tibvwy of t:he Cheoiocjicai Seminary PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •3^^»- ^6 A l {hould I affirm I have actually done it, all I believe would accufe me of Preemp- tion : Nor do I (b affirm. But as it were ridi- culous, and blame worthy to publijh Books and execute nothing of One's Defign, I may, I think, be allowed to fay, that I believe 1 have, with the Divine Affi fiance, ac complied the Main of my Defign. tor the truth whereof I appeal to all who have Candour and Capacity to found and examine Things impartially ; J only require of them to read the Firft VoL viz. of the Oeconomy of the Creation, or at lea} the Fifth, Twelfth and Thirteenth Chapters of it ; and if after this Trea- tife, they are fill mifal isffd; to read the Four Firft Chapters of the Sixth Vol. which is the Treatife of Univerfal Providence; and then let'em judge, if what I have affirmed, of the Execution of my Defign, be true. The Source of -whatever Difficulties have em. barajfedthemindofMan, who, by indeavourin^ to explain, have only perp/ext thefe Matters ?nore, is, their not having jaft Ideas of the Liberty of Man, nor of the Power, Knowledge and Jufttce of God i nor yet of Sin. They have not considered, that Man, in virtue of his Liberty is effentUlly a Principle of free Action, which whoever Advice to the READER. iii whoever fupplies elfewhere, deftroys his Nature. The Conduct of Liberty about its Faculties, and the Direction of them, they have confounded with the Conduct it ufes about its Objects : Abfurdly and improperly [uppofing that freely to admit an Object (God) operating in us, and to produce or caufe its Operation in us, was the [ame* They have affigned not only Nothing f but even the Deft ruction of the Works of God, (Liberty) as an Object of his Power : And becaufe [om: could not comprehend how God could give Man a Power, whofe Acts were not the proper Acts of God ; they have attributed all Power and Activi- ty to God, referving none to Man. Whence [prang the Rigid Predeftinarian Doctrine, While others have run into the contrary Extreme, at- tributing almoft every Thing to the Liberty of Man, and confounding with it the Principle and Actings of an Inter tour Object, even the Illumi- nation and gracious Operations of God himfelf whence tlte Pelagian Herefy arofe. They underftood not, that to know Ideas and things different from himfelf -, as alfo to form them when, and how, and in what Numbers he thought fit \ was arbitrary uvto God', that Reali- ty was the only Object of his Knowledge \ that Sin is an Idea of Refinance to the Will, or ar- A % hitrary iv Advice to the READER. litrary Divine Conception ; and that, tafi of all, the Juftice of God is not the proper Caufe of Privation, Darknefs, Diforder and Trouble, For want of juft Notions of which Particu- lars it was impojftble to account for the Event of Sin, and the Difficulties relating to it, which can indeed be explained only by true Notions of the Creatures Liberty, of the Power, Knowledge, and Juilice of God-, and alfo of Sin. If therefore we defire not to involve our felves in endlefs Errours and Confufwns, we mufl keep thefe Principles continually in view and every Thing will be clear and eafie : But if we want either Inclination or Capacity to adjujl our Notions, our befl way will be to leave this, and apply our felves to jorne other Sub- ject. There are five Things principally treated of in this Volume. The fir ft concerns fome pre- liminary Difficulties, of fcrupulow and liber- tine Perfons, rebating to the Lability of the Creature, the Pcffwility and Impcffibility of Sin its Idea, Futurition, Permiffion, and Prevention ; Sid becaufe thefe have a natural Connexion with the Power, Extent, and Impartiality of Grace^ and the Divine Affifance, I have alfo given a general Idea of the Primitive Nature and Method Advice to the READER. Method of the Grace of God. This is contained in the fix firfi Chapters. The fecond propofes to explain the Source of S,in, and general Way of its Commiffion, Chap* J. and 8. The third re- lates to the Conduct of the Angels, and fljews howfome were confirmed in Beatitude, and others fell into Sin, Chap, g. and 10. What I have advanced upon this Head is naturally, and ne- cejfarily deduced from the Principle of the Com- munication of Things ; of Liberty, and the A7* ture of Habitudes ; and mufl therefore be n* ceffarily true, if we refl in the Sub/lance of Things in the General, and take Care ( as I have endeavoured to do ) of determining too nicely the Number , Time, and other Qircumftances. The fourth Thing herein confider }d, is the Fall of Man: The Manner,. Hijlory and Effects of which are explained, Chap. 1 1, 1 2, I £, and 14. The ffth is the deplorable Truth of Original Sin, or how all Men fell in Adam ; which is here eflablifh d and defended againft all the little Cavils of Pelagian Pride and Blindnefs, Chap. 1 4, to the Ijth. 1 have all along been careful to keep in view myfirft Defign of Predeftination, and have therefore every where induflrioufly ob- fervid the Purity, Goodnefs, Infinite, Vniverfal and Impartial Extent of God's Grace and Mercy, who vi Advice to the READER, who never willed the Death of any \ but the Everlafting Happinefs of all his Creatures : all thefe Reflections are recapitulated in the Ufl Chapter of this Volume. I pray God to make the whole Jnflrumental to his Glory, and to the Salvation of my fellow Creatures, and accompany it with the inward Operation of his Humbling, Purifying, and A- morous Grace in the- He arts both of them and me. Amen ! THE THE OECONOMY OF THE Event of S I N. CHAP. I. Of the Peccability, or Lability of Man. F we compare the prefeht, with1-7^^ the original State of Man, YvellcW^ or may we ask with the Prophets °cc«Mof heretofore, * How is the faith-™ Jf*0* ful City become a Harlot ! ^ rQUAt fm was full of Judgment', R'&teoHf\e*ifi£j nefs lodged in it ', but now Mur- or in yis ' derers. f How is the Gold become dim ? How is Decrees. the fine Gold changed, and the Stones of the San- binary poured out in every Street ! The precious Sons ^ 1IaK *• of Zion, comparable to fine Gold, how are they e-11' fieemd as earthen Pitchers, the Works &f the Hands f Lgm. 4, cf a Potter! Whence, alas! is this fo deplorable Dif-i. after, and where fliall we find its curled Caufe ? Did God decree it, or was he in any refpeel the occa- fion of it? This I would never afTent to ; tho' I want- ed Arguments to juftifie my Abhorrence of it. Was I indeed the moil ignorant Creature living, and fhould a Man endeavour to impofe this horrid Opi- nion on me* tho* I wanted Skill to expofe the fal- S fit-/ 2 Of the Peccability r, or Lability of Man. Chap. I. Hty of his Rea forcing •, yet rather than fubmit, I would. C/*VNJ fay, Get thee behind me, Satan. For God is Good •, and that Man is Wicked, Lying and Deceitful, is to ♦Ffd!.5 4. be imputed folely to himfelf. * God (as the Pfalmift fpeaks) hath no pleafure in Wichdnefs^ neither fiall Evil dwell with him. But I truft, with the Divine Afiiftance, that in pleading for the Innocence of God, no Argument ufed to fupport this notorious Falfehood, will ftop my Mouth •, and had I no other Truths to huild upon, befides thofe contained in the foregoing Book, I think I might evidently conclude from them, that, the Innocence of God does (land fo clear, and un- tainted, among all the Evils happening in the World, that he hath not even the Idea of them, much lefs is he their Caule, either by Production or Decree. II. That N.They who find fault, that the intelligent Creatures 'its ab fur d were made peccable by Nature, and cenfure God to com- for creating Men and Angels in a fallible State, are fUiriythat guilty of the greateft abfurdity in the World. Their Man was Schemes are impoflible and inconfiftent with the not im~ Nature of fuch a Creature. On one hand they would f€fca' ftill be Men, capable of the Divine Injoyments : On b>e by m- t^e other, they affeft Privileges inconfiftent with f^*T^Msmi Nature, and peculiar unto God, or to Beafts, tisjoar- or jnanjmate Creatures. He therefore who would cu*rel*°t ^HVe Man t0 ^e impeccable, while he retains the thCha- Human Nature, defires Man not to be Man, and rafter " affirms what is Abfurd and Contradictory, becaufe of God. t0 ^e incapable of finning, is peculiar only to God, HI. That t0 beafts, or purely inanimate Creatures. God isab- l^- ^ }$ impoftible in all refpe&s for God to Sin, film eh or to vvill, decree or eftablifti the Idea or Futurition tmpecca- of if, becaufe^ confidered in his Eternal Nature, He hie, and is the One, Abiblute, Independent Being : Before him canmt all things are as nothing: The pure and fimple Idea will, ds- of himfelf is only necefTary and efTential to him : tree, or He Sees and Contemplates himfelf alone, u Object, tflMijh Center, End, Light, Happinefs, and all Things to Sin cnber himfelf, and therefore cannot Sin. , in Idea or •n. iY* Of the Peccability, or Lability of Man. 3 IV. They who maintain, that the Ideas of Crea-^-P I. tures, and of thcfe Truths which do concern them, y^f^ are Eternal and Independent, do fuppofe abfurdly, J£ '^ that God is liable to Sin, and that he would ac^ua*W /^ ,/^ commit it, by conducting himfelf toward thefe Ideas, tIje TJeas unfuitably to their Natures. This monftrous Confe- %f -]jJJK„s quence necefTarily attends their Doctrine, and can are tn^m only be evaded by afTerting the contrary fundamental pendent Truth, viz,. That God is the only neceflarv inde-o/Go.V, do pendent Being, and is, by the necellity of his Nature, /^ye his own Object and Idea *, the only fource of Light km capa- and Happinefs to himfelf. Me oftm, V. And tho' it pleafed God to eftablifh Ideas and v Qrd j$ Truths different from himfelf, it does not derogate i'mJCCA„ from this Great and Capital Truth *7 becaufe, in xhtbunr- firft place, God might, if he had pleafed, have parted witbflan- ■ them by, and, leaving the Creatures in their naxk\din*tbe ral State of Nothing, have remained the One, Great, Arti ra-y Simple Being •, in which Eftate as God is perfectly E/lshh/k* Happy and Bleffed in himfelf: So the very poflibi- »'»' <»/ lity of Sin is excluded from it. And fecondly, when l^eas : God was pleafed to conceive Ideas different from £r?4f^ himfelfj they were not made or eftablifh 'd to hAss^iejin' Hand •, nor had any determin'd Nature or Perfection, v™e the obliging God to certain Duties to them *. Thefe are \l^e°^t Chimeras of the Schools, the Source of an infinity oVq^ a^ Errors: God, and his Divine Idea,' are the only eternal,^^ ,/ independent Objects : He necefTarily is, and necefTari- yg /^3Cw ly Contemplates the Excellencies of his Nature, and cable! cannot therefore Sin, by departing from his End, or tranfgrefling Laws. And when God was pleafed to form Arbitrary Reprefentations of himfelf, for his Contemplation and Delight, he imaged forth his VVili, his End, his Object, u e. the infinite Perfections of the eternal God? who, being the only independent Being, necefTarily is the Prototype of aril things : And ftnce God is one, always, and invariably the fame, he cannot deny himfelf, but what he eftablifhes and decrees, flands fix'd and irreverfible : Since God does act only by his Will, of which he himfelf is,- either in his Effential Nature, or, in the Arbitra- ry Reprefentations of it,' the only Object ; It a B 2 plain? Of the Peccability , or Lability of Man. Chap. I. plain, by P^eafons peculiar and efiential unto God, V-/'"VN^ that he cannot Sin : Impeccability is therefore God's peculiar, which whoever pretends to, he invades the Prerogative of God, a Prerogative founded upon his having no other Object be fides himfelf: The Di- vine Idea abfolutely excludes all other Ideas, and confequently God cannot decline there*from, nor pro- pofe another End j nor tend to any other Ideal Light or Happinefs. VI. hh VL If we don't defire to be Impeccable from the trbo de- foregoing Principle, we then defire to be Beafts : ftres to be And as the former Principle is Impious and Blafphe- J,™Hcca' mous 5 fo this is Brutal, and highly Injurious unto tie from qocj . j^ were as jf to free oncs felf from a pofli- "pnnch'e bilitv of Treafon,one ftiould affect the Royal Crown than that anc^ PHs*1^ V whereby we become guilty of the Crime ofbein* ' we defire to be incapable of committing : In like man- Cod.de- -r'er* hewhodefires to be God, to become incapable f res to be°£ finning, affects a privilege peculiar unto God, and aBeafi) actually commits that, which he would be incapable and Sim. of: It is therefore very abfurd to defire to be Im- peccable on this Principle : And if, to avoid the ab- surdity of it, we pretend to defire it from another, we mull wifii our felves in the State of Beafts : Which is alfo very abfurd and injurious unto God : Hereby we difapprove God's lovely Image, his Knowledge, and Love feated in the Divine Faculties of our Soul?, with which becaufe Beafts are not endued, they therefore are incapable of finning, or of turning their Faculties away from God : They have, 'tis true, an infinite variety of Corporeal Objects, which being not Divine, they cannot Sin *, tho' capable they be to vary their Conduct about them a thoufand ways } becaufe thefe araptheir proper Objects, proportion 'd to the Powers of their Nature. So then the Con- clufion is, that he who to attain the privilege of Im- peccability, would cliveft himfelf of the Human Na- ture, and he content to be a Beaft : By this Defire he commits that which he would be incapable of com- ix ting : He fins again ft God, the true Object and iwdw'er of our Souls, ' " vri, Of the Peccability y or Lability of Mm. 5 VII. Befides this I know no other principle by Chap. I. which one can pretend to be Impeccable, except the <-^^v-nj noble Ambition of becoming a ftupid Log •, of having VII« Or no Life or Animal Motion, but what is purely Me- tpP* &- chanical : A defire which appears fo Injurious unto^fJ t0 b* God, and Inconfiflent with the Privilege pretended . £» ~r to, that it is needlefs to infift on its Abfurdity : Th&Cece.er very Defire is a direcT and formal Sin againft God, and ™a™™rate ?tis vain to expect relief by a Ridiculous Defire of ber arj Sl9ns ing Impeccable on Principles like to thefe. IW #ju VIII. It is then impoffible for a Created Spirit manner. to be abfolutely impeccable? Not to Sin, is, in-VULTta deed, a defirable perfection, and Men may or ra- the Defire ther ought to defire it: But to wifli ourfelves in- of br>pec~ capable of committing Sin, is not only to Incapacitate ability is ourfelves for the Exercife and proof of Virtue, of abfurd the Love of God, and a Thoufand Advantages Honou- *n& CoK' fable to both God and Man-, but, alfo, to defkg 'r«*'#f?7- things oppofite, abfurd and Inconfiftent, as has been demonftrated already. Let them who defire privi- iedges to themfelves, propofe to attain 'em by apt and convenient means. Would a Favourite not be Guilty of Treafon againft his Soveraign, let him teftify his Allegiance by a faithful obedience to him, and not affect: the Soveraign Power*, or wifti himfelf deprived ofSenfe, andReafon, or changed into a piece of Senfe- lefs matter : Would a Wife be faithful to her Hus- band's Bed -, let her teftify her Affection by a volun- tary fidelity to him, and not by fitting in a Dungeon and fecluding herfelf from Copverfation : Would a Man not Kill or Steal*, let him avoid thefe Sins by a juft and fober Conduct, and not deprive himfelf of the ufe of his corporeal Members, or (hun the fight of the goods of other Men, that he may have no Temptation, or opportunity for Theft or Murder*. Would a Philo- fopher find out the way to fquare a Circle *, let him make ule of Study and Application, and not ridicu- lo'ufly willi a Circle to be a Square, which is abfurd and contradictory in Nature. No, we mufl leave things as they are, duly imploy our Faculties about *em, and not defire the Natures of Things or of our Faculties^ altered or deflroyed *5 nor complain of the B 3 Authour Of the Peccability^ or Lability of Man. Chap. I. Authour of our Natures for not giving his Creatures L/rVm\) fuch a Nature and Conftitution, that they (hould be incapable of being abufed by us. IX. That XI. Poor wretched Creature! Where now is thy In- fo com teliigence? Art not thou as yet convinced, that ex- fain of cept thou be God, or a Beaft, or a piece of Senfelefs our not be- matter, it is Impoftible for thee to be abfolutcly Imr tug lm- _ peccable ? And would'ft thou be God, to fee and con- IfccAbk a template only the Divine perfections ? Doft thou wifh *Zref v thy being were extinguifh'd, or thyfelf a portion qf f'^r -etifelefs matter, without any Perception of thv own *»* W>' Exiftence? Or would'ft thou be a Brute, deprived of nejS' thy Liberty Divine, leaft thou fhould'ft abufc it? Does a Child that has it in his power to pleafe his Fa- ther, wifh to be a Dog that he may never offend him ? Let's be content with the Nature God hath given us. * Rom. 9. * Who art thou a Man , that replieft againft God f 20. Shall the thing formed, fay to him that formed it, why j Ifai. 4 j. haft thou made me thus ? | Wo unto him, fays the Scrip- io. ture, that faith to his Father, what beget t eft thou? and to his Mother, what haft thou brought forth? I fay lets be content with the Nature God hath given us, and with the Lot that's fallen to us*, efpecially fo admira- ble, fo Biefkd, and Divine a Lot, as I have fnewn in the foregoing Book ours is ; a Lot that fhall endure for ever, that as nothing fhall be able to rob usofa- gainft our Will •, {o we have infinite motives to fecure it to ourfelves, which we eafily may, as appears in the Pie (Ted Angels : A Lot that makes us as BlefTed as God himfelf, and which to perpetuate to us we need only be content with what God has given us, and return him the juft tribute of Acknowledgement and Praife. „ , X. Do we complain, that God hath given us Oppor- (aNo~ tunitV an<* Engagements to be his Children, his toriou s fa- SpQUie, Brethren, Sifters, Friends, Favourites, and iratitud? 3oint Inheritors of his Glory ? Or that we may for* * u forfeit thefe Advantages, and be liable to Punifhment by Abufe ?. Shall we, I ask, complain on the le Ac- counts \ when we are notwithftanding under no ne- reflity to abufe the excellent Prerogatives of our "Nature \ but have infinite Motives to ufe 'em well, . and not the leaft Temptation to abufc 'em? No let's rather Of the Peccability, or Lability of Mxa. 7 rather exercife our felves in Praife and Thankfulnefs,chap. I- having infinite Engagements to it. iy*V"NJ XI. As to our Faculties, they were given by God XI. Our to be ufed, and not abufed bv us : In giving 'em to Faculties us hedefign'd to fill them with Glorious Bleffed 0\>.**dLiber- jects •, which he prefents to their Acceptance : He ". are not endued us with liberty, that, by virtue of it, we|^?ww might injoy this Bleffednefs, in a fpontaneous, active, j^/./p^. and noble Manner, as is moft fuitabie to the infinite C4yjtty^ Excellency of it : If now this Principle of Liberty no't an%m fail, in refpect either of it felf, or of the Faculties and wy. Objects about which 'tis converfant :, not he who formed the Faculties or Objects, or endued us with this Liberty of Nature is to be blamed, but he who voluntarily mifapplies them *, and therefore it is not the being Peccable, or the not being abfolutely inca- pable of Sin *, but the voluntary abufe and misapply- ing the Powers that God has given us, and the Ob- jects he prefents unto us, that is really Evil. XII. Our being Peccable is not the occafion of our XU. Our Sinning, much lefs is it theCaufe thereof. For this l\ccabtli» Peccability is not ordered, eftab^lh'd, or decreed by O; « »ot God, but is an Imperfection founded on the Nothing- tbe occafi- nefs Effential unto Creatures. Whatever Being is^?0/^ not Supreme, may be without, or feparated from it i\j*i9£ [ - efpecially if we fuppofe its Union with it to depend pgcJlbil" upon its own free Choice. That xMan is Peccable does t rr^m therefore not come from God, or from his Conftitu- q0^ yut tion •, but is Effential to his Nature, which necefTa-^^j rily partakes of Nothing, as he is not the Supreme onthe All-perfect Being : And as the Nothingnefs of xMan Nothing. is not from God, nor founded on his Decree v as»*/5«^ God needed not to decree that Man fhould be natu- Ato. rally Nothing, (becaufe he is ^o in his firfk Prin- ciple :) So neither is his Lability from God, nor did God decree it, in order to make him Labile : It is as Effential to him to be Labile, as it is to be a Creature, or as not to be his own Light and , Happinels. Our Lability is founded on the Nothingnefs of our Nature, and every thing naturally partakes thereof, bdidesGod, or Brutes, and inanimate Creatures B 4 XIII, 8 Of the Peccability, or Lability of Man. Chap. f. XIII. Ob- j eft ions that fan? 1denma\e again ft their be- ing cra- ted Free and Lam btle : That tbefe Ob- jections are ab- surd and fomewhat lik^e the BUfphe- mies of the Damnd. XIII. Some Per forts, after all, will be apt to fay, No reafoning will convince us, that it were not better to be incapable of Sinning: Were it not better never to have been, than to be liable to Eternal Mifery ? Why was I created of a Frail and Labile Nature ? Why did God fet before me an infinity of Objetls *, and not rather confine me to himfelf ? Why, why, alas 1 mufl: I be free, to be liable to Eternal Mifery ? PafTionate Complaints like thefe fome fly into, tho* very abfurd they be, and only argue an ignorant, wicked Mind, ready and difpofed to impute to God the Malice and Perverfenefs of their own Hearts : The finfulnefs of which Procedure a parallel Suppofition will fufficiently expofe : Should a Man who, from a low Eftate, was promoted to the Royal Favour, in- troduced into his Princely Palace, and adopted as his Son and Heir : Should fuch a one forget his Prince- ly Benefactor, and Trait'roufly confpire to rob him of his Imperial Crown •, and when condemn'd of Treafon, think to excufe himfelf by Complaints like thefe : Why was 1 rais'd from my low Eftate? Why introduc'd into the Royal Palace, and riiltinguiuYd by Princely Favours, intruded in Affairs of State, and adopted Heir of the Crown ? Had I not been raifed from my original Meannefs, I had not been guilty of Treafon, as I am : And fo go on, bafely to impute his vile Treafon to his Prince's Favours : Or fhould a Thief excufe his Theft, or Murder, by reflecting ungratefully upon God, for giving him Life and Strength*, or his Parents, for their care to breed him up. Should a Wife extenuate her infidelity to her Hus- band's Bed, by complaining that (lie had not been ' kept bound in Irons, or fecluded from Human Con- verfe. Or Laftly, fhould a Philofopher find fault with God for not making a Circle to be fquared, to fave him all that time and ftudy and thought, which it coft him to find out the Quadrature of a Circle. How very abfurd, wicked, and ungrateful would be thefe Mens Complaints ? So, and much more impious, and abfurd, are they, who are angry with God for making 'em Free and Labile ; Were Men indeed with a little Of the Peccability, or Lability of- Man. 9 a little Piety, or even with common Senfe, they would Chap. I. be afhamed of fuch Ridiculous Complaints : Was the ^^V^-^ Love of God feated in Mens Hearts, or had they tafted the Heavenly Delights they would not, could not, make Complaints likethefe: No, Praife and Thanks- giving unto God for his gracious Bounty, and for all the Advantages they injoy, would be their ever- lafling Exercife : To curfe their Being, and their Faculties j to cenfure God, and even curfe him for them, is the Imployment of damn'd Souls .• And tho* the Perfons I have been (peaking of, do not ,run into their execrable ExcefFes *, yet by being angry at the Being, Faculties and Constitution, that God hath given them, they tend and advance thereto : But becaufe fome perhaps may be guilty of this Sin thro' Ignorance and Infirmity, I will, for the fake of fuch, indeavour to give more folid Satisfaction to thefe and other of their Complaints. vr - XIV. In the firft place then I fay that Lability, ;Vy Par' confidered in it felf, is not an Evil*, but only a ne- J^r^tYS ceffary Confequent of our Nothingnefs, and is in it t0 ^'r* felf, and in God's Defign, a means of Virtue and Rt'objetit- ward to Man, God having on his part never given onfm £ portion its Application to them, more, orlefs: And mm. jf we conflcier further, that Man was created to govern the Material World, it will be alfo Necef- fary andEfTential to him to have the Idea of it : So that Man, we fee, is naturally plac'd between three Objects all EfTential to, and infeparable from himy from whence we may difcover the Radical and Ef- Tential Ground of our Lability, according as we ap- ply the Divine Faculties of our Souls to God, our felves, or the Material World, more or lefs than their Nature does require : But by the way it deferves to be noted by us, that the Material World, fubjccted to Man's Dominion, does not increafe, as one may imagine, but leflen the danger of aLapfe.- He who difapplies his Faculties from God, and fixes on the Creatures, falls not fo dangeroufly, as he who fixes upon himfelf, as will be proved hereafter, and as XVIII. hath been already verified in the fall of Men and That Li- Angels. hrtyuEf XVIII. Fifthly, I add that if Man be not a brute Jential Machine, he muft have liberty of Conduct, as has untoMan, been fufficiently demonfl rated in the place cited in *? j\ tne * Margin, to which I refer my Reader for ample hlTin Satisfaaion ; And if tlle Soul be effentially free, it is the* Idea flot ^m^ted *n t^ie Tr,anner and degree of itsApplica- 0f fo tion to the Objects about which 'tis converfant, but * * has power to vary, proportion and divide it as it of ibT* P^ea^s > lt ma7 exceed or come Ihort of what the Creation Order and Reafon of Things requires •, the prefent Chap it' Mode of its Subfiiknce in Man is derived from No- thing, Of Grace, and the Difpenfation of it. 1 1 thing, of which its Conduct may partake, and be Chap. II. unworthy of it, con&dered, as derived from God. CHAP. II. Jf Miln, the* naturally free and labile, might not have been Efiablifh^d and confirmed by the Grace of God, fo as to be incapable actu- ally to fall. Of Grace y and the Difpenfation of it. U T it may be further ask'd ; L TW Might not the force of Liberty,'^ D'~ EfTential unto God, have fo held™1* Li' in, accompany'd, confirmed and *Jrt> and Force ftrengthened the Liberty of Man,™JJ not as to preferve him from a Fall : I p) Anfwer, Yes, it had actually tetn Mans fait fo, had the Liberty of Man confented and refigned itr0^t^tt ' felf unto God's Government and Direction •, but with- jns own cut this abfolute Refignation3 it was Impoflible: For Confene Liberty is an Abfolute Gift of God, given freely to and Cop- act and to direct itfelf, and by thfs noble way of act- fixation ing, to become more acceptable unto God, and vao^EftabUjl>^ worthy of his Love and Favour : And if Man perform rn&nt of the Condition required of him, viz. freely yield upL*berty. his Liberty to God *, then God accepts it *, not that Man ceafes to be Free, but God Accompanies, and Co-operates with it, in a Friendly manner, conduct- ing it by his Counfel and Wifdom. Whereupon Mans Liberty, Senfible of its happinefs in the Heaven- ly Manuduction, refigns itfelf more and more •, it fays with David, I am alxvay by thee, thoii haft k olden me by my right Hand ; thou fjjalt guide me with thy Connfel , and after that receive me into thy Glory* Draw me, and I will rim after thee : With which Re- fignation on the part of Man, God do's not fail to correfpond *7 nor the Soul to renew its Rcfignation *, .till 12 Of Grace, and the Difyenfation of it. Chap. II. tivl this Mutual Correfpondence of God and Man at *-/"V~^ laft concludes in a firm, fettled, refolute habit of Re- fignation : Whereupon God eftablifhes and confirms the force of his Divine Liberty in it : And this is what we are to underftand by our Liberty, its being' efta- bliflied in Grace, or in Gods free and Gracious Gui- dance •, becaufe here all danger of falling from God is pad, II That \]t w^ are not to under (land hereby that God dif- Gad dos plays his Almighty Power upon a frail feeble Facul- ** aft tn ty9 not yCt |iabitually refigned to him, in turning it MjreeCre- irrefiflibly againft its Inclinations: This is not confi- ne/ that ^ent wit^ ^e Mature °*" Liberty, which is hereby faer* A fuPP0fed t0 ac^i fr°m a Principle different from itfelf, mines :r- viz- W f°rce : Let who will, deceive themfelves -7 refiftibly, *et tnem ftand Idle and unconcerned, vainly expecting but only that God will aft in them, without any Indeavour or inpropo- refearch of theirs •, but let them know withal that sian as God will not, cannot do it : The infinitely Holy can- Ltbcrty not cooperate with, or contribute to Idlenefs Indulg- refigns it- ed, or any Sins of Man : In Infinite Love he hath cre- tff- ated us to be Free, and is gracioufly pleafed to act in, and with us , as our Liberty admits him : If w? voluntarily give up curfeives toGods Government and Direction ^ He then Vouchfafes to act in and with us *, but if, inflead hereof, we purfue our own ways, and follow the Counfelof our Hearts,God leaves us to our- felves, withdrawing from us the Inferiour Affiftance of his Gracious Spirit. IWWkatis III. And thus we are to underfland thofe Scriptures, m ant by wherein God is faid to give Grace unto, and to harder) That will whom he plea fesj viz.. That he leaves Men to harden #r Good atlc| confirm themfelves, in the flate in which they arc, fUafure ofty virtue of that Free and Self-eftablifhing Power, t&dwotre- wjtj1 yyhjch t[iey are indued : Gods Will is not a fan- ^/'^^/taiticVVill, to act by Caprice, in different Manners, f0*ce /"^"towards Subjects qualify'd and difpofed alike, as we cens ' unjuft and petverfe Creatures, arc apt to do towards whom he one another •, but 'tis his Decree, or Will to act in fleafcs. Man, in proportion as he refigns himfelf to him : And who frail contend with, or prefcribe to God. Piy, Ply, we tr.uil qj P.erifh : Shall we,Fantaftic Creature^ form Of Grace, and the Difpenfation of it. I J form Rules and Decrees of ouf own Invention, and Chap. H. prefcribe them to God, as Laws by which to regulate v-Of^-* himfelfin difpenfing his Graces to us, in confirming us in them, and withdrawing them from us ? Since God hath given us Faculties, Objects, and Power to exercife our Faculties about them •, Me will hereafter eftablilh us in his Grace, or withdraw it from us, as he fees us correfponding with it : If we turn toward God, he gives more Grace and Divine A fliftance : If we forfake him, we become hardened and Impenitent. Which Conduct the Pfalmift do's well Defcribe, * With the Merciful thou wilt flew thyfelf Merciful^* Pf. 18. with an Vpright Alan, thou wilt flew thyfelfVpright: v. %6% 27. With the pure thou wilt Qjew thy {elf pure , and with the froward thou wilt flew zhyfelf froward. And this is God's Abfolute Decree: He hath irre- vocably refoived, .without any Exception or refpect of Perfons, To act in Man, to Eftablifh and Confirm him in his Grace, in fuch Proportion only, as Man (hall freely refign and abandon himfelf to God: Thus God do's act becaufe 'tis his good Pleafure : Which good Pleafure, to give his Grace, and to Confirm us in it, in Proportion only as we Confent, Indeavour, and Refign ourfelves, fhall ftand for ever and be accomplifh'd. His Will and good Pleafure is to have us Free: He panned the Decree without our Counfel \ even before he fpake us into Being: His Wifdom was with him, and counfell'd him to form us free acting Creatures, and to act in and wAth us according as we correfpond or refign ourfelves : and fhall we conteft with our Creatour, fhall we fooliihly cenfure the E- quity and Goodnefs of this Decree. IV. But fome may object: If it be not in our Pow- er to alter the Decree of God, nor to injoy his Grace at Pleafure*, why then do's God complain that his In- fluences fail us, and we are not confirm'd in Grace? Why hath God made us to act freely, and not rather Will'd that his Grace ihould be Infeparable from us, and we confirmed in it, whatever ufe we make there- of: In Aniwer to thefe, I Anfwer with St. Paul. * N«y7 but 0 Man , who art thou that reply eji unto*&Qxz\. 9. 14 Of Grace, and the Difpenfation of it. Chap. II. Cod ? Shall the thing form'd fay to him that formed it, ' why haft thou made me thus ? Tho* I might moreover add, that the Rule or Me- thod of our being confirmed in Grace, is not merely Arbitrary *, but founded upon the Nature of God himfelf, and his ways of acting conformably to him- felf: and that befides the Patience and Longfuffcr- ing of God always allows his Creatures fufficient time to deliberate and confider, if they will be afililed and confirmed in his Grace, in that way and Method his Wifdom hath decreed. Here it may be thought, that that Grace of God., and Eftate of Man, which were before the fall, are by me confounded with that Grace, and that Eftate which were Subfequent thereto,becaufe the Objections made, and the Anfwers given to 'em, are expreft in terms ufed by the Apoftle when he treated of the State of things Subfequent to Sins Commiflion : This I Ac- knowledge to be true *, but then I fay, that the Me- thod of Gods proceeding before the Fall, is liable to the fame Objections, and therefore the fame Expref- fjons are proper to be apply'd to both, as ferving as Well, to iblvc the Difficulties relating to the Conduct of God and Man before the Fall, as to explain the An- fwer given by St* /^///concerning a Parallel Difficulty Subfequent unto it : However different thefe things appear \ they have one common way or Method, and are in Subftance the felf fame Thing-, and whatever difference we fuppofe between the Grace of God, and Eftate of Man before and after the Fall v it is fhll in Subftance the fame Grace of God 9 Chrift acting by its Power and Luminous Charity,after a way,the fame in Subftance : And the Faculties of Man are likewife the fame in Subftance J And therefore thefe things, being, the fame in their inward and Effential Ground and Nature, they act in the fame Way or Method, and whatever change do happen,it only concerns the exter- nal means, which, the Grace of God, renewed after Sin,varies according as it finds us Embarafs'd : But this* is not the place to treat of the Renewing $f Gods Grace-,, nor of its diffcresit ftefhtdfe*, tho' it may rtot Of Grace, and the Difpenfation of it* 15 be Improper to give a general Idea of its way of Chap. H. Acting. ^Of*"' V. Nov/ in order to difcover the reafon of Gods v« ^e way of Afting, (viz..) of his Decree and Will, 'tis N*J"% requisite to confider his EfTence, and its EfTential Pro- ani*^Fn' perties, which are their Radical Foundation. , *%*' r 7 Jons of the Strength andConflancy of Created Beings are founded upon the Confe- deration of God Htmfetfi It is a Property of God to be. It is a Property of Being to continue, dure, and perfevere in its Being, and in its Modes of Being. It is a Property of Being to be Active, and to act according to its Nature. It is a Property of Active Being to continue and perfevere to be an Active Being, to ftrengthen and confirm itfelf in Being, and Activity according to its Nature. It is laft of all a property of God to correfpond with his Being and ways of acting, and not to deny or contradict em. I know none more profound and folid Truths than thefe, in purfuance of which I fay, That if God five Being to any Creature, he will not, cannot deny imfelf of EfTential ways of acting: His Production muft be Reprefentative of himfelf, i. e. muft be, and perfevere to be, to act, and confirm itfelf in Being and in the Power and Perfections EfTential to it : As every thing in God, fo every work of his naturally tends to be, and to be fruitful, and to reproduce it- felf and confirm itfelf in Being: The Faculties of the Soul and their ways of acting, they tend to perfevere in Being, and confirm thcmlelves in acting according to their Nature, and when thefe ways of acting are repeated ; they flrengthen and confirm their modal Being : \ or every act is a redoubling of the Preceding Action, and, abfolutely fpeaking, no act is loft, but ftrengthens and confirms the Being, whofe act it is, inr its modal State, i. e. in the degree of Perfection which it poflefjes: This is the fettled conftant way of Na- ture: Being, and Modes of Being, all of them, tend, in a raoft uniform and fimpk Manner, to perfevere and 16 Of Grace, an 'd the Difpenfation of //, Chap. II. and reproduce themfelves in their prefent State ^^"V^^ and powers : This rule is the EfTential Ground of Nature: Thus all our Faculties, thus Liberty, its Activity, Power, and Self-direction tend to dure and reproduce themfelves, and the more they are repeated, the more ftrong and forcible they become *, repeated A&s being as it were a Reproduction of Things and of their Modes, which hereby are multiply'd to infi- nity, and alfo grow ftrong and firm, not to be chang'd or broke by a fingle Act that is contrary thereto. VI. Rea- VI. And this is well to beobferved by us-, becaufe fom of the "m this Method, God do's conftantly proceed and act Jtrengtb m ajj things:, whether Beings, or their Modes: and *^and ^is way 0f aa:ing is the Foundation, or Root of liftt%,Qf Habits, and the Caufe, or Reafon, of their flrength the moral anc* weaknefs , why fome things are, in a moral fenfe, Bafinefs or ea*V °r difficult, poffible or impofTible to be changed : Dfficulty, fr is morally impoffible for a way of acting repeated a fofjibiltty thoufand times •, or an Inclination amplify'd with art andimpof. Infinite number of free Acts, and every of them tend- fibility tn ing to dure, and reproduce itfelf, (hould be changed, good and or extinguifht, by a fingle Act of a contrary nature: evil. This fancy would be as abfurd, as to think to break a great Bar of Iron with a little Rod : Naturally Speak- ing, an Inclination can't be altered, without, not on- ly as many , but itronger and more forcible Acts, than the contrary habit was contracted by : In vppo- fites the ftronger will prevail and be Victorious. This opens a Theory for many iifeful Truths, which he who hath Inclination may particularly deduce, while I content myfelf, to ihew hereby, why He who is habitually good, can't eafily be perverted, and why he, who is not really fuch, finds it fo difficult to become fo : Why, the Gate is firai^ and the way Thorny ; Why men tnkjl do Violence to themfelves to change their Habits : Why they who Waiter between good and evdbecome indifferent, fluggifl)^ immoveable, hard, tnfenfihle, and., if they fix on Evil, are hardened in it. The method or way of acting which nature obferves, and is, as I faid before, the Pvoot of Nature, is the fame in Evil as well as Virtuous Actions. Both good and evil are durable in their nature, and tend to re- jfodtrt* Of Grace, and the Difpenfation of it. 1 7 produce themfelves : Good directly, and by it felf.-Chap.il. Evil for want of Reality and Perfection. For Evil ^"V^ is not a real Being, but an undue Act or Applica- tion of fuch a Being, towards an imperfect Subject, which neverthelefs do tend to reproduce Subjects and Acts cloath'd with their own Defects and Im- perfections : Herein confifts the formality of Evil : And as to Liberty, infinite as it is, it participates of this Rule, in the whole Extent of its Being, and its Conduct, For, this Great Uriiverfal Rule, &ijL That BEINGS and their Modes are durable and re- productive, is indeed no other than the Virtue or Power of God, acting and influencing thro* the vaft extent of Being, and its Modes: It is the Power of all Nature, Created and Divine : We mud not there- fore think, that things and ways of acting in God and Nature will admit fo eafie an Alteration as we imagine. It hath pleafed God to eftablifh Ideas and Beings different from himfelf ^ but every thing is Reprefentative of him, it is founded in him and up- on him, and Acts in a way conformable to its Ori- gin, i. e . in a durable productive manner. VII. Now, from hence we may underftand, howVlI Boto God confirms fome, and hardens others : He hardens, tve are to in that the natural tendency of things, to dure, and vnfir- reproduce themfelves, is derived and outflowed from (ian£ttbofe him : It is his Power influencing his Creatures, andJextsof if that Power be in a Subject, which voluntarily a p-ScrjP*^% plies it felf to unworthy Objects, it incites it to re- J? -J™ produce it felf, and to continue in its State, and there- t% *:, by hardens and confirms it in it. In like manner, if,^£*J Liberty mifapply it felf, that Divine Power, in virtue ^ W/j/)" ' of which every thing tends to be, to dure and to re-^# ^ produce it felf, will ilrengthen and confirm it in that tjeari% to Conduct which it freely chufes : It is very plain, be angry t that things muft of necefTity be thus, becaufe this ro puni/h9 tendency to confirm our (elves in the State in which kc.Things we are, is a Property of Being* founded on God are nor himfelf.- The contrary Suppofitioh makes God not changed only to difapprove Being, but a! fo makes things to™ the tray tend toward Not-Being, which is importable in a\\t*>atfome Kiefpecls: And this is the pro'pire'ft Senfe in which ™Al1™* C I 1 8 Of Grace, and the Diftenfation of it. QWp H I can underitand tbofe Texts of Scripture which fay, That God hardens, that he doth Evil, dulls the Heart, flops the Ears, blinds the Eyes, viz,. That that Power of' Being, and of Acting, which God hath gi- ven to his Creatures, and which is Originally his, doth tend to continue and act in, and according to that State in which it is : So that if God indue a Creature with Liberty to conduct it felf, and deter- mine its own Actions, towards Objects infinitely per- fect, and, inftead hereof, it apply it felf to mean and imperfect ones. The Power of God, imparted to the Creatures, will fix and confirm it in its State, whe- ther more or lefs real : And herein the Divine Inno- cence, Juflice, Purity, &c. will be untainted, what- ever happen, the Creature being plac'd at firft in a date of perfect Freedom. If, on the contrary, it ufes its Liberty as it ought, the Power of God becomes not only firong and durable, but luminous and vivid, in virtue of its union with the Light and Life of God, from which if it afterwards departs, the fame Di- vine Power and Virtue is in it a fource of eternal Death, of Darknefs, and devouring Fire. On which account the Scriptures call the Divine Power which, in the Good, is the Foundation of Eternal Life and Happinefs :' In Sinners, the Wrath of God, and the Fire that is notquench'd : And this is the unchange- able Foundation of the State of Beings, with which it is Man's Duty to comply, and expect the Ccnfe- quencesof his Choice, without reflecting foolifhly on * Ifai 27. God. * Fury is not in me : Who -would Jet the Briars 4, $. and 'Thorns foffenfive Objects^ againfi me in Battle? Would he break thro' my Power! (would he change that Power out-flowed from me upon all Beings) Let him make Peace with me. Let him make Peace with ?ne : Let him yield to God, that his Power may e- ftablilh and confirm him in Light and in Life. Sic ignis zs£ter?itts Dens *7 Nam Chrifliis ignis vents efl : Is ipfe complct Lumine JhJIqSj & urit noxios ; For Of Grace, and the Difpenfation of it. K) For this Divine Power, in virtue whereof all fort ofChsp. II. Beings do tend to dure, and act, is a Fire that burns ^V^ for ever : If it finds an Unctuous Matter, it makes it fhine forth refplendent : If Dirt it makes it hard, and burns and devours it felf for ever, increafing in fiery Torment, according to the eftabliflrd and un- changeable Property of Beings : Let therefore free Creatures look to themfelves, and to their Conduct. VIII. Now hence it is manifeft to all who do not VIII. That wilfully fhut their Eyes, (which if Men refolve toitwdsim^ do I know no remedy) that Man, confidered in his&JJiblefor original State and Conftitution, could not be eftz-*Creature blifhed rn Grace, beyond all pofiibility of falling, ^endued fome do very unjuftly and riaiculoufiy require : Be-f'™ ^Z fore we can attain this happy State, certain Condi- I****0,) tions areindifpenfibly requir'd, as Yn^ap*'* ift. That the free Creature fhould aft freely, ^offaUin- cording to its Nature, determining its Aft and Con- Holtf t^f' duct freely. • State of 2ly. That its Act and Self- Determination be fre- Eftab.ijk- quently repeated. mentm 3ly. That it continue fometime acting in this man- Grace and ner, with Fidelity and Conflancy, not wavering on Union both fides, nor building and pulling down. mitbGod Thefe three Conditions are indifpenfibly required7' to be on the part of Man, before he can pretend to thca;tairie^- Grace of Correfpondence, to an increafe of Graces, or an Accompli dim en t of Strength and Blefling, which are difpens'd, and given of God,^ by mod jufl and admirable Rules worthy of his infinite Wifdom. IX. As in the Divine Nature, God does corresponds Hots unto hlmfelf, and his own Afts, by the Lumi-Go^ nous prefence of his Son, and by the Love of his Spi- GrdJ\ 'J* lit; ib likewife he correfponds with his Creatures atfirfi . Afts, when turned toward the Word of God, and'£^ww"" the Holy Spirit : Nofooner do we aftually turn our '^** felves to God, but he correfponds therewith, by z edtofol' gracious EfFufion of his Light and Love, by a fort of Creatures: Divine Congruity and Equity. This is the Gw ce ofoiv.ne (jod,- faits&rft Communication and Admiffion y and Bentfa the Creatures Ac"V:3 thus impregnated with the Light Btani Lot's of God? become more Real3 Perfeft, Strongs G 2 Durable, ?o Of Grace, and the Difyenf&tion of it. C.lwp \\ Durably an J Self-prod acing than before. 2dly, God, C/"VXJ in his Grace and Love, a< companies the Creatures free Application to him, with the Afliftance of his Spirit, whereby the Creature is more influenced, in- livened, ftrengthenecl,and the ways of Righteoulnefs made more plain and eafie :, and this is call'd, The Augmentation of New Grace 7 or the Pure Benediction Divine. X. How X, And when the Creature renews his A£te, and is Cod re- habituated in them, God corresponds by the Emana- tloubles bis tions of his Light and Love, and this Correfpondence Greets, between God and his Creature becomes more ilrong andmak*s zx\& real, and more ftrcngly tend to reproduce their Ways >r*broa/m% °^ Salvation is gradually atidealU ' ^l0^ corre^Ponc^-) l>y an mcreafe of Grace, with the Creatures Habitudes, which, by renewed Afts, are itrengthened and confirmed, and the ways of God become wide and pleafant to the Soul. XI. How X!. And when, in fine, the Creature hath perfe- he lives vered faithfully to correspond with God, during a ih" Grace certain time-, God blefTes and co-operates with it, in a rf Perfi- manner worthy an infinite and eternal God, i.e. for ierar,ce> ever. Then God feizes the whole Man, abiorbs him ana of jn his Divinity •, and Man having overcome, receives / iciory* t]ie incorruptible Crown, and may fingthe Hymn of Victory and Triumph. Xif. Gwfi XII. And if, Lift of all, the Creature hath lived laft F.fla among tempting Objects, (as is the State of Man Mtjhingtr Cmtt Sin) among which there is continual danger of Confirm- being depraved, God will, to fecurc him from all v.giirace. clanger of a Lapfe, and to accompliih his Salvation, when the Creature hath fufficiently approv'd its Fide- lity to God by Manfully refitting thefe Temptations. God will, I fay, totally extermine and remove 'em, and lo put an end to Fear, and to Lability it fclT. XITI 0/ XIII. But when, I fay, that God, by his Light, cor- P vent- responds with the Creatures AcTs, { do not mean, that $ng Grace, the Creatures Relearch or Apt muft or does precede all Grace Of Grace, and the JJijbenfation of it. 2 1 Grace of God: We ought carefully to diftinguifli Ch*p. li- the offer of Grace, from its Admiffior, Eftablifli- w^VV ment, and effective Operation in us*, which are al- ways confequent to the Creatures Act •, tho' the offer of Grace is antecedent to it : God prevents his Crea- tures, by Lights, Allurements, Awakenings and Ex- citements, to difpofe them to Act and Determine well *, he doth not force them irreftibly *, but ex- horts 'em to Will and Aft, offering to ftrengthen their Natural Powers, by the Afliftanceof his pow- erful Grace : And it is either with refpect to this Concomitant or Aflifting Grace, or of God's pre- venting Calls, that, we fbmetimes lav, God makes his Creatures to will and do, or elfe becaufe our power, to Will, and Do, is originally from Gocl. But becaufe it is left to our difpoial, we oftner fay, that Man Wills and Acts, than God : Tho', in one fenfe, God is properly and truly faid to make us to Will and Do, u e. when we. refign our feives to his Di- rection, and more perfectly when we ilia 11 be abforpt in him : But this is not to be reckon'd amongft God s preventing Graces. One thing which well deferves our Note, is, That when we are not difpos'd to. make a good life of the Divine exciting Graces, God often withdraws 'em from us, becaufe the continued offer of them would harden us more and more, aggravate our Guilt, ren- der our Condition more defperate and incurable, and be Inftrume'ntal to extinguish the Noble, Gene- rous and Difmtereffed Love of God, and fill our Hearts with a corrupt Love of Self, and our own Senfations. XIV. The Neceffary and Arbitrary degrees of Na- xrv. 7$. ture and of Grace, thro' which a Man mud pafs, i<*Gradati- be perfectly efiabhfh'd, I conceive to be as follows .•*»« and 1. There is the preventing Grace ol God, conntt- Method ing in an offer of Divine Lights, in Awakenings, and ebfirved Allurements, and in prefenting to the Creature pro-'*'/vD p per Occafions, Subjects, Objects, Imprefliuns, Sen- ftrfitionj timents. °f Gtoqu 2. There is the actual Correfpondence, or firfl Co- operation of the Creature. C 3 3. The 22 Of Grace, and the Difyenfation of it. Chap. If. g. The interior operative Grace of God -, his Light ^*VNJ and Love fubfequent to the Creatures Act (which is Concomitant Grace.) 4. A new and free Act of God, a new (or increafe of) Grace : Pure BlefTing, (which one may call a Correfpondence of God's free and gracious Goodnefs, becaufe it is given by Correfpondence, and we fhould not want a fuitable reward, tho' God did not give it to us.) 5. ihe tendency of the Creatures Act, of God's interior Grace, and of the new Grace, to dure and reproduce themfdves. 6. The regular and orderly Reproduction of thefe things, or the mutual Fidelity of God and Man. 7. The habitual Strength of Man, and God's habi- tual Grace and Benediction correfponding with it, viz* the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. 8. The courfe of this Fidelity, accompany'd with the Divine AITiltance, or final Perfeverance. 9. The Divine Correfpondence with this Fidelity, which is the final Accompliihment, and perfect E« frablifhment of the Creature. 10. The Extermination or Removal of all Tempt- ing and Diftracting Objects, and our Admiilion to, or In joy men t of every Thing, that fafely and infal- libly leads to God (which is, if I may ufe the term in a Senfe different from the Schools) theVictorious or Crowning Grace. The Gift of everlaiting Life, confum- mated by the prefence of God Incarnate, whofe vifible Glory fhall preferve us ever after from all danger of Diftraction. Thus Man, tho' naturally Labile, becomes by the preventing Grace of God, by free Act and Habit, by perfevering Fidelity, by Grace, by actual and habitual Benediction, by Divine Victory and a Crov/n of Grace incapable of Sinning: And by thefe Degrees Men fhould propofe the Attainment of this BlefTed State, and not ridiculoufly defire it by a way that infringes all Rules and Methods of acting, both Natural and Divine. XV. The XV. He who would form a Judgment of thefe Mat- fame Me- ters5 *s requeued to confider 'em, with Attention, shod and Procedure obferyed before, andfmoe the Fall, in Good and Evil- in Of 'Grace , and the Difpenfation of it. 2 J in their firfl: Source and Principles, astheyarehcreChap.il. deduced : They are not only founded on eternal and w^v^ immittable Truths, but are a'lfo fruitful of Truths that iffue from them, and fuch as for their Ufeful- nefs I may recommend, I hope, without Offence.* Now this Method of Procedure will remain un- changeably the fame,whetberMan retain his Integrity, or not j whether before a fall, or after*, if a Defign of a Re-eftabli(hment do take place *, only that Me- thod or Procedure which is fubfequent to the Fall, will be the REDEEMER'S Grace -, whereas that which was antecedent to it, was the Creator's *, and in the REDEEMER'S Difpenfation Grace will ex- ceedingly abound, above what it does in the Method I am (peaking of*, by reafon of the Excefs of Sin. The Method of the growth and increafe of Sin, is pretty near the fame, and by like Meafure and Pro- portion, tho' not directly, or from a principle of Virtue or _ Power belonging to it, but from the ab- fence, or for want of it. A particular Deduction of thefe Matters would be too great a Digreflionhere *, it will fall in properly hereafter, and is befides an eafie ufeful Exercife for fuch as are difpos'd. XVI. I will only add a Remark or two concern- XVI. An ing the Re-eftabliftiment, fuppofing Man to foil, and Idea of God to refume the defign of raifmg him. ift. God^ Afc* will prevent him by the renewed offer of Objects//w °f Motives, Excitements and Impreifions fuitable tohisJf^V State and Exigence, zdly. Man muft inter pole his{!^pfti0yt Act, and turn his Faculties towards fuch Objects z* a*d*l!ee% God does gracioufly propofe and incline him to : And w^/Jf' here the great Difficulty lies: Before the Fall, there ^smf' " were no Contrarieties of Nature to be furmounted \ whereas fince its Event there are ftrong and invete- rate Habits acquired by Acts infinitely repeated, directly oppofite to the new Turn which we muft take : Our perverfe Conduct is harden 'd as a Rock, tending continually to (trengthen, confirm, and re- produce it felf: And how ihall one (ingle Act op- pofe a Habit confirmed by a Million ? Indeed, natu- rally fpeaking, it is impoilible it fliould prevail : But we muft endeavour whatever is the Event : With- C 4 ouc 24 Of Grace, and the Difpenfation of it. Chap. IT. out co-operating with the Grace, it is abfolutely im- v/V^ poffible to enjoy it *, becaufe to co-operate with, is to admit \ and to injoy it without admitting *it, is contradictory and abfurd: This (hews that naturally fpeaking it is impoilible to heal our evil Acts and Habits, otherwife than by Acts and Habits contrary thereto. But, whatever Succefs we meet with, or Difficulties we incounter •, or whatever Difcourage- ments of Impofiibility or Impotence may be fug- gefted, 'tis of abfolute neceility to Refolve, and actu- ally to Fight, otherwife we are irreparably Loft .* To hope without this to efcape Perdition, is a ter- rible Self-delufion •, it is to devote ones felf to cer- tain and irreparable Ruin : But tho' a fingle Act be weak and impotent to oppofe contrary inveterate Habits, we muft not be difcourag'd acting : For this new and fingle Act, (to fay nothing of that Humility, Knowledge of our felves, and humble recourfe to a fuperiour Being for Affiftance, with the like good Difpofitions, which the fenfe of our .Impotence na- turally produces,) tho' Weak and Impotent, is not altogether vahr and ufelefs*, but tends to dure and reproduce it felf -, and if repeated, this tendency increafes more and more, and the Grace of God is fecretly Concomitant and Correfpending with it. It is true indeed, the OppoGtion we meet, is ftronger than any Act of ours, and the weaker muft fubmit, and yield it felf as conquer'd, did not the Divine Grace and Benediction feafonably come to our Re- lief*, and if we faithfully co-operate with it j if we perfevere and knock at the Door of Grace, during a fufficient time of Trial; or if, having perfever'd but a little fpace, we repofe our felves on God, with a lively, active Faith •, fo great, immenfe and power- ful is his Grace, and fo exuberant his Blefling, that, however weak and impotent Nature be, we fome- time receive fuch Strength and Afiiitance from above, as enables us, by a fingle Act, to overcome, at once, Mountains of Difficulties, as was exemplified mMaty Aiagdalen^ and others, in the Primitive Ages, who, in a moment, from great notorious Sinners, were changed into eminent Saints. h\ thefe rare Examples God Of Grace, and the Difyenfation of it. 2 5 God does proportion the Difpenfation of his Grace, Chap. II. to the Strength, the Fulnefs and Generofity of our v-"'"V>* Act, and of our Refolution, with the Divine AflTift- ance, to mortifie our Corruption, and live to God for ever after. XVII. This is not a proper place to deduce thefe xvil. things more particularly : Let it fuffice, that I have yy^ fa explained their general Principles and Reafons, which Method of we are too apt to lofe the Ideas of, unlefs we fre- Art is not quently review 'em.- For want of this, the Ideas of more ex- Truth are weak and languid, in them, who want acllyfol- , Attention to trace 'em up to the Fountain Head, lotted. and to confider their Connection and Agreement, with the firft Original Truth : And fince nothing gives to Truth a greater Force and Luftre, or is more ufeful to us, than thus to Contemplate it in its Source, I hope my Reader will not blame me, if for the fake of thefe Advantages,' I havechofen to follow Nature by a ufeful inartificial Method, rather than Act by a learned and barren one, and advan- ced fome things too foon for the Schools of Art, whofe Rules I can eafily tranfgrefs, when too ftrictan Ob- servation of 'em does only weaken the force of Truth, and keep its Rays from fpringing. CHAP. 26 Of 'Preventing, Sufficient, Efficacious CHAP. III. Of Preventing, Sufficient, Efficacious and Per- fevering Grace. That the Event of Sin was not for want of any of tbefe : That thefe Graces were really and truly given by God, thoJ not in that Chimerical Senfe in which we ufually underfiand them. LA Sola- I. tion of three Dif- ficulties relating to the Fall of Man : That its ONE, that does well confider and underftand the foregoing Truths, will, I hope, hereafter be guilty of fuch abfurd Complaints as thefe. Why did not God eftabliih in Grace, his Labile Creatures, at their Creation ? But there are Event'wasfomz who run into more violent Complaints, whofe not for Satisfaction there i9 more reafon to endeavour •, be- want of caufe, what thro' Temptation of the Devil, thro' Ig- Prevent- norance and Frailty, fome, even Good and Pious ingGracej^xi, are often disturbed by them; and are ready or of its t0 complain, (i.) That, that Grace of God, with- increafe: out wftich we cannot perfevere, nor do any thing Wor by '^that \s Good, and by which we arc effectually drawn, ]%ne and made to perfevere, was not given to Man ^ be- caufe, God who is in no wife obliged to give it to us, and who gives it to whom he pleafes, was not pleafed to give it. (2.) Others pretend, that Preventing Grace, or at lead fuch an increafe of it (viz,, of Movements, Excitings, Delectations, and other Attractions and Occafions) as might have hin- dred the Fali of Man, were not vouchfaf 'd to him by God. (3.) Andlaftly, others fay, that Sin was permitted and decreed. Which Opinions, concern- ing the Grace of God, are a fource of manifold Scru- ples to Well-meaning Perfons, and of Complaint and Murmuring to the Ili-difpos'd. But, with the Di- vine AflifUuice, I hope to iliew that they are full of Darknefs and of Error ; and that God hath not re- fafed PermiJJi on or De cree. and Per fevering Grace. 27 fufed to the Sinner his Preventing, Efficacious, or Chap. HI. Perfevering Graces : But that Sin is the pure Effect wOTV of the Sinners own Decree and Will •, and that they who maintain the contrary, afcribing it to the Di- vine PermiAion or Decree, frame their Notions of that Decree from the Humorous Capricious ways of us depraved Creatures, and not from the Idea of a Being Independent, infinitely Wife, Juft, and Good, that never denies himfelf. II. Firft, as to Preventing Grace:, I affirm that*1-?^"* all preventing Graces, necefTary to prevent the Fall oV"TP°Je Man or Angels, were freely given to them, as tar SLS^odnot t0 was confident with God's perfections, and with *ht ™ tftm Nature of his Creatures: I know not what notion WiW ^ Men have of God •, but they who think otherwife, prevent„ mull: conceive him, as a Covetous Being, that, \ikef„gQra- a Merchant or Ufurer, fells his Graces by price zndcesisto Meafure, and parts with 'em, with regret and Envy: make him Or as an Envious one, who, tho' what he gives to an abfurd, others be no leffening to his own abundance *, never- Covetous thelefs with-holds his Gifts, efpecially in a time of ex- andEnvt- tremity and need, when the fall of Man might have 0Ui Bsmg* been prevented by it. What abfurdities and Con- tradictions do we, by Notions like thefe, impute to God, and his Conduct •, He who to raife us from the Fall was fo profufe as to deliver himfelf to Death, tho* few, very few, were like to be the better for it ? Fird we fuppofe him Inftrumentalto the Fall, by with-hold- ing his preventing Graces : And then, on fecond thoughts, fo much difpleafed at that Fall, which him- felf had been the occafion of, as to ufe all poflible In- deavour, even to the Sacrificing his own dear Son, to hinder the Effects thereof-, tho' only a few of the I fallen race we re like to receive any benefit by his La- ! bours : This fmgle Confideration feems to me fufficient to convince every Man whom Prejudice has not blind- ed to Common Senfe, of the falfity of this pretence, and that, before the Fall, God did actually difpenfe to Man all the preventing Graces that were trealured : up in his infinite Power and Love to hinder its 1 Event. IIL More- 2 8 Of Preventing, Sufficient, Efficacious Chap. III. III. Moreover, it is mod certain that, from our K~^i/T>~J ^r^ Creation, God hath acted toward us as an inff "c^'Ta-V n*te anc* unurruted Being, refufing no Graces to us> « // that he could difpenfe without denying his own Na" ivelo ture and Perfeftions: It is the Property of God to ^ManaH a^' efpecially towards a Holy Creature, in an Infi- the pre- n*tc> Per^e^ anc^ Communicative Manner *, and what- venting ever Limitation is in the ways of God comes from the Qraces Creature ; This Adorable Creator and Preferver could which fa never nigardly deny us any Graces whereby our Fall could give might have been prevented : Can we conceive that this Confiftent God and Father, this Nourifher and Preferver of us all: with his He wfco is Love it felf, and who, by inriching others, is omn per- not himfelf the Power •, but always is the fame rich, o- fe^JonLs verflowing,inexhauftible fountain of Grace and Truth: and the Can we, I ask, conceive him to be fo hard a Father, as JLttortJ ofto fce nis Children perifh for lack of food, when his ' Store-houfe is full, and he might eafily relieve their wants ? What a terrible Idea do Men form of God by- imputing to him this Deficiency of Grace? Even a generous Enemy would fcorn to treat his Adverfary thus *, much more would a Friend, to treat his Friend \ A Father his beloved Child •, a Brother, a Brother \ a Husband, his Spoufe \ all which are yet but faint Refemblances of that intimately clofe Relation be- tween God and Man : Indeed we know God but little as we ought, and for want of knowing him, we difhonour and blafpheme him under a pretence of ho- nouring him: We think to defend the Caufe of God, when we plead the Devil's, imputing a Cruelty to him that can only be the efTeft of Diabolick Malice: God, fay we is obliged to nothing-, which, I own, is, ftridlly fpeaking, true: But then do's God expect our Obligations, to a£t in a manner worthy of his Perfections, i. e. as a Good, Gracious and Powerful Being? When the Ideas of things were formed, when the Heaven and Earth, Angels and Men were Created, what Obligation was God under? Was it not the Effect of pure Difmterefted Love? And this Principle will or can it fail, when the Deftruelion of his Work, or rather of a beloved Friend is in danger ? Men may fay what they pleafe, 1 for my part will never enter- ' ' tain. and Per fevering Grace. 9.9 tain thoughts fo abfurd of God \ no I would rather Chap. III. believe he wanted Power than Love. >^"V-*^/ IV. But why, it may dill be ask'd, did God not »*;«*#*• try all poffible means, in a particular difplay of all his cfcati™ Graces? Why did he not Addrefs to Man by Exte-C^ c*'am riour and Interionr Voices? Why was he not always J^^*'" prefent with him ? Why did he not fill him with Hea- \*wl™y venly and Powerful Delectations, raviili his Senfes by ome j^en Celeflial Vifions, and draw his Faculties by Divine ima?iney Allurements? Why did he not hinder Satan's ap-,/,? pa}t proach to Adam , annihilate the Tree of Knowledge, had been bruife the old Serpent, with his deluding Tongue, prevented* and hinder the Fall by infinite other ways, and pre- tj :God had venting Operations? Soft, (oft poor Creature, Con- f leafed to tend not with God fo warmly •, nor imitate thofe foo-g*ve them, lilh Men, who, to fupport their Capricious Fancies, fay any thing that Imagination do's fuggeft, not knowing either what they fay, or what they would be at; Afcend we to the firft Spring of Truth, where a Light will flow in upon us, fufficient to difpel all thefe clouds of Darknefs. V. When this great and Gracious Majefty \ tho' v' T^at . it had no need of Men, was pleafed, in Infinite ***&*&'. Love, to Communicate his Delights unto them, in avtnZ °f moft generous manner*, fporting with them as a Vz-C?*ta'n ther with his Children, a Friend or Brother with a^J^ friend or Brother : To qualify them for fo Divine ^-fn2 Graces joyments, he required a free and generous offer ofM,~oW4Wi jtheir Love: To prefent his Divine Injoyments to 3l in the may lLove that is forced, conftrained, and felfifli, is in- that Come jtirely oppofite to the Divine Defigns, and unworthy p^*/*, is of his Perfections*, and therefore God cannot do it ^impojfible, and for us to defire him fo to aft, were the molt ab- abfurd, furd Injuftice in all the World *, becaufe by conde- vainjwrt- fcending to it, God would deny his own Defign, \\\%fultoAtan§- real Love, his true Delights, his ways of acting, in *"<*"*- a word, Himfelf; When therefore God had created w!rlbj Man, it was requifire to prevent him with Interiour ^ Lights, Movings, Delectations, Sentiments, and o- ther motives to inform him of his Duty, and draw him amoroufly to the practice of it, by dilcovering to hi-m the Beauty, Greatnefs, Magnificence, Delight that were 3° 0/ Preventing, Sufficient, Efficacious Chap. III. were treafured up in himfelf • and when Man was V,/'V"V-' fufficicntly informed and attrafted, his Duty was actually to correfpond *? tho', if he refufe, God can- not force him*, becaufe it were to contradict his own DeHgn, and violate the Nature of his Creature, who is efTentially free/ Ail that God can do confident with his Defign, is, for a while to over-look the perverfenels of his Creatures, to continue the offer of his Graces, and fupply 'em with freOi motives and allurements to co-operate with him *, which if Man obftinately refifts, there is no remedy, no fort of Grace will hinder the Event of Sin *, and for God to continue (till to give them, were not only vain, but would expofe 'em to be trampled on by Sinners, confirm them in Sin, and render them more Excufelefs : When things go thus, and Man hath been fuffiriently advertized of the E- vils he is falling into, the bell way will be for God to withdraw bis Grace, and leave him to his Choice.- The feeling the fad Effects of Sin may be a means to bring him to confider, it may give him a falutary Confufion, and difpoie him to Repent j when Pre- venting Graces tendred unfeafonabLy, and againft the Sinner's bent, would only ferve to harden him in his ways. VI. Proofs VI. And to enlarge a little on thefe ufeful Truths, of thefe I fay, i fir. That, if Man will not co-operate with the Truths* Diviae preventing Grace*, there is no remedy left, or means' to preierve him from a Fail. Becaufe it is fixt by the Divine Decree that Mans Correspondence (hall be Free •, and God hath given him a Principle freely to aft and correfpond ; So that, if Man refufe a voluntary Compliance with God's Grace, this de- fect cannot beotherwife fupply'd without deftroying God's Work, Eitablifhment and Decree, 2. I add, that if Man will not co-operate with God, Sin is unavoidable, and no Grace can hinder its E- ve-nt *, becaufe the formality of Sin confifts in difap- plying the Will, and other Faculties from their Di-* vine and proper Objects ; So that, tho' God preterit never fo many Graces, if Man, inttead of admitting,. turn himfelf away, Sin is actually committed in the mind : And tho' Gui IhcukTremove* out of the Sin- ' and Per fevering Grtce. j I ner's way, the things he is going to abufe, he would Chap. IU. ftill contrive, and find out others of a more Pernicious * Nature : Tho' it is to be remark'd, that, fince God has Created Natural things, and Subjected them to Mans Dominion, enduing him with Liberty to go- vern both himfelf and them, 'tis abfurd to pretend he fhould retract his Act, and deftroy his own Eftablifh- ment; No, let Man alter his Conduct, when he con- ducts himfelf amifs. 3. 1 further add, that if Man will not co-operate with God, the Continuance of preventing Graces would be i vain and ufelefs Act .* For, what Advantage is it to DfFer an increafe of Grace continually to a Creature that wilfully refufes to admit them ? 4. It were I add, as a fourth remark, to expofe 3odslove, and ineftimable Graces to defilement: To 3ffer God, and prefs the Acceptance of his Graces :o a Creature that finds no pleafure in them •, but de- pifes and abhors them, is to expofe 'em to vilenefs and rontempts.* What is a Love infufed or extorted by Machines of Force ? To force one to love againft his Liking, and to befiege his Affections with Objects, Motives, and Exhortations, whether he will or not, s not only Barbarous and Brutifh, but produces hor- -our andaverfion in the Soul .* God will not proftitute lis Graces thus j He will not expofe 'em to be trod under Foot, nor accept a forced Love : The Love he equires from us, is a free and Generous one .* This is lis Irrevocable Order and Decree *, Irrevocable, I ay, becaufe eftablifh'd by a Wifdom, Power, and Groodnefs which deferve to be admired and adored by is. 5! I obferve, that the Continuance, or Increafe )f preventing Graces to a Creature that will not "o-operate with them, do's only ftrengthen and con- irm him in iniquity and Sin : To prevent, with plea- sures and Divine Delectations, a Creature that ob- tinately turns away from God, that do's not, has not, .r.d will not Co-operate with his Divine Imprerlions, sonly to enilave him to Senfuality and luft,and tempts rim to believe, becaufe God feeks him againft his Will, '>ives him continually Divine Delights while he wilfully for fakes 3 2 Of Preventing, Sufficient ■, Efficacious Chap. III. forfakes him, that therefore he is dependent on him, VV*-' and fubjeeT to his Fancy \ and fo blows him up with Vanity and Pride, and makes his Soul a Neflof Vo- luptuoufnefs and Pride. From thefe Con fid er at ions it appears, that when God hath difpers'd [as he al- ways does] fufficient preventing Graces to a Crea- ture, it is beft, in all refpecls, to leave him to purfue his Will, feeing the Continuance of them is incon- gruous, abfurd, unworthy, vain, aggravates the Crea- tures Guilt and Mifery, proftitutes God to Diflio- nbur and a Denial of himfelf, and expofes Man to Miferies more grievous in proportion to the Graces by him defpifed. VII A VII. Preventing Graces are therefore not tobeex- true Idea peeled, or defired by us, in the forementioned Cafe cf that or Senfe*, nor may we, under this pretence, form ?b- freven;- furc* anc| -;mpious Notions, and then complain that *"f hc^0^ ^at^ denied us Graces neceffary topreferve us wnc Gr«ffrom a pa|| . yj^e true ^otjon 0f preventing Grate ^ufedto' *S> ^** l^at ^°^ CaT1 C'° t0 enSaSe US t0 a Pure5 a Man. generous, noble and refpeftfarLove and Correfpon- dence with him, fuch as does neither fill Man with Vanity and Self-efteem •, nor pollute his "Nature *, nor expofe him to Mifery unavoidable: And in this Senfe, I dare affirm, God hath not been wanting to his Creatures, he hath done all that could be to preferve 'em from Sin and Difobedience, without denying himfelf, his Work, and committing all the Abfurdlties and Incongruities juft now mentioned .* And therefore this Complaint is as abfurd and im- pious in one Senfe *, as it is falfe in ano'her : In that God's Grace did never fail his Creature, but prevent- ed him, according to the boundlefs extent of his gre,at Love and Mercy .• This Truth I dare confidently af- firm, and wifh I could proclaim through Heaven and Earth, That all the Graces that are treafur'd up in the infinite Wifdom, Power, and Love of vttt a ^oc' were freeW gitfen by God unto his Creatures. vui. An vill. But, there are, it may be faid, two forts of Objection ' . taken frcm the D[fi inguifhing Grace into Sufficient, (which u allowed id haze been vtven before the Fail) and Efficacious [which is denyd to have been given.} Graces v and Per fevering Grace. 3 3 Graces-, one Sufficient, the other Efficacious.- The Ch'p III. former, fay they, God did give to Man -, but not the LS\~\J latter. Had GocVbeen pleafed to give thefe Graces, both Men and Angels had been preferved from falling ; Here is the great Difficulty •, and a fine Difficulty it is, invented by the Schoolmen, I believe, on purpofe to darken and perplex our Minds •• However let's fee if it will admit a fair Solution. By Sufficient Grace is underftood, that Grace by which Man may Act and Perfrvere : By Efficacious, That, by which he doth infallibly Act, without ever falling from it : And now I ask, is this DiftincTion founded on the Nature of thefe Graces *, or upon Man's Admiftion of them ? If upon Man*s AdmifTion -, the Objection then is vain -, becaufe Sufficient and Efficacious Grace will be, in refpect of God, the felf fame Graces fometimes Sufficient, and fometimes Ef- ficacious, according as Man admits it: Sufficient if not admitted : Efficacious if admitted, foas to be Ef- fectual : So that if God, to prevent the Fall, hath dif- penfed Sufficient Grace* he hath alfo difpenfed Effi- cacious, both being in Subitance and Reality the fame. . IX. This Diftinction therefore applied to God is IX. That abfurd and null -? nor can we confidently pretend *nrefpeH that God hath given Sufficient, but not Efficacious fG'dtt Graces : We muft affirm of both alike that they were i: *¥"'<* given, or denied to us -, becaufe with refpect to God ''JvW' tney are the felf- fame Grace, and confequently if we ?f*r*' ■ cannot deny God to have given Sufficient Grace W-' *£i?' fore the Fall, neither can we deny his having givfen C/IW17\ Efficacious Grace, which even they who make ^ht^''/conm Objection allow to be given fince the Fall. fe quern ty To.make God actotherwife, is to make him Act \n one cannot a vifibly abfurd and extravagant Manner : Can weden/bim imagine that God did firil abar.don all Mankind to bave unto Deftruction, for want of Efficaci:>u3 Qrace to aifpens'd prevent their Fall ; and then, on fecorid Thoughts, to EJjieattom refcue a few from the Miferigs of their Fall, by dif- &**•* penfing to them his Efficacio >"-nces which had he l:^re *&* pleafed to give, the Fall and Miferv of all might have pa& been eafily prevented? If Men, who Act in this Ca- D '-vicious 34 'Of Preventing, Sufficient, Efficacious Gup. Ill pricious Manner, deferve a Character of Folly, how v-^V^- cautious fhould we be of reprefenting God fo nig- gardly of his Graces, and making him Aft in fuch an Inconfiftent Manner ? Now the Arguments I have uled to prove that Sufficient Grace was given, do conclude likewife for Efficacious Grace, in its true in- telligible Notion, and freed from all that Obfcurrty with which Imagination reprefents it. X- That X. For, what difference would we conceive between tbeDtftin- Sufficient and Efficacious Grace? If from what we ft on of can Sufficient Grace, he who admits it, and Corre- Suffiaent fponds therewith, cannot derive fufficient Strength and EfiCl' and Vertue from it, to oppofe the Affaults of Sin, ****** it is not fufficient: If when Temptations happen, or found J opportunit\ of Sinning prefents it felf, he wants that upon God Grace, without which he can do nothing, as fome is Chime- '^P^j or t^]at Grace with which he might fucceed, if ricalanj ^cd, vvno with-holds it from him, would vouchsafe Abjurd : to &ive n : This, tho' call'd fufficient, is not fufficient, That Ef* but abfurd, and unworthy of God, and by calling it ficaaous fufficient we contradict our felves: If by Efficacious Grace fo Grace, we underfhnd a Grace containing more than caFd.aud what is Sufficient, this is then Superfluous.- For what diflm- would we have more than Sufficient ? And if this Su- gwjh\i perfluous Grace was neceffary to preferve us from from Suf- committing Sin, the Sufficient was not Sufficient :, ficir?jt,is ^ut jf jt was not rjecefFary, it was then indifferent *, aSc&coh ^jjijj, is not agreeable to our Notion of Efficacious Onmer* Q^ XI. Sufficient and Efficacious Grace are in* reality XT. That the fame, and only differ in Expreilion : The firit bogjeiem ;s applied^ to God, who gives us what is fufficient a>«/kp- fQV 1JS . yne feconcj5 Llnto /vian, who, by admitting cacicus t|,:s SuPacient Grace, makes it Effective or Efficacious : rie*fo "' They are, I fav, at bottom., thefelf-fame thing, not- thJw* 'vithilancling thefe different Appellations given on mj*r account of him who gives •, and him who doth ad- twodif mit ir- ftre*,t /jtfelfoticTH, en ncccur.t of trro Subjects to jrbich they are ap- find. XV., But and Per fevering Grace. J 5 XII. But if we are minded to apply both thefe Chap. Hi. Appellations unto God, and alfo unto Man, and to,j7/7Vx~' diftinguifh Grace into Sufficient and Efficacious in re-XI'# ln fpect of both-, they will frill appear to be the felf .**>** J'»J* fame Grace: For, in refpect of God, we call that ^' "7 Sufficient Grace, which contains all Principles ^^"[aidtohe Motives necefTary to engage a fpontaneousAgent to act \.Qt^ Su?m in a faving manner ; And that Grace is Efficacious, from fcJem aJnj which a Free-willing and Correfronding Agent derives Efficacious all Effects necefTary to attain Salvation. It is there- irtrcfpett fore thefeif-fame Grace, in refpect both of God and of God: Man, and that whether Man do Correfpond or not : And alfo For, if he admit it, and Correfpond thereto, the fame** refped Grace of God is Sufficient and Efficacious : If hcdo of Man. riot admit it, nor co-operate with it, it is not Sufficient nor Efficacious •, becaufe it is not God's Will that his Grace fhould be fufficient to Man's Salvation with- out his Correfpondence : This therefore is not Suffi- cient j in refpect of God indeed it i?, but not in re- fpect of Man, except he correfpond therewith : Nor is it Efficacious, becaufe it is not the Will of God, that the Graces lie gives fliould be Effective unlefs Man concur and co-operate with it. _ XIII. To imagine that the Grace of God doesab-fv, f folutely incline the Will, and infallibly determine 7^7" Man, without his free Consurrence, and call this^, a" Efficacious Grace, is a mere Chimera, and ruins the Qrace Defigns of God, and the Divine Correfpondence be- that in* tween God and Man : There is no fuch Grace as failiblj de» irrefiftibiy determines, tho' if there were it is more termmes, reafonable to believe, God would have given it ra-W ra- ther to all Mankind, while Innocent and Juft in in* the Ada?n, than, after the Fall, to only a few of his fin- Founda- ful Race. Thefe are for certain mere Fictions of our ; ?•* °f*b* depraved Fancy, injurious to God, and directly con- Diyne trary to his Will, and to his Conduct. Such they yfns: wiM appear to every -one that feriouily confiders the JIJ^7*. Demonftraticns given, in the foregoing Book, tafl-jj^J *' cerning the Nature of the Divine Decree, and xhz pret°nj ways of its Execution, \hat thjs Grace f^as at firj} denisd and afterwards given to afew-, is t0 impute U Qs4 a part;*!. Envious and Capricious Conduct, 3 6 Of Preventing, Sufficient , Efficacious Chap, m. xhe Diftin&ion therefore of Sufficient and Effica- i/"VNJ cioas Grace, underftood in the fenfe of our Mo- dern Predeftinarians *, and alfo the Capricious Par- tiality in whk-h they imagine thefe Graces are dif- pens'd, muft be rank'd among the Catalogue of SchooFChimeras. The Liberty I have ufed in treat- ting this Diftin&ion, will I believe be offenfive unto roatiy , but to anticipate their Complaints and Out- cries of Blafphemy,which,it is probable, they will raife jigainft me, I add, That this Fiction of Efficacious Grace borders upon Blafphemy : For what is it elfe to affirm, God might, and neverthelefs would nor, remove all Obftacles of our Salvation ^ that he is partial in the diftribution of his Grace, that he gives them only to a few, but requires of all Duties im- poflible to be performed, without fuch Afliftance as he will not give •, tho' he need only to Will, and it will be given? Now Infallible or Efficacious Grace is big with all thefe Fictions, fo injurious unto God, and unwor- thy of him : Whereas the only Confequenceof deny- ing this Chimera is, that God can't force the Will, oecaiifene hath decreed it fhould be free and deter- minable of it felf: That his fubfequent Decree can't contradict his Antecedent : That he does not deny Iiimfelf: That .bis Will is not contrary to his Immu- table Decree : That his Power does not extend to deftroy or contradict his Will, not from a defect of Power, but from the Perfection of his Erfential Power and Wifdom : For as Wifdom cannot contradict it ielf, fo infinite Power cannot deftroy by one Act what is eftabliflVd by another. Xiv. An XIV. But it may ftjll be laid, tho' we allow that Anftrcr to God hath given to Man all his Preventing and Effica- another cjous Graces to hinder the Fall •, it is certain he did Com- not givc h\m tjie Grace o( Per levering in the State /^'w/l-vJ'of his Creation; i his was that which Man moft- tuatGod iywantecj ancj vvhat God was not pleafed to gne the ° Gra e of Perfeverance, whereby the Fall had been prevented* In what Unfc Gcd, who hath not y^u.ea in an] Cracc9 did truly gtve us that of Ptrfeierance, I am and Per fevering Grace. 37 I am almoft tired in effacing the Fantoms, by which Chap. III. Men obfcure the infinite Love of God, and feek to v/V>^ procure themfelves (tho' perhaps without direct Re- flection on it) the fecret Joy of excufing themfelves, and murmuring againft God. This Objection, I fay, is falfe, and a mere Fantom of the Schools, in the true and folid fenfe of Perfevering Grace. Every Grace is a Grace of Perfeverance •, becaufe God, who is the giver of it, is conftant, and never retracts the Graces which he gives*, but wills that we lliould accept 'em, and that we fliould perfevere for ever in our Accep- tance, and Injoyment of them : And thus the Grace which God difpens'd to Man was a Grace of Perfeve- rance \ it was fo in God's Defign -, and had been fo in Event, had it been admitted and co-operated with, as perfeveringly as it was given. XV. It was not, indeed, an Abfolute, IrrefiftibleXV. That Grace, that engages Man to Nothing : It was not an the vul- Eftablifhing or Confirming Grace, like that I fpokeg4'"^"- of in the foregoing Chapter. God could not makeee/c^ *^e any thing perfevere in Man without his own free ^r*™ of Concurrence •, and what is it we would have him e,Jev^m make to perfevere ? Is it his Grace ? This can only be ^JL^ by Man's Admifiion and free Confent. Is it Man's \nQ0„aa* Confent? This can only be by an abfolute Refigna- ent FlS tion of hlmfelf to God •, which if he refufe \ would %SQ}lm we have God make him to perfevere in his refufal ? or rather make him not perfevere a free felf-determining Agent? Ifthefe be our Notions of Perfevering Grace let us place it among the reft of the School Fictions, without deducing particularly the train of Abfurdi- ties which it is pregnant with. D 3 CHAP. 5« How God hath the Idea of Sin. CHAP. IV. That Sin was not from the Divine Decree. That before its Commifjton God had not the Idea of it. How God hath the Idea of Sin. I If Sin was de- creed by God, it would ei- ther not be Sw, or God him- 11 T there are other Objections and Complaints of greater Con- fequence and Extent : Some Men pretend that God permitted Sin, ji and eon fen ted at leaft to its Com- miffion, when he might, had he pleafed, have not permitted it. [elf would Others pretend, he not only permitted, but decreed have fin- it & and that, antecedent to this Decree, he was in- ned. different to Will, or not will the Commiffion of it. A very imperfect Knowledge of God, and of the Na- ture of his Decree, his Will and Aft, will convince ns fully, that God cannot decree Sin, nor confent to *Eccluf. its Commiffion, * He hath commanded no Man to do i$. 20. Wickedly , nor given any Man licence to Sin. \ He tPf» S* S'hath no plcafwe in Wickednefs. If Sin was an effect of the Divine Decree, it would then be agreeable and conform thereto ^ and confequently a Real, Good, Powerful, Happy and Beauteous Being, as partaking of the Properties of the Divine Decrees, the Idea of which contains nothing but what is conform unto, and reprefentative of God : It is all Glorious and ftining with Light, Reality, Beauty, Goodnefs, Blef- fednefs, and therefore wer^ Sin to be found among the Divine Decrees, it would be of a Nature, Realj Good and Beauteous, i. e. not be Sin. But the abfurdity of this Notion will be more apparent •, if we confider that the very fuppofmg Sin to be decreed by God, fuppofes that he actually Sins : Becaufe the formality of Sin confifts in willing the Commiffion of it : Nor will it be any Salvo to di- flinguifh between willing a Thing by Approbation and good liking, and willing its Event *, for this Diftincliorf How God hath the Idea of Sin. ? 9 * * '" ' ,' " ' Diftinction is abfurd : He who abhors a Thing can Chap. IV never will the Event thereof. To will or confentO^VSJ to the Event of any Thing, and to approve or be pleafed with that Thing, are different ExpreiTions of the felf fame thing. But I add, that to will that Sin from Nonexiflent fhould become Exiftent *, or to will its Inlargement and Increafe, is, to Sin : The mod precife Idea that one can form of an inte- rior Sin actually committed, is the actual willing its Exigence or Increafe in our Selves or Others : To will Sin in another is a fign of Envy, and if among Men it be a certain note of a depraved, envious Heart, to will it in another, How much more abo- minable is it to fuppofe it of God, all whofe Ways and Works do bear the Character of his EiTential Purity and Perfection ? But it may here be faid : God is not obliged to the fame Rules as Man : Thofe Things and Actions which are Sins to Men, do not impeach the Holinefs of God. I anfwer, Let us keep clofe to the Hypothe- cs before us, of willing that Sin fhquld, from Non- exiflent, become Exiftent ^ or of willing its Increafe : And I affirm, that this, and all Acts whatever tending to it, are indubitably Sins *, and if they who urge this do mean that God may do thefe things without any Impeachment of his Holinefs, which Man by doing contracts Sin and Guilt, they do by this Pretence juftifie the imputing to God all the Abo- minations, Darknefs, Dilorder, Impiety and Diabo- lick Wickednefs in the World, provided we call all thefe Abominations, Holinefs in God : Whereas poor Man, if he dare to do, or imitate God in any of thefe things, falls into Sin and Guilt : All which is indeed a Doctrine terribly Myfterious, and im- putes to God all that dark Myftery of Iniquity which is contained in the Idea of the Devil, with this dif- ference only, that all thofe Things and Actions, which imputed to Men or Devils, are Darknefs and Abomination, do change their Nature and become Light, Holinefs and Truth when imputed to God. But here it may be objected, that I did juft now affirm, that if God had decreed Sin, it would not D 4 be 40 How God hath the Idea of Sin. Chap. IV.be Sin, and confequently not Sin in refpecT of God °. ^-^v^-^ No, I anfwer, nor yet in refpeft of Men •, tho5 by in- ferring a Confequence, as I did, from an impoflible Suppofition, I ought not to be charged with main- taining either the Suppofition or the Confequence •, nor do 1 tie mv felf up hereby from deriving oppo- fite Confequences from the fame Suppofition, to ex- pofe its Abiurdity more clearly. It is faid, I know, that the will'flg Sin is not Sin to God, becaufe it is Inftrumental to his Glory.* But this is all over Darknefsand Falfhood : The willing Sin directly diftionours God *, but Sin, when com- mitted without, and against his Will, may, with a great deal of Pains and Labour on the Parts of God and Man, contribute indirectly to his Glorv -.There- fore to pretend that Sin, ro.n Non-e\iT nt can be will'd or decreed to be Exiftetu, ^ God's Glory, is notcrioufly falfe. We ought to fay, that the wil- ling Sin directly di (honours God *, tho', afterwards, God may, with a great deal of Pains and Labour, derive indirectly his Glory from it \ but this in re- fpecl only of a few : And that to will for this End a thing which directly ftains his Purity and Honour, would be an eternal Reproach unto him, and is therefore Impious to conceive : It is not therefore true, nor even poffible, for Sin to owe its Event to the Divine Decree : On the contrary, if it .happen without, and againft this Decree •, the whole Oeco- nomy of God relating to it, will tend to extinguiih, yeftrain, leave it to it felf, or to regulate, bv' his Providence, the Courfe and Effects thereof, as will appear hereafter *, but never to will its Exiftencc or Increafe. rjg II. Even the Idea of Sin is not from God ', nor Id aef conceivaDle before the actual Commifiion of it : Be- S n is not cau^ that which is not in Idea cannot be conceived j flem but Sin is not in Idea till the Sinner doth con- God : nor ceive it. it it ntke Arbitrary Divine Conception, before a Creature atluallj Sins* The Idea of Sin is not eternal, nor independent •, it would be indeed a noble Privilege to allow this Monftrous How God hath the Idea of Sin. 4 1 Monftrous Idea above all others, which, in prefenceChap IV. of the Independent and Self-fu tricing Divine Idea ^Y^ are as Nothing, as alfo is the Idea of Sin for much ftronger Reafons: Now Nothing, or the Idea of No- thing if I may fo fpeak, is not the formal Idea of Sin : Nor is it eftablinYd by the Arbitrary Divine Conception 1 nor is it like others, an effeft of its De- cree •, becaufe whatever Exilts by vertue of this De- cree is of a Nature molt real, good, worthy of God, and reprefentative of him : Whereas the Idea of Sin is an Idea of Repugnance or Contradiction to the Divine Conception, Decree and Will, and therefore could not be till fome Creature did actually oppofe it : For fimple Nothing bears no Repugnance or Oppo- sition to the Divine Decree j nor does a Creature conndered as from God •, nor does tbeDeikn or De- cree of God concerning the Exiftence of a Free, Self- determining Creature to reprefent his Perfections more Nobly and Divinely; nor, lad of all, the Con- duel of fuch a Creature, fo long as it is regulated by the Divine Decree : Hitherto then the Idea of Sin is not to be found. III. And tho' God, the alone independent felf-fuf- IIT. That ■ficing Being, fees that Man, in and of himfelf, is No- there h thing: Tho' he fees him as a Free, Self-determining ™M*g ginr' rbecauk Himfelf, the Fountain of all Being '" G"*' '» and Perfection, hath given him this Principle of Free- Ut Con' :dom, and contented he fiould aft in an infinite Sphere "J"'0"*1" of Liberty as God and the BlefFed do ; yet this does r" °k not furnifli us with an Idea of Sin. For tho' M*nfi£"} b" who m himfelf is Nothing may decline from his PdnfcEft * it is not the Capacity, but the aftual declining ST from it that makes the Idea of Sin : And as to Li^W/fc, •?y£ 'r JJ.felf considered, it is the greateft Reality the Idea and Perfection belonging to us •, it is Man's pecu-*/ S,«. I?/* Jlvlle§e> bendes whom there is, in this lower World, no Creature that can govern his Adions, vary and diredT his Conduct, and is thereby capable of tinning : There is befides Man a World of Creatures but thefe being not appointed by God to be his End, God not feeing him declining to them before heacTu- ' ally -does decline.' God 42 Mow God hath the He* ef Sin. — * «— — i — — - , Ch^p. IV. God is the End of Man, and Liberty was given t/"V"\J him to enable him to tend towards, and injoy him in a more Divine and Noble Manner : We fee then that in God, in his Conception, in his Will, his End, his Work, in Liberty, in its Conduct conform to the Conception and Defign of God, the Idea of Sin is not to be found in God or Man •, therefore I con- clude that God did not Conceive, Decree nor Will even the Idea of it. IV. The IV. "Nor was it pofiible for him fo to do: Be- Ideaof caufe God being the moft pure Source of Reality Sin was and Good, the Effects of his Conception and Decree framed ^muft necefTarily partake of thefe Qualities, and be the Crea- Good and Heal : And therefore in Man, and his Li- tme who j)ert v^ conflcjerec] as COming forth of the Hands of God T'Tn ful we **ee a SuWe^» Motives, End, and every thing Creature throughout Good and Real : But tho* he be not the istbeOc- Source of hi? -own Reality and Perfection *, he was caAonal endued with a Power of Liberty, and thought fit to Caufe of ufe, or rather to abufe it, propofwg to himfelf an this Idea imaginary End \ tho* incapable to give it the Ieaft in the Di degree of Reality and Perfection, as not being the vme Con- Source thereof ; and hence the Idea of Sin, or Dif- ception. application from God, arofe in the Creatures Mind, by oppofing his own Arbitrary Conception, Decree and Will to the Divine : And becaufe God ftill con- tinued to Act upon him, by Emanations of his Light, purfuant to the Decree of his Creation •, which Light and gracious Operations being not admitted, butop- pofed and fent back, the Idea of Sin is (as I may fay) hereby imprinted in the Divine Conception :. Not that it is in the Power of Man to make any Im- preffion on it *, no, but his oppofing the Divine Ema- nations, and caufing them to return to God fruit- lefs and barren, without the Con fent of Man, dif- covers to God that his Divine Ideas or Realities are. rejected and oppofed *, fo that the Idea of refilling God and his Conception, the barrennefs of the Prin- ciple he gives to Man cannot come from God nor from his Conception, but the Creature that Sins is the firft Caufe of the Idea, which God hath of it by refifting his Luminous Operations on it. V; But How God bath the Met of Sin. 43 V. But this is to be applied to the firft Sin, before Chap. IV. which, it was not in Idea *, but when once commit- ted by Angels or by Men, it was eafie for God to conceive it as poftlble to be repeated, tho' the Crea ted by Angels or by Men, it was eafie for God tov conceive it as poflible to be repeated, tho' the Crea- ' ture was not neceflitated to repeat it *, but might f^™**} an by contrary Acts oppofe and extinguifh it, accord- G6J^ ingly God hath exhorted him, and ufed all poffiblc confe_ Means to engage him in the Combat : So far he was^„,/y_ from confenting to the repeating of it, or from de - idea of Tt% creeing its increafe in all the infinite variety of Cir- he for efatv cumftances in which it is committed. Opinions of its Dura* this Nature, found fo horribly that had not a wrong tion, hue Application of their Studies inchanted the Minds oinot asne- Men, it were impofiible to admit 'em : For Sin, ceff*rJ : and its Idea, what is it ? A repugnance to ^\\ So far he the Ideas of the Divine Conception, to all itstfasfrom Decrees, Wills, Acts and Operations, and to eve- davi% ■ ry thing reprefentative of God*, and this Monftcr, J£^ » could it be the Product, Conception, Eftablifhment, -s l^lorr> or Decree of God ? Dreadful thought ! dreadful to be ^e 0ptm ' confidered, but more to be approved I From the moft monf Holy Divine Conception, what elfe can iflue or pro- ceed befides Light, Reality, Objects and Decrees, reprefentative of and conformable unto God ? Where then can this Monfter, Sin, be found in it ? VL jfe VI. So Holy is the Divine Conception, that even pure and. Sin is perceived by it under the Idea of Light and admirable Goodnefs : It is in God a Perception of his Light and Way in gracious Efflux returning from, or repelled by the ybiib Sin Creature, who will not admit it, towards its blef- * percent- fed Fountain': Or, it is a Sentiment or Perception edh Go(i* that the Arbitrary Communication of his Light and (vl"z-^««° Graces are flopt (as it were) or hindered from o-'Jerthe their Source, and re-afcend without any Fruits, or as not admitted : They return, 1 fay, by a kind of Reflux or Reflection empty without Improvement : For Light and Grace that are Ihed abroad upon the good, return with Fruit towards their Soorce, and jjring tydings of the Confent of Man, or of a Wel- come 44 How God hath the Idea of Sin. Chap. IV. come frorc him *, whereas from the Wicked, they ^r>T^J return void and barren, without the Fruit of Man's confent, tho* God had Town the Principle of it.* Whereupon God withdraws his Talent, and gives it to another. Such is the way in which Sin is perceived by God, and a mod Pure and Divine way it is *, in which, tho' this be only an imperfe£t Description of it -, we fee no room, no Source of the Idea and De- cree of Sin. Can God approve, can he order and direcl: that the gracious Effufions of his Light and Grace fhould be rejected, and fent back void and fruitlefs ? The Idea of this Barrennefs, and Remiifion of his Graces ^ this denying God, his Light, and gracious Operation can it be from him ? Let s abo- minate this Thought, as a mere Invention of the Fa- ther of Lyes, who alone contrived, eitablifhed and decreed thefe things. VII. TU* VlL Tne diftinftion of God's Will, into Will of $be Di- good Pleafur.e and Will of Sign, which fome have fiinftion invented to falve thefe Matters, is impious and ab- of the Qi- ford, in that it fuppofes God to Will, Decree and vine WA Eftablifh Sin, while he fignifies to Men his Didike mrefr-8 and Difapprobation of it •, to difapprove it by his fig- cf$myand njfteci or reveal'd Will, and to approve it by his Will **5^fir« °f Sood Pleafure. To ferve their Hypothecs they iHtoWiK jnvent a Will of Sign that is Falfe, Hypocritical *fl°™ and Lying, that bears falfe Witnefs of what is in God, Iwi and a WlU of &ood Pleafure> which is Wicked and fSirn is Malicious, that pleafes it felf in effacing the Image of Abfurd Purity and Holinefs effential unto God ; and dare dJdfflck' Men impute fuch horrible Fictions unto God, for 4. fear of rejecting their pre-conceived Notions of thefe Matters as Lyes and Falfhood ? CHAP. Of the Previfwn of Sin, 45 C H A P. That the Idea of the Event of Sin is net from God : Of the Previfion of Sin. U T is it pofiible, fome may ask, for I 7bat Sin to be committed, and not fort- the Ids* of feen by God. This Difficulty hath Sw and been fo oft already anfwered, that to $m* 'tis tirefome to take any further no- ****** in tice of it. However, I fay that if Goci' our Notions concerning the Divine Conception, Previfion, Will, be found, God could not then forefee or will it -, becaufe he can forefee only what is of his own Order and E{tahlifhment,or is a necefTary effect thereof: He doth not forefee in a determin'd Manner that which is eftablifh'd to be free and undetermined : The Divine Conception is ■ indifferent in conceiving what Things, and in what Manner it pleafes, and as to the Idea of Sin it is I not necefTary or effential to it. It is a piece of Fol- ly, like that of Sinners, to imagine, that the All- ' perfect Mind neceflarily conceives the foul Pollutions ; of us wretched Sinners *, whereas certain it is God 1 would not fee rtbr think upon 'em, did he not de- I fire to fee his Luminous Graces in us *, but becaufe he ! fheds abroad continually his Graces on us, and we refift, either refufing abfolutely to admit them, or \ admitting them in an imperfect Manner, and reflect them back on God in a form of Barrennefs or Im- ' perfection *, he therefore fees the Abominations of his 1 Creatures :, he fees 'em, I fay, by an Idea of Light and < Grace returning to,or reflected back upon him;, he fees 'em not as eftablifhed, conceived, or forefeen by him : Were Sin of a Divine Eftablifbment and Decree, God i would tiot then perceive it as repugnant to what he expects from his Creatures : To perceive Sin, is to per- ceive the Rejection or Denial of the Divine Decree, and of that Light and Truth which God defires to fee in us, it is to fee his Creatures reflect or turn their Bucks 46 Of the Previfton of Sin. Chap. V. Backs upon ail the Graces and goad Things with ^^"Y"^ which he defires to fee th|m fill'd. Jf Jo** \\ So far is God frorrr having forefeen the Sin, S°*Vom before the Eternal Happinefs of Man, that on the caufeXs contrary he would not actually fee Sin at all, did he hath nit not ^r^ f°refee tbe ^ree and eternal BlefTednefs of forefeen bis Creature: For the Idea which God hath of Sin, it . or is the oppofing or refitting the eternal happy State, becaufe be on the Creatures part •, and therefore did not God has the forefee his Light and Grace in Man, he could not Idea of fee Man's Oppofition or Refinance. This Divine tbateter- Light and Happinefs in Man, is God's original De- nalHap- cree, and that which he forefees, the Man hath de- finefs feated the* effect thereof. He alfo did forefee Man's which be free Con duel, becaufe it is his own Decree, but then was pea- ^ faw t^is ufcerty of Conduct under a form of free jedtoUe-^ ac]mjfijon which Man would give to the Divine Im- °d"f0n' Pre^ons> and not as °Ppofing or rejecting them : forefee in ^°' ||MS was not)n tnc idea, or Divine Conception, huCrea- °f tna* Liberty of Conduct: which God was pleafed ture. The t0 £ive to Man i nor was ft known or fore-known Idea 'fSm by God •, becaufe it did not as yet exift even in Idea } is not m- nor was it producible by the Power of God ', nor duded m was Liberty given by him to produce if, but freely that of and nobly to admit the Infinite All-perfect Being. f^therty. HI. It will be perhaps objected, that from hence ill. An it follows, that the Creature's Lability was not ijbjcchon known by God, before its actual Fall : For if God concern- did know that Man was naturally Labile before he ingthe finned, he had the Idea of Sin, before its actual Creatures Commiflion : But there is no reafon to deny God's Lability having an Idea of Man's Lability, becaufe he is natu- which i- a 1 1 y Labile, and God who made him knew to be fure f—jt"Z his Nature. TeveTeta Tbis °>i*a«>«j <™d almoft all the reft, comes rih k>- yenfi. thing, but know it in a pofitive manner* If V If Of the Previfwn of Sin. 47 IV. If we confider God in his eternal, neceflary,Chap.V. felf-fufficient Nature, he thinks pofitively onlv OXi\fT¥^* himfelf, and all Ideas are neceflarily, and in them-1^*^0" . felves mere Nothings, before his eternal fclf-fufficing tb.w^ and EfTence. But tho' the Ideas of Things are Nothing, ™gicb .f God has not therefore, ftrictly fpeaking, an Idea of^/j tjjan Nothing, nor did he pofitively think that all Ideas ^^ were Nothing, tho* in reality they were *, it was neejs „ot contradictory and impoflible for God in his pure fel(-tobeper~ fufficing State to think thus, becaufe this Thought ceivtdby of God would have given them a real Being: God God to be wras his own fole pofitive Object, in which he fully what it acquiefced •, all Ideas remaining in their State of No- «>, or to thing without being pofitively or actually thought \be a Not' on as fuch : So in like manner, God knows his intel-^/wi>> *r ligent Creatures, by perceiving or thinking on their ^ than a Reality and Perfection, and not the Lability of™**." their Natures : Lability, 'tis true, is effential to them, h€i9l&' but is not perceived or thought on by God in a po- fitive manner*, becaufe Lability is a Non-Being, and adds no Perfection to the Divine Conception j nor yet to the Creature's pofitive real Being *, nor to the real Idea of that Being, and therefore needs not to be conceived or thought on to be a Nothing, and even fuch a Nothing as is not to be found in bare Not-Being, but is fomething below, and more a No- thing than mere Nothing. V. It is therefore an Error to imagine, that the v. That complete Idea of the Creature includes a perception the com- et Lability before his actual Fall •, it only includes plete Idea | a complete perception of all the Realities and Per- of a Crea- jfections EfTential to it, of all thofe Lights and Graces ture be- ; which God continually offers to it, and in the ^d-M^Sin mittance of which its Beatitude confifls *, andalfo ofd°ei not that Liberty with which it is endued to admit 'em wcintis freely in a Noble, Divine, and Excellent Manner \ ^ I in which, tho' the Creature be of a Labile Nature, °A j nva' Lability is not included, becaufe properly it is a :0T's\°r Not- Being, or an Idea below Not-being, and needed °;i0r ^* not to be directly thought on, or perceived to be quevtlfof what it is: Lability would be afrer its way of be- lability ing, u e. a Not -Being founded on what is lels thin Nothing 48 Of the Previfion of Sin* Chap. V. Nothing, tho' it were not perceived or thought on WV*^ by the Omni-perfeft Mind, whofe true and proper Object is Reality, and not Nothing •, much lefs Sin, which is a State below that of Nothing,, with all the poftible ways of finning, as the Objection does fuppofe: What a worthy Notion have they of God, who think the Idea of a holy Creature, in the Di- vine Conception, to be incomplete, without the op- pofite Idea of whatever Impurities,Blafphemies, Impie- ties, Evils and Miferies it might poffibly fall into? Con- clude we then, that whatever does fuppofe or include the Idea of Sin, was not eftabliuVd, thought, or known before the Creature fell from the Perfection of its Being •, and that till then the real, pofitive and complete Idea of the Creature included pure Reality and Perfection, without any Privation , and that confequently God forefaw the Infinite Good which was the free Creatures true and proper End, but had no Idea of Sin, 'till the Creature, by op- pofwg the Divine Order and Decree, produced this monftrous thing, giving it an ideal and actual £xiftence. VI That VI. What then, it will be faid, Did the Divine *t Joes not Previfion err? Were its Defigns vain and ineffectual? therefore \ anfwer, No *, and in order to conceive it, let it be follow, obferved, ift. That God is not partial in his De- ttat the fjgns * nor is he limited by private Reafons to this FrTiTfon or ^7at Partici^ar Objeft. Cod's antecedent Will and be* *s not t^lat ^c^ P^fciilar Perfons fhould partake of r ns tvere his eternal Happinefs, oh account of their perfonal puftrated Diftin&ions *, bat on account of the Intelligent Na- or cbang- ture with which they are endued. He forefees iu ed. In them eternal Happinefs, as they are Human Crea- tvhat tures, nor does their Difobedience make his De- finfe the figns abortive. Bur, which I would have, 2dly, ob- * Defigns r/fcrved, his W7ill and Defign ftand fix'd, and remain £ and the Snow from Heaven, and rcturneth not thiticer, but wa- ters the Earth, making it bring forth and bud, that it may give Seed to .the Sower, and Bread to the Eater : So fij all my Word, be that gveth forth out of my Afouth (the Truth. and-Goodnefs which God, by his Word, (beds abroad on ;the Creatures) it ftjall not return unto me void ; (as Sin would Cend it back) but it ftjall ac\ V; ; lomplijb that which I pleafe, and /ball .prof per in the VII. *tl$ thing whereto I fent it -, which ftjall be very exatlly after the accompli};)- d,. , ... . ', ,u general I VII. The reafon why after the Day of JuJsment, ?««gmene Sinners with their Sins will be eve.rlafongly forgot-; *n***E~ ten of God, no mure to come into I.i'is remembrance IfT^i God will riter ctore have no idea of the .Sinner and his Sins-..-.^,, £ At 50 Of the V revision of Six, Chsp. v. at lead it may be, and probably will be thus *, if WV"^ we confider, that at the general Judgment,, an en- tire Separation will be made of Good from Evil, of Light from Darknefs, which fliall be confined to their proper Centers no more to mingle and oppofe each other •, and then if God and the BlefTed would know the Eftate1 of the Wicked, it will be by dart- ing on them fome fudden Rays of Light, as will be done at the final Judgment, and ought to be to the "Wicked, a fubject of Terror and Ignominy : But we need not fuppofe that after that Day they will do this. For Evil is naturally not perceivable by God, and the BlefTed ones, otherwife than by oppo- fing the Impreffions 6f Light and Grace, the offer of which will after that Day be at an end : Whence it is reafonable to conclude, that as God did not fore-know, fo neither will he know their State after * Pf. i. 6. that Day, the State and Felicity of the Good being the Mat. 7. S3, only direct and proper Objects of the Divine Know- Ch. 15.12. ledge and Previfion, as the * Scripture cxprefly fpeaks*, Luc.13.2? th0' we are apt to fanfie its Language to be im- Ro. 3. x8. pr0per when it is moft proper and exact, & vice ^ vers*. VlUARe- Vm* * nave enlal*g'd the more upon thefe things, capituia *° rePre^ent tne^e ^ne ar|d ufeful Truths in as good tion of' a Light as poflibly I can *, tho' after all, they who the Foun- read, may not underftand, much lefsbe convine'd by Nations, them. However, I hope my Labour will not be the Defign\o$i in refpect of all, and could Men be attentive, and Scope and difengage from material Objects, and from vul- of this gar Prejudices, I fhould hope, not in refpect of any. Ddhmc. For fuch who defire to comprehend 'em 'tis necef- fary to be frequent in confidering God's indepen- dent Sovereignty 5 that he is Self-iufficient, and that all Things before him are as Nothing j that they are not neceflary, but indifferent effects of his Arbitra- ry Wilt For my Defign is every where to incul: cate, that God is all Things to himfelf, that he is Self iufficient \ that all other things are naturally Nothing , that God,- by his Arbitrary Will, hath made what Representations of himfelf he pleafed *, that whatever is real depends intirely on him y ard . that That God hath not permitted Sin* 5 1 that whatever is not real, is not from him, but from Ch'ap. VL another Caufe. ■• • . Lf~V\3 , G6d is, and is Independent : Creatures and all Reality are, and fubfift by vertue of his Arbitrary. Divine Conception .* Nothing neither is, nor does fubfift: Sin is a Mcnfter fubfifting without God, or his Conception, and Free-will, and.againfl: the Gom*. snunication of his Lights and Graces > They who have Inclination and Capacity will eafily underftand. It is Superfluous to enlarge after the Principles explain- ed, Cb. 13. of the Firit Book, whither 1 refer my Reader if he defire to be more fully Satisfy'd. CHAP. VI. ihat God hath not permitted Sin: In what Senfe He could not kinder its Ccmmiffion. ] E T us now proceed to other Diffi-^ ^bal ■ cultiesthat are ufuallymade about t))e £venp thefe matters. It is faid, tho' it 0f Sin ts were true,thatSin was not decreed, net by the or forefeen by God *, it was bow- Divine- ever committed by bis Per million : Per mi f For feeing he permitted Man to Sin, -A71- it is plain he confented to its Commifiion : I aniwer* no, it is not plain, nor certain -, but ought to be. rejected as a notorious falihood j for that, as hath been already fhown i, the Idea of Sin is an Idea of Repugnance to the Divine Confent. ■ The af- firming any thing .to be done without the Divine, Confent may perhaps found harfh to fome: But this is not what. I do Affirm : Sin is not a Reality, or Thing *, but a Nothing,; and. w.orfe than. Nothing, and had no need to be eflahlinYct or Wili'd by God s If a Creature3 that naturally ancj .eflentially is No- thing relolve to Sin, propofmg itieif as Principle and End of all ks Conduct, as, in virtue of Liberty, it may *7 it acts herein not by or according to," but a- gainft the-Will of God, which, is the root and'prin* upk only of reality and perfection * In a word0 y 2 That God hath not permitted Sin. Chsp. VI. whatever is good and real, is by the Will of God \ Cy^VNJ but whatever is Evil is without it*, in which Senfe Tome have explained St. John Ch. i. v. 3. Xco^U If. God n. That Man fhould Act, and conduct himfetf by wins and a principle of Liberty is God's Eftablifhrnent and permits Oecree. But this is to be under flood with a limita- ry Crea tjon on\y t0 r^ certain fonds of Beings and of Ob- f ht ie^£> -r,om which, when [becaufe left free and un- J£*'n '"" limited by God to qualifie him to injoy in the no- conlent kleft manner, the mod perfective Objects] he vo- that it luntarily difapply'd his Faculties: God, who decreed fhould him to be free, left him to act according to his Na* tend to tare, t. e. freely : The Creature is free by the Divine nothing* Decree and Will , but mifconducls itfelf contrary and to E thereto by virtue of its Liberty j which is left indeed W. On to move in an Infinite unbounded Sphere \ but if the Con- ne&lectinpy. its perfective Objects, it choofes things trap Gflrfan3 Objects defective in reality and Perfection, it's dtjowns conducted, is not will'd, approved, permitted, .'nor and **"«- confirmed, by God *, but contrarily he leaves it to raws itfelf, withdrawing as he did from Adam^ with hor- from 1 . rQr anj dcteftation of its preferring mean unworthy Objects, before the Infinite Source of Reality and Perfection. III. Could we but feel what pafTes in God, vvhen JIT. thus <^n ^s committed in his Sight, u e. when his Light /v4j and Grace are rejected by us, we fhould fee evefy 2^7^;^ thing in him, in his Conception, Ideas, Will, At- onofSln feftions ri:e UP againft it as a Moniter. The Devil and its E*^ r^e Sinner, they are indeed conferring to itj vent, is but God has a horror of it : His Will, Con fen t, infinite, good Plea fu re, Power, do all rife up in Arms to and in- hinder if poflible its Commitlion, and could it be concern*- hindred or extingmlh'd, by overturning Heaven and bfe: That Earth, by dying for every particular Sinner-, nay if it were Sin Committed, it is certain it had never been, be- pojjik'e focaufe Ill's barred of it infinitely exceeded the love of be htndrU jjjs Corporal life, when he was Incarnate-, but fuch Without efforts (;TOC) forbears for Reafon* to be feen in the r * place referred to. When God hath imploy'd (as the Qrea ■ h Lib&t) God would J* a'l thai infinite Power can do. *Chap.III 5>6, h* That God hath not permitted Sin. 5 J he did) his utmofl: Graces to prevent it, to repeat Ch ap. vi 'em, were to expofe'em to our Contempt \ it were ^"^VV to harden us in Sin, and in preemption, which God cannot do, becaufe he cannot give his Grace in Vain, or, which is worfe, to cheriih Sin. Otherwise he would fpare no pains, be content to die Ten thoufand thoufand times, do all that Infinite Power can do to hinder its Commiflion, or deftroy it when Commit- ted •, but this Power cannot deftroy the Liberty of Man, that Work, Chief-work of Divine Wifdom j tho' the abufe of it be inconceivably and infinitely hateful to him. IV. Such are, in truth, God's thoughts of Sin. IV. Thi< He hates it from the very bottom of his Soul., and Pyoved bi above all things •, he infinitely indeavours to hinder Go'i%s ow" its Commiflion, and to deftroy it when Committed, °a'p /y;* His Confent is at the greateft Diftance from if, K\%jt'£'* hatred and Averfion to it are extreme, * The Lord °'\™ie God hath f worn by hi mfelf^ faith the Lord of hofts, 1 ^vent 0f abhor the Pride of Jacob. And elfe where he Swears, $„u ' t As I live, J will not the Death of a Sinner, and * ^m0! $. much more he do's not will Sin itfelf, nor confent to 8 its Commiflion. If therefore there be Devils, and f Ezck. damn'd Spirits, Evil Men, and Evil Actions, it is not 33. 11. from the Divine Permiilion , Concomitant Decree , Eftablifhment or Confent : God do's not fay Yea, Amen to any of thefe things. V. There is indeed a Yea and Amen in God, that v. There Man ftiould Aft in a Sphere of Liberty, and that he is not in ftiould be according as he Acts.- And this is the Or-GW any der and Law of Juftice. But it refpefts directly fhadotv of only Liberty and Reality, and if the Confequences &r*& thereof be Evil, it is from the abufe of Man •, nor can Co^ntto the Will or confent of God be faid, with any propri- lr le*f* ety, to refpeel: it. When e. g. a Cutler makes &r ■ V 4t. fells a Knife, he confents that the buyer may ufe it &fat*ntbii he pleafes*, but if he Murder his Neighbour with it, ,/IJ^j and procure to himfelf infamy and punifliment, lt^' a ?/J cannot be faid with Truth or Juftice that the C»t^.ytw- ler wiil'd or con fen ted to thefe Misfortunes. In like manner, the confent of God do's only refpect the Liberty of Man, which is a reality aud perfection, E 3 g»d 54 That God hath not -permitted. Sin. Cbap.^VI. and if Man abufe and procure his Mifery by it, he may \ but the Innocence of God will ftand untainted, f He doth not willingly grieve the Children of Men. It is not from the Content or Will of God, that the Powers and Properties he hath indued his Creatures with, and which become their Torment when they forfake him, falls into Mifery and Diforder. He on- ly contents that they fhould AcT, and be in fuch a State as they freely chufe, and therefore their Mifery is from themfelves. So far is God from innifting, or consenting to their Miferies, that he is not in the lead concerned in them. VI That ^ VI. They that pretend that God, if he had plea- Go^ could fed, might abfoiuteiy have prevented Sin/ do hardly not have know what they fay themfelves, but ignorant! y fan- hinder d fa they plead for the Power of God, while they Sin tn the rujn an(j blafpheme it. What a' Comical part is tray that qq£ fUpDOfecj to a^^ wh0 while he forbids Sin, which Jome Mi"M-he infinitely hates*, while he threatens eternal Pu« gme. rufnments to it, moves Heaven and Earth, becomes Incarnate, and fuffers Death to remedy and hinder its increafe \ naV? while he protefts, fwears, laments and all to extinguish anc) to teftifie his hatred of this curfed thing, might have hinder'd its Event on* iy by his Will ? By fuch Imaginations Men form' of God a Notion more Extravagant,' Falfe, Deceitful, than they are themfelves. But theabfurdity of thefe Conceptions hath been already demonftrated in the * Ch* 3. Reflections made on * the Preventing Graces *, tho* fc»*»$ to expcfe it more fully, I proceed to add a necefc fary Remark or two upon the Power and Will of VII. 7**™ God. . • , - art two v]L God, and the Creature's Power, (efpecialiy forts of tj,g, finfu[ Creatures,) ought carefully to be diftin- xottlerSy0rgttifti}d j tho'> it is very uftul to confound them. No- Ttm& rf» l%a'm& 1S more common ^an to fay, God can, or can- of°this not ^° ^IS or t^iat wit^out confidering if the Power Word onff which is attributed to, or denied of him be worthy to be at- °,r unworthy of him :, there is a Power that is wor- tnbuted, ^Y* ar*d a Power that is unworthy of him, and while the other we. attribute the rlrft pf thefe to God, we ought to denied of deny the fecond. sod. VIIL That God hath not permitted Sin. 55 VIII. Toilluftrate this, I underftand by Power ,-Chap. VI. as applied to Intelligent Beings, that Principle in ^C^f them, by vertue whereof any thing to which Liberty ^!** °? determines, becomes fuch as it wills it fhould be. 0fG°"'r And becaufe there is a created and uncreated ^' Wlt^r*. berty, hence we conceive a Power, uncreated m&fereyice tQ created. > ;Jtmrelft The Power of Liberty uncreated is neceiFarily and alfo to determined to God, and the Divine EfTence •, I m^f things that as God isnecefTarily determin'd to know and to different acquiefce in himfelf, fo likewifehis Power is neceiTarily/r^w bun. determin'd to himfelf, naturally producing in him the Image and Love of his EfTential Excellence and Per- fections : But in refpect of that which is not God, nor efTentialto him, his Power and Liberty are indifferent. Now tho' the Liberty of God be indifferent to conceive or will any thing but God •, and tho' if it arbitrarily pleafe to conceive or will things dif- ferent from him, it be alfo indifferent to conceive what Objects, and in what manner it pleafe *, v%% whatever it conceives or wills, will be only a Re- prefentatioh of the Divine Perfections : So likewife the Power of God, tho' antecedently indifferent 'tory any thiflg but God, can do nothing but what isJc'il Reprefentative of him. »oYg!£ IX. But as when the Liberty or Divine Free Will ,sa>cte°. hath determin'd to Will, conceive or eftablifh Ob-min^tl jects, it is no longer indifferent or indetermm'd tocertain them , but (tho'indetermin'd in it felf ) is limitec) and thmgs,his determin'd by it felf, to certain Acts and W^f^Pomeris (which Limitation muft be underftood without any deter- Imperfection, as not only proceeding from a Power mm'4^f9i efTentially and infinitely Perfect *, but alfo capable an^ ™ to have fix'd on infinite other Objects, Forms and^^'f Modes.-) So, when it is determin'd, the Power Di-ind!JJe' vine, in vertue whereof things are as pleafes God/?7"" *° becomes limited and determin'd, in fuch Manner as™?*W;3** Liberty hath determin'd. Not that God's Power isslpVm to be conceived as limited, in refpect of Ways oron^Sa^' Objects-, for even this Self-determining Power actsy^r^ an$ in an infinite and boundlefs Sphere *, nor yet thzt arguesa% this particular Limitation renders it Important, fcz-'defettof E 4 irigPfflvr, 56 That God hath not fermitred Sin. ■1 • ,...._ ._ -"— ~~ —~ Chap VI. ing it was not neceffary, but from pure good Plea- l/VV fare, and in Love to others *, but his Power is limi- py ted to produce fuch Representations of the Divine Perfections, as Liberty hath determin'd •, from whence it follows.* that things mud neceflarily be fuch as God freely wills they fhould be,' and that his Power is to be confidered, not as indifferent to execute the Divine Decrees. For when God is plea fed freely to will the Exiftence of fuch things ^ if his Power was wanting to execute the Orders of his Will ; or if it executed them in a way different from that which God does Will *, his Will would be vain and impo* tent \ and therefore the Effects and Operations of the Power of God, are neceffarily according to the £. r» Direction cf his Will. •' ■ J • fpha-Sshfs: X. A n*d therefore however abfurdly we conceive the Poorer Qf lne .power of God, it 'cannot effect fuch things of God $s wQ contrary to his free Eftahlifhment and Decree: cannot da |^ eg: ^ocj freely rerolve that frec Creatures (hall CVtan Esi1^ theV wHI immediately Exift-, becaufe if his **nd%' Power either would or coald not execute- the Or- **iY)not ^ers of his Will, his Will would be Impotent and binder Ineffectual : And if this Power fhouid afterwards di- $\n. v^ft them of the Liberty with which he hath endued them, the force and efficacy of this Will would be hot durable, norfolid, but' tend to nothing, i.e. an Act of the Divine Power and Will would be Impo- tent : If therefore God wills the Exigence of Crea- tures Free and Sel^determinirjg, his Power mull: execute that Will } and what God hath will'd fhouid be Free and Self determining, cannot be reilraiit'd or hinder'd from determining its Actions freel)L- If the Power of. God interpote to over-rule fuch a Creature's Will, God's antecedent Will would be Ineffectual :, and he would in vain have Will'd the Exigence of a Creature Free and Self-determining: The Power of God would evacuate his Decree, by fubftituting a limited determined Agent irt the room of a Free and Indetermin'd one: But the Power of God cannot contradict his Will, and confequently, when that Power hath produc'd a Being that is na- tural! y Free and Self-determining, if that Being r«- ... iolvc w mi i ,— — — — — ^— *— T)W G^ A*/A »^ permitted Sin. 57 fclve to Sin, the Power of God cannot hinder the Chap, vl Commiflion of it. KS^T\3 XL The whole Difficulty lies in the Words, Can- xi. That not, and attributing them to God \ but we oughts poW to obferve that ' Can, or Power, fignifies in this which it Place, a Retractation or Annihilation of that which here de- God hath will'd, which is a real defect of Power, nied of and ought to be deny'd of God •, and we ought to God, is 4 fay, that God cannot do this, that he cannot deny real Im- himfelf, retract or annihilate his own Decree, which Pf''nce* Schemes of Speech the Scripture ufe<5 when it tells Tlt* l* us, * God cannot lye* f and that ta cannot deny13'1' him} elf. 2 j- XII. Here it may be perhaps objected, Tf God does will that Sin be not committed •, and if hisXll In Will be powerful to effect whatever it pleafes, \twi>at follows that it was, and dill is, in the Power of God W*G'* to have hindred its Event, or to extinguish it when can> *Ki committed. I anfwer afluredly, God was, and flill^^^ is powerful to hinder Sin -, but this Power is, as to^ EvgHt its Way or Method, to be regulated by his Will \0f giUm which is, that Sin be hinder'd, and his Graces given according to the Creatures Correfpondence -,'if the Creature Correfpond, Sin will not be committed, or if committed, will be extinguiuYd : But if the Crea- ture refufe fuch a Correfpondence as God requires, it is not then in the Power of God to hinder what ^ni. of the Creature wills, nor confequently the Event of tj,e p9mr •Sin *, tho' infinitely odious to Him, if the Creature 0f Man, Wills it. and of its ' XIII. As to the Power of Man, as far as any Light imper- can be borrowed from it, to give us true Notions / wh* ture refift the Creator's Will, whereon it depends »"!!* entirely ? This very Objeftion was heretofore made to S. Prudence. Invltone aliqnis potis eft peccare Toname, Cut facile eft in corde hominis componere fenfui j Qitos libeat^ fibrafque omnes animare padicis PulfibuS) & tot urn venis infimdere honeftum ? i. e. Can any Sin againft the Almighty's Will, he who can eafily infpire the Heart of Man with what Thoughts he pleafes, breath Purity into his Soul, and fill him with all fort of Virtues. This Objefti- on he anfwers in theVerfes * aforecited, * Book I. Nefcis finite tn* vim Libertatis7 ab ipfo Formatore datam^ But having tranferibed the whole PafTage in the Place referr'd to, my Reader may look back, and perufe it •, tho' 1 add moreover, that if by refilling the Will of God, be under ft ood .an abfolute and entire defeat of its Accomplishment, it is impoftible to refill it in this Senfe, becaufe the Liberty of Man hath no power to govern or controul the Will of God *, tno' it may rehft, or rather not confent to God in things which he hath fubjefted to his Liberty, and from which he requires nothing againit the Content or Will* of Man. Ill Thefe c« 16.13. 62 That Sin is the Effeff of Liberty. Chap. VII. III. Thefe Truths are fo clear, that every one may J^T^T^ underftand 'em. 1 will however endeavour to reprefent ill. That »em -n a Light anc] Evidence more convincing. . I ob- tix trea- ftryc then that in Q^s Defi&n or will there is,' firft, tiotpnJ f°methin& Abfolute, viz.. He abfolutely wills the Ex- perlyrefifi ^ence of free Creatures to take their Delights, eter- God, or na^>r with Wdq *, and this Defign is unchangeable evacuate and ^rm h r]0 oppofition of Earth or Hell can hinder the Sub- its Execution ^ no, not tho' Millions of Creatures fiance and Inould combine in oppofing God, and damn them- general felves. God's Power is Infinite, and if fome oppofe Aeafonsofhe can eafily raife up new Creatures, .till at laft his Etc- they correfpond and concur in his Defigns. I ob- fignsithofexvz in the fecond place, that there is in the De- Jv/T **' ^ns °^ ^oc* a Conditional Claufe on the Creature's Jilt the part / wnicjj }s tne Intervention of his free Confent Jriffum or ^in1, without which this Defign will be defeated. or this ^or 1^1S Condition is fix'd by God, and therefore Defon in cannot be altered or reverfed. But as all free Crea- asmucb tures are ca^^ to enter int0 tnis Defign, and are as it is t0 nave part therein, by means of a Concurrence, free in which they are free to give or to deny, and fo free- copform- ly to admit or reject the fupreme Felicity } they are ifig to it, in this refpe£t capable of refitting God, u e, the free tvhichis ad million of the Divine Beatitude. But tho* they, what is rnay rejecl: that Salvation which God propofes to Meant by their Acceptance, they cannot defeat his general De- vrpjung f,gn 0f naving happy Creatures *, nor the Rule by oa* which Happinefs is to be difpeni'd, viil. the free In- tervention of the Creature -0 properly fpeaking they can only rejecl: their own part in it : As a Man who fhuts his Eyes againft the Light, or withdraws from the heat of the Sunbeams,' does not fo properly re- fill the Sun's Light or Beams, as his own free Ad- miffion of them. \ .i ...... In a Word, the Creature, can refift' God. only D as God hath made him to participate of his BlefTed- nefs by Choice and Freedom: In which fen fe the, Scriptures often complain of Mens refitting God,' of their being difobedient, rebellious,' and oppofing his Defigns. It is indeed the only Source of all our Mifery ; and, as if we did not thus oppofe God's " Witt;' That Sin is the Effeft of Liberty. 6 J Will, he would have no reafon to complain of us*,Ch?.p.VlL fo if we had not Power to oppofe it, the Divine ^w^v*"^ Prohibitions, Commands, Threatnings, Exhortations, Rewards, Punifhments, would be Ridiculous and Vain j tho', by the Way, I can't but fay, it is no little furprize that any fliould put us upon proving, that Man. can rcfifft God, to filence their Mur- murings and Complaints. IV. Now, true it is, that God is powerful to make IV. Brute himfelf obeyed *, but then his Power doth not ex- Creatures tend to force free Agents, or deprive of Liberty only are Creatures defigned to act in a Spnere of Freedom. ™*de to Brute Creatures do indeed obey him in this Man-^^Goi ner. Their Actions are deterrmn'd from a Principle*? con\ without , but this fort of Obedience is Inconfiftcnt/i"'4,w/* with the Notion of free Creatures, whom God is not fo properly faid to make to obey, as to endue with Power to obey. Accordingly he exhorts 'em to O- bedienee, that his blefTed Defignsmay be accomplifrYd in them. V. It isalfo true, that tho* the Creature hath no- v In thing but from the Creator's Will, it can however w)jat refift his Will •, not that to which it owes its Being and Senfe the Natural Perfections *, but that which offers Beatify- Creature ing Objects to its free Acceptance : And this, as it is can, or t Self-evident, fo we are, I think, generally agreed up- cannot on, tho' fome pretend an Exception to it. Man can, >x/7j? f £* fay they, refiit God's Grace, but cannot overcome it, Creators Obniti gratia potcft^ fuperare earn non poteft. I anfwer, Wttt* this Objection, as it makes but little againft us, fo it feems to ruin their own Hypothefis, as will appear by confidering, that Grace can then only be faid to be refitted by us, when it is offer'd to, and endeavours to effect a Change upon us. The Devil, tho' he Sin Continually, cannot oe faid to reject God's Grace, it being not offer'd to him ; So if we luppofe that Grace is not prefented to certain Perfons, nor makes any In- fluence or Impreflionon them, in order to their Con- verfion, they can't be faid to refift God's Grace *, tho' perhaps they may, certain external Means of their Ccriverfion, which we are not here concern'd with. V* emu ft therefore fuppofc a Subject upon which.God continually 64 That Sin is the Effect of Liberty. Ghap.,VII. continually fheds abroad his Gracious Influences, in ^^W^^ order to convert or operate on it, and to fay it can re- fill this Grace, is to fay it can maintain its Ground againft it •, not refign itfelf.to it, or defeat its ef- fect upon it, which feems to be a formal difavowing of their Docirine, and an avowing the Truth, as main- tain'd by us. The other part of their Exception, One cannot overcome God's Grace, is true, but makes no- , thing againft us. Tho' one refufe to admit or yield » to God's gracious Operation on us *, Grace cannot be faid to be overcome, as the Light of the Sun cannot by bim who (lmts his Eyes, or by the darknefs of a place from which it is excluded* Should a Man of well- difpos'd Organs, open his Eyes, and not be enlighten- ed by it, one might fay indeed thedafknefs did over- come the Light, o •• ' But now to teach, that one may overcome God's Grace, what is it we mean by it ? Why, it is to teach that tho' one. hath, received the Grace and Spirit of God, and is numbred among his Children *, yet Na- ' ture is fo frail that one can't accomplifh God's Com- mandments, nor lead a finlefs.Life y but that the root of Sin Hill lives in. a Regenerate Heart, fo that during this Life, whatever Graces God vouchfafe us, one ean't avoid fometimes committing, not only Venial, but even Mortal Sins, that fubjeft one to eternal Death. This is properly what is underftood by overcoming the Grace of God. To teach that Sin prevails againfc it, even in a Regenerate Soul, where Grace predo- *I. Ano- minates. Tfcis Doctrine I lhall have oecafion to treat of tber D>$- hereafter, and pafs to the fecond Difficulty* or eighth cult y a* in order mentioned above. • . gawfttb* yj YVas Man it is (aid endued with Liberty and z ml\mr x Power freely to Conduct himfelf, it would be hw- rednejt cf ^u| cor jlim to exercjfe t^js Power?-and actuate it as he T/ 7^bi plea,ed, without Sin. Mankind would then be bound OH eft ton to no ^aw De^K-es t^iat univerfalone of doing what « LtpM they pleafed. For why (Vou'ld God create a free and nablc and unlimited Being, and afterwards • remain torn by exccjjive, Laws ? Does not this fuppoie" him rncor.'^fierr in his and leads. Conduct, by depriving his Cfeateffes of rhe;Gifrs \\t to Liber- bellows ffpoii them ? Now they who tff{|e tins P*fh\ ttmjm. <~^\ That Sin is the Effect of Liberty, 6 5 culty, I defire them to confider its tendency, and for Chap VIF, what End and Defi£n th£y urge it •, whether, 1. To'^OTV impute our Sins to God, or to NeceiTity. Or, 2. In favour of Libertinifm and Prophanenefs. Or, 3. For Difpire and Contradiction fake : They who make this Objection will find themfelves unavoidably prefs'd with thefe Inconveniencies •, fo that tho* the Opinion which they oppofe were falfe , their Objection \\n\\ benotwithftanding Impious and Prophane. For if Man- be not a Free, Self-determining Agent, as they won't allow, how then (ball we account for Sin ? It muft of neceffity be from Fate, orNeceflity, or the Directi- on of a Superior Being y or elfe all Actions muft be indifferent, and the Notion of Sin impoflibie and abfurd. Where there is no Liberty, there for cer- tain is no Fault*, and where no Fault, no Sin. On this Foundation libertinifm ftands. But if our Ob- jectors dare maintain neither the neceffity of the Fa- tallifts, nor the indifference of libertines they will be obliged to own, that they blindly run themfelves into an Abyfs of Errors, from a defire of Contra- diction. VII. But to give this Objection a pofitive Anfwer, VIi ^is I fay, tho' God hath given the intelligent Creature ObjeSion . Liberty and Power to Conduct it felf *, yet this is *«/*"*'«•* to be applied to only the Element of Good, in which , Jty he was Created •, and not to that of Sin, which then ^.' /"£ . was not, not even in an Idea. Good was the proper "™Jit£* Object and Defign of Liberty, tho' it was in the Crea- out 0r^ ture's Power, either not to imploy it in, or direct or ^n4% it to its true, pfortr, and perfective Objects. Labi- lity was edential to him, but not confiderec! as God's Creature, as hath been obfeived •, ai.d fuppofmg the Creature to have had from God no Temptation to de- viate from him •, but on the contrary, to have always an infinitely perfect Object prefented to him, and Li- berty to prefer and fix upon it, it might, it is clear, have lived and acted in the Element of Good, with- out committing Sin, or even a poilibility of finning while it moved therein *, whereas, when leaving this Element, it moved towards an Object, for which it was not defigued, it tftnfgrefs'd tt e i aw* of its End, h and 66 That Sin is the Effeff of Liberty. chap.V.H. and Nature, and confequently finned, by defcending ^^V*^ from the Element in which it was created, and ought to have lived and acted. VIII. iho ^^- Hac* Man continue^ m that State of Liberty the Eft ate ^nerein he was originally plac'd by God, he could in which not have finned. For God fet him in the mid ft of in- Libertyis finite Goods, or the infinity of the Divine Perfections, flacdby with Liberty to Contemplate and Adore them as he' God be m- pleafed *, to admire alternately the Divine Attributes, finite and Decrees, Defigns, Ideas, Images, and in them to ce- W;w7^1ebrate the Author of all Perfection. it does not j[iey who are in this Element are free from Laws : extend to Nothing is commanded them, or forbidden *, but alt Sltt- things are lawful to them *, nor can they Sin *, tho' if they defcend herefrom, as Man, by reafon of his La~ bility, may they Sin, and become fubject to the Law, a Law not to reftrain or deftroy their Liberty y but to fhew 'em what is, and what is not the true Ele - ment of Good in which God hath plac'd them, and whatObjects God wills they fhould be exercis'd about. IX. So that Liberty flill acts in a boundlefs Sphere, IX. Laws notwithftanding the feeming reftraiflt from the Laws "Yven'to °^ G,°c*' Liberty ftill acts according to its Nature, %privs tne ^efign °f *-aws Deing only to ta^e ic °tt h°™ us of, or ^^ undatable and unworthy Ends and Objects } to bound tho' Liberty may break thro' thefe Laws, and fix our uker- on thefe unworthy Objects. But in fo doing it ty. tranfgrefTes the Laws of its Defign and End j tho* not of Liberty, which confider'd as a Principle of free Action, is fubject to no Law, and as .fuch can- not tranfgrefs. To tranfgrefs the Law of Liberty is to act by force, and to be determined by Con- ftraint which Liberty cannot, whether it act in the Element of Good or Evil. X. Had Liberty no end propofed to it, or were it X. Sin *ts cwn ^nd *^c the Divine, it would then be inca- comc: Pa^!e of finning} confidered as Liberty, or as a Power frotnLi- °J free Activity, it cannot Sin, becaufe whatever pur- bcrty% ■ ^ues the Order of its Nature cannot Sin. But, tho' which thus confider'd it be incapable of finning ■, yet con- vi.ng fidered, as made to a certain End, viz* tor God, it infinite in Nature and Etui) limns its Act to a finite Objeil. Sin's? That Sin is the Effect of Liberty. 6j Sing, if itat XII. This, I think, does fullv anfwer the lad: pre- Gt \th tended Difficulty, tho' it is further urged. If Man net given could Sin by the Exercife of Liberty, then God who ( .into endued him with it, was the occafion of his Sin. I $sn lyrn- anfwer, This Objection can only be made by Im- duing bis pj0us Men, that feek occafion of accufing God. Was crtAturcs tfe contrary Opinion true, and was there no fuch tntb'Lt- tn}ng as Liberty and a Self-determining Power, one berty. might with more Reafon reflect on God \ becaufe it would follow hence, not only that God hath given occafion to his Creatures, but neceffitated them to Sin, by not giving them Liberty, but fubjecting all things to Neceftity and Fate. Man, as hath been obferved, cannot Sin while he keeps his Liberty with- in that Element, wherein it was originally plac'd by God *, in it are no occafions of committing Sin, but only of doing Good. But if we will call every thing an occafion unto Sin, without which it had not been com- mitted, not Liberty only, but Life and Being, nav Goodnefs it felf muit be occafions of it. For had Man not been endued with Life, and a Spiritual Na- ture, he had not been capable of finning. Or if God had not been Good, had not infinite Power and Goodnefs vouchfaf a to Intelligent Creatures, the Nature with which they are endued, they could i:Ot then have finned, ft is very nnjuit to call God the occafion of our Sins, becauie the Nature of Things- arc diallilh'd b^ him, and becaufe without thefe Na- tures A General Account of the Manner, &T. 69 tures Sin had not been committed. Only fuch things 9h3_P'Yl,V are properly Occafions of it, as are mifopply'd and " mifimploy'd by the Creature •, not fuch as are given bv God, and conftituted for a good Defign and End. The Sun proved to many Heathens an Occafion of Idolatry, but it cannot be faid, that God created it to be an Occafion of it. It is an Occafion of Idolatry as it is abufed by Man, not as it is created by God. In like manner Man, by abufe, hath made his Li- berty an occafion of committing Sin, but God, who created it, gave no occafion to it. From him comes nothing but Good, Holinefs, Purity and Perfection ^ nor can any Creature, when it Sins, fay he was the Occafion of it. CHAP. VIII. A General Account of the Manner in which Sin was Committed. H E Creature being, notwithftand- 1- Sin it ing all God's Preventing Graces, «■ theWrf, naturally Labile, as hath been al-™' *°'F;? ready proved at large*, and be- 1- ,£,.*' ing capable of Sinning, and of tef^f1* parting from its End by Free- £* $1 will: By putting this Will in Aft 4rra^ej and Execution, it gives birth at once to the Idea and yy ^i/ure. Exigence of this Monfter Sin: Or rather, thi will ^W/ tjtf itfelf is it, confidered as not turned towards its culpMe End, and not directing its Faculties thereto : We notwith- muft not here confound the Will which is Sin,ftan4ing> with the Reflex Intentional Will of Sinning. Great Difference there is between the Aft of Sin, and the K.eafons or Motives of ir, which are not the Sin itfelf, but Inducements to if, there being none, not even the Devil himfelf, who Sins for fmnings fake. There are always fome fpecious reafonsj, fome motives, Sol- icitations, Temptations, and Appearances of Good F 3 that jo A General Account of the Manner Chap.VIII.that allure the Smners and this is fo generally true* (v/V^ that it feems ridiculous to imagine either Men oi Devils to have finned, without fome Motives of this Nature. But feeing thefe Motives and Allurements, however fpecious and real they appeared, were infi- nitely inferiour to the pleafure and Delight 'of the Divine in joyments : Seeing God was feen and tafted in his- Luminous, Delegable, At trailing, preventing Graces, as an infinite All perfect good, a Mind thus illuminated by his Grace, and endued with Liberty of Nature, fins, if it depart from the infinitely perfect Object, and cleave to imperfect ones, as if the lefs perfect exceeded in Excellence and Perfection, as its Application to one and Difapplication' to the other fpeaks. * II. Tiro II. Now fince iill was good before the Event of Vtfficul* Sin, fince every thing reprefented God, and fent us ties con- to him, by its Natural Tendency and Afpiration, it cermnz {$ difficult to conceive, what did, or indeed what the fojjl coulc] tempt or allure to Sin : Or how an Illuminated 5 pC/ Creature could turn away from an infinite GoocJ * fSi'1'™ Prelente<^ to it>and cleave to a faint and imperfect one^ f n' the injoyment whereof would be certainly attended with Endlefs Mifery. III. That ' ^ In anfwering thefe Difficulties, I will firfi hefcvtbe hegin with that which is lafk in Order*, and here I Fail the obferve, that thos the Creature was illuminated, yet Creature before it fmn'd, it had no knowledge or perception had no of that Deep Abyfs of Darknefs, Torment, Mifery, ktwtv'tdgh which the forfaking God, and fixing upon vain im- tdor idea perfect Objects' would inevitably plunge it in. For of S:n;- ^-.g Mifery not exifting even in Idea, as I have fhew- Sj-o sts ztii could not be actually perceived by it: The illu- T& k minatec* Creature clearly faw that God was its End, wanted no*^ ^ was l^e true Source °^ Light and BlefTednefs, Xno'phdze wnicn 'hould in reafon have kept it Faithful to him. xeceffary Bat the Miferies neceflarily attending its Separation to it st: eli- ^rom n*m were not conceived, nor indeed conceiva- nuy. ■■ hie, becaufe as yet they were a Nothing, without Idea, or Form, It had as yet no Idea of Privation, it being not exigent* nor yzt decreed, and therefore not poiiibie to be conceived before the Creature had actually in which Sin was Committed.