' " Nihil ineptius, nihil vanius, quam regenerationem et fidem merito Christi tribu- ere; si enim Christus nobis meritus dicatur fidem et regenerationem, tum fides conditio esse non potei'at quam a peccatoribus Deus sub comminatione mortis ceternse exigeret." — Rem. Apol., cap. viii. p. 95.
2 " Si fides sit eflfectum meriti Chi-isti, non potest esse actus officii nostri." — Idem.
102 A DISPLAY OF ARMINIANISM.
The Armlnians 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 everywhere press at large, " usque et usque." In plain terms, they will not suffer their idol to be accounted defective in any thing that is necessary to bring us unto heaven. Now, concerning this argument, that nothing which God requireth 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 unto 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 requirable 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 finish- ing 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 the 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 beseecheth us to be " reconciled unto 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 unto God is a part of our duty; and yet the Arminians sometimes seem to confess that Christ hath obtained for us a reconciliation with God. The like may be said in divers other particulars. So that this argu- ment either proveth that we enjoy no fruit of the death of Christ in this life, or (which is most true) it proveth nothing at all ; for neither the merit of Christ procuring nor God bestowing any grace in the habit doth 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. Notwith- standing, then, this excejDtion, — which cannot stand by itself alone without the help of some other not as yet discovered, — we will con- tinue 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, yea, 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 ' Rem. Apol, ubi sup. ; Corv. ad Molin., cap. xxviii. sect. 9.
OF THE CAUSE OF FAITH. 103
author and finisher of all those graces whereof in this life we are partakers, arlseth from what the Scripture affirmeth concerning his working these gi'aces 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, contradis- tinct from his gifts, because they are in us and commanded by him. The head, then, of this contention betwixt our God and their idol about the living child of grace is, whether he can work that in us which he requireth 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 com- manded. He foolishly commandeth that to be done of others who will work in them what he commandeth," saith their Apology. O foolish St 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 bestoweth upon us!" Foolish St Augustine, praying, ^ " Give us, O Lord, what thou commandest, and command what thou wilt ! " Foolish Benedict, bishop of Kome, who gave such a form to his prayer as must needs cast an aspersion of folly on the Most High! *" 0 Lord," saith he, " teach us what we should do ; show us whither we should go ; work in us what we ought to per- form." O foolish fathers of the second Arausican council, afiirming, ^■'' That many good things are done in man which he doth not him- self; but a man doth no good which God doth not so work that he should do it!" And again, " As often as we do good, God worketh 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, inasmuch as they all unanimously maintained that we are partakers of no good thing in this kind without the effectual power- ful operation of the almighty grace of God, and yet our faith and obedience, so wrought in us, to be most acceptable unto him. Yea, Avhat 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 depai't from him ? Is his command foolish, or his promise false? The Arminians must affirm the one or