foreseen to believe and persevere This answer would not have been 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or â—ard to be understood 2 Pet. 3.16 Neither would it carry in it the least Shew of Unrighteâ—usness but Paul was a Fool and these Men are wiser than the Holy Ghost that tells us our â—lection procedeth from the Will of the Elector 〈◊〉 from any thing in the Elected the Soveâ—eign Will of God is the Supream Rule of all â—ighteousness He will have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and whom he will he hardeneth Had foreseen Faith and Perseverance been the Antecedaneous Causes and Conditions of Election â—here had been no Mystery in it Argument 10. That Election which is shaâ—owed out to us in God's Love to Jacob both â—erson and Nation is the Election according â—o Truth but that Election was not upon foreâ—een Faith or Works Ergo. 1. Jacob the Person Rom. 9.12,13 was under Electing Love all foresight of Faith and Works being excluded to love Jacob is to will unto him the greatest Good even Eternal Salvation and all things that do accompany it this was before there was any difference between him and Esau for they were both alike in the Womb ut suprà conceived in sin had it been upon a foresight of their Works that they had God's Electing Love and Rejecting Hatred then were they themselves Carvers out of their own Eternal Conditions which depended on their Willing and Running and by this Hypothesis not upon the primitive Good Pleasure of God upon which our willing running and obtaining hangs as the Apostle asserteth 2. Jacob the Nation Our Election is Typifyed by Gods Election of Israel which plainly appears to be no Election upon foresight of any worthiness in Israel but all such being excluded the Reason is rendred I loved thee because I loved thee which is not the Reason of a weak Woman but of a strong God Deut. 7.7,8 Not for thy Righteousness Deut. 9.5 Argument 11. That which sets up the rotten Dagon of Man's Free-will before or above the Ark of God's special predestinating Grace ought to be rejected but this Conditional Decree doth so Ergo. That it does so appears inasmuch as their Doctrine of the Conditional Decree is grounded upon a Fore-sight of our Wills receiving or rejecting of Grace proposed and so Man's Will is made the Primum Mobile and advanced above God's Will and the Act of Predestination is put in Potestâ—… Predestinati not Predestinantis Hereby â—he power of Ordering Man's Salvation is as â—t were wrested out of God's Hands and put into the Hands of our Free-will then Salvation is the Work of the Saved not of the Saver and to will and to do is not of God's good Pleasure Phil. 2.13 Thus Men wickedly think that God is such a One as themselves Psal 50.21 floating and fluctuating in his Counsels and hanging in pendulous Suspences yea taking up pro re natâ new Consultations as depending on the Will of Men and the Contingent Acts flowing from thence Argument 12. That which inferreth a Succession of Acts in God may not be admitted but Election upon Foresight doth so Ergo. This is apparent in the Proposition for God is one Act and in him there can be no Succession for then he would not be I am Deus est Naturâ simplex nihil omnino admistionis aut Successionis habens sed ex omni parte 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Origen The Assumption is plain for a Foresight of Faith doth necessarily presuppose a foregoing Decree concerning the Being of that Faith foreseen For 1. God must decree Faith to be 2. He foresees that Faith 3. Then decrees to save upon that Fore-sight So that this Foresight comes necessarily betwixt two decrees the First before it and the Second after it Argument 13. That Doctrine of Election which stateth God as a Potter framing his Clay according to his meer pleasure ought to be admitted and the contrary to it rejected but the Conditional Decree doth not so sed e contrà Ergo. The Potter doth set apart several Lumps of Clay for several Uses out of his mere Will he doth not say if all his Clay-lumps be fit to receive Noble Forms he will fashion them accordingly and if not he will turn them otherwise for then the difference would proceed from the Quality of the Clay not from the Will of the Potter Argument 14. I might add many more as Foreseen Faith can have no place in dying Infants yet of such is the Kingdom of God and the Names of some are writ in the Book of Life Rev. 20.12 and if glorified they muâ—… be predestinated for Rom. 8.30 is reciprocaâ—… and of Equal Extent Believers cannot be the Object of Election for there be many Believers that are not elected as those with Faith temporary and many elected that are not Believers as Infants Argument 15. Christ foresaw the Men of Tyre and Sidon would have repented c. Mat. 11. 