vnnaturall rebellions Your expectation I know though almost tyred hath long ere this runne to the place of execution and proclaimed his comming But your wronged patience and my want of time hath enforced mee to repriue him till another Session COmmon censure hath stampt it for a currant Prouerbe That it is better for a man to bee fortunate than wise For worldly wisedome though she seeme alwaies to fawne on fortune yet can neuer command and seldome entreate her serâ—…ice It hath been thought the pride and priuiledge of that power which we call Fortune to bestow her best fauours where she findes least worth to crowne folly and crosse wisedome to make fooles happy and the wise vnfortunate As a Queen she is supposed to shew her greatest Maiesty in Mans weaknesse to pity sloath and enuie industry as most iealous lest mans wit or endeauours should challenge any part in her prerogatiue But he that knowes wisely to arbitrate betwixt the clouds of Pagan ignorance and the cleare Sun-shine of Christianite betwixt Poeticke fancies and Propheticall visions shall finde vulgar opinion only mistaken in the name ascribing that transcendent power of disposing worldly actions to a Deitie which they called Fortune which Christian knowledge might have taught them more properly to haue termed Prouidence And howsoeuer they haue bounded her large Empire beyond their owne reason yet Christianity hath trauelled much farther and yet can prescribe no limits as that which transcends into an infinite and out-reacheth the eye of all discouerie And though no place hath beene found so base in the Theater of Nature or Ciuill actions wherein Prouidence cannot shew the abundant Trophees of her magnificence Yet there desires she to triumph most where to men she seemes to haue least power Her chiefest glory is to set vp her Ensignes on the gates of mans pride and tread on the necke of worldly policy No maruell then that in the great politician Achitophel in whom neither loyalty could command restraint or perswade duety whom neither vndoubted valour could checke or danger terrifie onely Prouidence could challenge a iurisdiction His politicke obseruation of Absolons disposition and rare endowments designing him out as a fit subiect for his treason seconded by his craftie and irreligious counsell of abusing Dauids Concubines through which in my former Sermon in this place I vshered forth your attention had hitherto passed currant and found in euent as much as it promised in expectation Absolon had hitherto expressed himselfe no worse a learner than he a teacher that the world might well doubt whether the one were more happy to proiect or the other to put in practice Nothing now seemes remaining behinde but to strike the last stroke and giue the fatall on-set Dauids ouerthrowe and Absolons aduancement together appeare in sight and his long and tedious ambition as it were within a league arriued at the port of victory Let not Absolon play the truant in his last lesson and within a few houres the voice of Israel shall salute him King But the change of a good Master oftentimes makes a non proficient Scholler Achitophels precepts must be corrected by Chusay his second Tutor Two eyes are presumed to discerne more than one and the rugged and vneuen knots in our first inuention ought to be filed by the second Though Achitophel in counsell be a Politician yet Absolon in ambition is a King and therefore ought to arrogate to himselfe as well the honour of the Conquest as of the Scepters Too much it might seeme for Achitophel to haue both too little for Absolon to haue no hand at all in this Kingly proiect If Absolon dare not trust his owne aduice yet let him shew his liberty of consent Wisedome consists as much in choice as in inuention neither seemes it the least of Absolons prerogatiue amid diuers counsellors to declare himselfe a King Achitophel shall be suffered to speak his minde as an assistant not to determine causes as a Iudge and therefore must pardon Absolon if approuing him in all the rest he in this one dissent But oftentimes he that can best act can worst pen his owne part And therefore no maruell if Absolon vsurping the office of Achitophel beganne to faile in his last act But to leaue Absolon to his head-strong will wee must here search more neerely into the neglect of Achitophels counsell which being the second part in the former subdiuision of my Text offers it selfe as a subiect for this dayes exercise And when Achitophel saw that his counsell was not followed c. 2 Achitophels counsell thus defeated as you haue heard offers it selfe to our enquiry vnder the obseruation of the causes and their concomitant circumstances The causes preceding the fact we may obserue to bee twofold either Primarie or Secondary The primary we finde to be no other than Almighty God from whom all other inferiour agents deriue their strength and action Where Nature begins and Reason ends there must we place that omnipotent and eternal