with death in case of disobedience I began to conceive that as the purpose of election was sutable to the Covenant of grace so sutable unto a Covenant of works must bee a purpose of retribution For how shall God covenant to retribute or recompence with life or death according to works if hee have no purpose at all of such retribution How shall the Covenant of works promise life upon condition of obedience if the purpose of reprobation have absolutely determined death upon all them within that Covenant without all respect of good or evill obedience or disobedience in any of them the grace of redemption offering the death of Christ and reaching forth some fruites thereof unto all as the promising and offering sufficient help to bring them to the knowledge of God and means of grace yea and sometime bestowing on them the participation of some excellent and common graces doth not make a third covenant partly of grace partly of works but bindeth such so much the more to keep the Covenants of works by how much the more helps and means God vouchsafeth them to keep it It is not the helps of grace offered or given that includeth men with in any part of the Covenant of grace but the condition whereupon it is offered or given Secondly if God offer grace and give though never so small even as a grain of Mustard-seed and promise to uphold it freely for Christ his sake and not according to our works it is a Covenant of Grace But if hee offer and give never so many gracious helps and means and gifts and uphold them according to the works of the creature it is still a Covenant of works as it was to the Angels that fell and to Adam though hee gave to both of them the whole Image of God and besides heaven it self to the one a Paradise to the other it is but the same covenant of works which God made with the world of mankinde after the fall and with Adam before the fall though Adam received greater means and helps to keep it then his posterity had after the fall Because still the condition of the Covenant was the same in both to reward them both according to their works So is it still but the same Covenant of works which God makes with mankinde when hee offereth them in Christ greater grace and helps to keep it then after the fall they could have attained unto without Christ because still the condition of the Covenant runneth in the same tenour to deal with them according to their works Neither doe I conceive any danger in the point though by this means obedience to Christ and walking worthy of him should bee commanded in the Law which is a covenant of works For if the infidelity and disobedience of the men of this world to the Gospel of Christ bee sin then are they also transgressors of the Law and then the contrary vertues are commanded in the Law Thirdly the Ceremonies of the Old Testament which were figures of Christ were commanded in the second precept of the Law was not Christ himself under those figures commanded also were they commanded to lay their hands on the sacrifices and not withall to lay their Faith on Christ were they commanded to look on the Brazen Serpent and not withall to behold Christ were they commanded to obey Moses and not withall the Prophet like unto Moses What then doe wee confound the Law and the Gospel God forbid The Law indeed commandeth to obey God in whatsoever hee had of old or in fulnesse of time should afterwards reveale to bee his will but it is one thing to command Christ to bee obeyed and revealed which after Christ is revealed even the Law also doth to all that heare it another thing it is to give Christ freely and faith to receive him and the spirit likewise to obey him yea and perseverance also notwithstanding our unworthinesse to continue in him all which the Gospel promiseth to the Elect of God Glory bee to God in Christ and peace upon Israel If the serious consideration of two convenants did turn the stream of your thoughts into this covenant it should seem you doe acknowledge a third covenant distinct from the former two Therefore I conceive there is an errour in the writing and that whereunto the stream of your thoughts was turned is not a different covenant from the former two but rather an opinion concerning reprobation different from that which is most generally received amongst our Divines And albeit hereupon you fell on this yet herehence it followeth not but that you might hereby fall upon laying a ground for three covenants ere you are aware Yet do I not charge you with this As in some respect you may seem to make three so in another respect you may seem to make but one if the covenant of retribution according unto works bee but one For I see no reason but Gods purpose of election may well passe for a purpose of retribution and consequently if the purpose of election and reprobation bee reduced unto one why may not the covenant of works and the covenant of grace by your rules bee reduced into one As election is Gods purpose to bestow everlasting life seeing God doth not purpose to bestow it but by way of reward of obedience of faith and repentance and good works it necessarily followeth that Gods election is his purpose of retribution But there is besides in election a purpose to work a certain number of men unto faith obedience and good works and unto a finall perseverance in them all So likewise between the covenant of the Law and the covenant of Grace there is this principall difference that God inables his elect to the performance of the one not of the other but as touching the reprobate hee inableth them to the performance of neither condition Subservient to Gods election of some is each covenant The covenant of