of true beleeuers to this end that they may not fall away from him is a certaine meanes to preserue true beleeuers in the faith else God should faile in his end But the feare here enioyned is that feare which God promiseth to put into the hearts of true beleeuers to this end that they may not fall away from him Ierem. 22. 40. Therefore the feare here inioyned is a certaine meanes to preserue true beleeuers in the faith and consequently a strong argument for the perseuerance of Saints in faith and grace as it is vrged by Saint Augustine in his booke de Perseuer Sanctorum cap. 2. I will put my feare in their hearts that they shall not depart from me What is it else then to say the feare shall be such and so great that they shall for euer cleaue vnto me z To the places alledged Iohn 15. 2 5. we answer First there is a double insition or ingraffing into Christ externall when a man is made a member of the visible Church by the hearing of the Word and participation of the Sacraments internall when a man by sanctifying grace and sauing faith is made a member of the inuisible Church They who haue the outward insition only into the true Vine Christ Iesus may be cut off but they which haue the inward as well as the outward insition cannot be cut off and wither as a branch for Non est corpus Christi reuerâ quod non er it in aeternum That is not Christs true body which shall not abide for euer neither by the like reason is that a true branch which abideth not for euer in the Vine August de Doct. Chri. lib. 3. cap. 32. Which reason of S. Augustine is confirmed by Saint Gregory in his description of the Church in his Comment on the Canticles Christus sanctam Ecclesiam de sanctis in aeternum permansuris extruxit Christ hath built his Church of Saints which shall for euer perseuere Secondly as there is a double insition into Christ so there is a double profession of faith a naked and bare profession without practise of a holy life or fruit of good workes or a profession ioyned with practise a faith working through loue bringing forth the fruits of the Spirit By the barren branches cut off and withered Theophylact on these words alledged vnderstandeth those who make a naked and bare profession Saint Cyril in his tenth booke vpon Iohn Those who haue faith without loue and good works such a faith S. Iames in his second Chap. calls a dead faith but the faith by which the iust man liueth is a liuing faith working by loue Galat. 5. 6. and bringing forth fruit with patience Luke 8. 15. Thirdly the words in me Iob. 15. 2. may be either referred to the word Vine and the meaning is euery branch existent or ingraffed in me that beareth no fruit but leaues only of a bare profession shall be taken away or the words in me may be referred to bearing of fruit and the meaning is euery professour of Religion or member of any Congregation that beleeueth not in me and beareth not fruit in me to wit the fruits of the Gospell by my grace shall be cast forth as a dead branch and wither for as it is in the fift verse Hee that abideth in mee and I in him the same bringeth forth fruit for without me yee can doe nothing If the words be taken in the former sense they are meant of Hypocrites within the Church if in the latter of Iewes or Pagans without the Church who beare fruit that is doe morally good workes or doe by nature the things contained in the Law Rom. 2. 14. but because they doe not these things in faith their good workes are no better than splendida peccata sins hauing a luster or shew of vertue as Saint Augustine Take the words in either sense they belong not to regenerate persons and true beleeuers who are so ingraffed into Christ that they abide in him by faith and beare fruit in him through faith Lastly this Obiection may be retorted against the Aduersarie thus No branch that beareth fruit in Christ shall be taken away but purged that it may bring forth more fruit as it followeth in the second verse vrged by the Aduersarie But euery true beleeuer is a branch that beareth fruit in Christ Matth. 13. 23. Rom 6. 22. Therefore no true beleeuer shall be taken away but purged that he may bring forth more fruit ARMINIANS BERTIVS pag. 26. Beleeuers may make shipwrake of faith 1 Tim. 1. 19. some hauing put away a good cōscience cōcerning a faith haue made shipwracke Ibid. 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter times some shall depart from the a faith giuing heed to seducing spirits APPEALER APPEALE pag. 160. 1 Tim. 1. 19. Holding faith and a good conscience which some hauing put away cōcerning a faith haue made shipwracke Ibid. Nor was it onely for those times but foretold of succeeding ages 1 Tim. 4. 1. In the latter daies some shall depart from the a faith a To the places alledged out of Timothy wee answer First that they are fully answered by the distinction aboue mentioned ad literam y namely of a two-fold signification of the word faith which is sometimes taken for the saith which we beleeue that is the word of faith or doctrine of the Gospell as Galath 1. 23. Now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed Rom. 10. 8. This is the word of faith which we preach the hearing of faith Galat. 3. 2. A great company of the Priests were obedient to the faith Act. 6. 