The Diseases of the Time, Chapter 7
CHAP. VII. Aphorismes of Predestination.
THE root of Predestination is vnsearchable, the wit of man is shor… and shallow, contentiousnesse is endlesse, because doubts are manifold, and humours incompatible; therefore I thinke it best in a perplexed matter to set downe short and euident Tru…hes, by light to chase away the errours of those that deceiue beeing deceiued, and by breuitie to make knowledge portable, & so eyther easie or pleasant to the knower.
First, it is fit for man to know, That no man doth know the secrets of God, but by the Reuelation of GOD. Therefore, iust as they are reuealed, so they are to bee conceiued and beleeued. The reuelation of Gods secrets must informe and teach our vnderstandings & iudgements what they are, but our vnderstandings or iudgements must not tell themselues what these secrets are; so we must be passiue in a submissiue receiuing them not actiue in an inuentiue contriuing of them. Therefore, mans reason must lye still, and meerly suffer when the highest Reason and Wisdome speaketh vndiscouerable Mysteries, it must heare and beleeue as a Learner, and not instruct as a Teacher. For who hath knowne by his owne wit the inward minde of the Lord? for his secrets are only known to his own Spirit, and to those to whom that Spirit reueales them. Therefore, iust as the Scriptures speake, let vsus heare; and learne this secret of Predestination, especially, where it is handled, ex proposito, for in such places good Teachers set downe plainly the state of the Question, and an especiall place of that kind is the 9. and the 11. to the Romanes.
Secondly I affirme, or rather the Scripture before me, that though God discouers to vsus that hee chuseth some and leaueth others, yet the reason of Gods will in chusing or leauing is hidden from vsus. Paul cryes out, O depth, and how vnsearchable are his counsels, and his wayes past finding out. And againe, he worketh all according to the pleasure of his owne will, which indeed be the very words of one that hides his reasons of doing, referring vsus only the knowledge of his pleasure. Againe, Where he will, he hardeneth; where hee will, he sheweth merciemercy. So his wil is the Horizon and vtmost extent of our reuealed knowledge in this point.
Thirdly, the will of God hath euer ioyned with it Wisdome and Iustice: it is not a rash Will without Knowledge, but whom he knew before those he predestinated, & Pharaoh is hardened not without aduice, but that God may get glory vponupon him, and Paul thus expresseth the wisedome of this businesse in generall; To shew the riches of his mercy on some, and the seuerity of his wrath on others. Againe, His will is iust, for else how should God iudge the World, for how can the Iudge of the World but doe iustly? but I say, some part of Gods Iustice is to man in this life vnsoundable; and is kept for the day of the declaration of the iust Iudgement of God, and yet some part of his wayes in this are discernable to hauehave euident Iustice.
Fourthly, the Iustice of God is thus far euident, That man being made righteous & freely falling, and in his fall ruining & corrupting his whole House, Family and Posterity, God, who by mans free falling is free from the fault of his falling, hath power to punish sinne in all men, in whom hee finds it. As sinne it is contrary to him, and so punishable, as sin contracted by mans free-will without Gods inforcement or cooperation (quatenus sin) God is left free to bee a Iudge, and not to be excepted at as a party.
Fiftly, Man being in this state of misery & corruption without Gods fault or partaking, and God knowing that it would bee so euen before the foundations of the World, before the same foundations of the World, might wel and iustly resolue to leaue some part of man in this selfe-purchased misery, who cannot clayme any right or merit of restoring, and hee might chuse another part to MercieMercy, God being by mans free act of sinning left free eyther to Iustice or MercieMercy, to leauing or chusing. And being free, he chuseth or leaueth as in his secret Wisdome he knowes most aduantagable to his glory.
Sixthly, true it is that God fore-appointed Christ Iesus to be the Sauiour of his Elect, & his Elect to be saued by Christ Iesus, and all these from eternitie. Christ was a Lambe flaine before the beginning of World, and the Elect were chosen to Saluation before the beginning of the World: though the Election purposed to execute it selfe by Adams fall, yet the fall of Adam in it selfe was voluntary and not necessary; I say in it selfe it was not necessary, for the certaintie of Gods Decree did not lay any necessitie on the freedome of Adams will, and yet neyther did the freedome of Adams will, in danger the certaintie of the Decree; yea, the freedome of Adams will both cleares God from necessitating it, and yet certainly and infallibly effects Gods Decree. For in that Adams will is free, God doth not incline it to fall, and so therein is God cleared from inforcing his sinne. And in that Adams will is free, Adam will certainly fall, and certainly effect the Diuine Decree. Adam left to himselfe, cannot accuse God for mouing him to sinne. Sure God is the stability of all his Creatures, & particularly of mans will, and if God purpose to get himselfe glory on mans fall, hee need no other meanes to bring it to effect, but by giuing him free will. For the will left free to it selfe, as it is …ree from God tempting, so it is free from God supporting, & wher God doth not support though the will might make man to stand if it would, yet it will not do it though it might. Therefore when Adam by his free-will will certainly fall, we ought rather to speake of a voluntary & certainty then an inward necessitie. And indeed, Gods Decree hath as cleare & sure a passage to his marke by a voluntary certainty, as by a a necessity; yea, by coaction it selfe. For where God leaues the will free, this free-will will freely but certainly fall, and where it will certainly fall, by that certainty the certaintie of the Decree passeth safely to his assured marke. So likewise to doe right to Gods purity, and that he is not the author of sin, it sufficeth that we find the fal of Adam, to bee voluntarily certain. As for Necessity there is not a Necessitas actina, and therefore, if there bee any, it must be Necessitas ociosa, and surely it seemes idle to talke of an idle Necessitie. For as causa sine qua non is called stolida causa, so I see not why Necessitas per quam non, may not bee called stolida Necessitas.
