Creature can preserve it self and this is clear 1. From the Creatures Station even the highest Seraphin stands juxta non esse at the brink of Nullity his Being is between two Nothings Nothing negative and Nothing privative and as his passage from Nothing into Being could not be without an infinite Power creating so his natural fall from Being into Nothing would certainly be without an infinite Power conserving Creatur a habet redire ad non esse à se if God should but say to the highest Angel Tolle quod tuum est abi he must immediately away into Nullity All Creatures by their natural vanity press downwards towards nothing as their own Centre and none but the Almighty shoulders can bear them up in Being 2. From God's Royal Prerogative which the Scripture most emphatically decyphers out as it were in Figures of Glory He only hath immortality 1 Tim. 6. 16. as if there were none at all in Angels and Rational Spirits Nay there is None besides him 1 Sam. 2. 2. as if there were no Being at all in the Creature And the reason of these expressions is this God hath Being and Immortality originally from himself but the Creature hath them but derivatively and in a dependence upon him wherefore in comparison of his Being Creatures are but nullities and in comparison of his Immortality Angels are but smoak But now if a Creature could preserve it self in Being and so immortalize it self it would become a Self-subsistence and consequently a God unto it self 2. That no Creature can preserve another I mean as a principal Agent and this is evident for 1. If one Creature might so preserve another it should be a God to it yet so weak as not to preserve it self But if it could preserve another it must be by some transfusion of virtue into it and that but finite for more a Creature cannot give and then if God transfuse as much virtue into the Creature conserved as the Creature conservant did the Creature conserved might subsist of it self and be a God to it self 2. The nature of Conservation evinces this What is it but an Influx of Being Now suppose all the Angels in Heaven would try to guard the poorest Worm in the Earth and that but for one moment only what could they do towards an Influx of Being being only streams from God as light from the Sun If the Sun be gone who can keep light in the Air If Jehovah withdraw who can keep Being in the Creature All the Creatures are as I may so say sensible of this dependance and look up to God for their preservation Psal. 104. 27. which leads me to the next thing 3. That the preservation of all is from God as of him so through him are all thing Rom. 11. 36. and this appears 1. By a survey of all the Creatures Angels are under God the strongest of Spirits but cannot subsist one moment without him he is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb. 1. 7. he is making the Angels even to this day by a daily Conservation their Immortality is a continual Spiration from the Father of Spirits The Heavens are the strongest of Bodies yet cannot stand alone God is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 building his stories in the Heavens Amos 9. 6. he is still a building of them or else all those glorious Arches would totter down If he be but angry the Pillars of Heaven tremble and are agast Job 26. 11. If he withdraw his hand all the heavenly Volumes pass away as a Scroll and out go the fair Letters of Sun Moon and Stars in the twinkling of an Eye The Earth is the Centre of the World and as to Sense it hangs upon nothing as if it were only poised by its own gravity but this created Centre is bore up by the infinite Centre of all Being and as to Faith and Reason hangs upon him The pillars of it are the Lord's 1 Sam. 2. 8. he by his strength setteth fast the mountains Psal. 65. 6. or else they would be wavering towards nullity The Sea is a vast spreading Element but lest it should be contracted into nothing it is held in the hollow of his hand Isai. 40. 12. and that imports no less than a preservative comprehension All the numberless Birds in the Air Beasts in the Earth and Fishes in the Sea wait on him for their preservation the sending forth of his Spirit is their Being the opening of his hand their Provision and the shadow of his wings their Protection not a Sparrow forgotten before him not a poor Fly without an infinite Preserver Man who is the Epitome of all the rest cannot but own him O how soon would the earthen Pitcher break if he did not keep it how soon would the Lamp of the Soul go out if he did not light it even every moment Hence God is stiled the preserver of men Job 7. 20. a most universal preserver even from the utmost hairs which are numbred by him Matth. 10. 30. unto the inmost spirit which is preserved by his visitation Job 10. 