or Nay Lyâ—ng but as the question is put Act. 5.8 the modification then of these natural Acts the Power whereof is from God Act. 17.28 the Specifying and Determining them this or the other way with their Relation to God's Law is that which giveth them both Name and Thing If a man â—ayeth Yea when by the Law of God he ought to say Nay it 's Lying and the physical Act Sin or Transgression To pour water and to Baptize in the Name of the Father Son and Holy-Ghost is no Sin yea may be Righteousness but so to do and say over a Beast can never be but Sin To Name the Word Devil is is not alwayes Sin But to Baptize a Chriâ—tian inâ—o his Name hath a moral Malignity in it that can never by the Wit of Man be separated from it but that he that determineth to the Act doth also to the Obliquity of it Hence it is that Men are said to hatch and contrive Mischief Isa 59.4 to do Wickedness Gen. 39.9 or Unrighteousness Lev. 19.15 Rom. 1.29 and to commit Sin Ja. 2.9 the Abstract for the Concrete this though it may not be Good Metaphysicks is found Divinity I am sure It 's meant of Acts oblique and thwarting Gods Law Termed a Working of Wiâ—kedness 2 King 21.6 It 's the Act or Substratum only that is meant or that Man doth when he is said to be the Authour or Worker of Sin and that he pleaseth himself in when he is said to take Pleasure in Unrighteousness 2 Thes 2.12 or that his Members are Serviceable to when he is said to yield them as Instruments of Unrighteousness Rom. 6.13 or that he repents him of when he is said to repent him of his Wickedness Act. 8.22 and beg pardon for it Psal 32.2 5. or that Men are Damned for when they are said to Receive the Wages of Unrighteousness And yet surely that is Sin Rom. 6.20 23. these things hast thou done Psal 50.21 And diverse Affection Sin hath predicated of it whereas non entis nulla est affectio It 's said to be Intended and Remitted some to be greater some lessâ—r Sins and Sinners Gen. 15.16 a Wonderfull and Horrible thing is Committed Jer. 5.30 and 23.14 it 's said also to leaven 1 Cor. 5.6 and its self to be purged out 2 Pet. 1.9 some to be overcome of it 2 Pet. 2.19 and others to overcome it Rom. 12.21 being aware of its deceit Heb. 3.13 What can all this and the like be affirmed of but of somewhat that hath Entity It 's the Material the Substrate matter or Subject the Illegal Habits or Operations of the Soul that is called Sin and the Body of it Rom. 6.6 Yet farther If sin be a non-ens Nothing Or hath no Efficient neither is Grace any thing nor hath it God for its Authour nor yet man This appeareth from the Rule of Contraries contrariorum eadem est ratio Sin and Grace Righteousness and Unrighteousness are opposed contrarily not privatively in Morals Sub habitu vel actione morali They are two Contraries meeting sometimes in the same Subjâ—ct and combating there Gal. 5.17 As Grace or Holiness is an Elective habit of the Mind and Will or an Act Imperated of it commensurate to the Law of God So is Vice or Sin in the Mind or Will a Habit or Act deflecting from the same Rule And in the Abstract the deflection opposed to commensuration is its Vitiocity or Sinfulness and the Will of man is the Efficient cause of it of Evil equally as of Good Errour hath its Radication in the Mind as well as Truth and to be Wise to do Evâ—l hâ—th as much of Entity in it as to do Good Jer. 4.22 Blindness Darkness or Ignorance is indeed nothing Positive If it be of what the Nature of man is Incapable of or was never Endowed with It 's but Simple Nescience a Negation only If of Natural things only the loss of an Endowment of Mind in the discerning of and Knowledge in and about things not Relating to Religion wherein yet Manonce had Understanding and was capable of It 's a Privation but no Sin or Moral Evil. If a Man becometh Ignorant or Nescient in or unto the compassing of what is by the Law of God forbidden It 's Metaphysical Evil if I may so term it a Privation of something that hath an Entity and with which transcendental Good the common Affection of Entity is Convertible but it 's Moral good Jam. 3.15 let not my Soul come into their Secret Gen. 49.6 Ignorance or Darkness in and aboâ—t the things of God and of the Spirit be it juris or facti of the Law or of the Adequation of the Act to it 1 Tim. 6.5 Isa 5.20 if of that which is due and was connate to man to know and Understand it 's a Privation viz. of that the Habit or Power whereof was once an Humane Endowment and the which he is a Subject capable of having again retrived by a Supernatural and Divine power and Perfective of man and its Moral Evil. The Soul or Mind of Man is the Substratum or Subject of it or that that is so deprived and being destitute of Light and Truth it 's ens moraliter Malum a Being ethically Evil a depraved Faculty Eph 4.18 and he that extinguisheth the Habit causeth the Privation and all the Evil that â—nsueth Rom. 1.28 2 Pet. 3.5 The Pravity or Sinfulness of the Soul or its Faculties by reason of that Privation is from the Law requiring the contrary Habit. The Formal Nature thereof is its discrepancy and repugnancy to Law or Rule and hath as much of Entity in it as when the fundamentum the Foundation of that relative Respect is quid positivum something positive as a Habit. And the reason of Sin is the same in Omissions and Commissions the Will is culpable in both alike either Efficiently or Deficiently and the Obliquity or Illegality of the one hath as much of positivity in it as of the other Neither hath Righteousness or Holiness the contrary Mode of Being any thing more of Entity as hath been said than Sin or Unrighteousness or is there any more of Efficiency to the one than the other Neither Sin nor Grace Piety or Impiety can subsist out of any Subject or hang in the Air inconcreto abstracto in that agree Harmony na Discord Order and Disorder Conformity and Disconformity Rectitude and Obiquity Righteousness and Unrighteousness have an Efficient Cause and Men are said as well to do one as the other if we may Credit the Scriptures 1 Joh. 3. 7 10. Lev. 19.15 Rom. 6.23 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Uncorruptness or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sincerity Tit. 2.7 which is as Salt that rendereth every Instance or Obedience Savoury hath no more of Positivity in it than the Contrary Deceit Corruptness Prevarication or Hypocrisie of which the former is the Negation without Hypocrisie Isa 3.17 1 Pet. 3.4 that is Upright in the Affirmative Yea one
and the same Act or Action every way alike Circumstantiated may and have received either Denomination sometimes that of Good or Righteous and then again of Sinful or Unrighteous upon the Alteration of the Law the Standard of Righteousness Josh 7. 20 21. and chap. 8.2 So it was with reference to the Ceremonial and Judicial Law after the Coming of Christ If in lineâ Physicâ the Jews kept their course Acted and did what before that they practised those same Actions were now Impious and Sinful that before were Pious and Good Shall we then think that the Goodness and Rectitude of the same natural Habits and Acts was ens and had an Efficient Cause when the Law was in force but yet that the Malignity and Obliquity of them was nihil after its Repeal and had no Cause at all what did they more in the One than in the Other its too Subtile for me to understand The Truth is he that is the Authour or Efficient of the Act is the Authour or Efficient of both Righteousness or Unrighteousness streight or oblique is but the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Habitude of the Act and all its Circumstances to Law and he that Doth or Causeth the Act Doth or Causeth Righteousnâ—ss or Unrighteousness accordingly as the same Act is Conform or Inconform and Cross to the Law of God and that in a proper Sense or the Scriptures do never treat-of the one or the other properly at all Did not Solâ—mon King ' of Israel sin by these things Neb. 13.26 What hath been said may suffice for the Explication of the Scriptural Notion of Sin To reassume then our former Argument and reduce what hath been before iâ—sisted on to the Case in hand 1 As to Original Sin originans I mean that of Adam and ours in Him If our first Parents Inadvertency or Omâ—ssion of a due Exercise of Reason and Understanding if their Eating of the Forbidden Fruit if their Losâ— and Depravation of the Image of God in Knowledge and Light necessary to Conduct them unto God and Holiness or their Declining from God and Inclination and Propension to the Flesh-pleasing contrary to the Law of God was Sin then accordingly it followeth from our Adversaries hyyothesis that God must be the Author of Sin But the Antecedent is true Ergò the Consequent The Antecedent is proved Gen. 3.6 what is this that thou hast done saith God v. 13 17. 