The Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees and Holy Execution, Chapter 5

The Divine Will Considered in its Eternal Decrees and Holy Execution · Chapter 5

p. 82CHAP. V. Of Gods Decree of Reprobation, as touching Men.

HAving treated of the Decree of Election, as respective of men; I proceed to the Decree of Reprobation, as it relates to them. In the Old Testament we find foreign which is opposite to foreign in p. 83the Septuagint rendred by foreign, and importing as much as reprobare, to reprobate or reject. In the New Testament we have foreign, importing a rejectaneous or disallowed person, and rather pointing out man's State than God's Act. But to pass over the word; Reprobation is that Eternal Decree of God whereby he purposes in himself not to give Grace and Glory to some individual persons lying in the Mass of Humane Corruption, but to leave them to final sin, and for the same to punish them with Eternal Damnation. In this Decree the Divine Will hath (as I may so say) a Triple Act: For

1. It purposes, not to give Grace and Glory to some persons, and this is called among Divines Preterition or Non-election; and is of all other the most proper act of Reprobation, as it stands in opposition to Election. Hence Reprobates are called the foreign, rest or residue, in opposition to the Elect, Rom. 11. 7. the nunquam noti, or never known, Matth. 7. 23. in opposition to the foreknown, and the not written in the book of life, Revel. 13. 8. in opposition to the written ones, whose names are enrolled in Heaven.

2. It purposes to leave them to final p. 84sin. I say final sin; for God permits sin even in the Elect, but final sin only in the Reprobate. Thus God suffered the Nations to walk in their own ways, Acts 14. 16. and thereby gave them pereundi licentiam. Thus he hardneth whom he will, Rom. 9. 18. and hardening in that place imports a not giving the mollifying Graces of Faith and Repentance, and withal a permission of final sin in the Reprobate; for it is set in opposition to that mercy which bestows those mollifying Graces, and thereby prevents final sin in the Elect.

3. It purposes to punish them with Eternal Damnation for their sin; and this is stiled among Divines Pre-damnation, or Positive Reprobation. And hence Reprobates are said to be vessels of wrath, Rom. 9. 22. made for the day of Evil, Prov. 16. 4. and of old ordained to condemnation, Jude, Ver. 4. in the Original we have, foreign, of old forewritten or registred to this condemnation; forewritten, not (as some would have it) in Scripture-prophecies, but in the Eternal Decree of God; the ordained Event whereof is notably pointed out by the foreign in the Text. To say that men are forewritten p. 85in a Decree to condemnation is very proper, but to say that they are forewritten in a Prophecy to condemnation, is very incongruous; for a prophecy is of an Event, and not to it as a Decree is. In that place where 'tis said that Christ foreign, Gal. 3. 1. foreign imports not a Decree, but a setting forth or lively painting out of Christ; for there is no foreign at all as in the former Text, but foreign, to whom before the eyes Jesus Christ was set forth. But the plain meaning of the former Text is, they were decreed to this condemnation, viz. to spiritual Judgments (which the foreign specially points at) and by consequence to Eternal Damnation also.

Now touching this Triple act of Reprobation I shall enquire

1. Who is the Author thereof?

2. What are the things decreed therein?

3. To whom those things are decreed?

4. What is the Impulsive Cause thereof?

1. Who is the Author thereof? Even the same great God who is the Author of Election; he, who chuses some, passes by others; he, who hath mercy on some, p. 86hardens others. Grace and Glory are at his dispose; the Keys of Heaven and Hell are in his hands alone. In some he prevents final sin, by the mollifying Graces of Faith and Repentance; others he leaves to final sin, actual or at least original. Some he raises up out of the Hell of their Corruption into an Heaven of Glory; others he tumbles down from one Hell to another, from the Hell of Iniquity to the Hell of Misery. This is the Almighty Potter, who, out of the same lump of corrupted Mankind, makes one Vessel to honour, and another to dishonour; and all the while, the earthen Pitcher must not strive with his Maker, or say, Why hast thou made me thus? but rather hasten down into the Abyss of his own Nullity and Pravity, and from thence adore the infinite heights of Sovereignty and Equity in the Divine Decrees.

2. What are the things decreed therein? These I shall consider according to the Triple Act thereof?

1. As for the first Act of Preterition or Non-election, the thing decreed is the not giving of Grace and Glory to the Reprobates.

1. 'Tis the not giving of Grace unto p. 87them. Not that there is a preterition of them as to all kind of Grace; for Reprobates may be Children of the kingdom, Matth. 8. 12. called to the marriage-supper, Matth. 22. 12. and coming may eat and drink in Christ's presence, Luk. 13. 26. they may be enlightned and partakers of the holy Ghost, and taste the good word of God and the powers of the world to come, Hebr. 6. 4, 5. and (which is a very high expression) they may be said foreign, to believe in the name of Jesus, Joh. 2. 23. But that there is a preterition of them as to the foreign, those better things which accompany, and by a near contiguity touch upon Salvation, Heb. 6. 9. as to such a precious Faith, Love in incorruption, Holiness of truth, Repentance unto life, real and thorough Conversion, as are found in the Elect. There is not then a preterition as to all kind of Grace, no, nor all kind of preterition as to saving Grace; for God doth will the Conversion of Reprobates in a double manner.

1. God wills their Conversion, Voluntate simplicis complacentiae; Conversion even in a Reprobate would make joy in Heaven, it would be foreign, grateful p. 88and well-pleasing to God; if we believe him swearing by his life, his pleasure or delight is foreign in the wicked mans turning, Ezek. 33. 11. God delights in his Image where-ever it be.

2. God wills their Conversion Voluntate virtuali vel ordinativâ Mediorum; for the right understanding whereof I shall lay down four things.

