How could God foreknow that is fore-love them who loved him before If they loved first the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must out it is not Pre-dilection but Post-dilection It remains then that they did believe and love consequently to God's Election and by a divine influence from thence But to go on What is the Predestination here but to a Conformity to the Image of Christ And are Sufferings all the Image of Christ Are and Glory no part thereof What Divine will not blush to say so And how then is not Predestination to these But if Sufferings were all Christ's Image yet are all Sufferings his Image What if they be mere Sufferings such as have no tincture of Faith and Holiness upon them Are these his Image also If not the Predestination to his Image must include in it a Predestination to Faith and Holiness And what is the Calling following upon Predestination Is it a Calling to Sufferings Such a Calling uses to be particularly expressed Hereunto were you called saith St. Peter 1 Pet. 2. 21. and We are appointed hereunto saith S. Paul 1 Thess. 3. 3. But where in all the Scripture doth the word Calling being put absolutely and without such addition ever signifie a Call to Sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 we meet with therein but not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Wherefore the Calling is to Faith and Holiness And what is the Justification which hangs upon Calling If the Calling be to Sufferings are they not justified before that Calling No doubt they are in the instant of believing and how then is Calling set first and Justification last You 'l say this place speaks not of the Justification of their persons but of the Approbation of their cause And where in all this Epistle is the word justifie so taken And why so here Lastly the Called are Justified and the Justified Glorified saith the Apostle And are all those which are called to Sufferings Justified and Glorified The experience of thousands denies it You 'l say they are all justified and glorified if they bear the Cross with Faith and Patience But who dares add an it to Gods Word and in this Text to the two links and not to the former The Apostle faith expresly whom he did Predestinate them he also Called and whom he Called them he also Justified and whom he Justified them he also Glorified In the Original the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fasten every link to its precedent and that with appropriation to the very same persons 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 fastens Calling to Predestination and Justification to Calling and Glorification to Justification and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 appropriates all throughout the whole chain to the same persons If therefore any person predestinated or called within this Text be not also justified and glorified the chain is broken and the truth of the Text cannot for ought I see be salved Wherefore I conclude that this Text doth not treat of Predestination and Calling to Sufferings notwithstanding which many fall short of Justification and Glorification but of Predestination and Calling to Grace and Glory such as doth infallibly bring them to Justification and Glorification God's Electing mercy towards his chosen ones is sure and unfailable before they had any being free Grace embraced them in an Eternal Decree and laid them in its bosom and when they left the Common Nullity and in the first moment of their Being lay in the blood of their natural enmity and iniquity free Grace would not pass them by but there must be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Sept. hath it Ezek. 16. 8. a time for love to let out and dissolve it self in gracious operations to cast its skirt over them wash them in the blood of the Covenant anoint them with the holy Spirit and put a Chain of Graces about their necks And after all this when their Faith wavers like a Wave of the Sea his Faithfulness is as a Mountain of Brass when their Love cools and slacks his Love is ever the same and inflames theirs afresh when their Holiness is full of Creature-weakness and impersection there are with him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 holy Mercies and Compassions which never fail when they sin and go on frowardly in the way of their hearts yet he will see their way and heal them as the Expression is Isai. 57. 18. How many millions of times after their Conversion might he have seen their way and damned them but because of his unchangeable Love he will see their way and heal them His Covenant is as the Waters of Noah Isai. 54. 9. When they sin again and again yet his pardoning Mercy and healing Grace will never suffer them to lie under water nor the deluge of sin to overwhelm them for ever In a word his Electing Love never leaves off till it hath lodged them safe in Heaven Thus the Foundation of God standeth sure and the Election infallibly obteineth Grace and Glory 3. To whom are these things designed I answer in two things 1. These are designed to some certain individual persons 2. These certain individual persons are considered as lying in the Mass of perdition 1. These are designed to some certain individual persons The Lord knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Their names are all down in the Book of life Phil. 4. ◠he called them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by name Joh. 10. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith God to Ananias this individual persons this very Paul who but now was breathing out blood against tho Church this is a vessel of Election Acts 9. 