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	natural_a	nature_n	4,625	5	5.6875	4	true

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

moved to their Effects by the First and in their operations reduced to the motion of one universall prime Cause that is God Therefore it is the Scriptures say that the way of man is not in himselfe neither is it in man to direct his owne steps Jer. 10. 28. It is God that gives a new heart and puts a new spirit in man Jer. 31. 33. God placed the members in mans body and orders them as it pleaseth him 1. Cor. 12. 18. It is God that worketh in us both to will and to doe of his good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord and he turneth it as it pleaseth him Prov. 21. 1. He hardened Pharaohs heart Exod. 7. 3. as hard as a stone and he takes away our stony hearts and gives us hearts of flesh he hath done he doth and he will doe what he will The will of God was but fulfilled when Judas did betray Jesus Act. 1. 16. Herod Pontius Pilate and the whole Synagogue of the Jewes did no more then what God had determined to be done Act. 2. 23. and Act. 4. 28. The whole World united can doe nothing but what God will and God is not moved consequently by any thing which he as a superiour Cause moves and determines to the Effect but God himselfe antecedently as a superiour Cause moves and determines the Will of man to the Effect or that which it wils be it good or ill Therefore it follows God is not consequently moved by the good or ill use of the Free Will of man therefore the good use of mans Will foreseen moved not God to Elect him and the evill use of mans Will foreseen was not the Cause that God Reprobated him Therefore God had no Antecedent Will to save the Reprobate if they would by their Free Will receive and use his Grace aright therefore Gods Decree touching the Salvation and Reprobation of men is lastly and finally resolved into his owne pure Will Universalist thou tellest me of the love of God to Man and in that thou tellest me true for if all the World were full of Bookes if all the men in the world were Writers and if all the water in the Sea were Inke yet the Bookes would bee written the Writers weary the Inke spent and yet the Love of God to us poorely expressed but then let me tell thee that this Love of God to man should make a reflection towards this Sun and move man to love God againe and nothing but God and himselfe for this God that loved him when he was nothing submitting himselfe wholy and soly to the Will of God There are foure degrees of Love First a man loves himselfe for his owne sake for he is flesh and so naturally can love nothing but himselfe but when he sees that he cannot subsist without God then necessity compels him but for his owne sake still to flie to God and when he has begun to love God though but for his owne sake and begins withall to taste and see how sweet God is then he loves God no more for his owne sake but for Gods sake and when he has attained to this third step to love God for Gods sake he staies there and strives if it be possible for any man to obtaine this heavenly happynesse heere on Earth to love himselfe onely for Gods sake Thus the true love of God should both begin and end onely in God like a Circle which begins and ends in it selfe Now let Mr. T. take heed how hee preach against this absolute Will and Power in God and plead his owne Faith and Workes lest God at length be avenged on him God hath leaden heeles but iron hands he seemes to winke with his eyes but it is as Gunners use that they may hit surer when they shoot Origen in his second Booke against Celsus saith thus A certaine man gave counsell to his friend that was sick not to send for the Physitian because sayd he it is already appoynted by Destiny either that thou shalt recover of this Disease or that thou shalt not if it be appoynted by God or by thy Destiny that thou shalt recover thou shalt then not need the Physitian if it be not appoynted by God if it be not thy Destiny to recover the Physitian though hee come cannot helpe thee wherefore whether God have decreed thou shalt recover or not the Physitian will be called in vaine Another by the like Argument disswaded his Friend from Marriage Thou wilt marry a Wife sayd he to beget Children but if it be thy Destiny to have Children thou shalt have them without a Wife if it be not thy Destiny it will nothing further thee to marry a Wife for whatsoever Destiny hath decreed in this kinde will come to passe it is in vaine therefore to marry a Wife Thus wicked men deride and would rather that blind-man-buffle in the World then that God determine every Action and Event or fix his Decree But the first did send for the Physitian and the second did marry a Wife Hee us'd a wiser Argument who told them that God having Predestinated Men to such Ends Predestinated also that they should use the Means The sick man might safely answer nay rather if God have Decreed I shall recover therefore I will send for the Physitian that by his means I may attaine to that which God hath Decreed Thus Hezekiah had fifteen years added to his life by using the meanes and yet he 's a Devill that denies God did from all eternity determine the certaine number of his dayes And