Obligations upon him to make Honourable Vessels 2. The Goldsmith makes curious Vessels oft-times for the Pride and Luxury of Men yea sometimes such as are redundant and superfluous and Mens adoring the Gods of Silver and of Gold in those Honoured Vessels doth truly change them into Vessels of Dishonour but God is compared by himself to a Potter for 1. The Materials of a Potter are Vile and Sordid to wit Clay So more answering fallen Mankind out of which God maketh his choice We are not only Clay Job 4.19 but sinful Clay thro' the Fall 2. The very Vessels of Dishonour which the Potter makes are for the Necessities and Conveniencies of the Houshold 2 Tim. 2.20 the great Housholder must have Vessels of all sorts some for Inferiour Uses as well as others for Honourable Service 3. The Potter doth not make this Difference among his Pots from any foreseen inherent Goodness in his Clay for the whole Lump before him is of an Equal Temper and Quality but from the pleasure of his own Will Thus the Potter's Power over his Materials is clearer from Exception than that of the Goldsmith so more illustrates the Absoluteness of God's will in this choice both of Vessels of Honour and Vessels of Dishonour Argum. a Minori Why. Yet is not the Argument a pari but a Minori For 1 st The Distance 'twixt the Clay and the Potter is but a finite Distance the Distance 'twixt one Creature and another animate and inanimate but the Distance 'twixt God and Mankind is Infinite not only the Natural Distance 'twixt God and us as we are Creatures but also the Moral Distance 'twixt God and Us as we are Sinners 2 dly The Potter must have his Clay made to his Hand though he temper it for his Work when he hath found it out but the great God creates his own Clay He created the Earth out of which Man was formed Gen. 1.1 2.7 It follows then that God hath not only as much more Power over Mankind as the Potter hath over his Pots which he maketh Base or Noble according to his will but much more for those two Reasons aforesaid if the Potter by an Absolute Will dispose of his Pots 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 much more God Consectaries 1. If this Absolute Will of God be the Universal Cause of all things then no Event can fall beyond or besides God's Will and Fortune in the Sense of the Gentiles is but the Devil's Blasphemous Spitt upon Divine Providence 2. God's absolute Will cannot be resisted Rom. 9.19 as he hath willed so it shall come to pass Isa 14.24 Psal 115.3 Job 42.2 there is no hindering of the Execution of his Will 3. Then learn we Submission to the Will of God declared Proud yet Brittle Clay will be knocking their sides against the Absolute Will of God till they break in pieces so did Adonijah 1 Kings 1.5 with 1 Chron. 22.9 when Solomon must rule CHAP. VI. Of the Fourth Property of the Divine Decree it is Free THE Fourth Property of the Divine Decree is the Freeness of it as it is not Conditional but Absolute so 't is not Necessary but Free as flowing only from the Pleasure of God's Will God is a Free Agent and cannot fall under any Obligation so as to Necessitate him in any of his Emanations to the Creature but as he is graciously pleased out of his own Free Love to oblige himself Reason 1. The First Argument to prove the Freeness of the Divine Decree is Such a Decree as passeth without any Obligation to Necessitate the passing of it must needs have the Property of Freeness but thus it was with the Divine Decree Therefore c. If thore be any Obligation it must be either in respect of Objects or of Acts or of Motives but God was not obliged in any of those Respects Therefore c. Respect 1. Not in respect of Objects for God was under no Necessity of having either any Elect or any Reprobate and was Happy in himself from all Eternity and would have been so for ever without either of them Illud est perfectum cui nihil potest addi and to affirm that God stood in need of any such Objects is to deny the Perfection of God God was infinitely happy in himself and needed not to have looked out of himself for any additional Happiness and therefore it is call'd an Humbling of himself to look down on Things in Heaven much more on Things on Earth Psalm 113.5 It must needs therefore be Granted that he needed them not but would have been God blessed for Ever without them Respect 2. Nor in respect of Acts as they are Necessary by a Moral Obligation God was under no Moral Obligation to Man he had done Man no wrong if he had never willed Man to be much less to be Holy and Happy God was not bound to any of his Actions concerning Man either Election Vocation Justification c. for God cannot be a Debtor to Man any other way than as he makes himself a Debtor of his own good Pleasure As in his Promises his Love mov'd him to make them and his Truth binds him to perform them otherwise those Actions would be