15. The Elect are a determinate number What else were the 7000. which bowed not to Baal 1 Kings 19. 18 What the 144000. which were sealed in their foreheads Rev. 7. 4 If there were no set number why are they called a remnant according to the election of Grace Rom. 11. 5 What remnant can there be unless made up of individual persons What Election but of such A chusing or singling out if not of individuals is no chusing or singling out at all And this is one remarkable difference between the Will of God's Complacence and the Will of his Benevolence the Will of his Complacence is properly respective of Graces and that where-ever those Graces are without any distinction of persons in every nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him saith St. Peter Act. 10. 35. If Cain do well shall he not be accepted If a Judas believe shall he not be justified Without any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the righteousness of God is upon all them that believe Rom. 3. 22. His pleasure is in them that fear him Psal. 147. 11. A good man where-ever he be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 draws out favour or complacence from the Lord Prov. 12. 2. And the reason is because this Will of Complacence issuing out of his perfect Sanctity cannot but embrace his Image where-ever he finds it but the Will of Benevolence
of Nature are but the Shadows and Picture of his wise Decrees all the excellent Shows in time are but the Apocalypse or Revelation of the wise Coâ—trivances in Eternity God possessed Wisdom in the beginning of his way even in the framing of his Eternal Decrees not only when he prepared the Heavens in Creation but also when he prepared all things in his Ideal Counsel not only when he set a compass on the face of the Depth but also when he set the Compass of his Decrees upon the face of all Futuritions Every one of his Decrees is most wise and rational hence 't is called his Counsel and the Counsel of his Will In the Eternal Rolls Causes and Effects Means and End Modes and Methods of Being are all set down but not a tittle without the advice of an infinite Understanding there is no such thing as mere Will in God no caecus impetus but a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a depth of Knowledge in every one of his Decrees 2. The Decrees of God are situate in Eternity Mutable Creatures and their Acts are measured by Time which is a perpetual Flux but God and his immanent Acts have no other Measure but Eternity which is a perpetual Instant Scripture and Reason will both assert this 1. Scripture will do it When that speaks of the Decree of Election it saith that God hath chosen us 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 before the foundation of the World Eph. 1. 4. Heaven was made 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the founding of the World Matth. 25. 34. but God's chusing of us to it was long before his mercies are from everlasting to everlasting Psal. 103. 17. reaching as I may say from one end of Eternity to another So also when it speaks of other pieces of Providence it intimates an eternal Preordination of things before the great Hour-glass of Time was set up There were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 foreappointed times Acts 17. 26. Not a Sand of Time but it runs out according to an Eternal Decree not a member in the body but it is written in the eternal Book Psal. 139. 16. not a place of habitation but it was eternally bounded Acts 17. 26. not a Sparrow falls to the ground but by an eternal Will not an hair but it was numbred in Eternity not a Particle of Being among all the hosts of Creatures but it was registred in Eternity All God's works are known to him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 eternally Act. 15. 18. Known eternally as Essences they might be in the Divine Essence known eternally as Possibles they might be in the Divine Power but known eternally as Works to be done by God they could not be but only in his Eternal Decree which is Rerum omnium amantissima Genetrix suavissima Nutrix 2. Reason also will make out the Eternity of his Decrees for 1. The Act of God's Will is all one with God's Will and his Will is all one with his Essence and his Essence is one pure Simple Act God is Love essentially Love Amat Deus nec aliunde hoc habet sed ipse est unde amat ideo vehementiùs quia non amorem tam habet quà m ipse est All the Decrees of God are but Deus volens and as God being and God knowing inhabit Eternity so likewise doth God willing the very Creatures willed as they are in God in Esse Indeali are Eternal Notable is that of Anselm Creaturae prout sunt in Deo sunt Essentia Creatrix Sutable is that of S. Austin who on those words in ipso vita est distinguishes between arca in arte arca in opere arca in opere non est vita sed arca in arte est vita quia vivit animâ Artificis Sapientia Dei per quam fact a sunt omnia secundùm artem continet omnia antequam fabricet omnia terram vides est in arte terra coelum vides est in arte coelum Solem Lunam vides sunt ista in arte sed foris corpora sunt in arte vita sunt Videte si quo modo potestis magna enim res dicta est Oh the Comprehensions of the Divine Essence Wisdom Power and Will Essences are Life and Eternity in the Divine Essence Congruities are Life and Eternity in the Divine Wisdom Possibles are Life and Eternity in the Divine Power and Futuritions are Life and Eternity in the Divine Will 2. The Eternity of Futures doth demonstrate the Eternity of the Divine Decrees 't is