order after another and not one thing for the sake of another If any thing be named Grace and tend not to mans recovery and Salvation or be not in some degree fit sufficient potent and available to further this work it is not to be esteemed worthy of the Noble and blessed name Grace The Distinctions of Grace The same Grace and power of Gods Spirit which in essence is no way diverse yet hath diverse denominations according to the diversities of relations and effects as the same Sunne first warmeth the Earth and then makes it fruitfull and beautifies it with flowers Quae enim in verbo pro ejus singulari divinae naturae simplicitate unum sunt unuÌ„ tamen effectuÌ„ in animâ non habent sed ad ejus varias diversas necessitates veluti diversa sese participanda accommodant Bern. in Cant. Ser. 85. The most antient and usefull distinction of Grace is that which we have in the tenth Article of our Church and in divers Collects of the booke of Common-prayer Into preventing following working coworking exciting helping Againe Grace is in Scripture set forth as standing without calling knocking Prov. 1. 20. Rev. 3. 20. Entred in inhabiting as in a Temple house 1 Cor. 3. 16. Againe God doth work in us these three things after these manners Bonum Cogitare sine nobis Velle nobiscum Perficere per nos Bern. de gratia libero Arbitrio Cornelius Muss 4. Ciner The Distinction of Grace into Sufficient and Effectuall is a frivolous distinction one member having too little the other too much to be found in rerum natura for how can that be a Grace or sufficient that never as such produceth any Effect but must have something more put to it in the entity of Grace to bring forth an Effect and then it loseth the name of Sufficient and winneth the title of Effectuall 2. What effect flowes except it be in miracles from one sole cause which is certaine and infallible and despising all other causes claimes to it selfe the title of Effectuall All Grace is in it selfe sufficient and efficient no lesse no more See Paulum Bennium de efficaci Dei auxilio purposely written to explode this distinction If there be a defect in the Effect it proceedeth from a defect in some other cause or the Subject or some other thing than from the defect of Grace Yet I will not stick to acknowledge Grace Effectuall to be well so called from the Event and as proceeding from Gods speciall mercy guided by his foreknowledge if that will satisfie their desires which affect this distinction Prevent us O Lord in all our doings with thy most gracious favour and further us with thy continuall help that in all our workes begun continued and ended in thee we may glorifie thy holy Name and finally by thy mercy obtaine everlasting life c. Almighty God we humbly beseech thee that as by thy speciall grace preventing us thou dost put in our mindes good desires so by thy continuall helpe we may bring the same to good effect through Jesus Christ our Lord. Collect on Easter day The Necessity of Grace In the defence hereof Saint August deserveth highly of the Church of God against Pelagius who denyed the Necessity of Grace For Pelagius denying Originall Sinne and not acknowledging any losse to Adams posterity by Adams transgression but holding mankinde to be now as sound as the Creator made it he must needes by consequence hold Grace to be superfluous which the Church held was prepared to supply that losse and hath its whole occasion out of the Fall He then that confesseth the effects of Adams sinne as fully as any man cannot be counted of Kindred to Pelagius in sleighting the necessity of Grace I subscribe to S. Augustine pressing home that Text Joh. 15. 5. Without me you can doe nothing Lib. 2. cont duas Epistolas Pelagii c. 8. alibi Autor operis imperfecti in Matth. c. 7. Hom. 18. in illud Petite dabitur vobis c. Because the Commandements were greater than to be fulfill'd by mans strength he directs us to God to whose grace nothing is impossible and that rightly because 't is exceeding just the Creature should stand in neede of its Creators help Se Saint Augustine de Genesi ad literam lib. 8. cap. 12. Mâ—â—i autem adhaerere Deo bonum est c. It is good for me to stick close to God for neither is the Creature any such thing as that without his Maker he should be able of himselfe to doe any good thing But his chiefe good worke is to be converted to his Maker and by him continually to be made Just Godly Wise and Blessed c. As the Ayre light being present is not made a lucid Body like the Sun which gives light but onely becomes light because if it were made such it could not possibly be but that even in the absence of light it should continue lucid Even so man God being present with him is illightned but being absent is immediatly darkned from whom we depart not so much in distance of place as in forsaking him wilfully This is even like Gods owne a glorious power such as wrought in Christ when God raised him from the dead Eph. 1. 