not only by a generall influence of nature but by an influence of speciall grace but in all actions he workes as the supporter of nature whereas wicked men worke as the abusers of nature Bellarmine grants that Gods has an influx into all the actions that proceed from men and yet that he is not the author of sin because he hath onely a generall no particular influx into the action wherein sin is committed such an influx as is indifferent either to good or evil But by this reason as he is not the Author of evill so he should not be the Author of good and if God be the Author of nature he must needs have a particular influxe into all natural actions but into good actions he hath a double influxe namely not onely a naturall but a gracious influxe 3. As they differ in the ground and manner so also in the end of their actings The end of all Gods actions is himselfe and his owne glory He hath made all things for his owne sake even the wicked for the day of evill Prov. 16 4 for this purpose he stirred up Pharaoh that he might shew his power in him and might declare his name through all the earth Rom. 9.17 and for this end doth he suffer with long patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction namely to make his power knowne verse 22 Now the now the end which wicked men aime at in their actions is not God and his glory but some unworthy and base respects of their owne wicked men usually make themselves and the satisfying of their lusts the end of their actions they prefer their owne glory before Gods Is not this great Babel which I have built by the might of my power and for the honour of my Majesty saith that proud King Dan. 4.27 How far evill instruments when they worke in the same action together with God doe differ from him in the ground and end of their working will yet further appeare if we shall look into some particular instances When Sathan assayled Job with his temptation he did it out of hatred against him to drive him to distrust and impatience so overthrow ruine him But God did this out of love that thereby he might exercise his faith and patience and make way for his greater advancement When Satan moved David to number the people he did this out of malice against David and the people and that hereby he might stir up the anger of God against them But God did it to humble David and to make it an occasion of inflicting just punishment upon the people for their many miscariages When Josephs brethren sold him into Egypt they did it out of envie and hatred and that they might rid themselves of him but God did it out of love to Jacob and his family that it might be an occasion of Josephs preferment in Egypt and so of preferring of Jacob and his houshold in the time of extreame Famine when thâ— Jewes high Priests and Elders delevered up Christ to the Souldiers to be Crucified they it out of envy and ill will and that they might rid the world of him but God did it out of love and good will to his Elect that they might be saved and delivered out of their lost condition so that the ends of evill instruments in those actions wherein they worke together with God being altogether differing yea sometimes contrary to Gods ends they may be justly blame-worthy when he is altogether blamelesse But wicked men are blame-worthy though they propound good ends to themselves in the bad actions they doe Object how then can God be blamelesse when he concurs with them in the same actions though his end be good 1 Because he differs from them not onely in the end but also in the ground and manner of his working 2 There is not the same reason betwixt God and man Answ betwixt the Creator and the creature Man is bound not onely to aime at a right end but also to be guided by a right rule he is bound to regulate all his actions by the holy Law of God but though man be bound to yeeld obedience to the Law God is not bound to do it for he made the law not for himselfe but for the creature not to put himselfe but man under the subjection of it he having no other Law but his owne most righteous and holy will Who shall say to him What doest thou Job 9.12 He giveth not an account to any of his matters cap. 33.13 If he be not to give an account to any then is he not subject to any Law for whoever is subject to the Law must give an account to some or other else the Law would be of no use So that this is sufficient to make all Gods actions good because the end is alway good namely himselfe and his owne glory If a man were free from all obligation of a Law and onely bound to aime at the glory of God or the good of his neighbour in the things which he doth then if he propounded these these ends to himselfe in all his dealings with God and men he should be free from blame but besides this he is obliged to live by a Law to this law he owes subjection which God doth not But God is a Law to himselfe If this be so understood as that whatever is the ground and guide of his actions it is within himself then it is true for he borroweth nothing from without himselfe which he makes the motive and ground of any of his actions but all proceed from his owne good