Rationalis facultatis arguunt similiter c. that as the operations of Brutes how sagacious soever they be yet being compared with the operations of men do manifest a want of a faculty in them that we are endowed with so the sublimest actions of Natural men being compared with the operations of such as are born of God do as plainly argue the lack of a faculty in those which these have Thes. Salm Tom. 1. p. 139. 3. Their knowledg of divine truths is not transformative Their assent is accompanied with a disaffected heart to the things they assent to Under all the imbellishments of knowledg they are not attempered into the likeness of what they believe and profess Their hearts are not changed into the vital Image of truth but remain Animal and Brutish notwithstanding all the Notions their heads are fraught with They are not cast 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 into the form and moâ—ld of the doctrine they believe Their hearts and affections are not framed into the similitude and figure of it The Word is not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an Ingrafted Word turning the whole stock into its own nature and likeness But they do 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hold or imprison the truth in unrighteousness Inest homini sanctâ— legis scientia nec â—amen sanatur vitiosa concupiscentia Aug. lib. de gest Pelag. cap. 7. see Rom. 7.8 Fourthly Because of Weakness through the loss of the Divine Image and because of Enmity through indwelling lust we are altogether unable in our selves savingly to comply with the terms of the Gospel There is an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a want of power in every one of us to those things No man can come to me except the Father draw him Joh. 6.44 To come is as much as to own Christ as the sealed and Anointed of God and to believe in him as the alone Mediatour and Surety Joh. 5.40 Joh. 6.35 37. And without the Fathers drawing i. e. without an efficacious work of God ingaging the Soul in a most sweet but powerful manner no one will be ever found in the practice and exercise of those things There is both that disproportion of faculty and that wicked aversation from the terms of the Gospel in every one which only the Divine Spirit can relieve and conquer Objective grace or the Moral Swasion of the word is not enough we need also subjective Grace and a new principle What a dead man is to vital operations that every one by Nature is to Spiritual acts The soul is not more necessary to the body for the functions of Life Sense and Reason than the Spirit of life in the New Birth is to all holy performances We not only need insinuations of Spiritual light to awaken our slumbring minds but to elevate and dispose them for the due perception of the things of God nor do we only need grace to court our perverse wills but to determine them to the choice of holiness An impotency is acknowledged by all who measure their conceptions about these things either by the declaration of the Word or the Universal experience of Mankind The Natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cannot know the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 The Carnal mind 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the wisdom of the flesh i. e. the best thoughts affections inclinations and motions of the mind of a Natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 being as much as homo corruptus Joh. 3.6 Gen. 6.3 is Enmity against God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the abstract For it is not subject to the Law of God neither indeed can be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom. 8.7 Fifthly How this impotency is now to be called is not of so great consequence as some men make it For on the one hand all are agreed that it consists not in a Deprivation of any Essential Power or Faculty of our Rational Being This Spanhemius as well as Amyrald Twiss as well as Truman are at an accord in And it is granted likewise on the other hand that it is not only Congenite with us and so in that sense Natural wherein we are said to be by Nature the Children of Wrath but farther that it implies both á want of concreated Rectitude and a connate pravity and aversation from God and that it is only God who can overcome our opposition and relieve our weakness and that secluding his work upon the soul we neither will nor can comply savingly with the terms of the Gospel so that whether it ought to be stiled a Moral or a Natural Impotency is for the most part but a strife about words There is a perfect harmony as to the sense and meaning the alone contest is about the manner of expressing and phrasing it Philosophy is only concerned in it not Divinity Nor is the question who speaks most truly but who speaks most properly It is the dispute of Divines not of Divinity The terms might have been avoided without prejudice to truth Nor do I know any reason for the use of them but to confound mens apprehensions I heartily wish that those Learned persons who have made so great a noise about Moral and Natural power would have been so ingenuous as to have told the World that they impeached no man of error but only of solecism and that their adversaries were as sound in the matter contended about as themselves only that they had not the luck of declaring it in so apt words as this would have contributed more to the peace of the Church so hereby private Christians would have judged their concern but small in these debates But seeing for Reasons that I think not fit to enquire into this needful Advertisement hath been neglected I hope it will not prove an unacceptable service that we have here suggested it presupposing then that Agreement in the Main which hath been intimated All that lies upon our hand is to enquire who express themselves most Philosophically in this matter And though I must confess that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Dion Halicarn apt words are of great import to a clear apprehension of things yet I must withal add that I am no friend to a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or a coâ—ning of new terms when old ones will serve the turn And I am so far from seeing any solid ground why in the matter and case before us we should wave the word Natural for the word Moral that I think there is a great deal of reason for the contrary 1. The most likely way of arriving at a distinctness of understanding our present inability is by considering what at first was communicated to us and for what ends and according to this method of proceed I would argue thus That impotency which consists in the want of a principle not only concreated with us but Naturally due to our undefiled Natures in order to our living acceptably to God may I think not unfitly be called a
