Idea in God is the first cause of well acting 1. It borroweth not 2. Hence it s meerly imprinting and that wisdome in the creatures is imprinted and is the impression or Image of it 3. Hence the Rules of Art as in God are eternal but as in the frame of Creation they are in time if there had been a man from all Eternity he must have been Animal Rational the definitions of things are eternal Truths whatever becomes of the things themselves 2. The other Efficient cause of the decree is the will of God to which we ought to attribute the greatest liberty for either he acts freely or by necessity if by necessity then either by outward necessity that which is called the necessity of coaction as forced by an external power but this can not be he doth his pleasure or inward necessity the necessity of nature as fire burneth and as all natural causes act ad extremum potentiae then he had done all things absolutely possible but he acted not as a cause by necessity nor by nature but as a cause by counsel most freely Rom. 9. 18 19. 2. The goodness of his will 1. He willeth himself as the chiefest good 2. He willeth what is agreeable to himself 3. He seeth it to be such and willeth it as such otherwise he might will that which is contrary to himself 4. Hence because he seeth it to be agreeable to himself and best Consideratis Considerandis he willeth it Eph. 1. 5. 3. The Efficacy of his will 1. He willeth the Being and the manner of the Being and acting of a creature that it be such a creature and so qualified 2. Hence â—e willeth some to be natural causes and some to be contingent and act as causes by counsel 3. Hence he willeth that man shall act freely 4. Hence he doth not put any necessity or constraint upon mans will for then he should act contrary to his own decree Rom. 9. 19. which can not be 1. He willeth what is agreeable to himself 2. Hence his will presupposeth a good and therefore willeth 3. But it presupposeth none in the creature but willeth and worketh it 4. The Independency of his will it depends not upon any cause out of himself only distinguish between Eupraxie and well acting as it leads to God and is agreeable to himself and therefore willeth it And that the Creature may thus act he willing worketh it voluntas decreti the will of Gods decree maketh a thing good voluntas mandati the will of his Command enjoyneth the practice of that which is good hence his commanding will is the Rule of obedience And God is Omniscient and Omnipotent but not Omnivolent Dan. 4. 35. The last particular in the description of the Efficiency of God is that the honour of Efficiency ought to be attributed to all the three divine persons 1. Efficiency belongeth to God as God therefore to all the three persons 2. Hence a cooperation of the persons 1. They work the same Ioh. 5. 16 17. 2. They are equal in their working 3. Hence the causal power a divine person putteth forth is not of another but of himself as God 3. Yet a distinct manner of working according to their distinct manner and order of Subsistence which order 1. Is no order of dignity for they are coequal 2. No order of time for they are co-Eternal 3. No order of Exsistence and nature for they are Relates and are coexsistent 4. It is an order of origination or first in numeration God works by knowing and being of himself and breathed after by himself Hence 1. The Father works of himself by his Son and Spirit and the origination of things and especially Creation is attributed to him 2. The Son worketh from the Father by the Spirit thus the dispensation of all things is attributed to him and especially Redemption 3. The Spirit worketh from the Father and the Son by himself and thus the consummation of things is attributed to him and especially the work of application Joh. 16. 13. 15 16 17. the parts of Efficiency followeth namely Creation and Providence Quest What is Creation Answ Creation is that whereby God made the World out of nothing very good in six dayes some Creatures were made Immediately out of nothing as the third Heavens the Angels and the first matter and some mediately out of nothing as the Elements and the Elementaries and amongst those last of all man was made 1. Creation is that whereby God made the World for it was made or not made if not made then no causes of its Being then no matter nor form nor end which cannot be and either God made it or it made its self then it was the cause of its own Being and should be before it was which cannot be 2. Out of nothing or else out of some first then out of himself for there was no other first Being then of the same Essence with him this cannot be therefore made out of nothing or if the World had been Eternall then a numberless company of dayes had been before this day then this day had never been there is a Succession of things and times therefore the World not Eternal a parte post 3. Very good goodness is a fitness for the end 1. Vniversal in respect of the last end to which all ought to serve namely the glory of the Creator 2. Particular subordination of things and ends one to another until it cometh to the last end Gen. 1. ult 4. In six dayes Gen. 1. ult The parts of the World are Creatures made out of nothing either Immediately or mediately Immediately and were perfect or imperfect perfect as the third Heavens and Angels Gen. 1. 