communicating life and glory unto him Which to my judgement doth manifestly intimate that you acknowledge in God a purpose to communicate life and glory to Esau some way or other And if you did acknowledge a purpose in God not to communicate life and glory at all unto him this Aquinas confesseth and wee joyntly with Aquinas confesse that it is nothing lesse then to hate him For if God will have a man to bee and will not have him to bee saved surely hee will have him in the end to bee damned For in the end there will bee found no middle state equally remote from salvation and damnation But you doe in plain termes acknowledge a purpose in God to deale in justice with Esau and to give him life or death according to his works I presume you will not avouch this of all them that you account the world of mankinde For I doubt not but you will except Infants As for men of ripe years is it not as true of the elect as of those you call the men of the world that they shall bee dealt withall according to their workes I doe not say according to their deserts but according to their works keeping my self to your own phrase Hath not the Apostle professed 2 Cor. 5. 10. That wee must all appeare before the judgement seate of Christ that every man may receive the things which are done in his body according to that hee hath done whether it be good or evill But these works I confesse are different for either they consist in obedience or disobedience either to the Covenant of the Law or to the Covenant of Grace either to the Law of works or to a Law of Faith Now as for those whom you call the world of mankinde and concerning whom you professe God hath a purpose to judge them according to their works I demand whether your meaning is God wil judge them according to their works in reference to the Covenant of the Law or in reference to the Covenant of Grace If in reference to the Covenant of the Law then the meaning must bee this God hath a purpose to save them in case they perform exact obedience to his Law But in case they continue not in every thing that is writen in the book of the Law to doe it Gods purpose is to condemn them to everlasting death Now I appeale to every sober Christians judgement whether if God hath no purpose to save them but upon condition of such obedience and withall hath a purpose to damne them upon condition of such disobedience whether all things considered it may not bee more truely avouched that God hath a purpose to damne them but no purpose at all to save them If it bee spoken in reference to the Covenant of Grace I dispute against it first in the same manner The conditions of the Covenant of Grace on mans part being Faith and Repentance if God will not save them but upon condition of faith and repentance and will damne them in case of infidelity and impenitency then surely if it shall bee found that the men of this world are far more prone to infidelity and impenitency then unto faith and repentance it followeth that God purposeth rather to damne them then to save them But in case they are naturally carryed to infidelity and impenitency and have no power to beleeve in Christ and to break off their sinnes by true repentance then it followeth as well in respect of this Covenant of grace according whereunto God will deale with them as in respect of the former Covenant of the Law that God hath no purpose to save them but hath a purpose to damne them unto everlasting fire But so it is of all those whom you call the world of mankind namely that they have no power to believe in Christ or to break off their sinnes by repentance but are naturally carryed on unto infidelity and impenitency as I prove thus They that cannot discern the things of God but account them foolishnesse they cannot beleeve in Christ But such are all they whom you call the world of mankind for they are not regenerate and consequently they are meere naturals Now the naturall man as the Apostle speakes perceives not the things of God for they are foolishnesse unto him Again all such persons are still in the flesh Now the affection of the flesh is enmity against God is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can bee Secondly I prove that God cannot deale with them whom you call the world of mankinde according to the Covenant of Grace For if hee should hee should save them all as I prove thus If whatsoever God requires by this covenant on mans part God undertakes to perform on his part then it is impossible but that all must bee saved with whom hee meanes to deale according to this covenant But whatsoever by this covenant God requires on mans part God himself undertakes to perform on his part as I prove thus First in generall God undertakes in this covenant to bee our Lord and our God to sanctifie us Therefore hee undertakes to give us faith and repentance Secondly in speciall and first doth God require at our hands that wee should love him with all our hearts and with all our soules God undertakes to perform this I will circumcise thine heart and the heart of thy children that thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart and with all thy soule Doth God require at our hands that wee feare him And God also undertakes on his part to work us unto this Jer. 32. 40. And I will put my feare into their hearts that they shall never depart away from mee Doth God require Faith this also on his part hee performes Act. 2. ult God added to the Church dayly such as should bee saved And Philip. 1. 29. To you it is given to beleeve in him and to suffer for him Doth God require Repentance Even to this end God sent his Sonne to give repentance unto Israel and forgivenesse of sins In a word it is God that makes us perfect unto every good work to do his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Heb. 13. 21. Answ But in the second place it may bee argued that Gods raising up of Pharaoh to this intent to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow argueth the like hatred of Esau as of Pharaoh viz. a purpose of passing both by without communicating grace or glory unto them To which I answer a difference there is between Esau and Pharaoh though not in their finall condition nor in 〈◊〉 purpose concerning them Yet in the degree of their present estate whereunto they were severally come when God gave out his severall Oracles concerning them both for hee saith not of Pharaoh God raised him up to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow before hee had done good or evill as hee said of
ability Dicere solet humana superbia saith Austin si scissem fecissem What was Pauls meaning when hee said of himselfe Rom. 7. 9. I once was alive without the Law I should think this impotency cannot be discerned without the life of grace For like as a dead man naturally is not sensible of his death so hee that is dead in sinne is nothing sensible of this his sinfull condition But howsoever surely grace revealed onely hath no congruity to such a worke as to bring a man to see his impotency for what greater grace in the kind of revelation then the word of God let this word testifie that a man is shaped in wickednesse and in sinne conceived and that hee is dead in sinne Is this sufficient to make him see his impotency Is the hearing of Gods word sufficient to make him beleeve it why then is it not sufficient to take away mens blindnesse and why then doth not every one that hears it cease to be blind and consequently cease to bee lame and deafe yea and cease to be dead also Nay which is more suppose a Physician discovers a man to be in a dangerous estate when hee dreames of nothing lesse and suppose the party beleeves it upon his word yet here-hence it followeth not that hee seeth the dangerous estate wherein hee is untill hee hath some feeling of it So likewise if hee should beleeve the word telling him that hee is unable to doe any thing that is good yet hee shall not be said to see it till hee hath some feeling of it and whence can this feeling proceed but from some principle of life that must be shed into his soule that hee may have a feeling of that miserable estate wherein hee is by nature otherwise though upon supposition hee should beleeve it in Gods word yet hee should not see it in himselfe Further you say It is sufficient to stirre him up to seek for help and strength and life in him where it is to bee found A strange conceit that a man should seek for life whereas if hee hath not life hee is dead and was it ever known that a dead man sought for life well Martha might seeke for the restoring of life to her dead brother Lazarus but surely Lazarus himselfe being dead neither did nor could seeke for life A man that hath life may be said to labour for life that is to hold it when hee is in danger of losing life but for a dead man to seeke for life is more then miraculous for it is utterly impossible When the Angell came downe into the Poole of Bethesda the poore Creple had never a whit the more sufficiency to enter in had his heart beene as lame to desire as his body to goe notwithstanding that he saw so good an opportunity hee should make no more haste to desire the benefit then his body could to enjoy it Againe no man seekes for that hee desires not neither can hee desire ought unlesse hee know it and loves it And is it possible that a man should know the precious nature of the life of grace and be in love with it and yet without the life of grace Is the knowledge of the precious nature of the state of grace and the love thereof a fruit of the flesh thinke you But by that which followes it seemes this is not your meaning but you suppose that notwithstanding all the operation of grace mentioned they may despise it In which case they neither love it nor understand the precious nature of it for no man despiseth that which hee loves and accounts