Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
cause_n effect_n good_a work_n 5,591 5 6.3844 4 true
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A57648 A centurie of divine meditations upon predestination and its adjuncts wherein are shewed the comfortable uses of this doctrine : to which are annexed sixteen meditations upon Gods justice and mercy / Alexander Ross. Ross, Alexander, 1591-1654. 1646 (1646) Wing R1948; ESTC R1065 34,757 168

There are 5 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

and the glory of thy truth in performing what thou hast promised though thus I have not deserved XCV All the afflictions of Gods people are either punishments chastisements or probations punishments for sins past chastisements to prevent sinnes to come probations to make triall of our Christian vertues and though Christ was punished for our sinnes to free us from eternall torments yet we are not thereby exempted from temporarie punishments he died to save us from death eternall not from death temporall he both suffered and satisfied we suffer though we cannot satisfie our sufferings are to shew our conformitie with Christ but not to shew any insufficiencie in the death of Christ Thou O Lord hast paid a plenarie ransome for sin and thou that knewest no sin becamest sinne and didst suffer death as a punishment for us that we who are born in sin might be free from sin that death might not be a punishment but a chastisement to us XCVI As by one simple act God knowes his own Essence so by one simple act he wils his own goodnesse which will whether we take it for an act or for an habit is eternally in God and differs but in some respects from his essence and therefore is immutable infinite and holy as his Essence and though many things are willed by him yet there is but one will in him which cannot be moved by any efficient end or object different from himself Lord though my will cannot attain that simplicitie infinitenesse and immutabilitie that is in thee yet let it obtain some measure of holinesse that in desiring of that only which is good it may in some measure resemble thine XCVII All have not had the happinesse to heare of Christ and yet there is no happinesse without Christ in this God is not unjust for they who either in themselves or in their parents have rejected him are not worthy of him besides God hath not left himself without a witnesse for he hath left a law written in all mens hearts and so much light of his goodnesse and justice as may make all men excuselesse If therefore they shall be rejected that had not that light of knowledge which we have how can we think we are elected who have even spurned at the knowledge of that light which they have not XCVIII Regeneration which is the killing of the old man and quickning of the new hath for her ushers Sorrow and Contrition for her Attendants Faith and Hope for her followers the works of Charitie if any of these be defective Generation will be little effective neither is this the work of nature but of grace for nature by generation can give us a mortall essence but grace by regeneration gives us an immortall existence in our first birth we had a new nature from our corporall parents in our second birth nature is renewed by our spirituall parents So easie is the work of physicall generation that it 's performed in the instant of our conception so difficult is the work of hyperphysicall regeneration that we cannot be consummately reformed till the instant of our dissolution Lord the great world was with greater facilitie by thee created then the little world of man could by thee be re-created that was done only by uttering thy externall word this could not be done but by the suffering of thy internall Word therefore as I am bound to thee for the tempor all life which in my generation by thy spirit thou breathedst in me much more am I bound for that eternall life which in my regeneration by thy Sonnes death thou hast purchased for me XCIX In thy sight O Lord no flesh can be justified if we consider the puritie of thy nature the rigour of thy justice the infirmities of our flesh and the imperfections of our righteousnesse For the first the Angels are not pure in thy sight much lesse we who dwell in houses of clay For the second if thou shouldst marke Lord what is done amisse who could abide it For the third there is no man that doth good no not one we are all gone out of the way For the fourth the justest man falleth seven times a day and our righteousness is like a menstruous cloath Therefore we acknowledge Lord there is no righteousnesse inherent in us by which we can be saved but that righteousnesse which is inherent in thee and imputed to us and by that we are justified and there is in thee exuberance of mercies by which we may be pardoned C. We are justified by grace formally by faith instrumentally by the word ministerially by good works demonstratively by sorrow and repentance preparatively by Christs death and obedience meritoriously and by God himself principally if then God be the efficient cause if Christs active and passive obedience be the materiall if grace be the formall if Gods glory be the finall cause of our justification how can we claime any share in it We are only subjects and patients no wayes agents our good works are but fruits and effects no wayes causes our sorrow and repentance are effects of preventing grace not of free-will our faith is from above not from our selves Therefore O Lord I disclaime all merit of congruitie and condignitie all efficacie of Sacraments all suffrages of