* 7 1 aftually will'd it. Before, I fay, the Creature's willChap.VIH. had forfaken God, and apply'd to unlawful Objects, ^"V"^ there was no Idea of Sin, nor of theMiferies atten- dant on it. And this, as the Hiftory of the Fall con- firms of Man : So the reafons juft now produced prove it in refpect of Angels too, tho' neither Men, nor Angels were deny'd any neceffary Grace to pre- vent their Fall. God could not give his Creatures an Idea of Sin, when he had it not himfelf : They Lived in an Element of Light and pure Delight, and were continually refreuYd with the fweetnefs of it, they (aw that God was the EfTential Spring from whence it flow'd upon 'em, and this fhould have engaged them infeparably to adhere to him. IV. If now the Creature had no Sentiment or Ideaiv. That of the Miferies, which, fixing on any Created Ob- it ts not ject would plunge it in, it was not impcflible for \t?impo(Jibte to wftbdraw its application from God, and to fix it for a co- upon a Creature: As, we fee, 'tis not impoffible for aturethat ourfelves, to purfue ways and things, which wene-" iSLn°m ver (hould if we faw or felt before the Confequences ra. nt °f w of them. the Effect cf Sm to fix on an Objetl, that may prove an unhappy occajitm of involving it in them* V. It is moreover to be remembred, that the free V. If a Creature's Application being at its own Difpofal, toft" Cna* bedifpens'd in what meafure and degree it pleafes-, '{t,ure dtf" may fix it, either intirely, or in part, on Objects, PenIe '** as it will. Suppofing therefore an Imperfeft Objeft aPPl"afJ; to prefent its allurements to it, the Soul can yield the ™'° , whole, or principal, of its application to it. She isJ* [s >Ab Miftrifs of it, to difpenfe it as (be pleafes, and if ^Go/°asin yield it to an Imperfect Object, (lie ceafes to think vptue'of on God 3 or elfe the Divine perception becomes \& Liberty lovely to her: The Light and Attracts Divine bz- may, it come lefs fenfible and moving: Application to In- becomes feriour Objects darkens the mind, and dulls its per- thereby ception in refpect of God ^ while, in refpect of its dar^ene4 New Object, it becomes more quick and fcnGbli7f»d kfi fenfible tv Qod, gradually falling into Sin and DeathTbc Gradation cfthis. * F 4 gudj 1* 7 2 A General Account of the Manner Chap VIII and for faking God , unites itfeif to it more and W^ more. ' If now this Object was Evil in itfeif, the reliili of it would be bitter to the Soul, and fo there would be no danger of Engaging its affections on it : But be- caufe it is, in its Nature, Good:, Reprefentative of God in its Being and Conftitution, the Injoyment of ijt is reliving and fweet, as of realities and perfefti- ons given by God. And the pleafure and Sweetnefs found in its Injov- menr, do naturally more and more fix its application to it : Hence God becomes more difunited *, and his infinite Lights and Graces lefs moving and affecting*, till at lafl an Habitual application to this pleafing Ob- ject, and a firm refolution of fixing on, and of feeking Satisfaction and Contentment in it, as its proper End, render it wholly infenfible to God : Whereupon the Divine Light and Grace begins to fail the Creature, or, more properly, tho' the Creature deferve to have it fail, it fcllicits a free Admiffion intq his Heart, tho' the Soul, hardened by free, repeated Difapplica- tion from it, is not touch'd or affected by it. But God continues a good while knocking at the Heart \ Ive caufes it to hear his Voice whether it will or not, till upon a full and peremptory refufal to co-operate, God totally withdraws his Luminous Graces, where- upon the Soul is plunged in Darknefs, and all thofe Objects to which it applv'd itfeif, and which were before obedient to it, and received the Divine Light and Benediction through it, do change their Nature, and from Luminous and perfect, become Dark and Empty '*,. and the Soul not finding, as before, its pleafure in them, changes its application and delight into Darknefs and Difguft, every thing falling into a ftate oppofitc to that of its Original Conftitution, in whicn the Creature being completely happy, it necefiarily becomes, in this, that is contrary thereto, as miferable as it was happy. v. -*• ? VI. And thus we fee in general how Sin was efFectu- \lfi ^ committed both by Men and Angels : It begins in Cradatton proved by ScYij>ture» • Diftraction in which Sin was Committed. 7? Diftraction , and Difapplication from God-, con ti- Chap viH. iiues and is ftrengthened by the Delight and Pleafure <>~V^V found in the Object that Diftracts j and is perfected and confirrn'd by a refolute confummate Will of fixing on it : The fruits whereof are Darknefs, Mifery, and Death. This method or Gradation is briefly and ex- cellently defcribed by St. James, when Ltijt [/. e. Our defire of, and Application to fome Created Object,! hath conceived [taken Delight in its Objects] it brings forth Sin, [it produces a complete refolution of be- ing diftract from God our true end and felicity,! and Sin being completed, [this Evil Application being hardened and confirmed, and God having expected its converfion during the time appointed for Patience,] brings forth Death. The Creature falls into Dark- nefs and eternal Mifery, God then withdrawing his Light and Gracious Influence. VII. It now remains only to confider what thofe VII. Of Objects were to which the Creature might apply it- the tem$t- felf, to take off its application unto God, and what*w£0£- Temptations and Allurement might be prefented be-/'^' **& fore the Fall : Which being an inquiry of great Im- Aliurem portance 1 requeft the Attention of my Reader. ml^L°b Creature might be expofcd before the Fall* VIII. It hath been demonftrated above, that God a- VIII. That lone and the Divine EfTence are all perfect, Self fuffici- the Crei*> }V any Man love the World, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the World, the Lufl of the Flefa the Luftof the Eyes, and the Pride of Life, is not of the ^Father, (it is a Difapplication from God) but of the World ; (wherein is included the love of felf, felf be- ing a part of the World.) Now the World pajfes away, and the Laft thereof \ (thefe things do only tickle the furfaceof the Soul, but cannot fatisfie its interior De- firesj and fcefides,that little Pleafure and Delight which they afford, will quickly vanifh away for ever, when the great Separation fhall be made of Good and Evil ;) but he who doth the Will of God abideth for ever *, (he is always fill'd with interior, folid, refrefhing Pleafures and Delights, as is the Will of God the inexhauftible Spring of Happinefsand Joy.) Moreover, thefe three Sins contain under them an infinity of Particulars differing in Degree, in Strength and Habitude, and attended with different Degrees of Darknefs and Eter- nal Mifery. Here then we fee a World of Darknefs as fruitful in its curfed Barrennefs and Mifery, as the World of Light is in Reality, and bleffed they who fhall never know it by a wretched, miferable Ex- perience. - „ XI. Let us now confider what there could pofli- ^la° f bly be in Objeas before the Event of Sin, to folli -lfsmp* cite and attract the Application of an Intelligent Crea- ;^f^n Soul, according to the Degree of their Ideality and Perfection. An Qb-> jeci endued with but Unit Reality and Psrfetlion, endeavours t* ccn- Jorm it to that htth. ture 76 A General Account of the M.inner Chap.Vin tare to fix upon it. To conceive this Matter, it is J/*V>J neceffarv to remember what hath been demon ft rated Oecon. jn the # foregoing Book, viz. that every thing tends °Crlat h t0 COfT,rnun,cate it fetf t0 others (especially to Man, 7. x^i. Cu as ^'nS more particularly related to him) endea- vouring to imprint on them the Character of its own Perfections, and to the utmoft of its Power to afli- milate all others to it. This is an unalienable Pro- perty of every thing which God creates, it tends to communicate its refemb'anc? to whatever it fhines upon *, and it is not its fault if others be not trans- formed into its likenefs, by the force .of its Natural •* Activity, which if it be alone, and the fubject on which it acts, does not refift its influence, and fup- prefs the Impreftions of other Objects, is Efficient to transform into it (elf, the Object on which it acts *, but much more if it does not only not refill, butaf- fift and increafe its influence on it : But we need not fuppofe {q much, it is fufficient that it is a general Property of Nature for Objects to make ImprefHon upon all about them, tending to aflimilate them to themfelves : So that an Object of little Reality and Perfection endeavours by its Imprefiions to attract the Application of the Intelligent Creature, to refift the Power of Intelligence, Imagination and Senfe up- on its poor Realities , it draws it I fay to fix and cen- ter on it fuGh as it is, whether of a more or lefs per- fect Nature, it being impoftible it fhould attract to greater Realities than it is poffefs'd of. xri. T?at XII. Thus things in Nature necefTarily act *, nor tiitvjy is there any Evil in it : It cannot indeed be other- oflmpref wife for Reafons already mentioned: Becaufe, ift. jion is n* There is a Natural and a NecefFary Connexion be- eura!t m- twecn tnjs Object and this Subject : Becaufe, idly. c* 7. Jhis Object tends (according to the general Pro- *F Ji0t P^rty of Nature) to Communicate, Multiply, and tVflcintY0 Reprefent it felf, and to aflimilate others to it.- Be- v'ded' ° cau^ 3 d 1 y . It can't Communicate or Imprint greater the lm- Perfections than it has. And that this Order in it prefjiom felf is good, appears in that every tiling in Nature^ kereceivd however mean it be, is a Portraiture of God j and if a.cordiKg to the Ord:r and Eflablifbment of Qqd* the in which Sin was Committed. 77 the thing on which any Object: makes ImprefTIon, ChapVlII receives it without prejudice to other Images of God, w^vw and above all, do not difhonour the Original of all Perfection \ then all is well : It may lawfully receive the Impreflionsof every Creature *, it may relifh and enjoy them, provided it carrv up its Application, De- Fire and Love to its Divine Original, and fo ufe them to that End for which they were created, viz.. that Creatures indued with Reafon and Intelligence may relifh and fee the Divine Perfections imaged in them. But if this Creature turns its Application,Love, Defire and Acquiefcence away from God towards his Crea- tures, he injures the Original of all Perfection, and ex- tinguifhes in his Soul, and in the Objects of his Abufe, God's gracious Influence, he fees God no more, whom he hath not fought, but becomes more and more fe- parate from him, and falls into Darknefs and Death. XIII. It is not impoffible for a Creature to re-x^I<7^^ ceive Impredions, Solicitations and Ideas from the aCre*\ Creatures, and remain ftill nYd on God \ or toav-tUTem'&h* ply it felf to one without being diffracted from the ^fl^r other. Thefc things are well confident; It was not ^''t^ only poffible and eafie tc eye the Creator in a Mm- onsfrom pie, general and uniform Manner, while it was ap-©^ h plied particularly to Contemplate and injoy the Crea-Y'/// 4nj lure's Beauties *, but alfo to receive and relifh the D\- it jftllov vine Imprellions,whilethus applied particularly to the Crea- Creatures.The Creature's Capacity was then I mmenfe, '*"*/, W and Large, and almofk Infinite-, the Eye of its At- not be di- tention might eafily have been nYd fteddy on the^7"^ Creator, as its End, and all Things have been feen^™'"^. by and in him in an eminent way: For from him, as Rays from the Sun, all come, and to him they re- turn as means directing to him as to our only End.* And fo the Intelligent Creature might have ken it felf as one of the brighter! Rays, and molt excellent Means, and have loved and chenfhed it felf for the Take of its adorable End, and well-beloved, endea- vouring, by a Conformity to his molt holy Will, to prefcrve and qualifie it felf for his Injoyment •, and thus we may conceive how the ImprefTicns of God, of 7& A General Account of the Manner Cbap.VUlof our felves, and of the Univerfe might be received ^^V1^ together without Sin or Diforder. XIV. The XIV. Their Impreflions might alfo be received fe- Creature parate in a very good Manner, and according to the night alfo Order and Eftablifhmcnt of God.The Intelligent Crea- receive ture was capaDie 0f receiving the Divine Attracts and *!*$L lm' Imprellions feparate from any Creaturely Impreffions; uSZH From the^e lt ^ P°wer wholly to abftract, and re- intheQvJ1^ its Application intirely unto God. This is the deref "m°ft Noble and Sublime Degree of Love, and Con- citL templation. It was alfo capable to receive the Inr-, prclfionsof the Creator and it felf, without any from the Creatures of the Univerfe, and to refer its own to the Creator, by an entire Devotion of its Being, Duration, Power, Activity, Love, Knowledge and all its other Qualities to him, by confidering them only as Streams out-flowingfrom theSpring of his inexhauftible Love, that tend and return to him, in and for which it ought to praife him, and to be as it were fwal- lowed up in the Love and Admiration of his great Perfections as its only End. In fine, the Impreirions of God, and of the Univerfe might be received with- out its own, without any Intellectual, Reflexive Senti- ment of itfelf i and moreover in the Knowledge and Injoyment of the Creator it might have perceived and tailed the Perfections of the Creature. For the Con- templation of God, and of the Divine Perfections, is the true Key to open the Knowledge of the Crea- tures, with the Tafte and Injoyment of all their Charms and Attracts •, and to unlock the deep and moft hidden Treafures of Heaven and Earth. It is the Clue which whoever follows, will be furc not to be loll in the infinite variety of the Works of God. Let him only take care, in his Walks among them, to have God continually in his fight, to fix upon and to adhere to him y let him learn habitually to refer every thing to God> and to prefent to him all Crea- turelyDelights and Injoyments, confidering that as we owe them to his Love and Bounty ; So we ought chiefly to acknowledge and adore 'him in them. XV L Mere m which Sin was Committed. 79 XVI. Here for certain Sin begins *, it is impoflible Chap.VIII to trace it higher, or to go deeper in fearch thereof. **>^Vv Above it we fee nothing but pure Reality: Below XVI. Tfo* it pure Nothing : The free Creatures actual Difap- Stn **&*"* plication or Diftraction from God, is therefore its'!?-' v*" firft and only Source : Here Sin's Idea and Exiftence ?n ; was firft conceived, decreed and will'd *, arid the wJr™l .-, pleafure felt in the Object of Diftraction is its Ge- S^ " heration or Conception*, and the Will or Refolu-^^„ tion to repeat its Application to it, is the perfect Eternal formation of this Decree *, and the Extinction ef the Death, do Divine Light and Graces which pafTed from God in- naturally to this diffracting Object thro* the Channel of the In- proceed. telligentCreatufe.This Extinction of whatever is Good that follow^ the Creature's curfed Decree,or full form'd Refolut|ori is the Accomplifliment of this deadly Mon- fter, without Form or Light, or any Divine Feature : Then is brought forth Eternal Death *, and the Crea- ture^ becaufe the Objects of its Diftraction are a Source of Darknefs and Confufion, without any mix- ture of Goodnefs^ Light or Pleafure, accufes God, the Source of all Good, as if he envioafly or grudg- ingly denied his Graces, whence proceeds hatred of him, with Blafphemy and Curfing : Here is the Con- summation of Sin and Death, from which there is no hope of Remedy or Return -, and if we fee the Ef- fect, not of the Divine Decree or Will, but the Fruit of the Creature's Thoughts j if Sin be traced back- wards from its full Accomplifliment and Refolution to its firft Conception in Diftraction. XVII. Be it then well obferved by us, that all Sin XVII. hath its beginning in Diftraction *, not only when That the the Creature fell from its Original Holinefs and Vzi-fitreft way fection into Impurity and Sin, but it is ftill foment- to avoid ed and encreafed by it, and as the only way for our ******* firft Parents to have preferved themfelves from Sin, ""^P1* had been to keep their Minds attentively fix'd on God,-? /0*. without ftraying from him : So now the way not to^ af°^t[' commit, or heal it when committed, is to keep him np"faGaf^ continually in our fight, and fet him before us in^ m^ whatever we do : If when things were in good Or- regard of der, Diftraction from God was of a Nature fo Ma- a9d* lignant 8o A General Account of the Manner Chao.VIII lignant as to alter the State of things, and change wv^-> the beft and molt ufeful Means into dangerous Snares how much more certainly, now that our Ways arc all rough and dangerous, will he fall into Ruin, who, forfiking his Heavenly Guide, runs after every Ob- * Pr 73- jecl: that fan fie fuggefts. * Lo, they that are far from 27i*S. theefljall perijb : Thou haft defiroy'd all them that go a whoring from thee : But it is good for me to draw near to God, lavs the Pfalmift. A Divine and Important Truth, which, would we but take to Heart, how carefully fhould we avoid the infinite Diffractions to which we expofe our felves, without keeping God prefent with us, tho' he mean while fo lovingly court tPro*; our Hearts, f My Son give me thy Heart, and let thy *j. 26. Eyes obferve my Ways, We (hould then keep God con- tinually With us, we (hould think of him with De- light and Love, make him the infeparable Companion of our Heart : We fhould live as in his fight, and propofe his Glory in whatever we defire or under- take •, and by thus walking with him, we fhould de- fire from him a Light and Strength futfkient to guard (<*) Pf us from Evil, and to enable us to do good, {a) They js4 v- ?• looked unto him9 and were lightened •, whereas without this every thing runs to ruin, how Good or Holy fo- ever our Converfation be in the fight of Men, who judge of Evil only by the external Signs : And he who before Men is as the Flower of Venue, is oft times be- fore God confummate in Iniquity : We meafure Sin by outward Signs, like Politicians, with whom no * Man is puni friable for his Thoughts *, whereas, with God, the greateft Wickednefs is voluntarily to ceafe from the Defire and Contemplation of him .• And thus the Scripture fpeaks, where it gives us an Idea of (I) Pf. $4. AccompliuYd Sinners, (b) They have not Gcd before $• their Eyes : (c) God is not in all his Thoughts : .(d) They (c) Pf. 10. fave £one tfojf or tffytj but not by me •, (e) they havefr* *'j r &otten me •' (V) They have turned tloeir Back unto me, OOHoica and not their face. And ir many other Schemes or (fib d Speech it allures us, that diftraclrion from God doth ^ ! ' ' not only produce and cberiin, but is itfelf the black- (/)4Jer ei^ Guilt: Whereas on the contrary, it recommends 2#i7. ' the walking with God as the only source of Hap* pineis' ift which Sin was Committed. 8 1 pinefs and Virtue. * Walk before me, and be than Chap.VlU PerfecT. f Remember thy Creator. .Which Exhorua- ^"V*^ tions being made to Men after the Event of Sin, ought * Ge"* r7- in reafon to. convince us not only that it was our Duty J*, to walk with God before that fad Event •, but tflat it ' EccIa I2< is alfo very poftible after it, to preferve our Thoughts, *' Defires, Contemplation continually fixt upon him, even in the midft of the hecefiary occafions of this Life. Men are not diftra&ed by their Princes Pre- fence \ but on the contrary it incites 'em to labour with more Courage, Diligence and Delight, and guards 'em againft a thoufancl Indecencies, Faults, Ne- glects, which they might otherwise be guilty of: In like manner the Tnought of our being always feen and beheld of God is a powerful prefervative frcm Sin j it is the be ft and Divineft Counfel to defend againft Temptation, to keep ones Heart continually tixt up- on and afpiring to him. This as an infpired Writer tells us was the reafon why Mofes was not terrify'd by the Angry Tyrant. || He Jaw him who is in- |j Hcb. i x* vifible. ... 27. , This was the habitual practice of Holy David, who fan&ify'd profperity, adverfity, plenty, and even all Creatures to himfelf by turning his thoughts, and application with a fixed Eye on God, and converfing with him in the midft of Worldly Occupations and • Injoyments. * I have kept God always before my £yf/,*Pf. 16; and he is on my Right Hand, therefore I fh all not FaH :8. Wherefore my He ait was Glad, my Fleftj alfo fo all reft in fafeiy. f My Heart hath faid, feek ye 7ny Face.f Fk 17, Thy Face, Lord, will I feek: Hide not thy Face from Me : Nor cafi thy Servant away in difpleafure. Thou art my Saviour and my Redeemer, 0 leave me not0 nor v forfahe me. Thus we have difcovered the Source of Sin, and the General manner of its Commiftion : Let us next confider, the different Manner and Circumftances cf the Fall of Man and Angels, after having premifed, fomething concerning the Conduct by which the good Angels were preserved from it, Q ' CflAR 8 2 Of the Conduct of the Faithful Angeh C H A P. IX. Of the Conduct of the Faithful Angels. i h is here [up- fcjcd, that the Ar.gel had only the Idea. of God, and of htntfeff. II Horn !]HE Angel, who continued Faith- ful, had not greater, nor perhaps fo great Advantages from God, as he who finned. However, this is certain, that they wrere not, as fome imagine, determin'd, forae to Good, others to Evil. Thefe Fi- ctions have been already fufficicntly confuted. I will now in brief defcribe the Conduct of God towards the Angel, who kept his Station on the foremention'd Suppofition, viz. That he had no Idea or Perception of Material, or any other ObjecTs, but God himfelf, and Angels like himfelf. Which Suppofition fhall be here divided into two*, in thefirftof which the An- gel (hall be confider'd, as having Ideas only of God, and o( himfelf. In the fecond, as having the acceffary Ideas of other Angels. II. Firft, I fuppofethe Angel to have had the Idea the Angel, of himfelf*, which, as hath been proved, confidered who una fimply, and as fixing on itfelf, is naturally avoid, turally dark, confufe, and .painful Thing ; But confidered dar^and as turning towards God, is Illuminated and made void, is iU Happy, by the Eradiations of his Light and Goodnefs; iumpA!et Which when they made Imprefiion on bim, offering Xlcf themfelves to his Acceptance, folliciting his Con lent, pjbaa. rjefri.e and Application, and alluring him to God, in order to transform him to the Heavenly Like- nefs: If then, I fay, the Angel faithfully Correfponded, and, laying afide all Application to, and Reflection on himfelf, applied and abandoned his Faculties to God? the Life of God, or God himfelf was conceived III Host; *n n^m** as w,as demonftrated in the forgoing Book. the Awel, ^- Secondly, I obferve, that the Faculties of the who c ntv tied faithful unto God% withmt Diftraftion. might attain a final Eflallifhment m Ifjppitfefi and Verftcti tvitn ardour, the Divine Light and Joy, and to per- gtl.s feet themfelves more and more for, in, and by means of them: And therefore the Communion of Impref- fions among them needs muft be mod admirable and delicious, fcattering upon each other glorious Rays of Light and Love Divine, with a Holy Love of them- felves and one another, mutual Joy and Increafe in Good and Divine Congratulations of each others Hap- pflnefs*, and, in a word, a mutual Communication in God of all their Happinefs and Perfection, Com- plementing each other, I am wholly yours in God. V. Heel- V. The Blefled Angel being full of God, and of frccal his Light and Love, and careful to preferve himfelf Communi- for him, made on his fellow Angels lively Imprefli- °nip and of bimfelf as a Lo- rjf ver or friend °^ God, zealous to preferve himfelf rtts H Pure ^le ^v^ne Ini°yment. This tended to make tbeydtfco- ilis^ow Angels Friends of God, and of fuch as loved ver t0 him. Thoie Imprefiions, ftrengthened with like ones each other °f x^tiv oWn? tne Angels reflected on him, who had thekfww- tnus prevented them*, whereupon we may conceive ledge of between the Holy Angels a Divine Rencontre and their £- Contention, who (hould excell in Divine CareiTes fiate* and Congratulations of the Lights, the Love, and in- comparable Charity of one another } and who in Cha- rity fhculd be'moft devoted to the others, and who molt zealous to celebrate the Creator's Praiies : To this Divine Rencontre of love, Millions of Angels bring their Lights, their Love, Charity and Joys Divine, all ltriving to excel in Love and Praile, producing in the Heartsof all unfpeakable Delight and Joy : Thus they continue in a mutual Communion of Joys Divine, till God, by powerful, renew'd Attracts and Impreflions of his Perfections, invites 'em to a Banquet of the Divinity, to admire the Glories of his Ellen cey Of the Conduct of the Faithful Angels. 8 $ EfTence, the Powers of the Father, the Lights of the Chap IX- Son, the Delights and Joys of the Holy Spirit : To ^^V^-' this Heavenly Feaft all run with Tranfports, and plunge themfelves, with all their Powers, in the deep Abyfs of the Divine Perfections, forgetting themfelves with Wonder and Amazement •, 'till God brings them to themfelves, and makes 'em to fee and reflect upon the new Beauties and Excellencies with which they are ad- orned, by Contemplating the Glories of his EfTence *, whereupon they repeat their nrft reciprocal Commu- nion, Congratulating one another's Felicity and Per- fection, and extolling God with infinite Tranfports of moll: Holy and Ardent Paffion. This is Eternal Life ; an endlefs Circle of Bleflednefs : It is thus in brief, that the faithful Angel Conducts himfeif to- wards God and his fellow Angels. VI. Let us next fuppofe that an Angel fees ano- VI. H*w .a ther in an Evil State : Now this Evil may be con- good Spi- fidered, as complete and refolved upon , or, as im-r*> con- perfect, or not refolved upon*, but wavering, xndd"8sbit^ in fufpence between two Objects. By this Divifion/*/^- of our Suppofition into two, we fliall difcover liaiw ***& f** the Good Angels behave themfelves towards fmful jT*'f Men, who are as yet in a Rate of Weaknefs and In- Vn , firmity. If then an Angel fee a created Spirit in- ;„/^ ^ volved in Sin •, but with fuch mixtures of Ignorance a„J„^9 and Infirmity, that hope remains of his return ^rer0[un^> God j he will dart forth, on this unhappy Spirit, gom t\iey Rays and Impreffions of the Light and Love of God, Commu* and of a juft and regular Love of Self, for the fake mcate of God, and of a refearch and defire of Divine and with each Salutaryfjoys, and of Good Will and Love for others.* other. And the infirm Sinner, the fuppos'd Object of the Angelick Spirit, will alfo reflect Impreffions on him, as well by good Thoughts, and fuch other remains of Goodnefs as are left in him *, as by reflections of the Light which the good Angel darted on him : And hence the good Spirit will difcover the Sinner's irate, in the fame manner, as I fhewed * above, that the*Ch. <*.*. Idea of Sin was feen by God ; He vyill prefently per- ceive, that the Impreffions which the Sinner makes upon him. are not like tliofe which come from his 86 Of the Conduct of the Faithful Ar/geL Chap IX. own Fund ; He will fee the Imperfection of his State *7 V'Y^ that he is not confirmed, nor refplved in Sin, becaufe he admits fome good Impreffionsmade upon him : And thus the Angel will fee and know the Wants and Im- perfections of the Sinner *, both what he hath, and yvhat he is capable of, and \yili regulate his Conduct toward him accordingly : That dck£i of Goodnefs which he difcovers in him, he will entirely deteft and hate *, but will rejoice on account of fuch remains thereof, as he difcovers in him, and endeavour to im- prove and make it perfect. He will earneitly defire to fee him filVd with all the Good he is capable of, and in order to it will ailift him to the utmolt : The Good and Evil he fees in him, will actuate his Defire and Hope ; a Defire and Hope to fee the Deftruction of Sin and Evil will difpofe him to open the poor Sinner's Eyes to fee the deformity of Sin, to imprint a horror of it, and affift him to do violence to himfelf to o- vercome it *, the fame Defire and Hope will incite him to endeavour the Improvement and Perfection of all Good in him, to fnew it to him by the Light Divine, and to ftir him up to the Love and Refearch thereof.- His Conduct towards the inform Sinner will be tem- pered with Charity, Truth and Juftice : He will, as tar as in him is, difcover to him the true knowledge of Good and Evil, divert him, in Charity from the one, and allure him to the other : But he will act, in this, with Truth and Juftice, abhorring Flattery and Dillimulation .• Nor fparing, if need be, hard and violent ImprefHons, to exterminate thofe Evils which the foft Impreflions of Light' and Love wilt not perfwade the Sinner to quit : For even thefelm- preffions, tho5 fweet and delightful to them who are difpofed to follow ?em, are harfh^and violent to them who do refill them -, as a VelTel goes fmoothly on with the advantage of the Wind, but if it fail again ft it *t\$ unreafoiuble to expect the Wind fboukl turn as we would have it. No, tho' it was calm before, and itiil blow in an even, ft eddy manner j yet, when we fteer oppofite to it, it is rough and violent 'till the Ship changes its Cpurfe9 and fails with it. All Of the Condutt of the Faithpd Angels, 87 All this does fhew how they, who think themfelves Chap IK. to be ftrong in God, fhould demean thcmfelves to- ^-/"VN^ wards their weak and infirm Brethren, who are in Sin and Error. Men who are truly Chriitians fhould regulate their Behaviour towards each other, as the Good Angels do : If Men are refclutely Wicked, their Conduft muft be different, as was that of the Faithful Angels towards the difobedient Ones, which I go to defcribe. VII. Tho' the Angel of Light had Power to era- VII. The diate his Luminous Impreflions upon the Angel of Conduit of Darknefs, the latter had no power to act upon the **»**«*£■ Good. The Reafon is, becaufe Light and Good are-^*4^"' naturally communicative, and tend to multiply every t0Wa^ where, and in every thing, in vertueof the Property tl*4ngei received from God. But Darknefs and Evil are not * %?$' naturally and of themfelves communicable, except to^ qoq^ Subjects that are willing to admit them. To be Com- Jn„ei municative is a Property that can only come from j^ pQitfm God, which Sin and Darknefs do not *9 but are lerever Nothing, or Monftrous Subfiftence to which God the Wic^ never gave Exigence or Idea. Darknefs and Evil edt but have therefore no Power over Reality and Good .• tbej'e have Nor can all the Devils in Hell do the lean; hurt to not over a Spirit confirmed in the Felicity and 'Light Di-'be Good. vine. The Element he dwells in is above their reach '?T^at *"* nor have they knowledge of what paffes there *, Fraud £*"****} and Malice are meer Nothing, Impotence itfelf in £Tafj ?'•"** refpeft of him ; But if Men are willing and difpofed J***?? to receive the Impreilions of Darknefs and Evil, they ^^^Jy . then are Communicable *, for tho' they are not nafctt- ^M £„,/ rally fo, the Will neverthelefs is free to admit ta,£g,fl»f 0, and its Confent impowers the Evil Spirits to \nakz vcr g09^ ImprenTions on a Subject diilraclred from God, and occupied about an Object, whom his Diftraftion from God hath fill'd with Darknefs, and fubjefted to the Power of the Devil, (o making it an Initrtj- flrument fir for him to aft by. VII I. There is therefore no other Communion be- v*" tween Good and Evil Spirits but this 0 the Go -.-.' gehy ani all that are mperfeft Vnion with God, do krio-p *' '-'-' and D:frayxticTis: of ibs IV.ckfd better than thy do then G 4 ci . 88 Of the Conduct' of the Faithful Angels. Ctoo IX. dart forth their Luminous Imp refiions, which return V^V**-' to their Source, according as they are varioufly re- jected, and by their return inform the Good Angel of the Privation of God, and his Beatifying Lights and Graces in which the Sinner lives, i. e. give him an Idea of the Sinner's State, his Thoughts, his A- clions9 Qualities and Powers, with all that Mafs of Malignity that is in him in all its Degrees, Strength and Circumftances, all which Particulars are more certainly known to the Good by the return of thefe Luminous Impreflions, than they are to the Wicked *, becaufe the Motions of the Wicked are in themfelves Dark, Irregular and Confufe, but the ImprefTions of Light always return in an exacT degree of Juftice and Proportion. And for this Reafon God, and Spirits in union with him, do underfhnd the State, and the mod fecret Thoughts of difobedient Spirits, when- ever they pleafe to eradiate their Light upon them, better than they themfelves. It is vain to think to tide ones fejf from the Light Divine, it doth and will manifeft every thing *, nothing is hid that fhall not be revealed by it *, it fhines on what it pleafes, and fees into the moft interior Nature of whatever it fhines upon by its Admiilion, or Rejection of it. IX, How IX. Sow tho' the Good Angel receive the Re- %n Confe* flecTion of his Luminous Rays, and hereby thorough- qusnee of jy fees the state of W7icked Spirits *, he is not di- tbisknotv ftra(^ed from God, but continually receives his re- Is dot* freuiinS. luminous Impreffions, and hath therefore a vole the Divine ien^e and feeling of the contrariety of the Inv mcked in preflions wde ky God, and by the Light reflected virtue of fr°m tne Evil ®ne i ana becaufe the Divine Impref- fbeDivsne n°ns are natural and agreeable, he formally oppofes tight* all the Dark, Malicious and Perverfe ones which natu- rally come from the Wicked Spirit, and endeavours to imprint on every thing a fignature of the Divine JmprefTions \ and the Oppofition he feels within makes him irreconcileably to hate the Works of the Ev*l One, andtheOfrftinacy and Perverfenefs with which he oppofes God, X. And Of the Condutf of the Faithful Angels. 89 X. And thus we fee how a Created Spirit, who Chap. IX. hath for his Objects God himfelf, or Spirits like or h"'"v^w' unlike him felf in Nature and Difpofitioa, receives their x A ym Impreflions either feparately or together in a manner c*?"u a'A agreeable to the Order and Eftablifhmentof God :^ rjf^4t If he act in this manner, he conforms to the Confti-^^g^ tution of the Impreflions which Objects make upon '\nm^[f^ ' him, to attract and aflimilate him to themfelves : and other Thus Liberty does Juftice to them all, without be- creature's ing' Injurious unto any. That Object which make's for his the moft. Divine, Luminous and Delightful Imprefli- Objefts, ons, and which is the Original Spring and C^xik o{ cannot Sin all the Attracts and Impreflions of other Creatures -^if here- to it Liberty makes an offer of its moft Divine, Ca- cctve pacious, and Noble Faculties, devoting to it in an tbetrlm- unlimited manner its Supreme Intelligence, Love and PreJJ10"* Joy, fixing upon it as its only End, and referring ^yj^ to it the Glory of whatever Impreflions other Objects jay \ do make upon it, as being the Original Source of all^rNd, their Realities and Perfection. tures. To inferior Objects, whofe Impreflions are lefs Lu- minous, Delightful and Attracting, it divides by juft Meafure and Proportion, not its Infinite and Eter- nal Powers, no, thefe are referved for that Infinite Eternal Object, to which they inceflantly afpire *, but thofe whofe Operations may ceafeandbe extinguish- ed, which it is often forc'd, to limit, reft rain, and impofe a filence on : Such afe our Faculties of Rea- fon and Meditation on the Creaturely Ideas, and the like. Nor does this moderate Application to inferi- or Objects diftract the Mind from God, becaufe the Mind that correfponds with Juftice, traces the Crea- turely Impreflions up to God, their' Original Caufe^ and having found foim, it takes leave of them to engage itsFaculties in admiring the Perfections of their Caufe, and to receive the Emanations of his glorious EfTence *, 'till this Source of all Excellence and Perfection leads it abroad again, to walk and review with Admiration the Beaut\ of his Works, to delight it felf in themj and be refrelh'd with the exquifite Odours which the Outworks and Furniture of the Magnificent Friend^ who leads it forth to view his Glory, are all of therri perfumed with. It 90 Of the Conduct of the Faithful Angels. Chap. IX. It follows then, that before the Event of Sin, Li- ^''"V^y berty needed only to follow the Impreflions of the Creatures, confidered together, and not apart; and that while it did receive their Attracts and Impref- fions, according to the Original Order and Efta- blifnment of God, it was happy, and incapable of fin- ning, however it varied its choice among them, admit- ting them by turns in the Order and Eftablifhment YT , of God. Method XL WIien tfie Created SPirit bath condufted his or Grada- ^kerty in this manner, and freely applied his Facul- tionoftbelKS t0 *hc Impreflions of the Objects, of which he Pcrfeftion^2^ Ideas : Let us next confider what further De- af the grees, muft be pafTed through, before he be fo efta- Faithfal blinYd in Felicity, as to be incapable of falling. Angel.un- To conceive this Matter, we need only to apply to bis E- what hath been faid p above, concerning the Labile ftabhjh- Creature, and the Progrefs of his Perfection, how it went and is carried on, from the firft confentof Liberty 'till it BkQion. is confirmed : God's gracious Lights, and a liberal ctl- l* Communication of his Blefiings, do not fail to afiift J4- and cooperate with- the Creature?s Acts, whereby the Angel is more ftrengthened and confirmed in good, than was poflible to be by the fole Efforts of his na- tural Powers. He plunges himfelf (as I may fay) in the Element Divine, whereby he becomes divinely tempered, and powerfully difpos'd to Good :, with •which Difpofnion and Temper, God does further co- operate bv his free Benediction, rendring his Acti- vity and Powers infinitely more lively, itrong and vigorous •, and becaufe thefe things do naturally tend to dure and reproduce themfelves, they become habi- tual and itrong : The Angelick Acts are reproduce! with a marvellous Facility, and Qod amoroufly cor- refponds by his Grace and Benediction \ and after the Angelick Will hath approved itfelf conflant, in adhering to God, during a fufficient time of Proba- tion^ it is at length eftablifh'd in a full and irrevo- cable abandon to him *, who never fails to commu- nicate himfelf in as free, abiblute, and unlimited a Manner. And this Bleffed State is what we under- hand by the Confirmation and Election of Angels' and Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angels. 91 and Co the Scripture is to be under flood when it fpeaks Ciwp. X. of* Ehtt- Angels. And here we fee the Chain of^ v~*~ their Eternal Salvation. * * Tim. 5. M. CHAP. VI. 0/r /fe F^// of the Rebel- Angels. ^plppr ONSIDERwe now what hap- % Advan~ I pened to the Rebel Angel. He^«i»- injoy'd Originally the lame Ad-joyedh vantages, as He who continued the F^beU Faithful: The fames Divine Facul-^'.?^ be- ties, Objects, Felicity, Liberty,^ &* End, and attracting Graces were Mo given and propofed to both. Predefined he was by his Creation to Eternal Life, and to injoy it, in an 'unlimited, Noble, and Perfect Manner, cue with Choice and Freedom : Nor can we doubt *, but,at rlrft, he correfponded with the Divine Impreftions, re- ceived an infinity of Grace and Benediction from the hand of God *, was fill'd with Light, with joy and Glory flowing from him the Source of Bleffednefs, in whom at firft he fought it : Tho' afterwards he left his Po/t, as the Scripture witnefTes, where, fpeaking of the Evil Angels, it fays, * The Angels who kept* jade *. not their firft Eftate^ and left their own Habitation. &- II. The Angel, in proportion as he received the II. The j Divine Impreftions, and correfponded with them, Ar.gels increa fed in Perfection, Intelligence, Light, and joys F*Ube- Divine : The Senfe and perception of. which was x\ot£an in af* ►Evil, fo long as his Faculties afpired to higher r>c-hxCeJTlve, grees in virtue, and perfection, and to the Divine APPltcatJ" Light, and Bieffe-dnefs, in a manner worthy of them, l?i t0 and he fought to fatishe their afpirings, bv Obje&s f"f?" . agreeable to the folliciting impreiiions of his Facul— f/x, ^ ties, according to the Divine Order and Con rli rut ion, :'0*tY D;m vote Perfection^ referring them to thcmfelvcs, and net to God : Di- Jlrac} ton from God produced dat\»*fi in them. 92 Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angels. Chap. X as the Faithful Angel did .- But inftead of regulating t/V^J his Application as the Reafon of Things required, and keeping it in bounds of Moderation, he fuffered it to be exceflive and unreafonable : Firft, his Liber- ty ingaged his Application too far, in the Sentiment and view of his own Perfections, to a neglect of God :, rendring the Attracts and Light Divine lefs Senfible and Relifhing: Hence Darknefs by degrees overfpread his mind *, I fay by Degrees : For God did not imme- diately withdraw his Luminous Attracts, but conti- nued and increas'd them, knocking more loudly at his Heart, to reduce him to God, and if poflible to re- cal him at his rtrft (fraying, and fo prevent his Ruin and Deftruction. But the increafe of God's Grace and luminous impreflions ferved, by his abufe, only to increafe his Dift ration ; The view of his luminous perfections, and the Joys and Delights refulting from them, fiH'd him with Senfuality and Self-love to which he abufed all God's Graces, defigned to iecal him, feeking only his own Satisfaction in theai. ill. The III. Now here it is, the Mifery of Man begins, viz., Continua- In feeking himfelf in all the Attracts and Inclinations tion and of his Faculties, turning all thele inward upon him- fonfum- felf, with Admiration and Senfual Delight : Propo- tnation of[mg ±0 ftnc] jn himfelf, and in his own Idea, which *£*^M£^jntirely fills his Mind, that Happinefs and Injoy- FaJ not' ment t0 wfoiclj his Faculties afpire. For by turning( *?' ]. his Faculties upon himfelf, he turned them away from ^ V^. God, and focaufed Infenfibility and Darknefs to come ctous in- uPon ^im '-> which daily increasing he became at length deavours i^tirely infenfible to the Divine Attracts, to the Light to prsve tit an^ Happinefs that come immediately from God*, f$. the which he fought only in himfelf; fo making him- felf his Principle and End : And here'ihould God have dealt with juftice to him, he might juiily have with- drawn and extinguilh'd all the Divine Lights aad Gracious Influences *, but as he isM-rciful and Gra- cious , fo I firmly believe, that he did not prefently withdraw, but continued the offer of them *, increas- ing his Gracious Drawings and Impreflions , fo as to , dart forth his mod bright and lively Rajs, to pene- trate and recal the Diftracted Spirit, and to difplay all Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angels. 9$ i • ii ■^ - ^— — — — * ' gll poflible means to prevent his Fall : Till at laft this Chap. X. wretched Spirit, vain in his own eyes, referring to '^"V^*/ himfelf* as Principle and End, all the Divine Imprcf- fions j and wholly taken up in feeing, feeling, and feeking himfdf : Difpofing the Divine Influences as if he were Mailer of them, and imagining perhaps, when he felt the Divine Allurings, that God was Dependent on him: (As the thoughts of a Proud vain giorious Spirit needs muft be very Extravagant : ) God, who cannot affift, nor co-operate with Evil, withdrew his Divine Lights and Graces, feeing they were abufed without hopes of any Amendment by them. And thus we fee the Angel of Light plunged in Eternal MLfery and Darknefs, reject of God, and transformed into a Devil. IV. So here we fee him reprobate by his own Free- IV. the will: It is not the Effect of any predeftinating De- Mtfery of cree, or Will, or Act, or even Confentof God : He^ Devil wholly difapproves it, and it is c6ntrary to his Will : ts n<>t God hath no otherwife contributed to it, than by lea-^°™ a , ving Liberty to act agreably to its Nature,and letting Precieft*m it fo happen to the Angel, even as he will'd. It was n*ttnS ^ his own Free-will to turn his Faculties conftantly to^cr"', himfelf, to fee, and feel, and feek in Himfelf his All} p^"^/ the Source of his Happinefs and Light: God there-^# 0/Lim fore abandoned him to himfelf, and retired from him:^^ Whereupon the Angel poffeft and felt himfelf, fach which as he really was, the Source of no good at all. For turned his when the true Source of Light and joy was dryed Faculties away, and all his Faculties of Refearch, hdi'isi^^atvayfrom Senfibility and Endeavour continued to make \tti$x& the Source fions on himfelf, and found an intellect void of Light \ •/ G and Amorous Faculties, without an infinite Good \*k? °r/" then did this Spirit feci himfelf in a Confufe, Mifera-^^ °f ble, Reftlefs, Void, Condition, having only himfelf, tb* B!aJ" and his own dark painful motions to feed upon, and^?^1 fatisfie his infinite Defires, and feeing moreover an ^ fl- utter itnpoftibiiity to derive from its natural Fund ?rtth * " that Light and pleafure to which he did afpire, he turned himfelf to hate and blafpheme the Author of Ins Being, for not creating him of I'uch, a Nature, as to 94 Of the Fait of the Rebel- Angels. Chap. X. to derive, like him, bis Light and happinefs from his Vfmyr*J P^per fund. v* The, V. And when all thofe AtTs were obftinately re- CS*lt*nd pcatec^5 a and joys immediately from God, do neverthelefs re- Jnleis. ceive the firft Imprefiions of Infinite Diverfincations ^n fjjea of them, by the means of other Angels, who may be0ftbe4n- call'd Arch* Angels: As when, e.g. Gpd bath enter- gelicalSu- tainecj his Angels with the Contemplation and Fruiti- fermii}. on of fome particular Excellence of his Nature, and is minded to feaft them with the Injoyment of an- other. The fir it Signal or ImpreiTion of it is fuppos'd lobe given to the Arch- Angel, who ftrait flgnmes to the 9 6 Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angeh JiSWvi thereft the Creators Will, of turning their Applica- lsv\J tion to, a New Glory of his Eflence *, the Pomp and Magnificence whereof he is minded to difcover to them: and as the Arch-Angel firft turns his Contem- plation to it, and freely refigns himfelfy fo all the red: immediately follow, in joying God, without fur- ther regard of the Arch- Angel who led them forth $ till he gives another Signal tp lead to the Contempla- tion of another Excellence of God. VIII. Hour VIII. I wifh tbefe things were well confidered by tbeAr.geh us, as being the Originals which Men do copy after., . werefedu- The Guides of Souls both Good and Bad *, their Good ced by and Evil Conduct their Fidelity, Seduction, and their Behaviour, the Duty which their Hearers and Infe- bead: riours owe them •, and how the Direction of their That Men Guides is Inftrumental, either, to fave, or damn v*on u , them, are all depainted in the Angels Conduct, to cop Jt°rhc as a PrototVpe to the Worlds End. Now before Chimin ^e Arch- Angel apoftatiz'd and managed his, fuperio- the Con* r>lt? according to the Order and Will of God, be- dutl of fi^es the Common Impreffions made on his Subject- ify Angels, and which the Good do mutually make upon Souls. each other, he imprinted on them the Characters of a brighter Excellence and Light, peculiar to himfelf.* Thus the Inferiour Angels, whil'ft they adhered to God, received with joy, as in, and for God, the Ex- cellent ImprefTions of the Light-Divine, and of their Arch-Angel, who was yet a friend of God ^ and by him, the Signal to vary the Divine Contemplation ana Injoyment: And becaufe their whole Felicity confin- ed in it, it increafed their Love to the Arch- Angel, who was Inltrtimental to lead them from Perfection to Perfection, o% to change them as the Scripture Speaks from Glory to Glory: His Divine Imploy- ment endeared him to them, and they were loving, Refpectful, and Obedient, as well on account of it?J as of his Divine Prerogatives and Perfections. IX jbi IX. The Application, Obedience and Refpeft of Fa/1 of the Inferiour Angels to their Prince, became byde- tbe Ir.fe- prees kxceilive , efpecially when the latter placed r tour An- ° gels occaflouedky a too treat Adhefion to their Arch Angtl^ an ozerva iutiv his Condktft dndtoo blind Obeticnzc to bun. , . oii Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angels. 97 * on himfelf that Love and Admiration which is due to C1>3P' x-' God: In Conlequence of which Diforder, the Impref- ^"V^ (ions of Light and Grace, by him eonvey'd to them, were mingled with Impreffions tending to draw their- Love and Efteem towards himfelf, and to make them relifh and regard thefe Divine Impreffions, as if they came from the fund of Perfection EfTential to him0 Which mixt Impreffions the Inferiour Angels too rea^ dily admitted, and cor. fen ted to, violating the Great- Duty indifpenfably required of them* vJt, to, Adhere to God as Principle and End of all Excellence and Per- fection, and from, and in, and by. all things to re- turn to him, and delight themfelves inland with him.- Carefully obferving their Prince Angel's Con- duel, with a Mind difpofed and ready to Anathema- tize and to forfakc him, if he prefumed to flop them fcort of, or to dire£l them to any befides God; As well knowing that their Subordination and Obedience- was founded folely on their Relation unto God, (viz.) that, by means of it, they might obey, and fix upon fiim, with greater Unanimity, Love and Order. But when once their Prince Angel put himielf in. the Cre- ators ftead, and, inftead of conducing them to God, drew them to admire himfelf, it did not only evacu- ate all Obedience and RefpecV, but, even* obliged them to hate him, and abandoning his Guidance, to refign themfelves to God alone , who would , no doubt, have amply provided for them, what was fit and proper. But, inftead of acting thus,. a Refpect; and Adhefion to their Prince Angel, a tendernefs for, and too great an Application to his Impreffions, and a blind Devotion to his Orders^were too ftrongly con- firmed, and deeply rooted in them. - The. Natural Laws by which things through long Duration and re- peated ads are ftrengthened and confirmed in Habits r, And alfo the New Impreffions of Attracting Lights and Graces which the Arch-Angel,, who as yet received them from God, made upon them: Thefe, I fay, tho7 mingled with felBfti regards, tended to increafe their Refpect and Devotion to him.- They perceived ..that the Lights and Pleafures were Divine *, and their Ad- hefion to their Prince, and bis Impreffions on thenv ^ H difpofed M 98 Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angels. Chap.X. difpofed them to regard him as the Original Source, •^-O^* and abfolute Difpenfator of them : This Difpofition of referring to the Arch-Angel the Irradiations recei- ved by his means, rendred them more and more Irr- fenfible to the Impreflions which came directly from God : The Arch-Angel continually renewed the Divine Impreflions on them , more and more y whence they became more devoted to him in Applica- tion, Refgect, and blind Obedience *, fitbmitting to his Conduct without examining it by the Light Divine y whereby they gradually became fo dark and Infenfible to the Impreflions made immediately by God, as to admit none unlefs convey'd to them by the Prince Angel : And thus the Sin of the Devils Angels was formed, and they became Companions of nis Fall. 1 For when God retired from him, and deprived him of his Dght and Gracious Influence*, Darknefs, Con- fufion, Torment, and Horrour fucceeded in their room, in which the Angels were involved together with their Prince, as a juft Punifhment of their ob- ftinate and refolute feeking in him their Lights and joys Divine; So that, by his Fall, they alfo were de- _ prived of them, and became partakers of his Miferies y no more to receive that Gracious Light which they wilfully rejected, by turning themfelves away from its Original Source.* Tho' it is to be obferved, that God did not withdraw his Influences from them, till by a fufficient tryal he found that his Greateft Graces, by their perverfenef9 and abufe, difpofed them onfy to defpife and forfake him, wickedly preferring their Arch-Angel before him. X. that x. Thus were the Angels involved in ruin, toge- the foltofxhzt with their Prince, by adhering too much to the Ds- him , and feeking in him that happinefs and blifs, wis An- w]yic[-i t[ley OUght to have fought in God alone, or to *6 F/£fl *iave refer!'ecL !? Pmi . *^L wnich>_ it. is. very plain, not Will i>f their in themfelves infinitely more forcible, became Infen- own mil Able and Inefficacious to them, till God at lafl, find- bltntttjAnd obftinately to tdhsre to their Prince. Their probation. ing Of the FaH of the Rebel- Angels* 99 ing that all his indeavours'were in vain, and that his Ctap. X* Lights and Graces ferved only to increafe their Sins, ^Y^J was forced to retire from them : Herein confifts their Reprobation, which comes pofitively from themfelves alone/* God only leaves 'em to their Liberty, and gives them up obftinately and blindly to adhere to their Prince Angel: Whether any among 'em efcape the fall it is impoflible to know except God reveal it. XI. The Impreflions which the Rebel-Angels made xi. Horn on others not Subject to them had not fo bad Effects, the Devil Before the entire privation *of the Divine Impreflions, and his they acted indeed upon other A ngek, with Imp^effi-. Angels oris mingled with felfifh Relations: Which mixture,*?"^ not or abfenceof a Reference to God, the Faithful kx\-fed!tce thc gelsfoon perceived, and (trait .withdrew their Appli-°^er ■ cation, Confent, and Love from the Defe&ive \™-F*lt,)tlj predion s made upon them, with a Hatred as great * as was their Adhefiori and Love to God : Endeavour- ing to recal the Apoftatizing Angelsby contrary Im- preflions. But their Charitable Endeavour was to as little Effect, as were the Gracious Impreflions of God himfelf. Whatever had not a Reference to Self, they were infenfible unto*, feeking in their Corre- fpondence to Imprint on their Fellow Angels a felfidi regard, and to boaft themfelves as the Source, and abfolute Proprietors of Light and Blifs*, and, by their falfe witnefs unto God, to efface the Confidera- tion of Him as Principle, and End of All things, thus (as much as in them was) murdering the Image of the Living God *, on which account the Devil is call'd * A Murderer from the Beginnings But the * John & Holy xAngels continued Faithful unto God, oppofing 4°* the impreflions of the Devil y till the Light Divine be- ing totally withdrawn, he had power only to make Impreflions upon himfelf, and thofe wretched Spirits, to whom, becaufe they depended wholly on his Dif- penfation,,he. is now become, a Source of Darknefs,; Confufions, Horrours, Torments, and infinite Evils Effenml to him, .. . . ... ? . .-. ',/. X1L It.is true indeed thefe thing's are. not particu- XH 7&>* la'rized in Scripture; it .do's not dirtctly mention /b* Scify tM c doth not Parna/'art^e ibeje tbtt.gs, tt.ej *re he&cieV founded g£ gfrtdih PrinCip/tj* ■ ' H i Either 100 Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angels. Cfa^p. X. either the Creation, or the Oeconomy, or the fall of V*/"V*^ fome, and the Eftablifhment of other Angels \ much lefs the Means, the Degrees, Timie and other Cir- cumftances, by which they were effected. But as the Silence of Scripture concerning the Creation, Diffe- rent Order and Degrees, the fall of fome and eftablifh- ing of others, is no argument againft the Truth of thefe things : So neither is it againft the Means,Time, and other Circtimftances of them. Only we muft be- ware of fixing them too precifely : Nor (nail I, I hope «• be accufed of doing fo,* feeing 1 leave thefe Circ,um- fiances undetermined : The Truths confidered in them- felves are Rational and Inftruclive, have Intrinf?c; Characters of Solid Truths and will have the Evidence of Demonftration to fuch as can comprehend the Prin- ciples on which they (land, which are as follows. i. That with Subjects of the fame Nature, (as the Angelick and Human Spirits arc,) God afts alike, be- cauie he is Conftant, Wife, and Juft. 2. That God always acts with Truth, (offering his Lights) with Goodnefs, (feeking the Happinefs of his Creatures, and removing Evils from them,) and- with Juftice, (forfaking none but who forfake him, atid refolutely forfaking only fuch as fully and refo- lutely do forfake him.) 3. That the Nature of a Spirit is not to pafs in a moment fro, one ftate to another entirely oppofite, as fror- light and Happinefs, to Darknefs and Mi- fer,T : i^rom pare Gcodnefs to pure Evil: From Friend- lh;p, to'Enmity with God. Nemo repente jit Turpffi- * Ch 8. muss (ays one very truly : And beftdes the Scripture &• in the pafTage above cited from St. James, * plainly intimates the Different Degrees of Sin : And both rca- f Ch. n. fori and Experience clearly prove it to whoever exa- 5- mines what hath been faid t above of the Nature^ v.Tr_, Source, and Eftablifhment of Habits. I IT XI1L lf then wecioallow thefe Truths, and that, as Tamty^f ^aL'1 kecn &***&? ptoved, every thing tends to per- t'htCe fevere in Being, and communicate i'tfelf: All that Principles and Conclrjiprii' cannot without extreme ah fur dny be denjed : God mvsr V/tifd the Death of Sinful 4*1*1 h but tbnt thej fhouid re- turn and live* hath; Of the Fall of the Rebel- Angels. \o\ hath been advanced concerning the Conduct of Good Chap. X. and Evil Angels, may be deduced from them in a Geo- > metrical Evidence and Certainty : To the three prin- ciples abovementioned we may add a fourth, viz^ That God always afts by Order, without Precipita- tion or Violence : Allowing time to every thing to confirm itfelf in the ftate to which it tends. Some by a Machinal and pure Brutal Nature : others by Choice and Freedom ; But All requiring by their Natural Conftitution a certain continued courfe or Method to eftablifti themfelves, according to the Principles of Ha- bits, it is extremely abfurd and impious, againft God and Nature, to imagine Angels to have been Created, fome habitually good, others wicked, or deftined to become fo : Or fome confirmed in Goodnefs from the firfjk aft of virtue, others irreverfibly rejected, ' from their firft detour from God, or Evil aft com- mitted by them, without allowing them either time, or recal, or any Grace *, or, in a Word, without being as favourable and gracious to them, as Men ufe to be to fuch as are not refolutely and ma- licioufly hardened in iniquity; Would the Devils fpeak the Truth, I queftion not *, but they would own God to have been in refpeft of them, as Mo- fes fays he was towards Men, * The Lord, the* Exod. Lord God Merciful and Gracious, Long-fuffering, and }^'Df* 7' 'abundant in Mercy and Truth: 4nd as David t the* l^' Lord is Good towards all, and his Mercies are over^' all his Works: God's Conduct towards his Cre- atures neceflarily |>ears the Character of his Per- fections, i. e. of Pure Love and Goodnefs: It is certain he hath not will'd that Angels or Men ihould die Eternally, but that both fhould return and Live :• And therefore the- Angels were not Pre- defined to Eternal Death. Hj CHAP, 102 Of the fir (I Beginning, Degrees and Steps II Tteo Suppositi- ons ) ba- ting to the Sin of J\4any !• That it was corn* yrntted gradually. 2. That it is of Ano- ther Spe- pies than the An* CHAP. XL Qf the firji Beginnings Degrees and Steps of the Sin of Man. il T is time now to treat of the Sin of Man: Concerning which I will confider, Firfi:, The Manner in which it was Committed. Second- ly, Its Effects, in refpect of Man, and of the Subject Creatures :, and alfo of Man's Defendants, •which is what we call Original Sin ; Whence it will appear, that all the Defects in Nature come wholly and folely from the Liberty of Man \ and in no re- fpect from the Divine Decree or Deftination *, nor from his Co-operation orConfent to if, except on- ly a Conferjt that Man (hould be -always free5 and that as Liberty doth chufe •, fo it ihould be with him. II. In order to reprefent theCircumftancesof the Sin of Man, I premife two Suppositions *, one of which hath been iufficiently proved already as to the general Thefis, viz.. That Sin in general, and by con- fluence: the Sin of Man was formed gradually : The other Suppofition is, that the Sins of Man and An- gels are of a different Species : They agree indeed in their common Genus, vit. Diffraction, or Difappli- cation fromGcd •, but differ in the Object of their Diffraction : Divine and Spiritual Lights and Graces were the Object of the Angels Sin: Thefe he con- sidered as proceeding from his Natural Fund *, and his Sin confifted in directly turning his Faculties away from God, towards himfelf •, whereas Man's did not abufe directly the Divine and Spiritual Lights and Graces , nor directly defile his Faculties Divine, nor did he .turn them upon himfelfj but his Du- plication did immediately concern other -both Facui- pes and Objects* HI. It of the Sin of Man. i o$ III. It follows hence, that if Man do fall, and his Fa- Ghap. XI. rulties Divine lofe their Spiritual Lights and .Goods :, fu^ je^ in j^cavgni or in £art^ but we might injoy 9fJ£LrOb. without committing Sin, provided our Exercife and \ft ' Inpyroept was agreeable to their Conftuution, Na- with a jufl ture, Order, End and Perfection : Suppofmg a Fa- re^ard of its Dignity and Nature : The Exercife of Chanty and Faith Mwe *i indtffenfable and vfintte^ culty of the Sin of Mm. i o$ culty or Objeft, to be in their Natures Infinite and Chap. XL Divine, and the Foundation of our Beatitude, they ^-^V^-^ ought, one to be Exercis'd, the other injoyed in a Divine, mod Lively, Full, Infinite, and Conftant Manner: And therefore Man was indifpenfablv obli- ged never to interrupt (at leaft in a general Way) the Exercife of. his Faculties of Defire, Refearch, Sentiments, Ardour, Intelligence and Love of God, the Supreme Fountain of his Felicity. Here there can be no danger of Excefs, becaufe our fupremc Felicity confifts herein. But in the Exercife of Rca- fon, and the inferior Faculties, and in the Injoy- iiient of their Objects Man muft be moderate, as about things that are not the End or Perfection of his Being. VI. As God, in the Contemplation of his Arbitrary VJ. Horn Ideas, remained (till fix'd in the Contemplation ofMw himfelf j fo Man, in the Contemplation of them ought mtght Ex~ to have entertain'd his Mind with God : Nor ought erctfe hls he fixedly to Contemplate thefe Ideas, but only with ^afon> ' a tranfient, occafional Application and Delight; \ri*m*Z*n** them to admire the Wifdom and Power of God, and c°*p™ai do Homage to the Divine Perfections. In like man- F°Juhkt ner, his Imagination ought to have received the lm- lawfully % preffions of his own Body, and of the Univerfe; thetf„^ acl Stars, the Elements, and all Nature, out-ftreaming cording continually in Rays upon it : He ought, I fay, by to the thefe to have inform'd himfelf of the Eilate and Na- Witlof ture of the Things fubje&ed to his Government, in God. Imitation of the Power of God *, but not efte-e.m this Knowledge cflcntiaj to his Supreme Felicity. No, this muft be derived from another Spring*, and there- fore there was no need to exercife this Faculty al- ways, or with too eager a Defire .* The fame is to be faid of the other inferior ones.* It is true indeed, that as Man had himfelf a Bocjy, and all Nature was fubjefted tohis Rule : The Care of his own, and Go- vernment of other Bodies required that thefe Faculties fhould be exercis'd about Corporeal Objects *, but this it required only in a fhort and tranfient Manner, to difcharge the Government intrufted to him. It was a kind of Arbitrary Ddeftation, which if Man was minded io6 Of the fir ft Beginning, Degrees and Steps Chap. XI« minded to injoy, (tho' this was purely indifferent to ^/V^ him) it was then necelTary to apply himfelf to ex- ternal Objects. This Man might lawfully do on fuch Conditions as the Natures of Things required, i.e. without Diftraction from God,with a tranfient, fhort, and moderate Application, not with his Divine Fa- culties, or the Defires arifwg from the interior, or bottom of his Soul, which God is the fole Object of. VII. The . VII. Nor could the Impreflions of external Objects Imprefli- forcibly conftrain the Faculties Divine to yield them- es which felves, without the Confent of Liberty, which it inferior was free to give, or to refufe ; The ImprelTions of Objettt inferior Faculties and Objects did not reach the Fa- make uf culties Divine, till they were finl refined by Rea- ontbeFa-fo^ which prefented the Ideas of external Objects culttesDi- to fj,^ as Productions of God's Wifdom and Images TxTd of bis Excellence and BeautV : So that bV tb^e the ItfdDi Facuities Divine were put in mind to turn to, and fix nl*ed *' on God, whom their Capacity, Defires and Inclina- tiiat No- tions P°inted to tnem ; They had therefore no neeef- thing in &ry Union or Connection with inferior Objects, nor tbemieads did thefe immediately act upon them, only they were todifor- reminded by them to refign themfelves to God, their der. true and proper Objecl, as we fee, even in the pre- fent State of Things, God ufes all fort of fenfible Things and Objects, and even Reafon itfelf? to a- wakeu our Faculties Divine, our Faith, pur Love, and our Defires, to incline them to himfelf. So then, which w;y foever we look there's nothing in Na- ture that necefTarily leads or engages Man to Sin. Vtn. A VIII. But Liberty, whofe Confent and Conduct too imrno' are free and undetermin'd, inftead of Conducing derate Ex- t^e inferior Faculties by Order and Proportion, and ercife cf 0f regarding God in complying with tneir Inclina- tbe mfe- tjons ^ ancj of admit ctiig the various ImprelTions made Sties' l*Pon lt5 ifl tne Order and DiTpofition of their Na- wlncbLi- ture> *• e' v;it^ depencjance on God, and with Rela- bertycon- tl6n t0 n*m i an(l "V ^ort an<^ tranfient Intervals of jmtedtc. Application •, and with care to preferve'its Superior bath duUed the Life and Perception of our Spiritual PotPersi and Jub- jttled them to mean and unworny Inclination and D "fires. Powers of the Sin of Man. 107 Powers elevated to God, hath too much indulged the Chap. Xf» life and Exercifeof the inferior Faculties, whence Man ^^t^j became diftracTed from God, aid lefs fenfible to his interior Lights and Drawings, and con fen ted, if not totally to fufpend, however to interrupt the Exer- cife of his Superior Powers *, fo that Liberty itfelf began to be depraved, leaning toward mean and unworthy Things and Objefts. . IX. Here then we fee thejirft advance toward the^x JjJ!S Sin of Man, which it is eafie, more particularly to E^^t* defcribe and fhew, by tracing its Entrance and &&'"'&„ J, 4 million thro' the inferior Faculties, how it gradually ,,. mfegj •increased, and was at laft compleated, and what are if #/ the Effects thereof in Nature, and in the Poller rty trace of Man \ but before I enter into this Detail, I will them up encjeavour once more to confider the Original At-tStbetr fign of Things, which will difcover to us many ufc-firft P'ta- ful Truths, upteor X. Wben God refolved on forming Creatures for Out*}. his Arbitrary Delight, it was riecellarv to endue X. When them with Faculties of a more exalted Nature than God was Brute Creatures have, with whom there can be r\o P^afedta amorous Delectation or Correfpondence : For thefe-fa'^ *k*M Enjoyments Spirits are only c dued with Faculties and Liberi themfelves, in a Noble, Divine a..v* »...vfvn3 iw«„™.„,, as hath been eifewhere deduced ^ and, if God was^JT'*® pleafed, befides the Divine,' to endue them with Sub- /Jresrea' ordinate Faculties, it was to qualifie them for biS£,«^W Divine Communion and Enjoyment by means- of ?& tbemmtb terior Operations. t>ivim and inferior Vacuities to qualijie them for it. XI. Thus fuppofing God to have created Angels, XI. When with this Defign, and endued them with a Nature t!jst d»~ and FacultiesDivine,eternally to enjoy him in anAmo- ":/( *tr* rous Felicifying manner. If, :when they are Created rv^ crea" with this Defign, fome of them do forfakeGod, and "*/% . rejeft his Divine Communion, Lights and ^races;^^' fome of them departed from God : It ffe'dfed him to create Man in their room, to Communicate with bis Creatures m the full Extent of his invariable Defign. -.orrefpondence : For u\z\zf0Ym th* )ly qualified, as being en- 0$?'*? iberty Divine, to conduct re"£p' ine and Amorous Manner, V^, ," io8 Of the fr ft Beginning, Degrees and Steps Chap. XI. God, who is unchangeably the fame, ,will not re- v*Or^ yoke nor abridge his Original Defign of Communi- cating to his Creatures his Beatifying Lights *, but, leaving thefe Rebels to themfelves, he will raife up others in their room to carry on the firft Defign of his gracious Communications, in its entire Amplitude and Extent: Sq that the*Rebellion of fome Crea- tures will not diminilh the Extent of God's gracious Defigns *, the Continuance and Accomplifhment of which was the Reafon why, after the Fall of An- gels, he pleafed to Create Man, and endue him with a power of Procreation, that he might multiply him- felf to Infinity *, and God's gracious Defigns be con- tinued and fulfilled in as ample a Manner as he at firft intended. XII. The xil. Now Man was not created till after the Aa- **a°f gels had finned •, Gpd had therefore an Idea of Sin , Man was and did in fome refpecl: forefee it *, not as a Thing f°reJeeny of a certain Event, and confequently not decreed in lofliik a^ in *ts Circumftances i hut he forefaw it unde- Fvent termined, and of a poflible Event. vrrr r A ^*# ^nc* becaufe God and Sin are infinitely con- xui. ^«trary to 0ne another, it follows that fie ufed all *aJav'*rgj poflible Means to preferve his Creature from it .: to pre- Hence I infer the following Principles which well ferveMandetove to be confider'.d. from Sin. Three Principles inferred from hence, i. That God would .gracioufiy fore-arm Man a- gainft the Fall of Devils, by all the Means which infinite Wifdom and Power could fjnd out. 2. That in order to per feci: him in Holinefs, and preferve him from Sin and Error, God would Com- | municate himfelf to him, and to all his Faculties, as they were capable to admit his Influences. 3. That, before Man's Creation, God defigncd to fill his Faculties with their Supreme Felicity -, and actually did, as far as was neceffary to pre- ferve him from Sin, and to improve him in Grace and Vertue. XIV, of the Sin of Man, 109 XIV. In Conformity to thefe Truths, God, when Chap. XI. he Created Man, was pleafed to give him a Body, t^V^V and with it a World of Creatures, and to endue his XIV. It Soul with much more lively and powerful Faculties^0*" and Relations to this Body, which together with V*?]** the Creatures of the Univerfe, makes lively and pow- f?^, erfui Imprefiions on him, than the Angels can ^£avet0 fuppofed to have had in refpect of Bodies. Hence^„ in if Man did fooliflily difapply from God, his Faculties cJre£e dem Divine were armed before-hand againft fo terrible a partfrom Lapfe, as that of the Angels was. Not that,abfolutely Gody ten- fpeaking, Man was incapable of committing the very ders hi* Sin by which Angels fall. He was endued with Facul- Fall lefs ties Divine as well as they \ and God continually dange- eradiated upori.them, as he had upon the Angels, his™w, «nd Light Divine, his Spiritual Delights and Joys, which, mcre cam had he abfolutely will'd it, Man might have appro- Pa™ °f priated to himfelf as Principle and End, and fb nave t^™*7* imitated the Devils in their Sin and Fall. But if we fuppofe that Man was inclined to be diftract from God, among the Infinity of Objects which continu- ally made Imprefiions on him, it is more likely he would apply to fome Object of the Univerfe, ra- ther than himfelf*, becaufe their Imprefiion on him •was immediate and direct, to be left without the alMance of Reflection, whereas to fix upon himfelf required reflexive Acts of Mind, which are not fo eafie, or at hand, as a Delectation caufed by the Im- prefiion of Objects that act directly on the Mind • Nor would the Divine Faculties be violated, nor God be rejected in fo direct a Manner, as was be- fore obferved. v„ r, XV. A fecond Inference is, that fince Man's infe-*v: ^ rior Faculties were in fome mariner capable of en joy- .ff,2r ing God -, and fince it was eafie for God to hold a fkteT*t Corporeal Communion with him, it follows, that he Capable™ did not only defign, but did really afTume a Cor-0/e«^r. poreal Form, at Man's Creation, graciouily to pro-,-^ Qjd vide for the Necefiity of his Creatures, and prevent t'n a C«-- poreal Form, as their great eft good; and as a mo/} powerful Kiotiv" t0 a %ood Qegi ' lation of tbemfelvej : It ts not reafonable so thinly God tvou'd dinj than fo great and advantageous a Gr*ce. the no Of the fir]} Beginning, Degrees and, Steps i ■■■■■■■ ■ ii -- Hi. ii ■ ■ j Chap XL the danger of a-Diftradlion, by the too lively Im- ^'"WprefTions of Worldly Objefts, and of his Reafon, Senfes and Imagination. For tho' external Nature was from God, and gloriouffy reprefented his Per- feftions, it did not fo livelily and directly lead to him, but that Man might eafily flop at Natural Ob- jects and' Senfations without rifing up from them unto God -7 and therefore to guard him againft the danger of Sin and Error, by applying to Material Ohjeas, it was eafie for God to take a Portion of Matter, or a particular Body, to animate it with a Created Spirit, and to unite himfelf fo clofeh; to it, by his Power, his Light, or Word, and his Love, that this Creature, or Divine Body, animated by him, fhali be the proper Body, of God himfelf*, an Inftrument of Communion between God ai.d the in- ferior Faculties of Man, whereby Reafon, Imagi- nation, Paffion, Senfe, (hall be Exercifed, Impref- fedy Entertained, Delighted, and Man conducted in all his Ways, God himfelf co'ndefcending, in a Cor- poreal Form, to be his Companion in the Contem- plation and Enjoyment of his Works: All which it was eafie for God to do, by the Inftrumentality of a Body, and fo far to fignalize his Love to Man, as to Felicitate even Lis Corporeal Faculties with the^Vifion and Enjoyment of God himfelf united to a Body and Soul, and Familiarizing and Converfmg with him : This was for certain the fupreme Feli- city of Man's Corporeal Faculties, and feeing they had need of this gracious Condefcenfion, to prevent their immoderate Application to the Creatures, and preferve them from Ruin, I conclude, according to the three Principles abovementioned, that, at the Creation of Man, God did not only defign •, but did actually vouchfafe this Felicity and Enjoyment to his inferior FacuItie-3. XVlTbat J^J* J fhould of "^'feif never have Covered the Scnp. tnele Glorious Truths, if I had not been led into them tures by the J^ts wiiK* God hath/graciouflv communica- do fully ted to fome Saints, * one of whole jfrri tings I would tot'fi m freely cite, having' been by them fcd to the Know- tbnTrntb. * See Mo>fj.>ur Buurignoo pit ^r- & fotfflfc. ttttii of the Sin of Man* 1 1 1 ledge of the folid Principles of all Things v but that Chap. XI. I purpofely confine myfelf to Scripture Evidence .- It's V-^V>**' authority fupports thefe Truths, and Stamps ihem with the Character of Divine, they who defire to be afcertained of it, need only to confider the account it gives of God's converfmg corporeally with Man after his Creation •, how- he appear'd unto, walk'd and dif- cours'd with Adam, among the Trees of the Garden, a little after his Fall,, and alfo how God (then made Man,) appear'd in a Corporeal form to Abraham^ and to many other Saints, as Jacob who drove a- moroufly with a Man, who was no other than God himfelf. as that Patriarch affirms. * I have feenGod Gen- 1Z- face to face. That He appeared in the fame manner *•• to Jojhua, Guideon, Manoah, Elias, Ifaiah, Ez.eh.iel, Daniel, efpecially to Mofes, with whom he convers'd Face to Face, as a Friend converfes with a Friend, tho' veil'd with a Cloud, becaufeofthe Infirmity of Man, who, being now become Grofs and Mortal, could not fuftain the lively glorious ImpreiTions of the body of God, Bright, and Glorious like to Adam's at his firft Creation : And farther, that when Mofes pray'd, t 1 befeech thee Jberv me thy Glory .- 1 Exotf* God Anfwered, Thou can ft not fee my face: For no 11- *' Man Jb all fee me and live, but ft and upon the Mown- ^' **' **' tain , and I will pafs by thee , and will cover thee with my hand, till I am paffed by, then I will take away my hand , and thou fijalt fee my back parts , but my face fijall not be fcen. And that the Hiftory notes, how thefe particulars happened in all their material Circumflances •, than which one cannot defire a more precife and clearer Proof of this Rare uncom- mon Truth, tho' the whole Conduct of the Jews by- God's Corporeal Prefence, which the Scripture calls the Angel or 'the Meflenger of God, and affirms him rb be God himfelf, confirms it: But it is nee'dlefs here to inlarge feeing I fhall have occafion hereafter to touch upon it. XV1L If any ask, from whence did God take thisxvil. Body? 1 anfwer, No doubt from fome part or other 7^4? God of th-: Material World, in which none can be found took •* Bo- more proper than the Body of Adam, to whom wzs dy fcm grtcrf Adaj> 112 Of the firft Beginning) Degrees and Steps ' "" "■■■■■ " ■ . »— f— — — ■ — — — Chap. XI. given a Principle of Fecundity, %6 produce Creatures ^^^T^ like himfelf, and when God was gracioufly pleas'd to converfe with Man in a Bodv like his own, and found in him a matter proper to form it of, the taking of which would unite him more clofely to him-, make him the Son and Brother of Man, it is reafonable to believe that God would rather make ufe of it, than of a Portion of Air, or Earth, or any part of the Material World : Andit isobfervable, that the Scri- pture often calls Jefus Chrift, who is this God, or the Eternal Word, united to the Human Nature, the Son of Man, or Second Adam^ as alfo the Brother of Man. XVIH. XVIII. Here then we fee God converfe with Man, God, mad. in his own form and Nature, we fee him, his Guide, Man, ^- and ordinarily prefent and converting with him, to comes ^prevent, his Fall', and fometimes abfenting himfelf, as Gw/i'n' received by them*, tho' perhaps hisCorrefpondence cl:ns« *°* with God had not been the moft confirmed and ftrong*,^*?.. it had been morally impotfible he fhould have fall'n.-^g?^" But for want of Habit and Experience in good j for 0f pjaf0„ want of an Idea of Evil, and of keeping a guard up-j^,^.' on himfelf in fenfual Enjoyments, as feeing nothing tion anj but what was Good, he, tho' bleft with the Pre- Senfe. fence and Conversion of God himfelf, loofed his Application to exterior Imprefiions of Senfe, Ima- gination, and the beautiful Ideas of the Creatures. XXI. Even that Divine prefence, which was a pow- XXI. Mat Means of recalling Man, ferved by abufe to Man, by diftract him more and more. For when, notwith- a bufing (landing his immoderate Applications to the Crea- God's C*r- tures, and to Creaturely Impreftions, God (till covet Pore*t municated to him, he imagined there was no danger ^^fence% of lofwg God, tho' he continued ftill acting as he did : °pf£ed Thus the Divine Imprefiion was hurtful to him, ier- V? ving to corrupt him more and more, to make him hn~wu f !l fie himfelf fecure and approved by God : When thefe Vy-j0 f° i c r i .A r 1 i Pin? btrn abutes were km by God, who cannot cooperate f0 j^Jf with his Creature's Sin, nor always behold thedif-^,/^',; orders of a foolifh Creature, who was ready iddC'Venflj fpife the familiar Converfation of God himfelf*, to Fall, prevent the Continuance and Increafe of Evils, in infinite Grace and Mercy, and not in Anger, he withdrew hris Corporeal Prefence, that Man might learn by this Privation to reflect on the Caufe there- of, and be precaution *d againil greater Evils : I fay in infinite Grace and Mercy, lince otherwife he would probably have fatten, not only fodirer, but into greater Evils. Mad God dill continued to con- i' verfe aw ii4 The H/flory of the Continuation^ &c. Chap-XH-verfewith him, notwithftanding his Infidelity to his * Lights and Graces, he would have been hardened in Biindnefs and Security *, the Divine Remonftrances would have been the Subject of his Rage and Spite, or of his Contempt and Ridicule as trifling and forma- lity : Ox if in Complaifance to God he had regulated his External Behaviour, while he Indulged his Incli- nations in Senfual Excefs, he had fallen intogrofs Hy- poed fy, a Sin almofl: as defperate and incurable as that of the Fallen- Angels. CHAP. XII. The Hijlory of the Continuation and Covfurnma* tion of the Sin of Man* I. "hUn bemg d f- tract/) om Cod, Cor- ruption cm red in- to the Creatures and made them In- ftrurr.tntat in increa- fin? his Deprava- tion* I. fs W^W^i H E rays of the Light and Love Di- vine continued tofhine upon the fa- culties of Man,to recal him to God j but. he was not attentive to them : He felt their ImprefTion •, but in- Head of difengaging fromExteriour Objefts, he inclined more ftrongly to them •, efpeciaHy fince God had withdrawn his Cor- poreal Presence. In Proportion as He difapply'd froi \ God-, io his own, and the Creatures Conftitutio 1 decay 'd in Life and Vigour, their Beauty, and Lu minous force depended on the Mutual Communicati- on of God ( the Source of Good,) and Man *, of God and the Creatures by the Means of Man, whofe Ad- he fion to God derived Blertings on the Creatures Subjected to his Government, io to be by him pre- served' in their Original Conftitution and good Order : Thus, when lie was difapply'd from God, the Divine influences failed, not delcencing upon Man lo plentifully as before*, nor could he confe- quently Communicate them as ufual to the Sub- iecl Creatures-, baton the contrary depraved their Conftiturions by his Irregular Conducl. Here then we fee the Principles of Corruption entred into the Creatures-, and becauie it is the Nature of every thing both m Heaven and Earth, efpecially of fcch as of the Sin of Mm. 1 1 5 as do moft nearly concern him as bis food, &c. to Chap.XIi. make Imprefllons upon him, hence his Faculties and V/Vv^ Corporeal Conftitution were tainted by them. II. It pleafed God then from time to time to renew II. God re: his vifits unto Man. 1. To advertize him to abftain *ews bis from eating the Fruit of a certain Tree, predicting V*fits to that his eating of it would occafion his utter Ruin, Ma*, M- and Subject him to Death and Corruption. 2. To™' *b* ■ Subftitute f Woman to be with him in the place of!J; °J the God, who, for realbns already mentioned, could. no ^eeJf longer converfe with him. Both thefe Events are but £ju, briefly touch'd on ifl Holy Scripture, and tho' fome >■*£ y^ illuminated Perfons have Spoke more particularly of^ VVlce m them *, it is not eafy to comprehend their meaning : Confe- Some fay that the Tree of Knowledge of Good audience ef Evil was originally Created and defigncd for Man bis firft to feed on, as well as other Trees, before the Divine iw/W;- Prohibition. Others have faid that Mans Irregular ties* Imagination did produce it, and' that therefore he ought to abftain from it. I will here fimply propofe my Thoughts upon the text of Scripture, leaving all Men free to admit or to reject them i I propofe them only as Conjectures of an Inferiour Evidence to thofe other Truths advanced by me for Certain and Indu- bitable, as being neceflary Confcquences of clear and certain Principles. 111. The Scripture fays that God forbad Man eat- IN. Of ing the Fruit of a certain Tree, called the Tree of the tbeireeof Knowledge of Good and Evil, and adds that Death fy**- would be the Effect of feeding on it y and that tbisHE?'*"4 Tree appeared, * Good for Food, pleafmt to the Eyes^tffbeCha- and a Tree to be defired to make one Wife : The Origi- r™^ . nal may be rendred, a Tree of Experience, or ofEx-Pra^aij:' perimental Knowledge y a Tree Good and Evil : My 55™, Conjecture is that this Tree Was not only Created ^L* for Mans ufe, but that it excelled in the Beauty, fJ*a*£ Sweetnels, and Virtue of its Fruits all others in the J nAf ^/ Garden, wherein Man was placed : And I might add, * Qcn *; as plants have ordinarily particular Relations both 5. to the Conflitutions of the Heaven, and to the parts and functions of the Human Body : So it is probable the Fruit of this Tree was fingularly ufeful to awaken i 2 and Il6 The Hifiory of the Continuation, &c. Ch^p'XII. and Invigorate the Imaginative Powers, as having in it, as well as Man, the Impreffions of the Celeftial Bodies proper to this Effect : But let it fuffice to note, that Man, whether allured by its Beauty and particular Sweetnefs *, or whether (having perhaps already tafted of it,) his Senfe was more flattered, and Imagination awaken'd by it, was immoderately inclined to, and defirous of its Fruit: And hence he became more Infenfible to the Divinq^Lights and Drawings •, and more and more di ft rafted from them, incapable to derive upon the Creatures the Heavenly Benediction \ efpecially upon fuch as he affected moft : The more he adhered to any Creature, the more di- ftract and difengaped he was from God, the fountain of thofe Bleftings which parted through him, as thro' a Channel, on the Subject Creatures: That Creature which he loved and defired moft, received leaft of the Heavenly Influence, while he continued difengaged from God, and therefore fuppofing, as the Scripture fays, that this Tree was particularly good for Food, pleafant to be feen, and defirable to make one wife, to afliil the force and vigour of the Imagination.* Suppofing further that Man did extraordinarily defire it, as is fuppofed and imply'd. i. In the very Names of it, wThich generally are taken from Adam's Defire of it. 2. In the Divine Prohibition, and 3. In Adam's Tranfgreflion Subfequent thereto: It follows that Adam by withdrawing from God, his Affections and Defire, and fixing them on this Tree, could not con- vey to it, or to other Creatures, that Divine Blefting neceiTary to preferve them in a good Eftate : For want of which Bleiling, its Conftitution, Fruits, and juyce were poy Toned and depraved, and apt to produce fimiiar Effects on Man •, to poyfon, ruin, produce trouble and diforder in his Body j to make him all over Irregular, Brutal, Stupid in his Conftitution, Faculties, and Senfations : And in a word to Com- plete his Fall; which God forefeeing and delirous to prevent, gave him this Charitable /Ulmonition. Of every Tree of the Garden thou may'ft freely Eat : But of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, thou (halt not Eat, for in the day thai thoa Eateft of 1: of the Sin of Man. 1 1 7 it thou furely die : Or thou (halt lofe thy Tncorrupti-Cbap XII- bilitv, and become Corruptible and Mortal. L/^STV IV. The Divine Admonition was for a while Effect u- IV. Leaft al, partly from Love to God : Partly from fear of Man difobeying him, and being undone therebv : Tho', nsjbould yet, Man did not understand what Death did tat3Xit&re* ""** which he was threatened with. His great adhefion to a!ld tnor: Creaturely Impreflions, had very much weakened, J?javed* but not extinguifh'd in him the Light and Love D|:1j^r*" vine: He did not directly turn his Faculties DiVine,^./^* his Intellect, and Spiritual Love, away from God Co* Heu place them on himfelf, and his own Spiritual Advan-W^fv, tages ; but the Inferioyr Faculties were the Immediate^ recover Subject of his Abufe.- And thefe he turned not to-bim to ward himfelf, but External Nature, the adhefion tothe Con- which is not fo Spiritual and Inferiour an Aft, as \$temputi~ the adhefion to ones felf, fo that God notwithftanding on of Hear (hone upon his Soul, caufing the rays of his Love to *»««// eradiate j tho' Man's perception of it was not fo fen-'J kings. fible and lively as before he had, by applying his In- feriour Faculties to the Creatures, darkened and de- bafed his Divine ; But as depravation increafed daily, and Man,fmce God withdrew his Corporeal Prefence, was affected only by Impreffions of Created Objects, unworthy the Love and Application of his Immortal Nature-, toaffifr. and preferve him from too great a Brutality and Debafement, which his Application to thefe Objects was like to Subject him to*, it pleafed God to Subftitutc in his room, one who (hould be a Friend and Companion unto Man •, whofe Converfati- ou might be a means to raife his Contemplation up- wards, and take offhis Affection from Created Ob- jects: This Defign of God, to give to Man a Woman to be with him, is thus exprelt in Scripture. It is not goed for Man to bs alone , let us make him a help meet for him. V. At (lift God created all things very good, and v" Wo™n in a very good Eftate, and here in the folitary State "'if'**" of M,n, we fee a Privation o( Gopdnefs; it is not"™**'* good for Man to be alone. Now all Privations o{^reater Goodness necefiarily come from a Difapplication from'w;*, and W fix him m the Contemplation and Lnv; of God- I 5 the 1 1 8 The Hiftory of the Continuation, &c. Chap.xn. the Soveraign Good, i. e. from God, and an adhefion L/^f\J to that which is not the Soveraign Good. This pre- fuppofes Ada?n to have contracted already Tome In- firmities, and to have begun to debafe his Affections towards Creatures Inferiour , not only unto God , but to himfelf, and to relieve him under his down- ward Inclination, God was gracioufly pleafed to give him an Affiftant -? one, not to aid him in his Corpo- real labour, which was not yet impofed \ but, to raife him from that infirmity which inclined him too much to mean material things: To help him, I fay, God was pleafed to &i ve him an Object whom be might love as he loved himfelf, without contempla- ting himfelf directly, which was the Angels Sin : An Object that was a lively Image of the Divinity, and therefore tended to raife his Affections towards God, by teaching him to loyc the Creature as his Image : and thus we fee, fo far was God from having decreed Sin, that he try'd all ways and means to hinder it. VI. Of the ^* ^ne k^e f theWo frequent returns of latitude, and want of Spirits*, man pom particularly then when the Creatures, efpecially the Achni Celeitial ones, acted with lefs Vigour on him, as while he when, (uppofe, the Sun, whofe influence do's chiefly Slept, Invigorate his Body, as having a more efpecial rela- tion to its Powers, was under the Horizon: Then Wan was lefs awakenW by it, and a faintnefs (where- in Sleep begun,) feized him, which he felt not at his firlt Creation, nor (hall, in Eternal Life, when things (hall be reftored to their Original Glory : Du- ring this Sleep, God feparated the two Principles of Fecundity, which were originally in Man, to form of the one a Woman. This Paflive, Moiir, Material Principle extracted from him, was the Veffei th.it contained the Eggs of which Men are Born at pre- fent: We muft not therefore uiiderftand, in too li- teral a Senfe, the Account which the Scripture gives of the Woman's being made of one of Adam's kibs. It is very Common for the Sacred Writers to fubiti- £ute innocent Expreflions, in the room oi fuch as ar^ liable tpAhale; As when it fays that Jacob wentintt of the Sin of Man* 1 1 9 Egypt with threefcore and fix Souls that came outCb,i>Xir. of his Loins ^ and fo likewife in diverfe other like^Y^ Schemes of Speech. VII. The Woman who was taken out of Man, andvir. The endued with Faculties Divine, Reafonable and Cor-lVoman poreal-, and with Liberty to direct them like to wasOri- Man, was very fliort of that Perfection wherein A-g*ntkj 1 . dam was created. She could not for certain be more/^™/- in Perfect than he was, when (lie was taken from him •/M'tf'w tho' if weconfiderj that (lie was formed of the moii.lff2t0^Uu' PafTive Principle in Man, that (lie never had convers'cl with God in a Human Form *, nor felt the Divine Im- prefiions vouch faPd to Adam at his fir (I Creation -, that (lie received the Prohibition to eat of the Tree of Knowledge from Adam, and not immediately from God *, in fine, that being without Experience, Con- duct, or Habit, (lie was liable to the fir ft impreflions prefented to her; 1 fay, if we confider this, it will appear more, than probable, that (lie was not even of equal Perfection to him. VIII. Now Man, who knows the Nature of theviir.7%* Woman, his Duty was, to love her as himfelf, to re- Mutual gard her as one endued with a Soul Divine, and ere- Dimes of ated to be a living Temple of the Divinity \ and, in tie Man cenfequence hereof, to be extremely careful of her and Wo- Conducl and Information •, endeavouring to lead her w<». £>> to God whofe Image (lie was, and the Woman's was ftraftion to correfpond herewith, to accompany her Husband binders in the Contemplation and Love of God. But, alas, t'irlr Per' thefe Duties, tho' principally defigned by God in/ofrm^c& Marriage, were little thought on by this Difloyal °r em' Couple. The Woman, die, yielding to the firil Im- preftions of exterior Objects, rehlhed them with De- light, and was immoderately defirous of them, fuf- Fering her Imagination to ramble after every Senfe- pleaftng Object ^ while (the Man, leaving her to her- tclf, abandoned himfelf to like Diftra&ions. iX. Tho' the Re'S^el Angel, through Hatred of God, jx. The and Envy of Mankind, watch'd all Occauons to ef- intervene feci their Ruin -, he had no Accefs to, nor Power r,,w 0f ' th: Oi\i\ m the Fall of Man* H: bath of bmftlf no Power over I 4 over: 1 20 ' The Hiflory of the Continuation, &c. Chap. XI l. over our firft Parents, nor their firft Faculties, ^V^ as hath been evinced. They lived in contrary Ele- ments \ he in the Element of Sin and Darknefs,^ and they of Light and Blifs, tho' not in the fa- preme Degree. Now Light and Good are Durable and Communicative in their Natures, or in vir- tue of the Conftitution received from God *, (whofe Will is Conftant, Productive, Univerfal, Virtu- ous) they communicate their Imprefiions thro' the vait Extent of the whole Created Univerfe. But Darknefs and Evil, being Productions, not of the Divine Univerfal Will, but of that of the finful Crea- ture, it is impoffible and repugnant for them to a el: beyond the particular Liberty of the finful Crea- ture, and fuch things as are dependent on him*, and confequently the Devil was entirely Impotent in re- fpeel; of Man. sr tw X. Neverthelefs, as the Scripture teftifies, he was the Devil zfofo"% to tbe Fal1 of M^n, and (till aflifts to lead court- Men into Sin ", and, as * St. Paul exprefles it, to Rule bines to this World. It is worth our while to inquire into l ! the Origin and Increafe of the Diabolical Power. of Man. *Epbef.6.i?. XI. It is thus I conceive the Devil's Power to be XI. The begUn and increafed in the World. He is the firft ^aU*% .Aiitbar of Evil and Diforder -,and confequently where- * . ^ever Diforder and Evil is, there is his Element *, his f'p^l' Delight, and a Conformity to his Will', and there Thicbtbehe hath Power to Aft, to Operate and do his Will. Devil This Hiould fatislie them who will not admit the foi- batk, or lowing Suppofition, whereby this Matter is let. in a, may ck- clear and evident Light. tain over {he Creatures of this If or la1. It is to be funpofed, that before Man's Creation, and the Angels fall, this Earth, and all that it con- tains, was the Habitation of the Angels who after- wards rebell'd. Thefe Angels had originally Power to difpofe of the Bodies of the Univerfe, 'and to direct their Motions as they plea fed : But when they Ap6- ftatiz'd from God,- and thereby deprived themfdves of of the Sin of Man. 121 of the Light, Love and Happinefs Divine, every thing Cban-Xtf. fubjected to them fell into Confufion, Darknefs and W*V~^> Diforder fo as to become a Chaos *, which afterwards, God reformed, and from it formed the Earth, and placed Man upon it ^ till when it was all a Chaos of Irregularity, Confufion, Darknefs : Its Matter and Motions fubject to the dark Dominion of the Devil, to be governed bv his Will. But when God was pleafed to raife this beauteous World from it, it was then withdrawn from the Power and Difpofiti- on of the Devil. Nor was it juft that the Work of God fhould be fubjecl: to his Enemy, who had no right therein \ nor was able to receive the Impref- fions of its Beauty, much lefs to difpofe and direct its Motions. Every thing;, I fay, was then with- drawn' from the Devil's Power } but no fooner did any Creature of the Univerfe fall into Diforder, but it relaps'd into his Element, and was again united to his ancient Empire, who had Power then af- ter to difpofe and govern it in Proportion only to the diforder that was in it. XII. Now this is true, both in Spiritual and Ma- xil That, terial Things, as will be clearly conceivable, if we alt things, fuppofe in Spiritual Things, .that the Will is htt^both Spt* and that it happens to it even as it Wills: Ftomritualand whence it follows, that whoever doth freely refign Corporeal, himfclf to Satan, to do his Will, in him the Evil ^cams Spirit becomes ftrong and powerful to commit a\\fity*ft t*t fort ot Evils and Diforders ^ and as to inferior Things, wDevifi both fuch as compofe the Univerfe, and fuch as ate P°pr>°n~ ' properly parts of the Humane Body, as the Organs * >y4r of Imagination, of Senfe, the Paflions, Brain, Heart, aj*' Spirits, Blood, Humours, and his whole Corporeal /j^l. , Syltem, as far as they are ufed contrary to the De- an ™fr°m* fign and End of their firft Eftabiifhment -, or as Man, t/je 0rjer by his Liberty, Faculty and Conduct recedes tjiere^ 0f their from, they become fubject to the Devil,, who hath Nature* Power to act in and by them, according to the de- gree o( their Diforder. XIII. All that L have advanc'd in the foregoing xdt. of the Depress and Gates of the Potrer which the D'V:l hath over tbk Soulf and Bidies of Man. Book 122 The Hijlory of the Continuation, Sec. • ChapXII. Book fhews what properly is the End, the Order, ' Reality and Eftate of Things, according to the Efta- blifhment of God, and their Original Conftitution. It is alfo there furrkiently apparent how things ought to Conduct themfelves, fo that I need fay no more about them here. Now in order to conceive what degree of Power the Devil hath over any thing, let us fuppofe an Object endued with twelve de- grees of Reality and Perfection, and that by Man's Mif-conduct it lofes fix ; Half of that Object does then come under the Power and Direction of the Devil, who, as it becomes defective in Reality, fills its vacuity or deficience with Darknefs and Con* fufion *, and fo it becomes a Chaos of Confufion, more or lefs in proportion to the Abufe committed on it. This now is the Method of Nature in every thing •, fo that when Man abufes his Imagination about things of a mean or fordid Nature, it falls from the Order of its Conftitution, under the Power of the Devil, who can by his Will alone produce Irregular Moti- ons in it, imprint a thoufand dark and wicked Thoughts to feduce not Reafon only, but even the Faculties Divine. This is the great Gate through which the Devil enters into the Soul, where other- wife he could never come •, happy they who keep it flrictiy guarded. In like manner, when any does make his Senfes, his Eves, his Ears, his Tafte, his Pailions, and external Objects the fubjects of Abufe, they prefently return to the Dominion of the Devil, to be difpofed and directed by him, according tq the Extent, Duration and Strength of the Abufe, and to the Lois or Privation of Reality fuitained \ or, according as the Faculties are defective in Reality, and by that vacuity or defect are open and prepa- red for Diabolical Operations^ Darknefs, Confufiori and Diforder : In fine, according as thev are more or iefs degraded from the Order of their Couiti tut ions. Hence all that Power which the Devil hath over ex- ternal Objects, to difpofe and move them as he pleafes, to open the Eyes to Vanity, the Ears to Curiofity, to whet the Appetite to Gluttony and Excefs, to in- cline Co Luxury? Intemperance, Wrath arid all forts of of the Sin of Man. 1 2 J of vicious Paflions *, and, in a Word, to agitate the Chap.XIL Humours, Spirits, and the whole Mais of Blood, by V-^v^ the means of his Diabolical Will, as properly and truly as we move our Members, by the Intervention of our own *, and if Man con fen t unto his Motions, he enters into his Soul, to fow therein the Seeds of all fort of Vices; and if long entertained, becomes abfolute Mafter,and Man his mifcrable Slave. XIV. And this is confirmed by Experience, and by XIV. the Scripture, in which we read of Satan's difpofing both Hoi> of Men and Elements, and of every tiling in Nature, Scrspturet a thoufand ways ', of his inciting fome to Murder, co"flrm others to Idolatry, Intemperance, Madnefs, Pride, j! tb Impiety, Treafon, lying to the Holy Ghod, and to infinite other Sins, which increafe and multiply eve- ry day to that degree, that the far greater part of the Inhabitants of this wicked World are, like Ma- chines, moved and animated by him, according as St. John, in his Vifions, *forefaw the whole Earth fub-*Apcc. jett to the Dragon, and thereupon cryed out, | W* ll' *»4* to the Earth, and to the Inhabitants thereof, for the t Apoo .Devil is come down unto you, having great iVrath ',12, it, and it is upon this account that the Scripture fo earneftly exhorts Men to arm themfelves agakul the Devil, by purity of Body and Soul ', not to give him any entrance, that he may find nothing in us, in the Soul, the Will, the Imagination, Paiiions, Senfes, and Corporeal -Powers, of his own Element or Do- minion, under which whoever falls, is filled with Darknefs, Confufion and Dilbrder. Indeed, his whole Bufmefs is to watch whether by Dilbrder or Abufe we fubject any thing to his Dominion ', for which reafon St. Peter does well advife, f Be fiber, be ^'* * i Pet. s git ant, be cattle your Adversary the Devil, as a roaring t, Lyon, goes about feeking whom he may devour, wham refill jtedfafi in the Faith, i. e. Preferving the Soul in a continual Elevation toward God, and the Light which comes from him \ fo as never to yield to ir- regular Imaginations and Defires *, by which, as thro' a wide open Gate, the Devil enters •, that curled Spi- rit who itauds watching every where, and upon all OccafionSj to bring us into his Snares, XV, Thus 1 24 The Hifiory of the Continuation, &c. Chap XII. XV. Thus he caufed oar firft Parents fall from a ^pv-~ State of Amity with God and eternal Life, into eter- ^v\ A nal Death *, as is particularly related in the Holy particular §crj prures on the Text of- which it is not improper TbTrefp-10 make fome A10" Reflections, tatiorty the Serpents Intervention, and his Shape. Among the Objects which occafioned the Woman's Fall, the Scripture fpeaks of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, and of a Serpent that perfwaded her to eat of its Fruit. Now the Creatures being as yet not very fhort of the Glory of their firft E- irablifliment, to be fure the Serpents form was not fo monflrous and terrible asatprefent. This is felf- evident, and all that the Scripture fays upon this Subject evidently proves it : Thus when it. fays, that after Sin the Serpent was condemn'd to crawl upon his Belly *, it implies, that before it, he walk'd erect \ which is alfo implied in his neing condemned to eat the Dull, /'. e. to crawl with his Head upon the Earth*, and they who think that the Serpent took of the Fruit of the Tree, and gave it to the Woman, are obliged to own that he had Hands, as well as that he walk'd upright. His fpeaking (hews that his in- ward Organs were difpofed like thofe of the Hu- man Body : for tho' it be certain that the Devil can fpeak by the Air, or Organs in no wife refembling thofe of the Human Body \ yet at that time he could not, becaufe he had no Power over any Creature except what he afterwards had over the Serpent. Again, when the Scripture fays, that God put En- mity between the Serpent and Mankind, it implies that before they were familiar, as is apparent from his familiarity with Eve *, which is a further Con- firmation of his refembling the Human Shape \ Fa- miliarity being an effect of Likenefs : Which is alfo proved in that the Devil ufed the Serpent's Body to counterfeit himfelf an Angel of Light, or iMeffenger of God *, the Scripture is very exprefs, that hefpoke to Eve by the Organ of a Serpent, made her to believe the Divine Prohibition to be by them not rightly uriderftodd *> that it was perhaps of a limited Dura- tion, of the Sin of Man. 125 ^on, that the term of its Obligation was expired, Chap.XH. and that they might lawfully then after eat of the V-'"V"V*/ Fruit, attefting God to the Truth of what he faid, GOD DOTH KNOW. Now his counterfeiting an Angel of Light, makes it probable, that he appeared in a Human Form, as Angels ufed to do, which, it is certain, was the Serpent's Primitive Shape *, and whereas the Scripture fays, that he was cunning or •prudent above all Creatures, it argues, that he was Ingenious to imitate Man's external Behaviour, Mo- tion, Speech, Actions, Gefture, becaufe this is the only Idea one can form of Prudence in a Bead, who is not animated with a Soul Divine \ and this Imi- tation plainly argues a refemblance in the Fabrick of his Body, which whoever defires an Idea of, and of its Machinal Functions, mav fee a pretty juft De- fcription of by Des Cartes. To this I fliall only add, that fome Perfons * illuminated by God, have* T/ confirmed this Truth*, to the Light of whofe Wri- th™'0f tings I owe the difcovery of it, being very fenfible ji^ol 0"- I fhould never of my felf have come to the Know- an ^31' ledge of it, however plainly it is revealed in Scrip-* ieiCon- ture to an attentive Reader. version* in Entret. \th fays, it was the Opinion of St» Bafil. See M, Bourig- non. traitte du Nouveau CitI, &a Lettrc 5. Artie. 178. XV L As Ad.tm^ by a too great Affection to the XVI. The mod beautiful of Trees, had ftopt the Divine Influ- **<•»«* ence and Benediction on it, and inftead thereofA^«^^ brought a Curfe or a Privation of its Original Per-'^^r- fection *j fo the Woman by a too great Affection toPent > ar}d the moft beautiful of Beads, fubjeacd it likewife toe,he ,Man a. Curfe. By difapplyitig her felf from God, and re- J^J* . ceiving the Impreilions of this Creature with too 0e™L*ti' great a Delectation, (lie caufed both her felf and it fp0man, ro fall from the Order of their Nature, and fubject- ed both to the Power of the Devil. This gave him a huge Advantage. For tho' Adam, by his Irregu- lar Affection to the Tree, had fubjected it to his Pow- er, he could not however (peak by it: But the Ser- pent is a proper Organ to fpeak, and addrefs his Temptations to him by .* Accordingly, by the Di- rection 1 26 The Hifiory of the Continution, &c. Chap.XII. region of the Devil, he is made to fpeak, to walk S-/"V"V*' to the Tree, to entertain the Woman with Difcourfe about its Fruit, and to prefent the Temptation to her *, the Manner in which he did all this, pleafed the Imagination of poor Eve \ and hence the Devil gained more advantage to bewilder her' Imagina- tion more and more, to diffract her Senfes and her Paffions *, whereupon Reafon, in favour of the Temptation, fiaggefts the Excellence of Knowledge, and of reafoning well, of knowing every thing, and having clear and diftinct Ideas of Good and Evil, that Advantages like thefe cannot be purchafed at too dear a Rate *, that the Divine Prohibition need- ' cd not fo frrictly to be regarded, that perhaps God might not fee, or feeing not regard it. Poor Evcy her Imagination was too well pleafed with the Ser- pent's deluding Arguments, for her to flop in fo Smooth and plea fan t a Way, or refufe her felf the Advantage of refining her Spirit, and attaining Know- ledge by a Fruit of fo charming Beauty : The Profpect of thefe Advantages increas'd her defire of it, and in fine, (he eats of the forbidden Fruit, and by her ferfwafion, Adam heal fo ate. Adam^ I fay, entie'd y the Beauty of the Fruit, by his Tafte, his Senfes, Pafiions, Irregular Imagination, by a defire of per- fecting Reafon by a new Experiment, and reafon- ing juilly on all Occafions, by a Love to his Wife, he who fliould have (aid Anathema to whatever drew him off from God, forgetting God and his Charitable Admonition, conients to fulfill the Will of the Devil, and of his own Corruption, XVIL XVII. And thus the Divine Faculties of both Man How and Woman were feparated from the Light and Love Death Divine, and inclined to inferior Objects as their faffed o' Principle and End, their Light, and Object of their ver all. Acquiefcence and Delight. By the abufe of Liberty, Reafon is depraved, Imagination abandoned to vain and miferable Objects, the Senfes to an unbridled Liberty, the Pafiions and Senfvbility of our Nature given up to the Imp re (lions of every Obj ct. Thefe Faculties could no longer derive any influence of Light and Happinefe from the Divine, becaufc the\? of the Sin of Man. 1 27 were deprived of God, the only Source thereof-, nor Chap Xli. could they confequently tranfmit any to external v-/"Y"s*-> Nature •, fo that the Devil's Power increafed daily over exterior Things, and by means of them over the Soul and Body of Man, and over every thing fub jetted to him. All which by the Sin of Man fell back into a Chaos of Mifery and Darknefs, concern- ing which I fhall fpeak, hereafter. XVIII. Here we fee the Accomplifhment of Sin. XVIII. It is the pure effect of Liberty determining it felf, That Sin with too great Application, towards inferior Objects, %^9Jole adhering too (trongly to their Impreftions, and re-^/Tf"^ garding that as its End and Principal Object, which jl^er7 : is only of an AccefTory Nature, or a Mean to it$jj^/ Felicity. Hence the Genealogy of Sin muft be de- tion^Jnm rived. If Liberty refolve, the Acts and Confequences tjJer will necefTarily follow, as I demonftrated above, when ^w.; ig I treated of Preventing Grace*, and to what pur-w^Or- pofe is it to hinder Sin without, when that which cumflan- is within, being held in by force, would only fwell, t$4lt and harden, and increafe, to break out again with great- Sin might er ravage \ and fo would become more Incurable as have been well as Culpable, draw on feverer Punifhments, which c°mmit- are jullly due to the Will, or full formed defrgnof'^'* finning. tboufand ways — Vatitur p&nas peccandi I fola voluntas. without Nam fcelus^ intra fe, taciturn quicogitat itRum% Facli crimen habet. Hence it appears that theTree, the Serpent, &c. were only external Circumfiances of Sin, that afliited at its Birth *, tho' without them, it might have been brought forth. Every Creature might have been in- ftrumental to the Fall, if Man had placed his Af- fections on it, as fully as he did on the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. The Stars, the Elements, Me- tals, Flowers, Fruits, Animals, his Wife, himfelf, might have been occaiions of it \ had he, drawing his Affe&ions off from God, fought Happinefs and Delight in any of thefe contrary to, or befides the Order, End and Cuuititutiou of their Natures. That a Tree 3 28 Of the Effeffs of Sin in Man, and in Nature. Chap.XIH a Tree and Serpent were . the unhappy Occafions ^^V^-" of it, was not from Neceffity, Fate, nor from any unlucky Qualities in thefe Things." Their Interven- tion was purely Accidental. The Liberty of Man thought fit to fix upon them, tho\ when diftrac"t from God, it might have fix'd ort infinite other Ob- jects, and thereby have fallen into as deep an Abyfs. It is therefore clear, that the Sin of Man in its whole Progrefs and Circumftances is contrary to the Will, Decree, Confent and Divine PermiiTion. That Man was not dcftined to the Commiffion of it : Nor did God concur in his Temptation or his -fall, by determining the Motions of the Woman, the Serpent, or his Tongue, or any of the Thoughts, or Spiritual A;. rite' Of the Effects of Sin in Man, and in Nature. 1 29 - the * Oeconomy of the Creation, which I commend Chip XIH to the Confideration of my Render : I will here fpeak t/VNJ a little of them with reference to the inferior Fa'civl- ?*• !4> ties, and to external Nature-, and confider briefly I5* how things had gone in cafe the Redeemer had not intervened-, and Man. after his. Fall, had been left to himfelf, as the Rebel Angel was: And herelprd- mife an Obfervation, viz.. That as. Sin it felf is the pure effect ,0? the Will of Man, Without any Inter- vention on the part of Odd .\ So the Effects and Con- fequences which I (hall fpeak of, do naturally follow from that Sin without his Intervention; For as Sin is not, fo neither can its Confequences. be the effects of the Divine Decree of Will -, no fooner \% ic pro- duced, but it naturally produces its Effect, without any confent of God. They wholly, come from tffe abfence of a Conformity with the Will of God, the Effects of which may be conceived as follows, If. Firft, One may conceive in the Faculties Di- 1[. EjfiRs vine, earnefland void Defires, pre fifing Difquietudes,^;/* in extreme Pains, Efforts and Rage in the fu'preme De- Ai-?« •*.. gree,a dark Intelligence, terrible hunger after Satiety Corrupt and Acq'uiefcence, and neverthelefs, loathing, affright, Nature. horrour and lively terrors at the Manifestation of the Light and Love of God, efpecially at its fall dis- played Glory. One may conceive hefides a Refea'rch of that which cannot fatisfle, relllefs and anxiousEf- forts after Vanity, Darknels and Confulbn,' inward and infinitely feniible felf-remorfe, fu'riotrs Madnefs, and enraged Hatred of their vdry Etnng and Crea- tor *, and in fine, thefe tormenting' effects eternally; uicreafin'g i Theie are the Natural Confequences or the Fallot" Man3'not thatthey did immediately over; take him, but would infallibly by decree?- had he hc^n feft ufhto himfelf, as naturally attending the abience of the 'infinite Good from Faculties infinitely Senfible, Active, and Immortal. And here I note/ that when I (imply fpeak of Nature, or of corrupt Nature, or of the Natural Stare of M*f(, what m ft,4 is able?, or will do of himfflf after Shi, Without the Intervention of God's Grace., I tmderitand aft : and tfife other Eife£t$ 0/ $i&, wliich l proceed t«* IfiWil JC HI. S$j I jo Of the Effetts of Sin in Man, and in Nature. Chap.xni III. Efi feSs of Sin in Hu- man Re a- fan. Its Mifery, that it is leeome trne of Goas greateft Enemies, and mofl pernicious to Mans Salvation. Horrible Abufes commit- ted with this Idol. III. Secondly, Reafon being feparated from its Sun, the Light Divine becomes abfolutely dark, and in this reparation utterly incapable tb conceive Ideas con- form to tbofe of the Arbitrary Divine Conception .• It knows, perhaps, that there is a God, All-powerful and Perfect, but becaufe this Knowledge is confufc and void of the light of the Divine Word, and of the Joys of his Spirit, it can produce nothing but tor- menting Monfters and Chimeras: Befides this Source of Blindnefs, Reafon being guided by Imagination, Senfe and Paflion, its Infatuation is compleated by Pictures, Chimeras, Follies, continually prefented by them. Deprived of the Light Divine, and of the I- deas of the Divine Conception, it follows thefe as its only Guides, tho' the more it is exercis'd about them, the more it becomes involved in Darknefs and in Error, as appears by the Works of Men, in all Ages, moft celebrated for Science, there being no Opinion, however abfurd or foolifti, but what hath been advanced by them in one way or ether •, fome even maintaining (by a ftrange Illufion) that their wretched wbimfical Ideas, are no other than the Effential Wifdom of G.od himfelf : And as Human Reafon, or the defire of knowing Good and Evily and comprehending every thing by the activity of our Mind, is the Idol which hath moftiy eftranged Man from God, who feems otherwife to have main- tained his Ground againft fenfible Impreftions, till the Devil prefented this Temptation, You (hall be as Gods, knowing Good and Evil, fo it is moiT af- fected by the Curfe, I mean, of all the Faculties it is moft deftitute of the Light Divine, when it feeks Contentment and Satisfaction by its Natural Efforts: It is become the moft declared and obftinate Enemy of God : When Liberty leaves it to it felf, it exalts it (elf (like the Devil) into the throne of God, en- deavouring to create Light and Happinefs to it felf, by its natural Acts, its own defires, and attending to its own Ideas, which, tho' mere Chimera and Re- verie,it proclaims as the eternal Word, and real In- spirations, and Legitimates nothing but what is con- form thereto : Now as in this Eilate it is entirely void Of the Effects of Sin in Many and in Nature. i ji void of God, fo folid Truth, which can only come Ch p '/Alt from his uncreated Light which inlightens every Maa ^^VN^ that comes into the World *, muft needs be in com-, pnhenfible unto it, becaufe this Light can be re- ceived only by a Soul thatafpires to it, in an entire vacuity of all Lights and Ideas of Reafon, and of ail defire befides that of doing the Will of God : Aucim fan fohs fecours nc fauroit fe defends e D'un million d'Errcurs qui coarrcnt V Afficgcr * Et depnis q'un E9prit refufe de f Entendre^ Qnoiquil pkiffe comprendre ll rfen pciit bien j tiger. Says the. pious Ahmpls •, and the God of Truth him- felf hath fworn, that except * the Wifemen of the * Jo. 5. &; World, the Difciples of Human deprav'd Reafon, Mat. 18. V, convert, they cannot fee or know, much lefs enter into the Kingdom of Heaven :> becaufe Human Wif- dom is foolifiinefs with God, it is a way of Error and Diitrac~tion, as it was to our firft Parents. .. It had been certainly the moft extravagant folly for Adam and Eve to think the fain tar y Light and BlefTed- nefs attainable by the defire of knowing Good and Evil, and by eating the Fruit of the Tree of Know- ledge *, fince it was the ready way to be deprived of them : Nor is it lefs extravagant and filly to think one can work out one's own Salvation, and recover the falutary Light and BlefTednefs, by adorning Rea- fon, and treafuring up Knowledge, by, I know not what, natural Prayers and Dehres, and by the la- borious Attention of a Soul hungnng for the Ideas of Human Reafon, z. e. by Means which God hziti no where prefcribed or taught us in his Gofpel., The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil is different. from what it w?.? heretofore. Men fubftitute in its room the Volumes of worldly Authors, that give de- luding hopes of Truth and Happinefs, and arc of 2 far more pernicious Nature than the Tree of Knowr led£?. Our defire of knowing as God's Good and. Evil, and of Divinizing our Realon and Ideas, is alio inn-, liitely greater and more enormous than that of our hril K a K, c ts — -■ J— i— -■■' '■ ■■ ■ ■-lim..j«_xMilt_ljM,.ui„ || ■■—■'■■* i—. ■_ 1^2 0/f/tf £jf£$i 0/ 67/z *» Mz/;, W in Nature. Chap XIII Parents, who never ran into the hideous extravagance V^"*V~^~ of our new Philofophers, who Divinize their Reafon and its Ideas -, and behdes, we gratifie this corrupt de- fire of Knowledge, not only without Scruple, but with nniverfal Applaufe \ and whereas Adam committed this Sin but once, we repeat it a thoufand times. It is not therefore to be wondred at, that Men are at pre Pent fo horribly eft ranged from God, and Con- vention with him : That fome doubt of his inte- rior Operations in the Hearts of Men j and almoff. all denv that lie communicates himfelf to Men at pre- fent: That they who profefs to believe it have fo different Notions of it, and live as if God and Eter- nity were mere Chimeras, and all their Interefts were ♦Cogit. of a Temporal Worldly Nature. Such are. the, Na- Rat de rural Fruits of our adhefion to Human Reafon, which, I)eo,&c- fe pa rate from the Light 'of Faith, is Abfurd, Impious inDifcur- and even Aflieiftical-, but having in * another Treatife Ju praeli- cieduced thefe things more largely I forbear to profe- mman. cute tjlem jlere# IV. in IV. I have no defign wholly to extinguish, or dif- what approve the life, much lefs the lawful uie of Reafon. Senje T lie- 1\\\ that I have advane'd concerning it in the firft togate Rook, skreens me from this Sufpicion. Ionlyfpcak from /?^-0f the abufeof Realbn,- or of its Nature and Opera- {on ; aha tions ni a fv]an deprived of the falutary Light Divine, 1V a °n' or w''0 ^th not Vet recovered, tuor doth feek after, rejpettit nor c011fu|t t{Klt Ligltf in a due Difpofition and Pre- zs more parec{ne{sof Heart \ and I affirm of fuch a one, that •pernicious U r 1 • \ • 1 \a "d c'^ {{ \* * , c , Keaion produces in him only Momtersor Polly, Er- 1 0 OUr 0 r-,()1 ^Pa]i<; !l-'c-j in:lV find out, and de. Productions bf JRrafin a-e o>a:«f?r#t4 Of the Effttfs of Sin in Maw, and in Nature. I ? J monllrste many Curious Things. Now not to enter C^p.XUi into the detail of thefe Carious Things, I only an- S-'"V"V^ fwer, that they are fuch follies as Beads are guilty of when the fweetnefs of a Bait decoys them into fnares of inevitable Ruin. Except in the Regulation of our Concjuf]: we obferve a juft Proportion between Infinite and Finite Eternity and Time ; all that we do is nothing worth; and if Reafon fail to do (b (as, when feparate from God, of NecePiity it mull) it is dtfpifable and pernicious. W. Now all thefe Di {orders and Confufions dbtyi. -fodt not fo come from the Divine Decree, as if when Mm %hs De- refufes to apply and give up his Faculties to God \fravatioxi God, to punifli him for it, did Decree or Will that of He afon his Reafon fhould be obfcure and dark , and that/it are not would not be fubjecT to thefe Diforders without ttys decreed fo punitive Decree. On the contrary, could Man,G^;r>W while feparate from God, retain right Reafon, pr. -yr^ any other Advantages of Nature, freely would God *r* rrttb" give them to him. He envies his Creatures no good ™*J"/D „ Gift, nor deprives 'em of the lea ft Reality r'^^tnem^ with an incomparable Patience and Forbearance re- w"tb()llt flrains the Evils, which, except his Providence M- fyfbt terpos'd, would overwhelm us in a Moment. BfotQgafyL a* there is, nor can be any other Source of Light, of Happinefs and Truth befides God himfelf m9 fo Rea- fon, feparate from him, cannot be regular and well conducted. To fuppofe the contrary, iuppoles God to deny himUlf as the Source and End of all Things. VII. It may be perhaps ohjecled, fince God bath vir. At given to Things a Power to dure, to act and repro- objection, duce themfelves, even while they are feparate from and An- his Grace, as appears In wicked Men.- Why is it db-f&ercoi:i furd to fay, that they retain Right Reafon, tho' fe- Nothing parate from fys laving Light? Right Reafon is only an(i*tts a Mode of Being, bu,t geiug it fell, and the RLepjo- Barren- duaion of new Beings are more abfolute and real*'-/* are Things-, and why may not a Man (hat is feparate 'l?f p'operf from, the Light Divine, retain Right Reafon, W*^!-/ cpnduft himfeif according to it, as well as retain -* lVins y.'h.tt is more Abfolute and Real ? I aafwer. This urcc\ K 3 Qj'icftioq I J 4 Of the Effects of Sin in Man, and in Nature, Chap.XFH ftion comes from our Ignorance of the thing in que- x^yrv> {lion, Whatever is of an Abfolute Mature and Rea- lity *, t e. is given Abfolutely, NecefTarilv Suhfifts, and dares, and afts whatever happens', but things whofe Nature, and Reality depend on their Relation and Correfpondence with other things neceilarily fall into ruin and diforder, when this Relation and Cor- refpondence ceafes. Now the ufe of Reafon, or Right Reafon depends on fuch a Relation and Correfpon- dence. It is the Exercife of our Arbitrary Concepti- on in imitation of that of God : So that if the prefence, Knowledge or Light Divine are abfent from the Soul, it cannot Arbitrarily deduce ideal Images of God, as not having any folid fubftantial Knowledge of him by the Light Divine : When God, or the Word Di- vine do not Illuminate a Soul, its fund is dark, and it is without Right Reafon. It is naturally and ne- cefTarily fo : The Divine Decree do's not iriterpofe to hinder or Eflablidi. It is the Neceffary Courfe of Things, Error and Sin and whatever is defective in reality have no need of the Divine Eftablifhment or Decree to make them what they are. ^H'JT y^*' If now' any think that thefe things are not tT] a a1iWaVs and abfolutely true*, and that Experience Men do foews tjjat many petfonc tho' deprived of the Light l"fim$ufe Divine,J doon m^ny occaflons, ufe their reafon right- tMir Rjea-^i^ * ^artner ^d that Man is not to be considered (onriXtly ^imP^V" as irl his prefent State, in which, God, by his J 6 Grace, indeavours to reftore him from the Fall, and continually (heds abroad the rays of his faving Light-, but He is to be confidered as when feparate from God, and what this Separation would have brought upon him, if God had left him in it. Man, now, hath it in his Power to confult the Eternal Light*, and tho' the Faculties Divine neither feek nor yet ad- mit it*, Realbn, neverthelefs, is in fome meafure ftrengthened and illuminated by it *- becaufe this Light is always at the Gate knocking to be admitted l>7 us: But then when" it do's reject its it produces mere Monlrers and Chimeras^ They who defire to lee a large Account of Reafons, Produelions, in this Fibre are deflred to Read over the Account which • St, Of the Effetfs of Sin in Man, and in Nature. 135 St. Paul gives Cb. 1. of his Epiftle to the Romans fr.CtapXIII 21. to the End, relating to the Heathens: and alfo V^V>J the 2d Cb. relating to the Jews,who, tho' they cnjoy'd the benefit of 'Revelation, meafured their Obedience to it, by the rule of Depraved Reafon, and not of Faith. IX. As to the Imagination. Before the Fall it was Subject to Reafon's Conduct, and how it mud ma-lX'fy^flj nage this Power after the Fall is eafy to Imagine:'?" Stn in Altho', Reafon having given it up to the ImprefTions^ {'Ms'" ofSenfe, of Paflion, and External Objects by a \u\\"atlonI{i and free admiflion of them into the Imagination, it^^jj cannot be faid to be governed by if, but is w^°^y^%^0 influenced by thefe ImprefTions which draw, delude J and confound it a thoufand ways. So that, in confe- quence of the Fall, Imagination will be wholly influ- enced by the lively Imprcfiions of Celeftial Bodies which penetrate, move, and form all Earthly things, as Imagination actuates the, Corporeal Senfes ana Humours, and is reciprocally imprelTed by them, and this will be a Source of perpetual Errors, Delu- fions, and Infenfibility unto it : And it may fo hapr pen that when the habitual Conduct of Liberty hath been for a while, machinally as it were, determined by thefe ImprefTions , if we know the manner in which the Imagination firft received them, and alfo the Combinations of Celeftial Bodies and of their Actings, and the Natural Changes happening in them : One may eafily forefee the future Conduct of the Imagination, and by Confequence of the whole Man. Upon this Principle Judicial Aftrology is built, which is not, as feme would have it, a Science without Foundation. But I do not pretend to fpeak of theX. M his great and terrible °' r1™' Fall wasjiot till after he had Eat thereof. The per- ZfrlVur* nicious Effects of Unwholfome Nourifhmeut, and con- p^^s tagious qualities upon the Body and Mind of Man, ,-„ C0Y1reJ are generally known: How by them the humours, qUence 0f the Blood and Spirits, and by Confequence the tma- eat in? tfa, gination, Reafon, and whole Soul of Man are vitiated forbidden and depraved, & ± Dulcia fruit. 1 26 Of the Effects of Sin in Man, and in Nature. ChapXUI WV*^ Dulcia fe in b'lemvertent, St 0 macho que tumult um Lenta feret pit tilt a\ prides1 ut pallidas onmis Ccsna dc. fur gat dub la. ' Qttin Corpus onuftum J^efiemis Z:itiis\ animum q'uoque pragravat una At que afpgit hnmi divina particulam Attir&\ So pernicious is the Erfttt ef Pcyfcn, that by it the Confutation of the Body 'is' changed or deftroyed, the Soul is ftapifyM, and a thoufand Diforclers intro- duced : And fuch the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge needs mult be, when bis adhefiori to' it had caufed the Divine Benediction to withdraw, and fili'd it with a Curfe. By eating of this contagious food his Body was Poyfoned, Death and Corruption entred, and overfpread his Perfon, all Nature, and his pofterity. XLImE/- XI. And thus the Humours, Blood, and Spirits of fiels in Man were tainted, the effects of which Reafon and the Ptjfi imagination tailed, by their Subje&ion to ftrange ens.andsn Jmpreffions. The Paffions ufurped, Dominion inclin- J^afon. ing immoderately to what was pleating *, and furious againft whatever was not pleafing to them. The too great Extent and Exercife which Liberty allowed them, and the Corruption of the whole Mafs of Blood, 'and Humours, and Mans incapacity to re- duce tbefe rebel paffions rendred their irate Incurable by the Power of Man, who was' not the Source of Reality •, nor united to, Dead as he was to the Light of Faith, and to Love Divine: Hence Reafon became more darkened, and confufed, tyrannized by the moft tormenting , uneafy, violent and furious Paffions t whereby he was more eft ranged from a fober juft Mo- rality, than from Right Reafon. ' :XI!. Bf: XII. We may eafily judge what effects Sin had feelt of upon theSenfes; by thofe it had upon the Human Bo- Stn in tbcd\ri and Exteriour Objects: Which hereby became Senjes andvefy limited in their Nature, not Subjeft to Liberty Body of of Liberty, repfeTenting only the outfide ofThingsl Man, and and that in a very grofs and fading manner compared fa the with their Original State: The Order, Proportion, World a- anc} regularity of things was difturbed : Diforder bout him* everyWhere prevailed, and had the upper hand, in the ~ Of the Effects of Sin in Mxn, and in Nature. 137 the Active powers of Nature:, fo that life and vivacity Chap.XHJ were only to be found in diforder and in an irregular or painful manner : And hence our fenfes felt no Tem- perature in things, but heat and cold in the Excefs 1 The Body itfelf became Dark, Grofs, Heavy, De- formed and Monftrous, by reafon of the Diforder of its Humours and whole Conftitution. Even Man himfelfwasafhamed to fee his Monftrous Deformity : He was Subject to Infinite Infirmities and Difeafes, everything in his Nature being out of Order: He p-v^ht be fitly called a Collection of GrofTiiefs, Ebul- litions, Obftruftions, HardnefTes, Diftipations, bad Impreffions from every Creature, Continual Combats, Corruptions,Vermines, SicknciTes.and after all Death :, in confequence of which he mud, whether he will or not, leave his beloved Wife with whom he had too ea- Cly comply'd, and the Tree that charmed him with its lovely fruit, and all other Trees growing in the Garden cultivated by his Labour, and the Garden too where his Dwelling was -9 and the whole Earth, and the fhort Dominion he had upop it, fo unhappily abridged by indeavouring to extend it beyond the Order EftablihYd by God among his Creatures* Linquenda tellus, & Domus & placens Vxory neq\ harum quas coils Arbor tun Te prater invifas G-preffos %Jlla breve'm Dominum fequetur. Nor was the leaving them to be regretted by hirv No, it rather was a happy Releafe from the Evils which he himfelf had produc'd in Nature. For, having forfaken God, and in him the Source of Ligh: and BleiTcdnefs, and become hereby fuch as I. have cc- frribed. Neither He 'who was appointed to goven = Nature*, nor his Body through which as through a (phanel the Divine Benediction paffed upon the Uni- verfe could difpenfe any thing befides Diforder and Confuilon to inferiour Creatures, fpoiling and de- stroying whatever thev ufed. The Creature received no Luminous Imprefilons from his Body, nor could they Communicate any to one another. The Virtuous " ' Powers 1 ' — ^ »M«mMMi 138 Of the Effetts of Sin in Man, and in Nature. Cbap.XUI powers defigned by their Original Conftitution to be V^r^ actuated, preferved, and quickened by Man who li- ved among them, decayed, and for want ofnourifh- mentdyed away : Or ceafing to fally forth to revive each pther, they oppofed themfelves by inward, Tu- multuary, Confufe, Violent Motions and Endeavours. XIII. And thus we fee how Light and Glearnefs, Xllhlne- Beauty, Goodnefs, Tranquillity and Plenty depar- gularttyeftt<\ from the World*, and in their room fucceeded Mature by Darknefs, Denfity, Groffnefs, Corruption, Malig- Sl*> nity, continual Oppofitions, Barrennefs \ all natural EfTeels of the prefent irregular State of Nature : From whence at length proceeded all fort of Confu- fions and ExcerTes*, the difordered motions and acti- vity of the Creatures dividing themfelves, and acfing on every fide in unequal meafures and degrees. And hence the fury of the Elements, the Malign Influence of the Heavens *, the definitive Nature of Fire •, Tem- pefts and the hurtful inconftancy of Fire and Water .• Hence the Hardnefs, Coldnefs, Opacity, and Cor- ruption of the Earth and Earthly things, and the Pro- duction of a thoufand Pernicious and Monftrous, Things : And in fine, hence the Rebellion of every thing againft Man, as wras moft juft, that he by whom Diforder entered into, and difturbed the Creatures, and who could Communicate nothing but Diforder to them, fhould not be obeyed by them, as before : And here we fee all Nature by the Sin of Man ready to fall into a Chaos of Darknefs and Confufion. XIV. Now tho' immediately after Sin, thefe Evils, |HV #%were not accompli fit 'd in their full meafure and De- ibeExtre- gree *,'they were however its infallible effects, as the tj of tbefe Event would have made appear, had they not been 'Evils did fnfpended by the Mediatours Intervention: And not bejal therefore to conceive the State of Things after the ^*n' Event of Sin, we mufl imagine the World to be be- come a Hell, full of all fort of Miferies, and Man in the Middle of it, as an IncaraateDevil confined to it. Lo, here we fee Man in a itate far different from that of his Creation \ ftript of that Cloathing with which he was array'd when he came forth of his Creator's hands : From a Temple of the Bleffed Trinity, and a Of the Effects of Sin in Man., and in Nature. 1*9 Friend of God, from being illuminated by God, and ch^£'™* fill'd with Celeftial Joys : From reafonable fwim- ining in Delights, from being Lord of all things, and the Channel of the Divine Bleffings to them : From Immortal, Powerful, Luminous, Fair, Good, Happy, and fill'd with all Goods *, we fee him, I fay, become wicked, an Enemy of God, Companion of Devils, Ignorant, Tormented with terrour and with fadnefs, Brutilh, Miferable, a Slave, a Source of Malediction, Corrupt, Dark,Weak,Vile,Wretched,laden with Tor- ment, and all fort of Miferies. And whence alas this Curfed Change? Who is the Caufe thereof. Who hath contented to it, Decreed it, or Confirm'd it ? Is it from God, or from his Decree? Ah, it only comes from the Decree of the Devil and Man •, they,they only- Willed, Decreed and Confented to it againft the Di- vine good Pleafure, who hath and will imploy all pof- fible means to flop the Courfe of thele perniciousEvils, tho' except Man con fen t no Remedy can be found. XV. in the production of thefe Evils God can be XV. God conceived no otherwife concerned than as con fen ting never wil* that Man fliould be, and continue free.- And that led any of his Lot ihould be as Liberty fliould chufe : He never thefe directly will'd that Liberty fhould come into its pre- thingsj>w fent Incongruous form : He is a God of Order5 and *beir cor^; not of Confufion *, and the Corruption of Man or Na- tr*riei» " ture is not an Effect of his Order and Decree*, but fo contrary to it, that he not only ufed all poilible means to hinder it •, but after its Event fafpendecl its ruinous Effects in Nature to make way for a Re-eftabliihment of all Things.- As will appear hereafter. XVI. We mud: not think that the Curfedenounc'd upon the Earth, its bringing forth Thorns and Thi- rties : The Womans painful Child-bearing -, Man's la- , borious Life, and at the Conclufjon of it his Death p J which God declared foon after Sin, were inflicted by y* * him as a Pamlhment of their Sins3 and mark of hismrs. ]t3 Anger. It is a rule of Inviolable and Eternal Truth,*r^Cfw of Thorns : The Labour , Pains, and D?ath> which God declared to Man, a e not fefuive Parufhments i7ifiitted by htm s nor can be fa id to ptntjhy but as he permits tt to happen to Ma-h according to his f¥orly, Hoiv God is concerned in tt» that i ^o Of the Effecis oj Sin in Man, and in Nature. ChapXUl thai God never punifhes in a pofitive and proper Senfe,infli£Hna Spiritual or Corporeal Evils: Becaufe ?tis ImpolTible for God To to do, Evils being a Repug- nance or Contrariety of Things to theirOriginal State, which it is impious and abfurd to impute to God the. Source and Origin ot Perfection, Reality, Ord^r, and Agreement to and in all things *, but not of priva- tions and Diforders : It is true m Scripture God is faid to Punifh, when he permits things to happen ac- cording to Man's Will and Difpofal of them, thp* con- trary to their Original Order and Efrablifnment : God needs only leave things to dure and act in the Diforder to which they are reduced by Man, and im- mediately all Nature, and all that is in Man confpire to opprefs him without God's Direction or Interven- tion, unlefs he vouchfafe gracioufly to interpofe either to open the Sinners Eyes that he may fee his Works *, or to defend from thefe Evils them who abandon them- -felves to his Divine Mercy:, or to relieve theSinner^ if he be diipoled to repent, lb bringing forth Good from Evil, or laftly to reftrain by his Almighty Pow- er thefe Evils from filling all at once upon the Sinner, not fuffering them to overtake him •, but bv degrees,fo to difpofe him to refleft upon, and know himfelf and teach him to forbear to continue ancj increafe the terri- ble Load. But when infinite Love fees that there is no hope of his return, it permits Events \o happen according to the Natural courfe of things, whereupon the Sinner natura^y falls into the forementioned State of Dark- nefs, Confufion and Diforder as neceffarily attending his Separation from God, the enly Source of Light and Biefiednefs : So that God punifhes only as a Phyfi- cian, who, when a Patient refutes to be regular, and to take the remedies prefcribed leaves him to his Ca- price and intemperance : It is therefore Man alone who punifhes himfelf in that he Ruins, Reprobates, and Damns himfelf. O Israel thou haft deftroyed thy :, but in me is thy help : Thy own wiciednefs jhull correct thee^ and thy Uackjflidiags (hall punijh thee \ thou f/j.ilt know and fee that thy ALfery and thy Bittermjs (■'.'< COffje iron; foi tkiflg the Lo;y{ thy Cod^ and that in m& Of the Effects of Sin in Man, and, in Nature. 141 tae there is nothing to be feared by thee. This is the Chap XIII fenfe of the Original : God is a Source of pure Reality (-^V^O and Perfection : And Man when he departs from God can find nothing elfe but Vacuity and Imperfection. XVH. XVII. When therefore uori is reprefcnted in xhziVhenGod Scripture, as denouncing a Curfe upon the Earth, " faid to pains to the Woman* and labour to the Man, they are threaten properly no more than Charitable Advertifementsor'° Pu" what the Natural Effects of Sin will be; that Manm^ Man may accordingly conduct himfelf, and pnofit by them : Pr*fejb The increafe of pain and farrow at Chi Id- bear \x\g'feav'2£ which he foretold is an effect of his Charity toward e; ony, . tartta* Mankind. Should the Woman, now that the Ele-£^(> ments are irregular and corrupt, bring forth foon af-£/f'^J ter her Conception before the Infant was ftrong araaous enough to fuftain the Impreftions of the Air, and ofrfdver- External things, the ftate of Man would be more Mi- tifements* ferable than at prefent. All almofl would be abortives from their Birth: And therefore God's care and love for Man, hath gracioufly provided againft this Mif- chief, by ordaining that Children fhould be inclofed in the VVornb, till they were ftrong enough not to be injured; by the Impreftions of External things *, whofe good Order had it not been difturbed, it is probable Procreation would have been much quicker without the Inconvenience of bignefs, and of pain which ate Decenary Effects of the prefent flow Method of Pro- creation, and of Sin, and there are forne, who in Ho- nour to the Virgin State, have believed the Man and VvToman would have procreated Children without any carnal Commerce or Defire, continuing in their Vir- gin State, as will appear poftible at leall, if we con- sider that the VefTels which contain the Eggs of vvhich Men are Born are in the Woman, and that thefe Prin- ciples of Procreation might have been brought forth, by a Love of God, Joyncd with a Defire of producing new Beings lifte ourfelves to love and praife'him :, and in like manner Man mighthave committed to them this Principle of Fecundity purely by an Act of Love to God, joyned with a Deiire of reproducing Creatures like nimlelf to love and praife him, and Io Conjugal Love would have been only the Holy Defire of two pure arid 142 Of the Effects of Sin in Man, dnd in Nature. gfrap XIII andVirgin Souls,to co-operate in producing Creatures V^V^ like themfelves in the Sole View and Love of God. But Sin being brought forth, it filled the Soul with Carnal, Brutifh, Senfual, Voluptuous Defires, all which together with the Corruption of the Elements changed the wa,y of Procreation to what it is, the Brutality of which, Man, immediately on his fall, was fo afhamed of that he was forc'd to hide himfelf. There are moreover, even among Filh, In- conteflable Examples of the Poffibility hereof-, I fay the Poffibility *, becaufe whatever probable Argu- ments there may be that this was the way of Na- ture :, I pretend not to any Evidence of Demonftra- tion *, all I affirm as certain, is, That antecedent to Sin , every thing was in a good and perfect State: And that all Evil, Suffering, and Diforder are Effects of Sin, and not of God,, who interpofed only in tempering the Sinners Sufferings, and de- clared them to him only, in Charity and Good- will. He warned him of the Barrennefs of the Earth, to prevent his being furprized by want or Famine ^ by expecting Vainly that it fhould yield its Fruits, as at firft, of its, own accord *, and cha- ritably taught him to prevent this Evil by La- bour and by Care. He predicted to them Pains and Death that they might prepare themfelves by Patience, receive it with Humility, as the fruit of their Difobedience, and ceafe from Committing Sin0 Laft of all he drove them from the Tree of Life,' [which was pr6bably the Fruit referred by God for the Nourifhing.iUs own Body, ] Lead: by a continual eating of it they fhould perpetuate their Mifery to themielves: Worfe, infinitely worfe had been the State of Man, had God permitted all his own Works then to fail upon his Head. . However the little which he began to tafte thereof, was only the Effect of his own Sin. And thus by cms Man Sin entred into the World •, and Death by Sin, [ /. e. all the Confufions that produce it,G And fo Death pafjed over all, all hdviftg finned in one. ■ All the Creatures are Subjell unto Vanity^ [/. if 'to a Vacuity of Good,] Hoi wittingly $ but by him who hath fiibjetled them unto Of Original Sin. 14? unto it : [ i. e. by Man his ufing them contrary to Chap.XIV • ihc End and Defign for which God had made them.] CHAP. XIVT. Of Original Sin. Five Opinions concerning it. The four frft Rejetfed. I. fawiitfJtotesa H E fad Effefts of our firft Parents Sin were not limitted to their finglei. The De- Perfons, but extends to their Vo-fign of the fterity : And this is called OngxmX follofving Sin, and is a Subject of incredulity matters. to fome, of Raillery to others, of Imaginary Fictions unto many, and of admiration to many well difpofed Souls. Who tho* they do not evidently and diftinftly comprehend, do neverthelefs in Reverence to the Holy Scripture fully believe this lamentable Truth : Tho' to comprehend flow by one Mans offence, all can become Sinners is a Myftery too deep for them. It mull be acknow- ledged that this Truth appears hard to be digefted, and fome who in general do own the Doctrine ^ pre- tend however that it is fo Incomprehenfible, and Dif- proportioned, not to fayoppofite to our Reafon that it needs an Authority no lets than the Divine to con- vince us of it. Now I defign to (hew that Original Sin is a thing- mod eafy and natural to be compre- hended , that the contrary Suppofition is in all re- fpects impoftible and inconceivable confidering Man in his Laps'd Eftate: From whence this important Truth will be illuftratcd •, but alfo the abfolute Necef- fiiy of the Grace of God to remedy Sin by a free Par- don and Efficacious inward operation, will be evine'd, without which every Defcendant of iinful Adam had been a very Incarnate Devil, damned from the Birth. ,, p II. Now fome there are who abfolutely deny Originals ;,//£ nl,-. Sin : Others, they make it to confift in evil Bents and^j*; /0^m inclinations, and then only to be Culpable when fol- rfnww Qri£ in at ftfo A fifth and true Opinion of it* lowed 144 Of Origin d Sin. Cbap.XIV lowed by us.