1. Job 38. 7. Hence these were not made out of any preexistent principles 2. Hence their matter and form stood together immediately out of nothing and are constant natures 3. Hence not subject to generation nor corruption cannot acquire nor lose their form because made and continued by Gods immediate hand 4. Hence everlasting Math. 6. 20. 22. 30. The third heavens is that most stately and glorious habitation where God is seen as it were face to face 1. Cor. 13. 12. Math. 18. 10. The Angels were Spirits made to praise God by being ministring Spirits Hebr. 1. 7. 14. 2. That which was made immediately out of nothing was imperfect was the first matter it was a first matter for it was not of the Elements nor of any pre-existent principle 2. Made out of nothing as the third heavens the Angels Gen. 1. 1 2 3. It was imperfect 1. Without form 2. Hence no special nature 3. Hence no qualityes 4. Hence overspread with darkness which was not created but is a meer privation of light 5. Hence the first matter was meerly supported by the power of God otherwise it would have fallen into nothing called Earth in respect of its deformity inferiority and vileness Next follows the Creatures mediately made out of
it is not to make an effect without a cause but to supply the place of the ordinary cause and means by his own power immediately 3. Providence is either Conservation or Government Conservation which is that whereby the Being and qualities of the Creatures are continued 1. The Creatures have their Being from God 2. Hence depend upon that same causal power to continue their Being 3. The cessation or withdrawing of that power will be the dissolution of the Creature Psal 104. 29. 2. Government which is the guiding of the acts of the Creatures to their ends 1. They were made for some end else in vain 2. They must act otherwise how can they attain the end 3. Some Rule to guide them else not act well 4. Hence guided governed Dan. 4. 34 35. There are two sorts of causes which God governeth causes by nature and by Counsel 1. Natural causes which he guides by the Law of nature to their inferior ends 1. They act by power or principle arising out of nature natura est res nata ex principiis as water cooleth and fire burneth 2. Hence determined to one opposite fire of it self burneth only if condensated 3. Hence this cause acts to the uttermost of its power if not hindred by an external power over-ruling 4. Nature is in all Creatures and God as a God of nature over-ruleth them therefore this is called a common government Jer. 32. 19. Psal 19. 1 2. 2. Causes by Counsel whom God guides in a rational manner by special Rules to the highest end thus Angels and men 1. They have Reason and liberty of will 2. Hence are to be guided in a rational manner 3. This manner is 1. By shewing his will 1. Commanding and to that annexing a Promise 2. Prohibiting and to that annexing a Threatning Mic. 6. 8. 2. Fullfilling his will giving every one his due Jer. 32. 19 And thus the Lord ruleth Angels and Men. 1 Angels 1. The rule given to them was the moral law for they were made holy and righteous 2. The transgression of this law was charged upon the fallen Angels as murther and lying the event of this was 1. Some of the Angels obeyed and were rewarded 2. Some disobeyed and are miserable 1. The time of their Fall was before men fell for they tempted him 2. Their sin was Pride they kept not their station but aspired higher Jude 6. v. 2. Their punishment not in the highest degree inflicted untill the last day Matth. 25. 11. Next of the Government of God respecting Man Quest What is the Government of God respecting Man Answ The government of God respecting Man at first was that whereby God gave man the moral Law and promised to reward him with life if he obeyed and threatned to punish him with everlasting death if he disobeyed Concerning the event of which we may consider Mans Apostacy and Anastacy 1. The moral Law was given to Man at first to be the Rule of Obedience 1. For he was made holy and righteous 2. And the transgression of this Law was charged upon fallen man hence the same rule with the Angels only with these distinctions 1. Various deductions and applications of the moral Law respecting the condition of mans life as he hath a body as the Sabbath the honouring of Parents and such like rules were properly belonging to man 2. As man had senses and was to be led by sensibles to spirituals thus Sacraments were appointed to him 1. The Tree of life to assure him of life if he obeyed 2. The tree of knowledge of good and evill to be a seal of death if he disobeyed Gen. 2. 