOM descendeth not from above but is earthly sensual devilish For where envying and strife is there is confusion and every evil work But the wisdom from above is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisie And the fruit of Righteousness is sown in Peace of them that make Peace Acts 15. 28. It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us But not to Church-Tyrants Dogmatists or superstitious ones to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things Phil. 3. 15 16 17. Let us as many as be perfect be thus minded and if in any thing ye be otherwise or diversly or contrarily minded God shall reveal even this unto you Nevertheless whereto we have already attained let us walk by the same rule let us mind the same thing Phil. 2. 1 2 3 4. If there be any consolation in Christ if any comfort of love if any fellowship of the Spirit if any bowels and mercies fulfil ye my joy that ye be like minded having the same Love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing be done through strife or vain glory but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other
be an Active Spirit * Indifferentia Voluntatis in ordine ad auxilium praevium est indifferentia passiva caeterum in ordint ad actum liberum quâ—m producit praedeterminata tali motionâ— praevia indifferentia Voluntatis est activa libera Alvarez de Aux disp 23. pag. 115. and therefore what ever it receiveth it receiveth it as it is in that nature 2. But the same soul is Passive as well as Active and that in the prior instant of nature For it must receive from God the first cause which made the Greek antient Doctors and many of the Latines say as Damascene in sense though in grosser words that the soul in respect to bodies was immaterial or incorporeal but it was material in respect of God § 2. Not only in its Receiving the Spirits first Impulse to Believe the soul is Passive before it is Active but also in its Reception of every sort of Divine Influx even to every natural act So that in this there is no difference between Conversion and any common act For the soul is first passive in allâ— even in receiving that Natural Influx by which we Live and Move and Be. § 3. But the soul which is passive in Receiving Gods Impulse to believe the first effect is Active in the producing of its own Act of believing which is the effect of many Concauses And as I said It is not the Habit of faith properly so called which it passively Receiveth before the Act. SECT XVIII Whether the first Grace and the New and Soft Heart be Promised and Given Absolutely or on any Condition on our part And so of faith it self Answ § 1. BY the first Grace is meant either simply the first or the first special renewing Grace on the soul proper to them that shall be Justified Of the first Grace simply there is no Condition for it is given Universally to all viz. a Reprieval a Law of Grace a Redeemer c. And after this there is much common personal mercy given conditionally and much absolutely to all or some * * * And as to the first moving inward Grace see how copiously the Jesuit Ruiz as Vasquez and others proveth that it hath no initium in us no not an occasion or disposition much less merit for which it is given And he reasoneth from the Names Creation Generation by the seed of God resuscitation and Gods being found of them that sought him not and from the Cause of the difference between man and man De pradest Tr. 3. disp 18. â— 4 5 6 7 8 c. p. 227 228 c. Even Medina 12. p. 596. is so hesitant as to say Esse probabilem sententiam Doctorum quod facienti quod in se est ex facultate naturae Deus ex sua misericordia nunquam denegat gratiam Sed dico quod probabilius est magis consentaneum sanctis patriâ—us praeclpuâ— Augustino non esse Legem infallibilem quod homini pâ—â—atori facienti quod in se est ex facultate natura continub conferatur gratia Nam si esser Lex infallibilis certè initium bona pars justificationis esset à nobis c. Thus the Papists herein differ as much as the Protestants among themselves § 2. It seemeth to me an error which by oversight I was long entangled in my self to think that by the new and soft heart is meant the first special Grace For most Divines agree that it is proper sanctification which is meant by it as distinct from antecedent Vocation Vid. Ames Medul de Vocat Rolloc de Vocat Bishop G. Downame against Pemble Hookers Souls Vocation Joh. Rogers of faith and many others In Vocation they suppose the Act of Faith and Repentance suscitated by the Spirit and thereupon a Covenant-Relation to Christ and to the Holy Ghost with Regenerating Sanctifying Habits â—o be given And I see no reason to be singular herein § 3. That faith is by the Law of Grace made a Condition of this Sanctification and the Spirit promised us if we will believe and so the Spirit given to us by Covenant in Baptism when we believe is plain ill Scripture and the commonest doctrine of all Divines § 4. Therefore if it be this Spirit of Sanctification that is meant by the New the Tender the Circumcised heart it is not promised and given absolutely but on condition of faith § 5. Let us peruse the several Texts where it is promised Dent. 30. 1 2 3 6. When thou shalt call to mind among all the Nations and shalt return unto the Lord thy God and obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day thou and thy children with â—â— thy heart and all thy soul that then the Lord thy God will turn thy câ—â—tivity And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart and the heart of thy seed to Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul that thou maist live Here it is a Grace consequent to a condition even to much obedience which is described And Deut. 10. 16. it is a command Circumcise the foreskin of your hearts and be no more stiff-necked Jer. 32. 36 37 c. I will gather them out of all Countreys whither I have driven them and will bring them again into this place and I will cause them to dwell safely and they shall be my people and I will be their God and I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me for ever So Ezek. 11. 16 17 18 19 20. And Ezek. 36. 25 26 27 28 29. In all which there is a promissory Prophecy how great a deliverance God would give the Nation of the Jews both for body and soul And their temporal return and liberty is promised and prophesied in the same manner as a new heart is But here is not a syllable to prove that this is the first special Grace any more than perseverance is which in the same manner is promised in Jer. 32. 40. I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart To say nothing how far in the first sense this was National to the Jews nor how the performance did expound it For doubtless it is performed the Text it self premiseth I will be their God and they shall be my people with other mercies And no doubt but Faith and Repentance go before this Covenant-Relation to God and therefore before the following gift of the Spirit ver 9. and Ch. 11. 19. And Ezek. 18. 31. the same is commanded Cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit § 6. The promissory Prophecy of Jer. 31. 31 c. is recited by the Penman of Heb. 8. 8 c. to prove the cessation of the old Jewish Câ—venant and that a better should succeed And this much is easily proved out of both 1. That God would certainly have a holy people among the
the Natural power in it self but by so doing formaliter relativè it maketh it no power ad hoc to the contrary in that instant Of which more anon § 10. Such grace of God as cometh from his Absolute Will or Decree of the due Event is never overcome For Gods decree is not frustrate § 11. Gods gracious operations are never overcome by any contrary Act but what he himself is the Agent Cause of as an Act For in Him we Live and Move and Be. Yet man is the only Cause of the Inordination of that act by which it is set in opposition to Gods other acts For God doth not militate against himself § 12. The case lyeth thus God antecedently to his Laws framed Nature that is the Being and Natural Order of all the World and so he became the Head or Root of Nature the first Cause who by his wise decree was to concurr to the end with that Natural frame and to continue to things their proper forms and motions And man is one of his creatures having a Nature of his own to which God as the God of Name doth Antecedently concurr By this natural concurse of God the fomiâ— cator the murderer the thief c. are naturally able to do those acts But being free agents that can do otherwise God maketh them a Law to restrain and regulate them And when they break this Law they resist that gracious concurse which suitable to the organical cause God conjoyneth with the means But they do this by their Natural power and activity not used as God requireth them but turned against his own Law So that if God would withdraw his sustentation and destroy mâ—ns Nature they could not resist his grace But that he will not do being his antecedent work and so God is resisted by his own-given-power and act disordered and turned against his grace § 13. The Will of God which is thus resisted is only 1. His Preceptive or Legal will de debito 2. And his will of purpose to give man so much help and no more by which he can and ought to believe and Repent is said to be resisted or frustrate so far when by mans fault it doth him not that good which it might have done § 14. Gods Grace and Spirit are said to be resisted when the Word and other Means are * * * That God doth govern inseriora per superiora and work by means not for want of them but from the abundance of his Goodness so as to communicate to his creatures the dignity of causality See Aquin. 1. q. 103. a. 8. q. 104. a. 2. Alexand. 1. p. q. 26. m. 5. a. 2. 3. m. 7. Albert. 1. p. q. 67. m. 4. a. 1. Richard 1. d. 39. a. 2. q. 3. d. 45. a. 2. q. 2. Agid. Rom. 2. d. 1. p. 1. q. 2. a. 6. ibi Gabritl d. 1. q. 2. resisted which call him to his duty For these themselves are gifts and acts of grace § 15. But it is not the barâ— Word or Means alone but the Spirit working in and by those means which is so resisted For though no moâ—tal man can clearly know just how the Spirit concurreth and operateth by the Word and Means yet we may know that God doth limit his own operation to the aptitude of the means ordinarily and that he worketh with and by them not according to his Omnipotency in it self considered but according to the means or organs And as in Nature he operateth nor quantum potest but agreeably to the order and aptitude of Natural Causes so in Grace he operateth non quantum potest but according to the aptitude and order of the sapiential frame of Governing-means of grace § 16. When the preaching of the Word Education Company and other visible Means seem equal God hath innumerable means supernal internal external invisible and unknown to us by which he can make all the difference that he maketh in men So that we cannot prove that ever he worketh on souls without any second cause or means at all though we cannot prove the contrary neither And therefore he that resisteth all means for ought we know in so doing resisteth all Gods gracious operations on his soul § 17. * * * I know not how to find both sense and concord in the words of your Alvarez de Aâ—x l. 7. disp 59. p. 264. Eadâ—m contritio que est ultima dispositio ad gratiam in genere cause materialis antecedit illam In genere tamen causae formalis efficientis est effeclus ejusdem gratiae propterea quamvis non sit meritoria gratiae est tamen meritoria vitae aeternâ— Et p. 265. Contritio qua penitens disponitur ad infusionem gratiae habitualis est meritoria vitae aeternae ut Thom. 1. 