12. Thus running through the whole Catalogue of Creatures we must conclude with St. Austin Deus est per omnia diffusus non ut qualitas mundi sed ut substantia cratrix sine labore regens sine onere continens omnia 2. By the very nature of Preservation what is it but continuata Creatio God is still a making the Angels and building the Heavens my Father worketh hitherto saith Christ Joh. 5. 17. He doth per intimam operationem continuò facere Creatura saith a famous School-man quamdiu est creatura Deo quia pro quolibet instanti habet esse à Deo Preservation is but the eeking out of Creation and therefore can be from no other but God alone Omnia in illo subsistunt à quo creata sunt But to pass on 4. The preservation of all is from God according to his Decree and this is evinced by these Reasons 1. Either God preserves Creatures naturally or freely not naturally for then he should preserve them perpetually and so every Fly must run parallel in Eternity with an Angel nor naturally for then he should preserve them uniformly and so every mortal body would subsist without food as well as the immaterial Spirits therefore he preserves them freely There be various ways of Preservation viz. Preservation of Creatures as to their Being and as to their adjuncts of order beauty goodness and truth Preservation of them as to their individuals and as to their kinds Preservation of individuals by means and without means preservation of them in perpetuum and for certain periods of time Now all this variety of Preservations doth evidently display the glorious liberty of the divine Will in the dispensing thereof Angels are preserved in their individual Beings and that in perpetuum and that without means but the Nodus perpetuitatis is the divine pleasure or else their Immortality would dissolve in a moment Men Beasts and
them for the black Mantle of the night now all on a flame with flashes of Lightning and anon all in a Sea with the Bottles of Heaven sometimes rent in pieces with thundring Tempests and then made up again into serenity and clear as a molten Looking-glass This is the Fan of all Creatures breathing on the Earth and it self is fanned with various Winds This is the Inn where the visible Species the Imagery of the Worlds Beauty and Glory and the audible Species the multiplied progeny of Sounds and Voices lodge together This is the common Road where the influences of the Heavens and the vapours of the Earth the beams of the Sun and the sweet perfumes of Herbs and Flowers meet and embrace each other in their passage Within this is the massie Earth the Centre of the World hanging upon nothing inwardly boweled with rich Minerals and precious Stones and outwardly teeming with numberless births of Grass and Corn shaded with Trees and Woods and laughing with odoriferous Herbs and Flowers bubling with lively Springs and Fountains of Water and admirably enterlaced with gliding Streams and Rivers inhabited with strange variety of Beasts and lorded with Man And the Girdle of this Earth is the wonderful Sea swadled with Clouds swarming with Fishes lodged and locked up in the hollows of the Earth and from thence secretly winding and straining its moisture into the inward Veins thereof now swelling with the pride of Winds and Waves as if it meant to swallow up Heaven and Earth and then sinking down again into its Den as if it were afraid to be drunk up by the little Sands The third is the Mixt World the mariage or copula of the other two made up of Men whose Immortal Souls claim kindred with the World of Angels and whose Earthen Bodies are the Breviaries and Epitomes of the visible World virtually summing up the Elements in their harmonious Mixture the Plants in their Life the Beasts in their Senses and the Heavens with the Sun Moon and Stars in their Heads Eyes and beautiful Faces Now touching all this Catalogue of Beings I shall briefly demonstrate three things 1. That all these Beings had a beginning 2. That their beginning was from God 3. That it was from God as a free Agent and according to the counsel of his own Will 1. All these things had a beginning and this I prove three ways 1. I argue ex absur do if they had no beginning of being then every one of them is a God by Nature a Jehovah in Self-beingness and an Alpha in Primacy If they had no beginning of duration then are they all inmates in God's Eternity copartners in his Immutability and which is a step higher possessors of his Infinity and boundless Beings without any limits of Being For what imaginable limits of Being can they have which want a beginning which is the first limit of Being 2. The Motions of the Creatures evince this the Elements have their enterchanges the Earth its seasons the Sea its tides the Air its winds the Stars their courses the Moon her variations the Sun runs its race between the Tropicks the Heavens the common carriers of all the rest turn about with an uncessant Motion nay the immaterial Angels and rational Souls are never without some Motions in their Understanding and Will neither can they do any thing without a change because