The Doctrine of the Saints Perseverance, Preface (3 of 3)
The truth is when I first named Ignatius for a witness in the cause I am pleading for, I little thought of that excursion which I have occasionally been drawn out unto. When first I cast an eye some few months since upon the Dissertation of the Learned Doctor, in defence of Episcopacy. & saw it so Cheker'd with Greek and Latine, so full of quotations divine & humane, I began to think, that he dealt with his Adversaries, hastis que , clypeis que , & saxis grandibus, that there would be no standing before his showre of arguments: but after a little ferious perusal, I must take leave to say, that I was quickly of another mind, with the reason of which change of thoughts, could I once obtaine the leasure of a few dayes or howres, I should quickly (God willing) acquaint them who are concerned in Affaires of this nature. In the meane time if the Reader will pardon me this digression, having given him an account of my thoughts concerning the Epistles of Ignatius, I shall in a procedure upon my first intention bring forth some Testimonies from him, & valeant quantùm valere possunt.
He seemes (in the first place) to speak sufficiently clearly, to the death of Christ for his Church, for Believers, in a peculiar manner, which is one considerable bottome, and foundation of the truth we plead for. Epist: ad Trall foreign and againe Epistolâ ad Philad: by Christ (saith he) foreign with many the like expressions. His confidence also of the Saints perseverance for whom Christ thus dyed, he doth often profess; Speaking of the faith of the Gospel he addes, foreign.
And againe more clearly and fully to the same purpose Epist: ad Smyrn: foreign. &c.
And this confirmation and establishment in believing, he ascribes not to their manly considerations, but to the grace of Christ, exclusively to any of their own strength, Epist: ad Smyrn. foreign (saith he of him selfe) foreign.
To the same purpose and with the same confident perswasion he speakes, Epist: ad Ephes. foreign. &c.
And againe in the same Epistle. foreign. And in his last Epistle, he gives us that noble Expression of his own assurance. foreign where we leave the holy soule, until the same God gather us to him, & the rest of the spirits of just men made perfect.
And this was the language, these were the Expressions of this holy man, which what they discover of his judgment, to the case under consideration, is left to the learned Reader to consider. This I am certaine, our Adversaries have very little cause to boast of the consent of the Primitive Christians with them in the doctrine of Apostacy, there being in these most antient writers after the Apostles, about the things of our Religion, not the least shadow cast upon it, for it's refreshment.
Adde in the next place the most Antient of the Latines, Tertullian, (that great store-house of all manner of learning and knowledge) saith he, Quemadmodùm nobis arrhabonem spiritus reliquit, ita & à nobis arrhabonem carnis accepit, & vexit in Coelum, pignus totius summae illuc redigendae. Tertullian: de Resur. The certaine salvation of the whole mystical body of Christ, with whom he hath that communion, as to give them his Spirit, as he took their flesh (for he took upon him flesh and blood, because the Children were partakers of the same,) is evidently asserted: which he could not do who thought that any of those, on whom he bestowed his spirit, might perish everlastingly.
And againe de praescripti: ad Haeret.
In pugnâ pugilum & gladiatorum, plerum que , non quia fortis ost, vincit quis, aut quia non potest vinci. Sed quoniem ille quivictus est; nullis viribus fuit: adeò idemille victor bene valenti posteâ comparatus, etiam superatus recedit: non aliter haereses de quorundam infirmitatibus habent, quòd valent, nihil valentes▪ si in benè valentem fidem incurrant. Solent quidem illi miriones etiam de quibusdam personis ab Haeresi captis aedificari in Ruinam; quarè ille vel illa, fidelissimi, prudentissimi, & usitatissimi in Ecclesiâ, In …am partem tranfierunt? quis hoc dicens non ipse sib… respondet, ne que prudentes, ne que fideles, ne que usitatos aesimandos quos haeresis potuit demutare? He plainly denies them to have been believers▪ (that is truely, throughly properly so) who fall into pernicious haeresies to their destruction.
Cyprian is express to our purpose: saith he, nemo existimet bonos de Ecclesiâ posse disecdere. tritioum non rapit ventus, nec arborem solidâ radice fundatam procella subvertit, inanes paleae tempestate metantur; inva…e arbores tutbinis incursione evertuntur. Hos execratur & percutit Apostolus Johannes, dicens, ex nobis exierunt, sed non fuerunt ex nobis, si enim fuissent ex nobis, mansissent uti que nobiscum. Cyp: de Unita: Eccles: The whole Doctrine we contend for, is plainly, and clearly asserted, and bottomed on a text of Scripture, which in a special manner (as we have cause) we do insist upon; all that is lost by temptations in the Church, was but Chaffe, the Wheat abides, and the rooted Tree is not cast down. Those fall away, who indeed were never true believers in heart and union, what ever their profession was. And yet, we are within the compass of that span of time, which our adversaries, without proof, without shame, claime to be theirs. One Principal foundation of our Doctrine, is the bestowing of the holy Ghost upon Believers by Jesus Christ. Where he is so bestowed, there say we he abides: for he is given them for that end. viz: to abide with them for ever. Now concerning him Basil tells us, that though in a sort, he may be said to be present with all, that are baptised yet he is never mixed with any that are not worthy, that is, he dwells not with any that obtaine not salvation. Basil Lib: de Spir: Sanc: Cap: 16. foreign. By that seeming presence of the holy Ghost, with hypocrites that are baptized professors, he evidently intends the common gifts & graces that he bestowes upon them, and this is all he grants to them who are not at last (for such he discourses of…) found worthy.
Macarius Aegyptius. Homil: 5: about the same time with the other, or somewhat before, is of the same mind. He tells us that those who are Christians foreign: & how men can be assured of Heaven, whilest they live here, by the earnest of it which they have received, as well as if they were crowned and reigning in Heaven. If those who have received that earnest may loose it againe, I know not. The words of Ambrose to this same purpose, Lib: 1. de Jacob: & Vitâ: beat▪ are many: But because they do not only fully assert the truth▪ we contend for, but also insist briefly on most of the Arguments, with which in this case we plead, I shall transcribe them at large, and they are as followeth.
Non gloriabor, quia justus sum, sed gloriabor quia redemptus sum, gloriabor non quia vacuus peccati sum, sed quia mihi remissa sunt Peccata, non gloriabor quia profui, nec quia profuit mihi quisquam, sed quia advocatus pro me apud Patrem Christus est, sed quia pro me Christi sanguis effusus est.—Haeredem te fecit, Cohaeredem Christi, Spiritum tibi adoptionis infudit. Sed vereris dubios vitae anfractus & adversarit insidias, cûm habeas auxilium Dei, habeas tantam ejus dignationem, ut filio proprio pro te non peperce…it?—nihîl enim excepit, qui omnium concessit Authorem. Nihil est igitur quod negari posse nobis ver…ur; nihil est in quo de munificantiae divinae diffidere perseverantia debeamus▪ eujus fuit tan… diutu…na & jugis abertal, ut primò praedestinaret, deinde, vocanet, & quos vocavit has & justificaret, & quos justificaret has & glorificaret. Poterit de…erere quos tantis beneficiis ne que ad pr…mia prosecutus est? Inter …ot beneficia Dei, num metuend… sunt aliquae accusationis insidea? sed quis audeat accusare quos electos divine ce…nit judicia? num Dous pater ipse qui Contulit, potest dona sua res…i…dere, & quos adaptione suscapit, eos à paterni affectâs gratiâ religare? sed metus est ne judea severior sit, confidera qu…m judicem habeas; nempe Christo dedit pater omne judicium: poterit te ergò ille demnare, quem redemit à morte, pro quo s… abtulit, cujus vitam suaemortis mercedem esse cognescit? nonne decit quae utilitas in sanguine meo, si damno quem ipse salvavi? deinde consideras judicem, non consideras advocatum?
