viz. when the race is not to the swift nor the battell to the strong c. Eccles 9. 11. Eccles 9. 11. §. 9. If it be here demanded In as much as second Causes and created Principles especially in men act notwithstanding such a substraction of the Divine Presence from them as hath been declared though not according to the perfection of their natures but in a troubled and miscarrying manner the eyes of the two Disciples we spake of though they were so held that they knew not Christ viz. to be the person which he was yet they represented him unto them as a man c. Whether do such actings as these proceed from their Principles without any such presence of the first Cause with them as that which we have asserted to be simply necessary for and with second Causes whensoever they go forth into action Or what manner of presence of this first Cause or how differing from that which is constant and more agreeable to their natures shall we suppose they have with them when they act irregularly or deficiently To this I answer 1. Whensoever second Causes move into action whether they act congruously to their respective natures and kinds or whether defectively they still have and must have a presence of the first Cause with them as hath beene already argued But 2. When they faile or faulter in their motions or actings if their motions be such which are not morall or commanded by the will of which kind the mis representation of the person of Christ by the eyes or visive faculty of the two Apostles was I conceive that the presence or concourse of the first cause with them is attempered and proportioned in order to the deficiency of the action I mean as well to the degree as kind of this deficiency and is not the same with it selfe in the ordinary and proper actings of these faculties The reason hereof is because faculties meerly naturall act determinately and uniformly after one and the same manner unlesse they be troubled and put out of their way by a superior power But in morall actions and such whose deficiency proceedeth from the wills of men or other creatures indued with the Whether or how the concurrence of God with the wils of men in good actions dister from that which is afforded unto them in evill actions shall God willing be taken into consideration in the second part of this work same faculty the presence and concourse of the first Cause with the Principles producing them is not at least ordinarily different from that which is naturall and proper to them and by vertue whereof at other times they act regularly or at least may The Reason hereof is because the nature and intrinsecall frame and constitution of the will importeth a liberty or freedom of chusing its own motions or acts this being the essentiall and characteristicall property of it whereby it is distinguished from causes meerly naturall Now then if this faculty when it moves or acts inordinately should be so influenced by the first Cause as hereby to be determined or necessitated to the inordinacy of its actings 1. That distinguishing property we speak of should be dissolved or destroyed and the will it selfe hereby reduced to the Order and Laws of Causes meerly naturall 2. The inordinatenesse or sinfulnesse of the motions and actings of it could not be resolved into it selfe or its own corruption but into that over ruling and necessitating influence of the first Cause upon it which it was not able to withstand nor to act besides or contrary unto the determinating exigency thereof And thus God shall be made the Author of Sin which is the first born of abominations even in the eye of Reason and Nature it selfe But of these things more hereafter Though all the motions and actings of the creature and created Principles §. 10. or faculties are absolutely suspended upon the association of the first Cause with them in their actings yet do they very seldom suffer any detriment or actuall suspension of their motions or actings hereby God never denying suspending or withdrawing that concurrence or conjunction of himself with them without which they cannot act but only upon some speciall design as for example now and then to be a Remembrancer unto the world that Nature and Second Causes are not autocratoricall i. e. do not perform what ordinarily they do perform independently and of themselves but that he is the soveraign Lord of them and hath all the strength and operations of them in his hand The battell commonly is to the strong and the race ordinarily to the swift and bread most frequently to men of understanding c. But more of this also in the following Chapter The Apostle affirming That in God we live and move in the sence declared §. 11. passeth the sentence of condemnation against two opinions which yet condemn one the other also being two extreams leaving the Truth between them in the middle The former denies all co-operation of the first Cause with the second affirming That God only communicateth that operating virtue unto them which they respectively exert and put forth and preserveth it but doth not at all co-operate with it The latter affirmeth That it is God only who acteth or worketh at the presence of Second Causes and that these do nothing but stand by act not at all The former of these opinions wâ—â— held by Durandus the Schoolman and by some others far more ancient then he against whom Augustin disputeth Lib. 5. dâ— Geâ— ad lit c. 20. The latteâ— by Gabriel Biel a School man also and some others of that Learning The Apostles assertion That we move in God in the sence asserted is visibly attended with these two consequentiall Truths 1. That God doth associate himselfe and communicate with Second Causes and all created Principles in their respective motions and operations and consequently contributes more towards their motions and operations then only by a collation and conservation of a sufficient strength or virtue in their respective causes to produce them 2. That the ordinary effects acts and operations produced in these sublunary parts are not so or upon any such terms attributable unto God but that they have their Second Causes also respectively producing them whereunto they may as truly and perhaps more properly be ascribed as unto God CHAP. II. Though there be as absolute and essential a Dependance of Second Causes upon the first in point of motion action and operation as of simple Existence or Being yet are not the motions actions or operations of Second Causes at least ordinarily so immediately or precisely determined by that Dependance which they have upon the first Cause as their respective Beings are THe simple Existences or Beings of things may be said to be determined §. 1. by God the first Cause three ways 1. In respect of their Natures or constituting Principles of their respective Beings 2. In respect of their
doe not flow from that concurrence of God with it when it acteth but from that intrinsecall form or those naturall Properties which he hath vested in it by the Law of Creation There is the same reason of other causes of this kinde in their respective actions or effects Nor are the motions or actings of the second kinde of causes mentioned as of Birds Beasts c. any whit more determined then of the former by the Presence of God with them in their actions but partly by their naturall abilities for action or motion partly by the naturall proportions and disproportions between their respective Estimatives or Phantasies and such and such Creatures or Objects whose natures are either proportioned or disproportioned unto them As for example the reason why a lamb runneth to the dam and fleeth from the Wolfe is partly the naturall sympathy between the phantasie of the lamb and the dam and the antipathy betweene the said phantasie and the Wolfe partly also that ability or nimblenesse of motion which God hath given unto this creature for the conveyance of it selfe this way or that according as the phantasie of it is affected The concurrence of God with it when it runneth to the dam and when it fleeth from the Wolfe is doubtlesse one and the same So that the difference of these two motions in this Creature doth not arise from any diversity therein but from one of the causes now mentioned In like manner the actions and motions of the third and lâ—st kinde of §. 9. causes which we termed rationall and voluntary are not determined i. e. made rationall and voluntary much lesse are they necessitated by the conjunction or Presence of God with them when they act or move but by their owne proper and free election of what they act or move unto Whilst it remained Acts 5. 4. saith Peter to Ananias speaking of his possession whilst it was yet unsold and remained with him in specie was it not thine owne i. e. Wert thou not at full liberry to have retained and kept it for thine own private use there being no Law of God imposing it as a duty upon thee to sell it And when it was sold was it not in thy power viz. whether thou wouldst part with the money which thou receivedst for it or no The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 translated Power doth not only signifie a Power of right but of liberty also or a freedome of will to dispose of it as he pleased otherwise a Power of right had been of no accommodation unto him nor any competent matter of the aggravation of his sin Why hast thou put this thing into thy heart viz. to dissemble and lye pretending and professing to bring the whole money which thou receivedst for the possession when as thou bringest a part of it only God concurred with the motion of Ananias will when he resolved to bring his money to the Apostles for publique distribution and so likewise when he brought it otherwise he could not have resolved or willed to do it Yet this concurrence of God with him in his act of willing or resolving did not make it necessary for him so to will or resolve because he had a Power this notwithstanding to have willed or resolved the contrary I meane either the keeping of the Possession to himself being yet unsold or the not-bringing the money received for it to the Apostles Otherwise both the act of selling it and also of bringing the money to the Apostles must be looked upon not as the acts of Ananias but of God himselfe For whatsoever a man is necessitated to do especially by a Principle of force or power out of himselfe is the act of the necessiâ—ator not his Yea the Apostle Paul counteth it no flattery either of himselfe or any other man to acquit both himself and them of all such irregular acts whereunto they are necessitated though by an inward and inherent Principle Now saith he if I doe that I would not it is no more I that do it but sinne that dwelleth in me a Rom. 7. 20. It is true the act of Ananias his will both for the selling of his Possession and bringing the money to the Apostles in the very instant of the Elicitation or Production of it was necessary in this respect viz. because now it could not be unproduced according to the common maxime every thing that is when it is must of necessity be b Unumquodque quod est quando est necesse est esse but it was not the concurrency of God with his Will that imposed any necessity upon him to produce it because then it had not been in his own power neither had it been properly his own act when produced But it may be here objected and said that though the specificall actions §. 10. or motions of all the causes mentioned be determined as hath been proved by the specificall natures or properties of every of them respectively and not by any concurrence of God with them yet their individuall and particular actions and motions are determined by some kinde of concurrence or Providentiall interposall of God As for example that Fire in the generall burneth that which is combustible being put to it is from the nature of it not from any concurrence of God with it but that it burneth such or such a mans house goods or the like this is not simply from the nature of it without some speciall disposall of Divine Providence So againe that wicked and ungodly men should in the generall do wickedly as for instance plot contrive accomplish the death of such as are godly proceedeth from themselves and from the corruption of their wills not from any concurrence of God with them nor from any speciall interposall of his in such actings But that such and such wicked men by name should plot and effect the deaths of such and such godly men by name and not the death of others godly also proceedeth not so much from the wickednesse of such men as from some speciall decree of God together with a suteable interposall of his Providence and Power for the effecting of it That which Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the Jewes did in and about the crucifying of Christ Peter saith that the hand and counsell of God had determined before to be done * Acts 4 28. §. 11. To this I answer 1. That this particular and signall attribution of some speciall actions or events unto God or to the determination of his hand and counsell other instances whereof are to be seene 1 King 12. 15. 2 Sam. 17. 14. Jos 11. 20. Deut. 2. 30. c. cleerly argueth that ordinarily actions are performed by men and events come to passe upon other terms I meane without any such particular or extraordinary interposition by God either by way of Decree or of Providentiall efficiency or contribution towards them Emphaticall and remarkable appropriations are unsavoury and