1. The proper end and tendency of all means is to turn men unto God: within the Sphere of the Church, such is the end and tendency thereof. Why did Christ come but to turn every one from his iniquities, Acts 3. 26? Why did he preach, but that his hearers might be saved, Joh. 5. 34? Why did the Apostle warn and teach every man, but to present every man perfect in Christ, Col. 1. 28? John's Baptism was foreign, Matth. 3. 11. Churchcensures were foreign, 2 Cor. 10. 8. Even the delivering to Satan was for the destruction of the flesh, 1 Cor. 5. 5. Conversion is the true Centre of the Means. Nay, without the Sphere of the Church, the true end and tendency of things is such, that God might be seen in every creature, Rom. 1. 20. Sought and felt in every place, Acts 17. 27. Witnessed in every showre, p. 89Acts 14. 17. Feared in the sea-bounding sand, Jer. 5. 22. Humbled under in every abasing providence, Dan. 5. 22. Turned to in every judgement, Amos 4. 11. In a word, the end and tendency of all God's works is that men might fear before him, Eccl. 3. 14. The whole World is a great Ordinance, at it is in it self, preaching forth the power and goodness of God who made it; and as it is the unconsumed Stage of so many crying sins, preaching forth the clemency and mercy of God who spares it, and dashes it not down about the sinners ears. All the goodness and forbearance of God leads men to repentance, Rom. 2. 4. That piece of Gospel [Whoso confesseth and forsaketh his sins shall have mercy] seems legible in his patience; for it may be naturally and rationally concluded, That that God, who in his clemency spares men though sinners, will in his mercy pardon them when repenting and returning. This is the true duct and tendency of his patience, even that men might turn and repent.

2. The tendency of the Means to Conversion is such, that if men under the administration thereof turn not unto God, the only reason lies within themselves, p. 90in their own corrupt hearts. If God purge and men are not purged, 'tis because there is lewdness in their filthiness, Ezek. 24. 13. If he would gather, and men are not gathered, 'tis because they will not, Matth. 23. 37. If he spread out his hands, and men come not in, 'tis because they are rebellious, Isai. 65. 2. If he be patient and long-suffering, and they repent not, 'tis because of their hardness and impenitent heart, Rom. 2. 5. The Apostle calls the heretical Seducers in his time foreign, such as did turn or transfer the grace of God from its true end or scope, Jud. ver. 4. And what those Seducers did doctrinally, that do all sinners practically; so far forth as they live under the means and turn not, they do thereby transfer and remove the means from their genuine end.

3. God doth by a formal Decree will the Means with their tendencies. All Ordinances are sealed by the Divine Will, and go out in its name, and are what they are from its Ordination. Without this, Means are no longer Means, but mere empty names and vain shadows.

4. Out of God's formal Decree of the Menas doth result his Virtual Will of mens p. 91Conversion. That God, who doth formally will the means with their tendencies even unto Reprobates, doth virtually will their Conversion as the true scope and end of those Means. Hence 'tis said, that Christ would have gathered the unbelieving Jews, Matth. 23. 37. and God would have all men to be saved, 1 Tim. 2. 4. viz. in respect of his Virtual or Ordinative Will. Hence God is brought in, wishing, Oh! that there were such an heart in them, Deut. 5. 29. Oh! that thou hadst hearkened to my commandments, Isai. 48. 18. And what are these wishes? Surely all the diffusions of Light, promulgations of Laws, expansions of Gospel Grace, waitings of divine Patience, and strivings of the holy Spirit are (as I may so say) God's O's after Conversion, in as much as they have a tendency thereunto; and God in willing that tendency, doth virtually will mens return also. Excellent is that of learned Ames; Deus eminenter & virtuali quâdam ratione eatenus vult salutem hominum, quatenus vocat ipsos ad salutem. Thus with this Virtual Will God doth will the Conversion of Reprobates. But then you'l say, If so, God's Will is frustrated; for Reprobates are never actually p. 92converted. I answer, That God's Formal Decree is only of the Means with their tendencies; and therefore is not frustrated but fulfilled in the actual exhibition of such Means. And God's Virtual Will (though it be of the Conversion of Reprobates) yet in their Non-conversion is not frustrated, because it is not an absolute but conditional Will, nisi per ipsos steterit, unless their own voluntary corruption do impede the Effect; which in Reprobates it always doth. But you'l yet reply, Then God's Will is conditional, and by consequence imperfect. To which I answer with the Judicious Bishop Davenant, That Volitions merely conditional agree not with the perfection of the Divine Nature; for that were to suspend God's Will for a time, and then, post purificatam conditionem, to make it become absolute. But mixtly-conditional Volitions, that is, such as are grounded on some absolute Decree, may be allowed: As for Example, that mixt conditional Decree, That if Cain or Judas believe they shall be saved, is grounded on that absolute Decree, that whosoever believes shall be saved. Now this Virtual Will of the Conversion of Reprobates p. 93is not purely conditional, but mixtly conditional; for it results out of God's absolute Decree of the Means with their tendencies. Wherefore (notwithstanding these Objections) I conclude, That God doth virtually will the Conversion of Reprobates, so far forth as the Means have a tendency thereunto.

These things being thus laid down; I conceive that the thing decreed in Preterition or Non-election, is the not giving or working saving Grace or thorough Conversion in Reprobates, in such a sure and insuperable way as in the Elect. Reprobates have not such intimate in-shining, efficacious drawing, Law-engraving, and heart-opening and melting Grace as the Elect. And this not giving or working Conversion in such a way, clashes with neither of the aforesaid Wills. Not with the Will of Complacence; for still if a Reprobate did turn or convert, he should be accepted with God: nor yet with the Virtual or Ordinative Will of God; for still Means are Means, and Ordinances are Ordinances, and their true end and tendency is to turn men unto God: I say their true end; for there is a vast p. 94difference between an infallible Ordination of means for the working of Conversion in men, and a true Ordination of Means for the same purpose. As to the Elect, there is an infallible Ordination of Means thereunto; and as to the Reprobate, there is a true (though not infallible) Ordination of the same. The perfection of the Non-elect Angels was truly ordinated to their Perseverance, but not infallibly. The integrity of Adam in innocency was truly ordinated to his continuance in Obedience, but not infallibly. Wherefore Non-election or Preterition, though it stand not in conjunction with an infallible Ordination, yet it carries no contradiction to a true Ordination of the Means. Notwithstanding the Decree of Non-election or Preterition, God may still expostulate with a Reprobate, as the Apostle did with the Galatians, Quis te impedivit? Who hindred you from obeying the truth, Gal. 5. 7? Have you not had many awakenings of Conscience, thundrings from the fiery Law, wooeings from the gracious Gospel, strivings from the holy Spirit, and long waitings of infinite Patience and Forbeance; and all these to draw you to Repentance? And what p. 95hindred you from turning unto me? What, but your own perverse rebellious heart? How often have I called and you would not hear? knocked and you would not open? moved and you would not stir? offered Christ and Heaven and you would not accept? And why would you not? Let Conscience say, if it were not for some base indulged lust; which, when I had searched after, you have hid it in the secret of your heart; when I have stript and laid it naked before you, you have sewed Fig-leaves and covered it; when I would have slain and crucified it, you have spared it and laid it in your bosom. Well, I can truly say, Perditio tua ex te, thy destruction is from thy self alone; 'tis not because thou hadst no means of Grace; 'tis not because those Means were not ordinated to thy Conversion; 'tis not because thy Conversion should not have been accepted with me; no, 'tis merely from thy voluntary corruption.

