troubled and what shall I say Father save me from this hour but for this cause came I unto this hour John 12. 27. And to what end came he unto it but to destroy Sin by the Sacrifice of himself upon the Altar of the Cross that Men might die unto Sin and live unto Righteousness whose Fruit is everlasting Life for so the two chief Apostles plainly tell us Now once in the end of the World hath he appeared to put away sin by the Sacrifice of himself Hebr. 9. 26. Who his own self bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree that we being dead to sin should live unto Righteousness by whose Stripes ye were healed 1 Pet. 2. 24. Knowing this that our Old Man is crucified with him that the Body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin Rom. 6. 6. That he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live to themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 15. Who gave himself for us that he might redeem us from all Iniquity and purifie unto himself a People zealous of good Works Tit. 2. 14. For if the Blood of Bulls and of Goats and the Ashes of an Heifer sprinkling the unclean sanctifieth to the purifying of the Flesh how much more shall the Blood of Christ who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without Spot to God purge your Conscience from dead Works to serve the living God Heb. 9. 13 14. Which Scriptures since they evidently prove that Christ came into the World to undergo Death that by virtue thereof we might die unto Sin and live unto Righteousness or be converted from our wicked Courses to lead a godly Life what I have now only remaining to do is to prove Secondly That there is no Condemnation to those who forsaking their sins turn unto God or that are converted from the Love of the World and worldly Vanities to the Love of God for the certainty of the truth whereof we have the Testimony of Truth it self assuring us He that hath my Commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest my self to him John 14. 21. And a little after If a Man love me he will keep my Words and my Father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him Ver. 23. And St. Paul in express words saith There is therefore now no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. Nor is the truth of this Doctrine averred only by Scripture but it is also evident to Human Reason for since Sin is the privation of the due Love of God in the Soul through the inordinate Love of the World Sect. 8. Par. 2 3 4. and that everlasting Misery is the necessary effect of the perpetual continuance in sin after this Life Sect. 7. Par. 1 2 3 4 5. 't is as manifestly impossible that he who has forsaken the Love of the World for the Love of God should eternally perish unless he relapse and die in mortal sin by leaving again the Love of God for the Love of the World as it is impossible that the same Man should love the World above God and God above the World both together to eternity For what end Christ died for us suffered for us bare our sins in his own Body upon the Tree for us the Word of God it self having expresly shewn viz. That we being dead unto Sin should live unto Righteousness 1 Pet. 2. 24. there is no need for the explicating those Expressions that Christ either really transferred our sins from us to himself or took upon him the Punishment due to our sins being the perpetual Loss of Heaven and the everlasting Pains of Hell to assert any of which would be no less than Blasphemy 'T is abundantly enough that in regard Christ is ΘεάνθÏωπος God-man he underwent so much in behalf of Sinners that his unexpressible Sufferings are a truly meritorious i. e. an efficacious efficient cause of cleansing us from sin of justifying us and of bringing us to Glory which they effectually are to as many as through a vigorous Faith rightly weigh the Value of them whilst the due Consideration of the immense and unmerited Love of Christ to Man manifested chiefly in his bitter and ignominious Death constraineth Men to forsake all worldly Pleasures for the Blessed Enjoyment of so gracious and stupendiously loving a God and Saviour accordingly as St Paul averreth saying For the love of God constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then were all dead and that he died for all that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves but unto him which died for them and rose again 2 Cor. 5. 14 15. which words are thus cleared unto us by the learned Dr. Hammonds Paraphrase on the place For our Love to Christ founded on his to us hath us in its Power to make us do whatsoever it will have us making this Argument from this certain acknowledged truth of Christs having died for all Men that then certainly all Men are Sinners lapsed in a lost Estate and so hopeless unless they use some means to get out of that Estate which that he might help us to do was the Design of Christ's dying for all that we might having received by his Death Grace to lead a new Life live no longer after our own Lusts and Desires but in Obedience to his Commands that died and rose again to that end to bless us in turning every man from his Iniquities Acts 3. 26. 'T is clear then from what hath been said that our Conversion to God was the very Design of Christ's Crucifixion to the end we might be eternally saved and not that he might so suffer for us as to really transfer our Sins or the Punishment thereof from our Persons to his own which that the words he bare our sins in his own Body on the Tree so very much urged and insisted on by some do not necessarily import may be certainly gathered from another Text not unlike to this When the Even was come they brought unto him many that were possessed with Devils and he cast out the Spirits with his word and healed all that were sick that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the Prophet saying himself took our Infirmities and bare our Sicknesses Matth. 8. 16 17. for none questionless will affirm that Christ transferred the Infirmities and Sicknesses of those whom he cured to his own Body from theirs When it is therefore said that Christ bare our Sins and bare our Infirmities it is to be understood that he really cured both and as truly by virtue of his Death takes away sin and the eternal Punishment thereof from all that by Faith apply it to themselves as he took away diverse Infirmities by his Word from several who believed on him so that the Socinians injuriously and blasphemously deny the Divine Power and efficacy of the infinitely meritorious and satisfactory Sacrifice of our Blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ upon the Cross for the Redemption of Man who by the eternal Love of GOD the FATHER through the Merits of GOD the SON apprehended by Faith wrought in the Heart by GOD the HOLY GHOST is effectually delivered from the miserable Thraldom of Sin Sathan and Damnation for which ineffable undeserved Kindness is of Right therefore perpetually to be given to that ever adorable TRIN-VNI DEO GLORIA
to Mans Nature which is Rational and ought in all things to act according to Reason 5. To put Man therefore in the Way to glorifie God eternally and to be for ever happy in loving him with all the Heart with all the Soul and with all the Mind is to clear his Understanding by convincing it that God alone is ans Sovereign Good and to purifie his Will by affording Motives of a nature more powerful to incline it to the Love of God then all the Motives which the World can exhibit are to win it to the Love thereof 6. Wherefore since on the one side Mans Soul is sensually affected with Objects ever at hand and esteems nothing able to bring Contentment but some or other Enjoyment of this Life not only by reason of its own native and acquired corrupt Inclination but also from the Opinion of the World round about confirming it therein and that on the other side the Object of Mans Felicity is Spiritual not obvious to sense and afar off it follows that unless the Object of Felicity should become such as to be put into a Condition whereby it might be capacitated to draw Mans Affections in a way agreeable and familiar to his Nature from the Love of the World to the Love of it self Man could never be brought back again to the Path of Life but would go perpetually on in the Way which leads to Perdition 7. Seeing then the goodness of God is such that it was inconsistent therewith not to afford Means whereby Man might be recovered from his lost Condition and yet not to violate his Rational Nature 't was necessary that God being the Object of Mans Felicity should become Incarnate and be made Man to the intent he might familiarly converse with Man softly instil through his Senses his Divine Precepts and to do and suffer such things on his account and for his sake as that considering the Dignity of the Person the unmerited and unspeakable Kindness and unvaluable Worth of the Benefit it could not possibly otherwise fall out but that as many as should seriously and frequently reflect and meditate thereon would be induced to despise the World and all its alluring Enticements for the perpetual Enjoyment of so great and excellent an Object as so gracious and good a God must needs appear to be 8. It was therefore the Almighties great Kindness to condescend to Mans Frailty and be cloathed with his Flesh in the second Person of the blessed Trinity because in that he is the Wisdom of his Father and Word of God Sect. 2. 't was an Office peculiarly proper for him to manifest and declare unto the World the Love which God had to Man in reconciling or drawing him to Himself again 9. To which End Christ the Eternal Son of God did many signal Miracles to give irrefragable Testimony that he was sent from the Father was One with him and that the Design of his coming into the World was to make up the Breach and Distance between God and Man which he accordingly on his Part did by Teaching by Doing and by Suffering For by his Doctrine he infallibly shewed not only the miserable Condition which Man would eternally incur unless he forsook the World and turned to God but also that God himself was Mans Felicity and what Course he should take that he might for ever fully enjoy him And seeing it was not enough that Man should have his Understanding aright informed unless his Will were likewise inclined to do what he ought in order to the full Enjoyment of God Christ was graciously pleased to undertake the doing and suffering such beneficial and stupendious things for him that nothing but want of Consideration and due Reflexion on them could possibly frustrate their prevalent Virtue and Power over the Will effectually to incline and turn it unto God as the sovereign good thereof For since God is Man's Felicity could any thing possibly be parallel'd hereunto for the meriting of his Love consequently for inducing him to use the means available to Bliss that the omnipotent Creator of all things should become clad with human Flesh subject to Infirmities for the sole good of his Creature That he should familiarly converse with his Vassals and call them Friends and Brethren and really treat them as such That he should toil himself both night and day in travelling from place to place to preach the glad Tidings of Salvation to heal the Sick to give Sight to the Blind to make the Deaf to hear the Dumb to speak and the Lame to walk to comfort the Sorrowful to pardon the Penitent and in a word to do all manner of good Yea and as if all this had been a small Token of his Love to man that he should be willing to suffer Banishment Heat Cold Hunger Thirst That he would endure to be buffeted spit upon reviled mocked scourged That he refused not to undergo an Agony which caused his precious Body to sweat drops of Blood and to suffer a most ignominious and painful Death And that all this should be done and suffered not for the least advantage to the Deity but wholly for the benefit of man to save him thereby from intolerable endless misery and to bring him if he embraced his Kindness and followed his Instructions to everlasting unspeakable Joy and Happiness For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have everlasting life John 3. 16. Object We hear nothing in all this of appeasing the fierce Wrath of an angry and incensed God nothing of satisfying Divine vindicative Justice nothing of making recompence for the Wrong done to a sovereign Power by the breach of his most righteous Laws Solut. That the Almighty neither doth nor can suffer Wrong by any Act of the Creature has been sufficiently seen before sect 8. Solut. of Object 1 3. And where no Wrong is what necessity there 's of Satisfaction and Recompence is unconceivable so that by granting Christ's Passion not to be an infinite Satisfaction for an infinite Offence committed against God by Sin in that sense as Satisfaction for an Injury done by one man to another is made there 's no danger at all of touching upon Socinianism it being plainly absurd to infer from the non-necessity of an infinite Satisfaction by the suffering of Christ that he is not God co-essential with the Father since it is through the Incapacity of God's being offended and not for want of Merit in Christ's Death that his Passion is not an infinitely satisfactory Recompence to God for Sin. But nevertheless there is ground enough for an Orator so to expatiate upon the Mystery of Man's Restauration by Christ as elegantly to use the Allegories mentioned in the Objection whilst there are two Parties God and Man a Law given by God and Man the Transgressor of it that the Father and the Son are distinct Persons and that the latter
Return Admitting it were so which yet I think may modestly enough be denied the Doctrine of imputative Righteousness would be never a whit the more true because inasmuch as it necessarily implies in it that a man might possibly be if God would permit it an absolutely righteous and unrighteous person at once though it never actually fell out to be so it supposes a possibility of two contradictory Assertions to be both true together But it is farther argued against imputative Righteousness thus If man be made formally righteous by the Righteousness of Christ then is man truly righteous abstracting from every thing which he himself doth more than what is necessary on his part for applying Christ's Righteousness to his Soul viz. Faith or a stedfast Belief that Christ's Righteousness is made his according to some or a Recumbence or resting on Christ for Salvation as others will have it But man is not truly righteous abstracting from every thing he himself doth more than what is necessary on his part for applying Christ's Righteousness to his Soul viz. Faith or a Recumbence on Christ for Salvation Ergo Man is not made formally righteous by the Righteousness of Christ The truth of the Proposition being evident I prove the Assumption thus If a real and hearty turning from Sin or the love of the world to the love of God be necessary to Justification then is not man truly righteous abstracting from every thing he himself doth more than a stedfast Belief that Christ's Righteousness is made his or a Recumbence on Christ for Salvation But a real and hearty turning from Sin or the love of the world to the love of God is necessary to Justification ergo man is not truly righteous abstracting from every thing he himself doth more than a stedfast Belief that Christ's Righteousness is made his or a Recumbence on Christ for Salvation The Minor which alone can be doubted of proved If Christ's imputed Righteousness be not sufficient without a real and hearty turning from Sin or the love of the world to the love of God to free the Soul from deadly Sin and the Consequent of it eternal Misery then is a real and hearty turning from Sin or the love of the world to the love of God necessary to Justification But Christ's imputed Righteousness is not sufficient without a real hearty turning from Sin or the love of the world to the love of God to free the Soul from deadly Sin and the Consequent of it Eternal Misery Ergo A real and hearty turning from Sin or the love of the world to the love of God is necessary to Justification The Major needs no Proof and the Minor is evidently true if deadly Sin be nothing else but the preferring the Enjoyment of the World before the Enjoyment of God or an Aversion from God and Conversion to the Creature and that everlasting Misery is the necessary Result of the perpetual Continuance in Sin according to what is said in the 7th and 8th Section Lastly The Doctrine of imputative Righteousness seems erroneous from what here follows If men be formally justified by the Righteousness of Christ made theirs then are all men justified alike or have equal Righteousness because Christs Righteousness is one and the same and if justified alike then also glorified alike seeing Glory depends on Righteousness or rather is compleat Righteousness it self or the perfect love of God in Heaven Par. 9. But all men are not glorified alike therefore neither justified alike That all men are not glorified alike I gather thus The perfect or entire love of God without any mixture of Affection to any thing besides as the Souls Sovereign Good being Mans Felicity for tho the Blessed Saints and Angels mutually delight in each other and more or less according to every ones Excellency yet it is only as they are and appear so many bright Rayes issuing from the Sun of Glory and not as having any proper independent Loveliness of their own or Excellency which is not totally derived from God it will be so that if of two enjoying Bliss the one love God more intensly and vigorously than the other tho both with their whole Affection for so do all the glorified Saints and Angels he will be the more happy for he that more intensly and vigorously affects or takes Delight in the Object he enjoys must of necessity have more Joy Pleasure and Contentment then he that adheres to what he loves with less ardency of Affection This being clear let 's compare in our Minds the Intensness or Vigor of Love to God wherewith the Holy Virgin the Blessed Apostles and Pious Martyrs or any of them particularly the Virgin Mary departed this Life with that remiss but sincere Affection which some other good Christian has to God when he leaves this World and we shall easily perceive there must needs be a great Disproportion of their love to God. When therefore the Beatific Object shall be presented to both their Affections will be encreased proportionably to what they wâ—â—t from hence with as for Example suppose the Blessed Virgin departed this Life with an Affection to God in comparison of what the other had at his Departure as five is in proportion to two then in case his Affection which stood in proportion to the Virgins as two to five be raised by the fight of God to the degree of five hers will be advanced thereby to the degree of eight for why the Beatific Object since it is able to give infinitely more satisfaction than Mans Nature is capable of should augment the one and not the other proportionably I see no appearance of reason Affections thereof for as the Strength of the Body is placed in the Nerves so is the strength of the Soul in relation to Objects of the Will in its Affections the Vigour of which the more the Mind is set upon any thing it desires and employed in the Contemplation of it is the more augmented like as the strength of the Sinews is encreased by the Exercise of the Body Wherefore since our gracious God will reward every one according to his Works Matth. 16. 27. and that no Work is acceptable to him which is not done for the love of him or out of a desire to enjoy him eternally it follows in all reason that seeing God himself is the Reward of the Ever-blessed and that therefore the difference of Rewards must proceed from the difference of the manifestation of his Glory he will manifest Himself proportionably to the Ardency of desire which every one has to enjoy him and consequently that they who love him most here in that they most son likely to be given If it be said that every glorified Saint loves God with all his Might and consequently that seeing one mans Soul differs not in Effence from another every one will love God alike in Heaven I answer that to love God with all the Might of the Soul is to love him with
