everlasting life for it And so on the other side Reprobatio as Aquinas speaketh includit voluntatem permittendi peccatum damnationem inferendi pro peccato It is the purpose of God both to deny the grace of obedience as afore-said or which is all one to permit them to persevere in sinne and finall impenitency and to inflict damnation for their sinne And unlesse Election on the one side and Reprobation on the other doe include the parts before mentioned wee shall fall into the Arminians definition of Election and Reprobation who make them meerly conditionate either in formall terms or though they avoid the formality of such expressions yet meerly in effect as by saying that Election is Gods purpose to save them that beleeve and repent Reprobation Gods purpose to damne them that doe not beleeve and repent as if there were no other purpose of God revealed in Gods word then these no decree of shewing mercy to whom hee will by giving faith and repentance no decree of hardening whom hee will by denying it Againe when I say God doth purpose to reward every man according to his workes let us understand it aright for indeed there neither is nor can bee any such formall decree of God and of an indefinite nature as if God in priority of nature or reason did make such a decree not knowing as yet what would bee the workes of each man in particular for of such a decree there can be no correspondent execution distinct from the execution of particular and definite decrees concerning all men in particular as I have already shewed in ransacking the absurd order of Gods decrees devised by Arminians to no other end but to catch the simple there being no common sense nor sobriety in them throughout Besides this if when God is conceived to make such a decree God did know particularly the workes of all then there is no reason to conceive that hee made any such indefinite decree but rather that the decree to save or damne every one in particular according to his workes well knowne to him in that very instant not of duration onely but of nature and reason But God did in the same moment foreknow all the particular workes of every man as already I have made manifest in ransacking the Arminian order of Gods decrees But the denomination of such an indefinite decree as to reward every man according to his workes ariseth from the consideration of other definite decrees in God As for example God did decree to have mercy on Peter in giving him faith and repentance and accordingly to save him and so of every one of Gods Elect of ripe yeares On the contrary God did decree to deny to Judas the grace of faith and repentance which is as much as to say that God decreed to permit him to continue finally in sinne and accordingly to damne him and so every one of the Reprobates Whence it followeth that it is true to affirme that God decreed to reward every one of ripe yeares according to their workes not that there ever was any such particular decree conceived by God distinct from the former as the Arminians feigne but that from the former particular decrees resulteth the denomination of such a decree as this as if you should say If God did decree to save Peter and Paul it followeth that God did decree to save some not that God did first indefinitely decree to save some and then decree that Peter and Paul should be two of them And to reward men according to their workes is no more a worke of hatred then of love but as it is indefinite so it is indifferent to prove in the issue either a worke of hatred or of love as that God Who worketh in us every thing that is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ Heb. 13. 21. shall worke in some that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ and not in others Neither will it follow here-hence that God rejecteth and reprobateth some upon presupposall of disobedience more then that hee electeth and predestinateth others upon presupposall of their obedience for undoubtedly God purposed as well to reward the godly according to their workes as the ungodly according to theirs though I confesse there is a great difference betweene the condition of evill workes and good workes evill workes being meritorious of punishment good workes no way meritorious of reward but this nothing hinders the course of remuneration in generall And againe what is wanting of merit on the part of Gods Elect is abundantly supplyed by the merit and satisfaction of Christ It followeth I confesse that upon disobedience on the one side provided it be finall not otherwise for undoubtedly abuse both of means of grace in Christ and other talents and helps of the knowledge of God in nature is found also in the Elect though not finall for Novimus saith Austin that God hath converted non modo aversas à vera fide sed adversas verae fidei voluntates God damneth some for disobedience and it is no lesse true that upon obedience on the other side God saves the others But this opinion I confesse was heretofore shaped by Doctor Overall and perhaps taken from Caterinus but with a little variation and if I be not deceived first devised by the Author of the two bookes De vocatione Gentium all which notwithstanding are orthodox in the point of Election throughout excepting Caterinus whose orthodoxy therein is onely in part But in few words I will disprove this latter position of yours by your owne rules For thus I dispute If God did first fore-see mans disobedience and then ordaine them to condemnation then God did first decree to permit this disobedience before hee did decree to damne them for it Whence it followeth that the permission of this sinne was first in intention and consequently last in execution that is God must first damne them and afterwards permit their disobedience whereby they deserve damnation Yet I pray conceive not hereupon that I maintaine that God doth first purpose to damne men and secondly purpose to permit their disobedience both orders in my opinion are very dissolute though I confesse it is commonly so received that by denying the one wee must necessarily fall upon the other Herein two things are granted by common consent of our Divines 1. That the end of Gods purpose in his positive Reprobation of the world is to glorifie his justice power and wrath in their just overthrow and condemnation 2. That hee doth not purpose to condemne them but for sinne But two other things you see there bee wherein I confesse I dissent from them but with submission of my spirit to the guidance of the word and the spirit of my brethren 1. In the first act of positive Reprobation that I doe not acknowledge any unwillingnesse at all in God to reward the men of this world with life upon any condition whatsoever 2. In the
second act of positive Reprobation that I doe conceive the decree of Reprobation to be conversant about the world not as considered in massa primitus corrupta as in the first fall of Adam but as afterwards voluntarily falling from the meanes either of grace in the second Adam or of the knowledge of God in nature by some acts of carelesse or wilfull disobedience These two things above mentioned are granted not onely by the common consent of our Divines but by the common consent also of all Christians as I conceive whether Papists or Arminians yet observe I pray as touching the second that sinne is apparently made the cause onely of condemnation but not of Gods purpose whereas hitherto you have carryed the matter so as if sinne were the cause not onely of condemnation but also of Reprobation as much as to say of Gods purpose to condemne But to say that God for sinne did purpose to condemne for sin is so harsh an expression that in all my reading I never found any adventure thereupon Come wee to your proper opinion You doe not acknowledge any unwillingnesse in God to reward the men of this world with life upon any condition whatsoever I know no reason why you should conceive any of our Divines to differ from you in this although you had spoken out your meaning never so plainly and fully not onely denying unwillingnesse but acknowledging a willingnesse as afterwards you doe not a willingnesse onely which may have place though joyned with a will to the contrary as in all mixt actions which yet are not incident to God though they are to a creature as who sometimes doth some thing volens nolens for certainly God will save any man upon condition hee beleeves and repents And on the other side neither is there any unwillingnesse in God but a willingnesse rather yea and that a resolute will to damne any man in case hee dyeth in infidelity and impenitency For we have the cleare word of God to justifie us herein professing most evidently that Whosoever beleeveth shall be saved whosoever beleeveth not shall be damned So that I wonder not a little whereto these expressions tend save that commonly such is the issue of imperfect conceptions all preparations to the justifying of them fall miserably short of that whereunto they aime 2. As touching the second act either you must professe that no Infants perish in originall sinne or you must according to your Tenet consider them onely in massa primitus corrupta for as much as they dying before they came to the use of reason were never guilty of any voluntary falling off from the meanes either of grace in the second Adam or of the knowledge of God in nature by some acts of carelesse or wilfull disobedience As for their opinion who thinke the consideration of all men in massa Adae sufficient to justifie God in decreeing the condemnation of all I take it to be a very rude and undigested conceit for undoubtedly if the consideration of sinne be at all prerequired to the decree of condemnation it must bee the consideration rather of that sinne for which they are chiefly damned For shall the consideration of that sinne onely which deserves the least degree of damnation justifie God in the decreeing the greatest degree of condemnation what colour of justice is found in this Shall the consideration of telling an officious lye justifie a Magistrate in decreeing to inflict such a punishment as is due onely to high treason I say rather that God considers none in massa Adae before they are in massa Adae for thus to consider is not considerare but errare or fingere which wee cannot decently attribute to God but God considered all men tanquam in massa Adae futuros and as many as should dye in infancy God considered them in no other state of sinne tanquam futuros but in that As for as many as should survive to the use of reason God considered them tanquam futuros not onely in massa Adae but guilty of their owne personall transgressions and whom hee so considered and withall as finally persevering therein all them hee decreed to damne So likewise whom hee considered tanquam fideles futuros resipiscentiam acturos in fide resipiscentia perseveraturos hee decreed to save But take heed that herehence you inferre not Therefore fore-sight of perseverance in sin was the cause or prerequisite of Reprobation lest you be driven by just proportion to confesse that fore-sight of faith also and perseverance therein was the cause or prerequisite at least of Election Yet doe not hereupon fall into the contrary extreme as to thinke that then the decree of Salvation and Damnation precedes the foresight of faith on the one side or of finall impenitency on the other though such delusions have had their course and passed in the world a long time and all for want of a little Logick in discerning the right order in intention of the meanes tending to a certaine end For both creation and permission of sinne in Adam and finall perseverance in sinne and damnation for sinne are but joynt meanes tending to one end to wit the glory of God in the way of justice vindicative and consequently the intention of all those meanes is at once neither before nor after other howsoever they are not at once in execution which perhaps is the rock of offence whereat many stumble ere they are aware As for example To the curing of a disease a Physician discerneth that many operations are necessarily requisite these are at once intended the nature of the disease bespeaking them all but they are not nor cannot be executed at once The like may bee said of all other proceedings according to the order of media and finis So on the other side creation permission of sin deliverance from sinne by the grace of faith and repentance and finally salvation are all but joynt meanes tending to one and the same end to wit the glory of God in the way of mercy mixt with justice and consequently all at once in intention though not all at once in execution But to disprove that which here you affirme as if some wilfull disobedience in Gods fore-sight was before the decree of condemnation I dispute thus according to your owne rules If the fore-sight of disobedience did precede the decree of condemnation then God did first decree to permit this disobedience before hee did decree to damne any man for it which is as much as to say Mans disobedience was first in Gods intention and consequently it must be last in execution that is men must first be damned for their disobedience before God permits them to become disobedient But let us consider your grounds in the next place That God hath some willingnesse to glorifie his distributive justice as well as vindicative in rewarding the world with life upon condition of obedience and repentance as well as with death upon condition
