Of mredeFtination. Nullus cil Catholieutg4 ignorer pettatum non elf,' efefinm predeflinatio- a e í etiam f predeflina- susoceafronem ex ea lepins caplet fue falutis. Nam tram Dens caufa peccati effénoquear, eOicitur at Deuspeccatum nulla rati- 'oneprede/linare pe p. Neq; afttu ipfe pec- cati fecundutn ef e natu- rale, non elt eforile pro- deflinationis, quamvis fit hot modo afeiten divine voluntatit, Vafquez in Tho. r. q. z3. cap, n. difp. 93. As Bradwardine who alfo tells us, That if God damn the Innocent, his Will is the rule of ju- flice and equity: But I think they that fo de- fcribe his Juffice, do ra- ther think that none are damned, than that the Innocent are ; or may be, as an alt of Jo- ftice, whatever a meet Proprietor may do. Lt's one thing tomill Sin as sin, and another thing to canfi sin as Sin. We chargethemnot, 'with inferring that God willeth sin as Sin ; but if he will it andcarafe it for another end, he caufeth the formal nature of Sin, (that we may not play with the ambiguityof,uatenus) and that's asmuch as, man doth. For Sinners do not all, if any, will fin asfin under this formal notion, as it is a breach of the Law of God, and difpleafethhim ; but as it bringeth themTome feeminggood : And by doing evil for that good, they areSinners. To the fecond, we do not charge the Dominicans with making God aSinner : But withmaking him the chiefcaufe of thefin ofman, even in its form. II. But this is nothing to the Calvinifis in general. Therefore, I fay, that your felveshold thefame that theydo in this point. A. I,Do not all the /efuites and Arminius hold , That God is the Decreer of what he is the Author-of. , And that God is the Authorof theAft as an Adnatural, in the general. See but Rob. Baronies his Metaphyficks,and Bellarmine whom he followeth. . A. That is nothing to the moral fpecificationof the Aft B. And Dr.7wiffe bathoftenough told, you, where Arminius faith; That Godwould have Ahab to fillup the meafure ofhisSin. A. That is not that he willed the fin; but that Ahab havingmade him- felf wicked, God decreed not to flop him; but let him go on. B. Either you mean, that the Objefl of Gods Decree was but his eton permit ion (as the Arminian, uIe to fay ), or elfe, that it was the Sin it fe f (matter and form) permitted, ( notbecaufeit is fin or evil, for fo man oft willeth it not at leaf!, but) as an occafion of Gods Glory. Arminius his words import the latter : And then you go as high as Dr. Twi ]Je or Rutherford. But if you fay, that it was but a raft word of Arminius, which you !land not to; to make plainand fhortr work with you, I am fo far from being liable to your charge; that Icharge you as prefumptuous, if not erroneous, in laying, that GO decreeth or willeth topermit sin. And I aflert. f. That God dothnot Decree theform ofSin as Sin. 2. Noryet the event of thatform fdr any good end ( For, Vt peccatum eveniat, is but peccatumfssturumq) and what is it to decree Sin, but to decree that it (hall be ? Nor 3. Hath he decreed, that this Attwhich is the Sin, fhall come to pals in its comparative circumflantiated frate, from whence it is, that Sin in its form refulteth. And fo Auguflines laying to much de- cantateby Dr. Twiffe and others, * is not found, that nothingcometh to pafi but what Godwilleth, either efeiïing it, orpermitting it. It cometh to pals without Gods willing it or decreeing it; fo that he permitteth it but decreethnot that it fhall come to pats. Not that it is againft his contrary ablolute Decree; but as Lombard from other places in Auf$in telleth youplainly, God neither willeth that it !hall be,(becaufe it is fin) norproperly and fimply willeth that it (hall not be, for his Will is not overcome. 4. Yea, he cannot beproved to decreehis town permiffion; Becaufetopermit, isbut not to hinder, which is nothing but a negation And we have no ground to feign, that God hath Volitions or Decrees of nothing, or of negations. So that I fay , that Sin cometh to pats without Gods Decree of the event, or of hispermiffion. ( Though not without his Decree of the good which cometh byit ; of which more, when I (peak to the other extream.) And of this altomore anon. The
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