6T2o 77 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019 with funding from Princeton Theological Seminary Library https://archive.org/details/antidoteagainstaOOness I . AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST ARMINIANIS M, BY A CHRISTOPHER NESS, AUTHOR OF THE “ HISTORY AND MYSTERY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT,” AND OF MANY MORE BOOKS, &C. RECOMMENDED BY DR. JOHN OWEN. NOW RE-PRINTED BY PARTICULAR REQUEST, VERBATIM ET LITERATIM ET PUNCTATIM, BY ROBERT STOBHART, MINISTER OF MULBERRY GARDENS CHAPEL. WITH A preface antr jTlemou' of tfje Eutfjor. ‘‘ Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice.”— Jesus Christ. “ My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : and I give unto them eternal life ; and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand.” — Jesus Christ. “ Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” — Jude 3. LONDON : SOLD BY HATCIIARD & SON, PICCADILLY; NISBET, BERNERS STREET J FISHER, SON, & JACKSON, NEWGATE STREET; IN THE VESTRY OF MULBERRY GARDENS CHAPEL, RATCLIFFE HIGHWAY ; AND AT NO. 7, ISLINGTON GREEN. 1835. Price Three Shillings, extra Cloth.. R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL, c CONTENTS ✓ PAGE The Publisher’s Preface . 5 Memoir of the Author, and List of his Works ... 21 The Author’s Preface . iii FIRST POINT a CHAP. I. Of Arminianism in general . 7 CHAP. II. Of Predestination, which is the first Point in Controversie 10 CHAP. III. Of the PROPERTIES — First, As Eternal . — Six Reasons to prove it . . . 12 CHAP. IV. Second Property — Unchangeable. — Confirmed by Four Reasons 15 CHAP. V. Third Property of the Decree — Absolute. — Three Reasons 19 CHAP. VI. Fourth Property of the Divine Decree — Free ; in what respects. — Four Reasons . .23 A 2 - 4 CONTENTS. CHAP. VII. Fifth Property of the Divine Decree — Discriminating. — Five Reasons . p. 29 CHAP. VIII. The Sixth and last Property of the Divine Decree — Extensive, — belongs to all Ranks — all Sexes — all Ages — all Nations — and all Generations . 31 CHAP. IX. Seventeen Arguments against the Conditional Decree held by the Arminians ....... 34 CHAP. X. Seven Objections of the Arminians answered. . . 41 * * SECOND POINT. CHAP. XI. Universal Redemption, in the Sense of the Arminians, cannot be a Gospel Truth, for these following Arguments and Reasons. — Twelve Arguments. — Six Objections answered . 54 THIRD AND FOURTH POINTS. CHAP. XII. Concerning Free Will and Conversion. — Twelve Arguments. — Five Objections answered ..... 71 FIFTH POINT. Perseverance of the Saints. — Twelve Arguments and Eight Ob¬ jections answered ..... 87 THE PUBLISHER’S PREFACE. This excellent, though small treatise, now presented to the religious public in its original form of 1700, will amply repay the reading and study of those who are taught by the Holy Ghost ; and as it contains “the things of the Spirit of God,5’ to them only will it be acceptable ; for it is written in the volume of inspiration, “ The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God ; for they are foolishness to him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1 Cor. ii. 14.) By a natural man the holy Apostle Paul not only refers to such as may be poor, ignorant, and unlearned, but he refers particularly to the polite and learned Greeks, the greatest scholars of that age, when learning was in the meridian of its glory. And it is no less true, whatever be the natural talents, the depth of penetration, the extent of learning, and know¬ ledge in all arts and sciences, &c., of any man and of every man that does or may exist upon the earth, till “ time shall be no longer,” “ the things of the Spirit of God — the mysteries of the kingdom of God,” can neither be understood nor received but by the divine and spe¬ cial teaching of the Eternal Spirit. “For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of a man, 6 PREFACE. which is in him ? so, the things of God knoweth no man. but the Spirit of God.” Flesh and blood, or the greatest natural abilities, and the brightest attainments in learning, science, and philosophy, which any unregenerated man can possess in this world, never can reveal them ; they will be foolishness to him : and it is written, “ he must be¬ come a fool that he may be wise for the wisdom of this world (including all its wit, all its learning, all its philosophy, all its policy, all its prudence, all its respec¬ tability, all its influence, glory, and renown) is foolish¬ ness with God. By nature, since the fall of man, such is the gross darkness of the understanding, that Ichabod is written upon it ; so great is the pride, depravity, des¬ perate wickedness of the heart, and enmity against God, that the things of the Spirit in the glorious scheme of salvation, through a crucified Redeemer, will ever be considered by all he unregenerated in every class of society, as a mass of inconsistencies, folly, and fanaticism, beneath the notice of any man of sense, reason, and learning. However, let it not be understood nor supposed by any one into whose hands this book may come, that the writer of the present Pre¬ face is one that depreciates, in the least degree, human learning in its proper place. So far from this, he has not only publicly advocated the advantages of human learning, but subscribed to the “ Schools of the pro¬ phets.” Learning has lent its aid in all ages in the propagation of evangelical truth ; and, in a very sur¬ prising and astonishing degree, within the last forty years, in the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the languages of all nations upon earth. Learning has been the channel through which the waters of the river of life have flowed, and are now flowing, to all the quar- PREFACE. tf ters of the globe. Let any one only look back to the dark and dismal ages of popery and popish superstitions in our own country, and on the continent of Europe. What was the state of religion then ? Christianity, like its divine and glorious Author, was crucified amongst thieves, and laid in the sepulchre of rites, supersti¬ tions, abominations, and prohibitions of the mother of harlots, the popish church of Rome (to which our rulers are now paying homage) ; the mighty stone of ignorance was rolled to the door of the sepulchre by the offspring of the scarlet whore, and the door was watched with all the vigilance of hell, by the popes and the cardinals, the priests and the Jesuits ; till Martin Luther, that angel of the Lord, and the Reformers, translated the sacred Scriptures, and rolled away the stone from the door of the sepulchre ; — then Christianity, by the Spirit of Life, arose, appeared, and walked abroad in her native beauty and glory. In the city of Corinth, distinguished for its learning and philosophy, the Apostle, who was a scholar of the highest order, preached Christ crucified, “ not with the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in de¬ monstration of the Spirit, and of power ; that their faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God — yet his learning he often successfully em¬ ployed in fighting the battles of the Lord, — it was in his hand as the sword of Goliath was in the hand of David the son of Jesse. This reprint of the original work of the learned and evangelical Ness, first printed in 1700, has been dili¬ gently compared and carefully examined by the original copy of that date, printed by R. Tookey, lately in the possession of Joshua Wilson, Esq. ; and it may be be¬ lieved that it is what it professes to be in the title-page. 8 PREFACE. Providence permitting, in a short time the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew words will be translated, and some neces¬ sary explanations given to the original subscribers, their names also inserted, and the number of copies for which they voluntarily subscribed. No doubt some will inquire, and the inquiry will pro¬ bably be as extensive as the circulation, why the work is printed verbatim, sentences, old spelling, and points. To this inquiry the Publisher replies : — The Rev. John An¬ drews Jones, a violent Anti-poedobaptist, once of Ebenezer chapel, Stonehouse, Plymouth, afterwards of Brentford, and now of Mitchell-street chapel, St. Luke’s, London ; when at Stonehouse, in the year 1819, published what he calls a third edition of Ness, which can scarcely be called by that name, as Mr. Jones has subtracted and added in almost every page of the work, so that it is very different from the original ; though from a part of the title-page any one would be led to believe it was nearly the same work, which is as follows : — “ London , printed in the year 1700.” This, however, which has deceived many, is not true, if Mr. Jones’s statement is to be believed. In a letter, bearing date July 12, 1834, to a respectable bookseller, he thus writes : — It is my property ; I have a copyright in every page , and that copyright extends to my life, and will be the property of my family until the year 1847, even should I be sooner removed by death. It is my work, and not the original one of Ness, printed in 1700. The little treatise of Ness is altogether, from first to last, a different thing. The original Ness of 1700 is now before me. The author being dead more than a hundred years, I, in the year 1811, wrote a book, having Ness’s little volume before me as the ground-work ONLY of PREFACE. 9 my work. As I wrote I omitted much, I altered mate¬ rially , and I enlarged greatly, as the Lord directed my mind, and have been thus enabled to send forth two large editions already ; — an invaluable work , and which indeed has been owned of God, and blessed to many souls : but it is the work and studious labour of John Andrews Jones, having only Ness for the ground p lan.” — This is a portion of what Mr. Jones has written. Now, let the reader distinctly observe and particularly mark the conclusion of Mr. Jones’s preface of the edition of 1819. “ Before I close, I must say that I have taken the liberty both to retrench and also much enlarge in this volume. Not that I have encroached one step upon the ground- work of old Mr. Ness ; of this there was no need, for we were both agreed , and therefore could walk comfortably together. But the lapse of more than a century required some pruning.” — And he has pruned. At present I will make no observations upon these dif¬ ferent statements. Those who are in the possession of the edition of 1819, will of course compare them to¬ gether, and make their own reflections. I would now recommend to Mr. Jones, to lay aside his prunin g- knife . Ness, in no small degree, has not only felt his unskilful, deceitful, and destructive pruning ; but also Augustus Toplady, of ever-blessed memory. For all the readers of this work 1 would pray most earnestly, that it may be ever in their sight, and may be engraved upon their hearts as with a point of a diamond, — that the design of the absolute and eter¬ nal predestination of the Father was conformity (as far as is possible) to the image of Christ (who is empha- tically and preeminently the “ Holy One”) in all a 3 10 PREFACE. personal and practical holiness, and needful sufferings in the present world, and in all the purity, and glory, and blessedness of the world to come. If we are chosen— the elect of God the Father, we are chosen to holiness. “ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.” “ Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sancti¬ fication of the Spirit, unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ.” If foreordained, was it not that we should walk in good works ? What was the great design of the redemption of the Son of God — his gift of himself — but to redeem us from all iniquity, and purify to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works? Is not the effectual calling of the Holy Spirit a high, holy, and heavenly calling ? — and what is final perse¬ verance, but a continued progress in the paths of holiness, shining more and more in the light of knowledge and of grace till the meridian day of glory, when every cloud of sin and imperfection will cease to exist for ever and ever ? “ But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation ; because it is written, Be ye holy ; for I am holy.” “ But the path of the just is as the shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day.” The predestinated sons of God, the redeemed of the Lord, and the called of the Holy Spirit, are always dis¬ tinguished by their unquenchable desire, and uncon¬ querable concern for personal, universal, and perfect holiness. What are the distinguished peculiarities of the precious faith of all genuine Christians ? Purifica¬ tion of heart, works of faith, labours of love, and vic¬ tory over the world, in all its sinful customs, maxims. PREFACE. and pleasures. What is the daily exercise of their faith, but to lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset them, and to run with patience the race which is set before them ; looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith ? What do they love ? “ 0 how I love thy law ! it is my meditation all the day. I delight in the law of God after the inward man.’3 What is the object of their hope ? “ That they shall be like him, and shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope purifieth himself even as he is pure.” What is their burden ? O wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” What is their grief? “ Rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.” What is their prayer ? “ Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” “ Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe ; and I will have respect unto thy statutes continually.” “ Order my steps in thy word, and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.” “ That I may know him, and the power of his resurrec¬ tion, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made con¬ formable unto his death ; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” “ For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world ; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” To assist the genuine Christian in the exercise and walks of holiness, in which the glorious gospel is em¬ bodied, it is the design of the Publisher of this volume to send forth that excellent treatise of Ness, as soon as 12 PREFACE. a sufficient number of subscribers is obtained, (which is not much larger than the present work,) entitled “ A Chris¬ tian s Walk and Work on Earth until he attain to Heaven ; which may serve as a practical guide and a plain direc¬ tion in his pilgrimage thither through his personal and relative duties. |Eatbellou?[p useful to all person? an& families of all jranft£ and qualities, foot!) m dtp and country” In this work there are thirteen chapters. 1. Of Man, and the end of his Creation, Religion, God¬ liness, and Christianity. 2. Of a Godly, Religious, and Christian Conversation. 3. Of Meditation. 4. Of Prayer. 5. Of Hearing the Word. 6. Of Singing. 7. Of Godly Conference. 8. Of the Sacraments. 9. Of Baptism. 10. Of the Lord’s Supper. 11. Of the Lord’s- day. 12. Of Family Duties. 13. The Conclusion — the Beauty and Safety of all Christian Families that live under the Government of the Word of God. The ninth chapter, on Infant Baptism, contains fifteen arguments from the Holy Scriptures, to prove the right of the infant seed of believers to that holy ordinance. His arguments are powerful and conclusive. He was as strenuous an advocate for infant baptism as for eternal predestination. He was quite as firm a Poedobaptist as he was a Predestinarian. He says very little upon the mode of baptism those who wish to be satisfied of the mode would do well to purchase a very masterly perform¬ ance entitled, “ Modern Immersion not Christian Baptism ,” by the Rev. William Thorn, independent minister of Winchester, author of Lectures on the Christian Sabbath, &c. I beg the devout attention of the reader to Ness's exhortation to Christians in the preface of his Walk and Work , &c., “ Being agreed, (Amos iii. 3,) walk with God, hand in hand, and heart in heart, which Enoch did. PREFACE. 1 <2 1 0 not only for an hour, day, week, month, year, but more than three hundred years. * All the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years, and Enoch walked with God ; and he was not, for God took him.’ 4 Walk before God,’ as he said to Abraham, — ‘Walk before me, and be perfect;’ solemnly set yourselves in the presence of God, having him always for your rereward. (Isa. lii. 12.) Walk after God. ‘ Ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and ye shall serve him, and cleave unto him.’ Keep your eye steadily fixed upon the Captain of your salvation, who is lead¬ ing you forth to a complete victory, and an immortal crown of life, of righteousness and of glory. Let Christ be as the needle to the loadstone ; Christ must be your all and in all. He must be within you, before you, and behind you also ; that you may be as a ship under full sail, before a strong and favourable wind, fear¬ ing neither rocks nor sands in the river of the paradise of God.” What the great Toplady says of the learned and evan- • gelical Zanchius’s treatise On Absolute Predestination , in relation to the time in which he lived, much more fitly may be said at the present time of this succinct treatise against Arminianism : “ Never was a publication of this kind more seasonable than at present. Arminianism is the grand religious evil of this age and country. It has more or less infested every protestant denomi¬ nation amongst us, and bids fair for leaving us in a short time not so much as the very profession of god¬ liness. The power of Christianity has, for the most part, taken its flight long ago ; and even the form of it seems to be on the point of bidding us farewell. 14 PREFACE. Time has been when the Calvinistic doctrines were considered and defended as the palladium of the Esta¬ blished Church by the bishops and clergy, and by the Universities, and the whole body of the laity. It was, during the reigns of Edward VI., Queen Elizabeth, James I., and the greater part of Charles I., as difficult to meet w'ith a clergyman who did not preach the doc¬ trines of the Church of England, as it is now to find one who does. We have generally forsaken the principles of the Reformation ; and Ichabod, thy glory is de¬ parted, has been written upon most of our pulpits ever since.” — To this I subjoin an extract from a ser¬ mon preached by an eminent divine in the seventeenth century, the Rev. William Strong, (author of a stand¬ ard work in folio, on the two covenants,) who often preached before the two courts of Parliament, and before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, in different churches in the city. The day he preached was a spe¬ cial day. The subject, “ Fast for abused liberty from Jude 4 : “ For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasci¬ viousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” The sermon is dated Feb. 28, 1656, forty- four years before Christopher Ness published his “ Anti¬ dote against Arminianism.” “ I can,” says Mr. Strong, in his sermon, “ remember when Arminianism did first invade this nation , how much the old Puritans ( for that was then the term of reproach ) were affected with it ; how the ministers preached against it and wrote against it, and the saints fasted and prayed against it, as that which they looked upon as the inlet to popery. For, if you receive it first in its 15 PREFACE. doctrine, the same persons will also quickly begin to set it up in its worship. And it was so much laid to heart by the godly patriots of the nation, that I have been assured from good hands that they drew up an act of parliament to have it supprest, had not the parliament been in a sudden and in an untimely manner broken up ; and yet now (says this great divine) we can cry out against popery, and yet maintain with open face the doctrines of popery.” Since the above was written, I have turned to Brooke’s Lives of the Puritans, published in 1813, and I find two quotations, one from the infidel Hume, and the other from the immortal Wilberforce, to the honour of these excellent men. £< The precious spark of liberty had been kindled, and was preserved, by the Puritans alone ; and it was to this sect that the English owe the whole freedom of their constitution.” — Hume. “ Many of the Puritans were men of great erudition, deep views of religion, and unquestionable piety ; and their writings contain a mine of wealth, in which any one, who will submit to some degree of labour, will find himself well rewarded for his pains.” — Wilberforce. It is not to be expected that the kingdom of the devil will ever be destroyed or suppressed by acts of parlia¬ ment. The glorious gospel of the ever-blessed God is the appointed instrument, which is emphatically called The Truth — The word of Truth — The Truth of the gospel — The Truth in Christ — The Truth as it is in Jesus — and The Truth which is after godliness. It is this only, attended by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of truth, with trie armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, that will successfully oppose the progress of error; and though 16 PREFACE. Popery and Arminianism may have the ascendency for a season, yet their destruction is absolutely certain. The above extract will show that Arminianism was the objeet of the greatest dread and utter abhorrence to those holy and distinguished men — the Puritans , the saints, and the godly patriots. What would those learned and holy ministers, the Puritans, have said had they lived to see the day in which we live ? Protestant ministers, who profess to tread in their steps, uniting with Arminians and Arians, Socinians and Papists, to petition the legislature to level the mounds, demolish the fences, and destroy the barriers of our Protestant constitution, which were raised by the blood of the noble army of martyrs. I cannot refrain from extracting a portion of a pamphlet, entitled “ A Voice of Warning,” published in 1828. This small pamphlet, from which the extract is taken, has beenunfolding the consequences that were then anticipated : “ In this eventful period is it not your bounden duty firmly and cordially to unite in respectful applications to the King, and to both Houses of Parliament, against any change in the constitution of the empire ? Will it not be highly ungrateful to your God and Redeemer, now to sit still and see our Protestant fences thrown down? Did not your venerable ancestors shed their blood in raising those barriers by which British liberties have been secured so long ? If you sit still and see those bar¬ riers demolished, and a passage made for Popery to enter, would it not justly be interpreted to be a saying that the blood they shed was shed in vain ? The Lord God Al¬ mighty did not punish with so much severity the murders of the Old Testament martyrs, as he did those who, by their actions, approved the horrid deeds ! 4 The hlood PREFACE. 17 of the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zaeha- rias, who perished between the altar and the temple : verily I say unto you, it shall be required of this gene¬ ration “ Posterity ! How can you acquit yourselves of the duty you owe to posterity, without petitioning ? Is it not vain and foolish to slumber on, and say, ‘ It is not probable that Papists will hurt us in our day.’ Were this foolish and selfish dream more probable than it is, are we sure that, if Papists get into places of power and trust, they will not persecute our descendants ? Is there no probability that our children, or grandchildren, may rise ,up and curse, curse our silly credulity, or our supine negligence, in parting with the pearl of liberty, purchased for us by the blood, and entailed upon us by the care, of our venerable forefathers, and for bequeath¬ ing slavery of soul and body to them as their only portion ?” My venerable townsman, the Earl of Eldon, in his speech in the House of Lords, on the opening of Parlia¬ ment, Feb. 5, 1829, says, “ I trust that the sentiments I now express will find their way throughout the country, and that every individual in it will hear of them as my firm , fixed, and unalterable conviction, — namely, That if they once permit Roman Catholics to take their seats in either Houses of Parliament, or to legislate for the State ; or if they grant them the privilege of possessing the great executive offices of the Constitution, from that day, and that moment, the sun of Great Britain will be set.” As this has long since been disposed of, my readers may condemn me ; — they may, if they please. “ I do indeed fear the sun of Great Britain is set, and a dreadful PREFACE. doom awaits us.” This may be considered as chime¬ rical, and may be the object of contempt and ridicule. If so, some deference, however, ought to be paid to the judgment of one of the most enlightened Protestants in this or any other country. I could refer to many divines ; but I will only refer to one whose praise I believe is in all the churches of Scotland, and in Great Britain, where he was known by his preaching or his works : the late William M‘ Gavin, Esq. of Glasgow. William M‘ Gavin died on Thursday evening, 23d of August, 1832, aged fifty-nine ; and the Rev. and vene¬ rable Greville Ewing, in his funeral sermon on M‘Gavin. declares, that “ he died in the midst of active usefulness ; blessed, we believe, as a servant found by his master when he came doing his will ; as a brother, whose praise vras in all the churches ; and as a citizen , so highly esteemed by men of all ranks, and of almost every variety of character, that he may be said to have been ecpially distinguished in the CHURCH and in the WORLD and shows at large that “ he was a distinguished example of soundness in the faith, — spirituality of worship, — kind¬ ness waft faithfulness in Christian friendship, — boldness in principle, — and decision in maintaining it, — imbued with humility before both God and man.” The reviewer in the Evangelical Magazine calls him the distinguished author of The Protestant ; and in reference to his reply to Mr. Cobbett on the Reformation, he declares : “ It is not saying too much of Mr. M‘ Gavin to assert, that he is one of the most enlightened Protestants in Christendom. The whole controversy stands before his mind in the order of perfect arrangement, and Mr. Cobbett appears like a child in the hands of a giant.” Posterity will PREFACE. 19 greatly acknowledge its obligation to this incomparable advocate .” The Rev. S. P. Edgar, minister of the se¬ cession congregation, Armagh, Ireland, also says, “ He possesses resistless penetration, sound sense, and clear discrimination.” This great man, in a letter to a friend, dated Glasgow, March 9, 1832, thus writes : — “ Rev. and dear Sir, — I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter of the 5th instant, and I sympathize with you in your manifold afflictions, with all of which I was unacquainted, not having heard any thing of you for a long time. Many strange things have happened since I had the pleasure of seeing you here. Popery has been incorporated with our legislature, the bitter fruits of which are now ripening to some dreadful cata¬ strophe, at least in Ireland, and eventually among our¬ selves. You and I have the satisfaction of reflecting that we were not consenting to the deed of them who de¬ stroyed our excellent constitution, but that we lifted up our voice against it. “We are now, as a nation, a pendicle of Antichrist, and must without doubt participate in her doom. But I am not alarmed on that account ; I know that better things are to follow the overthrow of the Man of Sin, though dreadful calamities are to precede and accompany that event ; — the sooner they arrive they will be the sooner over. You and I will not see the end of them ; but if we have our personal interest in Christ secured, we shall have peace, and in a better world we shall hear of the fall of Babylon, and all the glorious things which are to follow.” In another letter, dated Glasgow, 9th of May, 1832, he writes in the same strain, and recommends me to 20 PREFACE. publish a small work which I put into his hands to re¬ vise and correct, which will be shortly published ; and the title he gives it in his letter is, “ An excellent Picture of Popery.” This letter was to have been de¬ livered to me by the hand of a friend, but I did not receive it till he was no more. Many things might be added to show the dreadful evils of Popery, and of Arminianism, her younger sister, — or, as Mr. Rous says, “ Arminianism is the spawn of popery, which the warmth of favour may easily turn into frogs of the bottomless pit,” (see p. 9) ; but this Introduction is already too long. The day in which we live is now generally denomi¬ nated throughout the kingdom the “ march of intellect,” but might it not be more properly called the march of the prince of darkness, and of the imps of hell ? 0 Lord , arise, and 'plead thy own cause ! “ Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things ; and blessed be his glorious name for ever ! and let the whole earth be filled with his glory ! Amen and Amen.” O Sun of Righteousness ! expand thy vital ray, O'er the dark globe diffuse celestial day ; Glad distant regions by thy blissful voice, Till India’s wilds and Afric’s sands rejoice. Thy Spirit breathe wide as creation’s space — Exalt, illume, inspire the human race ; As heaven’s own ether, through expansion whirl’d, Attracts, sublimes, and animates the wopld. ROBT. STODHART, Minister of Mulberry Gardens’ Chapel , St. George’s East, London . 7, Islington Green, January , 1S35. MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. CnitiSToriiER Nesse, M. A., author of a valuable Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, was born on the 26th of December, 1621 ; being the son of Thomas Nesse, of North Cowes, in the East Riding of the county of York. He received his grammar-learning under Dr. Lazarus Seaman ; and at sixteen years of age was sent to St. John’s College, in Cambridge. Having spent seven years in Cambridge, the civil wars then breaking out, he retired into the country, and preached for a time at Cliffe Chapel, under the inspection of his uncle Bear- cliffe, an eminent divine, and vicar of North Cowes. From thence he received a call to Holderness, and after a few years to Beverley, where he taught school, and preached occasionally. Dr. Winter removing to Ireland in 1650, and being soon afterwards elected Provost of Trinity College, in Dublin, resigned to Mr. Nesse his living of Cottingham, near Hull, worth four hundred per annum. There he was instrumental in the conversion of many souls, particularly of Thomas Raspin, a grey-headed old man, and one of the most substantial in that town. After some years, he had a call from thence to Leeds, in which place he was also made very useful. From the 22 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. year 1656 to 1660 he was lecturer in the church where Mr. Stiles preached ; and continued so under his succes¬ sor, Dr. Lake, afterwards Bishop of Chichester. Between this last person and Mr. Nesse, there was the same un¬ comfortable clashing as was formerly at the Temple between Mr. Hooker and Mr. Travers — that which was delivered in the forenoon being confuted in the afternoon, till Bartholomew-day, 1662, when Mr. Nesse was ejected for nonconformity, and preached in private. The Duke of Buckingham would have complimented him into con¬ formity, as related by himself in one of his books. Upon the Five-mile Act taking place, he removed to Clayton, and from thence to Morley. When the times grew more favourable, he had a house of his own at Hunslet, where he instructed youth, and preached in private, till 1672, wrhen the principal riding-house being converted into a place of worship, he preached there publicly to a numerous auditory. For this offence he was excommu¬ nicated four several times, and upon the last, there was issued out a writ de excommunicatio capiendo ; to avoid wrhich he removed to London in 1675, and there preached privately, for thirty years, to a congregation of noncon¬ formists that assembled in Salisbury-court, Fleet-street. “ About this time there lived an eminent minister, the Rev. Nathaniel Partridge, who was ejected in 1662 from the church of St. Michael, in the town of St. Alban’s, Herts, as Dr. Calamy supposes. Mr. Partridge having once preached at St. Alban’s, upon these words, (Rev. iii. 18,) “ Anoint thine eyes with eye-salve, that thou mayest see,” a poor man, who was as blind in mind as he was in body, went afterwards to his house, and asked him very soberly where he might get the ointment to cure his blindness. Dr, Calamy does not state the result MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 22 of that interview. After the ejectment of Mr. Partridge he gathered a congregation in London, and was a great sufferer for nonconformity. Being apprehended for printing, he was committed prisoner to Newgate, and con¬ fined there six months. But though deprived of his liberty, his enemies could not extinguish his usefulness. He took great pains with the condemned prisoners, and met with good success. Mr. Partridge died in a good old age, on the 6th of August, 1684. Mr. Christopher Nesse published an elegy upon the occasion, which con¬ taining some lines against court measures, he was forced for a time to abscond, in order to conceal himself from the messengers, who were very busily employed in hunting after him.” Mr. Christopher Nesse died on the 26th of December, 1705, aged eighty-four, having been a preacher of the gospel more than sixty years. He was interred in Bun- hill-fields. He published a variety of books, some of which are curious and valuable : the principal is his “ History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament,” in four volumes, folio, which contains much valuable mat¬ ter, and is said to have been of great assistance to the celebrated Matthew Henry, in compiling his “ Exposi¬ tion. M Mr. Granger, who speaks of his style as very in¬ different, says, “The reader will find some things well worth his notice in these volumes.” They are now very scarce and very valuable. John Dunton, the bookseller, tells us, that he wrote for him “ The Life of Pope Inno¬ cent XI.,” of which the whole impression sold off in a fortnight. The tides of his other works are as follow : — 1. The Crown and Glory of a Christian. 