Saints all power of Romane Prelates all absolution of Priests all observation of humane tradition and all will-worship from my justification I acknowledge no other merits but thy mercies by thy grace thou preventedst my merits my merits are thy suffrings my holinesse is thy goodnesse my righteousnesse is but a sparkle of thy brightnesse a drop of that Ocean a grain of that heap a stone of that immense mountain of thy incomprehensible goodnesse for which I am indebted to thee not thou to me Therefore not unto us O Lord not unto us but to thy Name we glve the glory DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON Gods Justice I. GOD will not pardon any sin except we repent of every sin for as he that breaks one command is guiltie of the breach of all so he that faileth in repenting of one sin repenteth of never a sin God loves not to doe things by halves he will pardon all or none and he will have us repent of all or none for as it stands not with his goodnesse and perfection to give an imperfect pardon so it consisteth not with the sinceritie of repentance to conceale any sin not repented as he ejected seven divels out of one and a legion out of another without leaving any behinde in the possessed so he will have us cast out all our sinnes without hiding of any unrepented What availes it to be freed from Satans power in casting us into the water of drunkennesse if he can when he pleaseth fling us into the fire of concupiscence O thou that art the great Physician of my soul to thee I open all my wounds and disclose all my maladies make me by the vomit of confession to cast up all my sinfull humours before
A CENTURIE OF Divine Meditations UPON PREDESTINATION and its Adjuncts Wherein are shewed the comfortable uses of this Doctrine To which are annexed sixteen Meditations upon Gods Justice and Mercy By ALEXANDER ROSS LONDON Printed by Iames Young 1646. TO The Right Honourable and Vertuous Lady FRANCES Countess of Rutland wife to the Right Honorable JOHN Earle of Rutland Noble Lady AS you have been pleased to make me happy by permitting me to gaze with admiration upon the rare structure and goodly fabrick of that beautifull temple of your Vertues so give me leave to passe through this into your temple of Honor and there at the shrine of your perfections to lay this Centurie of Divine Meditations a sacrifice I know more acceptable to you then whole Hecatombes of fat beasts or the smoake of Sabean incense Your noble Progenitors have devolved upon you many naturall endowments whereby you out-strip most of your own sex but grace hath gifted you with cleernesse and perspicuitie of judgement in the mysteries of speculative Divinitie even beyond many who think themselves learned Clerks of our sex Madam though you are every way honourable yet nothing doth so much enoble you as your zeale to Religion and love to learned men When your beautie wealth outward honours and pleasures shall determine in death even then Religion and Learning will beautifie and inrich your soul and immortalize your name The highest pitch of my ambition in this and the former Dedication is only to shew my gratitude to your honourable Husband and your Self though in small mites compared to your noble favours and withall to set forth the lustre of your own knowledge in these points which still perplex the mindes of many Christians The Father of Mercies crowne you both and your hopefull Issue with the blessings of both hands here and of Eternitie hereafter This is and still shall be the prayer of Your Honours devoted Servant Alexander Ross I Have perused these divine and learned Meditations on Gods Predestination Iustice and Mercie and judging them to be pious and profitable I allow them to be printed and published JOHN DOWNAME January the 7. 1645. DIVINE MEDITATIONS UPON PREDESTINATION and its Adjuncts I. I Finde that God by his absolute power can do that which in justice he may not He can torment the good Angels that sinned not but he will not if he could not doe so he were not omnipotent if he should he were not just I will therefore reverence that power which can doe what he wills but will not doe all that he can II. God may justly annihilate the good Angels though justly he cannot punish them He could not be unjust in taking that nature from them which he freely bestowed and he could not be just in inflicting a punishment which they had not deserved But I that am a sinfull man must acknowledge it goodnesse in him to annihilate me I must reverence his Iustice if he punish me but will admire and extoll his mercy if he save me III. God is a most free Agent being subject neither to a commanding law nor to a constraining power yet hath he necessitated some of his externall actions partly by his goodnesse partly by his Promise He must do what he promiseth because he is true he must doe what is just because he is good I will claime Heaven as my due not because I merit it but because he promised it his own goodnesse hath tied him to give it though my sinnes may deterre me from begging it IIII. If my Adoption be the end of Predestination by which Grace and Glorie are prepared for me then shall the end be first in my intention but the meanes shall be first in execution I will strive and beg for faith in Gods naturall Son that in him I may become Gods adopted sonne V. The good Angels were made happie by the grace of Confirmation Adam by the grace of Restauration the Angels fell not therefore needed not this grace Adam stood not therefore wanted that grace He that is confirmed falls not he that falls is not confirmed