A Christian Instruction Containing the Law and the Gospel, Exposition 2 · Part 31
Howe that the diuel may not impute the fault and fall of his damnation but to him ſelfe, and how it is manifeſt by that fal that ther is no vnchangeable veritie nor conſtancie but in the nature of God.
T.
THen is there no faulte that procéedeth from God in the fall of the angels, nor any thing therof which is apparant to men, out of his eternall coūſel: but that when the diuel wold turne from him of his own proper motion, God who had not created him vnchaungeable, did ſuffer him to change & to folow his wil, and permitted him to fall, & did not let him, hold him, nor pluck him back: which thing not withſtanding he could wel hauehave done, if his good will and pleaſure had ben ſuche, and that hée had not otherwiſe determined in his eternall counſel, for good & iuſt cauſes, for the which he is not bounde to giuegive vsus an accompte, the which he dothe know better than we doe: But he hathe not thruſt him forward, nor conſtrayned him of force ſo to do, albeeit that it is not done without his prouidence and eternal ordinaunce. Wherfore he may not attribute the faulte of his euill acte to any other than to himſelfe, whiche thyng wée muſt ſéeke (as thou haſte alreadie ſayd) in the ſeconde and neareſt cauſes, leauing the iudgement & conſideration of the firſt to the ſecrete counſell of God, whiche is to vsus vnknowne.
Dan.
It is true. And to come againe to oure purpoſe, the Diuell bi…ing depriued from thys goodneſſe, the which he hath loſt, can be none other thā he is, nor hauehave any other wil thā wicked: But yet notwithſtanding, it is ſtil a wil: & that which he doth, is doon voluntarily. Ther is no difference in this matter, but in ſtead that before his wil was good, and did willingly that which was good, by the ſame: now is it euil, & doth willingly that which is euill, & that which he can not otherwiſe doe, procéedeth not but onelyonly of that that he can hauehave of himſelfe none other wil but that which is wicked: ye fault whereof maye be imputed to none other but to him: For if he hauehave bin vnthākful toward God, & hath through his vnkindneſſe and pride contemned that which he hath receyued of him, God is not bounde to giuegive him that whiche he thorough his own fault and vnkindneſſe hath loſt: neither doth he him any wrong to leaue him in yt ſtate, into the which he hath brought himſelf: for if he were not bound neither to create the Angels, nor yet to preſerue & to confirme thē in their eſtate, but hath done what he hath don, of his méere goodneſſe & liberalitie, what dutie oweth hée elſe to repaire & reſtore thoſe yt are falne, vnleſſe it pleaſe him, and except he think and know it to be agréeable to his glory & maieſtie, which he declareth in ſhewing himſelfe a iuſt iudge, in punniſhing ſo greuouſly ſuch a pride, and ſuch an arrogancie and ingratitude: and likewiſe hée doth ſhewe his great glorye and power, declaring in a creature ſo excellently by him created, what difference there is betwene him that is the Creator, and the creature: and betwene dwelling in hym and abandoning or leauing of him. And by the ſame meane he doth alſo giuegive vsus the better to knowe the great grace that he hath beſtowed vponupon the other Angels the which hée conſerueth in their fyrſte eſtate. For they may vnderſtande by that which happened to their felowes, that which mought alſo hauehave happened to thē, if that God of ſpeciall grace had not holden them vp and conſerued them: conſidering that they were created of one very nature, which is now of an vnchangeable goodneſſe, through his grace, without the which it mought be chaungeable, as well as that of the others. And therfore it is not without cauſe writtē in the booke of Iob, that God hath founde no prayſe nor perfection in his very Angels. For if we ſhuld compare God, and ye perfection of him with yt of his Angels, it ſhuld fare as it doth wyth the ſtarres, whych looſe their light in the preſence of the ſunne: or as it doth with a candle that is lighted at a faire noone tyde. On the other ſyde, we may not properly call true, firme and conſtant any: but only he that hath hys being of himſelfe,Exod. 3. & may ſay, I am: to wit God vntounto whom this ſame belongeth.