the cause of all Sin in the World Hos 7.2 they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their Wickedness they speak not to their hearts nor make any reflection upon the infiniteness of my Knowledg 't is a high contempt of God as if he were an Idol a senseless Stock or Stone in all evil practices this is denyed We know God sees all things yet we live and vvalk as if he knevv nothing We call him Omniscient and live as if he vvere ignorant we say he is all eye yet act as if he were wholly blind In particular this Attribute is injured By invading the peculiar rights of it by presuming on it and by a practical denyal of it 1. By invading the peculiar rights of it 1. By invocation of Creatures Praying to Saints by the Romanists is a disparagement to this Divine Excellency he that knows all things is only fit to have the Petitions of men presented to him Prayer supposeth an Omniscient Being as the object of it no other Being but God ought to have that honour acknowledged to it no Understanding but his is infinite no other Presence but his is every where to implore any deceased Creature for a supply of our wants is to ovvn in them a Property of the Deity and make them Deities that vvere but men and increase their Glory by a diminution of Gods Honour in ascribing that Perfection to Creatures which belongs only to God Alas they are so far from understanding the desires of our Souls that they know not the words of our Lips 'T is against reason to address our Supplications to them that neither understand us nor discern us Isa 63.16 Abraham is ignorant of us and Israel acknowledges us not The Jews never called upon Abraham tho' the Covenant vvas made vvith him for the vvhole Seed not one departed Saint for the vvhole Four Thousand Years betvveen the Creation of the World and the coming of Christ vvas ever Prayed to by the Israelites or ever imagin'd to have a share in Gods Omniscience so that to pray to St. Peter St. Paul much less to St. Roch St. Swithin St. Martin St. Francis c. is such a Superstition that hath no footing in the Scripture Daillè Melang part 2. p. 560. 561. To desire the Prayers of the Living with whom we have a Communion who can understand and grant our desires is founded upon a mutual Charity but to implore persons that are absent at a great distance from us with whom we have not nor know how to have any Commerce supposeth them in their departure to have put off Humanity and commenc'd Gods and endued with some part of the Divinity to understand our Petitions we are indeed to cherish their Memories consider their Examples imitate their Graces and observe their Doctrines we are to follow them as Saints but not elevate them as Gods in ascribing to them such a knowledg which is only the necessary right of their and our common Creator As the invocation of Saints mingles them with Christ in the exercise of his Office so it sets them equal with God in the Throne of his Omniscience As if they had as much credit with God as Christ in a way of Mediation and as much knowledg of mens affairs as God himself Omniscience is peculiar to God and incommunicable to any Creature 't is the foundation of all Religion and therefore one of the choicest acts of it viz. Prayer and Invocation To direct our Vows and Petitions to any else is to invade the peculiarity of this Perfection in God and to rank some Creatures in a Partnership with him in it 2. This Attribute is injured by curiosity of Knowledg Especially of future things which God hath not discovered in natural causes or supernatural Revelation 'T is a common error of mens Spirits to aspire to know what God would have hidden and to pry into Divine Secrets and many men are more willing to remain without the knowledg of those things which may with a little industry be attained than be divested of the curiosity of enquiring into those things which are above their reach 't is hence that some have laid aside the Study of the common remedies of Nature to find out the Philosophers Stone which scarce any ever yet attempted but sunk in the Enterprise Amyraut Moral Tom. 3. p. 75. c. From this inclination to know the most abstruse and difficult things it is that the horrors of Magick and the vanities of Astrology have sprung whereby men have thought to find in a commerce with Devils and the Jurisdiction of the Stars the events of their Lives and the disposal of States and Kingdoms Hence also arose those Multitudes of ways of Divination invented among the Heathen and practised too commonly in these Ages of the World This is an invasion of Gods Prerogative to whom secret things belong Deut. 29.29 Secret things belong unto the Lord our God but revealed things belong to us and our Children 'T is an intolerable boldness to attempt to fathom those the knowledg whereof God hath reserved to himself and to search that which God will have to surpass our Understandings whereby we more truly envy God a knowledg superior to our own than we in Adam imagin'd that he envyed us Ambition is the greatest cause of this Ambition to be accounted some great thing among men by reason of a Knowledg estrang'd from the common mass of mankind but more especially that soaring Pride to be equal with God which lurks in our nature ever since the Fall of our first Parents This is not yet laid aside by man though it was the first thing that embroyl'd the World with the Wrath of God Some think a curiosity of Knowledg was the cause of the fall of Devils I am sure it was the foyl of Adam and is yet the Crime of his Posterity had he been contented to know what God had furnisht him with neither he nor his Posterity had smarted under the Venom of the Serpents Breath All curious and bold enquiries into things not revealed are an attempt upon the Throne of God and are both sinful and pernicious like to glaring upon the Sun where instead of a greater acuteness we meet with blindness and too dearly buy our ignorance in attempting a superfluous knowledg As Gods Knowledg is destin'd to the government of the World so should ours be to the advantage of the World and not degenerate into vain speculations 3. This Attribute is injur'd by swearing by Creatures To swear by the Name of God in a Righteous Cause Cajetan Sum. p. 190. when we are lawfully call'd to it by a Superior Power or for the necessary decision of some Controversy for the ends of Charity and Justice is an act of Religion and a part of Worship founded upon and directed to the honour of this Attribute by it we acknowledg the glory of his infallible Knowledg of all things but to Swear by false Gods