precious Therefore this stirring up seemes to bee nothing but perswasion and exhortation Now this as Austin long agoe delivered Doctrinae generalitate comprehenditur and we willingly grant that the word preached doth equally exhort all that heare it to faith to repentance to prayer in some of which or in all which consists the seeking of life And no man makes question but the word of God sufficiently performes its part in exhortation to faith to repentance to prayer but the Pharisees despised this and so doe most and God is blamelesse But of any power that they have to beleeve repent and pray upon the doing whereof they should obtaine life your selfe are content to say nothing at all but keep your selfe unto generall phrases which are very apt to deceive us and this is the course not onely of them that are in love with their owne errors but with good men also when out of a desire to justifie God and not content with that simplicity of satisfaction which is laid forth unto us in holy Scripture and seemes harsh to flesh and bloud making them cry out Durus est hic sermo they shape unto themselves other courses more convenient as they thinke to give satisfaction yet not so much unto themselves as unto others but all in vaine for flesh and bloud will receive no satisfaction in the plaine truth of God A third Reason then to prove that God purposed life to the world upon condition of their obedience and repentance is taken from the end God aimed at As hee declares himselfe to offer meanes of salvation unto the world which is not in the first place to harden and to leave without excuse but to bring them to the knowledge of God and of themselves to repentance to the seeking after God to the purging of themselves from sinne and to peace To the Gentiles God gave the workes of Creation and Providence and his Law written in their hearts to reveale the knowledge of God to them to teach them to doe the things of the Law to judge of them that doe amisse and thereby be brought to condemne themselves doing the same things to lead them to repentance to move them to seek after the Lord. And thus much light Christ enlighteneth every man withall that cometh into this world From whence also it was that God vouchsafed heavenly dreames and visions even to the Gentiles That hee might withdraw them from their sinnes and hide their pride and save their soules from the pit But because this light alone did not prevaile with the Gentiles as to bring them to the knowledge of God in Christ therefore it pleased God in the fulnesse of time to send the preaching of the Gospel amongst them and in the meane time not to iudge them nor condemne them for their not beleeving in Christ of whom they had not heard nor for transgressing the Law of workes which they had not received but onely for sinning against the law of nature which was written in their hearts and expounded to them daily by the workes of Creation and Providence and sealed up to them by particular amplification partly by their Consciences accusing or excusing Rom. 2. 15. partly by dreames and visions Job 33. 15 16. To the Jewes God revealed his Covenant clearly and fully sent his Prophets among them early and late gave them deliverances chastened them with
acknowledge no sufficiency of instruction granted them hereunto but rather for the ordering of their lives in morall conversation and for the politique government of the world lest otherwise all things should run to disorder and confusion And as Austin saith that the meanes of grace are granted to some ut proficiant thereby ad exteriorem vitae emendationem quo mitiùs puniantur Secondly Gods leading to repentance in that place is attributed to the goodnesse of God which is shewed in his patience and long-suffering as if it signified no more than giving way unto repentance Thirdly take it as rigorously as you will it cannot signifie more than God performes by his word and preaching of the Gospel For can you imagine that God performes more by his workes in leading men unto repentance than by his word Now Gods leading to repentance by his word is but his admonishing them to repent Acts 17. 30. Now he admonisheth all men every where to repent And here-hence it followes not that God doth will their repentance any otherwise then voluntate praecepti not voluntate propositi or bene-placiti for if hee did then must hee needs give them the grace of repentance Yet I confesse in this voluntas praecepti is included voluntas propositi in some sense which yet nothing serves your turne though some equivocation makes it seeme plausible taking it hand over head in the generall for it signifies withall that it is the will of Gods good pleasure that they ought to repent and it is their duty to repent But there is much difference between these two Propositions It s my good pleasure that it shall be your duty to repent and It is my good pleasure that you shall repent and therefore I will give you the grace of repentance As for the second place of importance drawn out of Job 33. vers 15 16 17. of Gods providence in vouchsafing heavenly dreames and visions unto the Gentiles that hee might withdraw them from their sinnes and hide their pride and save their soules from the pit This likewise in two respects is nothing for the purpose For first this is spoken of such a time as wherein there was no partition-wall as afterwards was erected between the Jewes and Gentiles and therefore you doe not well to apply this unto the Gentiles in distinction from the Church of God for was not Job and such like in those dayes of the Church of God doth not God send his friends unto him that hee might sacrifice for them God himselfe promising to accept it Secondly you are to prove that God doth intend the repentance of those in whom hee doth not effect repentance But Elihu in Job speaks of God intending the repentance in those in whom hee doth effect repentance as it appeares Vers 16 23 24 25. and yet I deny not but God may intend a kind of repentance even in the wicked to wit exteriorem vitae emendationem as Austin speaks and so deliver them from judgement temporall and make also their damnation more tolerable Here you passe over from Gods naturall providence to a more gracious providence but not with a right foot as when you say that because this light alone did not so farre prevaile with the Gentiles as to bring them to the knowledge of God in Christ Therefore it pleased God in the fulnesse of time to send the preaching of the Gospel amongst them You should have said rather Because this light alone could not prevaile but so perhaps you had much prejudiced your owne Tenet I say you should have rather said so seeing you undertake to give the cause of this enterchange of the providence of God For to say onely It did not prevaile is not to alledge any tolerable cause thereof especially considering that you make the blame hereof wholly to lie upon mans wilfulnesse for by the same reason you might introduce a further course of Gods more gracious providence to bring men unto repentance than any hee hath undertaken yet for even the preaching of the Gospel thereby admonishing men to repent doth not prevaile with most There is another incongruity as when you say This light of nature alone did not prevaile as if you would imply that the light of grace alone doth prevaile which I presume you will confesse is notoriously untrue and that not onely illumination of the mind but the affection of the heart by the finger of God is necessarily required to bring men unto repentance As for that which followeth therein I doe most willingly and freely concurre with you acknowledging that God condemnes none for not beleeving in Christ of whom they had not heard nor for transgressing the Law of Moses which they had not received but onely for sinning against the Law of nature which was written in their hearts For I verily beleeve that where there is no Law there is no transgression But I presume you deliver this onely in reference to men of ripe yeares and doe not concurre with Arminians in maintaining that all infants dying in their infancy are saved Thus from Gods providence concerning the Gentiles I come unto his providence concerning the Jewes 2. Of the sufficiency of outward meanes of grace granted unto the Jewes to bring them unto repentance no man makes question yet seeing that among them all were not precious but many were found vile enough and reprobate silver according to that Rom. 9. 6. All are not Israel which are of Israel and that of the Prophet Esay 10. 22. Though the number of the children of Israel were as the sand of the sea yet but a remnant shall be saved and how few were those represented by the basket of good figs Jer. 24. 2. in comparison to those other naughty figs which could not be eaten they were so evill That God did intend the salvation and repentance of those to whom hee never gave repentance and salvation I hold it as impossible for you or any man to prove as to pull God down from the throne of his omnipotency or disrobe him of his immutable perfection For unlesse God continues to intend their repentance and salvation even when they are damned hee must be mutable and if hee did will and desire their salvation the reason why they failed of salvation must needs be because God was not able to procure it I never met yet with any other then vile shifts to avoyd these consequences both in Arminius and others that follow him But consider wee your proofes nay what proofe doe you bring to prove the point you undertake namely that God doth not onely intend their repentance but that in the first place and yet you cannot deny but that this which you say God intends in the first place never comes to passe whereas the other which God intends you confesse though in a latter place doth come to passe But because I think it were absurd to conceive that God intends their repentance whom hee purposeth to harden lest they should
