the flesh and make God to decree sin efficatiously with an energetical working wil blaming thos that refer ought to Gods prescience only Permission properly is an act of Gods consequent judiciary Wil by which he punisheth Men for abusing their freedom in committing sins day by day which they might hav declined and 't is caled his long-suffering proceding to punish with a slow unwilling pace See Ps 81. 11 12. Ezek. 18 39. Rom. 1. 21 24. Rev. 22. 11. but Permission by them intended is an act of Gods antecedent Wil exercised on innocent men lying under no guilt whom he eternaly preordains to sin and punishment So tru Permission about whomever exercised is only not to hinder them from faling which are able to stand and supposeth a possibility in the party permitted to sin or not but in their sens 't is a withdrawing or with-holding of Grace needful to shun sin and so infolds an absolut necessity of sinning as the fal of Dagons hous folowed Sampsons plucking down the Pillars which supported it So Maccovius saith Permission is a subtraction of divine assistance necessary to prevent sin so Dr. Whitaker Permission is a privation of that aid which bâ—ing present would hav prevented sin So Pareus That help which God witheld from Adam made that he could not so use his indowments as to persever which he saith is the doctrin generaly defended by their side So their Permission of sin being a subtraction of necessary Grace is equivalent to an actual effectual procuring and woking of it for a deficient caus in things necessary is truly efficient so this devise is a very figleaf to cover the ugly nakednes of their Opinion Others consider two things in every evil act 1. The matter 2 Devise or Entity wherof God is Author 2. The form or Obliquity which proceds from Satan as in a lame Hors This distinction halts wors then the Hors nor holds in al Answer sins sith in many the very acts are sinful as Adams eating the forbidden fruit and Sauls sparing Agag which in others had not bin sin NOE wil it serv their turn for they make Gods Decree caus of al thos means which lead to damnation therfore of sinful actions as sinful and not as bare Entities sith they deserv death not as simple actions but as transgressions of the Law As to their sly Simile that Master or Owner who shal first resolv to kil his Hors and after lames him that he may hav color to doo it is cruel to his Beast and Author both of his halting and death so if God first decree to cast Men into Hel and then bring them into a state of sin that he may effect his purpose justly he must needs be Author of sin so wel as the actions to which it cleavs sith he intends destruction Thes are horrid aspersions Som coin a third evasion that the Wil is determined to an 3 Devise object two wais 1. By compulsion against its inclination so God forceth no Man 2. By complying with its natural appetit or liking So God may lead a Man to what he would yet not be Author of sin but only necessitats it When Men sin 't is tru they cannot chuse and as tru they wil not but sin so 't is not Gods Decree but their own wicked Wil which is caus of their sin and death The Fathers and School-men make Compulsion and Necessity Answer al one denying that God necessitats any to sin for then he is Author of it so wel as if he compeld Men sith therby it must inevitably be committed which els might be declined Nay what necessitats the Wil to sin is more the caus then the Wil it self becaus it overruleth and bears most sway bereaving al tâ—â— liberty to dispos it s own acts which should be free Lord of it self For the Necessitater is Commander Comptroler and Compeller but the Wil a servil instrument determined by divine Decree from which al such acts rather proced then from Mens wicked Wils When two Causes concur to produce an Effect one principal overruling the other instrumental at the principals devotion the Effect is ascribed to the influx or impression of the former and not to the later which is only a subservient Servant See Mat. 10. 20. 1 Cor. 15. 10. Gal. 2. 20. wher the work is wholy imputed to the principal Agent Adams Wil in innocence was whit paper or a clean-Table equaly inclined to good or evil So if God decreed his Fal as Supralapsarians say that necessity was a coaction but al others by depraved Nature are disposed to evil yet determined by divine decree both Elect and Reprobats Wils Though then Mans Wil works with Gods Decree in sinning yet siâ—h it doth it by the commanding power of his irresistible Decree the sin cannot so rightly be attributed to Mans Wil the inferior as to Gods Decree the superior Caus Yea that which makes a Man sin by necessity with and not against his Wil is caus of his sin in worâ— sort then he which constrains him against his wil as he that by powerful perswasion draws one to kâ—l himself is more gâ—osly the caus of his self-homiciâ— then he who inforceth him to it becaus it makes him consent to his own death So if Gods Decree makes Men sin and willingly too which is both to act and wil evil he hath a deeper stroke in the sin Another shift is suggested that sin is considered as sin and 4 Devise so God doth not destinat Men to it Or as a means to manifest his Justice and so he doth decree to punish it yet is not the Author of sin This is a silly slide for a good end cannot justify an il actions Answer Both end matter and maner too must be good els the act is evil If a Man shal steal to giv Alms as Robin Hooa did or commit whordom to beget Children for the Church as the Harlot did which was mother to three famous School-Doctors or the like be his end never so good he sinneth hainously sith 't is a violation of Gods Majesty and directly opposit to divine Good as S. Paul saith We must not doo evil that good may insu If then God willeth evil for ends never so Rom. 3. 8. good yet sith he decrees it with a powerful necessitating Wil he is Author of it For sin simply is a means of punishment If then he wils it as a means of punishment he wils it as simply sin by an absolut Decree Absit omen This Position loads him with three indignities 1. Want of Wisdom which must needs be weak if he can find no way to glorify his Justice but by bringing in sin which his Soul hates that he may manifest it in punishing 2. Want of sincerity or plain dealing as Tiberius purposing to destroy Drusus and Nero sons to Germanicus provoked them to revile him that so he might justly put them to death So if God appointing Men to eternal
God like them and imitat their Exod. 20 5. sins God swears that the Proverb The Fathers hav eaten Ezek 18 2 c. sour Grapes and Childrens teeth are set on edg shal be used no more the Soul that sins shal dy But if a Man be just and doo right he shal surely liv The Son shal not bear his Fathers iniquity nor Father his Sons but the Soul only that Sins shal dy Wretched would be our case on whom the ends of al the World are com if children should be guilty of al their Progenitors sins or liable to their plagues and punishments who can bear it Yet 't is asserted that God decrees to leav Reprobats in this impotent irrecoverable condition affording no ability to rise from sin by Grace which Decree he executs in time of his Free-wil and Pleasure leaving them under a necessity of sinning by the act of absolut Reprobation both Negativ which is a flat denial of Grace and Positiv which is a preordination of them to endless torments Som grant common Graces to Reprobats but not sufficient to sav them So saith Lubbert God reveles not the way of salvation to Reprobats nor givs Faith and Regeneration but leavs them in sin and perdition Nor doth afford them any sufficient means of salvation with an intention of saving them Thes two Positions that God necessitats Reprobats to sin and leavs them in the snds make him chief Author of al their sins for a Caus of the Caus is Caus of the thing produced Causa Cauâ—â— â—â—â— Causa Causati whether Negativ or Positiv acts Ergo if God be chief Caus of their impenitence by want or withdrawing supernatural Grace he is tru caus of their sin according to the saying He that forbids or hinders not what is in his power bids and furthers it as they say God doth effectually wil it 'T is a poor pretext that God by withdrawing his Grace is only accidental not a direct proper caus of their sins For an accidental is when the effect is beside the Agents intention or expectation as if one in digging his ground finds gold But when an effect is expected intended or contrived the caus cannot be caled accidental as a Pilot witholding his care or skil from a Ship when he knows it wil perish by such neglect is caus of casting it away So if God detains Grace necessary not as ignorant what wil insu but precisely determins Reprobats ruin by their impenitence he becoms a tru direct caus of their sins which no wiles of wit sav among their partial poor blind Disciples can possibly decline 2. It opposeth Gods Mercy which is his Nature in the Abstract See Exod. 34 6. Mat. 7. 11. Mat. 23. 37. 2 Cor. 1. 3. Eph. 2. 4. 1 Pet. 1. 2. 1 John 4. 16. But such matchless Mercy cannot stand with a peremptory Decree of absolut Reprobation which if God doth of free pleasure he is rather a Father of Cruelties then Mercies and a Destroier then Saviour What Parent wil destin their Children to eternal death and torments for one only offens and that not committed by them but by others and imputed to them Is Gods Mercy abundant if limited to a few Elect scarsone of a hundred shal be inevitably saved Ponder thes points duly 1. That Adams sin is personaly none sav his but a sin of Nature not committed or consented to by any of his posterity which is derived by traduction but made the sin of Nature by Gods arbitrary imputation not ordinary generation 2. That God as 't is generaly beleeved pardoned Adam who freely committed it Can it then stand with his Mercy to punish others for the same sin not perpetrated by them 3. That his only Son was sent into the John 1. 