Actions of Debt and not Acts of Grace contrary to the Tenure of many Scriptures that makes the whole Work of Man's Salvation to flow wholly from the Free-grace of God Respect 3. Nor in respect of Motives Neither First In the Creatures Not Secondly In Christ 1. Not in the Creature First Not in the Creature it self for the Being of the Creature much more the Faith and Good Works of the Creature was the Effect of the Decree of God so could not be the Motive thereof God could not foresee any Faith or Works antecedently to his own Purpose and Decree but in his Purpose and Decree of giving them both In Massâ corruptâ which the * Arminius in the 1 st of his four Divine Decrees Arminians assent to nothing that is good can be foreseen but what is caused by that Grace which was eternally prepared for them in the Decree of Predestination and actually applied in the Effectual Vocation So that Faith as foreseen is but a May-be and the Decree or Will of God causeth it to become a Shall-be and therefore it cannot in any good Sense be the Moving Cause of the Decree for then must it be the Cause of its own Cause But of this Point much more when I come to confute the Conditional Decree 2. Not in Christ Secondly Nor is Christ himself the moving Cause of the Divine Decree for Christ is the Effect of God's Eternal Love not the Cause of it John 3.16 God so loved the World that he gave his Son There is a Sic without a Sicut and God's Love gives Christ Christ is not the Cause of this Eternal Love tho' he be the Cause of our Salvation which is the Application of the Divine Decree but not of the
Decree of Love it self Therefore we are said to be Elected in Christ but never for Christ for Christ is an Elect One himself as is shewed before God willeth to save us for Christ but not for Christ willeth he us to be saved according to that Thesis in the Schools Deus vult hoc esse propter hoc non propter hoc vult hoc Christ indeed was the first chosen for the Head comes first out of the Womb of Predestinating Love and then the Members yet though he be first chosen to that Glory which became him as an Head he is not the Cause why we are also chosen Even as the first Alam is not the Cause why God did love me so that I should be a Man and have this Natural Being though in and through him I come to have this Being So Christ is not the Cause why God did love me so that I should be a Christian and have a Super-natural Being a Life above Nature even the Life of Grace though I attain to it and receive it through him in him and for his fake The Love of God as immediately cometh from himself to me as to Christ he was fore-ordained to be our Head 1 Pet. 1.20 as we to be his Members Thus we are Christs and Christ is Gods 1 Cor. 3 22,23 as the Effect of his Love to his Elect from all Eternity Reason 2. The Second Argument to prove the Freeness of the Divine Decree is that which the Word of God affirms to be a Free Act an Act of Grace and not of Debt an Act of Love and Special Favour founded upon the meer good Pleasure of God must be accordingly believed to be so by us but the Word of God doth all this Ergo Mat. 11.26 Even so O Father it pleased thee Luke 12.32 It pleaseth your Father to give you the Kingdom 2 Tim. 1.9 It was a Gracious Purpose in God from all Eternity Eph. 1.5,9,11 Paul's repeated Epiphonema is the Pleasure of his own Will the Pleasure of his own Will the Counsel of his own Will but more fully in that Rom. 9.13,15 exemplifying this Truth in Jacob and Esau Both the Prophet and the Apostle makes this Instance the fullest Exemplification of Free Election Mal. 1.3 Rom. 9.11 They do not bring in for an Instance that of Cain and Abol in the beginning of the Old World or that of Shem and Ham in the beginning of the New World but this of Jacob and Esau For 1. These two were Fratres Utero yet not Animo at one and the same time they laid together in the same Womb and were born at the same time for Jacob took hold of Esau's Heel so the contrary Disposal of these two doth more illustrate the free Predestination of God than of any other two whatsoever 2. In Jacob there began to be a distinguished People from all the World even a Church unto God as of Esau sprang also a persecuting Seed yet before they had done either Good or Evil Jacob was loved and Esau hated God had no regard to Faith in the one or Infidelity in the other whereby they might be differenced the One from the Other they were at that time when God's Oracle pass'd upon them already conceiv'd in Sin in their Mother's Womb and if there were any Preheminence Esau had it as being the First-born What then did cast the Ballance Nothing else but the good Pleasure of God Thus the Apostle determines it according to that Wisdom given to him 2 Pet. 3.15 God will have Mercy on whom be will have Mercy and whom he will be hardeneth Indeed Carnal Reason says It