To the extent possible under law, the Text Creation Partnership has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above, according to the terms of the CC0 1.0 Public Domain Dedication (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/). This waiver does not extend to any page images or other supplementary files associated with this work, which may be protected by copyright or other license restrictions. Please go to http://www.textcreationpartnership.org/ for more information.
I. THE will in man is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, the rationall appetite; whereby man of his own accord, & with knowledge, doth moue himselfe to obtaine good, whether it be truely good, or good onely in shew, and in the opinion of man. But some∣times the will is not taken for the faculty whereby
wee will, but for the act of willing or desiring: some∣times 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 rea∣son: 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 de∣cree 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 haue done; by the latter, what he would haue vs doe. To the former all crea∣tures obey, euen the Diuels themselues; to the latter onely the faithfull, and yet not that per∣fectly.
IV. These faithfull men are esteemed iust, not be∣cause 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, al∣though 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 fulfil∣led his decree. Act. 2.23. Vorstius himselfe doth ac∣knowledge, That God would not haue had his people so soone sent away by Pharaoh, viz. because God had de∣creed 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 vpon 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 some∣times mixe, and take them promiscuously one for a∣nother. So when Christ, Iohn 6. saith, that he descen∣ded 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 righteous∣nesse, and also did execute the decree of God: And therefore eyther of these willes is called the pur∣pose 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 decla∣ration, 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 onely 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 be∣leeue the Gospell, or if he doe not beleeue it.
Perhaps the promises and threatnings of God, [Obiect.] are his conditionall decree, and depending vpon the per∣formance 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 haue this reward, he doth declare, that hee will then giue the reward, when the condition is fulfilled. But God willeth nothing, which hee willed not from eternity. Indeede God doth promise life vnder the condition of obedience, but hee doth decree nothing vnder 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 onely 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 vs of the decrees of God, not onely those things which are made manifest by the euents, but also may other things, which God in his word hath taught vs shall come to passe. As the comming of Christ, the resurrection, &c.
IX. Thomas, and the Schoole-men, doe distin∣guish the will of God, In voluntatem beneplaciti, & vo∣luntatem signi; Into the will of his good pleasure, and the will of his signe, that is, his signified and reuea∣led will; The members of which distinction, fall one into another: For many things of the will of his good pleasure are signified to vs: Neither is the word be∣neplaciti, good pleasure, which in Greeke is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, sufficiently applyed heere: For 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, or good-pleasure, doth for the most part include, Loue and good-will: as Luke 2.14. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, On earth peace, towards men good will. See also Ephes. 1.5. & 9. But the decree of God, is also exten∣ded 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 haue them be con∣trary. 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 obe∣dience; 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 ina∣bility, neither is God bound to giue those powers to man, which he lost by his owne fault. He which is in debt, doth not owe the lesse because hee hath consu∣med his estate; neither doth that creditor deale vn∣iustly which requireth his debt of the Bankerupt; be∣cause he doth not consider him as a poore man, but as a debtor. Arminius therefore is deceiued, in rea∣soning 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. Cer∣tainely he that will not giue money to a poore man, which is falne into pouertie by his owne fault, doth not therefore desire he should be poore, nor is deligh∣ted 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 vpon, 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 giue him a∣bility 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 giue 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 vnder 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 be∣leeued, whatsoeuer it shall be that God shall com∣mand: 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 com∣manded 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 loue which is com∣manded in the law, and which is naturally due, should be yeelded to him, that is, to Christ.
All these things that haue beene spoken, tend thither, that wee might teach that there is no dif∣ference 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.