2. q. 112. a. 2. ad 1. Ergo est effectus gratiae habitualis Nulla enim operatio hominis est-meritoria vitae aeternae nisâ— procedat à gratiâ— habituali ordine saltem naturae sit ea posterior How can the Act be the ultima dispositio to the infusion of that habit which it floweth from Unless he mean eadem specie and not numerically which yet is false For it is not eadem or else he falsly supposeth that the same Love of God may go before Grace Whereas Dr. Twisse so frequently asketh Whether Gods condional will and so his operation be Volo te velle modo velis or credere modo credas to give us faith if we believe and so maketh non credere or non velle to be the only resistance and the Arminians to be ridiculous in making the effect antecedent to the cause as a condition of the causation and itself This semi-subtilty though it beget voluminous confidence must cry peccavi if a little more subtilty do but detect the defectiveness of it We are not now enquiring of the Rationes fidem habendi but of the Rationes non habendi nor are we enquiring Whether God have made a Covenant or formal Promise of giving faeith upon antecedent conditions But whether he deny or give-not grace for actual faith effectual or sufficient to any but those that resist and wilfully omit the preparatory acts which they were able to perform even preparatory Volitons Or if you will make the question to be de ratisnibus fidem habendi not de causis Actus donandi Whether God do not ordinarily give or produce the act of faith in that soul which doth not wilfully resist and omit such preparatory acts as it could do even Volitions And so I answer 1. It is not I will give thee faith if thou wilt believe or I will make thee willing if thou be willing of the same thing But it is 1. If by resisting common preparing grace thou so harden â—hy heart or increase the privation of receptive aptitude in thy self as that the same degree of grace means help impress will not change thee which otherwise would
sincerity to desire more For if the Regenerate have not Grace enough surely the Unregenerate have not 2. But in this Controversie the Dominicans and Jesuites by sufficient mean that which giveth the posse agere that is so much as is of absolute necessity to the act without which it cannot be done and with which alone it can or may be done And in this sense the Protestants generally and the Synod of Dort particularly deny not that there is such a thing as sufficient Grace I have oft told you that 1. They confess it in the instance of Adam 2. They confess it in the case of common Grace enabling men to common preparatory duty which many are able to do and do not as I have evinced before in many instances and the Synod and specially the British and Breme Divines assert 3. And as to the point of Faith it self whether any unregenerate man have sufficient Grace to believe which is not effectual I find few medling much with it 4. But they commonly I think agree that all regenerate men themselves have sufficient Grace for many an act of Faith Love Obedience which they never do Is it not one of the Opinions which at Dort and frequently these Divines reject as falsly imputed to them that a man can do no more good and forbear no more evil than he doth And if he can do more he hath power to do more And power to act is that which is called sufficient Grace Therefore I need not trouble you any more with this Controversie seeing under both the notions of Power and Liberty it is decided and confessed by you to be so before Remember that all sufficient Grace is effectual but not effectual to the act It doth efficere potentiam enableth men to act but doth not cause the act it self unless it be efficax ad actum as well as ad potentiam How ordinarily do they profess the possibility of doing more than is done by godly and ungodly and that all the power that men have is not reduced into act Yea when some assert Predetermination it self they say that it doth not destroy Liberty or Power ad contrarium but only determine it A. It is bad enough that they deny all sufficient Grace to believe that is not effectual though not to other acts B. You wrong them They do not so Have I not told you now that they commonly grant that even the godly themselves have sufficient Grace to believe which is not effectual as to many an act of Faith And as to Unbelievers 1. They say that all have not Grace sufficient or necessary to believe And so say the Arminians 2. But whether any one have or no who believe not they rather leave it to the Searcher of hearts as an unknown thing to them than deny it But they seem to infer that it is most likely to be so in that 1. It is so with the godly themselves 2. And with all other men as to other acts of common Grace And they all agree as I said before that no man is denied power to believe savingly but for not using as he could his antecedent commoner Grace And I think neither Party knoweth more than this and in this both are agreed And he that will assert his uncertain Conjectures and then pretend that this is a Church-Controversie is the maker but not the ender of Controversies A. Some of them stick not to say that Adam himself had not Grace sufficient to stand or forbear sinning and if so then there is none such B. We have nothing to do with any odd persons words Who is it that never speaketh amiss I confess Dr. Twisse Vind. Grat. l. 1. par 3. de Reprob sect 2. pag. Vol. minor 306. saith Gratiam ad peccatum vitandum necessariam duplicem esse dicimus aliam ad posse vitare peccatum aliam ad pecatum actu vitandum illa est Gratia Regenerationis Altera non in est homini per modum habitus sed per modum passionis est motio quaedam gratiosa in voluntatem influens ad omnem sanctam actionem extimulans And so one or two say that Adam had Grace necessary ad posse stare non autem ad actum But this is but a few mens odd Opinion contrary to plain truth I mean If by necessary ad actum be meant in the proper School-sense not all that is conducible to ascertain it but that sine quo esse non potest it is a contradiction to say that men have the power to Act and yet want that which is necessary to the Act that is that without which they cannot Act. It is plainly They Can and They Cannot For we talk not de potentia passiva which a Stone Tree or a Beast or a mad Man have This distinguishing of things that differ not must be detected as well as confusion avoided To say a man can believe or hath power to believe and yet wants that without which he cannot believe is palpable contradiction And where he maketh Regeneration to give the posse before the Act he speaketh obscurely or unsoundly Gods active Influx on the Will exciting it to Act is at least part of his Regenerating Grace A man is not Regenerate before he ever actually believed or repâ—nted though he first receive the Divine Influx ad agendum Nor can he prove that any proper habit goeth before the first act And whether it do or not most certainly the nature faculty and the habit and all together is truly and formally no power ad hoc to believe or love God or do any good without Gods necessary Influx Concurse or exciting Grace No more than a Plant hath a power to fructifie without the Sun or Earth Of Gods help ad bene esse we speak not But to say that Gods exciting Grace is necessary ad actum without which the Act cannot be and yet that we have a power to do that Act without that Grace is still a contradiction This is potentia hypothetica aequivoca a term fit to play with But it is true power where nothing of absolute necessity sine quo non esse potest is wanting which our Divines do commonly confess that Adam had and that all men good and bad have to more good than they do Therefore I find not that you are in that disagreed And Dr. Twisse as I told you oft and vehemently professeth Vindic. Grat. de Amis Grat. Cont. Bellar. pag. Vol. Minor 230. c. 2. 232. that man hath no necessity of sinning ex decreto but logical consequentiae But if it were true that we wanted that Grace which is absolutely necessary to avoid sin it must needs follow that such are under an absolute present necessity consequentis also of sinning as much as of dying when God ceaseth to continue life And if he mean that the Decree necessitateth not sin but the denying of necessary Grace doth he should have said so Andr. Rivet Disput 7. de
Head and of Pardon and Salvation 8. It is Christ's stated Constitution that he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and be that believeth not shall be damned Mar. 16. 16. That if thou confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved for with the heart man believeth Christ's resurrection unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto Salvation Rom 10. That except you repent you shall all perish Luke 13. 3 5. That men must repent and be baptized for the remission of sins Acts 2. 38. And repent and be converted that their sins may be blotted out Acts 3. 19. So Rev. 22. 14. Matt. 6. 14 15. Ezek. 33. 14 16. 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness is profitable to all things having the promise of the Life that now is and of that which is to come Call these Laws or Covenants or what you will we are agreed that all this is the word of God 9. These terms of life and death are the rule of our practices and our expectations by which we must live and by which we shall be judged and therefore we may truly say that they are Christ's Law And they are God's signified determination of the conditions of life and death and his donation of our right to Christ Pardon and Life is contained herein and therefore this may truly be called Christ's Testament and Covenant in several respects 10. Though all duties be prescribed by God's Law and so each Precept is a material part yet formally or specifically the Laws to which these material parts belong must be distinguished by the distinct conditions of life and death 11. God hath made more Promises Donations and Covenants than one or two which must not be confounded 1. His Law and Covenant made to and with man in innocency is one 2. And his Law and Covenant made to and with Christ as Mediator is another 3. And his absolute promise of a Saviour to the World with the conditional promise or Law of Grace conjunct was the first edition of another And the Gospel as after the incarnation promulgate was a more perfect edition of it to pass by Abraham's Covenant of Peculiarity and the Mosaical Law as such 12. Though Christ be promised in one of these and be God's antecedent gift he may nevertheless be the Author of another and so far the foundation as well as the meritorious cause 13. That may be of free Grace which is merited by Christ yea and that which is annexed to the Evangelical worthiness of a believer 14. That may be a condition required of us to be done by the help of Grace which yet is the effect of that Grace and given us by God 15. It is a true Covenant between God the Father Son and Holy Ghost and man which is solemnly entred into in Baptism And this