men neither are they plagued with them but pride is as a chaine vnto them and crueltie couereth them as a garment What then can be answered for God surely still the consequence is not good bruit beasts may goe to the slaughterhouse without all baiting and it were questionlesse the part of a mad man to disturbe them that goe as heart would wish neither would the deuill for a thousand worlds that these men should once be disquieted to turn back againe and therefore yet you sticke in the question What then will you answer to an argument drawne from their life their eyes stand out with fatnesse they haue more then heart can wish they haue their tongues at libertie power to oppresse boast of it and yet presume thēy shall not be controlled for they dare speake against heauen and suffer their tongues to walke thorough the earth therefore God neither doth neither can he do any good to Israel Let Moses come to Pharaoh with let my people goe he shall be answered not as the deuills answered the Exorcists Act. 19.15 Iesus we acknowledge and Paul we knowe but who are yee It had been well if he had but said Aaron and Moses God I acknowledge and his p eople I know but who are yee that are so impudent with your king this is not his voice but who is God and Exod. 10.10 Let the Lord so bee with you as I will let you goe and your children behold for euill is before your face Here is blasphemie and execration of Gods people he imagines euill against them the Lord shall not preuent it and he desires that the Lord had no better affection to them then he was minded to let them goe What shall be answered to this proud argument that brings all into it they haue the controlment of heauen and earth and therefore how shall the Lord be good to Israel Well O flesh yet is God good to Israel this is but a small matter for neither heauen nor earth are in their hands it is an easie matter to turne their owne swords into their owne bowels for they haue fedde indeede but it is become a surfet and therefore if presently they be not like oxen knocked in the head they will pine away and neither God nor man shall haue profit by them they haue been licentious but soone may they be cooled they haue spoken wickedly of their oppression but a small matter will grauell them and bring them vnto an non plus they haue presumed but soone may they despaire they haue set their mouths against heauen but suddenly while they are about their mischiefe there may shine a most fearefull light yea lightning and thunder from heauen strike them to the ground make euerie ioynt breake a sunder the whole bodie tremble and the heart astonied neither shall they heare any voice from heauen Send for Ananias to put his hands vpon them that they may recouer their sight and haue their hearts comforted yet shall they heare a voyce from heauen Why haue you persecuted me it is hard for you to kicke against my prickes I will make your consciences pricke you to the death the sting shall neuer out of it there shall not be a Moses nor an Aaron to pray for you though you confesse with Pharaoh we haue sinned the Lord is righteous but I and my people are wicked Surely the spirit of God is strong my owne testimonie is answered the death and life of the wicked cannot euince the cause therefore I bring a third sort of reasons euen from the godly themselues v. 10. his people turne hither for waters of a full cup are wrung out to them Hence euen they say how doth God knowe it or is there knowledge in the most high wee dare boldly say the wicked prosper and increase in riches we haue clensed our hearts in vaine and washed our hands in innocencie to no purpose for daily haue we beene punished and chastened euery morning What may be said to this argument surely the testimonie of my brethren doth presse mee sore that they should bee so discouraged yet I hope when they shall haue considered my arguments propounded for the defence of their cause they shall recant their errour and say If I iudge thus behold the generation of thy children are vp against mee I haue therfore trespassed the reason was because I thought to finde out the discourse by my naturall reason but I confesse it was too painefull for mee therefore O Spirit the comforter of thy Church let me heare the arguments that will beare waight in the ballance of Gods sanctuarie First therefore I will begin with an artificiall argument which all men may gather out of the workes of God euen of his iustice They are set in slipperie places they stand but vpon the yee and therefore God may soone cast them into desolation which all the world may see to be done for how suddenly are they destroyed perished and horribly consumed all is but a dreame of their prosperitie but when I am awaked to see it and they to feele it then shall I consider my heauenly felicitie contemne all their vaine pompe and know assuredly that God makes all their image to be despised therefore I ingeniously confesse that the vexing of my