Chapter 10: Grace, Faith, and Holy Obedience

The second part of this controversie, is in particular, concerning grace, faith, and holinesse, sincere obedience to the precepts of the new Covenant, all whose praise we appropriate to the most high, by reason of a double interest. First, of the merit of Christ which does procure them for us. Secondly, of the holy Spirit which works them in us: the death of Christ is their meritorious cause, the Spirit of God and his effectuall grace their efficient, working instrumentally with power by the word and ordinances: now because this would deprive the Idol of his chiefest glory, and expose him to open shame, like the bird furtivis nudata coloribus, the Arminians advance themselves in his quarrell, and in behalfe of their darling, quite exclude both merit of Christ, and Spirit of God, from any title to their production.

First, for the merit of Christ, whereas we affirme that God blesseth us with all spirituall blessings in him, or for his sake (Ephesians 1:3), among which, doubtlesse faith possesseth not the lowest roome, that he is made to us righteousnesse, and sanctification, and redemption; he was made sinne for us, that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him: that he is the Lord our righteousnesse, and glories to be called by that name: and whatever he is to us, it is chiefely by the way of merit: that to us it is given [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], for Christ's sake to beleeve on him (Philippians 1:29), where [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉], is plainly referred to [〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉] is given, as if the Apostle should have said, Christ is the meritorious cause of the bestowing of those good gifts, faith, and constancy to martyrdome upon you, when I say we professe all these to be the proper and immediate products of the passion and blood of Christ, these turbulent Davusses, come in with a prohibition, and quite expell it from having any interest therein.

There is nothing more vaine, nothing more foolish (say they in their Apologie) then to attribute our regeneration, and faith, to the death of Christ, for if Christ may be said to have merited for us faith, and regeneration, then faith cannot be a condition, whose performance God should require, at the hands of sinners, under the paine of eternall damnation. And again, if faith be the effect of the merit of Christ, it cannot be our dutie; No? Suppose then that the Church should pray, that it would please God, for Christ's sake, to call home those sheepe that belong to his fold, not as yet collected? That he would grant faith and repentance, for the merit of his Sonne, to them that are as yet a farre off? Were this an altogether vaine and foolish prayer? Let others thinke as they please, it is such a vanitie, as I desire not to be weaned from, nor any one else I beleeve, that loves the Lord Jesus in sinceritie. Oh that Christians should patiently endure, such a diminution of their Saviour's honor? as with one dash of an Arminian pen, to have the chiefe effects of his death and passion quite obliterated. If this be a motive, to the love and honor of the Son of God, if this be a way, to set forth the preciousnesse of his blood, by denying the efficacy thereof, in enabling us by faith to get an interest in the new covenant: most Christians in the world are under a necessity of being new Catechised by these Seraphicall Doctors.

Until when, they must give us leave to beleeve, with the Apostle, that God blesseth us, with all spirituall blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1:3), and we will take leave to account faith a spirituall blessing: and therefore bestowed on us for Christ's sake. Againe, since our regeneration is nothing but a purging of our consciences from dead works, that we may serve the living God: which being done by the blood of Christ, as the Apostle witnesseth (Hebrews 9:14), we will ascribe our new birth, or forming anew to the vertue of that grace, which is purchased by his blood. That precious blood it is, which redeemeth us from our vaine conversation (1 Peter 1:18, 19), by whose efficacie we are vindicated from the state of sin and corrupted nature wherein we are born.

