Letter Concerning Gods Decrees, Letter
A LETTER TO Mr THOMAS PIERCE RECTOR OF BRINGTON: Conteining amongſt other things, a Brief ſtate of the Queſtion about Gods Decrees.
To which is annexed An Exercitation in Latine Concerning FREE-WILL.
By Edward Bagſhawe, St. Ch. Ch.
LONDON, Printed by A. M. in the Year, 1659.
FOR Mr THOMAS PEIRCE, RECTOR of BRINGTON.
SIR:
THe Diſpute between your ſelf and Me, is now become ſo Perſonal, and would be, if I ſhould imitate your Style, ſo Paſſionate, that, till you can recover a calmer Temper, and quietly conſider how little your wrath doth either advance Gods Honour, or your own, it is very requiſite I ſhould lay aſide any farther handling of that weighty Queſtion, which firſt engaged us: For as I ought to pitty your weakneſs, and not pour ſtrong liquor into ſo crazy a Veſſel; ſo lought likewiſe to have a greater regard unto thoſe Sacred and amazing Truths, then to venture them upon that ſcorne which they are like to meet with, whilſt you are in this your Fit of Anger and Impatience.
Yet, Sir, That I may for the future prevent your approaching ſo near to Blaſphemy, as to charge, what ever Faults I either have been or may be guilty of, upon the account of my Principles (ſince I hold nothing, but what I ſolely deriv…om, and am alwaies ready to make good by, Scripture) I ſhall briefly diſcover what my Principles are; that ſo it ever you offend in the like kind of cenſure again, your Malice may then be as Apparent, and as Inexcuſable, as now your …olly is.
Therefore to undeceive you, I profeſs firmly to believe, with the reſt of thoſe Excellent Writers whom you have ſo diſingeniouſly traduc'd, that, God alone is to have the honour of all the good which his Creatures do; But, All the Guilt and ſhame of their Actions they are to take wholely unto themſelves; And, That they ought to look no higher for a Cauſe of their defilement, then unto the impure spring within them.
How theſe two Poſitions of mine (which you muſt needs acknowledg very Pious, ſince, as I take it, they are yours too, though you inferre them from much different Principles) can conſiſt with Abſolute Predeſtination, is not my Buſineſs to reſolve you, no more then it would be yours to explain and unfold all the Myſteries of the Trinity againſt the Cavils of a Socinian; For thoſe who profeſs a ſtrict adherence to the Letter, and, to their beſt underſtanding, the ſenſe of Scripture, need not regard the Conſequences which ſuch vain Perſons can urge againſt them; and amidſt ſo many difficulties, more then you have yet alleadged, which my own Reaſon do's daily ſuggeſt to me, and ſollicite me with, I have only this, with which I ſatisfie and quiet my Spirit, that I deſire fully to acquieſce in the revealed will of God, and to be wiſe, as not above, ſo nor beſides, what is written.
And therefore, Sir, If it ſhould follow from this Tenet, not that I affirme, but that in ſome ſenſe I cannot deny God to … the … of ſinne, You have as little reaſon to revile me for Blasphemy (ſince I do in my very thoughts abhorre it;) as I ſhould have to reproach you with folly and weakneſs, for aſſerting Conditionall Election, though it be a thing not only utterly unſcri…tural, but, in an Abſolute and Independent Agent, impoſtable to be conceived: Yet ſince herein I believe you ſpeak in the Integrity, as well as in the Simplicity of your Heart; I dare not charge upon you thoſe odious Inferences, which I am able to deduce from that Doctrine.
