of Providence the whole Earth all things in the Earth all the hairs on the Heads of these men The meanest Worm as well as the mightiest Prince the lowest Shrub as well as the tallest Cedar every cranny corner or chink of the Earth 4. Diligence of Providence to and fro His care is repeated he looks this way and that way again and again his eyes are not consin'd to one place fixed on one object but are alwaies rouling about from one place to another 5. The Efficacy of his Providence His care doth engage his strength he doth not only discover dangers but prevent them he hath Eyes to see and Power to order all things according to his pleasure Wise to see and strong to save II. The end of Providence to shew himself strong c. 1. Finis cujus to shew himself strong Heb. to make himself strong but best Translated to shew himself strong It is not an addition of strength but an exercise of strength that is heremeant 2. Finis cui or the Persons for whom those that are perfect in heart Doctrines Doct. 1. There is a Providence exercised by God in the World 2 All Gods Providences in the World are in order to the good of his people 3. Sincerity in Gods way gives a man an interest in all Gods Providences and the good of them Doct. 1. For the First There is a Providential inspection and Government of all things in the world by God 'T is not a bare sight of things that is here meant by Gods eye but a sight and knowledge in order to the Governing and disposing of them Veiw this Doctrine at your leisure preached by God himself with an inconceivable elegancy and three whole Chapters spent in the Sermon and * Job 38 39 40. by the Psalmist * Psal 147 148. Some observe that the society of Angels and Heavenly Creatures is represented Ezek. 1. by a quaternarian number because the World is divided into 4 dimensions East West North and South as intimating the extention of Gods Providence over all parts * Hudsons Divine right of Government chap. 6. pag. 53. Things are not ordered in the World caeco impetu not by blind fortune but an al-seeing deity who hath the management of all sublunary affairs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Clemens ad Corint◠p. 3◠〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was the Theological Maxim of the Stoicks Before I come particularly to explain the Providence of God I shall lay down some Propositions as the Foundations of this Doctrine 1. God hath an indisputable and peculiar Right to the Government of the World None ever questioned Gods Right no nor his act but those that were swelled with an unreasonable ambition such as Nebuchadnezzar who for this cause underwent the punishment of a 7 years banishment from the society of men * Dan. 4.17 None indeed that acknowledge a God did or can question Gods Right though they may question his Will and actual exercise of his Right He is the Creator and therefore is the Soveraign Lord and Ruler The World is his Family and as a Master he hath an undoubted Right to govern his own Family He gave all Creatures their beings and therefore hath a right to enact their Laws appoint their stations and fix their ends 'T is as much his property and prerogative to rule as it is to create Creation is so peculiarly proper to God that it is not communicable to any Creature no not to Angels though of a vast Capacity in other things and that because they are Creatures themselves 'T is as impossible for one Creature or all to govern the World and manage all the boysterous passions of men to just and glorious ends as to create them 'T is true God useth instruments in the executive part of his Providence but he doth not design the Government of the world only by Instruments He useth them not for necessity but ornament He Created the World without them and therefore can Govern the World without them Virtus Creativa est fundamentum providentiae argumentum ad providentiam This right is founded upon that Creation as he is the efficient cause of it This right is also founded upon the excellency of his Being That which is excellent having a right to rule in the way of that excellency that which is inferiour every man hath a natural right to rule an other in his own art and skill wherein he excells him If it be the right of a chief Magistrate to manage the concerns of his Kingdom with what reason can we deny that right to God 2. God only is qualified for the universal government of the World All Creatures as they were unable to create themselves so are unable to manage themselves without the Direction of a Superior power much more unable to manage the vast body of the World God is only fit in regard of 1. Power Conservation is continuata Creatio that power which is fit to Create is only fit to preserve A continued Creation belongs as much to Omnipotency as the first Creation The Government of it requires no less power both in regard of the numerousness of the objects and the strange contrariety of passions in rational Creatures and qualities in irrational conservation is but one continued act with Creation following on from an instant to duration as a line from its Mathmatical point Tailors exemplar preface 6.31 2. Holiness and Righteousness If he that hates right is not fit to govern Job 34.17 then he that is infinitely Righteous and hath an infinite love to Righteousness is the fittest to undertake that task without Righteousness there would be nothing but confusion in the whole Creation Disorder is the