that other might answer if God have appoynted I shall have children seeing it can or ought to come to passe by no other meanes I will marry a Wife In this absolute Predestination we are far enough from the Stoicks Fate they subjected God himselfe to Fate we subject Fate that is the necessity of things to Gods most Free-Will they under the name of Fate understood a necessary connexion of naturall Causes and Effects we teach that God can and often doth suspend these Effects and works besides nay against Nature The Stoicks tooke away all contingency Wee admit contingency in respect of second Causes but we say there is a certaine prescience in the first Cause all things are ordered by the providence of God Indeed the Turks out of their obstinate beliefe of Predestination brutishly contemne all kindes of dangers for they say that as soone as man comes out of his mothers Wombe to enjoy the light of the world God writes in his forehead all the good or evill that shall happen unto him and particularly of what death hee shall dye the necessity whereof they say no humane power can avoyd and hence it came to passe that Anno 1611. there died of the Plague in Constantinople 200000. in five months every day 12 or 15 hundred for they will not turn away from a body dead of this disease nor forbeare to visit

that God from all Eternity before the world was made hath not onely fore-seene all things that could be or should be by his appointment or permission but also by an unchangeable Decree hath fore-ordained all things and persons to certaine determinate ends for his owne Glory and that neither the Saints were elected in Christ to infallible and persevering Grace and eternall Glory for their fore-seene righteousnesse nor the Reprobates refused or non-elected for their fore-seene wickednesse but both the one and the other were Predestinated to those their severall Estates according to the Councel of Gods owne Will which was not mooved by any thing hee foresaw in the parties but hee most freely Decreed according to his own pleasure absolute dominion that he hath over the Creature And this Decree of Gods Will is the first mover of all other wills and things in the creatures whereupon the smallest and most contingent or casuall things that fall out depend as upon their Universall Cause whose influence into the second causes directeth produceth inclineth and ordinateth them to their effects not by enforcing them by any constraint but by enclining them to worke according to their owne condition so as the sayd effects proceed out of them according to their own natures a contingent effect of a contingent cause and a free effect out of a voluntary and free cause This is the sum of that Doctrine which the Reformed Protestant Churches hold touching Predestination They place the Decree of God to order all things for his own glory as it is Pro. 16. 4. which is the end before the meanes that is before Creation the Fall Redemption c. but the Pelagians Papists Arminians Universalists place the means before the end as for example these say Mediatio Christi est Causa 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or externe movens respectu volitionis divinae in Electionis actu that is the mediation of Christ is the externall cause moving the will of God in the act of Election whereas the Reformed Churches say that the will of God is the sole cause of the mediation of Christ Christ is not subordinate to the very Decree it selfe of Election he is to the Execution thereof as it appears 1 Pet. 1. 20. Thus in the distribution of the causes of Salvation and Damnation our Adversaries turne them upside downe for they feigue a generall decree in God 1. To create man 2. To give a Law to his Creature with condition of life and death 3. To permit the fall 4. To redeeme all mankinde in Christ hence Universall Election 5. To call all mankinde so redeemed hence Universall Vocation 6. Upon their Faith or Infidelity he fixeth his Decree First say they God propounded equally to himselfe Jacob and Esau and loved the one no more then the other secondly he purposed to save him of the two that should do well and damn him of the two that should do ill thirdly he Decreed to give them both sufficient means of salvation whereby Esau may as well be saved as Jacob fourthly he Decreed to leave them both to the liberty of their owne Free-will to use or not to use the means fiftly he foresaw Jacob would Esau would not use the means sixthly hereupon he pronounced the Decree of Election to Jacob and of Reprobation to Esau thus Pelagians Papists Arminians Universalists These two last Remonstrants so the Germans call them and the name offends them not for this Sect pester'd them parts first and gave occasion to the States of the United Provinces to assemble that Synod at Dort whither at their instance came religious and learned men from other Reformed Churches as out of England Bishop Carleton Doctor Davenant Doctor Ward Doctour Goade Doctor Belcanquell c. I say these Remonstrants that oppose our Doctrine of Predestination being of the same minde with them that defend Universal Redemption they say thus I 'le use their owne words Deum Amesius de Elect. pag. 11. aeterno immutabili decreto in Jesu Christo filio suo