8. It is a certain truth that all moral actions are performed by a physical power in respect of the sustentation of the will in its natural being while it acteth, and that the creature is conserved even in the act as it is natural, though there be obliquity in the will of the creature acting in reference to the law given, or made known unto it. And this Arminius acknowledgeth in these words: Necesse itaq; est, ut cum Deus potentiæ creaturæ actum aliquem permittit, creatura illa conservetur, ut sit, & vivat, potentia ejusdem permaneat, idonea ad actum producendum, nulla major vel æqualis potentia opponatur, objectum deniq; offeratur, & potentia permittatur. From whence therefore to instance in the first sin of the Angels and Adam, besides the equal power and liberty of will that they had to sin or not to sin, it is manifest that God willed and determined not to withdraw his conservative power from them, but that they might be and live in the very act of their sinning. Neither did he withdraw that power they had, nor opposed a greater, or equal power to impede them, much less did he create or infuse any evil into their natures, nor put upon them any coaction of will, to inforce them to sin, but solely left them to the power and liberty of their own free wills. And though by his prescience he certainly knew that they would sin and fall, yet he determined in his purpose not to hinder them, but by his providential decree did set down how to guide and order that fall and defection the most advantagiously for his glory both in his Mercy and Justice. So that even in this there was no bare passive permission, separate and distinct from his will and decree in his providence, but only permission to the moral act of their wills, which by his wisdom, decree and providence, he ordered for his own glory, according to the Text: The Lord hath made (or wrought) all things for himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. The Hebrew word hath wrought, doth properly signifie, to work by polishing, trimming, or framing and fitting, so that the wicked (who have made themselves so by the acts of their own wills) God by his decree and providence doth polish, fit and order for the setting forth of his own glory in framing the wicked for the day of evil, the evil of punishment and judgment.
9. Further it is necessary that the creature acting a moral act (especially in this case of the Angels and Adam before their fall) have the liberty and freedom of will, and that the will at the instant of the act, be not restrained nor under a coactive power, for otherwise malum culpæ or sin would cease to be evil, and so there could be no sin at all. And thus far, and in this peculiar respect only, the Angels and Adam before their acting of sin, and in the very instant of the act it self, were permitted, that is, God willed and determined not to impede them, but for the ordering of that sin and fall, the permission was conjoined with his will and providence, and not separate from it, or a nude permission.
Rom. 7. 8, 11.
10. That malum culpæ, or sin doth arise by the occasion of a law; for where no law is, there can be no sin, and therefore the Apostle saith: But sin taking occasion by the Commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. So that sin considered as it is sin, is an Aberration or Deviation of the Will of the creature from the revealed law of the Creator, and hath simply and absolutely no other causality, but only the deficiency and ἀταξία of the Creature to produce it, especially in these cases of the Angels and Adam in their first acts of sin.
Psal. 73. 18.
Psal. 37. 10.
Psal. 75. 6, 7.
11. Now we will come to the application of this unto wicked Men as they are under original and actual sins, and that in these few examples. 1. It is not by a bare permissive power, but by his will and order in his providence, for he setteth up the wicked in slippery places, and yet a little while and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be. So Cain was suffered to slay his Brother Abel, but by and by he was sent from the presence of the Lord into the land of Nod: So he set up Saul to be King over Israel, and soon after rejected him, and also destroyed him: these were by providence, not only bare permission. 2. For promotion cometh neither from the East nor the West, nor from the South: But God is the judge, he pulleth down one, and setteth up another. So wicked Haman was set up to be the highest in the Kingdom next Ahasuerus, and got a decree to have all the Jewes put to death, and had set up a pair of Gallows to hang Mordecai upon, and yet see the providence of God, who quickly brought him to be hanged upon them himself: and this will be further made out where we speak of providence.
Resp. Fludan. ad Lanov. p. 18.
12. Though those that ascribe so large a power unto Devils and Witches, do take it for granted that they are only under a bare passive permission, and that the faln Angels do act, what, when, where and how they list, yet is it a meer falsity, for they are under the rule of Gods Divine Will, decree and providence, and do act nothing, but as and so far as they are licensed, ordered and limited by his will and providence, and are under a punctual restraint, nay kept in the chains of everlasting darkness unto the judgment of the great day, as we shall prove at full in that Chapter where we handle the knowledge and power of faln Angels. And therefore here we shall only say this, that if Devils could do as much mischief as they would, and were under no restraint or chains, then none of the godly would be left alive. But it is manifest that Devils do act nothing (excepting the obliquity and evil of their own wills) but meerly as instruments of the Divine Will and Providence, for as the Christian Philosopher saith: Illa est impietas; nimirum ea falso attribuere creaturis, quæ radicaliter Deo soli sunt propria, & inter cætera, actum aliquem peculiarem in diabolo esse existimare, qui non est originaliter à Deo, & consequenter immediatè, cum essentialis Dei actus sit per se sine divisione in omni re.