That these commands and exhortations of washing and making us clean of getting a new heart c. are not so much suited to us as weak as they are intended to us as stubborn nor so much prescribed to us under the reduplication of our being unable as of being Rebellious Si quis per Naturae vires bonum aliquod quod ad salutem pertinet vitae aeternae cogitare aut eligere sive salutari i. e. Evangelicae praedicationi consentire posse confirmat absque illuminatione inspiratione Spiritus Sancti qui dat omnibus suavitatem in consentiendo credendo veritati haeretico fallitur spiritu non intelligenâ— vocem Dei in Evangelio dicentis sine me nihil potestis Concil Araus Can. 7. § 8. From what hath been delivered in the two preceding Paragraphs we may safely now infer the necessity of a superadded infused Principle in order to our living to God in the whole of practical Religion and our being accepted with him Nor is there any thing that the Scripture declares in more Emphatical terms the Holy Ghost foreseeing contradiction that would be made hereunto And by the same acts and methods that men endeavour to avoid the force of Scripture-Testimonies in this matter there is not any Article of Faith that can be secure but what ever the Holy Ghost hath delivered for the confirmation of the greatest Doctrines of the Christian Religion may with the like subtilty be perverted to another Intendment Had God designed the declaring the Doctine of an infused Subjective principle I challenge any man to shew me how it could have been more clearly and fully expressed than it is already The causes both Moral and Physical the way and manner of its production and communication the intrinsic subjective change that is thereby made and wrought in the frame temper and disposition of the Soul the capacity that we are thereupon brought into of communion with God here and enjoying him hereafter together with the effects that proceed thence in our Conversation and course of Living both towards God and Man are all held forth in the Scripture in terms most plain full and emphatical Nor are the Prayers and Thanksgivings with reference to renuing and assisting Grace which I suppose all Christians are found in the performance of reconciliable with the denyal and negation of such a Principle and so conferred Surely in our applications and addresses to God we pray not for Rational Faculties nor meerly for the enjoyment of the Gospel but we pray especially That God would Create in us a clean heart that he would renue us in the Spirit of our minds fulfil in us the work of Faith with power work in us both to will and to do all which argue a necessity of somthing more than either Essential Powers or Objective Light Therefore Austin sayes well concerning the Pelagians destruuâ—t orationes quas facit Ecclesia sive pro infidelibus Doctrinae Dei resistentibus ut convertantur ad Deum sive pro fidelibus ut augeatur iis fides perseverent in eâ Haeres 80. and again cur petitur quod ad nostram pertinet potestatem si Deâ—s non adjuvat voluntatem idem de grâ—t Christi lib. 1. cap. 15. and once more Quis optat quod in potestate sic habet ut ad faciendum nullo indigeat adjumento idem de peccat Merit Remis lib. 2. cap. 6. The same may be said of Praise and Thanksgiving to God with respect to Grace For if there be no insused Principles it will necessarily follow that while we pretend to bless God for quickning us when we were dead in Trespasses and Sins for making us willing through a day of power for the exceeding greatness of his power exerted towards us who believe for the sanctifying us wholly in our Soul Spirit and Body c. We do but mock and flatter him For as Austin sayes Proâ—sâ—s non gratias Deo agimus sed nos agere fingimus si unde illi gratias agimus ipsum facere non putamus Epist. 107. ad Vitalâ—m Shall I add that to deny the infusion of a supernatural Vital Principle or to affirm that the Spirit of God acts only towards us in way of Moral suasion yea to grant no other inward operation but what is Resistible and may be withstood is in effect to ascribe all the difference that is betwixt one man and another to our selves contrary to the express words of the Apostle 1 Cor. 4.7 Who maketh thee to differ from another and what hast thou that thou did'st not Receive But having already treated this Chap. 2. § 15. and seeing if what we have delivered in this Chapter hold good this naturally follows and being obliged to make an End I supercede all farther prosecution of it § 9. I have now done with the theory and polemical part thought to have proceeded to a practical improvement by way of Use of what hath been said but the discourse being already drawn out and encreased beyond what I at first intended I shall therefore wave all that I had in that way designed to say However I hope that as I have finished what I mainly purposed so I have in some measure performed what I undertook namely have justified that Moral Vertue and Practical Religion are not universally coincident but that there is something else necessary in order to our living to God in all the Duties of obedience incumbent upon us besides either Moral Vertue or the instruments of it and that those who pursue the acquisition of Grace and Spiritual Holiness over and above the common Vertues of Morality do not engage their main industry and biggest endeavours in the pursuit of Dreams and Shaddows as we are told Def. Continuat p. 338. If any now upon the one hand by obtruding a notion and definition of Morality supposing and including all that we have been contending for as necessary to Christian Obedience shall thereupon affirm Morality and Holiness to be all one as I find some learned men do I shall take the liberty to say that however sound and Orthodox by vertue of such an explication they manifest themselves to be in Divinity they do not declare that skill in Philosophy which they would bear the world in hand that they are furnished with It is Institution and vulgar use of Terms that ought to fix and determine their signification and whoever he be that retaining usual Terms will yet assume a freedome of affixing what sence he pleaseth to them as he Usurps an Empire that is neither just not reasonable so he not only makes way for endless Lâ—gâ—machies but leaves a president for confounding and changing the state of any question in the world and his Authority will be produced when he is dead and gone to the disservice of Truth nor will it be difficult for witty men to render the sense he now pretends to use the Terms in ridiculous and unmaintainable If any upon the
Natural Impotency and that the impotency under consideration is such were easie to demonstrate from what our Divines have proved against the Papists viz. That Grace was Natural to man at first not Supernatural 2. As the strength and malignancy of a Disease is best known by the powerful remedies which are necessary to conquer it So the quality of our inability will be best understood by considering the Nature of the means which can relieve us against it That inability then which Moral means are not sufficient to relieve us against is more than a Moral inability Now that Moral means are not sufficient to relieve us against the impotency we labour under might be easily proved by producing the arguments for Inward Efficacious Grace against those who admit only a Moral Suasion but this I suppose sufficiently done against Pelagian Jesuits and Arminians and in the matter both of the necessity of efficacious Grace and the way in which it is wrought we have both Amyrald and Truman harmonizing with us 3. Let us measure our thoughts by the report which the Scripture makes of our inability and we shall find abundant cause of judging it a Natural Impotency For the better clearing of this we may observe that in order to our readier conceiving our ineptness and indisposition to the things of God the Lord is pleased to represent it under such Metaphors and Similitudes as are of a familiar and easie perception and to wave others which possibly may be more Emphatical I shall only take notice that the Holy Ghost upon this occasion frequently stiles us Blind Now Blindness properly is affirmed of the eyes of the body and thence transferred to the Soul As we do not call him blind who wants a visible object Intellectus humanus non est id quâ—d in oculis corporis est facultas videndi cui