works to humble them not onely upon the consideration of their sins whereby they have merited eternall death but especially upon consideration how their naturall corruption is so farre from being mastered and corrected by the Law as that on the contrary it is irritated and exasperated so much the more Then the covenant of grace to comfort them considering how the condition of life is adulced and tempered being from exact and strict obedience changed into faith and repentance but chiefely upon consideration that the word of this covenant is a word of power mastering their corruption and inabling to perform faith repentance and Evangelicall obedience in an acceptuble manner unto the Lord. Subservient to the purpose of reprobation may bee the Law only writen in mens hearts which very obscurely intimateth if at all any covenant made of everlasting life between God and man Where the word is revealed that in generall comprehending both Law and Gospel is subservient thereunto in the way of instruction and exhortation and the like thereby taking
the glory of Christ only should be considered as the meanes of advancing the glory of God the Father I conceive the glory of God is as much seen in the abasing of his Sonne as in his exaltation and if this very abasing of himselfe be called his glory as indeed it may for even on the crosse he spoyled principalities and powers and made a shew of them openly and triumphed over them Col. 2. then this discourse shall labour with a new aequivocation In like sort Is nothing but our glory a fit meanes to advance the glory of Christ and of God Is not God glorified as well in the martyrdome of his Saints This is my confidence saith Paul that God shall be glorified in my body whether by life or by death Philip. 1. yea and Christ also Even when we beare about us the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus might also be made manifest in our bodies 2 Cor. 4. 10 If our glory also be extended unto martyrdome this is a very sore aequivocation especially considering how the scripture doth distinguish them first to suffer then to enter into glory Luk. 24. 26. and if we suffer with him we shall also reigne with him 2 Tim. 2. 12. 4. But as it lyeth let us discusse it as well as we can Therfore I say first Gods glory is not onely last in execution but first also even from the very first creation even then when the stars of the morning praysed him and all the Sonnes of God rejoyced Job 38. 7. And I will deale plainely and shew what glory of his was manifested herein to wit the glory of his power Revel 4. 11. Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory and honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy wills sake they have beene and are created Yea and his wisdome also Psal 130. 5. which by his wisdome made the heavens Jeremiah puts them both together He hath made the earth by his power and established the World by his wisdome and hath stretched out the heavens by his discretion And as in the creation so the same glory of God doth send forth ' its beames in the preservation and governance of all things In the meanest creatures we behold the glory of God neither are we able to comprehend the wisdome of God therein every thing therein as in a Bee or silke-worme coming to passe by course of nature yet who is able to give a reason of it I thinke if Solomon had continued to this day and his wisdome with him yet had he not beene able to finde it out for although the spirit of man be as the lampe of God which searcheth all inwardnesse and God hath set the world in mans heart yet is he not able to finde out the worke that he hath wrought from the beginning to the end I behold the flowers of my garden in great varietie of colours yet wonder at their uniformitie each single one hath five leaves each most uniforme in the colour in the shape rising and spreading and indented alike in their edges all together make a most comely proportion of the whole round in forme only indented in the edges which is as bonelace to set it forth some of one colour throughout the pageant speckled having strakes like lines so direct and proportionable in all that it represents unto me some curious Mathematicall circle cut thorough with lines the matter of many curious demonstrations And what a curious speculation would it appeare to represent the causes of all this varietie In the meane time our contemplation is broken off and loseth it selfe and turnes into admiration at the wisdome of God which confounds us in the contemplation of a flower which is worn in the breast at morning and troden under foot at night But to returne you will say Another kind of glory is seene in the advancement of Christ but then you should have specified it which had you done I doubt not but it would have afforded good matter to have wrought upon in the investigation of truth 2. As the glorifying of God the Father was the very first even from the creation before either Christ man was or we so I say it is not so last as if it should be after Christs glory and our glory shall cease to be for certainly the glory of Christ and the glory of the elect shall continue for ever and the glory of God cannot continue any longer then for ever 3. Come wee to the consideration of the glory of Christ There is a glory of Christ which he receiveth from man and there is a glory of Christ which hee receiveth from God That glory which hee receiveth from man he hath received in greatest part long before wee were born for it is the Fathers pleasure That all men should honour the Sonne as they honour the Father Joh. 5. 