ends as should make most for his glory 2. That which the Scripture plainly clearly and positively asserteth that God doth we ought not to deny that he doth it though we cannot discern the maner how he doth it It rather beseems us humbly to acknowledge our ignorance in apprehending the maner of his working then to deny any of his works then to deny that he worketh all things according to the good pleasure of his will or to deny that a sparrow falls not to the ground or an hair from our head without the will of the Father or that he worketh most determinately certainly and infallibly in the various and mutable motions of mans will yea most holily justly and righteously in those very actions wherein man works most perversly unjustly and unrighteously how else can it be said when Josephs brethren sold him into Egypt out of envy that God sent a man before c. and vvhen David numbred the people it is said not onely that Satan stood against Israel and provoked David to number the people 1 Chr. 21.1 but that the Lord moved David against them in that he said Go number Israel 2 Sam. 24.1 Miro ineffabili modo Euchirid ad Laurent cap. 100. id non fit praeter voluntatem Dei quod fit contra voluntatem ejus saith Austin 3. The sum of what Mr. P. or any of his predecessors in this Controversie about Gods absolute Decree hath objected against it is included in that which the Apostle objects against himself speaking of this subject Rom. 9.14 Is God unjust and who hath resisted his will Which he answers with an Absit and Quis tu es God forbid that there should be any unrighteousness in him and Who art thou O man that pleadest with God vouchsafing no other answer but this whereby he gives a sharp check to the malepert boldness and audacious insolence of those that shall dare thus to quarrel with their Creator as if the sheard should strive with the Potter And if we should give no other answer but this having the great Apostle for our example it might suffice But for further satisfaction we shall endeavor to give a particular answer to the particular objections that it may appear we desire not to decline any thing that carries with it any weight of truth Object 1. The first and principal Objection against the Doctrine of the absolute Decree is That it makes God is be the Author of sin For if in the first place he decrees to glorifie his Justice in the just condemnation of some men which is the decree of Reprobation then it follows that in order to this he must decree the permissiin of sin without which there can be no just condemnation and if he decrees the being of sin then he is the author of it Answ For answer It cannot be denied that God doth permit sin for if he did not permit it he could easily hinder it so that without his permission sin could not be 2. If he doth permit it he hath decreed to permit it for he works by counsel and what he doth in time he hath determined before all time And the Scripture is plain that God decrees those actions which when men do they do very sinfully What worse action then the crucifying of Christ yet it is said he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God Acts 2.23 here is not onely knowledge but a determination of the thing to be done And it is said That Herod Pilat and the Jews did that to Christ when they crucified him which the hand of God and his Counsel had determined before to be done cap. 4.27 28. Besides if God doth permit sin he doth willingly permit it otherwise it should come to pass whether he will or not Enchirid. cap. 95. and so he should not be omnipotent Nihil fit saith Austin nisi quod omnipotens fieri velit vel ipse faciendo vel ab aliis fieri permittendo 2. But though God hath decreed that sin shall be and therefore hath decreed to permit it without which it could not be yet it doth not follow that he is the Author of it Object But if he hath willed and decreed it Ad amitam collat Vorst sâ—ct 17. his decree is an energetical operative decree therefore he hath some hand in working and effecting of it as Calvin Piscator and others teach who are for the absolute decree Negari non potest illum aliquo modo procurare negotium cujus consilio decreto negotium geritur saith Piscator And if his decree be operative so as he hath any hand at all in the working of it then he must needs be the Author of it Answ For answer of this Two things are to be cleared 1. That Gods permission is not such a bare permission as is without all action and operation 2. That though his permission be accompanied with some kinde of operation yet he is no author of evil That Gods permission of sin is accompanied with some kinde of operation appears Argument 1 Because when he permits sin he doth volens permittere he doth willingly permit it else it should be against his will August in Enchirid. ad Laurent cap. 100. which cannot be as was shewed If he doth willingly permit it then there is some act of his will about it Deus permittit saith Austin aut volens aut nolens in vitus non certè invitus quia id esset cum tristitia potentia se majorem haberet si voleus permittit est genus quoddam voluntatis Here Austin grants that God hath some kinde of will in the permission of sin if any kinde of will this must needs be a perfect will for no imperfect will agrees to God who is perfection it self And how can he be said to will any thing