Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n
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A30198
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Reprobation asserted, or, The doctrine of eternal election & reprobation promiscuously handled in eleven chapters wherein the most material objections made by the opposers of this doctrine are fully answered, several doubts removed, and sundry cases of conscience resolved / by John Bunyan.
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Bunyan, John, 1628-1688.
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1674
(1674)
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Wing B5588; ESTC R30870
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43,018
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51
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must all things consist And as he is before all things they having consistence by him so also is he before all states or their Causes be they either good or bad of continuance or otherwise he being the first without beginning c. whereas all other things with their causes have rise dependance or toleration of being from him Col. 1.17 Hence it follows that nothing either Person or Cause c. can by any means have a being but first he knows thereof allows thereof and decrees it shall be so Who is he that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord commandeth it not Now then because that Reprobation as well as Election are subordinate to God his Will also which is eternally perfect being most immediately herein concerned it was impossible that any should be Reprobate before God had both willed and decreed it should be so It is not the being of a thing that administers matter of knowledge or fore-sight thereof to God but the perfection of his Knowledge Wisdom and Power c. that giveth the thing its being God did not fore-decree there should be a World because he foresaw there would be one but there must be one because he had before decreed there should be one The same is true as touching the case in hand For this very purpose have I raised thee up that I might shew in thee my power Lam. 3.37 Exod. 9.16 Rom. 9.17 Secondly A second Cause of Eternal Reprobation Is the exercise of Gods Soveraignty for if this is true That there is nothing either visible or invisible whether in Heaven or Earth but hath its being from him then it must most reasonably follow that he is therefore Soveraign Lord c. and may also according to his own will as he pleaseth himself both exercise and manifest the same being every whit absolute and can do and may do whatsoever his Soul desireth and indeed good reason for he hath not onely made them all but for his pleasure they both were and are created Now the very exercise of this Soveraignty produceth Reprobation Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy and whom he will he hardneth Hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same lump And doth he not make his Pots according to his pleasure Here therefore the Mercy Justice Wisdom and Power of God take liberty to do what they will Saying My Counsel shall stand and I will do all my Pleasure Job 23.13 Dan. 4.35 Rev. 4.11 Rom. 9.18 Isa. 43.13 46.11 Thirdly Another Cause of Eternal Reprobation Is the act and working of Distinguishing Love and Everlasting Grace God hath universal Love and particular Love general Love and distinguishing Love and so accordingly doth decree purpose and determine from general Love the extension of general Grace and Mercy but from that Love that is distinguishing peculiar Grace and Mercy Was not Esau Jacobs Brother Yet I loved Jacob saith the Lord. Yet I loved Jacob that is with a better Love or a Love that is more distinguishing As he farther makes appear in his answer to our Father Abraham when he praid to God for Ishmael As for Ishmael saith he I have heard thee behold I have blessed him and will also make him fruitful but my Covenant will I establish with Isaac whom Sarah shall bear unto thee Touching which words there are these things observable Mal. 1.2 Gen. 17.18 19 c. 1. That God had better Love for Isaac than he had for his Brother Ishmael Yet 2. Not because Isaac had done more worthy and goodly deeds for Isaac was yet unborn 3. This choice Blessing could not be denied to Ishmael because he had disinherited himself by sin for this Blessing was intailed to Isaac before Ishmael had a being also Rom. 4.16 17 18 19. Gen. 15.4 5. Gen. 16. 4. These things therefore must needs fall out through the working of distinguishing Love and Mercy which had so cast the business that the purpose of God according to Election might stand Further Should not God decree to shew distinguishing Love and Mercy as well as that which is general and common he must not discover his best Love at all to the Sons of Men. Again If he should reveal and extend his best Love to all the World in general then there would not be such a thing as Love that doth distinguish for distinguishing Love appeareth in separating between Isaac and Ishmael Jacob and Esau the many called and the few chosen Thus by vertue of distinguishing Love some must be Reprobate For distinguishing Love must leave some both of the Angels in Heaven and the Inhabitants of the Earth wherefore the Decree also that doth establish it must needs leave some Fourthly Another Cause of Reprobation Is Gods willingness to shew his wrath and to make his power known This is one of those Arguments that the holy Apostle setteth against the most knotty and strong Objection that ever was framed against the Doctrine of Eternal Reprobation Thou wilt say then saith he Why doth he yet find fault for if it be his will that some should be rejected hardned and perish why then is he offended that any sin against him for who hath resisted his will Hold saith the Apostle stay a little here first remember this Is it meet to say unto God what doest thou Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over the Clay of the same lump c. Besides when you have thought your worst to wit that the effects of Reprobation must needs be consummate in the eternal perdition of the Creature yet again consider What if God be willing to shew his Wrath as well as Grace and Mercy And what if he that he may so do exclude some from having share in that Grace that would infallibly against all resistance bring us safe unto eternal Life What then Is he therefore the Author of your perishing or his eternal Reprobation either Do you not know that he may refuse to Elect who he will without abusing of them Also that he may deny to give them that Grace that would preserve them from sin without being guilty of their Damnation May he not to shew his wrath suffer with much long-suffering all that are the Vessels of Wrath by their own voluntary will to fit themselves for wrath and for destruction Yea might he not even in the act of Reprobation conclude also to suffer them thus left to fall from the state he left them in that is as they were considered upright and when fallen to binde them fast in Chains of Darkness unto the Judgement of the great day but he must needs be charged foolishly You shall see in that day what a Harmony and what a Glory there will be found in all Gods Judgements in the overthrow of the Sinner also how clear the Lord will shew himself of having any working hand in that which causeth eternal ruine notwithstanding
