his Creatures his not decreeing of Sin doth not at all lessen his Providence about sinful Actions 8. A Decree to permit Sin is not necessary TO Permit is not to Act and not to Act is nothing and of nothing there is no Decree at least there is no need of a Decree No more is needful to a Not-being than Gods not Willing and not Effecting Consequently there is no Decree of the Permission of Sin at least there is no necessity of holding such a Decree It may be Objected That a Non-esse is the Object of Gods Will when he wills that some Evil Action shall not come to pass The answer is That in such a case the thing that God properly wills is his restraining and limiting of mens evil Inclinations and Actions and the Non-esse of those Actions is said to be willed by him but improperly and reductively as being the Consequent of that which he properly Wills And his Will is further terminated on the good Consequence of his preventing the said Evil Actions It may be likewise objected If a man may rightly say I will or Purpose to permit why may not God rightly say so The answer is that when a man makes such a Determination it commonly means a Purpose of restraining the Inclination or Will that is or may be in him to hinder the thing and the said Purpose is further terminated on the Consequents of the Permission and the ordering of them So God may be said to Will or Purpose a Permission as he wills or purposeth the limiting of his restraining Agency and as this Will and purpose is also terminated on the Consequents of the thing permitted and the disposal thereof by his Providence 9. The Effect of Sin may be the Object of Gods Decree THough God decree no mans sin yet he may decree the Effect which sinners cause by sin So God decreed the death of Christ and the passive constupration of David's Concubines but he decreed not the sin of the Actors Accordingly such places of holy Scripture as seem to import Gods Willing the sins of men do indeed signifie no more than the Effects of their sins as willed by him Though sin hath no Good in it and works nothing Good in it self and cannot be willed of God as a thing convenient or conducible yet it may be an occasion of the greatest Good and it may work an Effect which though bad in it self I mean Physically bad may be conducible to Good and so far the Effect may be willed as convenient If it be objected That a Decree of the Effect one would think doth imply a Decree of the Cause The answer is 1. That the meer decreeing of a thing includes no more than a willing that it shall be joyned with a Knowledg of its convenience And so a Decree of the Effect of sin doth imply a Foreknowledg of the conducibility of that Effect to some Good yet it no way implyes a Decree of the sin but only a Foreknowledg of it 2. Though God doth not Decree mans sin yet he decrees his own concurse to the Act in its general nature but not as morally specified He decrees also the disposing and ordering of all Concauses and necessary Antecedents of the Effect which sinners accomplish And this with his Foreknowledg of the sin it self sufficeth to a Decree of such an Effect 10. Of the Futurition of Sin from Eternity THat the Futurition of sin is from Eternity is no Argument that Gods Decree is the Cause thereof For Futurition in not a real Being distinct from the thing future but it is meerly a respect of reason or conception of the mind about it and it requires no distinct Cause from the Future thing it self No real Being is Eternal but God and Eternal Futurition is but ens rationis and an extrinsick denomination of the Divine Mind as conceiving it The Cause whereby a thing doth exist in Time is the Cause whereby it was Eternally Future though the Cause did not exist from Eternity as the Cause whereby a thing sometime was is the Cause why it shall be a thing past even to Eternity though that Cause do not exist to Eternity 11. Of Gods Eternal Prescience of Sin GOd doth Foresee whatsoever is Future and of determinate verity by the meer Infinity and Eternity of his Understanding And no other Cause is to be supposed necessary to his Foreknowledg of sin That there can be no Futurity of a determinate Verity the Causes whereof are undeterminate must be proved by the Asserters thereof That a thing will be sufficeth to the truth of its Futurity without consideration from what Cause it will be And who can say that Futurity is not by it self intelligible or that God cannot Foreknow what a Creature acting freely and contingently will do Let it be noted that the thing under consideration is what the Infinity of the Divine Understanding can reach unto 12. In what Sense Benefits are absolutely decreed of God IN whatsoever Order God doth bring any thing to pass in Time he decreed from Eternity to bring it to pass in the very same Order There 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 use of Means requisite to the bringing to pâ—ss of that Good which is decreed and God willeth also that those Conditions shall be performed and