God shewed his love to the Angels in confirming them but his mercy to Adam in restoring him Lord shew thy mercy to me when I fall in restoring me shew thy love to me when I am raised in confirming me make me happy with Adam in the one happy with Angels in the other VI Gods Prescience is of a larger extent then his Predestination for he foreknew or foresaw both good and evil but he predestinated good only he foresaw good and evill because he is omniscient he predestinated only good because in him there is none and from him there comes none evill O that we could be like him to foresee evil and hate it to resolve only upon good and doe it VII Gods decrees are in our power and our power is in his decrees they are in us as causes in their effect we are in him as effects in their cause It 's by his decree that we have power 't is not by our power that he decrees ' Its in our power to performe his decrees but this power we have by his decree Lord if thou hast decreed my obedience give me power of performance and so thy decree shall be in my power not that thou didst decree because thou knewest I would obey but I will obey because I know thou hast decreed VIII God hath decreed to give us faith and he hath decreed to justifie us by that faith by the former decree he makes us his sonnes by the other he acquits us of our sinnes Lord if thou hast decreed to make me thy son bestow faith on me if thou hast decreed to blot away my sin by that same faith justifie me IX God first loved us and then he decreed to bestow Grace and Glory on us his love to us is the cause of our happinesse so our love to him must be the cause of our obedience Lord make me to love thee and then I know I shall obey thee X. Faith and Holinesse are graces by which we attain to happinesse but Gods love is that grace by which we obtaine faith and holinesse As the action followes the qualitie so Gods decree followes this first grace but other graces come after his decree it was by his decree that we have any grace it was by his grace that he was pleased to decree Lord as the grace of thy love made thee to decree my happinesse so make the love of thy grace in me increase that I may enjoy this happinesse XI God doth so determine the actions of the Will that sometime he bends it to what he pleaseth and so it works necessarily not freely if we consider the act or use of working sometime he determines it so that he leaves it to its own inclination and then it workes freely Gods Providence doth not thwart his Creation if he sometimes suspends hinders determines the properties and motions of his creatures in the creation he
gave them that in his providence he might use them Lord if thou shouldest leave my Will to it self in this corrupted estate I now am in what fruit can it produce but sowre grapes and wilde olives for the fruit cannot be better then the tree and men gather not grapes of thistles nor figs of thornes I had rather have a necessitie laid on me to doe good then be left at libertie to doe evil I had rather my Will should be a servant to thy commands then be master over its own actions XII If Adam had not sinned he had been saved and being a sinner yet he is saved grace had saved him then and grace saves him now the grace of Gods love had saved him then the grace of Gods mercy saves him now Gods love then had been grounded upon the first Adams perseverance it is now grounded on the second Adams death and obedience I had been happie in Adam had he not been a sinner but I am now much more happie in Christ by being my Saviour I lost Paradise by the first Adam I have gained Heaven by the second the first Adam being man would needs be God and so made us equall to the beasts the second Adam being God would needs be man and so hath made us equall to the Angels XIII Some † say that God in predestinating man looked on him as he was to be created others * that he considered him as already created and lapsed because we are predestinated in Christ but Christ is a Saviour and a Saviour presupposeth a sinner I will not dispute the question but this I know that my miserie occasioned his mercy and had I not been a sinner he had not been a Saviour XIIII I am elected in Christ who is my Mediator not only by his merit of impetration of pardon for me but also by the efficacie of application of that pardon to me Not only by his bloud hath he made a purchase of Heaven for sinners but also by that same bloud he hath delivered the possession of Heaven to sinners XV There is a Promise of Heaven made to us and there is a law of obedience and faith imposed on us Heaven is promised upon condition of faith and obedience and these are promised upon condition of divine assistance Lord if thou assist I will obey if I obey thou wilt reward but here are the odds that my obedience is the effect and fruit of thy grace and assistance but not the cause of thy remuneration and benevolence XVI God being the supreme cause can have no superiour cause of his actions yet some say he may produce an effect which may occasion him to work further thus the foresight of mans sin gave him occasion to precondemne him This well is too deep and I have no bucket to draw with I will not soare with the waxen wings of humane reason too nigh this inaccessible light nor will I prie into the sacred Arke of Gods secret decrees only this I can say that whatever his decrees were before time I am sure his proceeding to judgement is just in time He is so just that he never condemned any man but for sin and he is so mercifull that he will not condemne every man that doth sin XVII