Why God did neither positively will nor properly nill mans fall so nor did he properly nill mans fall for if God had wil'd that man should fall man falling must have derogated from his goodness and holinesse and if God had will'd that man should not fall man falling must have derogated from his Wisdom and Power but God neither willing nor nilling but permitting and disposing mans fall doth manifest the glory of all his Attributes in the advancement of his mercy and justice his mercy in that a Eph. 1.8 9 10. grace he vouchsafeth by Christ to his Church and his justice by b Psal 9.16 Rom. 9.22 23. those judgments he executeth upon sin in the world § 17. Why God ordered man to be tempted left him and permitted him to be overcome God ordered man to be tempted for his triall left him in that temptation to himselfe for his conviction and permitted him to be overcome for his punishment In the triall he proves mans obedience in the conviction he discovers mans weaknesse and in the punishment he doth correct his a Jer. 17.5 vain confidence his vain confidence in trusting to his own strength Adam lost the assistance of God by not seeking it in prayer and not seeking by prayer the assistance of God who as he gave Adam a power in his Nature whereby he might have obeyed if he had willed would also have given him a further power in his triall whereby he had wil'd that he might have obeyed What strength Adam had by creation and What he might have had by prayer b 1 Chron. 28.9 Psal 9.10 if he had sought it of God And thus having obtained so much grace by creation as to have a power whereby if had wil'd he might not have sinned he had certainly obtained more grace by prayer so as to have had a power whereby he neither might have sinned nor have will'd it being approved in his triall and confirmed in his conquest and so established in grace and made perfect in happiness Why God cannot be said to be the cause of mans fall § 18. God cannot properly be the cause of what he doth not positively will Seeing then he did not positively will mans sin he cannot properly be the cause of mans fall His determining to permit and decreeing to order mans sin and mans fall doth declare his wisdom and power without the least impairing of his holiness and justice it doth speak him in his providence an all wise Disposer Why he permits sin not an unjust Author of sin for that his a ◠Psal 145.9 1 John 1.5 infinite goodness is such as would not permit evill in the world were not his infinite power such as out of that b Rom. 6.20 2 Cor. 4.6 evill to bring a world of good CHAP. XII Concerning the Author Cause Nature and Adjuncts of Sin Why God cannot be the Author and cause of sin Its first Originall in the Devill § 1. THe a Psal 99.97 145.1 Isa 26.7 Jer. 12.1 Rev. 15 3. Just and Holy God who doth b Psal 97.10 Heb. 1.9 Rev. 2.6 hate c Exod. 20 3 c. Levit. 11.44 forbid and d Exod. 34.7 Jer. 9.8 9. Amos 3.2 John 5.14 punnish Sin cannot possibly be the e 1 John 1.5 2.16 Jam. 1.13.18 cause and Author of Sin which indeed had its first f John 8.48 1 Iohn 3.8 birth and being from the Divell and unto which Adam g Eccles 7.29 voluntarily betrayed himself in the exercise and abuse of his free-will How by him in Adam by h Gen. 3.6 Matth. 4.3 consenting to the Divels suggestions which had in themselves no power to force though permission from God to perswade How the fountain and cause of sinne is in our selves fallen in Adam § 2. And thus by Adam sin a Rom. 5.12 entred into the world upon whose fall we find the Originall fountain and efficsent or more properly deficient cause of sinne to be in our selves for having lost that harmony and broken that subordination of the appetite to the will of sense to reason of the body to the soul and of all to God man is become even in his best and highest faculties b Jer. 10.14 Rom. 1.21 7.14 sensuall and carnall so that sense overcoming reason and the appetite overswaying the will the will doth over-rule all to a leading the whole man c Rom. 7.14.23 captive into sin And thus the true cause of mans sinne is in mans self for that How actuall sin is brought forth d Jam. 1.14.15 Lust conceiving in the e Matth. 5 28. will 's confenting actuall sin is brought forth § 3. It is not then any coaction or constraint of necessity in Fate any force or fore-sight of Providence in God or any compulsion or power of Temptation in Satan but the perversnesse and consent of a Psa 32.5 51.3 Acts 5.3 Ephes 2.3 will in man which is the proper cause of his sin What those Scriptures intimate in their truth which wicked men wrest to make God the Author of sin in their blasphemy Wherefore all those places of sacred Scriptures which wicked men do wrest against truth and blasphemous mouthes retort upon God to the making him the Author of sin doe all declare and chiefly intimate that wonderfull wisdom and infinite goodnesse of the Almighty who as a powerfull Disposer not a bare Spectator doth order the evill actions of the wicked to his glory yet not any way partaking of the evill b Jer. 51.20 John 19.11 though powerfully assisting in the action § 4. God restrains from sin doth not prompt to sin God it is who a Gen. 31.29 Num. 22.22 2 Tim. 3.8.9 1 Pet. 5.8 restrains the wicked from sin so farre is he from prompting them for ward unto wickednesse but as the Lion let loose from his chain of his own cruell nature doth devour and spoile The wicked rush into sin when not restrained How the same actions are holy in respect of God yet sinfull in respect of the wicked so the b 1 Sam. 16.14 1 King 22.23 Ezek. 14.9 2 Thes 2.11 12 wicked let loose by Divine Providence for the execution of Gods wrath c Rev. 20.7 8. of their own corrupt dispositions they rush into mischief and sin d Gen 50.20 Isa 47.6 7. Acts 2.23 3.14 15. yea the same Actions are good and holy in respect of God as ordered to a good end even the advancing his Justice and Mercy which yet are sinfull and abominable in respect of man as contrived to an evill end even the satiating their malice and fury And thus when e 2 Sam. 12.11 Isai 47.6 7. Acts 2.23 3.14 15. wicked men are raised up to be a scourge for the punishment of others it is from Gods most just and holy will but the malice covetousness cruelty and other
and man did depend upon the liberty of the will To be immutable by nature is peculiar unto God Sec. 13. Mans fall not to be laid to Gods charge Sec. 14. Illustrated by a fit similitude where man cannot satisfie his reason it is reasonable that he exercise his faith Sec. 15. Gods will was permitted and disposed in mans fall So that as God did not will mans fall so nor was mans fall without Gods will How ordered to his glory and mans good Sect. 16. Why God did neither possitively will nor properly nill mans fall Sec. 17. Why God ordered man to be tempted left him and permitted him to be overcom Adam lost the assistance of God by not seeking it in his prayer what strength Adam had by creation and what he might have had by prayer Sec. 18. Why God cannot be said to be the cause of mans fall why he permits sin CHAP. XII Concerning the Author Cause Nature and Adjuncts of Sin Sec. 1. WHy God cannot be the Author and cause of sin Its first Original in the Devil how by him in Adam Sec. 2. How the fountain and cause of sin is in our selves fallen in Adam how actual sin is brought forth Sec. 3. What those Scriptures intimate in their truth which wicked men wrest to make God the Author of sin in their Blasphemy Sec 4. God restrains from sin doth not prompt to sin The wicked rush into sin when not restrain'd how the same actions are holy in respect of God yet sinful in respect of the wicked Sec 5. It is no excuse to the wicked that they fulfil Gods secret will when they disobey his will revealed and why Sec. 6. God wils the permission not the commission of sin and why Sec. 7. How God is said to harden in sin Sec. 8. What sin is in its privative being what in its proper nature Sec. 9. In the several adjuncts of sin that 1. It is guilt From whence proceeds horror attended with dispair Sec. 10. 2. It s pollution whereby God abhors man and man himself with a confusion of face Sec. 11. 3. It s punishment Gods vindicative Justice diversly exprest Sec. 12. Why the guilt and punishment of sin is infinite How all punishment is equal and how unequal Sec. 13. The duration of punishment is correspondent to the duration of sin and how Sec. 14. How Gods justice doth punish and his mercy pardon sin Penal satisfaction is inconsistent with sins remission God doth not punish man for the sin he forgives him Sec. 15. What is formal punishment and why the afflictions of the godly are not such punishments Sec. 16. To say God punisheth sin with sin is very improper and why Sec. 17. How that which is sinful may be the punishment of sin yet not sin the punishment Sec. 18. How sin and punishment are formally inconsistent Gods wisdom and power in ordering sin and punishment Sec. 19. Punishment the concomitant or consequent of sin but not the same with it CHAP. XIII Concerning Original Sin Sec. 1. WHat original sin is how imputed and inherent The unhappy consequent and effects of both Sec. 2. Original sin doth formally consist in the privation of original righteousness Sec. 3. How we become deprived of original righteousness Why this deprivation is a sin Sec. 4. Why the punishment of Gods with-holding righteousness is no excuse for mans sinful waste and want of it Sec. 5. How we become by nature children of disobedience and children of wrath How proved that we are such Sec. 6. How original sin is a repugnancy to the whole law Sec. 7. The contagion of original sin extends to the persons of all mankind and the parts of the whole man and how Sec. 8. What original corruption is called in Scriptures Sec. 9. The analogy between Christ and Adam in respect of the righteousness and disobedience imputed What ment by that saying The son shall not bear the iniquitie of the father Sec. 10. How original sin is propagated How it remains even in the regenerate How they propagate it to their children Illustrated by apt similitudes Sec. 11. How the children of Beleevers are said to be holy Illustrated by a fit allusion Sec. 12. What is the subject of original sin When the human nature is perfect and when the subject of original sin Sec. 13. How the humane nature in man becomes infected