and Decreesof god, .&c. determination, e c. I think rather your patience is put to it fufficicntiy already. 136. If you fay that by reciting there difficulties , I do but confound mens underftandings, rather than elucidate the things in hand, I anfwer, If you arelofl in them, I have my end, which is to make you fenfiblc howun- meet it is, that thePeace of the Church, and the Concord andCommu- nion ofBrethren fhould at all be laid on fuels multitudes of difficult and unfearchable things which are many vain, andothers pall mans underhand- ing. Shall we call oneanother by the names of Sects, and reproach our brethren, as for thetruth ofGod, and as if it were for his Glory, till all thofe Controverfies are cleared to us all? I who profefs them to be beyond my reach, and profefs my Ignorance of very many of them, am yet ten= firedby my Brethren as too Scholaftically curious for fo much as naming them, or medlingwith them ; yea, and for deciding cafes which may and mutt bedecided : And of all our prefent Miniflors , I am confident there is not one of fifty ( if of a hundred ) that bath either throughly ítudied them, orever will do. Now if the Church muff have Love and Concord, howwill it be had e Of thofe few ( one of a hundred that ftudy theni throughly ) fix men it's like are of three opinions. Andwhat fball the ninetynine do that never fo ftudied them t Either theymutt know what they neverfludied, and be in the Right where they underhand not what they -fay : Or elle they mull unite by anImplicit faith; And in whom (hall that be t' If the Church, what Church is it e Are not many Churches of many minds t Ifof the Papal Church, it bath more wit than to decide fuch Controverfies s fo that their Doctors are almoft Seftaries by divifions tò this day. x37. And if anywill dream that the Controverfies betweenthe Calvi- nifis and Lutherans (or Arminians) and the Dominicans andf efi;its can be refolved for either fidewithout medling with thefe queftions , he is a perfon too ignorant to be fit to fpeak confidently in the Caute. Let him but try adifpure with any able adverfary, and he (hall be carried to there whether he will or not. 138. But if it be one that is foconfident on either part, as to think that his fide or opinions are, fo great and clear, as that thecontrary are unfitfor our toleration, and communion, I mutt be fo freewith him as to fay, that he bewrayethfogreat Ignorance andPride, as makehis own fitnefsfor com- munion much more quettionable. For is it not molt odious Ignorance, for aman not to knowhis own Ignorance of fo manymyfteries which no mor- tals know t And is it not loathfomePride, for men to be fo confident of thefe falfe conceits, and arrogate to themfelves a knowledge which mans earthly hate is uncapable oft 139. And it filleth me with fhame tofind, that ( though Tome ftir bath been latelymade againft the 7anfents) yet all there Setts (Dominicans, scotifls, Nominals, &c.) can live in communion notwithftanding their differences, when yet the Proteflants have profecuted the fame dif- ferenceswith, all that bitternefs, which you may find in the Germans Hi- ftoriansand Divines, (fach as Schluffelburgises,calovius, and many more ) andin the fad Hiftory of the Low Countreys and in Heylinis LifeofArch bith i opLaud, and which you mayhill hear in all parties, in their ignorant cenCures of one another, by the names of Calvins andArminians. And yet the Church ofRome is juftly condemnedby us for its uncharitable Cru- elty againft Diffenters, when thus we thereby condemnourfelves, SECTQ Nic. D'Orbellis in i. d. 41. a. 2. off.et dari refpm!io generalif . as g.-:pones confini- lee ; quad debilitas na'tri to:Oetue nos fufficit ad indagandadi abyffum yrdi. drum Divi.lrorum. Not miran: cum adplenum non cabanas eogrofbe e medic. hieba: [me minimi vermi- eufi proprietatem. The very fame bath Bradwardine, though a prefumptuous School- man. See alto. Varie C in r. Thom. q. 1 g. difp: eme. C.2, Ang. 503, 504. where lie fully and fredy amid, feth that our under laud- ings are utterly flailed about Gas Lf'erty of Will asrelated to things future, Nadas hic mua quidem fententia i.nfolubilkc of ; vix enim vitare paf - famnscirculem in reddenda ration : Certa(Ima cati, one invefligare pumas quirt in hoc re non fit : ,94id vero ft, verbo er- plicari oat pro hot flaca impoJbile eft; autan videt Deum, de ejles Vnluntate Liberi qua- tenus principium liberum eftfuturorum, longe aliter endet, da' unica verb, ex primez fine bifee relation- bbs rariamo, Seethe reft there to the fame pur.. pote. And this is the confelìïon of them ill, ofwhich mure after.
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