was because God foresaw what they both would be But if that had been the Cause the Apostle Divinely Inspired would have answered this Objection v. 16. Is there then Unrighteousne's with God according to that Hypothesis which would not have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as 2 Pet. 3.16 but easie to be understood and would not have resolved all as he doth into the Unsearchable Will of God And as Jacob's Person was thus loved freely so was his Posterity not because they were ex xnmeliori luto but God loved them because he loved them Deut. 7.7,8 It was choosing Love that he bare to them and that is the best of the Kind that is the Favour which God bears to his People As a Man loves his Goods and his Servants with a common Love but his Wife and Children with a Special Love and though Malachy instances only the Defolation of Esau's Country as the Evidences of God's Hatred to Esau yet the Apostle saw more in it than the spoiling of his Earthly Inheritance for in that very Desolation as an Outward Pledge he reads God's Eternal Hatred towards him in the Decree of Reprobation Reason 3. The Third Argument to prove the Freeness of the Divine Decree is If God in all Ages hath given us Examples of his free Receiving or Rejecting some out of Mankind then the Divine Decree must needs be free but the Antecedent is true Ergo the Consequent This Assumption is plain in Scripture History for of Adam's three Sons Cain Abel Seth the Eldest was rejected Of Noah's three Japhet Shem and Ham the Youngest was rejected It appears that Ham was the Youngest Gen. 9.24 and Japhet the Eldest Gen. 10.21 but of Terah's three Sons Abraham Nahor and Haran the Middlemost was rejected for Nahor was an Idolater and Laban sware by his Idol Gen. 31.53 Not by the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac but by the other Gods which Nahor served Josh 24.2 Now why is this Picking and Choosing this Receiving and Rejecting Eldest at one time Youngest at another time the Middlemost at a Third Time but to shew that neither Birth nor Age nor any Thing either foreseen or existing in the Creature can make any Claim but all lies in the Free Election of God We cannot give a Reason why Pharaoh and Mebuchadnezzar both being engag'd in the same Cause of Warring against Israel the Church of God had differing Dispensations of Heaven upon them forasmuch as the One was hardened and the other was humbled under the Mighty Hand of God Nor why Pharaoh's Baker was hang'd and yet his Butler restored to his Office again Why two Men shall be in one Bed the One taken and the Other left Why two Women shall be grinding at one Mill the One taken and the Other left Why Aaron's Rod of all the Twelve only blossomed These and many more Instances do sufficiently demonstrate the Reason of all those Differences is not any thing that can be found in the Creature but 't is only the Free Election of God Reason 4. The Fourth Argument is If the Fruits of the Divine Decree be freely given then the Decree it self must be a Free Decree but the Antecedent is true Ergo the Consequent is true also The Proposition is Evident for if I give a Book or a Piece of Money freely then I must needs
Believe or no Obey or no Persevere or no and according to his Observation of their Actings so he determines his Will concerning them thus the Perfection both of the Divine Knowledge and Divine Will is with one Breath denied and such Notions are fitter for the doting Anthropomorphites then for well Instructed Divines for Idea Dei non advenit ei aliunde Argument 4. No Temporal Thing can be the Efficient Cause of our Eternal Election which hath its Existency from all Eternity but Faith Obedience c. are Temporal Things as they are wrought in us in their appointed Time Ergo What is this but to prefer Time before Eternity and to set up a Post-destination instead of Praedestination Yea 't is a plain Denying the Eternity of the Decree for if the Volitions of God be placed behind the Created and Temporary Volitions of Man those Volitions of God cannot be Eternal the contrary whereunto was proved before Argument 5. That which is the Fruit and Effect of the Divine Decree cannot be the Efficient Cause thereof * We may not make that an Antecedent to Election which is but the Consequent of it but Faith Perseverance c. be the Fruits and Effects of the Decree Ergo. That the Assumption is true appears from many Scriptures Joh. 6.37 Such as are given to Christ by this Decree do come to Christ and John 10.26 Others that do not believe the Cause is because they are not of his Sheep Acts 13.48 As mary as were ordained unto Life believed We may not according to the Arminian Notion read it As many as believed were ordained unto Life for this would be a plain Hysterologia a setting the Cart before the Horse as if the Means were ordained before the End We are