his Vindictive Justice Now here I shall offer my thoughts in two Positions 1. The final Sin of Reprobates is not properly the very Cause of the Decree of Damnation it is the proper very Cause of Damnation but not of the Decree it self That passage in Scotus is remarkable Non est aliqua causa propter quam Deus effectivè reprobat in quantum est actio in Deo quia tunc Deus esset passivus What is moved by a thing ab extra seems in order of nature before that motion to be in potentia and in that motion to be passive in some degree But God's Will in all its Decrees even in that of Reprobation is a pure Act perfectly excluding Passiveness and Potentiality and by consequence Motion ab extrá 2. The final Sin of Reprobates though it be not properly the Cause of the Decree it self yet it is conditio in objecto necessaria making men meet Objects for the Decree to terminate upon The Vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction Final Sin as produced in actual Existence fits them for actual destruction and final Sin as foreseen in the divine Prescience fits them for a Decree of destruction Where final Sin is foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates and where final Sin is not foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates not After all thy wickedness woe woe unto thee saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 23. Hells woes are after final wickedness and the Decree of Hells woes are after the Prescience of final wickedness In a word That which causes men to be capable objects for the Decree of Damnation to terminate on is the final Sin which is in the unrighteous Will of Man and that which causes the Decree of Damnation to terminate on them is the Vindictive Justice which is in the righteous Will of God In Tophet the Torments are as unquenchable fire The final sin is as much wood and that which kindles it is Vindictive Justice breathing out from the righteous Will of God in all which there is nothing at all but exact Righteousness God may say to Man Thy perdition is of thy self and Man must say to God Thou art righteous O Lord in all thy ways I will shut up all with an Answer to an Objection You will yet say God's Justice is not cleared in this point for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is merely out of Sovereignty and upon this Preterition and Permission doth infallibly follow final Sin and upon final Sin doth infallibly follow eternal Damnation Wherefore hereby God is made the great Author of the Reprobates Sin and Damnation To which I answer in three Propositions 1. 'T is true that upon Preterition and Permission final sin doth infallibly follow When God gave them up to their own lusts they walked in their own counsels Psal. 18. 12. When he suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways they did so Acts 14. 16. If upon God's Permission Man's Sin follow not then which is very strange God may permit that which yet will never be But 2. Upon Preterition and Permission final Sin doth infallibly follow but not as an Effect from a true Cause but as a Consequent upon its Antecedent Hence God is no more the Author of Sin than the Sun is of the darkness which follows upon its departure Also the Objectors may be asked Doth not God foreknow that the Creature set in such a state and order of things will finally sin Foreknowing this doth not he willingly and actually set the Creature in that state and order From or upon this setting the Creature in that state and order doth not its final Sin infallibly follow I suppose they will deny nothing of all this yet they will by no means say that God is the Author of sin neither need they say so for in Sins following there is only sequela ordinis and not sequela causalitatis Moreover God in Preterition and Permission doth not subtract from men any Creaturedue but suspend such special effectual Grace as is undue unto them This is clear for Preterition and Permission respect men as sinners lying in the corrupt Mass and to sinners God owes nothing but punishment Verbum Debet venenum habet nec Deo propriè competit qui non est debitor nobis nisi fortè ex promisso saith Peter Lombard If God be bound to give special effectual Grace to all shew me a Promise for it if he be not bound the suspension of that Grace can in no wise make him the Author of Sin Wherefore final Sin is indeed no fruit of God's Reprobating Will but the proper issue of Man's perverse Will And this is one grand difference between Election and Reprobation Election doth effectually work final Faith and Holiness in the Elect but Reprobation doth not effect the least drop of Sin or Malice in the Reprobate Faith and Holiness come down from Heaven out of the bosom of free Grace but Sin and Malice grow at home in the Reprobate's own heart Dea non operante sed permittente 3. Hence it follows That God is the Author of the Reprobate's Damnation only as a just Judge inflicting the same for final Sin God's vindictive Justice is the inflicting Cause of Damnation but Man's final Sin is the proper meritorious Cause thereof And thus God is perfectly justified in the Decree of Reprobation because that final Sin of Reprobates which follows consequently upon God's Preterition and Permission doth flow effectively from man's perverse and corrupt Will and that everlasting Damnation of Reprobates which is inflicted by God as a Righteous Judge is also merited by a man as a final Sinner CHAP. VI. Of the Work of Creation HAving treated of the Divine Will as to its Eternal Decrees I procede to speak thereof as to its External Works which are as it were the Royal Display thereof And that there may not be a Chasme in my Discourse I shall first touch upon Creation as the first of God's ways There are besides the Ens Entium three several Worlds or Ranks of Beings viz. Spiritual Material and Mixt the first is the Intellectual World made up of those invisible Glories Spirits by Nature Angels by Office Principalities and Powers spiritual Stars of Light and Flames of Love all of them at first Inhabitants of that pure spiritual Body the Heaven of Heavens but afterwards part of them were for their proud Apostasie cast into Hell The second is the World of visible wonders the stupendious Heavens eyed with a glorious Sun and spangled with Moon and glittering Stars encircling all the rest with their spherical Stories and wheeling round about with an indefatigable Motion spinning out time for all the World and with admirable influences hatching and hovering over all the living Creatures Under these is the vast Air encompassing the Earth and Sea coated with woolly clouds and those sometimes laced with the curious Rain-bow every morning putting on the bright-shining Robes of Light and at evening exchanging
intrinsecal merit of Sin and paid only to a final Sinner therefore the consideration of final sin is a prerequisite to the Decree of Damnation without that consideration I see not how it can be decreed as Wages But you 'l say Is not Eternal Life also a Reward of Faith and Holiness and how then can that be decreed as a Reward without a preconsideration of these I answer Eternal Life is a Reward but 't is a Reward of pure Grace 't is Grace upon Grace glorifying Grace upon sanctifying therefore to the Decreeing thereof as a Reward it suffices that it be decreed to Believers and Saints Not Believers and Saints so preconsidered to that Decree for Grace and Glory being both mere gifts and gifts of immediate contact are comprized in one Decree but Believers and Saints so to be made by force of that Decree and so to be made before they wear the Crown This is enough in the decreeing of a Reward so purely gratuitous But in Eternal Death there is nothing at all gratuitous all is mere wages and pay for Sin Sin doth really and intrinsecally merit it Wherefore Eternal death as such wages is decreed only to final Sinners Not final Sinners so to be made by force of God's Decree for that makes no man a final Sinner but final Sinners so preconsidered to the Decree of Damnation for without that preconsideration it is not as I conceive decreeable as wages or pay due unto them To shut up this point in a word Reprobation as to the Decree of Preterition and Permission respects men as lapsed Sinners and as to the Decree of Damnation respects them as final Sinnets 4. What is the Impulsive Cause of Reprobation To which I make answer 1. As for the Decree of Preterition and Permission of final Sin it is from God's Will as cloathed with supreme Sovereignty God passeth by and hardneth whom he will This appears in two particulars 1. First God doth not give so much as the Gospel-means unto some men He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. Some sin and perish without Law or Gospel all the Law they have is the dark glimmering of Nature and all the Gospel they have is the patience and goodness of God leading to Repentance The Sun Moon and Stars are divided to all nations Dent. 4. 