satis est si lux exâ—erna offeratur Muscul. in Isa. 42. Caecitas est privatio Luminis interni cui tamen deest externum privatur quidem actu videndi cui vero internum deest privatur potentiâ videndi quantum ad organum spectat Strang. de Volunt Dei lib. â—4 cap. 8. or who wants an enlightned medium nor yet who wilfully shuts his eyes in the Meridian shine but him that wants an Organ so in spiritual things we are not to stile him Blind who by shutting his eyes precludes the light but he only is so that wants the faculty of seeing Other arguments to this purpose I supersede at present for the pursuing of this controversie is not that which we are much concerned in And indeed while such an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is on all hands acknowledged which only the immediate inward efficacious working of the Spirit of God can relieve us against other debates are of small moment Only seeing 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Nature requires that words be adapted to Conceptions not Conceptions moulded to words Dionys. Halicarn I will always prefer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a clear expression to that which is doubtful and equivocal which I reckon Moral Impotency to be § 15. The necessity of Grace for the succouring us under and relieving us against this impotency is pleaded by all But it is withal too true that under the most specious pretences of it there is nothing more meant by some but our Natural faculties or at most the Objective assistances of the Holy Ghost in the Gospel That all the Jesuits and Arminians intend in effect no more were easie to demonstrate if that now lay before us All that we intend on this head at present we shall reduce to three conclusions First The operation of the Holy Ghost upon our faculties is always in agreement with and in conjunction with the Word We allow no man to pretend to the guidance of the Spirit who cannot justifie what he pretends to be conducted in by some Scripture-Text The inward energy of the Holy Ghost presupposeth the outward teaching of the Scripture There is always a sweet harmony betwixt the subjective and objective teaching of the same Spirit Jam. 1.18 Rom. 10.17 As upon the one hand tolle Spiritum a verbo remanet mortua litera so on the other hand tolle Verbum a Spiritu non amplius remanet Spiritus Dei sed Sathanae potius Take away the Spirit from the Word and the Word is but a dead Letter so take away the Word from the Spirit and it is not the Spirit of God but of Sathan rather Heming in Rom. 11.27 And therefore we require both an assiduous study of the Word and an examination of all impressions by it 1 Joh. 4.1 1 Thes. 5.21 As less will not secure us from unaccountable impulses so there is no fear of Enthusiastick phrenzies where this method is attended to Secondly There are thâ—se arguments impressed on the Scriptures as are every way fit to sway our Rational minds The Spirit doth not hurry us against Light and Reason but leads us by discovering a prevailing evidence in the things that it frames and moulds us to There is conviction goes along with the Spirits efficacy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in demonstration of the Spirit and of Power 1 Cor. 2.4 When-ever the Holy Ghost by a vital presence perswades the soul to disengage it from sin and attract it to holiness he doth it in a way that is congruous to our Nature the soul divorceth that and espouseth this upon plenary conviction Flectiâ— Deus voluntates non invitas sed volentes August He doth not reduce us to himself by overthrowing our Wills but by the irradiations of truth and efficacy of Grace he makes us willing The Spirit when he comes 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he will convince the world of Sin and of Righteousness c. Joh. 16.8 He will manage it in way of demonstration Now the Topicks of these Arguments are partly the precepts of the Word which are all holy just and good agreeable to the Dictates of Reason and the distinguishing taste we retain of Good and Evil. Approving themselves to our understandings if they be not enslaved to our lusts and sensual appetites Courting us to our interest as well as obliging us to our duty Arguing the Mercy of the Legislator as well as his Soveraignty Partly the promises of the Word which as they are in their Nature suitable to the immaterial quality of our souls and in their duration to their perpetuity and immortality So they are propounded to us upon the strongest grounds and motives which can engage our hopes and faith namely the Promise and Oath of God the death and merit of Christ the earnest and pledg of the Spirit Partly the threatnings of the Word which as they are dreadful in reference to things they denounce whether we consider the Nature of them or their continuance so they are unavoidable unless we repent and believe Thirdly There is an immediate powerful operation upon the Soul it self by which our Opposition is conquered
with men neither will nor can come up to and where there is no provision for their relief signifies not very much nor accords with infinite Wisdom which adapts one thing to another Of all the defenders of Universal objective Grace they spake most coherently who affirmed the Heathens to have been saved by Philosophy as well as the Jews were by the Law or we by the Gospel vid. Clem. Alexand. Strom. lib. 7. Just. Mart. Apolog. 2. Secondly such is the disproportion betwixt our intellectual faculties and the great objects of the Gospel that they can neither fathom nor bear the Majesty of the doctrines of the New Covenant though they be never so clearly revealed The Sun doth not more overpower and dazle the eye than those things of the Gospel from which all our pardon and peace flow's do overmatch our understandings The Natural man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the man of a large inteâ—â—ect Receiveth not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 non est capax is not adapted a metaphore saith Beza taken from a small vessel which cannot admit any large body into it the things of the Spirit of God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in contradistinction from the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 We may gather cockles on the shore but we cannot dive to the bottom of these depths It is enough that we are perswaded of the infallibility of the Testimony we must not hope to comprehend the things testified Our work is not so much to look after the evidence of the things themselves as the Evidence of the Revelation of them And herein we have an instance of the Love Care and Wisdome of God that what is most incomprehensible in its own Nature is above all other things revealed in terms most plain and intelligible The obscurity of the Mysterious truths of the New Covenant is not to be reflected on the darkness of the Declaration but is to be ascribed to the Majesty of the things declared Est enim objectum ita sublime ut a mente nostra perfectè comprehendi nequeat non etiamsi careret omni labe tantae scilicet rei creatura modus capax non est The things are in themselves so sublime that were our understandings pure and unspotted they could not be grasped or comprehended Our fâ—â—ite capacities bearing no proportion to them Amyrald Therefore as one says sicut in Logicis argumentum facit fidem sit in Theologicis fides facit argumentum as demonstration begets faith in Philosophy so faith begets assurance in Divinity Alex. Aâ—ens The Scripture of whose Divineness we have all the evidence that is possible is the truest ground for