without any act of his will Scripture-expressions do constantly hold forth Gods maner of working in sin Argument 2 by way of action It doth not say that God suffered Josephs brethren to sell him into Egypt but that God sent him It was not you that sent me hither but God Gen. 45.8 It doth not say that God suffered Pharaoh to harden his own heart but that God hardned it Exod. 9.12 That he suffered the Canaanites to harden their hearts against Israel but it was of the Lord that they should harden their hearts against them that he might destroy them Josh 11.20 That he suffered Absolom to defile his fathers concubines but he tells David What thou hast done in secret I will do in the sight of this Sun 2 Sam. 12.12 So it is said that God bade Shimei curse David That he bade the evil spirit go and deceive Ahab 1 King 29.22 Go forth and do so Job saith that God had taken away his cattel when the Caldeans and Sabeans took them away Job 1. The Prophet complains that the Lord had hardned their hearts against his fear Isa 63.13 It is said that the
difference between the action and the evil quality of it The roundness may be separated from the Globe and yet the matter of it remain still when it is put into another form There are multitudes of actions wherein Natures work is the very same whereof though some of them be evil yet others of them may be without any evil at all So far as Sin makes for the glory of God Argument 4 so far he may both will and work it for if he neither intends it nor hath any hand at all in effecting it how shall it make for his glory there must be a cause that brings forth this effect the sinner himself intends it not nor works to any such end but rather the contrary therefore it must be the secret wisdom and wonderful working of God that brings forth this effect and how can he intend to have glory by such or such an action and never intend the action it self If God onely permits Argument 5 but neither intends nor hath any hand at all in the sinful actions of men then he is a meer spectator and idle beholder of all the actions of men in the world when ever they do evil For if a man stands and sees a thing to be done which he neither wills to be done nor not to be done but leaves it to others to do as they please without having any hand at all in it neither helping nor hindring is he nor an idle spectator and if God carries himself in this sort in regard of the sinful actions of men what shall become of his providence whereby he ruleth the world since the greatest number of actions done in the world are sinful actions Object Mr. P. thinks to shift himself from this Argument by telling us Cap. 3. Page 129. That God doth wisely order and dispose of sin after the committing of it but doth not determine that it shall be done or hath any hand in the doing Answ But then still it follows that he stands as a meer spectator in regard of the greatest part of actions that are done in the world for all the while they are in acting he doth nothing at all about them onely afterwards he orders them to the best advantage But how can this stand with the All-wise and All-working Providence of God without which a sparrow falls not to the ground that he should stand looking on whiles the greatest part of actions are done in the world and many of them of greatest consequence and determine nor do any thing while they be done and past onely afterwards imploy his wisdom in ordering of them For to instance in some of our former examples how can we think that when Joseph was sold into Egypt God had no hand in it though his brethren did it out of envy and hatred against him when he tells them that God sent him before to preserve them and their posterity alive and to save them by a great deliverance yea in them the whole Church of God which was included in Jacobs family yea why should he repeat it again saying You sent me not hither but God sent me Gen. 45.7 12. if God had not any hand at all in his sending thither yea if he had not the chief hand How can we think that God had no hand in Pharaohs oppression of the Israelites when he had determined it and foretold it many years before Gen. 15.13 16. or that he had no hand in his obstinate refusal to let them go having received an express command from God to do it when it is said that the Lord hardned Pharaohs heart that he would not let them go Exodus 10.27 yea that he raised him up for this purpose that he might shew his power upon him cap. 9.16 How can we think that the defection of the ten Tribes from the House of David which is called Rebellion 1 Kings 12.19 was such a thing as God had no hand in when as he told Jâ—roboam by his prophet that he would rent the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and give ten Tribes of it to him cap. 11.31 Can we think that God had no hand in the destruction of Samaria and carrying away the ten Tribes by the king of Assyria when he calls the Assyrian his rod and the staff of his indignation and that he would send him against an hypocritical nation against the people of his wrath and would give him a charge to take the spoil and prey howbeit he did not mean so neither did he think so namely to do Gods work but his own but he thought to destroy and cut off nations not a few Isa 10.6 7. Can we think that all the strange changes and alterations that have been in