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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 June 2018
Much of John Goodwin's theological output can be viewed as a backlash against the “orthodox” doctrine of God. That God, as Goodwin conceived him, was too eager to command the “impossible” and too inclined to “delight” in the punishment of the noncompliant. During the early 1650s, Goodwin turned to the pagans in order to articulate the gracious countenance of a wise and equitable deity. In the process, he went close to canceling the operational distinction between grace and nature. For nature, according to Goodwin, preached unlettered sermons about “atonement.” And because, as Paul declared in Romans, the blessings of creation render the sins of creatures inexcusable, it is only because they willfully repudiate the deity's gracious overtures that pagans deprive themselves of excuse. The doctrine, as Goodwin presented it, horrified his many opponents. It seemed to them that Goodwin had lodged in the “free will” of rational creatures the power to attain salvation. He put himself on a collision course with the magisterial masters—Bucer, Vermigli, Calvin, Pareus, and others—whose lead he professed, in many respects, to follow. There is reason to suspect that Goodwin had been particularly indebted to Arminius, Episcopius, and Corvinus.
1 Goodwin, John, Imputatio Fidei (London: Andrew Crooke, 1642)Google Scholar, c1r, also c2r–v, e2v–e3r. A fine study of the many-sided Goodwin is Coffey, John, John Goodwin and the Puritan Revolution: Religion and Intellectual Change in Seventeenth-Century England (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2006)Google Scholar.
2 Goodwin, Imputatio Fidei, sigs. b3r–v, pt. 2:187, 189–190; and Goodwin, Impedit Ira Animum (London, 1641), pt. 2:9–17.
3 On English responses to Arminianism, see, for example: William Robert Godfrey, “Tensions within International Calvinism: The Debate on the Atonement at the Synod of Dort, 1618–1619” (PhD diss., Stanford University, 1974), 179–188; Wallace, Dewey D. Jr., Puritans and Predestination: Grace in English Protestant Theology, 1525–1695 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982)Google Scholar, chap. 3; Tyacke, Nicholas, Anti-Calvinists: The Rise of English Arminianism (Oxford: Clarendon, 1987)Google Scholar; Tyacke, , Aspects of English Protestantism, c. 1530–1700 (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001)Google Scholar; Como, David, “Puritans, Predestination and the Construction of Orthodoxy in Early Seventeenth-Century England,” in Conformity and Orthodoxy in the English Church, c. 1560–1660, ed. Lake, Peter and Questier, Michael (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2000), 64–87Google Scholar; Towers, S. Mutchow, Control of Religious Printing in Early Stuart England (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2003), 38–45, 178–179Google Scholar; Moore, Jonathan D., English Hypothetical Universalism: John Preston and the Softening of Reformed Theology (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 2007)Google Scholar; Moore, , “The Extent of the Atonement: English Hypothetical Universalism versus Particular Redemption,” in Drawn into Controversie: Reformed Theological Diversity and Debates within Seventeenth-Century British Puritanism, ed. Haykin, Michael A. G. and Jones, Mark (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011), 124–161Google Scholar; Muller, Richard A., Calvin and the Reformed Tradition: On the Work of Christ and the Order of Salvation (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Academic, 2012), 127–144, 156–159Google Scholar; Snoddy, Richard, The Soteriology of James Ussher: The Act and Object of Saving Faith (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)Google Scholar; and Lake, Peter and Stephens, Isaac, Scandal and Religious Identity in Early Stuart England: A Northamptonshire Maid's Tragedy (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2015), 101–103Google Scholar.
4 Nedham, Marchamont, The Great Accuser Cast Down (London: George Sawbridge, 1657), 54Google Scholar.
5 Hooker, Thomas, The Unbeleevers Preparing for Christ (London: Andrew Crooke, 1638)Google Scholar, pt. 1:183.
6 Martin Luther, De servo arbitrio, in D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe, Schriften, ed. J. R. F. Knaake, Gustav Kawerau, Paul Pietsch, D. Knaake, Karl Drescher, Gustav Koffmane, Wilhelm Walther, et al., 73 vols. (Weimar: H. Böhlau, 1883–2009), 18:671, 676–677.
7 Marenbon, John, Pagans and Philosophers: The Problem of Paganism from Augustine to Leibniz (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2015), 294Google Scholar.
8 Ibid.; Williams, George Hunston, “Erasmus and the Reformers on Non-Christian Religions and Salus Extra Ecclesiam,” in Action and Conviction in Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honour of E. H. Harbison, ed. Rabb, Theodore K. and Seigel, Jerrold E. (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969), 319–370, esp. 355–359CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Stephens, W. P., The Holy Spirit in the Theology of Martin Bucer (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1970), 122–126Google Scholar; James, Frank A. III, Peter Martyr Vermigli and Predestination: The Augustinian Inheritance of an Italian Reformer (Oxford: Clarendon, 1998), 211–213, 233–236CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and John Calvin, Institutio christianae religionis 2.6.1, in Ioannis Calvini opera quae supersunt omnia (hereafter cited as CO), ed. Guilielmus Baum, Eduardus Cunitz, and Eduardus Reuss, 59 vols. (Brunswick: Schwetschke, 1863–1900), 2:248.
9 Goodwin, John, The Pagans Debt, and Dowry (London: Henry Cripps, 1651), 39Google Scholar.
10 Mornay, Philippe Duplessis, De veritate religionis christianae (Herborn: Corvinus, 1632), chaps. 1–13, 19–20Google Scholar.