heart and the pricking in my reines was because I was too foolish euen as a beast before God yet was I happie in all this for by faith I was alwaies with God and that my faith might not fall he hath holden me by his right hand Secondly for my selfe I haue taken this arguemnt that God will guide mee by his counsell and afterward receiue me to his glorie Thirdly I dare appeale vnto mine owne soule from both these arguments vnto a third whom haue I in heauen but God and I haue desired none in earth before him Fourthly I drawe an arguments from mine owne weakenesse and the daily experience I haue had of Gods goodnesse my flesh faileth and my heart also but God is the strength of mine heart and my portion for euer Therefore now I come to the determination of the question and thus I determine it for the wicked Loe they that withdrawe themselues from God shall perish thou destroyest all them that goe a whoring from thee and for my selfe I haue found that the deepest disputations doe alwaies bring forth the best conclusions and safest determinations therefore thus I resolue That as for me it is good for mee to drawe neere to God therefore I haue put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all his works See but one place more Psal 77. When I entred the consideration of the dayes of olde and the yeares of auncient time called to remembrance my song of thankesginug in the night which vsually I sung in my prosperitie and now thinking vpon God am troubled and when I pray my spirit is full of auguish Thou keepest myne eies awaking all the long night it is time therefore to commune
of my loue and Esau to the feeling of my hatred and therefore here by these acts we are to vnderstand Gods appointment Against this ariseth the argument of flesh and blood The argument of flesh and blood against Gods euerlasting decree being not able to distinguish betwixt Gods appointment and his actuall loue or hatred in the creature therefore vers 14. surely then there is vnrighteousnesse with God To this the Apostle answers First by a correction execration and holy indignation God forbid Secondly from a testimonie Exod. 33.19 God saith it vnto Moses and therefore it must needes be most true and that is prooued in the verie testimonie it selfe First from the true cause of all righteousnesse and that is Gods will secondly from the libertie of his will hee is bound to none and therefore he can iniustly depriue no man of any right hee can claime at his hands thirdly euery subiect is equall for the receiuing of it otherwise it could not bee on whome hee would fourthly because it is aboue the reach of man v. 16. it is neither in him that willeth nor in him that runneth but in God that sheweth merci◠But you may obiect this testimonie is imperfect for it onely prooues that which you haue said of election but this is nothing for reprobation but marke what followes v. 17. The example of reprobation to set forth Gods purpose power and name which he simply willeth and you shall see the second testimonie for reprobation exemplified in Pharaoh the supreame causes whereof are Gods purpose power and name his name is proclaimed Exod. 34.5 6 7. and it is nothing but his glorious attributes and they are his iustice and mercie and therfore the name of his iustice is proclaimed on Pharaoh this name God did purpose with himselfe and that he might purpose hee had power whereby he might shew it on Pharaoh ergo qua potuit fecit qua fecit potuit decreuit c. God did it on Pharaoh and therefore he might doe it as he did it and might doe it he purposed and decreed it as he did that so it was his counsell this his counsell had no scope but his owne name this his name was wel-pleasing vnto his wisedome this his wel-pleasing made his purpose good and this good God absolutely willed therefore that which he concluded onely of mercie v. 16. in this 19. hee concludes on both mercie and iustice hee hath mercy on whom he will and whome he will he hardeneth this conclusion plainely shewes that Gods will is the supreame and absolute cause otherwise no need why either that obiection should be made v. 14. is God vnrighteous or this which followeth how should men complaine seeing no man can resist his will to what purpose I say if it had beene for sinne but the former is cut off with this resolution it is Gods will and therefore he knowes how to iustifie it and this second is answered accordingly as I haue said from the nature of passion and resistance Gods will is the supreame therefore an irresistable will and void of all passion Shall the thing forming As man cannot resist God so God will not resist man vntill man haue offered the first resistance suffer or bee resisted of the thing formed or the potter of his lumpe of clay how much more should Gods will bee resisted of man But what is all this to Gods resisting of mans will the Lord offered no violence to the will of man in his fall neither did he himselfe make any resistance to