Page 88 - Absolute Predestination With Observations On The Divine Attributes

29. In Præfat, ad Epist. ad Rom.

30. Tom. 8, in Psalm 68, col. 738.

31. De Serv. Arbitr. cap. 168. [Sect. 101.]

32. Prædest. cap. 17.

33. De Corrept. et Grat. cap. 7.

34. Tom. 7, De Corr. et Grat. cap. 7.

35. In Præfat. ad Epist. ad Rom.

36. Let it be carefully observed that when with the Scriptures we assert the glory of God to be the

ultimate end of His dealings with angels and men, we do not speak this with respect to His essential
glory which He has as God, and which, as it is infinite, is not susceptible of addition nor capable of
diminution, but of that glory which is purely manifestative, and which Micrælius, in his Lexic.
Philosoph. col. 471, defines to be, Clara rei cum laude notitia; cum nempe, ipsa sua eminentia est
magna, augusta, et conspicua. And the accurate Maestricht, Celebratio ceu manifestatio (quæ magis
proprie glorificatio, quam gloria appellatur), qua, agnita intus eminentia, ejusque congrua
æstimatio, propalatur et extollitur.—Theolog. lib. 2, cap. 22 § 8.

37. De Corr. and Grat. cap. 7.

38. It is a known and very just maxim of the schools, Effectus sequitur causam proximam: "An
effect follows from, and is to be inscribed to, the last immediate cause that produced it." Thus, for
instance, if I hold a book or a stone in my hand, my holding it is the immediate cause of its not
falling; but if I let it go, my letting it go is not the immediate cause of its falling: it is carried
downwards by its own gravity, which is therefore the causa proxima effectus, the proper and
immediate cause of its descent. It is true, if I had kept my hold of it, it would not have fallen, yet still
the immediate, direct cause of its fall is its own weight, not my quitting my hold. The application of
this to the providence of God, as concerned in sinful events, is easy. Without God, there could have
been no creation; without creation, no creatures; without creatures, no sin. Yet is not sin chargeable
on God: for effectus sequitur causam proximam.

39. The late most learned and judicious Mr. Charnock has, in my judgment at least, proved most
clearly and satisfactorily that the exclusion of some individual persons from a participation of saving
grace is perfectly consistent with God's unlimited goodness. He observes that "the goodness of the
Deity is infinite and circumscribed by no limits. The exercise of His goodness may be limited by
Himself, but His goodness, the principle, cannot, for, since His essence is infinite, and His goodness
is not distinguished from His essence, it is infinite also. God is necessarily good in His nature, but
free in His communications of it. He is necessarily good, affective, in regard of His nature, but freely
good, effective, in regard of the effluxes of it to this or that particular subject He pitcheth upon. He is
not necessarily communicative of His goodness, as the sun of its light or a tree of its cooling shade,