" Quare agite, 6 juvenes, tantarum in munere laudum,
Cingite fronde comas, et pocula porgite dextris,
Communemque vocate Deum, et date vina volentes."2 " March on, brave youths, i' th' praise of such free grace,
Surround your locks with bays ; and full cups place
In your right hands : drink freely on, then call
0' th' common hope, the ransom general."
These and the hke persuasions I no way dislike, because wholly new to the men of this generation ; that I may add this by the way :— Every age hath its employ- ment in the discovery of truth. We are not come to the bottom of vice or virtue. The whole world hath been employed in the practice of iniquity five thousand years and upwards, and yet " aspice hoc novum" may be set on many villanies. Behold daily new inventions! No wonder, then, if all truth be not yet discovered. Some- thmg may be revealed to them who as yet sit by. Admire not if Saul also be among the prophets, for who is their father? Is he not free in his dispensations? Are atl the depths of Scripture, where the elephants may swim, just fathomed to the bottom? Let any man observe the progress of the last century in unfolduig the truths of God, and he wiU scarce be obstinate that no more is left as yet undis- covered. Only the itching of corrupted fancies, the boldness of darkened minds and lascivious wanton wits, in venting new-created nothings, insignificant vanities, with an intermixed dash of blasphemy, is that which I desire to oppose; and that especially considering the genius (if I may so speak) of the days wherein we five; in which, what by one means, what by another, there is almost a general de- flection after novelty gTOwn amongst us. s « Some are credulous, some negligent, some fiiU into errors, some seek them." A great suspicion also every day grows upon me, which I would thank any one upon solid gi-ounds to free me from, that pride of sph-it, wthan Herostratus-like design to gi'ow big in the mouths of men, hath acted many m the conception and pubHcation of some easily-invented false opinions. Is it not to be thought, also, that it is from the same humour possessing many, that every one of them almost strives to put on beyond his companions m framing some singular artifice? To be a foUower of others, though in desperate engagements, is too mean an undertaking.
" Aude^ aliquod brevibus Gyaris, et carcere dignum, Si vis esse aliiuis : prohitas laudatur et alget." 5 1 Iren. lib. ii., cap. 6, 7, U, 15, etc. ; Clem. Strom, iii. ; Epiph. H»res. xxxi. ; Tertul. ad Talen.
\ "QSidfm c1;duli?aui":in negligentes sunt, quibusdam ^^^^-^^^^^X' ^t ""''"" ^"'""''' t "In tam occnpata civitate fabulas vulgaris nequitia uon invemt. -Sen. fcp. l-U. 5 Juv. Sat. i. 7-1.
152 TO THE READER.
And let it be no small peccadillo, no underling opinion, friends, if in these busy times you would have it taken notice of. Of ordinary errors you may cry, —
" Quis leget hcec 1 nemo heroule nemo,
Vel duo, vel nemo." l
They must be glorious attainments, beyond the understanding of men, and above the wisdom of the word, which attract the eyes of poor deluded souls. The great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, recover his poor wanderers to his own fold! But to return thither from whence we have digressed : —
This is that fatal Helena, a useless, barren, fruitless fancy, for whose enthroning such irksome, tedious contentions have been caused to the churches of God ; a mere Rome, a desolate, dirty place of cottages, until all the v\orld be robbed and spoiled to adorn it. Suppose Christ died for all, yet if God in his free purpose hath chosen some to obtain life and salvation, passing by others, will it be profitable only to the former, or unto all? Surely the purpose of God must stand, and he will do all his pleasure. Wherefore, election either, with Huberus, by a wild con- tradiction, must be made universal, or the thoughts of the Most High suspended on the free-will of man. Add this borrowed feather to the general ransom, that at least it may have some colour of pompous ostentation. Yet if the free grace of God work effectually in some, not in others, can those others, passed by in its powerful operation, have any benefit by universal redemption? No more than the Egj'ptians had in the angel's passing over those houses whose doors were not sprinkled with blood, leaving some dead behind him. Almighty, powerful, free grace, then, must strike its sail, that free-will, like th^ Alexandrian ships to the Roman havens, may come in with top and top-gallant ; for without it the whole territory of universal redemption will certainly be fjmiished. But let these doctrines of God's eternal election, the free grace of conversion, perseverance, and their necessary consequents, be asserted, " movet cornicula risum, furtivis nudata colo- ribus ;" it hath not the least appearance of profit or consolation but -nhat it robs from the sovereignty and grace of God. But of these things more afterward.
Some flourishing pretences are usually held out by the abettors of the general ransom ; which by thy patience, courteous reader, we will a little view in the en- trance, to remove some prejudice that may lie in the way of truth: —