Act of Reprobation whether it be Negative onely or Negative and Affirmative also The Synodists are not all of one minde in this point neither For the Hassien Divines say The Divines of the Reformed Churches do think we must accurately distinguish betwixt the two Acts of Reprobation whereof one is negative viz. The purpose of God not to have mercy or preterition The other affirmative viz. his purpose to damn or ordination to destruction as a just punishment Act. Syn. Dor. pag. 33. part 2. And the Churches of Wedderav There are two acts of Reprobation Preterition or Non-election and Damnation or preparation of punishment ibid. pag. 40. Thes 2. item pag. 45. th 2. But the Divines of Great Britain were of another opinion For they say The proper acts of reprobation as it is opposed to election we think to be no other then the deniall of the same glory and the same grace which are prepared for the children of God in election And in the Decree of election are prepared for them Glory and effectuall Grace and with that intention that it should be effectuall that is that by such grace they may be brought infallibly to the said Glory That such Grace and Glory is prepared for the Reprobates we deny ibid. pag. 11. a. m. These differences we observe amongst them in matters that relate to Tilenus his first Article So in reference to the Second Article If you inquire I. Whether Christ hath dyed for All or onely for the Elect you will finde them whatever they seem to say in the full Synod according to their Chamber Practice to contradict one another For the Divines of Great Britain do determine That God pitying mankind faln sent his Son who gave himself a price of Redemption or a Ransome for the sins of the whole world Acta Syn. Dor. pag. 78. Thes 3. part 2. Martinius giving in his Suffrage upon this Article doth resolve thus There is a certain Philanthropy of God whereby he loves all mankinde fal'n and seriously would have them all to be saved ibid. pag. 103. Thes 1. Th. 8. If this Redemption be not supposed as a common benefit bestowed upon all that indifferent and promiscuous preaching of the Gospell committed to the Apostles to be performed amongst All nations will have no true foundation Et thes 9. And seeing we abhorre to say this it is to be considered how much they speak against most clear and known principles who at their pleasure do plainly deny that Christ died for all men Thes 10. Neither will it satisfie to propose such a sufficiency as might be enough but such as is altogether enough in God's and Christ's account For otherwise the command and promise of the Gospell will be overthrown For Thes 11. from a benefit that is sufficient indeed but not designed for me by a true intention how can there be deduced a necessity of my believing it to belong unto me And Thes 26. he gives the chief Reasons which induced him to be of this opinion which are three 1. That the Scriptures might be reconciled without wresting 2. That the Glory of Gods truth mercy and justice in the commands promises and threatnings of the Gospell might be preserved lest by these God should be thought to will and do something otherwise then the words signifie 3. That it may be manifest that the blame of the destruction of the wicked may be in themselves not in the defect of a remedy by which they might be saved Thus Martinius sent to the Synod from Breme Act. Syn. Dord part 2. pag. 104. c. And Ludovicus Crocius another of the Bremish Divines sets down his opinion somewhat to the same purpose though not so well or so fully as M. Baxter doth intimate See ibid. pag. 117. Thes 2.3 But the Divines of the Palatinate were of another judgement for they say That the generall love of God to sinners is remarkable But that Love is more excellent which moved God to give his Son to save us from our sins This is not generall but speciall not common to all and every man but proper to the elect ibid. pag. 83. And the Divines of Geneva to the same purpose Christ out of the Fathers good pleasure merely was destin'd and given to be Mediator and Head to a certain number of men constituting his body Mysticall by Gods election Thes 1. pag. 100. Thes 2. For these Christ who best understood his own office would and decreed to die and to adde the infinite price of his death a singular and most effectuall intention of his will And Iselburg saith Christ died or laid down his life for all and every one of his elect sheep or Faithfull and in their stead and for their good onely Ibid. pag. 111. Thes 3. And the Ministers of Emden say Christ according to the intention counsil and decree of his Father died onely for the Elect. Ibid. pag. 119. q. 4. The Belgic Professors say If you consider the proper end and the singular and saving efficacie of Christ's death we affirm that according to his Fathers and his own counsil Jesus Christ died not for the Reprobates and those that perish but onely for the Elect and those that do believe Act. Syn. Dor. part 3. pag. 88. f. The Brethren of North-Holland say The Scripture saith Christ died for All that is for All the Elect out of all sorts of men Ibid. p. 107. p. 108. They say That of the Remonstrants is false that the intention of the Father delivering his Son to death and of the Son in undergoing death was that by the same he might save all and every one though through the fault of many of them the matter happens otherwise The Brethren of Zeeland offer these Arguments such as they are against Christ's death for all ibid. pag. 112. Thes 2. 3. If Christ paid a price of Redemption for all and every man then All and every one ought to be saved and none to perish But this is false c. If reconciliation with God and remission of sins be impetrated for all and every man then the word of reconciliation is also to be preached to all and every one But the Consequent is false Ergo. The Deputies of the Synod of Groningen say we do believe that according to the Father's intention delivering his Son to death and the Son 's in suffering it reconciliation with God and remission of sins is obtained onely for the elect Ibid. p. 138. The Deputies of the Synod of Gallo-Belgia say That according to the Scripture Christ really died for none but believers And the will of the Father in sending his Son and of the Son in dying was no other Pag. 151. Thes 2. The Deputies of the Synod of Gelderland shall conclude this part of the contradiction and the Reader shall have their very Syllogismes that he may learn Logick with his Divinity Whosoever God calls to salvation purchased by the death of Christ for them Christ died But
