the Gospell as appeareth by the objection following Why then doth he complaine For who hath resisted his will And albeit the Saints of God expostulate with him in this manner Why hast thou caused us to erre from thy wayes and hardened our hearts against thy feare Yet we know that God takes no pleasure in disobedience or in the hardnesse of any mans heart nor can be the Authour of evill with Sir Francis Bacons distinction in the booke formerly mentioned by this Authour Non quià non Author sed quià non mali So that albeit he hardens whom he will unto disobedience in the prophet Esayes phrase causeth men to erre from his wayes Yet the Lord himselfe we know is righteous in all his wayes holy in all his workes though we are not able to dive into the gulfe and search out the bottome of his judgments and no marvaile For they are unsearchable Yet we make no question but through Gods mercy convenient satisfaction may be found without any such shaÌ„efull course of dismeÌ„bring scripture and taking notice only of such passages as represent Gods displeasure against sin sinners and dissembling all other passages which drave Austin to confesse occulto Dei judicio by the secret judgement of God fieri perversitatem cordis the perversity of mans heart hath its course much lesse by setting theÌ„ together by the eares And I nothing doubt but the issue will be on the part of such as are of this Authours spirit either wholly to deny originall sin or so to emasculate the vigor of it as to professe that it is in the power of maÌ„ to cure it or notwithstaÌ„ding the strength of it to beleive repeÌ„t if he will which though they preteÌ„d to be wrought by a certain universal grace Yet I nothing doubt but we shall be able to prove that such a power is mere nature and no grace Be it so that wicked men in their wicked courses do chose the things that God would not Who would thinke that this Author who makes such a florish should content himselfe with such beggarly arguments or that the world should be so simple as to be terrifyed with such scar-crowes For is it not apparent that in scripture phrase there is voluntas praecepti a will of commandement as well as voluntas propositi a will signifying Gods purpose and decree So theÌ„ though they chuse the things that God willed not in reference to his will of commandement yet it might be Gods will that is his purpose that even such sinnes should come to passe For was it not the will of God that Pharaoh should not let Israel goe for a while Did he not harden him to this purpose that so he might make himselfe knowne in the land of Egypt by his judgemeÌ„ts did he not reveale this to Moses to the coÌ„fort of the childreÌ„ of Israel keepe theÌ„ from despaire in conteÌ„plation of the obstinacy of Pharaoh's spirit when they were assured that God had an haÌ„d in hardening Pharaoh to staÌ„d out And doth not Bellarmine professe that maluÌ„ fieri permitt sin Deo bonuÌ„ est it is good that evill should coÌ„ to passe by Gods permission And shall it be unbecoÌ„ing the divine nature to will that which is good And where is it that Bellarmine affirmeth this even there where he opposeth the same Doctrine of ours which this Authour doth but with more learning an 100 fold then this Authour betrayeth and withall carryeth himselfe with farre more ingenuity For he takes notice of those places of Scripture whereupon our Divines do build and accommodates himselfe to aswer them by some intepretation that he thinks good to make of them which this Authour doth not 2. But what if there be no such text as this Authour builds upon For looke what the word is used in the originall Ps 5. 4. the same is used Es 66 4 Now that in Ps 5. 4 This Authour renders not that wouldest not iniquity but that hast no pleasure in iniquity And why then shall not that Es 66. 4. be accordingly rendred thus They choose the things wherein I had no pleasure or wherein I had no delight and not as he expresseth it the things that I would not Hereupon I imagined our Enlish tranlation had thus rendred it but consulting that I found the contrary For thus they render it They choose the things wherein I delighted not It is true the Geneva renders it thus But doth it become him to preferre and follow the Geneva translation before the last and most authenticall translation of the Church of England In like manner the practise of Geneva must be of authority to cry us downe in the point of the morality of the fourth commandement Were not the man well knowne to be sound at heart his favourites might well suspect him to praevaricate in making so great a cry and yet yeilding so little wooll In the next place he alleadgeth that of Iames. Let no man say when he is tempted that he is temptedof God For God tempteth no man But every man is tempted when he is drawen away with his owne concupiscence Now Peter Martyr on the first to the Romans deales at large upon this place and disputes strangely indiscoursing of Gods providence in evill I would this Authour had taken the paines to answer him at least that he might performe somewhat tanto dignum hiatu worthy of the great gaping he makes It is true Bellarmine hath taken him to taske after a sort in his eigth chapter of his second book de Amiss gratiae statu peccati And I have replyed upon Bellarmine at large in my Vindiciae in that large digression wherein I take Bellarmine to taske in that book of his whereunto I referre the Reader Yet to say somewhat of this place befor I passe It is apparent that the Apostle in this place doth not so put off from God the workes of tempting as to cast it upon Satan but onely so as to shew that whatsoever the divine providence is there about either by the ministry of Satan who is God's minister in hardening men to precipâ—tate courses I Kings the last or otherwise yet still the sinner is unexcusable for as much as he is then only tempted effectually For so it is to be understood otherwise it were not true as it appeares in the case of Joseph tempted by his Mistris when he is drawen away by his own concupiscence It is true the lust of the flesh the lust of the eyes and pride of life is not of the Father but of the world they are the members of that body of sin which we brought with us into the world This is propagated unto us all by naturall generation Holy Iacob the Son of holy Isaak a Patriach of holy Rebeccah a Prophetesse was borne in sin as well as Esau and Seth as well as Cain and this seemeth to be called the image of Adam
And thus in no moment of nature is the Predestination of Christ either before or after the Predestination of man as our Brittish Divines maintained at the Synod of Dort but at once God predestinated both him to be our Head and us his Members like as Aquinas maintained Christs predestination and our predestination to be one act in God and consequently neither could be the cause of another Thus have I dispatched mine answer unto them as touching mine own opinion But supposing the method of the Contra-Remonstrants sound in making salvation of man to be intended by God as an end and both mans faith in Christ and Christs Mission to be intended as means We deny this to be absurd or ignominious unto Christ Le ts heare how they prove it thus If the decree of sending Christ be posterior to the electing of singular persons unto salvation then the intention of mans salvation was posterior to Gods intention of satisfaction to his justice which say they is absurd and foolish to wit to decree the salvation of sinners unlesse first he decree satisfaction to his justice But I answer according to the forme of the Contra-Remonstrants doctrine First by proving their order to be sound Secondly by shewing the invalidity of the Remonstrants discourse First therefore There was never any other order of intentions acknowledged by the learned then such as is found between the intention of the end and the intention of the means tending thereunto And the Order most received is this That the intention of the end is before the intention of the means Now let every man that is is his right Witts consider which is more likely to be the end and which the means of these two Mans salvation and Christs Mission to satisfy for the sinne of man Was ever any man known to be so brainsick as to affirme that the salvation of man is a means tending to this end namely the sending of Christ into the World to satisfy for the sinne of man On the other side how fair and plausible is it to affirme that Christ was sent into the world to satisfy for mans sinne to this end that man might be saved whence it followeth evidently by the most approved rules of Schooles that the intention of mans salvation is in signo rationis before the intention of sending Christ into the world to make satisfaction for sinne Againe if Christs sending into the world to make satisfaction for sinne be first in intention then it should be last in execution by rules undeniable and such as are manifest by the very light of nature Whence it followeth that man should be first saved and after that Christ sent into the World that by his sufferings Gods justice might be satisfied Now I come to the consideration of the Remonstrants argument The Consequence of the Major we grant but the Minor we deny And it is a vaine thing for them to cry out that it is absurd and foolish to say that the intention of salvation precedes the intention of satisfying Gods justice for words must not carry it and it is well known that the most empty vessells give the greatest sound I have shewed how absurd it is to conceive that man was saved to this end that Gods justice may be satisfied and that 't is farre more probable to say That by Christs sufferings Gods justice was satisfied to this end that man might be saved For the salvation of man we say was not intended by God simply but after a certain manner to wit in the way of mercy mixed with justice which end doth not presuppose the permission of sinne as these Remonstrants shape the matter to varnish over their consequence with some colour of probability but rather it bespeaks both the permission of sinne and satisfaction to be made for sinne to the end that so man might be saved not simply but after a certain manner to wit in the way of mercy mixed with justice But suppose they were considered as sinners Why should the Remonstrants look strangely upon this doctrine namely that God should intend the salvation of sinners in signo rationis before he intended that his justice should be satisfied For doe not they maintaine that God by power absolute can pardon sinne without all satisfaction But supposing that God will not pardon sinne without satisfaction in this case they may contend that God must first intend to take a course that such satisfaction may be made and then intend to save And let them contend but in the name of reason and not of clamours and content themselves with the infatuation of themselves with such senselesse conceits and not spread this scab unto others also My reason to the contrary is still the same namely that if God be pleased to save sinners in despight of sinne in the way of mercy mixt with justice the case is cleare that satisfaction for sinne is rather a means of mans salvation then mans salvation is a means tending to the procurement of satisfaction for sinne and consequently the intention of salvation of sinners is in reason to precede the intention of procuring satisfaction rather then to follow after it as the intention of the end is rather to be accounted before then after the intention of the means Yet say these Remonstrants if a man will be so obstinate as notwithstanding the felicity of these Remonstranticall witts in fruitfull inventions and subtile argumentations still to deny that there is any absurdity herein thus over and above we prove it For as yet they have runne themselves out of breath If say they the decree of Christ a Saviour be after the election of particular persons unto salvation it followeth that God did decree some particular mens salvation before he ordained Christs merits to procure their salvation but this is foolish and absurd I answer No more foolish and absurd then the former and indeed every one of these consequences for the expressing whereof they affect to seem very inventious doe savour of no invention at all the Consequents doe so evidently even every one of them appeare as clearely in the Antecedent as a mans face in a glasse and are to be accounted rather Tautologies then deductions much lesse doe they rellish of any subtilty of wit So that all this while they seem to be in travell with nothing but wind or sick of the disease called Tenasmus striving mightily to doe somewhat when indeed they doe nothing at all And our former argument still hath place and here also applied doth manifest that seeing the merits of the sonne of God are the means of mans salvation then mans salvation is the end of Christs merits therefore in all probability the intention of mans salvation as the intention of the end should precede the intention of sending Christ to merit as the means rather then to be subordinate unto it And indeed if the sending of Christ into the World to merit should be first in intention then should it be
