less had he done it from all Eternity § 3. From the Rejoycing of the Heavenly Host over this Blessed Work of Creation Job 38.7 for then the Morning-Stars sung together and the Sons of God shouted for joy which holy pure Spirits rejoyce not at the Out-goings of Destruction or Misery or Death or Hell but at the Out-goings of the Power and Work of God and of his Life and Glory which excellently illustrates the Blessedness of this great Work its being ushered in in the Morning of it with those holy Songs and Shoutings of Joy so Divine and Heavenly § 4. From the Creature made for God created Man in his own Image in the Image of God created he him c. Even this gives us a pregnant Instance of the great Love of God to us in our Creation and secures us against the Fear of being put into the hands of Destruction by an Eternal Decree To be made in the Maker's Image and in his Likeness is sufficient warranty against it to any who know what it is to be formed after that Pattern of perfect Bliss for it must needs be that God beholds Himself above all and loves his own Image above every Image and thence hath made choice to dwell with Man delighting in him and loving him For of which of the Creatures ever said he at any time I will walk in them and dwell in them Nor doth he afflict willingly or grieve the Children of Men much less will he without cause Lament 3.33 destroy with an Eternal Destruction the Creature that with so much Wisdom he hath so curiously framed And had there been such an Eternal Destructive Decree upon Mankind then he had been created under the Curse and could not have born the Image of the Blessed on the contrary as he was created in the Image of God he could not be hated of him nor have any such Decree impending him or his Off-spring Again If there had been such a Decree Man must either have been created with the Seed of this Destruction in him which in despite of all his endeavours should increase and grow up with him till he were consumed of it or he must causlessly have been cast down of God into Perdition It cannot be the first for Man was made very good Gen. 1.31 Jer. 2.21 Mat. 13. planted wholly a right Seed sown a good Seed c. and the latter is Blasphemy As God made nothing evil so he made nothing to an evil End it is incompetent with Wisdom and Justice to make a good thing to an evil end and to be sure he that made all things good Gen. 1.30 hated no good thing for no Man willingly propagates what he hateth he must be blinder than a Beetle that gives credit to such stuff which stubs up all Wisdom and Religion by the Roots inverts all Series and Order into Confusion bereaves God of his Wisdom and Goodness and Man of his Honour and Blessing Object But it is alledged that Man forfeited his blessed Estate in the Fall and became subject to Misery so that God might justly have given him over to utter Ruin but through his infinite Mercy in Christ Jesus he choosed to save a few Vincent's Catechism p. 19 c. and pass by all the rest of Mankind So that God's Eternal Decree of Reprobation is his leaving them to perish in their Sins unto the Praise of the Power of his Wrath and infinite Justice in their Everlasting Punishment Answ If so this Forfeiture was general either all forfeited their Blessed Estate or none at all Then how is that Mercy infinite which forgives but a few or that Justice infinite which punisheth not all But as the Mercy of God in Christ is infinite there is made Provision therein for the Salvation of all if they will accept God's Salvation on God's Terms and as his Justice is infinite it is provided therein to punish all Men that despise or neglect so great Grace and Mercy And if God should leave any to perish in their Sins through their impenitency how can this be call'd his absolute Eternal Decree of Reprobation of Persons Or how doth the leaving a Man to the natural Consequence or Effect of his own evil Actions imply the Decreeing him to such an End or such Actions Put the case of a Man's stabbing himself with his own Sword Is the not forcibly hindering him from it the forcing him thereto Is the bare permitting him to do it the putting him under a fatal necessity of doing it as is imply'd in these words God 's Eternal Decree of Reprobation c. What passage can be collected out of all the Scripture to shew God's seeking to have Praise ascrib'd to his Wrath Which is not voluntary or a first Principle in him as shall hereafter be manifest So that in short these Tenents are sad ones equally void of Reason and of Gospel But I shall make it appear God did not take this Advantage against any part of Mankind or absolutely Decreed their Destruction from Eternity or from the Fall but tendered Salvation and the Gospel to them Then Neither hath he done any thing to frustrate any one's Salvation before his Birth 1. From the Benefit of Christ's Death universally extended 2 Cor. 5.14 15. 