power as the centre from which all operations first spring and the boundlesse circumference into which all discourses runne Betwixt this Eternall and Inferiour Agents as the distance knowes no proportion so Reason could neuer finde resistance or opposition and easie was it for that omnipotent prouidence to whom Achitophels counsels were from all eternitie discouered to decree as well the means as the end of his defeate For as in the vast frame of nature bodies compared one with the other seeme Heterogeneall consisting of diuers and opposite operations yet as so many wheeles in an artificiall engine are by the same hand directed to the same common vse so the actions and counsels of men howsoeuer casually they seeme to meete and iustle one the other are notwithstanding preordained by the same Infinite counsell to cooperate to the same vniuersall end Whence will naturally arise this obseruation That howsoeuer men may propose to themselues it is onely in the power of Almighty God to dispose A proposition better knowne as a Prouerbe among men than acknowledged in their practice Had yet the great Polititians of this world as much Logicke to iudge as cunning to contriue their owne plots they would questionlesse out of the combination of second causes without respect vnto the first rather suspect a fallacie than promise a demonstration Had they as much acquaintance with Gods Word as their owne wicked and prophane Axiomes they would haue heard the Lord often threatning in holy Scriptures to stagger the counsell of the wicked and turne the wisedome of the wisest into folly Had they rather desired to be instructed than flattered by experience they would haue found of their profession in steed of a few crowned happy by euent tenne thousand miscarry in the meanes A good successe like a slye Parasite rather soothes than commends our actions and like a coy Mistresse prostitutes her selfe to mens neglect but frownes on their ambition But these are popular arguments subiect almost
and no graine so meane in our estimation out of which in proportion he requires not a timely crop But where hee findes our industrie slacke in performance of this duty or our malice opposite to his profit he commonly workes his own ends out of our iniquities and what parts and endowments we abuse to sinne he iustly directs vnto reuenge 4 A third aduantage in Absolons person suggested to Achitophels obseruation was his faire carriage and popular plausibilitie A sweet and courteous deportment seasoned with moralitie and religion neuer wants deserued commendation as the surest character of an ingenuous disposition and the most powerfull seruant of honest policie For as in our most religious actions wee should study rather to profit than to please our auditors yet who neuer affects to please shall seldome haue the happinesse to profit So much more in ciuill affaires the best improuement is popular estimation and vertue though neuer so eminent shall scarce be reputed currant if not stampt by applause or crowned with common approbation Non te quaesiueris extra seemes rather an axiome of a speculatiue and retired Stoicke than a practicke Statist An vpright and honest man I confesse would rather find himselfe at home in his owne conscience than seeke himselfe abroade in other mens opinions as one whose first care ought to bee to forme himselfe to Gods will and his owne content his second to husband his meanes to mens applause yet comes this farre short to disproue an affable and kinde behauiour or countenance a harsh or Cynicall disposition Had no other affection than this possessed the soule of Absolon or in him presented it selfe to Achitophels obseruation discretion might haue pleaded in the behalfe of the former and honesty of the latter and neither haue wanted its deserued commendation the one perhaps might haue been thought ambitious to inherit as well the peoples loue as his fathers vertues the other to haue applauded his Princes happinesse in the peoples loue Neuerthelesse popularitie at the best is a fauour which wise and discreete subiects sooner winne than affect beginning vsually with the Princes ◅ealousie and ending with the owners ruine The defect might better become a subiect the excesse a King neither euer had those Athenian Ostracismes found place in Iustice had not popular greatnesse threatned the state with danger or dissolution How much more dangerous shall wee esteeme this popularity of Absolon springing from a rotten and corrupted heart managed by wicked meanes and directed to a treacherous conspiracie Three especiall stratagems were here put in practice which might well seeme fashioned in Achitophels forge For the sending of Absolon for Achitophel to Hebron excludes not a former consultation neither is it probable he would so far haue trusted him with his secret counsels had he not first found him inclining to his faction The first engine of his seditious purpose was his Glossing and fine complement both