ante jactum mundi fundamentum statuisse ex lapso peccatis obnoxio humano genere ill●s in Christo propter Christum per Christum servare qui Spiritus Sancti gratia in eundem Filium ejus credunt in ea fide fideique obedientia per eandem gratiam usque ad finem perseverant that is God in his eternall and immutable Decree in Jesus Christ his Son before the foundation of the world did determine out of lapsed mankinde to save those in Christ for Christ and by Christ who by the spirit did believe in that his Sonne and persevere in that faith and obedience of faith by grace unto their lives end Now in this Thesis of theirs are these five things 1. The Act or Decree it selfe 2. the Object 3. the End 4. the Condition 5. the Foundation First the Act or Decree it selfe and that they say is two fold 1. Generall by which God Decreed to save all that would believe and persevere the 2. Particular by which hee did Decree to save certaine persons whom he foresaw would certainly beleeve and persevere unto the end some of them call these two Gods Antecedent Consequent Will or generale particulare pronuntiatum Thus they make you may see two Wills in God against the Spirit of God which saith God is in one mind Job 23. 23. The second thing considerable in their Thesis is the Object of this Decree which they are forced to confesse all the members of Christ are not they cannot tell how to include Infants because they want faith and perseverance nay they include in the Object of this Decree onely such as have lived and persevered all other are excluded that are yet alive untill they persevere to the end so that by this Opinion they must first have Faith and Perseverance before God can fix his Decree which is a fearfull thing to affirme for so they are not Pre-destinated but Post-destinated they are forc'd therefore to a further absurdity that is to distinguish betwixt an incompleat which they say is common to all the faithfull and a compleat Election which is proper only to such as persevere The third thing to be considered in their Thesis is the End of this Decree and that they say is salvation and glory contrary to the expresse words of Scripture which saith not we are Predestinated to Glory onely but also to Holinesse or a godly life and to the Grace of Adoption before we can attain to Glory as it is plaine Eph. 1. 4. 5. He hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we should be Holy c. In the Decree of Predestination there is first What 2. by What 3. to What the first Man the 2. Grace the 3. a Godly Life and after it is ended Eternall Glory The 4. thing is the Condition required in this Decree of theirs wee say it is the Good Pleasure or the Will of God without any Condition

persevere to the end whilest they are yet alive The Minor is true for they are the words of S. Luke and S. John ut suprà and I could prove it out of a hundred places therefore the Conclusion cannot be false Perseverance can be no condition in the Object of Election They even all of them Universalists Papists Arminians defend falling away from Grace and they prove it de facto by a fearfull Argument for they themselves have faln from the Faith and the Reformed Churches Arg. 2. They who were given to Christ antecedenter ad Fidem that they might be Faithfull they were Elect antecedenter ad Fidem that they might have Faith and Perseveranee not because they were such but some are given to Christ that they might have Faith and Perseverance therefore they were elect that they might be Faithfull not for their Faith the Major none can deny and the Minor may be proved out of Ephes 1. 4. Hee hath chosen us before the foundation of the world that wee should bee holy and without blame before him not because we were holy the Apostle saith the same Ephes 2. 10. Faith is the fruit not the tree the Effect not the Cause of Election we are elected to faith not for faith antecedenter ad fidem as I said not propter fidem there is no other Cause of our Election but only the Will of God Nay more the mediation of Christ is not the Cause of Gods Decree but Gods Decree è contra is the Cause of Christs mediation he Predestinated us unto the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ according to the good pleasure of his owne will Ephes 1. 5. The Jewes were rejected for their unbeliefe the Gentiles were not elected for their Faith but they stood by Faith Rom. 11. 20. We never read that any People or particular Nation was elected for their Faith the contrary we often read as Deut. 7. 7. 8. Ezek. 16. First the Lord saith this is my People before the People can say the Lord is our God Zach. 13. 9. Vera Electio non invenit sed facit fideles true Election finds us not but makes us faithfull Qui enim de mundo mundum eligi fecit quod eligeret non invenit saith Augustin in Joh. 15. God chose a World out of the World for nothing that was in the World Indeed Arminius stands to it stoutly that Faith in Gods Decree of Election doth in order goe before not follow Election But yet that old Axiome is and will be truth when Heresies and Hereticks are dead with the Devill their Father Deus in negotio Predestinationis non egreditur extràse God in Predestination goes not out of himselfe Arg. 3. The Scriptures teach us that on some God will shew Mercy on others his Justice Exod. 33. 