great to be multiplied and yet too full not to be communicated what a Greatness what a Fulness is this of thine O Rich Solitude how unlike is all Created Excellence to thine Other things are to be admired for their Numbers Thou for thy oneness and singularity they glory in their multitudes but 't is the Prerogative of thy Perfection to be Alone In thee my only Centre I rest upon thee I wholly depend for I have none in Heaven but thee and none upon Earth in comparison of thee I utterly renounce therefore all absolute Power and Supremacy besides thine and I will fear none but thee and obey none but thee Thou only shalt have Dominion over me I am only thine and thee only will I serve Many O God are the Beauties which thou hast made and thy whole Creation is fill'd with thy Glory There are threescore Queens and fourscore Concubines and Virgins without number But my love my undesiled is but one Take then to thy self the Empire of my Heart For all that deserves the name of Love there shall be thine O that it were more inlarged for thy reception But thou shalt have it all and I will love thee with my whole Heart though that whole be but little O my only Delight other Gods besides thee and other Lords besides thee have often usurp'd a Dominion over me But my Heart is now fix'd O God my Heart is fix'd It is fix'd upon thee and how can it ever wander out of the Sphere of thy Beauty Or what Beauty is there whose influence may vye with thine Or how can I love any but one when that one and none but that one is Infinitely Lovely Contemplation V. Of the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God. I. THE unity of God I have demonstrated in the preceding Contemplation And now to obviate a scruple that may thence arise namely how one single solitary Being should be sufficient to preside over all the Motions of the Natural and all the Affairs of the Moral World I thought it convenient to proceed next to some of those Attributes which when well consider'd will make it plain that this Being though but one is abundantly qualifi'd for the Government and Management of the whole Universe And among these the Omniscience and Omnipresence of God are most eminent and conspicuous which I shall here therefore joyntly Contemplate II. And first of the Omniscience of God. This is a most wonderful and amazing Attribute consider it which way we will for it denotes no lesse than a full knowledge and thorough comprehension of all the things that either are have been or shall be But in the way that I shall now consider it 't will appear clothed with peculiar Circumstances of Admiration and is indeed a Theme more sit for the Contemplation of an Angel than for the Pen of a mortal Theorist Here therefore I must beg the peculiar Attention of my Reader and above all the peculiar assistance of that Spirit which searcheth all things yea the Deep things of God. III. Now in treating of God's Omniscience I shall do two things First prove that he is Omniscient Secondly represent the manner of his Omniscience To shew that God is Omniscient I must first consider what Knowledge is in general Now this I define to be in short a Comprehension of Truth For the clearer understanding of which the Distinction of Truth must be attended to Truth then is either of the Object or of the Subject And both these are again subdivided For Truth of the Object is either Simple whereby a Being is really what it is Or Complex which denotes those necessary Habitudes or Respects whereby one thing stands affected toward another as to Affirmation or Negation Then as for Truth of the Subject we understand by it either a just Conformity between the Understanding and the Object which is Logical Truth or between the Words and the Understanding which is Moral Truth or Veracity IV. The Truth with which we are here concern'd is Truth of the Object For to know is so to comprehend things both as to their Simple Natures and as to their Habitudes and Relations as to Compound what is really Compounded and to Divide what is really Divided To have our Understandings thus accommodated to the Respects and Habitudes of things is Knowledge As for Truth of the Subject in the second sense as it signifies a Conformity between the Words and the Understanding we have here nothing to do with it as being altogether foreign to our present purpose And in the first acceptation as it signifies a just conformity between the Understanding and the Object 't is but another word for Knowledge For Truth of the Subject in this sense is the conformity of the Mind to Truth of the Object And so also is Knowledge To Know therefore is to think of things conformally to their Simple Natures and Mutual Habitudes or as I first defined it to Comprehend Truth V. This being premised That Knowledge is nothing else but a Comprehension of Truth that is the having things in the Mind with the same Relations of Composition or Divisision as they stand mutually affected in themselves I thus argue That Being which Comprehends all Truth is Omniscient But God Comprehends all Truth Therefore God is Omniscient The first Proposition is plain from the Definition of Knowledge The Conclusion therefore depends wholly upon the proof of the Second namely that God comprehends all Truth VI. Now for the Demonstration of this Proposition I desire but this one Postulatum that there are Eternal and Necessary Truths that is that there are eternal and immutable Relations and Habitudes of things toward one another by way of Affirmation or Negation This is what I suppose any body will give me for the asking tho I have no great reason to be over-thankful for it it being a thing so very unquestionable and withal a Proposition of this unlucky Quality that 