expresly granteth that the Saints many times are so far from obeying these Exhortations that they walke for a long time in full opposition to them as in security loosenesse vile Practises c. Nor have they yet proved nor I believe ever will prove but that they may walke yea and that many have thus walked I mean in full opposition to the said Exhortations to their dying day 2. If God by his Spirit irresistibly drawes his Saints to obey the exhortations we speak of he thus draweth them either by such a force or Power immediately acted upon their wills by which they are made willing to obey them or else he maketh use of the said Exhortations so to work or affect their wills that they become willing accordingly If the former be asserted Then 1. The said Exhortations are no means whereby the Perseverance of the Saints is effected but God alone and immediately by His Spirit For if the Will be immediately affected by God after such a manner or brought to such a bent and inclination as that it cannot but obey the said Exhortations i. e. doe the things which the said Exhortations require then would it have done the same things whether there had been any such Exhortations in being or no and consequently these Exhortations could have no manner of efficiency about their Perseverance For the will according to the common saying is of it self caeca potentia a blind faculty and followes its own predominant bent and inclination without taking knowledge whether the wayes or actions towards which it stands bent be commanded or exhorted unto by God or no. 2. If the will of a Saint be immediately so affected by God that it stands inclin'd and bent to doe the things which are proper to cause them to Persevere then is this bent and inclination wrought in the will of such a Person after his being a Saint and consequently is not essentiall to him as a Saint but meerly accidentall and adventitious And if so then is there no inclination or bent in the will of a Saint as such or from his first being a Saint to Persevere or to do the things which accompany Perseverance but they come to be wrought in him afterwards Which how consistent it is with the Principles either of Reason or Religion or their own I am content that my Adversaries themselves shall judge 3. If God doth immediately and irresistibly incline or move the wills of the Saints to doe the things which accompany Perseverance the said Exhortations can be no means of effecting this Perseverance For the will being Physically and irresistibly acted and drawn by God to doe such and such things needeth no addition of morall means such as Exhortations are if they be any in order hereunto What a Man is necessitated unto he needeth no further help or means to doe it 4. And lastly for this the things which accompany Perseverance import a continuance in Faith and Love unto the end If then the wills of the Saints be immediately and irresistibly moved by God thus to continue I mean in Faith and Love unto the end what place is there for Exhortations to come in with their efficiency towards their Perseverance Need they be exhorted to continue in Faith and Love or to Persevere after the end Thus then we clearly see that the former of the two consequences mentioned cannot stand God doth not by His Spirit irresistibly draw or move the wills of the Saints to doe the things which are necessary for the procuring their Perseverance immediately or without the instrumentall interposure of the said exhortations Secondly neither can the latter of the said consequences stand God doth §. 6. not make use of the said Exhortations to influence or affect the wills of the Saints upon any such terms as hereby to make them infallibly infrustrably necessitatingly willing to Persevere or to doe the things upon which Perseverance dependeth For 1. If so then one and the same act of the will should be both Physicall and morall and so be specifically distinguished in and from it self For so far as it is produced by the irresistible force or power of the Spirit of God it must needs be Physicall the said irresistible working of the Spirit being a Physicall action and so not proper to produce a morall effect Againe as far as the said Exhortations are means to produce or raise this act of the will or contribute any thing towards it it must needs be morall because Exhortations are morall causes and so not capable of producing naturall physicall or necessary effects Now then if it be unpossible that one and the same act of the will should be both physicall and morall that is necessary and noâ— necessary unpossible also it is that it should be produced by the irresistible Working of God and by Exhortations in a joynt efficiencie It may be objected They who hold or grant such an influence or operation of the Spirit of God upon the will which is frustrable and resistible doe or must suppose it to be a physicall action as well as that which is irresistible If so then the act of the will so far as it is raised by means of â—his action or operation of God must according to the tenor of the former argument be physicall also and so the pretended impossibility is no more avoided by this Opinion then by the other I answer Though such an operation of God upon the will as is here mentioned be in respect of God and of the manner of its proceeding from Him physicall yet in respect of the nature and substance of it it is properly morall because it impresseth or affecteth the will upon which it is acted after the manner of morall causes properly so called i. e. perswadingly not Ravishingly or necessitatingly When a Minister of the Gospell in his Preaching Presseth or Perswadeth Men to such and such duties or actions this act as it proceedeth from Him I meane as it is raised by His naturall abilities of understanding and speaking is physicall or naturallâ— but in respect of the substance or native tendency of it it is clearly morall viz. because it tendeth to incline or move the wills of Men to such or such elections without necessitating them hereunto and so comports with those Arguments or Exhortations in their manner of efficiency by which he presseth or moveth them to such things By the way to prevent stumbling and quarrelling it no wayes followeth from the Premisses that a Minister by his Preaching and perswading unto duties should doe as much as God Himself doth in or towards a perswading of Men hereunto It onely followeth that the Minister doth co-operate with God which the Apostle Himâ—elf affirmeth a 1 Cor. 3. 9. 2 Cor. 6. 1. in order to one and the same effect i. e. that he operateth by one and the same kinde of efficiency with God viz. morally or perswadeingly not necessitatingly For when one necessitates and another onely perswades
yet moved with fear prepared an ark by which he condemned the world c. 314 315 c. 11. 17. By Faith Abraham offered up Isaac c. 19 451 452 12. 2. Looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our Faiâ—â— 254 255 1 Pet. 1. 2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God through sanctification of the Spirit 463 1. 5. Who by the power of God are kept through Faith unto Salvation 185 186 c. 1. 23. Being born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible 199 200 2. 4. elect and precious 244 3. 21. The like figure whereunto even Baptism doth also now save us 354 4. 19. as unto a faithful Creator 70 71 236 2 Pet. 1. 4. partakers of the divine nature 199 200 2. 1. even denying the Lora that bought them 129 130 c. 2. 20. For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledg of the Lord 144 145 c. 3. 9. not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 104 417 418 1 Joh. 2. 2. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole world Pag. 91 92 c. 188 2. 19. They went out from us but they were not of us for if they had been of us they would no dobt have continued with us 189 190 c. 261 2. 24. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall abide in you ye also shall continue in the Son c. 261 3. 7. Little children let no man deceive you he that doth righteousness is righteous even as he is righteous Cap. 9. § 11. p. 265 3. 9. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him neither can he sin c. 192 193 c. 3. 10. whosoever doth not righteousness is not of God 402 4. 4. because greater is he that is in you then he that is in the world 325 4. 18. perfect love casteth out fear 314 because fear hath torment 3 16 4. 19. We love him because he first loved us 476 5. 3. For this is the love of God that we keep his CoÌ„mandments and c. 337 5. 4. For whosoever is born of God overcometh the world and c. 263 337 5. 5. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that beleeveth that Jesus is the Son of God 398 5. 10. He that beleeeveth not God hath made him a lyar c. 497 504 5. 14. And this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask any thing according to his Will he heareth us 250 5. 18. We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not 263 264 2 Joh. vers 8. Look to your selves that we lose not the things which we have wrought but that we receive a full reward 258 Jude ver 1. and preserved in Jesus Christ 253 3. that ye should earnestly contend for the Faith which was once delivered unto the Saints 243 Apocal. 2. 11. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death 267 268 3. 5. He that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life 332 333 14. 4. these were redeemed from among men c. 143 20. 6. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first Resurrection c. 267 A Table of the particular Heads of Matter in the preceding Discourse A ABraham in what sence commanded to offer up Isaac Pag. 451 452 453 Acts actings of God why expressed by Verbs of the Preterperfect-tense 63 Actions if men with their consequences ascribed to God emphatically and why 23 of Causes meerly natural why not always uniform p. 24. Actings and motions of created Principles seldom suspended by the first Cause and why p. 6. Such as proceed from the wills of men frequently in Scriputre attributed to them in terms of a passive signification p. 15. How said to be determined 23 Actions and Operations in these sublâ—nary parts not so attributed to God but that they have their second Causes 7 Actuality of God 7 Adam all men righteous in him 512 513 had not justifying Faith 504 505 c. All men in what sence they have right to the Promises p. 451. have sufficient means to beleeve pag. 499 500. All all men what signifie in Scripture 108 109 Ambrose for Vniversal Redemption 528 for falling away 325 327 Angels whether changeable in their Wills after Election 485. not out of a possibility of falling according to Calvin 441 receive benefit by Christ 440. need an Head as well as men 438. understand not bytheir meer essence p. 43. whether and how reconcilable 441 Anselm for Vniversal Redemption 543 Antecedent and Consequent Intentions in God 448 106 107 Aretius for falling away 392. for Vniversal Redemption 407 Arnobius for Vniversal Redemption 533 Arriba resolves the certainty of the foreknowledg of God into the perfection of his Wisdom 22 Assurance of Salvaiton whether men live holily or no not meet for God to give or men to enjoy 282 Athanasius for Vniversal Redemption 530 531 Attonement universal no new Religion 73 taught by express Scripture the contrary onely by consequence 73 Augustin for Falling away 378 379 c. how to be understood when he seems to speak otherwise Ibid. for General Redemption 525 526 c. against them that deny the co-operation of the first cause with the second 7 The Authors Intent in citing Authors 524 561 B BAptism All Children baptized judged by Musculus in favor with God 331 A weighty consideration for Infant-Baptism 537 Basil for a possibility of total falling away 377 for Vniversal Redemption 534 Bede for general Redemption 542 Simple Beings and existences of things how determined by God p. 7. what manner of Being men had from Eternity 45 46 Bernard for general Redemption 543 Beza defines justifying Faith by assent 400 Denyeth that Christ dyed sufficiently for all men except in a barbarous sence 97 Book of Life blotting out Names no blemish to it 332 Bottomless pit what it signifieth 435 Bucer defines Justifying Faith by assent 400 For Vniversal Redemption 556 Bullinger for Falling away 392. For Vniversal Redemption 560 C CAlvin sometimes for Falling away 387 416. Defineth Justifying Faith by assent to the Word of God 398. For General Redemption 406 552 553 c. For Desires in God to save the World 470 His Discourse for universal Grace 508 509 Can and cannot diversly taken in Scripture 194 Causes natural how sometimes suspend their proper actions 7 Ceremonies why termed the rudiments of the World 522 523 Chamier defines Justifying Faith by assent 398 399 Character of Regeneration 326 327 Chemnitius for Falling away 385 386. Defines Justifying Faith by assent 400 Children in favor with God 330 Christ a sufficient Redeemer without being crucified p. 15. How necessitated to well doing 341. How always heard in his Prayers 245. How the foundation of
rather importeth he implyeth not only that all our vitall actions and motions are exercised and performed by the gracious concurrence and compliance of God with us as well as our lives themselves and Principles of action preserved but further that there is a further and appropriate concurrence of God required and by him accordingly exhibited to enable men to act those very Principles of action and motion that are in them distinct from that by which their lives and Principles of action in every kind are preserved Insomuch that though men be never so well appointed or provided for action in one kind or other in respect of suitable proper and sufficiently-disposed Principles thereunto yet upon a suspension of that particular influence or concurrence by God which is appropriate and necessary both for the leading forth unto and for the supporting of these Principles in and under their proper actions there is none of them will go forth into action nor is able to maintain or support it selfe in acting But whether such a concurrence of God supposed and actually granted as is sufficient both for the leading forth unto and for the support of the Principles we speak of in their proper actings these Principles notwithstanding at least such of them whose actions lie under the command of the will may not refuse or forbear to act is another Question wherein more may be said hereafter In the mean time that God may at any time separate between Principles §. 7. and their actings even those that are most proper and connaturall to them only by with-holding that compliance of his with them which is appropriate and necessary for their conducting unto action is evident from severall passages in the Scriptures Doubtlesse the heat of the fire in Nebuchadnezzars furnace being het seven times hotter then ordinary was as proper as likely a means to have consumed Shadrach Meshach and Abednego being cast into the midst of this furnace as those who were imployed by the King only to cast them into it Nor can it reasonably be said That God separated the heat or burning property from the fire or annihilated it all the time that these three men were in the furnace For 1. unlesse we shall suppose the subject it self I mean the fire to have been destroyed or annihilated we cannot suppose that heat or a burning property being â— property inseparable from such a subject should be taken from it 2. It appears by the story that those who cast the three Servants of God mentioned into the furnace were consumed by the fire of it whilst the Servants of God remained in the furnace Therefore certainly there was true fire and true heat in the furnace whilest the three men continued in it 3. And lastly The story saith That the Princes Governors and Captains c. being gathered together saw these men upon whose bodies the fire had no power * Dan. 3. 27. So that there is not the least question but that there was reall fire and reall heat and that in abundance in the furnace which notwithstanding had no power no not so much as over the hair of their heads or the garments they wore What now was the Reason why this fire and this heat prevailed not over those that were cast into the midst of them as they did over those who cast them in Was it any other then this The Lord of hoasts his withdrawing the wonted conjunction of himselfe from the heat of the fire and refusing to comply with it in that expedition or attempt which it naturally inclined to make upon these men as well as upon any others to destroy them whereas he kept his naturall and accustomed union with this heat in that attempt which it made upon those other men who cast these into the furnace by means whereof it suddenly prevail'd upon them and consumed them There was the same Reason why the Bush which Moses saw burning with fire was not consumed by it The Reason likewise in all likelihood why the men of Sodom could not find the door of Lots house was because God withdrew his usuall concurrence from their visive faculty in order to the discerning of that object For that other things were all this while visible enough to them appears from their continued endevours even unto weariness in seeking this door If they had bin wholy blind so that they could have seen nothing at all it is no ways credible but that they would have desisted their enterprize at the very first This withdrawing or suspension of the wonted Presence of God with the Seeing faculty of men is called the holding of their eyes Luk. Luke 24 16. 24. 16. But their eyes were holden that they could not know him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they were mightily or powerfully held they could not act or perform that which otherwise was most naturall and proper for them to do in receiving and representing to the Sensus Communis or adjudging faculty of the Soul the true species and shape of a Person standing visibly before them and neer to them through the want of that accustomed co-operative Presence of God with them in order to this act which untill now it is like had never failed them upon the like occasion Other instances we have in Scripture of such like impotencies and deficiences as these in naturall faculties through the suspension of that soveraign presence with them upon which all their motions and actions depend See Ioh. 20. 14 15. 2 Kings 6. 17 18 c. When God threatned his People of old That the wisdome of their wise men §. 8. Esa 29. 14 should perish and the understanding of their prudent men he hid Isai 29. 14. he doth not I suppose threaten an utter annihilation of those Principles or habits of wisdome and understanding in these men but only an intercision or failing of such interposals and actings from and by these Principles in order to the safety and preservatioâ—â—oth of themselves and their state which might reasonably and accordinâ— to the common course of second Causes be expected from them which wonder as he calls it was I conceive to be effected only by the hiding of his face from them without the beholding whereof no second Cause whatsoever is able to move no not in those ways of acting which are most appropriate to them This manner of execution of the judgment here threatened seems to be implyed in those latter words And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid i. e. shall not be conspicuous or discernable in any fruits or effects worthy of it not that the Principle it self should be absolutely destroyed or devested of Being This Liberty or great Interest of God which we speak of I mean to suspend the proper and most accustomed effects of second Causes by refusing to joyn in action with them causeth that time and chance as the wise man calleth them which happen now and then in those occurrences of humane affairs as