19. Rom. 9. 22. 23. of his owne Free Will or good pleasure which proves that Election is neither for Faith nor of all Of the same Clay the Potter maketh both the Vessels that serve for cleane uses and likewise also such as serve to the contrary but what is the use of either sort the Potter himselfe is the Judge Wisedome 15. 7. O house of Israel can not I doe with you as the Potter saith the Lord Behold as the clay is in the Potters hand so are ye in mine O house of Israel Jer. 18. 6. And if any man will strive against God for doing with us as he pleaseth the Prophet Isaiah pronounceth a woe against such an one Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker Let the potsherds strive with the potsherds of the earth shall the Clay say to him that fashioneth it what makest thou Woe unto him that saith to his Father what begettest thou c. Isa 45. 9. 10. God hath got the upper ground doe not contend against him Arg. 4. Christ saith hee had sheep among the Gentiles Other sheep I have that are not of this fold John 10. 16 Therefore God had much people among them that had not heard of him now this cannot be by Election or in the Decree and Eternall Counsell of God therefore there is a singular Election even of such as never had Faith Arg. 5. Our Adversaries might remember Christ sayth But many are called and fewer chosen Matt. 20. 16. 22. 14. From which words it followes there is neither an universall Vocation nor an universall Election but I touched these things before and shall heereafter when I come to prove Gods absolute Decree Their Universall Vocation is of the same stampe with their Universall Election as counterfet coyne I proved it before and I may adde further This Opinion necessarily implies that God gives grace and means sufficient for salvation to all men and supposes that there is no mortall man old or yong Christian or Pagan from the beginning of the World unto the end thereof but God reveales to him the means of salvation and at least in some instant of his life he sets him in such a state that he may enjoy the means if he will and be saved the Consequence is thus proved because if God will onely save such as use the means of salvation well and damn such as use them ill and that consequently because they use them well or ill then he must in justice reveale and exhibit these means unto them because no man by himselfe can recover them and hee must reveale and exhibite them to man when he is in such a state that he hath the use of his Free Will as a King that wills the safety of his Subjects on condition that they keep his Lawes is bound to publish and make his Lawes known unto them else if he execute any of them it must be upon a new point and not upon their not keeping his Lawes so also it is impossible that God should reprobate any for the ill use of his grace and contempt of the means of salvation that never had those meanes nor ever heard of his grace as many millions of people in all Ages have beene and now are The first sort whereof are Infants that either die in the womb or unbaptized or reach not to years of discretion and the use of reason and Free Will now Predestination is of no other reason in Infants then in Old folke but upon the same grounds and in the same maner that God wills the salvation of the one he wills the salvation of the other then let the Universalist tell me how the means of salvation is applied to Infants or how they can make use of the means The second sort that never had or heard of the means of salvation are Idiots such as are born Naturalls without the use of Reason of whom the same may be sayd that is of Infants that for want of Reason and the use of Free Will they cannot be said to have sufficient means for to the sufficiency of the meanes must concurre not only the perfection of the helpe revealed but also the ability of

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

himselfe hath fore-appoynted 6. God ordereth all these sinnes to his owne Glory and the good of his Elect. For the most sinfull Actions of man tend to the manifestation of Gods Glory either as Acts of mercy to the godly in whom sinne produceth punishment punishment Repentance Repentance Faith Faith the Favour of God and the Favour of God Life and Salvation or as Acts of Justice to the Wicked in whom sinne produceth punishment punishment hardnesse of heart hardnesse of heart incredulity incredulity hatred of God and hatred of God death and destruction All which is manifest in the different effects which sinne produced in godly David and in ungodly Pharoah as for example Davids Murther and Adultery occasioned Reproofes and Corrections from God 2. Sam. 12. Psal 6. Psal 22. These corrections and punishments wrought sorrow and Repentance in Davids heart Psal 5. that Repentance Faith and trust in God Psal 30. Psal 31. Psal 52. Psal 23. That Faith and Trust obtained Love and Favour from God Psal 27. and that Love and Favour an assured hope of Life and Salvation Psal 12. But Pharaohs oppressions provoaked God to send his judgements and plagues upon him these plagues they hardned Pharoahs heart that hardnesse of heart caused incredulity that incredulity the hatred of God and that hatred