1676. 12mo. 2, The Christian’s Walk and Work on Earth until he come to Heaven. 1677. 8vo. 3. A Protestant Antidote 9A MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. against the Poison of Popery. 1679. 8vo. 4. The Crystal Mirror, or Christian’s Looking-glass, showing the Treachery of the Heart. 1679. 8vo_ 5. A Discovery of the Person and Period of Antichrist, as to his Rise, Reign, and Ruin. 1679. 8vo. 6. The Devil’s Patriarch ; in the Life of Pope Innocent the 11th. 1683. 7. A Spi¬ ritual Legacy for Young Men. 1681. 8. Half a Sheet on a Blazing Star. 9. A Philosophical and Divine Dis¬ course concerning the Comet. 1681. 4to. 10. A Whip for the Fool’s Back who did ridicule God’s holy Ordi¬ nance of Marriage. 11. A Key with the Whip to unfold the Intrigues of Absalom and Ahithophel. 12. A Church History from Adam, and a Scripture Prophecy to the end of the World. 1681. 8vo. To this book he pre¬ fixed the Author’s Portrait. 13. A Token, or New- year’s Gift for Children. 1683. 14. Wonderful Signs of Wonderful Times. 1684. 15. Advice to the Painter upon the Earl of Shaftesbury’s Enlargement from the Tower. 16. An Astrological and Theological Discourse upon the great Conjunction. 17. A Strange and Wonderful Tri¬ nity, or Triplicity of Stupendous Prodigies ; consisting of a wonderful Eclipse, a wonderful Comet, and a won¬ derful Conjunction. 18. The History and Mystery of the Old and New Testament ; logically discussed, and theologically improved, in four volumes, folio. 1690. 19. An Antidote against Arminianism. 1700. 20. His Divine Legacy. 1700. Mr. Nesse left behind him, in MS., a particular Confutation of the Romish Religion in all its Doctrines, &c. ; and a Vindication of his own Thesis at Leeds, that all Divine Worship must have a Divine W arrant. NOTES TRANSLATION OF THE LATIN, GREEK, AND HEBREW PHRASES WHICH OCCUR IN THIS WORK. N.B. Where the author has given his explanation in the learned languages, as in the 11th page, and several other places, a double translation would, instead of edifying, perhaps perplex the reader. Motto in Title Page. In magnis, &c. — In great matters to have made an attempt is sufficient. Difficilium facilis, &c. — In things difficult, pardon is easily awarded. Preface, p. iii. — BifiAapidiov, a diminutive of BifiAiov, and means a little book. The author here understands it as meaning superlatively, a very little book. P. iv. Totus mundusy &c.— Athanasius said in his day the whole world is Arian ; the author remarks it to be the sad sign of our times that the whole world is Arminian. P. v. In verbo, &c. — In the word of a priest. Multum in parvo. — Much in a little. P. 7. Quoad conatum. — As far as attempt is concerned. Expel- lunt, &c. — The man is driven by one extreme to the other. Veritas (sterna , &c. — Truth is eternal, and will prevail. Medio tutissi- mus, &c. — Thou wilt go most safely in the middle. Medium tenuere, &c. — They are happy who have kept the middle way. P. 8. Profundum sine, &c. — A profound, or a depth without a bottom. P. 9. Ferenda non , &c. — Fatal fortune, which injures, is to be borne, not bewailed. a 2 P. 10. Quare. — Wherefore. Stulta Dei, &c. — The foolish things oi God are to be believed, and the impious things of God are to be done. Ex nihilo, &c. — From nothing, nothing can proceed: but faith says, From nothing are all things. P. 11. Destinatus ad finem, &c. — Determined as to the end, deter¬ mined also as to the means. O vs tt poeyvw. — Augustine de bona perseverantia. Concerning perseverance in what is good. 'npio’pei'rj QovXri. — Determinate counsel. P. 12. Quicquid est, &c. — Whatever is in God, is God. Aliud et aliud. — One thing and another. De novo. — Anew. Pro re nata. — For the immediate thing. P. 14. Ut supra. — As above. P. 15. A parte ante. — In respect to the past. Vein beachad. — And he himself in one. P. 16. Quasi uno, &c. — As by one glance. P. 17. Quod scripsi, & c. — What I have written, I have written. P. 18. Prceparatio et, Sic. — A preparation both for grace and glory. To dju€TUKLi'r)Tov. — Unmovable. P. 19. Extra Deum. — Out of God. Quoad actum prcedestinantis. — As far as his act of predestinating is concerned. Quoad actum volentis. — As far as his act of willing is to be viewed. P. 20. Absq ; primo, &c. — Without him who primarily ordained. P. 22. A pari, & c. — Not from the equal, but from the less. P. 24. Illud est, &c. — That is perfect to which nothing can be added. In massd, Sic. — In the corrupt mass. P. 25. Sic without a sicut. Thus — as. Ergo. — Therefore. P. 26. Fratres utero. — Brothers in the womb, yet not in mind, or in soul, understanding, will, disposition, &c. A varo-qrou. — Difficult to be understood. P. 27. Ex meliori Into. — Of better clay. Ergo. — Therefore. P. 32. Ad singula, Sic.-— To individual classes, yet it is to classes of individuals. P. 34. A capite, &c. — From the head to the heel ; meaning altogether* throughout. P. 35. Ex debito, Sic. — From debt and necessity, not from the good pleasure of God. Extra Deum. — Out of God. AdeoXoyov. — Without the authority of the word of God. Idea Dei, Sic. — The notion of God does not come from any quarter out of himself. P. 36. Ergo. — Therefore. Causa causarum, — The cause of causes. 3 ■ P.39. Ut supra. — As above. Primum mobile. — The first moving cause. In pote state, &c. — In the power of him predestinated, not of him predestinating. Pro re nata. — According to the nature o the case. P. 40. Deus est , &c.— -God is in his nature simple, having nothing whatever of admixture or succession, but in every respect one. Sed e contrd. — But on the contrary, therefore, &c. &c. P. 42. Summum bonum. — As he is the chief good, so he is the original or fountain of what is just ; the first in any genus, or kind, is the rule of those which follow. Prhnum jus turn, & c. — Not only right, but a rule, a rule ruling, not a rule ruled. Qui suo, &c. — He that makes use of his own right does injury to no one. Supra. — As above. Massd corrupid. — In a corrupted mass. P. 43. Sarcasmus diabolicus. — Diabolical sarcasm. Quod libet 9 &c. — What he lusts he makes lawful. Reprobatio nil, &c. — Repro¬ bation puts nothing in him who is reprobated. Non causd, &c. — A no reason for a reason. P. 44. Bona gratuita. — Gratuitous bestowments. Mala volunta- ria. — Voluntary evils. Prcestat esse, & c. — It is better to be the chamber-pot of a prince, than simple clay. Burns sermo. — Hard speech. Serio but simulate. — Cannot be done seriously but feignedly. P. 45. Cesset voluntas, &c. — Let self-will cease, and there will be no hell. Verba dare, &c. — God not only gives forth the words of command, but he produces the thing. Virtutis vehiculum. — Vehicle of power. P. 46. Voluntas prwcepti. — The will of command. Voluntas pro¬ positi. — The will of purpose. Ad alterum. — For the sake of another. P. 47. Posse non, &c. — He had ability to stand, but not such ability as to make his fall impossible. Respectu rei, &c. — In respect of the thing itself, but not in respect of God. Opposita, &c. — Opposites should be of the same kind. Respectu rei, &c. — In respect of the thing, and in an Abstract sense. Respectu rei. — In respect of the thing. P. 48. Respectu Dei . — In respect of God. Quoad eventum, &c. — As to the event, but not of compulsion as to the mode of acting and taking place. Non per, &c. — He chose not by qonstraint from an ex¬ ternal principle, but by a willing inclination from an internal principle. P. 49. Respectu rei. — In respect of the thing. Respectu Dei.— In respect of God. 4 P. 50. Intellectus nostri, & c. — Fictions of our own understanding. In re, &c. — In the thing, but only in the manner of explaining. Massa nondum, &c. — A mass not yet built or put together, but pure and not yet corrupted, or a mass put together and corrupted. In ■pari, & c. — In an equal state. In statu , & c. — Not in the state of integrity (or purity), nor in the fallen state, but in the renewed and only not glorified state. P. 51. Cladius accus at, &c. — Cladius accuses adulterers. A prover¬ bial expression, which arose from Claudius Publius, a noble Roman of that age of Caesars, a very debauched person in his morals and prac¬ tice. TJno intuitu, & c. — God with one glance sees all things. Non datur, &c. — There is not a former and a latter in God. Si salvabor, See. — If I am to be saved, I shall be saved. Sensu compo¬ site. — It was true in the compound sense, but not in the divided-ab¬ stract sense. P. 52. Ora labora, &c. — Pray and labour ; Minerva is to be invoked by moving our hands. A proverbial expression. Tit suprh. — As above. E contra. — On the contrary. P. 53. Si damnabor, Se c. — If I am to be damned, I shall be damned. P. 54. Opera Trinitatis, See, — The outward works of the Trinity are equal. P. 55. Ergo. — Therefore. P. 56. Sanctum sanctorum. — The holy of holies. P. 57. Vice multorum. — In the room or place of many. P. 58. Extra Ecclesiam , &c. — Without or out of the church there is no salvation. P. 60. Posita causcl, Sec. — The cause being granted the effect is also granted. Remissd culpa, Slc. — The guilt being remitted, the punishment is also remitted. P. 61. Nemo bis, &c.— No one is imprisoned twice for one offence. P. 62. Parvulus Paganorum , &c. — That the little children of pagans received no supernatural help in themselves. P.63. Numerari pretium, See. — It is opposite to justice ; that the price be paid and the captive not redeemed, is contrary to justice, P. 64. Deus et, &c. — God and nature do nothing in vain. Pla- cabilem, Slc. — Appeasable, and not appeased. P. 65. Per totum. — Throughout the whole. Jus, Sec. — If there be a right there must be a deed. Ubi nulla, Sec .■ — Where there is no law there is no transgression. 5 P. 66. Unusquisque. — An equivocal word. Noverint universi, &c. — Not with a know all men ; but it is to all the faithful in Christ. A facto, &c. — From the deed to the right the consequence is not valid. P. 67. rius. — All. vE/coottos.— Each or every man. P. 68. Ylpopyoopevr]. — The cause, antecedent. P. 69. Omnes redimuntur, &c. — All are redeemed by Christ, but the elect alone are in Christ. Ilabet in, &c. — The medicine has in itself that which would do good to all, but if it be not drunk it will not cure. P. 70. Suppositio nil, & c. — Supposition puts nothing in esse, or makes nothing actually exist. Aeairorps. — A lord or master. P. 72. Libertate indijfer entice. — With a liberty of indifference. P. 73. Contrarictatis et, &c. — A liberty both of contrariety and of contradiction. Creatio contimians. — A creation continuing, or a perpetual creation (as the first was a transient creation). P. 74. Nihili nepotes. — Grandsons of nothing. Quod nulli, &c. — What is for no use, is nothing. Ejfectu, vanum, &c. — What is fruit¬ less is vain. P. 75. Non a nobis , & c. — We spring not from ourselves. Quic- quid paritur, &c. — Whatever is produced has its origin not from itself but from some other. Semen carnis, &c. — Seed of flesh and blood of the first birth, but not seed of the Spirit, &c. P. 76. Internum principium. —Inward principle. P.77. Internum principium. — Inward principle. Cadaver frica- tione, & c. — A corpse by mere rubbing or friction does not raise itself. P. 78. Dixit et, &c. — He said and it was done ; God doth not give words but the thing. Qualis causa , &c. — As is the cause so is the effect. Removens prohibens. — Which is not so much as a removing and prohibiting thing (which is only a cause without which the effect could not be produced, and so no proper cause at all), for, &c. ; so must not only have grace exciting, and morally persuading, but also grace healing and vivifying. Nemo fortunes, & c. — No man is the workman of his own fortune, unless it is subordinately. lnfirmus hostis, &c. — He is a feeble enemy who can only conquer him who is willing to be overcome. P. 79. IlavTa ir irucnv. — All in all. P. 80. ’EA/cei pikv, &c. — He draws, but he makes willing in drawing, or he draws the willing man. Quis trahitur, &c. — And who is drawn unless he were already willing ? He so comes only choosing, only as choosing to come. Not that men (for that is impossible) be- 6 lieve against their wills, but that from their being unwilling they are made willing. Co-operando perfuit, &c. — God in cooperating, accompanied what in operating he began. Dux et, & c. — Grace is leader and companion. P. 81. Ne detur, &c. — Lest that should be a vacuum. Nolle est, &c. — To be unwilling is of the flesh, to be willing is of the Spirit. P. 82. Non est, & c. — It is not grace in any way unless it be in every zoay gratuitous. P. 83. Ab incommodo. — From the inconvenient. Principium quod, &c. — The principle which, not the principle by which. Mihi soli, & c. — I owe it to myself. P. 84. Potentiam credendi, &c. — The power of believing to a man, the power of willing with the desire that he should be converted is from God. Generatus sequitur, & c. — That which is generated follows the nature of him who generates. Originale originatum. — The original originating brought forth the original originated. ’ AvairoXoypTovs. — Without excuse. Splendida peccata, &c. — Splendid sins being faulty as to the principle and end. P. 85. Voluntas prcecepti. — A will of precept. Voluntate propo¬ siti. — A will of purpose. P. 86. Intimior intimo , &c. — And more intimate with it than our inward part. Non idco, &c. — The wheel doth not run that it may be round, but because it is round. P. 87. Ejusdem farince. — Of the same flour. Gratia gratis , & c.-- Grace given for nothing, but not grace making grateful. P. 88. FerisimiliafSzc. — Things having the semblance of truth, are not real verities. P. 89. Sanctificatio est, &c. — Sanctification is glory begun. In patriti. — All glory is grace in our home ; grace is glory on our way to our home. Secunda post, &c. — Second plank or table after shipwreck. Alluding to a custom among the Romans of those who had been saved by shipwreck ; which was, to have all the circum¬ stances of their adventures printed on tables. P. 91. Pignus redditur, &c. — The pledge is restored, the earnest retained. Inpretio, &c. — In the price, promises and first fruits. P.93. Of Religando. — From binding. Currere quatuor, Szc. — Will run on four feet, and be fit or square in all things. P. 96. Gratia in, &c. — Grace remains inextinguishable in the hearts of the elect. Habitus non , &c. — The habit or principle is not last, the act is intermitted, but the degree is remitted. Non amisit , &c. — 7 We lost not charity itself, but remitted somewhat in the fervour of charity. P. 97. TlapaKaraQriK^v pod, &c. — He is able to keep my depositum, that which I have committed to him. Non qiueruntur , &c. — Not beginnings in Christians are sought after, but the end. P. 98. Quifacit, &c. — He who makes men good, makes them per¬ severe in what is good, Austin. Such is the fear of God in the hearts of the pious that they perseveringly cleave to God : those whom the love of Christ embraces, it makes them inseparable from him, and the gifts of vocation God neither rescinds nor revokes, Ambrose. It is the property of faith never to be altogether unsettled or destroyed, Chrysostom translated. True faith is perpetual, and perpetual because it is true, Luther. Faith may be shaken, but not shaken off, wounded but not slain, or altogether lost, Bucer. With many others, &c. P. 99. Modo intenditur, & c. — Sometimes stretched or braced, some¬ times relaxed. P. 100. Jus aptitudinale. — His right of fitness, but not his heredi¬ tary right. Ua pair Ar}(T iou tu>, &c. — Nigh unto death, but not death. Proarbitrio. — At pleasure. Demeritoric. — By demerit, though not effectively. P. 101. Secunda post, &c. — A second plank or table after shipwreck. See page 89. Dicta symbolica , &c. — Said symbolically, not argu¬ mentatively. Nihil ad, 8t c. — Not at all to the purpose. A pro¬ verbial expression. P. 102. Gratice gratis, &c. — Graces given for nothing— that is, for no saving end — are capable of being lost. Bachur et tob. — Good and chosen. P. 103. Petrus non, &c. — Peter lost not his faith by his sin. Suppositio nil, &c. — Supposition gives existence to nothing. Quod non, &c. — That which is not to be supposed. Non novum, &c. — His habit or principle was not made new but revived. Jus ad, &c. — A right to the thing, but not the right in the thing. <£«terr& at Stationers’ p>aU, * R, CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD-STREET-HILL. AN ANTIDOTE AGAINST ARMINIANISM: OR, A Succinct DISCOURSE, to Enervate and Confute all the five Points thereof, to wit, Predestination grounded upon Man's foreseen Works. Universal Redemption. Suffi¬ cient Grace in All. The Power of Man's Free-will in Conversion, and the Possibility of True Saints falling away Totally and Finally. All which are Demonstrated here to be Damnable Errours, both by Scriptures and Reason, &c. All Undeniable and Uncontroulable. PUBLISHED FOR PUBLICK GOOD, BY CHRISTOPHER NESS, AUTHOR OF THE “ HISTORY AND MYSTERY OF THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENT,” AND OF MANY MORE BOOKS, &C. - - - In magnis voluisss sat est. Difficilium facilis est V enia. > LONDON, I Printed by R. Tookey, for Tho. Cockerill, at the Bible and Three Leggs, over against Grocers- Hall, in the Poultrey. 