Eternity a property of God and Christ Pag. 181 191 192 What it is Pag. 182 In what respects God is eternal Pag. 183 ad 186 That he is so proved 186 ad 190 God's incommunicable property Pag. 16 17 190 191 Dreadful to sinners Pag. 193 194 Comfortable to the Righteous Pag. 194 ad 197 The thoughts of it should abate our Pride Pag. 197 198 199 Take off our love and confidence from the World Pag. 199 200 We should provide for an happy Interest in it Pag. 200 201 Often meditate on it Pag. 201 Renders him worthy of our choicest Affections Pag. 201 202 And our best Service Pag. 202 Exaltation of Christ the Holiness of God appears in it Pag. 514 515 His Goodness to us as well as to Christ Pag. 624 And his Soveraignty Pag. 751 Examination of our selves before and after worship and wherein our duty Pag. 162 163 164 178 Experience of God's Goodness a Preservative against Atheism Pag. 45 46 Extremity then God usually delivers his Church Pag. 487 488 F. FAith the same thing may be the object of it and of Reason too Pag. 4 Must be exercised in Spiritual worship Pag. 146 147 The Wisdom Holiness Goodness of God in prescribing it as a Condition of the Covenant of Grace v. Covenant Must look back as far as the foundation promise Pag. 341 †Only the obedience flowing from it acceptable to God Pag. 336 Distinct but inseparable from Obedience Pag. 336 337 Foresight of it not the ground of Election Pag. 729 730 Fall of man God no way the Author of it Pag. 505 506 519 How great it is Pag. 546 547 Doth not impeach God's Goodness Pag. 594 595 'T is evident Pag. 670 671 Brought a Curse on the Creatures v. Creatures Falls of God's Children turned to their good Pag. 361 ad 369 Fear not the cause of the Belief of a God Pag. 14 Men that are under a slavish fear of him wish there were no God Pag. 53 54 Of Man a contempt of God's Power Pag. 481 482 Should be of God and not of the pride or force of man Pag. 491 492 God's Soveraignty should cause it Pag. 779 Features different in every man and how necessary it should be so Pag. 31 32 348 Fervency v. Activity Flesh the Legal Services so called Pag. 135 Fools wicked men are so Pag. 1 400 Folly sin is so v. Sin Forgetfulness of God men naturally are prone to it Pag. 97 Of his Mercies a great sin v. Mercies How attributed to God Pag. 283 Foreknowledge in God of sin no blemish to his Holiness Pag. 520 521 Vide Knowledge of God Future things men desirous to know them Pag. 323 Known by God v. Knowledge of God G. GAbriel on what Messages he was sent Pag. 468 Generation could not be from Eternity Pag. 16 17. Gifts God can bestow them on men Pag. 719 His Soveraignty seen in giving greater measures to one than another Pag. 738 Glory of all they do or have men are apt to ascribe to themselves Pag. 82 83 Of God little minded in many seemingly good actions Pag. 72 73 Men are more concern'd for their own reputation than God's glory Pag. 83 Should be aim'd at in Spiritual worship Pag. 153 God's permission of sin is in order to it Pag. 528 529 Sould be advanced by us Pag. 778 God his Existence known by the light of Nature Pag. 4 5 By the Creatures Pag. 5 14 ad 29 Miracles not wrought to prove it Pag. 5 Owned by the universal consent of all Nations Pag. 6 Never disputed of old Pag. 7 Denied by very few if any Pag. 8 Constantly owned in all changes of the world Pag. 9 Under anxieties of Conscience ib. The Devil not able to root out the belief of it Pag. 9 10 Natural and innate Pag. 10 Not introduced meerly by Tradition Pag. 11 Nor Policy Pag. 12 13 Nor Fear Pag. 14 Witnessed to by the very Nature of Man Pag. 29 ad 37 And by extraordinary Occurrencies Pag. 37 38 Impossible to demonstrate there is none Pag. 41. 42 Motives to endeavour to be setled in the belief of it Pag. 44 45 Directions Pag. 45 Men wish there were none and who they are Pag. 52 53 54 Two ways of describing him Negation and Affirmation Pag. 113 Is active and communicative Pag. 126 127 Propriety in him a great Blessedness Vide Covenant Infinitely happy Pag. 476 477 Good That which is materially so may be done and not formally Pag. 69 72 73 Good Actions cannot be perform'd before Conversion Pag. 100 The thoughts of Gods Presence a Spur to them Pag. 270 God only is so Pag. 578 579 Goodness pure and perfect the Royal Prerogative of God only Pag. 581 Own'd by all Nations Pag. 582 Inseparable from the Notion of God Pag. 582 583 What is meant by it Pag. 583 How distinguish'd from Mercy Pag. 584 Comprehends all his Attributes Pag. 585 Is so by his Essence Pag. 586 The Chief Pag. 587 'T is communicative Pag. 588 Necessary to him Pag. 589 Voluntary Pag. 590 Communicative with the greatest pleasure Pag. 591 The displaying of it the Motive and End of all his Works Pag. 592 Arguments to prove it a Property of God Pag. 593 594 Vindicated from the Objections made against it Pag. 594 ad 604 Appears in Creation Pag. 604 ad 615 In Redemption Pag. 615 ad 645 In his Government Pag. 645 ad 660 Frequently contemn'd and abus'd Pag. 660 661 The Abuse and Contempt of it base and disingenuous Pag. 661 662 Highly resented by God Pag. 662 How 't is contemn'd and abus'd Pag. 660 ad 670 Men justly punish'd for it Pag. 671 Fits him for the Government of the World and engages him actually to govern it Pag. 671 6 2 The ground of all Religion Pag. 673 674 Renders God amiable to himself Pag. 674 675 Should do so to us and why Pag. 675 ad 678 Renders him a fit object of Trust with Motives to it drawn hence Pag. 678 679 680 And worthy to be obey'd and honour'd Pag. 680 681 682 Comfortable to the Righteous and wherein Pag. 682 ad 685 Should engage us to endeavour after the enjoyment of him with Motives Pag. 685 686 Should be often meditated on and the Advantages of so doing Pag. 681 682 683 We should be thankful for it Pag. 690 And imitate it and wherein Pag. 691 692 Gospel Men greater Enemies to than to the Law Pag. 101 Its Excellency Pag. 103 334 Called Spirit Pag. 135 The only Means of establishment Pag. 333 Of an Eternal Resolution tho of a Temporary Revelation Pag. 334 Mysterious ibi◠The first Preachers of it Vide Apostles It s Antiquity Pag. 335 The Goodness of God in spreading it among the Gentiles ibid. Gives no encouragement to Licentiousness Pag. 336 The Wisdom of God in its Propagation Pag. 390 ad 395 And Power Pag. 461 ad 467 Vide Christian Religion Government of the World God could not manage it without Immutability Pag. 220 And Knowledge Pag. 314