19. but Jesus Christ a Sun of infinite light and lustre shines in a narrower compass on the earth than the finite Sun the Moon is lesser than the Earth the visible Church than the World of Men. The Apostles those Stars of light must not shine in Asia and Bithynia Acts 16. 6 7. By what way is this Evangelical Light parted Surely by the divine Will alone the difference is not from the worthiness or unworthiness of men for those in Asia and Bithynia were as good as others Christ was manifested to a Thief and not to a Socrates or Plato Rebellious Israel hath the light of the Word in it and a more flexible Nation which would hearken thereunto wants it Ezek. 3. 6 7. Impenitent Corazin and Bethsaida have a visible Deity before them in Christ's Miracles when poor Tyre and Sidon much nearer to Repentance hath it not Matth. 11. 21. In all which the sovereign Will of God is to be adored for that is it which divideth between the Light and the Darkness 2. In the Visible Church the Orb of Gospel-light God doth not give saving Grace unto all 'T is true the mercy of God is so immense that all the sins of men are but as the drop of the bucket to it the Blood of God is so meritorious that all the crimson Crimes in the World are as nothing to it and the Spirit of God is so almighty that all the chains of hardness and unbelief fall off before his converting Grace Nevertheless this immense Mercy doth not pardon all this meritorious Blood doth not wash all nor this almighty Spirit doth not convert all unto God Oh the wonderful Abyss of the divine Counsel All men naturally lie in bloody pollution and God saith to one Live and not to another all are as it were one entire Rock of obstinacy against God and he calls Abraham's children out of one part of the Rock and leaves all the rest to be Rock still All are dead in sins and trespasses nay and sealed up in their Graves with a stone of hardness and unbelief and one Grave-stone is rolled away and the dead under it raised up by almighty Grace and not another External Revelation is all over the Church why is not the inward holy Unction so too The Gospel sounds in every Ear why do not all hear and learn of the Father The Gospel calls and knocks at every door why are not the Demonstrations of the Spirit and the drawings of the Father in every heart The Gospel says in general Whosoever will may take the Water of Life freely why doth not God work the Will in all Why are any dimissi libero arbitrio left to the miserable servitude of their own free Will Here there is no other resolution but that of the Apostle He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth and beyond this we can only wonder and in quodam mentis excessu cry out Oh the depth Cur hoc illi operetur saith St. Austin illi non operetur metuentem me trementem judicia ejus inscrutabilia incomprehensibilia nolo interroges quia quod lego ercdo revereor non autem discutio And Ne dicas Deo interrogando Quae est voluntas tua sed tremendo Fiat voluntas tua And again Posset Deus saith he of wicked men ipsorum voluntatem in bonum convertere quoniam Omnipotens est posset planè cur ergo non fecit quia noluit cur noluerit penès ipsum est If there were any thing extra Deum moving him to the Decree of Preterition and Permission it must needs be sin either Original or Actual or final Impenitency and Infidelity therein but none of all these moved God thereunto Not Original sin for this is the common blood wherein all men Elect as well as Reprobate lie by nature And this is St. Ambrose's Mirum touching Infants Ubi actio non offendit ubi arbitrium non resistit ubi eadem miseria similis imbecillitas causa communis est non unum esse de tanta parilitate judicem quales reprobat abdicatio tales adoptat Electio Indeed Original Sin makes all men reprobable for all are by nature Children of wrath Transgressors from the womb an unclean and corrupt Seed lying in bloody and abominable pollution fit and worthy to be put away from the holy One as dross and for ever to be cast out into utter darkness but it makes no man a Reprobate for the Elect are as deep in this filthy mire as others Nor yet doth Actual sin do it for Jacob was loved and Esau hated before they had
without coming into actual Being which is impossible Hence it appears that humane Liberty doth well consist with a necessity of Immutability nay it cannot stand without Take away all Necessity and you take away all Futurition take away all Futurition and you take away all the free Acts of the Creature for those free Acts could not be Acts much less free Acts in time unless they were future before and future they could not be without such a Necessity Therefore liberum and necessarium may nay must stand together and if so the Will may be determined by the Understanding and yet be free without an aequilibrium and by consequence an aequilibrium is not essential to its Liberty This false Notion of Liberty maintained upholds the Objection but dissolved breaks the same in pieces 3. This Objection vanishes quite away by the true stating of Liberty Liberty is double Ethical as to that which may be done de jure and Physical as to that which may be done de facto God is perfectly free both ways Ethically because under no Law but the Perfection of his own Nature and Physically because Almighty Man is not Ethically free because under a Law nor yet altogether Physically free for some things he cannot do if he never so much will the doing thereof because they are not within his power Libertas as the learned Camero hath it est facultas faciendi quod libet or more largely facultas quâ quis tantum possit quantum velit tantumque velit quantum esse volendum judicavit It is that Faculty in Man whereby within his own Sphere he can do as much as he wills and will as much as in his Understanding he judges fit to be willed Now that this is a right Definition of humane Liberty doth appear three ways 1. 'T is bottomed upon Scripture 2. 'T is commensurate to the Nature of the thing 3. 'T is proportionable to both the Acts of the Will 1. 'T is bottomed upon Scripture In Scripture there are various Expressions touching Liberty congruous to the several parts of this Definition In the Definition Liberty is a faculty of doing in Scripture 't is a having a thing in our power Acts 5. 4. or in the power of our hand Gen. 31. 29. In the Definition 't is a faculty of doing as much as we will and in Scripture 't is a doing according to our will Dan. 11. 36. or all that is in our heart 2 Sam. 7. 3. In the Definition 't is a power of willing as much as in our Understanding we judge fit to be willed and in Scripture 't is doing what is right in our own eyes Judg. 17. 6. or what seemeth good and meet unto us Jer. 26. 14. Thus all the Definition is founded on Scripture 2. This Definition is commensurate to the Nature of Liberty What is Liberty in Man in the full compass of it but that whereby he becomes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lord of his own act and such he truly is when within his own line he can do as much as he will and will as much as in his Understanding is fit to be willed When the Scripture paints out that glorious 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or supreme Liberty in God what doth it say but that he worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will Eph. 1. 11. and doth what he pleaseth in heaven and earth Psal. 135. 6. Wherefore if a man can work according to the counsel of his Will and do what he pleaseth within his own Sphere he must needs be truly free and so much is allowed by this Definition 3. This Definition is proportionable to both the Acts of the Will There is Actus imperatus an Act commanded by the Will such as Speaking or Walking or the like there is Actus elicitus an Act produced in the Will such is the Act of willing Now quoad Actum imperatum the Definition says that a Man can do as much as he wills and quoad Actum elicitum it says that he can will as much as he judges fit to be willed These two Acts must be carefully distinguished for the Will is not alike free in both As to the imperate Act the Will is the Mistress and Commandress of that that procedes from it per modum imperii and it is truly said to be done quia volumus but as to the elicite Act the Will is not properly the Mistress or Commandress of that that procedes not from it per modum imperii for then it should be Actus imperatus rather than elicitus neither can we be said truly to will quia volumus for so the same Act of willing should be the Cause of it self Wherefore the Liberty of the Will as to the Act of willing doth not consist in a Self-motion for the Will doth not move it self To which purpose I shall quote two testimonies one out of Camero Nulla mera potentia semetipsam propellit in actum quicquid enim ejusmodi est id in actu esse necesse est Voluntas autem id est volendi facultas mera potentia est ergò non potest semetipsam excitare ad agendum Si enim hoc facit facit per aliquem actum at quod est in mera potentia illud non agit And again Non potest dici quae sit Voluntatis seipsam determinantis actio non est