't is as much establish'd by the Denial of it as by the Affirming it For should any Sceptical Person be so hardy as to say that there is no such thing as Eternal and Necessary Truth I would ask him this Question Was that Proposition always true or was it not If it was not always true then there was once Eternal and Necessary Truth and if once so then ever so But if it was always True then by his own Confession there is such a thing as Eternal and Necessary Truth This therefore must be allow'd VII It being therefore supposed that there are Eternal and Necessary Truths the next Proposition that I shall lay down is this that the simple Essences of things must be also Eternal and Necessary For the proof of which Proposition I consider first that as Truth of the Subject depends upon and necessarily supposes Truth of the Object so Truth of the Object Complex depends upon and necessarily supposes Truth of the Object Simple That is in other Words The Habitudes and Relations
than what Reason will conclude necessary For God being the very Essence of Being or Being it self and therefore indeterminate in Being and therefore also in Perfection it follows that he has not only all Kinds of Perfection but that every Kind of Perfection which he has must needs be as excellent as is possible in that Kind Thus for instance The Beauty that is in God must be as perfect as 't is possible for Beauty to be and so the Harmony that is in God must be as perfect as 't is possible for Harmony to be That is in other words The Beauty which is in God must be Beauty it self and the Harmony which is in God must be Harmony it self IX But now 't is impossible that things should exist in the Creature after such a rate as this As they are not Being it self but Particular Beings so every Perfection that is in them is not that Perfection it self in the Abstract but only Particular Derivative and Concrete They are Beautiful and Harmonical but not Beauty it self not Harmony it self Beauty it self can no more be Communicated to the Creature than Being it self can All the Essences and Abstract Natures of things are in God or rather the very same with God as I shall shew when I consider the Omniscience of God and they are but One they cannot be Communicated or Multiplied Their Images indeed may but they themselves cannot for they are the same with God. There may be many Beautifuls or Particular Beauties but there can be but one Beauty it self X. The Beauty therefore that is in the Creature is only a slender Shadow or Reflection of that Beauty it self which is in God who is the Idea or Essence of Beauty And as it is Derivative from it so it exists continually by it and in it and is every way as much depending upon it as the Reflexion in the Glass is upon the Face whose Reflexion it is And as Beauty has a more excellent way of existence in the Face it self than in the Glass so has it a far more perfect way of subsisting in God than in any Face or thing whatsoever For all things are Reflections from him and the whole Creation is but as 't were one great Mirrour or Glass of the Divinity XI I end this Contemplation with a very remarkable passage to this purpose out of St. Austin Tu ergo Domine fecisti ea qui pulcher es pulchra sunt enim Qui bonus es bona sunt enim Qui es sunt enim Nec ita pulchra sunt nec ita bona sunt nec ita sunt sicut tu Conditor eorum cui Comparata nec pulchra sunt nec bona sunt nec sunt Thou therefore O Lord hast made these things who art fair for they are fair Who art good for they are good Who Art for they are But neither are they so fair neither are they so good neither are they so as Thou their Maker in Comparison of whom they are neither fair nor good nor are they at all The Vse of this to Devotion THis may be very much improv'd to the advantage of Devotion For the great Let to Devotion is our Love of Particular and Sensible good 'T is a Charge that may be fasten'd upon the best of us all more or less that we are Lovers of Pleasure more than Lovers of God. And the Love of Pleasure Naturally alienates us from the Love of God. And therefore says St. Iohn Love not the world neither the things that are in the world And to shew the great inconsistency that is between the Love of the World and the Love of God he further tells us If any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him But now if we could be but once perswaded that all the Perfections of Particular Beings exist in God and not only so but after a more excellent manner than they do in Particular Beings themselves we should certainly be very much taken off from the love of Particular and Sensible good we should not be such gross Idolaters as we are in adoring Created Beauty but should adhere to God with more Unity and intireness of Affection Sure I am that there is great Reason we should do so when we consider that let the good of the Creature be never so Charming the very same we may find in God with greater Perfection We can propose nothing to our selves in the Creature but what God has more perfectly and more abundantly To what purpose then should we go off from him since Change it self can give us no variety and we can only Court a New Object not find a New Happiness The Aspiration NO My Fair Delight I will never be drawn off from the Love of thee by the Charms of any of thy Creatures Thou art not only infinitely more excellent than they but hast their very excellencies in a more perfect manner than they have or can have What Temptation then can I have to leave thee No O my Fairest I want Temptation to recommend my Love to thee 'T is too easie and too cheap a fidelity to adhere to thee My first Love when by Changing I can gain no more Thou O Soveraign Fair hast adorn'd