then is the meaning of the Lord saying I have smitten your children in vaine they have received no correction I answer we are to conceive Gods corrections to tend to this according to that of Peter knowing that the long-suffering of the Lord is salvation or God speakes this 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 after the manner of earthly parents seeking their childrens amendment by correction but not obtaining it And this being an end of correction in Gods children in the wicked this end is not obtained And what difference is there between meanes naturall and meanes morall but this meanes naturall have power to effect their ends meanes morall are to admonish morall agents of their duty to doe this or that and so the ends of Gods punishment is that by them wee should learne to amend our lives as is signified in the Collects of our Church In a word naturall means tend to ends that shall be thereupon morall means tend to ends that should be and each are usually said to be in vaine when the end according to each kind is not obtained God sent his Sonne into the world not that hee should condemne the world but that the world should be saved by him Most true for hee sent his Son into the world to dye for the world and to dye for them is to save them and not to condemne them But for whom did hee send his Sonne into the world to dye Surely for the world of Elect even for those whom God the Father had given him Thou hast given him power over all flesh that hee should give eternall life to all them that thou hast given him Joh. 17. 2. And if wee consider the world in distinction from those whom God hath given him hee plainly professeth that as hee did not pray for them Joh. 17. 9. so hee did not sanctifie himselfe for them Verse 19. that is offer himselfe up upon the Crosse as Maldonate acknowledgeth to be the joynt interpretation of all the Fathers whom hee had read And your selfe have but earst confessed that God did not Joh. 3. 17. give the world unto Christ by him of grace to be bought or brought unto salvation Undoubtedly hee sent not Christ into the world at all to procure any mans condemnation neither doth Christ procure any mans condemnation although infidelity and disobedience to the word of Christ procures the condemnation of many And I wonder what moved you so to speake as to imply it was Gods intent though not chiefe intent to send Christ into the world to procure the condemnation of any At length wee are come to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of the point controverted between us in the words following If they should plead their condemnation to be unjust for unbeleefe because they were not able to beleeve Ver. 18. our Saviour answers by a reasonable prevention ver 19. This is their condemnation viz. the just cause of their condemnation that when light came into the world men loved darknesse rather than light men chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the means of grace which might have brought them on to beleeve in Christ First let us consider the Text it selfe then your interpretation and accommodation thereof Our Saviour doth plainly derive the cause of their unbeleefe or disapprobation of the Gospel signified in these words They loved darknesse rather than light I say the cause of this our Saviour referres to their workes of darknesse expressed in these words Because their deeds were evill The full meaning whereof I take to be this The workes wherein they delight are evill that is workes of darknesse and therefore no marvell if they hate the light and preferre darknesse before it Pulchra Lavernae Da mihi fallere da justum sanctumque videri Noctem peccatis fraudibus objice nubem But give mee leave to make an honest motion As it becomes us to take notice of this cause mentioned here so it becomes us nothing lesse to take notice of other causes mentioned in other places Now another cause of unbeleefe is mentioned Joh. 5. 44. and that of the same generall nature with this but expressed in more speciall manner by our Saviour thus How can yee beleeve which receive honour one of another and seeke not the honour that cometh from God onely Yet this is not all the cause of unbeleefe which the Scripture commends unto us for the Apostle also takes notice of Sathans illusions in this worke of unbeleefe 2 Cor. 4. 3 4. If our Gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost Whose eyes the God of this world hath blinded c. And because it is in the power of God to correct this delight wee take in evill workes and to deliver us from the illusions of Sathan if it please him to shew such mercy towards us and when he doth not he is said to harden us The hand of God in this our Saviour takes notice of as the cause of unbeleefe in man Joh. 12. 39 40. Therefore they could not beleeve because Esaias saith againe Hee hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart and be converted and I should heale them Like as Moses of old told the Jewes saying Deut. 29. 2 3. Yee have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh and unto all his servants and unto all his land The great temptations which thine eyes have seen the signes and those great miracles Ver. 4. Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day And this hee doth even then when his purpose was to reprove them for their naturall incorrigiblenesse for men sinne never the lesse obstinately because God denyes them grace but rather so much the more obstinately because as Austin well saith Libertas sine gratia non est libertas sed contumacia and consequently they are never a whit the lesse faulty though it be not in their power to correct that corruption of their hearts whence this faultinesse proceeds And hereupon the Apostle gives way to the same objection in effect which you propose for having concluded that God hath mercy on whom hee will and whom hee will hee hardeneth hee gives place to such an objection Thou wilt say then Why doth hee yet complaine for who hath resisted his will and answers it not as our Saviour doth for our Saviour proposed no such objection to be answered as you feigne the Apostle doth plainly and in expresse termes Our Saviour discovers the immediate cause of unbeleefe to wit because their hearts were set on evill as it was sometimes with the Colossians Col. 1. 21. yet because it was not in their power to change their hearts but God alone who will change them through mercy in whom hee will and will not change them in others
but harden them Hereupon the Apostle gives way to an objection in a matter more sublime than yours as before mentioned and answers it in this manner O man who art thou that disputest with God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made mee thus Hath not the Potter power c. which is an answer to such a question as this Why doth God complaine of us for that which proceeds from the hardnesse of our hearts which God alone can cure but will not but rather by denying us mercy continues to harden us But now let us consider the interpretation and accommodation of this place to the plea devised by you The reason you say why men loved darknesse rather than light is because men chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the meanes of grace which might have brought them on to beleeve in Christ It is great pity that by our owne phrasiologies wee should raise unto our selves a mist whereby wee should be the more unable to discerne the truth of God Suppose the Paraphrase were both sound in it selfe and congruous to the Text yet give way I pray to such a question in the second place What was the reason that they chose rather to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse than to follow the light of the meanes of grace If you answer any thing but that of our Saviour Joh. 12. 39. Therefore they could not beleeve because Esaias saith againe Hee hath blinded their eyes and hardned their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and should be converted and I should heal them I will not cease to pursue you untill you come to this and withall put you to give a reason why you should not take hold of this answer of our Saviour Joh. 12. 39. as of that Joh. 3. 19. especially considering that if a question were moved Why some chose rather to follow the light of the meanes of grace than to cleave to their sinfull estates and wayes of darknesse I doubt not but you would forth with answer Because God had mercy on them and gave them hearts to know Christ and to beleeve in him 1 Joh. 5. 20. Phil. 1. 29. And seeing God doth not shew the like favour to others to shew them the like mercy which is in Scripture phrase to harden Rom. 9. 18. and Rom. 11. 7. or not to give hearts to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare Deut. 29. 4. why should wee not say plainly that whereas the one takes a right way it is because God shewes mercy towards them to give them so much grace and whereas the other takes not the right but the wrong way it is because God hardens them in denying the like mercy and grace to them like as our Saviour expresly signifieth also Joh. 8. 47. Hee that is of God heareth Gods words yee therefore heare them not because yee are not of God But if any man shall inquire What then moved our Saviour to give this reason why men loved darknesse rather than light to wit this because their deeds were evill I answer hee gives the immediate cause why they loved not the light that is they had no mind to heare the doctrine of our Saviour and that was in respect of the convincing nature of it and therein like unto light which makes every thing to appeare and be manifest according to its proper hiew whereas in darknesse all things are confounded according to that Ephes 5. 