The foundation of all our glorying in the Love of God, and assurance of salvation, He lays in the free grace of God, in redemption and justification; for the certainty of our continuance in that estate, he urges the decree of Gods pr…destination, the unchangeableness of his love, the Compleat Redemption made by Christ, with his effectual Intercession, all which are at large insisted upon in the ensuing treatise.
Adde to him his contemporary Chrysostome. Ser… ▪ 3. in 2 Cor: 1. 21. 22. foreign of these words of the Apostle he given the ensuing exposition. foreign.
The designe and aime of our Establishment by the Spirit is, he tells us, that we be not shaken or moved from the saith of Christ: So establisheth … not to depart & fall away from the faith. And that the argument which he insistion, from what we have presently received to an assurance of abode in our Condition, to the enjoyment of the full inheritanceis not contemtible in the Cause in hand, as is further manifested in the treatise it selfe.
And these instances may suffice for the first period of time mentioned, before the rising of the Pelagian heresy, of which, & those others of the same kind that might be produced, though they may not seem so full, and expressive to the point under Consideration, as these which follow after, yet concerning those Authors and their testimonies, these two things may be asserted.
1 That though some Expressions may be gathred from some of the Writers within the space of Time mentioned, that seem to allow a possibility of defection, and Apostacy in Believers, occasioned all of them by the general use of that word, and the taking in the several accounts, whereon men both in the Gospel, and in common use are so called, yet there is no one of them that ever ascribed the perseverance of them, who Actually & eventually persevere, to such grounds and principles as Mr. Goodwin doth, and which the Reader shall find at large by him insisted on, in the ensuing treatise. The truth is, his maintaining of the Saints perseverance is as bad, if not worse, then his maintaining their Apostacy.
2 That I scarce know any Head in Religion, concerning which the Mind of the Antients who wrote before it received any opposition, may be made out more clearly, then we have done in this, by the Instances produced, and insisted on.
The Pelagian Heresy began about the yeare 417. The first opposers thereof are reckoned up by Prosper, Cap: 2. de Ingrat: The Bishop of Rome, the Palestine Synod in the Case of Pelagius, Hierome, Atticus Bishop of Constantinople, the Synod of Ephesus, Sicily, and two in Africk, he mentions in order, concluding them with the second African gathered to that end and purpose;
Anne alium in finem posset procedere sanctum
Concilium, cui Dux Aurelius Ingenium que
Augustinus erat? quem Christi gratia corni…
Vberiore rigans, nostro lumen dedit aevo,
Accensum vero de Lumine, nam cibus illi
Et vita & requies Deus est omnis que voluptas
Vnus amor Christi est, unus Christiest Honor illi:
Et dum nulla sibi quaerit bona, fit Deus illi
Omnia, & in Sancto regnat sapientia Templo.
And because I shall not burden the Reader, being now entred upon the Place and Time, wherin very many witnesses call aloud to be heard about the Difference in hand, of the first opposers of the Pelagian Heresy, I shall insist only on him, who is indeed Instar omnium, and hath ever been so accounted in the controversies about the Grace of God: And I shall the rather lay this weight on him, because it's evident that he spake the sense of the whole Church, in those dayes wherin he lived. This is Austin, of whom saith the same Prosper—Noverint illis non solum Romanam Ecclesiam Affricanam que , sed per omnes Mundi partes universos promissionis filios, cum Doctrinâ Hujus Viri, sicut in totâ fide, ita in Gratiae confessione congruere: Epist: ad Rusti:
And when his writings began to be carped at by the Semi-Pelagians of France, Caelestine Bishop of Rome in his Epist: ad Gallos, gives him this Testimony: Augustinum Sanctae Recordationis Vir…m pro vitâ suâ & moribus, in nostra Communione semper habuimus, nec unquam hunc finistrae suspicionis rumor saltem aspersit, quem tantae scientiae olim fuisse meminimus, ut inter magistros optimos etiam à meis Praedecessoribus haberetur. His writings also were made use of not only by Prosper Hilary, and Fulgenti…, but generally of all that engaged against the Pelagians. Zozimus (saith Prosper ad Collat: c: 41:) cùm esset Doctissimus, adversùs Librostamen Pelagianorum beati Augustin… responsa poscebi…. And, Leo Epist: ad Concil: Arausic: transcribes out of him verbatim the things that he would have confirmed and established. And in his own dayes not withstanding the differences between them, that Aged and learned Hierome, tells him Epist: 94: Mihi decretum est te amare, te suspicere, …ere, mirari, tua que dicta, quasi mea, defendere. Hence was that out…ry in the Palestine Synod upon the sleighting of his Authority by Pelagius. Dixit Pelagius, Quis est mihi Augustinus? Acclamabant omnes Blasphemantem in Episcopum, …x cujus are dominus Vniversae Africa Vnitatis indulserit sanitatem, non solum à conventu illo, sed ab omni Ecclesiâ pellendum▪ Oros: Apologet: pag▪ 621▪ 622: So also Gelas: biblioth: Pat: T…m: 4 Col…m 553, pag▪ 589.
Fulgen…ius also with then assembled with him at …, when they were banished Africk by …hrasimundus, in that Synodical Epist: gives them this Counsel: pr… omnibus st…dium gerite libros S: Augustini quos ad Prosperum & Hilarium scripsit, memoratis fratribus legendos ingerere: Epist: Synod: Byzac: much more might be added to manifest the Judgment of Austine to have been the Catholick Judgment of the Church in those dayes. So that in his single Testimony as great a number are included, as in the Testimony of any one man in the world whatever.
Now the Controversy that was between Austin, and the Pelagians, and Semi-Pelagians about Perseverance, Hilary thus expresseth in his Epist: to him: Deinde molestè ferunt (speaking of the Semi-Pelagians) ita dividi gratiam, quae vel tunc, primo Homini data est, vel nunc omnibus datur, ut ille acceperit Perseverantiam, non quâ fieret, ut perseveraret, sed sine quâ per liberum Arbitrium persever are non posset: nunc verò Sanctis in Regnum per Gratiam praedestinatis, non tale adjutorium perseverantiae detur, sed tale, ut eis perseverantia ipsa donetur, non solùm ut sine ilio Dono perseverantes esse non possint, verùm etiam ut per hoc Donum non nisi perseverantes sint. Caeterum quicquid libet donatum sit predestinatis, id posse & amittere, & retinere propriâ voluntate contendunt. The very state of the controversy as now under contest is most cleerly exprest, in this Report of the Difference, between the Semi-pelagians, and the Church of God in those dayes. And because the whole summe of Mr. Goodwin's Book is briefly comprised, in the ninth and tenth Chapter of Prosper de Ingrat: I shall transcribe that tenth chapter, to present to the Reader the substance and pith of That Treatise, as also the state of the Controversy in those dayes.
—Quàm sana fides sit vestrapatescat,
Gratia quâ Christi Populus sumus, hoc cohibetur
Limite vobiscum, & formam hanc adscribitis illi:
Vt cunctos vocet illa quidem, invitet que nec ullum
Praeteriens, studeat communem afferre salutem
Omnibus, & totum peccato absolvere Mundum;
Sed proprio quem que Arbitrio parere vocanti,
Judicio que suo; motâ se extendere mente
Ad lucem oblatam, quae se non subtrahat ulli,
Sed cupidos recti juvet, illustret que volentes.
Hinc adjutoris Domini Bonitate magistrâ
Crescere virtutum studia, ut quod quis que petendum
Mandatis didicit, jugi sectetur amor.