9. 2. Man acted not as every Angel for himself only but as a publick person for himself and his posterity but more of this in the Apostacy of Man 3. Hence arose a Covenant between God and his reasonable Creatures Angels and Men That God promised happiness upon condition of Obedience and threatned the contrary upon disobedience And the event comes to be considered respecting man in mans Apostacy and Anastacy Quest What is the Apostacy of Man Answ The Apostacy of man is that whereby man did fall from obedience to the Rule of Gods government in his disobeying by eating the forbidden fruit the Devill tempting him to it by abusing the Serpent and the woman as instruments and the Man abusing the liberty of his will the effect of which was guilt and punishment upon man and his posterity In the Apostacy of man we may consider his Transgression and the Propagation of it 1. The transgression it self in eating the forbidden fruit 1. He had liberty to eat any other Gen. 2. 16. 2. It was against an express command 3. An abuse of the Sacrament and thus a contempt of the whole Covenant Gen. 2. 17. And we may consider the causes of his sin and the effects of it The causes a blameable and blameless the blameable adjuvant and principal the adjuvant or helping causes the Devil abusing the Serpent and the woman 1 The Devil tempted 1. Pretending a good 2. Concealed yea denyed the evil 2. Abused the Serpent which had a natural subtlety which Satan abused Gen. 3. 1 2 3 4 5. 3. Abused the woman who being next to man might be most likely to perswade man Gen. 3. 6. 1 Tim. 2. 14. 2 Cor. 11. 3. 2. The principal blameable cause was mans abusing the liberty of his will Gen. 3. 6. Eccl. 7. 29. 1. Man as a Creature was mutable immutability is a property of the Creator and mutability is inseperable from the Creature that is a possibility to change and this belonging to a Creature as a Creature and not as a sinful Creature is no sinful defect 2. As man was a cause by counsel he had reason and liberty of will and that liberty of indifferency could chuse and refuse had no necessity upon his will 3. Adam had the image of God so he was able to have obeyed if he would 1. He had perfection 2. This was not taken away before his fall for then he had not been perfect before his fall 4. Hence his first sin did not arise 1. From any sinfull principle in him for 1. He was perfect and had no such principle 2. The eating of the forbidden fruit was his first sin but if it had arose from any sinful principle in him that disposition to sin had been his first sin 2. Hence first sin was not error in understanding for either he had not ability to discern or he did not use it Not the first for he had perfection of intellectual virtues if the second a neglect to use his ability this was not error in understanding but rather of his will 3. Hence his first sin was a consent of his will to Satans Temptation 1. Satan presents a good 2. Tempts to unlawful means and man inordinately chuseth the one and is overcome by the other 4. Hence man put himself under the power of his mutability and thus
and shutting the beams of the Sun reflecting and reflected these are not the hand nor the Sun but adjunct manners of the Being of these 2. Hence they differ from the Essence only in some respect not as divers Essences the same hand the same Sun so the same God-head reflecting and reflected 3. Hence the Subsistences are not divine Attributes which are one as they are in God but diversly appearing to us but these are divers whither we apprehend them so or not 4. They are not inherent qualities in the Essence for there are none such in the Essence as we heard in the description of the Essence 5. They are manners adhering and belonging to the Essence with it and by it Prov. 8. 30. 2. They are distinguisht one from another as Relates by their relative and individual properties as teaching and being taught reflecting and being reflected hence followeth 1. They are coexsistent as Relates for they are mutual causes therefore exsist together 1 Joh. 1. Prov. 8. 30 2. Coinexistent one in another for Being and existence is of and in the cause and they are Relates therefore mutual causes therefore one in another Joh 14. 10 3. They are coapparant for knowledge â—s of the causes and these are mutual causes hence he that knows the one knows the other Joh. 14. 9. 