unto the Will of the Creator 2. The Law of Nature scil The Impression of the Will of the Creator concerning the creatures stamped upon them from the beginning by virtue of those imperative effectual words Let there be and it was so Gen. 1.3.5.7.9 Hence they are said to have received a Command Job 38.12 To keep covenant with God Jer. 31.6 and 33.20.25 Knowest thou the Ordinances of the Heaven canst thou set the Dominion thereof in the Earth Job 38.23 i.e. The constant Order and Reason of the Motion of the Heavens 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which their Maker hath fixed in them as a Law or Statute according to which they move and act 3. A Propensness of Nature which is a Principle to do according to that Law of Nature In things that have not life it is called an inclination The Sparks flye upward Job 5.7 The Sun knoweth his going down Psal 104.19 In things that have life it is called an instinct whereby some living creatures by instigation of nature act as if they had reason Prov. 6.6 30.24 God ordinarily governeth the creature according to the Law of Nature extraordinarily according to his good pleasure above the course of nature i. e. answerable to the Decree but not according to the Law of Nature as in case of Miracles and Monsters Gods Government of the reasonable creature is his actual ordering Angels and men according to his Decree with such relation unto the Moral Law as containeth them in the acknowledgement thereof by way of obedience or in case of disobedience subjects them unto the curse annexed thereunto The creatures reasonable and unreasonale always are ordered according to the Decree the unreasonable creature ordinarily also is ordered according to its rule man by reason of sin often erreth from his rule God prescribes unto the reasonable creature a rule having in the Creation enabled the Angels in their proper persons man in Adam to yeild obedience unto that rule rewarding obedience according to the Promise either by way of Merit as in the first or by way of Grace as in the second Covenant and punishing disobedience according to the curse Those Nations who are without the Law that is without the written Word of God owe obedience unto the Law being in Adam the root of man-kind created after the image of God Quibus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nunquam fuit revelatum tales damrabuntur non propter fidem non praestiram vel propter neglectam conditionem sed propter Legi◠vel Naturae vel Scriptae violationem vel propter peccatum ac reatum quibus ab utero sunt abnoxii Spanh Ex de grat Sect. 25. N. 13. and contained in the Covenant of Works Such Nations shall be judged according to the Moral Law for their disobedience thereunto For this cause the Prophets do not only denounce judgement to those who have that Law written though unto such the greater punishment is due For he that knoweth his Lords will and doth it not shall be beaten with many stripes Luke 12.47 But also to the Gentiles who had not the written Law Jer. 10.25 Jeremiah causeth not only Jerusalem but every other Nation there mentioned to drink of the Wine-cup of the Fury of the Lord Jer. 15.15 Writs of Execution are given out against the Ammonites Ezek. 21.28 and Chapt. 25. ◠Against Moah and Seir ver 8. Against Edom. 12. Against the Philistins 12. Against Tyrus Chap. 26 27. Against Zidon Chap. 28.20 Against Egypt Chap. 29.32 Against Assyria Chap. 31. Against Babylon Jer. 50. 51. Against Gog. Ezek. 38. Whence also it is That not only the Jews such as have heard of the written Word of God but likewise the Gentiles which have not heard of the Word of God are reserved unto the Judgement of the great Day Rom. 2.6.9 John 5.28 29. and 1 Cor. 6.2 Do you not know that the Saints shall judge the world then the World shall be judged Those that have the Law and Gospel written owe obedience to the Law and Gospel As many as have sinned in the Law shall be judged by the Law Rom. 2.12 that is Their condemnation will be aggravated because they have sinned against greater light John 15.22 Matth. 11.22 The Elect who in this life both disobey and obey the Rule are for their disobedience punished in their Surety according to the Curse annexed to the Precept and chastened in themselves God truly testifieth against sin and unto duty makes due provision for his own glory and just difference between obedience and disobedience so as the disobedient have always cause of repentance and fear the obedient of encouragement their obedience being rewarded according to the Promise annexed to the Precept So far as the Elect yeild obedience to the Rule they are ordered according to the Decree and the Rule wherin the Elect and Reprobate transgress the Rule even in those violations thereof they are contained in respective and just subjection thereunto and fulfil the Decree The reasonable creatures obeying is ordered and governed according to the Decree and the Rule The reasonable creature disobeying is ordered and governed according to the Decree The Effectual Concurse of the first Cause with the second What the Concurse of the first cause with the second is is an external transient influence of God upon the creature in time exactly answering to the Decree of God before time moving upon co-working with and assisting of the second cause to its operations It is the clearer understood by considering