impossible that any thing should begin to be future Si aliquid nunc non futurum saith Bradwardine incipiet esse futurum ergo post aliquod instans futurum erit ergo erit ergo est futurum ergo aliquid non futurum est futurum Now if it be impossible that any thing should begin to be future then all futures must needs be Eternal and if so whence are they Not from themselves for in their own nature they were but mere possibles and if one possible might by a self-motion become future all the infinite possibles lying in the bosom of Omnipotence might also become such Nor from any Creature for that which is but temporal cannot be the Cause of that which is eternal The Spring then of eternal futures cannot be found any where but in the Eternal God and where in him not in the Divine Essence for that in it self and abstractively from the Divine Will worketh no Change in any thing at all not in the Divine Prescience for that doth suppose and not make its objects And how then without eternal Decrees can there be any foundation of Futures I may conclude with that of Anselm Nihil est futurum nisi in summa veritate If then God should make any Decree in time the thing decreed would begin to be future which is impossible 3. The Decrees of God are cemented with Immutability Aristotle by the light of Nature saw the Simplicity of God's Nature and from thence rationally concluded the Simplicity of God's pleasure The Eternal and Immanent Acts of his Understanding and Will are ever immoveably the same or else infinite Simplicity could not take pleasure in them God saith of himself Mal. 3. 6. I am the Lord I change not Should he change he would lose his Name I am that I am I know saith the wise Preacher that whatsoever God doth it shall be for ever Eccl. 3. 14. His Decrees are Unchangeable The Apostle speaking of the Decree of Election saith The foundation of God standeth sure having this seal the Lord knoweth them that are his 2 Tim. 2. 19. Every word hath its weight Election is not a structure upon Faith but a foundation humane foundations may be destroyed but this is the foundation of God laid by him nay in him in the bosom of the divine Will there is no standing much less sure standing in the flux of Time and Matter but this foundation because of God and in God standeth sure it standeth
and called us with an holy calling not according to our works but according to his own purpose and grace which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began here the words in Christ relating to Election do not import our being in Christ for the Text saith that he called us according to his Grace given us in Christ and Calling goes before Faith or being in Christ and is the immediate cause or fountain thereof but they import that Vocation and Salvation with all the blessings thereof are communicated unto us in and through Christ and that the eternal Decree or Design was so to communicate them Neither doth the Apostle simply say he hath chosen us in him but he hath chosen us in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that we should be holy thereby pointing out unto us Christ as the designed Fountain of all the holiness in the Elect. Moreover the Apostle saith that he hath chosen us in him that we should be holy and Faith is a choice part of holiness and that he hath blessed us in him with all spiritual blessings and Faith is a prime spiritual blessing and that he hath blessed us according as he hath chosen us and therefore he chuses us to Faith as well as blesses us with Faith but if he chuse us for Faith and bless us with Faith he doth not bless us according as he chuses us By all which it appears that the Remonstrants Interpretation is an Arrow shot besides the Text. But to go on to other Scriptures Blessed is the man saith the Psalmist Psal. 65. 4. whom thou chusest and causest to approach unto thee and what approach can a sinful worm have to the holy one what but by the Faith of Christ and whence is this approach but from God and God electing He chuseth and causeth to approach unto him If Faith were antecedent to Election the approach must have been before the chusing the contrary whereof appears in the Text. As many as were ordained to eternal life believed Acts 13. 48. The Apostle saith not as many as believed were ordained to Eternal Life but as many as were ordained to Eternal life believed But here the Remonstrants tell us that in the Text 't is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that imports not God's eternal preordination but man's present condition or disposition so that the meaning is as many as were disposed or well-affected to Eternal Life believed Should it say they import God's preordination then all of that Assembly which were elected did believe at that one Sermon and all the rest were absolutely reprobated for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text is an universal particle now that all the Elect of that Assembly did believe that day or that all the rest were Reprobates is not imaginable I answer first as to the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the import thereof will best appear by taking notice in what sence St. Luke doth use this word in the Book of the Acts Acts 15. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 They decreed or appointed that Paul should go up Acts 28. 23. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 having appointed him a day Acts 22. 