is a Covenant of Grace even that proceedeth purely from Grace and of Grace as given by God and by us accepted He that will confound these various Covenants Promises and Laws on pretence of their unity though there is doubtless a wonderful unity of all the parts both of God's moral signal means and his physical works shall confound much of Theology 16. The Law made to Adam never said either thou or another for thee shall obey but it bound man to perfect perpetual personal obedience 17. Therefore that Law as it obliged us is not fulfilled by the obedience of Christ but only as far as it obliged him nor can any man be justified by it as a fulfiller of it by himself or by another nor did Christ fulfil it in any other mans person though in his stead so far as is aforesaid 18. The Law doth not command any man since Adam perfect personal obedience as the means or condition of life nor promise any life on such a condition as is now naturally impossible but though it be not repealed by God is so far ceased by the cessation of the subjects capacity to be so obliged 19. The Laws obligation of us to punishment is dispenced with and dissolved by a pardon purchased by our Mediator 20. Christ's righteousness is nevertheless the meritorious cause of our righteousness or justification though he justify us by the instrumentality of his donative Covenant as giving us right to our Union and Justification and Life and though our Faith and Repentance be the condition of our Title 21. We accept two Concessions as containing that truth which sheweth that we do not much differ de re could we more happily order our organical conceptions 1. That Christ's righteousness is not the formal cause of our Justification 2. p. 596. Seeing the satisfaction was not made IN THE PERSON of the offender but his substitute it was necessary that THE BENEFIT of ANOTHERS satisfaction should be communicated in such a way as might best please that God whose Grace was the only motive to his acceptation of a substitute It is the undoubted priviledge of the Giver to dispose of his own gifts in his own way And it was absolutely and indispensibly necessary that the sinner should be duly qualified to receive such transcendent favours purchased at so dear a rate and fitted to return the glory to a Redeemer which an unhumbled unbelieving unconverted and unsanctified sinner could not possibly be He that writeth this cannot sure much differ from me hereabouts But he is charitably uncharitable when he saith Never any man in his wits affirmed it so that the righteousness of Christ is the formal cause of our Justification It 's too charitable to hide that which cannot be hid of so great a number whom it seems he never read for all his Commission from all the Systematical Divines of Germany c. p. 696. And it 's too uncharitable to judge so many excellent men out of their wits The truth is so many speak so that I have been doubtful I should be smartly censured for saying otherwise Forma qua justificamur est misericordia Patris perfecta Justitia filii saith Ant. Fayus in his Accurate Theses Th. 60. p. 280. And by misericordia Patris being the form you may see how he understood Imputation The number that thus speak are too great here to be recited so that even the most judicious Davenant lest he should go out of the road was fain to make this the Theses to be proved by him Imputatam Christi obedientiam esse causam formalem justificationis nostrae probatur Cap. 28. p. 362. c. de Instit habit But let none turn this to our reproach nor take all these for mad for it is but an unapt name and by him and many others soundly meant for the greater part of these Divines say but that Imputatio Justitiae Christi Remissio peccatorum are the form not of Justification as in us but as it is Actus Justificantis as Altingius Maresius Sharpius Bucanus Spanhemius Nigrinus Sohnius
move another to do it will not stand with proper permission 585. Obj. But God preserveth our own Liberty in acting Answ 1. By Liberty you mean nothing but Willingness as such that God doth not make mens Nilling to be a Willing or contra in the same act Which is but to say that God causeth me to Will sin and not to Will-nill-it 2. If you mean more I deny that ever God gave Power to the Will to Will or Nill contrary to the Volition and phâ—sical premoving predetermination of the first cause 3. But if all this were so it 's nothing to the present case and doth not prove that God is not the Cause of the sin but only that man is a Cause also caused by the first Cause and that God Willeth and Causeth us to sin willingly and freely 586. 3. By this means they make God equally to Will and Cause our Holiness and our sin For they cannot possibly tell us what he doth more to Cause our Holiness than to Will it and to predetermine the will of man to it besides commanding it which is a moral act and we speak only of proper efficiency He doth but will that Holiness be and cause all that hath any entity in it And so they say he doth about sin 587. Obj. He loveth our Holiness for it self and so he doth not sin Answ The first is denyed by themselves if you speak of Gods end For they confess that God only is his own end for which he loveth all things 2. And his Love is either his efficient or complacential Volition 1. The efficient which is all that is now in question they must confess is equal to both if he equally will the existence of both Object But he hath a Complacence in Good only Answ 1. He hath a Complacence in the fulfilling of his own will as efficient Therefore if sin be the fulfilling of his Will he hath a complacency in it The formal reason of a pleasing object to God is as it is the fulfilling of his own Will And to break his Law they make to be such ergo pleasing 2. But if it were not so that 's nothing to our Case of the efficient Will 588. 4. To avoid tediousness in sum This opinion seemeth to me to leave very little or no place for the Christian Religion For 1. It overthroweth the formale objectum fidei which is Veracitas Divina and leaveth no certainty of any word of God For if he do will and predetermine by premotion ut fiat omne mendacium quod fit then we have no way to know that he did not so by the Prophets and Apostles 2. It maketh the Scripture false which saith so much of Gods hatred and unwillingness of sin 3. It obliterateth the notion of Gods Holiness which is made the great reason of our holiness 4. It maketh mans Holiness to be no Holiness but a common or indifferent thing 5. It maketh sin so little odious as being a Divine off-spring as will destroy the hatred of it and care to avoid it 6. It will thereby nullifie all our Godly sorrow repenting confession and all practice of means against any sin 7. It will hardly let men believe that Christ came into the world and did and suffered so much to save men from sin and to destroy it 8. Or that it is the work of the Holy Ghost to sanctifie souls and mortifie sin 9. It will hardly let men believe that there is any Hell and that God will damn men for ever for that which they did upon his prevolition and predetermination unavoidably 10. It seemeth to give Satans description to God and more For Satan can but tempt us to sin but they make God absolutely to will that it be and physically to predetermine us to it And so Christ that came to destroy the work of the Devil the father of lies malice and murder should come to destroy the work of God 11. It taketh away the reason of Church discipline and purity and of our loving the Godly and hating wickedness 12. It would tempt Magistrates accordingly to judge of vice and vertue good and bad in the Common-wealth 589. Now to their arguments 1. Rev. 17. 17. God put it into their hearts to do his will and to agree to give up their Kingdoms to the beast Answ 1. He that readeth Dr. Hammonds exposition applying this to Alaricus sacking Rome with the effects will see that the very subject is so dubious and dark as not to be fit to found such a doctrine on 2. It was the effect of the sin that God willed and not the sin 3. He is not said to put the sin into their hearts whether pride covetousness cruelty c. but only to do his pleasure and agree or make one decree to give up c. which he could most easily do by putting many good and lawful thoughts into their hearts which with their own sins would have that effect which he willed If a thief have a will to rob God may put it into his heart to go such or such a way where a wicked man to be punished will be in his way 590. But for brevity besides what is said I shall farther direct the â—mpartial Reader how to answer all such objections And withall let the â—onfounding cavillers against distinguishing see what blasphemy and subversion of Religion may enter for want of one or two distinctions which â—onfused heads regard not 1. Be sure to distinguish the name of sin from the nature 2. And â—emember that no outward act is sin any further than it is Voluntary by privation or position of Volitions 3. Distinguish between the Act as it â—s Agentis and as it is in Passo 4. And between the Act and the effect 5. Between the effect of a single cause and of divers causes making a compound effect 6. And between a forbidden object compared with the â—ontrary and one forbidden object compared with another 591. And then all this satisfying Truth will lye naked before you 1. That the same name usually signifieth the sin and the effect of sin or the Act as Acted and as Received Adultery Murder Theft usually signifie the Acts of the Adulterer Murderer Thief as done and as received â—n Passo and as effecting 2. That the former only is the sin viz. first the Volition Nolition or Non-Volition and secondarily the imperate act as animated by the Will And no more The reception of this act in Passo is not sin as such nor the most immediate effect of this act It is but the effect of sin 3. And you will see that the same effect may have several causes a Good and bad And so God may be a cause of that effect which mans sin also concurreth to cause And God doth not therefore Will or Cause the sin 4. And you will see that God may morally cause the effect as it is on this object rather than another forbidden though both make the act sinful and yet