Esse autem edoctis istam communiter oequam
Libertatem animis, ut cursum explere beatum
Persistendo queant, finem effectum que petitum
Dante Deo, ingeniis qui nunquam desit honestis.
Sed quia non idem est Cunctis Vigor, & variarum
Illecebris rerum trahitur dispersa voluntas,
Sponte aliquos vitiis succumbere, qui potuissent
A Lapsu revocare pedem, stabiles que manere.
As I sayd, we have the summe of Mr. Goodwin's Book in this declaration of the Judgment of the Semi-Pelagians, so also in particular the state of the Controversy about the perseverance of the Saints as then it was debated; & I doubt not but the learned Reader will easily perceive it to be no other, then that which is now agitated between me & Mr. Goodwin. The controversy indeed in the matter between Austin and the Pelagians was reduced to 3 heads 1. As to the Foundation of it, which Austin concluded to be the decree of Predestination, which they denyed: the Impulsive Cause of it, he proved to be the Free grace of God, & the measure or quality of that Grace to be such, as that whoever received it, did persevere, it being perseverance which was given, both which they denyed: about the kind of faith, which Temporary professours might have, and fall from it, which were never elected, there was between them no Contest at all. Of his Judgment then, there were these two main heads which he laboured to confirme.
That perseverance is a gift of God, and that no man either did, or could persevere in Faith and obedience upon the strength of any grace received, (much less of his own Ability, stirred up and promoted by such considerations, as Mr. Goodwin makes the ground and bottome of the perseverance of all that so do) but that the whole was from his Grace. Subservient to this, he maintained, that no one Temptation whatsoever, could be overcome but by some Act of Grace, and that therfore perseverance must needs be a work thereof, it being an abiding in Faith and obedience, notwithstanding, and against Temptation. To this is that of his on Joh: Hom. 53; quosdam nimia voluntatis suoe fiducia extulit in superbiam, & quosdam nimia volunta tis sua diffidentia dejecit in negligentiam: Illi dicunt quid rogamus Deum ne vincamur tentatione quod in nostrâ est potestate? Isti dicunt, at quid conamur bene vivere, quod in Dei est Potestate? ô Domine, ô Pater qui es in Coelis, ne nos infer as in quamlibet istarum Tentationum, sed libera nos à malo. Audiamus Dominum dicentem, rogavi pro Te Petre, ne fides deficiat tuae; ne sic existimemus fidem nostram esse in Libero Arbitrio ut Divino non egeat adjutorio. &c. That, with both of these sorts of men, the way and work of the Grace of God, is at this day perverted, and obscured, is so known to all, that it needs no Exemplification. Some require no more to the Conquest of Temptations, but men's own rational consideration of their Eternal state and condition, with the tendency of That, whereto they are tempted: Others turning the Grace of God into wantonness, & supinely casting away all heedful regard of walking with God, being enslaved to their lusts and corruptions, under a pretence of God's working all in all. The latter denying themselves to be men, the former to be men corrupted; And in plaine terms the Milevitane Councel tells us, si quis finxerit ideò Gratiam esse necessariam ad vitanda peccata, quia facit hominem cognoscere peccata, & discernere inter Peccata, & non peccata, quá Discretione per gratiam habitâ, per liberum Arbitrium potest vitare; is procùl, &c. The light of Grace to discerne the state of things, the nature of sinne, and to consider these aright, the Pelagians allowed, which is all the Bottome of that perseverance of Saints, which we have offered by Mr. Goodwin: but upon that supplie of these meanes, to abide and persevere in faith, to fly and avoid sinne, is a thing of our own performance.
This the Doctors of that Councel Anno 420. condemned as a Pelagian fiction, As Prosper also presents it at large, C: 25: against Cassianus the Semi-Pelagian, & further cleares & confirmes it: so Austin againe: De Bono Persev: c: 3: cur ista perseverantia petitur à Deo, si non datur à Deo? an & ista irrisoria Petitio est, cum illud ab eo petitur, quod scitur non ipsum Dare, sed ipso non dante, esse in hominis potestate? sicùt irrisoria est etiam illa Gratiarum Actio, si ex hoc gratiae aguntur Deo quod non donavit ipse, nec fecit: And the same Argument he useth againe, Cap: 6, 9: much resting on Cyprian's Interpretation of the Lord's Prayer: and Cap: 26: he further presseth it, as to the root and foundation of this Gift of God. Si ad Liberum Arbitrium Hominis, quod non secundum gratiam, sed contra eam defendis, pertinere dicis, ut perseveret in Bono quisquis, vel non perseveret, non Deo dante sic perseverat, sed humana voluntate faciente. One or two instances more in this kind, amongst hundreds that offer themselves may suffice.
De Correptione & Gratiâ, Cap: 14. Apostolus Judas, cum dicit, ei autem qui potens est, &c: nonne apertissimè ostendit Donum Dei esse Perseverare in Bono us que ad Finem? quid enim aliud sonat qui potest conservare nos sine offensione, & constituere ante conspectum gloriae suoe, immaculatos in Laetitiâ, nisi Perseverantiam Bonam? quis tam insulsè desipiat, ut neget Perseverantiam esse Denum Dei, cùm dicit Sanctissimus Jeremias, timorem meum dabo in corde eorum ut non recedant à me, &c. I shall adde only that one place more out of the same Book, (c: 59.) where both the matter, & manner of the thing in hand, is fully delivered: in hoc loco miseriarum, ubi tentatio est vita hominum super terram, virtus infirmitate perficitur; qaoe virtus? nisi qui gloriatur, ut in domino glorietur, per hoc de ipsa perseverantiâ Boni noluit Deus Sanctos suos in viribus suis, sed in ipso gloriari, qui eis non solùm dat Adjutorium quod Primo homini dedit sine quo non possit persever are si velit, sed in iis etiam operatur & velle: & quoniam non perseverabunt nisi & possint, & velint, perseverandi eis & possibilitas, & voluntas Divinae Gratiae largitate donatur: tantum quippe Spiritu Sancto accenditur voluntas eorum, ut ideò possint quia sic volunt, ideò sic velint, quia Deus operatur ut velint. Nam si tantâ infirmitate hujus vitae ipsis relinquetur voluntas sua, ut in Adjutorio Dei, fine quo perseverare non possent, manerent si vellent, ne Deus in eis operaretur ut velint, inter tot, & tantas tentationes, infirmitate suâ succumberet voluntas, & ideò persever are non possent, quia deficientes infirmitate voluntatis non vellent, aut non ita vellent, ut possent. Subventum est igitur infirmitati voluntatis humanae, ut divinâ gratiâ indeclinabiliter, & insuper abilitaèr ageretur, & ideò quamvis infirma non tamen deficiat: It is not possible that any one should deliver his sense more clearly, to the whole of our present Contest, than this holy and learned man hath done, in the words now repeated from him: A gift of God he asserts it to be, (and not an Act or course of our own, whereto we are prompted by certaine Considerations, and assisted with such outward meanes as are also added to us) to the real production of that effect by the efficiency of the Grace of God. And for the manner of this work, it is faith he, by the effectual working, the Actual will of perseverance (in the continuance of our obedience) in a Dispensation of Grace, different from, and beyond what was given to him, who had a Power of Persevering if he would; but received not the will thereof. Now to Adam's Perseverance there was nothing wanting, but his wills confirmation in obedience and his Actuall doing so. Power he had within, and meanes without abundantly sufficient, for that end in their kind. This then He asserts to be given to the Saints, and to be the work of God in them; even their Actual Perseverance. Without this he also manifesteth that such is the infirmity of our wills, and such the Power of our Temptations (that what meanes so ever may be supplyed and left to their Power, or what man-like rational considerations whatever man may engage his thoughts into) that it is impossible any should persevere to the end: which Bradwardine more confirmes, De Caus: Dei Lib: 2. Cap. 8. Coroll: Omne quod est naturale, & non est per se Tale, si manere debeat immutatum, oportet quòd innitatur continuè ali… ui fixo per se: quare quilibet justus Deo.