the certainty of particular Doctrines that our understandings can rest in Jansenius therefore say's well that quemadmodum intellectus Philosophiâ— suscipiendâ— propria facultas est ita memoria Theologia Ille quippe intellecta principia penetrando Philosophâ—m facit haec ea quae sibi scriptâ— aâ—t praedicatione tradita sunt recordando Theologum Christanum As the understanding is the proper faculty for Philosophy so is the memory for Theology for as that by penetrating into the Principles of things makes a Philosopher so this by remembring what it meets with in and hearâ— from the Word maketh a Divine Tom. 2. lib. proâ—â—m cap. 4. pag. 4. Thirdly There is not only a Physical disproportion through the finiteness of our faculties betwixt us the objects of the Gospel but there is also a contracted adventitious Moral ineptitude through the privâ—tion and loss of that Rectitude which was at first concreated with us I grant that the Doctrines of the Gospel being attended with so great subjective and objective evidence of their truth neither indwelling lust nor practical immorality can prove a total bar to the assenting to them Unregenerate men may perceive the truth of Scripture-Propositions as well as of those of Humane Authors The word revealing things as clearly and being accompanied with more stronger motives of credibility than any other writings are But through want of a Vital alliance to the things they are conversant about there is a Threefold unhappiness such men labour under 1. They are Sceptical and fluctuating in the belief of Gospel-truths Every temptation can fetch them off In stead of a firm settledness of mind in the perswasion of them they are loose and Aporetical Their assents are weak and vanishing Divine truths having no cognation with the subject they are in they are easily blown away or wither whatever certainty be in the object there is little in the Mind They want the full assurance of understanding of the Mystery of God and of the Father and of Christ. No man saith the Apostle can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost 1 Cor. 12.3 He cannot say and profess it from a full perswasion of heart till the Holy Ghost have taught it him See Heb. 11.1 And remember the notion we have already given of the design and meaning of those words 2 Their knowledg of Gospel-mysteries is not affective They do not savour the things they assent to Objects have quite an other aspect to an unregenerate person than they have to one that is renewed in the Spirit of his mind and the act of seeing is of a different kind How tastless are the great truths of the Gospel to unregenerate souls and how faint are the Rayes of Gospel-Light The mind being deprav'd by impure and vitious tinctures it doth not relish the things which it is even perswaded of Unless a man saith Christ be born again 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he cannot see know or understand the Kingdome of Heaven the mysteries and doctrines of the Gospel Hence it is that the believing soul though otherwise simple and ignorant hath an insight into the things of God which the Learned whose hearts are not connaturalized to the Gospel have not It is one thing to know in the Light of Reason and another thing to know in the Light of the Spirit Therefore the doctrines of the new Covenant being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Spiritualiter res divinas cognoscere est eas agnoscere judicio ductu illuminatione Spiritûs sicut animaliter vel rationaliter cognoscere aliquid est ex judicio rationis cognoscere Musc. ad 1 Cor. 2. Animalis homo intelligiâ— quidem vocabula aliquot sententias Sâ—iritualem autem corum sensum percipere fidem â—is habere noâ— potest Par. ad 1 Cor. 2 14. Spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2.14 They lye out of the Gust and true perception of a Carnal man For as to discern Rationally is to perceive it in the vertue of a Rational Principle and through the influence of Reason So to discern a thing Spiritually is to do it by a Spiritual Principle and through the illumination of the Holy Ghost It is an excellent expression of Amyralds Quod sicut operationes omnium animantium quantumvis subtilissimae nihilominus cum iis quae a mente hominis proficiscuntur collatae defectum
Commandments of God with a performance of the superadded Duties which respect the Mediator is the qualification required in every one that would escape legal Wrath. And if it were not thus the most wicked might lay claim to Pardon and Salvation as well as the most Holy And the Gospel in stead of being an engagement to duty were an indulgence to sin Christ is the Author of Salvation to none but to them who thus obey him Heb. 5.9 And that we may not here deceive our selves and think that we are sincere when we are not I will only mention two things leaving the prosecution of them to practical discourses 1. That to live in the constant allowed neglect of any duty or prosecution of any sin is inconsistent with sincerity 1 Joh. 3.6 10. Rom. 6.12 14 20. 2. There are some sins which the very falling into argues the heart never to have been upright with God 1 Joh. 5.16 17 18. Secondly Improvement in all habits of Grace and degrees of Holiness with endeavours after a most exact strictness are likewise required of us Be ye perfect as your Father which is in Heaven is perfect see 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8. 2 Pet. 3.18 2 Cor. 7.1 And though damnation be not denounced here in case of faileur yet hereupon we miss much comfortable communion with God are liable to the withdrawments of the sense of his love and are exposed to what paternal castigations he thinks fit in his Wisdom to inflict Psal. 89.31 32 33. Thirdly There is provision made in the New Covenant for the promotion of our strength and growth if we be not wanting to our selves There is a fulness of Grace in Christ out of which we have ascertainment of supply providing we attend unto the means appointed for the Communication of it An unshaken Faith in the power of God and in the assistance of the Spirit a watching unto prayer with diligence and constancy Meditation of the ugliness of every sin and amiableness of Universal Righteousness c. are exceeding useful hereunto Here mainly lies a Believers Province and the attainment is not onely possible but easie if sloth negligence love of ease indulgence to the flesh superficialness in Duty unbelief of the promises do not preclude and bar us But then we are only to blame our selves not to slander the provisions of the Gospel Fourthly In the vertue of Gods furnishing us with a principle of Grace the heart is immediatly imbued with a sincere Love to God and becomes habitually inclined to walk in his Laws Obedience is connatural to the New principle And though through remains of indwelling sin and the souls hearkning to temptations we be not so uniform in our Obedience nor at all times alike disposed to Holy exercises yet partly from the struglings and workings of the vital seed it self and partly through the supplies ministred by the Spirit according to our exigences we are so far secured that we shall not disannul the Covenant see 1 Joh. 3.9 Jer. 32.42 1 Cor. 10.13 1 Pet. 1.5 So that now upon the whole Christs yoke is an easie yoke Math. 11.30 nor are his Commandments grievous 1 Joh. 5.3 CHAP. III. 1 The Question reassumed Two Great Instruments of Duty The measure regulating it and the principle in the strength of which it is performed The first of these discoursed in this chap. 2. All that Relates to Religion belongs either to Faith or Obedience