in words and gesture whereby hee was said to steale away the hearts of the people from his father Dauid he vsually stood in the palace gate hee obserued the appproach of suiters hee examined their particular grieuances enquired the place of their abode finally he kissed and embraced them O saith he that I were made Iudge in the Land that I might heare euery mans cause and do him Iustice What zealous subiect almost out of the seeming simplicitie of his words would not swell with expectation and become as prodigall in his hopes as the other in his promises The distance between Princes and priuate men makes vs often ouervalue courtesies and the indiscouery of such mens natures causeth diuers times their worst actions to carry the best construction but great promises are cōmonly seconded by smal or slow performances and an easie matter it is to be ouer prodigall on the score where we neuer intend a payment To boast wisely of our actions and sufficiences howsoeuer opposite to simple modestie or plaine-dealing honesty was neuer accounted a solaecisme in the iudgling art of humane policie But admit Absolon in this case had promised to himselfe as much as the people and suffered his confidence to spread her wings beyond his abilities yet serues this little to excuse his action from vnnaturall disobedience or masked treacherie It was the part of a shamelesse Cham to bee an industrious spectator of his fathers nakednesse of a rayling Rabshakeh or cursing Shimei to diuorce him from his Subiects hearts Nature would haue perswaded a gracious childe with Noahs two modest sons to haue lookt awry or gone backward no sooner to see ere hee could hide his fathers shame Allegeance might haue instructed a loyall Subiect to prize his Soueraignes credit before his owne and drowne his greatest honours in his Princes seruice But setting aside these neere and high relations of a Sonne to his father or a Subiect to his Prince the diuision and diuorce of friends to a generous temper euen amongst the Heathens themselues hath alwayes seemed a wicked reuenge or base ambition Honour seldome bestowes her fauours but on such as win them in open fielde and Heroicke spirits haue alwayes chosen rather dearely to buy than basely to steale a victorie To steale away the hearts of our friends sauours more of a fleering Parasite than a wise Politician and to seeke secret ambushes in case of open triall argues rather the weakenesse of our cause than the strength of our discretion Neuerthelesse this seemed a good ground for Absolon to set and Achitophel to worke on And little can true wisedome or Religion perswade in the Reare where wicked policie commands the Vant-guard A second stratageme put in practice by Absolon and perhaps plotted by Achitophel to augment his owne plausabilitie was publickely to slander his fathers gouernment with iniustice and oppression The same Art which taught him to flatter his inferiours instructed him the way to calumniat his superiours So neere are these two opposite vices knit together in a wicked cause See quoth Absolon after examination of each Sutour thy cause is iust and good but there is no man deputed of the king to heare thee Dauid began now to decline as well in strength as gouernment Age and Disease commonly grow together and where the master begins once to droope the seruants proue eyther carelesly negligent or lawlesly insolent These inconueniences perhaps admitted by Dauids Officers and obserued by Absolon rendred him obuious to exception Greatest places are commonly subiect to the greatest censures But when Almighty God was neuer wanting to Dauid I cannot imagine Dauid to bee much wanting vnto his people And although Strength and Valour the darlings of his youth began in him to faint yet Wisedome and Experience the children of his riper age stept in to vndertake his quarrell No otherwise then can we interpret this exception of Absolon against his Father than a malitious slander deuised for no other end than to make him odious and himselfe acceptable which hee by so much the more
hoped easily to effect by how much hee saw the giddy multitude as at all times so especially in this declining age of Dauid as desirous of Noueltie as subiect to discontent The best Gouernours seldome please long and the worst may for a time Worth is seldome so eminent as in the absence And the best Magistrates like the Images of Brutus and Cassius related by Tacitus seeme then most glorious when they are most wanting Enuie and Detraction like two venemous Serpents lurke alwayes in the path of Iustice and the best Rulers seldome finde the freest passage He that goes about to perswade a multitude they are not so well gouerned as they ought to bee shall sooner want argument than attention The reason wherof as a learned man hath obserued is because the abuses and corruptions in euery State most incuitable are for the most part sensible to vulgar capacities but the hinderances of Reformation only apparant to