Selected quad for the lemma: judgement_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
judgement_n	evil_a	good_a	sin_n	3,611	5	4.8008	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A69245	The anatomy of Arminianisme: or The opening of the controuersies lately handled in the Low-Countryes, concerning the doctrine of prouidence, of predestination, of the death of Christ, of nature and grace. By Peter Moulin, pastor of the church at Paris. Carefully translated out of the originall Latine copy; Anatome Arminianismi. English	Du Moulin, Pierre, 1568-1658.	1620 (1620)	STC 7308; ESTC S110983	288,727	496

defile that act it must not be said to be from God Man is the effector of sinne God the permitter That act in which there is deformity is naturally good in as much as it is from God but morally euill in as much as it is from man The action in which the sinne is is one thing the deformity of the action in which formally the sinne is is another thing To the action it selfe God doth concurre with man but not to the sinne XVI Neither is God to be blamed that he doth concurre with the creature which hee knoweth will abuse his concurrence and assistance to sinning For mans vice cannot straighten the limits of Gods power nor dissolue that eternall law by which the whole frame of nature doth stand nor pull away that naturall necessity whereby the creature cannot moue it selfe● without the assistance of God So the Soule although it knowes that the body will abuse her mouing power to halting doth not keep back her mouing force or abstaine from the motion of the body Neither will therefore the power of God be diminished in naturall things or his influence cease because in morall things the will of man is disobedient to the law of God Yea God cannot require obedience from the creature vnlesse he should sustaine it and giue to it power of mouing it selfe XVII As the Sunne is not the cause of darkenesse although darkenesse doth necessarily follow the absence of it So God seeing he is the most exact iustice is not the cause of sinne although inordinate affections blindenesse of minde the prauity of the will doe necessarily follow the deniall of the grace of God This is their meaning which say that God is not the efficient but the deficient cause of sin Yet I could wish men would abstaine from this kinde of speaking XVIII Although wicked men doe worke freely and of their owne motion are carried to sinne God not alluring nor forcing them yet it is certaine that the euents which doe follow thence are directed and gouerned by Gods prouidence For as the downefall of the running water inclining to the lower parts may be turned the channell being guided by the diligence of the conueyor so although wicked men of their owne disposition are prone to sinne yet by the prouidence of God and his secret counsell they are inclined to commit this sinne rather then that that they may serue the execution of the iudgements of God when he will vse them either to punish any ones wickednesse or to try the faith of the godly or to stirre vp their sloathfulnesse This similitude Salomon doth vse Prou. 21. The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord as the riuers of waters and hee turnes it whether he will By this meanes as Saint Peter saith Act. 4. The wicked doe whatsoeuer things the hand of God and his purpose had determined to be done Hence it is that God saith Esay 5. that hee will whistle for the remote nations to say waste Iudea And Chap. 10. hee cals Ashur the rod of his wrath Ieroboam seekes after nouelties and doth practise a reuolting from Salomon Ahias the Prophet sent from God doth declare to him the euent of this attempt God did not instill this rebellion into his heart which was before conceiued but hardned his minde which was already euill to the daring this wicked attempt that he might vse the wicked man to punish the sinnes of Salomon and Rehoboam As therefore Horse-leaches applyed to the parts of a sicke man while they satisfie their owne gorge doe performe the intent of the Physitian so wicked men whilest they rage against good men besides their owne intention they further the purpose of God as Esay teacheth in his tenth Chapter where God saith that hee had decreed to vse the King of Assiria to punish the hypocrisie of Israel but that this minde was not in the King being led onely by ambition and desire of prey Thus God vsed the wickednesse of the brethren of Ioseph to keepe famine from his people and the treason of Iudas for the death of Christ and by it for our redemption and the ambition of Augustus Caesar taxing the whole Empire for the bringing of Mary out of Galile to Bethlehem that there shee might be deliuered and so the prophesie of Michai be fulfilled Euen they which resist the commandement of God helpe forward his prouidence and like Rowers which set their backes that way which they goe God by the folly of men doth worke the purposes of his wisedome he doth vse vniust men to the exercising of his iustice as if one with a crooked staffe should strike a straight blow XIX Whensoeuer God letting loose the reines to Sathan doth permit him to tempt any man Sathan truely may allure the