moment of nature and reason will both prevent this inconvenience and also justifie Gods decree of condemnation to proceed upon the consideration of those sinnes for which hee purposeth to condemne them But then there is another point of great moment which in like manner must be accorded unto though you seeme to be little aware of it though I willingly confesse this over-sight is very generall namely that God decreeth the salvation of none of ripe yeares but upon or with a joynt consideration of their faith repentance and good workes For let us first make the decrees of salvation and condemnation matches As for example Reprobation as it is accounted the decree of condemnation is a decree of punishing with everlasting death Now if you will match Election unto this as it is the decree of salvation it must be conceived as a decree of rewarding with everlasting life Now let any man judge whether this decree must not as necessarily be conjoyned with the consideration of faith repentance and good works in men of ripe years as the decree of condemnation or of punishing with everlasting death must be conjoyned with the consideration of those sinnes for which God purposeth to punish them And I will further demonstrate it thus Like as the decree of permitting some men to sinne and to continue therein to the end and Gods decree of condemning for sinne are joynt decrees neither afore nor after other and consequently the decree of condemning for sinne must necessarily be conjoyned with the consideration of sinne In like sort Gods decree of giving some faith repentance and good workes and his decree of rewarding them with everlasting life are joynt decrees neither of them afore or after other and consequently Gods decree of saving them and rewarding them with everlasting life is joyned with the consideration of their faith repentance and good workes Now that these are joynt decrees I prove thus First the decree of salvation cannot precede the decree of giving faith and repentance for if it should then salvation were the end of faith and repentance but salvation is not the end as I prove thus The end is such as doth necessarily bespeake the meanes tending thereunto but salvation doth not necessarily bespeake faith and repentance tending thereunto for God intending the salvation of Angels brought it to passe without faith and repentance as likewise the salvation of many an infant hee brings to passe without faith and repentance Secondly the end of Gods actions can be nothing but himselfe and his owne glory and therefore salvation it selfe must have for end the glory of God Now examine what glory of God is manifested in mans salvation and it will forth with appeare upon due examination that the glory of God manifested in mans salvation is such as whereunto not salvation only doth tend but diverse other things joyntly concurring with salvation thereunto As for example Gods glory manifested on the elect is in the highest degree of grace but in the way of mercie mixt with justice This requires permission of sin the sending of Christ to make satisfaction for sinne faith and repentance for Gods justice is seen partly in conferring salvation by way of reward and last of all salvation Out of all these results the glory of God in doing good to his creature in the highest degree of grace proceeding in the way of mercie mixt with justice Thirdly if God gave faith and repentance to this end to bring his elect unto salvation as to the end thereof then by just proportion of reason God should deny the gift of faith and repentance unto others that is to permit them finally to persevere in their sinners thereby to procure their condemnation as the end thereof which you will not affirme neither can it with any sobrietie be affirmed In the next place I will shew that neither can the decree of giving faith and repentance precede the decree of salvation for if it should then should faith repentance be the last in execution to wit if it were first in intention and consequently men should first be saved and afterwards have faith and repentance granted unto them Thus I have shewed my readinesse to concurre with you in opinion in this particular and that upon other grounds than yours and whose grounds are more sound yours or mine I am content to remit it to the judgement of any indifferent Reader As for your reason here mentioned repeating onely what you have formerly delivered as touching the will and good pleasure of God not for the death but for the life not onely of the elect but of all others also the vanitie of this assertion of yours I thinke I have sufficiently discovered And I wonder you should carry it thus not of the death but of the life when most an end you have carried it onely thus hitherunto that Gods willing their life is onely upon condition of their obedience and repentance not otherwise Or in a disjunct axiome thus Either of life in case they repent or of death in case they did not repent and what should move you to call this a willing to give them life and not to inflict death Why should you not rather call it a will to inflict death and not to give life considering that God was resolved to deny them such grace as would effectually bring them to obedience and repentance and to grant them only such a grace as he fore-knew full well would never bring them to obedience and repentance 1. Cain was of the familie of Adam to whom the promise was made concerning the seed of the woman that he should break the serpents head and although Cain was offered acceptance upon his repentance yet it followeth not that all were offered the same acceptance even those that never received any tidings or promise concerning the Messiah And the Apostle plainly signifies that the Gentiles were not admonished to repent untill Christ was preached unto them Act. 17. 30. But suppose it were so yet this hinders nothing at all the precedencie of the decree of condemnation unto the decree of giving such a Covenant and permitting them to dispise it For because God purposed to damne them for such a sinne therefore hee might decree to give them such a Covenant and permit them or expose them by leaving them destitute of his grace to the despising of it Not that I doe approve of any such conceit as before I have manifested but to shew how short your discourse falls of making good that which you undertake to prove And I am much deceived if you mistake not their tenet who make reprobation to proceed upon the consideration of the corrupt masle in Adam For undoubtedly their meaning hereupon is not to maintaine that God did purpose to condemne all reprobates only for the sin of Adam or for originall sinne drawne from him this were a very mad conceit But supposing that by Adams fall an impotency of doing that which is good is come upon
erraverit locutus suerit ego dominus seduxi prophetam illum extendam manum meam super eum exterminabo eum de medio populi mei Israel patientia est an potentia Quod libet eligas vel utrumque fatearis vides tamen falsa prophetantis peccatum esse paenamque peccati An hic dicturus es quod ait Ego dominus seduxi prophetam illum intelligendum esse deserui ut pro ejus meritis seductus â—rraret Age ut vis tamen eo modo punitus est pro peccato ut falsum prophetando peccaret sed illud intuere quod vidit Micheas propheta Dominum sedentem super thronum suum omnis exercitus caeli stabat circa eum a dextris ejus a sinistris ejus Et dixit dominus Quis seducet Achab Regem Israelis ascendet cadet in Ramoth Gilead dixit iste sic iste sic Et exiit spiritus stetit in conspectu Domini dixit Ego seducam eum Et dixit Dominus ad cum in quo Et dixit exibo ero spiritus mendax in ore omnium prophetarum ejus Et dixit Seduces praevalebis exi fac sic Quid ad ista dicturus es Nempe Rex ipse peccavit falsis eredendo prophetis At haec ipsa erat paena peccati Deo judicante Deo mittente angelum malum Ut apertius intelligeremus quomodo in psalmo dictum sit Misisse iram indignationis suae per angelos malos Sed numquid errando numquid injuste quicquam aut temere judicando sive faciendo Absit Sed non frustra illi dictum est Judicia tua sicut abyssus multa Non frustra exclamat Apostolus O altitudo divitiarum sapientiae scientiae Dei quam inscrutabilia sunt judicia ejus investigabiles viae ejus Quis enim cognovit sensum Domini aut quis consiliarius ejus suit aut quis prior dedit illi ut retribuatur ei And again in the same Chapter Sequitur propter hoc Tradidit illos Deus in passiones ignominiae Audis propter hoc quaeris inaniter quomodo intelligendus sit tradere Deus multum laborans ut ostendas cum tradere deserendo sed quomodo libet tradat propter hoc tradidit Propter hoc desâ—ruit vides ejus traditionem qualem libet quomodo libet intelligas quae consecuta sunt Curavit enim Apostolus dicere quanta paena sit a Deo tradi passionibus ignominiae sive deserende sive alio quocunque vel explicabili vel inexplicabili modo quo facit hoc summe bonus ineffabiliter justus Thirdly as touching the third there is as little sounding in that also for already you have confessed that the Apostle in answering this objection to justifie God hath recourse to Gods soveraignty over his creatures as great as the potter hath over the clay who maketh vessels of what fashion hee will and to what end hee will But in the last place you feign most unreasonably a justification of Gods course in hardning whom hee will from the consideration of the persons hardned as being sinners I say this is most unreasonable First because when the creature is dealt withall according to his deserts this alone is most sufficient and satisfactory to every one that acknowledgeth it for the justification of any course taken with such And it is meerly in vain to fly to any other course of justification especially when it is lesse satisfactory then this And how strange were it that the Apostle should insist so fully and directly upon that other course of satisfaction upon the consideration of Gods soveraignty and should onely intimate this and that obscurely when this doth afford farre better satisfaction then the former Secondly in this case there were no ground for any such objection nor any colour of unreasonablenesse if God did but deale with them according to their deserts as often as hee hardneth them Thirdly the objection ariseth not upon Gods hardning a man simply but upon the hardning of whom hee will and that in a conjunct consideration with his shewing mercy therewithall on whom hee will In which case if God bee justifyed from the consideration of their conditions with whom hee deales like as hee dealeth differently with them in shewing mercy on some and hardning others so there should bee acknowledged a different condition in the persons with whom God dealeth in so different a manner But it is confessed by you that the persons here in St. Pauls consideration are equall with whom neverthelesse God deales very unequally Fourthly though this bee a plausible course in the judgement of man especially of the Arminians for the smothering of the light of Gods truth in this place yet when it is well considered in the proper nature of it I presume it will bee very dissonant unto common reason For what I pray you is hardning in this place standing in opposition to the shewing of mercy but onely the denying of the grace of Faith and Repentance to them that heare the Gospel like as to shew mercy is to give the grace of Faith and Repentance as appeareth manifestly both by the same phrase used Rom. 11. 