Justice and Mercy were still in God actually from all eternitie in respect of the first act to wit of existence though they were not alwayes in respect of the second act to wit of operation God could not alwayes exercise Justice and Mercy on sinners because there have not been alwayes sinners as soone as man sinned these attributes in God appeared which were eternally existent in him but not eternally exercised by him Lord thou hast exercised the eternitie of thy Iustice in punishing for me thy naturall Son exercise I pray the eternitie of thy Mercie for him in saving the soule of me thy adopted sonne XVIII God by his antecedent will decreed to bestow Faith and Grace on us which by his consequent will he resolved to deny us his former will was moved by his own goodnesse but his latter will was provoked by our wickednesse if we have unjustly rejected the grace which by his former will he resolved to give us may not he justly by his latter will deny that grace which was rejected so perversly by us Lord if thou art resolved by thy first will to bestow grace on me let me not by my disobedience provoke thy second will to deny that grace unto me XIX Our wickednesse is the cause that moveth God to exercise his acts of Justice but his own bountie is the cause and our miserie the occasion why he exerciseth his acts of Mercy When I am punished I will accuse my own wickednesse which provoked against me divine Iustice and when I am saved I will extoll and reverence that bountie which took occasion by my miserie to make me an object of his Mercy XX I finde a two-fold decree the one of Providence the other of Predestination by that God resolved to give us as much grace as might suffice to save us by this he appointed to give us effectuall grace that we might be powerfully saved by the former we may beleeve if we will by this we doe actually beleeve They are inexcusable that have sufficient grace though it be not effectuall for God hath dealt graciously with us in affording sufficient helps of our salvation and we have dealt wickedly with our selves in hindring the efficacie of these helps No man then hath cause to complaine of Gods crueltie seeing he hath bestowed on all men sufficient grace of Providence whereby they may be saved but many men have cause to admire Gods mercie who hath bestowed on some the effectuall grace of Predestination whereby they shall be saved XXI God will have all men to be saved and he will have wicked men to be damned that is his antecedent will this his consequent that is sometimes frustrated of its end this never and its fitting that seeing his will cannot be fulfilled by us it should be fulfilled upon us They that will not satisfie his will by their obedience shall satisfie his will in suffering just vengeance XXII God loves himself and so he doth man the one love is internall the other externall the one is eternall the other temporarie the one necessarie the other voluntarie for Gods internall actions if the object be internall naturally are absolutely necessarie as when he loves himself the agent the object the action are all internall and all necessarie in respect of existence but if the object be internall voluntarily as when God decreeth and understandeth externall objects which he makes internall by uniting them to his understanding then all these actions are voluntarie and free even his very decrees which proceed from his free will It was in his choice whether he would decree any thing concerning man or not whether he would bestow grace and glorie on him The eternall generation indeed of his
own Son is an action of necessitie but the regeneration of his adopted sonnes is a work altogether voluntarie So much the more then will I admire and praise that goodnesse which elected and saved me by how much the more I see it was free and voluntarie but no wayes in respect of his perfection necessarie XXIII There is in man a two-fold judgement to wit an antecedent which is that of the affections and senses and a consequent which is that of reason so there is a two-fold volition the one followes the judgement of sense and it is rather an imperfect desire then a perfect volition the other followes the judgement of reason both these volitions were in Christ more eminently then in us because in him were two Wils and these by reason of his two natures were distinct in him though his person was but one therefore he desired the cup might passe from him but willed it not or he willed it by his antecedent not by his consequent will O thou that madest in thy selfe the judgement of affection stoope to the judgement of reason and madest thy desire subservient to thy will and causedst thy antecedent will to give place to thy consequent produce in me the same effect that these sinfull delights which my affections so earnestly run after and thy gentle corrections which they so earnestly run from may be so ordered that the one by me may be courageously subdued the other patiently indured that my affections may submit to my will my will to reason and reason to thy Spirit XXIIII God worketh not immediately by his decree but by his power his decree is but a remote cause his power immediate his decree is an internall action the actions of his power are externall the actions of his decrees depend on his wisedome the actions of his power are subservient to his decrees Lord if in thy wisedome thou thoughtest it good that my soul should be saved and if thou hast decreed it then let thy power be seen in effecting it XXV The necessitie and contingencie of things is not to be attributed