11 Ibid., 68, 72, 89, 98–101, 119, 121, 364–369, 402. On Mornay and the wider discourse of ancient theology, see Walker, D. P., The Ancient Theology: Studies in Christian Platonism from the Fifteenth to the Eighteenth Century (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1972)Google Scholar.
12 Mornay, De veritate, 40, 314–315, 317–319, 323, 325–326, 329–330, 335–360, 460, 511–512.
13 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 23–35.
14 Simon Episcopius, Institutiones theologicae, in Opera theologica (Amsterdam: Joannes Blaeu, 1650), pt. 1:6–13, 16–20, 23, 129–132, 289–290, 343, 393; see also Platt, John, Reformed Thought and Scholasticism: The Arguments for the Existence of God in Dutch Theology, 1575–1650 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1982), 196–201, 222–238Google Scholar.
15 Truths Conflict with Error (London: Robert Austin, 1650). This is an anonymously authored account of the public disputations in which Goodwin debated various points of doctrine and biblical interpretation with Powell and Simpson.
16 Goodwin, Imputatio Fidei, a2v–a3r, c1r–v, e2v; and Goodwin, Απολυτρωσις απολυτρωσεως; or, Redemption Redeemed (London: Lodowick Lloyd and Henry Cripps, 1651), a1v–2r, c4r–v, 570.
17 Goodwin, John, The Remedie of Unreasonableness (London: Lodowick Lloyd and Henry Cripps, 1650), 6–7Google Scholar.
18 Ibid., 7–8; and Goodwin, John, Moses Made Angry (London: Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd, 1651), 6Google Scholar.
19 Goodwin, John, Triumviri (London: Henry Eversden, 1658), 101Google Scholar.
20 George Kendall, Θεοκρατια (hereafter cited as Theokratia) (London: Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershed, 1653), pt. 1:28, 208.
21 Ibid., pt. 1:29.
22 Kendall, George, Sancti Sanciti (London: Thomas Ratcliffe and Edward Mottershed, 1654)Google Scholar, pt. 3:96.
23 George Kendall, “A Verdict in the Case Depending between Master J. Goodwin, and Master Howe, Concerning the Heavens Preaching the Gospel [ . . . ],” in The Pagan Preacher Silenced, by Obadiah Howe (London: John Rothwell, 1655), 2–8; also Kendall, Theokratia, sigs. [*]4r, ***2r–v, pt. 1:107, 207–208, pt. 2:1, 14, 173–174; Kendall, Fur pro tribunali (Oxford: Thomas Robinson, 1657), pt. 2:18–19; and Tuckney, Anthony, None but Christ (London: John Rothwell and S. Gellibrand, 1654), 25–26Google Scholar.
24 Truths Conflict with Error, 41–42; and Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 40–42. Goodwin addresses the supposition that heathens “were in a capacity of being made Partakers even of the letter and oral Administration” of the Gospel: Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 23–35, quoting, on p. 28, Hugo Grotius, Annotationes in libros evangeliorum (Amsterdam: J. and C. Blaeu, 1641), 886 (on John 4:38). The supposition is supplementary to the principal thesis that nature itself propagates an unlettered gospel to pagans.
25 Kendall, Theokratia, pt. 1:30.
26 John Goodwin, Πληρωμα το Πνευματίκον; or, a Being Filled with the Spirit (London: Henry Eversden, 1670), 135; and Goodwin, Confidence Dismounted (London: Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd, 1651), 9–10.
27 Goodwin, Remedie of Unreasonableness, 9. For the voidance of excuse, see also, for example, Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 502–503; Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 14, 22–23, 29; Goodwin, Triumviri, 98–99; and Goodwin, A Door Opening into Christian Religion (London, 1662), pt. 1:123–124, 383–384. Sufficient means are discussed in many of Goodwin's utterances, esp. Truths Conflict with Error; Redemption Redeemed; Pagans Debt, and Dowry; and An Exposition of the Nineth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (London: Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd, 1653)Google Scholar.
28 Goodwin, Remedie of Unreasonableness, 7–8.
29 Simon Episcopius, Apologia pro confessione sive declaratione sententiae eorum, qui in Foederato Belgio vocantur Remonstrantes, super praecipuis articulis religionis christianae (n.p., 1630), 163r: “Gratia enim, quae administrari dicitur per sapientiam, proprie est gratia congrua, . . . Gratia vero quae per potentiam administrari dicitur, est determinans physica gratia.” See also 159r, 165v–168v, 175v, 180v, 186v, 187v.
30 Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 23, 237, 304–305, 319, also 508; and Goodwin, Being Filled with the Spirit, 48, 58, 281–282.
31 Burgess, Anthony, Vindiciae Legis (London: Thomas Underhill, 1646), 65, also 66, 68Google Scholar.
32 Willet, Andrew, Hexapla (Cambridge: Leonard Greene, 1611), 66, also 68–72, 76Google Scholar.
33 For an example of the handling of such inquiries, see: Preston, John, The Saints Qualification (London: Nicholas Bourne, 1633), pt. 1:237–244Google Scholar.
34 Preston, John, Foure Godly and Learned Treatises (London: Michael Sparke, 1636), 1, 26Google Scholar; also Preston, Saints Qualification, pt. 1:241–242; Preston, Life Eternall (London: Nicholas Bourne, 1631), pt. 1:88–91; and Preston, Sins Overthrow (London, 1633), 217–218, 239.
35 Preston, Life Eternall, pt. 1:90; see also Dod, John and Cleaver, Robert, A Plain and Familiar Exposition of the Ten Commandements (London: Joane Man and Benjamin Fisher, 1635), 27–28, 60–65Google Scholar.