occasioned Pharaohs ruine and destruction in the red Sea as it is Exod. 14. Yea the goodnesse of God made the very drunkenesse and incest of Lot the incest of Judah the malice of the Jewes the treason of Judas and the injustice of Pilate Meanes of mans salvation yea even Adams Fall the fountaine of sinne and misery in man was by the wisdome of God made a meanes of greater happinesse to the Godly then his perseverance and continuance in Innocency could have been For if life had been given as a reward of our just Workes so the wittiest of the Schoolemen Scotus then our Worke being finite could not have merited an infinite reward the enjoyment whereof but one minute had passed our merit whereas life eternall being now conferred upon the faithfull not by way of Debt but by the Free Grace and Mercy of God this infinite Gift is proportioned not according to the meane merits of the Receiver but according to the goodnesse of God the Giver So that even Sinne it selfe on this manner that I have shewed may be said to be of God Let a man spur forward a lame Horse in that he moveth forward the Rider is Cause but that he halteth he himselfe is the cause When we see the Sun Beames shining through a Glasse the Light is from the Sun the Colour not from the Sun but from the Glasse For talis Actio cum tali defectu is not of God as sinfull Actions have in them formalem rationem peccati and are opposite to the Rule of Gods Law so God neither is nor can be the Causer of them yet is he the Cause of that inward or outward naturall Action wherein this defect of mans Will is found Entitas pravae actionis cadit in Voluntatem Divinam yet man hath not onely potentiam in se liberam but liberum usum potentiae not onely free power but also free use of his power as it appeares in Thieves Adulterers and the like who when there is danger doe not yet after do commit such sins God is no Enforcer in sinfull Actions yet may he be a Decreer or Permitter suffering persōs not elected to fall volūtarily into sins to continue volūtarily in thē to their lives end for thē to undergo endless misery in another life God decreed the permission disposing of sin which he fore-saw upon his permission would be but he did not decree the effecting or Existence of it that it should be it more appertained to Gods Omnipotent Goodnesse to draw good out of evill then not to suffer evill to be And as in bad so also in good Actions God not onely fore-sees that a man will use his Free-Will well but wils and preordaines that he shall use it well It is true that men justified by Gods Predestination by their endeavour and deliberation may be said to determine themselves to good Workes I say after Justification but it is God that moves and makes them thus to determine themselves and doe all these things with a Free Will This is a sure Rule a man doth not that good thing which by Grace he is able to doe unlesse God make him to doe it as he hath made him able to do it if he will Ad perseverantiam in Fide Gratia non opus est nova speciali Gratia sufficit ad hoc vel quod Naturà habemus vel quod semel per Spiritum adepti sumus to perseverance in Faith and Grace there needes no speciall Grace Nature or Grace once received is sufficient for this None have beene so bold to say thus but the old Pelagians and later Semi-Pelagians It is true that Christ saith of sinfull Jerusalem How often would I have gathered thy Children together as an Hen gathereth her Chickens and yee would not Mat. 23. 37. But he willed togather them not Voluntate beneplaciti which cannot be resisted but by his revealed Will using the meanes which might had man not falne have beene effectuall that impotency in our Wills comes not from the Creator but from man that fell from his Creator and the Will is now starke dead as to good Actions untill it be enlivened by God This damnable Doctrine that all men were redeemed by Christ but not made free because God distributeth his gifts according to the carelesnesse of such as came to receive them was an old rotten Heresie buried many hundred yeares since and raised up againe by the Devill to disturbe the peace of the Church in our dayes To drive this nayle any further were needlesse had I Men to deal with but my Adversaries many of them are such Beasts as fought with Paul at Ephesus therefore yet once over againe all this I have sayd shall bee poved both by evident Reasons and out of the Word of God For 1. I say God foresees all Contingent Effects to come in his own determination of the Causes thereof and therefore seeing the Contingent Operation of our Will hee determines it to the Effect 2. Els there should bee two severall beginnings of one and the same Effect in as much as Mans Will should begin to work as soon as God and concur to the Effect willed as principally as God 3. The Will of Man is but Gods Instrument the Hatchet the Hammer whereby God hewes out his own worke but every one that useth any Instrument moves applies and determines it to his own will 4. The Will of Man is but a secondary subordinate Cause under the first Cause which is God and exceeds not the measure of second Causes but if it were not determined by the first Cause it should be all one with the first Cause it selfe Second Causes are alwaies