had never been recovered from his lost Condition to have attained the end of his Creation if God himself had not undertaken the great and otherwise insuperable Work of his Recovery by being made Man and in doing and suffering what he did to regain his Love. And therefore lastly whereas Christs bloody Death and Passion was the strongest and most endearing Argument and Motive of all other Testimonies of his stupendious Love to man for drawing his Affections off from the Love of the World to the Love of God which is the purging away of Sin the shedding of Christs pretious Blood on the Cross is said to be a Sacrifice for Sin that is for the putting or taking away of Sin even as the sacred Text it self directly asserteth He appeared to put away Sin by the Sacrifice of himself Hebr. 9. 26. Hence it is that mans Redemption and Salvation are so frequently attributed to Christs Death on the Cross it being the most remarkable Instance of his Love and thereupon the potentest Motive of all others to win mans firm Affection to himself For that our Blessed Saviours Incarnation and whatsoever he either did or suffered in his Manhood are likewise real Causes of mans Redemption and Salvation the Churches Litany assures us in which we pray to be delivered from all Sin and Mischief from the Crafts and Assaults of the Devil from the Wrath of God and from everlasting Damnation by the Mystery of Christs holy Incarnation by his holy Nativity and Circumcision by his Baptism Fasting and Temptation by his Agony and Bloody Sweat by his glorious Resurrection and Ascension and by his sending of the Holy Ghost aswell as by his Cross and Passion Object 6. If after all the Endeavour that hath been used to frame Arguments to solve Objections and to explicate how mans Redemption Reconciliation and Salvation are in a true scriptural Sense wrought by Christ for clearing the Assertion that the sincere habitual Love of God or Charity is the Formal Cause of Justification it be found that the Assertion it self is repugnant to the 11th Article of our Religion wherein it is said that we are justified by Faith only for the Merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ all that has been done is nothing better not to say worse then labour in vain Solut. That Christ's Doings and Sufferings which constitute his Merit are a real Cause of mans Justification has been both asserted and proved in this Section so that if any difference be between what the 11th Article teaches and what is averred by me concerning Justification 't is only after what manner the Merit of Christ justifies a Sinner namely whether as an Efficient or a Formal Cause And yet even as to this also there will be found no difference when the matter is well discussed For I stedfastly hold and maintain together with the Article that Christ's Merit is apprehended and applied to a Sinner for his Justification by Faith only whilst he firmly believes that God through them will according to his free Promise in the Gospel deliver him from the Slavery of Sin and the Consequent of it everlasting Misery so that in regard it is the Grace of Faith alone which draws the Merit of Christ home to a Christians Soul whence it becomes an effectual Motive to gain his Affections in turning them from the false Pleasures of the World unto God the sole true Delight of the Soul which is to be an efficient Cause of cleansing the Heart from Sin through Charity it must needs be that in this sense we are justified for the Merit of Christ by Faith only And that the 11th Article of Religion is to be understood in this sense seems clear both from the words wherein it is expressed and from the Churches Homily referred to for a fuller explication of what they intend The words of the Article are these We are accounted righteous before God only for the Merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ by Faith and not for our own Works or Deservings Wherefore that we are justified by Faith alone is a most wholsome Doctrine and very full of Comfort as more largely is expressed in the Homily of Justification Here 't is plain that our Blessed Saviour is affirmed to be the meritorious Cause of Justification and it is undeniably true that aswell Divines as Philosophers place a Meritorious Cause among the efficient Causes whence the learned Prelate Forbesius writeth thus Justitia Christi nos justificari ut Causa formali atque etiam meritoria ut asserunt qui priorem tuentur sententiam nempe Christi Justitiam esse Causam formalem Justificationis dici non potest nequit enim fieri ut eadem res sit simul Causa efficiens ad quam Meritum reducitur Formalis ejusdem effecti quia sic simul de essentia effecti foret non foret cum Causa formulis sit interna 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 efficiens autem externa uti constat Considerationes modestae pacificae Lib 2. Cap. 3. Paragr 5. Seeing then it is impossible that a Meritorious Cause should be a Formal Cause and that in the 11th Article no mention is made of a Formal Cause it remains that the Merit of Christ spoken of in the Article is either an efficient Cause of Mans Justification or else none at all And the same is likewise manifest from the Churches Homily referred to in the Article in which we read Part 2. Par. 4. as follows You shall understand that in our Justification by Christ it is not all one thing the Office of God unto Man and the Office of Man unto God. Justification is not the Office of Man but of God or Man cannot make himself righteous by his own Works neither in part nor in the whole for that were the greatest Arrogancy and Presumption of Man that Antichrist could set up against God to affirm that Man might by his own Works take away and purge his own Sins and so justifie himself What can well be more plain unless it were expressed in the very Language of the Schools then that God is here affirmed and Man denied to be the efficient Cause of his Justification But Justification is the Office of God only and is not a thing which we render to him but which we receive of him not which we give to him but which we take of him by his free mercy and by the only merits of his most dearly beloved Son our only Redeemer Saviour and Justifier Jesus Christ Here the free Mercy of God and the Merits of Christ are put together as Causes of the same kind and who is ignorant that the free Mercy of God is an efficient Cause only of Justification so that the true understanding of this Doctrine We be freely justified by Faith without Works or that we be justified by Faith in Christ only is not that this our own Act to believe in Christ or this our Faith in Christ which is
no influence at all from them but is wholly miraculous as every Effect immediately produced by God is To me it seems more rational to say that as those Children who live till they be of years capable of understanding the Reason and Use of Baptism are appointed by the Church to be informed thereof that they may make good the Engagement of their Sureties without doing of which their Baptism will not avail them to Salvation so Infant-Children upon the separation of Soul and Body are illuminated by their Angels for are they not ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be Heirs of Salvation Heb. 1. 14. And that Baptized Children are such we be taught by the Answer to the second Question in our Catechism where the Word Inheritor is rendred in the Latin Haeres and in the Greek κληÏονόμος with the Knowledg of their Baptism for then they are capable of apprehending any thing offered to the intellect it proceeding from the disposition of their Bodies and not from the nature of their Souls that they are ever uncapable of actually understanding And seeing the inclination to the Creature through Original Sin is not by far so strong as that which is contracted by frequent Acts of sinning their affections will be instantly turned to God by virtue of their Baptism signified unto them But however the Truth in this obscure Point stand this is certain that in regard Felicity consists in the Love of God sect 4. par 13. baptized Infants must some way or other obtain Charity before they arrive at Bliss or at least upon the very instant of being possessed thereof And how their Baptism should be useful to them for the obtaining of Charity except they have Knowledg of it and by whom it should be made known unto them but by their Angels unless miraculously and Miracles are not wrought where there 's no necessity of them I do not understand Yet since I know of no Divine Revelation nor of any clear demonstration after what manner their Love of God depends upon their being baptized I do not presume to affirm that my delivered Thoughts are positively true SECT XVIII In the exercise of the hearty Love of God or Charity consists the sincere observance of every Precept of the Decalogue But the absolute entire fulfilling of the Moral Law is not accomplished till Charity have attained its ultimate Perfection in Heaven 1. WHen treating of the Moral Virtues I shewed the Assistance which Prudence Temperance and Fortitude exhibit to Charity sect 14. par 2 4 5. I said I would defer my intended Discourse on Justice till I came to the Explication of the Ten Commandments whither being now come I shall endeavour to make it appear that every Precept of the Decalogue tends to the causing a firm establishment of Charity in the Soul of Man and that in the exercise thereof when it is acquired the sincere observance of the whole Law is practised albeit the absolute exact fulfilling of it be not accomplished till Charity have obtained its utmost Perfection which human Frailty will not permit the attainment of while Men carry about them a Body of Flesh 2. For since to love God with all the Heart with all the Soul with all the Mind and with all the strength Mark 12. 30. is required to the compleat exact fulfilling of the Law and that such Love would perpetually take up all the Powers of the Soul it is plain that in regard while we live in this world our Thoughts must be often employed in taking care for the necessary accommodations of Life and in using Means to further our own and others Welfare here and hereafter we cannot in this mortal state so fully fix our Affections on God as to have our Souls fully possessed of him 3. And yet forasmuch as to give God the pre-eminence in our Affections and to despise all other things in comparison of the fruition of him to eternity so as that when we are tempted to violate any of his holy Commandments the ardent desire we have for the enjoyment of him enables us to resist and overcome the Temptation forasmuch I say as thus to love God permits us not wilfully and advisedly to break any of his Precepts but engages and puts us upon the keeping them all in sincerity of Affection and unfeignedness of heart it is apparent that in the exercise of Charity is virtually contained the sincere unfeigned Observance of the whole Moral Law. 4. Which Law consists of Ten Commandments the four first whereof totally respecting Man's Behaviour towards the supream Being the only Object of these is God whom therefore they command us to look up to as he is the Author and Finisher of Eternal Salvation in which respect we are to esteem him as he truly is the prime Verity whom we are to believe the sovereign Power in whom we are to trust and the chiefest Good whom we ought to love above all things or the Object of Faith Hope and Charity 5. And seeing neither Faith nor Hope are available to Salvation save only as they contribute to Charity either in helping to produce the Habit thereof or being obtained to confirm and strengthen it sect 13. 't is clear that the Precepts of the Former Table are not observed till we love God as our Sovereign Good or be endued with Charity 6. Whosoever therefore exerciseth the Grace of Charity he is all the while employ'd in the sincere keeping of the Four first Commandments the whole design of God's forbidding us to have any other Gods besides himself to make any graven Image to fall down before it and worship it to take his holy Name in vain and to do any unnecessary worldly Business at Times appointed for Divine Offices being totally accomplished in this to cause us to fix our Souls Affections on God and to pursue with earnestness the eternal Fruition of him as our sole Sovereign Good. Object 1. If Faith and Hope be not absolutely necessary to Salvation in themselves abstracting from this that they are Ministerially beneficial to Charity then are the opposite Vices to them Infidelity and Apostacy Presumption and Despair not Sins damnable in themselves or as destructive of the contrary Virtues but only as they cannot consist together with the Grace of Charity But Infidelity and Apostasie Presumption and Despair are Sins damnable in themselves or as they are destructive of the contrary Virtues Faith and Hope abstracting from this that these are Ministerially beneficial unto Charity Ergo Solut. The Minor Proposition must be denied and justly I conceive may for although it be most certainly true that Infidelity and Apostasie Presumption and Despair debar Men of Felicity yet the Reason thereof is not because of their immediate opposition to Faith and Hope but for that they are totally inconsistent with Charity For since that no Habit is truly virtuous but in virtue of the End whereto it serves and that the End of all Virtues is Charity
and slight those Benefits which God by them tenders to him and in so doing not only sets slight of the Author of them but also rejects the End at which they ultimately aim Felicity No man therefore possibly can deliberately dishonour his Parents or other his Superiors but his Heart will be thereby estranged from God. But much more in wilfully disobeying their just Commands is there an Aversion from their Sovereign Good for therein is a direct Refusal of God's Goodness offered by them whilst every thing they lawfully command is some way more or less directly or by consequence advantageous to the acquisition of Bliss if right use be made thereof The 6th Commandment which is Non occides Thou shalt not kill or Thou shalt do no Murther is not kept by a meer abstaining from desiring contriving or attempting the Death or bodily Harm of our Neighbour but in wishing and doing likewise our Endeavour to preserve his Life and Health in order to the eternal Welfare of his Soul which we cannot do save only as we are excited thereto by the Love we bear to our own Life and good Estate of our Bodies as serviceable to the End for which Life and all the Helps and Attendants of it were given For neither Health nor Life ought to be desired if such Circumstances occur as that the Preservation of them is inconsistent with the everlasting Welfare of the Soul which because it is placed in the Fruition of God the Love we have thereto is the principal reason and motive why we ought to desire to continue in Life and Health our selves or wish the like to our Neighbour for making preparation towards the full Enjoyment of him after this Life is ended And on the contrary the bare doing of bodily Harm to our Neighbour or even the taking away of his Life is no sin simply in it self considered but in this respect only that he who does it has not that due regard for want of the Love of God to the preservation of it which the importance thereof in order to the end whereunto it was given requires For who is ignorant that the Execution of the Penalties in Laws for capital Crimes is no Sin either in the Judge who gives Sentence of Death or in him that executes the same provided they have no personal Malice to the Offender but solely have an Eye to the satisfying of the Law which intends not any Mischief to the Malefactor but Good to the Weal-public by removing an incorrigible Member from among the People But if the Judg or Executioner desire his Death out of hatred to him albeit he deserve to die and be justly condemned and executed there is Murther committed notwithstanding that the Party suffering has no more Torment inflicted on him than if no Malice had been towards him whence it is apparent that the Breach of this Commandment lies in that depraved Disposition of Mind which is opposite to the sound desire of wishing a Man's Neighbour's bodily Welfare in order to the Health of his Soul which because none ever heartily doth but in virtue of his own Love of Bliss the Want of that Love is the formal Reason why the bereaving any one of Life or working his bodily harm is a sin or hinderance to Felicity The 7th Commandment is Thou shalt not commit Adultery the Breach of which doth not consist in the material Act of carnal copulation with anothers Wife but in forsaking the Love of God for an unlawful Pleasure For suppose a Wife should leave her Husband and be married to another Man inculpably ignorant of her former Marriage the Woman alone would offend against this Precept albeit the Man also transgressed the Letter of the Law in carnally knowing anothers Wife Or in case a Man should have his Neighbours Consort put into his Bed thinking her to be his own he offended not although he should commit the external Act of Adultery with her And on the contrary if an Husband lay with his own Wife thinking her to be his Neighbours he would in so doing sin against this Precept and yet no Transgression of it would thereby be made as to the external Act prohibited Hence it is plain that the Violation of the Seventh Comandment is in the depraved Affection of the Will in turning the Heart away from the Love of God to unchast Pleasures and that it is kept by having a Mind undefiled with fleshly Lusts which every one so long hath as Charity or the Love of God above all things is predominant in the Soul. If it be objected that simple Fornication also alienates the Heart from God through the desire of unlawful Venereal Pleasures whence it should be a sin no less grievous then Adultery I answer that he who attempts to pollute his Neighbours Bed knows that he ought upon a double account not to do it First because his Neighbours Wife is not tied in a Matrimonial Bond to him Secondly because she is bound to another and therefore he will have his Heart more hardned in sin or farther estranged from God than if he only desired to satisfie his Lust with one from whom upon the former account alone he holds himself to be restrained and so the sin of Adultery all Circumstances being equal is a more heinous Transgression of the Law of God than the Sin of simple Fornication is The 8th Commandment is Thou shalt not steal by which we are obliged not only to abstain from taking by Force or Fraud whatsoever temporal Good our Neighbour has a Right to but also to employ our Endeavours if just occasion require to help to secure him in the lawful Possession of the same yet with this intent that he use it as a Means to further him in the pursuit of his Eternal Good the fruition of which is the Vltimate End of all Laws whether Divine Moral Canonical or Civil in the sincere Desire whereof they are only truly kept and for want of which they are solely broken as to their principal and Grand Design albeit not as to their particular respective ends which they more immediately but less beneficially look at And therefore even this Precept which more obviously regards and enjoyns the doing Justice may be violated as to the letter of it without a formal Breach thereof as will appear by shewing that in some Case one Man may without violating this Precept take from another without his Consent what the Municipal Laws of the Land where they both live entitle him to which I thus undertake to do No Man by the primary Law of Nature or Reason can or ever could except Adam who was Lord of the whole Earth claim Propriety in any thing without himself Propriety came by a latter Law namely either by Distribution of Lands and Goods made by Adam or else by Division or Occupancy after Adams Decease of what he had not disposed of immediately or mediately in his Life time to which purpose Grotius in his Second Book