13. Now they who brought ill consciences along with them no marvell if they were quickly weary of our Saviours company A pregnant example whereof wee have Joh. 8. 7. For when our Saviour said unto them who brought unto him a woman taken in adultery Let him that is among you without sinne cast the first stone at her Ver. 9. When they heard this being accused by their owne conscience they went out one by one beginning at the eldest even to the last So that indeed the reason given by our Saviour Joh. 3. 19. is not so much a reason why they beleeved not as why they liked not to heare him Many did endure the hearing of him yet were not brought to beleeve in him Austin sometimes proposed such a question as this Why doe not men doe this or that As for example Why doe they not facere quod justum est and hee answers Quia nolunt But if you aske mee Quare nolunt Imus in longum saith Austin Yet sine prejudicio diligentioris inquisitionis hee takes upon him to answer it thus Vel quia latet vel quia non delectat But marke what hee brings in upon the back of this Sed ut innotescat quod latebat suave fiat quod minime delectabat gratia Dei est quae hominum adjuvat voluntates But the face of your discourse tends to this as if you were of opinion that every naturall man hath so sufficient grace as to choose to follow the light of the meanes of grace rather than to cleave to his sinfull estate and wayes of darknesse and that not onely if hee will for if hee will the greatest part of the worke is done already but that his will is indifferently of it self inclinable to the one as well as to the other which is so dangerous an opinion and so opposite to the doctrine of Gods word representing the miserable corruption of mans heart and the peculiar power of Gods regenerating grace that you are loath to breake out in plaine termes to professe as much Lastly whereas you say The light of the meanes of grace had it been followed might have brought them to beleeve in Christ You will not say upon the following hereof they had been brought but they might have beene brought to beleeve By following the light of the meanes of grace I understand a continuing to heare the word of God Now it is well knowne that many nay most in all probability though they continue all their dayes to be hearers yet as the Apostle speakes of some so may wee say of them They are ever learning and never come to the knowledge at least to any saving knowledge of the truth On the contrary Saul persecuting the Church of God even in the way marching furiously Jehu like against the Professors of the Gospel it pleased God to call him and convert him Wee know saith Austin that God hath converted the wills of men not onely aversas à verae side sed adversas verae sidei So that even opposition to grace God can cure if it please him and regenerate a man to bring him to faith and repentance if it please him and if hee doth not certainly the reasons can be no other then because hee will not and that to his owne glorious ends which is reason enough for the Creator to doe what hee will his wisedome in referring all to
I am willing to consider the strength of your Argument it is grounded upon a certaine Scripture phrase Oh that there were in this people an heart to fear me Oh that they were wise Oh that my people had hearkened unto mee c. Is it not great pity that good men and good Divines should be carried away into odde opinions upon the slight consideration of a phrase The Hebrew phrase runnes thus Quis dubis ut cor eorum sit hujusmodi i. e. ità dispositum illis ut timeant me omnibus diebus vitae suae This is Quis praestabit Who shall give or effect that such an heart were in them that they might feare mee all their dayes Now I pray consider if this were spoken properly might wee not answer God according to his owne language and say O Lord doest thou aske who shall give or make good unto them such an heart why who should doe such a worke as this but thy selfe for thou hast made the heart and thou alone canst change it we cannot change an haire of our head much lesse our heart and thou in thy Covenant of grace hast undertaken this even to be our Lord and God to sanctifie us and to this purpose thou hast given us thy Sabbath as a figne that thou the Lord doest sanctifie us to this and thou hast given us thy word which is that truth of thine according unto godlinesse which alone can sanctifie us and thou hast promised to circumcise our hearts and the hearts of our children that they shall love the Lord our God with all our hearts and as to love thee so to feare thee also and that all our dayes and to this purpose to put thy feare in our hearts that wee shall never depart from thee yea and to put thy spirit within us and to cause us to walke in thy statutes and in thy judgements and to doe them And surely if God desires such an heart to be in us hee will not false to give us such an heart seeing hee alone is able to worke such an heart in us Therefore I conclude this is not to be understood properly but figuratively And you may as well inferre out of that of the Psalmist The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and his eares are open unto their prayers that God hath eyes and eares in proper speech as out of such places as these to conclude that humane ineffectuall desires and wishes and velleities are found in God If God transferre upon himselfe the members of our bodies in a figure of speech called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 why may hee not as well transferre upon himselfe by the same figure of speech the desires and affections of our minds especially considering that God hath made us apt to be moved and wrought upon by such passionate expressions and it is Gods usuall course to worke in all things agreeably to their natures And I make no question but such expressions are usually prevalent with true Israelites with Gods owne people not so much by the force of a passionate expression which is accommodated to the condition of mans nature as chiefly by the operation of Gods Spirit whose sword the Word of God is I doubt not but Gods will is serious what way or course soever it takes but you are very adventurous upon your Readers credulity in endeavouring to perswade him that God willeth such a gracious heart in them in whom hee means not to worke considering as I presume your selfe beleeve although this discourse of yours makes mee not a little to stagger in this mine apprehension that God alone is able to worke such an heart in any yet you labour to expedite a facile way unto our faith or credulity rather to take hold of your Proposition by a familiar comparison A father you say perswades both his sonne and his servant to be cut both being dangerously sicke of the stone but when perswasions will not serve with his sonne hee taketh him and bindeth him hand and foot and causeth him to endure it The servant hee continueth to perswade to endure the like course of cure but proceedeth no further In this case you say the Master doth seriously desire the healing and life of his servant though he did not proceed to the cutting asunder of his flesh I grant all this but I wonder not a little that your selfe doe not observe the incongruity in this comparison which on no side is sutable for the sonne in this case is made to be cut against his will that hee may be healed but God forceth no man to conversion and repentance against his will that hee may be healed for indeed voluntas non potest cogi at least in respect of actus eliciti wherein consists repentance and conversion On the other side the servant is no more willing to be cut than the son for it is not in the power of man to change the will either of servant or of sonne but this is in Gods power and with an omnipotent facility as Austin speakes Omnipotenti facilitate convertit ex nolentibus volentes facit Now put the case that the Master should know that of all the meanes hee could use to make his servant willing to endure the cutting none but one would prevaile with him and that one would prevaile with him to make him willing should the Master use all other meanes which hee well knew would prove ineffectuall and purposely forbeare the other which hee well knew would prove prevalent In this case speake freely I pray whether this man did seriously and earnestly desire the cutting and healing of his servant and not rather the contrary To put the case home unto you you know what admonition David upon his death-bed gave to Solomon concerning Shimei Thou shalt not count him innocent for thou art a wise man and knowest what thou oughtest to doe unto him and thou shalt cause his hoare head to goe downe to the grave with bloud yet withall Solomon must have a care of David his fathers oath for when Shimei came to meet David at Jordan David sware unto him by the Lord saying I will not slay thee with the sword Now while Solomon meditated on some course to take with Shimei suppose God should reveale unto him saying If thou proposest such a condition unto him to wit of building him an house in Jerusalem and to stay there and not passe over the brook Kidron hee will transgresse but if thou proposest any other like condition hee will observe it and hereupon Solomon should be moved to propose this conditon which hee knew Shimei would transgresse judge I pray whether this course proposed to Shimei were an evidence of Solomons earnest and serious affection concerning the saving of Shimei's life and not rather concerning his destruction In like sort when God perswades many by his Ministers to make them new hearts and new spirits and himselfe alone by the power of his Spirit is able to take the stony