will and pleasure But if this be so taken as that whatever Gods law binds man to do his nature binds him also to do the like then it holds not for the Law binds a man to do many things to which God is not bound it binds man not onely not to commit sin but also to hinder it if he hath power to hinder it but God is not bound to this yea man is bound to employ all the skill and power that he hath to hinder the committing of sin if it were so with God then there should never be any sin committed in the world for by his omnipotent power he is able to hinder it besides if there were no sin at all he should loose a great part of his glory for as he is able to bring light out of darknesse good out of evill so he daily doth it The Apostle saith our unrighteousnesse commends the righteousnesse of God and some sins by accident make much for the glory of God as before hath been shewed Besides the Law bindes man to doe all the good he can to convert all his children and kindred his friends and neighbours if we were able to doe it God is able to do this but he doth it not neither is bound to do it God supporteth sinfull men in their sinfull actions and supplyeth them with naturall strength for the acting of them
into the hands of Satan and then Satan stirres up the Caldaeans and Sabaeans to take away his Oxen and his Camels and to kill his Servants Job 1.12 15 17. And he suffered Satan to enter in the heart of Judas and to stir him up to betray his Master 3. By with-drawing his grace from men and not affording a continuall supply of his helpe for their support and sustentation that they may be preserved from falling Thus it is said he tooke away his spirit from Saul 2 Sam. 7.15 And that when the Embassadors of the King of Babell came to Hezekiah the Lord left him to trie him that he might know all that was in his heart 2 Chron. 22 31. The depraved nature of man is like to a ruinous house that his ready to fall if it be not continnally under-propped and upheld by some supporters now God is not bound to yeild this support to sinful men but he may with-draw his helping hand from them as he pleaseth which when he doth then are they ready to fall 4. God often times punisheth one sin with another thus he punisheth the abuse of the meanes of grace with hardness of heart and the abuse of light with greater blindness Thus it is said of the Jews that God gave them the spirit of slumber eyes that they should not see and eares they should not heare Rom. 11.8 And of the Gentiles that because they abused the light of nature and when they knew the true God by the works of Creation yet they did not glorifie him as God but withheld the truth in unrighteousnesr therefore he gave them up to vile affections to doe such things which were not seemely Rom 1.21 26. And in the times of the Antichristian Apostacy because men received not the love of the truth therefore God did send them strong delusions to believe lyes Bellar. de Amis grat Sta. Pect lib. 2. c. 14. 2 Thes 2.10 11. And thus much Bellarmine himself grants for speaking of Absolons incest he saith Deus decitur malum illud fecisse non quia culpa Absoloxis sed qua paena Davidis erat God is said to have done it not as it was Absolons fault but as it was Davids punishment 5. God may be said to have a hand in the sinful actions of the Creature because he so ordereth them by his providence that he suffereth sin to be committed in one kind rather then in another thus he suffered Josephs brethren rather to sell their brother into Egypt then to kill him Thus Christ gave leave to the Devils rather to enter into the Swine then into men Besides he so ordereth and over ruleth the actions of the sinfull Creature as he makes them serve to good uses and purposes yea some times to ends altogether differing yea contrary to what themselves intended Thus he made the actions of Josephs brethen in selling him into Egypt for a slave to be a meanes of his greater advancement And Hamans emnity against Mordecay and the Jews in getting a decree of the King for their destruction to be a meanes of their greater safety and preferment And the envy of the Jews against Christ in procuring him to be put to a shamefull and cursed death to be a meanes and occasion not onely of mans salvation but also of Christs greater exaltation 6 God hath a hand in the sin which man commits so far as he doth sustain and support him in all his natural motions and actions God being the Author of nature doth support man in all the actions of nature and that not onely in good but in evill actions Sin being a defect or privation and so a kinde of none entity cleaves away to something that hath being to some habite to some action or motion as the subject wherein it is seated Now all natural actions and motions are in themselves goods hence the rule holds true that malum est in bono tanquam in subjecto evill is in good as in the subject of it All natures workes are Gods works In him we live and move and have our being Act. 17.25 This is true not onely in regard of our External but also of our internal motions and actions not onely of the body but of the mind