most profitable and most necessary to the obtaining of Faith and the Spirit of Renovation as the Remonstrants do expresly teach Also That a man in the state of sin before his Regeneration and Vivification hath the knowledge of his spirituall death grief and sorrow for it desire of deliverance hunger and thirst after life likewise confession of sins contrition initiall fear c. as our Brethren the Remonstrants speak at the Conference at the Hague All this they reject Ibid. p. 144. Reject 6. The Divines of Embden are of the same judgement Vid ibid. pag. 178. Quaest 13. Those of Vtrecht say The heart and affections of an unregenerate man are quite corrupt so that till he be regenerate he cannot hunger after the salutary grace of God and newnesse of life nor desire deliverance from sin nor beg the Spirit of Regeneration Part. 3. pag. 184. Thes 6. The Deputies of the Synod of Groningen deliver themselves to the same sense too Ib. pag. 73. p. But it is high time to explore the judgement of these Divines in some few points relating to the Fifth and last Article Touching which the first thing I shall propound for the Reader 's satisfaction shall be Perseverance be a Condition of the yea or no The Divines of the Palatinate a Judic de Artic. quinto inter Jud. Th. exter p. 206. a. m. say That Perseverance is God's gift But the Remonstrants are deceived and do deceive in that they think Perseverance being reckoned an effect of Election and a gift of God cannot be a Condition of the Covenant commanded by God and to be performed freely by us As if these were inconsistent and repugnant being rather subordinate and very Consentaneous For God who in the New Covenant prescribes the condition of Perseverance to all the adult that are in Covenant and by that prescript requires it doth not leave it suspended upon the strength of their free will but doth effectually work and produce it in them That it is a condition and under command though it be the gift of God is the acknowledgement of the b Judic de 5. Art inter Jud. Th. pro p. 221. a.m. Belgick Professors and of the Brethren of Vtrecht c Ibid. pag. 252. Th. 2. and the Divines of Drent d Ibid. 273. Th. 4. But this Doctrine is rejected by the whole Synod in their First Rejection e Act. Syn. 1. part pag. 268. Th. 1. upon the fifth head of Doctrine And the Divines of Embden f Ib. 2. part pag. 246. q. 3. do determine thus Perseverantia non est Conditio N. P. id est Perseverance is not a Condition of the New Covenant prae-required to be performed by men that the promise of the New Covenant may he sure but it is the very gift of the New Covenant which God hath promised to bestow freely upon his Elect. See to the like sense the Judgements of the Divines of Great Britaine g Ib. p. 201. Th. 2. and Geneva h Ib. p. 226. Th. 2. 2. Suppose we should propound this easie Question Whether Salvation or eternall life be the reward of Faith or onely the end of it This Question one would think so clearly and peremptorily resolved in Scripture that wise men could not disagree in the Solution of it yet behold here we have pro and con too Salus in Credentibus Proemium est fidei 2 Tim. 4.8 Finis 1 Pet. 1.8 So saith Gomarus the great Supralapsarian i Act. Sy. 3. part pag. 21. f. That is Salvation in the Believers is as well the reward of faith as the end of it Yet the Deputies of the Synod of Gelderland k Ibid. pag. 30. p. will not admit of this Uti gratis filii fimus c. That is As we are made sonnes and obtain the right of the inheritance freely so are we freely also put into the possession of that inheritance Therefore it is ill said that eternall life as a reward is decreed and given by God to those that fulfill the conditions which he hath prescribed For to give life as a reward upon the performance of a condition upon which that life was decreed as a reward this is to give life not altogether freely and of good pleasure but of debt 3. Let us inquire of them Whether a Temporary faith be a true faith or onely hypocriticall What do they resolve of this The British Divines say l Sententia De Artic. 5. explic Thes 1. Aâ—â— Syn. part 2. pag. 189. p. The Non-Elect may give an unfeigned assent to the Gospel The seed which fell upon stony ground Luk. 8.13 doth denote those hearers which believe for a time that is which assent to the Divine Revelations especially to the Evangelicall Covenant And that this Assent was unfeigned is evident in that the Word was received with joy Simon Magus Act. 8.12 believed Philip evangelizing the things that appertained unto the Kingdome of God and gave a Testimony of his Faith by receiving the Sacrament of Baptisme Hymenaeus and Alexander made shipwrack of the faith not that which is counterfeit or feigned but a true one For he is not to be blamed that falls off from an hypocriticall faith neither is shipwrack made of a feigned faith but a detection and discovery neither can a man be shipwrackt unlesse he were truly in the ship c. Thus our Learned Divines and some others with them But others of them and by name the Deputies of Over-Issel m Act. Syn. 3. part pag. 277. p. p. are of another judgement for they say Quale discrimen est inter hypocritam verum Christianum tale quoque est inter fidem temporariam salvificam Look what difference there is betwixt a true Christian and an Hypocrite the same difference there is betwixt a temporary and a saving Faith 4. If you inquire of them Whether Faith may be lost or no here they divide themselves and their opinions Some say the Act may be lost but not the Habit. Others do maintain that not the Habit nor the Act neither That the Habit the seed the root the Spirit of Faith may be lost we deny That the Act the trust the comfort may be cut off and that totally though not finally that we grant say the Divines of Gelderland n De 5. Artic. Act. Syn. Dor. 3. part pag. 228. f. And so the Deputies of Friesland o Ibid. pag. 261. Thes 3. As to the Act of Faith we easily grant that through the frauds of Satan the allurements of the world and the malignant power of the flesh it may be represt interrupted and as it were suffocated for a time But as to the Habit of Faith which is not a transient but an immanent Act infused into us of the Holy Ghost whereby our hearts are purified and we united as members to Christ our head and quickened by his Spirit we deny it But the Divines of Drent p Ibid.