their being and their doing are two things Now what do all these Motions speak but a first Mover a beginning at some first point and a measure of time ever since Such moveable Beings cannot be measured with Eternity for that is unmoveable and unvariable but these are in motions and mutations that is instantaneous and simultaneous but these are under a flux of priority and posteriority in their motions and mutations wherefore it must needs be that these had a beginning 3. If these had no beginning then what shall we say of the Years Days and Minutes past Are they finite or infinite If finite then numerable and there was a beginning if infinite then how past Infinity cannot be passed over but and if it could then there are infinite numbers of Minutes past infinite numbers of Days past and infinite numbers of Years past and because there cannot be infinito infinitius by most necessary consequence there are as many Years past as Days and as many Days past as Minutes which is utterly impossible therefore these things must needs have a beginning 2. The beginning of all these was from God The Scripture speaks evidently In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth Gen. 1. 1. Of him and through him and to him are all things Rom. 11. 36. He that built all things is God Heb. 3. 4. When we look upon the stately Palace of the World roofed with the glorious Heavens floored with the fruitful Earth chambered with the cloudy Air watered with the stupendious Sea and furnished with all variety of Creatures we cannot dream of any other Architect but God alone And because Job bids us speak to the earth Job 12. 8. and the Psalmist tells us that there is a language in the heavens Psal. 19. 1 2 3. and the Apostle asserts that there is a witness of God in the rain Acts 14. 17. therefore suffer me to parly their Original out of their own mouths Creatures whence came you Ex nihilo What ex nihilo How then came you over that vast infinite Gulf which lies between Nothing and Being Infinite Power filled it up to make our passage But since you came over where do you stand In a Being betwixt two Nothings Nothing negative and Nothing privative And who set you there at first The first and chief Being who is ipsum Esse suum Esse infinitum Esse infinitè elongatum à non Esse But whence had you all that truth and goodness which is in you Our truth is but a beam from his infinite Verity and our goodness the Redundance and Super-effluence of his infinite Goodness And whence came all these numbers and hosts of Beings Out of perfect Unity every one of us is numbred by our finiteness and composition and every Number is from infinite simple Unity Monas est principium radix omnium there is but one God of whom are all things But how came you into such ranks Why have not the Elements Life the Plants Sense the Beasts Reason and Men Angelical Perfections When infinite Power brought us out of nothing infinite Wisdom shut up every one of us within the bounds of his proper Being But your Beings being of such different sorts how came you to be so kind each to other the Clouds drop down Rain on the Earth the Earth brings forth Grass that feeds the Beasts and these serve for Man the Breviary of all and Steward of all All these and innumerable more links of Amity were made by the God of Order But if you be of God's own make shew me your tokens 'T
is most apparent that all Beings must be from the chief Being all Truth from the first Truth all Goodness from supreme Goodness all Numbers from perfect Unity and all Ranks and Orders from infinite Wisdom and this chief Being first Truth supreme Goodness perfect Unity and infinite Wisdom can be no other than God alone But if this satisfie not you may yet further see God's glorious Immensity in the vast capacious Heavens his invariable Immobility in the unmoveable Earth his Faithfulness in the great Mountains his unsearchable Judgments in the great Deep his dreadful Justice in the devouring Fire his wonderful Omniscience in the Sun the rouling Eye of the World his transcendent Beauty in the Varnish of the Light the plain foot-steps of the Eternal Power and Godhead in every Creature and the glorious impress of his own Image and Likeness in Men and Angels Thus the very Creatures themselves tell us that their beginning was from God 3. Their beginning was from God as a free Agent and according to his own Decree for either God did produce them naturally and necessarily or else freely and voluntarily Not naturally and necessarily for then he should produce things ad extremum virium and so besides these Beings produce all the possible Beings producible by his glorious Omnipotence all the possible Orders and Congruities contrivable by his unsearchable Wisdom all the possible Goodness effluxive out of his infinite Goodness and all the possible Numbers which his infinite Unity can bring forth into being and produce them all as early as Eternity