whether he be a true Christian and must judge of his sincerity and right to Christ Justification and Salvation as he is or is not a sincere consenter to it truly understood in the essential parts SECT V. Of the Gift and Works of the Holy Ghost 72. There are three sorts of Operations of the Holy Ghost one common and two proper to them that shall have or already have Justification 1. The first is preparing common Grace which maketh men fitter for special Grace which yet they may have that perish 2. The second is that Grace of the Spirit by which we perform the The Thomists make the act of contrition and chariâ—y to be the ultiâ—ate disposition to Justification which is with them the habit And yet they say that it floweth from that habit And if the distinction of Alvaâ—ez Disp de Aux 59. p. 264. possim be not contradiction I understand it not Eadem contritio quae est ultima dispositio ad gratiam in genere causae materialis antecedit illam in genere tamen causae formalis efficientis est effectus ejusdem gratiae Though that which is the effect of one act of Gods Love be the Object of another act first Act of special Faith and Repentance called commonly by Divineâ— Vocation which goeth before any special habit but not before any holy seed Because the very influx of the Spirit on the Soul is as a seed which exciteth the first act before a habit though not ordinarily before some preparations This Faith is commanded us as our duty first and made necessary to us as the Condition of the Covenant And when we know it to be thus required of us and hear in the Gospel the Reasons which should perfwade us then the Holy Spirit moveth us by his Influx to believe and consent where God and man are conjunct Agents but man subordinate to God 3. The third sort is the Spirits Operation of the habit of Divine Love and all other Graces in the Soul which is called his In-dwelling and Sanctification This is that Gift of the Spirit besides Miracles of old which is promised to Believers To this Faith is the Condition To this upon believing it is that we have Right given us by Gods Covenant and thus it is that by Baptism our right to the Spirit as an in-dwelling Sanctifier and Comforter is given us 73. This third Gift or Work of the Spirit eminently so called is in the same instant of time given us as the second but not of nature or at least immediately thereupon when we believe But yet they are not to be confounded on many accounts 74. But yet though some degree of the Spirit be presently given to every Believer it is usually but a spark at first And there are further means and conditions appointed us for the increase and actual helps from day to day And he that will not wait on the Spirit in the use of those means doth forfeit his help according to his neglect 75. Hence it is that most if not all Christians have lower measures of the Spirit than otherwise they might have and that judicially as a punishment for Sin However God is free herein and if he please may give more even to them that forfeit it 76. This Covenant of Grace being a conditional pardon of all the world The extent of the New Covenant is universal in the tenor or sense of it It is of all Mankind without exception that Christ saith If thou confess with thy mouth and believe iâ— thy heart thou shalt be saved No person antecedently is excluded in the world 77. And as to the promulgation of it Christ hath commissioned his Ministers to preach this Gospel to all the world and to every Creature So Matth. 28. 19 20. Mark 16. 15 16. that to the utmost of their power they are to offer and publish it to the whole world And Princes and people are all bound in their several places to assist them and to help to propagate the Gospel throughout all the Earth So that the restraint of it is not by the tenor of the Law 78. Those Nations which despise and refuse the Gospel are justly deprived of it penally for that rejection 79. Those Nations that live inhumaâ—ely and wickedly against the means and mercies which they have do forfeit their hopes of more 80. As God in all Ages hath visited the sins of the Fathers on the Children as the instances of Cain Cham Nimrod and others commonly shew and hath proclaimed it as his Name Exod. 34. and put it in Tables of Stone in the Second Commandment and not only of Adam's sin so may he justly deal by the Posterity of the Despisers of the Gosâ—el in denying it them Though he may freely give it the unworthy when he pleaseth 81. All the rest of the world who have not the Gospel and the Covenant The state of those that have not the Gospel of Grace in the last Edition are left by Christ in as good a state â—at least if not better than he found them at his Incarnation He took â—way no mercy from them which they had 82. Therefore as it is before proved that before Christ's time none Of Zuingliu's Opinion of the Salvation of Heathens by name Hercules Theseus Socrates Aristides Antigonus Numa Camilli Catonâ—s Scipiones c. Vid. Montaâ—ut exercit Eccles 1. Sect. 4. Twissum contra Corvinum pag. 371. col 1. Omnium temporum una est fides Deum esse eundemque Justum Bonum Remuneratorem sperantium in se omnium plene meritis respondentem ante legem sub lege sub gratia Nemini rectum sapienti venit istud in dubium sine ista nemo unquam ingressus est ad salutem Rob. Sarisberiens Polycrat de nugis curial Pol. Peucer Hist Carcerum against the Lutherans Concord saith p. 715. Etsi nec ad Ethnicos ante natum Christum nec ad Judaeos post natum Christum misit singulares ministros sonuit tamen vâ—x doctrinae de Deo patefactae utroque tempore Hoc modo adhuc sonat ut exaudiatur nunc etiam a Turcis Judaeis Nec fuerunt unquam exclusi prorsus a gratia miserecordia Dei ante Christum Ethnici E quibus innumeri ex omnibus gentibus fuerunt ad Deum conversi Post Christum natum Judaei Panciores ex his tamen of the world were left desperate under the meer violated Covenant of â—nnocency but that the tenor of that New Covenant as made to Adam â—nd Noah extended to them all so are they still under all the Grace of â—hat Edition of the Covenant further than they are penally deprived of â—â— for violating it The Law of Grace in that first Edition is still in force â—nd the Law by which the world shall be governed and judged They â—re all Possessors of Mercy which leadeth to Repentance and bound to use â—he means afforded them in order
act of man 5. Though Dr. Twisse so frequently inculcate Quod prius est intentione posterius est executione he saith that it is but de fine medâ—is and not de mediiâ— inter se and that no medium is properly Gods End and then nothing but himself is his End and he glorieth as the discoverer of this Truth that all the means are one to God and therefore have but one Decree so that he reduceth all Gods Decrees to two 1. Of his Glory as his End 2. Of all the means thereto as one 6. And other learned mens Writings I have seen who come after him and seek to prove that the Decree de fine mediis are but one and consequently that there is no such order to be feigned among them 7. The plain truth is Gods Will is the beginning and end of all And all the World are the means of accomplishing and pleasing it And it is always fulfilled and pleased though not always by the same means And God loveth no Creature finally for it self but for Himself as his Perfection shineth in it and as it fulfilleth his Will And to feign any other Order of Intention and Election de fine mediiâ— in God is presumptuous much more to lay our frames of them and tye God hereto and trouble the Church with contending for such Models But the Order of Execution is intelligible in part to man And we are sure that God eternally intended to execute his Will in that Order in which in time he doth it And therefore this is the only necessary and the sufficient method of Gods Decrees which man can investigate 8. We deny therefore that God decreeth or willeth to damn any before he fore-seeth their Sin or that he decreeth to damn any but as impenitent Sinners or that the damnation of any man is his End or See this question handled by Vasqu 1. Tho. q. 19. d. 82. c. 4. 5. 6. that instantia secundum â—rdinem objectorum inter se assignanda sunt non ex sola Dei voluntate that he decreeth any mans sin or that he decreeth not to give them Grace or that Sin or not giving Grace or not believing c. need a Decree being nothing much more that these are decreed as means to Gods Glory But if you speak de fine 1. As that which man is bound to intend 2. Or as a meer effect so no doubt all things have their relation use and order to each other The sixth Crimination A. You deny all conditional Decrees in God and so make them all absolute and consequently arbitrary meerly because God will do it B. Do you think we differ in this You dare not profess your dissent Lâ—g Twiss Vind. Grat. li. 1. Digres 1. de Elect. p. 151. Et Episcopii Instit Theol. li. 4. Sect. 6. cap. 6. pag. 412 41â— from any of this following explication of our sense 1. Gods Will is the Cause and End of the whole Creation And what ever pleaseth him to do he doth whatsoever it pleaseth him shall come to pass it shall come to pass and what ever he is pleased to make our Duty by a Law is made our Duty All that God doth and commandeth is Arbitrary His Wisdom indeed and his Will concur but his Ends are within himself and his Will is the end of his Will so far as it may be said to have an end Arbitrariness and self-willedness is Gods Perfection which is mans Sin and Usurpation If you will stretch to that impropriety as to say that He willeth it because his Understanding seeth it fittest to be willed and so make Causes and Effects in God yet must you add that the fitness or goodness so understood is the Aptitudinal congruency to his Will 2. We affirm that God hath many Decrees which are conditional in respect of the thing decreed * Inquit Twissus Vind. Grat. li. 1. de elect Dig. 3. p. 163. Aquinas diserte asserit Deum velle hoc esse propter hoc sed non propter hoc velle hoc p. 1. q. 19. â— 1. c. ad primam voluntatem Dei rationabilem esse non quod aliquid sit Deo causa volendi sed in quantum vult unum esse propter aliud Et q. 23. â— 5. c. Eodem modâ— produxiâ—uâ— Bonaventâ—ram Scotum Durandum conspirantibus animis â—adem per omnia quod ad hunc apicem attinâ—t pâ—ofitentes Vide quae addit ex suare sio ibid p. 164. So Dr. Twisse frequently tells you He maketh one thing a means and a condition of the event of another And we say that God hath conditional Promises and Threatnings If thou confess with thy mouth and believe in thy heart c. thou shalt be saved And we believe that Gods Will made these Promises and Threats and that they are the true signs of his Will And that he will fulfil them And so far he hath a conditional Will and conditional expressions of his Will 3. But as to the Act of Volition we believe that his Wills are eternal and have no proper condition of their existence or not existing because being existent they are Necessary necessitate existentiae e. g. God never had such a Will as this If thou repent I will purpose or will to pardon thee if thou repent or to make the pardoning conditional promise But If thou repent I will pardon thee and whether thou repent or not I will conditionally pardon thee or make that Covenant which saith I will pardon thee if thou repent our Acts are the Conditions of Gods Gifts and Acts but not of his Will as suspended on those Acts. 4. Sure this is your own sentiment For you deny not that God knoweth from eternity whether the condition of each Event will it self be or not And if so it must be only the condition of the Event and not of his Decree For he that e. g. willeth absolutely that all shall perish that repent not and knoweth certainly that Judas will not repent doth thenceforth absolutely Will that Judas shall perish though only that he perish conditionally For that Will is no longer suspended on a Condition but it is the Event only that is suspended At least you must say that it is passed into a certainty equal to an absolute Will 5. But we will come as near as truth will lead us If by a Condition you mean only that Condition of the event which is not a suspender of Gods Decree but only a constituent qualification of the Object so I grant to you that though Gods Will as it signifieth his Essence or his essential Principle of operation in it self have no cause or condition yet as it is extrinsically denominated the Volition or Nolition of this or that the Object hath its Conditions that is qualifications without which Gods Will is not so denominable And so Gods Will hath its Conditions of complacency or displicency in the Creature without which he cannot truly be said to be