appetite by propounding Obiects or trouble the phantasie by the alteration of the humours of the body but he cannot compell the will otherwise the man should not sinne but Sathan Neither could God iustly punish a man for sinne to which hee had beene compelled by an outward cause without his owne inclination XX. But because God when hee would auenge the contumacy of his enemies or punish the sinnes of his owne doth sometimes vse Sathan as his minister the holy Scripture doth attribute one and the same euent both to God and to Sathan So 1 Sam. 16. the euill spirit troubling Saul is said to be from God and 1 Chro. 21. Sathan is said to haue rose vp against Israel and to haue stirred vp Dauid to number the people and 2 Sam. 24. it is attributed to God There God is to be considered as a iust iudge and Sathan as an incitour of the wickednesse By these instructions well conceiued the way of ex●using Saint Austen will easily be found from whom sometimes there fall some speeches which trouble tender eares if they be not moderated with a fit interpretation such is that which he saith of Shemei cursing Dauid in his Booke de Gratia libero arbitrio Cap. 20. What wise man doth vnderstand how the Lord said to this man Curse Dauid For he did not bid him by commanding him that his obedience should be praised bu because God inclined his will which by his owne proper vice was euill to this sinne by his iust and secret iudgement and therefore is it said the Lord bid him And Cap. 22. God worketh in the hearts of men to incline their wils whithersoeuer he will either to good things of his own mercy or to euill things according to their deserts And against Iulian the Pelagian lib. 5. cap. 3. Many other things we might rehearse in which it would plainely appeare that the heart is made peruerse by the secret iudgement of God that the truth which is said might not be heard and so man might sinne that sinne might be the punishment of a former sinne Yea in the same place he doth contend against Iulian that those which are deliuered vp to their owne desires are

a measure to God that he should not sometimes beyond the law made by himselfe giue according to his liberality greater gifts to the worse men This confession I think is cleare enough for if these things be true it cannot be denied but that God by his antecedent will may most loue the worst men seeing that by that antecedent wil he doth giue more good things to them doth bestow on them that grace which he doth deny to others that are lesse euill For it cannot be said that this grace is giuen to the worst men by that will which doth follow mans will seeing that no will of man that is good but euen a most wicked disposition doth goe before the giuing of grace But perhaps God doth this seldome as Greuinchoutus saith besides the law that he hath made Nay he doth this very often and according to the rule declared in the Gospell Where sinne abounded there grace abounded Rom. 5. For so the glory and power of God doth more clearely shine forth by which he doth breake the most hard things and doth rush through all obstacles and where seeming and conceited wisdome or most desperate manners did seeme to hinder the proceedings of the Gospell there hee plants the Gospell and doth propagate it with a more happy successe and greater efficacy CHAP. XXXII Of Free-will The opinions of the parties I. HOw much that purity and integrity in which man was at the first created is deformed by sinne and how the image of Sathan is drawne ouer the image of God we haue taught Chap. 7. Yet a liberty from constraint and physicall necessity hath remained to the will for if the will could be compelled it were not voluntas a will but noluntas a nill vnwillingnes Or if by an externall principle by a naturall and immutable law it should be necessarily determined to one thing it were not a will but either a violent impulsion or a naturall inclination and propension destitute of knowledge and iudgement such as is the inclination of all heauy things to the center of the world For seeing there are three kindes of liberty the first is from constraint and physicall or naturall necessitie the second from sinne the third from misery Man while he is in this present life shall neuer be fully free from sinne and misery but to these two liberties he shall come in the life to come The liberty from constraint and physicall necessity is essentiall to the will and inseperable from it II. The seate of this liberty is in the will because it hath gotten the dominion concerning voluntary actions For although the will in particular actions doth follow the perswasion of the vnderstanding yet the vnderstanding doth not iudge nor deliberate vnlesse it be commanded by the will for the dominion whereof man doth apply himselfe to deliberation and searching out of the truth After the same manner that a blinde Master doth in euery thing obey his seruant leading him and perswading him which seruant notwithstanding doth it that he may obey his Master who will haue himselfe led and admonished by him But seeing the Scripture saith that man is the seruant of sinne Rom 6.17 and sould vnder sinne Rom. 7.14 And dead in sinne Ephes 2.1.5 