10. God promises Paul that it should be told him of all things 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which are appointed or ordained for him to do and what these were Ananias sets forth by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God hath chosen thee to such and such things Ver. 14. Now in all these places of the Acts the word signifying appointing or ordaining why should it be taken otherwise in this controverted Text Nay where in all the Scripture doth this word import an inward quality or disposition In that place which seems most of any to speak that way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they addicted themselves to the ministry of the saints 1 Cor. 16. 15. there this word imports no less than a certain purpose of mind in them to do that work Wherefore I conceive that the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Text doth import an ordination and that of God neither doth the absence of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all hinder it for the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Acts 2. 23. doth without a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 import God's eternal counsel and the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 designs an antecedent ordination and that ordination must be God's unless which is the grossest Pelagianism it be said that they were ordained by themselves to Eternal life But to pass over the word the Remonstrants take the Text thus As many as were disposed to Eternal Life believed but can a man without Faith who neither lays hold on Christ the Prince of life nor yet hath any thing of the Spirit of life can such a man be disposed to Eternal life Every disposition to Eternal life must be such either because it hath some intrinsecal dignity meriting Eternal life or else because it hath some Evangelical congruity to which Eternal life is annexed by Promise As to the former the Remonstrants as Protestants cannot own it and as to the latter they cannot in all the Gospel shew forth one Promise of Eternal life made to a man void of Faith and how then can a man void of Faith be disposed to Eternal life But if he could the Remonstrants of all others must not say so for they assert that none but a Believer can be the object of Election because say they God cannot will Eternal life to any but to a Believer to a man in Christ and how then can an Unbeliever a man out of Christ be disposed to Eternal life Such a mans disposition to Eternal life if it be not such by its meriting condignity must be such divinâ ordinatione and if so what is that but to say this is the man to whom God wills Eternal life and if before Faith God may will Eternal life to him why may not he before Faith elect him Again This disposition to Eternal life must be either some moral Virtuousness or else some better Grace of the Spirit if but a moral Virtuousness how can it dispose to Eternal life if a better Grace of the Spirit how can it precede such a Mother-grace as Faith But let us hear how the Remonstrants paint out this disposition in words of Scripture These disposed ones say they are the sheep of Christ Joh. 10. 4. the drawn of the Father Joh. 6. 44. such as do the truth Joh. 3. 21. such as will do God's will Joh. 7. 17. such as have honest and humble hearts apt and idoneous to embrace the Gospel But what a perplexed Labyrinth of words is here To be the sheep of Christ argues a being in the state of Election which is antecedent to all good dispositions in us they are called sheep before their bringing home to God Joh. 10. 16. and their bringing home goes before all gracious dispositions The Fathers drawing imports God's action and not man's disposition the doing of the Truth is man's
his Church as with Jerusalem Ezek. 15. 2 3. What is the vine-tree more than any tree Will men take a pin of it to hang a vessel thereon The Church may answer My own Free Will is such a pin that my Faith and Perseverance chiefly hang upon it and my Faith Perseverance are such pins that God himself hangs up the eternal Rolls of his Election upon them Thus and much more may the Will of man by the Remonstrants Principles sit as a Queen glorifying her self and opening her mouth in Blasphemies against the Sovereignty of God's Will and the freeness and power of his Grace But all this while a deaf Ear is turned to the Scriptures which cry aloud No flesh must glory in it self he that glorieth must glory in the Lord 't is not of the runner or willer but of God who sheweth mercy he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth And if any man reply to this he must hear his own nullity Nay but O man who art thou and God's sovereignty hath not the potter power over the clay that so he may fall down astonied at the Glory of God and cry out 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out Indeed according to the Remonstrants Doctrine which bottoms God's Election on mans Faith and Perseverance there is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at all in it all is ultimately resolved into the shallow Will of man there is no unsearchableness or untraceable difficulty at all in it all is plain and easie every jot of it carries a clearness and visible equity Election being only God's Decree to save Believers there is no more scruple or intricacy in it than there will be in the Judicial proceeding at the last Judgment when all things shall be as obvious to every eye as if they were represented in a Sea of Glass But if according to the Apostles Scope we do consider the absolute Sovereignty of God's Will in that Expression He will have mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth there is a very glorious abyss in it such as may justly astonish us into eternal