volitio ipsa est enim volitio ipse terminus ergo non ipsa determinatio Another out of the French Divines in their Theses Salmurienses Nulla potentia sesemet educit in actum Sensus moventur à rebus sensibilibus Phantasia à phantasmatibus Intellect us ab object is intellectualibus locomotiva à Voluntate voluntas quîpote à seipsa And indeed if the Will do move it self to the Act of Willing then because it cannot move it self as quiescent it must move it self by some Act and what is that Act but an Act of willing Therefore by an Act of willing it moves it self to an Act of Willing which is very absurd Wherefore the Will is free in the Act of willing not in respect of its Self-motion but in respect of its lubency and spontaneity what it wills it doth incoactively will according to the dictate of the Understanding Now this being the true Nature of Liberty the determination of the Will by the Understanding doth not overthrow it for notwithstanding this determination Man is free still because he can within his own Sphere do as much as he wills and will as much as he judges fit to be willed His Will is free because in its imperate Acts it commands what it pleases and in its elicite Acts it wills what it wills spontaneously according to the dictate of the Understanding therefore the determination of the Will by the Understanding doth not at all destroy the Nature of Liberty Thus passing over the second Quaere I procede to the third Quaere 3. Whether the Work of Conversion be wrought in an
of Nature are but the Shadows and Picture of his wise Decrees all the excellent Shows in time are but the Apocalypse or Revelation of the wise Coâ—trivances in Eternity God possessed Wisdom in the beginning of his way even in the framing of his Eternal Decrees not only when he prepared the Heavens in Creation but also when he prepared all things in his Ideal Counsel not only when he set a compass on the face of the Depth but also when he set the Compass of his Decrees upon the face of all Futuritions Every one of his Decrees is most wise and rational hence 't is called his Counsel and the Counsel of his Will In the Eternal Rolls Causes and Effects Means and End Modes and Methods of Being are all set down but not a tittle without the advice of an infinite Understanding there is no such thing as mere Will in God no caecus impetus but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a depth of Knowledge in every one of his Decrees 2. The Decrees of God are situate in Eternity Mutable Creatures and their Acts are measured by Time which is a perpetual Flux but God and his immanent Acts have no other Measure but Eternity which is a perpetual Instant Scripture and Reason will both assert this 1. Scripture will do it When that speaks of the Decree of Election it saith that God hath chosen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the foundation of the World Eph. 1. 4. Heaven was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the founding of the World Matth. 25. 34. but God's chusing of us to it was long before his mercies are from everlasting to everlasting Psal. 103. 17. reaching as I may say from one end of Eternity to another So also when it speaks of other pieces of Providence it intimates an eternal Preordination of things before the great Hour-glass of Time was set up There were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foreappointed times Acts 17. 26. Not a Sand of Time but it runs out according to an Eternal Decree not a member in the body but it is written in the eternal Book Psal. 139. 16. not a place of habitation but it was eternally bounded Acts 17. 26. not a Sparrow falls to the ground but by an eternal Will not an hair but it was numbred in Eternity not a Particle of Being among all the hosts of Creatures but it was registred in Eternity All God's works are known to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eternally Act. 15. 18. Known eternally as Essences they might be in the Divine Essence known eternally as Possibles they might be in the Divine Power but known eternally as Works to be done by God they could not be but only in his Eternal Decree which is Rerum omnium amantissima Genetrix suavissima Nutrix 2. Reason also will make out the Eternity of his Decrees for 1. The Act of God's Will is all one with God's Will and his Will is all one with his Essence and his Essence is one pure Simple Act God is Love essentially Love Amat Deus nec aliunde hoc habet sed ipse est unde amat ideo vehementiùs quia non amorem tam habet quà m ipse est All the Decrees of God are but Deus volens and as God being and God knowing inhabit Eternity so likewise doth God willing the very Creatures willed as they are in God in Esse Indeali are Eternal Notable is that of Anselm Creaturae prout sunt in Deo sunt Essentia Creatrix Sutable is that of S. Austin who on those words in ipso vita est distinguishes between arca in arte arca in opere arca in opere non est vita sed arca in arte est vita quia vivit animâ Artificis Sapientia Dei per quam fact a sunt omnia secundùm artem continet omnia antequam fabricet omnia terram vides est in arte terra coelum vides est in arte coelum Solem Lunam vides sunt ista in arte sed foris corpora sunt in arte vita sunt Videte si quo modo potestis magna enim res dicta est Oh the Comprehensions of the Divine Essence Wisdom Power and Will Essences are Life and Eternity in the Divine Essence Congruities are Life and Eternity in the Divine Wisdom Possibles are Life and Eternity in the Divine Power and Futuritions are Life and Eternity in the Divine Will 2. The Eternity of Futures doth demonstrate the Eternity of the Divine Decrees 't is impossible that any thing should begin to be future Si aliquid nunc non futurum saith Bradwardine incipiet esse futurum ergo post aliquod instans futurum erit ergo erit ergo est futurum ergo aliquid non futurum est futurum Now if it be impossible that any thing should begin to be future then all futures must needs be Eternal and if so whence are they Not from themselves for in their own nature they were but mere possibles and if one possible might by a self-motion become future all the infinite possibles lying in the bosom of Omnipotence might also become such Nor from any Creature for that which is but temporal cannot be the Cause of that which is eternal The Spring then of eternal futures cannot be found any where but in the Eternal God and where in him not in the Divine Essence for that in it self and abstractively from the Divine Will worketh no Change in any thing at all not in the Divine Prescience for that doth suppose and not make its objects And how then without eternal Decrees can there be any foundation of Futures I may conclude with that of Anselm Nihil est futurum nisi in summa veritate If then God should make any Decree in time the thing decreed would begin to be future which is impossible 3. The Decrees of God are cemented with Immutability Aristotle by the light of Nature saw the Simplicity of God's Nature and from thence rationally concluded the Simplicity of God's pleasure The Eternal and Immanent Acts of his Understanding and Will are ever immoveably the same or else infinite Simplicity could not take pleasure in them God saith of himself Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not Should he change he would lose his Name I am that I am I know saith the wise Preacher that whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever Eccl. 3. 14. His Decrees are Unchangeable The Apostle speaking of the Decree of Election saith The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Every word hath its weight Election is not a structure upon Faith but a foundation humane foundations may be destroyed but this is the foundation of God laid by him nay in him in the bosom of the divine Will there is no standing much less sure standing in the flux of Time and Matter but this foundation because of God and in God standeth sure it standeth