with original Sin Sec. 14. That original sin is propagated by carnal generation appears by its antithesis of spiritual regeneration How propagated by vertue of divine ordination Sec. 15. The sum of what concerns original sin Sec. 16. What concupiscence is as spoken of in sacred Scripture Why seated in the superior as well as in the inferior faculties Sec. 17. From whence concupiscence in its inordinacy is why the sensitive appetite cannot be this concupiscence Sec. 18. What the sensitive appetite in man is and in pure nature how subordinate unto reason thereby specifically distinguished from that in the beasts Sec. 19. Concupiscence in its inordinacy is the issue of mans fall and why wherefore called sin CHAP. XIV Concerning Actual Sin Sec. 1. THe privation of original righteousness is inseparably accompanied with the corruption of original uncleanness What original corruption is to actual sins Sec. 2. What actual sin is what the immediate internal causes of it and how Sec. 3. No inducement whatsoever can cause sin without a conspiracy in the inward man No actual sin committed without the will consenting The will not necessitated in its volition by any power but that of Gods Sec. 4. How one sin is the cause of another Sec. 5. What the least actual sin is Sin is manifold in its kinds All sin is either of omission or of commission and that either in thought in word or in work Sec. 6. What is the formative power in original sin in respect of actual Sins of omission alwaies accompanied with sins of commission Sec. 7. This illustrated by instance He that wils the occasion of sin by consequence wils the sin How sin is willed antecedently in its cause though not directly in its self Sec. 8. Sins of commission and of omission having the same motive and end are not specifically distinct Proved by instances Sec. 9. What the division of sin into that of thought word and work Sec. 10. The first inordinate motions of lust contain'd under the evil thoughts of the heart though not consented to by the will yâ—â— are sin and why What makes any act to be sin How the motions of concupiscence are voluntary through the wils defect before they rise though not consented to when raised how concupiscence it self is voluntary Sec. 11. The motions of concupiscence prov'd to be sinful by an infallible argument drawn from the indifferent nature of the wils consent Sec. 12. What the special distinction of sin into spiritual and carnal is how all sin is carnal and how spiritual What the true difference betwixt both Sec. 13. What the specifical distinction
of the arrow and hitting it's mark doth not more certainly and plainly declare the hand of man who shoots it then the operations of the creatures and the attainment of their end do certainly and plainly declare the Providence of God which governs them God's Providence is 〈◊〉 naked view but an actual administation What God's Providence is in its general â—oncourse § 5. God's Providence being an Act of infinite power and wisdom whereby he a Neh. 9.6 Psal 104 30. Psal 145.15 16 Acts 17.28 preserves and b Psal 29.10 103.19 governs all things in order to his glorious mercy and justice it cannot be any c Psa 33.13.14 bare and naked view but an d Psal 33.15 18 19. Psal 115.3 Ephes 1.11 actual and efficatious administration Even in the general concourse of his Providence he is e Psal 139.7.8 9 10. Jer. 23.24 Col. 1.17 powerfully present by an immediate and intimate operation at all times and in all places with all things All the creatures depending upon God not in their being onely by creation How absolutely necessary for the creatures preservation but also in the f Psal 4.29 30. Col. 1.17 Psal 36 7. continuance of their being by g Psal 104.21 147.9 preservation for that if the World and all the creatures in the world were not sustained by the same h Heb. 1.3 Psa 104.29 30 Job 34.13 14. Psa 36.6 word of power by the which they were created they would presently dissolve and return to their first nothing § 6. This aptly illustrated Every thing depends upon God for it's being as the Air upon the Sun for it's light The Sun hath it's light in it self but the Air hath it's light by participation from the Sun thus God hath his being from himself but every creature hath it's being by participation from God and as the Air partakes of the Sun 's light without any partaking of the Sun's nature so the creatures have their being from God without any being of the Essence of God yea as the Air when the Sun withholds his enlightning beams ceaseth to have any light thus the creatures when God withholds his sustaining power cease to have any being § 7. The extent of God's Providence This wonderful Providence of God is extended to all a Psa 107. Job 12.17 c. Jer. 18.6 Psa 75.6 7. Psa 145.15.16 Prov. 19.21 Dan. 2.21 4.32 35. persons and actions and b Jer. 10.13 things c Isa 28.29 45.9 43.13 Rom. 11.38 determining all causes but determined of none his power neither d 1 Sam. 14.6 Psa 33.16 Dan. 3.17 Amos 5.9 Luke 1.37 Job 9.12 bound to nor limited by means God doth work oftentimes e Exod. 34.28 Mat. 4 2. without and oftentimes f Josh 3.16 2 King 2.8 20.21 against means to teach us to trust his Providence even g Psa 23 4. Rom 4.18 when we see no means And when God maketh use of means Why it makes use of means it is not from the deficiency of his power but from the riches of his goodness communicating that vertue and conferring that honour unto the creatures The seeming disorder in the World doth advance the glory of God's Providence h Psa 77.20 2 Cor. 6.11 Jer. 12.17 instrumentally to co-operate with himself § 8. That things happen a Ps 73.3 4 12. well unto the evil and b Psa 73.10 14 ill unto the good is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 confus'd disorder but a wise and c Psa 73.16 17. Jer. 12.1 just disposal of God's Providence whereby the wicked become the more d Rom. 2.4 inexcusable in their sin and so God's e Rom. 9.22 justce the more illustrious in their destruction the godly become more f Mal. 3.3 eminent in grace and so God's g Rom. 9.23 2 Thes 1.10 mercy the more glorious in their salvation By both which God assures to us the h 2 Thes 1.5 general judgment of the last day and assure the general judgment of the last day when he shall i Rom. 2.6 7 8 2 Thes 1.6 7. render to the wicked according to their obstinacy and impenitency and unto the godly according to their humility and patience Wherefore that seeming 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 disorderly disposition of particular Events doth exalt the glory of God in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 wise and orderly dispensation of his general Providence God's Providence doth order sinful actions without any the least share in the sin § 9. Though God by his Providence hath an a Acts 17.28 influence upon all mens actions yet hath he no b Hab. 1.13 share at all in any mans sin his providence over wicked men is no more the cause of their sinful wickedness then the Sun beams upon a rotten carcass are the cause of it's noysom stench That there is a scent is from the operation of the Sun's beams This illustrated but that the scent is noyso proceeds from the corruption of the carcass Thus that there is any action is from the concourse of God's Providence but that the action is sinfull proceeds from the wickedness of the sinner Or as he who rides and rules a lame horse is not the cause of his halting so when God c 1 Kin. 12.15 Isa 10.5.15 Isa 13.3 Acts 4.28 moves and governs the wils of the wicked he is not the cause of their sin God doth not move them to evill but moves and orders them being evil sometimes d Judg. 9 23. 2 Sam. 12.11 2 Sam. 16.10 1 Kin. 22.22 letting loose the reins by permission That God's Providence extends to what is sinful is not by a meer permission but by a powerful and wise ordination and sometimes e Gen. 31.29 Job 1 12. 2.6 holding them in by restraint as f 1 Kin. 11.11 his justice or his mercy doth require g Gen. 31.24 § 10. Yea God's Providence is extended to the evil wils and sinful actions of the wicked not by a meer permission but by a power and wise ordination a 2 Sam. 16.10 1 King 22.22 2 Chro. 11.4 2 Thes 2.11 secretly moving and inclining their wils to some certain objects and b 2 Chro. 10.15 Isa 54 16. Rom. 9 17. wisely ordering and directing their actions to some righteous ends And when God doth this work upon the evil wills of the wicked he doth not make c Job 34 12. their wills evil or d Jam. 1.13 move them unto wickedness for that when God doth make use of the wicked as his instruments they are not meerly passive Wicked instruments are proper Agents and how but really active as endued with a rational faculty of understanding and an elective principle of will whereby they become proper Agents and propose other ends to themselves then what God hath purposed in himself they