1700. r- ‘ , • ' . * I THE PREFACE. Candid Reader, Observe these few considerations : although this Enchiridion, or Small Manual and Portable Pocket- Book be very little in it self and substance, yet ought it not therefore to be despised : for, First, We read how the mighty Angel of the cove¬ nant had a very little book open in his hand, Rev. x. 2. The Greek word is [BtjSXapiSion] not Bij3Xmn, but a threefold diminutive, as Liber, Libellus and Libellun- culus ; yet this little book did contain in it, the great concerns of the Redeemer’s little, little flock [to puscpbv 7r oLjiviov] a double diminutive as Christ calls them, Luke xii. 32. The Bible it self is but a little book, in comparison of those vast folios of School-doctors and Popish decretals, wherewith the world is pestered, &c. and that little book was not shut or sealed, but it was open by the Lamb’s purchase : ’tis the work of Antichrist to keep it shut, yea, and it must also be eaten, ver. 10. that is, it must go down and be hid in our hearts, Psalm cxix. 1 1 . then the simplest soul may have right conceptions of it, Deut . xxx. 11. Secondly, This little book hath cost me great study and labour to compose it, that it might contain the very cream and quintessence of the best authors upon A 2 IV Preface . this subject : Moreover, It hath cost me likewise many ardent prayers to God, and many earnest wrestlings with God, that I might not be one of those that rebel against the light, Job xxiv. 13. but that in his light I might see light, Psalm xxxvi. 9, and to have my eyes anointed with Christ’s eye-salve, Rev. iii. 18. that I might see more clearly into these profound points, which hath very much puzzled so much of the Chris¬ tian world. Insomuch that the Orthodox do complain in our day (only with a little difference) as blessed Athanasius did in his day, who then sighed out those sad words [ Totus mundus est Arrianus ] so it is the sad sigh of our present times, that [ Totus mundus est Arminianus .] Thirdly, Lest this overflowing deluge should bring destruction upon us, there is great need that some servants of Christ should run to stop the farther spreading of this plague and leprosie : thus Moses, God’s servant, stood in the gap, and stopped the destruction of Israel, Psalm cvi. 23. & Numb. xiv. 10, 11, 12, to 20. And at another time this Moses (who was quick-sighted by his great familiarity with God) did soon see that wrath was gone out from the Lord against Israel, then he commands Aaron to run and take a censer and offer up an atonement, &c. all which when Aaron had done, the plague was stayed, Numb. xvi. 46, 47, 48. And the neglect of this duty the Lord complains of, that he found none of his servants to stand in the gap, &c. Ezeh. xiii. 5. & xxii. 30. While I was considering those things, the Lord stirred up my spirit, to do as is done in common conflagra- y Preface. tions, when every one runs with the best bucket he can get, wherewith to quench the devouring flames, and to stop them, that they may not proceed to lay all waste before them. Fourthly, When I had compleated this short com¬ pendium (which I drew up many years ago) I shewed it to Dr. John Owen, Mr. Nicholas Lockier, and Mr. George Griffith ; who all unanimously approved of it, and wrote an epistle commendatory to it, subscribing it with all their three hands, which is too large here to insert, because I am confined to but four pages for my Preface, &c. the truth of the premisses I do affirm (as the phrase is) In verbo sacerdotis, &c. Fifthly and lastly, As a little map doth represent a large country at one view, which will take up much time to travel over, &c. so this ttoWvv iv /uiKpCo , mul- tum in parvo ; read it seriously without partiality, and the Lord give you understanding in all, &c. So prayeth, Sept. 30, 1700. Yours in the best Bonds, CHRISTO. NESS. ' AN AGAINST A R MINIMIS M. CHAPTER 1. OF ARM INI AN ISM 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 left-hand thieves : fas moral vertue, so theolo¬ gical also, is found betwixt two extreams ; A'Kov'dovvTai TOP pEGOP 01 OKpOl EKaTEpOQ 7Tj OOQ EKaTtpOP. ExpelklUt medium extremi uterq ; ad alterum, saith Aristotle, Ethic, lib. ii. cap. 8. Agreeable unto which, Thucidides hath a saying, 6i ep pecw apMorEpiodep kteipoptcii , those that be in the midst are stain (or at least, assaulted) on both sides ; but veritas ceterna et valebit. There is as much beyond the truth, as on this side it ; as much of vain curiosity in out-running the dock 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 observed the golden mean, and the Poet’s counsel is good here, [medio tutis- simus ibis ] to keep a mediocrity ; and the character of the sons of truth is, medium, tenuere beati. 8 An Antidote 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 heavy for a free-born 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 expiatory. The Atheists deride all, and would lay waste religion. The Romanists do turn the true worship of Cod into will-worship, and teach their own traditions for the commandments of God, spoil¬ ing 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 profundum, sine f undo, and cry’d, £2/3a£oe ! “ O the depth,’’ &c. They dare undertake to fetch the apostle off from his non plus, Rom. ix. 14, saying, God foresaw 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 ; aud 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. H ence Dr. Laighton calls Arminianism the page'll ea> Pope’8 Benjamin, the last and greatest mon¬ ster of the Man of Sin, the elixir of anti-chris- tianism, 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 new-found passage into Brittany and the Low-Countries; and famous Mr. Fuller saith, “We Fuiier’sChur. “ m«st sadly confess, that since the Synod Hist. cent. <£ at Dort, many English souls have taken a 1 .b.io.p.6i. u cup milch 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 9 against Atmitilanism . s< 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 varnished offspring 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. vi.) who would gladly have saved Daniel, but could not. What else can their doctrine de scientia media 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 depend - ance 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 jienda Riuztor. fort, est ( quee vos Icesit ) for tuna fatalis, &c. That tia™ Ep?De- fatal fortune (which hath harmed you) must be dicat. pag.o. endured 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, thank¬ fulness, &c. to expectorate religion, and to pull the great Jehovah (himself) out of his throne of glory, setting up Dame Fortune to be worshipped in his stead ? These and many other great abominations, have been discovered 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 mete- Luther wand of degenerate reason : “this word” A 3 10 An Antidote [ 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 rnihi 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 arro¬ gant and supercilious : Stulia Dei sunt credenda (as fond man calls them) et impia Dei facienda ; to wit, such as carnal reason accounteth foolish, and wicked ; reason saith, Ex nihilo nihil Jit, 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 tran¬ scend ours, so may reveal matters far above our reach : the second is, that whatsoever God reveals is undoubt¬ edly 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, per¬ plexed with its own frailty, and defective in its own actings. CHAPTER SI. OF PREDESTINATION, WHICH IS THE FIRST POINT IN CONTROVERSIE. Predestination is the decree of God, tion ora01' thereby (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 11 ag ainst A i m inianism . glorious mercy and justice, Horn. ix. 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 ol dishonour, 2 Tim. ii. 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. v. 9. It is call’d destination, as it comprehends a determined order of the means to the end, [ destinatus ad fincm , des- tinatus 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. Idle Greek word n poojpiapbg, signifies a fore-separating for God’s special use : as Israel was separated from among ail the nations of the world, to be God’s peculiar inheritance. So God tells them, Levit. xx. 24. Hibdalti , which the Septuagint read biupLaa, I have separated you, to wit, in fulness of time ; so Trpoioplo-a, 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. xi. 2. “ God hath not cast off his people whom he did foreknow,” [oae TTpoeyvw] that is, whom he did predestinate : so Augustine de bono perseveran, cap. 18. urges against the Pelagians. In like manner, predestination is taken strictly and synechdochically, for election itself. Rom. viii. 30. Eph. i. 5. and accordingly I shall handle it in this following treatise, using the word election and predestination pro¬ miscuously. It is also called in the definition a divine decree (as the genus of it) because it contains in it the determinate counsel of God, and the counsel of his own will ; Acts iv. 28. Eph. i. 11, in bringing to pass such and such ends, by such and such means. This is in Scripture phrase iopKTfjLEini flov\r], Acts ii. 23. ?/ \tlp cal i\ /3oi»Xf/ rtj deov, the 12 An Antidote hand and counsel of God, and evcoKta, bencplacitum, the good pleasure of God ; in those places fore-named, Eph. i. 9. CHAPTER III. OF THE PROPERTIES, AND FIRST ETERNAL. Eternal pro- This divine decree hath various properties, perty- as, first, eternal ; which is thus proved. The first Reason is, God’s internal and im- Reason i. minent acts are the same with his essence, such an act is the divine decree ; and therefore as God’s essence is eternal, so his decree must be eternal also : qnicquid est in Deo, est Deus. Now the decree is God’s decreeing, because whatsoever is in God is God; it is God himself by one eternal act, decreeing and deter¬ mining whatsoever should come, unto the praise of his own glory. The second Reason is taken from the simpli- Reason 2. city Gf G0d, which is God considered as one meer and perfect act, without any composition or succession ; there cannot be in God aliud et aliud ; there can be no more a new thought, a new intent, or a new purpose in God, then there can be a new God. Whatever God thinks, he ever thought ; and always doth and will think : whatever God purposes, he always purposed, and ever doth and will purpose ; as he cannot know any thing de novo, neither can he intend Exod. iii. 14. any thing de novo ; for his name is [“ I am”] and takes not new counsels, as man doth ; and so draws up (pro re nata) new determinations. The third reason is taken from Christ. If Reason 3. Christ was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (as he is called, Rev. xiii. 8.) then predestination to life must needs be before time, because Christ is the foundation of election, we are elected in him, Eph. 1. 4, 5. and predestinated v. 5, by him. Christ 13 against Arm ini an ism . is the means. Now the end cannot be of a latter date and determination, than the means to that end : they have relation each to other. And if Christ be the eternal purpose of the Father, then the act of electing in Christ must needs be his eternal purpose. The fourth Reason. The Scripture expressly proves it, saying it was before the world, Reasons 2 Tim i. 9. Tit. i. 2. and before the foundation of the world, Eph. i. 4. and it was an eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ, Eph. iii. 11. so that we lay from all eternity in the womb of our Father, before the time we came into our mother’s womb. The fifth Reason. It is the royal preroga¬ tive of the great Jehovah, to order as well as Reason 5. appoint, things that are coming and that shall come, which the vanities (or idols) of the Gentiles cannot doe, ha. xliv. 7. and none can appoint God the time. Jer. 1. 44. Hence time is said to travel with those eternal decrees of God, and brings forth the accomplishment of them in their proper senson : the decree will bring forth, Zeph. ii. 2. and it is big-belly ?d till then : every thing hath its accomplishment in time, which was decreed to fall out from all eternity. The sixth Reason. If humane concernments have this encomium, that these are ancient things, Reason 6- as 1 Chron. iv. 22. how much more the divine decree, which is not the work of yesterday, [7ra\di Trpoye- y pcifipevoi] of old ordained, Jude 4. If the negative part of predestination, then much more the positive part : God’s purpose of loving Jacob, as well as hating Esau ; was before they had done either good or evil. Object. Some object, saying, we grant God’s pre¬ science, or fore-knowledge to be eternal, but not his predestination ; that choice or election God mentions 1 Cor. i. 27, 28, 29. must be a temporal, not eternal election. Answ. 1. I answer, first, this prescience or fore¬ knowledge of things that [may] come to pass, doth goe before the decree of predestination ; thus the apostle ranks them, Rom. viii. 29, 30. but the fore-knowledge of ]4 An Antidote things that [shall] come to pass, must follow the decree. For things must first be decreed, and then foreseen in that being which they have in the decree. In this latter sence, prescience presupposes predestination. “ Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world,” Acts xv. 18. God hath not an imperfect, but a thorough fore-knowledge of all future things (both con¬ cerning the terminum quo , et terminum ad quern; the means and the end) not only as they may be, but also as they shall be, by his divine determination. Answ. 2. Prescience, or fore-knowledge, is taken for God’s love from eternity, [ove npoeyvo) ] quos prce- amavit , whom he fore-loved : so Zanchy reads it, whom he fore-knew, not only with the knowledge of observa¬ tion, but with the knowledge of approbation also ; he fore-knew them to be his : so it is predestination itself, or opofrrifiov, Rom. ii. 2. ut supra , pag. 5. and to grant an eternal prescience without an eternal predestination, is to break the links of that golden chain in Rom. viii. 29, 30. Answ. 3. The Lutherans grant a predestination eternal to the elect only, but to the non elect only a praescience or naked fore-sight (without any prae-ordination) lest they should make God the author of the creatures sin and ruine : but these men fear where no fear is, for the worst evil act that ever was in the world (to wit, the murdering of [the Prince of Glory] Jesus Christ) did not only fall under the fore-knowledge of God, but also under his determinate counsel, Acts ii. 23. & iv. 28. Twas not barely fore-known, but unchangeably determined. Answ. 4. Though it be granted, that the apostle speaks of an election or choice temporal, in that 1 Cor. i. 27, &c. yet that signifies no more but our vocation ; and temporal reprobation intimates no more than men’s obduration ; the accomplishment of both which is granted to be in time, so may not be confounded with this eternal decree of God, but are fruits and effects of it. Consecta- ries. 1. Hath God given us a room in his heart before we did any good to him, even from all eternity; then how should we give God a room against Arminianism. 15 (yea, the best room) in our hearts, who never did evil to us ? 2. Is God’s love eternal [a parte ante ] then Satan cannot get beyond, or betwixt this love of God and us, for it was before the world was, and so before Satan was. 3. Austine tells a curious fool (that asked what God did before the world was made) that he made hell for such as him : but this teaches us, that God was choosing us to himself before the world began : oh wonderful ! 4. If so, then thy saintship and sufferings have eternal glory wrapped up in them ; all this comfort is lost in the contrary doctrine. CHAPTER IVb OF THE SECOND PROPERTY OF THE DIVINE DECREE, IT IS UNCHANGEABLE. The second property of the divine decree is, it is un¬ changeable ; hence ’tis compared to a mountain of brass, Zech. vi. 1. and ’tis called to aperaOerev rijQ joovXrjr , the immutability of his counsel, Heb. vi. 17. This is made evident by sundry reasons. As, Reason 1. The divine decree hath an unchangeable foun¬ tain, to wit, the unchangeableness of God, Job. xxiii. 