Of tbe Creatures, and the Condition ~anym,m, But every ma11 u ttmpted, whm ht is drawn away of his own BooK 11, luj/, mzd e1lltced. He carried himfelf in that matter precifely, according to ~the exatt dues of Creation: He difpenfed all the influence that was due thereby; and more he did not vouchfafe, meerly becaufe as a Creator, he was not obl ,gcd thereto. And God ordered it thus, that the difference between that Creation influence and ailiftance, and the efficaCious aiTiftance of Grace,which he &•vc the Angels that fiood, and meant to give to his Elect, caUed Onts might be manifet1 from that which was by Creation due only; that, what wa~ God•s, might be given to God and his Grace; and what was the Creatures might be given the Creature: For it iscertaig, that had God either inhibited · the Devil from tempting , or had cat1 in but a grain of. aiTifiance more than by Creation was due, intO man's heart and will when tempted, and prevented but • meer negligence, or not·attendency to God and his Word, (for their fin began with thofe at firt1, and they were the primum mommtum of their verg– ing) they had not finned. If when the eyes of their mmds were next door towards awink, God had given but the leat1 jogg, it had kept them awake. Likewife, God forb<Jle nothing, but he was not bound to give , and it H . d. was free for him to aoa or not to do. And unto this, of God's 11ot being "~~~t:;:p:: bomzd thereto, as on his part, cloth Arminim himfelf put it. Nor had, nor " """'b'-. could man be aforehand with God by any thing he had, or could do : For, all ~;i!!'/;1; ,,.. mut1 be only by virtue of what he had received by Creation from God: And P"""· fo, the Apot1le's general Proclamation made on God's behalf unto all his Creatures, reached Adam in that et1are; Who hdth firjl given to him, and it jhaO bt recompenjed u11to him again. The fenfe whereof is, That God fiands free, not upon Prerogative, but Equity, a Debtor unto Man; but at a perfect liber– ty, To give, or not to give, what he had not compacted for. And Chrit1 fays the fame, on his behalf, to him that murmured, Matth. 20. 1 ~· 1 do thee 110 wro11g: 'Didjl not thou czgru wilh mefor a pmy1 And that I have paid ili~ ' • But, befides this Argument from the Event, the Scripture fays the fame, with a Beholdprefaced unto it, in two places : Job 1 ~.r~. Behold, he putteth 110 truf1 in his Saitzts. - And, that he had put no trut1 in them, is dire6ly fpo· ken in refpell unto their Mutability, and the hazard ot their tailing him, in their ferving him, if left unto themfelves. So, as we have God's judgment declared, That they were fuch unfiable Creatures, that he had no confiden'e in them as fuch: Which, if it be underfiood in the Prefent Tenfe, that, Now, " fincc the fall, he putteth no trufi in his Angels that t1ood, yet frill it relates unto what in themfelves they are, and were by Nature, and would be, if God did not continue to uphold them. The fame is faid in Chap. 4· '8. with ano· ther Beholdagain, Behold, he p11t 110 trufl i11 his StrvatJts, and hit Angels be chargedwithfol{y, Which latter is fpoken as of the time pail; upon ;m experience of the fall of fome of. them, rhat !hewed the fame changeablei\~fs to be incident to the ret1 that !lood; and that if God Jhould deal with them on– ly according to that Law of their Creation, and leave them into the hands of rheir own Counfels, they would be as foolilh as the ret1 had been. But, the greater Task of the two, is, to Evince what this Mutability was, and what the rife of it was, in the Creature. I begin with the later, The Rife or Groundof it. 1. This changeablencfs in the Creature, is the condition of the Creature as a Creature, with difference from God. Of God, it is faid,James J, 1 ~·That God cmmot be tempted with evil: And evil there, is the evil of fin, with which the Creature is tempted, and is an oppofite to that goodnefs, which is effential to God, whereof Chrifi fpeaks, Matth. 19. 17. Godonly isgood, and thereby differenceth God's goodnefs from the Creatures goodnefs,by declaring, That God alone is effentially good i and it rifeth to fuch a Con!i!lency in hiS Narure, and height of tranfcendent Perfection, that it cannot admit of the leat1 impre!Tion, couch, or tincture of evil to fiain, yea, not to difcoulour it; and therefore .James expreffeth it by this, He cmmot 6e tempted, J ames t.q. It being a Contradiction to his Nature, as being God; as el{ewhere, That ht can11ot lye, TittM 1. 2. and, Cmmot deny himfdf, 2 Ttm.2.1 ~· Now,ifrhefe thwgs
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