evils which they commit in their executing this punishment are all from their own corrupt and vile affections It is no excuse to the wicked that they fulfill Gods secret will when they disobey his will revealed and why § 5. And though true it is the wicked do perform a Rom. 9.19 Gods secrets will his will of purpose even when they disobey b Acts 2.23 his revealed will his will of precept yet because Gods revealed will is the Rule of our obedience to disobey that though we perform the other it c 1 Iohn 3.4 is sin So that it can be no excuse of sin in man or imputation of unrighteousnesse in God that the wicked whil'st they sin yet not in their sin actually do what he by his secret counsel eternal decree hath appointed to be done d Acts 4.27 Isai 10.5 c. because they do it not in obedience to Gods just will but in pursuance of their own unjust wilfulnes God wills the permission not the commission of sin and why § 6. Besides Gods purpose and foreknowledge is not the cause of what he hath decreed to permit but of what he hath decreed to effect seeing God then doth not wil the commission but the permission of sin he cannot be the cause of it And that God should wil the permission of sin is most just for that otherwise he should lose the glory of his Justice yea and of his mercy too of this we may be confident God is so infinitely good that he would not permit evill were he not withall so infinitely powerfull as to a Rom. 8.28 5.20 order that evill unto good How God is said to harden in sin § 7. Further yet when God is said to a Exod. 9.12 Deut. 2.30 Isai 6.10 29.10 63.17 Rom 9.18 harden malicious sinners he doth it not by adding more sin or infusing more malice but by further withholding or quite withdrawing his Grace and so in just judgement b 1 Sam. 16.14 Psal 109.6 1 Tim. 1.20 giving them up unto Satan and their own c Rom. 1.24.26.28 vile affections they truly and really d Exod. 9.34 Mat. 13.14 15. Heb. 3.13.15 Acts 28.26 27 harden themselves Sin then is not prompted or caused by God but suggested by Satan or raised by lust and through consent of the will committed by man § 8. And as sin hath no efficient What sin is in its privative Being but a Rom. 3.23 1 Cor. 6 7. deficient cause so hath it no positive but a privative Being and so cannot properly be an action which is a naturall good but the obliquity and error of the action which is a morall evill it is not the work but the evill of the work What in its proper nature in a deviation from the rule of righteousnesse the b Rom. 4 5. Law of God which is the sin And sin being in its proper nature the c Rom 5.15.17.18 Job 34.31 Jam. 3. ◠offence of Gods Justice in the d Isa 48.8 Job 31 33. Isa 35 5. 1 John 3.4 transgression of his Law doth bring upon man a guilt a pollution and a punishment § 9. In The severall adjuncts of sin that 1. It is Guilt The guilt of sin is that whereby a Mat. 6.12 23 16. Rom. 1 32. 3.19 4.15 man becomes debtor unto God bound over unto the penalty of that law which he hath transgress'd From this guilt doth proceed an b Gen 3 10. Heb. 10.31 horror From whence proceeds horror attended with despair The c Rom. 1.32 2.15 Conscience terrifying the Soul with a selfe-accusing and condemning sentence d Gen. 4.13 Heb. 2.15 Heb. 10 31. made more dreadfull by despair 2. It s Pollution § 10. Besides this guilt of sin which relateth unto the punishment there is a a Mat 15.11 Rev. 22.11 pollution Whereby God abhors man which cleaveth unto the soul Which pollution doth make God to b Prov. 3.32 6.16 Isai 1.15 Jer. 16.18 b Isa 59.2 Hab. 1.13 abominate and abhorre man and Man himselfe with a confuon of face c hiding his face from him and doth make man d Ier. 3 25 Dan. 9.7 8. with confusion of face to loath and e Ezek. 6.9 Iob. 42.6 abhorre himself and to f Gen 3.8 Ier. 32.33 flie the divine presence 3. It s Punishment Gods vindicative Justice diversly exprest § 11. The punishment of sin that is an a Prov. 13.21 Ier. 18.8 Amos 3.2 6. evill of misery inflicted by God in the execution of his vindictive Justice Which Justice as it is provoked by sin is call'd b Ier. 7.19 Mich. 7.18 anger and wrath as it is more hotly incens'd to severity it is call'd c Deut. 29.20 Ierem. 7.20 fury and jealousie as it denounceth sentence and executeth punishment upon sin it is call'd d Deut. 32.35 Ierem. 51.6 Rom. 2.5 judgement and vengeance Why the guilt punishment of sin is infinite § 12. The weight of the offence committed is to be measured according to the greatnesse of the person offended The a Gal. 3.10 Matth. 5.22 12.36 least violation then of an infinite Majesty must incurre the guilt of an infinite punishment How all punishment is equall and how unequall which is b Rom. 6.23 Eternall Death And thus all punishment becomes equall extensively in duration of time though not Matth. 5.22 11.22 24. intensively in degrees of torment yea as is our obligation to the duty such is our transgression of the command and as is our transgression of the command such is the punishment of our sin all of equall extent the transgression infinite because the breach of an infinite obligation and so the punishment infinite because the penalty of an infinite transgression The duration of punishment is correspondent to the duration of sin and how § 13. Thus the duration of punishment doth become correspondent to the duration of sin of the sin not in respect of its Act which is transient but of its pollution and of its guilt which are permanent and so a John 8.24 permanent as that they are eternall Wherefore seeing the least sin without the grace of the Spirit to sanctifie and the mercy of God to pardon is eternall in its pollution and guilt it must needs be so too in its b John 3.36 punishment c Rev. 21.27 certainly excluding the sinner from life and glory and d Ezek. 18.20 eternally subjecting him to death and misery How Gods Justice doth punish and his mercy pardon sin § 14. When Gods justice executeth the punishment of wrath a Lam. 3.39 Jerem. 9.9 it is with respect to the guilt of sin And therefore when Gods mercy doth pardon the sin he b Heb. 8.12 remits the punishment by acquitting from the guilt So that if God should
e Rom. 7.25 Ephes 4.23 weakned by grace shall be perfectly f 1 Cor. 15.53 Rev. 7.14 abolish'd in glory What concupiscence is as spoken of in sacred Scripture § 16. This propagated corruption inherent in our natures is called sometimes in Scripture a Rom. 7.7 Jam. 1.14 15. concupiscence which concupiscence is nothing else but that depraved disposition or habitual propension of our corrupt nature b 1 Thes 4 5. Jam. 1.14 inordinately and actually inclining unto evil and this not onely in the unbridled desires of the sensitive appetite Why seated in the superior as well as in the inferior faculties but even in the inordinate lustings of the will and so is seated not c Gal. 5.19 20 21. only in the inferior but also in the superior faculties of the soul as appears in those sins of envy hatred heresie idolatry and the like From whence concupiscence in its inordinacy is § 17. Concupiscence then in its inordinacy as sin is not from the natural condition of our primitâ—ve being but from the corrupt condition of our lapsed estate For though it is true that upon the union of the soul with the body a spiritual substance with a sensible matter there did necessarily follow in man whilst stated in integrity an a 1 Cor. 15.47 48. inclination and propensity to what was sensible and material yet that this inclination doth now become inordinate and rebellious this propension precipitate and vitious is from the b Eccles 7.29 Rom 7.17 20. corruption of mans nature lapsed into sin Why the sensitive appetite cannot be this concupiscencâ— Wherefore the sensitive appetite and natural affection they may be the c Rom. 7.18 23 sâ—â—t or subject of concupiscence but not formally d 1 Iohn 2.16 concupiscence it self which doth consist in an inordinacy and enormity e Deut. 10.16 Rom. 8.7 repugnant to Gods Law which law saith f Rom. 7.7 Thou shalt not covet What the sensitive appetite in m n is § 18. Further we must know that the sensitive appetite in man it is the faculty not of a brutish but of a rational soul and therefore in pure nature though the Spiritual part did desire carnal things And in pure nature how subordinate unto reason yet did not those carnal things return upon the spiritual part an inordinacy of its desires the sensitive appetite being an inferiour faculty of the rational soul and so subject to the dictate and command of the superiour faculties the Understanding and Will And thus in the state of integrity the rational Soul in its natural desires acting by its sensitive appetite Thereby specifically distinguish'd from that in the beasts it was not in a sensuality the same with the beasts but specifically distinguish'd from them as being seated in such a soul as was endued with the light and rule of reason and as being constituted in such an harmonious subjection as was without the least breach or jar of inordinacy and immoderation § 19. Concupiscence in its inordinacy is the issue of mas fall and why Concupiscence then as an inordinate inclination transgressing the bounds of reason is altogether repugnant to the natural constitution of man in his primitive purity and therefore must necessarily be the issue of mans fall as the sin of corrupt nature Indeed we cannot but with Saint Paul call a Rom. 7.7 8 9 11 13 c. concupiscence sin which exposeth to b Rom. 7.24 Ephes 2.13 death Wherefore call'd Sin and makes subject unto wrath yea certainly it must be sin in its self if made c Rom. 7.8 13. exceeding sinful by the law And how shall concupiscence d Jam. 1.15 conceive and bring forth sin if it be not it self sinful The e Mat. 7.17 20. fruit being evil doth sufficiently declare the tree to be corrupt CHAP. XIV Concerning Actual Sin § 1. AS the body which hath lost its health The privation of original righteousness is inseparably accompanied with the corruption of original uncleanness must needs be sick the member which hath lost its strength must needs be lame so man having a Eccles 7.29 lost his integrity must needs be wicked having lost b Eph. 4.23 24 his purity must needs be corrupt Which Original corruption doth break forth into c Rom. 7.5 23. Gal. 5.17 19 c. inordinate desires and actual lustings contrary to the rule of life the law of God so that Original corruption is to Actual Sin as d Gen. 6.5 fuel to the fire What original corruption is to actual sins or as the e Mat. 15.19 fountain to the stream or as the f Gal. 5 19. Mat. 13.17 tree to the fruit or as the g Jam. 1.15 womb to the child or as the h Col. 3.5 body to the members or as the i Rom. 7.5 habit to the act What actual sin is § 2. Actual Sin as it is formally a de-ordination a 1 John 3 4. in the transgression of Gods law cannot properly have any efficient cause but is rather the b 1 Cor. 6.7 deficiency of those causes which are the efficients of those acts wherein the sin is seated What the immeâ—iate internal causes of it and how The immediate internal causes of actual sin are the c Isa 27.11 Ephes 4.18 understanding and d Prov. 12.8 Isa 1.19 will as defective in their proper offices the former to give the later to observe the rule and direction of Right Reason The remote internal causes are the e Psal 94.8 Prov. 30.2 Jer. 10.21 Jam. 1.26 imagination and sensitive appetite moving and inclining the understanding and wil to what is evil f Rom. 7.5 Ephes 2.3 prompted on by the inordinate propension of Original Concupisence No inducement whatsoever can cause sin without a conspiracy in the inward man § 3. Evil Spirits wicked men and sensible objects may outwardly perswade but they cannot sufficiently induce to any sin a Psal 51.4 Jam. 4 7. Psal 1.1 Jude 16. without a conspiracy in the inward man b Jer. 4.22 Ephes 4.17 even of the judgement and will The external object by means of the imagination may provoke the sensitive appetite and the sensitive appetite by the judgment may tempt the will but neither truly necessitate nor effectually induce a man to sin without some c Gen 6.12 Prov. 1.16 2 Pet. 2 15 22. previous disposition in the inordinacy of the will No actual sin prevailing without the will consenting The Will not necessitated in its volition by any power but that of Gods whereby it consenteth unto evil So that the fort is not gained d Deut. 5.29 Prov. 4.23 23.26 Mat. 15 8. till the will by consent be surrendred the soul by temptation is not overcome till the will in its consent be surprised and God alone it is who in his wisdom and