the destruction that wasteth at non-day a Psa 91. 5 6 7 But dayly experience sheweth That God doth not engage himselfe upon such terms as these for the protection of the lives of all that are godly many of these falling by the hand of death even whilst the lives of thousands and ten thousands round about them are not touched there with Nor have any Persons though never so godly any sufficient ground from the passages mentioned or the like to expect absolutely and with confidence protection of life in the midst of all such dangers which are there specified but only conditionally viz. if God will vouchsafe to undertake for their Preservation and Peace Such Scriptures hold forth the constant power not the uniform Will or Pleasure of God On the other hand when God taketh no pleasure as the Scripture phrase is in the life of a man the little finger of death is enough to crush it my meaning is a very slender and inconsiderable occasion will serve his Providence for the dissolution of it But neither of these dispensations amounts to any demonstration of any such decree in God wherein he hath punctually and indispensably assigned to all Persons whatsoever a set number of years moneths days houres and moments for their allowance of life which neither himselfe nor themselves nor any other creature hath the least liberty or power either to augment or diminish upon any occasion or by any means whatsoever It is indeed commonly reported to be a great Article in the Turkish Creed That the lives of all men at least of all Turkes are so absolutely disposed of in the counsell and decree of God that it is a thing simply impossible for men either by running upon the mouths of Cannons or by casting themselves into the Sea or by rushing naked into the midst of an Host of armed enemies or by adventuring upon any danger upon any death whatsoever to anticipate the date of such a disposall and so on the contrary by any Care Prudence or circumspectnesse whatsoever to prevent the fatality thereof But such Notions and Decrees as these are fitter to make Alcoran Divinity then Christian. I freely acknowledge all the Decrees of God to be absolute and unchangeable upon any occasion or by any means whatsoever and none of them in a true and proper sence conditionall but I am far from making the Decrees of God commensureable with his Prescience or fore-knowledge But of this hereafter In order to a full and thorough explication of the subject last in hand if §. 6. this had been any materiall part of our present designe many Particularities besides those insisted upon should have been added But the consideration of the dependance of the motions and actings of the creature upon God in respect of their determination is more intimous to the heart and spirit of our Grand Intendment then of their simple existences or beings Therefore to passe on to the explication of this we have laid downe for the Argument of his Chapter this conclusion either in words or substance that the motions actions or operations of second Causes though they do as absolutely depend upon the first as their existences or beings as was argued in the former Chapter yet are they not by this dependance at least ordinarily so immediately or precisely determined as their beings Notwithstanding how their beings in respect of their natures their Productions their subsistings or durations in being are determined or not determined by God hath been the inquiry and decision of the preceding part of this Chapter We come now to inquire how how far and after what manner the motions and actions of second Causes are determined or necessitated to be both when and where and what they are by that essentiall dependance which they have upon God All second Causes whatsoever are reducible to one of these three heads §. 7. or kind◠They are either 1. Such which act and move without any knowledge or apprehension at all as being capable of neither either of the end for the obtaining whereof they act or move or of their motions or actings in order to this end Or 2. Such which are capable of some kinde of knowledge or apprehension both of their ends and of their actings and movings towards these ends but very imperfect and weak viz. such which extend not to the reason or relation of these ends nor to any deliberation about them nor yet to the proportion or aptness of those their actings and moveings for the obtaining of their ends Or 3. and lastly they are such which know and apprehend or at least are capable of both not simply of those ends in order whereunto they act and move but of the Nature Reason and further tendency of these ends also as likewise of the proportion of likelihood of their ingagements in any kinde for the obtaining of their ends The first kinde of these causes are called Naturall or meerly naturall the second Animall or spontaneous the third Rationall Voluntary or free-working Of the first sort are 1. all inanimate and life-lesse creatures as Fire Water Ayre Earth Stones Minerals and such like 2. all Creatures which are endued with a Principle of vegetation but not of sence Of the second are all animall or sensitive Creatures not partakers of any Principle or indowment above those of outward sensation and a certaine estimative faculty or phantasie by which they 1. apprehend what is naturally good or evill for them at least in some Particulars and 2. are acted and moved accordingly as either to or from them but without any deliberation or consideration had either about the one or the other Of this kinde are beasts of the Field birds of the Ayre fishes of the Sea and generally whatsoever hath breath and life excepting men These are said to act or move Spontaneously because they act out of some knowledge of their end without any compulsion or necessitation from without Of the third and last sort are only men and Angels whether good or bad in either kinde who are therefore called rationall voluntary or free working causes because they are capable not only of an apprehension or knowledge of such ends for and towards the obtaining of which they act and move but also of the nature quality and import of them and of deliberation likewise or consulation about the means and wayes of their Procurement Now though all these severall causes have such a dependance upon God §. 8. that as hath been said none of them can move into action without a surable concurrence from him yet are not their actions or motions thereby determined ordinarily or necessitated unto or upon them The reason why fire burns or heats and doth not moisten coole or the like is not because God concurreth with it when it acteth for then Ayre or Water should burn and heate likewise with a like concurrence Therefore the particular and determinate actions of the Fire are not caused by
things will come to passe is there not a necessity of their comming to pass or otherwise must not the knowledge of God prove abortive and be accompanied with error I answer no if the events supposed to be knowne by God before their §. 22. comming to passe be contingent or at least such in the Production whereof Futura contingentia etiam ut subsunt divinae scientiae non sunt simpliciter necessaria Rada Contr. 30. Art 5. Scientia Dei non tollit contingentiam ab eo quod est scitum ibid. the wills of men must some wayes or other interpose if ever they be produced of which kinde of events only we now speake the certainty of the knowledge of God may be salved and yet no absolute necessity of the comming to passe of such events be supposed The reason is because at the same time when God seeth or knoweth that they will come to passe he seeth and knoweth also that there is no necessity they should come to passe but that they may well be prevented In which respect in case they should not come to passe the knowledge of God should suffer no defeature or disparagement If yet it be said yea but when it is supposed that God knoweth that such §. 23. or such an event will come to passe if it should be supposed withall that he knoweth it may not come to passe or that it may come to passe otherwise then according to this knowledge doth not this suppose or imply a consciousnesse in God of the weakness or deficiency of his knowledge I answer no but rather the contrary viz. a consciousnesse in him of the strength and perfection of his knowledge For he that knoweth not that contingent and free-working Causes which way soever they shall act in order to any particular event might yet act otherwise or suspend their actings is certainly defective in knowledge And if God did not as well know that there is a Possibility of the non-futurity or of the not comming to passe of such contingent events which he knoweth will come to passe as well as he certainly knoweth that they will come to passe he should be defective in his knowledge concerning the Nature and Property of contingent and free-working Causes in as much as this is their Nature and Property as hath been said to be at liberty in reference to particular actings to act one way as well as another or else to suspend their action Indeed if it should be said or thought that any event WILL not or SHALL not come to passe which God knoweth before hand will come to passe this would import an obnoxiousness unto error in the knowledge or fore-knowledge of God But to say or think that such an event whose future comming to passe God knoweth MAY notwithstanding this knowledge of his not come to passe reflects no dishonour or disparagement at all upon his knowledge a Cum ista Antichristus crit stat haec Antichristus potest non fore Rada Contr. 30. Art 6. Et paulo post non pugnat igitur quod Deus sciat Petrum esse peccaturum tamen quod ipse possit non peccare vel possit non esse peccaturus but rather gives an honorable and high testimony of excellency and perfection unto it For he that certainly knowes what contingent and free-working Causes will do notwithstanding their freedom and liberty either to do or not to do or to do otherwise must needs be excellent in knowledge indeed and one who needeth not count it robbery to be equall with God Concerning the acts of the wills of men which are called I know not how Properly supernaturall I meane such which have an essentiall connexion with their eternall happiness and glory how or how far they are determined by God and how and how far not we shall be better fitted with an opportunity to demonstrate in the Process of our Discourse In the meane time the reason why the great Commander and Lord of §. 24. nature leaveth his whole Militia ordinarily to move and act according to their native Properties and inclinations respectively without counter manding them or turning them out of their way are these with their fellowes First Nature with all her traine and retinue of particular Causes together with all their furniture of Principles for Motion and Action being the workmanship of his own hand if he should ordinarily or frequently interpose to change her Lawes or innovate her course he should seeme to pull down that which himself hath built up and to dislike that Portraicture and resemblance of himself which he hath drawne with admirable and unimitable art and skill in the regular and standing Progress of Nature and second Causes Secondly being conscious to himself with what excellency of Wisdom Goodness and Power the great Body of Nature with all the Parts and Members of it was at first rais'd built fram'd and temper'd by himself he knows there is no need for him either to add to or to take from or to alter any thing ordinarily in her course He hath sufficient security that his hand-maid left unto her self only with his ordinary and regular concurrence without which she can neither move nor be will no wayes mis-behave her self in order to his ends and those concernments of his glory wherewith she is intrusted So that for him to check or controule her in her way would be but a kinde of condemning the innocent which is when practised amongst men an abomination to him Thirdly and lastly if he should customarily and of course over-rule Nature or second Causes in their regular Proceedings he should overlay his own market for miracles and works of wonder and bring down the price of the glory and esteem of them to a very low rate In the dayes of Solomon Silver was but as Stones nothing esteemed * 1 Kings 10. 21. 27. by reason of the abundance and commonness of it Miracles are the rarities of Heaven and the reserve of Nature when her testimony concerning the Glory and Power of her Lord and Master is despised by Men. CHAP. III. Concerning the foreknowledge and knowledge of God and the difference betweene these and his Desires Purposes Intentions and Decrees and how these also are distinguished the one from the other IT is not to be denied but that the Scriptures do attibute 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or §. 1. fore-knowledge unto God in severall places as Acts 2. 23. Rom. 8. 29. 11. 2. 1 Pet. 1. 2. c. Though evident it is that in some if not in all of these places the word rather imports a Pre-approbation then a simple Prescience or fore-knowledge according to the known signification of the simple word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which though properly it signifieth knowledge yet in Scripture language according to that idiome of speech wherein the consequent is put for the antecedent not unusuall in the Scriptures frequently imports approbation As Mat. 7. 23. Rom.
