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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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Example the Negation of Gods Decree of the Persevering Obedience of some Angels was not a negation of what was causally necessary thereunto for then their Perseverance had been impossible which a sober judgment will not admit The non-existence of a thing not decreed follows the negation of the Decree only by a necessity of logical illation but not of causal deficiency or by a negation of any necessary Cause There is a Power properly so called or an adequate Power to an act wheresoever there is all the necessary causality of the first Cause also the Object and its necessary Position and the Capacity and necessary Predisposition of the Subject and an aptitude of the Natural Powers and the necessary concurrence of all Concauses And all these necessary Antecedents to an Act may and commonly do meet where there is no Divine Decree of the Act as is undeniable in the Case of the lapsed Angels whose Perseverance was fully Possible yet certainly not Future As Man hath a power to do that which God foreknows he will not do so he hath a Power to do that which God hath not decreed that he shall do As it is rightly said that it Cannot come to pass that any Good will exist without the Divine Decree so it is as rightly said that it Cannot come to pass that any Good will exist without the Divine Prescience But the Cannot in both Instances is in respect of Illation not of Causation 4. The indetermination of Mans Will doth not infer the Vncertainty of God's Decree A Thing may be certainly Future that is under the undetermined liberty of the Will Mans Power and Liberty of doing otherwise than God hath decreed doth no more infer a possibility of the frustration of his Decrees than his Power and Liberty of doing otherwise than God hath foreknown he will do doth infer an uncertainty of Gods foreknowledg Now it is undeniable that God can certainly foreknow that a man will do that which he hath power not to do and that he will not do that which he hath power to do Adam had power to resist the Temptation which God foreknew he would yield to The Power it self to do otherwise than as God hath decreed is foreknown and decreed and it is also foreknown and decreed That the said Power shall not do otherwise God's Decree is according to his Foreknowledg which is to us incomprehensible 5. God decrees all the Good that comes to pass IT is the perfection of God as God to be the Author of all Good as well Moral as Physical as well of common as of saving Grace And to be the Author of it is to decree and procure that it be done As it is the perfection of the Divine Intellect to understand all that is Intelligible so it is the perfection of the Divine Will to chuse all that is eligible or fittest to be chosen to come to pass It is agreeable to the perfection of Gods Providence that all the Good that is done in the World should be decreed and infallibly brought to pass by him As undoubtedly God doth effect every good Act that comes to pass so undoubtedly he doth decree it For whatsoever is the Object of Divine Operation is also the Object of Divine Volition Every good Act is an End or a Means to an End in the Course of Gods Providence and therefore it is decreed of him All the Ends of Providence are determined and consequently the Meanes to be made use of for the same are likewise determined Though I do not affirm that Gods Foreknowledg and Decree are of equal extent yet it seems not congruous that his Foreknowledg should be active and his Purpose or Will not active to any future Good Gods Foreknowledg of Evil infers though not a Decree of it yet a Decree about it that it shall be so and so disposed of for good so that by those who do what he willeth not he accomplisheth what he willeth 6. God doth not Will or Decree Sin IT must needs be held that whatsoever God doth he wills to do and whatsoever is the Effect of his agency he wills the same Consequently whatsoever he doth about a sinful Act he wills to do it and whatsoever is the Effect of his Agency about the said Act he wills the same Now there is a concurse of God as the Universal Cause to every Act and therefore to every sinful Act as an Act that is to so much as is in the general Nature of the said act And so much as this comes to he wills which is not Sin but only the Substratum Peccati But as he doth not concur to the sinful Act as it is this Act in specie and not the contrary so he doth not Will and Decree the Act as such in specie How the Divine concurse is yielded to sinful actions shall be explained in it proper place under the Head of Gods Efficience God Permitteth Sin But to Permit Sin is not to Will it but only not to Prevent its coming to pass God doth not Will the Essence therefore he doth not Will the Event or Existence of sin For the Existence of sin is but its Essence extra causas or in actual being To say that God doth not Will the Essence of sin but that the Essence thereof exist is very odd and to me unintelligible The Event or Existence of Sin is the Object of Gods Hatred therefore it cannot be the Object of his Will For the doth not Will what he hates If God willeth the Existence of Sin he willeth the committing of it and if he willeth the committing of sin then the committing of Sin is the fullfilling of his Will and if it be the fullfilling of his Will it is the Object of his Complacence and then he hath Complacence in the Violation of his Law Sin hath no Good in it and it works no good 'T is not sin but the feeling knowledg of sin that works Humillation and repentance It is to be noted That God doth not Will whatsoever he doth not Nill Between Volition and Nolition there is a middle thing viz. Non-volition Though God doth not simply Nill the Existence of sin yet he Nills it so far as that he hates it and severely forbids it and gives Necessary Power to avoid it 7. there is no need of holding that Sin is decreed of God IF the aforesaid Arguments be not strong enough to prove That God doth not decree Sin yet there is no need for any one in order to the salving of Gods Providence to hold that he doth decree it The Existence of Sin foreseen indeed but not decreed God makes advantage of for his Holy Ends it being under his Ruling Power He Wills the Good occasioned by Sin but he Wills not Sin as the occasion of Good All the Good that follows Sin not as the End follows the Means but as health follows the disease is decreed of God Seeing God over-rules all the Inclinations and Actions of