- Others, tbey fanfie it to be prqpaga- 1/ys ted only by the Imagination : Others, by the wa'V of actual Imputation, made, as they imagine, by the Decree or Will of God : All which Opinions are alike abfurd. Mod true it is, that ever fince the Fall, O- riginal Sin is not Iefe Natural unto Man, than for a Shoot to be of the fame Nature with the StecK -from which it grows .* Or, for all things that are contain- ed in their Seeds or Principles, to be actually or po- tentially of their Nature : But I will endeavour to explain thefe things in a more particular Manner. III. The III. In the fir ft place, fuch as deny Original Sin, I fir/i Opi- make no fcruple to affirm, they are either Wicked nionexa- Men puff'd .up with Pride, or blind and ignbrantof mined. Spiritual Things, or they partake of both. In ori- Libert? ginal, as well as in ali other Sin, two Things are to vttngCulfo confidered, the Guilt and the Punifhment *, the fable, its former js properly committed only by the indivi- extends/o6^1 Liberty that Sins- But becaufe this Liberty is 'every Sl°Q]^V Part °^a Subjeft with which it makes one Whole thin? it isox Compound v and becaufe whatever is in it, is fub- annexd iec^ to its Difpoial, its Faultinefs is tranfmitted to all to; and that is contained in it, which is Culpable by virtue eonfe- of its Natural Participation, i.e. fince the whole is quently fubject to Liberties Direction \ the whole partakes the ?u- of its Good or Evil, its Blame or Praife, and of every mfhment thing that is common to it *, even as every Member affadotb. cf the Body partakes of the good or bad Difpofitiori of the Head or Heart. Or if we defire to conceive this Truth under another Form ; On.e nay fuppofe Man's E (Tencc to confift in Liberty, and that this Liberty is plac'd in a vaft Field of Action, and Hands expos'd to an infinity of Objects, With Power to vary its Conduct, with relation to them. Now if Liberty Sin, by applying to fuch certain Object-, the Faultinefs or Guilt returns On Man's entire Et- fence ■, and however it Acts then, after his Effencc and Acting Power, muft he Culpable,' as cc'htinuin*, ftill the lame any cliverfuy of Objects, or ways of Acting. For Liberty being Culpable hi it felt, what- ever Object it applies it felt unto, il'xftr««es >r* C'ut- pability with it > and hentfc we lee the Ex w^b is what Logicians'call .pjioratio LUnchi. fldtnso- The Quell ion is not how Children do actually Sin, tiginal Sin, by tin Cthivpcn of the Imdgi1Wfbn\ according to the &>$»• thefis of Malbrai s the ^ '.-. ., but Of Original Sin. 149 but how thev are Sinners, and guilty before any a-Ch.ipXIV ctaal Sin. Now they who recur to the Imagination, vwv^~ it fdf not Evil :, and becaufe, if it were, God, who 15, according to their Hvpothefis, the fole Caufe of the Union of Soul and Body could not add one Evil to another : As to the pretence of fuch who fay, that Sin is imputed neither to the Body, nor to the Soul of Man, but to the whole Suppofitnm which is pro- duced by the Parents, it deferves noanfwer, Ml. If the XII. Let us then obferve as a fundamental Prin- &>«/* ef ciple, that every Spirit created by God, isneceflarily Men mere Illuminated, Juft and Holy \ not indeed in Habit, but ,w^1' Actually and by Origin \ God being the Author of auly ^ ,, its Teing and Conftitution, there can be nothing in^'j^i/ it unacceptable to him. If therefore the Souls of Jou)dbe Men were created immediately by God, they mud oriLn^y of neceffity be originally Illuminated, Juft and jui 4„^ Holy. Boly. XIII. Now this is directly contrary to Experience, XTir T^ and to the boctrine of Original Sin which teaches, oodrtm that the Soul is originally Impure and Culpable as^o*-/'**- well as Dark. If then the Doctrine of Original Sin „a/Sin is be true, that of the Soul's immediate Creation muft incon/ifi* be falfe, as certainly it is. em wnb the Creation °f Souls* XIV. They who fuppofe Souls to be created im- XIV. If mediately by God cannot maintain Original S'\n,So:ls a*e without being injurious unto him: For the Effect orcrea-e^ Product of a Caufe that is Juft and Good neceflarily im™di- bears the Character of its Perfections:, nor can &£*/% become Unholy, except by its own free Act. That J^ ^ /-? which in it (elf is Holy, doth perfevere in Holinefs conjeCurm fill it freely admits contrary Impreflions prefented pale 0,t\ b'j their own fre A&% I 4 tg 152 Of Original Sin, C^ap.XIV to it. To fay, that evil Impreflions can be made up- N^V^ on the Soul, and received by it, without its Confent, is injurious unto God, in that it fuppofes him to Iiave placed our Souls, tho' Innocent and Holy in fuch Circumftances, that they are infallibly doom'd to Sin, which is a very Impious AfTertion •, tho' according to ttlis Suppofition, if a Holy Soul be Impotent to de- fend it (elf from evil Impreffions, and this Impotence be not from its own Default, but from Necetiity, it will be in no wife Culpable , and tho' it were indeed Culpable by this Means, it would be properly not by Imputation, but Actual Sin. %V^thee "■ XV. There are only three conceivable Ways of frays of being a Sinner *, by Origin, by Habit, and by Act. being a The'ftrft of thefc is abfolutely rejected by fuppofmg . Sinner, by Souls to be immediately created: For hence it follows, Q>iz° ImPUm jeel: does not actually or Implicitly confent thereto. tatlw m Reality and Good are the only things which God ' f£arf imputes *, becaufe, being the Source thereof, he may ^ £ * _ produce it where he pleafes, even where it is not. ^/Ify j^e He may give it to Creatures unworthy, and treat j^J^^. them as if they were worthv of it. He may difpenfe on 0f Sm his BleiYmgs to them, in Confideration of anothers JS not an Merit, or of himfelf, and his own good Pleafure, as object of being an over-flowing Spring of Good, powerful to bis Vetver. realize and fullfil his Will for Good towards his Creatures .• But he is not the Source of Evii, nor can he, by virtue of his Will, Decree or Power im- pute Sin and Guilt unto a Pure and Holy Creature. XIX. I infill the more upon thefe Matters, becaufe XIX. Tfo u is neceffkry to vindicate the Divine Decree hom'!ectfflfycf the Reflexions which fome Mens falfe Motions caft wndicf- upon it. From God, from his Will, Decree and "*?. . * Judgment,— -proceed nothing but pure Light, pure pg§ree Truth, Juftice and Rec~titucle. He never willed the ^^ ^ Being, Increafe or Imputation of Sirv, or of any lm- mways concerned in the increafe of our Imparities, obliges me to enlarge /£» m thefe Mztters> purity 1 . ^ -p .J. ^ , ,1 154 77^ Pofitive Explication of Original Sin. Chap. XV. purity whatever. He is not advantaged by the Re- alities, and much lefs by the Evils of his Creatures \ and why fhould he concern himfelf therein, fmce Evil cannot exift by him, and exifts but too much with- out him. CHAP. XV. The Pofitive Explication of Original Sin. \T refts upon me to explain Ori- ginal Sin, by the fifth way, where- by I do conceive every Defen- dant of fmful Adam, is laden with Sin and Guilt } they are (o by Origin, i. e. becaufe they derive their Nature, Being, Exiftence, all I. the I fifth and true Opi~ 721071) Hotif the Souls of all the Adamick J^ace are that they have and are, from a finful Root, from which \tn™rs. they can derive only the Realities with fuch De- tyOngm.fefe ancj Xmperfe<5liori5 as are belonging to their Origin. II. The certainty of this Truth depends on the fol- lowing Principle, that every thing is productive of it fclf *, whence I conclude, that the Effect does ne- cefTarily participate of al! the Realities and Defects of its producent Caufe ; Having proved this Prin- ciple * above at large, it is now incumbent on me only to deduce fome Confequences of it, andanfiver iome Difficulties relating to it. Ch », <, f. II. Tbe Funda- mental Principle of thts Truth* I I ft. feook. Ch. 7- 14, *>s. III. Re- ^' ^Ut * ^ri^ °^^erve-> tnat *ft? Souls P^ ^en ma7 y°h$o*~s ^e cor,fidered as derived from many Origins, from in the dtf- ^orr*e mediately, from others immediately; There is fcrcpt o- a Sovereign Origin, which is Ood himfelf, from rigtns and Endewments of Souls* Kew bom Souls lofe no Advantage tn rejpeQ of their Supreme Origin : And by the inferior Origins they •an lofe (not their Nature, which is abfoutteiy given, but) tbetr /^e- ive Goads, ?;z» the Light and Love of Godt :hcSo>h tnd Hdy Spirit. whom The Paftuve Explication of Original Sin. 155 whom all Spirits have received their Nature -7 the firft Char*. XV immediately, the fucceeding ones by Means of their vX"\r^ PredecefTors, who are a fort of inferior Origins. Secondly, I obferve, that the Sovereign Origin hath given the Soul two forts of Gifts, fome abfolute, as are its Faculties Divine, its Liberty and Nature : Others not abfolutely belonging unto Man, Co as to make part, or be EfTential to his Nature :, (for thev are Eflential only unto God) but their way of Be- ing in him, is founded upon Relations of xMan to tbem. Of which fort are the Light of the Word Di- vine, with the Love and Joy of the Holy Spirit, which are given and communicated infeparably, on Condi- tion that the Saul do conftantly and freely turn its Faculties Divine towards God. The Nature of the Soul is Abfolute and Immortal, of which it wili ne- ver be deprived j but the Communion of the Light, Love and Joys Divine it may be deprived of, as not being Eflential to the Soul, but only unto God, who; after having offered them to its Acceptance, in or- der to its Perfection and Beatitude, leaves it free in the Exercife of its Faculties about them. So then all Spirits confidered as derived from God enjoy thefe two forts of Gifts, a Nature Divine, and alfo a Di- vine Light and Love •, tho* as they derive their Being and Eftate from the Sovereign Origin, by the Me- diation of inferior ones, many Events may happen to them. They cannot, as originated from inferior Origins, lofe tneir Divine, Immortal Nature, becaufe it is given abfolutely, and without Condition : But the Light and Love Divine they may be deprived of, in cafe the fecond. Mediate Origins, by their Abufe of Liberty, fill into a State of Privation of themT fmce the Souls derived from them cannot naturallv have any thing but by Means of thefe mediate Origins , from whom they derive their Being, and Natural Eftate. IV. Thefe fecond Origins are of many Ranks, $$,„ , r . firft, the fecond Capital Origin, vk., tbefir&Man, who produces many others, every of which is a ikw^!,' Origin. Every Creature. pre luces its lt\c in the different State 8 5; freely chujes. Principle 10 The Pofitive Explication of Original Sin. Chap.XV. Principle of an infinity of inferior ones , all which be- ^"V^ come again new Principles, ad infinitum. Now it is to be obferved, that every of thefe, as it comes into Exiftence, is endued with Liberty of Conduct independent from the Reft, and hath Power to dif- pofe it felf in what Rank it will *, and produce Crea- tures of its own Nature and Condition, till they arrive to a full ufe of Liberty, which when attain- ed, they may change and vary their Eftate, and pro- duce new ones like themfelves \ and the thing pro- duced mult neceflfarily be of the fame State and Na- ture as the Producent : This is a Rule without Ex- ception, becaufe the Effect hath nothing but from its Caufe, which can Communicate only what it hath. But the Cafe does alter when the Effect is freed from all necefiary Dependance on it, and is capable to Conduct it felf. V. O2- y, Now hence it follows, firft, that every Man clufions born jn|-0 tne World, as proceeding from the fupreme from theje Origin, hath received by the Creation of Adam, the Pnnci- feconj Capital Origin, the Light and Joy, and Love Frftth * divine '•> wrudi Gift of God, had he and his De- aUMen fcendants preferved, all Men would now be born have re- m a Holy, Luminous and Glorious Eftate as Adam ceived was. from God in Adam Light and Glory. VI Every VI. It follows, fecondly, that when Adam, the fe- Son of fm- cond Capital Origin, by abuf'e of his Liberty and ful Adam Faculties, was deprived of the Light and Love of is necef- qoc]5 |ns whole Pofterity, born after the Event of jarily a g^ are Originally Sinners, void of the Light and id^f *'ove °^ Goc** Not tliat they have actuatfV finned. The Vivlt ^Ut Smners ^CV mu& be,as they come into Exiftence, and Love kecaufe their Origin is (uch : As when a Perfon who of God* admits Erroneous Principles, and draws Conclufions from them, thefe Conclufions muft be Erroneous too : And tho' he do not draw them forth, yet it is certain, he can, deduce nothing but Error from them •, the fame we may conclude of the falfe Principle, Man-, if he is become all over Darknefs and Corruption, every thing derived from him muft be Corrupt and Dark, VU It The Pofitive Explicit ion of Original Sin. 157 VII. It follows, thirdly, that if Man could reco- Chap.xv. ver the Light and Grace of God, and break all thofe ^^Y^s evil Acts which he hath committed, by vertueof his ^' V Natural Powers and life of his Liberty, all his De- /? fcendants would be by Origin Jult and Holy, all™wJ™* thofe, I fay, produced after his Re-eftablifhment in limr*L ^ God's Grace, would be Holy originally in vertue ofhisNa* their Root. t turai Powers, his Pofterity would be originally Jufl and Holy* VIIT. It follows fourthly, that if Man be impotent VIII. H- to redeem himfelf, and to recover the Light and very Man, Grace of God, as hath been (hewed he is, his whole after the Pofterity, confidered as fuch, and without a Redeem- F*&of A- ers Intervention, are Children of Sin, of Wrath, and^J"' , con' of Damnation^ and muft be treated as fuch, with-y . rfr in out the Redeemer's Mediation ^ and therefore every 3lm- fey , . Man, confider'd as a Son of Adam, is an Heir of *" f *l r\ fc ' out 4 i?e- Damnation. deem^f Mediation is natural!) Reprobate, and damn d from the Womb. IX. It follows, fifthly, that if God do offer Par- IX. The don and Grace to Adam, he offers it, in him, to all renewed that IhaH hereafter defctnd from him, in the fame °ffe>r of Meafure, and on the fame Condition, that he offers tb* Grace it to their Reprefentative. For the Head-fpring, and °f God> the Streams that may iffue from it, are as yet but maTe t0 . one, and a difference cannot, with Juftice, be made Ad*m> u between them : And God never Acts by partial Di- ™* eJf , ftinctions towards Subjects alike clifpos'd ^ but in- p0f}er}°ey variably by Rule and Meafure, by Order and Pro- tJhimf portion, as I have * elfewhere proved, which if he*Ocon. were difpokd to break through, it would rather beCrcat. to do good to his Creatures, than capriciouily toCh. 5 13. reftrain his Graces from them, as Men who Act them- felves by Caprice, do ignorantly and injurioufiy im- pute to God. X. If therefore God vouchfafe to renew the of- x r •*, fer of Pardon, Grace and Light to the Reprefenta^W/ J°tl'at tive of Mankind, and to continue the offer of it, da- ttJa/Qr'aC9 an i Pardon wnch were tet.d ' ed to Ad^m, are a!fo tetJred to us be- eaufe we dt/eend jrom ban, ring 158 The PofetiTe Explication of Original Sin. Cbap.XV ring the term of Life, on this Condition, that in ^V-v^ order to enjoy it, he frail turn his Liberty and Fa- culties toward it •, this fame gracious offer is like- wife made to all his Pofterity, in him, during their term of Life : Nor needs a Man any other Aflu- rance that God defires to be gracious to him, than that he is a Child of Adam i Not that Adam did ever merit or procure the renewed Offer of God's Grace: No, of himfelfhe has procured only Sin and Death, and we as related to him, are only Heirs of Per- dition. But God will be the Caufe thereof -9 and in Adam he renews it to his Children, to try, if du- ring Life they will Correfpond therewith. XT. I/A- XI. It follows, frxthly, that if Adam lay hold on dam cor- God's gracious Offer, and correfpond therewith, his rf ttffonds t Correfpondence is imputed to his whole Pofterity, i-cc**^?0^'** long as his Correfpondence lafts, and they are in,' K#lous aPd dependent on him •, and till they come to ufe tOjfer, or tyir pacuities freely, and ratifle or difannul what k> *^£ ^ir Repreientative did in their behalf. But if the ^"^he ret™- Origin refufe to correfpond, the Defendants alfo fents are are ftppos'd to refufe, whilft they arc in, and de- JreptuedtoPtn^ut on ^i an(^ incapable to ufe their Powers do Jo too. freely. For in this Eftate, all that they have is by their Origin, and AdmifTive Caufe, on which thev as yet depend, and arc united to. Graces are of- fer'd on the part of God, but they are ineffectual without-free Admiflion, which theraieives are unable, and their Reprelentatives refufe to give. Here then it is proper to be remark'd as a Fundamental Prin- . ciple that the Effect, as long as it is incomplete, inca- pable to fubfift and aft alone, depends on itsprodu- cent Caufe, or (being an effeft of the fame Nature,) as long as it is not like it. Whilft therefore the Pro- ductions of a free Caufe, are incapable to aft with Freedom, they depend upon, and are in the State and Element of their Caufe j fo that if this Caufe fall into Sin and Mifery, the effect is alfo involved with it, and therefore the Children of Parents aliened from God, are reputed as aliened from him, and out of his Grace. But when they arrive at the life of Reaion, they have power during Life , freely to :ur*h their Faculties' fovwdfc The Pojitive Explication of Original Sin. 159 towards God, and to adhere onto, or depart from Cbap XV. bim. U"VNJ XII. If Seven x.\\\y Adam had not finned, and all, xil- If cr fome of his Defendants had committed Sin, the ^2m had Sinners with their Defendants had been involved \r\ prefer ved the fame perdition : So that thefe inferiour Origins bis Inno- had been a root ofCurfe and Evil to all that ihould cente have been propagated from them, as Adam was to ali and a De- Mankind, and had God vouch faft torefume them to fondant his favour, their pofterity would have been partakers from him. of it as Annm\ were, it being as hath been (hewed an had co™\ Unalterable Rule in Nature. That every thing do's ""****$** reproduce irfelf with the fame Realities as it pofleffes. the ?fe' r r rit) of tbn Inferiour Origin would have been involved in *>, and have been rejetlcd or re fumed to Grace together with bim. XIII. But when I fay, that the Soul do's propa-XIII. In gate itfelf with the fame Realities, fo that Children of *bat Perfons in the Light and Grace of God,inherit the Ad- Se'f tbe vantages of their Parents, I do not mean that the1™ r*" Light and Grace Divine are procreated by us: If af,™/?^£ Creature expofed to the Sun produces another, it will, ^ fD-m it is plain, in joy the benefit of its Light, as well as vine - the producent Caufe*, tho5 it will owe it, not to its^T9^e Caufe, but to the immediate influence of the Sun : The Producent do's only Communicate Faculties difc pofed and ready to admit the Light, in Confequence whereof, it is illuminated by the Sun •, while they who live in Dungeons, tho' the fame Faculties are common to them, are not inlighten'd by it} becaufe they are environed by Objects that (lop the penetra- tion of its Beams: It is therefore carefully to be re- membred by us, that there belong to Spiritual and Corporeal Things Realities of two Sorts : One Ab- folute and EfTcntial, as their Faculties*, the other Perfective, as God, his illumination, and alio Mate- rial Light and Order, which from Spiritual things outflow upon Corporeal : If now Both thefe Reali- ties are pofTeft by any Being, they that are genera- ted by it will poifefs them likcwife, tho' for Reafons Dtfferene, As a Productive Principle, and in virtue of i6o The Poftive Explication Gf Original Sin. Chap. XV of its Faculties, whofe Nature is To be, and To be VV"^ fruitful, it will produce more Faculties, or a Being naturally tending towards, and capable of injoying its Perfective Ob ject : This Object is not produced by it. No, it is God alone, who immediately illumi- nates, and Communicates himielfto fuch as are dif- pofed to receive him •, in confequence of his Arbitrary Decree of communicating himfelfto fuch: . Beings do therefore propagate unto others, fuch Things as are EfTential to them : But their perfective and felicify- ing Objects do come from God alone, and all that they can do, is to admit them : This Caution pre- mi fed, I go on with the Conclufions. XIV They XIV. Eighthly, All who defcend from a Capital who de- Origin, by means of intermediate ones, between fiend themfelves and the Capital Source, participate in the from Infe- Goods or Evils of their Origin, in fuch Degrees of nW On- £rength or weaknefs as they are tranfmitted by Pnsl" them. Succejjion fartake of the mojl predominant Goods or Evils of their Predeccffors* XV. How Evil is propaga- te* and augmen- tedfrom Parents to their Children, XV. If ahead of a Family be wicked, his Children will inherit his Malignity and Evil habits :, which, if when they come to the ufe of Reafon^ they do not oppofe, but fuperadd depravations of their own, they will become more wicked than their Fathers'-, and if they procreate Children, thefe will become more degenerate than they •, becaufe to the Mafs of their Predeceflbrs vices inherited by them, they will fuperadd a weight of their own Iniquities, and be- come thereby incomparably more depraved : Whence it appears that Evils will increale, grow more Inve- terate and flubborn to be overcome by fuch as defire deliverance from them. Thus, things 1 lay, will naturally go, becaufe eve- ry thing, by its Original Nature, tends to dure, and to reproduce itfelfwith the fame Realities, Activity and Perfection, as it is poj&ffed of: So that if a Sub- ject naturally capable of a Thoufand Degrees of Per- fection, hath reduced itfelf to one hundred, it will' produce another capable of a JJjpufand \ but pofitft'd actually The Pofitive Explication of Original Sin. 16 1 actually only of a hundred, and if this lofe a Moiety Cbp.XV. of its reality, its product will participate only of that C/"VNJ Moiety that remains, and tho' the Defendants da not augment the iniquity of their Fathers by their own*, yet the fimple Duration, and Continuing in the fame is fufficient to render 'em more hardened and incurable *, becaiife by Duration a Thing is {lengthened and confirmed: And thus a Soul, whofe tlefire and inclination,for good and perfective Objects, is weak, languid, and indifferent *,- but for Evil and depraving ones, is ftrong and violent, hardens and becomes almoft unalterable in its ftate: u e. if it do not grow better, it will infallibly grow worfe, ac- cording to that proverbial Axiom, Non progredi in virtiite^ eft regredi. Evil continued in, grows hard and inveterate by time, the Subject of it is naturally more difpofed to repeat it, and repeating and Conti- nuance hardens it more and more: For fimple Conti- nuance in Evil, in a free Subject, continually tends toltrengthen and confirm that Evil, till it arrive to an AccompliuVd State : Even the Heathens were fcri- fible of this. \ Damnofa quid non imminuit Dies ! t^£tas Parent um pejor avis, tulit Nos Nequiores, mox dat tiros Progtniem vitiofiorem* XVI. Both Scripture and Experience do agree, XVI. That that the Sins of Parents devolve on their poiterity to ths wicked. the Third and Fourth Generation of them who have dopartakj not loved God : u e. If a Perfon do refoljtely depart of the vi* from God, the Children of fuch a one are born in a ces °f ftate of Enmity to him*, fo that if their Children are r^f*£ , afterwards difpolVd to repent and turn to God, it*wW will coft them more pains to overcome their finful ha- Pare~ts. j bits and inclinations. For tho* the Grace of God be2»2 ™» * given to them, they mud do grater violence^ to 'en ^ themfelves; Sin will be more ready to awake, their j jQ frailty will be greater, and the Rebellion of Nature,^,/ t^e of Senlly of Pallion, of Imagination, and Reafon,^^ 0f she tr.iq.ftty of their Parents for Three or Four Generation!* M Will 1 62 The Pojitive Explication of Original Sin. chap. XV. will be more obflinate in them than others: And t/VNi tho' they receive Divine Aftiftance, they will have more powerful Enemies to encounter : The Rebellion of Nature is not fo eafily overcome, but is felt to the Third and Fourth Generation, in them whofe un- happinels it is to defcend from wicked Parents, tho' they return to God : But their Comfort is that by conftant indeavour,and violence to themfelves, by re- filling continually the Enemies of their Salvation, and by Prayer to him, by whofe AiTiftance we are only enabled to Fight and overcome, they may attain a Soveraign Degree of Grace and Virtue. XVII. XV II. There is never thelefs this Difference between That the 0\ir Communion in the Sin of Adam, and of our im- Smsof A- mediae parents, and their Progenitor?, viz* that as dam, and Adam was by his Sin entirely deprived of God's gra- ofour tm- cjous prefence, who, after long patience, withdrew Ja**r. ^is divine light from him: So we, in quality of his fredecej- Children, and partakers of his Sin, are wholly de- Afferent Prived of Light and Grace, left in a hopefefs ftate, in- effeQs as Anting from him his vicious Inclinations only : Tho' to us : tnefe are not f° Sreat as are tno^e °f tne depraved off- What thefe fpring of wicked Parents. But by our Communion in effetis the Sins of our other Progenitors, and fuppofmg God? are* according to the Fifth Conclufion, to have renewed the Offer of his Grace, Our Dcfires and Inclinations may be turned away from God, we may be full of Evil roots of vain and Sinful habits y but are not, du- ring this mortal State, abfolutely deprived of God's Gracious Light. Adam indeed ftopt up the Spring of Heavenly Influences from himfelf and his Pofterity y but fince God hath pleafed to open this fpring again, no inferiour Origin, however depraved, can, (du- ring this prefent Life,) deprive their Defendants of its refrefhing Streams.- They may indeed pervert their own* and their Childrens Dcfires, they may indilpofe them, and put obftacies in their way to binder their admitting the Heavenly Influences. But Light will be ever prefent, and Grace be continually offered to them, it will draw them by infinite mo- tives to come and to accept it : Nor can we be depri- ved of it by our Parens, as we were bv Adam\ Sin. XVHt. ^^™^^ , —————— I II. The Pofitive Explication of Original Sin. i6% XVIII. Not that God dealt more feverely withCbap-XV, Adam, than he deals now with Men •, having as feems ^~^r**J imply'd, deprived him of his Grace all at once, where- XVIIL It as now he offers it a whole life together, tho' Men y* not continue in their Sins: It is notfo: God's General,'^0* , Conduct is ever uniform and alike: He did not pre- q^ *je*ic fently withdraw his Grace from Adam, nor ceafe t°more r€m (bine in his Interiour *, but long expected, long bore vereiJ with patience, fupporting gracioufly his Infirmities:^/^ a-. During which time Adam's pofterity was not curfeddam than in him, and had he then procreated Child ren,they had with hit not been excluded from the Grace of God : Then only Poperit?* did the Light ceafe to ftiine in refpeft of himfelf, and all who might defcend from him, when the term pre- scribed by God was expired, and his Evils fully ac- complish'd : So likewife fince God was pleafed to re- new the offer of his Grace to Adam, and to all that Should be propagated from him, during the term of Life, giving them, as it were a new courfe to. run 5 it will not during this term be ever totally withdrawn from them •, they may indeed forfake it, and unqua- lify themfelves to receive it £ but. never be in an en- tirely hopelefs Hate, till their Obduration is accom- plinYd, and Life expired : Afterwards our flate is fo altogether hopelefs, that could we procreate ourfelves anew to infinity in the other World, our pofterity would be Damned even from the Womb, without Re- covery or hope : But, during this Life, cur Cafe is different; God who, after having withdrawn his Grace when Adam's Sin was fully accomplilfrd, hath pleafed in infinite Mercy to fix a new Period to renew the offer of it: And the Conduct of God before and fince the Sin of Adam, will appear uniform and Di- vinely equal to the Attentive Confiderer of it. • g ( XIX. What was before affirmed of Vicious Pa- XIX. The rents, is, by the rule of Contraries, ttf be affirmed of<*Jr£!}*j good and virtuous ones: Their virtue paffes tbtheirj'' . * Children, and is inherent in tfiem during their ftat?V*^2>£ff of Dependance y but when they come to the ufe of Li •^ratwll' berty, they are free to chufe their date: If they de- * ^^ fine to perfevere in Piety, the principles whereof are 0fth$ir implanted from their Birth, its ways will be infinitely ?&<&;, M t cifict i'>4 The Pofitive Explication of Original Sin. Chr,p.xv.eafier unto them, than to the Unrighteous OfF-fpring, ^-^V^ if fuch defire to return to Virtue: But if they chute to depart from Virtue, Conference will at firft re- morfe them, give inward checks to their Inclinations and Defires*, which if they refufe to hear, it will a- bandon rhem to the Courfes they freely chufe. XX. XX. All this is confirmed by the teftimony of Expe- Tbings rience and of Scripture, which allures us, * that God farther foevps mercy to thousands in them that love him *, f Tloat proved ;f tjoe root ye holy, the branches are alfo holy, and )• fXJ *f ^de $r ft fTlills be holy? that the Lump is alfo holy •, * % A H And that the Children of the Faithful are as truly holy,, x£ ' * -d* ^je Children of the wicked are aliened from God, tRo ' \i%evenfrom their Birth: Not that the pofterity of vir- i6. " tuous Perfons are not curfed in Adam : But we ought II i Cor. 7 not toconfider them in him alone, fmce their Parents 14. have admitted the Grace of God: Nor do's God con- * Pf» 58. fider them only as in Adam : No, they are in the Ele- 4. ment of the Redeemer, the Second Adam, and are therefore more or left Holy, as the root or Branch that hears them, is more firmly grafted on him. XXI Dif XXI. NowT as in the Generation both of Good and ferent Va- Bad a thoufand Changes happen : As Perfons are fome- riactcns times more, and fometimes lefs in a Hate of Sin, or of tn the tjlc (3race 0f qoc| ^ paflmg from a ftate of Salvation or th * toft - Damnation to the oppofite Hates: So their poflerity, Yilyfajftf during the time of their Dependance, undergoes all Good and "ie*e Changes with them: And hence their Hearts Bdd.St'ate are ^Wed more or lefs fucceflively with the interiour cfchil- feeds of Vice and Virtue: hence alio the fame Perfons dren dy- have Children, fome of a good and virtuous, others of ing before a Depraved Difpofition, according to the if ate in they come which their Parents were during their Procreation or to : be. ufe Education •, or when their Children wTere freed from

s ?ery all a?ong, God, his Will, Decree, and Aft are rrioff *uch lUlf- pure and holy, contrary to the Event, Contindati-^^ *~J on and increafe of Sin •, and that whatever happens it p^*,/? is moil jull on the pa;ts boih of God and Man: OnGJ ^ the part of God, becaufe he leaves Men fo to be even 0f ^ls ^ as they Will : On the part of Man, becaufe what-cr^t ever befalls them, is from their own Choice: I add moreover, that to Will the Propagation ana Increafe pi S:;i is as contrary to the Divine Decree, as it is to M 3 Will 1 66 Objections againfi Original Sin : C&ap.XVI Will its firft Exiftence : And that if it happen, it will V^V"*** be always oppofite to his Will :, of which, Reality and Good are the only Objects. But fince however Evident Truth be in itfelf, there are feldom wanting fome, who, from an uneafy fcru- pulons or conceited Mind, are forward to raife Ob- jections : And becaufe, upon this Subject, it may be pretended that the Communication of Original Sin cannot be fuppofed without Injuftice, I (hall once for all indeavour to fatisfie their Objections and convince of the invalidity of them. CHAP- XVL Certain Objections and Difficulties againfi Ori~ ginal Sin : And a Solution of them. h A Sum- 1. tnary of Certain Objections dfgainft O* tigiml Sim E A S 0 N being blitad, depraved, and proud, is never wanting to form Objections againft Original Sin, and the Communication of it. i. To reprefent it as a Chimeri- cal Notion, it urges firft, that nothing cannot be propagated*, and therefore Sin cannot. 2. Secondly, that God forbids all Men committing Shr, but nowhere forbids Original Sin. 3. Thirdly, That tho' 'tis a Duty to pray for Par- don of our Sins, there is no Example of any who- ever prayed for Pardon of the Sin by him committed in Adam^ or that Adam committed, when his pofte- nty was yet unborn *, and therefore Sin is not com- municated by propagation. 4. Fourthly, That the Scripture as well as Com- mon Senfe allures us, that The Child flail not bear the iniquity of the Father. 5. Fifthly, That if the Communication of the Fa- ther's Sin to his Defendants were Natural and Infal- lible, God might eafily have prevented it by coniil- : ■ tuting And a, Solution of them. 167 tuting another head over Mankind \ or by caufing Chap.XVI them to be Born independent of one another, as it is ^^VV commonly held, the Angels were, who were none of them punifh'd, except for their own Sins, whereas Men, who we pretend were more fignally favoured with the Love of God, would in reality come (liortof the Advantage the Angels had, if we fuppofe them to be damned for a Sin committed before they were in Being. 6. Sixthly, If Men ought to be Born of one another, what reafon is there to make the Liberty and Lot of an unborn pofterity dependent on a Father's Fancy f 7. Seventhly. Why did not God rather take it into his own Hands? 8. Laftly, It is faid, that if this be the (late of things, it had been better if God had not endued Man with the Power of Procreation, and left his pofterity in nothing. II. Now to anfwer thefe Difficulties in their Order *, II. An I obferve that the fir ft is founded upon this Principle. Anfwer to That to be Communicative is a Property of Being, or thefe Dif* of Reality : But Sin is not of a Real, or Pofitive Na-i#»^f*» ture j and therefore not Communicable. Enough^70 s*n hath been faid * already to anfwer this Sophifm. ~ nfjf* Sin, I acknowledge, is not communicated in a pofi- ^ . ". tive, real manner, but by Privation only : i, e. A £^' '*" Soul, or faculties deprived of the perfections belong- C4^/f. ^J ing to them, can reproduce themfelves with only thdtman^ffr * Reality or Perfection which is remaining to them, and ,>, Com- not with that which they are deprived of: And it is munica- thus that Sin is communicated. tton.> *SeeCb.z.4. Acts $.6,7. Ch. iJ. 14- III. The fecond Objection, that God do's not for- HI. That bid Original Sin, and therefore it is not Sin, is Iob-G<^# hath ferve Ambiguous, and capable of two Senfes. In oncf°r^ ®~ Senfe 'tis falfe, in the other foolilh and unreasonable. rJgtnal . It is falfe that God do's not forbid Original Sin, fo as otnj , *' '* it can be forbidden: It can, I obferve, be commit- ^^f^ j led only by and in the Origin j and confequently^^ ?*' can enly be forbidden in it : And here it is plain God abfurdto pefs thu Difficulty further* M 4. do's 1 68 Objections againft Original Sin : Chap.XVI do's and hath forbidden it. When he charges the ftrft Xmfym>^ Man not to Sin, what elfe is this but to forbid him to defile himfelf and his pofterity by it? When he tells him that Death would certainly be the Effect of Sin : What elfe is this, but to forbid him, and his pofterity finning on pain of Death? Hereby God forbids the. root of Mankind polluting himfelf with Sin, and how often in Scripture do's he command the practice of virtue, and abftaining from Sin,inConfideration of Po- fterity that the Father's obedience may derive a Blef- fing on it ? But if by this Objection we mean that God never forbad the Children, the Sins committed by their Father, it is too foolifh to enter the thoughts of an intelligent Perfon : How abfurd is it to fuppofe any thing to be thus forbid to Children, before they are exiftent, and confequently not capable of acting ? It is plain the Parent, who is actually exifting, is on- ly capable of this Prohibition: If the Children had been capable of it, theymuft have exifted before Sin was committed, which is contrary to the Common Hypothefis, in which Pofterity is confidered as after its Event, V[* r™* IV. Thirdly, They who pretend that Men are not *J\Vn' wont t0 as^ Parc^on of* Original Sin, or the depraved v)2 1 that* Nature derived from their Parents: And that it #/ their very Source *, that even from their Birth they bard, and we a vile Collection of iniquity derived from their ojroud Parents, it would be a means to weaken the power of Depraved Nature. How frequently do the Saints in their interceilions for themfelves and others, pray for pardon of their Parents, and their Predeceflbrs Sins : Acknowledging themfelves laden with the burden of them : As * Davidy t Daniel^ || Efdras, * and Ne- hemiah? How oft do the Scriptures reproach the v. 7. * Nthem. 9. v. \63 $4, $6. Children And a Solution of them. 169 Children with their Parents Vices? Hence it is they Chap.XVI call 'em a wicked and Adulterous Race, an Evil Gene- ^AV ration, a Seed of Vipers, Children of Murderers, of the Prophets, and of the wicked one : And hence the Punifhment of the Fathers is often tranfmitted to the Children; Hence David praying for Pardon of his Sins makes his Confefiipn thus, * I was fljapen in fair* PG $J« £///ry, and in Sin did my Mother conceive me. In fine, 7* they who followed only the Remains of Natural Truth, have lighted upon this Truth. Witnefs an f" Englilh Author, who proceeds on Natural Princi-f Herbert pies, and after having fooke of the Evil Inclinationsdercritate. Natural to us, without clifcovering the Caufe thereof, he Concludes, Occulta Dei indicia •fubeffe cx.;fiimaverisy Leclor^ & in I ahem ifidm Originate m hand immerito animadvert i : That there lie concealed under it the fecret Judgments of God •, and that it is not without caufe that j\len reflect on their Original Pravity, and advifes, Hifce igitur tent at i noxis, tram D'rvinam deprecentiir : Let fuch as are tempted by thefe Evils feek to appeafe God's Anger by their Prayers: And a mere Pagan tells us no body is Born without Vicious Inclinations. Nemo nafciturfine vitiis : I produce thefe Authorities in oppofition to a Difficulty fupported only by the weak Authority or Allegation of a few Blind, Proud, and Hardened Men, who if they would lay afide their Mask, and propofe their Objection fairly, their Argument againft Original Sin would be, that, becaufe the Devil whofe operations, in the Element of Evil, are ftrong and powerful, finding their hearts fill'd with Sin even from the Womb, hath rendred them infenfible thereto, and perfwaded 'em that the Notion of it is a mere Chimera, it follows that it is only a Chimera. ' V. But Scripture and Reafon (fome do object) af-JT- Per' , firm that the Child do's not bear the iniquity ot the*?'"'*- Father: That the Soul that Sinneth, it (hould die ^^ "*V and that every one (hall bear the Punifiiment of bis ■^JJL.yJ Sins. I anlwer, it is (o^ when Father and Child are'ri^* feparate from each other, and independent in their p4re^ts Condu£t •, and of fuch it is manifeit, that God by tbe^ t^/ Nm- Aiult a) t reckoned as cue per fin with t bem„*nd do bear it. Prophet 170 Objections Again fl Original Sin. Chap.XVf Prophet fpeaks, who bear each others Sins, no fur- ^V*^ ther than they actually participate in them : But nei- ther Nature, Reafon, Experience, nor Scripture fay, that Unborn Pofterity, who as yet are contained in their PredecefTors do not participate in their Lot and Difpofition*,but rather they bear witnefs to it.Nature, it teaches that every thing is like in Nature, to its root, and that while it is not divided from, it is of the fame nature with it : Reafon, it teaches that an Effect cannot exceed the Reality of its Caufe, and we need only open our eyes to be convinced what Experi- ence and Scripture fay. If a Father be in Servitude, Want, or Inconvenience, his Pofterity will be Born in his Circumftances and Condition: The Nature of the Father is fo conditioned, and the Child do's only redouble the Fathers Nature. VI. That VI. But it will be faid, the Child can help none of this (late this. It is not in his Choice to be derived from Good of things or Evil Parents : I anfwer, the fame is to be affirmed is very of God: That all Men were not Holy, Juft, and Hap- naturalto^^ and produced a righteous off-fpring, is not to be be con- imputed unto him. God cannot oblige 'em to be fuch c/fiVl againft their Will, becaufe he cannot' deftroy his Child be Work> viz» the Liberty of Man, by virtue of which not to ^an> a^ter ^is feN> is free eitner not t0 Produce any hUme, Creatures, or to produce a pofterity vicious, and de^ mucbkfs Praved, like himfelf: Man is not compell'd to repro- iiGod. "uce himfelf, nor ought we to complain of God, if Man exercife this Power and reproduce his Being fuch as it really is: If Pofterity will complain, let it : be of their immediate Origin, yea let them curfe it, if they pleafe •, becaufe it deferves no better 0 but let them beware of reflecting upon God. VII. But why, it may be objected Fifthly, did not • r - ^0<^ vouchfafe fo to order things that thefe unhappy the "" Confeauences might have been prevented? Had he £'^ ^""created all mankind in a Separate Exiftence, indepen- pendem o'f^cr]t of each other, the Sin of one would not have de- •ne ar.o- praved another. ther would have preferved them from On^inal Stn: That this Objc&ion ssrafhanda feparate Creation would have expofed them to a greater and more certain j^tl, Nqw And a Solution of them. 171 — ^ ' f — — ^ Now to this Objection I anfwer firft. That it isCbap.^VI Extravagant and Unreafonable, for, fince all things were created and eftabliflied by God in a good Eftate, and endued with power to perfevere therein, it is not juft to cenfure his Eftablifhment on account of Evil Confequences brought on by a Rebellious Prin- ciple, viz* by the Will of Man : Good Men do ne- ver carry their complaints beyond the Second Origin, without cenfuring God. Q Adam, (7^/WEfdras) what haft thou done \ for though it was thou that fwned'>ftJ thou art not fallen alone , but we all who come from thee 3 He do's not fay, why hath God ordained that we fhould come from thee ? Why hath he not created us apart? I anfwer in the Second place, that things were thus difpofed for the better, when God had tryed the way of Independence. For fo the Angels were crea- ted, and notwithftanding fell ', and fo much the more dangeroufly, in that every Man actually concurred to it: Hence they could not return to that Light and Grace, which they had knowingly, and in themfelves rejected. This God indeavoured to the utmoft to prevent, and the fall of Man's Pofterity being only by their Reprefentative, it was to be fure no inconside- rable Motive to him to regard them with an eye of Pity, to renew, to every individual, the offer of his Grace, and try if renouncing what their Origin had done they would embrace it. If it be faid that the Angels fell becaufe they were made Subject to one an- other, and that Men might not have fallen, had they been created free and Independent from all Subjection to each other. I anfwer, it is very abfurd for thefe Advocates of Pride, lo far to indulge their fanfie, as, in favour of it, to wifh every thing had been in trouble and diforder, and that the bonds cf mutual Love and Charity were broken by a Contufion that would have given greater advantage to Sin, to Self adhefion, in- difference, and contempt of others: The Prince of the Devils was Subject unto none, and yet he fell more deeply than the reft: But why don't they, to make fure work of it, wifh to be naturally and- abfolately indepefidant of God bimfelf, Let this Contradictory 1 l Impious 172 Objections againft Original Sin : Chap.XVIijnpious Suppofition be made, and Man is ftrait in v-/'Vv-/ an incapacity of finning \ but if it be not lawful for Man to affect an independency, why then will any cenfure the Order eftablifh'd by God in Nature for the Procreation of Mankind ? an Order graciouflv contriv'd to prevent Man's falling (in cafe he fell) fodefperately as the Devils*, the Method of Procrea- tion being moft proper, not only to prevent their fo terrible Fall *, but, in cafe they fhould Fall, to capa- citate them for Mercy, and invite God's Grace and Pity •, all which are figns of a Charitable Care in God *, but I will fpeak more of this when I come to the fixth Objection. VIII. If VIII. They who pretend, that Men had been pre- Ortginal ferved from Original Sin, if God had pleafed to cre- Sm would ate^ in the room of Adam^ another Head of Man- bavebeenfan^ ^o m^Q a very abfurd Complaint: For, I prevented asj^ wou]c( this new Head have been Impeccable? ^/MV,w*This cannot be faid : Suppofmg then that he had btsS^n" ^aln' mu^ ^0C* continuallV change his Works, and andcrea- annihilate his Immutable Decrees? Muft he accom- tir,7A modate his conflant, unchangeable Ways of Ading new Headto our Fanfie *, or to prevent our unreafonable Com- ofMan- plaints ? Be it confider'd, that this way of A&ing kind; that would have been an altering the Divine Defigns, and tbisExfe- a Retractation of his Aft, and ways of Acling : Adam ditntts was created to be their Head and Origin •, and muft inconftft- .Qofl retraft or difavow his firft Defign ? Muft he ent with deftroy the moft Divine and Admirable of all the the Dt- pavers of external Nature *, a Power by which the vine N A. wAdam , and all the Race which he might have ^l^J procreated , been abandoned by God, to raife up hurtful to a ^oly Sczd by another Origin ? Was it not a Men. greater Charity in God to draw his Hoi y Seed from Adamr and his Posterity fubjecred to Damnation, by offering ail fitting Means to refcue them from Per- dition, fo as it (hould be only their own fault if they were not re eftablinYd and fav'd ? But when Li- berty refolves on Evil, nothing can hinder its E- vent, in whatever Order things are difpofed. Let ^len attentively confider their Nature, as difpofed And a, Solution of them. 1 7 j by God, and they muft acknowledge, with wonder, Chap.XVI that nothing could be contrived better, and more s/VV conducing to the Intereft and Happinefs of Mankind, and that all contrary Appearances are falfe, fupport- ed only by our Ignorance, in which number the fol- lowing Objections may be rank'd: IX. Tho' Men a/e born of one another, vet why... , is the Lot of Poftcrity, and Liberty of Children, tfe"otlf before they arrive at the ufe of Reafon, intruded p0(ierity to their Parents •, fince hereby they are made to yefore t^e participate in their Guilt without being guilty! ufeof[{ea* fon, is dependent on the Parents ; that this Eftablijhment was ordained during Mans PetfeBton, and to propagate Perfections^ without any re- gard to Nothing, or to Sin. This Difficulty comes from Ignorance *, for, Firft, We muft obferve, that the prefent ftate of Diforder and Privation vifible in Nature was not eftablinYd by God : All things wTere by him created in a moft perfect Manner \ and therefore nothing could be con- trived better than to commit the Lot and Difpofition of Pofterity to a Being that was Perfect in all re- fpects, and full of Divine Realities, as Man was. Secondly, It is to be noted, that the Divine Efta- blifhment did in its Defign refpect Realities only, and not Sin or Privation. Propagation was not or- dained to communicate Imperfections, but Realities, and to increafe their Strength and Dominion among Men ; What was before obierved concerning Liberty, is applicable here/ God did not give it, becaufe he had Privation in view, that Man (hould make it the fubject of Abufe, but that he fhould embrace Reali- ties by it in a more unlimited manner, and be more confirmed in them. Even fo, when God defired to increafe the Perfections of his Creatures, his Wif- dom contrived the way o.f Propagation, by their mutual Dependence on one another*, a Work of Di- • vine Wifdorn and Goodnefs, which lew comprehend the admirable Beauty and Perfection of. X. But to Illuftrate thefe things by more parti- x That the way of Propagation and Dependance was a mcfl Excellent Means of Perfection unto Men f om their Birth, and to prefirve them from a Fall, Hew the Divine Wtjdjm at,d Goodntfi Ja appear mofl admirable in it, cular 174 Objections dgainfl Original Sin : Chap.XVIcular Reflections*, when God was pleafed to create t/V\j Free and Intelligent Being?, they were, as hath been demonftrated above, neceflarily of a Frail and Labile Nature \ becaufe when they began to Exift, they had no confirmed Habits of Vertue, a Habit being acquirable only by repeated Acts .• Whereas when Creatures begin to be, they never acted, and are then but weak in the ways of Vertue.:, and hence it was that Liberty was betrayed. This was the Lot of a World of Angels, in whofe room, when God vouch fafd to place other Creatures, he gracioufly tonfider'd what way vvas beft to make 'em from their Origin habitually inclined to Good, that be- ing born with this ilrong Bent for Vertue, they might not be drawn away : Hereupon he refolved on this Expedient, viz.. that if all Creatures then- after to be produced, defcended from a Stock habi- tually Good* they Would be born with a habit of Perfection equal to that of their Origin, i. e% be habitually confirmed in it *, and that the fecond Ori- gins being originally inclined to Good, ftrengthen- ing their good Habits, and confirming themfelves therein, the fucceeding Generations would always be originally more ftrong, confirmed, more rooted and unihaken in the Continuance and Increafe of Vertue, than their Fathers , by which means Mankind, in a- fcout five or fix Ages, would have been confirmed pad: danger of a Lapfe, by a certain and methodical Im- provement in Vertue-, they would have been born in a more perfect State than Angels were created, who' at their fir ft Exiftence had no habit of Vertue and Perfection, and could attain 'em only on the Foot of their firft Effate :, whereas Man being originally en- dued with the Perfections of his Source would have im- proved on the foot of his Origin's augmented State, and the continual redoubling"- of it, both in themfelves, and the Creatures produced by them, whofe Perfection would have increas'd on the Foot of that of their im- mediate Source j and thus we fee what an admirable Advantage Procreation would' have been, had the Defign of God been followed in it. Who can con- ceive a Love and GcodruG ti\6?t admirable than that of And a, Solution of thtm. 175 of God? Who can imagine a greater and more Pa-Cbap.XVI ternal Concern and Love than appears in this Dif- o^V"^ pofition. Wo be to them who inftead of admiring the infinite Riches of God's Goodnefs, fay to him, Why haft thou made me thus? XI. Neverthelefs, to accomplifh this Charitable De- XI. That fign of God) it was requifite Man fhoutd'be born in Adam the common Lot, without an habitual Conftancy } couldnot the contrary is abfurd to be conceived, fince to fup-^ created pofe him habitually firm, is to fuppofe him to have hdnualb acted before he did ExiiT. He was indeed created Wj*"? in a good and perfect State, tho' not habitually (b jj™&;«tf and God was befides fo careful of him, gave him fo '*£** many Precautions, condefcending even to converfe |2^jJ j with him in a Corporeal Form, that nothing c°u\d comefae' be contrived more powerfully to ingage him to be- come habitually fuch 0 and therefore if Man hath not correfponded as was eafie for him, he can only blame himfelf, and his depraved Will which hath changed to a Source of Mifery to him, that which was defign'd to be a Source of all fort of Bleflings. God had no profpect of Man's Difobedience in ordaining Propa- gation, he was only concerned to (hew his Love to him, and defire of his Happinels •, and tho* by the Fall of Angels he had the Idea of Sin *, yet he did not forefee it as of an infallible Event, but aseafily avoidable by the Care of Man, and the Divine Afc fiftance which never fail'd. XII. Now as the excellent Ufefulnefs of Propaga-^jj ^ tion to confirm and accomplifh the Happinels and^'^'r Perfection of Mankind, was the reafon or its Ordi' children nation :, fo likewife was it of putting the Childrens depends on Lot in the Parents Hands, till they have attained tkm Pa- the ufe of Reafon. Had Men continued in their rents, Orginal State, increafing in Perfection, according to the Divine Eihblilnment, Children would hence have inherited a proportionable Perfection •, and if the State of things is altered, we ought to impute it wholly unto God, and not to the Decree or Defign of God. XIII. One thing there is does well deferve to be xill. The remark'd by us, viz.. that it is not from any parti- /ww. dence of the Children* Eftate upon their Parents, is a natural andwcef jar) Corfeauence of Propagation, cular2 1 7^ Objections againjt Original Sin : Chap XVI cular, pofitive Decree of God, ordained after Pro- >0^>w pagation, that the Lot and Liberty of Pofterity is reckon'd in their PredecefTors. We muft not ima- gine, that God did firft Decree, that Man fhould be horn of one another :,. and that being then indifferent to appoint that the Lot of Pofterity fiiould depend, or nor, upon their Parents, before the ufe of Rea^ fon, he ordained it in pure good Pleafure. If God were thus indifferent in it, one might inquire, Why lie hath thus difpofed things ? But this is not the Cafe. On the contrary, fuppofingGod to have ordained the Propagation of Men for the Reafons already men- tioned: the natural and immediate Confequence is (without the Intervention of a new Decree) that the! lot and Liberty of Pofterity fliall be included in their PredecefTors, till they come to the ufe of Rea- fon -, and to ask why they are thus dependent, is in effect to ask, Why their Production is depen- dent on them ? or, why they are propagated from them f As long as an Effect is in its Caufe it makes one fame Whole or Compound with if, and till its Genera- tion be fo Completed, as to be like its Caufe, it is ftill in it, and dependent on it : Nor does it become Free and Independent, but in proportion as it hath Pow- er to ufe the Faculties and Fimdlions effential to its Nature, and by which the natural Subfiftence of its Caufe is perfected ; So that if it be not free to con- duel it felf, it abides ftill in its Caufe. XIV. XIV. Not that the Liberty of the Child, for fe- Hew the verai Years together, after he is born, is more or leis Libert? of con tained in the Parents, from whom it flows, as Children it were, into the Child, when he comes to riperYears'^ v included Imx hecaufe the Body and Soul of anew born Child, tn their are firft produc'dam fo weak and imperfect a State, Parents. t{iat for many Years they are unable to fubffft with- Ajlf out the Parents continual Care and AfMance > du"-' Im****!" rnl" which time the Subject is imperfe//<• *r, they attempt to prove by all thofe PafTages of Scrip- Entre4ns' Cure wherein it is faid, that Children are without ^ rheo_ Knowledge ^ that they cannot difcern Good from Evil.\Qa\e rjjajo 4, -. efpectaliy page 145, L89, 193/ 2. They objecl, fecondly, againft it vf thofe Texts fLeCJerfc" of Scripture which fay, that Children do neither .again, m Good nor Evil, that they have no Malice, and the his Liberi: like, and where little Children are propos'd as z,wEpill.6. Model of Con verfion. . . .P1?2'^ 3- In the third plaee3 'tis objected 0 t that one can't tfintre- maintain, that Children merit everlafting Punifh-ticn <> ments, and that dying in their natural State, they are fubjecled.to therrr,, without imputing Cruelty to God-. Thefe 'three Objections, or rather Gaffes of Ob-, N % jecrions i S o A Continuation of Objections, &c. Chap, jcttions are ufually made againft the Doctrine of 5CVH. Original Sin, which I will endeavour to anfwer be- i^yP^ f°re I inquire if there are any others. twofrd ^* ^0W t^le^e tnree. Piaffes of Objecwions are fo Claffesif wea^i that it is a matter of juft furprize to fee Per- Objettionsferis y fl^en^e anc* Judgment embarafs'd by them: *<*4™ * ']e ^l"ft> which fuppofes all Sin to be committed from the vvitn Knowledge and the Will, is true, if applied to Confjilera- Actual Sin •, but ridiculoufl'y fatfe, if applied to Ori- tion of the girftl Sin, or the Defects of bur Birth, If Man was State of free to chufe whether he would be born or riot, or Children, in a more or lefs perfect State, one could not then refuted, be originally impure, without an antecedent Liberty and Knowledge : But this Suppofition befog ridicu- lous, it is no lefs fo to require a Liberty and Know* ledge antecedent to aft faukinefs. The firft Paffages of Scripture have reference only to Sins committed by Choice and Liberty, and the affirming, that Chil- dren do not commit any Actual Sin, that being with- out, and incipable of Law, they cannot violate it;, nor confequently commit any known or voluntary Sin, is nothing to Original Sin. Nor do thofe Paf- fages mentioned in the fecond Clafs, in which little Children are propofed to us as a Model of our Con- verfion, intend to inculcate, that they are pure and Innocent before God, as if the Scripture Compari- fons were to be taken in their ftneteft Senfe : This way of reafoning is as ift from that faying of Chrift / fend you forth as Sheep among Wolves, one would infer that his Difciples (houfd go upon all four into the Defarts among Savage Beads : We mufl not ima- gine that our Lord's Defign in this Comparifon was to inculcate, that Children are born in a pure and holy States but that as little Children when born into this finful World in a miferable and corrupt E- itate, do in regard of Worldly Things demean them- ielves in a fimple, obedient Manner, are void of Pre- judice and of Malice, and fubmit themfelves to be taught, govevn'd, educated, dreffed, managed and difpofed wholly according to their Nurfes or Mo- thers Pleafure , fo they who enter into the Oeco- nomy of the Spiritual World, by a Regeneracy or new A Continuation of Objections, &c. 1 8 1 new Birth, ought, at their entring into this new c^p. World, to demean themfclves after the Tame obe- XVlf. dienr, fimple, inoffenfive, unprejudiced Manner, On/"\J in reference to things Divine, fubmitting thcmfelves wholly to the Government and Manuduftion of God's Holy Spirit, without'Prejudice, Fraud, Prefumption, or any Fondnefs or Adhefion to ones own Ways or * n.nun^ Wifdom. It is ridiculous to make any other Inference cu:lonof from our Lord's comparing the Difpofition of him the Evan* who defires to enter into the New World, or Hea- gelieSfi^ venly Kingdom with the Eftate of Children, and to nt^ytors. conclude, that they are not Originally Sinners. He Boun>- who defires to fee Paffages of this Nature exp'ain'd non, Vivt. in an ample, lively and admirable Manner, may con- 1- Art. fult the Book referr'd to in the * Margin. i68,£fc. III. But the Objection of the pretended Cruelty ni. AI{c- of puniftuitg Children with Eternal Torments, is uxsfutationof mofr. abfurdof all. For, not to difpute about xhzk the third Torments, I take no notice that two things (both a- o! j:clion% like falfe) are fuppofed in this Objection : Firft, that »jz. That Children are Sinners by the way of Pofitive Impu-'^ -Do- tation, God imputing to them their Parents Sin, &rineof without which Imputation they had not been Sin- 0rigin*l ners, nor liable to Eternal Death. Secondly, It fup- bin tm„ . pofes a falfe Idea of God's Juftice, far different horn*™*** that propofed elfewhere by me It is, I fay, falfly ^ *tb iupposd, that God does punifh Children fo as pofi- tiyis* tively to inflict eternal Punijhments on them, this Qb'iCftim were as Cruel as Imputation itfelf. But we need not, s the have recourfe to thefe Chimeras to comprehend Origi- ino/l ah- nal Sin, and the eternal Mifery of Man damn'd (roca fad of his Birth, except God's infinite Mercy vouchfafe to in- an)* tcrpofe. What 1 affirm upon this Subject is, that Man, who, by his own default fell into a Privation of the Realities and Perfections, he was originally endued with, could by natural Generation reproduce him- felf only fuch as he really was, i. e. deficient in his original Perfections :, and further, that Man repro- duced in this imperfect State, void of the Source of Good,was necefTarily involved in Mifery and Trouble, not by any pofuive Aft: of Gocj, but becaufe in con- iequence of Sin he is naturally itript of his Original N 3 Perfection ^ 82 J Continuation of Objections, &c. Chap. Perfection *, and becaufe to complete his Mifery, God XV II. needs only to leave him as he is, in the Privation ^^O/""^ of the Source of Good, in which he is born, a Priva- tion, that in its Formality is the greateft of all Mi- feries, and mud: neceffarily be very fenfible in a li- ving Subject endued with a Capacity of infinite De- lights and Joys. Are not theie Confequences Necef- fary and Natural ? Is God at all concerned in them ? Have we any reafon to complain that he is Cruel I If Man, ingrate as he is, be left in the State he chufes •, if he reproduce himfelf void of the Source of Happi- nefs, what pretence is there to impute Cruelty to God ? Is it not molt Juft and Equitable, that it fhould be Co with Man ? By what rule of Equity can a Man, deprived of a thou fan d Advantages, with which he Was endued by God, generate Beings more perfect than himfelf. Can we juftific the complaints of any Creature, who being born impure, inftead of hum- bling himfelf in the fight of God, and imploring his GraciousAid,upbraids him infolently withbeingCruel, pirn who hath not contributed to his Mifery, and does' only leave him to himfelf. Would we have God make Laws that are impoffible and abfurd to avoid the Im- putation of Cruelty from thofe blinded, proud Spirits, who refufe to acknowledge their original Depravation, and the necefiity they are in of God's Gracious Aid. Would we have him ordain, that a'Caufe involved iri Mifery and Sin fhould produce Effects, perfect, pure and happy, that Nothing or Privation fhould be a Source of, or be more perfect: than Reality it felf. He muft have a mind ftrangely formed indeed, who does not comprehend thefe Truths, or acknowledge them when comprehended. V'hnh 1V' But there are other °D3e^ions rtin behind* fourth Ob- one 0f whicn is boafted to be Demonttrative in fa- fen™ '"' vour of the confutcd ^lagian Herefie. It is, fay from cer- *°me> an tfneontefted Truth, that the Scriptures can1- tamTextjmt ive* Now in them we are aiTur'd in a hundred of Scrtp- Places, that God will render to every Man accord^ ture. An™%> t0 nis Works *, and that every Man [hail bear his Anfwer own burden", and how can this be reconciled toO- 10 them, riginal Sin, particularly with that AiTertion, that Children t ' ■ I . . ■ A Continuation of Object ions ^ &X. 1 8 J Children Bom of wicked Parents, dying in an in- Chap. fant State, (hall never be admitted to the Divine in- XVII. joyrnent, but be punifh'd with Damnation ? Is this VVXJ to render to every Man according to his Works? To treat Creatures thus, who are allowed never to have committed actual Sin. I anfwer, is this the boafted Demonftration to deftroy Original Sin out of the World ? It is Blindnefs not to fee that paflages of this Nature are only Declarations how God will deal with them who have actually done Good or Evil Works: But have no relation to the Queition. How God will deal with them who through a Natural and Invincible Impotence have done neither Good nor Evil as is the Cafe of Children fprung, fome from a Good, others from an Evil Stock, they will no doubt be treated by- God moft juftly *, but fince they have done no works, That Rule of rendring to every one according to his works cannot refpect them. V. Let it be then fuppofed, or aflerted rather that v* "oa> Children will be Rendred to according to their om m*? Works: How may we conceive their Difpofition or^'rT/ Lot will be : Why this feems to me to come neareft to dren r*\ this rule: Children have done no Works, Equity do'sr4,tf from therefore feem to require they (hould be treated ac- God win cording to the Works of the Root that bears them,^ treated and of which they are a part. Suppofe a plant that by b:my m never bore was to be treated according to the Quality per f til E- of its fruit *, the foremention'd rule feems to require it why and fliould be treated as its Stock or root,whofe principles /*/?«* are in it : So that in virtue of this rule God may fave afici *o the Children of the juft,and fuperadd what happinefshe wding to pleafes from his overflowing Grace and Love : And ™erule 4, the wicked plants he may abandon to perdition, as rendrtn& their Parents; I do not fay that God inflicts pofitive * f ac' Punifhments on them, nor that their fuffering ought °?J"& **• to be equal to theirs who have actually finned, and^rAx rejected the Grace of God. Perhaps when he leaves them in the privation of his blefTed joys, he may lay their Faculties, in a Slumber, to be in a kind of indq- lent State. God's Power and Wifdom can find out infinite ways to treat them as Perfons fegarate from him, without any Impeachment of his Equity and N 4f V0VS ? A Continuation of Object ions , &x. Love : But this is his Concern, which therefore let us leave to him, and not think ourfelves lefs worthy to be feparated from him on account fir ft of Sinful Adam, confidered before his ReadmifTion to God's Grade .* Nor Secondly of our immediate parents, fince they have not co operated with God's Grace by a Pu- rification of their Heart and Soul , but by their own Tranfgreffions have feparated themfelves yet more from God. VI. The W, But to leave nothing unanfwered in this pre- foregcing tended Demonstration, let us fee what can be made Objections of it/ if taken in a literal Striclnefs : God will render literally to every Man according to his Works : What ought underfloodwe to infer from hence? Why that as little Children is againft nave done no Works, fo he will render nothing to the propo- tjlern . [3llt jeave >em as ne £n(js »em ^ without con- fenoftt- cerning himfelf at all about 'em.* And herein confifts the EfTence of Damnation *, if God leave to himfelf a Creature of an Infinite, Intelligent, Afpiring Nature, if he do not ceafe to fhine, or to a£V, or make Impref- fion on it, it becomes Miferable in the Supreme De- gree : So that according to this boafted Demonft rati- on, the Children of both Good and Bad, who die be- fore they have done Good or Evil, mull be damned alike *, which is a Cruel Sentence to pafs on all,but na- Vll Bow turally follows from theArgument of thefe Obje&ers. God dos V!I. Whereas by our Hypothefis one ought to (ay truly tko that if God renders nothing to them who have done indireBly no Works, and leaves them as he finds them \ then, render to }fne finds them grafted on a good Stock, and part of tittle Chit- perfons wno live in the Element of Grace, he will dren ac- jeaye t^cm |fl jlis <3race^ u f# jn Salvation : For God 7beir* *° cannot abfolutely for fake what is in the Element of Worh. Mercy •' anc^ *f ne finds others rooted in an Evil Stock, and part of Perfons that are in the Element of Impu- rity and Sin, he who can have no Communion with the impure will leave them in their Sin, and Separati- on from him: Th:> I do not deny, but he may by his Infinite Mercy, Wifdom and Power, lay their Fa- culties afl^ep, and make them Infenfible, as it were to their Mileries, as Mercy and Juftice (hall direct. Here then we fee how this Rule of Equity, God will render A Continuation of Objections, See. 1 8 5 render to every one according to his Works, which Chap, (peaks directly of fuch as have actually done Good or X VII. Evil, do's admirably accord with the Truths advanced ~/~Vm>*l by us,tho' apply'd toSubjefts who have done noWorks. VIII. Another Objection : It is Impoflible to be a VIII. A Sinner, but either by Act or by Habit. Children,./? >th Ob- about whom we are now difputing, are not fo by Act. f*8ion ta» By Habits they cannot be, becaufe Habits are acquired v;z \rom^ only by repeated Acts : And therefore they are not '^ Cwfim Sinners: I anfwer there are two ways of acquiring 7*?^* Habit?, firft in an Active Manner, i. e. by a Subjects °anj ffam repeated Acts: Or Secondly, Paflively : When an yns H'Qttf Effect, a Subject derives it from its Caufe *, as when #*£f>j from Non-exiftent it becomes Exiftent and like its are tYAYlrm Caufe. An Effect: holds from its Caufe all the Rea- mttted t& lities EfTential to it : Nor is this difficult to be com- a- Subjeti prehended. Suppofe a Caufe or Origin to be defect- that ne- ive in Realities, refpecting certain Objects, or a cer- ver aftei* tain Conduct. Every Production of it will be defect- ive alfo ; So here is the Habit9 and the Communicati- on of it. The Habit of Evil is not (as fuch) a pofitive Thing \ but a Negation, or Privation rather : There is in a Habit firft a Pofitive and Active Subject, a ftrong Active Power exerting itfelf in a certain Man- ner : This is pofitively tranfmitted from the Caufe to its Effect : There is Secondly in this Active Power, a Defect of Reality and Perfection .- Which is tranfmit- ted negatively, u e. where a Caufe or Origin is de- fective in any Reality or Perfection, its Effect is alfo deficient iii it and thus we may conceive the Propaga- tion of Evil Habits. IX. Inftance. Habits and Inclinations of this Na- IX Our ture are not Evil when refilled, but Occafions of Vir- Mawa I tue rather. Incline ons are m themfelves very depraved; But the Grace of God reftrains their Maligni- ty till by degrees it is extmguifcd. Refp. Men reafon too fad by Inftances like this, if we will proceed fairly, we muft fay thefe Habits were at firft acquired and produced by the wicked Damna- ble acts of a Sinner, Malicious Sinner, without Excufe. Therefore they are fi nful in themfelves. Secondly^ 1 86 A Continuttian of Objections, &c Chap. Secondly, They naturally tend only to repeat the v XVII. culpable Acts, by which they were produced:, therefore VrVs-/ they are finful in themfelves. Thirdly, When committed by the Father to the Child, they patted by meansofaConfent actually gi- ven to them, and alfo of Subjects that have not extin- guinYd, nor fubdued them, but differ them ftill to live in themfelves : Therefore confidered Originally, ancj as communicated they are finful. Fourthly, Children in whom thefe Habits, and Incli- nations are naturally inclined to Evil and not to Good. Therefore they are finful in themfelves, and as derived on us. Fifthly, If they are Occafions of Virtue, it is refiftance makes them fo. Therefore they are Vicious ' in themfelves. In fine. It is Impofiible to refift them, but by God's Grace and Operation, who knocks at the Heart to be let in, in order to mortifie, and deftroy them, and to introduce a new life into it. If we admit him by a Voluntary Confent, and Resignation of our Liberty to him. Therefore in themfelves they are wicked Enemies of God, of a mortal Damning Na ture : And all who are Subject to them are plunged in the Source of Eternal Death, and therein abide till the Holy Spirit of God vifit them by his Grace^ and draw them out. But to proud, corrupt Souls who glory in oppofmg his Holy Spirit, making its immediate Gracious Operations which alone can re- form the Corruption of their Hearts, the Subject of their Raillery, and ridicule this Gracious Spirit will never come. But Reflexions of this Nature belong more properly to another place. X. a X. I will next proceed to certain Objections which Sixth aniVoffms propofes as Infolvable by him, and whether Seventh they are fo or not by the Vulgar Syftem of Original Obj&ions.Sva I do not inquire, bijt (hall ihew that they are but as chaff before the Truths herein afferted. One of his Objections is thus in form: It is not poffible for Adam to tranfmit his Sin to his pofterity, but either as a Moral, or as a Phyfical and Efficient Caufe ; There being no Medium .* But ! A Continuation of Objections i &c. 187 But be cannot tranfmit it as an Efficient or Phyfical Chap. Caufe, becaufe things not Exiftent, as Adam and bis XVII. Sin are not, can't act as fuch *, nor can he tranfmit it v*/'Vsy as a Moral, or fimply as an Exemplary Caufe*, be- caufe Imputation is a mere Chimera, and the Imitati- on of Adam's Sin was condemned in the Pelagians .* Therefore he neither do's nor can Communicate it at all to his Defendants. Another thought to be very knotty and perplexing js thus.- The Sin of Adam call'd Original Sin, is ei- ther an Actual or Habitual Sin of Every Man. It is not an Actnal,e£r.N.or is it an Habitual one j there being only Acquired, Natural, and Infufed Ha- bits. It is not acquired, for Children are incapable of fuch, nor is it Natural, or infufed , of thefe God be- ing the only Author. Therefore it is a mere Chimera. XI. To this laft 1 anfwer, That its Minor Propo- XI. The fition is very falfe ; It is falfe that Children are Inca- Seventh pable of Habits acquired by their Parents.- It is falfe Anfwered. that God is the Author of our Natural Habits, if we call, by that name, Original Sin. It is falfe that he is the Author of infufed ones, if we underftand here- by that Depravation which from Parents is transfufed to their Children, for to pafs over at prefent that the privation which is in them can't be from God, I ob- serve that all that is pofitive in them may be tranfmit- ed by Second Caufes, unlefs we admit that Chimerical Hypothefis which denies all Activity of fecond Caufes- But this Objection is already fully Anfwered in the Anfwer given to the laft. See Art. 8. XII. All the Proportions of the other are faulty :X1I. Toe The Major is Defective : For the Queftion do's not Eighth concern Adam only, but all Subordinate Parents be- An{wer9d* tween him and us; Indeed, if God, after Adams Sin, had abandon'd him with all that might defcend • from hi rn, and not renewed the offer of his Grace, they had all been certainly undone. But if Adam had not finned , and one of the Inferiour Origins , which we are Born of had, we had been undone with- out him: And tho- Adam was readmitted unto Graces 1 88 AComi/2HAtion of Objections, &c. Chap. Grace, and accepted of it, if they of his Children XVII. whom we defcend from have not ratify'd it-, if they S^V^ have not refilled and renounced Sin*, but, following the bent of depraved Nature, have multiply'd Sin ft ill more and more: It is intaikd upon us by thefe Intermediate Origins as much as by the Original one :, excepting that the Offer of Grace made to Adam, and to his Pofterity ftands firm and unalterable. The Second Proportion is falfe, and the reafon of itRidiculous: It is falfe to deny that Ada?n commu- nicates Sin as a Phyfical Caufe : And ridiculous to al- iedge, as a reafon of this Negation, that Adam is not Exiftent: He is, tho'iiot Exjftent, the Phyfical Caufe of all Men : Have we forgot to diftinguijh thefe Cauf- es into Proximate and Remote*, Mediate and Imme- diate *, Succefiive and Simultaneous ? The Application of which being obvious even to a Child's Capacity, I content myfelf with a bare Mention of them : XIIT« A XIII. I will conclude the Objections againft Origi- ecneral na* Sin, w*tn a Summary Collection of all the Abfurdi-. Obj*8ion ties fupppfed to follow from it. or rather * CollMion of Several Obje 8 ions, with answers to them. The doctrine of Original Sin Men have reafon to regard, not only as ufelefs •, but as prejudicial to Re- ligion. It ferves only to give us very Criminal Ideas of God, as if, like a Tyrant, he created us only to deftroy us. It encourages the Indifference of Sinners by furnifhing them with a Specious Pretence, that Sin is unavoidable. It annihilates the Grace of Jefus Chrift, by making one Sin of Adam more powerful to deftroy, than the Blood and Covenant of the Re- deemer are to fave; It directly oppofes the Preroga- tive of Men, their being more loved of God than the Rebel- Angels, who were pumlhed only for their own Actual Sin*, whereas Men are damned for a Sin corn- • rnittcd before they were Born, and to which they were not confenting.* It makes God unjuft: For if Original Sin deferve any Punilhment, it ought to be proportioned to its Guilt, which confiiling only m the Privation of an Original Righteoufnefsdeny'd by God, its Purufhment lhould coiJift only in a Privation of A Continuation of Objections, &c 189 of Happinefs, and not in an indifpenfible Obliga- Cha> tion to Sin or Suffer. In fine, fince we have fin- XVII. ned in Adam, Juftice feems to require we fhould LOT^d be punifhed in him, not he in us. Thefe Objecti- ons, I fuppofe, are levell'd againft the vulgar Do- ctrine of Original Sin, whereby it is made prin- cipally to confift in Imputation, and is not only befet on every fide with preffing Difficulties *, but is in reality a mere Chimera, unworthy of God. But as it is propofed by us, they are mere Phan- toms, as I proceed to fhew by a particular Exami- nation of them. id. Objection. The Doctrine of Original Sin Men have reafon to regard not only as ufelefs, but pre- judicial to Religion. I anfwer, that Doctrine that denies it, ought to be look'd upon as the Founda- tion of our Hell, and Ruin o( our Salvation } fince while we are infected with it, it is impoflible to know the Sins and Miferies of our Nature, and confequently to purifie our felves there-from y but are in danger of perifhing o'bftinately with a Pride as deplorable and great, as is the blindnefs of our Heart : On the contrary, the acknowledging this Doctrine opens the way of Happinefs, and makes Salvation attainable unto us *, in that we are hereby difpofed to Humility, Hatred and Abnegation of our felves, and to feek, with Humility, God's Grace and Fa- vour to our felves and our Pofterity *, and God re- fills the Proud, and gives Grace to the Humble, i Pet. 5. 5. 2d. Ob] eel. It ferves only to give us very Crimi- nal Ideas of God, as if like a Tyrant, he created us only to deftroy us. R. This Objection againft Ori- nal Sin, as explain 'd by us, has no fhadow of Truth, By all that I have faid of it, and its Propagation, 'tis plain, that God hath done his utmoft to hinder its Event, and to perpetuate the Felicity of Man, and it will appear in the following Books, that God will continue to the Confummation of the World, to do all he can to {lop its Progrefs and Effects, and to reduce Mankind to the End of their Creation, viz.. Eternal Life. I go A Continuation of Objections, ckc. Chap. 3d. Object. It incoqrages the indifference of Sin- XVII. nerS5 by furnifhing them with a fpecious pretence, that Sin is unavoidable. R. They who are come to an Age of Reafon and Reflection, and would find out Pretences to favour a carelefs, loofe behaviour, will never find them in the pretended neceftity of finning, or impoffibility of avoiding the Evils they are inclined to •, becaufe thefe Pretences are alto- gether falfe, fin ce God hath offer'd unto all Mankind Pardon, Grace, Light, Strength and Means for avoid- ing Evil, and doing Good, as will appear in the fol- lowing Treatifes. But the denial of Original De- pravation is a Heihfii Poyfon that cheriflies Pride of Heart, and the Motions of depraved Nature, in which all Sin is generated y and fumifties a pretence of abiding obftinately in it, and of living and dying, blind, infenfible, hardened, and a Sacrifice of Hell, 4th. Objett. It annihilates the Grace of Jefus Chrift by making one Sin of Adam more powerful to de- flroy, than the Blood and Covenant of the Redeemer are to fave. R. This is an abfurd Objection \ De» ftruelion is not an Effect of Power, but a real Impo- tence. More Vertue is required to produce a fingle thought that is Good, than to commit a World of Sins •, the Grace of Jefus Chrift, renewed to Adamt and to his Pofterity, is fufficient (as will be fhewed in due time) to fave all Mankind*, if received with Humility and Refignation of their Liberty to it, but if by Neglect, Obftinacy, Slindnefs, Pride and Damnable Preemption, that they do not need it,; and that its immediate interior Operation in their Souls, is a Chimera, Men render themfeives unwor- thy of it, and reject it, it is not therefore lefs divinely, vertuous, tho' a fingle Soul be not actually faved by- it, if they continue obftinate in their Indifpofitions. 5th. Objecl. It directly oppofes the Prerogative of Men, their being more loved of God than the Rebel- Angels, who were punifhed only for their own actual Sin \ whereas Men are damn'd for a Sin committedv before they Were born, and to which they were not contenting. . JR. Thefe Difficulties have been already stnfwer'd, the Prerogative "of Meii above the Angels" Bfttf A Continuation of Objections, &c. 191 hath been proved in the plac'd refer'd to in the * Mar- Chap, gin. It is falfely fuppofed in this Objection, that XVH. God does punifh and condemn Men pofitively to^Y^**. Hell: He only leaves them fuch as he finds them,*ch-l6« without concerning himfelf about them. In fine, it7'9' xo" is as falfe that he leaves them in the damnable Eftate in which he finds them, as that he ordains them to it .• God offers his Grace and Bleffednefs to all, and is ready to ordain them to the Heavenly Joys, provi- ded they correfpond as he enables them ^ an Advan- tage which the Rebel- Angels had not : That Children, do not contribute to the impurity of their Origin, as it does unto theirs, is not to be wonder'd at, fince 'tis natural for the Caufe to contribute to the Qualities of the Effect, and not for the Effect to the Qualities of the Caufe. 6th. ObjeB. It makes God unjuft *, for if Origi- nal Sin deferve any Punifliment, it ought to be pro- portion^ to its Guilt, which if it confift only in the Privation of an Original Righteoufnefs denied by God, its Punifliment (liould confift only in a Priva- tion of Happinefs, and not in an indifpenfible Obli- gation to Sin or Suffer. R. This Objection is all over faulty, Firft, I retort that that Doctrine which de- nies the Original Depravation of Children, makes God unjuft, becaufe it afferts, that our Souls, tho* created pure, and put into Bodies undented *, are indifpenfibly fubjected to not only a thoufand Suf- ferings and Uneafmeffes \ tut alfo unto Sin, fince whoever is born into this depraved World, cannot naturally avoid it, when he comes to the ufe of Rea- fon, as cannot be denied without the extremeft blind- nefs. Secondly, It fuppofes falily, that Original Righ- teoufnefs is denied us by God •, whereas it is Man rejects it : God, on his part, is ready and difpofed to give it if Men were careful not to oppofe it. Thirdly, It fuppofes falfly, that God does pofitive- fy inflict Punilhment upon us, fubjecting us in- evitably to a neceiltty of Sin and Suffering. Fourth- ly, It contradicts it felf where it requires that the Punilhment of Sin fhould confift in the Priva- tion, of Happinefs, and not in an. indifpenfible Ob- ligation 192 A Continuation of Objections, &c. Ch:p. ligation to Sin and Suffer/ The Privation of true XVII. Happinefs, or of God the Fountain of it, from whom ' we are feparated by. Sin being in fe parable from the unhappy neceflity of Sin and Suffering, or rather is in Subftance the Tame thing to whoever lives in this miferable World, and enjoys his Liberty and the Faculties of his Nature, as none who confiders the Truths contained in the former Treatife can I be- lieve deny. Now this Privation is a Natural Eifect of Sin, and not a pofitive Punifhment, inflicted by another, and alterable in its Nature, as this Objection abfurdly does fuppofe*, in fine, the Objection does not take notice, that as on one hand Man is unhap- pily brought under a deplorable Neceflity of Sin- ning and of Suffering, even as when a Man has loft bis fight, all the Members of his Body will neceffa- rily fuffer in their Conduct, and be hurt by the Bodies they tat againft : So, on the other, God is fo far from inflicting Punifhments in a pofitive way, that he prefents his Graces unto Men to free them from the unhappy Neceflity to which they are by their own default reduced. 7th. Objett. In fine, fmce we have finned in Adam± Juftice feems to require we fhould be punifhed in him, not he in us. R. This Reafoning is very bad : Firft, It fuppofesfalfly, that the Juftice of God inflicts direct and pofitive Punifhments on Adam and his De- fendants *, whereas to punifh them he needs only to withdraw his Influences from them, and leave the Head-fpring and its Streams as they are, and do na- turally flow from one another. How abfurd is it to pretend, that becaufe we finned in Adam^ and while we were contained in him as in our Principle, we ought not to partake of the Punifhment naturally confequent to that Sin, when our Exiftence is fepa- rate from him ? As if an Effect fhould fay, fince it is only in my Caufe that I was affected with, and depri- ved of fuch certain Qualities, when I leave my Caufe and ex ill out of it, why do not theie Effects and Privations remain in it, without delcending upon me? Why hath not God ordained that an Evil Caufe fhould produce a Good Effect ? Or why hath he (a conflicted' A Continuation of Objections, &c. 19? conftituted Things, that an evil Caufe does con- Chap, flantly produce an Effect as deficient as it felf ? XVII. To pretend to jultifie Reafonings like to thefe, one ^"V^ muft have renounced Common Senfe. lanfwerthen, that ftrictly fpeaking God does not pofitively punifh any •, but when an Effect hath finned in its Caufe, i. e. when a Caufe hath finned, while the Effect was in it, it is impoflible for that Effect when brought into a feparate Exifrence to fin in it, or to be af- fected in it by the Effects of Sin : Since it is not in it, it cannot be affected in it : But Sin and Privation, are EfTential to it, on account of the Defkience of its Caufe, becaufe it is a Portion of, and out-flowed from if, and therefore naturally partakes of its Rea- lities and Defects. Go then, complain of God, that before the Idea and Event of Sin, he ordained that every Thing fliould produce its like y a Complaint which they are guilty of in a very high Degree, vv!o ask, Why haji thou made me thus ? Or why haft thou ordained as a Rule in Nature, that every Being iliould reproduce it felf? XIV. Now after thefe rare Objections, may we not XIV. ttf* conclude this Subject, and boldly ask, if they do not Jon by at- afford a fufficient Light to free us from the fooliih '««/'' "£ Prejudices of Childhood, and the Schools? And it**?"!!1* we may not conclude, that God hath \\\\\mim-jrf rom ted our Minds upon thefe Subjects, and that we /e^"e/aw ought to cultivate thefe Truths, that they may^"^0 But, 94 A Continuation of Objections^ Sec. Cbp. Bar, behold the Perverfity of Mankind ! Becaufe we XVII. meet with f0 palpable Errors on many Occafions, ^^v^-^ that Reafon is' offended at them, and is capable to confute them ; becaufe it is fuccefsful in many Things, fhall we, rejoycing in the good Offices it does us, take it to be our Guide, our Light, our God in every Thing ? Shall we follow its Guidance and Direction only, and think to refcue our felves from all Prejudice and Error by it ? Shall we run from one Extreme into another, introducing dangerous Herefies in the room of little Errors, honouring them with the Title of Lights of God, tho' in reality they arife from the Abvfsof Darknefs? X /. Ihtj xv. An In fiance of this Procedure we have in the mho have Management Gf the Prtrdeftinarian Controverfie : 7f Humane ^eafon alone was capable to difcover its Falfity, as ReafontY ProP0^ by Calvin^ the Janfenifls9 Thomifts, and ortfer Supra- Ld$f avians : And what Method did their Ad- themfdve s verfaries the Remonftraats take? Why, they, when from the required dogmatically to believe that God had de- iJicedejti- flin'd fome to Salvation, and others to Damnation **ariari without any regard to their Faith and Works, per- Errors ceived plainly that this Doctrine interfer'd with Rea* hxvefal?nfox\) as well as Scripture \ and therefore did well tmoTfiore to refufe affenting to it: Their Adverfaries here- yrtal. and upon jnfifted, that all Mankind being by Original dangerous §in piunged in Death, God was free to refcue from Gneu it whom he pleafed, and to leave others in if0 for a Proof of which they produce the Example of the Children of Pagans and Infidels, who die in an in- fant State and are loft, which (hews that the Grace of God is not Univerfal, but Particular: that he does not only not privilege all with the Means of external Vocation to the Gofpel :, but that, even a- inong the Called, many have not the interiour Grace of Faith immediately and effectually operating in them •, and confequently their Notion of Praedefti- nation was right and true. Others taking' their Aim by another Byafs, that they might not offend by proportions oi fo harlh a Sound, owned that God did will the Salvation of all Men, and offer'd his Grace to all, but that Men who, abiolutely fpeak- A Continuation of Objections, &c. 195 ing, might, if they had pleafed, have accepted it by Chap. Faith, were fo depraved and perverfe in Heart and XVIL Will, that none of all Mankind would have been itbns t[lat clement of Alexandria interprets by Nature, V J f t0 mean Truly : Whereupon with an Air of Conri- SnpC dence they bid us to remember well *, That to be by * Tbtf'* Mature Children of God's Wrath^ fimply means, to Ecdet* ^e truhT worthy of his Wrath. But Clement^ I hope, Suiceri ad w^ £*ve me *eave t0 prefer a Senfe that is natural and ▼ocem, Proper? t0 a violent and improper one. Let Scrip- $uffts. ture then explain itfelf, and on its Authotity I will prefume to advertize thefe Criticks in their own Lan- guage ; To remember well that to be by Nature Chil- dren of God's Wrath imports , To be ObjetTs of his Disfavour even from one's Birth derived from finful Adam. This Word by Nature (Qvau,) is five times nfed in the New Teftament *, And twice it fignifies the Nature of a Thing, the Thing itfelf, its ErTence, Conftitution2 A Continuation of Objections, &c. 203 Conftitution, Faculties, and Operations, * Then Chap. when ye knew wot God^ ye did fervice unto them which XVII. by nature are no Gods ; fays the Apoftle, i. et to Things ^"V^-/ that are not of a Divine Nature and Property : t ^ve't ^' ^' ry kind of Be aft s are tamed by the Nature of Man, faith J* St. James, i. e. by Man himfelf, by the Faculties and * 3 7" Operations effential to him. Now it is certain, that when Men are denominated Children of Wrath by- Nature, it is not to be underftood in this Senfe *, it is not in virtue of their Subfrance, their Faculties and Operations phyfically confidered: But in the three other Places it fignifies by Birth, i. e. by the Impref- fions and Difpofitions born with us. St. Paul relating his Conteft with St. Peter fays, || We are Jews by Na- n Gaj VI- ture, and not Sinners of the Gentiles ; meaning for cer- tain we are born Jews or are fo by Birth. This is for certain the Senfe of this Word, when it do's not de- note the Eftate and Properties of a Thing : And as it is undoubted that St. Paul's Meaning was not that his own and St. Peter's Humanity did confift in Juda- ifm •, fo when he fays, We were Children of Wrath by Nature, he means we are born fo, and are fuch by Birth. The laft Place where this Term is ufed, it is thus expreft ; * If the Heathen having not the Law, do* ^Qm 2a by Nature the things contained in the Law, Sec. where , 4. the Apoftle fuppofes that the Heathens by following the Inftin&s which God hath implanted in them at their Birth and Formation may do what is juft. For in the Formation or Birth of Man are to be confidered. 1. That which they partake of, and inherit from their fmful Parents, that as fuch they are void of the Grace of God, and Children of his Wrath. And 2ly,~ That toraife their depraved Nature, God joyns thereto a Ray of his Grace and Light Divine, which enlightens every Man that comes into the World, and enables them to refift the finfal Inclinations of their Nature : To thefe Gracious Inftintts, St. Paul refers where he fays, The Heathens do by Nature the things contained in the Law, i. e. by that Gracious Principle infus'd from the Birth even into them who, from their Pa- rents inherit contrary Difpofitions that fubject them to God's Wrath. XXII. Now 204 A Continuation of Objections, &c. Chap. XXI L Now to object that Natural Things do ne- XVII. ver change, that it is impoftible for one who is by Na- V^^V tUTe a Child of Wrath, to change and become a Child v /r' ce; ^° Pretend tnat to fuppofe Mankind to th oL^e S*nners ^V Nature, Cwhich cannot be chang'd,) is \e&i n$ t0 ma^e God the Author of Sin, is more trifling : This made a- Argument would hold good if one were to underftand gainfi the &Y Nature the Subftance, EfTence, and Property of a true Senfe Thing*, but not when it fignifies the Eftate, Qualities, of- this and Difpofkions with which a Thing is born : This is Peffage. what I affirm is capable of Change, and if it be evil is not from God. But I pafs over thefe little Sophifms without further Notice, and all other fuch like Dif- courfes which contain an Apology for the Pharifees who fancy the Wrath of God belongs only to the fcan- daloufly wicked, the Covetous, Adulterers and the like, and not to the Holy prefumptuous Pharifees who are juft and righteous from their Birth, and leading regular Lives are not as other Men, tho' in truth, they as well as others are Originally a Brood of Vi- pers, ft ray 'd from God even from the Womb, and penetrated with theLeaven of theLuft of theEyes,ancl of the Flefh, and with the Pride of Life, and the Dark- nefsof Death.Nor do I fay any thing here of the Dura- tion of Sin in the Faithful, becaufe this Queftion be- longs not to this Place. XXIII. XXIII. In fine I will not infift on other PafTagesof That it *j Scripture, where Man is declared to be fo perverfe needlejs /©and depraved by Nature, and from his Birth, that his ivfiji en Thoughts and Imagination no fooner begin to aft, or ether bring forth Fruit, but they continually tend to Evil. Texts of If it be allowed as fome will have it, that by t the Itha- Scripure gination of Man's Heart , we are only to underftand toat prove Voluntary Acts, how can one more exprefly affirm Original- ^i a Thing is depraved in its Principle and Fund, **Gen 6. t*lan ^V" faying, That as foon as it begins to aft, its , 4?;^'g2' Acts and Operations will be Evil: A Wicked Man ' produces no Act in Sleep, and yet he is depraved in his Fund, not only on account of Actions paft, but be- caufe he Hands difpofed to repeat them when he wakes. So it is of the Nature which we derive frbqi M*m% and our PredecefTors. Could this Nature ace with Liberty an4 Knowledge as foon as it is born, its Ads would A Continuation of Objections, &C 2oJ 30. If we confider, that God hath no Idea of Sin be- fore its Actual Event* ii. If weconfider, that the Idea of Sin in God is only an Idea of Light, reflected on him by a Creature refufing to admit it when prefented to him. 12. If weconfider, that before the Event of Sin, God did only forefee Happinefs in his Creatures. 13. If we confider, that the Wicked will be at laft everlaftingly forgot by God *, but he will never forget his own Decrees, or the Objects of them. 14. If we confider, that Nothing and Sin do not depend on God for their Subfiftence. 15. If we confider, that God and the Devil are. en- tirely contrary to one another: And that he hates Evil as infinitely as the Devil loves it} and loves Good as infinitely as the Devil hates it. 16. If we confider, that Sin is not an Object of the Power, and much leis of the Will of God. 17. If we confider, that God bath propofed himfelf, and not Evil or Imperfection, as the Object of his Creatures Liberty. 18. If we confider, that Man might have received all creaturely Impreflions in their Original Order and Difpofition,without being diftract from God. 19. If we confider that no other Object befides God* do's directly and immediately imprefs the Faculties Divine. 20. If we Confider, that the Divine Impreflions were ftronger and more forcible than all Creatures. 21. If we confider, that Nothing either in Man, or in External Nature did engage him in Diforder. 22. If we confider,that to preferve Man from falling fodefperately as the Angels, God was pleated topre- fent Objects to him whole Impreflions were of a more material Nature , than the Impreflions made upon the Angels. 23. If weconfider, that to preferve him from Dif- traction by Created Objects, God was pleafed to rank himfelf among them, and converfe corporeally with him. 24. if with R eference to Predcftwarion. 209 ■»' 1 ■ ' .I. 24. If we confider that God did not fuddenly with- Cfup. draw his Graces, his Light, his Attractions and Con- ^{}}- verfation from Man, becaufe of his flrft Frailties and Infirmities •, but rather continued and increafed them to him. 25. If we confider that to recal him to his Duty, God withdrew his Prefence and Divine Graces by lit- tle and little , and at laft left him wholly to himfelf, that Man might learn to regret his Lofs, and do all he poffiblv could to recover God's Grace. 26. If we confider that the Devil had no Power to dart his dark depraved impreffions upon Man, much lefs to communicate Sin unto him, which, is wholly barren, and not communicable in it felf, and much lefs. by the Intervention of the Will, Decree and Operation of God. 27. If we confider that God had refcued the Crea- tures from the power of the Devil, that he could not difpofeof'em to Man'sDeftruclion,thisDragon was fad bound in Chains of Darknefs, there to abide far di- ftant from the Light, had not Man let him looie by the Irregularity of his Liberty. 28. If We confider that God had ordained that Men Iliould defcend fucceflively from one another, that be- ing fromtheirBirth habitually eftablifh'd and confirmed in Virtue, there fhould be no Danger of their falling. 29. If we confider that he gracioufly warn d Man, not to eat of that Tree which would deprave and hurt him, which proves that he only will'd his Life and Happinefs. 30. If we confider that God when he faw that his Abfence as well as Prefence proved hurtful to him, fubftituteci a Woman as a Help to recover his thoughts to God, and prevent his debafng himfelf by Crea- turely Affections, by having continually prefentwith him, an Object who being a Lively Image of Qbd| Was worthy of his Love. 31. Jf we confider, that all Evil Events were only from the Defkience of a Caufe, labile in its Nature, which therefore is and can be only Man. It is the laft ImpoiTibility for God to be a Deficient Caufe, (o as to propofe an End to himfelf or others, and not P farnifb 2 1 o A Conclusion of this Second Treatife^ Chap, furnifhtbe Means proper to attain it: Which is the Idea XVllf. ot a Moral Deficient Can fe. v-/*V^s-> 52. If we confider that Sin in its whole Progrefs from its Birth to its Confummation, is only a volun- tary Difapplication from God, and exceffive Applica- tion to the Creatures, with a con ft ant Rcfolution to £oritinue in it, notwithftanding the Divine Admoni- tion : Which cannot be abfolutely will'd , decreed, nor approved by God. 33. If we confider that all the Effects and Punifh- ments of Sin do come, not from God, but from Man a- !o"ne,againft the direct Confent of theWill of God,who a great while fufpended the Effects of Sin, and did H laft only indirectly punilh by fufFering the natu- ral Conlequences of the Sinner's Will to happen to him. IV. Uea IV. And this is the true Idea of God's punitive Ju- of the jwJiice^ by which we ought to correct the Error we fiice of commit, by imagining that the Divine Juftice do's God It poHtively punifh, or rigidly requires this or that be- dos not fore it is appeafed', a Thought that inclines to murmur- pumjh po* jng arlcj Impatience, and gives us perverfe and terri- jicyocL). ble Notions concerning. God .• For if it were thus, God would then (rand in need of the Sufferings of his Creatures, or take pleafure in them, thefe being the only poliible Principles by which he wills the Exi- gence of any Thing, viz,, either the Neceffity of his Nature, or his Arbitrary pleafure. Now Nothing is neceffary to God befides God himfelf, as hath been cktnonftrated in the foregoing Treatife: And to fay that he hath ordained fufferingby his Arbitrary Will or Pleafure, is to reprefent him as a Tyrant, or fome- thirig wovfe -, it is to deflroy the Properties of the Divine Decree, which necefiarily is of a Felicifying peaceful Nature, and can only require of Man to turn himfelf to God with Obedience, Humility and Love. V, who V. Bat tho* God do's not pofitively punifh, the it tspu- ■ Condition of Sinners is not better, nor will they belefs wfhes th punifh'd : They punifh themfelves as much or more, S nn.r. and by for faking God fnbjecl: themfelves to all Sort of 1 - ;• and •iirji.cti oft be Divine Ju flics, urmixt with Reference to P rede ft in at ion. r* H nmixt Evils-, it being impoftible for 'em, when con- dap. "ned to the Dungeon of Mifery and Evil, to in joy rhe XVtfL lead Ray of Good : To this God's Juflice do's indeed ^^T^ indirectly confent, by eftablilhing this Rule, that the Lot of every one fljall be according as he chafes. If therefore Man become a Sufferer, it is only an Effect of his own Choice and free Eilablifhment, becaufe as the Prophet fpeaks * they chufe their own ways, and * If* 66. voluntarily leave that Object: which alone can fatisrle 3- the Defire and Senfibility of their Nature. Herein the Punifhment of Sin con lifts, in which we can con- ceive God to be no otherwife concerned, then either wholly to take it away, or to give way to its Event, or fufpend its Effects, that the Sinner may have time toconfider and turn : Without which Sufpenfion, the World would have become a Hell, as it will hereafter at the great Day of Separation. VI. When I fpeak of pure and unmix t Evil, I do VI. Horn not mean that it fubfifts by itfelf alone, without a pwc Evil RealSubftance: This is contradictory and abfurd : Evil ("kfifl** is only the Depravation or Indifpofiticn of a Real Sub- Wfoat u ject, and could it exifl feparate from a Real Snbftance, ™ea"' h would exift without a State of Indifpofition, i.e. Evil £ ^ £ would not be Evil, which is abfurd. When then ll%tl„ fpeak of Evil its bang left to itfelf hereafter, my'p^^ Meaning is, that no relative Goods, or Per feci ions, nerft%atw no Divine Gifts and Graces, confuting in the Harmo- t{^uu\:\ ny and Relation of the Light and joy Divine with Man, Mtftry, Will be found in that Real Subject, to which Evil tfo'&W the belong. This and other Difficulties like it, are only Different* from an Ambig-rity of Terms, or rather from a Care- r»/ their leffnefs to determine with a Mathematical Exactneis, Ntrunti theUfeancl meaning of the Terms, Good, Evil, ZVa- t/traL Corrupt, Perfect, Imperfecb, Happimfs, Mifery^ and the like-, which have not hitherto been iurficient- ly diftinguilh'd by any, nor is it neceffary to doit nicely, except on an occafion like to this. _ It hath been often (aid that we ought carefully to diftinguifh two Sorts of Gifts made by G< d to Mail, Abfulute and Relative, founded on a Divine Relati- on or Agreement of one Thing with another, or with a certain Difpofnion of a Subject; 212 A Conclusion of this Second Treatife, Chap. Abfolute Gifts are thofe which compofe the Nature ^ViH. of a Subject, as the Soul aud Body, or Faculties of either. Which Things confidered in tnemfelves,ihould, properly fpeaking, not be call'd Good or Evil or things Good or Corrupt :, but rather, real and Na- tural^ and what we thus confider we fhould diftin- guifh by the "Names of Reality and Nature. The Re- lative are the Objects of the Faculties Corporeal and Divine, viz.. God and his Works which are objective- ly united to Man's Faculties, and are what we call his Felicity^ Supreme, or AccefTory, which fully in- joy'd is call'd Pe rfecJion^ but partially or in Part, Im- perfotlion, and the Immediate effect or Refult of Good is Happinefs and Joy. But when the Faculties or Natural Realities are feparate from their Objects, herein confifts the For- mality of Evil j becaufe being made to be united with their Objects, Separation from them necellarily ren- ders them indifpofed and Irregular, and the Subject to which they do belong, Evil and Corrupt , as when a Being whole Members are diftocated, or put into a Situation contrary to the Operation of Certain Ob- jects, for whofe lmpreiiions they are defign'd, the Immediate Effect hereof is Mfery. And hence one may deduce new Definitions of Names, and Things, and of their Effects, ufeful to prevent many Paralo- gies which,the moftSubtileSpirits are too often guilty of, but this I'leave to iuch as defire to diftinguiih their Notions of them. Nor is it difficult to conceive how Evil may fubfift without any Mixture of Good. We ufe indeed to fay that Evil cannot fiibfijr, but in a Subject that is good, but this Scheme of Speech is very perplexed. Evil and Good are contrary to each other and cannot fubfiit together, but according to the Rules of Logick" expel each othera efpecially when one Predominates. Indeed, in the room of this Word Good we ufe to fubfiitute a Notion that is juftj but to fpeak with Propriety we ought to lay, that Evil can fubfifi only in a Real Subjett^ or a Nature that is Real , and that it mayfubfift therein without any Mixture of Good *, which as we may eafily comprehend, fo experience confirms it with Reference to Predeftmation. 2 1 J it in the Devils, whofe Nature 1 would call (Imply Chap. real , and not good, or much lefs per feci. To con- XVIII. tend (as Metaphyficians do) that All Beings are na- ^-'"'W turally good , is to difpute about Chimeras , not knowing what one fays. We have naturally a Ca- pacity to be good , or Faculties to admit if, but we are not naturally fuch before our Faculties are united to their proper Objects. 1 freely own, that I myfelf have not obferved al- ways thefe Definitions or different Names of Things, having I believe more then once given the Names of Good or Perfection to fimple Reality, and that of Reality to true Goods and Perfections: it is thus Men life to fpeak, and 'tis necefTary fometimes to conform to Cuilom. But this Caution is fufficient to guard my Reader againft Error, and to fcreen me from the Sufpicion of giving occafion to ir, tho' I have, or may- hereafter ufe Words in their Common Senfe, with- out {laying to free em from Equivocalnels by nice Diltinctions. VII. But I will conclude this Treatife with four VII. CW Truth?, referring to what I have faid. cbtfim of 1. That the Reality or Nature of Things is from this Trea- God the Father, by his Power and Will. tife. 2. That their Good and Perfection is from God the Son, or the Light and Beauty of the Word Divine, and the Relation or Union of Things with them. 3. That their Happinefs is from God the Holy Spi- rit, and the Unitive, Living, intimate Relation of Things with him who is the Source of Happinefs, Di- vine Conduct, Joy, Communion, Confervation, good Order, and Agreement. 4. That Corruption is from Liberty, Evil and Mi- fery from the Difapplying ourielves from the Light and Principle of that Happmefs for which we are created , to which fad and deplorable Eftate we have feen Things reduced by the Sole default of Man. * Cod made not Death, neither hath he Pleafure in * WifJ. the Defir pillion of the Living: For he created allCb. 1. v. Things that they might have their Being: And the1!* ($?• Generations of the World are prefcrved, and there ts no Poifori of Defir uction in them, and the King- dom , 2»4 A Confideration of this Second Treatife, Sco Chap. XVIII. * Rom. 5- iz. dom of Hell is not upon the Earth. For Righteouf- nefs is immortal, but Vnrighteoufnefs br'mgeth Death, And the ungodly have called it to them both with their Hands and Works ', and while they th'mk to make it their Friend, they come to nought', for they are Confederate with it, therefore are they worthy to be Partakers thereof * By one Alan Sin entred into the World, and Death by Sin : And fo Death pxffcd upon all Men, for that all have Singed. F I N I S. E R R A I A. Page. Line. Errata. Corre& thus. 6. 17- a Man 0 Man 8. 42. indeed with indued with 12. 28. inferiour interiour 14. 3i. by its by hh 18. 25. 1 9 ibid. Marg. Prudentius. 21. 8. .irreftibly irrefifiibly ibid. 23. our Note our Notice -4. i<5. atting from afting 28. J4* power poorer 29. Marg. n 5. preferring prefenting 32. 5- difpersd difpens'd 35. 22. Graces Grace ibid. M.22. and ruins ruins 49. Marg. add If*. 6$. 16. 55. 10. 57. 40. relieve realise 58. 16. moral model 74. 20. of Sins Sins of 91. 4- VI. X. 92. 21. of Man of the Angel 93: 30. ABiviy Atlivity 99. 7- ejcape efcaped no. Lair. Monfieur Mile 112. 13. converfe converfes 117. 16. Inferiour Interiour 121. 5. till when till then ibid. 36. faculty faculties 125. 2.. then after thereafter ibid. Marg. Theologian Theologies 131. 13. Akempis a Kempis ibid. 38. God's Gods 136. 26. united to. united to ity ibid. 36. dele of Libert*}, j 40. Marg. Hcf 13.9. Jer. 2. 19; 142. Marg. Rom. 5. 12. and 8. 2Cfc 143. 8. extends extended 144. 37. then, after thereafter^ ibid. 39. dele any 146. 1. acts ash, lAZ' 35. Principle it Principle. It ibid. 37- about the a Bent and I Page, //// ERRATA. Page. Line. 152. 24. ibid. 29. 154. Marg. *55- 8. ibid. 32. 163. 41. 164. 21. 166. 10. 167. Marg, 17*- 19. 172. 35- 175- 39- 178. 2. ibid. Marg 179. 2. 3. ibid. 33- 180. 16. 181. Marg, ibid. 19. 183. 11. 184. Marg, ibid. 20. 185. 40. 186. 4- ibid. 11. ibid. 20. ibid. Marg. 191. 1. 200. .Marg, Errata. three ways God cannot Ch. 2. pan, fecond. Med define to is more convince of dele 4 Jets every Man, draw his unto God a Love a. rii any Creatures plaee fault inefs Renounciation take no notice dele . objections dele not Malicious committed are naturally dele . objections . placd. add Correal thus. two ways we cannot and above, Ch, %* part of, fecond Med defire to is more or lefs JJjew every one draw right, unto Man the Love Ch. VUL My Creaturt place faultinefs Renovation take notice objection a Malicious communicated are, are naturally objection. place Entret* pag. 359- OE C ON OMr' o F Univerfal Providence FOR THE Salvation of all Men Where is alfo demonitrated The Nullity of the Do&rine of Modern Pi edeftination : AND That the Reafons and Paflages of Scripture alledged to prove it, do by no means do it. With the Analyfis and fliort Explication of St. P a u l's Epiftle to the, Rqmans. LONDON: Printed for R.Bonwicke in St. Paul's Church- Yard, M. Wot ton in Fleet- Street, S. Manship and R. Parker in Cornhill. 171 J. ■I T O T H E READER. D'Hi^V' Bwrw^iw^ymv HIS Treatife of Providence, which is the laft of the Divine Oeconomy, may pafs for a compleat Piece by icfclf and independent on the reft, upon the Subject of the Univerfality of Grace, but for fomc References that are ne- cefTary when we have a mind to de- fcend from the general to particular Inftances. I have endeavoured to dif- pofe my Subject in as methodical and clofe a Manner as pofllble. Of the three Parts, of which this Treatife con- fifts, the firft and the principal is that of Providence, which I confider under three Periods, before the Fall, during the Fall, and after the Fall of Man (Chap. I, II, III J and I have fubdivided this laft into three Parts, as I have confider'd the Divine Providence either in the Idea of God, in his Prefcience and Previfion (Chap. IV.) or in the ASht- ation, or a&ual Care he takes, of Mankind in their Root Adam, or in his Children ; as well fuch of them as are re- folvedly wicked, as Cain ; or fuch as are holy and rege- nerate, as Abel ; or fuch as are between thefe two States, as the common Sort of Settfs Pofterity ; and laftly, fuch Bodies as are made up of People of all Sorts, or States and Empires fChap. V, VI, VII, VIII, IX.) and for the third Branch of my Subdivision I have fpent a Chapter (X ) to Confider the fame Providence, as it hath declar'd it felf by Words, that is to fay, by Proprieties and Prediftions. Men commonly confine their ConfideratiOns of Provi- dence only to the time after the Fall of Man, and yet this Fall is but an Incident merely accidental and contingent to the Defign and Conduct of the Divine Providence, ThisReftri&ion to a Matter and State fo obfcure as is that of Sin and Sinners, has render'd Men wholly incapable to frame juft Conceptions of the Providence of God, which may be feen in its natural and bright Colours, when we A % look 7o the Reader. look on it in the Purity of its own Element, which is the State befoie the Fall. Hence it is that we ought to fetch the Light that is neceiTary to pierce into that Darknefs that Sin will afterwards raife to perplex both its Ways and the Knowledge of them. This we may affuredly look upon as a very material Obfervation, and fo not ilightly run over the firft Chapter of this Treatife. TheXIth, XIIth,and XHIth Chapters make the fecond Part of this ireatife, which, with the artificial Proofs of this Syftem concerning the Univerfality of God's Provi- dence and Grace, fhews the infuperable Difficulties of the Syftems of Particularifm, as well Supralapfarian asSublap- farian ; and there I anfwer the Difficulties that may be ob- jected to mine, the peculiar Characters of which is this, to aftert God's Grace, and its impartial Univerfality, and Man's indetermin'd Liberty. The reft of the Chapters make up the laft Part of the Treatife, which I end in fhewing how pernicious the Sy- ftem of the Pelagians, with all their Univerfality is (Chap. XVIII.) The XlVth Chapter contains general Anfwers, as alfo fome particular Ones to the inartificial Objections that are made from Scripture ; and the Three following Cha- pters XV, XVI, XVII. are defign'd not only to explain the IXth Chapter to the Romans, which is the great and main Objection, but I alfo give there the Plan and brief Expli- cation of that whole Divine Epiftle, wherein I prove the Truth of all my Syftem of the DIVINE OECONOMY, and give the true Idea of Chrijiian Divinity. As I little efteem Critical Learning, and the Activity of human Reafon in the Explication of Scripture ; I have en- tfeavour'd here to have recourfe to the true Principle of in- terpreting Scripture, viz.. the begging the A Alliance of (God's inward Grace: 'Tis of his Mercy I receiv'd whatever Good I there advance, and without it I had in vain con- sulted Criticifm and human F.eafon : I mould have err'd as well as others that have gone about to explain this Epi- ftle with thofe poor Helps. There may doubtlefs fome Faults be met with there, owing to my Weaknefs ; but it rnay be too you may find Commentaries in Quarto and Folio upon this Epiftle, that will IgCs contribute to the true In- terpretation of it than that little you will there meet with in Two or Three Sheets. To make an end of what I h?.ve to fay upon a Work which this Treatife concludes, I declare, I take thofe only for competent Judges of it, that have read and underftood 45 well the preceding Treatilcs as this j an4 I beg thofe that To the Reader, that have not done it, to fpend their Verdict upon other Matters : beiides thefe two Conditions, I require alio that they be Perfons of the greateft Sincerity and Impartiality imaginable. I am very ieniible this laft is a very rare Qua- lification, and that an impartial Perfon, one that adheres to no fide but that of the Truth, and that readily fubicribes to it where-ever fcatter'd, among the different Parties, he meets with it, is now a-days a kind of Prodigy. The firft thing Men generally ask after in any Matter whatever, is, what Party is he of? To fay, one is of the Party of Truth fatisfies no body ; and yet whatever elfe Men fay or do, fignifies juft nothing. But it may be every Body is wil- ling to be, and thinks he really is on the lide of Truth. Pure Fancy ! Men ftand out and upon their Guard againft all Truth that is not of their own Stamp and profefs'd by their own Party : they are afliam'd to learn a little too late, and heartily own they have been in an Error tho' to their own Confciences alone, much lefs to do fo publickly and to recant their old Miftakes, efpecially when they have good Preferments and theEfteem and Kindnefs of thofe they dare not offend, annext to them. This makes many wa- vering and doubling with God ftifle the Truth that is fpringing up in their Heart. Self-love, and Self-approba- tion, that makes Men fancy themfelves Favourites of God, and mighty Proficients in his Secrets, in Knowledge, in Grace, and in a State of Salvation, does no lefs contribute to this Difpofition. We are fo hugely pleas'd to rock our felves afleep in thefe pleafant Dreams and charming Imagi- nations, that we fear, like Death, to be undeceiv'd and difturb'd by the troublefome Importunity of Truth, that will difcover the true Mifery and the damnable State we are in. Men are in this Cafe juft like the old Fool we read of, that in his Frenzy fancy'd all the Ships that came to ' Port, his own, and therefore curs'd the Phyficians that took away all his Joys and fancy'd Riches as well as his Difeafe. Our fpiritual Franticks, that count all the Divine Treafures their own, and that fay to themfelves with fo much Pleafure, The Truth is mine, I keep it, I fee clear- ly into it, J am Rich, and have Abundance, I want for No- thing-, no fooner hear the Truth faying to them, thou art Blind, thou art Naked and Poor, thou art Wretched and Mi f era- ble, and knovoeft not thy f elf ! and convincing them of it, but like Madmen they fall upon this galling Light that unde- ceives them, and not being able to obfeure the Luftre of its Rays, they endeavour to turn Men away from it by flandering thofe that hold it out ; and the common Artifice pf thefe Calumniators is to charge ojhers with what they *hen> To the Reader. ■ themfelves are guilty of, and to publilh to the World that thole they have a mind to render odious, rail againft all Mankind. They will fay the fame of me, if they have not already, becaufe declaring again and again againft the Learned and Unlearned, the Secular and Eccleiiafticks, I do not in every Line tell them I mean only the Wicked and not the Good. And therefore it is that I declare here again the fifth or fixth and laft Time (and I defire all good Men to remember it) that I think there are in all States of Men, Learned, Clergy, and others, ftill left ma- ny fincere, generous and honeft Souls, whom I 4ove and honour, and would gladly ferve with the laft drop of my Blood ; and that I intend not to make fo grofs a Medly as to confound them with the Wicked, againft whofe Sins I freely declared my felf ; nor ever thought the Good would have look'd upon themfelves as concerned in fuch Reproofs : I think the whole Body and all the Parts of my Work fufficiently manifeft that the Good alone are the only PerfonsI value upon Earth,and my chief Treafure, in whatever Party,Secl:,or Place of the World they are to be found ; much more when to their Probity they have ad- ded large Meafures and the good Ufe of Learning, and are in Places and Charges that are of themfelves Honoura- ble : If you meet here fome hard Words againft fome Things or Opinions that are common to fome of both forts, 'tis becaufe they are likewife common to the Wicked and Opinionative, that would pernicioufly keep up the Abufe and Falfity of them againft the Truth, and then 'tis but juft to fpeak to fuch fometimes in fuch Fafliion, as the Good, that implicitly love the Truth though unknown, and heartily embrace it when difcover'd to them, fhould not take to themfelves. But if this will not yet fatisfie fome good Men, who after all will think themfelves of- fended by the Refutation of fome of their Opinions, I conjure them by the good Will I had to ferve them, or rather for the Love of God, to pardon this my Imperfe- ction, and to pray God to forgive me too all my other Sins againft his Love and the Love of my Neighbour.' Nor will I for my part forget to recommend them to the Mercy of the Lord. Atncn. THE f OECONOMY O F Univerfal Providence FOR THE Salvation of all MEN. CHAP. I. Of the Divine Providence for the Salvation of Man before the pall. Five things provided by it. A fundamental Explication of what the Communication of God to Creatures isy what real Caufes, what occafwnal Caufes are*, what GocPs Concourfe, what the Generality, the Simplicity, Impartiality and Singularity of the Rules, of the Ways, Acts, and Election of God towards intelligent Creatures are. aDESIGN.bvGod's Help, to treat j Th y of three things in this Book ; the *. * Ftrft, how God intending to lave r^sTre^ all Men, has on his Part fb pro- tij^m vided that all may be faved. The i![ Second, how falfe, unjuft and ab- fiird that Doctrine is that tenches, that God has made particular Decrees to fave only fbme Men, and that he wills the reft (hould perith. The Third, that the little Reafon- B ings Of the Divine Providence Chap. 1 ings Men ufe, and the Paflages of Scripture they al- L/V"^ ledge to fupport this ftrange Do&rine, do nothing lefs than confirm it. I will begin with the firft, and will al- ways endeavour to demonftrate things in their Sources, for when we once fee them plainly there, all the Truths that depend on them become very eafie and clear. II. God if God's Deftgn in the Creation of intelligent Be- hwmg ings, was ro exprefs in them his own Image, to com- MeTfor municate r? ^em himfelf, his Juftice, his Light, and c 7 lIL. his Toy : himfelf, Father, Son, and Holy' Spirit : that salvation, . J r \ ji /•• i it has confti- 1S to 'ay» ne created tnem to lave em, or to make em tutcd fuck happy. This Defign of God you may take for an un- Ruhsy and doubted and certain Truth, and if you feek the Proof provided of it, you need but confult the laft Chapter of the Oe- fuchMeans, conomy of the Creation. as all may Now then it being the Part of Wifdom, much more befavd of infinite Wifdom, to appoint fuch Rules and Means ^ by which the End propos'd may be perfectly attained, God has doubtlefs pitcrid upon fuch Rules and Ways as will enable all intelligent Creatures,or all Men (who are more particularly our prefent Subject) to attain eternal Life, wirhout excluding, or indeed without all Poiiibility any one of 'em fhould be excluded, from any Defect in the Means made ufe of by God. III. Three III. The better to comprehend this important Truth Periods of we muft confider it with refpecl: to the three Eftates Divine of Man, vt%. to that before his Sin, at the committing Provi- of Sin, and after Sin. We (hall fee, if it pleafe God, dene e, or ^ow h;s divine Power, Wifclom and Goodnefs have by three forts Ru]es anc} Means perfect and proportioned to their ej Prom- neecjs univerfally provided that all might be faved.And fo we come to confider in God three forts of Provi- dence, each perfect, and universal. The Firft before, the Second at, the Third after the Fall. IV. IV. To comprehend the following Truths perfectly Shelves to well, we mufl free our Minds of abundance of Chime- be avoided, ra's fome newPhihfophers have been pleas'd to invent, end the [Q explain the Ways of God in fuch a manner as makes way we are ]t nCceftary that many fhould be loft. They fay, that to take. qoc| intending to accompli fh his Defign (of faving all Men) by rhe moil fimple Ways, the Simplicity of thefe Ways would not fuft'er all to be faved. That is, that the before the Fall of Man, J the Goodnefs, Wifdom and Simplicity of God do con- Chap. I. tradi£t one another : that his Charity is either weak, L^VXJ or foolifh and indifcreet. In a Word, that God's At- tributes are at Variance among themfelves. Men have talked, fbme of an univerfal and particular Con- courfe, others of the Caufe real^others of Caufes occafional, of their Rules and Ways fimple, uniform, general, fingu- lar, particular, with fuch Darknefs, that without trou- bling my felf to clear up this Chaos, I advife my Rea- der (as I do) to throw them all on a heap together and leave 'em, and to apply himfelf to the Confideration of thefe things as originally and as near their Spring- Head as poflible. We fhall by that Means, I hope, derive Light enough to fee the beautiful Order of God's Providence, and to affix clear Ideas to thefe dark and in- tricate Terms, if ever we have occafion to make ufe of them in our enfuing Difcourfe. We will begin, and proceed by degrees. V. God, a Being active, and infinitely free, bright V. The and delicious, wills there (hould be other Beings be- Aim °f. fides himfelf, to partake of what he is, and be happy PJ0V'" r.r as he is. This is God's Defign. This Happinefs con- if?**' !™ fills in the PofTeilion of the Light and Joys of God : 0Ugfo }0 For God himfelf is not happy but in the PofTeilion o$ provide to himfelf; he finds no other Happinefs but himfelf. attain this That another Being befides God may be happy, 'tis End, neceflary there be. Firfty another Being befides God. Secondly, That it be not in the Power of this other Being to make or caufe its own Happinefs of it fdft or with it felf. Thirdly, That a beatifying Object be prefen- ted to this Being. Fourthly, That this fame Being have not only a Power pofitively to admit, but alto in a manner to caufe or occafion, if you pleafe, the Admif- fion of the beatifying Object. Fifthly and laftly,That this beatifying Objedf fhall act upon this Being in Proportion to its Reception of it into it felf. VI. If the Properties of God or his Attributes were VI. The incommunicable, God could not make any thing out firf of of himfelf. For Being, Activity, Power. Underftan- thfe Ja- ding and Liberty being things that do properly belong ta*ftis>J£ toGod,it would follow. that befides God. nothing could f"77^ f*m ■D ' u jercnt from B » be God. Whf ther in God there be feme things eommmlc»ble) and others incommunicable* Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. be or a6t, perceive, will or determine it ftlf. But this ^-^v*N-/ is againft Experience. Therefore there is fomething in God that is communicable. But on the other Hand, N1en are afraid, left by aflerting that what is in God may be communicated to other Beings befides himfelf, they fhould rob God of his Glory, or at lead fhould change the Creatures into God. What mu ft be done in this Cafe, on one hand, not to annihilate, on the other, not to divinife the Creatures? Muft we betake our f-lves to the Diftinclion commonly made of God's Attributes, or of things that are in God, into commu- nicable and incommunicable ? This Diftinclion is ob- fcure, and indeed falfe, as 'tis communly propos'd. For the Attributes that are commonly rec kon'd amongft the incommunicable ones, as Power (according to fbme) Infinity, Eternity, (fano fenfu (3 ceteris paribus) are as communicable as the other. Yet 'tis certain, 'tis necefc fary to make fome fuch Diftinclion, if we take it right, but then we muft take it in another Senfe than is com- monly given of it, tho' in Words it be the fame. I will give the true ground of this Diftin&ion. VII. Two VII. It muft be noted that there are two forts of forts of -Communications; the one whereof we may call fub- Communi- jettive, the other objective. Let not thefe Terms affright rations, the y0u, I can light on no other to make the Truth plain, fubjcclive anc| nothing but a falfe Delicacy, or a NeglecT: of the a^J re mod important Truths can make us reject 'em, feeing « ytmw. j jnrenc| t0 explain them fo clearly that they fhall eafily be underftood. I call that a Subjective Communication, by which a thing whereof another partakes, is or becomes a Part of theSubjc£t. that partakes it. For Example. When I fay, that Being, Life, Activity, Undemanding and Will are communicated to me, I call this Communica- Cation fubjediive, b^caufe Being, Life, and the reft, make a part of my Nature, and are a part of the Sub- je6V my ielf. 1 call that an Obj>t}ive Communication, by which a thing whereof another partakes, is not nor does become a Part of its Nature, but is the Objecl of it, about which it is to be converfant, which is to fill it and per- fect if. As for Example, when the Light of the Sun, or which is more, when the Divine Light is commu- nicated before the Fall of Man. 5 nicated to me, I call this Communication objective, Chap. I. becaufr the Light, efpecially the Divine, which is the \S~\T\J Son of God, is no Part of my Nature, but only the Object of it, an in-dwelling and interiour Object ; 'tis true, but not natural or cffentia). I am confident there are none but eafily enough comprehend my Meaning. VUl/When therefore 'tis demanded, whether the VIII. Things or Attributes of God are communicable ? This There are Qyeftion admits two Senfes, a fubjeclive and an obje- things »* &ive. I (hall take it in the firft Senfe. I demand there- Gj)tw' fore.whether the things that are in God are/ubjt&ively 3* l™ y. communicable to any thing elle but God ? cable to I anfwer, they mud needs be communicable ; other- otj0irs t^an wife Creatures would be a meer nothing, incapable to himself. participate any thing divine, even Objectively, which none will fay. For I am perfuaded, without renoun- cing all Reafon no Man can hold, that God cannot be- come the Ob j eel: of a Creature. But unlefs the Crea- ture did communicate or partake fubjeclively of Being and Underftanding, it could not communicate of the Divine Object. But thefe Properties, Being, Intellect and Will are originally in God alone. Therefore what is in God is communicable by a fubjeclive Communi- cation. IX. But if it were fo with all things that are in God, IX. There the Creature would be, or become fubjeclively God ; are like- in as much as all that is in God would be natural and vife in eflential to it. Here we muft yet make a notable Di- God things ftinclion. I call it a notable one, to inculcate to you,/^'^™^ that you are not here to expecl frivolous and ridiculous incomJ2U' Diftinclions,asare mod of thofe of the Schools. I treat 'nc£ , et0 here of the moft fblid and fundamental Notions in the World-, and fuch as are inexhauftible Springs of Truths moll important and of moft general life. X. There are in God three kinds of Things or Rela- X. Three tions, or Attributes, or Realities, or laftly, what you forts °f pleafe to call them. The Firft are thofe we confider things to in the Divinity as a Subject or Ground which receives ^ fjS?" or admits fomething j fuch are, for Example, Being, Jr, "L and being Free, Power, A&ivity, Senfibility, Defire, sTned the Faculties of Underftanding and Acquiefcing,and the trinity. like ; which are direclly referred to the Father. The Second are as it were the Objects of Lights prefented B 3 tQ Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. to thefe firft, and thefe are the bright Splendors of the t^V^V-*1 Diviniry or the Son of God. The Third are the fubftan- tial Emotions that refult from the Union of what is fubje&ive with what is objective in the Divinity; from the Union of the Faculties fas I may fay) of God with their Object, or of the Father with the Son ; and theft are the fubftantial Joys and Delights of the Divinity, or the Holy Ghoft. XI. The XI. Upon this Suppofition, I fay, that the things, things of Properties or Attributes of the firft Order only are the Father fubjtclively communicable to other things than are com- Cjod ; that is to fay, that God the Father may, if fnumcabh he pleafes, caufe to flow from his Being and Attri- fiib]etti-ve- J3Utes< Emanations of Being and of Properties of Y* Ls r^e *ame Nature w*tn n^sownj which become Parts and Hoh '$ tne ^arure > or rather the very Nature of the Ghoft ob- Creature. I need not further prove or explain this. jecJivefy. You may pleafe to remember what has been faid in the firft Treatife, how the Soul of Man rook its Birth and Origin from the Nature of God the Father. And this is plain of it felf, there being no Body but knows the Soul of Man partakes fubjeclively of Being, Liberty, Faculties of Defire, of Underftanding and En- joying or Acquiefcing, which are of the firft Rank, or the fubje&ive ones of the Divinity. But it is net thus with the objective ones, the per- fecting or beatifying ones, which are the Proper- ties of the Son and Holy Spirit. 'Tis certain, if the Soul partakes of them, if they are communicable to it, 'tis only objectively, and not in a fubjeclive manner ; feeing 'tis plain the Light of the Son of God, or the Joys of the Holy Ghoft are no Parts of the Nature of a human Soul, no more than the Properties of the Fa- ther confider'd as united to the Word and Spirit, in which Senfe 'tis the Apoftle fays,/.?? that has not the Sony has not the Father neither. His Properties as confider'd in Sc paration or Diftin6Uon from thofe o[ the Son and Holy Spirit, are the only communicable ones to the Creature fubjecYively. Yn . XI [. By this God has furnifh'd the firft thing m'ofthe necc^ary t0 b'u Defign (a) ; by which he intending above- nam d Ueyuifiu communicated Jubjeclivelj, and provided by Providence, (a) § j. before the Fall of Man. to make fomething happy be fides himfelf, has provided Chap. I. and made really to exifi other Beings by the fubjective V"V"NJ Communication of himfelf, confider'd as a Subject re- ceiving Light and Happinefs, that (b there might be another Subject receiving or capable to receive Light and Happinefs as himfelf does. Now this is what Divine Providence has equally and impartially communicated to every Man, or to every thing that fhould or could be born of Man. All Men, as to their Nature, do from their Origin partake of all the Properties of the Father, known and un- known. They have all Being, Liberty, Activity, Power, and the Faculty of Underftanding, with the reft. In a Word, they all have whatever is neceflary to make them Subjects capable of lodging an infinite and eternal Happinefs, none excepted. XIII. Great and wonderful things they are that God XIII. Ex- might communicate, and really did to Man ; they are opting in- all the living and fubjective Emanations of the Nature dependence of the Father, wbofe £(ace and Offspring we are (a) ; and a"d,thJ. 'tis prodigious Blindi*efs in our new Philofophers (the S°?}"^Zd Malebranchifti) to deny that the Creatures have truly and^Hoh in them a Principle of Activity and Power ; and efpe- spirit-/ daily to deny this of Man, that fubjecti vely has in Manp'of- his Nature all the Properties and Attributes of ihefcffesby a Father by the true Communication that God has made fubjective of them to him, excepting (and this is plain of it felf) Communis his abfolute and eternal Independence, and the Produ- catim al1 ction (I do not fay a Capacity to receive, but the Pro- theProper- duaion)oftheSon and Holy Ghoft. For it is flat *"' ,°f the Contradiction and Impoflibiljty for Man to receive ab- Fatl9er' fblute Indepedence, or for him to depend and not de- ra\ ^qs pend ; and for God, the Son and Holy Spirit to be j^. sg 2o* produced by Man. XIV. But God may, excepting that, communicate ^iv m fubjedtively all the reil to Man, asthe Faculties of fmi'c^ ** acting, of Self-Prefervation or Duration in Being, and pates fub- even the Faculty of making other Beings different jetilively from the Sovereign Being. I touch again thefe M Defign to reprefent himfelf as he is, and it being B 4 im- - 8 Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. jmpoflible to do this but by communicating to things C/*V*N^ out ofhimfett fubjcclively what he poffefTes as Father, diftinguiflVd from the Son and Holy Ghoft , he muft, upon Supposition of this his good Pleafure, as having in himfelr a durable Subhftence (I cannot exprefs it betterj Power and Acliviry, and the Faculty to pro- duce his like (his beloved Son) communicate likewife to Man (our prcfent Subjecl) a Principle of lading Subfiftence, oi a powerful Activity, and of making or producing Beings like himfclf. XV. Nor XV. Only we mull take notice, that as thefe things is this an are nor in God after one and the fame manner, Co like- Jtt of wife neither are they in Man after one and the fame Choice in manner by God's Communication of them to him. him, but Firm and lading Subfiftence is not in God by way of natural. Choice and Freedom, but by Nature. 3Tis fo likewife as to the Faculty of durable and felf-preferving Subfi- flence in an intelligent Being, it is not in it by way of A£t, much lefs by way of voluntary and free Aci of the Creature, but 'tis in it by Nature, that is to fay, becaufe it is of the Nature and Conftitution of a Being jflliing from God, and made to reprefent God, not to tend to nothing, but to fubfift always in the natural and fubjecHve State wherein God has once put it,with- out needing continually God's aiiifling Hand effectu- ally to reproduce it every Moment of its Duration. XVI. The XVI. So that there is nothing more falfe or fanciful natural than the natural Concourfe invented by the Schoolmen, Concourfe Gr the continual Reproduction of Cartefianifm, but more of the efpeciaily that of Malcbranchifm^ that generally ex- S and likewife of that not only natural but voluntary and Chap. *« amorous Dependance, whereby the Saints continually *" fubmmit themfelvcs to the Divine Majefty. I only note by the by the principal Confluences of theft ra- dical Truths, and fo pafs on to the third Confideration upon the Beings which God defigns to render happy, and by his Providence to lead to that End. XXIV. (3.) The Third thing requisite is this, that XXIV. there be preiented to thefe Beings anObjecl: beatifying, (3.; The luminous and calming. Now this is what God has Third done with reference to all created Spirits; and would thing re have done it with relarion to all Men, had he created qui*\d to a more, or if Man and his Offspring had not fallen into ^ptlGod Sin : For we here confider things before the Fall. This inten^st0 is what I call Preventing Grace, or the Offer of preven- ™ ,?' 07 r py, the t,n8 beatifying Objccl, or (rewntivg Grace, This 'u hy Godj Providence prepay d alfo. i 4 Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. ting Grace, becaufe it prevents Man's Co operation or O^Srv. Admiifion, or rather his very (eeking of it; I think I have fufficiently treated of this in the Treatifes of Cre- ation, of 5/w, and the defloration. So that all I have here to fay of it refpedb only certain Terms common- ly us'd in this Matter, tho' very obfcurely ; which therefore are become very confus'd and perplexing. I will here give you my Explication of them. XXV. An XXV. When God prefents his Light and his Love Explics- to the Soul before her feeking it, this is call'd, Preven- tion of the ting Grace, which is the Prcecurfus or Concur/us frcevius Terms, of 0f cne Schools, which is to be apply'd to Matters of preventing Grace, as has been (a) already noted. ZLuT As the Creatur^ could not be laftingly and folidly ancous happy, except this Offer of Grace were made every of Succour. Moment of its Duration, when God does this, (as he truly does) this is what we call God's Concurrence^ the (*JAbove fimple Concurfus^ or Concurfus Jimultaneus of the School- § *7« men. And this Concurrence has Place, as I faid, in Matters of Grace, even before the Fall. And when there is any thing met with that oppofes God thus offering himfelf to Man, and yet God will continue his Offer notwithstanding this Obftacle, this is call'd God's fuccouring of Man ; his Succurjus or Auxilium in the Schools. The general The Will which God has to offer his Grace and his andfimple Happinefs, or his Light and his Love to every intelli- Rule that gent Creature, ifiu'd from him ; this Will not being God has jnconftant in God, is call'd a Rule ; and as refpe&ing fet him- ajj intelligent Beings without exception, may be call'd, Jcit tn this ^ generaiiU„iverfain and, if you pleafe, the Jimple Rule, a^e' that God has prefcriFd himfelf, according to the Tenour whereof he will regulate his Procedure with all his Creatures. I lay, thefe things are in fubftance the fame with regard to all intelligent Creatures (before the Fall) as to their eternal Happinefs; that is to fay, that the Offer which God has imde of his Light and of his Grace to each and every of them, is equally fuf- flcient to make them happy. And when 1 fpeak of a general Atl and general Way, I muff, not be underftood of logical and metaphyseal Abftraclions „ feparate from all Individuality, and hoift'ed into the wide Air of Univerfuls. The A61 of God, by which he offers himfelf : before the Fall of Man. i 5 himfelf to his Creature, is in God mod lingular and Chap. I. mod individual; but this Singularity and this Indivi- L/^V^O duality is extended and offer'd not only to one indivi- dual, but to all and every of them ; and (b is both a Jingular and general, an univerfal and individual Aft, The fame is to be faid of the Ways of this Act. As there are in the one only Nature of God mod Particular perfect and infinite Varieties and Multiplicities , in A&j* Giftf Conformity to which the Spirits which he has pro- a"d G*ace* duc'd have in the Fund of one and the fame Nature ° ° ' (which they poffefs) almoft infinite Difpufitions and Varieties ; fo, tho' the Action and Manner in which God communicates himfelf to 5em be the fame in fiib- ftance in refpedl of 'em all, as to one and the fame fub- ftantial Happinefs, yet this Acl: may be diverfify'd and vary'd in an Infinity of moft perfect Ways and Man- ners, all different and unequal in regard to the diffe- rent Conftitution and Difpofition of each Spirit. This we may call the particular Afts, Gifts and Graces of God. Every angelick Mind, and every intelligent Crea- ture, has fome of thefe. which are not in the fame manner common to others. But this Diverfity makes no effential Difference in the gratuitous Acl; of God, nor is it oppofite to its Generality and Univerfality, nor to its Identity in relation to the fubftance of eter- nal Happinefs. XXVI. Thus has God amply furnifh'd the Third XXVI. thing requir'd to the Subject he intends to make hap- The third py, he has, I fay, fufficiently provided this Requifite "/ the by the Offer of preventing Grace, by his Concourfe, above- by the eftablifhing of a general, univerfal and fimple namd- Re~ Rule, by a general and yet fingular Acl, by univerfal „"Jj and yet individual Ways., and likewife by fpeciai Gifts '>re\'r and Graces. 