7. And in this sense Oecumenius taketh the word faith in the first place aboue alledged 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by faith I vnderstand faith in doctrine by conscience a godly conuersation or a good life And that it is to be so taken in the latter place it is euident by the words following 1 Tim. 4. 1. Giuing heed to seducing spirits and doctrine of deuils Faith opposed to error and doctrine of deuils is the true doctrine of faith which we beleeue and preach Sometimes the word faith is taken in Scripture for the faith by which we beleeue that is the inward grace or habit of faith as Rom. 3. 28. Iustified by faith without the deeds of the Law And Rom. 4. 5. His faith is counted for righteousnesse Rom. 5. 1. Being iustified by faith we haue peace with God This distinction is not new coyned by nouelizing Puritans but stamped by the ancient Fathers and goes for current among the Schoole-men Saint Augustine in his thirteenth booke of the Trinity chap. 2. deliuers it in these very termes There is a difference betweene the faith quae creditur and quâ creditur And Lombard lib. 3. distinct 23. taketh the same from Saint Augustine saying Fides est interdumid quod credimus interdum estid quo credimus Secondly we answer that as there is a temporary faith so there may be a good conscience for
that I might be graft in through infidelity they were broken off and thou standest by faith be not high minded but y feare Bert. pag. 33. I frame the fourth demonstration from the feare of the Saints Iohn 15. 6. If a man abide not in me he is cast z forth as a branch and withereth and men gather them and cast them into the fire APPEALER ANswer to Gag pag. 160. Matth. 24. 12. Because iniquitie shall abound the charity of many shall grow cold Surely it was hot that groweth cold and charitie enlarged is not but the fruit of a liuing faith which if it continued in statu quo the charity of many could not x wax cold therefore once had may bee lost Againe Rom. 11. 20. 21. Thou standest by faith bee not high minded but y feare and feare is not but where change may be Here change may be or why doth it follow Take heed lest he also spare not thee Ibid. pag. 160. Ioh. 15.2 Euery branch that beareth not fruit in me he taketh z away x To the place of Matth. 24. 12. we answer First that the loue of many may wax cold yet will it not thereupon follow that the loue of the regenerate and true beleeuers waxeth cold for the regenerate and true beleeuers are not meant by those Many True charitie is a fruit of faith and such as the faith is such is the charitie If it be a temporary faith the charity proceeding from it is but temporary and being so may not only wax cold but also be vtterly extinguished The root being rotten the fruit falls of it selfe But if the root of faith be sound charitie will neuer decay but abound more and more till the childe of God be filled with the fruits of righteousnesse Philip. 1. 9 11. Secondly the consequence is not good from a remission of some degree of charitie to the amission of the habit of it The Apostles themselues as they were not so strong in their faith so neither so hot in their loue toward our Sauiour at his Passion as before Their faith was shaken in that fearfull storme of temptation their confidence was small or none in appearance in their owne sense for in saying we trusted it had beene hee that should haue redeemed Israel Luke 24. they imply that his death had loosned the Anker of their hope and that both their heart and faith failed them for the time their loue also waxed cold if not freezed when they fled from him and forsooke him Yet no learned Diuine euer affirmed that their loue to our Sauiour was quite lost for as he loued them so they loued him to the end Thirdly this argument may be retorted against the Aduersaries thus If Christ doth here put a difference betweene those that are truly faithfull and hypocrites in this that the one Hypocrites to wit should in the latter dayes and perillous times be offended deceiued wax cold in charity but the other the truly faithfull should continue to the end then this place maketh not for but against the totall or finall falling away of true beleeuers But Christ in this place puts a difference between those that are truly faithfull and hypocrites in this that the one Hypocrites to wit should in the latter daies and perillous times be offended deceiued and wax cold in charity vers 10 11 12. but the other the truly faithfull should continue to the end vers 13. Therefore this place maketh not for but against the total or finall falling away of true beleeuers y To the place alledged Rom. 11. 