So that when I firſt ventured to declare my own Opinion in thoſe Points, and to write ſomething againſt yours; I muſt Profeſs that it was not your Opinion (which, how irrational ſoever I think it, yet I know conſiſtent with a Pious Life) that I was mainely concern'd againſt; but rather at your unjuſt and unhandſome confidence, whereby you was not only content to diſcover your own Judgment, (which yet is no more then to rake up and revive an almoſt decayed Errour) but did proceed ſo virulently to aſperſe and cenſure all thoſe who could not concurre with you: This, Sir, did diſerve, from every one that diſſented from you, much ſharper Language then I either then did, or now do, though provok'd, intend to uſe. For let your own Convictions, in this Point, be as great and as clear, as it is poſſible, yet why ſhould you deny others that liberty, of abounding in their own ſenſe, which you did ſo needleſly aſſume unto your ſelf? Or, with what Colour of reaſon can you excuſe your bitter invectives at thoſe Famous Pillars of the Proteſtant Cauſe, who, as they liv'd long before you, ſo, they writ nothing but what they thought evident and convincing Truth, and therefore could do nothing to provoke that uſage? But had they been as really miſtaken, as now by you they are only ſuppoſed to be; it would have become your piety rather to have hid, then, herein exceeding the ſin of Cham, firſt to uncover, and then to Proclaim their Nakedneſs.
And to make your Guilt herein a little more Black and C…minal, I muſt remind you, for your Paſſion hath ſpoil'd your Memory, that what thoſe, our Primitive Worthies, maintain'd, was once the Uniforme and eſtabliſh'd Doctrine of our Church, till ſome of your Party departed from it; amongſt whom none have done ſo deſperately as your ſelf, who ſeem to have caſt off, not only all Filial and Pious eſteem for thoſe who deliver'd this Doctrine, but likewiſe all manner of Civility, as well as Charity, for us, who ſtill retain it. Thus, Sir, you ſee I can eaſily juſtifie my firſt Attempt, which was to ſet upon you as the common Enemy, and to do my part in ſtriking at him, who had ſo boaſtingly defied and Challenged All; But for the ſecond, I mean, my miſtaking you to be the Author of thoſe Reflections, and my proceeding ſo ſharply upon that miſtake, I acknowledg it an Errour; ſo that without daring to retract any thing in my N…rrative (which I cannot do ſo long as I love Truth above all things) I heartily beg your pardon for the Preface.
I might alledg in my excuſe, that common Fame did voice thoſe reflections to be yours long before I ſaw them; which thing alone, as I remember, in a Caſe of a much greater Man then you, aD. of Buckhin, 3. Caroli, H. of Common.and by much wiſer Perſons then my ſelf, was judged to be a ſufficient ground of Accuſation. But beſides, I had the particular Teſtimony of a Friend of yours to Warrant me; to which I might add the likeneſs of the Style, and the unlikelyhood that any elſe, and unprovok'd too, ſhould venture to defame me firſt, and then endeavour to confute me after (which is your known method of Arguing.) All theſe Circumſtances agreeing, together with my never once looking upon the Title Page of that Book, but only reading ſo much as concerned me, might, if I would enlarge upon them, ſerve, if not to juſtifie, yet, to extenuate my fault: For a Fault I am content to call it, and more I think you cannot make of it: Eſpecially ſince it did not proceed from any anger at my being neglected by you, as you pleaſantly inſinuate (for this I could eaſily have interpreted to my advantage, and have concluded that you did not Anſwer me becauſe you could not) much leſs was it any Malicious deſign againſt your fame or perſon, but meerly a miſtake, grounded upon thoſe Preſumptions, which made me handle you, as I then thought you deſerved, and that was very ſcurvily.