The Arminians have but one argument, that ever I could meet with, whereby they strive to rob Christ of this glory, of meriting and procuring for us faith and repentance; and that is, because they are such acts of ours, as in duty and obedience to the precepts of the Gospel, we are bound to perform: and this they every where press at large, usque & usque, in plain terms they will not suffer their idol to be accounted defective in any thing that is necessary to bring us to heaven. Now concerning this argument, that nothing which God requires of us, can be procured for us by Christ: I would have two things noted. First, that the strength of it consists in this, that no gift of God bestowed upon us, can be a thing well pleasing to him as being in us: for all his precepts and commands signify only, what is well pleasing to him, that we should be, or do; and it is not the meriting of any thing by Christ, but God's bestowing of it, as the effect thereof, which hinders it from being a thing, requireable of us, as a part of our duty, which I shall consider hereafter: only now observe, that there being nothing in us, by the way of habit or act from the beginning of our faith, to the consummation thereof from our new birth, until we become perfect men in Christ, by the finishing of our course, that is not required of us in the Gospel, all, and every grace, whereof we are in this life partakers, are by this means denied to be gifts of God. Secondly, consider the extent of this argument itself: nothing whose performance is our duty, can be merited for us by Christ; when the Apostle beseeches us, to be reconciled to God, I would know, whether it be not a part of our duty to yield obedience to the Apostle's exhortation: if not his exhortation is frivolous and vain, if so, then to be reconciled to God, is a part of our duty, and yet the Arminians sometime seem to confess, that Christ has obtained for us a reconciliation with God: the like may be said, in divers other particulars, so that this argument, either proves that we enjoy no fruit of the death of Christ in this life: or (which is most true) it proves nothing at all: for neither the merit of Christ procuring, nor God bestowing any grace, in the habit, does at all hinder, but that in the exercise thereof, it may be a duty of ours, inasmuch as it is done in us, and by us. Notwithstanding then this exception, which cannot stand by itself alone without the help of some other, not as yet discovered; we will continue our prayers, as we are commanded in the name of Christ: that is, that God would bestow upon us those things we ask for Christ's sake, and that by an immediate collation, yes even then when we cry, with the poor penitent, Lord help our unbelief, or with the Apostles, Lord increase our faith.

Secondly, the second plea, on God's behalf, to prove him, the author, and finisher of all those graces, whereof in this life we are partakers, arises, from what the Scripture affirms, concerning his working these graces in us, and that powerfully, by the effectual operation of his holy Spirit: to which, the Arminians oppose a seeming necessity, that they must needs be our own acts, contradistinct from his gifts, because they are in us, and commanded by him. The head then of this contention between our God, and their idol, about the living child of grace, is: whether he can work that in us, which he requires of us. Let us hear them pleading their cause.

It is most certain that, that ought not to be commanded, which is wrought in us: and that cannot be wrought in us, which is commanded: he foolishly commands that to be done of others, who will work in them what he commands: says their Apologie. O foolish Saint Prosper, who thought that it was the whole Pelagian heresy, to say, That there is neither praise, nor worth, as ours, in that, which Christ bestows upon us. Foolish Saint Augustine, praying, Give us O Lord, what you command, and command what you will. Foolish Benedict Bishop of Rome, who gave such a form to his prayer, as must needs cast an aspersion of folly, on the most high: O Lord (says he) teach us what we should do; show us where we should go, work in us, what we ought to perform. O foolish Fathers of the second Arausican Council, affirming, that many good things are done in man, which he does not himself, but a man does no good, which God does not so work, that he should do it: and again, as often as we do good, God works in us, and with us, that we may so work. In one word, this makes fools of all the Doctors of the Church, who ever opposed the Pelagian heresy, in as much as they all unanimously maintained, that we are partakers of no good thing, in this kind without the effectual powerful operation, of the almighty grace of God: and yet our faith and obedience so wrought in us, to be most acceptable to him. Yes, what shall we say to the Lord himself, in one place commanding us to fear him, and in another promising that he will put his fear into our hearts, that we shall not depart from him, is his command foolish, or his promise false: the Arminians must affirm the one, or renounce their heresy? But of this, after I have a little farther laid open this monstrous error, from their own words, and writings.

