endearing expressions of kindness and arguments of love drawing the Will by sweet promises of the choicest mercies terrifying the impenitent and awakening the secure by severest threatnings and the thunders of most dreadful terrors (a) Deut. 30.15.19 setting before man Life and Death everlasting blessedness upon his (b) Mat. 24 13. Rev 2.10 perseverance in faith and obedience eternal misery upon his final impenitency and disobedience seriously exhorting man (c) Deut. 30.19 Josh 24.15 Job 34.4 Pro. 1.29 Isa 1.16.21 65.12 to make his own choice that he may live and not die (d) Luk. 19.42 Mat. 23.37 Passionately bemoaning the blindness and stubbornness of man that will not see nor close with the things that do belong to his peace and (e) Deut. 32.6.28 29. expostulating with man for his unkindness to God his unmindfulness of himself Calling (f) Deut. 30.19 Isa 1.2 heaven and earth to witness yea making (g) Isa 1.18 19 20. Ezek 18.25 29 Man himself judge between God and his own soul whether by any act or any such irrevocable decree he be bound up that he cannot do otherwise and by solemn oath removing from God all kind of (h) Ezek. 18.30 31. 33.10 11 12 13-21 pleasure in or desire of mans destruction and charging the cause of all upon man himself who will sin and will not repent and by consequence will die Expressly (i) Mar 16.16 Luk 13.3.5 Heb. 10.38 39. most expressly determining Salvation onley upon condition of Repentance Faith Obedience and final Perseverance Damnation onely in case of Infidelity Disobedience Apostacie and final Impenitency Thus from the express Condition in the effect and execution by which onely we can know the cause in this thing they infer such an indeterminate and conditional Decree there being no promise of life but to persons so and so qualified and acting nor salvation given but upon perseverance in faith and obedience no death denounced but upon intuition of sin nor inflicted but where such sin is persevered in Sect. 13 The other side also make their equal claims to the same sacred Oracles Which declare the (k) Rom. 9 11. 28. stability of the purpose of God according to Election That He hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth That it is not of him that will th nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy the Discrimination being made with God before they have done cither good or evil and that howsoever God dealeth he hath as unquestionable a soveraignty over his creatures as the potter over his clay that every mouth may be stopped and no man dare to reply against God referring the whole Series of mans salvation to God first (l) Rom. 8.30 Predestinating then calling then justifying then glorifying which onely charge sin and impenitency and consequently impute all the miseries death and destruction on mans perverse and depraved will but declare his help deliverance mercy and life to be only from God and his pure free rich Grace and Love and teach that though Repentance Faith Obedience and Perseverance in these be the expresse conditions of life yet they are all the Gifts of God (m) Act 5.31 Ephes 2.8 Phil. 1.29 who gives repentance and faith and (n) 1 Cor. 1.8 9. Phil. 1.6 1 Thess 5.24 strengthens us to persevere and upholds us from falling and that therefore such shall not utterly and for ever fall away And that these being the gifts of God they must be from the pure love and onely good pleasure of God that man may have (o) 1 Cor. 1.29 nothing to boast of in himself as having nothing but (p) 1 Cor. 4 7. what he hath received and (q) 1 Cor. 15.10 the Grace of God being that which maketh the difference And though no man can be saved but such as are fully willing to be saved and whose wills freely choose the way of righteousness and life yet the will of man is so naturally corrupted and enslaved to lust that man cannot choose nor the will determine it self to that which is really good until it be emancipated and set free by that Divine grace which is not given to all but onely to some certain persons according to the Beneplacitum Dei the good pleasure of God who makes men (r) Phil. 2.13 willing as well as enables them to work Thus from these Scriptures experiences and effects they conclude the Absolute Decree of God to prepare for and give to such a number of persons whom he hath chosen this effectual grace and so to bring them infallibly to salvation leaving the rest to the liberty and corruption of their own will to perish in their own wilful Rebellion Sect. 14 I have no design to interpose mine own opinion I must here cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and confess he must be a man of greater skill and sar greater wisdom and learning than I dare pretend unto or can hope to attain who shall be able to decide this controversie and cut so even a thread as to place the grace of God in the Throne where it must unquestionably sit and have all the glory of the good that is in us or conferred upon us and yet assert the power and liberty of the rational creature which God hath given to it and according to the use whereof it shall and must be judged Sect. 15 But by all this it is apparent That this dispute is not newly started neither Calvin nor Arminius were the first fathers or factors of