And the holy man (Austin I meane) concludes, that this work of God being wrought in a man, his will is indeclinably and inseperably fixed so to obedience, as not to fall off from God. This is the foundation that He layes of the Doctrine of the Perseverance of Saints: That it is a Gift of God, and that such a Gift, as he effectually, and Actually works in him on whom he doth bestow it.
A Foundation that will by no meanes regularly beare the hay & stubble, wherewith men think to build up a Doctrine of perseverance: making it a fruit that may, or may not be brought forth, from our own use of the meanes allowed for that end & purpose. And indeed the Asserting of the Perseverance of the Saints in that way, is as bad, if not a worse and more fearful opposition to, and slighting of the Grace of God, as the denyal of it, in the way they oppose: By the latter they oppose the Grace of God, by the former, set up the Power and strength of their own will. Thus far Austin is clearly engaged with us; that perseverance is a Gift of God, that it is given by him to every one that doth persevere: that every one to whom it is given, is inseperably confirmed in Grace, and shall infallibly persevere to the end.
In that earnest, and long Contest, which that learned Doctor insists upon, to prove Perseverance to be the Gift of God (for which he hath sufficient ground from that of the Apostle, 1 Cor: 1. 7, 8: that ye come behind in no Gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus &c.) two things he especially aimed at: first, an opposing of such a Perseverance, as should not be the fruit & work of the Grace of God in us: but the work and Effect of our own endeavours, upon a supply of such meanes, motives, perswasions, & considerations as we are, or may be furnished withal. Secondly, that it is so given and bestowed, as that on whomsoever it is bestowed, he certainly hath it, that is, he doth certainly Persevere. As it was Heresy to that holy man, to deny Perseverance to be the Gift of God, so it was ridiculous to him, to say that that Gift was given to any, and yet that they received it not; that is, that they might not Persevere. Nobis (saith he) de Cor. & Grat: C: 11.) qui Christo insiti sumus, talis data est Gratia, ut non solùm possimus si velimus sed etiam ut velimus in Christo perseverare. And C: 12: non solùm ut sine illo dono perseverantes esse non possint; verùm etiam ut per hoc Donum non nisi perseverantes sint.
And that which he addes afterwards, is most considerable, concluding from that of our Saviour, you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you to beare fruit; eis (faith he) non solùm justitiam, verùm etiam in illâ perseverantiam dedisse monstravit. Christo enim sic eos ponente ut eant & fructum afferant, & fructus eorum maneat, quis audeat dicere forsitan non manebunt? Though they dare say so, who also dare to to pretend his Authority for what they say! how falsly, how injustly, is evident to all serious observers of his mind and spirit, in and about the things of the Grace of God.
2 As he mentioned Perseverance to be such a Gift of God, as indeclinably wrought in them on whom it was bestowed, a will to Persevere, and on that account Perseverance it selfe (an Assertion as obnoxious to the Calumny, and Clamour of the Adversaries of the Doctrine under consideration, as any we teach or affirme concerning it) so he further constantly taught this Gift and Grace to be a fruit of Predestination, or Election, and to be bestowed on all, and only elected believers: so De Predestinatione Sanc: C. 17. Haec dona Dei dantur Electis, secundum Dei Propositum vocatis, in quibus est & incipere & credere, & in fide ad hujus vitae exitum perseverare. And afterwards C: 9…. De bono Persev: ex duobus piis (of his meaning in that word afterwards) cur huic donetur Perseverantia, us que in finem, illi non donetur, inscrutabilia sunt judicia Dei: illud tamen fidelibus debet esse certissimum, hunc esse ex Praedestinatis, illum non esse: nam si fuissent ex nobis (ait unus Pradestinatorum quiè pectore Domini biberat hoc secretum) mansissent uti que nobiscum. Quae est ista Discretio? patent Libri Dei, non avertamus aspectum, elamat Scriptura Divina, adhibeamus auditum, non erant ex eis, quia non erant secundum propositum vocati:non erant in Christo Electi ante mundi constitutionem, non erant in eo sortem consecuti, non erant Praedestinati secundum Propositum ejus qui omnia operatur. And unto these Elect, Predestinate Believers, he concluded still, that Perseverance was so given in and for Christ, so proceeding from the immutable will of God wrought by such an efficacy of Grace, that it was impossible that they should not persevere. He compares it further with the Grace that Adam received, Lib. De: Correp: & Grat: Cap. 12: primo ita que homini, qui in eo bono quo factus fuerat rectus, acceperat posse non Peccare, posse non mori, posse ipsum Bonum non deserere, datum est Adjutorium Perseverantiae, non quo fieret ut perseveraret, sed sine quo per liberum Arbitrium persever are non possit. Nunc verò Sanctis in regnum Dei per gratiam Dei praedestinatis, non tantum tale adjutorium Perseverantiae datur; sed tale, ut iis Perseverantia ipsa donetur, non solùm ut sine isto done Perseverantes esse non possint, verùm etiam ut per hoc donum non nisi perseverantes sint. And a little after; ipseita que dat perseverantiam, qui stabilire potens est eos qui stant, ut perseverantissimè stent. And in the eight Chapter of the same Book, expounding that of our Saviour, Luke 22, I have prayed for thee that thy faith faile not, he manifesteth how upon that account, it was impossible that the will of Peter should not actually be established to the end in believing; His words are,—an audebis dicere, etiam rogante Christo ne deficeret fides Petri, defecturum fuisse, si Petrus eam deficere voluisset, id que si eam us que in finem perseverare noluisset? quasi aliud Petrus ullo modo vellet, quàm pro illo Christus rogâsset ut vellet: nam quis ignorat tunc fuisse perituram fidem Petri, si ea quae fidelis erat voluntas ipsa deficeret; & permansuram, si voluntas eadem permaneret? quando ergo oravit ne fides ejus deficeret, quid aliud rogavit, nisi ut haberet in fide liberrimam, fortissimam, invictissimam, Perseverantissimam voluntatem? And in this persuasion he had not only the consent of all the sound, and Orthodox Doctours in his time, as was before manifested; but he is followed also by the School men of all ages, and not forsaken by some of the Jesuites themselves; as we shall afterwards see, when we have added that consideration of the Doctrine of this learned man, which hath given occasion to some, to pretend his consent in opposition to that, which most evidently He not only delivered, but confirmed. There are in Austine, and those that either joyned with him, or followed immediately after him, (notwithstanding the Doctrine formerly insisted on, that Actual perseverance is a Gift of God, and that it flowes from Predestination as an Effect thereof, and is bestowed on all Elect Believers, infallibly preserving them unto the end: (wherein they assert, and strongly prove, the whole of what we maintaine) sundry Expressions commonly urged by the Adversaries of the truth in hand, granting many who were Saints, believing and Regenerate, to fall away and perish for ever: I need not instance in any of their sayings to this purpose: the Reader knowes where to find them gathered to his hand, in Vossius, Grotius, & Mr. Goodwin from them. The seeming contradiction that is amongst themselves in the delivery of this doctrine, will easily admit of a Reconciliation, may they be allowed the common courtesy of being Interpreters of their own meaning. What weight in those dayes was layd upon the Participation of the Sacramental figures of Grace, and what expressions are commonly used concerning them who had obtained that Priviledge is known to all. Hence all baptised persons continuing in the Profession of the Faith, and Communion of the Church, they called, counted, esteemed truly regenerate, and justified, and spake so of them: Such as these they constantly affirme, might fall away into everlasting destruction: but yet what their judgment was, concerning their present state indeed, even then when they so termed them Regenerate, and Believers, in respect to the Sacraments of those Graces, Austine in sundry places clearly delivers his thoughts, to the undeceiving of all that are willing to be free: This he especially handles in his book de Correp: & Grat: Cap: 9: non erant (saith he) filii, etiam quando erant in professione & nomine filiorum … non quiae justitiam simulaverunt, sed quia in eâ non permanserunt: This Righteousness he esteemed not to be meerly feigned, and hypocritical, but rather such as might truly intitle them to the state and Condition of the Children of God, in the sense before expressed.