ὰγαπῶν τὸν ἕτεÏον hath fulfilled the Law Rom. 13. 8. And therefore Charity as it is taken for the sincere Love of God above all things doth not alone justifie Solut. One and the same Word ὰγάπῶν is used in Scripture for God's Love to Man for Man's Love to God and one Man's Love another so that no Argument can be drawn from the bare Word αγάπη Love or Charity for it is rendred both ways in Holy Writ to make it clearly out in what Love or Charity Righteousness is placed And therefore although it be infallibly true that he that loveth another ὠἀγαπῶν τὸν ἕτεÏον hath fulfilled the Law yet the Reason thereof is not that the Love of ones Neighbour doth formally justifie but because it is impossible for any man to love his Neighbour as he ought to do until and by reason he loveth God in sincerity of heart above all things Sect. 18. Par. 7 8 9 10. by which he is formally justified And alike impossible it is for him that loveth God with sincerity of Affection but that he should also love his Neighbour as himself Sect. 11. Solut. of Obj. 2. and sect 18. par 9 10. consonant whereunto are the Words of the Beloved Disciple If a Man say I love God and hateth his Brother he is a liar 1 John 4. 20. It is no wonder then that he that loveth his Neighbour is said to have fulfilled the Law albeit the Love of God alone be that which formally justifies sect 11. par 6 7 8. Object 2. No man in this Life can love God with all his heart with all his Soul with all his strength and with all his mind therefore no man alive is justified by Charity Solut. Because no man can so love God in this Life by reason of the Frailty of the Flesh 't will rightly follow that none is perfectly justified or clear from all impurity while he breaths a mortal Life But there is an imperfect Righteousness or a state of Grace here consisting in sincere Charity sect 11. par 6 7 8. which is plainly held forth by Scripture The End of the Commandment is Charity out of a pure Heart and of a good Conscience and of Faith unfeigned 1 Tim. 1. 5. And such Charity or Righteousness is attainable in this Life There is no Condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. 1. Neither Fornicators nor Idolaters nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Abusers of themselves with Mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God and such were some of you but ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of our Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. v. 9 10 11. In a word the love of the World and the false Pleasures thereof are so diametrically opposed to the Love of God and the solid Delight of the same that they cannot habitually possess on individual Soul at once Love not the world neither the things that are in the world Iâ— any man love the World the love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the lust of the Flesh the lust of the Eyes and the pride of Life is not of the Father but is of the world 1 John 2. v. 15 16. The Love therefore of the one always excludes and expels the Love of the other and their Ends are as distant as Heaven and Hell the Result of the Love of the World being eternal Misery and the Consequent of the Love of God everlasting Bliss as was proved Sect. 7 11 12. whereunto the Holy Scripture so fully agrees for confirmation of its truth that it would be superfluous to produce any particular Texts to that end Which Bliss that Mankind might attain unto by a Way suitable to their Rational Nature is the great Design of the Gospel of Christ the Christian Religion being evidently if the preceding Treatise be true a Divine Art for making Man eternally blessed or a Method instituted by God the best and most connatural that could be for the perfecting of Human Nature by duly preparing it for the enjoyment of the Beatific Vision The like Assertion to which I meet with in a most pious and highly valued Author by all I will only add for an Accomplishment and Confirmation to my Discourse these his excellent Words whether we take Christianity in its whole complex or in its several and distinct Branches 't is certainly the most excellent the most compendious ART of happy living its very Tasks are Rewards and its Precepts are nothing but a divine sort of Alchimy to sublime at once our Natures and our Pleasures Art of Contentment sect 1. par 2. If in this Treatise or in the Appendix to it there be any Assertion of mine which is repugnant to Catholic and Apostolic Faith I do hereby as in duty bound heartily revoke the same and for ever renounce it as an Erorur to be detested by me and every good Christian whatsoever FINIS AN APPENDIX OF OBJECTIONS TO Several Things Asserted in the preceding Treatise With their Respective ANSWERS Objection 1. IT is said sect 1. par 3. That an actual infinite Series of things is impossible which Assertion if it were true then could not the Omniscient comprehend at once all the Thoughts which the Glorified Saints and Angels shall have to Eternity Answer The Omniscient knows at once all the Thoughts which Men and Angels shall ever have but their number is not infinite For when Christ has delivered up the Kingdom to his Father there will be no more Change but whatever the present state of the Blessed shall then be 't will never admit of any alteration afterward so that the Thoughts of the glorified Saints and Angels will be perpetually the same without any succession of new Conceptions incident to them For if after they have obtained their utmost Perfection in the full Fruition of God their chiefest Good they should receive a Change especially in their Thoughts wherein the Prime of their Felicity consists such Change to whatever it were would of necessity be for the worse and so they should depart thereby from the Perfection and Fulness of Bliss enjoyed by them which is impossible sect 4. par 14. Objection 2. God you say is one pure essential Act and simple Being sec 1. par 9 10. and yet you put two essential Acts in God viz. Knowing and Loving sec 2 par 2 9. Answer I do not say in the cited places that Knowing and Loving are two essential Acts in God I say there and no where else to the contrary that they are God himself differently related or relatively opposed to himself so that in my sense the Trinity of Persons in the Vnity of Essence is the very self-same pure essential Act and simple Being under distinct Relations to it self in the manner set forth
Vice the Path of Hell is the preferring the Love of the World before the Love of God. And as the Beatified Souls according to the higher degree of Love wherewith they are affected to God are more happy because fuller of delight so the damned Spirits the stronger affection they have to the things they lust after are more grievously tormented the disappointment of a stronger affection being more afflictive than of a weaker Object 3. According to this Doctrin neither the Bodies of the glorified Saints would participate of Bliss nor the Bodies of the damned have any portion of Pain Solut. Not so for if when the Soul abounds with Joy and Delight it be able to quicken chear and make brisk this dull and heavy Lump of Clay as we see it doth how much more will it through the immense Joys of Heaven have a powerful influence on a spiritual Body And if Grief for the disappointment of mens wished desires here can cast them into violently scorching Fevers how should the excessive Pain of the perpetual Frustration of the damneds hot Lusts but put their Bodies into an everlasting state of Burning Besides since all Bodies must be contain'd in Place as the Bodies of the Saints shall possess the most glorious which are suitable for them so the Bodies of the damned shall in habit the most dismal that are proper for them and therefore what difference of Place can contribute to Bliss and Misery they 'l differently share therein in respect of that also Object 4. Murther is a Sin that cries for Vengeance and yet if the Torments of Hell consist in the Disappointment of mens Desires there would be no Punishment but only the loss of Heaven allotted to that most horrid Crime Solut. Murther is a crying Sin indeed for it stays not for the Judgment of the World to come but it self begins its own Punishment here the Mutherer being tortured and distracted almost with the representation of the Act alone whilst it is a thing so detestable and repugnant to the very Being of human Nature that in despight of all his endeavours to the contrary he starts and is agast at the horror of it as often as it occurs to his mind though but in sleep when he neither dreads the Sentence of a terrestrial nor celestial Judg. So that when after this Life he shall have no intervention of necessary business to divert his Thoughts from it 't will be terrible and tormentive to him beyond expression since his very Essence will have a perpetual perfect antipathy to it and yet he shall ever be haunted and infested with its ghastly and dreadful visage But besides murtherers are tormented as well as other Sinners by their frustrated desires for Good being the Object of the Will every Creature which is endued therewith has an affection for some or other either real or apparent Good and 't is this latter that the wicked of all sorts ardently affect though they judg in general the state of the glorified Saints to be true felicity and their own condition a state of misery notwithstanding that they can by no means relish the manner of delight which the Blessed have for otherwise there could be no such Pain as Poena Damni the loss of Heaven since none are troubled for the want of that which they have not any respect or esteem at all for whence the very Inconsistency of the Thoughts of the damned concerning true and false Bliss set their minds upon the Rack To which is to be added yet another Torment which afflicts likewise without exception the whole Crew of reprobate Souls to wit the gnawing Viper of Envy and Malice towards the Saints in Bliss in that they obtain their full desires when they themselves are totally deprived of their own SECT VIII The only Evil which is prejudicial to Man in respect of the End for which he was created is Malum Culpae the Evil of Fault and it is either Privative or Positive The former consists in an Aversion from God the latter in a Conversion to the Creature Each of them is called Sin the one Formal the other Material The greatest Alienation of the Heart from God makes the greatest Sinner 1. SEeing it was proved sect 4. that God created Man not for any Good whatsoever to accrue thereby to himself but solely and wholly to communicate Good to his Creature 't is manifest that nothing can harm or prejudice Man in respect of the End for which he was created but that alone which is prejudicial to him in respect of his own final Good which since it has been shewn sect 4. par 13 14. to consist in the perfect Love of God 't is clear that nothing is evil to man as man or created to inherit Bliss but either the very Alienation it self of the Hearts Affection from God or something which causes the same or is an inducement thereunto 2. And since the alienation of the Hearts affection from God is in respect of God an aversion from him and that it is evident there can be no aversion from God in whom there is not any the least appearance of evil but through the inordinate desire of some temporal Benefit or Pleasure which is preferred before him 't is manifest that in these two Aversio à Deo Conversio ad Creaturam an aversion from God and a conversion to the Creature is contained the whole Evil that befall man as man or a rational Creature made to enjoy everlasting Bliss since nothing else can make him fail of being eternally happy 3. And forasmuch as the Evil which is an Aversion from God is a meer Privation of that Love of God which the Soul ought to have towards him 't is plain that actual Evil called by Divines Malum Culpae actualis or Peccatum actuale cannot be placed in an Aversion from God but in a Conversion to the Creature 4. Yet in regard it would be no hindrance to man's Felicity however strongly his Soul were addicted to any temporal Good provided the Soul's Affection to God were not any thing abated thereby 't is clear that Sin formally taken is that Evil which is an Aversion from God and that the Conversion of the Heart to the Creature or the inordinate Love of the World and worldly Vanities is Sin materially only and not formally considered 5. But this notwithstanding since it is not possible but that the Soul which immoderately affects the Creature or the satisfying an inordinate Desire must of necessity have its due Affection to God hindred or abated thereby 't is evident that in every inordinate immoderate Conversion to the Creature there is always necessarily implied and involved an aversion from God because to love two Things God and the World chiefly that is God above the World and the World above God both at the same time is plainly repugnant and impossible in regard of which it is properly sinful or formally a Transgression of the Law of God. 6. Hence
beneficial if sincerely obeyed to every one for promoving his everlasting Welfare and not meerly because it is according to the eternal Rectitude of the Divine Mind for so is also every positive Command of God for whatever God once approves of he eternally approves of as good for what and so long as he intended it for the longer or shorter Continuance of any of Gods Ordinances or Institutions or the more or less usefulness they are of towards the End to be obtained by them makes them neither more nor less agreeable to the eternal Rectitude of the Divine Wisdom which exactly fits every thing the Almighty institutes for the Occasion he intends it with irreversible Council the whole Change which ever happens in Divine Commands being wholly for the Creatures Sake to whose variable Condition in several Ages of the World several different Institutions and Dispensations have been suited by the eternal immutable Wisdom and good Will of God Opera mutat Deus sed non consilia St. August SECT IX Mans Recovery from his laps'd and lost Condition wherein it consists and how wrought Natural ways and means unable of themselves to procure it Supernatural Causes chiefly prevalent to that End. Of these the Free Love of God to Man and the Incarnation of his eternal only begotten Son with the Consequents of it are the chief 1. SInce it has been made apparent First that the Honour wherewith God requires to be eternally glorified is the loving him with all the Heart and with all the Soul and with all the Mind and that so to love him is Mans ultimate End and everlasting Bliss Sect. 4. Secondly That Man by Creation was placed in a Condition through the Rectitude of his Intellect and Integrity of his Will and the due subordination of the inferiour Faculties together with a good Constitution of Body which put him in the direct Way towards the obtaining of that his Ultimate End and chiefest Good. Sect. 4. Thirdly That by eating of the forbidden Fruit Man fell from that Condition wherein he was created into a State of Sin and Misery the latter of which is the necessary conseqent of the former Sect. 5 6. and 7. and Fourthly That Sin is an Aversion from the Creator and a Conversion to the Creature or the deserting the Love of God for the Love of the World Sect. 8. 't is plain that to cause Man to withdraw and take off his Affections from the World and so to place and fix them again on God that he shall at length attain to the full Enjoyment of him in loving him with all his Heart and with all his Soul and with all his Mind is to restore him or to put him again into the Way which shall bring him to the End for which he was created 2. That this could never have been effected by any Natural Means is plain from hence that ever since the native Temper of our first Parents Bodies was corrupted the Objects of sense which before contributed Help and Assistance in their Kind towards the Souls Progress in the Love of God wrought a contrary Effect by alluring the Sensitive Appetite to the immoderate Love of themselves not through any newly acquired Malignity in them but because the Subject receiving them was changed from its first Constitution which being once corrupted the Distemper consequent upon it if not by some means corrected would grow worse For Children by the frequent beating of corporeal Objects on their Senses would be much addicted to those which were grateful to the Carnal Appetite before they grew up to the use of Reason And when they had attained to riper years their Bodies would be grown so hot and their Passions thereby especially being often fomented so strong and violent that they would commonly overbear and sway their Rational Faculties Add to this that Men being prone to be led by the Example of those they converse with the Vices of one another would mutually debauch and confirm them in their inordinate Lusts from all which a general Neglect of God and consequently a gross Ignorance of him would at length ensue The truth of this was so evidently seen among the Gentiles that the Knowledge of the one true God was mostly lost Yea and even those of them who had some right Notions of him did not very well consider the Enjoyment of him by Love to be the sole Sovereign Good of the Soul. Nor were Mens Understandings only exceedingly darkened but their Wills likewise very much vitiated whilst every one through a natural inbred desire to be happy frequently persuing some particular fancied good or other as Wealth Honour Sensual Delights c. which the Constitution of their Bodies their Education Conversation with others or some Occasion or Temptation they met with in the World inclined them to more than to any other Object because so eagerly bent upon their miserable mistaken Felicity that tho the truly chief Good had been demonstrated to their Understandings yet would they not have been induced thereby to endeavour after the Fruition of it as their only Bliss Motives being as necessary for a thorow Amendment to incline the Will as Arguments are to convince the Understanding For as a setled Judgment concerning any supposed Truth cannot be reversed without stronger Reason at least in appearance given than that whereby it is established in the Mind so neither can an Affection rooted in the Will be eradicated but by more powerful Motives than those by which it is fixed there 3. Wherefore seeing then that the Objects of Sense and almost every thing Man is concerned with since the Fall are apt by reason of his corrupted State to alienate his Affections from God 't is clear that Causes not within the Limits of Nature would be necessary to withdraw his Heart from the Love of the World and the false Delights thereof to the Love of God if ever he should arrive at Bliss and such Causes as are not within the Bounds of Nature are supernatural Supernatural Causes therefore are necessary to reduce Man to the Way which leads to the End for which he was created 4. And forasmuch as Man is a Rational Creature and cannot be moved but in a Way agreeable to his Nature without violence offered to the same those supernatural Causes must not force him but connaturally draw and win him by convincing his Understanding of the Truth and by inclining his Will to the Love thereof which are not to be effected but by Arguments and Motives For as the impression of Force is a proper Means whereby to move a Corporeal Substance from one place to another so are Arguments and Motives proper means whereby to draw the Mind off from one Object to another For to say that a Man either assents to or chuses with Reason that for which he sees no Reason general or special so to do appears to be a Contradiction and either to assent unto or to make choice of any thing without Reason is repugnant
efficacious Cause of Mans Eternal Felicity the truth of which shall hereafter God assisting be shown in particular as it hath already been in general SECT XI Faith Hope and Charity are necessary Means for procuring everlasting Bliss Sincere habitual Charity formally expels Mortal Sin and is therefore formal but in compleat Righteousness Perfect Charity formally expells all Sin and is therefore perfect formal Righteousness or the absolute fulfilling of the Divine Law. 1. SInce it is clear by Sect. 8. Solut. of Object 1. that God created Man and gave him a Law not in expectation of any Profit or Pleasure to be acquired to himself but altogether for the Benefit and Delight of Man and that it is likewise proved in Sect. 4. that the End for which Man was created and had a Law given him is the full Fruition of God by perfect Love it necessarily follows in regard the End cannot be obtain'd but by Means available for procuring of it that the Knowledge of the Means available thereto no less than of the End it self is requisite to be had in order to the Acquisition of the perfect Love of God or that full Enjoyment of him which is Mans Ultimate End and eternal Felicity 2. And because Men arrive not at the certain Knowledg of things but either by Demonstration which begets Science or by an inerrable Testimony which creates an infallible Belief 't is clear seeing a Demonstration wherein Felicity consists tho it be a thing in it self demonstrable as appears by Sect. 4. cannot by the generality of Mankind be attained unto much less wherein all the Means available to the obtaining of Felicity some of them being positive and supernatural are placed that a Revelation from God who alone is inerrable was necessary for the Discovery both of the Means of Bliss and of Bliss it self to the World in order to Man's acquiring of Beatitude 3. And forasmuch as that Knowledg which proceeds from and is caused by Divine Revelation is Divine Belief or Faith 't is plain that Divine Faith is required on Man's part towards the obtaining of Felicity 4. And in regard it is ineffectual to the obtaining of Felicity to have firm Belief only wherein it truly consists and what the Means available to procure it are without some farther Progress made towards the getting possession of it which will never be unless a man have Hope by reason of the Divine Promise that in the due use of the means of Bliss he shall acquire the same 't is plain that Divine Hope is likewise requisite as well as Faith for every one that shall eternally be saved 5. And forasmuch as he that has a right Belief both of Bliss and the Means available to it and withal an Assurance that in the due use of the Means Felicity will be attainable by him shall reap no Benefit thereby if he never enter upon a resolved serious Course of making a constant diligent use of those Means which he most certainly will not do unless he first have an unfeigned ardent desire to enjoy the End whereto they tend the eternal Fruition of God 't is evident that the sincere and hearty love of God or Charity proceeding from Faith and Hope for no good Man stedfastly desires what he believes not to be true or has no Hope to obtain is moreover necessary for the acquirment of Felicity 6. And seeing the habitual Love of God above all things is utterly inconsistent with the habitual Love of the World above God 't is manifest that by the accession of the habitual Love of God above all things into the Soul the habitual Love of the World above God is necessarily expelled and consequently that Sin whether taken privatively as an Aversion from God or positively for a Conversion to the Creature which brings everlasting Death and Damnation Sect. 7. whence it is called mortal and damnable Sin. 7. Hence in regard as well Paena sensus as Paena damni are the natural and necessary Result of the perpetual Continuance in sin in the manner before shown Sect. 7. it is manifest that Charity possessing the Soul and thereby freeing it from mortal Sin by formally expelling it out of the same Par. 6. secures it from the Danger both of the loss of Heaven and of incurring the Pains of Hell. 8. And forasmuch as he that is secured from the Danger of Damnation and the Pains of Hell is freed from the Guilt of mortal Sin which is a liableness to be eternally damned and tormented for Sin and that he who is freed from the Guilt of mortal Sin is blameless and innocent in respect of the mortal Breach of the Law which alone creates a mortal Guilt and that he who is blameless and innocent in respect of the mortal Breach of the Law is a righteous Person or acquit by the Law from the Punishment due in respect of such Breach it necessarily follows that Charity in regard it formally expells mortal Sin the mortal Breach of the Law is formal Righteousness or the formal Cause of Justification being that which formally justifies and makes Righteous 9. And as every degree of sincere habitual Charity formally expells mortal Sin and thereby frees the Soul from mortal Guilt and the Consequent of it eternal Pain as well that of the Torments of Hell as of the loss of Heaven so doth perfect Charity formally expel all Sin and consequently remove all Guilt and thence exempt from all Pain and Misery whatsoever For he that loves God with all the Might and Power of his Soul hath thereby of necessity totally rooted out of it all the love of the World and so hath no Sin but is perfectly Righteous and hath fulfilled the Great Commandment or Royal Law Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart and with all thy Soul and with all thy Mind which to do is compleat Righteousness the highest Act of glorifying God and eternal Felicity Object 1. When the Act whereby the Law of God is transgressed be it Adultery Theft or any other Enormity is over the Sin is past and yet the Guilt remains which is contrary to what hath been said Solut. The Sin is not past when the Act of Adultery Theft or any other Enormity is over For since Sin formally taken is a Want or Privation of that sincere hearty Affection which the Soul ought to have unto God as its Sovereign Good Sect. 8. Par. 3 4 't is evident that the Sin still remains tho the materially sinful Act be over so long as there is a Want of the due Love of God in the Soul which there always is till it be habitually endued with Charity And while the Sin remains the Guilt must needs do so but no longer for 't is only while a Man is in the State of mortal Sin that he is obnoxious to eternal Misery and not when he is in the State of Grace or ready Way to Bliss as he evermore is when he has an habitual