we pray you in Christs stead be ye reconciled unto God The Sincerity of God's earnest desire of mans Conversion and Salvation attested by these and other like Patheticall obtestations Options and Prayers is enervated and overthrown viz. as well by the necessity of an irresistible conversion as by the insufficiency or internall inefficacy of Grace and impossibility of obedience 'T is inconsistent with the Divine wisdome to desire impossibilities as life from a dead creature or motion from a carkasse for that were to desire a sufficient effect from an unsufficient Cause So to desire an irresistible conversion for that were to desire obedience wherein there must be liberty in necessity and to be earnest that that may be done by others which he absolutely intends to do irresistibly by himselfe But whereas M. Baxter is so tender and jealous of the reputation of his own Reason and that must not be debased so much as to be prostituted to an irrationall devotion it were well if he were no lesse tender and jealous of the honour of the Divine wisdome For such is God's gracious Condescension in his intercourse with poore Sinners that he makes Prayers to them too that they would be converted and be reconciled and be at peace with him Are these His Prayers Rationall or serious think you If your prayers to him cannot Rationally consist without his irresistible determination of your will how can his to you consist with it Is it not agreeable to your Reason to pray for God's preventing and following Grace For Grace to excite and inable and assist you unlesse he doth invincibly apply your will to the singularity and every circumstance of every good act you do And is it agreeable to his wisdome to pray and beseech you to do that as your duty which he must insuperably work in you himselfe or else it shall not be done at all So that in short your objection from Rationall Prayers is unavoidably returned upon your self For what you think you may rationally expect from him upon the account of your Prayers the same he may as Rationally expect from you upon the account of his And thus much for Rationall Prayers And by Parity of Reason your objection from Rationall Thanksgivings will admit of a like Solution 'T is certain we can never give Almighty God sufficient thanks for the Riches of his abundant grace and favour towards us But there are a sort of sturdy Beggers that will crosse the proverb and be choosers too and if they may not have what they list they remain churlish and unthankfull for all other instances of our bounty But the law hath made a good provision in appointing not an almes to cherish but a whip to chastise such dispositions A God I thank thee may be exprest with no little vehemency of Spirit when men have little thanks for their labour For 't is ordinary as well to ascribe unto God what his Justice will not own a Jer. 7.10 as to expect what his wisdome will not grant b Isa 58.3 You should consider that as we are obliged to give thanks so God hath thought fit to give commands and doth vouchsafe commendations and praise to our well performed duties Whatever the Ignorant vulgar do a wise man will not cast away his commendations upon the actions and combatings of those little Puppets that play in fight but reserves them for the honour of that invisible hand behind the Curtain by whose sole strength and activity they are put into their severall postures If our Regeneration or conversion be wrought in us solely by Gods Omnipotent strength without us as the Synod hath designed it were very absurd that we should have any praise for it yet the Apostle saith that that circumcision of the heart in the Spirit which can be nothing else but regeneration or conversion though it gains no praise from man as not subject to his observation yet it hath praise of God Rom. 2. ult God allows his servants to seek for glory and honour as well as immortality by a patient continuance in well doing Rom. 2.7 c Phil. 3.8 and he assures us for our incouragement we shall not lose this part of our reward For he will give praise and an Euge d 1 Cor. 4.5 Mat. 25 21. serve bone fidelis well done thou good and faithfull servant God understands the extent of his own work and his creatures duty better then you or I and he is so jealous of his own glory he will not prostitute any part of it to an unworthy flattery of his Vassals The Approbation and Applause he gives them at the end of the day when their work is done is an earnest admonition unto us who are still upon duty in the Vineyard that he expects to be honoured by an ingenuous and free obedience To lay all the burden of our duty upon his operation that the more thanks may accrew to him upon that account is to grow lazy that Grace may abound And he will never accept of such thanks as are set up to commute for duties that are attended with more cost and difficulty or are made a pretense for sloath or an incouragement to tepidity 2. I would aske from whence these Thanksgivings you set so much by come Sure if the rest of your good Motions carry this stamp of Divine and irresistible Determination upon them your Thankesgivings do so too and then whether they be Rationall or no you cannot but perform them and in that case whether it be Rationall to expect praise and glory for them I have some Reason to be doubtfull The summe of all is this The Praise which God gives his servants for the performance of their duty it is a Rationall Praise or it is not I hope you will not say the last for shame for admit there be a great Grace in it yet you must allow that there is some truth too Joh. 1.17 and then it must be Rationall for God is a God of wisdome If this praise be Rational then it is for something done that might have been omitted or done otherwise else how can a man have praise in himselfe alone and not in another Ecclus. 31.10 as the Apostle saith he hath if his works be Judgement-proof and current Galat 6.7 In short this puts the difference betwixt that Good that consists in duty and that which consists in operations merely voluntary and that whether they proceed from the Excellency of Essentiall Perfection as in God or from the benefit of exalted Nature as in Saints and Angels They who are subject to a law in the quality of Probationers in order to their triall for preferment they can give no proof of themselves Acts of Subjection they may do but rewardable obedience they cannot performe unlesse they have liberty of Contradiction as the Schools call it a freedome to do or not to do their duty It is otherwise with Angels and holy Spirits at their journeys end
