liberty is If the Remonstrants had more diligently weighed these things they might have foreborne their argument taken from infants baptized to avow the Apostasie of the justified especially those who deny that there is any donation of reall grace in the baptisme of Infants Because in this Article two things there are which are usually questioned the one whether they who are not Elect may ever come to the state of sanctification and justification wherby they may be reckoned among the number of the Saints the other whether the Elect who are justified and sanctified doe at any time wholly fall off frō this estate Therfore in the first place wee set downe those Positions by which we shew how farre they who are not Elect may goe on in the way Touching those who are not Elect. THE FIRST POSITION THere is a certaine supernaturall enlightening granted to some of them who are not elect by the power whereof they understand those things to be true which are revealed in the Word of God and yeeld an unfaigned assent unto them THe truth of the position concerning the first part namely the enlightening of their minds is plainely collected out of the Scriptures Heb. 6.4 Where the Apostle maketh mention of such as sinned against the holy Ghost affirming that they were enlightened and in the 10. Chap. and 26. Vers. hee intimateth that they might wilfully sinne after they had received the knowledge of the truth The Apostle Peter also 2 Pet. 2.22 makes mention of some who when they knew the way of righteousness neverthelesse turned from the holy commandement which was given unto them Iudas was the sonne of perdition Ioh. 17.12 yet he was furnished with the knowledge of the Gospell and thereupon was sent by Christ with the other Apostles to preach the Gospell to the house of Israel Mat. 10.7 And Christ threatneth the like punishments to them that despise the preaching of Iudas as of 〈…〉 9. All those were enlightened with a supernaturall knowledge of the truth of the Gospell Which illumination proceeding from the holy Ghost did beget a true knowledge in the mindes of these men out of which knowledge they as occasion required brought forth actions sutable to the same Yea it may come to passe that an heathen Philosopher may apprehend more accurately and distinctly the mysteries of Christs Incarnation and in his understanding more subtilly discern the unity of the person and distinction of natures then an unlearned Christian Concerning the unfained assent which may be and often is yeelded to the Gospel by some who are not elected there is the like evidence Luk. 8.13 The seed which fell upon the stony ground noteth to us such hearers as for a while beleeve that is those which give assent to things revealed from above and especially to the covenant of the Gospell And thereby it is plaine that this their assent was no way fained because they received the word with joy Acts 8.30 Even Symon Magus himselfe beleeved Philip preaching concerning the Kingdome of God and was baptized for testimony of his faith Hymenaeus and Alexander made shipwracke of their faith which was not dissembled or fained but true For it is not to be imputed for a fault to any man that hee is falne from an hypocriticall faith neither can shipwracke be made of a fained faith but onely a detection and manifestation of it Nor indeed can hee suffer shipwracke who never was in the ship 2 Pet. 2.20 Some are said to have escaped from the filthines of the world through the knowledge of the Lord whose latter end is worse then their beginning This knowledge doth intimate not a bare apprehension but withall an assent yeelded unto the things knowne whence came that escape from the filthinesse of the world Iohn 12.42 It is recorded that among the chiefe Rulers many beleeved on him but because of the Pharisies they did not confesse him least they should bee cast out of the Synagogue for they loved the praise of men more then the praise of God They beleeved with an unfained dogmaticall faith which then lay secretly hid in their hearts but never shewed it selfe in any outward profession for feare of danger ensuing Who as St. Augustine speakes if they should goe on forward upon their entrance into faith would also overcome the love of humane glory by their farther progresse in faith All backsliders of this kinde are justly reproved and punished not because they fained that faith they never had but because they forsooke the faith they had and they sin in a far greater measure which depart from the grace of faith conferred upon them then they who never tasted of the glad tidings of the Gospel as our Saviour teacheth us Iohn 15.22 THE SECOND POSITION IN these fore-mentioned there doth arise out of this knowledge and faith a certaine change of their affections and some kinde of amendment of their manners OVt of this said illumination and assent of faith there doth arise in such as are not elect some kinde of mutation of their affections as also amendment of their lives The first is plainely set downe Mat. 13.20 They heard the word and received it with joy As also 1 Reg. 21 27. And it came to passe when Ahab heard those words that he rent his cloathes and put sackcloath upon his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went softly These behaviours were evidences of his true sorrow conceived through the Prophets words as appeares in that God rewarded this his humiliation by removing temporall punishments as it is v. 19. because he hath humbled himselfe before me I will not bring the evill in his dayes Heb. 6.4 The Apostates there described were not only enlightened but had tasted of the heavenly gift the good Word of God and the power of the world to come And in the 6 vers it is intimated that they were after a sort renewed and in the 10. Chap. and 16. verse They who had received the knowledge of the truth vers 24. are said to tread under foot the blood of the Covenant by which they are sanctified Mat. 6.20 Herod heard Iohn the Baptist gladly Concerning some amendment of their conditions the same is testified by the example of the same Herod who received Iohn the Baptist and when he had heard him did many things likewise 2 Pet. 2.20 Some had escaped from the filthinesse of the world through the knowledge of their Lord and Saviour Iesus Christ. These had eschewed the pollutions of the world by the operation and knowledge of this faith some also chap. 1. vers 9. forget that they were purged from their old sinnes and out of such the uncleane spirit is said to have departed Mat. 12.43 In these as the enlightning and assent yeelded to the truth revealed from above was not fained but trve in its owne kind and degree so likewise was the change of their affections and manners namely these beginnings or entrances were not fained or
