The Pagan Preacher Silenced, Title page – Errata
THE PAGAN PREACHER SILENCED.
OR, An Anſwer to a Treatiſe of Mr. John Goodwin, ENTITULED, The PAGANS DEBT & DOWRY.
Wherein is diſcovered the weakneſſe of his Arguments, and that it doth not yet appear by Scripture, Reaſon, or the Teſtimony of the beſt of his own ſide, that the Heathen who never heard of the letter of the Goſpel, are either obliged to, or enabled for the believing in Chriſt; and that they are either engaged to matrimonial Debt, or admitted to a matrimonial Dowry.
Wherein alſo is Hiſtorically diſcovered, and Polemically diſcuſſed the Doctrin of Univerſal Grace, with the Original, growth and fall thereof; as it hath been held forth by the moſt rigid Patrons of it.
By OBADIAH HOWE, A. M. and Paſtor of Horne-Caſtle in Lincolnſhire.
With a verdict on the Caſe depending between Mr. Goodwin and Mr. Howe, by the learned GEORGE KENDAL, DD.
(foreign) Ducit Evangelio, (ſcil.) ipſis prophanis tunc demum patefacto, & Judaeis exhibito, quo reſpicit particula (foreign) abſque Chriſti verbo, benignitas Dei poteſt perducere homines ad peccati ſenſum, non ad veram reſcipiſcentiam.
Beza in Rom. 2.4.
Quomodo fieri poſſit ut reſcipiſcerent ſi virtutes ut virtutes tantum conſiderentur? virtutes quà tales reſcipiſcentiam non ſuadent; neceſſe eſt aliquid quo reſcipiſcentia mandetur aut ſuadeatur ſaltem; nam ſine verbo ne fictam tantum reſcipiſcentiam efficere poſſunt virtutes.
Acta Synod. Art 4. p. 725.
Quantum ad Ethnicos ad quos Chriſti nomen non pervenit, illos tali gratiâ abſolutè ad ſalutem aut fidem ſufficiente, praeditos non eſſe, ſaepe ſupra diximus.
Corvin. in Mol. cap. 37. Sect. 11.
But now is made appear, through the appearing of Jeſus Chriſt, who hath brought Immortality and life to light through the Goſpel,
2 Tim. 1.10.
If I had not come and ſpoken to them, they had had no ſin,
John 15.22,
London, Printed by Th. Maxey, for John Rothwell, at the Fountain and Bear in Cheap-ſide. 1655.
Intelligent Reader,
DEdications and Epiſtles plead preſcription; to commit a Treatiſe to the wide world without theſe phylacteries, would be to thruſt it forth ſeemingly naked, and ſo be a Soloeciſme both to the preſent, and the practices of Antiquity, becauſe many expect I ſhall ſay ſomething; but becauſe it is the reſult but of ſecond thoughts, I ſhall ſay but little. For me to tell thee much of the perſons engaged herein, would be an unſeemly Digreſſion; and to tell thee of the matter of the enſuing Treatiſe here, would be a too unſeaſonable anticipatiō: only of the occaſion thereof a word or two.
The Moraliſts tel us, that Virtutes ſunt connexae; virtues are linked in an irrefragable chain; and ſo are divine Truths connected and tied together by ſuch rational ſequitur's, that they all point at a concentricity in that unity of faith ſpoken of by the Apoſtle. And as Vertues and Truths are linked, ſo are vices and errors; ſaving only with this difference; Truths are ſo coupled as the Hangings and Curtains of the Tabernacle, by the top and the ſides thereof with rings of gold, to the ornament and beauty of the Houſe of God: but Errours are like Samſons foxes, tied together onelyonly by the tails, purpoſely to ſet on fire the glorious harveſt of divine Truths.
It is wel known, that thoſe flames that did utterly conſume the peace of the Belgick Churches, have miſerably of late broken out amongſt us; and as it was then, that Arminius, though he penn'd a ſmall Tract De componendo Religionis diſsidio, yet he himſelf was no ſmal Incendiary; even ſo it is now.