power can so e Jer. 24.7 Phil. 2.13 encline the will as to necessitate f Psal 110.3 not enforce its volition the policy and strength of g 2 Tim. 3.6 13 1 Pet. 5 8. men and devils is all too weak in this attempt § 4. One sin is often the cause of another How one sin is the cause of another as when man by Sin makes forfeiture a Jude 4. 1 Thes 5.19 of grace and so laid b Psal 109.6 Rom. 1.26 28. open to Satans temptations and his own vile affections he c Psal 69.27 Isa 5.18 falls from sin to sin in a precipice of backsliding from his God Again when by his sin man doth d Psal 12.8 ambulare in circuitu run the round or maze of sin his sinful acts begetting evil dispositions those evil dispositions begetting customary habits and those customary habits bringing forth sinful acts yea when e Ephes 5 18. Rom 13.14 one sin prepares the way and brings fuel to another as when f 1 Tim. 6.10 Jam. 4.1 covetousness and ambition make work for strife and murther in wars arising about wealth and honour who shall possess and command most of this mole-hil the earth Yea when by way of finality one sin is committed in order to another as the means directed to the end Thus g Mat. 26.14 15 16. Judas betrays Christ to satisfie his covetousness and h 1 King 16 9 10 16. Zimri slays his master to satisfie his ambition § 5. What the least actual sin is Every the least actual Sin is a a 1 John 3.4 transgression of Gods law and b Gal. 3.10 every the least actual transgression of Gods law is a sin Sin is manifold in its kinde And though sin be a tree which spreads it self into many branches a fountain which divides it self into many streames whether it be in respect of the Subject or the Object All sin is either of omission or of commission in respect of the efficient or the effect yet is all sin whatsoever either a sin of c Mat. 25.42 43. Jam. 4.17 omission aâ—â— that either in thought in word or in work in not doing what Gods law doth command or of d Exek 5.6 33 18. Jer. 2 13. commission in doing what Gods law doth forbid and this either in e Mat. 12.34 35.36 15.19 Acts 8.22 Tit. 1.16 Jam. 3.2 thought in f Mat. 12.34 35.36 15.19 Acts 8.22 Tit. 1.16 Jam. 3.2 word or in g Mat. 12.34 35.36 15.19 Acts 8.22 Tit. 1.16 Jam. 3.2 work § 6. What is the formative power in original sin in respect of actual Original Sin being as the a Jam. 1.15 womb to actual hath its formative faculty to assimilate and make like in the privation of righteousness and corruption of nature Whereby sins of omission have with them something of commission and Sins of commission have with them something of omission every aversion from God being accompanied with a conversion to evil Sins of omission alwaies accompanied with sins of commission and b Jer. 2.13 every conversion to evil with an aversion from God Though the sin of omission then be a meer negative in its self yet considered in the Causes and concomitants of it it never goes without a c Isa 65.12 Jer. 25.7 sin of commission joyned with it never without some internal or external act inordinately evil either ushering it in or leading it by the hand This illustrated by instance § 7. Thus when a man wills the not attending Gods worship at the time he is required by God besides the omission of his duty he commits a sin in his will because he wills that omission and if he busie himself in some temporal affairs which though they necessarily detain him yet he might without any forcing of necessity have avoided besides the breach of an affirmative precept by the omission of his duty he breaks a negative precept by the commission of a further evil For he that wils the occasion of any sin He that wils the occasion of sin by consequence wils the sin doth by consequence will the sin it self yea if through some preceding intemperance or carelesness he becomes indisposed or disenabled for the performance of Gods worship How sin is willed antecendently in its cause though not directly in its self and thereby neglects it though he wils not the omission directly in its self yet he will'd it antecedently in its cause and so becomes guilty of a double sin that of omission ushered in by that of commission Sins of commission and of omission having the same motive and end are not specifically distinct § 8. When the sin of commission is accompanied with that of omission they having the same motive and end cannot be specifically distinct Wherefore that the unjust Usurer a Neh. 5.2 3. c. Isa 3.14 gathers by griping extortion and scatters not in a relieving charity are streams from one and the same spring head of b Jer. 8.10 22.17 covetousness Proved by instances and run into the same c Ezek. 22 12. Hab. 2.5 6. Isa 56.11 gulf a satisfying his inordinate desire of riches or that the d Eph. 3.15 Isa 22.12 13. 58.3 gluttonous Epicure neglects the Church in her lawful feasts and fills himself with his riotous feasts issue from the same corrupt fountain of e Phil 3.19 2 Pet. 2.13 intemperance and tend to this one and the same end the satisfying his inordinate appetite § 9. The division of sin into that of thought What the division of sin into that of thought word and work is of word and of work is not a distinguishing it according to its compleat species or kinds but according to its incompleat parts and degrees For that the same sin which doth take its a Mat. 15.18.19 Iam. 1.15 conception in the heart may have its birth in the mouth and its full growth in the outward work Thus when the b Mat. 5.22 Ephes 4 31. wrathful person hatcheth revenge in his heart and his troubled thoughts break forth into contumelious words and injurious actions it is one and the same sin specifically consummated by several degrees and in its distinct parts § 10. Yea The first inordinate motions of lust contain'd under the evil thoughts of the hearâ— under the evil thoughts of the heart are contained the first a Gen. 6.5 Dâ—ut 10.16 30.6 Ier. 4.14 Mat. 15.19 motions of lust when inordinate So that concupisence not onely in the habitual inclination but also in the b Rom. 7.7 8. actual motions even in the first inordinate lustings is sin and this though c Rom. 7.21 those motions or lusts be never fully consented unto by the wil Though not consented to by the will yet are sin and why nor perfected by the outward act For
can be but one God How One single pure and perfect Sec. 9. Why said to have eyes and hands to be angry and grieved c. He admits no bodily likeness CHAP. III. Concerning God in the Trinity of Persons Sec. 1. WHat the Knowledge of God from a natural light What from a light supernatural Who are the three Persons and what a Person is Sec. 2. A finite understanding not possibly able to comprehend this infinite Mystery Not to be illustrated by any Instances Sec. 3. The highest pitch of Reasons apprehension Sec. 4. Reason directing to Faith What and how a Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of the Godhead Sec. 5. The Son of God and the Holy Ghost firmly proved Sec. 6. How the Persons are distinguished Sec. 7. How Trinity and Person are found in Scripture What a subsistence is Sec. 8. How the Father is the first Person How each Person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sec. 9. How the essence and attributes of the Godhead are communicated Sec. 10. The properties of the Persons incommunicable CHAP. IV. Concerning Gods Knowledg Sec. 1. HOw God knoweth all things Sec. 2. Gods foreknowledg how and what it is Not the cause of things and why Sec. 3. How all things depend upon Gods Will preordaining not his Knowledg foreseeing Yet Gods fore-knowledg depends not upon the creatures future existence Before and after past and to come relate not to God Sec. 4. But is in the creature This aptly illustrated Sec. 5. God knowing things to come and past doth it in one and the same act of Knowledg This act eternal So no change in God Sec. 6. No contingency in respect of Gods fore-knowledg Yet in the secondary causes Sec. 7. All future events are fore-known of God His fore-knowledg infallible Sec. 8. How applied unto the Elect in Scripture CHAP V. Concerning Gods Will. Sec. 1. GOds Will one and absolutely free Distinguish'd into his will secret and revealed of sign and of good pleasure Sec. 2. What his secret will What his revealed will Sec. 3. The Will of Gods good pleasure hath its reason not its cause Sec. 4. Gods glory the final cause of what he wils but not of his will How the impulsive cause of Gods will to be understood in Theology Sec. 5 6. The execution of Gods will admits several causes the volition not any what the volition and what the execution is Sec. 7. God wils not sin and why Sec. 8. The purpose of Gods will doth not abolish but establish the liberty of mans will what the necessity of being from the immutability of Gods will Sec. 9. How Gods secret will becomes revealed by his word and by his works How Gods word is called his will Sec. 10. How they agree in a sweet harmony So to be interpreted as that ille harmony be preserved Sec. 11. How Gods revealed will argues with that of his good pleasure when he wils all men to be holy Sec. 12. Where also he commands Abraham to sacrifice his Son Isaac Sec. 13. How the promises and threatnings in Gods revealed will which are conditional de agree with Gods secret will which is absolute Sec. 14. What the true meaning of the conditions declared CHAP. VI. Concerning Gods Decrees Power and Manner of Working Sec. 1. GOd the primary Cause and supreme Agent in his Vnderstanding Will and Power What his Decree what his Work Sec. 2. What his absolute power How limited by his will Sec. 3. Why and