thy Creation with a Tincture of thy Brightness thou hast shin'd upon it with the light of thy Divine Glory and hast pour'd forth thy Beauty upon all thy Works But they are not Fair as Thou art Fair their Beauty is not as Thy Beauty Thou art Fairer O my God than the Children of Men or the Orders of Angels and the Arrows of thy Love are Sharper than theirs They are indeed My God thy Arrows are very Sharp and were we not too securely fenc'd about with our thick Houses of Clay would wound us deeper than the Keenest Charms of any Created Beauties But these every day Wound us while we stand proof against thy Divine Artillery because these are Sensible and thine only Intelligible these are visible to our Eyes thine only to our Minds which we seldome convert to the Contemplation of thy Beauties But O thou Infinite Fair did we but once taste and see did we but Contemplate thy Original Beauty as we do those faint Images of it that are reflected up and down among our fellow Creatures as thy Charms infinitely exceed theirs so would our Love to thee be Wonderful passing the Love of Women Contemplation IV. Of the Attributes of God in general particularly of the Vnity of God which is proved from his Idea I. COncerning the Attributes of God in general I have no more to offer than what is commonly taught in the Schools from which I find no reason to vary and of which this I think is the summ and substance first That the Essence of God is in it self one only general simple and intire Perfection and that therefore the Divine Attributes are not to be consider'd as Accidents really distinct from the Divine Essence and if
my God is Power and Strength and with thee ought to be Dominion and Fear My flesh trembles for fear of thee and I am afraid of thy Iudgments Thou art Terrible O my God as well as Lovely but thou art also Lovely in thy very Terrour Turn away thine eyes from me for they have overcome me they have overcome me with their Dread as well as with their Beauty For as thou art Beautiful O my Love as Tirzah Comely as Jerusalem so art thou also Terrible as an Army with Banners O my Omnipotent Love with what safety as well as delight do I sit under thy Shadow Thou hast brought me into thy Banquetting-House and thy Banner over me is Power as well as Love. Thy Love is stronger than Death what need I sear thy left Hand is under my Head and thy right Hand does imbrace me And why then should any dread approach me The Lord is my light and my salvation whom then shall I fear He is the strength of my life of whom then should I be afraid O my God why is not my Faith like thy Power Thou canst do all things And why is my Faith limited Let me imitate thee O my God in this thy Infinity and grant me such a Victorious such an Omnipotent Faith that as to thee nothing is too hard to do so to me nothing may be too hard to believe Amen Contemplation VII Of the Divine Iustice and Veracity I. FRom the Omnipotence of God I proceed to the Consideration of his Iustice this being as necessary a qualification in the Governour of the whole World as the other Now by Justice in this place I understand particular not Universal Justice And of particular Justice not that which is Commutative for this has no place in God for as the Apostle says Who has first given to him and it shall be recompensed to him again but that which is Distributive and consists in a constant will of dispensing to every Person according to his deserts II. This Iustice of God is the same in the moral World as Order and Proportion is in the Natural 'T is giving to every thing its due place and station and disposing it according to its Nature and Condition For as the Beauty of the Natural World arises from Proportion so does the Beauty of the Moral World arise also from due Order and Proportion and as God has strictly observ'd this Rule in the making of the World having made all things in Number Weight and Measure so we may be sure he proceeds by the same Standard in the Government and conduct of it though the exactness of this latter is not so obvious to our observation as that of the former nor are we so well able to judge of the Moral as of the Natural Geometry of God. III. Now that God is thus Just always acting according to true Order and Proportion may sufficiently be made out from this single Consideration All Order and Proportion as every one I suppose will readily grant is in it self consider'd lovely and desirable If so then it cannot be nill'd or refused for it self or as such If so then whenever it is refused it must be refused for the sake of some other greater good If so then this other greater good must be either the private interest of the Refuser or some other Private Interest or the Publick Interest But neihter of these can here find any admission It cannot be for the Private Interest of the Refuser who is here supposed to be a Being absolutely Perfect and consequently not capable of proposing to himself any self-end And cannot be for the Publick Interest for the greatest Interest of the Publick consists in Order and Proportion Neither can this Order be violated for the Interest of any other Private Person because that is not a greater but on the contrary an infinitely less good Order and Proportion being the good of the Publick which is always greater than any Private whatsoever Since therefore Order and Proportion cannot be violated by God for any of these ends nor for its own sake it being as such lovely and desirable as was supposed it follows that Order and Proportion cannot possibly be violated by God at all and consequently 't is necessary that God should always effectually Will Order and Proportion which is the same as to be Iust. IV. By this Justice or Will