23. There is the Rule here followeth the Example Worthy is the Lambe that was killed to receive power and riches and wisdome and strength and honour and glory and praise And all the creatures which are in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying Praise and honour and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb for evermore Revel 5. 12 13. As for the glory which he receives from his Father that he hath already received above 1500. yeers agoe I have overcome and am sate with my Father in his Throne Revel 3. If God be glorified in him God shall also glorifie him in himselfe and shall straight-way glorifie him Joh. 13. 32. So that every way the glory of Christ is afore ours not after ours for when the elect are once glorified their glory shall continue for the time to come as long as Christs glory but for the time past certainely Christs glory and his advancement you here speak of noting thereby what you meane by Christs glory in this place was long before ours Whereas you say that Christ as man was first humbled before hee was glorified if we consider the greatest advancement of Christ it is untrue for his greatest advancement was the assuming of his nature into an hypostaticall union with the Sonne of God and this was afore his humiliation in the sense you speake of to wit in humbling himselfe to the death even to the death of the Crosse though I willingly confesse the humiliation of the Godhead went joyntly along with the advancement of the manhood even to this hypostaticall union You say His advancement was purposed before his humiliation I deny it You will say that was the meanes tending to his advancement as the end for so I take your meaning to be leaving the consideration of the phrase mentioned of making way which if it be delivered in any other sense then to signifie the meanes of his advancement will make your cause worse and nothing better For now I deny that
Christs humiliation was the meanes of Christs advancement and I prove it Those only are to bee accounted meanes to such an end quorum ratio petitur a ratione finis designati that is the means are onely such as the nature of the end duly considered doth bespeake But the advancement of Christ doth not bespeake any such meanes for undoubtedly God could advance Christ without any such humiliation nay having taken his manhood into an hypostaticall union with his Son even in this respect his advancement was far more requisite than in respect of his humiliation You will say God purposed to advance him no other way then this I grant it and if you consider it well you shall find the reason of it by considering the right ends hereof in the counsell of God And these are different one was in respect of others to wit that he might be a fit Saviour of Gods elect not that their salvation was the end of his humiliation but the glory of God in a certain kind the end of both to wit both of his humiliation and our salvation namely the glory of his free grace in the way of mercy mixt with justice This end required satisfaction as without which it could not be procured But here I confesse the advancement of Christ hath no place but in another consideration it shall find place and that as a joynt meanes together with his humiliation for another kind of glory would God the Father manifest in Christ And indeed the Nation of mankind is as a glasse wherein a very complete body of Gods glory doth appear in very great variety and that was the manifestation of his glory in the way of remunerative justice in the highest degree remunerating obedience I say in the highest degree both in respect of the reward deserved and also in respect of the desert it selfe the reward being the sitting in the Throne of his Father and to have all judgment committed unto the Sonne the desert being the obedience of the Son of God one and the same God with his Father humbling himselfe to death even to the death of the crosse for the salvation of Gods elect But perhaps you may further say It is not necessary that the means should bee only such as the end doth naturally require For God could have brought man to salvation the same way he brought Angels without faith and repentance yea hee could have made them and immediatly have translated them into glory yet wee commonly say Faith and Repentance are the means of salvation I answer granting not onely that wee commonly say so but that wee truly say so in respect of our selves namely that as salvation is the scope and end wee aime at so faith and repentance are the onely meanes to bring us thereunto but in respect of God it is utterly untrue for neither is our salvation the end of Gods actions but his owne glory Hee made all things for himselfe Prov. 16. 4. And if it were his end hee could have brought it about divers other wayes besides this but in that hee brings it to passe this way there is good reason for it as wee shall well perceive if wee take the end of God aright namely to manifest his glory in doing good to man in the highest degree and that in the way of mercy mixt with justice This end doth necessarily require a permission of sin again it doth require satisfaction as by the death of Christ and thirdly it doth require faith and repentance that so hee may doe him good by way of reward and lastly a glorious salvation which is the doing of him good in the highest degree And as mans salvation is not the end of Gods actions so neither is the glory of Christ as hee is man the end of Gods actions for such a glory inherent can but bee a created glory and no created thing can be the end of Gods actions but onely God himselfe For as he is the chiefe efficient of all so must hee bee the supreme end of all and as hee is most lovely and most good so must hee necessarily love that most which is most lovely even himselfe and aime at his owne glory in all 2 Now I come to the Apostles Text wherewith this Argument is backt 1 Cor. 3. 