We are called with a holy calling according to his owne purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Iesus before the world beganne This purpose of God since it goes before this holy calling and forelayeth the foundation to it considers man as the subject of a sure election according to this purpose not as he standeth in the end of this life but as he was before the beginning of this life yea before the world beganne appointed by Gods purpose to a most complete Election Neither truly can there be settled any definite election to eternall grace to faith to adoption Eph. 1.5.8 if these things be considered as hanging in uncertainty neither shall the future perseverance of the Elect be fore-ordained by God but onely foreseene in the man to be elected and so this act of God shall bee only an approbation following such as may be performed by man that knowes not what is to come hereafter not a foregoing and operative Election such as all elections in reason and by force of the name of Election must needs be 4 Last of all Iohn 10.16 The Gentiles not yet called much lesse settled in finall perseverance are by our Saviour stiled his sheepe being indeed then separated by the foregoing mark of entire and complete election He that makes men sheepe doth make free mens wils unto obedience but why doth hee with whom there is no acception of persons make those men sheepe and makes not others O man who art thou that replyest against God Yee say that Iacob was elected for his future workes which God knew he would doe and so you contradict the Apostle saying Not of workes as if he could not have said Not of present workes but or workes of come They are elected before the foundation of the world by that predestination in which God foreknew what he would doe they are elected out of the world by that calling by which he fulfilled that which he did predestinate THE SIXT ERRONEOVS OPINION THat in this life no man can receive any fruit or perceive any sense of his owne election otherwise then conditionall FIliall adoption is the proper naturall and unseparable fruit of Election and is to be perceived by the Elect in this life the spirit of adoption revealing it to their hearts Gal. 4.6 Because ye are sonnes God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Sonne into your hearts crying Abba Father If a son then an heire of God Rom. 8.15 16 Ye have received the spirit of adoption wherby we cry Abba Father The Spirit it selfe beareth witnes with our spirit that we are the children of God Eph. 1.14 Ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest of our inheritance Hee saith the earnest of our inheritance which is an infallible signe that we shall never be dis-inherited but shall at length obtaine our inheritance Rom. 5.2 We glory in the hope of the glory of God And v. 5. This hope maketh us not ashamed Neither is there any falshood in this solid peace of conscience in the glorying of the godly or in this infused hope because these gifts are both sent by God to the elect and to this end are they fastened in their mindes that they may be certaine arguments of their unchangeable election We confesse our election is not to be perceived by us à priori by the causes but the proper effects of it may be knowne And from the proper effect upward to the cause the argument is good We likewise grant that the assurance of election in the children of God themselves is not alwayes so constant and continuall but that oftentimes it is shaken with temptations and for a time suppressed so that not onely the degree of assurance is lessened but even election it selfe in respect of the sense and apprehension of the Elect seemes uncertaine and ready to vanish Lastly we confesse that the Elect justified when they fall into grievous sinnes and cleave unto them are not onely deprived of the present taste of their election but also conceive a great feare of the contrary namely of Gods wrath and revenging justice and that deservedly seeing the holy Ghost vouchsafes not to communicate this heavenly and sweet Manna of comfort to a defiled conscience yet wallowing in its owne filthinesse but onely to a cleane heart and such an one as exerciseth it selfe in the practise of faith repentance and holinesse But we thinke that the mindes of the faithfull being wakened and rising out of their pollutions are renewed by God and comforted againe with a sweet sense of eternall life prepared for them before the foundation of the world and in due time undoubtedly to be conferred upon them A faithfull man hath received by faith that which is uncertaine to others and layeth hold on the promise That it might be certaine that wee are the sonnes of God he hath sent his Sonne into our hearts crying Abba Father Who is iust but bee that returnes love to God that loved him which comes not to passe but by the spirit revealing to a man by faith the eternall purpose of God concerning his salvation Which revelation is nothing else but an infusion of spirituall grace by which while the workes of the flesh are mortified man is prepared to that kingdome which flesh and blood doth not possesse receiving together in one spirit both whence bee may presume he is beloved and whence he may returne love lest he should be loved in vaine or without returning love againe THE SEVENTH ERRONEOVS OPINION THere is no election of Infants dying before they have the vse of reason IF one absurdity or unsound doctrine bee granted more of the like will follow This here followes upon that that they require in all divine Election faith fore-seene upon which it may bee grounded which indeed cannot be fore-seene in such infants But we on the contrary evidently prove that these tenets are against all Divinity 1 They who have an entrance in time vnto life eternall without all doubt were elected to life eternall before all time Otherwise the number of them that are glorified should exceed the number of them that are predestinated which is impossible For that proposition must be understood reciprocally with equall extension of both termes Whom hee hath predestinated those hee hath glorified namely these and no other as Saint Austin inferreth But the Scripture supposes the names of some Infants to bee written in the booke of life and that they must appeare before the judgement seat of God Rev. 20.12 and be admitted into the new Ierusalem Rev. 21.27 of such is the Kingdome of heaven Luke 8.16 2 Whosoeuer are admitted onely into the Kingdome of Heaven were before out of Gods free good pleasure chosen vnto the Kingdome of Heaven But to as many infants as enter into Heaven eternall life is a gracious gift through Iesus Christ Rom. 6.23 therefore they were chosen to that Kingdome in Christ. But if this