Mind of God and present with him after some such manner as the Idea or modell of an house is in the mind of the Architect before there be so much as a stone of it laid To this I answer according to the tenor of what hath been lately argued and proved concerning the simplicity of the Divine Essence that if they had any being from eternity it could be none other then the Divine Being it self for there were no plurality of beings from eternity All beings without beginnings may be numbred by the figure of one and this unmultiplied Therefore if God justified any from eternity it must be himself if he condemned or reprobated any from eternity it must be himself likewise No◠can men be said to have been in the mind of God from eternity after any such manner as the Idea or Platforme of an house is in the mind of the Artificer before he begins to build because such an Idea is no part of the Artificer nor yet of his mind but is cleerly separable from both whereas there was nothing in God from eternity but his own Essence and that which is altogether inseparable from him Or if it should be granted that men were in God or in the mind of God from eternity after such a manner as is contended for yet could it not be said that men men themselves i. e. those Creatures which consist of bodies and souls and have sinned on Earth were either justified or condemned from eternity but only their Idea's or representations in the mind of God Yet how or in what Sence or Notion these should be said to be either justified or condemned when as they never sinned nor are capable of sinning is out of the reach of my understanding to conceive If it be yet further demanded but were not men and all things besides §. 9. in some consideration or sence in God from eternity and may it not be said that in this sence whatever it be they were some justified and some condemned I answer 1. By concession that men and all things besides were in God from eternity tanquam in fonte seu radice vel causâ productivâ i. e. as in the fountaine roote or Productive cause of their respective beings There is nothing capable of receiving an existence or actuall being but what had a Potentiall or seminall Being in some Productive cause or other one or more before Therefore if this Universe with all the Parts and Members of it had not been in God as in the Productive Cause doubtlesse they had never been produced or received being But 2. I answer further by way of exception that men considered in that being which they had in God from eternity were no wayes capable either of justification or of condemnation or of any such difference or distinction between them as these two acts or conditions infer For as God himself the common roote or producent cause of all men was one singly simply and most undividedly one from eternity so were all men singly and simply one in him all alike holy all alike innocent and free from sin and consequently all alike beloved of him all being yet nothing but himself It cannot be said of the Roses which in the winter time were vertually and seminally in one and the same roote that some of them flourished and prospered others were blasted or eaten up with Wormes whilest they were together in the roote though afterwards when they come to receive actuall Production and to subsist extra causas respectively this difference may very possibly befall them Yea but were not some men justified and others condemned in the Counsell §. 10. Purpose and Decree of God from eternity I answer If the meaning of the Question be only this whether God from eternity did not Purpose or Decree to justifie some men and condemne others that God from eternity did Purpose and Decree to justifie in time all those who should in time believe and to condemne all those who living to years of discretion should die in their unbeliefe yet these Decrees though in their respective executions they make a great difference indeed between Persons and Persons yet in their making or enacting by God they made none at all This Decree of God whosoever believeth shall be justified doth neither make nor suppose any one man any whit neerer either to believing or to justification then another nor on the other hand doth this Decree He that believes not shall be condemned either make or suppose one man neerer either to unbeliefe or condemnation through unbeliefe then another A Law that is made for the punishing of Murder or Adultery with death relates no more in the intention of the Law-makers at the time of the making or enacting of it to one man then to another i. e. they intended no more the punishment or death of one man then of another personally considered much lesse did they intend to make any man or to permit any man to become a Murtherer or Adulterer by the enacting of such a Law but the contrary yet this Law when it comes to be put in execution for the crimes made punishable by it and voluntarily committed by men makes as great a difference between men and men and somewhat greater as is between the living and the dead If the meaning of the Question last propounded be whether God did not §. 11. from eternity Decree the justification of such and such particular men by Name and so the condemnation of others after the same manner I answer that doubtlesse he did from eternity Decree equivalently though not formally the justification of all those particular Persons by Name who in time come to be justified and so again the condemnation of all those by Name who in time come to be condemned My meaning is that no particular Person whatsoever his Name be who comes to be justified but his justification flowes from that Decree of God from eternity wherein he decreed to justifie all those by their Names who should believe For had not God made such a Decree as this and make it he must from eternity if he made it at all certainly no man could ever be justified upon such terms In like manner God from eternity Decreed the condemnation of all such particular Persons whatever their Names be who living to maturity of years should die in unbeliefe In this sence and consideration and in this only as far as yet I apprehend God may be said to have Decreed both the justification and the condemnation of particular men and women from eternity viz. because he made two such Decrees from eternity by the one of which all particular Persons come to be justified who ever are justified and by the other all particular Persons to be condemned who are condemned But we shall have opportunity to argue the unsoundnesse of both the opinions especially of the latter upon other grounds in reference whereunto we supersede any further inquiry into them for
meaning before Heaven and Earth were made For thâ—re was no THEN where there was no time Neither dost thou precede times in time for if so thou couldst not precede or be before all times But thou precedest all times that are past with the statelinesse or transcendent height of thine eternity which is alwayes present and art above all times that are future because they are yet to come and when they are come they will be past but thou art the same and thy yeares faile not a Si autem ante coelum terram nullum erat tempus cur quaeritur quid tunc faciebas Non enim erat Tunc ubi non erat tempus nec tu tempora tempore praecedis alioquin non omnia tempora praecederes Sed praecedis omnia tempora prâ—terita câ—lsitudine semper praesentis aeternitatis superas omnia futura quia illa futura sunt cùm venerint praeterita erunt tu autem idem ipse es anni tui non deficient Aug. Confess l. 11. c. 13. Consonant hereunto is the saying of Boetius a Philosopher Nor ought God saith he be conceived by us as more ancient then his Creatures in respect of any quantity of time but rather in respect of the propriety of his simple Nature b Neque Deus conditis rebus antiquâ—or videri debet temporis quantitate sed simplicis potiûs proprietate naturae Boet. de Consol Philos l. 5. pros 6. Fr. Arriba a late Writer and acute throughly versed in the learning of the Fathers and Schoolemen hath notably cleered this point and fully answered all Objections which as far as I am able to apprehend can be brought against it I shall present the Reader with two or three passages from him relating unto it When the Holy Scripture saith he and our Schoole-Doctors with it say and teach that things which are eternall are before things made in time they speake truly not of a priority FORMALLY so called such as that is which is found in those things unto which the consideration of what is before and what is after doth belong which I have often said cannot agree to eternity but they speake of a kinde of EMINENTIALL priority in respect of which those things which never faile but are alwayes the same indefinently are truly said to be before things that are temporall or in time not indeed formally but eminently For speaking properly of this eminentiall priority or of an eternall permanency that which is indefinently i. e. without end or ceasing is before that which sometimes is and sometimes is not c Dum Scriptura sacra simulque Doctores Scholastici dicunt aeterna esse priora temporalibus vere loquuntur non de prioritate formali qualis est illa quae reperitur in â—is rebus quibus convenit ratio prioris posterioris quod saepe diximus aeternitati convenire non posse sed loquuntur de prioritate sub quadam eminentiali ratione quatenùs illa quae nunquam deficiunt quae indesinenter sunt verè dicuntur priora temporalibus non quidem formaliter sed éminenter Proprie enim loquendo de ista prioritate eminentiali sive de aeternâ permanentiâ illud quod indesinenter est priùs esse dicitur quam illud quod aliquando est aliquando verò non est Fran. de Arriba Operis Con. l. 3. c. 15. Sect. 7. In another place he expresseth himself thus Our former Doctrine supposed it manifestly followes from thence that those words of Christ Joh. 8. Before Abraham was I am and that of Paul Eph. 1. He chose us in him before the World was made with many other like places of Scripture every where obvious are to be taken according to the manner of our understandings as meant of this eminentiall priority not of an antecedency in respect of time not of any priority properly and formally so called d Ex praesuppositâ Doctrinâ manifeste deducitur illa verba Christi Antequam Abraham fierit ego sum illud Pauli ad Eph. 1. Elegit nos in ipso ante mundi constitutione plurima alia Scripturae Sacrae similia loca qua passim occurrunt accipienda esse nostro modo intelligendi de istâ eminentiali antecedentiâ ad tempus non verò de Antecedentiâ propriè formaliter sumptâ c. Ibid. Sect. 11. The same Author elsewhere hath these words In as much as the proper and formall reason or Nature of mutability wherein the ratio or Nature of time consisteth is intrinsecall or essentiall unto time and to the differences of it as Past Present and to Come and consequently imperfection must needs be intrinsecall to them also mutability alwayes including imperfection evident it is that fuit and erit was and will be whereby that which is past and that which is to come are signified cannot with truth formally or properly be attributed unto God e Cum Tempora ejusque differentiis quales sunt praesens praeteritum futurum sit intrinseca formalis ratio mutabilitatis in qua consistit ratio temporis consequenter sit illis intrinseca imperfectio non debet tribui Deo formaliter fuit vel erit quibus praeteritum futurum significantur Ibid. c. 14. Sect. 7. This then is a third thing to be diligently considered and remembred to prevent all misprision about the point in hand no act of God is before any act of the Creature in respect of time The fourth and last thing of like necessity to be considered for the same §. 19. end is this No act of God nor Co-operation of his with his Creature imposeth any necessity upon any free-working cause I mean upon any cause which is free in the nature or constitution of it to work or not to work and to work variously to act so or so determinately nor yet supposeth any necessity or infallibility of any act or effect producible by such causes before or untill they be actually produced Nor is this any thing but the received Doctrine of Orthodox and approved Divines God saith Austine so administreth or governeth all things which he hath Created that he suffereth them to exercise and act their own proper motions a Sic administrat omniâ— quae creavit Deus ut etiam ipsa propâ—â—os exercere agere motus sinat Aug. de Civit. l. 7. c. 30. This saying of Austin is frequently cited and made use of by our best Reformed Divines as P. Martyr b Loc. Com. Class 1. cap. 14. Sect. 2. Polanus c Symph Cathol cap. 6. Thes 5. and others in their explications of the Providence of God and the manner of his concurrence with second Causes in their motions Now if God notwithstanding any influence of his upon or any Co-operation with his Creature in their motions or actings yet so far comports with them as to leave them to their native Principles Properties and Propensions in their actings doubtlesse he doth not