30 31. and also by this very place cleering it self For it is such an operation whereupon it will follow that God shall have cause or occasion to complain as appeareth by the objection moved hereupon Now I say to deny Faith and Repentance is not of the nature of a punishment neither can it bee said with sobriety that man by sin doth deserve that God should deny him faith and repentance like as it cannot bee with sobriety affirmed that man by being sick hath deserved that the Physitian should not cure him or that man being dead hath deserved thereby that God should not raise him from death whereas indeed a man could not bee raised from death unlesse hee were first dead nor cured unlesse first sick neither were there any need of Faith in Christ crucifyed and of repentance unlesse man were a sinner Lastly consider as there is a grace of raising from out of sin so there is a grace of pieserving from sin This grace God granted to the elect Angels hee denyed to the rest meerly out of his own free pleasure according to the Soveraignty hee hath over his creatures and not with any reference unto sin preceding For how was that possible namely that there could bee any sin found in Angels before their first sin yet were the one to wit the elect Angels amplius adjuti more succoured then the other as Austin exprestely profesteth lib. 12. De Civ Dei cap. 9. Indeed I finde Ephes 2. 3. That wee are born children of wrath in respect of sin but that sin makes a man a vessell of wrath or that hee is not a vessell of wrath till sin comes the Apostle saith not nay the Apostle intimates the contrary when hee represents the power of
God over his creatures by the power of the Potter over the Clay in making therehence one vessell to honour and another to dishonour It is true since the fall of Adam man in his generation hath no being without sin for wee are even conceived in sin yet it is not that sin that makes a man a vessell of wrath for if it did then all should bee made by God vessels of wrath But albeit the Apostle signifies that wee are all born children of wrath which is verifyed in respect of the desert even of sin originall yet neither Apostle nor Prophet doth any where give us to understand that all men are made vessels of wrath This phrase includes first the intention of God like a Potter to make such use of them as to make his just wrath appeare upon them and this purpose of God was everlasting not onely as old as every mans generation but as old as the creation of all yea and from everlasting before the Creation Secondly it includes also a fitnesse in the vessell for such an use not fitnesse in the way of desert only such fitnesse being found in all the naturall sons of Adam but fitnesse in respect of Gods purpose to shew wrath Now like as in proportion hereunto the making of a man fit for mercy is the giving of him grace so the denying of grace finally makes him fit for wrath in this sense for as much as God will damn none but such as die in their sins Here I speak of wrath and mercy as they consist in giving salvation or inflicting damnation Lastly if none are ripened for destruction till the refusall of meanes of grace or the committing of grosse and unnaturall iniquity then it followeth that no Infants of Turks and Sarecens are vessels of wrath No nor men of ripe yeers amongst the heathen many of whom never having either refused the means of grace for as much as they never injoyed them and having lived civilly and morally all their dayes Philosopher-like free from grosse and unnaturall iniquity And though all this bee granted you yet if God to that end refuse to shew mercy on them in giving them Faith and Repentance and continues to harden them by denying such grace look how rigorous or unreasonable soever the objection pretended Gods course to bee in complaining of them for their disobedience when God himself hath hardned them in the same degree of rigour and unreasonablenesse it continues still without all mitigation notwithstanding all that you have said hitherto to the contrary Fourthly as for the fourth I have no desire to quarrell with you thereabout Gods judgements indeed Rom. 11. 33. that is his agendirationes as Piscator interpreteth it are unsearchable and his wayes past finding out But you take a course quite contrary to make them nothing unsearchable but easie to be found out For if obduration bee in respect of sin surely there is no unsearchable depth in this And in my opinion the chief wayes of God which the Apostle aimes it in the place alledged consists in having mercy on whom hee will and hardning whom he will and in generall thus in proportion to that which goeth before There was a time when God had a Church without distinction of Jews and Gentiles as before the Flood and after till the bringing of the children of Israel out of Aegypt Again there was a time after this for about 1600. yeers that God had a Church of the Jews in distinction from the Gentiles And since that for the space of about 1600. yeers God hath had a Church among the Gentiles in distinction from the Jews And we look for a time to come when God shall have a Church and that here on earth consisting both of the Nation of the Jews and of the Nations of the Gentiles Three of these states are signifyed by the Apostle immediately before Rom. 11. 30. For even as yee in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 past have not beleeved God yet have now obtained mercy through their unbeleef there have wee two of them one past another then present Then follows the third ver 31. Even so now have they not beleeved by the mercy shewed unto you this is part of the second that they also may obtain mercy This is the third which wee look for ver 32. For God hath shut up all in unbeleefe that hee might have mercy upon all Then follows the exclamation ver 33. O the deepnesse of the riches both of the wisdome and knowledge of God for hee knows all courses possible to bee taken both wise and unwise and out of the depth of his wisdome makes choyce of what hee thinks fit O how unsearchable are his judgements for out of all these different courses results such a splendor of the glory of God as no creature till it bee revealed can project nor devise any courses countervailable thereunto when it is revealed and his wayes past finding out FINIS The English of the Latine passages in this Treatise in the severall Pages thereof that are not formerly englished PAge 10. lin 2 3 4. The Apostle saith that we are chosen in Christ as in a Mediatour by whose bloud salvation is procured for us lin 5. As touching the act of God choosing lin 17 18. as in the head The nature of an head is not the nature of a cause meritorious lin 19 20 21. The Apostle saith that we are elect in Christ as in a Mediatour by whose bloud life is precured for us l. 21. a meritorious cause lin 22 23 24. and as in an head from whence these good things are derived to us So that the reason of an head is the reason of a meritorious cause not morally but naturally l. 26. as in the head l. 27. as dead and raised again l. 37. Christ is the head of the predestinate Page 11. lin 5 6. The other reason concerning Christ considered as the head seemeth to depend on these parts Page 12. l. 5. a thing being by accident l. 28. Predestination puts nothing in the thing predestinated l. 31. in all things Page 13. lin 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15. By the comparing of which sentense it appeares that the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is here rightly rendred among all It is a Greek phrase lest some one might conceive it ought to be translated in all to wit in all things We are to remember that the Apostle from this verse began to discourse of Christs kingdom in his Church which no man will deny if hee doth but lightly consider the very words themselves and therefore under the universall particle no other thing is comprehended but all believers of all times Christ is the first of them that rise again that among all the Saints both of them that went before and of them that came after he might have the primacy of dignity power and holinesse that so among all hee might have the preheminence not onely in respect of men but also of
sometimes you doe even in this Section more than once as when you say Gods Purpose willeth life to the world upon the condition of their obedience and repentance it would manifestly appeare that there was no reason to distinguish the Elect from the Reprobate in this Purpose of God seeing it equally passeth upon them both For undoubtedly Gods Purpose is not to give the Elect life but upon condition of their obedience and repentance And likewise his Purpose was to condemne all one as well as another upon the condition of their disobedience and unrepentance But had you dealt thus plainly then you would be driven to acknowledge another decree which alone puts the difference between the Elect and the Reprobate and that is the decree of God to shew mercy in giving the grace of obedience and repentance unto the one and of hardening in denying the grace of obedience and repentance unto the other But this plaine-dealing had utterly marred the state of your present discourse in this particular Yet to touch something by the way How I pray doth God the Father by the end of the Creation of his workes and Providence beare witnesse to this Point that it is the will and good pleasure of God to save the Elect not according to their owne workes but his grace Secondly if God the Sonne died for the whole world Reprobate and Elect how doth this testifie that onely a few called the Elect should be saved by Gods grace Is there any greater grace than the grace of Redemption by the bloud of Christ which is both of a satisfactory nature for all sinne and of a meritorious nature to purchase all grace and all glory And shall not God deale with Christ according to the exigence of his merits and satisfactions whether they were meritorious and satisfactory so farre of their owne nature or by the constitution of God all is one Last of all as touching the motions of the Spirit if they are no other then morall invitations they tend to no other end then to bring all men alike unto salvation in case they are obeyed and to expose all alike unto condemnation in case they are disobeyed If wee speake of other motions making the former effectuall unto obedience and repentance these being found onely in the Elect are documents of Gods will and purpose to save them to whom they are granted and as manifest a document that Gods will and purpose is not to save them to whom they are denyed As for the harmony you speake of between Gods Purpose and Covenant herein is your error two-fold First in that you apply this wholly to the world to Reprobates whereas it concernes as I have shewed the Elect as well as the Reprobate the reason whereof is because it respects onely the collating of salvation and inflicting of condemnation which have their course upon condition But there is another worke of Gods Providence concerning the giving or denying of grace for performing the condition of life And this worke is not performed upon any condition but meerly according to the good pleasure of God in shewing mercy to whom hee will and hardening whom he will And the Purpose of God for the execution of these is clearly absolute without all colour of condition And whereas you conceive this Purpose of God thus absolute concernes onely the Elect that is your second error For God doth not more absolutely grant the gift of obedience and repentance unto his Elect than hee doth deny it unto Reprobates as I doubt not but will be made clearly to appeare if you should come to a Collation hereabout But I doe not thinke you have any purpose to deale upon this but carry your selfe in a way of your owne not exactly considered wherein confusion of things that are to be distinguished doth afford you the best service As for the third which this harmony you speake of comprehends to wit the Providence of God I left that out because you shape to your selfe such a Providence of God as whereby God did