of following Order and Proportion God stands ingaged not to punish an Innocent Creature or to afflict him with any evil greater than that good which he has conferr'd upon him Within that compass indeed he may for that is only to deduct from that Happiness every degree of which was a free favour But he cannot impose the least grain or scruple of evil upon him beyond the good conferr'd without some demerit of the Creature Much less will this Justice of God permit that he should predetermin an Innocent Creature without respect to any Crime meerly for his own will and pleasure to everlasting misery He that can make this consistent with God's Justice or any Justice in the World had need be a very good Reconciler V. But now whether God's Justice obliges him to punish the Sinner as well as not to punish the Innocent is a thing that will admit of more question This has been argued with great Contention between some Schools and is too disputable to be positively determined For my part I am more inclined to think that the Nature of God obliges him to punish sin some where or other and that vindicative Iustice is Essential to him VI. That it is so far Essential to him that he cannot but punish an impenitent Sinner few I believe will question For nothing in the World can be imagined more against Order and Proportion than that a Sinner should be pardon'd without Repentance But further 't is highly probable that sin could not have been pardon'd even with Repentance had there not also been Satisfaction made to God for it 'T is plain de facto that God would not remit sin without satisfaction and that too the highest imaginable Which makes it very probable that he could not For is it reasonable to think that God would deliver up his only and beloved Son to that bitter dispensation if with the safety of his Justice he could have pardon'd us meerly for our Repentance without such a costly sacrifice And that he could not does not that Prayer of our Saviour argue which he used in his Agony Father if it be possible let this cup pass from me Which is as much as if he had said Father if the sin of Man may be remitted any other way than by way of suffering I desire I may not suffer This I think is the Obvious sense of the Words But this Prayer of his was not granted by the removal of the Cup and may I not thence conclude that 't was impossible it should be removed VII And I further consider that God necessarily hates
accord with it nay what seems a greater Paradox to be one of the Instances and Exemplifications of it For God never punishes but when Order that is the good of the Universe requires it and consequently never but when upon the whole 't is best to do so So that God's goodness will still be the Chether the Crown of all his Perfections IV. Plato calls God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Idea or Essence of Goodness A very high expression But says not the Scripture also the same For when it defines God it does not say he is Wisdom or Power but that he is Love. Not Loving but Love it self And our Saviour in Answer to him that call'd him good Master tells us There is none good but One that is God. As if this Divinest Attribute were that Honour of which God is said by the Prophet to be so Jealous that he will not give it to another not to any of the Sons of Men no not to the Son of Man. V. And indeed God may well be Jealous of this his Honour since goodness is that Attribute which does not only render the Deity most lovely to us but is also most peculiarly beloved by Himself 'T is his Favourite and darling Excellence that which he seems most of all to delight in and to value as the very Flower and Beauty of all his Excellence And therefore when Moses desired to have a sight of his Glory his Answer to him was I will make my goodness pass before thee VI. And how much God is in Love with this his Attribute we may conclude from the great use and exercise of it God has exercised his goodness more than all the rest of his Attributes so that the Stream rises almost as high as the Fountain and the Instances and Exemplifications of it are almost as infinite as it self The Material Fabrick of the World is the Emanation of the Divine goodness and who can tell how large that is or where the utmost boundaries of it are fix'd Then as for the Intellectual part of the Creation how fruitful has the Divine goodness been and what a Numerous Progeny has it brought forth Who can number the Lords Host Thousand thousands minister unto him and ten thousand times ten thousand stand before him All these drink of the same inexhaustible Well of Life of this Lucid Fountain of good and with perpetual Anthems of Praise celebrate the bounty of their Maker VII But altho those higher Orders of Spirits who are seated near the Spring-head of Bliss enjoy a greater share of the Divine Goodness and being as it were in a direct Position to that All-glorious Sun must needs drink in more plentiful and more vigorous Effusions of his Light yet Man the Younger Brother seems in some respects to be the Darling of Heaven and to be Priviledg'd with some peculiar Tokens of Favour I shall chuse to instance in two One is That Man is admitted to the Grace of Repentance and has the advantage of Second thoughts whereas God spared not the Angels that sinn'd The other is That Man had the Honour to be Hypostatically United with the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Second Person of the B. Trinity So that what was figuratively spoken by God in the Case of Adam is here in some measure really verify'd Behold Man is become as one of us whereas he refused to take upon him the Nature of Angels VIII These indeed are the two greater Lights that shine most