hearty Affection unto God Par. 6 7 8. Object 2. The sincere habitual Love to God above all things cannot of it self alone justifie any one because the Divine Law requires that a Man love his Neighbour also as himself Solut. True it doth so but since it is impossible but that he who cordially desires and accordingly stedfastly endeavours to enjoy God eternally should also unfeignedly wish the like to his Neighbour which comprehends all Mankind and assists him when occasion serves in what is necessarily conducible thereunto so far as he well can in doing of which the Duty of loving a Mans Neighbour as himself is fulfilled as will be at large set forth in the Explanation of the Decalogue Sect. 18. and 19. 'T is plain that he who loves God above all things doth in consequence thereto of necessity love his Neighbour like as himself If a Man love me he will keep my Words John 14. 23. And this Commandment have we from him that he who loveth God loves his Brother also 1 John 4. 21. But of this more hereafter in the three last Sections Object 3. If Men be formally justified by their own habitual Righteousness then are they not formally justified by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them But Men are formally justified by the Righteousness of Christ imputed to them Christ is made unto us Righteousness 1 Cor. 1. 30. Therefore Men are not formally justified by their own habitual Righteousness Solut. In answer to the proof of the Minor Proposition viz. That Christ is made unto us Righteousness I return that in the same Text he is likewise said to be made unto us Wisdom and Sanctification and Redemption and therefore if Christ's Righteousness can be proved from thence to be the formal Cause of man's Justification or that man is formally just thereby by the same Text it may be equally and as well proved that man is formally wise and formally holy by the Wisdom and Holiness of Christ which if he truly were then would a justified Person be as just wise and Holy as Christ himself and consequently he ought to have no remorse for any thing he ever did nor to crave pardon for his Sins and by consequence since Sin is a Transgression of the Law unless he no more transgress God's Law than our Blessed Saviour himself did he 'l be a Transgressor of the Law and not a Transgressor of the Law a Sinner and no Sinner at the same time which is impossible Christ's Righteousness therefore in the quoted Text is Metonymically to be understood for the efficient Cause of man's Righteousness even as his Wisdom and Holiness likewise are in respect of our being wise and holy In this sense all the meritorious Doings and Sufferings of Christ may be rightly said to be ours whilst by virtue of them Grace is wrought in our Hearts by which we overcome the Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil so that the Benefit of them really redounds to us and whatever Righteousness we have here or shall have hereafter it is the very effect of the righteousness of Christ For since rational Arguments Motives are the proper inducements whereby a Rational Creature is inclined to Good whilst through them the Understanding is illuminated with Truth and the Will excited to the love of it 't is evident that nothing possibly besides except the immediate irresistible Will of God could so effectually work on mens rational Souls to cause them to forsake the love of the World for the love of God as Arguments and Motives fetcht from the consideration of Christ's love to man his Incarnation Doctrine Conversation Passion Resurrection Ascension Session at the right hand of his Father and his coming to Judgment Whence in very truth those men who in attributing man's formal Righteousness to the Righteousness of Christ made his by imputation through Faith think they attribute more to Christ and give him greater honour than they do that hold the sincere habitual love of God to be the formal cause of Justification are under a manifest Mistake For since Christ is personally God and not personally Man and that the infinite value of his precious merits is from the hypostatical Union of his Manhood with the Deity 't is plain that it is far more excellent and glorious that Christ's righteousness which comprehends the whole merit of all his active and passive Obedience should be the efficient Cause of man's Justification by producing a real habitual Righteousness in his Soul than the formal cause thereof by a meer imputed Righteousness because such imputed Righteousness in case it were possible would be the Righteousness of Christ as man for otherwise a righteous person would be infinitely righteous and consequently be God since nothing is infinitely perfect in any respect whatever but he alone whereas if his Righteousness be the efficient Cause of man's Righteousness it is proper to him as he is both God and Man. But indeed it is impossible that Christ's Righteousness should become formally man's for seeing it is personal and thence a thing extrinsecal to every one but himself 't is not possible to become a formal Cause to others in that a formal Cause whether it be substantial or accidental is an internal Cause and essentially constitutive of the thing whereof it is a Cause For instance Man's Soul is the formal Cause and a substantial essential part of man as man or a rational Animal Prudence is the formal Cause and an accidental essential part of man as he is prudent and so is Temperance of a temperate man and every Abstract else of the Concrete to which it is appropriated For what is a prudent man but one habitually indued with Prudence or a temperate man but one whom the habit of Temperance formally makes such And must not a righteous person by parallel Reason be one habitually possessed of Righteousness If it were not thus but that on the contrary a prudent man could be prudent by the Prudence of another without the Habit of Prudence within himself then were it possible that a man might be prudent though really imprudent in all his doings and so be prudent and utterly imprudent at once And if a man could be temperate without the Virtue of Temperance inherent in him he might possibly be temperate when he wallowed in the Sink of all filthy Pleasures and thence be temperate and not at all temperate at the same time And so in like manner if a man could be righteous by the Righteousness of another without any inherent Righteousness of his own he might possibly at the same instant be righteous and a notorious Transgressor of God's Law and consequently be a just and unjust person a Sinner and no Sinner both together If it were replied that God always in the very moment wherein Christ's Righteousness through Faith is imputed to any man infuses entire holiness into his Soul so that he exactly keeps every Divine Precept I would make this
therefore shall Christ's Appearing when he comes to judge the World be with Power and Great Glory Then shall all the Tribes of the Earth mourn and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the Clouds of Heaven with Power and great Glory Matth. 24. 30. to the end that the Wicked on the one hand beholding plainly with their Eyes his Glorious Appearance may be convinced of the justness of their Condemnation in being rejected and cast for ever from the Presence of God which is that Portion of their Misery called Poena Damni Sect. 7. because they preferred the Satisfaction of their sinful Lusts and vain Desines the perpetual Frustration whereof is that other share of their Torment named Poena sensus Sect. 7. before the Fruition of their great and glorious Maker and Redeemer And that the Godly on the other hand seeing Christ coming in his Glory may meet him with ineffable Joy to enter upon the Possession of his Beatific Presence to be everlastingly enjoy'd because they despised the fulfilling of their Lusts and wicked Desires here for the Fruition of Him hereafter to Eternity If it be objected that Christ shall at length deliver up the Kingdom to his Father that God may be all in all 1 Cor. 15. 28. And that therefore it seems that the Father alone shall be the sole Object of Mans Bliss in Heaven I answer that Christ delivering up the Kingdom to his Father signifies his leaving off or ceasing from his Mediatory Office whereby he was constituted King for the Protection of the Church and not that He shall not reign eternally together with his Father for otherwise why is it said that of his Kingdom there shall be no end Luke 1. 33. The Word God therefore in the 1 Cor. 15. 28. is not to be understood of the Father alone but of the whole Trinity accordingly as Doctor Hammond explicates it in his Paraphrase on the Place When all is subdued to Christ then shall Christ lay down that Office viz. of his Mediatorship which till then he exerciseth and then shall God the Father Son and Holy Ghost fill all the Elect with Glory and Bliss eternally Object 5. Although formal Righteousness be that Love of God in the Soul which expels out of it mortal Sin here and all Sin hereafter Yet if Christ came into the World only to take away Sin by introducing Charity into the Soul what doth Satisfaction Redemption Salvation Propitiation and Reconciliation made and obtained by Christ intend and signifie Solut They intend and signifie that God the Father through the gracious Intervention of his eternal Son consubstantial and co-equal with Himself wrought Salvation for lost Mankind whilst his Incarnation and the Consequents of it which he undertook for Man are the intermediate efficient cause proceeding from Gods Love of Benevolence the Principal Cause by which the Salvation of every one that comes to Bliss is really and powerfully effected and contain that Worth Virtue and Vigor as would be of efficacy enough to save the whole World yea infinite Worlds if they were possible besides But notwithstanding this seeing Man is neither converted nor perseveres in Grace nor goes to Bliss that is neither obtains Charity nor keeps Charity nor is perfected in Charity without his own voluntary Consent 't is apparent that the Merits of Christ are the efficient Cause of Mans eternal Welfare by really and effectually working preserving and perfecting the Love of God in the Soul whilst by Christs Heavenly Doctrine Mans understanding is divinely illuminated with the Knowledg of saving Truth and through that and the serious Consideration of his gracious and wonderful Actings and Sufferings in behalf of Man his Will is powerfully converted to God. Forasmuch then as sincere habitual Charity destroys mortal Sin Par. 6. and thereupon so far brings Man in favour with God or so near to him that he is freed from everlasting Destruction Par. 7. and that perfect Charity wholly extirpates all Sin Par. 9. and thereby constitutes Man in full favour or throughly unites him to God is it not clear and evident that Christ in cleansing the Soul through his Merits from Sin makes up the Breach it had caused between God and Man and so reconciles and brings them again together And is he not an effectual Mediator by whose means they are reconciled together who would otherwise have been at as great difference and distance as Heaven and Hell could make them And in regard unrighteous men are the Servants of Sin Rom. 6. 20. and that St. Peter speaking of the Servants of Corruption saith of whom a man is overcome of the same he is brought in Bondage 2 Pet. 2. 19. and that our Blessed Saviour himself testifieth that Whosoever commiteth Sin is the Servant or Slave of Sin John 8. 34. is it not plain that Christ inasmuch as by his Merits he effectually working Charity in the Soul doth truly deliver thereby from the Bondage and Slavery of Sin has really wrought through his Merits mans Redemption and is thence rightly called his Redeemer And because everlasting Damnation and the Pains of Hell are the unavoidable Consequents and Result of Sin unrepented of is not Christ in that he works Repentance and thereby saves men from eternal Destruction a true and real Saviour And in regard the Breach and Distance caused by Sin between God and Man could not be made up but by means sufficiently powerful to effect the same and that Christ did that by his Merits or Doings and Sufferings which was sufficiently powerful to make up the Breach and Distance between God and Man and that when nothing else was able to do it Sect. 9. is he not on good grounds said to have made a full Atonement and Satisfaction for Sin Not that God was ever affected with Anger and his Wrath really appeased it being impossible that there should be any alteration or change in God who is immutable Sect. 1. Par. 8. and without all variableness or shadow of turning James 1. 17. So that God loved us even when we were Sinners and Enemies Rom. 5. 8 10. and St. John says Herein is love not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the Propitiation for our Sins 1 John 4. 10. Wherefore since there was no want of Love to wit of Benevolence for with the love of Complacency or Delight God cannot affect Sinners in the Almighty towards the making up the Breach and Distance between himself and man the whole failure of Love was on mans side whose Heart in that it was so fast wedded and glued to the World that neither the Consideration of the glorious and gracious Work of the Creation nor of the great and daily Mercy of Divine Providence proved Motives prevalent enough to make a Divorce and Separation between them some more potent Motive was necessary for the doing of it And because every Creature must needs fall infinitely short of affording such a Motive man
and Motives for inducing men to despise the Vanities of the World and to fix their Affections on God and to pursue with diligence the Means available to the full enjoyment of him Lastly It affords far more endearing Considerations of Encouragement to bear with patience Reproches Injuries and all manner of Afflictions which befalmen in the whole course of this miserable Life Object 2. If the Design of Religion be to cause men to forsake the Love of the World and the vain and false Allurements of it what Rational Account can be given of the Temporal Ordinances Rites and Cercmonies of the Jewish Law which in appearance have small or no Tendency thereto Solut. That the Moral Law which directly requires the Love of God and of a man's Neighbour was the principal part of the Mosaical Dispensation is clear by our Saviour's Answer to the Scribe who said that to love God with all the Heart and with all the Vnderstanding and with all the Soul and with all the Strength and to love a man's Neighbour as himself was more than all whole burnt Offerings and Sacrifices which is this Thou art not far from the Kingdom of Heaven Mark 12. 33 34. And therefore although there be peradventure some Precepts in Mose's Law which are so purely arbitrary as to be fulfilled in the meer willing observance of them yet God's Design in inuring the Jews to Acts of simple Obedience was questionless this that they might be the more willing and ready to obey him in those things which directly made for their eternal Good. For to give a Command without an intention of Good in some respect or other to man by the performance of it is repugnant to Reason and contradictory to the wisdom and goodness of God Sect. 8. Sol. of Object 1 2 3. But besides it is not a thing easily to be granted that the Temporal Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies of the Judaical Law were so purely arbitrary as they seem upon a slight view to be For since all good Laws respect man's Good that his chief Good is the perfect Love of God and that every thing besides is only for good to him as it contributes in some respect or other thereunto Sect. 5. Par. 1. it necessarily follows that all Laws given by God to Man were intended to be a means of bringing him by the observance of them to the love of himself as his sole sovereign good and by consequence that the Mosaical Law was given to the Jews to win that People by ways convenient and agreeable to their Tempers to set their Affections on God. For though the Motives which it proposed were Promises and Threats of temporal Rewards and Punishments and the Ordinances of it mostly certain Rites and Ceremonies yet were they truly suitable to that Nation whose Hearts were generally gross and childish as the Apostle Paul not obscurely hints saying Till the fulness of time was come the Jews were as Children in Bondage under the Rudiments of the World Gal. 4. 3. that is I conceive as Children are first taught their Rudiments because not capable of better Learning till of riper years so were the Jews instructed by weak and poor means till the World was grown to an Age fit for higher Documents And why mens minds were more gross and terrene towards the Infancy of the World Thomas Albius in his Appendix to Institut Peripâ—tet gives a very probable account However that de facto it was so at least as to the Jews doth appear by their frequent murmuring and revolting even after they had often tasted of the extraordinary goodness of God whenever they disgusted their present Temporal State and Condition For we may infer from thence that if God had told them by his Servant Moses of Spiritual Joys they should have after this life instead of the good Land of Canaan flowing with Milk and Honey if they would obey and keep his Commandments and Statutes such Doctrin would have found small Acceptance the Truth of which if perchance questioned because of the Constancy of the Babylonish Captives in their Religion this I think may well suffice for Answer that part of the Prophecy which told of their carrying to Babylon being fulfilled gave them assurance that as the violation of the Law had occasioned their bringing into Captivity so their close adherence to it for the future would procure their own or their Posterities Restorement to their Native Countrey and Freedom Seeing then the Hearts of the Jewish People were such as that the most connatural way to bring them to love God was by delivering them from Servitude and bodily Dangers and by Promises of temporal Good and Threats of temporal Evil 't is plain the love of worldly good things was so setled in their Minds that the Almighty sought not to be beloved by excluding the love of them out of their Hearts but by gaining their Affections through them whilst he endeavoured to manifest that the whole Earth was his and the fulness thereof to the end they might depend on his Bounty and love him for the same which whosoever of them really did God acquired thereby a Pre-eminence in their Affections forasmuch as the due Consideration thereof would beget a greater love of the Giver than of the Gift For whose seriously reflects that all Good comes from God and that the possession and enjoyment of it proceeds from his bountiful Kindness without any precedent Merit on man's part must needs acknowledg his Gracious Goodness to be such as that he ought to relie thereon as the Sovereign Good and Fountain from which whatsoever he enjoys flows and in so doing his Affections will be carried thereto accordingly that is chiefly and above all Earthly things Thus we see the Reason of the Motives to the Love of God peculiar to the Jews The Temporal Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies of whose Law also however they may seem at first sight to have been Commands relating only to a bare Obedience required in the performance of them were in very deed proper and fit Means to keep the Jewish Nation from Idolatry and to make them observe the substantial part of the Law which was to love God above all things and their Neighbour as themselves Hence the Ordinances of the Paschal Lamb and of unleavened Bread were instituted for Helps to keep God's wonderful Mercy and Kindness to them in freeing them from the Egyptian Bondage in perpetual remembrance that they might ever be reminded to praise laud and magnifie him and consequently to love him for the same Hence their Purifications and Oblations for Sin were ordained to bring their Transgressions to mind that they should acknowledg them and turn from them by Repentance to God. Yea and the seemingly insignificant Ceremonious rites were appointed as things useful for walls of separation between the Jews and Gentiles round about them to withold them from their Idolatries wicked practices of Magical Superstitions and Whoredoms frequent among them for they stood in