As we cannot move our hand or foot or not our thoughts wills and affections without him In every sinful action there are two things conjoyned and included The action it self and the defect or deformity the inordinacy and obliquity of it One of these is as it were the matter the other the form of it which Divines call the materiale and formale Pacti The former of these is from God the other from the corrupt will of the Creature It is a true rule that Deus agit inpeccato non tanquam causa moralis sed tanquam causa naturalis God acts in sin not as a morall but as a natural cause so faire onely as there is natures worke in any action All new actions are new entities and beings and all beings are from God who is the first and most perfect being and from whom all other beings proceed All natural motions and actions are creatures and all creatures are the work of a Creator Pet. Mart. loc commun loc 14 sect 19. Qui equid est quatenus est non tantum a creaturis sed per deum produeitur saith Peter Martyr Every thing that is so far as it is hath his production not onely from the Creature but from God And so far as these actions are beings Augustin de Fera relig cap. 34. and from God they are good Ipsum quantulum cunque esse bonum est quia summun esse est summun bonum saith Augustin The very being of any thing though never so small is good because the chiefest being is the chiefest good If it be objected that in sins of Omission there is no action Object therefore in these God hath no hand It may be answered though there be no outward action yet there is an action of the minde and wil Ans for when a man doth omit any duty he omits it sciens velens upon deliberation he doth willingly choose rather to let it alone then performe it Homo corruptus vult non amare proximum Pet. Mart. loc commun loc 14. sect 20. vult nonire adsaerum caelum ac perinde videmus actum voluntatis ille actus quà astus nataâ—ae a Deo est saith Peter Martyr A corrupt minded man will not love his neighbour he will not go to the holy Assemblies this act of his will so far as it is an act of nature is of God Thus we have seen how God hath a hand in sin divers waies The two first are acts of his Soveraignty whereby he acts as a fire Agem as being bound to none The two second are acts of his justice whereby he inflicts punishment upon such as deserve it The two last are acts of his power and providence whereby he doth not
the goodnes of God to his people stirred up evill affections in them but this was long of their own wickednesse no fault in Gods goodness 5. Object It is said that if the false Prophet be deceived the Lord hath deceived him Ezek. 14.9 The deceiving of the false Answ is here attributed to God in these respects 1. In that he with-drew his grace from him and left him to the deceitfulness of his own heart which was of it self ready enough to â—un out into wayes of error 2 He did this to punish the people because they rejected the doctrin of the true Prophets and would not believe nor obey that truth which they held forth to them both these were acts of justice 3. By administring occasions for the judgements threatned by the true Prophets were not presently executed hence the false Prophets took occasion to perswade that they should never be But further sometimes the true prophets did foretell a peaceable and flourishing estate of Judah and Jerusalem as that Jerusalem stould be called the throne of the Lord and that all nations should be gathered unto it Jer. 3.17 That Jerusalem should be a praise in the earth Esay 62.6 That their Land should no more devoure the inhabitants Ezek. 36 14. These and many other like promises which were not to be fulfilled till the latter dayes the false Prophets understood and applyed to the present times and so thereby deceived both themselves and the people but that they made a false interpretation or application of the doctrine of the true Prophes the fault was onely in themselves and not in the Doctine which the other had truly taught 6. It is said that God gave up the Gentiles to vile affections Ro. Object 1.26 and that he sent strong delusions to those that lived under the Antichristian Apostacy 2 Thes 2.2.11 These Gentiles had vile affections of their own Answ and the other wanted the love of the truth and that God left them to their vile affections and to the deceitfulness of their owne hearts or to the delusions of false Teachers this was an act of Justice to punish the one for going against the light of nature and and the other for not receiving the truth in love when it was held forth to them 7. When the evill spirit offered himself to seduce Ahab Object the Kord bids him goe and doe it 1 King 22.22 Here is more then a permission here is a command therefore here the Lord seemes to be Author of Ahabs being deceived by the evill spirit what a man commands to be done that he is Author and proper cause of 1. Ans It is plaine by this Scripture that the evill spirit was defirous to seduce Ahab for he offers himself as an instrument to effect it but that he had no power to do it without leave from God Now when the Lord bids