36 Preston, Saints Qualification, pt. 1:199–202, 222–224, 228–229.
37 Ibid., pt. 1:128–129, 131–134.
38 Ibid., pt. 1:80, 91–92, 95.
39 Goodwin, Imputatio Fidei, pt. 1:53–54.
40 Preston, Foure Treatises, 26, 28, 36, 179, 222, 224–225; Preston, Sins Overthrow, 239, 241, 248; Preston, , A Heavenly Treatise of the Divine Love of Christ (London: John Stafford, 1640), 75Google Scholar; see also Perkins, William, A Commentarie, or, Exposition upon the Five First Chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians (London: John Legate, 1617), 269Google Scholar.
41 Goodwin, Moses Made Angry, 4; and Goodwin, Confidence Dismounted, 7–8.
42 Goodwin, John, Anapologesiates Antapologias (London: Henry Overton, 1646), 102Google Scholar. On Goodwin's battles with the orthodox, see Parnham, David, Heretics Within: Anthony Wotton, John Goodwin, and the Orthodox Divines (Eastbourne: Sussex Academic, 2014), 36–49, 167–420Google Scholar.
43 Goodwin, Moses Made Angry, 9.
44 Goodwin, Confidence Dismounted, 14–15, 19; see also, for example, Goodwin, Imputatio Fidei, pt. 1:10–11, 76–83, 175, pt. 2:11, 54, 81–82, 124–125, 163–164; Goodwin, Remedie of Unreasonableness, 9–11; Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, A4r–v, 47–53, 84–85, 90–91, 102–103, 110–112, 122–123, 186, 225, 227, 240, 242, 280–281, 320, 326, 328–329, 356–358, 364, 384–402, 416–417, 471, 546–560; Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 14–17, 20, 26–28, 45; Goodwin, Exposition of the Nineth Chapter, 15–17, 37–38, 90, 108–112, 202–203, 217, 242–243, 297, 324–325; and Goodwin, Triumviri, o4v, 12, 15, 20–21, 43–44, 141, 151, 160, 162–163, 167, 265, 279, 338, 340–341.
45 I. Hesselink, John, Calvin's Concept of the Law (Allison Park, Pa.: Pickwick, 1992), 219–221, 231Google Scholar.
46 Ussher, James, A Bodie of Divinitie (London: Thomas Downes and George Badger, 1647), 203Google Scholar; Preston, Saints Qualification, pt. 1:37–38; and Preston, , The Golden Sceptre Held Forth to the Humble (London: Nicholas Bourne, 1638), 69, 79–80Google Scholar.
47 Goodwin, Being Filled with the Spirit, 355.
48 Of those creaturely acts that follow upon abandonment or deprivation on God's part, Episcopius allows that, “materially,” they may be called “sins”; however, the Remonstrants “negant eos formaliter esse peccata, quae scilicet ad poenam obligent eos, a quibus sunt. Nemo enim obligari iure potest ad impossibilia, quae quidem ex actione eius, cui obligatus est, prorsus sunt impossibilia, nedum ut obligetur ad poenam, eamque maiorem, imo omnium gravissimam, nisi impossibilia ista faciat. Crudelitatis et tyrannidis apex foret eiusmodi obligatio.” Episcopius, Apologia, 86v, also 161v–162r, 223v; and Episcopius, , Confessio, sive declaratio (Harderwijk: Theodore Daniel, 1622), 57–58Google Scholar.
49 Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 500.
50 Harrison, Peter, “Religion” and the Religions in the English Enlightenment (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990), 27CrossRefGoogle Scholar.
51 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 14–16.
52 Stephens, Bucer, 122–126; and James, Vermigli, 233.
53 Bucer, Martin, Metaphrases et enarrationes perpetuae epistolarum D. Pauli apostoli (Strasbourg: Wendelin Rihel, 1536)Google Scholar, 85: “Coeli ennarant gloriam eius.” Musculus, Wolfgang, In epistolam apostoli Pauli ad Romanos (Basel: Johannes Hervagius, 1555)Google Scholar, 31: “Quid enim est ex operibus Dei in toto hoc mundo, quod non gloriam Dei praedicet?”
54 Bucer, Metaphrases, 84, 89; Musculus, Romanos, 31; and Vermigli, Peter Martyr, In epistolam S. Pauli apostoli ad Romanos (Basel: Petrus Perna, 1558), 27–29Google Scholar.
55 Vermigli, Romanos, 27–28: “Vires naturae corrupta sunt, infirmae, ac vitiatae per peccatum. Ideoque veritatem, quam apprehendunt, non habent efficacem . . . multa sunt divina mysteria, quae naturaliter minime possumus attingere.”
56 Bucer, Metaphrases, 84–96; Musculus, Romanos, 31; and Vermigli, Romanos, 27–29.
57 Musculus, Romanos, 31: “Est enim omnis excusatio in ignorantia sita. Ubi vero scientia adiuncta est malitiae, ibi nulla est excusatio.”
58 Bucer, Metaphrases, 86–87, 91: “Deum cum sit, possit, et facit omnia, idque ratione optima esse supra omnia metuendum, suspiciendum, colendum . . . Cum itaque Dei sempiternam potentiam, atque divinitatem cognovissent, quae eis foret tantae impietatis, huius tam portentosi sacrilegii excusatio reliqua?”
