Lastly, Observe^ that tliis error is that which, of all others, the orthodox fathers did most oppose in the Pelagian heretics; yea, and
' " Pfitamus ut dot quod ut habeamus jubet." — Aug.
' " Virtutcm aiitein nemo unquani acccptam dco rctulit. Nimirum ^cct^: propter virtutcin ouini jnvc lanilaiimr, ct in virtute recti' gloriamur. Quod non contiugcret, si id douuui a ]'co, uou ii nobis habcremus." — Cicero Dc Nat. Dcor. iii. 36.
OF THE CAUSE OP FAITH. 107
to this day, Hhe more learned schoolmen stoutly maintain the truth herein against the innovating Jesuits. With some few of the testi- monies of the ancients I will shut up this discourse. ^" It is certain that when we do any thing, we do it," saith St Augustine ; " but it is God that causeth 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 rejecteth both the error and the sophism wherewith it is uphold en. So also Coelestius, bishop of Rome, in his epistle to the bishops of France. *" So great," saith 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 St Prosper, in his treatise against Cassianus the semi- Pelagian, aflfirmeth 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 : —
S. S. Lib. Arbit.
" Circumcise the foreskin of " This is most certain, that your heart, and be no more stiff- that ought not to be commanded necked," Deut. x. 1 6. " And the which is wrought in us. He fool- LOED thy God will circumcise ishly commandeth that to be done thine heart, and the heart of thy of others who will work in them seed," chap. XXX. 6. — "Make you what he commandeth," Rem. a new heart and a new spirit, for Apol. why will ye die, 0 house of Is- rael?" Ezek, xviii. 31. "A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you," chap, xxxvi. 26.
" If ye will fear the LoED, and " It is absurd to affirm that
' Alvarez, Disput. Ixxxvi., ubi Aug., Thorn., alios, citat.
2 " Cei'tum est nos facere cum facimus; sed ille facit ut faciamus." — Aug. de Grat., et Lib. Arbit., cap. xvi.
* " Neque id donura Dei esse fateamur, quoniam exigi audivimus a nobis,
prsemio vitae si hoc fecerimus oblate ? Absit, ut hoc placeat participibus et defensoribus gratife." — Aug. de Prsedest. Sane, cap. xx.
* " Tanta est erga homines bonitas Dei, ut nostra velit esse mei'ita qutc sunt ijisius dona." — Coelest. Epist. ad Ep. Gal., cap. xii.
•'" " Non enim conturbat nos superbientium inepta querimonia ; quia liberum ar- bitrium causantur auferri : si et principia, et i^rofectus, et pei'sevei'antia in bonis usque ad tinem Dei dona esse dicantur." — Prosp. ad Collat., p. 404.
108
A DISPLAY OF AKMINIANISM.
S. S.
serve him, then shall ye continue following the LoED your God," 1 Sam. xii. 14. "I will put my fear in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me," Jer. xxxii. 40.
" Thou hast wrought all our works in us," Isa. xxvi. 12. " God worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure/' Phil, ii. 13.
" He hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ," Eph. i. 3.
" Unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ to believe on him," Phil. i. 29. " The blood of Christ purgeth our consciences from dead works to serve the liv- ing God," Heb. ix. 14.
Lib. Arbit. God either worketh by his power, or procureth by his wisdom, that the elect should do those thino-s which God requireth of them," Episcop.
" Faith and conversion cannot be acts of our obedience if they are wrought by God in us," Rem. Coll. 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 crowneth his own gifts in us,' is not easily to be admit- ted," Ibid.
" There is nothing more vain and foolish than to ascribe faith and regeneration to the merit of Christ," Idem.
CHAPTER XI.
Wliether salvation may be attained without the knowledge of, or faith in, Christ Jesus.
I SHALL shut up all this discourse concerning the meritorious cause of salvation, with their shutting out of Christ from being the only one and absolutely necessary means to bring us unto heaven, to make us happy. This is the last pile they erect upon their Babj^- lonish foundation, which makes the idol of human self-sufficiency every way perfect, and fit to be sacrificed unto. Until these proud builders, to get materials for their own temple, laid the axe to the root of Christianity, we took it for granted that " there is no salva- tion in any other," because " there is none other name under heaven given unto men whereby we must be saved," Acts iv. 12. Neither yet shall their nefarious attempts frighten us from our creed, nor make us be wanting to the defence of our Saviour's honour. But I shall be very brief in the consideration of this heterodoxy, nothing