Esau that hee should serve Jacob before hee had done good or evill The Hebrew and Greek word signifie neither to create nor bring into the world but to preserve or to cause to stand to stirre up or to advance which presupposeth Pharaoh already born yea and of such a Spirit that if God preserve him and stirre him up hee was become a fit subject upon whom God might shew his power in his hardning and overthrow Otherwise God might as well bee said to condemn Pharaoh out of his absolute will without all respect to sin as to shew his power in hardning of him without all respect to sin Hardning when it falls upon the creature is both the height of his sin and depth of his misery and therefore is it as prejudiciall to Gods justice to inflict it without respect of sin going before and to the creature as dangerous to undergoe it as condemnation to hell it self Hell hath no greater torment then an heart desperately hardned under the wrath curse and judgement of God which was Pharaohs case But consider Pharaoh not in the estate of Esau as having done neither good nor evill but in the state wherein he stood when God gave out his Oracle concerning him that for this cause hee stirred him up to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow and then may I easily grant more then is required viz. When God purposed to passe by him not only in communicating grace and glory unto him but also to fall upon him in his utmost wrath as well in outward strange calamity as especially in spirituall judgements hardnesse of heart and blindnesse of minde to his utter perdition In the former part you declined a direct answer to the question proposed for whereas the question proposed was touching the communicating of grace and glory you not adventuring to maintaine a purpose of God to communicate grace and glory to them whom you call the world of mankinde onely maintain a purpose in God at least you seem so to doe of communicating life and glory some other way then out of grace But with what advantage to your cause that hath been carryed I have already considered Now you seem to answer the question looking it directly in the face For though you acknowledge such a purpose in God concerning Pharaoh to wit of passing him by in communicating grace and glory yet the cause you say is not alike of Esau when Gods Oracle was given out concerning him hee being not then born as of Pharaoh when the Oracle here spoken of was given out concerning him hee being then a fit subject upon whom God might shew his power in his hardning and overthrow Yet here againe you decline the question For the question was not whether Pharaoh at that time when God said For this cause I have raised thee up c. were a fitter subject for God to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow then Esau was while yet hee was in his mothers wombe But whether God had not a purpose to passe by Esau as touching the communicating of grace and glory even before hee was born which hee had concerning Pharaoh at that time before spoken of which that hee had I prove thus It was said of Esau before hee was born that God hated him What more could bee said of Pharaoh to expresse his alienation from him Secondly look how you qualifie the hatred of God to Esau in the same manner may it bee qualifyed towards Pharaoh even at this time you speak of For Gods hatred towards Esau you qualifie thus God had a purpose to deale with him according to his works But say I even then when God professed of Pharaoh saying For this cause have I raised thee up c. God had a purpose to deale with him according to his works Thirdly if therefore God had no such purpose towards Esau namely to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow because Esau was not yet born then belike God had no such purpose towards Pharaoh himself while Pharaoh was not yet born But this is utterly untrue for as much as Gods purposes are eternall and not temporall And in like manner it may bee proved that if ever God had the like purpose towards Esau to wit after his preferring a messe of pottage before his birthright or at any other time it followeth that God had the same purpose towards Esau even before hee was born for Gods purposes are not temporall but eternall Lastly as for the difference you put between them besides the question one being a more fit subject for God to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow then the other I grant it to bee true in part as touching the hardning of them For obduration presupposeth a man of such ripenesse of years as to have the use of reason But this hinders not but that God might at the same time have a purpose to harden him in his time as Pharaoh in his time And yet why I pray was not Pharaoh as fit a subject for God to shew his power in changing his heart as well as Saul was in the middest of his bloody persecutions of the Church of God And what naturall man such as I presume are all those whom you call the world of mankinde is not a fit subject for God to shew his power in his hardning and overthrow though hee bee never so morall yea as morall as Trajan who raised one persecution or Marcus Antoninus Philosophus who raised another or as Aurelianus who raised a third It is true if God will move any man unto courses contrary to his corrupt inclination and not give him grace to master that corrupt inclination that man whatsoever hee bee shall bee a fit subject for God to shew his power in his hardning yea and overthrow also if it please him But if God move any man never so contrariously to his corrupt inclination and withall give him grace to master that corrupt inclination of his hee shall bee a fit subject for God to shew the power of his grace in his conversion and salvation You speak much of hardning even according unto pleasure without giving your Reader any explication of the words whereby hee might understand your meaning wherein obduration consists Surely obduration is either the denyall of grace or whatsoever it bee it is alwaies joyned with the denyall of grace as I take it But in very different manner I confesse which you distinguish not As for the deniall of grace that was found to have course in the first sin that was committed both in Angels and men For I am of Austins minde concerning the Angels that stood that they were Amplius adjuti then the other that fell De Civit. Dei lib. 12. cap. 9. As also concerning Adams fall that in that case Though God gave him posse si voluit yet hee gave him not velle quod potuit and these hee makes severall adjutoria The like may bee said of every
a course to justifie God herein by saying that God hath mercy on none but in respect to their former good works Nay much more contradictions for as much as no good works in the state of nature or grace can bee meritorious of reward But sins may bee and are truely meritorious of punishment In the 22 vers there is not the least mention of obduration much lesse any mention of the cause thereof least of all any reversing of the former cause expressed ver 18. and justifyed ver 20. from the authority of God the Creator having power to make his creatures of what fashion hee will and substituting a new in the place thereof And although all that are vessels of wrath are sinners and consequently deserve punishment yet obduration in opposition to shewing mercy consisting in the deniall of saving grace is no punishment for as much as God doth not thereby withdraw any saving grace from them which formerly they injoyed and as for inflicting evill that hath no place in obduration for as much as all confesse that God doth not obdurate any man infundendo malitiam but non infundendo gratiam Neither is it sin either originall or actuall that which constitutes a man a vessell of wrath as a vessell of wrath is opposite to a vessell of mercy For sin both originall and actuall is incident to the Elect as well as to the Reprobate but like as Gods shewing mercy makes a man a vessell of mercy so Gods denyall of mercy finally constitutes a vessell of wrath exposing him to finall infidelity or impenitency which sin alone is not found in any of the elect It seems you think they are fitted to destruction by themselves as if vasa the vessels did separate and not Herus the Master rather Sin alone makes a man obnoxious to condemnation as deserving it and so there is sin in the best of Gods children to drive them to confesse that if the Lord should bee extream to mark what is done amisse none were able to abide it Yet the sin of the Reprobates you confesse God could prevent and not preventing it yet could cure it by the blood of Christ so that though sin bee granted to bee a cause hereof yet a more originall cause though nothing culpable must bee acknowledged to bee the deniall of Grace as our Saviour budgeth not to professe to the faces of some Yee therefore heare not my words because yee are not of God and Joh. 12. 