29 World and suffred death for the sins of the World which might suffice to satisfy his wronged Justice for al Mankind and open a way of salvation to every Man without respect of persons But to damn a world of Reprobats by free Decree only to shew his dominion no way savours of Mercy for he is far crueler to them then any Creature els or to the very Devils who are damned for their own personal pride and rebellion but Reprobats by an absolut Decree for anothers crime The one know their doom and expect it but the other are deluded with hope and made beleev the matter is in their own hand so that if they perish 't is not for want of Mercy in God but oâ— wil in themselfs Yet by their doctrin al depends on the peremptory punctilio of Gods arbitrary absolut Decree So Devils are in better case becaus they are not injoined to beleev in Christ nor to repent fast and pray as Reprobats are Nor punished the more for not beleeving as Men are In al which regards their condition is far more ruful then cursed Fiends who are made the tormentors over them Concerning other Creatures the very basest hav a being though despicable which is better then no being Yet who would not wish if he might chuse to be resolved into nothing then in such doleful direful condition yea that they had been Toads or Serpents then Men Or what Parents wil procreat if they be perswaded they shal beget Children Fire-brands for Hel and Slavs to Satan yet not for their faults nor hav they power to help it Let Prosper shape the period He which saith God wil not hav al to be saved but a few predestinat persons only he speaks harshly of Gods high inscrutable Grace Som say Gods Mercy by this absolut Decree is sufficiently shewed to the Elect and Justice to Reprobats but the one is clothed with partial respect of persons and the other clouded with extrem rigour or severity as shal appeer 3. It is incompatible with divine Justice See Ps 145. 17. Prov. 16. 11. Isai 5. 3. Ezek. 18. 25. but the absolut decreâ— of Reprobation cannot consist with it sith it makes God punish the righteous with rebellious and innocent Men with bad Angels For Antelapsarians say expresly That God decreed Mans Fal or Fate considered without sin and therfore innocent Postlapsarians vouch the same by consequent That he lais a necessity on every Man to be born under original sin decreeing to Reprobat most part for that sin so they make God to doo 〈◊〉 3 Inst c. 23. § 7. 23. by two acts which their brethren impute to one Calvin contests That God may with equal Justice decree Men to damnation the first way so wel as the last for al are made guilty of Adams sin by Gods Decree only why then not he by the same Thes kind Patrons of divine Justice wil seem to stumble at a straw and leap over a block why els wil they not grant that of one Man which they doo of al hence we may see what to judg of this opinion That God cannot justly ordain Men to destruction sans consideration of sin for which is greater to impute another
Dominions to whom the chief Government of all estates whether Ecclesiastic or Civil in al Causes doth appertain nor ought to be subject unto any forren Jurisdiction Whereas we attribute chief Government to the Kings Majestie wherby we understand the minds of som slanderous folks to be offended we giv not to our Prince the ministring of Gods word or Sacraments which thing the Injunctions also somtime set forth by our late Queen Elizabeth doe plainly testify But that only Prerogativ which was ever given to al Godly Princes in holy Scripture by God himself which is That they shal rule al Estates and Degrees committed to their charge whether Ecclesiastic or Temporal and restrain with the Civil Sword al stuâ—born and evil doers The Bishop of Rome hath no Jurisdiction in this Realm of England The Laws of the Land may punish Christian men with death for hainous grievous offences It is lawful for Christians at commandment of the Magistrat to wear Weapons and serv in Wars Article 38. The Goods of Christians are not common touching the right title and possession of the same as Anabaptists falsly boast yet every man ought of such things as he hath liberaly to give Alms to the Poor according to his ability Article 39. As we confess vain and rash swearing to be forbid in Christian men by our Lord Jesus Christ and James his Apostle so we judg that Christian Religion doth not prohibit but a man may swear when a Magistrat requires it in a caus of Faith and Charity so that it be done as the Prophets teach according to Justice Judgment and Truth for the composing of strife Articuli Lambethae cusi The Articles of Lambeth An Appendix of nine Articles touching Praedestination agitated by John Archbishop of Canterbury and others An. 1595. at Dr. Whitakers instance against three Propositions of Dr. Baro a Frenchman Lady Margarets Professor at Cambridg Article 1. GOd from eternity predestinated som men to life and reprobated the rest to death or damnation Article 2. The moving or efficient caus of Predestination to life is not any foresight of Faith Perseverance good Works or any thing in the persons praedestinated but only in the Wil of Gods good pleasure Article 3. Of the Predestinat ther is a prefined certain number which can neither be increased nor diminished Article 4. They that are not predestinat to salvation shal necessarily be condemned for their sins Article 5. Tru livly justifying Faith and sanctifying Spirit of God is not extinguished doth not fall off nor vanish in the Elect either finaly or totally Article 6. A man truly beleeving or indued with justifying Faith is certain by or with ful perswasion of Faith of his sins forgivenes and everlasting salvation by Christ Article 7. Saving Grace is not given nor communicated nor granted to al men whereby they may be saved if they will Article 8. No man can come to Christ unles it be given to him and unless the Father draw him nor are al men drawn of the Father that they come to the Son Article 9. It is not in the free choice and power of every man to be saved These Assertious or Positions like many mo are obtruded in general obscure ambiguous terms subject to divers interpretations Animadversio apposita A usefull Animadversion THe first Proposition is tru de facto but treats not of the order and manner why God elected som and reprobated the rest which is the debate The second designs the moving efficient caus of election but mentions not the object whether it be man simply or man a sinner or man repentant or man persisting obstinat and obdurat which is al the question for Gods foresight is no efficient caus of his Predestination but his Wil. The third of a set number not to be increased or diminished is a very verity in regard of Gods infallible foreknowledge and immutable Wil. The fourth is a bifront Janus most ambiguous for if it suppose non-praedestination to necessitat condemnation for sin it puts non causam pro causa but if it make non-praedestination a meer negativ in God and supposes sin unrepented the caus God may in true Justice condemn the sinner that neglects the remedy for every one perisheth by his own default as Preachers inculcat dayly The fifth is generally granted That the elect doo not fal away finaly or totaly but who they are no mortal man knows and al men may fal The sixth in a tru sens is tru That Beleevers being reconciled to God by repentance may be certain of their present condition by a ful perswasion of Faith yet must not presume of infallible perseverance sith many Saints through frailty have faln dangerously The seventh is tru in part That effectual saving Grace is not given to al that they may be saved if they wil but sufficient is offered to al and that seriously or intentionaly if they wil use and not refuse reject or resist the means working out their salvation with fear and trembling The eighth is to be rightly expounded that no man can com to the Son unless the Father draw him and al men are not drawn by him but 't is becaus he foresees that they be obdurat and wil not com when caled for his prescience is the condition not the caus of proceeding The last is indubitat that 't is not in every mans nay in no mans free choice and power to be saved without Grace but by help thereof and use of the means prescribed in the Gospel any man may be saved if he wil cooperat with Gods Grace and not wilfully reject the same Dr. John Rainolds at Hampton-Court Conference beside many mo both before and since petioned that thes 9 Lambethian Articles might be annexed to the other 39 by public authority but could never obtain it becaus their meaning or construction was very dubious or dissonant to the tru sens of our Churches seventeenth Article which handles the point of Predestination more plainly and perfectly then thes 'T is said that Dr. Whitgift Archbishop granted this discussion to gratify Dr. Whitakers importunity and pacify that present Cantabrigian fury but left it in such doubtful terms that no prejudice might occur to the said Article of Predestination predefined THESIS I. Animae Humanae productio Production of Mans Soul 1 A solen Question Whether every Mans Soul since Adams be created or procreated THE Case is cleer for creating Adams Gen 2. 3. Soul God breathed into his nostrils the Spirit of life whereof S. Austins Axiom respect stil had to this first Souls production is infallibly tru 't is created in infusing and infused in creating Of Eve 't is said God in a deep Gen. 2. 21. 23. sleep took one of Adams ribs closing up flesh in its stead and the Rib he made a Woman The learned say it was no dead bone but animat the material part being extended to a shapeful human body and the spiritual at the same instant diffused over
before he decreed to creat or permit him to fal or to send his Son for a ransom if he should fal upon which he contrived the whol work of Mans Redemption This pure prescience being previous to Predestination in order of Nature according to our weak apprehension yet al coeternal to God did not look to the mass of Mankind as to be created incorrupt nor as lapsed in Adam Nor to Christ beleeved or not beleeved on but beyond al to the first middle and final estate of ech particular person and universal of al Men. 2. Of Vision which is of things to be doon in time with al acts and events therof which depend on his free Wil and Pleasure Aquinas speaks of both God knows al things which neither are were or ever shal be by his simple understanding but the rest that hav bin are or shal be after what sort soever by the science of Vision This distinction Zanchy Junius and other learned Reformists approv to be authentic in the very terms 4. Gods power or Omnipotence who can doo what he wil which agrees to his Nature is duple 1. Absolut wherby he can do al that he wil and more then he wils 2. Actual by which he doth what ever he wil and hinders what he wil not hav doon in Heaven and Earth with al things therin whos Majesty ruleth and reigneth over al Creatures visible or invisible nor could ever any resist his power or defeat his providence 5. Gods Wil which comprehends his Lov Mercy Goodnes Truth Justice Wrath Patience Holines c. first willeth himself as chief Soveraign good and in himself al other good things freely which are out of himself Hereby he decrees for Decree is no Attribut but an Act of his Wil joined with power and prescience what of thos infinit things presented by his understanding shal com into being For Knowledg is his Counsilor but Wil King and both himself who works al according Eph. 1. 