effect of unrighteousness as order is the effect of justice The justest man is fittest for subordinate Government among men and the infinite just God is fittest for the universal Government of the World 3. Knowledge An infinite knowledge to desery all the contrivances and various labyrinths of the hearts of men their secret intentions and aims is necessary The Government of the World consists more in ordering the inward faculties of men touching the hearts and tuning them to play what notes he pleases then in external things No Creature hath the skill or power to work immediately upon the will of man neither Angels nor Devils can do it immediately but by proposing objects and working upon the fancy which is not alwaies succesful He that created the heart knows all the wards of it and hath only the skill to turn it and incline it as he pleases he must needs know all the inclinations of the Creatures and their proper activities since he alone conferred all those several principles and qualities upon them * Act 15.8 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the World viz. the particular natures inclinations inward motions which no Creature fully understands he needs no deputy to inform him of what
by his providence He is the great General of Armies 'T is observed that in the two Prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah God is called the Lord of Hosts no less then a Hundred and Thirty times Arrowsmith Chaâ—â— oâ— Principles Exercit 1. §. 1. 3. To preternatural actions God doth command Creatures to do those things which are no way suitable to their inclinations and gives them sometimes for his own service a writt of ease from the performance of the natural Law he hath impressed upon them A devouring Raven is made by the Providence of God the prophets Caterer in a time of Famine * 1 King 17.4 God instructs a ravenous Bird in a lesson of abstinence for Elijah's safety and makes it both a Cook and a Serving man to the Prophet The Whale that delights to play about the deepest part of the Ocean approaches to the shore and attends upon Jonah to transport him to the dry Land * Jonah 2.10 The fire * Dan. 3. was slacked by God that it should not singe the least hair of the three Childrens heads but was let loose to consume the Officers of the Court The mouths of the ravenous Lyons which had been kept with an empty stomach were muzled by God that they should not prey upon Daniel in a whole nights space God taught them an Heroical temperance with so dainty a dish at their mouths and yet they tore the accusers in a trice 4. To all supernatural and miraculous actions of the Creatures which are as so many new Creations As when the Sun went backward in Hezekiah's time when it stood still in the valley of Ajalon that Joshuah might compleat his Victory on the Canaanites The boysterous waves stood on a heap like Walls to secure the Israelites passage but returning to their natural motion were the Aegyptians Sepulchre When Creatures have stept out of their natural course it could not be the act of the Creature it being so much against and above their natures but it must be by the order of some Superior Power 5. To all fortuitous actions What is casual to us is ordained by God as effects stand related to the second cause they are many times contingent but as they stand related to the first cause they are acts of his Counsel and directed by his Wisdom God never left second causes to straggle and operate in a Vagabond way though the effect seem to us to be a loose act of the Creature yet it is directed by a Superior cause to a higher end then we can presently imagine The whole disposing of the lot which is cast into the lap is from the Lord. Pro. 16.33 A Souldier shoots an arrow at random and God guides it to be the Executioner of Ahab for his Sin * 1 King 22.34 which Death was foretold by Micajah v. 17 28 God gives us a certain Rule to judge of such contingencies Exod. 21.13 And if a man lye not in wait but God deliver him into his hand A man accidentally kills another but it is done by a secret commission from God God delivered him into his hands Providence is the great Clock keeping time and order not only hourly but instantly to its own honour * Fuller Eccles Hist Câ—nt 6. book 2. p. 51. 6. To all voluntary actions 1. To good actions Not by compelling but sweetly inclining determining the Will so that it doth that willingly which by an unknown and unseen necessity cannot be omitted It constrains not a man to good against his will but powerfully moves the will to do that by consent which God hath determined shall be done The way of man is not in himself the motion is mans the action is mans but the direction of his steps is from God Jer. 10.23 'T is not in man that walketh to direct his steps 2. To evil actions 1. In permitting them to be done Idolatries and follies of the Heathen were permitted by God He checked them not in their course but laid the reins upon their necks and suffered them to run what race they pleased Acts 14.16 Who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own wayes Not the most execrable villany that ever was committed in the world could have been done without his permission Sin is not amabile propter se and therefore the permission of it is not desireable in itself but the permission of it is only desireable and honestatur ex sine God is good and wise and righteous in all his acts so likewise in this act of