predestinated that we should be Holy not because we are holy Eph. 1.4 we are fore-ordained to walk in good Works not because we do so Eph. 2.10 We are predestinated to be conformed to the Image of Christ not because we are so Rom. 8.29 It is the Election that obtains Faith and not Faith that obtains the Election Rom. 11.7 and in 2 Tim. 1,9 the Apostle excludes all Works both foreseen and existing shewing that God's graclous Purpose is the Original of all And Paul himself was chosen that he might know the Will of God not that he was foreseen to do so Acts 22.14 and he tells the Thessalonians That God had chosen them to Salvation through Sanctification of the Spirit and Belief of the Truth 2 Thes 2.13 so that we are elected to Faith not for it or from it Paul obtained Mercy to be Faithful 1 Cor. 7.25 not because he was so and Christ chooses us to bring forth Fruit Joh. 15.16 Argument 6. That which sets up an Inferiour Cause before a Superiour ought not to be admitted but the Conditional Decree doth so Ergo. 'T is plain that God is Causa Causarum acknowledgld by Heathens the Cause and the first Cause of all Things and there can be thing no Being but from him as there can be nothing before him Rom. 11.36 Acts 17.28 Rev. 4.11 God is the Chief Efficient Cause and the Illtimate End of all Beings but if any Being have an Antecedency to the Determinations of God's Will this plainly takes away the Dignity of the Supream Cause and makes an Act of Man to be the Superiour Cause of an Act of God yea and of such an Act as is Immanent and Eternal It must needs therefore be a gross Mistake to suppose a Cause of the Will of God either before it besides it or without it and to place a May be as Faith and every Created Being only is Ab Aeterno which becomes a Shall be merely because God hath decreed it to be so before the Decree it-self Faith is a Subalternal Cause of Salvation not a Meritorious Cause as Sin is of Damnation but a dispositive Cause as it makes us meet Partakets of the Inheritance of the Saints in Light but cannot be the Supream Cause of Election Argument 7. That which taketh away the Certainty and Unchangeableness of the Divine Decree ought not to be received but the Conditienal Decree doth so Ergo c. the Assumption is proved if any thing in Man move God to choose Man then the Purpose of God cannot remain firm by him which calleth as in Rom. 9.11 but depends on some contingent Act in Man be it Faith Works or Perseverance and if it depend on our persevering in Faith it cannot be firm as depending on such a Condition which to our last Breath according to the Arminian Doctrine of falling away is uncertain What is this but to make the Divinâ— Decree more changeable than a Decree in Chaâ—cery that is for the Plaintiff to day and againsâ— him to Morrow For the Arminian Hypothesiâ— states the Decree of God after this changeablâ— Dress viz. I will save all if they will obey meâ— but I see they will sin I must permit them buâ— I will condemn them all yet this Decree shall not be peremptory I will send Christ to redeem all to save all again if they will believe buâ— I see they will not I will decree to save sucâ— as I see will believe and persevere in Believing Thus never any changeable Picture made sucâ— changeable Representations as this Conditionaâ— Decree doth of this Unchangeable Decree oâ— God This hath been proved before by many Irrefragable Arguments in Chap. 4. Argument 8. That which maketh us to choose God before God chooses us ought not to be received but this Conditional Decree upon Faith foreseen doth so Ergo c. The Assumption is plain according to the Arminian Doctrine for if God do not choose us before he foresee Faith in us in that Grace of Faith we make our Choice of God in Christ and cleave to him Yea they say further we must be foreseen not only to believe but also to persevere in believing that is not only to chuse God for our God but also to continue in that Choice to the last Moment before we can be fit Objects of God's Choice or Election Then must it necessarily follow that we choose God before he chooses us and we love him before he loves us contrary to these Scriptures John 15.16 1 John 4.19 Argument 9. That which taketh away the Mysteriousness of the Divine Decree ought to be â—ejected but this Doctrine of Faith foreseen doth â—o Ergo. It is dangerous Presumption for Men to â—ake upon them quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with Unwashed Hands to unriddle the Arcana Imperij or Deep Mysteries of God with their Carnal Reason where the great Apostle stands at the Gaze cryâ—ng 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Oh! â—he Depth How Unsearchable and Who knowâ—th the Mind of the Lord When Paul objects â—s there Unrighteousness in God Rom. 9. 14. â—ad he been of the Arminian Perswasion he would have answered Those are Elected that â—re
