Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
heart_n	believe_v	faith_n	part_n	1,993	5	4.8284	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A97227	Vnbeleevers no subjects of iustification, nor of mystical vnion to Christ, being the sum of a sermon preached at New Sarum, with a vindication of it from the objections, and calumniations cast upon it by Mr. William Eyre, in his Vindiciæ justificationis. Together with animadversions upon the said book, and a refutation of that anti-sidian, and anti-evangelical errour asserted therein: viz. the justification of infidels, or the justification of a sinner before, and without faith. Wherein also the conditional necessity, and instrumentality of faith unto justification, together with the consistency of it, with the freness of Gods grace, is explained, confirmed, and vindicated from the exceptions of the said Mr. Eyre, his arguments answertd [sic], his authorities examined, and brought in against himself. By T. Warren minister of the Gospel at Houghton in Hampshire.	Warren, Thomas, 1616 or 17-1694.	1654 (1654)	Wing W980; Thomason E733_10; ESTC R206901	226,180	282

for faith is the meanes to that end for having said that he that confesseh with his mouth the Lord Jesus and shall believe in his heart that God raised him from the dead shall be saved He subjoynes this as a reason for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness that is he obtaines by faith such a righteousnesse by which he shall be saved John 20.31 These things are written that ye might believe and that believing ye might have i John 20.31 life through his Name where life is made an effect of believing k Gal. 2.16 Gal. 2.16 We have believed that we might be justified where justification is made the final cause of believing and so l Rom. 3.25 Rom. 3.25 Whom God hath set forth as a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousnesse for the remission of sins where setting down all the causes of justification he doth not exclude faith for Subordinata inter se non pugnant 1. God is the efficient whom he hath set forth as a propitiation 2. Christs death is made the meritorious cause in his blood and faith the instrumental Now as the efficient excludes not the meritorious no more must the meritorious exclude the efficient for Bonum est ex integris causis The like may be proved from those places which affirme that a man is in the state of damnation till he do believe The 16th of Marke He that m Ma●k 16. believeth shal be saved he that believeth not shal be damned Joh. 3.18 He that believeth not is condemned already and ver 36. He that believeth not shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him And as the Scripture ownes it for an anoynted truth so reason confirmes it with a high hand which I prove thus 1. As by the first Adam no man is guilty of eternall death but he that is a member of him by natural generation so Christ frees no man from condemnation justifieth and reconcileth no man till be a member of him by supernatural regeneration but this is not before faith John 1.12 To as many as n John 1.12 received him to them he gave power to become the sons of God even to as many as believed on his Name Which were borne not of blood nor of the will of the flesh but of God 2. If a man be justified from the time of Christs death antecedently not only to a mans faith but to a mans birth then a justified person is not borne a childe of wrath which contradicts that of the Apostle where he saith of himself and the converted Ephesians Than they were by o Eph. 2.3 nature the children of wrath as well as others 3. A sin is not remitted before it is committed But if we be justified from the time of Christs death sin is remitted before it is committed The Major is evident because it is not a sinne before committed and therefore seeing it is but potentially a sin and not formally it cannot be actually and formally remitted nor is it of any great moment that our sins were imputed to Christ before they were committed by us For 1. It will not easily be granted that our sins were imputed to Christ but only the punishment due to sin was said upon Christ but if it be granted the reason is not alike for Christ to whom our sin in the guilt of it was imputed was a person existing And 2. Sin imputed to Christ was not as the * Doct●r C●isp Ser. p. 108 109. Antinomians judge so transferred upon Christ as to constitute him guilty by an inherent guilt to whom sin and the guilt of sin are all one so that in their esteem Christ was the sinner as really as he that did commit it for this is impossible for Idem numero accidens non potest migrare à subjecto in subjectum and therefore this imputation was an extrinsecal denomination and Christ subjected himself to it without sin which he could not have done if sin and the guilt of it be inseparable and the same thing therefore it was only an external imputation of the guilt of it which rendred him obnoxious unto punishment and there was a necessity for this imputation for otherwise he could not have suffered as a surety but now we cannot be conceived sinners before we commit sin because sin in us is an inherent blot whereby we having broken the Law deserved punishment for our offence against God and this formally constitutes us sinners and that guilt or obligation to punishment that arises from it is a * Reatus est duplex culpae poenae sive reatusredundans in personam The first is inseparable the second separable from sin this was imputed to Christ not the first separable effect nor can we thus be counted sinners by God in justice till we be