Kingdoms and States whereby the Government and Dominion hath been devolved from one hand to another which seldom hath been done without much violence and wrong yea without Treacheries Murthers and Bloodshed were such things wherein God had no hand when it is said that he doth these things to the intent that men may know that the most High hath power over the Kingdoms of men and giveth them to whom he will Dan. 4.14 Can we think that the strange commotions and shakings that of late have been amongst our selves whereby the whole frame of Government both in Church and State is changed from what it was are such things as God hath had no hand in Certainly this were to make God a very weak and impotent or a very remiss and careless Governor of the World if he should stand still looking on while these things were in doing and onely exercise his wisdom in ordering them afterwards Object But it is further objected That God hates all sin and therefore can have no hand at all either in willing or effecting of it for no man will have any hand in doing what he hates Answ Though he hates it yet he permits it as is granted by all and why doth he permit it but because he can get himself glory by it and so far as it makes for his glory he may both will it and have some kinde of hand in working it Though sin be in it self evil yet it may have some respect of good because it may be made an occasion of good For the rule is true Malum est in bono tanquam in subjecto Enchirid. cap. 96. and actus peccati in genere entis bonus est in genere moris malus Hence Austin saith that Quamvis quae mala sunt in quantum mala sunt non sunt bona tamen ut non solum bona sed etiam mala sint bonum est Although evil things be not good so far as they are evil yet it is good that not onely good things should be but evil things also It is granted by all Argument 6 that God punisheth one sin with another as because men received not the love of the truth he gave them up to strong delusions 2 Thes 2.10 Now punishment is more
then a bare permission It were ridiculous to say that a Judge onely permitteth a Malefactor to be arraigned condemned and executed Thus I hope we have cleared the first thing propounded namely That Gods permission is not such an empty idle permission as is accompanied with no action nor operation at all It follows now to shew that though it be an operative permission yet he is not the Author of the evil permitted and committed but when be works in the same action with wicked men what they do wickedly and unjustly he doth most holily justly and righteously That the truth of this may appear it will be needful to look into the maner of Gods working in evil actions of men This though it be done in a wonderful and ineffable maner yet so much may be discerned of it as may serve to satisfie sober mindes and to clear God from all just imputation of any impurity or unholiness This in general may be sufficient to clear him from all such imputations because all those things that proceed from him whence evil minded men take any occasion to be stirred up to evil do in their own nature tend to good and are occasions of evil onely by accident as the shining of the Sun may make weak eyes see worse then before So that he cannot be said to be the Author of any evil because he is never causa per se but onely per accidens of any evil that falls out upon occasion of any thing that he doth All his dispensations towards man do always in their own nature tend to good and the evil that doth occasionally result from them is praeter scopum operis besides the scope of the work that he doth When a Physitian prescribes to his Patient wholsome Physick and such as is in it self fit for cure of his malady and most proper for his disease if this meets with some malignant humor in his body whereby it occasions greater sickness yea the death of the Patient the Physitian cannot be said to be the author of his sickness or death because what he administred was to preserve health and life and that it wrought another effect was onely by accident So it is in this case betwixt God and sinful men The truth of this will more plainly appear if we look into the particulars There are two ways especially whereby God may be said to administer occasion of sinning and so to have some kinde of hand in it namely by his word and by his works 1. For the word of God wicked men may sometime take occasion from that to become more sinful The Apostle shews expresly that the Law of God hath an efficacy in irritating and stirring the corruption of mans nature For he saith that sin took occasion by the command and wrought in him all maner of concupiscence and sin taking occasion by the command deceived him Rom. 7.11 and that when we were in the flesh the motions of sin which were by the Law did work in our members Ver. 5. That the Law hath an efficacy in stirring up sinful motions and in working in us all maner of concupiscence is plain by these expressons of the Apostle Quest If it be asked how the Law of God that is holy just and good can be any occasion of evil Answ The answer is That it ariseth from the contrariety that is betwixt Gods holy Law and mans corrupt heart It is a true rule that contraria juxta se posita mogis elucescunt when contraries are put together their contrariety doth more appear When fire and water are kept