how said to be omnipotent Sec. 4. There is no overcoming Gods power no resisting his will what he acts in time he hath decreed from eternity Sec. 5. How the creatures are in God before they are in themselves What the Counsel of God in his decrees Sec. 6. How the whole Trinity is one entire cause What their diverse manner of working Sec. 7. How some one action is appropriate to some one person Sec. 8. The firm relation between Gods decrees and his works God hath not decreed sin though he hath decreed to permit sin What the effectual decree accompanying the permissive Sec. 9. The purpose of Gods decree imposeth no forcible necessity but bringeth an infallible certainty to all Agents and Events CHAP. VII Concerning the Works of Creation Sec. 1. GOd the Creator of all things as an absolute and free Agent Sec. 2. Creation the Work of the whole Trinity as one entire cause Why of God as a free and all-sufficient cause Sec. 3. Observ'd in the Work of Creation 1 The command of Gods Power 2 The approbation of his Goodness 3 The ordination of his wisdom 4 The declaration of his Authority Sec. 4. The immediate Creation what and of whom The mediate Creation what and of whom Sec. 5. Mans partaking of both Sec. 6. How and why called the lesser world Sec. 7. What the first Heaven what the second Heaven What the third Heaven Sec. 8. What the influences And what the predictions of the heavenly bodies Sec. 9. The creation of man and the forming of woman How God rested the seventh day Sec. 10. Gods wisdom in the Order of his creation Sec. 11. Every thing created perfect in its kinde Sec. 12. In his works God manifests his glory 1 The glory of his Power 2 Of his Goodness 3 Of his Wisdom 4 Of his Eternity Sec. 13. The light of nature directs to the worship of God as the Creator The seventh day the Sabbath How long to continue Sec. 14. How the Creation is an object of our faith CHAP. VIII Concerning the Providence of God Sec. 1. ALL things subordinate to Gods will In order either to his Meâ—cy or his Justice The wisdom and power of his Providence Infallably in its administrations Sec. 2. The Infallibility of Gods Providence doth not take away the use of means but confiâ—ms it Sec. 3. To deny Gods Providence is atheism to despise the use of means is profaneness to establish both is truth and righteousness to what end is the use of means Sec. 4. The course of nature declares the Providence of God this aptly illustrated Sec. 5. Gods Providence is no naked view but an actual administration What Gods Providence is in its general concourse How absolutely necessary for the creatures preservation Sec. 6. This aptly illustrated Sec. 7. The extent of Gods Providence Why it makes use of means Sec. 8. The seeming disorder in the world doth advance the glory of Gods Providence and assure the general Judgment of the last day Sec. 9. Gods Providence doth order sinful actions without any the least share in the sin This illustrated Sec. 10. That Gods Providence extends to what is sinful is not by a meer permission but by a powerful and wise ordination Wicked Instruments are proper Agents and how Sec. 11. How the Executioners of Gods Justice and in that Execution how guilty of sin The wonder of Gods Providence in respect of wicked mindes Sec. 12. Gods Providence imposeth no compelling force but establisheth the nature of all causes contingent
and clearly signifie the Divine Essence with it's personal property § 8. a Mat. 28.19 John 5.26 The Father is the first Person How the Father is the first Person not in priority of Dignity or of time but of Order as being the fountain of the Trinity b Joh. 10 30 38. Mat. 11.27 Joh. 16.14 15. Communicating not alienating from himself the whole Nature and Essential Attributes of the Godhead to the Son and with the Son to the Holy Ghost So that the Father hath the whole Essence and Attributes of the Godhead in himself nd from none other the c John 5.26 and 6.63 Rom. 8.12 Son hath the whole Essence and Attributes of the Godhead in himself but from the Father and the Holy Ghost hath the whole Essence and Attributes of the Godhead in himself but from the Father and the Son Thus the Person of the Son is in the Unity of Essence begotten of the d Heb. 1.3 Person of the Father and the Person of the Holy Ghost is in the unity of the same essence proceeding from the Person of the Father and of the Son This divine Essence and Godhead is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither begetteth nor is begotten How each Person is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 neither proceedeth nor is proceeding so that each Person of the Godhead is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God subsisting in himself which subsisting doth imply with the unity of the Essence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the manner of existence How the Essence and Attributes of the Godhead are communicated § 9. As the Father is God a Deut. 33.27 eternal so the Son is God b Isa 9.6 eternal and the Holy Ghost is God c Heb. 9.14 eternal And as the Father is God d Psal 91.1 Almighty so the Son is God e Rev. 1.8 Almighty and the Holy Ghost is God f Rom. 8.11 Luke 1 35. Almighty and thus also in the other Attributes of the Deity they are all equally and fully g John 16.15 Isa 53.8 communicated in an eternal Generation from the Father to the Son and in an h Psal 33.6 Luke 1.35 eternal Spiration from the Father and the Son to the Holy Ghost The properties of the Persons incommunicable § 10. But though the essential Attributes of the Godhead are communicable to all the Persons yet the several properties of the Persons are incommunicable to each other of themselves so that the Son cannot be said to beget nor the Father to be begotten nor the Holy Ghost to be begotten or begetting but proceeding CHAP. IV. Concerning God's Knowledg How God knoweth all things § 1. GOD being a simple and absolute Essence simple without any composition absolute without any dependance a Psa 33.13.14 knoweth all things not by any faculty or habit but by b Psal 147.5 One eternal indivisible and unchangeable act in himself without any succession of priority or posteriority past or to come to whose eye all things are c Heb 4 13. naked and d 2 Pet. 3.8 present according to the e Acts 15 18. omniscience of his nature and the f Acts 15 18. eternity of his being Here we must not expect to give or receive any g Rom. 11.33 1 Cor. 8.2 ful or clear knowledg of God but such as is incumbred with many imperfect notions whilst we endeavour to h Isa 40.18.28 apprehend or represent so lofty a Majesty in our low conceptions § 2. God's fore-knowledg how and what it is The Scriptures speaking according to our capacity of conceiving do tell us of God's fore-knowledg whereby it is that he a Psa 139 2 14. Acts 2.23 Isa 45.21 beholdeth afar off already determined in the councel of his will what is future in the existence of its being And things are not therefore future because God fore-knows them but he therfore fore-knows them because they are future For if God's fore-knowledg had an effective power all things must needs have been from eternity in their existence being b Pro 8.22 23. Acts. 15.18 eternally fore-known of God in his decree yea Not the cause of things and why if God's fore-knowledg were the cause of things then were he the cause of all he fore-knows and if the cause of all he fore-knows then were he the cause of sin which is as opposite to God as c Psal 5.4 2 Cor. 6.14 hell to heaven or darkness to light § 3 God's knowledg and will being equally absolute and eternal How all things depend upon God's Will pre-ordaining not his Knowledg fo e-seeing he must needs know in himself from before all time what he a Ephes 1.11 wills in himself to be in time and hereby the creatures depend upon his will pre-ordaining them to be not upon his knowledg fore-seeing them in their being Yet God's fore-knowledg depends not upon the creatures future existence yet as the creatures future existence doth not depend upon God's fore-knowledg so nor doth God's fore-knowledg depend upon the creatures future existence Before and after past to come relate not to God he fore-knowing them as they are b Ephes 1.9 in him their proper cause not as they are c Rom. 11.36 from him in their own nature § 4. It is by one and the same Act that God doth know all things before and after they have their beeing which before and after doth not relate unto God But in the creature but unto the Creatures and the change of a Exod. 3.14 Psal 102.24 c. Acts 1.7 past and to come is not at all in him but altogether in them which is thus very aptly though not enough fully illustrated This aptly illustrated A man standing upon an high mountain doth behold in the valley beneath several persons passing and repassing some before and some after another all which are present to the single view of his eye Thus God seated on the high mountain of his b Isa 57.15 eternity looking c Psa 33.13.14 113.6 down upon the low valley of time he doth behold his several creatures one before and after another but all d Isa 44.6 present to the intuition of his knowledge so that there is no future in respect of eternity but e Eccles 3.1 Jer. 6.16 Psal 77.5 1 John 2.18 Eccles 1.4 past and to come are the parts and properties of time in the relation of one creature to another in the succession of their beings God knowing things to come and past doth it in one and the same act of Knowledge § 5. That God did know the world should be created and since doth know that the world hath been created is by one and the same knowledge in God though it be not one and the same truth in the propositions that being altered according to the change in the creatures existing without any a Jam