the Primus Justum Primum in aliquo Genere est Regula Posteriorum God's Will is not only Recta but Regula yea Regula regulans the Rule ruling not Regula regulata as if regulated by Man's Depraved Reason So that God's Ways are always equal though Men think otherwise of them Ezek. 18.25 and though they be sometimes secret as Rom. 11.33 yet are they always just God is too kind to do us harm and too just to do us wrong 3. Qui suo Jure utitur Nemini facit Injuriam i◠the Law indeed of Reason Jacob and Esa◠were equal in the Womb yet had an Unequa◠Disposing Decree concerning them this was God's Right and Power to do This the Apostle demonstrates 1 st From Moses Testimony Exod. 33.16,19 God will be gracious to whom he will c. i◠is his Right to do so And 2 dly From the Example of the Potter who hath 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Power over his Pots yet less than God over hi◠Creatures suprâ Now that which the Pot cannot do with the Potter that Man may not do with his Maker but the Pot suppose it could speak could not blame the Potter of Injustice in appointing Equal Lumps to Unequal Ends. Ergo. 4. God's Decree is not an Act of Justice but of Lordship and Sovereignty Justice always presupposes Debt but God who was perfect in himself from all Eternity could not be a Debtor to Man who was not and had his All from God The Decree is not a Matter of Right and Wrong but of free Favour Grace is God's own he may do what he will with it Mat. 20.15 If he give it to some and not to others 't is no Wrong in him that is not bound to give it to any 5. God is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Respecter of Persons because he doth not choose Men for their Works sake but before Jacob and Esau had done either Good or Evil he finds all alike in Massâ corruptâ and nothing to cast the Ballance of his Choice but his own meer Pleasure not as partial Judges that respect the Rich for their Bribes more than the Poor when their Causes are Equal or worse but God is a Free Agent and under no Law in giving Grace Objection 2. Sarcasmus Diabolicus Of Cruelty as if God were worse to his Creatures than Tygers to their Young than Rat-catchers who stops up all Holes then hunts them with their Dogs to make them fly in their Faces Or Lastly than Tiberius who because it was unlawful to strangle Virgins caused the Hangman first to deflour them and then strangle them Quod libet licet bad been a more Congruous Instance Answ 1. This is a charging God foolishly seeing no Act of God can be a Means to damn Men but Acts of Men to wit the fulfilling their own Lusts the Negative Will of God and no more is the Decree of Non-Election cannot be the Cause of Man's Destruction but the positive Will of Man does it Reprobatio nil point in reprobato As Reprobation gives not such a Grace as infallibly to make them better so it works nothing in them whereby to make them the worse 2. 'T is a meer Fallacy a Non causa pro causâ as if the Decree of Non-Election were the procuring Cause of Man's Damnation which is an Antecedent only but not the Cause as Sin is the Consequent of Reprobation but not the Effect of it so Sin is the Cause of Damnation and only the Consequent of Reprobation David's Order to Solomon concerning Joab and Shimei 1 Kings 2.5 was not the Cause why either the One or the other came to an Untimely End but it was Treason against Solomon in Joab and running from Jerusalem in Shimei procured their Ends v. 28 40 42. Death precedes Resurrection but procures it not 3. 'T is a false Hypoehesis to suppose that God in the Decree of Non Election doth by as Effectual Means intend to bring Men to Damnation as in the Decree of Election to bring others to Salvation for Salvation is a Favour undue to any Man so God may absolutely give it or deny it to any but Damnation is a Punishment so hath Relation to a Fault Means to the former are Bona gratuita but to the latter Mala voluntaria it is God that fitteth Peter for Salvation but Judas firs himself for Damnation 4 God doth not make the Creature to damn it for if that were God's End he gives it a Nature and Quality to sit it for that End but that comes from the voluntary defection of Mens own Will to fit themselves for Destruction Rom. 9.22 God endures it but does not insuse it Judas fitted himself for his own place Acts 1.25 and the Carnal Jews fill'd up the Measure of their Fathers Mat. 23.32 Vessels of Wrath fills their Measure of Sin and then God fills them with such a Measure of Wrath As Man is from God he is capable of Salvation so not made for Damnation 5. Should God constrain the Creature to sin and then damn him for it he delighted in the Destruction of his Creature contrary to Ezek. 18.23 33 11. but God did not thrust Adam unwillingly into his Sin as he thrust him after it out of Paradice but his Sin came freely from himself and God's