21. yet no decree depended on it Argument 16. A Conditional Decree makes a Conditional God seeing the Decree is God himself decreeing Argument 17. Then Salvation of any is uncertain for a Conditional Proposition affirms not any thing certainly CHAP. X. Objections against the Absolute Decree THE Objections which the Arminians raise against this Doctrine follow to be answered They deal with this Doctrine as the Heathen Emperors did with the Primitive Christians in the Ten first Persecutions who wrapp'd them up in the Skins of Beasts and then expos'd them to be torn in pieces by their fierce Band-Dogs So do the Arminians with this great Truth first dress it up in an ugly Shape with their own false Glosses upon it and then le ts fly at it one Cynical Sarcasm after another saying This is to accuse God not only of Injustice but also of Cruelty and of Dissembling Hypocrisie Objection 1. Of Injustice in giving to Equal Persons Vnequal Thing and if so there is Respect of Persons with God Answer 1. This is Objected against Paul's Doctrine Rom. 9.14 and seeing the Apostle brings it in as the Cavil of Carnal Reason against God's Decree in that we have sufficient Ground to reject it God must not lose the Honour of his Righteousness because the Reason of it appears not to our shallow Understandings We may not reprehend what we cannot comprehend his Justice must not be measur'd by the Standard of our Reason what is this but a speaking wickedly for God Job 13.7 and a plain robbing him of all Righteousness that is not Consonant to our Model We must not devise a Righteousness for God that is the Work of his own Will which is never sever'd from his Wisdom much less draw it down to the Determinations of God's greatest Enemy to wit Carnal Reason 2. God is Righteousness it self and Darkness may sooner come from the Sun which is the Fountain of Light then any Unrighteous Aâ—… from God who is the Abstract of Righteousness as he is the Summum Bonum so he is
believe and that Esau would not believe therefore the One was loved and the other hated Thus Arminius's School teacheth deeper Divinity than what Paul learnt in the Third Heaven And they do not only with the Socinians gratifie the Pride of Man's Reason but also the Pride of Man's Will in Extenuating both the Guilt and Filth of Original Sin as Popery their Elder Sister doth gratifie the Pride of Outward Sense Hence Dr. Laighton Sion's Plea pag. 234. calls Arminianism the Pope's Benjamin the Last and Greatest Monster of the Man of Sin the Elixir of Antichristianism the Mystery of the Mystery of Iniquity the Pope's Cabinet and such a fine-spun Thread of Popery that it can scarce be discerned the Quintessence of Equivocation and Spain's New-found Passage into Brittany and the Low Countries And Famous Mr. Fuller saith Fuller's Chur. Hist cent 17. b. 10. pag. 61. We must sadly confess that since the Synod at Dort many English Souls have taken a Cup too much of Belgick Wine in a Spiritual Sense whereby their Heads have not only grown dizzy in Matters of lesser Moment but their whole Bodies do stagger in the Fundamentals of their Religion Alike hereunto Mr. Rous the Master of Eaton-Colledge addeth saying Arminianism is the Spawn of Popery which the Warmth of Favour may easily turn into the Frogs of the Bottomless Pit And what are the New Arminians but the Varnish'd Off-spring of the Old Pelagians that makes the Grace of God to lacquey it at the Foot or rather at or to the Will of Man that makes the Sheep as it were to keep the Shepherd that puts God into the same Extremity with Darius in Dan. 6. who would gladly have saved Daniel but could not What else can their Doctrine De Scientiâ mediâ signifie Which they say is a Praescience in God whose Truth depends not on the Decree of God but on the Free-will of the Creature this is to make the Creature have no Dependance on the Creator and to fetter Divine Providence Thus that fatal Necessity which they from our absolute Decree would lay at our Doors unavoidably remains at theirs and God must say thus to Miserable Man Oh! my poor Creature Ferenda non flenda est quae vos laesit fortuna fatalis c. Rhaetor-fort de divina Gratiâ Ep. Dedicat pag. 6. That fatal Fortune which hath harm'd you must be endur'd more than bewailed for it was from all Eternity before my Providence I could not hinder I could not but consent to those fatal Contingencies unavoidable Fate hath whether I will or no pronounc'd the Inevitable Sentence This is to make God like the Heathen Jupiter who himself could not deliver his Sarpedon out of his Bonds when he earnestly desired it as Homer gives us the Relation What else is this but to overthrow all those Graces of Faith Hope Patience Thankfulness c. to expectorate Religion and to pull the great Jehovah himself out of his Throne of Glory setting up Dame Fortune to be worshipp'd in his stead These and many other great Abominations have been discover'd in the Chambers of Imagery in our Days which indeed are nothing but the Frothy Exuberancies of Wanton Wits measuring supernatural Mysteries and the abstrusest Points of Divinity with the Crooked Metewand of Degenerate Reason Luther This Word Quare saith Luther hath undone many a Soul that must know a Reason of all God's Actings yea of those too high for us and wherein Reason is a Fool