posse morale there is moral Liberty so far But whether this be really any mans case or how many to have Grace to enable them to believe who yet never do believe is a Controversie which I find not Protestants apt to meddle with And it is too hard for us to decide C. That is the very heart of the Controversie whether ever God give immediate Power and Liberty to believe to any one who never believeth and useth it B. Where do you find this Controversie much meddled with unless by the School-men who assert sufficient uneffectual Grace to believe But this belongeth to the next Article of Grace though here you anticipate it But if this must be it I shall briefly dispatch it 1. Adam's instance hath already made you confess that such a thing there hath been as Grace ad posse non ad agere called sufficient but uneffectual Grace And your confession of all the foresaid powers that men have by common Grace to do more good and forbear more evil than they do yieldeth that yet such a sort of sufficient Grace ad aliquid there is 2. The course of Gods Administrations maketh it seem most probable that some and many have such a meer sufficient Grace to believe and repent For if Adam had such a Grace enabling him to have fulfilled the whole Law of Innocency it seemeth proportionable that the Rector of the World give some such a Grace to fullfil the mediate Law of believing and repenting who use it not 3. It 's common with Dr. Twisse to cite Augustine with approbation as saying Posse credore est omnium credere vero fidelium and to make this the great difference of effectual Grace from that which is more common that it giveth not only the Posse velle credere but the Act. 4. But yet because we can know no more of Gods secret workings than he discovereth I take it to be dark and dubious But that this is certain that whoever wanteth the power or liberty of Will moral to repent and believe they are penally denied it for not using that power and liberty which they had to inferior preparatory Acts. And you can carry this Controversie of Free-will no further And is it not then a horrid shame to hear honest people so seduced into Love-killing factious sidings by their Teachers as that Boys and Women speak of wiser and better persons with disaffection and reproach saying O he is a Free-willer or he holdeth Free-will when they know not what they talk of but are made believe that it is some monstrous impious Opinion making a man almost an Heretick VVhen even you that lead them are unable to shew me any proved at least considerable difference at all C. Are there so many Books written de libero arbitrio between Jesuites and Arminians and us and yet is there no difference B. 1. I do not say that no man that ever wrote of it hath wrangled himself into any words of ill signification or taking up any more than is defensible 2. But if the main Controversie be not Logomachy why do not you tell me what the real difference is It is not fair-dealing to make me ridicuous for calling to you to name the difference and yet your self refuse to name it and make it good VVill you assert what you know not and accuse men without proof The fourth Crimination C. They hold that the Unregenerate are not dead in sin and void of all spiritual good * Of this read Milancthâ—n's Answer to all their Objections in Lâ—â— com de liber arâ— c. 7. and Strigelius on him B. Do you think that they differ from you herein This was spoken to before 1. They hold that the Unregenerate have natural life and so do you 2. They hold that their faculties are bonum naturale and so do you 3. They hold that common Grace is bonum morale at least Analogically so called and so do you Indeed as bonum is ex causis integris none on Earth is morally good no nor doth any thing that is bonum morale because it is imperfect and so our defective holiness is not bonum morale in that sense But as good is so called from the predominant Will the godly have bonum morale And as it is denominated from that which is not predominant yet real in the VVill the Unregenerate in their common Grace have bonum morale For common Grace is not meerly quid physicum nor meerly sin 4. De nomine whether we shall call this spiritual good or not when we have a Grammar written from Heaven or by Apostles we shall have more mind to dispute with you But I told you once already that 1. As to the efficient it is spiritual that is common Grace is wrought by Gods Spirit 2. As to the end slightly and uneffectually wished it is spiritual But as to the truest end the pleasing and glorifying of God predominantly and effectually willed and intended it is not spiritual 3. Nor as to the manner if the exercise of such an intention be called the manner Tell not men that we differ because you can bring forth ambiguous words and there dream of a difference but plainly tell me Are not you and they thus far agreed and is not this all that 's in your charge The fifth Crimination C. They hold that man is not meerly passive in his first Conversion to God which is contrary to us and to the Truth B. VVhen will the Lord give his Ministers as much skill to heal as to wound to find out real concord as to make differences in their Dreams and Fictions Do you think indeed that you differ in this point * The Jesuiâ—es with the other School-men commonly distinguish with Augustine the Grace which sine nobis in nobis operatur from that which after cum nobis operatur The first they call Operantem the second Co-operantem The first preventing the second con-comitant the first infused the second governing the first exciting the second Adjuvant Of which see Vasquez in 1. Tho. q. 23. disp 88. c. 9 c. Alvar. l. 12. disp 116. p. 473. In omni libero arbitrio creato qua ratione creatum est reperitur aliqua indifferentia seu potentia passiva secundum aliquam rationem Nam 1. Lib. arb creatum non est purus actus nec lib. per essentiam ' ut Deus 2. Ex sua natura est percabile 3. Non est impliciter primum se movens sed movet se libere motum tamen a Deo prius rationâ— Here a Jesuite Vasqu 1. Tho. disp 12. n. 4 Prima gratia non datur bene laborantibus neque expectantibus neque quâ—rentibus ut definitur Concil Aransic 2. Can. â— 4. 5. 6. sed sedentibus in tenebris umbra mortis C. Or else I must think that we may be ashamed to shew our faces to the people if we make them believe that we differ when we do not and thereby
the production of Faith and Holiness So it is the will of God that they shall have answerable noble special effects which effects besides his operation on and by the means the said Volition of God it self produceth immediately operating on the Soul not as a meer volition alone but as conjunct with his Wisdom and Vital Power or Activity by which he operateth all in all I could here say that God doth concur with these supernatural means on his Elect with a stronger greater special energy force or influx But I am loth to deceive you with bare words for this force energy or efflux is either God or something created God operateth by that Wisdom Will and Power or Activity which are his Essence therefore there are here no degrees in any operation And in the effects the degrees are not denied The sum of all is then but this natural effects are natural effects and Faith is Faith the difference we partly perceive the means also are various but in God the operator there is no diversity And so you may see what the stir about Infusing and Acquiring is come to C. I dare not deny this because it is agreed on by all Philosophical Divines and I should be called a Blasphemer if I affirmed any real diversity in God at least besides the Trinity of Persons called by the School-men Real Relations and by some real modes of being But it surpasseth mans understanding to conceive that the same cause no way differing ex parte sui should produce variety of effects By which it seemeth that when there was nothing but God his love to Jacob and his hatred to Esau his decree to save and to damn his will to make the world and to destroy it his fore-knowledge of good and evil had no real difference at all And is it not somewhat of a lye then in us to call those acts different or by different names which really have not the least difference at all But of this before B. God were not God if mans shallow wit could comprehend him All this must be confest unless you will be a Vorstian But if our conceptions be not false our diversity of names here is no lye because we intend but to denominate Gods knowledge and decrees or will but by the relative connotation of the things known and willed And though those things were nothing before the Creation and so the difference between Gods Decrees c. was really none at all and the esse cognitum was nothing but Gods simple Essence Yet as Greg. Armin. hath disputed there be some kind of Relations which are nothing themselves and consequently denominations which may be terminated on nothing as praeteritu futura are But if your understanding rest not here do as I do rest in a necessary and willing ignorance and be but so wise as not to trouble the Church with that which you know not nor imitate them that can shew the valour of their raging zeal by Writing or Preaching against them as the enemies of the Grace of God which dote not as confidently as themselves C. But what say you to Dr. Twisse 's words against Hord l. 1. p. 156. Albeit it be not in the power of nature to believe fide infusa yet is it in the power of nature to believe the Gospel fide acquisita which depends partly on a mans Education and partly on Reasons considering the credibility of the Christian way by light of natural observations above all other ways in the world B. 1. * Pet. a S. Joseph Thes univers de Grat. habit p. 86. Datur aliquod donum Gratiae Divinitus infusum quod post operationem in anima nostra habitualiter permanet Dari gratiam habitualem jam videtur esse de fide post Concil Tridentiâ— antea tamen non erat habitus gratia sanctificantis realiter a charitate distinguitur which others deny Gratia habitualis constituit hominem in statu supernaturali c. The Reader that will peruse Casp Peucer's Hist Carcer pag. 692 693 c. may see that the Luthorans were more for Infusion and miraculous operations of Grace and may see a handsom explication of Conversion and the operation of the Word and Sacraments and pag. 698. De viribus humanis in renascentibus renatis dum fit conversio deinceps ad sinem Credo quod gratuiti beneficii ac meriti Christi salvatoris applicatio naturae mortuae vivifitatio in regeneratione non fit actione physica brâ—ta aut raptu Enthâ—stastico aut Stoica coactione aut Magico affâ—atu verbi Sacramentorum sp sancti Neâ— mutatione Physica aut Mâ—gica hyperphysica substantiâ— temperamenti viriuâ— seu facultatem hâ—minis sentientis quidem nec moventis se nec quiâ—quam agentis sed sustinentis tantum impressionem ut subjectum pations sicut ranâ— reviviscunt a tepore solis c. By this you may see what this excellent man Melanâ—â—hons Son-in-law suffered his ten years cruel imprisonment for by the instigation of Schmidelinus and other Lutherans to their