1 know not what more can be defir'd in municated matter of offering an Object to an intelligent and free by God's Subject. Providence to the Subjects God defigns to fave. XXVII. We have feen in the fir ft Treatife, that God having given to Man not only Faculties purely 0 T" divine, but alfo (to fay nothing of human Reafon and 0l**£ the which prQ+ vidence adminiftcrs likewife. i6 Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. XXVIII. The Corpo- real Sub- ject which Cod gave Man fub- jeclively for his accejfery Uappinefs. (s) Above \ 16,17. XXIX. Mans Body is insapa- ble of pro- ducing its accejfory Happincfs andBl.jfed- vefs. the Imagination )a Body and bodily Faculties, he has alfb printed him with Objects fuitable to all thefe Faculties. Tho' this does not dire&ly belong to Grace and eternal Happinefs, yet may it be redue'd to it, and ferves as a means a little more remote than thofe that are purely divine. They are indirect and fecondary ones, or what you pleafe to call them. As thefe things are to come into Confideration in the Queftion of di- vine Providence, and will make a confiderable Part of it after the Fall, we muft fee how the Divine Provi- dence was concern'd in them during Man's Rectitude. XXVIII. God to faften Man more clofely and de- pendently on him, and confequently to render him more eafily and acctfTorily happy, was pleas'd not on- ly to make him what was neceflary to render him hap- py ; to wit, a Being purely fpiritual and divine, but alfb to make him what he might not have been, tho' he were happy ; I mean, it was his Pleafure to make him a corporeal and material Being. So, he gave to Man fubjectively, and as Part of his Nature, a Body, of active bodily Faculties ;for the natural Subfiftence and continual Duration whereof it is not neceflary that God any longer acl:, preferve and concurr by either a continual Communication, Reduplication, or fubje- £Hve Reproduction, as we have (a) feen thatthrs was not neceflary in regard of the Being and Powers of his Soul. It is enough that God once gave thefe things Being, and that this Acl: of God tend not to nothing. Hence it muft follow that Man's Body, its Activity and Faculties will laft for ever. XXJX. Man might touch, and as it were feel his Dcpendance upon God, by the Exiftence of his Body, which was not of his own making ; but he might yet more do fb by the Confideration that his Body alone with all its AdHvity would have been to him only an Inftrument of Pain and Difquiet, if God had not en- compafsd it with other Bodies to cherifh and fupport it by their Light, their Beauty, Harmony,and by their benign and kindly Penetrations and Communications \ fo that Man, befides the Subject oF his Body, flood in need of the Gbjc&s of a bright and well-order'd World. Now before the Fall of Man. 17 Now Man was much lefs capable of producing fuch Chap. I. a World, and of giving it Light, Order and Harmony, ^/"V"N^ than he was of producing his own Body. And hence he was advertis'd to look for no fuch thing from him- felf, but to caft his Eyes up to God. XXX. Indeed, it is Gc^d alone that can and does XXX. The prekrn Man with thde Obj.cls, I m an, with 1 b; au- Divine tjfui, bright and perfect. World; And tho? this World Providence being once created can no more tend to nothing \\oxfvrni^y-s ever ceafe to be as to its Subftance and Matter; yet the corP°~ might the Ufe or the general and univerfal Offer ^Zit^cTo- all that is in it have been refused to Man's Body fexcep- ™ , cory ting lome Imall fpace ot it neceiiury to contain irj ir ycaut;fui God. the Lord of this World, had nor made him the objects for obje&ive and univerfal Offer of it, as long as his Body his accef- lafted. Much more necefTary therefore was it that fbry Happi- God fhould concur to prefent to him this Object in a nefs. God's Stare of perfect Harmony, Light and Beauty. And in- Concourfe deed it feems the Light, Beauty, Accord, the fweet in thin&* and benign Influences of Bodies do more need the con- corPorea^ tinualConcourfe of God,than theDuration of theirBeing and Activity confider'd fimply and without Order. I will not fimply fay this was fo order'd by God,to call to our Minds the Beauty and Goodnefs of God, but will endeavour to fay fomething more precife and determi- nate tho' what I fay will come to the fameConfideration. XXXI. We have faid before that God commu- XXXI. nicattd himfelf to fpiritual Creatures, as Father, Son, God has' and Holy Ghoft , as Father, in a fubjec~rive manner, com?nuni- in giving them fub'jeciively and ns Part of their Nature, cated him- Being. Power, Activity, and other Faculties ; as Son, fclf{but in an objective manner, by offering rhem (as the'r fpi- *ficr'* ritual and internal ObjecY) his divine Light , and as-^W Holy Ghoft, after the fame objective manner, in offer- m*n^er ing them his divine Joys, Accords and Delights ; and on"y' u \ that thefe Objecfs not being in the Creatures as Part"^^ of their Nature, muft be offer'd them by God's conti- as patj0£y nual Concourft. There is fi mething like this in things Son, and corporeal. God has communicated himfelf to theft as Holy Ghofl. Father, as Son, and as Holy Ghoft • but after an ex- ternal, umbratile and grofs manner,and which we may call dead in companion of the fpiritual Communica- tion ; yet fuch as is true and indeed wonderful, if we C well 1 8 Of the Divine Providence — ■ ii» i in ■ him mi ' i ■■' ■ — ^—— r ii ii i- Chap. I. well cor.fider ir. For it is mod true, that all that is in V^^S^V the World,even what is moil corporeal, has been made by either the lively or fhadowy Communication of the moft Holy Trinity, and after its Image more or lefs live- ly ; and the Herefy that denies the adorable Myftery* of theTri-une God is fo abfurd.that none but blind and brutifh Perfons devoid of all fblid Knowledge of God, of themfclvesand the Creatures can be led away by it ; fince every thing carries upon it ineffaceable and bright Marks and Footifeps of this grand Truth, except it may be the damn'd Creatures, of which I do not here fpeak; but of Creaturs as God made them. XXXII. XXXII. Now God has communicated himfelf in a This Com- corporeal and umbratile manner to Bodies, as Father, municatim by the Creation of Matter. Extenfion, irs Activity and as Father jts different Motions, Virtues and Powers. And as has no need ^x% Communication is fubje&ive, that is to fay, thefe Jutti™*™' tn,n£s De^ong t0 tne Nature of the Objects or Bodies, Cmicourfe nence lt comes tnat God having once created them, in the Ob- tnev ^UDfJft m virtue of this Creation without needing je&f. anv nsw Concourfe or new Production either of~their Being or their Activity, for their fubje&ive Subfi- ftence. But it is not altogether fo as to other forts of Communications. XXXIII. XXXIII. God communicated or reprefented himfelf The exter- umbratilely to corporeal things as Son, by that Light Ttal, um- Irradiation, and bright Effort that every thing makes bratiU ' and\xom jrs centre to other Creatures, to difcover to them ebjettive ^ ^ yea 0f jts geauty • (J fpeak here of things as they €°™-munf were when God firft made them) and he communica- te ^ted or reprefented himfelf to the Creatures and by the Sen and . T K , „, ^ , , r , i i t Holy Ghod, rnem as ^oiy Ghoft,;- by thatfweet and^ agreeable In- (which //fiuence, Connexion and Union which things have with the Light one another, whereon depends their Perfection and and fruit- Fruitfulnefs. Now as the Communication which the ful Har- Son and Holy Ghoft make of themfelves to intelligent mony of Creatures, is not a fubjeclive Communication, in that things) Scnfe we have explain *d it in, but an objective one needs the oniVj which, rho' internal and the moft intimate poili- continual j^^ jg raacje by the Offer of a continual and gratuitous °ncourJe Qcncourfe •. fo likewife this fh dowy Communication and Holy an£* Reprefentation of the Son and Holy Ghoft in cor- bPint. poreal things, is made in them by a continual Influence and before the Fall of Man. 19 and Concourfe of Acts prefencing and offering the Son Chap. I. and Holy Spirit after the fame manner and in Confor- vy'"Y^J mity to the internal Act or Offer which the Son and Holy Ghoft continually make of themfelves to the Soul. My Meaning is this, that in fuch Meafures as the Son and Holy Spirit do conftamly and inwardly offer to the Soul their Light and their Joys, in the very fame alfo does the fame Son and Holy Spirit make up- on corporeal things that luminous ImpreiTion,or rather Direction, and that harmonious Influence of thefe things, the Enjoyment whereof they offer to Man's Body. Hence it comes to pafs, that every one (hall in fuch j/pkinettJ^ a Meafure enjoy the external Light and material Plea- ineauality fures, as he does the fpiritual Light and Joys ; and as if corporeal far as he has fitted himfelf to receive the one, fb far Delights alio has he prepar'd himfelf to receive the other ; in eternal juft as he has made way for the Offer and Operation Life ^ro- of the Son and Holy Spirit prefenting themfelves to, ^eds. and acting inwardly and divinely in his Soul ; juft fo will he have made room for the Offer and Operations of the Son and Holy Spirit presenting rhemftlves out- wardly, and acting, or directing the Actions of Crea- tures, embellifhing and fertilizing them externally, that thefe Obje6ls of his Body may in their way make him happy, that from the Enjoyment of them the Soul may in acknowledgment and Gratitude return to God the Source of its Happinefs, and may fee him drawn in himfelf internally, and by proper Characters, even upon corporeal things. XXXIV. I fancy Thoughts fb abftracled, or if you XYXIV pleafe, fofcrew'd up, and fb little material, will "not xheVi-fuU relifh with all. and the rather becaufe they are out of ner5 J their proper Place, and pure Digreifions. If fo, I am thefe ferry; and I could heartily wifh Men were not fo things, and flefhly and fb beaftly as not to be able to raife their their Con- Thoughts to things on high; and I heartily defire formity that my fei'f in the firft Place were rid of my Carnality »'"'{> *h and Bruti(hnefs,that will not fuffer me to fay any thing Scripture, but what is very poor and mean concerning the infinite and incomparable Grandures of our God, which yet (hall not hinder me from telling them after my childifh and imperfect Way. And why fhould I nor, fmce C % the 20 Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. the Scripture dots fo, and refers to the Word, or the t/YV Son of God, the Production of Light, the fiat Lux ; and to the Holy Spirit to have prefided, as I may fay, over the foftering the Fertility, and the Immeation of things towards their orderly fettling and agreeably mixing together, & fpiritus Dei incubabat aquis\ the Spirit of God fate or brooded upon the Waters ? I will not anfwer thofe that complain of this as a Digreifion, for this will appear ground lefs to any one that under- ftands what it is to fearch and explain throughly the firft Truth of things. XXXV. XXXV. I very well remember, that in the (a) firft How it Treatife I have fpoken of the Light, the Beauty, the way be Goodnefs, the Immeation, the Accord and Fecundity l* I"0** things, as ^ they were Properties belonging to 'em, **** -£" and tended of themfelves to Duration and Continua- pertiesef t,on without needing the Concourfe and Reproduction things tend of God \ which fcems contrary to what I now aflerr. to continue 1 own I had not then fo well confider'd this Matter, andperfeti and that a fa He Senfe might be drawn from what I themfelves there fay, and poifibly a contradictory onejf compar'd •without to what I here advance. But if we will confider things any need of lo tne bottom,! (aid nothing there but what may have, a reprodw anc] f^eed has a very true Senfe, which is this, and 0tve Con- y0U n t2fo jc eitncr for an Explication or Reclifka- courJe' lion ofmy firft Thoughts: (*)Oecon. Things have two forts of Properties, either fubje- of the £Hve, and fuch as refult from their Nature j or obje- Creation. #jve9rhar refujt from the Union or Concourfe of things ChaP- 7- wjrh rheir Obj< els ; and lo, tho' the Light,the Beauty, the Goodnefs, rhe Accord and fertile kind of Commu- nication of things are not ihtir fubje£Hve Properties, yet are they their ot j clive ; and tho7 they be inherent- ly in a Subject, yet arc: th< y there only from the Refult of its Union with the Obj cl\ Thefe Properties tend to endure and continue as wdl on the part of their true Caufe the Son of God ana the Holy Spiift (who are fo far from withdrawing them, that they perhft to com- municate them eternally ;) as on the part of their occa- sional Caufcs, (what I mean by them 1 (hall tell you by and by J and of their Subjects, which have Facul- ties difpos'd and after their way afpiring after them, whence it h that I have ibmewhere call'd thefe Facul- ties before the Fall of Man. 2 1 ties (a) perfcftive, that is to fay, rending towards Per- Chap. I. fectoin, yet without truly caufmg ir. /'CY^' Again, it is true, that the objective Properties do or wOecon do not ftand in need of God's continual Concourfe, ac- ° r cording to the Senfe we give thofe Words. For if we q^11°^' take it for a continual Reiteration of new Adts of God, <- %£ as if one Adt. of God being exerted, it tended to no- thing, and God were oblig'd to exert another in its Room ; in this Senfe they have no need of his conti- nual Concourfe ; bur they have, if you take it for an A dr. of the Son and Holy Spirit, which Adt is conditi- onal with refpedt. to Man, that is to fay, which will not fubfift to Man, or will not adr, upon his Body, or upon the Creatures that make Imprellion upon it, but fo long as Man does not refift the Son of God and the Holy Spirit as offering rhcmfelves and divinely adling upon the Interiour of his Soul. Thofe that Hence it comes, that fuch as fhall reject the internal rejefttke and divine Offers and Operations of the Son and Holy internal Spirit of God, fhall alfo find themfelves void of their Operations external Operations,of the external and material Light, of the Son Beauty, Harmony and Delights. A Leffon (this by °j God and the by) for fuch as love not God, nor feek his Divine thel]' s?l'~ Face, nor his holy Infpirations in their Hearts. rit"ePriv* This is what has already befallen the Devil, and will 0f™e' ves affuredly be the Cafe of all impenitent Sinners. ternalones XXXVI. There is, to avoid Confufion, a more par- XXXVT ' ticular Remark to be made upon the Fecundity 0TT^ere . .' Fertility of the Creatures than upon the other Pro- t^e p^J^ perties 1 have been fpeaking of. And 'tis this, that tlion 0f this Property contains two things, vi%. Activity or the Creatures bare Reproduction of it felf, which is a fubjedtive Pro- fomething perty proceeding from God the Father, and the Re fubje^five^ production of it felf in Conjunction with Light, Good wdfome- nefs, and delicious and glorious abundance, which thingoh^ mult be reckon d among the objective Properties re J£^lfve '* fultingfrom the Union of the bare thing produe'd °!,evhereof with the bright and bleffed Offers of the Son and Holy ^/fcon- Ghoft. This being fb, the Fecundity of Creatures, as courre t^t we confider in it barely the Reproduction of them- other nor. felves, is a Property in them never to be loft, without needing God's continual Concourfe : For without any fuch Concourfe the Creatures do as true Caufes repro- C j ducc 22 • Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. duce themfelves, and do naturally tend thus to pro- ks^Y~\J duce one another as real, but fecond Caufes. But if we confider the Fecundity of Creatures as a continual Effuiion of Light and Happinefs, the Creature does not tend towards it. nor contribute any thing to it but as an admiflive and occafional Caufe, and not as a true Caufe, either firft or fecond : For. the Word of God and the Holy Spirit alone are the only and true Caufe of this, and fuch a Caufe as does on its Part always rend to reproduce oraugment or continue its bright and blefled Eftects, To far as the Subject endow'd with Fa- culties tending and breathing this Way, does not make it felf incapable of them b)*its Irregularities, which it has been guilty of, or would be, (hould it naturally re- produce it felf, but this is fufficient to prevent the Dif- ficulties which might arife from the above-cited Place. Let us now purfue the Subject before us. XXXVII. XXXVII. Now as in the Offer which God makes A general of the internal and beatifying Object to the Soul we and parti- nave taken notice of a Concourfe, of a general and cular Con- un;verfal Rule and Way, of a general and yet fwgular €p*/,e* and individual A£r, and alfo of fpecial Acts ; we may tVays and ^^ew^ obferve the fame things in the Offer that God Atts If God ma^es °f Light and Beauty, and of the harmonious in external anc^ fruitful State of Creatures to Man's Body. He will things. offer them conftantly on his Parr, and of this his Will he has made a I{ule. He executes this his Will equally and in the fame manner in Subftance towards ail (and this makes the Generality and Singularity of his Act and of his Ways :)For all receive from him thefe Ad vantages as far as is neceffary for their accefforyHappinefs,and to be brought this way to the pure Contemplation ofGod, and to a Dependence on him; tho' there be in this fubftantia! Equality of the Ofier of God a thoufand Diverfificaticns and Particularities, not only as God produces in divers manners Light and other beautiful and good Qualities in the bright and pleafant Objects ; but likewife as thefe bright and pleafing Objects, or if you will, their Light, Beauty and Harmony do ftrike different Perfbns diverfely, as thefe Perfbns are, as to what is acccfibry of Constitutions differing from one another;and 1 believe,thatas there are not in theWorld, no not in the World of Glory, two Perfons that are in all before the Fall of Man. 2 J all things exa&ly alike,(b neither are there any two that Chap. I. are exactly and equally affe&ed by the fame Objects; w^VNil and confequently it is probable there are not any two Perfbns that have exactly the fame Senfations of the fame thing without any acceflory Difference in the manner of Perception. XXXVIII. I have [aid enough of the third thing xxxvjh, which I faid was requifite to God's Defign of having Godhxs other Beings befides himfelf happy; which was that amply pn- thefe Beings fhould have a beatifying Object prefented v^jthe them. We have feen abundantly how God thus pro- thw* Rem vided, as well by offering to the Soul of Man con- lfj!j^ ftantly, univerfally and fingularly, the Light of his mtJgt Son and the Joys of his Spirit, by which it becomes fblidly and perfectly happy ; as likewife by offering to his Body external Light and Pleafures, that he might be alfb acceflorily happy, and might by this fuperficial Happinefs be led to the Contemplation of the fblid Felicity,and to a Dependance on God theFountain of it. XXXIX. Before I pafs to the fourth thing to be con- XXXIX. fider'd, I defire it may be noted, that altho' it be God Nor does it himfelf that produces and upholds by his Word and hemefil- by his Spirit, the Light, the Goodnefs, or the Order hv> that and Fertilifation, the vivifying Life, as I may fay, of the Cream the Creatures, or the Vigour of the univerfal Spirit ; f"r" are f yet this does not fav, that either Man or the Creatures y}1*!?' $ are void of Adivity^ Force or Powers, and that God p^„ a6te immediately all in them ; no fuch thing.The Crea- tures always have fubje&ively ever fince God's firft: Donation of it to them, Activity, Motion, and the Powers depending on them, without God's any more interpofing as to this ; but all thefe would be devoid of Light, and of all fweet and living Vigour, except God by a conftant Application did produce in them thefe beautiful Impreiiions. The Cafe is the fame with Man. He is properly active, acting and reproducing himfelf, hedifpofes of himfelf, excites and governs the A£b of his Faculties; but he can neither caufe Life nor Vigour, nor Light in the external Objects. This is much the fame with what I faid concerning Fecun* dity. I defign not to carry this Speculation higher,nor be ftill telling you I confider things here as they were before the pall. C 4 Tk* 24 Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. °^^^ The fourth and fifth Things required to Happinefs. XL. (4 .) XL. (4.) The fourth Requifireto a Being that is to The fourth be made divinely happy, is, that this Being have a thing re- Power not only paffively to receive, but in a manner qjiifiteto a t0 Caufe 0r occafion (if you pleafe) the Admiifion or Being that prefLnce of the beatifying Object. Tho' I intend to 2St°dh mem'on nere on^y l^e divine and fpiritual Object Tpy the*?" wn'c.k roateg tne ^olid Happinefs, yet what I fay here free and anc* m l^e f°N°wmg Article, may by Parity of Reafon afti-ae Ad- be apply'd ro rhe external Objects which God offers miffion of brightly and fweetly to Man's Body, for his acceflbry its Objetl. Happinefs, thereby to bring him back to the Contem- plation and Fountain of his divine Felicity. I fay therefore, to make the Happinefs of an intelligent Creature fblidly and divinely perfect and delightful,the beatifying Obje£t is not to be receiv'd into the Soul in a way meerly pallive, and as it were quite mechanical, but in an active manner, and fuch an one as comes very near to Caufality. Whoever will but call to mtnd tr» tne ei?hteen or twenty Reafbns that I have alledg'd in of the0"' the firlt (") Treatife> t0 ftew that Man mu(* needs Creation nave ^een made free,will alfo fee Reafon why his Hap- Chap. J?', pinefs muft not have been purely paiiive, but active ' alfo; and fo will make it needlefs for me to fay any thing here more particularly on that Point; only that this fuppofes two things ; tirft, that it be left to the Li- berty of the intelligent Creature to let the beatifying Object enter into it at its own Choice and Difcretion. Secondly, that it not only introduce it inro it feJf barely by an Act of Liberty and Confent,but alfo that it feize it and force it, as it were, in an adtive manner, and fo in a fort caufe the Entry and Admiifion of it into its Interiour. XLI. That XLI. I have nothing to zdd upon the firfi: of thefe it follows tWo things but this, that we muft not part it from the hence thct ft-concj anj t}laC we may obferve that it hence follows, Cod -was to J r ' furniJhMan tftaC Toith Li- berty, and that Liberty was not to be determined by any abfohte Dc« cree, Atl or Foreknowledge. before the Fall of Man. 2 $ that the Divine Providence was to give Man fuch a Chap.I I Liberty as was neither to be predetermin'd, nor deter- s-z^V^O min'd or bounded by any Decree or by anyphyfical and irrefiftible Ac!: ; no nor by any infallible Forefight ; (*)Oecon. I think 1 have in the firft Tract (a) fufficiently demon- of Creat. ftratcd the Poflibility and the metaphyseal Truth of Chap. 13. this, as well in Relation to God as to the intelligent Creatures.which cannot be fuppos'd free wfthout over- throwing bothPredetermination,and all pretended eter- nal Decrees touching the particular A£rs,and all deter- minateForeknowledge touching all their Particularities ;• for the makinga Creature free is formally and eflentially the making of a Creature whofe Actions we will nei- ther determine nor dererminately know till the Crea- ture does from it felf pleafe to determine it felf to a£l fo or fo. One may indeed forefee many things con- cerning fuch a Creature as pofTible, and if you will, as probably future, but not as certainly fo ; this is con- tradictory, in as much as the Principle of its Futurition is in a Creature as a Principle that may a& or not aft, to the very Moment that it (hall pleafe to determine it felf. The Difficulties that feem to arife from this -Truth refpedting chiefly the Events of things fince the Fall, I (hall defer their Confideration till I come to treat of God's Providence after Man's Sin. XLIT. XL1I. The Activity which the Soul is to fet on what the Work (as I may lay) about its divine Object, to caufe Activity of it in fbme fort to enter into her, is the Act or the Fa- the Soul is. culty of Defire, which (he rauft joyn to the Act of her That pr0m Confent which (he gives to God to come and act with- ^Mence in her. The Soul mud not only give her fimple Con- ^ /?" fent to the divine Offer and Will, but muft alfo draw d^^M it into her by her Defire, whereof we have (a) elfe- where feen the Conditions. She mull therefore have a (^)Oecon. free Defire, or a Liberty defiring ; which Requifite 0f Co- God has abundantly provided both as to her Defire and operar. as to her Liberty. For the Nature of the Soul, which Chap. 6. he has made, is in its mod interiour Fund, nothing § 3* but a Principle defiring infinite Happinefs; and this Defire is immediately put in act as foon as ever the Liberty, which can do it, takes it off from all particu- lar and finite Objects, and leaves it to it felf. I have in another Place handled this Subject more particu- larly. XLI1L Now 26 Of the Divine Providence the Intro- mijjion of its ObjeSl. The falfe XUll.The XLIII. Now the A 61 of this free Defire has a cer- Aciofthe tain Connexion with the Entrance and intimate and Soul is hi a Unitive Prefence of the beatifying Objt<5t, by reafbn of fnamurthe wm'cn Connexion it is that we may look on this A& as a kind of Cauje of this Entrance and this Prefence of the Object which is annex'd to it. 'Tis true, it is not the Efficient, proper and true Caufe of the Prefence of the Object, but it is fuch a Caufe of it as one may call Notion' of admijjive or receptive, or if you pleafe to make ufe of a snoccafio- Word that has made Noife enough in the World a}- nal Caufe. ready, occafional ; provided we affix to this Word a Conception more real and more folid than fbme new^ and a little too fuperficial Philofbphers have given us ui it. They commonly fay that is an occafional Caufe, between which and the Effect there is no neceifary Connexion. Properly fpeaking, this Definition is not true, or at leaft not exact; and were it to be admitted, 1 fee no Reafon why an occasional Caufe fhoujd rather be followed by one Effect, than by another ; it would naturally be indifferent to every thing,and there would be no more natural Connexion between the Defire of Good and the Enjoyment of it, than between the De» tire of Good and the Privation of it, or the PoffefTion pf Mifery ; but this is grofly abfurd. XLIV. There is a natural and indeed a neceffary Connexion between the occafional Caufe and its Effect ; Notion of but that which differences it from a real, true and effi- an occajio- c}ent Caufe is this, that the Effect does not follow or - /,C J proceed from any Power that is fubjecrively in the oc- t f cafional Caufej but meerly from the Virtue that is in ^anT'necef- r^e ^ Caufe, or in God. I will endeavour to make j~ QQHi this as clear as poffible I can. It is certain that the Works of God and the Tyes that are among rhem are not Things and Rencounters purely occafional and indifferent to one another, with- out Reafbn, Proportion and Wifdom, without any natural need they have one of another. God's Wifdom will not adipit ot this. It cannot fuffer that the Rea- fon of things mould be grounded meerly on an Occa- fion without Reafon and any natural Necelfity. So nei- ther has he thus difpos'd things as it will evidently ap- p tar if we confider them but a little more narrowly. XLIV. The true nexion Tvi tb its Confe- quents or Ut before the Fall of Man. 27 Let us fuppofe it was God's Pleafure to produce a Chap. I. fpiritual Subject, that he might make it happy by the o^Y"NJ lnfuiion of his Divine Light and Bleffednefs ; and like- wife a corporeal Subject to perfect it by external Light and Goods. It is vifible, that becaufe he is wife an^1Cal Caufes is, Every thihg is the phyfical Th /r ^nd natural Caufe of the direft and immediate A&s of its found oil* ovpn Pacu^^es^ an£l ** onb the occafional Catje of the Atls in Matters v^ch the bright and beatifying Objetls exert upon it. So of Grace, that occafional Caufes have no Place favc during the the other Work of our etern.l Salvation or but in that blefled pnly in State to which God deligns to bring us both Soul and Hell. Body. Out of thefe two States every thing is natural, and the Work of Creatures. 'Tis Ignorance, Con- fufion and Blindnefs to tell us, as our new Philofophers do, that there are no Caufes but occafional ones in Nature. There are no fuch Caufes but only in Grace, when the Queftion is, what M- be a:. the S.ul j"ftf°f*r *ttbt Soul is fretlj turn iLicwaras him. ?o Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. on, that one would fay, (might we fpeak fb) that God *~^v~+~J feems willing to B E only for this.Therefore is it that he haseftabliuVd foraTrutbSoraI{uleSor an UNIVERSAL, impartial and immutable DECRE E,that He, Father, Son and Holy Ghoft, the moft Blefled and Adorable Trinity ,will infinuate and operate in the Soul by tranf- forming and divinizing its Defires, enlightning its Un- derftanding, and overcoming its Heart with Torrents of Delights, fo far and proportionably to the Soul's free turning of her felf towards him. This effectual Will of God is (b univerfal, that it has no Exception ; fo impartial that all intelligent Creatures (hall more or lefs enjoy God and his faving Operations, not by any Principle of Difference and Equality that proceeds from Gods Part, but according as they have more or lefs extenfively turn'd their Defire and their Liberty towards God, who for his part continues always to a& uniformly, equally, and in Proportion, and fuitably to the Difpofition of the A6t of his Creature, which mail certainly -be by God uniformly and (imply filTd and actuated according to its utmoft Extent, and to the de- grees of its Fervour. In fine, this effectual Will of God is (b Immutable, that come what will, it will ne- ver change, which makes that excellent myftical Di- vine Hauler us fay, that tho' God had fworn by himfelf to a Creature or a Sinner, that he would never have any Communion with him, if for all that this Sinner turn'd himfelf towards God, he would be forc'd not- withstanding his Oath, to come into his Soul and fill it with his Grace. For 'Tis abfbluttly impoifible that God fhould difapprove or reject the Defire and Liberty that are turn'd towards him. Can God reject the Defire which a Crearure has after God ? This would be to diflike himfelf, which is the greateft Impofiibility of any. XLIX. This W7ill of God is fo impartial and immu- jh table, that God's Election is guided by it. Suppofing mlde7n>S the Creatures had continu'd ttill in Innocence, God Conformity wou^ noc nave cri0^en anv °f 'cm to greater or lower to thts Degrees of Happinefs, but as they had more or lefe Rule 'and fully turn'd themfelves towards him. If we fuppofe Will cf them fallen into Sin, and that God after by a kind of God. ' fecond Creation reftores them to fuch a Condition that theyv before the Fall of Man. 3 1 they can turn themfelves to him again, he will chufe Chap. L none to Salvation, or to higher or lower degrees of IS~V*\J Glory, but according as they (hall more or lefs turn towards him their Deiire and their Liberty, otherwife he will leave them. In this Procedure of God there is a- wonderful Impartiality, Univerfaliry, Equality, Uni- formity and Simplicity, in which neither the Devil himfelf nor all the Cavils of Hell can find the leaffc Shadow of Partiality, Exception or Injuftice. We may fee here of what vafl: Extent thefe Truths are. L. This divine A& of the Adorable Trinity inti-L. The A3 mately united to the Soul is the tituey real, and efficient of God it Caufe of eternal Life and Happinefs, which none de- the real ferve but by the pure good Will which God had in his -Caufe °f Son to produce Beings to make them happy thro5 him etern*l and his Holy Spirit, who alone in Unity with the Fa- Lif* ther are and actually caufe this Happinefs which is not of any Creatures making.tho' the Creature have Power given it to be the occafional Caufe of it, as I faid before. LI. Some, it may be, may here objecl:, that feeing IXwhmc* God the Father, Son and Holy Ghoft, is equally and it is that in fubftance the fame in all the Blefl'ed, how can it be God being. that he fliould operate unequally in them ; or if you tfofme pleafe, how is it ,poiTible that the Bleffed mould not '" alltbe equally enjoy the fame Operations of God! Can this aivf Sy ?* be without conceiving fbme fort of Inequality and Di them%#*. verfiry on God s Part ? To comprehend the Solution r€nt QpeT of this Difficulty, I fhall take leave to make this Sup- rations, ' pofuion. Suppoie we , that God who alwiays in fubftance equally pofleffes himfelf, may yet at fome times defire himfelf lefs ardently than at others. Were it fo, it is plain that when God defir'd himfelf lefs, he would lefs fenfibly poffefs himfelf, and would lefs en- joy the Contemplation, the Light and Joys of himfelf, and on the contrary, he would enjoy them more, and relifh them more, and would appear to himfelf more glorioufly whrn he defir'd himfelf more. Now what is impoiiible with refpeci to God (I mean as to more or lefs in his eflential Acts) is with refpecf to the Crea- ture both poffible and true ; the Defire of the Creature being capable of Diminution and Augmentation. And as this Defire is the Subject and Foundation upon which 3 2 Of the Divine Providence Chap. I. which God the Father fets in the Soul his brightWord X.^Y^J and his Holy Spirit, it is evident, that tho' God place his Word and his Spirit equally in fubftance upon all the Bletfed Spirits, yet thofe whofe Dcfire is more ex- tenfive, fervent and quick, do feel and perceive more the fame Thing, the fame Light, and the fame delici- ous Touches ; and that thofe whole Dehre is left, do perceive and relifh them lefs. Different Perfons, whole Sight, Hearing, Tafte, Smelling and Touch are more or lefs quick and large, muff, needs feel and perceive very differently and unequally the fame Light, the fame Harmony, the fame Meat, the fame Perfume, and the fame tangible Quality. This Difference of Senfation proceeds only trom the Subject feeling and perceiving, the Object is ftiil the fame without any Inequality. LII. God LII. Nor but that if we confider God's Liberty an-; is free to recedently to the Exigence of things, and he having give his in himfelf infinite Realities, Properties and Combina- fubjccJive tjons 0f pr0pertjes to reprefent ; not but that, I fay, tall™" ^e might have created fptritual Beings or Subjects ex- Ti'^totbe cee^ir>gly different in Realities, Capacities, Order, andv Subjetlsof fubjeclive Gifts in infinite variety. He did fo when Faculties he created the Angelick Minds : This is what none -naturally doubr of ; but this is befides our Qjeftion, which is equal he not here concerning the fubjedlive, but the objective gives no- Gifts of things. thing un- 'Tis demanded, why Spirits thar have not different equally, fubje£tive Gifts or Capacities^ are fill'd with Light and but by rea- divine Joys, fbme more amply and livelily than others jonoj ™*»*0f.rhe fame Rank, or are poffefs'd other wife than their Choice ana j. #-•-•« r • j l l free Acls or"mary Capacities leem to require ; and why others are fill'd with them lefs extenfively and vigoroufly than they might have been, or thin others of the fame Or- der and Capacity with themfelves are ? For 'tis certain there are Subjects naturally equal in their Fund, fome whereof are yet enlighten'd, beatifyM and glorify'd be- yond what their ordinary Size and Capacity feems to import, and that others are much lefs fo than they might have been; not to fay there are f;me who an* not at all bleft v/ith Light and Happinefs. of which their Nature was capable. 'Tis of this Diverfity we ask the Reafon \ and to this, fay, that this Inequality pro- ceeds, before the Fall of Man. J ? .ceedsnot from any Impartiality or unequal Choice on Chap. L God's Part, but from the Rule, the Will, the Decree L/'VXJ univerfal, uniform, impartial and immutable, which God has made to infufe himfelf, and to operate bright- ly arid delicioufly in Souls, in Proportion as they have more or lefs fully, more or lefs ardently, more or lefs conftantly and fervently turn'd themfelves towards him. Now as among many Spirits which may be fuppos'd of equal Capacities, and of the fame fubjective Gifts, there are fome, tho' very rare, that make extraordinary and heroical Efforts above the common Way, and others exert but common Acts, andfuch as are pro- portion'd to the ordinary Pitch of their Capacity, and that others do not (b much as they might; and laftly, that others exert none at all, or quite contrary Acts. Hence it is, and not from any thing el(e, that God operates more or lefs brightly and delicioufly, or not at all in thefe Subjedts, that tho' naturally equal in Fa- culties and Capacities^ have yet (b differently and un- equally turn'd their Liberty towards God, and given Admiflion to him. LIII. This is what I had to remark upon the man- LIH. tU ner of the Divine Providence's acting with Man, or Recapitu- generally with all intelligent Beings, in order to five l*tion of them ; by giving them all without exception a free and tke tr- active Beinq or Nature endow'd with Faculties and ^"8 feeing ir co. (iffs in rencer- fbe Mani-r ir)£ ro every one according to his Works and Choice y f eft at ion c/nor is iij any Matter to his Juftice wlviht.r this Choice the fiw- ' tend towarriGc od or IU.So UkewiC the Subftancc of his ftantiai Mrrcy. which Is Grace, might have been (fit wn rho* 'part^of there had been no $jn3 the acceflbrji Event of which Godsju- rjns ^eer. J^ Occafion of a (c) Change only in the De- fttce and Il0miru.ti-r.s of juftice and Grace into thofe of avenging Mercy. jupicc and I-'ity, which are Denominations or Relations f.xv.j acceffory only fo what is fubilantial in Juftice and nf C Grace- ^ w$ ^e faid that Mercy tfl'entially fuppofes Char) Mifery: I grant it does ; but then there are two forts ■ ' of Miferies ; one is natural, by which the Soul being naturally void of Light and Good, and at the fame time exceedingly quick and fenfihle, would be in a hellilh State of Mifery, if the Object of bright and de- jipious Grace did not mercifully prefcne it felf to her j which at the falling away oj Man. 39 which I have largely infifted on In the Oeconomy of the Chap. II. Creation (a) The other M ift ry fuppofes Sin. Bur ir "XJ was not nectfTary God's Mercy fhould be this Way de- W Chap, clar'd. It might have been fufHciently manifefted the f4- * 8j9* other way for God's acccfTory Glory, who needing not 'c/ and the Creatures for his tdlntial Glory, much kfs needed ; ^' j*" he the Mifery of their Sins. I may chance to handle * this Difficulty more particularly fbmewrure elfe {0). W Chap. Laftly, a Fourth Way to prove that God has rmde J5- s !,• ufe of his Omnipotence to prevent and hinder Man's The fourth Mifery, is taken from the Confide ration of what he has way t0 done in the Oeconomy of his Reftoration. I fuppofe prove the none will difpute this Confluence with me, that 'A Truth in God after Man's Fall difplays his Omnipotence to re- Qu ftion, ftore him, tho' mod of rhofe whom he thus wills to from the reftore do eventually perifh, he might likewife before A^loni the Fall have done all he could to hinder his falling ™dMrd: into Mifery, tho5 Man a&ually did fall into it. For of God' fuppofing the firft, the latter has no, Difficulty at all in it, and indeed there is an exacl: Parallel between them. Now, that God has done all he could after Man's Fall to fave him, tho' Man perifh again, 'tis what God himfelf 2{Tures us not only when he often reprefents to us all the Marvels which he has done, and the Exploits of his great Power, of his Arm and ftrerch'd out Hand to fave Men, of the Riches of his Goodnefs towards them (which fhould rather have been cali'd Nig^ardlinefs than Riches,had he fpar'd to give them any thing that ftill was neceffary and effi- cacious, and in his Power to give) but what's more, he fays it in exprefs and formal Terms, and calls Man to be \\ itnefs of it. Te Inhabitants 0/Jerufalem and Men of Juda, judge •, / pray you, between me and my Vine- yard : What could have been done more for tny Vineyard, that I have not dene (b) ? It will, it may be, be faid, W *&*• *• that this Vineyard does not fignifie all Men. But that 3> 4* does not touch our prefent QueiHon; 'tis enough here to prove that a Man may perifh, tho' God has done all he could to hinder it. And this is what God evidently protefts here with relation to the Jews. This PafTage is fo clear that it will excufe me from alledging others, which Men may more eafily cavil about than they commonly do about this. D 4 V. 40 Of the Divine Providence *" i i iiyim ii ■imiMiii mi > m •* i i ■■ in ——————a—— — — ^ V. The V. I intend not here to relate all the forc'd Interpre- Difficuky tarions that are us'd by Men to enervate this Paflage that hu- 0f Scripture, becaufe Men would not make 'em, were wan Rca- ^ey not as it were conftrain'd to it by this Reasoning, Jon meets ^ jf God had done aU he coukj tQ hjnder Maft,s iWVoint Fai1' or ifhe ftill did all he could to raife him from and which ^s Mifery and to fave him, and yet Man fell, and ftill hinders after all perifhes, it would follow that God were not Men from omnipotent, or thathis Power were limited and weak. believing This is that ftumbling Stock Menare commonly un- Cod him- able to avoid, and becaufe of which they put a vio- himfclf. Jent and falfe Senfe upon the Divine Scriptures, which they would not do, did they not fplit upon this Rock of Offence. For this Reafon we mull: try wholly to MO.econ- remove it. But have I not already done it (a) elfe- rh % wnere- Neverthelefs, I will here fay a Word or two $6i & more uPon l^at ^eac* ' ^or we cannot labour too much c' in removing fuch mighty Difficulties, which alfb con- tinually prefent themfelves to our Imagination as ut- terly infuperable. Vl.When- VI. The Power of God confifts in this, that having in the freely produe'd the Ideas and Natures of things in his P°Z£r°rn Conception, he may produce them really out of him- Codconfifis; ^jp wnen ne pleafes? and a£|. upon tnem as ne pleafes. tends 'not* Rur lt conn^s not m tn*?> tnat ne may deftroy the to contra- Nature of things, much lefs that he deftroy the Nature dictory and Relations of things, while 'tis in the mean time things or fuppos'd that the Nature of things and their Ideas ftill Acts* remain the fame. Certainly this could never be done, tho5 God himfelf (hould employ his Omnipotence all poihble Ways. Hence we plainly fee there are fome things that cannot be done, tho' God be omnipotent, and however he ufe his Omnipotence. Why therefore fhould it be thought ftrange to fay, that tho' God has done, and yet docs all that he can, yet he cannot hinder Man from falling and perifhing ? For this is but the Application of a particular Cafe to a general Rule, which is granted to be true. But before we apply this to fpiritual things, let us apply it to ma- terial. VII. In at the falling away of Man. 41 VII. In material things it is certain that the Object VII. An of God's Power is not the Deftruction of the Nature of Example of a thing or of the Property of it, fuppofingali the while *&* in that this thing or Property ftill fubfifts and remains : ^rporeal For Example, the Nature of a Circle confifts in this, Bent&f- that all the Lines drawn from the Center to the Cir- cumference be equal. This being granted, and fup- pofing the Nature of the Circle to fubfift and remain, it is certain God's Power may difpofe of this Circle a thoufand Ways by making fome of infinite Variety as to Greatnefs, Situation and Matter, by making fome to reft, and others move according to the infinite De- grees of Motion. In a Word, the Power of God can never be exhaufted in the Production of innumerable Varieties and Effects upon this Circle. But to make it fquare, fuppofing it to continue ftill a Circle, is not the Object of Divine Power. 'Tis not to this that it extends, and fo it may be truly faid,that God cannot do this ; and that notwithftanding all the Effects of his Omnipotence, the Circle will continue to have its Se- midiameters equal. For otherwife God would do and undo at the fame time ; he would make and preferve a certain Nature, and yet would unmake and deftroy it, which would be a Contradiction and Weaknefs in God, thus to be able in Confent and Effect to difap- prove and disjoin himfelf from his Confent and Effect, or to be able to disjoin himfelf from himfelf,as fuppos'd willing and making things without himfelf. This is impoilible. VIII. In like manner in things fpiritual, God has in VIII. The his Conception produced ideally, and out of it in effect -dpplica- and really, Beings whole Nature, or if you will natural tim °f*hif Property it is to be free, that is, to determine for t0Wiritu*l themfelves their Faculties to certain Objects* and to p0^s' V38 confent of themfelves, I do not fay, that the Objects GadcaLot (hould fimpty prefent themfelves to them, or fimply act yWy the upon them in an objective manner, but that they determina- fhould enter intimately into them, and act upon them tive Aft in an unitive and transformative manner. This being of our U« fo, and fuppofing (as all agree) that the Nature of thefe bertj. Beings ftill fubfifts and remains, it is evident, that the Power of God may eafily difpofe of them, and act up- on them Millions of different Ways : For he may give them 42 Of the Divine Providence Chap. II. rhem more or fewer Objecls. and diverfifie thefe Ob- V^VNJ je6ls infinite- Ways, and ib ac"r upon, the Senfibilities and Perception of the Soul objectively, and raife in it various Ideas, Senfations, De eolations. Fervours and Defires, but objt-£tively and tninfn nfiy only. But to make the Soul determine her Faculties ro the intimate Admiiiion of thefe Objects, or to make her confent that thefe Objrcls fhould intimarcly enter into her, and there acl upon h^r in an unitive Way, this is no more the Object of divine Power than it is to make a Circle, while, tis fuch, a Square. God has not been pleased to extend his Power f<> far, nor can he will fb to do, or do fb without willing the Dcftru&ion and actually deftroying the Nature of fuch intelligent and free Beings. As therefore it may truly be faid, that whatever God may do with a Circle, yet it can never have unequal Radius's ; fo likewile one may truly Qy9 that whatever God may do with an intelligent and free Being, yet if this free Being will turn away its Faculties from God,and will nor confent that he fhouid operate unitively and habitually in it, God cannot make this Will to change up- n this Score, that God can will it in the firfr. Place. This (hall never be done, nor ever can be done. God will indeed prefent to his Creature bis L'ght, his Calls, his Senfations and De- legations, and in a Word, whatever he pleafes ; but the Bang that is created intelligent and free, moft on its own Stock begin to admit them intimately freely and unitively, and to defire tru m actively. God will never fupply that D< fe6t, neither indeed can he ; not for want of Power, but becaufe this is not the Object of his Power. The Power of God lies not in deftroy- ing an immortal and everlaffing Nature, nor in de- ftroying it while it h fuppos'd to fubfiff. This would be, under pretence of God's Power, and for fear of li- miting it, to cftablifh all forts of Chimera*? and Con- traditions, as well in refpcdf. of God, as of the Crea- tures. For this way God would have conftituted and made for ever a Creature to which he would have gi- ven, as a natural and fubjeclive Property, the Power to determine it felf, and yet it would be he that would bimfelf determine it otherwife than this Creature did, t>r was about, or would have determined. And thus the at the falling away of Man. 43 the Determination wou.ld have been made by thisCrea- Chap. II. ture (by Supposition) and yet would have been made *-^v~v^ by fomc other than this Creature; that is to fay, it would be made by it, and would not be made by it ; which is a Contradiction. IX. And consequently, ro return to our Conclufion , IX. the God could do, and truly did by his Divine Providence Power °f all that could be done to hinder Man from being mife- God could rable, and to make him eternally happy ; r ho' Man ™ hiJder dill had Power not to correfpond with God's gracious ^U/K Purpofe, and to make himfelf miferabie as it really ^fhimfelf^ came to pafs, without any Impeachment of, and not- The gentle withftanding God's Omnipotence ; as in like manner flvd ;nfaim it frill happens that God does all he can to convert Uble De- and fave Men, and yet Men are not converted and termina- fav'd. Not that God cannot convert and fave them. Hon of the He can do it ; but the Objecl: of this Power is only the Liberty free Will that will freely furrender it felf and give its * Contra*£ the Fathers, (cfpecially of the later Ages) who were gene- r'ffr'i rally Great, Learned and Eminent Perfbns that made ^££ themfelves Famous by the great and numerous Volumes t^\et^Tt they writ on all Subjects of Piety and Controversy. * Thefe take moft with the Learned of our Age, becaufe of their Knowledge and Authority that fuits beft with the Spirit of Vanity and human Learning of the Age. Therefore 'lis that they are fo much ftudied, and quo- ted, and indeed made the Rule of what Men are to be- lieve and do. It can't be deny'd but thefe had great Lights and great Vertues. But the Truth on't is, their Human Learning, and the Activity of their Reafbn, the Heat of Difpute, their Dignities and Authority in the Church, have made 'em mix with the Light of God and the Motions of his Holy Spirit, fbme falfe Lights and fbme Motions and Paflions of corrupt Na- ture, which hinder'd them from clearly decerning the Rays of Divine Light in its entire and naked Purity. There 46 Of the Divine Providence Chap. II. There are others (in the fecond Place) who, altho* O^VNJ Learned have been much more pure and cslm, and that us'd their Learning only as a help to write (rather from a Principle of an honed Intention to teach others* than from a pure Motion of God) the Divine Lights they had acquir'd of God by a Faith and Love it ill mixt with the Activity of Reafbn, which, tho' morti- fy'd, was not yet wholly dead. Such were fome of the My Hick Divines, who yet are beyond many of the Fathers. But there were fbme, who, either being Learned, and having entirely and purely fubmirted their Under- danding to God ; or being Ignorant and unlearn'd,and having entirely refign d themklves and their Affections to him, have receiv'd from him (b great and (o pure Lighrs, that nothing after the Holy Scripture, is com- parable to their Writings, neither Fathers, nor Doctors, nor any thing elfe. Such are the greated part of the Myftical Divines, and a great many Saints, and Holy illiterate Perfbns, where this is remarkable ; that com- monly, the more fimple and unlearn'd they were, the more drong, pure, and mining were their Lights : nof. only becaufe they were then out of all Danger of mingling any thing of the cloudy Activity of human Reafon with them, but likewife becaufe their Heart was more humble and fimple, which is the fitted Dif- pofition to partake of God's molt lingular Graces. I might give many Examples of this, but 1 will content my felf with one only, and it fhall be that of an illite- rate Woman, an Inftance of rhe mod fimple and lowed Kind imaginable ; and yet I fcarce believe that fince the Apodles to this lad Age wherein this BlefTed Saint liv'd, I mean St. Catharine of Genoa, there ever was or could be any thing moreDivine,more folid and fublime than her admirable Works. I am dill amaz'd that thofe who have canonized her and take her for a Saint, do not labour to inform themfelves of the Truth and Will of God from fuch Divine Writings, which are the pure Lights of the Holy Spirit, rather than from a hundred either Fathers or Do£t<»rs, all whofe prodigioufly Voluminous Writings are not comparable to the twenty or thirty Sheets of which the Works of this divinely infpifd and wonderfully bright Soul con- fid, (( At the falling aw ay of Man. 47 fift. Bur after all, whatever comparative Efteem rhey Chap. II. may be in, as thofe I am ar prefent treating with have JMT^J Veneration enough for her Perfbn and Doclrine not to accufe 'em either of Impiety or Biafphemy, I will pro- duct out of 'em fome Testimonies that ferve my pre- fent Puipofe. X1I1. 1 (hall give you fome Paffages out of her Life. XIII. The " 00 G°d does not fufler thofe Souls to tall, that with Doclrine of " their pre will do notconfent to Sin, and he docs let a Saint u fuch lalhs voluntarily conft nt to it : becaufe having that teach* 4& Of the Divine Providence (a) Ibid. " (a) When I obferve with how great readinefsGod Ch. XX. *' provides us all things neceffary as well outward as " inward for our Salvation, and that he takes fo great " care of our Affairs ; and when on the contrary I " fee Man fo bufie about things not only ufelefs but " hurtful, and that at his Death God will fay to him, " What could I have done for thee, Q Man ! that I have " not done : and he (ball clearly fee the Graces he has " defpis'd, and for which he (hall be call'd to a feverer u Account than for all his other Sins : I am amaz'd, " nor can I imagine or comprehend how Man can be " fo infenfibie as not to think on a thing of fuch migh- " ty Importance. (h) Ibid. W Almighty God gives to All fuch Light and Chap. ' " fuch Grace, that every one if he do but what is in XXXIV. " his Power, may be faved if he will bur give his Con- " fent. O Free-will! thcu art the Caufe of great " Good and great Evil ! If thou but deny thy felf for '* the Love of God, thou (halt quickly arrive at fuch a *' State of Freedom as thou (halt never fall from, and u and (halt know that to ferve God is truly to reign. (c) Ibid. " (c) Our Lord has faid, None can come to me except Chap.XL- " my Father draw him ; nor is God's gracious Providence " ever wanting to draw Men, faying, J ftand at the " Door and knock. But our Wickednefs is fo great, that *' fhou'd God regard it, it wou'd be our higheft Mife- " ry, for then he could never mind us nor do us any *' good ; but he confiders only his own infinite Mercy " and Goodnefs, by which he endeavours to bring us w to that happy End for which he made us. To effedl " this, he out of his mere Love produces in us all ne- <6 ceflary Operations* thro' which if we make good " ufe of 'em, our Affairs fhall go on fuccefsfully ; if *l we do not, we fhall be miferable at our Death, hear- ** ing from Jefus this Word,0 thou wicked Servant, what " could I have done more for thee than I have done ? So u that Man,tho' never fo malicious,{hall not be able to " find any Excufe : for thro* God's AiTiftance, who is " always ready to help him, he may forfake his Wicfc- " ednefs : and fay, Tbou, Lord, hnfi broken my Bonds in " /under, and I will offer Thee a Sacrifice of Praife. I (a)Dh] I w'^ a^ 6#ive^°me Paffagesout of her Dialogues. " (d) Chap V ' " The Soul faw a kind Ray of Love iffuing from this > ' Divine at the falling away of Man. 49 M Divine Fountain, and darted towards Man as if it Chap. II. " wou'd utttrly deftroy him ; and when it found an ^/~V~\J " Impediment, if it were poffible forGod to fufferPain, 44 this Oppofition it met with wou'd put him to the M greateft poflible. This Ray feem'd to have no other 44 Bufinefs but to pierce the Soul, and that if the Soul 44 was not penetrated with it, it was only thro' her own 44 Fault. For (he perceiv'd this Ray encompailing her " on all fides to find Entrance, but the Soul blinded 44 with Self-love regarded if not : And when God fees c« that a Soul damns it felf, and that the Ray of his U Love cannot make Imprelfion ftrong enough to enter 44 the Heart thro' its Obftinacy, he feems to fay, The 44 Love which I bear to this Soul is fo great, that I Jhould *4 be glad never to forfakg it. O ingrateful and harden d 44 Soul ! as to what depends on my Will, 1 can never be u willing thoufhouldft be damrtd, fo great a Lcve do I bear f% thee ; and were it poffible for me to fuffer for thee and " fo to hinder it, 1 would do it • but it being impcffible for u my pure Love, to abide with the leafl Imperfection, I am " forcd to leave thee : and as thro'' me thou mi^htefl have y?t a Companion, or rather Servant and Slave of the Devil ; as well becaufe he has fubmitted his Liberty to him by confenting to his Demands and Temptations, as by turning away from God his Liberty and Faculties, he has fix'd them upon corrupt and mean things, for which his Heart was not made. This Difbrder is the Devil's Element where this malicious Spirit tyranni- cally governs and rules all he meets in it. i'or the Devil is united to this corruptElement almoft as clofely as the Soul is to the Body ; and he difpofts of it at Plcafure in Man,when he has his Confent either actual or virtual, when Man does not refill him. For this Reafon it is, that the Liberty of every Sinner confi- der'd in Adam^ and out of the Grace of God, isa Com- panion and Friend of the Liberty of the Devil, who having Accefs to it, never quits it, nor fails continu- ally to draw it to all that is pleafing to Satan. They are like two Drunkards or Whoremongers well met, and fitted with Opportunities of Time and Place to fatisfie their vile Pahions. He that is the mod wicked and debauch'd. certainly fbllicits his Companion to all that's ill, perfuades and carries him where-e're he pleafes. He acts on his Underftanding by a thoufand Imaginations and Thoughts, that he presents to it, on his Will by mixing himfelf with his Defires, awaken- (*)S*?the ;ng flnc] beating them, particularly by the Intervention .y^n" of his Body, Blood, Humours and Spirits ; and all £,. vin' this by means of that Difbrdcr and Corruption which § 1 21/ Man ky Sin brought upon himfelf, his Body and all J4. asalfo external Nature. Hence all the Motions of corrupt theOccon. Nature are the Vehicles wherein the Devil conveys before the his Will to all the World, and to all Sinners (<*). The Incarna- Devil moves them in the mod inward Parts of their lionChap. Veins, Arteries and Bowels for the Advancement of 1-§4>^« his .Kingdom, almoft like Engines, and without their after the Fall of Mm. 5 5 perceiving h\ Hence the Scripture flyks him, Ihe Chap, in, Prince of this PPerld (a) ; and the Members of Man's -^VfNj Body, the infiruments and iVcapns of %J might* wjhefi9 \a) J°«11 fubjected and enflavd t& him whom they obey (f). I4- 3°- You fee here the firft Indifpofxtion to be obferv'd in ^ j{om_ the immortal Subject which God created for eiernai 5. jj 2gm Happinefe, and defigns to bring to? jr.' The Second is the acluai and habitual Perverfeneis of his Defire, which plants and roots m Man Ways wholly perver- ted, and forms in him a way of denying and willing, of producing and directing his Acls altogether dark., carnal* felhfh and inrerefled in the proposing hrs End, and the Ways and Means of executing jfr. The Third is, the Difbrders of his Body and irs Humours, and the malignant Imprefiions of corrupt Nature upon this his diftemper'd and wicked Body. VI. I fay it again, and can never lay It fufRcienrJy, W. Htm 9 nor the Reader think of it enough, and would w God f™?0**™* our Eyes were fufetendy operand our Hearts ien£ble t3 9?° "» fully to undsr&and and fee! It ! that all Men ftnee the f^gthr Fall, and as born of the Sinner Adam9 and till regenc- f™ ^' rated in the Spirit of Jefm Chrift, have tbefe fine Qua- ^A Sourm locations for eternal Ufe,w^, (1.) They are the Com- (i5^ panions, Friends, and even the Slaves of Saran, who inseparably attends them, rules and governs their Li- < berry which they have refign'd up to him, their Mind and "Heart, their Parens and ImaginatIoi5s,?heir Senfes and Motions, shelr Words and Aclions. (2.) That tho* there were nothing of all this, and the Devil dtd not a& upon them So make them worfe, yet Is their Heart and Defire become a hellifh Abyfs that breaths out nothing but Stench and Abomination, whence there cannot proceed fo much as one Thought that Is not deviliih, nor one potion that is not perverfe, wicked and abominable in the Sight of God ; For this Heart is now nothing but a perpetual Spring of Filth and Ordure, that continually cads out nothing but im- pure and hellifh Fumes, till God by his moil holy Grace kill this wicked Heart, and put in its room in the Soul a new Principle and a new Spirit, which this wicked and criminal Heart had driven away to let the Devil enter into it, and to iraagin, exert and direct its own Acts according to its own disorderly Fancy and E 4 Sett- 5 6 Of the Divine Providence Chap. III. Self Love. Add to this (3.) that tho' this Heart of 1/YV corrupt Man were almolt grown entirely brutifh and lrupid, fo that it could not with any Freedom difpofe of any thing but the Motions of its own Body, yet the Corruption and Difbrder of his Body and of thofe that act upon it from without, would not fuffer him to lead but a meer beaftly Life, the molt difbrder'd, miferable and confus'd imaginable. VII. The V^* This *s *n trut^ anc* wJcnouc exception the ve- State of ry Difpofition and State of every Man by virtue of Man after that Birth he takes from Adam the Sinner, without the hit Fall, Grace of God, and before his Regeneration. If there and before have been Perfbns holy from their Birth, it was not hisRegene- by virtue of their being born of Flefli and Blood, and tation. of the Will of Man ; but becaufe their Parents being themfelves holy offer'd up their Children as foon as born to the Holy Ghofl, praying him to fanctifie 'em, which Prayers the Holy Ghoft heard and ratify *d by his Divine Operations. But this is not what we at prefent difcourfe of; but of what Men are by virtue of their meer finful Birth, and before God's Grace and their Regeneration. Tho' they mould begin to return to God, and to have fome good Motions, and to do fome good Works, yet till they have perfectly re- nounc'd Corruption and the Devil, and are perfectly dead to their wicked Heart and Defires; till they do perfectly deny their natural Motions and all the Im- preilions which their own Body and all corrupt Nature makes upon them ; till then they are immediately in- capable, I fay not, to do, but even to receive and pofc fefs the pure Good ; they are not yet fo much as a rafa tabula, a Subject prepaid and fitted for the Light and Peace of God.They have indeed,fuppofing them in the good Way and advancing forward in it, many forts of Goods in them ; but all as yet impure and jriix'd with Evil, Error and Seduction, and Deceitful- nefs of Heart, with Darknefs, with the Devil and his Element ; fo that before the perfect Death of the Old Man no Man living ought to trull his own Heart, nor to juftifiehimlelf,(eeing he has ilill within him a three- fold Hell, the Devil, the Corruption of his own Heart, and that of his Body and Nature, or of the World and the Univerfe. What therefore will become of fuch as do after the Fall of Man. 57 do not fo much as think of Grace and its Infpirations, Chap. III. and Co cannot by the help of it refill the continual v/V'X-' Productions which thefe three infernal Sources are throwing up in them ? I fee no Difference between Men in this State and the Devil himfelf; oniy that thefe are infenfible of their Evils, and have during this Life an Opportunity and Means of Amendment. VIII. I have not at all exaggerated in what I have VIII. faid concerning Man's Incapacity, I do not fay to Mensjn~ caufe, but even to admit and to receive immediately/*^'^ real Happinefs. He i? as utterly incapable of it as in their. Hell is of being Paradife : For he has within him a ™?£{*1 diabolical Hell or Satan himfelf, a Hell of the Corru- a„Jrt^Jr ption of his own Heart, and a Hell of the Corruption ^0//c*/ of his Body and of Nature, out of which there cannot Malice flow the lead Spark of Goodnefs. O blind and in their wretched Man! thou fcoftelf. at thefe importantTruths, Blindnefs. becaufe thou pretendeft to difcover no fuch three- fold Hell within thee, nor do'ft yet find thy felf tormented in it,not confidering that the Goodnefs of God moving him to grant thee an Opportunity to work out thy Sal- vation in quiet and by degrees and meafures fuiting thy Weaknefs, does alfb mix with thy Malignity a great many good things, and does for this End ftupifie for a time the Quicknefs of thy Senfibility, and the Pains of thy triple Hell, and hides them from thee ; which un- lefi he did thou would ft die a thoufand times with Fright and Defpair at their firft Difcovery,and wouldfl be overwhelmed with Torments inexpreflible, ihould their Activity be but once awaken'd in thee. Thou (halt fee this at thy Death, when it will be too late to think of efcaping, unlefs during this Life thou hall made it thy chief Bufinefs to fay to God Night and Day by the Sighs of an humble Heart efchewing Evil, and breathing after divine Grace ; Look^thou upon me, O Lord myGod,and hear my Pray crs^enlighten mineEyes that I Jleep not the Sleep of Death ; left mine Enemy (Satan) fay9 I have prevail' d againft him, and mine Adverfaries /a\ Pfaf. rejoice at my falling into Perdition. My Truft is in thy , ^% 5. Grace, and my Heart Jhall rejoice in thy Salvation (a). This is indeed the great, the capital and univerfal Di£ eafe of the Men of thefe Times ; they neither fee nor know the depth of their Corruption i they do not fb much 58 Of the Divine Providence Chap. HI. much as believe that all they are,and all theydo^all they IXVNJ think, defire and ("peak, is abominable and execrable before God, fb long as it comes from the pay fond Source of their Heart, without an entire renouncing of themfelves and of all that is in them, and giving themselves up to the Inftrucllon and Government or God's Holy Spirit, without which we cannot do nor will the lealt Good in the World. Having elfewhere prov'd thefe Truths, as neceffary as they are, I (hall enlarge no more at prefent. Whoever has a mind to fee them in a Light the mod lively and divine chat can be wiuYd for, let him confult the Works of Mrs. Bou- rignon^ and especially, The Renovation cf the Gcfpel Spi- rit, Antichrift difioveSd, the Light of the World, and the Touch/zone. For I, for my Part, freely own that I ne- ver yet faw any one fince the beginning of the World, ro whom God has difcover*d more clearly, livelily and ftrongly and plainly the great Corruption of Man, than he has in our Days by this excellent Inftrument of his Hoiy Spirit ; and 'tis nothing but this Detection of Wickednefs that makes all theWicked and Hypocrites difpleas'd at her, their proud Heart not enduring to be humbled and confounded, nor to hate and deny them- ielves. The Devil too, their good Friend, that is lodg'd in their corrupt Heart (as was (aid before,) hating 10 be thus expos'd and laid ooen, has found out an Expedient by letting his Slaves on work with his two old Engines of Lying and Violence, againft the divine Light and the holy Soul that publihYd it ; I fay, Lying and Violence, with which he abundantly inspires the Wicked of all forts, Ignorant and Learned, who yet never fail'd to labour in the Service of their Lord and Jvlafter, that Murderer, Perfecuror, Lyar and Slande- rer from the beginning, who will one Day pay them their Wages unlefs they undo what they have malici- oufly done for him againft the moll divine, clear and fblid Truth that ever appear'd in the World. But let us not leave our Subject. IX. I come to it again, and end my fecond Confide- -#* ration (which was upon the Incapacity of the Subject Duicremz ^j?^ qocj ^eftgns t0 make happy,) with thefe two m^Tim- Conditions. The one, that as Man was incapable taaue #. N&*8 Cud fafire iht Fall, tm£ after ft. after the Fall of Man. 59 before the Fall to caufe his own Happinefs, fo like- Chap. III. wife is he fince : the other, that whereas Man before sy^v^X^ the Fall was not proximately, or, if I may fb fay, po- sitively incapable to receive God, to defire him, to be united to him and poffefs him, he is fincehis Sin prox- imately and pofitively incapable of it, and that upon -thefe three Grounds, firft, becaufe he is united to the Devil, God's Enemy ; fecondly, becaufe his Heart is be- come an eternal Fund of Corruption \ and thirdly, as ro his Body, he is fubjecl:ed: to all the Irregularities and Diforders of the great and little World. X. (3.) Let us now fee what Providence has done in X. (i)The the thirds as alfo in the fourth and fifth things, which Providence are yet to be confider'd. As God before the Fall of of God docs Man was pleas'd to make it his conftant and univerfal aftcr the Rule to prefent to Man after a general and common FaUu"f* Manner, the conftant and univerfal, and yet the moft r°erJally and con- ftantly lingular A£r. of the Light of his Word and the Motions of his Holy Spirit, for the beatitude of his Soul, ^^lfuppZ the likewife to prefent unto him the external Light and SoJi an£ Benedictions of Nature for the good of his Body ; and Body with did by his Divine Concourfe and Prevention accompa- their bea- ny this Offer of the beatifying Object to the Subject he tifyingand defign'd to make happy : in like manner after the ¥d\\,futtable God being pleas'd to continue his Defign of making the Objects. miferable Subject that was fallen, happy, made himfelf a s\ule and an unchangeable and univerfal Law of this Will and Good-pleafure of his, which is this, that he •will actually prefent to Man, as long as he lives in this State of Tryal, his Light and Divine Motions to his Interiour in a lively and conftant, univerfal and fingular, in a preventing and concurring manner, and to do the fame in proportion to his Exteriour, by the offer of the Light and Bleilings and fupport of Nature, (a) By do- ra) Ach> ing us good, giving us B^ain from Heaven and fruitful Sea. s^. 16,17, fins. filling our Hearts with Food andGladnefs; (b) determin- ing theTimes and Habitations of the People9that they might (b) Ibid. feel^ after God, if happily they might find him, fince he is Chap. 17., not far from us, for in him we live , and move, and have our 2^> 27- Being. XI. Nor 60 Of the Divine Providence XI. New XI. Nor was the Divine Providence concent to do Graces barely fuch things which of his Wifdom and Goodnefs &hich ne would have done had not Man finn'd \ but moreo- Gads Pro- ver fec'U)g jyran was actually and continually diftra&ed v;wto and carried ro I11, as well.by the sP.iric of the DevI1 *M*n after £^at a^waYs ftuck clofe to him after his Sin, as by rhe his Fall Very Corruption of his own wicked Heart, and by the botkfpiU- Diforders of his Body and of Nature \ this merciful and tualand Provident Charity, pardoning for Jefus Chrifl\ fake corporeal, Man's Demerit, and taking no notice of his Wicked- forhisSal- nefs, has join'd his Holy Spirit to the Spirit of every nation. Man that comes into the World ; not indeed by a Conjunction unitive, of Friendfhip, of Peace, of Com- placency, Inhabitation and Concord \ but yet by an Union objective, calling, knocking and contradicting the Spirit of the Devil and its Suggeftions, and draw- ing Man to Good. And this that he may hold out againff. the Devil (who is in Man whilft a Sinner) and may not be over-power'd by him, but may at lull be (h) Seethe enabled quite to expel him (*). Oecon. of And this good Spirit, join'd to Man's Spirit, inftrucls theRefto- him, whether he will or no, gives him good Defires rat.before and gOOCj Motions, fhews him a glimpfe of his Divine the In- Light, of Good and Evil, draws him to the one, and VTT & infpires him with an Abhorrence and Diflike of the as aifo lie otner 5 tnat ^e may ma^e Head againft the Corruption fafirftLei- °£ his Heart, which otherwife would hurry him blind- er**/Ato. ly anc^ without all Remorfe to all forts of Wickednefs. B.VFune- Laftly, to oppofe the Violence of the Corruption of raloffalfe Nature, God does as it were by force imprefs upon Na- Divinity, ture both by his immediate Blefling, and by the means Part 4. of his good Angels, benign Influences : he guides and where governs it ; and a£h likewife kindly upon the Imagi- thefe great nation, the Humours, the Spirits, the Blood and Paiiions ^"thyre of Man's Body, as well by doing fo to refill the Difor- wllly ^ers c^at tne ^ev^ w°uld ever be raifmg in Nature by PQsa'°~ means of his Element of Corruption, which is inter- mixt and united with it, as to hinder, or regulate thofe which Man's corrupt Heart (who v/as to have govern'd Nature, but fmce his Fall was grown unfit for that Charge) might raife in it, and which it certainly does as fbon as ever it is left to it felf. God does and pre- sents all thele things to Man by way of Objects, as well spiritual after the Fall of Man. 6 1 fpiritual as corporeal, and they a£t upon him as long Chap. III. as the time of his Probation lads. '-/WJ XII. (4 ■) In the fourth Place, as Divine Providence XII. (4.) before the Sin of Man, had eftablifh'd the Liberty of ^f^rthe the Soul the occafional and admiiiive Caufe of the effi- , Pro~ caciousand unitive Prefence of Divine Objects, which j^/^i Liberty of his he was pleas'd neither to determine nor /^'X^. limit ; in like manner after the Fall, God was pleas'd Liberty as. to bringMan back to Happinefs by making immutably the cccaji- and univerfally the fame Liberty of Man the occafion- onal and al i id admiffive Caufe of the Entrance and interiour admire Infinuation of his good Spirit, of his Infpirations and Caufe of Motions, and of his efficacious Acting, and in the end the Divine of his moft pure and moft fublime Operations. So that Grac£-> if the Liberty (prevented as it is, and the Faculties by f *£7. the Calls and Stroaks of God) will turn away its Defire "Zfoll from all that is not God, and turn it and offer it up to ^ndeter^ God that he may operate in it,God will introduce into ,»/„»/. theSoul his Light and his Goodnefs with all his faving Operations. And that none might have any reafbn to complain, God has been pleas'd not to determine ei- ther by any antecedent Decree, or by any preventing or determining Concourfe, or by any infallible, abfb- lute or neceflary Foreflgbr, the Liberty of any Man, or its Acts. As to that, it is all one both after and be- fore the Fall. The Syftem is always the fame in Sub- ftance. I will not forget by and by to handle the Difficulties relating to this Matter. XIII. So that all that Divine Providence has left Man xill The to do as his Duty and as the whole Bufin'efs of his Life, miy% }ndif. is this, that the Liberty of Man turn away his Defire penfable, from all that is not God, or rather, that he confent to and f acred God's turning it away by his good Motions, and that Duty of he turn and offer it up to God, with himfelf and all Mf« '» that belongs to him. Then Gcd will do all the reft. *&** lif*- But unlefs Man do this, God will never fupply this Defeat, nor make him to do ir. This is Man's Bufi- nefs, his proper and indifpenfable Task, which he can- not neglect without damning himfelf for Ever; and by fondly flattering himfelf in this Point go to Hell in a Feather- Bed. There is nothing in the World of greater Truth and Importance to us. This Duty is the Marrow and Quinteffence of true Religion, of the true 62 Of the Divine "Providence Chap. III. true Worfhip and Service that God requites of Ma*n. i/YV Our whole Duty confifts in this, in turning away from all outward things, and from all Evil, and in entring into our Interiour, and there praying the good Spirit of God who is there prefent, and defires to abide and a£t. there, that he would be pleas'd to ftrive and fight againft our Enemies, our felves, our own and Nature's Corruption, and againft the Devil, who is truly in us as long as we are in Sin : In faying with David, to the (a) Pfal. G°cl of the Heart (a), Deliver me from mine Enemies ; 143. g} jo. for I flee unto Thee tofave me: teach me to do thy Wilt ', for thou art my God ; let thy Holy Spirit lead me in the right Way ! Whoever fhall accuftom himfelf to this holy Worfhip, and fhall obftinately, as I may fay, perfift in this holy Exercife, (hall at laft fee in due time the Sal- vation and Redemption of the Lord. XIV. (5.) XIV. (y.) For, in the fifth Place, as God before the TheRuhofFatt had eftablifh'dit for a Truth, for a Rule, for a Providence Decree univerfal, impartial and immutable, that he and the u- would efficacioufly and favingly communicate himfelf, mverfal pa[her, Son and Holy Ghoft, and his Divine A&s, to 2tiemDeU-~ the Soulj Pr°PortIonably and fo.far as the Liberty creelon-" ^10U^ turn lls Defires and Faculties toward <}od ; fo eemin? Jikewife after the Fall, God, to reftore Mans Happi- thofe to nefs and to furnifh all things neceflary to that End by whom God his Divine Providence,has decreed (and here is the De- »/// com- cree of Election) has, I fay, decreed and eftablifh'd this municate for an immutable, impartial, and univerfal Rule and himfelf Truth, that he will elect, take, poflefs, inlighten and and in rejoice efficacioufly, favingly, and unitively, and at laft, whom he ^to f^k wjt]1 the Myftlcks) transformatively fuch Tate °uni- Souls as ^a^ turn themfelves, their Defires and all their tively. " Faculties towards him ; and that he will infinuate him- The De- ^e^? Father, Son and Holy Spirit,God blefTed for Ever, cree of into them ; and will in them produce his divine and Ele&ion. beatiflck Operations, fo far and in fuch Meafures as the Soul fhall turn it felf to him. Here fhall be no Exception or Change ; and what was laid before con- cerning God's Procedure before the Fall, is applicable to our prefent Cafe, XV, I after the Fall of Man. 6$ XV. I have not much enlarg'd upon thefe three laft XV. The Confiderations, w'f. the Objeds which God prefenrs, **fe* of the Liberty that receives 'em, and God's Correfpon- the folksy dence therewith : not only becaufe I have already fuf- M& Cka$~ ficiently prov'd and explain'd 'em (as to the Subftance tertm of 'emj in the Treatifes concerning the Reftoration or. Man and the Operation of God ; but alfb becaufe thefe three things,^, the Offers of God to Man, and Mans Admiilion of 'em. and God's A&ing orCorrefpondence upon fuch Admiilion, are things fb complicated toge- ther, that what we are to fay of 'em cannot be faid in treating of 'em each fingly and a-part. They mutt be confider'd and join'd together : and that is what I in- tend to do in the following Chapter, not to give a new Explication of them, but only fo far to touch 'em as (hall be neceffary with refpe& to the Difficulties that relate to their Univerfality, Impartiality, and Man's indeterminate Liberty about 'em. CHAP. IV. A Syftem, and fome Principles of Providence relating to the Fore fight of Good and Evil, after the Fall of Man. That God de fires the Evil he forefees may not come to pafs ; and that all the poffible Good which he forefees, may come to pafs : which he alfo is pleased to promote. The fpecial Object of Providence. O R the full ComprehenGon of the Oe- I. Some conomy of Divine Providence to fave gradual Man after the Fall, it is neceffary to Corfdera- call to mind the Truths demonftrated tim* for in the firft and fecond Treatifes, as alfo *"**%*• thofe juft infifted on. (i.) The fir ft is the true r this, That God by bimfelf alone in his indivifible Nfl0"°f j the Oe- c vt -i r t a conomy ot Providence after) the tell i.Gofs Sufficimee in b's nw Et■) Ef Liberty the Government of the World,and of the Stars mi »n^ too and the Elements ; he might indeed have foiefeen-^ c t0 the greateft part or all the poilible Ways and Manners wherein Man might difpofe of 'em, and what Eftedts would thence follow ; but that neverthelefs it was not h-is Pleafure to determine or decree 'em, no nor to forefee 'em as determinately future. (7.) The feventh, that Man having fallen into Sin, /- ) T^e has loft his Dominion over the World, and the Power gmcra\ £. of dTpofing of the heavenly and elementary Bodies at °f Man ancj Miferies in general, but alfo fome certain Vices, vnd f°mecertam Evil Works and Habits, and fbme certain bf-T U ■Miferies enfuing ; but with fuch Certitude as was only OmRdtra- Moral as to the Particulars, whereas it was natural and tion of neceflary as to the Event, to the continuance and in- Grace. creafe of Evil in general, fuppofing God had left Man in his Sin without (hewing him Mercy. But in Cafe God fhould be pleas'd to (how him Grace, things would then put on another Face, as I am going to fhew. V.God de- V. All theft things, thefe Malignities and future fires the Miferies of Man, whereof God forcfees the Event in a Evil he certain and determinate Manner, as wjs faid, were forrfees highly difpleafing to God. So far is any Forclight or may not Decree Yjf God from being the Caufe of the Futuririon come to of thefe things, or God from defiring they fhould fo ^ ' happen, that on the quire contrary, when he is pleas'd to look on them and to confider the neceflary and mo- rally determinate Confcquenccs of 'cm, he does it with the Of the Fore frght of Evil. 6g the higheft Abhorrence and an infinite Di fallows nee Chap. IV. both of rhe Evils and of their Event. And 'tis this fu- ^"VNJ preme Averfion of his that makes him defire that what he forefees might never happen. This is not contra- dictory nor repugnant to the Fore-knowledge of God: on the contrary, as to the Forefight of Sin, it is natural and neceflary to the moft Holy Being not to forefee it without wifhing what it forefees may never come to pafs. For Sin and Mifery is nothing elfe but fome- thing that is repugnant to the Will and Happinefs of Gcd, to which the Will of God is alfo reciprocally oppofue. Therefore, to forefee Sin and Mifery and their happening, is, as to God, to forefee a thing which he difapproves and wifhis were not, nor ever would be. VI. Whatever alfb the Event afterward be of thefe yj This things, yet there follows nothing that implys cny Con- Defire is tradition, either with relation to God or the things ctnforma- themfelves. For fuppofing the 111 forefeen do happen ble to the as it was forefeen, then was God's Forefight of it true, G, and the Defire of God that it might not happen is a J*Pto**d Proof of his Divine Goodnefs, which cannot but have 77ldeedt0 the higheft Averfion for Evil ; that is, a mighty Defire tfJ>0j*lT, that there fhould not happen any Evil ; were it not (offfj^f _ God might be fufpeded of Malignity.^ It is likewife a 'r*m '/f™' Proof of hisjuftice; for there is nothing fo becoming happen. God, or fo juff. with refpeel: to him, as to defire he might not be offended, or that Men fhould not deviate from his W ill by Sin and Mifery. But it will be fiid, this Defire of his would thus be charged with Weak- neis, the Thing not coming to pafs as was wifh'd. I think I have already futficiently anfwer'd this Obje- ction, and fhewn, that God did not defire this, as we do natural and brute Matters. It was not God's Plea- fure to will that the falling out of things, or their not falling out fhould be by conftrainr. He did not defire Man's Liberty fhould be deflroy'd, nor that Man fhould not be able to determine himfelf whither he had a mind to determine himfelf. This is not rhe ObjecT: of God's Defire or his Power. God's Defire is the Good- will he has toward Man to make him freelv hap- py, to which Good-will he adds Means and the Effects pf his Power, which he offers Man that he may freely F j embrace jo Of the pore fight of Evil. Chap. IV. embrace 'em. If he does not do it, and fb falls into 0"VN0 Mifchief, the Forefight, Goodnefs and Power of God (who would not violate Man's Liberty) are perfectly untouch'd and not at all impeachable. VII. if the VII. But if the 111 forefeen comes to pafi fome other 111 forefeen Way than that wherein it was determinate^ forefeen cne deter- that it would come to pafs, for Example, if, God ha- wlnate ving foremen that the Sinner would give himfelf up to way,jhould forne one Vice, it fhould fo fall out (give me leave to fall out fpea]c tnus) tnar by the ufe of his Liberty he fhould jomeot:er yjgjj t0 forne ot|ier Vice inconfillent with the former, HSuine* ^anc* rhis>aMolutely Tpeaking, he may do)yet would not Forefight l^e Divine Forefight be therefore lefs true or Ids be- wuld not coming God : becaufe the Divine Previfion does not therefore foresee thefe things as abfolutely determin'd und nccef- behfs wor- fary ; but as things that may, ahfblutely fpeaking, be thy of God. chang'd if Man will. For God fees and fore fees above all things that Man is, and ever will be at all times free, and that, abfolutely fpeaking, he may determine him- felf indifferently to any particular Way, amongft a thoufand poflibie ones, which he fhall bed like : and tho' he forefees that Man's Habits^ the Temptations of the Devil, and the ImprefHons of Nature incline him fuch cr fuch a Way, and that therefore it is mora ly certain that fuch or fuch a thing will happen ; yer, he forefees likewifc that his Liberty, if it will ufe its Right and Power, is llronger than all this , that the Tempter is free to vary his Temptations and that Man may withdraw himfelf from fome certain Objedts of Nature •and give himfelf up to others. And fo, tho7 fome other thing fhould happen than what God forefaw as morally certain anddettrmiivd.yet would there nothing fall out contrary to the Nature of the Divine Previfion which dors not abfolutely exclude all other poflible Wa^s of Events. The Nature of the Truth of thefe kinds of Pervifions and Predictions is compatible with the Poflibility of their being otherwife accomplifh'd ; fb that tho' they fhould come to pafs otherwife, it would be no way inconfirtent with the Nature of the Truth of 'em : and fo they are always true after their Marnier, which is free and not abfolutely determinate, VIII Bus Of the Fan fight of Evil. 7 1 VIII, But fhonld the Evil forefeen not come 10 pafs VIIJ. jf at all, then would God and the Angels of ^eaven re- *Jk Etnl ceive thence a mighty aceeffory joy : and fb far in this forefe£?J h Cafe would the Previfion of God be from becoming G™ d*s* unworthy of him, deficient, fallible and imperfect ', ™* l™?6 that on the contrary, it would then have its true Aim /i,„, J0'es and moil proper and real Accompliihment. Here I Ggjs Prem believe Men will be apt to fancy 1 have a mind to be and particular Forefight of fuch or fuch Evils either of Punifhment or of Sin. If God when he has difcover'd fome Evil in a thing, did not will the ceafmg and dif- continuance of it, he would let it alone without think- ing any more of ir, without applying himfelf to any further particular Confederation of it, to fee or fort fee ir, or any of its Branches, Fruits or Confluences, or dfeterminatrly-to foretell 'em. No, he would then re- nounce all thefe hateful Sights, and would forfake the Direction of fuch a Subject and leave it to it felf as he does the Devils wirh regard to themf Ives. For what Delight or Pkaiurc could God take to fee how many Ways he might be hated, bUfphernd, curs'd, to fee that done which i; fifHiely difpleafes him ? when his Divine Majefty has had a full Sight of Evil by confi- dering that hisCreature rejects the Good he does it (for this is in God the Sight ol Evii) and when he lore! es in general and indeterminately the obftinate and invin- cible Continuance of the Evil, by confidering and fee- ing that the intelligent Creature does knowingly, wil- fully, and deliberately refolve to reject all the good 4hings and the Means to 'em which his Divine Good* nefs and power prefents it with, then God leaves this Subject to it felf, without concerning himfelf any more in particularly foreseeing all the Wickednefles and Evils to which it may from thence forward aban- don it felf; excepting always, when this Creature (hall happen to live among the Good, and may endeavour to pervert 'em. For then God will continually watch over all it does wherein the Good may be any wife concerned. But we are not yet come fo fir, and what wc have been faying refpcdls the Wicked alone aban- X. When don'd to his Sins and Miferies. God applies X. But when God applys himfelf particularly to fee himfelf to and to forefee the Evils of a Subject, and when this forefee £- Forefight is principally terminated upon this Subject, tyb*** ls a it is an infallible SignGod wills not theForefight of 'em fign he in- ^ut mere]y tnac rney mav not Comc to pafs. For God , » has not the foolifh Curiofity fo ufual among Men, to way and" w^ the Sight and Forefight of Evils merely to have tocure\yhim to q0<.j ^y forcfee, nay even of (uch which were by him */ forefeet? as determinately and certainly as poiiibly could t/vent 0> t • » * i i * x \ 7i i c » f the Evils m Moral things. \\ hen the Scripture represents he forefeet ^°^ as freeing, and foretelling too, the Sins and ami fore- Miferies cf the World in general, ojr of fome Nation tdh. or Perfbns in particular, as when he fore fa w and in- deed foretold to Noah, ro David, and by him, and by Jfaiaby by St. Paul and by St. John, that the Wear* of Man would always be a Source of Evi is ; fV>at Gsd bolt- ing upon the Earth, efpeciaily towards the laft Days, fioould net find in it fo much as one that did G&od ; that the whoIeEarth would be plunged into theDarknefs of Death ; that all would by an univerjal Apoftacy forfake God ; that M<-n would run after Lies and Deluhons^ and that all People would follow the Beafl : or when he forcfaw, and likewife foretold by M^ja, by David, by )Jaiah9 by Jeremy, by E^ehieL and even by Jefus Chrifl^ that the Jewifh Nation would rebel again ft God, thaf ir would not know and receive, but Evil-entreat the Meffiah • that in the Days of Z^edechias the People ihould go inro Captivity, JerufaUm be burnt, and that unhappy Prince be led in Chains, and have his Eyes put out in Babylon ; in fine, when God forefaw Cains Murder of Abel,ax\d an infinite Number of other Events that refpedr. particular Per Tons ; in all thefe and the like Caus, he took Cognisance of thefcr Evils and fore- faw and foretold 'em only to hinder their^oming to pafs, and with a deep and hearty Defire that they might never happen. The great and natural Avernon Qod has to Sin, his own Words and thofe various Me- thodb Of the Fore fight of Evil. 7 5 thods he makes ufe of to deftroy it and its Effects, Chap. IV. ought fully to convince us of this Truth. He adver- L^W? tifes, for Example, Men, Jews, Chriftians, and parti- cular Perfons, a thoufund Ways to withdraw 'em from the Evils he has forefeen. He fhews 'em what is Good , he commands the doing of it ; he promifes 'em mighty Rewards for fo doing ; he draws and allures 'em to it : he forbids what is Evil ; Threatens to punifh 'em for it ; he exhorts, protefts and fwears he would not have thefe Evils befall 'em \ he comes and fpeaks, and prays, and groans and weeps for the Evil he foresees coming upon 'em to evidence how greatly he abhors the Event of it ; he even dies to deftroy Evil, he fends his £m- bafladors and Friends to perpetuate all thefe things, he gives good Infpirations toward Good, and Fears, and Abhorrence of Evil and Remorfe afrer it j in a Word, what does he not do ! And then where would be the Sincerity, the Truth and Goodnefs worthy a God, if after all it were nor true that he really does not will the Event of the Evil he forefees, and that he does not therefore only forefte and foretell it that he might hin- der its happening ? XII: Have you a mind to hear God protefKng thus xilpr f himfelf ? J ejus Cbrijl, in St. Matthew, forefeeing and 0f the fine foretelling that many falfe Prophets fhould come and Truth from fhould deceive many, does at the fame time exhort exprefs Men to beware of 'em, and confequently, to hin- Words and der the happening of what he forefaw and fore- Examples told ; and adds for a Reafbn of their preventing it, Scripture, {a) Lo, faid pol fhall read or hear thefe Words of mine, which yet are thofe very Perfons Jefus Chriji forefaw would be de- ceiv'd. When in E^ecbtet, he forefees and foretells concern- Exampl* ing a Sinner, that be Jhali Jurely die.ox die the Death,yet thefeLnd he does not defire this fad Event, but rather that it fhould not happen but the contrary • and this is what he even fwears on his Life, (b) As I live^ faith n\ Ezer, the Lord, I will not the Deatjp of a Sinner, but rather that \* ,, , * he turn from his Wic^ednefs and live. When 1 (hall have ' ' faid to a Sinner, thou /halt die the Death, if be turn from hit iq ; ana aaas ror a Keaion or tneir preventing it, "j^npiure\ ) Lo, I have foretold you of it : as if he fhould have r ■>. M n id; the Reafon why I foretell you thefe things is pur- * * " >fely to hinder their befalling you, or any others that - 76 Of the Forefigbi of Evil. Chap. IV. his Wickednefs he foal! certainly live, he fl3a.ll not die s^?C\ (a) Why fhould I in any wife take Pleafure in his Death (a) Ezek. anj n0f in his Converfion and Life ? He lets us fee that 38. 23. ys pore knowledge and Prediction had no other Aim but to prevent the Evil coming upon him ; for after he (£) Ibid. nad foreknown 2nd foretold ir, he adds, (b) turn, ye v. io,&c. therefore O Houfe of Ifrael, and you ftoall live ; and why will you die ? Should we not rather believe God even when he protefts and fwears, than credit the weak Underftanding of Men, who prefume to maintain the contrary, under pretence that they cannot tell how to make thefe Truths acree with the falfe Notions they have fram'd to themfilves of Fatality, and of Nature, of the Properties and Perfections of the Divine Pre- ference ? A third Here is another llnanfwerable. G>d did undoubt- Example. edly forefe e as determinately as polTible the Deftru&ion ofjerufilem by Ncbucadne^ar, and the hard and grie- vous Captivity of Z^cdechias : God's Words in this Cafe C')3er.37. are the moft abfolute imaginable, (c) Thus faith the 7» 8- Lord, the God of If ae I, thus jhall ycu Jay to the Kjng of Judah, that hath fent you to enquire of me. ---The Chaldeans (ball return and ft) all War againft this City and fh all burn it with Fire, Thus faith the Lord, be not deccivd, fa)ingy the Chaldeans will fure'iy depart from us, for they floall not go away. And tho* you fhould fmite the whole Army of the Chaldeans that iVar again ft yoUt and there were none left but wounded Men, yet ftoouid they rife every Man in his Tent and bum this City with Fire. And upon the King's more particular Enquiry of the Prophet concerning C*/") Ibid, this Matter, (d) Is there any Word from the Lord ? the v. 17. ' Prophet an fivers him ; there is ; thou /halt be delivered iv.to the Hands of the Kjng of "Babylon, which is in other Places delivered with more Circumftances. There can be nothing more exprefs than thi?, nor, it fhould feem, more abfolute. Neverthclcfs, fee what God fays in (0 Ibid, general concerning all thefe things, (e) Go tell the Peo- C\i. 26. 2 p!e a^ l^e ^>rds I have fid unto thee and commanded 3. thee,-- May be they will hear them and return every one from the Evil of their iVay ; and I will repent of the Evil which I thought to do unto ''em for their wielded Aftions. And fee more particularly what God faith in the Cafe which J have (hewn was fo certainly foretold and fore- feeri. Of the Fore fight of Evil. feen. (*) The Prophet fays to Kjng Z^edecbias, Thus faith Chap. IV. the Lord, the God of Hofts, the God of Jfrael : If thou wilt ,<~f^' go forth willingly and Jtir render thy felf to the Princes and ("' Jer* Officers of the Kjng of Baby /on, thy Soul /hail live, and 38- J 7- this City fljall not be burnt with tire, and thou /halt live, thcu, and thy Houfkold. And when the King feem/d to dpubt the Truth of this, the Prophet aflures him, that his Predictions, hisCounfel, and his Defire which were not his own but God's, had no other De- fign bur to hinder thefe Evils from coming to pafs, and to prevent'em: he does from God, or rather God does by his Prophet, befeech the King to fecond the Good- will the Divine Goodnefs had for him, which was to put a ftop to the enfuing Calamities : {b) I pr-aj thee (h) Ibid. hearken unto the Voice of the Lor a in that I fay v. 20. ■ unto thee^ that it may be well with thee and thy Soul may live. Whoever comprehends the Agreement and Sy- ftem of this particular Cafe, or of any other, will eafi- ly underftand all the reft: and the Difficulty, that if fuch and fuch things forefeen fhould not come to pafs, Chen would God's Defigns, and confequeritly his gra- cious and chief Purpcfes 2nd Works that are annext to them not take Effeci, wou;d vanifh. The Good would always come to pafs, tho1 without the 111, and by other Ways 1 fince God in his Power and Wifdom has infi- nite Ways of c mpafling one and the fame End. If you fay, that in thefe and the like Examples we have an Account only of Promifes and Threatnings, and not of Prcvi'ions and Predictions, and that the one mull: not be confounded with the other, this would he the childifheftCavil imaginable : for Threatnings and Pro- mif-s, efpecially with relation to God. are nothing but Previftons and Pre did ;ions,oi Declarations of things pro- fitable or hurtful to Men. Previpon or Prediction is the Genus, Promifes and Threatnings are two of its Species. Now as all that is really true of the Genus is fo like- wife of the Species, what Incongruity is it to alledge the Species thereby to fnew what is in the Genu?, which contains no more than all the Species. More- over, I do maintain it is impoilible to meet with any Previftons or Predictions more formal and exprefs than thofe are in this Cafe of the Propher. Jeremy • and no- thing 78 Of the Forefigbt of Evil. Chap. IV Example the Fourth (a) Mic, 2. ir. The Fifth Example. thing but a mere Defire to oppofe the Light of Truth can make any one difpute it. After this laft Example out of Jeremy I might well be excus'd from adducing any more, feeing this may ferve for a Model for all Cafes that relate to the fore- knowledge and fore-telling of Evil. Yet I will give fome others, and firft, the Prediction of Jonas, with the Glofs of the Gentlemen of the Port Royal upon it ; and I do it the rather, becaufe they do but give us St. Cbry/eftome's Senfe of the Words. It is on the third Cha- pter and fourth Verfe of Jonas. Jonas crfd and [aid, Yet forty days and Niniveh fhall be deflroy'd. Wby, O holy Prophet, (fays Chryfojlome) doft thou foretell evils that fhall never happen ? For this very reafon it is, anfwers the Holy Man, that / foretell them, that they may not happen. The famePerfbns having thus tranflated aPafTage inAii- chah according to the vulgar Tranttzuon^^Vould toGod I had not the Spirit of the Lord,, and that what I fay were rather lyes ! They thus comment upon it, Thoy the Pro- phet honoured the Gift of Prophecy as became him, which he bad received from the Holy Spirit • yet his great Charity, when he Jaw the dire Calamities that were falling upon Ifraely made him fay, that were it in his Power, he could rather wijh his Prophefies were falfe, than to fee them ac- compli fhd by the utter mine of his People. If the Prophet had fo great Charity, (and if that came from God, as certainly it did, who to be fure has it himftlf in a much higher degree) much more fhall the infinite Cha- rity of God make him defire his Previlions and Pre- dictions might be, I do not fay vain and fruftruted, but not fulfilled by the happening of Evil ; that fo they may not be in vain, but may attain their mod perfect Accomplishment, and the higheit Perfection they are capable of, which is to prevent the Evil they foretell as conditionally certain. Yet one more Example. None, that in the lead: un- derfland the Prophecies, make any doubt but the Pro- phecy of \ephxniah is a Previfion and Prediction of the great, univerfal, and final Deftru&ion of the Wicked through the whole Earrh by the univerfal Plagues and Judgments of God, of which Jfaiah^ the 24th of St. Matthew, and the Revelations are fo full. Now at the very fame time that God foretells and gives many particular Of the Fore fight of Evil. 79 particular Circumftances of thefe Events, healfo mier- Chap. IV. mixes Warnings ro thefe wicked and abominable Men, ^/~X^J by which he certifies his Defire that by their Conver- fion they would hinder the coming to pafs of thefe E- vils (/0. Gather your [elves together, ye a gather together, O (b) 7eph, Nation not defirable, before the Decree bring forth, before 2. 1,-2. the day pafs as the chaff ; before the fierce anger of the Lord come upon you ; before the day of the Lord's anger come upon you. This is (o clear that I fhall fay no more up- on ir. XIII. But I fee I am infenfiblv fallen upon the Pre- XIII. The vifion and even Prediction of Evils that concern Man finfelZ only after the Offer of Grace, whereas the Method oF ™fW*- my Subiecl: has yet brought me only to the forefeeing "/ tl"s f or the Evils that were coming upon Man after his bail, t^r ^ - before any Confideration of God's offering him his 0'r after the Grace. This is indeed true. Yet, as the nature of offer 9f Predictions, and of all forts of Pre virions of Evil, is in Grace, are fubftance the very fame that God had before all Confi aUf&efaan deration of his making Man any Offers of Gi^ce, and as to -xhat may be illuftrated and clear'd by fuch as fuppofe the towentf Offer of Grace, I thought I might take the Liberty to ^'JffJ™* prefer the Ufefulnefs of this Iiluftration to a too rigid Su^'-c:- and exact obfervance of Method, which I" now am going to purfue again. XIV. Suppofe we therefore Man in the State of the XIV Fall, and before God's Offer of Grace ; and that in Corfdera- this State God foresees in general, Firfi, That Man, tious, fuppofing him to have no other Principles or Objects /»»* but what he then has, will neceffarily a&d infallibly ^oIe 4 fall into infinite Mlfchiefs, and that by a natural, or w^** J*** more than natural, and abfolutely certain Nccefiity. hiin Secondly, And then that God is pieafed to enter into a more particular Search and Forefight cF thefe Evils, by forefeeing that Man will give himfeif up to fuch and fuch particular Vices and Actions, and will drawdown upon hi mfelf fuch1 particular Evils and Miferies (a par- ticular Determination this, only of moral nereility and certainty). Thirdly, That God defires this his Fore- fight may not take Efte£t, nor be ratified by the Event. And thus far it was that we were come. XV. Go 8o Of the tore fight of Evil. XV. How XV. Go we on now and confider, that as God has God fore- fren and forefeen that Man after his Fall being left to Jaw Good himfelf. would do nothing but commit Evil and fuffer as p0le for ;r (having in him and before him nothing but ill ™df**™ Principles and ill Obie&s ;J and that withall having ZrhisM forefeen rhar he b.einS fti11 Free> might fet a- Work and ' determine fometimes one Evil Principle and fome- times another, now be led by one ill Pailion or Object and then by another at his own Choice ; hence one may fee how eafie it was for God to forefee, that if he was pleas'd to give again to Man good Principles, and to offer him a new, good Objecls, that then Man, who was ftill Free, and was not fallen out of pure Malice, and with Knowledge and full Refolution to continue in Wicked nefs, might recover out of it, and freely cleave to the good Principles and follow fuch good Objects as well inward as outward, that God fhould prefent unto him. XVI. XVI. This new Forefight of Good in fallen Man God fore- being oppofite to the Event of unmixt and eternal firing Evils which God forefaw before, and which it pleas'd Good pojjt- hj.y, therefore to forefee that he might prevent 'em, » ml1 God will heartily join Iffue here, and will labour to TobriTto Further and facilitate the Event, of Good, that is to fay, pafstlis ° ne WI^ &ive Man outward and inward Graces, to make bis Fore- a^ tne Good he fees may poflibly happen to Man a&a- fight, and *ty do fo. to binder his Forefight of Evil from being accompliftid. XVII jf. XVII. Thus the Forefight of Evil, which aim'd at ter Mans its not coming to pafs, is much leflen'd according to Fall and God's Defire : yet is not the Event of it abfolutely hin- theOjjer ofdefd, nor the Objecl: of his gracious Prefcience alto- Gracc, God gether certain. forefees the \[ Man at the very firffc could be put or really Salvation were jn a State wherein there were in him or with* and Dam- ouj. ^jm on\y g00C] principles and good Objects, good "ZTm Motive.3 and §ood Habits, and thofe ftrongly fortified, 'nl^pefT- tnen w^tnout doubt the PreviGon of Good in general °buJithout w°u!d De of abfolute Certainty as to its Event, and the forlfeeing Forefight of Evil would attain its Perfection, which ,or decree- was that Evil might not happen. But the Evil in and ir.g deter- OUC minately either of *em. Of the Yore fight of Evil. 8 1 i i- out of Man being to ceafe only by his Confcnt and Chap. IV Co-operation, till this Co-operation of his be perfect- v^"V%^ ed, and his Liberty be habitually, abfolutely and fully refign'd to God, fo long does the Evil fubfifl: in him and out of him ; and the Good which God alfo gives him fubfifts likewife in him and out of him. And thus ' has Man a good and an evil Principle, good and evil Objects, and being free may chufe which of the two he pleafes : God will alTift him, to draw him to Good ; and the Devil in Conjunction wkh his own Corrup- tion and with that of corrupt Nature will aflift him to draw him to Evil ; and as to himfelf he may give up himfelf to which he pleads, to Good or Evil, to Lire or Death, without God's forefeeing determinately or much lefs decreeing that he fhall give himfelf up to one fide and not to the other. God, in this State, fore fees Man's Salvation fimply as poflible, and his Damnation only as poihble and no more. We fuppofe Man as yet not to have contracted any wicked Habils of voluntarily rejecting the new Graces of God. XVIII. This is the Qbjc& of the Divine Providence XVIII. after Sin, and fance God's good Pleafure to raife the The true Sinner out of it and to fave him. This Object about Objeft of which for the future the Divine Providence will con- Provi- cern it felf, is, A Man to whom God forefees there dence *f- may infinite Evils happen thro' his own Fault if he '«"*&* F«tf turn to them and continue in Vm, and infinite Goods °* jf**V thro7 the Divine Grace if by his Liberty he embrace it ^.^ vjy and correfpond with it, which Libeity of his God will ,^m ^m endeavour to aflift all forts of Ways, by his continual jj^. Cares and Refearches, by more fpecial Forefights, and , * , by the Effe&s of all kinds of Methods, as we have fen ^f ™£ at large elfewhere (a) ; and I intend to touch upon theRefto» fome of 'em again, or rather to remark fome new and rauon weighty Truths relating to them. and Co- operation CHAP, 8 2 Of the Divine Providence CHAP. V. How God has given Man and the World to Jejus Chrifi to Rejlore ''em, and how Jefus Chrifl does by his Divine Providence watch over ^em. Some Examples that may Jerve for all Cafes. Adam and his Pofterity, and firjl Cain. How Providence furnijh d them with all necejfary Means to keep 'em from Evil and to make ''em Happy. I. a Tmth J. lrapsgii)! E muft here call to mind a Truth for- *° h\ob~ Sjr^llj merty (a) ProPos'd, wfc. that when God ftrvd in iff \\/ W had made an intelligent Creature to \n Di°r mzmM whom he gave hIs Lighr and his LoVe 7ourfe Gcd I J^^^ J and all his preventing Graces he re- doesnotre- folv'd, to make it his inviolable Rule new nor in- and Decree not to encreafe them, or not to give any creafe his new ones to it, but upon, and in proportion to, its cor- Graces but refponding with him by its Liberty, Defire and fincere upon corre- Love. fpcndiug Upon this it came to pafs that the Divil being fal- »'thvh"' Jen, befides other Reafons God had, not to offer him A/' Grace any more, this is one, becaufe the Devils can- gwes. ^^ prefent to God an Act of Love and D.fire towards ? r£ n'm' uPon which God might yet fhew them new Fa- Sin,Ch^. vour^ wn;cn }ie nas refolvM not to do bur by way of Otc 3be- R£War(^ t0 our Correspondence with what he firft gave, fore the Incarn. Chap. 5. § 6, 7. II. This II. 5Tis true indeed, God's preventing Graces do not Truth require antecedently in rhe Creature an A6t of Com- hsldsgood pli^nce with fbmuhing that went before ; this being a after as Contradiction. It is true likewife, rhat what Graces well as be God Anould bt,ftow u a Creature afrcr jfs p u y lore the 1 rj'j • /-> v t 1 # Fall ®e conilder d as preventing Graces. 1 et it we loofc more exactly into \m they are not fo in themftlves ; they being given in Confluence of the firft Graces of Creation, and are a renewing or increafing of them. So in and by Jefus Chrift. 8j So that they do antecedently require Acls of Correfpon- Chap. V. dence, without which God could not beftow thern, by L/^Y^J reafbn of this Will of his, by which, after he had made his Creature in a State of Grace and Favour, he refolv'd not to renew or encreafe his Graces but ac- cording as his Creature fbould by its Defires and Love correfpond with them. God did at firfr. do and give all things to his Creature out of his pure Love which he bore to it in a preventing Manner. But he will nor. encreafe or renew his Gifts to it but upon Condition, and upon the Occafion of the Love and Defire which his Creature fhall freely bear to him by way of Cor- respondence. A Truth this of exceeding great ufe. For hence is the Neceility of a Mediator evident, as was obferv'd elfewhere (V), that there muff, be One to fupply and (a) Oec. fatisfie Man's defecf of Correfpondence, and to derive before upon the Sinner by his Defire and Love, fuch new the In- Gracesand Gifts as God would not continue, nor en- earn. Ch. creafe or renew but on his Creatures correfponding. 5- § &• From this remarkable Principle it appears likewife, how, after the Graces which God has again prefented tok his Creature in Correfpondence with the Defires and Love of the Mediator, he will neither augment 'em, nor give any new ones, nor ltflen the Pains which the Sinner muff undergo, bur according as, after his Admiflion to Favour, he fhall himlelf correfpond with God by his Liberty, by his Defires and by his Love ; or as others fhall in his behalf offer up to God A&s of Love and Correfpondence. But we mufl: net here defcend to Particulars, rho1 we might there dis- cover great Light to explain the Juftice of God's Deal- ings with Men in divers inftances. III. God feeing the Devil being fallen was incapable m Hm of the Renovation of his Grace ; as well thro' the pure God by kis Malice and Spirituality of his Sin, as becnufe there Providence could not from him flow any Adt of Correfpondence bath pro- to draw down the Divine Grace ; was pleas'd to pro- vided that vide that Man (whom now he refolv'd to create)might 'f Ma71 not fall into the fame Miftry. For God plainly fore fiouM law that Man, were he made in the f.me State as the chVce t(t G * "&$bir one to exert in his (lead Acts of Corref pendente, to obtain the Mtumm and increaf of Grace. 84 Of the Divine Providence Chap. V. Angels were, might irrecoverably fin as well as i/~VN. they. He therefore forefeeing this Fall of Man pofli- ble and irremediable, intended, according to the Na- (a) See e- ture and Aim of his Divine Prefcience of Evil (*), to £o^Chap. do all he poiiibly could to hinder its coming to pafs : 3 • § 5> 9> for which Reafon, he not only made Man of a Nature Ic- fomewhat coarfer than the Angels, that his Sin might not be fb fpiritual and malicious ; but likewife intended to unite himfelf to Man's Nature and to take to him- (b) Col. frlf the firfl Son of Man, (b) The Firfl born of every Crea- 1. 15. tur?, and make him as it were his Throne, his Conduit and Organ, by it to communicate with Man, and fo to lay the Matter, that if Man chanced to fall into Sin, and fo ceafmg to correfpond to God's firfl: Mercies and being incapable himfelf ever to do it, to which A6ls of Correfpondence alone God decreed the Continu- ance, the Encreafe and Renovation of his Graces, fhould aluavs have regard, intending, I fay, upon this Failure, that this Son of Man, this Elder Brother of all other Men. in fhort, thac this JESVS CHRIST (c) See the born of Adam a little after his Creation (c) fhould offer Oecon.ofto God his Love, his Defires, his Liberty and his Sin,Chap. Heart in favour of Man, and fo make up hispaft neg- n. $ i5>1j£t. of Correfpondence, and by the infinite Merit of 16, &c. h:s a&s ana 0f his Divine Mediation bring down the Grace of God upon Man. I have prov'd, and at large explain'd this great Truth in the Treatife of the Rfflo- r at ion of Man. IV. Before IV. Hence we fee how, before Man was created, the Foun- or this World we live in was made, God's good Pro- dation of yidence watch'd over Man and that God defign'd to rJ^ffi . unite Men to himfelf and make 'em happy in and thro' God cooje jejus chrift, either by always convening with them by vl i°c C"i him (who is the very fame God that created Man) and temal Sal- . ,v , . f , n , , ^ ' ^- is he that prefides over the Divine-Provdence, and Jy'' °'y<*y °f Chrift, This muft be alfu nored in moft of the rhings dnthropo- that are faid of God, of the Lord, of the Lord of tjQfl$\Path> in the OldTeftament; all thefe things, excepting a ou&ht \\he very few Paffages directly refer to Jefus Cbift, and'!*^"* d rnuft be underftood of him: and by this means^/^- we ihall fave abundance of figurative Settles .that *re'fiegj+jcm G 3 udi-dWyfuf ckrift. 86 Of the Divine Providence Chap. V. ufually without any NeceiTity, pur upon fuch places VY"NJ of Scripture as afcribe to God corporeal or humane Affrclions, which are for the mod part true in the ut- moft ftriclnefs in the Letter, as are the feveral Appa- ritions ; and when it is faid, the Jfraelites grieved or troubled God, that God repented he had made Man, or of his Defign to punifh fuch a Perfbn or Nation which he after pardon'd. This is all literally true. For it was Jtfus Cbrift, true God and true Man, who did all this, and who as God and as Man was fufcepti- ble of both divine and humane Properties. VIII. VIII. This Adorable and BlefTed Saviour, perceiving ThrccEvils m fallen Man thefe three principal Obltacles, w\. of Man. j# •j'he Corruption of the Heart or. Man now become Three Re- XgnQrant and Wicked ; a.theDevil united to him and to medies ap- corrUpt Mature ; ;. the corporeal Corruption and Dif- Providlnce °xdtT °F NatUre and .°f ail tHe World * ^ppos'd to of Jefus tRcra tne^e *nree Antidotes, vi j. i. His good Spirit, ChriL He *• tne 8ood Angels, 3. the Bleiling he beftow'd upon takes the Nature : Each of theft three good Things is fet againft Angels as its refpedlive evil one ; but as the three Evils are com- Afodates plicated and a6r. mutually upon each other, (6 it is alfb in the Mi- wjrh the good ones. vijlryof y0 t^e Corruption of Man's Hefrt the good Spirit Providence 0£ qocj js dj^ftiy (?ppos'd, which, by as many Rays jar a time. afiCj g00C} Motions as are neceflary to give us Power to correspond with 'em, enlightens and ftrikes the Heart of -every Man that comes into the World, as has been largely explained elfewhere. To the Devil and his Temptations are oppos'd the Holy Angels, which God fenf's forth to infpire good Thoughts and holy Imaginations into Men by the fame Ways the Devil endeavours to infpire ill ones, and fo they make head againft the evil Spirit, provided Man will hearken to and follow the good Motions they infpire him with. And to the Corruption of Nature is oppos'd the Ble£ fmg of Nature which the Son of God fheds and pre- serves in it and in the whole Univerfe by the Light, Order and Fecundity which he flail maintains therein. But as the Son of God was not pleas'd yet entirely to rake away all the Corruption of the Univerfe; which Corruption is the Element wherein the Devil takes his Puitime ; and which Man, full of inward Cor- in and. by Jefus Chrift. Corruption may yet increafe and fpread over the Ma- Chap. V. terial World, which would eclipfe the DivineBleiling, ^V^> and immediately give the Devil again a full Right over the VifibJe World ; Jefus Chrift to prevent this Ruine which he forefaw, has taken to himftlf the Angels as ( Aflbciates in his Government of the World, IX. He has therefore fubje'ted this World ro An- IX. Jefus gels ; but only for Co long time as irs Corruption re- Chrift do- mains: for (a) the World to come, (when J efui Chrift verps the (hall come to reign in it in Glory after the Deftru&ion World by of the W\cke&%) Jhall not be fubjeSed to Artels, fays ' he Mcdl a' St. Paul. But 'tis quite otherwife as to this. It was tl™0JAnr very congruous that the charitable Providence of Jefus g Chrift fhould oppofe the Difbrders which the evil An (a) j^^ gels would be Itill raifing in Nature, oppofite Spirits 2. ^ ^to keep up good Order in it, to regulate and govern it, *and alfb to ailift the Ignorance of Man, who without their help would throw himfelf headlong into a thou- sand Dangers, and would take wrong and pernicious Courfes, thinking he did no harm, or it may be think- ing he did well : This God obviates and prefents by Means of his good Angels, to whom he has put this World in Subjection. In Effect, we need but open the Bible, to fee every where there how God has fet his Angels, fome over rhe Stars, others over the Elements, others over the Fire, the Air, the Waters, the Earth, over Plants, over certain Countries, Nations and Perfbns. The Apocalypfe, nay the whole Scripture convinces us that God adminifters all by the Mediation of Angels, Na- ture, the Law, and Grace it felf, or at lead many Means of Grace. 1 believe none will queftion this Truth, and fo I will not fet about a more particular Proof of it by citing a heap of Scriptures to that pur- pofe. X. Only it muff, be noted that the good Angels do X.TheAn- not offer Violence to Nature, nor govern or hat Cafes p0^ r^ey were b0rn, as of l/aac, jtfiah, and others : But God has ^^ fe a grear difference between this and our prefenc *fj j Cafe, wherein we are confiderinc the Root of all Man- acterrmn a , . ' , . n r^ • r 1 • find fore- k'nd antecedently to all Determination of his, to any ■told the Correfpondence of his with God, antecedently to any Birth of of fome particular Perfons. about ani towards Adam. 89 of his Works or Habits. But when Men are muki- Chap. V. ply'd, and Tome have in a lingular Mannerobey'd lA^J God ; or that God, after their having fallen into an exceeding Corruption of Manners, is pleas'd to raife them up again by the Means of fome chofen Servants; in this fpecial Cafe, God to reward fome refolves to give them fuch and fuch Children as it (hall belt pleafe him ; and to aflift others, he determines to bring into the World at fuch and fuch times fome holy Inftru- ment, as Jcfiab for Example. Here Determination, Forefight and Prediction, the mod particular and cir- cumftantiate imaginable muft be allow'd. For 'tis ve- ry eafie for God to caufe, either by his own immediate Influences, or by his Angels, that good Souls, that have habitually refignM themftlves to him and fol- lowed his good Infpirations, (hall be placed in fuch Circumftances as produce fuch Effects as he has deter- mine. But it is a great Miftake to make general and univerfal Rules of thefe extraordinary and fpecia! Cafes. XIV. Nor mult we any more fancy that God, after XIV. ad his having recciv'd Adam into favour again as was neither faid, was pleas'd to forefee and to determine a-fore- forefav *** hand that he (hould either be fav'd or damn'd, that he &*eminJ (hould do this and t'other, that he (hould have juft b4™m . fuch and fuch a Number of Children, a wicked Cain ™*"h] . and a righteous Abel, that he (hould live precifely fo salvation long, no more norjefs. I fay it with full AfTurance or Damrtn- and in the calmed Light. Thefe are all only the Chi- tic* of A- mera's of Men's fick Brains. dam, «-■• TheTruth is,God has forefeen that Adam was and al- ther hov* ways would be perfectly free; that he might be fav'd or or bow long damn d at his own Choice ; that he had Power either he fbeuld to accept or rejeflc his Grace ; and that having once J*^!?* accepted it and having get a habit of correfponding to f £ u God, his Salvation wasthen become more cerrain than^V" ^ his Damnation : but once having arriv'd at the Degree Eiea;on 0f of perfect Refignation of his Liberty to God, then Adam. God forcfaw his Salvation wholly certain, as it were, and elected him in a fpecial Manner as his Spoufr, as a chofen Perfbn that morally fpeaking could not be loft ; feting he had no longer any Will of his own; and that God's Will could not do him any hurt, and that 90 Of the Divine Providence Chap. V. chat it was now a Hell to him to be out of the Divine ) Pfal. cond it fays, {b) Blood thirfty and deceitful Men Jhall not ff. 24. tivi out ^alf tkp{r D*ys- To the third, (c)Honour thy Fa- ther and thy Mother that thy Days may be lengthened in. the f£) Exod. Lav4 which the Lord thy God give th thee : And we have '.o. 12, in King He^ckiah an Example of this Lengthening {/). ■(d) Ifa. Does not our Confcience plainly tell us, maugre ail 38. 5. the fine Gloffcs by which fbme learned Men do their belt to renounce Common Senfe, that God would but mock Mankind in thus fpcaking to them, and fending others to tell them fo too, if it were true that their Life and their Death were fo precifely, infallibly and immutably faralized, and that God knew it very well, tho' his Difcou/fe fuppofes the quite contrary ? XVI. I about and towards Adam. 91 XVI. I will imke this evident by a familiar In- XVI. An ftance. Every one knows there are Clocks or Watches Explica- ■ of a different Make, and that as the Springs and Hon of this Chains are longer or {horter, fa they will go fewer or Truthy * more Hours, fome fifteen, twenry or thirty ; fome a ^*-f^ Week, or many Months. Whoever is acquainted mi l u e' with the different Movements of thefe Machines,knows determinately that being wound up they will go pre- cifely fuch or fuch a time and no longer : it is not na- turally poflible they (hould go any longer, but it is very poillble they may not go fo long, and that before the natural Term of their Courfe be finifh'd a thou- fand Mifchances, as Falls or other Accidents may hap- pen that are very common and may ftop their Courfe and make them ftand : but if fome new Caufe come in and that more powerful than the fimple natu- ral Force of the Spring, it may wind up the Watch a-new that was naturally going down, and fo prolong its Courfe. Thus it is with the Life of Man. From the Minute of his Formation the Spirit of the Univerfe, and of the Stars entring into him frames his Machine, his Spring and his Chain, weaker or (Ironger, longer or {horter ; and from his Birth when he does plenti- fully fuck in and incorporate into his Blood by Refpi- ration the fame Spirit of the Elements and of the Stars, then is his Machine more or lefs wound up, and after that, it is naturally impoflible it fhould go beyond the Term then determine!. But very commonly it does not reach that Term, and almoft all Men fhorten their Days, fome more fome lefs, by their Diforders and ill Lives ; whereas on the other hand, God lengthens the Days offome few Perfons, there being but few that de- ferve their Lives fhould be preferv'd after fo miracu* lous a Manner. This is, by the by, the whole Myfte- ry of the Determination, Shortening, and Prolonga- tion of Life, about which Men have made fo much Noife and fo many Difputes. XVII. When Adam begat Cain, who prov'd a wick- XVII, ed Man and a Murderer of his Brother, this came not Cain and fo to pafs becaufe God had determined, decreed and hismcked* forefeen infallibly, that Adam fhould beget this wicked n^s W£re Wretch, ^y/" nor decreed, nor infallibly forefen of God. How God forcfaw the Malignity oj Lam, and how it cams to pafs, ^ 92 Of the Divine Providence Chap. V. Wretch, and that God had deftin'd him to commit all v^VV* the ill he did, to Fratricide, and then to Damnation, either by fo decreeing it, and of a thing merely poflible as it was before, making it infallibly future; or by withdrawing his Affiftance and Grace, at leaft to fuch a degree as was neceflary to enable him to conquer his Temptations ; or laftly, by rendering the Event of thefe things neceflary by his infallible Forefight of them. This is all mere Error and Miftake. The Truth is this, That God did forefee that Adam might beget good or ill Children according as he difpos'd himlelf, and as he bred them up, and as the Children when of Age (hould afterwards determine theirLiberty : That God did all he poffibly could that the Good he faw as poilibie might really and actually exift, and the 111 which he faw too as polfible might never actually fall out : That Adam and his Wife not having fuffici- ently watchM over themfelves, nor follow'd the Infpi- rations of God's good Spirit, nor the Suggeftions of the good Angels, nor the Bleflings and the pure Order of Nature at the time when they begat Cain, Cain (their Fruit) was (againft the Will of God) as it were natural- ly rooted in a State juft as corrupt as was then the Stare of his Parents ; that is to fay, in fuch an one wherein on one hand the good Spirit (objectively prefent to his Interiour) ofFer'd to him its Light and good Moti- ons, as did proportionately alfo the good Angels and the good things of Nature ; but wherein on the other hand, the Corruption of his own Heart, in Conjuncti- on with his original and as it were habtiual Inclination, did much divert him from this good Principle, and turn'd him towards himfelf, towards the Suggeftions of the Devil, and towards the Corruption of Nature; and this his Difpofition being grown ftrong by a remifs E- ducarion, when the Child came to the Age of Under- ftanding and the ufe of his Liberty, it produced thofe wicked Fruits contrary to the Will of God. XVIII. XVIII. And fo fir was God from deftinating Cain to Cod deny d ljjs v^icked Actions and to his Damnation, or from de- h Irr n°h Ccrmimng mm Co tne,n» or neceiiitating, him either by ^"ff at Decree, or by withdrawing or refufing his Grace, or wkt him by infallible Foreknowledge ; that the quite contrary ■Jbten the ** Evil and do the Good. about and towards Cain. 9? is true, that he defigiv d him for Vertue and for Life E- Chap. V. ternal, that he refus'd him nothing conducive to this ;/Y"N* End. and that he Endeavour'd by his Divine Power all that could be done without violating his Liberty, that the Evil which he forefaw concerning Cain in confe- quence of his evil Habits, as morally certain and fu- ture, might never actually come to pafs, as I have al- ready (hewn this to be the chief Aim of the Divine Prefcit nee concerning Evil. It was Cain alone who of his own pure Choice and free Will made the Event thereof morally and phyfically certain by the commit fion and confirmation of his own voluntary A£lst that were contrary to the ardent Deiire and Will of his God, It was he alone that refilled the Light, the Defires, the good Motions, the Infpirations (and thofe extraordina- ry) of the Holy Spirit, of the good Angels ^ and of the other Creatures (as what is good in them is the Voice of God) to hearken to and follow the bent of his cor- rupt Heart, the Defires and Suggeftions of the Devil, the Disorders of his Paflions and of corporeal Nature ; by doing which he unhappily gave Certainty and Exi- gence to the Fruits of his Heart, which was united to the Spirit of the Devil and the Corruption of Nature ; which Fruits the Holy Spirit had (6 earneftly wifli'd to prevent and extinguifli by his Forefighr, by his Graces, and Remonttrances, (b gracioufly faying to him when he faw him in Danger (a), Why art thou difpleafed, and (a) Gen. why is thy Countenance fallen*? if thou dorft well fhall not 4. 7. thy Oblation Be accepted ? but if thou wilt not do well fin lies at the door^ and it is toward thee that its Inclinations and Defires look (to get the full Content of thy Will, and to draw thy Liberty on their fide) but thou Jhouldefi go- vern and rule over them. Would not God, the Source of all Goodnefs, and Truth, and Sincerity, cruelly and deceitfully have moclcd Cain in thus (peaking to him, if it were true that all was fatally nYd and neceffitated b^ his Decrees, by his Prefcience, by his Determinati- on, and by an 111 Will to deny him the Graces he might have beftowed upon him, and that were nece£ fary for avoiding a Sin which he commanded him to avoid, whilft he refus'd him the only means by which k was poflibie for him to avoid it ? The Fraud of the mod 94 Of the Divine Providence Chap. V. mod cruel Hypocrites in the World could (carce arife *'~v*NJ to fuch a pitch, even againft: their mortal Enemies. XIX. God XIX. God was pleas'd not only to aflift Cain fo far as gave to to enabie h^ t0 abftain from 111 and be faved. but did Grace as eSe^ually helP him t0 ^uch a degree that it depended that he now uPon Ca*n alone to do well, and it was very pofll- might ea(l- ble an^ VCI7 eafy f°r mm to do f°» provided he wou'd ly have re- have given up his content to God's drawing of him, and fifted the have turn'd himfeif towards the good^ Spirit that call'd Evil if he him ; or rather, had he not turn'd himfeif away from would. them to hearken to the Devil, who, as St. John after our Blefled Saviour obferves, had a great hand in the Mur- ther of his Brother. But how was this polhble, may fome fay, feeing from his very Birth,either by reafbn of his ill Education, or of the ill Habits he had already contracted before he (lew his Brother, the Devil had now got more the afcendant over him than the good Spirit of God? Yes, notwithftmding all thefe Inconve- niences, this was very poiiible for him had he but flood firm to the Grace of God and to the Holy Spirit who does alfb infpire us. and not given any reflex heed to a- ny of theSuggeftions of theDevii or corruptNature.For tho' the Devil feconded by the Corruption of our Heart, of our Body, and of Nature, has more Power and Cre- dit with us than the Good Spirit of God, yet is the Spirt of God more Powerful than the Devil, than our and Nature's Corruption : for he is Omnipotent ; and when we turn towards him, we feel in pur felves with Admiration and Joy the EfTecT-s of his Omnipotence againft the Devil, againft the Corruption of Nature, and againft our own : and we fee that by little and little the Devil with all his Stratagems leave our Soul, and at la ft all thefe- Enemies vanifh and melt at the Prefenc^ of God, like Wax before the Fire, when he is pleas'd to fhew himfeif in a Heart that entirely opens and refigns it felf to him. XX.jlDe- XX. Whoever fhould go about to refill the Infpira- duclionof rions, Temptations and Motions of the Devil within the?na7incr\\\K\ by his own Strength, his own Endeavours and how Cain Motions, would be fo far from effe£f ing it that he would and others onjy ;ncreafe his Confufion and Darknefs. To do this, mrghthave a ^jan mu^ turn awav ys g^j £rom a}j rhe diabolical T(fiftedthe jm^ges ancj Motions, and turn towards God his D.fire * ' . empty about arid towards Cain. 95 empty of every thing elfe but a hearty Wifti for his Chap. V. Holy Grace. Then the Divine Light, that preffed up- i/\^ on the door of the Soul, breaks into it and mixes it felf wich her Faculties and Acls: and the Tendencies of its divine Rays being ftraighc, pure and uniform, they do by their RecTtude itop and fet right the Boyl- ings and irregular Motions railed by the Devil. 'Tis well known that any hot and boyling Liquor grows calm and cool being expofd to the Rays of the Sun; and that the Flame of a Fire lofes much of its Force in them ; the Reafbn is this, the Rays of the Sun piercing thefe Objedts in ftraighr Lines and after a fixe and conftant manner, the Redtitude and uniform Firm- nefs of 'em Hops the confufed and ftragling Motions of the Liquor and Flame when expofed to em. A fair Emblem this of the manner how the good Spirit of God extinguifli s in us the Temptations and Force of the Devil. The Will of the D vil can not fympa- thife with the Rectitude and Straightnefs of the Light, for his Element is Con^ufion and Darknefs : and fb, as fbon as he find-? this bright Rectitude which he does by feeling his Element grow hxt by the fimple and di- rect Penetration of the Divine Light, to which the Sinner expofes his Soul, he quirs that Soul with Shame ; tor he can neither abide nor overcome the Light. The Action of theLight (whi- h isGod h;mfeif) being (Ironger than the Devil, he fees he fhall be con- quered byfit, bcGdesthat the Sentiment of it is horri- bly p.jnful and tormenting to him. Therefore it is that he is put to flight anci routed by the Light of Faith, and all his fiery D.-rts and Efforts rebound back upon himfelf alone, and pierce him with Fury and Rage. XXI. 1 his is to be underftood when the Soul con- yyl r ferns, and perfeveres fb to do, to the continuance of *&#** the Light cl God within her. and continues in the rJ,*5%i Averfion and Abhorrence of the E&b'rrs of Satan, who ^olr^ual does not quit his hold for the firft Repulfe. But if Confint §f after fbme !: finance ihe Scui gives way and the Soul to hearkens to rhe Imaginations and Motions of the th'% A&ion Devil instead of turning away from them, then the of God it Devil returns ftronger, and the L'gfu of God cannot re Whlch .Ke d0CS dUfing thIs LiFe' -aU ^he'Libert Wn*cn time tne ^Oul *S ^ree t0 ^en<^ an ear anc* &*7e to hem-God. *rs Confent to God knocking without, or to the Devil ' though he be already poffeft and ftrongiy reigning within, as in Cain. XXIIL XXIII. It was his Bufwefs, and is ftill ours and eve- How Men ry jyjan's, to fee which we will join with, God or the may give Qev\\ \Ve are all of us encompafled and be(et with ™Vl°ortQ ^e^ two Spirits. ^ we turn our ,^ves toward the God to con- Motions of the Devil, as the Inclinations of our Hearts quer the and of our corrupt Mature are, then we jovn and co- Devil. " operate with the Devi] and ftrengthen him ; but if we renounce the Motions of our Corruption, which are the Vehicles of the Will and Power of Satan, and turn our fclves towards God, cafting the Eyes of our Soul upon him, then we open to him the door and co operate with him, who comes to fubdue and de- (a)Jo, 3.8. ftroy in us the Works of the Devil. The Son of God appears even then fpiritually to defiroy the Works of the Devil ; for that is his Bufinef3 according to the Scrip- ture (a). XXIV. XXIV. We have here, to make this very ufeful Re- The Devil mark by the by, we have here I fay, one Reafon of (nters into rriar Mortification, Self denial and Abftinence, and Po- Man by vercv 0f Spiric enjoined in the Gofpel ; becaufe there 7uTo°L- *s m ^ r^e Creatures anc* our Commerce with them turesash* ar$ our ^Vcs ^>me Corruption and Part of the Ele-^ ftshisjj- ment °f Satan, the Motions of which Corruption are fcfiomup- fubjiflj %n :bov> he ii driian out to overcome the Devil, not to fay the only one, is, not mo* ^ to engage him directly, by confidcring his Tempta- Baal tions, by weighing them, and formally oppofing Acls Means to to Adts, or Thoughts to Thoughts ; but to turn away overcome both from them and from the Corruption of our own the Devil. Hearts, and from the Motions of our corrupt Nature, In the Ex- which are certainly devilifh, and in league with thofe amPles °f of the Devil, and are indeed their Vehicle and Door ; Adam, of and to turn our (elves towards the Spirit of God, look- AbeJ^f ing always on him as intimately prefent with us and $et^ \ , ready to work in our Souls, if we keep them in repofe his ?o(ie- and waiting before him. All this has been faid upon rityt ie" H occafion may ou~ fervc the Conduct of Providence towards all Men. 9 8 Of the Divine Providence Chap. V. occalion of the Perfon of Cain and bis Corruption, and L/^V^ of the manner how the Devil tempted him, how he might and ought to have refitted him by the Help af- forded him of God, and how he was overcome ; and we muft at the fame time apply this to all Men ; be- cause in effe6f. my Aim in fpeaking of Adam, and Cain, and by and by or Abel, and Setb, and their Pofterity in general is, that what 1 (hall fay upon thefe four or five Examples, may ferve to explain the whole Conduct of Divine Providence towards all Men in all Times and in all Cafes : for thefe four or five may ferve for all. For in Adam may be confider'd thofe that are as it were yet wavering or ballancing, not having yet fully determin'd or habituated themfelves to Good or Evil. In his Children of different Tempers may be ob^ ferv'd the rife of the Inequality of Men from their Birth and from their Youth, though God on his part provides equally and impartially for all. In Cain may be mark'd the Conducl of Divine Pro- vidence toward the Wicked, either before they com- mit their Crimes, or when they are committing them, or after they have committed them. In Abel we (hall fee how this Divine Providence deals with holy and regenerate Perfons, even when they are afflicted and cruelly tormented and kill'd. In Setb, and in fome Events that befell his Pofterity, we (hall fee how God deals with fuch good Men as are not fo far advane'd in Vertue as Abel, and with tfieir Pofterity ; that is to fay, with all Men, who fince the Deluge are the Defcendants of good Seth and good Noah, .Let's go on therefore with what we have to fay in the matter of Cain. CHAP. towards Cain md all wicked Men. 99 CHAP. VI. L • El Of GocCs providence in the Permiffion, Dire- ction, and Conduct -of the Sins of the Wicked. O D having forefeen Cainh Fratricide, I. The Per- aid that on purpofe to prevent it, made miff on of ufe of fuch Means as I faid, pf£. the CainV Sin. Jnfpirations and Motions of his Hol^ Spirit, of his good Angels and his other BleiTings, and indeed of the vifi- ble Prefence, or at leafl: of the fenfible Words of Jrfus Cbrift to this wretched Creature. But as he would freely perfevere in his wicked Purpofe, and yield to the Inftigations of the Devil, not regarding the Bars God had let to his Wickednefs on all fides, God left off fencing him any longer, and permitted him the ufe of his Liberty and of his other free Powers. And this Content of God's that a Sinner fhould have the FreQ ufe of his natural Powers, is what is commonly with refpect to God, but very improperly, call'd, THE PERMISSION OF SIN. II. I have (4) elfewhere faid fbmething concerning u q0(?s this Permiiiion, but not enough for the full Under- p'ermiffon flanding of this Matter. does not Neither the PermilTion of God, nor generally any direBlyre* Aft of God can directly refpect what is Evil. God f? eel: he W, can do nothing actively nor jpermimVely, that is to but there- fay, he cannot exert an Act of Permiiiion, in virtue aland™~ and confequence of which Evil directly comes to pafs. tlira u*e . Every Act of God's aims only at Good, at Reality and ^ °^ Ll~ Pofition : and were Men wife they would never confi- " 'y' der Evil under any direct Relation to God ; but only (a) Oec; indirectly, as thus ; Man directly and of his own head of Sin, will do 111 ; and God having found it in vain to have Chap. VI. laid Reftraints upon his wicked Will, or to endeavour it any longer, confents he fhould act freely, upon which Man does as he pleafts ; but what he wills is not Evil but only from the Evil of his Liberty and his Hearr, and not in virtue and by reafon of God's Per- il 2. million ioo Of the Divine Providence Chap. VI. million, which refpe6h only a naturally real thing, w'jp l/V^V Man's Liberty and its free A6f. : and befides, God does outwardly direct thefe wicked Actions fo far as they may concern the Good, nay and the Wicked too, as long as they are capable of amendment: and this is what I will more d'ftin&ly explain III. J wore III God's P E R M ISSION is originally, a Content particular that the Creatures fhould ufe the Powers and Faculties Expliea- he has given them : fo that with refpecl to Man it is a tion oj this Divine Cor.fent that Man fhould make ufe of the natu- Iu,tttr'u ra^ ^'^s °^ ^s liberty, Undemanding, Will, imagi- m>at the nat;on) Senfes, of the Members and Motions of his p'-mMon Body, and of rhe Creatures of the Univerie. Now as is' The* tne u^c °^ a^ tne^e cou^ not but be verv 8°°d 'n lt fe^i ground of *f his Liberty did but conduct it felf aright; fo there is the prtfcnt no difficulty to underftand how God might, and real- Difficulty. \y did give him rhe Permifllon of all this : but his Li- berty not being ty'd nor dellin'd to any certain and proper Obje&s, as his other Faculties were, but having a general Infpeclion over all things to difpofe of them at Pleafure ; it might eafily fo happen that his Liberty might order things, ufe and apply them after another manner, a fhorter or longer time, than the Narure and the End of Things and of his Faculties required. And this would have been Evil ; that is, a thing oppofite and contrary to thePurpofe and Will of God in creating the Faculties of Man and Objects to fuit them. Hence a- rifes the Difficulty concerning the Divine Permiiiion. 'Tisask'd therefore, whether God can permit the Will to be carry'd to Evil ? IV Mow IV- There is in the Liberty its phyfical and its moral God docs A6h The phyfical A6t refpe6ta the Principle ; and not permit tne moral, the End and the Objects. The phvfical A& pviU is the Liberty's turning its Confent to what fide it plea- fes at its own Choice ; and this is not naturally Evil; God permits this and never rakes it either from Angels, Men or Devils. The moral Act as to Evil, is this, the Liberty's turning away of its Confent and of its Di- vine Faculties from God and his Will : and this is what God never permits : 'tis in this Senfe that God never permits Sin ; that is to fay, God never gives his Confent that the Liberty fhould turn away its Confent ard its Divine Faculties from him and his Divine Will v with r effect to Evil or bin. 101 Will: and 'tis in this Senfe the Scripture f.ys expref Chap. VI. \y : (a) God hath given no Man Permijjion to Sin ; or he /'"V"N0 has permitted none to do Evil : or if you'll have it in W Ecclus. other PafTages, (b) Thou art a God that voillefl not Ini 'J- *°- quity. (c) Thou haft Eyes too fur e to behold Evil. What K ' ria * is it then that God does in the Matter of Evil, as to '^)Hibak. the Permillion or Non-permiffion of it ? It is this. i. i-i, V. (ij F/V/?, When he forefees, or fees Evil, that is, when he fees that the Liberty turns away its Con V. The fent and its Faculties from him and from their true Ob- Conduct of >e6b,and when it turnsthem toward others in an undue Providence Manner, and will put this in Execution outwardly by in the ?m the Powers that move the Body, God does difapprove ^"f !L£" infinitely of all this, and wills and defires with the fin- 'his'perm*rm cereft Ardor and with infinite Efforts that this may nt- jion proper* ver be ; or if it be already, that it may not continue, iy ,>. but the contrary may come to pafs. (2.) Secondly, God wills not, nor has he been pleas'd to take to him the Power to force the Liberty, or to take from it the Power to will and to do what lies in if. (2.) But thirdly, becaufe he knows Man in fuch a State is blind, mifled by his own Darkncfs and Corrup- tion and by the Devil, and that he may turn himfelf another way were he but inform'd that what he is go- ing to do is not good ; for this end, God without di- rectly touching his Liberty, ftrikes his Mind and his Heart with Light and good Motions, his Eyes and his Ears with good Reprefenrarions, and by Words of Exhortation, Promifes and Threatnings ; he lays in- ward and outward Reftraints in his way that his Fa- culties mould not execute what his Liberty has com- manded 'em ; and thus he extraordinarily and almoft in a fupernatural and miraculous way flops their Acts and their Functions. (4.) But fourthly, when notwithstanding all this Man's Liberty will go on to turn away it felf and its Faculties from God and his Will, then God ceafes to oppofe him any longer, and removes or rather difcon- tinues the Obftacles he had laid in his way, and per- mits that the Liberty and its Faculties fhould without all lett do what it wills : and this is Permijfion as to Evil. H 3 VI. Tis io2 Of the Divine Providence VI in this VI. This Permiflion refpe&s only the Phyfical Act : PermiJJfa, for tho' God fees that this Phyfical Acl: is like to be the God, fo far Subject of an horrible Depravation and Pollution, yet is he from ^js perm;ffion or his Divine Confent refpecls not this thE^'l Depravation or this Sin ; on the contrary, God infi- ?