And had you been pleaſed, in your late Vindication, ſo far to have moderated your Choler, as meekly to have acquainted me with my Error, I ſhould preſently have made you an Acknowledgment, as Publick and as Humble, as your own Pride could wiſh; For I do not only know it to be more Chriſtian, but likewiſe hold it a more generous thing to ask Forgiveneſs, then to perſiſt in an Injury. But in your laſt Pamphlet, you have made your ſelf ſo liberal amends, and Carved out ſo much of my Reputation, where with to repair the Ruins of your own, that you have almoſt enſorced me to forbear my Courteſie; ſince by your rude taxing me with want of Modeſty, Humanity, Religion, Cerſcience, and what not? by your recharging upon me thoſe very Crimes of Treachery and Ingracitude to Mr Busby (which every one but you think I have already ſufficiently wip'd off.) You have made that nameleſs, becauſe worthleſs, Gentlemans Reflections your own, and ſo have given me a juſt occaſion to abide by that Character which I have already made of you; and, inſtead of retracting any thing in the Preface, I might look upon it only as an Anticipated Revenge.
Yet, Sir, ſince you ſo perfectly diſown the having any hand in the writing, of that unknowing and unknown Apologiſt; and becauſe much of what you ſay, is only Responſum & non dictum, not a beginning, but only a return of unkindneſs, it is fit that as I ſtrook the firſt Blow, though ignorantly and in the dark, ſo, now you have open'd my eyes, I ſhould firſt offer to ſhake hands, and not willfully proſecute what I unwittingly began.
I ſhall not therefore make any return to thoſe many unhandſome expreſſions, wherein you have endeavoured to ſet me out; only give me leave a little to wonder at the largeneſs of your Talent, that after you had emptied ſuch a Treaſure of ill Language upon Mr. Baxter, and Mr. Hickman, you ſhould ſtill have a freſh Spring and reſerve for me; and continue to raile in your laſt Page, with as good a grace as if you were but then beginning. This, Sir, as it ſhews the greatneſs of your ſtock, which can maintain you at ſo large an expence, and in ſo much fine variety of reproachfull ſayings, ſo I am content to let it paſs for your greateſt commendation.
But, Sir, Had your expreſſions of me been much worſe then they are, I was prepared to Forgive you, and now think my ſelf obliged to thank you for them; ſince after ſo many Tragicall exclamations, wherein your Anger is more conſpicuous then your Art; and after ſo ſcrupulous an enquiry into my life and manners, you can only accuſe me of two things, the miſtake of my Preface, and my ſuppoſed Ingratitude to Mr. Busby; of which if I can clear my ſelf, you have done enough, as to all other things, to aſſert and to proclaim my Innocence. And for the firſt of theſe, I have already askt your Pardon; as for the other, I am ſure I need none; concerning which if my Narrative hath not already given you ſatisfaction, it is not becauſe that is not clear and convincing enough, but becauſe you came prepared to contradict it. And though you uncivilly, as medling with a difference which concerns you not, bring Mr. Busby again upon the Stage, yet I will not now be provoked to ſay more of him then only this, that I am ſorry I cannot ſay leſs then I have done.
I paſs by therefore your zealous commending Mr. Busby, and (out of my reſpects to him, notwithſtanding his Injuries) wiſh, that you had not ſo ſoon confuted and diſcredited your own Teſtimony, by profeſſing in the ſame Page you do not know him: Nor am I willing to inſiſt upon your great indiſcretion, or rather undoing deſign, that you ſhould ſo much praiſe Mr. Busby, and yet in the ſame Book, much more rail at the Long Parliament, that is, to mention no more, upon all his Governours: Wherein, Sir, you may be thought, not ſo much to praiſe Mr. Busby, as to dicover him; not to ſet him off, but to lay him open, and to betray him to the ſuſpicion of his Judges, of whoſe favour he may ſtand in need. But theſe things I let paſs as Incongruities, which as your haſt made you commit, ſo I hope Mr. Busby hath already paid you for them accordingly.
That which I am moſt concerned to take Notice of, is that prodigious vein of Wit, which runs through your Epiſtle; as when you call me Mr. Edward, when you miſcall me by the name of Ʋſher, and that profound one of Cenſuring the ſawcy Cenſor, which is a Jeſt that this Year few will underſtand, and in the next, none can: Theſe, Sir, are the flowers of your Rhetorick, and what the phraſes are, I have not had leaſure to gather, but may from hence eaſily be gueſſed at.