and the salvation of the elect instrumental to this the utmost end the manifestation of God's c Ephes 1.12 glory which end is communicated of God unto his elect not d Psal 16.2 acquired by his elect unto himself for that as he is a God e Exod. 3.14 Independent so he is a God f Gen. 17.1 Alsufficient Thus there are several causes of Salvation decreed by God's will final and instrumental but no cause of God's will decreeing Salvation neither instrumental nor final both being within the compass of his decree and therefore not beyond the circumference of his will to be the cause of his volition God wills not sin and why § 7. God wills all things but sin which hath no efficient but deficient cause and therefore the cause thereof cannot be God True it is all evil is founded in that which is good and so sin cannot be but in some faculty or habit or action which thereby is denominated sinful No doubt then God a Act 4.27 28. wills the action which is sinful but not the b Psal 5.4 Habak 1.13 pravity of the action which is the sin He wills the action as a natural good and ordered by him to a greater good but the ataxy or anomy of the action that he doth not will but permit or at most he doth but will the permission For he cannot be said effectually to will what he doth actually forbid and punish The purpose of God's will doth not abolish but establish the liberty of man's will § 8. Besides the purpose of God's will doth not take away the a Levit. 1 3. Dan. 11 3. Phil. 2.13 Psal 40.8 liberty of man's will no more then the certainty of his fore-knowledg doth take away the contingency of events rather indeed that purpose doth confirm this Liberty and that certainty this contingency for that thereby he maketh good the liberty which he hath given and the contingency which he hath made accommodating the concurrence of his power and will according to the nature of the Agents which himself hath created and that constitution of the causes which himself hath established wherefore though the purpose of God's will doth exclude every act and event which is contrary to it yet can it not be said to destroy the liberty of man's will even to that contrary act which is altogether consistent with it What the Necessity of Being from the immutability of God's will yea establish'd by it And thus what necessity of Being is caus'd by the immutability of God's Will is only a conditional necessity upon this supposition that God wills it And because what God wills in his ordinary Providence is according to that order which he hath established in the secondary causes therefore the Necessity of Being which flows from the immutability of God's will doth not destroy the contingency of Events or the liberty of Agents § 9. How God's secret wil becomes revealed by his word and by his works The secret will of God's good pleasure is the first and a Psal 135.6 Eph 1.11 Rev. 4.11 chief cause of all things b Num. 23.19 Psal 102.27 unchangeable and c Rom. 9.19 irresistable which when God is pleased to reveale unto man he doth it by the signification either of his word or of his works His works declare his will in their events and his word that signifies his good pleasure by Prophesies by Precepts by Promises and by Threatnings How God's word is called his will God's word is called his will 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 figuratively as the sign is put for the thing signified his word being the signification or d 1 Thes 2 13. Rom. 1.16.17 1 Cor. 2.10 revelation of his will in what he hath thereby determined and decreed § 10. Such is the sweet a Psal 119.160 John 5.32 2 Cor. 4.2 1 Tim 3 15. Rev. 19 9. harmony How they agree in a sweet harmony and firm consent of the sign with the thing signified the revelation of God's word with the determination of God's will that they admit not the least jar of discord without a manifest violation of the sincerity and truth of God himself wherefore to preserve that harmony and prevent this discord S◠to be interpreted as that the harmony be perserv'd it must be our care so to b Mat. 9.13 2 Pet 1.20 interpret the right meaning of his word that it agree with the true intent of his minde and purpose of his will least otherwise we make God seem to contradict himself or deceive his people § 11. If God should will any thing by his will of sign which he doth not will by his will of good pleasure he should plainly contradict himself and destroy the the truth of his word wherefore seeing God doth certainly a Tit. 1.2 Heb. 6.18 intend in his will what he reveals in his word we must observe rightly to interpret that his Revelation to a declaring what he truly intends How God's revealed will agrees with that of his good pleasure when he wills all men to be holy not what we b 2 Cor. 2.17 2 Pet. 3.16 falsly conceive As when God by the precept of his revealed will and will of signe doth require all men to be c Lev. 21.2 and 20 7. holy we must not conclude it the purpose of his secret will or will of good pleasure that all men be holy For that experience and other parts of d Psal 14 3. 2 Tim. 3.13 Scripture too sufficiently testifie that all are not holy which yet necessarily they should be or a contradiction must be in his revealed will if that were the intent of his good pleasure which is ever e Psal 135.6 Rom. 9.19 effective in what he wills Wherefore when God by the Precept of his revealed will requires all men to be holy it is the purpose of his good pleasure that men be thereby f Deut. 30.11 14.15 admonished of their duty and obliged to his Law Where also he commands Abraham to sacrifice his Son Isaac § 12. Again we read that God gave Abraham a command saying a Gen 22.2 Take thy Son thine onely Son Isaac whom thou lovest and offer him for a burnt-offering If we say God here purposed Isaac's sacrificing as the words seem to signifie we shall make a change in Gods secret will to avoid a contradiction in his will revealed whereas if the true meaning of Gods word be applyed to the right purpose of his will the harmony is sweet and it is thus when God gave Abraham the Command Take thy Son and offer him for a burnt-offering the purpose of his good pleasure revealed in that precept of his word was to put Abraham upon the service by obliging him to the duty which he intended for the testimony and b Heb. 11.17 trial of Abraham's faith not for the death or sacrifice of his Son which not
working in all actions which relate unto the creatures and therefore the works of Creation and of Providence are b Heb. 11 3. Psal 33.6 Job 26.13 Psa 104.29 30. sometimes attributed to the Father sometimes to the Son and sometimes to the Holy Ghost All three Persons being one single and entire Cause c 1 Cor 12 6. Psal 33.6 Ephes 2.22 working all in all yet in this Trinity there is a diverse manner of working What their diverse manner of working according to the distinct manner of subsisting The d John 1.3 1 Cor 8 6. Rom. 8.11 Father he works from himself by the Son and the Holy Ghost The e H b. 9.14 Son he worketh from the Father by the Spirit The f Luke 1.35 John 15.26 Holy Ghost he Works from the Father and the Son by Himself How some one action is appropriate to some one person § 7. And thus when any one action is more peculiarly appropriated to any one Person of the Trinity it is from some more immediate relation unto that Person as when the a Heb. 1 2. Ephes 3.9 Creation with the b Ephes 1.3 1 Pet. 1.3 Original of all Beings is more peculiarly appropriated to the Father c Rev. 2 9. Heb. 1.8 Redemption with the d John 3.35 5.22 dispensation of all Government more peculiarly appropriated to the Son e Rom. 15 16. Sanctification with the f 1 Cor 12.8 9 4.5 communication of all gifts and graces more peculiarly appropriated to the Holy Ghost The firm relation between God's decrees and his works § 8. And such is the near relation betwixt God's will and his Works his Decrees and their effects that whatsoever he a Isa 44 7. Heb. 6.17 Psal 135.6 willeth is done and whatsoever is done he willeth whatsoever he doth effect he hath decreed and whatsoever he hath b Psal 133.11 Isa 14.24 27. decreed he doth effect so that this is certain God hath not decreed sin God hath not decreed sin though he hath decreed to permit sin because he doth c 2 Chro. 19.7 Psal 5.5 not effect sin And though God be said to have c Acts 2.23 4.28 decreed the permission of sin yet is not that decree any way effectual to produce or cause sin What the effectual decree accompanying the permissive for the cause of any thing d Rō 9.20.21 permitted cannot be from the permission where there is no Law natural or positive to oblige the pevention Again sure we are sin could not be committed by man if it were not permitted by God And God would not permit sin in time if he had not determined to permit it from eternity which permissive part of God's decree is accompanied with that which is effectual effectual for the e Gen. 50 2◠Acts 2.23 36. ordering to good what is permitted to be evil And thus God he would not permit sin were it not for good yet is not sin therefore from God for then were he not himself good § 9. As the good pleasure of God's will a Rō 11.34 35. receiveth not from the creatures any moving causality The purpose of God's decree imposeth no forcible necessity so nor doth the purpose of his decree impose upon the creatures any enforcing necessity All future events whatsoever they have indeed an b Mat. 2.28 John 19.36 infallible certainty but no forcible necessity from the determinate Counsel of God's will But bringeth an infallable certainty to all Agents and Events which infallible certainty extendeth not onely to all Agents and events c Psal 104. Job 3.8 natural or necessary but also d Prov. 16.1 21.1 free and e Exod. 21.13 Prov. 16.33 contingent whether it be in the f Exod. 14.4 5. Act 4.27 28. greatest effects or in the g Mat. 10.29.30 smallest matters CHAP. VII Concerning the Works of Creation § 1. GOD God the Creator of all things as an absolute and free Agent as a most free Agent without any a Job 22.2 necessity compelling or b Isa 40.13 external cause moving him to c Prov. 16.4 Psal 19.1 8.1 manifest his Glory or communicate his d Psal 104 24 Goodness of his e Rev. 4.11 own good pleasure and by his own most powerful will he made the World f Gen. 1.1 2.4 Col 1.16 in the beginning creating and in g Gen. 1.5 31. Exod. 20 11. six dayes forming all things in their natures h Gen. 1 31. 