unbeleevers not yet washed in the blood of Christ nor the guilt of any whatsoever degree but such a guilt as for which the hostile anger and vengeance of God lieth heavily upon the guiltie person Whosoever is justified by a true faith can never afterward bee guiltie after this manner We may therefore say that the effect of justification is for a time suspended by the entercourse of such a particular sin because the person by reason of this new guilt needeth a particular absolution But wee cannot say that the state of justification is dissolved forasmuch as the same person doth not fall from the generall pardon of his forecommitted sins nor is deprived of that speciall intercession which our Saviour hath promised to all the faithfull nor of the free love of God his Father The same case holds in adoption For God never adopted to himselfe a Sonne in Christ whom afterwards he either must or would dis-inherit and cast out of his familie The children of God may indeed sinne and that very grievously but the providence and mercie of God will not suffer them so farre to sin as that they should thereby be bereft of their heavenly home and Father The servant abideth not in the house for ever but the sonne abideth for ever For as Saint Ambrose speakes God doth not make void the gift of adoption To conclude the seed of regeneration with those fundamentall gifts without which the spirituall life cannot subsist are preserved in safetie This is hence evident because that the same holy Spirit who doth infuse this seed into the hearts of the regenerate doth imprint into the same seed a certaine heavenly and incorruptible vertue and doth perpetually cherish and keepe the same Iohn 4.14 Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a Well of water springing up unto everlasting life 1 Iohn 3.5 Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sinne because hee is borne of God This seed of life remaining in them it is altogether impossible that the gifts of lively faith charitie should be quite extinguished Hence Gregory rightly sayes In holy mens hearts the Spirit alwayes abides according to some vertues or graces according to others he comes to depart and departs to returne but in the hearts of his Elect he remaineth in those vertues without which eternall life is not attained THE SEVENTH POSITION THat the regenerate doe not altogether fall from faith holinesse and adoption proceeds not from themselves nor from their owne will but from Gods speciall love divine operation and from Christs intercession and custody IT is certaine that if God would deale with us upon strict termes he might most justly for our ungratitude untowardnesse withdraw from us his fatherly favour and gifts of saving grace But for as much as even by the determination of the Schoolemen sinne doth not take away grace efficiently that is by certaine expulsion but by way of demerit that is deservingly surely unlesse it can bee proved that God deales with his according to their deserts it will not follow that upon the committing of a grievous sinne they lose faith or fall away from the state of justification and adoption For that which in regard of our ill desert might justly be done is by the mercie of God and by Christs intercession and the operation of the holie Ghost hindred from being done No creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Iesus our Lord. Not the Devill for God shall bruise him under our feet Not the world for Christ hath overcome the world And he doth so worke in all his that they also at length overcome through faith Lastly not those things from whence is our greatest danger our own weaknesse the inclination and pronenesse of our owne free will to wickednesse for the goodnesse of God is alwaies shewed in this weaknesse of the faithfull and through the intercession of Christ for them is obtained that they shall not fall off from their faith Luke 22.32 I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not Iohn 17.20 Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall beleeve on me through their word We doe not therefore fetch this perseverance of the faithfull in their faith and Gods grace from their owne free will but from Christ that frees them The Lord shall deliver me from every evill worke and will preserve me unto his heavenly kingdome 2 Tim. 4.18 To this purpose are those words of Saint Augustine We live safer if wee trust all to God and doe not commit our selves partly to God and partly to our selves As God workes that we come to him so he works also that we depart not from him THE EIGHTH POSITION THe perseverance therefore of holy men is the free gift of God and is derived unto us out of the decree of election THis conclusion ariseth out of those things which are said before but that it may more manifestly appeare we will adde somewhat more First that it is the free gift of God is proved out of the words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive why dost thou glorie as if thou hadst not received If any thing can give a just cause to men of glorying surely this that they have persevered in good unto the end then when they could at their owne pleasure not have made use of those meanes which in themselves were sufficient for perseverance Either therefore this doth betide the faithfull by way of speciall gift or they have something which they have not received in which they may greatly glorie But wee affirme on the contrarie whether by perseverance be understood either that power which doth propp and hold up the faithfull or the stabilitie it selfe and the unconquered firmenesse of their faith or lastly the very act of persevering that there is none of these which is not the gift of God Touching that power by which the will is stayed up that it may persevere the Remonstrants easily grant that it is the onely grace of GOD which doth arme a man with this strength to persevere Touching the stability and firmenesse which is considered as the manner or adjunct of true faith this also is to bee numbred among the gifts of God For he which doth give the thing it selfe to wit faith doth also give the manner of the thing to wit the stability and firmenesse of the same faith 2 Thes. 3.3 The Lord is faithfull who shall establish you 1 Cor. 1.7.8 Yee come behinde in no gift waiting for the comming of our Lord Iesus Christ who shall confirme you unto the end that ye may be blamelesse Out of which words it is manifest that faith is the gift of God as well in the