2. Another thing decreed in preterition is the not-giving of Glory unto Reprobates. But this is not such a not-giving, as if God would upon no terms at all give Glory unto them: No; for the Promise [Whosoever believeth shall be saved] doth both p. 96import God's Will, and extend in general to all, Reprobates as well as others; but it is a not-giving Glory to them in such a sure infallible way as to the Elect. Heaven is seriously offered to the Reprobates, and offered upon the very same terms as to the Elect; but here lies the difference: God gives special Effectual Grace to the Elect, cloaths them in the fine linnen of righteousness, makes them meet for the inheritance in light, Col. 1. 12. works them for this very thing, 2 Cor. 5. 5. and at last causes them to arrive safe at Heaven. But thus he deals not with Reprobates; for he leaves them without that Effectual Grace which infallibly leads to Glory.

2. As to the second Act of Reprobation, viz. the permission of final sin, the thing decreed is double.

1. The permission of sin in Reprobates.

2. The permission of the Finality of sin.

1. The permission of sin in them is decreed. Now what is this permission? 'Tis not an Ethical permission, as if they might sin by a Law; for this were to unsin sin. 'Tis not a mere dreaming Speculation, as the sleeper suffered Tares among p. 97the Wheat; for divine Providence never slumbers nor sleeps. 'Tis neither a simple Volition, for then God would hinder sinful actions from coming into being; nor yet a simple Volition, for then God should be the Cause and Author of sin. 'Tis not such a permission of sin, as if Reprobates had no remora's at all in their sinning; for every beam of Light, item in Conscience, rod of Affliction, striving of the holy Spirit, and particle of holy Means is a kind of impediment cast in their perverse way. But Permission is an Act of Providence issuing forth from God, not as he is a righteous Legislator, but as he is the supreme Rector and Provisor, moderating in all Events. Hence the Scripture owns God's mission in Joseph's sale, Gen. 45. 5. Gods commission in Ahab's seduction, 1 Kings 22. 22. God's bidding in Shimei's Cursing, 2. Sam. 16. 11. and God's hand and counsel in Christ's crucifixion, Acts 4. 28. More particularly; 'tis such an Act of Providence as carries with it, First, an Administration of such objects and circumstances; which are good in themselves; yet occasionally like Achan's golden Wedge draw out mens corruption into act; Then a suspension or nondonation p. 98of such Grace and Means as would effectually and de facto prevent the commission of sin; Next, an actual concurrence of the Holy One to the Material Act or Entity of sin, though not in the least Measure to the anomy or sinfulness thereof; And withal a bounding sin in its measure and duration, and ordering sin to his own Glory. Thus God permits sin, and permits it Volent: for none will say that he doth it Nolent; therefore all must say, that he doth it Volent. And in all this, neither can the Reprobate ery out of hard measure; for in the same manner God permits the sins of the Elect: Nor can the least blot light upon the holy One; for which of all these may he not justly do? May not he marshal objects? Then he may do nothing in his own World. Not so much as proclaim his Law; for sin will take occasion thereby: No, nor his Gospel neither; for Grace will be turned into wantonness. May not he suspend his Efficacious Grace? Then Grace is not his own; but if it be, by what Law is he bound to give it? If there be no such Law, why may he not suspend it? But if there be, how can he permit sin, seeing he is bound to give p. 99such Grace as will actually prevent it? But you'l say, Permission is no such suspension of Grace, but a leaving a man in manu consilii sui, a dimission of him to his own Genius and free Will; if so, then how doth God hinder sin? Doth he in hindring sin offer violence to man's Liberty, as in permitting it he leaves him thereunto? Surely, if God hinder it, it must be by some kind of Grace or other; and therefore if he permit it, it must be by some suspension of Grace, or not at all. But to go on. May not he concurr to the Material Act of sin? Then how much Motion is there independent from the first Mover? How much Entity is there independent from the Being of Belings? May not also the great Clock of the World stand alone without the Everlasting Arms, and all the Creature-wheels therein go alone, without any touch of Providence? Lastly; If God did not bound sin, would not that Moral Monster soon devour all Religion and Humanity? And if he did not order it to his own Glory, how should Light come out of Darkness, and Order out of Confusions? In a word: God in great Wisdom permits the folly of sin; in providential power the weakness thereof; p. 100and in unspotted purity the pollutions thereof.

2. The second thing decreed is the permission of sins Finality; and this is the Critical difference between the Elect and Reprobate. God permits sin in the Elect, but sins Finality only in the Reprobate. Now how doth God permit sin's Finality, but by that blinding and hardning of Reprobates, which is so frequent in Scripture? But how doth he blind and harden them? Not by infusing the least drop of malice into their hearts: No, darkness may sooner issue from the Sun, than blindness from the Father of Lights; and drought may sooner issue from the Sea, than hardness from the Father of Mercies: but he doth it in a double manner.