11. to the Counsil of his Wil as S. Paul saith By it he orders al things causing or allowing what shal be in what maner Rom. 9. 18 19. and to what end Hence S. Paul ascribes al to it as suprem universal caus into which al inferior are resolved as the prime spring This is absolut and independent for til God passed his Decrees al things were known but as possible if he would giv being or not Ther be other distinctions of divine Wil according to several objects as that of Sign and good pleasure used in Schools but to giv God a duple different Wil in himself secret and reveled as if he willed openly in his word to sav al yet decrees to reprobat most part in his hidden Counsils is most abhorrent For he is a God of Truth no Lier Dissembler or Mocker using simplicity and sincerity in al his sayings which are yea and Amen Nor wil he make general promises in his Gospel to al Beleevers yet bar them by a clos clandestine decree of his secret Wil that they shal not beleev but it hath divers objects or one placed in divers times as 't is his reveled Wil ther shal be a day of Judgment yet he concels the time So the Gospel of Salvation was his secret Counsil before the World began but since opened to the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles c. which can no more be caled his hidden Wil. Indeed 't is said Secret things belong to God but the reveled to us Deut. 29. 29. and our Children which provs a diversity of objects but no duplicity of Wils warning us only to attend what is reveled in his Word as his general promises prescribed and not pry into his privy purposes to inquire who are elect or who reprobats lest like Thales in gazing at the Stars we fal into the Pit for this is a perilous precipice of carnal presumption 6. The Gospel is a manifestation of Mans Redemption by Jesus Christ which God first reveled in Paradise that the Womans seed shal break the Serpents head Next to Abram at Haran that in his seed al families and Nations shal be blessed Then to Moses in Egypt and the Wildernes when God instituted the Passover and several Sacrifices as Types or Figures of the holy Lamb slain before the World for the Worlds sins Afterward to the Prophets And lastly to the Evangelists who wrot our Saviours whol life death after his Incarnation or appeerance in the flesh which is the mystery of our Redemption 7. Gospel Grace is Gods free Mercy offered to al lapsed Mankind whoever wil beleev in his Son repent their sins and persever to the end shal be saved Which promiss must be preached and published to al sorts sans respect of Persons as he is no respecter nor delights in the death of a sinner For Man hath som liberty of Free-wil stil left if revived or quickned by Grace to obey or resist receiv or reject the motions of Gods Spirit 8. Gods Decree is duple 1. Primary Proceeding from his Omnipotence wherby he eternaly willed to creat the World in du time and to giv Man made after his Image absolut Free-wil Decretum 1 Absolutum 2 Conditionâ—tum without restraint any way 2. Secundary Depending on his Omniscience wherby foreseing Adams fal as he did the evil Angels Rebellion he in meer Mercy ordained a remedy to send his only begotten Son to be a Sacrifice for al but with condition of beleef in him and tru repentance for sin both which are equaly eternal flowing from the Fountain of the Deity who willeth what he wil and doth what he willeth Hence proceds Predestination which is his secundary conditionat Decree depending on Prescience wherby he freely elects som to lif being al liable to death in Adam and rejects or passes by the rest to perish in their disobedience 9. Sin is of two sorts 1. Original so caled by S. Austin contracted from our first Parents 2. Actual committed by al particular persons The remedy of one is Baptism into Christs faith either by personal confession as in those of tipe age or by their Sureties sponsion as in Infants The other is cured or clensed by repentance through the merits of Christs death whos blood by tru faith in him purgeth from al sin 10. God eternaly Decreed to creat al things in time indued with several Natures and to make Man a free Intelligent Creature like Angels who gav one only prohibitiv precept upon pain of death which foreseing in his pure prescience he would violat or prevaricat both to his own and Posterities perdition if justice be executed as it must necessarily be by a just God He by his knowledg of Vision decreed secundarily in meer Mercy to send his Son to salv al that shal believ in him and use such means of faith repentance and obedience as are prescribed in the Gospel 11. God commands no more of Man then he givs power or ability to perform as Adam had by Nature and al
as Man had before his laps Wherby according to his first precept or privilege of increas and multiply Parents beget Children in a corrupt Nature but better or wors disposed and inclined which is greatly altered and addicted to Virtu and Vice by better or wors education good or il company and divers other concurring circumstances This makes som by pious tutorage becom more apt to embrace Gods Grace and cooperat with it which draws willing not nilling minds But others by bad breeding il company and other lewd incentivs grow obstinat and obdurat like deaf Adders which wil not be charmed Al which God in his infinit Omniscience foreseing chos som to be Vessels of honor and passed by the rest to perish in the suds of their sins through wilful impiety infidelity and impenitency for S. Paul makes Prescience Rom. 8. 29. the prime link of Predestinations golden Chain Next folow som particular points appendent to be briefly agitated viz. Gods Knowledg Wil Providence Predestination Election Reprobation before Time Creation Government of Man under the Covenant of Works Mans fal with its effects Mans Government under the Covenant of Grace by Caling concurrence of the Word and Spirit Conversion Grace Freewil with both jointly Regeneration Perseverance and last Judgment al doon or to be doon in Time This is a large field which tends to unfold the verity of this mystery 1. For divine knowledg S. James saith known to God 1 Divine Knowledg Acts 15. 18. 1 Pet. 1. 1 2. are al his works from everlasting S. Paul whom he foreknew he predestinated S. Peter To the strangers elect according to Gods foreknowledg Som interpret Prescience by Precognition presupposing lov or approbation rather than simple science but this is a very verbal nicity for the Greek word Prognosis properly imports foreknowledg but approbation arbitrarily as when 't is said God knoweth i. approveth the way of the righteous Psal 1. 6. yet it folows not from the bare word for if Peter and Paul make foreknow and predestinat or foreknow and elect or approv al one then they refer the act of his Understanding to the Wil yet our Wil is guided by the Intellect and that by Judgment imputing to Foreknowledg what properly belongs to Predestination and Election fith approbation is more discovered by the Act of Wil which is to Predestinat and Elect then by that of understanding which is to foreknow Yet if with Origen they wil join Prescience with his good liking or approving the subject foreknown as capable of chusing it shal be granted for in Scripture only the elect are stiled Praesciti not Reprobats though they also are foreknown simply but not with approbation which hinders not his simple foreknowledg nor infers any argument that men are chosen for any good approved in them nor that they must be chosen becaus good in Gods knowledg For God might see many Worlds of Men to be created if he pleased whom he hath covered in darknes of never being so eligible as thos whom he hath chosen sith to be eligible and elect are two distinct things which doo not folow one another For cleering wherof his duple knowledg of simple Intelligence which is of al things possible or comprehensible by his Omnipotence and of Vision which is of things that shal be by his Decree depending on his Wil must be wel weighed Here two doubts occur 1. Whether the objects of thes 1 Doubt Knowledges possible and future be divided so that possibles pertain soly to pure Intelligence and future to that of Vision as if the same things cannot be first known as possible to simple Intelligence and after as future the divine Decree intervening to make them future to be objects of Vision This is easily resolved That knowledg is no caus of things Resolution unles his Wil concur for 't is not from his knowledg that things are but only that they may be Zanchy saith God created al things having the Idea form or model first in his mind for what Artisan doth any thing whos patern he conceived not before So S. Austin God made nothing ignorantly as no Artist L. 11. de Civ c. 10. or Architect doth whence we see a kind of miracle yet truth that this World could not be known to us unles it had bin but unles God had known it before it was it never had bin Dr. Prydeaux in his Scientia media saith That God is caus of al things which he framed not simply in himself but by his Wil adjoined For his knowledg of pure Understanding respects al things possible that of Vision only future which causeth al to be by concurrence of his Wil. So simple Intelligence preceds al acts of Wil wherby the same things respected as possible are now looked on as future becaus the act of his Wil supervening makes them to be future in their times 2. The next doubt is whether future contingent conditional 2 Doubt things specialy free acts of a created Wil placed in this or that order be a subject of Gods simple Intelligence becaus such as dislike the Jesuits Scientia media say that the object hereof is nul and therfore the knowledg taken away for al acts of Free-wil are determined by divine Decree so that God no otherwise foreknows they shal be then becaus he decreed them to be This middle Science partakes more of simple Intelligence Resolut then free knowledg which sees no more then a possibility of things in futurition only upon a supposition if God make them to be by his word Fiat For al agree That before God decreed to creat he had a certain absolut knowledg of al things present past future contingent necessary together with al their connexions and after knows conditionat things to com but the Question is whether he knows them by pure Understanding which foreruns al Decrees of his Wil that they shal absolutly be or by Vision while they lay suspended under Gods free-pleasure whether they should be or no for God by his infinit essence knows what shal be necessarily and what shal com to pass by his Wil. Bellarmin best resolvs both doubts That God by his simple Understanding knew Man would fal if he were made before he willed to creat him for things necessary are in God first then the voluntary but 't is necessary for God to know al things possible els he cannot be Omniscient and Voluntary only that he should decree to make Man If then God hath a simple Intelligence he can shew it in no act more then Predestination for as 't is the first and highest act of his Wil so is that of his understanding and the wisest Agent willeth nothing but what he perfectly knew and understood Now the first Opinion excluds al use of Prescience referring Application al to his free Pleasure which with al their fine distinctions and similituds can hardly free him from being the Author of sin The secund acknowledgeth his
