Catholic Theology Plain Pure Peaceable, Conference 8 · Accusation 5 – Accusation 6
The fifth Crimination.
C.
I find Dr. Twiſſe (ibid. & alibi ſaepe) charging it on them, as holding that Grace is given according to Works (which is Pelagianiſm:) For they think that God looketh at ſome preparation in the Receiver, and giveth it to ſome becauſe they are prepared for it, and denieth it to others becauſe they are unprepared: whereas it is not in him that willeth nor in him that runneth, but in him that (of his meer good pleaſure) ſheweth mercy.
B.
There is enough ſaid of this after, about differencing and effectual Grace. But if we muſt ſay more, I ask you,
Quest. 1. Do you by this phraſe [according to Works] mean to urge the Scripture that ſpeaketh in that phraſe, in its proper ſenſe, or do you Vulgatum illud facient… quod in ſe eſt Deus non denegat Gratiam intelligitur de faciente … gratia auxilie, Pet. … S. Joſeph. Theſ. Univerſ. de auxil. pag. 83. Idem. pag. 90. Nequidem ipſius Chriſti opera fuerunt actu meretoria citra promiſſi…nem Dei uſi ex ſe eſſent valoris in…iti (which needeth explication.)only uſe the phraſe in ſome other ſenſe of your own.
C.
I uſe Scripture phraſe in Scripture ſenſe, becauſe I reſt on its Authority.
B.
Queſt. 2. Are we not alſo ſaved without Works in Scripture ſenſe? And would it be contrary to Paul to ſay we that we are ſaved by Works; yea, or according to them in that ſenſe that he ſpeaketh of them. See James 2. 14, &c. Tit. 3. 5. Epheſ. 2. 5, 8, 9. Gal. 3. 2. 5. 10. Acts 15. 11. &c. and 16. 31. Rom. 5. 10, And yet ſaved according to Works in another ſenſe, James 2. 14, &c. Phil. 2. 12. Gal. 6. 4. Rom. 20. 12, 13. 2 Cor. 5. 10.
C.
In ſeveral ſenſes of Works we deny it not.
B.
Queſt. 3. At leaſt you will grant that we are not juſtified by Works, and yet that we are juſtified by Faith: yea in another ſenſe by Works.
Queſt. 4. Is not believing and repenting in order to Juſtification, and all holy obedience in order to Salvation; as truly op… a work, and in a far nobler ſenſe than preparation for Faith is?
C.
That cannot be denied.
B.
Then you cannot affirm that the phraſe [not according to Work…] which excludeth not Faith, Repentance, holy Obedience to juſtification and ſalvation, doth intend the excluſion of all preparation in order to Converſion or Faith in Chriſt; when by Works excluded, it meaneth the ſame thing, or ſort, in all.
C.
But ſaith Dr. Twiſſe, ibid. page 154. [Pardon and Salvation God doth confirm only on condition of Faith and Repentance: But … for Faith and Repentance, doth God confer them conditionally alſo▪ If ſo, whatſoever be the condition let them look to it how they can avoid the making of Grace, to wit, the Grace of Faith and Repentance, (to be given according to Works.]
B.
I know he frequently ſaith the ſame. But 1. I ſpeak now only of the ſenſe of that Scripture, and ſay, that this goeth upon a moſt falſe and dangerous ſuppoſition, that Juſtification, and Salvation are given according to Works, though Faith and Repentance be not: whereas in the ſenſe of Works there meant by Paul, no man can be juſtified by Works. And though Chriſt ſaith, This is the work of God, that ye believe in him whom the Father hath ſent; yet it is not that which Paul meaneth: Let not therefore Scripture words be abuſed to miſlead mens underſtandings.
2. But as to the matter of the Controverſie, I ſpoke to it enough before. No man can deny but that God uſually prepareth the Soul fer Converſion by a common ſort of Grace: And though he may do what he liſt with his own, and extraordinarily may in an inſtant convert the moſt unprepared malignant obdurate perſon; yet that is not his uſual way: (And ſome that think otherwiſe are led into the miſtake by thinking that a man is converted, when he hath ſuddenly ſome terrifying humbling preparation, which endeth in converſion.) Whether he convert all that are brought to the very higheſt and neareſt degree of preparation, I know not, nor perhaps you neither: But that uſually he converteth all ſuch we have very great reaſon to think probable: And that he hath not commanded men to ſeek his ſpecial Grace in vain. So that whether it be a proper promiſe on Gods part, or only an encouragement ſhort of proper promiſe, I told you before is a hard queſtion. But we maintain that it is not that proper mutual Covenant which maketh a Chriſtian, and is celebrated in Baptiſm, and giveth Salvation.
If one of old John Rogers's, Thomas Hooker's, or Robert Bolton's hearers, when they were vehemently urging preparatory humiliation, deſire, endeavour, &c. ſhould have ſaid to them, Sir, you play the Arminian, and contradict St. Paul, who ſaith that Grace is not given according to Iſta …dia nemini Deus deſt… propter vel ſecundum morita ipſius, ſed ex pura puta Gratia: Nemini etiam denegat niſi juſte propter gracedentia peecata, Armin. Diſp. Privat. Theſ. 41. Sect. 10. Adrian VI. Quodl. 3. q. 1. fol. 21. expoundeth Habenti dabitur thus, Qui habet verbi Dei amorem ut illuc mentis intuitum dirigat dabitur ei ſenſus intelligendi: & qui non habet verbi Dei amorem auferetur ab eo naturalis capacitas intelligend, &cWorks: Therefore God will give it me never the more for ſuch preparations: what would you have ſaid to him. The truth is, practical Preachers in theſe practical caſes, are carried with full ſail into that truth which Diſputers would wrangle out of Doors.