13. He is in one mind, and who can turn him? [mKn K’m, Vehi beachad ]. Et ipse in uno. He desires and he doth it, there is no created being can interpose ’twixt the desire and the doing, to hinder their meeting together ; Numb, xxiii. 19. “ God is not a man that he should lye, or the son of man that he should repent: ” Mai. iii. 0. “ I am God, T change not.” Jam. i. 17. No shadow of changing in him. “ The counsel of the Lord shall stand, and the thoughts of his heart to a thousand generations.” PsaL xxxiii.ll. “ Many devices are in the hearts of men, but the counsel of the Lord shall stand.” Prov. xix. 21. Man is a poor changeable creature, and changes his mind oftner than his garment, both from the darkness of his under- 16 An Antidote standing and perverseness of his will ; he sees something that he saw not before ; but there is no such imperfection in God. All things are naked before him, [rerjoax^Xto-/ oeva] dissected, or with their faces upward, Heb. iv. 13. He knows ( quasi uno intuitu ) all his works (their natures and circumstances) as perfectly in the beginning of the world, as he will do at the end of it ; and he abides still in one mind when his dispensations are changed, for he decreed the change of them from all eternity. Reason 2. It stands upon an unchangeable foundation, to wit, that rock of ages, “ Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, to day, and for ever/’ Heb. xiii. 8. As the first Adam was the foundation stone in the decree of creation ; so the second Adam was the foundation stone in the decree of election : God hath blessed us in him, Eph. i. 3. [and we shall be blessed] he hath chosen us in him, v. 4. pardoned us in him, v. 7. sealed us in him, v. 13. built us up in him, Col. ii. 7. and compleated us in him, v. 10. according to his purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began ; 2 Tim. i. 9. All those acts of grace are said to be [in] Christ, and Christ him¬ self was under divine ordination, 1 Pet. i. 20. and is called the elect stone, 1 Pei. ii. 4. Christ is the first person elected, (Tsa.xlii. 1. & Mat . xii. 18. “ Behold my servant whom I have chosen”) as Adam was the first person created, Christ was chosen as the head, and we as his members ; therefore are we said to be given to Christ; John xvii. 2. Now so long as this foundation standeth sure, so long doth the superstructure remain unchangeable ; the temple stood firmly upon those two pillars [Jachin and Boaz, i. e. stability and strength] so the decree of election standeth sure upon Christ the foundation, and none can pluck an elect soul from off this foundation ; none can pluck any of [his] out of his hands, John x. 28. Christ will lose none that are given to him, John vi. 39. Reason 3. ’Tis unchangeable, because it is a decree written in heaven ; and so above the reach of either angry men or enraged devils to cancel : God knoweth who are his, 2 Tim. ii. 19. “ the assembly of the first-born written 17 against Arminiamsm . in heaven,” Heb. xii. 23. Thence is it called the Lamb’s Book of Life, which contains a catalogue of the elect, de¬ termined by the unalterable counsel of God, which number hath a fulfilling time, Rev. vi. 11. and can nei¬ ther be increased nor diminished. This is to be rejoiced in above dominion over devils, Luke x. 20. which (if our names may be written in heaven to day, and blotted out to morrow) would be no such ground of joy : if the de¬ crees of the Medes and Persians (which were but writings on earth) were unalterable, Dan. vi. 8. how much more the decrees of the great God written in heaven must be unchangeable? Must Pilate say, Quod scripsi, scripsi ; that is, my writing shall not be altered ; and shall not God say so much more ? “ 1 know (saith Solomon) that what God doth, it shall be for ever ; ” Eccles. iii. 14. Nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it ; his counsel shall stand, Prov. xix. 21. and the sun may sooner be stopp’d in his course, than God hindered of his work or in his will : nature, angels, devils, men, may all be resisted, and so miss of their design ; not so God, for who hath resisted his will ? All those chariots of humane oc¬ currences and dispensations, come forth trom between those mountains of brass, the unalterable decrees of God, Zech. vi. 1. And should it be granted, that one soul may be blotted out of this Book of Life (this writing in heaven) then is it possible that all may be so, and by consequence it may be supposed, that that book may become empty and useless as waste paper, and that Christ may be an head without a body. Reason 4. ’Tis unchangeable, for the decree concerning the end includes the means to that end, and binds them all together with an irrefragable chain which can never be broken, Rom,, viii. 30. “ therefore the purpose of God concerning election must stand,” Rom. ix. 11. God doth not decree the end without the means, nor the means without the end; but both together. As a purpose for building includes the hewing of stone, and squaring ot timber, and all other materials for building work : and as a decree for war implies arms, horses, ammunition, and 18 An Antidote ali warlike provisions: so here, all that are elected to salvation, are elected to sanctification too; God ordains to the means, as well as to the end. ylc/sxiii. 48. “ As many as were ordained unto life believed : ” God hath before ordained that we should walk in good works, Eph. ii. 10. We are elected unto obedience, through the sanctification of the Spirit; 1 Pet. i. 2, 4, and unto faith, Tit. i. 1. and God hath appointed theological vertue to be the way to glory, 2 Pet. i. 3. therefore God hath promised to sanctifie whom he hath purposed to save : we teach with Augustine, that election is prcepa- ratio et graiice et gloria ?, ’tis an ordaining to grace as well as to glory ; and if grace and glory meet not both together \aut vinceretur aut falleretur Deus ] either God must be conquered or deceived : in predestination therefore, the means of salvation are no less absolutely decreed then salvation it self : we may not conceive, that God’s decree runs after this form, I will predestinate Peter to sal¬ vation, if it should happen so, that he doth believe and persevere: but rather thus, I do predestinate Peter to sal¬ vation, which that he may infallibly obtain, I will give him both faith and perseverance ; otherwise God’s decree would not be to dgeradv^Tov, and the foundation would not stand sure, 2 Tim. ii. 19. yea, and God’s gifts would not be a/nETageXrjra, without repentance, Rom. xi. 29. and men would not be beloved according to the election, v. 28. if God did not absolutely purpose to give those means that are conditional in the execution of the decree (to wit, faith and perseverance) to his elected ones, and if he should not bestow on them a power and a will to per¬ form those conditions ; hereupon the covenant of grace runs in this tenure, “ I will be a God to you, and ye shall be a people unto me ; ” that is, I will make you so. Con secta¬ ries. 1. A name writ in heaven (where no thief, no rust, no moth comes to destroy it) is better than to be enrolled in metropolitan corporations, or at princely courts ; ’tis a name better than of sons and daughters, a free denizon of heaven. 19 a gains t A rm i ni an is m . 2. Though we be changeable creatures, yet unchange¬ able love is towards us, that keeps faster hold of us than we of it. 3. ?Tis infinite condescension that the great God should hold a poor lump of clay so fast in his hands, John x. 28, 29. as to secure our interest to all eternity. CHAPTER W, OF THE THIRD PROPERTY OF THE DECREE, TO WIT, IT IS ABSOLUTE. The third property of the divine decree is, it is absolute in respect of the efficient impulsive cause, which cannot be any thing extra Deum, these Reasons evince. Reason 1. If the Divine decree be eternal, it must be absolute, for nothing can be assigned before eternal, to go before it as the efficient cause of it. There can be no cause of predestination assigned quoad actum prcedestinantis , for there cannot be a cause of the will of God quoad actum volentis, because it is actus primo primus , it is an imma¬ nent act of the Divine will, and so not only the cause, but also the first cause of all created beings ; and therefore cannot (in any good sense) be said to depend upon fore¬ seen transient acts in the creature, so by consequence must be an absolute act, unless we will make volitiones Dei, &c. the volitions of God to come behind the created and temporary volitions of man; which is grossly absurd : and if those contingent acts (of the creatures believing and persevering) have a futurition before God’s decree, it does not only deny God to be the first cause of all things, but it also quite disanuls the eternity of God’s decree, which was proved to be eternal in Chap, the 3d. Reason 2. If God be God, if he be an almighty, all¬ wise, all-free and an all-disposing God, then his decree of election must be absolute, for a conditional decree makes a. conditional God, and plainly ungods him, by ascribing 20 An Antidote such imperfections to him as are unworthy of his Majesty, and below his Divine being. As, it opposes First , It opposes his omnipotency: if some 1st. his om- conditions be antecedaneous to the will of God, then the same are antecedent also to the power of God. This must be true, for his power (as determined by his will) is the cause of all things; then it was not in God’s power to save more than are to be saved, or to damn fewer than are to be damned ; if the decree of God be praedetermined by contingent acts in men. If the actings of Divine omnipotency depend upon the contingent actings in the creature, then God must say, I will elect all if they will believe; then must God think, they can believe without him, and so he is not omnipotent. Is it not safer to say, that God will give us this faith, that brings us from the conditional to the absolute decree? besides, the former hypothesis puts a lye upon Christ (who was truth it self) both in saying, that he could of very stones raise up children unto Abraham, and that he could send for legions of angels to deliver him from his enemies. 2diy. it op- Secondly , It takes away the glory of divine poses his wis- wisdom, in ordering all occurrences of things, for if Peter must be willing to believe before God’s decree concerning Peter, then Divine wisdom doth not (at all) determine about the order of things, but order is absq ; primo ordinafite, and that which happens to day might have happened yesterday : and the master of the asse might not have sent his asse to Christ upon that same day, when that prophecy of Christ’s riding on an asse to Jerusalem ( Zech . ix. 9.) was to be fulfilled: yea, and men might not have fall’n before the angels, and many such occurrences might have happen’d otherwise in the world, whatever the wisdom of God hath determin’d to the contrary. 3d]y j Thirdly , It takes away the glory of God’s poses his absolute liberty, of his arbitariness and inde- lreedom. pendency: for if Peter’s believing and Judas’s not believing, must be antecedent to the decree of God concerning them, then God hath notan absolute dominion against Arminianism. *21 over his own creatures; but Peter and Judas make them¬ selves the formal object of election and non-election, and the potter hath not an arbitrary freedom, to make this lump of clay a vessel of honour, and that a vessel of dis¬ honour according’ to his pleasure; but this difference arises more from the quality of the clay, then from the will of the potter; and God’s will (herein) must have depend¬ ency on the will of man for its determinations, which plainly overthrows the independency of God. Fourthly , It takes away the glory of his all- , Ti )• n ■ J -e , • j J u t 4thly’ Itop‘ disposing Providence: if his decree be not poses his pro¬ absolute, how can God (otherwise) be said ' ldence’ wholly to dispose of lots, Prov. xvi. 33, that are cast into the lap? Shall we say, that the lot of the apostleship fell to Matthias by chance, and that it was not absolutely ordained and ordered by the Lord, Acts i. 26, to whom the Apostles prayed, v. 24, and not to Dame Fortune? Thus the Lord found out Achan to be Israel’s curse, and Saul to be Israel’s king, by his whole disposing of lots in the lap : thus God is said to deliver the man into the hands of the hewer of wood, to be slain by the head flying from the helve upon his head, Deut. xix. 5, with Exod. xx i. 13. Homo proponit et Devs disponit, Man purposeth but God disposeth ; because God by an abso¬ lute decree hath fore-ordained all things that do come to pass: they do not fall out casually, and beyond God’s intention : thus it is said, “ It behooved Christ to suffer,” Luke xxiv. 44, 46, and to those things we are appointed, 1 Thes. iii. 3, and goddess Fortune cannot make void the counsel of God, Isa. xiv. 27, and xlvi. 10, 11. Reason 3. If the will of the potter be an absolute will over his pots, then much more, is the will of God an absolute will over mankind. It is God’s own comparison, Rom. ix. 20. God doth not compare himself in his divine decree to a goldsmith. For, 1. A goldsmith hath costly materials, such as silver and gold, which lays some obligations upon him to make honourable vessels. 2. The goldsmith makes curious vessels oft-times for the pride and luxury of men, yea, sometimes such as are redundant and 22 An Antidote superfluous; and mens adoring the gods of silver and of gold in those honoured vessels, doth truly change them into vessels of dishonour; but God is compared (by him¬ self) to a potter; for, 1. The materials of a potter are vile and sordid, to wit, clay. So more answering fallen man¬ kind, out of which God maketh his choice : we are not only clay, Job. iv. 19, but sinful clay, through the fall. 2. The very vessels of dishonour which the potter makes, are for the necessities and conveniencies of the household, 2 Tim. ii. 20, the great Householder must have vessels of all sorts, some for inferiour uses, as well as others for honourable service. 3. The potter doth not make this difference among his pots, from any foreseen inherent goodness in his clay (for the whole lump before him is of an equal temper and quality) but from the pleasure of his own will: thus the potter’s power over his materials is clearer from exception than that of the goldsmith, so more illustrates the absoluteness of God’s will in his choice both of vessels of honour and vessels of dishonour. Yet is not the argument a pari but a minori ; minors Why! F°r> 1st. The distance ’twixt the clay and the potter, is but a finite distance, the distance ’twixt one creature and another, animate and inanimate ; but the distance ’twixt God and mankind, is infinite, not only the natural distance ’twixt God and us as we are crea¬ tures, but also the moral distance ’twixt God and us as we are sinners. 2dly. The potter must have his clay made to his hand, though he temper it for his work, when he hath found it out; but the great God creates his own clay. He created the earth out of which man was formed, Gen. i. 1, and ii. 7. It follows then, that God hath not only as much more power over mankind as the potter hath over his pots (which he maketh base or noble according to his will), but much more for those two rea¬ sons aforesaid ; if the potter by an absolute will dispose of his pots, 7roow paXkov , much more God. Consectaries. 1. If this absolute will of God be the uni¬ versal cause of all things, then no event can fall 23 against A rminianisrn . beyond or besides God’s will, and fortune (in the sense of the Gentiles) is but the devil’s blasphemous spitt upon Divine Providence. 2. God’s absolute will cannot be resisted, Horn. ix. 19, as he hath willed so it shall come to pass, Isa. xiv. 24; Psaf. cxv. 3 ; Job xlii. 2 ; there is no hindering of the execution of his will. 3. Then learn we submission to the will of God de¬ clared, proud (yet brittle) clay will be knocking. their sides against the absolute will of God till they break in pieces; so did Adonijah, 1 Kings i. 5, with 1 Chron. xxii. 9, when Solomon must rule. CHAPTER VI. OF THE FOURTH PROPERTY OF THE PIVIN E DECREE, IT IS FREE. The fourth property of the divine decree, is the free¬ ness of it ; as it is not conditional but absolute, so ’tis not necessary but free, as flowing only from the pleasure of God’s will. God is a free agent, and cannot fall under any obligation, so as to necessitate him in any of his emanations to the creature, but as he is graciously pleased out of his own free love to oblige himself. Reason 1. The first argument to prove the freeness of the Divine decree is, such a decree as passeth without any obligation to necessitate the passing of it, must needs have the property of freeness; but thus it was with the Divine decree: therefore, &c., if there be any obligation, i it must be either in respect of objects, or of acts, or of i motives ; but God was not obliged in any of those respects. Therefore, &c. Respect 1. Not in respect of objects; for God was under no necessity of having either any elect or any reprobate, and was happy in himself from ail eternity, and would have been so for ever without either of them ; 24 An Antidote lllud est perfectum cui nihil potest addi; and to affirm, that God stood in need of any such objects, is to deny the perfection of God: God was infinitely happy in himself, and needed not to have looked out of himself for any additional happiness, and therefore it is call’d, an hum¬ bling of himself to look down on things in heaven, much more on things on earth ; Psa. cxiii. 