1 Tim. 2.6 Hebr. 2.9 he died for all Men he gave his Life a Ransome for all 2. From the Universality of the Gospel it brings good Tidings of great Joy to all People Luke 2.10 Mat. 28.19 Mark 13.10 and was to be preach'd to or in every Creature under Heaven all Nations to be taught c. 3. From the Universality of the Grace of God called in Scripture Titus 2.11 Gratia Salutifera the Salvation-bringing Grace or the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation This Grace hath appear'd to all Men and it bringeth Salvation it appears not empty-handed if it should cease to have such a Gift it should cease to be that Grace but all Men have the Tenders of Salvation in and through this Divine Grace and this since the Fall So God hath not taken that Advantage against any from the Fall as to leave them unavoidably to perish in their Sins c. but visits all Men in and by his Divine Grace in order to their Salvation and enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World and hath not done any Act to frustrate the Salvation of any before their Birth He that is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to Repentance 2 Pet 3.9 1 Tim. 2.4 who will have all Men to be saved and come unto the knowledge of the Truth He hath done nothing to frustrate the Salvation of any Man before his Birth But God is not willing that any Man should perish c. So here we acquit our selves of Decretal Reprobation either Eternal or Temporal that 's previous to our Birth and indeed of all Decretal Reprobation § 5. That Doctrine which makes the cause of
but be it so or not there is a great Misunderstanding of them amongst many People who from hence 1. Distinguish all Mankind into Elect and Reprobate 2. The first they make but a very small Number 3. The latter an huge Number and abundance of Infants and young Children among them 4. They conclude all the first under Salvation 5. And all the last under Damnation 6. And that the first can in no wise miss of Salvation nor the latter escape Damnation by any endeavours whatsoever they are both so fixed and unavoidable upon them 7. And they also hold That the Salvation of the one and Damnation of the other are by an absolute Decree without any respect to their Good or Evil Deeds All which resolves into this 1st That God loved but a few and hated the far greater part of Mankind from all Eternity or from the Fall or at least from before they were Born 2dly That those few whom he loved he ordain'd to Salvation so positively and absolutely as that they could never in any wise or by any means miss it 3dly That that great Number whom God hated he ordain'd to Damnation after the same positive and arbitrary manner and so absolutely as they can never in any wise by what means so ever avoid it 4thly That as God of his own free-will and choice loved those few without respect to any thing in them either Good or Evil when as yet they had done nothing to deserve or procure it so after the same manner he hated the other great Multitude without any cause or respect but to his own Will having yet done nothing to procure or deserve it Now it is hereby intended to detect and remedy and to expose the Evil Tendency and Consequence of such Abuse and Misunderstanding of these and several other Scriptures of like import The First Part. Treating Principally of Reprobation CHAP. I. Wherein is laid down Two Positions opposing the Doctrine of Reprobation and the same demonstrated by sundry Arguments 1. From God's Work of the Creation in the beginning and from his Divine Nature and Attributes 2. From Solomon's Observation of that great Work 3. From the Rejoycing of the Heavenly Host over that Blessed Work 4. From the Creature made the Vniversality of Christ's Death and of the Gospel and God's Grace and Love to Mankind 5. From sundry Destructive and Pernicious Consequences naturally and clearly resulting from this Doctrine 6. From sundry clear Texts and Authorities of Scripture AND for the better ordering the Argument to treat of Election and Reprobation severally to avoid the inconvenience of keeping no Method by handling them Promiscuously I shall begin with Reprobation and shew 1. That God did not Hate and Reprobate the greatest or any part of Mankind from all Eternity or from the Fall or from before they were Born 2. But that we came forth into this World free and clear from any such fix'd Decree accompanied with