the light of Gods marvellous mercy toward sinners of Christs infinit lov in dying for them the inestimable merits of his death the powerful Gifts Graces and aids of the holy Ghost To pour into sinners hearts hope which shal stay them from desperat sinning To inspire the Grace of praier that they may escape the wrath to com and receiv Gods favor to beget repentance and work Faith that they rely wholy on him and cast themselfs into the arms of his goodnes to be saved by him Thes Graces the holy Ghost is stil ready to work by the Gospel in a repentant sinner humbled and prepared by the Law for what proportion of power the Spirit had in the Law on Unregenerats to humble them the same it hath in the Gospel on the humbled to work hope and infer the other Graces of Praier Repentance Faith Justification Mortification Vivification and new Obedience Howbeit if the Spirit is not present in preaching the Law to giv Unregenerats strength of new obedience becaus 't is present to convince and condemn their wickednes Nor is it present in preaching the Gospel to one not yet penitent or beleeving to giv new obedience or work Peace Joy and Lov as it doth in Beleevers for such degrees com not per saltum The sum is Gods Spirit is annexed to his Word for such Gifts and operations as the hearer is a fit disposed subject to receiv for God works by order of things antecedent or preparativ which if they find no admission the subsequent are suspended Hence coms the frequent just separation of the Spirit by the word by the great Pastor of Souls who sercheth the heart and renes To prov this point that Gods Word in the Law and Gospel is perfect and powerful to convert Souls read Psal 9. 7. Joh. 17. 17. Joh. 20. 21. 2 Cor. 3. 8. Heb. 4 12. wher the Gospel is caled the ministration of the Spirit not of the Letter becaus it givs what it commands but the Law commands and givs no help for the Law was given by Moses not hearts to receiv it Joh. 1. 17. but Grace and Truth cam by Jesus Christ saith S. John To prov that Caling is al one to them that obey not and obey Christs words are cleer Many are caled but few chosen Here Mat. 22. 14. two sorts are specified som caled but not chosen and som caled and chosen of thos many yet the Caling one of both which is not by the outward Word alone for by it none are chosen but by the Word and Spirit in common So the few chosen excelled not in number or Caling but in obeying when the rest refused as the Sun hardens clay and melts wax Christ saith The Ninivets shal rise in judgment with this generation Mat. 12. 41. and condemn it If Jonas preached without the Spirit how did they repent If Jesus preached without it how is he greater then Jonas If refusers be not al equaly caled how can Ninivets rise in Judgment they can answer we were not caled like you by Gods voice speaking to the heart but by Mans barely to the ear If God had excited us as he did you we would repent as you did The Jews exemple confirms the same being yet uncaled not becaus they liv without the Gospels sound sith they convers scatterdly with Christians and may hear Sermons or read Scriptures but becaus they persist obdurat and reject the illumining softning Spirit often offered therfore the distinction of Caling into outward ineffectual and inward effectual is fals or frivolous Bare preaching may be a commanding like the Law not a Caling as the Gospel for God may stil require obedience as a natural duty sith he created Man able but becaus the new Covenant cals Men to Faith and Repentance being unable to rise or recover of themselfs it were a mock and no cal to say turn repent beleev and liv unles som Grace be prepared to doo it The effect of this Caling is ascribed to one caus chefly the Spirits operation yet ther be mo and if any fails the effect fals for obedience to Gods Caling is an act of Mans wil under aid of the Spirit which is oft refused or resisted and Grace offered in vain sith God doth not cross the cours of the secund Causes established at first It also makes Gods Covenant differ from al other in which no party performs al but ech a part for himself wheras here God is made to perform al pacts and promises for both who only undertakes to make his conditions feasible and afford his help so far as is needful as Isaiah intimats For 't is not safe to rely soly on Isai 59. 21. Gods absolut Wil as if we were tied to nothing or to gul our selfs as if God required nothing of us For this Covenant of Grace hath som conditions for Man to fulfil which by Gods universal Grace he is able to doo as shal be shewed 11. Conversion of a Sinner which is the end of Gods Caling 11 Conversion Men by the Word is the obedience of him that is Caled for he must hear and obey els no conversion The terms a Quo ad Quem are from Satans power to God viz. in his mind from darknes to light in wil from Idols to serv the living God Acts 26. 18. and in his whol life from unrighteousnes to holines This conversion is duple 1. When a natural Man is regenerat and made a Member of Gods Church as the Gentils being Aliens were converted 2. When a Regenerat faling into sin returns 1 Thes 1. 9 Acts 1â— 3. by repentance as Peter being converted after his Apâ—stasy was bid strengthen his Brethren The prime principal Caus of Luke 22. 32. Lam. 5. 21. conversion is Gods holy Spirit working on a sinners heart both at beginning middle and end The ordinary instrumental is the word preached the adjuvant means are the cross that chastens Jer. 31. 18. blessings which draw or allure others praiers and exemples of Men already converted The main scruple is what part a sinner to be converted bears in it being a living rational subject whether he be Activ or meerly Passiv whether he can further or hinder it whether supposing two equaly Caled one may be converted and not the other if so whether it riseth from God or Man 12. Gods Grace is al that proceds from him of free favour 12 Free Grace universal tending to a sinners salvation wherby is not meant the remains of Nature as som light of Reason sens of Conscience though thes by Grace were left after the Fal nor the Law describing the righteousnes of Works though the Preacher of Grace useth it to prepare a sinner for Christ nor the bare outward Word of the Gospel though cal'd the Word of Grace becaus internal Grace goes with it but only the inward illuminations teachings tractions motions operations inspirations and gifts of the holy Ghost merited by Christ for
consequent yet in objects reducible to action it hath a compound notion caled Proposition or Enunciation immediatly annexed to the former simple notion and superadded as a Conclusion which is caled Practical Judgment as when it judgeth Hony sweet it ads a secund complex notion if sweet 't is to be tasted and infers instantly a Conclusion that Hony may be tasted Now becaus practical objects are singulars the Intellect givs judgment that this present Hony is sweet and secundly infers that 't is to be tasted wherto the wil assents and chuseth it Hence Aristotlâ— L. de motu Animal c. 7. allows no distinction between an action or execution and a Conclusion becaus this resulting from two Propositions is the very action which he provs by several exemples So this Conclusion which is the action it self wherto the execution coheres is caled Practical Judgment This action or execution of a Judgment cannot succed unles the appetit or wil concurs so that every judgment or notion of Good hath annexed an appetition of that Good and every judgment of Evil an aversion from it So soon then as the Intellect judgeth a thing to be sweet and therfore to be tasted up riseth the appetit and wils actual degustation of this sweet presented wher both Intellect and wil conjoin Thus when the Intellect givs judgment of Good which is the Wils proper object the Wil is instantly incited to desire fruition which folows on the heels of Judgment as a shadow attends the Suns body so that if the one judg it good the other desires it if evil the Wil declines it Now becaus the Intellect is mostly fickle or inconstant in judgment the Wil no less wavers or varies in appetition so that when the one to day judgeth a thing good and to morow evil the other affects it to day and abhors it to morow so the Wil conforms wholy to the Intellects judgments concerning Good or Evil. Good is duple 1. Tru or real 2. Seeming or counterfet So evil is either realy so or gilded with the specious shew of Good Hence Cicero aptly compares it to a Ballance which if Geometricaly adjusted by dimidiation is indifferent to be depressed at either end or extrem and so forced from its equilibry or depressed at that side on which the greater weight is laid As the contrary end may be depressed by over-poising it with a greater weight Semblably the Intellect is in it self indifferent and inflected to that object wherto the greater appeerance of Verum Bonum Truth or Good adheres as it can upon a greater appeerance of either reflect to a secund being stil led by verisimility for the Wil is as the Needle and Intellect the Magnet by whos verticity it turns parallel to the point of Good whether real or apparent Or the Wil is as a Mariner and Intellect the compass by which she steers For the Wils indifferency is but a shadow or representativ of that indifferency congeneal to the Intellect and consequently the determination of that indifferency in the Mistriss causeth a like determination of indifferency in the Maid to this or that object For oftimes our Minds are equilibrated betwixt two judgments or waver betwen two objects equaly attractiv which fluctuation riseth becaus the weights of reason are equal on either side that the Mind can acquiesc in the election of neither Hence three excellent consequents occur 1. That so oft as the Intellect having embraced tru judgment quits it to pursu a fals one so oft somthing intervens which diverts the genuin appeerance from a good object to an evil one and so causeth a mutation of the Intellects assent or judgment 2. That the change of the objects appeerance is sole immidiat caus of the Intellects varying in judgment and assent 3. That the Wil is hereby obliged to conform to the Intellects guid or conduct whos flexility flows from the others flexibility So 't is in vain to attempt a change of the Wils appetition til care be had to change the Intellects judgment Or to make the one constant in appetition unles the other be setled in judgment Thus he of Free-wil in general 14. Of Grace and Free-wil jointly which cooperat in every 14 Grace and Freewil Phil. 2. 