the great Image of Worldly Monarchy Natural Agents must be under it as the primum Movens Free Agents must be under it as the primum Liberum the Lot is the greatest Casualty and yet wholly disposed of by it Sin is the most monstrous Ataxy and yet it is reduced into order thereby Now albeit Particular and Inferiour Causes may fail of the intended Issue yet the Universal and Supreme Cause cannot be frustrated because it governs all 2. The Effective Decree of God is backed with his Omnipotence Who ever resisted his Will He that doth it must first grapple with Omnipotence The Lord of hosts hath purposed and who shall disanul it his hand is stretched out and who shall turn it back Isai. 14. 27. Can any Creature hinder the purpose of the Lord of hosts All Creatures are ready prest for his Service But if one Creature could steal away all its Fellow-creatures from him yet who shall turn back his Almighty Hand None can stay his hand nor say to him What dost thou Dan. 4. 45. His power is insuperable therefore none can stay his hand his Sovereignty is unaccountable therefore none can say What dost thou He worketh all things after the Counsel of his own Will Eph. 1. 11. and if he work who can let it Isai. 43. 13. Surely none When God's Hand and God's Counsel go together the Effect cannot fail 2. Those Events which fall under his Permissive Decree do also fall out infallibly As on the one hand without God's permission no sin can come into being If God suffer it not no man can wrong Israel Psal. 105. 14. and which is less than an injurious act Balaam cannot curse her Numb 22. 38. and which is yet less than a cursing word the idolatrous Nations cannot so much as desire her land Exod. 34. 24. So on the other hand upon God's permission sin doth follow All Nations will walk in their own ways Acts 14. 16. Nay and the Israel of God if but suffered would do so too Deut. 18. 14. If God permit it the wicked will do wickedly the Jews will fill up the measure of their sins Mat. 23. 32. wickedness will build her an house in Shinar in the Reprobate world there it will be established and set upon her own base Zach. 5. 11. And what would not a Saint do if but left in manu consilii sui Jeremy falls from praising his God to cursing his Birth-day as it were in one breath Jer. 20. 14 15. Peter falls from his profession of Martyrdom to the denial of his Master Matth. 26. If God permit sin sin follows upon it I say upon it not from it as an Effect from a Cause but upon it as a Consequent upon an Antecedent To shut up this point The Decrees of God whether as effective of Good or as permissive of Evil are still infallible as to the Event CHAP. IV. Of Gods Decree of Election as touching Men. HAving spoken of God's Decrees in general I pass on to his Decree of Election in particular this is respective either of Angels or Men pretermitting it in the first respect I shall treat of it in the second God's Decree of Election as touching Men is set forth in Scripture under various words which do not a little illustrate the nature of it 't is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because God's purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because his gracious purpose 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he separates or singles out some to mercy in a way of Choice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he knows them as his own in a way of singular love 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because he infallibly predestinates them to Grace and Glory and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 because all is out of the pure Self-motion of his own good Will Election is that gracious Decree of God whereby out of the mere good pleasure of his own Will he chuses some certain individual men out of the corrupt mass of Mankind unto the infallible attainment of Grace and Glory in and through Jesus Christ. Now in the opening of this Description there are several things considerable viz. 1. Who is the Great Agent 2. What are the things designed 3. To whom these things are designed 4. What is the Impulsive Cause thereof 5. In and through whom it is done 1. Who is the great Agent It is no other than God himself He chuses us Eph. 1. 4. he predestinates us ver 5. Hence the Elect are called God's Elect Tit. 1. 1. and Election is stiled God's Election 1 Thess. 1. 4. the Elect are said to be God's own John 17. 6. and Election is named God's own purpose and grace 2 Tim. 1. 9. He that frames this high Design must be a God indeed a Creator of Souls and Infuser of Graces one able to provide an infinite Ransom for the satisfaction of Justice and a glorious Heaven for the patefaction of Mercy no less than an Almighty Potter able even out of the Mass of perdition to make Vessels of Mercy and fill them with Glory All Divines will at least in words confess God to be the great Agent but how the Remonstrants according to their Principles can own him as such is well worthy their consideration for they assert that the Object of Gods Election is a Believer and whether there shall be a Believer or not after all the operations of Grace ultimately depends upon the Will of Man and if so how can God chuse at all seeing the Act of his Election depends upon the Object and the Oject upon the Will of man The Remonstrants will contend That Man with his petty created Liberty cannot chuse as a man if he be under the Pre-determining Will of God and can God with his Soveraign Supreme Liberty chuse as a God if he be under the Pre-determining Will of Man And what is he less than under it when whether he shall have an Election or not depends upon the Object and whether there will be an Object or not depends upon the Will of Man Man's Will must go before and make the Object or else for want of one God's Will must stand still and not chuse at all And is this for God to chuse like himself Are not all Souls his own and may he not chuse which he pleases Is not all Grace and Glory his own and may he not do with his own what he pleases But how can he do so if as to the Act of Election he be under the Pre-determining Will of Man But you 'l say God is not under it for all this for he first and antecedently to any foreseen Faith in Man did decree in general to save Believers and Believers only as appears in the Gospel and thereby did out of his mere good pleasure set down this Law or Rule to himself That Believers and Believers only should be the Object of particular Election and so he is not pre-determined by man's Will but his own and chuses particular persons in
such as Election is in the supreme degree is distinctive of persons for this is decretive of certain blessings and unless the persons to whom those blessings shall be given be designed also the Decree is very imperfect and this is decretive of certain blessings out of supreme and sovereign liberty and to this as a flower of its Crown it appertains to define all persons as well as blessings Wherefore in Election not only Grace and Glory but the very individual persons who shall have and receive the same are punctually designed In Heaven there are many Mansions and the Elect Vessels must fill them up or else there might be a Vacuum in that blessed place Wherefore those Elect Vessels are all numbred in God's Decree 2. These certain individual persons are considered as lying in the Mass of perdition this as I conceive is most congruous to Scripture There Election is stiled Voluntas miserendi a will of shewing mercy Rom. ◠18. and the Elect are called vessels of mercy Rom. 9. 23. there we are said to be chosen in Christ and chosen that we should be holy Eph. 1. 4. there we are said to be appointed to obtain salvation and that in and by Jesus Christ 1 Thes. 5. 9. But if God electing did not consider men as sinners lying in the corrupt mass what need was there of Mercy where there was no misery What room for a Christ a Mediator where there was no Transgressor Why should Holiness be designed which was yet in being and unforfeited Why should Salvation be appointed when as yet there was none lost or in the state of perdition Wherefore I conceive that in Election Men are considered as sinners lying in an undone condition such only are objects capable for Mercy to embrace Christ to redeem Holiness to sanctifie and Salvation to crown The Remonstrants assert that Men in Election are considered not merely as Sinners but as Believers but the Scripture doth pregnantly contradict them for Predestination is set before Vocation Rom. 8. 30. and yet Vocation goes before Faith Christ calls the Elect his sheep before their bringing home Joh. 10. 16. and yet that bringing goes before believing Again Christ tells us Thine they were and thou gavest them me Joh. 17. 6. which passage if compared with that other All that the Father giveth me shall come to me Joh. 6. 37. doth evidently point out to us the true Method of these things Election imported in that phrase thine they were is antecedent to giving and giving to coming or believing Whence it appears clearly that Faith is not antecedent to Election as a Condition prerequisite in its object but consequent thereunto as a stream flowing out of its fountain Wherefore I conclude that in Election men are considered not as Believers but as Sinners 4. What is the impulsive Cause of Election I answer There is no other impulsive Cause but his own good pleasure It was the saying of Plato That the first Mover moves himself God in the volition of himself doth as it were move himself the divine Essence as volent being ravished with it self as infinite Goodness But in other volitions he moves other things himself remaining unmoveable Learned Bradwardine distinguishes the objects of God's Will into Volita priora posteriora priora ut Deum esse posteriora ut Mundum esse Volita priora sunt aliqua causa divinae volitionis volita autem posteriora nonsunt causa ejus Voluntas Dei cst causa omnium posteriorum si ergo aliquid esset causa Volitionis divinae illud esset causa sui ipsius But to speak in particular the Decree of Election hath no other Cause but the divine pleasure only This is evident in Scripture we are predestinated according to the good pleasure of his will Eph. 1. Ver. 5. To the praise of the glory of his grace Ver. 6. According to the purpose of him who worketh all things according to the counsel of his own will Ver. 11. If we ask why God will call a Church out of the common Mass Samuel will tell us It hath pleased the Lord to make him a people 1 Sam. 12. 