men of experienced iudgements As easie was it here for Absolon to slander as to speake his eyes could no sooner open but espie some obiect or other to animate his owne proiects or the peoples discontent Such is the boundlesse malice of base Informers with the venome of their aspicke tongues to poyson our sincerest actions and present as in a Perspectiue the least mites and mole-hils of our imperfections like huge and mighty Mountaines This found Dauid in the midst of a calme and settled State when mischiefe had scarce yet known her own strength nor time as yet teemed with all the engines of gracelesse villany What then shall wee now expect in these dogge-dayes of the worlds declining age wherein malitious detraction is esteemed the quintessence of wit and an ingeâ—…uous acknowledgement of mens good deseruing accounted too great a courtesie Surely the best reuenge I can here inuent for innocence can be no other than preces lachrymae the armour of a Christian and that constant resolution of the sweete Psalmist I will pray yet against their wickednesse The third and greatest imposture Absolon practised to make himselfe plausible was the pretence of Religion A vow hee pretended at least to haue made of his return to Hebron and there praising God after his safe returne to Ierusalem Dauid is sollicited to consent vnto his iourney neither could such a petition brooke a deniall which comes vshered in vnder the shew of a religious office Hebron seemed to Dauid a place fit for sacrifice to Absolon for conspiracie Ierusalem was too neere his fathers sight or rather too farre from his treacherous purpose to admit of such a wicked Conuenticle The meeting of such Conspirators so neere the Court might soon haue opened the eyes of sleeping iealousie and betrayed the treason to discouerie Dauids countenance might perhaps haue daunted the courage of his friends or haue wonne their loues And lest the peoples affection to Absolon should grow cold in his absence he leaues behind him his Parasites to sollicite his cause and at his approach to giue the signall Moreouer to strengthen himselfe the better against publicke hostility or priuate mistakes hee carryes with him a garrison from Ierusalem to defend his person and sends for Achitophel to Hebron to direct hiâ—… counsaile Nothing but the pretence of Religion could be thought a fit vizzard to hide the face of this dangerous conspiracie from the sight of suspition Deceit neuer thriues better than when she least seemes her selfe and Vice seldome dares to shew her selfe in publicke vnlesse she steale the robes of vertue and actuate her malice with slye hypocrisie Satan transformes himselfe into an Angell of light when hee intends the greatest mischiefe and instructs his disciples in the like Policie This hath beene the Diuels shift and practice in all ages neither euer comes wickednesse better armed than with the shew of seeming sanctitie Ieroboam the Sonne of Nebat who made Israel to sinne had no other pretence than Religion to withdraw the ten Tribes from Ierusalem by setting vp a new Idolatry The Scribes and Pharisees in the New Testament who vnder colour of Fasting and long Prayer deuoured Widowes houses professed the most rigorous and strict obedience of the Law Amongst the three sects in Ierusalem in the time of the siege by Titus and Vespasian Iosephus obserued those to haue been the most notoriously wicked who termed themselues the zealous But alas Pandora's boxe was not yet emptie the most of euils was reserued to these last and worst times wherin the greatest sinnes are accounted Articles of Faith and a sincere profession stiled Heresie Ignatius had not yet sent his broode into the world with the Popes patent as so many Pedlers to sell damnation Nor the Tridentine Councell concluded that Idolatry and Superstition should passe for true Religion But since the approach of this Medusa's head the world seemes to haue suffered a fatall Metamorphosis and wonders to finde her selfe so grosse a changling Could our small scantling of time dispence so farre as the discouerie of the Romane Church we should finde their whole Religion to be little other than a politicke hypocrisie directed to nothing else but gaine or greatnesse pretending nothing but pietie professing little else than malice or prophanenesse What vulgar iudgement can interpret otherwise of their pedlers-packe of Indulgences and sundry other superstitious iuglings but as of a meere merchandise of Soulâ—…s wherein euery gracelesse Parricide as in a common Market at the hands of a mercenarie Priest may cheapen and buy his own saluation Had all the Achitophels or Absolons in the world lost their politicke inuentions they might I suppose finde them againe improued in this State-Religion No dis-vnion of the Church so small which their rigorous constitutions pronounce not heresie No sinne so haynous for which their Pope dares not grant a dispensation As though sanctitie consisted not in the