1 Tim. 2.14 Rom. 5.12 Col. 3.10 Nor can it be denied to be Sin The Consequent is evident in that they make God to be the first Cause and Predeterminer of Man unto all in every Branch thereof That Adam did not Advert Weigh and better Consider the Evil and Danger of Complying with the Temptation was they say from Gods withdrawing his Influence and Causation from him as often as man doth not Will or Act he therefore doth it not say they because God doth not determine him to it and that None-determination or Suspensation of God meerly of its self without any positive action inureth to the preventing of all Operation of the Creature They affirm that God did subtract or take away from Adam before his Fall that spotless Light and Primogenial Perfection of his Understanding wherein he was at first Created and and left him so denuded or stript to shift for himself that moreover God did Predefine his Lapse or Fall and that in Execution of his Decree he did Premove and Efficiently by his Physical Influx Predetermine his Will to the Eating of the Tree whereof he Commanded him not to Eat to chuse that rather than the other and that Indeclinably so as that it was Inevitable to him considered as he stood in Subordination to the aforesaid Decree and Efficiency of God and his necâ—ssary Dependence on him though in sensu diviso considering him or his furure Act without the Consideration of the Decree and Efficiency of God or his Dependence upon him in esse operari or secluding the Foreknowledge of God of all future Contingencies c. which is impossible they deny not but that he might possibly have stood and not have been so Predetermined by him or Caused to Fall either I say all that was not Sin nor Culpable or according to them God was the Author of his Sin or Transgression So in like manner 2 For our Personal Original Sin ortum I mean or originatum that which ab origine we bring into the World with us Job 14.4 if God be the Authour and Efficient of our Habits or Inclinations in the General and their Specifier and Determiner giving them their Biass that way they propend or go namely contrary to his Law then is he the Authour of Sin But according to them who go the way of Physical Predetermination he doth the former Ergò according to them he doth the latter also The Minor is their own assertion they say that not onely the power of Willing and the radical affections of Love and Hatred but their alienation from the Life of God the Habitual Pointing and Determining them Oblique and Cross to his Law to the Love of the Word and Flesh-pleasing and to the Hatred of Himself and Enmity to his Law both their Entity and Modification God is the prime Cause and Efficient of He from Eternâ—ty foresaw it and that in his Decree with which his Efficiency runs Parallel and Even in all and every Creature-effect all that hath Entity The Connexion or Consequence of the Major Proposition will not I suppose be Denied namely that the Habitual Dis-inclination of the Soul to Holiness or Propension and Inclâ—nation to Acts Discrepant to the Law of God such as the Hatred of God and aversâ—tion unto his Commands is indeed Sin or the Law of Sin Rom. 8.3.5 Iâ— then God be the Authour and Determiner of or unto that he is so of Sin The Case is still the sâ—me as to Actual Sin whether of Omission or Commission If God be the Cause of mens not Hearing the Word Reading Praying Omitting or not Exercising of this and the other act which his Law Commandeth and Oâ—ligeth them unto causa prohibens by his Suspending or Denying that Influence of his without which the Creature cannot move or act at all but is Determined to a Non-agency then is the Authour or is wholly in Cause of all Sâ—n against the affirmative Commands of his Law but according to our Adversaries in this point he is so Ergo. That the Omission of many Physical acts is Sin cannot be denied Mat. 5.42 But that God by his Non-operation doth Predetermine the Câ—eature Unâ—versally to a Not-acting is their constant Doctrine as â—o all Natural Acts nor onely as to Gracious or truly Pious acts the which we grant in a Sense since Man hath disabled himself Then by undeniable Consequence is God the Cause yea the Sole Cause of such Sins for Man doth nothing at all therein neither according to them can do nor ever could and that Common assertion
of Divines wherewith they have been wont to stop the Mouths of Objectors against the Equity of Gods procedure with Man for that he cannot do this and that namely that Man once had Power is by them Exploded as Heterodox and of no Use if this be true Again If God Premoveth and Efficaciously by his Influence and Causation Predetermineth men unto the Perpâ—tration of Acts Repugnant to the Negative Precepts of his Law such as Gluttony and Drunkenness not bare Eating and Drinking Fornication Aduâ—tery Incest and the like then is he the Authour or Predeterminer of Sin or else those Acts are no Sins But God causeth those Acts according to them Man they would have to be the Deficient Cause and God the prime Efficient All such Acts say they were from Eternity future and that could not be without a Cause If Gods Will then were not it there must be an Effect without a Cause This they term an Insoluble demonstration that such Effects have God for their Cause Thence they proceed to Argue that the Operation of the second Cause is the Effect of the Precurse of the first Cause as lâ—ss Worthy Dependent and Subordinate to it c. Now let any one shew me how God for Instance should Premove or Excite Achan to covet the Babylonish Garment the Silver and the Gold Josh 7.21 How he should Predetermine him by his Physical Influence to Will and to Do to take them and to hide them in the Earth which himself acknowledgeth to be Sin v. 20. add for the which doing or for the passing of which Act out of its potentiality into Existence and determination he died and yet not be the Authour or Cause of that Sin of his how God should Effectually cause that Numerical Act but not the Obâ—iquity of it the Law abiding Or what Achan the Secondary Instrument did more If it be Granted but that he was the Subordinate Author of that Wickedness though Inevitable to him But enough of that Arg. 2. The aforesaid Hypothesis of Gods Predetermining all sinful Actions reflecteth on the Attributes of God and therefore is not to be admitted 1 It asperseth the Essential Holiness of God 1 Pet. 1.15 16. whil'st he is made to predetermine to and by his energetical Operation to give a Shall-be or determinate Existence to all the Impious Actions Conceived and Committed in the World Yea to Actions intrinsecally Evil not only contrary to the Light of our Nature the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to the Fundamental Principle of Reason relating to Morals But Repugnant to its own Nature which is regula regulans such as are not so from the bare Will or Pleasure of God prohibiting them But by Resultancy from his Nature and from the Eternal Reason of the thing in Conjunction with the Habitude or Relation that we stand in to him and which himself cannot alter not change As to hate his Blessed self and to Lye and Blaspheme his Holy Name to say in the Heart that there is no God or to Curse him As to such Acts or Actions God himself cannot alter the Standard which they run cross to nor can separate their Entity from their Obliquity or make them not to be Wickedness And yet this he is said by those whom I Oppose to Predetermine men to even to those very Acts but not to the Sinfulness they say More tolerable is the Opinion of the Manichees who feigned two Gods one to be the Author of Evil and the other of Good than so to affirm or to Father such Actions on the true God 2 It Impeacheth the Legislative Righteousness of God and the Equity of his Law It hath been Generally taken for Granted that God not only made Man with the Faculties of Reason and free Will without which he had not been a Being of such a species or kind as had been capable of any Law But that also he was furnished with whatever might adapt him to the keeping of that Law he should be put under and that the same was due to him from Gods Justice or Righteousness of Condecency as due to his Soul in Case he Expected Obedience from him and that he should be no wayes necessitated to transgress or Obedience be rendred impossible to him from any Cause Extrinsecal to himself Now all this the former Hypothesis overturneth Where then is the Equity of â—he Law or by what shall the Righteousness of God be vindicatâ—d If it be true which is by them maintained that God never gave to a Man a self-determining Power through his Assistance that he never made nor could make such a Creature as might or could possibly