22. But if we ask why it pleased him so to do Moses will tell us God loves his people because he loves them Deut. 7. 8. When God will set forth the Self-beingness of his Essence he stiles himself by that wonderful Name I am that I am When he will magnifie the Self-movingness of his Grace he gives a wonderful Reason I love because I love God is an immense Sea of Being and Love let the Elect vessels sail by the Plerophories of Faith and holy Contemplation as far as they can still there will be a boundless Sea of Being and Love before them He that will presume to spie out the Cause of either of these must first pass over Immensity and through Eternity When Moses desired to see God's Glory God proclaims the absolute sovereignty of his Will I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious Methinks these words I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious import a perfect Absoluteness and Incausability in Gods Will even as that Name I am that I am imports a perfect absoluteness and Incausability in God's Essence Some have grounded Election on good Works foreseen but this is utterly exploded by the Apostle who tells us that God hath saved and called us not according to our works but his own purpose 2 Tim. 1. 9. and that there is a remnant according to the election of grace and if it be by grace it is no more of works otherwise grace is no more grace Rom. 11. 5. Canaan the land of Promise and type of Glory was divided by Lot and suitably the Apostle saith that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we inherit by lot Eph. 1. 11. Now in the disposal of a Lot what reason or cause can be assigned exparte creaturae Is not the whole disposing thereof of the Lord Prov. 16. 33 Can any thing in the World hang more purely on the Will of God than a Lot Why have such and such Worms a lot in light and not in utter darkness The Apostle answers in that place 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Predestination lots them in the Lord shews whom he hath chosen by giving Grace and Glory according to his good pleasure When Ahasuerus could not rest he calls for the Records and reading there of Mordecai's service he thereupon resolves to honour him Esth. 6. this was done like a man But it is not so with God who doth not honour after the manner of men 2 Sam. 7. 19. but in a way becoming his glorious sovereignty and bounty he purposes in himself Eph. 1. 9. Perinde valet saith Calvin ac si diceretur nihil extra se considerâsse cujus rationem in decernendo haberet he rests in his love Zeph. 3. 17. and unless that complacential rest which he takes in his own Will could be broken we cannot imagine that he should fall a searching
that place imports a not giving the mollifying Graces of Faith and Repentance and withal a permission of final sin in the Reprobate for it is set in opposition to that mercy which bestows those mollifying Graces and thereby prevents final sin in the Elect. 3. It purposes to punish them with Eternal Damnation for their sin and this is stiled among Divines Pre-damnation or Positive Reprobation And hence Reprobates are said to be vessels of wrath Rom. 9. 22. made for the day of Evil Prov. 16. 4. and of old ordained to condemnation Jude Ver. 4. in the Original we have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of old fore-written or registred to this condemnation forewritten not as some would have it in Scripture-prophecies but in the Eternal Decree of God the ordained Event whereof is notably pointed out by the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text. To say that men are fore-written in a Decree to condemnation is very proper but to say that they are forewritten in a Prophecy to condemnation is very incongruous for a prophecy is of an Event and not to it as a Decree is In that place where 't is said that Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gal. 3. 1. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 imports not a Decree but a setting forth or lively painting out of Christ for there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all as in the former Text but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to whom before the eyes Jesus Christ was set forth But the plain meaning of the former Text is they were decreed to this condemnation viz. to spiritual Judgments which the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 specially points at and by consequence to Eternal Damnation also Now touching this Triple act of Reprobation I shall enquire 1. Who is the Author thereof 2. What are the things decreed therein 3. To whom those things are decreed 4. What is the Impulsive Cause thereof 1. Who is the Author thereof Even the same great God who is the Author of Election he who chuses some passes by others he who hath mercy on some hardens others Grace and Glory are at his dispose the Keys of Heaven and Hell are in his hands alone In some he prevents final sin by the mollifying Graces of Faith and Repentance others he leaves to final sin actual or at least original Some he raises up out of the Hell of their Corruption into an Heaven of Glory others he tumbles down from one Hell to another from the Hell of Iniquity to the Hell of Misery This is the Almighty Potter who out of the same lump of corrupted Mankind makes one Vessel to honour and another to dishonour and all the while the earthen Pitcher must not strive with his Maker or say Why hast thou made me thus but rather hasten down into the Abyss of his own Nullity and Pravity and from thence adore the infinite heights of Sovereignty and Equity in the Divine Decrees 2. What are the things decreed therein These I shall consider according to the Triple Act thereof 1. As for the first Act of Preterition or Non-election the thing decreed is the not giving of Grace and Glory to the Reprobates 1. 'T is the not giving of Grace unto them Not that there is a preterition of them as to all kind of Grace for Reprobates may be Children of the kingdom Matth. 8. 12. called to the marriage-supper Matth. 22. 12. and coming may eat and drink in Christ's presence Luk. 13. 26. they may be enlightned and partakers of the holy Ghost and taste the good word of God and the powers of the world to come Hebr. 6. 4 5. and which is a very high expression they may be said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to believe in the name of Jesus Joh. 2. 23. But that there is a preterition of them as to the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 those better things which accompany and by a near contiguity touch upon Salvation Heb. 6. 9. as to such a precious Faith Love in incorruption Holiness of truth Repentance unto life real and thorough Conversion as are found in the Elect. There is not then a preterition as to all kind of Grace no nor all kind of preterition as to saving Grace for God doth will the Conversion of Reprobates in a double manner 1. God wills their Conversion Voluntate simplicis complacentiae Conversion even in a Reprobate would make joy in Heaven it would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 grateful and well-pleasing to God if we believe him swearing by his life his pleasure or delight is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the wicked mans turning Ezek. 33. 11. God delights in his Image where-ever it be 2. God wills their Conversion Voluntate virtuali vel ordinativâ Mediorum for the right understanding whereof I shall lay down four things 1. The proper end and tendency of all means is to turn men unto God within the Sphere of the Church such is the end and tendency thereof Why did Christ come but to turn every one from his iniquities Acts 3. 26 Why did he preach but that his hearers might be saved Joh. 5. 34 Why did the Apostle warn and teach every man but to present every man perfect in Christ Col. 1. 28 John's Baptism was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Matth. 3. 11. Church-censures were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 10. 8. Even the delivering to Satan was for the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor. 5. 5. Conversion is the true Centre of the Means Nay without the Sphere of the Church the true end and tendency of things is such that God might be seen in every creature Rom. 1. 20. Sought and felt in every place Acts 17. 27. Witnessed in every showre Acts 14. 17. Feared in the sea-bounding sand Jer. 5. 22. Humbled under in every abasing providence Dan. 5. 22. Turned to in every judgement Amos 4. 11. In a word the end and tendency of all God's works is that men might fear before him Eccl. 3. 14. The whole World is a great Ordinance at it is in it self preaching forth the power and goodness of God who made it and as it is the unconsumed Stage of so many crying sins preaching forth the clemency and mercy of God who spares it and dashes it not down about the sinners ears All the goodness and forbearance of God leads men to repentance Rom. 2. 4. That piece of Gospel Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy seems legible in his patience for it may be naturally and rationally concluded That that God who in his clemency spares men though sinners will in his mercy pardon them when repenting and returning This is the true duct and tendency of his patience even that men might turn and repent 2. The tendency of the Means to Conversion is such that if men under the administration thereof turn not unto God the only reason lies within themselves in their own corrupt hearts If God purge and men are not purged 't is because there is lewdness in their