have I received this from three severall hands of Arminians each giving the same interpretation of it as if it were called a strange work because it is alienum a naturâ Dei I know none but Papists doe justify them in this interpretation in my judgement a most unreasonable exposition the Lord taking unto himselfe the execution of judgement as his peculiar saying vengeance is mine and I will repay And Magistrates are but Gods Ministers for this And he professeth his delight in this as well as in the execution of mercy It is true he doth not inflict judgement without cause for that were not a work of judgement in proper speech but of power and absolutenesse rather as in turning a holy and innocent creature into nothing And in that respect he is said not to afflict willingly sinne alwaies deserving it Mercy is of another nature and supposeth free grace though I find little or no notice this Author takes of this throughout his discourse Neither doe I find that he or any Arminian acknowledge that the change of a mans heart is wrought in a man of the meere grace of God without any motive cause in the creature Neither doe all Papists concurre in this interpretation for Lyra and Burgensis are together by the eares hereabouts and our Divines as Junius and Piscator doe render it opus insolens terribile an unusuall and terrible judgement interpreting it of bringing the Babylonians upon them so strange a worke that they should wonder at it And as Moses foretold that God should bring upon them Wonderfull judgements Deut. 28. So the Prophet Abakuk sets it forth in like manner Abak 1. 5. Behold among the Heathen and regard and wonder and marvaile for I will worke a worke in your daies you will not believe it though it be told you For loe I raise up the Caldeans that bitter and furious nation which shall goe upon the breadth of the Land to possesse the dwelling places that are not theirs And Jer. 19. 3. Behold I will bring a plague upon this place which whosoever heareth his eares shall â—ingle For seeing Gods lawes are strange things unto them Hos 8. 12. God would bring such judgements upon them that should be as strange unto them And in the same phrase it is said that destruction is to the wicked and strange punishment to the workers of iniquity Job 31. 3. Yet be this granted him it is nothing to the purpose For be it never so deere unto God yet if he restraineth his chiefe mercy which consists in changing the heart whereof this Author seems unwilling to take any distinct notice only to the Elect called accordingly in Scripture vessells of mercy in distinction from vessells of wrath which are the Reprobates this nothing prejudiceth the absolutenesse of reprobation And as for the frequent exercise thereof we read Zeph. 3. 5. That every morning God bringeth his judgements to light and as for the mercy which consists in regenerating man which alone is to the present purpose it is apparent that it is farre lesse frequently shewed then the contrary judgement in obduration And certainly the vessells of mercy are by farre fewer then the vessells of wrath and as for temporall mercies the more frequent they are the worse where the spirit of regeneration is wanting through the corruption of man that makes him thereupon the more obdurate The vanity of the next as touching the amplitude of the objects whereto mercy is extended though this alone is to the present purpose I have already sufficiently discovered it being apparent that in Scripture phrase only the Elect are counted vessells of mercy and all the rest vessells of wrath As there be examples of Gods long suffering and patience so we have fearfull examples of the suddainesse of Gods judgements taking Men and Women away in the very act of sinne Thus the Israelites in the Wildernesse when the flesh of Quailes was in their mouth the heavy wrath of God came upon them and sent them to the graves of lust Zimri and Cozbi perished in their incestuous act and gave up both lust and ghost together Balshazzar a King cut off in his drunken revells to make good the Prophecy of Isaiah The night of my pleasures hath he turned into feare unto me And in like manner the wrath of God seazed upon Herod in his pride But above all this appears in Gods dealings with his Angells who sinned once and fell for ever without all hope of recovery And as for Gods sparing a man in case God gives not repentance what will be the issue but filling up of the measure of their sinnes For to speak in Austins language Contra Julian Pelag. lib. 5. cap. 4. Quantamlibet praebuerit patientiam nisi Deus dederit quis agit paenitentiam Now the case is cleare God gives repentance to a very few who are in Scripture called vessells of mercy which nothing at all prejudiceth the absolutenesse of reprobation 5. Of the riches of Gods mercies to his children we nothing doubt but what doth this prejudice the absolutenesse of reprobating those whom he never meaneth to make his children But here it is to be suspected that this Author accounts all and every one the children of God for forthwith he confounds this notion with the notion of creatures quite contrary to the most generall current of Scripture not of the New Testament only which teacheth us that we are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus Gal. 3. and if children then heires even heirs of God and heirs annext with Christ Rom. 8. But of the old Testament also Gen. 6 2. The sonnes of God saw the daughters of men that they were faire c. Exod. 4. 22. Thou shalt say to Pharaoh thus saith thè Lord Israel is my Sonne my first borne wherefore I say let my Sonne goe that he may serve me if thou refuse to let him goe behold I will visit thy Sonne even thy first borne Deut. 14. 1. Ye are the children of the Lord your God 2. Thou art an holy people to the Lord thy God and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a precious people to himselfe above all the people that are upon the earth That of the Hen though we give him liberty to amplify her naturall affections as one of the most affectionate Females among unreasonable creatures yet doth it nothing profit him for it represents Gods love appropriated to his Children which nothing prejudiceth the absolutenesse of his power reprobating others Nay rather as it justifies his absolutenesse in electing them if we consider the meere grace of God to have made the difference as the Scripture sheweth Deut. 7. 7. The Lord loved you because he loved you and Deut. 9. at large he beats them out of all conceit of any righteousnesse in them moving the Lord to plant them in the Land of Canaan so by consequent it justifies the Doctrine of absolute reprobation also for as much as the Apostle
makes use of all his creatures in what condition soever he finds them even of Devills and wicked men to serve his turne by them either in the way of judgement or in the way of mercy and sometimes for triall of the faith and patience of his children is in Scripture phrase called Gods bidding or commanding And indeed it is farre more effectuall then his commandment And Austin by pregnant passages of holy Scripture convicted of this truth spareth not to professe as much in these words His talibus testimoniis divinorum eloquiorum quae omnia commemorare nimis longum est satis quantum existimo manifestatur operari Deum in cordibus hominum ad inclinandas eorum voluntates quocunquè voluerit sive ad bona pro suâ misericordiâ sive ad mala pro meritis eorum judicio utique suo aliquando aperto aliquando occulto semper autem justo De Grat. lib. Arbitr cap. 21. And touching this particular case of Shimei inquiring about the interpretation of it see I pray how he resolves concerning it Quomodo dixerit dominus huic homini maledicere David Quis sapiens intelliget Non enim jubendo dixit ubi obedientia laudaretur sed quod ejus voluntatem proprio vitio suo malam in hoc peccatum judicio suo justo occulto inclinavit Ideò dictum est dixit ei dominus Nam si jubenti obtemper asset Deo laudandus potius quam puniendus esset sicut ex hoc peccato posteà novimus esse punitum And he proceeds farther to shew the reason of this divine providence Nec causa tacita est cur ei Deus justo modo dixerit maledicere David hoc est Cor ejus malum in hoc peccatum miserit vel dimiserit ut videat inquit dominus humilitatem meam retribuat mihi bona pro maledictio ejus in die isto And hereupon concludes Ecce quomodo probatur Deum uti cordibus etiam malorum ad laudem atque adjumentum bonorum Sic usus est Iuda tradente Christum Sic usus est Iudaeis crucifigentibus Christum quanta inde bona praestitit populis credituris Qui ipso utitur diabolo pessimo sed optimè ad excercendam probandam fidem pietatem bonorum non sibi quia omnia scit antequam fiant sed nobis quibus erat necessarium ut eo modo ageretur nobiscum But let us proceed to provocations unto other sins not in the way of exasperation but in the way of allurements Achan was a covetous person at the sacking of Jericho it was his hap to light among the spoyle upon a goodly Babylonish garment and two hundred shekells of silver and a wedge of gold of fifty shekells waight Was not so faire a prey a sore temptation to a covetous person How was Demosthenes taken with a rich bowle that was shewed him by Harpalus but there was great danger in it I confesse yet if desire of prey doth sometimes overrun the sent may it not as well overcome the feare of danger especially considering the opportunity of secrecy to convey it closely into his Tent and hide it there I saw saith he and I coveted them and took them and behold they lye hid in the earth in the midst of my Tent and the silver under it Now can it be denied but that God by his providence brought him into this temptation and consequently into this provocation for to tempt is to provoke 1 Chron. 21. 1. And is it not just with God to bring any man into such temptations of what kind or in what degree soever seeing no temptation or provocation in this kind or degree bereaves a man of the liberty of his will If not what meant our Saviour to teach his Disciples and in them us to pray unto God that He will not lead us into temptation And what cause hath Achan to complaine of this temptation We do not read he did was it not the condition of many others as well as himselfe Was this prey that he ceazed on the only spoyle of that great Citty Were there no Babylonish garments but that one no more silver or wedges of gold but that Achan lighted on Yet they refrained some out of the feare of God that restrained them in a gracious manner and kept them from sinning against him others though not out out of a feare of God yet out of the feare of punishment were moved to beware how they transgressed For albeit Libertas sine gratia non est libertas sed contumacia as * Austin writes yet feare of punishment oftimes restraines from committing capitall crimes though this restraint be not gracious and considerations of lesse force then these doe prevaile many times with carnall men both to abstain from evill and to doe that which is good though not in a gracious manner As we read in the Gospell of a wicked Judge that neither feared God nor reverenced man yet he would doe the Widdow justice to ease himselfe of her importunate sollicitations where with she molested him Come we to provocations unto sinne of another nature in satisfying the concupiscence of the flesh David arising out of his bed at eventide and walking upon the roof of the Kings Pallace from the roofe he saw a Woman washing her selfe and the Woman was very beautifull to look upon we know what followed hereupon Now was it not God that lead him into this temptation into this provocation Surely if this were not just with God it were in vaine for us to pray that God will not lead us into temptation for we need not feare any such temptation which cannot befall us without violation of Gods justice in the course of his providence Paul the Apostle least he should be exalted out of measure through the abundance of revelations made unto him which were very dangerous to puff a man up and make him swell in the conceit of his own worthinesse being admitted into the secrets of God was sometimes exercised with a thorne in the flesh the messenger of Satan sent to buffet him But the feare of God was alive in him and stirred up his faith to pray unto God three times that it might depart from him and the Lord made him a gracious answer not as yet to deliver him but to support him in this conflict and give him the victory over it For the Lord said unto him my grace is sufficient for thee for my power is made perfect in thy weaknesse This answer put heart into Paul Therefore saith he will I very gladly rejoyce rather in mine infirmities that the power of Christ may dwell in me Mark I pray Rahter in mine infirmities He would not blame God for thus exercising him but rather rejoyce to be thus exercised for as much as this same should doe him no harme for by vertue of Christs power dwelling in him he should have the victory Secondly it should doe him good in preserving him from being exalted