/'rf/&nger calf up Banks univerfally and on all fides a- gainlt their evil Actions, but only on fome. And hence it is that the Evil overflows on one fide rather than ano- rher. And this, with refpeel: to God is called, The DI- RECTION or GO^Ei\NMENT of SIN. Thefe ■are the Obftacles which the good Providence of God cafts in the way on fome fides againft the immortal Source of the Diabolical Corruption which is in the Heart of Man, and it is from thefe Obflacles that the Wafers of this infernal Spring flow and break over oa one fide rather than on another, VIII. Pid ivitb r effect to Evil or S'/*, \ o j VIII. Did not Jefus Cbrift hope that this Fountain Vlll.why might yet diminifh and even quite dry up; or were it JefeChrift by it felf and had no Commerce with the Good, be/^^f™'** would leave it alone to it (elf without calling up any the f™s,*i Bank at all againft it fas he will the damned, and in- ^ Zme deed the Men of the laft Days, when Evil (hill have its !y/j°^ full Swing, as fbon as he has Separated the Good from mt m 6m among them ; ) but that he fees, (hou'd he univerfdly thzru damm up the external Eruption of the Malice of the Wicked, that in fuch a Cafe they would thereby be- come more corrupt, more enraged, more hardned in their Hearts, more hypocritical and deceitful outward- ly ; he would doubtlefs hinder them by universal Ob- ftacles from producing any Evil outwardly. But he does it not but lets their Malice flow freely on fbme (ides; i. becaufe he knows that by letting it break forth outwardly, this will give vent to fbme part of their Rage and Malignity, and that this may be of ufe to them to give them fbme Remorfe, Horrour and Contempt of themfelves when they (hall fee palpably by their outward Com millions the abominable Defor- mity of that which they knew not fo long as it was (hut up within their Hearts only ; and that (b this may ferve to bring them to Repentance : again 2. be- caufe God fees among thefe wicked perfbns fome others both evil and good that deferve Punifhment and fbme ftrokes of his Rod: 3. laftly, becau(e God fees fome righteous and holy Perfbns to whom he knows thefe outward Evils of the Wicked will prove Occafi- ons of Good, of Salvation and Glory. You fee here three Reafons and three Effects for the fake of which God does not fet general Bars to theMalice of the Wick- ed, but lets it run over on fuch fides as he judges molt proper to produce the belt and the mod: faving Effects. By the firft of thefe three Cafes may be decided that Queition, why God fometimes permits the Evil of the Wicked to be confined within their own Breads only, and fometimes that it fpread outwanfty, and why God fuffers Sinners to effect their wicked Purpofes. By the fecond, is feen, why God fuffers the Chaftife- ments and Punifhments Men inflict one upon another. And by the third, why God fuffers Holy Men to be afflicted, even to a cruel Death by the Wicked. H 4 I IQ4 Of the Divine Providence Chap. VI. I don't (lay, as you fee, to explain all the Paflages t^V^-5 nor the particular Cafes wherewith the Scripture fur- nifhes us. This would be endlefs nor to any great Purpofe. It feems to me much better to give (as I en- deavour to do) a general Key, that may lerve to ex- plain all particular Inftances. To render the Appli- cation of this to all Cafes more eafie I will inftance in the Murder of Cain, and (hew how it came to pafs by God's Per million. IX. An ^* **a'in was a w*cked Perfbn whofe wicked Will dppticati- God would not force after having endeavoured by all vn of this means to win it. He faw he periifted in it, that he in- Divhte wardly encreafed his devilifh Rage and Corruption, Conduct foand that neverthelefs this wicfad Wretch, under the Cain'/Fr/T-p^texf that his Wickednefs cm not appear outward* tricide.Tbe\y^ WOuld needs play the Hypocrite and Religious, a6fc jafhce, tne pr;efj. ancj even (by a ftrange Blindnefs of Heart) d G ' Pre^er himiclf in Holinefs to righteous Abel. God faw, wfsofG flfr^at mou^ ne remove the Banks he had railed againffc herein* tm's envenomed Source, or fliould he not ftill caft up new ones, and that fo the Infection mould empty it felf without, this might leffen the Rage of this wick- ed Man, and bring him to know himfelf; that it might make him afraid and abhor both himfelf and his Wickednefs, and fo difpofe him to repent. And befides, God faw that Adam and Eve had fet their AtFeclions too much upon this Son of theirs, and had bred him up loofely ; and that they had treated Abel too flightingiy (or if any one will out of a fpirit of Contradiction eppofe me in that) too fondly. This deferved Punifhment. As to the Perfbn of righteous X. This wonderful Direction of God in regard of •may and Evil,, is the Reafon why the Scripture fpeaks fometimes ought to after fuch a rnanner as if it were God himfelf that did receive E- or diVeclly caufed evil Actions to be done; and how . as we are to receive 'em as coming from his hind. f™rnG cC * y*T propofe an Example or two of this kind,which Hand ° '^ ferve us t0 explain a^ other particular Modes o£ 4n Exam- Speech in Scripture relating to this Matter. I might pie of this alledge the Example and Authority of Job (a), /hail we in Abel, not receive Evil as yvell asGood at God's hand » But to flick to Abel, 'tis certain, though it be not exprefly faid fo CO Job. 2. in Scripture, that he received his Death as if God had. ,0« with his own Hand inflicted it on him, or as if Cain had been the Inftrument in God's Hand to kill him : not that Abel thought it was God infpir'd him with this murd'rous Rage and Hatred againft him, or that he had decreed to infpire him with it, and then by a Phy lical and infallible Influence, having before by his Decree difpos'd him to it, pufh'd on and actuated the Thought and the Bodily Powers of Cain, to make things go as they did by lending him his f recur fus and eoncurfus, and according to other blind Men, by produ- cing himfelf immediately all the Reality, and all the Determination that was either in the Soul or Body of Cain. CURSED THOUGHTS thefe ! Abel faw and knew by the Divine Light that Cain was free to think and to move as he pleas'd, having abfblutely and for ever receiv'd of God this Gift, wirhout needing either preventing or concurring Help, or any re-iterated Pre- servation, or any other School-Whimfey, which trou- bled not the World till many Ages after. He faw like- wise that God had done all that he poflibly could to take from him his wicked and malicious Purpofe, and that hitherto he had of his pure Grace laid all forts of Obftacles in his way ; but that he was not oblig'd, af- ter having iince the Fall put things in the State before- mentioned, ftill to give again and again new Ailiftance to the Wicked, who, far from anfwering the end of the firft, had only abus'd it ; and thus, Abel faw, that God would but too much have expos'd his Divine Gra- ces, and the more have harden'd Cain in his Wicked- nefs, had he always reftrain'd him by extraordinary Methods, and us'd Violence towards him to hinder him from with r effect to Evil or Sin. 107 from being free to do ill. Abel could not defire fuch a Chap. VL thing of God ; and though he were a righteous Man, KS^T^ and had done Cain no Wrong to be thus cruelly butch- er'd by him, yet he confider'd; he had finn'd againft God, and deferv'd to be chaften'd ; and befides that, he was in a miferable Life, which it was good to be de- livered out of. The firft of thefe Confiderations gave him to underftand that it was juft that God,who fenc'd in Cains Wickednefs to keep it from breaking out, fhould no more do fo, or not continue to do it any lon- ger as to him ; but that he fhould leave the courfe of it free, if not on all fides, yet towards him ro chaften him for his Sins. The Second Confideration made him look upon this Torrent of Death, as I may fay, as a Favour of God to free him from his Prifon. Thus it is that good Men receive the Evil of the Wicked, as Effects of God's Juft ice and Goodnefs. The Scripture is exprefs herein upon an Occafion Another where mention is made only of Punifhment. 'T is Example when God made it be told David after his Sin (<*). J how God will raife up Evil againft thee out of thine ovpn Houft : I dircBs and will take away thy Wives from before thine Eyes, and will Jencis Ev^' give them to thy Servant, and he fhall fleep with them in ra\ 2 $am the face of the Sun : For thou didft this thing fecretly, but j 2. 1 1 1 2! I will do it before all Ifrael and before the Sun, The mean- ing of which we know was this, that Abfalom fhould publickly violate his Father's Concubines. And why does the Scripture (peak thus ? Is it to teach us than God had predeft mated Abfalom to rebel and commit In- ceft, and that thefe Women of David were deftin'd by an immutable and eternal Decree to be violated, and that when itwas time God would be the difpofing and acting Principle in all thefe Motions and in all thefe Determinations, both in their Minds and in their Bo- dies ? I know not what Degree of BlindncfTand Folly Men muft have arriv'd to if they continue any longer in fuch odd Thoughts. It was God's Will to fave and cure Abfalom as well as any other Man ; but he not be- ing willing to be cur'd, and the Fountain of his Cor- ruption driving to flow out on all fides, God reftrains it and oppofesMounds againft it on this fide and t'other, but not on the fide of David and his Concubines, be- csufe David had made himfclf unworthy of God's Pro- tection 10 8 Of the Divine Providence Chap. VI. ji Third Example. (a) 2 Sam i<5, io. Xl.Reafonr of Types andFigures as well in III as in Good Things. te&ion on that fide. And fo, Abfalom^ who but for the Obftacles and Reftraints put upon him by God, would have fpread the EfTecls of his Rage, of his Luxury, and of all the Motions which the Devil, and the Cor- ruption of his own Heart and of the World could have infpir'd him with, being curb'd on all fides but on his Father's, which God by an Effect of his Juftice would not fecure, commits thofe Crimes which the Prophet had from God threarned David with, in fuch Terms as fignifie to this Purpofe ; roportioned to each oth< r, fuch as his Wifdom and uflice (hail fuggtfl to him, in this cafe, the breaking out of the Malice of the Wicked in Former Ages will be directed, reilrained, or break out in a Manner very- near that of the Wicked of afrer-times ; that is to fay, the Life and outward Behaviour of the Wicked of the Firft Times, will be Figures of the Life and Aclions of the Wicked Men of the Laft Times , and the one will be Types of the other. So likewife in refpe6l of the Good, if God be pleafed to give good Men in all times his Aili fiance and Grace by fuch Ways and Rules as fhail bear proportion and likenefs the one with the other, which he will obferve for Reafbns- known to himfeif ; in this cafe, the good Men of the Firft Ages, their Graces, their Favours, their Behavi- ( . our, will be Types of good Men of the Latter Days. Vy ^ 0f ,Htre you fee another Fundamental Reaion of Types ^ j^e_ (not to fay of Predictions) on which I made no Re- fl.on ^e_ flection when I fpake of Types and Figures elfwhere(a). fore* the 1 defire what I have faid there may not be taken for a Incarn. full Explication of that Point, exclufively of what is Ch.i7.§*. faid here. XII. Another Remark, by which we may under- Xll.What (land what Fortune andCbancc is, is this, that the Di- 5°rt/inc vine Direction of Sin being free, God does guide and enhance order it divcrfe ways. Should God leave a corrupt [*' *sv°. and obllinately wicked Heart to it felf and the Devil ^,.ofl that pofleffes it, without fetting any Fence or Damm inl\^ to no Of the Divine Providence Chap. VI. to the Inundation of its Corruption, it would indeed ^/W throw its Corruption about without any diftindHon on all fides, but not all at a time, but now on this fide and then on t'other; fb that outwardly now this Ob- ject then that would be affaulted and annoyed by it. And here would be no certain Rules observed ; but ic would fall out' fometimes here, fbmetimes there, at all •adventure: becaufe the Heart of corrupt Man and his Accomplice the Devil are Principles of Inconftancy and Change; who finding (olid Quiet no where, they' are always changing their Courfes and Poftures. It is true the Conftitution of Body, and the Influences of the Stars may fbmewhat fix and determine them ; but befides that there is nothing fb precifely determined but yet has in it thoufands of particular Modes of act- ing free and undetermined ; befides too, that the Li- berty of Man and of the Devil, can, abfolutely (peak- ing, carry them againft all forts of outward Impreffi- ons, it is thefe very external Imprefhons, in conjuncti- on with the indeterminate Corruption of Man and the Devil, (whom we fuppofe to have no particular Re- ftraints laid on them) that make juft thofe Events which we call fortuitous and of Chance ; in matter of 111 ; as in things materially good or indifferent we call good Fortune or Chance, fuch Events as God and his An- gels leave to be produced by the Influences of Nature according to her general and ordinary Courfe, without any particular Determination to certain individuals, who yet are advantaged by them, not in Virtue of any fpecial Determination either of God or his Angels, but only of the general courfe of Nature, ft ill accompanied with the general Bleiling of God, and fubjeefced to the general Care of the Angels. XIII. Men XIII. Now according as God fees Men more or lefs are dijje- obftinately and malicioufly wicked, and as they are rcntlymore more or lefs mixt with others more or lefs good; and or lejs un- f0) according as he forfees that the Obftacles he mould tier God's fet to lne outward overflowing of their Malignity [fecial Di- WQU\ci nave fewer or more Effects or Confluences ™fj™}\ai"f either to the good or the bad, he accordingly lays in pjHeclcdto :^eir way more or fewer Obftacles to reftrain them the fortui- more or le^> an^ ne abandons them more or lefs inde- /ok/ co«r/*terminately to the courfe of their inconftant Paflions of Nature. and with refpect to Evil or om. 1 1 1 and ofNature:fb that it is very true that the wholeCon- Chap. VI. duel: of Men is not alike under the fpecial Direction of /"V^VJ God nor his Angels, nor equally abandoned to the ca- fual and fortuitous Guidance of Nature; but there is more and lefs, yea and nay, as God fees it juft, good* and convenient. A wicked Perfon that chances to live among good Men, or is come of good Anceftors. to whom God has made great Promifes, or is one for whom there are many Prayers made, fhall be more under the particular Direction and Government of God and his Angels, and much lefs expofed to purely natural Events, than another lefs wicked Man that lives either by himfclf, or with fuch as himfllf, or that has none of thefe Advantages above-mentioned. I fuppofe the Reader plainly fees the neceffary connexi- on oi thefe Truths with their Principles without my needing to be perpetually running from Link to Link to the very firft to (hew the Proof of them a priori to fuch as are not of Capacity to view the whole Syftem at once. But to give the Proof of them d pofleriori and inartificially, 'tis upon thefe Truths, that all the Pray- ers of Men concerning outward things, and likewife all the Promifes and Threatnings of God about the fpecial Care he will take to do in fuch a Cafe fuch and fuch good things, and to keep oft fuch and fuch Evils, to watch over the outward Affairs of fome and to de- fert others ; if it were not for the Truth of what I have juft now been fpeaking, all thefe things would be ufelefs, bottomed upon Falfity, and even ridiculous, fuperftitious and deceitful. TheConfcquence is evident enough to all but fuch as will not fee,and I don't intend to Jofe my labour by going about to make them fee that are refolved to fhut their Eyes. Every Man may, for me. both here and in other things, be clear-fighted or blind at his own Peril, nor will I give my felf any great trouble, to make them fpeak or hold their peace, much lefs to anfwer all the rr Hing Cavils of every ig- norant Objcdter againlt what I have faid upon this or other Subjtcls. 'TisC^/wand his Sin that has given me occafion to fay what has been faid upon this Head: let us continue our Reflections upon him ; for we fhall by that means fee how God's Providence deals with all Sinners and their Race. XIV. What 112 Of the Divine Providence XIV. Une- XIV. What has been (aid above concerning Adam, qual Pofte- that God did not deftine nor determine him to beget my defcen- juft fuch a Number of Children, fbme whereof were ding from predeftinated to Life, to Probity of Manners, and to the fame j0 fucn an(j jnucn tnjngS . an(i others of them to Death, Stock' to Wickednefs , and the like: but that this was all left to Adams Liberty and Will, and to the State he (hould be in, whether in a Spiritual or Natural, whe- ther in good or ill; all this, (they that pleafe may look back and fee it) I fuppofe faid once for all both as to Cain and all Men, and as to all their Pofterity, except- ing fbme particular Perfbns upon their aclual Corre- spondence either in Good or 111, that may have drawn upon themfelves, the one, fingular Blelhngs and Gra- ces of God, and the other, remarkable Punifhments, both upon themfelves and their Pofterity; fo that though all had an equal Share and Advantage in Adam, yet might it fo come to pals that there might be found great inequality among them by means of the diffe- rent intermediate Stocks interpofed between them and Adam. XV Gene- -^- ^7e mu^» t0 ^e clearly into the different lot of ralPrincl* Adam's Pofterity and of God's providential dealing with pies by them, have before our Eyes the Truths whereof I which to have propofed the moft part in treating of Original Sin, judge oft he fuch as thcrfe : that Man begets his like in the fame State oft he State and in the fame Degree he himfelf is in ; that Pofterity of God joins the Grace of his Light and of his good Mo- £lm' tions to the Soul of every Man all the while this Life and the Time of his Tryal lafts; that if Adam received into Favour again, had conftantly and abfo- lutely rejected the Grace offered him, fo as to have al- ways continued in a Sate of Damnation, neverthelefs the Children which he fhould have begotten in this State during this Life, would not have been deprived of the inward Offer of this Grace; but that if they had happened to dye before the free ufe of their divine Fa- culties, they would by God have been reckoned as Perfons that had not received his Grace, feeing in truth they accepted it neither by themfelves nor by their Father : whereas had they come to Age and the free life of their Faculties, it had been their part to have accepted or refuted this divineGrace ; but that then their with wicked Mens Poller ity. 1 1 J their Soul would have had greater Inclination to have Chap. VI refuted than to have admitted this Grace : whereas h:d ^V\J Adam embraced the Grace of God, and ftrengthened and habituated himfelfin it, his Children as foon as born, though partaking of the corrupt Root of Nature which is the Devil's Element, would not only have been Partakers of the Infpirations of the good Spirit and Bleffings of God, but alio of the good Inclinations and Habits of their Father : by means of which the good Spirit would have very eafily and without much trouble got the Dominion in them when they fhould come to the age of full Liberty,and would without any difficulty at all have ruled in them had they dytd in their Infancy, fince their Origine was in the Grace of God. All this is applicable to Cain's Polterity. XVI. Suppofing Cain were wicked as indeed he was; XVI God God did not lefs will the Salvation of his Poiterity, willsequal- than of the Children of thofe who were Holy ; but IjtbiSMJm they were not fo difpofed nor fo apt to give way to the rjatl0n °f Grace of God as the PoQerity of the Righteous. ^ ™* jf The firft Graces of Calling, of Illumination, and of ' /;„ j~r the good Motions which God prefented to Adam after pos'/iicoL his Fall, the Offer and the objective Gift of his good fas equally Spirit and of his other Bleilings were given him for theGraceof himfelf and for his Defendants equally and without Calting,but Diftin&ion : but the Graces of Divine Retribution and does not e- Correfpondence, were not given, nor will they be quallygive given, to his Defendants, but in Proportion to their the Gracs Correfpondence : fo that all the Children of Adam °fCoJre- equally partake of the firft Graces on God's part, but J?07i*ence- not of thefe latter, which are conditional. XVII. Neverthelefs, it feems that the Children of xviltf Cain and of the Wicked have not been either fo en- -:t c0^es tQ lightened or fo moved by God, as the Children of Setb pars r'^ and of other good Men: And does not this feem con- the ChiU trary to that Equality of Communication which we dren of fay was made equally to all Men on God's part.; I an- Cain and fwer, that this is no way contrary, for two Reafons, ofthcWick- firft, that in thefe Lights and Morions of good Men, ed are not there are not only the Graces of the firft fort, the f° ™Hgbt- abfbiute and primitive ones ; but likewife thofe £ny"'>r'J* of Retribution and Correfpondence, their Parents qI™ a/ 1 having thfirftto Right win, notwithstanding the Equality of Providence, 114 Of the Divine Providence Chap. VI. having correfponded ro God, and they have partaken <^~V"N^ of the Elfate of rheir Parents; whereas in the wicked there being no fuch Correfpondence, it is no wonder if neither they, nor confequently their Children, have stLV fhare in thefe Graces of Correfpondence, and Re- tribution: but this hinders not but that they might have been equal Sharers in the Primitive Graces. The fccond Reafbn of this Inequality is this, becaufe rhe Wicked for their part being diffracted from the in- ward Voice of God, from his Light and his good Mo- tions, and hearkening to the Devil and their own Corruption, get an Habit of fo doing ; and fb, the Light of God, his Voice and his Strokes become infen- fible to them ; becaufe they are turned away from them, and are habitually and obftinately other ways taken up. And this Difpofition of Soul being habitu- al, panVs from Fathers to Children (as has been before ■ proved :) fo that the Children of the Wicked and Worldly are born with a Difpofition not to hearken to God, but to turn away and ny from him, and to fol- low the Devil and their own corrupt Inclinations; and theChildrcn ofGoodMen in quite contrary Difpofitions: Neverthelefs, God's Providence treats 'em and divides among them all from the beginning, and on his pare equally and impartially. He is a Sun that fhines for all and to all equally : but fuch as from their Race and Birth have Cataracls on their Eyes, or hide rhemfelves in Caves, are not equally fcnfible of his Light. God on his part at firfl fpeaks to all with an equal Voice and equally lowd, but all, through their own Fault, have not rheir Ears alike good or equally freed * from the Tumult and Noife of their Paiiions, and of corrupt Objects, which hinder the Soul from hearing the Voice of God. XVIII. XV11I. Thus, for all the llniverfility and Imparti- D-fadvan- aliry of Divine Providence as to the Interiour, the Po- tagesoftke fterity of the Wicked are neither fb clear fighted . nor Poficrity of [q moved to Good, nor fo much in the Fear of God, the Wicked nor fQ rcmoved from the Devil and Vice, as rhe Good notvith- are . Qn r|1c conrrarv^ they are rather full of Darknefs T Eua- andEvil Motions, of contempt of God,and of Hatred of \ityo}HPro- Venue and Love of Vice, whatever Attempts God &c- of this Difference between them. 'Tis probable Abel was begotten when Adam and £ve were in a more exalted degree of Perfection and Divine Love than when they begot Cain; and it may be educated him better, or fpoil'd him lefs than they did Cain : it may be too, that when he was born the Conjunction of the Heavenly, Elementary, and Earthly Bodies, which influence Man's Body, was more Favour- able rhan at Cains Nativity. Though Vice and Ver- tue depend not upon Matter,yet 'ascertain that a good Temperament is as affifting toWifdom andVertue.as an I % ill 1 1 6 Of the Divine Providence Chap. VII ill one is to Folly and Vice. When I fpeak of Influ- \S~\S~^-> ences, I don't pretend to vouch for all the Fooleries of judiciary Aftrologers; fo neither do I take Judiciary Aftrology.in it felf to be an ill grounded or defpicable Science : It is by no means (b, could we but tell how to find it out, and diffingutfh the true one and its true Principles from the faife. I have fufriciently given my ta\ qq(T Opinion upon this Puint t lfe where (<0, for any that Rat Lib. nave a niind to know more of it. But what chiefly 3. Cap. 9. made the difference betwixt Cnin and Abel was this (un- m Notis. derftand me in quality of an admiilive and occafional, not of an efficient and real Caufe of God's Gifts :) Abel had correfponded to all the Invitations, Calls and Mo- tions of God ; and as God augmented his Graces of Divine Correspondence and Recompence, he furren- der'd himfelf up to them, and faithfully comply'd with themjn the manner as has been (hewn at large in thac Treatife that fpeaks of the Operation of God and the Co-operation of Man. So that Abel grew daily more and more the Object of the (pecial Providence and An- gular Care of Jefus Chrift, the more faithfully he ad- her'd to his Inspiration and Illumination. li.Thelm- II. Now this is no Partiality in Providence, thac partiality things fb ifanding, Abel was more favoured than Cain. ofProvi- This Preference was an Effect of the Juftice, Truth, dence in and Goodnefs of God, and not of a partial, unreafbna- thisDiver- bje^ capricious mere Good Pleafure, as fbme Men V^" phancy, whatever fpecious Names they give it. It was Jufl that God (hould in a more fpecial manner turn towards him who turned away from every thing on purpofe to be wholly his. God having made known to Man this Truth, that he would take into h:s fpecial Grace and Protection all that refigned them- ielves to him, his Truth was concerned to fee this rati- fied by a more lingular Providence and a larger Effii- fion of Graces upon fuch, than upon either the rebel- lious or carek fs Sinners. Laftly, the Goodnefs o[ God cannot but communicate it felf in the largeft meafure, and indeed boundlelsly to all that are difpofed to re- ceive it. Nor does this at all hinder but Providence was as watchful over Cains Salvation and altogether as impartial, with regard to Cains State and Corre- Ipondence, with r effect to good Men. 1 1 7 fpondence, as it was over Abel's, dealing with him but Chap.VH anfwerably to the State he was in. 1>^WJ III. When ^*/ had attained(by waysl have elfewhere III. Ml is obfervedj to the State of perfect Refignadon to God, of ths good fblidRighteoufnefs and Regeneration,God was then no Maris:th? longer upon the referve with him: Abel's and God's ™ufnot Interefts were the fame thing, for he was one with™''/ God. The Thoughts, Paifions. Defires. the Motions, t£. V? Words, the Walking and Refting, the Eating and fetffbutre- Drinking, the whole of Abe L was God's as much as rait all t§ if it had concerned him immediately. Therefore did the difpo- God alio difpofe, direct and govern all that belonged falofjsfus to him by a mod fpecial Providence and Wifdom, by cbrijl. mod particular Infpirations and Motions of the Spirit God^s mod. ofJefusChrifl, all whofe Treafures were Abel\ nay fingular the whole World and all God's Works, according to yQVl- Sr. Paul's Words to the Saints (a) : All is yours, you are C.Q °' Cbrifs, and Chrifi is God's. Neverthelefs, as in this ™ntsiT World a weak and innocent Child, though all his Fa- all'thh^s. ther's Goods be his, yet is bound, even under pain of Theft, not to ufe them againft his Fathers Will, butC*) j Cor, to leave them to be managed and ufed even by Slaves, 3.22. and to receive no more than his Father pleafes, and juft as he pleafes, till he be of Age : (6 Abel and other Holy Men are obliged by God till the Refurre&ion of the Juft to wait for the Enjoyment of God's Works and the Fulnefs of his Favours; and this the rather, becaufe the Works of God, the World and the Crea- tures are at prefent covered over and quite filled with, the Curfe, and are in a great meafure therefore under the Devil's Power ; becaufe the Righteous are as yet among the Wicked, with whom there are certain, meafurcs to be obferved, and are themfelves as yet full of Bodily Infirmities, as well asSpiritual ones, as to the things of the World, not knowing of themfelves what is better or worfe for them, and indeed it being their Duty not to look after fuch things out of Curiofity and beyond Neceility, as well to avoid all hurtful Di- ftra&ion, as not to expofe themfelves to Vanity, Pride and the Cheats of the Devil. But Jefus Chrift, whofe they are, knows and can do all things for them : he therefore, from the firfl entire Refignation of all that concerns them into his Bands, 1 3 judges 1 1 8 , Of the Divine Providence Chap.VII judges and chufes for them, and by an efpecial Care, J to offer even to the Wicked themfelves all his prevent- ing Graces, to draw them out of Sin and to hinder them from committing it, how is this confident with the acfual Failings of good Men, when they are done againft their Wills? That wicked Men fall for all the Tender of God's Graces is no wonder, fince they free- ly turn away from them. So likewife neither is k ftrange that good Men fhould fall when they are wilfully carelefs. But when their Will continues fted- faft and grows too, in Goodnefs, that for all that they fhould commit fuch Faults as they would not, and do beg the Grace not to commit, yet do not obtain it ; this is what is hard to reconcile with the liberal Providence of God, which mud: be fo particularly con- cerned for them, unlefs we fay it fails them in their need. IX. Much may be faid upon this and other Cafes of IX. ^u the like nature : but without engaging my felf fo far, I fvers t0 {hall content my felf to fay a W^ord or two upon the f^ts Di$~ principal of them, and the rather becaufe you may J' find elfewhere (a) Matters and Reafons of the like (a) Oec. Nature with thefe here, upon which I (hall not now of Co-op. enlarge. Chap. 9. Firft then, God never fails, nor ever will, to fupply § 20. good Men with all poilible Graces that are neceflary to make them avoid all mortal Sin, or fuch as extinguifh- es and is inconfiftent with the Love of God. Goo4 Men never fin fo, but inexcufably and by rejecting the Grace that God offered them to preferve them from fuch Falls. But God having done all that could be done for them, without offering Violence to their Li- berty ; if they will Sin, all that God's Providence then does, is fo to difpofe of the Eruption, the outwar4 Tendency, Ways and Circumftances of their Fall, that in cafe they be willing to rife again afterwar4 when God calls them, this their Fall may be an Occa- fion to them to humble themfelves, and to be more faithful and firm in their Refolutions of Obedience for the future, Secondly*) 124 Of the Divine Providence Chap.VII Secondly, As to Sins of Infirmity, of which I have ' /" /~v~> fpoken in another place (b)t I fay, God likewife always (b) Oec. prefenrs his Grace to enable us ro avoid them ; and of Co-op. tkac ^jg Qrace js fufricient for that purpofe without £ ,?.?'£' any orher degree of new Grace. But 1 fay too, that $ 33; <*c- t^;s (}race does not always give a fenfible Manifeftati- on of its Operations ; yet is not the denying this Ma- nifeftation a denying of Grace; on the contrary, this hiding of the Manireftation of God's Grace, is it felf a Grace; and the pretence of this Manifeftation is oftentimes fuch as could not fubfift without great Da- mage to the Soul, which God is pleafed to preferve it from, by not manifefting himfelf to it thus openly, though both Himfelf and his Grace are fo mightily and powerfully prefent as to be able in a Moment to make Man perfectly like an Angel, if his Difpofitson, or rather his Indifpofition, could bear it. X. The X. For the better undtrftanding of this Truth, we wmdtrful muft confider, that God's Providence is chiefly con- CandttB Cerned to keep his Children from the Fall of the De- aydGood- vjjs^ prom prtde, Self-acquiefcence and Satisfaction, n^sofGod s ancj from Spiritual Self-love: from all which nothing »h£h7* but HumIiit7 can fecure them' Buc an a&ual or *permitsthe wea^ Humility could not ftand out againft the Faults, of World, the Devil and our own Corruption, unlefs goidMen. it grow into an habitual one. Nor can an habitual Humility be acquired but by repeated Convictions and a continual View of our Imperfections and VVeaknefs, and of fuch Failings and Faults as we commit, even againft our Wills. For this reafbn it is that God, to make To great and cardinal a Vertue, as habitual Humi- lity to fpring up in the Hearts of good Men; does not fufflr his Grace in them always to manifeft it felf. Whence it comes to pafs that the not feeing the Rays thereof, or not feeling the actual Heat of it, at fbme certain junctures, they fail and fall: but the Lord holds them by the Hand, and they rifmg quickly again through the Divine AiFiftance, profoundly humble themfelves before his Divine Majefty, who by this Means produces in them this wonderful Gift of habi- tual Humility, by which alone they can be preferved, from the Fall of the Devils, And with r effect to good, Men. i 2 5 And is not this Providence of God altogether won-Chap.VH derful? And is it not much more for their Advantage <>rY*XJ than if God had then manifefted in them rhe Prefence of his Grace, and had thereby prevented fuch an A£t of Failure and Infirmity, which good Men wilh they might have been able to have avoided ? XI. No, the Adorable Providence of our God never XL God is wanting to the Prayers and good Defires of his does inSub- Children, but grants them more fully and perfectly .A* w*^ than they the mfe Ives could wifh. Suppofe one mould more fully wifh and beg of God, the Grace, not to fail in fuch ear the. and fuch things. What does God here ? He grants f/j^f fuch a one his Grace in Subftance, or rather it already Ay t$,a™f dwels habitually in him. Suppofe God make the Ma- hi heard nifeftation and Activity of it appear in him ; then her in the indeed it will fo come to pafs that fuch a Perfon (hall very way not fail in fuch and fuch things; but likewife, fo hr jhe defins. will our Human Weaknefs be from finding therein any certain Occafion of growing in Humility, that it will rather take Occafion thence to be tempted to Self- complacency, Vain-glory, Self-adherence and Self- love, which is doubtlefs a much greacer Danger and lefs Advantage to fuch a Soul, than if it had failed, and from this Defe6t had taken occafion of advancing in found Humilicy. Whence we fee that God hears and fulfils in fubirance the Defires and Prayers of the Soul, much more folidly and fully than fhe thinks and wifhes for, even by not formally hearing her in that particular Manner that (he prefcribed him, as I may fay, or as (he required and begg'd of him by her Pray- ers, that were determined and confined to certain par- ticular things. XII. And there is fomewhat more yet in this ; for XII. He the Defire and Prayer which the Soul made for Grace ^ears the not to fail in this or that Inftance, is particularly heard, Sou{ evcn though indeed (he actually fail ; becaufe this Fall of ^^ r^" • hers being thus involuntary, and the Soul having ar- ^,/Jfc dently defired the^ contrary, God accounts this her wkw- Defire for the D^:J, and does not impute her Failure to her as Sin and Evil, in Confideration of her Good will not to fail. And. as this Good-will takes a- way and annihilates, as I may fay, the Malignity which other wife would have been in fuch Failing, ib ^ by 126 Of the Divine Providence Chap.VII by the fame Reafon and through the Grace of God, l^Y^J fuch a Fault cannot hurt her. XIII. O- XIII. I (hall not mention other Reafons for which ther Cafes tne^e f°rts °f Faults and Falls may happen ; becaufe in roherethere many Cafes, fuch Events are eafily reconcilable with is not fo the Plenitude ®f God's Providence, as it would in this much Cafe for Example,{hould the Soul take Pleafure in fuch ground for fbrc of Falls : for then there would be no Reafon to the afore- WOnder if (he fell, and that God fuffer'd her fo to do> JaidDiffi- wjthout any Diminution to the Greatnefs o£ his good iu *' Providence. Secondly, When a Man voluntarily and without neceffity lets his Mind be diftra&ed from the Senfe of God's Pretence, there is no wonder if he neither fee nor feel the Manifestation of the Divine Grace, and confequently if he then come to fail, not- withftanding all his former good Purpofes. Thirdly, When his Good-will was but a Velleity, but an imper- fect and half Defire, 'tis then no marvel if he do not find himfelt in full Poffefiicn of the Grace of God. Lajily, When Souls have yet left in their Ground many habitual Impurities that muft be driven thence and made to break out, thejuftice of God; and indeed the very Light of his Grace muft needs difcover them and make them appear, as has been feen when I treated of f Vtfl. $. thePurification of the Soul] ; Thefe fourCafes,and it may Chap. 5. be feveral more, are not fo hard to refolve, as is that wherein we fuppofe the Soul pure and of a perfectly good Will, and greatly troubled at fuch Failings, and l heartily defiring to be freed from thecommiilionof 'em, and that never takes off her Thoughts from God, but by the indifpenfible Neceffiues wherein the Weaknef- fes of our Nature engage us, and yet comes to fall ; but withall, after fuch a manner as (hews the adorable Be- nignity of God's gracious Providence. CHAP. with r effect to good and bad Men. 1 27 CHAP. VIII. The impartial Conduct of Vniverfal Providence towards the pofterity tf/'Seth and Noah, Good and Bad, Heathen and not Heathen, Ordina- ry and Extraordinary Perfons. T remains that we make fbme Refle- j yfc D,m <5rJons on the Pofterity of Setb, which fign 0f was the only one that peopled the what fol- World by Noah a Branch of it, the reft low. having been all cut off by the Flood ; and we mud fee how the Divine Pro- vidence has univer(ally and impartially taken care of the Salvation of this Pofterity, notwithftanding the fearful Inequality there has been, and ftill is and will be hereafter (but for a fhort time only) between all that have or (hall defcend from it. II. All that has been faid of Adam, of Cain, and of " T&e Abel, vi%. That God did not antecedently deftine nor SuPP°fat determine abfolutely their Liberty, their Acts, Salva- **?-fPy tion or Damnation, no more than he did the Number, ££ °* Aits and State of their Pofterity ; all this muft here be dingDif- fuppofed. . courfem III. Were all Meh in a State of Equality, at leaftas jjj T* to things Spiritual, there would be no Difficulty to re- Difficult' concile this with the Univerfality and Impartiality of tnqtteflLn' the Divine Providence; and there would be but very Howthein- little to (hew how the outward Eftate of Men may be equality of unequal, though the Divine Providence be impartial, the State of But it is well known, there are Men more and left en- Men agrees lightened, more and lefs mov'd ; fome in a State of "iththeU- meer Beafts , others in that of Damnation and of Devils, ?livjrfa^y and others again in a State of Salvation ; tjiat fome a™ImPar~ have the Advantages of Revelation, of Graces and p*"v Bleftings which others have not ; not to menrT"Y"N^ for it felf and for its Pofteriry ; and becaufe it is indeed '^ Rom* an ineftimable Advantage to be born of Perfons that are 3* 2' ■ the Friends of God. But likewise when Men ftubborniy refufe to corre- spond to God, his Divine Providence is Co juft and fo impartial, (Co far is it from rewarding thefe rebellious , Creatures by new Graces of Corefpondence, fo far is it from making thole they have by Birth living to them) that it fuffers fuch Chaftifemer.ts to fdl upon them as are much heavier than thofe that fall upon the reft of the World that have not the Advantages they had. Their Graces then turn to their greater Condemnation ; and thofe that have more particularly known the Will of their Father (hall be beaten with more Stripes. We need but look into the Hiftory of the Rebellious Jem, and but obferve what God already has begun and wiil continue to do with Chriftians, to be convinced of the juftice and Impartiality of. his Providence. XIII. As to the Heathen, fhould any of them live XIII. God according to that Meafure of Grace God gives them, takes care no doubt God would frill advance them higher and of the Pa- higher according to their Correspondence ; till be&amPr9~ had brought them to a State of Salvation, though they portionabfy, had no Knowledge of the Hiftory and Letter of the V! Z Gofpel. Their Good-Will would be imputed to them or,eJPon~ to Salvation, or as a way and means of Salvation, as St. Paul fays, IJncircumcifion is reckoned for Circumcijhtt 0). What God requires of Men to fie them for his W R°^ faving Operations in their Hearts, is neither Letter noc ~' 2 ' ' Hiftory, Opinions, nor Notions ; but Humility, Sub- million of Heart to God, Refignation to him, the De- fire of his Love and of every thing that ispieafing to him. When a Heart is thus dilpoled, God works in ic either in this Life or the other, Light and Purification, and all the Graces he is pleafed to pour into it. But if God finds any of them fo well difpofed, as to think it neceflary to give them in this Life, even the Hiftorical, Knowledge of himfelf, he would doubtlefs fboner work a Miracle than be wanting to them in fuch a Cafe. K 4 XIV, le 1 3 6 Of the , Impartiality of XIV. £*« XIV. It will be faid, it may be, this is an IF, and a ample* of thing fpoken in the Air. No, but it is not ; and I this. could give many Inftances of ir. They whofe Eyes are open to fee the Exellence of the Writings of the divine Tauler will make no doubt but what the Igno- rant Laick. relates there, who converted this great Doctor, is a Truth that confirms what I fay, and is fb much the more certain as being the Cafe of that very Perfbn who writ this Life. The Example is this. (a)c 7? (*) There was a certain Pagan, a very Jincere and honefi Lite or fy[an, living uprightly according to the Law of Nature : lattierus. ^Q €Very £Ay lifting up his Eyes to Heaven, called upon him that made him and every thing,and faid to him^O thou mrft High Lord, Maker of Heaven and Earth, thou knoweft X •was born in this Region and Country, and bred up in the Faith and Religion taught there. But now I hear, the Jews have another Religion, and the Chriflians another. Therefore, thou Lord that art above us all and haft created all things, 1 now befeech thee that if there he a better Re- ligion than that wherein 1 have been inftrutled from my Touth thou would?]} be pleafed to favour me with the Know- ledge of it, and I will with all my Heart, embrace thy Faith and obey thy Commandments. But if thou denieft me what I askj, and I come to (lie in my own Religion,, without know- ing any better, to my thinking I have great wrong done me. This Pagan continuing to pray thus to God, it came to pafr9 that I writ a Letter to him, by the reading of which be was brought over to the Chriftian Faith. There is alfo an Example of this in the Lives of the Fathers, vi%. of St. Pofthumius: and in the Works of (f) Lib. 6. St, Brigitte (b) the Example of an Heathen Woman, Chap. $o. wh;ch. I find fb edifying that I will tranferibe it. 'Tis this. " There is nothing more pleating to God than to *c love him above all things. And I will let you fee " this by the Example of an Heathen Woman, who *l without knowing any thing of the Chriftian Religi- from 'andac'eC- tne beginning to the end of the World, give equal- fory Graces ty to tn°fe tnat are equa.Uy qualified. For Exam- equally.TbePlei If before iWo/£j, or in his Days, or after him, if m Reafons of the Days otjefus Cbrift^ox after his coming in the Flefh, this D;jfc- there were to be met with any Perfbns equally difpofed rmt, towards God, for certain, God would have given them the the Divine Providence. 141 — m i ■ ■ in y. I ■ \ I I the fame faving Graces i ft Subftance; becaufe fuch Chap. Graces depend not, nor are they annext to Time or VIII. Place, or any outward Circumstances, but only to the VVN** Difpofition of the Heart : Whereas .he Minifu-rial Gra- ces refpe£Hng f>nv certain outward Perfbns,Places and Times, God gives them not out of thefe Circum (lan- ces to fuch as it may be had the fame Difpofitions as thofe have who live when the PJaces and other Circum* fiances meet. Though before the Hcly Virgin and after her there had been Souls as pure as her felf, yet *x\s plain they could not have all been chofen to the Privilege of being the Mothers of Jefus Chrifl. The fame may be faid of all the other Minifterial Graces of the Prophets, Apoftlcs, and of fuch like Perfcms, which cannot be given to any, though equally prepared, but in fuch Circum [lances of Time and Place. XVIII. But when the Time and other Circumftan- XVIII. ces wherein God is pleafed to grant the World by the Got^s /**• Miniftry of others fome preventing Graces, are come ; Partialitf he does not then ordinarily chufe, precifely fuch an In- „. /' dividual as Peter, John, or James, becaufe he has fo or- p"$ons t9, der'd it from all Eternity : but knowing well how ma- eJtraorcum ny Inftruments he will make ufe of, he iooks then upon „ary and the Earth to fee how Men ftand difpos'd ; and thole he Minijieriai finds the bed qualified he takes, and to them he com Graces. municates thefe exir*ordinary Graces, which he would not have given, nor will ever give at another time to Men of the very fame Difpofitions, becaufe they will never again be proper "nd in feafbn. Thus it is there- fore that he chules his Veflels of Election to his Mini- ftry, fuch as are at that time beft qualified, and accor- ding to their Difpofition (a) He gives to one five talents, (a) Mar. to another two, to another one^ according to every one's abi- 25. ij. lity or capacity. And if any one fail to correfpond to thefe Minifterial Graces, he takes them from fuch an one, and chufes to entruft anbthi r with them that is better difpof d, as our Saviour fhews in the Parable (£)• (b) V. i9. When God foretels and names fbmetimes before they are born, but extraordinarily, fome Inftruments he in- tends hereafter to make ufe of, 'tis becaufe he has at that very time fome under his Eye whom he defigns peculiarly to honour, and who are fo wholly refign'd to him, as he can by them through the Motions of his Hoi/ T42 Of the Impartiality of Chap. Holy Spirit, have, breed, inffrucl: and name the Chil- VIII. dren he will make ufe of juft as he foretels ir. And ifill KS~V^"J this way is extraordinary, and in reward of the extraor- dinary Piety of fome Holy Parents. XIX. This XIX. What has been faid of the Choice of certain is obfcrva- Perfons to Minifterial Graces, wherein God. who may lie too in \n tnat Cafe a£t purely at Difcretion, without regard- reJa*'m t0 ing the Difpofitions of any, does for all that acl; fo im- t ebea- parc;ally and fo juftly, is applicable not only to fuch Choices as God has made among his own People, whe- ther Jews or Chriftians, but alfo to fuch as he has made among the Heathens, as of a Diogenes, a Socrates, and an EpiHetm, and of others, that were Inftruments and Minifters chofen of God to enlighten and guide the Men of their Times according to their Capacities.God therein acted in proportion after the fame manner, with tn)Otcon. the fame Impartiality, Juftice and Wifdom, as was ob- cf the ferved he did among his own People. I have elfe- Jncara. where {a) faid fomething upon this Point in reference Chap. 13. t0 t}ie Heathen, and fo (hall fay no more of it here. yy T XX. As for what concerns the Wicked, and the God T Choice God (eems to make among them of fome ra- ont amlnt- t^'er tnan otners ro ^e remarkable Instruments of fome fe'achrient E^s» as were Pharaoh^ Abfalom, the Kings of Ajjyria ofhisGocd- ar*d Babylon, Judas, Nero, and many others, I think I fiefs and have fhewn already (/>), how God not only fbught their Impart ia- eternal Salvation, but likewife how he ruled them in Hty, makes thcfe very Inftances ; nor have we any thing further to tffeof fome know concerning them, but only why God fo difpos'd. ivickcdMen 0p rnefe wicked Men rather than of others whom he *tt fi pafsM by* fhrs°to°l '^0 an^er tms Qlleftion, we mud before to fup- the inlir'u- P0^ tne Truths above-mentioned, vi^, Firfi, That mint * -of God had afforded them as well as all other wicked Men great Evils whatever, all fuch preventing Graces (not thofe of Correfpondence) as were neecflary to abolifh their Sins, U) Supr. or to lead and prepare them for the Deftruclion of their Chap. 5. Wickednefs, which God heartily defired to fee extir- Y&' pnted that fo they might be faved. Secondly, That thefe wicked Men, and others like them, malicioufly revolting againfl: God and his good Infpirations, were rcfblved to give Life and Vent to their Malice and Corruption. Thirdly, Though they all deferv'd to be punifh'd, the Divine Providence. 14^ punifh'd, that yet God fees that unlefs he partly re- Chap, ftrain the Floods of their Malice, they would quite de- VIII. Itroy one another, and all trie Good too. l/V^J Here it is that God interpoles, and looking how far he intends either to protect or expofe the Good and the Bad to outward Chaftifements, if he finds that a- mong the Wicked there are fome of them more power- ful, more cruel, more inclined to fuch and fuch Vices than others, and that fuppofing he puts Bars and Mounds to the Torrent of their Malignity on fuch fides and not on others, Men will then be chaftifed to that degree he defigns they fhouid, he does in a more fpecial manner on fbme fides reftrain feme v/icked ■ Men, and leaves them open on others ; and fo varies their Ways and the breaking out of their Wickednefs, as to accompiifh his Judgments. Thus the Scripture calls pharotb^ and the King of dffyria. (a) the f(od of (a)\&. 10. God's Furyn the Axe of his Hand which he lifted up : 5, 15. not that God caufed and flirred up his Wickednefs, which on the contrary he would' gladly have extirpa- ted ; but this wicked Perfon being himfelf unwilling to have it fo, and pretending to make U fall upon whom he pleafed, God takes this mad Horfe by the Bridle, and flops his Courfe this way and t'other way, and gives him room but on f. ich and fuch fkL s, fo that he cannot flir outwardly bat juft where Gid leads him and Marks out his way. If Gcd does fe: more Re- ftraints upon other wicked Men as to the outward, I doubt not but it is partly becufe the Acls of their in- ward Corruption are not altogether fo malicious, and they a little hearken (though very imperfectly) to rhe good Infpirations of God; and laftly, becaufe too the Inundation of their Malice would be contrary to God's Defign of projecting and upholding the World in fome tolerable State, ana of not yet laying it quite wafte by punifhing it any more, and this partly for the fake of the Good that are in it and (or the Manifeftation of his own Good nets. CHAR 144 Of the Divine Providence CHAP. IX. Of the Divine Providence in the Revolutions of States and Empires. The true Grounds of Civil Government. I How Di. itineProvi* dence has prejidsd q- *ver the Principles of worldly J oliticks and their ^filiation. HIS is of a very near Nature to what I fhall fay when I come to (hew the Rife ©f thefe great Inequalities that happen in Empires and Monarchies^ and a thoufand Revolutions and diffe- rent Events wherein the Nations and People of the World are concerned, and how all this accords with the Impartiality and Univerfality of the Divine Providence. God beholds the Corruption of Man's Heart, its Extent, Obftinacy and Progrefs: he has often had Experience of it; and by this, together with his Knowledge of the malignant Difpofition of Satan and of natural and external Objects, he forefees that {hould he leave their Corruption to it felf, it would immediately plunge all Nature and Mankind into Con- fufion by Violence, Murders, Plunderings, Robberies, Whoredoms and by all forts of Hellifh Difbrders. This is the natural State of the Gentlemen the Poli- ticians, wherein every one is againft every one, and every thing is permitted to every one, and the ftrong- eft carries all; but it is by a Diabolical PERMISSI- ON and Malice, as far from the State of true and un- corrupted Nature as God is from the Devil. God defigning to prevent this hellifh Subverfion of all things, and fet thefe Difbrders into fome Order, did not for that purpofe appoint and allow that all {hould transfer this pretended Diabolical Right unto one Perfon, who might ufe it according to his own corrupt Fancy, and that his fb doing (hould be the Principle and Foundation of all Juftice, and that even 'tis God's Ellcem too, as blind Hobbs that Factor for Hell has publifhed to the World : but utterly difallow- ing all Mens corrupt Defires, he fet Barriers to the Corruption of fome more, and or. others lefs, according as in the Revolutions of States^ &rc. 145 as he faw that from thefe different Reftraints there Chap. IX. would arife a Syfttm of a corrupt World, or of a Poli- ^^V"NJ cy left diforderly, and more likely to preferve the Good, and to help the Wicked to forfake their Wick- ednefs whenever their Will was difpofed fb to do. II. Thus They whofe Corruption was left barri- II. The caded. ftretched out, like cruel and ravenous Beafts, Source and their Throats, their voracious Fury, their Ambition "ZualRife and Violence over all fuch as God left unguarded from °l §reatr them. The Great devoured the Lefs, and the Strong ^/j/y by mere devilifli and wicked Ambition enflaved the p0i;cy? Weak, fo far as God fuffered them ; who ftill rules them at his Pleafure. By thefe methods it was at firfl: that there actually arofe Empires, Monarchies, King- doms and ail thefe cruel Beafts that did conftantly make it their Sport to fink and devour one another, as it is frequently figured to us by the Holy Ghoft in Scripture and more particularly in the Revelations of the Prophet Daniel. But though this be in truth the rife of all worldly Policy, yet Two things mud be ob- ferved; and I take norffce of them the rather,becaufe if I did nor, fbme Slanderers might fancy I here give 'em but too fair an Occafion for their Calumnies. III. One of thefe things is this, that the Good being III. The the Weakeft, and feeing it is their Duty to work out Good mufi their Salvation among thefe wicked Men. and alfb to fubmit endeavour to bring them over to God, and to convert heartily to them by the Example of a pure and holy Life, they the Hi&°& muft likewife be fubjed to them, not only out of a. Prin- „™M7* * ciple of Fear^ as the Wicked that are weakeft are to unjU^ ' thofe that are ftrongeft, but alfo out of a. Principle of f Confcience (*), confidering and reverencing the Hand,'*/ Rom Direction, Ordinance and Difpofal of God herein, **" *' who lengthens or fhortens more or lefs the Chains of thefe cruel Beafts, and gives them a more or lefs fpaci- ous Field to range in, and leaves them fuch and fuch Paftcs open to punifh other wicked Men that opprefs the Good, and flops up others againft them, that the Good may live in quier. This Doctrine of fubmitting to the higher Powers is fb true,that were they the moft unjuft Ufurpers and crueleft Tyrants imaginable, yec would ic be our Duty to pay them all Subjection in L outward 146 Of the Divine Providence Godpum'jh es fuch by fnjfering States to defirvy one anotJitr. Chap. IX. outward things; pay it them, I fay, and the Officers U^VX; and Minifters of their urjuff. and Violent Orders. IV. It is IV. It is a moll wicked Doctrine to teach, (as fome not permit- States-Men do) that Subjects may lawfully kill a Ty- ed Subjects rant. The Good and Bad too ought to pay refpecfc to to kill a God's Direction, to his Executioner, and to the Ser- vants of this Executioner, I mean to Tyrants and their Officers. It is God's Bufinefs to intcrpofe here, and not that of the Subjects. And when God is pleafcd (b to do, feeing the Bead: grow too cruel, and that he would devour and (wallow down ail before him, he fets him Bars, and lets loofe another cruel Beaft to devour the firft ; and fo fucceflively, from Beaft to Beaff, one Beaft devours another; and likewife according as God is plealed differently to place the Obftacles and Bars which he more or lefs fets in their way, one Bead is fometimes divided into many that from time to time eat up one another, as is divinely (hewn in the Prophet Daniel. And thus fhall it be till towards the end of the wicked World, when it mould feem, that, one of thefe cruel Beads, a Whelp of fome Mighty One, (hall arife and devour not only all other Beafts that fhall be expo- fed to him as a Prey, but even the Good and Goodne(i it felf, and (hall fet up the Devil and all manner of Wickednefs even in the Temple and Worfhip of God himfelf, who (hall then come and deftroy this wild and enraged Beaft by the Brightnefs of his Glorious Ap- pearance ; after this there (hall be no more Beafts, but (a) All the KJngdoms of the Earth fhall become the Kingdom of God and of bis Chrifi^ who fhall reign for ever and ever. All this* is fet down, and that with particu- lar Circum (lances, in Daniel and the Apocalypfe. Hap- py is he to whom the Holy Ghoft (hall give the lively and clear Underftanding of this in its Seafon : I fay the Holy Ghoft, for it is in vain for Men to crack their Brains in commenting on thefe things before the time. V. The other thing which 1 (aid was to be ob- ferved is this, that we muff not only diftingui(h be- tween the Foundation or Monarchies and their prefent State, but likewiie that we are not to confound that of God. as it was among the Ifraelites, with thofe of the World. Though the Foundation and Enlargement of 'cm in his the Monarchies of the World be nothing at all but In- Aw, juftice, (a) Rev. jj. 15. V. Klng- and States are authorised vf God, and one may pre fide hi in the Revolutions of States y &c. 147 juftice, and the Title of Conqueror be but a hellifh Chap. IX. Quality and incompatible with that of a Child of God, VV"N.# yet when a State is either already fettled by Defcent or Invafion, God, to maintain things in as good Order as may be, and to avoid new and continual Confufions, permits and allows him that has the Government to continue in it, and inverts him with Wifdom and Au- thority to iffue out Orders and to fee them obeyed. And when fuch a Kingdom or State is become Heredi- tary and Succeffive, thofe on whom it is devolv'd, and thofe that adminifter the Government in it, may inno- cently do it in the Fear of God, and may become and continue his Children, provided that in their Interiour and as to what concerns God and their own Souls rhey pra&ife fuch things as have been explained in their pro- per place ; and as to theExteriolir, that they underftand, that their Duty is to be God's Inftrumenrs which he makes ufe of to curb the Wicked, for fear they fhould fwallow up the Good. I could enlarge upon this Sub- ject, and (hew the Plan of the whole Syrtem of it: but it would be a plain Digrefiion from my Defign. If therefore one or two Remarks that I have already made upon two or three Articles of it, as I went along be not enough I will add as many more. VI. I may be here told, that to fpeak of Powers as I VI. What have,is to fpeak too difadvantageoufly of them;thatone lhavefaiA I have a great Efteem for (rf),and that has folidly hand- to as more led this Subject, has referrd the Rife of Government particular- to Vertue, and the Support of it to the Donation of a ll with re- Princely and double Portion of the Spirit which Go&f?e6itoimm gives to fome for the governing of others. I anfwer, 7n9dJraU That I fpeak not of the Power it felf, and much lefs of * ?*" what Men might have done either out of Love to God, stluf. or from the moft regular Inft incls and Dictates of Na- ture, in fetting up the wifeft amongft them and thofe W Mrs. that were fitteft to rule the red. No doubt but God's Bourigmm, Blelling and Favour accompanies fuch Eftablifhments. '?„aTrea- But what I have faid is with refpeff. to fuch, who be- Tjlle °^ ing at firft inverted with a moderate and limited Power, ^"ftrh did afterwards abufe it; and by uliifping an unlimited Quakers Greatncfs and Force, which had no other Rule of Acli- on but their Appetites and Will, gave Birth to thefe great and cruel wild Beafts, fuch as were the four cele- L 2. brated i >, Of the Divine Providence Chap. IX.brated Mc narchies, which inftead of being well-order'd O^V\ Bodies of Sheep and Lambs, were nothing bur furious Lions, enraged Bears, Leopards and Tygers, and fuch like ravenous and murthering Beafls, as may be feen in Daniel. VIT Th ^^' * ^ave 0^rcnt'rnes admired the Ignorance and *vainToun- Ridiculoufnefs of mod of thofe that go about to give dation of Syftems of Polity, and to explain the Source and Na- Politicks ture of the States and Empires of the World. They laid doxvn did not fo much as know the Bottom of what they were by many . to treat of, nor the End it aimed at, nor what Form was to be given it. Some have gone upon a Suppofi- tion that all Men were by Naturegood, or at lead that it was the End of Political Eftablifhments to make 'em fo ; and thus they build us in the Air a Plato's Re- publick, that is of no life but in a World of Roman- ce?. Others, as Hobbcs, do in Effect fuppofe, though they do not exprefly tell you fo, that all Men are wic- ked, and then take this Wickednefs for the Ground and Principle of natural Right and Juftice ; and then upon this Principle of I know not what chymerical Right, they fall a telling us ftrange Stories, that Fear fir ft united Men and call'd 'em together to quit this fame curfed Right and make it over to fome one Perfon, who being invelled with it, becomes, as he fhall fancy, the Rule of Juft and Unjuft ; (o that whoever fhall from this time pay Obedience to the fnntaftical Laws of this pretended Oracle, is truly juft and pleafing to God. &c. which is all meer Satanical Dotage. VUl.Th'fe VIII. Others lay this down, That Secular Powers Towers arc were eft.ibliuYd to promote the Kingdom of God, to be notorJain- the Guardians, as they fay, of the Two Tables, to td ro fittle mofce Men ferve God, and ro reduce 'em to Obedience Religion to him : which are very dangerous Principles, and pro- *y their per t0 make Men OpprefTors of Conference, Sacrilegi- >trength. Qus an(j j-[yp0Cr;res# There might indeed be fome colour for this were we under a Theocratical Govern- ment, fuch as was that of the Jews in the Times of Mofes and the Judges, where all was done from the Mouth of the Lord, who did not extend the Right of outward Power but to outward Matters, and to a Wor- fhip that was undoubtedly of his own elfabli filing. But lince he has himfelf abolifhed thefe Institutions, and now in the Revolutions of St At es^ cVc. 149 now requires only that his Servants worfhip him inSpi- Chap. IX. rit and in Truth, and has left boih this and all Exter- l/YN; nals to Man's own Choice, in States purely Civil and Worldly, where the Will of Flefh and Blood, and the Will of Man, and even the Will of the Devil himfdf is moil commonly taken for the Will of God ; in thefe, I fay, to go to extend humane Right and Power to what concerns Man in Relation to God and eternal Sal- vation, is a plain Diforder, Encroachment, and Ufur- pation, and High Treafon againfr. the Majefty of God. IX. Man, who was created in an Angelical State, is IX- The by the Fall become as corrupt and as incipable of do- D^erence ing good of himfelf as the very Devil. < This Diaboli- *?¥** . Cal^ Matter, corrupted within and without, is that ',^7 which God is pleafed to take again into his Hands, to cj^t/ fee if he may yet make it an Angel, w t by meens nlMimfimal all the Powers of all Mankind, that can do no more anci t^s ' here than the Powers of the Devils can ; but by his Magi- ' Light, his internal Motions, by his Love, by Faith Jhates c/- Divine, and by all Kinds of Spiritual Operations, join- vilPow^r, ed with the Co-operation of Man's Liberty. This is what the Nature,the Subject Matter,and the Form of GOD's KINGDOM confifts in; It is a bright and benign Will and Power that gently infinu- atesmto a piece of Diabolical Matter, which freely re- figning upitfelf to God, does by his Operations upon it at laft become Angelical. When God is pleafed to make ufe of any exteriour Means to this Purpofe, 'tis by fending fome to fpeak to Men and inftrucl: them, and by Prayers, Exhortations and Remonilranccs to befeech them to filence the Diabolical Corruption of their Hearts, and to hearken to and receive the Voice and Operations of God within them. The Miniflerial Power of the Church, is a State that for its Subject Nature, Matter and Form ought to confift of Perfbns moved of God, entreating corrupt Men with all Mild- nefs to give Ear to God in their Interiour, and to defire the Defcent of his Grace into their Diabolical Hearts, that, by it they may be changed. Such as freely corre- spond to thefe two States (the Divine and Spiritual, and the, Minifterial) and fubmic themfelves to them, thefe become Subjects and Children of God, and re en- L \ \tt 150 Of the Divine Providence Chap. IX. tcr into their Angelical State : but fuch as correfpond U/*V*>J not to them, abide (till in their Corruption and Diabo- lical State, and yet during this Life God waits for their Repentance, and leaves fome good Men amongit them to ailiff. them in it. And that they may not deftroy rhe Good, nor take away one anothers Lives and Qui- et by the Overflowings of their Corruption, God, to prevent their lofing the only Opportunity of their Amendment, has erected humane Powers after fuch a manner as was (aid before. X.Thetfa- X. And thus, the Subject wherein Worldly Power ture and refides, its Nature, and the Matter it is concerned a- Duty of bout and the Form it is to introduce into it, are con- fowers. rained in this Proportion ; That Humane Powers are Perfons of the World who by a Principle of Force and Con- Jiraint are to watch ever corrupt Men, not by their Force to change them or maty them inwardly good and vertuous, but left the Diabolical Corruption of their Heart fbould Jo breal^ out as to difturb and deftroy the Good, or taty away from the Wicked that Life and Quiet, which they may yet , if they will , employ in working out their Salvation, XI. The XI. I do not deny but Magiff rates may be Holy Per- Duty of Tons, nor do I fay it is not their Duty to endeavour to Powers make Men Vertuous; but as Magiftratcs they need ttith n- not be the one, nor as fuch will they effect the Jpecf to other. All Force and outward Conftrair:t mutt here Mens spirit fa j^ afide, and nothing be done but by Remon* tual State, Frances and Exhortations, leaving every one free to be Vertuous or Wicked, provided they give no Difturb- ance to any one. Conhdering the prefent State of the World, a Magiftrate oughr to be very well fatisfied when his Subjects live orderly and quietly, and that they do no wrong, though as to what concerns God and themfelves they be never fo wicked, erroneous and corrupt. The moft he C2n of right do, is, to quit his Government of them, or let them alone, or rather to procure them unqueftionably good Means of Salvati- on, and leave every one to his Choice whether they will make ufe of them or not, to remain itill Children of the Devil or become Children of God as they pleafe; this not directly affecting the State : on the contrary, (hould ail become Children of God, this would be the Deftruction and End of all States : not that the Good in the Revolutions of States, &c. 151 Good would ever fail in paying Subje&ion and Obedi- Chap. IX" ence to their Sovereigns; but the Sovereigns them- /*Y*Ni felves and all the World being become Holy, they would freely with all Humility of Hearc fubmitriienv felves to every one, or rather all would be fubject to Jefus Chrift, who would then be a mod Glorious and Wonderful Monarch, making all his Subjects (b many Kings and Princes. But this belongs to the Tranfacli- ons of the other World. In this, Magiftrates ought to preferve their Right over Men, and keep them in Order as wicked as they are ; for indeed the wicked only are the Object and Matter of Civil Government : The Good are concerned in it only by Accident and as Strangers ; and were there none but good Men, fo far would they be from lording and compelling, that every one, as was (aid, would be difputing Subjection with his Brother, to which humble and hearty Conteft God would by his Divine Love give Regulations and an happy End. But among the Wicked we mull take other Meafures. XII. When I fpeak of wicked Men continuing fuch XII. The with all theirAccomplifhmentsthat fit them forSociety, Difference I meaji it of a real Wickednefs, by which they are lb in between God's fight, and not of a Civil Wickednefs. There is tmVntu* a vaft Difference between true Vices and Civil ones, and Civ:/* between true Goodnefs and Vertue, and between Vertue bet1»e™ and Goodnefs purely Civil: and this ought to be ex- ™j y-ces a£ly diftinguifhed, left otherwife we fhould fall into ,^,/^c/', Pharifaifm, and into that fatal Blindnefs of Spirit that vilSoci.ty. has almoft overfpread the World. In a well I ordered Society Men ought to be Vertuous, Honeft, Juft, and Chafte, and many really are fo, without having the leaft Grain of Vertue, Honefly, Juftice or Chaftity, in God's Eyes, who fearches the Heart, and Centre of the Soul, before whom we become not Juft and Vertuous but by the rough way of Purification before noted (<*). (a) Oec. In the Civil or Political Senfe we cannot without Co-oper. wronging them call a great many Men Wicked, nor Chap. 5,6. deny them to be Men of Probity and Honour : but in the Divine, God knows, and all whofe Eyes God has opened know too, that were thefe Good and Honeft Men but to have a View of themfelves in the Light Divine, they would fee themfelves with all their L 4 Probity 152 Of the Divine Providence Chap. IX. Probicy nothing but abominable Sinks of all the Filrh LOPO of Hell. And this is true of every one that is not re- generate, however trimmingly his old Adam may be dreffed and adorned as to Civil Society, which con- cerns not it felf with inward Corruption though never fo Deviifh. He may be as great a Villain and profli- gate a Wretch as he will, and yet go for an honefr. Gentleman, if his Wickednefs has no ill Afpecl: upon the Civil Interefts of others : this makes one Civilly vertuous,but really and in Div-nity, a Child of the De- vil and of Hell; hut with this Difference between other extravagantly loofe Fellows and the fe that can for Hu- mane and Civil Refpe&s keep under their Paflions, that thefe are better difpofed to hear, if they will, the good Spirit of God in their Interiour when he calls them: who if they liften to him will teach them a Vertue, Juftice, Chaftity and Honefty, and indeed a whole Syftem of Morality of quite a different Strain and Genius from what the Polity of the World ever yet taught. XIII. In XIII. But to return to the Revolutions that happen all affairs in States, I think I have faid enough to (hew how in and Revo- their Beginnings, in their Duration, in their Changes lutionsre- and in their End, they are under the juft and univer- gardmufi fal Providence of God, to which principally, and al- ^W#-moft folely we mould have regard in all forts of Af- cialIytothefors and Revolutions: Not but that Humane and Poli- ffcfrf t5ck Pnjdence and Firmnefs, the Malice, Artifice and ^ ° ' Counfels of Men have their Share in them ; but they are no further concern'd than God is pleafed to let loofe the Reins, or to curb them more or lefs by Obftacles laid in their way. And hence it is that fome are ftout and others ftupid. fome daring and others heavy and drowfv, fome fucceisful r.nd others unhappy in all they undertake. The Princes of T^oan are become Fools \ the Prin» Jfa. 19. cesof Noph are deceived^ they have alfo (educed Egypt y even 13,14. they that are the ft ay of the Tribes thereof. And how comes this ? The Lord hath mingled a perverfi Spirit in the midft thereof, and they have caufed Egypt to err in eve- ry rvorl^ thereof as a drunken Man ftaggeretb in his Vomit. This is what the Politicians ought toobferve, who fan- cy they can penetrate and unfold every thing,that they can undertake and execute every thing by their own Strength, in the Revolutions of States y &c. 153 Strength, Application and Forefight, not thinking of Chap. IX. this Saying of God which is addrefs'd to them, For it is 'yYV a Day of Trouble, and of treading down, and of Perplexity by the Lord God of H'fts in the Valley ofVifion, fjerufalem, £1' S> corrupt Chriftianity and the States thereof,) breaking 9> c* down the Walls, and of crying to the Mountains.—- And ye have feen alfo the Breaches of the City of David, that they are many, and have gathered together the Waters of the lower Pool : and )e have numbered the Uoufes of JERUSA- LEM, and the Houfes have ye broken down to fort i fie the Wall. Ye made alfo a Ditch between the two Walls^ for the 'Water of the old Poo/, But ye have not looked unto the Maker thereof \ nor had refpect unto him that fajhioned it long ago. And in that Day did the Lord God of Hefts call to weeping and to mourning, and to Baldnefs, and to girding with Sackcloth ; and behold Joy and Gladnefs, /laying Oxen and filling Sheep, eating Flefh and drinking Wine ; let us eat and drinl^, for to mor- row we fhall die. (We (hill not live always, nor (hall we ftill have Opportunities to take our Pleafure ; een let us take it now while wc may, and while all things are at our Command and Difpofal.) And it was reveafd in mine Ears by the Lord of Hefts, Surely this Iniquity fhall not be purged from you, till ye diey faith the Lord God of Hofts. CHAP. X. Of the Truth and Certainty of Divine V re diet ions And Prophecies ? and of their Accom]>li(hment. L L that I have hitherto been treating j % of may feme to explain as fundamen- ^. - tally and as fully as is requifite, this ^w confiderable Difficulty which was pro- f^e t0 re. pofed in the very firft Treatife, and contileLi- though upon feveral Occafions prefent- berty and ed to us, was ftill put off till now ; I mean the DihV PrcdiftU culty touching Divine Prophecies and Predictions onf- which I he may foretel them becaufe he abfblutely wills andinfal- the doing of them : but as thofe that are accidental to . Uble: But \\ do more or lefs require the Intervention of Man's what was Liberty, and (b their coming to pafs is not of abfolute acceflory Certainty, but only of a moral and conditional one \ fo could not )}kewjfe are tne Predictions and Prophecies concerning tld" tnem- ^° &'ve Examples of this. To delight himfelf in Body, Soul and Divinity with Men upon the Earth in Glory, is the Ejjential of God's Defign: this fhall sbfolutely be done; and God will by his Power cut off all that oppofes this Defign of his. Hence God has foretold and prophecied abfolutely in all the Prophets, that he will come and reign in Glory with Men on the Earth. This Prophecy and Predi- ction is of all, without exception, the molt eflential, the moft abfolute, and the moil certain. It is accidental to the Defign of God, and to the e£ fential Completion of it, that Sin fhould happen, and *frut Man fhould oppofe God. It was poilible and ea(y are con ji (lent with Liberty. 157 eafy and more pleafing to God that the effential of his Chap. X. Dcfign and Work fhould have been accomplifiYd with- L/*~Y"NJ out the Intervention of Sin rather rhan by it. Granting this, (upon Suppoficion too that God had already the Idea of Sin by the Fall of the Angels), this Event cou'd not be absolutely foretold before Man's Fall ; it being a thing neither abfolute, nor neceflary, nor e£ fential to God's Defign or Work ; but on the contrary, as was obferved, God wou'd without this acceflory E- vent of Sin, have attained the Accompllfhmmt of his eflential Work much fooner, and tafier, and in a way much more pleafing to himfelf. Therefore did not God before the Fall foretel to Adam his Sin and his Pu- niihment but only conditionally , nor indeed was the Certainty of it any more than conditional. V. But after the happening of this Incident of Sin, V. After God going on with the effential of his tirif. Purpofe,and sJn [heEf- conftantly confirming the Certainty of it9 did moreo- rnt[al of ver make ufe of two kinds of middle Works, or Means ^od iDe" to remove the Obftacles that were accidentally laid in ^fj • r*" the way to his principal Defign. The fi*ft of thefe thTolJt Works is in Scripture called (a) The Worl^ of God \ as be- f/w t0 *ff ing his own propc r Wnrk ; and it confifts in his offer- may be re- ing Divine Lights and Motions to Man, and alfo out- mo-odby ward Means to drive fin frorn his Heart. Upon this, tvo fort* God s principal Defign is in a fair way of being fulfnTd. of Ways or The other Work of God is in Scripture called Q) his Works, ftrange fVor^ and his flr'afige Aft, to which he is not usyd ; and it confifts in this ; that when a Perfon or Nation, or ^"' f* the World in general, will not refign their Liberty to q* anA God and let him bring forth in 'em his Light and Di- *P' r?" vine Motions, nor leave off finning, he then cuts them oft frorn the Earth, which he afterwards purifies, and (£) Ifa. comes thither with the good part of Mankind to accom- 28. 21. plifh his principal Defign ; which he has fo certainly Foretold as to afTure us, that it (liould be by this that Men fhou'd acknowledge him to be the True God, and (hou*d in times to come giorifie him by fwearing (c) by Wlfa.tfj. The God of Truth. ie- VI. Now i 58 Predictions and Prophecies VI. Tho VI. Now 'tis obfervable, That it fs a Thing of no it be a Moment as to God himfelf, by what way hecompaffes thing of no his tirft Defign, whether direclly, v/ithout the acceffo- Importance rv ]7vent 0f $in^ or Sin happening ; by the way of his to God ho* propcr Wofk^ or o[. hJs ftrange Work< Ir is a horrible »»P"rpoJ< Falfity t0 think that either God or his Glory needed be accom- . , J . re 1 L )n.. , A, *//7J>V yet l"e intervention ot bin, or that this Divine Glory re- does he quir'd the Way of God's ftrange Work rather than of chufe the his proper Work. On the contrary, God wiuYd only way of his the Way of Uprightness and Holy ne/s, and abhorr'd the Work of Way of Sin, which he endeavour'd to prevent by doing Love, whatever was feafible on his part. And after Sin hap- pened, he does and always will endeavour to attain his main End by the means of his proper Work, without the Intervention of his ftrange Work. VII. Pre- VII. And therefore it is that in Scripture he pro- ditlitms of claims and foretels Good after fuch a manner as plainly Cood and fhews he wiihes all Creatures, even the moft wicked, Evil: hero Babylon the Harlot and her Daughters and Inhabitants God funds would comply with, and be healed by his Work of afiftcd to- Love : and that when he denounces and foretels Evil, toardi\m. whether particular or univerfal, he gives evident To- kens of his Difpleafureat it, that he wifhes it might not be fo, and ferioufly invites the generality of the Wick- ed to avoid ir, being always moft ready to fpare them ; (a) See that being as poiTible (a) and as pleafing to God, and Chap. 4. jn it felf indifferent ; not to fay that it more direclly § 9- contributes to the accomplishment of his main De- fign. Vlll.Thefe VIII. Now fince Men are free either to admit or not Predictions to admit the Operations of God, and to give place ei- are not of therto his proper or his ftrange Work ; the Predidfci- abfolute . ons concerning thefe things are not of abfblute, phyfi- andphyfi- c^\ anc; infallible Certainty, becaufe abfolutely fpeak- cal Cer- jng tnefe things may go otherwife3and God for his part tsmty. wifhes they may do fo. IX, D:ff,- IX. What then is the degree of Certainty of thefe rent Dr.~ Predictions, and whence have they it ? There are feve- grees of ral forts of it. Certainty I# Fir ft, The things God will abfolutely do himfelf 1 m P/edi* niay be foretold with an entire Certainty : fuch as are ffims. x^e offer of the Lights of God and of his Graces both The Firftt inward and outward, the Calling the Gentiles and all Nations, and the like. a, $£*mdbt are confident with Liberty. 159 %, Secondly, Particular Per fons being free, it cannot The Second. be foretold as a thing abfolute and ofneceffary Futu- rition, and phyncally infallible, who they are that will and will not correfpond. And fo all the Predictions and Prophecies of this kind, the Promifes and Threats of future Good and 111, luppofing Man's Correfpon- dence, which is free, are, properly fpeaking, conditio- nal ; though propofed never fo abfolutely, whether Touching good things which God gives upon Corre- fpondence, or Evils which he threatens. It is the pare of Min's Liberty to make himfelf at his Choice theOb- ject or Subject ofthefe Goods or Evils, and to gratifie God, who rather wifhes the Good than the 111. Yet becaufe God knows the Thoughts and Inclina- tions of Man, the Strength of his Habits, Satan's Me- thods of acting and tempting, the phyfical Influences of the Heavens and Elements upon Man, the Impreffi- on all this makes upon ourjsouls, how the corrupt Suul follows the Tide of its Pailions, Inclination, and Tem- per, in a word, the Imprefljons of Nature and of Flelh and Blood ; all this, together with the Knowledge God likewife has, as far as he pleafes, of the Obftacles he will put in the way, and of the different Courfe he will give the breaking our of Man's Corruption and its Acts, this I fay enables him to forfee and foretel, when he pleafes fo to do, what will come to pafs with as great Certainty, as it may be foretold, that one who is habituated to fuch a Vertue or Vice, and going into a place where he will meet with Objects that will a- waken his Habits, will exert Acts that are proper to them. X. This laftkind of Certainty, though not abfolute, X. Hov is yet fo great that it comes very (hort of that which is great the converfant about Events of abfolute neceility. And in- moral Cer- deed, is it not certain, or within a very little, that a tainty of Drunkard and Glutton almoft choaked and ftarved, Predictions coming where all forts of Provifions arc at his fervice, 'f? will as certainly cram and make himfelf drunk, as if he did it only by Mechanifm and Neceility without the leaft Degree of Liberty. Yet it is ftill true, that abfolutely fpeaking, he might by ufing his Liberty do otherwife: but how feldom does this happen ; Can one find one in ten thoufand that does it ? For He muft ufe 160 Predictions and Prophecies Chap. X. ufe a great Denial of himfelf and his corrupc Appetites, \/"/\ and he muft offer to himfelf mighty Violence, before he can do it ; and this makes the Cafe fo rare and Co difficult, but yet is it not impofiible. Hence it is that notwithstanding all the moral Cer- tainty of thefe Predictions, yet thofe of Evil may not come to pafs,would Men but do their Duty in denying themfelves,as God deiires and commands they fhould ; and thofe of Good may not be fulfilled to them, unlefs Men anfwer the Conditions on which they were tacit- ly founded ; and (fill in this cafe, God would make them good towards fbme others. XI. The XL For there is yet this difference between good and Predictions ill Predictions; the good if we confider them in them- of Good felves fhall affuredly have their Completion ; for cannot but though fome particular Perfbns to whom they were be fulfilled, addreffed may deprive themfelves of the Benefit of them thofe of by not obferving the Terms they were given upon ; Evil may yct wj}j qocj ratJfie them towards others that (hall fub- ****' mit to the Conditions : whereas Predictions concerning Evil may abfolutely have no outward and formal Event, would but all correfpond to God's Calls, who would not need to look out, or raife up others to accomplifh upon them the Predictions of Evil. He would be very well pleafed could he find none fuch. XII There ^' ^Pon tn*s lt mav a^ter a^ ^e as^e^» firft$ Whe- hav'e been l^T tnere cver were ^ucn Predictions as were not ac- ■ Divine complifhed. And fecondly, If upon fuppofition the E- VrediHions vent of fuch as concern Evil never did, nor never were without to happen, this wou'd not deftroy, I do not fay the theirEvent Truth of Predictions (for I have already (4) anfwered ( * ~ this) but the Defignsof God upon Men ? I anfwer the Chap r# ^ Qyeft^on D7 tne Examples of Scripture it felf, * 7 *' wherein we fee Prophecies and Predictions of God, as well in marter of Good as of Evil, whereof the Event never happen'd to thofe Perfons to whom it was de- (b) 1 Sam c^ar'^- See wnat God himfelf fays to Eli (/>), I faid 2 .0 ' indeed (and that is refblvedly enough to foretel a thing} that thy Houfe and the Houfe of thy Father fhould wall^ be- fore me for ever. But now the Lord faith , be it far from me, for them that honour me I will honour, and they that de- fpife me fhall be lightly cfteemed: behold the day cometh that I will cut off thine arm, &C. As are confident with Liberty. \6 As for Predictions concerning Evil, there is the ft- Chap. X. mous Prophecy of God againft the Ninevites, that was - * '""S! denounced abfblutely, (c) Tct forty days and Nineveh fh all (c) Jonah be deftroyed: which yet did not fo come to pafs. }' *• There is a formal Prediction which God exprefsly lent to King E^ekjah by the Mouth of the Prophet 1/ai- ab, whom he commanded to tell him from him, that he was fick unto Death, (d) Thus faith the Lord^ fit thine M I*"a« boufe in order for thou fh alt die and not live. And yet ^ ' lm this through the Prayers of that pious King came not to pafs. XIII. It would be fuperfluous to alledge other Ex* XIII. No- amples. Thefe fhew the Truth I am eftablifhing evi- thing will dently .enough to fuch as are teachable: but as for thcfatisfo un~ indocile, who will underftand nothing but what they teachable have already got in their Head and are refblved there Men> mr to keep it,, all the Examples in the World, all the De °?en thelr clarations and the very Oaths of God himfelf cannot E^ss' fatisfie them. If the fame God, who has fbmetime fworn that be would not the death of Sinners, even after he had foretold it them* and who afTures them that this Prediction may not come to pafs, and that that is what he defires, fhould now come and fwear in the moft ex- press Manner poflible, that the Docirine of a Predefti- nation determinate, infallible and immutable as to par- ticular Perfbns and Events, were a falfe Dodlrine ; and that Men notwithstanding any Prediction concerning their Life or their Death, have the Liberty by the Grace of God to fave themfelves, or through their own fault to damn themfelves, and that none of thefe Pre- dictions is of infallible Event ; fuch ftrongly prepof- fefs'd Perfons would not believe a word of k. They would look out Diftinctions to wrefi: the Words of God were they never fb plain, and make him fay, white is black: and fuch they would eafily find out, for nothing is more eafie than for a Heart, that is dark and loves its Errours, to deceive it felf, cfpecially fince Art has been added to corrupt Nature, and that for fear they fhould want Means to deceive themfelves, Men feem for no other end to have encouraged Study in all Parties but to get Belief to their Doctrines, and to difguife the Er- rors they are refolved to embrace under the Mask and Designs thereby ume to* ^e travcrs'd and defeated ? I anfwer, that the very con- f*fs yet tfary t0 tm's would have happened ; and I think I have rowel it ■ above (b) {hewn, how if the Evil foretold had never not dero- come to pafs, the Prediclions would then have attain'd gate at all their true End and their raoft perfect Accomplimroent, from tho and that then God's Defign had been compleated the Completion nobleft and fborreft Way. And this is made more in- cfGods t^lligible from what has been faid of God's main and f*Y$u ^bftantial Defign, and of his proper, and his ftrange ; XV. Men have foolifhly and unhappily conceited XV. Sm is t^at jt was an e|fential part of God's Defign to have it not ncccj^ brought about by fuch ways wherein Sin and Corrup- iMllmzlf llon mou^ have their parts, and that without thefe ob* GocCspJ- li*!ue w^ys God's Defign would mifcarry. All per- pfii fe6t Miftake this! God has infinite ways to come to the Ratification of his Purpotes, and none of thefe ^ ways require Sin, but Purity only. Meverthelefs Man"' having opened this unhappy and ftrange way, God, to finifti his Defign is pleated to endeavour his Recovery by his proper and Divine Work; but as, when Sinners are refolved to purfue obftinately their own Courtes, God is pleated to reftrain them, he is alfb pleated to fortel their Evils, but fb and with Defign ; that if Men do their beft, thefe Evils fhall not befal them. If they do not befal them, then God's folid and main Defign always Handing firm, God would accomplifh it by a hundred other ways of Purity \ and fo only the oblique way of his ftrange Work would thereby become im- practicable : which would be fo far from difpleaiing God that it would be his and his Angels Joy, and would give him an Opportunity of accomplishing his grand and only eflential Defign much fooner and more agreeably, and in a more direclly glorious and happy Manner are confident with Liberty, 1 6 j - Manner than otherwife. I will explain this by fbme Chap. X, Examples confidered hypotheticaliy. o^V>J XVI. The Prophets had foretold that Jefus Chrift XVI. An fhould be rejected and put to Death by the Jewifh Na- Example tion. No doubt the Rejection and Crucifixion of the iwithrels- Son of God were great Sins in thofe that were guilty of tim t0 the them, and confequently, there is no Queftion but God E"Jlls that did moft ferioufly and heartily defire that neither the roere c°m~ Jews, nor any other Perfons fhould commit this Sin. ^//-'j^ and that it was for this End that he caufed fb many Pr Q^ria Truths to be Preached to them, and did them fb much t0 £eatb. good by his Son, whom he fent to them exprefsly and di- rectly to (often them,and to make them bring forth and render to him theFruits of Righteoufnefs and not to give them occalion to kill him ; as appears as clear as the Day by the Parable (a) of theServants fent into theVine- (a) Mat. yard to gather the Fruits of it,and at laft of his well be- 21. 33- , loved Son, whom the Father of the Family fent likewife on the fame Errand,wirh Intention and Defire that they (hou'd reverence his Son : It may be, fays he, when they fee him, they will reverence him. But when God had, upon his Refblution of this Embafly, forefeen the wil- ful Obftinacy and Rage of the Jews, and that neverthe- lefs the Salvation of good Men required Jefur Chrift* s Prefence in the Flefh to draw them out of their Igno- rance, then God contented it fhould be fo though at the Expence of his Son's Perfections and Murther, and upon Suppofition of this wilful Obftinacy of the Jews, he foretold their Crime particularly enough. Let us fuppofe now, that, feeing abfolutely fpeak- ing, the Jews were free and might change ; and that the Certainty of this Prediction was not inconfiftenc with their Change, fuppofe we, I fay, that in effect they had not rejected nor killed the Son of God 3 what would the Confequence of this have been? Firft, God's Defign and his moft direct Intention towards the Jews, which was that they fhould be converted, and bring forth Fruit and live and honour his Son, would have been accomplifhed. Secondly, the Son of God and the converted Jews would have been employed to call and convert the difperfed Ifraelites, as well as the Heathen, where they would have met with other Enemies, and other wicked Men, who would either have been con- M a verted 164 Predictions and Prophecies Chap. X. verted or not. If we fuppofe they wou'd not have V/VNJ been converted, then would Jefus Cbrift and his Fol- lowers bnle ^dV? tne Redemption of Man Inc Ch roight ^ave been wrought without Jefus Chrift's bodily , j/c o. Dearh. I have in another place (a) faid what is necef- fary to fatishe this Difficulty. XVII. a- XVII Afccond hypothetical Example of what I af tor&er Ex-jkrffafiy be this. Supp:>fe we that the great Predi- »mple,up~ dions of the Reign of Antichrift, of the Corruption infuppop- and Extermination of the great \A hore, and ofbeaftly tim that Chriftendom never come to pafs, becaufeChriftians to enbein& efcape the dreadful Punifhments hanging over their theztnrak ^cac*s-> ant* t0 plfi*fc God, fhould become truly con- Plaiues™ verrcd (for 'tis in this cafe alone that the Evils foretold fallnotup- may nor come to pais, and without this their Event is #* 'em. . as certain as any Truth in Mathematicks, as are gene- rally all forts of Predictions of Evil excepting in the cafe of Repentance; : if therefore in fuch cafe, rhe Pre- dictions concerning the great Whore and her Excifion did not come co pAk, what then ? What Inconvenience wou'd are confident to Liberty. 165 wou'd it be if through (b holy a Means they were not Chap. X. ratified ? Would God be deceived ? No, for he fore- ~S s~\J (aw that abfblutely fpeaking it was pofhble thefe things fhou'd not happen, and that they wou'd not come to pals but upon fuppofnion of Man's Impenitence. Would he have milted his Defign ? His direel: Defign is only the Salvation, San&ification and Glorification of Men : the reft is only his foreign Work, not intend- ed by him, and which he would willingly forbear. If Babel wou'd be convemd,thc Defire of God and Angels wou'd be fulfilled, and God's principal Work, would be in a fair Preparation of being fpeedily accomplifhed by the directed way. The Deftruclion of Bibel and of all its Accomplices would be fulfilled in the Interi- our : Babel wou'd be deftroyed in the Souls of Men ; its Abominations, its Pomps, its Strength, Life and all that belongs to it would be cut off by the Sword of God's Word, and confumed in the Fire of his Love, and that not without Torment (though to Salvation) in her true Purification, wherein all her Sins, Mon- ftroufnefs, and Wounds wou'd be laid open. XVIlt. If it be faid, thefeare but the Fooleries of XVIIT. fome Myftick Divines ; I anfwer, This Reproach is 7ktsf»fasr but a piece of Impiety of wicked and ignorant Men. J? a Jf°(m The internal things of the Spirit are before God fo-^ ^f' much incomparably more real than external things, as ?roac*' can't be exprefs'd. It is certain God makes more Ac- count of the fpiritual and myftical Death of one only Soul, that is to fay, of the extermination of the old Adam, and of Corruption out of it, than of the Death and Excifion of a thoufand wicked Men, nay, than of all the wicked Men in the World. Iff*) there (a) Luke be Joy in Heaven for one Sinner that repents^ there 1 5- 7*13. would be Abyfles of inexpreffible Joys if Babel could be myfticallyand fpiritually exterminated, with- out needing to be ftricken outwardly, and to be caff e- ternally Body and Soul into the bottomlefs Pit. O how pleafing would this be to God ! But feeing (he will uot% though God ufes all Means poilible to bring her to if, he contents, upon her diabolical Obftinacy, that the Works of her Hands fliou'd fall upon her ; which will certainly fink her, except (he return to God, as fhe might if (he wou'd. When all is done, God will finifh M 3 his 1 66 Predict ions- and Prophecies Chap. X. his capital DeGgn, which can never mifcarry, whate- i^^V^^ ver Diverfities and Differences, whatever Variations Men may occafion in his acceflbry Ways and Me- thods. XIX. The XIX. The lad Example is one that God hirafelt la(i Exam- helps us to. He had foretold to the Jfraelites that were f!c taken ;n Egypt, that he wou'd bring them into the Land of from wat Canaan . anc] jacov% feft will is fill'd with Prediaions bifel ta.s Q£ what fhould befaH each Tribe. Neverthelefs, in the Wildernefs, God was juft going to cut 'em all off bur Mofes : and had certainly done it but for his Inter- ceiTion. What wou'd then have become of the Pre- dictions, and of God's Purpofes concerning the Jewifli Nation? I anfwer, That God wou'd have executed 'em a hundred other ways ; one of which he makes known (a) Exod. to Mofes (), which the Reader may con- (£)Oecon, fult if he pleafes. Had God been pleafed to remain in ot the the Abyfs of his own Eternity wherein there is no Du- Creat.Ch. ration nor Succeflion, he wou'd never have made any J3, 14? & Creatures, nor have manifefted himfelf to any : But be- ing pleas'd to manifeft himfelf to Creatures that are du- rable and their Acts fucceilive, and being pleas'd aifo to correfpond and Comport with them and their A6ts, this does in the Nature of the thing imply in him the Will to fuit the arbitrary and free Acts of his Good- pleafure to them, to their Duration and their Succeill- on. This in my Opinion ought to fetisfie, though I (c) Chap, had not (c) before iuggefted, that Jefiis Cbrift, God- S.11.6. Man being the Perfon prefiding over Divine Provi- dence, and the Execution of God's Defigns, it is no wonder if in him there be fyeceffion and diverfity of thoughts,. T are confifient with Liberty. \ 6j XXI. I was tempted to fet down here by way of Re- XXI. The capitulation of the preceding Matters, what is in the Sum of Apologetick Preface to Mrs. Bouri^nons Life from the v^at has 170th Page to the i7_fth, and to cite what the fublime *-*»/**• John of the Crofs fays about Predictions and their E- vents in the 19th and 20th Chapters of the Second Book of his Afcent to Mount Carmsl: But without tranferibing any thing, I chufe rather to content my (elf with the bare Citation I make, and here to end the firft of the three things I defigned to treat of in this Book, which will be eaGly underftood if we but well confider, that nothing is neceflary to God but himfelf, his Image, and his Love; and that all things elfe are to him indifferent, arbitrary and acceflory : That he having been pleas'd acceflbrily to frame Ideas and Things, his principal and di reel: Aim in this his arbitrary Plea& re was to com- municate to his free Creatures his Felicity, by and up- on a faithful and holy Correfpondence on their Parts ; that, Sin intervening merely by accident, and againft God's Intention, 'tis all one to God how Sin be re- piov'd, and that it is more pleafing to him, and more agreeable to his Defire, that it be taken away by the Conversion rather than by the DeftrudHon of the Sub- ject it is in. And laftly, that, however it be, God will be fare to attain what he arbitrarily defign'd with his Creatures, which Defign of his neverthelefs is no way eflentiai to him. This fundamental Scheme well comprehended will take away the Difficulty of all the reft. — M 4 CHAP. 168 Freofs and peculiar Advantages CHAP. XL The Advantages' and. Proofs of this Syjlem. of Grace, Providence and Liberty ; and the in- juffrable Jnconveniencies of other Syfierns. I. The Con- | nexion of what went before with what fol- lows : Some Reflexions upon this Syftem in reference to theUnivtr' fality of Grace. THINK I have all along hitherto given a Syftem of Divine Providence fuf- ficiently compleat, and have (hewn how it agrees with the Univerfaliry of Grace, whereof I have likewife fhewn the Nature and Operation's in the pre- ceding Traces. I once thought I (hou'd do well to prove now dellgnedly this Univerfality : but having done it already from many original and folid Heads in the foregoing Treatifes as the divers Subjecls there handled gave me Occafion, I fhall confine my felf to fome (hort Reflexions upon this Syftem of Providence and Grace, and beg the Reader to confider with me thefe Three or Four Things, which, if I miftake nor, are enough to affure us of the Truth of any Syftem. five Proofs *• The Firft is this,That all forts of Cqnfiderations, end M- Divine and Humane, all lorts of Teftimonies, of God, vantages Confcience, and Nature, lead us to our Syftem. of this Sy- 2.. The Second, That this Syftem fatisfiesall the At- fiem above tributes of God, and the whole Duty of Man. others. ^ ^he Third, That it is abfolutely impoftlble to find any Way but this, to anfwer all thefe and a thoufand more Difficulties. 4.. The Fourth, That all other Syftems are fo far from fatisfyingTrurh, that they are inexhauftible Sour- ces of the groffeft Falfities imaginable. /. The Fifth, That our Syftem has no Difficulty peculiarly belonging to it ; and that none can be ob- jected againft it either from the Nature of things Di- vine or Humane, or from the Teftimony of Scripture, ro which it does not plainly and clearly give a fatif factory Anfwer, and which are not according to it vay eafjein themfelves, of this Syflem. 169 ! H. (1.) In effect, to run over each of thefe Confide- II. (1 ) rations again, if it be remembred what was (hewn in God, his the firft Treatife, we cannot but obferve that all the N*ture,his Confiderations of God's Nature, of his Purpofes and Dejtgns^he Decrees, and of the Creation, do jointly tend to con- ^jw vince us, that God made all Men only to be eternally tfjg Jrmh happy. I remit you to the Confiderations that make ^f this Sy- the Twenty Eighth Chapter of that Treatife, and am jierjJm fure one cannot after that reafonably queftion this Truth : for rhence it appears that the Conftitution of the Nature of every one of us and our Creation is n°t really diftincl from the Deftination of every one of us to fupreme Happinefs, and from the direct Way to the actual Attainment of it. All (but Spinoza and fbme of his Atheiftical Follow- ers) are agreed that God made all things for Tome End\ that he has given them a Nature and Faculties, by which they are carried towards, and do attain that End ; which when they have attained, they are in a State of Acqui- efcence, of Joy and Reft, of Content and Happinefs ; for then they enioy what they were made for. God is the End of all things, but efpecially of Man. But God is no dark, tormented Being, full of Rage, Sadnefsand Pefolation ; but he is Light, Peace, Joy, Love and De- light. Therefore the End of every Man's Creation is a bright, peaceful, joyous, delightful Life ; in a Word, eternal Life is the End of every Man's Creation. And as for Man's Nature and Faculties, they principally con- fift in Sentiment or Life, in the Defire, the Under- standing and Liberty : the Objects of Life or Sen- fibility, are what is pleafant ; of the Defire, Good ; of the Intellect, Truth ; of the Liberty, an infinite and undetermined Reception and Enjoyment of Good : aU which are God himfelf and Eternal Life: for the Plea- fant, the Good, the Truth and the Infinity of Good is God himfelf. It is the fame thing for God to will the Creation of, and actually to create a living and fenfi- ble, a defiring, intelligent and free Subject, as to will and actually to make a Subject whofe Nature and End fhall confift in its being carried to an infinite Sentiment, Knowledge and Love of God, that is to fay, in being deftinated to be happy, and that to all Eternity ; fince its End and its Faculties are of an irrimortal and eternal Mature, 170 Proofs and peculiar Advantages Chap. Xh. Nature. Therefore are all Men deftined and created ■^fV °f- God to be freely and eternally happy. III. Other tjj Let us confider, that God could not draw hira- P™°JS fr ^ other Ways, nor frame another Image of himfelf IfrMS than as he is, bright, glorious, happy, and peaceable, *(lem ^'aty* perfectly harmonious with hirnlelf. Let us ask, our Conference, and confuit the Words and Conduct of God, even fince the Fall, how he received Man into Favour again prefently after his Sin ; and how, laftly, this his Favour and Grace was extended to all his De- fendants, he offered it to him when they were yet in him and the fame thing with him, to the end that (ac- (a) Rom. cording to St. Paul's way of reafbning) (a) the Root be- ll. 16. ing received into Favour, the Branches might be €0 too ; and the firil Fruit being recalled to Life, the whole Lump might be Co likewife. The Care and Effects of Providence towards all, the Offers of inward and natural Means to all; the Offej of extraordinary Means to fqrae, by them to call the whole World ; that every Man is with God's Ailjftance put in a Capa- city of Salvation ; trie Confideration that this Life is in the Nature of it a Time of Deliberation and Trial whether we will chufe Life or Death; the Love, Dig- nity and Merit of the Mediator, which are infinite and above all Conception; that of his Power, greater to five than the firfl Man's was to damn us ; laftly the Confideration of a thoufand -And a thoufand Graces of Prevention and Correfpondence whicn he has fhed and continually does fhed forth upon- his Creatures, do no- thing but lead us to this fame Truth which is attefted by all the Scriptures, and that by God's own Swearing and Oath, as well as all the Writings of fuch Holy Per- fbns who have enjoyed the Light of God in its greateft Purity. And when God threatens, when he promifes and foretels Good and Evil, and at the fame time ex* horts Men to qualifie themfelves to partake of the one, 2nd to avoid (he other, and even to prevent their fal- ling out, this all leads us manifeftly to the Syftem we have been propoGng of Providence, of the Previ- fiqn'of thing3 •' to.com?, and of Man's Liberty. of this Syftem. 171 IV. (z.) But if there be any thing that demonftrates IV. (2.) the Advantage of this our Syftem, it is its perfectly fa- ThisSyflem tisfying all that God's Attributes and Man's Duty re- agrees with quire. The \Jowery Infinity, Independence and Commu*a^Goei s nicability of God, require, that in cafe he be pleas'd to fttn~ . communicate hi mfelf actually, that he Create a Subject JJ-," ' J/* free and independent of every thing but it felt in its Man>i Dtlm Determination of it (elf; juft as we have propos'd it. ^ GodL.s3ufii.ee requires the lame ; orherwifc God wouM not render to every one according to their Works, their Operations, and their refpeclive Choices ; but according to the pure and fimple Meafure of his own Will independently on Man. The Wifdom of God exacfo that he make nothing but what is conformable to himfelf, to his Truth, his'Holinefs, his Love and Acquiefcence ; and therefore, that he make neither Nature, nor Faculties, nor Means, but to be conform- able to himfelf, to his Truth, to his Love, Holinefs and Bleffednefs. The Holinefs of God is infinitely re- mote from Sin and from contenting to it, nor can we have a purer Conception of it, than by acknowledging that God has neither decreed, wiird,nor permitted Sin, and that he neither made nor fo much as had any Idea of it before it actually happen'd ; fo far was he from willing the Damnation of tome as a means to ma- nifeft his Juftice, fince Damnation includes Sin, which God wills not, and without which Hell and all the Torments of it wou'd be turn'd into infinite Delights. The Charity ol God cannot fuffer him to forfake Man tho* fallen, if he be but in a Capacity, thro' his Grace, to re-enter into Happinefs. His Impartiality , Equality and Confiancy will not fufier him, if he goes on (till with his Defign of making 'em happy, to let it fall as to more than the half of Mankind, and that for Rea- fons grounded on himfelf. He fhou'd both appear and really be lovely in the Eyes of all Men, for as much as it is the Duty of all Men to love him ; and all ought to find in confidering him, Caufes of Love, of Humility, of Comfort and Hope, and Encouragement to go on bravely with the Work of their Salvation, as well as of Fear and Trembling. Aqd *72 Proofs and peculiar Advantages Qiap. XI. And all this our Syftem fully anfwers, which main- '-/"W/ tains that Grace is univerfal ; that it may be gain d and loll: 5 that the Promifes and Threatnings, the Good and Evil foretold may be efcap'd or executed; If the Events come to pafs, then 'tis Grace that does a'l, and our Liberty that admits its Operations; if the Evils eventually happen, then it is becaufe Man freely turns away from the Grace of God, who heartily wills the preventing of Man's Mifery, but wou'd not force his Liberty. V. (3) V. (3.) 'Tis what well deferves our Notice^ and 13 TbisSyfiem the third Thing to be reflected on ; that there is abfo- epens the lutely nothing elfe that can fatisfaclorily anfwer what onlyvoayof we have faid concerning God's Defigns, the Creation, coming out his Divine Attributes, the Duty of Man, nor a thou- 6fffDt$m land other Difficulties relating to thefe Matters, except f* J' that Way only which we have taken, which is to ac- knowledge Gods Grace, its Univerfdry and Man's Liberty either to receive or reject it, without being either way determined faving only by himfelf. If you deny but any oneof thefe things you will be able to explain nothing at all of God's Defigns, nor of his Dealings with Men ; you will be able to give no Ac- count either of God's Attributes or of Man's Duty. All becomes immediately indiilipable Darknefs, as I Way fay. To deny God's Grace is Pelagian and AtheilH- cai ; to deny irsUniverfality and Man's Liberty, is to throw one's feif into the midil of all the Darknefi and Difficulties imaginable, whence we fhall never get out with all our Efforts, except we own this Point, thac the Goodnefs of God is univerfal, and that Man's Li- berty is indetermin'd and indeterminable by any thing but Man himfelf.. This laft Article, againft which the rigid Predeftinarians (tand mod upon theirGuard, is fb indifpenfably neceffary, that if we ftart never (b little from it, all the old Difficulties return upon us in Shoals. If we in the leaft allow that God antecedent- ly and infallibly determines Man's Liberty, all the Murmurs, Abfurdities, and Falfities that follow from this Conceilion rally again and invincibly keep their Ground. Yet ought we not to be indifferent whether we leave them in the Minds of Men or no ; they being m^ft of them fo many Blafphemies agninft the Honour of this Syftem, 17 J of God: Why therefore will nor Men yield to the Chap. XL Way we propofe, it being the only- one that can diil:- (-/^V^O pate them, that being absolutely impoftible any other way. whatever? VI, if 4.) My fourth Confideration is this, that all VI. (4) other Syttems are (6 far from anfwering Truth and all AU other the Phenomena's of it, that they are the Sourcesof Syflemsla- enormous Difficulties, and of Confequences plainly in- ^urunaer defenfjble. I need not (to convince you of this more t"Wcnflb}e particularly than I have already upon divers Occafions Dlul{'ultH!' in the preceding Trails) examine here all forts of Sy- ftems and Methods upon this Subject : we may fatifc .he our (elves with the Confideration of three of rhem, with relation to the three Articles of ours, which are, Divine Grace, its Vniverfality^ and undetermiri d Liberty. Some Syftems deny Grace, others the Univerfality of it ; others Liberty ; or at lead fomething wherein it is concerned , I will not infift upon the firft, which is that of the ThePeUgi- Pelagianj : I have fufficiently fhew'd the Abominable- an syflM- ncfs of that,; and indeed it is a Syftem more becom- ing Atheifts than Chriftians. As to their Syftem who make the Grace of God The diffe- particular, there being many forts of rhem, or rather rent Sy- rhofe of this Opinion taking divers Methods, fbme the/™" °f Supralapfarian, others the Sublapfarian, or the com- Par?icUm mon, or that of Arnyrald. I {hall not flay long upon lari?St thefe Diverfities,nor upon fhewing, that after alljfhou'd one prefs the Sublapfarians with the Confideration of their Doctrine concen.lng the Decrees, the Determina- tion and Action of God upon fecond Agents, and even upon our Liberty too, they muff, neceflarily come over to SupralaphTm. Nor will I look upon their Syftem on its uglieft fide : But will confider it only on than fide which they fhall not compiain 1 have difguis'd, as owning it themfelves ; vi%. That God did not create all Men to fave them, and that it was his Will to re- deem but fbme of the whole Race of Mankind fallen in Adam. vrJ VII. The fiift of thefe Pofitions is incompatible with ctliths ^" the Narure of God's Decrees, Defignsand Acls, with theSyfiem the Creation and the Nature of its End, with thar of of Partita* the larihn wilh.rrfpcct to tfaCrtAtiw. 174 Proofs and peculiar Advantages Chap. XI. the intelligent Creature, of its Faculties and their life, <^V>J Were that true, God wou'd not have made himfelf the Scope and End of all Creatures. He wou'd have diflik'd himfelf as to his being the fupreme and fble End, and wou'd have prefer'd the Abfence of himfelf and his Image to their Pretence; which furely none dare fay. 1 might here add all the Confiderations laid down in the Twenty Eighth Chapter of the Treatife of the Creation, which muft all be falfe, if this Pro- pofition be true, vi%. That God did not create all Men to Salvation. TheAbJur- Thefe Confluences are more efpecially ftrong and dity of the unavoidable with refpccl: to the Supralapfarians, from fariant '^hofe D°c>rhie there follow yet other monftrous Ab- fiem" It "-fixities 5 for were it true, that God's fub-ordinate End imply? a m Man's Creation, was to damn the greateft part of Contradi- them, that fo he might attain his chief and main End, Qion. the Manifeftation of his Glory ; he muft therefore needs think it good (in quality of a Mean) and alfb wiJl that Man fhou'd reject, be ignorant of, hate and blafpheme God with infinite Rage and Torment : for Damnation is nothing but the utter Rejection of God, Darknefs in the Underftanding, Hatred in the Will, Blafphemy, Rage and Torments in the Affections and Senfibility of the Soul nnd Body. Now to will all this for one's Glory and Pleafure, is juft what the Devil wills, who thus pretends to damn Men for his Glory and Pleafure. A Man cannot without Horror think of attributing fuch Abominations to God. It implies a I add, that to fay God created Men for thisEnd,that Centradt- part of 'em might be damn'd for his Glory, implies a &iW' Contradiction : For Damnation is a State of Trouble and Difquiet : on the contrary, the Nature of Reft and Acquiefcence confifts in this, that it is the Refult of a Subject when it attains the Means, the Ways and the End to which it was deftin'd by its firft Caufe. Whence it follows that Souls deftin'd to fuch Means, fuch Ways, and fuch an End, whatever they be, cannot be miferable when they haveattaind 'em; they being then in the Ways and in the Centre, God, they fay, deftin'd rhem to. Therefore is it a vain and contradictory Fancy, to hold that God created Souls for certain Means and for a certain End, and that thefe Squls, though of this Syftem. 175 though they have attained their End, may yet be Reft- Chap. XI. lefs and in Torment. ^CC0 VIII. The other Affertion of the Doctrine of PartU * hif cularifm, vi%. that it was not God's Will to redeem .rc^ies^m all Men fallen, does not only not anfwer the Truth of ^ttJndinr God's ways, nor of hisActributes ; but is indeed dire&ly \):i syfism contrary to them. It accufes God of lnconftancy and 9ffarticu* Change, of a limited Goodnefs, of Self-Contradi&ion, Urifin in of Cruelty, Partiality and Falfhood, of difapproving rcfpeft of himfelf, of more Love or Inclination to Sin than to his our Re- own Holy Image, of Deceir, Lying and Hypocrity ■ it dtmftiw. makes Men defperate or preiumptuoits, profane, Li- bertines, loofe and carelefs ; it extinguifhes in them all Piety, all Love of God and their Neighbour, all Pray- er and Faith and every Vertue, and lows in them the Seeds of all manner of Vices whatfoever. In the firft place I fay, that accoding to this Doclrinfc God isaccufed of changing his Defign, at leaft, in their Opinion, who dare nor deny but God when he created them at firft willed the Salvation of all Men : but fay, that upon the Fall God wills only the Salvation of fome of them ; whence it follows that of himfelf God did not continue in his firft Defign towards all, but in part only, and that he changed and quitted it as to the Bulk or greater Part. God's Goodnefs would likewife be but very narrow, if it extended but to a Part of fal- len Men, and that much the leffer too ; I could eafily conceive a much greater Goodnefs, vi$. fuch a one as extended to all, therefore I (hould have in Idea a Goodnefs greater than God had in Reality. Which is abfurd. God would likewlfe contr&diH himfelf : becaufe hav- ing once implanted and ftill railing in allMen an Incli- nation and Defire of Truth, of Goodnefs, of Happi- nefs, and even of Repentance ; if notwithftanding all this he had made an A6f, and Decree not to pardon them, his A els wou'd thus be contrary and oppofite one to the other. He wou'd alfb be cruel, or wou'd take pleaflire in the Mifery and Torment of his Creatures, if having ic in his Power to will the Salvation of all Men, and to offer it to all, he refuted to will and procure them a Good (q much in his Power, and to remove an Evil which 176 Proofs and peculiar Advantages Chap. XL which we take to be fo eafily removeable ; and all ^Srv this only becaufe it is his Pleafure it fhou'd be fo ; though if he pieafed, he might eafily decree and do orherwife. Therefore wou'd he take pleafure in the Torments of his Creatures only becaufe he found it pleafant fo to do, which is the very Eflfence of Cru- elty. He wou'd be vifibly partial, if of Subjects equally difpofed he took fome and paffed by others, if he treat- ed them unequally, efpecially where the Difproportion is fo dreadful as it is between the Salvation of fome and the Damnation of others, and this merely becaufe he was pleafed to do fo, without all regard to the antece- dent Difpofitions of thefe Subjects. He wou'd likewife be a Deceiver* if, though by the Voice of Nature, of Confcience, and Scripture he pro- teft he wills the Good, the Repentance and Life of all, he yet fhou'd have a contrary Will. He wou'd likewife difapprove of himfelf if he were not willing his Image fhou'd be reftored in fuch as ic might be reftored in ; or if having it in his Power by Redemption to render all Men capable of receiving his Image he wou'd not do it but in regard of a few. He mult therefore needs approve of the Abfenceof his own Image in Subjects, where it might be ; and fo wou'd diflike his own Pretence, and Wou'd take more delight and Love in the Abfence of his Image (which Abfence is in Man Sin) than he wou'd have Inclination to his Holy Image ; that is to fay, that with regard to the g reared .part of Men he would prefer Sin before Holinefs. Befides, the whole Procedure of God, his Inftruclions^ Exhortations and Commands, his Promifes and Threat- nings, and the whole Content of the Scripture which fpeaks of all and to all, at leaff. to all that are called, and even to the mod hardened Sinners and to fuch as perifh, declaring they fhall. receive Good if they hearken and obey, and Evil if they refufe, wou'd be nothing but a Heap of Lies and Deceits, of HypocriJ), and Delufion^ if all this while God in Truth meant ic but for fome few. 'Tis faid God does ferioudy and in good earned propofe to them the Nature of Good and of Truth, and if they do this, fuch and fuch things (hall follow ; which is to fay, that God (hews them in Speculation of this Syflem. 177 Speculation and in the Air Truth and Good, and lets Chap. XI. 'em fee the Confluences of 'em, and the Connexion of >S~\~\J the Premifes with fuchConfequences : but all this while there is nothing for 'em. God explainsLogickto 'em.the Nature of the Confequences of general Proportions, ^9' oa» Tf6>Toj/, and they that mind not this Logick Lecture, this vain and fpeculative Theory, wherein they are not at all concerned (hall be more culpable and more deferving Damnation than they were before. What Abfurdities are thefe ! and what a pity would it be, fhou'd thefe poor Hearers of Logick, or any other, fancy themfelves once to be fome of the particlarly predeftinated ones ! Then they need but follow the mofl: natural Logick in the World, and they will eafily thence draw Con- fequences to make them prcfumptuous, Libertines, pro- phane, full of Security, little upon their Guard, negli- gent and remifs. But if they think themfelves repro- bated, befides the fame Dangers of Prophanenefs.Liber- tinifm and Impiety to which they lie open, they run alfo great hazard of Defpair. It is to leffen the Love of God in Men, and to render him hateful to the greatelt part of them, thus to make him merciful but to the fmalleft Number of them. It leffens, the Love of our Neighbour to reprefent more than the half of Men as objects that God neither loves nor wills the Salvation of; whence it will follow that none are obliged to love all Men or all their Neigh- bours, fince our Love ought not to be larger than God's, whofe Love we ought to imitate. Jt deftroys all Prayers, to believe that God lias abfo- lutely difpofed of Mens eternal Good and 111, antece- dently to our Prayers and independently on them. It makes void Faith 1 for how can I believe the Pro- miles of God, and fet my felfto embrace the good Things he fhews me, feeing they have been offered thoufands as well as me, God never intending for all that to give them to them. Laftly,[t fairly offers at the DeflmHion of all manner of Vertues and at the planting and railing all forts of Vices, as is eafily deducible from the Reafbns juft now touch'd upon. N If 178 Proofs and peculiar Advantages Chap. XI. If it be faid, that Experience does not verifie this, w^\TV; but rather the contrary in thofe that hold this Doctrine, fuppofing it Sr. Auguftiris ; I anfwer, that we are not beholden to the Doctrine of Predeftination for this, but to the Doctrine of immediate and inwardly opera- ting Grace, which thofe Perfons humbly embrace, and which ferves them as a Counter-poifbn to hinder the dire Effects the Doctrine of rigid Predeftination wou'd have were it entertained by it felf, and the Confequen- ces of its defultory Vifions clcfely followed through all theirlnconhftancies; for nothing can be morewhim- fical and fuller of Contradictions than this Doctrine is. Some Men are deftinated to Life, others to Damnation, out of pure Humour : and thefe are more heavily damned if they reject the Means never deiigned for them ; and if the other reject them, all {hall be made up to them again by an imaginary Imputation and a ftrong fancyful Faith. If the one do but once believe, they are prefently fure they (hall perfevere ; if the o- ther chance to believe, it fignifies nothing, their Faith (hall be but temporary ; the 111 of the one (hall turn to their Good, and the Good of the other (hall in the End turn to their 111. I fhou'd never have done fhou'd I reckon up all the Abfurdities this Doctrine fwarms with. XX. Diffi* IX. But thofe that fpring up from the third Head of cultiesin this Syftem of Particularifm, from what relates to Pro- the^yfiem vidence, to God's Determination and Inflexion of our lar*(mCtl" liberty, and the like, are altogether as extravagant. I relation to ^3^ Vtz^ C^ern on^ w'rn one °^ tnem» anc^ tnat *s Providence tn'?' thar ^ ^od determines all Events and all the and Liber- Particulars of them, if he does efhcacioufly influence ty. and determine every thing, even our very Liberty ; if he infallibly and indeclinably bends it (to follow the Language of the Schools) I then fay, that not only there is no fiich thing as Liberty, but what is more, that there is no fuch thing as Holinefs in God, and that he is the Friend of Sin. But if it be true, as it certainly is, that God and his Will is the fupreme Good, and Sin the higheft Evil, God mull: neceffarily have an in- finite Averiion to Sin. And if God have an infinite Averfion to Sin, therefore is every thing that is in God infinitely removed from Sin. Therefore ought his of this Syftem. 179 Divine Power effe&ually to evidence this infinite Aver- Chap. XI* fion to it, or infinitely exert A£h of Averfion to Sin ; /^VNJ that is to fay, do all it cou'd to hinder it and to oppofe it. So likewife God's Confenr, Will and Permiliioa mull needs be infinitely remov'd from it. Has he an infinite Averfion to a thing, who can, yet will not hin- der it, but wills it, decrees it, permits ir, approves and likes it fhou'd exift? Thefe Difficulties, which in our Syftem vanifh "like a Shadow, I wou'd fain have any one try to refolve by the common one ; and I con- fers if they can,thatMiracles are not ceas'd. Nor will I urge them with this, that following this Syftem of theirs it is impoilibie to explain how God exhorts Men not to deprive themfelves of the good Things he fore- tells, and to efcape rhe Evils prophecy'd againfl them, this is inexplicable the common way, and is to be done only by fuppofing, that notwithstanding the Predicti- ons of them, they may yet either come or not come to pafs. X. All thefe and many more Difficulties that I omit; X. All but more efpecially fuch as concern God's Love for pertly en- the Salvation of Men, and his Averfion to their Dam- lighten d nation, and to Sin which is the moft effential part of it, Psrfo?is have made all fuch as have enjoy'd God's pure Light **** **- fpeak of rigid and particular Predeflination with Ab- ^l&Sl horrence and Execration. A Monfter this which My- 'i^wW flick Divinity, the purefl and brightefl of all, knows nothing of and utterly banifhes. There you may fee in a hundred Authors, and in as many Places, that Man is free to let Grace operate or to rejedl it ; there you may fee that if Jefus Chrift cou'd but hinder the Damnation of one only Soul by coming and dying a- gain for it, and by dlfplaying all the Effects of his Pow- er and Goodnefs, he wou'd not fail to do all he pofli- bly cou'd. There have beenfome Holy Souls(a) whom M J* En- God exprefly commanded to declare to Men, that theie'^ert- Do6lrine of Predeflination, was a Diabolical DcBrine *!re£ to and exprefly contrary to the Gofpel. which aims at the l* ^TeW" Salvation of all Men. Heaven. Mrs. Bourignon, who had the Spirit of God in fo high 7>)Confu- a Degree, was us'd to fay of the Janfenifh, fome of fion of whom were her Friends, (b) They go to reform the Church, the Babel- hut it is with Errors^ amovg all which there never was a Workers, N z -greater^ Lett. i. 1X0 Proofs and peculiar Advantages Chap. XI. greater than that cf Predeftination; and of Labadie and VX"V"V his Followers that were her Enemies, and put out a Book againft her wherein they have carried thefe Mat- ters to an exceffive Supralapiifm, and where they (hew they have Stomach enough to digefl: Iron, Fire and Flames, Reprobation, Sin, Hell with all that dire Train ; J bold nothing agreeable to his Sentiments ; he is ft iff for Pred:ftination\ and J, for my part, take it to be (a) Salu- tloe mofi Pernici0us DcElrine in Chrijiendom (a). I cou'd rary Ad- produce a great many like TelKmonles of other Per- vices. fons (£), who had undoubted Marks of receiving their Lett. 22. Lights immediately from God ; but I think it not ne- ceiiary, for that, the mod equitable Perfons that yet (A) Vide hold particular Predeftination, do without that, freely VoHiiJi- own they are very f^fjfjble of the Difficulties and the iroi ia Fe- gr;evous Confequences of it, and cou*d they any other pfrc 1 7* wa^ gcc r'c' °^ t^iem c^ey wou^ not &'ick t0 Qua tnei'r own, provided this new way they mud take were noc it felf Subject to the fame or greater Difficulties. XI. The XI. This, or (omething like it, is what I have read Equity of w'tn Pleafure in a famous Author who has writ one of fome that the latcft upon this Subject, (b) Is there any Man of fo areforPar- little Sincerity as to fay he finds no trouble at all in this^ ticularifm. and that he can eafilyfhew how this agrees voith God's hatred tt,\ T A °f$in- To fpeal^fmcerely, it mufi be ovorid, that we ca?inot L, r here anfwer any thing for God that will fatisfie and filence on the *^e ^aP>nof Mm. And it is true, confidering the Me- Merhods thods that have hitherto appear1 d ; the Author gene- of Provi- roufly owns it ol his own, and impartially declares in denceand favour of any one more commodious, cou'd he meet Grace,/), with it. I remove, fays he, as well as pojjibly I can thefe 91. and (invidious} Confequences from my Syftem: but yet I find I 3 $ l • cannot do it fo well as I woiCd% I meet with things in God's Conduct that I comprehend not • and I have much a do to reconcile his hatred of Sin with Providence ; and this Thorn is fo troublefome to me, that if any one will pull it out, I will immediately come over to him . and will facrifi.ee to him c) Ibid. 7fO ldsa °f a Being infinitely perfcci (js)m $. 65. Our Syftem requires not fo much of him : and I pre- rend by it to take away this and all other Thorns, by Ihewing the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect in its own Brightnefs more than any have ycx, fo fir am I from lulling in the lead that glorious Idea. This . • of this Syfiem. 1 8 i 7'his, it may be, is bur Prefumption to think To. Chap. XI. But too, were it really fo, where were the Prefump- ^\^^J tion to fay it? Or is it Prefumption to endeavour fuch a thing? Men of Senfe and Equity will not fay fj ; and they cannot but approve a DtTign which 1 will with Pleafure exprtfs in the clear Words of the fore- cited Author. (•*) Every one is in qutfi of fuch a way cfU) Ibid, explaining Providence and Grace, as will Jalve the Holincfs 3 4- P- 3 3* and Juftice of God, and entirely fecure them • as will leave 34* Man in full Liberty , and mat(e him the fole Author of his Miferies, fo that not the leaft of them fhall be laid upon God. A good Defign this', and if any one be able to find out a Method that /hall perfectly execute this Defign, and remove all my Dirjculties, I do here declare my fe f en his fide. For there is no one more unsafe under tbeje Difficul- ties than my f elf. But before I quit my Party, and St. Au- guftin'j School, I mufl wifio him to do me thefe two thing:. The rirfl, not to caft the leaft blot upon the Idea of a Be- ing infinitely per feci : The fecond, that he abfolutely and entirely tal^e away all thefe Difficulties and leave not fo much as one. For if after having carried me over into one cf thefe milder Methods he leaves me charged with the very fame heavy Weights I was before, 'tis plain 1 am cheated, and he has not been fo good as his Word. I had been as well left where I was before. I fay therefore in the firfl Place, that thefe foftcning Methods muft leave me my Idea cf an infinitely perfcEl Being whole and entire, for I cannot go from it if I would. 'Tis to no purpofe to heap Difficulties upon Difficulties, I f jail never be made to believe (i.)that an infinitely per feci Being is ignorant of any thing : [x)that he may have inefficacious Wills ; (g.) that he may will a thing and yet not do it j (4.) that any thing happens in the World that is not within the order of his Providence • (5.) that he is in any dependance on Creatures j (6.) that he is obliged to follow them and to work, purfuant to their ca* pricious Humours; (7 ) that the Creature is independent on God) (tfythat it can refift his Will and hinder the Execu- tion of his Purpofe s. XII. Nothing can be more reafonable than the De- XII. ah mand here made, that Satisfaction be given to thefe *hefeDif- Difrculties by that Method which (hall be pretended-^*/r;V^ more commodious than others. I think whoever un- are J0^^ derftands the Syftem and the Truth of all the prece- rfi our Nj ding^ l82 Solution of Objections Chap. XI. ding Tracts, will eafily perceive that by the help of i/W* them theft Difficulties appear none at all, and even that in divers Places I have given Anfwers to the Sub- ftance and thing it (elf, if not to the very Terms of them. But there being others frill behind in the Solur tion of which I intend to fpend the reft of this Treatife, I will begin with a Word or two concerning theft, and then ftt down the other, and firft, thoft drawn from Reafon, and after thofe from Scripture. — ~— CHAP. XIL A Solution of the preceding Difficulties according to our Syfiem. That the Idea of an infinitely ■perfect Being is by it preferv^d untouched and entire. I. Tbefrfi Difficulty concerning the Perfe- ction of God's Knowledge and his Foreknow- ledge. The j/lnjwer. T is contrary, they fay^ to the Idea of an infinitely perfect Being to be igno- rant of any thing, vi^. of things future : for a Being that knew^things to come and penetrated into future Eternity, ct wou'd be muchperfecter ; therefore I cou'd conceive 6i fomething much perfecter than God, vi£, a Being c' that knew all things. I have many things to fay upon this Point, Firft, The Idea of the infinite Perfection of a Being, necella- rily requires that tfois Being be perfect by the fole Idea and Knowledge of himfelf and of hirnftlf alone, and excludes the Necelfity^of any other Knowledge what- ever, of any other Object: and of any other Idea : for theft things, or the Idea of them cannot be neceffary to this perfect Being, except this perfect B^frg were imperfect without them, which is a Contradicti- on. If it be laid that this perfect Being that is Self- fufficient with the Knowledge of himfelf only, does by this neceflarily know his own Power, and by Con- fluence the Objects of this Power, all creatable Beings and all their poflible Modes j this is to fay nothing. God raised againft this Syjlem. 1 8 J God knows his own Power by the Confederation he Chap.XII has of it, that if he be pleafcd to go out of himfelf L/SOO whatever he pleafes (hall be done,but he does not here- by determine or as yet formally know any thing of poffible Beings. He only knows his own Sufficiency for every thing he (hall be pleafed to will. Moreover if this Being infinitely perfect foreknew every thing determinately, this infinitely perfect Being wou'd be ignorant, impotent, and imperfect. He wou'd be ignorant ; for he wou'd not have the Idea of a free and indeterminate Being : and fo wou'd want a mod excellent Idea and Knowledge; for it is certain that the Idea of but one fingle free Being is of more Worth and Excellence than all the Ideas of the Uni- verfe. He wou'd be impotent ; for in this cafe he cou'd not order things any other way than as they are determinately forefeen: and he wou'd himfelf be Fatal- ly tied up to all Eternity in all his A£b : which is what I have demon ftrated to be falle and abfurd (a). (*) Oec. He wou'd be imperfect ; for (Co reafon ad hominem) not of the knowing any thing free, a Being that (hou'd know a S:feat# thing that was free wou'd be more perfect thanChaP*I3* him. The Truth is, all Things and Ideas that are not the Idea of the Divinity (b), are arbitrary to God \ they are (£)Vol. I. to him only an indifterent,free and not neceflary Sport, Ch. 2,3,4. which he might be without or inftitute at choice; Cog. Re- make things more or lefs free, and fo forefee their Du- ~lb- 3* ration and Conduct more or lefs determinately ; but it P' IO* is a Contradiction determinately to forfee a thing that is indeterminate. The arbitrary Knowledge of God mud not be con- ceived an eternal indivifible and immutable Thing. He is free to enlarge it more or lefs at pleafure : and when he extends it to know a thing free and, indeter- minate, it is then of much larger Extent, than if by it he knew a Million of things determinate. It muft not then be (aid that God is ignorant of future Determina^ tions ; but that then he is pleafed to know a more per- fect Principle than any thing that is of a determinate Nature : that his Knowledge has then a more perfect and larger Object than all determinate Objects are ; and that if he knew nothing but what was determinate N 4 he 184 Solution of Objections Chap.XII he wou'd then be ignorant of the beautiful Idea and ex- C/*V"V cellent Principle of Liberty. We fhou'd know once for all, that the Idea of a Be- ing infinitely perfect fubfifts by it felf alone, without any other Idea; and that whatever afterwards becomes of Things and Ideas that are not this infinitely perfect Bein£, this neither takes away nor adds any thing to the Idea of the infinitely perfecl: Being, who being content and perfect by himfelf alone, deals with other things as he pleafes : it is almoft neceffary upon this Occafion to remember the Second, Third and Fourth Chapters of the Oeconomy of the Creation ; to form a juft Reprefentation of the Idea of an infinitely perfect Be- ing, and his true Properties. 11. The fe- II. It is faid, that a Being infinitely perfect: cannot cond Diffi- have ineffectual Wills, for one might then conceive culty about fomething more perfect, vi%. a Being wbofe Wills the Efficacy were effectual. 1 anfwer,That theWillsof the infinitely uni Th Perfe^ Being touching free Agents are not ineffectual \ jisfwr C becaufeGod wills they fhou'd act freely; and then what- ever they do thus, his Will is fulfilled. Therefore God's Wilis have been effectual though not fatally de- termining, if they were fo, they wou'd not be effectu- al ; fince God willing, free Creatures wou'd not have this Will of his accomplifhed. III. The ^' 'Tis faid, in the third Place, that an infinitely tbirdDiffi- Perfe& Being cannot will a thing (as the Salvation culty, mhe- of all Men) and yet not do it ; that he cannot have im- thera per- perfectedYVills,or fay I fain wou'd: otherwife,one might feci Being conceive a Being more perfect than him, a Being that may have fhou'd fay in QVcry cafe, I will, and nothing can rejifl my refiftable Will. I anfwer, firft, that this cannot be faid in relati- Pefres on to Holinefi and Sin. Dare any one think that •ndmjbes. Qod does not will that all Men fhou'd love him, and 4 bS4Sn'wer ihtt they do not fin againft him and refill his Divine Will. In the fecond Place I fay, that fuppofing God once to have wilfd there fhou'd be fuch things as free Crea- tures, it is Contradiction, to fay, the infinitely perfect Being cannot have J fain wounds but only abfolute I wills. The quite contrary is true. He is not now ro have any abfolute 7 with, in things wherein their Uberty is concerned* for fo he wou'd deffrov his -own "EfUblilh, raised again fi this Syflem, i 8 <; Eftablilhment, his Work, and his own firft and abfo- Chap.Xl* lute Will, and thereby wou'd be imperfect. He muft VVXJ have I fain would: ; becaufe all Creatures being of little or no Importance to him, and he generoufly defiring only their Advantage, having alfo made them free, it follows hence that he muft needs will, but not absolute- ly, their Advantage, It is a palpable Contradiction to fay, that a perfect Being cannot will a thing without doing it himfelf. For if he wills that a thing be done by fbme other thing, to which he gives the Power of doing it as this other thinks fit, it is plain he cou'd not himfelf doit without a Contradiction. Thtfe Wills are not imperfect Wills, nor do thefe Defires imply any Defect of Power in God. God's Defires that Man wou'd do freely what he has given him Power to do are perfect and ferious Defires. The abfolute Com- pletion and Perfection which thefe Men contend for in thefe Defires of God, wou'd be the Deftruction of his Defign and of his free W'orks ; and wou'd be con- tradictory to what God requires of his Creature, that it act and co-operate on its own part. A Self-fufficient Being, to which all outward Com- munication of himfelf is a thing merely arbitrary, and who is pleafed to communicate himfelf to fbme Sub- jects as largely as they fhall think good to receive him, and who gives them Power to receive him at their own choice, can and ought only to expect and defire his Creature wou'd actually chufe him, and be always rea- dy to correfpond with it in Proportion to its free Deter- mination of it felf towards him. Is this arbitrary De- fign and this Conduct of God irapoiiible, or abfurd and unbecoming God, or unintelligible ? or rather is it not Light and Eafinefs it felf ? IV. It is (aid in the fourth Place, that it is contrary iv. The to the Idea of an infinitely perfect Being that any fourth Dif~ thing fhou'd come to pafs in the World and not btfoultywieh within the Ordering of his Providence. To which I theAn\xcr hy it is Contradiction to think the Order of Gcd's Providence (hou'd Hand in need of Sin or Diforder. Sin cannot but be againft the Order of his Providence; but it once happening, Providence checks its Eruption after fuch a Manner as is fufficiently explain'd in this Treatifc 1 8 6 Solution of Objections ■I ■ — ... - ■■ ■■ t, llll Ml II — Chap.XII Treatife for any that will think on't without Preju- S^V\J dice. V The ^ y y he fifth Difficulty is this, that it is incompati- fifth Diffi- b\e w;tn tne j^ Qf an infin;tcly perfect Being, to de- cu ty and pen(j upon Creatures : for did it fb I cou'd conceive a Being more perfect ; w-f, one that fhou'd no way at all depend on Creatures. I anfwer, this is true but does not at all affect our Syftem, which makes neither the Nature nor the eflen- tial Attributes of God at all depending on Creatures, nor indeed (o much as his arbitrary Ones ; though God has himfelf been pleafed to vary his arbitrary Ideas and their Combination upon occafion of that Liberty he was pleafed to give fome Creatures. It wholly de- pended upon God to eftablifh Things thus or not ; but having been pleafed fo to do^ the Variation of his Ide- as in confequence of the Creatures Liberty, is a Confe- quence depending originally on the Divine Inftitution. The Light of the Sun depends neither on me nor my Eyes, though it depends on me to vary a thoufand (a) Oec. Ways the Admiilion and the Operation of it upon me, of the or wholly to exclude it. It wou'd not be amifs to con- Creat.Ch. fider more particularly this Comparifon, which you 18. § 7. may fee done in another Place more largely (a). VI. The VI. The Idea of a perfect Being, as 'tis objected in ftxth Diffi- the iixth Place, will not endure, that he be obliged to adty with follow his Creatures, and to work after their Caprice. theAnfwer \ anfwer, that indeed abfolutely fpeaking God is not obliged to any thing. But if he pleafe to make free Creatures, and if it be his Will to oblige himfelf to work with them and in them by way of Correfpon- dence with the Conduct of their Liberty ; not only any one cannot hinder him from ir, or think it ftrange he fhou'd do fo ; but alfo the Idea of a perfect Being containing in ir Truth and Faithfulnefs, docs then ne- ceffarily require that he act according to the free and voluntary Behaviour of his Creature. And this is the Foundation of God's Covenants and Promif s. VII. The yjj "pis pretended as the feventh Difficulty, that slower n were £rcatures independent on God it wou'd ruine the »*£ Wea of an infinitely perfect Being. I have at large fa- f#Oec tisfied this Difficulty in the firft Treatife (*). The of the ' Wca Creation, Chap. 3, § 7, h ?• raised againjl this Syjlem. 187 Idea of an infinitely perfect Being is much more ampli- Chap.XII fied or illuftrated by holding that there depends on (/^yr^Y the Divine Inftitution a certain Nature of Beings to W Ibld- which God has given, to reprefent his own Indepen- ~haP' l6* dance, the free Conduct of their Acts, than if we fhou'd * *V ^?» fay that he cou'd not do this. Which I have alfo pro- ?