5. It must needs therefore be granted that he needed them not, but would have been God blessed for ever without them. Respect 2. Nor in respect of acts as they are necessary by a moral obligation ; God was under no moral obligation to man, he had done man no wrong if he had never willed man to be, much less to be holy and happy : God was not bound to any of his actions con¬ cerning man, either election, vocation, justification, &c. for God cannot be a debtor to man any other way, than as he makes himself a debtor of his own good pleasure : as in his promises, his love moved him to make them, and his truth binds him to perform them ; otherwise those actions would be actions of debt and not acts of grace, contrary to the tenure of many scriptures, that makes the whole work of man’s salvation to How wholly from the free-grace of God. Respect 3. Nor in respect of motives : neither, First, In the creatures. Nor, Secondly , In Christ. First, Not in the creature itself, for the L Creature1' 6 being of the creature (much more the faith and good - works of the creature) was the effect of the decree of God, so could not be the motive thereof. God could not foresee any faith or works ante¬ cedently to his own purpose and decree, but in his purpose and decree of giving them both ; in in th™rstof mas corrupt & (which the* Arminians assent his four Di- to) nothing that is good can be foreseen, but vmeDecrees * • ^ , what is caused by that grace which was eter¬ nally prepared for them in the decree of predestination, and actually applied in the effectual vocation : so that faith as foreseen is but a may-be, and the decree or will of God causeth it to become a shall- be ; and therefore it cannot (in any good sense) be the moving cause of the 25 against Arminiamsm . decree, for then must it be the cause of its own cause : but of this point much more, when [ come to confute the conditional decree. Secondly, Nor is Christ himself the moving- 2. Not in cause of the divine decree; for Christ is the Chnst* effect of G od’s eternal love, not the cause of it, John iii. 16, “ God so loved the world that he gave his Son there is a sic without a si cut, and God’s love gives Christ ; Christ is not the cause of this eternal love, though he be the cause of our salvation (which is the application of the divine decree) but not of the decree of love itself. Therefore we are said to be elected in Christ, but never for Christ ; for Christ is au elect one himself, as is shewed before ; God willeth to save us for Christ, but not for Christ willeth he us to be saved ; according to that thesis in the schools, Deus vult hoc esse propter hoc, non propter hoc vult hoc. Christ (indeed) was the first chosen, for the head comes first out of the womb of pre¬ destinating love, and then the members ; yet, though he be first chosen to that glory which became him as an Head, he is not the cause why we are (also) chosen : even as the first Adam is not the cause why God did love me, so that I should be a man and have this natural being ; though in and through him I come to have this being : so Christ is not the cause why God did love me, so that I should be a Christian and have a supernatural being, a life above nature, even the life of grace, though I attain to it and receive it through him, in him, and for his sake. The love of God as immediately cometh from himself to me as to Christ, he was fore-ordained to be our Head, 1 Pet. i. 20. as we to be his members; “ Thus we are Christ’s and Christ is God’s,” 1 Cor. iii. 22, 23. as the effect of his love to his elect from all eternity. Reason 2. The second Argument to prove the freeness of the Divine decree is, that which the Word of God affirms to be a free act, an act of grace and not of debt, an act of love and special favour founded upon the meer good pleasure of God, must be accordingly believed to be so by us, but the Word of God doth all this ergo, B 26 An Antidote Matt, x i. 26. “ Even so, O Father, it pleased thee;” Luke xii. 32. “ It pleaseth your Father to give you the kingdom.” 2 Tim. i. 9. It was a gracious purpose in God from all eternity. Eph. i. 5, 9, 11. Paul’s re¬ peated Epiphonema is, the pleasure of his own will, the pleasure of his own will, the counsel of his own will, but more fully in that Rom. ix. 13, 15. exemplifying this truth in Jacob and Esau : both the prophet and the apostle makes this instance the fullest exemplification of free election, Mai. i 3. Rom. ix. 11. They do not bring in for an instance that of Cain and Abel in the beginning of the old world ; or that of Shem and Ham in the beginning of the new world ; but this of Jacob and Esau. For, (1.) these two were fratres utero (yet not ammo ) at one and the same time, they laid together in the same womb, and were born at the same time (for Jacob took hold of Esau’s heel) so the contrary disposal of these two doth more illustrate the free predestination of God, than of any other two whatsoever. (2.) In Jacob there began to be a distinguished people from all the world, even a church unto God ; as of Esau sprang also a persecuting seed, yet before they had done either good or evil, Jacob was loved and Esau hated : God had no regard to faith in the one, or infidelity in the other, whereby they might be differenced the one from the other; they were at that time (when God’s oracle pass’d upon them) already conceiv’d in sin in their mother’s womb, and if thefe were any preheminence, Esau had it, as being the firstborn. What then did cast the ballance? Nothing else, but the good pleasure of God: thus the Apostle determines it (according to that wisdom given to him, 2 Pet. iii. 15.) “ God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth indeed carnal reason says, it was because God foresaw what they both would be. But if that had been the cause, the Apostle (divinely inspired) would have answered this ob¬ jection, v. 16. (“ Is there then unrighteousness with God ?”) according to that hypothesis, which would not have been civtjvorjTov (as 2 Pet. iii. 16.) but easie to be understood, and would not have resolved all (as he doth) 27 against Arminianism . into the unsearchable will of God : and as Jacob’s person was thus loved freely, so was his posterity, not because they were ex meliori Into ; but God loved them because he loved them; Deut. vii. 7, 8. It was choosing- love -that he bare to them, and that is the best of the kind ; that is the favour which God bears to his people : as a man loves his goods and his servants with a common love, but his wife and children with a special love ; and though Malachy instances only the desolation of Esau’s country as the evidences of God’s hatred to Esau ; yet the Apostle saw more in it than the spoiling of his earthly inheritance, for in that very desolation (as an outward pledge) he reads God’s eternal hatred towards him in the decree of reprobation. Reason 3. The third Argument to prove the freeness £ of the divine decree is, if God in all ages hath given us examples of his free receiving or rejecting some out of mankind, then the Divine decree must needs be free, but the antecedent is true, ergo , the consequent. This assump¬ tion is plain in Scripture history, for of Adam’s three sons, Cain, Abel, Seth ; the [eldest] was rejected : of Noah’s three, Japhet, Shem and Ham; the [youngest] was rejected : it appears that Ham was the youngest, Gen. ix. 24. and Japhet the eldest, Gen. x. 21. but of Terah’s three sons, Abraham, Nahor and Haran, the [middlemost] was rejected ; for Nahor was an idolater, and Laban sware by his idol, Gen. xxxi. 53. Not by the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, but by the other gods which Nahor served, Josh. xxiv. 2. Now why is this picking and choosing, this receiving and re¬ jecting, eldest at one time, youngest at another time, the middlemost at a third time : but to shew, that neither birth, nor age, nor any thing (either foreseen or existing in the creature) can make any claim, but all lies in the free election of God. We cannot give a reason, why Pharaoh and Nebuchadnezzar (both being engaged in the same cause of warring against Israel, the Church of God) had differing dispensations of heaven upon them; forasmuch as the one was hardened, and the other was B 2 28 An Antidote humbled under the mighty hand of God : nor why Pharaoh’s baker was hanged, and yet his butler restored to his office again : why two men shall be in one bed, the one taken, and the other left : why two women shall be grinding at one mill, the one taken, and the other left : why Aaron’s rod (of all the twelve) only blossomed. These and many more instances, do sufficiently demon¬ strate the reason of all those differences, is not any thing that can be found in the creature ; but ’tis only the free election of God. Reason 4. The fourth Argument is, if the fruits of the Divine decree be freely given, then the decree itself must be a free decree; but the antecedent is true, ergo, the consequent is true also : the proposition is evident, for if I give a book or a piece of money freely, then I must needs purpose to give them freely. The assumption is as clear, for, 1. Our vocation is from free love, Christ called the sons, and leaves the father with the hired servants, Mar. i. 20. and “ called to him whom he would,” Mar. lii. 13. “ It is [given] to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but it is not [given] to them,” Mat. xiii. 11. L John v. 20. & Mat. xi. 26. 2. Our justification is from free grace, “ we are justified freely by his grace,” Rom. iii. 24. (3.) So is our sanctifica¬ tion, “ of his own will begot he us,” Jam. i. 18. This sanctifying Spirit breathes where it listeth, and the wind at sea is as much at our command as the fresh gales of this renewing Spirit. (4.) Our glorification. Eternal life is the gift of God, * he doth not sell it for * Rom. vi. 23. foreseen faith or works, but he freely gives it. Now if all those fruits of election be free, then election itself to those fruits, must needs be free also ; if God call such as have no money to buy withal, Isa. Iv. 1, and bids them drink of the water of life freely, Rev. xxi. 6. If faith be the free gift of God, Eph. ii. 8. and it is [given] to us not only to believe, but to suffer for his name, Phil. i. 29. then predestination to faith, must of necessity be free also; for God worketh [all things] according to the counsel of his own will, Eph. i. 11. against Arminianism . 29 1. Admire free grace in this decree of pre¬ destination, and cry, How is it (Lord) that thou Consectanes manifests thy love to me and not to the world ? John xiv. 22. 2. Thou makest not thy self to differ from others, but free-grace does it for thee, thou art a lump of clay in the hands of the potter (no better than others) yea, pressed down to hell bv Adam's fall ; that God should lift thee up to heaven, be thankful. 3. Rejoyce with all thy might, as David did, for choosing him before Saul to an earthly kingdom, 2 Sam. vi. 14. 22. but thee to an heavenly kingdom. CHAPTER VII. OF THE FIFTH PROPERTY OF THE DIVINE DECREE, IT IS DISCRIMINATING. The fifth property of the Divine decree, it is discri¬ minating and particular, not universal or general. Reason 1. The first Argument is, the notation of the word (election) confutes the universality of it : there can be no choice made, where all are taken and nothing is left; that cannot in any good sense be called election, which is equally extended unto all individuals. He doth not elect, that doth not prefer some before others : God did not choose all the thirty-two thousand Israelites (that were with Gideon) but only the three hundred that lapped, to save Israel by out of the hands of Midian, Judg. vii. 3,. 7. and God did not chuse all the nations, but only Israel to be a special people to himself, above all people that were upon the earth, Deut. vii. 6. It must therefore be discriminating, and a making of some to differ from others, he cannot be said to choose, that takes all. Reason 2. The second Argument. The Scripture speaks expresly that only few are chosen, Mat. xx. 1(5. 30 An Antidote . though many be called. It is only a little flock, buke xii. 32. and but one of a tribe and two of a family, Jer. iii. 14. “ Have not I” (saith Christ) “ chosen you out of the world,” John xv. 19. and the Lord calls Paul a chosen vessel unto him, Acts ix. 15. & xxii. 14. as a * special (not common) favour vouchsafed to him, and how ill it sounds in the ears of a gospel spirit to say, that Pharaoh and Judas were elected, as well as Paul and Barnabas; and that Simon Magus was elected as well as Simon Peter; all which a general election (the Arminian hypothesis) most necessarily asserteth. How can those reprobate silver pieces be (in any good sense) termed chosen vessels (as Paul was) to know God’s will, and see the Just One. Reason 3. The third Argument. If election be general under a condition of believing, then Pilate, Caiaphas and Judas were elected under that condition, and so God is brought in to speak after this manner ; “ I have appointed to save Pilate, Caiaphas and Judas, if they will believe in the death of Christ ; but if they shall believe, Christ shall not be crucified, for those are the very men appointed by my determinate counsel to put Christ to death,” Acts ii. 23. and iv. 28. Before that was done (according to this hypothesis) those men might have believed, and so God’s decree about Christ’s death, should not have been absolute, but depending upon a condition which those men might have fulfilled, to wit, believing in Christ’s death ; which had they done, they had believed in some¬ thing, that would not have been at all : thus carnal reason bespatters Divine wisdom. Reason 4. The fourth Argument. How can it be safely said, that God ever intended the salvation of any others, but of those who are or shall be effectually saved ? Otherwise God’s will would be frustrate, to wit, his will of intention, and the will of man would anticipate the will of God; contrary to these Scriptures, “ God doth in heaven and on earth whatsoever pleaseth him,” Psal. cxv. 3. and Job knew that God could do every thing 31 against Arminianism. that he willeth, Job xlii- 2. and no man can resist the will of God, Rom. ix. 19. Reason 5. The fifth Argument. The apostle (that was singularly taught of God) sheweth, that there is this difference betwixt man and man founded in the breast of God, that some are chosen to life, and therefore shall most certainly obtain it; others are refused, and left in a perishing condition, which they shall as certainly not escape, Rom. xi. 7. “ The election obtaineth it, but the rest are blinded the difference is of God, according to the purpose of election, not as of him that foresees faith or works, but as of him that gives both : thus were Jacob and Esau discriminated the one from the other, Rom. ix. 11. 1. It is distinguishing love that our Potter hath „ o v_? ('on made us men and women, not toads or loathsom creatures : much more Christians, and not left in that, perishing state. 2. ’Tis the will of God that some be poor and others rich, &c. So here, that some be vessels of honour and others of dishonour. 