internall disposition of the man but in the outward conformitie of the Church and Pietie were pinned on the sleeue of worldly Policie This politicke sinne of hypocrisie I no sooner lose among the Romanists than I finde againe amongst our homebred Scismaticks A sect of men I confesse with whom I should hardly grapple stood they not armed in my way How much the odious name of a Puritane hath abused many a sincere Christian wee may learne by the writings of Becanus the Iesuite who hath paralleld our Puritanes in England with the Huguenots of France and the Caluinists of Germany or not to go so far abroad we may well see in some of our own mungrell Diuines who as it were betwixt hawke and buzzard can see nicely to distinguish betwixt a Puritane in opinion and a Puritane in discipline and haue taught the name contrary to the first institution so farre to enlarge it selfe that a Protestant must make a hard shift eyther by Popery or Arminianisme to saue himselfe harmelesse But with such mens humors I neuer sided to whom I professe my selfe as opposite in Affection as in Opinion Neuerthelesse
between Christian and worldly policie The one counsailes vs to make vp the breach of our sinnes by a sincere repentance the other to enlarge it with greater villany Binde not two sinner together for in one thou shalt not scape vnpunished saith the wisest of Kings But these Politicians holding themselues wiser than the wisest hold repentance base and perseuerance in sinne generous Nobler they suppose it to aduenture forward with danger than retire backe with shame as though they meant to shew themselues industriously resolute to sell their part in heauen and purchase their owne damnation But these we must leaue a while to their owne resolutions perhaps we shall find them againe with Achitophel hanging on the gallowes whose second and last counsaile offers it selfe in the next place to our examination 8 Hitherto hath Achitophels care bin to strengthen the faction both to secure himselfe and vnite the hearts of Israel more firmely to Absolon their leader His second Direction concernes the speeding of the execution Let me now choose out quoth Achitophel twelue thousand men and I will arise and pursue after Dauid this night and I will come vpon him while he is wearie and weake-handed and make him affraid and all the people which are with him shall flie and I will smite the King onely and I will bring back all the people vnto thee The man whom thou seekest is as if all returned So all the people shall be in peace In which politicke aduice of Achitophels three remarkeable circumstances offer themselues to our obseruation which by reason of the scantling of time and your wronged patience I shall be constrained rather to touch than handle In the first place his desire was to haue as well as his Head in the conspiracie so his Hand in the execution perhaps because hee hated Dauid hee was ambitious to shew himselfe the executioner of his owne reuenge and Dauids ruine perhaps out of vaine-glorie that he might seeme as able to act as wise to proiect a mischiefe perhaps out of an officious flattery to engage Absolons thankfulnesse by a doâ—…ble seruice But that which seemes to mee most probable was his extreame iealousie not daring to trust so young an experience with a matter of so great moment Absolons youth seemed perchance too shallow to entertaine the depth of his directions his bloud too neare to out-face the frowns of a fathers anger or the awe of filiall duety could not be supposed a fit actor in Dauids Tragedie The hardest Iron at the first touch of the Load stone is restored to its first temper and conceiues a Magneticke inclination And why might not Dauids fiery assault or gracious countenance in his rebellious sonne Absolon enforce nature to return vnto herselfe and kindle in him the sparkes of filiall duty and obedience Here may a man reade the state and condition of wicked poâ—…icie exposed to a thousand dangers and subiect to a thousand iâ—…alousies Well may such men as Damocles at Dionysius Table feed their hopes with the choisest dainties yet Gods fearfull iudgements as a sword pendulous ouer their heads is alwaies ready to threaten a destruction 'T is not then a good but an euill conscience which makes men cowards Onely hee who wants guilt wants feare and nothing but a cleare conscience can challenge true mother-hood in a couragious resolution The second point we obserue in Achitophels counsaile was a stratagem of Diuersion His quarrell was not against the people but Dauid his purpose to preserue the Kingdome but destroy the King and therefore thought it not so meete to hew out his passage to Dauids ouerthrowe through the bloud of the subiects as by the Kings forfeit to purchase them to Absolons obedience His first care was to strike at the roote it selfe well knowing the branches would fall of their owne accord and the peoples alleageance once dead in Dauid would soone quicken againe in Absolon