him go and do so this hath but the force of a permission as if he had faid thou maist go and do the thing thou desirous to do namely to perswade Ahab to go up to Ramoth-Gilead to battail that he may fall there 2. It may be answered that all this which is here spoken by the prophet Michaiah of the Lords sitting upon a Throne and all the host of heaven appearing before him and the question and answer here made that all this I say is delivered in a parabolicall way and therefore cannot in every breach be taken properly Deus inducitur per prosopopeiam saith Peter Martyr God is brought in the person of a man Locj commun loc 14. and speaking after the manner of men Now in parables the scope of the parable is chiefly to be looked at and what truth it holds forth neither is every parabolical application to be urged as a thing really done as in the parable of the Rich Man he is brought in as speaking to Abraham and Abraham answering him again which we cannot think was really done so in this place every circumstance cannot be urged as a thing really acted touching the Lords sitting on a Throne and all the host of heaven shanding before him and the question propounded and answered but this is brought in by way of resemblance to Kings and Princes who when they have business of weight in hand are wont to consult with their Nobles and those about them All parables are similitudes and of them the rule is true that in every similitude there is aliquid dissimile there is something that is unlide and therefore they ought not to be stretched beyond their bounds and so urged as if they agreed in every thing to that which they are brought to illustrate These are the principall Scriptuers wherein such expressions are used as seem to make God the Author of sinne for other like unto these they may receive the like answer namely that when God is said to do the same things which sinful men do he doth it either as the Author of nature and supporter of it in naturall actions or as the righteous judge by withdrawing of his grace and punishing one sinne with another or by administring occasions In all which he is altogether blamelesse CHAP. IX Containing an answer to some objections which arise from that which hath been before delivered touching the manner how God hath a hand in sinne IT hath been shewed before that God doth not onely permit sinne but that he doth willingly permit it therefore his will is conversant about it and his will is more then a velleietas a meer wishing what he permits that he wils with an active will against this it may be objected 1. That will may be said to be evil whose act is evil Object that act is evill which hath an evill object for all acts receive their information and so their denomination from their object when the act of a mans will is carryed after things unlawfull then is this act evill and so is the will whence it proceeds To this it may be answered Answ that sin is not so wholly and absolutely evill but it may have some respect of good it may have some good joyned with it 1. For in sinfull acts natures worke is good as hath been shewed It is a true rule that actus peccati in genere entis bonus est in genere moris malus The act of sin as it is an entity it is good in regard of the morall affection or quantity of it so it is an evill Secondly though in it selfe it be evill yet it may be made a meanes an occasion of good God is able to bring good out of it Hence Augustine saith excellently August in Enchirid. cap. 96. Quamvis quae mala sunt in quantum mala sint non sin bona tamen ut non solum bona sed etiam sint mala bonum est Although evill things so far as they are evill are not good yet it is good that not only good but evill should be Sin is in it self against the glory of God
therefore he cannot will it as it is in it selfe and in its owne nature and as wicked men will it But as the skilful Physitian can so order and temper some poysons that though they be in themselves destructive to nature yet he can make them medicinall and helpfull so the wise and mighty God is able to make that which is in it selfe against his glory to be serviceable to his glory he can worke out his owne glory from the work of mens actions he can make them usefull to the best ends and so far he may both will them and worke them namely as he can and will bring good out of them Non sineret bonos fieri malis Enchirid. cap. 100. nesi omniâ—otens etiam de malo facere pâ—ssâ—t bene saith Augustine the good God would not suffer evill to be unles he being omnipotent could bring good out of evil To the same purpose he saith also in another place Scivit Deus magis ad omnipâ—tentissimam ejus bonitatem pertinere De correpes grat cap. 10. etiam de malis benefacere quâ—m mala non sinene God did know that it more befirs his omnipotent goodnesse to bring good out of euill then not to sâ—ne any evill at all to be yea Bellarmine himselfe acknowledgeth that God did Ex lapsu hominis ingens bonum eliceâ—e did draw forth a wonderfull great good out of the fall of man So that we see that sin though evill in it selfe may have some respect of good in it and some