Antidote Against Arminianism, Discourse · Chapter 1 – Chapter 2
CHAP. I. Of Arminianiſm in General.
IT hath ever been the Lot of Truth (like the Lord of it) to be Crucified (at leaſt quoad conatum) between Right-hand and Lefthand Thieves: As Moral Vertue, ſo Theological alſo, is found betwixt Two Extreams; foreign. Expellunt Medium Extremi uter que ad alterum, ſaith Ariſtotle, Ethic. lib. 2. cap. 8. Agreeable unto which, Thucidides hath a Saying, foreign, Thoſe that be in the midſt are ſlain (or at leaſt, aſſaulted) on both ſides: But Veritas aeterna et valebit.
There is as much beyond the Truth, as on this ſide it; as much of Vain Curioſity in out-running the flock of Chriſt, and the Lamb that leads them (which expoſes Men to the Watchful and Wrathful Canaanites) as there is of Affected Ignorance in Straggling and Loitering behind, whereby they are in Danger to be cut off by Curſed Amalek. Truth hath Evermore obſerv'd the Golden Mean, and the Poet's Counſel is good here, [Medio tutiſſimus ibis] to keep a Mediocrity; and the Character of the Sons of Truth is, Medium tenuere beati.
Truth's Enemies (on all hands) are Various; the Anti-ſcripturiſts make the Bible a Legend of Lies and Faith a Fable. The Familiſts cry down Ordinances as a Burden too heavey for a Freeborn Conſcience, and too low and carnal for a Seraphick Spirit The Socinians decry the Divinity of Chriſt and his Satisfaction, as if his Sufferings were Exemplary only, not Explatory: The Atheiſts deride all, and would lay waſte Religion: The Romaniſts do turn the True Worſhip of God into Will-worſhip, and teach their own Traditions for the Commandments of God, ſpoiling God's Inſtitutions with Man's Inventions.
The Arminians (not the leaſt, tho' here the laſt of Truth's Adverſaries) do call the Juſtice of God to the Bar of Reaſon, and dare confidently wade in the deep Ocean of Divine Myſteries, and in ſtating the Decrees of God, where Bleſſed Paul could find no bottom; but found it Proſundum fine fundo, and cry'd foreign! Oh! the Depth, &c. They dare undertake to fetch the Apoſtle off from his Non plus, Rom. 9.14. ſaying, God ſoreſaw that Jacob would believe, and that Eſau would not believe; therefore the One was loved and the other hated: Thus Arminius's School teacheth deeper Divinity, than what Paul learnt in the Third Heaven: And they do not only (with the Socinians) gratifie the Pride of Man's Reaſon, but alſo the Pride of Man's Will, in Extenuating both the Guilt and Filth of Original Sin, as Popery (their Elder Siſter) doth gratifie the Pride of Outward Senſe.
Hence Dr. Laighton Sion's Plea pag. 234.calls Arminianiſm the Pope's Benjamin, the Laſt and Greateſt Monſter of the Man of Sin, the Elixir of Antichriſtianiſm, the Myſtery of the Myſtery of Iniquity, the Pope's Cabinet, and ſuch a fine-ſpun Thread of Popery, that it can ſcarce be diſcerned, the Quinteſſence of Equivocation, and Spain's Newfound Paſſage into Brittany and the Low Countries. And Famous Mr. Fuller ſaith,Fuller's Chur. Hiſt. cent. 17. b. 10. pag. 61. "We muſt ſadly confeſs, that ſince the Synod at Dort, many Engliſh Souls have taken a Cup too much of Belgick Wine in a Spiritual / Senſe, whereby their Heads have not only grown dizzy in Matters of leſſer Moment, but their whole Bodies do ſtagger in the Fundamentals of their Religion. Alike hereunto Mr. Rous (the Maſter of Eaton-Colledge) addeth, ſaying, "Arminianiſm is the Spawn of Popery, which the Warmth of Favour may eaſily turn into the Frogs of the Bottomleſs Pit: And what are the New Arminians, but the Varniſh'd Off-ſpring of the Old Pelagians, that makes the Grace of God to lacquey it at the Foot (or rather at or to the Will) of Man, that makes the Sheep (as it were) to keep the Shepherd, that puts God into the ſame Extremity with Darius (in Dan. 6.) who would gladly have ſaved Daniel, but could not. What elſe can their Doctrine De Scientiâ mediâ ſignifie? Which they ſay is a Praeſcience in God, whoſe Truth depends not on the Decree of God, but on the Free-will of the Creature; this is to make the Creature have no Dependance on the Creator, and to fetter Divine Providence. Thus that fatal Neceſſity (which they from our abſolute Decree would lay at our Doors) unavoidably remains at theirs; and God muſt ſay thus to Miſerable Man, Oh! my poor Creature, Ferenda non flenda eſt (quae vos laeſit) fortuna fatalis, &c.Rhaetor-fort. de divina Gratiâ. Ep. Dedicat. pag. 6. That fatal Fortune (which hath harm'd you) muſt be endur'd more than bewailed, for it was from all Eternity before my Providence, I could not hinder, I could not but conſent to thoſe fatal Contingencies, unavoidable Fate hath (whether I will or no) pronounc'd the Inevitable Sentence: This is to make God like the