will by an Omnipotent Grace as †Contra. remonstrants they say it is cannot be So that by this Doctrine if it should be granted say the Remonstrants the Ministery of the Word would be made void and altogether unprofitable This inconvenience Master Baxter could discover well enough as to the Infusion of Habits Of saving Faith pag. 21. And therefore he follows the stream of those Divines who take Vocation which taken Passively conteineth the Acts of Faith and Repentance to be Antecedent unto Sanctification which comprehends the Habit of them Placing the Act before the Habit he saith This makes the Word the Instrument of that work whereas which moves me very much saith he according to the contrary opinion the Word cannot possibly be the Instrument or means of our Regeneration as to the Habit nor as to the Act neither if that Act be irresistibly infused or imprinted but onely a subsequent means to elicite †Whose Act not Gods that were too grosse then it must be man's and then by this means Man worketh the will and the Deed. or educe the Act which seems against the stream of Scripture and Divines of All Ages A faire Confession The Remonstrants then do not onely grant an Illumination of the minde which upon the matter is made the All-sufficient Grace by Camero but also a Collation of Supernaturall power which yet they cannot allow to commit such a Rape upon the Will as to force it in its manner of working or deprive it of its naturall Liberty to Will or Nill They reserve to her as her undoubted Prerogative that freedome still as entire as ever to Act or suspend her action without which power man is able to do no more Duty properly so called then the Brute Beast which hath a Spontaneity as well as Man but no Rationall Election But Master Baxter will here step in with his objection and tell us This is but to bring the matter to mans choice and so they do But I must acquaint the Reader with a vast difference in the Portage whether you consider the matter or the manner of it For 1. Your Doctrine doth not bring the same Thing to mans choice It brings Christ as you say and remission of sins and eternall life to his choice upon condition If he will Repent and Believe But doth your Sufficient Grace by an irresistible Collation of power upon the will bring Faith it self and Repentance it self to the choice of them that perish It doth not it cannot For by the conduct of an Immutable Antecedent Decree Grace sufficient to bring it to their choice in this sense is denyed them and their choice otherwise determined and that Infallibly unlesse you equivocate in the use of the word choice and put it for Spontaneitie whereby the wretched Reprobate for all the influences of that sufficient Grace is unavoidably led as an Oxe to the slaughter 2. And as your Doctrine brings not the same Thing to their choice so neither doth it bring the same assistance You bring Remission and eternall life but as a covered dish with a Noli me tangere upon it They must not touch it with unwasht hands and shutting up the Living fountain and sealing it by an immutable Decree you afford them neither towell nor water that is sufficient or of force to clense them What you bring to their choice and lay at their doore you leave as a burden too heavy for their strength to take up and their feeble shoulders to carry in to their quiet possession and comfort But with us Faith and Repentance are as well brought to choice as Christ Pardon or eternall Life but not laid down and left there God continues to illuminate the mind and inspire the will and thus he knocks at the doore of the heart till man freely opens to him Revel 3.20 or gives him such rude and shamelesse Repulses as provoke him to withdraw himself in a sore displeasure Gen. 6.3 Here then being such a free preventing irresistible efficiency of a supernaturall power and a no lesse Gracious concomitant Assistance both of outward meanes and inward motions towards the carrying on and accomplishment of our Faith and Repentance our Conversion and Salvation The Glory of this Work ought in all Reason to be ascribed to the Divine Grace as the principall Cause or Author of it †Itaque nec illi debent sibi tribuere qui venerant quia vocati veneruÌ„t nec illi qui noluerunt venire debent alteri tribuere sed tantum sibi quoniam ut venirent vocati erat in eorum libera voluntate August lib. 83. qq q. 68. Agenâ— de invitatis ad coenam But if under the conduct of such no lesse sweet then powerfull Dispensations there proves to be a miscarriage to what can we in justice impute this unhappy event or what can we charge the fault upon but mans own willfull and execrable Rebellion For we must consider though the understanding be inlightned with the knowledge of Supernaturall excellencies yet it apprehends still the whole variety of sensuall or carnall Goods the will †Adde hereunto that which the British Divines do averre de Art 3 4. pa. 133. pr. Per versitatem sive resistendi potentiam remoâ—am in acta primo positam in suà amarà radice etiam in Renotorum coluntate deliâ—escere unde pronitas ad resistendum motibus spiritus S. v. locum though impowered to do better hath a liberty to embrace them and both the understanding and the will have a naturall Inclination tending also to their own ease and Preservation to gratifie the Infirmities of their neighbouring Appetites whose objects being at hand to affect and tickle the senses with the soft insinuations and relishes of their immediate presence have a great advantage over spiritual objects which are remote at a huge distance and out of sight to flesh and bloud yea and over the chief Good upon a like Account whom being enjoyed would transcendently fill satisfie and swallow up all our most insatiable Appetites Hence it comes to passe that many times Sense finds too great an indulgence with the more noble Faculties and being preferrd above it's rank the Objects thereof are entertained with too inordinate a complacency So that we observe how men though irresistibly convinced of the truth and excellency of things Spirituall yet once bewitched with the charmes and pleasures of these for want of Mortification and a Main Guard they pursue the enjoyments of them so eagerly that they can brook no check Video meliora proboque Deteriora sequor When men are not able to resist the Spirit speaking to their understanding by way of Conviction Act. 6.10 they will Rebell against the light thereof Job 24.13 and abuse the Liberty of their will to resist the Holy Ghost Act. 7.51 And having grieved this Good Spirit so long till they have made him even weary of striving with them no
the will to Act But he must have such a one as doth controull and Determine the will to Act and Operate notwithstanding the Dominion over its own Acts which he seems to ascribe to it which we think not onely unnecessary but in the ordinary course of Gods providence very absurd inconvenient and of dangerous Consequence to be affirmed 1. That it is unnecessary is evident by Gods complaint Isa 5.4 Judge I pray you between me and my vinyard what could I have done more to my vinyard that I have not done to it Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes brought it forth wilde grapes That God administred all things necessary and sufficient not in Master Baxters sense of sufficiencie which is unsufficient to this effect appears by his expectation of grapes of good workes for the All-wise God doth not he cannot expect to gather grapes of thorns or figgs of thistles and to expect conversion and good works from them who have not grace necessary and sufficient to their production is as unreasonable as to expect a Bird should fly without wings or a man goe without leggs But here was no determining Grace administred for then they would have been infallibly converted and have brought forth good works Therefore such Determining Grace is not necessary 2. As it is unnecessary so it is inconvenient For 1. it overthrowes that Dominion which by Master Baxters own confession the will hath over its own Acts and destroyes its Connatural manner of working For it puts a necessity in order of Nature and Causality Antecedent to the Act of the will so that all Praerequisites put in order the will hath not a simultaneous power that may be reduced into Act to Act otherwise or a power to want that operation to which it is so determined which takes away the liberty of the will quoad exercitium in regard of the exercise of it 2. It destroyes the proper nature of duty for a Duty is a work perform'd conformably to a command for his Authority sake who doth command it that giving proof of our free obedience we may avoid the Penalty and gain a Right to the Reward upon which the Command is