so actually by inherent guilt therefore as a medicine that hath a sufficient vertue to cure all leprosies yet it doth not cure till a man be actually leprous so the blood of Christ that hath a healing vertue doth not purge a man till he be defiled with sin 4. The whole efficacy of the merit of Christs death in respect of the imputation and application of it depends upon the will of God ordaining it and accepting of it for who dares take or apply the merit of Christ any other way or upon any other condition then he hath ordained to communicate it and to be accepted for men And Christ as Mediatour was the servant of God submitting his will to Gods will in it and Christ was constituted as a Head and Mediatour out of meer grace and favour and his will was to be in every respect conformable to the will of God Now then seeing it was not intended by God nor accepted of God to procure immediate reconciliation and remission of sinnes for any before repentance and implantation into Christ by faith so neither was it the intendment of Christ and so no wrong is done to Christ though the benefit of his death be suspended untill actuall faith especially considering that for Christs sake grace shall be given effectually to draw them to faith for whom Christ died therefore none are justified actually till faith I might here adde that the Law being relaxed to put in the name of a surety whose payment was refusable hereupon the solution being not in this respect the same in obligation for dum alius solvit aliud solvitur and so being not solutio ejusdem but tantidem the discharge doth not immediately follow especially seeing it was neither the will of God nor of Christ that an immediate discharge should be given which appeares by Scripture strongly by a negative argument thus There is no Scripture can be produced from whence without manifest injury to the Holy Ghost this can be drawn by any tolerable consequence that by vertue of Christs death all the Elect are ipso facto invested with Christs righteousnesse and are actually

and are said to be in him that they are called his sheep children before they believe which savours of this notion more then mine making them one person in Christ before they had a being sure then their personality by him is swallowed up in the person of the Son of God if he can finde them being existing and actually justified as one person with him before they have either being or faith He saith that this is called a mystical and spiritual union because it is secret and invisible apprehended by faith and not by sense and reason surely this is not only apprehended by faith but it is made and is a formal effect of faith the Spirit worketh this faith by which we are united to Christ And it hath hitherto been the unanimous Doctrine of all our Divines that this mystical union is made by faith which Mr. Eyre opposeth and will have it to be antecedent to it I will instance in a few Mr. Reynolds in his Sermon upon the Life of Christ pag. 450. saith Consider further the formall effects of faith which is to unite a man unto Christ by meanes of which union Christ and we are one body and being thus united the death and merit of Christ is ours So pag. 478. Consider faith in its inherent properties so it is not more noble then the rest that is then other graces but consider it as an instrument appointed by God for the most noble offices so it is the most superlative and excellent grace The first of these offices saith he is to unite to Christ and give possession of him the Apostle prayes for the Ephesians Eph. 3.17 that Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith And a little after This union to and communion with Christ is on our part the work of faith which is as it were the spiritual joynt and ligament by which Christ and a Christian are coupled John 14.19 In one place saith he We are said to live by Christ Because I live ye shall live also in another by faith How by both by Christ as the Fountain by Faith as the Pipe conveighing water to us from the fountaine by Christ as the Foundation by Faith as the Cement and in answer to an Objection pag. 479. Mr. Reynolds Life of Christ do not other graces joyne a man to Christ as well as Faith Vnion is the proper effect of love therefore we are one as well by loving him as by believing in him To this saith he I answer Love makes a moral union in affections but Faith makes a mysticall union and a little after pag. 480. Between Gods love and ours comes faith to make us one with Christ And then the second Office of Faith he saith is to justifie in the same place So Mr. Shepherd in his Sound Believer pag. 111. Look as disunion is the disjunction or separation of divers things one from another so union is the conjunction or joyning of them together that were before severed Hence that act of the Spirit in uniting us to Christ can be nothing else but the bringing back the soul unto Christ or the conjunction of the soul unto Christ and into Christ by bringing it back to him that before lay like a dry bone separated from him Thus 1 Cor 6. ●7 He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit with him John 6.35 the Spirit therefore brings us to the Lord Christ and so we are in him Now the coming of the soul to Christ Heb. 3.12 what is it but Faith our union therefore is by Faith not without it for by it we that were once separated from him by sin John 6 37. and especially by unbelief are now come not only unto him as unto the loadstone but which is most near into him and so grow one with him c. I speak not this as if we were united to Christ without the Spirit