provide for all men in all ages sufficient meanes of grace to bring them to obedience and repentance which seemes to be the opinion of the Author who wrote the two bookes De vocatione Gentium For the justification of which conceit though Arminians now-adayes relye much upon that Author in this particular I freely confesse I know no reason nor colour of reason As for the comparison you make between a godly regenerate man and God you might as well have shaped it betweene many an honest heathen man and God But you consider not a most momentous difference man purposeth to doe things upon conditions the performance or not performance whereof he is not able to fore-see much lesse able to dispose of efficacy to performe the condition to whom hee will and to deny it to whom hee will all which is incident unto God and casts us necessarily upon the acknowledgement of an absolute Purpose in God to performe this as hee thinkes good which is not to be found in man Againe you conceive this Purpose and Covenant of God to be made onely with the world who will never performe it Man enters upon no such Purposes and Covenants but rather such the conditions whereof are as soon performed as not performed And I wonder you should swallow this comparison as exact not considering the foule disproportion that is found therein between God and man But affection to our owne opinion I confesse is apt to abuse us and make us take notice onely of that which makes for us not of that which makes much more against us As for the Objection here inserted in the Answer whereunto you trouble your selfe not a little you might well have spared your paines and answered in briefe that though it were very strange that any thing should not be accomplished which God doth will absolutely yet surely it is nothing strange that that should not be accomplished which God doth will to come to passe onely upon a condition for the condition failing there is no reason why wee should expect the accomplishment thereof And such is the will of God which here you propose concerning the world namely in willing that they shall be saved on condition of their obedience and repentance damned in case of their disobedience and impenitency Yet it is not amisse to consider what you let fall in your Answer to an Objection very needlesse and which no wise man amongst them who are adverse to you in this opinion would frame That act of Gods will you say which it pleaseth God to put forth is alwayes accomplished I demand then as touching this will of God whereby hee wills life to the world upon their obedience and repentance whether it be accomplished or no If it be then it is accomplished in their condemnation for certainly it is not accomplished in their salvation And to this effect I presume tends your answer in the next Section That which followes when you
is to neglect the meanes And consequently to use the meanes aright was to doe accordingly as they were informed And indeed if they had done otherwise then they did they had not done so bad as they did I finde such giddinesse of discourse usually amongst the Arminians while they satisfie themselves with phrases never examining particularly the matter and substance of their own expressions Because of the abuse of these talents and meanes of grace God therefore doth deny to the men of this world such powerfull and gracious helpes as hee vouchsafeth freely to the Elect to draw them on effectually to repentance and salvation The Gentiles abusing the light of nature God gave them up to vile affections yea even to a reprobate minde The Pharisees because they employed the talent of their wealth unfaithfully God would not trust them with the true riches The Jews because they rejected Christ and his Word and his Messengers with scornfull and bitter malignity and brought forth grapes of gall and wormwood therefore God took his Word from them and hid from them the things that did belong unto their peace hee took the kingdome of God from them and gave them as a prey to sinne and misery and derision Psal 81. 11 12. What if none of the world as opposed to the Elect ever came to Christ or made such use of the means and helpes offered in him unto them as to obtaine salvation and regenerating grace by him yet might they have made better use of the means then they did which because they did not it was just with God to deny them greater means who thus abused the lesser In all this wee have as pure Arminianisme tendred unto us as could drop from the pen of Arminius himselfe or Corvinus Yet God forbid wee should co nomine for that cause dislike it It truth wee must embrace it though it come out of the mouth of the Devill If falshood wee shall by Gods grace disclaim it though it proceed out of the mouth of Angels of light and not disclaim it onely but disprove it also You may as well say that God doth not draw the men of this world effectually to Repentance because they doe abuse the talents and means of grace but this I disprove thus First if this bee the cause why God doth not draw them to repentance then this is the cause why hee sheweth not to them that mercy which hee doth to the Elect but this is not the cause thereof which I prove thus The meer pleasure of God is the cause therefore that is not The antecedent thus God shews mercy on whom hee will and hardens that is denies mercy to whom hee will If to harden were not to deny mercy it could not stand in opposition to shewing mercy The consequence I demonstrate thus If to deny mercy to whom hee will doth not inferre that mercy is not denyed according unto works then to shew mercy to whom hee will doth not inferre that mercy is not shewed according unto works Secondly if mens evil works were the cause why God denies them mercy then it could not bee said that God denies mercy because it is the pleasure of his will to deny it For if a reason bee demanded why a malefactor is hanged it were very absurd to answer that the reason is because it was the pleasure of the Magistrate to have him hanged Thirdly if evill works bee the deserving cause why Gods mercy is denyed unto men then either by necessity of nature or by constitution of God Not by necessity of nature in opposition to the constitution of God for then by necessity of nature God must bee compelled to deny mercy unto such what then shall become of Gods Elect unlesse you will say that their workes before mercy shewed them were not so bad as others which were equally to contradict both experience and the Word of God For in this case men should have mercy shewed on them according to their works to wit as they were found lesse evill then the works of others Nor by constitution of God For first shew mee any such constitution that men in such a condition of evill works shall bee denyed mercy Secondly by the same constitution mercy should bee denyed to the Elect also When you speak of the Gentiles in this case abusing the light of Nature and given over to vile affections you take your aime miserably amisse For the Gentiles are not the men of the world in opposition to the Elect. But God forbid that the Gentiles and the men of the world should bee terms convertible in this kinde for then what should become of us Certainly the number of Gods Elect is greater amongst the Gentiles then among the Jews and even of those that were given over to vile affections some were Elect as appears 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. And to say that the cause why God denies them mercy was because they abused the light of nature I have freshly disproved this and that evidently as I presume the intelligent Reader will observe though the contrary I confesse bee very plausible at the first sight and before wee come to the discussing of it Thirdly you take your aime amisse also though not in so great measure as in the former in the phrases For even of the Pharisees some were Elect witnesse holy Paul Who abused his zeale of the Law more foully then hee even to the persecuring of Gods Church yet was not the true treasure denyed to him and that in the highest measure And as for Reprobates if you think their unfaithfulnesse in the use of their wealth was the cause why mercy was denyed them for the disproofe hereof I refer mee to my former arguments Fourthly the very Elect of God not onely rejected Christ for a time but also crucifyed him That which you urge of Gods taking his word and Kingdom in plain terms the means of grace from such a Nation as contemns them is nothing to the purpose For wee treat of Gods shewing and denying mercy not in the means but as touching the grace it self of Repentance But this benefit you have confounded by comprehending both under the name of meanes and helpes for your advantage to passe from the one to the other as you see good Here indeed it is as true that because men doe make precious account of the means of grace therefore God continueth these means unto them like as because of mens perseverance in Faith and Repentance and good works God rewards them with everlasting life like as because men die in their sins therefore God inflicts on them everlasting death Onely with this difference Sin on the one side is the meritorious cause both of withdrawing the means of grace and of damnation but conscionable walking before God in the use of the means is only the disposing cause both to the continuance of the means and to eternall salvation For God by grace makes us meet partakers of
my Covenant between mee and thee and thy seed after thee for an everlasting Covenant To bee a God to thee and to thy seed after thee This I conceive to bee the Word of God which the Apostle had before his eyes when hee delivered this and denyed that this word and promise of God can bee of none effect although it bee granted that most part of the Jews bee rejected provided that all are not And hee gives this reason to wit because this word and promise of God concerning Abrahams seed to bee taken into his Covenant of Grace did not comprehend all his seed for all are not Israel that are of Israel c. seeing then wee doe not maintain that all Israel are rejected for as it followeth Rom. 11. 1. I demand then Hath God cast away his people God forbid For I am also an Israelite God hath not cast away his people whom hee knew before ver 5. Even so then at this present there is a remnant according to the Election of grace Withall the Apostle signifyeth that not one of Gods people is rejected to wit not one of them whom hee did foreknow which Rom. 9. 8. are called children of promise in opposition to the children of the flesh alluding to Isaac who was begotten beyond the power of nature and by vertue of Gods promise made to Abraham for a Son when both hee and Sarah were dead as touching any naturall power to beget or conceive a Childe But God to make his promise good inabled them with power hereunto above nature And conformably hereunto alluding also to the condition of Gods children begotten unto him not by power of nature but above nature by vertue of a promise likewise even that which hee made unto Abraham that in his seed that is in Christ all the Nations of the earth should bee blessed That is the Elect of God amongst all Nations And to make this good by the power of his grace and his holy Spirit hee begets them unto himself each in his appointed time according to their generations Quest Is there not then unrighteousnesse with God to deale so unequally with persons equall ver 14. Answ God forbid which denyall the Apostle proveth by a double testimony of Moses both of them declaring the absolute Soveraignty of God over the creatures and thereby his liberty to deale diversly or unequally with persons equall First the one by shewing the independency of his mercy ver 15. wherein hee inferreth a Corollary denying the obtaining of mercy to the means which the creature useth who findeth mercy ver 16. Secondly by declaring and setting forth the right God challengeth to himself to stirre up a sinfull Creature to this purpose to shew his power on him though it bee in his just hardning and overthrow ver 17. Where hee inferreth another Corollary arising from both these places ascribing as well the hardning of the creature that is hardned as the shewing mercy to him that obtaineth mercy both to the absolute Soveraignty of Gods will ver 18. This objection ariseth from the consideration of