19 20. and 3. 20. Whence our Conversion is called a new birth a new creation the first Resurrection 1. For first the power to will that which is good is created in us againe as it was at the first 2. When this power is as it were in actu primo by that gift or Creation it is not brought forth in actum secundum by our selves alone using that power but by the helping and co-operating of the divine power here again as Bernard saith Conatus nostri nulli sunt nisi excitentur cassi sunt nisi adjuventur 3. Bee we never so willing The habits of faith or love are no more in our power than it is in the power of a blind man to give himselfe sight though he be most willing to see and say Lord that I may receive my sight or no more than it is in him that hath present within himself to will but to doe that which the law commandeth he findeth not Rom. 7. 18. except the Spirit help him Rom. 8. 3. So that after we are willing and ready to receive the mighty power of God worketh and giveth that which we desire For our prayers implythree things First That we want something and feele our want Second That we cannot help our selves to supply our want but therefore goe to another Third That he alone to whom we goe as supplyants we confesse to be able and ready to help us and therefore we goe to him This is that which Saint Paul teacheth Phil. 2. 13. exhorting them that received and obeyed the Gospel to worke out their Salvation having received the power to worke yet because they might feare their owne weaknesse and infirmity even in using the
blessednesse of the Saints is both from the Reward of Grace and Retribution of Justice This sentence cleareth the most doubtfull part for that eternal death is de retributione justitiae is a truth so cleare and not possible to be decreed from before time without foreknowledge of sinne as my Opposites therefore love not to argue about Reprobation or if they doe they fly to the Dominion and Liberty of God as a Lord absolute and unaccountable to exclude Prescience even here if it were possible But for Predestination to eternall life because it is the gift of God they are confident it may be decreed without Prescience what man will doe which they well might seeme to have some colour for if the blessednesse of the Saints were onely de munere Gratiae and not also de retributione Justitiae But why strive they to separate and dis-joyne those things which God hath joyned together he having made the blessednesse of the Saints to be the retribution of Justice out of his Prescience of their labouring to attaine their end life and to be also the gift of his Grace out of his owne understanding what will bring them to happinesse if he grant them these benefits whereby he shall also attain his end the glory of his free love in giving eternall life to whom hee will both these being understood and knowne before the very existence of men or any act of his be allowed to be by any decree of the will of God that is onely upon condition or supposition if hee please to will the Creation Calling Governing of the Saints in such sort as he foreknowes will bring forth life unto them and this be a way of Glory to himselfe In summe this judgement being ex praeteritis the predestination of it cannot but be ex praevisis The Judge whom God hath ordained for that day is Christ the Lord. God and man not the Father himselfe immediatly the reason is Joh. 5. 22 23. that all might honour the Sonne as they honour the Father and the reason of that is because as the Father hath Created so the Sonne hath Redeemed mankinde And this shall be the great crime upon which the World shall be judged Joh. 3. 19. That light is come into the World and men loved darknesse more than light and Christs Word shall judge him in the last day whosoever hath rejected Christ Joh. 12. 48. as after the Gospell is preached any where the rule of judgement is Mark 16. 16. He that believeth and is Baptized shall be saved hee that believeth not shall be damned But S. Paul more fully 2 Thess 1. 8. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from Heaven to recompence rest to them that have beene troubled for his Truth and in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospell of our Lord Jesus Christ The severity of the last judgement in flaming fire rendring vengeance The particularity of the Persons wee must all appeare before the judgement Seat of Christ 2 Cor. 5. 10. The specialty of causes which God shall judge the very secrets of men by Jesus Christ Rom. 2. 