it self and all of them so produced must be necessary Beings as well as God himself in all which many great contradictions are involved Wherefore it remains that he did produce them voluntarily and according to his own Decree the Will of God was the first Mover in this great Work 'T is true that the World is as Damascene stiles it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of Redundance of God's infinite Goodness but not a drop of this Goodness runs out ad extrà but by his good pleasure 'T is true that there is the various and admirable Wisdom of God in this Work but that Wisdom shews forth never an Order or Rank of Being unless it be taken into the divine Decree and so become the counsel of his Will according to which he worketh all things 'T is true that the Eternal Power and Godhead are clearly seen in the Creation but these had never shewed themselves at all if the divine Will had not spoken the word God made all things by the word of his power that is the divine Will eternally expressed to the divine Power what Beings it should produce in time 'T is true that all the numbers and hosts of Beings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they flow from him who is perfect Unity but not in the way of natural Necessity but of his free Decree Qui dicit Quare Dous fecit coelum terram Respondendum est ei quia voluit qui autem dicit Quare voluit majus aliquid quaerit quà m est Volunt as Dei nihil autem majus inveniri potest When the Psalmist made that general summons to the Angels Heavens Sun Moon Stars Waters Dragons Deep Fire Hail Snow Vapours Wind Trees Beasts Cattel creeping Things flying Fowl even all the hosts of Nature to sing praises to their great Makes he added this as the supreme Reason of all he commanded and they were created Psal. 148. 5. Sermo Dei Volunt as est Opus Dei Naeturae est Unto whatsoever his Will speaks a fiat it comes forth into being but if that be silent not the least Atom can appear The Egyptian Magicians cannot produce so much as the shadow or counterfeit semblance of a Louse but as men mazed and nonplus'd they are forced to cry out This is the finger of God Exod. 8. 19. And what these wicked Atheists mutter out touching this poor Creature upon the rack of Conviction that the Catholick Church confesses touching all the World in a triumphant Gratulation The Twenty four Elders in the name of all Saints falling down and worshipping before the Throne of the Everliving God cry out Thou art worthy O Lord to receive glory honour and power for thou hast created all things and for thy pleasure they are and were created Rev. 4. 11. O thou divine Will thou art worthy to be adored in the Angels above and Men below in the Luminaries of Heaven and fruitfulness of Earth in the Meteors of the Air and wonders of the Deep in the life of the Plants and senses of the Beasts at thy imperial Word all these came pouring out of the barren Womb of Nothing the births of their Existence were all dated by thine hand the dowries of their goodness were all given by thy Love the proprieties of their Being were all stamped on them by thy Ideal Truth and the various Ranks and Orders of their standing were all set out by thy glorious Wisdom O glorious Creator who hast made all these things go on one step further create in us an admiring Heart which by the scale of Creatures as by Jacob's Ladder may ascend higher and higher in the Adorations of thee when we are at the lowest step of all I mean mere Being let 's remember thee the chief and first of Beings when at the second step which is Being with Life let 's praise thee the only Fountain of Life when at the third which is Being and Life crowned with Sense let 's tremble at thee the All-seeing and All-hearing Deity when at the fourth which is Being Life and Sense irradiated with beams of Reason and impowered with liberty of Will let 's adore thy infinite Wisdom which contrived and thy allmighty Will which created all these things and us to see thy Glory in them when at the highest step of all Angelical perfections let 's be lost in holy mazes and trances at thy infinitely purer glory in comparison whereof the very Angels themselves are but as spotted lamps and duskish beauties In a word from the sublimest Seraphim to the poorest Worm let 's admire thee humbly confessing that none can shew forth all thy praise CHAP. VII Of the Works of Conservation and Gubernation HAving briefly touched upon Creation I procede to its appendants Conservation and Gubernation The Almighty and All-wise Creator is not as man who builds a House or Ship and leaves it but like a faithful Creator he repairs the House of the World by his Conservation and steers the Ship of it by his Gubernation and that according to the Counsel of his own Will aliter mundus nè per ictum oculi stare poterit as the Father expresses it And first as touching Conservation I shall demonstrate four things 1. That no Creature can preserve it self 2. That no Fellow-creature can preserve another 3. That the Preservation of all is from God 4. That it is from God according to his Decree 1. That no