1 Tim. 4 4. very good § 2. Creation the Work of the whole Trinity as one entire cause The Creation was the a Psal 146.5 6. Jer. 10.11 proper work of God alone not from any one Person but from b Gen. 1.1 Psal 33.6 all the whole Trinity as being a work of infinite power wisdom and love as a work of infinite power so more especially from the Father as a work of infinite wisdom so from the Son as a work of infinite love so from the Holy Gost and yet from all the three Persons as it is from c Mal. 2.10 1 Cor. 8.6 one entire cause one single essence God's who creates the world as a d Ephes 1.11 Rev. 4.11 free Agent Why of God as a free and all-sufficient cause and as e Gen. 17.1 Acts 17.25 all-sufficient in himself for if the World were made of God by a necessity of his nature and not according to the liberty of his will or if the World made did add any thing to the fulness and perfection of the Maker it must needs have been as himself is from eternity and should not cease to be in the end of time which f Gen. 1 5. time was created with the World and did then g Gen. 1.1 John 1.1 begin when the Creation had it's beginning Observ'd in the Work of Creation § 3. In the work of Creation we observe the command of God's Power the approbation of his Goodness the ordination of his Wisdom and the declaration of his Authority 1. The Command of God's Power By a Gen. 1.2 6 c. Psal 33 9. Psal 148.5 the command of his Power he executes his will to the producing all things in their natural being 2. The Approbation of his Goodness b Gen. 1.4 10 31 by the approbation of his Goodness he confirms what is produc'd in those endowments of nature which he had given them c Gen. 1.7.16 the ordination of his Wisdom 3. The Ordination of his Wisdom he ordereth and disposeth what is so produc'd and confirm'd to their proper ends for which he appointed them 4. The Declaration of his Authority and d Gen. 14.15 Psal 148.6 in the declaration of his Authority he enacteth a Law establishing the creatures so produc'd confirm'd and ordered in their being and working e Gen. 1.22.28
Cor. 13.1 Jude 9. Angel even a willing another to know what he wills by him to be known § 23. The Sin of the Apostate Angels What the sin of the Apostate Angels which was the cause of their fall we cannot particularly discern because the Scriptures do not plainly discover We suppose it to have been a sin immediately against the Son of God accompanied or rather compleated with the a Mat. 12.24 31.32 Sin against the Holy Ghost in an irreconcileable hatred and enmity against that truth of which they were in conscience so fully convinc'd Upon b Isa 14.12 13 14 15. Satans pride and envy at Christs person did follow his malice and c John 8 44. hatred of Christs Truth even the d John 14.6 Rev. 14 6. eternal Gospel of his Incarnation as ordained of God in humane nature e Eph. 1.22.23 to be the head of the Angels f Eph. 1.10 united to the body of his Church Satans malice against Christ â—nd how especiâ—lly prosecuted Which malice and hatred of Christ and his truth Satan hath ever since prosecuted by bloody persecutions rais'd against his Church by horrid blasphemies and Heresies vented against his person in his Divinity his Humanity and the offices of his Mediation § 24. What the knowledg of the Apoâ—tate Angels Though the evil Angels are a Mat. 13.19 16.25 Eph. 6.12 spoil'd of grace by their sin and b 2 Pet. 2.4 Jude 6. involv'd in darkness by c Luke 10.18 their fall yet are they eminent in d 2 Cor. 2.11 11.3 Eph. 6.11 Jam. 2.19 knowledg by their Nature How increas'd and this much e Eph. 6.11 12. heightned by long experience in the world and from divine f Mat. 4.6 8 29. Jâ—m 2 19. revelations in the Scriptures yea by g Jude 9. frequent contests with the good Angels yet can they not h Isa 4.23 foretel future events How not foretel events by any light of foreknowledg in and from themselves but what they do foretel are either such things as they finde foretold by the holy Prophets How foretel them or prepared in natural Causes or such things as they know already design'd being privy to the good and i assistants to the wicked designs of men or such things as by some evident signs they conjecture or by some seeming probabilities they presume The end of all diabolical predictions but whatsoever it the prediction or revelation from the evil Angels is is intended to k Mark 1.36 Acts 16 17.18 deceive and seduce to mischief and destroy and therefore l 1 Kin. 22 21 22. l Deut. 13 1 2 3. Eph 6.11 neither is to be sought for Why not to be allowed of nor to be allowed of all complyance with Devils being a m 2 Cor. 6 14 15. Ephes 5 11. renouncing of God and thereby a ruin to the soul What the power of 〈◊〉 evil 〈◊〉 § 25. As the Evil spirits are eminent in knowledg so are they also a Mat. 12.29 Ephes 6.12 migty in power yet a power b Job 1.12 2 6. 1 Pet. 5.8 limited and restrained God holding them fast in the Chain of his Providence so that when made executionors of his wrath they are kept c Mat. 8.32 Rev 7.2 3. subject to the command of his will How exercised By Divine Permission and Providential ordination it is that the Evil spirits exercise their d Job 1.12.16.19 Ephes 2 2. Rev 7. â— 3. power in the fire in the air in the waters and on the earth upon trees upon beasts and upon men Some e Luke 8.30 Mat. 8.16 men they actually possess some they f Luke 22.3 Acts 5.3 Ephes 2.2 wickedly pervert some they g Zech. 3.1 1 Thes 2.18 eagerly oppose but all they h 1 Pet. 5.8 2 Tim. 2.26 daily tempt and with the i 1 Chro. 21.1 Luk 22.31.57 best they often prevail though not so as k Gen 3.15 Psal 5.1 Luk 22.61 62. Rom. 16.20 fully to overcome and finally to destroy What their names and how proper and common § 26. The Prince of the Apostate Angels is called by those a Mat. 25.41 Luk. 10.17 names in an eminency of Evil which will fit all the rest in their proportion of Evil. He is called sometimes the b John 8.44 1 John 3.8 Devil the c Rev. 12.10 Accuser with lies reproches and calumnies accusing God unto man and man unto God Somtimes the d Mat. 4.3 1 Thes 3.5 Tempter by evil suggestions still soliciting unto sin Sometimes the e Mat. 13.19 Ephes 6.16 wicked one being full of iniquity himself and ever prompting others unto wickedness Sometimes f Luke 10.18 Acts 26.18 Satan the Adversary setting himself against God and Christ the good Angels and holy men raising and promoting enmity and contentions Somtimes the g Mat. 13.25 Luke 10.19 Enemy and the h 2 Thes 2.10 11 12. Destroyer raising i Rev. 20.8 seditions and wars to destroy nations k 1 Sam. 16.14 dissentions and divisions to ruin families Gods glory manifâ—sted in all l Mat. 13.25 Rev. 12.12 13 17 persecutions and Heresies to infest the Church In all which God doth manifest the riches of his wisdom and greatness of his power to the glory of his mercy and the advancement of his Justice in m Mat. 24.24 Luke 21.18 the gratious salvation of his chosen and the n Rev. 9.11 just condemnation of the wicked § 27. The wonderful working of Satan By his subtilty and power Satan doth work his a 2 Thes 2.9 lying wonders deceitful in themselves and intended by him for the deceiving of others yea sometimes he doth work b Deut. 13.1 2. Mat. 24.24 true signes yet thereby aims he at the destruction of truth which true signes though they seem wonderful Why not true miracles yet are they not such wonders as are truly c Acts 8.13 called Miracles For they cannot be any supernatural Effects being onely the events of some Natural Causes d Exod. 7.12 8.7 which Satan by a secret subtilty doth compact not by any proper power doth produce Every supernatural Effect must needs be the issue of a supernatural Cause â—ll miracles are from God which is God and e Psâ—l 72. â—8 136.4 he alone who did wonderfully create the world without matter pre-existent can powerfully create wonders without means cooperating Such the miraâ—les of Christ and such were the f Joh. 10.25 Act. 2.22 glorious Miracles of Christ whereby he did testifie the Divine power of his God-head § 28. â—hy not such the workings of â—aâ—an Wherefore if the Devil could work true Miracles to perswade false Doctrines then were Miracles a weak and insufficient a Mat. 16.17.20 argument to confirm the true faith Besides that is
the sin is the sin of ignorance When a sin of ignorance and when the will becomes inordinate through its own perversness c Mat. 13.15 John 15.22.23 24. Matth. 3.56 Acts 7.5.7 opposing and repulsing the right judgement of the understanding When a sin of malice the sin is the sin of malice and against conscience § 15. When the sensitive appetite doth beget an inordinacy in the will How the sensitâ—ve appetite do h begâ—t an inordinacy in the will it is by way of distraction with-drawing it from its proper function in the exercise of its free choice and chief command for seeing all the faculties are radicated in the essence of the Soul by how much the operations of the inferior faculties are the more intended by so much the functions of the superior whether understanding or will are the more remitted The sensitive appetite then being vehemently intent upon its object the rationall faculty becomes but weakly imploy'd if not altogether hindred in its duty Besides the a 2 Sam. 11.2 3 4. Matth. 26.70 c. imagination being disturbed by the affections the understanding becomes darkened by the imagination and the understanding being darkened misguides the will Which are the sins of infirmity whereby it becomes inordinate to a sin of infirmity by sudden passion And as sudden passion so b Mat. 6.12 Prov. 24.16 1 John 1.8 Jam. 3.2 Rom. 7.19 20. likewise all inordinate motions vain thoughts sins of fly surreption and of daily incursion and are all sins of infirmity § 16. What sins of suddun and inordinate passion are said to be sins of infirmity Inordinate a Matth. 8.17 Isai 1.5 passions are the sicknesses of the soul and therefore as the members of the body disabled by distemper so the powers of the soul disturbed by passion not performing their proper functions are said to be b Rom. 15.1 Heb. 12.12 13. 