he needed not have sought without himself for his own preservation and comfort What depends upon another is not of it self and what depends upon things inferiour to it self is less of it self Since nothing can subsist of it self since we see those things upon which Man depends for his nourishment and subsistence growing and decaying starting into the world and retiring from it as well as man himself some preserving cause must be concluded upon which all depends 5. If the first Man did produce himself why did he not produce himself before It hath been already proved that he had a beginning and could not be from Eternity Why then did he not make himself before Not because he would not For having no being he could have no will he could neither be willing nor not willing If he could not then how could he afterwards if it were in his own power he could have done it he would have done it if it were not in his own power then it was in the power of some other cause and that is God How came he by that power to produce himself If the power of producing himself were communicated by another then Man could not be the cause of himself That is the cause of it which communicated that power to it But if the power of being was in and from himself and in no other nor communicated to him man would always have been in act and always have Existed no hinderance can be conceived For that which had the power of being in it self was invincible by any thing that should stand in the way of its own being We may conclude from hence the excellency of the Scripture that it is a Word not to be refused credit It gives us the most rational account of things in the 1. and 2. of Genesis which nothing in the world else is able to do Thirdly III. Proposition no Creature could make the world No Creature can create another If it creates of nothing t is then Omnipotent and so not a Creature If it makes something of matter unfit for that which is produced out of it then the inquiry will be who was the cause of the matter and so we must arrive to some uncreated being the cause of all Whatsoever gives being to any other must be the highest being and must possess all the perfections of that which it gives being to what visible Creature is there which possesses the perfections of the whole world If therefore an invisible Creature made the world the same enquiries will return whence that Creature had its being for he could not make himself If any Creature did Create the World he must do it by the strength and vertue of another which first gave him being and this is God For whatsoever hath its Existence and vertue of acting from another is not God If it hath its vertue from another t is then a second cause and so supposeth a first cause It must have some cause of it self or be Eternally Existent If Eternally Existent t is not a second cause but God if not Eternally Existent we must come to somthing at length which was the cause of it or else be bewildred without being able to give an account of any thing We must come at last to an Infinite Eternal Independent Being that was the first cause of this Structure and Fabrick wherein we and all Creatures dwell The Scripture proclaims this aloud * Isa 45.6.7 Deut. 4.35 I am the Lord and there is none else I Form the light and I Create darkness Man the Noblest Creature cannot of himself make a man the chiefest part of the World If our Parents only without a Superior power made our Bodies or Souls they would know the frame of them as he that makes a Lock knows the Wards of it he that makes any curious peice of Arras knows how he setts the various colours together and how many threads went to each division in the Web he that makes a Watch having the Idea of the whole work in his mind knows the motions of it and the reason of those motions But both Parents and Children are equally ignorant of the nature of their Souls and Bodies and of the reason of their motions God only that had the Supream hand in forming us in whose Book all our members are written Psal 139.16 which in continuance were fashioned knows what we all are ignorant of If man hath in an ordinary course of generation his being chiefly from an higher cause than his Parents the World then certainly had its being from some infinitely wise intelligent Being which is God If it were as some fancy made by an Assembly of Atomes there must be some infinite intelligent cause that made them some cause that separated them some cause that mingled them together for the piling up so comely a structure as the world T is the most absurd thing to think they should meet togeither by hazard and rank themselves in that order we see without a higher and a wise agent So that no Creature could make the world For supposing any Creature was formed before this visible world and might have a hand in disposing things yet he must have a cause of himself and must act by the virtue and strength of another and this is God Fourthly IV. Proposition From hence it follows that there is a first cause of things which we call God There must be somthing supreme in the order of nature somthing which is greater than all which hath nothing beyond it or above it otherwise we must run in infinitum We see not a River but we conclude a Fountain a Watch but we conclude an Artificer As all number begins from unity so all the multitude of things in the world begins from some unity Oneness as the principle of it T is natural to arise from a view of those things to the conception of a nature more perfect than any As from heat mixed with cold and light mixed with darkness men conceive and arise in their understandings to an intense heat and a pure light And from a Corporeal or bodily substance joyned with an incorporeal as man is an earthly body and a Spiritual Soul we ascend to a conception of a substance purely incorporeal and Spiritual So from a multitude of things in the world Reason leads us to one choice being above all And since in all natures in the World we still find a superior nature the nature of one beast above the nature of another the nature of man above the nature of beasts and some invisible nature the worker of strange effects in the Air and Earth which cannot be ascribed to any visible cause we must suppose some nature above all those of unconceivable perfection * Coccei sum Theol. cap. 8. § 33. c. Every Sceptick one that doubts whither there be any thing real or no in the World that counts every thing an appearance must necessarily own a first cause They cannot