done good or evil Artaxerxes decreed that Jerusalem should not be built again because upon search of his Records he found that it had been a rebellious City Ezra 4. 19 21. Should God have founded his Decree of Preterition and Non-election on a Prescience of humane Rebellion the holy City of the Church had never been built nor the divine Image ever repaired therein All men had eternally lay as Sodom and Gomorrah in the dust and rubbish of Adam's Fall with a line of spiritual confusion stretched upon them Who is there that lives and sins not What man on earth hath not rebelled and vexed God's holy Spirit Even little Infants rebelled in voluntate Adae and besides Imbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens est non animus infantium Neither yet doth final Impenitency and Infidelity do it for there is no final Impenitency and Infidelity but such as is permitted and permitted it is not but out of the Decree of Preterition and Permission wherefore that Decree cannot be caused thereby Final Impenitency and Infidelity may be considered two ways either as being in actual existence or else as foreseen by the divine Prescience but neither way doth it cause the Decree of Preterition and Permission but presuppose the same Not as it is in actual existence for final Impenitency Infidelity come into being after Permission and Permission flows out of the Decree wherefore final Impenitency and Infidelity coming after Permission are not the Cause of the Decree out of which Permission doth issue Nor yet as it is foreseen by the divine Prescience for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is that very Glass wherein final Impenitency and Infidelity are foreseen for had God made no Decree of Preterition and Permission he had seen all men repenting and believing as the fruit of his effectual Grace unto all had he made that Decree universally touching all he had seen no man repenting and believing Wherefore final Impenitency and Infidelity as foreseen do not cause but presuppose the Decree In a word I conclude That the Decree of Preterition and Permission doth merely depend upon the supreme and sovereign Will of God Neither is there any colour of Injustice in all this for 1. Non-electio as Suarez hath it non est poena ut culpam praerequir at sed est quaedam negatio gratuiti beneficii quod Deus ut supremus Dominus negare potest God may do what he will with his own Election the primum indebitum is God's own therefore he may pass by whom he pleaseth the holy Spirit the fountain of all Faith and Repentance is God's own therefore it may breath only where it lists All Souls and Graces are God's own therefore he may infuse or not infuse Graces into Souls ad placitum Neither is it imaginable that God should be obliged to give restituent Grace to fallen Man when he was not obliged to give custodient Grace to the innocent Angels If Faith and Repentance are the gifts of God may he not suspend them If he be bound to give them why is there ae peradventure put upon some mens Repentance 2 Tim. 2. 25 Why a cannot upon some mens Faith John 12. 39 Why a perhaps upon some mens Forgiveness Acts 8. 22 Why aforbidding upon the means of Grace Acts 16. 6 Why a manifestation to disciples and not to the world Joh. 14. 22 Why a Revelation to babes and not to the wise and prudent Matth. 11. 25 In short God's Election must be either arbitrary or necessary If necessary how is his Election free If arbitrary how is Non-election unjust The donation of Faith and Repentance must be Grace or Debt If Debt why is not the Veil off from every Eye and the Stone out of every Heart Why is not Grace as common as Nature and Saintship as Humanity But if Grace then where it is conferred it is freely conferred out of self-moving mercy and where it is denied it is justly denied out of unaccountable sovereignty 2. In the Permission of final sin there is much of Sovereignty but nothing of Injustice the great God is absolutus faber suae permissionis he could let legions of Angels at once drop out of Heaven into Hell he could let innocent Adam as rare a piece as he was break himself all to shivers by a fall and what may he not permit sinful Worms to do What are Creatures to him If they miscarry how many thousand thousand Worlds are there in the bosom of his Omnipotence If he suffer all Nations to walk in their own ways he doth but let a drop fall off the Bucket or a small dust fly off the ballance he doth but leave Vanity to its own lightness and a Quasi-nothing to its own nullity and defectibility If he suffer sinful Man to run into sin and that finally he doth but leave the Dog to his own vomit the Swine to his own mire the Viper to his own poyson a corrupted piece of old Adam to act 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 out of his own as the Expression is Joh. 8. 44. He doth but let the fountain of blood flow out the corrupt flesh putrifie the vitious womb of concupiscence conceive and bring forth and the depraved Will of man forge out its own iniquities and fetter and intangle it self with the cords and bonds of its own voluntary rebellions and what Injustice can be in all this especially seeing this Permission is not a subtraction of any inherent Grace but only a suspension of assistent Grace as de facto would impede sin If God be bound to afford such Grace where is the Charter of that engagement If he be not bound thereunto where is the Injustice of that suspension The Saints before a temptation cast down their Souls before God and cry out Nèinducas Lead us not into temptation and after a victory they cast down their Crowns before him and sing out Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ. Wherefore when sin is prevented God's free Grace is to be praised and when sin is permitted God's absolute Sovereignty is to be adored 3. Justice in God is agere juxta condecentiam bonitatis veracitatis suae therefore the Decrees of Preterition and Permission must needs be just because they cross not either his Goodness or his Truth Not his Goodness for that doth not necessitate him either to diffuse one drop of Grace unto fallen Man or to prevent one jot of sin in him nor yet his Truth for notwithstanding the Decrees of Preterition and Permission all the Promises in the great Charter of the Gospel are Yea and Amen not a tittle thereof fails or falls to the ground 2. As the Decree of Preterition and Permission is from God's Will as cloathed with Sovereignty so the Decree of Damnation is from God's Will as cloathed with Justice In the former God acts as supreme Lord according to his transcendent Sovereignty in the latter God acts as a Righteous Judge according to
ascended up into heaven he blessed them to shew that the Curse was gone and ascended up into heaven to possess the purchase of Glory and being there he sate down at God's right hand his work was now done and therefore he sate down and his work was now accepted and therefore he sate down at God's right hand there he received gifts for men and from thence he gave them out again he gave out what he received and received what he purchased Christ's Sacrifice was so sweet a favour to God that the Minister who preaches it is a sweet savour to him 2 Cor. 2. 15. and the Believer who accepts it is accepted of him Eph. 1. 6. nay so far accepted that he becomes a Priest Revel 1. 6. and his good works pleasing sacrifices Heb. 13. 16. his prayers are turned into odours Revel 5. 8. and his charity into a sweet smell Phil. 4. 