admiration Oh the heights and depths of divine Love All the Elect of God may here lose themselves in holy Mazes and trances My God! my God! may every one of them say Why hast thou chosen me I know and not without wondring that Heaven is mine through Christ and Christ is mine through Faith and Faith is mine through the Election of Grace but my God! my God! why hast thou chosen me I know that thy blood was shed for me and thy Spirit is shed into me and thy Glory is reserved for me and all this out of love but my God! my God! why hast thou loved me Oh that I could adore Calling Justifying Glorifying Grace from the top of Predestination Thou hast loved me because thou hast loved me thou hast chosen me because thou hast chosen me Even so holy Father because so it seemeth good in thy sight 5. Having dispatched the Impulsive Cause of Election I proceed to the last thing viz. in whom God doth Elect us I answer with the Apostle God chuseth us in Christ Eph. 1. 4. But because these words are variously taken it is to be considered how Christ may be stiled the purchaser of Election whether only quoad res in Electione volitas praeparatas or also quoad actum volentis to which I answer 1. Affirmatively Jesus Christ as God-man our glorious Mediator did purchase Election quoad res in Electione volitas All the Churches Grace and Glory Sanctity and Salvation Faith and Fruition must sing Hosannahs and Hallelujahs to him whose precious Blood more worth than a thousand Worlds is the glorious price of all these God in the Decree of Election did not only design the communication of these to his own Elect but also he did design that communication to be in and through Christ. 2. Negatively I conceive that Jesus Christ as God-man our Mediator did not purchase Election quoad actum volentis and that for these Reasons 1. That phrase chosen in Christ Eph. 1. 4. doth not evince Christ to be the Cause of Election for in another place we are said to be chosen to Salvation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the sanctification of the Spirit 2 Thess. 2. 13. Which sanctification is for all that not a Cause but an Effect of Election 2. Christ was delivered up to death 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate counsel of God Acts 2. 23. First he was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by a Counsel or Decree of God and if being delivered by God's Decree he merited the Decree of Election then God made one Decree that Christ should come and merit the making of another Christ our Mediator stands in the midst between God and man but that he should stand so between the two Decrees of God as a fruit of the one and a cause of the other seems very incongruous But further he was delivered 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the determinate counsel of God that is by a Decree perfectly designative of his Death and the fruits thereof and in a special manner perfectly designative of those individual persons who should have Grace and Glory in and through him If it be not so perfectly designative how is it a determinate Counsel If it be so perfectly designative is not the Decree of Election at least included therein Undoubtedly it is Now this determinate Counsel which is inclusive of the Decree of Election was not merited by Christ for he was delivered by it and did not merit that by which he was delivered 3. Christ came to do his Fathers will Heb. 10. 7. all that he did and suffered was a faithfulness 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to him that made him a Mediator to do and suffer the same Heb. 3. 2. Now aliud est facere voluntatem Deo aliud facere voluntatem Dei Christ did not make a new Will in God but do the Will of God if he had made a new Will in God then at his death there was not only a passion in the flesh of God but as it may seem in the very Will of God too wherefore he not making a new will in God did not merit the Decree of Election But further how did he do the Will of God Did he not do it by laying down his life for his sheep Joh. 10. 15 By redeeming a people out of every nation Revel 5. 9 By purifying to himself a peculiar people Tit. 2. 14 By bringing many sons unto glory Heb. 2. 10 And what is all this but the executing of the Decree of Election And if Christ's errand into the World was to execute Election then how did he merit it 4. God might have exacted satisfaction from poor sinners in their own persons he was not bound to accept
his Vindictive Justice Now here I shall offer my thoughts in two Positions 1. The final Sin of Reprobates is not properly the very Cause of the Decree of Damnation it is the proper very Cause of Damnation but not of the Decree it self That passage in Scotus is remarkable Non est aliqua causa propter quam Deus effectivè reprobat in quantum est actio in Deo quia tunc Deus esset passivus What is moved by a thing ab extra seems in order of nature before that motion to be in potentia and in that motion to be passive in some degree But God's Will in all its Decrees even in that of Reprobation is a pure Act perfectly excluding Passiveness and Potentiality and by consequence Motion ab extrá 2. The final Sin of Reprobates though it be not properly the Cause of the Decree it self yet it is conditio in objecto necessaria making men meet Objects for the Decree to terminate upon The Vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction Final Sin as produced in actual Existence fits them for actual destruction and final Sin as foreseen in the divine Prescience fits them for a Decree of destruction Where final Sin is foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates and where final Sin is not foreseen there the Decree of Damnation terminates not After all thy wickedness woe woe unto thee saith the Lord Ezek. 16. 