I need not tell thee that the fewel of that fire was the hot agitation of thoſe five Points, which when the Remonſtrants came to declare themſelves upon, at the Synod of Dort, they did not load their Remonſtrance with ſuch a voluminous Title, as to rehearſe all and the ſingular Articles; but this, De Predeſtinatione cum ſuis annexis: granting us gratis, That No abſolute Election, Univerſal Redemption, Univerſal Grace, Reſiſtibility of Grace, Apoſtacie from Grace were ſo mutually interwoven, that they muſt either ſtand or fall together. Some indeed, there have been of late of ſuch clouded Intellectuals, that they have driven on furiouſly in ſome, but have imagined they might relinquiſh other of the five Points: ſuch I leave, as not worthy an examen, being men incapable of carrying their own interſt, not knowing where it lyeth. But Mr. Goodwin, with whom I have now engaged, is ſomething in this more diſcreet; for when he comes forth (like Saul) higher by the head then the reſt of his brethren, in that great Body, Redemption Redeemed, hee orders this little Tract to follow him as his Armour-bearer; wherein he doth, (or would at leaſt) prove an Univerſal ſufficient Grace, without which he can never prove an Univerſall Redemption. In which, although for the ſubſtance of his work, he doth but follow the ſteps of his Anceſtours; yet for the manner of it, hee appears like Goliah, that ſets forth in his might to defie the whole Hoſt of Iſrael. None (I am confident) amongſt the Philiſtines, hath been found to engage ſo far, and ſo ſingly as he hath done. His pen is his ſpear, and his voluble expreſſions, and daring boldneſſe, and poliſhed phraſiologies have made it ſwell into the magnitude of a Weavers beam; yet I am confident, ſome little ſtones out of the bag of Scripture and Reaſon, will ſmite him down. This I have (by the divine help) in my enſuing Diſcourſe attempted: for me to ſay any thing of it here, would be not ſo much to ſatisfie thee, as to prepoſſeſſe thee. I have an adverſary that will loſe no ground by cowardize; his works are all along full fraught with ſuch aſſertions, which have neither the ſtabiliment of Scripture, evidence of Reaſon, patronage of Authority, nor any ſeconds of the beſt of his own ſide; ſo we may preſume of this advantage, that he will be left in the combat to mannage his own quarrell. Of thoſe Heterodox and impious paſſages of his in all his Works, Catalogues are extant by better hands then mine; yet in this ſmall Tract of his, The Pagan Debt and Dowry, there are ſome few that will increaſe the ſtore.
1. That the patience of God leads men to faith in Jeſus Chriſt, whether he be known or not known to them. p. 9.
2. That by the light of Nature God is known or knowable, &c. that men may by it come to gather foreign, the effect and ſubſtance of the Goſpel, p. 9, 10.
3. That the Apoſtle, Rom. 10. ſheweth that by that hearing whereby faith is wrought, or which is able to produce it, is meant the hearing of the words, ſound of the heavens, the day and the night, p. 10.
4. That the words of the heavens, the day and the night, which they ſpeak in the ears of all Nations, are the words of eternal life, as well as thoſe which our Saviour himſelf did ſpeak.
With many others, which it cannot but be as unpleaſing to refel, as to repeat; In all which he doth magnifie Nature, and exceedingly depreciate Chriſt, and his perſonal diſcoveries, and ſo brings him to open ſhame; which are all of them called to the teſt, and examined in the following Treatiſe, which I commend to thy candid overſight. Firſt, granting me the civility of paſſing over the Typographicall foreign, which needs muſt happen in the printing, by reaſon of the non acquaintance of the Printer with my Manuſcript. To prevent the incurſions of men of Mr. Goodwin's humour, who rather contend about Words then Reaſon, I have hinted ſome of them in the enſuing page; the reſt ſupply if thou meeteſt with them, and I commit thee and us all to God, who is able to lead us into all truth.
Thine OBADIAH HOW.
ERRATA.
In the Body of the Book.
PAg. 3. lin. 1. for is not, r. is it not
p. 16. l 34. r. figuratively.
p. 21. l. 3. r. Epheſ. 2.12
p. 28. l 18 for challenge r. charge
p. 32. l. 3. r. Willet.
p. 33 l. 43. r. of Chriſt
p. 36. l. 5. for heavens r. hearing
p. 43. l, 33. for only more r. no more
p. 48. l 19. r. omne e…s.
p. 50. l. 15. r. certai…lie he muſt
p. 56. l. 3. r. Impoſtor
p. 52 l. 1. r under ſin
p 79 l. 28. r. foreign.
p. 83 l. 23. r. that God
p. 85 l. 31 r cannot be elected
p. 88 l. 7. r. Improvement of abilities
p. 106 l. 15. r. in his own circle.
p. 114 l. 32. r. whileſt it is, it neceſſarily is.
In the Margin.
Pag. 5. (e) pro ad lege &. (f) after ſufficit l. ad.
p. 12 (b) l. dolere. l. petere
p. 13. (e) l. obediendas
p. 23 l. juxta id quod ipſi
p. 52. l. ſibi data
p. 53. (c) l. ut virtutes. l. quidem
p. 62 (c) l. impediri.
p. 79 (c) l. foreign
p. 85. l. praeſtari.
p. 93 (a) l. invenit. (b) l. ab iis
p. 94 (d) l. …errenis