will put my feare into their hearts that they shall not depart from me Iohn 4.14 The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto eternall life 1 Cor. 10.13 But will with the tentation make a way to escape 2 It is false that it is offered equally to all as appeares out of our Positions set downe before in the first Article Where wee have proved that perseverance in faith doth belong to the Elect alone 3 It is false that perseverance is a grace offered upon condition for it is a gift promised absolutely by God without any respect at all of condition The reason is this Some promises of God are touching the end others touching the meanes which conduce to the end The promises concerning the end that is to say Salvation are conditionall Beleeve and thou shalt be saved Bee faithfull unto the death that is persever and I will give thee the Crowne of life But for as much as no man is able to performe the conditions God also hath made most free and absolute promises to give the very conditions which he workes in us that so by them as by meanes we may attaine the end Deut. 36.6 And the Lord thy God will circumcise thy heart to love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soule that thou maist live The end here promised is life which the Israelites could never attaine without the performance of the condition namely their love of God But here God promiseth absolutely that hee will give unto them this condition Since therefore the promises of Faith and perseverance in Faith are promises concerning the meanes they are expresly to bee reckoned among those absolute gifts by which God considering mans disability both to attaine the end without the meanes and also to performe the meanes or conditions of himselfe doth promise that he will make them able to performe the conditions God promiseth life to those that constantly feare him the promise of life is conditionall but of constant feare it is absolute I will put my feare in their hearts that they may not depart from me 4 Be it so that this gift were conditionall yet it is not offered upon this condition if men will not be wanting to themselves in the entertainment of this sufficient grace Against this condition those reasons are of force which we brought before against the strength of free wil in mans conversion to which we adde also these 1 First it will follow out of this condition that wee doe in vaine intreat God in the behalfe of any men that he would give unto them the gift of perseverance because of course he offers them universall and sufficient grace to which if they themselves will not be wanting they shall persevere 2 This is an idle condition For it makes perseverance to be the condition of perseverance For to persevere is nothing else but not to be wanting unto this sufficient grace If therefore God offers perseverance upon this condition he offers the same upon condition of it selfe 3 Lastly the second part of this opinion is soundly confuted by Saint Austine de corrept grat cap. 11. 12. of which disputation this is the summe It was given to Adam that hee might if he would persevere in good but it was not granted to him to will to persevere But such grace is given to us who are truly engrafted into Christ that not onely we may if we will but also that wee shall will to persevere in Christ. Againe in his booke de unitate Ecclesiae cap. 9. the same Austine doth contemne this very opinion maintained by the Donatists namely that Men beleeve if they will if they will they persevere in that which they beleeve if they will not they persevere not THE SECOND THat perseverance is a condition required in the new Covenant and foregoing Gods Election SEE the second and fift Erroneous Opinion rejected by us in the first Article THE THIRD THat hee who doth truely beleeve may sinne against the Holy Ghost These reasons confute this Opinion 1 FIrst to sinne against the Holy Ghost is to sinne unto death 1 Iohn 5.16 Those who are truely faithfull cannot sinne unto death Because to sinne unto death is to commit that sinne upon which death shall surely follow to wit that eternall and second death which never hath power over those who are truely faithfull as being those who dye unto sinne and doe rise againe from their sinnes unto newnesse of life Apoc. 20.6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such the second death hath no power 2 They who sin against the Holy Ghost shall never come unto glory or unto the Kingdome of Heaven to which all true beleevers do without faile come For it is the same to bee a true beleever as to bee justified and to be the adopted Sonne of God but the justified shall come to glory Rom. 8. Whom he justified them also he glorified and the adopted sonnes of God shall attaine the Kingdome of Heaven Gal. 4.7 If sonnes then also beires of God through Christ. 3 1 Iohn 3.9 Whosoever is borne of God as is every true beleever doth not commit sinne which by the Apostles owne interpretation ver 8. He that commiteth sinne is of the Divell is to be understood of those sinnes which estate a man under the Kingdome and power of the Divell such as principally the sinne against the holy Ghost is Hither tends the speech of the Apostle 2. Tim. 4.18 The Lord shall deliver mee from every evill worke and will preserve mee unto his heavenly Kingdome What From every evill worke without exception Not so But from every such evill worke which might wholy deprive him of all right to the Kingdome of Heaven of which kind no question the sinne against the holy Ghost is not onely for the inward malice but also for the finall impenitency joyned to it THE FOVRTH THat no true beleever or regenerate person can be assured in this life of his perseverance and salvation without speciall revelation OF the first part of this position we handled before in this Article But now that a man may know that his perseverance for the future may be secured without any speciall revelation wee prove by this reason T is confessed that some Saints especially Saint Paul did obtaine this certainty Rom. 8. I am perswaded that neither life nor death c. But Saint Paul did not fetch this perswasion from extraordinary revelation but from those grounds which are common to him with other the faithfull vers 32. He that spared not his owne Sonne but delivered him up for us all how shall he not with him also freely give us all things Who shall lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect It is God that justifieth vers 33. It is Christ that makes intercession for us What was Christ only given for Paul and not for other beleevers also Was Paul