* g z ' ved in another Place (a). VIIJ. I have likewife fo fully fatisfied the follwing VIII. An Difficulty in another Place (b) and all the Members of Anfwer to it, that I may well forbear faying any more to it here : the eighth yet will I fay this one Word more, that it is fo far from DlfiCulty- belonging to the Idea of a Being infinitely perfect, that it be impoffible to refill his Will ; that on the contra- W ^ec* ry, Sin is therefore only infinitely evil land imperfect 2r, ' becaufe it is an actual and formal Remittance to the § „a?" 7' Will of an infinitely perfect Being; and'that Damnati- ",j'4,5j on is therefore only milerable becaufe it is an Hin- drance,not of hisDefign in general,but,of the particular Admiffion and Execution of this Defign in fome parti- cular Perfons. W7hy fhou'd it be contrary to the Idea of an infinitely perfect Being to fay, that free Creatures were the Caufe that he did not do and ratifie as to them what he was not pleated to do but upon Condition of their Correfpondence and of their freely willing it ? I think one cannot without enormous Falfity alledge any other Reafbns of the Creature's Damnation. Thus, I think, the Idea of an infinitely perfect Be- ing remains entirely untouched by fuch a Method as explains Providence and Grace after fuch a Manner as falves the Holinefs and Juftice of God, that prefer ves them perfectly in their full Brightnefs, and leaves Man entirely free, and makes him the fole Author of his Mi- feries, fo that none of them can be charged upon God. Let who will now fide with me. In the mean while I will continue my Anfwers to the reft of the Difficulties that (till remain upon this Subject. CHAP. 88 Solution of Objections CHAP. XIII. lour Capital and Artificial Difficulties againjl the Syfiem of 'Vmverfal Grace in favour of Supralapfifm and Particular ifm. The Solution of ''em. I. Four main Dif- ficulties opposed a- gainfl the Univerfa- lity of Grace. M O N G the many artificial Difficulties that are rais'd againfl: the Univerfality of God's Grace in defence of the oppo- fite Doclrne, there are four principal ones, which I intend to propose and folve. The fi^fi is taken from the Principle and Motive of God's Actions ; the fecond^ from the Confideration of the Execution and Event of them ; the third, from the Confiderarion of the Nature of Divine Actions ; the fourth, from the Confidera- tion of Man's Duty. (\.) The l] (ij God, fay they, was pleas'd to make Creatures fij} is this, for the Manifeftation of his Glory. The Manifefta- andit is tion of God's Glory con fids in the Manifestation of. his Attributes. Among other of his Attributes there is his Juftice, and his Mercy. Salvation is the Mani- Foundtthn feftatjpn 0f his Mercy, and Damnation is the Manife- station of his Juflice: Now God owes his Creatures nothing, and may do what he pleafes with them. Therefore he might (owing them nothing) and ought (fmce he intended to manifeft the Glory of his Juflice and Mercy) he might, 1 fay, and ought to create fome to manifeit the Glory of his Mercy in their Salvation, and to create others to fhew the Glory of his JulHce by their eternal Death and Damnation. You ft-e here the Grounds of S upr a lap/if m : and if they be found, our Syftemwillbe good for nothing. JI. I cannot without a very fenfibie Grief fee Men fuffer themfclves to be fo extremely blinded by the De- vil, as to propofe fo frightful a Doctrine as this is, as a grand Means to (hew forth God's Glory. God's Glo- Jdla of God ry confifls in having his Vertues known and recognizd and his to l*e in a moft bright and peaceful Harmony and Glory. Agreement drawn from the tapffm. II. This Doctrine gives a agair/Jl the Vniverfality of Grace. 189 Agreement with one another. The Vertues, or Attri- Chap, butes of God are Beauty, Goodnefs, Joy, Delfght ; and XIII. all that is in God is of this Nature ; and therefore all '-/V^O he manifefts of himfelf externally muft be fuch too. In him there is no Darknefs, nor Torment, nor Fire devouring with eternal Rage and Fury. How then fliou'd he manifefl fuch things outwardly? He cannot with Pomp and Glory manifeff. any thing but his Meeknefs, Love and bright Joy. It is Contra- diction to fancy he cou'd will and do othenvife, disli- gure and draw himfelf a Devil, as I have demonftrated elfewhere (a). A fine Image this ! A fair Repefenta- (a) Oec. tion of God! A beautiful Manifeftation of his Attn- of the butes indeed ! A Creature deftin'd to hate and blaf- Creat.Ch. pheme God, and to rave in Torment of Soul and Body 5-§ 7>8,9» ■to all Eternity ! I wou'd be glad to know whether thefe Men wou'd be well pleas'd with fuch a God had he thefe Defigns upon themfelves, and what they wou'd then fay and think of their God. To reprefent a God making Creatures on purpofe to torment them, there- by to glorifie and declare fbme of his pretended Attri- butes, and for this End to decree they (hall infallibly fall, is affurediy the Idea of the Great Devil of Hell, who is not altogether fb wicked and detcftable a Be- ing. III. I have before (b) (hewn that it was not at all III. The neceflary for Sin to intervene to manifeft what is Tub- Intervene flantial of God's Juftice and Mercy. As to his Mercy *'** of sin there is nothing that more fhocks Common Senie than ls mt ne~ that odd Idea of it that makes it confift, in willing or cefarJ Jo permitting Evils and Miferits to happen which one ma'f*/< mi'sht have hinderd,to (hew afterwards upon that oc- ?£ * ' e cafion Marks and Effects of Companion.- A pleafant juaice°r0f and ridiculous Notion this! A truly merciful Per/on 'coJ; and had much rather hinder, or at leaft do all he can to that mi- hinder Evils, than let them happen out of pure Hu- tber of\m mour, to (hew afterwards that he is touch'd with Com- are manl- paflion at them. To acl: ctherwife wou'd be rather fcfisd h Malignity and Hypocrify thanMercy : and this is what the Supra- they that ftand Co much upon St. Auguftinh Dc&rine 'm^ian ought to acknowledge. Etji approletur ; (c) officio cba- yj™*71' ritatis qui dolet miferum, mallet tamen utiq\ non effe quod (£) Supr. • doleret Ch. z. s 2. (c) Aug. Conf. Lib. 3. cap. z, 190 Solution of Objections Chap, doleret^ qui germanitus mifericors eft. Si enim eft malel XIII. vol a benevoltntia (quod fieri non poteft) poteft & ilic qui ^•*"V"NJ veraciter finceriterq\ mifcretur, cupere ejje mifero; ut mi- fere at ur : that is, Though he that is touch'd with 4< CompaiTion towards the miferable, be to be com- " mended for this his Act of Love, yet if he be truly Ci merciful he had rather there were none in aCondition " that needed his Pity. And it is as impofiible he (hou'd u defire there fhou'd be Tome in Mifery that he might *• have occafion of (hewing his Pity, as it is for Kind- " nefs to be Malicious, or that our Good- will to our c* Neighbour (hou'd incline us to wi(h 111 to him. This Reflexion well purfued is enough to ruine the whole Syftem of Modern Predeftination. It is more efpecially very plain with refpe& toGod's Juftice, that neither Sin nor the Mifery of Damnation is neceflary to its Manifeftation. For Juftice in God is no Property of a Tyrant and cruel Executioner, that requires for its Portraiture and Picture, for its Reprefentation and Manifeftation, the endlefs and dreadfulTorments of a poor Creature deftin'd to them before it was born by inevitable Means and Decrees. But it is an effectual Will by which God has (b order'd Things, that it (hall befall every one according to his Choice. This Juftice may be manifefted without any fuch thing as Sin or Damnation; and God defigned to maniteft it only in the way of Good, by rendring to every one different Meafures or. Good, greater or lefs, in exact Proportion to their Choice more or lefs full, ardent and lading as they (hou'd make of God, of his Goods, his Vertues, and of his different Works. It is by Accident and through Man's Fault alone, and againft God's Will, that this Juftice comes to be manifefted in Evil ; neither does he manifeft it by willing and pofitively caufing Torments; but barely by leaving Man to himfelf after having found that he is refolved to continue wilfully in the Rejection of his Divine Grace. But had not Man had the Liberty to chufe Life or Death, had not God offered him Life, but he had falPn by mere Fatality, without having by a Choice, fo free that he might not have done it, em- braced Death and Sin ; wou'd not the adjudging him to Damnation have been a rare Adminiilration and Ma- againjl the Vniverfality of Grace. 191 Mamfeftation of Juftice .; Juftice fuppofcs a free and an- Chap, recedenc A<5r. of the Perfon on whom it is executed ; o- XIII. therwife it is mere Good-pleafure, and where Pain ^^T^S is infli&ed nothing but a malicious Caprice. IV. But, fay they, God may do what he will with his IV. Horn Creatures, fince he owes them nothing. Very well, Go<* m*y* this then is no Manifeftation of his Juftice ; but of his Qr, ™*Tn* Freedom and Indifference. And what follows from a° w, i this Liberty God may take with his Creatures; He 'A* £// indeed owes them no Good \ much lefs does he owe Qreatures. them any Hurt -> For he is no Devil. He may there- fore do what he will with them, but it mufl be in fbme Good or other \ either give them none at all by leaving 'em in their Nothingnefs ; or a little,by making them of Earth ; or a great deal, by making them after his own Image, and thereby qualifying them to bear fucH of his bright, happy, and glorious Attributes as he fnall think meet, and to what Degree he pleafes. But to think God can do with his Creatures even in Evil what he pleafes, or rather what Man's capricious Humour is pieafed to afcribe to him, is fo horrid a thing that I tremble when I think on't, and when I look upon all the Parts of the rare Syftem grounded upon that Suppofition : and the fine Methods they cur out for God; for in fine, it is as if they fhoud make him fay thus ? " I, that am in my felf bright and happy, and " that have no need to produce any Creatures at all * for my eflential Glory, yet will I do ir arbitrarily 6 to manifeft what is in me. And upon this Principle they will be bright and happy., which is what lean '? make them all ; but for all this, though I have in u me neither Darknefs nor Torment nor Rage, and " though I be infinitely removM from any fuch Thing, " yet will I make Creatures that fhall have in them ail «' thefe Qualities, and that to reprefent and manifeft ri fuch Things as are not in me, and which I abhor ; " and I will have this called, my vindictive Juftice. I « will make thefe Creatures capable of an infinire " Good which I intend r»?ver to give them, and this " will prove their Torment : and by this it fhall be II feen that I am julfc; for they fhall be deprived oE <{ this infinire Happinefs by means of a Decree o£ * mine, which I will make merely becaufe I will. Never- 192 Solution of Objections Chap. *' Nevcrthelefs I will create them at firfl: with this XIII. " Light and Good within them ; but then I will leave LSW~*<) ** them without effectual Help, and will order all the u Circum (lances of their Fail; I will my felf caufe all " the Angel's, the Devil's and the Serpent's A£ts, and " Motions, and even the A<5h of their Thoughts ; 4C for all depends upon my particular Decree, Con- 44 courfe and Influence. And all this while I will make 44 them believe it was all owing to themfelves that &e. ceflbry, and indeed contrary to the principal Work, a» Sin is in regard of God's Defign and Works, then all that is done toward this foreign Bufinefs, was not what was at firft intended. This Rule of Philofophy is then O only 194 Solution of Objections Chap, only true when nothing oppofite or foreign to the De- XIII. figns does by Accident fiipervene. To this 1 add, that O^W? as God does not pofitively punifli theWicked,and as he will at laft leave both them and their eternal Blasphe- mies and think no more on them, fo Ihou'd we thence infer, that his firft Intention was neither to think of Sins nor Sinners, and fo not to predeflinate any either to Sin or Damnation. VI God's VI. (3.) But fay they, for the third main Difficulty, Defigm (and this they dwell mightily upon) God cannot defign touching or a& in vain and io as to be fruftrated : for all he does theSalva- ought to have on it the Marks of his Reality, Power ti*nof all, MA YVifdom. VaTll* How therefore C.0U'd ¥ have eI?her the Wil1 or De" 'anle not ^n to ^ve ' ^e*nS tms De^§n 's not brought about, favd. but van^es int0 Smoak as to the greatelt part of Men? My Anfvver is, God did not defign to fave all Men abfolutely, mechanically, by force and phyfical Ope- ration ; but freely, and as they themfelves fhou'd be willing. Now this is and always fhall be fulfili'd. If any one will freely forfake God, God's Defign even with regard to fuch fin one does not vanifh into Air ; becaufe it never was nor ever will be any Defign of God's to fave Men without the Mediation of their Li- berty. He has been, is, and ever will be pleas'd that his Salvation find Entrance and Reception from Man's Liberty, and he has given him his Choice and Power fc '^ to do it as he will himfeK as has been proved alrea- {i ?ec- dy (4 \ C t^n Hence we fee that let the Invent be what it will, this Chrp10!-' Defi§n will ftand unfhaken, w'hich it wou'd not by the Doctrine that afferts God abfolutely and infallibly de- termines our Liberty. Vll.What VII. But what will become^as they Hill urge us, then God and of fo many Actions of God and oSjefusCbrift his Inter- Jefuschrift ceflion, his Death, the Offers of his Light and Grace, haw done which we pretend are tender'd even to the Wicked, for theSal- w^0 for a]} tnar are damnd ? Wou'd not all this be at nation of .jeaft uQ\e£ and jn vajn p ^nd can God a. 143, m,.&c. 1^6 Solution of Objections Chap, own Damnation : that only Self-love makes this feeVn XIII. hard ; that we (hou'd here rather fubmit to the Will WNJ of God, and fay to him, Thy mil be done, than feek one's own Advantage ; in a Word, that we (hou'd deny our own Will and prefer God's before it. Do we not here behold Satan finely difguis'd like an Angel of Light, and his Caufe drefs'd up in God's Li- very ? But how grofs are ihefe Fetches ! How (hall Damnation and Reprobation be the Means of pure Love and Self-abnegation ? Will God reprobate and damn his Creatures to oblige them to love him purely and to deny themfelves ? Shall Reprobation have Love for its End, or can it or ought it to be done with Love, with Humility and Self-denial ! I know not what Men rauft think to come to fuch a pafs. We think, fay they, on what Saints often fay, that we mufb love God's Will above our own Salvation, and that they exprefly tell us that if God wills our Damnation, we ought to confent to it and (ay, Amen. I anfwer, that there are two Things to be confidered in Damnation, the one is the Separation from the Love and Holinefs of God, or Sin ; and this is the chief part of Damnation ; the other, is the Torments and PainofSenfe. This latter, is but an accefTory, which were it not for Sin, wou'd be accompanied with an unfpeakable Acquiefcence, and wou'd fbon vanifh, though we expected no fuch thing nor knew how, nor thought any thing of it. It was with refpeft to this Pain of Senfe, that fuch Saints, as were in there Purifi- (a) Seethecztion, where the Pains of Hell are truly felt, (a) have Oecon. of faid, that we fhou'd confent to this Damnation, with- Co-op. out troubling our felves whether it fhall lafl for ever Chap. 5,6, or not ; and that in this Cafe we fhou'd prefer the & 7- Will and Juftice of God before our own Intereft. But to fancy they fo underftood it, as that we ought to confent to be feparated, were it but for a Moment, from God's Will, to be deprived of his Love and be an Enemy to his Holinefs ; that God willed this, and that he has predeftinated the greatefl: Part of Men to this, is horrid and abominable. None but the Devil and his Friends can will this, and require Mens Con- fent to it ; and to approve of fuch contenting to ones Damnation, is to defend his Caufe. No Saint ever thought Aga.infl the Vniverfality of Grace. 197 thought of acquiefcing in this, nor cou d they do (o Chap. without becoming thereby impious and wicked. XIII. When God does but feem to withdraw his Love from >*WJ them, by with-holdirrg from them the Sen(e of his Uni- on with them, they are fo far from confenting to it, that they are extreamly importunate and earned: in Prayer with him not to do fo. 'Twas this made a moft holy Soul who thought God was forfaking her fay on her Death bed (*); It is now my Lord five and ^j Sr thirty Tears fines I begged any thing of thee for my fslf : Cath. of now I pray thee not tofeparate me from thee ; thou knoweft, Genoa, O Lord, how intolerable a thing that would be to me. O cap. 4.9. my Lord, I could eafily bear any thing but this Separation • it being contrary to the Soul, with which it cannot fubfift. The Truth of this has been demonftrated in the firft Treatife, that the Nature of the Soul was made and conftituted of God to be united with him, and not to be feparated from him, as the Devil, Sin, Lyrs, and Errour wou'd make us believe, and then Chriften this abominable Thought by the Name of God's Caufe-, whofe Advocates Men pretend to be when they are in- deed pleading for the Devil and Sin. IX. 'Tis from the fame Blindnefs that fbme being *x T^ hard preffed, that their Doctrine' leads Men to Dei-there be pair, and not knowing how to rid themfelvcs of that onefl °f Objection, have faid, that there is no fuch great In- Dew*** convenience in Defpair, and that there is fome Defpair ! °atj u that is faving. Thefe People are excellent at blowing fkj £ fi Hot and Cold. Sometimes they are fierce for crying up & which the Neceility of Affurance of ones Salvation, and th^t proceeds by an indefectible Faith and Election : and now they from the change their Note and tell us to defpair is a good Confidera- Thing. But pray what Kind of Defpair is it that is tion °fRem for It is certainly a good Thing to defpair of oux?robationm own Strength, Vertue and Merit, and of any Power of our own to continue in a faithful Correfpondence to God's Graces. But to think we ought to defpa>rof God's Love and Mercy, to defpair he ever had the Will to fave us and to give us his Grace ; this I main- tain to be damnable and devilifh Defpair; and yet this is whither the Doctrine of Predeftination to Dan> nation, or that of abfolute Pretention directly leads. O * X. But not 198 Solution of Objections tun* X. A 'very X. But was there ever a more admirable Method fmgular taken, than fome have after a very pleafant Manner way of a»-pitch'd upon to cover their Supralapfifm from fuch jv vzw • Confequences blafphemous and injurious to God as are clfru {hewn to follovf from *j • They lay ic down *or ,a upon the Truth, that their Do6trine is of God, that it is his /tafoWo/Thought and Caufe; and then they think they have Reproba- all the right in the world to be tranfported with Anger (they think divine) and Zeal againft all fuch as raife thefe Objections, as Perfbns that murmur againft God himfelf, that blafpheme, calumniate, and accufe him of Injuftice and Cruelty ; and upon this ufe them as Wicked and Blafphemers. Some it may be will think I do but tell Stories,and fuppole Cafes that never were; did I not let them know where they might fee this rare Courfe has been taken, by dire&ing^them to two or three Libels publiftied by Labadfs Difciples at all Adventures againft Mrs. Bourignon^ without their bting once fo much as able to underftand her. I think I need not reckon this wonderful Method among the Difficulties that need anfwering. It is too lingular a one to be meddled with, and deferves the Favour commonly (hewn to the molt rare and moil irregular Monfters, to be charily kept for the Rarity Sake, in* (lead of thinking to deftroy it. I. The way: of avfwei ing Objections drawn from Scri- pture. CHAP. XIV. Difficulties objected from the Scripture. Five general Sources of their Sola twn. An Jnfwer to fome particular Paffages. INTEND not particularly to anfwer ail the PafTages that may be alledged from Scripture in defence of a Doctrine contrary to theTruths I have advane'd. I fhou'd think there were now no more Difficulty in them, at leaft in moft of we have once read and underftood the I have , them, after Truths contain' d in the preceding Treaties alreadj raised from the Scriptures. 199 already explain'd the greateft parr of them in divers Chap. Places, as for Example, this, No Man ccmeth to me ex- XIV. cept the Father who has Jent me draw him (a) 5 and this /O^^ Other, God worlds in )ou both to will and to do according to (aJ ~ec' his good Pleafure (£) ; and again, PVhom he will God bar- ^ dens, and Jhews Merc) to whom he will Jhew Mercy (c), * *' and many others as you may have obferv'd. I (hall i2.anda-> content my felf here to point out the general Source of y0VC) cap# the falfe Interpretations that are put upon thefe forts of 2. § 1 3. Paflages ; and then (hall examine two or three of them ,,* ~ particularly, and will end with the Confideration of Qp t^&c' what is moll remarkable concerning this Matter in Co-oper. St. Pauh Epiftle to the Romans. cap, 4 n' 14. (c) Occon. of Sin, cap. 2J 3. II. (i.) F/V/?,In{read of diftinguifhing the divers forts H. The of Predeftinations, Elections and Reprobations, Men So"rfcsfr commonly confound them all to fer up only fuch as ihe'c faJ>e concern a happy or milerable Eternity. I have tlfe- "*e^re'f where (d) particularly taken notice of this Inconve- scriptJL nience- Pafaes ' are thefe. (d) Oecon. of the Creat. Chap. 19- n. 10, (x.) Secondly, when the Sripture (peaks of Election (2.) Men and Reprobation, Men do untowardly fuppofe Wsfuppofethe fuch an Election and Reprobation as directly refpe&s immediate Perfbns or Individuals, and their State and Difpofiti- objeel of on only indiredMy, which they will have to be but Ele^l^n a Confequent of this Ele&ion and Reprobation ; '"f^*"' whereas indeed Election refpecls directly the States ytlp\t0. and Difpofuions, and indirectly the Perfbns who fall ^ e/fc™' under this Election or not, according to the State and fuch they are already in or acquire, and keep themfelves in individu- by their Liberty. It is God s Will directly to chufe als;where- that Liberty that gives up it felf to him and to the O as it is the perations of his Grace, in whatever Perfons this Li- Difpofiti- berty may happen to be thus refigned ; and it is his ons of the Will to chufe immediately and in confluence of the Heartthat Liberty thus abandoned to him, Peter, James or John, ^f.^* that have not wilfully refilled him. And it is juft fo Je ' in Reprobation. And thus when it is faid God chofe tohimfelt a People, as the Ifraelites, and that he cafl: off another People, as the Edomites ; befides that this * O 4 does 200 Solution of Objections Chap. Does not mean Election to eternal Life, yet if Men XIV. will fuppofe it does, this muft not fignifie that all the l/WJ Individuals of the People otlfrael were ele&ed to Life, and that all the Individuals of the Edomites were Per- fbnally reprobated or predeftinated to Death : but this wou'd fignifie that God who is a Lover of Humility and Simplicity, and a Hater of Pride and Haughtinefs, did alfo chufe Jacob the humble and the plain, and all fuch of his Race as fhall partake of the fame Temper ; and reject the haughty and proud Efau, and thofe of h';s Polterity in whom this Difpofnion fhou'd be pre- dominant. Yet all fuch particular Perfons among the Ifraelites as fhall be fierce and proud (hall before God be efteemed as Reprobate Edomites, becaufe of this Humour and Temper of theirs : and on the contrary, all thofe particular Edomites that fhall be of an humble Heart, fhall be reckoned by God among the ele£r. Ifra- elites. For 'tis the Difpofitton of Heart that does all with God ; 'tis by that we poflefs God or the Devil, that we become Angels or Devils, Ifraelite or Edomite, Eie£t or Reprobate: that is the immediate and ciirecT: Object of Election and Reprobation, and here lies the true Senfe of what the Scripture fays, that God is no ac- (a) A£$ cepter of Perfons U): that is to fay, that the direct Ob- jg. 34. iC(^ Qf God's Acceptance, Choice, and Election are not Perfons as Perfons, but as fo and fo difpofed, and in fuch and fuch States pleafing or difplealing to God. (3.) Men (g J A third Fault Men are guilty of in interpreting confound Places of Scripture that relate to this Point is this,, that the wife, whenever there is any thing fpoken of the Good-plea- fright,ju(i fure or Wi]l 0fGod, they prefently frame their No- Good-fieL tions of God's Good-pleafure ™d Will from the Capri- Cure of God ces °^ Men,and rake it to be juft like them, and indeed with a fomething worfe. Men being ignorant,foolifh,fickle and Good-plea- malicious and violent, it ordinarily fails out that in furc of a their different Carriage towards different Subjects, capricious they have no other Reafon of their different Ufage of and hu- them, but a pure I will, fuch is my Will and Good-flea- vwurfo?ne fure , which is as much as to fay, that the true Princi- Uan. p}e 0f their Determination is really nothing but Igno- rance, Folly, Inconftancy, and often the mere Spite- fulnels and Haughtinefs of their Spirit. But were they wife, enlightened, equal and juft, their Good-pleafure and raised, from the Scriptures. 201 and their I will woi/d be quite a different thing. Now Cj"P- God is infinitely wife, luminous, conftant, and Juftice XIJL* , it feif. Therefore is his Good-pleafure and Will a ^v^-1 Good pleafure and Will of Light , that makes him fee the different Difpofuions of Subjects ; of PVifdom. that makes him awar«d different Treatments and different States to different Subjects ; of Juftice, that makes him Co proportion to Men the lflues of Things, as every one may have according to his Choice ; and laftly his Good>pleafure is a Will of Conflancy and Equality, al- ways treating Subjects equally difpofed alike; being far from damning one and faving another, reprobating one and chufing another, of two Perfbns that are of the fame Difpofuions. He has companion (a) on whom it plea/es him to have {a) Rom. companion, and whom hepleafes he hardcneth, or rejeð 9- 18. he (hews Mercy and refutes it to whom he pleafes : that is to fay, to whom he thinks good and meet fo to do from a refbluteand fixt Principle of equal and im- partial Juftice, and of a clear and bright Wifdom. For the juft, impartial, immutable, wife and bright Will of God, has not nor will have any Complacence but only in fuch Souls as turn to him with Vacuity, Self- denial, Refignation and Humility. God is pleafed to make choice of no other ; and when he chufes them it is becaufe they are within the Order, and among the Number of the'Objecls wherein he takes delight. As on the contrary the fame juft, wife and impartial Will is pleafed to leave, where he finds them, all fuch Souls as are turned towards themfelves, their Grandeur, their Works, and their own Strength. Thefe he re- jects ; becaufe it is not his Pleafure to communicate himfelf to Subjects thus conditioned. The Scripture in an hundred Places bears witnefs to thefe Truths {h),(b) Ifa.57. that God takes pleafure in the humble, that he looks is-&6z. upon a broken Spirit, and that his Inclination is to- 2- wards mean and jow Things; and that Pride, Self- Pp38 ^* will, and Haughtinefs difpleafe him, Such therefore l ' *' is the Good-plea fu re and Will of God, and is far ** enough removed from that unjuft, inconftant, cruel and malicipus Caprice, which Men feem to take mighty Pains to hide under the Name of the Divine Good-pleafure and Will (4-)The 202 Solution of Objections (4J Men (4.) The fourth Source of the Faults Men commie confound when they bring Places of Scripture to maintain the thereat Doctrine of perfonal and abfblute PredefHnation is, andprodu- ^^ confounding God's Act, which is the productive 7fGra7e and efficIent Caufe °* Gra.ce* wilh the A& of the Li- withThe berty of the Creature, which is but an admiffive, and mdmiflive. not a productive and efficient Caufe bf Good. I will explain my (elf. The Scripture in divers Places con- fiders the faving Effects or Graces; with reLrion to their Caufe that has produced the Reality of them ; and then it fays, that God is the Caufe of them and not Man. And what have they concluded from hence? Why, that Men were not free to admit or not to ad- mit God's Grace. Wherefore? Becauf Grace depends upon God only and not on Man. Yes, that is very true: Grace depends upon God only as the productive and efficient Caufe of it ; bur the Admiiaon or Rejecti- on of it are quite different things from the productive Caufe of it ; and (6 the Admiiiion and Rejection of it may depend, and indeed do, upon Man, God having been pleafed Co to ordain, and 'tis upon this Suppofi- tion only that the Scripture fpeaks, and which it ex- prefsly confirms in an hundred Places. "Example When for Inftance, this Place is alledged (a) ; It is andsJppli- not of him that xoilleth nor of him that runneth , but of God canon* that fheweth mercy ; or this (b), tVho maketh thee to t differ from anoher .- Men do nor fufficiently take notice {a) Rom. Qf wjlat j kut now obferved. They fancy that by the 5* ' ' firft: of thefe Paflages the Scripture teaches us that it (t>) 1 Cor. does not depend upon the the Will or Endeavours of 4. 7. Man to admit, or not to admit the Grace of God; but here is no fuch thing intended. The Scripture de- figns only to let us fee, that it is neither our Will nor Endeavours that produce divine Grace in us ; juft as if a Man mifd be enlightened, and to that Intent ran in- to the Sun ; if upon that he did enjoy the Light, it is ftill true that this Light depends neither upon him that, wiileth nor on him that runneth but upon the Sun that gives the Light ; and fhou'd any Man fancy he mud needs be enlighten'd by virtue and ftrength of his veil- ling or his running, 'tis certain he wou'd deferve to have the Sun deny him his Light : as the Sun of Righ- teoufhefs does to fuch as nuke his Divine Illumination depend raised from the Scriptures. 20J depend on their willing or running, which depends fble- Chap. \y on him that fheweth Mercy and Grace. ^V^Lr And thus alfo mud the fecond Paflage be underftood; U^V>5 iris God alone that is the productive Caufe of thofe Gifts and Graces that make one Man differ from ano- ther : What haft thou that thou haft not receivd from God the Author and Giver of it ? But this is not to fay that Man has not the Liberty to make himfelf differ from another in quality of an admiiiive or non-admifllve Caufe. On the contrary, this is what is properly and folely Man's Duty and within his Power. I omit to mention a great many more Examples of this kind as eafily I might. (5*.) Laftly, a fifth Spring of wrong Interpretations of (5.) Men Scripture Paflages brought to prove the Point in que- confound ftion, is, Men's confounding the outward Means o{the AdrKl~ God's Calling, or the outward Call, with the inward »jP™'"» Call, which God gives to every Soul by the Operari- ^, ons of his Grace. Hence, for Example, when the wit^ inm Scripture fays, That God has not fhevon his Statutes unto warjm other Nations, as he did to Ifrael ; and that therefore the Heathen had not the knowledge of his Laws (a) ; 'tis in- (a) Pfal. ferr'd, that God not being pleas'd to give the Means of 147- J?, Salvation to the Heathen, nor to call them, it was his 20. Will and Pleafure like wife not to fave them. But this Conclufion is not right. All that fhou'd be thence in- ferr'd, is, that God for juft Reafbns, wou'd not admi- nifter to them the outward Means as he did to the Jews; fo that they knew not thofe Statutes of God that were peculiar to the Jews ; but it by no Means follows that they knew nothing of God by the inward Light, and that he was not willing to fave them, nor ever tried to do it by the Operations of this Divine Light in their Interiour. The Truth of this has been (hewn at large in another Place {b). (b) Oec. Thefe Five general Obfervations upon the Springs °f tne of the wrong Senfes put upon Paflages of Holy Scrip- Reftor. ture, do at the fame time point us out fb many general ^°Je Ways of folving the Difficulties that arife from fuch I?c J"c* places. Yet there are fome frill behind, the Explica- Yl'&il* tion or Solution of which mult, it fhou'd feem, be ta- ken from fome other Conflagrations, This is one of fkem. 204 Solution of Objections III. An HI. To fhew that Man has not the Liberty to dif- Explkati- pofe of the Motions of his Heart, or at leaft, that God auofaPaf- difpofes it after an irrefiftible and phyfically certain [age out */ Manner, they bring this Paffage of Solomon, (a) The r ver s. %jngs ljeart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of wa. (a) Prov ter* an^ ^e turneth ** whitherfoever he pleafes. But there 2I 1# "is no neceflity for the Explication of this Place to have recourfe to God's preventing and irrefiftible bending of the Heart to turn it from Evil to Good ; which would plainly deftroy Liberty. Suppofc we then that Solomon fpeaks here of a pious Ki ng, or of a King in a myftical Sfrnfc, that is, ot a faithful Scul that has got the Domi- nion over her ownPailions,and has entirely refign'dher (elf up to God. It is then dear, Chut God bends her Heart which way he pleafes ; becaufe fuch a Soul has given up her Liberty to God, and contents God fhould do with her what he will, as Sr. Paul (aid. 'T/j no more {b) Gal. 2. * th** t*ve9 but Jefus Chrift that live- in me (b). But this 20. is what is no way againft my Sentiments upon Liberty, as may be feen elfewhere (c)^ fur 1 hold that God does ^c)JPec' determine and govern our Liberty when it is willing cL °P' he {hould> and refiSns ic felf UP t0 m#m- §, *P* 2' But if we fuppofe this King that Solomon fpeaks of to be a wicked one, the Senfe of the place will be this, either that God gives wicked Kings fuch good Motions and Infpirations as he fliall think fit, yet without taking from them their Liberty to follow or reject, them; or rather, thefe corrupt Hearts being not willing to give way to thefe Infpirations Co as to be converted by 'em, and being likewife envenom'dFountains of Waters that would overflow on all fides and make general Devalua- tions ; God throws up Banks againft them on fome fides,and lets them row! on on others as he will : which makes nothing for a phyficai Determination of our Li- U) See a- ^ertY 00- Add to this, that in Matters of outward boveChap. Management God may an hundred ways bend or turn jo. § 3. ' the Heart towards fome certain outward Objects or towards others : for he may difpofe of both the Ob- jects and Ci re um fiances, and of the Motion of the Blood and Spirits, the Impreiiions of which how changeable and inconlhnt fbever they be, the Soul does habitually and of cuftom follow. But in the Matter of Converfion, as the Morions to it rnuft be pure, fpi- rituaj% raised from the Scriptures. 205 ritual, and divine, and there being as yet in the Soul Chap. no habit or cuftom of following fuch Motions, but the XIV. Inftin&s of Flefh and Blood, and many evil Habits a- l^W) gainft her fo doing ; it is evident, that let God give her what Motions he will, yet the Soul has ftill fo much Freedom left her to refift, that moft commonly and ordinarily (he efTe&ually does fo, nor is (he carried whither God would have had her. Nor is it in this Senfe that Solomon fays God turns the Kjngs heart ; for if it were, none would refift God ; and all would be convert and faved \ for it is not bis will that any fhould perifh. IV. Another place that is product to (hew that God IV. Ex/T- wills not the Salvation of all Men, nor that all mould cation of a have Faith but only thofe that are by^ him predeftinated Pa/age in* to Life, is that of the Acls, where it is faidthat after ths A&s. St. Paul had preach'd the Gofpei, {a) thofe, of his Hear- ( ers, that were ordain d to Eternal Life, believd. I have '*' ^ nothing fo fay upon thisufcer what has been already Iv * * obferv'd by others, that it fhouid have been tranflared, thofe that were difpos^d towards Eternal Life^ believd ; that is to fay, fuch as were faioufly and heartily difc pos'd to feek and to work out their Salvation, they faw and acknowledged the Truth of what the Apoftle faid and embrae'd it. 'Tis of this Ordination and Difpofition of Heart that Jefus Chrifi fays, (b) If any (£) J0. 7, Man will do the will of him that fent mey he fhall k/iow my 17. DoHrine. Now what does this make for them, who would hence conclude, that God's Will is to give E- ternai Life but to fome, and that he gives Faith only to this fmall Number of the predeftinate? CHAP, 2o6 A general View of CHAP. XV. The Deftgn of St. PaulV Epiftle to the Romans, taken in Nineteen Proportions. An Abridg- ment of the Eight fr ft Chapters. The Epiftle I to the Ro- * mans the chief Pre- text for Predejli. nation. T mud be own'd on all Hands that the main Fort, if not the only one of thofe that hold Predeftination, in that Senfe J wherein we have hitherto oppos'd it, is J the Ninth Chapter of the Epiftle to the Romans, with part of the Eighth, Tenth, and Eleventh. So that if we can but fatisfie them here without having recourfe to their Hypothecs, they will be oblig'd to confefs that nothing in the whole Scrip- ture makes for them : for whatever other Paflages may be alledg'd, they cannot be fo ftrongly urg'd as fbme of this Epiftle. I will therefore endeavour to give fbme Satisfaction in this Matter; and not only that, but al- fo to give a fhort View of this whole Divine Epiftle, which will ferve to verifie the whole Body of the Theo- logical Syftem propos'd in the preceding Treatifes. I fhall content my felf in one Word to note things only, without any further enlarging upon them. As common and as true as the Opinion is, that this Epiftle of St. Paul, is a compjeat Syftem of Divinity, the true Interpretation of it is as rare and as uncom- mon. Every one makes diflferentComments upon it ac- cording to the divers Prejudices they are in. I cannot do better than not think at all on what has been writ- ten on it ; but feek out of my felf, with God's Grace, the true Senfe of it, as I am ufed to do upon all Occa- fions, always confidering things in my Intcriour as in the Prefence of God, not regarding what others or my felf may have formerly thought of them. To underftand well the Order and Diftribution of ofthisEp'i- this admirable Epiftle, it muft be noted that the whole ftleinnine- Aim and Scope of it is comprehended in certain Ver- tecn Pro- fes or Proportions (bartered and frequently refumed fofitions. by the Apoftle through the whole Body of the Epiftle ; and The defign 6V. Paul'* Epiftle to the Romans. 207 and that what lies between two or more oftbefe Ver- Chap, fes or principal Propofitions, are either Explications XV. or Amplifications of them, or forne Difficulties or Ob- WXJ jeclions that fall in his way, which the Apoftle an- fwcrs as he goes along, and Co proceeds from one prin- cipal and capital Truth to another. This I take to be the Plan of this Epiftle, which I am about to fet down in Proportions, that mail afterwards be each of them relumed and briefly confidered to (hew their Conne- xion, their Incidents, and true Senfc. I. Propofition the fir ft. I Paul intend to preach unto you, both Jews and Greeks that are at Home, the GoC pel of Jefus Chrift, which is a powerful Means made ufe of by God to fave thofe that fhall receive it by Faith. Chap. 1. 14, if, 16. IL Prop. This Gofpel fent from Heaven fully dlf- covers to Men the Divine Righteoufnefs which muft be embraced and received by Faith, if they mean to be righteous and live for ever : for the Righteous only fhall live and be faved, and this Life is an EfJecT: of Faith, which produces Righteoufnefs. Chap. 1. 17. III. Prop. God has in former Times manifefted and declared to and in the Heathen the Truth of his Righteoufnefs ; but they abufed it ; they wilfully and malicioufly defpifed, forgot and perverted it, Chap 1. 18, 10, 21, 32. IV. Prop. God has likewife manifefted this Divine Righteoufnefs to the Jews by the Law of the Prophets (Chap. 3. £i.) and by other great Advantages. But they have gone farther from it than the Heathen. Chap. 2. V. Prop. Now, God manifefb to all, Jews and Gentiles promifcuoufly, the Truth of his Divine Righ- teoufnefs by another Way than by the Light of Na- ture and of the Law, */$ by the Faith of Jefus Chrift% whom he has appointed to that Pupofe that every one that fhall partake of his Blood by Faith, may be made Righteous by the Grace of God, who will (hew forth and confirm his Righteoufnefs in fuch a one ty blot- ting out and making to difappear (c/><£ rh inl&crtv) his former Sins, and by declaring that at prefent fuch a Perfon is Righteous and by him juftified. Chap. ;. 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. VI. Prop, 208 A general View of Chap. VI. Prop. 'Tis by Faith, and not by the Works of X V\ the Law that Man receives the Righteoufnefs of God. yy^r^J chap. 3. 27. VII. Prop. Thofe that are juftified by Faith are re- ftored to Peace with God. Chap. f. 1, 2. VIII. Prop, This Peace is Co fblid, that Tribulations cannot (hake it, as being an EfFecl: of God's Spirit, which was given us by the fame Love through which the Son of God was delivered up for us; that he mighc make Grace and Righteoufnefs more abound in all thole that partake of him through Faith, than Adam made Sins and Unrighreoufnefs to defcend on all thofe that partake of him by the Birth they draw from him. Chap. ?. 3, c, 8, 17, &c. IX. Prop. The Juftified, upon their Death unto Sin, are regenerated by the Spirit of God, are the Sons of God, and in this Quality fhall be Heirs of his Glory, but yet upon condition that they fufler in this World, as Jefus Qbrift did. Chap. 8. 2, 4, 9, 10, 16, 17. X. Prop. The Gentiles have been admitted to Righ- teoufnefs by Faith without the Works of the Law : but the Ifraelites having fought this Righteoufnefs of God, and the Adoption to be his Sons, by the Works of the Law, and not by Faith, have been juftly re- jected of God, and fallen from their Pretentions, with- out God's doing any thing therein againft his Prorai- les, and his equitable Jullice. Chap. 9. 6, 14, 51. XI. Prop. The Righteoufnefs of God is not tyed to the Letter of the Law, nor to any external Obfer- vances ; but to Jefus Cbrift, who is the inward Light* Voice, and Word in the Heart of all Men. Chap. 10. XII. Prop. The Ifraelites are not abfolutely and for ever rejected of God. But when they (hall fubrait to the Faith in Vacuity and Humility of Heart, God will again take them into his Favour. Chap. 11. 1, 25". XIII. Prop. It (hall one Day really come to pafs that all the Jewifh Nation fhall be converted to the Righte- oufnefs of God by the coming of Jefus Chrifl : God ha- ving ctfofen their Fathers to be glorified by their Race. Chap. 11. 26, T7, 28. XIV Prop. Do not any longer ferve God with Jew- ifh Worfhip : but let your Service be fpiritual and true, con- St. Paul's Efiftle to the Romans. 209 confiding in a Life holy and confecrated to God. Ch. Chap. 12. I. XV. XV. Prop. Pra&ice with Joy, Patience, and conti- VWJ nual Prayer, ail Sorts of Vermes towards your Bre- thren, Neighbours, and very Enemies. Ibid. 3, &c. XVI. Prop. Submit your (elves to the higher Pow- ers out of a Principle of Conference. Chap. 13. i,j. XVII. Prop. Be juft and charitable to all. Ch. 13.7,8. XVIII. Prop. Difpute not with thofe that are weak and mean well, do not condemn, nor give offence to them in their Weaknefs, though their Opinions be falfe : but rather condefcend to them, and edifie them in Peace, as was the Practice of Jefus Cbrift. Chap. 14. 1, 3, J?, 19. Chap. iy. 1, x, j. XlX.Prop. Jefus Chrift being a Mmitter not only of the Jews but of the Gentiles alio, and having entrufted me with the Miniftry towards the latter, I have dif- charged my Duty to you, having written freely to you; which I fhall continue toward you and towards all by all poflible Expreilions of Duty. Chap. if. 8, 9, iy, 16, &c 30. Chap. 16. This 1 take to be the general Plan of this EpifHe^ I fhall now make fome Reflexions upon thefe Propofi- tions as far as fhall be neceffary to clear them, and as they concern the Subject in hand, and indeed all thofe Truths I have propofed in the foregoingTra&s , which I will cite as I go along to fhew their Conformity with the Doctrine of St. Paul. Upon the firft Proportion, it muft be obferved who j prop# they are the Apoftle addrefTes himfelf to, what he pro- whom pofes to fay to them, and the Nature of it. He de- St. Paul figns to (peak to Jews and Gentiles ; and therefore it is fpeaks to, that he applies himfelf fbmetimes to one, as Chap. 1. bis Aim; and fometimes to t'other. Chap %. and then to both to- the Nature gether, Chap. 3. Now he returns to the Jews, pre- °f the G9m vents their Objections, and anfwers them, Chap. 4, 7,^ 9, 10,11. then to the Gentiles, Chap. 11, if. He tells them he intends to preach to them the Go/pel^ that is to fay, he intends to let them know, that God inflead of leaving them in a State of Damnation, in which they naturally are fince Adam's Sin (as has been feen in the Three tirfl: Chapters of the Third (<*)Treatife) and (a) Vot into which they are continually plunging themfelves HI P deeper 2io A general View of Chap, deeper and deeper by their own Sins, defigns to deli- XV. ver them out of it by Jefus Chrift, and that therefore l/W> the Gofpel is ftiled the Go/pel of Jefus Cbrift, who is the Perfon that has obtain'd by his Mediation this Deli- verance : (agreeably to what has been (hewn in the (V Vol. Third Treatife (a). III. Chap. The Nature of the thing Sr. Paul propofes to declare 4, and 5. to them, or of the Gofpel, is, that it is the Power of God, but is fuch only to Believers, or to thofe that re- ceive it by Faith. Of all the Means God has ever made ufe of to communicate the Grace of Deliverance to Man, the mod powerful is the preaching of the Gofpel ; neverthelefs while Men receive it with their humane Reafbn only, and let the Ideas and Perfuafion of it (lick there, it proves inefficacious, weak, and a Letter that kills, and no more than legal Preaching, To be receiv'd and relifh'd as favingly living, it mufi be receiv'd by the Faith of the Heart : then does God ■powerfully work in the Heart by his Evangelical Grace, and there produces the Operations of Salvation ; and fo the Gofpel becomes the Power of God to Salvation to all that believe: which Truths have like wife been explain'd by me in the Sixth, Seventh, Eighth and Ninth Chapters of the forecited Treatife. What the II. Prop, In the fecond Proportion, which is taken out Right eouf- of Chap. i.v. 17. the Apoftle fuppofts it impoilible to nefs ofGoden'py the Deliverance preach'd by the Gofpel, but by is, which the PofTeiHon of God's Righteoufnefs^ which the Gofpel the Gofpe! ^oes likewife fully declare. This Righteoufnefs is not propofs. that Righteoufnefs of God by which he renders to every one according to his Works, (of which I have 0) VoJ. fpoken in the Third (b) Treatif ) but that we fpake 3. Ch. 4. of a little lower (c), and which I have largely treated $ 6,6c 24. of in the Eighth Chapter of the Co-operation. It is Oecon. caU'd trie Bjghteoufnefs of God. becaufe it is God that is , °|e the Author and producing Caufe of it, and works it in nC" the Hearts of thofe that are by Faith refign'd up to ( x T, • j him : for Faith is the Mean5? by which the Righteous t \ ! live, and receive the Operation of God, his Grace, \ If r and his Divine Righteoufnefs, which is the Food of his Soul. The fame Righteoufnefs is call'd Divine, becaufe it is worthy of God, becaufe it can fubfift and fhnd the Tryal before him. It is a State wherein nei- ther St. FauVs Efiftle to the Romans. 211 rher God nor the Devil can find any thing to blame or Chap. condemn (*). This RIG HTEOUSNESS is the XV. main Bufinefs of the Gofpel. f^OP^ To fave the Reader the trouble of looking any where '"' Kom* elfe than here for the Proportions 1 make Rtflcxions qJ' '_ r upon, I (hall repeat them as they come in Order. I t^e q '_ cou'd wifh likewife he had before him the Text of 0D ru 8 this Epiftle of St. Vaul. *' ' " III. Prop. God had before manifefied and declared to the The Rlgh- Gentiles and in them the Truth of his Rjghteoufnefs ; but teoufnefsqf they had abused it ; they had wilfully and malicioujl) de- God mani- fpisd, forgotten and -perverted it (£). fjied in- Reflexions. The Apoftle taking it for granted, that wa™ly to God always wilfd the Salvation and Deliverance of all t^Gm" Men, fhews that he had manifeftcd to their Interiour *y thwas alt that could or ought to be kiicwn concerning this Righ- r -.J^j teoufhefs which God requir'd of them, and which he is ' ^ willing to work in the Hearts of thofe that fhall with (b) Ch. j. Humility and Self-denial hearken to his Interiour l8>r9^r> Word (c). So that the Subftance of the Gofpel was 3-,&c. not abfblutely unknown to them, tho' but obfeurely (c) Rom. and imperfectly manifefied. It is as clear as the Day, 2. i^.and that this is the Truth St. Paul intends to inculcate thro' Ch. 10. 8. the whole Firft Chapter, and in part of the Second *nd 1$. and Tenth. Yet, he there fhews, that the Generality of the Heathen abus'd this Grace, and Divine Dispen- sation towards them, excepting fome few good Men among them (d). We have fhewn the fame Truth in (d) Rom.' our Third Treatife (*), where we have noted, that 2. 10, i4> God intending to try two kinds of Ways to fave Men ^^tf, 27. by, the inward and merely natural, and by the pofitive (e) Vol. Revelation, (which was the way he us'd towards the 3.CI1. n". Jews,) the Gentiles did not correfpond to the way he § 14. and took with them, faving a very few, who thereby at Chap. 13. rain'd to rhe Theory and Practice of the Subftance of the Gofpel ; but that this concludes nothing as to the Generality, who rendered this way ineffectual as to themfelves. Now we will fee what the others did in their way. IV. Prop. God manifefied likewife to the Jews by the The ?m* Law and the Prophets (f)9 and by other great and confider- h*vlH P x able GQodf r RighteouJ* nefs manifested to them by the Law, rejected it and perverted the L*»* (J) Rom, 3. ai. and Chap. \o. 4. 212 A general View of »^ ^^»^^_____^__ Chap, able Advantages (a) this Divine Righteoufnefs. But they XV. forfool^ it worfe than the Gentiles. L/~\TK) i\eflex. This is undoubtedly the Sum and Subftance (a) Ro °^ W^at ^r" Pau^ mtGn^s through the whole Second, \a'2 m* and in the places already noted of the Third andTenth Chapters. Nor need I infifl: upon his Amplification of this Matter. But I defire you to remember what I (£) Oec. have meWn in the Third Treatife (b)y which amounts betore t0 t^\s . ^^ jyjen turnjng away tnejr Attention from of 'lefts tne mwarc* Light of the Heart, God communica- CkriflCh. tec* Himfclf to them by Apparitions, Ceremonies, and fo. $' 15J Revelations, which awaken'd in their Minds the Ideas kj. ' of that Righteoufnefs, to which they were inclin'd and mov'd by the internal Light of the Heart, and of that Unrighteoufnefs from which it likewife diffuaded them. Thus we fee how God gave the Law to lead them and bring them to the inward Light of Faith. But we (hall fee the terrible and fatal Sophifm they committed in this Matter. Inftead of turning them- felves towards Faith, or towards the inward Light ofc the Heart, that is to fay, towards God himfelf working in their Interiour, that they might obtain by the Di- vine Power of Faith ftrcngth to ratifie, and livingly to fulfil what the Law and the Ideas of it fhew'd to be jufl: ; they ftuck clofe to their Reafon, and went about to fullfii and acquire by their own proper Strength, and by the corrupt Motions of their own Will, the Righteoufnefs which the Law declar'd and exacted of them ; and Man's Powers being corrupt and good for nothing, they cou'd not but mifcarry and be loft in the life of them. And fo by their own Will, their own Endeavours, and legal Works, they fell from Faith and the true Righteoufnefs of God, and funk into all manner of Diforders; D.irknefs and Mileries : as I (hull hereafter obferve they did, and that almoft in ever/ thing. r- j — - V. Prop. Now God declares to all. Jews and Gentiles God Want' , • -> • o • t r r 1 • r^ • • Z • 1 r r- fefis his mtbout Dijiinction, the trutv of bis Divine t\igbteouJnejs Righteouf- h Mother way than by a mere natural Light and the Law, mfs to all viz. by J ejus Chrifi. by Jefus i\eflex. The Apoftle has fhewn from the xift. Verfe Chrijlthro* o£ the ill:. Chapter to the 20th. of the 3d. that thefe Faith, two Difpenfations of God, the one, whereby he left the Gentiles St. PaulV Epiflle to the Romans. 2 1 $ Gentiles purely to the internal Light, and the other, Chap, whereby he awakened the Jews by the Miniflry of the XV. Law, to bring them back to the Righteoufnefs of God, ^V"VJ proved ineffectual ; and that the Jews were refolved to practice the Law by their own corrupt Reafbn and Strength, and not by Faith. And therefore, he fays, that God now opens a (<*) new Period or Difpenfation (a) See the to make known to them his Righteoufnefs^ the very fifth Peri- fame Righteoufnefs which the Law and the Prophets de- od. Oec. dared to them fpeculatively (b). That God maniMs aftetjTjgw it by the faith of Jefus Chrift (Ji& *k&s *Ih«t« Xe/rs, VM.) CH?,Ch. that is to fay, by fuch a Faith by which Jefus Chrift l> &c- lives in us, (as he explains himfelf in another Place),. (c% By a Faith of the fame Nature with that or Jefus ^\ Kom' Chrift, by a Faith which being the Faith of the Son of 3' 1J' God, and being the true Light, does in us what it did (c) Gal. 2. in him, makes us mortifie and facrifice the old Man, 20. and makes us prefent our felves Oblations to God. For (to continue the Proportion in the Apoftle's own Terms ver. 23, 24, 25:.) God has conftituted Jefus Chrift, that whoever -partakes of his blood by Faith fhould be made righteous by his Grace. Reflex. Faith is always the fame under all Dif p^, :t ^ penfations ; but it having been ill treated among the to be fuftj. Gentiles and Jews, God renews it and propofes it in fed by his Son where it is efficacious, active, living and in- Faith in corruptible. Now the Faith of God wrought in Jefus the Blood Chrift the Sacrifice of himfelf. And this is what God °f^ Je£us propofes to us : a Conformity and real Participation Cnnih of the Sacrifice and Blood of Jefus Chrift by Faith, or a Faith that renders us Partakers by Conformity and real Influence of the Sacrifice and Blood of Jefus Chrift. When we wholly refign our felves up to it we are re- deemed and delivered from all Unrighteoufnefs, and to ufe the Apoftles Words, (ver. 24.) God declares and makes vifible in us his divine Righteoufnefs \ in caufing to fafs away (I remember I have elfe where {d) given ano- (d) Oec. ther Signification to this Word but as this feems to me of Co-op. more agreeable to the Senfe of the Apoftle, I prefer it CI1.8. § 7. before the firft) and difappear, the former Sins that he had tolerated in us ; and this manifefts that God is Righ~ teous and a Lover of Righteoufnefs and Purity ; and tha,t he makes righteous by the Operation of his Grace P 3 all 214 -^ general View of Chnp. all fuch as refign thernfelves up to the Faith ofjefus XV. Chrift facrifked and crucified for us. I have eifewhere t^VX^ explained what concerns the Blood (a) and Sacrifice (b) * v n of Jefus Chrift, and how it juftifies (c) : and I beg all ofCc^oD tno^e tnat are heartily concerned for Things of fuch Ch cM2. &reat Importance to confider what is there faid. (b) Oec. before the Inc. of Jefus Chrift, Ch. 17. § 11. n. 13, 16, 17, 18- (f ) Oec. of the Co-op. Chap. 8. J* ft £7 VI. Prop. It is by Faith and not by the Works of the Faith and Law, that Man receives the t\ighteouJhefs of God (d). not by the Reflex. This is the Apoftle's main Conclufion, nor law that can any tnjng be clearer to any one that does but un- ^eoufnef" r^at r'8nteous State wherein there is no longer any cf God.' thing that deferves Condemnation, is gratuitously wrought by God in Man through Faith,, through the in- (d) Rom. ward and operative Light of the Son of God in the 3- 27« Heart, and not by the Worlds of the Law, by the carnal Endeavours of a Soul that without Self-refignarion to God, only confults and makes ufe of its own corrupt Powers, Activity and Will and its own barren Specu- lations and therewith thinks, to fatisfie God and the Lav/. The Apoftle (hews that this way by Faith excludes Pride (ver. 16) where ?s Boafting ? and in the fecond Place, that it Satisfies the Law of God, eftablifhes it, (ver. 30J and even fulfils it (Chap. 8, ver. 4.) The Apoftle in the fourth Chapter confirms his Doctrine from the Example of Abraham. As I intend not a Comment upon this Epillle, but only fome Remarks on the Defign and capital Propofitions of it, I (hail fay nothing on this Amplification of the Apoftle's. He that undeiftands what 1 have here faid, as well as eife- where concerning Juftification and Faith, will with great Satisfaction obferve how Faith acls in all the A- poftle fays concerning Abraham juho through it entered into a State of Righteoufnefs well pleafing to God, not only in quality of a particular faithful Per fbn, but alfb as a Father of the Faithful, and as an ele£fc and chofen Stock from which the Race of Saints was to be perpetuated. We St. PauIV Epijile to the Romans. 2 1 5 We may hence obferve thar there is an Election to Chap, the Quality of a particular fairhful Perfon or Son of XV. God, and to the Quality of a faithful Head, and Fa- /*V^Vl ther of the Faithful ; (in Virtue of which Election God will one day convert the Jews when they come to know themfelves and acknowledge their Error) in like manner that there is alfo a t\igbteoufnefs requifite to make one fimplya faithful Perfon and 2.t\igbteouJneJs re- quired to qualifie one to be a Father of the Faith ful,but that they alt proceed from Faith. Go we on to the next. VII. Prop. Thofe that are juftified by Faith have Peace jtln;f:,.,_ with God (a). on is fol- j^eflex. This Peace follows not only the real Righte-/ oufnefs which God has wrought in Man by the Light Peace. of the Faith ofjefus Cbrifl ; but al fb, and chiefly, it . . R follows the Declaration that God has made in the Soul [*' Kom« that it is righteous in his Divine eyes. This Matter I have explain" d in the Eighth and Ninth Chapters of the Co-operation. VIII. Prop. This Peace is fo folid that Tribulation can. This reace not ruffle it, &C. (b). is folid Reflex, The Apoftle reckons among the EfTecls of and °f this Divine Peace an undaunted Confidence and Firm- Proof> **" nefs in the Midft of Tribulations, for this Reafon, be- JS'^- caufe God loves thofe that are juftified, and has given r; r. , ro them the Spirit of Love, ver. 6. and becaufe he had 0f .q^* even before they were juftified given Jeflts Cbrifl fa vhicb . Sinners, ver. 8, by whom all that are in him by Faith moreabun- are much more reconciled to God and more abundant- dant and ly filled with Righteoufnefs and Grace, than thofe that./?™/* up- are in Adam are (hut up in Enmity with God in Un- onfucb as righteoufnefs, Sin and Death. *r*i«Je- Hereupon he draws a Parallel between the Gift of f^sChril>, Righteoufnefs which they that are in J ejus Cbrifl par- than Evti take of, and the unhappy Natural and Adamical Gift lfuclP™ of Sin and Condemnation which all they partake on^^am* that are ftill in Adam and in the old Birth which they \y) Rom" derive from him. A Truth this that I have treated of 5.3,5,^" in the Oeconomy of Sin Chap, iy, 16, 17. r ' In the Sixth and Seventh Chapters the Apoftle an- ^ }f fwers a Difficulty that came in his Way. He had (aid tfofatb (Chap. 5*. ver. loj that the Law having difcovered and fa P 4 fhe tQtntb Chapters of tbisEpifile. 2 1 6 A general View of Chap, the Abundance of Sin, Grace fhewed its Abundance in XV. thejuftified proportionably as Sin had before abound- l«^VX,> ed in them, and indeed more. Upon which it is ob- jected. What then ? (hall we fin on, that Grace may /hew how abundant it is ? Chap. 6. ver. i. which Ob- jection he anfwers many Ways. Firft he fhews that this Objection contradicts it felf or its own Suppofition. For (ver. 2.) a juftified Perfbn is entirely dead to Sin. Now it is a Contradiction for him to be dead to it and yet to live ftill in it. Secondly, he proves the fame Thing from Baptifm of which they that are juftified were Partakers. He fays (ver, 3, 4, and ?.) that by it they are dead to the old Life and areraifed again in the new. In the third Place, he infills upon this, (ver. 6, 7.) that to be juflify'd, it is firft neceflary that the Old Man. the Syftem of Sin, be antecedently deftroy'd, none being declared righteous and abfoiv'd from Sint but he that is dead to it, ver. 7. Laftly, He (hews the Abfurdity of that Objection from the Confideration of the State of Liberty or Sla- very we are reduc'd to by obeying either God or Sin. He carries the fame Difficulty yet further in the Se- venth Chapter, and feems to be pleas'd with a thorow canvafhng and removing of it, to live without finning being the chief and principalBufinefs of Chriftians. He [hews the Jews how they formerly adhered to the Law, to the fruitlefs Theory of Good and Evil, and to their own Strength and Wills in what is prefcrib'd, as a Wo- man Hicks to her Husband : and that there was no Reafon to marvel, that the impotent Law could not then beget anything in their carnal Souls but the Fruits of Death and Sin. But their Husband (the Law) be- ing now dead with refpect to them, and they to it ; and feeing they, (according to the Permiilion even of their own Law) had efpous'd another Husband, Jefus Chrift, it would be Adultery in them dill to bring forth the Fruits of Sin which would again fubject 'em to the Bondage of the Law, by leaving and forfaking the living and new Spirit of Faith. Then he takes a- way an Objection which might be made as if he fpake dishonourably of the Law (ver. 7.) and (hewing to the End of the Chapter th^e Ufe of the Law, and of what Service . PaulV Efifile to the Romans. 217 Service it is to one that has a mind to attain to a State Chap, of Righteoufnefs, he lets us fee how he himfelf pro- XV. ceeded, and the different Degrees he pafs'd through to ^W arrive at Juftification and Regeneration. I have ex- plain'd this ellewhere (a), and fb ends the Seventh W ^ec- Chapter. The following Proportion belongs to the °*C°-°P- Eighth. th>*tJl JX. Prop. The Juftified are upon their death unto Sin, T^e t^af born again through God's Spirit, and are his Children ; and are juftifi. in that Quality [hall be Heirs of his Glory , but yet upon ed are bom Condition that they fujfcr in this World as Jefus Chrifl again, and did(b). tome to the t\cflex. The Apoftle (hews here admirably well (ver. Divim in- 1. to the 13th.) how fuch as are juftified fin no more, hmta™e% nor live after the Fleffi, nor fet their Affeaions on the but thro things of the Flefh ; but that on the contrary they u»ennZs* have the Affections, Motions apd Works of the Spirit (b) Chap, of Jejus Chrifl, by which they livingly accomplifh that 8. v. 2,4, Righteoufnefs which the Law coldly declar'd and fruit- 9* 10, i6> lefsly requir'd of carnal Perfons. This has been ex- J7- plain'd in the Treatife of the Co-operatipn (c). Then / *c. «» he fays (ver. iy, &c.) that thofethat are juftihed having ^CJ rectivd the Holy Spirit, are thereby regenerated and be- come the Sons of God, and as fuch are introduced into the Inheritance o/all God^s Goods ; but that before they art glorified, they tnu&fuffer. Thofe that are like to fufler need fbmething to heart- Conr0iatim en them up and encourage them. The Apoftle docs onsf0rfuch this from many Heads. i.F/>/?, by comparing the as Mre t0 Glory which will follow their Sufferings, which Glo- fuffer. ry is fuch that all the Creatures pant after it* Upon this, he reveals (ver. xo.) this great Secret, that Men have fo little thought of, that all Creatures were crea- ted in that glorious State to which they (hall at laft be reftored, and that it was the Sin of Man only that co- vered them with Darknefs and fubjecfed them to Cor* ruption ; that they have (fill within them (ver. 21.) a Spring and Principle that preffes to be delivered, and to throw off this corrupt Matter • and that (ver. ix.) they (hall actually do it as fbon as the Sons of God (hall be delivered from their Corruption and re-infta- ted in the Liberty of their primitive Glory,after which r.hey earneftly breath .and figh, waiting that as their SouH 2 1 8 A general View of Chap. Souls are already redeemed from the Sins they had XV. contracted, till their Bodies too be redeemed from t/V\) that corruptible and grofs State brought upon them by Sin, before which they v/ere in the Liberry of Glory, I have given the Syftem of this great Truth through the whole Treatife of the Oeconomy of the Creation, (a) Oec. and in another Place befides (a). before In the Second Place the Apoftle comforts the Chil- the Inc. dren of God as to their Sufferings, from this Confide- oi Jefus ration, that the Defire which they have of Glory fhall Chrift, ch. not be fruftrated, forafmuch as the Spirit of God him- 2. n. io. fetf [s concerned in that Dtfire of theirs,and docs it felf pray and ask in them and for (hem what M in cannot comprehend, and what is pleafing to GoJ ( ver. bj&.) Laftly, he comforts them (ver. 28.) by the Confide. ration, that all that befals them jhaU turn to their gdo'A, becaufe they love God, and God will on his Part an- fwer their Love by all Care of them imaginable, and by all Fxpreilions of his fatherly Kindnefs. Uponrhis Head he goes on to the End of the Chapter, explain- ing and {hewing God's Perfeverance towards us, provi- ded we on our Part continue and perfevere in our Love towards him (ver. 27.). Thefe Things I have explain- ed in the Tenth Chapter of the Treatife of Co-opera- tion. An Expli- There is fome Difficulty in the 28th and 29th Ver- c anon of fes, where the Apoftle fpeaks of Predeftinatbn. For the 28th. at fir ft Sight Men think they fee in them an abfblute and i^th. and perfonal Predeftinarion to Faith, or Salvation, ac- Verfes. cording to their preconceived Notion of the Matter. Neverthelefs the Apoftle had no fuch Thing in his Thoughts, neither here nor any where elfe. The true Senfe of thefe Words which depends on the 27th. Verfe is this. To comfort God's Children he tells them, that all Things, even their very Afflictions turn to their good^ becaufe they love God and rhat they do not fall into Dan- gers and Afflictions through rheirown imprudent and ill Conduct, but that God engages them in them by his Providence, by his calling them thereto upon fbme ipecial Defign of his, Which Conduct of his they fhou'd not think ftrange, feeing God makes ufe of Suf- ferings even after their Judication, as well as before it, to St. PaulV Efifile to the Romans. 2 1 9 to lead Man into the Deatrnof the old Life, to crucifie Chap, and mortifie his old Adam in Conformity to the Image XV. of the Suffering Jefus Cbrifl : for (ver. 28.) thus God '-/'W proceeds. His Defign is to have Sons and Heirs, and fb likewise he determines the Ways by which they (hall be made iuch.ThefeSons and Heirs whom be forel{new,2.T\d of whom he formed the general Idea and Foreknowledge, before there were a&ully any fuch,he from that Time and before they were in Being, deftined and ordained to fuflfer inwardly and outwardly with Jefus Cbrifl, that they might die to the old Man by Conformity to the Image of his Death, and be fan&ified by the fame Means he was (a) and made like their elder Brother. (a)Heb.z. And thofe whom he thus fredeftinated and before appoint- IO> 1T- ed (I?) to Afflictions and Sufferings, he alfo calls thereto, (b) 1 Thejf. and in rime effectually engages them in them, fb puri- 3. 3. fying them from their Sins and fan&ifying them by Afflictions, after which hejuftifiesthem, and theng/o- w Oec. rifies them ; but always after their having fuffered, as j£ Co op* he faid before ver. 17. The Order of this Procedure ? p\7' I have elfewhere touch'd on (c). * h 2' The Reft of the Chapter has no Difficulty in it, or if (d) ib.Ch. it have you may meet with a Solution (d). IO, § 4i. CHAP. XVI. An Explication of the Ninth Chapter of St. PaulV Eftftle to the Romans. E are now come to the Ninth Chapter of this Epiftle, which is the ftrong Hold or chief Pretext for a rigid Predeftination. With what right we fhail fee prefently. In the mean while confider we the main Proportion of the Chapter which is this, X. Prof. The Gentiles have been received into Righteouf- j fart nefs through Faith, without the Law i but the Ifraelites Draught of having fought this Righteoufnefs of God and the Adoption of the Chap* Sons through the Work of the jUb>, and not through Faith % ter. havf 220 An Explication of the Ninth Chapter (a) Ch. 9. have been jufily rejected of Gad and fallen from their Pret en- 6t H> }i. /ions, God thereby no Way ailing either againft his Promifes or his Equity and Juftice (4) , He flex. This Proportion is a Compend of the whole things to Chapter, and as that, contains Three principal Mem- beconfi- bers. The &rft contains the State of the Queftion, derdin and concerns the Rejection of the Jews, and the Re- thisChap- ceiving of the Gentiles. Of this the Apoftle (peaks teri 1. The from the 24th. Verfe to the End of the Chapter ; but State of chiefly in the 30th. 31ft. ^2d. Ver(es. The Second the Que- Member is an Anfwer to a Difficulty, whether this ftion. i.An may De done fav}ng the Truth of God's Promifes, •2'V0 which he treats of from the 6th. to the 13 th. Verfe. *wMrZ*y The Third Is a SolutIon of another Difficulty, whether sard to tms Proceedure be not againft the Juftice of God, and G0efs this is treated of from the 15-th. to the X2d. Verfe. Truth. 3. To another arifing from his Juftice. Firft. The i. The Apoftle that he might not offend nor pro- State of voke thofe of his own Nation, does not only make a the Que- foftening Preface in the five firft Verfes of this Chap- ftion of the ter, but likewife waves the State of the Queftion and Ninth the Conclufion, which was odious to the Jews, it be-. Chapter, ;ng about the cafting of them ofFand Admiuion of the Gentiles, to the End of the Chapter, ver. 30, 31^ and 32. What /hall we fay then ? That the Gentiles who fought not after Righteoufnefs (by the Works of the Law) have obtained Righteoufnefs, I fly, the Righteoufnefs that comes by Faith. But that If ael feeding the Law of Righ- teoufnefs (the Principle that makes us righteous) has not attained the Law of Right eoufnefs. Waerefore ? Becaufe they did not do it by Faith, but as defigning to obtain it by the Workj of the Law. Thefe Words plainly note 1. the State of the Que- ftion, vi%. whether it were true that upon the Gentiles their being received to Righteoufnefs, the Jews were fallen from it. x. The Apoftle's Conclufion ( that fo it was) back'd with his Reafbns for it, one, that the Gentiles had fubmitted to the Way of Faith, and had not adhered to that of Works ; and the other, becaufe the Jews wou'd needs ftick to the way of Works to at- tain Righteoufnefs, and not take the way of Faith. Whence it follows, that they juftly fell from their Pre- t.cnfions of St. PaulV Eft file to the Romans. 221 tendons of being Rlghreous, and the Sons and Heirs Chap, of God, when as the Gentiles were admitted to thefe XVI. very Prerogatives. LSWKJ It appears as clear as the Day from the reading of st. Paul this Chapter, efpecially from the Ten laft Verfes of it, never fo from the Tenth Chapter and the Eleventh, and from much as the Eleventh Verfe of it to the Thirty hrft , that in the thought of firft Place, this is the State of the Queftion and the * ri&* Subject treated of; and that Sr. Paul never thought ****$'** here (no more than any where elfi) o£ any pretended natzon' abfblute and perfbnal Predeftination of certain Indi- viduals (ome to Life and others to Death Eternal, with- out any regard to the different Difpofnions and Carri- age of fiich Per/bns. This appears to be fb, in the fe- cond Place, becaufe neither the Jews of thofe Times, nor of ours, ever pretended to fuch a Predeftination* nor do they yet know any thing of it ; nor did they ever make this the Matter of any Difficulty againft the Gentiles, or ever held that the Gentiles were reproba- ted by any pretended abfolute Decree. This Obferva- tion alone, which cannot be doubted, is enough to o- verthrow all the pretended Proofs Men fancy they fee in this and the following Chapters of an abfblute Pre- deftination. But very unfortunately for that Doctrine, St. Paul never fb much as thought of it, and in this Epiftle and the Ninth Tenth and Eleventh Chapters of it, t which are alledged in its behalf, he is treating of quite another thing. Men fancy that the Queftion here is to know, whe- Mm put a ther certain particular Perfbns are from Eternity pre- different deftinated of God, fome to Life and others to Death &$$*** Everlafting ; and that in Confluence of this,the Means intherooin vof Salvation be not defigned and reach'd out to the one, % Sy and were never intended for the other. And they be- u St lieve that fb it is. And this God's dealing they ground upon a mere good Pleafure of his that has no regard to any Difference in the Perfons ; and this is what they look to find in St. Paul. Whereas St. PauCs Intent is to (hew, how God ha- ving at firft tryed to fave all Men, Jews and Gentiles by the way of true Righteoufhefs, after having drawn the Gentiles to it by the Light of Nature, and the Jews by the Law, and then both together by che Preaching of 222 An Explication of the Ninth Chapter Chap, of the Gofpel ; how it fell out that the Gentiles were XVI. by God admitted to this Righteoufnefs and the Prero- IS~\T\J gatives of it, which were to become the Children and Heirs of God ; and that the Jews were excluded and caft off from all thefe Advantages. And the Apoftle's Anfwer to this is, that, the Reafonofthis different Treatment of the Jews and Gentiles, and of the diffe- rent Way of God's dealing with them is grounded up- on this, that the one to come to what they were, pro- ceeded by the way of Faith ; but that the other inftead of endeavouring after Righteoufnefs by Faith, wou'd (a) Rom. needs attain it by the Works of the Law (a). And is not 9« 3°> 32- this an infinitely different thing from a rigid Predefti- nation ? Is it not perfectly oppofite to it ? and does it not even overturn and ruine the very Foundation of this chimerical Fancy, W^. the pretended Good plea- fore of God that has no regard to the difference of Mens Difpofitions and Behaviour ? And I might ftop here and reft fatisfied with this Truth that overthrows the Foundation of all the Dif- ficulties and Glofles that are put upon the following Texts of the Apoftle : to which may be added the Ex- ( plication I have already given of fome of thefe Verfes Oec\f t*>*3 and alfo whac has teen faid of the Plan of the SirTch Election and Reprobation of the Jews (V), as well as lm I „ ' of the Gentiles with refpecl: to what St. Paul teaches ' concerning this Point in the Ninth,. Tenth, and Ele- (c) hi the venth Chapters of this Epiftle. I defire thofe places Oec. be- may be confulted ; for though I intend to make fbme fore jc- Reflexions as well upon the following Texts of the fui chrift> Apoftle, as upon the reft of my Proportions, yet I Chap. 15. n^j} not defignedly explain fome things which I fup- ^ J9- pofe already clear'd. (2.) The (a. )The Apoftle having ver. 4. and 5*. own'd the Ad- Jecondpart vantages of the Ifraelites, that the Adoption of Sons, of this the Giory of being God's People, the Covenant of Chapter : God often renew'd with them, the Law, and the Ce- aDiff.adty remonies and all the Promifes of God were all their in rjiation peculiar Privileges, and at the lame time teaching that tothcTruth q0(j na(j rcjc£ted them from being his Children and oj God- tTU\y Righteous, and from effV&ually enjoying his Pro- mifes, anfwers (ver. 6.) this Objection, thac then the Word of St. PauP* Epiftle to the Romans. 22 j Word and Promifes of God wou'd be deceitful and Chap, changeable. XVL He anfwers no, they wou'd not : and the Reafon he ''^O* gives for it is this, that altho' God made his Promifes who *!?f, generally to Ifrael and to Abrahams Race ; yet was fJ*e i " it not his Will to mean, own and chufe for Jfiaelites Abraham and Abrahams Seed fuch as were carnally fo, and who are an£ from a prefumptuous Conceit of this Advantage and the ifrae- of all the other of Laws, Revelations, and Worfhp, Utes to fhou'd pretend that by virtue of this and of their own whom the bufying themfelves and Thoughts about thefe Matters Promifes God muft neceffarily own 'em and take 'em for his wremade. Children and for righteous Perfbns,and ufe 'em as fuch. No, this was none of God's Pleafure nor his Intention. And why was it not ? Becaufe God being the God of the Hearty and of the fpiritual, humble and clean Heart ; he cannot take Pleafure in Hearts that are carnal, proud, and cleaving to felf, He cannot fix neither his Grace nor his Delight in fuch, neither by Promife , nor in Efteft. But his Pleafure, his Will, his Decree, is, not to mean nor own for Ifraelites^ not to take for Abraham's Seed, not to hold, chufe or de- clare to be his People, his Children, and Righteous, a- ny but thofe only whofeHearrs were humble and full of Faith, and fo were the true Children of Abraham ac- cording to the Spirit. Such is God's good Pleafure, and this is his Decree of Election to Righteoufnefs, to Adoption, and to the effectual partaking of his Pro- mifes. Nor mull any pretend to thruft themfelves in- to a Right to them, by following his own Way and Will, how Good and Holy foever he may fancy it ; but muft fubmit to God's good Pleafure, upon which all depends, as on its only Reafon and Caufe. Now (ver. 7.) all this was clear from the very firft, The foft in the two firll Children Abraham had; for God ha- Example ving promifed this Patriarch to make ufe of him and by which his Poiterity as Vefllls and Conduits of his Graces, as St- Paul well for themfelves, as by them to perpetuate and Prorjes t his communicate them to others; Ifmael, the Son of the S?*f' Bond-woman and the Scoffer, though the carnal Son vlr of Abraham, was not for all that accounted his Son ; an but Ifaac the meek and the humble and the Son of the Free-woman was accounted his Seed : to give us to un- der Rand 224 £j be prefumptuous, felf-adhering, and truft- ;fc h in& t0 ms own natura^ Strength and Works, (hou'd c Yd chutes ^e inferi°ur poftponed before God to him that was lefs, thofe that tnaC was loofened from felf and refigned to God in Hu- refign mility. themfelves Thus we fee how God declares his Choice of the to his good Spirit of Humility, of Faith and Refignation to him, Spirit of and that he rejects the Spirit of Pride and Prefumption. Humility Mow Jacob had fuch a Spirit of Meeknefs, Humili- andFmth: tv? Simplicity and Faith: and Efau had a Spirit of **d.jh? Prefumption, Grandeur, of Efteem of himfelf and his on of E- own Works, both himfelf and Pofterity. Therefore {„ mte~ by Virtue of this Declaration Jacob fas likewife all that Cod ^ucn as wou'd give themfelves up to be led by his Spi- reprobates ritj ought to be approved and chofen of God ; and the Spirit Efau cf P *ide and ofcirrupt and carnal Nature, and all fuch as adhere to it. of St. PaulV EpiftU to the Romans. 225 — —~~ ***—*— Efau (as long as himfelf and his Race fhou'd continue Chap. in their Spirit of Corruption and Pride) was to be re- XVI. je&ed and pafTed by. And this is what came to pafs. '•'VNJ For the Scripture fays, that God loved Jacob, the fimple and the humble of Spirit, and that he hated and defpi- fed Efau, the prefumptuous and proud of heart. And this is to be underftood with Reference to their Perfons as well as to their Pofterity, while they continue in the fame Difpofitions of Heart. For God will never own and chufe for his Children but only the humble Spirit of Jacob, which is the fame Spirit Jefus Chrift is of, nor does he reject any but the prefumptuous Spirit of Efau, which is the Spirit of corrupt Naturej and of the very Devil himfelf. Thus is the firft Difficulty vanifhed. For fince :t appears that the Promifes of God regard only Souls humble and refigned to the Spirit of his Grace, and not at all fuch as are prefuming and ftifly adhering to their own Activity ; it hence follows, that God has not failed in his Promifes, though the Jews be rejected and the Gentiles received and owned of God : becaufe thefe Jews had the carnal, mercenary, prefumptuous and arrogant Spirit of Ifmael and Efau ; and the Gen- tiles abandoned themfelves to the humble and Lithful Spirit of Jacob, as foon as it pleafed God to manifeft ic to them by the Gofpel. (3.) We are now come to the third Difficulty in this (3 J rh$ fame Procedure of God ver. 14. But how is it ? What third fhall we Jay then ? Does not this look as if there were Branch Unrighreoufhefs in God, thus to make ferious and ge- if this neral Promifes to Abraham, to Ifrael, and to all their Chapter; Defendants, and yet not to keep and make good his A Dlffi~ Word to thofe that can effectually make it out to him cultymt^ that they are the true Race of Abraham and Ijrael} But rsf*ttm *•■ God forbid we fhou d upon this Score fufpeft him of [f Q Uce Unrighteoufnefs I / ' The Reafbn is this, becaufe God cannot affix his To whom Grace and Mercy to Flefh and Blood, and much lefs God-will to a prefumptuous Confidence in them \ he can annex fl)CV0 Met* it only to his own juft and holy Will, and to fuch Dif- 9'- ;)ofitions as are pleafing and agreeable to himfelf; for Ver.i^.) he fays to Mofes, I will have Compajfion on whom it is my Plea/ure to have Companion, and will /hew Mercy on CL whom 226 An Explication of the Ninth Chapter Chap, whom it is my Will to /hew Mercy ; and nor I wilt (hew XVI. Mercy on them whom Men (hall pleafe to think I 1>"W ought to (hew Mercy, upon Pretence of fuch and fuch Difpofitions of theirs which themfelves are highly plea- fed with, but which difpleafe me exceedingly. It is their Part to refign themfelves up to fuch Difpofitions as are agreeable to my good Pleafure and Will, feeing my good Pleafure and Will are the Fountains and Di- stributers of my Mercy and Grace. It is not therefore of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, hut of God that /hews Mercy (ver. 1 6). To will is good, to run and do is good, when they are ufed as good Means, and not fancied to be the End, nor pretended that by Virtue of and Adhefion to thefe Things we are in a State well pleafing to God, other- wife they are a Hindrance. What muft make us ac- ceptable to God; and make us Light in the Lord, muft come from God himfelf into us by Faith. Our A£te of willing this, of praclifing t'other, of being of fuch a Religion, and excercifing the Functions of it, of run. nlng to Sacraments, do not of themfelves make us plea- fing to God ; 'tis mere Biindnefs and Cheating them- felves for Men to flatter themfelves wirh thefe Advan- tages and Works, unlefs they deny themfelves and throw themfelves humbly and purely into the Abyfs of God's pure Mercy on which all depends. This Truth is palpably manifeft in fuch as are truly tvm m converted to God : for firft, they are full of good Wills, tbc^lfMm y rww' [key a<^- tney ^° a'^ tnevcan> anc* aii tney and in** tn,'n^ proper and moft ( ffeclual to their Converfion ; Conver- ar|d vet a^rer a^> tnev ^ tnev do not advance at all, jion, Non and they feem even to go backwards ; and God Co per- cftvolen-mits it that they may know that his Grace which he tis neque defigns to give them depends not upon their willing, or jcurren- running. But all on a fudden when they think not of tis, fed Jr> and have loft all Hopes of Succefs in their Endea- Dei uiife- vourSj Qoc\ pours upon them his Light and his Grace ^ntls- that changes them in an inft nt in fuch a Manner to * which they contribute fo little actively, that they come then plainly to underftand the Meaning of this Truth, That it is not of him that willeth , nor of him that runneth, but of God that Jkcws Mercy. This of St. Paul's Epifile to the Romans. 227 ■^ » — — — — — — ■ — ^— >— — ^ — — « — ^— ^— « ^— « — — »^^^«w This is what they likewife experience after another The fame Manner, who with all their willing and running are re- thing hap* jecled of God, as Efau was, though he wwV have had pens in the the BlefTing of his Father, and though he ran and did Wicked. all he poflibly cou'd as far as carnal Means wou'd go, to the obtaining it : but neither his willing nor his run- ning were pleafing to God, becaufe of his Prefumption and Pride. The fame befel the Ifraelites who having a good fVill and a Divine Zeal, and running to the Obfervance of the Law, and even after profelyting o- thers to the Obfervance of it ; yet, they not doing this in a Spirit of Humility and Resignation to the Mercy of God, but in a Spirit of Prefumption and Self-adhe- fion : neither their willing nor their running made them acceptable to God ? on the contrary, they fell fo far into his Disfavour as not to be neglected by him, or rather not to be punifhed by him after the ordinary Manner wherein he punifhes other Sinners and Unbe- lievers in the World, whom he punifhes and leaves to perifh in the common Way ; but as for them one may fay he brings them upon the Stage, expofes and pre- serves them in the Sight of the World to be the mod Temarkable Example of his Wrath and fevere Ven- geance. (Ver. 17.) Nor is this any fiich extraordinary Thing How the with God ; on the contrary, he ufes thus to difpofe ofWBofGod wicked Men, when they continue obftinately impeni-^^ ^Jf" tent, and are refolved to follow their own corrupt t°^e.s °f. Wills. In this Cafe Divine Providence orders them tnJ£b™km a very fingular Manner to manifeft his Glory moft € fignally in their Crimes and in their Punifhments as we have feen above (a), and the Example of Pharaoh (a) Chap. fpeaks home to this Point ; the Scripture teaching us 8- v, 20. that God /aid to him, that inftead of leaving him to p, . perifh after the ordinary W7ay, or letting him alone in "harao ' the common Rank of Sinners, he would raife him up to the eminent Rank of an hardened Sinner, and preferve him alive (6 long till he came to that Heighth of Wick- nefs as fhou'd fit him for fuch a Vengeance as jbould make God's Name he renowned through all the Earth. Tn like Manner God preferves the Jews that were obfti- nately wicked to be a notable Example of his fevere Juftice, to make himfelf acknowledged through the f d* World 228 An Ex flic At ion of the Ninth Chapter Chap. World for a God that loves our humble Refignation XVI. to his Grace, and (b utter an Enemy to Prefumption, l/VNJ Self-love and all carnal Adhefion to our own Ways, as to punifh it in the Race of his deareft Friends after (b diftinguilhing, fevere and illuftrious a Manner. (Ver. 18.) Conclude we then, that God has Compaf- fion on whom he will have Companion, that is to fay, on the humble in Spirit, and on fuch as are refigned to him ; and that he gives up to their own hardening thofe he thinks good andjuft to for fake, vi%. the prefumptu- ous, and fuch as continue obftinate in their carnal and natural Adhefions. (Ver. 19.) But fome will fay, if it be true that God will thus difpofe of Unbelievers, of prefumptuous and obftinate Sinners, and raife them up to be Examples that ffnll by his fevere Ufage of them make God's Name famous and known in the World, why does he yet complain of them, fince they cannot refifi his Will^ by which he is refblved to ufe them thus? Themak- (Ver. xo, xi ) But O Man, thinkeft thou right, who ing of Vef- art thou that thou fioudji find fault with God's Conduct ? fels fane Is he not wife and juft to do juftly and fitly what he to Honour, doeswithout incurring thyCenfure or that of the Work and fome he tnus orders and manages. A Work can never juftly to Dijko- flrlvewith him that has given it its Form,as earthen J^/I fels do not contend with the Potter when of the fame Lump he makes fome for lefs and others for more honourable VJes. W7hy therefore fhou'd it be thought ftrange that God fliou'd do the fame thing with the Jews, fome of whom he receives into the Number of his Vejfels of He nourznd of his Children, and rejecting others of them keeps them alive in fo /bameful a Manner to be an Ex- ample of his Vengeance ; though the one and the o- ther are taken out of the fame Lump and out of the fame Stock of Abraham and Jfrael} (Ver.-2.xJ But that which is taken out of the fame Lump was not equally difpofed with regard to God ; one Part of it gave him juft Reafon of Complaint and of making thereof Infiruments to manifeft his juft Se- verity upon. For one Piece of this Mafs refufmg to give it felf up to him or his Call of Mercy, God, after having a long Time\ born with them in their Difbbedience to his Divine WTill, which defired their Converhon, and of St. PaulV Epijlle to the Romans. 229 and having juftly found fault with their Rebellion, Chap. took out and made of this corrupt and rebellious Mafs XVI. of Ifiael, which is obftinately refblved to continue and L/'V^O ftrengthen it felf in its Difpofition for Deftrudrion, VeJJels wherein to mike known his Power, his Name and his Juftice through all the World in an exemplary Manner. But the other Part of this Mafs having forfaken its own Ways and Condu6r, and refigned it fclf up to the Will of its Maker, God took thence and made of it VeJJels of Grace, in them to ma\e known the Riches of his Glory which he had prepared for them. (Ver. 14, &c.) And they, this faithful part of the Mafs of Abraham which is the Matter of the Veflels that God calls and makes to his Glory, are not Jews only that are born of Abraham naturally ; but alfi fuch among the Heathen that refign themfelves up to the Spirit of Faith and Humility of Abraham and Jacob, And all this God had foretold by the Prophets, by Ho- fea, and by Ifaiah, and the fundamental Reafbn of this whole Procedure, is, becaufe the Jews fought after i\ighteoufhefs by the way of their own PVorkj, which pufc them up with Pride and mads them ftumble againji the Humility of Jefus Cbrift, who is a i\ocl^ of Offence to the Proud, and to all fuch as being full of themfelves, find nothing more intolerable than the Word of our Saviour, Come unto mey and learn of me, for I am meel^ and lowly in Heart. Q.3 CHAP. 2 J o AnExplication of theTenth and Eleventh Chapters » ■• ■'■"» ' ' ii ■■ ■ I. » CHAP. XVIL Reflexions Upon the Tenth and Eleventh Chap, ters, and on the reft of the Epifile to the Romans. O we on with our Reflexions on the re- maining part of this Epifile of our Apo- ftle, as we (hall have Occafion from the Propofitions we have formed out of ic as an Abridgment of the whole. The Righ- Ai. LJropojition is this. The Bjghteoufnefs of God is not teoufnefs oft/d to the Letter of the Law, nor to external Things , bit to God is af- Jefm Chrift, who is the inward Light, Voice and Word in £x d t0 ?'m the Hearts of all Men (a) who is the ^ex- This Proportion contains the principal Mat- Inward * ter °^ l^s Chapter, of which I have but little to fay, Word Voice an4 tnat on^y to ^lew tne coherence of ic, having cx- and Light plained all the reft clfewhere (bj. of all In the i ft, 2d, and 3d Verfes, the A po file repeats Hearts, what he had faid in the ift, ^d, 3d, 4th, ?th? 31ft, ^ad r, Verfes of the Ninth Chapter. He fays ic was not (a) Lhap. pUreiy out 0f Prefumption, but partly too out of Ig- Q*4»5>i • norance tnar t]ie Jews fell from tne Righteoufnefs of (b) Oec God, becaufe they knew it not. They did not fufficient- before ' ty ta^e notice, that it was an Operation of God's pure the Inc. Grace in a Soul that acknowledging that all it is, and Ch.j3.f4. all it can it ft If do, is corrupt, and can work nothing but Damnation, empties it ielf of it felf, and gives it True Righ- felf, Spirit and Heart, wholly to God, and fuffers the teoufnefs ts Spirit ot God to work what he pleafes in her, who pot at- muft be the Principle and Worker of that Righteous taind by mfe we are ever like to be PoiTeflbrs of Inftead of the law. doing thus, they continued full of themfelves, and not knowing their their own Impotence, nor the damna- ble Corruption of their Nature, their Faculties, Under- ftanding and Reafon, of their Defires and Endeavours, of their own Ways, Thoughts and Wills; with all this Train of Accomplifhments they fet upon the Law of £}od (that commands and prefcribes Righ teoufnefs) of St. PaulV Epifile to the Romans. 2 j i endeavouring to know it and do it of themfelves and Chap. by their own Activity, and that way that lik'd them XVII. beft, without renouncing themfelves and wholly re- O^Y'XJ figning up themfelves paffively to God. And by this Means they properly To//^ after a Righteoufnefs of their. own making and Fafhion ; a Righteoufnefs depending on their own corrupt Strength, which bufies it feJf only about the Letter and Formalities of the Divine Reve- lations. And this was what hinder'd them from giving up themfelves to the Righteoufnefs which God only works inwardly and entirely by the Spirit of Jefus Chrift in fiich Souls as refign themfelves to him with Contempt and Abnegation of themfelves and of their own polluted and fickly Powers. (Ver. 4.) For Jefus Chrift, when we thus partake of him, is the fulfilling of the Law, and the End at which it aim'd ; who will make righteous all thofc that receive him'mto themfelves, by refigning up themfelves to him and to his Operations by true Faith. Whereas (ver. ?.) the Rjghteoufhefs which Men would pretend to attain to by conforming to the Law, requires, befides the internal Rectitude, which can be wrought in us only by Faith (<*), an exa& Obfervance of aS external Things and For- M Rom. malities ; till which is done it cannot be faid that Righ- 3- 3'~- teoufhefs comes bv the way of the Law ; feeing by neglecting any of them we have more Reafon to fear the Curfe of the Law, than hope for Righteoufnefs by it. But (ver. 6, 7, 8, and 9.) the pure Righteoufnefs of Faith is fo inward, fb fpiritual, and fb little depending on any thing without, that it does not fo much as require of us to behold jefus Chrift corporeally, whofe Spirit is the Principle and Worker of ie'; nor that we fee the external Means and Effects of ir, and by carnal and fenfible Experience know that this Righteoufnefs fub- fifls before God after Death, and makes us Heirs of Eternal Life. The Word of the Hearty which is the in- ward Word of Faith, and the Subi^ance of what we preach and fay, fupplies all this, and is that which faves us. For (v. 9.) if the Confejftm of Jefus Chrift that is made by the Mouth be true, fo that you have within you really and livingly what you fay, and your Heart embrace byt QL4 «* 2 J 2 An Explication of the Tenth and. Eleventh Chapters Chap, an humble and refign'd Faith the Spirit, and the New XVII. and Holy Life of Jefus Chrifl rais'd from the Dead, fo \S*Y^J that he be rifen and living by the Power of the Father in your Heart dead to Sin, and filled with Faith, you /hall be fav'd. ForfyeT.lQ.yhus it is that we believe with theHeart unto Kjghteoufnefs ; thus we become Righteous by the inter- nal Faith and Word of the Heart ; and 'tis thus we evi- dence and confefs it outwardly by faving^ Words and Actions : whereas the outward Confeillon, which is but dead and Judaical, whether by Words or Ceremo- nies, not coming from a Heart in which the Spirit of Jefus Chrift lives and operates, is not fufhxient to Sal- vation. (Ver. ir, &c.) And it being God's Defign to fave all Men, Jews and Gentiles, he^ propofes to all without dif- ference of Jew and Greek, this fame inward Righteouf- nefs, which he works by the Spirit of Faith in thofe that give up themfelves to him and call upon £iwj,who is Lord of all,and rich unto all,and will fave all that call upon him. Which is what the Heathen might from the be- ginning very well have known and done, had they but given good heed to the general Voice of God, the found whereof is gone into the Hearts of all the Men in the World. And the Jewsinftead of being offended at this, fliou'd have expected it, feeing God forewarn'd them by Mofes and Ifaiah both of the Calling and Reception of the Gentiles, as well as of their own Rebellion, which they mould have been afraid of. The ReU" XII- Prop. The Ifraelites are not rejected of God abfolute- Bion of the [y and for ever ; hut when they foal If ubmit to the Faith in jfraelites yacuity and Humility of Heart, God will receive them into is not abfo- fa Grace and Favour (a). lute, but Reflex. As St. Paul has not hitherto thought of a ri- enj on i predeftination, fo is it yer much eafier to obferve ftheTL^ he thinks of n° ^Matter m;*h? whole Ele- %eUtv. ; " venth Chapter ; and to think otherwife is to make of which cea- this Chapter a Chaos of inexplicable Confufion. For "fing, their if it be maintained! that Sr. Paul does in it fpeak of Pre- Rejeclion deftination, we (hall but make our (elves ridiculous in Jhall like- the Explication of the greater Part of the Chapter: for wife have Ijxarnple, ma^ S>^H complain to God (ver. ; ) of the f» ™ 4. v, J2, 13, 14, 17, 1 } 4 An Explication of the Tenth and Eleven t h Chapters — —————— »t^ — i i ii ■— m^ Chap. But we have feen how Matters went with the Jews. XVII, Has God therefore difannulled his Promife of Election, t/W and has he caft off the People which he had prom i fed to chufe to be themfelves righteous, and to be the Semi- nary and Root of righteous Perfbns? The Apoftle (ver. i.) fays he has not. And proves it many Ways. Firft, By the Example of himfelf, who was chofen and actually received of God to be made and declared Righteous, and to be employ'd as an Inftrument to fpread his Righteoufnefs through the World. Secondly. , He fays exprefly, that the People which God foreknew, that is to fay, the People of whom God ac- cording to his Pleafure form'd the Idea and Character, the Conditions and Difpofitions, and fuch Qualifica- tions as he lik d beft to fit 'em to be received unto his Righteoufnefs, this People is not not ever can be caft away. God cannot diflike any one of them that fhall anfwer this Idea and thefe Qualities foreknown of him. In the third Place, he proves, by what happen'd in the Days otElias, that in all Times, (ver. j.) the Grace of God promised to Abraham and to his Race, I fay the Grace promis'd (and not Works, ver. 6.) hath chofen and defied fome of thofe that were left and not carried a- way by the Torrent of Preemption and Unbelief, and that all the others wou'd have been chofen too had they but fubmitted to and acquired fuch Difpofitions as God's Election requires in all he admits to Righteouf. nefs and Adoption. But that the lfraelites having fought this Righteoufnefs (ver. y.) and this Adoption of God by their own Will. Works and Strength (Ch. 9. 22.) did not obtain it. The pretended Election they tan- cy'd God wdu'd make of them, to rank them among his Righteous Children by virtue of their own prefum- ptuous Activity, fignify'd and got nothing : but the EleHion which God was pleas'd to make of fuch as were humble and obedient to his Grace by Faith, this Ele- ction did obtain, (food and was ratified in all thofe it found to its Mind, and the reft were left in their pre- fumptuous, corrupt and miferable State, in which they kaxfyrid themfelves more and more* (Ver- of St. PaulV Epifile to the Romans. 2 j $ (Ver. 8, 9, 10.) And this befel them with fo much Chap. Jultice, that we muft fay Amen, and content, with the XVII. Spirit of God, to the Miteries that they have wilfully l/V^J brought upon themtelves, and to all the Evils into which this Divine Juftice has left them to throw them- felves, after their having refus'd God's Bleiling and Grace. For thus we fee, that the Spirit of God, that Spirit of Equity and Righteoufnefs, does content to all this by the Mouth of David and the Prophets. (Ver. 1 1, &>c. to the 2,j.) Yet is not the Jewifh Na- Men are tion fo abfblutely fallen, nor fo rejected of God, as ne- chofen or ver to rife again, and as that God will never chute any cajl offac- of their Race more to be his People, and his Righteous cording as Sons. Their Unbelief and their Preemption is the *bey qua- Reafon of their Rejection, as it will be of the Gentiles ljfie thm* if they fall into it. But if the Jews do not continue in their Id™5* Unbelief God will chute them and take them in again for his People and will ingraft them as a Branch of a Tree upon the chofen Stoc^ol Abraham, whence they were cut off: and this the rather, becaute they are already Bran- ches of this Stock, which God bleffed and fanftified both in it telf and in what grew of it, and out of which he has already taken fo many Hoh Branches^ which are as fo many Holy Firft-fruits of what the whole Mafs fhall one Day be. This is clearly what the Apoftle would incuL cate all along to the a6th Verte, and is the Matter of our Twelfth Propofition. Come we now to the following Propofition. XIII. Prop. It fo all one Day really come to pafs that all Ty fliturii the Nation of the Ifr ae lit es fhall be converted to the s\ighte- ConverSat oufnefs of God by the Coming of Jefus Chrifl ; God having and Re- chofen their Fathers to be himfelf glorified by their Pofte-fumptionof. rity. the Jews. . Reflex. The Apoftle lays down and proves this Truth many Ways. Fir ft, (ver.^2?.) He declares that the hardening of Ifrael is but in part, or for a time only ; and that it (hall laft but till the fulnefs of the Gentiles be come in, that is to fay, (and this Interpretation teems to me pre- ferable to all others) till the time that all the Nations of the World are to be converted to God. 'Tis well known that above Three Quarters of the World is at prefent perfectly Heathen : and the Scripture will not Iff 236 AnExplication of the Tenth and Eleventh Chapters Chap, let us queftion but all the Nations and People of the XVII. Earth will one Day be converted and obedient to the ^/V"^ Lord. I/aiah and the Pfalms are fill'd with this Truth. Now when this Time fhall be at hand and juft a com- ing, when the Nations (hall be upon the point of en- tering into the Church of the Saints, then will the Hardnefs and Blindnefs of Ifrael be ended : then (hall they be converted and be employ 'd as Inftrumenfs to convert and bring in the Heathen. For, to ufe the Apoftles Words, for if the Fell of the Jews has provd a Means to enrich the Gentiles fpiritually, and if their Fall and leffening has been the enriching of the Gmtiles, how much more fhall their Fulnefs be the Riches and the Abun- dance of the World and of rhe Nations ? And that their Rejection has fervid to reconcile the World, what will their Reception be but a Refurre£Hon and Renovation of Life to all the World, hitherto plung d in the Darknefs of Death ? Secondly, The Apoftle proves the fame Truth (ver. 26, 27.) by the Oracles of the Prophets Ifaiah and Jere- miah, and thence concludes, that all rhe Nation of If- rael [hall one Day be delivered andfived. In the third Place he proves it (ver. 28, 29.) from the Nature of the Gifts and Calling of Gods which are fuch as God does not repent cf or retra<5t. Now Co it is, that God had called their Fathers and had promifed and given them the Privilege of being employed, themfelves and their Race, by him as Intt ruments to (*) Rom. convey his BleiTmg to the reft of the World (a). 4- 13. Therefore God will never repent of this, nor retract Gen. 22. it : and fo the Jews fhall yet become jufb and holy themv lS- felves, and fhall derive Holinefs and Bleiling upon all the World. 'Tis true (vef. 2,8) at prefent they are Enemies of the Truth as to the Go/pel, and they are the more ir- reconcilably fo, becaufe ye Gentiles, whom they hate, have embraced it. But ftill this Nation is looted upon by God with an Eye of hove and Benevolence, becaufe of the Choice and Election which he has made of their Fathers il) O to ke by them and their Race gloritSed through the of the°? World. See here plainly the Recalling of the Jews of Reftor which I have elfewhere fpoken more than once(^). before' The j&e Inc. Ch, 1 j. § 8, & io. Oec. after the Inc. Ch. 10. § 20. of St. PaulV Efiftle to the Romans. 237 The Apoftle ro fet before us God's wonderful Con- Chap, dudr. in all thefe Matters, (hews, that his Divine Pro- XVIL vidence fo interpofed and guided their great and mani- L/"V"VJ fold Wickednefies and Rebellions as to make the Evil pf fome tnftrumental and occafional to the Good of o- thers, and that ro the abundant and univerfal Good: for (ver. 50J the Jews having become rebellious, were the Occafion of the Calling of and of Grace to the Gentiles, that were before Infidels : and the Jews be- ing at prefent rebellious occafionally from the Grace that is (hewn to the Gentiles, thefe very Rebels fhali be received into Grace upon account of that Mercy that God (hall one day pour upon all the Gentiles throughout the whole World : 'tis plain the Apoftle's Senfe is thus to be fill'd up, and the Greek if well con- fidered evidently points that Way. For (ver. 32J God has/hut up all in Difobedience, that $tt pau!V he might (hew Mercy to aS. This is the Conclufion of main Con* this, and of the Eleven fir ft Chapters of this Divine clujton. Epiftle ; and it is the principal Thing he all along in- tended to remark to us. The Meaning whereof with reference to this Verfe is in (hort this. All Men having finned, loft the Glory, the Righte- God's dea- oufnefs and Light of God, are nothing but Abominati- ling with on, Unrighteoufnefs and Darknefs while left to them- the #'«- felves. God defigned to deliver them all by means of ****• his Divine Light and Righteoufnefs which he offered inwardly to the Heathen by the Dictates of their Con- fcience, and outwardly to the Jews by the mighty Ad- vantages of Revelation. The Heathen inftead of re- ceiving this Divine Light in an humble and grateful Heart, which wou'd have prepared the Way for the Operation of the Divine juftifying Grace, ungratefully contemned it, and wilfully quenched it • and from a Spirit of Preemption betook thcmfelves to the Activi- ty of their humane Reafon and of their Imagination, pretending this Way to become wife. But fee what God by his Providence did upon this. They being obftinate in their Prefumption and Self adhefion, and through the Blindnds of their Mind taking this Pra- ctice of theirs forVertues,\vhich are in the Sight of God abominable Vices, God rcfohed to permit this wilful and obftinate Source of the Corruption of their Heart to 2 } 8 An Explication oftbeTenth ani Eleventh Chapters Chap, ro break out into a thoufand Kinds of Sins Co grofs, XVII. that it wou'd thereby evidently appear that thefe mife- *,~~V"N-' rable Wretches were Co far from being wife, that they were rebellious and difbbedient to the mofi palpable Lights of Nature as well as of God. Now they being once convinc'd of their Wickednefs and Rebellion in the Face of all Creatures, which was before lurking in their Hearts, and to them unfeen, but was by God defignedly fuffered to nW out and (hew it felf that they might no longer miftake it, they wou'd be of ufe to them for the future to keep them in Humility whenever God (hou d be pleafed to prefent his juftify- ing Grace to them : for then they wou'd no longer ap- ply themfelves to their Reafbn and their corrupt Fa- culties as pretending this Grace promifed and offered them was actually to be applied and given them by Virtue and in Confideration of their own Activity and Conduct. The Remembrance of their former Rebel- lion and Difobedience which were the Fruits of their Preemption and of their Reafbn and corrupt Facul- ties, will make them fubmit their Necks, and for the Time to come quit themfelves, and their own Pru- dence and Guidance, ro caft themfelves without Re- ferve with an entire Abnegation and Forfaking of themfelves into the Arms of God's Grace, looking no more for Light or good Motions, for Purification, Righteoufnefs or Direction but from his pure Mercy. Thus has the Providence of God concluded that the cor- rupt Heathen fhou'd make their Corruption appear outwardly, to the end that this might ferve as a Means to make them capable of God*s Mercy y and that this Di- vine Mercy of his might be the more gratefully receiv- ed and acknowledged. God*s dea- In like manner, the Jews inftead of embracing by ling -with Faith the Righteoufnefs of God to which the Law led thcjewf. them, fhut their Eyes againft the Divine Light of Faith, which inwardly called them to the Word of God and which indeed was that Word, and adhered to themfelves and to their own Works through Prefum- ption and Pride : whence it came to pafs that by not fee- ing and acknowledging their own Corruption and Im- potence, they made ufe of all the Faculties of their corrupt Nature and its Aftivity, and that obftinately and of St. PaulV Efiftle to the Romans. 2](f and refolvcdly to practice outwardly and after their Chap. own Way the Law of God, thinking that becaufe of XVII- this fine Work of their own Endeavours, God was o- t>rV-N0 bliged to give thpm his Righteoufnefs ; not knowing that their natural Corruption was fo great as not to be able to think, nor fpeak, nor do of it felf fo much as . one good Act (a). A Preemption this that is incom- *"' Kom* patible with the Gift of Righteoufnefs which God3*11*19" works in the Soul only by the pure Motions of his Grace and good Spirit. Now what did God upon this pelagian Wilfulness of the Jews ? He concluded to fuffef this Indifpofition and Corruption of their Hearts, and the Impotence of their fancied Strength to appear o- penly and outwardly, by gro fs Sins and palpable Difb- bediencc. So this Corruption hidden and unknown to them through their Blindnefs appeared and broke out by their Revolt againft the Son of God, whom with his Followers they flew even when they came to offer them the Grace of God. This Rebellion againft Grace it felf, will put them, when they come to them- selves and know what they have done, into a State and Difpofirion to receive God's Grace and Mercy after fo pure a Manner, that they will never fall from it more ; nor confult any more their own Reafon, nor the Scrip- ture with it, nor their own Motions, nor good Plea- sure, though they think it nothing but Divine Zeal, nor laftly any thing that comes from themfelves ; for they will then fee that all this heretofore produced no- thing but Rebellion and the Rejedtion of God's Grace*, but will refign up themfelves in perfect Humility and without Reftrve, Heart, Mind, Reafon, Conduct and every Thing to the Light, Motions, Guidance, Grace and Mercy of the Holy Spirit, who will govern them abfoluteiy and lead them to Righteoufnefs and to Eter- nal Life. Thus we fee how God concluded to fuffer the inward Corruption of the Jews to appear and fhew it felf by an open and manifeft Rebellion, that even this grofsDifobedience of theirs might ferve as a Mean? to difpofe and fit them for the Mercy of God. Thus it is that God concluded to fufler them dii% Jews and Gentiles, to fall into palpable and notorious Rebel- lion % that by thefe Preparatives he might have Mercy upon nil. (Vet: 240 AnExplicatim of theTenth &nd Eleventh Chapters Thejudg- (Ver. 3;.) O the Depths of the Bjches , and of the Wif merits of dom and Knowledge of God ! O my God, how infinite are God how the KJches of thy Goodnefs, thus to have Mercy on incompre- aij Mankind, Jews and Gentiles, after fo many crimi- henfbU. nal and wilful Falls and Rebellions ! How wonderful is thy PVifdom, to make their very Rebellion a Means to the Difpofition, to the Receiving and to the Confirm- ing of them in thy Mercy, and to make the Enmity of Jews and Gentiles turn to their Re union, and to their eternally loving each other ! How penetrating and vafi is thy Knowledge, that thus forefaw and ordered Things thus to the End of the World ! O how unfearchable to the natural and corrupt Man and to all his Reafonings and Conjectures are the Judgments of God I How are his Ways and the Conduct of his Providence in the Manner of his Difpofing of good and wicked Men, hard and im- fojfble to be found out by the humane Wit of the Wife and thellnderflranding of the Doctors of theLaw,of the Rabbins and Philofbphers ! For who hath known the Mind of the Lord I What Man, O Lord, cou'd ever have ima- gined or thought that thou would'ft thus have mana- ged and ordered the Jews and Gentiles, and the wick- ed Rebellions of them both, and that thou would'ft thus draw Good out of them; and that fo univerfal an one and for ail the World ? Who is hetO Lord, that cou'd give thee fuch wonderful Counfel ? Or who is he that ootid prevent God in Counfely in Defign and in Wifdom and Love, and he floali be rvpayed and recompenced as he fjeferves ! None furely cou'd contribute any thing to all this; and the Wit of Doctors, wife Men and Philofophers with all their liberal and rational Learn- ing were utterly in the Dark, and fo are ftiii as to thia grand Defign of God. Ic is God's Spirit alone that projects, executes, and declares all this ; for of him , and through him, and for him are all things '. to whom be Glory for ever. Amen. Thus, in my Opinion is the Doctrine of Election and Reprobation fufTiciently cleared, and Sr. Paul's Senfe of theft Matters made plain and eafy^ Only let us obftr^e Card 'tis likely I have made this Remark elftwhere) with how little Reafon Men make ufe of this Exclamation of St. Paul, O the Depths of the Riches of the fVifdom and Knowledge of God I as a Pretence to 7 ' cover The Abufe that is commonly made of thisExcLi' matio?i of St. Paul. of St. PauIV Epiftle to the Romans, 241 cover and defend the grofleft Abfurdities of Mens own Chap, framing, becaufe they are indeed incomprehenfible to XVII. common Senfe. Really a pretty Device this! Men O^V^O frame Syftems and Notions that are nothing but mere Difficulties harfli and hard, Precipices and Repugnan- ces to all our Conceptions Divine and Human, to common Senfe and Conference ; and then to main- tain thefe inexplicable Fancies of their own they cry out, O the Depths of the Riches of the PVifdom and Know- ledge of God ! How unfearchable are his Judgments, and bis tVays pafl finding out I inftead of crying out when they put fuch Whimfies upon the World, O the Depth of the Poverty, of the Folly and Ignorance of Human Underftanding, how ridiculous are the Dota- ges and Judgments it makes, and how chimerical and contradictory are its Ways ! How far is the natural and carnal Man from comprehending the Things of God's Spirit f that cannot be comprehended but by the Spirit and Grace of God ! How true is all this ! And how little do Men know, and how unwilling are they to know what this means ! But to any one that poffefTes God's Spirit, or even Go£$Way$ to any that has but fbme fmall Ray of his moft holy are not in* Grace : the Ways of God are not only not incompre- comprehend henfible nor impoifible or hard to find out, but are foletofuch Straitnefs, Light, and Eafmefs it felf. For (a) the Spi- "sfreuni- rit of God fe arches all things, even the Depths of God ; and ". toGod s (b) he teaches us all things. And this is what I have /^;Tror treated of at large elfewhere ; and fo (hall here pafs it " 2 IO * over and go on with the reft of my Reflexions on the (i)i John Proportions that contain the Sum of this Epiftle. 2. 27. XIV. Prop. Serve God no longer after the Jewifh Way, . . , hut let your IVorfhip be fpiritual and true, confifting in a ££fyp Life holy and confecrated to God (c). Reflex. There were the firft Fruits of this holy Wor- (c) Ch.12.' (hip in the Church of Jerufalem, as I have elfewhere noted; but it will be perfectly accomplifhed in the New Jerufalem wherein St. John (d)faw no more any ma- (d) Apoc;. terial Temple. In the Church which God will renew 2I-22- upon Earth, he fhall be ferved purely, in Spirit and *» ( \ q Truth without any more Ceremonies and Figures. And ^forlC' 'tis what I have obferved elfewhere (e). The Chrftian tne Inc. Church is decayed and fallen for not having kept to chap. 1 g. R this. § *!,&€. 242 An Explication of, &c. ( hap. this. Men would needs return to the old JewifhMode of XVIi. ServingGodjn theSpirit of theScribes,Do£torsandRab- V/W? bins of Pride and Prefumption ; and with a mere Jew- i(h Zeal grounded themfelves on and flick to the Let- ter of the Scripture, to their Ceremonies, and the ac- complifhents of their Heathenifh Learning, and not on the Interiour of an humble and divine Heart, guided by the Motions and Spirit of God. This goes now a days for Enthufiafrn. Tet the hand of the Lord is not foortened% nor does his Vertue fail : but it is your Sins that (*)!fa 69. )jave made a Separation between you and your God (a), ^Y"XJ them (bend theirTime in the Forge tfulnefs of JLove,till Death comes and the Devil carries them into the bot- tomlefs Pit contrary to the defigns of Love who waited only their Correfpondence to fave them and make 'em good by Participation. And yet their blind Comrades that are left behind while thefeWretchesgo toDeftru6H- on, tho' they clearly fee they have not gone the right Way, and that their Death is not the Death of the Righteous, yet they lay the Fault upon Love, and fay, that Love fo decreed from all Eternity, and that it was his Will not to have any kindnefs for them, nor to fave them though he might have done it, only he would not. O Love Divine ! would to God Men would make thee Reparation for fo great a Calumny, for the fo ma- ny and fo great Blafphemies and Injuries they fo many ways offer thee, and often think they do well in it, fo extreamly great is their Blindnefs ! Wou'd they once knew and underftood what thou art, and what thy Thoughts and Works are. O that I, unworthy and poor Creature as I am, could any way contribute to make thee livingly and truly known ;and this was the Aim that mov'd me to commit to writing fbme Truths concerning Thee, thy Defigns and thy Creatures,what ; thy Conduct was towards them, when thou createdfl: them, when they fell into Sin, and what thou haft done and wilt (till do both without and in Souls to re- Htore them after their Fall, and to reduce all things by thy Providence to a compleat and perfect Redemption. But being fo very fuperficial and fo dead before Thee I could produce only inanimate Draughts and Ideas, and thofe too but very dark and obfeure. *Tis for Thee alone, if it pleafe Thee, to join to them in our Souls the Reality and Life, the living and divine Light of the Heart, notwithstanding all our Offences that make us unworthy of them. And becaufe my Words and Thoughts are fo dif- proportionate to the immenfe and incomprehenfible Greatnefs of the infinite Majefty of Love, which is thy (elf, and of thy Works, which I have dar'd to fpeak 254 t^e Conclufion. Chap, fpeak of, may it pleafe thy Divine Goodnefs to excufe XVIII. my childifh buttering Speech concerning them, and t^"Y"NJ to pardon all the Defects that from the Depths of my own Corruption I may have mingled with thy Truth and Works: for, (3 my God, I think they are not vo- luntary, and that if I know them, I ihou'd my fel£ difown them, if my Heart deceive me not, my Defign' and Intention in all I have propofed, are not hid from thee, and I truft thou wilt approve them, and that thou wilt defend me in the Hearts of good Men againfl the Lyes of fuch as feeing I do no way favour their Er- rors, Prejudices, Interefts, and Partialities, will jc may be endeavour to perfwade Men that I have fbme wicked Defigns, and that I have advanced things that turn to thy Difhonour, and to the Difadvantage of thy pure Love and of thy fandKfying Truth : thou know- ell this is not true ; and wilt as to that matter grant me Peace and Reft, and give me leave inftead of all other Apologies, to praife thy Holy Name, thy great Pow- er, thy immenfe Wifdom, and thy infinite Love, as I now intend to do, joining, for the better ending of this Work, my Spirit to that of thy Holy Prophet. Pfal. j 4 j. " My "God, my King, I will glorifie thee, and u blefs thy Name from Generation to Generation. 44 Every day will I blefs thee, and praife thy Name i; for ever and ever. " How great is the Lord ! and how worthy of " Praifes / His Greatnefs is infinite and incomprehen- " fible. 44 One People fhall tell thy glorious Works to " another, and all (hall declare thy Power. '* I will be talking of the magnificent Glory of thy 46 Majefty, and of thy wonderful Works. " Men fhall fhew the Steadfaftnefs of thy Purpofes " and of thy wonderous Works, and I will fpeak of *' thy Sovereign Grandeur. 44 All fhall break out into Praifes when they remem- " ber thy great Goodnefs, and fhall highly praife thy " Juftice. " The Lord is full of Mercies and Companions; he is flow 11 in his Wrath and great and ready in his Mercy, ^atet^ f^e Light , neither cometh to the Light Or eine of all ^eafi ^" ^ee^s fluu^d be reproved ; which is alfo Ignorance and *rue of f"<* .a! broach a,nd Propagate dangerous Error Errors and Opinions j namely, they hate the Irutn, neither will they come to it \ yea, they endeavour to keep others from ir, leaft their own Wicked Errors fhould be difcovered. This clearly ihews, that they who by falfe Relations, Calumnies, or any other external means oppofe the Truth, do it not from thofe Motives which they pretend, but chiefly from a fecret hatred of the Truth \ and that fuch Hatred arifes from the Love of Darknefs and Error, which by reafon of the original Corruption and uni- verfal Degeneracy of our Nature, we have all in com- mon one with another • for all Men naturally love and eileem themfelves exceedingly ; and Darknefs and Error favours and fupports that Pride and felf- love, which Truth (becaul'e it convinces Men of their Bafenefs and Nothingnefs^) on the other hand pulls down and Destroys with all its might. I1L Tfa III. Hence it appears, Firjly That all Men, being means of drf- born corrupted, are prone to iove Darknefs and Er- covering the ror, and that we have all a fecret and latent hatred fame either \n- and averfion to the Truth \ and aecoidingly in Scrip- ternal or Ex- ture, we find the Character of Mankind in general Mrnalr expreiTed in thefe words, all Men are Lyars. Secondly, That no Man can by his own Natural Power and Ability deliver himielf from this Condition, without the help and ailiHance of fome other inward Prin- ciple t« influenQf and snakk him to turn from Dark- nefs A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. nefs to Light :, and unlefs he fight againft his own Letter I. Natural Inclinations to Darknefs and Jirror, and d even almoft as a God, that I might and fhould Vlrr have fallen into a]l forts of Vanity and Error> if the B«/-m*. tender Care and .Goodnefs of God, Who dtprtth that all Men fioirfd he Saved, and come to the Knowledge of the Truth, had not graciouily interpofed and prevent- ed me. He togk away from, m.e the opportunities of mak^ A Letter to Mr, Le Clerc. making Phyfical Experiments, with which I was al- Letter I. ways much delighted, and of much Reading, which *-*"*-v'-*n^ now began to become dangerous and even hurtful to me by reading Curcelleusys Book againft original Corrup- tion • and he furnifh'd me with the better and more By furnijbiiig Pious Writings of Thomas a Kempis, and Thaulerus, and »» &c- agreeable with thole of your other Writings, and fome-. He is careful times either commended or defended in them. They of Writing in t^at have read your Writings, may obferve, that a Good Stile: y0U t?L^e great Pains to write in a good flile, for fear But not of cf offending your Readers Ears, and of lofing the Re-t teaching found pUtation of an Elegant Writer } But I wiih you had PoSiines ; t>een as careful that your matter had been true, found Neither in his an(j g00^ j fot jn your Dogmaticks, inflead of finding Pogmaticks, folid. and falmary Truths, there is hardly any thing to be ttier withjbut either little, iniignificantCritical Niceties^ and fome verySuperficialObfervations, or verj dangerous, Errors in my Opinion, efpecialiy where you reprefent fas in the above-mentioned Epiftles particularly) x\\e.Sociman, Principles (and fome others even worfe than theyj ii\ fuch a Light, as if you had it chiefly at Heart to (up- port their finking Caufe, and as if it. were a matter indifferent to Salvation, whether a Man be a Socinnm h'pr poUmick:* or hot. In your Polemical Writings any one may fee, that you deny and impugn the Gia.ee an4 Operation of Goo\ A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. in us to that Degree, that you look upon it as a mere Letter I. •j* Chimera, and have the prefumption to || affirm that K^^ss****** no where in Holy Scripture, the Grace of God figni- -\ Entret. p. fies the internal and immediate Operation of the Holy 325. Spirit in the Soul, when yet the Thing itfelf, or the || Ibid 325. internal Operation of God in Souls, is aliened & feq^ almoft in every Chapter of the Bible 5 yea, in the jpljatboSriwx Three firft Chapters of the Ephefians, you may iind the Mr. Le Clerc fame thing mention'd after feveral ways all to the chiefly oppofes. fame Senfe, and even with the Exprefs Name and Cha- Eph. I. 6, 7, rafter of t] fyyupif » frtp^vpfcfa tr «/**>•. Further, every 8, 13, 17, one will obierve that you wholly rejett the Spiritual 18, 19. Senfe and meaning of the Scriptures, and that you de- 2. 5, 6, 7, 8, ny Original Sin and everything elfe that ftands in the 10, 22, way of your belov'd Pelagian and Socinian Notions. 3, yy 16, 17, And finally, it may be obierv?d, that where you % re- 19. 20. late many things, as from others, with the fame teme- | Sentimens. fity as if a Blind Man mould undertake to difcourle Let. 11, 12. about Colours, concerning the Infpirations of Holy Men you have alfo traduced many Places of the Holy Writings, of Job, the Pfahis, and the Proverbs , ali fyclefiaftes, and all the Song of Solomon, as unworthy oi the Holy Spirit, the laft of which you compare to the $ong of Polithww, concerning Galatea in Qvids Me- tamorpbofes, • XI. And as to the Perfons you fet your felf againft as yj€ jn£ wjhlf your Adverfaries, they are chieflv thofe that oppofe jytbors and refute your Errors, Pelagianifm and Socmiamfm es- pecially, upon which account you fall foul, not only pn the Modern Orthodox Divines, feut even on the Fathers of the Primitive Church, and efpecially St. Au- guftint'i becaufe he was a firenuous AiTertor of the Anti- pelagian and Knti- Socinian Doctrines. And as to your manner of treating your Adverfaries and their Princi- In what man- pies, you feem to have propofed to your felf the net he treats following Rules. 1. To irritate and provoke them to them, ufe angry and harfh Expreflkms in their Anfwers, if they be alive, from which you take occafion to leflfen and deitroy their Credit in everything elfe. 2. To reprefent them, if they be Dead, as mean and con- temptible, the better to infpire your Readers with Contempt and Hatred of them. And becaule 'tis not poffible that all your Adverfaries, or at kait that the moft venerable among the Saints, Should have given occafion to fuch Mockery and Raillery, you fup- ply that defect by the Help of the following Rules, J. You charge them with things falfe, abfurd, and contradictory, io A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. contradictory, in Words the fame indeed, or like to theirs ; but in Compofition, Application and Senfe, wholly different ; that by the rirft Artifice you may the better preferve your own Credit, and by the other deftroy theirs, and ridicule them as Madmen, whom you thus traduce. 4. The Divine falutary and effen- tial Truths which they deliver and inculcate in the moft divine and lively manner that can be, you pafs over in filence, and you carp at fuch trifling and fu- perficiai things, concerning the letter and other criti- cal Niceties, which they who chiefly regarded the fubftantial Part, feldom or never minded. 5. In fuch things where you can find no room for Criticifm, if your Adverfaries have omitted any thing material, you are angry with them, that they fhould pafs it o- ver in Silence, and if they do take notice of every thing relating to the Subjed: they treat of, you accute them of fuperfluity, and that they take notice of things which every Body knew before ; If they advance fuch things as agree with the commonly receiv'd Opinions, you fay they are common, and have teen often faid before \ and if they propofe fome things which pofli- bly are not fo obvious, you blame them as if they af- feBed to think otherwife than the rest of Mankind, and that they would he thought to he guided by fome new Light from Heaven. So that whether they fpeak or hold their Tongues, they can no ways efcape your ibarp and unjulfc Reflections. 6. Thofe good Things which either you do not underftand, or but Imperfect- ly, and which you would not be thought to impugn directly, or which you cannot attack or refute by any Arguments, and efpecially when they clearly deftroy your own pernicious Opinions ; fuch Things I fay, that you may the more artfully expofe them, you uiu- ally reprefent by fuch Names and Characters as yoq think fitteit to raife either an Indifference or an Aver- sion, or Contempt, or Laughter in your Readers. Thus every where in your Book*, the inward and o- perating Grace of God, and other Sound and Ortho- dox Do&rines, are branded with the Names of Schola- ftic Errors, Philofophical JbfiraBions, Chiviera's and D) earns, Platonic Ideas, Metaphyseal Subtil ties, Myftical Myjtejies, and fuch like Epichets>, a Thoufand Times over and over, even to a Surfeit \ and the Orthodox themfelves fometimes called Schoolmen, then Meta^hyf- aans, at other times Ptatonifts, and again Myjlics ^ and b* thele and Cuch like Methods, after having infus'd A Letter to Mr. Le Gere. 1 1 t>aa— — an— — — g— — mm—— mii» hi— mi m\\ '■« bii— »————» fuch ridiculous Notions of your Adversaries into the Letter I. Minds of your Readers, you endeavour to attract and v-^^v^n»-? fix their eiteern upon your felf, for having expofed and fhewn the Folly and Inconfiftency of luch Idle and Chymerical Fancies. XII. I might yet recite many more of your Artifices, xil. What were it not that I propofe to confine my felf to thofe parTS '0c j^y^ parts of your Writings only, where you have exercifed Le Clerc'i* your wrangling critical Talents, againft me, and fome Writings are others, without medling with thole that are Pofitive Animadverted and Dogmatical. And althp' whatever I have al- upon \n ^ ledg'd will appear to be true, from almoft every part Letter. of your Writings, even at firft opening, yet 1 ihall take the pains to prove what I have averted by pro- per Quotations from the Books themfelves. But full, jfljereof fonie I think it wiil not be amiis to let the Reader fee that things are you have intermix'd fome things in your Writings, Wor/e thanSo- even worfe (as I hinted before) than any thing the cinianifm it~ Socir.ians have yet advanced ; and then to acquaint rcif the Reader with the particular Reafons why yoti are lb angry with me, and why you have PublinYd fo falfe and unjuft an account of me and my Writings to the World. XIII. In the firft Epiltle of your Liberm^ * 'tis af- XIII. J dan* firm'd, that the Divinity and Humanity in thrift, can- geroys Vofiticn. not be ftrictly united together as two Creatures can. * pag# n anxl And in order to prove this alTertion, Libcnus promifes 8. to demonftrate, That two Creatures can be more clofely united together^ than a Creature cm be with God, that is, that God and the Creature are lefs capable of be- * ing united together than one Creature with another. By which alTertion, not only that from whence the" fuperexcellent Dignity and Glory of Chrijl arifes, is deftroyed, but in Men alfo that Detire and Love which is due to God is greatly dilcourag'd ^ and at the fame time our Love, Delire and Affection towards the Creatures (in as much as we can enjoy them more than God) is highly extoll'd, inflam'd aud prefer'd; For that is always the molt Lovely, with which the greateft and llrictejr Union and Enjoyment can be made. But I do not think that any of the Socinians, in extenuating the Hypoltatic Union in Chrift, ever came to thofe extremes, or ever "thought of eltablifh- ing their Herefy upon a Principle fo injurious and fa defhuctive of the Fundamentals of Chriftianity, luch as is the Love of God and the withdrawing our Love from the Great ures, But Lihrim not only very con- fidently 12 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. fidently affirms fuch Things , but even attempts to ^^""V^^ demonftrate them, in the following manner. The more Things agree in their Nature, the more cm- pahle they are of a clofer Union \ But there is a greater Agreement between .two finite Spirits COR TWO CREATURESJ than letween a finite Spirit and God ("OR BE' TWEEN A CREATURE AND GOD.J Therefore two Creatures jnay he more clofely United together y than God and a Creature can. The Fallacy A Wife Demonftration 'indeed ! But feeing we thereof detect- cannot expofe fuch dangerous Notions too much, I *■?? fhall beg leave by way of Digreffion, to fhew the Fal- lacy of this notable Sophifm. Things are faid to a- gree, or bear a relation one to another in two re* fpe&s : Firft, in refpecT: of the likenefs of the matter or form ; or fecondly, in refpeft of the end and de- sign $ as when one thing is made for or in order to enjoy fomething elfe. I will give fome plain Inftances. In the firft refped:, a Foot and a Foot, a Shoe and a Shoe, a Town and a Town, a Man and a Man, agree together j in the other, a Foot and a Shoe, a Man and a Town, and in the fame refpeft alfo GOD and a Creature. This being obferv'd, the Fallacy or Incon- clufivenefs of Liberhus Sophifm clearly appears. For if you take the Maxim he builds upon, as regarding the firft fort of Agreement, it is both falfe and abfurd to fay, that things of the fame matter and form can be more clofely united together, than thofe Things, which however they do not agree in that refpecr, do yet agree in refpeft of their end and defign : And the Reafon is this 5 becaufe that thofe Things which agree in matter and form, are only fo far like one ano- ther, but not therefore properly capable of Union : But in that one thing agrees with, or anfwers to another in tefpeft of its end, it evidently follows from thence, that the Nature, Faculties, Properties and Conititu- tion of that Thing, rouft have a Tendency andDifpofi- tion to the other, in order to receive or to be united to the fame in the clofeft manner that can be. And this is evident from the foregoing Examples .* For the' a Shoe and a Shoe agree more together in refpeet of their matter and form than a Shoe and a Foot ; yet they are not more capable of being united toge- * trier. A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 13 ther than a Shoe and a Foot, which agree in refpecl; Letter I. of the End : And the fame Thing is evident in a <0f*mV,stJ Thoufand other Inftances. But if the Liber ian Max- im be underftood with refpecl to the End (as it ought to be) then the afTumption is falfe } for, if it be grant- « ed that thofe Things may be united more clofely to- gether, that agree more with one another in refpecl: of the End j the affumption is falfe, that a Creature agrees more with a Creature, than God and a Crea- ture ^ for a Creature, efpecially a Human Creature, of which we now treat, is not the End and Defign of any other Creature : But God is the End and Defign of the Creature, which is therefore made of fuch a Na- ture that it might be united to God. Therefore God and a Creature may be more clofely united together, than one Creature can with another. And thus I have fhewn the Fallacy and Weaknefs of this pretend- ed and truly Heretical Demonstration of Liberiw \ the fame which from another confideration I alio refuted in * another Place, together with many more of your * Cog. Rat. dangerous and ill-grounded Tenets. Ed. z. p. 238. XIV. And here indeed we muft look for the true XIV. The and particular caufe, why you are fo great an Enemy, particular in your Accounts, to my Writings. Reafons, why For tho' at firft I had no Intention to attack either Mr. Le Clerc you or any other, yet feeing I propofed to employ my is angry with Pen about fuch Things as I thought might beft pro- this Author's mote the Glory of God, the Truth, and the Salvation Writings* of Men, and encourage Vertue and folid Learning, and Difcountenance Pride , Vanity and Self-love ; therefore as often as I meet with any Books in which any of thefe Things were attacked, or in danger of being lhaken , then I endeavour'd not only to eilabliih my own Principles more firmly againlt the Contents of fuch Books, but I very often either refuted or anticipated their Arguments, efpecially if they feemed to carry any force with them, or if I found them in Anonymous Books, where when no Author is Named, no Body ought to have thought himfelf attack'd. And in this manner when your A- nonymous Books (fome whereof I did not know 'till fome Years after that they were yours) came into my Hands, and befides when I underwood that you def- pifed and fpoke publickly againft my Writings and Sentiments, ig order to prejudice others againft them j then 14 A Letter to Mr. Le Glerc. - ■ . Letter T. then I not only more firmly Eftablifhed the Principles w^""v~v-^ uPon which the Truths that I had publifhed were grounded, againft fuch fundamental and pernicious Er- rors as I found fcattered throughout your Anonymous Writings j but I alfo vindicated the Truth from your Exceptions, and fubverted the Foundations of your Principles almoft in every thing. This I have chiefly done in my Divine Oeconumy^ where I begin in the very Preface and enquire into the Prejudices of (a.) (a) Entretiens one of your Anonymous Books againft the Knowledge far divers of things Intellectual j and in the reft of the work I Matures de have in feveral Places exprefly confuted your Pelagian TbeoL Notions, and defiroyed the Principles of Socinianifm, which you feem to have undertaken either to defend or to Palliate : Again, I have clearly fhewn how im- proper and inefficient Critical Learning is,- without the inward Light and Operation of the Holy Spirit, either to inteipret the Scriptures, or to Judge what Books are Canonical ; and finally, I have in other Places fully confuted your Doctrine concerning the Power and State of Man, and that of Original Sin, which you deny, with all the Arguments and Excep- tions you have offered in that Anonymous Book ; all which, with many more of your Errors, I have fully and irrefragably overturn^ and deftroy'd ; fo that he that mail read my Writings, will be fufficiently armed againft the Danger and infection of your Per- nicious Errors. XXV. Wl:e- XV. The cafe Handing thus, you happen to come to ther it be pro- fee my Oeconomy, which Refutes thole your Errors, lablethat Mr. an(i then you pretend to give an Account, or Epitome Le Clerc thereof in your Bill'wthcqiie \ but whether you could fiouldpuhlijb do it without Indignation and Hatred, let thole judge, a true Account who will confider what anfwer muft be given to this of the Oeco- previous Queftion ; viz. Whether it be probable that iwmony, a Man, whofe Principles and Studies leads him not only not to acknowledge, but even to excufe and deny the Corruption of his own Nature, and to rejedV the inward help and ailiftance of God ; and who, befides the common fprings of Hatred againft the truth above mentioned, has thofc particular Reafons of averfion, which aTife from being contradicted in thofe things which he has efpoufed as nearelt and deareft to him- felf 5 whether, I fay, it be probable that fuch a Per- ion will do Juftke to that work, and faithfully relate the Arguments in their full force, which totally fub- vert and overthrow his own beloved Notions and Opinions I A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 1 5 Opinions f It is fit then to let you know now ( which Letter I. I have not fo plainly done before) that you are not vx-v*'*"^ a judge or an Hiftorian in this cafe, but an Adverfary \ and that therefore your Readers ought not in common Prudence to judge of my Writings by any Character that you have or may give of them. XVI. I muft own indeed there are feveral things in XVI. Mr. your Account, which I have no Reafon to find fault Le Clerc'i with ; for furely if every thing that you had faid of j^-tijice to im- me had been falfe, you had taken an effectual way p0re upn fas utterly to Ruin your own Credit, But when you re- Riders. late many things right, and then at the lame time not only omit the Principal, but even intermix many abfurdities with them, tis evident that the whole will appear the more credible to many, as there, are more Truths intermixed with them j unlefs i'ome of a more penetrating Judgment fhould rather conclude againft you, that he who, even by his adverfaries Con- feffion, had advanced iome fuch evident and important Truths, could not be guilty of fuch abfurdities as you charge upon him j whence they could not but Juftly iufpecl the Truth and Impartiality of your Ac- count. XVII. The truth is, you have imputed to me fo XVII. He many falfe, abfurd and contradictory things -, and you a^fe's others have done it in fo Ironical and Sarcaftical a manner, as weft as fi[Ta that they that believe your Account, cannot but de- p0iret. fpife me as one that knows not what he fays, and look upon my Writings as abfurd and unworthy of being read 5 and this I am not at all afhamed to repeat, becaufe I find I am not the only Perfon that you have treated thus, but that 'tis your Cuftom to treat many of the belt and moft learned Fathers and Doctors, both ancient and modern, and many Noble and Divine Truths, in the fame ridiculous and farca- ftical manner. But of thefe and fuch like I mail fay- more hereafter. XVIII. In the mean time I fhall obferve to you xVTII Tjpb that there are two things in general, which mew Den?yn[ a ctu. that you have not had a itrift regard to the Truth in %Z™ Z„L(f your Account. Firft, That though in the Preface to ^Le Clerc the 0 'economy of the Cteatio?i9 I particularly advifed and ThtHrbvmi intreated my Readers, not to judge of the whole work tJj'A;' by the firft Book, becaufe it contains lbme abftrafted rai *"uJa-JT~ Truths, and for that almoft every thing in it is either contrary to, or much more fublime than the common Motions • you liQtwuhUanding, palling over the cthei five, i6 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc Letter I. that he does mot give a fair Jc count of the Oeconomy. XIX. Th Sfe- cond general Jccufation, that he charges Mr, Poiret with writ nig My fiically. (a) Pag. 54; five Books, or but (lightly mentioning them, give on- ly an account of the Contents of the firft Book; al- though in the Preface I eXprefly advifed, that they who are not ufed to Metaphyfical Speculations (Tuch as thofe are for whom your Popular Difcdurfes feem to be compofed) fhould begin with the folio vying Books, and which therefore, if you had acted the honeft and finceie part, you ought to have given an account of firft 5 and indeed you recite the Con- tents of the firft Book (which you have more than once confeffed both to me and others, that you do not underftandj in fuch a manner^ as if you feemed not only fometimes t© forget what you are about,but always to have no regard to what is delivered in the follow- ing Books ^ thus you think that in the firft Book there is wanting the Reconciliation of the Divine Predictions about future Contingencies with the Li- berty of Man's Will ; whereas I have not only fhewn how they are reconcileable in the laft Book, but alfo in the Preface to the firft Book \ and afterwards in the Twelfth Chapter thereof, I expreily told the Reader, that although the chief Principles upon which it depended were laid down there, yet that the matter was not to be difcuiled there, but in the laft Book, to which it properly belonged. 