19 20. we answer First that it is not meant of particular beleeuers and their danger of falling away from iustifying faith but of the people of the Gentiles in generall and their danger of being cut off from the true Oliue into which they were ingrafted that is from the outward profession of faith and communion of the Catholique Church into which they were admitted vpon the reiection of the Iewes The Gentiles therefore ought not to be high-minded against the Iewes but feare lest God who spared not the naturall branches should not spare them but cut them off also as he did the naturall branches if they should grow proud and presumptuously secure Now there is no question but that a Visible Church which at this time professeth the truth and is a member of the Catholike Church may fall away from the outward and publike profession of faith and cease to be a part of the Catholike visible Church as the most famous sometimes flourishing Churches of Greece and Asia planted by the Apostles themselues now ouer-run with Mahometanisme Idolatry and Heresie proue by their lamentable Apostasie and deplorate if not desperate estate But Bertius and the Appealer should haue had their eyes vpon the marke and point in question which is not of the doctrine of faith but the habit of faith not de fide quam credimus but de fide qua credimus not of the publique profession of a Church but of a particular affiance of euery true beleeuer in Christ. A member of the visible Church may be cut off but no member of the inuisible for Christ cannot haue damnata membra any members who shall not be saued as the Approuer of the Appealers booke rightly gathereth out of Saint Augustine in his Reply to Fisher. A Church or Kingdome generally may depart from the Christian faith or renounce the pure profession thereof in publique and yet no true beleeuer either totally or finally lose his faith but either secretly in that State or Kingdome or else-where openly he may retaine both faith it selfe and the profession thereof Secondly Gods threatnings haue their vse both in the Elect and Reprobate to make the one vnexcusable or to keepe them within some bounds of moderation and to keepe the other in an awfull reuerence filiall feare and spirituall watchfulnesse which are meanes of Perseuerance no arguments of Apostasie Feare is not but where a change may be to wit feare of a change but there may be a feare of offending God through high-mindednesse and presumption as was in the Apostles and is in all the Elect yet no change of their estate of grace could or can be by the confession of Arminius himselfe and the learned'st of all our Aduersaries Thirdly as the faithful ought to feare so they also might and de facto would fall away not only totally but finally if they were left to themselues and therefore in regard of the frailtie of their nature and mutabilitie of their owne will they haue iust cause to feare and doe still feare in themselues yet are still confident in God who is faithfull and will establish them and keepe them from euill 2 Thess. 3. 3. and shall confirme them vnto the end that they may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ 1 Cor. 1. 8. Lastly this Obiection may be retorted against the Aduersarie thus That feare which God promiseth to put into the hearts
contingencie in future euents in respect of their second causes which worke contingently though whatsoeuer commeth to passe falleth within the certaine presience of God and is ordered by his prouidence 4. The Stoicks taught that men were impelled to sin by a fatall motion and that mans will was forced by Destiny We detest and abhorre any such assertion See more hereof in Melancthon his Common places Gratianus Ciuilis in Semipelagianismo Lipsius lib. 1. de Constantia cap. 18. sequent g T is true as we reade in the seuenteenth Article that for curious and carnall persons lacking the Spirit of Christ to haue continually before their eyes the sentence of Gods Predestination is a most dangerous downefall whereby the Deuill doth thrust them either into desperation or into retchlesnesse of most vncleane liuing no lesse perillous than desperation The sweetest meat in a corrupt stomacke turnes to choller but the fault is in the stomacke not in the meat in like manner the word of God and in particular this doctrine of the Word is in it selfe a sauour of life vnto life but to some proues no better than a sauour of death vnto death because as Saint Peter 2. 3. 16. telleth vs They peruert the doctrine of holy Scriptures to their destruction For the doctrine it selfe of Predestination it openeth no gate to a dissolute life but shutteth and barreth all such vnlawfull posternes Shall we continue in sinne because grace aboundeth God forbid Rom. 6. 1. On the contrary it openeth a faire gate and directeth a certaine readie way to holinesse of life For God hath predestinated vs that we might be conformable to the Image of his Sonne Rom 8. 29. And God hath chosen vs before the foundation of the world that we might be holy and blamelesse before him in loue Ephes. 1. 