13. spiritual work wherin three Principles or Axioms are to be declared 1. That in all their operations at our first conversion or in every good work Grace is stil prime principal Leader from first to last But Mans Wil never works first not alone being as a wheel in a Mil which is kept going by the waters motion and that staying it soon stops So is this kept working by Gods Grace which flows from his goodnes or desire of our salvation 2. That when Grace works on Mans Understanding Wil or Affections it preservs the natural powers properties and motions of a Reasonable Creature for it destrois not Nature but helps it nor doth Nature repel Grace but receivs it Though then the habits of Faith Hope Charity be infused by God and not acquired by human industry yet are inspired after the manner of Acquisits becaus instilled by means of hearing praying meditating reading studying and endeavoring For so saith S. Austin not I but Gods Grace 〈◊〉 Grat. 〈◊〉 â—â—b c. 5. with me that is not I alone nor his Grace alone but both jointly sith he that made thee without thee wil not sav thee without thee 3. That in al operations of Grace Mans Wil is to rely on God as the Creature on the Creator Receiver on the Doner Weak on the strong Imperfect on the Perficient and Supplicant on the Lord as the Earth depends on Heaven for rain heat and influence which when Man neglects rejects or forgets he is dry void and barren of al spiritual fruits by his own fault The imperfect work on Mat. 6. saith Lo how appositly Homil. 14. Christ speaks he saith not Father sanctify thy name in us bring thy Kingdom to us thy Wil be doon of us lest God should seem to sanctify himself by Men or bring his Kingdom on whom he lists or make his Wil be doon of whom he pleaseth and in that regard be an accepter of persons Nor did say Let us sanctify thy Name take thy Kingdom doo thy Wil lest it should seem to proced from Man only But he speaks indefinitly or impersonaly Holowed by thy Name thy Kingdom com thy Wil be doon to shew how needful the work of both is becaus Man hath need of God and he is helpful to Man in performing righteousnes For as Man can doo no good without Gods help so he works no good in Man except he be willing as if he had said if ye doo thes things if ye pray for thes ye are worthy of such a Father who wil giv them To try the truth take thes four Propositions 1. Mans Wil without Grace can and doth Wil and perform spiritual good this is Pelagius's Heresy condemned by the
whol Church 2. Mans Wil without Grace cannot wil good but being inabled by it can after sans farther Grace both wil and perform alone this is the Massiliens or Semipelagians error 3. By or through Gods Grace working on the Wil it can both wil and doo good but not without it nor can continu without farther assisting Grace this is truly orthodox which subjoins Mans Wil to Gods Grace in willing and acting good 4. The Wil by or through Grace working on it cannot but wil and perform good this S. Austin held in heat of arguing against Pelagians and Massiliens who fel too far into the extrem like such as bow a crooked stick back to make it streight as S. Chrysostom compares S. Austin asserted that Grace affords such help to the Predestinat as they were not only unable to persever without it but by means of it could not chus but persever The state of the Question which if rightly put is like an Hebr. 6. 16. Oath to end strife consists about the maner and measure how Grace works on the Wil or with it whether the Wil cooperats as the third Proposition holds or whether it so works that the Wil must needs concur as the fourth avers For explaining wherof Grace meant in the third shal be stiled efficient that in the fourth which works necessarily or infallibly causing the Wil to consent efficacious Which in tru terms is whether Grace be resistible or not If it be so prevalent or Of resisting Grace prepotent as it carries the Wil to obey willingly if that be willing which cannot doo otherwise the fourth is tru But if Grace be only an efficient adjuvant prior Caus and Mans Wil prepared by it a cooperant secund Caus in the work of Conversion which may fail resist or disobey then the third is more authentic To prov it for brevity sake read Acts 5. 32. Acts 7. 5. Rom. 10. 16. 2 Cor. 9. 13. Gal. 3. 1. Gal. 5. 7. 2 Thes 5. 8. Al which places are most plain that one may disobey Gospel Grace Dr. Ward a stif Stickler for effectual Grace defines thus We freely confess that neither operating nor cooperating Grace at Conversion or after doth take off from Mans Wil the power to resist if it wil for resistibility is natural born with us and inseperable from the Wil as a nativ faculty but 't is not questioned simply whether God in the work of Conversion or any other doth mov the Wil resistibly for that 's granted only the maner of resistibility is in controversy wherin we say when God works in the Wil ipsum Velle to wil Grace produceth non resilience which is effected by certain knowledg and prevalence of delight as S. Austin saith Therfore we avow actual resistence to be taken away for that time sith 't is impossible such should stand with effectual Grace for two opposits the Wil to be wrought on by effectual Grace and to resist it at once cannot coexist which were to make the Wil obey and resist at one instant Thes shifâ—s pass current among Partialists but he saith al the Controversy is about the maner or resistibility which indeed is none at al for al grant resistibility or power to resist is not removed by Grace the Question only is of actual resistence or maner of not resisting wherin none is so silly to say that when the Wil yeelds actualy to Grace ther is then any renitence sith contingence is not when things are in Esse but before they were so whether they might not possibly be otherwise that is resist when it did obey so the debat lies in resistibility before the act of good or evil not in it for a Regenerat may sin resistibly not in the very moment of willing it but becaus he could hav resisted yer he willed it So a Convert obeyeth Grace or willeth his conversion resistibly becaus yer he willed it he could hav resisted els why doth S. Paul so seriously exhort not to resist the Spirit Sin may be resisted but not after consent so may Grace but not when the Wil haâ—h embraced it for to be actualy received and then resistible cannot cohere Howbeit if non-resistence be granted 't is dubâ—ous what the caus is and wherin it consists whether in effectual Grace or effectual Wil for what is said of the one may be verified of the other sith when it obeys 't is impossible it should wil to resist but it may before Nor can any tel by the very act of obeying which is caus of non-resisting for put either to remov resistence 't is surely gon by consenting and it seems Wil is â—hâ— proper caus which ends resistence 1. Becaus effectual Grace is nâ—men sine re which cannot determ in the Wil without destroying it whos nature is to determin it self 2. Becaus to resist or not are special acts of the Wil as to convert repent beleev belongs to Man who converts repents beleevs for God promiseth only to circumcise Deut. 30. 6. the heart and Man is bid to circumcise his own heart so Deâ—t 10. 16. God promiseth to put a new Spirit into Man and Men are injoined Jer. 4. 4. Ezek. 11. 1â— to make them a new heart and Spirit both being evangelical So the promiss implies or supposes an impotence in us to doo supernatural acts tendering Gods power assistance and operation to incourage us but the Precept imports som power in us under his assisting Grace to indeavor or doo somwhat toward thos acts which appeer to be ours becaus they savour of our imperfections Hence we stil accuse our selfs complaining on the weaknes of Faith Lord I beleev help my unbelief coldnes of lov pride of heart yet God givs Faith Lov Humility who is al perfect Why then doo we not rather magnify his Goodnes and Graces if he doth al then ingratly disgrace them as being impotent or imperfect sav only becaus we hav impaired or made them defectiv by being wanting to Grace Let sweet Bernard a magnifier of Grace end this point Grace so operats with Free-wil as it only prevents in the first act and accompanies in the rest but is so far preventing as it even cooperats with Grace yet so that what is begun by Grace alone is perfected by both alike so they work jointly not severaly together not by turns in particular degrees not partly Grace partly Free-wil but ech jontly performs the whol Free-wil doth al and Grace al but as the whol is wrought in the Wil so is it wholy doon by Grace Thus he which is the tâ—u state of the whol debate This wil better appear by consistence of Grace and Free-wil in Mans four estates 1. Of Nature sound 2. Of Nature lapsed 3. Of Nature renewed 4. Of Nature glorified which shâ—l be particularly agitated together with the order of a sinners Conversion Man at Creation had to wil or nil naturaly by supernatural Grace to wil more fully which took not away