the equality of Esau and Jacob before they were born and whilest they were in their mothers wombe The Answer is rightly conceived as freeing God from injustice by reason of the soveraignty hee hath over his creatures and liberty thereupon to deale not onely as here it is expressed in generall diversly or unequally with persons equall for so hee deales even with his Elect giving a greater measure of grace to one as even to Saul a persecutor and lesse to another though never so morall and free from such as the world accounts foule sinnes before their callings but so unequally as to shew mercy unto one and to deny mercy unto the other For the more full explication whereof wee are to consider that righteousnesse or Justice is taken in a double notion The one is when things are carried towards men according to their works The other is when a man doth no other thing then hee hath power to doe as in executing the power that God hath given them over inferiour Creatures wee are just though wee doe kill Sheep or Oxen c. Not in reference to any works of theirs but onely in reference to our own necessary use and unto that lawfull power which God hath given us to serve our own turns of them And thus God is not unjust or unrighteous but righteous and just in shewing mercy on some and not on others when there is no difference between them But whereas it is said ver 16. that the Apostle inferreth a Corollary denying the obtaining of mercy to the means which the Creature useth to finde mercy implying that when the Apostle saith it is not of him that willeth and of him that runneth this of willing and running are the meanes to obtaine mercy I no way like this for if it bee understood of willing and running in a naturall manner such willing and running are no means to obtain mercy Or if it bee to bee understood of willing and running in a gracious manner whosoever thus willeth and runneth hath obtained mercy as the Apostle signifyeth when hee saith I found mercy that I should bee faithfull And to obtain mercy in the Apostles phrase Rom. 11. 30. and 31. is clearely to obtain faith and repentance So that according to this exposition the meaning of the Apostle is this though man is hee who beleeveth and repenteth yet the glory of all is to bee given unto God as who sheweth mercy to whom hee will when as freely hee denyeth it to others and so hardneth them And that this is the Apostles meaning in this place it appeareth by the Antithesis which the Apostle makes between shewing mercy on the one side and hardning on the other Again whereas the right of God in stirring up a creature to this purpose to shew his power on him though it bee in his hardning and overthrow this right I say or rather the exercise of this right in God is confined to a sinfull creature this is quite besides the Apostles Text For albeit the creatures hee speaketh of as Pharaoh and the rebellious Israelites were sinfull creatures yet it doth not follow that the Apostle in the Doctrine which here hee delivereth taketh any notice of their sinfulnesse As indeed it is apparent that hee doth not justifie Gods courses here mentioned upon the consideration of their sinfulnesse but only upon the consideration of Gods Soveraignty over his creatures And indeed it is plain that of two sinners God can give the grace of raising from sin to whom hee will and deny it unto the other so it is manifest that of two creatures standing in the estate of grace God can maintain the one in that estate by his corroborating grace and by denying the same grace permit the other to fall from that estate of innocency wherein hee stood As it is clear in the difference that God put betwixt the Angels that stood to
Christs humiliation was the meanes of Christs advancement and I prove it Those only are to bee accounted meanes to such an end quorum ratio petitur a ratione finis designati that is the means are onely such as the nature of the end duly considered doth bespeake But the advancement of Christ doth not bespeake any such meanes for undoubtedly God could advance Christ without any such humiliation nay having taken his manhood into an hypostaticall union with his Son even in this respect his advancement was far more requisite than in respect of his humiliation You will say God purposed to advance him no other way then this I grant it and if you consider it well you shall find the reason of it by considering the right ends hereof in the counsell of God And these are different one was in respect of others to wit that he might be a fit Saviour of Gods elect not that their salvation was the end of his humiliation but the glory of God in a certain kind the end of both to wit both of his humiliation and our salvation namely the glory of his free grace in the way of mercy mixt with justice This end required satisfaction as without which it could not be procured But here I confesse the advancement of Christ hath no place but in another consideration it shall find place and that as a joynt meanes together with his humiliation for another kind of glory would God the Father manifest in Christ And indeed the Nation of mankind is as a glasse wherein a very complete body of Gods glory doth appear in very great variety and that was the manifestation of his glory in the way of remunerative justice in the highest degree remunerating obedience I say in the highest degree both in respect of the reward deserved and also in respect of the desert it selfe the reward being the sitting in the Throne of his Father and to have all judgment committed unto the Sonne the desert being the obedience of the Son of God one and the same God with his Father humbling himselfe to death even to the death of the crosse for the salvation of Gods elect But perhaps you may further say It is not necessary that the means should bee only such as the end doth naturally require For God could have brought man to salvation the same way he brought Angels without faith and repentance yea hee could have made them and immediatly have translated them into glory yet wee commonly say Faith and Repentance are the means of salvation I answer granting not onely that wee commonly say so but that wee truly say so in respect of our selves namely that as salvation is the scope and end wee aime at so faith and repentance are the onely meanes to bring us thereunto but in respect of God it is utterly untrue for neither is our salvation the end of Gods actions but his owne glory Hee made all things for himselfe Prov. 16. 4. And if it were his end hee could have brought it about divers other wayes besides this but in that hee brings it to passe this way there is good reason for it as wee shall well perceive if wee take the end of God aright namely to manifest his glory in doing good to man in the highest degree and that in the way of mercy mixt with justice This end doth necessarily require a permission of sin again it doth require satisfaction as by the death of Christ and thirdly it doth require faith and repentance that so hee may doe him good by way of reward and lastly a glorious salvation which is the doing of him good in the highest degree And as mans salvation is not the end of Gods actions so neither is the glory of Christ as hee is man the end of Gods actions for such a glory inherent can but bee a created glory and no created thing can be the end of Gods actions but onely God himselfe For as he is the chiefe efficient of all so must hee bee the supreme end of all and as hee is most lovely and most good so must hee necessarily love that most which is most lovely even himselfe and aime at his owne glory in all 2 Now I come to the Apostles Text wherewith this Argument is backt 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All are yours and yee Christs and Christ Gods that is say you The world for the Church and the Church for Christ and Christ for God thereby giving us to understand That God first intended his glory for which are all things and then Christ for whom the Church is and then the Church for which the world is and then the world last of all But I pray you consider whether this Interpretation and Collection thereupon be not more superficiary than sound First when he saith All are yours is the world only to be understood by all Is not the world expresly named but as a member of this universall Are not Paul Apollos and Cephas also joyned with it together with life and death and things present and things to come and joyntly comprehended under the word all Verse 21. Let no man rejoyce in men for all things are yours Verse 22. Whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death whether they be things present or things to come even all are yours 23. And yee Christs and Christ Gods As he was perswaded Rom. 8. 38. That neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come 39. Nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature should bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and therefore wee need not feare them So here he goes further and tells us that all are put as it were in subjection unto us to worke for our good and therefore wee should not rejoyce in them but rather in Christ and in God who hath wrought this and ordered all this for our good through the merits of Christ not only Apostles and Pastours but even the very Angels also who pitch their tent about us and have charge given them to keep us in all our wayes and all of them are sent forth for the good of them that are heires of salvation Yet this subjection is onely of a spirituall and gracious nature nothing prejudicing their advancement above them whom they thus serve in love and that for this their service performed for Gods sake to whom rather they are in subjection then unto us yet so farre in subjection to worke our good that it becomes us not to rejoyce in any of them but rather in God who hath thus ordered them for our good and Christ for whose sake they are thus ordered An Argument like to that the Lord useth Deut. 4. 19. Take heed lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven and when thou seest the sunne and the moon and the starres with all the host of heaven shouldst bee driven to worship them
in carnall Christians Whereas if things were distinguished aright it would more easily appeare what is within the region of nature and what beyond it as meerely imputable to the speciall grace of God and operation of his spirit 3 As for dogs and swine wee are forbidden to give our holy things or to cast our pearles before them at all And therefore are wee not to trouble our selves in considering to what end this doctrine is to be preached unto them And yet as for the testifications proposed as proper unto them it is nothing so for not to them only but to carnall Christians also doe such belong yea to the very Children of God also to wit That God is just in all that cometh on them and his wayes equall As when after Davids foule sinnes in the matter of Uriah the sword pursued his house and Absolon defiled his fathers concubines and hee was driven to flie from Jerusalem and Shimei meeting him on the way cursed him c. And I pray you what unregenerate man throughout the world doth not love the cursed wayes of sin in some kind or other though not in all kinds And no marvell for vice is like a pike in a pond it devoures both vertue and lesser vices One vice is opposite to another and not onely unto vertue And therefore no mervaile if no man be found vicious in all kinds 4 As for the Lutheran and Arminian you professe that this Tenet of yours removes such stumbling blocks out of their way as have hitherto turned them out of the way of truth and peace But what these stumbling blocks are which you have removed I know not It seemes this hath been a chiefe inducement unto you to decline from that which you confesse to be the most received opinion of our Church and to shape unto your selfe a new forme of opinion different from that which is received if not to remove some stumbling blocks out of your owne way Now if it be so the fairest course had been to have expressed what these offences are Secondly how our most received Tenet doth either cast them in tho way of others or at least doth not remove them and thirdly to shew how by this opinion of yours they are removed But none of these have been performed by you Againe Mr. Moulin being very orthodox in