out of measure through the abundance of revelations Therefore saith he I take pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in anguishes for Christs sake for when I am weak then am I strong And had not Joseph as good cause to conceive that it was the will of God that he by the unchast motions of his wanton Mistris should be provoked unto unclean courses as David had to perswade himselfe that it was Gods will by the rayling of Shimei he should be provoked unto revenge that so by the power of his grace strengthning them against such provocations they might come forth of their severall temptations as gold out of fire more bright more resplendent then before Ioseph was a faire person and well favoured Genes 39. 6. Now this was a sore provocation to a lustfull eye Beauty is said to be of a dangerous nature as that which makes a man either Praedonem alienae castitatis or Praedam suae But Joseph had a gracious and a chast heart his beauty gave him no encouragement to prey upon others chastity but being a congruous baite to the lustfull appetite of his Mistris it was in danger to expose his own chastity to be preyed upon And as Austin said of Gods providence concerning Shimei ejus voluntatem proprio vitio suo malam in hoc peccatum judicio suo justo occulto inclinavit Who seeth not that the like may be said of Gods dealing with Ioseph's Mistris and that without all aspersion of unholinesse unto God For if he gives Men or Women over unto their lusts what will be the issue but uncleannesse Rom. 1. 24 26. When God gave them up to vile affections what followed but this even their Women did change their naturall use into that which was against nature vers 27. and likewise also the Men left their naturall use of the Women and burned in their lust one toward another and Man with Man wrought filthinesse and received in themselves such recompence of their errour as was meet Here we have a strange course of Gods providence in punishing sin with sin For these Gentiles in defiling themselves one with another in a most unnaturall and abominable manner are said to receive such recompence for their errour as was meet In few words what is meant by provocation unto any sin Is it to doe that whereupon man may take just cause or occasion to doe that which he doth without blame like as the Corinthians provoked Paul as a foole to loast himselfe as himselfe expresseth it for he adds ye have compelled me But this cannot be affirmed of Tiberius his ministers in provoking Drusus and Nero. For no provocation could be sufficient to make them unblameable in convitiating their Prince much lesse can it be said that God provokes any man in this manner neither doe I think that any of our adversaries as malevolent as they are dares impute any such crimination unto us as if wee attributed any such discourse unto providence divine What then is it to provoke unto sin Is it to doe somewhat upon the consideration whereof mens passions being moved they cannot but sin But this in like sort is equally as untrue as the former even of those provocations which were made upon Drusus and Nero by the practises of Tiberius Or is it the doing of somewhat whereupon occasion is taken to sinne to blaspheme this hath no colour of truth in it For even man without all transgression may doe many things whereupon occasion is taken of doing evill and therefore we distinguish of Scandalum datum Acceptum Nay though man knowes offence will be taken upon the doing of some things yet if the doing thereof be commanded by God he must doe them what occasion soever is thereby taken to offend Indeed if they are things indifferent I must abstaine from the doing of them in case I know offence will be taken thereat and that thereby I shall lay a stumbling block in the way of my Brother For Paul professeth that if meat would offend his Brother he would never eat meat rather then offend his Brother But no such obligation lies upon God For he knoweth full well how some will abuse his mercies others grow worse and worse by his judgements breaking forth into blasphemy thereupon yet no wise man will say that God is the more unholy in the shewing of mercy and in the execution of judgement He professeth in plain termes that to them who feare him he will be a sanctuary but as a stumbling block and as a rock to fall upon to both the houses of Israel and as a snare and as a net to both the Inhabitants of Ierusalem Isai 8. 14. As for the last clause of this odious Parallel concerning the end of Tiberius his course in this namely that so he might cover his cruelty in their death under pretext of justice Undoubtedly I should think the putting of them to death was just in case they did convitiate their Prince whatsoever their provocations were For hereby they deserved death yea everlasting death and damnation His sin was in causing them to be provoked hereunto and so also it might be in the manner of their execution For it is written of him that fame necavit he famished them I know Tiberius was cruell enough but by the story it seems that policy wicked policy moved him unto this first to intend their deaths because he saw the affections of the people towards them belike for Germanicus his sake a worthy man according to those times For when he found that in the beginning of the yeare vowes were made on their behalfe to wit for their preservation he dealt with the Senate that such rewards ought not to be tendred but towards such who were of experience and of ripenesse of age and that hereupon the inward character of his affection towards them being discovered he laid them open to every mans criminations variaque fraude inductos ut concitarentur ad convitia concitati perderentur accusavit per literas amarissimè congestis etiam probris judicatos hostes fame necavit And anon after the same Author discovers the reason of all this to wit that seeing Germanicus was but his adopted Sonne and one Drusus by name was his naturall sonne and his own sonne Drusus being dead leaving a sonne Tiberius behind him he desired to make him as his naturall sonne his successor in the Empire Aelium Sejanum ad summam potentiam non tà m benevolentia provexer at quà m ut esset cujus ministerio ac fraudibus liberos Germanici circumveniret Nepotemque suum ex Druso filium naturalem ad successionem Imperii confirmaret Sure we are God hath no need of any such politique courses neither hath he need of any pretext of justice to take a mans life from him It is confessed now of all hands that God can annihilate the holiest Angel by power absolute And if it be in the power of God to keep any man
alleaged by our Divines Act. Synod Dordrac pag. 270 In vivificandis hominibus Deus nullum initium humanae voluntatis expectat sed ipsam voluntatem bonam faciendo vivificat And drawing to an end I doe not write these things saith Melancthon to deliver dictates unto you who are most learned and most expert in the exercises of Piety And truly I know saith he that these things doe agree with yours haec cum tuis congruere sed sunt 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 woven with a thicker thred ad usum accommodata Thus Melancthon unto Calvin having received his Books sent unto him and written of Free-will and Predestination 5. Within two years after I find a Letter written by Calvin unto Melancthon wherein he professeth his joy of their agreement as touching the main poynt in that whereabout their opinions were asked albeit with some difference in certain particulars it is Epist 63. amongst those of Calvins and the words are these Deo autem maximas gratias agere non desino qui dedit ut in ejus quaestionis summâ de quâ rogati eramus sententiae nostrae congruerent Tametsi enim paululum est discriminis in particulis quibusdam de re tamen ipsâ optime inter nos convenit The second Annotation of this Author is the circumstance or the ground of the three opinions mentioned The Stoicks deriving their necessity from the Starres or first matter The Manichees from the two supream causes And the Authors of the third from the peremptory decree of Almighty God And that in this difference the Stoicks and the Manichees have the better it being better as he saith to derive the necessity of evill actions or unhappy events from an evill God or from the course of nature then from the decree of that God who is infinitely good The substance of the opinion is all one the ground wherein they differ is but accidentall to the errour To this I answer 1. Is it so indeed Better to derive the necessity of unhappy events from an evill God or from course of nature then from the decree of God Is not God then to be accounted the author of evill in the way of punishment Is there any evill in the Citty and the Lord hath not done it Or doth it lesse become him to be the author of affliction then of prosperity Doth not the Lord in the same place and in the same manner professe that he delights in the execution of judgement as well as of mercy 2. As touching the necessity he speaks of whether in good or in evill actions consider I pray his carriage He did not object unto us that we made all the actions of men absolutely necessary but either so or the ends of men unavoidable Yet here he supposeth the former to serve his own turne in this present crimination he holds it up as it were contrary to his own conscience We acknowledge the actions of men to be free not one being performed by any but in such sort that they had power to forbear it and still have to forbear the like But upon supposition of Gods decree either to work in us any thing that is pleasing in his sight which to be his gracious course the Apostle expresly professeth Heb. 13. 20. or to permit any particular evill we willingly professe that as well upon this as upon Gods foreknowledge it followeth consequently that necesse est that such a thing come to passe but how not necessarily but agreeable to the condition of our reasonable natures contingently and freely And this Arminius in plain termes professeth in the poynt of evill to wit supposing God permits a man to will this or that evill Necesse est ut nullo argumentorum genere persuadeatur ad nolendum Exam. pag. 153. But I will farther display the doctrine of these Arminians and prove First that no evill comes to passe but that God did will it Secondly that never was there any greater necessity known to the World then that which these men bring upon good and evill actions a necessity that binds the Lord himselfe 1. As touching the first These words of Arminius are well known Deus voluit Achabum mensuram scelerum sucrum implere But I will prove it by their Doctrine of scientia Media For hereby they maintain that God foreseeth by what motives sinne will be hindered or not hindered without any prejudice to the liberty of the creatures will As also that God in the storehouse of his wisdome hath such store of morall impediments as that he knows thereby how to hinder any sinne if it pleased him His words are these Praeter illa sufficientia impedimenta etiam efficacia habet in suo sapientiae potentiae promptuario quibus productis certò infallibiliter peccatum impediretur And this is the difference with him between a sufficient impediment of sinne and impediment effectuall Effectuall is that upon the use whereof he knows full well that sinne will be hindered Sufficient is that upon the use whereof sinne will not be hindered and this is known to the Lord from everlasting Now let them tell me why would not God make choyce to use such an impediment which he knew would prove effectuall but such rather as he knew would prove ineffectuall Doth it not manifestly appear hereby that it is Gods will that sinne shall come to passe by his permission Like as the Scripture is expresse to this purpose as where it is said that Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and people of Israel were gathered together against the holy Sonne of God to doe that which Gods hand and his counsell had foredetermined to be done Now this is well known to have been no lesse then the ignominious handling and crucifying of the Sonne of God Acts 4. 28. And Revel 17. 17. God put into the hearts of the Kings to doe his will and to give their Kingdomes to the Beast as much as to say to use their Regall power to the supporting of Antichrist which we know was in part by Massacring the Saints of God 2. Now to discover the strange necessity that these men bring in upon all things It cannot be denied but that God knoweth all future things before they come to passe Therefore they are presupposed to be future in order of reason before God knows them to be future therefore all things future are either such by necessity of nature or by some cause not by any cause for if there were any cause hereof to wit to make them passe out of the condition of things meerly possible of their own nature into the condition of things future then this cause should be found either within God or without God Not without God can any cause hereof be found For this passage of things out of the condition of things meerly possible into the condition of things future was from everlasting therefore the cause hereof must have existence from everlasting But nothing was everlasting Extra