16. When as many as have sinn'd without Law shall also perish without Law vers 12. having had a Law written in their hearts which is as much as that vengeance shall be rendred to them that know not God as Tertullian saith Illius etiam est ignorantes Deum plectere quem non liceat ignorare when those that have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law and they that have not obeyed the Gospell shall be judged by the Gospell by the like proportion This specialty of causes argueth I say to mee that Originall sinne which is one just cause of death shall justly be alleged against them that have had no other cause of condemnation in them but this as against all Infants that have dyed and have not this sinne purg'd by the lavacre of Regeneration either in act or vow of the Church but to allege it against them that have lived to yeares capable to know God and to obey the Gospell and perhaps have by Baptisme that sinnes forgivenesse sealed unto them as it seemed strange to Doctor Whitakers that any man should be Reprobated for that sinne which is forgiven him so it seemeth strange to mee that those sinnes should be alleged against a man for which hee is condemned and yet for which he was not Reprobated since the sentence of Reprobation is the heaviest and most wofull sentence that can be as that which drawes after it the sentence of Condemnation as the fourth Assertion at Lambeth saith I conceive the same sins for which the wicked are condemned at the last were the sinnes for which they were written Reprobates before all dayes Jude vers 4. altogether first and last great and small but especially their finall impenitency and obstinacy in sinne else what needed this exactnesse of differencing the specialties of causes Or how doth it more burden the guilty to heare of their several crimes when they all were rejected in the common case of mankinde fallen and from thenceforth unable to arise and amend having neither Saviour to die for them nor Spirit to call them nor helpe to heale them all which Reprobation hath excluded and debarred them from or these from them God will overcome in judgement but not by pleading his prerogative or his Soveraigne power or by putting men to silence with his greatnesse else Abraham was too bold to expostulate with God shall not the Judge of the whole earth doe right but by Justice and equity else hee would not offer himselfe to be tryed Isay 5. 3. Iudge I pray you betwixt mee and my Vineyard what could I have done more to my Vineyard that I have not done in it God will convince the ungodly and put them to silence and shame by their unthankfulnesse and stubbornnesse against his abundant goodnesse patience and long-suffering shewed unto them Let mee take my leave of the ingenous Reader by leaving with him my doubt and my resolution thereof expressed in the words of the grave Cardinall Sadolet no carnall man nor enemy to Truth as his times had light In his Commentaries upon the Epistle to the Romans pag. 1178. hee brings in this Objection At enim ex contaminatio genere oriundi c. But even wee being borne of a corrupted originall are now by nature it selfe made to destruction that those whom God passeth by and doth not call unto himselfe might have no just cause of complaint To this hee answereth thus At ego video c. But I conceive in the judgement of the World to come Christ Jesus will not so passe the sentence who shall then sit in judgement for his Father upon them whom he hath condemn'd as thus to pronounce Seeing you proceeded out of the corrupted loines of Adam and have contracted the fault and guilt of your Parents for this cause doe I sentence you to eternall torments
not vanish in the Elect either finally or totally 6. A man truly believing that is endued with justifying Faith is certaine by or with full perswasion of Faith of the forgivenesse of his sins and of his everlasting salvation by Christ 7. Saving Grace is not given is not communicated is not granted to all men whereby they may be saved if they will 8. No man can come to Christ unlesse it be given unto him and unlesse the Father draw him and all men are not drawne of the Father that they come unto the Son 9. It is not put in the free choice and power of every man to be saved These be the nine Assertions concluded at Lambeth at the instance of Doctor Whitakers against three Propositions delivered at Cambridge by Peter Baro the Frenchman Professor of Divinity in the Chaire erected by the Lady Margaret 1. De Praedestinatione Reprobatione 2. De Amissione Gratiae 3. De certitudine securitate salutis Whit. cont ult p. 4. Foure of these nine which concerne the Doctrine of Predestination are here onely considered the other five we shall speake of in their proper place in the third part of this book For the words of these foure they are so composed as they comprehend most certaine Truths but appliable aswell to the fifth Opinion to be propounded yet as to any other But because all men will fetch the interpretation of them from Doctor Whitakers the chiefe composer his understanding of them must be taken for their meaning And how hee understood the Doctrine of Predestination doth appeare in his last Conc. ad clerum Octob. 