either opinion that we should be now engaged to prosecute either as a new Doctrine sprung up in the Church when it hath been of old and I believe will be among men while men are in the World And shall we now for this difference break peace shall we not unite in one communion because we cannot agree in this one Doctrine should the Church for this maintain a perpetual Faction and continue a perpetual Rent to the end of the World for a different judgment in so abstruse a Doctrine wherein not Hereticks and Schismaticks but learned men of sober pious and peaceable principles have dissented and do and will dissent while they are on this side Heaven where only they will be fully acquainted with the truth having their understandings inlightned beyond all obscurity and their hearts perfectly purged from all corruptions God forbid Sect. 16 2. To this let me add the difficulty of deciding it which must be concluded from what hath been said in the former Paragraphs and the great pretensions and those strongly probable too which both sides make to those three chief yea only rules to judge and determine of things by Scripture Reason and Experience and Arguments drawn from all these by each dissenting Party which will puzzle the acutest Respondent of the other side to give such an answer and solution to them as may clearly take off the doubt and give satisfaction to them
in asserting the Absolute Decree will yet not allow the Pelagian Manichee Anabaptist Epicure any plea from any necessity to sin that men are bound in by any decree of God For (h) Calv. Instit l. 3. c. 23. Sect. 8. Sic eorum pendet perditio ex Dei praedestinatione ut cansa materia in ipsis reperiatur Cadit Pgmo Deo sicordinante sed sag vitio cadit saith he Mans perdition so dependeth on Gods pred stination that yet the matter and cause of it is only in themselves And a few lines after Man falleth indeed God so ordering it or possibly in his sense ordaining it but he falls through his own fault (i) Gen. 1.31 God pronounced all that he made very good Whence then saith he became man wicked c. that it may not be thought to be from God or his Creation God gives this elogie and approbation to all that came from him It was very good Propriâ ergo malitiâ saith he Man by his own wickedness corrupted that nature which he received pure from God and by his fall brought all mankind into destruction with himself And in another place proving against the Novatians and Anabaptists that there is yet mercy with God for all sorts of sinners though their sins be never so great and after Baptism also if they sincerely return to God hath these words (k) Caiv. Instit l. 4. c. 1. Sect. 25. Et sanè non allus potest esse affectus ejus qui affirmat se nolle mortem peccatoris sed magis ut convertatur vlvat There san indeed be no other affection in Him i.e. in God who hath said (l) Ezek. 18.13 32. Sect. 37. He hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner but rather that he return and live 3. Again The highest Arminian I suppose will grant to the Calvinist That All the Decrees of God are in a proper sense Absolute That is taking 1. Decrees as Decrees in God and not as the event decreed Viz. that what God hath determined to do he hath absolutely determined to do as he hath absolately i.e. peremptorily and immutably decreed to save all believers and this particular believer and so absolutely decreed to condemn all finally impenitent and this such an one in particular Yea and 2. Taking Absolute as opposed to any thing without God himself any cause that should be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 from without moving him so to decree for nothing could move him to send Jesus Christ to redeem the world and to bestow upon sinful miserable man salvation upon his faith and constant obedience nothing could move him to decree salvation upon so easie terms but his own free love the Beneplacitum or good pleasure of his Will So that whatsoever we have it is of Grace si gratia quomodo non gratuita it must be every way free If of Grace (l) Rom. 11.6 then non ex operibus not of works sc nec praestitis nec praevisis neither done nor foreseen This I think even these will grant that though as to the decree of this particular mans salvation there was an intuition of his faith and obedience yet the foresight of God that men would return from their sinful estate was not the cause that God decreed to send Christ to save them but out of his own love he freely being moved by this alone to compassionate the misery of man in whom there was no good at all until he was pleased anew to impart to him decreed this viz. to send Christ to enter into a new Covenant with man and so to save whosoever of mankind shold believe in him and to emancipate their wills and endue them with such supernatural abilities that if they would not be wanting to themselves they might return and be saved Sect. 38 4. On the other side the most rigid Calvinists will yield to the Arminian that in this particular No decree of God is absolute taking 1. Absolute for irrespective to all conditions and 2. Decree for the event decreed the thing to be given according to this decree So that though in their sense God did absolutely decree to save such and such persons and