4. h In this obiection from Desperation the Arminians and Appealer as likewise in the former furbush vp the old Pelagians harnesse which Saint Augustine hath beat in peeces in his booke of the gift of Perseuerance chap. 17. I will not amplifie with mine owne words but I leaue it rather to them seriously to consider what a strange thing it is that they should perswade themselves the doctrine of Predestination doth bring to the hearers rather matter of desperation than exhortation or consolation for this is in effect to say that then a man is to despaire of his saluation when he is taught to repose his hope and confidence not in himselfe but in God whereas the Prophet crieth out Cursed is he that putteth his trust in man Some indeed make a desperate vse of this doctrine but the doctrine it selfe is no desperate doctrine or doctrine of desperation but of heauenly consolation as we reade in the seuenteenth Article which ought for euer to stop the mouth of the Appealer from slandering as he doth the truth of God The godly consideration of Predestination and our Election in Christ is full of sweet pleasant and vnspeakable comfort to godly persons and such as feele in themselues the working of the Spirit of Christ mortifying the works of the flesh and their earthly members and drawing vp their minde to high and heauenly things as well because it doth greatly establish and confirme their faith of eternall saluation to be enioyed through Christ as because it doth feruently kindle their loue towards God On the contrary the doctrine of the Arminians and the Appealer which maketh Gods Election to depend vpon the will of man which as they say may totally and finally fall away from grace is in truth a most desperate doctrine taking away all solid and firme ground of comfort both in life and death as shall appeare hereafter Of Election vpon fore-seene faith ARMINIVS ARMIN. Oration to the States pag. 49. * The Decree whereby God hath decreed to saue certaine and singular persons doth depend vpon his prescience by which he fore-knew from eternitie who according to the dispensation of sufficient meanes for their conuersion and faith would by preuenting grace i beleeue and subsequent perseuere And he is so hot in this point and proceedeth so far Argument 19. as to affirme That the opinion of precise Election without respect of foreseene faith in the elect ouerthroweth the foundation of all Religion Hag. Conference set out by Bert. pag. 62. The absolute decree whereby it is said that God in chusing men did not respect any mans good qualities fore-seene cannot stand with the nature of God nor with Scriptures The like is affirmed by Arnoldus against Tilenus And Greuinchouius against Amese and the Arminians generally who thus take that question in the Conference at Hage pag. 123. Faith in Gods decree of election doth in order goe before not follow election it is not a fruit of election but an antecedent conditon to it APPEALER APPEALE pag. 58. The irrespectiue decree of God to call saue and glorifie Saint Peter without any consideration had of or regard vnto his i faith obedience and repentance c. I say there and I say truly is the priuate fancie of some particular man Pa. 64. There must needs be first a k disproportion before there can be conceiued an election or dereliction This disproportion he afterward declares to be in the different wils of men wherof some took hold of merey others would not His words are When all alike being plunged c. God out of his mercy stretched out to them deliuerance in a Mediator the Man Iesus Christ and drew them out that tooke hold of mercy leauing them there that would none of him Which is all one as if he had said he decreed to saue them from the common destruction which he fore-saw would beleeue and reiect those whom he fore-saw would not beleeue for by faith they take hold of mercy and through incredulitie reiect it nay in this point the Appealer speaketh not so warily as the Arminians for they require faith in a person to be elected and iustified as an antecedent condition they doe not say as a cause or motiue in God to elect iustifie and saue But the Appealer Answer to the Gag pag. 143. and Appeale pag. 194. saith that God was drawne by our faith to iustifie vs. * Decretum quo decreuit Deus singulares certas quasdam personas saluare praescientiâ nititur quâ ab aeterno sciuit quinam iuxta administrationem mediorum ad conuersionem fidem idoneorum ex praeueniente gratia credituri erant subsequente perseueraturi i When the Arminians and the Appealer make Election to depend vpon fore-seene faith either they meane that this faith is a meere gift of God receiued only by mans free-will or not so but in part or in whole a worke of mans will If they hold faith to be a meere gift of God their opinion of election vpon fore-seene faith implieth a contradiction for it maketh the former grace and gift of Predestination to glory to depend vpon a latter gift of faith Beside if
Gratia and by the Appealer out of Saint Augustine de bono Perseuerant cap. 6. we answer That the words are not found in the places quoted Yet Saint Augustine in other places hath such words But his meaning is very plaine He speakes of a temporary faith and common grace not a iustifying faith and sauing grace His owne words are Let it not moue vs that God giueth not some of his children perseuerance Absit enim vt ita esset si de illiâ— praedestinatis essent secundùm propositum vocatis qui verè sunt filij promissionis God forbid that it should be so if they were of the Predestinate and those which are called according to purpose which truly are the children of promise And a little after Rursus quidam qui filij Dei propter susceptam vel temporaliter gratiam dicuntur à nobis nec sunt tamen Deo de quibus ait Iohannes ex nobis exierunt sed non erant ex nobis hoc est quando videbantur in nobis non erant ex nobis tanquam â—i diceretur vnde id ostendis quòd si fuissent inquit