Truman:

1) Again, when God said, Mal. 1:2, 3, “I have loved you, says the Lord, yet you say ‘Wherein has thou loved us?’ ‘was not Esau Jacob’s brother,’ says the Lord? yet I loved Jacob, and hated Esau:” that is, I preferred Jacob before Esau. God spoke this to upbraid the Jews with unthankfulness, and to move them to gratitude, to love and honor Him as a Father. But one might have replied here according to some, “This giving to him and us his posterity greater mercies than to Esau, was not to love him and us, his posterity, more than Esau and his posterity, though you call it so; and so we can say for all this, “Wherein hast thou loved us, more than Esau and his posterity?” or else, this was not from any special love to him and us, without respect to any special thing in him or us, that would not have been to Esau and his posterity, if as good as he or we; and therefore it does not oblige us to any special obedience and thankfulness, more than to them.

They might have defended themselves, that their ingratitude was no more culpable than that of the Edomites, had they been of some men’s opinion, thus: There is only a two-fold love or good-will, antecedent Love, and consequent Love, or good-will (which is a distinction, Ancient and of good use, and ought to be taken notice of, to keep our notions clear; though I dislike their saying that the Antecedent love is equal to all). The antecedent love is that which has no respect to any good in men, but does good to all men, without respect to any good in them; now this, say they is equal to all men alike. I grant it, to all men, but am proving, it is not equal to all men.

Secondly, the Consequent Love, called also Amor justitia, being according to a Rule and Law; which Consequent Love, or Love of justification, is Conditional, and has effectually a respect to some good thing in men, being by, and according to a Law, the Gospel Rule. Now this, say they is equal to all men alike, but where their goodness or wickedness occasion’s the difference. And I readily grant this as apparent, That this Consequent Love is to all men alike, as to the main and substance of it, and the effects of it. as they perform the condition or not; which is no more but this, “He that is Holy, and so continues, shall not perish, but have everlasting Life, be he who he will, without any respect of Persons;” and, “He that is more Holy shall be more Happy; even as he that is wicked, and so continues, shall be miserable; and he that is more wicked, more miserable, without any exception of persons whatsoever,” as it is said Acts 10:34, “Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons, but in every Nation, he that fears him, and works Righteousness, is accepted of him.”    Joseph Truman, A Discourse of Natural and Moral Impotency (London: Printed for Robert Clavel; and are to be sold at the Sign of the Peacock in St. Pauls Church yard, 1675), 98-100.   [Some reformatting; Latin and Greek marginal side-references not included; some pagination irregular; some spelling modernized; italics original; and underlining mine.]

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Zanchi:

The third question.

Whether the will of God be simply one, or divers; and if divers, which they be.

The Proposition.

The will of God in divers respects is both and divers.

Divines do make many divisions of the will of God: some divide it into antecedent or consequent, as Damascus, 1.2.c.46, others into the will of his good pleasure, and the will of sign, that is, by which he signifies what his pleasure is: as the Schoolmen, others into his secret and revealed will: others into his absolute and conditional will; others into that which he will do with us, and that which he will have done by us. Others though they seem divers, yet if they be well weighed they all come to the same purpose. But how this will is both one and divers, it is hard to set down. if we take will in any of three acceptations which I mentioned before, it will appear that the will of God is one only, both in efficacy, in act, and in his object. And this will of God is his free, eternal, most wise, and immutable decree, by which he brings every singular creature which he made to their several use and end, by such means as he has appointed: and to permit sins which he neither did not, nor does make, to be in the world; and all for the manifestation of his glory.  I call it a decree, because the Scripture does so: “My counsel or decree,” says the prophet of God, “shall stand, and I will do whatsoever I will,” [Isai, 46:10.]: where counsel and will are joined together as all one.  So the Apostles said that Herod and Pontius Pilate were gathered together, to do whatsoever the counsel of God had determined before to be done “[Act. 4:28]: and Paul calls the will of God concerning the salvation of the elect, predestination [Rom. 8:29]: and when Christ says that a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without the will of his Father [Matt. 10:26.], his meaning is, without his certain, and eternal decree: as also Ioho[?], 6:40, “and who has resisted his will:” his immutable decree. I call it free, because none more free then God, whose decree is therefore called the “God pleasure of his will,” [Eph. 1:8]. I said eternal, because look what he now will, he ever would: and we are said to be elected before the foundation of the world: the like may be said of all other things that they were purposed from eternity. I added most wise, because God is wisdom itself: and immutable, because he is without change. I mention every singular creature, because all were made by him, and that very good: and are directed to their several ends: directed, for God does either immediately, or mediately move all things: to their several ends and uses; for there is one use of fire, another of water: one of godly, another of the godless: and therefore they are called vessels of mercy, those of wrath. And these ends are either near or far off: the next end of the wicked is death, of the godly life, the last is God’s glory, who created all things for himself even the wicked against the evil day. And all this God does by such means as he has appointed: his children are elected, but in Christ; called to him, but outwardly by the word preached: inwardly by the Spirit: brought to him by the knowledge of the law and the Gospel:” engrafted in him by faith: sanctified by the Spirit and by good works brought into the possession of eternal life. As for sins, I said he decreed to permit them: for sin as it is sin, and evil as it is evil, God is not the author of it; but as all men confess permitted it, not unwillingly, but willingly; and therefore it was the eternal decree and will of God to permit the same. The end of all I said to be the glory of God, all things which God either has willed or does will, are comprehended under this eternal decree and will, the which if it were not one but divers the Scripture would not ever speak of it in the singular number, and term it counsel, good pleasure, will: but would sometimes use the plural number, as they do not: nay God would not ever command us to do his will, that is, his commandments: neither should it be said that all things are governed according to his will, as one, but as many:” so then though God will not all things after one sort, but some things for himself as that which is good’; others for other respects as those things which are evil: some absolutely as whatsoever he will; others conditionally as that which he promises, if we do this or that, yet if we consider God who wills we shall see that his decree or will is one only, by which he wills whatsoever he will.