the Grace and Love of God being God's Delight and so far from the wretched Condition this false Doctrine represents us in crawling under the Burden of a Decree of Destruction which let us struggle under its weight never so long and do our utmost endeavours we must at length be overcome of it and fall inevitably under Ruine thereby Both which are demonstrative § 1. From the Work of Creation that great and first of the Works of God in time that began with the beginning of Time and is the Date of Mankind in which we come to our Spring Head and are Streams from thence If this was a Work of Blessedness Goodness Grace and Love in a most comprehensive and intire Sense then no part of Mankind was Predestinated to Damnation or Hated of God from all Eternity for that would be an exception to its being a Work of Grace and Love Destruction and Misery are not from thence that sweet Fountain sends forth no such bitter Streams But that this Work of Creation was a Work of Blessedness Goodness Grace and Love is shewn From the Divine Nature and Attributes of God the great and blessed Author of it by whom we are taught That as is the Workman so is his Work A good Tree bringeth not forth corrupt Fruit neither doth a corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruit c. Luke 6.43 45. A good Man out of the good Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth that which is good and an evil Man out of the evil Treasure of his Heart bringeth forth that which is evil As is the Man so is his Work and as is God so is his Work But God is good in the greatest Eminency the Treasury of Blessing is with him he is abundant in Goodness Grace and Love which the Beloved Disciple makes his Definition 1 Iohn 4.8 in so many express words saying God is Love Then his chief Motive in the Creation of Man must be his own Benignity Goodness Grace and Love and his End that Man might partake of his Glory and enjoy Him for ever Which shews God did not Hate Man nor put him under any such unavoidable Decree of Destruction from all Eternity § 2. From the Observations of Solomon upon this great Work of Creation which are first Negative That God made not Death neither hath he pleasure in the Destruction of the Living Wisd 1.13 14. Then Affirmative That he created all things that they might have their Being and the Generations of this World was healthful and there was no Poison of Destruction in them or Kingdom of Death upon the Earth But we were made in Righteousness and true Holiness Ephes 4.24 or Holiness of Truth And to have our Being as such is to have or injoy God the Divine Life for a Man cannot properly be said to have what he doth not in some measure possess or injoy so this End to which we were made is an high State of Glory above Death Destruction or Misery all which made their Entrance through the Fall Neither hath he pleasure in the Destruction of the Living Then he hath not from all Eternity had pleasure in Decreeing their Destruction for otherwise he was not a free Agent in so Decreeing but under some necessity of working against himself of acting and doing contrary to his pleasure which subjects him to Misery shewing as if He who is the most Soveraign and free Agent of all received Controul from some other which is absurd and blasphemous as are all the Consequences of this false Principle There was no Poison of Destruction in them or Kingdom of Death upon the Earth Then there was no Curse but all was in the Blessing then God had not Hated or Decreed the Destruction of any number of Men for if so there had been some Poison of Destruction and there had been some Kingdom of Death upon the Earth And if God had not then done it in the beginning of the World which was in Time being computed about Five Thousand Seven Hundred Years since much
the Destruction of the Wicked to be of God and not of themselves and that Evil is no cause of it but God's Decree c. hides and conceals the Malignity and Poison of Sin which of its own Nature is pernicious and destructive to Man's Soul tainting and infecting it with Corruption and Rottenness by which it slides into the deep Abyss of Death and Misery as a due Reward This Doctrine searcheth not into the Wound of the Soul made by Sin which decays it and of its self brings Death and Ruine if not timely cured And this Doctrine makes the Physitian the Malady the Healer the Destroyer the most Soveraign Balm the Canker of the Wound So if we can admit of all these Absurdities and abundance more we may admit of Decretal Reprobation which cannot be § 6. For the Scripture declares 1 Thes 4. v. 3. That this is the Will of God even your Sanctification Vers 4. That