of its capacity The understanding can conceive the whole world and paint in it self the invisible Pictures of all things T is capable of apprehending and discoursing of things superior to its own nature * Culverwel T is suted to all objects as the Eye to all Colours or the Ear to all sounds How great is the Memory to retain such varieties such diversities The Will also can accomodate other things to it self It invents Arts for the use of Man prescribes rules for the Government of States ransacks the bowels of nature makes endless conclusions and steps in reasoning from one thing to another for the knowledge of Truth It can contemplate and form notions of things higher than the world 2. The quickness of its motion * Theodoret. Nothing is more quick in the whole course o◠nature the Sun runs through the World in a day this can do it in a moment It can with one flight of fancy ascend to the battlements of Heaven The mists of the Air that hinder the sight of the Eye cannot hinder the flights of the Soul it can pass in a moment from one end of the World to the other and think of things a thousand miles distant It can think of some mean thing in the world and presently by one cast in the twinkling of an Eye mount up as high as Heaven As its desires are not bounded by sensual objects so neither are the motions of it restrained by them It will break forth with the greatest vigour and conceive things infinitely above it Though it be in the body it acts as if it were ashamed to be Cloystered in it This could not be the result of any material cause Whoever knew meer matter understand think will And what it hath not it cannot give That which is destitute of Reason and Will could never confer Reason and Will * Coccei sum The dog cap. 8. § 51.52 T is not the effect of the Body for the Body is fitted with members to be subject to it T is in part ruled by the activity of the Soul and in part by the Counsel of the Soul T is used by the Soul and knows not how it is used Nor could it be from the Parents since the Souls of the Children often transcend those of the Parents in vivacity acuteness and comprehensiveness One man is stupid and begets a Son with a capacious understanding one is debauched and beastly in morals and begets a Son who from his Infancy testifies some vertuous inclinations which sprout forth in delightful fruit with the ripeness of his age I do not dispute whether the Soul were generated or no Suppose the substance of it was generated by the Parents yet those more excellent qualities were not the result of them Whence should this difference arise a fool begat the wise man and a debauched the vertuous man The wisdom of the one could not descend from the foolish Soul of the other nor the vertues of the Son from the deformed and polluted Soul of the Parent it lies not in the Organs of the Body For if the folly of the Parent proceeded not from their Souls but the ill disposition of the Organs of their bodies how comes it to pass that the bodies of the Children are better Organiz'd beyond the goodness of their immediate cause We must recur to some invisible hand that makes the difference who bestows upon one at his pleasure richer qualities than upon another You can see nothing in the World endowed with some excellent quality but you must imagine some bountiful hand did inrich it with that dowry None can be so foolish as to think that a vessel ever inricht it self with that spritely Liquor wherewith it is filled or that any thing worse than the Soul should indow it with that knowledge and activity which sparkles in it Nature could not produce it That nature is intelligent or not if it be not then it produceth an effect more excellent than it self in as much as an understanding being surmounts a being that hath no understanding If the supream cause of the Soul be intelligent why do we not call it God as well as nature We must arise from hence to the notion of a God a Spiritual nature cannot proceed but from a Spirit higher than it self and of a transcendent perfection above it self If we beleive we have Souls and understand the state of our own faculties we must be assured that there was some invisible hand which bestowed those faculties and the riches of them upon us A man must be ignorant of himself before he can be ignorant of the Existence of God By considering the nature of our Souls we may as well be assured that there is a God as that there is a Sun by the shining of the beams in at our Windows And indeed the Soul is a Statue and representation of God as the Land-Skip of a Country or Map represents all the parts of it but in a far less proportion than the Country it self is The Soul fills the body and God the world the Soul sustains the body and God the World the Soul sees but is not seen God sees all things but is himself invisible How base are they then that prostitute their Souls an image of God to base things unexpressibly below their own nature 3. I might add the union of Soul and Body Man is a kind of compound of Angel and Beast of Soul and body if he were only a Soul he were a kind of Angel if only a body he were another kind of brute Now that a body as vile and dull as earth and a Soul that can mount up to Heaven and rove about the world with so quick a motion should be linkt in so strait an acquaintance that so noble a being as the Soul should be an inhabitant in such a Tabernacle of Clay must be owned to some infinite power that hath so chained it 3. Man witnesseth to a God in the operations and reflections of Conscience Rom. 2.15 Their thoughts are accusing or excusing An inward comfort attends good actions and an inward torment follows bad ones for there is in every mans Conscience fear of punishment and hope of reward There is therefore a sense of some superior Judge which hath the power both of rewarding and punishing If man were his supream rule what need he fear punishment since no man would inflict any evil or torment on himself nor can any man be said to reward himself for all rewards refer to another to whom the action is pleasing and is a conferring some good a man had not before If an action be done by a Subject or Servant with hopes of reward it can not be imagined that he expects a reward from himself but from the Prince or person whom he eyes in that action and for whose sake he doth it 1. There is a Law in the minds of men which is a rule of good and evil There is a Notion