But certainly Sir, Durſt we poor deſpiſed Calviniſts take the liberty which you do, as well, or ill to abuſe the party we diſpute with; or could we think it pious to defend our Cauſe, not by diſarming, but, by diſgracing the Adverſary, you long ere this had met with that kind of entertainment. But who would not bluſh and be aſhamed to be counted a Wit, when you, who have ſo long laboured to deſerve that childiſh Name, are content to take up with ſuch poor things to credit you. Truſt me, Sir, if the goodneſs of your Pack, may be gueſſed at by the ſmallneſs of the wares you produce, you may be heavily, but you cannot be richly laden; And I would not have your Back, for your Burden. Were I fooliſh enough to be witty by your example, might not I call you Mr. Thomas, or, which is ſomewhat more anſwerable to your preſent Phrenzie, Plain Tom? Could not I vililie you by the Name of Vicar? And at laſt ſpend ſome dreadfull Quibbles upon Pierce? And I would fain know, Whether ſuch dry bobs as theſe, would not provoke as much laughter, and, which is your main end, make as good ſport among your Lay and Female Readers, as any of thoſe offers at Smartneſſe and Satyre, which you have ventured to ſhew upon me?
As you love, Sir, to preſerve that little Credit you have got, I would adviſe you to put up your Trinkets in time; for your kind of Play with Small money, will not hold out with all ſorts of Gameſters. Though I am the meaneſt of thoſe you have undertaken, yet, if I would take you for my ſubject, and rather ſtrive to be ſharp than ſerious, I ſhould find it no hard matter, to dreſs you up in your Cap and Caſſock, and ſo ſhew you to the world, not like thoſe Innocent Creatures, the Rats and Mice, to which you have merrily, or rather, to ſhew what value you put upon your ſelf, triumphantly compared us: But like ſome greater, and more ravenous Beaſt of prey, which is not content to nibble at Books, but tears and devours the Authors, and when he ſhould confute their Arguments, wounds and aſſaſſinates their Reputations.
Were you cool enough, I need go no farther than your ſelf for a teſtimony to confirm this; for is not this your conſtant practice? Haſtily concluding the truth to be on your ſide (as if you had a Priviledge to be infallible) and ſtriding o're the knot, leſt it ſhould ſtop your Career, you get as farre as you can from the Queſtion, and at that diſtance Bark at your diſſenting Brethren, call them all Fools and Madmen, who dare not be ſo Peremptory and unreaſonable as your ſelf; load them with bitter invectives, and blaſphemous Inferences; and what you want in Argument, you make up in Noiſe and Outcry: Much like that ſilly Stoick in Lucian *Jup. rag.(an Author I am ſure you are Vers'd in, and, becauſe he jeers Predeſtination, well approve of) who when he was driven to a Non plus, cries out foreign, which is the very Greek for your Engliſh, when you ſo opprobriouſly call Mr. Hickman Wretched Caitiff.
You ſee, Sir, how much you lie at my Mercy, and from what I have ſaid, you may judge how favourable I am, in that I ſay no more: Now I have put you into a Fright, and ſhewed you your danger, I muſt pitty your frailty, and comfort you again, by acquainting you, that I hope I am perfectly cured of that looſneſs, and what levity I diſlike in your writings, I ſhall not willingly practiſe in my own; and though it is to be feared, that your Poetry has ſpoiled your preaching, yet, for your profeſſion's ſake, I heartily wiſh you would a little forget that you are Rector of Brington, which is your Law Term; that ſo you may the better remember your ſelf to be a Preacher of the Gospel, which is your Proper Title, and with the gravity of which, your preſent empty and trivial way of writing, do's as little agree, as a feather would do with your habit. Much more might be ſaid upon this ſubject, but I am too young to countenance the good Advice I could give; and you are too old, and too wiſe too, at leaſt in your own conceit, to take it.