way make for the glory of God now in this respect onely God wils it and this he may do and his will still be a just holy and righteous will If mans sâ—n be the object of Gods decree Object 2 then mans sins necessarily for what God hath decreed must necessarily come to passe and if the decree of God be the cause of this necessitie then likewise it is the cause of that sin which followes upon it and so God shall be the Author and proper cause of sin That Gods decrees do not take away the liberty of mans will may appeare many wayes Answ 1. Christs death was decreed for he was delivered by the determinate counsell of God Acts. 23. yet he dyed freely for he saith of himselfe that he laid downe his life when no man had power to take it from him John 10.17 18. he laid it downe willingly and freely beside if he had not done thus if Christs death had not been voluntary it had not been an act of perfect obedience and so could not have been meritorious The stedfastnesse and firme standing of the good Angels in their integrity is a free act for they are not enforced to it 2 Thes 2.2.13 yet this was decreed for they are elect Angels The Saints are chosen to faith and sanctification yet they beleeve and repent freely not being led to it by any naturall or violent necessity All our naturall motions and actions proceed freely from us yet to deny these to be within the compasse of Gods decree were to deny a great part of his providence In him we live and move Act. 11.28 Pro. 16.9 And what he doth in time he hath determined to doe before all time 2. Gods decree is actus ad intra one of those immanent acts which are alwayes within himselfe and of theâ—e acts the rule holds true that they do nihil ponere in objecto they put nothing into the object about which they are conversant Gods decree alone being an instrument within himselâ—e works nothing upon the creature till it comes to execution till some some way or other he doth put forth his purpose by some outward act unlesse therfore it can be sâ—ewed how God in the execution of his decree by some outward act upon man doth necessitate mans will his decree alone will never infer any necessitie upon it and we find the contrary by experience namely that we are carryed forward to the committing of sin frely as we are to eat out meat or drinke our drinke or performe any other action most agreeable to our natures being led to it neither by any violent or naturall necessity 3. Gods decree is so far from infringing the liberty of the second causes that it establisheth and strengthens them in their liberty for he doth not onely discernere rem ipsam sed modum rei not onely determine and decree the thing it selfe but also the manner of it he determines that somethings shal come to passe necessarily other things freely and contingently That necessary things shall come to passe by necessary causes contingent things by contingent causes All entilies and beings as from God with all the adjuncts and properties that belong to them and he worketh in all things according to the nature of the things and therefore in naturall agents he causeth things to come to passe necessarily in free agents contingently so that though Gods will determine mans will yet it determines to worke contingently and freely Vt voluntas necessario movetur ad agendum eu uâ—posttione motionis divinae Vindic. lib. 2. pag. 31. page 27. ita eâ—iam necessariâ— movetur ad ageâ—dum libere quia movet Deus voluntatem hominis conveniunter suae natucae saith Dr Twisse as the will is necessarily moved to act upon supposition of the divine motion so it is necellaâ—ily moved to act freely because God moves mans will in a way agreeable to its owne nature Posito decreto necesse erat ut primus 〈◊〉 peccaâ—et sed necesse erat ut peccaret liberè Upon suppoâ—â—ition of Gods decree it was necessary that the first man should â—inne but it was also necessary that he should sinne freely 4. Causes by accidâ—nt never worke necessarily but contingently the Sun sends forth light necessarily but darkes weake eyes contingently The Law is onely an accidental cause of sin as before was shewed and look how the law works it God workes it and as he workes it so he hath decreed to worke it therefore his decree inferres no necessity Besides a cause by accident never workes till causa perâ—se such as is properly and in its owne nature a cause sets it on worke The Sword which a mad man weares will never move to hurt him till he himselfe begins to move it The wall will never hurt the glasse or pot till the drunken man or some other dasheth it against the wall no more will the Law of God ever hurt a man till he dasheth himselfe against it Causes by accident are alwayes reducible to other causes so the last resolution of sinne must be in the freewill of man as into the true and proper cause of it Object But here it may be further objected that if that which God hath decreed doth not necessarily come to passe then his decree may be frustrated Answ This Objection makes as much against Gods foreknowledge as against his decree for as he cannot be disappointed in his decree so he cannot be