59 Vermigli, Romanos, 28, 30: “Semper enim nobis apertum librum rerum conditarum statuit ob oculos: semper nos illustrat et vocat. Nos vero a doctrina eius semper avertimus animum, atque aliud agimus. Idcirco Deus nos abiiciet, ut pessimos discipulos, . . . cum scientes et volentes male egerint, non habuerunt excusationem.”
60 Ibid., 30: “Neque putandum est, Deum propterea concessisse illis praeclaram hanc notitiam naturalem, ut inexcusabiles essent. Nam eorum id vitio consecutum est.”
61 Ibid.: “Si enim verum est, nostris viribus, ac libero arbitrio, nos minime posse legem Dei, quam novimus, praestare, quomodo isti dicentur inexcusabiles? Nam si, quod dicimus, est verum, facile possent excusari, se quidem novisse hanc legem ex naturali lumine: sed tamen defuisse vires, quibus exequerentur, quantum noverant. Ideo non videntur fuisse inexcusabiles.”
62 Calvin, Commentarius in epistolam Pauli ad Corinthios I 1:21 (CO 49:326): “Deus ergo in creaturis praeclarum admirabilis suae sapientiae speculum nobis profert, ut quicunque mundum et reliqua Dei opera intuetur, necesse habeat, si vel scintillam unam sani iudicii habeat, in eius admirationem prorumpere.” See also 13:12 (CO 49:514); Calvin, Institutio christianae religionis 1.5.1, 3, 11; 2.14.21 (CO 2:42, 43, 49, 132); and Calvin, Commentarius in epistolam ad Hebraeos 9:3 (CO 55:145–146).
63 Calvin, Commentarius in epistolam Pauli ad Romanos 1:20 (CO 49:23–24); see also Calvin, Institutio 1.5.1–2, 6–10; 1.14.21 (CO 2:41–42, 46–48, 132); Calvin, Praelectionum in Ieremiam prophetam 10:7, 10 (CO 38:67–68, 71–72); Calvin, Commentarius in acta apostolorum 17:27 (CO 48:415–416); and Calvin, Comm. Romanos 1:21 (CO 49:24).
64 Calvin, Institutio 1.3.1–3 (CO 2:36–37): “Quamdam sui numinis intelligentiam universis Deus ipse indidit, cuius memoriam assidue renovans, novas subinde guttas instillat . . . insculptum mentibus humanis esse divinitatis sensum . . . penitus infixam esse quasi in ipsis medullis.”
65 Calvin, Commentarius in evangelium Ioannis 1:9 (CO 47:9).
66 Calvin, Comm. 1 Corinthios 1:21 (CO 49:326–327): “Patet quanta sit humanae mentis caecitas, quae in media luce nihil cernit . . . caecutimus, non quia obscura sit revelatio, sed quia nos mente alienati sumus . . . non ita mera ignorantia errare homines quin et contemptus, et neglegentiae, et ingratitudinis sint rei.” See, similarly, Calvin, Institutio 1.5.14 (CO 2:51–52); Calvin, Comm. acta apost. 17:27 (CO 48:416); Calvin, Comm. Romanos 1:20–21, 24, 26–27 (CO 49:24–28); and Calvin, Comm. Hebraeos 9:3 (CO 55:144–146).
67 Calvin, Institutio 1.5.14 (CO 2:51): “Ergo frustra nobis in mundi opificio collucent tot accensae lampades ad illustrandum autoris gloriam: quae sic nos undique irradiant, ut tamen in rectam viam per se nequaquam possint perducere. Et scintillas certe quasdam excitant; sed quae ante praefocantur quam pleniorem effundant fulgorem.”
68 Ibid. 1.5.15 (CO 2:52): “Hominum vitio imputandum sit, quod semen notitiae Dei, ex mirabili naturae artificio mentibus suis inspersum, mox corrumpunt.” See also Steinmetz, David, Calvin in Context (New York: Oxford University Press, 1995), 28–32Google Scholar.
69 Calvin, Institutio 1.4.3–4 (CO 2:39–40).
70 Ibid. 1.4.4 (CO 2:41): “Tandem se tanta errorum congerie implicant, ut scintillas illas, quae micabant ad cernendam Dei gloriam, suffocet, ac demum exstinguat malitiae caligo.”
71 Ibid. 1.3.1; 1.4.1; 1.5.1, 14; 2.2.22, 24 (CO 2:36, 39, 41–42, 52, 203–205); Calvin, De aeterna Dei praedestinatione (CO 8:285, 340, 342); Calvin, Commentariorum in quinque libros Mosis 4:20; 26:10; 31:55; 43:23 (CO 23:100, 361, 434, 542); Calvin, Commentarius in Exodi 7:23 (CO 24:96); Calvin, Commentarii in librum psalmorum pars prior 19:7; 40:8 (CO 31:199, 412); Calvin, Commentariorum in Isaiam prophetam 26:11 (CO 36:434–435); Calvin, Praelect. Ieremiam 10:7, 10 (CO 38:67–68, 72); Calvin, Praelectionum in duodecim prophetas minores: Amos 5:18 (CO 43:90); Calvin, Praelectionum in duodecim prophetas minores: Ionam 1:5 (CO 43:213); Calvin, Praelectionum in duodecim prophetas minores: Habacuc 1:16 (CO 43:515); Calvin, Comm. acta apost. 14:17; 17:27 (CO 48:327, 415–416); Calvin, Comm. Romanos 1:24; 2:1 (CO 49:27, 30–31); Calvin, Comm. 1 Corinthios 1:21 (CO 49:326–327); and Calvin, Comm. Hebraeos 9:3 (CO 55:145–146).
