The Anatomy of Arminianism, Chapter 4
CHAP. IIII.
Of the will of God.
I. THE will in man is foreign, the rationall appetite; whereby man of his own accord, & with knowledge, doth moue himſelfe to obtaine good, whether it be truely good, or good onelyonly in ſhew, and in the opinion of man. But ſometimes the will is not taken for the faculty whereby wee will, but for the act of willing or deſiring: ſometimes it is taken for the thing it ſelfe which wee will, after the ſame manner as Saint Paule ſpeaketh, 1. Theſ. 4. That the will of God is our ſanctification.
II. Will, in God, is not a rationall appetite; for God is not capable of any appetite, yea, nor reaſon: But the will of God, is that act of willing, whereby hee doth eyther command, or appoint and decree.
III. For the will of God is two-fold, the one is his decree, the other is his commandement. The decree of God, belongeth to the prouidence of God, and the commandement of God, belongeth to his iuſtice: By his decree, hee doth appoint and diſpoſe the euents of things; by his commandement hee doth gouerne our actions. By the former will, God doth appoint what he will hauehave done; by the latter, what he would hauehave vsus doe. To the former all creatures obey, euen the Diuels themſelues; to the latter onelyonly the faithfull, and yet not that perfectly.
IV. Theſe faithfull men are eſteemed iuſt, not becauſe they obey the decree of God, but becauſe they are obedient to his commandement. So the wicked ſonne, wiſhing the death of his ſicke father, doth ſinne againſt the will of God, although his wicked minde doth conſent with the decree of God: On the other ſide, the ſonne which doth pray to God for the health of his ſicke father, doth obey the will of God, although by the decree of God his death is certaine, and the deſire of the good ſonne, is contrary to the purpoſe of God. God forbids murther; and yet hee decreed that the Iewes ſhould kill Chriſt, by which fact they ſinned againſt God, howſoeuer they fulfilled his decree. Act. 2.23. Vorſtius himſelfe doth acknowledge, That God would not hauehave had his people ſo ſoone ſent away by Pharaoh, viz. becauſe God had decreed not to bend the heart of Pharaoh to obedience: But as concerning the commandement, it is no doubt but God commanded Pharaoh, that hee ſhould ſend away the people without delay; for therefore God inflicted vponupon him ſo many ſcourges; becauſe he did not obey the commandement of God. Neither by this will Vorſtius make God guilty of Hypocriſie, or fraudulent diſſimulation; as he doth falſely lay to our charge.
V. Theſe two willes, the Scripture doth ſometimes mixe, and take them promiſcuouſly one for another. So when Chriſt, Iohn 6. ſaith, that he deſcended from Heauen, that hee might not doe his owne will, but the will of him that ſent him; it is certaine that Chriſt vnderſtandeth both theſe two willes, becauſe Chriſt by thoſe actions did both fulfill all righteouſneſſe, and alſo did execute the decree of God: And therefore eyther of theſe willes is called the purpoſe of God. Eſay. 46.10, Luke 7.30. Act. 20.27.
VI. This decree of God, is properly, and by it ſelfe, called the will of God; the law of God is not ſo properly called his will, for the law is rather a document or leſſon, then his will, and rather a declaration, wherein God doth make knowne to man, by what meanes he may be pleaſed, then what hee hath abſolutely appointed to come to paſſe. For onelyonly of the will of God, ſo properly called, is that true which is ſaide, Pſalme 115. God doth whatſoeuer hee will.
VII. The promiſes and threatnings of God, are yet more improperly called the will of God, ſeeing by them God doth neither command, nor decree any thing abſolutely; but they are declarations, whereby God doth declare what ſhall come to paſſe; if man obey the law, or if he doe not obey it; if man beleeue the Goſpell, or if he doe not beleeue it.
Perhaps the promiſes and threatnings of God, Obiect. are his conditionall decree, and depending vponupon the performance of the condition by the pleaſure of man. But this cannot truely be ſaid: For if it ſhould be ſo, Anſw. this decree would not be certaine by the will of God, although the euent was certainely foreſeene by him: Alſo nothing can be imagined more abſurd, then to appoint God to decree any thing with a condition, which condition, in the very moment in which hee decrees it, he knoweth will neuer be fulfilled. When a maſter ſaith to a ſeruant, if you will doe thus, you ſhall hauehave this reward, he doth declare, that hee will then giuegive the reward, when the condition is fulfilled. But God willeth nothing, which hee willed not from eternity. Indeede God doth promiſe life vnderunder the condition of obedience, but hee doth decree nothing vnderunder that doubtfull condition. Hee doth not elect Peter if hee ſhall beleeue, but hee electeth him to faith, that he might be ſaued: Neither was he onelyonly willing to preſerue the Niniuites if they would be turned, but hee alſo gaue them repentance whereby they turned.
