Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	call_v	good_a	reason_n	1,534	5	4.5930	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A96265	A discovery, and confutation of the opinions, and practises of some false brethren, betwixt Bridge, and Lincolne: shewing how they agree in their opinions, with Pelagians; Papists; Arminians; in their practises, with Anabaptists. Wherein univerall redemption is confuted; and Gods absolute decree confirmed. / By John Wetherall, minister of Spridlington, near Lincolne. March 22. 1651. Imprimatur. John Downame.	Wetherall, John, minister of Spridlington.	1652 (1652)	Wing W1523; Thomason E661_1; ESTC R206761	53,660	88

house may hee not take them in and refuse to afford me that favour and for no other Reason but because he will not If I should say Sir shew mee a Reason wherefore you reject mee may he not answer it is because he will not accept me must there needs be a quarrell or hee may not So heere must there needs be infidelity evill Workes Originall sinne or some other ill condition in me or else God may not do with his owne as he lift sure none will say so against themselves then how can they suppose it so of God The Master whose Scholers we may nay wee must be Mat. 20. 15. said it was lawfull for him to doe with his owne as hee lifted and may not God have the same leave as that Parable seems to prove Stat pro ratione voluntas is most proper to Almighty God Reprobation by it selfe considered is no punishment therefore it supposeth no fault the name signifieth no more but not to allow of sola voluntas decretum beneplacitum propositum Dei all or any of these cannot stand with the fore-sight of Faith or Infidelity good or evill Workes Indeed God foresees all sinnes Originall and Actuall it were Atheisme to deny it but that any sin Originall or Actuall ought to goe before the first Act of God called Reprobation I utterly deny let them call Faith Infidelity good and evill Workes but Objects Motives Reasons Circumstances considerable in Gods Decree yet if they looke into their Logicke it will let them see that the least of Causes Causa sine quâ non is yet a Cause and God if hee regard any thing but his owne Will in Election or Reprobation must goe extrase to say as they say to salve the Justice of God that he could not Elect without looking on man in massa Corrupta and yet that he did not consider it as any Reason of his Decree is without Reason I know my wise Adversaries the Black-smith or whosoever sent abroad that bable Object against these things and so do the Papists because they will not seeme to play the Fooles without Reason that by this it followes the Freedome of mans Will must perish Gods Glory is obscured saith Mr. T. if he punish necessitated wickednesses The Papists and Pelagians are of this Opinion then a Murtherer saith Pighius when he killeth a man may be excused because he hath executed the Decree of God then all care diligence and endeavour is taken away if our Thoughts Words Deeds be determined of God to such I may answer or aske this Question Can they doe any thing that God hath not decreed They are almost Atheists that say they can then it followes they can doe nothing but it is decreed Let Pet. Mart. answer for me part 3. pa. 6. I wonder saith he speaking of these and other Objections of Pighius that any Divine could let such an old Wifes Talecome out of his mouth Can Judas be excused of his wicked treason against our Saviour because he heard the Lord fore-tell his mischievous designe John 13. 21. So then it is a simple nay it is a sinfull thing to excuse any sinne by the eternall or absolute Decree of God it is his owne Will not the Will of God that the mischiefe-munger or the murtherer regards he cannot doe otherwise nay but aske himselfe and hee 'l say he will not Such as maintaine Gods absolute Decree hold necessity infallibilitatis not coactionis they say that God determines mans Will and yet it is Free as I shewed before and followes the dictate of its owne Intellect to reason thus God hath eternally fore-seene Judas his impenitency therefore decreed him to eternall damnation therefore Judas shal infallibly continue impenitent and at length be damned is a true inference but this God hath eternally fore-seene Judas his impenitency therefore Judas shall by coaction or compulsion of his Will be made unalterably impenitent and so be damned is a false Conclusion The Agent is yet as free as if God had not foreseene the absolute will of God to worke faith repentance c. in Peter maketh not these actions compulsory but maketh the agent most free for it giveth him that spirit of which the Apostle sayth ubi spiritus ibi libertas true and perfect liberty and Gods Spirit goe both together and e contra non-Election denieth men that Grace which would effectually and infallibly make them produce good Actions but it depriveth them not of their owne naturall freedome neither doth it compell them to evill actions Divina Voluntas non tollit potentiam ad oppositum God hath determined to permit men to faile in attaining eternall life but he is not Authour of their sinnes whereby they incur eternall death In good Actions the