established This cannot be agreeable to the nature of that work to which God doth irresistbly determine the will for 1. though the work be conformable to his command yet it cannot be properly said to be done because of his Authority but because he doth insuperably determine it 2. The doer or rather the sufferer gives no proof of his free obedience because he cannot do otherwise 3. This can procure him no right to the reward because it is not thank-worthy as the Phrase is 1 Pet. 2.19.20 beeing no part of a free obedience And 4. upon what Title can it free a man from punishment For we see God doth over-rule such as become the Rod of his anger Isa 10.5 6 12. and directeth them to do his work according to his Secret which the Calvinists account his onely proper will and yet when that work is done he casteth the Rod into the Fire But M. Baxters Determining Grace hath the Doctrine of the Synod to justifie it in making Faith and Conversion Repentance or Regeneration for the termes are promiscuously used here no part of mans work or duty For the Synod saith That Regeneration c. is a work for the mightinesse thereof not inferiour to the Creation of the world or raising up the dead quam Deus sine nobis 〈…〉 4. de Convers Art 12. in nobis operatur which God without us worketh in us and they say that Faith whereby we are first converted Ibid. Art 14 Reject 6. and from which we are styled Faithfull is really inspired and infused into the will Ibid. Reject 8. and that God in regenerating a man doth employ the strength of his Omnipotency powerfully and infallibly to bow and bend his will to Faith and Conversion And in this work saith M. Baxter * Of Saving Faith pag. 20. the Spirit is as the Hand the Object and Word as the Seal the Act of impression on the Intellect is first in Order of nature and so upon the Will the impressed Act and Habit immediately are effected by it Is this Faith and Conversion thus wrought Gods or mans It may be called Mans in regard of the Possession of it after it be wrought but in regard of the efficiency the production is so meerly a piece of New Creation that it can in no sense be accounted a part of Mans Morall duty For this is not performed by man because Gods will commands it but wrought in him because Gods power imprints it And then 3. This will evacuate the force of the Ministery the use of Commands and exhortations expostulations and reproofs For how can you in Gods Name seriously command a man under pain of death and promise of life to do that as his duty which you teach him to believe that God will insuperably effect himself If he believes that God must and will do it by his irresistible determining Grace he cannot reasonably believe that he doth seriously require it as his duty because it implyes a contradiction that God should at once will an effect to be done by another and yet will to do it himself alone What do your Ministery then amount unto 'T is but the Revelation of what God will do in mens souls like the Angels Message to the Blessed Virgin Luk. 1.30 with 35. Fear not for thou hast found favour with God for the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee Therefore that Holy thing that Faith and Repentance that shall be borne of thee shall be called the work of God Thus you may signifie to your Beloved Disciples what God will doe for and in their souls But if you should attempt the use of exhortations c. to move them to undertake that work as their duty your exhortations would lose all their force and propriety for that work you say is actually and really of Gods Impression Now when Gods Omnipotent hand of Grace sets the Determining Presse on work which is not moved at all by your exhortations they being directed onely to souls that are merely Passive under it that work of Faith and Repentance is stampt upon them irresistibly And can it consist with Gods wisdome to attaque a Sinner thus If you will be wrought upon and converted and believe as the force of my insuperable Grace shall irresistibly determine you you shall be saved And can you find in your heart to exhort your Auditors and to fall down upon your knees to them as you say many times you would do to intreat and beseech them not to wrastle with Omnipotency but to suffer themselves to be moved and determined by it And can you threaten woe and eternall death to others if they be not thus determined telling them withall which is a part
of your Gospel Truth that there is no other internall Grace designed for them but what is specifically different from that administred to determine the will of the Elect Is this a Doctrine according to Godlinesse or were this a good way of Preaching Yet this is exactly according to the sense of your School-Divinity if you would deal ingenuously and speak without aequivocation But if you come to expostulate with your Hearers in good earnest what rationall evasions and subterfuges doth this Doctrine afford them to repell the force of all such Expostulations For whereas you apply your self in your Sermon Of Making light of Christ Pag. 59 60. c. to try them whether they will not make light of him hereafter and demand of them 1. Will you for the time to come make Christ and salvation the chiefest matter of your care and study 2. Will you for the time to come set more by the word of God which conteins the discovery of these excellent things and is your charter for salvation and your guide thereunto 3. Will you for the time to come esteem more of the Officers of Christ whom he hath purposely appointed to guide you to salvation 4. Will you for the time to come make conscience of daily and earnest prayer to God that you may have a part in Christ and salvation 5. Will you for the time to come resolvedly cast away your known sins at the command of Christ What say you Are you resolved to let them go To all these Quaeries you have furnisht them with a ready Answer They will tell you and with great Reason according to your Doctrine yes if God shall not onely bring it to their choice but also insuperably determine their will thereunto Ibid. p. 63 c. The like Answer will they return to your demands that follow 6. Will you for the time to come serve God in the dearest as well as in cheapest part of his service not onely with your tongues but with your purses and your deeds 7. Will you for the time to come make much of all things that tend to your salvation and take every help that God offereth you and gladly make use of all his Ordinances 8. Will you do all this with delight not as your toile but as your pleasure They will tell you Yes if God shall vouchsafe not onely to bring it to their choice but insuperably determine their wills to it In like manner are all Gods most Patheticall and earnest invitations to conversion put off by this Master Baxters Determination and made frustrate For example Zac. 1.3 Turne ye unto me saith the Lord of hosts Mal. 3.7 and I will turne unto you saith the Lord of hostes And Revel 3.20 Behold I stand at the doore and knock if any man will heare my voice and open the doore I will come in to him and sup with him c. The sinner is taught by Master Baxters Doctrine to Answer Alas Lord how can I turn how can I open Do not illude and mock at the impotencie of a poore sinner for seeing Conversion and the opening of the heart cannot be peracted unlesse I do determine my self to it and seeing I am indifferent and undetermined to Act it cannot be that I should determine my self unto Conversion unlesse thou doest first in order * Ordine causalitatis divinum opus praecedat nostra operatio sequutur necesse est Brit. Divin Act. Syn. par 2. p. 131. f. of nature and causality