9. before this 20. of November wherein hee argueth against St. Austine That originall sinne was not the cause of Reprobation seeing it is remitted to many Reprobates according to St. Augustines Doctrine pag. 7. He expoundeth Rom. 9. 21. de massa incorrupta pag. 8. and nameth Bucer as concurring with him pag. 8. and iterum pag. 15. He appealeth to our Confession in the 17. Article which he is perswaded delivers the same doctrine that hee did not onely because those Articles were composed by the Disciples of Martyr and Bucer as hee saith but by the words themselves How other Bishops and Professors since have understood that Article and what hand Martyr and Bucer had in our Articles shall be seen in the next Opinion For these nine Assertions wee know Doctor Whitakers dying at his return from his journey were not received with such accord but that two the following Professors dissented from them and when the life of Doctor Whitakers was written by a learned friend of his who would have inserted these nine Assertions they were by authority suppressed a signe that though much were imputed and yeelded to the excellent judgement of Doctor Whitakers of worthy memory yet all in authority then were not of his minde in this matter whom yet they would not offend or lose as the times then were Neither in the first of King James in the Conference at Hampton Court when these nine Assertions orthodoxall as Doctor Reynolds termed them were sued for to be inserted into the Booke of Articles was this request obtained but that motion quenched by the speeches first of the Bishop of London who had beene at the concluding of those Assertions at Lambeth and secondly of the Deane of Pauls Doctor Overald who had beene a party in these controversies page 29. and page 41. And for the Orthodoxie of these Assertions in Doctor Whitakers sense Doctor Barlow the Relater of this Conference puts it upon Doctor Reynolds terming them so not upon his owne or his Masters Opinion he having beene well acquainted with the â—â—riage of that businesse at Lambeth as then Chaplaine to the Archbishop in his house and his Relation tels us The nine Assertions were sent to the University for the appeasing of those quarrells that were risen in Cambridge about certaine points of Divinity If for the appeasing of quarrels it was wisdome so to pen them as they might satisfie and unite all sides with common and generall truth As the first Assertion doth saying 1. That God hath predestinated c. which is most true but it saith nothing de ordine modo c. which is now the question and was then 2. The second speakes true of the moving and efficient cause both 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but de causa non est quaestio sed de objecto whether it be Homo or homo peccator or homo peccator paenitens aut contumax Nothing in man is the cause of his Election 3. The third of the number is very true but founded on the Infalibility of Godâ— foreknowledge as on the Immutability of his will 4. The fourth is the most ambiguouâ— assertion for if it suppose Non-predestination to be the Cause of the Necessity of Condemnation for Sinne it putteth noâ— causam pro causa but if it suppose Non predestination as a meere negative of sucâ— an Act of God and suppose sinne committed and not repented of there is causâ— enough for the Justice of God to condemâ— him that hath sinned and used no remedy CHAP. II. The second Opinion THe second Opinion of the Order oâ— Predestination having these Defeâ—ders The Synod at Dort P. Mouliâ— Doctor Abbot B. of Sarisbury Doctoâ— Carleton B. of Chichester many Papists 〈◊〉 Bellarmine Cajetan and the Dominicanâ— and of which many doe say that Saint Aâ—â—â—stine was the first Author is this 1. That God from all Eternity decreed to create mankind holy and good 2. That he foresaw man being tempted by Satan would fall into sin if God did not hinder it he decreed not to hinder 3. That out of Mankinde seen fallen into sinne and misery he chose a certaine number to raise to righteousnesse and to eternall life and rejected the rest leaving them in their sinnes 4. That for these his chosen hee decreed to send his Son to redeeme them and HIS SPIRIT TO CALL THEM and sanctifie them the rest he decreed to forsake leaving them to Satan and themselves and to punish them for their sins This Opinion is misliked by the defenders of the former and of the following Opinions also 1. Because to defend the justice of God it supposeth mankinde corrupted before any Election or Reprobation was made which seemeth needlesse because there be Elect and Reprobate Angels without or before any corruption or fall Cacodaemones non fuere in Massâ tamen Reprobati Christus non fuit in Massâ and tamen ut homo Eligitur Prideaux 1. Lectione 2. Because it supposeth Originall sinne the cause of Reprobation which sinne yet is remitted in Baptisme to many Reprobates Whitaker Cygnea Cant. p. 7. 