of it by saying Hee doth not offer meanes of grace in the first place to harden It is a strange expression whereof I am perswaded you are not able to give any account but hand over head cast out such a phrase as seemes agreeable to your Tenet For consider I pray this first place you speake of is it in intention or in execution It cannot be in intention for in intention there is no order in things but in respect of end and meanes but neither obduration is a sit meanes to salvation nor salvation a sit meanes to obduration Neither can it be in execution for in execution salvation is not found at all but onely obduration in the men of the world you speake of Therefore your meaning must not be of primacy in place or order but in principality as much as to say Not chiefly to harden but chiefly to bring to repentance But none of your Proofes come neare the making of this good as wee shall see in due place In the meane time I disprove it thus No wise man doth chiefly intend that which hee meanes not to bring to passe at all Now God doth purpose to harden them as your selfe confesse though not chiefly but God doth not purpose to save them for if hee did who could hinder him This is the foule blemish of your opinion plainly denying Gods omnipotency as Austin long agoe discoursed and yet you swallow this with facility though a bit as great as a Camel I know full well Arminius his shifts to ease himselfe of this imputation I would gladly bee acquainted with any other mans inventions also As for the other end impugned by you to wit to leave them without excuse that indeed wee grant may more commodiously be accounted an end intended by God than the former neither doe you deny it to be intended by God onely you say it is not chiefly intended by him yet this is such a thing as God brings to passe to wit their unexcusablenesse but their repentance hee never brings to passe and is it fit to say that God chiefly intends that which shall never come to passe as hee well knowes rather than that which infallibly shall come to passe and that by his procurement as himselfe well knowes Thus I have considered what you say Now I come to consider how well you prove what you have said To the Gentiles you say 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 them that doe amisse and thereby to be brought to condemne themselves doing the same things to lead them to repentance to move them to seeke after the Lord. Like as it were not fit to say that God giveth us his word to this end that hee might reveale himselfe unto us for so I had rather say than to say hee reveales the knowledge of himselfe unto us because the very giving of his word is the revealing of himselfe unto us In like sort it is not fit to say that To the Gentiles God gave the workes of Creation and Providence and his Law written in their hearts to reveale himself unto them for like as the word in its kind so the workes of God in their kind and the Law written in our hearts are the revelation of God unto the world God in ancient times teaching the world 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as afterwards hee did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Chrysostome hath observed long agoe But suppose all this were granted you yet is it nothing to purpose for here is not the least intimation of any comparison between the objects of Gods intention to signifie what God did intend in the first place or chiefly and what in the next or not chiefly Againe all this as touching his not revealing himselfe unto the world is rather subservient to the end impugned by you to wit the leaving them without excuse then opposite thereunto for had not God in some sort revealed himselfe unto them they had not been left without excuse neither had there been any place for hardning them to resist Gods truth if the truth of God had not been some way or other manifested to them That of aiming to bring them to repentance and the rest of the same nature is most for your purpose if you were able to make it good But when wee are not wel-grounded in the way that wee take no marvell if wee multiply expressions that when some faile us wee may take hold of other Sure I am it is apt to confound the judgement of him that in the search of truth shall addresse himselfe to examine it Now that God did not at all intend their repentance I have already proved for had hee intended it it should come to passe hee would have given it them seeing it cannot be had without Gods gift as the Scripture testifies 2 Tim. 2. 25 26. Acts 5. 31. 11. 18. and as Austin long agoe hath expressed it contra Julian lib. 3. cap. 4. Quantam libet praebuerit pationtiam nisi Deus dederit quis aget poenitentiam But wee are apt to be deceived by phrases of speech which carrying many times an ambiguous signification and being plausible to procure credence one way is hand over head so carryed as if it were nothing lesse true the other way also As for example To intend repentance is a plausible attribute to be given unto God but it hath a double signification the one that hee intends it shall be mans duty to repent and in this sense it is not more plausible than true the other is that God doth intend they shall repent and this is no more true than plausible for as much as God intends to give repentance to none but to his Elect like as de facto hee brings none to repentance but his Elect according to that of Austin contra Jul. Pelag. lib. 5. cap. 4. Istorum neminem saith hee speaking of the Reprobate adducit ad salubrem spiritualemque poenitentiam quà homo reconciliatur Deo in Christo sive illis ampliorem patientiam sive non imparem praebeat As for that of Gods leading to repentance Rom. 2. 4. I answer first I had thought that had been delivered rather of the Jewes than of the Gentiles and Acts 17. 20. the Apostle doth clearly signifie that the admonition of Gentiles to come to repentance was reserved for the time of the Gospel The time of this ignorance God regarded not but now hee admonisheth all men every where to repent And in reason faith and repentance are inseparable and therefore where there was no admonition unto faith how could there be admonition unto repentance And who would not rather incline to think that the Gentiles taking them in separation from the Church of God had the knowledge or God and of his Law given them not to bring them to repentance that they might be saved for I
that is not till after one and another admonition neverthelesse this makes nothing for you unlesse you maintain that Gods Spirit convicts them also of this that it is in their power to beleeve which power of beleeving you seeme to attribute to a man unregenerate though you are loath to speake plainly in expressing so much And you seem to intimate such an Argument as this They sinne in not beleeving therefore it is in their power to beleeve But you may as well inferre that wee sinne in not keeping Gods Law therefore it is in our power to keep it Or if you dispute thus The world is convicted of sinne in not beleeving therefore they have power to beleeve You may as well dispute thus The regenerate are convicted that they sinne in that their flesh lusteth against the Spirit therefore it is in their power to keep the flesh from lusting against the Spirit Besides when men quench the motions of the Spirit and persecute the Ministers of the word how can they be said in so doing to resist the Holy Ghost if the Holy Ghost went not about such a worke as to bring them to Christ and to life by him Could they be said to resist the Holy Ghost if the workes of the Holy Ghost had never striven with them to worke this worke in them Thus then you see those three that beare witnesse in heaven the Father the Sonne and the Holy Ghost they all from heaven beare witnesse of this point in hand concerning the truth hereof The Father by the end of the creation of his workes and providence the Sonne by his end of enlightening the world and of his coming into it to dye for it the Holy Ghost by his inward wrestling in the hearts of men doe all of them really proclaime that it is the will and good pleasure of God as to save the Elect not according to their owne workes but his grace so likewise to save the world of mankind if their workes hinder not his good will towards them Thus you see also a sweet harmony between the Purpose and the Covenant or Promise and the Providence of God This Purpose willeth life unto the world upon the condition of their obedience and repentance the Promise in the Covenant of Workes offereth life unto them likewise upon the same condition the Providence of God the Father Sonne and Holy Ghost provideth and applieth severall meanes of life unto the world upon the same tearmes And there is in every godly man renewed after the Image of God a just concord betwixt his Purpose his Covenant or Promise and his Performance So is there here the like in God You may read what Gods purpose is toward the world by his Covenant made with the world and you may see both what his Covenant with them and purpose of them is by his performance and axecution of them both in his actuall providence in the fulnesse of time If you ask how God may be said to purpose any thing that is not effectually accomplished I answer the act of Gods will which hee is pleased to put forth is alwayes accomplished There is no good thing possible to be though it never come to passe as that all men should in all things obey the word of God but God passeth upon it some act of his will hee at least approveth it to be good and good it is though it never come to passe This act is not disappointed for as hee will prove it so likewise doth hee approve it Doth God command this or that good duty to be done which is not done Yet that act of his will which hee puts forth is done as hee willed to command it so hee did command it Doth God purpose to give life to the world upon