determine me to the same conversion and that by some such potent and insuperable motion as I neither have nor can obtain by any Act of mine if thou hast not decreed to conferre the same upon me And this Doctrine doth furnish the most obstinate sinners with an Apologie against all Gods most vehement exprobrations and reproofs For whereas he saith Woe unto thee Chorazin woe unto thee Bethsaida for if the mighty works which are done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon they would have repented c. The excuse is very ready and easie out of this principle Lord thou knowest the men of Tyre and Sidon could not have repented by this means unlesse thou hadst decreed to administer determining Grace to them herewith and if thou hadst communicated that Grace to us also we should have repented nay we could not but have repented as well as they When you shall upbraid them for rejecting the Counsil of God against themselves and putting the word of life from them and despising Gods Goodnesse and neglecting so great salvation what influence can these exprobrations and reproofs have upon them If they have once imbibed your Doctrine they will return scorn to your reprehensions and tell you this means was so tendred that it might be rejected and despised for it was not accompanied with Determining Grace but administred onely to render them the more inexcusable and upon that account fit for no other entertainment but neglect 4. Whereas Faith is so the work of the Saints that it is said to procure them praise 1 Pet. 1.7 and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ By this Determining Grace which makes them mere Passives in the reception of it working it irresistibly in them but without them as the Synod saith All those Eulogies which are given them as Well done good and faithfull servant are rendred absurd not to say ridiculous Should a man cause his Servant that of himself hath no minde to goe to be nailed up in a soft chariot and brought to London and then commend him for his care and faithfulnesse in taking such a journey to come and serve him when he is merely passive in the businesse would you think him in good earnest I think not 5. If this Determining Grace be necessary there is another grosse absurdity and of more dangerous consequence than the former for from hence it follows That a man cannot sinne unlesse God be first deficient in what is necessary So Piscator in terminis Resp ad Duplic Vorst p. 245. Desertio Divina est causa desertionis humanae obediendi Deo non autem contra haec causa est illius Gods desertion of Man is the cause of Mans deserting his obedience towards God and not the contrary And of all true Believers he saith Ibid. pag. 314. They are no more able to omit or neglect the study of perseverance then a Blackamore is able to change his colour or Male and Female their sex But because this assertion is so palpably contradicted by the foule sins of such as have been Regenerate De Persev pag. 6. therefore Doctor Damman doth mend the matter thus Regenerati non possunt omittere praestationem ejus quod ab illis postulatur modo Deus illis praestet quod promisit The Regenerate cannot omit to perform what God requires unlesse God doth omit to perform what he hath promised And Quando Deus partibus suis defungitur Ibid. p. 37. nos
malé utentes justissime judicentur Quod cum sit Infideles quidem contra voluntatem Dei faciunt cum ejus Evangelio non credunt nec ideo tamen eam vincunt verum seipsos fraudant magno summo bono malisque poenalibus implicant experturi in suppliciis potestatem ejus cujus in donis misericordiam contempserunt You see then that this opinion is of no dangerous consequence against the grace or fidelity much lesse against the wisdome and power of God But hath not your own Doctrine that very dangerous influence which you unjustly charge upon the other Is it not against the Grace of God 1. In your preterition which denyes Grace to the farre greatest part of mankind 2. In your Physicall irresistible operation which turns Grace into necessity to all others Is it not against Gods wisdome to injoyn that under promimises of life and threatnings of damnation to persons that cannot possibly refuse it to whom likewise he is supposed to have promised the irresistible effecting of it And is it not against his wisdome to invite others and assure them by oathes and obtestations of a free and hearty well-come to the fruition of that both end and means which by an immutable Decree he hath absolutely debarr'd them of from all eternity according to your Doctrine Indeed I find you have made a good Provision to secure Gods Fidelity from violation in reference to the unregenerate For you maintain Disput of Right to Sacram p. 420. though they be in Covenant with him and oblige themselves yet he is not obliged as a Covenanter to them for he hath no mere outside promises Pag. 422. when he meaneth not as he speaks And after you tell your Adversary Unregenerate men are really in covenant as to their externall ingageing act and this they may break But doth it follow that they cannot violate their own promise unlesse God be actually obliged by promise to them This may very well secure Gods Fidelity but whether his sincerity will be salved by it I make some question Doth he by his Embassadours and by himself Mat. 23. Luk. 19. use so much holy courtship with prayers and tears to allure poore sinners and draw them into covenant to serve him and all the while keep himself disingaged make them no grant not so much as passe his word for any thing really sufficient to inable them to do what he with so much importunity and the greatest expressions of love and tendernesse imaginable urges and ingages them to do This to my apprehension doth intrench so much upon the riches of his mercy whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises that by these you might be partakers of the Divine nature †Divinae naturae nomine non essentiam sed participationem qualitatum intelligit qua imago Dei in nobis restituitur Bez. not min. ad 2. Pet. 1.4 that I cannot readily without much greater evidence subscribe to it But you have one assault more to make upon this opinion afore you leave it You charge it therefore in the Rear That it is against the peace of the Saints Answ 1. I wonder that you of all the Calvinists in Europe should make this objection having written so much against it Do you not confesse in the same papers that the Lutherans Arminians and others of that opinion have as much peace and with as little doubting as your selves It is very clear you say that the denyall of the Doctrine of the Perseverance of all the sanctified Account of S. Persev pag. 19. doth not necessarily destroy all Christian consolation And a little after It were unreasonable and uncharitable to think that none of the Antient Churches who were all of these Opinions as you confesse for thirteen or fourteen hundred years together that differed from us in this had Christian peace that none of the Lutheran Protestants or Arminians now have peace that such holy men as Austin and Luther c. were deprived of peace A little after If we could not have joy and peace in believing except we receive it from the certainty of our own perseverance then it would follow that exceeding few even of them that hold the Doctrine of the Perseverance of all the justified have joy and peace in believing For that Doctrine of Perseverance can give assurance of their own perseverance to none but those Ibid. pag 20. that are certain of their sincerity and justification But too sad experience you say telleth us that there be but few exceeding few of the godly among us that are certain of their sincerity justification and salvation Insomuch that you conclude not long after I never knew the man that attained any more then such a strong persuasion Pag. 31. mixed with some doubtings and fears yet so far overcoming them Pag. 25. as to live a peaceable joyfull life And foure pages after you say We cannot deny but that the Doctrine of the certain perseverance of all the sanctified may accidentally occasion much more trouble then consolation to many doubting souls that are sincere 2. Whom would you gratifie by your Doctrine Those fierce Disputers for Assurance which you mention that say they are sure of their salvation with a great confidence for want of other Arguments Or those Opinionists Ib. p. 20. 