specify his own Acts that could Chuse or Refuse but as himself first determineth him That it were a Contradiction to suppose it For that he must be a God not made after his Image that doth it Nor could God foresee if it were so what he would Issue in Nor his Supremacy he Retained over such a Subject what Reason then that man should be Obliged by any Law when he can neither Will nor Chuse in any Instance of Action whether this or that shall be or not be which is Essentiâ—l to the Idea of a Subject capable of Moral Government and Obnoxious to an Enquiry about it Yet farther If Man cannot but Omit what God Efficaciously determineth him not to but must abide in an Everlasting Indetermination why shouâ—d he by Law be Obliged to a Natural Impossibility And if God Invâ—ncibly determineth him unto every Action that he doth by what Righteous Law should he be Obâ—iged to be above God or to be Stronger than he Thus to râ—solve all Mans Wickedness into Necessity is to justifie him and to Condemn God Nemo tenetur ad impossibile 3 It reflecteth on the Wisdom and Counsell of God in the Constitution of his Law The Law must be rather for himself than for them if Man cannot nor never could ever put in Act the least Thought or Motion conform nor inconform to it but as he Predetermineth him A Man might as Rationally make a Law for his Axe Hammer or Saw for though his Elective Power goes along they say with Gods Precurse or Premotion Yet in no Instance can he turn this way or the other but as he is first Inclined by the Law-giver and Predetermined antecedenâ—er therein Let the Law Speak what it will for it or against it still the Instrument can neither Move nor Act otherwise than it doth what then meaneth the solemnity of a Law or to what End should it be designed 4 It Impeacheth the Fidelity and Sincerity of God in his Expostulations with Men if nothing be within the Verge of their Power Why will you die saith he Ezek. â—8 signifying his being agrieved at their Sin and Ruine thereby What shall we think of his Upbraiding Men for it and protesting he willed the contrary O that my People would Consider c. Deut. 5.29 and 32.29 Isa 48.18 Jer. 44.4 Psal 18.13 Mat. 11.20 and 12.41
the Children of God Seeing it hath pleased God to permit Satan and some otherwise Honest men to sow Tares while we slept and to Hazard the Church and the Soules of Men by very dangerous Writings of Late I think you should with Thankfulness receive this Antidote from this Worthy Servant of Christ I add this Notice that he hath a Treatise of Justification new Licensed Written with the same Healing Spirit and Judgment Neglect it not because there is so much Written on that Subject for it tells you more than is ordinarily told you and there are few things written thereon with equal Judgment and plainly fitted to the Edifying of the meanest Capacity if he understand the matter aright who is An earnest Desirer of Truth Love and Concord Rich. Baxter Septemb. 19 1678. THE MIDDLE WAY OF PREDETERMINATION ASSERTED IT 's not unknown to Persons soberly Inquisitive into Truth of what Importance and Concernment in Religion it is so far forth as in us lieth to have a right Understanding and due Conception in our Mind touching the Notive Power of Man in or unto the specifying and determining of his own Acts or Actions as also of the Influence and Causality of God in and unto the determination of the same What is God's Interest and what is mans in the Existence especially of those sinful motions and actions of man which God dehorteth from and so severely doth prohibit and punish him for A Misconception therein on the one hand or the other may expose us unto the Charging of God foolishly even whil'st we take our selves to be pleading of his Cause and may occasion in us unbecomming thoughts of our selves and hard thoughts of him unworthy the Revelation that he hath made of himself to us tending to Expunge out of our Souls all due sense of Sin and acknowledgment of the Holiness and of the Equity of Gods Law and of his Righteousness in his procedure thereupon with us The Thesis or Position which I maintain in short is this namely That God doth not Premove or by his Transient Influence as the first cause Predetermine men unto all and every of their Acts or Actions whatsoever not in particular to those which are sinful such as Blasphemy Incest Murder c. in specie It 's not my Design to enter the Lifts with any one in the way of Disputatâ—on nor shall I at all interest my self in the contests of other men Learned and Pious engaged in that Controversie about Predetermination I shall onely speak the sense of my own Soul nakedly therein and what hath been the result of my thoughts upon my most Sedulous enquiry for some years past into the Question which bordereth much upon Practice although controversial no man but at one time or other will have his Thoughts exercised more or less about it It 's a question wherein as well the wisest of the Heathen as of the Christian World have been engaged as well Papists as Protâ—stants and that â—qually among themselves as well as each against other And it were earnestly to be wished that Controversies in Religion were managed with more Candour and Moderation without Animosities and Personal Reflections that it might appear that it is the Cause of God singly not our own that we plead and that it is the discovery and promotion of Truth alone that we design which the venting of Humane Passion may hinder but can never further the intertainment of Nor shall I trace the Schools at all in their Notions and various Expâ—ications of the matter under consideration It 's every Souls concernment to understand it in some measure and they who cannot Philosophise may for ought I know have as due a Conception and found Judgment therein as to the maine plainly deduced from the word of God as the most Learned Yea I do apprehend that Philosophical Disputes in conjunction with an undue Veneration of some men whom they affect is that which hath rendered the Truth vailed unto many For my part I have chosen rather to study Catechismes next to the Bible for my dirâ—ction herein than the Dictates of Philosophical men rather consulted the Conviction of Conscience and sense of Mankind than their Scholastical determinations But to come to the Matter it self Some things Preliminary for the due Stating of the Question and â—or Explication sake must be insisted on in our way Let it be noted then 1 The question is not touching Gods Science Prescienâ—e or Foreknowledge of all futurities his foresight of all the freest actions of man one as well as the oâ—her For supposing that God will create man and make him a free agent yet mutable and put him under a Law and sustain him in his opperations It 's granted that by his own infinite perâ—â—ction he might do and did foresee in Eternity what he would issue in as future Isa 41 22 23. all his actions good and evil even the sin of them In concreto abstracto Yeâ— the formale of it its anomie or irregularity which some term a non ens he foreknew but the modus or the way and manner how God foreseeth all future contingencies especially the Fall of man and of Angels is to us unknown at least I shâ—ll not for my part enterprise to determine it No principle of the Châ—iâ—â—ian Religion rendring it necessary for us to understand The prescience of God nil ponit in objecto puts nothing into the creature it infers no more than a logical necessity of existence in ordine dicendi a necessity of consequence only Joh. 12.39 It shall be not of consequent or in ordine causandi nothing of causality nor is it concerned at all in the manner of the Subjects determination of it â—elf or of it's operation which is the object of his foreknowledge whether it be a principio dissito from a from a Principle â—xtrinsecal to it as when a stone moves upwards or impetu naturali as when it moves downwards or sponte as brutes act void of coaction or voluntariè liberè according to a judgment of Reason as man freely still God foreseeth the evenâ— but his foresight causeth it not Gods foresight or knowledge what I shall or will do to morrow if I live hath no influence at all into the determining me thereunâ—o it leaveth me equally free and indetermined as if he foreknew it not at all Nor 's it more difficult to me to conceive or fathom how God should in Eternity foresee the frâ—est action of his creaâ—ure which yet he predetermineth not to but leaveth still in iâ—s own nature evitable and contingent than it is to me to form any conception of his Eternity or how he came to be God wherein I am lost Ex nihilo nihil fit that of nothing nothing is made is as cogent an argument to me to prove that the world must needs be Eternal as any that ever I met with to prove that God cannot foresee what he doth not decree to effâ—ct or that which