wherein he was capable of dying as well as other men yet did not suffer death simply through the malice or power of his enemies but upon an account far superior unto these the Apostle attributes his death to the Grace of God i. e. The love and gracious affections of God not towards some or a few no nor yet towards all men collectively taken or in the lump but towards all men distributively taken i. e. towards every particular and inviduall man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Holy Ghost for every man i. e. to procure eternall Redemption and Salvation for every man without the exclusion of any I cannot apprehend what can reasonably be said to alienate the minde or import of this Scripture from our present cause Evident it is and you shall finde our best interpreters of the place affirming the same that the Apostle in these words that through the Grace of God he might taste death c. assignes a Reason or two rather of what he had said a little before concerning the Incarnation and Humiliation of Jesus Christ whom he had in the former Chapter asserted to be the Son of God to prevent or heal any scandall or offence that either had already or might afterwards arise in the minds of these Hebrewes through the unlikelyhood strangenesse ot incrediblenesse of such a thing It is a saying among Philosophers and all men have experience in part of truth in it that a knowledge of the Reasons or Causes of things causeth admiration and so all troublesomenesse of thoughts about them to cease So then the Apostles drift and intent in the words mentioned being to satisfie the Hebrewes concerning such a strange wonderfull and unheard of a thing as 1. That the Son of God should be made Man and 2. That being made Man he should suffer death it is no wayes credible but that he should 1. Assigne such a cause as would carry the greatest weight of satisfaction in it and 2. expresse himself in such Perspicuity and Plainnesse of words that they might not lightly mistake his meaning lest if by occasion of his words they should first apprehend the Reason or Cause assign'd by him to be more weighty or considerable then he intended it and afterwards should come to understand that it was far lighter and lesse considerable their scandall and offence in stead of being healed or prevented would be more strengthened and increased as usually it comes to passe in such cases Now evident it is 1. That the Apostles words in this place that he through the Grace of God should taste death for every Man in the plainest the most obvious and direct sence and signification of them hold forth the Doctrine which we maintaine for Truth here being no restraint at all nor the least whispering of any limitation to be put upon that terme of universality 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every Man and 2. As evident it is that the Death of Christ for all Men without the exception of any which is the Doctrine we assert and the Grace of God so intending it amount to a far more weighty consideration and satisfaction touching those great dispensations spoken of the Incarnation and Humiliation of the Son of God then his dying only for a few or for a select number of men and the Grace of God commensureable hereunto Therefore there is not the least question to be made but that the large and not the limited sence was the Apostles sence in the words now under debate And when the Holy Ghost expresseth himself as we have heard that he through the Grace of God should taste death FOR EVERY MAN for any man to come and interpret thus for every Man i. e. for some men or for a few Men which if not for forme yet for matter and substance must be their interpretation who oppose the exposition given is not to interpret but to correct and to exercise a magisteriall authority over the Scriptures Nor had Pareus himself the heart to decline the interpretation asserted §. 9. though he seemes somewhat desirous by some expressions to hide this his ingenuity from his fellowes to avoide their offence Whereas saith he the Apostle saith for every Man it respects the amplification or extent of the Death of Christ HE DIED NOT FOR SOME FAVV the efficacy or vertue of it appertaines unto ALL. Therefore there is life prepared or made ready in the Death of Christ for ALL afflicted consciences a Quod dicit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ad fructum mortis Christi amplificandum pertinet Non pro paucis aliquibus mortuns est sed ad omnes efficacia ejus pertinet Omnibus igitur afflictis conscientiis in morte Christi vita parata est c. c. The truth is that there can be no solid ground of Peace or Comfort to any afflicted conscience whatsoever without the supposall of Christs Death for every Man without exception as hath been argued in part Sect. 38. of the former Chapter and might be further evicted above all contradiction Amongst the Orthodox Fathers Chrysostome who as we heard avouched the exposition given of the former Scripture stands by his own judgement and mine in his explication of this That he through the Grace of God should taste Death for every man not only saith he for the faithfull or those that believe but for ALL THE WORLD He indeed died for ALL Men. For what if all Men doe not believe yet He hath done His part b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or fully performed that which was proper for Him to do The Scripture next advancing in the forementioned troope was Who will §. 10. have ALL MEN to be saved speaking of God and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth b 1 Tim. 2. 4. Whereunto for conformity in import we shall joyn the last there specified which is this The Lord is not slack concerning his promise as some Men count slacknesse but is long suffering to us-ward NOT WILLING THAT ANY should perish but that ALL should come to Repentance c 2 Pet. 3. 9. Concerning the former of these places we cleerly evinced in the first Section of this Chapter from the unquestionable tenor and carriage of the whole Context that by ALL Men cannot possibly be understood either some of all sorts of Men or Jewes and Gentiles or all the Elect or the like but of necessity All of All sorts of Men simply and universally without the exemption of any whether Jewes or Gentiles Any other interpretation or sence of the words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All Men but this renders the Apostle palpably impertinent and weake that I say not ridiculous in his arguing in this place This I plainly demonstrate in the said Section I now add that if it may be said that God will have All Me◠to be saved because he will have some of All sorts of Men to be saved it may more properly and truly be said of him that he
greatnesse of His Power to preserve them against all enemies and threatning obstacles and oppositions whatsoever for His Heavenly Kingdome only upon condition that they shall not willingly willfully desperately destroy themselves or render themselves uncapable of such His preservation by apostatizing from that Faith in His Son Jesus Christ which He by His especiall Grace hath Planted in them and by which they stand at present in favour and acceptation with Him 2. Though God hath not simply and absolutely undertaken for their preseverance §. 20. or continuation of their Faith unto the end nor upon any such terms but that if they will be brutishly and desperately carelesse of so high a concernment to themselves as a blessed Eternity is they may make defection from it and turne Proselites to Hell yet hath He laid a rich foundation for their Perseverance in those many precious Promises and incouragements which He hath given unto those who shall persevere as also in those most severe and dreadfull threatnings bent against the faces of all Apostates and backsliders together with those frequent Promises or Declarations which He hath made to continue yea and to inlarge upon occasion the inward contributions of His Spirit the motions excitements and directions thereof in order to the plentifull inabling of His Saints to persevere untill they shall willingly and willfully turne their backs upon them and reject them Upon the account of all these gracious Promises and Declarations made by God unto His Saints for or towards the effectuall accomplishment of their Perseverance the Apostle Paul frequently incourageth them to the hope and expectation of it But the Lord is faithfull who shall stablish you and keepe you from evill a 2 Thess 3. 3 Who shall also confirme you unto the end that yee may be blamelesse in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ b 1 Cor. 1. 8 God according to the common Dialect and Notion of Scripture language is said to establish confirme and keepe men from evill when He doth that which is of a proper tendency and sufficient thereunto whither the effects or ends themselves of establishments confirmation c. be actually obtained or no For there is nothing more frequent or familiar in Scripture then to ascribe the effects themselves sometimes unto God sometimes unto Men only upon their respective actings or doings of such things which are of a Naturall Proper and Direct tendency to produce them whether they be actually and de facto produced or no. Thus our Saviour chargeth Him who shall put away his Wife for any other cause then Fornication with causing her to commit Fornication c Mat. 5. 32 whether the Woman thus put away committeth Fornication or no viz. because in that act of putting her away upon such terms He doth that which hath a proper and direct tendency to cause Her to commit this sin For it is not necessary to suppose that every Woman thus divourced or put away committeth or will commit Fornication But whether she doth or no the sin of Him that put Her away is one and the same He in our Saviours Dialect caused Her to commit Fornication Thus also He who eates to the offence of a weake Brother is charged by the Apostle with destroying him with his Meate for whom Christ Died d Rom. 14 15 20. i. e. with doing that which is apt and proper to occasion His destruction whether He be actually destroyed or no. In this idiome likewise of speaking God expresly saith that He had purged Jerusalem and yet in the same place saith also that Jerusalem notwithstanding was not purged In thy filthinesse is lewdnesse i. e. notorious and desperate obstinacy because I HAVE PVRGED THEE AND THOV WAST NOT PVRGED thou shalt not be purged from thy filthinesse any more till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee a Ezek. 24 13 God is said to have purged Jerusalem because He vouchsafed proper and sufficient means unto Her for Her purging as the Ministry of His Word and Spirit frequent Admonitions Exhortations Expostulations Promises Threatnings c. by His Prophets however Jerusalem by Her rebellious obstinacy hindered and obstructed the through and kindly working of these means by reason whereof the desireable effect of Her purging was not obtained In such a Sence and Phrase as this the goodnesse of God is said to lead such Men to Repentance who yet are so far from Repenting that after their hardnesse and impenitent heart they threasure up wrath unto themselves against the day of wrath c. b Rom. 2. 4 5 meaning that the goodnesse of God in His Patience and Long-sufferance towards wicked and ungodly Men ministreth many occasions and opportunities unto them by the advantage whereof they might easily be drawn to repent did they not willingly indulge themselves in that hardnesse of Heart which in the fruits of it tends to nothing but to the treasuring up of wrath to themselves c. In the same construction Christ is stiled the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the World c Ioh. 1. 29. and so to be the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole World d 1 Ioh. 2. 2 not as if or because the sin of the World is actually or compleatly taken away by Him or so that this whole sin either is or at any time must needs be pardoned or actually taken away in all the fruits consequents or effects of it because He is said to have taken it away but because He hath done and suffered that which hath a glorious efficacy and tendency in it to or towards such a taking of it away so that if it be not actually and compleatly taken away the cause of it is somewhere else to be sought and found as viz. in the sinners or men themselves and not in Him In this sence likewise He is said to be the propitiation for the sinnes of the whole World not because the sinnes of the whole World are actually compleatly or with succesfulnesse in the event propitiated or attoned by Him but because that Sacrifice of Himself which He hath offered in order to a propitiating or attoning the sinnes of the whole World is so pregnant and full of a propitiatory efficacy and vertue and withall is so propounded and held forth by God unto the whole World that if any mans sin remaines actually unpropitiated or un-pardoned it is through his own voluntary neglect of this Sacrifice and not from any intention on Gods Part that his sin should not be attoned or propitiated by this Sacrifice as well as any other Mans. It were easie to multiply examples of that propriety of expression now under observation from the Scriptures And I desire the rather that it may be carefully minded and remembred because I verily believe that the non-advertency of it by Men of learning and worth with some few others of like consideration whereof we may give notice in time hath mainly occasioned the dividing of
in these Dispensations of his towards them to do them any good in a saving way he must needs be conceived to intend their ruine and destruction at least the increase of their ruine and destruction by them it being no ways reasonable to conceive but that he hath higher and more considerable ends propounded to himself in his Providential Administrations about men in reference unto men then about beasts in relation unto them though it is true he hath the same general and ultimate End his Glory in all his Works and Administrations one or other But if the generality or far greatest part of men are bound to beleeve and bound they are to beleeve it if it be a revealed Truth that God in giving them health and peace and prosperity in the world intends nothing but evil to them a fuller cup of the wrath and vengeance which is to come how can the bountifulness and long-sufferance of God be said to lead men to Repentance which yet is the Apostles Doctrine Rom. 2. 4. Neither the goodness nor patience of God towards evil men can be said to lead them to Repentance but by the mediation or supposal of these three Principles 1. That these Dispensations of God I mean of goodness and patience towards such men are proper and sufficient I mean by the help of that operation of the Spirit of God which always accompanieth them to bring men to Repentance And 2. That Gods intent is that they should bring them actually to Repentance or at least that he hath no intention otherwise or to the contrary 3. And lastly That he truly and really intends their Salvation upon their Repentance Wicked men can at no hand of reason no nor yet of common sence be said to be led to Repentance by the goodness or long-sufferance of God towards them unless 1. It be supposed that there is a genuine natural or proper Rhetorique or moving tendency in them to perswade and encourage such men to Repent nothing can be said to lead a man to such or such an action or course but that which is proper to invite or perswade him unto either Nor unless it be supposed 2. That God hath an intent that such men should be actually perswaded and made willing to repent by such Dispensations at least that he should have no intentions to the contrary For how can any man be actually perswaded or made willing by any means motive or encouragement whatsoever to attempt or do any such thing which he hath cause to judg or beleeve that Gods intentions stand against his doing or performance There is no motive or encouragement against the determinate Counsel of God made known Nor 3. and lastly Can the said Dispensations of goodness or patience in God be said to lead any man to Repentance unless it be yet further supposed that his real intent and purpose is to save him upon his Repentance or in case he shall Repent or at least that they may be such For what encouragement can any man have to repent in case he hath sufficient ground to judg that God hath absolutely rejected him and will not save him no not upon his Repentance Therefore certainly God hath no intentions of evil or of condemnation or of encrease of condemnation against the generality of men no nor yet against the worst or wickedest of men in those gracious vouchsafements of life health liberty peace food rayment and other the like temporal mercies and accommodations unto them Again How can men look upon themselves as any ways debtors or obliged §. 