4. And yet one is not the other for Relates are mutual causes and differ as cause and effect 3. Hence they are not improperly called persons A person is a perfect and individual substance of a reasonable nature 1. A substance For meer Accidents or Adjuncts are no person as virtues are not called persons individual for mankind is not a person because it 's the genus but individual men are called persons 3. Perfect for the Soul alone is not a person because it 's but a part of man not a perfect man 4. A reasonable nature creatures without Reason are not persons and by way of eminency it 's attributed to men And the God-head with a relative and individual property is a divine person and is either persons breathing or breathed spirante or persons breathing as Father and Son Spirit or breathed as the Holy Ghost Quest Who is the Father Answ The Father is the first person who begets his Son God is happy in himself 2. Hence he knows himself 3. Hence he conceivs the Image of himself 4. Hence to conceive and beget and this may be called active Generation this properly belongeth to the Father and he is first in order 1 Ioh. 18. Quest Who is the Son Answ The Son is the second divine person begotten of the Father 1. God is happy in himself 2. Hence is known and conceived of himself 3. Hence to be conceived and begotten and this may be called passive generation this properly belongs to the Son Heb. 1. 3. Joh. 1. 18. and he is the second in order Quest Who is the Spirit Answ The Spirit is the third divine person proceeding from the Father and the Son 1. God is happy in himself 2. Hence knoweth and is known of himself 3. Hence is breathed after by himself and this may be called passive spiration and is the relative property of the Spirit Joh. 16. 14. And the Reason why active spiration doth not constitute a person is because it doth not nextly and immediately belong to the divine Essence but to the Father and the Son for it is God conceiving and having conceived the Image of himself doth breath after himself and thus active Spiration doth nextly proceed from the Relative properties of the Father and the Son 2. Active spiration belongs in common to the Father and the Son and is no individual property belonging only to one Quest What is the Efficiency of God Answ The Efficiency of God is that whereby he worketh all in all things according to the counsel of his will for his own glory by his Omnipotency in Creation and Providence and which honour of working belongs to the three persons who work the same according to their distinct manner and order of Subsistence 1. It is that whereby he worketh all in all things for he is the first Being hence the power of working is of him and hence he is the first mover in all other causes and worketh all in all Eph. 1. 11. 2. Hence appeareth his Omnipotency if he doth all then he can do all hence all powerfulness belongeth to him he can do a work of power 1. Not that which argueth weakness 1. Hence not that which is contrary to his nature 2 Tim. 2. 13. and 2. Hence not that which is contrary to the Rule of nature for the Rule of nature is a beam of his own wisdome 3. He can do all possible things as to raise Children out of stones which is not to produce an effect without a cause that would be contrary to the Rule of nature and his wisdome but he can supply the place of the cause immediately Math. 3. 9. Attribute Omnipotency to him eminently his power of acting and act is one in him otherwise a change in him which can not be but the creature is the Subject of the change not God the beams of the Sun are in power to warm or shine upon this or that thing which they do not in act until that thing comes under the beams of the Sun and yet no change in the beams of the Sun but in the thing warmed by the same so in respect of the power of God 3. According to the counsel of his will or his own glory here appears the decree of God whereby he determines what shall be done 1. He can do all things absolutely possible this is his absolute power 2. He will do that only which may stand with his wisdome and good will this is his ordinate power that he will do only that which is conditionally and respectively possible Eph. 1. 11. he could have made more then one woman for one man at first in respect of his absolute power it was possible Mal. 2. 15. but in respect of its inconsistency with his wisdome it was respectively and conditionally impossible 3. Hence a decree to determine what shall be done and what shall not be done and to this decree belongs that which is Complemental and Essential 1. Complemental 1. His truth his words agree with his mind Ier. 10. 10. 2. His faithfulness he doth what he hath said and that as he hath spoken 1 Cor. 10. 13. 3. His constancy his decree can not change Isa â—6 10. 2. That which is Essential to his decree 1. The final cause his own glory for if he intended ultimately any end besides himself he should deny himself Eph. 1. 6. 2. The Efficient causes of his decree his wisdome and good will 1. His wisdome Psal 104. 24. 1. He acts well 2. Hence according to Rule 3. This Rule is not of the creatures but of him 4. This Rule by which he acts is the idea or pattern of well acting 5. This