on Gods part the Decree which is an immanent and eternal act abiding in God and his efficiency which is an external and passing act put forth upon the creature in time For the better understanding of the Concurse Co-operation and Co-working of the first cause so far as it concerneth man which also is respectively applicable to other Subjects there are considerable two acts in respect of God viz. an immanent and transient act and two acts in respect of the soul viz. a first and a second act The immanent and as it were indwelling Act in God is his Decree eternal increated and before time The transient Act of Gods Efficiency is a created external passing Act of the Spirit of God upon the soul in time touching man The first act is an active Principle or inherent Habit in the soul The operation is the second act proceeding from that Habit. The Concurse of the first cause is unto the active principle in the second cause as the first mover is unto the inferiour Orbes as an impulse thrust or put on is unto a round body of it self propense to rowl as the Nurses lifting the child up the stairs is unto the child inclined to go up or as the leading power put forth of him that goeth before is to him that is inclined to follow after as the Midwife is unto the deliverance of her that is in travail The Necessithereof in respect of the second cause
God governeth according to his Law nor how his Word and Works of Providence do agree the error is in our Judgment not in his Government We know that God is just in all his ways though the reason of the Justice of some of his ways we know not That Gods Word and his Works agree is manifest unto us though how they agree is sometimes hidden from us The seeming defects of Beauty or Justice in the Works of God proceed from the error of our understanding not from any want in Providence The offence that man takes at the Providence of God is taken not given A preservative against temptations arising from difficulties concerning the Justice of the Government of God is to captive Reason unto Faith and to hold these three Conclusions firm though we see not the reason of the premisses 1. That God is righteous Righteous art thou O Lord when I plead with thee yet let me talk with thee of thy Judgments Jer. 12.1 2. That godliness doth us good and no hurt Truly God is good to Israel even to such as are of a clean heart Psal 73.1 3. That sin doth us hurt and no good Though a sinner doth evil an hundred times and his days be prolonged yet surely I know that it shall be with well them that fear God which fear before him But it shall not be well with the wicked neither shall he prolong his days which are as a shadow because he feareth not before God Eccles 8.12 13. Obj. Some things in Scripture are ascribed unto Chance Eccles 9.11 Luke 10.31 therefore all things are not ordered by God Ans Chance is taken for an Event Túxn non legitur in N. T. Fortuna gentilium est blasphemia quam Diabolus expuit in divinaÌ„ providentiaÌ„ unde bea uÌ„ AugustinuÌ„ paenituit se toties impiâ hac voce usum fuisse supposed to fall out by a meer contingent efficiency or casual working of the second cause besides the intent and therefore without the Efficiency of the first Cause Such Events the Heathens ascribed unto Fortune in this sence there is no Chance It is not unworthy our observation that the word properly signifying Fortune is not used in the New Testament Or else Chance is taken for such an Event good or bad as falleth or meeteth a man in his way unlooked for viz. unexpectedly in respect of men but not unintendedly in respect of God The word used Ecclesiast 9. verse 11. is translated an occurrent 1 Kings 5.4 a Metaphor taken from something meeting of a man or one meeting another upon the way unexpectedly So that Solomons scope in the place objected is to shew that the event of humane affairs is not in the power of man however furnished thereunto with second helps but depends upon the Decree and efficient Providence of God This the Wise-man holdeth forth by an enumeration of some particulars whence as by several instances God would teach this truth by denying success to such persons who according to second causes might expect it and giving it to them who according to second causes could not expect it I returned and saw under the Sun that the race is not to the swift nor the battel to the strong neither yet bread to the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favor to men of skill but time and chance happeneth to them all Eccles 9.11 The word used Luke 10.31 and translated it chanced is of the same signification with the Hebrew word used Eccl. 9.11 turned Chance and with that vers 2. turned Event 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aeb Heb. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 unde 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Pisc in loc from the root whereof the Greek word is by some thought to come it is taken for a good event Ruth 2.3 for a bad event 1 Sam. 6.9 Those things that fall out casually or necessarily in regard of the second cause fall out alike infallibly and therefore alike intendedly in regard of Gods Decree Those effects which proceed from second necessary causes as heat from fire are said to fall out necessarily Those effects which proceed from second contingent causes that is such whose effects in respect of their second cause was likely not to be as to be as namely the elicit acts i. e. the free choyce of the will or the tyle falling from the house to alight upon the head of the passengers are said to fall out casually These modifications or qualifications of things namely Necessity and Contingency as they stand opposed one unto another are only found in things in respect of the second causes not in respect of the first Cause Those things which fall out most necessarily in regard of the second cause in respect of the first cause they may be said to fall out freely rather then necessarily In like manner those things which fall out contingently in regard of second causes upon supposition of the Decree so predetermining them may be said to fall out necessarily No necessary act of the creature is necessary simply an experiment whereof is the Babylonish furnace Every contingent act of the creature is necessary upon the supposition of the Decree The same effect is contingent and casual in respect of the second cause and necessary in respect of the Decree Contingent or casual because in respect of the natural agency or causality of the second cause it might not have been but necessary in respect of the Decree all whose volitions infer a necessity of infallibility The Doctrine of the Efficiency of God affords an Antidote or Preservative against many pestilent Errors concerning the Providence of GOD The Vse of this Doctrine The chief whereof are 1. Atheism concluding from the seeming disorder of second causes that there is no God 2. Epicurism concluding from the appearing confusion of humane affairs that God neither governs nor regards them and thereupon looks at it as the only good to take its fill of pleasure during life 3. Stoicism Non Deus est numen parcarum carceclausum Qâ—ale putabatâ—r stâ—icus esse Deus which maketh the first Cause to be depending upon and determined by the second causes in respect of their operations 4. Such who ascribe the administration of things unto Fortune that is neither unto the irresistable order of the second cause with the Stoicks nor unto God with the Truth but unto that blind Idol devised by the Heathen and justly censured to be the spittle of the Devil upon the face of divine Providence 5. Libertinism denying the Efficiency of the second cause and thereby introducing that Chaos of confusion and transgression Bellar. de amiss grat stat pec lib. 2. cap. 18. Vasquez in 3. disp 14. cap. 8. ex Twiss câ—im 3 Suarez Mâ—taph disp 22. Sect. 2. of which before 6. The Doctrine of the Jesuites who albeit they teach the concurrence of the first cause to be necessary unto each operation of the second cause yet so as
they who apply their Sermons and writings to Popular capacity may still keep within the compass of exact Truth and they do most good intensively The Holy â—host by Paul giveth the People of God an holy warning See that ye walk circumspectly or as the word is exactly Ephes 5.15 Now if the Rule of a Christian life be walk exactly Surely the Rule of a Scribe taught to the Kingdom of God and gifted for it is write exactly There be some of good judgment who interpret the four Creatures in Revel 4.7 to hold forth the four sorts of Officers in the Church The Lyon for his Courage and Power the Ruling Elder The Ox for his patience and labor in treading out the Corn the Pastor The Man for his Prudence in ordering the humane outward affairs of the Church the Deacon The Eagle for his soaring aloft and quick in sight into remote and hidden things the Teacher How well therefore doth it become this our Reverend Brother the Teacher of an intelligent people the Church at Ipswich to lanch forth into the deep as Christ biddeth his Disciples Luk. 5.4 To spie out and discover the secret and abstruse mysteries of the Kingdom of God Moreover that which adorneth the exactness of the matter of this discourse is Pithy Brevity compacting as many things as words together that as it was the constant desire and affectation and expression of Dr Preston to live long in a little time So it appeareth to be the serious care and endeavour of this our beloved Brother to speak much in few words The Schoolmen though they be none of the soundest Divines yet of late years have crept for a time into more credit amongst Schools then the most judicious and Orthodox of our best new writers Luther Calvin Martyr Bucer and the rest and their books were much more vendible and at a far greater price But what or wherein lay their preheminence Not in the light of Divine Grace whereof most of them were wholly destitute nor in their skill in Tongues and Polite Literatur wherein they were Barbarians nor in their deeper insight into the holy Scriptures in which they were far less conversant then in Peter Lumbard and Aristotle but in their rational disputes with distinct Solidity and Succinct brevity But in the mean time they corrupted the whole body of Divinity with many curious and unprofitable questions with many Philosophical falsly so called and vain Notions and with many subtil devices to uphold the Church of Rome in their then prevailing Antichristian Apostacy What was unsound and corrupt in the Schoolmen our Brother by the guidance of Christ hath faithfully and Religiously avoyded what was commendable and desireable he hath through grace not so much imitated as exceeded Opening the principal heads