the point of Election as you are varieth from us as you doe in the point of Reprobation maintaining Reprobation to be instituted upon the foresight of mans finall impenitency in his Anatome Arminianismi Corvinus an Arminan hath taken him to taske in a worke of his and is never a whit the more forward to concurre with us in the point of Election because Moulin concurres with them in the point of Reprobation Nay what doe Papists say about Durham by occasion of our complying with them but this They need not comply with us for wee come fast enough forwards to comply with them And more then this I have already shewed that this tempering or corrupting rather of the doctrine of Reprobation maketh a faire way for the utter overthrowing of that which you call the sound and comfortable doctrine of Election Forasmuch as looke by what reason you maintaine the foresight of small impenitencie and infidelitie to goe before Reprobation as it signifies the punishing with everlasting death by the same reason it will appeare that the foresight of finall perseverance in faith repentance and good workes must necessarily goe before Election as it signifies Gods decree of rewarding with everlasting life In which notion alone election or the decree of salvation is contrarily opposite to reprobation or the decree of condemnation For in maintaining that Reprobation as a purpose of God to condemne for sin doth presuppose the foresight of sinne you doe thereby imply that Election as a purpose of God to reward for righteousnesse of faith and repentance doth presuppose the foresight of faith and repentance But if your meaning be no other than this that God hath ordained no man unto damnation but for sinne what offence or scandall doe you remove hereby which wee doe not remove also who concurre with you herein And which is more wee are ready not onely to affirme but to make good also that in no moment of nature doth the purpose of Condemnation goe before the foresight of sinne even of that sinne for which men shall be damned Whereas you in maintaining that the foresight of sinne is precedent to the purpose of condemnation are not able to make it good but must necessarily fall foule upon a manifest contradiction to your owne rules For if the foresight of sinne be precedent to the decree of condemnation then God did first decree to permit sinne before hee did decree to damne for it And herehence it followeth that permission of sinne in Gods intention was before condemnation and if it were first in intention then by your owne rules it must be last in execution that is men shall be condemned for sinne before ever they be permitted to sinne Nay I appeale to your owne conscience whether wee doe not open a fairer way for composition in the point of election then you doe in the point of Reprobation Considering that like as in Reprobation Gods decree to condemne is in no moment of nature precedent to Gods foresight of sinne so in Election I am bold to affirme that Gods purpose to save is in no moment of nature before his foresight of faith repentance and good workes and finall perseverance in them all Will not you thinke that you have cause to feare hereupon that I am more dissolute in the point of Election than rigid in the point of Reprobation Yet if you will confesse that herein is a faire way opened for composition in the point of Election I dare undertake to perswade you that this shall be maintained without any prejudice either to the freenesse of Gods grace or to the absolutnesse of his power The truth is our Divines have a long time erred in making different decrees of those which are but one I mean formall decree to wit of the meanes though materially different which is nothing strange For why should it seeme strange that many meanes should be required to the same end Wee commonly say that Gods decree to give salvation is the decree of the end and his decree to give faith and repentance is the decree of the meanes yet they dare not say commonly that Gods decree to inflict damnation is the decree of the end and Gods decree to deny grace is the decree of the meanes And so they are driven to overthrow all Analogie between Election and Reprobation I say that Gods decree of giving faith and salvation unto sinners are but one formall decree of God concerning the meanes the end whereof is the manifestation of Gods glory in the way of mercie mixt with justice And indeed nothing can be the end of Gods actions but his owne glory for hee made all things
so qualifyed as to bee accounted a lesse degree of love and not a fruite of hatred for consider I beseech you is not this farre worse then to mischiefe a man by cutting off an arm or limb So that albeit Scripture did plainely professe that not to reprove a neighbour but suffer him to sin were an act of hatred yet it followeth not hence that hatred in this case signifies onely a lesse degree of love For certainly such an act to wit in sparing reproofe is worse by far then to give a man a box on the eare yet I presume you will not interpret that to bee hatred onely in such a sense as signifying a lesse degree of Love For certainly the fruites of love are the communications of good and not any contumelious inflicting of evill But by your leave I doe not finde that this is the Scriptures meaning in the place you aime at but rather in my judgement it seems to meet with a corrupt course of the world prone to conceive none to bee their greater enemies then such as reprove them To prevent this the Lord forbids the one to wit the hating of our brother and as expressely commands the other to wit to reprove our Neighbour manifesting thereby that reproofe may bee performed without any just suspition of hatred in him that reproveth In fine this interpretation of hatred which here you make is imbraced by Vossius in his Pelagion Story but hee doth not betray that hee is beholding to Cornelius de Lapide the Jesuite for it in his Commentaries on the ninth to the Romans And hee brings other manner of instances to prove it then you doe And so doth Junius also in Gen. 29. 31. though hee were farre enough off from applying it in the same sense to Esau as his son in law Vossius doth and the Jesuite doth before Vossius In few words your meaning is God did so far hate Esau even before hee had done good or evill that hee did not destinate unto him any saving grace as hee did unto Jacob. May you not as well say that hee did not destinate unto him glory as hee did to Jacob And even this in Aquinas his language is to hate where hee interpreteth Gods hatred of Esau before hee was born Yet you might bee pleased to goe a little further and to affirm that God did not onely not destinate unto him any saving grace but also that God was purposed to deny him such saving grace as hee granted unto Jacob and consequently hee purposed to deny him glory also if you bee pleased to gratifie your self in yeelding to this truth wee will willingly gratifie you in acknowledging that notwithstanding all this God purposed to deale with Esau according to his works As for that phrase of yours of putting him into the estate of a servant though it bee of little materiall consideration in this place yet I have sufficiently discussed it in examining your Answer to the first Doubt The Fifth Doubt Question 5. HOw may it appeare that all have a sufficiency of comming to Christ since no man can come without drawing Joh. 6. 44. 65. and hee who is drawn shall bee raised to life or since no man can come except it bee given him of the Father Which speech is a reason why wee ought not to murmure or bee offended if some beleeve not Rom. 11. 7. and since none but the Elect by the meanes of helpe and power Revelat. 2. 15. I no where say nor ever thought that all men had a sufficiency of power to beleeve or to come to Christ Far bee it from mee to avouch such ungracious Pelagianisme But this I say God giveth to the men of this world this world I say as opposed to the elect such meanes and helps of seeking after the Lord and finding mercy from him that they are sufficiently enabled by him to doe much more then they doe that way they are deprived of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come and with which none ever failed to come to Faith and Repentance Else how shall wee understand these and sundry such like places of Scripture Act. 17. 25 26 27. Rom. 1. 19. to 25. Rom. 2. 4 5. 14 15. Luk. 16. 11 12. Act. 1. 51 52. Act. 13. 46. Matth. 22. 37 38. Luk. 19. 41 42. Ezek. 24. 13. Prov. 1. 20. to 30. 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. Hose 11. 4. Esa 5. 3 4 5. Job 33. 14. to 18. Joh. 16. 69 From all which places I gather foure Conclusions pertinent to the point in hand First That God offereth to the men of this world helps and means either of the knowledge of God in Nature or of grace in Christ and that to this end to lead them to Repentance and Salvation Thus is God said to manifest to the Gentiles that which may bee known of him by his works and by his Law writen in their hearts and that to this end to make them to seek after the Lord to leade them to Repentance to withdraw them from their courses to heale their pride and to save their soules from the pit Thus God offered to the carnall Israelites means of grace to purge them to turn them Prov. 1. 13. to gather them Mat. 23. 37. to convince them Joh. 16. 8 9. To draw them with cords of man and bands of love Hos 11. 4. To dresse them to bring forth good fruit Esa 5. 4. Secondly That the meanes God useth for these good ends are in some measure sufficient if they bee not hindered by men to bring them to the attainment of these ends for when God saith himself hee useth these meanes for these ends for us to say these meanes are not sufficient for these ends seemeth to mee to derogate from the wisdom and sufficiency of God whose works are all of them perfect Deut. 32. 4. and so sufficient for the ends for which hee wrought them Yet God forbid I should doubt of that which our Saviour telleth the Jews No man can come to Christ except the Father draw him Joh. 6. 44. by the same Almighty power and authority whereby hee sent Christ into the world The whole tenour of your Answer in clearing the Fifth Doubt looks this way as if you maintained a sufficiency of power in those whom wee account Reprobates to perform such things upon the performance whereof they should bee saved I confesse you doe not make any expresse mention of Faith but of obedience in generall and of repentance which I presume you will acknowledge will bee inseparable from Faith And that you doe acknowledge a sufficiency in them to perform Obedience and Repentance requifite to Salvation I prove thus You maintain a true desire in God of their Salvation and how can this stand with the denyall of such sufficiency as is in his power to grant Againe You expressely maintain that there is in God a serious and fervent affection not concerning their Salvation only but their Conversion also