22 23. All are yours and yee Christs and Christ Gods that is say you The world for the Church and the Church for Christ and Christ for God thereby giving us to understand That God first intended his glory for which are all things and then Christ for whom the Church is and then the Church for which the world is and then the world last of all But I pray you consider whether this Interpretation and Collection thereupon be not more superficiary than sound First when he saith All are yours is the world only to be understood by all Is not the world expresly named but as a member of this universall Are not Paul Apollos and Cephas also joyned with it together with life and death and things present and things to come and joyntly comprehended under the word all Verse 21. Let no man rejoyce in men for all things are yours Verse 22. Whether it be Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death whether they be things present or things to come even all are yours 23. And yee Christs and Christ Gods As he was perswaded Rom. 8. 38. That neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come 39. Nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature should bee able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord and therefore wee need not feare them So here he goes further and tells us that all are put as it were in subjection unto us to worke for our good and therefore wee should not rejoyce in them but rather in Christ and in God who hath wrought this and ordered all this for our good through the merits of Christ not only Apostles and Pastours but even the very Angels also who pitch their tent about us and have charge given them to keep us in all our wayes and all of them are sent forth for the good of them that are heires of salvation Yet this subjection is onely of a spirituall and gracious nature nothing prejudicing their advancement above them whom they thus serve in love and that for this their service performed for Gods sake to whom rather they are in subjection then unto us yet so farre in subjection to worke our good that it becomes us not to rejoyce in any of them but rather in God who hath thus ordered them for our good and Christ for whose sake they are thus ordered An Argument like to that the Lord useth Deut. 4. 19. Take heed lest thou lift up thine eyes to heaven and when thou seest the sunne and the moon and the starres with all the host of heaven shouldst bee driven to worship them
heart out of their bowels and give them an heart of flesh when he resolves to afford this grace unto some but not unto others let every one judge hereby whether God can be said earnestly to desire the changing of their hearts when hee resolves to forbeare that course which alone can change them No no this discourse favoureth strongly of a conceit that it is in the power of an unregenerate man to change his owne heart and of an heart of stone to change it into an heart of flesh And in this case I confesse it were very probable that God should earnestly desire it provided that any ineffectuall and changeable desires were incident unto God That when God putteth forth the second act of positive retribution viz. the rejection of the world or decree of their condemnation God doth behold and consider the world especially men of riper yeares not in massa primitus corrupta nor as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience To prove this I need not produce other reasons then what I have formerly alledged in the fone-going Point for when God did expresse by his oath his will and good pleasure to be not for the death but life and conversion of sinners was it not after the fall of Adam and all his posterity in him then notwithstanding the presupposall of the fall God had not yet rejected the creature but as hee there declareth himselfe still retaineth and reserveth thoughts of peace towards them even a desire of their conversion unto life Againe with whom did the Lord enter into a Covenant of life and death upon condition of obedience and disobedience was it not with Adam onely and his posterity in his loynes in the state of innocency by the law written in their heart Was it not also after Adams fall renewed to all his posterity both Jewes and Gentiles Then yet God had not cast them away in the fall though the fall had justly deserved it but expecteth yet further to see how they will yet keep this renewed Covenant with him before hee cast them off as Reprobates Even Cain himselfe the eldest sonne of Reprobation is after the fall offered acceptance of Gods hand if hee doe well Moreover is it not after the fall that the Father by his workes of creation and providence judgements and mercies c. the Sonne by his enlightening the world by his death and ministery of his servants and the Holy Ghost by his calling and knocking at the hearts of the wicked doe all strive with men even to this very end to turne them to the Lord that iniquity may not be their destruction If therefore all the Persons in the Trinity doe provide severall helpfull meanes for the conversion and salvation of the world of the world I say now after the fall lying in wickednesse surely God did not then upon the fall reprobate the world unto eternall condemnation and perdition If you say God might well reprobate the world unto condemnation upon the fall and yet still after the fall usâ— meanes for their conversion and salvation because those meanes doe but further aggravate their condemnation