ascended up into heaven he blessed them to shew that the Curse was gone and ascended up into heaven to possess the purchase of Glory and being there he sate down at God's right hand his work was now done and therefore he sate down and his work was now accepted and therefore he sate down at God's right hand there he received gifts for men and from thence he gave them out again he gave out what he received and received what he purchased Christ's Sacrifice was so sweet a favour to God that the Minister who preaches it is a sweet savour to him 2 Cor. 2. 15. and the Believer who accepts it is accepted of him Eph. 1. 6. nay so far accepted that he becomes a Priest Revel 1. 6. and his good works pleasing sacrifices Heb. 13. 16. his prayers are turned into odours Revel 5. 8. and his charity into a sweet smell Phil. 4. 18. and all this by a perfuming touch from Christ's Merits In a word all the Proclamations of Mercy in the Scripture all the Pardons of sin in the Conscience all the Influences of Grace on the Heart and all the Openings of Heaven in the Promises are as so many pregnant proofs unto us that God accepted the Price Thus having shewed what manner of Price this is viz. redemptive from Evil procurative of Good and sufficient for both I pass on to the last Question 3. For whom was this Price paid and this I shall cleave asunder into two Quaeries 1. Whether Christ died for all men 2. Whether he died equally for all men In both which whilest I name the Death of Christ only according to the usual language of Divines I comprehend his whole Obedience Active and Passive whereof his Death was the complement and extreme Act. 1. As to the first Quaere Whether Christ died for all men I answer affirmatively that he did and here I shall do two things 1. I shall lay down the Reasons of my Opinion 2. I shall answer the Objections made against it and in both it will appear how far or in what sence I assert that Christ died for all men 1. I shall lay down my Reasons for it and these are drawn 1. From the Will of God as the Fountain of Redemption 2. From the Covenant of Grace as the Charter of it and the Promises comprized therein 3. From the Ministers Commission who publish it 4. From certain blessings which are the fruits of it 5. From the Unbelief of men which is the denial of it 6. From the fulness and glorious Redundance of Merit in Christ's Death which paid for it 7. From the large and general Expressions in Scripture concerning the same 1. I argue from the Will of God God's Will of salvation as the fontal Cause thereof and Christ's Death as the meritorious Cause thereof are of equal latitude God's Will of Salvation doth not extend beyond Christ's Death for then he should intend to save some extra Christum Neither doth Christ's Death extend beyond God's Will of Salvation for then he should die for some whom God would upon no terms save but these two are exactly coextensive Hence 't is observable that when the Apostle speaks of Christ's Love to the Church he speaks also of his giving himself for it Eph. 5. 25. and when he saith God will have all men to be saved 1 Tim. 2. 4. he saith withal Christ gave himself a ransom for all Ver. 6. Therefore there cannot be a truer Measure of the extent of Christ's Death than God's Will of Salvation out of which the same did issue so far forth as that Will of Salvation extends to all men so far forth the Death of Christ doth extend to all men Now then how far doth God will the Salvation of all Surely thus far that if they believe they shall be saved No Divine can deny it especially seeing Christ himself hath laid it down so positively This is the will of him that sent me saith he that every one which seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life Joh. 6. 40. Wherefore if God will the Salvation of all men thus far that if they believe they shall be saved then Christ died for all men thus far that if they believe they shall be saved But you 'l say that Promise Whosoever believes shall be saved is but Voluntas signi and not Voluntas beneplaciti which is the adequate Measure of Christ's Death Unto which I answer If that Promise be Voluntas signi what doth it signifie What but God's Will What Will but that good pleasure of his that whosoever believes shall be saved How else is the Sign of the true God a true Sign Whence is that universal connexion betwixt Faith Salvation Is it not a plain efflux or product from the Decree of God Doth not that evidently import a Decree that whosoever believes shall be saved Surely it cannot be a false Sign wherefore so far God's Will of Salvation extends to all men and consequently so far Christ's Death extends to them 2. I argue from the Covenant of Grace and the Promises comprized therein Christ is the Mediatour of the Covenant and the Covenant is the New-testament in his blood Christ's Death doth not extend beyond the Covenant for then there should be less in the Charter than in the Purchase neither doth the Covenant extend beyond Christ's Death for then there should be more in the Charter than in the Purchase but both these run parallel in extent Therefore so far forth as the Covenant extends to all men so far forth the Death of Christ extends to all men Now then for the extent of the Covenant Are not those Promises Whosoever believes shall be saved whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely with the like a part of the Covenant and are they not extensive to all men Both are as plain as if they were written with a Sun-beam Wherefore so far doth Christ's Death extend to all men as the Covenant in any part thereof doth extend unto them Moreover these general Promises undeniably extend to all men and in that extent are infallibly true they are all faithful sayings and words of truth and their truth is sealed up by Christ's Blood wherefore as these Promises extend to all men so the Death of Christ in which they are founded doth extend to all men If Christ did no way die for all men which way shall the truth of these general Promises be made out Whosoever will may take the water of life What though Christ never bought it for him Whosoever believes shall be saved What though there were no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no Price paid for him Surely the Gospel knows no Water of Life but what Christ purchased nor no way of Salvation but by a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Price paid But you 'l say that albeit Christ died not for all men yet are those general Promises very true and that because their truth is founded
Nature 't is a Nullity in naturals and if a rational Creature be separate from the God of Grace he is a Nullity in spirituals Sure if he were any thing at all he might speak or think but he can do neither As running a fountain of Words as his tongue is he cannot say Jesus is the Lord 1 Cor. 12. 3. and as swarming a Hive of Thoughts as his Heart is he cannot think any thing as of himself 2 Cor. 3. 5. The great Apostle gives a double account of himself an account what he is in himself I am nothing saith he 2 Cor. 12. 11. and an account what he is by Grace by the grace of God I am what I am 1 Cor. 15. 10. all his nothingness is in and of himself and all his spiritual essence is in and of Grace A mere Natural man is nothing in Spirituals his eyes are on that which is not Prov. 23. 5. his joy is in a thing of nought Amos 6. 13. and all the false Gods in his heart are 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 nihilitates nothingnesses Psal. 96. 5. As they are Creatures in the World they are Beings but as they are Idols in his 〈◊〉 they are nothing nothing to make a God of and he who makes them such is like unto them even nothing in Spirituals 2. 'T is a State of Enmity against God he is not only a Stranger but an enemy too Col. 1. 21. nay which is more his carnal Mind is enmity against God Rom. 8. 7. Enmity is irreconcileable it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be not unless the Enmity be slain in it nay further the Apostle call the Gentiles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 haters of God Rom. 1. 30. and Hatred is Enmity boiled up to the height Hatred saith the Philosopher seeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Not-being of the thing hated and such is man's Wickedness that strikes as it were at the Life and Being of God it had rather that God should not be than that Lusts should be restrained The Scripture sets out some grand Enemies as opposing God openly and upon the Stage of the World and by what they did openly we may discern what spirit and mystery of Iniquity is working in every Natural man's heart secretly there is in him some of the corrupt flesh of the old World somewhat of Pharaoh's spirit which secretly saith Who is the Lord that I should obey his voice Somewhat of the bloody Jew which is ready to crucifie the Son of God afresh and trample his precious blood under-foot somewhat of the proud Antichrist the man of sin which exalts it self above God it s own Reason above the Wisdom of God and its own Will above the Will of God The very same Venom and Poyson of Enmity which the Grand Enemies of God pour out openly privily lurks and works in every Natural Man Thus in general Man's State is Estrangement and Enmity But to procede 2. What is Man's State in particular in relation to his several parts Now here the same Estrangement and Enmity shews forth it self according to the Nature of each part 1. As for the Understanding 't is turned away from God the first and essential Truth and so become a Forge of lying Vanities 't is turned away from God the first and essential Light and so become a dark place nay darkness it self Eph. 5. 