The strength of Israel is shut vp in the Princes palace and the same power which conquers the one is soone master of the other This counsaile seemes to partake as well of good as bad with the death of one to redeem the life of many in the rigorous lawes of hostility seemes not a duety but a great courtesie But to sell a King to buy a kingdome and stake one Prince for many subiects is lesse than courtesie and more than cruelty Neither was this course affected by Achitophel to spare the liues of innocents or auoide a greater mischiefe but that he found it an easier way to conquer Dauid and reduce the people vnder the yoake of Absolons iurisdiction The good which politicians vse to pretend commonly swels in shew but shrinkes in substance as the Ocean they would seeme to flow in their kindnesses and embrace vs with twining armes as the waues the continent but seeking to lay hold on them we find them commonly to ebbe into nothing and snatch backe their owne with some aduantage If they chance to be authors of any good it serues only to flatter opinion and deceiue simplicity not that they loue good but that they may be the better armed to worke mischiefe To commit euill for a good end seemes to beare a better pretence before men than excuse before God but to suffer or act some good for an euill end is the height of mans wickednesse and the Diuels institution The third and last circumstance in this Achitophels counsaile was by a suddaine and vnexpected assault to take the best aduantage of his owne strength and Dauids weaknesse I will saith he suddenly fall on Dauid while he is wearie and weake-handed and the people shall flie To ioyne with mens misfortunes and adde to misery serues rather basenesse of the man than confidence of the cause and to second Gods afflictions with our owne reuenge is a marke of Gods instrument but the Diuels seruant The apprehension of an apt opportunity is of it selfe I confesse a matter indifferent as well to good as wicked policie Yet hasty and vnexpected actions commonly carry with them a greater suspicion of guilt than discretion as that which seekes to preuent a tryall and feares discouery Time the father of truth would questionlesse haue betrayed Absolons cause to common examination and reduced the discontented Commons to their first temper Dauid might haue giuen satisfaction allegeance haue reuiued in his subiects hearts Necessity which perhaps begat the effects of ill gouernment might haue vrged the causes and reason which at the first seemed to fawne on their discontent might afterwards be taught to correct her errors and suppresse their insolence All this Achitophel knew right wel and therfore chose rather to take aduantage of the peoples sudden passion than their maturer iudgements as one who had good cause to shunne a legall â—…ury where he could promise himselfe no other than losse in the fatall verdict Hitherto beloued haue we traced the foote-steps of our grand traytour Achitophel through all his politicke counsailes and
greatest part enuied her historie hath yet cherished in her bosome this one darling and kept a sure register of all her actions Should I descend to particular examples of Gods concurrence in mans actions I should sooner lose my selfe than finde an end The most irreligious Heathen through the thicke clouds of ignorance haue often espied the glimpse of Gods dreadfull lightning and often quaked at his thunder They haue felt his finger in their wounds and acknowledged his strength in their weaknesse Yea such hath beene the power of Almighty God to expose their owne wicked actions as a table of their confession and extort an acknowledgement of his victorie out of their blasphemy Iulian that wicked Apostate though as politicke to obscure as malicious to oppose the truth of Christ Iesus was yet in the end constrained to shut vp his tyrannie with a Viâ—…isti Galâ—…leae In like sort we reade of Mahomet the second the first Emperor of the Turkes that at the siege of Scodra against the Christians in the defence of so small a Citie against his mighty Army finding God his enemy he blasphemously asked by way of exprobation whether God had not enough to doe in Heauen that he should interpose himselfe in his affaires on earth He that will not deny a God must of necessity grant a prouidence and who knowes himselfe and sifts into his owne will and actions must needs acknowledge a supernall power which determines them to good or euill Here stood it with my time or your patience could I proceed to taxe Pelagius and his latter spawne the Iesuites and Arminians who imagining our will to be her owne mistresse haue admitted God no otherwise than as a seruant or assistant as though that Almighty power were not authorized to preordaine but onely bound to second our conuersion Their saluation they would rather owe vnto themselues than grace as though they sought the first cause in their own inclination and expected nothing of God but a Morall and strong