Andhere, Sir, if you pleaſe, we will end all Perſonal Quarrels; at leaſt for my part I ſhall, ſince I cannot think it worth my vvhile there to contend for the victory, where I ſhould be aſhamed to Triumph. And that I may not wholly looſe this Letter, which I ſhould do if I diſcourſed of nothing in it but you, I ſhall conclude with ſomething more material, viz. the Ground of our former and preſent difference.
The difference between your ſelf and me, (that you may not be ſo confident of your own opinion) is neither more nor leſs, then what has emploied the Wits, and divided the Judgments of all the learned men that ever were, or will be in the world, viz. concerning Gods Decrees, whether they be Abſolute or Conditional. You, in the rear of many great Names which I could reckon, becauſe you cannot otherwiſe underſtand the Importance of thoſe ſeveral precepts and comminations in Scripture, nor Free God from being the Author of ſin, affirm Gods Decrees to be Conditional, i.e. That God chooſes Peter, &c. becauſe he foreſees that he will Beleive and Perſevere to the end. But I, who can as little underſtand how God can conſider any condition in the creature as a ground of his Election, ſince he is the ſole Author of whateſer conditions the creature can be ſuppoſed to have: And becauſe I underſtand leſſe, how thoſe who acknowledge Gods Preſcience can free him from being in ſome ſenſe the Author of ſin, ſince what ever God foreſees, and doth not prevent, he may juſtly be ſaid to cauſe, when he knows that nothing but his interpoſing can hinder the producing of it, therefore I affirm, with many Thouſands of others, as Learned men as the World ever had, That all Gods Decrees are, like his Nature, Abſolute, i.e. That God chuſeth Peter, &c. becauſe he will chuſe him, and to make good his act of Election, he gives him Faith, and by his power preſerves him to the end.
To underſtand which of theſe two opinions be the moſt ſober and Rational (for as to Scripture, the laſt without diſpute has the better) it will be firſt neceſſary to conſider the Nature of Mans Will, in what manner, and how farre 'tis Free; and to reſolve this, however, Sir, you take the whole for granted, requires a more than ordinary knowledge in the Depths of natural Philoſophy; which you have not now leaſure, nor ever ſeem to have had ſetled judgment enough to enquire into: and therefore it may perhaps be news to tell you that thoſe Axioms, Nothing can move it ſelf; and, Every thing hath a Cauſe; and, Whatever the will chuſeth now, it can give a Reaſon, why it chuſeth it, which Reaſon was ſufficient to move it, and therefore Neceſſary. Theſe Axioms I ſay, when urged as Objections, have in all Ages puzzled the moſt Acute and ſubtil Diſputers; and though many, amongſt whom the Reverend and Learned B. Bramball, have ſaid as much in the point, as the Queſtion is capable of, yet when all is done, I muſt profeſs for my own part, that my Religion, and not my Reaſon, has ſatisfied me, and I am content to beleive I have Free-will, though I cannot underſtand it: and concerning this, not as preſuming to ſolve the Difficulties, but only to ſhew them, I have ſent you an Exercitation in Latine, which you may either Anſwer, or, which is farre more eaſie, ſlight as you ſee occaſion.
When this Difficulty is paſſed over, which alone is enough to choak the keeneſt Diſputers appetite, Another of much greater importance remains behind, viz. upon ſuppoſition that man has Free-will, that is, Liberty to chuſe, not his actions only, but his will too (as who is ſo Mad to deny this, in his Actions I mean, though many do in their writings?) then how can this freedom of Will in man be reconciled to the Abſoluteneſs of the Will of God; ſince that, as it is the prime Cauſe, ſo it does alwayes actually concurre with, and therefore is neceſſarily productive of, every Action of the Creature? To ſay here that God concurres with every Creature according to their ſeveral reſpective natures, that is to ſay, with neceſſary Agents, ſo as to make them act neceſſarily; with Free Agents, ſo as to let them act Freely; this, I humbly conceive, is not ſo much to untie the knot, as to beg the Queſtion, ſince Gods concourſe is urged as an Argument to take away all manner of Freedome, becauſe his influence doth Act, though in a ſecret, yet in an irreſiſtible manner.