to prepare effectual grace for them and so to bring them infallibly to salvation and as absolutely decree to leave the rest of the world though not without sufficient means to save them if they would not be wanting to themselves to the liberty of their own corrupt wills resolving not to give them that certain portion of Grace which would infallibly save them but to leave them to perish in their own voluntary rebellions Yet that God never decreed that any of these persons elected should be saved without intuition of that faith and obedience which he also decreed should be the only way to salvation He never decreed to save them but upon this condition that they believe in Christ obey the Gospel and persevere in so doing to the end Nor did he ever decree to condemn any person but with an intuition of sin and impenitence previous and antecedaneous to his condemnation Sect. 39 Now consider all these and we must needs see that even both parties do agree in all the main particulars and the substance of that Doctrine which is abundantly enough for us to preach to the people for their information and instruction enough abundantly to set forth the glory of Gods Grace Justice Goodness and Holiness and to quicken us to Repentance Faith Obedience to shew us that none can be saved but by Grace and Mercy to (m) Rom. 3.27 exclude our boasting and that none can be saved without Repentance Faith a sincere constant and persevering Obedience to rowse our security and quicken us to action and to leave us inexcusably guilty of our own perdition if we continue in sin and miscarry Sect. 40 The whole substance of this hath our Church excellently comprised concisely yet fully in that (n) Fourth Collect after the Communion short Collect. Prevent us O Lord by thy goodness there is acknowledged a necessity of preventing grace for a foundation And further us by thy continual help there a necessity of exciting and assisting grace to stir us up and help us in action without which we could do nothing That all our works being begun continued snd ended in thee there the necessity of holy constant uniform sincere and persevering obedience and the practice of good works through that grace We may through thy mercy obtain everlasting life there is the reward expected not of Merit but of Grace and Mercy and all this only Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Here is the foundation of all the love of God to us and of our expectations from God all through Christ and for his sake Sect. 41 I know there are many passages in the writings of several men of each side which may clash with some of these particulars wherein they are said to agree and consequences drawn that do indeed
of God who then looks as with a full eye upon them do then tremble and acknowledge their unworthiness to appear before the presence of so Glorious and to ask and expect any thing of so Righteous a God themselves being so vile as they are and do then especially see themselves to be This made Peter when by the great draught of Fishes he saw the print of Christs Deity cry out (o) Luk. 5.8 Depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord And holy Job (p) Job 42.5 6. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eye hath seen thee therefore I abhor my self in dust and ashes It was this that made the poor Publicans (q) Luk. 18.10 prayer to be accepted when seeing his own vileness and confessing his sin he stands afar off as not daring to approach and begs mercy Lord be merciful to me a sinner when the proud Pharisees is rejected who presumptuously drew near in conceit of his own merits and came not to beg mercy but to brag of his own righteousness God I thank thee I am not c. Sect. 26 2. The other thing required to an effectual prayer is Faith and confidence whereby we having a certain warrant from the Word and being assured that what we ask is according to Gods Will and the Subject of his Promises the Soul is now poured out in earnestness and with an holy confidence grounded upon the mercies of God and merits of Jesus Christ is encouraged to hope for and expect a gracious return Thus saith St. James (r) Jam. 1.6 Let him that prayeth pray in faith and it is (s) Jam. 5.15 16. the prayer of faith which is effectual The Promises made to our prayers still require this condition in the Petitioner (t) Mat. 21.22 If ye believe And as men (u) Rom. 10.14 cannot call on him on whom they have not beleeved So when they believe they have encouragement enough to pray and may come with boldness and confidence when they pray and grounds enough of confident hopes we have from the rich goodness and inconceivable mercies of our God and the infinite and invaluable merits of our Lord and Saviour So that as (x) Joh. 15.5 without Christ we can do nothing nothing acceptable to God (y) Rom. 8.26 nor then can we pray as we ought neither can we come to God (z) Joh. 14.6 but by him who only is the way so (a) Phil. 4.13 through Christ we can do all things and through faith we have an interest in him to him (b) Joh. 6.35 we come by believing and now (c) Eph. 3.12 in him we have boldness and access with confidence even by faith in him Christ (d) Heb. 10.19 20 22. hath opened a way through the vail for us to enter into the Holiest of all to the Throne of Grace and now we may draw nigh with a true heart in full assurance of faith The soul now sends up her prayers to Heaven with such strength of Adhesion and fulness of considence as a Ship tears up and flies with full Sails to its Haven And he that before being sensible of his own weakness and vileness and trembling before the Majesty and Purity of the most High and Holy God durst neither speak not pray now through this faith in Christ hath his tongue loosed his lips opened and can draw nigh with confidence (e) Psa 116.10 I believe therefore have I spoken Sect. 27 Thus must and do these twin graces Humility and Faith go hand in hand together in the faithfuls prayer when we are most humbled in regard of vileness and unworthiness in our selves we are yet to hope and we may with confidence trust in the mercies of God through the merits of Jesus Christ And when we are carried up with the strongest affiance and highest confidence in those saving mercies and all-sufficient merits we yet must as we have reason disclaim all confidence in any dignity excellency or worth in our selves Sect. 28 These things considered do clearly evidence the piety and prudence of our Church in composing and commending the use of these prayers to her Members wherein we are so excellently instructed in the matter of prayer and together taught the exercises of those necessary graces of Humility and Faith Consider what we are and what we need we are naturally as the Laodicean Angel (f) Rev. 3.17 miserable poor blind and naked and wanting all things we know not what we need and therefore (g) Rom. 8.26 know not what to pray for nor how to pray as we ought Here therefore we pray that God who knoweth our ignorance in asking and what things we have need of before we ask would give us those things which for our blindness we cannot ask Again we are persons guilty of much unthankfulness to God of many high provocations against God and let any man seriously consider and compare his own contemptible baseness with Gods glorious incomprehensible Majesty his own filthiness and impurity with Gods spotless purity and holiness his own frequent lapses yea rebellions with Gods most exact justice and righteousness And then say if when he hath nothing else to bottom his hopes and confidence upon his flesh do not tremble and his heart quake in the presence of God If such a worm of earth vile dust sinful wretches can dare to send up any request to such a Glory Here we must say Our conscience is afraid and our prayers dare not presume to ask But then let this poor penitent sinner set before him the long experienced mercies the inconceivable goodness and rich overflowing grace of God the meritorious sufferings and infinite merits of the blood of Jesus and his continual intercession for us Here shall he see a large door of hope and mercy opened his heart is now again enlivened and with an humble boldness he can pray and hope to speed Sect. 29 So that here is now no contradiction at all but an excellent harmony between our expressions and our real prayers in these Collects for When we consider our ignorance and blindness we see we cannot ask when our vileness and unworthiness indeed we dare not ask But God shall (h) Zech. 12.10 poure upon us a Spirit of grace and supplication and make us willing and able to pray When (i) Rom. 8.26 the Spirit it self helpeth our infirmities then indeed we can and when the heart is inflamed and the soul purified by the blood of Jesus when we come in the name of the Beloved who are in our selves loathed in him (k) Ephes 1.6 we are accepted When we consider our High Priest (l) Rev. 8.3 4. standing beside the golden Altar and perfuming the incense of our prayers with the precious odours of his own merits we are now bold to ask what before we durst not do Thus through Jesus Christ we ask for his sake and worthiness we
must condemn also the other § 23 Object No. For Sitting is now the Table posture and succeedeth the Tricliniary Gesture 1. Sol. The Standing at least is as unlawfull and indifferent from the Prime patterne and first examplar as Kneeling but yet this posture is allowed by all where it thwarts not a Publick setled practice of a Church and practised by many of our Brethren at home and the French Churches abroad when yet the same Argument that condemnes Kneeling condemnes that 2. § 24 But how came Sitting to be the Table Gesture now is it not by a silent custome among Nations and it is strange that the silent custome of a Nation should be enough to change the Gesture at our ordinary Tables and yet a Positive Law of the same Nation should not suffice in such a case at the Sacred Table If a Custome without Authority can so prevaile that what was before not Decent should now be Decent and what was before Decent should now be not so cannot a Law made by publick Authority established by an expresse consent of the people and allowed by daily use prevaile that what was upon no sound reason ever found unlawfull should be esteemed lawfull now for the time to come Custome is enough to satisfie us in our ordinary Tables why should not both Law and Custome together suffice for Satisfaction here when if there were no Custome but Custome and Law did seeme to oppose each other yet as to a Case of Conscience it may be soberly concluded that Custome should rather give place to Law than Law to Custome These things and much more to this purpose may he that please see in that Reverend Bishop in the place before cited where he solidly and largely handles the Question of the obligation of Christs example in this case § 25 2. For that exception that Kneeling was not used by the Church for many hundred yeares after Christ this signifieth as little for even in their Prayers Kneeling sometimes was not publickly in use yea expressely forbidden the Custome being as it is by Mr Baxter h Baxt. five Disp Disp 5. chap. 2. §. 