permitting sin and therefore he wills it out of some good and righteous end which belongs to the manifestation of his glory which â—s that he intends in all the acts of his will of which this is one Wicked men are said to be a staff in Gods hand as a man manages a staff which is in his own power so doth God manage wicked men for his own holy purposes and they can go no further then God gives them licence 2. In ordering them God governs them by his own unsearchable Wisdom and Goodness and directs them to the best and holiest ends Contrary to the natures of the sins and the intentions of of the sinner Joseph's Brothers sold him to gratifie their revenge and God ordered it for their preservation in a time of famine Pharaoh's hardness is ordered by God for his own glory and that Kings destruction God decrees the delivering up Christ to Death and Herod Pilate the Pharisees and common rout of People in satisfying their own passion do but execute what God had before ordained Act. 4.28 for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done Judas his Covetousness and the Devils malice are ordered by God to execute his decree for the redemption of the World Titus the Emperour his ambition led him to Jerusalem but Gods end is the fulfilling of his threatnings and the taking revenge upon the Jews for their murdering of Christ The aim of the Physician is the Patients health when the intent of the Leeches is only to suck the blood God hath holy ends in permitting sin while man hath unworthy ends in committing it The rain which makes the Earth fruitful is exhaled out of the Salt-waters which would of themselves spoil the ground and make it unfruitful The deceiver and the deceived are his Joh. 12.16 Both the action of the Devil the Seducer and of wicked men the seduced are restrained by God within due bounds in subserviency to his righteous will for with him is strength and wisdom Second Proposition 2. As Providence is universal so it is mysterious Who can trace the motions of Gods eyes in their race He makes the Clouds his Chariot in his motions about the Earth * Psal 104.3 and his throne is in the dark He walks upon the wings of the wind His providential speed makes it too quick for our understanding His wayes are mysterious and put the reason and wisdom of
Clock or Watch hath some fault in any of the wheels the man that winds it up or putting his hand upon the wheeles moves them he is the cause of the motion but it is the flaw in it or deficiency of something is the cause of its erroneous motion that error was not from the person that made it or the person that winds it up and sets it on going but from some other cause yet till it be mended it will not go otherwise so long as it is set upon motion Our motion is from God Acts 17.28 in him we move but not the disorder of that motion 'T is the foulness of a mans stomach at Sea is the cause of his sickness and not the Pilots government of the ship 2. God doth not infuse the lust or excite it though he doth present the object about which the lust is exercised God delivered up Christ to the Jews he presented him to them but never commanded them to crucifie him nor infused that malice into them nor quickned it but he seeing such a frame withdrew his restraining grace and left them to the conduct of their own vitiated wills All the corruption in the World ariseth from lust in us not from the object which God in his providence presents to us 2 Pet. 1.4 the corruption that is in the World through lust The Creature is from God but the abuse of it from corruption God created the grape and filled the Wine with a sprightliness but he doth never infuse a drunken frame into a man or excite it Providence presents us with the Wine but the precept is to use it soberly Can God be blamed if that which is good in it self be turned into Poyson by others No more then the flower can be called a criminal because the Spiders nature turns that into venome which is sweet in it self Man hath such a nature not from Creation wherein God is positive but from corruption wherein God is permissive Providence brings a man into such a condition of poverty but it doth not encourage his stubbornness and impatience There is no necessity upon thee from God to exercise thy sin under affliction when others under the same exercise their graces The Rod makes the Child smart but it is its own stubbornness makes it curse In short though it be by Gods permission that we can do evil yet it is not by his inspiration that we will to do evil that is wholely from our selves 3. God supports the faculties wherewith a man sinneth and supports a man in that act wherein he sinneth but concurrs not to the sinfulness of that act No sin doth properly consist in the act it self as an act but in the deficiency of that act from the rule No action wherein there is sin but may be done as an action though not as an irregular action Killing a man is not in it self unlawful for then no magistrate should Execute a Malefactor for murdering another and justice would cease in the World man also must divest himself of all thoughts of preserving his Life against an invader but to kill a man without just cause without authority without rule contrary to rule out of revenge is unlawful So that it is not the act as an act is the sin but the swerving of that act from the rule makes it a sinful act So speaking as speaking is not a sin for it is a power and act God hath endued us