3. Because with the former Opinion it teacheth Christ to be sent onely to the Elect and the Word and Spirit onely to call them whereby the Reprobate is but more oppressed being call'd to embrace salvation offered which they cannot doe and yet for refusall thereof they are more deeply condemned
Gentiles called 2. That even yet hee should withhold from many Nations the very word and outward calling as the new-discover'd Indians doe shew being found as farre from the knowledge of Christ as ever the Heathen were before the Apostles preached to them But wee being under this grace of Gods Calling it behoveth us to looke that it be not in vaine unto us CHAP. VII Of the Concurrence of the Word and Spirit in Calling SOme great Divines do distinguish Calling into two kindes one outward of the Word onely another inward of the Spirit joyn'd with the Word That they say is Ineffectuall This Effectuall That common to the Reprobate This speciall and peculiar to the Elect That never obeyed with truth of heart This never disobeyed This Doctrine is to bee examined I distinguish not two Callings but compound one Calling of the Word and Spirit as it were of a Body and a Soule supposing it to have in it selfe power to bring forth Effect in all that are under it and if it doe not so the cause not to arise from the Calling but from the Called that obey not 1. For declaration of this Point it must not be thought that the Spirit goeth with the Word to make the hearer performe that which he can doe by naturall strength for the Spirit is given to helpe where nature faileth as to keepe waking and to be attentive for that which Men can bring of their owne strength God expecteth to finde and to meete One case then where to many the Spirit is not present to the Word is when they are not present to the very Word through their sottish carelesnesse 2. Againe it must not be thought that the concurrence of the Word and Spirit is as it were naturall necessary and inseparable but voluntary and arbitrary in the Will and good Pleasure of God and as grace is annexed to the Sacraments so is it to the Word onely by Divine Institution and Ordination Hence the Church prayeth before Sermons for the illumination and power of the Spirit to come with the Word God expecting to have this asked of him by them that can pray both for themselves and others Another case then where the Spirit is not co-working with the word many times is when it was not duly and diligently asked 3. There are men that are past grace to whom the Spirit is not present with the Word such as for their former neglect and contempt of the time of their visitation when God did call them are now given up to blindnesse and hardnesse and have the light of the Spirit and the dew of grace held back from that Word which is Preached in their hearing by accident not for their sakes though we know them not in particular and so admit all 4. It must not bee thought that the Spirit goes with the Word to worke any grace in any person whatsoever but according to the order of Divine Providence which dispenseth his grace wisely which is thus to be declar'd Wee are to distinguish the Word that calleth the Persons that are called and operations of the Spirit by the Word in those persons The Word is either the Law or the Gospell 1. The Law hath two parts as the Preacher of the Covenant of Grace useth the Law 1 The Precepts 2. The Curse to the transgressors of the Precepts So the Law hath a double use to accuse and convince with the Precepts to wound and to kill with the Curse and to these the Law is effectuall and of force after the fall of Man 2. The Persons called by the Minister of God using the Law are all naturall unregenerate sinfull men or the regenerate relapsed and fallen into grievous Sinne who are of two sorts either ignorant of their evill Estate to whom the Precepts of the Law are to be Preach'd to bring them to the knowledge of Sinne. Rom. 3. 20. Or they are such as know sin buâ— are sâ—cure benummed senselesse of theâ—â— miserable estate to these the Curse is to be denounced untill they begin to feare to be cast down and perplexed Act. 24. 