of the order or manner how this Decree is concluded, or come unto, is that precipice, that exceeding height from whence the Devil doth, or may thrust Men Curious and Carnal into Defpair or Security, laying all their Religion upon Predeftination: If I Shall be faved, I shall be faved. This is that which H. C. C. Dr. Bancroft calleth a defperate Doctrine and the Pag. 29. self same for fubftance methinks I find expressed by Hemingius, whom I beseech you hear with a little

patience.

De Loco 1. De aterna Pradeftinatione rectè erudiri Ecclefiam Eradest. fummopere neceffarium eft; nam ut nulla doctrina ube

riorem confolationem piis confcientiis afferre folet, quam. doctrina Pradeftinationis rectè explicita; ita nihil periculojiùs eft, quam rectâ Pradeftinationis ratione a

berrare.

2. Nam qui a verâ deflectit, in præcipitium fertur, unde fe recipere non poteft.

3. Sunt quidem, qui cum audiunt noftram falutem in Dei Electione & propofito fitam effe, modum verum baud obfervant, fomnia Stoica, & Fabulas Parcarum. 4. 5. 6. 7. fingunt, quibus & feipfos miferè implicant, & alios perniciosè feducunt.

vid. Thef.

4. Modus autem Predeftinationis veriffimus eft, quem Eph. 1. 9. Paulus nobis commonftrat, cum ad Ephef. fcribit, E-10.1 legit nos in Chrifto. In hoc modo conditio fidei in-. cluduur: nam cum fide inferimur Chrifto, ejus membra efficimur, & ideo Electi, quia Chrifti membra fumus.

The fentence therefore of Predeftination, with.. out refpect to the manner of it, is a downfall; but the manner of it, our being Chofen in Chrift, is the fountain of all Comfort, and Hope, and Godliness, which maketh the true manner of divine Predeftination a matter fo much worth contending for.

Now I come to the Period of the fecond Paragraph, and of the whole Article; furthermore we

must

must receive God's promifes in fuch wife, as they be generally fet forth unto us in holy Scripture, and in our doings, that Will of God is to be followed, which we have exprefly declared unto us in the word of

God.

This part of the Article Bishop Bancroft fhewed King James at Hampton Court, as the Doctrine of Pag. 29. the Church of England touching Predeftination, and it was there very well approved. Moreover the King's most excellent Majefty that now is, in Charles 16 his Declaration, commanding that all further curious fearch be laid afide, willeth that thefe disputes be flut up in God's promifes, as they be generally fet forth unto is in the holy Scripture; as if the general Promifes of God were the fureft Principles to determine all thefe doubts and differences by, and they reft fafely that reft in them.

The authority of this Article, together with o ther like Paffages in our Catechism and Homilies, conftrained our Divines that were at Dort, to deliver, in their Refolutions concerning the fecond Article there debated, the following Thefes.

Thef. 3. Deus lapfi generis humani miferatus, mifit Filiumi, qui feipfum dedit pretium Redemptionis pro pec

catis totius mundi.

Thef. 4. In hoc merito mortis Chrifti fundatur univerfale promiffum Evangelicum, juxta quod omnes in Chrifto credentes remiffionem peccatorum, & vitam æternam reipfa confequantur. This they confirm from one of our Saviour's laft Injunctions to his difciples, Go ye Mark 16. into all the World, and Preach the Gospel to every Crea- 15. 16. 1 ture, he that Believeth and is Baptized fhall be faved, but he that Believeth not shall be Damned: So that this part of the Article, tho' it be laft in place, is not the laft in worth and use.

For whereas it faith; furthermore we must receive, &c. It intendeth to give further remedy against the harm, which may be taken by curious and car C¢

nal

nal Perfons, from the fentence of Predeftination had continually before their Eyes: which harm arifeth from the fentence alone, without reference, and without order to the general Promises of God. For if we receive God's Promifes in fuch wife, as they be generally fet forth to us in holy Scripture, it is not poffible we fhould conceive that God hath Decreed any fentence of Predeftination before the contemplation of the fuccefs and event of thofe his general Promifes. For if he have before Decreed to give Faith and Salvation only to fome few chofen already thereunto, and then come after with a general Promife of Salvation unto all upon condition of Faith, this Promife muft needs be to many illufory, and deceitful, and thence it comes that the fentence of Predeftination is a downfall to defpair and carelefnefs.