God had here stept in he had either added that which had been needless and so had not obtained thankfulness or else had made the strength of Adam useless yea his own workmanship in so creating him superfluous or else by consequence imperfect 3. If he had done so he had taken Adam from his duty which was to trust and believe his Maker he had also made void the end of the Commandment which was to perswade to watchfulness diligence sobriety and contentedness yea and by so doing would not onely himself have tempted Adam to transgression even to lay aside the exercise of that strength that God had already given him but should have become the Pattern or the first Father to all loosness idleness and neglect of duty Which would also not onely have been an ill example to Adam to continue to neglect so reasonable and wholsome Duties but would have been to himself an Argument of defence to retort upon his God when he had come at another time to reckon with him for his misdemeanors Many other weighty Reasons might here be further added for Gods vindication in this particular but at this time let these suffice CHAP. VII Whether any under eternal Reprobation have just cause to quarrel with God for not Electing of them THat the Answer to this Question may be to edification recal again what I have before asserted to wit That for a man to be left out of Gods Election and to be made a Sinner is two things and again For a man to be not Elect and to be condemned to Hell fire is two things also Now I say if non-Election makes no man a Sinner and if it appoints no man to Condemnation neither then what ground hath any Reprobate to quarrel with God for not Electing of him Nay further Reprobation considereth him upright leaveth him upright and so turneth him into the World what wrong doth God do him though he hath not elected him What reason hath he that is left in this case to quarrel against his Maker If thou say Because God hath not chosen them as well as chosen others I answer Nay but O man who art thou that repliest against God Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it Why hast thou made me thus Behold as the Clay is in the hand of the Potter so are ye in my hand O House of Israel saith the Lord God So then if I should say no more but that God is the onely Lord and Creator and that by his Soveraignty he hath power to dispose of them according to his pleasure either to chuse or to refuse according to the counsel of his own Will who could object against him and be guiltless He giveth no account of any of his ways and what his Soul desireth that doth he Rom. 9.20 21. Jer. 18.6 Job 23.13 33.13 Again God is wiser then man and therefore can shew a reason for what he acts and does both when and where at present thou seest none Shall God the onely wise be arraigned at the Bar of thy blind Reason and there be judged and condemned for his Acts done in Eternity Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord or who hath been his Counsellour Do you not know that he is far more above us then we are above our Horse or Mule that is without understanding Great things doth he that we cannot comprehend great things and unsearchable and marvellous things without number Rom. 11.34 35. Job 5.9 37.5 But I say Should we take it well if our Beast should call us to account for this and the other righteous Act and judge us unrighteous and our Acts ridiculous and all because it sees no reason for our so doing Why we are as Beasts before God Psal. 73.22 But again To come yet more close to the point The Reprobate quarrels with God because he hath not elected him well but is not God the Master of his own Love And is not his Will the only Rule of his Mercy And may he not without he give offence to thee lay hold by electing Love and Mercy on whom himself pleaseth Must thy Reason nay thy Lust be the Ruler Orderer and Disposer of his Grace May I not do what I will with mine own saith he Is thine eye evil because mine is good Matth. 20.15 Further What harm doth God to any Reprobate by not Electing of him He was as hath been said considered Upright so formed in the Act of Creation and so turned into the World Indeed he was not Elected but hath that taken any thing from him No verily but leaveth him in good condition There is good and better and best of all he that is in a good estate though others through free Grace are in a far better hath not any cause to murmur either with him that gave him such a place or at him that is placed above him In a word Reprobation maketh no man personally a Sinner neither doth Election make any man personally Righteous It is the consenting to sin that makes a man a Sinner and the imputation of Grace and Righteousness that makes gospelly and personally Just and Holy But again Seeing it is Gods Act to leave some out of the bounds of his Election it must needs be therefore positively good Is that then which is good in it self made sin unto thee God forbid God doth not evil by leaving this or that man out of his Electing Grace though he chuse others to Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Wherefore there is not a Reprobate that hath any Cause and therefore no just Cause to quarrel with his Maker for not electing of him And that besides what hath been spoken if you consider 1. For God to Elect is an Act of Soveraign Grace but to pass by or to refuse so to do is an Act of Soveraign Power not of Injustice 2. God might therefore have chose whether he would have Elected any or so many or few and also which and where he would 3. Seeing then that all things are at his dispose he may fasten Electing Mercy where he pleaseth and other Mercy if he will to whom and when he will 4. Seeing also that the least of Mercies are not deserved by the best of Sinners men instead of quarreling against the God of Grace because they have not what they list should acknowledge they are unworthy of their breath and also should confess that God may give Mercy where he pleaseth and that too both which or what as also to whom and when he will and yet be good and just and very gracious still Nay Job saith He taketh away who can hinder him Or who will say unto him What doest thou Job 9.12 The Will of God is the Rule of all Righteousness neither knoweth he any other way by which he governeth and ordereth any of his Actions Whatsoever God doth it is good because he doth it whether it be to give Grace or to detain it whether in chusing or