of any second cause this is the sustentation of something already in Being supplying it with strength for the reduction of its Power into Act. It 's of the ordinary and mediate providence of God that I am speaking in the execution whereof he cooperateth with the creature yet so as that the creature hath its immediate influence iâ—to the specifying the effect by virtue of its proper Form and God acteth but mediantibus suppositis ac virtutibus causarum secundarum as Ames expresseth it mediately according to the law of the Being or the power and peculiar nature or virtue of the second cause already stamp't upon it specifying the Act or operation of the first cause here in a sense unless he will change or turn the course of nature Jer. 31.35 36. Gods influence by his presence and virtue reacheth unto all and every operation of the creature yet it is according to their nature he causeth not fire to coole or the water to burn It were a miracle if it should Let but the general influence of the Heavens reach the Trees and herbs and every one will bring forth its own kind the Effect is already in the Cause it 's no creation So for man of whose essence it is to have dominion over his own actions or a liberty of specification of his own acts within his sphere by the Law of his Creation the Principle is preexistent in the Subject which we call a power ad actum to the act else it s no power supposing the common providence and assistance of God Act. 17.28 in whose hands our life and breath is Gen. 2.7 James 4.14 15. he can determine himself this way or the other according to his judgment of reason and discretion such as it is else he is no man but a meere machine inferiour to all the rest of the creation of God to be sure not capable of being the Subject of moral government In such sense as every species of creatures are said to have their different nâ—ture tendency or law of operation connate to them suited to their Beâ—ng which providence works of their own so is the â—ctuatâ—on therof consonantly thereunto their own and essential to them as well â—s the Principle no creative Act but the Law of their creation What meaneth the plastick virtue given to the earth and plâ—nts Gen. 1.11 or the prolifick power of other liviâ—g creatures p. 22. or the rational faculties or active Powers wherewith God furnished man p. 26. if they be not a Power unto act so long as their nature abides entire and is sustained and no impediment be in the way take away action and you take away Life and Soul The Nature of a stone abiding it will fall downwards without any premotion extrinsecal to its self and so will the Fire burn if it's quality which is essentiâ—l to it be conserved and the Beast will follow its instiâ—ct so long as its nature remaineth and determine its self to or turn to the right hand or the left at the call of its Ownâ—r according as it is Disâ—iplined It is within iâ—s power if no natural Impediment hinders and surely the same is not wanting to man suitably unto his Nature through the aforesaid commâ—n Providence of God without his bâ—ing Physically Predetermined therein by him a power to spâ—cifie his acts according to his own Inclination in reference to his natural actions unto which by the Apostacy he is not disabled and sinâ—ul actions to which by it he is vitiously preponderated and disposed This the Sense of all Mankind doth give in its suffrage to Gods ordiâ—ary Supportation and Concurse is sufficient to the flux of an effect within the limits of the cause or its power à naturâ inditâ or insitâ by God given it unto such effect 2. As to good Actions savingly such It 's granted that besides the first Change wrought by God in the Soul rendring Potent Habâ—le and disposed to such Acts new-biassing or invincibly turning and inclining it towards God and Holinâ—ss unto which it was before Impotent and wickedly averse Eph. 2.1 10. and 4.22 23. there is still necessary a continued Influx of more than ordinary Divine Assiâ—tance to keep alive and to influence and determine the Soul unto those Acts of true Piety or Holiness which it hath the next power of or is in an immediate capacity unto and that on the account of the remaining darkness of the mâ—nd and the prevalent Counter-actings of the Law of Sin the Reliques whereof are yet abâ—ding Rom. 7. Gal. 5. and the weakness and imperfection of Grace Rev. 3.2 This is the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Will and the Deed whereof the Apostle speaks Phil. 3.13 and Christ Jesus is to that end Constituted to be a Head of vital Influx to them Col. 2.19 Joh. 15.4 and Supplies are promised of God to them in waiting upon him for the same Isa 40.31 Eph. 3.16 and aâ—cordingly so far forth as the Inclinations and Actions of Gods People are regular and gracious so far its granted to be owing to the Grace of Christ and the Operation of his Spirit 2 Cor. 9.15 but so is not the imperfection thereof not owing to God at all no more than any other neglect A Godly man through the Divine help 2 Pet. 1.3 may or can act or he may suspend his Acts in an ordinary way there is no Saint living that doth all the good which he might or could do or that hath not cause as well to be Humbled before God for his Will-noâ—s as his Can-nots for his Neglects in what he had grace sufficient for awaiting him 2 Pet. 5.8 9. and he could have helped And supposing him Predetermined at any time after the manner of his first Conversion in his Gracious operations in pursuance of Gods Election when negligent or relapsing prevented or recovered Luk. 22.32 It followeth not that God is the Determiner of him to what is imperfect or sinful accompanying the Act to the which he is so Premoved or Determined not to the materiale of it Suppose a man for Instance to be efficaciously excited by God to give an Alms to a Disciple which is good and withal that he hath an admixture of Ostentation in his mind accompanying it which is sin Mat. 6.1 such Thought is of himself or of the Devils injection not of God's and if his Charity were disposed to a Disciple and not by him designed to be bestowed on him in the name of a Disciple Mat. 10.42 that Omission was his own nothing of God's all that God caused or effected was good and what was irregular or sinful was de suo of his own in concreto both the Act and Omission as well the Substrate matter of which the sin is denominated as the sin its self in its abstract nature adhereing thereunto As to the Manner of God's Operation on the Soul in its first Change I take it to be unto us very far unknown nor do I think any Article
the Will are forged by him as to the subâ—rate matter that unto all the hatred of himself all the Lying Cursing Rapâ—ne Blood Cruelty and Confusion in the World he is the first â—over the reducer of it out of its bare potentiality into Act its Specifier and Predeterminer as to its Existence and mode of Being not only the Assyrians spoiling and taking the Prey Isa 10.6 but all his evil meaning 20.7 and his saying that by his Strength and Wisdom he had done it v. 13. both Habit and Act all that had any thing of Entity in it that nâ—t only the Power of Herod and the exercise thereof unto the taking of a Wife was from God But in specie and individuo that he took his Brother Philip's Wife rather than an other Woman he was indeclinably premoved of God and Efficienâ—ly Predetermined by him and so in all instances of natural Action This is it which I oppose and the which now commeth more directly to be Considered and Argued 1. The First Argument which I shall insist on for the confutâ—tion of the Doctrine aforesaid and in maintainance of the Position by me before laid down which is diametrically opposite to it is this It maketh God to be the Efficient cause or the Author of sin not a sinner for that he is above Law say some but of all that is so in man The consequence I know is denied by them whom I oppose yea and the thing disowned they will not affirm nor grant God to be the Author of sin nor do think that from what they assert it will unavoidably follow whatever odious Consequences we fasten upon an opinion in the way of Argumentation we take for grant the contrary Namely that they who do hold that Opinion do not hold that which we connect with it or that which we tell them will follow thereupon When I endeavour to convince a man of his errour by reducing him ad incommodum or absurdum to an inconveniency or absurdity I take it for Grant that himself accounteth it an absurdity which I would fasten upon him Or my Argument is to him lost If he agreeth not with me in that which I make Use of aâ— my medium to convince him and there is no man so perfect but he holdeth contradictions