But as for any work… meritorious in point of commutative Juſtice, y…a, or of any full and proper Covenant of God, giving a proper Right to the Sinner, upon which he may claim ſpecial Grace as his due, I know of none ſuch before true Converſion; though Gods commands and general promiſes give men ſufficient encouragement.
C.
But what ſay you to Rom. 9. It is not in him that willeth or runneth, &c.
B.
I do not love to expound hard Texts unſatisfactorily by ſcraps: I will give you, God willing, a Paraphraſe of the Chapter together by it ſelf. I ſuppoſe you have read John Goodwin's and Dr. Hammonds Paraphraſe. At preſent it may ſuffice to ſay, 1. That the meaning is not, that he that would have Chriſt, and Grace, and Holineſs is no fitter for it▪ than he that would not have them: nor that he that ſeeketh them is no fitter for them than he that rejecteth them…nor that he that believeth is no fitter for Juſtification than …n I…fidel; nor he that is holy any fitter for Heaven than the unholy: nor yet that he that heareth, meditateth, prayeth, a… he can, and attaineth the higheſt degree of common Grace, is no fitter or likelier for Faith or ſpecial Grace than he that deſpiſeth it and the means of it. 2. But the meaning is, that God of his free mercy c…lled the Gentiles that were further from him than the Jews, and may give (both) the Goſpel, (and the Grace of the Goſpel) to one, and take it from, or not give it to another, when both of them are equally unworthy of it by their ſin. So that the firſt and principal cauſe that difference…ha Jacob from an Eſau, is not that Jacob before Gods Grace did will and r…n, de…ire and ſeek Grace; but that Mercy begun with him, and gave him, though as unworthy as Eſau, both commonner and ſpecial Grace, which cauſed him to will and run. And yet for all that both are ſuppoſed to have forfeited mercy by ſinning againſt it; and it is in him that willeth not, and runneth not, that the cauſe of his miſery, and privation of mercy is to be found. Yea in many an inſtance where mercy and helps are given by an equality, a wicked man may make himſelf to differ by his ſin, and wilfully become worſe than others.
C.
At leaſt you muſt here confeſs, that de facto we do really differ from each other in this point.
B.
All they that hold all that Doctrine of Preparation for Converſion, which you find in the ſuffrages of the Britiſh Divines in the Synod of Dort do not (that I know of) differ from many of the Lutherans, and Jeſuites, nor from many of the Arminians herein; while by the name of merit of Congruity, uſed by ſome, and Preparation by the other, no more is meant than they there aſſert: And as to the queſtion of a promiſe or no promiſe, I ſhew'd you before how ſmall the difference is; yea with ſome it is but de nomine, while one calleth that a Promiſe, which another calleth but a half promiſe (with Mr. Cotton) or a precept to uſe means with ſufficient encouragement; when perhaps in the deſcription of the thing they agree: So that among the moſt and ſober practical Preachers, I yet ſee no real difference in ſenſe at all, about the neceſſity of preparatory Grace.
The ſixth Crimination.
C.
For ought I can understand, ſome of them acknowledge no Corruption nor Grace in the Will, as having no Habits, but meer Indifferency or Liberty; but think that the illuminating of the underſtanding is enough to change the will.*The Remonſtrants ſay, Synod. circ. art. 3. &▪ 4, p. 15. [Voluntatem i… ſuper Deus in obſequium ſuum fle ctit, & ad actu… fidei & obedienti… ita inclinat per ſpiritum ſuum ſanctum verbo utentem, ut voluntas per illam operationem non ſolum poſſit obedire, …ed & obediat quoties obedit; non ex ſe, an… per ſe, aut a ſe.
B.
1. Theſe are a few odd perſons, that differ from the generality of your Adverſaries: and I am not to juſtifie all that every man writeth.
2. But even of theſe I ſuppoſe the meaning of the moſt is, but this, that ſin began inthe Intellect, and there Grace muſt begin: and that God worketh on the will but mediante Intellectu. And theſe Camero held as well as they; and ſo do many more. And theſe ſeem to differ, not about the neceſſity of Grace, but the manner of its conveyance to the will; whether it be only by the intellect.
3. And as the wind bloweth where it liſteth, and we hear its ſound, but know not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; ſo is every one that is born of the Spirit. We know that the will is vitiated as ill as the underſtanding, and needeth Grace as much as it: and that God is as near to the one in his operations as to the other, and giveth real Grace to both. But becauſe the intellect is in the natural order, the first in acting, and the will but ſecond; and becauſe the act is commonly (and reaſonably) ſuppoſed to go before the Habit (though not before all Divine Influx ad actum;) therefore men are uncertain whether God who firſt acteth the Intellect, do not by its act, firſt operate on the will. But this dependeth much on the Phyſical Controverſie, whether the Intellect determine the will ad ſpeciem actus, or at leaſt really and efficiently move it; or rather only preſent the object to it, and ſo work but in ſubſerviency to the material cauſe, which is conſtitutive indeed of the act in ſpecie, but not efficient: and the perception of it goeth to the conditio objectiva, without which it is no object to the will. This I incline to with Scotus, and ſuppoſe that the Intellect moveth not the will per modum naturae, by neceſſitation. But while we know not the order and nature of the operations of our own ſouls, how ſhall we know the unſearchable way of the operations of the Holy Ghoſt.