5. unto God in thankfulness for good things administred unto them with hard intentions or with a purpose not to bless them but to make their condemnation so much the greater and more heavy upon them If birds and fishes had understanding and should know for what end or with what intentions men lay scraps and baits though made of such things as they love and stand in need of in their way would they thank them for it or should they have any reason so to do Or had Amasa any cause to think the better of Joab for taking Him by the Beard with His right Hand to kiss Him a 2 Sam. 20. 9 Or our Saviour to think the better of Judas for the kiss wherewith He greeted Him b Matth. 26. 49 Besides it being the duty of the Saints to imitate or resemble their Heavenly Father not onely in His outward Expressions but much more in His Intentions and frame of spirit towards men when He doth good unto them causing His Sun to arise and His Rain to fall upon them in case His Intentions towards them in such applications of Himself unto them were bent not upon their Salvation but Destruction would it not follow that when they should perform those Christian services unto them injoyned by our Saviour Himself But I say unto you love your enemies bless them that curse you pray for them that despitefully use you a Mat. 5. 44. c. they were bound to do all these in order unto and with an intent to procure their greater and deeper condemnation and not with any intent to gain them in to the Gospel And if wicked men enemies to the Saints should know or have reasonable ground to judg that when they express themselves outwardly in terms of love and good-will towards them they mean them ruine or increase of Punishment and Torment hereby had they not cause to judg them the vilest Hypocrites and Dissemblers under Heaven Nor do they represent the glorious God Himself any whit better unto the World who affirm and teach that in and under His most pathetical and moving invitations encouragements and promissory offers of Grace Mercy Salvation unto the generality of men whereof the Scriptures are full He intends not the Donation or gift of Grace Mercy or Salvation unto them upon any condition or terms whatsoever but Wrath and Judgment and an opportunity to render them seven-fold more the children of death and condemnation then otherwise they would or could have been Lastly If God intends the increase of guilt and punishment unto wicked men or the generality of men in the comforts and good things of this world providentially disposed and dispensed unto them He must needs desire the bringing or coming of these accordingly upon them No man intends any thing in order to the accomplishment of such or such an end but this end is desired by Him Again certain it is that the increase of guilt and punishment cannot come upon men by means or by occasion of the good things given by God unto them but onely by the intervening of their unthankfulness and abuse of these good things in one kinde or other Further as there is no man but wisheth and desireth the coming to pass of such things which are simply and absolutely necessary for the bringing to pass such things as He desireth so hath no man cause to be offended with any man for the doing
set a quite contrary way as viz. to multiply soment and encrease those evil and hard thoughts of God which the sense of sin and guilt as hath been said are marvelously apt to ingender in the hearts and spirits of Men must needs be Anti-Evangelical and of another inspiration much differing from that whereby the Gospel was given unto the World So that to cloath this Proposition with light we shall not need to labor or spin Nor need we be put to much trouble for proof of the latter Proposition had not the adverse Doctrine gotten the advantage of possession against the clear Truth in the Judgments of Men. For what can be more apparant then that such a Doctrine which manifestly importeth the causless peremptory irremediable and unremovable hatred of God against far the greatest part of Men and this burning to the bottom of Hell the Persons also against whom this Hatred is supposed to be lodged in Him being unknown What I say can be more apparant then that such a Doctrine as this directly and with open face tends to a most sad horrid and desperate alienation of the Heart and Soul of the poor Creature Man from his dear and ever-blessed Creator God Or is it possible that such a Creature should truly cordially or entirely love or delight in Him that made him in case he either knows or otherwise hath strong grounds of jealousie and fear that before he made him and without any offence taken at or respect had unto any of his future sins or unworthy carriages in the least he so far hated and abominated him as to resolve against all mediation whatsoever to cast him out of his sight to devote and doom him to suffer the vengeance of eternal sire Or doth not that Doctrine which denyeth that God intended the Death of Christ for the Salvation of all Men manifestly import and suppose that God to such a degree hated and abhorred or however purposed and decreed to hate and abhor the far greatest part of Men from Eternity as to resolve against all means possible to be used by them or purposed to be used by himself for prevention to pour out the fierceness of his Wrath upon their heads in flames of unquenchable fire The Holy Ghost teacheth us that the Love of God i. e. Love towards God must or ought to be kindled in the Hearts of Men by a sense or apprehension of a precedency of this affection in him towards them We love Him saith John because He first loved us 1 Iohn 4. 19 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or as the Original will indifferently bear as Calvin himself observes and grants Let us love Him because He loved us first According to either of these constructions of the words the intimation is pregnant that the Love of God towards Men apprehended and beleeved is and ought to be the proper seed of a reciprocal affection in Men towards Him And the Scripture most frequently conjures Men to love God upon the account of his great Love towards them manifested by the gift of his Son Jesus Christ unto them Now if Love declared and resented be the natural and proper seed of the same affection in another then Hatred discovered and apprehended must needs be a seed of a contrary import and of like aptness to beget in its own likeness also For though God chargeth Men to love their enemies and those that hate them yet he doth it upon the account of that great and signal Love which he hath first shewed unto them in the gift of his onely begotten and dear Son And we see notwithstanding this great Commandment imposed by God upon Men and that upon the advantage of such a rational and equitable ground or motive for the performance of it yet with what difficulty and renitency of the flesh even in Men truly sanctified yea and with what rareness of example it is effectually if at all performed How unpossible then must it needs be that Men should truly love God whilest they apprehend him as an Enemy bent in an unplacable and unappeasable manner to destroy them and that with the most formidable destruction they are capable of enduring and this to the days of Eternity Especially considering that they have no advantage or motive of any love shewed unto them by another any ways considerable whereby to be strengthened or enabled to love him against so sore a stumbling block and obstruction in the way of this affection as a Reprobating of them from Eternity This Demonstration is so pregnant of Proof and Conviction that certain I am nothing can with any strength scarce with any face of Reason be alledged against it But meet it is that the Poor should be hear◠in his cause as well as the rich Therefore 1. To the Argument now urged it may be replyed That the Doctrine §. 13. Object which affirmeth that Christ dyed onely for the Elect and not for all Men in general hath no such tendency or aptness in it as the said Argument chargeth upon it to separate between God and any of his Creatures because it leaveth an hope to every Person of Mankinde distributively considered that they may be of the number of the Elect and consequently of those for whom Christ dyed There is no man or woman but may the said Doctrine notwithstanding be of a good and comfortable hope that Christ dyed for them and so have no ground to conceive hardly of God or to be alienated in their mindes or hearts from him To this I answer Be it granted that the Doctrine we blame leaveth a degree of hope to every Answ Person that he is one of those for whom Christ dyed yet it is an hope very faint and feeble and which must needs be sick at the heart as being over-ballanced many degrees by contrary jealousies and fears and so can at no hand be termed a good or comfortable hope or give any advantage by way of motive unto the Creature to think well and honorably of God The truth is it is rather a possibility of conceit then any well-grounded Hope that such a Doctrine leaveth or affordeth unto any man being yet in his unregenerate estate that he is one of those for whom Christ dyed Suppose fourty or an hundred men should be arraigned and found guilty of High Treason against their Prince and He should declare without naming any of their Persons that he would graciously pardon the Offence of one or two of them but was resolved against all possible interveniencies whatsoever to inflict in the most severe manner the Penalty of Death upon all the rest would such an hope of escape or of finding favor in the eyes of their Prince as should be afforded or left unto these men in this case be any considerable encouragement or ground of motive unto them respectively to conceive honorably of their Prince for clemency goodness and mercy Or would not the severity and peremptoriness of his resolutions to take away the
but to prevent the sin of Unbelief in all Men in order to their Non-damnation and that they may be saved 3. And lastly The Doctrine which avoucheth that Christ dyed for all Men clearly resolveth the Reprobation of all that are or ever come to be Reprobated into themselves or their own voluntary and deliberate course of sinning or persisting in Unbelief as the cause thereof and so fairly dischargeth God and His Decree as no ways accessary unto it Whereas the adverse Opinion resolveth it into the meer Pleasure or peremptory Will of God in His Decree of Reprobation affirming this to be the principal if not the sole and adequate cause of it So that there is a very vast difference between the one Opinion and the other in their respective representations of God unto his Creature in point of Grace Goodness and Loveliness on the one hand as of Rigor Hardness and Unloveliness on the other hand It is true God is very severe terrible and unrelenting in the Execution of His Penal Decrees upon those who voluntarily expose themselves to the doom and dint of them in which respect the Scripture speaketh oft of His Severity but in the framing of them His Primary Intentions were as hath been said gracious no ways inconsistent with or repugnant to the Peace and Comfort of any of His Creatures but calculated with dueness of proportion and respects for the advancement of them Yet 2. Against the main Argument last insisted upon it may be further objected §. 15. Object 2. They who deny that Christ dyed for any but for the Elect only represent God altogether as gracious and lovely unto His Creature as they who affirm that He dyed for all Because the former hold and teach withall that God really intends that all those for whom Christ dyed shall be actually saved hereby Whereas the latter hold that though Christ dyed for all yet He dyed onely so or upon such terms for them that notwithstanding His dying for them they may all perish Now doth it not argue as much or more grace and goodness in God to provide certainly and above all possibility of miscarrying for the Salvation of a few then to provide a bare possibility onely of Salvation for all or for the Salvation of all after such a manner and upon such terms onely that all notwithstanding this Provision made for them may very possibly perish To this also I answer 1. That they who teach that Christ dyed for all Men do not teach that Answ He dyed to make Provision onely for a bare Possibility that all may be saved but such a Provision which is fully and richly sufficient for the Salvation of all Men yea so sufficient that all Men if they be not intolerably and unexcusably negligent and careless in a matter of so transcendent a concernment unto them may and most certainly shall be saved The Provision which God hath made by the Death of Christ for the Salvation of all is so redundantly plentiful that there is no place or possibility left for the miscarrying of any man but by a neglect of it onely How shall we escape saith the Apostle if we NEGLECT so great a Salvation a Hebr. 2. 