72 Calvin, Institutio 1.5.1 (CO 2:42); and Calvin, Comm. Romanos 1:21 (CO 49:24).
73 Calvin, Comm. Romanos 2:14 (CO 49:37); and Calvin, Institutio 2.2.22 (CO 2:203–204).
74 Calvin, Praelect. Ieremiam 10:10 (CO 38:71); Calvin, Comm. acta apost. 14:17 (CO 48:328); and Calvin, Institutio 1.5.14 (CO 2:52).
75 Calvin, Comm. Romanos 1:20 (CO 49:24): “Multum itaque haec Dei notitia, quae tantum ad tollendam excusationem valet, a salvifica illa differt.”
76 Piscator, Johannes, Analysis logica omnium epistolarum Pauli (London: George Bishop, 1608), 7–8, 17, 19, 194, 199, 202–203Google Scholar; and Pareus, David, In divinam ad Romanos S. Pauli apostoli epistolam commentarius (Geneva: Paulus Marcellus, 1617), 82Google Scholar.
77 Piscator, Analysis logica, 7–8: “Deus sese patefecit per creationem mundi: hominibusque mentem dedit, cuius vi ex effectis de efficiente et conditore Deo ratiocinarentur: concludentes, Deum aeterna et immensa potentia, sapientia, iustitia ac bonitate praeditum esse . . . invisibilia attributa Dei cognosci possunt ex visibilibus eius operibus, ratiocinando ab effectis ad causam efficientem.”
78 Ibid., 17, 202–203.
79 Pareus, Romanos, 82.
80 Ibid., 85–86, also 44–50, 84, 94; and Piscator, Analysis logica, 17, 199, 202–203.
81 Piscator, Analysis logica, 202: “Accusati coram tribunali Dei, quod Deum creatorem suum non glorificarent, ut merito debuerunt, non possint afferre hanc excusationem sive defensionem, se Deum prorsus non cognivisse; nescivisse scilicet, Deum esse, et conditorem esse mundi potentissimum, sapientissimum, iustissimum, benignissimum: alioquin se illum glorificaturos fuisse debito cultu. Hanc defensionem afferre non poterunt: quia ex opificio mundi Deum, eo quo dictum est modo, cognoverunt.”
82 Pareus, Romanos, 85: “Quomodo notitia Dei naturalis gentiles reddere possit inexcusabiles: cum per se sit inefficax, et insufficiens ad salutem? Quibus enim non datur notitia Dei salutaris et efficax, ii videntur habere ignorantiae et imbecillitatis praetextum.”
83 Ibid., 88: “Quomodo Deus si tradat homines in passiones ignominiae et in reprobam mentem, non fiat author peccati: et hominum scelera non excusentur.”
84 Ibid., 88–89.
85 Canons of the Synod of Dort, Article IV, in The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes, ed. Schaff, Philip, rev. ed. Schaff, David S., 6th ed. (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker, 2007), 3:565Google Scholar; and Canons of the Synod of Dort, Error V, in The Creeds of Christendom, ed. Schaff, rev. ed. Schaff, 3:569.
86 See, for example, Perkins, Galatians, 266–268; Perkins, A Treatise Tending unto a Declaration (London: John Porter and John Legate, 1595), 2; Perkins, A Golden Chaine (London: John Legate, 1612), 57–73; Willet, Hexapla, 57–85, 95; Dod and Cleaver, Ten Commandements, 4; Downame, John, The Summe of Sacred Divinitie (London: William Stansby, 1625), 250–253Google Scholar; Preston, Saints Qualification, pt. 1:5, 90–95, 101–104, 126–146, 152–171, 178–185, 199–202, 206–207, 219–223, 234–239; Preston, Life Eternall, pt. 1:3–19; Sibbes, Richard, The Returning Backslider, in Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Grosart, Alexander, 7 vols. (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1862–1864), 2:288, 380Google Scholar; Sibbes, The Fountain Opened, in Works of Richard Sibbes, 5:510–511; Sibbes, The Successful Seeker and God's Inquisition, in Works of Richard Sibbes, 6:112, 225; Sibbes, The Rich Pearl, in Works of Richard Sibbes, 7:255–256; Burgess, Vindiciae Legis, 58–96; and Westminster Assembly, The Confession of Faith and Catechisms (London: Robert Bostock, 1649), 1–2, 70, 87.
87 Preston, Saints Qualification, pt. 1:225–226, 234–239, 183–185.
88 Burgess, Vindiciae Legis, 68, 88, 95–96.
89 Ibid., 94.
90 Goodwin, John, The Divine Authority of the Scriptures Asserted (London: Henry Overton, 1647), 169Google Scholar; Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 509–510; Goodwin Triumviri, 96–99; and Goodwin, Door Opening, pt. 1:117–118, 120.
91 Confrontations with predestinarian doctrine may be found in Goodwin's Redemption Redeemed, Exposition of the Nineth Chapter, Triumviri, and Ειρηνομαχια (London: Henry Cripps, 1652).
92 Goodwin, John, Sion-Colledg Visited (London: Henry Overton, 1648), 25Google Scholar; see also Goodwin, John, Νεοφυτοπρεσβυτερος; or, the Yongling Elder (London: Henry Overton, 1648), 50–52, 60–67Google Scholar.
93 Goodwin, Divine Authority, 169.
94 Tobias Crisp, notoriously, had used such language in explaining the wayfarer's “Passive receiving of Christ”: see his posthumously published Christ Alone Exalted (London: William Marshal, 1690), pt. 1:98–99.