condition of obedience and accordingly give means to help them to the performance of this obedience so farre as it is meet for them to doe Surely God performeth it on his part although men performe it not on their part their salvation is indeed disappointed but not Gods will who never willed to give salvation to them but upon that condition The motions of the Spirit which are quenched are godly motions in the way of admonition perswasion exhortation and they are quenched not onely in the men of the world but too often in the children of God the flesh too often prevailing in their lustings against the spirit whereby are quenched for a time the motions of the Spirit that is the regenerate part lusting against the flesh and consequently the motions also of the Spirit of God admonishing and inviting unto good either by the hearing of the word or by the observation of Gods works This worke of morall motion and invitation is wrought sometimes with a purpose to worke obedience conformable thereunto sometimes with no such purpose as often as God doth not make them effectuall to the working of obedience whether in the unregenerate or regenerate for even these sometimes yea too oft erre from Gods wayes and have their hearts hardened against his feare for if God had a purpose to make them effectuall who should hinder him Who hath resisted his will cui nullum humanum resist it arbitrium saith Austin for ex nolentibus volentes facit Undoubtedly morall invitations if they be not yeelded unto are justly said to be resisted to what end soever they be made whether to convert them or to leave them without excuse even such an excuse as Austin speaks of when hee saith Dicere solet humana suporbia Si scissem fecissem I see no reason why you should deny the Elect to be saved according to their workes our Saviour doth manifest Mat. 25. that they are so Come yee blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdome prepared for you c. For I was an hungred and you fed mee c. and can it be denyed but that God rewardeth every man according to his workes I have fought a good fight I have finished my course I have kept the faith saith Paul Henceforth there is laid up for mee a crown of righteousnesse God is not unrighteous to forget the labour of your love c. Looke to your selves saith John that wee may not lose the things that wee have done but wee may receive a full reward Piscator a precise Divine spareth not to professe that fides is causa salutis They are not I confesse causa meritoria as sinne is causa damnationis but they are causae dispositivae according to the Apostles phrase God hath made us meet partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light Neither doe I see any reason why you should oppose grace and good workes in the point of salvation howsoever they are opposed in the point of justification The place you point unto for proofe treats not of the salvation of glory but of the salvation of grace consisting in effectuall calling as the Text it selfe manifesteth Had you spoken plainly as you might and as
heart out of their bowels and give them an heart of flesh when he resolves to afford this grace unto some but not unto others let every one judge hereby whether God can be said earnestly to desire the changing of their hearts when hee resolves to forbeare that course which alone can change them No no this discourse favoureth strongly of a conceit that it is in the power of an unregenerate man to change his owne heart and of an heart of stone to change it into an heart of flesh And in this case I confesse it were very probable that God should earnestly desire it provided that any ineffectuall and changeable desires were incident unto God That when God putteth forth the second act of positive retribution viz. the rejection of the world or decree of their condemnation God doth behold and consider the world especially men of riper yeares not in massa primitus corrupta nor as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience To prove this I need not produce other reasons then what I have formerly alledged in the fone-going Point for when God did expresse by his oath his will and good pleasure to be not for the death but life and conversion of sinners was it not after the fall of Adam and all his posterity in him then notwithstanding the presupposall of the fall God had not yet rejected the creature but as hee there declareth himselfe still retaineth and reserveth thoughts of peace towards them even a desire of their conversion unto life Againe with whom did the Lord enter into a Covenant of life and death upon condition of obedience and disobedience was it not with Adam onely and his posterity in his loynes in the state of innocency by the law written in their heart Was it not also after Adams fall renewed to all his posterity both Jewes and Gentiles Then yet God had not cast them away in the fall though the fall had justly deserved it but expecteth yet further to see how they will yet keep this renewed Covenant with him before hee cast them off as Reprobates Even Cain himselfe the eldest sonne of Reprobation is after the fall offered acceptance of Gods hand if hee doe well Moreover is it not after the fall that the Father by his workes of creation and providence judgements and mercies c. the Sonne by his enlightening the world by his death and ministery of his servants and the Holy Ghost by his calling and knocking at the hearts of the wicked doe all strive with men even to this very end to turne them to the Lord that iniquity may not be their destruction If therefore all the Persons in the Trinity doe provide severall helpfull meanes for the conversion and salvation of the world of the world I say now after the fall lying in wickednesse surely God did not then upon the fall reprobate the world unto eternall condemnation and perdition If you say God might well reprobate the world unto condemnation upon the fall and yet still after the fall usâ— meanes for their conversion and salvation because those meanes doe but further aggravate their condemnation I answer these doe indeed further aggravate their condemnation but it is but by accident onely by their neglect and abuse of them but the proper end which God himselfe of himselfe aimes at in the use of these meanes himselfe plainly expresseth it to be not the aggravation or procurement of their condemnation but the restoring of them to salvation and life as hath been before declared So then to draw all to an head the summe of this first reason is If God after the fall doe retaine a will and purpose to restore life to the world upon an equall condition then hee did not upon the fall or upon the onely consideration of the fall reject the world of the ungodly unto their utter perdition But you see God retaineth after the fall an holy will and purpose of restoring life unto the world upon an equall condition as appeareth by his Oath by his Covenant and by his Workes therefore the conclusion which is the point in hand is evident I marvell what you meane to call Gods decree of condemnation his act of retribution retribution being an act temporall and transient the decree of God is an act immanent and eternall And therefore it is not so handsomely said to be the putting forth of an act for so much as it is immanent and not transient 'T is manifest I confesse that sin is alwayes precedent to the retribution of punishment as it is without controversie that sinne neither is nor can be antecedent to Gods decree sinne being temporall but all Gods decrees eternall And I have found it by experience to be an usuall course with our Adversaries to confound condemnation with the decree of condemnation And Junius himselfe very incongruously in my judgement calls this decree Praedamnatio to make the fairer place as I guesse for sins praecedencie thereunto at least in consideration But no necessity urgeth us to any such course and wee may well maintaine that God in this decree of condemnation hath alwayes the consideration of that sinne for which hee purposeth to damne them for undoubtedly hee decrees to condemne no man but for sinne It is impossible it should be otherwise condemnation in the notion thereof formally including sinne But I like not your expressions in the distinction you make saying God considers men in this sinne not as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off you mean long after by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience When God made this decree they were not newly that is a little before fallen in Adam for that fall in Adam was temporall but the decrees of God are eternall And to consider as newly fallen when as yet they were not much lesse were they fallen is not so much to consider as to erre or feigne But like as God decreed to suffer all to fall in Adam and many also to continue both therein and in bringing forth the bitter fruits thereof even untill death so he purposed to condemne them for those sinnes but take heed you doe not make an order of prius and posterius between these decrees lest either you make the decree of condemnation precedent to the decree of permission of those sinnes for which they shall be condemned which will be directly contradictory to your Tenet here or making Gods decree of permitting such sinnes for which they shall be condemned precedent to his decree of condemnation whereunto you doe encline unawares which will cast you upon miserable inconveniences and that by your owne rule already delivered for if the decree of permitting sinne be first in intention then by the rules received by you it should be last in execution that is men should be condemned for sinne before they be permitted to sinne But the conjunction of these decrees into one as in the same
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
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