23. Hells woes are after final wickedness and the Decree of Hells woes are after the Prescience of final wickedness In a word That which causes men to be capable objects for the Decree of Damnation to terminate on is the final Sin which is in the unrighteous Will of Man and that which causes the Decree of Damnation to terminate on them is the Vindictive Justice which is in the righteous Will of God In Tophet the Torments are as unquenchable fire The final sin is as much wood and that which kindles it is Vindictive Justice breathing out from the righteous Will of God in all which there is nothing at all but exact Righteousness God may say to Man Thy perdition is of thy self and Man must say to God Thou art righteous O Lord in all thy ways I will shut up all with an Answer to an Objection You will yet say God's Justice is not cleared in this point for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is merely out of Sovereignty and upon this Preterition and Permission doth infallibly follow final Sin and upon final Sin doth infallibly follow eternal Damnation Wherefore hereby God is made the great Author of the Reprobates Sin and Damnation To which I answer in three Propositions 1. 'T is true that upon Preterition and Permission final sin doth infallibly follow When God gave them up to their own lusts they walked in their own counsels Psal. 18. 12. When he suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways they did so Acts 14. 16. If upon God's Permission Man's Sin follow not then which is very strange God may permit that which yet will never be But 2. Upon Preterition and Permission final Sin doth infallibly follow but not as an Effect from a true Cause but as a Consequent upon its Antecedent Hence God is no more the Author of Sin than the Sun is of the darkness which follows upon its departure Also the Objectors may be asked Doth not God foreknow that the Creature set in such a state and order of things will finally sin Foreknowing this doth not he willingly and actually set the Creature in that state and order From or upon this setting the Creature in that state and order doth not its final Sin infallibly follow I suppose they will deny nothing of all this yet they will by no means say that God is the Author of sin neither need they say so for in Sins following there is only sequela ordinis and not sequela causalitatis Moreover God in Preterition and Permission doth not subtract from men any Creaturedue but suspend such special effectual Grace as is undue unto them This is clear for Preterition and Permission respect men as sinners lying in the corrupt Mass and to sinners God owes nothing but punishment Verbum Debet venenum habet nec Deo propriè competit qui non est debitor nobis nisi fortè ex promisso saith Peter Lombard If God be bound to give special effectual Grace to all shew me a Promise for it if he be not bound the suspension of that Grace can in no wise make him the Author of Sin Wherefore final Sin is indeed no fruit of God's Reprobating Will but the proper issue of Man's perverse Will And this is one grand difference between Election and Reprobation Election doth effectually work final Faith and Holiness in the Elect but Reprobation doth not effect the least drop of Sin or Malice in the Reprobate Faith and Holiness come down from Heaven out of the bosom of free Grace but Sin and Malice grow at home in the Reprobate's own heart Dea non operante sed permittente 3. Hence it follows That God is the Author of the Reprobate's Damnation only as a just Judge inflicting the same for final Sin God's vindictive Justice is the inflicting Cause of Damnation but Man's final Sin is the proper meritorious Cause thereof And thus God is perfectly justified in the Decree of Reprobation because that final Sin of Reprobates which follows consequently upon God's Preterition and Permission doth flow effectively from man's perverse and corrupt Will and that everlasting Damnation of Reprobates which is inflicted by God as a Righteous Judge is also merited by a man as a final Sinner CHAP. VI. Of the Work of Creation HAving treated of the Divine Will as to its Eternal Decrees I procede to speak thereof as to its External Works which are as it were the Royal Display thereof And that there may not be a Chasme in my Discourse I shall first touch upon Creation as the first of God's ways There are besides the Ens Entium three several Worlds or Ranks of Beings viz. Spiritual Material and Mixt the first is the Intellectual World made up of those invisible Glories Spirits by Nature Angels by Office Principalities and Powers spiritual Stars of Light and Flames of Love all of them at first Inhabitants of that pure spiritual Body the Heaven of Heavens but afterwards part of them were for their proud Apostasie cast into Hell The second is the World of visible wonders the stupendious Heavens eyed with a glorious Sun and spangled with Moon and glittering Stars encircling all the rest with their spherical Stories and wheeling round about with an indefatigable Motion spinning out time for all the World and with admirable influences hatching and hovering over all the living Creatures Under these is the vast Air encompassing the Earth and Sea coated with woolly clouds and those sometimes laced with the curious Rain-bow every morning putting on the bright-shining Robes of Light and at evening exchanging