at a distance the contrariety of their natures doth not much appear but put them together and then they fight one with another till the stronger hath overcome the weaker There is nothing more holy then the Law of God being the perfect rule of all righteousness and holiness there is nothing more corrupt then the heart of man being the seat and sink of all silthiness and pollution Mat. 15.19 Therefore the more close this holy Law of God be applyed to the corrupt heart of man the more the innate corruption of it is irritated and stirred up We see this in the example of Pharaoh the more strongly the command was pressed upon him touching letting the Israelites go the more strongly did his rebellious will rise up against it We may see this in the ordinary carriage of wicked men let a proud profane swearer or filthy speaker be rebuked for their ill language the more they will exceed in this kinde Look as when a stream is stopt it riseth higher though no more water be added to it so it is with those who are wilfully wicked when they are stopt in the course of their wickedness Many other instances might be brought to make it appear that the good word of God accidentally doth stir up the corruption that is in mens wicked hearts When our Savior Christ preached to the Jews the Pharisees were filled with wrath against him Luke 4.28 When Stephen preached unto them they gnashed their teeth against him Acts 7.54 Christs Preaching and Stephens Preaching had an efficiency in stirring up the anger and wrath of their hearers they were accidental causes of it but no faulty causes they cannot be said to be the Authors of their anger though their Preaching occasioned it So it is when ever the good word of God doth stir up evil affections in the hearts of wicked men neither he nor his word are the Authors of that evil The Apostle saith that The Law worketh wrath Rom. 4.15 It worketh wrath no otherwise then it worketh sin namely by accident for it was the end and scope of the Law to keep men from sinning and so to keep them from wrath now as the Law works it God works it for the Law is Gods instrument and as the Law cannot be said to be the Author of sin though it doth accidentally stir corruption no more can God be said to be the Author of it Yea not onely the Law but the Gospel may be an occasion of increasing mans sin for Christ tells the Jews that if they had been blinde they had had no sin but because they said they did see therefore their sin remained John 9.41 and This is the condemnation of the world that light is come into the world and men loved darkness more then light John 3.19 So that the shining of the light of the Gospel may occasion an increase both of men sin and condemnation and yet be no faulty case of it In this sense also Christ saith of himself that he came not to send peace but the sword that he came to set a man at variacne against his father and the daughter against the mother Mat. 10.34 35. that he came to set fire on the earth Luke 12.49 Will Mr. P. tell us here that Christ came onely to suffer those fiery persecutions that were stirred up in the world by the Preaching of the Gospel or those enmities that
will of Gods purpose or his internal will and the will of his precept and command do really differ in their own nature is thus proved 1. The will of Gods purpose or his internal will is eternal all his Decrees are from everlasting but his commands are given forth in time the commands belonging both to the moral and ceremonial Law were not given out till the world was above two thousand years old and the word of the Lord came to the Prophets at several times yea there was a time when there was no Scriptures or written word of God 2. The Will of Gods purpose is immutable and unchangeable The counsels of the Lord stand for ever and his thoughts to all generations Psal 33.11 but his commands are mutable as we see in the example of Abraham who received a command to kill his son which afterwards was reversed and in all the precepts of the ceremonial Law 3. The will of his purpose cannot be resisted Who hath resisted his will Rom. 9. The will of his precept is dayly resisted by wicked men and too often by his best servants 4. The will of his purpose is alway fulfilled he doth whatsoever he will but the will of his command is not so This is the will of God even your sanctification 1 Thes 4.3 yet all men are not sanctified 5. The will of his purpose is an act within himself and therefore not really differing from himself the will of his command is something proceeding from himself so that these do as really differ as the Creator and the Creature the one being eternal immutable and irresistible the other temporary mutable resistible The command indeed by a Metonymy is called the will of God because sometimes not always it shews what the will of his purpose is yet it is not nor cannot be properly his will upon the grounds before named neither doth it follow hence that there are two wills in God but onely that there are two things that are set forth by one and the same name which is very usual in Scripture Neither doth it follow that one Will of God is contrary to another for contraria must be ad idem but these are not the same but do really differ as hath been already proved True it is that God doth properly will to give forth such and such commands