This is the reason why they that teach, with Melanchton, Hemingius, Hunnius, and the Divines of Saxony, that the order of Election is after the Redemption wrought by Chrift, and after Faith in him confidered in God's foreknowledge, do fo earnestly urge the univerfality of God's Promifes, and the unity of God's Will to that which he hath revealed; and fo doth our Article.

And that the Promife would be illufory after Predeftination decreed, was a confequence which Bucer himself did well fee and acknowledge, and therefore, according to his Principles, he was necessarily tyed to lay another foundation than the general Promife, which is this; Primum quod Deo debes eft ut credas te ab eo esse Pradeftinatum; nam id nifi credas, facis eum tibi, cum te ad falutem vocat per Evangelium, illudere. And Again; fi dubitas te Pradeftinatum effe, neceffe eft te dubitare de omni • promiffione falutis tua; dubitare de Evangelio, hoc eft, Deo nihil credere omnium, que tibi in Evangelio offert. And again; tanquam caput omnis noxæ ten

6

tationis

tationis repellenda eft hæc quæftio, fimufne Prædefti

nati? Prafumendum eft igitur tanquam principium In Rom. 8. fidei, nos omnes effe a Deo præfcitos, prafinitos, fepa- Pag. 411. ratos a reliquis, & electos in hoc ut in æternum fer

• vemur, hocque propofitum Dei mutari non poffe.

But this form of teaching feems, to me at least, new and ftrange, to prefume that at the very first, which is the laft thing we attain unto after long exercise in Goodness; namely, to believe that we are Predeftinated unto Life, whereof we have neither promife nor fign at our firft entrance into Christianity. How much more rightly the Apoftle? This is the word of Faith which we Preach, Rom. 10. that if thou shalt confefs with thy mouth the Lord Fe-9. Jus, and shalt believe with thy heart that God raised him from the Dead, thou shalt be faved. Where St. Paul's meaning is that the first thing we owe to God, is to believe the general Promife, out of which we cannot exclude our felves; if thou believe and confefs thou shalt be faved. But fome perhaps would willingly interpret Bucer's credere, as fignifying, I believe it poffible that I may be one of the Elect; * under hope I will try and hear what God will work, as he that ploweth, ploweth in hope: But this is far from the Faith which Bucer affirms to be due to God. And even this hope must have a ground and warrant, or elfe it maketh afhamed: but what ground can it have like to the univerfal Redemption by Chrift, and the general Promises of the Gospel?

This is that net, which the fisher of Men spread over all Men to draw them on to God: If I once furmife or fufpect that God intends to draw by the Gospel, or to gather to himself only fome few fpecial particulars, whom he hath marked out;

Unicuique agendum in fpe. Abbot Epifc. Sarisb. in Thompfoni Diatrib. Pag. 141.

1. Tim. 2. 6.

I begin presently to tremble, fearing I may be none of them, feeing the number is but fmall, and it is cafier to be found among the many, than the few.

When the Lord faid to the twelve, one of you shall betray me; every one began to fear and fufpect himfelf, when yet there was but one of twelve who should do the thing: how much more may Men fear, when it is faid, Faith is the gift of God, and this he giveth only to the Elect, which are few in comparison of those that have it not? This way leads me to difcomfort or defpair, or at leaft it taketh away from me all remorfe for unbelief and impenitence: for if God giveth me not Faith and Repentance, and that out of his Decree, by which he determined to give it only to fome few; I cannot help it, if I neither believe nor repent.

But when I hear that the Mercy and Love of God to Mankind, hath given his Son a ransom for all, and that the God of Truth hath made a gene ral Promise to fave all that believe; tho' I know but few will be faved, because few believe: yet fince I know this to arife from the contempt and neglect of Men, and not from God, I am no way difmayed, but have a door of Hope opened wide unto me from God, and have caufe to fear and blame none but my felf. And I have fufficient relief, from the Grace of God, which is in the word of the Gospel, and in God ready to help me, against my own natural corruptions, which are indeed deep, ly to be feared, Neither would it fatisfy to fay, the Promife is therefore delivered in general, because the Preachers that publish it, are ignorant who are God's Elect, and therefore they call, and let God work when he will,

1. For first, the Promises thus general are to be read in holy Scripture, wherein God fpeaks himself, who knoweth who are his.

2. Preach