your Will fo willing to stand neuter, till these Truths have a fair and full hearing, that they may make a better impreffion than hitherto they have had opportunity to do, upon you. And because I remember in Jome heat of difpute you have thrown fome things upon me, which were not so much faults in me, as prejudices and fcandals taken up by your felf, I shall briefly wipe them off, that fuch rubs being removed out of your way, you may have the lejs objection to fright you from a further enquiry into the Articles under question. And now, I befetch you, in the first place, to upbraid

me no

more with the errors of my Education, for fo I must now account them; because the greater the Prejudices were which were instilled into me against thefe Doctrines, the greater you ought to conclude the Light to be, which hath wrought this my prefent conviction of their Truth, and induced me to embrace them, against all the charms of Intereft, and fecular Advantages, wherewith the World tempteth us to the contrary.

Unconftancy, one of your other charges, I confess is fometimes culpable: but may we not say so too of conftancy many times? Which is therefore refembled Somewhere to a fullen Porter, who keeps out better company oftentimes than he lets in. Our happiness that will be unchangeable commenceth in a change; and it's our duty to turn from Darkness to Light, tho' we be cal led inconftant for it. We were not born with our Ejes open; neither fall we ever fee far, if we look no far. ther than that Prospect, which fome few admired wriCol. 3. 10.ters have fet before us; the new Man which we are to put on, is renewed in Knowledge and if we receive our illumination regularly from Heaven, that is given according to the Capacity of the Subject. We have a dawning first, but the progress of our Light holds a proportion with the fedulity of our Studies. We are never too old to learn in Chrift's School. But the great fcandal, you say, is to profefs my felf a Difciple to fuch Mafters. What Mafters do you mean? I call

༨༡༩

no man Master on Earth in this Senfe, nor ever will give any Man fo great Dominion over my Faith as to fwear Allegiance to his Doctrines. I would others were as free from this yoak of bondage. But yet I know 'tis not only a thing commendable, but a duty to march after the standard of Truth, what hand foever carries it before us. And who do you think were the bearers of it? If you inquire into their Learning, even their Adverfaries being Fudges, they were as Lights Shining in Phil. 2. 15. the midst of a crooked and perverse Nation; and if you examine their Lives, for Piety and Justice, they were blameless and harmless as becomes the Sons of God, not more Polite in their intellectuals than unreproveable in their Morals, but very eminent in both. And they have declared their Vertues as well in a way of paffive obedience, as active. What Profeffors were ever more conftant and chearful in their fufferings for the word of God, and for the teftimony which they held, having Eph. 4. 21. been taught it, according to their full perfuafion, as the Truth is in fefus. They have been banished, imprifoned, &c. infomuch that one of them befpake his fellow Soldiers in this conflict, after this manner; *" You, "the Glory and Lights of our Society, whose bonds are Famous throughout the whole Chriftian World, whofe invincible Patience hath given proof to your very Adverfaries, and all the World befides, that "the Remonftrants value their Confciences, above all "things whatfoever. March on with me, faith he, to "the Mark, by Honour and Dishonour, by evil Report and good Report, as Deceivers and yet

¢

66

true: as unknown and yet well known: as Dy

*Vos Societatis noftra decora ac lumina, quorum vincula jam non in Belgio tantum, fed pene ubique per totum orbem Christia. num celebria facta funt; qui patientia veftra jam per tot annos invicta atque infracta, Adverfariis totique adeo mundo fidem feciftis, confcientiam Remonftrantibus pluris effe, quam quicquid ufpiam carum eft in mundo Ita Pergite, &c. Apolog. pro Confeff. in Prafat. ad finem.“

❝ing and behold we Live: as Chaftened and not "Killed as Sorrowful yet always rejoicing:

as

2. Cor. 6. Poor yet making many Rich: as having nothing, and yet poffeffing all things.

8, 9, 10.