opposition to the customs of the Nations adjoyning to the Land of Judea as we are assured from Learned men out of Maimon for I never had a sight of his Writings my self who proveth out of ancient Books that the Precepts of the Jewish Law of this kind are still with a Reflex upon the Heathen Rites and not of those only of simple Idolatry but most of all such as were complicated with magical and unreasonable Superstition and that the respect of those Laws were not so large and indistinct as to look on all the Heathens in general but in particular to the Egyptians Canaanites Chaldeans and Amorites Yea the same Author it is said hath reconciled the strangeness of the Ceremonial Precepts to any man's proportion of Reason and Belief of which I 'le produce one Instance It is forbidden that any man of Israel should eat Blood. Also it is commanded that the Blood be sprinkled on the Altar and moreover that it be covered with dust or spilt on the ground as water Some of the Zabii did use to eat the Blood some others who reckoned this to inhumanity at the killing of a Beast reserved the Blood and gathered it up into a Vessel or Trench and then sitting down in a Circle about the Blood they ate up the Flesh and satisfied themselves with an Opinion that their Daemons fed upon the Blood entertaining a strong Conceit that this manner of sitting at the same Table with their Gods would engage them to a nearer Tye of Conversation and Familiarity and promising to themselves also that the Spirits would insinuate themselves in Dreams and render them capable of Prophecy and things to come In reference to these Ways of the Amorites God expresly forbad his People to eat Blood for so some of the Zabii did and to meet with others who gathered it up into a Vessel he commanded the Blood should be spilt on the ground like Water And because they ate their Sacrifice in a Circle round about the Blood he also commanded that the Blood should be sprinkled not about but upon the Altar Mr. Gregory of Oxford in his Notes and Observations upon several Passages of Scripture Chap. 19. More Instances of the like sort may be seen in Dr. Stillingfleet's Origin Sacr. Book 2. Ch. 7. Where he writeth that the Precept against Woollen and Linnen was occasioned because the Idolatrous Priests went so cloathed That the Jews were forbidden to round the Corners of their Heads because it was the Custom of the Arabians and others of the Babylonian Priests to round them That because the Idolaters threatened all Parents that their Children would never live unless they caused them to pass through the Fire was that strict Prohibition of giving their children to Molech which was by that custom of passing through the Fire These and several other Precepts of the Law of Moses are deduced saith the Doctor by that very Learned Rabbi Maimonides from Idolatrous Customs as the Occasions of them which seems to have the more Reason says he because that God in the general forbad the Jews to walk after the Custom of the Nations about them Levit. 20. 23. Thus by what in the whole has been said of the Jewish Law it appears that it had a Tendency to the same great End which both the Law of Nature and the Christian Law look unto namely the Love of God as sole Sovereign Good of the Soul. SECT XIII Nothing is available to Felicity but as it contributes to Charity The nature of the two Theological Virtues Faith and Hope and how they become useful and beneficial to the obtaining and encreasing of Charity 1 SInce the ultimate End not only of Mans Creation Sect. 4. but of his Redemption also Sect. 9. is his own Eternal Felicity and that Felicity consists in the perfect Love of God clearly seen Sect. 4. 't is evidently consequent that neither Faith nor Hope nor the moral Virtues nor any Duty nor Ordinance nor Institution whatsoever is at all available to everlasting Bliss save only as in some kind or other they contribute to Charity either in helping to procure it to preserve it to augment it or to compleat it provided Charity begun here in this world and that which is Felicity in the next differ not in nature but only in degree 2. And that Felicity is the same Charity perfected in the other World which is begun in this is manifest both from Reason and Scripture For since the Love of God apprehended by Faith and the Love of God proceeding from Vision have both of them God as he is the sole Sovereign Good of the Soul for their only Object they are of the very same Nature each of them being a Complacency or Delight taken in God under the self same Notion to wit as he is the Supream Good of Man so that albeit the Love which proceeds from Vision by reason of the clearer knowledg it affords of God must needs be greater then the Love which comes by Faith yet their difference is not in essence but in degree only Neither doth Reason give Testimony to the Truth thereof alone but Scripture also which expresly tells us that Charity never faileth 1. Cor. 13. 8. Object 1. If the Love of God in this and in the World to come be both of them Charity how comes Charity here to be accounted a Theological Virtue together with Faith and Hope which are only Means and Furtherers of Bliss and Charity hereafter Bliss it self Solut. The reason is because Charity here doth not always proceed to and necessarily end in Charity hereafter and therefore is looked upon as an Help to Felicity rather than any degree thereof though in verity it be in all those who finally lose it not but depart hence habitually endued therewith Felicity really begun in them to be compleated and perfected in Heaven Paragr 2. 3. Faith is the first in order of the Theological Virtues because the Foundation of the Christian Religion quoad nos whilst by it we are ascertained of the whole Mystery of the Gospel of Christ For what is Faith in general but Knowledge grounded on Testimony to which an assent is given And what Christian Faith in particular but the Belief of Christ's Doctrine upon the account of his Divine Word relating or testifying the same unto us Hence it will certainly be that whosoever believes the Holy Scripture will believe the Incarnation Life Death Resurrection Ascension and coming to Judgment of our Saviour Jesus Christ and that either superficially and carelesly or cordially and concernedly if the former he does it not to that intent the Belief of them was proposed by God and so no wonder if he be not bettered by it but if the latter his Belief will be apt to work an answerable Love in him towards the Author and Offerer of such transcendent Kindness as in the Gospel is held forth and therefore the more firm and frequent acts of Faith he exercises the more
read with diligence and devotion the holy Scripture to frequent the hearing of the Word preached and to meditate often on the Contents of Sacred Writ how can it otherwise be but that he should by so doing acquire a firm and stedfast pious Belief of Divine Truths revealed by Christ and his Apostles 13. And in regard that he whose Petition to God is unfeigned and ardent and withal frequently used for obtaining of Hope and putting his Trust and Confidence in God that he will be graciously pleased to excite his Desires and prosper his Endeavours for the attainment of Bliss will doubtless be induced thereby to refrain from those things which he knows must destroy all hope of Salvation and to addict himself to a stricter Course of Life than he had formerly led and so by the daily Use and Exercise of such Ways and Means as are conducible to Felicity he 'l increase his Hope till it grow by degrees into an Habit. 14. And as for Charity whosoever heartily and with earnestness and constancy of Desire to attain to the Love of God above all things makes his humble address to the Heavenly Throne for the same it cannot otherwise fall out but that he must often be put upon the serious consideration of the unmerited great Love of God to Man in creating preserving and redeeming him of the transcendent value of the immense and endless Joys of Heaven and of the Vanity of the short and transitory Pleasures of this World which if pursued will bring him to intolerable and perpetual Misery whence he 'l learn to despise all sublunary fading Delights in comparison of the everlasting enjoyment of his most gracious Maker Sustainer and Saviour the greater and greater desire of which in his Heart cannot chuse but grow by an ardent constancy in Prayer for the same till Charity be habitually seated in the Soul. 15. Thus we see that Prayer if it be such as God commands doth certainly as a subordinate Cause under himself who is the principal Author of all good whatsoever always prove an effectual Means of instilling every Virtue both Theological and Moral into the Soul of Man so that all other Virtues not here particularly treated of as Humility Patience c. are as effectually got by fervent and frequent Prayer proceeding from a sincere affection and desire of them as those which have been handled be Yea and temporal Blessings both for our selves and others are also obtained of God by devout Prayer when the Divine Wisdom sees the bestowing of them will be a Means to improve in Godliness for the Prayers sake the Souls of those for whom the Prayer is made 16. And if Prayer rightly made be so potent and prevalent to procure the Habits of Virtue as we have seen it is how much more easily will it preserve them being once obtained since every time we seriously pray after the Soul is possessed with the habitual Love of God we are exercising and cultivating Faith Hope and Charity whilst he that loves God above all things firmly resolves that the grand and main Design of his whole Life shall be a continued Tendency through God's gracious Assistance towards the perpetual Fruition of him in Heaven so that whenever he makes his pious Addresses to God in Prayer they are always performed in Faith or a stedfast Belief of the Truth and faithful Performance of all Gospel Revelations and Promises and in an assured Hope and Confidence in the Mercy and Goodness of God towards him from the unfeigned Love he finds he has to God so that the more a pious man pray the more he exercises the Graces of Faith Hope and Charity whence their Habits must needs be confirmed and strengthened accordingly 17. The like is also true of the Moral Virtues whose Habits are corroborated and more firmly fixed by the devout Prayers of a godly person for the better one is established in Faith Hope and Charity the greater Vigilancy and Diligence will he use to subdue and keep under by Temperance his carnal appetite to do right by Justice to every one and to strive through Fortitude against all sinful Temptations and the practice of those Virtues cannot fail to invigorate and fortifie them proportionably to the measure thereof Object 1. Why may not you 'l say the meer Consideration of the necessity of Virtue for the obtaining of Blis put men upon the practice of all such things as are apt either to procure it or to keep it when it is procured And if it may what peculiar Excellency or benefit is there in devout Prayer Solut. That the sole Consideration if serious and frequent of the necessity of Virtue in order to Felicity will excite men to desire and seek after it and if already acquired to preserve it there 's no doubt to be made But nevertheless there is a Benefit peculiar to Prayer above and beyond the Utility of such Consideration For First in applying our selves to God who is our sole supream Good we fix our Thoughts more steadily on the Means available to the gaining thereof when we earnestly beg them of him to that end yea and the very Consideration of the Necessity of Virtue will it self be much improved and heightned thereby Secondly Whenever we devoutly pray we comport our selves with great reverence and Humility as before the Throne of God which rendring the Action of Prayer serious and sacred makes it to work a deeper impression of the Virtue prayed for in our Thoughts than the bare consideration of the Virtue without such Prayer would do Thirdly When with earnestness of Desire we petition our heavenly Father to grant us his merciful Assistance for the obtaining any Virtue we on our parts plainly engage our selves thereby to him to employ our own Care and Endeavours towards the acquiring thereof which must needs cause a stronger inclination in the Soul and a more sedulous diligence in our Actions to obtain the Virtue petitioned for than the sole Consideration of the Benefit thereof towards Bliss could possibly do Fourthly There is nothing more quickens the Desire and encourages the Endeavours after any thing we highly value than a well grounded Hope to obtain it by the Means used to obtain it by and we have his Promises who is no less faithful than able to perform that if we ask not amiss as we never do when we pray for Virtue with Sincerity Fervency and Constancy of Mind as is clear by what has been said in this Section we shall most certainly have our Request Object 2. If Sincerity Fervency and Frequency of Prayer be necessary for the acquiring of Virtue it is but rarely I fear attain'd unto for although many pray frequently and with a real desire of what they pray for yet are there but few that do it with much earnestness or fervency of Spirit Solut. There are several degrees of Fervency or Earnestness the lowest of all which and Sincerity of Affection always implies some degree thereof if
it be accompanied with frequency of Prayer issuing from an affectionate Heart will in a longer continuance of time effect as much as an higher degree thereof in a shorter so that all devout Prayer constantly kept to will at length though some sooner than other procure the Habit of Virtue prayed for Object 3. Very few are so intent in Prayer but that their Minds are often distracted and turned away from their due Object to thoughts of Vanity and how then should Prayer be of that efficacy as either to beget in such an Habit of Virtue or to preserve and strengthen it if it be obtain'd Solut. He that when he goes to pray unfeignedly desires and really strives to pray without distraction and yet finds his Mind carried away to Objects not intended will certainly be troubled in Spirit thereat which shews that that distraction is against his Will and caused by the agitation of the Phantasms in the Brain which he can neither prevent the motion of there nor the vision of them in the Soul no more than a man can hinder or avoid the sight of a thing passing by him directly before his Eyes So that such distraction as is here mentioned is involuntary and nothing that is involuntary is sinful But to take away all scruple that it is involuntary let him that is distracted in Prayer repeat over such passages at least where his Thoughts wandered which in private Devotion any one may well do till he mind their Sense and then he may be assured his preceding distraction will prove no prejudice to the prevalent effectualness of his Prayer Object 4. Forgiveness of Sin is a thing necessary to Salvation but what absolute certainty is there that every one that begs the pardon of it how unfeignedly fervently and constantly soever he doth it shall obtain remission thereof when it is wholly in God's power and pleasure whether he will pardon the same or no Solut. Since Sin is an Aversion from God and a conversion to the Creature sect 8. par 3 4 5. when the Heart is truly converted to God from the Love of the world and really and sted fastly prefers the fruition of him before the enjoyment of worldly pleasures Mortal Sin is expelled out of the Soul and taken away and consequently the penalty thereof eternal Damnation is quitted and voided the forsaking of Sin and the pardon of Sin going always of necessity together sect 11. par 6 7 8. Whence it is manifest that since he who in sincerity of heart craves pardon of his Sins and strives in Prayer to God with fervency and constancy of Devotion for the same will continuing so to do abhor his former Transgressions and leaving off his sinful manner of Life turn by true Repentance unto God and take delight in him as his sole supream Good it is manifest I say that unfeigned fervent and frequent Prayer doth evermore obtain Remission of Sin. Nor doth this at all gainsay that absolute Verity that God only forgiveth Sin seeing he alone both instituted the Means which take away Sin and gives them also Virtue to do it But to think that God ever withholds his Mercy and Kindness when men are immediately disposed by due preparation to receive them is a gross Opinion vilifying the Nature of God who is essential Goodness and repugnant to plain Scripture which assureth us that when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his Soul alive Ezek. 18. 27. Yea we have Truth it self verifying and sweetly insinuating unto us from his own sacred Mouth how ready God is to embrace men returning to him by the comfortable Parable of the Prodigal Son whom repenting of his riotous wicked living the Father received with as free and kind an heart as if he had never in the least gone astray nor once done amiss Luke 15. But nevertheless it is very dangerous to defer the use of Means which lead to Repentance even omitting the Consideration of the hazard of sudden Death and that Habits the longer they continue stick the closer not only because without that there is no Repentance unless miraculously wrought which it is great impiety to presume upon but also because when men lie sick and in pain their Affliction though it may cause remorse for Sin will not especially if it be smart and pungent permit them to exercise Prayer as it ought to be and consequently the habit of Charity not got thereby they will die in their Sins Object 5. By the account that has been given of Prayer it should seem to be a vain thing to pray for others because our Prayers for them work not on their Affections as they are apt to do on our own and yet it is a Duty injoyned us to pray for a Neighbour as well as for our selves Solut. Although we do not always profit others in praying for them yet we constantly benefit our selves in the hearty doing of it for whilst we earnestly desire their spiritual or eternal Good the only things to be absolutely prayed for Par. 4. we cannot chuse but be affected thereby towards that which we wish for them And therefore the Commandment given to pray for our Neighbour is not in vain albeit our Prayers should do him no good For if every man in the World should often and cordially pray for every other man as he ought to do every one alive would have benefit in praying for his Neighbour by augmenting his own Love both to God and Man thereby But besides the Prayers of the Faithful do alway profit their Neighbour in due Circumstances for in case he be truly penitent and earnestly crave the Prayers of some holy Person or of the Church the Prayers offered to God for him will undoubtedly do him good whilst his Opinion of their Piety and consequently of their Favour with God will encourage his Trust and Confidence in God's Mercy for their Prayers sake and thence elevate his Affection to God for the hope of Mercy and Kindness from God and Affection to God go still hand in hand and mutually of necessity strengthen each other Yea though there be no Request made by the party prayed for the Prayers of the Godly when performed with very great ardency constancy of Devotion as the Prayers of the pious Mother Monica for her Son Augustine were will undoubtedly obtain their desired event because in that they are for certain the effect of the special Grace of God they cannot fail of an happy issue lest otherwise God's own Work continued in should not have the event which it designedly by the Divine Favour tended to Object 6. Miracles have been obtained by Prayer which because they interrupt the Course of natural Causes instituted by God seems to import a Change in God's Mind which has been said to be immutable or however that the influence such Prayer had was wholly upon God and not at all upon Man.