with but speaking irreveverently and dishonourably of God or falsly and slandrously of man or any otherwise irregularly therein the sin lyes So that it is easie to conceive that an act and the viciousness of it are separable That act which is the same in kind with another may be laudable and the other base and vile in respect of its circumstances The mind wherewith a man doth this or that act and the irregularity of it makes a man a criminal There is a concurrence of God to the act wherein we sin but the sinfulness of that act is purely from the inherent corruption of the Creature As the power and act of seeing is communicated to the eye by the Soul but the seeing doubly or dimly is from the vitiousness of the Organ the eye God hath no manner of immediate efficiency in producing sin as the Sun is not the efficient cause of darkness though the darkness immediately succeeds the setting of the Sun but it is the deficient cause So God withdraws his grace and leaves us to that lust which is in our wills Act. 14.16 Who in times past suffered all Nations to walk in their own wayes He bestowed no grace upon them but left them to themselves As a man who lets a glass fall out of his hand is not the efficient cause that the glass breaks but it s own brittle nature yet he is the deficient cause because he withdraws his support from it God is not obliged to give us grace because we have made a total forfeiture of it He is not a Debtor to any man by way of merit of any thing but punishment He is indeed in some sence a Debtor to those that are in Christ upon the account of Christs purchase and his own promise but not by any merits of theirs 4. Gods providence is conversant about sin as a punishment yet in a very righteous manner God did not will the first sin of Adam as a punishment because there was no punishment due to him before he sinned but he willed the continuance of it as a punishment to the nature sub ratione boni This being a judicial act of God is therefore righteously willed by him Punishment is a moral good 'T is also a righteous thing to suit the punishment to the nature of the offence and what can be more righteous then to punish a man by that wherein he offends Hence God is said to give up men to sin Rom. 2.26 27. for this cause God gave them up unto vile affections And to send strong delusions that they may believe a lye And the reason is rendred 2 Thes 2.12 that they all might be damned who believed not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness * Thes 2.11 What more righteous then to make those vile affections and that unrighteousness their punishment which they made their pleasure and to leave them to pursue their own sinful inclinations and make them as the Psalmist speaks Psal 5.10 fall by their own Counsels A Drunkards Beastlines is his punishment as well as his Sin Thus God delivers up some to their own lusts as a punishment both to themselves and others As he hardened Pharaohs heart for the destruction both of himself and his People 5. God by his providence draws glory to himself and good out of sin 'T is the highest excellency to draw good out of evil and it is Gods right to manifest his excellency when he pleases and to direct that to his honour which is acted against his Law The holiness of
therefore the continuance of that being depends upon his preserving influence * Stillingsleet Orig sacrae lib. 3. cap. 3. §. 3. God upholds the World and causes all those laws which he hath impressed upon every Creature to be put in execution not as a man that makes a watch and winds it up and then suffers it to go of it self Or that turns a River into another Channel and lets it alone to run in the grass he hath made for it but there is a continual concurrence of God to this goodly frame For they do not only live but move in him or by him his living and omnipotent power runs through every vein of the Creation giving it life and motion and ordering the acts of every part of this great body All the motions of second causes are ultimately resolved into the Providence of God who holds the first link of them in his hands * Hos 2.21 22. More particularly the nature of Providence may be explained by Two propositions First Proposition The universality of it His eyes run to and fro throughout the whole Earth First 'T is over all Creatures 1. The highest 2. The lowest I. The highest and most magnificent pieces of the Creation 1. Over Jesus Christ the first born of every Creature Gods providence was in an especial manner conversant about him and fixed upon him It was by the determinate Counsel of God that he was delivered up * Acts. 2.23 His providence was diligently exercised about him in his whole course Christ answers his Mothers solicitousness with the care his Father took of him * Luk. 2.49 wist you not that I must be about my Fathers business 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hammond in loc Do you not know that I am about those things my Father takes care of * This exposition best agrees with his reproof who blames them for creating so much trouble to themselves upon their missing him in the Town 'T is not why do you interrupt me in my dispute with the Jewish Doctors But How is it that you sought me Do you think I am not under the care of my Father It was particularly exercised on him in the midst of his passion * Zach. 3.9 Seven eyes were upon the Stone Seven a number of perfection a perfect and peculiar care of