18. and all this by a perfuming touch from Christ's Merits In a word all the Proclamations of Mercy in the Scripture all the Pardons of sin in the Conscience all the Influences of Grace on the Heart and all the Openings of Heaven in the Promises are as so many pregnant proofs unto us that God accepted the Price Thus having shewed what manner of Price this is viz. redemptive from Evil procurative of Good and sufficient for both I pass on to the last Question 3. For whom was this Price paid and this I shall cleave asunder into two Quaeries 1. Whether Christ died for all men 2. Whether he died equally for all men In both which whilest I name the Death of Christ only according to the usual language of Divines I comprehend his whole Obedience Active and Passive whereof his Death was the complement and extreme Act. 1. As to the first Quaere Whether Christ died for all men I answer affirmatively that he did and here I shall do two things 1. I shall lay down the Reasons of my Opinion 2. I shall answer the Objections made against it and in both it will appear how far or in what sence I assert that Christ died for all men 1. I shall lay down my Reasons for it and these are drawn 1. From the Will of God as the Fountain of Redemption 2. From the Covenant of Grace as the Charter of it and the Promises comprized therein 3. From the Ministers Commission who publish it 4. From certain blessings which are the fruits of it 5. From the Unbelief of men which is the denial of it 6. From the fulness and glorious Redundance of Merit in Christ's Death which paid for it 7. From the large and general Expressions in Scripture concerning the same 1. I argue from the Will of God God's Will of salvation as the fontal Cause thereof and Christ's Death as the meritorious Cause thereof are of equal latitude God's Will of Salvation doth not extend beyond Christ's Death for then he should intend to save some extra Christum Neither doth Christ's Death extend beyond God's Will of Salvation for then he should die for some whom God would upon no terms save but these two are exactly coextensive Hence 't is observable that when the Apostle speaks of Christ's Love to the Church he speaks also of his giving himself for it Eph. 5. 25. and when he saith God will have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2. 4. he saith withal Christ gave himself a ransom for all Ver. 6. Therefore there cannot be a truer Measure of the extent of Christ's Death than God's Will of Salvation out of which the same did issue so far forth as that Will of Salvation extends to all men so far forth the Death of Christ doth extend to all men Now then how far doth God will the Salvation of all Surely thus far that if they believe they shall be saved No Divine can deny it especially seeing Christ himself hath laid it down so positively This is the will of him that sent me saith he that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life Joh. 6. 40. Wherefore if God will the Salvation of all men thus far that if they believe they shall be saved then Christ died for all men thus far that if they believe they shall be saved But you 'l say that Promise Whosoever believes shall be saved is but Voluntas signi and not Voluntas beneplaciti which is the adequate Measure of Christ's Death Unto which I answer If that Promise be Voluntas signi what doth it signifie What but God's Will What Will but that good pleasure of his that whosoever believes shall be saved How else is the Sign of the true God a true Sign Whence is that universal connexion betwixt Faith Salvation Is it not a plain efflux or product from the Decree of God Doth not that evidently import a Decree that whosoever believes shall be saved Surely it cannot be a false Sign wherefore so far God's Will of Salvation extends to all men and consequently so far Christ's Death extends to them 2. I argue from the Covenant of Grace and the Promises comprized therein Christ is the Mediatour of the Covenant and the Covenant is the New-testament in his blood Christ's Death doth not extend beyond the Covenant for then there should be less in the Charter than in the Purchase neither doth the Covenant extend beyond Christ's Death for then there should be more in the Charter than in the Purchase but both these run parallel in extent Therefore so far forth as the Covenant extends to all men so far forth the Death of Christ extends to all men Now then for the extent of the Covenant Are not those Promises Whosoever believes shall be saved whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely with the like a part of the Covenant and are they not extensive to all men Both are as plain as if they were written with a Sun-beam Wherefore so far doth Christ's Death extend to all men as the Covenant in any part thereof doth extend unto them Moreover these general Promises undeniably extend to all men and in that extent are infallibly true they are all faithful sayings and words of truth and their truth is sealed up by Christ's Blood wherefore as these Promises extend to all men so the Death of Christ in which they are founded doth extend to all men If Christ did no way die for all men which way shall the truth of these general Promises be made out Whosoever will may take the water of life What though Christ never bought it for him Whosoever believes shall be saved What though there were no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Price paid for him Surely the Gospel knows no Water of Life but what Christ purchased nor no way of Salvation but by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Price paid But you 'l say that albeit Christ died not for all men yet are those general Promises very true and that because their truth is founded
and towards the rest but a common Philanthropy and Ordination that they might be saved on Gospel-terms hence it is clear that albeit the giving of all things to the Elect may be inferred from his giving his Son for them yet the giving of all things to all men cannot be inferred from his giving his Son for them all because in that gift there was not the same Love and Intention towards all Wherefore I conclude that Christ died for all and yet neither are all loved with the greatest degree of love nor yet are all blessings conferred upon them Object 7. If Christ would not pray for all men then he died not for all but Christ would not pray for all for he saith I pray for them I pray not for the world Joh. 17. 9. Answ. This Argument must be formed one of these two ways either thus If Christ prayed not at all for the Non-elect then he did not at all die for them but he prayed not at all for them Ergo he died not for them Now here I must deny the Minor for even upon the Cross he prayed for his Crucifiers Father forgive them Luk. 23. 34. not that he would have them forgiven though final Impenitents and Unbelievers for that would have been against his Father's purpose and his own purchase but that he would have them forgiven if they did believe and repent which was congruous to both But suppose there had been no vocal Prayer of Christ for them yet surely there was a mental one for he could not but desire of God to have all the fruits of his Passion amongst which one was that all men might be saved on Gospel-terms that grand Gospel-axiom whosoever believes shall be saved was no doubt one of his desires for it cost his precious Blood wherefore the Non-elect were not totally excluded from his Prayers Or else the Argument must be formed thus If Christ prayed not for the non-elect in that famous Prayer Joh. 17. then he did not die for them but he prayed not for them in that Prayer therefore he died not for them Now here the consequence fails for what kind of Prayer was that Joh. 17 'T was a Prayer peculiarly fitted for Apostles and Believers a Prayer for their perseverance in Faith Ver. 11. for their perfection in Unity Ver. 23. for their growth in Sanctification Ver. 17. for their abode with him in Glory Ver. 24. and in all respects a Prayer which could be congruously prayed for no other but Believers Ver. 20. Now that Christ did not pray such a Prayer for all men as was only proper for Believers doth not conclude either that he did not at all pray for them or that he did not at all die for them Thus much in answer to the first Quaere Whether Christ died for all men I pass on to the second Quaere 2. Whether Christ died equally for all men I answer that albeit Christ died in some sort for all men and by virtue of his Death all men if Believers should equally be saved nevertheless Christ did not die equally for them all but after a special manner for the Elect above and beyond all others and this I shall demonstrate by several Arguments drawn 1. From the Will of God 2. From the Covenant of Grace 3. From the Issue of Christ. 4. From the Working of the holy Spirit 5. From the Blessings purchased 6. From the Intercession of Christ. 7. From the Event following upon Christ's Death 8. From the special Expressions in Scripture 1. I argue from the Will of God Christ's Death is the meritorious Cause of Salvation and respects men more or less proportionably as God's Will which is the fontal Cause thereof doth more or less respect them God wills that all men should be saved if they believe proportionably Christ died for them all God wills that the Elect should infallibly believe and be saved and sutably Christ died for them in a special way there is a peculiarity in Christ's Redemption answering to the peculiarity of God's Love God eternally resolved with himself that he would have a Church and a peculiar people and Christ gave himself for it that he might sanctifie and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word that he might present it to himself à glorious Church without spot or wrinkle Eph. 5. 