1 Cor. 8.11 12. infirm and weak And thus when the sensitive appetite by its vehement and sudden passions doth invade the rational faculties to the disturbing the understanding and disabling the will in their operations we truly though figuratively say The soul is sick and the sins which issue from this impotency of reason through distemper of passion are properly call'd sins of weaknesse and infirmity § 17. What passions do excuse wholly from sin and what do not Those passions which totally abolish the use of reason totally excuse from the guilt of sin committed in those passions as in the cases of frenzie and madness unless those passions were a 1 Sam. 19.9 10. voluntary in their beginnings or in their causes for then they become imputed as sins themselves and so the evils committed in those passions must needs be sins too but those b Prov. 14.16 29.22 passions which doe not wholly intercept the use of reason cannot wholly excuse from the guilt of sin because reason remaining How Reason ought to moderate passion ought to moderate and order passion either by diverting it self to other thoughts or by hindering the effectuating of those obtruded upon it The more of passion there is in the sin the lesse there is in the sin the less there is of reason and so the less is the sin and the more of reason there is in the sin the more there is of will and the more voluntary the more sinful What is the office of the understanding § 18. The office of the understanding in respect of its own proper object being this to enquire and find out truth and in respect of the inferior powers to direct and conduct them aright according to truth if the understanding doe not know all the truth When guilty of that Ignorance which is sin it is both able and ought to know it becomes defective in its duty and thereby guilty of a Acts 17.30 Rom. 1.21 22. that ignorance which is sin and if the understanding dictate amisse to the wil and when guilty of those sins which are of Ignorance bringing inordinate commands upon the subordinate powers or after deliberation had doth not check their exorbitancies it becomes thus also defective in its duty and thereby guilty of those b Num. 15.28 Lev. 4.13 27. Acts 3.17 sinnes which are of ignorance What ignorance doth not and what ignorance doth make the sin § 19. In the sins of ignorance then it is not every ignorance that makes the sinne It is not the ignorance of a pure negation but that of a a Eph 4.18.19 1 Pet. 1.4 depraved disposition It is not the negative ignorance being a meer nescience a not knowing what is needless or not possible to be known but the privative ignorance a not knowing what we are able and ought to know There are many things which a man is capable of knowing What things a man is capable of knowing but not bound to know What things a man is neither bound to know nor capable of knowing In all these ignorance rather a nescieâ—â—e is not sinfull which yet by no divine law he is bound to know as many Mathematicall theorems in Philosophy many particular contingencies in Nature yea there are many things which as a man is not bound to know so he is not capable of knowing as b Mat. 24.36 John 16.12 many Mysteries not yet revealed many secret truths not yet communicated by Christ unto his Church Ignorance of these is not sinfull and so whatsoever consequent effect proceeds from this ignorance cannot be a sin but an ignorance of those truths which we are capable of and concern'd in which is vincible by the use of means this ignorance is it selfe sin and the consequent evils thereof are said to be sins of ignorance § 20. In any inordinate act What ignorance doth excuse from sin it is not that ignorance which is concomitant with it or consequent of it but antecedent to it which doth excuse from sin Which ignorance being antecedent to it becomes accidentally a Lev. 5.15 1 Cor. 2.8 1 Tim. 1.13 the cause of it as excluding that knowledge which would have restrained from the sinne And though this ignorance doth always somwhat excuse b Gen. 38 15 16 c. yet not always wholly acquit Somewhat excuse not wholly acquit Illustrated by Instance For should a man going forth with an intent to kill a man unwittingly kill his Father though such an ignorance may excuse from patricide yet not from homicide For had he known the man to be his Father though haply he might have been restrained by that knowledge from killing him yet not altogether from killing from that kind not from all kinds of sin or of murder § 21. Yea When sin cannot be excused by any ignorance that sin cannot be excused by any ignorance where there is an inclination or resolution in the will to commit it notwithstanding all knowledge as for instance should a man
have a disposition or purpose to kill another though he knew it were his Father if killing the man he knows him not to be his Father which yet after proves to be his Father it is not the ignorance that shall excuse but the depraved disposition and wicked purpose which shall make guilty of patricide For though ignorance had its Concomitancy with it yet it hath not any efficiency in it and so the malefactor cannot be said to offend out of ignorance but being ignorant For there What an affected ignorance is and how it aggravates the sin when a man will be a Ezek. 12.2 Zech. 7.11 12. 1 Cor. 14.38 ignorant on purpose that he may not suffer controll in his sin but have the greater scope to offend this ignorance is affected and becomes directly b Iob 22.14 2 Pet. 3.5 voluntary because it is wil'd upon design and for ends and therefore doth rather inhance then any way abate the guilt of the sin What ignorance is indirectly voluntary § 22. But that a Hos 4.1.6 1 Cor. 15.34 ignorance which comes by negligence in a sloathfull carelesnesse or through unnecessary imploiments not indevouring to attain that knowledge which a man ought and is able to attain and that ignorance which comes by b Gen. 19.32 33. intemperance in a sottish drunkenness a man being rob'd of his discretion or the use of it such an ignorance is truly though indirectly wilfull seeing he that wils the cause doth indirectly and by consequence will the effect and this ignorance thus wilfull c 2 Thess 1.8 Rom. 8.2 3. becomes it self a sin How it self sin yet the sins which issue from this ignorance d Luke 23.24 Acts 3.17 13.27 are lessened in their guilt having the less of reason and will in their act for seeing the understanding cannot pass a right judgement yet the sins issuing from it lessened in their guilt and why the will cannot be said to give a direct consent so that though the ignorance may be aggravated by circumstances yet is the consequent sin in it self lessened by the ignorance How the sin of malice is rightly discerned § 23. To discern aright what the sin of malice is we must know that though the will be determined by a Psal 142. Prov. 2.11 the understanding in the specification of its object yet hath the will this liberty intire in it self in the exercise of the act freely to chuse what is presented as good and freely to reject what is presented as evill So that though the will doth alwayes follow the last practical judgement of the understanding How men are said to sin wilfully and against conscience yet this last judgement being often after the right judgement and the right judgement first given by the understanding and repuls'd by the will b Exod. 8.10.15 19 28 32. 9.13 14.27 28 34 35 c. 1 Sam. 15.1 2.3 9 11 13 15 18 19 22 c. virtually remaining in the act of sin and even then actually renew'd by the checkes of Conscience men are hereby said to sin winfully on set purpose and against conscience which is the true nature of that we call the sin of malice § 24. That the will doth not necessarily follow the right judgment of the understanding clearly proved That the will doth not necessarily follow the right judgement though it doth the last judgement of the understanding is apparent in the Divels reprobate in the sin against the holy Ghost and in sins against conscience And indeed if the will did necessarily follow the right judgment of the understanding Especially from the work of Regeneration the whole work of Regeneration were perfected in the act of illumination and God needed not a 2 Cor. 5.17 1 Thes 5.23 throughly sanctifie fully to enlighten were sufficient for the new birth and the new man But this is altogether dissonant from the truth of Christ which tells us the b Eph. 4.23 24. Phil. 2.13 will is renewed In which the will is renewed as well as the understanding enlightned as well as the c Eph. 1.17 18 Col. 3.10 understanding enlightned in the work of regeneration The d Phil. 1.9.10 11. understanding is enlightned to give a right judgement to the will and the will renewed to follow that right judgment of the understanding to the bringing forth the works of holiness and of righteousness § 25. How we may distinguish sins of infirmity from sins of malice By this we may distinguish sins of infirmity from sins of malice In sins of infirmity this a Psal 40.8 Acts 11.23 Gal. 6.1 Matth. 26.33 Luke 22.33 purpose and intention of the heart to please God in all things remains sincere so that though for a time the wil suffer a violation of her integrity an interruption of her resolutions through some b 2 Sam. 11.2.4 inordinate affections c Luke 22.56 c. violent passion or d 1 Chro 21.1 Luke 22.31 32 prevailing temptation yet after a while she returneth to her former good purposes by e Psal 51. Luke 22 61 62 1 Chron. 21.8.17 Prov. 24.16 repentance But in sins of malice the heart is f Jer. 13.23 Psal 10.4 Rom. 3 18. 1 John 3.8 habitually inclined unto wickedness the will is evill disposed in respect of the end There are not any sincere purposes of holiness no true aims at Gods glory and therefore the infection of the sin is the more permanent and destructive to the soul in a g Luke 7.30 Acts 7.51 stronger opposition of the good Spirit of grace in the work of repentance and faith § 26. What the distinction of sin into that of mortal and venial is The last distinction of sin is in respect of the effect into sins * 1 John 5.16 17. mortall and veniall we say in respect of the effect no sin being veniall in its nature For No sin veniall in its nature and why that any sin is pardoned doth denote an a Exod 18.20 Gal. 3.10 act of divine mercy which in b Exod. 34.67 severity rigor of Justice God might have not done But for any sin to be in its nature veniall as expiated by temporall punishment were to destroy this pardoning mercy of God and after temporall punishment to oblige him to an improperly called forgiveness lest he be tax'd with cruelty and injustice All sin is directly against no any meerly besides the law Which incurring the guilt of eternall death cannot be expiated by temporall punishment Yea c Rom. 4.15 1 John 3.4 whereas all sin is directly against not any meerly besides the law and that the violation of Gods eternall law doth incurre a guilt of d Ezek. 18.20 Rom 6.23 1 Cor. 15.56 eternall death There is no sin that can be expiated by temporall punishment but either it must be by e John 1.29