so far as Natural Light is defective in being the measure of that so far is it defective in being the measure of this 3. All Obedience refers either to Worship or Manners Natural Light not the measure of Religious Worship 4. An inquiry into the Original of Sacrifices not derived from the Light of Nature nor taken up by Humane Agreement their foundation on a divine Institution justified at length 5. Manners either Regulated by Moral Laws or by Positive Natural Light no Rule of positive Duties 6. As it's subjective in Man not a sufficient Rule of Moral ones 7. Considered as objective in the Decalogue only an adequate Rule of Moral performances not of Instituted Religion § 1. I Cannot think that I have digressed from the subject which I have undertaken while I have been discoursing Principles which have so great an influence as well upon the due Understanding as the right deciding of it These being then proposed and confirmed in the former Chapter We are now not only at leisure but somewhat better prepared for the prosecuting the assertion at first delivered viz. That Morality doth not comprehend the whole of practical Religion nor do'th all the Obedience we owe to God consist in Moral Vertue For the clearer stating and determining of this it must be observed that there are two great Instruments of Duty the measure Regulating it which we call Law and the Principle in the strength of which it is to be performed which we call Power That directs and instructs us about it this adapts and qualifies us to the performance of it By the first we are furnished with the means of knowing it and by the second with strength to discharge it Both these were at first concreated with subjective in our Natures There resided in us Originally not only an ability of mind of discerning the whole of our Duty which the Law of Creation exacted of us but a sufficient power to fulfil it Whether since the Fall we abide qualified as to either of these is yet farther to be debated The first we shall Discuss in this Chapter having designed the following for the examination of the other We have already demonstrated the Law of Creation commonly called the Law of Nature to be the alone Rule and measure of Moral Vertue This is granted by a late Author The practice of Vertue saith he consists in living suitably to the Dictates of Reason and Nature Eccl. Polit. p. 68. Now the Law of Nature may be considered either as 't is Subjective in man or as 't is Objective in the Decalogue As 't is Subjective in man 't is vulgarly stiled Right Reason The Light of Nature The Philosophers who were the primitive Authors of the Term Vertue knew no other Rule by which it was to be regulated but Reason This they made the alone 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of vertues Mediocrity The Mediocrity of Vertue saith Aristotle is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as Right Reason dictates Eth. lib. 3 cap. 8. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertue is a Habit measured by right Reason idem Eth. lib. 4. cap. 3. Other testimonies to this purpose we have elsewhere produced viz. cap. 1. Now I affirm that the Law of Nature is no sufficient Measure of Religion and consequently that all Religion consists not in the meer practice of Vertue but that there is something beyond the bounds of Moral Vertue besides Chimera's and flying Dragons Eccl. Pol. p. 69. def and continuat p. 338 339. ibid. p. 315. And that the Christian Institution is not a
of Religion then the New Covenant is nothing but a repetition of the Old Yea there is no such thing as a New Covenant with respect to the Terms of it onely it is so called with respect to the manner of its Promulgation For where the Terms and conditions vary not neither do the Covenants vary 'T is their differing in their Demands that gives them the Denomination of distinct Covenants To assert a coincidency as to the whole preceptive part betwixt the two Covenants is in effect to bid us disclaim a great part of the Bible What tendency some expressions of a late Author have this way I shall refer to the judgment of others As in the State of Innocence the whole Duty of man consisted in the practice of all those Moral Vertues that arose from his Natural Relation to God and man so all that is superinduced upon us since the fall is nothing but helps and contrivances to supply our Natural defects and restore us to better ability to discharge those duties we stand engaged to by the Law of our Nature and the design of our Creation c. def contin p. 315 316. The supposition of sin does not bring in any New Religion but only makes new circumstances and names of old things and requires new helps and advantages to improve our Powers and to encourage our Endeavours And thus is the Law of Grace nothing but a Restitution of the Law of Nature ibid. p. 324. Secondly there are several duties incumbent now upon us which also constitute the chief part of our Christian Obedience that the Decalogue as ' its a transcript of the Law of right Reason or of Nature is perfectly a stranger to For proof of this I shall only insist on Repentance towards God and Faith towards Jesus Christ. I suppose it will be granted by most that Repentance in all the parts and branches of it viz. conviction of sin Contrition for it and conversion to God from it are Duties we are all under the obligation of I said by most because of some expressions in a late Author which I can hardly reconcile with the account which the Scripture gives us of Repentance or with that modesty which we ought to exercise in the things of God The Fathers first preachers of the Christian Faith did not fill peoples heads with scruples about the due degrees of Godly sorrow and the certain symptoms of a through-Humiliation def contin p. 306 307. And a little after They says he meaning the Noncomformists examine the truth and reality of mens conversion by their orderly passage through all the stages of conviction And unless a man be able to give an account of having observed and experienced in himself all their imaginary Rules Methods of Regeneration i. e. conviction and contrition c. they immediately call into question his being a Child of God and affright him with sad stories of having miscarried of Grace and the New-Creature And he is lost and undone for ever unless he begin all the work of conversion anew and he must as it were re-enter into the Womb again pass through all the scenes workings of conviction in which state of formation all new converts must continue the appointed time and when the days are accomplished they may then proceed to the next operation of the Spirit i. e. to get a longing panting and breathing frame of soul upon which follows the proper season of delivery and they may then break loose from the Enclosures of the Spirit of Bondage and creep out from those dark Retirements wherein the Law detain'd them into the light of the Gospel and the liberty of the Spirit of Adoption p. 309 310. However I can justifie the forementioned steps and degrees of Repentance both by Scripture and Reason Now this the Moral Law as 't is a meer summary of the Law of Nature neither know's nor allow's I confess the Law of Creation obliging us to love God with all our Heart Soul and Strength and in all things to approve our selves perfect before him doth by consequence in case of the least faileur oblige us to sorrow And thus men wholly strangers to the renueing grace of the Covenant may repent witness among others Judas as to the act of betraying Christ. But to encourage us thereunto by any promise of