conspicuously in the Firmament and such as when alone consider'd would wind up a contemplative Spirit to that Extatic Admiration of the Psalmist Lord what is man that thou art mindful of him and the son of man that thou visitest him But there are also a multitude of lesser Stars many of which we do not observe tho we feel and thrive under their Influence and those which we do we cannot number God's Favours are too quick for our Accounts and the Heavenly Manna falls so thick about our Tents that we want opportunity to gather it up IX But that I may Sail by some Compass in so wide and boundless an Ocean I consider that the Effects of God's goodness to Man may be distributed into these two Kinds in general Giving and Forgiving Those of giving again are of two sorts Either such as are to be conferr'd upon us after our Work is done by which I understand the Rewards of Heaven or such as are given us by way of Earnest or Anticipation X. I begin with the last of these where the first thing that offers it self to our consideration is the Collation of our Being which I do not understand as it is generally taken in the Schools namely For naked and abstract Existence For thus to Be Absolutely has no manner of intrinsic good in it but is only a Foundation or Capacity of a good or evil State Indifferently And this methinks is so very plain that I should much wonder how so many Metaphysical Heads could espouse the contrary were it not found to be a convenient Device for the Maintenance of that absurd Paradox that 't is better to Be tho in Extreme Misery than not to be which Proposition was also intended for the support of another every whit as absurd viz. That God may consistently with his Goodness and Justice inflict eternal Misery upon an Innocent Creature For since he may as all grant Annihilate an Innocent Creature 't will follow that he may with less appearance of Injustice inflict on him eternal Misery Annihilation according to these mens Metaphysics being the greater evil of the two And that for this notable Reason because he that is tho never so miserable enjoys some good viz. that of Existence whereas he that is not has none at all XI But now besides that the good of Simple being may be outweigh'd by Super-induced evils and that then to Be all consider'd would not be good but evil as I could easily shew were it my present concern further to ingage in that Controversie I say besides this I do not allow the Truth of the first Assertion that to be has any intrinsic good in it And therefore when I begin the Catalogue of the Divine Favours with the Collation of our Being I do not understand by the Phrase meerly our being brought into Act indefinitely existence as such including neither good nor evil in it but our being made such certain Essences or Natures consisting of such Powers and Faculties as are requisite to constitute such an Order of Beings as according to such a Mode of Imitability or Idea is represented in the Divine Understanding and which we distinguish by the Name of Mankind XII Now the Nature of Man involves much good and perfection in it and consequently for God to give it Existence is an Act of Goodness as well as of Power For tho there be as I suppose little or no deference to be paid to that popular Argument which
any thing Created when he perceives suppose a Triangle in general This well deserves to be consider'd XX. Again our Ingenious Author argues from the Idea which we have of Infinite For 't is plain that we perceive Infinites though we do not comprehend it and that our mind has a very Distinct Idea of God which it could not have but by its union with God. Since 't is absurd to suppose that the Idea of God should be from any thing that is Created XXI He further Considers that the Mind has not only an Idea of Infinite but that it also has it before it has any Idea of finite For we conceive Infinite Being barely by conceiving Being without considering whether it be finite or Infinite But now to conceive any finite Being we must detract something from that general Notion of Being which by consequence must be Antecedent Our mind therefore perceives nothing but in the Idea which it has of Infinite And this Idea is so far from being form'd from a Confuse heaping together of the Ideas of special Beings as Philosophers commonly pretend that all those Special Ideas are nothing else but Participations from the general Idea of Infinite Even as God does not hold his Being from the Creatures but all Creatures subsist only by him XXII He adds one Argument more which he thinks will go for Demonstration with those who are used to Abstract ways of Reasoning It is impossible that God in any of his actions should have any Principal End different from himself This is a Common Notion with every Attentive Thinker And the Scripture suffers us not to doubt but that God made all things for himself It is necessary therefore that not only our Natural Love that is the motion which he produces in us should tend towards himself but that moreover that Knowledge and Light which he bestows upon our mind should open and exhibit to us something that is in himself For whatsoever comes from God cannot be for any other besides God. If God should Create a Mind and give it the Sun suppose for its Idea or immediate Object of Knowledge God would then make that Mind for the Sun and not for himself XXIII God therefore cannot make a mind to know his Works unless that mind do in some manner see God when it sees his Works so that I may venture to say that if we did not some way or other see God we should see nothing at all Even as if we did not love God that is if God did not continually impress upon us the love of good in general we should love