95 Burgess, Vindiciae Legis, 82, 97–98, 89.
96 Ibid., 99, 85.
97 Goodwin, Imputatio Fidei, pt. 1:14; and Lane, Samuel, A Vindication of Free-Grace (London: Michael Spark, 1645), 33Google Scholar.
98 Lane, A Vindication of Free-Grace, 24–25, 29–30, 34–35, 40–41.
99 Ibid., 17–18, 20–21, 23, 28–30, 32, 41.
100 Ibid., 31, 33.
101 Goodwin, Divine Authority, 202.
102 Jenkyn, William, Αλλοτριοεπισκοπος the Busie Bishop (London: Christopher Meredith, 1648), 28–29Google Scholar; and Goodwin, Yongling Elder, 46–47.
103 Howe, The Pagan Preacher Silenced, A2v–A4r. On employment of “Arminian” and “Pelagian” insults against Goodwin in the 1650s, see Parnham, Heretics Within, 307–308, 322, 339–340, 342–347, 350, 356–359, 364–366, 368, 418–420.
104 Moulin, Pierre Du, Anatome Arminianismi (Leiden: Abraham Pacard, 1619)Google Scholar, ¶iiir.
105 Ibid., pt. 1:324–325.
106 Ibid., pt. 1:191, 238, 260–263, 265–268, 272, 277, 282–283, 290–291, 321, 323, 331, 337–339.
107 So minimally did the Arminians differentiate grace from nature that “huius gratiae rectum usum, nihil aliud esse volunt quam rectum usum lucis naturalis, et cognitionis quae per creaturarum contemplationem et per legem naturae omni homini insitam habetur: ut plane idem sit usus idemque officium naturae et gratiae”: Ibid., pt. 1:327.
108 Ibid., pt. 1:266, 331: “Quin et videbimus per gratiam illam universalem et sufficientem ac omnibus communem, intelligi dona naturalia et notiones naturaliter impressas, et naturam vestiri specioso nomine gratiae: quod et faciebat Pelagius . . . Falso ergo Arminiani censent Deum dare lucem supernaturalem et cognitionem Evangelii iis qui per liberum arbitrium recte usi sunt gratia sufficiente et lumine naturali. Hoc enim si verum esset plane vocatio esset ex operibus, et secundum opera.”
109 Ibid., pt. 1:212: “Sunt autem tales omnes homines sua natura, et destituti non modo fide, sed et viribus credendi.” See also 67, 70–71, 222–225, 237, 269–270, 344.
110 Ibid., pt. 1:344: “Sunt autem inexcusabiles non quod gratia ad salutem mediate vel immediate sufficiente abusi sunt, sed quod luce naturali non sunt usi quo usque potuerunt, et insitam luce praefocare conati sunt.”
111 Ibid., pt. 1:22, 71, 195–196, 198–199, 222, 225–229, 298, 322.
112 Ibid., pt. 1:22–23, 191, 198–199, 299–300.
113 Jacob Arminius, Examen modestum, in Opera theologica (hereafter cited as OT) (Leiden: Godefridus Basson, 1629), 664.
114 Ibid., 665–666: “Reprobationis autem decreto non negatur proprie gratia sufficiens, . . . illo decreto non negavit illis gratiam qua credere et converti possint, si vellent.”
115 Ibid., 667, 741–742.
116 The free will “flexibile enim est natura sua: et ut malo addictum in statu peccati, ita capax boni; quam capacitatem illi gratia non donat: inest enim illi a natura”: Ibid., 768.
117 Ibid., 754: “Deus spondet se gratia supernaturali illuminaturum, qui lumine naturali recte utetur, aut saltem utetur, quantum poterit, minus male.” See also 777.
118 Ibid., 640, 642, 651, 653, 656, 663, 666, 671–672, 674–676, 735–740, 750, 753, 756–757, 769; Arminius, Declaratio sententiae, in OT, 105 108, 119; Arminius, Apologia, in OT, 139–140, 153, 184; Arminius, Disputationes privatae, in OT, 390; Arminius, Collatio, in OT, 575, 600, 612–613; Arminius, Hippolyto, in OT, 943; and Arminius, Articuli nonnulli, in OT, 957.
119 Arminius, Examen modestum, in OT, 753: “Deo visum non est omnipotente et irresistibili actione.” See also Muller, Richard A., God, Creation, and Providence in the Thought of Jacob Arminius: Sources and Directions of Scholastic Protestantism in the Era of Early Orthodoxy (Grand Rapids, Mich: Baker, 1991), esp. 240–242Google Scholar.
120 Arminius, Examen modestum, in OT, 750, 757, 768: “Deus statuit salvare credentes per gratiam, id est, lenem et suavem liberoque ipsorum arbitrio convenientem seu congruam suasionem, non per omnipotentem actionem seu motionem, cui resistere nec velint nec possint, nec velle possint . . . voluntas illa non utatur omnipotente et irresistibili motione ad fidem ingenerandam hominibus, sed leni suasione et accommodata ad movendam voluntatem hominis pro modo libertatis ipsius . . . necessum est ut liberum arbitrium concurrat ad conservandam gratiam datam, adiutum tamen a gratia subsequente; manetque semper in potestate liberi arbitrii gratiam datam reiicere, et subsequentem repudiare.”
121 Ibid., 504: “Qui enim legem fert impossibilem praestitu citra gratiam, et gratiam denegat illi, cui lex posita est; ille causa est peccati per modum removentis prohibens necessarium.” See also 645.