Heathen Jupiter, who (himſelf could not deliver [his] Sarpedon out of his Bonds, when he earneſtly deſired it, as Homer gives us the Relation: What elſe is this, but to overthrow all thoſe Graces of Faith, Hope, Patience, Thankfulneſs, &c. to expectorate Religion, and to pull the great Jehovah (himſelf) out of his Throne of Glory, ſetting up Dame Fortune to be worſhipp'd in his ſtead? Theſe and many other great Abominations, have been diſcover'd in the Chambers of Imagery in our Days, which indeed are nothing but the Frothy Exuberancies of Wanton Wits, meaſuring ſupernatural Myſteries and the abſtruſeſt Points of Divinity, with the Crooked Metewand of Degenerate Reaſon: LutherThis Word "[Quare] ſaith Luther, hath undone many a Soul, that muſt know a Reaſon of all God's Actings; yea, of thoſe too high for us, and wherein Reaſon is a Fool; thus (ſaith he) Men put themſelves between the Door and the Hinges, in ſearching into the Secret Counſels of God. But in theſe Points it was once well ſaid, Da mihi baptizatam Rationem, Give me a mortified Reaſon; for, to preſcribe to God's infinite Underſtanding, and to allow him no Reaſons to guide his Determinations by, but what we are acquainted withal, is Extreamly Arrogant and Supercilious: Stulta Dei ſunt credenda (as ſond Man calls them) et Impia Dei ſacienda; to wit, ſuch as Carnal Reaſon accounteth fooliſh, and wicked: Reaſon ſaith, Ex nihilo nihil fit, but Faith ſays, Ex nihilo omnia; Reaſon muſt neither be the Rule to meaſure Faith by, nor the Judge: We may give a Reaſon of our Believing, to wit, becauſe it is Written; but not of all Things believed, as why Jacob was loved and Eſau hated, before they had done either Good or Evil; this was the Counſel of God's own Will: Touching ſuch ſublime Myſteries, our Faith ſtands upon Two ſure Bottoms, the Firſt is, that the Being, Wiſdom and Power of God doth Infinitely tranſcend Ours, ſo may reveal Matters far above our Reach: The Second is, That whatſoever God reveals is undoubtedly true, and to be believed, although the Bottom of it cannot be ſounded by the Line of our Reaſon; becauſe Man's Reaſon is not abſolute, but variouſly limited, perplexed with its own Frailty, and Defective in its own Actings.
CHAP. II. Of Predeſtination, which is the Firſt Point in Controverſie.
The Definition of it.PRedeſtination is the Decree of God, whereby (according to the Counſel of his own Will) he foreordained ſome of Mankind to Eternal Life, and refuſed or paſſed by others for the Praiſe of his Glorious Mercy and Juſtice, Rom. 9.22,23. Some are Veſſels of Mercy, and others are Veſſels of Wrath: In a great Houſe various Veſſels are for Uſe and Ornament; both Veſſels of Honour and Veſſels of Diſhonour, 2 Tim. 2.20. and the Maſter of the Houſe can wiſely uſe all his Veſſels [For this cauſe did I raiſe up thee, &c.] God hath his Uſe even of Pharaoh, and of the Churches greateſt Enemies; if it be but Skullion work, to brighten Veſſels of Mercy by them; and God hath not appointed us to Wrath, but to obtain Salvation, 1 Theſ. 5. 9.
It is call'd Deſtination, as it comprehends a Determined Order of the Means to the End, [Deſtinatus ad finem, deſtinatus etiam ad media] and 'tis call'd Predeſtination, becauſe God appointed this Order in and with himſelf, before the Actual Exiſtence of thoſe Things ſo ordered. The Greek Word foreign, ſignifies a Fore-ſeparating for God's ſpecial Uſe; as Iſrale was ſeparated from among all the Nations of the World, to be God's peculiar Inheritance. So God tells them, Levit. 20.24. foreign, Hibdalti, which the Septuagint read foreign, I have ſeparated you, to wit, in fulneſs of Time; ſo foreign, I have ſeparated you from the common Maſs of ſinful Mankind to become Veſſels of Mercy, Members of Chriſt, and Temples of the Holy Ghoſt, before all time, even from all Eternity: As Divine Preſcience is ſometimes largely taken for Predeſtination, Rom. 11.2. God hath not caſt off his People whom he did foreknow, [foreign] that is, whom he did predeſtinate: So Auguſtine de bono perſerveran. cap. 18. urges againſt the Pelagians. In like manner, Predeſtination is taken ſtrictly and Synechdochically, for Election it ſelf. Rom. 8.30. Eph. 1.5 and accordingly I ſhall handle it in this following Treatiſe, uſing the Word Election and Predeſtination promiſcuouſly.
It is alſo called in the Definition a Divine Decreo (as the Genus of it) becauſe it contains in it the Determinate Counſel of God, and the Counſel of his own Will; Acts 4.29. Eph. 1.11. in bringing to paſs ſuch and ſuch Ends, by ſuch and ſuch Means. This is in Scripture Phraſe foreign Acts 2.23. foreign. The Hand and Counſel of God, and foreign, Beneplacitum, the good Pleaſure of God; In thoſe places fore named, Eph. 1.9.