the Soul but also of External Means and Helps and an equal felicity of concurring Circumstances which make for that good which is to be effected thereby Yea that Grace may be in every respect equal there must be an equality of need in the persons receiving it For where there is more need the same degree of Divine Help is a lesser degree of Grace respectively considered than where there is lesser need as the same sum of money given to one that is more in want is a lesser ayd to him than to another that wants less A lesser degree of Divine Grace in one kind may be made up by a greater Degree thereof in another kind and so he that receives less in one kind than what another hath received in the same may be equal in the receiving of Grace with that other by receiving more than he in another kind It is not against the Righteousness or Goodness of God to vouchsafe a greater Degree of his Gracious Help to some more than to others whose condition towards him antecedently and in themselves is equal God considered as a Rector renders equally to all that are of equal merit or condition but as a Proprietor or Lord of his own he is not bound to equality For he may do with his own what he Will and none can challenge him for doing more for some than for others when he doth for all as much as is meet for him to do And thereupon he gives to some as he pleaseth such proportions of Grace to which he gave them no antecedent right by his Law of Grace or any Promise 11. Of unequal Proportions of Grace in respect of outward Means TO some the Gospel is revealed to others it is not revealed and yet the condition of them both antecedent to Gospel-Revelation was the same Of baptized Children of Christian Parents under the Turkish Tyranny being of equal condition towards God some are educated under their Parents in the Faith of Christ and others are taken from them in their Childhood and educated in Mahometan Infidelity In a place where true Religion is established and the true knowledg of God is taught two Females of equal condition may in their first Childhood be taken the one into a most Religious Family and there educated the other into a house of common Whoordoms and there educated There are innumerable such instances of different Grace toward those whose condition towards God antecedently was not different 12. Of unequal Proportions of Grace in respect of Divine Influx on the Soul IF it be so evident that unequal or special Grace in respect of external means is given in this manner what hinders but that Special Grace may be given in respect of Divine Influx on the Soul and such secret distinguishing Providences as are past our finding out And that there is a special Divine Grace towards some more than others under the same outward means seems clearly deducible from the Scripture Our Saviour gives this reason why some of his Hearers did understand and receive his Doctrine and others not because to some of them it was given to understand the mysteries of the Kingdom and to others it was not given Mat. 13. Of those that hear the same Doctrine of Salvation they only that obey the Doctrine are said to be taught of God and their being taught of God is set forth as the special Reason of their Obedience and a peculiar Benefit whereby they are discriminated from those that obey not Joh. 6. There was therefore a special teaching of them that obeyed different from the teaching of them that did not obey though both had the same outward means The Father 's drawing of some to Christ and not others of those that heard him preach Joh. 6. must needs be understood of such Divine Grace vouchsafed to some as was not to others For our Saviour renders this Reason of the different Effect of the same Word preached among his hearers that some were drawn to him by the Father and others not 13. A Stock of Grace is ordinarily given in unequal Proportions and arbitrarily THough every one hath some stock of Divine Grace to be improved yet I conceive that it is Gods ordinary way to give the same in unequal proportions and arbitrarily according to that distribution of the Talents in the Parable Mat. 25. without respect to antecedent different worthiness But as the Lord did arbitrarily distribute the Talents so he did it according to discretion In like manner doth the Wisdom of God guide him in the free distribution of the different Measures of his Grace Herein the depth of the Riches of the Wisdom and Knowledg of God is wonderful his judments are unsearchable and his ways past finding out There are unconditional Favours and in the arbitrary bestowing of them in unequal Measures God proceeds most agreeably to his own Absolute Dominion as also to the state of Sinful Man who can merit no such favour from him 14. Of the Notion of Effectual Grace THe denomination of Effectual Grace is not to be taken meerly from the Event but from the State and Quality of the Grace it self Now this term Effectual thus taken needs explication 1. It may signifie that which hath sufficient Power to effect For sufficiens ad esse est efficax ad posse In this sense Sufficient and Effectual Grace is all one 2. That which in the Nature of it hath a necessary connexion with the Effect as necessitating Causes 3. That which as such doth infallibly produce the Effect and is never frustrate 15. Conversion is the Effect of Grace qua talis effectual THere is such Divine Grace and that consisting not only in the preaching of the Word and other External Means but also in the Internal Operation of the Spirit as is rejected by men and becomes in vain to them There is also such grace as is qua talis effectual and doth infallibly produce the Effect for which it is given And all Moral Good more especially mans Conversion is an Effect of such Grace being an Operation of God proceeding from an Absolute Will that it shall not be made void God saith Ezek. 11. 19. I will put a new Spirit within you and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh This promise signifies that God will effect the Change by an Operation that shall not fail and which implies the removing of any Obex that mans Will lays against it St. Paul saith Phil. 2. 14. It is God that worketh in you to will and to do of his own good Pleasure These words of working to will and to do of his own good pleasure can import no less than his infallible producing of the Effects of Willing and Doing Here note That for God to cause our act of willing and so of turning to him is to cause our Faculty so to will by a gracious influx upon it which shall not fail Our Lord Christ saith Joh.