And againe, isti cùm piè vivunt dicuntur filii Dei, sed quoniam victuri sunt impie, & in eâdem impietate morituri, non eos dicit filios Dei prascientia Dei. And further in the same chapter, sunt rursus quidam qui filii Dei propter susceptam temporalem gratiam dicuntur à nobis, nec sunt tamen `Deo: and againe, non erant in numero filiorum, etiam quando erant in fide filiorum. And, sicut non verè Discipuli Christi, ita nec verè filii Dei fuerunt, etiam quando esse videbantur, & ita vocabantur. He concludes; Appellamus ergo nos & Electos Christi Discipulos, & Dei filios, quos regeneratos (that is, as to the Sacramental signe of that Grace) piè vivere ceruimus; sed tunc verò sunt quod appellantur, si manserint in eo propter quod sic appellantur.
Si autem persever antiam non habent, id est, in eo quod caperunt esse non manent, non verè appellantur, quod appellantur & non sunt. As also de Doct: Christianâ, Lib. 3. C. 32: non est revera Corpus Christi quod non erit cum illo in aeternum.
And these are the Persons which Austine, and those of the same judgment with him, do grant that they may fall away, such as upon the account of their Baptismal entrance into the Church, their Pious devout lives, their profession of the faith of the Gospel, they called and accounted regenerate believers, whom yet they tell you upon a through search into the nature and causes of holyness, grace, and walking with God that they would be found, not to be truly, and really in that state and condition, that they were esteemed to be in; of which they thought this a sufficient Demonstration, even because they did not persevere: which undeniably on the other hand (with the testimonies foregoing, and the like inumerable that might be produced) evinces, that their constant judgment was, that all who are truly, really, and in the sight of God believers, ingrafted into Christ, and adopted into his family, should certainly Persevere: and that all the passages usually cited out of this holy and learned man, to perswade us that he ever cast an eye towards the Doctrine of the Apostacy of the Saints, may particularly be refer'd to this head, and manifested that they do not at all concerne those, whom he esteemed Saints indeed; which is cleere from the consideration of what hath been insisted on. Thus far He, of whom what were the thoughts of the Church of God in the dayes wherein he lived, hath been declared: He who hath been esteemed amongst the Ecclesiastical Writers of old to have laboured more, and to more purpose in the Doctrine of the Grace of God, then all that went before him, or any that have followed after him, whose renowne in the Church hath been cheifly upheld, and maintained upon the account of the blessed paines, and labours wherin the Presence of God made him to excel, for the depressing the pride of all flesh, and the exaltation of the riches of God's love, and efficacy of his grace in Jesus Christ, wherewith the whole Church in succeeding Ages hath been advantaged beyond what is easy to be expressed.
That Prosper, Hilary, Fulgentius, and the men of renowne in the Congregation of God at the end of that Age, did fall in with their judgments, to that which Austine had delivered, I suppose will be easily confessed: Prosper ad Cap: 7. Gal. quomodo eos habeat praeordinata in Christo Electio? cum dubium non sit donum Dei esse Perseverantiam in bono us que ad finem; quod istos, ex io ipso quod non perseverârunt, non habuisse manifestum est. Also the breaking of the Power, and … of the attempt of Pelagius by sundry Doctors of the Church, and Synods to that end assembled, (whereof Prosper gives us an account, reckoning them up in their order; and Austine before him, Epist: 42. & 47,) with special relation to what was done in Africk; (and in the begining of his verses De Ingratis) with what troubles were raised, and created anew to the Champions of the Grace of God by the writings of Cassianus, Faustus, Vincentius, the Masilienses, with some others in France, and the whole rable of Semi-Pelagians, with the fiction of Sigibert about a Predestinarian Heresy, whereof there was never any thing in being, no not among the Adrumetine Monks, where Vossius hoped to have placed it, the Councel of Arles, the Corruptions, and falsifications of Faustus in the business of Lucidus, the impositions on Goteschalcus, with the light given to that business, from the Epistle of Florus, have exerci…ed the commendable endeavours of so many already, that there is not the least need further to insist upon them. What entertainment that peculiar Doctrine which I am in the Consideration of, found in the following ages, is that which I shall further demonstrate.
After these was Gregory: 1: who Lib. 1. Epist 99: speakes to the same purpose, with them in these words; Redemptor noster, Dei hominum que mediator, Conditionis Humanae non immemor, sic imis summa conjungit, ut ipse in unitate permanens ita Temporalia, occulto Instinctu, piâ consulens moderatione disponat, quatenus de ejus manu antiquus Host is nullatenus rapiat, quos ante Secula intra Sinum matris Ecclesiae adunandos esse praescivit; nam et si quisquam eorum inter quos degit, Statibus motus ad Tempus ut palmes titubet, radix tamen rectae Fidei, quae ex occulto prodit, divino judicio virens manet, quae accepto Tempore fructum de se ostentare valeat, qui latebat. This is the summe of what we contend for: viz: that all those whom God hath predestinated to be added to the Church, receiving a saving faith, though they may be shaken, yet on that account, the Root abides firme, their Faith never utterly perisheth, but in due time brings forth accepted fruits againe.
And most expressive to our purpose is that discourse of his which you have, Lib. 34. Moral. Cap. 8: saith He, Aurum, quod pravis Diaboli persuasionibus quasi lutum sterni potuerit, Aurum ante Dei Oculos nunquam fuit, qui enim Seduci quando que non reversuri possunt, quasi habitam Sanctitatem ante ocules hominum videntur amittere, sed eam ante oculos Dei nunquam habuerunt.
The Exclusion of those from being True Believers, who may be seduced and fall away; doth most eminently infer the Perseverance of all Them, who are so: Adde unto these, Oecumenius (though he be one of a latter date) and those shall suffice for the period of time, relating to the Pelagian Controversy: saith he in Epist: ad Ephes: cap. 1. 14. foreign. All is confirmed and Ratified by the earnest of the Spirit, that is given to them that believe.
Of those that lived after the days of the forementioned, (I meane all of them but the last) that I may not cloy the Reader, I shall not mention any, until the business of Divinity, and the profession of it, was taken up by the School-men and Canonists, who from a mixture of Divine and Homane principles, framed the whole body of it anew, and gave it over into the possession of the present Romish Church, moulded for the most part to the worldly carnal Interests of them on whom they had their Dependency, in their several generations.
But yet as there was none of those, but one way or other, was eminently conducing to the carrying on of the mystery of Iniquity, by depraving, perverting, and corrupting one Truth or other of the Gospel, so all of them did not in all Things equally corrupt their waies, but gave some Testimony more or less to some Truths, as they received them from those that went before them; so fell it out in the matter of the Grace of God, and the Corruption of the Nature of man: though some of them laboured to corrode, and corrupt the ancient received Doctrine thereof, so some againe contended with all their might in their way, and by their Arguments to defend it; as is evident in the Instance of Bradwardine, crying out to God, and Man to help in the Cause of God against the Pelagians in his Dayes, in particular complaining of the great Master of their Divinity. So that notwithstanding all their Corruptions, these ensuing Principles pass currantly among the most eminent of Them, as to the Doctrine under consideration, which continue in credit with many of their Sophistical Successours to this Day.