VIII. They which ſay that Gods decree is his ſecret will, but his commandement, his reuealed will, ſeeme to me, to ſpeake inconſiderately: For many things are made knowne to vsus of the decrees of God, not onelyonly thoſe things which are made manifeſt by the euents, but alſo may other things, which God in his word hath taught vsus ſhall come to paſſe. As the comming of Chriſt, the reſurrection, &c.
IX. Thomas, and the Schoole-men, doe diſtinguiſh the will of God, In voluntatem beneplaciti, & voluntatem ſigni; Into the will of his good pleaſure, and the will of his ſigne, that is, his ſignified and reuealed will; The members of which diſtinction, fall one into another: For many things of the will of his good pleaſure are ſignified to vsus: Neither is the word beneplaciti, good pleaſure, which in Greeke is, foreign, ſufficiently applyed heere: For foreign, or good-pleaſure, doth for the moſt part include, LoueLove and good-will: as Luke 2.14. foreign, On earth peace, towards men good will. See alſo Epheſ. 1.5. & 9. But the decree of God, is alſo extended to his iudgements, and to the puniſhment of the wicked.
X. They doe very ill, which ſet theſe two willes one againſt another, and would hauehave them be contrary. Surely if God ſhould driue a man to doe thoſe things which hee hath forbidden to be done, or ſhould keepe backe him, who is indeauouring to obey the Law, with an oppoſite barre from his obedience; God ſhould will things that are contrary, and ſhould reſiſt his owne will: But his decree doth not reſiſt his commandement, when he doth require thoſe things from man, which doe exceede mans power, and doth not miniſter to man that ability whereby he may fulfill what is commanded; for man himſelfe is the cauſe of his owne impotency and inability, neither is God bound to giuegive thoſe powers to man, which he loſt by his owne fault. He which is in debt, doth not owe the leſſe becauſe hee hath conſumed his eſtate; neither doth that creditor deale vniuſtly which requireth his debt of the Bankerupt; becauſe he doth not conſider him as a poore man, but as a debtor. Arminius therefore is deceiued, in reaſoning thus againſt Perkins. Hee that will denie to any one (ſaith he) neceſſary helpe to performe the act of Faith, he doth deſire that ſuch a one ſhould not beleeue. Certainely he that will not giuegive money to a poore man, which is falne into pouertie by his owne fault, doth not therefore deſire he ſhould be poore, nor is delighted with his pouerty. Nor is that any better which he doth adde. As it cannot bee ſaide (ſaith hee) that God is willing that creature ſhould liue, to whom hee doth deny the act of his preſeruation: So alſo it cannot be ſaide, that God is willing that that action ſhould he performed by any one, to whom hee doth deny his concurrence and helpe, neceſſary for the performing of that action. Theſe things, and other ſuch like, doth hee ill beate vponupon, for hee doth vſe a ſimilitude, which is a plaine diſſimilitude, for no man is bound to his Eſſe, to his being, neither can God exact from him, that is not, that hee ſhould be: But to obey God, man is naturally bound; Therefore God can rightly require of man what hee oweth, and yet is not therefore bound to giuegive him ability of obeying and fulfilling what hee commands; for God is not bound to reſtore to man, that power which was once giuen and is now loſt by the fault of man. But here I would vſe the fitteſt words, and I had rather ſay, that God decreed not to giuegive grace to one, whereby he ſhould be conuerted and ſhould beleeue, then to ſay, that God decreed that the man ſhould be an vnbeleeuer and impenitent: For the word decreeing, is more fit to note out thoſe things which God determined to doe, then thoſe things which he determined not to cure.
XI. Furthermore vnderunder the word obedience, I comprehend alſo faith in Chriſt, for as much as it is one kinde of obedience to which wee are bound by the law, which doth command that God be loued, with all our heart, and with all our ſtrength, and therefore that God be obeyed, that his word be beleeued, whatſoeuer it ſhall be that God ſhall command: Whence it commeth to paſſe, that wee cannot reiect the doctrine of the Goſpell by vnbeleefe, but we alſo ſinne againſt the law by diſobedience; which if it be ſo, although faith on Chriſt was not expreſly commanded by the Law, nor was Adam before his fall bound to beleeue in Chriſt, yet it is certaine that God commanding aſſent and reuerence to be exhibited to his Goſpell, doth require that that louelove which is commanded in the law, and which is naturally due, ſhould be yeelded to him, that is, to Chriſt.
All theſe things that hauehave beene ſpoken, tend thither, that wee might teach that there is no difference betweene theſe two willes of God. L…t Saint Auſ…ens Encheridion to Laurentius, Chapter 101. be read, where hee doth teach, how Gods will may be done of them which doe not the will of God: and that, that is not done beſides Gods will, which is done againſt his will.