41. confessed both Antient and Universall in the Church and every where observed and established afterwards in the last Cannon of the Councell of Nice and renewed by others That none should Kneele in publick worship on the Lords day no not in Prayer No wonder then that we find not this practice there where they Kneeled not at all in the publick worship But as they worshipped so they communicated the manner of receiving being i See Account of proceed Answ to §. 15. e ◠Auge in Psal 98. Cyril Gatech Onystag 5 more adorantium so that there can be nothing drawn from their practice against Kneeling at the Communion which is not also as strong against Kneeling at any other parts of publick worship even Prayer also § 26 3. As to the fear of justifying the Papisticall adoration of the Elements as Christ corporally present we are sufficiently secure for our Kneeling tendeth to no such thing We are informed clearly enough of the Doctrine of our Church by what is expressely set down in the Rubrick Printed in the Common-Prayer-Book of Edw. 6. at the end of the Communion though since left out whether as some say by negligence or for what other reason it matters not when still we maintaine the same Doctrine and our Church doth publickly declare it in our established Articles sc Art 28. in that Rubrick there is this expression concerning Kneeling We do declare that it is not meant thereby that any adoration is done or ought to be done either unto the Sacramentall Bread or Wine there bodily received or unto any reall or essentiall presence there being of Christs naturall flesh and blood For as touching the Sacramentall Bread and Wine they remain in their very naturall substances and therefore may not be adored for that were Idolatry to be abhorred of all faithfull Christians and as concerning the naturall Body and Blood of our Saviour Christ they are in heaven and not here for it is against the truth of Christs naturall body to be in more places than one at the same time But further § 27 Let it be observed the order prescribed in our Church is that the people Kneel not only at the receiving of the Elements but during the whole ministration which as it cannot be said to adore a corporall presence which is not there nor by the Papists pretended to be there untill the Vm the very last sillable of the Hoc est cropus meum i. e. this is my body be pronounced so it sheweth us why we Kneel and whom we adore viz. That in all humble devotion we present our selves before God and with humility of soul confesse our sins begge his mercy offer him praise for his benefits especially his unspeakable gift of Jesus Christ for the life of the world and with all reverence receive from the hand the Seales of his Covenant assurances of our pardon and peace and life upon our unfained faith sincere repentance and persevering obedience and put our Seales to the same Covenant solemnely engaging our selves to those duties and expecting mercy only on those Evangelicall termes And thus the forenamed Rubrick which is still the sence of our Church informes us that this thing viz. the Communicants Kneeling was well meant for a signification of the humble and gratefull acknowledgement of the benefits of Christ given unto the worthy receivers and to avoide the prophanation and disorder which about the holy Communion might ensue it § 28 Having now answered these exceptions I shall adde but these two things 1. Let this one Argument be weighed he that receiveth the Communion Kneeling either sinneth in that act or sinneth not if any say he sinneth let him shew wherein every sin is a transgression of some Law but here is no Law transgressed not a Law of the Church for that commandeth it not a Law of God for there is neither any precept in the Decalogue nor any precept in the Gospell that forbideth it let any man produce any such and we yeeld and the example of Christ is no more an obliging Law in this than in the Place Time and Habit as before was shown and there is acknowledged no obligation in these But if in this act men sin not what imaginable reason can there be produced why it should be unlawfull to do it when by a just Authority they are required 2. § 29 In Dubiis tutissimum c. In doubtfull things we must choose the safest Now suppose this a matter of doubt yet which is the safest way for us to goe it is easily to judge for we are sure it is our duty and we are obliged by command to partake in the Communion to receive this Sacrament we are sure that we are obliged to maintain the peace and keep in the Communion of the Church we are sure that we are bound to obey