8. and if the light be darkness how great is that darkness So great it is that a Natural man sets an higher estimate on the Follies of Time than on the Blessedness of Eternity and rates the broken Cisterns above the Fountain of living waters 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the souly man who hath nothing but a rational Soul the Spirit of a mere man in him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God 2 Cor. 2. 14. One would think that all Truths should be welcome to a rational Soul and above all the Mysteries of Heaven but he receiveth them not And this the Apostle lays down distinctly The spirit of man knows the things of man because they are within his own Line but the things of God are only known by the Spirit of God because they are above the Sphere of natural Reason As the things of Man are above the Sphere of Sense so the things of God are above the Sphere of Reason and yet as if they were below it the Natural man counts them foolishness which evinces an extreme foolishness in his own heart he is not a Man not an understanding Creature in Spirituals Agur is a Brute in his own eyes I have not the understanding of a man saith he Prov. 30. 2. The Apostle proving all under sin asserts that there is none that understandeth Rom. 3. 11. Millions of ratinal Creatures in the World and yet there is none that understandeth and his proof is invincible there is none that seeketh after God which sure would be done if there were any spark of spiritual Understanding in him 'T is true there may be a mass of Notions in a man unconverted but not a dram of spiritual Knowledge Seeing he sees not he sees the things of God in the image or picture of the Letter but he sees them not in their liveliness and inward Glory Just as the carnal Israelites who saw their Manna and Sacrifices only in the outside but saw not Christ in them or as those false Seekers of whom Christ saith Ye seek me not because ye saw the miracles but because ye did eat of the loaves and were filled Joh. 6. 26. There was a Miracle in those very Loaves but they saw only the carnal and grosser part of the Miracle and not the Glory and Power of Christ's Deity sparkling out in it An Unconverted man knows nothing as he ought to know it no not in the midst of his notions there is no savouring tasting or practical Knowledge in him nothing but a husk shell or form of Knowledg and in the midst thereof a real enmity against the things known Whilest the light of Truth shines only in the Notion he likes it well enough but if it waken Conscience check Lust press Duty or any way offer to assume its Supremacy in his heart or life he instantly hates it as an enemy 2. As for the Will the Principle of Freedom 't is turn'd from God the primum liberum and from his service the vera libertas and so it is become servum arbitrium an arrant Slave bound in the bonds of iniquity and which is the height of Slavery 't is in love with its Bonds and which is the intenseness and intimateness of that love when Christ comes to break these Bonds 't is loth to be made free indeed the iron is so entred into his soul the Bondage is so intimate in the forlorn Will that it looks on God's service as bondage and Sins bondage as freedom and hence it is dead and lame to God's ways but runs and flies
when there is a posse convertere supernaturally poured into it but if that posse do not denominate it gracious surely it is as yet but corrupt and whilst it is such it may be so called 2. I argue from the Glory of free Grace one of its Crown-jewels is that it makes gracious Principles where there were none before it new creates in Christ and so gives Principles of Spiritual being it quickens the dead and so gives Principles of Spiritual Life thus free Grace is blessed from the fountain of Israel from the fontal Principles of the new Creature But those which deny gracious Principles darken free Grace in that which is its prime lustre But here I shall be asked whether that posse convertere be not such a Principle I answer No a Principle is more than a bare posse There was in Adam in innocency a posse peccare and yet there was no Principle of sin in him after the same manner there is say the Remonstrants a posse convertere given to fallen man but this is no Principle of Grace in him But not to strive about words suppose it might be called a Principle yet what a grand disparagement to free Grace is it to say that there was as much of Principle in innocent Adam by Nature towards his sinful transgression as there is in fallen Man by Grace towards his actual Conversion Such as deny gracious habits and grant only a naked power must say so 3. I argue from the sweetness of Providence As 't is the Glory of free Grace that there are gracious Principles made so 't is the sweetness of providence that those Principles are made first and then congruous acts issue from thence The only