those Means used and so in the issue he absolutely willeth all those Benefits that come to pass That which God doth not but upon conditions he absolutely Decreed to do and he absolutely Decreed to do it upon such Conditions So that the Decree is absolute though the thing Decreed be Conditional 13. Punishments are not alike absolutely Decreed yet in some sense absolutely THough the Favours and Benefits that are given conditionally be absolutely decreed because the giving of the Conditions is decreed also yet the Punishments that are inflicted are not alike absolutely decreed because the sins which are the Condition or the Meritorious Cause thereof are not decreed But in regard of Gods certain Foreknowledg of those sins which merit the decreed Punishments the Decree thereof doth not hang in suspence and it may be rightly said that the Punishments are so far absolutely decreed He that certainly foresees the Condition of the decreed Event absolutely willeth it though he willeth not the Condition And so God's Omniscience proves that he hath at no instant a will properly Conditional that is suspended upon a Condition as to the Act it self though the Event decreed be so suspended 14. Of the diversity and order of Gods Decrees ALl the Decrees of God are one as in him but they have a formal diversity in respect of the Objects and Effects in which regard we must necessarily think and speak of them as divers According to this diversity Predestination includes divers Decrees among which these are notable viz. a Decree of Redemption a Decree of the first Saving Grace or Conversion a Decree of Perseverance and a Decree of Glory All the Decrees of God are executed in certain Order the
A Humble ENDEAVOUR Of some Plain and Brief EXPLICATION OF THE Decrees and Operations of God About the FREE ACTIONS of MEN More Especially Of the Operations of DIVINE GRACE Written by Mr. JOHN CORBET late Minister of CHICHESTER LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1683. THE PREFACE THe things here discussed I have studied many years and what by the Writings of Learned Men and by discoursing with them and by my own ratiocination grounded on the Holy Scripture I have apprehended nearest the Truth which I have been feeling after I have collected in this narrow Scantling I have been led into this search not out of vain Curiosity but an honest Desire to gain as clear a Knowledge in these Points as I can reach to that I might be able with more assurance to unfold the same to others as far as is requisite for their Edification Though the Counsels and Wayes of God cannot be found out unto Perfection yet the Light of Scripture and Nature leads us to think and speak of them so as is most agreeable to his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness and so as his Justice and Truth may be cleared and the freeness and largeness of his Mercy magnified and that the glorious Power of his Grace and the deplorable weakness of Fallen Man may be acknowledged and that penitent Sinners may be sufficiently incouraged and that the impenitent may be evidently self-condemned That which is set down in this Enquiry is mostly in order to the clearing and confirming of the Principles here following 1. The help of Divine Grace is the prime and main Cause of all the Good that dwells in us and that is done by us But our own Wills are the main Cause of the Evil that is done by us and of our abiding in that Evil State into which our Nature is fallen and God is no Cause thereof at all 2. God doth decree to bring some to Salvation by his Free Grace and Love And he doth not decree to damn any but for sin as the Cause of their damnation which sin he doth not decree nor effect but foresee 3. God doth ascertain the Conversion and Salvation of his Elect but he doth not effect it without their own concurrence in a subordinate way I speak of those that attain to the use of Reason not of Infants Ideots and Mad-men whose Case is of different and peculiar nature 4. Though Election doth infer a Certainty that the Elect shall attain to Grace and Glory yet Non-election doth infer no Necessity of the sin and damnation of the Non-elect save only that which is called Necessitas consequentiae or Necessity in order of Argumentation and is Necessity but improperly so called and implies no Necessitation of the Event 5. Though God doth not simply will the Event of the Conversion and Salvation of all to whom the Gospel is made known yet he wills it so far and in such manner as doth abundantly declare his good will towards men and doth assure the diligent of good success in their indeavours and doth convict the negligent of being inexcusable despisers of his Grace towards them 6. God hath given us all some help of grace more or less in order to our Spiritual Recovery The said help may be improved by us to the obtaining of more And it is not Gods ordinary way to deny more help or to withdraw what is given but upon the abuse of what is given and the resisting of what is offered