the Scripture And the reason hereof is because the word of God consists not in the outward barke or bone of the letter but in the inward pith and marrow of the meaning And as for contradiction unto Scripture in terminis it may easily be proved that to deny Gods delight in the destruction of obstinate sinners is to contradict a very pregnant place of Holy Scripture as namely Prov. 1. 24 25 26. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched out my hand and no man regarded but ye have set at naught all my counsell and would none of my reproofe I will also laugh at your calamity I will mock when your feare cometh when your feare cometh as desolation and your destruction as a Whirlewind And yet never a whit the more is any contradiction found in Scripture for this because though they contradict each the other in terminis yet there is no contradiction if we consider the true meaning As for example it is both true that the Father is greater then the Sonne as touching the Sonnes Manhood And the Sonne equall to the Father as touching his Godhead So of repentance it cannot be attributed to God as it signifies change of mind or counsell but it may be attributed unto God as it signifies change of sentence according to that of Gregory Deus mutat sententiam consilium nunquam So as touching Gods pleasure or delight in the death of a sinner as it is the destruction of the creature he delighteth not in it but as it is a just punishment of the impenitent creature he delights therein Thus Piscator reconciles it on Ezech. 18. v. 23 32. Surely God delights in the execution of justice as well as in the execution of mercy as Jer. 9. 24. I am the Lord which exerciseth loving kindnesse judgement and righteousnesse in the earth for in these things I delight saith the Lord. 2. Here first the Author declines from the former phrase of having no pleasure in the death of a sinner to not willing the death of a sinner which phrases have no small difference as Piscator observes upon that in Ezech. 33. 11. for saith he potest homo velle id quo non delectatur ut aegrotus potest velle potum amarum quo non delectatur potest enim eum velle non perse sed propter aliud nempe ad recuper andam valetudinem And to deny that God willeth the death of as many as dye is in terminis to contradict a pregnant place of Scripture as where it is said that God worketh all things according to the counsell of his will Ephes 1. 11. And therefore seeing the inflicting of death is Gods work he must will it But this Author is more happy for invention then his fellowes For whereas others of his opinion work upon the place as it is rendred in the vulgar Latine Nolo mortem peccatoris this Author hath found out an argument from the very phrase of our last English translation to advantage his cause as when from Gods having no pleasure in the death of a sinner he quaintly inferres therefore God doth not of meer pleasure will or decree their death But how superficiary this is also and how fouly it falls in the issue upon the Author himselfe as usually it falleth out with men that affect new and quaint inventions I hope to discover in due place Farther observe that place Ezech. 33. 11. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked according to our last English translation and that Ezech. 18. 23. Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should dye doe differently render one and the same phrase in the Hebrew in the death of the wicked Ezech. 33. 11. which is word for word according to the Hebrew that the wicked should dye Ezech. 18. 23. which being not according to the precise termes of the originall it followeth that hereby our Translators did expound the sense of the Hebrew which is word for word in the death of the wicked and so accordingly that phrase Ezek. 18. 32. in the death of him that dieth importeth as much as this that he who dyeth should dye And as for Tertullian that which he alleadgeth out of him neither makes for him nor against us we all believe what the Prophet delivereth but we enquire about the sense of it But in the same place Tertullian interprets the place not absolutely but comparatively thus Vivo inquit Dominus paenitentiam malo quam mortem and indeed thus it is accommodated more then once in the Book of Common prayer as first in the generall absolution then in one of the Collects upon Good-Friday There is a double pleasure that God may be said to take in the one but a single pleasure only in the other For in the death of an impenitent sinner God delights only in the execution of justice but in the conversion of such a one that he may live God delights both in the execution of mercy which is equivalent to his delight taken in the execution of judgement and over and above he delights in their repentance For like as of such as fall from God it is said His soule hath no pleasure in them so of such as turne unto him it is as true that his soule hath pleasure in them 3. But give we him leave to enjoy the interpretation he affecteth yet consider I pray whether he doth not enjoy it tanquam Diis iratis and to his bane for marke I pray his argument and consider whether I doe not from the same argument most strongly conclude against him 1. His argument runnes thus If God delighteth not in the destruction of wicked men he did never out of his own pleasure take so many millions of men lying in the fall and seale them up by an absolute decree under invincible damnation Now from the rule of contraries I herehence dispute thus If this be a good consequence which he makes then on the contrary it followes that seeing God doth take pleasure and delight in mans eternall life as this Author expressely acknowledgeth therefore he did out of his own pleasure take so many million of men lying in the fall and seale them up by an absolute decree under invincible salvation Now this conclusion is as directly opposite unto him in the poynt of election as his conclusion is opposire to ours in the poynt of reprobation And my argument must be of the same force and validity with his because Contrariorum contraria est ratio Yet I will not content my selfe with this answere 2. Therefore consider I pray in the next place the true meaning of this phrase I have no pleasure in these places of the Prophet the Author himselfe though he doth not plainly professe what is the meaning of it as it became him to doe and not to depend upon colour of words suitable yet by his drift he manifests the meaning of it to be this that God doth not bring
and every good work that he hath appoynted for them in such sort that the beast shall not prevaile over them untill they have finished their testimony and in which respect Saint Stephen even when the stones flew about his eares as thick as haile seems to have gone to his death as composedly as a man goes to his bed having ended his Sermon first his prayer for them in the next place and lastly the commending of his own spirit into the hands of God this mercy this rich mercy this unspeakable mercy this Author most virulently and most unconscionably in cunning and crafty carriage labours to obscure and deface and to dispute us out of the faith of it if it lay in his power which lies not in the power of the Devills themselves as much as himselfe and his informers scorne to apprehend any hope of it And all this as unsipidly and unscholastically as profanely by generall and indefinite termes saying by this Doctrine of ours God is not mercifull to men at all wherein I guesse his lurking hole is in the indefinite condition of the terme Men for dares he say that by this doctrine of ours we make God unmercifull to all men even to the very Elect Yet when he saith to men at all the face of his discourse in the common understanding of it should look this way But if his meaning be that he is not made mercifull to all hath himselfe any farther improved the mercy of God then by enlarging of it unto the children of God And if he by children of God understand all men created by him and we only those whom God hath adopted in Christ and regenerated I pray consider which of us delivereth himselfe in best congruity to the Scripture phrase and meaning Can he be ignorant who they be whom the Scripture stiles vessells of mercy Or that these are set in opposition to vessells of wrath and would he have us as brainsick as himselfe to put no difference in the accommodation of Gods mercy between vessells of mercy and vessells of wrath As for the comparison between men and other creatures he is like himselfe throughout in the execution thereof 1. He undertakes to shew that God is not so mercifull to men as to bruit creatures most men are determined by Gods omnipotent decree to such a being as is a thousand times worse then no being at all To let passe the absurdity of the comparison comparing things incomparable to wit being with no being and ascribing a betternesse to no being which is as much as to ascribe a better being to no being Doth not he himselfe acknowledge that as the elect are but few amongst them that are called so the number of Reprobates is farre greater then the number of the Elect Doth not himselfe maintaine that God hath determined all reprobates that is the most of men by his omnipotent decree to such a being as is a thousand times worse then no being at all according to his judgement and that this determination Divine is everlasting or though he dare not in plain tearmes deny that God hath determined most of men to damnation Doth he not here bewray the disposition of his heart namely either to maintaine that Gods decrees are not everlasting nor determined concerning men untill their deaths or that they are of a revocable nature Or will he fly to the qualification of the Divine decree here mentioned and say that albeit the most part of men are destinated to damnation by the decree divine yet not by an omnipotent decree I guesse his meaning is not by an absolute but by a conditionall decree for as for any distinction of Divine decrees into decrees omnipotent I never yet read or heard but this Gentleman being of a phrasifying spirit we must permit him sometimes to overlash otherwise we shall not have occasion to say of him as Augustus said sometimes of Haterius Haterius noster sufflaminandus est But if by a conditionall decree only God hath reprobated those whom he hath reprobated then the decrees of reprobation cannot be eternall but must needs be temporall for res conditionata the thing conditionated cannot exsist before the condition it selfe whereupon it depends hath exsistence Now the condition of reprobation is meerly temporall to wit finall perseverance in infidelity or impenitency 2. What if the condition of other creatures be better then the condition of reprobates For what sober man should expect that the condition of impenitent sinners should be better in the end then the condition of beasts who have made themselves worse then beasts But then he will say what shall become of all those amplifications of Gods mercy towards men commended to us in holy Scripture I answere they all have place concerning Gods children Gods elect the Scripture phrase acknowledging no other vessells of mercy and counting all others in distinction from them vessell of wrath and one end whereto tends Gods providence towards these vessells the Apostle signifies plainly to be the amplification of his mercy towards the vessells of mercy Rom. 9. 22 23. Which may be unfolded thus that by seeing the miserable conditions of vessells of wrath they may be more sensible of Gods mercy towards them in putting so gracious a difference between them 3. It cannot be denied but God foresaw what the condition of most men would be if they were brought forth into the World What then did God mean to bring them forth Where was his mercy in this Were it not a thousand times better for them not to be borne And by being borne was it not infallible that their condition would be a thousand times worse then the condition of beasts according to this Authors grave and Philosophicall discourse 4. Consider though God foresaw that being so dealt withall as God meant they should be they would never repent nor believe yet seeing God had other means and motives in store which he knew full well would prove effectuall to bring them to faith and repentance were he pleased to use them as Arminius acknowledgeth as I have often cited him and it cannot be denied by the maintainers of scientia media Where was Gods mercy that would both have them brought forth and use only such means to bring them to faith and repentance which he knew would prove ineffectuall and resolved not to use such means with them which hee knew would prove effectuall thereunto I appeale to the judgement of every sober man whether this proceeded not meerely from Gods absolute decree to make them vessells of Wrath that is fit vessells in whom should shine the glory of his vindicative justice even to shew the riches of his glory towards the vessells of mercy whom he had prepared unto glory as on whom he was pleased to bestow such means of grace as he knew full well would prove effectuall to bring them to faith and repentance and finall preseverance that so their soules might be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ
Gods mercy DISCOURSE SECT III. This I divide into Five Subsections SUBSECT I. IT Fights with the justice of God c. The Lord saith David is righteous in all his waies Psal 145. The judgements of the Lord saith Solomon are weight and measure Prov. 16. 11. That is exact and without all exception So just is God that he offers the justice of his decrees and waies to the triall of humane understanding Isai 5. 3. Judge I pray you between me and my vineyard and Ezech. 18. 25. He is content to prove himselfe just by plain arguments through the whole chapter Are not my waies equall and your waies unequall And he permitted Abraham when he was in his greatest humility acknowledging himselfe to be but Dust and Ashes to reason with him about the equity of his doings Wilt thou slay the righteous with the wicked Shall not the judge of all the earth doe right Gen. 18. 23 25. And Moses also Num. 16. 22. is suffered to argue Gods justice in the same manner Shall one man sinne and wilt thou â—e â—â—oth with all the Congregation In a word so evidently just is God in all his proceedings that many both good and bad who have felt his justice have cleared God and deepely charged themselves witnesse Ezra Nehemiah and Daniell in their ninth Chapters and Adonibezek Judges 1. â— and the Emperour Mauricius who having seen his children butchered and waiting every minute for the bloudy stroake of death brake out into these words Justus es Domine justum est judicium tuum Righteous art thou O Lord and just is thy judgement With this inviolable justice of God absolute reprobation of such especially as are commanded to believe and called to Salvation cannot be reconciled My reasons are these 1. Because it makes God to punish the righteous with the wicked as it is taught the Supralapsarian way directly as it is defended the Sublapsarian way by good consequence The Sublapsarians present man to God in his decrees of reprobation considered without sinne and will have God to determine the infliction of unspeakable misery upon millions of men without consideration of any evill in them originall or actuall as I have touched before and so they make him plainly to be a destroyer of the righteous The Sublapsarians for against their way have I tied my selfe to bend my reasons present man to God considered indeed in originall sinne which is a sinne so farre as it concernes Adams posterity made ours only by Gods order and appointment and so in effect they say 1. That God did lay upon every man a necessity of being borne in originall sinne 2. That he hath determined for that sinne to cast away the farre greater part of Mankind for ever and so they make God to doe by two acts the one accompanying the other which the other say he did by one and they will not stick if they be put to it to say as D. Twisse doth Quod Deus potest intercedente libera sua â—â—stitutione illud etiam absolute poterit vel sine ali â—â—â— constitutione intercedentâ— That is God may decree men to hell for that is the thing he speaks of for Adams sinne which is derived to them by the only constitution of God he may as well doe it absolutely without any such constitution It is all one in substance to decree the misery of an innocent man and to purpose that he shall be involved in a sinne that so he may be brought to misery neither of these Decrees are just Non iustitia iusta dicetur saith Fulgentius si puniendum reum non invenisse sed fecisse dicatur major vero eâ—it iniustitia si lapso Deus retribuat poenam quem stantem praedestinasse dicitur ad ruinam TWISSE Consideration VVIth us Christians there is no doubt or question made of the truth of this that God is righteous in all his waies yea though he command Abraham to sacrifice his sonne and though he caused not only Achan to be stoned for his trespassing about the excommunicate thing but his children also with him and though he visit the sinne of Fathers upon the Children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate him And though in the drowning of the World he caused Infants to perish with their parents some in their Mothers wombe some hanging on their Mothers breasts And so in the destruction of Sodome and Gomorrah with fire from heaven And not so only but the righteous God hath given us power over inferiour creatures to weare them out in serving our turnes with them yea and to knock them in the heads to cut their throats and strangle them as we think good and we are no whit the more unrighteous in executing this power which God hath given us upon them yea in giving his own and holy Sonne to be reviled blaspheamed betrayed condemned crucified so to make his soule an offering for our sinnes In all these waies the Lord is righteous and holy in all his works Solomon saith Prov. 16. 11. That a just weight and ballance are the Lords all the weights of the bagge are his worke And the same Solomon in the same chapter saith v. 4. The Lord hath made all things for himselfe yea even the wâ—â—ed against the day of evill This revives in me the remembrance of a pretty story An odde fellow came to his Neighbour to borrow a bushell of Malt saying the mercifull is righteous and lendeth the other answered him in the same element saying The ungodly borroweth and payeth not againe Where is that saith the borrower Where is yours saith the other Why saith he the place I mentioned is in the 37 Psahne So is mine too saith the other But proceed we along with him Whereas he saith Gods judgements are without exception that is untrue for we find the Apostle Saint Paul to take notice of exceptions made against the waies of God in some particular casts as when God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth upon the proposall of this Doctrine the Apostle takes notice of such an exception as this Thou wilt say then why doth he yet complaine for who hath resisted his will and the justification hereof the Apostle derives from no other consideration then this that God is our Creator and we are his creatures And that as the Potter hath power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessell to honour and another to dishonour so hath God O man saith Paul who art thou that disputest with God shall the thing formed say to him that formed it why hast thou made me thus Hath not the Potter power over the clay And as the Psalmist saith That Gods judgements are like a great deepe So the Apostle professeth That his judgements are unsearcheable and his waies past finding out And in the common opinion this is delivered as touching the depth of Gods counsell in reprobation and predestination and by the
they made profession of their faith and as for Infants they were also anciently said to be Baptized in fide Parentum Gods patience Rom. 2. 4. And the goodnesse of God manifested therein leadeth a Man to repentance so doe his judgements also Hos 5. In their affliction they will seeke me early and so doth Gods word and all this only in the way of a moving cause and exciting to repentance every morning God brings his judgements to light he faileth not yet will not the wicked be ashamed Zeph 3. 5. But it is the duty of all to be moved by his word by his works by his mercyes by his judgments to turne to the Lord by true repentance But God alone is he that workes them hereunto without whose efficacious grace none of all these courses will prevaile as Isai 57. 17. For his wicked covetousnesse I was angry with him and have smiten him I hid me and was angry They wanted neither admonition from his word nor from his corrections yet they profited by neither as it followeth yet he went away and turned after the way of his own heart yet what is Gods resosolution but to overcome their stubbornesse by the power of his grace as there we read I have seen his waies and will heale them now who are these whom he leads so as to bring them to repentance let Austin answer Contra Julian Pelag. l. 5. c. 4. Bonitas Dei te ad poenitentiam adducit verum esse constat sed quem praedestinavit adducit and he adds a reason Quamtamlibet enim praebuerit poenitentiam nisi Deus dederit quis agit poenitentiam And in the same Chapter professeth touching the Non-praedestinate that God never brings them to wholsome and spirituall repentance whereby a man is reconciled to God in Christ whether God affords them greater patience than he affords his elect or nothing lesse His words are these Istorum neminem adducit ad poenitentiam salubrem spiritualem qua homo in Christo reconciliatur Deo sive illis ampliorem patientiam sive non imparem praebeat God intends by this his patience that it is the duty of all to repent that is that they should repent ex officio but did he intend they should de facto repent what then could hinder it Then he would afford them efficacious grace to heale them as he promiseth Isai 57. 18. Then would he rule them with a mighty hand and make them passe under the rodde and bring them unto the bond of the covenant So then to the poynt in particular here observed 1. God leads all to repentance by his goodnesse manifested in his forbearance and long suffering by way of admonition that it is their duty to turne unto God by repentance while he gives them time and space for repentance 2. But as for those whom he hath elected he not only thus leads but also effectually brings them to repentance in the time he hath appoynted before which time they are found sometimes to despise the riches of his goodnesse and to have hard and impenitent hearts as much as any Reprobate who more foule in the committing of horrible abominations than Manasses Who more furious in persecuting the Church of God then Saul Yet God took away the stony heart and what is harder then stone out of their bowells and so he doth to all whom he regenerates 3. As touching a finall contempt of Gods patience that is peculiar unto Reprobates as for the elect though some are called at the first houre of the day some not till the last yet all are effectually called before they drop out of the World To say that God intends the everlasting good of Reprobates is to deny the first Article of our Creed even Gods omni potency as Austin hath disputed 1200 years agoe we find in our selves that whatsoever we will doe if we doe not it it is either because we cannot doe it or because our will is changed but to ascribe either mutability or impotency to God is intollerable in a Christian and it cannot be denied but God did from everlasting intend their everlasting damnation so that to say he did intend their everlasting good is flat contradiction neither is there any way to charme it but by saying God intends their everlasting good conditionally but to intend it after such a manner is apparently no more to intend their salvation than their damnation nay lesse rather considering the conditions of salvation are utterly impossible unto man unlesse God correct and cure his corrupt nature but this grace he dispenseth according to the meere pleasure of his will as the Apostle signifyeth in saying he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardneth As for that 2 Pet. 3. 9. He is patient towards us not willing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 any of us to perish it hath been already considered but here he interpreteth towards us as if it had been said towards us men and I hope the elect are men as well as others but what ground hath he for this liberty of interpretation Why may he not take the liberty in interpreting of Iohn as well as Peter both were pillars Gal. 2. where he saith They went out from us but they were not of us for had they been of us they had continued with us and still swalloweth a palpable absurdity following hereupon even to the denying of Gods omnipotency in as flat contradiction to the Apostle where he professeth that God hath mercy on whom he will which is not to have mercy on all but on some only hardening others as Rom. 11. The election hath obtained it but the rest are hardned DISCOURSE SECT V. IN the last place those other gifts of God whereby mens understandings are enlightened and their soules beautifyed which are knowledge repentance fortitude liberality temperance humility charity and such like are bestowed upon all them that have them among whom are many that may prove Reprobates in the end that by the exercise of them and continuance in them they might be Saved The Reprobates are adorned with many of those graces as apears plainly by many Scriptures especially Hebr. 6. 4. Where the Apostle sayes that it is impossible for those that have been enlightned tasted the heavenly gift been made partakers of the Holy Ghost tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to come if they fall away should be renewed by repentance and the graces which the Apostle speakes of here are not ordinary and common but speciall graces illumination faith relish of the sweetnesse of Gods Word and the tast of Heaven The persons spoken of are Apostates such as are under the possibility of falling away for upon a dainger not possible cannot be built a solid exhortation and if Apostates then Reprobates and the thing intimated is that upon Apostates and Reprobates are these gifts bestowed The Like speech we have Hebr. 10. 26. For if we sinne willingly after we have received the