every one should know how to possess his Vessel in Sanctification and Honour Vers 7. That God hath not call'd us unto Vncleanness but unto Holiness Ezek. 18. v. 32. That he hath no pleasure in the Death of him that dieth Chap. 33. v. 11. That he hath no pleasure in the Death of the Wicked but that the Wicked turn from his way and live Luke 15. v. 7. That there is Joy in Heaven for one Sinner that Repenteth c. Now as Holy Writ hath given us this true Account of God's Will for us to conclude him Acting quite contrary to it is to affront the Scripture and oppose God against himself making him Will one thing and Act another Who worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will But for us to conclude him Decreeing any Man's Eternal Destruction from all Eternity or from the Fall or from before his Birth without any respect to his Deeds c. is to conclude him Acting quite contrary to his declared Will in Scripture c. Then he that worketh all things according to the Counsel of his own Will and willeth not nor hath pleasure in the Destruction of the Wicked he hath not without any respect to their manner of Life decreed it But God works all things according to the Counsel of his own Will and willeth not nor hath pleasure in the Destruction of the Wicked therefore he hath not absolutely Decreed it c. Object But they say God hath his Declared Will and his Secret Will and that Men are Decreed to Election or Reprobation according to his Secret Will c. Answ As to this we read of Secret things that belong unto God Deut. 29.29 Psalm 25.14 and of his Seerets that are with the Righteous and with them that fear him This Secret Will of which they talk Job 15.8 must be the one of these two sorts if of the first how do they know it Do they understand the Secrets of God And do they restrain Wisdom to themselves If of the latter what Proof give they of it Or how do they reconcile it that there should be in God two opposite Wills the one Secret the other Reveal'd and these contradictory to each other the one preservative the other destructive of Men According to the one he hath Sworn He wills not the Death of a Sinner according to the other He both Wills and hath Decreed it because of his Will not because of their Sin And thence come so many Thousand innocent Infants to be in Hell according to them among the Damned A witless graceless merciless gospel-less Opinion a most staring Piece of Confusion and Blasphemy which either chargeth Schism upon God or reconciles Contradictions There have been none so bad but what have had Offers of Salvation Cain had it the Old World had it Sodom and Gomorah Gen. 4.7 and 6.3 and 18.30 c. Jonah 3. Jer. 51.8 9. Rev. 2.21 Nineveh c. Nay even Babylon God call'd to Mourning for 'em saying Howl for Babylon take Balm for her Wound if so be it may be healed he would have healed Babylon And of Jezebel he saith I gave her time and space of Repentance but she Repented not In the next Chapter I shall take account of some general Relations of God to us and shew from them That our Preservation not our Destruction is his Work Will and Delight c. CHAP. II. Being a further Refutation of the Doctrine of Reprobation by Arguments deduced from some General Relations of God to us viz. 1. From his Regal Office and Power 2. From his being the Everlasting Father 3. From the Office of Jesus Christ as our High Priest c. § 1. THe Lord most High is a great King over all the Earth Psalm 47.1 2. Mal. 1.14 Rev. 19.16 And Regis est Regnare it is the Property of a King to Reign According to which there are several Powers or Prerogatives belonging to him the Power of Soveraign Rule Power to execute Justice and Judgment Power of Life and Death of Punishing and Pardoning Offenders c. Where the Word of a King is there is Power and who may say unto him What doest thou But all this Power is lodg'd in him not for the hurt but good of his Creatures for their Benefit not Detriment His Office is not to Destroy but to Preserve and Defend them against the Violence and Spoil of foreign Enemies and the Injuries of one another their Safety is his Law Salus populi suprema lex He is the Terror of the evil doer and Praise of them that do well Now should a King use his Power to an evil end to bereave the greatest part of his Subjects of their Properties and Lives not because of their Fault but of his own Arbitrary Will and Pleasure and had only this to be said for him That he was extraordinary kind to a few Or suppose he agreed with his Rebelling Subjects on these terms 1. To forgive all past and accept them still on Condition they behave themselves well and dutifully for the time to come 