acceptance without which no man will ever be found in the due practice of it Heb. 11.6 Or administer help for the performance of it this it neither doth promiseth nor can do or promise For being once violated it know's no other language but the thundring of wrath against the transgressour Now one and the same Covenant can not be capable of two such contrary clauses as denouncing an inevitable curse on whosoever shall not observe the Law in all points and promising mercy to those that repent of the transgressions which the do commit They like may be said of Faith This is the great condition of the Gospel Gal. 3.22 Act. 13.29 Rom. 10.9 One of the principal Duties we are now obliged to 1 Joh. 3.23 Joh. 6.29 Now this as 't is the condition of Gospel-pardon the Law is utterly unacquainted with know's nothing at all of it It is true there is a general Faith terminating on the Existence Authority and Veracity of God which comes under the Sanction of the Law of Creation But Faith as respecting a Mediator and Gods treating with us through him the Law is both ignorant of and at enmity with Gal. 3.12 The Law is not of Faith Rom. 9.32 33. Israel which followed after the Law of Righteousness hath not attained to the Law of Righteousness wherefore because they sought it not by Faith but as it were by the Works of the Law I know not whether it be upon this account because Faith comes not smoothly enough within the compass of being a Moral Vertue that a late Author is pleas'd to scoff at Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ not only by stiling it in mockage the dear darling Article of the Religion of Sinners Def. Contin p. 322. but by representing what the Scripture every-where ascribes to it in such terms of Drollery Scorn and Contempt that I tremble to transcribe them They make says he a grievous noise of the LORD CHRIST tell fine Romances of the secret amours betwixt the believing Soul and the LORD CHRIST and prodigious stories of the miraculous feats of FAITH in the LORD CHRIST Reproof to the Rehears Transpros p. 69. See also Def. Contin p. 135· 140. But while men believe their Bibles they are not to be jeered out of their Duty and Happiness And this is all I shall discourse of the first Instrument of Morality viz. the measure of it and I hope it appears by what hath been offered that the Law of Creation which is the Alon◠Rule of Moral Vertue whether we take it subjectively as it is in Man since the Fall or objectively as it is in the Decalogue
superâ—sse est Ep. ad Câ—esiphon I shall therefore subjoyn a few expâ—essions more which I meet with to the same purpose in the foresaid book In short saith he the whole state of this Question being discoursing about the identity of Vertue and Grace is plainly this That in the days of the Apostles the Divine Spirit proved it self by some clear and unquestionable Miracle and that was the rational evidencâ— of its Truth and Divine Authority but in our days it proceeds in an humane and in a rational way joyning in with our Understandings and leading us forward by the Rules of Reason and Sobriety by threatnings and by promises by instructing our faculties in the right perception of things and by discovering a fuller evidence and stronger connexion of Truths ibid. p. 334. Though any learned person will easily discover the drift and intendment of this passage yet it being so proposed and containing such a mixture of truth and falshood bended together that 't is difficult for a common Reader to discern the leaven and poysonous ferment that is wrapt up in it I shall take a farther survey of it There are some men so accustomed to twist and interweave things of a heterogeneal nature one with another that it requires considerable skill to make a due separation and disposal of the several ingredients of their composition to what they are shapen and designed to subserve In the first place I know none of all the Assertors of supernatural infused Grace who pretend the overthrow of the Rules of Reason and Sobriety by Gods working immediatly and effectually upon the Souls of men We attribute no such violent motion to Gods Spirit upon ours as overthrow our powers and faculties By a Communication of a vital principle the Soul is attempered in its inward frame to the things its moved to Through the introduction of the New Nature our faculties are connaturalized to their duty The Soul being irradiated with a Divine Light and having a new strength transfused into it is carried to its object out of choice and upon conviction Nor do I know any in the second place that preclude the use of promises and threatnings or who affirm that the Spirit of God in the Regeneration and Renovation of Sinners acts abstractedly from and independently on the Word No the dispensation of the Word is Gods power unto Salvation the vehiculum spiritûs the Chariot of the Spirit the Seal by which he impresseth his Image An attendence to the Reading and Preaching of it is what they press every man earnestly to and that all impulses be examined by it That which I except against in this Paragraph of our Author is this that all allowed to the Spirit of God in his dealing with the Souls of men is that he acts only Objectively in ministring Arguments of Conviction to them For that was the alone end of miracles and that is our Authors intendment by the Spirits proceeding in an humane way Now this supposeth the whole subjective power to reside naturally in our selves and that all the assistances of the Spirit serve only to excite it and to awaken us to exert our natural abilities nor is this new There are some others in whose writings our Author seems not a little conversant who have gone before him in these apprehensions Novas autem qualitates creari seu produci non est necesse It is not necessary that any new qualities should be created or produced in us Stoinski coetus Racov. Minister ad Crell Nonne ad credendum Evangelio Spiritus S. interiori dono opus est Nullo modo Is not the inward operation of the Holy Ghost necessary in order to our believing he means savingly the Gospel by no means Cateches Racov. Est à utem probitas nihil aliud quam recté agendi studium a recto rationis judicio prâ—fectum Holiness is nothing but an endeavour of living uprightly in the strength of and in the pursuance of Right Reason Vâ—lkel lib. 4. cap. 1. Causa proxima probitatis est ipsa voluntas seu arbitrium nostrum cujus ea est vis ac potestas ut in quam velit partem libere se iâ—clinet The immediate cause of Holiness is the Will it self whose Power and Ability is such that it can determine it self to Good or Evil as it pleaseth Crell Eth. Christian. lib. 2. cap. 2. Non est Spiritus Sanctus qui necessario requiritur ad vim efficaciâ—m â—verbo Dei conciliandam quippiam diversum ab ipso verbo The Holy Spirit that is required to make the Word effectual is nothing but the Word it self Socin de Justif. p. 27. Homo audito intellecto Dei verbo sine ulla alia nedum solâ— speciali Spiritus Sancti operatiâ—ne potest se reipsa ad Deum convertere Men through the help and assistance of the word heard and understood may convert themselves to God without any other much less special operation of the Holy Ghost Schlichting cont Meisner de Servo Arbitrio p. 88. Non requiritur supernaturale lumen potentiae superinfusum mentem elevans ad intelligendum credendum Scripturis There is no supernatural infused light necessary for the understanding and believing of the Scriptures he understands a Salvifick knowledg and belief of them Episcop disp 5. Thes. 3. An ulla actio Spiritus immediata in mentem aut voluntatem necessaria sit aut in Scripturâ—s promittatur ad hoc ut quis credere possit verbo extrinsecus proposito negativam tuebimur whether besides the external Promulgation of the Word there be any immediate operation of the Spirit upon the Understanding or Will necessary We undertake the defence of the Negative idem in Thes. privatis ad Disput. 