The Eye and Wheel of Providence, Chapter 27
CHAP. XXVII.
Sect. 1. Queſt 2. Whether Gods Providence be immutable, anſwered, affirmatively.
Quest. 2 I Shall in the ſecond place enquire, Whether Gods Providence be immutatable and unchangeable?
I anſwer affirmativè, that it is,Resp. Deus decrevit, quis diſſolvet? for God and all his Decrees are unchangable, Malac. 3.6. I am God and change not, therefore the ſons of Jacob are not conſumed. My counſel ſhall ſtand, and I will do all my pleaſure, Iſa. 26.10. With God there is no variableneſs nor ſhadow of turning, Jam. 1.17. it is a metaphor that ſeemeth to be taken from the Sunne, who is ſometimes nearer to the Earth, and ſometime farther from the Earth, who ſometime ſets a larger courſe, and ſometime a ſhorter cut; yea who ſometime ſhineth out clearly, and ſometime hideth himſelf under a cloud, and according to the diverſities of his aſpects and influences,Tempus ab aevo eſſe jubes, ſtabilìſ que manens das cuncta maneri. Boet. de conſolat. Philoſ. l. 3. he affecteth well or ill theſe ſublunary and inferiour bodies. But God is capable of no ſuch alterations, whether we conſider his Nature, his eſſential Properties, or his Will. In regard of them all he is Sempèr idem, always the ſame his [is, was, and will be] is all one; he is the ſame at this preſent that he was at the beginning, and will be the ſame for ever that he is at this inſtant, and this muſt needs be ſo: For being a ſimple entire Eſſence void of all mixture and compoſition, he is free from thoſe qualities that accompany compounded bodies, viz. generation, corruption, augmencation, diminution, and all manner of alteration—and for the immutability of his Will, he tells us,Tranſibunt Coeli, i. e. in melius mutabuntur. Hieron. in Pſal. 102. Et erunt Caeli novi nòn ſubſtantiâ ſed qu…litacibus renovati. Aug. That as he hath purpoſed it ſhall ſtand, and as he hath conſulted it ſhall come to paſſe, Jer. 14.24. And our Saviour ſaith, Till Heaven and Earth paſs away, one jot and tittle ſhall in no wiſe paſs from the Law, till all be fullfilled, Matth. 5.18. whereby our Saviour Chriſt doth not mean that either Heaven and Earth ſhall one day be deſtroyed [in regard] of their ſubſtance by fire, any more than they were by water, 2 Pet. 3.6. Rom. 8.21. nor yet then when they be changed in regard of their qualities, when there ſhall be new Heavens and new Earth wherein dwelleth righteouſneſs; that is, I ſuppoſe, when God ſhall alter and change the ſtate of his Church, as it ſhall ſeem to dwell in a new world; that then there ſhall be a diſſolution or alteration of the moral Law. It's certain, that the uſe of Arts and tongues, interpretations, expoſitions, and all knowledge of the Law, and other things gotten by theſe means, ſhall then ceaſe and have an end. For when that which it perfect is come, that which is unperfect ſhall be done away, 1 Cor. 13.8, 10. but for the ſubſtance of the moral Law it is indiſſoluble, immutable and unalterable; and ſooner ſhall the frame and fabrick of Heaven and Earth fail, and the world become a ſecond Chaos, then it be deſtroyed: The graſs withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever.
Object. Is the will of God unchangeable: may it not be ſaid, that under the Law God would be worſhipped by Ceremonies, and under the Goſpel he will not ſo be worſhipped, therefore the will of God is changed?
Mutatio rerum ſeu effectuum nòn valet ad mutationem cauſarum variis temporibus mutantur opera Agricolae, & nòn ideò mutatur ipſa Ars agriculturae. Auguſt.Resp. I anſwer, That the change of things or effects makes nothing to the change of cauſes. An Husbandman at one time uſeth one piece of Husbandry, another while he uſeth another; ſometime tilling, ſometime ſowing, ſometime dunging, and ſometime reaping; at ſeveral times the works of the Husbandman are changed, and yet the Art of Huſbandry it ſelf is not changed. God doth not now under the Goſpel govern his Church in the ſame manner as he did under the Law, in the Churches infancy, then he allured them with temporal promiſes, whereby notwithſtanding were ſignified ſpiritual and eternal: Yet no alteration in God, but he dealeth like a wiſe Father, who uſeth one manner of Diſcipline to his children being young and tender, and another manner of carriage being grown up, yet his love and mind is ſtill one and the ſame towards them.
Sect. 2.