ex nobis permansissent nobiscum Againe some who are called by vs the sonnes of God in respect of the temporall grace they haue receiued are not so vnto God of whom Saint Iohn saith They went out from vs but were not of vs that is and when they were seene amongst vs they were not of vs. And as if it were obiected to him Whence doest thou shew that For if they had beene saith he of vs they would haue remained with vs. In the same booke De Corrept Gratiâ Horum fides quae per dilectionem operatur profecto aut omnino non deficit aut si qui sunt quorum deficit reparatur antequam vita ista finiatur delet â quae intercurrerat iniquitate vsque in finem perseuer antia deputatur Qui verò perseueraturi non sunt ac sic à fide Christianâ conuersatione lapsuri sunt vt tales eos vitae huius finis inueniat proculdubio nec illo tempore quo benè pieque viuunt in isto numero computandi sunt The faith of these men which worketh by loue verily either faileth not at all or if it faile in any it is repaired againe before this life ends and the wickednesse which comes betweene being blotted out it is reputed for perseuerance to the end But those who perseuere not but so fall from Christian faith and conuersation that the end of this life findes them such without doubt they were not to be accounted in that number no not then when they liued well and godly And Chapter 9. Qui non habuerunt perseuerantiam sicut non verè discipuli Christi ita nec verè filij Dei fuerunt etiam quando esse videbantur ita vocabantur Those who had not perseuerance as they were not truly disciples of Christ so neither were they truly the sonnes of God no not when they seemed to be so and called so In producing testimonies of Saint Augustine Inopem me copia facit Store is a sore vnto me I will content my selfe onely with such passages as offer themselues vnto me in that very booke and chapter cited by the Appealer for the contrary Thus the Chapter begins These brethren as you write He speaketh of the Demipelagians and Massilians against whom Prosper and Hilary had made a remonstrance vnto him will not yeeld that such perseuerance should be taught which cannot be lost by contumacie where they doe not well obserue what they say for we speake of perseuerance to the end which if it be giuen the partie to whom it is giuen perseueres to the end Multi eam possunt habere nullus amittere hoc Dei donum suppliciter emereri potest sed cum datum fuerit amitti contumaciter non potest Quomodo enim potest amitti per quod fit vt non amittatur etiam quod posset amitti Many may haue perseuerance none can lose it this gift of God may be gained by humble prayer but once giuen cannot be lost by contumacy For how can that be lost which makes that what otherwise might be lost cannot be lost I pitie here the Appealers ill hap who like the Miser in the Greeke Epigram that going to the place where hee thought he laid vp his treasure safe found there no treasure but a rope wherewith he stopt his wind-pipe p To the place alledged out of Prosper Respons 7. ad Capit. Gallorum we answer First that Saint Prosper Saint Augustines faithfull Scholler and great admirer in the passage alledged concurreth with him Both of them in words seeme to affirme That a regenerate and iustified man may fall by his free-will into foule and enormous sinnes and die in them but lest any should stumble at this sentence vnawares Saint Augustine in the ninth chapter of the same booke giues them warning and most plainly declares his meaning Appellamus eos electos Christi discipulos Dei filios quia sic appellandi sunt quos regeneratos piè viuere cernimus sed tunc verè sunt quod appellantur si manserint in eo propter quod sic appellantur Si autem perseuerantiam non habent id est in eo quod caeperunt esse non manent non verè appellantur quod appellantur non sunt apud eum enim hoc non sunt cui notum est quod futuri sunt We call all those chosen disciples of Christ and sonnes of God because those whom we see liue godly and are regenerate are to be so called but then are they truly that which they are called if they remaine in that for which they are so called But if they haue not perseuerance that is if they remaine not in that which they began to be they are not truly called that which they are called and are not for they are not so to him who knoweth what they will be Secondly Saint Prosper with Saint Hilary made a ioynt relation to Saint Augustine of the Demipelagian and Massilian errors and desired Saint Augustines assistance against them Of these one was as their Epistles to Saint Augustine make it manifest Nulli dari perseuerantiam talem à quâ non permittitur praeuaricari sed à quâ possit suâ voluntate deficere There is no such perseuerance giuen to any man from which he is not suffered to reuolt but such from which a man may by his free-will fall away Against which I oppose that sentence of Saint Augustine as a fortresse impregnable An audebis dicere etiam rogante Christo ne deficeret fides Petri defecturam fuisse si Petrus eam deficere voluisset quasi aliud Petrus vllo modo vellet quà m pro illo Christus rogasset vt vellet Nam quis ignorat tunc fuisse perituram fidem Petri si ea quae fidelis erat voluntas ipsa deficeret sed quia praeparatur