whereof we must not glory being our duty Nor should thos poor things of Mans Wil to wish or wil labor endevor yeeld or obey be once named when Gods Grace is praised or works pleaded yet somtimes a necessity compels therto For Men under color of piety to magnifiy Gods Grace and reprov Natures Parasits becom disparagers of Free-wil and Flatterers of Grace wherby Satan seeks to subvert Gods truth and righteousnes destroying tru Piety and Religion in Men by bringing a stupid sloth on som a remorsless infidelity or impenitence on others and an invincible desperation or obduration in most which is the genuin Of-spring of that Doctrin which deprivs Mans Wil of al freedom in matters of salvation by turning the Gospels general promises into particular limitings of special Grace effectual only to a few secret ones by direct absolut Decree leaving the rest forlorn or destitut of tru Grace though caled by the same word of the Gospel Melancthon speaks herof before Arminius was ever heard of Loc commun de Praedest Let us remov from S. Paul such Stoical disputs as destroy Faith Prayer for how could Saul beleev or pray when he doubted whether the Promiss belonged to him or when the fatal Table of Destinies had prepossesled him for 't is decreed thou shalt be a Castaway If Free-wil avail nothing til I perceiv Regeneration wrought in me by the Spirit I wil be indulgent to my self-unbeleef and other vitious affections of the flesh This Manichean imagination is flat falshood and our minds are to be drawn from it and taught that Free-wil with Grace avails much Thus he who also in point of discrimination saith When Promises are universal and no contrary or contradictory Wils in God ther must needs be som caus of difference in us as why Saul was rejected and David received som disparity in thos two caused it yet stil remember that the doing som good or il action is not to be conceived to be by meer natural strength of Wil but as 't is helped by divine Grace beware lest in shunning Scilla thou fal not on Charybdis 15. Regeneration is caled by som the first Resurrection and 15 Regeneration Conversion a new Creation who assert that Man doth no more to his new Creation then he did at first nor to his Regeneration then Generation nor to his Resurrection from sin then Lazarus did in raising his dead body Hence Pemble saith that the seed of spiritual life and habits of Faith and Grace are infused like a new Soul before Men be supernaturaly illumined sith illumination goes before the act not habit of Faith and sanctifying Grace in the Soul So Mr. Tailor on S. Pauls words whoever is in Christ is a new Creature infers that Grace cannot be resisted becaus no Creature can resist his Creator in framing him Such dangerous dogmats thei grand Rabbies instil into their credulous Disciples This savours too much of Enthusiasm and in our spiritual Nativity as in the Natural are many preparatory dispositions not al by infusion nor are Arguments taken from Allegories which is too rife among Sectists authentic if extended beyond Scriptures tru sens Saint Pauls words if any Man be in Christ he is a new Creature 2 Cor. 5. 17. are not strictly to be sensed for new Creation is meant of qualities not substance els if literaly pressed a kind of Transubstantiation in Mans Conversion may be better maintained then Papists doo of Christs body in the Eucharist Chrysostom expounds it wel That new birth is not the substance but dignity of Grace for it intimats the universality of this change in qualities to be so diffused over the whol Man as one shal not know him to be the same whence 't is more bluntly caled Resurrection to shew the great mutation or variation So Saint Paul describes the old and new Man by alteration of quality Gal. 3. 9. 10. Gal. 5 6. 1 Cor. 7. 19. 't is faith working by lov which makes a new Creature and to keep Gods Commandments It respects also the necessity of this change in opposition to our first birth in Adam Except a John 3 3. Man be born again he cannot see the Kingdom of God saith Christ but by Faith we are new born to righteousnes and holines as in a secund Adam Ther is a supernatural Principle of this change or Conversion even God for he makes us not we our selfs in both creations So saith S. Paul We are his workmanship Eph. 2. 10. created in Christ Jesus to good works Ech Creation and Generation hath a proper peculiar maner for he that made us without us wil not sav us without us In the one is a change a non Ente ad Ens from a rude inanimat Chaos In the other a non Tali ad Tale in a living Rational Creature Ther God wrought immediatly here by means ther no Creature ever said Creat or renew me Lord here David cries Creat Psal 51. 10. in me a clean heart O God and renew a right spirit within me Ther it never was said to any Make thy self here God saith Make you a new heart and spirit for why wil ye dy Ther no Ezek. 18 31. Creature was ever blamed for not being or being as it is but here to keep on the old Man or not put on the new is reputed a notorious fault to them which profess Christ and the Gospel Nazianzen saith It was a sicknes in his time not to estimat In Apologeâ— good or bad men by their maners and conversation but from Faction for thos things which in such a Man pleased to day if he turned to morow another way were disliked and what was commended yesterday shal be condemned to day How wel this agrees with our age indeed with al times since Adam let the world judg and apply as they list Under Henry 8. was a Book published by the Clergy wherof An. Reg. 35. A. C. 1543. Archbishop Cranmer was chief and confirmed by Parliament stiled A necessary Erudition for a Christian wherin Freewil is declared to remain in Man after Adams fal as thes Texts testify Be not overcom of Evil Neglect not the Grace in thee Lov not the World If thou wilt enter into life keep the Commandments al which doubtless were in vain if Man had no power or faculty with help of Grace to understand the Commandments and freely obey them but it wils not any good acceptable to God unles holpen by Grace willing what is il of it self Hence som Divines define it to be a power of Reason and Wil by which Good is chosen wâ—th assistance of Grace or Evil without it Next it shews the disparity between our Protoparents Free wil to obey or disobey and their Posterities which is prone only to Evil unles illumined and made free by special Grace or supernatural working of the Holy Ghost which Gods goodnes offers to al yet they only enjoy it who by
Thes Texts tend al to the Registry of Gods simple Prescience and Providence which tho they be no causes of any effects yet are certain in the events and cannot be frultrat but make nothing for absolut Decree of a prefixd period to our dais Dr. Charlton debats this point acutly and accuratly part wherof shal be decurted God the giver of life sole moderator but not Author of death for al natural motion proceds from one first mover God whence S. Paul saith In him we live mov Acts 17. 28. and hav our being The term Life is taken either for the period of every Mans dais caused by a sensible decay or dissolution of al ligaments which chain the Soul to the Body or by an extinction of his vital flame upon consumption of the Radical fuel when no preternatural causes interven to anticipat the dissipation of that elementar temper on which Lifes subsistence necessarily depends or els for the end of every Mans Life in general by what means or whensoever be it by diseases or violent accidents without respect to the gradual decay and consequent cessation of natural temperament in old age From the first acception arise 2. Questions 1. Whether this term of Life circumscribed by a natural deflux of the Body which is a kind of mature facil faling away of Natures ligaments like ripe Apples be definitly fixd by divine Ordinance to leav every in dividual in his own moderation without prescribing or procuring that this decay of temperature should hav more or less duration then what may naturaly occur from the more or less durability therof 2. If Life be thus fixd by Gods decree not to prolong it beyond the point of its natural durability whether he can without altering his own established cours of Nature being moved by Mens praiers or pitty as he added 15 yeers to Ezekiahs dais correct thos depravities procured by excess sicknes or other extraneous means and so hinder the dissolution therof That is whether if God hath predetermined that none shal exced the term to which the durability of his individual temper or strength of constitution may probably extend his special Providence doth not permit that the temperament may be vitiated impaired or ruined by putrefactiv destructiv preternatural causes obvenient and so not hold out to that point of time which otherwise by its primigeneous nativ condition it might hav reached unto For the secund acception of Life in general by what means of dissolution soever sicknes surfeit shipwrack suffocation famin war wounds or other-wais this question occurs whether the immature pâ—â—eâ—natural period therof be so precisely prefixd that no Human prudence or providence can prevent or prolong it nor fortuitous accidents accelerat or prevert it In brief whether the Catastrophe of ech Mans life be prefined in the Book of Fate or Divine Decree Life is said to be fixd in a duple sens 1. In respect of som absolut Decree antegredient to Gods Presâ—ience of al secund instrumental causes so that Man cannot possibly prorogue it beyond or fal short of that fatal term 2. In respect of som conditionat Hypothetic Decree whos alteration or accomplishment is superseded by the electiv liberty of mans Wil either as guided by supernatural light of divine Grace to pursu the real tru good or seduced by delusion of its own sensual judgment to wander in the devious tracts of error and so chus seeming fals Good Now it skils not whether this conditionat Decree be grounded on certain prenotion of al concomitant circumstances and corollary relations concerning Mans election of adhering to good and evil Objects and his consequent virtuous or vicious cours of life Or whether it be made without any such infallible prenotion or volition yet with a positiv deliberat sentence certainly to be executed in du time when the right use or abuse of Freewil shal be fulfilled Hence arise 3. Opinions 1. Som hold the term of every 1 Opinion very Mans life with al causes and clauses conducing to be flatly fatal or immovable by Gods irresistible Wil and Decree according to the vulgar saying his time is com this is a Stoical devise used as a spur to excite magnanimous spirits against dangers of death that every Mans destiny is writ with invisible indeleble characters in his forhead which al Mahometans maintain doctrinaly and many Christians ignorantly But 't is in it self impious if not blasphemous to confine Confut. Gods chief attribut of infinit Omnipotence within the definit lists laws or limits of secund causes and it derogats from the liberty of Mans wil leaving nothing in his power to elect or eschew nor to act or shun For if Fatal necessity be defended al our actions shal be but so many accomplishments of ineluctable Destiny and results of Counsil the decrees of Fate so al human pruâ—ence is palpable folly 〈◊〉 study of Wisdom painful vanity and al Laws meer tyranny siâ—h thâ—y injoyn only what must hâ—vâ—in doon otherwise or restrain what would els be checked by coercing fatality Thus shal al praâ—ers be fruitless vows hopelâ—ss exhortations to good needless dâ—hortations from evil frivolous and acts of piety or devotion superfluous with a â—â—yriod of other incongruâ—ties appendent if absolut fatality be admitted which is inconsistent to the rules o. Reason and Râ—ligion 2. Others assert a fixed fatality of every Mans life 2 Opin a posteriori not to be extended beyond the natural condition of each particular constitution but not a priori sith it may be contracted or abbreviated as 't is commonly but simply said one may shorten tho not exced his time appointed by divine Dâ—cree Certes God made no such absolut decrees for the length Confut. of any Mans life but leavs every Man free to be his own Carver in al temporal mundan affairs 3. Divers defend that Mans life may be lengthned or 3 Opin shortned more or less of what it usually is in most Men by the right use or abuse of means according to Gods prenotion or Hypothetic determination leaving the means to every mans Freewil This is perpendicularly proved by many plain places and Confirmat pregnant instances extant in holy Writ but none that hav any color for a fixed fatal period Salomon saith The Prov. 10. 27. fear of the Lord prolongeth dais but the wickeds yeers shal be shortned For God promiseth long life to them that honor their Parents and generaly to al such as shal keep his Commandements Yea he said to Salomon If thou wilt 1 Kings 3. 14. walk in my wais as thy Faâ—her David did I wil lengthen thy dâ—is And David definitly saith Bloody and deceitful Men shal Ps 55. 23. Ps 102. 24. Ps 6. 4 5. Ps 30 Ps 8â— not liv out half their dais Again Take me not away in the midst of my dais The like he praied in sicknes That God would not cut off the thâ—ed of his Isâ— and givs thanks for preserving him from death