though he seeth it not or if he doth not with me more firmly adhere to the Truâ—h which I take to be contradictory to his Errour my Argument which procedeth ex concessis will not pinch him at all Here therefore they distinguish of the Physical Action and the Morality of it the Actiâ—n they say is of God and its Existence He it is that premoveth and by his transient Physical influence causeth and efficiently predetermineth men in and unto all their sinful Actions and is the first cause and determiner in all their Omissions that he specifieth and giveth its particular Individuation to every such numerical Action but for the anomie or aâ—axie of it it 's Irregularity wherein the formal nature of Sin consisteth its incoâ—formity to Law that is a privation it 's a non ens or nihil it hâ—th no Author or Efficient cause at all only a deficient cause or subject rather nor is caused The Action they say the substrate matter of Sin God causeth or effecteth not the Obliquity of it the Act not the sinfulness the former i. e. the Act they say is ens it hath an Entity or Being and ens bonum convertuntur it must necessarily therefore be good and have God for its Authour who is so of all that is good c. But surely ens bonum morale are not convertible terms every thing that is is not morally good and of Metaphysicks we are not disputing Laying aside therefore all Philosophical and Scholastical subtilties let us attend to the Scriptures and see whether we can find out what is Sin and whether it may be said to have any Author of it or no and if so what it is that denominateth any one such in the Language of the Holy-Ghost Sin is either Orginal or Actual Original is either that of Adam or of all mankind in him Rom. 5.12 which was Origo the first beginning and Spring-head of all sin Or the immediate Product thereof that which though it be not the first Sâ—n or Transgression yet is ab origine congenite or of the same Original with us and that is either private The loss or Want of something in debito subjecto that de jure ought to be in the Subject termed the Image of God Gen. 1.26 Ecc. 7.29 Col. 3.10 Or positive an Alienation or Dis-inclination to what the Law of God requireth and a biâ—ss and propension to what it prohibiteth Job 14.4 Psal 51.5 and 58.3 Gen. 6 5. Rom. 3.10 which is heightned by continued Acts Jer. 13.23 and this is the Source and Fountain of all other Sin Actual Sin is either of Omission or Commission The former is the subject's not exerting or not coming up to some particular Act which by the Law he stood obliged to The latter the Perpetration of some Act or the Doing of some thing which the Law of God forbids to be committed or done Luk. 11.42 The formal nature of Sin in abstracto is a Repugnancy to Law or Rule so the Apostle defines it a Transgression of the Law 1 Joh. 3.4 All Sin however Distinguished is such and for the same reason is Sin because Inconform to the Law of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Illegality it 's not the Object or Circumstance of an Act or Intention of the Agent in Acting that is the Rule or Measure of its Morality but the Act or Action so modified is Good or Evil as Conform or Inconform to Rule Rom. 4.15 Sin in concreto is a Peccant Habit Act or Omission against Law or Rule In it there is nothing more nor less to be considered but the Habit or Privation Act or Omission of the Law and the Habitude of the former to it The Law that is Good and Holy Rom. 7.12 it 's also index recti obliqui the Rule and Standard of what is Right and what Not. God is the Authour of That Man of the Habit or Act Deviant from it the Habitude or Relation of Sinfulness stante lege results from the former Act. The Formality God is the Authour of in some Sense he Constituteth the Law what Action shall be Good what Evil his Nature and Will giveth it so to be it 's of Him but the Existence of the Act or Action discrepant to Law is of Man God is not the Authour or Predeterminer of That he might not do it or was not Necessitated so to have done it Sin is sometimes in Scripture predicated of the Soul now depraved somtimes of its Faculties of the Understanding Will and Affections and sometimes of the Body its Instrument as the Subject and Efficient of it so it is of the Habit or Propension to Evil and Privation of Light and of
he determineth not the creature to God forâ—saw that Ananias would not not that he could not dispose of the price of his estate as he pretended to do that he would not not that he could not forbear to lie Act. 5.3 4. He could not indâ—ed make God ignorant yet he coâ—ld have done otherwise than he did for all Goâ—'s knowledge that he would not so do Nay possibly it may prove no less dâ—fficult to make out what some do so Peremptorily fix upon as the way in which or manner how God in Eternity foreseeth all things that shall ever come to pass namely in his own Decree giving them a futurition in the first place and thence taking the Idea of them in his own will since that in Eternity there is no prius and posterius one thing before an other it consists in a Point beside that the free Act of God will have no necessary connexion with his Being nor do they by way of emanation result therefrom Eph. 1.11 Who can make out these things Can any one define or resolve how God himself should fore-see and fore-appoint things to come and yet notwithstanding their Futurition or Shall-be still we are to conceive of him wherein he hath not bound himself by express law or promise to the contrary as retaining a liberty pro arbitrio whether this or the other thing shall come to pass or not unless we will take away and destroy the reason and foundation of Prayer according to that of the Poet Desine fata Deûm flecti sperare precando let us never think by prayer to move God to reverse his determinations or to alter that which he foresees and therefore will and must be We ought not to pray only for that it is our duty and as that which fell also within Gods predetermination but we are in our addresses to him suppose under a national calamity or a particular distress to conceive of him as yet free at his pleasure to prosper or blast us in the very instant wherein we pray to him and accordingly as we shall demean our selves we may expect from him though we have no certainty of the event Jer. 18.7 9. Jonah 2.9 Zeph. 2.3 Exod. 32.31 32. 2 Cor. 12.8 And not think that once he could help us antecedently to his determination or before the contrary was future but that now he is not at liberty as before to proceed either way or to be moved by any Address to him c. and yet to form any adequate conception of the consistency of these things may be to us impossible 2 Nor is the question touching Gods preordination or free decree of all actions or events either efficiendo or permittendo whether they be good or evil though I deny that the decree of God did enter into them after the same way and manner God did from Eternity predestinate or decree some of fallen man fallen I mean ut in esse cognito such in the foreknowledge of God unto salvation and unto faith and holiness in order thereunto Rom. 8.29 30. Eph. 1.4 5.2 Thes 2.13 He did decree to cause it so to be And the same doth and shâ—ll come to pass as the Effect of it But I deny that God did so decree the fall of man though he did to permit it or that he did so predestinate any man unto unbelief impenitency and rebellion the Material of it Thus the learned Bishop Davenant in his Animadversions against Hoard mihi p. 105. Predestination is a cause effectual in the producing of all salutiferous actions But reprobation or preterition is no effectuâ—l cause in the producing of any wicked actions And we hold not that God hath dâ—termined to produce any bad actions in men as impenitency or the like so p. 258. Predetermination in this sense taken as an immanent act in God and the same with his decree precisely in its self It puts no more into his Subject than his bare Prescience How the event or things decreed shall be brought about falls within the decree too But that belongs to the execution and is de modo which may be as well by permitting or ordering things so as to ascertain the existence of what is decreed as by affective production or causative determination and specifying the operation of the creature in persuance of his decree and such a difference there is Gods will giveth Being and Existence to the Object of his love Not so of his hatred but presupposeth it only there and yet both the one and the other are births lying in the womb of his Eternal decree whether they shall have a true Existence or not Even touching the evil projections and actions of men God hath predefined which of their contrivances shall take effect and which not what