but his will and purpose is one thing and his command another really differing from it Thus much to shew that Gods revealed will his precepts and commands are not properly his will 2. For the second thing namely That all those to whom God wills salvation voluntate propriè dicta with the will of his purpose and decree shall most certainly be saved needs no great proof for this will of his being an immutable irresistible omnipotent will it must needs take effect Our God is in heaven and doth whatsoever he will Psal 115.3 Whatsoever pleased the Lord that did he both in heaven and in earth Psal 135.6 There are two principles onely needful for producing any effect potentia voluntas and where these concur the effect must needs follow If God doth really and internally will and desire the salvation of men what should hinder the effecting it since his power is answerable to his will If mens power were answerable to their will they would do any thing that they have a minde to If it be said that he wills it conditionally 1. This conditional will hath been already refuted and it hath been shewed that conditions belong not to Gods will but onely to the execution of it 2. If he really wills the thing he is able to work the conditions to work effectual faith true repentance and other graces in all as well as he doth in some But that that place in Ezekiel and other like places cannot be understood of Gods will properly taken as Mr. P. confidently asserts may be proved 1. Because then this Scripture would cross other Scriptures for here it is said that the Lord hath no delight in the death of a sinner and elsewhere it is said that he would rejoyce over wicked men to destroy them and root them out Deut. 28.63 and he would laugh at their calamity and mock when their fear cometh Prov. 1.25 which expressions shew that these things are not against his will 2. These things are works of his Justice and his Justice being an attribute as essential to him as his mercy he must needs be well pleased not onely with the works of his Mercy but of his Justice for all his works are well pleasing to him 3. He is well pleased with all things which make for his own glory but at last he shall have much glory from the just destruction of wicked men 4. If a desire of all mens salvation be properly in God then it is perpetually in him then when wicked men are damned in hell he still continues to desire their salvation and for want of enjoying his desire he is hindred from enjoying full felicity for what is full and perfect felicity but a full and perfect fruition of all our desires so that so long as wicked men suffer pains in hell God cannot enjoy full felicity in heaven but rather suffers some kinde of trouble and disquiet for it is a troublesome thing for one to have that perpetually withheld from him which he earnestly desires These are monstrous consequences yet such as directly follow from that doctrine which teacheth That when God saith he hath no pleasure in the death of a sinner this must be taken properly without any figure To conclude there is this difference betwixt these two wills that God by his secret will and purpose determines what himself will do by his revealed will declares to us what is our duty to do Quest But may God command a man to do that which he doth not intend he shall do Answ He may for commands are not onely for performance but for tryal thus he commanded Abraham to kill his son when he did not intend it should be done Gods commands are not alway given to declare his secret intentions but to be the rule of our actions yea he may by his outward dispensations carry himself in a differing yea in a contrary way to his inward intentions He by his Prophet bade Hezekiah set his house in order for he should die Isa 38.1 when he did not intend he should die till divers years after He sent Moses to Pharaoh to command him to let the people go when at the same time he tells him that he would harden Pharaohs heart that he should not hearken to him Exod. 7.2 3 4. It is not necessary that finis operis operantis should be alway the same in God The Preaching of the Gospel in its own nature tends to life and salvation but it is not necessary that God should intend the salvation of all those to whom the Gospel is preached for then it could not be a sweet savor to him not onely
the Apostle here is not to shew for how many Christ died but what is the duty of those for whom he died namely to live to him because they were in the state of death when he died for them 2. We willingly grant that Christ died for all if this word all be taken in the same sense the Apostle takes it as he takes it in the former verse namely those whom Christs love constrained to duty The love of Christ saith he constraineth us and therefore we thus judge that if Christ died for all of us then all of us were in the state of death as well as others and he died for us that we which live should no longer live to our selves but to him But it follows not hence that Christ died for all men for all men are not so affected with the sense of Christs love as thereby to be constrained and carried on with a holy violence as it were to the performance of duty 3. The Apostle here speaks of such for whom Christ not onely died but also rose again now it is no where said in Scripture that Christ rose again for all