Can any one, say they, wisely and seriously prescribe the performance of a condition to another, under the promise of a reward, and threatning of punishment, who will effect it in him, to whom it is prescribed? This is a ridiculous action, scarce worthy of the Stage: that is, seeing Christ has affirmed, that whoever believes shall be saved, and he that believes not shall be damned (Matthew 16:16), whereby faith is established, the condition of salvation, and unbelief threatned with hell: if God should by his holy Spirit, ingenerate faith in the hearts of any, causing them so to fulfill the condition, it were a mere mockery, to be exploded from a Theater as an unlikely fiction: which, what an aspersion it casts upon the whole Gospel of Christ, yes, on all God's dealing with the children of men, ever since, by reason of the fall, they became unable of themselves, to fulfill his commands, I leave to all men's silent judgements. Well then, seeing they must be accounted [in non-Latin alphabet], things inconsistent, that God should be so righteous, as to shew us our duty, and yet so good and merciful, as to bestow his graces on us: let us hear more of this stuff: faith and conversion cannot be our obedience, if they are wrought in us by God, say they at the Hague: and Episcopius, that it is a most absurd thing, to affirm, that God either effects by his power, or procureth by his wisdom, that the elect should do those things, that he requireth of them. So that where the Scripture calls faith the gift, and work of God, they say it is an improper locution, in as much as he commands it, properly, it is an act or work of our own: and for that renowned saying of Saint Augustine, that God crowns his own gifts in us, that it is not to be received without a grain of salt: that is, some such gloss as wherewith they corrupt the Scripture. The sum at which they aim is, that to affirm, that God bestows any grace upon us, or effectually works them in us, contradicts his word, requiring them as our duty, and obedience: by which means they have erected their idol, into the throne of God's free grace and mercy, and attribute to it all the praise, due to those many heavenly qualifications, the servants of God are endowed withal, for they never have more good in them, no, nor so much, as is required, all that they have, or do, is but their duty: which how derogatory it is to the merit of Christ, themselves seem to acknowledge, when they affirm, that he is no otherwise said to be a Savior, than are all they, who confirm the way to salvation by preaching, miracles, martyrdom, and example: so that having quite overthrown the merits of Christ, they grant us to be our own Saviors in a very large sense (Rem. Apol. fol. 96). All which assertions, how contrary they are to the express word of God, I shall now demonstrate.

There is not one, of all those plain texts of Scripture, not one of those innumerable and invincible arguments, whereby the effectual working of God's grace, in the conversion of a sinner, his powerful translating us, from death to life, from the state of sin and bondage, to the liberty of the sons of God, which does not overthrow this prodigious error. I will content myself with instancing in some few of them which are directly opposite to it, even in terms.

First, Deuteronomy 10:16, the Lord commands the Israelites, to circumcise the fore-skin of their hearts, and to be no more stiff-necked: so that the circumcising of their hearts, was a part of their obedience, it was their duty so to do in obedience to God's commands: and yet in the 30th chapter, verse 6, he affirms, that he will circumcise their hearts, that they might love the Lord their God, with all their hearts. So that it seems, the same thing, in divers respects may be God's act in us, and our duty towards him: and how the Lord will here escape the Arminian censure, that if his words be true, in the latter place, his command in the former, is vain, and foolish, ipse viderit, let him plead his cause, and avenge himself, on those, that rise up against him.

Secondly, Ezekiel 18:31, make you a new heart, and a new spirit, for why will you die, O house of Israel? The making of a new heart, and a new spirit, is here required under a promise of a reward of life, and a great threatning of eternal death: so that, so to do, must needs be a part of their duty and obedience: and yet chapter 36, verse 36, he affirms that he will do this very thing, that here he requires of them: a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit, will I put within you, and I will take away the stony heart, out of your flesh, and give you an heart of flesh: and I will cause you to walk in my statutes, &c. In how many places also, are we commanded to fear the Lord, which when we do, I hope none will deny to be a performance of our duty; and yet Jeremiah 32:40, God promises that he will put his fear in our hearts, that we shall not depart from him.

Thirdly, those two, against which they lay particular exceptions, faith, and repentance, are also expressly attributed, to the free donation of God: he grants to the Gentiles repentance to life (Acts 11:18); and of faith directly, it is not of ourselves, it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). To which assertion of the holy Spirit, I shall rather fasten my belief; than to the Arminians, affirming that it is no gift of God, because it is of ourselves: and yet this hinders not, but that it may be styled, our most holy faith (Jude 20). Let them that will deny, that any thing can properly be ours, which God bestows on us: the Prophet accounted them not inconsistent, when he averred, that God works all our works in us (Isaiah 26:12). They are our works, though of his working: the Apostle laboured, though it was not he, but the grace of God that was with him (1 Corinthians 15:10). He works in us [in non-Latin alphabet], of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13); and yet the performance of our duty, may consist, in those acts of our wills, and those good deeds, whereof he is the author: so that according to Saint Austin's counsel, we will still pray, that he would bestow, what he commands us to have.