I answer these doe indeed further aggravate their condemnation but it is but by accident onely by their neglect and abuse of them but the proper end which God himselfe of himselfe aimes at in the use of these meanes himselfe plainly expresseth it to be not the aggravation or procurement of their condemnation but the restoring of them to salvation and life as hath been before declared So then to draw all to an head the summe of this first reason is If God after the fall doe retaine a will and purpose to restore life to the world upon an equall condition then hee did not upon the fall or upon the onely consideration of the fall reject the world of the ungodly unto their utter perdition But you see God retaineth after the fall an holy will and purpose of restoring life unto the world upon an equall condition as appeareth by his Oath by his Covenant and by his Workes therefore the conclusion which is the point in hand is evident I marvell what you meane to call Gods decree of condemnation his act of retribution retribution being an act temporall and transient the decree of God is an act immanent and eternall And therefore it is not so handsomely said to be the putting forth of an act for so much as it is immanent and not transient 'T is manifest I confesse that sin is alwayes precedent to the retribution of punishment as it is without controversie that sinne neither is nor can be antecedent to Gods decree sinne being temporall but all Gods decrees eternall And I have found it by experience to be an usuall course with our Adversaries to confound condemnation with the decree of condemnation And Junius himselfe very incongruously in my judgement calls this decree Praedamnatio to make the fairer place as I guesse for sins praecedencie thereunto at least in consideration But no necessity urgeth us to any such course and wee may well maintaine that God in this decree of condemnation hath alwayes the consideration of that sinne for which hee purposeth to damne them for undoubtedly hee decrees to condemne no man but for sinne It is impossible it should be otherwise condemnation in the notion thereof formally including sinne But I like not your expressions in the distinction you make saying God considers men in this sinne not as newly fallen in Adam but as voluntarily falling off you mean long after by some act of carelesse and wilfull disobedience When God made this decree they were not newly that is a little before fallen in Adam for that fall in Adam was temporall but the decrees of God are eternall And to consider as newly fallen when as yet they were not much lesse were they fallen is not so much to consider as to erre or feigne But like as God decreed to suffer all to fall in Adam and many also to continue both therein and in bringing forth the bitter fruits thereof even untill death so he purposed to condemne them for those sinnes but take heed you doe not make an order of prius and posterius between these decrees lest either you make the decree of condemnation precedent to the decree of permission of those sinnes for which they shall be condemned which will be directly contradictory to your Tenet here or making Gods decree of permitting such sinnes for which they shall be condemned precedent to his decree of condemnation whereunto you doe encline unawares which will cast you upon miserable inconveniences and that by your owne rule already delivered for if the decree of permitting sinne be first in intention then by the rules received by you it should be last in execution that is men should be condemned for sinne before they be permitted to sinne But the conjunction of these decrees into one as in the same
second act of positive Reprobation that I doe conceive the decree of Reprobation to be conversant about the world not as considered in massa primitus corrupta as in the first fall of Adam but as afterwards voluntarily falling from the meanes either of grace in the second Adam or of the knowledge of God in nature by some acts of carelesse or wilfull disobedience These two things above mentioned are granted not onely by the common consent of our Divines but by the common consent also of all Christians as I conceive whether Papists or Arminians yet observe I pray as touching the second that sinne is apparently made the cause onely of condemnation but not of Gods purpose whereas hitherto you have carryed the matter so as if sinne were the cause not onely of condemnation but also of Reprobation as much as to say of Gods purpose to condemne But to say that God for sinne did purpose to condemne for sin is so harsh an expression that in all my reading I never found any adventure thereupon Come wee to your proper opinion You doe not acknowledge any unwillingnesse in God to reward the men of this world with life upon any condition whatsoever I know no reason why you should conceive any of our Divines to differ from you in this although you had spoken out your meaning never so plainly and fully not onely denying unwillingnesse but acknowledging a willingnesse as afterwards you doe not a willingnesse onely which may have place though joyned with a will to the contrary as in all mixt actions which yet are not incident to God though they are to a creature as who sometimes doth some thing volens nolens for certainly God will save any man upon condition hee beleeves and repents And on the other side neither is there any unwillingnesse in God but a willingnesse rather yea and that a resolute will to damne any man in case hee dyeth in infidelity and impenitency For we have the cleare word of God to justifie us herein professing most evidently that Whosoever beleeveth