1. Deserendo, or by way of Negation. Dicitur Deus (saith St Austin) excaecare quando non illuminat, indurare quando non emollit. Every Reprobate is born with a Veil upon his Eyes, and a Stone in his heart; and in that condition God leaves him, not imparting to him such enlightning and mollifying Grace as he doth unto the Elect. Not such enlightning Grace; and hence Reprobates p. 101are called blinded ones, Rom. 11. 7. nor such mollifying Grace, and hence they are called hardened ones, Rom. 9. 18. In this Negative blinding and hardening, doth properly and formally consist the Permission of final sin. For as God doth impede Final sin in the Elect, by irradiating and softning them by his Grace; so he doth permit Final sin in the Reprobate by not irradiating and softning them thereby.

2. Judicando; or by way of penal infliction. After many rebellions against light, God at last gives men up to a reprobate mind, void of all spiritual judgment; to a fat heart, void of all spiritual sense; to a spirit of slumber, such as wakes not under the loud calls and roaring judgments of Heaven; to a foreign, a brawny hardness and sensless obduration, such as feels nothing, no not the weighty mountains of sin and wrath lying on the soul. And this he doth partly by a tradition to Satan, who rules in darkness and hardness, and hath a wonderful art to promote and aggravate both these in the children of disobedience; partly by a giving them up to their own lusts, which are the most intimate p. 102Devils of all, and by degrees put out the eyes, and obstinate the hearts of men; partly by presenting such objects as occasionally prove snares and stumbling blocks to them. Hence we find in Scripture an ensnaring table, Psal. 69. 22. a destroying prosperity, Prov. 1. 32. a sin-irritating Law, Rom. 7. 8. a death-savouring Gospel, 2 Cor. 2. 16. an enraging adversity, such as makes them like a wild bull in a net, Isai. 51. 20. with many more like providences, which occasionally harden and blind men into further degrees of sin and wickedness. Now this Judicial hardning and blinding is neither to be found in all Reprobates, but in the grand Rebels; nor yet only in Reprobates, but in the Elect, at least some of them. Hence that out-cry, O Lord! Why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our hearts from thy fear? Isai. 63. 17. Only here is the difference; this Judicial blinding and hardning in the Elect is but partial; all the holy light is not out, all spiritual tenderness is not gone. Wherefore in that place they groan after a return; but in the Reprobate it is more total. Again, in the Elect it is but for a time; through p. 103auxiliary Grace the closed eyes will open again, the stony heart will melt again: but in the Reprobate it is final, the darkness is upon them till they come to utter darkness, the stone is in them till they come to hellish obstinacy. Wherefore in them 'tis a kind of sealing up of Damnation. Negative blinding and hardning suffices to the permission of final sin, but Judicial is an earnest of final perdition.

3. As to the third Act of Reprobation, the thing decreed is Eternal Damnation; hence Reprobates are said to be made for the day of evil. Neither can any man doubt that there is such a Decree; for God doth actually condemn them in time, and both Reason tells us, that whatsoever God doth, even in his judgments, he doth it Volent; and Scripture tells us, that whatsoever he doth, he doth it according to the counsel of his own Will; wherefore both assure us that there is such a Decree. But you'l say, Doth not that Promise [whosoever believeth shall be saved] both import God's Will, and extend even to Reprobates, and how then can God decree their Damnation? Which way can both these Wills stand together in the p. 104heart of God? I answer; 'Tis true that the Promise doth both import God's Will, and extend to Reprobates; nevertheless it very well consists with the Decree of Damnation, and this will appear by a double distinction.

1. Let us distinguish the Decrees of God: Some of them are merely productive of Truths, others are definitive of Things which shall actually exist. The first are accomplished in connexions, the last in events. To clear it by Scripture instances: The Decree, that David should be King of Israel, was definitive of a thing; but the Decree, that if Saul obeyed, his Kingdom should have continued, 1 Sam. 13. 13. is but productive of a truth. The Decree that David should not be delivered up by the men of Keilah, was definitive of a thing; but the Decree, that if he had staid there they would have delivered him up, 1 Sam. 23. 12. was but productive of a truth. The Decree, that Jerusalem should be burnt with fire, was definitive of a thing; but the Decree, that if Zedekiah did go forth to the King of Babylon it should not be burnt, Jer. 38. 17. was but productive of a truth. Moreover, that there are Decrees definitive p. 105of things, is proved by the events; that there are Decrees productive of truths, is proved by the connexions; if there be no such connexions, how is the Scripture verified? but if there be, how are these things connected? There is no natural connexion between Saul's Obedience and his Crown, David's stay and the Keilites treachery, Zedekiah's out-going and Jerusalems firing: wherefore these connexions do flow out of God's Decrees as productive of truths. Now to apply this distinction to our present purpose: The Decree of damning the Reprobate for final sin is definitive of a thing; but the Decree imported in the general Promise, is but productive of a truth, viz. That there is an universal connexion between Faith and Salvation; such a connexion, that Reprobates themselves, if Believers, should be saved. Now these two Decrees may very well stand together; for Decrees definitive of events contradict not Decrees productive of truths; unless the event in the one Decree contradict the truth in the other. Wherefore if (which is not) there were a Decree of damning Reprobates, whether they did believe or not, it could not stand p. 106with the general Promise; for the event of that Decree would contradict the truth of the Promise. But the Decree (such as indeed it is) of damning Reprobates for final sin, may well consist with the general Promise; for the event of that Decree no way crosses the truth of the Promise. Reprobates are damned for final sin, that's the event of one Decree; and Reprobates, if Believers, shall be saved, that's the truth of another: both which may well consist together.

2. Let us distinguish the objects of these Decrees; the objects stand not under the same qualifications as to both of them. The Decree of Salvation upon Gospel terms respects men as lapsed sinners; but the Decree of everlasting damnation respects them as final sinners; and so there is no inconsistency between them.