40. Therefore they could not beleeve because Esaias saith Hee hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and should bee converted and I should heale them All this while have I maintained the safenesse of that exposition which interpreteth Gods hatred of Esau of a lesse degree of love and the same word is also used in the same sense But yet so understand mee I conceive this lesse degree of Love to have somewhat in it of the true nature of Hatred For as the nature of Love standeth in affecting communion with one and communicating good unto him So likewise the nature of hatred stands in the contrary to this either in affecting separation from one or inflicting evill on him or at least in not vouchsafing communion or communicating good unto him So is a man said to hate his brother that will not vouchsafe him such an office of brotherly communion as that hee will communicate a kindly reproofe to him for his sin Now I would easily grant that before Esau had done good or evill God so hated him as that hee did not communicate to him that fellowship with Christ which by Gods election and donation the members of the body have with him their head in Gods account even before the world was Neither did God vouchsafe that plentifull communication of his free grace unto him as might in time by a reall actuall power draw him to Christ and to live by him Yea God was pleased to set him in a state further remote and separate from him then his elect brother Even in the estate of a servant to the elect and in stead of communicating free grace hee purposed to deale with him rather according to his works by a covenant of Justice For both these are implyed in Gods putting of Esau into the state of a servant First the denyall of such grace and fatherly love to him as is reserved for children Secondly the not refusing of him to just dealing such as is due to servants according to their works I look to receive from you some proofe that the word Hatred is used in the same sense to wit to signifie a lesse degree of Love for to my judgement it is a wilde interpretation for in this sense God might bee said to hate every one of Gods elect excepting Christ for hee loves them all in a lesse degree then hee loved Christ and one in a lesse degree then another according as degrees of Love attributed to God are to bee estimated that is not quoad affectum for undoubtedly there are no degrees to bee found in the nature of God but quoad affectum and undoubtedly God alots one degree of grace to one and another degree to another and as hee deales with them in communicating of grace so in the communicating of Glory also Love and hatred undoubtedly are opposite contrarily and not onely contradictorily And because quot modis dicitur unum oppositorum tot modis dicitur alterum as love of complacency consists in delectation so hatred opposite is of displicency or aversation And as love of beneficence consisteth in wishing or doing good So hatred opposite consists in wishing or doing evill to another Here at length I observe the place you stand upon to prove that hatred in holy Scripture doth sometimes signifie a lesse degree of love and that seemes to bee Levit. 19. 17. Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart thou shalt plainely rebuke thy brother and suffer him not to sin And to serve your turn in this interpretation you shape a correspondent practise of Love consisting in vouchsafing communion which unlesse it bee a communion of reproofe is nothing to your purpose who desire to shape hatred in contradiction thereunto And yet hatred all conceive to bee much more then not to love But were all this yeelded unto you yet doth it fall short of your purpose for albeit hee that forbears to reprove his brother doth him harm yet if hee doe not intend him harm hee cannot bee said to hate him For in Scripture phrase hatred denotes an intention to harm as Deut. 4. 42. Where wee reade that certain Cities were appointed That the slayer might fly unto which had killed his Neighbour at unawares and hated him not in times past But if you measure hatred by the harm done why should the sparing of reproofe to preserve a brother from sin and consequently from incurring the wrath of God bee
him will you say that every naturall man hath power to discern the nature of God in such sort as to preserve himself from blasphemy every way The third place is out of Rom. 2. 4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the bountifulnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance 5. But thou after thine hardnesse and heart that cannot repent heapest up unto thy self as a treasure wrath against the day of wrath Now if this doth imply any ability in man of seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him it must needs bee in the way of repentance And this I confesse is a cleare way both of seeking the Lord and of finding mercy from him But dare you say that a naturall man hath power to repent I presume you will not unlesse you frame repentance after such a notion as will bee found to bee neither seeking of the Lord nor finding mercy from him And you your self here professe that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to repentance And in the very place alledged it is expressely said of them whom God is said to lead to repentance that the hardnesse of their heart is such that they cannot repent The fourth is taken out of Rom. 2. 14 15. When the Gentiles which have not the Law doe by nature the things contained in the Law they having not the Law are a law unto themselves which shew the effect of the Law written in their heart their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing I wish things were carryed with lesse ostentation and with more judgement then to alledge Scriptures and put the Reader upon making Arguments for them thence For my part I see no colour in all this to justifie any power and sufficiency in a Reprobate to seek the Lord and to finde mercy from him though I make no question but they have power to abstain from many things prohibited in the Law of God and to doe things commanded as touching the substance of the duty commanded or the action forbidden though they are farre enough off from doing it for Gods sake and out of the love of God with all their heart and with all their soule as whom they knew not even the very best of them 1 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Thess 4. 5. The fifth is drawn out of Luk. 16. 11 12. If yee have not been faithfull in the wicked riches who will trust you in the true treasures And if you have not been faithfull in another mans goods who shall give you that which is your own Hence you seem to infer that carnall men naturall men have power and ability to perform faithfulnesse in the administration of temporall riches and you might proceed further to inferre that by performing such fidelity which is in their power to perform they should have true riches and such as should never bee taken from them And what is to maintain that God doth dispence grace according to works if this bee not And yet this latter is with more probability inferred then the former For certainly God doth reward faithfulnesse in little with the bestowing of greater gifts as Matth. 25. 21. 23. But albeit they that are unfaithfull in little are unworthy to have greater gifts bestowed upon them yet herehence it doth not follow that meer naturall men have so much power of goodnesse in them as to bee faithfull unto God in the use of those naturall gifts which God hath bestowed upon them yet in spight of this unworthinesse which God findes in his Elect before their calling hee doth neverthelesse trust them with true riches And if they were faithfull therein they would bee found faithfull also in greater things For ver 10. our Saviour professeth That hee who is faithfull in the least is also faithfull in much The sixth place is Act. 7. 51 52. Yee stiffe-necked and of uncircumcised hearts and eares yee have alwayes resisted the Holy Ghost 52. Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted That which you stick upon I doubt not is this that they are said alway to have resisted the Holy Ghost both they and their Fathers Wee deny it not but will you herehence infer that they had power and ability to yeeld to the Holy Ghost If this inference like you then you may bee bold to inferre in like manner That because many resist the Holy Ghost moving them to faith and repentance therefore they have power and ability to yeeld to the Holy Ghost in this also that is to beleeve and repent Yet your self professe in this very Section that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to wit to the Lord and finde mercy from him which yet undoubtedly they should do did they beleeve and repent Yet I deny not but they might have abstained from persecuting the Prophets but I deny that it was in the power of any of them being but naturall men to abstaine from it in a gratious manner and acceptable in the sight of God And so long as they did not abstain so is it fit to call it a seeking after the Lord or finding of mercy from him I presume you will not deny but that many a Jew in the Apostles daies were free from faction contenting himself to enjoy his own course quietly and peaceably was yet further off from grace then Paul that persecuted the Church God calling him in the midst of his furious pursuite and not calling others though farre more peaceably disposed toward the Church of God then Saul The seventh place alledged is Act. 13. 46. Then Paul and Barnabas spake boldly and said It was necessary that the Word should first have been spoken unto you but seeing you put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life wee turn unto the Gentiles Hence you inferre that these Jewes were inabled to doe more then they did in seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him But I would gladly know wherein that seeking of the Lord consists Had they not railed against Paul as I confesse they had power to spare that had they not contraryed him nor spoken against those things which were spoken by him as I confesse they might have held their tongue had this been to seek the Lord more then they did or in better manner then they did I think not for they might have contained themselves from all this nay they might have pretended some propensions to imbrace the Gospel which yet had it been performed in hypocrisie it had nothing commended them in the sight of God As Diasius when hee could not prevaile with his brother to draw him back to Popery pretended some propension in himself to hearken unto him but wee know what the issue was even to slit his head as the issue of Judas his following Christ was to betray him I think they that deale so and through zeale