antecedent infidelity and finall perseverance in the same MOst certaine it is that God from all eternity did know that those whom he should passe by would dye in their infidelity But it is false that this foreseene infidelity should be the cause of his not-electing them 1 For all men and every man in particular if not elected to persevering faith are foreseen as persevering in infidelity and no man is foreseen as with out faile persevering in his infidelity but he whom God in the disposing of effectuall grace by his antecedent decree hath passed by Ioh. 20. 26. Ye beleeve not because ye are not of my sheepe 1 Ioh. 2. 19. If they had beene of us they had continued with us The Apostle fetcheth this preterition or non-election from the meere will of God as it is manifest out of the forecited places at the first Orthodoxall position concerning Reprobation at the second error concerning Election 2 To conclude if we shall set downe for a ground that no man is reprobated but for his foreseene impenitence and finall incredulitie there should be no mysterie in the decree of Reprobation nothing vnsearchable nothing beyond our reach quite contrary to that of the Apostle Rom. 11.33 Oh the depth c. to that Rom. 9.20 What art thou O man who disputest against God We know that grace is not given to all men and that where it is bestowed it is not given according to the merit of their workes neither yet according to the merit of their will to whom it is given Many are not saved not because they would not be saved but because God will not That is because God is not pleased to bestow speciall effectuall grace upon them THE FOVRTH THat no man is considered of God as reprobated passed by or not elected except in the very moment of death THis is manifestly false because the consequents of this preterition are apparantly shewed toward them whom God doth paste by even in this life Such are those descriptions obvious in the holy Scriptures Of not calling according to the purpose of God Gods permitting men to walke in their owne waies that their hard hearts are not mollified With whom God deales after this manner those he considers as men whom he had formerly passed by or not-eglected Ro. 9. God hated Esau before hee had done either good or ill Mat. 13. To some it is not given to know the mystery of the Kingdome of Heaven The Suffrage concerning the second Article THE FIRST POSITION OVt of an especiall love and intention both of God the Father and of Christ himselfe Christ dyed for the Elect that hee might effectually obtaine for them and infallibly bestow on them both remission of sinnes and salvation THis first proposition declareth that the Elect shall without faile have remission of sinnes and eternall life by the death of Christ and that out of the especiall love and intention of God the Father and Christ. This is proved out of the holy Scriptures which doe shew forth the efficacie of the death of the Sonne of God in respect of the Elect Iohn 11.51 Iesus must dye for the Nation and not onely for that Nation but that hee might gather into one the sonne of God which were dispersed Ephes. 5.25 God loved the Church and gave himselfe for it that he might sanctifie it c. In which words is declared the intention of Christ offering himselfe as the same offering concerneth the infallible bestowing of salvation THE SECOND POSITION OVt of the selfe same love by and for the merit and intercession of Christ faith and perseverance are given to the same Elect yea and all other things by which the condition of the covenant is fulfilled and the promised benefit namely eternall life is obtained THis position sheweth that out of the death and intercession of Christ those gifts of grace doe flow to the Elect by which they are effectually brought to life eternall Rom. 8.32.33.39 Hee that spared not his owne Sonne how shall he not even with him give us all things Heb. 8.10 I will give my lawes into their mindes and in their hearts I will write them For that grace which is given unto the Elect for the death of Christ is the grace of effectuall redemption Now wee understand by the grace of redemption not such a grace by which men may bee redeemed if they will but by which they are in event mercifully redeemed because God so willeth THE THIRD POSITION GOd taking pitie on mankinde being falne sent his Son who gave himselfe a ransome for the sins of the whole world IN this oblation of Christ we consider two things the manner of calling of men to the actuall participation of this sacrifice and the benefit divers wayes redounding unto men by the same sacrifice As for the manner there is no mortall man who cannot truly and seriously bee called by the Ministers of the Gospell to the participation of remission of sinnes and eternall life by this death of Christ. Acts 13.33.39 Bee it knowne unto you that remission of sinnes is preached by Christ. Iohn 3.17 He that beleeves not is condemned because he hath not beleeved in the Sonne of God There is nothing false nothing colourably fained in the Gospell but whatsoever is offered or promised in it by the Ministers of the word is after the same manner offered promised unto them by the Author of the Gospell Touching the benefit by the death of Christ in which is contained an infinite treasure of merits and spirituall blessings the actuall fruit doth redound to men after that manner and that measure and by the same meanes as seemes good to God himselfe Now it pleaseth God even after the acceptation of this sacrifice no otherwise to bestow actually upon any man remission of sinnes and eternall life then by faith in the same Redeemer And here that same eternall and secret decree of Election shewes it selfe in as much as that price was paid for all and will certainly promote all beleevers unto eternall life yet is not beneficiall unto all because all have not the gift of fulfilling this condition of the gracious covenant Christ therefore so dyed for all that all and every one by the meanes of faith might obtaine remission of sins and eternall life by vertue of that ransome paid once for all mankinde But Christ so dyed for the elect that by the merit of his death in speciall manner destinated unto them according to the eternall good pleasure of God they might infallibly obtaine both faith and eternall life THE FOVRTH POSITION VPon this merit of Christ is founded that generall promise of the Gospell according to which al that beleeve in Christ may really attaine remission of sins and eternall life THat this promise is universall and founded onely upon the death of Christ it is evident out of the 10. of the Acts 43. To him give all the Prophets witnesse that they shall receive remission of