shall be saved whosoever beleeveth not shall be damned So that I wonder not a little whereto these expressions tend save that commonly such is the issue of imperfect conceptions all preparations to the justifying of them fall miserably short of that whereunto they aime 2. As touching the second act either you must professe that no Infants perish in originall sinne or you must according to your Tenet consider them onely in massa primitus corrupta for as much as they dying before they came to the use of reason were never guilty of any voluntary falling off from the meanes either of grace in the second Adam or of the knowledge of God in nature by some acts of carelesse or wilfull disobedience As for their opinion who thinke the consideration of all men in massa Adae sufficient to justifie God in decreeing the condemnation of all I take it to be a very rude and undigested conceit for undoubtedly if the consideration of sinne be at all prerequired to the decree of condemnation it must bee the consideration rather of that sinne for which they are chiefly damned For shall the consideration of that sinne onely which deserves the least degree of damnation justifie God in the decreeing the greatest degree of condemnation what colour of justice is found in this Shall the consideration of telling an officious lye justifie a Magistrate in decreeing to inflict such a punishment as is due onely to high treason I say rather that God considers none in massa Adae before they are in massa Adae for thus to consider is not considerare but errare or fingere which wee cannot decently attribute to God but God considered all men tanquam in massa Adae futuros and as many as should dye in infancy God considered them in no other state of sinne tanquam futuros but in that As for as many as should survive to the use of reason God considered them tanquam futuros not onely in massa Adae but guilty of their owne personall transgressions and whom hee so considered and withall as finally persevering therein all them hee decreed to damne So likewise whom hee considered tanquam fideles futuros resipiscentiam acturos in fide resipiscentia perseveraturos hee decreed to save But take heed that herehence you inferre not Therefore fore-sight of perseverance in sin was the cause or prerequisite of Reprobation lest you be driven by just proportion to confesse that fore-sight of faith also and perseverance therein was the cause or prerequisite at least of Election Yet doe not hereupon fall into the contrary extreme as to thinke that then the decree of Salvation and Damnation precedes the foresight of faith on the one side or of finall impenitency on the other though such delusions have had their course and passed in the world a long time and all for want of a little Logick in discerning the right order in intention of the meanes tending to a certaine end For both creation and permission of sinne in Adam and finall perseverance in sinne and damnation for sinne are but joynt meanes tending to one end to wit the glory of God in the way of justice vindicative and consequently the intention of all those meanes is at once neither before nor after other howsoever they are not at once in execution which perhaps is the rock of offence whereat many stumble ere they are aware As for example To the curing of a disease a Physician discerneth that many operations are necessarily requisite these are at once intended the nature of the disease bespeaking them all but they are not nor cannot be executed at once The like may bee said of all other proceedings according to the order of media and finis So on the other side creation permission of sin deliverance from sinne by the grace of faith and repentance and finally salvation are all but joynt meanes tending to one and the same end to wit the glory of God in the way of mercy mixt with justice and consequently all at once in intention though not all at once in execution But to disprove that which here you affirme as if some wilfull disobedience in Gods fore-sight was before the decree of condemnation I dispute thus according to your owne rules If the fore-sight of disobedience did precede the decree of condemnation then God did first decree to permit this disobedience before hee did decree to damne any man for it which is as much as to say Mans disobedience was first in Gods intention and consequently it must be last in execution that is men must first be damned for their disobedience before God permits them to become disobedient But let us consider your grounds in the next place That God hath some willingnesse to glorifie his distributive justice as well as vindicative in rewarding the world with life upon condition of obedience and repentance as well as with death upon condition
of disobedience and impenitency appeareth from Gods Oath As I live saith the Lord I have no pleasure in the wicked mans death but rather that hee should turne from his wickednesse and live The usuall answer made to this place seems to once to straine the word beyond his native simplicity 1. Some say that God speakes not of all the wicked but of some of the elect onely who in time are brought on to repentance but the truth is hee speaketh of such wicked men whereof some dye in their sinnes as is evident by the parallel place 2. Others say that God speaketh of his antecedent will going before all causes in the creature not of his consequent will following the creature in sinne but plaine it is hee speaketh of men now wicked defiled with originall and actuall sin 3. Others say againe God speakes not of the secret will of his good pleasure but of his revealed will but though I know there be