wise God disposes things in the sweetest method In the body of Nature first a Sun and then a beam first a Fountain and then a stream first a Root and then a fruit In the Soul of Man negative faculties precede acts of life sensitive acts of sense and intellectual acts of reason Hence those acts issue forth in an easie connaturalness to their Principles And can there be less of the beauty of providence in the Spiritual world than in the natural Should there not be as sweet an order in the new Creature as in the old Ought not supernatural acts to issue forth in as great connaturalness to their Principles as natural If so then there must be habits of Grace to precede the acts if not then those acts which are above nature in facto esse as to their essential excellency must be below it in fieri as to their procedure from causes nay 't is hardly imaginable that those acts should at all come forth into being without gracious Principles If the Will be not changed by regenerating Grace how is it constituted in ordine agentium supernaturalium And if not how can it actually turn to God seeing that is actus ordinis supernaturalis Every one that doth righteousness is born of God 1 Joh. 2. 29. To turn unto God is a prime act of Righteousness and how then can it be done before Regeneration Wherefore the Scripture method is clear first a good tree and then good fruit Mat. 7. 17. first a good treasure in the heart and then good things out of it Mat. 12. 35. first we are created in Christ and then we walk in good works Eph. 2. 10. And thus Spiritual acts are done in the easiness of the new Creature because in a way connatural to Spiritual Principles 4. If there be no habits or principles of Grace what is that that makes the grand difference between a godly and an ungodly man Surely either it must be the acts of Faith and other Graces or else the habits and principles thereof 'T is not the acts of Faith and other Graces for two Reasons 1. Because that which makes the difference must be somewhat permanent such was Caleb's other spirit which differenced him from the murmuring Congregation Numb 14. 24. Such was Job's Root which differenced him from the leavy hypocrite Job 19. 28. But the acts of Faith and other Graces are transient wherefore if these be all the difference what becomes of a Godly man in his sleep or phrensie wherein no such acts are put forth Doth he drop out of the state of Grace without any apostasie or continue in it without any differencing quality neither is possible he back-slides not from God and how can he be out of the state of Grace he is but as other men are and how can he be in it It remains therefore that the habits of Grace make the difference for by reason of these he is not as other men are no not when the Acts of Grace are suspended because he hath another spirit in him 2. All men being by Nature ungodly that which chiefly makes the difference must denominate a man changed Now in every change the Terminus is somewhat permanent in Alteration 't is a permanent Quality in Augmentation 't is a permanent Quantity in Generation 't is a substantial Form and in Regeneration 't is a new creature born of the incorruptible seed of the Word 1 Pet. 1. 23. The Terminus of this gracious Change is set out in Scripture as a permanent thing sometimes 't is called light ye were darkness but now light in the Lord Eph. 5. 8. sometimes life this my son was dead and is alive again Luk. 15. 24. sometimes the new man old things are past away behold all things are become new 2 Cor. 5. 17. still it is somewhat parmanent Hence it appears that the Acts of Faith and other Graces which are transient do not so properly denominate a man changed as improve the Change already made The wild Tree is changed by the Graff and not by the After-fruit the Natural man is changed by the ingrafted Word and not by the fruits of Faith and other Graces which naturally grow upon the Root of habitual Grace That a corrupt Tree is made good is a great Change but that a good Tree brings forth good fruit is altogether connatural If there be no Habits or Principles of Grace how can the Natural man's deadly Wound I mean Original Corruption ever be healed Habitual Corruption cannot be healed but by habitual Grace the Plague of the Heart cannot be healed but by the holy Unction instead of the old Heart there must be a new one or else there is no healing and without healing how can such a sound Act as Conversion come forth It remains therefore that there are Habits or Principles of Grace 2. Having proved that there are such Habits or Principles I come to unfold what they are and this I cannot better do than by shewing what they are in the several Faculties Wherefore 1. As to the Understanding there is a Principle of excellent Knowledge I say excellent not only in respect of the matter of it being heavenly Mysteries but also in respect of the Nature of it 't is too high for a fool