to Gods decree but to the working of his power contingencie is when he useth his resistible power if he works irresistibly then followes necessitie what is contingent to the second cause is infallible to Gods prescience but necessarie to the work of his omnipotencie his decree is a remote cause which without his power worketh not Christs death was contingent to the Jewes that crucified him infallible to Gods prescience who foresaw that the Jewes would kill him but necessarie in regard of his decree working by his power in presenting that bitter cup unto him Why then shall afflictions dismay mee which though they be contingent in respect of the second agent yet they are infallible to that all-seeing eye of Heaven that foresaw them and necessarie if we regard that powerfull hand which inflicted them XXVI God ordereth sin though he ordained it not he ordereth it that it may be subservient to his glory he ordained it not because he sinneth not He could not ordain it seeing he hates it forbids it and punishes it Lord I ascribe to thy glorie both my salvation and my sin my salvation thou hast ordained my sin thou hast ordered that by the one I may love thy mercie and by the other I may feare thy Iustice Who but Goodnesse it selfe would ordaine the salvation of a sinner and who but Wisdome it self would order the prevarications of a sinner What is more offensive to thy nature then sin What is more destructive of thy feature in me then sin yet out of sin thou hast drawn the meanes to manifest the goodnesse of thy nature in my salvation and out of the same sin thou hast drawn a meanes to repaire in me thy decayed feature by my repentance and conversion XXVII God gave to Adam sufficient grace to stand but not to persist he permitted him to fall who by the grace he received might have stood he gave him sufficiencie of grace not permanencie in grace by the one God is cleared from iniquitie and by the other he manifests his justice and mercie if man had not been a sinner God had not been a Saviour we had not known Emanuel God with us if Adam by sin had not separated God from us we had known him as Jehova but not as Jesus O my God if thou give me sufficiencie of grace I may fall but if thou give me permanencie in grace I shall not fall give me Adams happinesse in Paradise that I may sufficiently love and know thee give me the Angels happinesse in Heaven that I may constantly love and know and eternally abide in thee XXVIII God delivered his Son to death so did Satan by Iudas God had power to doe so Satan had none God did this in love to the sonnes of men Satan did it in malice to the Son of God by an affirmative act God was willing to permit Satan to exercise his malice by a negative act he hindered him not in all this God sinned not if we consider the authoritie of the agent the forme of the action and the justice and goodnesse of his intention Though God acts not sin nor is willing it should be acted by man yet he is willing to permit it Not sin but permission is the object of his will he could not will sin because he is not sinfull he permits it because he can draw good out of it XXIX God permits not punishment but inflicts it he permits not good but commands it he wills not sin but permits it not as it is good but as out of it he drawes good O thou that drewest light out of darknesse and meat out of the eater draw good out of my evils and comforts out of my afflictions Thou canst draw honey out of the rock and turne water into wine and make bitter Meribah potable we pray thee turn the bitter waters of our Meribah our strife and contention into the pure and sweet streames of Peace and Union XXX What God cannot doe he cannot will what he cannot will he cannot decree and although affirmatively his power be of a larger extent then his will for he can doe that which he will not doe yet negatively he cannot will what he cannot doe nor doe what he cannot will he cannot doe evil therefore he cannot will it he cannot will it therefore he can neither doe it by an externall nor decree it by any internall act O that my will and actions Lord were conformable to thine for oftentimes I doe the evil which I will not and I will the good which I doe not Lord make my will conformable to thine that my actions may be conformable to my will XXXI Gods grace reacheth further then his mercy his grace is extended to all his mercy only to those that are in miserie by grace the Angels were confirmed by grace the world is preserved but by mercie man is redeemed he is gracious then to
all but mercifull onely to some yet though his grace be more universall and communicable his mercy is more wonderfull and amiable Lord the noblest of all thy Attributes is thy goodnesse to thy creatures but the excellencie of thy goodnesse is in shewing mercy to sinners Thy goodnesse made me a man but thy mercy a happy man by the one thou deliverest me from nothing by the other from worse then nothing thy goodnesse gave me being and thy mercy well being XXXII In every sin the act and the obliquitie in every vertue the act and the circumstances are distinguishable In sin the act is alwayes good metaphysically but evill morally either because it is prohibited as the act of eating the fruit to Adam or because it is repugnant to justice and sanctitie though they were not prohibited as theft and murther In every vertue the act is alwayes good both morally and metaphysically but the circumstances may be evill as to give almes is good but to give out of pride is evill I will not forbeare to doe good because the circumstances may be evil