122 Ibid., 504: “Qui decrevit et ordinavit ut peccatum fieret, ille peccatum perpetratum iuste punire non potest: non potest esse ultor rei factae, cuius faciendae fuit ordinator: non potest esse ordinator poenae qui criminis fuit ordinator.”
123 Arminius, Declaratio sententiae, in OT, 108: “Peccatum vocatur inobedientia et rebellio: quae locum habere non possunt, ubi cui inevitabilis necessitas ad peccandum incumbit ex praecedente decreto Dei.”
124 Arminius, Examen modestum, in OT, 692, 792: “Peccandi enim necessitas et inevitabilitas a peccato excusat . . . quem quis necessario et inevitabiliter perpetrat, peccati nomen censeri nequit.”
125 Arminius, Declaratio sententiae, in OT, 109; and Arminius, Apologia, in OT, 144: “Deum vere peccare; quia iuxta hanc doctrinam ad peccatum moveat per inevitabilem actum, idque ex proprio suo proposito et prima intentione . . . Deum vere et proprie et solum peccare; quia posita lege vetante istum actum, et praedeterminatione tali, qua actus ille non potest non patrari, sequitur Deum ipsum esse qui legem transgrediatur, utpote qui faciat ipse actum contra legem.”
126 Arminius, Examen modestum, in OT, 663, 666–667, 740–742, 744–745; and Arminius, Disputationes privatae, in OT, 357.
127 Corvinus dilates upon such matters throughout his Defensio sententiae D. Iacobi Arminii (Leiden: Johannes Patius, 1613).
128 Ibid., 107: “Deum quaerant et inveniant saltem palpando, sufficit haec vocatio ad ostendendum, licet ipsis Evangelii verbum palam non praedicetur, non tamen proinde a gratia esse reprobatos. Neque enim praecise a salute exclusi iudicare debent, qui aliquo saltem modo vocantur ut Deum quaerant.” See also 401, 407.
129 Ibid., 118–119, 137, 155–158, 161, 381–386, 403–405, 418, 424–426, 428–429.
130 Ibid., 96: “Si Deus neminem vult reprobare, nisi post contemtam gratiam, tum necesse est ut velit omnes omnino homines ad gratiam vocari.”
131 Ibid., 381, 385–386, 405, 418, 424–426, 447.
132 Ibid., 426: “Si statuantur mensura aliqua gratiae donatae esse, qua pro mensura donationis non sint usae, tollitur excusatio: gratia enim uti non reddit inexcusabilem nisi spreta et reiecta ex accedente hominum malitia: sic tollit eadem excusationem, quando homo non facit quod per auxilia gratiae quae habet, potest.” See also 118.
133 Ibid., 399: “Deum per Spiritum suum in nullo homine otiosum esse, sed aliquid in omnibus agere, quantulumcunque sit, quo ipsos ad regenerationem disponat.” See also 404, 406–407.
134 Ibid., 154: “Nullum esse qui omnis omnino gratiae sit expers, sed omnes homines habere aliquas divinae gratiae reliquias, et scintillas luminis cognitionisque divinae, hoc fine a Deo ipsis relictas, ut pro mensura suorum donorum Deum glorificarent.” See also 401, 403–404, 418.
135 Corvinus, Johannes, Petri Molinaei novi anatomici mala encheiresis: seu censura anatomes Arminianismi (Frankfurt: Erasmus Kempffer, 1622), 62, 96, 426, 612, 642–643Google Scholar.
136 Ibid., 74, 76, 83, 85–92, 582, 642–644, 647.
137 Ibid., 61–62, 74, 76, 83, 85–92, 505, 528, 534–535, 576, 582, 607–608, 611, 615, 632, 642–644, 647.
138 Ibid., 76: “Deus vero ipse non vult ulterius potentiam exercere quam sapientia permittit.”
139 Ibid., 534–535, 569, 571, 576–577, 591, 608, 612, 615, 643; see also Corvinus, Defensio sententiae, 78, 115, 235–236, 382.
140 Corvinus, Petri Molinaei, 577: “Non praeciperet Deus aliquid, quod esset humanae impossibile voluntati. . . . Execramur blasphemiam eorum qui dicunt impossibile aliquid homini a Deo esse promissum.” See also 613–614, 707–708.
141 Ibid., 611–612, 617: “Concedimus quidem omnes per eam gratiam ad vivificationem disponi. . . . Omnibus aliqua media ad salutem adhiberi, quae licet non semper sufficiant ad fidem immediate ingenerandam, tamen sufficiunt ad aliquas actiones, quibus Deus vult homines ad fidem praeparari; et ideo adhibentur ut per ea homines ad fidem perducantur.” See also 499, 527–528, 532, 534–535, 537, 563, 571, 577, 607–608, 613–616, 618, 620, 623, 626, 631–633, 642–643, 644; and Corvinus, Defensio sententiae, 120–121, 126–127, 130, 134–135, 137, 154, 163, 381–382, 385–386, 394–395, 398–399, 403–405, 418, 424–425, 428–429, 447.
142 Corvinus, Petri Molinaei, 613–619.
143 Ibid., 589: “Quamvis cognitio Dei quae ex rebus creatis hauritur per se non sufficit ad salutem, et eo sensu negari possit eam esse salutarem: eandem tamen cognitionem eatenus dici posse salutarem, quatenus ipsa etiam dirigitur ad salutem, et praecedit cognitionem immediate ad salutem conducentem.”
144 Ibid., 527: “Sententia nostra est, Deum ex mera sua liberalitate omnibus homnibus dare aliquam gratiam, per quam suis gradibus ad fidem perveniant; sed ipsam gratiam quae immediate sufficiat, ut ad fidem perveniant eum paratum esse omnibus dare.” See also 631.