IN reſpect of the firſt cauſe, all things come to paſſe by an immutable neceſſity, but in reſpect of ſecond cauſes ſome things come to paſs neceſſarily, others contingently: That is neceſſary that muſt be thus and thus, and cannot be otherwiſe than it is; that which is contingent, is that which before it is done, may be done, or not be done, or at leaſt after this or that manner. Neceſſity is either from an internal principle, and the nature and form of the thing; as the Sunne neceſſarily ſhineth, the fire neceſſarily burneth, every living creature dieth and is diſſolved. A man is a reaſonable creature, and a man not regenerate ſinneth: For this he hath from Nature depraved and corrupted—or elſe Neceſſity is from ſome external,Neceſſitas eſt modus agendi ordinatus in rebus naturalibus. Verron. Phyſic. l. 1. c. 5. inevitable, impulſive cauſe; as the Elect cannot periſh; but the cauſe is not in themſelves, but in Gods purpoſe, which appointed Chriſt to be their Saviour. So Chriſt was neceſſarily to die at the age he died, not by neceſſity of Nature, for he might have lived many years longer, but by neceſſity of God's Decree; yea and alſo that he ſhould die the death he did die. Sometime neceſſity ariſeth from both together; as that the Sunne ſhineth is from its own nature, and that the light maketh the day is alſo from the Decree and appointment of God.
That the Reprobate ſhall be damned, ariſeth partly from the nature of ſinne that maketh them liable to death, and partly from the Decree of God appointing them to deſtruction.
Again, Cauſes are ſome definite, and appointed to ſet purpoſes, and ſome indefinite and free, and [both] in divers reſpects. So Judas in Gods Decree was the definite and appointed cauſe to betray Chriſt, in his own indefinite; he might either have done it,Cyrus naturalitèr erat cauſa indefinita ad liberandum vel nòn liberandum populum Judaicum ſed definita in decreto Dei, voluntas Judae (moderante divina providentia) fuit à Satana inclinata ſed nòn impulſa. or not have done it. So Cyrus naturalitèr was an indefinite cauſe, either to deliver or not deliver the people of the Jews; but definite in the Decree of God: So Judas naturally, not neceſſarily, but freely betrayeth Chriſt; but in reſpect of God's Decree he betrayed him neceſſarily, neither could he avoid the betraying of him, yet not by compulſion, but freely and voluntarily. In reſpect of the ſecond cauſe, Adam ſinned freely and contingently, in reſpect of the firſt cauſe he ſinned neceſſarily. So when the Romans beſieged Jeruſalem, in reſpect of them it was contingent and arbitrary, and free whether they would deſtroy it or not, but in Gods Decree neceſſary that they muſt deſtroy it.
Sect. 3. An Objection againſt the immutability of Gods Providence anſwered; How God is ſaid to repent, &c.
Object. IF Gods Providence be immutable,Quomodò paenitentia cadat in eum, qui ſua praeſcientia regit univerſa. Theodoret. how is it then ſaid that he repented him of the evil denounced againſt Nineveh, and did it not? Jon. 3.10. This ſeemeth a harſh phraſe and ſtrange ſpeech, that God ſhould repent and change his mind who is immutable; the ſtrength of Iſrael will not lie, nor repent, 1 Sam. 15.19. for he is not as a man that he ſhould lie, nor as the ſon of man that he ſhould repent; how then can repentance be attributed to him, who by his fore-knowledge governeth all things? yet that he may (at leaſt) ſeem to repent, this place proveth, and Gen. 6.6. Moſes tells us, that when God ſaw that the whole frame of mans heart was altogether evil, and that continually, it even repented him that he had made man upon the earth, and grieved him at the heart: and ſo concerning Saul,1 Sam. 15.11. God tels Samuel, that it repented him that he had made him King
The Learned ſay:Reſp, Haec habet omnia Deus per effectum, non per naturam Bernard. That theſe affections of anger and grief, ſorrow, repentance, &c. be not properly in God of their own nature, but onelyonly their effects: Anger properly is not in God, Fury is not in me, Iſa. 27.4. but revenge (an effect of anger) is in God; for a man that is angred, is deſirous to be ſatisfied, and to wreak himſelf upon him that hath provoked him; the paſſion of anger is not in the nature of God, but the effect is: Vengeance is mine I will repay it, ſaith the Lord. So Repentance is not properly in God, but the effect of repentance is, which is the change of ſomething formerly done, or at leaſt determined, a ſudden changing or alteration of that which he ſeemed to have continued, and eſtabliſhed. As for that place [Gen. 6.Subita diſpenſationis mutatio paenitetnia Dei dicitur, rerum ſubejus poteſtate conſtiturarum hominibus inopinata mutatio, immutabili praeſcientia manente divinâ Aug. lib. 17. de Civit. Dei. Haec quidem dicuntur humanitùs, intelliguntuur autem ut Deo convenit, Deus enim ad captum noſtrum ſe demittens, ſe talem nobis figurat, non qualis in ſe eſt, ſed q…ali… à nobis ſentitur. Buc. loc. com. ut intellectus noſter immaterialitèr intelligit materialia, ita Deus immutabiliter vult mutabilia. Lyra. Dictum foreign, pro eo quod eſt, hominem quem priùs creaverat, delere ſtauit, tanquam ſi paenituiſſet facti. Junius ad Gen. 6. Maimon in Jeſu-Dei hatrorah cap. 1 Sect. 11, 12. foreign Aristot. Ethic. Nicom. 