Delight is not terminated in the destruction of his Creature but in the Manifestation of his own Glory Hos 14.9 Man's Punishment is from God as a Judge but Man's Destruction is from himself as a Sinner 6. God doth not reprobate Innocent Creatures No Man is unworthy to be predertinated unto death God might have reprobated all fallen Mankind as he did all the fallen Angels without Cruelty for none deserved better at God's Hands 't is not Cruelty in the Potter to make Vessels of Dishonour Praestat esse matulam Principis quam simplex lutum Thus this durus Sermo was urg'd to Christ Objection 3. It is Objected against the Absolute Decree That it makes God guilty of Dissimulation in calling such as are under the Negative part of it to repent c. which is as if God should bid blind Men whose Eyes he had closed to judge of Colours This cannot say they be done seriò but simulatè Answer 1. The Non-Elect's not repenting is not only from want of Power Joh. 6 44. but also from want of Will John 5.40 None are damned because they can do no better but because they will do no better If there were not Will there would be no Hell and this will be the very Hell of Hells that they have been Self-destroyers * Felones de se Cesset voluntas propria et non erit Insernas That never dying Worm is nothing else but a continual Remorse and furious Reffection of the Soul upon its own once wilful Folly as well as upon its now wosul Misery but more of this in its place 2. Paul did not dissemble in bidding the Philippians work out their Salvation yet
Working this is the fourth Gradation then 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies such strength as is in the Arms of Valiant Men that can do great Exploits is the fifth Lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Power that can do all things his Power an Omnipotent Power and surely had there been an Internum Principium in us towards this great Work or any Free-will to Good Paul would not have used all those Gradations nor such a lofty Emphatical Heap of most Divine and Significant Expressions This Work of Regeneration would not then have required the effectual forcible Power of the Valiant Arm of God even such a Power as raised up Christ from the dead whereby he was declared to be the Son of God Acts 2.24 Rom. 1.4 Cadaver fricatione nudâ seipsum nòn resuscitat I need say nothing of the raising up of Ezekiel's dry Bones wherein the Spirit was the Favonian Wind that wholly and solely caused new Life in them Nor of the raising of Lazarus out of the Grave which cost Christ a Prayer above all his other Miracles working and Lazarus contributed no thing to the Work Argument 7. If Moral Perswasion be altogether insufficient of it self to recover Man from his fallen Estate then fallen Man hath no Free-will to good but the Antecedent is true Ergo The Consequent This appears because then God would be only a Moral Cause of Man's Conversion but Man needs more from God and God therein is more to Man therefore c. Then Faith would be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Easie Work and not require such Mighty Power as Eph. 1.19 c. Causes are of three Sorts 1. A Moral Cause which is Improperly and Metaphorically only a Cause because it produceth not properly an Effect only it proposeth Arguments to induce and perswade 2. A Physical Cause which really and truly produceth and Effect this the Schools call an Effectual-Cause 3. A Miraculous Cause is that which worketh above the Course of Nature in producing Effects God in Man's Conversion cannot be only a Moral Cause for these Reasons Reason 1. Then the Working of Faith in us needs not the putting forth of any such Energetical Power as was in raising of Christ from the dead God did more to Christ than Morally perswade him to come out of the Grave and Christ did more to the raising of Lazarus Besides as such like Swasions are alone Ineffectual so dead Carcasses are incapable of them alone in Christ's saying Lazarus come forth there was a mighty Power went along with the Command Dixit sactum est God doth not Verba dare sed rem Reason 2. Moral Perswasions cannot be sufficient to bring sorth super-natural Effects Qualis causa tale causatum as when a Child hath an Apple held out by its Father to come to him the Child is only allured but not enabl'd thereby to come 't is not enough to perswade a Prisoner to come forth but his Chains must be struck off and the Prison Doors must be opened Acts 12.6,7,10 so must have a Physical Cause also Phil. 2.13 Reason 3. Yet Man is more than a Prisoner and stands therefore in need of a better Plaister for his Sore than a Moral Swasion which is not so much as a Removens prohibens which is only a Causa sine quâ non and so no proper Cause at all for he is dead in sin so must not have only Gratiam excitantem et moraliter suadentem but also Gratiam sanantem et