persecute the Church as Soul did are nothing further off from seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him then the other These did manifest themselves unworthy of eternall life doe not all so who stumble at the Word of God and refuse to hearken to it For this is the condemnation of the world Light is come into the world and men loved darknesse rather then light because their deeds were evill Joh. 3. 16. Will you therehence inferre that all such are inabled to obey it which is as much to say as that they are inabled to beleeve and repent The eighth is out of Mat. 23. 37 38. How often would I have gathered thy children together as the hen gathereth her chickens under her wings and yee would not Behold your habitation is left unto you desolate c. What I pray you is to bee gathered under his wings can it bee lesse then to come unto him nay is it not to bee healed by him since as your selfe observe healing was under his wings and if so to come to Christ is to bee healed by him can it bee any thing lesse then to beleeve and repent And will you herehence inferre that they had power thus to come under his wings and consequently to beleeve and repent And yet in this very place you professe that as touching all others except the Elect God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to Faith and Repentance Nay whatsoever it bee that lies in their power to perform besides by the performing of it doe they come any whit neerer to the participation of Grace I do not finde you adventure to professe so much for feare of falling into that which you call ungracious Pelagianisme The ninth is Luk. 19. 41 42. Which is of the same nature and of no greater force then the former Oh that thou hadst even known at the least in this thy day those things which belong unto thy peace but now are they hid from thine eyes For the daies shall come upon thee when thy enemies shall cast a trench about thee and make thee even with the ground because thou knewest not the season of thy visitation To know in Scripture phrase is of a complicate notion and signifyeth knowledge joyned with congruous affections and thus to know the things that belong unto our peace is so to know as therewithall to imbrace them and to know the time of our visitation is so to know as to accommodate our selves thereto in agreeable conversation as Jer. 8. 7. The Stork in the aire is said to know her appointed times and the Turtle and the Crane and the Swallow are said to observe the time of their comming That is so to know it as accordingly to come so to know the time of our visitation is so to know it as accordingly to come unto God when hee visites us and according as his Visitation requires of us Now will you herehence inferre that they were inabled to perform all this and so to seek the Lord I appeale to your own conscience whether it might not bee as justly said of them as Moses said of the children of Israel in the wildernesse Deut. 29. 4. The Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day Nay doth not our Saviour himself say as much of these Jews Joh. 12. 39. Therefore they could not beleeve because that Esaias saith again 40. Hee hath blinded their eyes and hardned their hearts that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their hearts and should bee converted and I should heale them Neither will it follow hereupon that they are excusable so much the more although this is a very plausible inference for our Saviour professeth notwithstanding this that they had no cloak for their sins Joh. 15. 22. And indeed onely such an inability doth excuse as hereby a man is unable to doe that which hee fain would doâ—â— As for the doing of that they did in resisting the Gospel they had rather too much will therein then too little and that through the want of grace For as Austin wisely observes Libertas sine gratia non est libertas sed contumacia Liberty without grace is not liberty but wilfulnesse The tenth is Ezek. 24. 13. Because I would have purged thee and thou wast not purged thou shalt not bee purged from thy filthinesse till I have caused my wrath to light upon thee I should think this were spoken of Gods Elect not so much by observing that phrase till I have caused my wrath to light upon thee but chiefly by comparing it with Ezek. 22. 10. I will scatter thee among the heathen and disperse thee in the Countries and will cause thy filthinesse to depart from thee It may have place not onely of the Elect but of the regenerate also for even them sometimes God doth cause to erre from his wayes and harden their hearts against his feare Which though they have power to repent yet upon supposition of obduration and so long as that continues it may bee said that they cannot repent How much more may it bee verifyed of naturall men in the state of unregeneracy that they cannot repent And shall this any way hinder the course of Gods judgements against them for their sins unrepented of because without grace it is not in their power to purge themselves from their sins by repentance I deny not but they have power to performe feigned repentance as Jer. 3. 10. And shall feigned repentance think you bee of force to keep off the judgments of God or if Gods judgements shall have their course except they bee prevented by unfeigned repentance will it herehence follow that naturall men are inabled to perform unfeigned repentance The eleventh is Prov. 1. 20. to 30. Wisdome cryeth c. 20 How long will yee love foolishnesse ver 22. Turn you at my correction ver 23. Because I have called and yee have refused c. ver 24. I will also laugh at your destruction ver 28. Will you herehence infer that they were enabled to turn to hearken to wisdoms voyce and think to put a difference betwixt your opinion and that of the Pelagians of old by saying that though naturall men have not power to beleeve and repent yet they are inabled to doe more good then they doe in the way of seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him and pin upon every place you alledge such a distinction as this which you no where manifest sufficiently to understand your selfe as touching the latter part of it So loath you are to shew what are the particulars of seeking the Lord they doe attain to and to what particulars further they might attain and of what particulars they must necessarily fall short for want of certain helps Might you not as well infer that it is in the power of man to make him a new heart because God cals upon him to make him
of sin because they beleeved not in mee It seems you insist onely upon the latter in as much as the allegation reacheth no further The other parts being explicated in the Verses following Cannot Christ reprove the world of infidelity for not beleeving in him unlesse thereby bee acknowledged a power in a carnall man to doe more good then hee doth in the way of seeking the Lord Surely if any power in man hereto is to bee acknowledged it must bee a power to beleeve in Christ seeing infidelity is the sin whereof the world shall bee reproved by Christ and not the sin of not doing the good they could in the way of seeking the Lord. But your self acknowledge in this section that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to Faith and Repentance Much lesse doth it prove your present distinction namely that albeit God deprives them of such means without which none can come to Faith and Repentance yet they are inabled to doe more good then they doe in the way of seeking the Lord. Means of the knowledge of God wee confesse to bee partly the administration of his providence in his works which is the book of his creatures and there was a time when God did teach the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his Works as Chrysostome observeth and not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by his Writings and partly by the revelation of his word in the Scriptures And one of these meanes ever was and is afforded unto all But whereas you say God affords them to this end to lead them to salvation and repentance Here is first an incongruity which you are content to swallow to hold up your opinion For in truth the administration of Gods Providence in his works and the revelation of himself in his word is the very leading of them to that whereunto hee leads them to wit by admonition And as it is absurd to say that God doth admonish men to the end hee may admonish them so is it no lesse absurd to say that hee doth lead them to the end hee may lead them As for the things whereof hee doth admonish them repentance and salvation are ill matched And even such an incongruity doth serve your turn to blear both your own eyes and others also If these were the things God leads men to by his works and word it were but in this manner hee leads them to repentance that they may bee saved As for repentance it self admonition hereof the Apostle doth so manifestly attribute in such sort unto the ministry of his word as withall hee derogates it from the bare administration of his providence in his works Act. 17. 30. And the time of this ignorance God regarded not but now hee admonisheth all men every where to repent manifestly giving to understand that the Gentiles were not admonished till now In the time of extraordinary affliction brought upon them by the administration of Gods providence in his works men may bee stricken with feares that they have provoked a divine providence and hereupon they may bee stirred up to take a course to pacifie the wrath of God according to that counsell Non te nullius exercent numinis irae c. therefore faciles venerare Napaeas namque dabunt veniam votis irasque remittent But when they neither know God whom they have offended nor the sidne whereby they have provoked him nor the right way to pacifie him as a Jew sometimes being taken in a foule fact of collusion with the place where hee had been kindly intreated and desiring to make remonstrance of his repentance out of his familiarity with mee came to mee privatly and inquired of mee what it was to repent for saith hee I doe fast and macerate my body This manner of admonition deserves not to bee called an admonition to repentance In such a case the Athenians were sometimes brought about to erect an Altar to an unknown God as much as to say to pacifie they knew not whom nor how nor for what It is true God is said Rom. 1. 