man that understands the disposition of his Child or Servant knows before what he will do upon such an occasion may not God much more who knows the inclinations of all his Creatures and from Eternity run with his eyes over all the works he intended Our Wills are in the number of causes and since God knows our Wills as causes better than we do our selves why should he be ignorant of the effects God determines to give Grace to such a man not to give it to another but leave him to himself and suffer such temptations to assault him now God knowing the corruption of man in the whole mass and in every part of it is it not easy for him to foreknow what the future actions of the Will will be when the Tinder and Fire meet together and how such a man will determine himself both as to the substance and manner of the action Is it not easy for him to know how a corrupted Temper and a Temptation will suit God is exactly privy to all the gall in the hearts of men and what Principles they will have before they have a Being He knows their thoughts afar off Psal 139.2 as far off as Eternity as some explain the words and thoughts are as voluntary as any thing he knows the power and inclinations of men in the order of second causes he understands the corruption of men as well as the Poyson of Dragons and the Venom of Asps this is laid up in store with him and sealed among his Treasures Deut. 32.33 34. Among the Treasures of his foreknowledg say some What was the cruelty of Hazael but a free act yet God knew the frame of his heart and what acts of murder and oppression would spring from that bitter fountain before Hazael had conceived them in himself 2 Kings 8.12 as a man that knows the Mineral through which Waters pass may know what rellish they will have before they appear above the earth so our Saviour knew how Peter would deny him he knew what quantity of Powder would serve for such a Battery in what measure he would let loose Satan how far he would leave the Reins in Peters hands and then the issue might easily be known and so in every act of man God knows in his own Will what measure of Grace he will give to determine the Will to good and what measure of Grace he will withdraw from such a person or not give to him and consequently how far such a person will fall or not God knows the inclinations of the Creature he knows his own Permissions what degrees of Grace he will either allow him or keep from him according to which will be the degree of his Sin This may in some measure help our Conceptions in this tho' as was said before the manner of Gods foreknowledg is not so easily explicable 3. Gods foreknowledg of mans voluntary actions doth not necessitate the Will of man The foreknowledg of God is not deceived nor the liberty of mans Will diminisht I shall not trouble you with any School distinctions but be as plain as I can laying down several Propositions in this case Proposition 1. 'T is certain all necessity doth not take away liberty Indeed a compulsive necessity takes away liberty but a necessity of immutability removes not liberty from God why should then a necessity of Infallibility in God remove liberty from the Creature God did necessarily create the World because he Decreed it yet freely because his Will from Eternity stood to it he freely Decreed it and freely created it as the Apostle saith in regard of Gods Decrees who hath been his Councellor Rom. 11.34 so in regard of his actions I may say who hath been his compeller he freely decreed and he freely created Jesus Christ necessarily took our flesh because he had covenanted with God so to do yet he acted freely and voluntarily according to that Covenant otherwise his Death had not been efficacious for us A good man doth naturally necessarily love his Children yet voluntarily 'T is part of the happiness of the Blessed to love God unchangeably yet freely for it would not be their happiness if it were done by compulsion What is done by force cannot be called felicity because there is no delight or complacency in it and tho' the Blessed love God freely yet if there were a possibility of change it would not be their Happiness their Blessedness would be dampt by their fear of falling from this Love and consequently from their nearness to God in whom their happiness consists God foreknows that they will Love him for ever but are they therefore compell'd for ever to love him If there were such a kind of constraint Heaven would be rendered burdensome to them and so no Heaven Again Gods foreknowledg of what he will do doth not necessitate him to do he foreknew that he would create a World yet he freely created a World Gods foreknowledg doth not necessitate himself why should it necessitate us more than himself We may instance in ourselves When we Will a thing we necessarily use our faculty of Will and when we freely Will any thing 't is necessary that we freely Will but this necessity doth not exclude but include liberty or more plainly when a man writes or speaks whilst he writes or speaks those actions are necessary because to speak and be silent to write and not to write at the same time are impossible yet our writing or speaking doth not take away the power not to write or to be silent at that time if a man would be so for he might have chose whether he would have spoke or writ So there is a necessity of such actions of man which God foresees that is a necessity of infallibility because God cannot be deceived but not a coactive necessity as if they were compelled by God to act thus or thus 2. No man can say in any of his voluntary actions that he ever found any force upon him When any of us have done any thing according to our Wills can we say we could not have done the contrary to it were we determin'd to it in our own intrinsick nature or did we not determine our selves Did we not act either according to our reason or according to outward allurements did we find any thing without us or within us that did force our Wills to the embracing this or that Whatever action you do you do it because you judg it fit to be done or because you will do it What tho' God foresaw that you would do so and that you would do this or that did you feel any force upon you did you not act according to your nature God foresees that you will Eat or Walk at such a time do you find any thing that moves you to Eat but your own appetite or to Walk but your own Reason and Will If Prescience had impos'd any necessity upon man should we not probably have found some kind of