God attended him 2. Over Angels and Men. The Soul of the least Animal and the smallest Plant is formed and preserved by God but the breath of Mankind is more particularly in his hand Job 12.10 In whose hand is the Soul of every living thing and the breath of all Mankind 1. Over good Angels and Men. He charges his Angels with folly and weakness They cannot direct themselves without his wisdom nor preserve themselves without his power God hath a Book of Providence wherein he writes down who shall be preserved and this Book Moses understands Exod. 32.33 Whosoever hath sinned against me him will I blot out of my Book not the Book of Election no names written there are blotted out but out of the Book of Providence As it is understood Isa 4.3 every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem i. e. every one whom God designs to preservation and deliverance * Hortons Serm. Ps 87. p. 56. That God surely that hath a care of the mean animals will not be careless of his affectionate Worshippers He that feeds the Ravens will not starve his Doves He that satisfies the Ravening Wolf will not famish his gentle Lambs and harmless Sheep He shelters Jacob from Labans fury and * Gen. 31.29 tutors him how he should carry himself towards the good man He brought Haman out of favour and set Mordecai in his place for the deliverance of the Jews which were design'd for slaughter 2. Over evil Angels and Men. Gods power preserves them his patience suffers them his wisdom orders them and their evil purposes and performances to his own glory The Devil cannot arrest Job nor touch a Lamb of his Flock nor a hair of his head without a commission from God He cannot enter into one filthy Swine in the Gaderens herd without asking our Saviour leave Whatever he doth he hath a grant or permission from Heaven for it Gods special providence is over his people but his general Providence over all Kingdoms and Countreys He takes care of Syria as well as of Judaea and sends Elisha to anoint Hazael King of Syria as well as Jehu King of Israel * 1 King 19.15 Though Ishmael had mocks for Isaac yet the God of Isaac provided for the wants of Ishmael * Gen. 25.16 17 18. He causeth his Sun to shine upon the unjust as well as the just to produce Fruits and plants for their preservation II. Over the meanest Creatures As the Suns light so Gods Providence disdains not the meanest wormes 'T is observed that in the enumeration of the works of Creation * Gen. 1.21 only the great Whales and small creeping things are mentioned and not the intermediate Creatures to shew that the least as well as the greatest are under his care 'T is one of his Titles to be the preserver of Beasts as well as men * Neh. 9.6 He is the great Caterer for all Creatures * Ps 104.21 The young Lyons seek their meat from God They attend him for their daily portion and what they gather and meet with in their pursuit is Gods gift to them vers 27 28. He listens to the cries of the young Ravens though they are Birds of Prey * Psal 147.9 He gives to the Beast his food and to the young Ravens which cry In Psalm 104. David throughout the whole reads a particular Lecture of this Doctrine wherein you may take a prospect of Gods Providence all over the world He acts them by a Commandment and imprinted Law upon their natures and makes them observe exactly those statutes he enacts for the guidance of them in their proper operations Psal 147.15 he sendeth forth his Commandment upon Earth and his word runs very swiftly viz. his word of Providence God keeps them in the observation of their first ordinance * Psal 119.91 They continue this day according to thine Ordinances for all are thy Servants i. e. The Earth and what is upon it They observe their stations the Law God hath set them as if they had a rational knowledge of their duty in their particular motions Ps 104.19 the Sun knoweth his going down Sometimes he makes them instruments of his Ministry to us sometimes executioners of his judgments Lice and Frogs arm themselves at his command to punish Egypt He makes a Whale to attend Jonas dropping into the Sea to be an instrument both to punish and preserve him Yea and which is more wonderfull the multitude of the very Cattle is brought among others as a reason of a peoples preservation from destruction Jonah 4.11 the multitude of the Cattle are joyned with the multitude of
if I be lifted up from the Earth will draw all men unto me 6. In making the fancies of men subservient to their own ruine God brings about strange events by the meer imaginations and conceits of men which are contrary to common and natural observation and the ordinary course of rational consequences * 2 King 3.22 23. The Army of the Moabites which had invaded Israel thought the two Kings of Judah and Israel had turned their Swords against one another because the rising Sun had coloured those unexpected waters and made them look red which they took for the blood of their Enemies and so disorderly run without examination of the truth of their conceit but instead of dividing the spoil they left their lives upon the points of the Israelites swords So the Syrian Army are scared with a panick fear and scatter themselves upon an empty sound * 2 King 7.6 Thus a dream struck a terror into the Midianites and the noise of broken pot-sheards made them fear some treason in their Camp and caused them to turn their swords into one anothers bowels Judg 7.19 22 The Lord set every mans sword against his fellow Quest. First Question If Gods providence orders all things in the world and concurrs to every thing how will you free God from being the Author of sin Answ Answer in several propositions 1. 