thus saith he Men put themselves between the Door and the Hinges in searching into the Secret Counsels of God But in these Points it was once well said Da mihi baptizatam Rationem Give me a mortified Reason for to prescribe to God's infinite Understanding and to allow him no Reasons to guide his Determinations by but what we are acquainted withal is Extreamly Arrogant and Supercilious Stulta Dei sunt credenda as sond Man calls them et Impia Dei sacienda to wit such as Carnal Reason accounteth foolish and wicked Reason saith Ex nihilo nihil fit but Faith says Ex nihilo omnia Reason must neither be the Rule to measure Faith by nor the Judge We may give a Reason of our Believing to wit because it is Written but not of all Things believed as why Jacob was loved and Esau hated before they had done either Good or Evil this was the Counsel of God's own Will Touching such sublime Mysteries our Faith stands upon Two sure Bottoms the First is that the Being Wisdom and Power of God doth Infinitely transcend Ours so may reveal Matters far above our Reach The Second is That whatsoever God reveals is undoubtedly true and to be believed although the Bottom of it cannot be sounded by the Line of our Reason because Man's Reason is not absolute but variously limited perplexed with its own Frailty and Defective in its own Actings CHAP. II. Of Predestination which is the First Point in Controversie The Definition of it PRedestination is the Decree of God whereby according to the Counsel of his own Will he fore-ordained some of Mankind to Eternal Life and refused or passed by others for the Praise of his Glorious Mercy and Justice Rom. 9.22,23 Some are Vessels of Mercy and others are Vessels of Wrath In a great House various Vessels are for Use and Ornament both Vessels of Honour and Vessels of Dishonour 2 Tim. 2.20 and the Master of the House can wisely use all his Vessels For this cause did I raise up thee c. God hath his Use even of Pharaoh and of the Churches greatest Enemies if it be but Skullion work to brighten Vessels of Mercy by them and God hath not appointed us to Wrath but to obtain Salvation 1 Thes 5. 9. It is call'd Destination as it comprehends a Determined Order of the Means to the End Destinatus ad finem destinatus etiam ad media and 't is call'd Predestination because God appointed this Order in and with himself before the Actual Existence of those Things so ordered The Greek Word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies a Fore-separating for God's special Use as Israle was separated from among all the Nations of the World to be God's peculiar Inheritance So God tells them Levit. 20.24 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hibdalti which the Septuagint read 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have separated you to wit in fulness of Time so 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I have separated you from the common Mass of sinful Mankind to become Vessels of Mercy Members of Christ and Temples of the Holy Ghost before all time even from all Eternity As Divine Prescience is sometimes largely taken for Predestination Rom. 11.2 God hath not cast off his People whom he did foreknow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is whom he did predestinate So Augustine de bono perserveran cap. 18. urges against the Pelagians In like manner Predestination is taken strictly and Synechdochically for Election it self Rom. 8.30 Eph. 1.5
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
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
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
to Worms succeeds the Work of Creation But this special Decree of Predestination is not Extensive as the General is to all Individuals but is discriminating and particular as before and yet tho' it be not extended Ad singula generum yet is it Ad genera singulorum Though the Exception lay not in the Gospel which is to be preached to every Creature but in the Decree yet is the Decree an Extensive Thing as it extends it self 1. To all Ranks First To all Sorts and Ranks of Men to Princes and Peasants to High and Low to Rich and Poor to Bond and Free It extends it self to Kings 1 Tim. 2.4 for among them God hath his chosen Vessels his Davids and his Solomons Though the Scripture say Not many Noble and Mighty yet doth it not say not any for God hath had some great Ones to own his Ways in all Ages It extends it self to Servants also Tit. 2.9,11 for God bestows his Love on those in Rags as well as on those in Robes and the Poor do receive the Gospel Mat. 11.5 God is no Respecter of Persons 2. To all Sexes Secondly To all or both Sexes is the Decree extended to Male and to Female God hath his Elect Ladies 2 John 1. and both Male and Female are one in Jesus Christ Gal. 3.28 Electing Love hath appeared to both Sexes in the Old Testament and in the New 3. To all Ages Thirdly To all Ages To Young and to Old to Children and to those of Riper Years Yea to very Infants that lay in the Womb of the Eternal Decree before ever they come out of their Mother's Womb Jeremy was sanctified and ordained before he came from the Womb Jerem. 