on his part for the conjunction of things severed must be mutuall if it be firme I only shew that we are not united before faith by the Spirit unto Christ but that we are by faith wrought by the Spirit whereby on our part we are first conjoyned unto him and then on his part he by the person of his Spirit Perkins 1 Vol. Chap. 36 order and causes of damnation pag. 78. is most wonderfully united to us So Mr. Perkins after he had shewed that the whole person of every faithful man is verily conjoyned with the whole person of our Saviour Christ God and man he saith the manner of their union is this A faithful man first of all and immediately c. The bond of this union is this this union is made by the Spirit of God applying Christ unto us and on our parts by faith receiving Christ Jesus offered to us And for this cause it is termed a spirituall union So page 299. in his Exposition of the Creed shewing that the mystical union makes us one with Christ and this is by the Spirit he saith Hence the bond of this conjunction is one and the same Spirit descending from Christ the Head to all his Members creating also in them the instrument of faith whereby they apprehend Christ Perkins 2 Vol. in his Ep st Gal. 3.27 pag. 265. and make him their own So Mr. Perkins in his second Vol. propounds this Question How are all Believers made one with Christ Where he makes them only and never till then subjects of this union Answ By a Donation on Gods part whereby Christ is given unto us and by a receiving on our part and a little after addeth that faith is our hand to receive Christ and this receiving is done by a supernatural act of the minde whereby we believe Christ with his benefits to be ours And to this purpose Amesius in his Medulla Theolo Receptio Christi est quà Christus oblatus homini conjungitur Amesius in Medulla Theo. cap. 26. de voca Num. 17.18 l. 1. p. 118. 2 Cor. 5.17 Gal 3.27 homo Christo Joh 6.56 In me manet ego in eo Hujus conjunctionis respectu nos dicimur esse in Christo induisse Christum inhabitari à Christo Ephes 3.17 c. Num. 26 Receptio activa est elicitus actus fidei quâ vocatus jam totus in Christum recumbit ut suum Servatorem per Christum in Deum The receiving of Christ is that whereby Christ offered is united to man and man to Christ He abideth in me and I in him John 6.56 Joh. 6.56 In respect of this conjunction we are said to be in Christ to put on Christ and Christ to dwell in our hearts this active receiving of Christ is an elicite act of faith whereby he that is called doth now wholly rely on Christ as his Saviour and by Christ on God John 3.15 16. I may spare paines of relating any more testimonies of such a known truth and yet Mr. Eyre will have this

faith which is his before the imputation of it is made to him and that is imputed for righteousnesse that is that act of Faith relatively considered is that that gives him a title to Christs righteousness and so that that is due to Christ is attributed to the act and hence that is said to be imputed for righteousnesse Now that Christ without faith justifies not I prove by these follow arguments 1. If Christs righteousnesse will not profit a man without faith the● Christ alone separated from faith doth not justifie But Christs righteousnesse will not profit any man without faith Therefore c. The Major carries sufficient light The assumption is proved because Christ saith to the Jewes John 8.24 John 6. If ye believe not ye shall die in your sins and Ye will not come unto me that ye might have life where though there be righteousnesse in Christ to justifie he saith If they believe not they shall die in their sins and He that believeth not shall be damned there was life in Christ but for want of coming or believing they did not partake of it I am not ignorant what Mr. Eyre will answer as I conceive to this That Christs righteousnesse will not profit him that is a final unbeliever and that Faith is a consequent condition of Salvation but not an antecedent means to apply Christs righteousnesse To this I answer that the Scripture speaketh of unbelievers indefinitely He that believeth not shall be damned and therefore it is understood of all unbelievers so long as they abide such they are under condemnation Let Mr. Eyre produce one Scripture that holds forth an unbeliever the subject of Justification or one instance of a justified unbeliever and if final unbelief will hinder salvation then temporall unbelief may hinder the application of it for the time present and so long as he continueth an unbeliever it is of the same nature with final unbelief because it keepeth the soul from coming unto Christ for life To the second exception that it is a subsequent not antecedent condition of Justification I answer by a second Argument thus 2. If Christs righteousnesse be the end of faith and is obtained by faith then it is antecedent unto the Application of it But it is the end of faith and obtained by it The Assumption only needeth proof and yet the Apostle expressely affirmeth it Rom. 20.10 With the heart man believeth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation And To him that believeth it shall be imputed to him for righteousnesse that is Christ apprehended by faith shall be imputed to him for righteousnesse It is not said man believeth with the heart to the manifestation of righteousnesse but unto righteousnesse righteousnesse being that which he attaineth by believing and hence salvation is called the end of faith 1 Pet. 1.9 receiving the end of your faith the salvation of your souls and life is made the end of believing John 20.31 John 20 