The Anatomy of Arminianism, Addendum
An addition to the thirteenth Chapter, containing ſome places that are taken out of the confeſsion of the Churches of France, and out of the chiefeſt Doctors of this age, concerning the obiect of Predeſtination.
THe twefth Article of the confeſſion of the Church of France, is this; We beleeue that God out of that corruption and generall curſe into which all men were plunged, doth free thoſe whom in his eternall and immutable counſell he elected, of his meere goodneſſe and mercy, in our Lord Ieſus Chriſt, without the conſideration of workes; leauing the reſt in the ſame corruption and damnation, to ſhew forth, in theſe his iuſtice; and in them the riches of his mercy: For none of them are better then others, before God hath ſeparated them, &c. Iohn Caluin in his Comentary vponupon the ninth Chapter of the Epiſtle to the Romanes, ſpeaking of Iacob and Eſau in the wombe, hath theſe words; God in the defiled nature of man, ſuch as was in man, could conſider nothing whereby be might be induced to doe good to it; when therefore he ſaith that both of them had done neither good nor euill, that alſo is to be added which he doth preſuppoſe, to wit, that they were both the ſonnes of Adam, by nature ſinners, indued not with a mite of righteouſneſſe. Eſau was iuſtly reiected, becauſe he was naturally the childe of wrath; yet leaſt any ſcruple ſhould remaine, as if his condition had beene the worſe for the beholding of any ſinne or vice, it was expedient that his ſinnes ſhould be no leſſe excluded then his vertues. It is true indeede, that the neare cauſe of reprobation is, becauſe we are all curſed in Adam.
The ſame Caluin in his Booke of the eternall predeſtination of God, in the beginning of the Epiſtle, which is ſet before the booke. The free Election of God (ſaith he) is, whereby he adopted to himſelfe out of mankinde loſt and condemned, thoſe whom it ſeemed good to him. Pag. 955. He doth allow the opinion of Saint Austin, ſpeaking thus; They that are not to perſeuere, are not ſeperated by the Predeſtination and fore-knowledge of God from that maſſe of perdition and deſtruction, and therefore are not called according to his purpoſe.
Pag. 691. I would know if Eſay and Iacob ſhould hauehave beene left to their common nature, what good workes God ſhould hauehave found in Iacob, more then in Eſau. Surely they both by the hardneſſe of their ſtony heart, would hauehave alike refuſed ſaluation offered.
In the ſame place; When Paul tooke that for granted, which is incredible to theſe good Diuines, that all men are equally vnworthy, that alike corruption of nature is in all men, hee thence ſafely determined that God doth by his free purpoſe elect whomſoeuer he electeth.
In the ſame place that of Auſtin is moſt true; That thoſe that are redeemed are ſeperated from thoſe that periſh, onelyonly by grace, whom the common Maſſe, deriued from the ſame originall, had ioyned together to deſtruction.
Pag. 965. He doth witneſſe, that God prepared the veſſels of mercy for his glory: if this be ſpeciall to the elect, it is manifeſt that the reſt are ſitted to deſtruction, becauſe being left to their nature, they are certainely deuoted to deſtruction.
Pag. 970. The Readers are to be admoniſhed, that both theſe are equally condemned by Pighius, viz. That God from the beginning when yet the ſtate of man was intire, decreed what afterwards ſhould come to paſſe; and that now hee choſe out of the periſhed Maſſe whom he would. He mocketh Auſtin, and all that are like him, that is, all the godly, who doe thinke that God after he fore-knew the vniuerſall ruine of mankinde in the perſon of Adam, appointed ſome to life, and ſome to deſtruction.
The ſame man in his Inſtitutions, Lib. 3. Chap. 22. Sect. 1. When Paul teacheth that we were elected in Chriſt before the creation of the world, certainly he doth take away all reſpect of our owne worth; for it is as much as if he ſhould ſay: Becauſe our heauenly father found nothing worthy of Election in the whole ſeede of Adam, he turned his eyes vponupon Chriſt, that as it were out of his body he might chooſe members whom he would after take into the fellowſhip of life. Therefore let this reaſon preuaile with the faithfull, that therefore God adopted vsus in Chriſt to his heauenly inheritance, becauſe in our ſelues we were not capable of this excellency.
And Section 7. If any one aſke from whence God elected, he in another place anſwereth, out of the world, which he excludeth from his prayers, when he doth commend his Diſciples to his Father.
And Chap. 23. Sect. 3. If any one ſhould ſet vponupon vsus with theſe words; Why God from the beginning predeſtinated ſome men to death, who when they were not, could not deſerue the iudgement of death: Inſtead of an anſwer, we may againe aske them; What they thinke God is indebted to man, if he will eſteeme him according to his owne nature? As we are all defiled with ſinne, we cannot but be odious to God; and that not in a tyrannicall cruelty, but in the moſt equall reſpect of iuſtice: And if all they whom God doth predeſtinate to death, are by a naturall condition obnoxious and ſubiect to the iudgement of death; of what iniuſtice (I pray you) of his towards them can they complaine? Let all the ſonnes of Adam come, let them contend and diſpute with their Creatour, becauſe by his eternall prouidence they were appointed to perpetuall calamity before their generation: What could they ſpeake againſt this defence, when as God ſhall on the contrary ſide call them to the knowledge of themſelues? If all are taken out of the (corrupted Maſſe) it is no meruaile if they lye vnderunder damnation.