him will you say that every naturall man hath power to discern the nature of God in such sort as to preserve himself from blasphemy every way The third place is out of Rom. 2. 4 5. Despisest thou the riches of his bountifulnesse and patience and long sufferance not knowing that the bountifulnesse of God leadeth thee to repentance 5. But thou after thine hardnesse and heart that cannot repent heapest up unto thy self as a treasure wrath against the day of wrath Now if this doth imply any ability in man of seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him it must needs bee in the way of repentance And this I confesse is a cleare way both of seeking the Lord and of finding mercy from him But dare you say that a naturall man hath power to repent I presume you will not unlesse you frame repentance after such a notion as will bee found to bee neither seeking of the Lord nor finding mercy from him And you your self here professe that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to repentance And in the very place alledged it is expressely said of them whom God is said to lead to repentance that the hardnesse of their heart is such that they cannot repent The fourth is taken out of Rom. 2. 14 15. When the Gentiles which have not the Law doe by nature the things contained in the Law they having not the Law are a law unto themselves which shew the effect of the Law written in their heart their conscience also bearing witnesse and their thoughts accusing one another or excusing I wish things were carryed with lesse ostentation and with more judgement then to alledge Scriptures and put the Reader upon making Arguments for them thence For my part I see no colour in all this to justifie any power and sufficiency in a Reprobate to seek the Lord and to finde mercy from him though I make no question but they have power to abstain from many things prohibited in the Law of God and to doe things commanded as touching the substance of the duty commanded or the action forbidden though they are farre enough off from doing it for Gods sake and out of the love of God with all their heart and with all their soule as whom they knew not even the very best of them 1 Cor. 1. 21. 1 Thess 4. 5. The fifth is drawn out of Luk. 16. 11 12. If yee have not been faithfull in the wicked riches who will trust you in the true treasures And if you have not been faithfull in another mans goods who shall give you that which is your own Hence you seem to infer that carnall men naturall men have power and ability to perform faithfulnesse in the administration of temporall riches and you might proceed further to inferre that by performing such fidelity which is in their power to perform they should have true riches and such as should never bee taken from them And what is to maintain that God doth dispence grace according to works if this bee not And yet this latter is with more probability inferred then the former For certainly God doth reward faithfulnesse in little with the bestowing of greater gifts as Matth. 25. 21. 23. But albeit they that are unfaithfull in little are unworthy to have greater gifts bestowed upon them yet herehence it doth not follow that meer naturall men have so much power of goodnesse in them as to bee faithfull unto God in the use of those naturall gifts which God hath bestowed upon them yet in spight of this unworthinesse which God findes in his Elect before their calling hee doth neverthelesse trust them with true riches And if they were faithfull therein they would bee found faithfull also in greater things For ver 10. our Saviour professeth That hee who is faithfull in the least is also faithfull in much The sixth place is Act. 7. 51 52. Yee stiffe-necked and of uncircumcised hearts and eares yee have alwayes resisted the Holy Ghost 52. Which of the Prophets have not your Fathers persecuted That which you stick upon I doubt not is this that they are said alway to have resisted the Holy Ghost both they and their Fathers Wee deny it not but will you herehence infer that they had power and ability to yeeld to the Holy Ghost If this inference like you then you may bee bold to inferre in like manner That because many resist the Holy Ghost moving them to faith and repentance therefore they have power and ability to yeeld to the Holy Ghost in this also that is to beleeve and repent Yet your self professe in this very Section that God deprives them of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to wit to the Lord and finde mercy from him which yet undoubtedly they should do did they beleeve and repent Yet I deny not but they might have abstained from persecuting the Prophets but I deny that it was in the power of any of them being but naturall men to abstaine from it in a gratious manner and acceptable in the sight of God And so long as they did not abstain so is it fit to call it a seeking after the Lord or finding of mercy from him I presume you will not deny but that many a Jew in the Apostles daies were free from faction contenting himself to enjoy his own course quietly and peaceably was yet further off from grace then Paul that persecuted the Church God calling him in the midst of his furious pursuite and not calling others though farre more peaceably disposed toward the Church of God then Saul The seventh place alledged is Act. 13. 46. Then Paul and Barnabas spake boldly and said It was necessary that the Word should first have been spoken unto you but seeing you put it from you and judge your selves unworthy of everlasting life wee turn unto the Gentiles Hence you inferre that these Jewes were inabled to doe more then they did in seeking the Lord and finding mercy from him But I would gladly know wherein that seeking of the Lord consists Had they not railed against Paul as I confesse they had power to spare that had they not contraryed him nor spoken against those things which were spoken by him as I confesse they might have held their tongue had this been to seek the Lord more then they did or in better manner then they did I think not for they might have contained themselves from all this nay they might have pretended some propensions to imbrace the Gospel which yet had it been performed in hypocrisie it had nothing commended them in the sight of God As Diasius when hee could not prevaile with his brother to draw him back to Popery pretended some propension in himself to hearken unto him but wee know what the issue was even to slit his head as the issue of Judas his following Christ was to betray him I think they that deale so and through zeale
a new heart Austin was wont to say and advise rather in this manner In praecepto cognosce quid debe as habere in correptione cognosce tuo te vitio non habere in oratione cognosce unde possis habere In Gods precept know what you ought to have in his rebuke take notice that through your fault you have it not in prayer know whence you may have it The twelfth is out of 2 Chron. 36. 15 16. And the Lord God of their fathers sent unto them by his Messengers rising early and sending for hee had compassion on his people and on his habitation 16. But they mocked the messengers of God and despised his words and misused his Prophets untill the wrath of God rose against his people and till there was no remedy I doe not deny but that it was in their power not to misuse the Prophets not to mock his Messengers but doe you not think that amongst these naughty figges some were nothing so bad and yet did not the wrath of God come upon them as well as upon others Again consider what of all this yet if they had repented had not their foulest sins hereupon been done away so that for want of repentance the wrath of God brake forth against them Now why doe you not as well infer herehence that they had power to repent and so to seek after the Lord and find mercy from him Thirdly was it not enough to bring the wrath of God upon them to bee found guilty of despising his words and hath any naturall man power to keep himself from this sin Is there any greater despising of them then to esteem so basely of them as to account them no better then foolishnesse Now is any naturall man free from this Doth not the Holy Ghost tell us 1 Cor. 2. 14. The naturall man perceives not the things of God for they are foolishnesse unto him But by the way I observe wee little agree in the notion of free will which if I bee not deceived was never accounted by the Learned to consist in ought other then in election of means As for the end according to the habituall disposition of the heart and will a man is necessarily carryed to the affection of an agreeable end agreeable I say to his own disposition Whence it followeth that albeit it bee in the power of grace alone to change the heart and renew the will yet whatsoever the unregenerate either doe or refuse to doe they carry themselves herein freely in as much as they proceed herein with choyce in respect of their own ends I come to the thirteenth out of Hos 11. 4. I led them with cords of a man and with bands of love and I was to them as hee that taketh away the yoke from their jawes and I laid their meate unto them Was not such like the Lords dealing with the children of Israel when hee took them by the hand to bring them out of the Land of Egypt Did hee not leade them with the cords of Love did hee not take off the yoke from their jaws did hee not lay Manna before them yet of them doth Moses professe that notwithstanding all this God gave them not an heart to perceive nor eyes to see nor eares to beare unto that day And in this Text alledged what colour is there to justify this your distinction namely that albeit God deprives Reprobates of those drawing and effectuall means without which none can come to faith and repentance yet they are inabled by him to doe much more then they doe in seeking after the Lord and finding mercy from him The fourteenth is out of Esa 5. 3 4 5. Judge I pray you between mee and my vineyard 4. What could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done unto it why have I looked that it should bring forth grapes and it brought forth wilde grapes 5. And now I will tell you what I will doe to my vineyard I conceive herein you may devise a treble ground to build upon I could wish your self had dealt plainely and argued herehence the justification of your premised distinction It might have saved your Reader a great deale of paines whereas now by the manner of your Discourse hee is driven as well to argue for you as to answer for himself that hee may keep himself from being overtaken with errour upon a generall consideration ere hee is aware The first ground may bee that God seems to professe that hee had done what hee could doe now undoubtedly hee could give them power to doe more good then they did in the way of seeking the Lord which is the thing that you affirm and therefore hee did give this power but say I God could give means also to draw effectually unto repentance and consequently hee did draw them hereunto which is the thing that your self deny and the Text it self also for instead of sweet grapes they brought forth wilde grapes Secondly you may ground upon this that God expected they should bring forth sweet grapes and upon such grounds you usually make Collections and herehence you may infer that therefore they had power to bring forth sweet grapes But this consequent is untrue by your opinion for sweet grapes must needs bee gratefull unto God and no lesse then Faith and Repentance But you confesse that God deprives them of such drawing and effectuall means without which none can come and with which none ever failed to come to faith and repentance The third ground may bee Gods resolution to lay his vineyard waste And thence you may infer that they had power to avoid such sins as were the causes thereof But consider I pray you is it not just with God to damne the world for infidelity and impenitency and will you herehence infer that it was in their power to beleeve and repent I presume you will not The fifteenth is Job 33. 14. to the 18. there wee read that God speaketh once and twice and one seeth it not even in dreams and visions of the night 15. When this will not serve the turn hee opens the eares of man even by the corrections which hee hath sealed ver 16. and that which God aimes at in this is That hee might cause man to turn away from his enterprise and that hee might hide the pride of man ver 17. and keepe back his soule from the pit and that his life should not passe by the Sword ver 18. All this represents the power of Gods grace in overcomming the hardnesse of mans heart together with the wisdome of God proceeding various wayes to the same end an instance whereof wee have in Manasses But as for any power in man to doe any more good then hee doth in seeking after the Lord here is not the least indication much lesse to justifie the distinction here devised by you I come to the last taken out of Joh. 16. 8 9. And when hee is come hee will reprove the world