convert and God should heale them therefore I am willing to consider what you bring to the contrary Your first place is out of Deut. 8. 16. Who fed thee in the wildernesse with manna which thy fathers knew not to humble thee and to prove thee and that hee might doe thee good in thy latter end That of humbling thee Junius and Piscator reads thus ut affligeret te belike partly in reference to that which followeth and to prove thee for as much as temporall humiltation hath more congruity to the proving of them than spirituall as whereby they humble themselves and which followeth the proving of them rather than goeth before it partly in reference to the third Verse going before where it is said more at full Therefore hee humbled thee and made thee hungry and fed thee with manna which thou knewest not neither did thy fathers know it that he might teach thee that man liveth not by bread onely By which words wee may gather a faire interpretation of that you alledge If it be spoken of humiliation spirituall thus Hee fed thee with manna to humble thee that is to teach thee to humble thy selfe and so indeed his providence providing alike to them all did equally teach them all to humble themselves But did God intend that every one should de facto humble himselfe why then did hee not give them eyes to see and eares to heare and an heart to perceive as Deut. 29. 4. Moses tells them plainly saying Yet the Lord hath not given you an heart to perceive and eyes to see and eares to heare unto this day I deny not but God did manifest by the course of his providence towards them what hee did require and deserve at their hands namely that they should humble themselves to walke with the Lord their God and the phrase to humble thee applyed even to the most carnall may have a faire construction that thou shouldst be humbled or humble thy selfe understanding it ex officio for hereby hee did manifest that this was their duty answerable to Gods proceedings with them and yet futher considering that hee representeth his owne gracious proceedings with them by the proceedings of an earthly father with his children Verse 5. Know therefore in thine heart that as a man nurtureth his sonne so the Lord thy God nurtureth thee no marvell if he expresseth his affections and desires towards them suteable to the desires and affections of an earthly father who being not able effectually to procure their amendment yet desires it And this is Gods usuall course to expresse himselfe in such language per 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 But shall wee hereupon take liberty to build doctrines as touching the nature of God as if that which is figuratively uttered were properly delivered Hee proved them all I confesse and upon the probation some proved good silver and others no better than drosse and thereupon hee did good to the one in their latter end and not unto the other Neither did hee ever purpose that good in their latter end should redound unto any but as they should be humbled wherein humiliation is made the condition of doing them good not of Gods purpose or intention And withall God gave unto those that were truly mortified that is truly humbled hearts to perceive eyes to see and eares to heare but hee gave not the like grace unto all And looke what is said of Gods intention to humble them the same may be said of Gods intention to purge them according to that 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 would have purged thee voluntate praecepti represented by the meanes used in his word which failing hee resolveth to take another course even by judgements in his works meaning to goe on in avenging the quarrell of his Covenant Levit. 26. 25. untill their uncircumcised hearts were humbled Levit. 26. 41. purposing so at length to effect it as hee professeth Ezek. 22. 15. saying I will scatter thee among the heathen and disperse thee in the countries and will cause thy filthinesse to cease from thee Yet this is not so much by the power of afflictions as by the power of his Spirit Esay 57. 17. For his wicked covetousnesse I was angry with him and have smitten him I hid me and was angry yet hee went away and turned after the way of his heart I have seen his wayes and I will heal them But when these ends are not attained God complaines you say He had used these meanes in vaine Indeed Jer. 2. 20. hee saith Of old have I broken thy yoke and burst thy bonds and thou saidst I will no more transgresse but like an harlot thou runnest on all high hills and under every green tree But this is rather a conviction of their unfaithfulnesse in not keeping Covenant with him than a complaint But be it a complaint as such complaints are attributed unto God like as men complaine when they cannot help but take heed wee doe not here-hence inferre that God is like man not able to prevent crosse events contrary to his expectation Neither doth hee there say Hee had used these meanes in vaine for before hee used them he knew at least you will not deny it what would be the issue and no wise man I think will set himselfe to doe that which hee knowes will prove vaine in respect of the end intended by him But Jer. 10. 30. the Lord saith thus I have smitten your children in vaine they have received no correction and this plainly argueth as you say his first and chiefest intent was to heale and not to harden It is true upon a superficiall scanning of the place it seemeth that God intended to heale them but of any comparison made between two ends intended the one chiefly the other secondarily not the least glympse of evidence But I deny that hee intended healing at all in this case for if hee did that being his owne worke why did hee not heale them Will you say Because they would not receive instruction but went after the way of their own hearts still This is a vaine answer for this is no impediment unto God as I prove first by cleare evidence of Scripture Esay 57. 17. I have smitten him and yet hee went after the way of his heart neverthelesse mark what followes I have seen his wayes and I will heal them Secondly by cleare demonstration of reason to heale them is to bring them to repentance Now will you say that God is ready to performe this provided that they doe repent If they repent already what need is there of Gods grace to bring them to repentance and what is it to prerequire repentance on mans part to this end that God may give them repentance as if man must first repent and then God will give him repentance But some will say What
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
for himselfe and as all things are from him so all things must be for him for the supreame efficient must be the supreame end Now if God at once and in one moment of nature decreeth to give salvation by way of reward of faith judge you or let any indifferent Reader judge whether this decree of salvation be not necessarily conjunct with the foresight of saith 5 As for the occasions of slandering and reviling the orthodox truth of God which as you conceive this doctrine of yours cutteth of to the cavilling and froward spirit you have not so much as expressed what they are much lesse justified them to be such occasions as you speak of or shewed how they are removed by your doctrine and not by ours In like sort what is that equitie of the wayes of God the credit of the clearing whereof you attribute to your owne doctrine and derogate from ours you take no paines to explicate If your meaning be that you maintaine that God condemnes no man but for sinne voluntarily and freely committed by him and withall doe obtrude upon us the contrary you doe us the greater wrong provided you speak of men of ripe yeares As for the damnation of infants I doubt you feare so much to offend men that you come too neere the Pelagian and Arminian tenet hereabouts And if you thinke there is any active power in a naturall man to believe and repent wee will not feare offence to resist you or any man in this the scripture having so plainely expressed the contradictorie to this 1 Cor. 2. 14. and Rom. 8. 8. Or if your opinion be that God doth not harden whom he will as well as hee shewes mercie on whom hee will where the good pleasure of God is as evidently signified to be the cause of the one as of the other wee shall not forbeare by Gods grace through feare of offence to resist you in this also And if Pharaoh shall hereupon object and say Why doth God complaine of my not letting Israel goe when he himselfe hardens my heart that I may not let Israel goe wee thinke it fit to take the Apostles course to stop such a ones mouth and say O man who art thou that disputest with God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the potter power c. And let men take heed they doe not take upon them to be wiser then the Holy Ghost and thinke to satisfie men by devises of their owne when the word of God doth not satisfie them Yet in all this the Apostle doth not impeach the libertie of their wils nor Austin neither but rather justifieth it throughout yet is hee bold to pronounce that libertas sine gratia non est libertas sed contumacia As much as to say a man without grace hath will too much to that which is evill and averse from that which is good as being wilfully bent to the one and opposite to the other And the providence of God in the efficacie of working all things to his owne ends compared with the libertie of the creature hath ever been accounted of a secret nature whereas now a dayes nothing will satisfie the Patrons of free will unlesse this secret and misterious providence of God as it was wont to be accounted come to be utterly overthrowen and libertie of the creature if not chance be brought to domineere in the place thereof When you speak of the orthodox truth of God I presume you doe not distinguish of the truth of God as if some were orthodox and some not Yet I confesse Epithites have