Freedome of men Elected is not vaine though the End be determined because God hath determined together with the End that by their free Actions they shall attaine it and in bad their Freedome is not vaine because thereby their Consciences are convinced of their guilt and Gods Justice cleared in their damnation Reprobation and the permission thereto annexed importeth not a witholding of Grace necessary for the avoyding of sinne so permitted much lesse a necessitation of Sinners to their severall sinnes but a witholding of all Grace which would de facto be effectuall to the avoyding of sinne so that sinne flowes not from this 〈◊〉 and Permission as an Effect from the Cause but 〈◊〉 Consequence from the Antecedent necessitate infallibilitatis as the Sunne witholding his Beames causeth not darknesse yet darknesse is a Consequent Neither doth this Preterition or Reprobation imply a substraction of any Graces or helpes obtained but a non-Donation of such Graces without which God foresaw that Reprobates out of their own Free-Will would infallibly perish in their sins Deo Reprobante non irrogatur aliquid quo homo fit deterior sed tantùm non irrogatur quo fiat melior man is not made worser but he is not made better by this Act of Preterition or Reprobation Nay there is not only a bare permissive but there is also an energeticall and operative Will in God conjoyned with the permissive Will and this operative or energeticall Will of God is apparent in these six Circumstances 1. God eternally decreeth and accordingly when sinfull Actions are committed giveth the sinner power and use of Understanding and Free Will without which he could not sinne 2. God thereby eternally decreed to concurre and doth concurre ad materialem actum peccati to the sinne as it is an Action 3. God decreed the Circumstances or Occasions good as from God whereupon he saw the sinner would make evill use and sinne 4. God decreed to deny the Meanes that he knew would have prevented such sinnes and offered onely such as he knew the sinner would abuse to the committing of sinne 5. God limiteth and ordereth their sinnes so that they breake forth in no other measure at no other time upon no other persons then

wee are Predestinated according to the Good Pleasure of his Will Eph. 1. 5. But the Condition in their Predestination is fore-seen Faith and Works Tenendum ex Scripturis veram Conversionem praestationemque bonorum operum esse conditiones praerequisitas ante Justificationem That is we hold true Conversion and Good Works to be Conditions required before Justification so saith Arminius in that Epistle before his Discourse on Rom. 7. And Nic. Grevincho is of the same minde he seekes to prove it out of the words of S. Paul I have fought a good fight c. But if Good works be Conditions required before Justification then it follows they are required before Election there is one and the same Cause of both Thus they even out God Almighty from having any hand in his own Decree and put all into the power of foreseen Faith and Workes whereas the Scriptures say that we are not Predestinated for Faith but to Faith and Good Workes as I shall prove afterward The fifth thing in this Decree of theirs is the Foundation that they say is Christ and so do we but in this we differ they call Christ the externall Cause moving God to make this Decree of Election whereas we say the Will of God onely was the Cause why Christ became our Mediator and Redeemer the Mediation or Redemption of Christ was not the Cause of the Will of God Thus the Controtroversie betwixt the Remonstrants or Universallists and the Reformed Protestant Churches about Election was stated at the Synod of Dort The second Thesis of the Remonstrants or such as hold Universall Redemption at the same time which they would have defended against the Reformed was this Proinde Jesus Christus pro omnibus singulis mort●us est atque id ita quidem ut omnibus per mortem crucis reconciliationem peccatorum remissionem impetravit ea tamen conditione ut nemo illa peccatorum remissione fruatur praeter hominem fidelem Ames de Redemp pag. 116. That is the Remonstrants or Universalists furthermore affirme that Jesus Christ died for all and every one and that so as he obtayned Reconciliation and Remission of Sins for all but on this Condition that none obtain this Remission or Reconciliation but the Faithfull I might open this Thesis of Redemption as I did that other of Election but it is so plaine I need not the Sum of the Controversie betwixt the Protestant Churches and Remonstrants or as wee call them Universalists came to this or to these three Heads 1. whether by the Death of Christ there was an Impetration which had no Application 2. whether this Impetration did equally belong to All 3. that none had this Impetration of Christ certainly applied or to be applied to them in the Eternall Counsell of God but God had Destinated his Son to death before hee had Destinated any to be saved by his Death and this Grace of Christs Redemption was as it were spread abroad in the ayre indetermined to any every man might catch it that could by Faith These men seem to feign to themselves a Grace as it were