25 26 27. He gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purifie to himself a peculiar people zealous of good works Tit. 2. 14. If Christ had given himself thus far for all all would have been his Church and People You will say Unbelief is the only Obstacle I answer that if Christ had given himself for all that he might wash them as he washes the Church and redeem them from all iniquity as he redeems his peculiar ones there would have been no such thing as Unbelief left among men that Christ who washes out every spot and wrinkle would not have left Unbelief that Christ who redeems from all iniquity would not have left Unbelief no not in any one man's heart nay I may truly say he could not leave it there because he could not lose his end nor shed one drop of his Blood in vain There are among men some chosen ones such as are chosen out from among men and chosen out of the World Joh. 15. 19. and Christ in his Death had a special eye upon these Hence proportionably to their Election they are said to be redeemed from among men Rev. 14. 4. and redeemed out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation Rev. 5. 9. Now how is it possible that all men should be thus redeemed Christ's Death as it respects all men redeems them as I may so say from among Devils for that it renders them capable of mercy which Devils are not but Christ's Death as it respects the Elect redeems them even from among men for that it procures Faith for them and thereby pulls them out of the unbelieving World and what is peculiar Redemption if this be not But you 'l say these are said to be redeemed from among men not because Christ specially died for them above others but because these particularly applied his Death by Faith which others did not I answer that either this Application by Faith was merited by Christ's Death or not if so then Christ redeemed them in a special manner because by his Death he impetrated Faith for them which he did not for all if not then they were redeemed from among men by themselves and their own free Will and not by Christ and his Death which I tremble to think puts the lye upon the Church triumphant who sing the new Song to the Lamb in these words Thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred tongue people nation Rev. 5. 9. How can that Blood of Christ which merited alike for all men redeem one man from another How can it
when there is a posse convertere supernaturally poured into it but if that posse do not denominate it gracious surely it is as yet but corrupt and whilst it is such it may be so called 2. I argue from the Glory of free Grace one of its Crown-jewels is that it makes gracious Principles where there were none before it new creates in Christ and so gives Principles of Spiritual being it quickens the dead and so gives Principles of Spiritual Life thus free Grace is blessed from the fountain of Israel from the fontal Principles of the new Creature But those which deny gracious Principles darken free Grace in that which is its prime lustre But here I shall be asked whether that posse convertere be not such a Principle I answer No a Principle is more than a bare posse There was in Adam in innocency a posse peccare and yet there was no Principle of sin in him after the same manner there is say the Remonstrants a posse convertere given to fallen man but this is no Principle of Grace in him But not to strive about words suppose it might be called a Principle yet what a grand disparagement to free Grace is it to say that there was as much of Principle in innocent Adam by Nature towards his sinful transgression as there is in fallen Man by Grace towards his actual Conversion Such as deny gracious habits and grant only a naked power must say so 3. I argue from the sweetness of Providence As 't is the Glory of free Grace that there are gracious Principles made so 't is the sweetness of providence that those Principles are made first and then congruous acts issue from thence The only wise God disposes things in the sweetest method In the body of Nature first a Sun and then a beam first a Fountain and then a stream first a Root and then a fruit In the Soul of Man negative faculties precede acts of life sensitive acts of sense and intellectual acts of reason Hence those acts issue forth in an easie connaturalness to their Principles And can there be less of the beauty of providence in the Spiritual world than in the natural Should there not be as sweet an order in the new Creature as in the old Ought not supernatural acts to issue forth in as great connaturalness to their Principles as natural If so then there must be habits of Grace to precede the acts if not then those acts which are above nature in facto esse as to their essential excellency must be below it in fieri as to their procedure from causes nay 't is hardly imaginable that those acts should at all come forth into being without gracious Principles If the Will be not changed by regenerating Grace how is it constituted in ordine agentium supernaturalium And if not how can it actually turn to God seeing that is actus ordinis supernaturalis Every one that doth righteousness is born of God 1 Joh. 2. 29. To turn unto God is a prime act of Righteousness and how then can it be done before Regeneration Wherefore the Scripture method is clear first a good tree and then good fruit Mat. 7. 17. first a good treasure in the heart and then good things out of it Mat. 12. 35. first we are created in Christ and then we walk in good works Eph. 2. 10. And thus Spiritual acts are done in the easiness of the new Creature because in a way connatural to Spiritual Principles 4. If there be no habits or principles of Grace what is that that makes the grand difference between a godly and an ungodly man Surely either it must be the acts of Faith and other Graces or else the habits and principles thereof 'T is not the acts of Faith and other Graces for two Reasons 1. Because that which makes the difference must be somewhat permanent such was Caleb's other spirit which differenced him from the murmuring Congregation Numb 14. 24. Such was Job's Root which differenced him from the leavy hypocrite Job 19. 28. But the acts of Faith and other Graces are transient wherefore if these be all the difference what becomes of a Godly man in his sleep or phrensie wherein no such acts are put forth Doth he drop out of the state of Grace without any apostasie or continue in it without any differencing quality neither is possible he back-slides not from God and how can he be out of the state of Grace he is but as other men are and how can he be in it It remains therefore that the habits of Grace make the difference for by reason of these he is not as other men are no not when the Acts of Grace are suspended because he hath another spirit in him 2. All men being by Nature ungodly that which chiefly makes the difference must denominate a man changed Now in every change the Terminus is somewhat permanent in Alteration 't is a permanent Quality in Augmentation 't is a permanent Quantity in Generation 't is a substantial Form and in Regeneration 't is a new creature born of the incorruptible seed of the Word 1 Pet. 1. 23. The Terminus of this gracious Change is set out in Scripture as a permanent thing sometimes 't is called light ye were darkness but now light in the Lord Eph. 5. 8. sometimes life this my son was dead and is alive again Luk. 15. 24. sometimes the new man old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. still it is somewhat parmanent Hence it appears that the Acts of Faith and other Graces which are transient do not so properly denominate a man changed as improve the Change already made The wild Tree is changed by the Graff and not by the After-fruit the Natural man is changed by the ingrafted Word and not by the fruits of Faith and other Graces which naturally grow upon the Root of habitual Grace That a corrupt Tree is made good is a great Change but that a good Tree brings forth good fruit is altogether connatural If there be no Habits or Principles of Grace how can the Natural man's deadly Wound I mean Original Corruption ever be healed Habitual Corruption cannot be healed but by habitual Grace the Plague of the Heart cannot be healed but by the holy Unction instead of the old Heart there must be a new one or else there is no healing and without healing how can such a sound Act as Conversion come forth It remains therefore that there are Habits or Principles of Grace 2. Having proved that there are such Habits or Principles I come to unfold what they are and this I cannot better do than by shewing what they are in the several Faculties Wherefore 1. As to the Understanding there is a Principle of excellent Knowledge I say excellent not only in respect of the matter of it being heavenly Mysteries but also in respect of the Nature of it 't is too high for a fool