another use besides the use of distinction yet in this case also the Epithite is not congruous for orthodox is as much in effect as true 6 As touching the last I presume you will not deny but that the riches of Gods grace to Christ and in him to all the Elect are by our Tenet acknowledged to be as wonderfull as by yours As for the absolute power of his soveraigntie in dealing farre otherwise with the world I presume your opinion is that wee doe exceed rather then come short of you in the acknowledging thereof For wee maintaine God to be as absolute and free in the denying of grace to some as in giving it to others And by denying of grace wee understand the hardning of men at least as touching the chiefe part wherein it consists Yet this you will have to proceed not so much according to Gods absolutnesse as according to his justice in punishing men with obduration yet I grant there is an obduration which is properly enough a punishment of sinne and when men are thereby prostituted unto danger and exposed unto destruction Yet I dare appeale to the judgment of any intelligent Arminian whether in case you doe maintaine as you speak the absolute power of Gods soveraigntie in dealing farre otherwise with the world then with the elect any scandall is removed out of their way by your tenet which is cast in their way by ours As for the unsearchable depth of his wisdome in the order and end of all his wayes as also of his patience towards all men I presume you will not say it is more maintained by your tenet then by ours But by the way I hope you will not except against that of Austin Quantam libet praebuerit patientiam nisi Deus dederit quis aget poenitentiam cont Jul. liber 5. Cap. 4. And againe in the same place Istorum neminem to wit non praedestinatorum adduoit Deus ad salubrem spiritualemque poenitentiam quâ homo reconoiliatur Deo in Christo sive ampliorem illis patientiam sive non imparem praebeat And againe adducit ad poenitentiam sed praedestinatum adducit and none other in his opinion As for the justice of God to obstinate sinners I hope you will not say the common tenet of our Divines doth any way infringe it wee generally maintaine him to be righteous in all his workes and holy in all his wayes For hee punisheth none but for sin none of ripe yeares but for sinne voluntarily and freely committed by them and that in such sort as they might avoide it speaking of any outward transgresion Onely it is not in their power to change their hearts and to love God with all their hearts and feare him and depend upon him Whence it cometh to passe that albeit there is no particular materiall transgresion which they could not avoide yet it is not in the power of a naturall man to avoid it in a gracious manner and all for want of that love of God before spoken of which cannot be wrought in a man but by the spirit of regeneration If any man should further object as I wish you had objected to the uttermost against our Tenet supposing a naturall man to performe what good lieth in his power to performe but not in a gracious manner and likewise to omit what lyeth in his power
sin that was committed whereas God could undoubtedly restrain from the committing of it and that either in a gracious manner or in a meere naturall manner When it is committed his gracious restraint is not afforded but denyed rather What that other action is wherein this obduration consists and which is joyned with the denyall of grace you expound not Suppose it bee Gods moving a man to some course contrary to his corrupt nature either by his word as hee moved Pharaoh to let Israel goe or by his works or by the suggestions of conscience according to that Law which is writen in mens hearts is not this usually found also as often as sinne is committed contrary to light of Nature or light of Grace And hath not obduration consequently its course in all this And why you should pronounce of obduration indefinitely That it is both the heighth of mans sin and depth of mans misery I see no reason Do not the children of God sometimes feele it and in patheticall manner complain of it Lord why hast thou caused us to erre from thy wayes and hardned our hearts against thy feare Esay 63. 17. What saith our Saviour to his Disciples Mark 8. 17. Perceive yee not neither understand have yee your hearts yet hardned As for your phrase of inflicting obduration that doth much require explication which you doe no where perform that I know There is I confesse another operation of God besides those I mentioned formerly whereby men are given over by God whence it followeth that they will grow harder and harder and that is the suspension of his admonitions either by taking away his word or forbearing inward motives by his spirit or removing his judgements and giving outward prosperity whereby God is said to give men over to their own hearts lusts But how this or any of these can bee called the inflicting of abduration I understand not And whereas you say it is prejudiciall to Gods Justice to shew his power in hardning Pharaoh without respect to sin like as to condemn him I have already shewed the great difference between condemnation and obduration It being never said that God damnes whom hee will but the Apostle plainely professing that God hardens whom hee will even as expressely as it is said Hee hath mercy on whom hee will and no marvell For God hath revealed a Law according to which hee proceeds in damning men but you are not able to shew us a Law according to which God proceeds in the hardning of them For if the elect before their callings bee no better then reprobates it is impossible to assigne a Law according to which God proceeds in the hardning of men but that by the same Law the Elect of God must bee hardned also And hardning in the Scripture phrase is usually opposed to Gods shewing mercy It is one thing to speak of an heart hardned another to speak of a heart desperately hardned Yet if you were put to explicate your self and shew what it is to bee desperately hardned and that of God and there withall to prove how Pharaoh was at the time you speak of desperately hardned I am perswaded this phrase would cost you more pains then you are aware of for the satisfying of your self and perhaps somewhat more for the satisfying of others If then God purposed to fall upon Pharaoh in his utmost wrath c. Surely from everlasting hee purposed so to fall upon him for all Gods purposes are everlasting If your meaning bee onely to denote the precedency of such a condition of Pharaoh in sin to Gods falling upon him in bringing such judgements upon his back but not a precedency to Gods purpose I willingly concurre with you herein But then the like may bee said of God concerning Esau before hee was born to wit that God purposed to bring such a measure of obduration and confusion upon him after such a condition of sin But if your meaning bee as indeed hitherunto the genius of your opinion drives you namely that upon the foresight of some sinfull condition God did decree to bring obduration and condemnation both upon Esau and Pharaoh as this may bee said as well of one as of the other here you will give us leave to dissent from you considering how manifestly you are found herein to dissent from your self For if such a foresight of sin goe before Gods decree of obduration and condemnation then God did first decree to permit that sin before hee did decree to harden and condemne man for it so that the permission of that sin in Gods intention must bee before obduration and condemnation and consequently last in execution that is men shall first bee hardned and condemned and then suffered to commit that sinne for which they are hardned and condemned Again if Gods purpose to punish with condemnation must necessarily presuppose foresight of sin in God by the same reason Gods purpose to reward with salvation must necessarily presuppose a foresight in God of obedience and in this case what shall become of the freenesse of Gods grace in election not to trouble you with the profession of Aquinas that never any man was so mad as to introduce a cause of predestination quoad actum praedestinantis The case is the same with introducing a cause of reprobation quoad actum reprobantis For the ground of this is only because there can bee no cause of the will of God quoad actum volentis Now reprobation is well known to bee an act of Gods will as well as predestination Answer But say further that this hardning of Pharaoh bee an effect of the like hatred of Pharaoh as of Esau neither is it said to depend on the sin of Pharaoh but on the will of God as mercy doth as the first cause thereof I answer this hardning of Pharaoh though an effect of Gods hatred of Pharaoh yet it is not an immediate effect of the like hatred hee bare to Esau before hee had done good or evill but presupposeth the sin of Pharaoh viz. his malitious hatred of Gods Church comming between God hateth no man so farre as to harden him till hee hath fallen into some sin in which and for which hee may bee hardned Hardning being alwaies as far as I can perceive by Scripture not only a sin and cause of sin but a punishment of sin How can God bee said to punish sin with sin in hardning the creature if sin in Pharaoh bee not presupposed to goe before the hardning It is true indeed this hardning of Pharaoh is referred by the Apostle to the will of God as the first cause thereof For otherwise the answer of the Apostle had not been sufficient to the objection propounded ver 14. for there it was objected that unrighteousnesse might seem to bee found in God even respect of persons to deale so unequally with persons equall such as Jacob and Esau were for if Jacob and Esau had done neither good nor evill when God had exalted