the temptation but most willingly imbraced it and gaue as free a consent as possibly could be imagined and therfore God put vpon man no irresistable motion But you say he could not resist the decree of God c. True what then could be not resist his owne will it is therefore one thing for man to resist Gods will and another thing for God to resist mans will If God should haue resisted mans will he should not haue sinned Therfore the causes beeing separate so iudge of the effects the effect of Gods will is necessarie because it hath the best ende but mans effect was contingent and had the worst ende Therefore God by his decree imposeth no irresistable motion vpon the will of man To the necessarie copulation of Gods decree The copulation of Gods decree and sinne is not causall and mans fall it is to be answered that it is not causall For if you vnderstand it as a copulatiue axiome God decrees and man falls then the whole axiome is absolutely affirmed and the former part doth not pull in the consequent but both of them are considered as going cheeke by ioule but their meaning is of a connex axiome if God decree then it is necessarie that man should fall Here we distinguish betwixt the parts of an axiome and the connexion the parts may be contingent or false where the connexion is most necessarie As for example If he be a learned man then he respecteth wisdome the connexion is necessarie if Cicero be an Orator then he knowes how to speake well these be necessarie connexions but the parts are contingent Againe the connexion may be a necessarie truth yet the parts may be false as if a man be a dogge then he hath the facultie of barking a man to be a dogge is false or a man to haue this facultie is also false God decrees that was not absolutely necessarie nay as out of himselfe it was contingent so mans fall is likewise contingent Actio interna seu formalis externa seu materialis coniuncta seu 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Therefore our Diuines distinguish of actions First there is an internall action which they call formall and this is in God himselfe eternall immutable and neither hath beginning nor ending And in this sense say they the whole cause of reprobation or election is in God alone and this is a most necessarie truth The second is externall or materiall which is exercised vpon the creature and this is in time and limited according to the nature of the creature that receiueth it and this is contingent The third is a complete or perfect action of both which they call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Extremam admouere manum a perfect finishing of the thing and this beeing absolute and proceeding from absolute causes is in his conioyned nature necessarie yet no argument to prooue that one cause should make the other necessarie And therfore the will of God makes mans will no necessarie cause of his owne fall But to this connexion it is formerly replied that it is not onely so in the maior proposition but also in the minor and therefore the assumption beeing taken out of the maior and concluding necessarily must needes be causall as if God decree then man must fall but I assume God decrees and therfore man must fall so that Gods decree inferring the conclusion vpon mans will as following
necessarily must needes be a cause The answer is it is a necessarie conclusion by way of ratiocination or discourse but not from the argument it selfe the disposition makes it necessarie but the third reason is no necessarie cause seeing that the action of Gods decree as out of himselfe and in the creature is externally and materially to be considered and so is not necessarie but contingent temporarie and mutable and therefore if it had pleased God it might haue fallen out otherwise for euery necessarie truth is an eternall truth And therefore that which is in time and not eternall is contingent mutable and alterable That which is said to the interceding cause betwixt Gods decree and the fall Of the interceding cause to wit mans free will to exempt God from sinne is most true for God did not immediatly worke mans fall But you obiect that the remote cause is as well sinfull as the next because the deuill was the remote cause and yet guiltie of the same sinne Adam commited A speciall neuerprooues a generall The answer is when the causes are vniuocall homogeniall and of the same order of working but in causes heterogeniall and equiuocall which are of diuerse natures the remote cause is neuer tainted with the same fault that the next cause is As wine is a remote cause why a man is drunke yet no faultie-cause of his drunkennesse The Gospell and our Sauiour Christ came to send a sword into the world but yet were no true causes of sedition and quarrels among men The Sunne raiseth putrified creatures out of dead carkases it can harden as well the clay as melt the waxe A sonne desires the death of his father so doth God One thing effected of diuerse causes