nothing at all For since this Love is the same with our will we cannot Love or will any thing without him since we cannot love Particular goods but by determining towards those goods that motion of Love which God gives us towards himself We love therefore nothing but by that necessary love by which we are moved towards God and we see nothing but by that Natural Knowledge which we have of God. And all those Special Ideas which we have of the Creatures are nothing else but Limitations of the Idea of the Creator as all the motion of our Will towards the Creatures are nothing else but Determinations of that motion which is toward the Creator XXIV He appeals last of all to Scripture which in divers places gives abundant confirmation to this Hypothesis As when we are said not to be sufficient of our selves to think any thing as of our selves but that our sufficiency is of God. Again God is said to have shewn unto the Gentiles what might be known of him Again God is call'd the father of lights God is also said by the Psalmist to teach man Knowledge Lastly He is said to be the true light which inlightens every man that comes into the world XXV From all which he concludes that God is the Intelligible World or the Place of Spirits as the Material World is the place of Bodies That these Spirits receive their Modifications or Sensations from his Power and find their Idea's in his Wisdom and by his Love are moved by all orderly motions and that in God we have our Life our Motion and our Being According to that of St. Paul He is not far from every one of us for in him we live and move and have our being XXVI And thus in as short a compass as I could comprize it have I given a summary account of what the excellent Monsieur Malebranche has at large delivered upon this Theory of our seeing all things in God. I shall now further establish it by some other considerations of my own XXVII That all our Intellectual Perception is by Ideas that is not by the immediate presence of things themselves but by something that intimately and immediately represents them to our mind is a thing plain in it self and by all so acknowledged And that all the Idea's of things with their respective habitudes and relations are in God I have abundantly proved and also as to the manner explained in my Contemplation of the Divine Omniscience The thing now to be consider'd is whether we do not see and know whatever we see and know in God that is whether those Idea's which are in God be not the very Idea's which we see and the immediate Object of our Knowledge and Perception XXVIII That it is so besides what Monsieur Malebranche has offered upon this Argument I further prove by considering first That since Knowledge is comprehension of Truth if the Truth which I comprehend be in God and in him only then I must be said to see and know whatever I see and know in God. This is a plain and easie consequence And that the Truth which I comprehend is in God only I thus make out XXIX The nature of Truth consists in a certain mutual respect or habitude of simple Essences one to another But these relations which I comprehend and which are the same with Truth are not verified of the simple Essences as they are in their External and Natural subsistencies but as they are in the Divine Idea's I deny not but that there may be relation between things in their natural subsistencies but I say that is not the relation which I primely and directly behold when I contemplate Truth For first things according to their Natural subsistencies are Temporary and once were not but the relation which I behold is Eternal and was from everlasting and consequently cannot be the relation of things according to their subsistence in Nature Again the Essences of things as to their Natural subsistence may cease to be but the relation which I behold is Immutable and Immortal and will be ever the same Again things as they are in Nature are not even while they are according to that exactness according to which we discern some certain relations to belong to them Thus for instance when I define a right Line to be that which lies equally
peculiar manner our Love stands affected or proportioned to Particular and Universal Good. X. Now in answer to this I consider first That since God is the first Mover in the motion of Love he must necessarily determine this motion toward himself or make himself the term of this motion And the only term too it being impossible that God should act for any end different from himself Whence it follows that Universal good or good in general is the only good to which we are directly and properly moved by God. XI Hence again it follows that good in common or God must be the Primary and Adequate Term or Object of Love. This being the only good to which we are directly moved by God. I say directly for God moves us to particular goods only by moving us to good in general which is not to move us to them directly but by accident and indirectly God cannot move us directly to any thing but himself that is to Universal good or good in general which therefore must be the Primary and Adequate Term or Object of Love. XII And this we sensibly experiment as well as rationally conclude For 't is plain that we are conscious to our selves of our loving good as good or good according to its common Nature before we love this or that good in particular And we are further conscious that when we do love any particular good 't is only for the sake of the Universal good We love it only because we find in it something of the common Nature of good and the more we find of that the more we love it So that 't is by that love whereby we love good in common that we love any particular good And were it not