vivificantem an healing and quickening Grace which this can never do Nemo fortunoe suae faber est nifi subordinate Reason 4. Then God hath no greater Influence in converting Man than Satan hath in perverting him to his Destruction he hath a perswading Slight but no Enforcing Might he may sollicit but he cannot compel Infirmus hostis est qui non potest vincere nifi volentem saith Hierom hence we are bid to resist him with peremptory Negatives and then he cannot touch us tactu qualitativo with his deadly touches Now to ascribe no more Power to the Creator than to his Creature Satan is to narrow it below Divine Majesty and to derogate exceedingly from Omnipotency Argument 8. The Eighth Argument further illustrates this Truth that more than a Moral Swasion is necessary to recover fallen Man if Christ be All in All in Matters of Salvation to us then Man is nothing in himself as to that Work and hath not a Free-will to Good so must stand in need of more than moral Swasions but the Antecedent is true Col. 3.11 Christ is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ergo the Consequent This is manifest for these Reasons following Reason 1. Christ's first Work in order to Salvation is to bore the Ear which is stopped like the Adders to the Charms of the Charmer Psal 58.4,5 Christ gives the Understanding Ear Deut. 29.4 Psalm 40.6 Job 36.10 Isâ—… 50.4 This moral Perswasion cannot alone remove we naturally reject the Counsel of God Luke 7.30 Reason 2. Christ opens not only the Ear but also the Heart Acts 16.14 The Lord open'd the Heart of Lydia not she her own Heart which she might have done if she had a Free-will to Good the Key of the Heart as doth the Keys of the Heavens of Hell and of the Womb hangs at Christ's Girdle He soutteth and no Man can open no not our selves our own Hearts Much less will moral Swasion be effectual Reason 3. Besides Christ there is no Saviour but this Hypothesis makes Man a Co-Saviour with Christ as if there were an halfing of it 'twixt the Grace of Christ and the Will of Man and the latter dividing the Spoil with the former yea deserving the greater share for if Christ be only a Monitor and perswade to Good then Man 's own Will is the principal Author of its own Goodness and he makes himself to differ from others hath something that he receiv'd not at Conversion 1 Cor. 4.7 and whereof to boast of before God Rom. 11.18 Swasion leaves the admonish'd Will to its own Indifferency not changing it at all so Man becomes his own Saviour not Christ or however not Christ only how then is Christ All in All Then Christ is not our Creditor but we are Debtors to Free-will Argument 9. The Ninth Argument still adding more Lustre and Light to the former is If fallen Man must be drawn to Goodness then hath he no Free-will to Good and moral Swasion cannot be sufficient alone but the former is true John 6.44 12.32 Cant. 1.3 Ergo the latter The Antecedent is prov'd Drawing is a Bringing of any thing out of its proper Course and Channel by a Violent and Over-pouring Influence from without and not from an Innate Power or Principle from within Jet draws Straw the Load-stone Iron and the North-pole the Sea-man's Compass so the Sun the Heliotrope It is not said Lead but Draw in Drawing there is less Will and more Violence than in Leading and though
God draws us fortiter strongly yet he doth it suaviter sweetly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Chrysostom As we are drawn we have not a Freewill to Gond for then Adam had lost in his Understanding only and not in his Will Yet are we Voluntiers Psal 110.3 not that Christ finds us so but makes us so in the Day of his Power and when he speaks to us with a strong Hand as Isa 8.11 We are Naturally Haters of God and at Enmity with him Rom. 1.30 8.7 but Divine Grace doth Violence to the Corrupt Qualities of the Soul and puts the Will on moving when its Corruptions are removed the Spirit gives a New Power and then acts that Power to Good so draws as it were a Camel thro the Eye of a Needle Luke 18.25 a God-hater to love him this is more then a bare Perswasion to a Stone to be warm and to go out of its place for God takes away the Heart of Stone and gives an Heart of Flesh Ezek. 36.26 which cannot hang on a meer Entreaty Sccrater said He was but as a Midwife to his Schollars she helps forth the Birth already conceived so he drew forth that which was Naturally in them but this is a begetting us anew in Christ Jesus through the Gospel 1 Cor. 4.15 and Christ finds nothing that is Good in us Rom. 7.18 Quis trabitur saith Austin August cont 2 Ep. Pelag. lib. 1. c. 19. si iam volebat et tamen venit nisi qui velit c. Non ut Homines quod fieri non potest nolentes credant sed ut ex nolentibus volentes fiant God gives the very Power of Coming to Christ Man's Will is made pedissequa but not praevia attending Grace but not going