sundry parts of Gods secret will which are not revealed yet I know no part of his will by oath doctrine or historicall narration that is discrepant from his secret will as all Object If you say Yes Gods revealed will is that all should repent Resp 1. I answer It is not a part of Gods will revealed by hath doctrine or historicall narration but by a word of command 2. I say it is a part of his secret will too I meane of his good pleasure that all men should repent and it is his displeasure if they repent not 3. But there is another part of his good will also that if they repent they shall not perish and this also revealed in his word And thus the will of God revealed in a distâ—â—â—â— axiome is alwayes consonant to his secret will and never frustrated 4. Finally others say that God delights not in the death of a sinner as it is the destruction of the creature but as it is a meanes of the manifestation of his justice I answer It is true but the manifestation of his justice stands as hee expresseth himselfe in the removall of the cause of their destruction from his owne will to their will As I live saith the Lord I desire not the death of a sinner Turne yee turne yee why will yee dye O house of Israel First here is some Philosophicall error in distinguishing betweene justice distributive and justice vindicative which are no more to be distinguished than a genus is to be distinguished from his species Justice commutative is only opposite to justice distributive but justice distributive comprehends under it as well justice vindicative as justice remunerative 2. Here wee have an anxious discourse to prove that which no man denyes as before hath been shewed And on the other side it is equally as true that God hath a willingnesse to glorifie his vindicative justice as well as remunerative to punish with death any one of his Elect upon condition of finall disobedience and impenitency as well as to reward with life upon condition of obedience and repentance 3. But it appeares by the Proofe that some further Point is intended then is yet manifested and such a one as you seeme rather to insinuate then expresse For whereas hitherto you have proposed a will of God onely conditionate the place of Scripture alledged mentions no such conditionate will which is indifferent to passe either upon the life or death of a man accordingly as hee shall be found to repent or not to repent but rather intimates a will of God inclining to affect rather the life of man then his death as it is manifested in these words I have no pleasure in the wicked mans death but rather that hee repent and live Now this is nothing congruous to a conditionate will as before premised First because a conditionate will at the best is but indifferent to passe either upon life or death according to the condition proposed Secondly if the condition of life be such as whereunto man is not so well disposed and the condition of death such as whereunto man is most prone it will follow here-hence that such a conditionate will is more propense to affect a mans death than life Thirdly most of all in case it be such as that the condition of life is never performed and the condition of death alwayes performed and the event hereof well knowne to God when hee made this conditionate decree 4. But whereas you would I guesse insinuate that God doth will the life of the wicked distinguished from Gods Elect rather then their death the place alledged is nothing to this purpose as not signifying what God doth rather will to come to passe but what God doth take most pleasure in when it doth come to passe whether it doth come to passe or no for certainly the life and repentance of the world doth never come to passe according to your opinion 5. Junius renders the place so as that Gods delight is signified to be placed in the repentance of a sinner Ne vivam fi delector morte improbi sed delector cum revertitur improbus ut vivat And indeed God is glorified by our obedience as whereby hee is acknowledged to be our supreme Lord not so by our disobedience And indeed did God take pleasure in the death of a sinner what should move him to wait for his repentance and use all perswasive meanes to bring him to repentance And it is proposed to take them off from a desperate condition proposed in these words Quia defectiones nostrae peccata nostra incumbunt nobis ideò ipsis nos tabescimus ecqui viveremus To take them off from this the Lord sends his Prophet charging him and saying Dic eis ne vivam ego dictum Domini si delector morte improbi sed cum revertitur improbus à via sua ut vivat Revertimini revertimini à viis vestris pessimis cur enim moreremini domus Israelis 6. Be it spoken in generall both of Elect and Reprobate yet onely is it directed to them to whom the Prophets of God are sent it followeth not that God doth will or desire the repentance of any Reprobate though to the confirmation hereof you chiefly tend certainly whosoever repents God takes pleasure in his repentance and the Scripture saith no more But that he doth not will it or desire it out of your owne mouth may bee convinced seeing that God affords not any Reprobate such an effectuall grace as hee fore-sees will bring them to repentance but reserving that for the Elect alone unto all others hee vouchsafeth onely such a grace as hee knowes full well will never bring any of them unto repentance And if God would bring any man unto repentance who should hinder him shall the will of man how doth it hinder him in working the repentance of his Elect cannot hee omnipotenti facilitate convertere as Austin speakes whom he will ex nolentibus volentes facere Againe doth God continue