for this Universal good we should be able to love nothing Which by the way is a plain argument of the real existence of such Vniversal good and consequently that there is a God. XIII For indeed to speak out in short what I would have as we understand all things in God so 't is in God we love whatever we love And as when we understand the Divine Ideas are that which we directly and properly perceive and Created Beings are only so far perceiv'd as they are of a similar nature with those Ideas and so vertually contain'd in them So when we Love universal good good in common or God is that which we directly and properly love and Created goods or Particular goods are only so far loved as they resemble and participate of the nature of that universal good to which the motion of our love is Directly and Primarily determined So that Particular goods are as much loved in the universal good as Particular Beings are seen and perceiv'd in the universal Being XIV I further consider that as we are determin'd to good in general Primarily and Directly so also the motion whereby we are by God determin'd to it is necessary invincible and irresistable There is nothing in nature more necessary no nor so necessary and invincible as that motion whereby we are carried forth to good in general Here the Soul must not pretend to the least shadow of Liberty having no more command over this motion than she has over the motion of the Sun. 'T is not easie to conceive how God himself should fix this motion but 't is plain that Man cannot any way command it XV. But there is not the same necessity of Determination in our motion towards Particular good I say not the same M. Malebranche will allow none but 't is plain that some there is For since we are invincibly determin'd to the Love of good in general we must needs love good as such and consequently in every degree of Participation the general Reason of good being in some measure or other found in every degree of Particular good Loving therefore good as good we are necessarily determin'd to love every degree of good and consequently every particular good with a Natural Love so far as we consider it as good XVI But because this Particular good is not the Greatest good and consequently in some junctures may come into competition with a greater hence it comes to pass that we may upon the whole have more reason to will and refuse it than to will and embrace it and so are not determin'd necessarily to an Absolute effectual and thorough love of it though yet we must love it as good with a natural love as before XVII For 't is impossible that we should ever nill Good as we nill Evil any more than we can will Evil as we will Good. But as our willing of Evil is always with a mixture of willing though willing may in some junctures prevail so our nilling of good is always with a mixture of willing though in some junctures nilling may prevail we cannot hate good with a Pure Hatred though it be only a lesser good any more than we can love evil with a Pure Love though a lesser evil XVIII Whenever therefore by the Competition of goods we are ingaged to nill any Particular good we do also will it at the same time But in different respects We will it as good and we nill it as a lesser good we will it secundum quid according to a certain respect and we nill it simply and Absolutely that is in other words though we have some reason to will it namely its proper good in which respect we necessarily will it and consequently always yet we have more reason to nill it in the present juncture as standing in competition with a greater good and the stronger motive takes place as to Absolute and Effectual love or choice XIX This I cannot better illustrate than by the example of Weights in a Ballance For though that Scale which has most weight in it weighs down yet it must needs be allow'd that the other Scale does also weigh and press downwards though not effectually because otherwise as much weight would be required to make it weigh effectually down as if it were quite empty And thus 't is in the present case Though for the Prevalency of Reasons in some junctures the Scale may weigh down for the nilling of good yet the other Scale also presses though not effectually And this is what the Schools term a Velleity or Natural Inclination And 't is with this Velleity or natural inclination that we are necessarily determin'd to love even Particular good but we are not necessarily determin'd to love it absolutely and effectually because there is no particular good but what may come in Competition with a greater and then there will be more Reason to nill it than to will it and the heaviest Scale will weigh down XX. And thus have I shewn after what peculiar manner our Love stands affected or proportion'd to Particular and Universal good The difference consists in these two things Vniversal good is the Primary and Direct Object of our Love but our Love tends towards Particular good only