colourable but proceeded out of the power of those dispositions unto grace and from the inspiration of the holy Ghost which they felt in themselves for a time as is evident by their affections their joy sorrow and zeale which they doe not so much faine and make a shew of as find to be truely in themselves Of such Saint Augustine thus speaketh They were not sonnes then when they were in the profession and had the name of sonnes not because they fained their righteousnesse but because they remained not in that righteousnesse THE THIRD POSITION VPon those good beginnings testified by the externall works of obedience they are reputed and by a charitable construction ought to be taken for beleevers justified and sanctified men THey who to these inward gifts of the holy Ghost have added the outward profession of a Christian faith together with the amendment of their lives ought of right to be reckoned by us who cannot finde out or search into the inward secrets of mens hearts in the number of the faithfull of the justified and sanctified This is plainly proved out of the Apostle Saint Paul who in his Epistles which hee wrote to particular Churches at Rome Corinth Ephesus c. entitles them all promiscuously beloved of God Saints sanctified Rom. 1.7 1 Cor. 1.2 Ephes. 1.1 Phil. 1.1 In like manner the Apostle Peter in the beginning of his first Epistle speaketh unto the dispersed strangers in this forme of speach To the Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the spirit Adde we to these the note of Saint Augustine speaking of those who were not elect These because they live godly are called the sons of God And afterwards againe There are some who are called of us the sons of God because of the grace received by them for a time but yet they are not the sons of God THE FOVRTH POSITION THey who are not elect although they thus far proceed yet they never attaine unto the state of adoption and justification and therefore by the Apostasie of these men the Apostasie of the Saints is very erroneously concluded ALthough they who are not elect being brought up cherished in the Churches bosome are in their minds will and affections disposed by the aforesaid preparatives tending in some sort to justification yet are they not thereupon placed in the state of justification or adoption For they still retain throughly setled in their hearts the strings and roots of their leud desires to which they give themselves over still they remaine wedded to the love of earthly things and the hardnesse lurking in the secret corners of their hearts is not taken away so that either persecution or tentation arising they retire from grace and being either intangled with the love of pleasures and enticements of the flesh or caried away with some other vicious affections at length they shew that they are lovers of themselves and lovers of pleasures rather then lovers of God and that they enjoy nothing lesse then God howsoever they may flatter themselves but indeed that they would make use of God that they may enjoy the world as S. Augustine speakes Whence it is manifest that they never really and truly attaine that change and renovation of the minde and affections which accompanieth justification nay nor that which doth immediately prepare and dispose unto justification For they never seriously repent they are never affected with hearty sorrow for this cause they have offended God by sinning nor doe they come to any humble contrition of heart nor conceive a firme resolution not to offend any more unto them is not given repentance unto life which is mentioned Acts 10.18 nor that godly sorrow which worketh repentance to salvation never to be repented of 2 Cor. 7.10 they are not poore in spirit for theirs is the kingdome of God Mat. 5.13 To this purpose is that of Saint Augustine who speaking of the reprobate saith God bringeth none of them to that wholesome and spirituall repentance by which a man is reconciled to God in Christ. Adde also that such doe never feele in themselves an earnest desire of reconciliation They doe not hunger and thirst after righteousnesse For such shall be filled Matth. 5.6 And to them shall be given of the fountaine of living water which shall be in them a well of water springing up to eternall life Iohn 4.14 Also they doe neither denie themselves nor seriously bid defiance to their owne lusts nor doe they once feele in their hearts any such accounting of all things but losse that they may winne Christ as the Apostle did Phil. 3.8 And to conclude they never attaine to that unfained lively faith which justifieth a sinner and worketh through love 2 Tim. 1.5 For this faith is the peculiar of the Elect and is not afforded to the not elected Furthermore that onely the Elect are justified it is plaine by that golden chaine of the Apostle Rom. 8.30 Whom he did predestinate them he also called and whom he called them he also justified Those onely and no other as out of S. Augustine we have shewne at the first Article Againe the same Saint Augustine God doth not forgive the sinnes of all men but of those whom he foreknew and predestinated It is plaine also out of the Scriptures that they who are not elect never come unto the estate of adoption For first the estate of adoption is grounded upon predestination Who hath predestinated us unto the adoption of Children by Christ Iesus Secondly the state of adoption as also the right and priviledge of sons is not obtained but by a lively faith For as many as received him to thē he gave power that is aright priviledge that they should be the Sons of God to wit to such as beleeve in his name Also ye are all the sonnes of God by faith in Christ Iesus But this faith is proper to the Elect as was before declared 3 All that are adopted for sonnes are regenerated and that by the incorruptible seed by the word of the living God Whosoever is borne of God doth not commit sinne because his seed remaineth in him 4 Those adopted sons are also heires heires of God and coheires with Christ and doe receive the earnest of their inheritance But they who are not elect are never regenerated by this incorruptible seed neither have they the seed of God remaining in them neither are they assigned to be heires with Christ. Hence is that of Saint Augustine They were not in the number of sonnes no not when they were in the faith of sonnes Againe As they were not the true Disciples of Christ so neither were they the true Sonnes of God yea even when they seemed to be and were so called And Saint Ambrose What can God the Father make void those gifts he hath bestowed and banish those from the grace of his fatherly affection whom he