Weapon shall be improsperous and what shall prosper Dan. 8.25 and 11.25 27. Isa 54.15 17. Jer. 47.7 Isa 44.7 his determinate counsell and purpose is concerned therein Isa 46.10 Act. 4.28 Of which more hereafter 3 Neither is the question touching the providence of God either in the sustentation or conservation of the Being of man or of his concourse to the enâ—bling him unto the production of his Acts and operaâ—ions in general nor of his iâ—fluence and causation as to good actions nor yet touâ—hing his order and government of the world but it is of his precurse or transient influence unto the determination of the Subject in the exercise and specification of his Acts antecedently at least in order of nature to his own determination and that in relation to evil actions especially whereof we are enquiring Here iâ—'s granted 1. That the creature as to all its actions in general hath its dependance upon God the first cause on his manutenency and supportation both in esse operari as to his Being and Motion Psal 104.30 Neh. 9.6 and consequently that to all actions incommon whether good or evil so in like manner to all operation of every creature such a sustentation and concourse of God there is necessary thereunto as whereby he preserveth the order of nature and enableth every cause to produce its effect and that by his continual energetical operation and influx which is the same he doth concurr with the reason and free will of man at least concomitanter in its own election and free determination as that whereupon the Will in acting the Acts of the will and its Actions willed do depend and without which the Agent could not subsist nor move of himself at all Act. 17.28 Rom. 13.36 But it hence followeth not but that man hath a self determining power that presupposed as to some acts or actions which he hath not lost his capacity unto 1 Cor. 7.37 The Providence of God whereby he upholdeth all things Heb. 1.3 and by his general influence doth preserve and keep alive the power and operation of the creature doth differ from Creation that is the production of something out of nothing simply or out of the power of Nature or
third he acknowledges Providence also but he blames the Person that did it and seeks his remedy against him for his Illegal act If yet the Person that wounded him should confidently argue with him that he should rest satisfied in the Dominion of Providence and not look at him that he was invincibly or effectually premoved and determined to it his Reâ—son and Free-will was in it indeed but he could not help it that the Entity of the Action was good and for the anomie or irregularity it was a Privation a non ens had no efficient cause at all he had no hand in that nor yet can tell untill it be pleadâ—d whether any Law will take cognizance of it or not I doubt that the party aggrieved would hardly stand to dispute his distinctions but he would tâ—ach him better Gods Providence in the Government of sinful Actions is not in dispute but the Question is de modo how God serveth himseâ—f on sinful men or determineth them in their sinful actions to serve his Providence whether by his transient influence upon their Minds and Wills he pre-exciteth premoveth and predeterminâ—th them unto such Acts or Actions or some other way he ascertaineth the Event onely the latter is it which I affirm and the former by many asserted is it which I oppose Touching the firâ—t Apostacy of Men or Angels the Scriptures give us no account directly relating either to the Decree of God thereof or his Agency therein at all The Angels that fell had a possibility of attaining Happiness and a sufficiency of Divine Grace given them to have preserved them from their Rebellion had they not by a Voluntary Act of their own abused it so had Adam no decree of God did hinder him from creating him with a sufficiency of Grace or with a possibility of Stâ—nding saith Davenant Animad p. 282. Yet that God foreknew their defection is out of doubt yea and that his Governing Providence was highly concerned therein and served thereby For the Providence of God or its concernment in all the future Acts of Sin whether of wicked Men or Devils since the first Apostacy therein the Scripture doth lend us more Light in which there is not one instance upon Record where God is said to Decree Order or Determine the Beâ—ng or existence of such or such evil actions yea or to do them the which if I be not much mistaken may not be made out were it necessarâ— to be withâ—n the reach of Humane Reâ—son to fâ—thom and to assign how he might bring it about most certainly and that by no other medium but that onely of Permission and Impedition and objective proposal or Premotion excâ—ting to Cogitations and Actions good and Materially agreeing to his Law Which two former ordinarily insiâ—ted on at every turn by Divines to solve the equâ—ty of Gods Juâ—tice in his procedure with men notwithstanding his Providence over ruling their sinful actions the former notion of Physical Predetermination doth wholly deny aâ—d overturn For if the motus primo primi the first sigments or thoughts of the Heart or machinâ—tions of the Mâ—nd Isa 59.4 5. and Conceptions of the Will Psal 11.2 Job 15.35 be forged by God if the Will cannot elicit any Act nor imperate the execution thereof nor the executive power follow otherwise than as the obedâ—ential capacity of the Subject or possibility of action contained in the powers in an indifferency or indetermination must be first reduced into Act and also determined by God hâ—mself as the first cause then is Permission and Impedition or hindring a meer Chimaera what should he permit or prevent in others or what need of that when he determineth all and doeth aâ—l himself or effiâ—iently determineth the second cause to it as is supposed But that such a thing there is and that predicaâ—ed or affirmed of God in Scripture innumerable Texts do plainly speak and also accommodate to our present Enquiry God is said to Suffer the Nations to waâ—k in their own ways Act. 14.16 So Luk 8.32 to Suffer the Devil to enter into the Herd of Swine and to permit or to give men up to the Swing of their own Hearts Lust Rom. 1 24. till he sâ—e what their end shall be Deut. 32.20 And frequently again to obstruct or hâ—nder what else would certainly be Effâ—cted Gen. 12.6 7. God withheld and suffered not Abimelech to touch Abraham's Wife chap. 20.6 he suffered no man to do them wrong Psal 105.14 none shall dâ—sire their Land Exod. 34.24 He maketh Diviners mad and turneth Wise mâ—n backward in order to the performâ—ng of the Counsel of his Messengers and all his Pleasure Isa 44.25 28. Disappointing the devices of the Crafty so that their hands cannot perform their enterâ—rise Job 5.12 the remainder of wrath shall he restrain Psal 76.10 106.46 How many wayes câ—n God render abortive the Conceptions of men prevent them or cause them to miscarry hence is that Memento of the Apostle James ch 4.15 Ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that So Job 19.11 Psal 64.5 7. in like manner by exciting to Good may God cause that an other evil rather than that projected shall be effected as Gen. 37.20 compared with v. 26. and that in persuance of sme farther Design ch 45.8 Mat. 26.63 65. or by giving a Diversion only c. Wherein God's providential disposal of the Event or order of this rather than the other to take effect neither diâ—poileth the Creature of the liberty of specifying his own Act in a matter whâ—rein he must be accountable to his Judge nor doth make God the cause or determiner of it any more than Davidâ— slâ—â—ghter of the Amâ—lâ—kâ—â—es 1 Sam. 30.17 lay at the door of the Philistines ch 29 7. who would not let him abide any longer wiâ—h them or than my coming by on the Rode when a Robber is about to set upon a Person and so preventiâ—g him thereby would infer me to be the cause of his next robbery or murder that he commits immediately iâ— another place alâ—hough I foresaw that it would so prove Yet such is the order and Dirâ—ction of God's Providence such his dominion therein in every inâ—â—ance of that kind that his dâ—termâ—nate counsell may be affirmed to reach the most wicked actions in a sense Act. 4.28 Isa 46.10 when he hath any Design to serve by them Gen. 50.20 Yea he is said to bid and to do them The Lord hath said unto hâ—m curse David 2 Sam. 16.10 I wâ—ll do this thing opeâ—ly and before the Sun 2 Sam. 12.12 he moved David against them to sâ—y go number the people ch 24.1 even when the Devil does it 1 Chr. 21.1 1 Thess 2.11 Tâ—e Lord hath taken saith Job ch 1.21 when the Sabeans had spoiled him and God had smitten him he said or he received that Evil of his Boils from him ch 2.10 when it was the Devil that had done it by God's permission v. 1.