3● These things are written that ye might believe and that believing ye might have life through his Name not that ye might know ye had life before ye believed but that believing ye might have life and Christ is the end of the Law for righteousnesse to every one that believeth God did therefore cause the Law to be delivered that by the knowledge of mens sinfulnesse manifested by the Law they might flie to Christ for righteousnesse 3. If no man have eternal life but such as eat Christs flesh and drink his blood then no man antecedently to faith hath eternall life and by consequence Christ justifieth not without faith But no man hath eternal life but he that eats his flesh and drinks his blood Therefore The Assumption are the words of Christ John 6.53 Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood ye have no life in you where Christ compareth himself to food Now as food though never so good nourisheth not unless we eat and drink it and it be incorporated into our body and become one with us so unlesse we thus eat Christ c. that is unlesse we feed upon his death and sufferings by faith and apply them by faith so as to be one with him we cannot live by Christ where observe Christ is the Food Faith is the Hand to take this Food and the Mouth to eat it without which this food will do us no good so here therefore he hath no life and an unbeliever hath not yet eaten 4. Such whose mindes and consciences are defiled are not justified but the mindes and consciences of all unbelievers are defiled The Major appeareth because when Christ justifieth he * Heb. 10.22 purgeth from an evil conscience The Minor is expressed * Tit. 1.15 where he speaketh indefinitely of unbelievers and therefore it is understood of all 5. Such whose persons are abominable who are Reprobates to good works are unjustified such are unbelievers for he speaketh there indefinitely of all unbelievers Having then proved Justification not to be before faith I shall now prove the instrumentality of Faith unto Justification and the consistency of it with the free grace of God For the right understanding whereof we must know what an instrumental cause is and wherein the nature of it consists and whether an instrumental cause be in the number of true causes and to what it is reducible and then apply it to faith Now we must know that an instrument hath divers significations I will not trouble the Reader with all sometimes it is taken for any thing which is moved and directed by a superior agent thus the Platonists take it and according to this acceptation every agent but God is an instrument and God alone in this sense is the principal efficient cause of all things and thus Isaiah the Prophet seemeth to take it Isaiah ●0 15 when he calleth the King of Assyria Gods Axe and his Saw in respect of God that used him for the destruction of the Nations and in this sense all causes as they depend upon GOD in their working are instruments but we take it not in this sense 2. To omit the rest an instrument according to the vulgar and usual acceptation of it is any thing that is used by the superiour agent moving and directing it to the production of an effect superior to it self for if it be proportionated to the effect it is not an instrument but an efficient principal cause And I conceive five things are required to an instrumentall cause First That it be a necessary antecedent to the effect not a consequent of it and I say a necessary antecedent to distinguish it from a contingent antecedent not that the whole nature of an instrumental cause consists in this for a thing may be a necessary antecedent and yet not a cause of the thing as the opening of a mans eyes is a necessary antecedent to sight but not a cause of sight

in heavenly places but how in Christ thus the believing R●manes were first b Rom. 11.24 cut off from their old stock the wilde Olive they grew upon and were graffed into the new Olive-tree before they could be partakers of the root and fatness of the Ol●ve-tree and their being graffed in did precede their being partakers of the root and fatnesse of the Olive-tree And he that hath but the first-fruits of reason must acknowledge this and take one place for all to shew that all the benefits that come by Christ follow upon our union to Christ In the c 1 Cor. 1.30 1 Cor. 1.30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us wisdome and righteousnesse sanctification and redemption So that first we are in him before he is made of God unto us wisdome righteousnesse c. Now I come to the third particular and that is to shew you that before actual faith there is no actual union to Christ and so no spiritual communion with him in his death not actuall hope of eternal life Now for the fuller vindicating of this Proposition and what I have hereafter laid down in the defence of it against Mr. Eyre's Exceptions or Cavils rather I referre the Reader to the following discourse where I will purposely undertake this taske because I intend here only to give the world a sight of that naked truth as it was delivered without any variation from it that the world may see what reason Mr. Eyre had to condemne it as Heterodox To return then to the Proposition delivered That before actual faith there can be no actual union with Christ That which some imagine of an union with Christ from eternity and an union with Christ upon the Crosse when he stood as a common person if they understand it of an actual union and implantation into Christ and not of a relative respect and virtual union which yet is an union improperly so called that which they affirme is very