A89737:325
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few…
The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perilous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begetting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.The orthodox evangelist. Or A treatise wherein many great evangelical truths (not a few whereof are much opposed and eclipsed in this perillous hour of the passion of the Gospel) are briefly discussed, cleared, and confirmed: as a further help, for the begeting, and establishing of the faith which is in Jesus. As also the state of the blessed, where; of the condition of their souls from the instant of their dissolution: and of their persons after their resurrection. By John Norton, teacher of the church at Ipswich in New England.
London: printed by John Macock for Henry Cripps, 1654
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Ans. Faith, as every other creature, considered without the Decree, is but a possibility, a may-be: founded in the sufficiency of God, who is able to give being to what he pleaseth, and consequently to faith.
That this may-be become a shall-be: i. e. That faith, yet but a possibility, passeth from the condition of a thing possible, unto the condition of a thing that shall be, can proceed from no other cause then the Decree, or the Will of God. Which one consideration well observed, and applied, affordeth a sufficient answer to all objections arguing for any thing in the creature foreseen, as a cause of the Decree.
That this may-be become a shal-be: i. e. That faith, yet but a possibility, passeth from the condition of a thing possible, unto the condition of a thing that shall be, can proceed from no other cause then the Decree, or the Will of God. Which one consideration well observed, and applyed, affordeth a sufficient answer to all objections arguing for any thing in the creature foreseen, as a cause of the Decree.
This Proposition God electeth for faith foreseen, inferreth a Succession of Acts in God. Faith foreseen, necessarily presupposeth a fore-going Decree, concerning the being of that faith, which is foreseen, according to it. Thus, 1. God decreeth faith to be.1 2. Foreseeth that faith. 3. Upon that faith foreseen passeth the Decree of Election, so as the sight of faith coming between the two Decrees, there must needs be two Acts, and the second succeed the former. But God is one Act in whom there is no succession.
- 1Neque enim actus aliqu s vilendi, cum fit actus immanens in Deo suboritur de novo. Twiss. de Elect. l. 1. p. 2.