and would have reached his life too would he have suffered him v. 4. without any premoâ—ion of God's therein or Predeterminatâ—on otherwise as to the manner than by a non-impedition of his own motion and Inclination The Eveâ—t is indeed in the Diâ—pose of God and the Executioner as the Axe Rod or Stâ—ffe in his hand Isa 10.5 Yet so as that he retaineth a dominion over his own Act therein Gods sustâ—ntation concurse and pâ—rmission presupposed he is not a mere machine or dead engine nor yet his Reason and free Will carried along after the way and manner of a vital engine or spontaneous inâ—â—rument yet necessâ—rily but is so termed from his subserviency aâ— that time to God's special Providence and instrumentalâ—ty in performing his Design though in such a way as he he may justly and equitably afterwaâ—ds be called to an account for the same as well for the fact Isa 10.12 as for the circumstances of it v. 7.13 otherwise than in every other Omission of his or every Act of Unbelief Impenitency Hatred of God and the like men are not ordinarily styled God's instruments therein or compared to the Axe or staffe in his hand or to be conceived of by us as such with reference thereunto Herein I subscribe to the worthy Bishop Davenant As for the procuring and working the impenitency or infidelity of Reprobates God doth not saith he at all work any vitious dispositions or defective and sinful actions in such men wicked habits or dispositions are diseases bred within mens own soules and yet they have an entity not infused into them by the Physician of our souls wicked and sinful actions are the productions of theâ—r own corrupted free-Will and not produced by any divine operation working in them for it 's onely in holy and good actions that God giveth us both the Will and the deed Animad p. 120. neither doth God draw any man unto sin by an unconquerable power but he permiteth some men by the Devil and their own lusts to be drawn from sin to sin till at last they perish in them of whom perditio tua exâ—te thy destruction is of thy self notwithstanding is most truly verified p. 121. although the Will of God hath the determining Stroke amongst all possible evil actions or events which shall infallibly be and which not And God may be said to be the prime cause of the substrate matter or act in every motion whether of the soul or body as in whom we live and move and have our Being as the same learned Author asserteth Yet doth it not follow but that man still retaineth his sâ—lf-determining power quoad speciem actûs a liberty of specifying his own act as the same Author maintaineth with St. Augustine deus it à ordinat omnia ut proprios motus exercere sinat p. 154. From whence the formal nature of good or evil resulteth as the same is conform or inconform to the Law of God I mean from its specification not its Entity in the general The Saebeans and Chaldeans for instance had their power and their actual Exercise thereof from God enabling them to take goods and drive cattel and to destroy the life of man or beast but the specification of that power in the actual Exercise thereof or it's modification which hath nothing more of Entity which way soever it 's determined unto the Robbing of men or slaying of the innocent was not of God but of themselves that they spoiled Job not another man and slew his Servants in individuo and not another mans was of themselves as and of God too though in a different sense of themselves as the immediate cause of the action of God as the prime cause or fountain of Being and Operation of themselves as the specifyers of the act according to their own free election of God in that he permitted it for the triall of his servant when possibly he had hindred them from hundreds of such like expâ—oits before and besides that overruled its circumstances so as that it should infallibly light upon him and no other man at that time Which I cannot better express than in the words of the aforesaid learned man Those that derive the evil Actions of men from their own Free-Will as the proper efficient cause and the exsisting or coming of such actions in eventum à decreto dei permittente ordinante into event from the permitting and disposing decree and appointment of God are in no errour at all p. 57. The providence of God reacheth to all Events and actions but forwicked actions which according to Gods eternal determined Decree come into act at the time appointed as the Betraying of Christ the murdering of him and such like the Devil and mens Free-Will are the only moving and determining causes unto them p. 115 God cannot be an Author or Producer much less an Inforcer in regard of any sinful action yet he may be a determiner in permitting it p. 118 Gods decree in malis is only as he tâ—rmeth it antecessio ordinis not causalitatis 4 Nor is the question yet farther about Determination in general or Predâ—termination simply considered or of the compossibility or consistency thereof with humane fredom For it s granâ—ed 1. That an Aequilibrium or Indetermination is not mans best state Such a pendulous Suspâ—nse or Even poyse and inclination of mind and Wâ—ll in the Exerciâ—e and specification of its acts consequenter aftâ—r the object is united with the faculty and reason haâ—h weighed the good and evil the conveniency and â—nconveniency of things in its ballance and deliberated about it is the soules sickneâ—s or disaster arising from an insufficient applâ—catiâ—n of the Object or defect in the Understanding an inability to judge of the Good or Evil of what lieth before it which should ponderate it and cast the Scale in its election that it hangeth in a Suspense which is the freedom which Arminians seem to plead for True Freedom consisteth not in a power or libeâ—ty after the due exercise of ratiocâ—nation be the evidence what it will to write black for white or white for black to judge Evil Good or Good Evil or still to be undetermined about it for fear of forestallâ—ng the will or in a power or liberty in the will not to follow the liberum arbitrium the free award of Reason or for the soul in willing not to be confined to its own reason in what it chuseth or avoideth or pro libitu arbitrarily or at his pleasure to elicit and imperate what it listeth though against the sentiment of the mind or at least that after reason hath issued in a judgment the Will should still be indetermined to one Such a dominion over its reason or liâ—erty and freedom of will cannot but be abhorrent to the nature of man All that can be desired is that the soul hath such a freedom of Will and dominion ovâ—r its â—wn acts as that in what ever it willeth it acteth as a
the Will 1 Cor. 2.4 Or by way of Physical Precurse and Premotion besides exciting the natural Powers into Act and inclining and bowing them in their Operation as the Fountain of Being and motion unto a Change or Turn into a new Course Eph. 2.2.4 10. of which before still he so intimately by his Presence and Virtue reacheth and applieth himself to the Active Principle of the second cause he so congruously accommodateth himself to the nature of the subjecy to be wrought upon as that all the vital Wheels of the soul the Reason Elective power Will and Affections go along with choice and delight in their determination without the least Rape or Violence offered to the Innate freedom of the soul though God and Christ be carried into the heart with a greater weight of Love than any other Object can ballance to turn the scale of its Predominant Elecion an other way and yet it 's Invincibly or Irresistibly wrought upon and a necessity Induced upon it in a sense It can will no otherwise Christ drawing yet the Will remaineth still free for voluntary and violent willing and forced do implicare The Will cannot be forced and for the Will to be determined necessarily or indeclinably to Good and what may render the soul happy no man that prayeth to God for grace or that acknowledgeth God therein will ever recoil at it or account himself injured thereby or concerned to rise up against it nor is it at all repugnant to the Commands Counsels Promises or Threats laid before men to induce them to a Returnal unto God Heb. 4.1 11. For that the dispensation of this grace is as to us contingent and in the use of means And the second cause hath its immediate formal and proper Efficiency therein It is man that believeth and repenteth not God yet the Effect of God's power overshadowing the soul Psal 110.3 whose Action is not only the first cause in the presence of such a Creature as in the gifts of miracles but is specified by the second cause in the virtue of its proper form suitably to its nature as a reasonable Creature 2 Cor. 6.1 Gods Efficiency changeth not the natures of things though he rectifieth and healeth the Mind and Will morally yet he altereth not its proper motion or manner of operation naturally It inclineth its self as freely to the Act and that upon the cogency of reason and judgment as if there were no such Hyperphysical determination thereof by God at all Dut. 30.19 3. But as to evil or sinful actions whereof our question is such Predetermination is destructive to the Creature and inconfident with God's moral Government over him albeit that God's decrees are infrustrable yet doth not God premove their Wills Insuperably in and unto the Conception and Production at such Act more were it for the honour of God if sin dishonoureth him and the good of man his Creature that such Acts ar Operations of his should for ever abide in their bare Potentiality or that his Will should remain in an Everlasting Indetermination which it 's said that it must if God determine it not than that it's pâ—ssibility should be educed into an Actual invasion of the Government of God and affront of his holy Majestie and then the creature be damned for the same though he could but sees it not meet to prevent it