Hieronymius Zanchius. Miſcellan. Lib 3. In his Treatiſe of the Saints, at the end of the firſt Chapter, hath theſe words; Generall Predeſtination, (that is, the predeſtination of all men) is the eternall, moſt wiſe, and immutable decree of God, by which he determined with himſelfe from eternity; firſt, to create all men iuſt and wiſe, according to his image and likeneſſe, and to permit that they being tempted by Sathan, ſhould of their owne free-will fall into ſinne, and ſhould fall into the pit of eternall death, as the moſt iuſt ſtipend of their ſinne: Secondly, of his grace by Chriſt, to free ſome of them out of the pit of ſinne and death by certaine meanes, and to accompany them with his ſpirit whom he freed, and at length to giuegive them eternall life; and to others (he decreed) not to vouchſafe this grace, but rather to blinde them and harden them with Sathan, and to deſtroy them with eternall deſtruction, &c.
The ſame man in the ſame place: The ſpeciall predeſtination of the elect, is the eternall, moſt wiſe, and immutable decree of God, whereby he determined with himſelfe from eternity, according to the good pleaſure of his will, freely to deliuer by Chriſt, ſome certaine and ſet men, fallen with all the reſt into the deepe pit of ſinne and death.
The ſame man lib. 5. de Natura Dei, cap. 2. queſt. 4. By aſcending after this order from the effects to the cauſes, and by deſcending from the cauſes to the effects, Election and Reprobation may and ought to be conſidered by vsus; to wit, that God from eternity determined by a firme decree, firſt to create all men, then to ſuffer them to fall into ſinne, and for ſinne to be obnoxious to eternall death; Laſtly, to free (by that meanes which he hath freed) ſome men by Chriſt, and to giuegive them eternall life, but to reiect the reſt from this grace, and being left in their ſinnes at length to puniſh them eternally for their ſinnes.
Bucer vponupon the ninth Chapter to the Romanes: They that will plainly and ſimply follow Gods word may eaſily free themſelues from theſe things, for they ſtick fast to this that God doth witneſſe of himſelfe, viz. that he out of mankinde, destroyed by their firſt father, choſe ſome men to be framed by him to a new and bleſſed life; and he accounted the reſt the veſſels of his wrath.
Philip Melanchton, in his Theologicall Common places, loco de Praedeſtin. doth repeate theſe words more then once: It is certaine that this is the cauſe of Reprobation, to wit, ſinne in man.
Vuolfangus Muſculus, loco de Elect. Chap. 5. It is manifeſt that our election is not made for any reſpect of our quality: It muſt needes be therefore that we ſeeke the reſpect of our election in God electing. For the ſence of our owne baſeneſſe and deprauation doth driue vsus thither. Dauid ſaid; What is man that thou art mindfull of him, and the ſon of man that thou didſt predeſtinate him when thou didſt fore-know that he would be euill and depraued?
Dauid Paraeus in his commentary on the ninth chapter to the Romanes, Page eight hundred and ſixeteene, will hauehave Iacob and Eſau to be conſidered as ſinners by God electing. The cauſe (ſaith he) was the eternall purpoſe of God, whereby he determined to make ſuch difference of them. Eſau was wicked, and Iacob was no leſſe wicked; for they were both conceiued in ſinne: and yet God loued the one and hated the other: not for any inherent or fore-ſeene difference, but foreign. according to election, whereby he elected one but not the other.
The ſame man, page 819. The pleaſure or will of God calling, is his purpoſe according to election in Chriſt: that is, the purpoſe of God, whereby out of the periſhed maſſe he ſeperated ſome from others, by chooſing theſe and leauing the reſt: which purpoſe is called Predeſtination, containing vnderunder it, Election and Abiection.
The Paſtors of the Walachrian Churches, in their Epiſtle, doe with one conſent thus define Predeſtination This is the opinion of them who cleaue to the old and receiued confeſsion of our Churches. That God from eternity according to the immutable good pleaſure of his will, decreed to ſaue ſome men, whom by his meere bounty in Chriſt Ieſus, he ſeuered out of corrupted mankinde, &c.
Iohn Piſcator, a moſt rigorous maintainer of Predeſtination out of the entire and vncorrupted Maſſe, and of reprobation without the beholding of ſinne, hath very lately ſet forth a treatiſe digeſted into ten Aphoriſmes, the ſecond whereof is conceiued in theſe words. This Predeſtination hath two ſpecies or kindes, the one whereof is called Election, the other Reprobation, by a Metonimy of the effect. For election and reprobation are properly referred to mankinde already made and fallen, but Metonimically the decree it ſelfe of Electing or Reprobating is ſo named. The learned man doth at length ſee that it muſt needes be, that in election and reprobation, man be conſidered as already fallen, and in the corrupted Maſſe: But he hath deuiſed another higher decree, whereby God doth neither elect nor reprobate, but doth only decree to elect and reprobate. Of which decree there is no mention made in the Scripture.
Finally, the Synode of Dordt, in the ſeuenth Canon doth thus define election. Election is the vnchangeable purpoſe of God, by which, before the foundation of the world, according to the free good pleaſure of his will, of his meere grace he hath choſen out of all mankinde to ſaluation in Chriſt, a certaine and ſet number of men, neither better nor more worthy then others, but lying in the common miſery with others, and fallen from originall righteouſneſſe into ſinne and deſtruction by their owne fault, &c.
The ſame Fathers in the 15. Canon of Reprobation doe thus ſpeake. The holy Scripture doth manifeſt and commend vntounto vsus this eternall and free grace, eſpecially when it doth further witneſſe that not all men are elected, but that ſome are not elected, or are paſſed by in the eternall election of God. To wit, thoſe whom God according to his free, iuſt, vnreprouable, and immutable good pleaſure decreed to leaue in the common miſery, into which they had caſt themſelues by their owne fault, and not to giuegive to them ſauing faith, and the grace of conuerſion, &c.
FINIS.
End of the text · Peter du Moulin Jr, The Anatomy of Arminianism (1620)