knowledge of the truth there remaines no more sacrifice for sinne c. from whence we collect that men that sinne willingly and unpardonably may receive the knowledge of the truth yea and be sanctifyed by the bloud of the Testament and the Spirit of grace v. 29. 2 Pet. 2. 20. They may escape the filthinesse of the world i. e. be washed from their former sins by repentance the uncleane spirit may goe out of them Mat. 12. 43. They may receive the word with joy Mat. 13. 20. And many excellent graces they may have besides All which graces are not given them that they might abuse them and so purchase to themselves the greater damnation or that they might doe good to others with them but none to themselves but rather that as by the former gifts of nature so by these of grace they may obtaine Salvation If God aime at this in those gifts that are farther off much more in these which make those that have them like the yong man in the Gospel not farre from the kingdome of Heaven Thus we see what end God aimes at in his gifts to men TWISSE Consideration THese gifts this Author formerly described to be gifts of grace applying salvation unto men which he distinguisheth from gifts of grace purchasing salvation in the entrance upon this reason of his Now it is apparent that most of these gifts have been found in the heathen men and who was ever heard to call these vertues found in the heathen gifts of grace applying the salvation purchased by Christ whereof they were wholy ignorant like as of Christ himselfe And whereas he makes faith and repentance to be gifts communicated unto such who as he expresseth it doe prove Reprobates in the end Saint Austin to the contrary as formerly I have alleadged him out of his 5. lib. contra Julian Pelag. c. 5. Expressely professeth of the Non praedestinate that God brings not one of them to wholsome and Spirituall repentance whereby a man is reconciled to God in Christ And our Brittaine Divines in the Synod of Dort upon the 5 th Article and fourth position professe in like manner of all such as are none of Gods elect that it is manifest they never really and truly attaine that change and renovation of the mind and affections which accompanieth justification nay nor that which doth immediatly prepare or dispose to justification For they never seriously repent they are never affected with hearty sorrow for offending God by sinning nor doe they come to any humble contrition of heart nor conceive a firme resolution to offend any more And whereas he saith that such doe prove Reprobates in the end he may as well say of others that they prove elect in the end which doth wholly savour of shapeing the decrees of God to be of a temporall condition and not eternall unlesse he delivers it of the manifestation of it in the judgement of men which yet as touching Reprobates cannot appeare untill their death and 't is a very hard matter for any man to passe upon men generally the censure of elect or reprobates the hypocrisy of man hath such power to evacuate the one and the secret operation of Gods mercy and grace the other How farre reprobates may attain to the illunination of their mind and renovation of their wills and reformation of their lives is set downe more fully by our Brittain Divines in the Synod of Dort than by this Author not one particular if I mistake not being mentioned here as touching the places of Scripture containing the indication thereof which is not set downe there and some there are set downe which are not set downe here In their first position concerning those who are not elect upon the fifth Article this Authors quotation here leaving out the Article and by a wild reference to the page being fitter to confound a Reader than direct him the first position there is this There is a certain supernaturall enlightning granted to some of them who are not elect by the power whereof they understand those things to be true which are revealed in the word of God and yeeld an unfained ascent unto them And in the explication of it Luke 8. 13. The seed which fell upon the stony ground noteth unto us such hearers as for a while believe that is those that for a while give ascent to things revealed from above and especially to the covenant of the Gospell and thereby it is plaine that this their ascent is no way faigned because they received the word with joy Acts 8. 30. And afterwards they give a farther reason of it thus For it is not to be imputed for a fault to any man that he is fallen from an Hypocriticall faith neither can a shipwrack be made of a faigned faith but only a detection and manifestation of it nor indeed can he suffer shipwrack who was never in the shippe 2 Pet. 2. 20. Some are said to have escaped from the filthinesse of the world by the knowledge of the Lord whose latter end is worse than their beginning and of those Ioh. 12. 42. who believed in Christ but did not confesse him they write that they believed with an unfaigned dogmaticall faith which then lay secretly hid in their hearts but never shewed it selfe in any outward profession for feare of danger ensuing Thir second position is this In these fore-mentioned there doth arise out of this knowledge and faith a certain change of their affections and some kind of amendment of their manners This they prove out of Math. 13. 20. They received the word with joy and 1 Kings 21. 17. concerning Ahabs humbling of himselfe and out of Heb. 6. 4. alleadged by this Author and over and above out of v. 6. observe a renovation also in as much as it is said That it is impossible they should be renued againe which implyeth that they had been formerly renued in some sort and out of Chap. 10. 19. That they trod under foot the blood of the Covenant by which they are sanctified and that they attained to some amendment of life they prove both by the example of Herod and out of 2 Pet. 2. 20. where t is said of them that they had escaped from the filthinesse of the world And Chap. 1. 9. Where they are said to have forgotten that they were purged from their old sinnes And out of Math. 12. 43. Where 't is said the unclean spirit was departed out of them and that all this was not faigned but that they proceeded out of the power of those dispositions unto grace and from the inspiration of the Holy Ghost yet notwithstanding all this in their fourth position they pronounce that they never attaine unto the state of adoption and justification and in their explication of it that they never attaine the change and renovation of the mind and affections which doth immediatly prepare and dispose unto justification For they never seriously repent
Jewes and Gentiles did oppose Christians even unto bloud for preaching Christ crucified which was a scandall to the one foolishnesse unto the other And shall the truth of Christianitie be any whit the worse thought of for this why then shall our Doctrine of predestination and reprobation be suspected as untrue because the Lutheran partie doe also bitterly oppose it especially considering that we with Austine no otherwise maintaine predestination then as it depends and is grounded upon this that grace is not given according unto workes as Austine professeth to have been his opinion de bono perseverantiae cap. 14. And we are ready to renounce whatsoever contradicteth this and the Lutherans themselves professe concurrently with us that grace is not given according unto workes And by the way observe the Lutheran spleen is exercised not only against the predestinary pestilence as they call it but the Sacramentarie pestilence also That is against their doctrine who oppose their ubiquitie and consubstantiation yet in the very next page the same Knight affirmes that all the Lutherans are not carried with the same sterne humour but they only who are called Lutherani rigidi that the greater part perhaps which are the molles Lutherani are quiet enough neither accompt they otherwise of the Calvinists then as of erring brethren whom the rigids have as is said threatened to excomunicate as Schismitiques and Heretiques 3 The Grecians are said to oppose the doctrine of Calvin in the point of predestination yet we know our English Divines subscribed unto the same Doctrine in the Synod of Dort together with all the forraigne Divines there assembled and the summe therof is but this that God both in the election of some and preterition of others had noe respect to the personall goodnesse of the one and personall naughtinesse of the other And that this was the very doctrine of Austine and of Saint Paul also in the opinion of Austine Vossius acknowledeth and Austine professeth that this doctrine herein is shaped merely according to the rule so generally received in the Church of God against Pelagians that grace is not given according unto merits de bono perseve cap. 15. 4. Concerning the Jewes this doctrine of ours this judicious not Sir Edwin Sandes thinks it probable that doth hinder their conversation And indeed that learned Knight doth professe that they are opposite to the doctrine here recited by this Authour and in the same sentence he professeth them in like manner opposite to our doctrine in maintaining that the divell and his Angells shall be cast into everlasting fire for thus goes Sir Edwin's relation as they thinke it a bad opinion which some men seeme to hold that God in his everlasting and absolute power should affect the extreame miserie of any of his Creatures as here it lyes so contrarie wise they think with Origen that Hell in the ende shall utterly be abolished and that the divells themselves after a long course of bitter repentance and punishment shall find mercy at his handes that did create them But as touching our difference from this in this particular This Authour doth not expresse ought so much as probable to hinder their conversion as touching the former he hath for that served his turne this doth not and his wit and wisedome being so nere of kinne noe mervaile if he makes the one to performe service of love to the other But let me say something concerning the opinion it selfe here related as in the first place That God doth not effect the extreame misery of his creatures in his absolute pleasure what is the doctrine opposite hereunto but this namely that God decrees to damne no man but for sinne and not according to his absolute pleasure Now what one of our Divines was ever knowne to contradict this and to affirme that God intends to damne many of his creatures not for their sinnes but of his owne absolute pleasure for my part I never read any that maintained this But we generally say that God in electing some and passing by others as touching the conferring of grace proceeded and decreed and that from everlasting to proceed not according to mens workes but according to his absolute pleasure now this was Austin's judgment as well as ours and Saint Paul's too in the opinion of Austine as Vossius acknowledgeth in the place formerly cited And Saint Paul speakes plainly when he saith God hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth and as plainely in saying That before the Children were borne or had done good or evill that election might stand not of workes but of him that calleth it is said that the elder shall serve the younger As it is written Iacob have I loved and Esau have I hated Rom 9. 11 12. And I durst appeale to every sober man 's consciencewhether one of these Jewes in reading this would not as redily condemne Saint Paul himselfe as they condemne us As for the other part of the doctrine here proposed namely that the damnation of some should redound more to God's glory then the felicity of them all I answere that it is as cleare as the light that the glory of God in the way of vindicative justice had not at all appeared if all had been saved no nor the riches of his glory upon the Vessels of mercy whom he had prepared unto glory if God had not suffered with long patience some vessells of wrath prepared to destruction if we believe Saint Paul Rom 9 22 23 rather then the Jewes and it is apparent that the Lord God who made allthings for himselfe tooke this course namely to make even the wicked against the day of evill and accordingly as to shew mercy on whom he will so to harden whom he will also Rom 9. 18 otherwise as I have often said grace should be conferred according to merits that is according unto workes which is expresly contradictory both to the word of God 2 Tim 1. 9. Tit. 3. 5. And to the decrees of Synods and Councells all along against the Pelagians ◠5. I willingly grant that the determination of the end doth necessarily involve the meanes that not only preceed but procure the end But I will utterly deny that sinne is the meanes of dānation we say rather that permission of sinne is the meanes whence notwithstanding it followes not that sin shall come to passe unavoidably but rather avoidably whether we consider the free will of man or the decree of God for every particular sinfull act is a naturall thing and undoubtetdly man hath free will as to doe so to abstaine from doing any particular Act and albeit God hath determined that these particular sinfull Acts instance the particular outrages committed against the holy Sonne of God by Herod Pontius Pilate together with the Gentiles and people of Israel Acts 5. 28. shall come to passe by his permission yet seeing withall he hath ordained thē to come to passe contingently that followes