but Inst l. 2. c. 4 § 3 are forced by his bridle to doo as he wil hav them That God not only hardens Men by leaving it to themselfs but by appointing their Counsils ordering their deliberations stirring up their Wils and confirming their purposes by the Minister of his wrath Satan to destroy them That he prepared Sâ—hon King of Ammorits by hardning his heart becaus he intended his ruin Inst l 14 c. 18. §. 1 2. That the distinction of a permissiv decree is a fiction of the flesh and they play the fools that use it as a subterfuge to shift off this seeming absurdity His contemporar Collegue Mr. Beza and al his rigid Sectators stiled Supralapsarians agree in al Points Visne Deum ex placito Reprobos addicere paenae Durus hic est Sermo quis â—olerare potest Wilt make God punish Reprobats of 's pleasure This is an hard speech who can it endure Ob. He objects That to permit Mans Fal and to Wil or In Gen. c. 3. Decree it is al one in effect becaus what he could hinder if he would must com to pass by his Wil in not hindring it sith he had power to prevent it Ergo he willed it This al his Disciples vouch as irrefragable verity Sol. By their leavs this folows not for though the Proverb be tru in Men Qui non vetat cum possit jubet yet in this case it holds not with God but crosseth his chief desigâ— or Decree to make Man a free Creature ad utrumlibet to stand or fal which could not be if he had limited the liberty of his Wil and not permitted him to chuse either way So they say to foresee what wil com to pass and to decree it is al one which is untru The Decree of Reprobation both in the privativ act of preterition and positiv of punishment depends on Gods simple Prescience which anteverts al Decrees concerning the Worlds Creation or disposal of Man both for matters of this life and a better who had absolut Free-wil in al his actions being not barred or blocked up by any absolut antecedent Decree of pure pleasure as thos rigid Rhadamants pretend The Supralapsarians present Man to God in the Decree of Reprobation abov or beyond Adams fal as if without any respect of foreseen sin original or actual in the Creature he decreed to glorify his Soveraignty in the eternal rejection and damnation of most Mankind as the end by their wilful disobedience and final impenitence as the means The Sublapsarians to shun som inconveniences incident to that assertion fal a litle lower and exhibit Man as guilty of original sin for which God freely decreed the greatest number of Men to eternal pardition only to shew his Power and Justice The difference is smal not sufficient to caus a breach betwixt them as they confess nor is any reason to jar about circumstances when they accord in substance For both conspire that Gods moving caus of Reprobation is Gods Wil and not Mans wickednes So their final impenitence is utterly inavoidable by Gods absolut antecedent irrespectiv Decree which both sides hold This prefractory position is oppugned by many Reasons 1 Reason 1. Becaus 't is a novity which hath no footing in antiquity for the upper way was never taught by any no not the stoutest asserters against Pelagians nor the lower til S. Austins time but al concurred that Men might possibly be saved which in event were damned and to hav repented who died impenitent sith no Decree of God lais any necessity of perishing on Adam or his Posterity Hence Prosper S. Austins Scholar saith that almost al Antients consent how God decreed al Mens ends according to his foresight of their actions Minutius Faelix presents Pagans upbraiding Christians that they held al events inevitable framing an unjust God who punished their indeclinable destinies and not Mens voluntary iniquities for as others ascribe it to Fate so you to God He answers That Christians Fate is Gods Decree grounded on his Prescience which determins retributions according to Mens foreseen actions S. Jerem a stif Anti-Pelagian saith the same that al depends on Gods Foreknowledg for whom he knows wil be righteous he lovs before he coms out of the womb and hates the contrary For his lov and hatred riseth from foresight of future things els he loveth al things and hates nothing what he hath made yea he saith God chuseth whom he seeth to be good The result is That God makes no Decree to damn or sav but what is built on foreknowledg of Mens actions S. Austin and Prosper held chief Patrons of absolut Decree the Postlapsarians way let fal words to this effect viz. That Apostats ly not under a necessity of perishing becaus they were not predestinat but were not predestinat becaus God foresaw they would prevaricat that becaus God foreknew they would perish by their own Free-wil therfore he did not predestinatly sever them from the Sons of perdition That God withdraws not from any Man ability to yeeld obedience becaus he is not predestinat but did not predestinat upon prescience of his faling from obedience So Fulgentius saith Thos whom God foresaw would dy in sin he decreed should liv in endless punishment The Council of Arles against Pelagians denounceth thes Held A. C 490 Anathema's Cursed be he that shal say a Man which perisheth might not hav bin saved Or that a Vessel of dishonor may not rise to honor The Valentine Synod saith The Wicked perish not becaus they could not but becaus they would not be good and by their own fault remain in the mass of perdition Again That Gods power predestinats any to evil so as he cannot be good we doo not only not beleev so great an evil but with al detestation denounce such accursed So did the Arausican Council Thes are only Human testimonies which are no rules of Faith yet gray Antiquity and grav Assemblies must be more approved then green Novity or corner Conventicles specialy sith Calvin and Beza acknowledg that the common Opinion of conditional respectiv Decree had many great A. betters in al Ages who aspers Origen as the Author 2. It shuns the test or touchstone of trial which is a shrewd 2 Reason suspition of falsity for in the Disput at Momplegart between Beza and Jacobus Andreas with their Associats having argued the points about Christs Body the Lords Supper Beza flatly refused to touch Reprobation lest the Ignorant should take scandal being unacquainted with such high mysteries At closing up of which Colloquy Frederic Earl of Wirtenberg earnestly exhorted his Lutherans to declare the Calvinians for Brethren by giving hands one to another but they denied it saying Thâ—y would pray God to open their Eys and doo them any offiâ—e of charity but not giv them the right hand of Fraternity being found guilâ—y of gross enormous errors naming this as chief At Hague Conference the Contra-Remonstrants would not
is drawn by his own concupiscence 1. John 2. 16. S. John tels us That the lust of the flesh lust of the ey and pride of life is not of the Father but of the World This Tenet makes God wors then the Devil whos tentation may be resisted but Gods powerful effectual Decree cannot be frustrated Prosper saith If this were charged on the Devil he may in som sort cleer himself sith he can compel none to sin what madnes then is it to aspers that on God which cannot justly be imputed to Satan Tertullian saith He cannot be accompted Author of sin who is Avenger and Condemner of it nor can he be a just holy God saith S. Basil nor Judg of the World if he decree sin sith 't is al one to say God is Author of sin and to aver he is not God The defenders disclaim this Tenet in direct terms being so harsh to Christian ears but deliver it in truth by necessary consequence For they avouch the Decree of Reprobation to be absolut and inevitable nor can Reprobats be saved tho they doo al the works of Saints sith God created them to this very purpos that they should sin els he could not attain his principal ends to manifest his mercy in saving the elect and execut his justice in damning Reprobats who are eternaly decreed to sin even to death Thus say Piscator Marlorat Zanchy and many mo This is by cleer consequents to make God the Author of sin which is ordinarily imputed to thos who hav not such interest or influence in production of it as this assertion ascribes to God The Devil is caled the Father of lies and semblably of al sins 1. John 3. 8. 