1 thought it had been according to theRules of Criticifm to read before you Cenlure \ but it feems great Cri- ticks think they have nooccafion to read and confi- der any thing that they take upon them to relate and judge of. XIX. The other general Complaint I have to make again ft you is, That you endeavour to perfuade the World that my Writings contain other matters than' really they do ; affirming almoft upon every occafion that I, whom you call a Myftick, do treat of Myftical things in a very Myftical manner? and this Character you apply even in your Index to all my Sentiments j nay, you are fo fond of this Topick, that you not only call my frenkum, which treats of the prefent Controverlies in Chrijlendom, Myftical • but in the Seventh (a) Tome of your Bibliotheque, where you pretend to give an Account of the Works of Har-* thins and Molinos, you affirm, that the Year 1687 ought to be called both by them and me a Myftical Year ; by them, becaufe they publifhed one or two ; and by me, becaufe in that Year I publifhed eight Myftical Books : With this Invention of yours you are fo A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 17 fo pleafed, and you think it will fo mightily contri- Letter L bute to raife the Laughter of your Readers, and to depreciate my Writings, that you not only repeat it more than Ten times in the compafs of a few Pages, but even in your daily Converfation \ when you have occafion to fpeak of me or mine, you continually harp upon the fame firing. But to let you right in this matter, I mull tell you -? that I would not only not for all the World defpile thofe things which you fo flightingly call Myilical ^ becaufe they are nothing elie but the Revealed Tieafures of all Divinity • but that I fo highly efteemed them, that if they were to be purchafed with the lofs of all worldly Goods, and witn the greateit Sufferings and Afflictions, I heartily wifh that God would enable me to lay with a cheer- ful Heart, as the Divine Ignatius faid, Let ms be burnt and crucified \ let vie be expofed to Wild Beafls, and my Bones lieunburied ^ let vie be cut Joint by 'Joint, and let my whole Body be ground to Powder ; yea, let me undergo the Torments' of Hell, fo that I may but at lafl en'py JESUS CHRIST, and his fecret and myflical Embra- ces ! But though I come infinitely ihortof thei'e things, and have not yet taken upon me to write upon fuch Subjects, yet I have publiihed, and illuitrated with proper Prefaces, feveral excellent Myltical Treatifes written by others : And thefel have fometimes com- mended in my Writings ; I have quoted fome of their Principles ; I have explained fome of their Phrafes j and I have removed feveral Difficulties that occurred in them j and the better to difpole my Readers to En- quire after and to perufe them, I have here and there given them a Taite of what they are to expect from the Books themfelves ^ and all this I have done to fhew and recommend, as far as in me lay, fuch helps, infinitely exceeding any thing of mine, as I thought mofl conducive to excite in good and well difpol'ed Souls a more ardent Love of God, and to fUr them up to a more vigorous puriuit after their own Eternal Happinefs, and to adore and celebrate the wonderful things of God. But to fay that my Books are there- fore Myftical, or that every thing in them is Myflical, follows no more from thence, than that the firft Edi- tion of my Cogitations is Myftical, which is what no Body ever dreamed of ; although in that (a) work I (a\ pao-4 i0i feveral times mention fome Myllical Authors with 7J ^ i%o. 2.5 1 Approbation ; or than that your Books are Poetical zq'q pjc Books, becaufe that in thtm you oftner quote and £ commend 1 8 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. commend Horace and Ov\dy than I do the Myfticks \ V^""V"*w or for that you recommend Ovid's Meiamorphoies and Horace's Odes, as excellent Helps towards under- XX Whether landing an^ interpreting the Holy Scriptures. M \.z Clerc ^ ^*et me Jntreat you> sir-> to deal plainly and *'ld7iatap- ^ncere^ with me : Did the Myitical Theology favour * U ~f mI y°ur Pelagian and Socinian GlolTes, would you (hew Co •prove or ah- 3 *>., , . * ,, „ r» J. /T ty way of Contempt, Myitical/ 9 :inianilm ^Yt n *s not obfervable that, even your own Libeii- l£cl * J ' ns, although he is careful not to name the word My- ftical, for fear of falling under his own lalh, yet that when he thought the Socinian Caufe could be any wife fupported by Myllicks, has actually made ufe of Allegorical (which in your Opinion is Myftical) %fpon fome oc- Theology ? And hence it is, that as ro thofe places m heaftu* of Scripture, where the Creation of the World is in bits re" the nof: exprifs terms attributed to Chrijt as his ?wfc to it. -work j Liberius, that he might explain them in favour of the Socinians, does with Socinus and his followers, fuggeit that they ought to be understood of ih& Alle- gorical or Myitical Creation, and of the Myflical Operations and Creatures (which indeed he does not preiume exprefly to name fo, but calls them (a) New iA) Ep*ft« inftead of Myjlical^) and the Reafon he gives is, that Liber. Pag. wriich is the foundation of all Allegorical Theology, 62. 65. vjz% (V) TJ)at innumerable things that were dons before the (b) Ibid. Pag. Q3jpel didfbadow out and typify thofe things which were to 61 • be done under the GofpeL And accordingly thefe Places; In the beginning was the word, and the word was tfith God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him \ and without him was not any inform ch» f^vS m^e that was made, &c. And. The World was * «Lr v 10* viadebyhim: Again, All things were created by him Vj\'c\ 'rh ' and for h'wu He is before all things, &c. Which (c) 3 v 16 1"." Sr- 3°hn and ( ^ Stt iW refer t0 ch$ : li aecordi"S " * ' '" to the declared Senfe of Libtrius and the Sociv.ians-, T they be explained in other words and in proper terms, But very er- w£ OX)^\n to reject the literal Senfe altogether, and wveonjy and expound lhem tnUs ; « In the Myitical beginning abfurdly. M was tjie \r/ordi and the Word was Myiticahy witta " God, and God was Myitically the Word. AilMy- " ftical Things were Myilically made by him : and *« without him was not any Myfticai thing made, " that was Myilicaily made. Again ; The Myfiical " World was Myfticaliy made by him. And again ^ « All Myitical things were Myitically created by him ki and A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 19 <4 and for him ; and he is Myltically before all My- Letter I. " fiical Things, and fo on. v^^v^^ XXI. It would make a Manfnaile to fee thofe who XXI. Mr. Le areothenvife the greateit Det'pifers of Myltical Theo- Clerc not yet logy, forced againlt their will, rather than quit their acquainted Errors, to endeavour fo Ridiculoufly to betake them* with the My- felves to it in order to fupport their wretched Caufe. fikalThe:logy. Thus Monfieur Le Clerc then is turn'd Myitick.! but as 'tis againlt his Will, fo neither is it&r any long con- tinuance 5 He knows not yet what the Myi-tkal Theo- logy is, which therefore he ought firft to have learned from fome Author, v.g. from the Pieface to a Book entituled (a) The Theology of the Heart, and from the (a) La Theo- laft fieok of the Second Part thereof. He fmells only logu du Cceur. at a diitance that 'tis no Friend to his Erroneous Principles, and to the other fuperficial parts of Learn- ing: He knows it is equally difagreeable to worldly Minds, and to the Vain and Superficial j to the more Sentual (which is by much the greater^ part of Mankind ; and even to fome of good Dilpofitions, who are impofed upon by the Calumnies of others ; and thefe were fufricient Motives with him, in order to blaft the Credit of my Writings, which contradict his Principles almoft in every thing, molt injuriouily to brand them with the hateful Character of being Myltical, and to affirm, contrary to all Reafon, that they treat of nothing but what's Myltical. XXL Thus, Sir, you make no fcruple to call (h) the XXIL Pi oven Reafonings and Proofs which I make ufe of to De- hj fever al /*- monitrate Free Will j The Arguments evincing Origi- fiances. nal Sin and the Propagation of Souls ; the lait Exter- (h) Bill. V. nal Events of Things which I recite ; my Analyfis of Pag, 432*438 the Epiftle to the Romans ; thefe, I fay, and many a^\ * other things you take upon you ( with how much ju- itice let others judgej to call MyfticaJ, which ought not to be accounted as any part of Myltical Theology. After fuch ufage., if I had a mind tc encounter you at your own Weapons, I might apply to you the 4nd therefore Words of the Son of Syrach, De mendacio Ineruditionis oui^ *° kfsP tuA confundere ; or that of Apelles, Ne futor ultra Cre- J**-*1' &« own pdam \ or fomething to that purpole, as, Ne Criticus vwnds. ultra Cortices. XXIII. Here you'll fay, It appears that your com- XXIII. Ob}. plaint againlt me, that I ana angry with, and (c) ex- That Mr. Poi- riet, defpifc* Cntim Learning. (c) Bill. V. Pag. 414. * B 1 claim 20 A Letter to Mr, Le Clerc. Letter I, Jnfwcred : Jrchhijhop "Ufher com- mended, and -Eiafmus. plxi m% loth a great Cri- tick and a true Lover of Myjlkai Tfao- claim againft the Ci kicks, is well gtounded.. If with Partus, a famous Divine, I had absolutely affirmed, that the Devil was certainly the Author of Criticifm, I might pofTibly have in fome meafure deferved your Cenfure. But fuch fober Criticks as under the Let- ter fearch for and recommend the Spirit, I not only do not find fault with, but highly reipeft and efleem them, aj|d moft fincerely recommend them to others : Such as among others was lately the illuilrious Arch- bithop Vjbert who firit published and highly efteemed the Epiitle of St. Barnabas, full throughout of Allego- rical and Myftical Meanings j and in the preceeding Age the great Erafnms, who fcarcc left his equal. He, though he was an univerfal Scholar, and the greateit Critick of his Age, yet he did not fcruple uequently to intermix many Allegorical ar.d Myftical Things, as fo many rare and piecious Gems to adorn his works, and efpecially throughout his excellent Paraphraie upon the New Teftament ; and the fame Excellent Peifon was aifo the firit that publifhed, and exceedingly recommended the Commentaries of Arito* fous the younger on the Pfalms, which alfo abound with Myitical Senfes. The fame Perfon in publifhing the Works of fome- of the chiefelt of the Fathers (Tucr* as Ircneus, Cyprian, Hieorom, Hilary, Ambrofe, Align- fline, Sec. J lo highly efteemed the Myftical things, ivhich very often occur in 'em,that he more particularly commended and preferred them above all the reir ; and io great a lover was he of this iort of Knowledge, that if it was for nothing elfe, yet he would delerve Immortal Honour for the pains he took in Collating and Correcting Origen's Works, the greateit Myfiick among the Fathers, whom upon the Account of his fmgular- skill in the Holy Scriptures, and in every other thing, his indefatigable Labours, his admirable Vertues, and Hedfaft fanctity of Life, but more-efpeciaily upon the Myftical Account, he preferred alrr.oft to all the reit. And hence like wife, in the Second Chapter of his £»- chiridion, called, The Chriflian Warrhur, he lays down this Rule: Among till the Interpreter: of tie Holy Scrip- tures, love thofe especially WHO DEPART MOST FROM THE LETTER^ fuch as arc chief y afttr St. Paul, Origen, Ambrofe, Hierom, Auguitine. He adds ; Por I perceive that our Modern Divines, flick too •much to the Letter, and are more intent about the captious Niceties of Words, Than in fe arching out the Myjlcries couched under than : As if indeed St,- Paul had not truly A Letter to Mr. Le Gere. 21 faid, that Our Law is S P I R I T U A L ; / have hea> d Letter I. of fome, who are fo hugely pleafed with thofe Human Gw- w^V^»*# wewrjfconfider I pray, what fort of Peifons he here means) That they lock upon the Interpretations of the ancients as fcarce am thing but Dreams. They grow old in the Let- ter, and do not endeavour to attain to thefpiritual Know* ledge of the Serif tin es. Neither do they hear Chrift in the. Gofpel, Crying, The Flejh profiteth nothing • *Tis the Spirit that quickzneth • and, we know becaufe the Law is fohimal, and not Carnal j and SPIRITUAL THINGS SHOULD BE COMPARED \V I T H S P I R I T U A L. God was anciently worship- ped in the Mount, but now the Father of Spirits will be worjhipped inspirit. And hefubjoins, therefore I would not have y»u who are endued with a happy Genius, to ieft in the barren Letter, but to haft en to the more PROFOUND MYSTER I E S, and to your own unwearied Induftry to join frequent and fervent PRAYER, until he that has the KEY of David, open you the Book, wlto ftmts and no body can open the ARCANA of the F A- THER, winch none knows but the Sen, and he tdwhovi the Son will reveal them. Shew me iuch Criticks now a days, and Til be the firit that mall be ready to fhew them all poffible Honour and Refpecl. XXIV. But if any Critick reject and defpife the XXIV. In efficient Caufe it felf, the Power, the Elfrnce, and wj;at 'senfe theCenterof all folid Good, or, of all Realities, the Criticks and adorable Spirit of God, and his Internal Operations Critical and fecret Meanings, and thereby fhew himfelf a de- Learning are clared Enemy to all Myftical or Spiritual Knowledge ; undervalued* if he difiike the very Ideas of fuch Realities, and Un- der Pretence of an avetfion to Metaphyseal or Plato- nical Ideas, endeavour to ridicule and difcredit them ; if he cannot fo much as bear with the Ihadows of fuch things, whereby in a more grofs and figurative manner, their ef&ntial Dignity is reprefented ; and confequently if he ridicule all Allegorical Theology ; if moreover he be angry with all thofe, however ve- nerable for their Antiquity, or how confpicuous fo- ever for their Sanctity, who have praifed and recom- mended fuch things } fo that all that remains for Jiim to pleafe himfelf with, is only to make his Remarks upon the Bark, and to Expound the Letter without the Spirit, without the Inrelleftual Ideas thereof, and even without the proper Allegorical explications ^ if fuch a one, I fay, who, fetting afide all thefe things, expounds the Scriptures literally only, and according 22 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. ■■■■ ■' H L»J1.J«i»lll I ■ ■—■■■■ HI- I ■ ■««——■ I I IHW Letter I. to Grammatical, Critical, Pelagian, and Heathen Ideas? C^V*V* iiich as thole of Homer, Virgil, Horace and Ovid, which fall infinitely fhort of iVdfo's Ideas ; and that in fo rafh a manner, that whatever does not fuit with his Critical Capacity, he expunges out of the Scrip- tures, and condemns fuch Mylleries as he does not un- derfland, and then impofes his own Grammatical, Cri- tical and Heatheniih Interpretations, under the Name pf Sacred Obferyations, Queftions and Annotations^ and the like, becaufe for foot h the external matter, or the Bark and the Words are taken from the Holy Scrip- tures ; fuch an one I will convince not by Clamour, + \ n * » Dut by Demonftration, as I have done (a) in another C l HI P**ce' that a11 his vain Critical Learning is both in- Ch fuflicient and abfurd. But if they cannot yet fee the L/hap. 14. foict 0f mv Demonitiations j I will (hew them by more grofs Similitudes, that they aft as vainly and ri- diculouflyj as if any one among the Iftaelfres of old, who had a right to partake of any Sacrifice, and to give thereof to others, ihould have left the in ward §ubfiance, and taken the Skin and Hair, and Excre- ments only, and covered and anointed himfelf there- with, and then run about the Streets, crying, A Holy Sacrifice 1 A Sacred Unttion 1 A Holy Meat Offering ! That is, they were taken from the Sacred Victim in the fame manner as our Criticks ufe to take their Sa- ved Oblervaticns from the Holy Scriptures, with which they feed themlelves and others, much after the manuer that they do Swine with Bran, leaving the Subftance and the Flower of the Corn, as if it was nothing but meer infignificant Puft, wholly un- touched. Sow Partial- But to be more Particular. , lot Inflames of Mr. Le Clerc'* Vifingenuity. XXV. The XXV. In the Account you give of me in your frfi Jnfiance } (£) Bibliotheque Univerfelle^ where you introduce me that I pre- in the Qeconomy, promifing to prove what I advance in wife to De- Theology, Philofophy, Metaplyficks, Phyficks, Ethicks and monftrate Politicks, by Demonstrations as Plain and Evident as any things, pro- jH Geometry 5 you add, That I do not expeft that the force vided the of fuch Demonftrations will he und \% flood by tho/e Readers Reader has who Jb all view them only by the Light of Human Reafon j Faith. that 'tis abfolutely veceffary that they bring Jomewhat of (bj Pag, 414. F A I T H along with them, without which I apvi, thej 415, . • wilt A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 23 will underfiand nothing of them ; and, that I believe that Letter I. even the unlearned will be able to underfiand every thing v^"~V"*>«# that I have advanced , except fome few things in thefirft and fecond Book, provided they will give but Attention f and RECEIVE the Truths which 1 promife to teach them with FAJTH. Now they that either do not know me, or dare not fufpecr, you to be one of thole that induilrioufly fet themfelves to invent Stories the better to let off their own Wit, will hardly be able to forbear Laughing, when they hear, that I un- dertake to Demonjlrate ceUain Truths, provided my Be- _« . r j„ , monfitationsbe received with Faith. But if there be any '^J*11? who do not look upon me as the greateft Blockhead in }eIutClA" Nature, but rather think that I underfiand what De- monftration is as well as you, and poffibly as well as any other \ if they obGerve that from the beginning of the work, I fuppofe my Reader to be a meer Scep- tick ; they will no longer doubt but that you have very grofly mifreprefented me, and when they (hall fee in the Series of the Work, that I draw no con- clulionsbut what were Implicitely contained in, and which naturally flowed from my Principles (which is to Demonilrate \) and that when my Principles themlelves are not at fir ft fight fufficiently clear and evident, I de- duce them from others, as I do thefe from others again, and fo oiijiintil I bring them down to fuch firfl Principles as admit of no ftifpute (which many own they have ob- served in my Writings \) I fay, after they have ob- ferved thefe things, they will wonder to fee that you have fo little Prudence, and fo great an Inclination to Cavil, as for the fake of fuch a (enilefs Jeft, to give fo clear a Proof, either of your Ignorance or Partiality* But the Crime, it feems, is that I named and com- mended Faith, in order to perceive and underfiand things Intellectual I I'll explain the matter in a few Words, We fometimes meet with Demonllrati- oqs, the force whereof many, and even fuch as in other Tefpeclsare very Ingenious Men, cannot by any means comprehend. For inilance, Monlieur des Cartes in fome of his Writings did certainly Demonilrate the Immateriality of the Soul, and the Exiilence of God 5 and yet fome very learned Geometricians have (a) (a) Obj, VJ. acknowledged that though they had often and atten- mA[fd,Cfrt% tively read his Demonftrations, they could never fee the force of them. At this Day there are (owe Or- iejia?is% and others, who do not underfiand the Demon- ilra$ions about the {liberty of God concerning things B 4 indifferent, i\ A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc ■- / Letter I. indifferent, and about his fufficiency, although they naturally flow from this Principle, that God is an in- finitely perfect Being, and consequently that he does not in the leaSt Hand in need of any other befides himfelf } and therefore that he alone is felf- Sufficient } lb that if he has the Ideas of other things, and made them, it was a matter wholly indifferent to him to think of them and to make them \ and confequently, that he himfelf was firft indifferent as to fuch things : And yet thefe things they do not comprehend. Who does not underhand thefe Principles, that God can- not deny himfelf and his own Properties, neither in- wardly within himfelf, nor by any external Word or Act? But how few are there, who fee that it NecefTa- rily and Demcnilratively follows from thence, that the "Works of God have no tendency to Annihilation, and that they are not inactive, dark, contrary to, deilructiveof, and made to Torment one another } and confequently that they are Permanent, Active, Lumi- nous, Harmonious, Happy and Glorious :, and that therefore the World was not made in that diforderly and unhappy State in which we fee it at prefent } but that all the prefent Evils and Miferies which we ob- ferve therein, proceeds from fome finful and degenerate Author f Now 'tis evident that many dp not appre- hend the force of thefe Demonstrations, with the fame eafe and cleamefs that they Conceive and are Convinced that God cannot Lie. And the'fame thing may happen (till the more, according as the Truths which we undertake to Demonstrate are at a greater distance from their firft Principles, and as they are more Shocking and contrary to the Prejudices of Edu- cation. What Remedy then Shall we make ufe of to aiTift Reafon to fee and perceive the force of fuch De- monitrations ? Some preScribe Attention : and So do I. But they, of whom we fpeak, fay that they did and Still do apply themfelves with all pofiible Attenti- on ; but that nevertheless they cannot apprehend the force of fuch Demonitrations. What can they do more / Some prefcribe other means : What I would offer is this. I would have the Reader not to give his Mind to contemplate Reafon only, but to follow It alfo j that is, that he would practice thofe things ia hkh his Reafon tells him he ought to do, before he proceed to other Demonitrations. For Example, If any one had really a Mind to underftand any in- {ticwto Mathematical Demonstration, the only way would A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 25 Would be to take a Scale and CompalTesy or Pen and Letter I. Ink, and Delineate it upon Paper, or trace it in fome other Characters, through all its feveral Steps, as he reads it ; otherwife, without fome fuch Practical means as this, he will quickly lofe the Thread, or not rightly apprehend the force of the Demonitrati- on. The Cafe is the fame as to Intellectual and Spi- ritual Matters : After one is convinced by Reafon, or by any other means, that there is a God, and that he is the Omnipotent and Bountiful Author of all Good* and of all Light \ the firft thing thatReafon dictates for him to do, in order to prepare and fit him to go on to other things, is heartily to praife God, and to give him Thanks, and in an humble confidence that he will hear him, to wait and pray for his good and luminous Operations in and upon his Heart. Either I am wholly mif taken in my felf, or this is really and truly the Cafe. My Reafon mews me be- yond any poffibility of doubt, that I ought t© defire Light and whatever is Good, and that from God, and in my Soul ; becaufe he is the Author of Light, and of every thing that is Good, and I on the other fide am his Hanay- work, and my Soul the fubject made and adapted to receive his Light , and that I ought to do fo with a Belirciig Mind, becaufe God is Be- nevolent and Omnipotent. Now this Difpoiition of Soul, whereby fhe fincerely Offers and Trufts herfelf into the Hands of God, defiring him and his Light, or, That vecourfe and Jbelter which a thankful and be~ lieving Soul, breathing after God, the Fountain of all Goodnefs, takes in him, is what I called FAITH 9 which Faith, or humble Difpofition of the Soul, re- figning and entrufting itlelf wholly into the Hands of God, does not produce Philosophical or Ideal and Artificial Demoniirations j but the Faculties of the Soul, and Reafon itfelf, are only thereby more and more refigned and expofed to the powerful Operatic ons, and to the fweet Influences of God ; who in confequence thereof enlivens, invigorates and enables and makes them fit afterwards to perform their feveral Functions in the eafieft and beft manner, and to re- ceive the true Ideas of things Intellectual, either by immediate Divine Illumination, or by the help of fuch Light to form, conceive, examine and weigh what is in fuch Idea?, and what neceffarily follows fronn them: That is, by this means, a Soul is made capable of perceiving and feeling the force ot Intel- lectual 26 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. leftual Demonftrations. Now, good Mr. Critick, w"— v^Xm pray tell me whether I have explained mylelf to your Capacity, er no ? Do thefe Things in your Language import the fame Thing as, to promife Dcmonjlt ations pro- vided one will receive them with Faith, or in cafe he will joyn but a little Faith to them I Or did I exprefs my felf there fo obfcurely that an attentive Reader coulU not find out my meaniwg ? As if I had not exprefly faid, * Pref. to the * JTe approach to God by the Spirit of Faith ; whence af- Oeconomy. ter that we tire wade conformable to him in the bottom of our Soul, our Mind and Reafon, and all our Faculties are rendred able and fit, every one in their degree, t3 EXPRESS (or to Excite in us Ideally) the Ttuihs, the Charaelers or Repref cut ations of all God's wonderful Works, and of all thofe Things that are in himfelf and in his own Divine Arbitrary Conception ; fo that the A C- T I VI T Y of REASON imperceptibly acquires a lent or aptitude to REPRESENT the manner bow God conceived and made all Things. That there is in us a FACULTY, which is capable of R E- PRESENTING and exprefjing mojl CLEAR- LY and EASILY THE IDEAS and WORKS of GOD, and of SEEING their REASONS and Beauties ; which Faculty, when it approaches to God, it receives by the Light of Faith ( or by the Light •which God imparts to a Soul that trulls in and re- figns itfelf to him) a DISPOSITION to PERCEIVE bis TRUTHS and his WORKS, and much more to the fame purpofe. From all which its evident that I fhewed plainly enough, how Faith, or a fincere and faithful approach to God, fhining and difcovering himfelf in the Soul, difpofes and enables the activity of Reafon to excite in itfelf Ideas conformable to the Ideas in God, and to the Things theml'elves, and to underftand the Truths and Realons of Things. • But this is Auti-Felagian, and therefore what you hate, 3s is that likewil'e which I expreily obfeived there, that the Pelagians, and the literal Criticksi and thofe that deny the Operations of God in the Soul > are ihetejoic un* fit and incapable of perceiving Things IntelLftual, becaufc their Reafon is Sick, clouded and wholly corrupted. Now becaufe you might poilibly think that thefe Things touched you, was it therefore neceiTary that, for Re- venge lake, you iliould pervert and ridicule my Senfe and Words, which it rightly underltood, are clear and Orthodox, and contain nothing but very excel-r lent and wholelome Precepts ? Has not St. P»;w/ be- fore A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 27 fore me, obferved that the Reafon why the Philofo- Letter I. phers of the World were encompafled with Darknefs, and became vain in their Iwaginatiow, is this, becaufe R0m. i» that when they knew God, they Glorified him not as God, as the Author of Light and of every good Thing, to whom they ought to have had recourfe j and becauie they were ungrateful, and vainly truiled and relief upon their own Rcafonings, defer ting their BlefjeA Crea- tor ? Would to God that every Philofopher would fobmit his Reafon to be cured and illuminated by this Divine Faith ; and that every Writer had fuch a fhare of Human Faith or Integrity, as might enable him to relate the Words or Actions of Others Im- partially 1 XXVI. With the like Fidelity, and in a Jocular XXVI The and Scornful way you fay, * That my Metaphyiicks can- secon£ jj2_ not be perfeclly undeiflood in many Places, unlefs one be \anu . admitted into the Divine Darknefs, and into the Content- * gjblioth flation of the Principle of God. -Whereas you ought to pag xg * have laid that my Metaphyficks explain fome divine Tlfa] * Meta. Things, which may indeed be well conceiv d Ideally, , r r but which none can fenfibly Experience in himfelf, *^/ c /jj—l/, unlefs God, who is our Principle, difcover himfelf to n m e *? * him after a manner which to us is now dark and ob- Peruie^ fcure \ which, as I obferv'd by the by, is what the ' Mylticks mean by that Expreffion, To be admitted into the Divine Darknefs, and into the Contemplation of the'v Principle (not the Principle of God, as you erro- neoufly take it.) But ail this is nothing but what other Metaphyficiaus have faid, or much to the fame purpofe. For when, for inltance, they demonitrate, that Man's greateft Felicity con fills in the Contem- plation of God j this indeed is what every Body furficiently comprehends j but yet all Men mull un- doubtedly acknowledge, that none can actually enjoy and poflefs that Happinefs without the fupernatural Help and Operation of God, which to us in this itate is yet dark and obfcure. Thus again, in another f f Cogif. Rar Book, I have einployed a whole Chapter about the tionat. Divine Eternity ? and that which we partake from thence, the force of which Demonftrations is indeed eafily perceiv'd Ideally, but the lively Experience of the Thing itfelf cannot be communicated to us, as I there obferv'd, Unlefs it pleafe the Supreme Mind, which fuflaim us, to joyn himfelf to us according to the Pieni~ xude or full Extent of our Thought, .now tho' siifl Jhort Line of our Experience cannot fathom thel'c - ': * ' Things, 28 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. Things, yet fome Great and Ingenious Men have fet fo high a value upon that Chapter, that they prefer it to all the reft of the Book, and fome have got it even by Heart. But thefe were fuch Men as were perfuad- ed that Divine Things, inftead of being ridicul'd and banter'd, ought to be fludied with Reverence and Attention. XXtfll. Third XXVII. It will alfo undoubtedly appear ridiculous Inftance -y to many as you • tell it, viz. That I endeavour to •* Biblioth. prove, That Faith is God himfeif But this would not Pag. 427. have appeared fo abfurd if you had fairly told your He mifrefrc- Readers, That according to my Notion Faith may be fents Mr. Poi« coniider'd either on the part of Man, as he contributes ret'* Notion fomething to it which God requires of him, and in of Faith. this Senfe Faith is a fiducial furrender or refignation of all our Faculties, of the Defne, the Underitanding, the Will and Acquiefcence to God himfeif : Or that it may be like wife confider'd on the part of God, as Jie operates in the Faculties of a Man that reiigns himfeif to him with a filial confidence, and produces his Light, or inlinuates himfeif, and his Love into them } fo that in this Senfe, that Faith which is from God , is God himfeif , irradiating and producing Light, Love and Tranquility in the Soul ; and in this refpeft God , Chrift , and the Holy Spirit, are faid to be in, to dwell in, and to live in Man by Faith ; and that this Faith is not the Work of Man : Now thefe Things, as they are felt- evident, fo neither will they appear abfurd to any in- telligent Perfon, when the matter is fairly ftated to him. XXVIII. A XXVIII. I gave two Definitions of Faculties, one Fourth In- of the (a) Thing, which I faid wanted an Explicati- fiance \ He ow» *or as much as it exprelTes the Natiure of the explains Mr. Thing; the other of the Name, that every one might Poiret'j Not:- know what I mean by the Word Faculty, and ( b) on of Faculties afterwards I tell my Readers that to me the Word lut intart. Faculty is the fame Thing as a Power of doing or aft- (a) Oecon. ing ; or more generally, that "'tis a Capacity of attivg Creat. chap, and receiving or fujfering. But you, (c) after you have 6. §. 19. given the Reader hopes, that I would mew what a (I) Ibid. §. Faculty is, and in what Seiafe the Word is to be tak- 22. en, omit the nominal Definition, which is accommo- (c) Biblioth. dated to every Capacity, and produce only the other, Pag, 422. which without its Explication (which follows there) < „ mull needs appear very obfeure ; that fo your Rea-' ders being put in hopes of a clear Definition, and then - finding A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 29' finding all of a fudden nothing but obfcurity, may Letter L hud matter to laugh at ; much after the fame manner w*^*"*^^ as your Juglers, who by ilight of Hand convey feme Things out of Sight, and then all of a fudden fhew fomething elfe, to a:r;uie and pleafe thofe that look on. And as fuch Buffoons often repeat thofe Tricks which they think will be molt taking with the Croud; even fo you alfo do often and unexpectedly bring out from behind the Scene fomething Myftical 5 but you happen to do it fo often and fo aukwardly, that to an indifferent obferver your management cannot but appear very nauleous and ridiculous. XXIX. In the fame ludicrous manner, after you have XXIX. J Fifth prepared your Readers to hear fomething ferious and Injtance • He fublime of me about the Divinity of the Soul, all of endt avows to fudden you * introduce me as asking my felf by Name, ridicule what and with the Appellation of Sir ; and then prefent- J had fa%£ a^ ly, omitting my felf, Anfwering others, and that hout the Na- without being asked, as if they had in that interim ture of the fprung up like Mulhrooms. Now thele are fuch ridi- Soul, cttlous Suggestions, that he that perufes my Writings * Biblioth. will find that I have not given the leafl occafion for pag% *2g^ them ; I only mention a Difficulty as propofed by my Readers to themfelves ; and to fhew how abfurd it is, I give the fame Anfwer as f Claubeigius did, f In Exercit. thinking it deferved no other. 'Tis ilrange, fure, de Deo, that Ingenious Men mould be fo blinded and led a- way by Prejudice and Pailion, as not to fee that by fuch little Patchings and Prevarications, all that they can do is only to fnew how Ingenious they are at con- triving and piecing together a Fools-Coat. XXX. But then fometimes you mix fome ferious XXX. J Sixth Things, and give pretty fair accounts of others, that fo Injtance • H& your Readers being for fome little time employed about maintains that Grave Matters, may the better relilh your Myffical the Socinians Jelts, which every now and then recur with you : do not deny Thus after having premifed one, you go on next to the Trinitj in (1 treat more feriouily of the Holy Trinity, namely, to that Senfe that help out the Socimans, againit whom you fay I have J explained it exclaimed, as if they denied the Sacred Trinity in jw. that Senle that I explained it, which you in their || Biblioth. Name deny. Let us fee then, and, fince you are their pag# 4?0/ Advocate, try if you can make them acknowledge the following particulars, which eontain my Senle of the The Truth of matter. i.That there is a&ually in the Eternal Deity an this AlUgatU adorable Trinity, which the Holy Scriptures exprefs on 'envied by the Terms of the Father, the Son or the Word, into. and go A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. Reafons wly Things are fome times re- vealed ob- fcurely. And wly Men refufe to be- IkwMyJlerhcs, and the Holy Ghelh 2. That the Trinity, as well as every Thing elle in God, is incomprehenlible to our finite Underilanding \ but that beftdes all thofe infi- nite and innumerable Realities in the Deity which we do not comprehend ; one of them, as near as our narrow and finiteCapacity can concieve is this, That the Father is the defire of enjoying himfelf effential to the Deity y That the Son is the Living Image and Light of the Deity ^ and that the Holy Spirit is the effential Love, Acquiefcence and Joy, or the ineffable Compla- cency of the Father in the Son, If the Socinians fcruple to own thefe Things, they thereby fhew that their Sentiments differ from mine about the Holy Tri- nity. But if they do admit thefe Things, then I Congratulate you and them upon it : Jsor ought they therefore to be looked upon as wholly Innocent or Ex- cufeable, if they fhould allfdge that they only deni- ed the Holy Trinity before, becaufe no Body had clear- ly enough explained it to them ; and which if they had feen it propoled in this manner, they would not have denied. Such an excufe, I lay, is vain and fri- volous. For oftentimes God reveals fome things con- cerning himfelf or his Works, more obfcurely to Men, as well that we may fhew him the fame Honour and Retpect which we pay to Men of Probity, whom we believe in Things that we have not feen ; as that be- ing Ccnfcicus of the narrownefs of our Underilanding, and diffident of cur felves, we may by continual Hu- mility bridle our Luxuriant Reafon, and apply to him for hisDivineLight andHelp to enable us tounderltand iuchThings,as far as is nectffary for ourSalvation.Now, if fome from a Principle of blind Piide will not firB9 addrefs themfelves to God, and implore his Divine Light and Help ; but Laughing at fuch Things as Fanatical Principles, and boldly trufling to their own Underilanding as felf-fufficient, do theiefore fecondly, lefufe to admit what God reveals, becaufe it appears repugnant to their wretched Underilanding, endea- vouring to comprehend it by their own weak itrength; and if thirdly , they prefume to fubftitute the Works of their own CorruptedUnderilanding, theCreatures for Creator ( as the Socinians do, who are guilty of all thefe three, placing the Creatures or the Created gifts of God in the room of the Holy Spirit) would they therefore be exculeable, if, when God fhould after- wards tell them, behold thofe Things which out of Pride you will not ask of my Grace j thofe Things relating • A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 31 relating to me which you therefore reject, becaufc your Letter I. Proud, and as you think felf-fufficient Understanding, v^'—V'"^* which 1 was willing to humble and compel to leek my help, cannot comprehend them ; and finally thofe Things in whofe Place you have fubftituted the Crea- tures } they are even iuch, that if they be explained to you in another manner, and in other Terms, you will find your felf lb fully convinced of the Truth of them, as many others are already, that it will be ira- poflible for ycu to rejeft or doubt of them any more i Such Perfons, I fay, if they fhouid at laft believe thefe Tilings, will they therefore be excufeable from the None of which guilt of Pride, Incredulity, and either of Idolatry or can excufe any Injuitice againft God and Divine Things, in whofe 0725 for not he- Place they let up meer Creatures ? Judge you, Sir, in Heving them j this Caie, and apply it to the Soeinians, whofe firft But on the and chiefeit Crime is not fo much in that they deny contrary con* feveral Mylreries, as in this, that« diilembling and demnbim* even denying their own Corruption, and- depending wholly upon the Strength of their own Corrupted Reafon, they look and leek for Help and Light from that, and not from the Gracious Light and Operation of God. XXXI. I am not much troubled at what you fay, XXXI. A Se- when you * affirm that my Difcourfe about Liberty is venth Inftance : either partly Myhical ( that is, either what you do jj)at w]ja£ js not underfland, or do not like becaufe it makes againft ra\i ahoutLi- Pelagianifm) or partly what has been faid by others foYty is either long lince. It was fometimes objected to Des Cartes, ]tfyjljcal or that 'twas no fuch new Thing to fay, that he thinks } wj)at others and that every Body knew and faid the fame Thing jjave fatf y^ long before him. He Anfwered that it was true in- rQYe% deed \ but that none before him had obferved that +Bibl.p , 45 5, that was the firft Principle of all Philofophy 5 that from thence every Thing elfe might be deduced \ and that he had firft done it. Thofe that will attentively read my Work, will fee that whatever regards G>acet Predestination^ she Juflice of God, or any other of his Dealings with Men, is eafily and naturally deduced and accounted tor from my Explication of Liberty j That what f others had faid upon thofe and the + See Voflt. like Heads, are more general, more obfeure, and not Hiit, Pelag, fo clearly deduced, and therefore have proved almoit Lit), $. Part, wholly ineffectual for thofe Ends : On the contrary I x. Thef. i. have been more particular, and have by the help of my p*ag. zn^ Principles explained and folved fucn DiffiwiiUies as have been looked upon by others as inexplicable. And I will 32 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc Letter I. will be bold to fay, that if others had explained Li- «»**-~V^**-^ berty in that Senfe that I have done, neither Petegianifm, nor any otner Capital Herefy about Grace could ever have been maintained by any but the moft Profligate of Mankind. Thefe Things your Treatment forces me to declare, and at the fame to defire you, becaufe you fo often tell me that what I fay has been faid before by others, to look into your own Writings, and confider, that if all that you have flolen from o- thcrs without fo much as mentioning their .Names was taken away, whether jEfcp's Fable of the Crow, might not in a greEt meafure be applied to your felf. XXXII. The XXXII. I know not whence you fnould affirm, *that Eighth In- Man before the Fall, could, in my Opinion, by the Tower fiance j That of his Imagination forqi another Body like unto bis own : Man before the When yet my meaning is, that tiie Imagination only Fall could concurs to fuch a Formation but in part and as a con- form a Body comitant Caufe. I am alio in doubt whether it was like his own. not to excite Laughter in your Readers ( becaufe o- * Eiblioth. therwife you ridicule all Familiarity with God) that Pag* 4$5« y°u fay t I maintain, that 'tis but Labour rn vain to. •(• Ibid, Pag. endeavour to penetrate into Nature, without firjl recover* ^16. ing a Famii'iaiity with God ; and that in order to that *tis ntceffary to know the Internal Things of the Deity, Surely the internal Things of the Deity, his Thoughts and Ideas are the original Paterns and efficient Caufes of all Things -, and therefore in order to know Things made by their Caufes, or to difcover the Caufes of Things, there is no other way but to look for them in God : Now that none can poffibly difcover them, unlets God himfelf is pleafed to communicate them to him, is fo evident that it needs no Proof. XXXIII. A XXXIII. When you alledge |j that I deicribe thePri- Ninth In- niitive Glories of the Creation from the Life and Vi- ftance • That "ons OI St. Terefa, in order to make fuch Things ap- I make vfe of Pear ridiculous to Proteilants and Philosophers' ^ you the Lives of omit to mention that I deduced the lame Thing be- fome Saints in f°re from God's Attributes, and eilablilFed it upon ezfblaininz feveral Good Realons, and then confirm'd it from T&*Js ei§nt or ten Places of ScriPfurej to all which, for II- i Biblloth. lultration fake, I added the Words of St. Terefa, think- IV 4s6.* in8 lt mucn better to illuftrate Divine Things by the TeiUmony of fuch a Pious Soul, than with you to at- tempt to explain the HolyScriptures from Virgil, and Ho* rsc$s Martialy andCtoV, and iuch like Authors, which yon A Letted to Air. Le Clerc. 33 you and other Criticks ufually confult upon fuch oc- Letter I. cations as fo many Oracles. w-~V"*v** XXXIV. Having by thefe and the like Methods, XXXIV. Mr, either perverted the Senfe, or curtailed the Expiicati- Le Clerc'* ons given in my Writings as well as thofe of others, Reafuns why and being, I fuppofe, confeious of your guilt in both he may have thefe Refpecls, in an Admonition prefixed to the fifth mijlaken other Tome of your Bibl'wtheque, you attempt (by feveral Alen's Writ- frivolous Excufes) to anticipate the Complaints, which wgs : you could not but lee that fuch grofs Frauds would bring upon you. Thus, for initance, as tothefirir, ycu pretend that pohlbly in many places you might not perfectly apprehend the meaning of fome Authors, becaufe they make ufe of confufed Ideas and -Improper ExpreJ/ions ^ or becaufe of their long Parentbefes and lo- cohcrent Reafonings j or becaufe they often ufe Equivo- cal ExpreJ/ions, and are fomerimes Ignorant of their own Language \ but that thefe are not the true Rea- Art not the Ions why you have mifiaken and rnifreprefented the true Reafon s Senfe of my Writings (as well as that of fome others) wty be Mifre~ is evident in that many others of equal or better prefenu tuenu Judgment and Penetration than your felf, have read and underftood, and found gieat fatisfaction in them, without ever raifing fuch Objections againfc them ^ and becaufe you have alfo expoled and rnifreprefented others, who are allowed to be Matters of a molt clear and eloquent Expreffion j fo that the Reafon why you The true Rett- treat me and others in fuch a manner, cannot be fa Jon is becaufe much thofe which you ailign, as that F and thofe they oppofg the Authors whom you traduce, are adverfaries to the Socinian Sociniati Errors 5 witnefs the Character you give of DoCcyinet. that excellent and elegant Difcourfe of the Bilhop of Meaux, concerning the Holy Trinity, which as to the (aOEntrer manner you call a (a) found of empty Words, and as \ »02 to the matter, a heap of Chimeras. 1 have already poUted out other more probable Caufes, both general Other Rearan$ and particular, why you act in this manner, as alio alfo ajji^n.ed, the Reafon why many things i'eem obfeure to you, * when I told you, that thole who dille-iibling the' Corruption ot their own Reafon, and trull ing to their own Strength, will neither turn to God, nor implore his internal help, are, not at all in a capacity to per- ceive and underihnd things Spiritual. But if, as you confefs, you did not rightly underfland fuch matters, why then did not you leave them to your Colleague to manage ? May we not fufpeit that you was afraid he would net fufticiently Ridicule, cut ra- rtin 34 A Letter to Mr, Le Clerc. Letter I, XXXV. Mr. le Clerc'* Pica for pejjing an curtailing fe~ veral matters Material va other Mens Writ» fiefvted. (a) Entneti- ens, p. roi, ft ivtf. ther Commend, what you hated as contrary to your Erroneous Opinions f Or it* you found any Difficulties or obfeure Places toward the beginning of my Work, why did you not take my Advice, and begin and read the lad Books firft ? XXXV. As to the fecond, namely your fupprefiing feveral things in your Accounts, which had you mentioned them, would have fet matters in a fair and clear Light. You alledge, at an excufe, the narrow compais that you was confined to; and that no body will have any juft occafion to complain of you on that fcore ; But thofe of an Infer hur Rank a- mong the Learned , ani fuch as having read hut little . and 'being hut iti acquainted with the Affairs of the World, t\ \itfi 'tain fome fivgular and uncommon Opinions, and lock •upon their own Fancies and Inventions as the certain effefts of a Divine Inspiration. .Now though all thefe things were true, yet they are nothing to the purpofe \ for if you pretend to give an Account of fuch Perfons, or their Writings, you ought in jultice to quote their Words as faithfully as thole of the moft learned Cri- ticks, who fi3ve read every thing except what they ought to read, and who know every thing except what they ought to know j and finally, who called their own Socmian Errors, and even the moll pernici- ous of them, (a) Lights which God has beftowed upon them, and admirable means which the Providence of God makes ufe of to reclaim others from Errors. As to what you iniinuate of me, that 1 am but of an inferiour form among the Learned, I am not only not at all difpleafed with it 5 but I truly and fmcerely acknow- ledge and confefs that 1 iiave fca.rce yet learned as I ought, the true Elements of lblid Knowledge j all my Ambition is molt earnehiy to befeech God, that he would, out of his great Mercy, and by the Afhftance of his Grace, prepare and receive me into his School to teach me the fame* And as to your Learning, which in your Opinion is beyond all exception, 1 ao not indeed envy you, nor is it needful that I fhould give my Opinion of it in this place; I only pray that' God would keep me and all good Men from ever be- ing tainted therewith. What Books i fhall read, or what worldly Affairs 'tis fit for me to know, I fhall fcarce enquire of thofe Critieks, who are yet ignorant themfelves in this, that 'tis better much to read a few folid and inflruclive Books, to preferve a few IPe^rls and pieciotM Stones j and to look inwardly into A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 35 *he fecret Receflesof the Soul,and there to feek for tiue Letter I, andColid Knowledge, than to gather infinite heaps of w""V'r»%B train and Rubbifh, and be unavoidably reduced to the neceffity either of being fmothered with the Dud, or ilarved upon the Husks. If you had obferved this Rule, you would have preferred the TiTu.ll f but gol- den) Treatifes of Herman Herbert , the firft "Founder of your Sect, before all the great Epifcopius'>s and Cur- tulleus*sy the illuftrious Hammond's, the incomparable Grotius'sy the Voluminous Collections of the Fratres Puloniy and innumerable others of the fame kind : But as great a Reader as you are, I cannot perceive that you have fo much as ever ieen any of that good Man's Writings ; though 'twas from him that the firft Remonitrants took all that was good among them i nay, you feem not only not to know this ad- mirable Man, and to be forgetful of your own Origi- nal, but even moll of your way now-a-days have deferted him, and maintain Notions and Doctrines quite contrary to his Divine Writings and Princi- ples. Had you, Sir, who feem to glory in the extent of your Knowledge, as if nothing, how foreign fo- ever, had efcaped you j while at the fame time you feem to flight and defpife the neareft, the chiefeft and mod neceffary Things, and fuch as relate even to your own Party j had you, I fay, read and digefted f . w fliis Author's Writings (a) alone, and let alone all W «err*»^ others, you would have had no Reafon to repent, and WerC,ert« [night now have been able to fee, that one may profit wore by carefully reading one good Author, than by ieing at the pains to read a thoufand trifling ones .- For as that Ground, which has every Day new Seed :aft into It, can never produce a good Crop ; fo a Soul which is daily diffracted with an infinite variety )f trifling Matters, can never improve to any pur- jofe in folid Knowledge: This is only to be acquired )y little Reading, frequent Meditation, earneft Prayer, iffiduous Exercife, and by withdrawing and feparat- ng ouifelves from the vain Objects and Ideas of the ^orld. It is enough for a Scholar, in this School, o know of the World, (b) That all that is therein, is ^ x rQyn he Luft of the Flejb, and the hijl of the Eyes, and the z\t\$\ hide of Life, and that all fuch things periih with hofe that eiteem and lull after them, while he that iudies aright to know nothing but God and himfelf a the Spirit of Chrijl, fhall abide for ever, although ?r the prefent he be ridiculed and laughed at by the C i worldly e. & A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. worldly wife, who coveting to have their Minds fil- '^^■V""^* te& and puffed up with the vain Air of Empty, Pe- rifhable and Chymerical Trifles, mock at thofe who affirm, that nothing can fill or fatisfy thcrr, but the Eternal Spirit of chtijt himfelf, as Mad-Men or En- thufiafts. XXXVI. His XXXVI, Thus in your fixth Tome, with much fa- tlaige tisfattion, you take notice how a certain Difputant of Enthufiafm. calls me an Enthufiaft, and in the Index, again, you are fure not to forget to mention Poiret the En- thvfaft Fhilofopher . But, according to your ufual Fi- , delity, in your Quotations, you omit mentioning the Anfwer of his Antagonist fthoagh you give an Ac- count like wife of the Contents of his Book,) who Anfwer ed. toid him, That in Philofophical Matters (about which the Controverfy was J Poiret alone was pre- tenable to Ten Fuch as he : But this would have taken away tire Reproach of Philofophical Enthufi- afin, which you would fo fain fix upon me y it would have imitated the end which you prepofed to your ielf in publifhing that Character of me, which could be nothing elfe but to make the World flight and dtfpife my Wiitings under that Notion. Should I take the pains to Celled all the fine Epithets that others have beficwed upon you, how many Pages might not I fill with thole Encomiums ? But I look upon it as a fign of a mean Soul to rake into fuch a Dunghill, or to endeavour by fuch means to blaft any Man's Reputation. But to ihew you how little Truth 4rJ ft Chal- there is in your borrowed Reflexion, I here publickly c, id to name Challenge you to fhew me fomuch as one that has writ any one that fo. clearly and fo flrongjy again!! Enthufiafm in Philo- hns writ fo f°Pny, ant^ againit Fanatical Enthufiafm in Theology, elearly (igaivft as I have done. You cannot but know that fom<* Enthufiafm as Philofophers, efpecially of the Moderns, have endea* M>. Ponet voured to maintain that every Natural Act is the im- has ' doru], mediate Ad of God 5 that Human Reafon and its Ideas j yea, that Extenficn and Figures perceived by the Eye, is Gcd himfelf, his eilential Light, and his very Subilance 5 and that by thefe we are admitted ! into a Familiarity with God, and maintain a fweet Intercourfe with him, with many other things of the like Nature, which they have writ largely upon and have published their Meditations to the World, loth as to and which defer ve rightly enough to be called Phi- FMofophy lbfophical Enthufiafm : Thefe things, I fay, you know, and alk) that I h«ye fully Anlwered and Re-. fated; A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 37 futcd them in the firft Book of my Oeconomy, which JLetter I. you have read, and alio in the Preliminary Diifertati- *»~**'~"V"^s^ on to my Cogitations of God ; where I have clearly Demonftrated, that Reafon ('efpecially as 'tis active) and the Corporeal Senses, can never rife fo high as to have any familiarity or intercourfe with God himfelf } but only with his Effects, his Pictures and Images, which are of tbe^created'kind} and in the fylnth Chap- ter of the Oeconqpiy of the Co-operation, I have to clearly vindicated Theology from the Imputation of And Theology, Fanatical Enthufiafm, that I have evidently Demon- ftrated, that thofe that are not perfectly dead tothem^ felves, and to all the Lufts and Propenfions of their corrupt Nature, are fo far from having any Reafon lirl , to boaft of the Spirit of Cbrift dwelling and reigning ^ho%of £ in them, that they are not yet capable of receiving c*;* >V J him. But that we ought not by Purification to afpire rLx-a after the fame, that true Chriitians, that is, thofe ^ ^ , that have already received of God the Gifts, the fj ™? Principles and the Bleilings of Divine Faith, Hope art-.e act r * and Charity, and of all other folid Chriitian Vertues, J? , ^ that they, I fay, cannot truly and in a proper way ^ be made more and more Partakers of the SPIRIT of CHRIST ; and finally, that they ars not the Tem- ples, the Tabernacles, the Dwelling-places of G O D, of CHRIST, and of the HOLY SPIRIT, who Dwells, Abides, Lives, Atts, Reigns and Teaches in them, fo that at laft they abound, and ai e filled with all Spiritual Re» the fulnefs of God ; thefe things, t fay, (which you ligion mistaken and the Modern Pelagians and Socimans deny and ridi-/o#- Enthufi afm9 cule) which are the exprefs Words and lacred Pro- naifes of God in the Holy Scripture, I cannot with- out Impiety, I no where have, and I hqpe never (hall deny them. And if this be what by way of Derifion . . . , . you call Enthufiafm j if this be what you reproach Mdmvitamd me with under that Character j becaufe Cbrift was ex- aj ailf aU rtbz pofed to the fliameful Death of the Crofs, with the AfffiCi °t Mock Title of a King, I fhall not therefore the lefs "****■ ««?»r acknowledge and receive him as a Lord and King, ruling and governing by his Spirit in the Souls of Men i nor will I be afhamed openly to acknowledger that I moft earneftly pray, and firmly hope- for the Gift of his Spirit to quicken, actuate and govern me in the way everlalting. Tea, Lord, in thee.have I hoped a let ^ie not be confounded for ever: Let thy mocy come upon me, 0 Lord j thy Salvation according to tin word., and I will put to filence thofe that reproach vie nitb.eiiZ C 3 v.ords 1 g8 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. -»« ' ■ ■ "■' ' Letter I. .words ; becaufe I have trufled in tfy words. Let me rc- %^mm\^^%m^ ^o\cs in thy Salvation, and let thy good Spirit of Power fufiain me\ and then I fhall not be afliamed if I be ranked, by vain Men, among Fanaticks \ nor if they look upon my Writings as the Productions of Enthu- fiafm. O may it pleafe the Divine Majefty, that as the Heavens, fo likewife the Earth may be filled with fuch Enthufiafts, that fo the will of God may he done in Earth as it is in Heaven 5 and that the new Jerufalem -may Defcend to us from Heaven prepared with the Gifts of the Spirit of Cbrift, as a Bride adorn' d for the Bride- groom ; and that God viay pitch his Tabernacle emong Men% and dwell with them* fo that they may be his People and he their God, their God with them, and all in all ! This happy State, Sir, I heartily wifh, notwithstanding all you have-4one to make me appear Ridiculous to others^ Good returned vou niay at laft attain to. I bear no Malice in my for Evil, Heart ; for how ill fo ever you have recompenfed my Services, yet 'tis well known ( I fpeak the Truth and Lie not,) that upon feveral occafions I have often fo fene'd and mitigated the Minds of fome Good Men; who had but a very mean Opinion of you, becaufe they thought you had treated fome Divjne and Spiri- tual Matters in too bold and irreverent a manner. I urged that we ought not to load every one with all Thst we ovpht tne i^ Confequences which naturally flow, or may be to judge deduced, from, the Principles that he efpoufes ; and charitably of t^iat therefore, for Example, if fome did not acknow? others* ledge the Grace of God, and the internal Operations of his Spirit; if they thought that God did not im- mediately work in us to will and to do ; if they thought that the Holy Spirit of Chrift was not aftu* ally given to all the Members of his Body, Cthat i?, to all true Chriftians) and that it neither communi- cated Life, nor produced any of its ^Operations in The ReaTon them; I fay, I alledged, that though fome might *j > ' hold fuch Notions, and thereby did what in them "* •'■■ laytobanifh God and his Spirit from them, yet it did not follow that they denied the Exigence of eir ther ; and that to deny the Operation gf God and his Spirit in us, is not a thing peculiar to them, but even common to all others, who acknowledging the thing in Words and in thek Judgment, and at the fame time follov^ing the Lufts of their own Inclina- tions, do in effect reject the gracRms Prefence and Operations of the Holy Spirit of God ; which is . bat may fee called practical jRf/^wm/waud Atheifm, A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. '39 a thing fo common that but few can plead exception fetter L from it. So that upon the whole, and even for this *«^P*>/**N^ very Reafon, it becomes us to Jook with a more com- panionate regard upon thofe that are fallen into Er- rors then is ufual \ feeing what they deny in Theory only, the fame do we all in our Practice, and are therefore before the impartial Tribunal of God fo much the more inexcufable than they, as we know more. Thefe things I mention, left the laying open the Ertors of others fhould raife Hatred and Con- TJ * .. tempt againlt them, rather than Chriftian Compaffl- *''e 'f%'ic aii~ on, and their own Amendment j which Jait F heartily r r\ wi(h may be your Cafe. And the better to convince wfO- you and the World how much you (rand in need of both, what little ftrefs ought to be laid upon your Teftimony in matters which either do not agree with, or which contradict your Notions, and that no body ought to be prevailed upon to forbear reading the The occafion h* Writings of others upon your Character; I fhall here has of Com- by way of Suppliment, to what I have obferved with faJfron an& relation to my own Writings give a few Inftances Amendment ^ of your Candor in reprefenting the Writings and exemplified iii Sentiments of fame other Illuflrious Men, both Anci- &* Treatment ent and Modern. °f fever al other Authors loth Jncient and Modem. I fhall begin with the Moderns. indM °f XXXVU. Upon opening your Book by chance at vvrun/r'* the Bookfeller VShop, I obferved the following In- ^ , p, P itances, which I conceive, without any further En- ^'-Le Clerc quiry, will be fufficient to caution others how they ™ xfatf- rely upon your Teftimony. M' Abadie. 1. A certain worthy Perfon writ a Book of The /t\ jfe rln2 Truth of the Cbriftian Religion, in fo elegant a Stile, and Vj^ witj} ».*. in lb clear a Method, that if you have not given ^ d00^ 0f (^e faithfai Account thereof, you cannot plead obfeurity -rmtj}0f th or ambiguity in his ExprelTion, as you have done to r, ■ -n ■'. $ others ; and he has handled his Subject with that WF1*1 "*~ Moderation, and with fuch Strength of Argument, 242Ql'' that nothing but a certain Morofenefs in yourTemper,or the manifeft difference between yourSentiments and his, could have prevailed with you alone to deny him that Appktufe which all others allow to be his due. This' Gentleman, however you have ventured, without any Provocation, to attack, (as you do almoft every body elfej once and again ^ the firll (a) time, upon an Ar- F 2uraent hi which you might better have fallen out $toVttl$*ljs* c 4 . w«fc~ 40 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. with any other than with him ; and the (a) feconti *-^"~V~>w* time, in order to contradict what he advanced in An- (j) Sent. Let. fwer to Spinoza's Objections againit Mofes the Writer 6. p. i ii. of the Pentateuch ♦ for both which you have paid fuitU (b) M.Abadie, ciently fince. For in the (b) fecond Edition of his delaverit. Book, he has anfwered you in fuch manner, and fo de la Relig. home, that though he ufes great Moderation, yet you' Chret. i. P. cannot but evidently fee the Inadvertency, the In- ch. 9. Ed. 2. fufficiency and the Temerity of all your Critical Learn- For which the ing ;:and befides, he has alfo plainly (c) proved (what Author takes we are chiefly to take Notice of) upon you, that you him to task in have afcribed things to him which he denies to be hh fecond his, and that in your (d) Quotations of the Holy Edition. Scripture, you often times leave out fuch Parts and (c) lb. p. 267. PaiTages as make moil againit you. (d} Ib.p.180. XXXV1IL But (2.) imkad of being taught by fuch XXXVIII. (z.) a Modelt Correction to be more upon your Guard, you Jfr.LeClerc> grow more enraged againft the lame Author -y and Mifrepefenta- therefore when afterwards to his firft two Treatifes twnsof ano- he publickly added a third concerning the D I V I- thtf Treatife N I T Y of JE S US C HR I ST, you give an Epitome ' written by the 0f that excellent Book in your Bibliotheque in fuch a fame Juthory manner, that 'tis truly amazing you never confidered Tom. xv. that your Readers would be very much put to it to Bibl. Uni- determine, whether Falfehood or Malice had the verf. p. j6<5. Afcendant of you when you writ it ?. I lhall not exa- t° 379/ mine why you take all Opportunities to fnarl at thole Authors, who have moft folidly refuted- the Socinian Errors j nor why you attack them in thole Parts of their Writings chiefly that relate to the Socman Con- troverfy \ which furely is very imprudent in one that, though he has been always fufpecled, yet never would own himfelf a Sochuan : Sox will I undertake to do JuOice to, that Book, of which we fpeak, againft all your Fabrications. 1 fhall only by the way take no- tice of fuch things as relate to my prefent Uefign, namely, to fhew what little Credit ought to be given to your Accounts of Book? and Authors, efpecially if they meddle with any of the Sochuan Errors. Your Account of the Book in hand confifls of four Parts j in the firlt you endeavour to ilir up your Readers to Rtiucci to Envy and Hatred againit the Author, inftea^ of giv- frw Heads. ing him thofe praiies and thanks which he juitly de- ferves for having Refuted the Socinian Errors. In the Second you pretend that the Book treats of a Subject which.it 4oes not j in she tn>rd you propofe and mifreprefenr the Opu ;ou of the Orthodox about the A Letter to "Mr. Le Clerc. 41 the Holy Trinity and the Eternal Godhead of the Letter I. Soil Incarnate, in a very abfurd and ridiculous man- V-»<""V""*^ lier; and in the fourth, you miftake and mifreprefent fome parts of the Book itfelf. The firit part, befides that it difcovers the Malice of your Temper, than which fcarce any thing elfe could make you to write y , /.„/•«-. w fuchlluff, isfo filthy, unreafonable and ridiculous, *"* ZT5 that though 'tis fit for nothing but to propagate fome re" " very pernicious Errors, (which you think the Soc ini* ans may be allowed to do) yet is it grounded only Upon a vain and ridiculous Companion, whereby you would "have it that thole who teach found Doctrine, and thofe who broach ialfe Motions ihould be compa* red to two contending Armies, who ought to be al- lowed equal Advantages of Ground, and to ihare alike in the Favour and Affection of the By-ftanders ; otherwifeyou fay 'tis below a generous Soldier to fight with another who has not the fame Favour and Ad- vantages allowed him : Whereas on the other fide, it appears from the whole Tenor of the Scriptures, that thofe that teach and propagate Lies and Errors fhould not be compared to Soldiers, who have a right to Challenge out Favour ; but rather to Sedu- cers whom we mutt avoid and fhut our Ears againil, or tofowers of Tares, whom we are therefore carefully to watch, lead the Enemy come and Sow them while we are afleep. In the fecond Part, although the Author exprefly (a) declares, That he Defigns 7o treat , ^ -p. only' of the Divinity of J E S U S C H R 1 S T, and not ^ J B' *■' of his Incarnation, (or of the Union of the Divinity with the Humanity) nor of the HolyTrinity, becaufe thefe things deferred to he treated of diftinlrly and apart : Yet neverthelefs you (h) bring him m by way of fuppofiti- (h) Bib. p. on, as prefenting his Book to fome certain Chinefe Philo- 57c. fopher, and (c) explaining the flat e of the Quejiion con- (c) Bib. p, cemingthe three Perfons of the Deity f and the Hypcftati- 37 f. p. 372, cal Union of the fecond Per [on with the Humanity of Je« fus Chrift .* Where 'tis evident to a Demonffcration, that the Books which you pretend to give an Account, (efpecially if they don't favour the dociman Souona) you mifreprefent and pervert the matter and fubjedl %'cf them at your own Pleafure ; but without this, you had had no room, no opportunity to break your Jefts upon the Sound and Ortnodox Doctrines of the Ca.- tholick Church, before your Indian Philofopher. This the third Part of your Account contains, where you mike an Indian Heathen fan excellent Judge of things 42 A Letter t* Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. things Spiritual, to be lure, which, as St. Paul fays, are fooliihnefs to the natural Man, not having the Spirit of God,) a judge of Orthodox Doctrines, which by way of Mockery, you draw up in the fol- lowing Queltions. i. Whether there be in God three Diftinftions, of which we have no Idea ; and between which there aye certain Relations, of which likewife we have no Idea? 2. Whether the fecond of tbtfe unknown DiJtinSi- ons was united to the Humanity of Chrilt in a manner likewife unknown ? Where 'tis evident that, befidei your miftaking the Queflion, you propofe the Divine Myfteries in a manner fo favourable to the Socinians, and in fuch Ridiculous Terms, as can hardly fail of railing Laughter not only in Heathens and Prophane Men, but even almoft in every body elfe. But had you flated the cafe fairly and according to the Author's mind, it mould have been thus .• 4* Whether thofe i4 who believe that God is Omnipotent, iircompre* " henfible and truth itfelf ; that themfelves are no- u thing but miferable Worms, and of fuch fhallow u and weak Capacities that they do not fo much as " comprehend the Nature of the lead: Hair of their " own Heads ^ and who moreover acknowledge a ce> •' tain Book, namely the Bible, to have come from " God j whether fuch Perfons, I fay, when that " Book witneiTeth that God himfelf came among us, " That it was he that fpake to us, that initru£ted us, ** and that lived among us in a certain Body, and *# with a certain Soul, gfc. ought not to believe all " thefe things although they do not comprehend the " manner how they mould be ; or reject them be- " caufe they cannot t And again, as to the Holy Tri- nity (if this had been a proper place to fay any thing of itj ** Whether the fame Perfons, who agree in " the incomprehenfibility of God, the weaknefs of ** their own Capacity and the Divinity of theScnp- 41 tures, ought not, when the Scriptures mention acer- *' tain Sacred Triad in theDeity, to believe it although u they do not underftand it j or whether they mould " deny it, and do violence to the Scriptures, be- 4< caufe they cannot ? So that 'tis certain that even your Chinefe Philofophers would give it againlt all thofe who mould deny fuch things after they had agreed upon fuch common Principles, efpecially if thofe that deny them fhould acknowledge that they are not guided by the Spirit of God, and even boaft that they don't want his Grace, Illumination and Internal Afiirtance, A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 43 Afliftance, when yet the fame Book, which they be- Letter I. lievein, declares, That tio Man can underjland the »— fV'^W things of God without the Spirit of Gody and t)iat to the natural Man, who has not that Spirit, thef appear not only falfe, but even fool i(h and abfurd : Which is the very Reafon why thole that deny the inward Grace of God, fay they will not acknowledge thofe Myfleries; namely, becaufe to them they appear ab- furd and incoherent. But enough of W In the fourth part of ydur Account ( not to mention other Things which are foreign to the matter in hand) where you more particularly let down the Contents of the Sections of the Book, you alledge, and, that it may not be loft, you repeat it three or four times, that in order to allow and acknowledge the Author's Arguments and Conclufions, it muft he prefuppofed that his Interpretations of the Scriptures are true : Wherein you deal by him jurt as you did by me: before, in al- ledging that I promifed to give Demonftrations, pro- vided the Readers would believe them, or receive them with Faith : Or as if one- that had a Mind to cavil againft a Mathematician upon the account of fome Mathematical Demonftrations, mould fay, that it muft indeed be acknowledged that they are true, provided it 4ie prefuppofed that they are feirly and regularly deduced from found Principles. But here indeed, nothing elfe is required or prefuppofed but that the Readers come with a fcncere Mind and with a found Judgment. For that a Demonftration is right- ly deduced from received Principles, is not a thing that is fuppofed ; but 'tis what is proved in the De- monflration : As in like manner in the Arguments of the incomparable Author, that the fenfe of the Scrip- ture is fuch as he reprefents it, is not by him fuppofed, but proved : Which as to the fubftance of the Work, which I have perufed, I can Witnefs to; and I doubt not but as many as mall Read the fame infincerity and uprightnefs of Hearr, will alio be of the fame Opinion with me. : , ■< . XXXIX. O) fn a Book, entituled, Entrcticns fur XXXIX. (5.) diverfes matieres de Theologie, (tho' the firit pan of it VofliusjW//Ve- was not written, yet * it was publifhed and approved prefented in a by you as agreeable to your Principles, ) f Vojftus is Book * pub- : often cited as one who with you and the Socinians re- Ufa d ty Mr, jecfs the proofs that are commonly alledged in favour of Le Clerc, • - Original Sin \ oratleaft as one that feems to favour the | Entier p. Objectigns that ars raifed againft that Doclrine : Yea, tgi, you 44 ^ Letter to Mr. Le Gere. Letter I. you have there || publiihed the following Qbje&ion %n*~\S~*** which you fay, He mentions but does not An/wer. Adam || Entret. p. could not tranfmit bis Sin to bis Pofterity, but either as 195. a Moral \ or as a Pbyfical and efficient Caufe : For be- As to the Do- tweentbem there is no Medium. But neither of thefe ways tlrine of Ori- could he do it, &c. And then afterwards you en- ginal Sin. deavour to excule him % for betraying bis Caufe, in JIbid.p, 196. producing and not anfwering this Objection. Who would not now believe you,when you cite the very places of a Book, where fuch Things may be found ? For xny part, I believed it was fo at firit ; and indeed it did not a little contribute to lelTen my efteem for Vof- fins, and of that excellent Book of his, before I read it \ yea f was, upon your TeiUmony, fomewhat fca>- red, from looking into his Book, as not deferving to be read. But happening one time by chance to light on the Book, and to dip in it here and there, this Place came into ray Mind which 1 turned to, and be- hold to my great Admiration I found that Voftius was But at last moil unworthily traduced by you. For in the Place vindicated which you quote he is fo far from betraying bis Caufe, by from bis own anfwering nothing, That on the contrary he confirms Writings. It very folidly. Moreover, in the fame Place he an- fwets that Objection two ways, and that in thefe ex- * VolT. Hiir. Prefs Words ; * Adam is the occafion of it, ( The Pelag. lib. 2. Tranfmiilion of Sin to his Poilerity) as a moral Caufe: p. 3. Thaf. 1. In as much ashy a moral and voluntary Aft be merited and p. 221. Edit, brought upon hmfelf and all his Pofterity the Privation of \\% Original Right eoufnefs. hut tboy ADAM be not di- reclly the Pity peal, but only the moral Caufe of Original Sin 5 yet indiretlly he may alfo be called the Pbyfical liaufa thereof, as be is the real Caufe of that Caufe which occapons the Privation of Right eoufnefs. See here, how expreily he declares the contrary of what you attributed to him two feveral ways .' Yea, even in trie Preface of the fame Work, he very remarkably inculcates the lame Thing : / have fhewn, Iay^ he, that Vincent ius Lit inenfis was in the Right, when he writ , that none be- fore Coeleftius, that monjtrow Difciple of Pelagiu.s, ever de* Tiied that all Mankind was involved in the guilt of Adams Tranfgrejion. But this Place of Vojfus may be more commodiouily refer'd to the next Obfervauon. XL. (4.) Mr. XL. (4.) In the fame Book, and in many Places of Le Qlerc af- your other Writings, you frequently arrirm that ti)e fats that the Primitive Church, and all the molt Ancient of the Fa- Ancient Fa- thers were lino rant of the Dottrme of Original Sin, the*s •■■ •' ■ ••!-■■ «... ■ ■■■- A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 45 thers knew nothing of this Do&rine of Original Sin j Letter I. and as you are unjuft to them, in denying th2t they %-^""\^*"">v^ knew any thing of it, fo are you likewife to St. Au- * Entret. p. gufiin, in * afcribing it fo particularly to him, as if he 115,116, 124, nad been the firfl that broach'd it. If any one doubt 125,127,^. of this let him read Vcjjius's Hiltory of Pelagianim, Item Liberij. which you fornetimes quote 5 where he will -\ find deS.Am. Ep. Twenty Three Pages, fill'd with the Tettimonies of o- vi. p. 164. thers, all before St. Augujlin, for Confirmation of this f Lib. ii. part Doctrine : All which the Learned Author produces 1. Thef. 6. p. upon occafion and in proof of this Thefes. St. Augu- 158, &c. fiin proves this DoBtine out of the Writings of the fiiji And that St. Fathers ; whofe Teftimonies are fo clear and evident (as Auftin was are likewife many others which he has not mentioned) the firft Au- that 'tis ually amazing that there fhould have been any of thor of U. Old, or any that now a-daysjlmild look upon this Dcftnne as Both which Cfr St. Auguitin'j Invention, and even endeavour 10 make lumnies are re- others believe fo too. And then after bringing in St. futed by Vof- Augujfin, anl'wering this reproach of the Pelagian, fius. that he was the firit that had invented and maintain- ed Original Sin, in thefe Words ; Tk not I that have invented Original Sin, which the Catholick Faith believed from the beginning; But His you without doubt, who deny it> that is to be accounted a new Heretick • VoJJjus goes on, and in Teltimony thereof, he quotes of the Greek Fathers, Ignatius of Anthch, Juftin Martyr, Tatian, Jren&us, Ongen, Methodius, the two Mac anus's, Atha- iiAJius, Cyril, Bazilt Gregory Nazienzen, Ifychius, Chry- fojiom, and of St. Auguftin\ Contemporaries, and thofc that came after him, fome others -? and of the Latins t Tertullian, Cyprian, Anwbius, Ret'icius, Clympius, Hila- rius, dmbroje, Optatus Millevitanus, Prudentms, Hilari- us Diacomis, Hierom • and then concludes all with this Temarkable Queition of Vincentius Lyrinenfis • IVlio ever before the Profane Pelagius pre fumed to aja ibe fuch Power to fee Will, as to think that the Grace of God was not continually necejjary to aj]ist the fame in every Good Work? Who before Cccleitius his monjtrous Difciple ever denied that all Mankind were involved in the guilt of A cam s T\anfgreJJion * And yet tbo' you lee and read tliefe Things, you ftill go on and endeavour to perfuaae the World •, |! That nothing h more remote fiom the Faith of ' || Entret. p, the Clwch before St. Augultin, than to believe, as he 1 15, 1 16. did, that we are all in general ar.d equally Corrupted through Adam's Sin; and tnat he was the hilt that brought that Doctrine into the Church out of the School of the Ma nit fats ! ILL (5.) 4* A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc XLI. (5.) XLI. (5.) In like manner you * affirm that the Pri- Mr. Le Clerc mitive Church knew nothing of the neceility of an alfo affirms inward and operating Grace *, and that Sr. Augujlin, that the' ' Pri- was the firft Author of that too: Whence you *j* mitive Church call the Divine Grace, by way of derifion,St. Auguftirfs was wholly Ig- Grace. But how falily you have accufed both the iwant of the Church and St. Juguftin in this matter alfo, is evident VoBrine of in> from the many irrefragable and exprefs Teftimouies ward and ope- both of feveral Greek and Latin Fathers, quoted at rating Grace, large by Vojjiui in his |j Book before-mention'd. and that St. Auftin was the firjl Author thereof. TI)e contrary proved by Voflius. * timet, p. 34s, 346, 558, $65. | Ibid. p. 525- II Hilt. Pelag. Lib. iii. Part 1 and z, chicfy from p. 278 to 304. XLII. A more XLII. I believe it would be unneceiTary to produce particular vin- any more Inilances to fhew what little Credit is to be dication of §t. given to you when you give an account of the Senfe and Auilin. Writings of any Author that treats of a Subject which you don't like : Thefe, 1 think, are fufficient, and more might poffibly tire the Reader, or be looked up- on as Superfluous, and of no ufe. Permit me however, I pray, to fhew in the lait Place, in how difhoneit and in my Opinion, inhuman a Manner you treat the Great St. Aitguftin, againft whom you are more bitter in your invectives than againft any other j calling him every where throughout your Writings, a Convert- ed Manicheauy one that was but ill Cuied of Manicheifm, A m etched Interpreter of the Scriptures, one that blabs cut any Thing that comes into his Mouth, a perpetual breaker } with fuch like opprobrious Epithets, even * Entret. p. to that degree of Infolence, that you go on and * 360. quote j|n hahan Lampoon made upon him $ permit me, I fay, to add a tew Words in vindication of this Holy and Venerable Pielate of the Church j who, be- caule he Taught, and Writ, and Strenuouily alfertcd that Doctrine, which utterly fubverts and deilroys all Socinianifm and Pelagianifm ^ all Self-Love and Pride of Heart 5 is therefore fallen io deeply under your difpleafure* XLI1I. M>. XLIII. There are Three Things efpecially in St. Au- Le Clerc dif- guflin, which you diilike : 1. The Doctrine of Oiigu fers from St. rial Sin : z. The Doctrine of the fteceffity of Divine Auftm. Guce werking^viwaidly to Salvation : J. Ihe DoChine Fir ft, about Oi%inal Si*; Secondly, about Inward Grace. And, Thirdly, about &e~ dejtmation. about A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 47 about the Particularity of that Grace given to fome, Letter I, and denied to others : and of the irrefiltibiiity there- of 1 that is, of Abfoiute and Particular Predeftinati- on ^ all which 'tis needlefs to explain more particu- larly in this Place. Now, that the Firft and Second St. Auftin of thefe cannot but be very odious and difagreeable vindicated as to Pelagiamfm^ and Self- Love, is fo evident that it to the Firft and wants no proof; but as many as from a due regard Second Points, to thofe Commands, which Christ principally enjoyns in the Gofpel, thought it their Duty to hate and de- ny themfeives, have not only always agreed in the Truth of them, but even received and looked upon them as the fureit Foundations of their Faith and Hope. For, who would put bis truft in God, if he did notfirit mittruit himfelf? And who canmiilruft himfelf, unlets he really fee and acknowledge his own Weakness and Corruption ? Finally, who can ever faithfully rehgn and yield up himfelf and all the Faculties of his Soul, the Defire, the TJnderftanding, the Will, gjV. into the Hands ofGod,unlefs he look upon him as the onlyGuide ^nd true Phyfician of Souls, and as the internal and efficient Caufe of his Salvation ? As to the Third, And alfo> in that God bellows his Grace upon fome only, and that what relates to in an irrcfiitible Manner, 'tis what fome of the other- the Third. ■wife Orthodox Fathers took up with, becaufe that, not having a true Idea of Liberty, they were afraid leap, if they mould grant that it was in the Power of Man to obtain or accept of Grace or not, to he Saved or not, it mould follow that Man is the Caufe of his own Salvation ; or that he could obtain Grace at his own Pleaiure \ And therefore in order to dif- countenance fuch Enoneous Tenents, as being contra- ry to the fir it and fecond Truths, aud favouring Pride and Self-Love, they chafe rather to Teach, that the Grace by which we are Saved depends upon God in fuch a Manner, that feeing it fo happens that all are not Saved by it, that therefore God neither did nor Predeftination would give it to all Men *5 but only to fome, who was at firft fhould be irrefutibly Saved thereby. And this indeed, maintained they defended out of a Good Principle, namely, the from a good Love of God (as aiming thereby to promote his Glory principle. only J and the Hatred of our own Pride and Self- Love £ut tj)e c011_ (that no Man might have whereof to Boaft.) Bur the trary Opinion reft of the Orthodox did not come into this Opinion: obtained with But either palling by the Difficulties which perplexed mJft 0) thcChr others, or it m.3y be, thinking that they might eahly thodox Clri- l*e accounted for. and befid?3 ban? of Opinion that ftians. the iftitfAah 48 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. the Love of God might be better promoted, and tha* it would be a greater motive for Men to ute their en- deavours to obtain the fame, if it was Taught tha* the Grace of God is indeed offer'd to all Men, bu* that every one is at Liberty to accept of it or hot i the reft of the Orthodox, I fay, for thefe Realons em- , , r braced this Opinion, which not only prevailed in St. Both before jUgUfim\ Time, and after him, but tlourifhed long and pice St. i)etoie his Days, and was almoii: univerlally received, * H'u" pT'r* as may be feen from tlie Ie&nnanies cf the Fathers ■^ll,..g* quoted by * Voffiw> and as yet appears, even at this Lid. vii. pay jn ll]e greateit part of the Roman Church. Y?riv ro 2% XLIV. But thole that plead the Caufe of Pride and aLiv* ihe Self Love, have not oiily difputed and denied the Socvnan and ^ gnd ^^j of the aboVe-memion'd Truths, which Vclagian /Vo- gt> Augujyln heW lu common with all tlie reft of the Prl- tiom about miuve Chuich ^ but as to the third, they would fain tbtUnwerfa* havc u thought that trio' they differ from St. Avgu- iJiy °i brace) «-? t taat rjiey agree therein with the other Or- though they thodox parhers : Which is only a crafty and falfe feem to agree infinuation. For what have they to do with the Par- wfomeij.rg^ ticulaiky or Uiuverfality, the Refiftibility or Irrefifti- ^Cj fi* j'tr D^iry 0I tne Internal Grace of God, whereby we are woolly diffe- iw v^ardly healed, cjuickned, guided and laved ; when vent from the ^ iVoilitute and mean nothing but a pretended fu- IrueDohme perilcial Grace (whether Reiiitible or lrrefiifible, let taught by the them feej laid> like lo much Varnifh, over Proud Lathohck an£j Corrupted Hearts ? Therefore they neither main- Qburch. tain the Dodrine of Univerfal Grace in an Orthodox Senfe, nor upon Orthodox Principles. For, it is nei- ther out of a Principle of true Humility, nor from a Defire of promoting God's Glory alone, that they maintain and teach, that the faving Grace of God is inwardly offer'd to all Men, lb that they may, if they pleaie, not make and produce, but by their own free Content admit and fuller it to acf, to illuminate, to heal, and finally to perfect them : But 'tis only out of a Principle of Pride, which is not willing to beRejected, but Loved \ and from Self-love, which is not willing to be Damned, but Save^ j I fay, 'tis from luch Principles only that they teach that God Loves all Men, and that he will fave tnem by fuch External Means as they in the midll of all their Pride and Self-Love, ■without hating and denying themfelvcs, without ac- knowledging their own inward Milery and Corrupti- on, and without the inward help of God, can very well perform , fo that they flatter themfelvcs with the A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 49 the belief that Pride and Self-Love are very confi- Letter I. itent with Salvation. *-^"^*<-N«taJ XLV. But now who does not fee that this Pelagian XLV. 2"bs Notion of the Univerfality of Divine Grace is much Pelagian Ab- worfe than that of St, Auguft in, of PredeiUnation and tionworfethan particular Grace : This Opinion may very well confitt Predeftination. with the Foundations of Faith and Hope \ and a Good Man may think fo, as I have fhewn more at large * elfe where : But that makes and deilroys * Div. Oecon, them ^ and if it was true, tiiat God could fave the Vol. v. ch. 7V Proud, and thofe that are given up to the Love of No. 15, j<5. themfelves, it would make him a favourer of and ac- and Vcl. vi. complice with (faving theBlafphemy of the Expreflion \ ) Devils, which is worfe than Manicbeifm, which you and the Modem Pelagians charge upon St. Auguftin. For the Manicbeans, altho' they held two oppofite Princi- ples of Good and Evil, yet they never thought that they could be reconciled one to the other ; whereas according to this Pelagian Hypotheiis, they may be reconciled and united together. XLVI. But becaufe St. Auguftin, who agreed intire- XL VI. P?z ly with the Catholick Church in Fundamentals about Reafonwhy ths Original Corruption and in ward Grace, did differ from Pelagians pre- the fame in the third and lefs material point: And tend that their becaufe the Pelagians on the other fide, who deny the Opinion about firit two Fundamental Articles, agree with the for- tbeUniverfali- mer and with the greateft part of the Church about ty 0f Grate is the Univerfality of Grace, and the Liberty of Man's t]je rame Wil<; "Will, and that too but in name and appearance only, that of the Ge* and not in reality, there being under the ambiguity of nerality of the Word, a wide difference between them as to the Chriftians, matter: Hence it comes that the Pelagians, under that nominal and fallacious appearance only, do molt deceitfully join themfelves with thofe firft Catholicks, as if they entirely agreed together upon the mattery and then afterwards oppoiing themfelves to St. Augu- Jlin in every thing, they prelume to bring in the Pri- mitive Church ( to which they firit molt deceitfully and indiftinctly joined themfelves by an Equivocation) as agreeing with them in their Notions againft him ; juj wj tj So that becaufe he taught and maintained the true are r, f^-.trI_ Doctrine which utterly lubverts and deftroys all Pela- race aj^aivil St gian Pride and Self- Love, they rail and exclaim againft Auftin him, and by that means in and through his tides, who agreed in other Tilings with the Church, they take the greater Liberty to difplay their Spite and Malice agaiuit all true Primitive Chriftianity. And D unlets, - 50 A Letter to Mr. Le ClerC, Letter I. unlefs, befides the univerfal and native averfion of* Corrupt Nature to the Tiuth, as above-mentioned, you alfo acknowledge thefe more fpecial Reafons for your Inveterate Hatred of St. Juguftin, 'tis ro be wifh- ed that God would open your Heart, and make you * Sentimens truly fenfible thereof- for in your Books, efpeci- Epiih 1 6. p, ally thofe againft * Father Si man, all that I have al- 357. &c» De- ledged is very evident to be feen ; which (hews that fenf des Sent, what you have faid does not flow from the Love of Epriit. 14. p. the Truth, but from the Indefatigable Malignity of 357. ' Hatred and other Evil Affections. XL VII. A XL VII. For had you examined the Writing of this Charatter of Holy Father in the Spirit of Love and Charity, the St. Auftin and many refplendent Venues which adorned his Pious his Writings. Soul, and which even his Enemies have never Quelti- oned, efpecally thofe which are all in all, the Love of God and his Neighbour accompanied with a moft profound Humility, had afforded you a larger Field for Praife and Commendation, than one or two in- voluntary and unknown Mistakes, can be fuppofed to do for your Cenfure and Reproach : for fo far was he from excufing or defending any Errors, that he was often wont to lament and be forry for them if he knew them, and to confefs them with that Sincerity of Heart, and in fuch a manner both before God and Man, that as many as heard and knew him could not but fee, that in his moll Devout and Humble Soul there was no Guile. But you on the contrary, not in the leait regarding thefe and fuch like Things, nor any of the many falutary Truths which this Holy DodlorTaught and Inculcated for promoting the Love of God and other ChriilianVertues $ I fay inftead of taking notice of thefe and the like,you rather act the part of the in wktt mlfn- Spider, who from the fweeteft Flowers fucks the worft tier Mr. Le 0f Poifon, You invent and infill upon fome common Cierc treats Topicks^ to bring the Piety of the Ancients into fuf- *0™? picion, as if they had written one way and lived ano- ther \ but they are fuch as by no means agree with St. Augufiin^ wffbfe Life, as to the Good and Evil thereof, has been canvaffed and publifhed both by his Friends and Enemies, and even by himfelf, who was the greatefl Enemy to himfelf: Then, whenever you think you have dilcovered a Fault in him, you are fo far from treating him with that Moderation, which you allow to Qrotiw and Hammond, &c. on the like occahons, that, as if indeed you was .not confcious 10 your ielf of any Infirmities^ you do not in any of A Letter to Mr. Le Gere. 5 1 your Corrections fo much as obferve the Moderation Letter I. of the Hypocrite in the Gofpel, who civilly admo- S^^V""*^ niihed his Brother of the Mote in his Eye -, when there was a Beam in his own : But as if you had for- got the Commandment, which enjoins us to Honour our Parents, i. e. our Elders alio, and the Grey Kairs, and thole who in the Church of God prelided over the relt for their Initruction in Chrift, and are now at reft with God ; or as if you had a mind to equal or outdo the Wickednefs of Ham, who expofed his Fa- ther's Nakednefs, and for which he and his Pollerity were jullly accuried, you not only expofe the Naked- nefs^ ( if any there be) of the Holy Father's to the Derifion of the whole World ; but you often make and invent what truly is not fo, and challenge every one to come and fee it j and then after all, when one does come there appears nothing that wants to be hid ( if it could be done) but rather the contrary. XL VIII. For Example, There is none that Reads XL VIII. St. what you have charged upon St. Auguftin in your Book Auftin retre- mentioned in the Margin (a) (from Page 36610 Hi) fented as one who will not think that St. Auguft'm was of that Cruet 0f a Cruel, and Inhuman Temper, that he believed and Taught, Sanguinary and that it is lawful for the Orthodox to compel Hereticks Rrfecutbig and thofe that are led away into any Error, to believe Temper. a thing againft the Light of then Confcience witneiling (a) Defenfe to the Opinions which they embrace • -and that even des Senti- by Force, nay, that they may bepunijhed with Death, even niens des while they are believed to be in aftate of Damnation, that, Theol. de as it would feem, they may plcafe themfelves in the horri- Holl. ble Thoughts of having hurried a Soul aw(iy into Perdition. Unlefs your Readers form fuch an Idea of St. Auguftin from your Context, * which is very long and artfully * pag, 35$^ contrived, I will willingly fubmit my felf to what Cen- 37c. lure any of them fhall think I deferve. You fay your felf in exprefs Words, that it follows from his Do- ctrine, That he that is moft powerful has a right to Perfe- cute Others, and that as evoy one is perfuaded of tha Truth of his own OPINIONS, and believes that 0- thers are in an Error \ fo is he in proportion bound in Confcience to perfecute them. You alfo -\ fay his Do- j P2g. 357, ctrine is Abominable. And again, in the fame Place, which is alfo repeated in your (j Bibliotheque, you lay, ;, Biblu Tom, that the moft fubtile of all the Fathers, did vet) x\;Vt p. iii# gravely pub lift the moft Inhuman Dottrme that ever was heard of among Men } and you afcribe fuch Things to him (towards the end of yout EpiiUe} that you fe»?m D 2. t» 52 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. to be in a manner Angry with your felf, becaufe you ^^-*V^>^-^ have not tieated him with lefs refpecl than you have done. So far therefore does your Malice againft him go, that 'tis not your Fault, if the whole World does not hate and abhor St. Augufiin, as one of a Cruel, San- guinary, Malicious and Diabolical Temper. aLIX, St. XLIX. But that thefe neither were the Sentiments, Auitin vhid'i- nor that any thing like them is contained in, or fairly taied from dtduceable from the Writings of this Holy Father j thofe Jfferfi- but that they are mere Invectives, Calumnies and Im- ons. poitures call upon him, will evidently appear to any one, that upon reading thofe fcraps which you have pick'd out of a Letter of his to rinceittiui9 ifaall ob- fervc upon reading the whole Letter, and fome other Things Relating to tne fame Subject, that you have wrefted every liiing he faid on certain particular fub- jeeis or oecafions, to other fubjecfe and matters wholly different from them, which (according to your ufuai way) you fubititute in the room of thofe of which * See viae re St. Juguji'm treated. For in his difpute with the Do- lating to this, natish^ht does not treat of matters of * Faith nor of the 17* Afr. Claude Articles which every one ought to believe in order to Fa>t iii. chap. Salvation, nor cosfequently that anyone fhould by any iv. of 7;&Def. means, much lets upon Pain of Death> be compelled to d> la Reform, believe them. The Cafe of But the Qtiefticn there is about yielding an Ex- :he Donatifis ternal Obedience to iuperiours in matters of Difcipline, fr'iei. and about preferving the publick Peace, with regard to Matters of Fact and Things Perfonal, decided and enjom'd by lawful Judges ( fuch as the Donat ifis them- feives had dclired ) yea, and by the Supreme Power it felf. Now that the higher Powers could compel fuch as fne wed. themfelves refractory to Obedience, and that upon pain of Suffering Capital Punifhraents if they continued Obftinate and Committed all forts of Outrages and Cruelties, in defence of their Rebel- lion, no Body, unlefs he be too Indulgent, or even a profefted Pation of Wickednefs, will prefume to deny. And this was the Cafe of the Donatifts, of whom St. Jugnjlin fpeaks. They were not a Seel: that difputed about matters of Faith, or that differed in fuch Points from the Catholicks 5 but it was a Party or Multi- tude that Wickedly Rebelled againft their Governois, to whom they refuted to be fubject as to Externals. After that a Bifhop had been duely Elecledand Placed over them, tbey refufed to obey him as their Superior in Matters of External Difcipline 7 they rejeft him } they A Letter to Mr. Le Clere. 53 they Seditiouily fet up another; and then demand Letter I. Judges to whole D^cifion they may fubmit themfelves ; s^*V">*^ they refufe to fubmit to their Determination ; they a fecond and third time demand others, and as oftei\ reject their Dscifions : They appeal to Cafar ; and though his Sentence related only to the pubiick Peace and External Obedience, and did not in the leaden* join them to change any Article of their Faith, yet they refufe to fubmit to his Authority too : Then feeing that all their ways of acting were condemned by all the Churches, they declare themfelves open _.. , -., .- Enemies to all Societies,and to their Difobedience they * ' P1 • afterwards add Tumults, Seditions, Perfections ; .^'.au ! °" they are guilty of all forts of Outrages ; they even nitacium(qu* kill and murther their Bifhops and Presbyters; they *" f ^£ * burn and lay wafte all before them, they commit many A vorLIy:. v other Cruelties and Barbarities ; and if any of them ^ •t°ja-/r1a repented or fhewed an Inclination to return to their ^Pna diducte Obedience, why then both they and their Houfes ^arratur» were deftroyed and razed to the ground by their Com- panions ; and fo far were they irom fhewing any In- clination to return to Peace and Obedience, that they rather .went on in their wicked Courfes, and did what in them lay both to difturb themfelves and the whole Church by their Ravages and Perfections. At laft the Catholick Bifhops deliberate among themfelves, whether or no they might calj in the fecular Power to their Affiitanee, in order to quell fuch Monlters, and reduce them to Order ? St. Auguftin, according to the wonted meeknefs of his Temper, thought that the Ecclefiaftical Order ought not to have recourfe to any other means againft them, but Admonition an4 Patience : The other Bifhops thought that the Laws and Authority of Chriflian Emperors might be called in to their Afliflance : And this was done. The Imperial Laws therefore interpofe, and are made ufc of in order to put a flop to this unnatural Rebellion and Difobedience, not fuch as touched the Life of the Offender ; but only fuch as regarded the Eltates, an4 fometimes extended to the banifhment of fome Per- sons ; not fuch as compelled any one to change his; Faith ; but only commanded him to give over his Re- bellion, and to return to Peace and Concord with thofe of the fame Faith with himfeif. thefe Law? for the moft part produce the defned Effect: St. At/gu- fi'in from the Event approves of the thing, and changes his former Opinion^ which was, that thofe Refractory D } " Pcifons 54 A Later to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. St. Auftin vindicated with relation to the Dona- tilts. (a) See Eraf- lTlllsV C/jfl-j racier of St. Auilin, pre- fixed to his fyiftles. (h) Epift. 127. 'Edit. Altorf. Perfons ought only to be admonifhed by their Pallors, but not forced by calling in the Civil Powers to their Afliilance, to return to Order and Obedience. Now where is the Crime of all this in St. Auguftin ? What Affinity or Relation is there between this and that monftrous Doctrine which you afcribe to him, unlefs it be fome Words, as when he calls thofe Refractory and Schifmatical Perfons, Hereticks, according to the Senfe of the word in his days ; or as when ha calls Obedience and Juftice, Truth or poflibly Faith , whence matters of Faith and matters of Discipline may pofli- bly by unwary Perfons be confounded one with the other, when yet the Subjects and the Caufes, arid alfo the effects are whelly different ? And indeed among all the Fathers you could not have pitched upon one who lefs deferves your Accufation of Inhumanity and Cru- elty, as to his Sentiments and Doctrines : On the contrary, the meeknefs of the Spirit of Chrift joined with a moil admirable Humility of Heart, were fo pe- culiar to him, and they appear fo evidently throughout all his Writings, that It rnuft be allowed that in thofe . refpeets he excells all the reft, (a) Yea, fo averfe was this Holy Man from inflicting Punifhments, or fpilling Blood, that though the Donates had for Murders committed rendered themfelves obnoxious to fuch Punifhments, yet he powerfully interceeded for them ^ fo far was he from rejoicing in their Death or Damnati- on, as you very uncharitably and unjuflly fufpecl. Thus in his Letter about that Affair to Donatus the Proconful of Africk, he has thefe Words : (b) We are very much afraid ■■ haft you Jbould think the means of reftraining andfnpprejfing the Evil ("which the Dona-* tifts had brought upon the Church) Jbould he proportio- ned to the Attrocioufnefs of the Crimes, rather than tem- pered with Christian Lenity $ which we bcfecch you in the Name of JESUS CHRIST, that you would not do. For we neither feek revenge of our Enemies in this World, nor ought any "thing that we fuffer to make us forget what he commanded, for whofe Truth and Name we fuffer, namely to lo.ve our Enemies and pray for them. Wnereforc to the end they may cfcape Eternal Funifhments, we wifb that the Authority of the Laws and the rigour of their Judges may loe made vfe of as means to contS, hut not to kill them : We would neither have a due Difcipline negletled, nor the Vumpmienzs which they deferve, ngoroufly inflicted. Give therefore fuch a check to their Offences, that it may recent them that they have of ended. We pray you A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 55 you therefore that when you hear the Chinches Letter I, Caufe, though you Jhould find that fie is moj! wickedly abu- fed and ill treated, yet that you would forget that you have the Power of Death , and that you would vet forget our Petition. Let it not feem a mean or contemptible thivg% my honourably beloved Son, that we fray you not to kill thofe whom we Pray to God that he would con eft ; be- fides that we are alfo bound never to depart from that rule to overcome evil with good ; and let your Prudence confider this alfo, that none but Ecclefiaftical Perfons have. power to bring Ecclefiaflical Affairs btfore you. Therefore if you think that Men ought for fuch Offences to be pit to Death, you will deter us from being any wife inflrumen- tal iu bringing fuch matters before you hereafter ; and when once they find this, they will fet themfdves againjl us with more fury than ever, and we Jball be reduced to the neceffity, rather to choofe to fuffer them to kill us, than to bring them before your Tribunals to be put to Death. Difdain not, I befeech you, to accept of this my Admoniti" r . _. on, Petition and Prayer, To this add that place to ^"eJur^ Marcellinus the Tribune ('which (a) Grotius himfelf r. 2> ^J°f commends) about the fame People : (/») I am under "• £"• 2C*« great concern leafi perchance your Excellency Jbould think /,\lf\,, that they ought to be punified according to the utmofi WEpift. X5°» feverityof the Laws, fo thai what things they have done to others, fuch they fiould fuffer ihemf elves, and this 1 do by thefe Letters mojl carneffly befeech, and conjure you vpmyour Faith, which ycu have in Chrifi, through the Mercy and companion of the Loui Chrifi himfelf, that you neither do, nor by any means fuffer this to be done, &c. The whole Letter, which from the beginning to the End, is nothing but a moft Pathetic and Ardent In- terceflion for them, deferves to be read • as alfo that to Jpringius the Judge, which ends in thefe Words. Contend therefore in Goodnefs with many. They in a mofi inhuman manner tore away the Mtmkers from the living Body (the Donatifis molt barbaioufiy pulled out the Eyes of fome Catholicks^ but do you pra&ite a work of Mercy , fo that thofe Members which were then employed in fuch wicked Deeds, may be made ferviceable to fome good and profitable Work. They did notfparethe Servants of God, who forewarned them of their Corn clion } do you. fpare thofe that are taken \ fpare thofe that are brought before you \ fpare thofe that are Convitled. They with the Sword of wickednefs Jbed Chriftian Blood ; do you keep back even the Sword of Juflicefrom their Blood, for Chrift $ fake, Ihey havwg killed a Minitter of the Church, did Pi & %6 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc Wuiijbiiii in, ,mm, umiHiimuiuai ■■■» m— —————— —■—■————■ — Letter I. by vwlent means Jliorten the Thead of Life ; but do you \«*^~W~****j enlaige the time of Repentance to the Churches Enemies. Such a Judge in Ecclefutftual matters you muft Jbevr your [elf upon our Petition, Admonition and Inter cej/iov. Many other inftances might be produced to the tame purpofe, if thefe were not fufficient to vindicate the meek Temper and glorious Character of this Holy Man from the imputation of Cruelty, which you invidi- (a) Erafm. in ou^y cnarge llPon him.. To this Calumny indeed (a) Apol.ad Ai- Er*finus (who was never yet fufpeded of Cruelty) phon.il Man- would De more obnoxious, who thought that the iic. Archie- Laws made againft the Donatifls were more gentle pifcop. Sevil. tnan tney ^ou^ have been ^ and (b) Wierus, who in Tom. IX. * was °* ^° merciful a Difpofition that he thought that oper lucrum.' ^ome Clemency was even due to Witches, was of the (l) Wierus* fame Opinion. But fay you, St. Auguftine praifed the de Pieftfr. Capital Laws againft the Pagan Sacrifices: Here again, T\im. Lib! you ftatethe matter wrong. Did St. Juguftineyiaite 6. chap. 18. any Laws commanding that the Pagans Ihould be put St Auftin * to ^eat^ f°r tnen* Opinions, even thofe relating to vindicated tb&yt Sacrifices, unlefs they would change their Minds, with Regard anc* Embrace and believe other things againft the 10 'the Capital Light of their Confcience I By no means j but he fays Laws azainfl tnat everY Body commended thofe Laws, which un- Paean Sacrm- ^er Pa*n °^ caPlta^ Punifhments, prohibited the EX- 'ff '' ^ ',J TERN A L Performance of the Pagan Sacrifices, be- caufe that in fuch External Actions there were many things pracHfed contrary to the Laws and Dictates of Kature, againft Good Manners, and deftrudive of Civil Society j fo that it was altogether unaccount~ able how, unlefs Satan had firft blinded Mens Eyes, fuch Things ever came to be fuffered. In their Sacrifices and Attonements to their Gods, they pradiced and praifed all manner of Filthinefs, and all torts of Vices in direct oppofnion to all Good Manners ; they ufed filthy and abominable Ceremonies,, they offered human Blood, and even practiced Sorcery and Witchcraft : jSow-when iuch things ought even to have been pro- hibited by the Heathens themfelves, under capital Penalties, why nught not a Chriftian Power, when it came to hold the Reins, and after the Light of the Truth had more clearly discovered the. Iniquity of fuch Things, prohibit thofe EXTERNAL AC- TIONS, which corrupted Mens Manners, in order to deter them, from luch abominable Practices ? For 5u:; certain that the laid Laws were not Promulgated vvitri an Intention to be put in execution, but only Jo terrify (as is uiiiaj) and reclaim Men fr*m evil jj •whatever, ccs. - A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 57 ■whatever you fugged out of ycur own head to the Letter I, contrary :, neither were they approved cf by St. Au- gufline and his Contemporaries, but only in that Senfe, as is evident from the Quotations juft now mentioned. But if you lire diipleafed at this, it's no Wonder } for the Holy Scriptures cannot pleafe you, when they declare any thing that contradicts your Judgment ; you then attribute to corrupt Affections the Maxims of thofe, who were divinely infpired, as among many others, that Place in the 137. Pialm, v. 9. where 'tis much to be wondered, that after you had found fault -with that and fome other Places of Scripture, you did not inveigh more bitterly againft the Pfalviijl than againft St. Auguft'me. :■ L. After that you have in good earned attempted in f_, jpf,at tfem one Place to paint St. Augujiin as hateful and thods Mr. Le odious, you elfewhere endeavour to render him ridi- Clerc takes to culous by fuch Arts and Contrivances of your own as ma^ g^ ^u- are directly contrary to Truth and' Charity, viz. 1. ft'm appear By imputing many falie and abfurd Things to him, as ridiculous I have already proved by feveral Instances. 2. By your perpetual Jefts and Witticifms, of which pre- sently. 3. By Difputing about Trifles of little or no .Moment, and wholly palling by the Principal and molt material Points. 4. By taxing his Writings and.O- pinions, and indeed the whole Syftem of the. Chrifti- an Religion as he propofes it, as favouring «of Fla- tonifot, and fometimes -(a) you call him a My flick, (a)Sentita or one that continually wanders in the Clouds, and then vjUpra# D il7 he is an Allegorift, whofe Allegories, becaufe the ^ .*t Love of Spiritual things does not affecl: any but pure and well difpofed Minds, you fay are cold and barren. Then you wonder that the Pelagians your Predecef- fors did not by thefe your Arts expjfe him, and make him appear ridiculous j but fay you, (h) they were not (Jb) Ibid, p. great Criticks : you then, who are a great Critick, 359. ihall do it for them ; for that Mimical Art is the greateft ^ Talent which you generally employ, and wherewith you have hitherto endeavoured to make all others appear ridiculous to the World. . LI. And indeed by fuch Methods you may eafily LI. The In- gain your point upon St. Augujtin, if you conitantly juftice of uafs by the main Scope and SuDitance of his Writings, which proceed- namely the Honour of Chrifr, folid Piety, the right jng jj lllu- fear of the Lord, continual Penitence, the molt pure ftrated, Love of God, a molt ardent Charity to ail Mankind, t profound Humility of Soul, true Sanctity, and all other 58 A Letter to Mr, Le Clerc. Letter I. other Divine and Chriftian Venues ; and then catch x^^\i**^fc*- at fome fmaller matters here and there, concerning (a) Sentim. which, he himfelf, by your own (a) confelTion, ac- p. 44. knowledges, That without any prejudice to our Faith *s Christians, we may either be ignorant of the Truth, and fufpend our Judgment ; or through human weakness and frailty le miftaken in our conjettures about them 5 which is far from that Arrogance,wherewith you very unjuftly fay, he infills upon fuch Things as Oracles. Never- thelefs, becaufe of thefe fmaller Miitakes, from which however he endeavours to excite Piety and Reverence towards God and Man, and to draw all Men to God their chief end, and becaufe they are not exactly a- greeable to the Rules and Niceties of your vain and iuperficial Criticifm, therefore you expofe him to the Contempt and Ridicule of thofe, whom he endeavours to ftir up to Divine Vertue, and to feek after God ." In like manner, and with much the fame pious Inten* tion, as if in a numerous Family, to whom the Fa» ther had left a Book containing Oiders and Inftru&i- ons to reverence and obey him, and to live together in Brotherly Love and Concord, one of fuperiour Parts and Experience mould expound the faid Book to his Brethren in fuch a Senfe and manner as might induce them to Love and Honour the Father, and make them eafy and unanimous among themfelves : This management of yours, I fay, is as if upon fuch an occafion, fome one of the Children more froward than the reft, defpifing the fincere and laudable In- tention of his Brother, and miftaking the main fcope and fubflance of his Difcourfe, fhould laugh at him and all the reft, and endeavour to ridicule whatever the other had faid, becaufe he had faid fome things of lelTer moment, which could not bear a ftricT: Criti- cal Examination • and mould therefore, though fuch harmlefs miftakes did nothing but contribute to ben4 and difpofe them to Love and obferve their Father's Will, traduce him as a wicked and perverfe Inters preter of the Will and Intention of their common Father : This is exactly your Cafe with regard to St. Jugujlin. This, furely, is a mighty Evil, to ufe all Innocent means, though poflibly not fo exact as Cri- ticks might wifb, to promote Vertue and Honefty among Mankind ! who would not be afnamed to give fuch a mean and malicious Reafon for Caviling ? illow there may be fome things in the matter of his Difcoiufe, not Circumitantially exact, or not agreeing together A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 5 9 together in every Tittle, what of all that ? The fin- Letter I. cerity of a Man's Heart, the fan&ity of his Deiign , %y~^MSm4 and the good Intention of his Will knows how to turn every thing that he fays to a good ufe, and to make it iubfervient to the love of God and the good of his Neighbour : And I could mew that fome of the moll: Holy Perfons, even the infpired Writers, yea and even God himfelf, have admitted of fuch Im- proprieties, and made ufe of them to reduce Men to Holy Order. Did any one of a Critical Difpolition propofe to raife his Fame by gathering together a great many vain trifling Obfervations (fuch as are molt Of thole in your Bibliothequ4) wherewith to gratify the itching Curioiity of his Readers, and mould he at the fame time be found to have committed many Blunders and Mi Hakes (as you too have often done) * of mould he with any fuch deiign publilh whole Books upon fuch idle Subjects, under the Name of Qhferva- tions or Sacred gueftions j then pofiibly in fuch a cafe, efpecially confidering the folly of feeking Glory in fuch a way, another might find matter enough for Ri- dicule. Lit. But 'tis evident beyond Difpute that St. lu- LII. How St, gujlirfs Defign is not from little Que A ions to catch at Auftin Inters the Praifes of Men, which from a Principle of true preted the Humility he utterly defpifed ; nor to Excite or Tickle Scriptures* the vain curiofity of his Hearers or Readers with Cri- tical Accuracies ^ but that his whole aim and defign was, by taking hold of every occafion to excite in Mens Minds holy Motions, to produce and cultivate the Glory, Worfhip and Love of God alone, and to humble and deny themfelves before him. So that confequently in his Writings and in his Difcourfes to the People, 'tis plain that his Deiign was not to ex- plain the Scriptures after a Critical or Grammatical way ; nor yet fimply after an External and Hiltorical manner, in order to make them good Criticks or Hi- ftorians ; but rather in that way, which is the great Principle, the fcope and the fubjeft matter of the Scriptures, The Lov$ of God and our Neighbour, which is able both to make and topreferve true Chri- ftians. This is the Method which this Holy Man took j he was poffefs'd of the Principle, the fcope, the Matter ; he was fingularly endued with the Spirit of the Scriptures \ that is, he had obtained the Spirit of Prayer, Divine Love, Mortification, Charity, Hu- mility, which are the Keys and Difpofttions to which our 6o A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. our Heavenly Father has Faithfully promifed that he w^""V'"N^ will open the falutary Senfe and hidden Meanings of the Scriptures. And yet for all this you are neither afraid nor alhamed to traduce this great and good Man as ridiculous and filly \ as one of the worft Interpre- ters of the Scripture, and as one that was not provided with any prober means for Interpreting it ^ all which you fay is evident from every part of his Writings. Eut for all your alTurance, I aifirm, ancl I'll venture His Interpret what you pieafe upon it, that though poffibly fome of tations gene- his Interpretations may not be lo accurate in every rally agree point, as to the Literal, Superficial and Critical parr, with the yet that there is not one of a thoufand of them but fence and [cope what agrees with, and contains the fenfe and fcope of of the Scrip- the Holy Scriptures, as above-mentioned j and that ture, pf your own Expofitions there is not fo much as one Winch none perfectly agreeable to the Mind of God and to the fa- qf Mr. he lutary Senfe of the Scriptures j but that on the other Clerc'**fo. fide, they (although you may have fa id fome things, which may agree with the External, Literal and Ac- cidental Senfe of the Scriptures) either conceal or "enervate, or deftroy and contradict the Mind and In- tention of God. And he that will but a little confi- der what I have written about the fubjeel: matter of Interpretation and Criticifm in my Books of Erudition, and alfo in the (a) Oeconomy, will fee that I have very good Reafon for what I fay. LIIL And if the Sincere and Judicious Part of LIII. It does ]^ankind would but confider and obferve the Rules mot become the tjiat x have laid down, and thereby learn to dilhn- Moderns to gUi£h folid Truth from that which has nothing but refieft upon the falfe and deceitful Appearance thereof, then and ridicule Criticifm and all the Wit and Ridicule which it oc- tbei Ancient caf10ns, would fall of courfe ; Then alfo all the fathers of the Scandal and Reproach which Men of fuch reftlefs Church. Tempers endeavour to call upon others, would return and fall upon their own Heads, efpecially when it fhould be obferved (which many have done already) that nothing is more bafe or more unbecoming any of the Modems, efpecially thofe that are but upltarts, and even fulpected of worfe Principles, than without any Shame or Confcience^-pubtickly or before unfet- tled Youth, to cenfure and ridicule fuch Perfoiis as, for their Age, Merits, Sanctity, Authority, and other rare Gifts and Graces, were lo highly cbnfpicuous ^ fuch as were much honoured and eitecmed by all the as all after (a) Oecon. Vol. iii. ch M 'yife and holy Men of their own times j fuch A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 61 after Ages have had a great Veneration for ; and fi- Letter. L nally fuch as handled and typlained the Holy Scrip- tures with no other defigu nor view, but only to pro- mote the Glory of God and the Salvation of Men. Such venerable Perfons are neither a fit Subject nor proper Matter for Ridicule j and indeed whoever gives himfelf the Liberty to practice his Talents that way upon them, not only does a thing that ought to be abhorred by all good Men, but alto, efpecially if it be habitual to him, very plainly difcovers, the Marks and Tokens of a mean and degenerate Soul in himfelf. For habitual Mockery proceeds from Impiety, Difhone- fly, Pride, Envy, Hatred, Revenge, Cruelty, Malice and Hypocrify, which are fuch Difpofitions of Soul, as above all others are moft abominable in the fight of God. The Imfiety and Dimonefty of fuch Scoffers evidently appears, in that for trifles of no moment they do not fcruple to ridicule fuch things as were fpoken in the greateft fincerity of Heart, and which really contribute to excite in us good Defires and In- clinations to Praife and Love and ferve God ; and for that they expofe the Authors of fuch things, not only to the Laughter, but to the Hatred, and even to theCurfes of all the World. Pride is the Mother of Ridicule, when the Mind puffed up with Self- love, and admiring every thing of its own, flights and contemns every thing that another poiTeiTes ; and being envious and fearful, or feeing that other things are preferred to its own, it endeavours, by ridiculing them, to hinder that it mould be fo \ little contider- ing, that the fober part of Mankind will look upon ic as nothing but the effect of the moft Ridiculous Pride and Envy, to admire and efteem himfelf upon the Ac- count of fome frivolous Grammatical, Critical and Hiltorical Niceties, of no folid xii'e ; and at the fame time to defpite and vilify others, who have delivered many Excellent, Divine and Solid Truths, and who ^eferve infinitely better of Mankind than himfelf .: &o that hereby the fcoffer ihews that he is not anima- ted with Love to his Neighbours as he ought, but that ke bates them • and in order to take his Revtrge of them, he takes care nor only to wound them to the Heart with his bitter Taunts and biting Jells, and to make them fenfible that he defpifes them, and looks upon them as Fools j but that he may do it with more Cruelty, and create as much tmeaiinefs and pain as pollible, in thofe whom he Traduces, he takes 62 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. all ways to let them fee that they are alfo out of fa- vour and efteem with others, and that the World not only does not Pity (which is what it feldom denies to any fufferer) but even rejoices with him and intuits over them. Who would not choofe to be rather openly attack'd by a declar'd Enemy, than covertly and under the inlidious pretence of Peace and Tran- quility to be thus prick'd and flabb'd to Death ? In the firfl cafe one lees that he is not altogether de- fpifed as nothing \ and as he has the Liberty, fo every Body is willing to hear what he can fay in his own Defence ; but in the latter, he only fees that he is defpifed, and he appears almoft ridiculous to others whenever he complains of the Injury done him, or thinks of defending himfelf ; that this kind of Mif- chief is of ail others the hardeft to bear, they know iull well who ufe it. "Whence, the premeditated Malice of fuch as ufe thefe Methods is alto very evi- dent, especially when the fcoffer fail invents fome Abfurdities, and then fodextroufly manages the mat- ter as to make his Readers think, that not himfelf but the Perfon whom he pretends to "give an Account of, is the Author of them ; this wicked Artifice of his own he fees and admires, and fecretly rejoices in it, while at the fame time he preferves and keeps on the Hypocritical Mask and Title of a Juft, Moderate and Honeft Man, before the World j and all this, becaufe that in venting his Spite and Malice, he neither fbews any Perturbation of Mind, nor ufes any un- couth ExpreiTions, but with great fedatenefs of thought and dexterity of Language, he fo artfully blends and mixes the deadly Poifon, fometimes-with the Ibew of Praile> then with an Apology for his Adverfary, and other whiles with fome little Narrative or other, that 'tis generally received and fwallowed without the ieaft pain or relixiance, and then indeed, as the Pha- lifees did of old, he is pleafed in that he fees that others look upon him as an Honeft, modefl: Man, and as one that knows how to govern his Paffions , and he defpifes and mocks at thofe who either out of Zeal or PaiTion are ftir'dup to utter pa fiionate, or pof- iibly reproachful Words, -when .yet he himfelf had given the Provocation^ but in the fight- of God thole who are guiky of Impiety, Difingenuity, Pride, Ha- tred, Revenge, Cruelty, Malice and Hypocrify are more abominable than open and groL> finners ^ and thefe are preferred to them in God's Account, Now, A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 63 Sir, if thefe Things have not taken too deep a Root Letter I. in you, or if you are not yet fufficiently aware of i^^s^*** the danger of them, I pray God that he would fhew you them in their true and dreadful Colours, that fo you may either be reclaimed, or hindred from fall- ing into that precipice to which almoft all your Writ- ings fhew a very ftrong Tendency, efpecially thofe wherein you have written againft others, or where you fpeak of thofe who differ from your Opinions, and more particularly if they happen to contradict any of your Socnrian or Pelagian Tenets. For all that you •write upon fuch occauons are to filled with tacit and ily Reflexions againit them, that though a lefs atten- tive Reader may not mind them, yet to thole that fee further into your Defign, you thereby raife and gratify that Spirit of Envy and Detraction againit them, which by Realon of the universal Corruption of human Ka~ ture, lie* lurkiug lecretly in aii Men $ fo that they can fcarce forbear from ihewing their Contempt, not only of thofe whom youexpofe, but even of ail other Readers, who by Reafon of their fimplicity for lefs cenforious Difpofitions^) were not aware of fuch ma- lignant and invidious Infinuations. Indeed to ufe fome innocent Jeits or witty Sayings in matters of lit- tle or no moment, and even upon fome other occafions, fuch as to reclaim vicious Men, by making them alhamedof their evil Practices,provided itbe done with out breach of mutual Charity, I fee no harm therein ; and we fee that the Interefts of Vertue are often fup- ported and promoted by fuch means ; and indeed fup- pofing that a good Man fhould happen to be fome- times miftaken therein, he might potnbly be excufed. But to Exercife fuch a Talent in and about matters of Religion, and upon fincere and devout Men, to render (a > ^j% ^b- them ridiculous to others, and to make it ones con- Dacj# Verite ftant cufcom to do fo, this is not only unbecoming the de f3 Relig. Character of a Chriilian but even of an honeit Man. cnr# \% p. * Thofe (a) honeft and worthy Perfons who have lifted ch. 9. Du" your Writings, examined your pleafant Criticifms.and Pin BibJ. obferved your Itrange Temerity in matters of Faith and EccJ. P. r. Religion 5 (b) thofe who have Condemned your Cri- difT.pnel/p. ticks as rafh, impious and prophane , thofe who have 38. ' fhewn that your Writings are for the molt part rilled (b) Vid. with Opinions favouring (c) Ariamjm, Pehgiaiiifm and Witfii Mifc, Liber tinifm ; fuchPerions, I fay, have fonietimes and Sacra, cap. by the by taken occaiion from your own Abfurdities 14. 18. 12. lo banter and laugh at you, but generally they have (£j Ibid. p". done 345. 64 A Letter to Mr. Le Clefc. Letter I. done it, becaufe you vr as the Aggreffor and provoked thern to it. But of them all only Father Simon, whom at every turn you ufed to play upon, has taken you at your own Weapons, and paid you fo fully home, that from hence forward you ought to leave him Mailer of the Field. Whether many Others will fol- low his Example I know not. As to Backbiting and Ridicule the cafe is much the fame as in Murder 01 any other Injury ; it is not lawful to attack any one ; but to repay the Aggreffor in his own Coin, feems to be excuieable, provided care be taken to guard fufri- ciently againft Revenge, and the other above-menti- oned Vices • which in this corrupted State that we are now in, is, I fear, very difficult, if not im- poiFible. L1V. That LIV. Therefore fhould any of thofe whom you have there are more thus abufed, or who cannot Dear to fee Holy Men ex- Thing! in Mr. pofed publickly to ridicule, draw their Pens alfo a- Le Clerc'f gainit you, either to ward off and return your blows, own Writing! or to fhew you your own Abfurdities, X'believe nQne which deferve of them would choofe to do it after fo bale a manner to he exfofed as t have juft now mentioned , tho' poilibly they and laughed might find matter enough in your Writings to carp at tlitn he and laugh at : Not only becaufe they abound with la*! obferved in Things Copied from others, with many inconfiderable othen. Trifles, and with Things that are vain and indifferent And in parti- in themfelves, in all which cafes jells might be more cular he is of- Innocently ufed *, but alfo becaui'e that to all your ten guilty of other Blunders you frequently add that ridiculous one, Contradiction!, which they call a Contradiction. For my Part, not to be tedious, I fhall only take notice here of three or four Things, which upon a "Tranuent view I could not but obterve in your Writings, and which methinks are nothing but downright Contradictions : Such Thus he endea- gLSf Firil, to incorporate and reconcile Felagiamfm and vountorecon- Sociniamfm, to and with Chriiiianity (poilibly that ti/ePelagia- x^y at ]a(t may fuceeed in the place thereof.) Se- nifm and So- condly, to limit and retrain Metaphyficks ; ( under cinianifm _ which Head when you have included the chief Myite- witb Chriili- ries of Religion, and iuch as are molt oppofue to the anity. Socmian Principles, you may then with the lefs Dif- To limit Me' grace expunge them wholly out of your Creed.) Third- uphyjicks :, }„ to calumniate and defame St. Jvgnjlin and all the To calumniate pathers (as for inftance, to lay, that they maintained (hi Father! , Tritheifm.) And to expofe them to the Mockery and Contempt of the World, under pretence that they were not fo accurate as they ought to have been in fome A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. fome fmaller matters ( but indeed to leflen and under- Letter I. mine their Credit and Authority, which otherwife ^v1^ would go a great way to put a Hop to the growth of Pelagianifm and Socinianifmt to both which, in ail their Writings, they (hew the greateft Horror and Averfion.) Fourthly, to commend Critical and other Parts of , . Human Learning, as highly deferving our regard, and J Jnt-CJmr as necefiary means to the right undemanding Divine "MWlWyfli Matters ( which being fubflituted in the room of the Divine Illumination and other Operations of the Spi- rit of God, this alone Foundation of Socimamfm may remain fate and unfhaken.) Now by the full of thefe, you ff0JW ^fr# £e make it indifferent to Salvation, whether a Chriitian Clerc cojitrd- have any Object, namely, the Son of God and the jj$s bimfelf Holy Spirit, for the chief Foundation of his Faith, as to tfcfirB Hope and Salvation, and for the Object of his higheft Injlance. Love and Adoration ^ or whether he look upon the fame Object as a Creature, which can neither be the Foundation of his Faith, Hope and Salvation, nor the Object of his higheit Love and Adoration. More- over you make it indifferent to a Chriftian, or to a true and living Member of Cbrift's Body, whether he partake of the Spirit of the Head and Body, and of the Life and internal Operations thereof, or whether he want that Spirit and its internal Operations in him- felf, and Hand in no need of them, as the Modern Pelagians affirm ? That is, that 'tis indifferent to a living Member to be animated by the Head and Spirit of the Body, or to be without them I That 'tis indifferent to a living Perfon, whether he has in him the Principles of Life or not, and consequently whether he be dead or aiive. All which are manifeit Contradictions. As js i0 tfje gg4m to the fecond, whereby you mean not to deihoy but Cond* to reform Metaphyftcks, among many other obfeure and confufed Notions, where you wander here and there without any Light or Coherence, and mix and confound Things of a Metaphyseal Nature with mat- ters of Faith and Scnfe, you fay, * That three pans * Entret. p„ in four of Me tap by fie ki might be taken away, — *33« If Metaphyfical Dijquifitions were Umi.ed to fuch Things as are nectjfary to Salvation. Again, •[ That God bas let ^ Ibid, p.ij** us into the Knowledge of Things of a Metapbyfical Natme, fo far as is neceffary to our Salvation, or to the end for which he Created vs. But all agree, and you will hard- ly deny it , that the Metaphyseal Knowledge of Things, as Inch, is not neceffary to Salvation : For then what would become of the Generality of the World who know nothing of fuch Matters ? a little aftev E you ■66 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. you fay, |j Whatever is ncce/fary, u fo plain, that all MeH may know it ; And that therefore Metaphysicians whenever they have attempted to teach its any thing about this Matter, they hai-e Taught vs either nothing that is new, or a: leaft nothing that is ejjentml. Where, by the hrii; Words, you Teem 10 acknowledge, and by thefe lafl, to deitroy alt — ,r Metaphyseal Knowledge. Which is again a Contra- 1% °j ■' * diction. In the third particular, you alfo Contradict naaias mm- ^rQur ^^ you are i)Qt ig110rant tjiat tjje pathers +T r\>* ^ veiv often and in the moftexprefs Words cleared them- f iarUcu' felves from the Imputation of Tntheifm. You ack- *'? TiT c\ nowieo7 »Cy • wjin Tntheifm. When, I pray, may one, one that is confeious to himfelf of this Fraudulent and Invidious + Sentim v wa^ c^ a<^'nS' be **"* to co,Itradict himfelf, if not ' ,< ' ' inthisCaler Finally, you acknowledge in. one Place f T* * that the Holy Penmen had fo little regard to Jlile, that almoft every where there occurs Obfcurities, which can- n&t be chared up by all the Rides of Grammar.. . , That Grammar and Quicks are of no ufe but where we know the fcope and dtfign of the Author. Vou aitirm, that the meaner fort, and lucli as make the belt ufe they can of their TJnderitanding, may learn from tae Scriptures all that is neceiTaiy to Salvation j namely, to believe in God and keep his Commandments. Now without doubt you will allow that St. Augujiin was at leait one of the weaker fort, who by reading the Scriptures might learn this efiential and necefiaiy Point. And you cannot but know that his Uefign in Inihucting the People ovei whom he was placed, as well as in all his Writings, was to Interpret the Scriptures fo as to teach and ground them in the eiientials, in Faith to- wards God, and in Obedience to his Commands } but not to make uxt\x\ Learned Criticks ; and yet you very frequently exclaim againfl him/ and other Holy lathers, as' if for Men of their Characters, they were the worit and moll ridiculous Interpreters of Scripture, becaufe forfooth they negi.cied to Mind the niceties of Grammar and Criticiim j fo that you reproach them fo.T no other caufe, but only becaufe they either knew not or willfully ilighted thole Things, which *;vcn by your own Confefiion, is very ulual with the Sacred A Letter to Mr. Le Gere. 6y «— — — — wJiimn m.-Wih. ii ii ■MBnaMiiiinwi —a I in n naai i— a^a^— Sacred Writers themfelves : Which is the more un- juil in you, becaufe they looked upon the Illumina- tion of the Holy Spirit as abfoiutely neceiTary in or- der to understand aright the fcope and meaning of any of the Sacred Wiiters, which they earneitly Prayed for, and lo.netimes acknowledged that they had obtained it. So that upon the whole, 'tis evi- dent that in all thei'n Things you plainly contradict your felf j much after the fame manner as when, Fourthly, you commend I don't know how many forts Jn4 \n the of Human and Profane Learning, Arts, Languages, fourth, various Readings, Critical and Hillorical Observati- ons, &c. To employ and wholly take up our Mind about, altho' it be a Thing that is manifestly contrary both to that part of our Nature, which can only be iatisfied with Things Eternal, and not with fuch barren and empty Amufements ; and to Experience, which fhews that thofe who think they have moi: Realon to toalt of fuch vain and empty Accomplilh- ments, are at a much greater distance than others from the alone Fountain of all folid Truth and true HolinelV, the Spirit of God, and from poflefling, or hoping and denting to polTefs and enjoy him j and even tu Liberia (that is to your felf ) where in your Theological Epiitles you condemn every thing, as coming of Imperfection, which does not make us more- Holy and more Happy -y under which Head all your Criti- cal Learning, with all the Idle Fooleries relating there- to, mutt undoubtedly be placed, unlets you would exalt it above our Saviour, and by a new fort of A- potheolis, call Criticilm not an Happy and Holy, but a Beatifkk and Sanctifying Ait or Science. The ex- prefs Words of Liboius are the'fe s * 'Tis an Jmfer- * Liberius o. jctivTii to know fuch Things as are unprofitable \ and to f *' fpend our Time in Learning thofe Sciences which neither maze us ihlkr nor Happier. O how many, according to this Rule, make it their Bufinels to Study in ordei to become daily more ImperfeR, and do all they can to perfuade others to do the hke! i will not enlarge in this Place to Shew how unworthily they treat the Scriptures wno -think that they mutl be expounded by fuch Art* and Means as thele ; I'll venture how- ever to fay, that mould any Cutick, qualified accord- ing to your initrudions, and oblerving your Rules only, undertake to give us an Interpretation or Ex- position of the Holy Scriptures, iniiead of giving u-: the Marrow and Subilance, lie would only prefcnt .; 68 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. Letter I. The Confe- quc?ices of In- terpreting the Scriptures by Griticifm, &c. LV. The Right way of /hewing Men their Errors and Mijiakes, with the outward literal and fuperfkial Appearance, with the Dead Body of the Letter, not only with- out, but againft and in contradiction to the Spirit ; and which would deftroy the Life and Power thereof in us, and bring upon us a Deadly Contagion and In- dolence. An Indolence, I lay, ihould Criticifm let Mens Minds loofe from, the fear and apprehenfion of all the dreadful Judgments, Plagues, Slaughters and Scourges, which God out of his infinite Love has in Holy Writ foretold and threatned to pour out up- on Mankind in thefe lafl Days, in order to awaken t'npm out of their deadly Security, which feem now to be the only means left to raife and excite in Men Hopes and Defires after Things Eternal •, or fhould it moil Wickedly iniinuate or inculcate that all the admirable Pxorrfifes in Scripture of Divine Gifts are long fince palt and fulfilled,and confequently that none In thefe latter times either lias or ought to expect the like j [ fay, fuch a Critical Interpretation, fhould it take away our Fears and defiroy ourHopes, thofe great and powerful Motives to Repentance and a Good Life, it could not ehufe but affect Mankind with a moft dangerous Indo- lence : And the Contagion would be every whit as bad, feeing in interpreting the Scriptures every thing in them that fhould have been confidered as Types of better Things, and which befides the literal meaning fhould have been applied to the fpiritual State of Souls and to the Internal Operations of God in them, would be Expounded after fuch a brutal, carnal, literal and fuperficial manner, that the true divine fcope and meaning of thole Sacred Writings would be wholly •eft out and rejected : So that nothing can be a mere pernicious Contradiction to the Scriptures, or more oppofite to the Duty and Office of a Good In- lerpreter, than to ufe and rely upon fuch Explications and Commentaries : And we ought to befeech God to root out and bring to nought the Errors and ill effects which fuch Interpietatiuns may have already created and fomented in Men's Minds ; and that by the powerful and preventing Influences of his Grace, he would keep the reft of Mankind from falling into them for the future. LV. Thefe, and fuch like Errors, and indeed every other miftake which any one does commit, are better fhewn and corrected in a meek and friendly way, than in Bitternefs and Anger. But the beft way of all for any one to be convinced of his Errors, or of any other Evil, is, either upon the Advice of others, or in Obedience A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 69 Obedience to the fecret Direction of his own Con- Letter I. fcience, to recoiled: himfelf inwardly, and there to im- ±**^m\r~*smm plore the only intruder of Souls, the Author of all true Knowledge and Light, the bleffed and adore- able Spirit of God, whole Light, Gifts, Operations, and other EiTufions are promifed in a thoufand Placer; of Scripture, efpecially in thofe Times, in which Darknefs, Iniquity, Error and Impiety abound, as in the laft Times, which we aie either in, or lu very near, that 'tis evident nothing can be more, that he would vouchfafe to enlighten his Underhanding, and lead him into the Paths of Truth. We malt take care only that we be not of the number of thole, or fuffer ourfelves to befeduced by them, of whom the Apolile , p forewam'd us, when he laid, [a) That tlkrtjbaA come W * m^r in the laft days feoff as, walking after Mr own Luftsy cn« 3« v. 5,4, and fa\i?g, where is the Promife of his Coming ? They walk after their own Lz//?j, who will not admit, be- lieve, noi hope for any thing relating to Divine My-r iteries, but what their fhallow Underl'anding can whom we. vc comprehend, and wliat is agreeable to their corrupt to biwaie of. Tail, and natural Comprehenlion .- The Scoffers at the Promiles of the Lord, are fuch as by Realon of then Incredulity deny the Pre fence and Grace, and the In- ternal anu Quickening Operations of God's Holy Spi- ne ; fuch as laugh at the Gifts of Illumination and and all other Divrne helps and afTiftance.% and fay that we have no ground to hope for fuch Things, altho' the Omnipotent himfelf, wha cannot Lie, lias ex- pielly promifed them j the ticojftrs at the coming of the Lord, are thofe who do not expect that he Will come to Inilrud, Renew and Govern all things by the Effuiion of his Spirit, which he will pour out upon all flelh ; which lhall form or create new Heavens and a new Earth, wherein Righteouh. efs may dwell, when he mail delliov by Fiie the Scoffers themfelves, and purge the World from all its Corruption. And then /m pr 1 ^ (b) Remember me, 0 Lord, according to the favour that ^ • ' thou beareft unto thy People: 0 vific vie with thy Salvati- *' on, that I may fee the felicity of thy chofen j and rejoice in the giadnefs of thy People, ani give thanks with thine Inheritance, May the Lord quicken our Souls in the hope of his Grace and Salvation, and enable us by ihe and wlat we help of his Divine Light feriouiiy to examine our own ought to wijh Hearts, (c) Leaft there ftould be in any of us an evil for. Heart of Unbelief , to depart from the tivmg Gid ^ and (c) Heb. >, leaft we Jbiuld be hardened through the dece'ufulvefs of I 5 Jin 70 A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc Letter I. fin, and be of the number of thofe who becaufe of then V^-V-^^ unbelief could not enter 'into his Reft. That God would grant this Mercy to us all ; and to you, Sir, in par- ticular, is what from the very bottom of my Soul I molt fincerely wifh and pray for , as alfothat he would —, , enable you to fee, that all that I have laid, is with » ;/ i" tV no ot^er Defign but only for your real good \ and that Lu m ^ ll ma^ kavethe ^tended effect with you and others, which is, to remove thofe Obftacles which hinder the Communication and Progrefs of Divine Truth, Grace (a) i Pet. z. anc* Glory among Men- fo tliat laying afire thefe ^ ' things, (a) and all Malice, and all Guile and Hypcri- fes, and Envies and all evil fpeakings, and ail our tri- fling Studies and worldly Views and Interefis, we may (U new born Babes defire that intellectual Milk of Divine Wifdom, which is fincers zad uncorrupted with human Mixtures, That we maygiow thereby, tafiirg how bounti- ful and gracious the Lord is. To whom coming as unto a tivug&xontbud Foundation of ail true "Wifdom and Eiuduion, though dif allowed indeed of Men, yet clofen cf Gzl and Free tout-, we alfo as living, Stones poiifbed ai»d taught by him, may be built up a ffititval Houfe, v/iierein the holy and adorable Spiiit of the Father + ad Son may dwell for ever. This, when it ihall come to be your cife as well as mine with many others, let US blefs and praile the Omnipotent Iniirudor and Re- iKWCr of Souls, in whole Love we ihall fiom thence forth rejoice for ever: So that afterwards i hope you vjdi ceale from Treating or R-pielenting any thing i-.ljntig to Religion, otherwiie than fnall c>e continent if TV. Vz ' Truth, Juiike and Chalky. But if innead of Clerc witt ".; with this Advice (than which 1 hope for TWt take the better things oi you ) you fhould rather choofe to ftick Jdvicehere to your tornur Method j Til endeavour neverthelefs offered. to OD*crv- m7 °*vn Rules, wheieof one is not to •+ undertake any Doore to convince thole who ceceiveand jmpofe upon themieh/es and others; but rather not t© mind them, and to leave them wholly to them- selves. They may thffl forme continue to ipeak and write as much as they pieafe5 in the Element of i)e- Hut continues riilon dnd Deceit ^ and lhould it happen that any r0 WYlte ai thing lhould come out hereafter againlt me, either in jzafafi Mf. tae cont^hiation of the Eibliothtque, or in any other roiret. Jtfook, inilead of any other Anlwer, I mall only ce. fne the Reader to peruie the following Pailage, and Tnjteadof a according to the Tenor thereof to remember, that he poreparticular ought not readily to believe every thing that another A Letter to Mr. Le Clerc. 