Seuenthly, God is free to make Adam free; euen to leaue him in an aequilibrious estate, with a possibilitie to bee ouer…eighed by temptation is hee listed; Hee might by his free-will hauehave taken the Tree of Life and Stability, as well as the Tree of Death and Apostasie, and so he was thereby as neere to Happinesse as to Miserie. But that God should stablish him as he doth the Elect, he was not bound, for he that binds God must giuegive first vntounto God; now the Creature cannot giuegive first vntounto the Creator, for he must be before he can giuegive, and euen that being (which is mans first) hee must first receiue from his Creator. So is hee first a Debter in his very being, and a man by one Debt cannot make title to another.
Eightly, though God is said to harden, yet hee doth it not by influence of corruption, or supply of vice, but God herein is most absolutely cleere, for hee doth it by not-doing. And if God doe not in sinne, how can hee be accused of doing sinne? if God will that Pharaoh shal be hardned, let him but keep in his breath, euen his blessed Spirit, by which hearts of stone are made hearts of flesh, and then fle…h will of it selfe and by the helpe of Satan, turn into stone. God is not the cause of sin no more then the Sunne is the cause of Ice. The Sunne is properly a destroyer and dissoluer of Ice, and God is a dissoluer of the sinfull workes of the Deuill. But when the Sun withdrawes his beames by his nightly and winterly departures, the cold hardens the waters which the Sunne forsakes. So where God hideth his face, and contracts his spirit, there temptation hardens. He doth not put the hardnes into the heart, but hee leaues the heart and hath nothing to doe with it, and then where God doth nothing to soften, there will quickly enough be done by sinne and Satan to harden. Therefore when we are hardened, Let vsus rather complaine that God doth nothing, then that he doth something in vsus.
Ninthly, though the Children of Adam be necessarily sinfull, yet they may be iustly punished, because necessary sinning came from voluntary sinning. For this necessitie of sinning came not from God, but from their owne Father, but this free-will brought vponupon them this necessity. And surely if they had beene in his place they would likewise hauehave done the same, for Adams Children would hauehave beene no better then their Father, the print no better then the stampe. When God gaue a power of leauing a righteous seede, hee may call into Iudgement the seed which he finds vnrighteous, and he may be angry with sinne wheresoeuer he findes it, because he gaue a power that there shold bee no sinne at all. Wee doe the same and allow the same, and yet question what we doe and allow; In a Snake and Toade, we make no question whither they could chuse but bee venomous, but without any question we kill them only for being venomous: neyther may we excuse it because we made not their venome, for neyther did God make the venome of sinne. And surely sinne is like poison in the sight of God, and wee may rather wonder how his mercy can indure it in so many, then how his Iustice should punish it in any. A Traytors children are impouerished by Lawes for the offence of his parents, and when wee see an oppressor, murderer, or extortioner, we exspect it as a necessary piece of Diuine Iustice, That his third heire inioy not his estate. This is the summe. God is pure and righteous, Man is sinfull without Gods partaking, a Righteous God may punish sinfull men, whose sin he hath nothing to doe with, but he findes it contrary and offensiue to him.
Lastly, in these and the like depthes of God, let no man wade aboue his stature. EueryEvery Man should vnderstand according to sobriety, that is, according to the measure which he contayneth. Let not the Homer teare it selfe in pieces by stretching it selfe to be an Ephah: but let eueryevery member (for the members are different) aspire to his proper fulnesse, and though they reach not to such Mysteries, they may conuerse in poynts of more absolute necessity to saluation, and larger edification, as our graffing into Christ Iesus by Faith, and our growth in him by LoueLove, the stablishing of our hearts in the hope suggested by the earnest and testimonie of the sanctifying Spirit.
These things are maine, generall, and absolutely necessary imployments, and concernments in our way to Heauen, and in them especially must wee spend our meditations. And for the rest no doubt to their vnderstanders, they are full of edification, yet all men cannot ceceiue them. Therefore let eueryevery man receiue that which is meet for his measure, according to that which hee hath, & not according to that which he hath not, nor cannot hauehave. Miserable it is to see (as I hauehave seene it) a man possessed by pieces of this secret, rather then possessing them, and so vttering his distractions rather then resolutions, that one might pitty his amazement sooner then conceiue his meaning. But I hauehave shewed you a more excellent way.