A Second Parallel, Part 1 · Comparison 9
ARMINIANS.
BERTIVS, pag. 114. 1 Cor. 10. 12. Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he e fall.
Idem, pag. 116. Philip. 2. 12, 13. Worke out your saluation with feare and f trembling, for it is God which worketh in you both to will, and to do, of his good pleasure.
APPEALER.
ANswer to Gag. pag. 164. If righteousnesse had, cannot be lost, why should hee admonish as hee doth, He that standeth, let him take heed lest he e fall?
Ibidem. And worke out your saluation with feare and f trembling.
e To the place alledged, 1 Cor. 10. 12. we answer: First, though the regenerate, and iustified mans estate be certaine, yet is it certaine by the vse of such meanes as God hath appointed; whereof spirituall watchfulnesse and care, to which the Apostle here exhorteth, is a principall. The Apostles estate was certaine, for Christ saith, Luke 10. 20. Reioyce, because your names are written in heauen. And Iohn 17. 12. Those that thou gauest me, I hauehave kept, and none of them is lost, but the sonne of perdition. Yet he commandeth them to watch and pray, that they enter not into temptation, Matth. 26. 41. And he prescribeth a forme of prayer to be vsed by them, and vsus, continually, [Lead vsus not into temptation] Mat. 6. 13. The souldiers, and passengers estate, who were in the ship with Paul, Act. 27. 24. was safe, and sure, because God had giuen Saint Paul all them that sailed with him: Yet were they to vse the helpe of the shipmen to saue their liues, and vnlesse they had so done, they had perished, vers. 31. Except these abide in the ship, yee cannot be saued. Secondly, the Apostles words are to be noted, who saith not, Let him that standeth, but, let him that thinketh he standeth. A man may thinke hee standeth, though indeed he standeth not; as those that killed the Apostles, did thinke that they did God good seruice, Iohn 16. 2. The Pharisie thought that he was rather iustified, than the Publican, yet he was not. Saint Paul thought he had done a worke acceptable to God, and aduantagious to the true Church, when he persecuted the Saints, and made hauocke of the Church. The heart of man is deceitfull aboue all things, as it deceiueth others, so sometimes our selues also. Wee may conceiue that we are highly in Gods fauour, and a great way toward heauen, when yet indeed we are cast backe, or stand at a stay. It is therefore a speciall point of wisdome, to examine our spirituall estate, and proue whether we are in the faith, or no; that is, whether we stand indeed, or thinke onelyonly that we stand: for he that thinketh only that he standeth, and hath no sure footing, nor ground of his perswasion, may fall, and that irrecouerably. Thirdly, He that standeth may fall, yet not totally, or finally. A man may fall, and yet not bee hurt by his fall; a man may be hurt, and that dangerously, by a fall, and yet not die of that hurt; *Though he fall, he shall not be vtterl… cast downe: for the Lord vpholdeth hi… with his hand Psal. 37. 24.Iustus cadit, non tamen excidit. The righteous falleth seuen times a day; Si cadit, quomodo iustus? si iustus, quomodo cadit? If he fall, how is he righteous? if righteous, how doth he fall? Saint Ierome answereth, sed iusti vocabulum non amittit, qui semper per poenitentiam resurgit; He loseth not the name of righteous, who, as often as he falls by sinne, riseth againe by repentance, Epist. 44. Lastly, this Obiection may be retorted against the Aduersarie, thus:
None of those, whom God preserues from being ouercome, in temptation, can fall totally, or finally.
Those whom Saint Paul aduiseth to take heed lest they fall, are such, whom God preserues from being ouercome in temptation; in the next verse, 1 Cor. 10. 13.
But God is faithfull, who will not suffer you to be tempted aboue that you are able: but wil with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to beare it.
Therefore, those whom Saint Paul aduiseth to take heed lest they fall, cannot fall totally, or finally.
f To the place alledged Phil. 2. 12. we answer: First, that the argument drawne from the feare of Gods Saints, hath beene before refuted, and retorted, in the handling that text of the Apostle [Be not high-minded, but feare.] Secondly, we answer, Feare is not here opposed to religious confidence, but to carnall security, and presumption. The trembling here commanded, is an awfull reuerence, and filiall trembling, not a seruile affrighting: this feare and trembling, is not only ioyned with assured hope, that God will worke both the will and the deed in them that so feare, vers. 13. but also with ioy, Psal. 2. 11. Serue the Lord with feare, and reioyce with trembling. Feare cannot be here taken for a distrustfull feare, or a feare of being damned, but of a sollicitous and watchfull feare; for this were no good consequence, God worketh in you the will and the deed, therefore feare, that is, doubt and distrust your saluation; but vse all diligence to make your election sure, and be carefull to stirre vp God his grace in you, and to call on him continually in all humblenesse of minde, for the assistance of his Spirit, without which you can neither doe, nor will any good. This grace and assistance of his Spirit God promiseth to none, but to the humble, and such as tremble at his word, Esay 66. 2. Why doth the Apostle say, Aug. … turd & …, cont. Pel…g. cap. 27.saith Saint Augustine, worke out your saluation with feare and trembling, and not rather with securitie, if God worke it? vnlesse because in regard of our will, without which we cannot well worke, it may soone come into mans heart, to esteeme that which he doth well, to be his owne worke, and say, I shall neuer be remoued? therefore he, who gaue power to his will, turned his face for a while frō him, that he which said so might be troubled; quoniam ipsis est ille tumor sanandus doloribus: Because that swelling pride is to be healed with very sorrowes of a troubled minde. Lastly, this Obiection may be retorted against the Aduersarie, thus:
None, in whom God worketh both the will to perseuere and deed, can fall totally, or finally.
In those, whom Saint Paul here aduiseth to worke out their saluation with feare and trembling, God worketh both the will to perseuere, and deed, Philip. 2. 13.
Therefore those, …whom Saint Paul here aduiseth to worke out their saluation with feare and trembling, cannot fall totally, or finally.