19. to manifest to the Gentiles that which may bee known of him by his works Yet not all that may bee known of him for even the wisdome of the world after all their paines and studious courses are said not to have known God no not in the wisdome of God 1 Cor. 1. 21. But his eternall power and God-head is generally made known to the world sufficiently to convict them of Idolatry â—nd the Apostle delivers no more in that place I hope wee Christians by the help of Gods Word are now adaies brought to such a measure of understanding of God by his workes that wee are able even by discourse of reason to prove many a faire attribute of God which the greatest Philosophers were ignorant of though some things are found in them concerning the nature of God which wee cannot read without admiration You adde also that God hath made manifest that which may bee known of him by his Law also writen in their hearts These you couple together though little or nothing Homogeneall The Law of God writen in our hearts is concerning mans duty no part whereof is contained in his Works His eternall power and God-head the Apostle tels us is made manifest by his works no such content doth hee make of the Law writen in our hearts Rom. 2. 14. but when you say this is done to this end to move them to seek after the Lord you fall upon the incongruity formerly spoken of For the very administration of Gods providence is the moving of them to seek after the Lord. I say the administration of Gods providence in his works moves men as the Apostle signifies to seek after the Lord. The Apostle no where refers this to the Law writen in mens hearts but you put all together and that for a speciall purpose as it serves For the phrase of seeking after the Lord Act. 17. seemes onely to import the seeking after his nature manifested by his works but you desire as it seemes to bend it to denote such a seeking after the Lord as whereby to pacifie him and to finde mercy from him In which sense you say it was farre more accommodable to the Law of God writen in mans heart then to the Administration of his providence in his works and therefore you couple both these courses together and then assign the end of them both to seek after the Lord which through the ambiguous signification thereof is applicable to both though the Apostle utters it in such a sense onely as whereby it is applyed to one course onely namely to the administration of his providence in his works Which yet I doe not conceive to proceed from any ill minde in you but out of a desire to hold our tenets up in that course of opinion which pleaseth us which is a common fault of all But with this difference some affect those opinions which are most
by you give any testimony to these your uncouth assertions much lesse evident testimony Indeed I blame you not for desiring your Reader would take them so to save your paines of proving it For you take no pains at all to inforce any place by Logicall argumentation to give evidence to such a sense you put upon them though it stand in manifest opposition to the nature of God even to the bereaving him both of his omnipotency and immutability to make him to contradict himself and strangely to go about to perswade the world that God intends the repentance of those men to whom hee denies those helps without which none can repent as your self also acknowledge So that wee need not to bee put to deny the sufficiency of Gods word to those ends whereunto God hath given it which is to instruct in all points of Faith and duties of life and to admonish us to give obedience unto it and reprove them that doe not and consequently to take away all excuse for want of any of these gratious operations And thus it is sufficient ex parte Dei and ex parte hominum too as for God to admonish thereby and men to bee admonished and instructed But otherwise to require any thing on mans part to adde sufficiency to God is too too absurd For whether man doth yeeld obedience the word is never a whit the more sufficient or whether hee yeelds not obedience the word is never the lesse sufficient As for the desire of the Repentance and life of Reprobates which you attribute unto God you keep your course I consesse in strange expressions manifestly contradictious to the nature of God and to your self Can you perswade your self that ever the world will bee brought about to beleeve or any intelligent or sober man amongst them that God desires the repentance and life of them whom hee hath determined from everlasting to deprive of those helps without which no man can repent and bee saved yet that hee doth deprive them hereof it is your own most expresse profession in the former Section As for hardning them doth hee not harden whom hee will and hath hee not from everlasting ordained all Reprobates unto destruction As for any desire hereof in God I account it a very absurd thing to treat of any will in God under the notion of desire in proper speech Speak wee of the desires of weak men who cannot effect what they will but bee advised to spare to attribute any desires to God in proper speech as you would spare to attribute to him eyes and ears and hands and heart in proper speech and though God bee pleased in condescension to our capacities to take upon him our infirmities let us not recompence his goodnesse so ill as to conceive of his nature as obnoxious to the same imperfections whereto our natures are When you say that the Word inables not onely the Elect but others to perform such duties and having but erst spoken of the duty of repentance and this being delivered in the same breath whereto doth this tend but to work in your Reader an opinion that even Reprobates are inabled by the Word to perform the duty of Repentance which you know full well cannot bee affirmed by you without palpable contradiction to your self as well as to the truth of God and therefore I wonder not a little what you mean to carry your self in this your Discourse in such sort as to draw so neere to such foule assertions Therefore you forbeare to name particularly the duty of Repentance but flee to generalls and say that even Reprobates are inabled by the Word to perform such duties in which their naturall conscience would excuse them And I confesse that as Paul hath taught mee even without the word naturall men are inabled to doe some duties wherein their naturall conscience doth excuse them as namely in doing the things contained in the Law and that by nature mark that well I beseech you that you may see the uncouthnesse of that which follows as when you say And in that way they sooner finde mercy For what is a man by nature able to perform some things whereby hee may the sooner finde mercy Was ever mercy found at the hand of God by performing some duty by power of nature What revelation of God hath taught you this that a work of nature should further us to obtaining the mercy of God I speak of morall works of nature not of naturall such as are to goe to Church and to heare a Sermon to goe and to heare are actions naturall not morall unlesse they bee considered as joyned with affections and intentions morall And to go to Church and heare a Sermon with ill affections and intentions as namely either to mock or to take a nap is a naturall way I confesse whereby a man may and doth finde mercy farre sooner then by keeping at home though never so civilly imployed And therefore Father Latimer reprehending some for comming to Church to take a nap yet saith hee let them come for they may bee taken napping which is as much as to say they may finde mercy at the hands of God whilest they are napping Yet I presume you will not say that so to come to Church is the performing of a duty whereby they may finde mercy sooner In the next place you indirectly imbrace the sower leaven of Arminianisme plainly professing that God doth vouchsafe more powerfull effectuall helps to them that walk according to the knowledge and helps they have received As if that of our Saviour Habenti dabitur to him that hath shall bee given you did interpret especially after the same manner as Arminius doth to wit that if men use their naturals right God will give them means of grace But here is the difference they speak their minds plainely you carry your Discourse so that wee are driven to groape as in the dark after your meaning For you deliver this of Reprobates who doe already injoy the Word the means of grace And therefore the more powerfull helps you speak of are not outward means for that they injoy already but inward grace As if God had ordained that grace should bee given according unto works which is direct Pelagianisme And withall you imply a power in Reprobates to walk according to knowledge and helpes already received to wit under the means of grace And what can this bee lesse then a power to beleeve and repent How many a godly mans heart would bleed to understand so foule assertions to drop from the pen of such a man as your self In fine you adde a new qualification of the way to finde mercy the sooner and that is not to sin against conscience but onely of ignorance and withall by the coherence imply that even reprobates and unregenerate persons have power to keep themselves from sinning against their conscience and so to keep themselves as to sin onely through ignorance Whence it manifestly followeth that in such