46. Corol Nihil obstat quo minus vel sola gratiâ— Moralis homines Animales Spirituales reddat Nothing hinders but that men may be regenerate in the alone Vertue of Moral suasion Grevinchov Vim suam exerit Dei Spiritus qui illuminare mentes nostras dicitur non quod novum lumen iis infundat Volzog de Script Interpret p. 254. Gratia neque nobis neque Scripturae novum lumen inserit Velthuis de usu Rationis p. 70. Regeniti non regeniti cognitio de rebus mysteriis fidei non differt luminis ratione idem ibid. p. 9. I have been the more prolix in these citations that we may the better understand whom in this matter we have to conflict withal and from whom these Notions are derived that are with so much confidence obtruded of late upon us If it be excepted that the person contended with seems to allow a subjective principle of Grace distinct from our Natural faculties For he expresly affirms That if he did not believe the influences of the Spirit upon the minds of men he behoved to explode the Lords Prayer it self as a foolish and insignificant Form seeing the greatest part of its Petitions are things of that nature as that they cannot be accomplished
us Wicked and Sloathful is the due Character of every Unregenerate Sinner Math. 25.26 They would not that I should Reign over them Luc. 19.27 Those who were invited would not come Math. 22.3 They hated knowledge and did not choose the fear of the Lord they would none of my Counsel and despised all my Reproofs Prov. 1.29 Sinners are so passionately in love with the inescations of the Animal life that they are resolved upon pursuing the gratifications of it Is it not upon this account that both the Promises and Threatnings of the Word are proposed to us under the Reduplication of our being obstinate and rebellious but alas such is our loathsome wickedness and affected wilfulness that neither the one influence our Dread and Fear nor the other our Love and Ingenuity § 5. Having dispatched these preliminaries we come now to state the extent of Natural Power and to declare what in its highest improvement it may arrive at and as a clear fixing of this will be a service of some significancy in it self so it will exceedingly contribute to our better proceed in what is behind and facilitate the proof of the necessity of a superadded infused principle in order to our acting in the Duties of Practical Religion so as to be accepted with God First then There is not only a passive capacity in our Faculties of receiving grace but they are also capable of being elevated actively to concur as vital Principles in the exercise of Faith Hope Love c. Brute Animals are in neither sence capable of Grace They can neither receive such Qualities as may dispose them for such operations nor are they possessed of such Faculties as can become vital Principles of Religious acts The potentia obedientialis lata of many of the Schoolmen whether active or passive is an irrational figment and invented only to subserve the Dogm's of Transubstantiation and the Sacraments producing Grace ex opere operato But the Soul of Man without the addition of any new Natural Powers is both capable of receiving Grace and of being elevated to concur as an Active vital principle of holy and Spiritual operations There is lay'd in our Natures as we are men a foundation which through the Communication of a Divine Seed may be improved to the highest and holiest employments There is a Radical disposition in us for Grace nor doth the Divine Image overthrow but perfect our Intellectual powers Posse habere fidem est naturae hominum saith Austin de praedest Sanct. cap. 5. As Grace was originally due to our Natures so it is still agreeable to them But though the Soul by being elevated and perfected by Grace becomes an active Vital Principle of holy operations yet in the reception of the first Grace it is purely passive not cooperating in the least to the restitution of the Divine Image no more than it did to the production of it in the primitive Creation Nor doth this hinder but that we both ought and may act in order to the obtaining of it by being found in the exercise of those means prescribed by God for the Communication of it Secondly The abilities of Nature prudently managed and industriously improved may carry men to a performance of the material parts of the Duties of the second Table This we at once acknowledge and praise in many of the very Heathen Their infidelity out-doing here the Faith of many Christians according to that of Minucius non praestat fides quod praestitit infidelitas Besides the experience of all ages we have the Testimony of the Apostle in justification of this Rom. 2.14 The Gentiles which have not the Law do by Nature the things contained in the Law as the Light of Reason informed them what they ought to do in most cases of this kind so nothing obstructed but that they might have done it As many excellent instructions are to be met with in the writings of the Philosophers to this purpose so the Heathen World especially Greece and Rome hath produced a vast number of persons eminent if not in most at least in some one or other instance of Moral Vertue Aristodis is famous for justice Epaminondas for Prudence Curius for Temperance Thrasibulus for Integrity and love for his Country Cimon for beneficence and liberality though of a low fortune Timoleon for Moderation and Humility in a prosperous condition c. It were easie to expatiate upon this theam and to create matter and occasion of shame to Christians who suffer themselves to be thus out-done by Pagans Our Religion comes behind their Morality and our pretences of Grace are out-shone by their Vertue Suppose their ability and strength proportionable to ours yet our outward and objective helps so vastly exceeding all the means which they had of exciting and improving Natural Powers to equal them only in Vertue is a high dishonour to God and an enhancement of guilt upon our selves and to come behind them in any of the branches of Morality is openly to affront the provisions of the Gospel and to cause that worthy Name by which we are called to be basphemed Nor doth our profession of Christianity while attended with a neglect of Moral performances serve to any better purpose but to dishonour Christ and dammage our selves And as we readily acknowledge that men in the alone strength of Natural Abilities may proceed thus far in the practice of Moral Honesty Righteousness so I know no man that decryes these performances as things not only useless but dangerous if void of Grace As a late Author falsly suggests Eccl. pol. p. 73 repr to the rebers p. 55. Or who affirms that it is better to be lewd and debauched than to live an honest and vertuous life No! we ascribe all due praise to them and press them upon the Consciences of those we have to do with both from the authority of God the pulchritude and beauty that is in them and their exceeding usefulness not only to others but even to the Authors of them Nor do I know any that make Moral Goodness the greatest let to Conversion or who say that Vertue is the greatest prejudice to the entertainment of the Gospel and that Grace and Vertue are inconsistent Idem Def. contin p. 34. Eccl. pol. p. 73. or that the Morally Righteous man is at a greater distance from Grace than the Prophane No! we are so far from affirming that the acting up to the principles of honesty is of it self an obstruction to the Conversion of any that we reckon it to contribute exceedingly to the promoting of it in that it begets a greater serenity and clearness in the mind for the discerning the excellency of the Doctrines and Duties of Religion which men of Debauched lives are indisposed for For sensuality fleshly Lusts do debase the minds of men darken their Reason tincture their Souls with false colours fill their Understandings with prejudice that they have not the free use of their