hath made his sons by adoption Gabriel Biel saith It is plaine that those whom God foresaw are not his adopted sonnes because they are not preordained by the will of God unto everlasting inheritance Apostacy is onely of those who never reached home to true justification and to the state of adoption But as for those who are the chosen sonnes of God and endued with true sanctitie their perseverance is certaine and undoubted as we shall shew afterwards Either therefore the Apostasie of the true sons of God ought to have beene proved by evident places of Scripture or else that offensive name and title of the Apostasie of the Saints should have beene forborne Of Perseverance As it concernes the Elect and of the certainty therof in it selfe THE FIRST POSITION BEsides that dogmaticall faith and some kinde of amendment in affections and manners there is in due time given to the Elect justifying faith regenerating grace and all other gifts by which they are translated from the state of wrath unto the state of adoption and salvation WHen God dealeth with his Elect hee stayeth not in certaine preparatives and initiall operations but alway finisheth his worke by induing them with a lively faith by justifying and adopting them and by changing them from the state of death to the state of life This the Apostle sheweth Rom. 8.30 Whom he hath predestinated those he also called and whom he called he hath also justified and whom he hath justified he hath also glorified And Colos. 1.12 I give thankes to the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light and hath delivered us from the power of darknesse and hath translated us into the kingdome of his deare Sonne Out of which places it is plaine that God giveth to all the Elect a certaine continued connexion of spirituall benefits which never leaves them but plyeth them onward even unto the state of glory THE SECOND POSITION ALthough the Elect being set in this estate omit some thing in every good worke by reason of the remainder of concupiscence and commit daily smaller sinnes od surreption negligence and inconsideratenesse yet neither from thence is the state of justification shaken nor the benefit of their claime to the inheritance of the Kingdome of heaven thereby interrupted ACcording to the rigor of the Law every sinne yea the verie least is mortall and excludes the offender from the favour of God and kingdome of heaven But God never deales in that strict manner with his sonnes adopted and justified in Christ. There are indeed some sinnes for which God denounceth his anger and indignation upon these his sonnes yea and threatneth banishment from heaven and also eternall death of which we may reade 1 Cor. 6.10 Gal. 5.25 Coloss. 3.6 which wee will handle in the positions following There are againe some other sins for which our mercifull God is not wont no not for a time to deprive his children of the light of his countenance or to terrifie them with the feare of death or damnation of which kind are the rebelling motions of our concupiscence whereof the Apostle complaines Rom. 7. also the defects and staines which do cleave to the best workes of the regenerate Lastly those daily trippings and scapes of humane infirmity which are committed without any determinate purpose of committing them and which are forgiven by our daily craving of pardon of these St. Iames cap. 3. v. 2. In many things we offend all and St. Iohn 1.8 If we say that wee have no sinne we deceive our selves Notwithstanding these sinnes every faithfull man may rightly say There is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Iesus yea even in the midst of these infirmities God saith to every justified man as hee said to the Apostle My grace is sufficient for thee for my strength is made perfect in weakenesse And sure they cannot be said to fall by their infirmities from the state of justification through whose weaknes the power of God is made perfect and who all this while may boast that the power of Christ dwelleth in them as it is in the same place THE THIRD POSITION THese very same thus regenerated and justified doe sometimes through their owne default fall into hainous sinnes and thereby they doe incurre the fatherly anger of God they draw upon themselves a damnable guiltinesse and lose their present fitnesse to the kingdome of heaven IT is manifest by the examples of David and Peter that the regenerate can throw himselfe headlong into most grievous sinnes God sometimes permitting it that they may learne with all humility to acknowledge that not by their owne strength or deserts but by Gods mercy alone they were freed from eternall death and had life eternall bestowed upon them Whilest they cleave to such sinnes and sleepe securely therein Gods fatherly anger ariseth against them Psal. 89.31 If that they prophane my statutes and keep not my commandements then will I visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes Rom. 2.9 Tribulation and anguish upon every soule of man that doth evill Besides they draw upon themselves damnable guilt so that as long as they continue without repentance in that state they neither ought nor can perswade themselves otherwise then that they are subject to eternall death If ye live after the flesh ye shall dye Rom. 8.13 For they are bound in the chaine of a capitall crime by the desert whereof according to Gods ordinance they are subject to death although they are not as yet given over to death nor about to be given if we cōsider the fatherly love of God but are first to bee taken out of this sinne that they may also bee rescued from the guilt of death Lastly in respect of their present condition they lose the fitnes which they had of entring into the Kingdome of Heaven because into that Kingdome there shall in no wise enter any thing that is defiled neither whatsoever worketh abomination For the Crowne of life is not set upon the head of any but those who have fought a good fight and have finished their course in faith and holinesse He is therefore unfit to obtaine this Crowne whosoever as yet cleaves to the workes of wickednesse THE FOVRTH POSITION THe unalterable ordinance of God doth require that the faithfull so straying out of the right way must first returne againe into the way by a renewed performance of faith and repentance before hee can bee brought to the end of the way that is to the Kingdome of Heaven BY the decree of Election the faithfull are so predestinated to the end that they are as along the Kings high way to be led to this appointed end through the meanes set down by God otherwaies not to attaine the same Nor are Gods decrees concerning the means manner and order of such events lesse fixed and sure then the decrees of the end and of the events themselves