25. 3. The Operations of the spirit upon these Men by the Ministry of the Law are two First to open their eyes to see their sinnes Second to prick their hearts with feare of the Curse Acts 2. 37. Rom. 8. 15. For these effects ordinarily the Spirit goeth with the Word of the Law calling Men out of the pit of sinne and they are more easily admitted and wrought into the heart upon those remaines of light in the minde discerning good and evill and of Conscience accusing it selfe consenting to the Law Rom. 2. 15. But that these workes of the Spirit by the Law are wrought in many Reprobates our adversaries deny not that grant some initiall parts of grace to be begotten even in castawayes The Ministry of John Baptist figured this of which S. Ambrose in 1. Lucae Hoc mysterium in hac vita nostra hodieque celebratur praecurrit enim animae nostrae quaedam virtus Johannis cum credere paramur in Christum ut paret ad fidem animae nostrae vias Thus much of the word of the Law with its persons and operations 1. The Gospell hath two parts A Commandement A Promise The Commandement To repent of Sin shewed by the Lawes Precepts To beleeve in Christ to give life to him whom the curse of the Law hath killed The Promise is of forgivenesse of sins and life everlasting to him that repenteth believeth in the Lord Jesus Christ Act. 2. 38 39. 2. The Persons called by God in the word of the Gospell are all manner of sinners but convict terrifyed wounded full of compunction and selfe-condemning wrought in them by the Spirit in the preaching of the Law Mat. 11. 28. 3. The Operations of the Spirit upon these Men by the Ministry of the Gospell are 1. To open their eyes to see the marvelous light of Gods Mercy to Sinners of the infinite love of Christ in dying for sinners and the inestimable Merits of his Death of the powerfull graces gifts and aides of the holy Ghost to helpe and relieve the impotency and misery of sinners to the end that by this light this Opinion may be begotten in them that it is possible for them to be recovered 2. To poure into their hearts hope or to stay them from desperate sinning or sorrowing 3. To inspire the grace of Prayer at least to wish or desire Oh that they might be so happy as to escape the wrath to come and recover the favour and love of God! 4. To give them repentance that is to sorrow for sin past with a godly sorrow and to purpose to break off sin to cease from any further offending God or endangering the Soule 5. To worke in them Faith that is To run to Christ and to cast themselves into the Armes of his goodnesse and power to be saved by him These Graces in this Order the holy Ghost is present and ready
Hee shall not pronounce thus But what then shall he say Goe yee cursed into everlasting fire for yee saw me an hungry and fed mee not c. But these are not the common sinnes of all mankinde but the particular faults of every particular man which therefore shall then be specially objected to every one lest in that sharpe torment and griefe of minde they should presume to beg mercy of God who themselves have denyed mercy to their poore Brethren craving it CHAP. XX. An Abridgement of the whole Doctrine of this Booke TExts the Foundation of it Acts 15. 18. Knowne unto God are all his Workes from everlasting Psal 135. 6. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that did he in Heaven and in Earth Rom. 8. 29. Whom he did foreknow he did predestinate 1 Pet. 1. 2. To the Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father Ephes 1. 3 4. Blessed be God who hath blessed us with all spirituall blessings in heavenly things in Christ according as hee hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the World To conceive aright of the Order and Manner of the Divine Predestination in the Minde of God revealed unto us in the holy Scriptures after our manner of Understanding It is necessary to consider something of the Nature of God who did predestinate and something of the Nature of man who was predestinated Of the Nature of God chiefly in this matter must be considered with humble Reverence His infinite Vnderstanding or knowledge His just Will His Soveraigne Dominion His knowledge may be conceived of two sorts that which is called Scientia Visionis knowledge of Vision or that which is scientia simplicis intelligentiae knowledge of simple or meere Understanding that is called also scientia libera because it followeth some free act of the Will of God this is called Naturalis Naturall because it is in God who is of Infinite Understanding before any act of his Will be supposed to have passed His knowledge of Vision or of sight is onely of those things which either have or shall have a being and therefore this knowledge is after Predestination and builded upon it for when Predestination hath decreed what things shall be then God by his Understanding of Vision doth know them as beholding them Seeing then this knowledge is after Predestination is finished and concluded it hath no place in the Act of God predestinating neither can any thing that is under such knowledge or sight be any cause or rule of Predestination whence it appeareth that Rom. 8. 