Thus much by way of Answer to the Objection: Yet withal, before I pass on to the next thing, suffer me a little to stand and adore the stupendious Abyss of the Divine Decrees. The Elect arrive at Heaven, yet by the way see Hell flaming in the Threatning; the Reprobate sink to Hell, yet by the way see Heaven opening in the Promise. The Elect cannot p. 107live and die in sin, but they will be sub gladio; the Reprobates cannot repent and return, but they will be sub corona. Tremble, work and watch, O Saints, for the holy One thunders out from Heaven in that sacred Sentence, If you live after the flesh you shall die. Repent, return and believe, O Sinners, for the Divine Philanthropy wooes you in those real undissembled Offers of Mercy, Whosoever believes shall be saved; Whosoever forsakes his sins shall find mercy. Here, O here, is foreign, the manifold wisdom of God; a fit reserve for the Apocalypse of the Judgment day, whose clear light will display these wonderful consistencies before men and Angels.

3. Having dispatched the things decreed in Reprobation, I procede to speak of the persons to whom these things are decreed; and here I shall consider,

1. What they are for Quantity.

2. What they are for Quality.

1. What are they for Quantity? they are certain individual Persons. As some certain individual persons are chosen, so others are passed by; as some are by name in the Book of Life, so others are by name left out of it. There is a great difference p. 108between the Reprobation of sin and the Reprobation of sinners: the Reprobation of sin issues from the Sanctity and Holiness of God's Will; but the Reprobation of sinners issues from the Sovereignty and Justice thereof. The Reprobation of sin is universal, and without any distinction of persons; God hates sin where-ever it be, be it in his own beloved Jedidiahs, 'tis an abominable thing, such as his soul abhorrs: but the Reprobation of sinners is particular; Esau and not Jacob was hated; Judas and not Peter was a Son of perdition. Indeed he that denies particular Reprobation, must by necessary consequence deny particular Election; and he that asserts an Election of some individual persons, doth, in eodem rationis signo, assert a Reprobation of others.

2. What are they for Quality? I answer in two particulars.

1. Reprobation, as to the first and second Acts thereof, viz. Preterition, and Permission of final sin, respects them as lying in the corrupt Mass. This appears by those Names and Titles whereby Reprobation is set forth and described in Scripture: there 'tis hatred, and God hates none but sinners; 'tis hardening, p. 109and God hardens none but such as are in a corrupt estate; 'tis abjection or casting away, and God doth not cast away an upright one, or a man standing in integrity; 'tis, not knowing, and God knows and approves every sinless creature; 'tis, not shewing mercy, and that supposes men to lie in a state of misery, or else they are not capable of mercy, or the denial thereof. Wherefore I conceive that in Preterition, and Permission of final sin, men are considered as lying in a corrupt and undone Condition.

2. Reprobation, as to its third Act, viz. the decreeing of Damnation, respects them as final sinners. 'Tis true, every sin, as sin, is in it self intrinsecally meritorious of Damnation; but through Gospel Grace in Jesus Christ, no sin but such as is final, doth actually produce Damnation. God condemns none but for final sin, and decrees to condemn none but for it. Those vessels of wrath foreign, fitted to destruction, Rom. 9. 22. are (as I take it) final sinners only. Great sinners may be vessels of Mercy, and repent unto Life Eternal; but final sinners are vessels of Wrath and fitted to destruction. God swears by his p. 110life, that he hath no pleasure in the death of the wicked, Ezek. 33. 11. not unless he be a final sinner, in whom there is no true turning or repenting: not in such a way as to leave no place or room at all for Conversion; for the sinners turn is in the Text opposed to his death, and opposed as a thing more destrable to God than his death. Should the Decree of Damnation objectively terminate on a sinner, merely as a sinner, there could be no place or room for Repentance; but if it terminate on him as a final sinner, there is no such obstruction at all. Wherefore I conceive, that as God condemns none but for final sin, so he decrees to condemn none but for the same; and by consequence, that Decree respects them as final sinners, that is, they are first considered as final sinners, and then the Decree of Damnation terminates on them.

Object. But here an Objection meets me; God condemns none but final sinners, and decrees to condemn none but such; yet hence it follows not, that the Decree of Damnation respects them as final Sinners, or that they were considered as such antecedently to that Decree: for God p. 111saves none but final believers, and decrees to save none but such; yet from thence it follows not, that the Decree of Salvation respects them as final Believers, or that they were considered as such antecedently to that Decree: for (as hath been laid down before) Faith and Salvation are comprized in one and the same Decree; and therefore there is no antecedency of Faith to Salvation in the very Decree, but only in the execution thereof.

Answ. To which Objection I answer, That between the two Cases there is a triple difference, which (if considered) will make it appear, that the consequence which fails in the one case, doth hold good in the other.

1. These two Propositions [God decrees to save none but final Believers, and, God decrees to damn none but final Sinners] must be taken in a different meaning. When we say, God decrees to save none but final Believers, the meaning is not, final Believers so preconsidered antecedently to that Decree; for Faith and Salvation are comprized in one Decree; but final Believers so to be made by force of that Decree. But when we say, p. 112God decrees to damn none but final Sinners, the meaning is not, final Sinners so to be made by force of that Decree; for God's Decree makes no man a final Sinner; but final Sinners so preconsidered antecedently to that Decree. Wherefore, from that Proposition, [God decrees to save none but final Believers] it cannot be concluded that the Decree of Salvation respects them as final Believers: but (because of the different meaning) from that other Proposition, [God decrees to damn none but final Sinners] it may be rightly concluded, that the Decree of Damnation respects them as final Sinners.

