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A34535 A humble endeavour of some plain and brief explication of the decrees and operations of God, about the free actions of men, more especially of the operations of divine grace written by Mr. John Corbet ... Corbet, John, 1620-1680. 1683 (1683) Wing C6253; ESTC R233166 37,069 64

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A Humble ENDEAVOUR Of some Plain and Brief EXPLICATION OF THE Decrees and Operations of God About the FREE ACTIONS of MEN More Especially Of the Operations of DIVINE GRACE Written by Mr. JOHN CORBET late Minister of CHICHESTER LONDON Printed for Tho. Parkhurst at the Bible and Three Crowns in Cheapside near Mercers-Chappel 1683. THE PREFACE THe things here discussed I have studied many years and what by the Writings of Learned Men and by discoursing with them and by my own ratiocination grounded on the Holy Scripture I have apprehended nearest the Truth which I have been feeling after I have collected in this narrow Scantling I have been led into this search not out of vain Curiosity but an honest Desire to gain as clear a Knowledge in these Points as I can reach to that I might be able with more assurance to unfold the same to others as far as is requisite for their Edification Though the Counsels and Wayes of God cannot be found out unto Perfection yet the Light of Scripture and Nature leads us to think and speak of them so as is most agreeable to his Infinite Wisdom and Goodness and so as his Justice and Truth may be cleared and the freeness and largeness of his Mercy magnified and that the glorious Power of his Grace and the deplorable weakness of Fallen Man may be acknowledged and that penitent Sinners may be sufficiently incouraged and that the impenitent may be evidently self-condemned That which is set down in this Enquiry is mostly in order to the clearing and confirming of the Principles here following 1. The help of Divine Grace is the prime and main Cause of all the Good that dwells in us and that is done by us But our own Wills are the main Cause of the Evil that is done by us and of our abiding in that Evil State into which our Nature is fallen and God is no Cause thereof at all 2. God doth decree to bring some to Salvation by his Free Grace and Love And he doth not decree to damn any but for sin as the Cause of their damnation which sin he doth not decree nor effect but foresee 3. God doth ascertain the Conversion and Salvation of his Elect but he doth not effect it without their own concurrence in a subordinate way I speak of those that attain to the use of Reason not of Infants Ideots and Mad-men whose Case is of different and peculiar nature 4. Though Election doth infer a Certainty that the Elect shall attain to Grace and Glory yet Non-election doth infer no Necessity of the sin and damnation of the Non-elect save only that which is called Necessitas consequentiae or Necessity in order of Argumentation and is Necessity but improperly so called and implies no Necessitation of the Event 5. Though God doth not simply will the Event of the Conversion and Salvation of all to whom the Gospel is made known yet he wills it so far and in such manner as doth abundantly declare his good will towards men and doth assure the diligent of good success in their indeavours and doth convict the negligent of being inexcusable despisers of his Grace towards them 6. God hath given us all some help of grace more or less in order to our Spiritual Recovery The said help may be improved by us to the obtaining of more And it is not Gods ordinary way to deny more help or to withdraw what is given but upon the abuse of what is given and the resisting of what is offered and for our not doing not only what we ought but what we might do According to these Principles I have proceeded My indeavour hath been accompanied with a sense of my own great defectiveness in the Knowledge of these things But I have done as I was able and am willing to know wherein soever I have erred The perfect clearing of all things and the solving of all doubts in these Mysterious Points may be above the reach of mortal men The great Apostle said We know but in part But Truths of the greatest Moment and Evidence may not be disbelieved or doubted of because we cannot solve all Difficulties about lesser and obscurer Questions relating to those grand Truths PART I. Of the Decrees of God about the Actions of Men. 1. What the Divine Decree of an Event doth import TO Decree a Thing is to will and purpose its coming to pass and it supposeth that the Thing is judged Convenient If it be a sure Decree it implies that the Decreer can and will so provide that it shall infallibly come to pass Gods Decree of an Event is a willing and purposing of it as Convenient It s Convenience he knows by the knowledg of simple intelligence and being decreed he knows it as a Future Convenient by the knowledg of Vision and is pleased with it As Gods Efficience is concern'd in the Event decreed the Decree of the Event includes the Decree of the said Efficience That whatsoever God doth in time he hath eternally decreed to do I suppose is unquestionable And for as much as no Humane Act comes to pass without his concurse he hath undoubtedly decreed the concurse that he yields to it And there is the same reason of the Decree of whatsoever on Gods part is antecedently necessary as the giving of all Necessary Power Preparatives Means Concauses Objects all which are unquestionably decreed of God 2. The Divine Decree doth not infer the Necessitation of the Event THough the Existence of the Event depends upon Gods Efficience yet something thereof he may put under the Creatures undetermined Liberty Under this Liberty he may put the comparative determination of the Will to act rather than not to act and to act towards such an Object rather than another Surely it is too high presumption for man to say that God cannot Decree or firmly Will that humane act which is in part suspended on mans Will for instance to say God could not decree Adam's Perseverance in the state of Innocence if it were in any part left to his own liberty to stand or fall Now if such an Assertion be an apparently presumptuous limitation of God besides other great inconveniences to be objected against it then it may more safely and rationally be held that Gods Decree of a humane act is very agreeable to the leaving of it in some part to the undetermined liberty of mans will though to unfold the Agreement be very difficult to humane Understanding In short though the Decree cannot consist with the contrary Event yet it may consist with the possibility of the contrary and so it doth not in it self infer a Necessitation of the thing decreed 3. The Negation of the Decree doth not infer an impossibility of the Event GOd's Decree is not necessary to an Event by way of causation Consequently the negation of the Decree is not a negation of what is causally necessary thereunto and so it doth not infer an impossibility thereof As for