and Colos 2.13 it is worth the labour to know how farre this liberty of mans will doth extend it selfe as well vnder the estate of sinne and before regeneration as vnder the estate of grace and regeneration III. The will is the reasonable appetite which of his owne nature is alwaies carried to good whether it be good truely or in appearance for it is impossible that one should desire euill as it is euill and not vnder the respect of good IV. The liberty of the will whereby it may will something or not will it is called the liberty of contradiction but the liberty whereby it may will some thing or the contrary of it is called the liberty of contrariety V. Now there are onely two things which wee can will for we either will the end or the meanes to the end the first whereof is called by Aristotle Ethi 3. cap. 4. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the will the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the choise Wee doe absolutely desire the end wee choose the meanes And if any one doth absolutely and without deliberation will some meanes to obtaine the end he doth will that meanes not simply as a meanes but as the end that he might obtain that he doth choose other meanes Now in choosing the will doth follow the iudgement of the practicall vnderstanding vnlesse when the vehement and inordinate actions ouer-ruling doe darken reason or doe resist the iudgement of it Arist Eth. 3. c. 3. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 VI. We call that vnvoluntary which is not onely strained and to which we are compel●ed by force but also that which is done by ignorance VII That which is voluntary diffreth from that which is spontaneus and done of its owne accord because that which is spontaneus doth extend it selfe further then that which is voluntary for euery thing which is voluntary is spontaneus but not contrarily For euen cattell are m●ued of their owne accord and they haue their spontaneus appetites and inclinations but those are done voluntarily which are done with some knowledge and reason whether the reason be right or onely haue a shew of right and truth VIII Arist Eth 3.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And of those things that are done voluntarily some are more voluntary then others For there are some things which one doth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 willing and nilling and slowly as loath to doe them as when the sicke man stretcheth forth his arme to be cut off that the Gangrene might grow no further or as when the Merchant casts his goods into the sea with his owne hands which actions are yet more willingly done because they are done for their good For the lesse euill by which men come to a greater good doth put on the forme of good IX We all doe necessarily will the last chiefe end to wit felicity neither doth the desiring of the last end fall into deliberation For no man can procure from himselfe that he should will himselfe to be miserable But yet we will that end freely because we doe will it without constraint and with knowledge and iudgement whence it commeth to passe that this desiring is not onely spontaneus but also voluntary and therefore free X. Furthermore there are many kindes of humane actions For some are meerely naturall as the contrary motion of the Arteries and beating of the pulse the digestion of nourishment c. Which because they are not in our power nor at mans pleasure the will is neyther occupied about them nor doe they fall within the compasse of Election or deliberation XI Some actions are partly naturall and partly voluntarie as to eate to walke c. Which although they be naturall yet they are

it is not therefore ouerthrowne Our nature is necessarily determined and directed to the desiring of felicity and yet it is not therefore destroyed The will of the Israelites whose hearts God touched that they should cleaue vnto Saul 1 Sam. 10.26 The will of Esau yeelding with a suddaine change to the embracing of his brother Gen. 33. The will of the Thiefe crucified with Christ and of Paul in the very point of conuersion were determined limited to one thing and yet force was not therefore offered to their free-will or their nature destroyed The vehemency of him that is thirstie mouing him to the drinke that is offered is determined and limited to that one thing and yet he doth not therefore cease to be a man nor is his nature therefore ouerthrowne God hath some secret and vnperceiueable meanes by which he can bow mans will the liberty thereof being vntouched An addition to the thirteenth Chapter containing some places that are taken out of the confession of the Churches of France and out of the chiefest Doctors of this age concerning the obiect of Predestination THe twefth Article of the confession of the Church of France is this We beleeue that God out of that corruption and generall curse into which all men were plunged doth free those whom in his eternall and immutable counsell he elected of his meere goodnesse and mercy in our Lord Iesus Christ without the consideration of workes leauing the rest in the same corruption and damnation to shew forth in these his iustice and in them the riches