2. There is an immediate contact between Grace and Glory; hence these two may very aptly be comprized in one Decree, and if so, final Faith is not preconsidered to the Decree of Salvation. But between Preterition or Permission of sin and Damnation there is no immediate contact; for the Act of the Creature, even his final sin, comes between: hence Preterition or Permission and Damnation cannot (according to our understanding) be congruously comprized in one Decree, but in distinct Decrees; and if so, final sin is preconsidered to the Decree of Damnation. p. 113For no sooner doth the Decree of Preterition and Permission pass in the divine Will, but therein, as in a Glass, there is a Prescience of final Sin; and thereupon passes the Decree of Damnation. But you'l say; Neither is there such an immediate contact between Grace and Glory, as you assert; for between the donation of Grace and Glory the act of the Creature, viz. final Faith, doth intervene. I answer; 'Tis true, it doth intervene, but as a fruit or effect of that Donation; it doth intervene, but that Donation hath a Causal influence and attingency into the Creatures Act, and its Perseverance: wherefore it so intervenes as not to break the immediate contact in the least measure. But between Preterition or Permission and Damnation the Creatures Act, viz. final Sin, doth intervene, not as an effect of Preterition or Permission, but as a fruit of man's corrupted and depraved Will; and that intervention cannot stand with an immediate contact. Wherefore there being distinct Decrees, first Preterition and Permission are decreed, and then (upon the prescience of final Sin) Damnation.

3. The third difference is that of the p. 114Apostle, The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord, Rom. 6. 23. Eternal Life is a gift freely given; therefore the consideration of final Faith is not a prerequisite to the Decree of Salvation: But Death is wages exacted by the intrinsecal merit of Sin, and paid only to a final Sinner; therefore the consideration of final sin is a prerequisite to the Decree of Damnation; without that consideration I see not how it can be decreed as Wages. But you'l say, Is not Eternal Life also a Reward of Faith and Holiness? and how then can that be decreed as a Reward without a preconsideration of these? I answer; Eternal Life is a Reward, but 'tis a Reward of pure Grace, 'tis Grace upon Grace, glorifying Grace upon sanctifying; therefore to the Decreeing thereof, as a Reward, it suffices that it be decreed to Believers and Saints. Not Believers and Saints so preconsidered to that Decree; for Grace and Glory (being both mere gifts, and gifts of immediate contact) are comprized in one Decree; but Believers and Saints so to be made by force of that Decree, and so to be made before they wear the Crown. This is enough in the decreeing p. 115of a Reward so purely gratuitous. But in Eternal Death there is nothing at all gratuitous; all is mere wages and pay for Sin, Sin doth really and intrinsecally merit it. Wherefore Eternal death, as such wages, is decreed only to final Sinners. Not final Sinners so to be made by force of God's Decree, for that makes no man a final Sinner; but final Sinners so preconsidered to the Decree of Damnation: for, without that preconsideration, it is not, as I conceive, decreeable as wages or pay due unto them.

To shut up this point in a word. Reprobation, as to the Decree of Preterition and Permission, respects men as lapsed Sinners; and as to the Decree of Damnation, respects them as final Sinnets.

4. What is the Impulsive Cause of Reprobation? To which I make answer.

1. As for the Decree of Preterition and Permission of final Sin, it is from God's Will, as cloathed with supreme Sovereignty. God passeth by and hardneth whom he will. This appears in two particulars.

1. First, God doth not give so much as the Gospel-means unto some men. He suffered all nations to walk in their own ways, Acts 14. 16. Some sin and perish without p. 116Law or Gospel; all the Law they have is the dark glimmering of Nature, and all the Gospel they have is the patience and goodness of God leading to Repentance. The Sun, Moon and Stars are divided to all nations, Dent. 4. 19. but Jesus Christ, a Sun of infinite light and lustre, shines in a narrower compass on the earth than the finite Sun; the Moon is lesser than the Earth, the visible Church than the World of Men. The Apostles, those Stars of light, must not shine in Asia and Bithynia, Acts 16. 6, 7. By what way is this Evangelical Light parted? Surely by the divine Will alone; the difference is not from the worthiness or unworthiness of men: for those in Asia and Bithynia were as good as others. Christ was manifested to a Thief, and not to a Socrates or Plato. Rebellious Israel hath the light of the Word in it, and a more flexible Nation, which would hearken thereunto, wants it, Ezek. 3. 6, 7. Impenitent Corazin and Bethsaida have a visible Deity before them in Christ's Miracles, when poor Tyre and Sidon, much nearer to Repentance, hath it not, Matth. 11. 21. In all which the sovereign Will of God is to be adored; for that is it which divideth p. 117between the Light and the Darkness.