secundarily and indirectly for the sake of what it has of the Universal Then again there is Difference as to the Necessity of the Determination as well as to the Primariness of it There is indeed Necessity on both sides but not in like manner We are necessarily determin'd to Love universal good Absolutely and Thoroughly The Scale does not only weigh here but weighs down But we are not determin'd to love any Particular good Absolutely and Thoroughly but only to love it with a Natural Inclination or Velleity And to such a love of it we are as necessarily determin'd as we are to the love of universal good but the Actual Choice of it is not necessary there being no Particular good to the Absolute and Effectual love of which we are invincibly determin'd The Vse of this to Devotion THE Amorousness of Humane Nature as we have here consider'd it contains in it many and great incitements to Devotion For First since the Occasional Cause of our love is Indigence and Emptiness we have great reason to be humble and lowly in Spirit especially considering that we are continually admonish'd of this our Indigence as often as we are Conscious to our selves that we love Again since God is the Principal Efficient Cause of Love and the first mover in all Moral as well as Natural motion it is highly reasonable that he should be Principally loved by us from whom we receive our Love and that we should be mighty careful how we pervert this Divine Impression to any undue object Again since God moves us Directly and Primarily only to himself and since universal good is therefore the Primary and Direct Object of our Love hence it will follow that we ought also to make God the Primary and Direct Object of our Love and that we ought to Love nothing for it self but only in and for God. And lastly since we are necessarily determin'd to love good in general Absolutely and Effectually by such a motion as we can neither resist nor any way Command or Moderate hence it appears how highly necessary it is that we should expllicitly fix all that Love upon God as having all that good in him to which we aspire with a Blind Confuse and Indefinite though Necessary Appetite The Aspiration MY God My Love how absurd a thing is it that an Amorous Creature should be a Proud Creature My Love is occasion'd by my Indigence and I cannot Love but I am minded of that Indigence how ill then would Pride become me having so much reason to be humble and that reason so continually set before me Divine Fountain of Love 't is from thee I receive all my Love and upon whom should I place it but upon thee The fire that descends from Heaven where should it be spent but upon the Altar Thou hast a Right O my God to all my Love for I cannot love thee with any Love but what is thy own O then do thou Regulate this thy own Divine Impression and grant I may never sin against thee by the abuse of that Love which thou hast given me I thank thee O Father Lord of Heaven and Earth for doing so much towards the guidance and Regulation of my Love as to carry me Directly only to Universal good thereby teaching me that I ought to make thee the only Direct and Primary Object of my Love. My God I will love as thou teachest me the First and Direct Motion of Love shall be towards thee and whatever I love besides thee I will love only in and for thee I thank thee also My God for that thou hast made it so necessary for me to love universal good Thou O God art this universal good and I ought to love thee with the very same Love wherewith I love Happiness it self O that I were as necessarily inclined to love thee as I am to love Happiness I do not desire to be trusted with any Liberty in the Love of thee But this my God I cannot hope for till I shall see thee as thou art O let me therefore love thee to the utmost Capacity of a Free Creature Thou O God hast set no Bounds to my love of thee O let not me set any My God I do not I love thee with all my Heart Soul Mind and Strength Lord thou knowest all things thou knowest that I love thee Contemplation IV. Man consider'd as an Irregular Lover I. HItherto we have considered Man as God made him He was made by God a Creature an Intelligent Creature and an Amorous Creature The two first of which import the Perfection of God actually participated by him in as much as in him he not only lives moves and has his Being but in him has all his Vnderstanding also The last imports in him a tendency to the Divine Perfection which is also an actual Perfection of his own Nature and such as God also has therein implanted And thus far is Man wholely the Divine Wormanship and carries in him the Image of him that made him Let us now consider him as he has made himself and is as it were his own Creature II. Now thus to consider Man is to consider him as an Irregular Lover And to do this fully and to the purpose intended Three things will be requisite First To shew what it is to be an Irregular Lover Secondly Hw prone and apt Man is to Love Irregularly Thirdly That Man himself is the Author of this proneness of his to Irregular Love. III. In relation to the first if it be demanded What it is to be an Irregular Lover I answer in one word That 't is to be a Fool. Sin and Folly Sinner and Fool are words in Scripture of a like signification and are indifferently used one for the other And we are taught in the Schools of Morality that every Sinner is ignorant 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 says the Socratical Proverb Indeed Sin has its Birth in Folly and every step of its progress is Folly and its conclusion is in Folly. But this will appear more distinctly from the consideration of these two things First Of the absurdity and madness of the choice which every Irregular Lover makes And Secondly The error and mistake that must necessarily precede in his Judgment before he does or can make it IV. As for the absurdity of his choice 't is the greatest that can be imagined For what is it that he chuses 'T is to do that which he must and certainly will repent of and wish he had never done either in this World for its illness and sinfulness or in the next for its sad effects and consequences 'T is to despise the Authority Power Iustice and Goodness of God 't is to transgress his Commands which are good and equitable and in keeping of which there is present as well as future reward 'T is to act against the Frame of his Rational Nature and the Divine Law of his Mind 't is to disturb the Order and Harmony of the