sect 13 14. which perfected is Felicity it evidently follows that there is not any Vice mortally vicious or finally prejudicial to Man's Felicity save only by reason of Charity 's inconsistency with it But it is impossible that those who either through Infidelity never believe or through Apostasie fall from the belief that there is an eternal Being which ought to be belov'd above all things should place their Affections on God and equally impossible that they who either through Presumption or Despair will not make use of the necessary Means should attain to the End to be acquired by them Whence it is manifest that every one of these Vices are Mortal Sins and necessarily if not forsaken destructive of Salvation If it be replied that every Sin is a Transgression of the Law and every Transgression of the Law a Mortal Sin no less than Infidelity Apostasie Presumption and Despair and therefore destructive of Salvation as well as they I grant it to be true in every one abiding in the State of sinful Nature for since such a Man's Will is habitually vitiated with the Love of the World above the Love of God every Act proceeding from that Source or Principle will partake of its Nature and Disposition and all such Love is Mortal Sin Sect. 8. par 5. But to him that is in the State of Grace or endued with the Habit of Charity which is Formal Righteousness sect 11. pa. 6 7 8. I deny that any single sinful Act or Transgression of the Law is Mortal unless it be such as either by the grossness of it or else by the perverse wilfulness of committing it destroys the Habit of Charity in the Soul for it is impossible that that Man should suffer the Pains of Hell who habitually loves God above the World and prefers the enjoyment of him before all Terrestrial Pleasures sect 11. pa. 6 7. albeit thro' infirmity and the frailty of human Nature he sometimes transgress in smaller Matters some part of the Law of God. Object 2. Faith and Hope seem very excellent Virtues in themselves Faith in that it owns the Truth of God in readily assenting and firmly adhering to those mysterious Truths revealed in the Scripture which wholly transcend all our Reason and Apprehension And Hope in that it owns the infinite Power and Goodness of God such Faith and Hope being required as Conditions of our Salvation and that God may be righteous in absolving and saving Sinners Rom. 3. v. 24 25 26 27. Whence it appears that they are on these accounts abstracting from this that they are Ministerial to Charity necessary to Salvation Solut. That the owning the Truth of God by readily assenting and firmly adhering to the Mysterious Truths revealed in the Scripture and the owning the infinite Power and Goodness of God are any Virtues when they are not accompanied with Charity besides for the reason shewn sect 13. par 1. therefore deny because the Devil not only gives a most firm assent to every Divine Truth revealed in the Scripture as knowing it to be the Word of God and therefore infallibly true but also owns upon the same account the infinite Power and Goodness of God as they are there in every respect declared and set forth and yet he is not at all virtuous in doing of either yea the stronger his Assent is to their Truth the more wicked he is because he has not Charity answerable to his Knowledg in that he loves not God as the only Sovereign Good of all rational and intelligent Creatures when he most certainly knows that he ought to be so beloved by them If it be alledged that Faith in the Objection is to be understood of a Divine Faith I return that if an Assent given to a Divine Truth upon the Credit of a Divine Testimony be Divine Faith the Devil's Belief of the Truths revealed in the Scripture is a Divine Faith But if by Faith be meant a Saving Faith then I grant the Devil is void thereof because his Faith is not accompanied with Charity for all Faith without Charity is nothing worth in reference to Salvation 1 Cor. 13. 2. 7. As the principal Aim and Drift of the Precepts of the former Table of the Decalogue is the Love of God as Mans chiefest Good Par. 6. so hath the Loving of our Neighbour likewise its Consummation therein For since Rational Nature is the same in all men and consequently the same End appointed for all Mankind 't is clear that every Man in that he is a Man is obliged to wish and further the same final Good and the Necessary Means conducible to it to every one and this is that which is truly loving a Mans Neighbour as himself whilst every other good one man ought to do to another is a thing extrinsecal to man as man and depends as to the Obligation thereto on prudential Motives or mutual Consent explicit or implicit or formal Contracts for the Preservation or Comfort of the animal Life and is not so much as to be absolutely prayed for even for our selves Sect. 15. Par. 3. and then certainly not of necessity to be absolutely wished or done to others as their final good Estate and what necessarily conduceth to the obtaining of it evermore are 8. Seeing then to love a mans Neighbour as himself is heartily to wish and desire that he may enjoy the same necessary good with himself and to contribute his Assistance when occasion requires to the furthering thereof and that eternal Felicity is that necessary good consisting in the perfect Love of God Sect. 4. Par. 13. it is plain that in heartily wishing and endeavouring also when occasion serves that our Neighbour may attain to the sincere Love of God here and the perfect Love of God hereafter We love our Neighbour as our selves and thereby keep all the six last Commandments 9. And forasmuch as no man can possibly heartily wish to another either Grace or Glory but because of his own real desire thereto for himself first had it is manifest that he who loves his Neighbour as himself doth evermore first at least in order of nature love God as his chiefest Good. 10. And because the sincere Love of God or Charity is formal Righteousness and that formal Righteousness doth formally justifie Sect. 11. Par. 8. it directly follows that a man is formally Righteous or justified before in order of Nature at least he love his Neighbour as himself and consequently that the Love of our Neighbour is not any part of formal Righteousness but a necessary Effect and Consequent thereof which will farther appear to be a Truth from hence that as on the one side he who desires and endeavours by his Council and Prayers his Neighbours Felicity though he never attain thereto performs his Duty to him and thereby fulfils the Precepts of the latter Table if so be he did them for the Love he bears to God because such Love doth justifie so on the other side
that he who for Lucres sake or for Ostentation of his Parts or the like unworthy End by rightly instructing his Neighbour and advising him well truly converts him to God is no more righteous thereby than if he had done him no good at all so that it is neither by reason of the Benefit which befalls a mans Neighbour by his Endeavours for his good nor by reason of the Endeavours themselves but because of the true Love of God in the Heart exciting him to profit his Neighbour in reference to Salvation what he can that a man is justified Yea that Love we owe to our Neighbour is of a different Kind or Species from that wherewith we love God the former being the Love of Benevolence the latter the Love of Complacency for we do not make our Neighbour the Object of Felicity or any coordinate part thereof with God but desire that he may enjoy the same Object together with us which will make us both for ever happy Object 3. If formal Righteousness or the fulfilling of the whole Moral Law consists in the sincere Love of God and not at all in the loving a man's Neighbour as himself it should seem that the Love to a man's Neighbour is not absolutely necessary to Salvation because a justified Person if he depart this World in that Condition cannot at last fail of being for ever blessed Solut. When a man has attained to the sincere Love of God himself and knows as he cannot otherwise chuse but do from the Light of Nature that he ought in a matter of necessary Concern to do as he would be done unto and that eternal Felicity is such to all others as well as to himself he must except he 'l contradict his own Thoughts and forsake his true Love to God wish and promote likewise when opportunity serves his Neighbours Felicity which evidently makes it out that a man cannot possibly be saved unless he love his Neighbour as himself At length then it sufficiently appears in general that the formal reason of keeping the six last Precepts of the Decalogue as well as the four first is placed in that Charity which is the Love of God above all things and by consequence that in the Privation of that Love is the formal Breach of the whole Moral Law the truth of both which as to the six last Commandments shall for clearer evidence be in particular explicated and declared in the next Section SECT XIX There is not any one Precept of the latter Table of the Decalogue truly kept but when it is observed out of Love to God nor is there a real Breach of any of them but when the Soul is either deprived of the Love of God or has the same abated and weakned in it by the Omission of something which is required or by the Commission of something which is forbidden 1. THE fifth Commandment of the Decalogue or first of the Second Table is Honour thy Father and Mother where by Father and Mother I take to be understood according to the usual Paraphrase not our natural Parents only but the Father of our Country also and those whom he sets over us in the Civil Magistracy as likewise our Spiritual Fathers and other Instructers in good Literature and Virtue All and every one of these we are by this Precept bound to honour which is if the act be internal to acknowledg and own in our Minds an Excellency or Eminency in the Person to be honoured above our selves but if the act be external then the Honour required is to express by outward Signs the inward acknowledgment and owning of the honoured Person 's Excellency in our hearts which Excellency since it doth not consist in any essential difference the Sovereign and Subject Father and Son Priest and People Masier and Scholar having all the same Human Nature and the same Definition as they are Men the Excellency of the Sovereign above his Subject of the Father above his Child of the Priest above his People and of the Master above his Scholar must be gathered from the Relation which is between every one of them respectively in regard of which all the former are truly and manifestly superiour in Excellency to the latter whilst from the King as such the Subject has Protection of Life and Estate from the Parents Children receive their natural Being and means of Education from the Priest the People have Spiritual Instruction and many other Helps of Salvation and from the Master the Scholar reaps the Benefit of Learning and good Discipline Whence it appears that the true Ground and Reason of the Honour required by this Commandment is the Good and Benefit which every one to whom Honour is due thereby either actually affords or is in a Capacity and under an Obligation by the Relation he stands in when a just occasion serves to confer And forasmuch as none can be bettered by any Good unless it be applied to him 't is necessary that every one who expects Benefit from his Superiour be obedient to him that is be willing and ready to be directed guided and ruled by him and thus comes Obedience as well as Honour to be due by the Fifth Commandment But yet in regard nothing is absolutely good to us not very Life it self Sect. 15. Par. 3. save only our Supream Good the whole Benefit we get by our Prince Priest Parents and Masters is then alone truly profitable to us in order to the End for which we were created when the use we make thereof proceeds from the Love of God and tends to the Eternal Enjoyment of him Hence it arises that if those our mentioned Governors command any thing which we are certain will prove prejudicial to our Felicity we have no Obligation upon us to do their Commands from which it is clear that the fifth Commandment is not truly kept but when we honour and obey our Prince Priest Parents and Masters for the Love we have to God in the perpetual Enjoyment of him Neither is there any real Breach of this Branch of the Law but in the privation of such Love for nothing is evil but as it deprives of some good whereunto it is opposite and seeing nothing is intrinsecally good but Charity nor relatively good but what some way or other contributes to it Sect. 13 14 15. nothing is evil but either because it destroys Charity and then the Sin is Mortal or because it weakens it in which case the Offence is not Mortal but as the Schools for distinction sake call it Venial To dishonour then our Superiors deliberately is a mortal Breach of this Precept in that the Heart is thereby alienated from God which thus comes to pass He that dishonours his Father or Mother or other his lawful Governours which is through a perverse Mind not to own the Good he receives or might receive by them nor the Excellency and Pre-eminence they acquire by reason thereof above and over him does thereby disregard
designs it to be a Warning to others not to imitate them in their gross Impiety and at that time when he knows the Offenders will rather grow worse than ever after come to amendment And as Man's Condition here for any Decree of Gods to the contrary is as good as can be considering the Causes Natural and Moral which render his Condition what it is so will his State hereafter likewise be the necessary and voluntary Causes considered which bring him to it of which Causes the Variety in respect of all Mankind is so great at all times and so differently circumstantiated in their Influence and Application and the Subjects to be wrought on so contrarily often disposed one to another that it is easie to conceive that they may very well become effectual Means of Conversion to some great Sinners while other less Offenders are not moved to a thorow Amendment by them so that the dying of men in their Sins cannot justly be so attributed to the Divine Will and Pleasure as if the Almighty suffered them to perish out of pure design for the manifestation of his Glory the infallible Word expresly declaring to us the contrary God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. And again who will have all Men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth 1 Tim. 2. 4. To which knowledge though they do not all attain yet is the Word of God no less firm and sure Why all Men in the World have not heard of God's infinite Love manifested in the Death of Christ many Causes may be assigned all grounded on Gods infinite Justice and Mercy Of Christ's Death many which heard not might have heard many which are not might have been Partakers save only for their free and voluntary Progress from evil to worse or wilful refusal of Gods loving Kindness daily proffered to them in such Pledges as they were well content to swallow foolishly esteeming these good in themselves being good only as they plight the truth of God's Love unto them which he manifested in the Death of his Son. With this manifestation of his Love many again out of meer Mercy have not been acquainted lest the sight of the Medicine might have caused their Disease to rage and made their Case more lamentably desperate Dr. Jackson in his Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes Cap. 17. Paragr 3. All which I mean that hath been said in the whole Answer to the Objection considered together with this that it was not only better to create than not to create but also that no other World could be created save only that which doth exist Sect. 3. Par. 8. 't is clear that the Almighties Wisdom and Goodness are justified even to the Eye of Human Reason notwithstanding the different times and ways of men departing Life either in respect of Age or of dying more or less in Sin. Objection 14. From the Instances given in the explanation of the Seventh Commandment sect 19. you seem to hold that there can be no external Sin in the Body of any one denomination where there is not an internal Sin in the Soul of the same kind from which alone the exterior Act as being produced by it can be called sinful Against this Opinion I offer it to your Consideration whether there may not be external Idolatry where there is no internal as suppose an Idol be commanded by the Magistrate under pain of Death to be worshipped by bowing down before it and a Christian to save his Life bows his Body towards it but at the same time abominates the Idol in his heart so as that he is far from giving any internal Honour to it and yet surely you will not say but that he commits the Sin of Idolatry and may be justly censured by the Church as an Idolater Answer Since the Christian instanced in does what is commanded so far forth as that the Lookers on have sufficient cause to believe he has committed Idolatry the Church ought to esteem and censure him as an Idolater for what he has done by reason it cannot judg of the Heart but by outward Signs and inappearance he has committed Idolatry But yet if you 'l go to the exact definition of Idolatry you 'l find the Fact comes not within the compass of it and that Sin which will not come under the definition of Idolatry you must needs grant cannot be truly speaking the Sin of Idolatry for Idolatry is a Crime which exhibits the honour due to God alone to another Object and therefore since the bowing down of the Body is not an Act appropriated to the Divine Majesty for we lawfully and laudably bow unto our Prince Parents and others in Authority over us of which there are several Examples in Holy Writ it is evident that the mentioned act of bowing towards the Idol is not Idolatrous according to the definition of Idolatry To make this more plain by an Instance let 's suppose another Christian to be brought before the Idol and commanded to bow unto it as the other did which he likewise in appearance does by stooping down that he may catch it by the feet to overthrow it and according to his intent casts it with scornful indignation to the ground in doing of which he gives full satisfaction to the Beholders of his abhorrence of performing any manner of Worship to it notwithstanding that they all see him bow towards it as low as the other did judg him an Idolater till the Reason of his incurvation becomes apparent to them by seeing the Idol so contemptuously used at the length Is then you 'l say the formerly spoken of Christian who is granted to deserve the Churches Censure as an Idolater no more guilty of Idolatrous Worship according to the strictest Notion of Idolatry than the latter I refer you to the definition of Idolatry which cannot delude you for answer Is he therefore you 'l peradventure reply only sinful in the sight of Men and not also in the sight of God Yes undoubtedly he is a very grievous Offender even before God as well as men for he not only scandalizes Christianity in giving the Enemies of it an occasion to triumph in hardening them in their idolatrous Worship and in encouraging them to proceed to persecute Christians with hope of desired success but also in disheartning of the weaker Brethren in making them to stagger in the Faith and in grieving all the Members of Christ in general to do any one of which is a great Sin but to do all of them together is a Crime of complicated Scandal to the Gospel of Christ which at once instructeth and exhorteth saying Be not afraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him