if God understands his own Power and Excellency nothing can be hid from him that was brought forth by that Power as well as nothing can be unknown to him that that Power is able to produce * Bradwardin p. 6. If God knows nothing besides himself he may then believe there is nothing beside himself we shall then fancy a God miserably mistaken If he knows nothing besides himself then things were not Created by him or not understandingly and voluntarily Created but drop'd from him before he was aware To think that the first cause of all should be ignorant of those things he is the cause of is to make him not a voluntary but natural Agent and therefore necessary and then that the Creature came from him as Light from the Sun and moisture from the Water this would bean absurd opinion of the Worlds Creation if God be a voluntary Agent as he is he must be an intelligent Agent The faculty of Will is not in any Creature without that of Understanding also If God be an intelligent Agent his knowledg must extend as far as his operation and every object of his operation unless we imagine God hath lost his Memory in that long Tract of time since the first Creation of them An Artificer cannot be ignorant of his own Work If God knows himself he knows himself to be a Cause how can he know himself to be a Cause unless he know the Effects he is the Cause of One relation implies another a man cannot know himself to be a Father unless he hath a Child because it is a name of relation and in the notion of it refers to another The name of cause is a name of relation and implies an effect If God therefore know himself in all his Perfections as the Cause of things he must know all his acts what his Wisdom contrived what his Counsel determin'd and what his Power effected The knowledg of God is to be suppos'd in a free determination of himself and that knowledg must be perfect both of the object act and all the circumstances of it How can his Will freely produce any thing that was not first known in his Understanding From this the Prophet argues the understanding of God and the unsearchableness of it because he is the Creator of the ends of the earth Isa 40.28 and the same reason David gives of Gods Knowledg of him and of every thing he did and that afar off because he was formed by him Psal 139.2 15 16. As the perfect making of things only belongs to God so doth the perfect knowledg of things 't is absurd to think that God should be ignorant of what he hath given Being to that he should not know all the Creatures and their qualities the Plants and their vertues as that a man should not know the Letters that are formed by him in Writing Every thing bears in it self the mark of Gods Perfections and shall not God know the representation of his own vertue 5. Without this Knowledg God could no more be the Governour than he could be the Creator of the World Knowledg is the Basis of Providence to Know things is before the Government of things a practical knowledg cannot be without a theoretical knowledg Nothing could be directed to its proper end without the knowledg of the nature of it and its suitableness to answer that end for which it is intended As every thing even the minutest falls under the conduct of God so every thing falls under the knowledg of God A Blind Coach-man is not able to hold the Reins of his Horses and direct them in right Paths Since the Providence of God is about particulars his Knowledg must be about particulars he could not else govern them in particular nor could all things be said to depend upon him in their Being and Operations Providence depends upon the knowledg of God and the exercise of it upon the Goodness of God it cannot be without Understanding and Will Understanding to know what is convenient and Will to perform it When our Saviour therefore speaks of Providence he intimates these two in a special manner Your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of these things Mat. 6.32 and goodness in Luke 11.13 The reason of Providence is so joyned with Omniscience that they cannot be separated What a kind of God would he be that were ignorant of those things that were governed by him The ascribing this Perfection to him asserts his Providence for it is as easy for one that knows all things to look over the whole World if writ with Monosyllables in every little particular of it as it is with a man to take a view of one Letter in an Alphabet Sabund Tit. 84. much changed Again if God were not Omniscient how could he reward the Good and punish the Evil the works of men are either rewardable or punishable not only according to their outward circumstances but inward Principles and Ends and the degrees of Venom lurking in the heart The exact discerning of these without a possibility to be deceived is necessary to pass a right and infallible Judgment upon them and proportion the censure and punishment to the Crime Without such a Knowledg and discerning men would not have their due nay a Judgment just for the matter would be unjust in the manner because unjustly past without an understanding of the merit of the Cause 'T is necessary therefore that the Supream Judg of the World should not be thought to be blindfold when he distributes his Rewards and Punishments and muffle his face when he passes his Sentence 'T is necessary to ascribe to him the knowledg of mens thoughts and intentions the secret wills and aims the hidden works of darkness in every mans Conscience because every mans work is to be measured by the Will and inward frame 'T is necessary that he should perpetually retain all those things in the indelible and plain records of his Memory that there may not be any work without a just proportion of what is due to it This is the glory of God to discover the secrets of all hearts at last as 1 Cor. 4.5 the Lord shall bring to light the hidden things of darkness and will make manifest the Counsels of all hearts and then shall every man have praise of God This knowledg fits him to be a Judg the reason why the ungodly shall not stand in Judgment is because God knows their ways which is implyed in his knowing the way of the righteous * Psal 1.5 6. I now proceed to the Vse VSE the first is of information or instruction If God hath all knowledg then 1. Jesus Christ is not a meer Creature The two Titles of wonderful Counsellor and mighty God are given him in conjunction Isa 9.6 not only the Angel of the Covenant as he is called Malach. 3.1 or the Executor of his Counsels but a Counsellor in conjunction with him in Counsel as well as