3. Christ rais’d not all up that were dead, but Lazarus, &c. nor all that were born blind, but him in John ix. Bless God for raising thee up from death, and healing thy blindness, and not others. CHAPTER VIII. OF THE SIXTH AND LAST PROPERTY OF THE DIVINE DECREE, IT IS EXTENSIVE. The sixth property of the Divine decree is extensive, there is a general decree that relates to all created beings, both animate and inanimate, ccelestial and terrestrial ; this indeed, extends itself to every individual in the whole creation, for as it gave a being to all things, so it preserves 32 An Antidote them in that being while they continue in the world. The Creator is not herein like the carpenter, that builds an house and leaves the preservation of it to the care of others, but the work of Providence (which extends it self from angels down to worms) succeeds the work of crea¬ tion : but this special decree of predestination is not extensive (as the general is) to all individuals, but is dis¬ criminating and particular as before, and yet tho’ it be not extended ad singula generum , yet is it ad genera singu- lorurn : though the exception lay not in the Gospel (which is to be preached to every creature) but in the decree ; yet is the decree an extensive thing; as it extends it self, First , To all sorts and ranks of men, to 1 ranks11 Pr*nces an(l peasants, to high and low, to rich and poor, to bond and free : it extends it self to kings, 1 Tim. ii. 4. for among them God hath his chosen vessels, his Davids and his Solomons. Though the Scrip¬ ture say, “ not many noble and mighty,” yet doth it not say, not any ; for God hath had some great ones to own his ways in all ages : it extends it self to servants also, Tit. ii. 0, Jl. for God bestows his love on those in rags, as well as on those in robes ; and the poor do receive the Gospel, Mat. xi. 5. “ God is no respecter of persons.” Secondly, To all or both sexes is the decree 2. To ail extended, to male and to female, God hath his elect ladies, 2 John i. and both male and female are one in Jesus Christ, Gal. iii. 28. electing love hath appeared to both sexes in the Old Testament and in the New. Thirdly, To all ages : to young and to old, 3. To ail j-0 children and to those of riper years: yea, to clg6S* It/ •/ ' very infants that lay in the womb of the eternal decree, before ever they come out of their mother’s womb : Jeremy was sanctified and ordained before he came from the womb, Jerem. i. 5. and John Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost even from the womb, Luke i. 15. and ’tis probable, David did believe that his child belonged to the election of grace, and that its soul was bound up in the bundle of life, when he comforted himself with this, “ I must go to it, but he cannot come to me,” 2 Sam. xii. against Arminianism. S3 ‘23. David’s going to the grave to it, could yield him very little comfort. Fourthly , To all nations: it is not immured in any one nation but is extended to Jew and ^at^na11 Gentile, to Barbarian and Scythian, Col. iii. 11. some of every nation under heaven, Acts ii. 5. This pre¬ destinating love effectually calls its sons out of all quarters, Isa. xliii. 4, 5, 6. and threw down the partition wall be¬ twixt Jew and Gentile, saying, “ I have other sheep that I must gather/’ John x. 16. Yea, and while this wall stood, this predestinating love brought over it sundry pro- selites to the church, as Jethro (who was the first prose- lite that was added to the church in the w ilderness, as it became a church) and many others. Fifthly, To all generations doth it extend it self : predestinating love is like a river that runs 1 2 3 4 5 • To ?u §e~ , r i i i • 'i nerations. under ground, and breaks out in certain places above the earth : so fresh veins of election breaketh forth sometimes in one generation , and sometimes in another. It is not bound up as to time, neither before the law, nor under the law, nor after the law; but in every generation God hath his church visible on the earth, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. As God is no respecter of per¬ sons, so nor of places, nations, nor of generations ; but hath his hidden ones to the world’s end. 1. If predestinating love extend it self to all degrees, then they which are poor of wealth may be rich of faith, and a master’s servant may be the lord’s freeman. 2. 1 f to both sexes, then the weaker vessel may be a chosen vessel, and may be in Christ before the stronger vessel, as Priscilla was. 3. If to all ages, then believing parents may have faith for their dying children, they may belong to the election of grace, and may be bound up in the swadling bands of the covenant of grace, so they are not as without hope for them. 4. If to all nations, then the ends of the earth may look towards Christ (the serpent lift up on the pole of the Gospel) and be saved, Isa. xlv. 22. B 3 34 An Antidote 5. If to all generations, then predestinating love is an inexhaustible fountain crying always, Is there yet any of the house of mankind, that I may shew the kindness of God unto, 2 Sam. ix. 3. as David’s love did. CHAPTER IX. IN WHICH ARE CONTAINED ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE CONDITIONAL DECREE. The first objection against this doctrine of the °bfir8tion ®*vine decree is, that it is a conditional one, upon the foresight of faith, works, perseve¬ rance, &c. Answer. To this I answer, that the Divine decree of predestination cannot be conditional upon a foresight of faith, &c. for these following Reasons. Argument 1 . That which the Scripture saith is the cause and ground of our election, that, and that only, must be the cause and ground thereof; but the Scripture propounds the good pleasure of God, as the only cause and ground of our election, not any fore-sight of faith, &c. therefore, &c. that the Scripture doth so, appears in Eph. i. 5, 9, 11. Mat. xi. 26. Rom. ix. 11, 15. and xi. 5. ’tis an election of grace, Exocl. xxxiii. 16, 17. 2 Tim. i. 9. all those places quoted do shew us, that this Divine decree floweth only from the absolute will and good pleasure of God. Argument 2. That which makes election an action of debt, ought not to be received, but this doctrine of the conditional decree doth so ; ergo , &c. the proposition is proved thus, an action of grace and an action of debt are contradictory terms, if election be an act of grace (as those Scriptures forecited evidence, and as the whole work of man’s salvation \_a capite ad calcem ] hath been proved to be wholly and solely from free-grace. Chap. vi. 35 against Arminianism. Argum. 2.) then ’tis abominable, and to be rejected to make it an act of debt. The assumption is prov’d thus, if the decree be conditional upon fore-seen faith and per¬ severance, then it is an act of debt and not of grace, an act of justice and not of mercy, ex debito et necessitate , non ex Dei beneplacito , a decree of giving glory to be¬ lievers persevering as their reward, must be nothing else but remunerative justice. Argument 3. That which makes God go out of himself in his immanent and eternal actings, ought not to be re¬ ceived ; but the doctrine of the conditional decree doth so, ergo ; the assumption is proved : for it makes God look upon this or that in the creature, upon which the will of God is determined, this makes man to be author of his own salvation, and not God ; and to assign a cause of God’s will [ extra Deum ] is not only A QeoXoyov, but blasphemously ungods the great God, and makes (as it were) a mortal man of an immortal God. For this doc¬ trine of the conditional decree sets God upon his watch- tower of fore-knowledge to espy what men will do, whether they will believe or no, obey or no, persevere or no, and according to his observation of their actings, so he determines his will concerning them, thus the perfec¬ tion both of the Divine knowledge and Divine will, is with one breath denied, and such notions are fitter for the doting Anthropomorphites then for well-instructed divines, for Idea Dei non advenit ei aliunde. Argument 4. No temporal thing can be the efficient cause of our eternal election, which hath its existency from all eternity ; but, faith, obedience, &c. are tempo¬ ral things, as they are wrought in us in their appointed time : Ergo, what is this but to prefer time before eter¬ nity, and to set up a post-destination instead of predes¬ tination? Yea, ’tis a plain denying the eternity of the decree, for if the volitions of God be placed behind the created and temporary volitions of man, those volitions of God cannot be eternal, the contrarv whereunto was proved before. Argument 5. That which is the fruit and effect of the An Antidote 36 Divine decree, cannot be the efficient cause .wemaymrtthe^f., but faith, perseverance, &c. be the antecedent to fruits and effects of the decree, Ergo, That the is tmt thecon- ass u ® ption is true, appears from many scrip- sequent ofit. tures, Job, 6. 37. Such as are given to Christ by this decree, do come to Christ, and John x. 20. others that do not believe, the cause is, because they are not of his sheep, Acts xiii. 48. “ As many as were or¬ dained unto life believed We may not (according to the Arminian notion) read it, “ As many as believed were ordained unto life,7’ for this would be a plain hys- teroiogia, a setting the cart before the horse, as if the means were ordained before the end. We are predesti¬ nated that we should be holy, not because we are holy, Eph. i. 4. we are fore-ordained to walk in good works, not because we do so, Eph. ii. 10. We are predestinated to be conformed to the image of Christ, not because we are so, Rom. viii. 29. It is the election that obtains faith, and not faith that obtains the election, Rom. xi. 7. and in 2 Tim. i. 9. the apostle excludes all works (both foreseen and existing) shewing that God’s gracious pur¬ pose is the original of all: And Paul himself was chosen, that he might know the will of God, not that he was foreseen to do so, Acts xxii. 14. and he tells the Thessalonians, that “God had chosen them to salva¬ tion through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth,” 2 Thes. ii. 13. so that we are elected to faith, not for it, or from it. Paul obtained mercy to be faithful, 1 Cor. vii. 25. not because he was so ; “ and Christ chooses us to bring forth fruit,” Job xv. 16. Argument 6. That which sets up an inferiour cause before a superiour, ought not to be admitted; but the conditional decree doth so, ergo , ’Tis plain that God is Causa Causarum (acknowledg’d by heathens) the cause, and the first cause of all things, and there can be no being but from him, as there can be nothing before him, Rom. xi. 36. Acts xvii. 28. Rev. iv. 11, God is the chief efficient cause, and the ultimate end of all beings; but if any being have an antecedency to the determinations of 37 dins t Arminianism . © God’s will, this plainly takes away the dignity of the supream cause, and makes an act of man to be the supe- riour cause of an act of God, yea, and of such an act as is immanent and eternal : it must needs therefore be a gross mistake, to suppose a cause of the will of God either be¬ fore it, besides it, or without it ; and to place a [may be] (as faith and every created being only is, ab considering Adam as subordinate to the decree of God determining wThat Adam would do out of the freedom of his own will : this latter proposition is modal and qualified, so not of the same kind with the former, and therefore not opposite to it, for opposita should be ejusdem generis: as for instance, 2 Kings viii. 10. [“ Thou may’st certainly recover”] was true respectu rei et in sensu diviso , because his dis¬ ease was of its own nature curable; and yet [“ Thou shalt surely dye”] was true also respectu Dei , et in sensu composito , as subordinate to the divine decree fore-ordain¬ ing that Hazael should stifle him by the occasion of this disease; so ’tis a plain fallaeia divisionis, a fallacy of division. 2. Adam might have stood (as well as fal’n) respectu rei , for God gave not his creature a law only, but fur- 48 An Antidote nish'd him with power sufficient to keep that law also, if he would ; and if man had not been mutable, he had been God and not man, for not to be mutable is peculiar to God, whereby he is distinguish’d from all created beings : yet respectu Dei, it was not possible he should stand ; for in God’s decree it was certain, that man being left to the mutability of his own will (upon Satan’s tempting, and God’s permitting) would voluntarily encline to evil; and this was a certainty or necessity of infallibility, quoad eventum, but not of compulsion, quoad modum agendi et eveniendi. 3. Adam sinned freely in respect of himself, yet neces¬ sarily in respect of God; he acted as freely therein, as if there had been no decree ; and yet as infallibly, as if there had been no liberty : God’s decree took not away man’s liberty. God decreed that man should act freely in the fall, and not by any compulsion from his decree [ Non per coactionem a principio externo eligebat, sed perlubentem inclinationem a principio interno ] though God decreed it to be, yea, and concurred also as the universal cause, yet man exercis’d the proper motions of his own will, saith Austin : the liberty of man (tho’ subordinate to God’s decree) freely willeth the self-same thing, and no other, than what it would have willed, if (upon supposition of an impossibility) that there had been no decree. 4. It was a truth from eternity (before there was either man or sin) that man should certainly sin, yet the sin it self was but possible in it self ; nevertheless that pos¬ sibility passed into a futurition by the will of God ; for God wills that sin should be \jpuia bonum est malum esse , non vult ipsurn malum ? quia bonum non est ipsum malum ] because it is good sin should be ; but God wills not the sin it self, for sin it self is not good : therefore God by decreeing Adam’s sin, did not subtract from Adam any grace that he had, for he decreed that he should sin voluntarily, so did not diminish any power that he was endued with, but only he super-added not that grace whereby Adam would infallibly not have fallen, which grace was no way due to man, nor was God any way bound to bestow it on him ; so it was according to God’s 49 against A rmin ianism . will (not from it) for what God simply would not have done, that cannot be done at all. 5. If man can determine his own will, and not destroy the liberty of it, how much more may God do so that is \intimior intimo nostro ] more inward with us then we with our selves. The will is its own free mover, yet is not the first mover ; ’tis only a second free agent, and God the first : so the subordinate free agent (the thing being yet to do) may either do or not do the same act ; although which of the two man will freely incline to, be infallibly fore-ordained : thus Adam might stand in re- spect of himself, yet certainly fall in respect of God. 6. The Jews might have broke Christ’s bones in respect of their own free-will in such actions, yet was it not pos¬ sible they should do so, as the will of man is 0 nxix' oG' subordinate to the w ill of God : it was possible respectu rei, that Christ should be delivered from his passion by a legion of angels, yet impossible respectu Dei, for God had decreed that Christ should dye : it was possible in respect of the thing, that God might have pardon’d sinners without a Christ; but impossible it was, as God had decreed Christ to be the ransom : and to argue on their hypothesis of free-will, respectu rei, ’tis possible none may be saved, or none may be damned; yet respectu Dei, both are impossible, for then either heaven or hell would be superfluous things. Objection 5. The fifth objection is, the Predestinarians cannot agree about stating their decree, some stating it before the fall, as the Supralapsarian (such be Creabilitarians and Existentialists) and others after the fall, as the Sublapsarians. Answer I. The Arminians by the law of retaliation may be called Submortuarians, for their bolding no full election ’till men dye, and Postdestinarians, for placing the eternal decree behind the race of man’s life : this plainly inverts the Apostle’s order, Rom. viii. 30. putting- predestination behind vocation and justification ; surely when believers dye, they are subjects of glorification and not of election, Paul expected then a crown of righteous- c 50 An Antidote ness ; and Christ should have said (upon this hypothesis) to the penitent thief, this day [thou shalt be fully elected] not “ thou shalt be with me in Paradice : ” and may they not also be stiled Relapsarians, for saying, that the elect may totally and finally fall away, and that he who is a child of God to day, may be a child of the devil to morrow ? 2. Those notions of sub and supra, , are but intellectus nostri Jictiones (as Dr. Davenant saith) humane concep¬ tions of the order of the Divine decree, which so far transcends our understandings, that our weak capacities cannot comprehend it, but after the manner of men ; and those two opinions of sub and supra, do not differ in re, sed tantum in modo explicandi ; for if mankind be consi¬ dered (whether massa nondum condita , or condita sed pura et nondum corrupt a, or massa condita et corrupta) in a common equal estate to be the object of predestina¬ tion, there is no such material difference as is pretended, seeing all men are look’d on in pari statu both ways, especially when one of these perswasions doth not speak exclusively of the other. 