7. cap. ult.] It repents me to have made man; the meaning is, I purpoſe ſhortly to deſtroy him; and (it repents me that I have made Saul King over Iſrael) that is, I intend ſhortly to depoſe him, and take his Kingdome from him, and ſet up another in his ſtead; for theſe and ſuch like ſpeeches Athanaſius hath a golden rule for expounding them, as Bucan calls it; Theſe things ſaith he, are ſpoken after the manner of men, but are underſtood, as it agreeth to God; for God ſtooping to our capacity, repenteth himſelf, to be ſuch a one to us, not as he is in himſelf, but as he is apprehended by us to be. As our underſtanding doth underſtand material things immaterially, ſo God, willeth things mutable immutably, remaining himſelf unchangable, as Lyra ſpeaketh. And Ainſworth out of the Hebrew Doctours ſaith, That foraſmuch as it is cleer, that not any corporall accident doth happen unto God, as it is evident that God is no corporal or bodily thing, and neither compoſition nor diviſion, nor time, nor place, nor meaſure, &c. neither beginning nor ending, neither is he changable, for nothing can cauſe him to change; neither is there in him anger or laughter, or joy, or grief, &c. as the ſons of Adam ſpeak; but all theſe, and the like things ſpoken of him in the Law and Prophets are parabolicall and figurative, and ſpoken onelyonly according to the language of the ſons of men.
Breifly,Geneva. Annot. in Jerem. 18.8. the Geneva note on Jer. 18.8. (where the Lord ſaith, That if a Nation againſt which he hath pronounced, repent and turn from thir wickedneſſe, he alſo will repent of the Plague that be thought to bring upon them) there, ſaith the marginall note; when the Scripture attributeth repentance to God, it is not that he doth contrary to that which he hath ordained in his ſecret Counſell; but when he threatneth, it is a calling to repentance, and when he giveth man the grace to repent; then the threatning (which ever containeth a condition in it) taketh no place. And this (ſay they) the Scripture calleth repentance in God, not becauſe it properly is ſo, but becauſe it ſo appeareth to man's judgement. Auſtin ſaith,Paenitudo eſt mutandorum immutables ratio. Auguſt. That repentance in God is his unchangable diſpoſition of changable things. God is not changed Malac. 3.6. but the things are altered, God is immutable; but when they whom God careth for are changed,Deus immutabilitèr ignoſcit. then God changeth the courſe of things as he ſeeth expedient for them. For God immutabilitèr ignoſcit, unchangably forgiveth thoſe that repent, and unchangably forgiveth not, when they repent not. The truth is, God never altereth his eternall Counſell, but alwayes performeth whatſoever he purpoſeth,Deus mutat ſententiam conſilium. Gregor. lib. 20. Mor. 2. both for ſubſtance and circumſtance; but it pleaſeth him to uſe ſuch phraſes, ſtooping to our capacity, and expreſſing himſelf in ſuch words and termes as we beſt underſtand. Thus when a judgment is denounced and not executed, it is called repentance being indeed but the effect thereof, and indeed there never was an intendment that it ſhould be executed; for in the threatning againſt Niniveh, there was this ſecret condition included, though not expreſſed, viz. that Niniveh ſhould be deſtroyed within the time limited, unleſſe they repented, which they doing, the threatning fell and the City ſtood. Of this nature was that ſpeech of God to Abimelech, Thou art but a dead man, God is not changeable, nor can he change; for his nature is not ſubject to mutation; but the order of things may alter according to the courſe of his Divine Providence. Hieron. in Dan. 5.viz. unleſſe he reſtored Abraham's wife again, Gen. 20.3. Item, That of Iſaiah to Hezekiah, Iſa. 38.1. Thou ſhalt die, and not live; that is in courſe of nature, Thou art but a dead man. Yet the Text tells us, that after he had praied to God and wept, ſuch was the power of the God of nature, as he lengthened his life, and added to his daies fifteen years, v. 5. whence it appeareth, that theſe ſpeeches be not abſolute but conditionall, and ſo was this threatning of Niniveh.