perpetual shame and who was then as the Papists still are most for Physical infusions ex opâ—re operato in Word and Sacraments Not only he but all the School-men distinguish acquired and infused Faith But though the names sound otherwise the difference meant by them is in the effects only and the means and not in God He meaneth that a slight ineffectual belief may be performed by that disposition or moral power which is found before special Grace as excited by good Education and helps But an effectual saving Faith must be the product of a special impress of Gods Spirit on the Soul which is a special disposition and moral power to that act And this is true And no more can be truly meant or said 2. But I will tell you a mystery added oft by Dr. Twisse which may much moderate your judgment about the cause of mens condemnation if it be true He holdeth that no man is condemned for want of an infused Faith C. How why no man is condemned at least that hath the Gospel but for want of it For if it be only an infused Faith that justifieth then it is the want of an infused Faith by which men are unjustified And if as you say Infused and effectual or special Faith be all one sure men are condemned for want of special effectual Faith B. His words are these against Hord l. 1. p. 156. Neither have I ever read or heard it taught by any that men shall be damned for not believing fide infusa which is as much as to say because God hath not regenerated them but either because they refused to believe or else if they have embraced the Gospel for not living answerable thereunto which also is in their power quoad exteriorem vitae emendationem though it be not in their power to regenerate their wills and change their hearts any more than it is to illuminate their minds Yet I
just but needing a particular remission For if a man cannot fall away however he live he may give up himself to lewd carnality and say I cannot fall away B. This is the same shameless self-contradicting Accusation and needs no other Answer As if you said If a man cannot fall away he may fall away To give up himself to carnality is to fall away And you say that he may do this because he cannot The Doctrine of your Adversaries is That God will certainly keep the godly from turning from him to an ungodly fleshly life And how doth this conduce to ungodliness A. The conceit of safety will make them careless B. Not if they conceive that their safety and their carefulness are equally decreed The bad and ignorant will abuse any thing But I am perswaded that very many live the more holily for this belief 1. Because as Prophecies conduce to their own accomplishment in that what men believe will certainly come to pass they all promote and will not oppose So it is in part in this case 2. And when they believe that God will have it be it greatly animateth their endeavours by hope and taketh off their discouragements 3. And when they find that God hath in his Decree conjoyned their care and labour to the end and hath no more decreed their perseverance than that they shall carefully avoid sin and temptations it maketh them fear that they are not Elect when they find these signs of Election to be doubtful and so preserveth them from presumption and security The third Crimination A. Their Doctrine is uncomfortable in two respects 1. In that it alloweth no man to be sure of his present Justification Pardon and Adoption who is not sure that he goeth further yea that he is not quite in another statâ— than any man that ever fell away which it is not possible that many if any one at all should be 2. In that it alloweth no man to be sure of his Justification and Adoption till he have so much Grace as that no Temptation how great soever would turn him from Christ if he were tried by it B. Wherein is the uncomfortableness of these A. I. I have known my self some fall to Socinianism Arrianism yea Infidelity denying Christ or his Godhead which is his chief Essence and the Scriptures and therefore sure had no saving Grace then and died so who had forty years lived in as eminent Piety Humility diligence in all religious Duties charity to others neglect of the World and patient suffering for their Religion oft times as almost any men that ever I knew And that they did not dissemble not only their constancy suffering and whole Conversation shewed but my own intimacy with them assured me by which I knew the very thoughts of their hearts Some of them were not of judgments clear and strong enough to discern the fallacies of Deceivers Others of them were naturally too hasty in judging And some were carried away by the advantages of the constant company of extraordinary able and insinuating Seducers But divers of them even after they apostatized did continue so much strictness of life and charity to all men and religiousness in their Theism and Infidel way and neglect of the World as convinced me that it was more the insufficiency of their judgments than the hypocrisie of their hearts which was the cause of their Apostacy Now by the Calvinists Doctrine none of these men were ever in a state of Grace And of the strictest Professors round about us there is not one of many hundreds that goeth so far as they did And all these must be left uncertain of their Justification till they are certain that they went beyond them all yea and certain that they are unjustified while they are certain that they came short of any one of them B. The case that you describe I have known and it is sad But we know not the hearts of other men There might be more sin and hypocrisie in them than we know of A. Though God only be the searcher of hearts yet long intimacy and near experience may make us so confident of some mens thoughts as that I confess to you you will never change my mind if you plead against so great experience I know their judgments were insufficient But I will never believe that their hearts were false as to what they knew B. God hath made his Word and not other mens hearts the rule for us to judge our selves by A. But if you think that his Word tells us that we are the Children of the Devil till we go beyond any that ever fell away we must look both to that Word and to such Apostates B. The truth is assurance of Justification and Salvation is not easily nor commonly attained And it is not Opinions alone that will procure it And while we have that sin and weakness which is the cause of doubts which Opinion soever we hold we shall find occasion for our doubtings But let us hear your second part of the Accusation A. II. They hold that if any man fall away by what temptation soever it is because he was never sincere And consequently that he is not sinâ—ers that would fall away by the strongest temptation that possibly may assault him So that every poor weak Christian whose Infant-strength is not proportioned to the greatest temptations must needs take himself to be still but an Hypocrite B. We stand not by our own strength of habitual Grace but by the upholding Love and Will of God * Carbo ex Aquin. 1. 2. q. 137. a. 4. Si persevâ—rantia sumatur pro ipso habitu indiget dono habitualis gratiae ut caeterae virtutes infusae si autem accipiatur pro actu perseverantiae durante usque ad mortem non jolum indiget habituali gratia sed etiam gratuito Dei auxilio conservante hominem in bono praedestinatis per gratiam Christi non solum datur ut perseverare possint sed ut perseverent ut Augustin Per se potest perseverare in malo non autem in bono Bradwardine who holdeth that no temptation can be overcome without special help that is a divine Volition or Decree doth yet hold that the same Will of God which saveth one man by overcoming his temptations saveth others by keeping temptations from them A. 1. When we dispute against their Doctrine it is from the immortal quality of the seed of God abiding in them that they plead for certainty of perseverance 2. Who findeth not by constant experience that God worketh on all things according to their Natures And so on man as man and so on Saints as Saints and on the weak as weak and on the strong as strong Do we not see that he giveth men wisdom and all Intellectual abilities before they speak and do as such abilities must fit them to do When did you see Gods Grace make ignorant injudicious fools or weak persons judge speak and live in
Remedying means and duties for himself Lib. No that must not be imagined P. Quest 2. Is not all this commanded by the Law of Grace Lib. Yes If it be a Law P. Quest 3. Was not Christ under a Law which bound him 1. To obey all the precepts of nature perfectly without sin 2. To obey all the Mosaical Law as far as he was capable 3. To do all this a sa Mediator to reconcile God and man And to dye for sinners to work Miracles to send out Apostles to gather a Chruch to intercede for us and to present us Justified and perfect to his father And are we obliged to do so too Lib. No one so imagineth P. Quest 4. Did not Christ as a Covenanter undertake all this And do we do so too And do not we in Baptism our selves consent and promise to take God the Father Son and Holy Ghost for our Father Saviour and Sanctifier and to forsake the flesh the world and the devil Is it Christ only that is Baptized Nay did Christ ever receive such a Baptism as this to wash away his sins and deliver him a pardon Is it Christ or we that at Baptism make these promises to God Is it to Christ or us that Christ himself saith If thou believe and repent thou shalt be saved Doth Christ as King make Laws and Covenants to bind himself only Who seeth not that hath any sense of Scripture matters that The Mediators case office and work is one and ours another that It is one Law that was given him and another to us yea that which seemeth the same was another being not formally but materially only the same and forma denominat For he was to fulfil the Law of Moses and of Innocency to such ends as a Redeemer and with such difference from our case that it was not formally but materially and that but in part the same Law and so his Baptism was formally another thing from any ones Baptism else in the World It was one thing that Christ promised and undertook in his Covenant with the Father and it 's another thing that we undertake and promise It 's one thing that God promiseth to Christ upon his Merits that he shall see of the â—ravail of his soul and be satisfied and another thing that he promiseth us that our persons shall be Justified sanctified and saved In a word by the Law given to Christ Christ himself is Governed as a Subject and Justified and Rewarded by God as his Judge for fulfilling it By the Law given to us we are the subjects and Christ is the Governour Lawgiver and our Judge who will Justifie reward or condemn and punish us I know not how that man can preach the Gospel that knoweth not the difference between the Law and Covenant made to and with Christ as Mediatour and the Law and Covenant made to and with us and in Baptism solemnly prosessed Children should not be ignorant of it Lib. But it is the same thing which is promised to Christ and us viz. that we shall be justified and saved and this is promised first to Christ and therefore the words cited may be justified Christ is the seed of the woman who is first to break the Serpents head Gen. 3. 