2. That their Treason should not attaint their Children or subject them unto any Forfeiture or Punishment and should pass these Covenants into Laws Yet should notwithstanding all this without Provocation by any new Offence break out into Fury against them and should utterly Kill the far greatest part of them and their Children meerly for his own Will or to shew his great Power over them or to set forth the Terribleness of his Wrath or to spread his Name abroad c. In an Earthly King this would be accounted and that truly the height of Persidiousness Cruelty and Tyranny and yet these Predestinarians consequentially lay all this at his door and aver it to be the way and manner of the great King § 2. God is called in Scripture the Everlasting Father and we are called his Off-spring The Off-spring of God c. For he is the Father of us all by Creation Now this is not a Destructive but a Preservative
Potter to make it Now it is a received Axiom Nullum simile currit quatuor therefore as no Work of God was marred in his hand Mankind came forth from him according to his designation in his own Image a Vessel of Honour c. Object 5. The Children not being yet born neither having done any good or evil that the purpose of God according to Election might stand not of Works but of him that calleth it was said The Elder shall serve the Younger as is written Jacob have I loved and Esau have I hated c. Answ The Scripture speaks sometimes of singular Persons or Individuals when it is to be understood 1. Of Nations or People descending from them or 2. Of certain Spiritual States and Conditions We have instance of the first in Canaan the youngest Son of Ham Gen. 9.25 whom his Grand-father Noah cursed and denounced him a Servant of Servants to Shem and Japheth And in Esau and Jacob of whom it was fore-told The Elder should serve the Younger Gen. 25.23 And in Ephraim and Manasseh of whom it was said Gen. 48.19 The Younger should be the greater None of all which things were fulfilled in their Persons but in their Posterities c. For instance of the second Abraham had his Son Ishmae by Hagar Sara's Hand-maid a Bond-woman of Egypt of the Posterity of Ham this is said to be born after the Flesh And he had his Son Isaac by Sarah the Free-woman and this is said to be by Promise And these things saith the Apostle are an Allegory for these are the two Covenants the one from Mount Sinai Gal. 4.26 which is Hagar answering to Jerusalem that now is the other answering to Jerusalem from above The like Instance we have in Isaac Abraham's Heir and the Heir of God's Promise he had by his Wife Rebekah two Sons Jacob and Esau under whose Types are typified the Spiritual and Carnal Mind and Birth the Degenerate and Regenerate the Earthly and Heavenly c. So they are a double Instance to us in treating of this Text which is to be Mystically and not Literally understood as appears from the Blessing of Esau with the Fatness of the Earth Gen. 27.39 and the Dew of Heaven from above which is the same in effect with Jacob's Blessing only he had rule given over him but 't was only for a time for in the said Blessing the time is prophesied in which Esau should break Jacob's Yoke from off his Neck Now if God had hated Esau then Isaac could not at all have Blessed him in the Faith for whatsoever is done in the Faith is done in concurrence and accord with God but if God hated Esau and Isaac blessed him they would be contrary and repugnant the one to the other for all Blessing is of Love and so Isaac's Blessing of Esau had not been in the Faith for in it only things pleasing and acceptable to God are done and no works of jar and disagreement or contrariety to him these are not of Faith but the Scripture is express in it Heb. 11.20 That by Faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come so it must needs be that these things are an Allegory and that God did not hate Esau's Person but spoke of what he hated under the Type or Figure of him Take this Scripture literally to relate unto Esau in a strict and proper Sense and it would be of absurd and blasphemous Consequence for if it represents God as at Variance with himself and in a great degree Unhappy working without Pleasure Grace or Goodness in the Production of wretched hated Beings to Eternal Misery even Nature shrinks and is in horror at any dissimulate and monstrous Birth much more it is contrary to the God of Nature and to suppose othewise of God is no Christian but an Heathenish Notion it is so remote from Divine it is not Humane that God should be imployed in the making so many Thousand of People for the Torments of Hell Fire Such Notions had the