21. that no sooner run away from the communion of the Church but find themselves presently wrapt up with such a seeming certainty or the passionate feelings of Hypochondriacall women who after such a sudden fit of pretended assurance fall into stronger pangs of doubting and trouble than any others I professe I cannot see what interest that Doctrine will serve but that of the flesh But care would be taken lest this pretended peace of the Saints should justle out the reall fear of God and so the Preachers of it be worthily reckoned amongst those that are lovers of pleasures more then lovers of God 3. 'T is most certain the work of righteousnesse shall be peace Isa 32 17. and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever But would you have Cordials for them in their lapses Adultery Incest perjury drunkennesse c. Take heed you do not cry peace when there is no peace For there is no peace to the wicked saith my God 'T is your assertion sin doth as naturally breed troubles and fears as the setting of the Sun causeth darknesse or as a grosse substance in the Sunshine causeth a shadow Ibid. p. 40. And this from the nature of the thing and by the will of God Therefore that of the Psalmist is considerable I will hearken what the Lord will say for he shall speak peace to his Saints but let them not turn back to folly Why Because then he will speak to them in his wrath 4. In this case towards the renewing of repentance the opinion you condemn doth afford much more incouragement and comfort then that you maintain because the
especially seeing they maintain it to be the fruit and effect of Election * Ib. Reject 1. pa. 268. 2. The second step to the probation of that Minor proposition viz. That by the doctrine of the Synod a gross sinner is taught to be certain of his salvation before the renewing his repentance shall be this that he who hath once examined his state and findes himself thus certain of his election and perseverance may be able to remember it if not 't is but taking his pen and ink and setting down the time when he took this examination with that certainty which he found to be the result of it 3. My third step or postulate shall be this that he who hath taken this pains to examine and shrive himself and found this comfort a certainty of his election and perseverance may notwithstanding fall into gross sins Wherefore saith the Synod * Act. Syn. de persev Sanct. thes 4. p. 266. they must continually watch and pray that they be not led into temptation which when they do not it is not only possible that they should be carried away by the flesh the world and the Divel into grievous and heinous sins but sometimes also by Gods just permission they are carried away which the lamentable falls of David Peter and other of the Saints described unto us in the Scripture evidently shew Whereupon Zanchy saith Quod negem electos in atrocissima scelera ruere posse calumnia est quasi nesciam non doceam Davidis scelera adulterium homicidium fuisse atrocissima gravissima * Lib. Misc in depuls Calum pag. 307. 4. My fourth and last step toward a proof of that proposition shall be this that he who is fallen into such heinous sins may be able to remember the doctrine that hath been taught him concerning this point or if he should forget it he may have recourse to his Authors out of whom he hath learn'd it And if he consults Beza * In libello Chr. Quest Resp p. 688. he saith Interrumpi interdum fateor in gravibus tentationibus Spiritum nunquam tamen penitus eripi dico Et Paulò post Sic veram fidem ejus effecta in electis interrumpi dico ut in iis qui lethargo laborant in Ebriis in quibus impediuntur animae facultates non tamen anima ipsa tollitur quum inter lethaâ—gum aut Ebrietatem mortem ipsam plurimum intersit aeternae verò vitae certum pignus habeant qui adoptionis Spiritum habent And Ruardus Acronius saith * In Enarraâ— Catechet q. 53. ss 11. fol. 89. although in the souls of the Elect the flames of lusts of revenge of hatred and the burnings of divers wickednesses do oftentimes arise though there be also manifold sins of ignorance and omission doing what they should leave undone and neglecting what they should perform yet because these infirmities are covered with the merit of Christ and for Christs sake are not imputed they do not excusse the holy Spirit Rom. 8.1 There is no condemnation to them c. so that should they assent to an errour Quo fundamentum salutis vel in totum vel ex parte evertitur whereby the foundation of Salvation is either in whole or in part overthrown or violate the command of God against conscience repugnante conscientia and by that means sin most grievously and foully and through the most just judgement of God loose the greatest gifts of the holy Spirit yet are they not deprived of all nor forsaken totally and finally For God who is rich in mercy saith the Synod * Act. Syn. de persev Sanc. Art 6. f. 266 according to the unchangeable purpose of Election doth not wholly take away his holy Spirit from his no not in their grievous slips nor suffers them to wander so far as to fall away from the grace of Adoption and state of justification or to commit the sin unto death or against the holy Ghost or to be altogether forsaken of him and throw themselves headlong into eternal destruction Out of these four grounds I shall now give you the proof of that Minor proposition viz. That a gross sinner may be certain c. before his actual repentance of that sin Whosoever may be certain of his eternal election and final perseverance may be certain of his salvation A man guilty of gross sin v. g. an adulterer or prejur'd person without an actual repentance of his sin may be certain of his eternal election and final perseverance Therefore A man guilty of gross sin v. g. an adulterer or perjur'd person without actual repentance may be certain of salvation The Major is evident of it self because election and perseverance do contain all things necessary to salvation The Minor is proved thus Whosoever after his unfeigned conversion and some good progress in holiness may become guilty of gross sin as adultery c. He without an actual repentance of that sin may be certain of his eternal election and final perseverance A man after his unfeigned conversion some good progress in holiness may become guilty of gross sin as adultery c. Therefore a man guilty of gross sin as adultery c. without an actual repentance of that sin may be certain of his eternal election and final perseverance The Minor is evident by the examples of David Peter and others of the lapsed Saints The Major is proved thus Whosoever may have examined the sincerity of his conversion and holiness and may remember the result of that examination to be a certainty of his eternal election and final perseverance he though he becomes guilty of gross sin as adultery may without an actual repentance be certain of his eternal