of Divinity with more then rational evidence even with Scripture light and all with such distinct Solidity as may both clear the understanding and satisfie the Judgment yea and by grace establish the faith of the diligent Reader and that with such Succinct Brevity as avoydeth at once both Perplexity and obscurity together Amongst other disputes which have much exercised the Schoolmen of old and still do busie the Dominicans and Jesuites concerning the concurse of Grace and Free-will therein the Lord hath led this our Brother with a strong hand to search out and declare the abstruse mysteries thereof with such holy Dexterity as that if the dissenting parties were as willing to hearken to the Oracles of God speaking in the Scriptures and opened in this book as the Romanists have often appealed to the Pope and all in vain for the compounding of this Controversie The Doctrines of Grace would be much more clearly delivered and generally accepted with more peace and truth not only amongst them but amongst Protestants also yea and even such Protestants as excell in holiness and knowledg and yet seem and but seem to vary though Logically yet not Theologically in some doctrines of Grace may through grace either judg and speak all one thing or at least condescend placide ferre contrasentientes mildely to bear with difference of judgment in such a case And as for such Protestants as follow Bellarmine and Fevardentius in extenuating the bitterness of the Soul-sufferings of Christ from any sense of spiritual Desertions as if such pangs were incompatible to his pure and innocent Nature and Life I trust the Lord will give them to discern by another book of this Author treating purposely of that Argument the more bitter the cup was which he drank up for us the deeper was the guilt of our sin and the greater was the measure of his Love towards us And unless the whole guilt of our sins be imputed to him and his perfect obedience to the Law be imputed to us we shall fall short both of the matter and form of our justification Now the God of all Grace and Peace and Truth bless these gracious Endevors of his Servant to the free passage of his Truth and Peace in the hearts and Judgments of his Churches and People through our Lord Jesus JOHN COTTON Boston 20 Sept. 1652. CHAP. I. Of the Divine Essence THough nothing is more manifestly known then that God is yet nothing is more difficultly known then what God is Philosophy is here dumb or worse Simonides being asked what God was Cicero de natura deor lib. 1. asketh a days time to answer the question At that days end he asketh two at the end of these two he asketh four and so often doubling the time being asked the reason thereof Because saith he the longer I study the difficulter I find the question We in this life only see his back-parts Exod. 33.23 viz. what he hath revealed of himself in his Word and Works according to our manner and measure So much we see of him that we may live more we cannot see of him and live To see him as he is is reserved to glory God in his Word revealeth himself to be Iehovah Elohim i. e. one God subsisting in three Persons Though Essence and Subsistence that is the divine Nature and the Trinity of Persons in that Nature are the same thing they being distinguished not as a Being and a Being but as the manner of a Being or thing is distinguished from the Being or thing it self yet for the help of our apprehension God being pleased so far to condescend to our capacity as delighting to be understood by us we first consider of the Essence then of the Subsistence The Essence of God absolutely considered is that one pure and meer act by which God is God Because through weakness of our understanding we cannot apprehend it in any measure by one act it hath pleased God to give unto himself many Names and Attributes by the help of which we may the better conceive thereof The Hebrew Names more especially tending to this purpose are observed by Authors to be about ten in number 1. Iehovah Exod. 6.3 signifying Gods
creature both reasonable and unreasonable is constantly and exactly governed according to the Order of the Decree in the best way to the best end viz. the Glory of the Creatour This Order can no more be violated then God can be disappointed of his Will Man even in violating Gods Command fulfilleth Gods Decree The Order of the Command is either the Law of Nature the Rule of the unreasonable creature whose Government according thereunto see in this Chapter a little after the beginning Or the Moral Law the Rule of the reasonable creature whose subjection thereunto is the greatest difficulty Touching which together with what the Reader may be pleased to recall of that which hath been spoken to this purpose immediately after the place fore-mentioned it may suffice at present to answer this Objection which Answer is yet easily and readily upon occasion applicable unto the Angels so far only as it concerneth the Government of ungoverned man The containing of man in subjection to the Rule is Government The subjection of man to the Rule is either obediential i. e. active-obediential or obligatory and penal Obediential in this sence consists in our yeilding obedience unto the Command Obligatory consists either in our bonds of duty or guilt whereby we stand bound over unto punishment in case of breach Penal consists in our suffering