the younger to the participation of his free love and to soveraignty over his Brother and depressed the elder to the condition of a servant and as a servant reserved for him just dealing but not fatherly love might not this seeme an unequall partiality with God to deale so unequally with persons equall To resolve this doubt the Apostle could not have cleered God from unrighteousnesse by pleading the sin of Esau which deserved that hee should bee so dealt withall for neither did Jacobs sin deserve better and besides the Apostle had said before God gave out these Oracles which pronounced his different respect of them without all consideration of good or evill in either of them viz. before they had done either good or evill Therefore to satisfie the objection and cleare Gods righteousnesse the Apostle wisely alledgeth testimonie of Scripture to prove Gods absolute power and ability to shew mercy on whom hee will and whom hee will to harden When you say this hardning of Pharaoh though an effect of Gods hatred of Pharaoh yet was not an immediate effect of the like hatred which hee bare to Esau before hee had done good or evill but presupposeth the sin of Pharaoh your meaning seems to bee this that it is not at all an effect of the like hatred which hee bare to Esau before hee had done good or evill yet it is no lesse then the not writing of his name in the book of life as touching the communicating of saving grace and glory neither do wee acknowledge it to bee any more like as Aquinas doth not now the consequent of this kinde or measure of hatred in holy Scripture is no lesse then the worshipping of the beast Rev. 13. 8. nothing lesse then the obduration of Pharaoh The obduration of the children of Israel was no greater then such as was consequent unto this that God did not give them an heart to perceive and eies to see and ears to heare Deut. 29. 4. And this of not giving hearts to perceive c. undoubtedly is a consequent even to that hatred which you are content to attribute unto God concerning Esau But you helpe your self with a complicate proposition and flie to an immediate effect which alone you deny in this case for as much as the hardning of Pharaoh as you say presupposed sin committed by him but very improvidently For if it bee not an immediate effect of the like hatred that God bare unto Esau then in accurate consideration it is to bee acknowledged an effect thereof Only there is some effect thereof more immediate then this and what I pray was that was it Pharaohs sin for of no other doe you make the least intimation the more improvident is your expression intimating thereby that Pharaohs sin was a more immediate effect in Pharaoh of the like hatred God bare to Esau then this obduration But how doe you prove that Pharaohs hardening was not an immediate effect of the like hatred which God bare to Esau to wit because it presupposed sin But I deny this Argument neither doe you discoursing at large give your selfe to the proving of it but onely suppose it By the same reason you might say that salvation is not the immediate effect of election unto salvation because salvation in men of ripe years presupposeth faith repentance and good workes Nay you may as well say that Gods giving of grace is not an immediate effect of Gods love to any man because in most men of ripe years it presupposeth many good works In Saul it presupposed his zeale and his righteousnesse according to the Law which was unblameable If you say that Sauls righteousnesse whatsoever it was before his calling was no fruit of his love I may with more probability affirme that Pharaohs sin which preceded his obduration was no effect of Gods hatred If you say that though such righteousnesse in Saul was no moving cause to God to give him saving grace In like manner I say that no sin in Pharaoh was a moving cause in God to deny him saving grace For if it were then either by necessity of nature or by the constitution of God Not by necessity of nature for undoubtedly God could have pardoned this sin of his and changed his heart as well as he pardoned the sins of Manasses the sins of the Jews in crucifying the son of God Act. 2. the sins of Saul in persecuting Gods Saints and changed all their hearts Nor by any constitution of God for shew mee if you can any such constitution of God And if you would but explicate wherein the hardening of Pharaoh did consist I presume it would clearely appeare that the meere pleasure of Gods will is the cause of it like as it is the meere pleasure of God that he doth not harden others in like manner But when we carry our selves in the clouds of generallties we are very apt to deceive not others onely if they will be deceived but our selves also Againe you seem to speake of Pharaohs hardening mentioned Exod. 9. 16. And indeed for this cause have I appointed thee to shew my power in thee c. Whereas from the first time that Moses was sent unto him hee was hardened and that by God according as God had told Moses before-hand that hee would harden him As for his sin before ever Moses was sent unto him you doe not take any speciall notice thereof at all but whatsoever it were as suppose the cruell edict of his in commanding the male children of the Hebrews to be cast into the River like as God answered him most congruously in his works first causing the waters of Aegypt to bee turned into blood and in the last place making the waters of the red Sea the grave of Pharaoh and of his Host was this horrible sin any lesse then a consequent to more then ordinary obdurationâ— for even heathen men are seldom exposed to such unnatural courses So that if this obduration were an effect of Gods hatred but not immediate supposing sin according to the manner of your Discourse then you must be put to devise some other sin as precedent to this obduration And whereas that sin also cannot be denyed to be a consequent to Gods denyall of effectuall grace to abstaine from sin we shall never come to an end till the cause of all these obdurations be at length resolved into originall sin And what share I pray you hath the world of mankind therein which Gods elect have not When you tel us the hardening is a punishment of sin it were very fit you should deal plainly tel us in what operation of God this work of hardening doth consist which I make no doubt would cleare all All confesse that God is not the cause of hardnesse of heart in any man but man being borne in hardnesse of heart Ezek. 36. 3. 1. God is said to harden not infundendo malitiam sed non infundendo gratiam By leaving him thereunto whereby it comes
Esau as if it consisted onely in making Esau Jacobs servant and Jacob Esaus Lord according to your opinion it extends further then this even to the granting of such grace to Jacob as should bee accompanied with salvation and denying of the same to Esau whereupon infallibly followed condemnation It is true God is just in dealing with Esau and God is as just every whit in dealing with Jacob for hee deales with each according to the Law himself made But God shewed mercy also unto Jacob in providing a Saviour to die for him and in circumcising his heart and making him to perform the condition of life hee shewed no such mercy unto Esau You see well how incongruous it were to plead the sin of Esau why hee should bee so dealt withall seeing Jacob at that time deserved no better But why doe you not observe that this Discourse of the Apostle hath every way as pregnant a reference to the obduration of Pharaoh or of any one that is hardned as to Gods dealing with Esau Again suppose some are not so bad as Pharaoh was when God hardens Pharaoh and doth not harden others but rather shews them mercy will you say the reason hereof is because these deserved better at the hands of God then Pharaoh Doe you not perceive how this Doctrine carryeth you ere you are aware to trench upon the freenesse of Gods grace in mans effectuall vocation Suppose Nicodemus who sought to our Saviour by night were converted and Saul had not been at all converted but still hardned would you have said that Paul was hardned because of his sin in persecuting the Church of God but Nicodemus deserved better at the hands of God then Saul Yet wee are sure that Saul in spight of all his persecution was converted when in all probability many a morall Jew and nothing factious in opposing the Gospel of Christ yea and many a Gentile too were not converted but perished in their sins and in the blindnesse of their minde If it bee urged thereupon that God doth harden the creature and also hateth him with a positive hatred without all respect of sin in the creature out of his absolute will I answer in these deep counsels and unsearchable wayes of God it is safe for us to wade no farther then wee may see the light of the Scriptures clearing our paths and the grounds thereof paving our wayes and as it were chalking it out before us The Scripture telleth us That God hardens whom hee will And again sin is the cause in which and for which God doth harden any both which will stand together That as God sheweth mercy on whom hee pleaseth so hee hardneth whom hee pleaseth out of his absolute will Yet hardneth none but with respect of sin going before For First when wee speak of the reprobate with comparison of the elect they are both alike sinners And therefore if the question bee why God hardneth the reprobate and doth not harden but shew mercy on the Elect Here no cause can bee rendred of this different dealing but onely the will and good pleasure of God sin is alike common to both and cannot bee alledged as the cause of this diversity Idem qua idem semper facit idem But when wee speak of the Reprobates alone considered in themselves If the question bee why God is pleased to harden them The answer is alway truely and safely given It pleased God to harden them for their sins And which is yet more when God is said to harden a wicked man for his sin it is not sin that moved God primarily to harden him but his absolute