other World will by being eternally separated from its Pleasures convert into a hopeless desire and upon that account grow more furious impatient For of all the torments of the Mind I know none that is comparable to that of an outragious desire joyn'd with despair of satisfaction which is just the case of sensual worldly-minded Souls in the other Life where they are full of sharp and unrebated desires and like starved men that are shut up between two dead Walls are tormented with a fierce but hopeless hunger which having nothing else to feed on preys and quarries on themselves and in this desolate condition they are forced to wander to and fro tormented with a restlefs Rage and Hunger and unsatisfied desire oraving Food but neither finding nor expecting any and so in unexpressible Anguish they pine away a long Eternity And though they might find Content and Satisfaction could they but diver their affections another way and reconcile them to the heavenly Enjoyments yet being irrecoverably pre-engaged to sensual Goods they have no Savour nor Relish of any thing else but are like Feverish Tongues that disgust and nauseate the most grateful Liquors by reason of their own over flowing Gall. Lastly if in any thing I have writ about Christ's meritorious Satisfaction I peradventure fully accord not with some Divines the difference when the Matter is duly weigh'd will prove I hope to be only verbal For I assert sect 11. First That Christ's death on the Cross was of infinite value and merit Secondly That by and through the same Remission of Sin Justification and every other Good whether of Grace or Glory are obtain'd Thirdly That Christ's Crucifixion was as real and proper an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin as any under the Law of Moses but of infinitely more value ever was Fourthly That God's Justice is de jure prevented thereby from being exerted agaist Sinners in their everlasting Destruction The only difference then if any remaining is in this That I cannot apprehend what some others perchance think viz. That Christ's Merits operate upon God and work an Effect of Mercy and Favour in his Will whereas I humbly conceive them to be a secondary efficient Cause subservient to God's Love to Man for conveying and applying the same unto him by being an effectual Means of converting his Affections from the Vanities of the World unto God that he may be eternally saved for which I offer to serious consideration these following Reasons inducing me thereto 1. That Christ's most gracious doings and sufferings for Man are held by all Christians to be a Meritorious Cause 2ly That a Meritorious Cause is an efficient Cause 3ly That it is the Property of an Efficient Cause to work some real Effect 4ly That it seems plainly impossible that any real Effect should be wrought in God who is impassible and immutable sect 1. par 8 9. for otherwise seeing whatsoever is in God is God sect 1. par 11. such an Effect would be God himself and so the Merits of Christ would be the efficient Cause of the Deity 5ly That Christ's Merits therefore are not an antecedent but a subsequent Cause to the merciful-lovingkindness of God to Man by which the eternal Goodness actually confers all the happy Effects of divine Favour and Grace on him whereby he is delivered from Sathan Sin and Damnation and brought to everlasting Bliss If it be replied that however plausible yea certainly true this arguing be yet there is something more in Christ's Suffering for the Sin of Man than what hath hitherto been said namely the satisfying Divine Justice I answer that strictly speaking neither Justice nor Mercy nor other Attributes of God are formally distinct either from one another or from the very Essence of the Deity Sect. 1. Par. 11. and therefore albeit I willingly grant that Christ died for all men even the Reprobate as to me seems plain from these Words of the Apostle But there were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift Damnation 2 Pet. 2. 1. yet it was not to this very intent and purpose that he should undergo those Pains and Punishments which were allotted for Sin the everlasting Torments of Hell but to put Mankind thereby into a Way State and Condition that not any one should finally perish save only such as embraced not the Mercy of God in Christ manifested to the World in his Holy Gospel for what Justice is it that the Damned should suffer the Pains of Hell in case Christ had as truly and fully satisfied for them as if they had already undergone them themselves If it be answered that the actual Benefit of Christ's Satisfaction only reaches to those who believe in him and obey his Word so as that they shall not perish but have everlasting Life I readily own that Christ's Merits and more especially his bloody Death and Passion did in this sense abundantly satisfie Divine Justice for by these he really affected that none can justly be damned to whom they are applied by a lively and efficacious Faith Sect. 11. so that at the last day it will be equally just for God to render some for and through the Merits of Christ eternally blessed as it will be to give up others for their Sins to be for ever miserably afflicted and contrariwise it would be alike unjust to save the Wicked in that day who do not believe in Christ and obey him as to destroy the Godly who believe and put their Trust and Confidence in him whose Death on the Cross was as real a propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin but of infinitely more value as the annual expiatory Sacrifice under the Law as by the explanation of the Nature and Efficacy of it will appear The Sacrifice of Expiation was never compleat and perfect nor had the designed and due Effect of its Institution by the sole slaying and offering of the Beast however rightly and solemnly performed both by the Priest and People unless they added thereto the afflicting of themselves as is plain by Levit. 16. ver 29 30 31. In the seventh Month in the tenth Day of the Month ye shall afflict your Souls and do no Work at all whether it be one of your own Country or a Stranger that sojourneth among you For on that day shall the Priest make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your Sins before the LORD It shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls by a Statute for ever And again Chapt. 23. ver 27 28 29 30 31 32. On the tenth Day of this seventh Month there shall be a Day of Atonement it shall be an holy Convocation unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls and offer an Offering made by Fire unto the LORD And ye shall do no work in that
RELIGION AND REASON Adjusted and Accorded OR A DISCOURSE WHEREIN Divine Revelation is made appear to be a congruous and connatural Way of affording proper Means for making Man eternally happy through the perfecting of his RATIONAL NATVRE With an APPENDIX of OBJECTIONS FROM Divers as well Philosophers as Divines and their Respective ANSWERS Licensed Sept. 28. 1687. Rob. Midgley LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be sold at the Peacock in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1688. THE PUBLISHER TO THE READER WHen I first look'd upon the Title and cursorily viewed the Contents of the following Tract I severely enough censured in my Thoughts the boldness of the Undertaking and well-nigh condemned the whole Discourse in my Mind before I had read any part thereof But entring upon the Treatise it self I straightway saw sufficient Cause to suspend a while my Judgment on it and by degrees the further progress I made in it to retract my sharp Censure and at length by frequent reading of the entire Discourse instead of blaming the Author's Attempt to admire the happy Success of the Undertaking and to esteem it as one of the most convincing Tractates so likewise of the greatest Vsefulness I have mostly met with For the Contexture of it is such as that it is in appearance to me a continued Chain of necessary Truths inseparably link'd together and those of such importance at this time when Science falsly so call'd is opposed to Revelation that I trust it may prove an excellent Antidote against the spreading Poyson of several Antichristian Errors of late rise amongst us whilst it clearly shews that Divine Revelation is so far from contradicting dethroning or evacuating Right Reason that the very Design of Christianity is to enlighten elevate and improve the same in order to the rendring it more serviceable by Ways and Means agreeable to human Nature to promote the End of Man's Creation than it could otherwise possibly have been forasmuch as the close and amicable Concurrence of Revelation and Reason is declared and explained throughout the Discourse to be but as one Joynt-Principle of directing and conducting Man to the final happy condition for which he was created Wherein because I hold the Author's Sense to be worthy of general Cognizance especially considering the great Advance of Atheism Antitrinitarianism and other abominable Opinions in this Nation all pretending to Reason but in truth repugnant to it as by this small Piece will I am confident though without mentioning any of them be made appear I advised since it was referred to my decision whether the Author's Latin or English Copy should be published that the English should rather at present be Printed than the Latin one being induced and led thereto chiefly from these two Considerations First Because divers Persons of generous Education and great Wit who though they have a competent Knowledg in the Roman Tongue yet cannot without more pains than they are usually willing to bestow throughly understand a Latin Author having been too much carried away by a shew of Reason in prejudice of Revealed Religion will here find not unpleasant Entertainment and very beneficial for undeceiving them Secondly Because on the contrary many others are such Bigots in Devotion that they are all Zeal without Judgment and so run into various Superstitions for want of a due and just estimate of the Nature of God and Godliness whilst imagining meer Obedience to the divine Will abstracted from the consideration of the proper and peculiar Vsefulness of the Duties commanded by God to make Men truly pious to be the design of Religion as if Faith Hope and Charity were therefore only good and serviceable to render men happy because they are commanded and not therefore commanded by reason they are proper Means conducible in their Natures to that end they weakly think the Almighty to receive real Delight Pleasure and Contentment from the Services of Men and contrariwise to be grieved displeased and angry when he is not exactly worshipped accordingly as they apprehend he desires to be neither reflecting that if disobedience to the Precepts of God wrought an affection of Grief Discontent and Anger in him he would be far more miserable than the most wretched Creature alive seeing innumerable Myriads every moment of time heinously transgress his holy Laws nor yet being aware that God requires Honour and Worship to be given him here on Earth for the furthering the end and intendment of the Gospel in bringing Man to everlasting Beatitude whereby he glorifies his Maker and Redeemer for ever but yet not to requite gratifie and pleasure God thereby who being eternally and essentially happy in his own transcendent Perfection is incapable even to contradiction as the Author says and proves to acquire or receive any the least advantage either of Profit or Pleasure to himself from the very best Performances of his Creature The Mistake or Oversight of which Truth often occasions many great Mischiefs both in Church and State in that through an indiscreet fervor for the Almighty's Honour fiery Zelots think they do God good Service if they obstinately oppose or even destroy his supposed Enemies that dishonour as they conceit his holy Name whensoever any thing is enjoyned by Superiors however innocent in it self which God himself has not commanded to be observed in his Worship And as these are guilty of negative Superstition so are there others that are so of positive whilst in conscientiously performing meer external acts of Adoration and Obedience they belive they honour God as they ought to do and thence really content and please him whereas nothing fulfils his Design of giving Laws to Men whereby he exacts the doing of their Duty unless it be done for the desire they have to enjoy him everlastingly the Fruition of his Presence by loving the same with all the might of the Soul being that Honour which God ultimately requires and whereunto all other Acts of Worship and Adoration are of right to tend of which if they fall short they are evermore perform'd in vain as is demonstratively shewn in the subsequent Discourse where good Reader thou 'lt find how each singular Virtue and every distinct Office of Christian Religion directly tends by divine Ordination to the begetting augmenting or perfecting the love of God in the Soul the whole Treatise almost being nothing else but an exemplifying in particulars what that pious Prelate the Bishop of Bath and Wells in his Exposition on the Church-Catechism or the Practise of divine Love writes in general pag. 4. in these few words As all particular Graces are but the love of God varied by diffeferent Instances and Relations so all particâ—lar Sins are nothing but Concupiscence or the love of one Creature or other in competition with or opposition to the love of God. Which remarkable Truth if it were well imprinted in mens Hearts would as on the one side certainly destroy the Opinion of holding the meer Opus operatum or the external
performance of the seemingly best Action or actions in the World to be meritorious of Salvation so would it on the other hand inevitably prevent the taking Offence at a decent Habit a reverend Gesture or a significant Ceremony though not immediately enjoyn'd by God but only by his Ministers since the former I mean the Opus operatum if it becomes not an effectual Means to excite cherish or heighten divine love in the Soul answers not at all the End for which it was commanded and the latter to wit a decent Habit a reverend Gesture a significant Ceremony if piously made use of for causing internal Reverence to God or Attention and Regard to the Duty in hand as their Institution requires they should always be will not fail to contribute something to sincere devotion which is evermore acceptable to God so that there can be no place left either for positive or negative Superstition in any Man's Mind who is fully perswaded that to love God with all his heart with all his Soul and with all his strength is as well Man's Felicity as that honour which ought ultimately to be aimed at in every Act of Worship required by God both which the following Treatise makes out to be true the perfect love of God eternal Felicity and the glorifying God for ever being there manifestly prov'd to be the very self same thing under different appellations and expressions so that no endeavours of giving honour to God either by doing any thing commanded or by abstaining from any thing forbidden is ever farther acceptable to him then they promote in some respect or other the Grace of Charity in the Soul of Man and thereby further his Felicity in the obtaining of which is accomplished the ultimate Intention of all divine Precepts Statutes and Ordinances whatsoever given to Mankind to be obeyed kept and observed our Goodness not extending unto God but being only profitable to our selves I shall now no longer Courteous Reader by staying thee in the Porch detain thee from taking thy full view of the grateful sight of the compact Edifice I am introduceing thee to save only while I make this short Apology for my Friend That albeit he labours to shew from the Principle of Reason that there is One only self existent infinitely perfect Being a Trinity of Persons in Vnity of Essence that the World was created by God of nothing that Man was created in a State of Innocency that there was a necessity of the Incarnation of the Divine Word and of the Graces of Faith Hope and Charity in respect of Man's Salvation not to be obtain'd without them yet he has nevertheless well assured one that if there had not been a Divine Revelation of the certainty of their Truth it could never have come into his Thoughts to have ever attempted the framing those Conceptions which he has express'd concerning them But seeing as he has often said to me it pleased the Almighty Goodness to reveal for the benefit of Mankind the sublime Truths of Holy Writ he humbly conceiv'd that the Intent thereof was that Man's Reason should be illuminated therewith and consequently that the more use he made thereof with due Reverence and Humility to meditate and consider how the Belief of divine Truths and Mysteries becomes necessary to Man's everlasting welfare the deeper impression of their Excellency and Vsefulness to that End would be imprinted in his Mind thereby And truly for my own part I must needs own that whatever true Sense of devotion I formerly had towards my Maker and Redeemer I find it not a little improved and enlivened since I became Master of the System of the Theology imported in this Tract and experience in my Soul a sweeter relish in performing holy Duties than I did before which Benefits or some others such like that may influence thy Heart with the Love of God for thy everlasting Salvation is the ardently desired Success good Reader of thy Perusal of this small but comprehensive and elaborate Piece recommended in Charity to thy serious and pious Reading Farewel THE CONTENTS SECTION I. THere is an absolute perfect Being which is Self-existent Eternal only One Infinite Immutable a pure Act entirely Simple one Formality and a Spirit Page 1. SECT II. In the Vnity of the Divine Essence there necessarily is a Trinity of Persons p. 9. SECT III. The Vniverse was created by God. There was no praeexistent Matter whereof it was made It is not of the Nature and Essence of God. It neither could have been Eternal for Duration nor Infinite in Extention There is no endless Number of Worlds The Vniverse is only one The best for kind that was possible to be created p. 21. SECT IV. Man was created by God. He has an immaterial Substance which is the Principle of Motion proper to him immortal and indued with the Rational Faculties of Vnderstanding and Will. He was created in a State of Innocency What the State of Innocency was The End for which Man was made In what his Chief Good and Felicity doth consist p. 35. SECT V. Man is fallen from the State wherein he was created The manner of the Fall explained The eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil was forbidden because of the Evil which God certainly knew would ensue from the very eating thereof p. 45. SECT VI. Original Sin the natural Consequent of eating of the forbidden Fruit and how What Original Sin is God cleared from being the Author of it Actual Sin is excited by Original All Miseries incident to Man as well as Sin are the bitter Fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and after what manner they come to be so p. 56 SECT VII Eternal Damnation or the perpetual loss of Bliss inevitably follows from the perpetual Alienation of the Souls Affections from God. Eternal Torments or the Pains of the Damned necessarily for ever accompany their Impious Desires of preferring worldly Vanities before the Enjoyment of God. Hence by these two an Aversion from the Creator and a Conversion to the Creature Man makes himself eternally miserable p. 71 SECT VIII The only Evil prejudicial to Man in respect of the End for which he was created is Malum culpae the Evil of Fault And it is either privative or positive The former consists in an Aversion from God the latter in a Conversion to the Creature Each of them is called Sin the one formal the other material The greatest Alienation of the Heart from God makes the greatest Sinner p. 84 SECT IX Mans Recovery from his lost Condition wherein it consists And how wrought Natural Ways and Means unable to procure it Supernatural Causes only sufficient to effect the same Of these the free Love of God to Man and the Incarnation of his Eternal only begotten Son with the Consequents of it are the chief p. 99 SECT X. The end of Human Laws is the Good of the Community The Breach of them is Evil as