'T is certain God hath a hand about all the sinful actions in the World The selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites was the act of his Brethren The sending him into Egypt was the act of God * Psal 105.17 He sent a man before them even Joseph who was sold for a Servant Gen. 45. 8. It was not you that sent me hither but God Where Joseph ascribes it more to God then to them Their wicked intention was to be rid of him that he might tell no more tales of them to his Father Gods gracious intention was to advance him for his honour and their good and to bring about this gracious purpose he makes use of their sinful practice Gods end was righteous when theirs was wicked 'T is said God moved David to number the People 2 Sam. 24.1 the anger of the Lord was kindled again Israel and he moved David aganist them to say Go number Israel and Judah Yet Satan is said to provoke David to number the people 1 Chron. 21.1 And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel Here are two agents But the text mentions Gods hand in it out of Justice to punish Israel Satans end no question was out of malice to destroy Satan wills it as a sin God as a punishment God say some permissive Satan Efficaciter In the most villanous and unrighteous action that ever was done God is said to have an influence on it God is said to deliver up Christ Act. 2.23 Him being delivered by the determinate Counsel and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by wicked hands have crucified and slain Acts 4.28 for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy Counsel determined before to be done Not barely as an act of his prescience but his Counsel and that determinate i. e. stable and irreversible He makes a distinction between those two acts In God it was an act of Counsel in them an act of wickedness by wicked hands there was Gods Counsel about it an actual tradition Rom. 8.32 He that spared not his own Son but delivered him up for us all All the Agents had several ends God in that act aimed at the redemption of the world Satan at the preventing it Judas to satisfie his covetousness the Jews to preserve themselves from the Roman invasion and out of malice to him for so sharply reproving them God had a gracious principle of love to mankind and acted for the Salvation of the World in it the instruments had base principles and ends and moved freely in obedience to them So in the affliction of Job both God and Satan had an hand in it Job 1.12 The Lord said unto Satan behold all that he hath is in thy power vers 11. Touch all that he hath and he will curse thee to thy face their ends were different the one righteous for Tryal the other malicious against God that he might be cursed and against Job that he might be damned Gods end was the brightning of his grace and the Devils end was the ruin of his integrity and dispoilng him of Gods favour 2. In all Gods acts about sin there is no stain to Gods holiness * Senguer Metaph. lib. 2 cap 15. §. 5. In second causes one and the same action proceeding from divers causes in respect of one cause may be sinful in respect of the other righteous As when two Judges condemn a guilty person one condemns him out of love to justice because he is guilty the other condemns him out of a private hatred and spleen One respects him as a Malefactor only the other as a private Enemy chiefly Here is the same action with two concurring causes one being wicked in it the other righteous Much more may we conceive it in the concurrence of the Creator with the action of the Creature 1. God moves every thing in his ordinary providence according to their particular natures God moves every thing ordinarily according to the nature he finds it in Had we stood in innocency we had been moved according to that originally righteous nature but since our Fall we are moved according to that nature introduced by us with the expulsion of the other Our first corruption was our own act not Gods work we owe our Creation to God our corruption to our selves Now since God will govern his Creature I do not see how it can be otherwise then according to the present nature of the Creature unless God be pleased to alter that nature God forces no man against his nature he doth not force the will in conversion but graciously and powerfully inclines it He doth never force nor incline the will to sin but leaves it to the corrupt habits it hath settled in it self Psal 81.12 So I gave them up to their own hearts lusts and they walked in their own Counsels Counsels of their own framing not of Gods He moves the will which is sponte mala according to its own nature and Counsels As a man flings several things out of his hand which are of several figures some spherical tetragons cylinders conicks some round and some square though the motion be from the agent yet the variety of their motions is from their own figure and frame and if any will hold his hand upon a ball in its motion regularly it will move according to his nature and figure and a man by casting a boul out of his hand is the cause of the motion but the bad biass is the cause of its irregular motion The power of action is from God but the viciousness of that action from our own nature As when a