1.5 and John Baptist was filled with the Holy Ghost even from the Womb Luke 1.15 and 't is probable David did believe that his Child belonged to the Election of Grace and that its Soul was bound up in the Bundle of Life when he comforted himself with this I must go to it but he cannot come to me 2 Sam. 12.23 David's going to the Grave to it could yield him very little Comfort 4. To all Nations Fourthly To all Nations It is not immured in any one Nation but is extended to Jew and Gentile to Barbarian and Scythian Col. 3.11 some of every Nation under Heaven Acts 2.5 This Predestinating Love effectually calls its Sons out of all Quarters Isa 43.4,5,6 and threw down the Partition Wall betwixt Jew and Gentile saying I have other Sheep that I must gather John 10.16 Yea and while this Wall stood this predestinating Love brought over it sundry Proselites to the Church as Jethro who was the first Proselite that was added to the Church in the Wilderness as it became a Church and many others 5. To all Generations Fifthly To all Generations doth it extend it self Predestinating Love is like a River that runs under Ground and breaks out in certain Places above the Earth So fresh Veins of Election breaketh forth sometimes in One Generation and sometimes in another It is not bound up as to Time neither before the Law nor under the Law nor after the Law but in every Generation God hath his Church Visible on the Earth and the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against it As God is no Respecter of Persons so nor of Places Nations nor of Generations but hath his Hidden Ones to the Worlds End Consectaries 1. If predestinating Love extend it self to all Degrees then they which are poor of Wealth may be Rich of Faith and a Master's Servant may be the Lord's Freeman 2. If to both Sexes then the Weaker Vessel may be a chosen Vessel and may be in Christ before the Stronger Vessel as Priscilla was 3. If to all Ages then Believing Parents may have Faith for their dying Children they may belong to the Election of Grace and may be bound up in the Swadling Bands of the Covenant of Grace so they are not as without Hope for them 4. If to all Nations then the Ends of the Earth may look towards Christ the Serpent lift up on the Pole of the Gospel and be saved Isa 45.22 5. If to all Generations then predestinating Love is an Inexhaustible Fountain crying always Is there yet any of the House of Mankind that I may shew the Kindness of God unto 2 Sam. 9.3 as David's Love did CHAP. IX In which are contained Arguments against the Conditional Decree Objection First THE First Objection against this Doctrine of the Divine Decree is That it is a Conditional One upon the Foresight of Faith Works Perseverance c. Answ To this I answer that the Divine Decree of Predestination cannot be Conditional upon a Foresight of Faith c. for these following Reasons Argum. 1. That which the Scripture faith is the Cause and Ground of our Election that and that only must be the Cause and Ground thereof but the Scripture propounds the Good Pleasure of God as the only Cause and Ground of our Election not any Fore-sight of Faith c. therefore c. that the Scripture doth so appears in Eph. 1.5,9,11 Mat. 11.26 Rom. 9.11,15 11.5 't is an Election of Grace Exod. 33.16,17 2 Tim. 1.9 all those Places quoted do shew us that this Divine Decree floweth only from the Absolute Will and good Pleasure of God Argument 2. That which makes Election an Action of Debt ought not to be received but this Doctrine of the Conditional Decree doth so Ergo c. the Proposition is proved thus an Action of Grace and an Action of Debt are contradictory Terms if Election be an Act of Grace as those Scriptures forecited evidence and as the whole Work of Man's Salvation a capite ad calcem hath been prov'd to be wholly and solely from Free-grace Chap. 6. Argum. 2. then 't is abominable and to be rejected to make it an Act of Debt The Assumption is prov'd thus If the Decree be Conditional upon Foreseen Faith and Perseverance then is it an Act of Debt and not of Grace an Act of Justice and not of Mercy Ex debito et necessitate non ex Dei bsneplacito a Decree of giving Glory to Believers persevering as their Reward must be nothing else but Remunerative Justice Argument 3. That which makes God go out of himself in his Immanent and Eternal Actings ought not to be received but the Doctrine of the Conditional Decree doth so Ergo the Assumption is proved For it makes God look upon this or that in the Creature upon which the Will of God is determined this makes Man to be Author of his own Salvation and not God and to assign a Cause of God's Will extra Deum is not only 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but blasphemously ungods the great God and makes as it were a Mortal Man of an Immortal God For this Doctrine of the Conditional Decree sets God upon his Watch-Tower of Fore-knowledge to espy what Men will do whether they will