irrational for that union which is the mystical union between Christ and a Believer by which we have spiritual communion with Christ in his death is the formall effect of faith by meanes of which Christ and we are made one d Eph. 5.23 1 Cor. ●0 7 body and this union necessarily requireth the consistence of the persons united for that union whereby Christ and we are united is such an union whereby the person of a Believer is united to the person of Christ I called it not a personall union though it be an union of persons and although I explained my self so in my conference with him after the Sermon yet he is not ashamed to tell the world I hold our union with Christ to be a personall union but of this hereafter Now this actual union whereby the person of a Beleever is united to the person of Christ necessarily requires the pre-existence of his person and the antecedency of his faith And therefore when it is said that God e Eph. 1.4 chose us in Christ that is not to be understood as if we were then existentes in Christo or actually united but it sheweth us Gods order how he purposes to bring us unto holinesse that is through Christ or for Christs sake this being an immanent and eternall action it could not leave any present effect upon us who had no actuall but a mentall existence only in Gods minde and therefore we could not be actually united for neither Christ as yet had assumed our nature into the unity of his Person which was to lay the foundation of the union of our persons unto Christ although I deny not but the Patriarchs before Christ were really united by faith before the assumption of the humane nature Besides union to Christ is a thing accidental as to the nature of man now an accident is not nor cannot be without its subject where let the Reader observe the forgery of Mr. Eyre that which I spake of union with Christ he applies to imputation of righteousnesse For * Where I take inesse or esse in alio quatenus opponitur substantiae quae per se subsistit latè non strictè sed pro omni accidentali informatione in ordine al substantiam sive sit per modum inh●rentiae adjacentiae sive essendi c. Accidentis esse est inesse now the Believer being the person united and so a subject of this union how can union which is an accident subsist without man that is the subject exist And besides it is a known rule Non entis nulla sunt accidentia nullae sunt affectiones how can any thing be truly predicated of that which is not Besides it is against another Principle in reason and unlesse we will betray our reason to become beasts we cannot submit to this new Creed Omnis actio fit per contactum All action is by some contact which holds good in this supernatural action for by faith we touch Christ not by any local contiguity but by a spirituall contact and apprehension whereby Christ is said to dwell in our hearts Now having proved à priori that the Elect before faith are not united to Christ let us à posteriori see if the same truth will not be concluded from the proper effect of union with Christ which is communion with him in his death unto justification that the Elect are not united before faith Such then as are actually united to Christ are actually justified But a man is not justified actually before faith Therefore neither united to Christ As for Infants their case is of a peculiar consideration God by his Spirit supplying what is wanting through the imbecillity of their age and hence the Spirit working semen fidei and apprehending them though they cannot apprehend Christ I question not their union to Christ and the imputation of his righteousnesse to their justification but we speak now de adultis that none that are of years sufficient are justified without actual faith Now that we are not justified by an immanent act of God from eternity nor immediately from the time of Christs death without some act of ours intervening for the application of Christs righteousnesse to justification will appear 1. From such Scriptures which require an act of faith to go before our justification and the remission of sins Acts 16.31 f Acts 16.31 Believe in the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved the Jaylors question was not What shall I do to be quieted in conscience and assured that I am justified and in a state of salvation but What shall I doe to be saved I see my lost damnable estate how shall I doe to be saved With the heart g Rom. 10.10 man believeth unto righteousnesse and with the mouth confession is made to salvation where you see righteousnesse is obtained by faith and made the end h 1 Pet 1.9 of believing as the Apostle expressely elsewhere calleth salvation the end of our faith

Christ apprehended and applied by faith not by any new act of Gods will I dare not determine but pardoned he is and justified he is his state is truly changed and that coram Deo in the sight of God and a new relative relation there is in God to this person as a Father a great change wrought in the sinner but none at all in God and the Believer is the subject upon whom this act of God passeth Acts 13.39 Acts 16.31 Rom. 4.24 John 8.24 John 3.36 16. John 17.20 he is the adequate subject of it for all Believers are thus justified and none but Believers God did not will that our sins should be immediately forgiven but mediately by faith as in John 3.16 Gods end in giving Christ was that only Believers should have benefit by his death and John 17.20 Christ prayeth for them that believe on him and surely he had the same intentions in his death that he had in his intercession And I added that the sinnes of Believeres were laid upon Christ thus Christ was made sin for us 2 Cor. 5.21 Isa 53.16 that knew no sin and the Lord laid upon him the iniquities of us all and by the merits and satisfaction of Christ imputed we are accounted just and so are acquitted before God as righteous Hence God is said to be in Christ reconciling the world to himself not imputing their transgressions to them 2 Cor. 5. and we are said to be justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Jesus Rom. 3.24 25. 