here it 's necessary not only that the Subject hath no Violence offered to it but that it be not made free nor willing which is far the worse If any man should violently snatch me out of haâ—mes way when I was not aware of it or rescue me from the Pit I should have no cause to complain of him but in case any one could reach my Elective power and inâ—atuate and befool my Reason suppose it by fascination and should determine me to the Contrivance and Execution of some horrid Treason to my destruction He should do me more Mischief and Injury than if he had violently or by force assâ—ssinated me and taken away my Life with hâ—s own hands as is obvious to every Understanding mâ—re of Evil would cleave to me and if he were my Judge in such Inâ—tance I know what I could not but say God himself â—ath declared it a thing to him condecent and just that in the matter of Offence and Punishment his Act should be if I may so speak at the Beck and determinâ—tion of the Creature Legislâ—tion belongs to God alone and Deliverance after forfeiture belongs to his Prerogative but that any one becomes an Object of his rectoral Juâ—tice and Wrath God is not the first cause of thâ—t or the Predeterminer to those Actâ—ons which involve men under Guilt The Judge or King is and must be at the Dispose of the Subject in a sense in the Execution of the penalty of the Law not to hang whom he please nor yet to make them culpable Such a Supremacy over all Persons and in all Cases God abhorreth from Isa 50.1 The Position directly contrary hereunto is that which by some is maintained namely That God in Eternity did Predefine or decree all the sinâ—ul Actions of Angels and Men. That by his Efficiency which is but the Execution of his Decree and adequate to it foregoing the Operation of the second cause he doth in time by his transient physical Influence predetermine the Creature to all such Actions thâ—t the necessary dependence of the second cause or the first and its Essential subordination to it doth so require that the Habit or firâ—t Act and the Operation or second Act is the Product and Effect of such Influence of God the first cause as secundary and subordinate to it and is ascertained by it or that otherwise the Decree might suffer disappointment More particularly that the Fall of our first Parents was fore-decâ—eed of God and that in Execution thereof substrahendo by withdrawâ—ng or suspending that Light and Assistance without which it was impâ—ssible for thâ—m eventually to stand or efficiendo by his Physical precurse he determâ—ned them thereunto They affiâ—m not only the concurse of God enabling them to and in the Acts of Appetition of Mastication Manducation c. in eating of the fruit but that the disordeâ—ly Modification of the Act was primarily from God that by his Influence and Causation himself did cast the Scale of their Will to desire and to eat of that Tree prohibited in which was ye disorder rather than any other before free and indifferent till determined theâ—â—unto by that Energy of his whâ—ch couâ—d not but produce the Effect yet so as that no straining or compassion can be dreamed of tâ—erein though in sensu composito considered as in subordination to the Immutable Decrâ—e and Efficiency of God they coâ—ld do no oâ—herwise than they did So for all other the wickedest Actions of men that all the ineâ—cations of the flesh the motus primo primi all the first machinations of the Mind or Thoughts and conceptions of
If he himself Indeclinably Predetermineth them to the very thing which he dehorteth them from and Worketh in them both to will and to do so as that they can do no otherwise No Man can form a Conception of God more repugnant to the Notions that the Scripture hath given us of his Nature and Properties If I mistake not Amos 2 11 12 13. Arg. 3. The former Hypothesis of Physical Predetermination It over-turneth the Doctrine of Original Sin And of its Traduction If on the one Hand God did substract his Gift from Adam before he Sinned and deprive him of that Light and Ability which he once had and without which he could no longer stand before any fault or forfeiture of his and so determined him to fall in Execution of his Decree as is sometimes said by what Rule should his Posterity be Obliged still to have that which though the Nature of Man was capable of it yet was never due to it and which God hâ—mself took away or why should it be termed Sin to want it when it 's by no fault of his that it 's wanting nor was it ever by God intended to be continued It must be a meer Negation no Privation Since there could not be debitum inessendi any due Obligation of having it if their Supposition be true No more than is on a Beast to Reason Shall the Lord and Master of the Family take the Candle out of the Room not the Servants Extinguish it and then make it an Offence that they are in the dark and challenge them for their not working or will it solve the matter to tell them that it 's a Privation Darkness a non-Entity and therefore he could not cause it So on the other Hand If that which is termed the Corrupt Nature dwelling in Man be ens as it is a Quality or Habit and all that hath Entity be the Workmanship of God as they say it is or else Man must have a Creative Power and also good why then do we call it sin and Original sin or if it be nihil a non-Entity how then doth it descend How is it Traduced Joh. 3.6 and said to be ours by real Inhesion and Contagion as the whole Church consesseth saith Davenant Arg. 4. It staineth the Glory of free Grace in the Pardon of Sin and casteth a Blemish upon the Whole of the Meditation of Christ Whaâ— Conviction can possibly possess the Mind of Man of the Riches of Gods Grace in the Pardoning of sin whilst it 's maintained that the abounding of sinful Actions not to say sin is as well from God the Efficient and Predeterminer unto them as the Superabounding of Grace in the Remission of them Rom. 3.7 and 5.20 What sense can abide upon the Soul of the Grace of Christ in his being made Flesh and bearing the Wrath of God for those Tranâ—gressions whereof himself as God was the Prime Efficient and the which man by his own Influence and Causation was Indeclinably Predetermined unto He that shall Cause or Determine another supposing him a Rational Agent and capable of such an Imprâ—ss freely and willingly to do that whâ—ch in the Issue will prove Rottenness in his Bones as Prohibited or Illegal Actions will do Job 20.11 Psal 38.5 will Receive little thanks for his Cure whatever Cost he may be at When himself caused the Disease and the which had he not done it there had been no need of a Remedy for it Arg. 5. If the Doctrine of our Adversaries be true What meaneth then the Combating of the Spirit of God against sin or Mens being said to grieve and to Quench the Spirit 1 Thes 5.19 it must according to thâ—â—r Hypothesis be God on both parts His own Counteraction in the Subject And if all the first motions of the Imagination all Distraction in Religious Duties all the vain Thoughts emerging out the Heart of Man in their Numberless Operations be from God as the first Mover and Determiner why then should Man be râ—quired at his Peril to dislodge them Jer. 4.14 What is it that he can do Or should he Enterprize the Eviction and Expulsion of the ataxie or Obliquity of them whilst that God himself keepeth the Entity of them in possession and in actual Operation Deut. 15.9 Arg. 6. It layeth the Axe to the Root of all Repentance for what is done and past It raseth the Foundation thereof and Excludeth the very Idea of it A Man may bewail Impreventable disaster but cannot prevent him of that which he could never have helped 2 Cor. 7.11 I appeal to the sense of any man living whether his Heart be wont to reproach him for the doing of that wherein he was no way wanting to himself or for that the which were it to do again must be done and could be no otherwise on no Account whatsoever within his Power now nor ever before If Man by the Necessity of his Being and from the Exigency of his Condition as a dependent Being cannot move save that way he is premoved and cannot but act that way that he is Predetermined or acted why then when he sees the Event should he wish it were Undone and Repent him that he did it or not rather that God did it if that be true Repentance is not founded in the Obediential Subjection of the Creature namely that God could have caused him to do otherwise or barely in the Capacity of the Subject to receive such an Impress from the first Cause but on the Evitability of the Fact or Possibility of the contrary from a Principle Intrinsick and Connate to himself Yea who or where is the man that dare go to God in Prayer with such a Notion in his head and hold to it that he is not to Confess that he could have done more Good and omitted more Evil than Eventually he hath Neh. 9.16 17 26 29. Ezra 9.10 14. had not David just Cause to Repent him of his Lye that he told to Abimelech 1 Sam. 21.2 and to acknowledge it a preventable Act which is the Sole aggravation of Sâ—n and true Reason of it though all Sin is not now Preventable as some is though I know not why or how he should so do were it true which is by some Affirmed that in linea physicâ to the Entity of the Act he was Predetermined of God to speak every Word and Syllable that he did whereof there was never a one true equally as in the using of his Tongue in the praâ—sing of his name Arg. 7. It leaveth not the least Foundation whereupon to bottom Gods Judicial Process against Man in the Day of Judgment To resolve mans Damnation into meer Dominion and Sovereignty is abhorrent to God and Cross to all Scripture Nor is there any thing more Repugnant to the Notions of Justice and Righteousness which are the Attributes of God to be Displaied towards all that shall then be Cast or Periâ—h Rom. 3.5 2 Thes 1.5 than that he should be thought to Adjudge