3 c. clearly implying that if they did not neglect it but seriously and diligently minde and look after it they should escape viz. the Wrath of God and the vengeance of Hell fire and consequently be saved Otherwise in case their regarding or esteeming of this Salvation should be accompanied with the same danger or destruction which their neglect would bring upon them the Apostle might as well or indeed rather have said How shall we escape whether we neglect this great Salvation or no 2. There is no comparison for matter of grace goodness or bounty between such a Provision for the Salvation of all Men without exception whereby all and every Person may if they be not wilfully bent upon their own destruction be saved and between such whereby there is no possibility save only for a few a number inconsiderable compared with the whole to be saved Nor is that certainty or necessity of the Salvation of a few which is pretended to be consulted or intended in this latter Provision being accompanied with the exposure of so many millions of millions of precious Souls to inevitable Damnation any ways considerable in point of Grace with that great and Blessed Opportunity which by the former Provision is put into the hand of the World and of every Person of Mankinde without exception to escape the vengeance which â—s to come if they please and withall to be crowned with an incorruptible Crown of Glory especially if it be considered withall that He that makes such a Provision for a few had wherewithall in abundance and this disposable contrivable to no other use or purpose to have provided upon the same terms for all and that all the reason He had for His non-disposing of it this way I mean for the benefit and blessing of all was onely His meer Will and Pleasure Suppose a man had a thousand quarters of Wheat or the like which he knows not what to do with or to what use to convert it but onely to the relief of a company of poor indigent creatures ready to be affamished and perish through hunger in case this man should actually relieve onely two or three Persons in this distress with part of this abundance there being a thousand before him in the same extremity and in no possibility of being relieved from any other hand but should rather chuse to cast the residue of his grain into the Sea or bury it under ground or some ways or other destroy the serviceableness of it unto man then dispose of it towards the relief of any of the rest would not such an act as this by reason of the unnaturalness and affectate unmercifulness of it quite drown the grace and loveliness of his Charity in relieving those few In like manner they who pretend the exaltation of the Grace and Love of God towards Men in giving Christ to dye for them whose Death they grant to be sufficient in point of merit to save all Men without exception and yet teach that God intended onely the Salvation of a few the whole lump or body of Mankinde standing in the same need of Salvation with these few and that He chose to suffer the merit of this Death of Christ rather to vanish into the air or to be like water spilt upon the ground excepting onely the Salvation of those few by it then to accommodate and relieve thereby the residue of Mankinde in their saddest and utmost extremity what do they less then bury all that which is lovely in that Act of Grace or Mercy towards a few under the imputation of so great an unmercifulness or hardness of bowels towards many At this turn it is commonly pleaded that God is no Debtor to any of His §. 16. Object Creatures and
personal consideration whatsoever altereth their Natures or essential Properties Again 2. If the intent of God were to express or signifie His Approbative Will of the Repentance and Salvation of his Creature or the agreeableness of these to His Nature Minde and Goodness He would rather have expressed it in applications of himself unto such persons or subjects whose Repentance and Salvation he really intendeth and desireth then in addressments made to those whose Repentance and Salvation he desireth not nay whom he was resolved from Eternity for this is the voyce of the Oracle consulted by our Adversaries to destroy for ever It were very unproper and hard for a Judg or Prince to make a feeling and affectionate Discourse of their clemency goodness and sweetness of Nature their great averseness to acts of severity c. unto such persons whom they had been of a long time resolved and before any cause administred by these persons of such a resolution against them to put to a terrible torturing and ignominlous death especially at or neer the time when this most severe execution is intended to be done upon them 3. And lastly The Argument propounded by us and with whose vindication we are yet in labor doth neither suppose that God will work Repentance as our Adversaries call working Repentance in the persons there spoken of i. e. that he will work it upon any such terms that it shall necessarily or infallibly be effected nor yet that the persons themselves can repent without God That which it supposeth is this that God is so far moving and assisting the Hearts Wills and Consciences of these men in order to their Repentance that if they were but willing to do what he enableth them to do in reference and order to the same their Repentance would be effected and they saved upon it In which case I mean if they should repent this Repentance were most justly ascribable unto God not to themselves in as much as it is he that 1. Giveth them power and abilities to repent 2. That secretly forms and fashions their Wills so as to make them willing actually to repent 3. That supports their Wills thus framed to and in the production of the act it self of Repentance Whereas that which men themselves do in towards or about their Repentance is so inconsiderable in comparison of what God doth that the greatness of his Grace and interposure herein deserves in a manner all the praise and honor that belongs unto the action although it be true also that the person himself who repenteth or in whom Repentance is wrought must of necessity be so far or to such a degree interessed and active in the work that the work it self may be as truly and properly ascribed unto him or called His as it is ascribed unto God and termed his For it is man that repenteth not God though what he doth in repenting he doth by the operating and assisting Grace of God in which respect it is said to be his gift But concerning the conjuncture and respective interests of the first and second Causes in the production or raising of one and the same act we shall God willing discourse more particularly in the second part of this Work where also we shall clear and discharge all those Passages and Texts of Scripture from their hard service which are compelled by some to serve against this great Truth of that high importance for the glory as well of the Grace as Justice of God That all Men without exception have a sufficiency of power vouchsafed unto them by God whereby to Repent and to beleeve unto Salvation and that it is through want of Will or rather willingness not of Power that any man perisheth At present to the further confirmation of the main Doctrine commended in this Discourse we argue thus In the eleventh place If God intended not the Death of Christ as a Ransom §. 37. Argum. 11. or Satisfaction for all Men then are there some Men whom He never intended to save but to leave irrecoverably to everlasting destruction and perdition This Proposition I suppose stands firm and strong upon its own basis and needs no Prop of Proof or Argument to support it For God intending to save no man but by the Death of Christ evident it is that if there be any man or number of men for whose Salvation he did not intend this Death that he never intended their Salvation Therefore I assume But there are no such Men or number of Men whose Salvation God never intended or whom He intended to leave irrecoverably to everlasting perdition Ergo. The Reason of this Proposition is partly because whatsoever God at any time intends he intended always yea from Eternity partly also because there was a time when all Men were righteous and holy viz. during the whole time of Adams integrity in whose loyns all Men then were and so must needs be Partakers of the same Holiness and Integrity with him So that unless we shall say and hold that God never intended the Salvation of just and holy men but to leave them irrecoverably to everlasting perdition we cannot say that there are or were any men or any number of men whose Salvation he never intended or whom he intended to leave irrecoverably to everlasting destruction Yea all Men had a Being in God himself before they received or had a Being in Adam in which respect Adam himself is called the Son of God a Luke 4. 38 viz. because he received his Being from him as though not after the manner that children receive their Beings from their Parents or Fathers Now wheresoever or in what estate and condition soever Adam was there were all Men in the same estate and condition with him So then all Men considered as being in God were nothing but God himself according to the common and most true Maxim of Divines Quicquid in Deo est est Deus whatsoever is in God is God The truth of this Maxim was clearly evinced by us Cap. 4. of this Discourse where we argued the absolute simplicity of the Divine Essence or God Therefore if God purposed from Eternity to leave any man or number of men irrecoverably to eternal destruction this Purpose was conceived or taken up by Him against these men whilest they were yet onely in His Will and Power and consequently whilest they were nothing but Himself But that God should peremptorily resolve and decree never to save nor to intend to save but to design and consign over irrevocably irreversibly irrecoverably to eternal misery and destruction millions of men whilest they were yet perfectly righteous and holy yea whilest they were yet nothing but Himself is doubtless a Notion hardly incident to the judgment or thoughts of any man who trembles to think irreverently or unworthily of God It is like it will be here pleaded that God in His Purpose or Decree to §. 38. leave the men we speak of to everlasting perdition doth
not look upon them or consider them as being in himself nor yet as being righteous and holy in Adam but as men that would in time prove corrupt sinful and abominable And for God to decree to leave men thus considered to irrecoverable destruction is no ways unworthy of him I answer 1. If God in his Decree of Reprobation considered men as sinful and wicked then He passed over and took no knowledg or notice of them whilest they were yet righteous and innocent or if he did take knowledg of their righteousness yet this notwithstanding and as it were with the neglect and contempt of it He passed that most dreadful Doom or Decree of an eternal Reprobation against them Whereas the Scriptures every where commend and highly magnifie the constant love care and respects of God towards the righteous The righteous Lord saith David loveth righteousness and His countenance doth behold the upright a Psa 11. 7 And again For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous with favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield b Psa 5. 12 So again The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous c Psa 34 15 To omit many other places of like assertion From whence it evidently appears 1. That God beholds and sees and cannot but behold and see those that are righteous 2. That seeing and beholding them such He always loves them and delights in them Therefore it is unpossible that God at any time should not see and behold the persons we speak of being righteous and whilest righteous And 2. that seeing and beholding them such that He should not love them and intend graciously to them and consequently that all this while He should intend or decree the extremity of all evil and misery against them 2. It is altogether inconsistent with the Righteousness and Equity of Gods Proceedings to neglect or pass by the present condition or ways of men either of righteousness or unrighteousness and to respect them or measure out unto them either Grace or Displeasure either Reward or Punishment according to their future condition or according to what He foresees their ways will be afterward All Gods Purposes and Decrees relate unto men according to the nature and exigency of their present conditions not of their future If a man be at present in a condition of Righteousness he is under the gracious influence and benediction of that Decree of God whereby He hath decreed Life and Peace and Blessedness to righteous men And suppose it be known unto God that this man righteous at present will afterwards forsake his righteousness and turn aside into ways of unrighteousness yet whilest he remaineth righteous he is not under the dint or danger of that Decree of God which respects unrighteous men and whereby Wrath and Judgment are decreed against them That Disposition or Principle which we now ascribe unto God is most clearly asserted in the Scriptures by Himself and that by way of vindication of his Righteousness from the unworthy conceits of those who judged otherwise of Him If a man BE JVST and DO that which is lawful and right And hath not eaten upon the Mountains neither hath lift up his eyes to the Idols of the house of Israel c. He IS just He shall surely live saith the Lord God d Ezek. 18. 5 6 9 q. d. During this posture or course of righteous walking he is under the blessing of that gracious and unchangeable Decree of mine wherein Life and Peace are decreed unto righteous men But when the righteous TVRNETH away from his righteousness and COMMITTETH iniquity and DOTH according to all the abominations that the wicked man doth shall he live All his righteousness that he hath done shall not be mentioned in his Trespass that he hath trespassed and in his Sin that he hath sinned in them shall he dye e Verse 24 i. e. perish for ever viz. unless he repents and turns back again to his former course of righteousness So again Therefore thou Son of man say unto the children of thy people the righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day of his Transgression As for the wickedness of the wicked he shall not fall thereby in the day that he turneth from his wickedness neither shall the righteous be able to live for his righteousness in the day that he sinneth When I shall say to the righteous that he shall surely live if he trust to his own righteousness and commit iniquity as many being in an estate of grace upon a presumption that they cannot possibly fall away too frequently do all his righteousness shall not be remembered but for his iniquity that he hath committed he shall dye for it Again when I say unto the wicked Thou shalt surely dye if he turn from his sin and do that which is lawful and right If he restore the pledg give again that he had robbed walk in the statutes of life without committing iniquity he shall surely live he shall not dye f Ezek. 33. 12. 13 14 15 c. By these and very many more places of like consideration in reference to the business in hand which might be added it is fully evident that particular men or the persons of men from time to time come under the eternal Decrees of God either of Life or Death of Salvation or Condemnation not according to the nature exigency or import of their potential or future but of their actual and present conditions respectively and consequently that if the generality of men were either from Eternity righteous and righteous they must needs be whilest they were in God and in him onely and were nothing but God or at any time after their Creation as they were in Adam during the time of his innocency they must needs whilest they were in these capacâ—ties or conditions be under that eternal Decree of God by which or wherein Life and Peace and Happiness are decreed unto righteous men and so could not be from Eternity under a Decree of Reprobation 3. And lastly If God from Eternity looked upon the far greater part of men all those I mean who are Reprobates so called as Persons that would in time prove sinful or as Persons in time proved sinful and under this prospect of them passed a Decree of Reprobation upon or against them then was this sinfulness wherein He beheld them the ground or cause of this Decree of Reprobation or not If not to what purpose is it pleaded or stood upon in reference to the said Decree And why is it not plainly and right-down affirmed that God reprobated them out of his meer Will and Pleasure without the interveniency of any consideration of sin to incline or move him thereunto And if this be so He need not in his Decree of Reprobation look upon them as sinful but simply as men If He looked upon them simply as men then he looked upon them as the pure and perfect workmanship of his