15. P. 1. The same thing may be promised to different persons in different Covenants To promise to Christ that his elect shall be saved and to promise Believers that they shall be saved are two promises 2. What one word do you find in Gen. 3. of a Covenant or promise made to Christ It 's true that he is the principal Seed there meant though not the only But he is the Promised Seed It 's one thing for a promise to be made to Christ and another thing that Christ as the viâ—torious seed â— be promised to man There is no promise in Gen. 3. to Christ mentioned â—â— and what can be meant by a Promise of God to God himself but a prophecy and promise of a Saviour to man But if there had that would not have proved these two to be one Understand the tenour and difference of these several Laws and Covenants of God or pretend not to understand the Scripture viz. 1. The Law and Covenant of Innocency made to Adam â— The Law and Covenant made to and with the Mediatour for our Redemption 3. The promise Law or Covenant of Grace of the first Edition made to Adam and all in him and renewed with Noe and mankind in him 4. The Law and Covenant both of Common Grace and of Peculiarity at once given to Abraham and perfected in the Law and Covenant of Works made by Moses with the Jews 5. The Law and Covenant of Grace made by the Incarnate Mediatour and the Father by him in the second perfect Edition with eminent peculiarity CHAP. VI. Whether the New Covenant of Grace have any Conditions Lib. V. BY feigning the Covenant of Grace to have Conditions you make it to be a Covenant of works P. Either by works you mean any humane acts And so all Gods Covenants with man and his Laws are of works that is It is some act of man that they require For what else can be commanded Or you mean as Paul doth when he calls the Jews Law a Law of works And if so you falsifie his doctrine or ours Prove if you can that by works he meaneth every humane Act and that Faith it self is either no Act of man or the works meant by him Lib. Faith is a work but it is not put in the Covenant as a work required of us but as a gift to be given to us freely P. Judge whether it be required of us and that formally as a condition by such texts as these yea whether obedience be not required as a Condition of our salvation which is promised thereupon 1 Tim. 4. 8. Godliness hath the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned Rom. 10. 8 9 10 13. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thy heart that God raised him from the dead N. B. this is an act distinct from accepting his Righteousness thou shalt be saved For with the heart man believeth unto Righteousness and with the mouth Confession is made unto salvation For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved Matth. 6. 14 15. For if ye forgive men their trespasses your Heavenly Father will also forgive you But if c. Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have Right to the tree of life c. See Isa 1. 16 17 18. 55. 6 7. Luk. 13. 3 5. 1 Joh. 1. 9. Act. 3. 19. Heb. 5. 9 c. Lib. God promiseth a Reward to our Actions not as ours but as hâ— own gifts P. 1. Enough is said of Rewards before We shall
not by such talk as this believe either that God Rewardeth himself or that he Rewardeth not us But we easily grant that he rewardeth us for nothing which cometh not from his free bounty For no creature can have any other good 2. But if Faith and Love and Obedience be not commanded to us but only given us then they are no Duties but Gifts only and unbelief hatred of God and disobedience is no sin nor brings no punishment Lib. At least they are no Conditions of the Covenant P. Do you think that they are any proper Means of our Justification and Salvation as their End or not Lib. Yes I dare not say that they are no means at all Faith and Repentance are Means of our Pardon and Holiness and Perseverance of our Glorification P. What sort of means do you take them to be Lib. They are such Gifts of God as in order must go before Salvation P. Going before signifieth only Antecedency and not any Means Lib. One Gift maketh us fit for a thankful improvement of another P. This speaketh them only to be a Means to our Thankful improvement and not to our Right to the things to be improved Lib. I do not think that they are a means of our Right or title P. Rev. 22. 14. Blessed are they that do his Commandments that they may have Right to the tree of life c. Lib. It may be translated that wash their garments and that they may have power upon as Dr. Hammond noteth P. 1. The Alexandrian Copy which giveth him this occasion is singular and not be set against all other though the Vulgar Latin go the same way Beza who yet thinks that a transposition of two Verses hath darkned these Texts this Book being negligently used because many for a time took it not for an Apostolical Writing or Canonical yet saith that it is contra omnium Graecorum codicum fidem that the Vulgar goeth 2. But all 's one in sense For to wash their Garments is to be sanctified or purified from sin and not only from guilt of punishment And 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifieth such a Power as we call Authority oâ— Right usually But what maketh you deny Conditions on mans part Lib. Because 1. It is supposed that a condition is profitable to him that requireth it 2. It is some Cause of the benefit 3. It is to be done by the performers own strength whereas God giving â—s Faith that can be no condition on our part which is first a Gift from him that requireth it For to give it first maketh it no condition of ours P. Here we see what it is to quarrell about ambiguous Words No one of these is true that you say of the common nature of a condition or at least as we mean by that word 1. Civilians define a Condition to be Lex addita negotio qua donec praestetur eventum suspendit As it is Required it is only Modus promissionis donationis vel contractus as Performed it is only a Removal of an Impediment and a Disposition of the Receiver So that as the Non-performance is but the suspension of a Causation so the performance of a Condition as such is no Cause efficient But it is dispositio subjecti which you may call a necessary Modus of a Material Cause as the Recipient may improperly be called Dr. Twisse therefore calleth faith Caâ—sa justificationis dispositiva 2. So it be an act of our own it is no way necessary that it be done without the Commanders help or gift For he that giveth us to believe doth give it by this means even by commanding it and making it a Condition of his further benefits that so he may induce us as rational free agents to perform it ex intuitu mercedis or by the motive of the end or benefit For he causeth it by suitable means And no doubt but faith and the rest are free acts of ours though caused by Gods grace 3. And it is accidental to a Condition that it be any way commodious to the Imposer What profit is it to a Father that his Child put off his Hat and say I thank you And yet he may make that a condition of his gift What profit is it to a free Physicion that the Patient observe his order in taking his Medicines And yet he may give them on that condition But yet I will add that as usually men make that the condition of a Gift or Contract which the person obliged is backward else to perform and that which is somewhat either for the Donor or Contracters Interest or the Ends of his contract so God who taketh his Glory and Pleasure in his Childrens Good to be as his Interest and the End of his Gifts and knoweth how backward we are to our duty doth on these accounts impose on us our duty and conditions his Pleasure and Glory being instead of his Commodity But if If be a conditional Particle and if Gods suspending by the tenour of his Donation our Right to Justification upon our free believing and our Right to Salvation on our free obedience do prove Conditionality as it doth all that we mean then you see that the new Covenant hath conditions Lib. Doth not God promise us the first Grace even to take the hard heart out of our bodies and give us hearts of flesh and new hearts c. And I pray what condition can the first grace have unless you will run in infinitum to seek Conditions of Conditions P. 1. This is a Cause of great moment of which I have my self had darker thoughts than now I have 1. If one Benefit of the Covenant have no Condition viz. the first will it follow that none of the rest are given upon condition May not God in Baptism give us a Right of special Relation to the Father Son and Holy Ghost his Love Grace and Communion Pardon Adoption and Glory on condition of Faith and Repentance and yet himself give us that Faith and Repentance which is the condition of the rest 2. But upon fuller consideration it will appear that It is not the first Grace that those promises mean by a new and soft heart For who ever will examine them shall find that the Texts mention Conditions and also antecedent Grace And indeed A new and soft heart is but the same thing which the New Testament calleth Sanctification And yet that Sanctification is promised as consequent to Faith as its condition And our ordinary Divines do accordingly distinguish of Vocation and Sanctification holding that in Vocation the Act of Faith and Repentance are caused by Gods Grace before proper Habits and that Sanctification is the Habits specially of Love and Holiness following them vid. Ames Medull de Vocat Rolloc de Vocat Hookers Souls Vocat Humil. Rogers of Faith c. And this is the new and fleshy heart But what need we more to prove that Covenant Conditional which I mean when it is nothing
from their lawfuiler imployments that they may hear in season and call Martha to choose Maries part and those that say They cannot come because of their Oxen Farms and Business to change that mind Lib. Yes no doubt of it Zaccheus must be in Christs way P. Quest 4. Must we not perswade them to take heed how and what they hear and to set their hearts to all Gods Words and to see that they despise not him that speaketh but he that hath ears to hear let him hear and to consider of the truth and weight of all and to search the Scriptures to see whether the things be so Lib. I deny none of this P. Quest 5. May we not perswade them to come and talk and reason the case with Friends or Ministers that we may convince them Lib. Yes no doubt as well as to hear in publick P. Quest 6. May we not Catechise them and teach them the Principles of Christianity that they may understand them Lib. Yes as to the Matter but to teach them your forms of Questions and Answers is but formality and deceit P. What May we not teach them the words of Christ and Scripture How shall the matter be understood without words And what better words than the words of Scripture Lib. But a Form of the same words is but formality P. Hath God forbid us to use the same Are Children and ignorant people fit to understand the mysteries of God if you speak them every time in new or other words or can they so remember them And when the use of words is to signifie Things and the Matter is one and the same for we have but one God and Christ and Gospel what wild work will you make of it if you speak the same things every time in other words Are all those words equally fit to signifie the same Things Certainly some particular words are more fitted to each matter than other And should not the fittest be most used Doth not Christ deliver us a form of Baptism and a form of the administration of his last Supper and a form of Prayer Are there not forms prescribed in Gods Word of the Priests Benediction and what the people shall say when they offer Sacrifice Are not all the Psalms forms of Prayer and Praise and were indeed the Liturgie of the Jews Doth not Joel put a form of prayer into the mouths of Penitents Doth not Paul teach us to use Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord Eph. 5. 