1. 'T is a Maxim That men cannot desire what they know is impossible to be had which if true the damned cannot retain any affection for the things of this world because they are certain they must never return to earth to get possession of them Solut. That Maxim is true only of as many as are governed by right Reason but not of such as are overborn by Passion or Wilfulness For wherefore should the ambitious man's heart burst through grief for the loss of Honour if he either hoped to be restored to it again or that his Affections were taken off it since none kill themselves with Sorrow while there is hope of having what they wish nor grieve for want of that which they have no desire to When the Miser has lost his Gold if he either saw an appearance of getting it again or found a willingness in his Mind to forget it he would not be so hasty as for dispatch sake to be his own Executioner Nor is the poysonous Cup acceptable to the distressed Lover because his Mistress is not at hand but because his hopes of enjoying her is at an end and yet his desire of mutual Embraces is no whit lessened but more enlarged thereby And if the Maxim hold not good in those and other vicious men while in the Flesh neither will it when they are departed hence seeing their Affections are so far from leaving them that they are encreased and become more vehement by the Souls being separated from its Body of lumpish Earth Object 2. There be several Places in holy Scripture where Hell is set forth by such a Fire as seems plainly to denote an external material Fire as the Furnace of Fire Mat. 13. 42. Vnquenchable Fire Mark 9. 43. The Lake of Fire Revel 20. 15. The Flames of Hell therefore are not an internal but an external Fire Solut. Since the Reasons given above shew that the Demned are most grievously tormented with the internal and unquenchable Flames of their own ardent and perpetually frustrated Desires the Furnace of Fire and the Lake of Fire spoken of in Scripture must either be another Hell of tormentive Flames or else but Expressions fitted to the Capacities of the generality of the People who are to be taught in Words adapted to their Understandings to signifie unto them the extremity of the Pain and Misery which vicious men for ever suffer after Death But that there are more Hell-Fires than of one kind mentioned in Scripture is no where I think to be met with in it And in regard the Torments of Hell are described likewise by the Worm that dieth not Mark 9. 44. by weeping and gnashing of Teeth as also by outer Darkness Mat. 22. 13. as well as in the other Places by Fire and that these Expressions are certainly Tropical since a Worm cannot gnaw upon the Souls of the Damned which yet are held to endure the Pains of Hell before their re-union to the Body that Spiritual Substances cannot really shed Tears nor gnash Teeth and that there is no Darkness amidst abundance of material Fire it will be I presume an hard matter to produce a convincing Argument why the Furnace of Fire and the Lake of Fire must of necessity be literally understood especially seeing the Damned endure intolerable Pain though there be no external Punishment at all in any sort whatsoever inflicted on them Add hereunto that whereas in Matth 5. 22. it is written Whosoever shall say unto his Brother thou Fool shall be in danger of Hell-Fire Dr. Hammond has it in the Margin liable to the Fire in the Valley of Hinnom which Fire being long since extinct cannot in a Literal Sense signifie the tormentive Flames of Hell. Besides why the Pleasures and Joys of Heaven should be mystically represented in the 21st and 22d Chapters of the Revelation of St. John and yet the Pains and Torments of Hell set forth by Fire in the 20th Chapter should admit of none but a Literal Interpretation is a thing unaccountable If Reply were made that the Apocalyps is wholly Mysterious whereas other Scriptures are so only here and there I would retort That then the Lake of Fire Revel 20. 15. is not to be understood according to the Letter no more than the pleasant Objects of Delight Rev. 21 and 22. quoted before of the New Jerusalem which if so by Hell-Fire in other Places of Sacred Writ is not meant a material Fire except the Lake of Fire in the Revelation and the Furnace of Fire in St. Matthew and unquenchable Fire in St. Mark relate not all to one and the same manner of Torment which if any one will say they do not let him bring a convincing Reason for so doing and be believed Lastly Whereas if Hell-Fire be a Torment externally forced on the wicked several Difficulties to my apprehension insuperable offer themselves as First How a material Substance can immediately act on an immaterial which is not essentially united with it Secondly Why a finite Act or a Thing done and past should be punished with endless Pain And Thirdly Wherefore the Creator should eternally afflict his Creature for no good at all to himself for doing of that which can neither really harm nor grieve him especially since that which men call Vindicative Justice cannot in Reason be exercised either by God or Man as shall hereafter be made appear in the 10th Section But in this other way of mens frustrated vicious desires tormenting themselves there 's no need of those or any such like strange and unreasonable Suppositions while the damned are their own Tormentors and yet voluntarily persist in those desires wherewith they are tormented because in the Object of them is their conceived Felicity placed For the Covetous Ambitious Voluptuous or Revengeful Mind could not at all relish the spiritual Joys of Heaven nor would exchange what it more values for the full Fruition and perpetual possession of them according to that which we find elegantly said by the Author of the Causes of the Decay of Christian Piety Alas what Delight would it be to the Swine to be wrapped in fine Linnen and laid in Odors his Senses are not gratified by any such Delicacies nor would he feel any thing besides the Torment of being withheld from the Mire And as little Complacency would a Brutish Soul find in those purer and refined Pleasures which can only upbraid not satisfie him But what still more confirms the Truth of that which has been writ in this Section according to the Doctrin asserted in it Heaven and Hell are directly set against each other and the several ways that lead unto them diametrically opposite to one another For the Joys of Heaven are the fulfilling the Souls desires in the fruition of the really chief Good of man. The Torments of Hell the Frustration of the Souls desires of some falsly supposed Chief Good. Virtue the Way of Bliss is the preferring the Love of God before the Love of the World.
Annotator's Answer to one who would needs prove the Sovereignty of God's Will over his Goodness from hence that it would have been better to have created the World sooner than he did the Answer is this If the World could not be ab aeterno which the Annotator had elsewhere made good it could not but must commence on this side of Eternity and be of finite years I leave to the Opposer to prove that it has not been created assoon as it could be and that is sufficient to prove that its late Production is not inconsistent with that Principle that God's Goodness always is the measure of his Actions For suppose the World of as little continuance as you will if it was not ab aeterno it was once of as little and how can we discern but that this is that very time which seems so little to us Annotations upon Lux Orientalis Chap. 9. pag. 59. This I take to be no less a solid than ingenious Answer to the Objection but withal think that it affords a sufficient ground of Argument whereby to evince that no Hypothesis whatsoever of a praeexistent happy State can be rationally founded on this Presumption that it was better or more agreeable to the Divine Wisdom that it actually should be because in appearance convenient and possible that it might be For supposing the Creation of the World to be good for the Creature as no doubt it is it being impossible that the Creator should be bettered thereby how apt will Man's narrow Reason be to suggest from thence that the sooner it was created the better it would be for them And yet nevertheless considering that Wisdom and Goodness are essential to God so that he cannot but do what all things reckoned upon is absolutely best and that we are ascertain'd by inerrable Testimony of the late Creation of the World we must of necessity conclude that we are deceived in thinking that it had been better that the World should have been of long continuance And therefore we can be no more certainly assured that there really was a praeexistent happy state of Souls because it seems to our short Reasoning that it would have been better for them then it doth follow that the world had continued longer than the holy Scripture assures us it hath because in appearance it would have been better for the Creature for whose Benefit it was made that it had done so Objection 12. If the only end designed by God in creating the World was to communicate and to do good to the Creature and that being immutable he still retains the like Kindness and Good-will to them which he did at first I see no possibility of giving any good account why the Almighty whose Will is irresistable either created not Men and Angels in an indefectible State or at least preserved not all as well as some of them from endless Misery But the difficulty in that respect vanisheth if it be indeed true which is usually said that Gods ultimate Intent in creating the World was to glorifie himself in the final Condition of Men and Angels and that either by shewing his absolute Soveraignty and uncontroulable Dominion in making a Decree of Election and Reprobation antecedent to any Covenant between himself and the Creature Or else by making known his Justice executed upon some Offenders and his Mercy exhibited to others after Terms of Reconciliation had been propounded by the Creator but could not be observed on the Creatures part save only by some few predestinated ones Or lastly by executing due Vengeance after sufficient however inefficacious Grace tendred to all upon the wilful Rejecters thereof and by rewarding with Beatitude the cordial Embraces of it All which Opinions though different from each other yet they every one of them centre in this that the Almightie's great and ultimate End in creating the World was to glorifie himself eternally in the final Estate of the Elect and Reprobate Men and Angels Answer Since every thing done by God as well as Man ought to be done for some good End and that the Divine Nature is totally incapable of any good either of Profit or Pleasure save only what is eternal and essential to him Sect. 8. Solut. of Object 1. it necessarily follows that God created not the World to acquire any good at all to Himself and consequently that it was wholly framed to procure the Benefit of the Creature This allowed of to be true there must be some other cause known to God why he created not Men and Angels in an indefectible State or at least prevented not every ones eternal Ruine than that he sought to acquire to himself everlasting Glory by the manifestation of his Power Justice and Mercy in the final Salvation of some and Damnation of others of his Creatures albeit the same could in no respect whatsoever be discerned by Man what it is But yet it is not I think a thing totally estranged from Human Reason to conceive and apprehend how and in what respect it is better for the Creature that the World was created then otherwise notwithstanding that some both Men and Angels perish everlastingly For let it be considered that it was agreeable to the Divine Wisdom and Goodness to communicate Being and withal that it was impossible to create any single Creature or Species of Creatures however excellent Sect. 3. Par. 8. and our reason will straightway lead us to discover that the infinitely wise and good God propounded to himself the creating such a Complex and Universe of Beings as that the most comprehensive and excellent End which whatsoever could be created should in its whole Latitude be possibly able to aspire to might be attained Which great and noble End each part of the Universe in its proper Station was by the Almighties admirable Disposal and ordering to concur together to produce under himself the principal Cause always promoting the same on his part yet so as that he leaves every second intermediate Cause to act according to its own Nature save only in some cardinal Instances where the Divine Wisdom sees a necessity of an extraordinary or miraculous working above Nature to prevent a Failure too great in respect of the grand designed End to be permitted since otherwise the World would have been made to small or no effect Wherefore seeing Man of all the Creatures upon Earth is alone Rational and determins himself to Action his Nature would be violated which were in effect to unman him if he should be otherwise moved or wrought upon to act than according to his own voluntary Choice founded in the Rational Faculties of the Soul the Intellect and the Will. Which Choice if it be made according to Right Reason in an hearty preferring the Love of the Creator before the Love of the Creature or in placing the Souls Affections upon God as its sole Supream Good and on all other things as subservient to the Enjoyment of him will bring every Man in
the World who shall leave it with such an habitual Affection at length to Beatitude Sect. 12. Par. 1 2 3 4. But if the Choice be made against Right Reason in valuing the Enjoyment of the Creature above the Enjoyment of God or in fixing the Hearts Desires on earthly Vanities as the chief Delight thereof 't will bring upon every one departing this Life habitually so affected everlasting Misery yet such as is nothing else but an effect or necessary Result immediately flowing from the continuance in and persuance of their own foolish Choice made in their Life-time Sect. 7. Par. 1 2 3 4 5. and how plainly equitable is it that their Condition should not be less miserable then the Measure of their own Desires whether for Degree or Duration shall make them So that considering the ineffable endless Joys which myriads of glorified Saints and Angels will have and that the damned Souls and Devils by persisting in a perpetual eager Thirsting after those things they shall ever be frustrated of not only wilfully deprive themselves of Bliss but are also thereby their own eternal Tormentors for the sin of the Devils whereinsoever it particularly consisted was for certain the desire of something they earnestly wished and preferred the obtaining of before the Fruition of God and which they shall ever affect seeing they will never repent of the Wickedness of their Thoughts and yet shall always be disappointed of it is apparent that it is much more agreeable to Reason that it is much more agreeable to Reason and suiting also with the Divine Attribute of Gods eternal Goodness that upon the Account now given the World should rather have been created then not though diverse of the noblest part of the Creation undergo perpetual Misery then it is upon their Hypothesis who say that God justly inflicts eternal violent Pains on Reprobate Men and Angels for the vindicating of his Glory which in truth can neither be encreased by all the due Performances of the best of his Creatures nor diminished by the Disobedience of the very worst of them Add to this for a still more clear manifestation of the Reasonableness of God's creating the World notwithstanding the endless affliction which befalls part of the Creatures that the State of the Damned is in their own Thoughts so much more preferable to Non-existence as that their Minds are so set and fixed upon their ardently beloved Objects that they would not forgo and part with the longing desire and Love they have to them for the possession of Bliss it being impossible that they whose Affections are totally bent on Riches Honour Luxury Revenge c. should have any real desire to be united to God with the entire affection of their Spirit in which Felicity doth alone consist If it be objected that since the Reprobate for fear only of the Judgment of the last day shall call upon the Mountains to fall upon them and hide them how much more is it probable that they 'l desire to be annihilated and cease to be when they feel the intolerable Pains of Hell I make answer that albeit the Wicked are terribly afraid of the Day of Doom and that the Damned rage for the extremity of their Torments yet it is not consequent thereto that they 'l desire Non-existence to avoid them For though it were granted to be really in it self more eligible not to exist than to suffer exquisite Torments yet since the Reprobate do not desire what would be better for them but what they judge to be so unless it be true that they are actually willing to desert and for ever to forgo the love of those things which they have absolutely and fully fixed their Affections on it cannot be that they should steadily desire not to be because a permanent adherence of Mind to the Objects of their Lusts and a real desire of Non-existence are inconsistent together And that the Damned will never desert the Love they have to the Objects of their Lusts may be apprehended from this that seeing they have adjudged them to be absolutely good and necessary as without which they cannot think of any satisfaction to themselves to suppose their Affections taken off the Objects of their Lust were in effect to suppose them to love and not to love the same thing at once And therefore though the Damned should have such Thoughts as these we wish we had never been born we wish we were annihilated yet in regard they nevertheless continue their strong and pressing desires towards their coveted Objects it is an argument that the latter are their fixed Affections and the former only incompleat wishes since they cannot be cordially possessed of both at the same time an absolute unbridled lusting after their beloved Objects and an absolute fixed desire of Non-existence being utterly inconsistent together Objection 13. Some Sinners are taken away in their younger years others permitted after a long and wicked Life to die in their Sins some great Sinners converted and eternally saved other less Offenders left to eternal Misery whence it seems to follow that the Almighty acts as in unsearchable Wisdom so most freely therein for his own Glory and that consequently everlasting Woe and Misery are not necessary Results and Effects of Sin but Punishments inflicted by God for the same Answer That some men die sooner some later is generally from the Power and Force of natural Causes which are ordained and ordered indeed by God yet not on purpose to bring this or that particular Person to his End at this or that appointed time and after this or that precise manner but they have their natural Influence and set determinate Course in the Universe to contribute every one of them in their Kind and Station to the bringing to pass the most comprehensive and excellent End which whatsoever could be created should in its amplest Extent be possibly able to produce or arrive at Sect. 3. Par. 8. under the Influence and Course of which Causes manifoldly different as every single Person falls he comes accordingly to the Period of his Life whence it happens that this Man dies in his Infancy another in his Youth a third in his Middle-age and a fourth in his Old that some are drowned by Water some burt by Fire others perish by Cold c. and yet who can soberly think that the Causes which bring these things to pass were purposely ordained and had their Natures and Courses given and appointed them for that very end especially if we reflect that some men poison others some themselves for none will sure be so wicked as to affirm that God either instigated the Murtherers or gave the Poison its venemous Nature out of design to destroy the Persons murthered That Men therefore die at different Ages and after different manners proceeds not generally speaking from the determinate Council and Will of God and if sometimes he purposely destroys any flagitious Persons as he did Korah Dathan and Abiram he