that they shall come to passe in such a manner as joyned with a possibility of not cōing to passe otherwise they should come to passe not contingently but necessarily But it is growne to be this Authours naturall genius miserably to overreach while he keeps himselfe to his own formes inshaping the opinion of his adversaries impatient to be beaten out of them and to have his veteres avias à pulmone repelli oldgrandmothers vain conceits to be pulled out of Lastly this Authour shapeth us to make damnation an end intended by God which we conceive to be a very shallow project we know nothing but Gods owne glory that can be this end And therefore even there where Solomon professeth that God made the wicked against the day of Evill herewithall acknowledgeth that God made all thinges forhimselfe At length we have gotten cleare aboard to come acquainted with this Authours full discourse and not by patches as hitherto we have done For here he promiseth to acquaint us with the reasons that have convinced him of the untruth of absolute Reprobation as it is carried the upper way and like a Martialist a man at armes he tells us they fight against it and thus the interpolator discourseth The first part of the first Argument against the supralapsarians sect 1. They are drawen ab incommodo from the greater evils and inconveniences which issue from it naturally which may be referred to two maine heads 1 The dishonour of God 2 The overthrow of religion and government It dishououreth God For it chargeth him deeply with two things no wayes agreeable to his nature 1 Mens Eternall torments in Hell 2 Their sinnes on Earth First It chargeth him with Mens eternall torments in Hell and maketh him to be the prime principall 2nd invincible cause of the damnation of Millions of miserable soules The prime cause because it reporteth him to have appointed them to distruction of his owne voluntary disposition antecedent to all deserts in them and the Principall and invincible cause because it maketh the Damnation of Reprobates to be necessary and unavoydable thorough Gods absolute and uncontroulable decree and soe necessary that they can no more escape it then poore Astyanax could avoyd the breaking of his necke when the Graecians tumbled him downe from the Tower of Troy Now this is an neavy charge contrary to scripture Gods nature and sound Reason 1 To Scripture which makes man the Principall nay the only cause in opposition to God of his owne ruine Thy destruction is of thy selfe ô Israell but in me is thine help As I live saith the Lord I will not the death of the wicked c. Turne yee turne yee why will yee dye He doth not afflict willingly nor greive the Children of men To which speech for likeneile sake I will joyne one of Prospers Gods predestination is to many the cause of standing to none of falling 2 It is contrary to Gods nature who sets forth himselfe to be a God mercifull gracious long suffering abundant in goodnesse c. And he is acknowledged to be soe by King David Thou Lord art good and mercifull and of great Kindnesse to all them that call upon thee And by the Prophets Joell Jonah and Michah He is gracious and mercifull slow to anger and of great Kindnesse And who saith Micah is a God like unto thee that taketh away iniquity c. He retaineth not his wrath for ever because mercy pleaseth him 3 'T is contrary also to sound reason which cannot but argue such a Decree of extreame cruelty and consequently remove it from the father of mercyes We cannot in reason thinke that any man in the world can so farre put off humanity and nature as to resolve with himselfe to marry and beget Children that after they be borne and have lived a while with him he may hang them up by the tongues teare thir flesh with scourges pull it from their bones with burning pincers or put them to any cruell tortures that by thus torturing them he may shew what his Authority and power is over them Much lesse can we believe without great violence to reason that the God of mercy can so farre forget himselfe as out of his absolute pleasure to ordaine such infinite multitudes of his Children made after his owne image to everlasting fire and create them one after another that after the end of a short life here he might torment them without end hereafter to shew his power and soveraingty over them If to destroy the righteous with the wicked temporally be such a peece of injustice that Abraham removeth it from God with an Absit wilt thou destroy the righteous with the wicked that be farre from thee O Lord. shall not the judge of all the world doe right How deepely may we thinke would that good man have detested one single thought that God resolveth upon the destruction of many innocent soules eternally in hell fire Here this Authour carrieth himselfe like another Ptolomeus Ceraunus or as if he had some cheife place in the lightning legion not by his prayers but by his discourse he seemes to thunder and to lighten all along When the Lord appeared to Elias he was neither in the mighty wind nor in the earthquake nor in the fire but in the still and soft voyce I hope to prove all this to be but Ignis fatuus Mountebancks use to make great ostentation and crackes but commonly they end in meere impostures and it is no hing strange when men opposing the grace of God loose their owne witts and please themselves in the confusion of their owne senses For when men are in love with their owne errours they hate the light yea the very light of nature in the distinct notice of it would be an offence unto them Can this Authour be ignorant of that which every meane Sophister knowes that there be foure kinds of causes Materiall Formall Efficient Finall that he should expatiate thus in speaking of a cause without all distinction Is it strange that God should be a prime cause and principall in execution of vengeance Doth he not professe saying vengeance is mine and I will repay Is he not called the God to whom vengeance belongeth And are not his magistrates his Ministers to execute vengeance temporall here in this world And can any sober man dout whether God be invincible whom the Apostle pronounceth to be irresistable Againe an efficient cause admits farther distinction for it is either Physicall or Morall Physicall is that which really workes or executes any thing as every tradesman hath his worke which his hands doe make so God hath his worke which he executes and his worke is judgment as well as mercy I am the Lord which shew mercy and judgment and righteousnesse for in these things I delight saith the Lord and he would have us when we doe glory glory in this that we doe understand and know him to
eternall life by way of reward and inflict eternall death on the other by way of punishment yet in conferring the grace of regeneration of faith and repentance upon the one and denying the same graces unto the other the Lord carrieth himselfe not according to mens workes but merely according to the pleasure of his owne will shewing mercy on whom he will and hardning whom he will in which respect he is said to make men in what condition he will as Rom 9. 20. Shall the thing formed say to it that formed it why hast thou made me thus Though indeed he makes but one sort of them after a new fashion leaving the other in the state of naturall corruption wherein he findeth them And likewise is compared by the same Apostle to a Potter who out of the same lump makes one vessell unto honour and an other unto dishonour But to returne I have I trust sufficiently shewed that in all this which he hath delivered when things are rightly understood and duely considered ther 's nothing found alien from the holy nature of God no more then it is repugnant to his holy nature to decree and execute vengeance condigne vengeance even the vengeance of damnation on men for their sinnes in such sort that it shall unavoidably overtake all those that breake not off their sinnes by repentance before their death Nothing more agreeable to Scripture nor to the nature of God revealed unto us in holy Scripture then this and consequently nothing more agreeable to Christian reason But as for naturall reason God forbid we should make that the rule of our faith as concerning the resurrection of the dead and the powers of the world to come the rewards of heaven and the torments of hell where the worme never dieth and the fire never goeth out And may it not seeme very strange that a Christian and a Divine and one magnified by the Arminian party for great abilities should undertake to prove this doctrine to be contrary to Scripture to the nature of God and to sound reason Well let us proceed to observe how well he performes what he undertakes And here he saith 1. That the Scripture makes man the principall nay the only cause in opposition to God of his owne ruine We answer the Scripture makes man the only cause of his owne ruine in the meritorious cause thus man's destruction is of himselfe But this nothing hinders God from being the cause why vengeance destruction and damnation are executed upon man for he is the God to whom vengeance belongeth he delights as well in shewing judgment as in shewing mercy Indeed did we maintaine that God damnes the Reprobate whether man or Angells of his mere pleasure this Argument of his were seasonable We know full well that God of his free grace shewes mercy but judgment only upon provocation and herein he proceeds slowly too for he is slow to wrath and easie to be intreated Yet God's afflicting is not alwaies for sinne neither doth it alwaies proceed in the way of punishment when we suffer for Christ we have cause to rejoyce that he counts us worthy to suffer for his name neither were the afflictions of Iob brought upon him for his sinnes but for the tryall of his faith and to make him an example of patience to all succeeding generations and as for that of Ezech I will not the death of the wicked It is the usuall course of men of this Authours spirit thus to render the wordes whereas our last English translation renders them thus I have noe pleasure in the death of the wicked Now as a man may will that wherein he takes noe pleasure as a sick-man takes a bitter potion sometimes for the recovery of his health so God may will that wherein he takes noe delight And whether it be meant of first or second death it cannot be denied but God wills it for he workes all things according to the councell of his owne will Then againe if we consider the infliction of death as an execution of judgment God not only willeth this but delights therein also as it is expressed That of Prosper is nothing to the present purpose we treating here of the cause of damnation not of sinning we say God is the God to whom vengeance belongeth not to whom sinne belongeth Besides sinne as sinne hath noe efficient cause at all but defficient as Austine hath delivered many hundered yeares agoe It is true it is in Gods power to preserve any man from any sinne it is in his power to take any man off from any sinfull course by repentance if he will but he is bound to none he hath mercy on whom he will and whom he will he hardeneth and in all this he is not culpable In the next place he tels us It is contrary to God's nature but what To damne men for their sinnes neverbroken offby repentance for all our divines maintaine that God is Authour of damnation to none but such and to such God is not mercyfull nor gratious nor suffers them any longer nor shewes any goodnesse towards them while they lived he did yea much long suffering and patience inviting them thereby to repentance yea and by his word also inviting many but after they dye in sinne therewithall an end is sett to the dispensation of Gods gracious proceedings with them Much lesse doe we deny him to be good and mercifull and of great kindnesse to all that call upon him For Gods mercy doth not exercise it selfe by necessity of nature but by freedome of will yet he heareth the cry of Ravens and not a Sparrow falleth to the ground without the providence of our heavenly father and the very Lyons roaring after thir prey doe seeke their meat at the hands of God These mercyes are temporall but as for spirituall mercyes for the working and cherishing of Sanctification these are not extended unto all but to some only even to whom he will And accordingly the elect of God are called vessels of mercy Yet to the execution of damnation on any he proceeds not till after death and stayes no longer so slow to wrath he is towards the worst and no more slow to the best of them Who is a God like unto thee saith Micah that taketh away iniquity here this Authour out of wisdome maketh a stoppe leaving out that which followeth and passing by the transgressions of the remnant of his heretage That restriction belike he did not so well brooke but having leapt over that he is content to take in that which followeth he retaineth not his wrath for ever because mercy pleaseth him to witt towards the remnant of his heritage of his people But I hope nought of this can hinder God from being the Authour of damnation to all that dye in sinne without repentance without any prejudice to his holinesse though he retaineth wrath for ever against them We come to his reason which he calls soūd saying that it