10. els as sinners are stiled his Sons and sin a work of the Devil which the Son of God cam to loos Yet the Devil only egs or excites Men by outward suggestions and inward tentations to sin which is al he can doo but if God necessitats by his absolut Decree and after determinats by his powerful secret working in Mens Souls and disposing or overruling their Wils that they cannot but sin and perish he doth infinitly more then barely suggest intice or perswade which is horrid to imagin So wicked Men are reputed Authors of their sins becaus they plot purpos chuse and commit them as immediat Agents but if God overrules their projects and purposes by an uncomptrolable decree that they must needs doo as they doo and dy tho they would fain doo otherwise and be saved he is chiefly the Author and they only secund Actors or subordinat Instruments under him Haply they hav free power in it self but no free use to doo as they list sith God determins their actions by his Omnipotent Wil. Evil Counsilors and Allurers to sin are also esteemed causers and punished with others which commit crimes by their instigation as Jâ—zabel was guilty of Nabaths murder for counsiling and contriving it but they say God doth even inforce it by an Almighty Decree which cannot be resisted therfore he is much more the chief author and actor then meer abetter or accessary If a King shal procure a Subjects ruin by plotting his offens as Henry 7. is said to seek Edward Earl of Warwicks destruction by contriving his escape out of London Tower al men wil charge him as Author of his crime and death much more God if he design the sin and damnation of Reprobats So saith Moulin who wil not abhor a King that to hang a man by Law plots to make him a Thief or Murderer that he may seem to doo it justly For he shal not only make an innocent wretched but wicked too and destroy him for that offens wherof he is Author So dissembling Tiberius decreeing Sejanus Daughter to death caused the Hangman first to deflower hir because their Laws forbad Virgins to be strangled yet was he chief Author both of hir rape and ruin If then God Decrees to damn millions upon millions and shal caus or permit the Devil first to defile them that he may justly destroy them is not he the chief caus of their sins so wel as sufferings Al Men grant God to be sole Author of Mens conversion and salvation yet doth he no more in procuring it then thes Men ascribe to him in reprobation and damnation For he absolutly and antecedently from eternity decreed to sav the elect and by irresistible means to work faith repentance and final perseverance for their salvation and accomplishment of his Decree semblably he peremptorily decreed as they say to damn Reprobats leading them on by an insuperable power and immutable providence from sin to sin til they hav made up a ful measure and in fine inflicts vengence for acting what he appointed What difference then in thes courses or why shal not God be reputed Author of the ones sins so wel as of the others salvation The Fathers held it a parallel case an therfore made sin an object only of Prescience bending their Arguments against this perilous position of an absolut antecedent irrespectiv irresistible inforcing Decree of Reprobation Dr. Vsher relating the Church â—â—st of Gotâ—â—sâ— p 138. of Lyons answer to Seotus against Gotteschalc hath thes words whoever saith ther is a constraint or necessity of sinning laid on any Man he grosly and grievously blasphems God making him to be the Author of sin nor can al the quaintest wits in the world avoid it Howbeit to shew fair play and scan this point at ful al their Defenses Devises Shadows Similituds Evasions and Elusions shal be amply agitated and aptly answered 'T is said ther is a duple Decree 1. Operativ by which God 1 Devise positivly works his purpos and this would infer him to be the Author of sin 2. Permissiv by which he only Decrees to let it com to pass and this doth not make him Author of sin which is al that they maintain If it be al 't is wel let that be tried Answer Indeed God permits al sin els could be none if he would effectualy hinder it as he left Adam in the hand of his own Alâ—s 14 16. counsil to stand or fal So he suffred the Nations to walk in their own wais And stil suffers al Men to slide into sundry sins not becaus he stands in need of sin to set forth his glory but becaus he is suprem moderator of al knowing how to bring good out of evil and specialy becaus he made Man as Tertullian tels a free creature undetermined either way in his actions til he determins himself and may not be hindered from sinning by Omnipotence becaus he ordained otherwise Nor doth a permissiv Decree caus sin being meerly extrinsecal to the sinner which hath no influence on it If they intend nothing els in good earnest then a bare permission 't is granted but their main conclusion fals to ground and the debat at an end Heâ—ce their chief Coryphees reject this distinction as a fiction of
or thin For Mans Soul they say 't is created by pouring in and poured in by creating what 's that For the caus of Sens they make an ubiquity of Species or shews of objects which appeering to the Ey make sight to the Ear hearing to the Palat tast to the Nostril smelling and to the rest of the Body feeling For the caus of willing to doo any act they make the faculty or wil it self doo somtime one thing somtime another making the Power caus of the act as if on should assign Mens ability to doo any things the very â—aus of good or evil acts Yet oftimes they put their own ignorance to be caus of natural events or effects but disguised in other words as when they make Fortune a caus of contingents wherof they know no caus or when they ascribe effects to occult qualities not known to them nor as they sâ—rmise to any els or to Sympathy Antiphaty Antiperistasis specifical properties which neither signify the agent producing nor operation produced being only Clokes to cover ignorance Their Moral and Politic Philosophy hath the like or greater Politics absonances for if any doo injury or injustice contrary to Law they say God is prime Caus of the Action but not of the injustice or deviation this is vain Philosophy as to say that one makes a right and crooked line but another the incongruity or inconformity This distinction was devised to defend the doctrin of Free wil not subject to Gods wil. Why not to vindicat God from being Author of sin notwithstanding Quaere his absolut irrespectiv Decree to Reprobat men who must needs sin Aristotle defines Good and Evil by mens appetit which may seem tru sith every one is ruled by his own list or lore but in a Common-wealth the measure is fals wher not mens privat appetits but public Law of the State is sole Rule yet their doctrin soly practised wher every one doth what seems good in his own eys To make lawful mariage unchast or impure as they doo who deny it to the Clergy under color of continual chast continence to attend at the Altar and administer the holy Eucharist is vain Philosophy wherby they make mariage a moral vice and themselfs by abstaining spiritual like the Angels in Heaven From Aristotles Civil Polity they cal al Common-wealths sav the popular such as then Athens was Tyranny and al Kings Tyrans so they termed thirty Legislators set up by the Lacedemonians who subdued Athens thirty Tyrans and Democraty liberty yet Tyran truly taken signifies simply a Monarch but when that Government grew odious in all Greece it was branded with the Popular hatred of Tyranny and when Kings were expeld from Rome they did the like So when the same men are displeased with Democraty or Aristocraty they nickname the first Anarchy the last Oligarchy or Tyranny of a few Hence riseth another error of Aristotle that Laws not men should govern as if men wil be ruled by words or paper and not by men which hav power by the Sword to punish or put them to death giving life to the Laws this is a pestilent pernitious error wherby they seduce men so oft as they like not their Governors to rais war against them which the Clergy cherisheth Another error in Civil Philosophy which they never learned of Pagans is to extend the Law the Rule only of actions to mens very thoughts and Consciences by examination or inquisition of what they hold tho they conform in Words and Actions Herby they are forced to answer the truth of their thoughts or an untruth for fear of punishment Another error not drawn from Heathens is that a privat Man without the CoÌ„mon-wealths authority may interpret the Law by his own Spirit but are not Scriptures wher they are a Law made a Law by the CoÌ„monwealths authority and consequently a part of the Civil Law So they which impropriat Preaching to one certain Order of Men wher the State leavs it free commit the like error for if the State forbids me not to Preach none els can If I be among Judians or Infidels shal I being not in Orders think it sin to Preach Christ Jesus or expound Scriptures In such cases of necessity say they wher is no Ministry it may be doon without mission as wherever a dispensation is du for necessity ther needs none when no Law forbids it Ergo to deny thes functions to whom the civil Soveraign denies them not is to take away lawful liberty The Schoolmens writings are mostly insignificant terms or trains of strange barbarous words otherwise used then in common Latin language which would pose Cicero Varro or any Grammarian of antient Rome For let any try whether he can translat them into any modern Toung which if he cannot how can that be intelligible in Latin which is not so in other languages Howbeit this insignificance of speech is no fals Philosophy but both a quality to hide the truth and make Men think they hav it being skild in School-notions and so desist from farther serch of it in others He saith elswher what kind of felicity God ordains for them that devoutly serv him one shal no sooner know then enjoy being Quaere jois now so incomprehensible as the School-mens words beatific Vision unintelligible but doth not that signify to enjoy the perpetual presence of the divine Trinity as Men delight in ech others company face to face Which if Christ must reign on a new finit Earth with his Saints for ever none ever shal doo For beatific Vision is to see the blessed Trinity face 4 Caus to face in his eternal mansion The last caus of spiritual Darknes is to mix uncertain Traditions and untru Histories like the golden legion of fals fictious miracles in Saints lifes of Ghosts Goblins and Apparitions alleged by Romish Doctors to varnish their Doctrins of Hel Purgatory Exoâ—cisms and such like Which tho som pious Fathers Pope Gregory 1. St. Bernard c. broched yet they were Men and might take it on trust from others as Beda also did but if any speak it of their own knowledg 't is no confirmation of such vanity but a detection of their fraud fallacy or frailty The suppression of tru Philosophy by Men that hav no authority nor sufficient study may be joind with the introduction of falsâ— for our late Navigators and al learned Men acknowledg Antipodes as it appeers daily more that yeers and dais are determined by the Earths motions yet such as only supposed it heretofore were punishd by Ecclesiastic power What reason had they Is it becaus 't is contrary to tru Religion That cannot be if the opinions be truâ— let the truth be first disquired by competent Judges or refuted by such as pretend to know the contrary Is it becaus they disturb Government or Religion established Let the Teachers be silenced or punished by civil Rulers who can chastise disobedience in thos that teach