will it was to harden him for his sin for what sin could God see in the creature to provoke him to harden it but what hee might have prevented by his providence or healed by the blood of Christ if it had so seemed good to his good pleasure When therefore God doth harden a creature for his sin it is because it is his good pleasure even his absolute will so to harden him To will a thing absolutely and yet to will it on this or that condition may well stand together in many a voluntary agent when the condition is such as that the will might easily help if it so pleased As if a man should cast off a servant for some disease hee hath which hee might easily heale if it pleased him or break his vessell for some such uncleannesse which hee could easily rinse out Both these may well bee said of him at once that hee cast off his servant for his disease and brake his vessell for its uncleanenesse and yet might hee cast out his servant and break his vessell and both out of his good pleasure and out of his absolute and his free will It is true the Word of God is a Lantborn unto our feete and a Light to our paths and it is fit wee should rest contented herewith for discovering unto us the whole counsell of God Now this Word of God plainly teacheth us that God bardneth whom hee will Now I presume you doe not doubt but that God out of his absolute will shews mercy on whom hee will Nay I can hardly beleeve but that your opinion is that like as God out of his absolute will granted saving grace to Jacob so out of his absolute will he denyed saving grace to Esau And still doth to those whom you account the world of mankinde And I have already shewed that the deniall of this grace can bee no punishment For as much as punishment consisteth either in inflicting evill or in denying some good which formerly was granted them But in denying saving grace to the world of mankinde hee doth not deny them any thing which they formerly injoyed I have already shewed what that hardning is which is for sin and wherein it doth consist not in denying saving grace which they never injoyed but in denying that naturall restraint from some foule sin which formerly they injoyed as I exemplifyed it in that Rom. 1. 27. That in Rom. 11. 7 8 9 10 11. is nothing for you where there is no mention of sin as the cause of their obduration As for that in Psalm 69. 21. Their blinding is referred to their giving unto Christ Gall in his meate and in his thirst vinegar to drink I pray consider Were they not even then blinded when they persecuted Christ unto death And yet notwithstanding some of these were converted Act. 2. But upon this their opposition unto Christ God did proceed to blinde them more and more but how Not by denying saving illumination for this they never injoyed it was denyed them from the first to the last But by withdrawing from them the meanes of illumination more and more as namely the preaching of Gospel and the working of miracles and the giving them over unto the power of Satan This also is to give them over to their own hearts lust Psal 81. 11 12. by ceasing to
so qualifyed as to bee accounted a lesse degree of love and not a fruite of hatred for consider I beseech you is not this farre worse then to mischiefe a man by cutting off an arm or limb So that albeit Scripture did plainely professe that not to reprove a neighbour but suffer him to sin were an act of hatred yet it followeth not hence that hatred in this case signifies onely a lesse degree of love For certainly such an act to wit in sparing reproofe is worse by far then to give a man a box on the eare yet I presume you will not interpret that to bee hatred onely in such a sense as signifying a lesse degree of Love For certainly the fruites of love are the communications of good and not any contumelious inflicting of evill But by your leave I doe not finde that this is the Scriptures meaning in the place you aime at but rather in my judgement it seems to meet with a corrupt course of the world prone to conceive none to bee their greater enemies then such as reprove them To prevent this the Lord forbids the one to wit the hating of our brother and as expressely commands the other to wit to reprove our Neighbour manifesting thereby that reproofe may bee performed without any just suspition of hatred in him that reproveth In fine this interpretation of hatred which here you make is imbraced by Vossius in his Pelagion Story but hee doth not betray that hee is beholding to Cornelius de Lapide the Jesuite for it in his Commentaries on the ninth to the Romans And hee brings other manner of instances to prove it then you doe And so doth Junius also in Gen. 29. 31. though hee were farre enough off from applying it in the same sense to Esau as his son in law Vossius doth and the Jesuite doth before Vossius In few words your meaning is God did so far hate Esau even before hee had done good or evill that hee did not destinate unto him any saving grace as hee did unto Jacob. May you not as well say that hee did not destinate unto him glory as hee did to Jacob And even this in Aquinas his language is to hate where hee interpreteth Gods hatred of Esau before hee was born Yet you might bee pleased to goe a little further and to affirm that God did not onely not destinate unto him any saving grace but also that God was purposed to deny him such saving grace as hee granted unto Jacob and consequently hee purposed to deny him glory also if you bee pleased to gratifie your self in yeelding to this truth wee will willingly gratifie you in acknowledging that notwithstanding all this God purposed to deale with Esau according to his works As for that phrase of yours of putting him into the estate of a servant though it bee of little materiall consideration in this place yet I have sufficiently discussed it in examining your Answer to the first Doubt The Fifth Doubt Question 5. HOw may it appeare that all have a sufficiency of comming to Christ since no man can come without drawing Joh. 6. 44. 65. and hee who is drawn shall bee raised to life or since no man can come except it bee given him of the Father Which speech is a reason why wee ought not to murmure or bee offended if some beleeve not Rom. 11. 7. and since none but the Elect by the meanes of helpe and power Revelat. 2. 15. I no where say nor ever thought that all men had a sufficiency of power to beleeve or to come to Christ Far bee it from mee to avouch such ungracious Pelagianisme But this I say God giveth to the men of this world this world I say as opposed to the elect such meanes and helps of seeking after the Lord and finding mercy from him that they are sufficiently enabled by him to doe much more then they doe that way they are deprived of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come and with which none ever failed to come to Faith and Repentance Else how shall wee understand these and sundry such like places of Scripture Act. 17. 25 26 27. Rom. 1. 19. to 25. Rom. 2. 4 5. 14 15. Luk. 16. 11 12. Act. 1. 51 52. Act. 13. 46. Matth. 22. 37 38. Luk. 19. 41 42. Ezek. 24. 13. Prov. 1. 20. to 30. 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. Hose 11. 4. Esa 5. 3 4 5. Job 33. 14. to 18. Joh. 16. 69 From all which places I gather foure Conclusions pertinent to the point in hand First That God offereth to the men of this world helps and means either of the knowledge of God in Nature or of grace in Christ and that to this end to lead them to Repentance and Salvation Thus is God said to manifest to the Gentiles that which may bee known of him by his works and by his Law writen in their hearts and that to this end to make them to seek after the Lord to leade them to Repentance to withdraw them from their courses to heale their pride and to save their soules from the pit Thus God offered to the carnall Israelites means of grace to purge them to turn them Prov. 1. 13. to gather them Mat. 23. 37. to convince them Joh. 16. 8 9. To draw them with cords of man and bands of love Hos 11. 4. To dresse them to bring forth good fruit Esa 5. 4. Secondly That the meanes God useth for these good ends are in some measure sufficient if they bee not hindered by men to bring them to the attainment of these ends for when God saith himself hee useth these meanes for these ends for us to say these meanes are not sufficient for these ends seemeth to mee to derogate from the wisdom and sufficiency of God whose works are all of them perfect Deut. 32. 4. and so sufficient for the ends for which hee wrought them Yet God forbid I should doubt of that which our Saviour telleth the Jews No man can come to Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6. 44. by the same Almighty power and authority whereby hee sent Christ into the world The whole tenour of your Answer in clearing the Fifth Doubt looks this way as if you maintained a sufficiency of power in those whom wee account Reprobates to perform such things upon the performance whereof they should bee saved I confesse you doe not make any expresse mention of Faith but of obedience in generall and of repentance which I presume you will acknowledge will bee inseparable from Faith And that you doe acknowledge a sufficiency in them to perform Obedience and Repentance requifite to Salvation I prove thus You maintain a true desire in God of their Salvation and how can this stand with the denyall of such sufficiency as is in his power to grant Againe You expressely maintain that there is in God a serious and fervent affection not concerning their Salvation only but their Conversion also