Fourthly, (1 Corinthians 4) Who made you differ from another, or what have you, that you have not received? Every thing that makes us differ from others, is received from God: therefore the foundation of all difference in spiritual things between the sons of Adam: being faith and repentance, they must also of necessity, be received from above. In brief; God's circumcising of our hearts (Colossians 2:11), his quickening us when we are dead (Ephesians [illegible]:1, 2), begetting us anew (John 1:13), making us in all things, such as he would have us to be, is contained in that promise of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 32:40): I will make with them an everlasting Covenant, that I will not turn away from them to do them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me: and is no way repugnant to the holy Scripture, declaring our duty, to be all this, that the Lord would have us. And now let all men judge, whether against so many, and clear testimonies of the Holy Ghost, the Arminian reasons borrowed from the old philosophers, be of any value: the sum of them all, you may find in Cicero, his third book De Natura Deorum: Every one, says he, obtains virtue for himself: never any wise man thanked God for that, for our virtue we are praised, in virtue we glory, which might not be, were it a gift of God. And truly this in softer terms, is the sum of the Remonstrants' arguments in this particular.

Lastly, observe, that this error, is that which of all others, the orthodox Fathers did most oppose in the Pelagian heretics; yes, and to this day, the more learned schoolmen stoutly maintain the truth herein against the innovating Jesuits. With some few of the testimonies of the ancients I will shut up this discourse: It is certain, that when we do any thing we do it, says Saint Augustine, but it is God that causes us so to do. And in another place; Shall we not account that to be the gift of God? because it is required of us, under the promise of eternal life? God forbid that this should seem so, either to the partakers, or defenders of grace: where he rejects both the error, and the sophism, wherewith it is upheld. So also Coelestius Bishop of Rome in his Epistle to the Bishops of France: So great, says he, is the goodness of God towards men, that he will have those good things to be our good duties (he calls them merits according to the phrase of those days) which are his own gifts. To which purpose I cited before two Canons out of the Arausican Council. And Saint Prosper in his Treatise, against Cassianus the Semipelagian, affirms it, to be a foolish complaint of proud men, that free-will is destroyed, if the beginning, progress, and continuance in good, be said to be the gifts of God. And so the imputation of folly, wherewith the Arminians in my first quotation, charge their opposers, being retorted on them, by this learned Father, I refer you to these following excerpta for a close.

Saint Scripture: Circumcise the fore-skin of your hearts, and be no more stiff-necked (Deuteronomy 10:16). And the Lord your God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed (Deuteronomy 30:6). Make you a new heart, and a new spirit, O house of Israel (Ezekiel 18:31). A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you (Ezekiel 36:36). If you will fear the Lord, and serve him, then shall you continue following the Lord your God (1 Samuel 12:14). And I will put my fear into your hearts, that you shall not depart from me (Jeremiah 32:40). He has wrought all our works in us (Isaiah 26:12). He works in us both to will and to do, of his good pleasure (Philippians 2:13). He has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in him (Ephesians 1:3). To you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe in him (Philippians 1:29). The blood of Christ purges our consciences from dead works, to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14). Lib. Arbit. This is most certain that, that ought not to be commanded which is wrought in us: he foolishly commands that to be done of others, who will work in them what he commands. Rem. Apol. It is absurd to affirm that God either works by his power, or procures by his wisdom, that the elect should do those things which God requires of them. Episcopius. Faith and conversion cannot be acts of our obedience if they are wrought by God in us. Rem. Col. Hag. That God should require that of us, which himself will work in us, is a ridiculous action scarce fit for a stage. Rem. Apol. That saying of Augustine that God crowns his own gifts in us, is not easily to be admitted. Ibid. There is nothing more vain and foolish than to ascribe faith and regeneration to the merit of Christ.