before it Co-operando persuit Deus quod operando incepit Austin Grace is Dux Comes and the Will a Subordinate Agent under Grace and it being moved afterwards does move it self Argument 10. If the Soul of Man be passive in Effectual Vocation then there is in fallen Man no Free-will to good but the former is true Ergo the latter The Truth of the Antecedent appears The Spirit of Grace is compared to a precious Liquor that is infused and the called and chosen of God are stiled Vessels of Mercy now a Vessel is a Passive Receiver of this precious Liquor poured into it Zach. 12.10 Rom. 5.5 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 poured out and infused into God's Vessels Rom. 9.21,23 2 Tim. 2.20,21 The Will of Man in respect of this first Reception of Grace hath neither Concourse nor Co-operation active but is actuated to an Obediential Subjection and is made capable and apt to receive Impression as the Air is passive when it receives an Enlightning as Adam's Body was a passive Receiver of Life when God inspired it thereinto Gen. 2.17 Though it was formed and Organiz'd yet was it lifeless and breathless And as the Soul of Nebuchadnczzir when deprived of Reason receiv'd the Impression of the Agent God Almighty in causing his Reason to return to him again so in this Case Christ infuses Grace into us against our Wills and 't is an Hell to us to be brought from Hell though it be an Hell to us to stay after God hath open'd our Eyes and touch'd our Hears Corrupt Nature cannot contribute any thing to destroy it self in its own Corruptions We are without Ability in our selves to put forth any Causal Vertue in Order to such an Effect and accordingly we have no Power to resist the Impression and Effect which proceedeth from a super-natural Cause In the first Work the Will moveth not it self but is only moved by God The Will as a Creature must obey its Creator yet as a sinful deprayed Will it obeys not God willingly till made willing so 't is not a Collateral Agent The Water descends Naturally yet Ne detur vacuum it ascends Man's Will is the Untamed Heiser or Wild Asses Colt Christ the Rider tames it and brings it to his Yoke Nolie est a Carne vells a Spiritu Luther Argument 11. To deny Grace special Grace and gracious Dispensations is abominable but the Doctrine of Free will denies these for they say If a Man improves his Naturals God is bound to give him Spirituals what is this bat a turning Grace * Non est gratia ullo modo si non sit gratuita omni modo into Debt and a Symbolizing with the Jesuites Meritum de congruo if not condigno And to say That the Reason why one believes and another does not believe is from the Co-operation of the Free-will of him that believeth is quite to destroy special Grace peculiar to the Elect * Special Grace is irresistible for 't is not two of equal force but as Michael too hard for Satan so the stronger Man Christ too hard for the strong Man our own Will contrary to these Scriptures John 6.37,45 12.39,40 14.17,22 Rom. 8.14 1 Cor. 1.23,24 1 John 4.13 and many others Neither can there be if this Hypothefis be granted any gracious Dispensation either in Respect of Person Place Time or Means all which God freely makes choice of As 1. Of Person He quickens whom he will John 5.21 Rom. 9.18 Then Wise Men would be Evangeliz'd nor the Poor and Foolish for they have the best understandings to guide their Freewilts The Heart of one Sinner melts like Wax before the Fire and receives God's Seal while the Heart of another remains as unmovable as Marble and as the Rock that cannot be shaken this is the work of Gracious Dispensation 2. Of the Place No Child can choose the Place where to be begot or born in nor We for our Conversion The Spirit blows where it listeth John 3.8 3. Of the Time A Child cannot choose the Time of its Begetting or Birth no more than of the Place so nor We of our New Birth God may drop in Grace with Life and regenerate a Babe before it be brought forth Luke 1.15 and yet that Saying hold true Christiani non nascuntur sed fiunt and others may be cast into the Womb of the New Birth when dropping out of the World even at the Eleventh Hour of the Day as the Penitent Thief Oh! who can order the Ways of Grace and set Bounds to the Spirit of God in its Breathings on Man 4. And of Means Out of the mouths of Babes God ordains Strength Psal 8.2 The Iberians were converted by a Woman the likeliest Persons have not always Children a Child cannot choose its own Father nor We who shall beget us to God All these are special Dispensations of God's Good Will to Men and so depends not on the Free-will of Man Ergo Argument 12. The Twelsth Argument ab Incommodo That which brings along with it many Absurdities may not be received but the Doctrine of Free-will to Good doth so Man's Will is the Principium quod not the Principium quo that is Grace We must