Baxter - Houston-Packer Collection BT70 .B397 1675

Ofgods government, 6. From whence it is clear that theNature of Man's Will is'fuch, as that it is made toufe a Power whichdoth not neceflitate, or determine it felf, or is determined neceffarily, but freely : And that it is no Deify - ing-of the Will, nor extolling it above itsNature, to fay that it can at ordetermine it fell, without Gods pre-determinating premotion ; or by that fame meafure of help whichat another time doth not determine it. Though its Nature, and its A& as fuch be of God, yet fo is its Liberty too; and therefore by thePower and Liberty given by God, the Will can aft or not ad, or turn it Pelf to thisobjet or to that, without more help than the laid natural fupport and Concurfe : And this Power and Liberty is its Nature, and GodsImage. 7. Fromhence alto it is evident that there is filch a thing (or operation ofGod) as Grace Neceffary calledfuf icient, which is not effe lual. For God took no Grace away fromAdambefore he finned, nor let out any temptationuponhimwhich hewas not able to refill; nor didhe fin for want of necefiary Grace; but by that fame degree ofhelp might have overcome. 8. Godpalling Sentence on fain Manfor fin, would not forgive him the temporal death, norcommon calamities of this life, but curled the creatures which hewas to ufe, as part of hispenalty. 9. But the Great evil which fin brought on man, was the loll ofGods approbation and complacency , and of his Spirits Paving Communion and help, and ofGods Imageon man's Soul, and of Communion with Godherein ; and allohis right to life eternal. All which man's own fin caft away, andman was both the Deferver and Executioner, with- outany change in God. to. Yet wasall this privation penal, in that God made Man fuch a creature, as that hisown fin fhould become his punifhment or ruine if he committed it, fo that all Punifhment is not deterr iinatively ofGod, though Gods AntecedentWill did make that which by man is made a Caufe. As in argument, God faith antecedently [If thou fin, thyown fin fhall be thytorment andmifery] and man faith [iwillfin]Therefore it is Man that is the determiningCaufe of the Conclufion [Á!y own fin, fhall be my torment andmifery] : So it is inCaufation, God antecedently toman's fin, doth refolve [iwillmal e Man facha Creature, with fuch a Mind, Confcience and Will, as that his Holinef (hallbe his Health, and joy, and his immediate Receptivecapacity of my favour and ofhis Com- munion with me , and of his title to my fpirit and Glory : And that if he forfal¿e me and his Holinefr, in the very Nature of the thing , he fhall lofe all this Life, Light, andLove, joy andCommunion, and title to my Grace, and(hallfeel the torments ofhis own Confcience telling himofhis finand lofs.] This is Gods Antecedent Law : Nay, this is Gods Antece- dent Creation, tomake manfuch aCreature. Now if man fin, his owls fin doth ipfo facto become his mifery, and yet is not exiledat all by God. But yet that hisNature was madefilch as fin fhould prove a mifery to, was Gods Work. And from that Antecedent Creationor Conflitution the Relative form of a Punifhment refulteth to the Sinner. Even as God faith [ifthou Murder it fhall be thyfin] or [Thou(halt not Murder] And mandoth Murder Here the Ad that is fin is of man ; but that theRela- tionof finbelongeth to that aft, refulteth partly from the Law which forbiddeth it; and yet God is not the Cauf offin; though he Antece- dently decreed, [Murder ¡hall befin if thou commit it.] Sois it alto with this fort of Punifhment which is either fin it felf, or the effeil or refult of fin immediately. By

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