him For this is onely to let him doe what hee will in the course of his covetousnesse Now though Judas was left to doe what hee would in the way of satisfying his covetous course yet it doth not follow hereupon that Judas should betray Christ Therefore Arminius to this decree of God presupposeth not Judas his covetousnesse onely but his will to betray Christ as much as to say God foreseeing hee would betray him decreed hee should betray him To this construction of Gods decree you come too neere though you doe not deliver your self thereof so plainly as hee doth nor so plausibly But the mischief is it is now confessed on all hands that the very act of willing is wrought by God and consequently was decreed by God Now upon what condition presupposed did God decree that Judas should will the betraying of Christ was it upon the foresight of his will If so then also upon the presupposition of Judas his will to doe this God did work his will to do this which is flat contradiction in making Judas his will to doe this to goe before his will to doe this Besides what need was there for God to work his will to doe this when his will to doe this is already presupposed Bellarmine goes another way to work and confessing that God decreed that Christ should bee betrayed and crucifyed yet denies that hee decreed that any should betray and crucifie him Christs suffering was decreed and his patience therein but not their sin in putting him upon suffering Your interpretation is lesse plain then theirs but equally with theirs removed from the truth Punishment of sin alway presupposeth I confesse sin but I deny that the decree of punishing sin presupposeth sin If this argument were right then it would follow that because to reward with everlasting life presupposeth good works Gods decree to reward with everlasting life presupposeth good works which is as much to say that election presupposeth good works For election is the decree of bestowing everlasting life by way of reward yet here you bring in Gods punishing sin with sin whereof there is no question here and forbeare to speak of Gods decree whereof alone is the present question I pray you what rewards doth God dispense unto Reprobates in regard of their obedience will you deny plain Text of Scripture expressely professing That wee must all appeare asore the judgement seat of Christ that every man may receive the things which are done in his body according to that hee hath done whether it bee good or evill Onely here is the difference Christ made satisfaction for Gods Elect and not of Reprobates And also merited that God should inable his Elect and not Reprobates to perform obedience acceptable to God according to the Covenant of Grace and that Salvation accordingly shall bee bestowed upon them by way of reward Yet I confesse Gods equity and justice in dispensing rewards and punishments is no way prejudiced by the absolutenesse of his decree For hee hath absolutely decreed to deale with men according to that which they have done in their bodies whether it bee good or evill though the good which is done is meerely of Gods grace and his rewarding men accordingly is no impediment to the course of his Covenant of Grace Gods calling of Reprobates wee conceive consists in causing the Gospel to bee Preached unto them which in effect is this Whosoever beleeves shall bee saved whosoever beleeves not shall bee damned judge you whether there bee not as much truth in Preaching this to Reprobates as in Preaching it to the very Elect of God The Seventh Doubt Question 7. THat if all bee translated into Christs Dominion then the Infants of Turks First how then saith the Apostle 1 Cor. 7. 14. Secondly on all children dying before the guilt of actuall sin hee will shew the riches of his grace because their damnation cannot stand with such an equity of his justice as here is mentioned and made shew of To this I answer that when I say that all the creatures are translated into the Dominion of Christ I meane not into his Kingdome of a grace but into the dominion of his power viz. to be disposed of by him the wicked to the praise of his justice and both them and other creatures to the service and exercise of his elect Hence I conceive it to bee that it is said that Christ hath bought the dominion of such as deny him Hence by his dying and rising againe he is said to be the Lord both of the quick and dead Hence God is said to have given all things into his hand with all power both in heaven and earth Neither am Lable to conceive how the whole body of the Creature I mean all the world beside Reprobates can be said to waite for the redemption and restoring into the glorious liberty of the sons of God unlesse as they lost their liberty by the first Adam so they had recovered the same again by the redemption of the second Adam If then all the creatures be translated into the dominion of Christ thinke it not absurd that the Infants of Turks themselves be translated into the same dominion The place that may be alledged to the contrary doth prove the Infants of Infidels not to bee translated into the Kingdom of grace or fellowship of his Church but what is that to this point touching children that die in their infancy before the guilt of their actuall sin I would not hastily determine any thing Praestat dubitare de occultis quà m ligitare de incertis It is better to doubt of secret things then wrangle about things uncertaine They stand or fall to him who hath said of the Infants of such parents as commend them to the blessing of Christ Of such is the kingdome of God But to my understanding it is most agreeable to the analogy of faith to range little children under the convenant of Parents it being Gods usuall manner of dealing to visit the sins of the Fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him and to shew mercy unto thousands of them that love him and keep his commandements That all creatures are under the dominion of Christ no Christian doubteth for as God hee made all things Col. 1. John 1. and as the son of God he is the heire of all things Heb. 1. When God bringeth in his first begotten sonne into the world he saith of him Let all the Angels of God worship him Heb. 1. 6. Joh. 5. God hath committed all judgement unto his Son and Joh. 17. 2. Thou hast given him power over all flesh But that hee hath bought this dominion well it may passe for an Oracle of flesh and blood but I have not hitherto found it to bee an Oracle of God Whatsoever is bought is bought with a price And so whatsoever Christ hath bought hee hath bought with a price 1 Cor. 6. 20.
you of mankinde before Christ came into the world had they this power you speak of through Christ If you think they had I pray you how came they by it If onely it hold of mankinde since the preaching of the Gospel I demand whether of all or some if of all then you must acknowledge the Gospel to bee preached to all If only of them to whom it is preached yet the question still is whether it bee wrought by perswasion or inspiration Secondly in saying that in Christ they have greater grace to help to keep it your phrase doth imply that even without Christ men have grace and helpes and power to keep the Covenant of works In a word dare you say that any naturall man hath any power to bee subject to the Law of God or to doe that which is pleasing in Gods sight If you say they have any such power I demand whether ever any were found subject to the Law of God or did that which was pleasing in Gods sight It is very strange that never any such act should proceed from a power so generall If they were or did that which was pleasing in Gods sight then they were not in the flesh for they that are in the flesh cannot please God Lastly when you say these helps or this power is offered them in Christ it implies that upon some condition performable on their parts it is offered unto them Now it were very requisite you should deale plainly and expresse this condition which you doe not I confesse I see no danger in acknowledging that God purposeth to deale with mankinde according to their works nay I wonder you should exclude the elect from the number of those with whom God deales in this manner when the Apostle professeth so directly wee must all appeare before the judgement seat of God that every man may receive the things which are done in his body according to that hee hath done whether good or evill 2 Cor. 5. 10. Onely for Christs sake God giveth faith and repentance to some working in them that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ and doth not deale in the like mercy with others The rest of this Section I dislike not Glory bee to God in Christ and peace upon Israel In submission unto his Truth For why should wee lye for God as man doth for man to gratifie him For an Auctarium here is laid down a short Survey of the ninth Chapter to the Romans so farre as it treateth of the Doctrine of Predestination the better to clear some passages of the former Discourse THe whole Chapter from the first verse to the 23. is taken up in the answering of objections each latter arising from the answer to the former for the Apostle having taught in the last verse of the former Chapter that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ giveth occasion of this doubt that may arise Quest What think you of the Jews are not they the Elect people of God and yet are not they separate from Christ Answ The Apostle doth not plainly affirm it that they are separate from Christ but with much compassion bewailes it yea and protesteth that hee would wish himself rather separate from Christ for their sakes The grounds of which hee rendreth to bee for his kindreds sake ver 3. for their priviledges sake ver 4 5. This coherence I could brook well enough onely I say it is devised at pleasure and I finde it is a generall course to feign coherences and sometimes onely to shape thereby some conformation of the Apostles meaning to their interpretation of him The Apostle I am sure makes none and accordingly Ludovious Leoburgensis professeth saying Prorsus nova disputatio instituitur in qua tametsi doctrinam de Justificatione alicubi repetit intertexit tamen duas alias materias principales tractat videlicet quis sit vere populus Dei seu quae sit vera Ecclesia de vocatione Gentium Judaei contendebant se esse Ecclesiam se esse populum ad se solos pertinere promissiones Paulus respondet Elector esse populos Dei The disputation here instituted by the Apostle is altogether new wherein although hee doth sometimes repeale and insert the Doctrine of Justification yet hee handles two other principall matters to wit who are the people of God in truth and which is the true Church and of the calling of the Gentiles The Jews contended that they were the Church they were Gods people and that to them alone pertained the promises Paul answers that the Elect alone are Gods people Analysis What is then the word the word of promise of inseparable conjunction with Christ to them of none effect Answ No all are not Israel which are of Israel nor are all the children of Abraham that are of the seed of Abraham but in Isaac are his seed called viz. Not the children of Abrahams flesh are the children of God but the children of promise ver 6 7 8. which hee proveth by a twofold instance or example First of Isaac the seed of Abraham by Sarah who was given unto him as his seed by the word of promise ver 9. Secondly of Jacob the seed of Isaac by Rebekah of whom another promise was given that the elder brother should bee to him a servant ver 11. Which promise touching Jacob is amplifyed by First the freenesse of it all cause of different acceptation being removed from the two brethren and in regard first of parentage ver 10. secondly of personall condition and indowments ver 11. which freenesse is also further set forth by the end of it that the purpose of God might stand firm as not depending on any condition in the Creature ver 11. Secondly A parallell promise suiting to it preferring Jacob before Esau in Gods affection when they were both considered onely as brethren ver 13. These words of the Apostle are I confesse the key of the whole Chapter for opening the meaning or at least making way to a faire understanding of all that follows If the Jews are rejected as the Apostle presupposeth to wit as touching the most of them in the former words then it may seem that Gods word is of none effect which consequence the Apostle supposing such a consequence likely to bee made by his denying of it doth imply that there was some Word of God that seemed to bee made of none effect by this Doctrine concerning the rejection of the Jews This word therefore is to bee inquired into the investigation whereof will give light to all the rest Now this word can bee no other then the word of some promise made by God for the taking of the seed of Abraham to bee his people to bee his Church For such a promise alone seems to stand in contradiction unto our Christian Doctrine concerning the rejection of the Jews And indeed such a promise God made to Abraham Gen. 17. 7. I will establish