election and final perseverance A man though he becomes guilty of gross sin as adultery may have examined the sincerity of his conversion and holiness and may remember the result of that examination to be a certainty of his eternal election and final perseverance Therefore without an actual repentance he may be certain c. The Major is manifest because election and perseverance supposed to be the fruit and effect of it are said to be absolute and immutable therefore he that is once certain is for ever certain of them not only certitudine objecti but certitudine subjecti The Minor is undeniable because this examination of his state and the certainty which follows it being said to be possible and his duty A man that is unfeignedly converted and hath made some good progress in holiness is presumed to have performed it Let me illustrate this very considerable truth by an example Suppose a Prince makes a Decree that every person who is listed under his Command and ingageth himself in fight against the common enemy shall be a Pensioner to him during life he that knows himself to have been inlisted and to have fought against the enemy though he be for the present a captive in the
power of the enemies hands yet supposing that Prince to have an absolute insuperable and irresistible power and will to execute his said Decree as the Synod hath determined in our case he may if he were sure of life as men are of immortality assure himself to be that Prince his Pensioner with as great a confidence as if he had never been taken captive By this you may see upon what foundation the Antinomians build their judgement mentioned by you Pa. 12. p. in the ninth opinion of the Saints Perseverance that though a believer fall into adultery and murder with David or into Incest and drunkenness with Lot he ought not to fear the loss of his justification nor to be humbled with such considerations nor to rise from the sin with such a motive Ibid. p. 39. And though you think this opinion so gross you need say no more of it then disclaim it yet it had become a wise Master builder much better to have razed the foundation of such an edifice as gives harbour to such monsters of opinion and to have plucked up the roots of such a pestiferous weed which I have some reason to believe you had so full and fair a view of in the decyphering of those opinions For the short is A man may be certain of his immutable election and final perseverance or he may not If he may not then in the opinion of the Synodists * Jud. Theol. ext 216. aph 9. p. 223. th 5. p. 249. q. 9. Jud. Theol. prov p. 243. th 2. 276. thes 3. the foundation of firm and solid consolation is blown up If he may as they unanimously and strictly maintain then he may be so still after he be fallen as he may be into the most gross and horrid sins imaginable as is proved above From hence I shall draw another argument to prove this Doctrine to be a Doctrine not according to Godliness which is formed thus That Doctrine which takes away from some sort of men under the guilt of gross sins all fear of Gods displeasure of hell fire and of judgement to come that is a Doctrine not according to Godliness This Doctrine which the Synod maintains that a man may be absolutely certain of his immutable election and final perseverance takes away from some sort of men under the guilt of gross sins all fear of Gods displeasure of hell fire and of judgement to come Therefore this Doctrine is not according to Godliness The Major is proved because the holy Scriptures do so frequently inculcate this fear of God hell and judgement as a preservative against defection and a spur to Godliness Now the just shall live by faith but if any man draw back my soul shall have no pleasure in him * Hebr. 10.38 Fear him who after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell yea I say unto you fear him †Luke 12.5 We must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we perswade men †2 Cor. 5.10 11. The Minor is proved by what went before and the undeniable consequence of the Synods Doctrine Qui sio Electi sunt saith Tossanus penitùs rejici deseri nunquam possunt tum quia ex decreto Dei certo immutabili eliguntur tum quia non possunt non semper diligi in Christo * Didescal de pratest per quast propos c. 4. Who are so Elected can never be altogether rejected or forsaken both because they are chosen by Gods certain and immutable Decree and also because they cannot but always be beloved in Christ M. Baxter had notice of this argument though he does not apply it to one that lies under the guilt of gross sin as he might for he argues thus Of the S. Persev p. 28. f. c. That which is impossible or certainly not future need not and ought not and if known to be such cannot be the object of rational fear and care to escape it But the damnation and the Apostasie of any of the sanctified is impossible or not future and known so to be according to the Doctrine of the Calvinists therefore it need not and must not be the object of their fear and care to escape it M. Baxter may please to take notice that the argument may be made use of as rationally by any person under the guilt of Adultery or any other wasting sin if he hath had any former sense gift or certainty of his immutable election according to the Doctrine of the Synod But what answer can M. Baxter give to this argument For my own part saith he Ib. p. 31. the answer that satisfieth me is this that it's true that a known impossibility or non-futurity of evil doth evacuate rational fear But then he that will be perfectly freed from that fear must have a perfect knowledge of the impossibility or non-futurity But Christ and his Apostles knew that those whom they wrote to had no such perfect knowledge It seems all the Divines of the Synod had however they came by it and herein M. Baxter dissents from them for he saith farther Nay more it is not at least by any ordinary means to be expected in this life that this knowledge of our sincerity Justification and perseverance should be so perfect as to have no degree of doubting habitual or actual An ingenuous confession And such is the force of truth Ibid. p. 28. it hath drawn a further acknowledgement from him in these words Moreover we cannot deny but that carnal security not onely in hypocrites but in the godly themselves may possibly and too frequently take advantage for increase from the Doctrine of Perseverance In consideration whereof he concludes afterward Pag. 39. that a very great cautelousness according to the weight of our work would be necessary if our assurance of perseverance were perfect This proceeding from so cleer and full a conviction of the danger that inseparably attends those Doctrines I cannot but wonder what should induce M. Baxter with the hazard of his judgement to dispute so earnestly against the opposite Tenents and not without a manifest interfering in the procedure of his discourse Ibid. p. 14. as will appear by the reflexions now to be made upon another Passage in that Treatise The Opinion of those Ancients saith he meaning the Greek and Latine Fathers that were before the dayes of Augustine * Pag. 3. and of the Jesuites Arminians and Lutherans who deny an absolute personall Election of men to faith and perseverance and so maintain indefinitely a totall and finall falling from a state of justification without excepting such elect themselves is an errour of dangerous consequence against the grace and fidelity of God if not against his wisdome and his power and against the peace of the Saints and therefore is to be carefully avoided and resisted by those that would not wound their faith Answ I confesse