either by doing more he understands that God doth the same which the Devill wicked mē do more or though he does not the same yet he doth that which is more then that If his meaning be that God doth the same which the Devill wicked men doe this is notoriously untrue considering thē as tempters advizers and perswaders unto sin For God on the contrary forbids sin perswades to repentance to obedience both by his word and by his spirit and indeed the spirit workes not but by the word which is called the sword of the spirit All holines of life is comprised within the compasse of ten commandements these were given by the Lord frō mount Sinai pronounced by the sound of a trūpet to these the Lord calls his people saying stand in the waies and behold and aske for the old way which is the good way and walke therein ye shall find rest unto your soules For the transgression of these the Lord expostulates with thē Heare ô heavens and hearken ô earth I have nourished and brought up a people they have rebelled against me Whē they have gone astray he exhorts the and that most pathetically to returne by repentance by promise of salvation and threatning judgment if they doe not repent O Ierusalem wash thine heart from wickednes that thou maist be saved how long shall thy wicked thoughts remaine within thee I have seene thy adulteries and thy neighings the filthinesse of thy whoredome on the hills in the feilds and thine abominations Woe unto thee ô Ierusalem wilt thou not be made cleane When shall it once be And to provoak them the rather unto repentance he represents himselfe unto them as easy to be intreated as slow to wrath and one that by his patience and long suffering leades them to repentance And to this end he gives charge to his Ministers namely by representing the gracious nature of God to admonish them of their sinnes to call them to repentance to obedience And to this purpose to represent his promises which he hath annexed unto godlinesse both the promises of this life and the promises of a better life that is to come Yea and his threats also both of judgments in the world to come to the casting both of body and soule into hell fire and thereupon to exhort us to feare him above all others And judgments of this world as famine pestilence and the sword of the enemie To deliver them over into the hands of beastly people skilfull to destroy To send Serpents and Cockatrices among them that will not be charmed and that shall sting them and that without all mercy Surely these are not the courses of Satan or wicked counsellours Therefore they doe not as God doth neither doth God doe that which they doe and more also 2. If it be said that albeit the Lord doth not as the Devill doth and wicked men doe in perswading them to sinne yet he doth that which is more then this I answer that neverthelesse he cannot be accounted the Authour of sinne in case the doing of this alone doth constitute an Agent the Authour of sinne Now as formerly I have shewed this was the opinion of Dominicus Soto and of the Divines of Salamancha yea and Vasquez the Jesuite professeth that he was ever of that opinion Againe if to doe more then this be to become the Authour of sin both this Authour and all that are of his Spirit doe maintain as well we that God doth that which is farre more then this For I presume he will not deny but that God is he and he alone who doth support our natures in the committing of sin who maintaines our senses in their vigour and quicknesse without which we could take noe pleasure in sin and that concurres to every act of sin in the way of cause efficient not morally which alone makes one to become the Authour of sin by the judgment of Divines formerly mentioned but physically and naturally which no creature can doe namely become a naturall coefficient cause to the act of another man's will Nay which is most considerable I presume this Authour hath so much accuratenes in School-learning as not to deny that when the Devill tempts us or wicked counsellours doe tempt us to sin God concurres with them in this act and that in the kind of a cause efficient physicall For in him we live and move and have our being what is it to have our being from him but that he is the Authour of it in the kind of a cause efficient In the same sense doe we live in him and in the same sense doe we move in him It stands us upon as much to maintaine this as to maintaine that God is our Creatour For unlesse all things doe subsist in him neither were all things created by him Now this is a great deale more then to perswade For a weake man is able to perswade but noe creature is able to performe these parts which God doth in the act of every thing created by by him So that hereby the Reader may evidently perceive that the discourse is as farre off as ever from proving God by this Doctrine of ours to be the Authour of sin any more then he is constituted the Authour of sin by the doctrine of this Interpolator But I am content to examine the things he proposeth particularly and severely 1. The Devill saith he doth only allure men by inward suggestions and outward temptations to fall into sinne But God doth much more if he doe necessitate and by his decree first and next by his powerfull and secret working in the soules of men determine their wills irresistibly to sinne For to determine is infinitely more then to perswade Now to this I have already answered by shewing 1. That albeit God doth more then this yet seeing he doth not this if the doing of this alone constitutes one the Authour of sin as many great Divines have concurrently maintained still God is free from being the Authour of sin This Authour barely supposing not once offering to prove the contrary 2. Himselfe confesseth that God concurres to the act of every sinne and that in the kind of a cause efficient naturall And I may be as bold as to say of this that it is infinitely more then to perswade like as he saith of God's determining the will and necessitating thereof Now I proceed to a more particular examination of his discourse And here first I wonder not a little at this Authour's distinction of the Devill 's inward suggestion from his outward temptations For I confesse freely I know noe outward temptation of Satan distinct from his inward suggestions Outward occasions and provocations to sinne I know none wrought by Satan any farther then as he in some cases is God's instrument as in afflicting Iob. For surely God hath not given over the world or any part thereof to the goverment of Satan this is in
sin Neither are these generalls the only end that God aimed at in this but many other particulars there are whereby the glory of God's wisedome and power and grace doth appeare by occasion of sins entrance into the world The horrible facts of Jewes and Gentiles cōmitted upon the person of the Son of God were such as whereby the Lord brought to passe the redemption of the world if Christ had not been crucified what satisfaction had been made for the sins of the world how could he have been set forth as a propitiation for our sins through faith in his blood yet this is not all the glory of God that breaks forth by the permission of sin The punishment of one sin by another is an admirable worke of God's providence and that more waies then one For God can punish and doth one man by the sin of an other The Assyrians and Babylonians committed outrages enough upon the people of God yet hereby the Lord was just in punishing the sins of his own people Senacherib blasphemed the God of Israel the creature his Creator most unnaturally this unnaturallnes of his towards God the Lord avenged by the unnaturalnesse of his own children towards him This was the worke of the Lord as himselfe acknowledgeth I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land Man seeketh the face of the Ruler but every man's judgment is of the Lord. Many unjust judgments have their course in the world yet Solomon saith every man's judgment is from the Lord. It is just with him to punish unjust courses with unjust courses and there is mercy in this for no better way then this to bring mens former wicked courses to their remembrance As Adonibezek when the thumbs of his hands and great toes of his feet were cut off then he remembred his former cruelty and how that 70 Kings had eaten bread under his Table having the thumbes of their hands and feet cut off And herein he acknowledged the just hand of God saying As I have done to others so hath God done to me And as many as will not in like manner acknowledge the just hand of God in like cases let them take heed lest Adonibezek one day rise up in judgment against them Thus it is just with God by one sin of the same man to punish another For because the Gentiles knowing God glorified him not as God but were unthankfull turning the glory of the incorruptible God into the Image of corruptible things therefore the Lord gave them up unto a reprobate mind to doe those things which are not convenient Therefore God gave thē up to vile affections Therefore God gave them up to their hearts lusts unto uncleanes to defile their own bodies between thēselves And what were these inconvenient things what was this uncleanes Wherein consisted this defiling of their bodies between themselves The text expresseth it thus For even their womē changed the naturall use into that which is against nature And likewise also the mē left the naturall use of the women burned in their lust one towards another mā with man wrought filthines But was there any judgment of God to be observed in this The Apostle hath discovered this also unto us in the words immediately following thus And they received in thēselves such recōpence of their errour as was meet observe manifestly the just hand of God in all this As for the manner how God brought all this to passe we answer with Austin whether it be modo explicabili or inexplicabili by a way that may be explicated by us or whether it be inexplicabile the Apostle troubleth not himselfe hereabout his care was only to shew how great a judgmēt this was this is prosecuted farther by Austin in the same place shewing by variety of particulars all taken out of the word of God in the place formerly quoted Neither is this all the glory of God that cōes to be manifested by the permission of sin For he knows not only how to judge one sin by another but to heale one sin by another also Audeo dicere saith Austin utile est superbis in aliquod apertum manifestumque cadere peccatum that so they may be humbled and brought to sobriety and passe the time of sojourning here with greater care and feare Now consider in how hungry a manner this Authour sets downe our tenet concerning God's providence in willing and decreeing that sin shall come to passe in the world by his permission whē he talkes of sin being a meanes of punishment a most absurd expression both in a sinister stating of the end punishment not being the end but a meanes coordinate to an other end to wit the manifestation of God's glory who hath made all things for himselfe that is for the setting forth of his own glory as also in a sinister stating the end sin being not a meanes as most absurdly he stiles it but a meritorious cause of punishment Like as in reference to the manifestation of his glory it is not the meanes but the materiall cause thereof But the permission of sins that and not sin is the meanes together with the punishment thereof tending to the manifestatiō of God's glory in the way of justice 1. A good end cannot moralize a bad actiō We grant it But seeing it is impossible that the divine hand can doe any bad action the end of his actions is sufficient to justifie his courses For as Aquinas hath delivered God's wisedome is his justice For he is a debtor to none but to himselfe and how to himselfe Not otherwise then in all things which he doth to carry himselfe so as it becōmeth himselfe that is to order every thing to a right end which is only the manifestation of his own glory For himselfe is most lovely and 't is his nature to be most loving of that which is most lovely Now to order all things aright to their congruous ends is the part of wisdome And see how extravagant this Authour is in evey one of his instances For to steale to commit adultery to oppresse to kill is to sinne and in willing any of these a man wills his own sinne But the Argument we treat of is of God's willing the sins of others as when God's hand and his counsell determined that those things should be done which by Herod Pontius-Pilate the Gentiles and people of Israel were committed against the holy Son of God and when the Kings gave their kingdomes to the beast herein they are said to doe the will of God and when every mans judgment is said to come frō the Lord not only judgmēt just but even judgments unjust to wit of men yet God hath a just hand in plaguing others by thē man ought not to doe evill that good may come thereof but God's willing it to come to passe by his permission is no evill at all Nay it is good nor so only