perswasion But although in deede they will deny a certaine and speciall Predestination yet in words they will grant a Prescience Here would I willingly aske a question out of my Text Whether God absolutely foresaw Absolons inclination of reiecting Achitophels counsell or not If they grant the Negatiue they deny a Prescience If the Affirmatiue I demand againe whether this fore-sight could imply a necessity of euent or leaue Absolon to his owne free choice If the former they must deny him a Free-will of declining to the other side which they labour by all meanes to establish If the latter they must eyther acknowledge Gods prescience to bee vncertaine against the ground they haue already granted or at least affirme that a certaine knowledge may be of such things as shall neuer come to passe Here the Iesuites are better prouided to shift than answer like the subtile Sepâ—…s to make an escape by troubling the water and rather than they would be thought to know nothing they will say any thing Where the Scripture shewes no faire countenance and Reason faints their recourse to Schoole-subtilties must be their only refuge But were there no Smith in Israel yet might these Philistins be entreated to sharpen our sword for our defence against their battery God say they from all eternity foresaw the inclination of mans Free-will vpon which he grounded his decree of withholding or conferring farther grace Here I must aske againe Whether God foresaw it in his own decree or the disposition of the second causes If they assent vnto the former then must this foresight in the order of our vnderstanding not preuent but rather second the decree which they deny If they sticke to the latter as indeede they doe I demand how second causes may be supposed to work except they were predetermined and actuated by the first That second causes worke not in their owne but their owners strength is their owne principle and to grant them an operation not depending on the first Agent were to set an instrument to worke without a hand I would aske moreouer Whether God foreseeing Achitophels counsell and Absolons inclination bad the power to hinder it or not If so then was it in his power to foresee what himselfe could hinder which checkes the certainty of Gods knowledge and inuolues an apparant Contradiction If not how can we imagine him Omnipotent which cannot challenge so much power ouer second causes as to turne and diuert them to his owne vses This argument Vorstius and Episcopius found so strong against them that to backe their absurdity they must adde apparant blasphemy allowing God eyther no Prescience at all or such as is onely vncertaine and 〈◊〉 which impious and grosse opinion I hold sufficiently confuted in the mention But I haue stayed here too long and haue farre to goe wherefore hauing taken a generall suruey of the primary or chiefe cause of Achitophels defeate let vs descend to the second causes which in the next place offer themselues to obseruation 4 Gods power hath expressed it selfe legible as well in the Book of Nature as of Grace and naturall Agents as you haue heard as they deriue their operations from his strength so they are determined by his will and directed to his glory Here we finde Nature in second Agents not set against her selfe though raised a pitch beyond her priuate inclination and the first cause without eyther neede or violence to entertaine the seruice of the second Whence ere we descend to each particular inferiour agent will arise one generall obseruation That Almighty God bringing to passe miraculous and great euents commonly admits the cooperation of second causes As easie was it questionlesse for that great Architect of nature who out of waste and emptinesse begat a world to create as to command to cause as to entertaine the operation of inferior Agents Here might History shew her selfe prodigall of examples but neuer bank-rupt euery moment in the ordinary course of humane actions begets some instance or other to demonstrate Gods gracious loue and fauour to the world who able to dash both Policy and Nature out of countenance is notwithstanding pleased to admit them as his obedient hand-maides But to expresse the secret cooperation of God working by second causes is a matter which hath heretofore staggred Philosophy and puzled the apprehension of the sharpest and acutest Diuines Neuerthelesse so farre forth as the infinite power of God may dispense with mans enquiry we may reduce the manner of his working to certaine heads to decline as much as we can the two enemies of vnderstanding Obscurity and Confusion The action then of Gods concurring with second causes concernes either the beginning progresse or end of the same act In the beginning we may call it either Positiue or Negatiue The Positiue consists either in the furtherance or hinderance of humane actions both which may be either internall or externall The internall promotion or hinderance is againe diuided into two acts for