1 Cor. 1.30 Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood And Christ is made to us righteousnesse wisdome sanctification and redemption I shall now come to enquire what is meant by an immanent act and whether Justification were from eternity and what is meant by a transient act First Then by an immanent act I understand such an act as is terminated in agente in the agent and not in any thing without it There are some actions which do remain in God and are terminated in himself being confined in his own breast within the compasse of his own understanding and will not but that they may have an external object but nothing in these immanent acts hath any thing without them for the subject or terme As for example a man may purpose and intend to do something in his minde and heart as to relieve a poor mans wants this thought and purpose of heart is an immanent action and so long as it remaines in his minde and breast and he reveal it not and do not yet act accordingly this is yet an immanent action and the poor man is not yet actually the better for it but if he declare his minde and doth practise what he intended here is a transient act for now he doth outwardly expresse and performe what he did inwardly purpose Now the poor man is comforted and his wants actually relieved Let us referre this to God there are some Cabinet secret thoughts and purposes in God from eternity about justifying a sinner through the righteousnesse of Christ apprehended and applied by faith which Christ God will prepare and give to procure a sufficient righteousnesse and will also give faith to the sinner to believe on Christ for salvation Such thoughts as these are were in the minde of God from eternity these thoughts were immanent acts in God and work no present change upon the sinner who had no being from eternity and untill God do actually declare and fulfill the thoughts of his heart the sinner is not justified but only God really intends it Secondly There are actions in God which passe from God upon the creature and do work a change and alteration upon the creature and these we call transient actions when therefore God doth not only declare by his Gospel what his thoughts were to his Elect in pardoning them through faith in Christ but doth in time give Christ for them and them to Christ by drawing their hearts unto Christs by faith now God actually performes the thoughts of his heart and as he intended upon believing to justifie them for Christs sake so now as soon as he hath brought them to faith he doth actually forgive them all their sins justifie their persons and accept them as righteous in Christ Now of this sort are all Gods actions that relate to man except Predestination which is an immanent act of God and all the rest Justification Sanctification Adoption are transient acts of God for all these imply a positive change in the creature and do put something either physically or morally into the justified adopted sanctified c. But concerning Predestination Tritum est in Scholis eam nihil ponere in Praedestinato It is generally received by the Schoolmen that Predestination puts nothing into the predestinate or makes no present change indeed virtually it is the cause of all those transient actions that are done in time And * Aquin. p. 1. q. 13. artic 2. c. Aquinas gives a reason of it Quia Praedestinatio est pars Providentiae Providentia verò non est in rebus provisis sed est quaedam ratio in intellectu provisoris Because Predestination is a part of Divine Providence Now Providence is not in the things foreseen or provided for but is a certain purpose or counsel in the understanding of the foreseer And hence all our Divines are wont cautelously to distinguish between the decree and the execution of the decree they grant the Decree hath no cause but the free will and wise prudence of God but the Execution of the Decree depends upon faith because Pardon Reconciliation is granted to none but Believers Let me adde in the third place that an immanent action is from eternity and is the same with Gods Essence for whatsoever is in God is God but a transient action is the same with the effect produced Hence Gods Decrees are as Mr. Burgesse * Mr. Burgesse Justifi p. 168. rightly observes the same with his nature for an act of Gods understanding or will is not any thing distinct from his understanding or will but the very same with it * Scheib Met l. 2. ca. 3. De Deo p. 137. Actus vitales Dei ut est ejus intellectio volitio habent ibi realem identitatem ad essentiam divinam All vital actions in God as his understanding and will are have a reall identity or samenesse with his Divine Essence for otherwise the simplicity of Gods nature would be overthrown therefore though we may conceive distinctly of them yet they are not really distinguished in God But now in transient actions it is otherwise for they are the same with the effect produced Mr. Eyre will have it to be an immanent action done from eternity not a transient act done in timo Gods transient act in creating is Creation and in justifying is Justification By this that hath been said it appeareth