bearing witnesse to our spirit that we are the sonnes of God And this very testimony of the Spirit although the seed thereof be never utterly extinguished yet in regard of the fruit and sense thereof sometimes it either withdrawes it selfe so that our owne infirmity may be evident to us or else for a time it is as it were raked up under the ashes by our rebellion and ingratitude 2 Therefore that other weaknesse doth arise from temptations by which this perswasion is assaulted And those are partly afflictions which seeme to menace us with the evill of punishment and partly our owne perverse concupiscences which doe brand our soules with the evill of sinne and guilt thereof and partly the snares and assaults of the Devill by which he doth set upon us in both those kindes But the maine skirmish consists in the mutuall wrastling and strugling of the flesh and spirit Whilest this wrastling lasts our faith is weake but if so be the spirit overcomes the flesh then our spirit cheeres up and triumpheth in this manner Who shall separate us from the love of Christ But if which often falls out the spirit thus wearied and weakned receive the foile for a time being either overborne with the load of afflictions or tainted with the spots of hainous sinnes then there remaines no such actuall perswasion a stop is made of al spiritual comfort and the light of Gods countenance is hidden from us Hence those mournfull complaints of holy men Iob 6.4 The arrowes of the Almighty are within me the poyson whereof drinkes up my spirit the terrors of God set themselves in aray against me Lament 3.42 We have transgressed and rebelled Thou hast not pardoned thou hast covered thy selfe with a cloud that our prayers should not passe through But if the waves of temptation arise yet higher and the fiery darts of the devill doe wound the conscience already pressed downe with its owne burden then not onely this sweet perswasion is banished but also a perswasion utterly contrary commeth in stead thereof by force whereof holy men thus affrighted doe apprehend God as an angry Iudge and seeme to themselves to be now falling headlong into the open gates of Hell This case is set downe in those almost despairing speeches of Iob Let the day perish wherein I was borne And that of David I said in my haste I am cut off from before thine eies THE FOVRTH POSITION WHen a faithfull man after much struggling hath got the upper hand of these temptations that act by which he doth apprehend the fatherly mercy of God toward him and eternall life to bee conferred without faile upon him is not an act of floating opinion or of conjecturall hope such as may be built on a false ground but it is an act of a true and lively faith stirred up and sealed in his heart by the spirit of adoption AS it fares in nature so in grace after the cloud is removed the day is the clearer and certaine diseases after they are overcome prove occasions of future health A faithfull man escaping out of the waves of great tentations doth not only receive the confidence which was almost extinguished but gaines a greater measure thereof For hee is made stronger by the conflict and more cheerefull by the conquest Nay if in this wrastling some of his bones bee broken after they be set againe they will knit the stronger Psal. 51.10 The bones which thou hast broken shall rejoyce 1 Because the life and state of a regenerate man is spirituall he may be said while he is transported by the force of sin or tentation to be with-held from his naturall place The spirit therefore doth easily returne backe again to his own bent and againe acknowledgeth his former confidence in the fatherly mercy of God This is manifest out of the examples of the Saints who have expressed their owne vehement conflicts still ending in the lively voyce of faith So Ionas being in the belly of the Whale said I am cast out of thy sight yet I will looke againe toward thy holy Temple And Saint Paul O wretched man that I am who shall deliver mee from the body of this death I thanke God through Iesus Christ our Lord. In them both their conquest following their conflict breaks forth into a vigorous act of faith 2 Because the panting soule thirsting for Gods fatherly reconciliation doth run more greedily to the fountaine of living waters and relisheth more sweetly that whereof it perceived it selfe for a time debarred namely the fruition of God appeased Thence it acknowledgeth in it selfe the seed of faith by the force whereof it ariseth againe to repaire the very breaches made upon faith whose root indeed spreadeth the further by this loosening and sends forth new tendrells from which sprout our new shoots of greater certainty By this conflict and affliction the faithfull Christian learnes patience by which he mortifieth himselfe by patience probation by which he searcheth himselfe from probation hee mounts up to an hope of overcomming likewise future tentations Who delivered us from so great a death and will deliver us in whom wee trust that he will yet deliver us and of persevering and consequently attaining eternall life 1 Cor. 1.18 Who shall confirme you unto the end that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Iesus Christ. And this same hope maketh not ashamed as it followes in the same Apostle It is not therefore a fleeting opinion or uncertaine conjecture but an hope which as it springs from faith so it hath the same certaintie with faith and therefore is solide and undeceivable Wee have in David an example of this renewed and confirmed confidence after that his spot of that great sinne was washed away Psal. 51. After that the assault of that dangerous temptation was abated Psal. 73. In both these cases there are to be seene cleerely shineing forth the spirit of prayer spirituall joy and the seale of adoption Take not thy holy spirit from me Thou hast holden mee by the right hand Thence proceeds that confident conclusion It is good for mee to draw neere unto God and to trust in the Lord. Erroneous Opinions rejected by us THE FIRST THat the perseverance of those who are truly faithfull is not an effect of Election but a benefit offered equally to all upon this condition namely if they shall not be wanting unto sufficient grace WE have confuted the first part hereof at the first Article in our third Position and in the third Erroneous Opinion and also in this fifth Article in the eighth Position Of the certainty of perseverance in it selfe The second part of this Opinion containes many incongruities 1 It is not true that perseverance is a gift onely offered and not given also For the Scriptures witnesse that God doth not onely offer unto his the grace of perseverance but also that he gives it them and puts it into their hearts Ier. 32.40 I