that they are much more like to judg according to appearance then to judg righteous judgment But this whole Nation knoweth to its sorrow and sad sufferings that many of the Persons we speak of have shifted their judgments and that in matters of a far more ready and easy Cognizance then the questions about Predestination into a troublesome corner Yea there are very few of those amongst them who call themselves Ministers of the Gospel but many times when they preach within the compass of an hour either change their judgments or deny them their Doctrine being frequently Samaritan when their application is a Jew 5. If to dig broken Cisterns with the forsaking of the Fountain of living Water be the commiting of a double evill i Ier. 2. 13 how shall not a recoursing to the Fountain of living Waters in conjunction with a forsaking of broken Cisterns be the practising of a double duty And if so shall it not be of so much the higher acceptation with God And if it be thus ought it not to be of higher acceptation with men also To forsake an error is one duty and to embrace truth is another whereas to persist in one and the same mind suppose it be sound and good is but a single duty Our Saviour informeth us that there will be joy in Heaven over one sinner that repenteth more then over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance k Luke 15. 7 That which is an occasion of a multiplyed rejoycing in Heaven why should it be made matter of complaint change or imputation upon Earth 6. He is in the most likely and best capacity to give a right judgment between two countries or lands as which is the more fruitfull the more healthful the more pleasant of scituation c. who hath been an inhabitant in both and acquainted himself with the respective conditions of both in such particulars In like manner it is so far from being a reason why a mans present judgment should be rejected that he hath been of a contrary judgment formerly that it rendreth it the more considerable and competent to discern aright between those opinions with which it hath been throughly and upon a conscientious engagement acquainted It is a true saying of the Arist Ethic. l. 1. c. 3. Heathen Philosopher 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 i. e. Every man is able to judg well of those things which he knoweth But when a man having a long time known and professed such an Opinion by and under the profession whereof he enjoyed peace credit wealth love and respects from men of all sorts and was in a fair and probable way to have lift up his head yet higher in the world by his continuance in the profession of the same shall notwithstanding relent in his Iudgment and qâ—â—t the Profession of this Opinion and profess that which is opposite to it wherein he could not but in all Reason judg and conclude before-hand that he should with Paul 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 suffer loss of all things lose Credit lose Friends lose all hopes of preferment from the world when a man I say shall change his Judgment upon such terms as these it is a strong Argument that he well and throughly understands the spiritual danger and inconvenience of the Opinion which he forsakes as likewise the worth truth and goodness of that which he imbraceth and professeth in the place of it Therefore 7. and lastly As David replyed to Michal when she upbraided him with such a deportment by which as she apprehended he had made himself contemptible and vile I saith He will yet be more vile then thus a 2 Sam. 6. 22 So the Grace of God assisting me if the changing of my Iudgment upon such terms as God knoweth and men also know impart I have done in the Controversies oft mentioned rendereth either me or my Iudgment contemptible I am resolved upon the like occasion to make both it and my self more contemptible yet by cutting off from my Soul Error after Error as fast as they shall be discovered unto me and by changing my Iudgment as oft as I shall throughly understand that my spiritual Interest doth require it Yea it shall be one of my chief exercises quotidie de erroribus meis demere to diminish dayly the number of my Errors by making a diligent and frequent survey of the state and condition of my Iudgment and by separating the vile from the precious here until no misprision at all of God or of any of his things shall if it be possible be found with me Reader I trust though I have wearied thee with a long Epistle and so have made thee uncapable of reading further at present yet I have withall begotten in thee a serious desire and resolution to possess thy Heart Soul Iudgment Conscience with the substance of the ensuing Discourse and this with as much expedition as thy opportunities of reading will permit Let them that have wives be as if they had none and they that weep as though they wept not and they that rejoyce as though they rejoyced not and they that buy as if they possessed not b 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 but let him that runneth for the great prize of a blessed Eternity for an incorruptible Crown of Glory be as a man wholly taken up and transported with the glory of his Engagement let him so run as if he had nothing else to do but to run this race Give me leave to mind thee of an admonition recommended unto men by an Heathen Philosopher It becometh not him that is a man to mind the things of men i. e. such things as men commonly mind nor him that is mortal mortal things But as far as is possible to immortalize it and so to quit himself in all things as to live according to that which is most excellent in him c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Arist Ethic. 10. c. 7. meaning his mind and understanding Now thy God and my God of his rich Grace give thee a large heart to understand and consider the Great things of thy peace recompence the labour and travel of thy Soul in reading the Discourse here presented unto thee with the precious returns of light and life and peace into thy bosom that when thou shalt have read thou mayst say I have been in the Mount with God and mayst return with thine heart rejoycing and with thy face shining unto men This Good Reader is the unfeigned desire and fervent prayer of Thy Brother in Christ greatly devoted to the Peace of thy Soul John Goodwin From my Study in Coleman-street London Febr. 12. 1650. The Contents of the several Chapters in the ensuing Discourse Cap. I. THere is no created Being or second Cause whatsoever but dependeth upon the first which is God and this as well in the second as in the first Act i. e. as well in the Motions and Operations issuing from or performed by every of
them as in their simple Existence or Being it self Page 1. Cap. 2. Though there be as absolute and essential a Dependance of second Causes upon the first in point of motion action operation as of simple existence or being yet are not the motions actions or operations of second Causes at least ordinarily so immediately or precisely determined by that Dependance which they have upon the first Cause as their respective Beings are 7 Cap. 3. Concerning the Knowledg and Foreknowledg of God and the Difference between these and his Desires Purposes Intentions and Decrees and how these also are distinguished one from another 28 Cap. 4. Concerning the Perfection of God in his Nature and Being Some things clearly deducible from it particularly his Simplicity Actuality and Goodness of Decrees 40 Cap. 5. Four several veins or correspondencies of Scriptures propounded holding forth the Death of Christ for All Men without exception of any The first of these argued 73 Cap. 6. Herein several texts of the second sort of Scriptures propounded in the former Chapter as holding forth the Vniversality of Redemption by Christ are discussed 97 Cap. 7. The third sort or consort of Scriptures mentioned cap. 5. as clearly asserting the said Doctrine argued and managed to the same point 113 Cap. 8. The Scriptures of the fourth and last Association propounded cap. 5. as pregnant also with the same Great Truth of general Redemption by Christ impartially weighed and considered 120 Cap. 9. Entereth upon a Digression about the commonly-received Doctrine of Perseverance occasioned by several passages in the preceding Chapter avouching and clearly evicting the benefit peace and comfort of that Doctrine which teacheth a possibility of the Saints declining and this unto death above the other contrary unto it 154 Cap. 10. A Continuation of the former Digression wherein the texts of Scripture commonly alledged to prove the impossibility of the Saints declining unto death are taken into consideration and discharged from that service 177 Cap 11. A further Continuation of the former Digression wherein the Arguments and Grounds commonly insisted on in defence of the received doctrine of Perseverance are detected of insufficiency proved and declared Null 225 Cap. 12. The former Digression yet further prosecuted and a possibility of defection in the Saints or true Beleevers and this unto death clearly demonstrated from the Scriptures 268 Cap. 13. Grounds of Reason from the Scriptures evincing a possibility of such a defection even in true Beleevers which is accompanied with destruction in the end 299 Cap. 14. Exhibiting from the Scriptures some Instances of a total Declining and falling away from the Grace and Favor of God in true Beleevers 344 Cap. 15. Declaring the Sence and Judgment as well of the Ancient Fathers of the Christian Church as of Modern Reformed Divines touching the Point of Perseverance and so concluding the Digression concerning this Subject 365 Cap. 16. Several other Texts of Scripture besides those formerly produced in ranks and companies argued to the clear eviction of Truth in the same Doctrine viz. that the Redemption purchased by Christ in his Death was intended for all and every man without exceptiof any 403 Cap. 17. Declaring in what sence the former Passages of Scripture asserting the Vniversality of Redemption by Christ are as to this point to be understood and consequently in what sence the said Doctrine of Vniversal Redemption is maintained in the present Discourse 432 Cap. 18. Exhibiteth several Grounds and Reasons whereby the Vniversality of Redemption by Christ or Christs dying for all men without exception is demonstratively evicted 453 Cap. 19. Wherein the Sence of Antiquity together with the variableness of Judgment in Modern Writers about the Controversie under discussion is truly and unpartially represented 524 Cap. 20. The Conclusion Exhibiting a General Proposal or Survey of Matters intended for Consideration Explication and Debate in the second Part of this Work 562 CHAP. I. There is no created Being or second Cause whatsoever but dependeth upon the first and supream Cause or Being which is God and this as well in the second as in the first Act I mean as well in the Motions and Operations issuing from or performed by every of them as in their simple Existence or Being it self WE shall not need I presume to levy a dispute for the gathering §. 1. or geting in that tribute due to the Crown and Soveraignty of Being from all Beings besides which consists in an acknowledgment of his free bounty in calling them out of the abyss of vanity and nothing by the Word of his Power hereby taking them into part and fellowship with himself in his Prerogative of Being according to what was resolved by the counsell of his Will as meet to be dispeâ—sed unto every of them respectively in this kind Trees that are throughly and deeply rooted in the Earth will grow and flourish though the dew or rain from Heaven should seldome or never fall upon them but grasse and herbs and tender plants whose roots have but a slender and thin protection of their Element against the scortching violence of the Sun will soon wither and die away if the clouds of Heaven should not ever and anon drop verdure upon them and relieve them In like manner such notions and impressions in the Soul into which Nature is deeply baptized and mightily 〈…〉 ssest with their Truth are like to live and to maintain their interest and autâ—â—rity in men though not seconded or relieved by argument or dispute but those which have only taken a fainter and looser hold of the judgements and consciences of men are in danger of miscarrying and proving like the Corne upon the house top which as David observeth withereth before it be grown up a Psal 129. 6. unlesse they be timely yea and frequently encouraged back'd and strength by discourse That there is a Being which looks upon this Universe â—ith all the host of it as the workmanship of his own hands and that every creature or finite Being is lineally descended from him as their Great and first Progenitor are I conceive such principles of Light and Truth written in so fair and full a Character in the Tables of all mens hearts that even whilst they run they may read them yea and cannot lightly depose or suffer the losse of â—hem though they be not bound upon their judgments and consciences with any other bands of argument or demonstration then those of their own evidence and conviction Therefore what God hath made manifest and clear in men we shall not cast any suspition of darknesse or obscurity upon by making it matter of disputation And though the dependance of things in actuall and compleat Being upon §. 2. God for sustentation and support as well of their simple Existences and Beings themselves as of their Operations respectively which is the sence and substance of the Thesis propounded be not altogether of so pregnant an inspiration as dependance upon him for their