29. Whom he foreknew he did predestinate such foreknowledge of Vision cannot be understood seeing there Foreknowledge goes before Predestinating as Predestinating goes before Calling and Calling before Justifying So that they speak improperly that use the termes of praevisa fides for fides Praecognita in the Question whether Faith foreknown have any place in Gods Predestination with this knowledge then of Vision we have no more to doe in this matter Gods knowledge of pure or simple Vnderstanding is of the same things that are predestinate to be but before they were predestinated and of infinite things more besides them all which it understood and compared together before any thing was decreed or determined to be This knowledge is founded on Gods Omnipotency for he knoweth his owne power and so it is of things but as possible to be if he please to give them being and he knoweth also by this his Understanding if he please to give them being what will be their Operations and effects and what may flow or issue from them either as they are Naturall Agents or Voluntary So by this meanes the knowledge of God ariseth to an infinitenesse and to be without number as the Psalm saith 147. 5. But if it should be limitted to these things alone which have a being and are within the circle of heaven or within the compasse of the ages of the world the knowledge of God should in a sort be finite since these things though to us they be many yet certainly they are finite Now the first act of Predestination was in choosing these things to be which now are and the decree to put them into being refusing and rejecting infinite other things which God knew as possible as these and which might have beene if it had pleased him But of this predestination of all things that are and the rejection of such things as are not our inquiry and dispute is not but of Angels and Men that have a being in what order and manner some were predestinated to life and some rejected To which my answer is that this was not done without that selfe-same foreknowledge of simple Understanding of this part of the world Angels and Men which was used in the predestinating of the whole That is to say 1. That God did Understand that if it pleased him to create among other his glorious workes some creatures endued with reason and of a free Nature they would be more fit than the rest for him to shew forth in them his wisdome goodnesse bounty justice mercy fidelity and all his glorious properties yet it remained at his pleasure to create them or not 2. That he did understand that such creatures according to their freedome would vary in their choices some cleaving fast to good some declining to evill he knew this not onely in generall and as possible but particularly the very persons if they were created and put to the tryall yet it remained at his pleasure to create them or to try them or no to permit or hinder any of them in their choices which he knew how to doe if he would 3. That he did understand that of them whom he knew would forsake their first good estate if he permitted them hee might justly forsake some and punish them for their rebellion or he could find means to restore them and reconcile them to himselfe but yet he determined neither 4. That he understood that it might be more justifiable and equall not to spare Angels but to shew mercy to Men as more fraile and weake as also deceived by Angels Yet he would consider what to doe 5. That he understood that if he should out of that mercy provide excellent meanes sufficient to raise men fallen and to restore to them power and freedome to work like reasonable and free Agents in the Use of those meanes to their Salvation he understood I say that among many some would thankfully receive his mercy some ungratefully reject it for the sake of the pleasures of sin the very particulars he knew of al his own mercies in their several degrees and varieties of all the Persons in their severall conditions and events but still the determination what should be done or permitted of all this was as it were held in suspence 6. That he understood that if he should condemne them that had refused his many mercies and should receive them to favour that returned to him he should doe justly to