But you will fay, 'tis not the fuffering but the cause that maketh a Man a Martyr; and those Men run after the error of Pelagius, who was condemned by the Ancient Fathers, as an Enemy to the Grace of God. To this I fall return Arminius his own folemn Proteftation. Infpiciantur capita omnia Pelagianæ doctrinæ, prout illa in Synodis Milevitana, Arauficana, & Hierofolymitana enarrantur & condemnantur, etiam ut a Pontifice Romano Innocentio referuntur; & apparebit poffe quempiam Pelagianam doctrinam improbare, & tamen do&rinæ ifti, (Gomari fcilicet,) de Prædeftinatione non accedere: And a little after, Profiteor interea me Pelagiana dogmata, quæ ipfis imponuntur a Synodis fupra nominatis, ex animo deteftari, & fi quis commonftrare poffit, ex iis quæ dico, quidpiam fequi, quod illis affine eft, fententiam mutaturum & correcturum. If the proteftation of this Perfon be not fufficient to clear the innocency of thefe Tenets, then take Voffius his Pelagian Hiftory, and Grotius his difquifition on that very Argument, for their compurgators. Withal let us remember the Caveat, which Arminius gives; neque id folum ftudio habendum, ut a Pelagiano dogmate recedatur quam longiffimè cavendum etiam ne in Manichæifmum, aut quod Manichæifmo eft intolerabilius, ratione faltem confequentiæ fuæ incidatur. But you object further, that thefe Tenets are not agreeable to the doctrin of St. Auguftine, the Maul of Heretics, as he is Styled. St. Auguftine must give us leave to depart from him, when he taketh leave to depart from all that went before him, and from himself alfo; and which of you will follow him in all he held? For it is obfer

Exam. Thef. Gomari Pag. 156. & 157.

ved, that he changed his Batteries, as he changed his Enemies, and employed other Principles against the Pelagians, than thofe he used in combating the Manichees; and from the variety of his Opinions in these points it procedes, that his followers express themselves in fuch different terms, that tho' taught in the fame School, and of the fame Mafter, yet they seem not to have learne the fame leffon. And yet we must not deny what Arminius objerved, that St. Auguftine might have confuted the Pelagians fufficiently, and yet have omitted that way of Predeftination which he taught. And yet the doctrin of Predeftination, as it is handled by Gomarus and the rest of his perswasion, differs much from that of St. Auguftine, and lays down many things which Auguftine would by no means grant, tho' the greatest Adverfary the Pelagians had. And therefore your objection that thefe Tenets are against the Doctrin of the Synod of Dort, is of no value; for befides their diffent from all the Ancients, and from St. Auguftine himself, the manner of their procedings, in carrying on that business against the Remonftrants, were enough alone to beget an averfation to their Doctrin. Take it in their words who had most reason to be fenfible of the injury, the writers of the *Hiftory of the Remonftrants, where they refer us to their Hiftorical account of the procedings, and antidote against the doctrines of the Synod of Dort; in which, they say, it's partiality, but efpecially the fraud, deceit, and equivocations made use of in the Canons of that Synod, to colour and varnish over the horrible Doctrin of abfolute Predeftination, are clearly difcovered. Tilenus, who was present there, an Eye and an Ear witness of thofe Tranfactions, could

Iniquitas (Dordrac. Synodi) imprimis autem fraudes, impoftura, aquivocationes in Canonibus Synodicis ad horrendam illam abfoluta Pradeftinationis fententiam colore aliquo fucandam incruftandam ufurpata, clariffimè deteguntur. Script. Hift. Rem. P. 211.

difcover

be

difcover fomething: but he spares you. And yet cannot but tell you, that the many pitifull shifts, thin diftinctions, and horrid expreffions, which he obferv'd to be frequently made use of, by Perfons of that per. fwafion have contributed very much to the rectifying his Judgment. Would it not startle a Man, that were well in his wits, fadly to confider that Opinion fo ftiffly maintained by Pifcator, Maccovius, and divers others; viz. that God hath fo predetermined the Will of every Man to every Action, that he cannot poffibly do any more good than he doth, nor omit more evil than he omitteth? What fad inferences may be drawn, and properly enough from this doctrin? Will it not, in the confequence of it, take of the wheels of duty, and furnish the careless with an excufe, and lay all Sin at the door of the most holy God? Some of you indeed, to decline the odium of this affertion, do tell us the quite contrary, and affirm roundly that Men may do more Good, and commit lefs Evil if they will. But fee the fallacy; they hold withall, that for them to will either, the Decree of God hath made impoffible. You may as well fay, that a dog can fly, and a borfe become an excellent Philofopher, if they Will. You cannot but take notice when you are treating of these points, how your Doctrines and ufes do interfere; and when it bath cost you much noise and sweat to confute, what you account error in the Doctrin, how you are fain to court the very fame Opinion to come in, to help you at a dead lift, in your exhortation. You deliver it for found Divinity, that Chrift died only for a few, and yet you vehemently urge all Men to believe in him, which they cannot rationally do, unless they be perSwaded of the contrary. Have you heard the preacher

an

★ In fummâ fe tueri fatetur Deum abfolutè decreviffe ab aterno efficaciter, ne quifpiam hominum plus boni faciat, quam reipsa facit; aut plus mali omittat, quam reipfa omittit. Pifcat. ad Amicum. dupl. Vorfti. Pag. 175. Vid. A&t, Synodal. Part. 2am. pag. 36, 37..

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