principall place whereon you insist not only by setting it in the first place but in as much as you deliver your opinion in the phrase of seeking the Lord here alone expressed But this doth nothing serve your turn For first here is no mention at all of any sufficiency and power that naturall men either by this providence of God or otherwise have attained unto for seeking of the Lord. For consider I pray the manifestation of Gods grace in his word is farre more able to inable us to seek the Lord then the manifestation of his providence in his works yet by the manifestation of his grace in his word it followeth not that as many as are partakers thereof are indued with power of seeking the Lord in such sort as to finde mercy from him I confesse that to seek the Lord is a phrase of a very generall signification not denoting any materiall action but containing onely a certain denomination which may passe upon many materiall actions and this Discourse of yours is throughout carryed in such generalities which are very apt to deceive For in genere latent multae aequivocationes And for a man to rest on such is to bee in love with his own errours But I am confident it is onely your zeale of justifying God in his waies against the imputation cast upon him by flesh and blood that makes you take hold of and content your self with such generall notions I should think that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek the Lord in this place in reference to Gods workes is of the same signification in the generall with 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek the Lord in reference to his word that is the thing not whereunto we are hereby enabled but the thing whereof wee are thereby admonished As Verse 30. it is said Now hee admonisheth every man every where to repent to wit by the preaching of his Word Hee doth not say Hee doth enable every man every where to repent So The Heavens declare the glory of God and the Firmament sheweth his handy-worke And that which may bee knowne of God is made manifest by his workes Rom. 1. And hee leaves not himselfe without witnesse giving rain and fruitfull seasons filling our hearts with food and gladnesse And so here Hee hath assigned the seasons which hee ordained before and the bounds of their habitations 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek the Lord that is as I conceive to admonish them to seek the Lord forasmuch as though the invisible things of God are said to be manifested by his workes yet it is in such a manner as it requires study and deep contemplation to attaine to these invisible things of God in the most indifferent measure But say wee have power and all men have power to seek the Lord that is to search out those invisible things of God which are made manifest by his Works as many Naturalists have done and to give instance As Aristotle hath searched after an Ens primum a first being and hath found out immateriall substances and amongst them a first mover in the contemplation of whom the felicity of all the rest consists and hath delivered strange conclusions concerning his Nature Yet I deny that any man hath power naturall so to seek after the Lord as to finde mercy from him To this purpose it is not enough to know him as the Authour of Nature but wee must take forth and know him as a Redeemer and authour of Grace For I presume you wil not say that Aristotle after his most studious inquisitions after the Lord did finde mercy from him Nay this great searcher into the secrets of Nature denyed his Omnipotency for they could not bee drawn to beleeve that hee was able to produce any thing out of nothing this was the generall opinion of them all in a manner Thence hee proceeded to deny that the world had a beginning and to maintain that God wrought all that hee wrought by necessity of nature and not by freedom of will Yet this eternall power and Godhead they did acknowledge and that hee was to bee worshipped for the dignity of his nature But not either out of feare of punishment or hope of reward Such notions were rather popular then Scholasticall a manifest evidence that the world was brought to conceive more soberly of the nature of God by instinct of Nature then by discourse of reason For such as followed discourse of reason most became most Atheisticall as touching the providence of God yet all agreed in this that hee was incorruptible which was sufficient to convict them of impiety in changing the glory of the uncorruptible God unto the similitude of the Image of a corruptible man and of birds and of foure-footed beasts and creeping things And did not they profit best in the Schoole of Nature who by the observation of providence in the way of mercies and judgments were driven to acknowledge an unknown God and to erect Altars for his worship And as for seeking of the Lord so as to finde him in any comfortable manner doth not the Apostle as good as confesse despaire of such power in naturall men when forthwith hee addeth If so bee they might have groaped after him and found him though doubtlesse hee bee not farre from every one of us for in him wee live move and have our being And yet as for the Apostles finding of him in this place I should rather thinke that it is in reference to the apprehension of his nature as the Creator of all rather then of his goodnesse as a Redeemer so to finde mercy from him though you seem to aime at this interpretation Your second place is out of Rom. 1. 19. to 25. That which may bee known of God is manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Where In his works as it followeth For the invisible things of him that is his eternall power and God-head are seen not by but from the creation of the world being considered in his works If the Apostle had here added 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to seek the Lord and to finde mercy from him it had beene more faire for your purpose But the Apostle addes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the intent that they should bee without excuse viz. in a particular case to wit because they did not glorifie God as God but turned the glory of the incorruptible God into the similitude of the Image of a corruptible man and of birds and of four-footed beasts and of creeping things Neither do wee deny but men have power to discern the nature of God to bee incorruptible and consequently they are inexcusable in the way of Idolatry But whereas Idolatry is but the third kinde of blasphemy in attributing to the creature that which belongs to God himself And there are two sorts of blasphemy besides this One in attributing to God that which doth not become him Another in denying unto God that which doth become
fit to humour flesh and blood but your aime I am perswaded is onely to take a fit course to justifie God in his proceedings Only you may bee pleased to remember that it is nothing fit wee should lie for God as man doth for man to gratifie him As for the other end here specified of Leading to Repentance this is neither appliable to that course of Gods providence mentioned Act. 17. which is admonishing to seek the Lord nor to that Rom. 2. 14 15. but to a course different from both namely the consideration of Gods patience and long-suffering which yet without Gods word to inform us better is far more fit to harden mens hearts in their sinfull courses then to bring them to repentance Which is a good reason to perswade that in this second Chapter to the Romans the Apostle makes a transition from the Gentiles to the Jews from them which were nurtured and disciplined onely by Gods works to them which were nurtured also by the Ministery of his word That in Job 33. 17. 29. of with-drawing men from their courses healing their pride and saving their soules from the pit You doe not well to confound the courses taken for this there mentioned with the bare administration of Gods providence in his works or the writing of his Law in mens hearts after a naturall manner For the courses there mentioned by dreams and visions and by an interpreter were in those dayes the onely meanes of grace And then Elihu speaks of Gods effectuall working of these gracious operations to wit In withdrawing men from their sinfull courses to heale their pride and save their soules from the pit And wee can willingly grant that God did intend that which hee would effectually bring to passe But to say that God doth intend and will that such a thing should come to passe which never comes to passe this wee take to bee a most indecent assertion and spoiles God of his omnipotency and plainly contradictious to that which your self here professe in saying that God deprives the men of this world of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to Faith and Repentance And with what sobriety can it bee affirmed that God wills their repentance and salvation whom hee deprives of those means without which none can repent that hee may bee saved Yet for the making good of your assertion I have often devised a commodious interpretation of your words which you doe not as namely thus God useth such or such means to withdraw men from their course to heal their pride to save them from the pit That is to admonish them of their duty in turning from their wicked wayes and humbling themselves that they may bee saved And accordingly God may be said to will it with will of precept not of purpose Voluntate praecepti non propositi untill withall hee doth effect it by giving those drawing and effectuall meanes without which none can repent Or lastly God may bee said by using such courses to intend that they should repent and so bee saved that is that they should Ex officio not de facto repent that they might bee saved Thus to the Israelites hee did and to his Church hee doth even to reprobates amongst them offer meanes of grace to purge them Now by the operations of outward means which I think you signifie and if you thereby comprehend the inward operation of Gods Spirit also you doe not well to confound things so different under the same termes such ambiguitie is so apt to deceive us consists only in instruction and admonition and exhortation or correption Now these whether made to turn us Prov. 1. 