and for our not doing not only what we ought but what we might do According to these Principles I have proceeded My indeavour hath been accompanied with a sense of my own great defectiveness in the Knowledge of these things But I have done as I was able and am willing to know wherein soever I have erred The perfect clearing of all things and the solving of all doubts in these Mysterious Points may be above the reach of mortal men The great Apostle said We know but in part But Truths of the greatest Moment and Evidence may not be disbelieved or doubted of because we cannot solve all Difficulties about lesser and obscurer Questions relating to those grand Truths PART I. Of the Decrees of God about the Actions of Men. 1. What the Divine Decree of an Event doth import TO Decree a Thing is to will and purpose its coming to pass and it supposeth that the Thing is judged Convenient If it be a sure Decree it implies that the Decreer can and will so provide that it shall infallibly come to pass Gods Decree of an Event is a willing and purposing of it as Convenient It s Convenience he knows by the knowledg of simple intelligence and being decreed he knows it as a Future Convenient by the knowledg of Vision and is pleased with it As Gods Efficience is concern'd in the Event decreed the Decree of the Event includes the Decree of the said Efficience That whatsoever God doth in time he hath eternally decreed to do I suppose is unquestionable And for as much as no Humane Act comes to pass without his concurse he hath undoubtedly decreed the concurse that he yields to it And there is the same reason of the Decree of whatsoever on Gods part is antecedently necessary as the giving of all Necessary Power Preparatives Means Concauses Objects all which are unquestionably decreed of God 2. The Divine Decree doth not infer the Necessitation of the Event THough the Existence of the Event depends upon Gods Efficience yet something thereof he may put under the Creatures undetermined Liberty Under this Liberty he may put the comparative determination of the Will to act rather than not to act and to act towards such an Object rather than another Surely it is too high presumption for man to say that God cannot Decree or firmly Will that humane act which is in part suspended on mans Will for instance to say God could not decree Adam's Perseverance in the state of Innocence if it were in any part left to his own liberty to stand or fall Now if such an Assertion be an apparently presumptuous limitation of God besides other great inconveniences to be objected against it then it may more safely and rationally be held that Gods Decree of a humane act is very agreeable to the leaving of it in some part to the undetermined liberty of mans will though to unfold the Agreement be very difficult to humane Understanding In short though the Decree cannot consist with the contrary Event yet it may consist with the possibility of the contrary and so it doth not in it self infer a Necessitation of the thing decreed 3. The Negation of the Decree doth not infer an impossibility of the Event GOd's Decree is not necessary to an Event by way of causation Consequently the negation of the Decree is not a negation of what is causally necessary thereunto and so it doth not infer an impossibility thereof As for
Design whereof was eternally included in the very Decrees And the Order of the Decrees as to our apprehension of them is most safely and conveniently laid down according to the order of their Execution But to insist upon a Priority and Posteriority of Intention in the Divine Intellect and Will is found lubricous and incommodious and it is no way necessary 15. Divers Decrees have diversly qualified Objects IN the Divine Decrees diversified from their Objects the Objects are considered as diversly qualified Gods Decree to glorify a Person hath the Object otherwise qualified than the Object of his Decree of giving Faith it being certain that the condition which is necessary to Glorification is not necessary to effectual Vocation It is to be noted That though the divers Decrees have their special Objects considered or foreknown as diversly qualified yet none of them have any Exterior Cause It argues no more dependence of God on the Creature to terminate his Volition or Decree only on a Qualified Subject than to terminate his Efficient Power and Will on such a Qualified Subject and no other as it is most certain that he doth And that hereupon his Decree is not a thing in suspence hath been already shewed 16. Of Absolute Election THere is a Predestination or Absolute Election of Particular Persons to Eternal Life For God doth decree to give Eternal Life upon certain Conditions and he doth also Decree to give those Conditions to Certain Persons That God doth in Certain Persons effect all the Conditions of Salvation or that he gives and maintains in them from time to time that Grace that shall infallibly end in Salvation is undeniable by them who believe that any