Heathens of old concerning their Moloch and other false Deities to appease whose imagined Fury they caused their Children to pass through the Fire and become Burnt Sacrifices Having shewed the Blasphemy and Error that attends a Literal Construction of this Text and that it should be Mystically understood I shall proceed to speak something of its Mystery before I pass from hence We read in Scripture of two Seeds Mystically the Seed of the Woman which Seed is Christ who is also the Seed of the true Church and of the Kingdom of God and the Serpent's Seed or Seed of Antichrist of which cometh the false Church and Kingdom of Darkness And as every Birth hath its beginning from some Seed so of the first of these proceedeth the Birth of the Spirit called in Scripture Regeneration the New Birth the New Man c. And without this be there is no Salvation and how pure and spiritual a Seed is this Seed of the Living God of which Souls and Spirits are born Of the other proceedeth the Birth of the Flesh called in Scripture The Old Man with his Deeds Degenerate or the Vncircumcision the Reprobate Birth c. And how filthy and polluted a Seed is this Seed of the Serpent whereby Men become as Dogs Swine Serpents Dung Filth c. Now as according to the first we are in Christ Branches of him and Christ is God's Elect in whom his Soul delighteth blessed above all for ever And according to the other we are of the Devil Children of him Sprouts out of his Stock and the Devil only is God's Enemy cursed above all Cattle and above every Beast of the Field So of the first of these Election is predicated and Reprobation of the latter We are in a State of Election or Reprobation as we are related to the one or other of these Births if we live according to the one we shall die or the other we shall live Note For the prevention of mistakes in the weakest Reader that this Birth called the Birth of the Flesh is not to be understood simply of the Natural Birth but as fallen into Carnal-mindedness And the Scripture teacheth That to be Carnally-minded Rom. 8.6 7. is Death but to be Spiritually-minded is Life and Peace that the Carnal Mind is Enmity against God it is not subject to the Law of God nor indeed can be so they that are in the Flesh cannot please God This Mind is Dead an Enemy a Rebel and can never be otherwise it 's not capable of being made better to please God or to be subject to him or live there is neither Life Salvation or Blessing belongs to it it is not Heir to or capable of any good it is none of God's Works but is of the Evil One This is the Reprobate's Description On the other hand That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit this Birth is willing to all good it is its
Agent above all other so hath he made Man in his Image an intelligent Being a free Agent A Marvellous Work of the great Worker of all things With respect to which David said Psal 139.14.104.24 I am fearfully and wonderfully made c. And concerning the variety of God's Work he saith O Lord how manisold are thy Works In Wisdom hast thou made them all c. Now it behoves That He who made all things in Wisdom should exercise an Order of Wisdom amongst them all should rule and govern them in Wisdom every thing according to its Capacity and Creation Should he do otherwise it would be contrary to his Work of Creation in framing Man's Heart so as it is not ordinarily wrought upon but by Perswasions Accordingly he draws Men with Cords of a Man even with Loving-kindness and saith I will instruct thee Hosea 11.4 Psalm 32.8 and teach thee in the way thou shalt go I will counsel thee with mine Eye c. § 6. Here is God's Wisdom exalted in that he deals with us as is proper to Creatures of our Frame and Make voluntary intelligent Beings that may distinguish and choose for our selves and if we be chang'd to Good through Obedience to the Grace of God or to Evil through yielding to the Enemy's Temptations must receive Rewards or Punishments accordingly But once pervert this Order of Heaven and we should let in Confusion amongst God's Works c. Also The Love and Justice of God is here exalted His Love Because he would have all Men come to the Knowledge of the Truth and be saved but Men cannot come to this Knowledge nor cannot be saved without this Grace And his Justice that as saith the Psalmist He might be Justified when he speaketh and Clear when he judgeth for if this Grace were not given Psalm 51.4 Men should have no Sin because where there is no Law Rom. 4.15 there is no Transgression And concerning the Persecuting World Iohn 15.22 Christ saith If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin but now they have