3. The Arminians do worse in founding the Divine decree not in statu integro , nor in statu lapso , but in statu reparato , et tantum non glorificatos, in making believers the adequate object of election; which cannot be, for there be many that believe, yet are not elect ones (as Simon Magus, &c. that believed, yet had not the faith of God’s elect) and there be many that are elected yet be¬ lieve not, as children : this mistake makes them say, that Apostates deque vere jideles sunt non deque did , that he who perseveres is not more elected than the apostate, only he is longer so. 4. Yet far worse is their platform, in marshalling this eternal immanent act of God into first, second, third and fourth ; which must needs (saith Dr. Davenant) be a weak imagination of man’s brain; and so uncertain, that amongst many who give us such delineations, not two of twenty can be found agreeing in numbring and ordering their decrees ; but where one makes four, another maketh five, six or seven, &c. and that which one sets the first, against A rminianism . 51 another sets the last; therefore here Clodius accusatMcechos, till themselves be better agreed, they should not upbraid us with differences. 5. Those several states of man before and after the fall, are not in the Divine understanding as they are in ours (by a succession of acts one after another) but God [ uno intuitu videt omnia ] by one single act orders all things, and the Divine idaea in the decree is a representation of all those states at once ; they are not subordinanda, but co-ordinanda , not this after that, but altogether in one in¬ stant of eternity, for non datur prius et posterius in Deo ; therefore we should not contend about priorities and pos¬ teriorities in God, which are but humane conceptions. Objection 6. The positive part of the Divine decree makes men remiss in duty, saying, si salvabor, sal- vabor ; however I live, live as I list, I shall be saved. Answer 1. God’s decree stablishes means, but removes them not, unless by accident, as the Gospel hardens : for it doth not only ordain the end, but the means to the end ; ’tis a meer fallacy of division to sever the means from the end : as in Acts xxvii. 30. “ Except ye abide in the ship, ye cannot be saved a decree was past for their safety, that not a man of them should perish, v. 22. yet they must abide in the ship. It was true in sensu composito, to wit, in the connexion of the end and means, but not in sensu diviso, either that the shipmen should not abide in the ship, or that any man in the ship should not be saved. 2. Ludovicus the eleventh king of Trance under this temptation, was convinc’d in his sickness of his fond saying [&£ salvabor , salvabor ] by his wise physitian, who told him, If your time be come, no physick (1 can give) will do you good : the King pondering that saying, crys out, Must I use means for the good of my body, and not of my soul ? hereupon became he (upon further confer¬ ence and taking physick) to be cured of soul and body. 3. God’s decree doth not nullifie the property of secon¬ dary causes in natural things, but includes them, and disposes of them to their proper end ; and so in things c 2 52 An Antidote spiritual, God decrees that the earth should be fruitful, this doth not exclude, but include, that the sun must shine upon it, showers must water it, and the husbandman must till it, as his God instructs him, Isa, xxviii. 26. God de¬ crees that fifteen years shall be added to Hezekiah’s life, this made him neither careless of his health, nor negligent of his food : he said not, “ Though I run into the fire, or into the water, or drink poison, I shall live so long ; ” but natural providence in the due use of means co-worketh so, as to bring him on to that period of time pre-ordain’d for him : man’s industry is subservient to God’s decree ; ’tis call’d the life of [our] hands, Isa. lvii. 10. we may not tempt the Lord our God, Ora labora , et admotd manu invocanda est Minerva. 4. The golden chain hath so link’d the means to the end, and sanctification in order to salvation, that God doth infallibly stir up the elect to the use of the means, as well as bring them to the end by the means; therefore he promises to sanctifie whom he purposes to save, Ezek. xxxvi. 26, 27. two of those links (to wit, predes¬ tination and glorification) are kept fast in God’s hand, but the middle links are let down from heaven to us on earth, that we should catch hold on them : we may not pluck those parts of the chain out of God’s hands, or break the chain to make it useless : the elect lady must look to her self, 2 John ver. 8. though the decree be abso¬ lute, the execution of it is not, which two may not be confounded. -n 5. The Arminian eternal prescience infers as absolute a certainty and necessity of events as our predestination doth ; for things must be fore-ordain’d to be, before they can be foreseen that they shall be, ut supra ; so men may argue from their grounds, If I be eternally foreseen to believe, I shall believe and be saved : and e contra , yet further, they teach men to say, I can repent when I will, 1 may be elected though I live still in lewduess, I have a free-will to repent on my deathbed, so I may bt: saved : this will make men remiss indeed, but to read the heart of God towards us thus absolutely, everlastingly, effectually, and peculiarly, doth constrain and unite our against Arminianism . 53 hearts to God for ever, Luke i. 74, 75. and 1 Cor . vi. *20. Cyrus acts freely, finding himself fore-ordained, Isa. xliv. 21. Objection 7. Reprobation (as absolute) makes men desperate, Si damnabor , damnabor ; Let me do what I can, I shall be damned, I am under a fatal necessity. Answer 1. This is to suck poison out of a sweet flower, and to dash against the Rock of Ages; this is to “ stumble at the word,” 1 Pet. ii. 8. “ whereunto they were appointed and like prophane beasts to fall into the pit that was digg’d for better purposes : why hath God order’d all things by an absolute decree for ever ? It is that men should fear before him, and not make such desperate inferences, Eccles. iii. 14. 2. The stoical opinion of fate, puts God in subjection to nature (as in Homer’s Jupiter and Neptune, ut supra , over-power’d by fate) but the absolute decree (e contra) puts nature in subjection to God, and does not necessitate men to do so much evil, and no more good than they do (as before largely) for God as an infinite Cause can in¬ fluence the will of man, Prov. xxi. 1. and determine it so as not to destroy the liberty of it, because he determines it in a way suitable to it’s own nature ; God acting freely as the First Cause, and man acting freely as the second cause, in concurrence, not by constraint. 3. No man may judge himself a reprobate in this life (excepting in that sin unto death) and so to grow despe¬ rate ; for final disobedience (the infallible evidence of reprobation) cannot be discover’d till death : we are not to question the secret will of God (which is the rule of events) but to mind his revealed will (which is the rule of endeavours) and to lay our souls under his commands: one may fulfil the secret will of God and do ill, as Judas and the Jews in killing Christ, Acts ii. 23. and one may cross the secret will of God, and do well, as David in praying for the life of his child, which God had decreed should then dye : we must look into our own bosoms, and so know what we are in the bosom of God. 54 An Antidote 4. The Arminian doctrine [God foresaw what good courses I would take out of my free-will, so did elect me] is miserable comfort to one, whose heart is privy to myriads of deviations from God; and to tell men they may be justified and sanctified, &c., yet (for all this) may become reprobates and be damned in the end, is desperate doctrine: whereas our doctrine is only liable to false inferences, as Christ’s was, Luke xviii. 25. [swillis immediate cause of his own salvation. the prind- 2. It puts grace into man’s power, not man’s nofth eprfn- will under the power of grace. cipium quo; 3. It robs God of that honour, in making one “ wemustbe to differ from another, and ascribes it to man. tSTpiri/of 4. It allows man a liberty of boasting; to God, our minds,” saying, God, I thank thee, that thou gavest me

. and ii. 13. and iv. 13. In the practick part a partial decay may befal our judgments (as in the bewitched Galatians, Gal. iii. 1.) and our affections (as in the cooling Ephesians, Rev. ii. 4.) Christ’s spouse may fall asleep in the abatement of her acts, yet her “ heart awakes,” Cant. v. 2. Grace seems to be lost when it is not so indeed ; some have sought for that they have had in their hands, so Mary did Christ. 3. The sun may be ecclips’d, yet wade out of it into his former lustre ; the tree may lose all its leaves and fruit in winter, yet have fresh buddings at spring; the sea 100 An Antidote may ebb and retire from its banks, yet the next tide return to them again : the babe may live, though it spring not always in the womb. Ilzziah by his leprosie lost his jus aptitudinale to his crown and kingdom, but not his jus hareditarium : Nebuchadnezzar, when deposed, was as a tree that is lopped, yet his root springs up again in his returning to the throne. The Romans (saith the historian) lost several battels, but never any war: Israel flies once and twice before their enemies, yet conquer they the land of promise. “ A troop overcomes Gad, yet Gad overcomes at last,” Gen. xlix. 19. Hot water hath a principle in it self to reduce it (when removed from the fire) to its natural coldness : thus some saints may be 7rapa7r \rjaiov rut Oava ru), as Phil. ii. 27. but not tt pog ddvarov , as John xi. 14. They may fall as Mephibosheth to lame them, and as Eutichus to hurt them, but not as Eli to kill them. That is great displeasure where such a rout is, as admits of no rallying. 4. Sin makes a forfeiture of all into God’s hands, and he might make a seisure if he pleased ; as two tenants for non-payment of rent forfeit their leases, and their landlord may seize on the one, and not on the other pro arhitrio : we incur Divine displeasure (in every act of sin) demeritorie, though not effective ; and yet though God do not disinherit us according to our demerit, nor blot us out of the Book of Life, yet doth he withdraw his favour, and imbitter all our comforts, as to Peter, Mat. xxvi. 75; he makes relations (that should be comforts) to become scourges to us, as to David, 2 Sam. xii. 11. He may fill us with anguish, Psal. xxxviii. 3, 4. which are strong and sufficient curbs to any more new out-bursts from God; seeing the evil we smart under, after sin, is commensurate to the pleasure found in sin : could David have foreseen the evil consequences of his sin (which Nathan foretold him of) he might have said to his sin, “ A dear bought sin thou art like to be to me:” yea, sometimes (as need is) God adds apprehensions of eternal wrath, Psal. lxxxviii. 6, 7. without any hope of being eased : upon these considerations this doctrine begets no looseness in any of the reformed churches. 101 against A rminianism . Objection 2. Some suffer shipwrack, of faith and con¬ science, the prodigal (a child) yet dead in sin. Answer 1. That scripture 1 Tim. i. 19. holds out no more than what is granted, that as a false faith may be lost in the whole, so a true faith may be lost in part; though a shipwrack be sustain’d, yet there is secunda post naufragium tabula , as in Acts xxvii. no life lost. 2. That of the prodigal is but a parable, and dicta sjjmbolica non sunt argumentativa ; it may illustrate, but cannot prove; besides, he was but a lost and dead son in his father’s account only, and seemingly in his own : so God’s children may (in their own sense and in the opinion of others) seem lost, yet truly and indeed not be so. 3. If one cease to be a son, because he commits sin, then saints, as oft as they sin, so oft are they out of son- ship, and liable to death eternal, the wages of sin, and so can have neither certainty nor comfort in their estate ; unless it could be shown what sins rend this relation, and what not ; so come to the popish notion of mortal and venial sins. Objection 3. Angels and Adam did fall from grace, ergo , &c. Answer 1. That grace which was creation -love was loseable ; but that which flows from redemption-love is not so : neither angels nor Adam were under the grace of the New Testament, nor were they righteous by faith in Christ, nor were they at all justified, because they did not perform the condition required, that they might be justified before God. 2. The case is altered now in the new covenant made with the elect (both men and angels) they stood not by a Mediator, as saints do now : neither did Christ pray for them, as in John xvii. 15, 20. Luke xxii. 32. nor pro¬ mise to them, that “ the gates of hell should not prevail against them;” as Mat. xvi. 18. 3. The example of angels is nihil ad rhombum , for the [ro rovfjLErov ] or question, is concerning men ; nor is that of Adam to the point, for he had not that evao- 102 An Antidote gelical justifying faith, which (we say) cannot be utterly lost. Objection 4. Saul, Judas and Esau lost grace. Ergo, Answer 1. They could not lose what they never had ; what they had were only illuminations, and such as Balaam (the sorcerer) had : we grant that common grace is loseable, gratia gratis data sunt amissibiles . 2. The Romanists in the vulgar Latin, read 1 Sam. ix. 2. concerning Saul, that he was bonus et electus ; yet their own Vatablus reads [ bachur et tob ] as we do; a choice young man and a goodly ; for grace consists not in the beauty of the body but of soul. 3. Judas was only elected to the apostleship (not to salvation) and that by one who knew how to make good use of evil men, even of vessels of dishonour in his house¬ hold. 4. Who can say that profane Esau (so he is branded ever had a true justifying faith ? Objection 5. David and Peter fell totally, and Solomon finally. Ergo, &c. Answer 1. They all fell fouly, yet none of them finally, because they all repented, and are call’d “ holy men of God,” 2 Pet. i. 21. by the Holy Ghost : neither did they fall totally, because that grace remain’d in them, by which they repented : thus where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. 2. That Solomon fell not finally, appears, a seal, tho’ (1 •) in being called [Jedidiah] “ Beloved of dim and a*. God,” 2 Sam. xii. 24, 25. which is not a name pass in acts given to any reprobate. (2.) He is or the holy evidences S° prophets, that “ sits down in the kingdom of for heaven. God,” Luke x iii. 28. (3.) He was a type of Christ, so never was any reprobate. (4,) God took not his mercy clean from him, 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15. (5.) Ecclesiastes is his book of repentance, and never any that repented could perish, Luke xiii. 3. (6.) Ko- heleth signifies his being joined again to the Church by repentance, which is the Hebrew word for Eccle- against Arminianism. 103 siastes ; [kohelleth nephesli] a soul added to the congre¬ gation. 3. Their own Cornelius a Lapide saith, Petrus non perdidit Jidem peccato suo. So that Jesuite answers Eellarmine, yea, he answers himself accordingly, lib. iv. cap. 4. lest Peter’s fall should cut off the entail of the pope’s inheritance ; to say nothing of David, who writ so many penitential psalms. Objection 6. Heb. vi. 5. & x. *20, 26. Ezek. xviii. 24, 26. proves a falling from grace. Answer 1. Suppositio nil po nit in esse, suppose saints should do so, this proves not that they will or may do so ; there may be a supposing quod non est supponendum. As for Ezek, viii. 24. it is to be understood of hypocrites, Ezek, iii. 20. & xxxiii. 12, 13. 2. ’Tis spoke Heb. vi. 10? &c. of such as only taste, but digest not ; that have their minds informed, not their hearts reformed: sanctified in profession, not in power ; that had jidem dogmaticam ? not salvificam. 3. ’Tis spoke of that sin unto death (for which, “ there is no sacrifice”) from devilish malice, not humane frailty ; saints can never thus sin to waste conscience unto death. Objection 7. Saints may lose grace totally, but not finally. Answer 1. As Christ once dead, dies no more : so in his members, the life of grace cannot dye totally, ut supra, Rom. vi. 8, 9. The seed remains, 1 Cor. v. 5. that his spirit might be saved, that remain’d still in him, tho’ fouly fallen ; as Paul saith of Eutichus [“ He is not dead”] Acts xx. 9. When Peter repented, non novum infudit habitum sed suscitavit. 2. Then there must be a new engrafting into Christ, and a renewing of baptism as oft as this is done ; faith is but once given to the saints, Jude iii. as we are but once born, so but once born again. 3. Those saints may fall so, as to lose jus ad rem , yet not jus in re ; the Spirit blows upon the sparks that lurk under the ashes of sin. 104 An Antidote against Arminianism. Objection 8. Then to what purpose be admonitions ? &c. It destroys humility, &c. Anszoer 1. None say saints cannot sin, save that unto death, 1 John i. 8, 9. with iii, 9. so useful enough. 2. He was not proud, that said, “ God will deliver me from every evil work,” 2 Tim. iv. 18. Rom. viii. 38. 3. But rather those that boast of having sufficient grace, both in converting and confirming work. FINIS. R. CLAY, PRINTER, BREAD S T R EET -H ILL. Date Due > r s®$$> .‘ l£&*d*4kt^ ■V- *1 jfT^C ^rrH r> JB»K- % PRINTED IN U. S. A. Theological Seminary-Speer Library Princeton