are saved And the Donation of such Grace doth evidently prove his Eternal Purpose thereof For nothing is more evident than that God Decrees whatsoever he Effects This Absolute Election proceeds according to Gods Foreknowledg I mean the Foreknowledg both of the infallible Efficacy of his own Grace which he hath purposed towards his Elect and also of the Free Determination of their Wills by the same Grace So that God foresees no Good in them but what he hath decreed to give them and it is also true that he Foresees that they will use their own Liberty under his Grace as they ought to do 17. Of a general Conditional Decree of Salvation GOd doth not decree the Salvation of those that are not saved To say that God doth decree the Salvation of all upon Condition is I think an improper way of speaking There is indeed a Decree that all without exception by whom God's Conditions are performed shall be saved But this is no other than the decreeing of the general Law of Grace and is wholly another thing than the Decree of Election General Election sounds as a Contradiction in the Terms 18. Of Non-Election FOr as much as God hath not decreed such Grace to all as doth infallibly end in Eternal Salvation there are some Non-Elect Meer Non-Election is no Decree It is not a Nolition to give that Grace which accompanieth Salvation but a bare Non-Volition thereof There is indeed something more than a bare not-willing even a nilling to give such Grace But then it is a positive will of a judicial Denying of Grace which never takes place but upon supposition of precedent wilfull sin and it is a thing much different from Non-Election 19. The Non-Election of some agreeable to the Wisdom and consistent with the Goodness of God IT is agreeable to the Wisdom of Gods Government to Decree the salvation of some but not of all And in not decreeing the salvation of all there is no want of Goodness in God For that any miss of Salvation it is not through any omission on God's part but through mens neglect to do their part That the Non-Elect are not under an impossibility of being saved is evident from the Position before proved That the negation of Gods Decree doth not infer an impossibility of the Event 20. Of Positive Reprobation POsitive Reprobation or the Decree of Damnation is not Arbitrary nor is it absolute in that sense as the Decree of Salvation or Election is For where God decrees to save he decrees likewise all the pre-requisite Conditions of Salvation But he decrees Damnation only upon foresight of final Impenitence or dying in a state of sin but that Impenitence or sinful state he doth not decree Indeed the Obduration that is Judicial God decrees yet not Arbitrarily but upon Foresight of mens Voluntary Impenitence and Hardness And in this Judicial Obduration I do not mean that God decrees the penal sin it self but his own Righteous Judgment upon which the sin follows There is no Positive Decree that Few shall be Converted only the Conversion of the greater number is not decreed Nor doth God Decree the Salvation of men upon such Conditions as make the Salvation of most men impossible but the Conditions of being saved are such as do abundantly testifie the Goodness of God in the salvability of men in general 21. In what sense God is said to Will the Conversion and Salvation of all THe Conversion and Salvation of men is sincerely designed in Gods Publick Declarations and Proposals as the nearest and proper End thereof That they should turn and live is pleasing to his Will by a simple complacency and he hath no complacence in their Sin nor in their damnation as in it self considered He is so far willing of the Event as that he doth most earnestly and strictly command it and perswade it by most powerful and gracious Motives and gives such a measure of help as will make them happy if they make use of it and leaves them without excuse if they do it not And nothing is lacking on his Part that is meet for him to do towards it in point of Justice or Grace But it is certain that he doth not simply and absolutely Will the Event that never comes to pass Nor is it congruous to his Government of men in their state of tryal in order to a Future State of Recompence that he should absolutely Will the Event of all that he commands to be done Nevertheless Gods will is effectual to that which he willeth so far as he willeth it His will of the Event is always effectual as to the Event His Will of Command Counsel and Perswasion is always effectual as to the making of Duty and to the unfeigned signification of his Grace towards men and of his simple Complacence in their Happiness PART II. Of the Operations of God about the Actions of Men. 1. God is the Cause of all Good AS there is a Divine Decree so there is a Divine Efficience of all the Good as well Moral as Physical as well of common as of saving Grace that ever comes to pass It is the perfection of God as God to be the Author of all Good and to be the Author of it is to Decree and Effect it 2. Of Gods