1 That Perseverance is a grace of God, bestowed according to Predestination, or Election, on men; that is, that God gives it to Believers, that are Predestinated, and Elected.
2 That on whomsoever the Grace of Perseverance is bestowed, they do Persevere to the end; and it is impossible in some sense, that they should otherwise Doe.
3 That none who are not predestinate, what grace soever they may be made partakers of in this world, shall constantly continue to the end.
4 That no Believer can by his own strength or power (incited, or stirred up, by what manlike, or rational considerations so ever) Persevere in the Faith; the Grace of Perseverance being a gift of God: It is true; that their Judgments being perverted by sundry other Corrupt Principles, about the Nature, and Efficacy of Sacraments, with their Conveyance of Grace, ex opere operato, and out of Ignorance of the Righteousness of God, and the Real work of Regeneration, they generally maintaine (though Bradwardine punctually exprest himselfe to be of another mind) that many Persons, not Predestinate, may come to believe, yet fall away and perish.
Now the Truth is, it is properly no part of the Controversy under consideration, whether, or how far, and in what sense, men by Reason of the Profession, & Participation of Ordinances with the work, & effect of common Grace upon them, may be sayd to be True Believers; but the whole, upon the matter, of what we plead for is comprised in the Assertions now ascribed to them; which that it is done upon sufficient grounds, will be manifest by calling in some few, of the most eminent of Them, to speak in their own words, what their thoughts were in this matter.
To bring them in, I desire that one who (though none of Them) was eminent in his undertakings for a mixture of Divinity, and Law, in those dayes wherin they had their eminent rise and Original may be heard. And that is Gratian, who after his manner hath Collected many things to the Purpose in hand: p. 2. c. 33. Q 3. de pan. dis. 2: Charitas (saith he) est juncta Deo inseperabiliter, & unita, & in omnibus semper invicta. And; Electi quippe sic ad Bonum tendunt, ut ad mala perpetranda non redeant; &, Potest discursus, & mobilitas Spiritûs sic intelligi. In Sanctorum quippe eor dibus juxtà quasdam virtutes semper permanet; juxta quasdam verò recessurus venit, venturus recedit:in fide etenim, & Spe, & Charitate, & bonis aliis, sine quibus ad Coelestem patriam non petest veuiri (sicut est H…militas, Castitas, justitia at que Msericor dia) perfectorum corda non deseri…: in Prophetiae verè virtute, doctrina facundiâ, Miraculorum …, suis aliquanda adest, aliquandose suber …, Answering the objection, of the Spirits departure from them, on whom he is bestowed, He distinguisheth of the respects, upon the account whereof, he may be said so to do; in respect of some Common gifts (sayth he) he may withdraw himselfe from them on whom he is bestowed, but not in respect of Habitual Sanctifying grace.
Among the School-man there is none of greater name, & eminency, for Learning, Devotion, and Subtilty, than our …, who was Proctor of this Vniversity, in the yeare 1325; and obtained by general consent the Title of Doctor profundus: Lib. 2: de Causa Dei Cap. 8. This Profound Learned Doctour proposes this Thesis to be confirmed in the following Chapter: quod nullus viater, quantâcun que gratiâ ereatâ subnixus, solim liberi Arbitrii viribus, vel etiam cum adjutorio Gratiae, possit perseverare finaliter, fine alio Dei auxilio speciali. In the long disputation following he disputes out of the Scriptures, and Antient writers abundantly cited to his purpose, that there is no possibility of the Perseverance of any Believer in the faith to the end, upon such Helpes, considerations, and Advantages as Mr. Goodwin proposeth, as the only meanes thereof. That Perseverance it selfe is a gift of God, without which gift, and Grace, none can persevere; the and specialty of that Grace, he expresseth in the Corollary wherewith he closeth the Chapter: which is, quod nullus viator, solius liberi Arbitrii, vel Gratiae Viribus, aut amborum conjunctim, sine alio Dei Auxilio speciali, potest persever are per aliquod Tempus omnino. Further asserting the efficacy of special grace, in, and for every good work whatever: His Arguments and Testimonies I shall not need to recite; they are at hand to those who desire to consult them.
After the vindication of the former Thesis, Chap. 9. 10. Chap. 11: he proposeth further this proposition, to a right understanding of the Doctrine of Perseverance. Quod perseverantia non est aliquod Donum Dei creatum, à Charitate, & Gratiâ realiter differens: And the Corollary wherewith he shuts up that disputation is, quòd Nomen Perseverantiae nullam rem absolutam essentialiter significat, sed accidentaliter, & relativè; Charitatem videlicet, sive justitiam cum respectu futurae Permansionis us que in Finem, & quod non improbabiliter posset dici Perseverantiam esse ipsam Relationem hujus.
After this, knowing well what Conclusion would easily be inferred from these principles, viz: That Perseverance is not really distinct from Faith and Love, that it as such a Grace, and Gift of God that who ever it's bestowed upon shall certainly persevere; namely, that every one who hath received True Grace, Faith and Love, shall certainly persevere: He objects that to himselfe, and plainly grants it to be so indeed, cap. 12. And to make the matter more cleare, chap. 13: he disputes; that, Auxilium sine quo nullus perseverat, & per quod quilibet perseverat, est Spiritus Sanctus, Divina bonitas, & voluntas. Every Cause of bringing sinful man to God, is called by them Auxilium: in these three, Spiritus Sanctus, Divina Bonitas, & Voluntas, he comprizeth the cheif Causes of Perseverance, as I have also done in the ensuing Treatise. By [Divina Voluntas] he intends God's eternal, and Immutable decree, as he manifests, cap. 8.9: whither he sends his Reader. His, Divina Bonitas, is that free Grace, whereby God accepts and justifies us as his. Spirtus Sanctus, is Sanctification; So that he affirmes the perseverance of the Saints to consist in the stability of their Acceptation with God, and continuance of their Sanctification from him, upon the account of his unchangeable purposes and Decrees, which is the summe of what we contend for.
And this is part of the Doctrine, concerning the Grace of God, and his soveraingty over the wills of men, which Bradwardine in his dayes cryed out so earnestly for the Defence of to God & man against the Pelagian encroachement, which was made upon it in those dayes: Thus he turnes himselfe in the conclusion of his Book, to the Pope, and Church of Rome, with zealous earnestnes for their Interposition, to the Determination of these Controversyes: us os iniquè loquentium (saith he) obstruatur, flexis genibus cordis mei imploro Ecclesiam, pracipuè Romanam, quae summâ Authoritate vigere dignoscitur, quatenus ipsa determinare dignetur, quid circa Praemissas Catholicè sit tenendum. Non enim sine periculo in talibus erratur. Simon d…rmis? exurge (speaking to the Pope) exime gladium, amput a qua que sinistra haeretica pravitati…, defende, & protege Catholicam veritatem. Porrò etsi Dominus ipse in Petri navicula dormiat, nimie…ate Tempestatis compulsus, ipsum quo que fiducialiter excitabo, quatenus Spirisus oris sui Tempestate sedatâ tranquillum faciat & serenum. Absit autem, ut qui in prorâ hujus Navicula pervigil laborabat, jam in puppi super cervicali dormiat, vel dormitet. Lib 3. Cap. 53.