besides if he died and rose again for all then all shall certainly be justified It is God that justifieth who shall condemn it is Christ that died or rather that is risen again Romans 8.33 34. Object 4. It is further objected That all men in the world receive benefit by Christ therefore he died for all Answ 1. It doth not follow that Christ died for wicked men who perish in the end because they receive many benefits by his death for all creatures in the world are some way or other the better for Christs death We may well think that the whole Creation had long since been turned into a Chaos and confusion if Christ by his death had not made an atonement for some of mankinde The Apostle saith that the whole Creation grones under the burthen of mans sin and that there is an earnest expectation in the creature waiting when it shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption to the glorious liberty of the sons of God Rom. 8.21 22. This glorious liberty of the sons of God is a benefit which Christ hath purchased and this all the creatures shall fare the better for which makes them to have such an earnest expectation after it yet none can hence infer that Christ died for all the creatures 2. The devils themselves have some benefit by Christs death for if he had never come into the world it is likely that they had been confined to the great deep and not been suffered to range up and down in the world as now they do And when he was in the world he was pleased at their entreaty to suffer them to enter into the herd of swine and not to send them into the great deep which was some benefit to them yet who will say that Christ died for devils 3. It was the act of greatest love for Christ to lay down his life Greater love then this hath no man to lay down his life John 15.13 and can we think that Christ will shew as great love to those that are damned as to those that are saved to the reprobate as to the elect to strangers and such as he never knew yea to his enemies and such as will not suffer him to reign over them as to his friends and faithful subjects yea to his fellow brethren and the members of his own body for there can be no greater love then the greatest and the greatest is the laying down his life which he hath done for all alike according to this Doctrine 4. What ever comes from Love works for good but all things in the end work together for hurt unto wicked men that have no part in Christ Their table shall be a snare and that which should have been for their prosperity shall be a trap Psal 69.22 Their riches are reserved for their hurt Eccles 5.9 The goodness of God hardens their hearts and so fits them for wrath Rom. 2.4 5. 5. For whom Christ hath purchased a right to the things they enjoy he hath also purchased a Grace that fits them for the right use of them for in and through him all things are given to us that pertain to Life and Godliness 2 Pet. 1.3 Object 5. But we may say to any man even the worst that lives if thou wilt believe thou shalt be saved which we could not say truly if Christ did not die for all Answ 1. The scope of such conditional promises and propositions is to shew the inseparable joyning together of the means and the end of Faith and Salvation of Repentance and Pardon of Sin and the truth of them lies not in the truth of the parts but in the necessary and strong connexion and joyning of them together As when I say if a man be a lion then he hath four feet if he be a bird then he can flie in the air here though the parts be false yet the propositions are true because of the necessity of the consequence so when I say to any man believe and thou shalt be saved here this proposition is true though the man never believes nor never be saved for let this Hypothetical be turned into a Categorical and it is no more but this Every Believer shall be saved which is true though Christ never died for all and though all men never be saved for it shews onely the absolute and necessary connexion betwixt Faith and Salvation as that all Believers and they onely shall be saved and not that all men shall be Believers or that all men shall be saved or that Christ died for all and it doth no more imply that there is a will in God of saving all then when on the other side it is said that he who believeth not shall be damned it doth imply that there is a will in him of damning all 2. The weakness of this way of arguing may appear from instances of other like propositions in Scripture when the yong man came to our Savior Christ and asked him what he should do that he might have eternal life he answers him If thou wilt have life keep the commandments Matthew 19.15 did not Christ here speak truly yet it was not true that either he could keep the commands or ever should have life by keeping them Did not the Apostle speak truly when he said If there be no resurrection then Christ is not risen and if there be hope onely in this life then we are of all men most miserable 1 Cor. 15.18 19. yet in both these propositions the parts are false for both Christ is risen and there shall certainly be a resurrection and the Saints have better hopes then in this life neither are they of all men the most miserable So this proposition If a man believe he shall be saved is true though God hath never determined his salvation nor Christ died to purchase it for