B. All this is your mistake: what any particular men say, I now mind not: But that which we hold is this; 1. I have told you, That not to give men Grace, Faith, yea, and Heaven, is nothing: And nothing needeth no Volition or Decree: Though both the Threatening and the Sentence of these Privations is something, and those are willed or decreed.
2. I have told you, That God decreeth no mans sin at all: It is no capable Object of Gods Volition; unless as circa quod, as he willeth what use to make of sin presupposed.
3. Sin is no means of the Glory of God; and therefore is not willed as a means: otherwise it should have the rationem boni qua medium, and be eligible. But it is an evil presupposed; the curing or punishing of it, and not it it self, being the means of Gods Glory: And therefore God doth not will it as a means.
⟨p. 15⟩4. Do not you your self say, 1. That God doth glorify his Justice in the damnation of the Wicked? 2. And that he willed from eternity so to do? 3. And that he fore-knew who would be wicked? 4. And that he could have cured and saved them if he would? 5. And that he had no absolute Will or De•ree eventually or effectually to cure and save them, but only in tantum, to do so much towards it, which he knew would be uneffectual through their fault? 6. And that therefore the Decree of damnation, upon this fore-sight, did pass upon the individuals, and not only on the Wicked and Impenitent in general? All this you hold, and must hold; and what hold we more?
5. For as to the Order of Gods Decrees, we further hold as followeth:
1. That though when there is need, we must distinguish them by their Effects and Objects; yet we dread the presumption of feigning those Orders in the Mind of God, which we know not of, and cannot prove. He had need to be better acquainted with the Divine Acts, that shall venture to tell us in what Order they lie in the Mind of God, than Mortals are, except where God hath plainly told us.*
2. We hold, that God doth not intendere finem, or eligere medi• thereto, in the sense as man doth; because he wanteth nothing, and therefore doth not veil desideratum, nor seek any thing which he wanteth. But that improperly God is said to intend an end, when he doth but will to produce an effect, or else still perfectly enjoyeth that which is improperly called His end. And in the first sense, every Creature is his end;
B. All this is your mistake: what any particular men say, I now mind not: But that which we hold is this; 1. I have told you, That not to give men Grace, Faith, yea, and Heaven, is nothing: And nothing needeth no Volition or Decree: Though both the Threatning and the Sentence of these Privations is something, and those are willed or decreed.
2. I have told you, That God decreeth no mans sin at all: It is no capable Object of Gods Volition; unless as circa quod, as he willeth what use to make of sin presupposed.
3. Sin is no means of the Glory of God; and therefore is not willed as a means: otherwise it should have the rationem boni qua medium, and be elegible. But it is an evil presupposed; the curing or punishing of it, and not it it self, being the means of Gods Glory: And therefore God doth not will it as a means.
⟨p. 15⟩4. Do not you your self say, 1. That God doth glorifie his Justice in the damnation of the Wicked? 2. And that he willed from eternity so to do? 3. And that he fore-knew who would be wicked? 4. And that he could have cured and saved them if he would? 5. And that he had no absolute Will or De•ree eventually or effectually to cure and save them, but only in tantum, to do so much towards it, which he knew would be uneffectual through their fault? 6. And that therefore the Decree of damnation, upon this fore-sight, did pass upon the individuals, and not only on the Wicked and Impenitent in general? All this you hold, and must hold; and what hold we more?
5. For as to the Order of Gods Decrees, we further hold as followeth:
1. That though when there is need, we must distinguish them by their Effects and Objects; yet we dread the presumption of feigning those Orders in the Mind of God, which we know not of, and cannot prove. He had need to be better acquainted with the Divine Acts, that shall venture to tell us in what Order they lie in the Mind of God, than Mortals are, except where God hath plainly told us.*
2. We hold, that God doth not intendere finem, or eligere medi• thereto, in the sense as man doth; because he wanteth nothing, and therefore doth not velle desideratum, nor seek any thing which he wanteth. But that improperly God is said to intend an end, when he doth but will to produce an effect, or else still perfectly enjoyeth that which is improperly called His end. And in the first sense, every Creature is his end;
- *Vasquez in 1. Th•. q. 23. d. 94. c. 1. saith Scotus ju • ▪ d. 19. q. 1. Hac ordine instantia ratione in Dei pr•scientia & providentia dispon•• ▪ In prime Deum seipsum intellezisse, in secunde intellexisse omnes creaturas; in terti• quosdam ad gloriam & gratiam praedestinasse circa alios vero see habuisse negative: in quarto vidisse eos casuros in primo parent, in quinto providisse illis remedium per Christi passionem, &c.Vasquez in 1. Th•. q. 23. d. 94. c. 1. saith Scotus iu • ▪ d. 19. q. 1. Hac ordine instantia ratione in Dei pr•scientia & providentia dispon•• ▪ In prime Deum seipsum intellezisse, in secunde intellexisse omnes creaturas; in terti• quosdam ad gloriam & gratiam praedestinasse circa alios vero se habuisse negative: in quarto vidisse eos casuros in primo parente, in quinto providisse illis remedium per Christi passionem, &c.
