A Second Parallel, Part 1 · Comparison 2
Of Election vponupon fore-seene faith.
ARMINIVS.
ARMIN. Oration to the States, pag. 49. * The Decree whereby God hath decreed to saue certaine and singular persons, doth depend vponupon his prescience, by which he fore-knew from eternitie, who according to the dispensation of sufficient meanes for their conuersion and faith, would by preuenting grace i beleeue, and subsequent perseuere. And he is so hot in this point, and proceedeth so far, Argument 19. as to affirme, That the opinion of precise Election, without respect of foreseene faith in the elect, ouerthroweth the foundation of all Religion.
Hag. Conference set out by Bert. pag. 62. The absolute decree, whereby it is said, that God in chusing men, did not respect any mans good qualities fore-seene, cannot stand with the nature of God, nor with Scriptures. The like is affirmed by Arnoldus against Tilenus. And Greuinchouius against Amese and the Arminians generally, who thus take that question in the Conference at Hage, pag. 123. Faith in Gods decree of election doth in order goe before, not follow election; it is not a fruit of election, but an antecedent conditon to it.
APPEALER.
APPEALE, pag. 58. The irrespectiue decree of God to call, saue, and glorifie Saint Peter without any consideration had of, or regard vntounto his i faith, obedience, and repentance &c. I say there, and I say truly, is the priuate fancie of some particular man.
Pa. 64. There must needs be first a k disproportion before there can be conceiued an election, or dereliction. This disproportion he afterward declares to be in the different wils of men, wherof some took hold of merey, others would not. His words are, When all alike being plunged, &c. God out of his mercy stretched out to them deliuerance in a Mediator, the Man Iesus Christ, and drew them out that tooke hold of mercy, leauing them there that would none of him. Which is all one, as if he had said, he decreed to saue them from the common destruction which he fore-saw would beleeue, and reiect those whom he fore-saw would not beleeue, for by faith they take hold of mercy, and through incredulitie reiect it: nay in this point the Appealer speaketh not so warily as the Arminians, for they require faith in a person to be elected and iustified, as an antecedent condition, they doe not say as a cause or motiue in God to elect, iustifie, and saue: But the Appealer, Answer to the Gag, pag. 143. and Appeale, pag. 194. saith, that God was drawne by our faith to iustifie vsus.
* Decretum, quo decreuit Deus singulares & certas quasdam personas saluare, praescientiâ nititur, quâ ab aeterno sciuit, quinam iuxta administrationem mediorum ad conuersionem & fidem idoneorum ex praeueniente gratia credituri erant, & subsequente perseueraturi.
i When the Arminians, and the Appealer make Election to depend vponupon fore-seene faith, either they meane that this faith is a meere gift of God, receiued only by mans free-will, or not so, but in part, or in whole a worke of mans will. If they hold faith to be a meere gift of God, their opinion of election vponupon fore-seene faith implieth a contradiction; for it maketh the former grace and gift of Predestination to glory to depend vponupon a latter gift of faith. Beside, if faith be the meere gift of God, it can be no reason of difference betweene the Elect and Reprobate, on the part of the Elect and Reprobate, why the one should bee chosen, and the other refused, for the Elect hauehave it not of themselues, and the Reprobate hauehave it not at all, because it is not giuen. To referre election in this sense to faith, as it is Gods meere gift, is to make election to depend vponupon Gods meere will, who giueth faith to some, and not to others, which quite ouerthroweth the foundation of Arminianisme. If they meane that fore-seene faith is in part, or in whole, a Worke of mans free-will by nature, and not meerely a gift of God, then their opinion dasheth directly on the rocke of Pelagius, [that Grace is giuen according to some merit of man] that is, as Saint Augustine expoundeth it, De bono perseuer. c. 19. Some good thought, word, or deed, or the good will it selfe, to receiue grace and faith, when otherwise man might hauehave reiected or repelled it: whereas the Apostle teacheth, that it is God which *Or make one man differ fro… another,discerneth one man from another, & that no man hath any good thing different frō another, which he hath not receiued, 1 Cor. 4. 7. Whereupon Saint Augustine concludeth in his Epistle to Sixtus, and in his booke of Predestination of Saints, Chap. 5. And in his Enchiridion ad Laurent. cap. 99. That which putteth a difference betweene a beleeuer and vnbeleeuer, making him to beleeue, and not the other, is a speciall grace giuen by God to the one, and not the other; and consequently, that the separation of some men, and taking them out of the masse of perdition, is of Gods meere grace, and not in regard of any different qualities in men. A proud man might hauehave said, saith that holy Father, of Predestination of Saints, chap. 5. against another man, my faith maketh me to differ from thee, my righteousnesse, or the like; [which insolent words of a proud man rehearsed by Saint Augustine, Greuinchouius is so impudent, as to take vponupon, and patterne in himselfe, saying, Ego me discerno, I discerne my selfe.] The good Doctor meeting with such thoughts, and checking them, saith, What hast thou that thou hast not receiued? from whom, but from him, who made thee differ from another? to whom he hath not giuen, that he hath giuen to thee: and if thou hast receiued it [namely, that wherein thou differest from another] Why doest thou boast, as if thou hadst not receiued it? Nothing is so contrary to the meaning of the Apostle, as that any man should so glory of his owne merits, or good workes, as if he had wrought them to himselfe, and not the grace of God; to wit, that grace of God which discerneth good men from bad, not that, which is common to good men and bad. The maine conclusion of Saint Augustine in his Enchiridion, is most direct to our purpose, Sola gratia redemptos discernit à perditis, Grace alone discerneth or differenceth the redeemed from the lost, whom a common cause deriued from the beginning or root, had vnited in one masse of perdition.
k This argument from disproportion deceiued sometime Saint Augustine, till he better considered of the words of the Apostle, Rom. 11. 5. So then there remaineth a remnant according to the election of grace. It is impossible indeed to conceiue an election according to desert of some, rather than others, in a meere paritie; there must needs be a disproportion in such an election, but in an election of free grace there needs none, there can be no such disproportion, for if election be of workes, then it is not of grace. Here if the Appealer, or any his friend, shall difference his opinion from the Arminians, by distinguishing the decree of election, in which there is no respect had to faith from the execution, in which, all sides confesse, respect is had to faith and perseuerance; I answer that the Appealer hath shut the doore of this Sanctuary against himselfe, and debarred himselfe from this defence, pag. 61. saying, I shall as I can briefly and plainly, without scholasticall obscurities, set downe what I conceiue of this Act of God, or decree of Predestination, setting by all execution of purpose. After which Preface, without any interruption of other discourse, he deliuereth his opinion of election, as is aboue rehearsed.