of his mercy For none of them are better then others before God hath separated them c. Iohn Caluin in his Comentary vpon the ninth Chapter of the Epistle to the Romanes speaking of Iacob and Esau in the wombe hath these words God in the defiled nature of man such as was in man could consider nothing whereby be might be induced to doe good to it when therefore he saith that both of them had done neither good nor euill that also is to be added which he doth presuppose to wit that they were both the sonnes of Adam by nature sinners indued not with a mite of righteousnesse Esau was iustly reiected because he was naturally the childe of wrath yet least any scruple should remaine as if his condition had beene the worse for the beholding of any sinne or vice it was expedient that his sinnes should be no lesse excluded then his vertues It is true indeede that the neare cause of reprobation is because we are all cursed in Adam The same Caluin in his Booke of the eternall predestination of God in the beginning of the Epistle which is set before the booke The free Election of God saith he is whereby he adopted to himselfe out of mankinde lost and condemned those whom it seemed good to him Pag. 955. He doth allow the opinion of Saint Austin speaking thus They that are not to perseuere are not seperated by the Predestination and fore-knowledge of God from that masse of perdition and destruction and therefore are not called according to his purpose Pag. 691. I would know if Esay and Iacob should haue beene left to their common nature what good workes God should haue found in Iacob more then in Esau Surely they both by the hardnesse of their stony heart would haue alike refused saluation offered In the same place When Paul tooke that for granted which is incredible to these good Diuines that all men are equally vnworthy that alike corruption of nature is in all men hee thence safely determined that God doth by his free purpose elect whomsoeuer he electeth In the same place that of Austin is most true That those that are redeemed are seperated from those that perish onely by grace whom the common Masse deriued from the same originall had ioyned together to destruction Pag. 965. He doth witnesse that God prepared the vessels of mercy for his glory if this be speciall to the elect it is manifest that the rest are sitted to destruction because being left to their nature they are certainely deuoted to destruction Pag. 970. The Readers are to be admonished that both these are equally condemned by Pighius viz. That God from the beginning when yet the state of man was intire decreed what afterwards should come to passe and that now hee chose out of the perished Masse whom he would He mocketh Austin and all that are like him that is all the godly who doe thinke that God after he fore-knew the vniuersall ruine of mankinde in the person of Adam appointed some to life and some to destruction The same man in his Institutions Lib. 3. Chap. 22. Sect. 1. When Paul teacheth that we were elected in Christ before the creation of the world certainly he doth take away all respect of our owne worth for it is as much as if he should say Because our heauenly father found nothing worthy of Election in the whole seede of Adam he turned his eyes vpon Christ that as it were out of his body he might choose members whom he would after take into the fellowship of life Therefore let this reason preuaile with the faithfull that therefore God adopted vs in Christ to his heauenly inheritance because in our selues we were not capable of this excellency And Section 7. If any one aske from whence God elected he in another place answereth out of the world which he excludeth from his prayers when he doth commend his Disciples to his Father And Chap. 23. Sect. 3. If any one should set vpon vs with these words Why God from the beginning predestinated some men to death who when they were not could not deserue the iudgement of death Instead of an answer we may againe aske them What they thinke God is indebted to man if he will esteeme him according to his owne nature As we are all defiled with sinne we cannot but be odious to God and that not in a tyrannicall cruelty but in the most equall respect of iustice And if all they whom God doth predestinate to death are by a naturall condition obnoxious and subiect to the iudgement of death of what iniustice I pray you of his towards them can they complaine Let all the sonnes of Adam come let them contend and dispute with their Creatour because by his eternall prouidence they were appointed to perpetuall calamity before their generation What could they speake against this defence when as God shall on the contrary side call them to the knowledge of themselues If all are taken out of the corrupted Masse it is no meruaile if they lye vnder damnation Hieronymius Zanchius Miscellan Lib 3. In his Treatise of the Saints at the end of the first Chapter hath these words Generall Predestination that is the predestination of all men is the eternall most wise and immutable decree of God by which he determined with himselfe from eternity first to create all men iust and wise according to his image and likenesse and