145 Ibid., 78, 84, 96, 422, 498–503, 732; see also Corvinus, Defensio sententiae, 112, 300–301, 385–386, 405.
146 Corvinus, Petri Molinaei, 534: “Hoc auxilium dicimus omnibus praesto est; ut quemadmodum nemo est quem Deus non dignetur aliqua vocationis revelationisque; mensura, dispari tamen.”
147 Ibid., 563, 589–590, 618, 626, 632–633; see also Corvinus, Defensio sententiae, 99–100, 116–119, 154, 158, 401, 403–404.
148 Corvinus, Petri Molinaei, 590: “Dicimus tales reddi inexcusabiles qui cum Deum cognoverint: tamen ut Deum non glorificarunt, et praeterito creatore rebus creatis servierunt, Deum in notitia noluerunt retinere et oppleti sunt omni iniquitate, cum tamen ius Dei, id est, eos qui talia faciunt dignos esse morte, non ignorarent.” See also Corvinus, Defensio sententiae, 118, 235, 426.
149 Corvinus, Petri Molinaei, 632: “Nam inexcusabiles reddi non possunt, nisi quibus aliqua mensura gratiae collata est. Illi vero non possunt reddi inexcusabiles, nisi per gratiae istius abusum. Unde fit per eiusdem usum econtrario eos reddi excusabiles . . . primum eius finem esse, ut homines ea recte utantur, et per istum rectum usum vel grati et accepti, vel saltem excusabiles apud Deum sint.” See also 97, 502, 505, 615–616, 618; and Corvinus, Defensio sententiae, 118–119, 137, 155–158, 160–161, 381–386, 403, 405, 418, 428–429.
150 Corvinus, Petri Molinaei, 633.
151 Goodwin, Imputatio Fidei, pt. 1:177; and Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 112.
152 See Parnham, Heretics Within, 291–294, 297–298, and sources cited.
153 Goodwin, Divine Authority, 26–27, 202; and Goodwin, Hagiomastix (London: Henry Overton, 1647), 104–105.
154 Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 480, also 448, 486–487.
155 Barlow, Thomas, “To the Reverend Mr. John Goodwin Minister of Gods Word in Coleman-Street,” in The Genuine Remains of That Learned Prelate Dr. Thomas Barlow, Late Lord Bishop of Lincoln, ed. Sir Pett, Peter (London: John Dunton, 1693), 122–130Google Scholar.
156 Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 93–94.
157 Ibid., 94.
158 Ibid., 499.
159 Howe, The Pagan Preacher Silenced, 7, 9.
160 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 56–57, 61, 63.
161 Ibid., 12–15, 22–23; see also Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 457, 493–494, 498–500.
162 Goodwin, Exposition of the Nineth Chapter, 184, 220–222, also 152, 219, 228, 238–241, 257–258, 265, 270, 277, 279–281, 287–288.
163 Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 464, also 107, 433, 448–449, 546–547; Truths Conflict with Error, 45; and Goodwin, Exposition of the Nineth Chapter, 200, 218–219, 225, 298–299, 312.
164 Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 503.
165 Ibid., 500. See, similarly, Goodwin, Divine Authority, 169, 201; Goodwin, Triumviri, 290–291; and Goodwin, Being Filled with the Spirit, 282.
166 Goodwin, Divine Authority, 182–187; Truths Conflict with Error, 63–69, 79; and Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 10–13, 37–38.
167 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 11–12.
168 Ibid., 9–10, 13.
169 Ibid., 41–42; and Truths Conflict with Error, 62, 66–67, also 68–69, 99.
170 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 15, 17, 37–38, 41–42.
171 Ibid., 42.
172 Ibid., 15, also 10, 17, 20, 22–23, 35, 39, 46, 61, 63.
173 Ibid., 29–30, 39–41, 43–44, 49, 55; and Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 506–509.
174 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 11–13, 39.
175 Ibid., 9–10, 17–19. At p. 39, Goodwin cites chapters 5 and 19 of Duplessis Mornay's De veritate for evidence that natural light reveals “somewhat concerning Christ” to heathens, and that the latter might believe “both that God was, and that He is a Rewarder of those, who diligently seek him.” Goodwin overlooks the superstition and idolatry that, in Mornay's account, plagued pagan religion.
176 Ibid., 17, 10–14, 22–23, 29, 41, 43.
177 Truths Conflict with Error, 78–79, 82; and Goodwin, Remedie of Unreasonableness, 15.
178 Goodwin, Being Filled with the Spirit, 354–355.
179 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 18–22; and Goodwin, Redemption Redeemed, 507–508.
180 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 21, also 18–20.
181 Ibid., 21.
182 Kendall, Sancti Sanciti, pt. 3:96; Kendall, “Verdict,” in The Pagan Preacher Silenced, Howe, 7–9; and Kendall, Fur pro tribunali, pt. 2:18–19.
183 Howe, The Pagan Preacher Silenced, 8–9, 15, 28–37, 41–43, 51–55, 73–76, 88, 95, 98–99; see also Kendall, Theokratia, pt. 1:212–214.
184 Lane, A Vindication of Free-Grace, 20: “To those who do what is in them, through their natural powers, God is bound to give grace sufficient for salvation.” Also 58; and, a few years later, John Simpson speaking similarly, as reported in Truths Conflict with Error, 80.
185 Lane, A Vindication of Free-Grace, A4v, 2, 22–23.
186 Goodwin, Pagans Debt, and Dowry, 13.