2. In the Visible Church, the Orb of Gospel-light, God doth not give saving Grace unto all. 'Tis true, the mercy of God is so immense, that all the sins of men are but as the drop of the bucket to it; the Blood of God is so meritorious, that all the crimson Crimes in the World are as nothing to it; and the Spirit of God is so almighty, that all the chains of hardness and unbelief fall off before his converting Grace. Nevertheless this immense Mercy doth not pardon all; this meritorious Blood doth not wash all; nor this almighty Spirit doth not convert all unto God. Oh the wonderful Abyss of the divine Counsel! All men naturally lie in bloody pollution, and God saith to one, Live, and not to another; all are as it were one entire Rock of obstinacy against God, and he calls Abraham's children out of one part of the Rock, and leaves all the rest to be Rock still. All are dead in sins and trespasses, nay, and sealed up in their Graves with a stone of hardness and unbelief; and one Grave-stone is rolled away, and the dead under it raised up by almighty Grace, and not another. External Revelation is all over the Church, p. 118why is not the inward holy Unction so too? The Gospel sounds in every Ear, why do not all hear and learn of the Father? The Gospel calls and knocks at every door, why are not the Demonstrations of the Spirit, and the drawings of the Father in every heart? The Gospel says in general, Whosoever will, may take the Water of Life freely, why doth not God work the Will in all? Why are any dimissi libero arbitrio, left to the miserable servitude of their own free Will? Here there is no other resolution but that of the Apostle, He will have mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardneth; and beyond this we can only wonder, and in quodam mentis excessu cry out, Oh the depth! Cur hoc illi operetur (saith St. Austin) illi non operetur, Hypognost. Li. 3.metuentem me & trementem judicia ejus inscrutabilia & incomprehensibilia nolo interroges, quia quod lego ercdo & revereor, non autem discutio. And, Ne dicas Deo interrogando, Quae est voluntas tua? sed tremendo, Fiat voluntas tua. And again; Posset Deus (saith he of wicked men) ipsorum voluntatem in bonum convertere, quoniam Omnipotens est; posset planè, cur ergo non fecit? quia noluit; cur noluerit? p. 119penès ipsum est. If there were any thing extra Deum moving him to the Decree of Preterition and Permission, it must needs be sin, either Original or Actual, or final Impenitency and Infidelity therein; but none of all these moved God thereunto: Not Original sin; for this is the common blood wherein all men, Elect as well as Reprobate, lie by nature. And this is St. Ambrose's Mirum, touching Infants; Ubi actio non offendit, ubi arbitrium non resistit, ubi eadem De Voc. Gent. Li. 2. cap. 8.miseria, similis imbecillitas, causa communis est, non unum esse de tanta parilitate judicem; quales reprobat abdicatio, tales adoptat Electio. Indeed Original Sin makes all men reprobable; for all are by nature Children of wrath, Transgressors from the womb, an unclean and corrupt Seed, lying in bloody and abominable pollution; fit and worthy to be put away from the holy One as dross, and for ever to be cast out into utter darkness: but it makes no man a Reprobate; for the Elect are as deep in this filthy mire as others. Nor yet doth Actual sin do it; for Jacob was loved and Esau hated before they had done good or evil. Artaxerxes decreed that Jerusalem should p. 120not be built again, because upon search of his Records he found that it had been a rebellious City, Ezra 4. 19, 21. Should God have founded his Decree of Preterition and Non-election on a Prescience of humane Rebellion, the holy City of the Church had never been built, nor the divine Image ever repaired therein: All men had eternally lay as Sodom and Gomorrah in the dust and rubbish of Adam's Fall, with a line of spiritual confusion stretched upon them. Who is there that lives and sins not? What man on earth hath not rebelled, and vexed God's holy Spirit? Even little Infants rebelled in voluntate Adae; and besides, Imbecillitas membrorum infantilium innocens est, non animus infantium. Neither yet doth final Impenitency and Infidelity do it; for there is no final Impenitency and Infidelity but such as is permitted; and permitted it is not, but out of the Decree of Preterition and Permission; wherefore that Decree cannot be caused thereby. Final Impenitency and Infidelity may be considered two ways; either as being in actual existence, or else as foreseen by the divine Prescience: but neither way doth it cause the Decree of Preterition and Permission, p. 121but presuppose the same. Not as it is in actual existence; for final Impenitency & Infidelity come into being after Permission, and Permission flows out of the Decree; wherefore final Impenitency and Infidelity coming after Permission, are not the Cause of the Decree out of which Permission doth issue. Nor yet as it is foreseen by the divine Prescience; for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is that very Glass wherein final Impenitency and Infidelity are foreseen: for had God made no Decree of Preterition and Permission, he had seen all men repenting and believing, as the fruit of his effectual Grace unto all; had he made that Decree universally touching all, he had seen no man repenting and believing. Wherefore final Impenitency and Infidelity, as foreseen, do not cause but presuppose the Decree. In a word; I conclude, That the Decree of Preterition and Permission doth merely depend upon the supreme and sovereign Will of God. Neither is there any colour of Injustice in all this; for

1. Non-electio (as Suarez hath it) non est poena, ut culpam praerequir at; sed est quaedam negatio gratuiti beneficii, quod Deus ut supremus Dominus negare potest. God p. 122may do what he will with his own; Election (the primum indebitum) is God's own, therefore he may pass by whom he pleaseth: the holy Spirit (the fountain of all Faith and Repentance) is God's own, therefore it may breath only where it lists. All Souls and Graces are God's own; therefore he may infuse or not infuse Graces into Souls ad placitum. Neither is it imaginable that God should be obliged to give restituent Grace to fallen Man, when he was not obliged to give custodient Grace to the innocent Angels. If Faith and Repentance are the gifts of God, may he not suspend them? If he be bound to give them, why is there ae peradventure put upon some mens Repentance, 2 Tim. 2. 25? Why a cannot upon some mens Faith, John 12. 39? Why a perhaps upon some mens Forgiveness, Acts 8. 22? Why aforbidding upon the means of Grace, Acts 16. 6? Why a manifestation to disciples and not to the world, Joh. 14. 22? Why a Revelation to babes and not to the wise and prudent, Matth. 11. 25? In short; God's Election must be either arbitrary or necessary; If necessary, how is his Election free? If arbitrary, how is Nonelection unjust? The donation of Faith p. 123and Repentance must be Grace or Debt; If Debt, why is not the Veil off from every Eye, and the Stone out of every Heart? Why is not Grace as common as Nature, and Saintship as Humanity? But if Grace, then where it is conferred, it is freely conferred out of self-moving mercy; and where it is denied, it is justly denied out of unaccountable sovereignty.

2. In the Permission of final sin there is much of Sovereignty, but nothing of Injustice; the great God is absolutus faber suae permissionis; he could let legions of Angels at once drop out of Heaven into Hell; he could let innocent Adam (as rare a piece as he was) break himself all to shivers by a fall; and what may he not permit sinful Worms to do? What are Creatures to him? If they miscarry, how many thousand thousand Worlds are there in the bosom of his Omnipotence? If he suffer all Nations to walk in their own ways, he doth but let a drop fall off the Bucket, or a small dust fly off the ballance; he doth but leave Vanity to its own lightness, and a Quasi-nothing to its own nullity and defectibility. If he suffer sinful Man to run into sin, and that finally, he doth but leave the Dog to his own vomit, the p. 124Swine to his own mire, the Viper to his own poyson, a corrupted piece of old Adam to act foreign, out of his own, as the Expression is, Joh. 8. 44. He doth but let the fountain of blood flow out, the corrupt flesh putrifie, the vitious womb of concupiscence conceive and bring forth, and the depraved Will of man forge out its own iniquities, and fetter and intangle it self with the cords and bonds of its own voluntary rebellions; and what Injustice can be in all this? especially seeing this Permission is not a subtraction of any inherent Grace, but only a suspension of assistent Grace as de facto would impede sin. If God be bound to afford such Grace, where is the Charter of that engagement? If he be not bound thereunto, where is the Injustice of that suspension? The Saints before a temptation, cast down their Souls before God and cry out, Nèinducas, Lead us not into temptation; and after a victory, they cast down their Crowns before him, and sing out, Thanks be to God who giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ. Wherefore when sin is prevented, God's free Grace is to be praised; and when sin is permitted, God's absolute Sovereignty is to be adored.

p. 1253. Justice in God is agere juxta condecentiam bonitatis & veracitatis suae; therefore the Decrees of Preterition and Permission must needs be just, because they cross not either his Goodness or his Truth. Not his Goodness; for that doth not necessitate him either to diffuse one drop of Grace unto fallen Man, or to prevent one jot of sin in him: nor yet his Truth; for (notwithstanding the Decrees of Preterition and Permission) all the Promises in the great Charter of the Gospel are Yea and Amen, not a tittle thereof fails or falls to the ground.