proper subsistence by it self which now it borrows from its union with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word but that doth not belong to the Constitution of its Nature Now let us Consider what a wonder of Power is all this The knitting a Noble Soul to a Body of Clay was not so great an exploit of Almightiness as the espousing Infinite and Finite together Man is further distant from God than Man from Nothing What a wonder is it that two Natures infinitely distant should be more intimately united than any thing in the World and yet without any confusion That the same Person should have both a Glory and a Grief an infinite Joy in the Deity and an unexpressible Sorrow in the Humanity That a God upon a Throne should be an Infant in a Cradle the Thundering Creator be a weeping Babe and a suffering Man are such expressions of mighty Power as well as condescending Love that they astonish Men upon Earth and Angels in Heaven 3. Power was evident in the progress of his life In the Miracles he wrought How often did he expel malicious and powerful Devils from their habitations hurl them from their Thrones and make them fall from Heaven like Lightning How many Wonders were wrought by his bare Word or a single Touch Sight restored to the Blind and Hearing to the Deaf Palsie Members restored to the exercise of their functions a dismiss given to many deplorable Maladies impure Leprosies chas'd from the Persons they had infected and Bodies beginning to putrifie rais'd from the Grave But the mightiest Argument of Power was his Patience That he who was in his Divine Nature elevated above the World should so long continue upon a Dung-hill endure the contradiction of Sinners against himself be patiently subject to the Reproaches and Indignities of Men without displaying that Justice which was essential to the Deity and in especial manner daily merited by their provoking Crimes The Patience of Man under great Affronts is a greater Argument of power than the Brawnyness of his Arm A Strength employ'd in the revenge of every Injury signifies a greater infirmity in the Soul than there can be ability in the Body 4. Divine Power was apparent in his Resurrection The unlocking the belly of the Whale for the deliverance of Jonas the rescue of Daniel from the Den of Lions and the restraining the Fire from burning the Three Children were signal declarations of his Power and types of the Resurrection of our Saviour But what are those to that which was represented by them That was a power over Natural causes a curbing of Beasts and restraining of Elements But in the Resurrection of Christ God exercis'd a power over himself and quencht the flames of his own Wrath hotter than Millions of Nebuchadnezzars Furnaces unlockt the Prison doors wherein the Curses of the Law had lodg'd our Saviour stronger than the Belly and Ribbs of a Leviathan In the rescue of Daniel and Jonas God overpowered Beasts and in this tore up the strength of the Old Serpent and pluckt the Scepter from the hand of the Enemy of Mankind The Work of Resurrection indeed considered in it self requires the efficacy of an Almighty Power Neither Man nor Angel can create new dispositions in a Dead Body to render it capable of lodging a Spiritual Soul nor can they restore a dislodged Soul by their own power to such a Body The restoring a Dead Body to life requires an Infinite Power as well as the Creation of the World But there was in the Resurrection of Christ something more difficult than this while he lay in the Grave he was under the Curse of the Law under the execution of that dreadful Sentence Thou shalt die the death His Resurrection was not only the re-tying â—he Marriage knot between his Soul and Body or the rouling the Stone from the Grave but a taking off an infinite weight the Sin of Mankind which lay upon him So vast a weight could not be removed without the strength of an Almighty Arm. 'T is therefore ascrib'd not to an ordinary operation but an operation with Power †Rom. 1.4 and such a Power wherein the Glory of the Father did appear Rom. 6.4 Rais'd up from the dead by the glory of the Father that is the glorious Power of God As the Eternal Generation is stupendous so is his Resurrection which is called a new begetting of him Acts 13.33 'T is a wonder of Power that the Divine and Humane Nature should be joyn'd and no less wonder that his Person should surmount and rise up from the Curse of God under which he lay The Apostle therefore adds one expression to another and heaps up a variety signifying thereby that one was not enough to represent it Eph. 1.19 Exceeding greatness of power and working of mighty power which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead It was an hyperbole of Power the excellency of the Mightiness of his Strength the loftiness of the expressions seems to come short of the apprehension he had of it in his Soul Secondly This Power appears in the Publication and Propagation of the Doctrine of Redemption The Divine Power will appear if you consider 1. The Nature of the Doctrine 2. The Instruments employed in it 3. The Means they us'd to propagate it 4. The Success they had I. The Nature of the Doctrine 1. It was contrary to the common received reason of the World The Philosophers the Masters of Knowledge among the Gentiles had Maxims of a different stamp from it Though they agreed in the Being of a God yet their Notions of his Nature were confus'd and embroil'd with many Errors the Unity of God was not commonly assented unto They had multiplied Deities acâ—ording to the Fancies they had received from some of a more elevated Wit and refin'd Brain than others Though they had some notion of Mediators yet they placed in those Seats their publick Benefactors Men that had been useful to the World or their particular Countries in imparting to them some profitable Invention To discard those was to charge themselves with Ingratitude to them from whom they had received signal benefits and to whose Mediation Conduct or Protection they ascrib'd all the Success they had been blessed with in their several Provinces and to charge themselves with Folly for rendring an Honour and Worship to them so long Could the Doctrine of a Crucified Mediator whom they had never seen that had conquer'd no Country for them never enlarg'd their Territories brought to light no new profitable Invention for the increase of their Earthly welfare as the rest had done be thought sufficient to balance so many of their reputed Heroes How ignorant were they in the foundations of the True Religion The belief of a Providence was staggering nor had they a true prospect of the nature of Vertue and Vice Yet they had a fond Opinion of the strength of their own Reason and the Maxims that had