some garment hanging in the ayre which every man may put on that will but these be the devices of mans wisedome the holy Scriptures speake otherwise Pet. Mart. part 3. pag. 51. as translated by Ant. Marten These things the Remonstrants or Universalists affirmed and all these the Reformed Protestant party denied Now from these Opinions that Predestination was not the Decree of God to Elect some and passe by others that God had certainly Elected none but upon Condition That Christ died for all and every one c. I say from these Absurdities it followes Absurd 1. First that God would have All men that is every particular man to be saved contrary to the Scriptures for if God will have all to be saved wherefore are they not saved Will God have all to be saved and can he not have his Will This Opinion is against the Omnipotency of God by it Gods absolute Will the Will of his good Pleasure may be defeated and not accomplished which is a desperate shift contrary to the truth flat opposite to the word of God which saith our God hath done whatsoever pleased him in Heaven and Earth Psal 135. 6. who hath resisted his Will Rom. 9. 19. God is in one minde who can turn him and what his soule desireth that he doth Job 23. 13. Indeed the Declarative or Revealed Will of God is not alwaies fulfilled but his Absolute Will and Good Pleasure is alwaies fullfilled a Christian Catechised in the Principles of Religion cannot make the Impotency of mans will to prevaile against the Omnipotency of God or conceive his purpose may be disappointed or his Absolute Will frustrated by any thing in us Absurd 2. Secondly it follows from these Opinions that there is an Universall Election of all and every man a witlesse conceit for if all men Universally be appointed to Grace then there is no Election or Choosing of some he cannot be said to Elect that Chooseth all and if onely some bee appointed to Grace as it must needs be in Election then is not Grace Universall it is flat against the word of God for Christ avoucheth plainly that fewer are chosen then called Mat. 22. 14. He saith moreover that all which are given him shall be one with him and have life everlasting John 17. 2. 11. But all men shall not be one with him and have life everlasting therefore all are not given to Christ of God the Father all mens names are not written in the Booke of life Apoc. 20. 15. the Kingdome of Heaven is not prepared for all Mat. 25. 35. Christ never knew some Mat. 7. 23. And whereas they build Universall Election upon the largenesse of the Promise if they believe upon the like ground they may as well make an Universall Decree of Reprobation whereby God Decrees all men to bee damned indefinitely if they doe not believe Absurd 3. Thirdly it followes that there is an Universall Vocation for Universall Grace hath these three parts Universall Election Universall Redemption and Universall Vocation which is quite opposite to the word of God for from the Creation till Christ one part of the world was a People and received into the Covenant the other and that the greatest part of the world was no People and out of the Covenant The Church at first was shut up in the Families of the Patriarchs and in the Family of Abraham it was entailde on Isaac the world afterward was divided into the Jew a Church and the Gentile no Church till the comming of Christ therefore it is that the Prophet Isaiah called the Gentiles Prisoners Isa 49. 9. Hosea calls the Gentiles a People that had obtained no mercy at all Hos 2. 23. Peter saith that in times past the Gentiles were not esteemed a People 1 Pet. 2. 10. Christ denied the woman of Canaan the Request for her Daughter upon this distinction

Charity and thus the Ministers may and doe apply Christs death and Redemption to All. There are many Objections of lesser Consequence but why should I teach my Adversaries who are as wilfull as they would be wicked the greatest comfort I have is that if I cannot convert them which I hope yet a vessell can hold no more then it is able to contain I conclude this Poynt therefore with that of Aquinas Christs merit according to the sufficiency thereof carrieth it self indifferently to all but not according to the Efficacy which comes to passe partly by Gods Election through which the effect of Christs merits is mercifully bestowed on some and partly by the just Judgements of Gods withholding his Grace from other some Now to fortifie rivet all this Building by yet more impregnable Reasons I will prove it no cruelty in God to doe with his Creature what he pleaseth that God may elect or reject whom he list and that there is no other cause of Gods Decree of Election but his owne Will The fancies of our Universalists I will confute by these Theses following I assert therefore That Predestination is an eternall Decree of God in time causing effectuall Grace in all those whom he hath chosen and by this effectuall Grace bringing them infallibly to Glory Now this Election or Dilection of some supposeth a passing by of others and a leaving them to their owne selves the cause of both is nothing else but the Will of God The Parts of this Decree are two Election and Reprobation the first