intellectual faculties nor are they disposed for the Exexcise of the acts of Reason about objects of Religion Whereas persons disentangled from the tyranny of Lust and Passion have not only their animal spirits purer and finer for the exercise of the noblest acts of Reason but their minds are emancipated from many prepossessions prejudices that sensual persons are in bondage to Two things indeed the persons reflected upon do openly affirm and declare first That if Moral Righteousness be trusted to and relyed on for the acceptation of our persons with God and acquisition of a title to life that in such a case it will not only infallibly hinder submission to the Righteousness of the Gospel but that it will directly overthrow it Secondly That divers men brought to an observation of the Duties of Morality raise their whole expectation of Salvation from thence and both these they are ready to demonstrate the truth of from Scripture The first being also evinceable from Reason and the second from Experience Thence it is that they advise men not to think it enough that they are blameless before the World but that they would look after the being reneued in the spirit of their minds towards God Thence also they earnestly entreat them not to place their affiance in Moral Righteousness and withal tell them that there is more hope of scandalous Sinners than of such for as much as those will sooner be prevailed with to leave their sins than these to renounce their own Righteousness in which they take Sanctuary to a neglect of the Righteousness of Christ by Faith This I confidently affirm to be the sum of what is to be met with relating to this matter either in the Writings or Sermons of sober Non-Conformists and I challenge the Author of the Ecclesiastical Polity to deduce Logically from hence any of those scandalous Propositions which with so magisterial a confidence he affixeth to them Thirdly Men as well destitute of the Word as of Grace may by a due attendance to Natural Light and a careful improvement of first Notions proceed likewise far in performing the substantial part of the immediate Duties of the first Table Now the Duties of the first Table being such as refer immediatly to God they either arise from the consideration of his Nature or the consideration of his benefits bestowed upon us Of the first sort are Veneration Fear Humility Trust Submission to the Divine dispose upon the account of the Soveraignty of God Of the second sort are Prayer Gratitude Patience under the loss and withdrawment of temporal enjoyments c. It is true no man in the alone strength of Natural abilities either will or can perform any of these or of the former with all that dueness of circumstances as to obtain therein acceptation with God yet with respect to the Material part of the Duties they may be performed by men in their own strength without any special assistance of the Grace of God If the Disciples of Epicurus though they neither admitted God to be the Author of the World nor the Governour of it did yet plead a veneration to be due to Him for the alone excellency of his Nature Have we not much more cause to believe that those Philosophers who not only acknowledged his excellent perfection but withal confessed him to be the Maker Preserver Rector of all things would be thereon induced to adore his Omnipotent Power and Infinite Sapience c. If no other Homage were to ensue on the cogitation of the Infinity of the Deity admiration attended with humility would naturally flow from it Nor did Socrates by his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 intend any thing else save a due sense and acknowledgment of our meanness in the consideration of the infinite perfection of God The Philosophers seem to have distinguished the perfections of God into Moral and Physical The first kind may be expressed by Optimus the second by Maximus Now the consideration of the perfections of each of these sorts in God did no question influence the Heathen Philosophers to performances in some degree sutable Mercy Truth Justice Holiness c. are conceived in God under the Notion of Moral Vertues and the most refined of the Philosophers made it their design to imitate God in respect of those Moral perfections 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 assimâ—lation to God in these things was their scope and drâ—ft They reckoned that no man honoured God who did not thus imitate and resemble Him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hierocl in carm aur 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 God ought in all things to be our Rule and Pattern saies Plato de legis lib. 4. It were easie to enlarge on the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which we meet with in some of the veâ—y Heathen and which the consideration of the Moral perfections of God led them to Power Immensity wisedom Soveraignty c. are conceived in God under the Notion of Physical Perfections and though these be not imitable properly by us yet a due consideration of them beget's an impression of trust Subjection Resignation c. in the mind And men by the very conduct of the Light of Reason and in the strength of Natural Abilities may arise high in operations correspondent to a belief of such properties in God That of Epictetus is remarkable to this purpose you are to believe saith he 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Concerning the Gods That they are and that they wisely and Righteously Govern the World and that therefore they ought to be obeyed and submitted to cheerfully in all things Seeing every thing is administred according to excellent counsell Enchir cap. 38. There are others Duties referring immediately to God which formally respect and arise from the consideration of his benefits and these as I intimated before are Prayer Gratitude Patience under worldly losses and the like And here as a firm perswasions that whatsoever we either are or have proceed from the Divine Bounty and Goodness will affect us with resentments of Love Thankfulness so the same perswasion will induce us in all our straits to make our wants known by prayer to God nor is there any consideration more adapted to quiet our minds under losse than this likewise is I do not now say that any of those duties no more than the former can be performed as they ought without the special assistance of Grace but this I say that not only men destitute of Grace but without the Revelation of the word have been found in the exercise of many of them and may be said to have discharged the material part of them instances with respect to divers are at hand 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Never say thou hast lost any thing but that it is returned Is thy son dead he is only restored Is thy inheritance taken from the that also is returned Epict. enchi cap 15. And elsewhere 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Let every thing be as the Gods think fit cap.