nor will I venture to doe evil because the circumstances may be good If God command that which may seeme to be evil I will doe it for his command makes it good if he forbids that which may seeme to be good I will not doe it because his prohibition makes it evil Adam sinned in eating of the fruit though seemingly good because God prohibited it and the Hebrewes sinned not in spoiling the Egyptians though seemingly evil because God commanded it XXXIII God did no wayes necessitate Adam to sin neither by inward perswasion nor by outward coaction besides he gave him a law easie to be kept and power sufficient to keep it He did then neither will nor decree his fall nor perswade nor force it only he gave way that he might fall who had power to stand that being by Christ raised from his fall he might more firmely stand Lord as thou didst permit my fall so be now pleased to remit it I fell willingly from thee make me to returne as willingly to thee Thou gavest me a will to stand or fall give me a will to rise and so to stand that I may never fall again XXXIIII There is a two-fold necessitie the one is * Syllogisticall the other is * reall there was a Syllogisticall necessitie of mans fall in respect of Gods fore-knowledge but not reall Gods prescience was an antecedent not a cause and mans fall was the consequent not the effect of that prescience but there is a reall necessitie of that which God decreeth Lord I did not sin because thou didst foresee it but because I was to sin therefore thou didst foresee it my fall was a necessarie sequell of thy precognition so let my rising be a necessary effect of thy Predestination XXXV Sin properly is not the punishment of sin because we sin willingly we suffer punishment unwillingly in sinning we are agents in punishments we are patients yet sin may be the cause of sin not that one sin can procreate another but because one sin can deserve and prepare the way for committing of another Lord free me from the guilt and stain of Adams sin which hath been both the preparatorie and meritorious cause of all my actuall sins XXXVI God worketh on the will either by a physicall motion or by morall perswasion and he perswades either powerfully by his Spirit or sufficiently by his Word so he hindereth sin either by his law prohibiting it or by his power inhibiting it let no man sin presumptuously because he is not stopped in the full careere of his sin powerfully though there is not alwayes an inhibition by his Power yet there is still a prohibition by his Law to make us inexcusable Lord work on my depraved will physically work morally work sufficiently and work powerfully by the Word by thy Spirit by thy Law by thy Sword circumcise my heart and eares the one by the Sword of the Spirit the other by the Sword of the Word if I cannot be restrained by thy Law to forbeare the forbidden fruit with Adam let me be constrained by the glittering of thy sword to stop in the wayes of wickednesse with Balaam XXXVII Though nothing is contingent to God yet his knowledge may consider contingencies as they are contingent for what by man is done contingently by him it is foreseen certainly in which regard Gods judgements are founded upon sin which may more fitly be called the object and occasion of his judgements then the cause Lord the cause of thy judgements is thy justice and my sin the occasion thy justice is eternall thy judgements are just my sins are contingent if it were not for thy judgements I should not acknowledge my sinnes if it were not for my sinnes thou couldst not exercise thy judgements and if it were not for thy justice there would be no proportion between thy judgements and my sinnes the exercise of thy judgements will cease if thou put an end to my sins but thy justice shall not cease though thou in mercy pardon my sins XXXVIII Nature is before grace and the works of creation before the effects of Predestination Man was first made a living soul by the outward breath of Gods mouth and then was made a quickning spirit by the inward breath of the holy Ghost so he decreed first to give man naturall abilitie by the work of Creation and then to bestow on him supernaturall graces the effects of Predestination Lord thou hast gifted me with naturall faculties whereby I exceed the beasts and thou hast endowed me with supernaturall graces whereby I am equall to the Angels I praise thee for the work of thy Creation much more for that of Predestination by the one thou madest me a man by the other a happy man make me to exceed the beasts as much in morall vertues as I excell them in naturall abilities so make me to equall the Angels as much in love and obedience as I come neer them in supernaturall happinesse XXXIX God did first foresee that Adam would sin before he predestinated Christ to die for sin he foresaw the disease then prepared the remedie he foresaw the leprosie then ordained the bloud of his Son to wash it for as the sinner only is capable of the grace of Regeneration so this grace was preordained to the sinner in Gods Predestination O my God if thou wast so provident as to prepare physick for my sinfull soule before I had sinned I am confident thy goodnesse is not now lessened but that thou wilt apply that same physick to my soule having sinned XL Gods Image in man consisted in nature and naturall properties in morall vertues and supernaturall graces the first were totally retained in Adams fall the third totally lost the second lost in part Again the essentiall part of Gods Image remained to wit the soul but the accidentall part was lost to wit justice and