may bee faultie in one but not in another but the sonne breaks Gods commaundement God doth it according to the true rule of iustice a sonne would haue his father liue God would the contrarie yet a sinne in neither And therfore a remote cause is onely guilty of the same offence with the next when they worke all after one forme and manner otherwise the immediate cause is the onely author of the sinne al the rest by accident and by abuse The Gospel is the sauour of death vnto death as well as the free will of man but not eodem genere causandi after the same manner of working Pharaoh hardneth his owne heart so doth God but the one immediatly the other mediatly by the abuse of mans freewill Therfore the answer is from the distinction of remote causes in vniuocall causes the remote cause is as guiltie as the next and therefore the deuills will In causes vniuocall all are guiltie of the same crime but not in equivocall and mans will working vnivocally are both in the same offence but Gods will and mans worke equiuocally the one one way and the other another and therefore no neede of participation seeing they haue no next genus of a cause in which they should communicate Answer to Gods desertion To the third euasion betwixt infallibilitie and necessitie it is granted that man fell infallibly but not necessarily except we vnderstand it of Gods decree in himselfe and then the truth was an eternall truth And in this sense our Diuines hold it not of any necessitie in mans will therefore it was only necessarie in Gods wll but contingent in mans yet the truth it selfe in the thing is to God and man contingent to God most certen but to man vncertaine For desertion we hold that God did not forsake man in any necessarie requisite for his true obedience vnto the law onely he with-held his confirmation of man If a man were set in some office for triall of his gifts is it necessarie that he should be confirmed in it I trow not and therefore this desertion was of confirmation and not of necessarie helpes for execution And here our Orthodoxe writers when they answer to that argument that iustice and mercie presuppose misery Misâ—rie potentiall reall habituall make answer of a threefold miserie first actuall which is in sense and feeling secondly habitual which is in the bosome of a man but as yet puts not forth it selfe the third potentiall into which a man may fall and this they call a miserie in comparison Iob 4.18 Behold he found no steadfastnesse in his seruants and laid folly vpon his angels Iob 9.2 Howe should man compared vnto God be iustified Habituall and actuall miserie had no place in man by his creation but possible or potentiall miserie was laid in the freedome of his will which if God had inclined vnto good and man so determined then had he come into the estate of the blessed Angels and so miserie had been impossible and his estate should haue been confirmed vnto him with God for euer not from the freedom of his will but from his obedience and Gods promise thereunto Therefore that desertion and not collation of necessarie helpe to auoide sinne is to be vnderstood of this third grace which was not a grace of creation but a further liberallity which God might haue bestowed if it had pleased him But I dare not rest satisfied with this answer because I see this third grace was onely to be obtained by the obedience of the creature that is if he did the will of God then would God haue beene as good as his promise thou shalt liue therefore in my iudgement Confirmation of life by creation was to follow our obedience vnto the 〈◊〉 confirming grace was a subsequent grace to followe obedience and not an antecedent grace to goe before it and so the angels obtained it by their obedience and from their obedience are confirmed if then without their obedience they could not be confirmed then must confirming grace belong vnto the law of creation as well as any other for what grace should man haue receiued by creation but that which God would haue communicated vnto him by the rule of obedience doe this and thou shalt liue to confirme him in life was vpon his doing I answer therefore Desertion 1. in not rebuking Sathan 2. In diuiding of the lawe and his facultie 3. In that God suffered man to be distracted and did not hold him close vnto his law in despite of the deuill that desertion is no cause of mans sinne but that God was wel-pleased to suffer the deuill to worke more strongly in the temptation then mans will should be able to oppose not for power giuen but for present act and as in this temptation the law forsooke man so God may most iustly bee said to forsake him I haue before declared that two things are most necessary for euery good action rule and power which if both concurre not the action cannot bee produced Now the law concurred not and therefore man was forsaken of the lawe not actiuely but passiuely euen as a master should promise his seruant all aide and succour as long as hee would