71 fays, unlefs he be firft very well aflured of his Ho- Letter I. nefty and Integrity. w^v**^ Reflections upon Father SimonV Critical Hiftory^ Pag. 71. Indeed Ui: what gives us a great deal of trouble, that we can fo little rely on the credit of Tranflators and of Quotations^ and that there is fo little Faith in the Re- The Reader is fubliaue of Letters, thai we mufl treat Author:, as others defired to con- do thofe who have been formtrly conviBed of Perjury, at fifa this leafi if we would not run the hazard of being impofed 'Quotation, upon every moment. We mufl examine them nicely, and continually compare Tranflations and EXTRACTS with their Originals, if we would not be lead into Error .upon the credit of thofe Gentlemen. Tou have without doubt heard of a certain famous Wrangler, called Hear-fay, who kept a School to bred up Evidences in, and out of which are gone forth fo great a number of falfe Witneffes. But, Sir, thofe People know nothing in comparifon cf an infinite number of Authors, who upon every occajion fay, fuch a one, or fuch a one faid things which he never thought of, and at the fame time make jolernn Protejtationj that tlxy fpeak nothing but the Naked Truth. The The AUTHOR'S ANSWER T O Parrhajims CENSURE, WITH CONSIDERATIONS and REMARKS upon it i H3W8MA lijuaKi Parrhafiws Cenfure. Know not in what view or with what Intention Mr. LeCleic, read the foregoing Letter ; but after feveral Years filence, there has at lair ap- peared one that calls himfelf Theodonu Panhajius, who in his Parrba]ia?ia9 written in French, has inferted the following Paragraph in favour of Mr. Le Clerc. The feveral Particulars of which I have here diitinguifn'd in a Numerical order , the Numbers whereof refer to the particular Remarks which I in- tend to fubjoyn, after having firft fet down the Cen- fure itfelf, and then premifed fome General Conftdera- tioas upon it. The Tenor of the Cenfure is this. Theodorus Parrhafius, in his Parrhafiana Page 383. " Among thofe that have (1.) unjuftly complain- " ed of the Bibliotheque {Uriiverfelk, Written by" Mr. fcC Le Ucrc,) we may reckon Mr. Point, a (z,) folio w- 44 er of Jnttnia Bourignon, who being provoked by one " little (3.) Jell upon his Divine Oecofiom), frt him- tl felf (4.) beyond meafure againit Mr. Le Clerc, not " only in a (horter Paper, which he caufed to be jn- " ieited in the Repub. dc Lettres, for the Year 1687. l£ But aifo fome Years after in a largerEpiitle, full of Gall u and Malice, which he published at the end of hisBook ** of Solid t'yuditio7i, without acquainting his Book- P teller, who was not at all pleafed therewith, Mr. w Le Ci.; ft.) f4-J 2 6 ParrhafiusV Cenfitre. (<>.) " Le Clerc thought, there was no occaflon to ($.) an- (6.) " fwer that Letter, feeing Mr. Point s (c.) Dreams " (or Fancies) are fo well known, that tor a great " while he has not been able to do any harm- altho' " in that Letter he has omitted nothing in order to C7«) " (7.) defame Mr. Le Cleft* But if he was to be " Dlamed at all, it was becaufe heierleded too flight- (8.) .; * -_' / 1° 1 the Penmen of the Holy Scriptures; JESUS CHRIST andjnleR- himfelf and his Apoftles, all the faithful of the Pri- \^\on ' *~ mitive Church, all the firft Doctors and Fathers there- ^ of, and efpecially the Renowned St. Aujlin : All the Myftical Divines, and finally all others who have been endued with folid Knowledge, or that have de- ferved the Name of Chriltians. on. Ideal in the tirft Chapter of the Romans-^ and among thole ^c&i'fyijgL. who have fundefervedly) born the Name of Chrifti- P ans, all thofe who are fill'd and puffed up with falfe, or rather with meer fuperfkial Learning only: Thofe that are called Pelagians, to whom in thefe latter Days another Sect called Socman* have joined them- felves \ and in fhort all the Trumpeters and Advo- cates of Heathenifh, Philofophical, Logical or Rati- onal and Ideal, and Counterfeit Chriitianity ; who although they Study the Holy Scriptures, and appeal to them, yet they draw nothing from them but what relates to the Faculty of Reafon, viz. Dry Ideas ac- commodated to the Capacity and Talte of their own blind Reafon, and governed and difpofed according to the Rules of their own blind Philolbphy. As for my own part, I have, as far as God has ena- bled me, endeavouied in the fincericy of my Htart in aii my Writings to ferve tnt Intfieiu of true Religi- F wn „ 82 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. on, and to recommend and promote the fame in the World; But Mr. Le Clert, feems to have^made it his fole aim in all his Writings, to propagate the other, and to expofe the firit to all the Contempt and Ridi- cule that he could think or': For although he (hews himfelf almoit every where in his Books, to be a great mailer of Human Learning, yet V» evident , to ule the (rt) T.Gouf- words of a late Divine of (a) Gromrivgen, That he let confider. makes ufe of that ftock of Learning only by way of cover Theol. p. 5. or jafe conduct, thai he may the better 'introduce his Cor- ructions into Divinity. IX. Th'e True JX. And this indeed is the Funllum Saliens^.zs I may and only caufe fay, the Original Caufe and the true Ground of the of the Diffe- Difference between him and me ; this is the true rence ietween Rcafon of all that horror which he lias conceived me and Mr* both againll the real Operations of God upon our \.t Cierc and Internal Faculties (which he calls Fanaticiim) and the Author of againit the' Holy Fathers of the Primitive Church, the Parrhafi- againft St. Aujiin efptcially, yea, and againft the ana.j Myflicks, and ailo againll me. And feeing all thefe Confequences appear clearly from Parrhajius's Cenfure, we have here the caule a priori, of that Declamation, which other wife would appear a confufed, indigeited and unreasonable Rapfodyof Words. Having thus opened the State of the Cafe, let us now conlider what may be the Importance thereof. X. The hi' X* 'f r^e Controvert}' was about a matter of little portflnceof the nioment, or about any thing which concerned my felf fubuil matter °Hty» I fnould then hold my Tongue, nor would I luf» in det ate. *er lne headers to diilrad their Minds, or vane their time about a matter of no ufe or Importance. But the Dilpvtte is indeed about a matter of the gieateft Importance, and which concerns all and every Man, without excepting any. The Controveily is about Life, Salvation, and Eternal Happinefs, and about the Efficient and Ope- rating Caufe thereof, without which true -and only caufe, ali Men would of neceility be deprived of Hap- pmefs, the Effect thereof. XI. LifeEter- XI. Life hteynaiy is what concerns us all to mind, ml what and 'tis our pioper Bufiuefs : and as we are created for this witrein it end, 10 ought we to endeavour arter the true Know- sonliils. ledge theieof, and of the Caufe, and of the means which we mu(\ ufe in order to attain the fame. What it is, is evident to any one that conliders the matter fjflbm the Terms themfelves. Life, Tliat which is tru- ly and properly Life, That wnich is truly and folia ly Eternal and Happy, cannot confiit with- out Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure* 83 out the alone Fountain of Lite and Happinefs, and of all Good. It necefiarily includes then a Communi. on and Union with -. that Fountain, that is, with God, who feeing he is an infinitely immenfe Spirit, and is originally the one and only Good, it evidently follows that LIFE ETERNAL Confifli in the fruition of Gody dwelling in us, Manifejlivg and commu- nicating bwifclf and lining and afting inuiy and filling us with infinite and eternal fop. XII. As God created Man at firit by his tfW (ox xn- J1™ Go" Son; and Holy Spirit, he was not immediately put ™ould have in poileflion of Eternal Life, but had only the riril bmi thtcaufe Principles thereof Implanted in him 5 there was fome an^ Author of Intercourfe and Communion between him and God, ^!f ^r7^! which had he cultivated, and co- operated with them, jU> v "e by offering himfeif up to God, and turning his real and "a" not ilnnc"' inward Faculties, viz. his Dt fires, his Heart, his Un - devftanding and his Affections freely and continually to him, and habituated himfelf to fuck Exercifes ; God on the other hand by his Word and Spirit, would have more and more manifelled himfelf, his Operations, and all other good Things in him, and in his laid Faculties, until at laff in his own time, he had communicated himfelf, and every thing in him- felf to him in the ampleil and molt confummate man- ner j So that the fame God who firft made and plan- ted the Seeds of Life Eternal in Man, and afterwards, upon his correi'ponding with the fame, made them encreafe and grow up to Maturity, would have been both the firit Efficient and the lait Confummating Caufe or Author of Life Eternal j ror which Reafou all the Honour and Glory is due to God alone. XIll.But now that we are depraved by fin from our very yjjt jrter Conception, we are born milerable, not only without rm :j}(, j thofe Beginnings and Springs of Eternal Life, which vt^-pacu\tCs the Word of God that created our firit Parent com- ^r **an m(a municated and implanted in him • but all the Superior ye renewed and more Real Faculties of the Soul are itupificd, anj fjjgpJL^ uaikned and peiter'd with evil Difpofitions, not to f -^ Qc ^rg mention the like or more deplorable Condition of the glrernai q<-,]n inferiour Faculties, and efpecially of the luperiicial and jnfufed -and ihadowy Faculty of Realon, and hence it comes that AAqIj 0}tft thofe firit beginnings of Life Eternal, which were j . .. ' * given in order to the attainment of the rullnefs /'' thereof, cannot be reffored in our Faculties by ttf * y caufe, uniefs our now depraved and deadned Facul- I I be iirlt taken out of that Kate of Incapacity • F 2. (which 84 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfnre. fwhich is very great) and be reftored to that firfi irate, or very near it. Finally, who can work i'uch a chaRge in a Man, and renew the inward depraved Fa- culties of his Soul: Who I 'fay can do this but the Creator of Man and the Former of Souls, the Omni- potent Word of God, or the Son of God, by whom the Father made all things ? and after the Faculties are reftored and made whole again, who can bellow and infufe the Principles and Seeds of Life Eternal, and at la It beftow the fullnefs thereof upon them, but the Fountain of Eternal Life himfelf ? XIV. Our Dm- XIV. This being the caief it remains that as to our ty astotbt'fe part, we know that we are placed here in time, in tbivgs. The order to imploy the fame in preparing and fitting our- Sum of the felvesror Eternal Life } and that this is to be done Chriftian Re- by curing our laid Faculties, and acquiring thole ~ ligion. Seeds and firft Principles of Life Eternal : JSowthefe things we fhall do aright and as we ought, if forfak- ing all ufelefs and evil Thoughts and Occupations, we convert and turn ouvfelves, our Hearts, and all our fuperior, inward and more real Faculties (which are the fubjecT of Happinefs) to God himfelf who made us, and who alone is able both to reftore us and to beftow upon us himfelf and all his Bleilings, Pray* ang him, who is the Fountain and Author of all Good, that out of his infinite Mercy and Bounty he would vouchfafe unto us Strength and Light, and Love, in order to enable us to purify and adorn our Hearts, that fo, even in this Life, we may poffefs him, though imperfectly, and by way of beginning at lead, and that Cbisl may come unto us, and with the Father and Holy Spirit take up his abode in us, and from hence forward govern and protect us during the remainder of our Lifcagainlr, all the innumerable and powerful Enemies of our Salvation ; that fo when this Life is finiihed, he may communicate himfelf fully to us, and perfect that work which he had be- fore begun and cherifhed in us. And thus all Honour and Glory will redound to him alone for ever j and this indeed is the fum and fubfiance of the whole Chriftian Religion. XV. The Lies XV. But in opposition to theft Truths, which are which Satan every where inculcated in che Scriptuies, the Enemy has forged - of our Salvation has for many Ages pail bioached qgaivft the[e -and piopagated his deadly Lies, thereby to do what thivgs. What the Pchginn Herefy is, he Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. 85 '■ ■■ . ■ ■ — — p., ■, , he could, to bereave Men of Eternal Happinefs. He could not bear to fee Men turn their inward and more real Faculties, which pant and hunger after the Divine Irradiations and Operations to God. He has done what in hi in lay wholly to fupprefs them. He ftirred up the empty Faculty of Reafon, and the activity thereof; and thereby put Men upon feeking barren Ideas and painted Images, (the Works of their own Hands, of their Power and Adlivityj and upon reafoning and difputing about them, that fo they might glory in thefe things, as if they were there fore Gods themfelves, or Divine Perfons, or as if thefe their Works and Idols had lbmething Divine in them, as if they were fo many Divine Lights, and could contribute to bring thole that rely upon them to a Divine State. The fame grand Enemy has not per- mitted the.n fo much as to fufpe<£t or imagine that true Life, that Life Eternal for which we were crea- ted, is the Poileilion of God, Dwelling, Living and Operating in us \ but only more generally, that 'tis a Life better than this Temporal Life, (which may agree even with the AlcoranJ That we are not born fo im- potent, nor our prefent degenerate llate fo unlit tor the fame as fome would have it \ that we have no occafi- on to pray for, or to expect that God fhould beftow upon us his Strength and Light, or that he ihould operate in us himfelf to prepare and fit us for Salvati- on ; and much lefs that the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit fnould come to. illuminate and govern and protect and live in us •, that theie are nothing but wile Dreams and mere Fanaticifm. That the Facul- ties of Reafoning and Acting are the chiefeir of all, and alfo found enough, fo that if we imj rove and excercife them by the means of Logick and Philofo- phy, and by that literal Knowledge of the Scriptures, which thole Sciences will help us to acquire, and then do all that we can to live and practice accor- dingly, that then we are in a fafe way to that better Life which the natural Man has conceived or imagi- ned for himfelf. ]\ow this is that capital Herefy cal- led Pcl(3giamfmt the Parent, the Foundation, the Soul and the Life it felf of $ocimanifmy fo that all the other Socvihin Errors are but confectaries of this, which like fo many Accidents would immediately fall of themfelves, if this Poifonous Root, which is as the fubject and ground of them all was once extirpated frqai Mens T-ilnds, f 1 :yr. 86 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. XVI. AT- XVI. Now the Danger of thi» Error is fo great ror can be that nothing can be more. Nor am I moved to fay more danger- fo out of an inordinate Zeal, which often prompts ous^ feeing it Men to condemn all others to Eternal Flames, who is inconfiftent happen to differ from them in Opinion. >Tis the veiib the Nature of the thing itfelf, and not I, that evinces atiainmenttof the greatnefs of this dangerous Error ; for it takes *Life Eternal, away the Efficient Caufe of our Salvation, and will not allow that GOD does heal, and enlighten and ope- rate in our Souls, and that he is the fole Director of all th3t great Work: It deflroys the inward Difpofition ("or Inclination) of the Soul to (hat Caufe, and to the effect thereof; namely, to Salvation \ it takes away the Senle of our own Impotence and Corruption, and it quenches our thiril and dehre after an Omnipotent and quickening Saviour \ that is, it wholly fubverts and deftroys true Faith : It takes away the place itfelf, or the proper fuhpft both of Happinefs, and of the Caufe. thereof, and the'neceiTary Difpofition of the Soul to- wards it \ that is3 it takes away the internal ground, and all our PaJJive and inward Faculties ^ the Nature whereof is fuch that they cannot produce nor make to themfelves Objects, but can only fuffer themfelves to be adted upon by their proper Objects, and receive and rejoice in all the Beatifick Senfations which thefe raife and excite in them. And in the room of tiiefe it fubftitutes the proud Idol of an active fuperfi- cial Intellect, or of the Faculty of Human Reafon, which being corrupt itfelf, and trufting either wholly to its own Strength, or taking to its A Alliance the literal meaning of the Scriptures only, forms and de- lights itfelf with iupeificial, cold, dead, dr even de- formed and monftrous Ideas and Pictures of God and of Things Divine ; and by thefe means it frames to itfelf a certain Political and Counterfeit Probity, which it believes will carry it fajely to Heaven. Now there cannot be a mote pernicious Error inven- ted than this is. A jew, Turk, or. Heathen, if in iincerity of Heart, and from a deep Senfe of their own Impotence they adcrefs themfelves to their Crea- tor, may without all pe*adventure be faved by that Omnipotent and Eternal Word of God which cre- ated znd preferves them, and from whom every hum- „".a h/uceie Motion in a Soul milUuiting itfelf, and having recourfe to its Author, proceeds, who is the Word /and Son of God himfelf, and who excites and ;>& Motions asthe Seeds of true Faith, in luch Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. 87 fuch Souls as do not refill him through voluntary and obitinate Pride • and if they on the other hand correfpond with fuch inward Motions and Suggelii- ons, there is no Reafonto doubt but that he will do more and more for them, and gracioufly procure them all the necelfary helps and means, both Internal and External, whereby they may attain to a itate of Salva*- tion. The cafe is quite otherwife with a Mind in- fected with Pefagranifm, and obflinatcly puffed up with an Opinion of its own furficiency 5 a Mind that hides and diifembles its own Indigence, Mifery and Impo- tence to any thing that's truly and really Good j a Mind that contemns its Phyfician and its own inward Faculties, and that renounces the alone Worker of its Salvation j a Mind that builds all upon the rotten Foundation of the active Power of its own TJnder- itanding, or the Faculty of its own Reafon, upon which whatever Truth is built, whatever Notions of Venue, Faith, Hope, Love, Charity and other Mo- ral Duties, are raifed, they are but Pictures and Ideas formed by its own corrupt Activity -> they are barren and lifelefs, yea, they are only the deformed and airy Images and Appearances of Things and lolid Vertues.; they are only the Pictures of Political and Philofophi- cal Probity, which is puffed up with the Wind of Self-love, and which in this Life cannot hold out agajnit the Temptations and AiTaults of the Adverfa- ry, as is very well known to thofe, who notwith- standing all thefe poor helps, are yet often and upon very ilight occalions, ealily diflurbed and dejected in their Minds ; much lefs can they with fuch flight Armom Hand firm and undaunted agakift the Winds and Floods of Go4*s" Judgment, which will beat down every Houfe that is not built upon the Rock, or which for its Foundation has not Cbr'ijl dwell- ing in us, in whofe llrength we may do all Things, upon whom we may reft and fix ou.- felves, and in whom, If one does not abide as the Branch does in the Vine, fo that the Vine impart its Life and Spirit, and fructifying Vertue to him, as to the branch, he mall be rejected of the Father and cafi forth, and wither, with all his ideal and vain Phiiofo- phical and PoliticalVertues,andy^.:/.;7'^.ir-(v»-/.^ and ciji into the FIRE and lurnt> John i>. 43 j'« F 4 a'VI). 88 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. VII. The XVII. Hitherto we have taken a view of the fub- true State of ]e& matter, and Ihewn the importance of what thofe the Controvev- Books and Authors treat of, againit whom Parrhafius fy between Mr. has therefore exclaimed in fo confufed a manner and jLe Clerc, at random, leaft his Readers ihould come to know Parrhaiius, what the thing itfelf was about which thofe Authors gjV. and thofe and Mr. he Clerc and his Admirers differ : And that Authors {and I might the better defeat fuch his defign, I found it particularly neceifary to explain my felf more at large upon thofe wyfelf) with Heads, as I have done here, and that alto becaufe of whom they are ^11 thofe that have written againil: Mr. he Clerc, none. angry. The has ftated this matter fo well and fo fully as was ne- Defign of ceiTary, and as they ought to have done. For, gene- \oth, rally fpeaking, all their Difputes with him have been taken up about matters of leiTer moment, and very often about things of no Coiifequence at' all. For my part, "'tis my Defire and Intention that whatever ei- ther of us have or may find fault with in the other, be looked upon and efteemed as nothing in compari- fon of this one moft important Point, which has an immediate and infeparable Relation to the Life, the EiTence, the Foundation, and the Subftance of Chri- itianity, and the Eternal Salvation of every one ; and to which indeed I and the Authors and Books which Mr. he Clerc condemns on the one part, and he him- felf on the other, take quite different ways, and en- deavour each fo to recommend his own Judgment and Opinion, that, if fuch a thing could be, they would defire that Heaven and Earth might be filled with the fame, and that all things might agree and center, therein for ever. . As for my rjart, I confefs I wilh nothing more, nor do I defire to live and adt either here or for ever, but only that all Honour, Praiie and Glory be afcribed by all Creatures for ever, to God alone ; the fole worker, the Author and tiie Fountain of all good, efpecially of that which is Eternal, Salutary, Solid> a«4 truly Subfiantial : And that on the other fide,. Rebellious, Ungrateful, MonTtrousand abfurd finners; who, though of themfelves they be nothing, and are even worfe than nothing, would yet have it that that which is not% can be the caule of that' which U ^ That there is more in the effecT: than in the caufe, that nothing can produce fome thing, that evil can be the caule of Good, crooked of Strait, impure of Pine, Sick of that which is found, a thing condem- ned of that which is laved, gjV. I fay, that on the contrary, Re war h upon the foregoing Cenfure. contrary, finners may take to ,themfelves fhame and fto fpeak in Scripture Language) confufion of Face, for having ever admitted or cherimed in their Hearts iuch an Unnatural and Monihous Folly ; and that fuch as are defirous of Eternal Life,; might be fore- warned and guarded againft fuch pernicious Notions, I have out of that tender regard which I have for their Eternal Welfare, taken care in all that I have written and published, as far as I could and as oppor- tunity ferved, fairly and fincerely to fet before them that Salutary and molt NeceiTary Doctrine, as the only Antidote againft the above-mentioned capital Error, and as the main but and fcope to which every thing elfe, and all the Actions of this Life ought to be directed ; and hence it happened, that when • I met with any Arguments againft this Divine Truth in other Books, efpeciaily in thofe publifhed by Anoni- moils Authors, I endeavoured according to my Abili- ty to anfwer and refute them, and I even wifhed they might have been condemned to Eternal Darknels, fo which they naturally lead Men, provided thofe who were Reduced ; might be Caved and delivered from them. ' , XVIII. But that was not fo well taken by thofe XVIII. That who had determined ftifly.to maintain and propagate j\frt Le Clerc the contrary Doctrine, and efpeciaily by the Authors began to write of fome Anonimous Books, which, as to this fubject, againft me m I had confuted. Among thefe Mr. Le Clerc was the particular he* chief, who when he faw that I had refuted the Vela- canfe my * gian and Sqcinian Arguments of thofe Books^ after a Writings cp- manner which he had never feen before, nor expected,. p0re aiu\ cror: and which left no room for any of the Pelagian Rea- }/!S defwn Ions or Exceptions, took it very much to Heart : and therefore to fruitrate and oppofe. the Good which might Remit from that Performance, m his B:bliotbe«> que Univerfelle • he gave fuch an Account of my Di- vine Oeconomy^ and impofed fo many Falfities, and ei- ther Diffembled or Perverted my true meaning, and branded me with fuch opprobrious Names, as he thought would deter his. Readers from looking into thofe Books, and from enquiring into the Truth of the matter itfelf, that fo he might for the future* by the help of his prophane Learning and painted Elo- quence, the more eafily and without oppofition In- itill that moft pernicious Doctrine into Mens Minds, and that in his Philofophical, Hiitorical, Critical and Theological Writings, as well in Latin as in Frenrb % "\ and ^O Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. ■ i ■ " ■ ■ ■ ■■ and he has done it with all the Artifice and fraud that the moft crafty among the Learned could have pofiibly thought of. XIX. W!y I XIX. I had fome hopes that he might have been anfweredhim brought back into the right way, upon fhewing him hf a Letter* his own Errors, and fetting the Truth in a clearer Light. And this I endeavoured to do in the forego- ing Letter in fuch a manner, that had not his Mind been very much corrupted, he would rather have pin'd IlTue with the Truth, than refilled it in fo abfurd and Ridiculous a manner as his Panhafim has done. XX. And indeed I cannot fufHciently wonder why XX. That any fhouid be fo Refractory, that although the Do- 7ione of the ftrine of Man's Corruption and Impotence, and of the true Remon- gracious Operations of God in our Hearts, be pro- ftrants ought poled to them in fuch a manner, that none of their to oppofe the Five famous Articles, in the Senfe which they call Voawie of theirs, is fhaken, nor any of thofe Inconveniences Mans Corrvp- follow, which alone they profefs to abhor, and againft ttoriy and Im- which they object, yet that they fhouid be, and 11 ill potence, and obftinately continue adveriaries of that Divine Grace, of the Grace without which all things would tumble into the ut- of God work- moll diforder and confulion. Had I affirmed that . rng inwardly, Men are fo corrupt and impotent through fin, that tt: I have ex- they could not by any means or Power whatever be pounded it. feltored ; or that that Power, Strength, or Grace, was offered only to a few, and not likewife to the reft $ or that it was of fuch a Nature, that when of- fered, it could not be rejected, or that when once admitted it could not be loll, and fuch like, I mould not have wondred to have found Mr. Le Gere, and all the Remonflrants, againft me in thefe things j for it might be alledged, that upon thefe Principles, fome would be drove to defpair, and others flatter them- felves into a dangerous Security ; that Men would from thence feek and pretend Excufes rot all their fins, wickedneffes and impenitence ; that they would deftroy and invalidate the ftrongeft Motives to Ver- tue and to the practice of good Works, with many other abfurd Confequences, which they tried to ob- ject againir thofe from whom they therefore feparated themfelves. But when my Senie, as I have often declared at large, is, that corrupt and impotent Man cannot by his own Strength, but only by the Power and Grace of God working in him, be reiiored j that this Power, Strength, and Operating Grace of God, is Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. 9 1 1 " ... . ■ is offered by God to all ftjen without Diitin&ion > that 'tis of fuch a Nature that if a Man will attend to the Solicitations thereof, and refign himfelf to it, it will by Degrees work out his Salvation for him, and reftore him to a ftate of Perfection } but if he refufe to liften to the fame, and chufe rather togive Ear to the Sollicitations of the Flelh, of Satan, and the World, he will then through his own inex- cufeable Folly continue in' his Corruption, and at lait bring upon himfelf the extreme!! Mifery j that his liberty does not caiife or produce, but only, admits and receives the faving Operations of Grace, the Rea- lity and Glory whereof is only due to God the fofe Author and Fountain of all Good, and that all that Man has to do is to take care, that he do not liften nor affent to, nor Cooperate with the Sollicitations of the Devil, the World and the Flefh ; but that he refign himle]/ wholly to thofe Divine Operations wrought in him by the Power of God, and that when once he has done fo, he be careful not fuddenly to withdraw himfelf from them, but to perfevers Faithfully fin and through the Ailiftance of God) in a continual relignation of himfelf ; and that accor- ding as he behaves himfelf in this matter, God, who •is a righteous Judge, will either Reward or Punifn him : When I lay, 1 had ihewed all thefe things ac large, and removed every Difficulty that attended them, I- little expecied that thofe who exprelled their Diifatisfacljon with the Do&rines of rigid Predeilina- tion, and particular irrefiftible Grace, would in any ways oppofe or ridicule thofe Tiuths, or that they would have ufed their utmoft Endeavours to perfwfed? Men againft the Power and Grace of God, working out our Salvation in us. XXI. And they had the lefs Reafon to attempt any XXL That the fuch Thing,becaufe they could never bring any poiitive inward favinp and folid Reafons, nor alledge any fhocking Difficul- Grace of Got ties againft it, but only the Arrogance and wild In- cannot he dif- clinations of their Corrupt Nature, and of the Faculty proved nor ' of Proud Reafon, deluded by its own Folly and the difpavajred fa Suggeilions of Satan, and confenting to them, where- a72y pofftive by their Minds are withdrawn from God, fo that they Reafons hit , neither feek his Honour and Glory, nor deiire to be onjy u 9tj:e :;* enlighten'd and govern'd by his Divine Operations in Anoyance of them ; but on the other fide adhere to themfelves, to Mature and- the grateful and pleafing Senfe of their own Glory, the' Suegcki- fiouour and Worth, and even to inmnaerable oth(jrc?<: 0f ,»Vjti. -V Foolifh 92 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. Foolifh Studies and Occupations j and feeing the gra- cious Operation and inward Solicitation of Qod in us is a great Enemy to thefeThings, behold, this is the true caufe, why Corrupt Men, Lovers of themfelves and what they call their own, are fo veiy averfe to the internal Grace of God j and in this matter they are fo blinded and hardned by the Enemy of Souls,* that they have fpared no Pains to difparage that adorable Grace of God, and to make a jeft of it, and expofe it to the World under the ridiculous Names of Fanati- cifm and Ei:thujiafmt together with all thofe who em- brace and adore it, and put all their Hopes in it, as the only Thing that they can take hold of to lave them in the General Shipwrack. XXII. There XXII. Now I know no Crime, with refpeft to the can be nothing matter of Salvation and true Religion, greater or more dangerous more abfurd than this of rejecting and ridiculing the nor more abfurd inward and faving Grace and Operations of God in in the matter of ^nd upon our Hearts. Yea, even God himfelf upon Salvation than *ne ^&e occafton, calls upon the Heavens themfelves to rejeft and to itand amazed at fuch a Thing, crying out by the deride the in- Prophet : * Be fijlonijhed, 0 ye Heavens, he ye horribly ternal Grace afraid and very defolate, faith the Lord *, for my People of God . have committed two Evils ; they have forfaken me, the * Jer. 2. 12. Fountain of Living Waters, and hewen out unto themfelves QJlerns, broken Cijlerns that can hold no Water. Thefe two greateit Evils, the Defertion of God, and the letting up an abominable Idol in his Room, are now in their bloom, and flouriih moft mightily with all the modern Adverfaries of the Internal faving Grace of God. When the Defign of God is to communicate himfelf, his Spirit, and ail his Wonders and Vertues every where and to all Men, it may be faid that thefe not only refill, but that they even hate to have God Prefent in them, that they are afraid lealt the Spirit of God fnould be efficacious in their Hearts, yea, that they are in great concern leaft he fnould fometime 6r other adl in. them in that luminous and divine Manner which is peculiar to himfelf, or lealt the Pro- mifes of his Divine Operations and Gifts, and even of himfelf (hould in any fort relpett, or be thought to belong to them ; fo foiicitous are they, to pervert and enervate all the Paffageo in the Holy Scriptures re- lating to this matter, and that in a moft abfurd man- ner, fo tnat all the innumerable Promifes of God concerning his giving and pouring out his Spirit up- on all Fleflj, and the Operations thereof in ourHeartsv they Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfnre. 93 they turn off from themfelves, and would have it that they either belong wholly to the Apoilles and the Men of the Apoftolic Age, or elfe they apply them to ibine Things that are merely External, and which fuit with our way of Reafoniiig according to our belt Rules of Logic and Criticifm. Thus, for Inilance, Thefe Promifes of God, * I will tut my Laws in their * Jer. Ji. 5 J. Minds, and I mil write them in their Hearts, mutt be Heb. 8. 8. reduced to this according to thofe wile Interpreters, and 10. 16. and the import of them in their fenfe mutt be, ** I " will fo order the External Means, that by their " help you fhall be enabled to imprint and retain in c* your Memory the (Pelagian and Socinian) Ideas, 11 which your Reafon fhall by the help cf Criticil'm 44 and Philofophy extract from the Letter of the Scrip- f 11 ture. " Behold here, the furpnzing Folly and Madnefs of Mankind, who are not afhamed thus to let up thofe Idols of Reafon, Criticifm and Philofo- phy, in the room of God himfelf, and inflead of our teal and internal Faculties, and the living and pow- erful Impreflions of God upon them ! XXIII. And in this indeed our Parrhafus, does very XXIII. much, and almolt every where Pride himfelf ; yea in ParrhafiusV his Parrhajiana, his dotage gains upon him to that De- Ravings as to gree, that he exprefly lays, * that the Promifes of ihefe Things. God that he will fometime increafe his Lights among * Parrh. Torn ChriiUans, which fhall bring to pafs a great Change 1, p. 415. among them, mult be fullnlled by the means and INTERVENTION OF REASON AND CRITICISM. So that all thofe Magnificent Promifes of God concerning his Spirit, and the Know- ledge of himfelf and of Chrijl, wherein is Life Eter- nal, and about the Lights of his Wifdom, and about all the other Graces and lmmenfe Treafures of the Riches which lie hid in Chrijl, which fhall be poured forth in a very bountiful Manner upon all Men in the laft times by God himfelf, will amount to as much as if God had only told Men, I will make you good Oiticks- and Rationales, and fucb as hy the help of 'Rea- fon and Criticifm ye flail be able to know and obtain every Thing for your felv.es. Who would not be alhamed to exalt that infamous Proltitute, the Faculty of Human Reafon, which even in our firit Parents were drawn by Satan into the Fall, thro5 their Realbnings upon5 and Critical Interpretations of the Words of God! God made Man up ight, but they fought out many Reafonings^ Sec). 7. 20. vtt,\9jdi4 And evct fince in all their PcUerity^ 94 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfitre. Posterity, has been almoil wholly deflowered and cor- rupted by the Inftigation of Satan, and by an unac- countable Itch of wrangling about Words, to fuch a height even to this prefent time, as to fet up a moft impure Harlot, without acknowledging the Contagi- ous Nature of her Diftemper, without renouncing and repenting of the fame, without palling thro' a flate of Purification and Death, and without being quicken'd a'- new and reitored to a Hate of Health and Purity ; to fet it up 1 fay as the very fubftance of God's moft precious Promifes , initead of the Chaff Wifdom of God, and in the place of the Holy Spirit of the Lord, and thereby to proftitute the Throne and dwelling Place of the molt high to a Strumpet of Satan, and fet her over all Chriliians to illuminate, and govern, and conduct them to Heaven ? Could ever the Ene- my of Souls have hatched and brought forth a more inonftrous Birth than this Hellilh Invention ? Hence * Entrctiens a^° 'n comes that fome would have it that a * Man furDiv.ALu- ,s really Converted tp God by his Ratiocinations^ teres de'lheol* an^ b>' turning and directing the Courfe of the Ani- pa^ 27 zS mai Spirits in the Brain from certain traces and ways fiJci into others > and by repeating the lame acts fo long until the laid new ways be well beaten, and at latt end in good confirmed Habits, and fuch like mcnitrous fancies ; to which we may juftly add the Critical Interpretation (ihall I fay or depravation) of that ce- 4- jSfatth. is, lebrated f Place, wherein Chrift moll exprefly teaches %c * us that the true Knowledge of bunfelf and of his Myfte- ries mult come from, and be afcribed to the Vertue and Power of the Father alone, who bides the fame . from the Wife and Prudent, and reveals them unto the Sim- r/k, who liKe little Children, kiaow not how to ufe any Art or Ratiocination, but initead thereof, offer up' their Hearts, their TJnderitandings and all the Po- wers and Faculties of their Souls wholly to Chrijl to iifpky his Power in them, and to illuminate, and go- vern, 'and direct them in all Things as he (hall think nt ; Wherefore he alio joyfully gives Thanks to the father, as the alone Author ot that great Good, - which he had hid from the great Doctors and Proud Rational iits of the World, who gloried in their own, and not in the Wifdom and Operations of God. Now this molt admirable Paflage we mould be obliged ac~ \\See the Notes cording to Mr. Lc Gere's \\ Critical and Rational iT'V* a f/c, hi the French New Teftamerrt, TranJIated hy Mr, Le Clerc. Rem Arks upon the foregoing Cenfure. 95 way, to interpret in this manner. That the Thing or Matter which our Saviour treats of there, is the proportion and perfuafion of this Hiflorical FacT:, That Chrill was fent by the Father ', and that his Dotirine i& true. That thoCe little Ones, to whom the Father re- vealed this, were fuch as weie better verfed in the Art of Reafoning than the Jew'ijh Dotfots and Scribes , altho* thefe looked upon them as Children and illiterate, when yet they were better Logicians and Naturalifts than the faid Doftors themfelves. That the Revela- tion on the part of God the Father , were thofe Ex- ternal Miracles which he wrought by the Power of the Father ^ and that with regard to thofe little Ones, it was the Conclufions which they made according to the Rules of right Reafonhig, and as became good Logici- ans. That the Wife and Vrudent, from whom God hid thofe Things, were the Scribes and Pharifees, and the Jewijb Doftors, who were indeed well enough verfed in their own Traditions, but were very bad Reafoners, and Explain- ed the Scriptures againfi all the Rules of right Reafon and found Criticifm : For as to Criticifm and Logic they were mere Blunderers. That rhe hidding , whereby the Father hid thofe Things from them, con fills in this, that God permitted that they Jbould not examine that by Reafon and Criticifm, which feemed to be con- trary to their Ideas and Traditions : So that God left them to their own dark Under Handings, or to the per- verfe ufe of Criticifm and Logic, and all the confe- quences thereof. So that Chrijt's meaning, and the genuine fenfe of the Words muft be this, " I thank 44 thee, O Father, that thou haft fuffer'd this Hiftori- " cal Propofition, this rational Conclufion, that I am " fent by thee, not to be made by thofe who neither 44 Reafon or Explain the Scriptures according to the •» Rules of right Reafon and found Criticifm : But " that thou wouldft have me work fuch great Mira- " cles, that thofe who Reafon better according to 4t the Rules of right Reafoning, than thofe Jewiifi " Doctors do, might pick out and draw from thence 11 thisConcluiion and Perfuafion, by the help of Reafon 11 and the natural Laws of Logic, that I am fent by " thee. " Who I fay, can Refrain, I will not lay from Laughter, but from Teats, to hear fuch ridi- culous ituif, XXIV. True $6 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. XXIV. That XXIV. True it is, this is not a proper Place to Ex- Parrhaiius is amine and Confute all thofe Abiurdities, with his o- in the wrong to ther mifinterpretations of Scripftire, (which I have fuppofe that already * done in fome meafure elfewhere) we cannot Reafon is however but obferve how much Par rbafius ismiltaken, the only Facul- and how he abufes Reafon, when in order to vindi- ty we have to cate and defend the fame he every where cries out under fland " t tnat no Body can fpeak again It Reafon, but who and know " would feduce Men, and perfuade them to believe Things by. " any Thing that he pleafes ; that without the That we have " Lights of Reafon, we can underftand nothing that other more real " is Revealed ; that Reafon cannot be forfaken but Faculties, and " that we mull fall into Fanaticifm ; " And the letter Lights like : For in tbefc Things (not to mention that 'tis than that of wrong to fuppofe right Reafon, when yet 'tis Sick Reafon. and molt Corrupt) Farrhafius ought to confider that * Oecon.Div. he confounds, as has been often made appearf Things Vol. 5. of the that are quite different ; namely, the true Intelli- Co-Operation gence 01 Underftanding and the Lights thereof, with ch. 1. the Faculty of Reafon, and with the ads, and paint- ■Jr Parrh. pag. ed, and deluiive Light thereof. The Underftanding, 4i7,4>4,&V. or the Capacity of knowing God and Things Divine, is a molt eflential part of Man, 'tis the Eye of the Soul wherewith it fees all the ObjecFs of the Intel- lectual World ; but 'tis PalTive, like the Eye; and it receives Light from God and from its proper Objects, as the Eye does in the outward World. ||Co«it. Rat. But Reafon, or the Capacity of forming Ideas of in ITiiTert. Things, as Painters draw Pictures, according to pfelim. §.43, their own Fancy, and of Reafoning about them, is 45. Oecon. not effential to Man (as we have || demonftrated elfe- Div. Vol. 2. where) and is a certain accelfory gift of exerciiing ch. 20. De itfelf after a fuperricial and fporting manner, fo that Method, part mould a Man want that activity, he might not there- 2 6 i? i.p.tg. fcfC want nue Light, neither inward nor outward j Si. And De for God can difcover both himfelf, and the Intellectu- Erudit. /#.!. a| World, yea, and even the Ideas of the External §. 6, 10. and World, to a Paihve Underllanding and Capacity, lib. 2. §. 5,7. without any act on the part of our Reafon. XXV. Winch XXV. Suppofe we then, a Man for fome time to fuf- is Jllyjhartd pend the Activity and Ideas of his own Reafon, can- ty SimilUudts. not God therefore and Spiritual Objects irradiate his Spiritual Faculties, and mine in them ? Suppofe we, another that has not yet ufed his Reafon ( fuch as Children, and even fome advanced in Years) mull therefore the External Light of Nature ceafe to ope- rate, and iniinuate it feif jiuo his External Faculties, or Remarks upon the foregoing Cevfnre. 97 or into his Eyes, becaufe io-.footh he does not ufe his Reafon ? Suppofe we again, that any one wants the real and outward Faculty of feeing, that is, that he is Blind, and that not with Handing of his being Blind, he is endued with a moll active, fubtile, and iagaci- ous Faculty of Reasoning, and fuch as can order and difpofe every Thing that it conceives or Reafons a- bout, very regularly and methodically \ here I ask, whether fuch a Blind Man can with all his Sagacity and Ratiocination, by the ilrength of his own Reafon, excite, I will not lay, the glorious Light of the Sun, and the Colours, and the lively Characters of the Things of this World \ but even whether he can form fo much as any Ideas or Images of fuch Things in his Conception, or in Reafon itfclf ? Who will not own that luch a Perfon can form nothing but Chimera's and Lyes by his Reafon, and by the imagi- nary Light of his Reafon, fo long as hisExternal Faculty of feeing, or his Eyes are not cured, and then paiTively expofed to the Sun and the luminous Objects of this World, that fo they may act. upon them, and commu- nicate to them Light and the lively forms of Things, before and without any act of Reafon, altho' after- wards ihe may divert her felf about them, and about the Formation of Mental Idea's and Ratiocinations ? The Cafe is the fame where Men are Blind in a Spiri- tual Senfe, that is, when their Intelligent Part, or the Faculty of their Pa Hive Undei handing, is fhut up, when yet at the lame time they may have the Exer- cife of their active Underltanding, and of the Faculty of Reafon in a very fignal Manner. Should fuch a Blind Man (and fuch we are all from our Corrupt O- riginal) not have the Eye of his Soul opened, mould that Paiiive Underltanding, which is given for Divine and Spiritual Objeds, but is now dead, or in a deep Lethargy, not be rouzed up by the Omnipotent Phyfi- cian of Souls ^ mould not the Divine Sun and all the Objects of theDivineand Spiritual World prefent them- felves to it, and dart forth and hifiife therein Light, and true, and luminous Conceptions of themfelves : then with whatever Sagacity, Indultry and Capacity the Reafon of fuch a BiW Man mould beitir itfelf, it not only could not produce in itfelf true Light, and lively and luminous Notions of Things Spiritual and Divine ; but not fo qhuch as any Ideas and Repre- fentations of the fame, how empty, fuperficral and barren foevcr j yea, it would be able to form nothing G 98 Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfute. but Chimera's, Trifles, and abfurd and monflrous Fan- cies, fuch as are every where to be met with in the fo celebrated Works of Parrhajius. Who then can f3y, in Spirituals as well as in Corpcreals, that thole who fpeak againfl the imaginary Light and Ideas in the Reafon of a Blind Man, with a Defign to carry him to the Phyfician and to Realities, Mean to fe- duce him, or to perfwade him to any thing that they pleafe: That without the Ideas of that Mind Reafon, he can underftand nothing of what flmll be dif covered to him , That he mujl fall into Fanaticijm, or into a Ditch, if he defer t that Facultv, which is fo a&ive and ready at forming Images and Ideas ? But all thefe things Far- rhafius and his Hero might be told over and over again, and even until they cracked their Brains e'er they would leave off to confound ("which they al- ways and every where do J the paffive Faculties, and the Lights and real Notions which we receive by them, both from Spiritual and Corporeal Objecls, with the Active Faculty of Reafon, with its barren and borrowed Light, and with the Airy ideas there- of \ or before they would be convinced, that thefe without them are nothing, and can do nothing, but what is Chimerical and Trifling j and that they with- out thefe are real and folid, and that they both are ^rtrT p immenfe in themfelves, and can do great Things. r f S - XXVI. I wonder indeed that Fanhafm^ among all nanus does t^e Arguments and Reafons whereby he endeavours ?°Vl - t0 Uefcud Mr' LeClerc\ caufe and his own, has J-.e Clerc, omitted to mention a better and more fubflautial Rea- JTnr fJVe ion, why he flicks to thofe Opinions, obflinately de- Mcafonof ns fef^s then), and does all he can to propagate them, Lavje, wlncf) ^ .. -n j10pes tj1at t^iey wjl| find a ^ood reception u founded vi wkh ^ k Mu UQerc himfelf 4id }ong ago more Experience. piainiy declare that Reafon, in favour of his own Sentiments, in his Biblhtljcaue Univcrfclle, in thefe Words, in which he commends the matter itfeif fo TTiuch, that he feercs fecietly to laugh at thofe who (d)Bibh fhould not take notice of it. {a) Some ajfiim. fays Univ. Tom. he, that all Men, fhould we wholly forbear confuting XV. Pag, 369. the Socinian Opinions, would infenjibly without Senfe become Unitarians or Socinians, and that in fuch manner that they could not teli how they came to be fo 5 becaufe the Opinion? of thofe Men fthe Socinians) ate better ac- commodated to the capacity of the Vulgar, than thofe of the Orthodox, and a> e fuch as naturally prtfent them- fetess to tfoir Minds, For to a Human Mind, in as. much Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure. 99 much, as it is corrupted from its Birth, as it is fepara- ted from God, and left to itfelf, as it neither re- gards, nor is governed by any thing but its own Pro- penfions, its own "Wifdom, its own Illumination i and finally by the Solicitations of Satan* to fuch a Mind, I lay, the Pelagian and Socinian Notions, do indeed very naturally prefent themfclves, they being fo mightily accommodated to the Animal Capacity of carnal and proud Men, that unlefs the Good Spi- rit of God interpofe and infufe a more Divine Princi- ple, to knock and penetrate and dwell in our Hearts, All Men indeed would become infenfibly without Senfe Socinians and Pelagians, Jo that they would not know how they came to he (0 , becaufe fuch Opinions are befi ac- commodated to the Capacity, and to the Propenfion and State of Corrupt Nature both in the Vulgar, and in all Men horn in (in and corruption. And indeed Socinia- Tiifm and PeTdgianifai, with all their Wifdom, is no- thing elfe in effect but that very itate of corrupt Na- ture, as it is now rendred fo, by extinguiftiing the Divine Grace, and by yielding to its linful Bents, and the Power of the Devil over it. All of us, as vce are become corrupt and void of the Divine Ope- ration of the Holy Spirit, are by Nature made and born Pelagians and Socinians as to our Principles ; and if to this be added the continual Solicitations of the Devil inwardly, and the artful Reprefentation of thofe Errors outwardly, we cannot but feel in our- fclves that our depraved Reafon, and haughty In- clinations are ltrongly inclined to favour and embrace thole Errors. And this is the true Reafon why th* Nature of Man, which loves and itifly adheres to it- felf, fo Spontaneouily inclines to thofe ways of Error -3 irqm which, after having by long ufe and cu/tona made them its own, it can no more be feparated and difintangled, than the Devil himfelf can be torn from his Darknels and Lyes : and hence alfo, they that fow fuch Tares, conceive no fmall hopes that many will receive and cherifh and propagate them as much as ever they can. XXVII. But he that will attend to the fecret Im- XXVII. This pulles aud Operations of the Good Spirit of God, fundamental leeking to fave and reflore corrupt Nature, and which Caufe will he darts into our Hearts even from our Birth, and have vo power over them who hjlen t& the Soil kit at ions of Gid more than to tho i c/ Satan And corrupt Nature, and give themfclvesuf to them. C % . which f Cb Remarks upon the foregoing Cenfure* Which would dwell there, and work out our Reco->, Very and Salvation \ and he that will from thence and from the good Exhortations and helps which God affords him outwardly in the Holy Scriptures, and by the Counfels of Good Men, learn truly to know himfelf, and begin to fee that of himfelf he is nothings and can do nothing ; that he is corrupt throughout, and altogether Miferable, that he is wholly plunged into Darknefs ; that he is blind, perverfe and rebellious, and that in his Nature he cheriflies the Seeds of all Error, Wickednefs and Re- bellion ; fuch an one, I fay, that lhall fee and do tfrefe things, will abhor thofe Principles, xvhich they fo much boailof as Hell itfelf and as the Foun- tain of all Evil ; and turning to the Lord, the fole Author and Fountain of Light and G'oodnefs, his chiefeil Good, his Benefactor, his Phyfician, his Go- vernor, his Defender, his Saviour, he will continual- (a) Pfalm ]y cry out with the moil eminent Saints, (a) Let me J4S* hear thy lovirg kindnefs, 0 Lord, betimes in the Morning, for in thee is my truft. Shew thou me the way wherein I fiould walk • for I lift up my Soiil unto thee. Deliver me, 0 Lord , from mine Enemies ; for J flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do the thing that pleafeth thee for thou art my God. Let thy good Sprit lead me forth into the Land of Right eoufnefs ^ and quicken vie fur thy Names (I) Pfalm fttks, OLord. For fmely, (/•) They that forfake thee 11' Jhall perifb : Thou -deft toy eft all them that commit Fornica- tion againft. thet. But 'tis good for me to hold viefajl by Gody and to pit my ttuft in the Lord. Thele things 1 thought beft to premife in general, becaufe they are oi trie greateit importance to all Men \ and contain the tiue State and iVIarrow of the Oontroverfy between Mr. Le Clerc and me • and for riiat they will alio give great Light almolt into all tilings, and efpecially to what I dciign to offer more jraitkulaUy- upon the Rxnftafian Cenfuie^ to which I now proceed. More JOI More Particular REMARKS BOTH Theological and Critical Upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. IS to the Perfonal Reflexions contain'd in the Cenfure, I (hall take but little notice of them, that I may have the more time to profecute (and that not llightly, as there fhall be occafion) I fuch Things as may be ufeful to the Readers. And becauXe it may "be of ufe to detect the Sources and Principles of the Parrhafian Cenfure, I fhall firft of all do it in a few Words.. Pchgianifm, which alone is what Parrhajius admires, The PR IN' is the Theology of SELF-LOVE. CIPLES of the Par- hafian Cenfuse, Self-love is the love of qnes own worth. Self- Sdf-hve the love would perfwade ones felf and others, That he great Wind- is True, 'J'ljl 'and Good, and endued with every Ver- fie of PeU- tue. And this is properly "Pride." gianifm. This Piide denies and hates ' the firfi Truth, and The Qualities contains alfo in it the fir ft Lye. no F 1 R S T of Self-love^ TRUTH is this, that th$ Original Beinfij (viz.God) ftft Lying, is • and that he is the Author and Caufe of all Be- ing and Reality ; of all Being, and well-being'. The y I R S T LYE. is, that what of itfeif is a Non- G \ Fiuitjr 102 Particular Remarks Entity, has yet a Being, and is the caufe of Reality \ that a Non-Entity is the caule of Entity \ and that which of itfelf is not Good, is the real cauie of Good. Hence proud Self-love is originally falfe and a lyar 5 It is alfo a /fdtfer and Slanderer of the Zhrtft. Jj&e feeond, It is alfo m wjk/? from the beginning, in not giving to Jnjupiib. every one his own , to God, all Good, to itfelf no- thing. The third From tne want anc* natred" of the Truth comes al- Blindnefs' *° ^ar^nefs* Hence Self-love is by Nature Blind* Nor does it fee, that while it defires to be counted True, Juft and Good, it ;s deceitful, wicked and Evil, It is ignorant of its own Nature. But if in the room of that Light and Truth which it wants, it fubftitutes the Efforts, Operations and Productions of its own A&ive Underjlanding, or of Reafon (which is alfo blind) it only multiplies to itfelf Darknels, Evils and Lyes. 'She fowth And hence it comes, that if it be proved and made Malice and appear from the Truth, that it is in a Lye, in In- Cunnim, juttice, in Evil ; and that for all that 'twill neither die to itfelf, nor. by its Death give Glory to God alone } hence, I fay, it comes, that it grows Malicious, and endeavours by all the Artifice and fhifts it can poffibly invent, both to defend what is its own. and to oppofe every thing that is True, Juft and Good. The three From this Artificial Malignity arife chiefly two or Trincifal kinds three forts of Frauds, efpecially when the Truths of Artificial propofed, and which it oppoles, are fuch as it $nds it Malkmt". ^t\f unable to refute. The firft fort of Fraud is an I/ira'sri'ifm, vifolent hujfivg, when it makes as if the Things which are advanced in oppofitios to it, were fo weak and infignificant, that iuch a ftrong Champion as it is, ought not to vouchfafe an Anfwer to them, but to lejecl them with Scorn and Reproach, The fecond flattery. fort of Fraud is Flattery , when it pretends that thefe > . things do not at all, or but very little make againft it \ and this happens when fuch things are advanced by Ferfons it ftands in awe of, and whom therefore, as being the ftronger Adveriaries, it would fain foften and keep in good Humour, The third fort is, a more dmptcni Ife- 0pen and particular Revenge, by (hewing how far it ijfitf* can carry us Fury and Hatred :, by this, it fo vio- lently Attacks fome of its Adverfanes with all the Artitices ,of Lyir-r, IdJuJUce aud Malice, that it thiuka upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 103 thinks ir fhall thereby deter ethers from medling with it for ever after. He that would look for Inftances of all thefe Things in Parrbafnts, and in his Parrhajiana^ will quick- ly find whether there be plenty of them there, or not. Come we now more particularly to the Cen- fure, and that according to the Numbers which we annexed to the feveral Parts of it. 1, Self-love (out of its Pride and BlindneG) feems (i.) Parrha^ ahvays Jul! to itfelf, whatfoever therefore u Coes, fius'i Oh]e&\- that is juft. Therefore, to complain of it is wijuft. on of unjujl. Therefore thofe that have complained of the Bihliothe- que Univerfelle (of Mr. Le Clerc) have done it un- juftly, although they have fhewn (as I have done in the foregoing Letter) that he has perverted almoXt every thing that he relates in it. 2. Self-love, from Artificial Malice, fometimes /2/\ Of tftc ufes an Argument drawn from Envy and leading to Ha- jycUmcnt tred, as Mr. LeClerc himfelf has oblerved and difpro- /yj^ Envy. ved at large (a) elfewhere. But here Parrhafius little /a\ jn fin*e regards that, though upon this oecafion it be nothing L0aic Dif- ro the purpofe. For what has Antonia Bourignon to fer£ ,jeAr^u- do here ? and why does Parrhafius falfely, and con- mento aD fn-. trary to what has been publickly declared and is fo vidiaducto, well known, make her the head of a Seel, by calling me her follower f The Difpute here Was not about that matter. But Parrhafius is difpleafed with Antonia Bourignori's Doctrine, and therefore, to make her odious, he would fain reprefent her as a Sectari- an, becaufeher Divinity is contrary to his Pel agianifm. For, feeing me, even from her Infancy, obferved that the ChriiUans of thefe days fought and loved things Earthly, and not Eternal ; and that they were ieao by the Spirit of Nature and corrupt Realbn, and not by the Spirit and Mind of Cbrijl ; and feeing fhe prayed to God daily, that he would preferve her from that worldly Spirit, and beftow upon her the Mind and Spirit of Chrijl, and finally obtained the fame ; fhe left it confirmed by her |Life, her Words and Writings, that the fubfiance of Chrifi lanity, and the meaning and itrefs of the Holy Scriptures con- lift in this, that Men, laying afide the Love of Earth- ly Things, aiid of themfelyes and their own Wildom andconupt Reafon, may become fit Veffels to receive the Holy Spirit of Cbrift, that fo they may be quick- en'd, Inihudedj Govern'd and fili'd therewith, as Q 4 ftftMfl 104 Particular Remarks upon the »" found Members are with the Spirit of their Head j and that then, and not otherwife, they will become true Chnilians. Now feeing thefe things are Diame- trically oppofite to the Pelagian Syllem, 'tis not to be wondied at that Parrhafius brands thofe with the Invidious Name 6i Sectarians, who publifned, and who, agreeably to the Scriptures and to their own Conferences, and to the Testimony of God himfelf, believed thefe Thing?. But 'tis flrange he did not fee (through the blindnefs of Self-loveJ how that by this invidious Appellation of a Sectarian, he puts it in the power of every Body to calt the fame Re- flexion upon Mr. Le Gere, who left that Sect in which he was born, and went over to another, with a defign, as every one fays, under the umbrage of that Sect, to hide, cherifh, and propagate the Opinions of anothet Sect, which has no great relation to Chri~ fiianity. (;.) Of his 3. I obferved and complained in the foregoing Let- cm little Jejl. ter, how Mr. LeClerc had loaded me with many Falfnies, that he turned the belt and moil Salutary Things into Foifon and Ridicule, and that he had expofed Men of the greatell Merit to publick Scorn and Contempt: And this, Parrhafius here, from the Principles of Self-love, as every body can't but ob- ferve, calls hut one little Jcjl. (4.) Full of 4. On the other hand, and from the fame Princi- Gall and Ma~ pies, whatever in Jultice and Truth, and in the fin- lice*' cerity of my Heait I anfwered, That Parrhafius fays, is full of Gall and Malice. Nor indeed can felfeiteem impofe .Names otherwife en things which are con- trary to it : than they do that are in a Bilious Fever (arifing from the excefftve Irregularities of felf-Lovey who fancy they fee ail Things Inverted, and Tinitu- ied, as I may fay, with Gail \ fo that even the Phy iician L.'iyJcif, 'may by fuclva fick Perfon, be taken foi a ttrcil malicious Enemy. '<- j Of Mr 5* 'Tis but natural Juuice to Satisfy and Anfwer Le Clerc'J ' aIVoi*ier iait *n e*;nel* complains of an fnjury done him. But Vatrhafius fays here, That Mr. LeClerc does not in the lean regard that, and that he thought fit to make no Anfwer according to the Equity of Self* "love, which tnus vviaily enucavcuis to hide its own "Weaknefs. He repeats" it beio\*; that he will not enter into the Cc'hhoieijy, nor by that means give oc~ cafion to another :o wa&ebwfdj known. But, all chat's con:a;i!c^ :u this Ge»i : •. ejjj ej U \ 0 Conuoverfy, Con- Equity. Parrhafian Cenfure. 105 Contradiction, or an occafion given to Reply • but Hiuft pafs tor nothing, for Sugar Plumbs, and tor one little Jefti or Parfh&Jius, If he be the Curie with Mr. Le Gere, has not kept his Word. Whether then the one mould be afenbed to his Blindnefs, and the other to his fwerving from the Truth, let him- felf and others Judge. 5. To call my Thoughts, which I have published r$\ Dream in my Books, Dreams, as this Author does, 'and 0y\$Ci\. to fay that they are known to be fucb, when yet he does not prove it, and the contrary is evident, every one cannot but fee fiom what quality of Self-love. Parrbajius fays fo ; nor have I a Mind upon every oc- cafion to repeat their invidious Names. 7. Here Farrbajius complains that my Delign is to ^ s Qf fa Defame Mi. Le Clerc. But indeed nothing is repre- fairing fa fented to him but what he publifhed himfelf 10 be fl-fag read by every one, as is evident from the Places and Pages there quoted. .Nor is it counted (unlefs Self- love, according to its own Principle?, fhould pleafe to invert the Names of Things^ any Difgrace, to Err in matters of Opinion ; nor can that be called De- famatioii, to confute an Error, pubiiified by another, or to reprefent the fame to him ; much lefs when it is done with a good Dehgn, as I did, to put otheis upon their Guard again!* iuch dangeious Errors; and to reclaim the miiiaken Perfon hi nfelf, if ther^ be any hope of his Recovery. Are things then come to this pais, that none mall dare to take any Notice of the Socinian and Pelagian Notions, which are fo In- duftrioufly fpread, but he mult be called and looked upon as a Defamet, and that indeed by one , who himfelf expoies and defames the Ancients as well as the Moderns by all the ways of Contempt and Re- proach he can pofiibiy invent ? Tiiis i'urely fhews the great Blindnefs and Wicked nefs of Self love .' 8. Here Panbujiut owns that Mr. Le Clerc is to ,% x nt *] * blame ; but in what I namelv, for that he acted the y'l i \ part of a Scoffer but flightly {by one vet) inconfiderabU T^™,- Jejl) and omitted, to, qo as he ought to have done, fjad ^M* a viz, to pafs a mod fevere Cenfure upon what v/as fo '"freJ€Vtre difagreeable tohisTafte: That is, Panbafius thjnksj ^e7va that Mr. Le Clerc deferves to be blamed, for that he did not enough difplay the abovefaid Principles of Self love againft what contradicts that Love ^ that *tis his Bulinefs not only to. Ridicule , but even to make the moft cruel Juvock of every i4.:ing that comes out io6 Particular Remarh out againft the fame 5 (as he has often done and ft ill continues to do upon the moft< venerable part of Anti* quity.) But what it will avail him to ufurp and to execute this Office, he does not feem to perceive. He will (hew himfelf to be morofe, and a hater of folid Truth and real Good. Then, if it fo happen that by his Artifices he reduces fome, 'tis true he will lead them very much aiiray from the Truth, and from uhat is good ; but yet after all, they will have Reafon to "be very much difpleafed with him upon that Ac- count. He will thereby oblige thofe that are at- tacked to expofe his Eirors, and to confirm the Truth the more ^ or if they keep filent, it will entitle them to the reward promifed to thofe that fuffer Injuries, and upon himfelf he will draw down the PunHh- ments which God has denounced againit the obiti- nate and tnerefiflers of his Grace; and he will make his Return and Converfion to God, and to his Light and Grace, fo much the more difficult; which that God may gracioufly prevent, I fincerely pray. 9. In the Preface to the Engliih Edition of the ihafius means Divine Oeconomy, I have fhewn more fully what Par- ity Religion, rhafius really means by thefe Words, To expofe Religion to Mockery, and to turn it into Fanaricilm. The matter in fhoi t comes to this. RELIGION with Parrhafius is, Ideas excited in depraved Reafon from the Words of Scripture, by the help of Grammar, Criticks and Philofophy, excluding and deriding the Inward Operation of the Spirit of God in our Hearts, and ex- ploding thofe f acred Myferies which are repugnant to the tafte of corrupt and proud Reafon, and to the Blindnefs, Faljity, and Fantafiick Lights of Self-love. And FA- NATICISM with him is, The Jfftr ting the Grace of God working inwardly in us, in the Heart, in the Under jlandivg, in the Faculties of the Mind, and produ- cing in them Faith, Hope, Charity, and folid Virtues, And thereby 1 cftoring them to their fpiritttal Health and Vigour. We have alfo faid more of Fanaticifm in other Places : But becaufe my Divine Oeconomy fub- verts and explodes this Philofophical (or Sociniavj Religion, and after ts the Grace of God, as the hrlt Element and Principle of the Chriltian Religion, ihis is what Varrhafus (from the Blindnefs and Ma- lignity of Self-Lovej fays is, To expofe Religion to Mockery, and to convert it into mere Fanaticifm, 9. jfflmVtt- and what by Fanaticifm, of which he fays, That I make the for- mer Ridicu- lous, and turn it into the other. upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 107 a^— Maw — b— tamtam. «— nm i i — smn — — . So much for the fir ft onfet of the Pharrhafan Who Parrha- Cenfure. In what Follows we fnall lee him draw ims Perfoliate: out the main Body of , his Army, (altho'he fays he will here. not fight,) and play all his heavy Artillery upon us. But why do I liken him to a Soldier, when in truth I know not whom he perfonates. He does not (hew himfelf to be a Divine and a Chriilian ^ for then he would have bom with, and even been thankful for fuch Corrections, as were iuited to reclaim' Mr. Le Clerc from his Errors. He does not behave himfelf as becomes a Philofopher ; -for then he would Reafon, and to his Words add the Weight of Arguments. 2S'or does he act like a Ciitick. For he inftanccs in nothing in particular, whereupon he can ground any Critical Remarks. What then ? Let him read thele words of his own } and unlefs that blind Principle of Self-love call a Cloud before his Eyes, he will there lee and detect himfelf. (a) The Orators (ox (a) ParrhanV Declaimers) often ufed to ftir up the People againfl thofe an3i p% iZXc whom they did not like : Nor yet did they Jhew any good Re af on why they dcferved to be hated. It was enough for tJjofe (Declaimers) to accufe them of a thoufand Falfitiest which they were not at all folicitons to prove ; which lecaufe they pronounced them with Vehemence and Paffiony as if they themfekes hcd been fully perfwaded of the Ttuth of what they atledgedy They by that means allu- red the People to be of their fide, without offering on? [olid Reafonfor the fame \ which way of acling ought not to be propofed for Imitation, unlefs 'one openly declares himfelf an Enemy of all Good Nature and Equity. 10. The Arguments of the Myiticks Pan ha!;us cz\\s (Ic°) Hede*^ Fooleries from a Principle of Bliadnefs. .Now to [pfa MyjticM make this appear, I :haii lor the Readers better fa- things lecaufe tisfadion, briefly ihew, what in reality the Myitical of Lis Blind* and Allegorical Theology is, and alfo explain Lome mf*\ other Things relating to the fame, which Parrl. fo much defpifes and ridicule?. The whole Subftance of the Myrtical Writing:', What Myftkal or of MYSTIC THEOLOGY, amounts to this Theology is, and is included in it : Namely, That we love God with and whence ?;* / all our Heatt, wirh all our Soul, with all our Mind, and comes, with all our Strength , and that we endeavour alfo to bring our Neighbours to the fame. But feeing that fmce the Fall of Adam thofe inward Faculties toge- ther with the outward, are vitiated and filled with evil Inclinations, evil Objects, and with Errors and Pollutions of all forts, which have tbruft out the \ eve Io8 Particular Remarks "'"""" '"". s Love of God, and are incontinent therewith ; 'ti therefore neceiTary before the Divine Love can return and govern in us, that the abovefaid Faculties be cleanfed and purified from ail thofe Impediments- and this indeed at firft is done in a more impelled man- ner, through the Grace of God afforded us by Cbrift, and the Co-operation of the Faculties themfelves, fo that the Underft-dnd'wg is exercifed in the A dive Contemplation of God, the Will in fervent Prayer, and all the other Faculties in Mortification ; and af- terwards more perfectly and more fully, when the« Faculties being become paffive, the Operation of God is the fole acting Caufe in them, and purifies them thoroughly from all their Pollutions and Infirmities. Rom. 5. 5. Hence as loon as the place is fully cleanfed and fit to Tohn*l4. II. recelve tne Divine Love, God pours it forth into fuch ^7 /" " a Soul, by the Holy Spirit which is given to it } and Chrift with the Father comes into it, and fo all the molt Sacred Trinity dwells there, manifefling itfelf therein, and governing and bellowing upon that Soul the various Kinds and Degrees of perfect, and conti- nual Prayer and Contemplation, and alfo fuch fore- tails of Life Eternal, fuch Lights, Joys and other effects of Reciprocal Love and Eternal Delight, as he thinks fit, until it come hereafter to enjoy all Things for ever and in the mod perfect manner. And this is briefly the Sum and Subnance of all Myitical Theo- logy. The Nature of Farther, feeing the whole Heart, Soul, Mind and true Jllegori- Strength of fuch Perfons abound with the Love of eal Theology, God, that is, feeing they are full of God himfelf, and and the Origin of Divine, Spiritual and Internal Tilings, thence it end firft Be- comes, that whatever they think of, whatever they pinning there- defire, whatever they do, wha&eve* they fee in the ■ef in Man* whole World, whatever they hear, taiie, touch or feel, God is always prefent, they ever think of God, they always meet with, and are ever imployed about Things Divine ^ they always lee, feel and taiie Hea- venly Things, God and the Things of God, in all Things. And this is the firir ana tiue caufe and rife of all folid ALLEGORICAL THEO- LOGY, which can never enter into any Minds but fuch as are in a very high degree Myitkal. Thele then when they read or hear of any External Hi (lo- ry, or of any Ceremony, or the lilce, in the Holy Scriptures, they prefemly difcover therein, though mors generally, God, Chrill and the Holy Spirit, where- upon the Parrhafian Cenfore. 109 wherewith they are filled, the mighty Wonders of God and the Internal Nature of Souls, which is the Element wherein they wholly Live. If they look upon the Sun, the Clouds and other Meteors ; If they view the Earth, the Metals, the Plants, the Flowers, with all their Smells and Beauties ; If the Fruits, if Animals; yea, if they fee Men themfelves and all their Societies and Employments, immediately they think of, they difcover, they feel, and they con- template God, and Things Cceleilial and Spiritual, yea they bring thefe Things along with them, and im- plant them into thofe others. Now when they are well exercifed in thefe, and The Origin, , are alio either prepared or called to more Inward and Nature and Secret Things, then, when God thinks fit, they fur- Principles of ther receive from the Holy Spirit the fpecial Gift of Theology and "Wifdom and Underllanding, whence it comes, that Tbeofophic feeing the Father created all Things, without except- Pbilofofby. ing any, by his Word or Son in the Holy Spirit $ and feeing the lame Father has begun to reftore thofe that are fallen, by his Eternal Word Jefus Chrifi in the Holy Spirit ; and feeing he has alfo fpoken to us by his Son in the fame Spirit, by illuminating, moving and governing the Patriarchs, Prophets, Evangelilts and Apoilles, by whom he revealed the Scriptures, and every thing in them relating to the Anions, Govern- ment, Revelations, Divine Institutions and Tennets of Holy Men devoted to God j hence, I fay, it comes, that by a fpecial Gift of the Spirit of Wifdom and Underftanding, given to thofe Friends of God, their Internal Eyes are fo opened and illuminated by the Divine Wifdom, that both in the whole Creation of God, and in every Creature, in their Faculties and Vermes, in their Beginning, Progrefs and Tendency, as I may fay, to Perfection, and in the whole Oe- conomy relating to them ; in all the Scriptures of God alfo, and in the Hiilories, Doctrines and Institu- tions contained in them, they fee moil evidently and clearly in fo far as God pleafes, the peculiar Charact- ers, the bright Images, the moll diftinit and admirable Footfteps, and as I may lay, the moft profound and indelible Signatures of the Eternal Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and of all their Defigns and Procedure in Creating, Redeeming and Reitoring, and finally in Glorifying his Creatures \ all which open and explain- the Nature and Glory of all created Things and of Thoughts, and to the Envious (b) Wild. I. and Scoffers> (i^ lnt0 whofeSoul Wifdomjhall not enter - 4- even as under the Emblem of Conjugal Society Solo. ?non, being full of the Spirit of God, in the Song of Songs, of old Defcribed the work of our Redempti- on j and as not long fince the molt fublime Myiiick Johannes a. Cruce has alfo done. >. 19* worldly Wifemen Foolijbnefs, when they are really Fools themfelves in their vain Wifdom, which in reality, and in the fight of God, is mere Foolilhnefs. The Foolifh Opinion therefore of Parrhafius does parrhaflus'* the no Lnderflanding, which they have entirely yielded up wntra'ry true* to his Love, fo as to enable them rightly to under- itand, and prudently to order and perform every Thing that he ihail think good and neceiTary for them, as weil with regard to Things Internal as External , without fuffering them to be employed or diftracted about any thing unprofitable or hurtful to them. Which indeed, is true, and folid Wifdom, and Un- derltanding, and fuch as every Man of a found Judg- ment ought highly to eiteem and commend. That great Contempt of the Myilical and Allego- Parrhafius iical Writers, which Pairhafm fhews here, and is vc and Mr, Le ry common with Mr. LeGetc, is fuch, that they do Clerc do not not agree together about it. When Mr. Le Clerc and agree in their Parrhafius meet with Myltical and Allegorical Things in manner of re~ the Writings of thofe that hold the Doctrine of Di- poaching ihc vine Grace inwardly operating in us, or when they Myftics. are fougnt out and fhewn in the Holy Scriptures, they look upon them then as Idle Fancier and Chime- ra's j but when they itand iu need of loins Myifical or 112 Particular Rewarks or Allegorical Words, either to fupport the So cinian Notions, or to procure Authoiity to themfelves, or to fliew their Learning, they fly to them as to Things of the utmolt weight and Importance, and fuch as are full of Force and Wifdom, as may appear from the fol- lowing Inltances. Liberhis, one that's well known to * In the Vyc" ^lyr^afllfS and Mr. Le Clerc% * where in one place he im- face to Libe- PLltes tne Myilical and Allegorical Interpretations of rius de San- t^ie Scriptures, by him called Fooleries, to a Heathen- i\o Amore. ^ Oiigi\)a\9 namely, to the Study of Rhetoric, yet fays, that our delivery from that Wicked Cujlom of feek- ing Myiteries every where, is owing to the fame tlbid.p.281. Heathens! -\ By reading the Writings of the Heathens,, ' lays he, we reap the advantage of /baling off that AV1CKED CUSTOM of feeking Myfte- ries in every Thing, which is a matter of no fmall Moment. Mr. Le Clerc tiling this great advantage, has iudeed in all his lilteipretations of the Sciiptures, which proceeding from a Spirit of Infinite Wifdom, may be thought to contain great Myfteries, taken great Care to abiiain ffojn that Wicked Cuftom or feeking Myiteries therein : Yei, whenfoever the Sacred Penmen of the New Tefi.imoit, quote any Places out of the Old, in a Sente evidently Myilical and Allegorical, he || tells us || See his Notes more than once, that they are not the meanings of upon his thole Infpired Writers, but only of the Jewsy wiiich French New therefore the Apoilles and Lvangeliils applied to Teftament, them as Arguments ad Hominem. and in order to con- Heb. 1. 5. vince them in their own way of Realbning, and at Gal. 4. 24. their own Weapons, how improper and foolifn foever find many other they Were in themfelves. Nay, in his French Tranlla- Places. tion he has even perverted that Axiom of the Ajpo- itle, which confirms thofe Senfes, * All theft Things * 1 Cor. 10, happened to than (the Ifrdelites) in a Figure (or Typi- II. carDy^) which he renders thus, all thefe Things hap- pened unto them for Enfamples. But when that Wick- ed Cuilom of ieeking for Myiteries in every Thing, can in any wife contribute to mew his great skill in Profane Learning, he more than once takes it up again as an excellent Cuilom, and makes a very ferious ufe of it in Interpreting the Writings, and even the ridi- culous Fables of the Heathens, lo that even in the abfurd, oblcene, and impious Fables of Hercules, Ado- nit, Ceres, and the like, he very gravely finds out many Myilical and Allegorical meaning?, and often fpeaks great Things ui them in his Bibliotheque, in Moreri, ■+ P. )"$• ai)d even in the -f Tarrhafiana themfelves. Yea, and what you will fay is very ftranjge, he refurr.es and makes upon the Parrhafian Certfure. 113 makes ufe of that Wicked Cujiom in his Interpretations of the Scripture, when it can in any wife ferve to promote the Socinian Caufe, as I have (hewn in the foregoing Letter, and as Liberius himfelf exprefly con- feiles, faying, || 1 have oh ferve d innumerable Things that || Epift. The- were done before the Gofpet, were only fbadows of thofe oJo^. Libeni. Things which were to come to pafs under the Gofpel, and nt $l% this 1 have Learned in fever al Places fiom the Apofiles : But it almoit furpafles all Admiration, that he, in Or- der to eitablim and fupport either his own Tenents, or his Pelagian and Socinian Glories, which weaken and enervate the Scriptures, mould yet reckon himfelf among the Number of thofe that have been illumi- nated by the Holy Spirit, and had extraordinary Gifts and Revelations confered upon them, or who in fuper- natural and Myflical Theology, have experienced the fublimeft Things, and have even felt the Divine Touches of the other Life. Liberius in the Preface to his Epiitles, being to give a Reafon why his new Difcoveries were unknown to the firil Reformers, whom he had before Praifed, fpeaks thus: The SPI- RIT BLOWS, when, and where it lifteth, and al- fo as much as it lifteth ; and fome times it bides Things fiom thofe fthe Reformers) upon whom it vouebfafes a greater Meafure ofhlG H T, which i? REVEALS to others (to Liberius and Mr. Le Clerc) who E N J OY the SAME in a lejfer Degree only. See here Liberius moved with the Spirit, and endued with the Light, Illumination and Revelation of the Spirit } and yet the fame Things, and Words in others and in the My flics, Parrhafius and Mr. Le Clerc, brand with the odiousNames of Fooleries and Chimera\, and will have it that they are nothing but trie airy effects of Fanatieifm and Enthufiafnu And in his Preface to his French Tranilation of the New Testament, the fame Perfon lays, that in Tranflating, ana Compofing his Notes or Glories, His Mind was filled with fuch variety of mean- ings, and they gave him fo great inward Pieafute and Sa- tisfaction, that he ought in every Page to thank the Di- vine Goodnefs, that before the expectation of that great Day of Rewards (or Retributions ) God had vouchfafei to give him a foretaste of them, and enabled him in a lively manner to Contemplate thofe Benefits, which h$ will at lajl befiow upon us fin the other Life.) Indeed, neither the more fubiime part of Myflical Theology which is called the Extraordinary ^ nor thofe that have made the greateft Progrefs in the fame, exhibit, com- H prehend U4 Particular Rev/arks prebend or promife -greater Things to their Candidates, than Mr. Le Clerc fays here that he has experienced and feit. But if Mr. Le Clerc in Reality felt any fuch Thing, he ought, to prevent his being 'impofed upon by the Enemy, to have Learned from the true Myitics, that Satan, who as the ApofUe witneiTes, can trans- form himfelf into an Angel of Light, can alfo imitate Divine SweetneiTes, Divine Senfations, and Divine Contemplations, by injecting the Fallacious Appear- ances of fuch Things into thofe, who, tho' they con- tinue in the Element of Corrupt Nature, yet dare thruft themfelves into, and treat of Things Divine 5 and that they may the more boldly and cheerfully weaken and deftroy fuchThings in reality, the craftyEnemy does by thofe falfe Appearances very often excite and ani- mate them in the Profecution of that unhappy De- fign. Why although Had Parrhafms well conlldered all thefe Things they commend when he compofed his Anti-myitic Cenfure, without the Myflicsy doubt he would have been a little more cautious, at leall: not to contradict both himfelf and Mr. Le Clerc , who at other times, and pleafe ye, commend the. Myitical Divinity, and efteem themfelves as mighty Proficients therein : Altho' it mutt be acknowledged, they have taken great Care to let it be known, that for the moil part they incline to take part againft the Myilics, and that in the main they have a very great averfion to that way : The Reafon whereof I conceive to be this, namely, becaufe Myftical Theology is not only the very fcourge of all vain Studies^ which yet they are wholly intent upon ^ but that 'tis alfo, if we may fpeak the Truth, the molt fpecinc Antidote againft Sociniamfm and Pelagianifm that poilibly can be. For all that Tneology is wholly founded upon the Prefence of God and his Operations in us, enabling us to put off and totally extinguifh Sin, and filling us with the purelt Light and Love of God, and reveal- ing and bringing us into the Living Knowledge of the molt Holy Trinity, and giving us a foretaile of all the Secrets and Heavenly Blellings thereof, in fo far as it fhall pleafe God to communicate them to thofe that Love his Name. So that 'tis utterly im- poflible for a true Myfiic to be a Pelagian or Socimany and vice verfa. XL That point would have thofe Things, which they are' more inclined to hate them* XL To oh- triple fome Things as Circles what I And who does fo ? Farrhafius upon the Parrhafian Cenfun. 115 PiVrbafms juft now noted, looked upon as Jo many 0- racles, is what he infers irom a Principle of Self-Love only. Ii? Mr. Vbiret commends Ibme Tilings, his Cu- iiom is to appeal to the Scriptures, and to every ones Conference examining itielf in the fight of God, and he ihcws, as far as he is able, the Reafons and Uaufes of whatfoever he propofes, as they very well know who have been at any Fains to conhde: his Writings; For in this Cafe Panha[:is is (from a Principle of Blind- nefs) guilty of that which he blames in others -, for all his CenLuie, and all the Reproaches that 'lis fil- led with, are like the Ancient Oracles pionouiKtd after an hnthufiaiiic way, without giving any Rcafon or Proof for what he fays*. XII. Who cannot but admire the Blind itefs of a XII. Of the Man that accules amotfoei of Sediteing well meaning Shameful People, who i* himfcif Univeiiahy Itifpe&ed of having Crime of Se- a tftitid to j educe and turn away Men from the Know- ducjng well- ledge and SerrTe of Sin, both Original and Actual, meaning Peo- ana elpecially c( that which is Internal a:iu Spiritual i p]e obkcled Of witndrawing and /educing them from Goa ana his ^ Pairnahus, Spint, the alone Author ajifl Fountain of all Light, Love and Venue in us : Of mhleading and fedut them from aeknowl aging and adoring the moil Holy Trinity and all the Myiteries and Wonders of God i Of hindering and [educing them from asking tiie liv- ing and lalutaiy Senile or the Scriptures ehibu^h the Afiiuance of God's Holy Spi.it ? Ail Which indeed make up the Life ana ^uoilance of Chiihi.umy : When yet he, whom he Very Imprudently and fa! accules of fuch Practices, does exhort all Men, as jar as tie can by his Writings, to fhofe Things, thai is, to tiie heccflrary Requilues and Caufes oi Sa.vatk-n, and to Salvation itfelf, whether Created or ls:cica;ed. Paubjjius moreover may know, that 1 never peffuaded any Bo~y to ieave their" Party, or any T&ing eife lelat- ing to taeir Liuc:. 01 Condition, and to coue over to mc ; 1 have laiher periuaded many, "to tiie contrary : 1 never teegt any Meetings, I teacn no BoJy, noi do I deiire to teach : i Write: And I a \i to mucti afbamM of wnat I do Wtite, that (agaifiit i^nfofar's Opinion) I puuiiih all to the Woiltf. And if in tome liangs, 1 have concealed my .Name, I will take care even now, by owning them, taut no Body ihali think i am aihamed of them ; But behold whi- tiier a Principle of ftlindnefs leads one ! Banl kiiiUeif is even afhamed of his Prkrrds fiiit Bi Hi h* 1\6 PdrticuUr Remarks * p. 35Z. He had * promifed to give an Account of Mr. Le Clerc's Books, as being well acquainted with them - He had commended thefe Words of Polibius, as the •f* Parrh. p. Rule and Standard of Hiilorical Fidelity ; j- To fup- t6g. prefs any matter of Faft in Hi/lory, is no lefs a LYE than te mention a Thing that was never done : And yet immediately in the Chapter of the Catalogue of Mr. LeClerc's Books, he conceals the firft and Principal of them all, viz. The Theological Epiftles of Liberius of Holy Love, tho' he knew very well that by the now difperfed Learned Men of the College of Saumur, (where they were Printed 3nd occaiiened great diiturb- ances) they were every where both in Ccnverfation || Vid. Epift. a»d in Print || afcribed to him. He is alfo alhamed Gal. pro de of his Epiilles of Infpiration, which he would feem "Wayeno con- to Father upon one M. N. And is it not from a Con- tra Parrhaf. fcioufnefs that he ought to be afhamed of what he V>34-&55* ^oes> t^lat ^c a flumes fuch a variety of borrowed -Names, as of Liberius, Parrhafius, Phereponus, and ma- ny more which I now pafs by ? The fame Perfon is alfo generally faid to propagate Sociniamfm, that is, to exercife the Art of Seducing. He is aihamed to own it ; I with he was likewiie alhamed of doing it. Finally, If Parrhafius by calling thofe, who agree with me in the fame Sentiments, Simple, or well-mean- ing People, take that Word in the Evangelical Senfe ior thoie, who laying afide all Artifices and Frauds both of their own Hearts, and of their own and o- thers deceitful Reaion, furrender themfelves fimply to God, and to Things Eternal to be inltru&ed by the Spirit and Wifdom of Chrijl, who in them is all Things j then he plainly thews himfelf to be a Scof- fer \ nor is it matter of Reproach, but rather a Com- mendation of me, that by what 1 have publifhed, iuch Simple Ones have been perfuaded of the Truth: For fuch, and no other, Chrijl delires for his Difci- ples ; to fuch the Father opens his Heavenly Trea- iures j and Chrifi thanks him for revealing them to the Simple and to Babes, and for hiding them frcm thole that are Wile and Prudent in their own Con- ceit, as being full of that Proud and fwelling Wif- dom of their own Reatbn, which they have acquired by their skill and lndultry, and in which they Glory. But, feeing 'tis evident that by thisObje&ion of Simpli~ e'tty, Parrhafius would denote, and poffibly ridicule too thofe, who he thinks, as to Parts, Subtilty, Learning and Wildem, upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 117 Wifdom, cannot compare with him or with Mr. Le Clerc ; he may know, if he pleafes, that this can be afcribed to nothing but to his own great Arrogance, by fuch as well know that many of thefe he con- temns, are not inferior to Panhafus himfelf either in Senfe and good Judgment, or in Solid Erudition, and that poffibly they could teach even him many Thing?, and fome of the greatelt Moment too, and that alfo in more kinds oi Learning than one ^ ail which fuch Scoffers as he, and thole that admire and are fo full of themfelves, are yet Ignorant of. XIII. From that Scoffing Spirit it comes that Parrha* XIII. Of fw calls what I have publifhed, Ridiculous ( Notions Parrhafius'* about Spirituals, or) Spiritualities. But the cafe as to Charge of Ri- them is fuch, that they who have read and underftood diculous Spi- them, the more Learned and the more Pious they have ritualities. been, the more they have eileemed them, and have even thanked me for what I publifhed, altho' they liv'd at a great diibnce, and were not before known to me, except perhaps by common Fame. And thajt Parrhajius may not ridicule them alfo, as if poflibly they deferved to be ranked among the Simple, I {hall take the Liberty, out of many, to name one, whom even Mr. Le Clerc will fcarce venture to call Simple 5 and that is the Honourable and Learned Mr. BOXLE. He, having read a little Book which I publifhed in French, entituled the Theology of the Heart, * was fo * La TheoL afTefted with it, and efteemed it fo much, that but a du Cceur, little before his Death he caufed his Thanks and Good Wifhes to be returned me for it. And many others equally Illuftrious for Biith, Learning and Ver- tue, have done the like 5 but, becaufe they are ilill alive, I fhail not name them. Some of the grayeft jDivines, yea ProfelTors of Divinity, famous for their Learning and Piety, have been fo far from looking ) upon that Book, which briefly contains the efTeiuials of Myitic Theology, and of every Thing that I have Written, to have nothing in it but ridiculous Spiritu- alities, that they have caufed it to be Tranflated and Printed in the German Language, after I had publifh- ed a Second Edition thereof in French. Thefe Things I am forced to mention, that every one may fee, and that Parrhafius alfo may fee (and be aihamed ) by thefe Examples, how much he deceives others or is deceiv- ed himfelf, when after his Scoffing way he fays, That: J [educe the Simple by the ridiculous Spiritualities which I H 5 ptl'fi* Il8 Particular Remarks ■ jiubiyb, and that therefore I ought to be afiamed of what I have done. This Accufari- Parrhafus^ or forrie Body for him, will poiTibly fay, on obliges vie that he did not fpeak thfcfe Things of any one parti- topublyb aCa- cular Book that 1 have publifhed \ but move genevahy talogue of all and indifcriminately of all, or" which tho' poinbly one the Books that or two may not deferve that Cenfure, yet it holds Ihave Printed, good as to moil of the reft, thai the Simple are often feduced by the ridiculous Spiritualities , which they contain. New to this acculatioii I can make no other Ani'wer, but by giving a fnort account of the Names and Contents of all the Books which I have publish- ed, that fo they that have a mind to judge of this matter, may be able, upon the Deft Information, to pafs a right Judgment upon it. But altho' I am forced and compelled to this by the Injultice of parrhafius's Cenfure j yet I fhall thereby fatisfy a great many, that dehre to know what I have publifhed : And at the fame time fhall fruitrate Parrbafms's Defign, which i , by raifing and fpreading fuch malicious and con- futed Calumnies againft my Books, to prevail with his Readers not fo much as to look into them, be- caufe-they either oppole or utterly deihoy his Errors, or fortify the Readers againft them. An account of The firit Work that i compofed and publifhed, was the Author's Printed in the Year 1677, under the Title of Cogita- own Works \ tiones Rationales de Deo, anima & vialo. Which feeing Cogitationes 'tis fufficiently known, there is no occafion for me Rationales to fay any Thing more particularly of it. Should I deDeo, gfr. lay nothing, they that have read that Work will ob- leive, that even then my aim and intention was to do what I could, according to the meafure of my Knowledge, not to feduce, but to bring all thofe tnat Love to Philofophize, and efpecially thofe that were Favourers of the Cartejian Philofophy, which I was not unacquainted with, to know, love and wor- ship God after a more perfect manner, and to recom- mend Peace and Charity among the feveral contending Parties of Chriilians. In the Year 1687, I Publifhed a Second Edition of the fame Work with many ad- ditional Notes and Acceflions, keeping the Text of the Firft Edition intire, and by itfelr*. I know indeed, that this Edition did a little difpleafe fome, becaufe in the Preliminary DifTertation I Shewed the Weak- nefs and Infufficiency of Reafon, and confequently of philofophical Religion, founded in Reafon, which fome- poies degenerates into mere Jtlxifm : Or becaufe in upon the Parrhafian Cenfwe. 119 ir.y Notes I advanced Things quite different from the Opinions of a great many, relating to Predelti- natioa sud Liberty ; but for that very Reafon it was the more acceptable to much the greater part of Readers \ and it ought to have been fo too to the reir, had they not been byafs'd fome how or other, when they faw the firic Edition, which they had ap- proved of before, Reprinted without the lea ft Varia- tion 5 and when they were at liberty to pafs over the Acceflions, although I prefer fome of them to the Text itfelf. But feeing both Editions have been now a long time out of Print, I will take care in the Third, which poffibly may come out very foon, that tne Text of the rirft fhall be alfo Reprinted without any Alteration, and if I make any Additions or Amendments, they lhall be infer ted in the Notes and jfycceflions only. xt to this I published my Divine Oeconomy in , Jffa wf5,ccntained in SixBooks,or in Seven final! Vol tun ns *'ie Dkwc in Oftavo& In that Work my Defign was, according Oeconomy, to the belt of my Knowledge and Ability^ to bring not Philofophers only, but all Lovers of true Di- vinity, and folid Piety, to Love God and their Neighbour, by propciing fuch Principles as are perfectly agreeable to the Holy Scriptures, to the Nature of Things, and to Peace and true Charity towards the feveral Seib of Chriftians, (I mean fuch as receive and agree in the eiTcntial Fundamentals of Salvation.) Which performance gave no fmall Catisfaction to a great many. But becaufe I there ftiewed that the Pelagian and Socinian Principles of Pbilofcpbical Reli- gion, founded in the Faculty of Reafon and in Criticks, are inconfiltent with the Fundamentals of Chriftiani- ty, and with the living Principles of the inward Operations of the Spirit of Chrift, and of Eternal Salvation , and every where confuted them, and particularly as they are often ftated in fome Books publiihed by Mr. Le Gere ^ therefore being mightily incenfed againlt the whole Work, in his Bibliotbequi he quarrels with it in fuch a manner, that he either conceals or perverts the Contents thereof, to dif- courage his Readers, if poiTible, from looking into it, although fuch Principles are there to be met with, as eafily folve all the Difficulties, concerning the Origin of Evil, Liberty and the like, about which he and Mr. Baile and others have lately raifed fuch a deal of Duft, and which the Atheifts boaft of as H 4 inexpli- 120 Particular Remarks ■— — ■ -i ' ""■"" " ' ■ " inexplicable, as many learned, who have given them- felves leave to confider the matter, have very inge- nuoufly acknowledged. Finally, thefe Six Books of the Divine Oeconomy, were alfo publifhed at Frank- fort, in Latin (Anno 1705, in two Volumns in Quarto) and though 1 did not Translate it my felf, yet I read and reviled it, and in fome places, but very rarely, made fome Amendments before it came out, having premifed towards the end of the Preface, an Advertifement concerning what particularly re- lates to it. Many have alfo wiihed to have the fame work publifhed in the vulgar Tongues, as the High and Low Butch, and even in EngliJJj ^ which had been done long fince, had not the largenefs of the Work, and the gieatnefs of the Trouble hitherto hindred it. Th Irenicum. ^^ htnicum Vniverfelle, accommodated to the quieting La Paix de " °f i00* Mens Minds 0} all the Parties and Pevfwafons of b nnes ames Chriftendom, came out alfo the fame Year in French, d ns Tous les occa^onec^ by the very bitter Cenfure of a certain P is 1 Divine, upon a Letter which I had written on that rurur*niCm* fubje£t, and which a Friend of mine had publifhed. V,nnitianiime In that Book l did not in the leaft fwerye ffom my Principal Defign of bringing Men over to the Love of God, and to mutual Love and Charity with one another, by the real Pradice of the EfTentials of Chriftianity, by conforming themfelves, where the Love of God and of their Neighbour requires it, to fuch things as are meerly acceUory,and which they may ufe with a fafe Confcience. The Book is now out of Print, but it came out (Anno 1702.) in the German Language, Tranilated from the French, in which I my felf made feveral Emendations. It is alfo fince Tranilated into Latin by a Friend of mine, and pub- lifhed with feveral other Traces in the Second Volumh of Solid Erudition-^ but in that, I altered and correct- ed many more Things than I did in the German EdiL tion, as I have fhewn in the proper Place. Of Solid Eru- ^Q tnek * ac*ded (Anno 1691.) Three Books' de Eru- dition &c ditione Solida, Superficiaria & falfa, which are lately * again publifhed more correct and more full, with a Defence of them. Thefe, a little after the firft Edi- tion, were Reprinted at Leipjick, with a Differtation by the Famous Thomafms preiix'd to them, concerning all the Books that I had then publifhed, wherein that worthy Perfon fhews that he had a very different Opinion of therp, from what Parrhafiu: has : But al- though' upon the Parrhafian Cetjfnre. 1 21 ' — ' ■'" -- "—» though he differ from me in fome Philofophical Points, yet. the good Things that he has faid of me and my Writings are fuch, That I cannot in Modeiuy repeat them, unlefs I may be permitted to fay, That they are direcTrly contrary to Parrhafius's wicked Suggeftion, viz. That I publifhed them with a Defign to feduge Mankind ; which, furely, whether it be a true or falte Cenfure, I fhall leave others, that either have, or will perufe any of my Writings, to Judge. , T/x little Book of the Education of Children, written Qf tjje gj^ by. way of Letter, was firft publifhed by another, and Cation of afterwards by. my felf, with fome Additions. That <;/;f/^g?/% Cook, although it met with fome great Ad verfaries among the Clergy, becaufe it was publifhed in High J)utch by a Religious Pallor, and believed to be writ- ten by another Perfon, who were therefore both Pro- fecuted by them with no fmall hatred ; yet none of my Books found more favourers and approvers every where, who alfo would nqt fuffer it to continue long In the French Tongue only. I have again publifhed it in Latin, with fevera.1 Additions, and have alfo fubjoined my Anfwers to all the Objections made againft it. I fhall fay nothing more particularly of this neither, unlefs it be that I would earneflly De- fire the Readers to take notice whether or no I fiave therein praclifed the Jit of f educing the Jimple (who are chiefly among Children,) by Ridiculous spiritualities, as Parrhajivs's Cenfure has it. In the Book Entituled, A Jbort Idea of the Pacifick , . . and My flick Theology, and of the Authors that have treated L ?:°giaB" r of the fame, which came out Anno 1702, I acknow- Myitic*,ejul- ledge that the General Idea of Mystical Theology, and que Aucto- alfo the Letter concerning the Myft'ical Authors, are mine, *um . ea The Latin Tranflation indeed is not mine ; But I brevior. revifed and made fome Additions to it, and in the lait Edition thereof, viz. in the Second Volumn of Solid Erudition, I enlarg'd it yet more. I writ them both in French, and they were firfr. publifhed in that Language, at the end of the German Theology, of which anon. So much for the Books of which 1 am the Author my felf. As to thofe that follow, all that's mine is Other Peoples only the" Labour of Publifhing, and fometimes of Books Public Tranflating them, with feveral Prefaces, and alfo fi*d ty me. fome AccelTions and Notes, together with the Con- tents or Arguments of the Chapters. M 122 Particular Remarks \, All Antonia m All Antonia Bourignon'j Works in Nineteen Volumes Bourignon'; i« French, excepting one or two Books tnat were JTorks. publifhed before. I contributed nothing to the Ger- man and Dutch Editions in Twelve or Fourteen Vo- lumns, nothing to the Englifb, into which Language Six of her Books are already Tranflated, and more are daily expected ; nor yet to the Latin Tranflations of one or two of her Books. But though any lingle Book may be had apart, yet the Bookfeller choi'e ra- ther, for Brevity lake, to reduce them all into to many Volumns. To them I prefixed an Apologetic al Pre- face, and fubjoin'd the Continuation of that Virgins Life, to her Death. And to the whole Work I an- nexed the Divine Vifion of John Engelbert, of the three Eftates, Ecclefiaflical, Political and Qeconomical, Tran- ilated into French. Soon after thefe Works appeared together in Nineteen Volumns. fome one inferted a moft invidious Account of them in the Afta Erudito- ruffl Lipf. To which I replied by a publick Adver~ * Monitum tifemenf. * But feeing that Advertifeoaent was, in my neceffarium at>fent:e> printed with fome Alterations, which made ad aftaLipfr- mX Expreflioiis too fharp and fe\ere- That, as to the c|Jf Stile, I cannot acknowledge for J^mine, The Author of that Account being thereby etsafperated, did in- deed write a Defence thereof ; but to 'fuch a Monfler of a Defence I thought no other Anfwer was due ex- cept thofe few Pages which were added to the firit Edition of the Books of Emdition, And now that the Author of that Defence is dead, and that I am perfwaded the Ktil of the Collectors of thofe Acts had no hand therein, I have left thofe Pages out of the hit Edition, not to give any occafion of Offence to any one. Now feeing the fcope and fubftance of Antonia Bourignotfs Books is, (as I have obferved in my Irenicum, and in the Letter concerning the My- ftical Writers) to convince Men of their Original corruption deriv'd from Adam, and exceedingly increa- fed by their own actual fins, and to peifwade them to renounce that Corruption by dying to the world- ly and Diabolical Life of the old Adam through the Power of the Crofs of Chrifli that being cleans d and purify'd, they may be made fit VefTels to receive the Holy Spirit promifed by Cbrijt3 and be by him illuminated, governed, and at laft glorified ; whether Parrhafius will with open Mouth call thefe Things Ridiculous, and fay that they are invented only to feduce Mankind, I do not certainly know : This I know, upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 123 iJL-J* ■ know, That not a few have been refcued from the Snares of the World and of the Devil, by reading the Books of this Holy Virgin ; and that a great many ftill will yet be delivered by them. The Books of the Imitation of Chrift, Tranflated Kempis com- by me into French, for the ul'e of Proteftants, under mum the Title of Kemps made common, were republished Anno 1701, more correct, and were very acceptable to all ferious Proteftants, fome of whom, as I am told, have imitated my Edition in the German Lan- guage. The two Tomes of the Theology of the Heart (of La Theologie which abovej have had two Editions, whereof the du Cocur. laft, Anno T697, is the larger and more correct. *Tis a Collection of fmall Tracts j The flrft Tome contains 1. A fmall Treatife called, The enlightned Shsfherd, being a Youth that kept Sheep, who by Purity and Simplicity of Heart, was brought to a wonderful de- gree of the Love of God, and to a furpnfing Know- ledge of him and his Works. 2. A Treatife of Chri- ftian Perfection, faid to be written by a Milaneze Woman, wherein fhe fhews admirably well the way, how, by denying every thing that is not God, we may arrive at a State of being governed moll purely and perfectly by God. 3. Another by the fame Per- fons of the Destruction of Self love/ of which fhe detects all the lurking Holes, that fo by driving it out of them, the Divine Operation and Prefence, and the Divine Love may at lait find a place in us. The Second Tome contains, 4. A Treatife of an unknown Virgin, concerning the Distinction between the fen- fible Graces or Operations of God, and thofe that are meerly Spiritual \ and alio of Eight forts of Prayer. 5. A Treatife of the Religious John de S. Sam/on, blind from a Child, of raifmg the Love of God to its higheft Degree by the way of Afpirati- ons. 6. An Abridgement of Myftical Theology, by J. Rigoleucy ihewing how one may adhere to God by Prayer and Purity of Heart. 7. A Treatife of the Education of Children. There were afterwards publiihed in French, Anno TaTheoloeie 1691, Three Dialogues of Catharine Adorna Fiefcana, _. l'Amour commonly called Catharine of Genoa, under the Title of the Theology of Love, which for the Method, Or- der and Contrivance of Divine Wifdom, far exceed all the Human Skill of the Learned, and which breath nothing but the moft Ardent, the molt Pure, and 1 24 Particular Remarks and mpft Tranfcendent Love of God. To thefe is added her Life ; and I think all of them are fuch that even the Malice of the Devils themfelves cannot fay, theydeferve to be laughed at, or that the well- meaning can be in any Danger of being feduced by d^lT cr^f *e Tb'e Theol°gy °f tl}e C*°fi °f Jefus c«"^ Tranflated i T pfp?1:/! by me from the Latin, inro French, and publifhed ae jei.uiuin. Amo l6p6< ftew in tne Works and Ljfe of thatHoly Matron, Angela de Foligni, who lived in the Thir- teenth Century, how a Soul, that gives ltfelf up to Prayer, and to imitate the Life of Jefus Chrijl by the way of the Crofs, may obtain the end of its Creati- on and Redemption, which is the moft pure Love of God, and the folid and certain Knowledge and Enjoyment of the Truth ; and how alfo it may at- tain to many fore-taftes of God and of Things Divine, which the infinite Wifdorn of God, difpenfeth as he thinks fit, to thofe that Love him. I alfo Tran- flated into French, and added to this the Fourteen Exercifes of the molt pious Blojiu: upon the Paf- fion of Chrisl. All which feeing they moft powerful- ly fet forth the folid Subftance of the Gofpel, and conduce to bring all Men to their chief and fupream End, none will fay that they contain Things Ridi- culous, or that they tend to feduce Men, without being guilty of the fame Malicious and Blafphe- mous accufation againlt the Gofpel of ' Chrijl it La^heologie jhe uaX (or German) Theology, which I Tranflated reelle ou Ger«- out 0f High j)utcjj jnto French, together with two manique. fmall Treatifes, one concerning the Reparation, and the other the Regeneration of Man, both in Low Dutch, and by me alfo Tranflated into French, to which Talfo annexed fome Spiritual and Myftical Aphorifms collected from the "Works of F. John de •?. Samfon, came out in the Year 1700. To this there is prefixed a Preface divided into four Parts, and is longer than the German Theology itfelf ; the fir ft Part Treats of Things relating to the Books themfelves , the next contains a fhorter and clearer Idea of the Myftical Theology, and is evidently proved even by Traitfc Hifto- the Suffrage of Human Reafon. This part was men- liqueconte- tioned above. The third contains an Apology for nant lejuge- Myftical Divinity againft an Hifioncal Treatife, writ- ment d'un ten in French, containing the Opinion of a Protejlant Proteftant, Divine ahout Myjlicd Theology j The chief Foundati- upon the Parrhalian Cenfure. 125 ons and Contents whereof are there overthrown and Refuted. In the fourth, the Grounds of a certain French Book, written by an Anonymous Abbot, a- gainft the fame Theology, are alto deftroy'd. To the whole Work, The Letter concerning the Myflicks, but lately mentioned, with the Catalogue, is fubjoyn- ed. The Approbations of the German Theology, which I have inferred in the Preface, both from many Eminent Roman Catholicks and Proteilants, do tufticiently vindicate that Book from the Calumny of being Ridiculous, or of tending to feduce Men into Errors: And as to Myflical Theology, What we have obferved * above, with Relation to the Nature -^ ° *o; and Defign thereof, does the fame thing. In the Year 1701, there was Reprinted with a Le Chretien new Preface, under tlie Title of The real Chriflian, in Ie£it two Tomes in French, I. The Life of the Marquefs de Renty ; which had been often publilhed in France, but was then grown fcarce ; and if Parrhafius reck- ons this among Deceitful and Seducing Fooleries, all thofe that fear God, and even fome of his own Friends will be againlt him : For although that molt illuitrious Per Ion was in his Heart and Aclions truly a Myitic, yea, and a Roman Catholick \ yet neverthelefs, fuch is the Power of Truth, that it extorted from Dr. Burnet, now Bifhop of Salisbury, to whom Mr. Le Gere dedicates fome of his Works, this (a) Teitimony, That that Life had mthing that (a) In Mi looks fabulous in it ; and that it contains fo many illu- Preface to the Jlfious injlances of Vertue, that he that Praftifed them Life of Mat* ought jufily to be looked upon as one of the greateft Ex- thew Hale. unifies that FranceZwf?* this Age produced, 2. In the Second Tome, is the Life of a certain Religious Lady, a Djfciple of Mr. de Renty, in whom the fame molt admirable and folid Vertues and Graces did fhine as in him. Mrs. Bourignon ufed always to carry along with her a little Eook, becaufe fhe greatly eiteemed it, wherein moil of our Saviour's Words were written, and to which fome Exclamations upon the Life of Grace, were annexed : Thefe I got Tranfcribed out of that Book, which I have by me, and ad- ded them to the end of this Second Volumn. Much about this time, a certain Friend of mine ~ „ . of fingular Learning and Piety, fentme a little HiftO'R ^ .~aint ry of the Life and Death of a certain pious Youth, £lc* who was one of thofe that fled from France upon the Account of his Religion, which Hilloiy he writ 126 Particular Remarks Catechifrae Chretien pour la vie interieure. wric upon his own Knowledge .* This I publiihed under me title of the Religious Refugee ; or the ex- emplary Life and Death of Werner us. In which, befides many powerful Examples and Motives to perfuade us to enter upon a truly Chriitian Lire, and to deny our [elves, \here is nothing that's Ridiculous, or that tends to feduce any one. The Chrifiian Catechifm for the Internal Life, written in French by Mr. Olier, when it was grown fo Scarce, that 'twas not to be found, I gave the Copy which I had to be Reprinted, Anno 1705, and to the fame I added fome Exclamations concerning the Life of Grace, which are very fuitable to that Subject. This Cate- chifm, having firft (hewn in a moll lively manner the Immenfe Wickednefs and Impotence of our Corruption, does fo clearly fet before us the abfolute necejjity of the Grace of Gody and that molt excellent ltate of the Chrhtian Life, which is illuminated with the Divine Grace, that very few or none have done the like in lo few Words , fo effectually, and in Exprellions which occur almoit every where in the Holy Scrip- tures themfelves. Having afterwards procured the wonderful Life of a Poor, illiterate Country Maid, exceeding all that we can imagine of the Chrifiian and Myltical Theory and Practice, I gave it with a Preface prefixed to it, to be reprinted with this Title, Tie School of the Pure Love of G?d, openzd to the.Learned as well as the Unlearn- ed, in the admirable Life of a Poor illiterate Servant Maid, named ARMELLE is ICO LAS, lately Deceaf- ed 77iBritanny .* Written ly aFr'itrJ of hers, devoted ti God, Anno, 170^. In this Life, the wonderful Soli- dity, and Subiimenefs of tke Things the treats of, whether Chriitian, Spiritual or Divine, both Specula- tive and Practical , feem to . vye with one ano- ther, which lhall have the Pjeierence : I con- fefs I have never feen any Thing of the kind like it: So that I was infinitely lurpnzed, when I was told, and afterwards read the fnort account which the Au- thor of the French Tracts eritituled, 7> The Hijfary of the JVbrks of the Learned, gives of this molt Divine Lift- : In that account he has purpofely fuppieffed the more folid and ufeful, and picked out all the rnoft acceilb- ry, external and infignificint Things he could light on, and which he thought People would either con- temn or laugh at, efpeciatty wherein they relate to the Externals, peculiar to the Roman-Csitholics, and which L'Ecole du pur Amour de Dieu, &c. * Hiftoire des Ouvrages des Savanf. Avril, Mai, Juxn, 1703. upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 127 which he often Comments upon very ridiculoufly. I cannot but wonder that in this he would imitate the method of Profane Wranglers, and that he did not confider, that by the fame manner, not only the Divine Writings of De Renty, Kempis, St. Bernard, but even the Holy Scriptures themfelves, as I have * elfe. * In my Letter where obferved, may be malicioully expofed to the of the Myjlics, Laughter and Ridicule of Impious Men. He is al- §. 28. fo miftaken and impofes upon his Readers in endea- vouring to perfuade them that what I have laid ei- ther in this Work, or in any other of thole that I have mentioned, relating to the Worfhip or Opinions of the Roman Catholics, is by me publilhed, defended and fo favourably represented, with a delign to tempt Proteftants to delert their fide, and to come over to the other j this is what never entered into my Mind, yea, 'tis directly contrary to my Opinion, which is only this, that Men, of whatever Party or Periuafion they be, mould not hate one another upon the ac- count of fome Externals, nor defpife fuch Things in others as aie fometimes molt Solid and Divine, nor reject them upon the account of fome AccefTories of little moment, which tho' they may be called Errors, are yet very confident with the Love of God, and with his fpecial Grace and Gifts. In a Word, it has al- ways been my Opinion, and ftill is, that every one, without changing fides, mould accuilom himfelf to fee and acknowledge the Operations and Power of the Spirit of Cbriji in others, iho' at the fame time, as to Ceremonies and fome particular Opinions they may behold fome Imperfections in them : This , I fay, we ought to do, to the end that, agreeing, liv- ing and growing up together in Chrillian Love and Charity, fo highly commended by ckift, we may be made fit to receive a fuller meafure of the promiled Spirit of Love and Truth, and thereby be made one with Cbrijt and the-Father in the Holy Spirit, according to the Prayer of Cbrift himfelf for us , and that thereby the World may know that CHRIST is fent by the Father, the true Saviour, to lave h;s ov\ n, by the Communication of his Holy Spirit, from their Sins, and to deliver them from Diabolical Hatred, intro- duced by Cain and Satan upon the account of Exter- nal Worihip j and that he may reitore us all into the perfect bond of Eternal "Union with God, which is ! Charity and Life Eternal. The =* 1 2o Particular Remarks We Spiritual The fame Year having had fent me from abroad a Trans of M. Manufcript of the moil Celebrated Madam Guion, ne- Guion. ver Printed before, which to me feemed to be of great worth, Importance, and a Key to all her "Writings, I determined not only to publifh that, but alfo to get the other little Treatifes of that Author, which were abroad in the World before, to be reprinted together. Here I ought to take notice, that in the firit Edition of her two Trafts Publifhed in Holland, 1699, I did no- thing but only advifed and encouraged the Printing of them : And this I do, becaufe I have been inform- ed that fome who, according as they deferve, highly eileem thole Tracts, have taken it ill, that in the Preface to the Firit Edition, altho' he that writ it does for the molt part fpeak well of every Thing, yet that he feems to exprefs fome Things not only coldly, but even with an Ironical Air. This Preface then is not mine ^ but only that prefixed to the Second Edition in * Les Opuf- French, with this Title, * The Spiritual Trafts of Madam cules Spiti- J.M. B. de la Mo the Guion, enlarged with a Treatife tuels de Ma- of hers never before Publified, called the TORRENTS, dame J. M.B. with a General Preface concerning the Author's Perfon and de la Mothe DoSrine, and the Perfections raifed againjl her. Thofe (juion, nouv. Tracts are, 1. A jbort and eafy Method of Prayer \ Edit, Sec. which indeed has given fuch general Satisfaction, that it is already Publiihed in High and Low Dutch, and in Latin and Englijh. z. That rare and truly pro- found and incomparable Treatife, that real and laiiing Monument of Divine Wifdom, the Torrents, wherein under the Emblem of Torrents of Water are defcribed the admirable ways of Faith, whereby thofe Souls are Purified, who are here united to God, and whom he thinks fit to chufe out to be the great Inftruments of his Hand in this World. 3. The molt fublime, and molt folid Interpretation of the Canticles of Solo- mon, as it is truly referable to thofe Souls ; And then f Regie des 4. the next Year, a Tract of hers in French, \ en- . AiTocies a tituled, a Rule for the Affociates of the Infancy of Jefus, l'Enfance de the Model of Perfection for all States, &c. Which was Jefus, &c. but lately tran Knitted to me from England. Laflly, I publiihed in Latin a fmall Treatife call'd, Jj Chriftiana- || an eafy Infinuation of the Chrijtian Vertues, accommodate turn virtutum ed to all Capacities, which was put into my Hands by Infinuatiofa- a Learned and Pious Friend for that end j the Titl« cilis. briefly hints at the Subject it treats of j but my Preface prefixed to it (hews it more at large. upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 129 I have moreover in my Hands a Treatife written Faith and by another Anonymous Friend, not only Illuftrious Reafon com." for his Learning and Piety, bur alfo for his many o- pared. ther fmgular good Qualities ; it treats of Faith and Reafon, with fome Acceffions concerning PeyfeBion and Felicity , wherein Mr. Lock's pernicious Principles u \ which Mr. he Clerc has alfo adopted as his own ) which proftitute Divine Faith to be trampled upon by profane Reafon, are utterly overthrown : But fee- ing that Treatife is not yet * publifhed, (tho* very * This was ipeedily defigned for the PrefsJ I cannot yet appeal face Printed to that as I have done to the reft, whether Parrhafius in Latin, and does jufU.y or unjuftly fay, that all that I have Published is hut very ("of my own or ethers) is nothing hut lidiculous Spiritu- lately Tranf~ alities, and that I ought to be afhamed of endea- lated andPub* vouring fo much to feduce People with them : Whe- lifted in Eng~ ther this be Co or not, any one that will take the liffu trouble, may better inform himfelf fiom the above- mention W Books, if he will but look into them, than our Parrhafius or he Cle>c% who againlt all his own Rules of Critics, pretends to Cenfure fuch Things as he never read, or which poflibly in the main he never looked into. Such is the Serpentine Difpofition of our Corrupt Nature, or of Pelagian'ifm, that 'tis afraid, fhould it liilen to the Words of Divine Truth, of be- ing Xnchanted with them j and therefore it purpofely turns its Ears away from them, even as -they do of whom the Royal Prophet fpeaks. f Lingua venenum pejiifera geruvt, f Pfal. S& Aurefque claudunt Confilm, velus 4, 5, Obturat Jutes callida afpis. £hie Magi cos vietuit Sufurros. XIV. Parrhafius from the Principles of Self- Love above- XIV". Parrha* mentioned,in this iiiiCenfiire3calls thofedivineWhifpers fius by objeft- (Sufurros)Fanatical ways of Speaking apt toDeceive.Should ing Fanatical one ask him, what thofe Fanatical ways are, or what he ways of Speak" means by thofe Words jtheQueition would nota little gra- ing, does not vel him. 1 will then anl'wer it for him, & that more truly, know whqt ht A Wofcs, or Speech, is the Index of the Mind, yes. fays. 'tis the image thereof. Speak that I may knpw thee, The origine of faid one ; And Chrisl, How can ye, being Evil, [peak the Modes of Good Things \ For out of the abundance of the Heart, the Speech, where-* Mouth Sptaksth. j| He that limply conceives in his Mind of Three are certain Objedc,aocs not therefore exprefs them in Words: the chief, and For in order to this 'tis neceilary tnat he conceive (or the Reafons think of) them with Affection \ and not onlyfo neither, thereof but that others alfo may conceive them, and receiye || Matt, IU thejn wiih Affection, and that they be dill more and 34. I mpre t$o Particular Remarh Mill I 'I 1 '*" ■ II II HI I ■■ I ■ Ml I . I - more propogated from one to another. Speech there- fore, efpecially when 'tis Dogmatical and comes from a found and ferious Mind, infers and denotes Three Things, viz. The Conception of the Object in the Mind, Affection towards the fame, and the Defne of Propagating it. But the Object when 'tis Great, the belt, and the molt valuable, when 'tis Stable, Inter- nal, Spiritual and Divine •, when moreover the Affecti- on of the Mind is ftrongly, fincerely and deeply touched and penetrated therewith, and that even to the Spirit, and after a Divine Manner : When, final- ly, thefe Things being feen and approved of by God the fearcher of Hearts, areaflifled, fo that the Mind thus afte&ed, and big to bring forth Things by Words, is Influenced and Watered by God and his Graces, and in Elocution Experiences the Affi- Itance of God ; then in fuch a Cafe, The wgys of Speaking cannot but carry in them fomething great and excellent, they cannot but Eccho out fomething Magnificent, they cannot but favour of fomething that's very inward, lively, fincere, divine, and al- together Incomparable ; but when the Object is earthly, tranfitory, fading, corrupt, trifling, and for an immortal Man of little or no Moment ; then indeed, feeing 'tis but reafonable that our Concepti- ons and Affections lhould be taken up with them ei- ther very little or not at all ; It may likewife be reafonably expected that we lhould either fay no- thing of them, or fpeak but very fparingly of them, and that in terms importing but very little Efteem. But, feeing Man is at prelent wholly corrupt, and feeing his Understanding and his Heart and Aifedi- *ons are turned away from Divine Objects, and from loving them, hence it comes, that initeadof conceiv- ing and thinking of great Objects he is taken up with vain, foolifh, fading Trifles, and even with ncthirg at all \ and inltead of Objects which he ought to Love and cherifh in his Affections, he not only takes up with fuch flight and wholly inconfiderable Matters (which cannot long fatisfy him) but is chief- ly delighted with himfelf, whom out of Seif-love he greatly covets to adorn, and magnify, and to have himfelf highly eiteemed by others, not indeed by diredly Shewing or expofing thofe his fhameful Af- fections, but by Shewing how excellently well he is skilled in the Ideas, Conceptions and Knowledge of thofe trifling Things, which he ufes all his Art to exprefc and paint out in Words accommodated to tht upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 1 31 the corrupt Tafte. and to gratify the Ears of others. At which indeed other blind Men, who are not at all acquainted with more fublime Obje&s, may be, and often are aitoaimed, fo that they highly eiteem the wretched Idol of fuch a filly Man (according to his firft I mention J wondering how fuch an infinite variety of fuch mighty Trifles and Impertinencies (which out of blindnefs they look upon as TreafuresJ could be fo well lodged and fo orderly difpofed with- in the narrow compafsof one Man's Brain \ and how he could fo handfomely cloath them with Words, and thereby expofe them frequently and at large to publick Sale. Three forts of We have therefor Three forts of Speakers, who speakers ; ufe Three forts of Speech ; although they may be all which are re* reduced to Two. ducedtoTwa. The firit fpeak of Things Eternal, Divine, Solid, and Inward \ and of fuch Things as relate to them ; and this they do in a fimjjle, fincere, lively and Di- vine manner. The fecond fort fpeak of Things External, Peri fri- able and Fading, and which of themfelves are no- thing ; and this they do either fparingly, flowly and contemptuouily, or they fay nothing of them at all: Now thefe two are truly in one and the fame Mind, which only confiders the variety of the two Objects. The third fort do alfo fpeak of the fame Exter- nal and Traniitory Things ; but they do it after ^various ways, which are more or lefs affected, and which are painted and difpofed after an infinite Number of ways, to raife our Eiteem, and according as they think they can find their own Intereft, or advance their Reputation by them. But it mull be obferved, that as to the Objects The true Rea- conceived, the Affections and Modes of Speech, the fon ™hy Par- fir II and laft of thefe are direftly oppofite to one rhafius calls another; for the tint extolling folid Things only, the Myjlical fpeak of every thing relating to the latter as vain ways of fpeak- and unworthy of an immortal Soul. Yea, they look ™& Fanatical, upon them as the Snares and Bands of Satan, where- with that Enemy of Souls endeavours to bind and hinder them from Afpiring after Heavenly Objects, for which they were made; and what thefe fay, they do it in a moving and penetrating way, and are fupported with good and folid Arguments drawn from the Scriptures and found Reafon. On the other fide, the Praters of the third Clafs, when they fee I 1 all Particular Remarks all the it Wares either torn to Pieces or defpifed by them, and being t he. eby greatly offended with them, and not finding in the Scriptures or in found Rea- fon -3ny Argument or Shelter either for themfelves or again'*" them, thty are forced to betake themfelves to the Armory of Self-love, to Difiimulations and Frauds, and to loofe Declamations and Rhetorical Flourifhes, wherewith to Colour and Difguife aH thofe finiflrou* Artifices that they find themfelves obliged to ufe againll them. And this is the Genuin Reafon why Parrhafius (as belonging to this third Clafs) without giving any Realon, rails fo as he does againft the My flicks (who are of the firft and fecond ClafsJ and againit their ways of fpeaking, all which he Traduces as Fanatical : That is, he confiders them as ways where- by Things Divine, Eternal and Inward are folidly, lively, fincerely and erficacioufiy piopofed ; other- wife than he and fuch as himfelf do with regard to their own filly trifling Fancies, or their Imaginary Kotions in Divinity, which by the help of corrupt Reafon and Criticks they Extract from the Letter of the Scripture, and which after ail, are nothing but Dry, Barren and Airy Speculations j and fuch as have no other Reality nor Exigence, but what they have in their own Corrupt Imaginations. XV. Why XV. Again Theie two forts of fpeakers have each Parrhalius their refpective Auditors, who favour and are pieas'd Accufes thofe with them \ and who are alfo contrary one to the that are ilea- other. fed with My- The firft, when they fee that fome upon hearing Jiical things, their words, are conveited to God and to heavenly of fc eking to Thing?, and contemn every thing elfe, they afcribe Ampofeupon the Glory thereof not to themfelves, but to God, themfelves, and they own that their Converiion is fiom God, that they are touched by God (to whom they defire to offer up their Faculties to receive his Operations^) and that they are therefore the Sons of God, whilit others who are affected and wrought upon by trifles and empty Words are of the World, and continue (a) l Jo. 4, 5. f0# faj xhey are of the World, therefore f peak they of the World, and ihe World heareth them. We are of God, Hi that knoweth Gcd> heareth us , he that is not of God, heareth not us. Ht.dy know we the Spirit of Truth, and the Sprit of Error, or DELUSION, On upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 135 On t.ie other hand, the lair, who are full of Self- love, eiteem themfelves and ^heir Followers only, fo that all the Glory c,' their Acquirements may be af- •cribed to themfelves, to their ov/n Indullry, Pene- tration and Inge: iuity ; therefore they ufe to reckon only themfelves and their Followers among the lear- ned Men, and among the great, amazing and cele- stial Genius's of their Age : But if they fee fome others, who poiTibly were once either their Hearers or Companions, go over to the firfr, leaving and de- fpiiing thofe amufing trifles which they formerly fa much loved, yet becaufe of their blindnefs they do not fee the Caufe of this change, viz, Tiiofe more Divine Objects of the Soul, and their inward Affe- ctions and Operations, which draw and attract the Mind to them, they cannot chufe but be aitonifhed at fuch an Incident, they muft defpife the unknown Caufe thereof, and afcribe it to a certain Simplicity of Mind, and fay, That it proceeds from a facility or Propenfwn of the Soul to deceive it/elf } juft as Parrbafms does here in our Cafe, when he fays, That thofe that fuffer themfelves to be led by Divine My'iical Authors to thofe Things which to him are Invifible, are therefore deceived by the fanatical wajs or Terms of the My flicks , becaufe they are very forward and apt to deceive themfelves ; that is, becaufe they are very willing to fuffer themfelves to be drawn and influenced by the efficacious Operations of a Diviner fort of Objects, which to Parrhafius, who is fo blind that he can neither fee nor underfland them, feem to be nothing but Delufon or Deception. But this Parrha/ius abhors ; for to one that is guided by Self- love, it feems ablurd to furrender and refign iiimfelf to thofe Objects, Words or Promifes, which his blind Reafon cannot firit comprehend. In fuch a cafe he would willingly deceive himfelf fays he ! But good Mr, farrhafus, $id you never fee any Blind Men put themfelves into the Hands of an Operator or Ocu- lifr, and fubmit to his Operations and Methods of Cure, although they never faw him, and that yet for all that they did not deceive themfelves, but acted very wifely ? Or did you never read in the Scriptures (a) That he that would be wife in Chrijlt rnuft look upon all Self-love, or the Unfdom of the Flejb, (a) l Cor. if as fooli/bnefs-^ yea, that he ought to be crucify'd ana 3°«#& ?. i& die to it j and that though it was gain before, yet that Philip 3, St it ought tQ be caft away like Dung, thai we may be &c» I > found 134 Particular Rev? ark. found in Cbrjjt, And know him and the Power of his Death and RefwYtBion, and that he may be made to us that Wifdom which can never decei ve us { XVI. Finally, Parrhafius obferving well enough, that fcarrhafius t^lo^e w^°- are anCe(^ed with and addicted to Things afcrihes to his ^°^ an(* Spiritual, are not therefore ftupid ; but that Adverfories t^le" Mind, Understanding, Heart and Affe&ions are really exercifed and taken up in a very lively manner j but not feeing, or nor knowing that God is intimate- Jdverfaries empty Imagi- nations for Religion^ ly prefent in them, working in and filling the Soul and all its Faculties with the Operations of his Love \ hence he dares not indeed afcribe to them (as fome have done out of Derifion and by reafon of their Ignorance in the Myltical Theology ) a State of Quiet'ifm or fimple Reft, and an abfolute Privation of all Thought. Our Antagonist acknowledges that they think and conceive, and Exercife other Acts of the Mind ; but according to his fcoffing way, he calls them Imaginations, and thefe indeed Empty, or vain ; namely, becaufe he is wholly Ignorant of the Tran- fcendent Reality both of the Object that fills them, and ot the Internal, Spiritual and Inviiible A&s of the Mind itfelf. And becaufe the Myfticks efteem and lecommend this inward Occupation of the Facul- ties of the Mind with God, and with his Operati- ons and Love, given and kindled therein by the Holy Spirit, as the EfTence and Life of True RE- LIGION, and as that great Commandment upon which the Law and the Prophets hang ; and feeing that Occupation or Imployment of the Mind and its Faculties with God working in them, is as has been faid by Parrhafius, ranked among vain and Empty Imaginations-^ hence it comes that he adds, that thofe who liften to the Myfticks, Take up with empty Ima- ginations for RELIGION. XVII. Religj- XVII. That we may not,after having exploded thofe on as defined things, remain altogether without Religion ^ he is or commended very ambitious to fhew us' forthwith what RELI- ly Parrhafius, GION k, via. Good Manners grounded upon the Hops how much it of another Life propo fed in the Gofpel. It would be a way deceive ? Malicious ilander, did Parrhafius f which 1 do not charge upon him,) thereby intend to infinuate, that thofe of whom he fpeaks, efteemed Good Manners^ lei's than they ought : For although Manners feem to appertain more to the Externals than to the Inter- nals of Chriftianity, yet becaufe we ought to glorify God in Body and before Men, that thereby they may i be upon the Parrhafian Cenfure. 135 be moved to turn unto God, the Chriflian Religon cannot be perfect without them, and indeed Good Manners are of great value when they proceed from a j Heart fas the Myfticks with the Scriptures teach) thirfting alter God, and which is fincere and hum- ble, and that always implores the Ailiitance, Strength and Wifdom of the Holy Spirit, which Defires to pleafe God only, and piopofes to itfelf the Glory of God alone in all Things, that fo God may be glorified through us, and through others, now and for ever. But when they proceed from Self- love, which feeks only its own Praife, its own Pleafure, and its own Advantage ; and from a Heart which is Proud and that trulls in itfelf, rejecting or deriding the inward A (finances, Light, Motion, and Government of God ; then inch Good Manners, though in a Political Senfe, and according to the Rules of Honeity, they be very good, yet in the fight of God they are nothing but an Abominati- on j juft like the Good Manners of the Vharifees, who gave God Thanks, that they w*re not (a) as other (a) ^ ■* Men, Extwtiouas, Unjujt, Adulterers \ That they fafted IO> &c* often, andgaue Tithes of all that they had, and made long Prayers , when yet Christ affirms that by this Righteoufnels (h) none lhall enter into the Kingdom (&) Mat* 5. of Heaven j that although they believe themfelves 2°. to be Righteous, and behave themfelves civilly be- fore Men, yet that (c) God knows their Hearts, and (c\ Luke 15. abominates thofe things that Men ejteem^ and hence it jj% is that (d) comparing them to whited Sepulchres, he de- nounces many grievous Woes againlt them. Butac-(i) Mat. 1$. cording to Parrbafius's Maxim and Religion, they 27, g$V. ought rather to have been prailed and thought happy, forafmuch as they had Good Manners founded in the hopes of another Life propofed in the Vfalms and other Books of the Old Testament. Who does not fee that under thefe Words, Parrhafius, who in all his other Writings (e) does fo much cry up the Socinian Cy • i ;-, Probity and Sanctity, would either conceal or intro- ^noi"e>Tom. duce the Pelagian Religion, which is proud and tainted ?• P* ?**• witw the Poyfon of Self-love, and which glories in rejecting the molt inward Operations of God ? But how can true Sanctity dwell in a Heart, from whence the Author of Holinefs, the Holy Spirit of God is banilhed, and which is fo proud that it feoffs at all the Operations thereof/ and which will nether ac- knowledge its own Impurity and Impotence, nor hum- I 4 M* i%6 Particular Remarks bly defire to be touched by the healing hand of God in its moil Inward Parts? What alio czn'tbat other life be to a corrupt Man, who feoffs at all Inward or Myftical Things, but every thing that's grateful and pleafant to corrupt Nature ^ having withal a due regard to Honefty, fo that from this abi'urd Piir.ciple, fome have almoit fancied to themlelves that the Life of God and of the Heavenly Heft, may pofftuly be imployed in Mathematical Contemplations, unlefs- pofiibly fome Parrhafian Criticks fhould rather imagine that it is taken up in publifning the Clailick Aethors with curious Notes, or in fome other thing very grate ful and acceptable to Men of a Critical Taile j or per- chance in thofe Songs and Dances which Mr. Le Clerc has placed at one fide of that lucid Globe, which in his Notes upon the New Teftament he fometimes fubftitutes (Symbolically, as he fays) for ._ the Prefence of God, and at whole (a) Ri-ht hand, he (tfjvid.Not. imagines that Chrift fits in Heaven, not knowing that ad Mark io. jn tJJe other Life, things will not be communicated 9. alt) Mat. tQ U3 |n ^nigma's^ but in Truth and in Reality, fo 13. 16. and that the Spirits of Juil and Holy Men fhail be con- 5. p. John fummated jn one (h) with God, and in God himieif *4* ^' even after that moft intimate way of Union whereby (*jVid.John the Son of God is one in aiKi witrl God tne Fa- 11' c r ther. The ocop°l Now to this Life Eternal, namely a full and mod true Religion, 'mXymX& Union with God, we mult be led and pre- andwbant paHid hy the CHRISTIAN RELIGION, requires . whereby all fuch things as obflruct that molt intimate fOiCor. 15. ijnjon ;n and with God, and which are the hin- iv« drances that God is not to us (c) all ra aU> mu{l be removed \ and from which like wile we mult leajn how and by what means we may again put oiufelves into the Hands of out Creatoi. But what have l'epaiated us from that Union with God, and are ftill hindrances to it, are Piide of Keait, and every thing that helps to cherilh .the fame, fuch as our own Wifdom, our own Ratiocina- tions, our own Conduct, and the fetting our Hearts upon Objects which are Dot God ^ our glorying in \Vifdom and in the Knowledge of many Things whence we feem to be like Gods, knowing by our own Licuitry the difference between Good and Evil ^ and finally the deiire and delight of Nature in PJenty of External Things, and the fweet fati^ladion we take in them. But in order to promote that divine Uni- on, Ik upon the Parrhafian Cenfnre. 137 ■ — — — — — ~— — — ■ on, we muft put away and hate all thefe Things, and we mult turn our Hearts, and all our moll in- ward Faculties with all poffible fincerity and fimpli- city to the Will of God alone, whereupon the heal- ing, perfecting and uniting Operation of God will enfue. . Now that the Omnipotent God might powerfully ^^vmwaty and admirably accompliih all thefe Things, by re- JcCnU^T°tT°Iir moving fome and promoting others 5 and being will- m°J' jJjJ^ ing to apply the moft powerful means that was pol- "ZLIGION fible, even that by which we were Created, he out *f °Ppofed to of the inrinite A by Is of his Love and Wifdom wrought ™* Parrhafian and brought to Light that moft ftupendious Miracle, Xehg207j. which even the Angels themfelves can never fuffici- ently adore, the Myltery of Godlinefs, the Life and Power of the CHRISTIAN RELIGION^ TU namely, the WORDofGOD, by which all things Johl* *• were made, which is from the beginning with God, which is God, the only begotten Son who is in the Bofom of the Father, Omnipotent, Inrinite, Eternal and for ever BleiTed, was MADE FLESH j who hiding his Eternal Glory from us, firifd himfelf of all things and philip, 2 ~ humbled himfelf, being made Man, the humbleft of " Men, and becoming a little Infant, unable either to fpeak or to govern himfelf, and committed to the Government of the Divine Wifdom which dwelt in a poor Virgin and a Carpenter ; and who lived in the greatest fimpiicity, in denying himfelf, and in all forts of Wants of worldly Wifdom, of Plenty and of Pleafures ; in Contempt, in Pains of Soul and Body, in which after he would Dk and be buried j ari^ fmg from thence by the Power of God, he returned to a glorious Union and Life Eternal with the Father, and from him obtained and fent the Holy Spirit, that in the Power and by the Condud: there- of we alfo may return to the Father by that felf-fame way which the Son trod in before us, and has re- commended to us, faying, I am the Way, the Truth John 14. oV and the hife\ no Man comes or returns to the Father but by me 5 That is, none is fit and worthy to be reuni- p ted to God, unlefs laying afide' all Malice and all l *&'Zt §j*' Guile, all Pride, all Self- wifdom and vain Reafoning, all Self-love and every Luft of Corrupt Nature, he be born again in the Childlike Spirit of Chrift, un- lefs every one give up and reiign himfelf to the Spi- rit of Chrift our God, that he may be Incarnate again, as I may lay, after a fecondary but living and i?3 Particular Remarks Gal. 4. 19. and real manner, in us, that he may be formed \n us, that he may take to himfelf our Mind, our Faculties and ail that's ours, and do and work in them (in every one according to his Capacity,) all that he did and wrought in the Humanity of Chrift himfelf : So that we may be made by him and in him as nm horn Babes, knowing nothing but to dejire and feek continually from the Wifdom of God, That fineere Milk of the WORD (the quickening Power and Strength of God in Spirit and in Truth,) whereby • \iy®- w ®s*, The Word made Flefi, was nourifhed, That by it we may grow in the fame word Incarnate, partaking of his Lite and Spirit of moil huir.Dle Ex- inanition, Simplicity, Afflictions, Infamy, Death, Burial, RefurrecHon and Afcenfion into Heaven, where finally our Heart and Converfation is with him, and from whence by the fame Holy Spirit rul- ing then in us without any let or molellation, and working more fully all good Things in us, do thenceforward proceed all our Underiianding and Knowledge, and Ability, and Government, and fi- lially all our words tending to the Glory of the Fa- ther through Chriit iii the fame Spirit, even until* that Omnipotent Power fwallow up all the remains of our Mortality into Eternal Glcry. This, this is that true and moll heavenly CHRISTIAN RE- LIGION, fo much commended in the Holy Scrip- tures, and by thofe My (Heal Authors whom Parrha- Jius defpifes ; and this alone is enough to (name the miferable Pride of Man's Heart, his Mad Wif- dom, and the fooliih Confidence of Human Reafon, glorying in its own impotent Induihy, Activity and Operations, whereby, being horribly impofed upon by Satan, they imagine and per f wade themfelves that they can return to the Father, to Life Eternal^ and to the higheit Perfection, by Study, Reafoning, Philofophy, Critick, and gathering together infinite • h