of the punishment denounced in the Curse for our disobedience unto the Command As the obediential subjection of the Saints satisfactory in their surety and gratulatory in their own persons together with their castigative and obligatory obedience respectively demonstrates Gods government of his Saints on the one hand so doth the obligatory and penal subjection of the Reprobate demonstrate Gods government of the wicked on the other hand and of both according to his Word Gods containing of the Saints in an obediential subjection to the Law sheweth his Government of them Gods containing the wicked in obligatory and penal subjection to the Law so as he reserveth them all in the bond of duty and prison of guilt unto the time of Judgment then to suffer the punishment held forth in the Curse proportionable to their disobedience unto the Rule sheweth his Government of them Both shew his Government of all More particularly The principal Objections against the divine Government of all things taken from the pretended disorder of the second Causes are either such as strike at the Wisdom or such as strike at the Justice of the Governor Touching that Objection taken from the seeming disorder of the second causes as striking at the Wisdom of God We are to know that Wisdom is the discerning the right way unto the best End Now that the way of God consisting of Creation and Providence is the best way to the best End is clear first From the natural Justice of God whereby giving unto himself that which is his it is necessary that he doth all his work as becometh such an Agent that is by such means and in such order as is most suitable unto their End Secondly From the end of all things and all events The end of all things is either subordinate viz. the good of the creature looked at in it self Or supream viz. the manifestation of the glory of the Creatour God ordereth things in such a way as though it serveth not most to the good of the creature considered in it self though it be also a truth concerning the Elect that their happiness is included therein yet such as serveth most unto their chief good and last end namely the Manifestation of his own Glory We must distinguish between the Order of the Decree and the Order of the Command Disorder in respect of the Command is Order in respect of the Decree Thus both order and disorder in respect of the Command are order in respect of the Decree The Wisdom of the first cause shineth in the folly of the second cause The Order of the Creatour disposeth of and runneth through the confusion of the creature The face of Providence is oftentimes like unto some picture which if you look upon it on the one side casteth a deformed shape but if you behold it on the other side it presenteth you with a most grateful aspect Faith seeth beauty where reason seeth only confusion What sight more horrid then the sufferings of Christ if looked upon in the wisdom of man few more glorious if beheld in the Wisdom of God He hath made every thing beautiful in its time Eccles 3.11 See more in the seventh Consection of the Doctrine of the Decree Chapter 4. Man was not of the Counsel of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 at the making of the Decree Who hath been his Counseller Rom. 11.34 Neither can man in this life trace God in innumerable steps of his Execution thereof His ways are past finding out ver 33. The Path of a ship upon the Sea after a small space of time is not to be trackt by him that followeth it The way of Providence is a deeper Sea it is as high as Heaven what canst thou do deeper then Hell what canst thou know The measure thereof is larger then the Earth and broader then the Sea Job 11.8 9. Then I beheld all the works of God that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the Sun because though a man labour to seek it out yea further though a wise man think to know it yet shall he not be able to find it Eccles 8.17 Touching those Objections that strike at the Justice of the Governour they are fetched from 1. The Permission of sin as suppose the sin of Adam or of any other hainous transgressions amongst the Sons of men Carnal reason seeing wickedness in the place of judgment and iniquity in the place of righteousness thence inferreth that man hath no preheminence above a beast God regardeth the death of the one no more then of the other that is in way of Government he regardeth neither Eccless 3.16 18. 2. From the deferring of the punishment of man for sin which the wicked abuse as an argument that God taketh no judicial notice of their sin They slay the widow and the stranger and murther the fatherless yet the God to whom vengeance belongeth not shewing himself they say The Lord shall not see it neither doth the God of Jacob regard it Psal 94.6.1.7 3. From things falling out alike to those who are alike Eccles 8.4 and 9.2 Hence carnal reason supposing a man loseth nothing by ungodliness nor gets any thing by godliness concludes all events are casual and that the only Compendium of relief unto man against the temptation of so unequal administration of things is not to care for any thing but to eat drink and to be merry Ecclesiast 8.15 and 9.3 4. From the Adversity of the godly there is a righteous man that perisheth in his righteousness this was Asaps temptation Psal 73. If he were according as some think the Authour thereof Verily