Theſe Intricacies, Sir, which do accompany the Queſtion about Gods Decrees (not to urge any thing from the conſequences of either, which is not a ſolid nor a rational way of ſearching out Truth) do make this controverſie ſo unintelligible, ſo almoſt incapable of Solution, that they did at firſt diſquiet, but at laſt, through the bleſſing of God, they drove me out of the fluctuations of Reaſon, into the Shelter and Sanctuary of the Apoſtle Paul: and that Queſtion of his, Who art thou, O man, &c? I have experimentally found to be the moſt effectual charm, wherewith to compoſe and ſettle a ſoul in the midſt of its ſhakings. From thence I did reſolve, and hope ſhall ever be preſerved in the ſame mind, to acquieſce in the Letter of Scripture, in ſpite of all the Tumultuatings and Agitations of my Thoughts againſt it; for ſhould I ever let go my hold, and put out to Sea again, I have juſt Cauſe to Fear, that this depth will ſooner ſwallow me up, then be Fathomed by me. You did therefore, Sir, very Prudently, to ſlight my late Treatiſe upon this Subject, and at all adventure to ſtile it Weak and Shallow, that thereby you might diſcourage your Followers, from receiving thence that ſatisfaction, which none of your Thin and Aiery Diſcourſes can give them.
But I will not again repeat, what I before mentioned, and promiſed to Forgive you for, concerning your Raw and Unſeaſoned way of Arguing; but I appeal to the Conſciences of all the Sober men of your Perſwaſion, whether the Doubts in Preſcience will not as much Perplex a Diſputing Chriſtian, as the Myſteries of Predeſtination; and if you indeed have eſcaped thoſe Plunges, if you alone have been altogether Freed from thoſe Entanglements, I dare pronounce, it is not becauſe you are Wiſer, or underſtand Boetius *5. l. de conſol. Philoſ.better than other men, but becauſe you have not Patience, I might ſay Depth, enough, to take in the whole compaſs of your Tenet.
Thus, Sir, I have briefly diſcovered my own Opinion, and withall pointed you out a way how you may correct yours; and if not your Opinion, yet at leaſt your Temper; which if you ſhall obſerve, there is ſome hope, that there may be, if not a Friendly agreement, yet a fair and Scholar-like contention between us: In Order to which, I ſhall, when ever you pleaſe, undertake to Maintain theſe two Theſes.
1o. That all Gods Decrees are Abſolute.
2o. That the Arminians, I mean thoſe who aſſert Conditional Election, do as much make God the Author of Sin, as thoſe who hold it to be Abſolute.
Theſe two Poſitions, Sir, contain the Subſtance of all that either is, or can be, ſaid in this Argument, and if in either of them, you pleaſe, ſuitably to your declared Doctrine, to hold the Negative, the Controverſie may come to a ſpeedy Iſſue; if you pleaſe withall briefly to State your Opinion, and, without impertinent Declaiming by the By (with which you may pleaſe, but never ſatisfie a curious Reader) give in the Reaſons of your Aſſertion. Upon the view of vvhichwhich, if I find your Arguments ſo New, ſo Clear, and ſo Convincing, that I, though far the vveakeſt of your Adverſaries, cannot Anſwer them; I ſhall, notwithſtanding Our preſent Diſtances, forthwith become, ſomething more than your Friend, your Convert, and endeavour to draw in others by my Example. And, becauſe I foreſee I am not like to make this change in haſte, you ſhall however always find me,
Sir, Your very humble and Ready Servant Edw. Bagshawe. Ch. Ch. Aug. 1o. 1659.