breach of it He summons Adam to the Bar indicts him for his Crime finds him guilty by his own Confession and passeth sentence on him according to the rule he had before acquainted him with 4. The means whereby he punisheth shews his dominion Sometimes he musters up Hail and Mildew sometimes he sends regiments of wild Beasts so he threatens Israel Levit. 26.22 Sometimes he sends out a party of Angels to beat up the quarters of men and make a carnage among them 2 King 19.35 Sometimes he mounts his Thundring battery and shoots forth his Ammunition from the Clouds as against the Philistines 1 Sam. 7.10 Sometimes he sends the slightest Creatures to shame the Pride and punish the sin of man as Lice Froggs Locusts as upon the Egyptians the 8 9 10. chap. of Exodus 2. This Dominion is manifested by God as a proprietor and Lord of his Creatures and his own Goods And this is evident 1. In the choice of some persons from Eternity He hath set a part some from Eternity wherein he will display the invincible efficacy of his Grace and thereby infallibly bring them to the fruition of Glory Eph. 1.4 5. According as he hath chosen us in him before the Foundation of the World that we should be Holy and without blame before him in Love having Predestinated us to the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will Why doth he write some names in the Book of Life and leave out others why doth he enroll some whom he intends to make Denizons of Heaven and refuse to put others in his register The Apostle tells us 't is the pleasure of his Will You may render a reason for many of God's actions till you come to this the top and Foundadation of all and under what head of reason can man reduce this act but to that of his Royal Prerogative Why doth God save some and condemn others at last Because of the Faith of the one and unbelief of the other Why do some men beleive Because God hath not only given them the means of Grace but accompanied those means with the efficacy of his Spirit Why did God accompany those means with the efficacy of his Spirit in some and not in others Bccause he had decreed by Grace to prepare them for Glory But why did he decree or choose some and not others Into what will you resolve this but into his soveraign pleasure Salvation and Condemnation at the last upshot are acts of God as the Judge conformable to his own Law of giving life to Believers and inflicting death upon unbeleivers for those a reason may be rendered but the choice of some and preterition of others is an act of God as he is a soveraign Monarch before any Law was actually transgrest because not actually given When a Prince redeems a Rebel he acts as a Judge according to Law but when he calls some out to pardon he acts as a soveraign by a Prerogative above Law into this the Apostle resolves it Rom. 9.13.15 When he speaks of Gods loving Jacob and hating Esau and that before they had done either good or evil It is Because God will have Mercy on whom he will have Mercy and Compassion on whom he will have Compassion Though the first scope of the Apostle in the beginning of the Chapter was to declare the reason of God's rejecting the Jews and calling in the Gentiles had he only intended to demolish the pride of the Jews and flat their opinion of merit and aim'd no higher than that Providential act of God he might convincingly enough to the reason of men have argued from the Justice of God provoked by the obstinacy of the Jews and not have had recourse to his absolute Will but since he asserts this latter * Amyrald dissert p. 101 102. the strength of his argument seems to lie thus if God by his absolute soveraignty may resolve and fix his love upon Jacob and estrange it from Esau or any other of his Creatures before they have done good or evil and man have no ground to call his infinite Majesty to account may he not deal thus with the Jews when their demerit would be a barr to any complaints of the Creature against him If God were considered here in the quality of a Judge it had been fit to have considered the matter of Fact in the Criminal but he is considered as a Soveraign rendring no other reason of his action but his own Will whom he will he hardens ver 18. And then the Apostle concludes Ver. 20. Who art thou O Man that replyest against God If the reason drawn from Gods Soveraignty doth not satisfie in this enquiry no other reason can be found wherein to acquiesce For the last condemnation there will be sufficient reason to clear the Justice of his proceedings But in this case of Election no other reason but what is alledg'd viz. The Will of God can be thought of but what is liable to such knotty exceptions that cannot well be untyed 1. It could not be any merit in the Creature that might determine God to choose him If the decree of Election falls not under the merit of Christ's passion as the procuring cause it cannot fall under the merit of any part of the corrupted mass The decree of sending Christ did not precede but follow'd in order of nature the determination of choosing some When men were chosen as the subjects for Glory Christ was chosen as the means for the bringing them to Glory Eph. 1.4 Chosen us in him and predestinated us to the Adoption of Children by Jesus Christ The choice was not meerly in Christ as the moving cause that the Apostle asserts to be the good pleasure of his will but in Christ as the means of conveying to the chosen Ones the fruits of their Election What could there be in any man that could invite Gpd to this act or be a cause of distinction of one branch of Adam from another Were they not all hew'd out of the same Rock and tainted with the same corruption in blood Had it been possible to invest them with a power of merit at the first had not that venom contracted in their nature degraded all of power for the future What merit was there in any but of wrathfull punishment since they were all considered as Criminals and the cursed brood of an ungrateful Rebel what dignity can there be in the nature of the purest part of clay to be made a Vessel of Honour more than in another part of Clay as pure as that which was form'd into a Vessel for mean and sordid use What had any one to move his mercy more than another since they were all Children of wrath and equally dawb'd with Original guilt and filth Had not all an equal proportion of it to provoke his Justice What merit is there in one dry bone more than another to be inspir'd with the breath