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Wollebius:

But that which is included in the popular jingle,

He commands and he forbids,
Permits, advises, and fulfills,

may be loosely called by the designation of divine will. Just as the edicts of a magistrate are called his will, so the designation of will may be given to precepts, prohibitions, promises, and even deeds and events. Thus the divine will is also called that which God wants done [voluntas signi], because it signifies what is acceptable to God; what he wants done by us. It is called “consequent” because it follows that eternal antecedent; “conditional” because the commandments, prohibitions, warnings, and promises of God all have a condition of obedience or disobedience attached to them. Finally, it is called “revealed,” because it is always explained in the word of God. It must be observed that this sort of distinction does not postulate either really diverse, or contradictory, wills in God.

Johannes Wollebius, “Compendium Theologiae Christianae,” in John W. Beardslee III, Reformed Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker, 1977), 48. [Originally published in 1626.]

Question 23. Predestination

Article 1. Whether men are predestined by God?

Objection 1. It seems that men are not predestined by God, for Damascene says (De Fide Orth. ii, 30): “It must be borne in mind that God foreknows but does not predetermine everything, since He foreknows all that is in us, but does not predetermine it all.” But human merit and demerit are in us, forasmuch as we are the masters of our own acts by free will. All that pertains therefore to merit or demerit is not predestined by God; and thus man’s predestination is done away.

Objection 2. Further, all creatures are directed to their end by divine providence, as was said above (22, 1, 2). But other creatures are not said to be predestined by God. Therefore neither are men.

Objection 3. Further, the angels are capable of beatitude, as well as men. But predestination is not suitable to angels, since in them there never was any unhappiness (miseria); for predestination, as Augustine says (De praedest. sanct. 17), is the “purpose to take pity [miserendi]” [See 22, 3]. Therefore men are not predestined.

Objection 4. Further, the benefits God confers upon men are revealed by the Holy Ghost to holy men according to the saying of the Apostle (1 Corinthians 2:12): “Now we have received not the spirit of this world, but the Spirit that is of God: that we may know the things that are given us from God.” Therefore if man were predestined by God, since predestination is a benefit from God, his predestination would be made known to each predestined; which is clearly false.

On the contrary, It is written (Romans 8:30): “Whom He predestined, them He also called.”

I answer that, It is fitting that God should predestine men. For all things are subject to His providence, as was shown above (Question 22, Article 2). Now it belongs to providence to direct things towards their end, as was also said (22, 1, 2). The end towards which created things are directed by God is twofold; one which exceeds all proportion and faculty of created nature; and this end is life eternal, that consists in seeing God which is above the nature of every creature, as shown above (Question 12, Article 4). The other end, however, is proportionate to created nature, to which end created being can attain according to the power of its nature. Now if a thing cannot attain to something by the power of its nature, it must be directed thereto by another; thus, an arrow is directed by the archer towards a mark. Hence, properly speaking, a rational creature, capable of eternal life, is led towards it, directed, as it were, by God. The reason of that direction pre-exists in God; as in Him is the type of the order of all things towards an end, which we proved above to be providence. Now the type in the mind of the doer of something to be done, is a kind of pre-existence in him of the thing to be done. Hence the type of the aforesaid direction of a rational creature towards the end of life eternal is called predestination. For to destine, is to direct or send. Thus it is clear that predestination, as regards its objects, is a part of providence.

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