19. Doubtless it is not only Davids Psalms that are meant by these three words but Hymns and Songs fitted to Gospel Worship And if you would have none of them premeditated nor be twice the same words you would soon make your self ridiculous to the world If you say that this Precept was for them that could do so being filled with the Spirit I answer 1. It 's true that they had their extraordinary endowments which made a difference in the manner as also in Praying and Preaching But shall we dream that therefore the same duties belong not to us to be performed in the best manner that we can 2. A man may from the Spirit pour out his soul to God in forms of Prayer and Praise though the words were premeditated In a word if you would have all forms of Creeds Prayer Praise and administration of Sacraments and Catechisms cast away you are an enemy to Gods true Worship and the safety and edification of the Church yea you must cast away all the Scriptures which are Gods form of instruction recorded for the Churches use to the end of the World Quest 6. But I further ask you May we not perswade bad men to examine themselves and to find know and confess that they are bad and ungodly and to lament it Lib. Yes that cannot be denyed P. Quest 7. And may we not perswade them to believe that there is a God and that the Scripture is his Word and true and that Christ is the Messias Lib. Yes the Devils believe all this P. Quest 8. And may we not exhort them to Repent and Turn to God and so to believe in Christ as to receive him and give up themselves unto him Lib. Yes you may exhort them but they cannot do it of themselves P. Must we exhort them to nothing but what they can do of themselves Quest 9. Is not Exhortation Gods means to bring them to Repentance and Faith in Christ Lib. Yes I deny none of this But that which you abuse men by 1. Is bidding the ungodly pray when the prayers of the wicked are abominable to God And 2. In that you do not first call them to believe and come to Christ before they do any other duty P. 1. You granted me before that hearing and considering and searching the Scripture and other things named are to be done before Believing in Christ by those that are yet unbelievers He that believeth that there is a God must behave himself accordingly in obeying God 2. Men that believe in Christ but by Assent that he is truly the Christ and the Gospel true and that there is a life to come surely if they love themselves must do somewhat in order to a fuller Justifying Belief 3. And are you so much against the very Law of Nature worse than the Seamen that bid Jonas call upon his God worse than the Ninevites and than almost all mankind as that you would have no men pray but godly men Did not Peter bid Simon Magus repent and pray Acts 8. And doth not God command the wicked Isa 55. to seek the Lord while he may be found and call upon him while he is near Should no graceless man ask Wisdom of God who giveth liberally to all men and upbraideth not James 1. and giveth his Spirit to them that ask it Must they not pray for Grace Faith and Repentance that want them 4. But yet let me remember you that we use not to exhort men to draw nigh to God with the lips alone nor to pray without Desire For Praying is but Desiring and presenting that Desire to God And when we bid men pray for Grace we bid them desire it And so bid them Repent and Pray Believe and Pray for Praying is a Returning act And if we may not call them to pray we may not call them to Turn to God Mr. Eliot in New England teacheth the Indians another lesson whose great work is to call them to pray and the title that his Converts have is the Praying Indians Lib. But without faith it is impossible to please God or do any thing which is not abominable to him P. 1. But it is not impossible for one to have a common and temporary faith and another a saving faith 2. And one that believeth that God is and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek him and this not savingly may yet less displease God and be less abominable than
being superstitious by a great deal of self-made Duty and Sin only theirs and yours are not in the same things They say Touch not taste not handle not some things and you other things while you say that God hath forbidden forms of prayer and many lawful circumstances of Worship and other such like And I now intreat you and all the servants of Christ soberly to consider whether a wild injudicious calling sound Doctrine and Practices Antichristian and using that name as a bugbear for want of solid argument and an injudicious running from Papists into the contrary errors and extreams hath not brought on many the guilt and misery which in all the following particulars I shall open to you 1. Such men have corrupted the Gospel of Christ by bringing in many doctrinal errors and opening a door to the heretical to bring in more Almost all the Libertine Antinomian errors have come in by an injudicious opposition to Popery as if they were the Vindication of Election Free Grace Christs Righteousness Justification by faith Perseverance against mans Works and Merits And it is not to be denyed that the said Libertine Doctrines do more contradict the Doctrine of the Gospel even Christianity it self than the Doctrine of the Papists about the same subjects do I know this to be true who ever is offended at it Aquinas Scotus Gabriel Bellarmine Pererids Tolet yea Vasquez Suarez and Molina are not near so erroneous about Justification Grace Faith and good works as Richardson Randal Sympson Towne Crispe Saltmarsh and many such others are Yet how many Religious people have I known that have gloried in these errors as the sweet discoveries of free grace 2. Such erroneous extreams in opposition to Popery have greatly dishonoured the Reformers and Reformation When it cannot be denyed but such and such errors are found among them it maketh all the Reformation suspected as Illyricus his Doctrine of the substantiality of sin and the non-necessity of Good works to salvation and as Andr. Osianders Doctrine of Justification by Gods essential righteousness did and as many harsh passages in Piscator and Maccovins do to name no more besides those before named What a stir have our later Divines still with the Papists in defending some few harsh sayings of Luther Calvin and Beza about the Cause of sin and some such subjects But downright errors cannot be defended 3. Your injudicious opposition greatly hardneth the Papists and hindereth their conviction When they find some errours in your writings as that all are bound to believe that they are elected and Justified that this is the sense of the Article I believe the forgiveness of sin that this is sides divina that we are Reputed of God to have fulfilled all the Law of Innocency habitually and actually in and by Christ c. and then when they read that such men lay the great stress of the Reformation upon these as the very cause of our rejecting Rome and the artiouli stantisaut cadentis Ecclesiae what can more harden them to a confidence that we are hereticks and that they are in the right As I have known the persons that had been in danger of turning Papists if the errour of Transubstantiation and some few more had not been so palpable as to resolve them These men cannot be in the right even so many Papists were like to have turned Protestants had they not met with some notorious errours in such injudicious adversaries 4. Yea we too very well know that your extremities have occasioned divers Protestants to turn Papists Yea some Learned men and such as have zealously run through many Sects in opposition to Popery themselves And some of my acquaintance that went as far in the profession of Godliness as most that I have known They have been so confounded to find partly palpable errours taken for sound doctrine and sound doctrine railed at as Popery and partly to see the shameful diversity and contentions of all the Sects among themselves that it hath drawn them to think that there is no prosperity of the Church and Godliness to be expected but where there is unity and Concord and no Unity and Concord to be hoped for among Protestants And therefore they must return for it to Rome And Grotius professeth that it was this that moved him to go so far towards them as he did And I must needs say that I believe from my very heart that the shameful divisions contentions backbitings revilings censurings persecutions errours and scandals of Protestants among themselves is a far stronger temptation to turn men to Popery than any thing that is to be found among the Papists to turn men to it and that many are thus driven to it that would not have been drawn 5. And by calling good and lawful if not necessary things Antichristian and Popish you have made Religious people ridiculous and a scorn to many that have more wit than Conscience as if we were all such humorous Novices as would run mad by being frightned with the name of Antichrist And as they deride you for it as Fanatical so they the less fear Popery it self 6. And by these extremities you corrupt the peoples minds with a wrathful and contentious kind of Religion which â—s easily taken up in comparison of a holy and heavenly mind When you should kindle in them a zeal for Love and Good Works the mark of Gods peculiar people you are killing Love and kindling wrath Gunpowder may be set on fire without so much blowing of the coal Long experience assureth us that a siding angry contentious zeal is easily kindled but a lively faith a confirmed hope of Glory a Love to God and man needs more ado S. Stay a little in the midst of your reproofs Would you perswade us to a Union with Antichrist and to live in Love and Concord with the members of the Devil Are not the Papists such Have you no way to reconcile us to Rome but by pleading for Love and peace Must we not contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints and not be Lukewarm to the doctrines of Jezabel that seduceth the people of God to Idolatry P. 1. Were you perswadable I would perswade you not ignorantly to contradict the truth of God and call it Popery nor to set up certain false or incongruous notions and pretend them great and necessary verities nor to make a stir for some odd unsound opinions received upon trust from those that you thought best of and to buzz abroad suspicious of Popery against those that have more understanding and conscience than to imitate you nor to fly in the faces of Gods faithfullest servants much less to use your tongues to backbite them as if they were Antichristian because they are not as shamefully ignorant and deceived as you are And I would perswade you to study and digest well what you take the boldness to speak against and not to talk confidently and furiously against that which you never