With this earnestness above 300 years agoe did this profoundly learned man press the Popes to a determination of these Controversyes, against the Pelagians, and their Successours in his Schooles. The same suit hath ever since been continued by very many Learned men, (in every Age,) of the communion of the Church of Rome, crying out for the Papal definitive Sentence against the Pelagian errours crept into their Church; especially hath this out-cry with supplication been renewed by the Dominican Fryars, ever since the Jesuites have so cunningly guilded over that Pelagian Poyson, & set it out, as the best, & most wholsome food for the Holy Mother, and her children. Yea with such earnestnes hath this been in the last Age pursued, by Agents in the Court of Rome: that (a Congregation de Auxiliis being purposely appointed) it was generally supposed one while, that they would have prevailed in their suit, and have obtained a definitive Sentence on their side, against their Adversaries. But through the just Vengeance of God, upon a pack of bloudy persecuting Idolaters, giving them up more and more to the Beliefe of Lyes, contrary almost to the expectation of all men, This very yeare 1653 Pope Innocent the tenth, who now weares the Triple Crowne conjured by the subtilty, and dreadful interest of the Jesuites in all nations, that as yet wonder after him, by a Solemne Bull, or Papal Consistorian Determination, in the Case of Jansenius Bishop of Ypress, hath turned the Scales upon his first Suppliants, and Cast the Cause on the Pelagian Side. But of that whole business elsewhere.
I shall not perplex the Reader, with the Horrid names, of Trombet, Holcot, Bricot, Sychet, Tartaret, Brulifer, nor with their more Horrid termes and expressions. Let the one Angelical Doctor answer for the rest of his Companions.
That this man then (one of the great Masters of the Crew) abode by the Principles of him before insisted on, may quickly be made evident by some few instances clearing his judgment herein:
This in the first place he every where insists on; that no Habitual grace received, no improvment that can be made of it, by the utmost ability, diligence, and the most rays'd Considerations of the best of men, will cause any one certainly to Persevere, without the peculiar preservation of God. Of this he gives his Reason: Lib. 3. Contrà Gent: Ca: 155. Illud quod Naturâ sua est Variabile, ad hoc, quod figatur in uno, indiget Auxilio alicujus moventis immobilis; sed liberum arbitrium etiam existentis in gratiâ Habituali adhuc manet variabile, & flexibile à bono in Malum; ergo ad hoc, quod figatur in bono & perseveret in illo, us que ad Finem, indiget Speciali Dei Auxilio. An Argument of the same importance, with that mentioned out of Bradwardine: which (howsoever at first appearance it may seem to lye at the Out-skirts of the Controversy in hand▪ yet indeed) is such as being granted, hath an influence into the whole, as hath been manifested.
And this the same Authour further Confirmes, (saith he) p: p: Q: 109. A: 9. Cùm nullum agens secundum agat nisi in Virtute primi, sit que care spiritui perpetuò rebellis; non potest Homo licet jam gratiam consecutus, per seipsum operari Bonum, & vitare Peccatum, abs que novo Auxili… Dei, ipsum moventis, dirigentis, & protegentis; quamvis alia Habitualis gratia ad hoc, ei necessaria non sit. And the Reasons he gives of this conclusion in the body of the Article are considerable. This saith he, must be so; primò quidem, ratione generali propter hoc, quòd nulla Res creata potest in quemcun que Actum prodire, nisi virtute motionis divinae. The Pelagian selfe-sufficiency, and exemption from dependance, in Solidum, upon God both providentially, and Physically, as to operation was not so freely received in the Schooles as afterward.
Secundò (saith he) ratione speciali, propter Conditionem statûs Humanae Naturae, quae quidem licèt per Gratiam sanetur, quantum ad mentem, remanet tamen in eo Corruptio, & Infectio quantum ad carnem, per quam servit legi peccati; ut dicitur, Ro: 7: Remanet etiam quaedam Ignorantiae obscuritas in intellectu, secundùm quam (ut etiam dicitur Rom: 8.) quid eremus sicut oportet nescimus: ideo necesse est nobis, ut à Deo dirigamur, & protegamur, qui omnia novit, & omnia Potest. And will not this man think you, who in his gropings after Light, when darkness covered the Face of the Earth, and thick darkness was upon the Inhabitants thereof, with this his discovery (of the impotency of the best of the Saints for Perseverance, upon the Account of any Grace received, because of the perpetual powerful rebellion of indwelling Lust, and Corruption, and that all that do persevere, are preserved by the power of God unto salvation) rise in Judgment against Those who in our Dayes, wherin the Sun of Righteousness is risen with healing under his wings, do ascribe a sufficiency unto men in themselves upon the bottome of their Rational Considerations, to abide with God, or Persevere to the end?
And this assertion of the Angelical Doctour is notably confirmed by Didacus Alvarez in his Vindication of it from the exception of Medina, that we make use of habits when we will, & if men will make use of their Habitual Grace, they may persevere, without relation to any After Grace of God: saith he: Respondetur, Habitibus quidem Nos uticùm volumus, sed ut velimus illis uti, praerequiritur Motio Dei efficax, praemovens Liberum Arbitrium, ut utatur Habitu ad operandum, & operetur bonum, praesertim quando Habitus sunt supernaturales; quia cùm pertineant ad superiorem Ordinem, habent specialem Rationem, propter quam potentia merè naturalis non utitur eisdem Habitibus, nisi speciali Dei Auxilio moveatur: Alvar: de Aux: Lib. 10. Disput. 100. Though received Graces are reckoned by him as supernatural Habits, yet such as we act not by, nor with, but from new supplies from God.
Having layd down this Principle, Thomas proceeds to manifest, that there is a special Grace of Perseverance, bestowed by God on some, and that on whomsoever it is bestowed, they certainly, and infallibly, persevere to the end: p: p: Quaest: 109: A: 10 C: and contrà Gent: Lib. 3▪ he proves this Assertion from P: 6. 1 Pet: 5: 10. Psal: 16.
But to spare the Reader, I shall give you this man's judgment, together with one of his Followers, who hath had the happiness to cleare his Masters minde, above any that have undertaken the maintenance of his Doctrine, in that part now controverted in the Church of Rome; & therein I shall manifest (what I formerly proposed) what Beamings, and Irradiations of this Truth, do yet glide through that gross darkness, which is spread upon the face of the Romish Synagogue (referring what I have further to adde on this head, to the account which God assisting I shall ere long give of the present Jansenian Controversies, in my Considerations on Mr. Biddles Catechismes, a taske by authority lately imposed on me.) This is Didacus Alvarez whose 10th Book de Auxiliis treats peculiarly of this Subject of Perseverance. In the entrance of his disputation he layes down the same Principles with the Former, concerning the necessity of the Peculiar Grace of Perseverance to this end that any one may persevere. Disput: 103.
Then Disp: 108 He further manifests, that this gift, or Grace of Perseverance, does not depend on any Conditions in us, or any Cooperation of our wills. His position he layes down in these words: Donum perseverantiae, in ratione Doni perseverantiae, & efficacia illius, nullo modo dependet effectivè ex libera Cooperatione nostri Arbitrii, sed à solo Deo, at que ab efficaci, & absoluto Decreto Voluntatis ejus, qui pro suâ misericordiâ tribuit illud Donum cui vult. In the further proof of this proposition, he manifests by clear Testimonies that the Contrary Doctrine hereunto, was that of the Pelagians, and Semi-pelagians, which Austine opposed in sundry Treatises. And in all the Arguments whereby he further confirmes it, he still presses the absurdity of making the Promise of God concerning Perseverance Conditional, and so suspending it on any thing, in and by us to be performed. And indeed all the Acts whereby we persevere, flowing according to him from the Grace of perseverance, it cannot but be absurd to make the Efficient Cause in it's Efficiency, and operation, to depend upon it's own effect: This also is with him Ridiculous, that the Grace of perseverance should be given to any, and he not persevere; or be promised, and yet not given: yet withal he grants in his following Conclusions, that our wills secundarily, and in dependency, do cooperate in our Perseverance.