23. or to gather us Mat. 23 27. or to convince us Joh. 16. 8 9. are not of themselves as you know effectuall to the conversion of any though they are called in Scripture phrase the drawing of us with the cords of a man and with the bonds of love Hose 11. 4. And the dressing of us Esa 5. 4. And your selfe professe that unlesse God use those drawing and effectuall means no man can convert no man can beleeve and repent Secondly when you say that the means which God useth for these ends are in some measure sufficient if they bee not hindred by men to bring them to the attainment of these things This is worse then ought you have delivered hitherto yet you are to bee commended for dealing so plainly as you doe in this place and no where else for ought I have found But the more plainly you deale the more foule doth your opinion appeare I should with a distinction willingly confesse that the means God useth are sufficient to wit in the way of instruction and admonition so farre forth as God will have them towards whom they are used to bee instructed and admonished But this kinde of sufficiency doth not depend on man as if hee could hinder it Whether they will receive any instruction or no the means are never a whit lesse or more sufficient in the way of instruction And indeed outward means tend no further then to such like operations as thus to wit instruction admonition correption But when you make the sufficiency of the means to depend on mans will so as to bee hindred thereby this must needs bee delivered of sufficiency in respect of conversion of bringing men unto faith and repentance And withall this is further to imply that it is in the power of man by these means to bee converted unto God to beleeve and repent which is a more foule tenet then any you have delivered yet though little truth hitherto have I found in this Discourse throughout saving in things merely delivered to no purpose And withall it is plainly contradictious to that which here you expressely professe namely that no man can beleeve and repent without some drawing and effectuall means which are far different from the means here spoken of For the meanes here spoken of are such as hee affords to Reprobates but those drawing and effectuall means which hee affords onely to his Elect as your selfe doe acknowledge wee are so farre from denying them to bee sufficient to the ends whereto hee intends them as that wee willingly professe they are all effectuall in their kinde unto the ends whereto hee intends them As for example if God intends them for the converting of some unto God all such shall certainly bee converted if only to the taking away of excuse from others they shall bee effectuall to the removing of excuse if to the bringing of some ad exteriorem vitae emendationem to an outward amendment of life and no further they shall bee effectuall to that also and no further And therefore wee doe nothing derogate from the wisdome of God but look you well unto it that you doe not derogate from Gods omnipotency whilest you maintain that some things are intended by God which are never brought to passe and that because the will of man forsooth stands in
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
wrath with long patience implying both by this and by this wrath that the liberty of the creature in sinning is nothing prejudiced in all this and in the course of his patience way is opened for his complaints and admonitions and that in patheticall manner unto these vessels of wrath to move them to repentance For that God doth complain and expostulate and reprove for these their sinfull courses is most evident And it is no lesse evident that when they goe on in their obstinate courses not profiting by Gods Word and Works unto Repentance the cause is though no culpable cause that God hath not given them a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to heare from the first unto the last Deut. 29. 4. That is that both man runneth on wilfully in his sinfull courses and that most culpably and also that without grace it cannot bee otherwise Though the reconciling of both these bee very obscure and difficult as indeed the providence of God especially in evill and generally in working what hee will by the free wills of the creature is of a most mysterious nature This patience of God comprehends not Gods bare suffering the wicked only but his prospering of them also Jer. 12. 1. Why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgresse 1. As for the first materiall point of the Apostles answer I agree with you in the explication thereof 2. But as concerning the second in my judgment there is nothing sound For first you feign the rigour of that which was objected to consist in a certain manner of Gods hardning to wit by his irresistible will As if the Apostle did give us to understand that there is a double kinde of hardning that is imputed unto God The one by his irresistible will the other is not expressed by you but intimated to consist in hardning by his will resistible whereas no such distinction is either expressed or insinuated by the Apostle neither doe you once goe about to prove it And the distinction it self is very absurd both in bringing in a will of God resistible whereas the Apostle supposeth the will of God in hardning to bee irresistible without all distinction neither doth hee give any the least intimation of a twofold hardning used by God or imputable to him Hee plainly professeth that as God hath mercy on whom hee will so hee hardneth whom hee will without all distinction And you may as well distinguish Gods shewing of mercy as if that were twofold one by his will resistible another by his will irresistible For shewing mercy and hardning are made opposite by the Apostle And it is a well known rule in Schooles that Quot modis dicitur unum oppositorum tot modis dicetur alterum of two opposites look how many wayes the one is taken so many wayes may the other bee taken And upon this Doctrine of the Apostle ariseth the objection to this effect That seeing Gods will is irresistible in hardning a man it seems unreasonable that God should complain of such a mans rebellion and disobedience whom himselfe hath hardned supposing that they cannot obey God who are hardned And throughout this objection also there is no colour of any such distinction as you introduce at pleasure concerning Gods will as either resistible or irresistible and accordingly as concerning the different manner of Gods obduration to wit either by his resistible will or by his irresistible will Secondly you feign at pleasure in like manner a denyall or at least a mitigation of the rigour of St. Pauls former Doctrine whence rose this objection for so I had rather expresse it then as you doe when in very obscure manner you call it the rigour of the word objected And I wonder you would adventure to devise a deniall or any colour of deniall made by the Apostle of that which formerly hee delivered in saying Hee hath mercy on whom hee will and whom hee will hee hardneth when your selfe have not hitherto manifested any minde to deny ought delivered by him as it is not fit you should But it may be the rigour mentioned by you is not conceived to consist in Pauls former Doctrine of Gods hardning whom hee will but rather in complaining of their disobedience whom God himself hath hardned his will being irresistible Now this though amplified as a rigorous thing the Apostle may seem to deny or at least mitigate But first it seems to mee that the objection chargeth God not so much with a rigorous course for who shall hinder God to deal with any as rigorously as pleaseth him there being no injustice in rigour as with an unreasonable course But whether rigorous or unreasonable in shew the Apostle by saying God suffers them with long patience doth neither deny nor any way mitigate the condition of this course of his for complaining of their disobedience whom himself hath hardned For albeit God all the day long yea and all the yeer long yea and many yeers long stretcheth out his hands to a people that walk in a way that is not good even after their own imaginations such being the hardnesse of their hearts as even in despight of Gods sufferance of them and gracious proceedings with them in the ministry of his word and sparing them in his works also yet if God himself continues to harden them his will being irresistible Gods complaining of their rebellion and disobedience seems never a whit the lesse rigorous or unreasonable according to the objection proposed For as Austin saith Contra Julianum Pelag. lib. 5. cap. 4. Quantamlibet praebuerit patientiam nisi Deus dederit quis agat paenitentiam though God afford never so great patience yet unlesse God give grace who shall perform repentance And to say that God doth harden by his long patience is a strange liberty that you take in interpreting Paul If to harden bee to suffer with long patience then to shew mercy being opposite to hardning must bee not to suffer with long patience And if to suffer with long patience bee to harden then as often as hee suffers his own elect with long patience hee hardneth them And when St. Peter saith God is patient toward us the meaning in proportion must bee hee hardens us Let me tell you that Julian the Pelagian of old took the like advantage as you doe of the word Patience in this place to corrupt the Doctrine of St. Paul lib. 5. contr Jul. Pelag. cap. 3. Quid est saith Austin quod dicis cum desideriis suis traditi dicuntur relicti per divinam patientiam intelligendi sunt non per potentiam in peccata compu si quasi non simul posuer is haec duo idem Apostolus patientiam potentiam ubi ait Si autem ostendere volens iram demonstrare potentiam suam attulit in mult a patientia vasa irae quae perfecta sunt in perditionem Quid horum tamen dicis esse quod scriptum est Et propheta si