and .`Decrees ofgod, &c.. 77 to free agents : And this natural courte of agency we mutt not expel that he (hould alter, but rarely by miracles. I 2. Nothing is at enmity and Adivcly opponent to Gods natural agency or motion : for elfe thereíhould be fomething befidesG.od andhis wòrks which he mull overcome : Though famenatural motions may op- pofe each other, yet all concurtoone end. 13. Non -entity or Nothirgnefs, isnot contrary to Godas anopponent. 14. Therefore feeing *Nolle is not a meer Nonvelte, but aVelle-non, which is the warof the will againft anopponent, and the root ofoppofition ad extra, it is an unmeet phrafe to fay that God BothNil any Nonentity, or any meer Natural oppoflrion to him : or that he willeth any natural entityor motion which-he effeeteth not. 15. But God being fecondarily the Rector of free-agents, and making them Laws to Rule their own Volitions and adiòns, he doth by that-6 Laws oblige their realm and will, to retrain and refill ouie natural or fenfitive appetites and inclinations, and fo to refit fome natural motions of God in nature, in which he is pleated to operate by fecund caufes but in tantum and relìftibly ( as a ftronger natural motion may refft a weaker. ) r 5, And God doth by his grace and help internal and external, ¢(lift them in that refilling agencywhichhe obligeth them to. 17. Therefore God may two wayes be faid to refift his ownnatural motion, by hisLaws, and by his affifting grace: (But his Laws contradi& not one another.) 18. To God as meer Rector therefore two things may be faid to be op- ponent, r. Such fenfitive and natural inclinations and actions as are by Grace to he refilled ; a. And all moral evil. 19. And therefore as God may he faid to Refill there, fo an firft to i4ill them : And fo to have Decrees againft thou. so. Gods Volitions and Nolitions here are his effential will denomi- nated fromthe effects and objects. And that effect of God from which he is faid to Nil/ both thefe, is as is faid, t. His Laws, 2. His grace or help. And in this we are agreed, T. That he forbiddeth fin and coni- mandeth us the rèftraint of appetites and fenfes, 6c. a. And that he help- ethus fo to do: Therefore the reft of the School-Controverfies here thac trouble the world, are but logomachies, about theNames of Nolitions and Nolitive Decrees, 244 The thing properlywilledbyGod in a Law, is but the debitom, thè duty of the fubje& to do what is commanded, and not to do what is for= bidden. z2. It is not a Meer non-agency that is meant by aprohibition, but a pafitive volition of the fubjed, reftraining him from the forbidden ad i And all proper moral obedience or difobedience, Good or Evil, is prima- rily in the will, and no further fecondarily in the exteriour a& or re- (train, than as they are Voluntary ; and in non- agency but in a third fenfe or in(tance as the confequent of nolition and the refrainingad. 23. If any therefore will fay in this fenfe, that God cloth pofitively Nitthe forbidden Ad, and fo will anon - entity fob ration mali morale in this remote fence, we will not contradid himbut fay ashe. 24. Andaccordingly we may fay that God bath a pofitive Decree of non -entities, or againft moral evil ; where non agency is loco materie', that is, in tentia e, fo far as to do all that he doth againft it ; but not abfeluté neeveniát, obi evenit. a 5. But we may not, therefore fpeakfo unaptly as to fay that he will- et "Saith Alliác. Camerae. I. 5. 1£. a. i.E. [Repra- batio fecuttdami aligeoo oft nonpropfirnmdaudi tam aternam.. st ills di- cimi Reprobates fecundum aligaos cui Decors non pro-. pofuit dare vitam ater- non.) Et pollen [ eertum ell de mates quo( Deus non vul2 quod in bonis tneritoriis pe)feserent _. Et non milt quad conduit implete turg 9,uia f veib t utio impleretur:] Eu, he raid) nor [nit non implori, &c.] Gregorian non deluda jn4 f erro uod non mifererl età efeltn Reprobationin, cum fripfa Reprobatio.ld ]bid.
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