Gods absolute Decree of preparing that Grace for some which will preserve them the second Gods absolute Decree of not preparing for others that Grace which would preserve them Now these Decrees are not founded upon any different foreseene Acts of men but upon the alone Will of God which is the most absolute supreame and soveraigne Cause of all things that are having nothing either above it selfe or out of it selfe to be any impulsive Cause to move or incline it Indeed mens Wils are moved and disposed by externall Causes out of themselves because they are to be ruled by Equity and Reason and a mans bare Will without a Reason is nothing but Gods Will is not ruled by another Will or Rule of Reason or Justice but it selfe is an absolute Rule both of Justice and Reason A thing is not first of all reasonable and just and afterward willed by God but it is first of all willed by God and thereupon it becomes reasonable and just Volitiones purè conditionales sunt alienae a sapientia divina Decrees meerly Conditionall agree not with the perfection of the Divine Nature such Volitions or Decrees are for us who have neither Knowledge whether the condition will be performed nor power to worke the condition upon which the future Act of our Will was suspended But in God who knoweth what every man will or will not do and hath power to make men do the good he will these Conditionall Decrees are not purely but mixtly Conditionall that is grounded on some absolute revealed Decree of God to the performance whereof he hath tied himselfe And we ought to observe that Reprobation and Damnation differ exceedingly much Reprobation is a bare passing by Damnation a punishment Ineptè faciunt qui Reprobationis decretum cum Damnatione confundunt cum hujus causa manifestà sit nempe peccatum illius vero sola Dei Voluntas Beza They are very simple that seen ot the difference twixt Reprobation and Damnation Gods Will is Cause of the first sinne of the last Peccatum non est Causa Rejectionis sed est Causa Damnationis Zanchy sinne is not the Cause of Reprobation but of Damnation Reprobation is not a deniall of sufficient Grace but a deniall of such speciall Grace as God knoweth would infallibly bring men to Glory and this Decree doth not shut up any man under a necessity of sinning or of being damned but it permitteth men volun●arily and freely to run into damnable sinnes and through their voluntary impenitency to incurre eternall damnation for the Sentence of Damnation lays not hold on men quà non electi sed quà impii not as non-elect but as wicked It is contrary to Gods nature causelesly and cruelly to destroy his creatures but it is not contrary to his nature to decree out of his mercy to bestow Grace and Mercy on some and to Decree out of the liberty of his Will to permit others through their owne voluntary default by abusing the meanes of Grace that is given them to fall into eternal misery he hath mercy on whom he will Exo. 33. 19. If man had been created Wicked or Evill then God had not had just occasion to punish the wickednesse whereof he himselfe was the Authour and Maker but being created good and having given him power to stand hee may justly punish him if he fall From this Decree of Preterition or Reprobation it well followeth Judas is reprobated therefore he will not use the meanes that God offereth for his salvation but it is not a good Consequence to say therefore God hath not given him sufficient meanes or remedies to escape damnation were not his owne wicked Will the onely hinderance These two Propositions may stand together I will that if Judas repent and believe he shall have remission and salvation I will not give unto Judas the gift of Repentance or Faith that he may attaine salvation As it is sencelesse to say Gods Decree of giving Faith to Peter was suspended till Peters Faith and Repentance so it is as sencelesse to say Gods permitting Judas to dye in Unbeliefe and Impenitency was grounded upon his Unbeliefe and Impenitency It 's true the Fathers were sparing in this Poynt till that Monster Pelagianisme was Midwifed into the World and yet Deus in negotio Predestinationis non egreditur extra se and the Cause of Predestination is sola Dei Voluntas so sayd all the Fathers and so say the best Reformed Churches for I say the Lutherans are yet defective in their Omnipresence and fore-seene Faith then how can there be any consideration of fore-seene Faith and Workes God goes out of himselfe if he have regard to Faith Perseverance or any thing that is not intrà se is it not non-sence to say the Decree of Predestination is intrà se if God have respect to any thing extra se And if any object that God doth nothing therefore not Reprobate without a Reason I say his Will is Reason sufficient doe we say and pray thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven and yet deny it in Predestination the Psalmist doth prove it true in despite of proud man Our God hath done whatsoever pleased him in Heaven and Earth Psal 135. 6. He did worke and he doth worke all things after the Councell of his owne Will Ephes 1. 5. Rom. 9. 19. Suppose that I with others come for entertainment to such a Gentlemans