2. As the Decree of Preterition and Permission is from God's Will, as cloathed with Sovereignty; so the Decree of Damnation is from God's Will, as cloathed with Justice. In the former God acts as supreme Lord, according to his transcendent Sovereignty; in the latter God acts as a Righteous Judge, according to his Vindictive Justice. Now here I shall offer my thoughts in two Positions.

1. The final Sin of Reprobates is not properly the very Cause of the Decree of Damnation; it is the proper very Cause of Damnation, but not of the Decree it self. That passage in Scotus is remarkable; p. 126Non est aliqua causa propter quam Deus effectivè reprobat, in quantum est actio in Deo; quia tunc Deus esset passivus. What is moved by a thing ab extra, seems in order of nature before that motion to be in potentia, and in that motion to be passive in some degree. But God's Will in all its Decrees, even in that of Reprobation, is a pure Act, perfectly excluding Passiveness and Potentiality, and by consequence Motion ab extrá.

2. The final Sin of Reprobates, though it be not properly the Cause of the Decree it self, yet it is conditio in objecto necessaria, making men meet Objects for the Decree to terminate upon. The Vessels of wrath are fitted to destruction. Final Sin as produced in actual Existence fits them for actual destruction; and final Sin, as foreseen in the divine Prescience, fits them for a Decree of destruction. Where final Sin is foreseen, there the Decree of Damnation terminates; and where final Sin is not foreseen, there the Decree of Damnation terminates not. After all thy wickedness, woe, woe unto thee, saith the Lord, Ezek. 16. 23. Hells woes are after final wickedness, and the Decree of Hells woes are after the Prescience of final wickedness. p. 127In a word; That which causes men to be capable objects for the Decree of Damnation to terminate on, is the final Sin which is in the unrighteous Will of Man; and that which causes the Decree of Damnation to terminate on them, is the Vindictive Justice, which is in the righteous Will of God. In Tophet the Torments are as unquenchable fire. The final sin is as much wood, and that which kindles it is Vindictive Justice breathing out from the righteous Will of God; in all which there is nothing at all but exact Righteousness. God may say to Man, Thy perdition is of thy self, and Man must say to God, Thou art righteous, O Lord in all thy ways.

I will shut up all with an Answer to an Objection. You will yet say, God's Justice is not cleared in this point; for the Decree of Preterition and Permission is merely out of Sovereignty, and upon this Preterition and Permission doth infallibly follow final Sin, and upon final Sin doth infallibly follow eternal Damnation: Wherefore hereby God is made the great Author of the Reprobates Sin and Damnation.

To which I answer in three Propositions.

p. 1281. 'Tis true that upon Preterition and Permission final sin doth infallibly follow. When God gave them up to their own lusts, they walked in their own counsels, Psal. 18. 12. When he suffered all Nations to walk in their own ways, they did so, Acts 14. 16. If upon God's Permission Man's Sin follow not, then (which is very strange) God may permit that which yet will never be. But

2. Upon Preterition and Permission final Sin doth infallibly follow; but not as an Effect from a true Cause, but as a Consequent upon its Antecedent. Hence God is no more the Author of Sin, than the Sun is of the darkness which follows upon its departure. Also the Objectors may be asked, Doth not God foreknow that the Creature set in such a state and order of things will finally sin? Foreknowing this, doth not he willingly and actually set the Creature in that state and order? From or upon this setting the Creature in that state and order, doth not its final Sin infallibly follow? I suppose they will deny nothing of all this; yet they will by no means say that God is the Author of sin, neither need they say so; for in Sins following there is only sequela ordinis, p. 129and not sequela causalitatis. Moreover, God, in Preterition and Permission, doth not subtract from men any Creaturedue, but suspend such special effectual Grace as is undue unto them. This is clear; for Preterition and Permission respect men as sinners lying in the corrupt Mass, and to sinners God owes nothing but punishment. Verbum [Debet] venenum habet, nec Deo propriè competit, qui non est debitor nobis nisi fortè ex promisso, saith Peter Lombard. If God be bound to give special effectual Grace to all, shew me a Promise for it; if he be not bound, the suspension of that Grace can in no wise make him the Author of Sin. Wherefore final Sin is indeed no fruit of God's Reprobating Will, but the proper issue of Man's perverse Will. And this is one grand difference between Election and Reprobation; Election doth effectually work final Faith and Holiness in the Elect, but Reprobation doth not effect the least drop of Sin or Malice in the Reprobate. Faith and Holiness come down from Heaven, out of the bosom of free Grace; but Sin and Malice grow at home in the Reprobate's own heart, Dea non operante sed permittente.

p. 1303. Hence it follows, That God is the Author of the Reprobate's Damnation only as a just Judge inflicting the same for final Sin: God's vindictive Justice is the inflicting Cause of Damnation; but Man's final Sin is the proper meritorious Cause thereof. And thus God is perfectly justified in the Decree of Reprobation, because that final Sin of Reprobates, which follows consequently upon God's Preterition and Permission, doth flow effectively from man's perverse and corrupt Will; and that everlasting Damnation of Reprobates, which is inflicted by God as a Righteous Judge, is also merited by a man as a final Sinner.