The second Principle this learned School-man insists on, is, that this gift of perseverance is peculiar to the Elect, or praedestinate: Disput: 104. 1. Con: Donum perseverantiae est proprium Praedstinaterum, ut nulli alteri conveniat: And what he intends by Praedestinati; he informes you according to the Judgment of Austin, and Thomas: Nomine praedestinationis ad Gloriam, felùm … praedestinationem intelligunt (Augustinus & Thomas) quâ Electi ordinantur efficaciter, & transmittuntur ad vitam aeternam; cujus effectus sunt vocatio, Justificatio & perseverantia in gratiâ us que ad Finem; not that (or such a) Conditional predestination, as is pendent in the ayre, and expectant of men's good final Deportment; but that which is the eternal, free fountaine of all that grace, whereof in time by Jesus Christ we are made Partakers.
And in the pursuit of this proposition, he further proves at large, that the persverance given to the Saints in Christ, is not a supplement of Helps, and advantages, whereby they may preserve it if they will; but such as causes them, on whom it is bestowed certainly, & actually so to do: and that in it's efficacy, and operation, it cannot depend on any free cooperation of our wills, all the Good Acts tending to our perseverance, being fruits of that Grace which is bestowed on us, according to the absolute unchangeable Decree of the will of God.
This indeed is common with this Authour and the Rest of his associates (the Dominicans, and pres… Jansenians) in these controversies, together with the residue of the Romanists, that having their Judgments wrested by the abominable figments, of implicite Faith, and the efficacy of the Sacraments of the new Testament, conveying & really exhibiting the grace signified, or sealed by them; that they are inforced to grant, that many may be, & are Regenerate, & made True Believers, who are not predestinate, & that these cannot persevere▪ nor shall eventually be saved. Certaine it is, that there is not any Truth, which that Generation of men do receive, & admit, but more or less it suffers in their Hands, from that gross ignorance of the free Grace of God in Jesus Crhist, the power whereof they are practically under: what the poor Vassailes, and Slaves will do, upon the late Bull of their Holy Father casting them in sundry maine Concernements of their Quarrel, with their Adversaries, is uncertaine; otherwise setting aside some such deviations, as the above mentioned, (whereunto they are enforced, by their Ignorance of the Grace, and Justification with is in Jesus Christ,) there is so much of Antient Candid Truth in opposition to the Pelagians, and Semi-Pelagians, preserved, and asserted in the writings of the Dominican Fryers, as will rise up (as I sayd before) in Judgment against those of our Dayes, who enjoying greater Light, & Advantages, do yet close in with those and are long since Cursed Enemies of the grace of God.
To this Dominican, I shall only adde the Testimony of two famous Jesuites, upon whose understandings the light of this glorious Truth prevailed, for an Acknowledgment of it: The first of these is Bellarmine, whose disputes to this purpose, being full, and large, and the Authour in allmens hands, I shall not transcribe his assertions, & arguments; but only referre the Reader to his l. 2. de Grat. & l. Ar. Cap. 12. Deni que ut multa alia Testimonia, &c: The other is Suarez, who delivers his thoughts succinctly upon the whole of this Matter, Lib. 11. de perpetuitat: vel Amis: Grat: Cap. 2. Sect. 6. saith he: de praedestinatis verum est Infallibiliter, quòd gratiam finaliter seu in perpetuum non amittunt; unde postquam semel gratiam habuerant, ita reguntur & proteguntur à Deo, ut vel non cadant, vel si ceciderint resurgant; & licèt saepius cadant & resurgant, tandem aliquando ita resurgunt ut amplius non cadant: in which few words he hath briefly comprized the summe of that, which is by us contended for.
It was in my Thoughts in the last place to have added the concurrent witness of all the reformed Churches, which that of the most eminent Divines, which have written in the defence of their Concessions: but this Trouble, upon second considerations, I shall spare the Reader & my selfe: for, as many other reasons lye against the Prosecuting of this Designe, so especially the uselesness of spending-Time, and paines, for the demonstration of a thing of so evident a truth, prevailes with me to desist; Notwithstanding the Indeavours of Mr. Goodwin to wrest the words of some of the most antient Writers, who laboured in the first Reformation of the Churches; I presume no unprejudiced Person in the least measure acquainted with the systeme of that Doctrine, which with so much paines, diligence, piety, and Learning, they promoted in the world, with the clearness of their Judgments, in going forth to the utmost compass of their Principles which they received, and their constancy to themselves, in asserting of the Truthes they embraced, owned by their Friends and Adversaries, until such time as Mr. Goodwin discovered their selfe Contradictions, will scarce be moved once to question their Judgments by the Excerpta of Mr. Goodwin Cap: 15: of his Treatise: so that of this discourse this is the Issue.
There remaines only that I give a brief account of some concernments of the ensuing Treatise, and dismisse the Reader from any further Attendance in the Porch, or entrance thereof.
The Title of the book speakes of the Aime and Method of it; the Confutation of Mr. Goodwin was but secundarily in my eye; and the best way for that I judged to consist, in a full Scriptural Confirmation of the Truth he opposed. That I cheifly intended, and therein I hope the pious Reader, may through the Grace of God, meet with satisfaction. In my undertaking to affirme the Truth of what I assert, the Thing it selfe first, and then the manifestation of it, was in my Consideration: for the thing it selfe, my arguing hath been to discover the Nature of it, it's principles, and causes, it's relation to the Good will of the Father, the mediations of the Son and dispensation of the Holy Ghost to the Saints thereupon; it's use and tendency, in, and unto that fellowship with the Father and the Son, whereunto we are called and admitted.
As to the manner of it's Revelation, the proper seates of it in the Book of God, the occasion of the Delivery thereof, in several seasons, the Significant Expressions wherein it is set forth, and the receiving of it by them, to whom it was revealed, have been diligently remarked.
In those parts of the Discourse, which tend to the vindication of the Arguments from Scripture, whereby the Truth pleaded for is confirmed, of the usefulness of the thing it selfe contended about &c. I have been I hope Careful to keep my Discourse from degenerating into Jangling, and strife of words (the usual Issue of Polemical writings) being not altogether Ignorant of the devices of Satan, and the usual carnal Attendencies of such proceedings: The weight of the Truth in hand, The Common interest of all the Saints, in their walking with God therein, sense of my own duty, & the near approach of the Account which I must make of the ministration to me Committed, have given bounds and limits to my whole discourse, as to the manner of handling the Truth therein asserted. Writing in the Common language of the Nation, about the Common possession of the Saints, the meanest and weakest as well as the wisest and the most learned, labouring in the workes of Christ and his Gospel, I durst not hide the understanding of what I aim'd at, by mingling the plaine doctrine of the Scripture, with Metaphysical Notions, expressions of Arts, or any pretended ornaments of wit, or fancy; because I Feare God For the more sublime Consideration of Things, and such a way of their Delivery, as depending upon the acknowledg'd reception of sundry Arts and sciences, which the Generality of Christians neither are, nor need to be acquainted withal; Scholars may communicate their Thoughts and Apprehensions unto, and among Themselves, and that upon the stage of the world, in that language, whereunto they have consented, for, & to that end & purpose: That I have carefully abstayned from Personal reflections, scoffes, Undervaluations, applications of Stories, and old sayings, to the provocation of the Spirit of them with whom I have to do, I think not at all prayse worthy; because that upon a review of some passages in the treatise (now irrecoverable) I feare I have scarce been so careful, as I am sure it was my duty to have been.