no cloak for their sins So take away this Divine Light and Grace of God which is the Standard by which Good and Evil are measured and there should be neither Vertue nor Vice Rewards or Punishments So this is the Wisdom and Manner of God his Oeconomy or Houshould-Order his Way in the Creation that having set Life and Death before us with Exhortations to choose Life he leaveth us according to the wise Man in the hand of his Counsel that is so far as we are left to our own choice and not forced for this would be repugnant to our Constitution For He himself made Man from the beginning and left him in the hand of his Counsel saying If thou wilt keep the Commandments Ecclus 15.14 15 16 17. and perform Acceptable Faithfulness He hath set Water and Fire before thee stretch out thine hand unto whither thou wilt Before Man is Life and Death and whether him liketh shall be given him But there had been none of the Life here spoken of if he had not had Grace and a Day of Visitation c. § 7. Having now past this Objection I would query To what purpose hath the Grace of God appear'd to all Men Which the Scripture calls Gratia illa Dei Salutifera benignitas Dei servatrix omnium the Salvation-bringing Grace of God the Goodness of God the Preserver of All and which those Men call Common Grace To what purpose I say hath it appear'd to all Men And why is it called The Preserver of all if no Man whatsoever obtain Salvation by it Which is according to their Principle Having hitherto in this Second Part clear'd up my Passage by these few more General Arguments I shall come now to treat more particularly of those Terms under Examination CHAP. II. Treating 1. Of God's Fore-knowledge 2. Of Predestination the Definition thereof and how to be understood in the Scripture-Sense which is Conditional with Two Objections answered to clear that Point 3. That Predestination Calling and Justification may be forfeited or fallen from 4. That Predestination is imply'd in Calling Election and Adoption all which may be lost or forfeited Of God's Fore-knowledge § 1. IT is granted That known unto the Lord are all his Works from the beginning he knows all things past present and to come but there is no necessity of Sinning proceeding from this Foreknowledge This Knowledge in God how and in what manner things will come to pass that are Evil is not at all the cause of their coming so to pass for then the fault would be upon God when things are so and issue ill If we should charge any fault on God and make him the Author of Sin or else that there should be no Sin we should let in great Blasphemy and Absurdities as is in part already shewn in answer to the Objection taken from Jude c. in page 24. preceding Of Predestination § 2. Predestination is Fore-appointment or Ordaining before what shall come after which some understand according to the Praedestinatiani a kind of Hereticks that held fatal Predestination of every particular Matter Person or Action and that all things came to pass and fell out necessarily especially touching the Salvation and Damnation of particular Men and that Omnia suint salo c. And it is thus defined by Walter Raleigh in his first Book folio 16. We can saith he difference Predestination no otherwise from Providence and Prescience than in this That Prescience only foresees Providence foresees and cares for and hath respect to all Creatures even from the brightest Angels of Heaven to the unworthiest Worms of the Earth and Predestination is only of Men and yet not of all to Men belonging but of their Salvation properly or Perdition c. So herein these differ the first hold it Of every particular Matter Person or Action c. the latter Of Man only and yet not of all to Men belonging c. And yet in one thing they both agree which is nevertheless a great Error That Predestination hath respect unto the Damnation and Perdition of Men which is no where found in the whole Scriptures But where-ever we read of any being Predestinated it is unto the Adoption of Sons unto Salvation unto Eternal Life and unto Glory c. but never unto Destruction and Misery So Predestination is not unto Perdition And as it respects the Salvation of Men it is not to be understood simply or absolutely and positively but is to be understood secundum quid according to the Covenant betwixt God and Man in a conditional Sense For if otherwise all would be saved because all were made to an End of Salvation which signifies their Fore-appointment unto Glory or in other terms their Predestination for to be Predestinated or Made or Ordain'd or Fore-appointed unto Glory all import one and the same thing Again If Predestination were