by the World. And Lastly That we ought never to repine or be discontented at the Affairs of the World but rather trust and rely upon the All-wise conduct of him who sees from end to end knows how to bring Light out of Darkness and disposes all things sweetly The Aspiration O Lord thou hast searched me out and known me thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising thou understandest my thoughts long before Thou art about my Path and about my Bed and spiest out all my ways For lo there is not a word in my Tongue but thou O Lord knowest it altogether Thou hast fashion'd me behind and before and laid thine Hand upon me Whither shall I go then from thy Spirit Or whither shall I go then from thy Presence If I climb up into Heaven thou art there If I go down to Hell thou art there also If I take the Wings of the Morning and remain in the uttermost parts of the Sea even there also shall thy Hand lead me and thy right Hand shall hold me If I say peradventure the Darkness shall cover me then shall my Night be turn'd to Day Yea the Darkness is no Darkness with thee but the Night is as clear as the Day the Darkness and Light to thee are both alike Do thou then O my God so imprint the Sense of this thy Omniscience and Omnipresence upon every Faculty and Power of my Soul that I may ever think speak and act as in the Light of thy All-seeing Eye and as immediately surrounded and intimately possessed with the Glory of thy Presence O fill me with the profoundest Awe and Reverence compose my levities confirm my doubtfulness and fix my wandrings and make me ever satisfied with the Methods of thy Wise Providence And when by the Meditation of this thy Knowledge and Presence I shall learn to demean my self in any measure as I ought grant that upon the same consideration I may content my self with thy Divine Approbation and Allowance whatever I am thought of in Man's Judgment Finally O my God Grant I may so set thee before me here that I may not be afraid to appear before thee hereafter Amen Contemplation VI. Of the Omnipotence of God. I. THE next Attribute whereby this One God becomes qualifi'd for the Government of the Universe is his Omnipotence Whereby may be understood and commonly is a Power of doing whatsoever is possible to be done But in this there is some difficulty from which we must disengage our Notion II. For whereas every thing that is possible is made the Object of the Divine Power a nice enquirer may here demand What do you mean by Possible For Possible has its denomination from Power and therefore must be measured either in relation to created Power or in relation to increated Power If in relation to the first then for God to be able to do all that is possible will amount to no more Than that he can do whatever a Creature can do But if in relation to the second then for God to be able to do all that is possible will be the same as to say That he can do whatever he can do Which would be a very notable discovery And besides according to this measure a Man might truly say that God were Omnipotent tho' at the same time he should deny that he could Create any thing besides the present World because he could then do all that is possible there being nothing then but this World so denominated from the Divine Power as Suarez rightly infers III. To satisfie therefore this difficulty we must find out another sense of the word Possible than what is taken from denomination to any Power I consider therefore that a thing may be said to be possible Absolutely and Negatively from the habitude of the simple Idea's themselves as well as from relation to any Power which may so denominate it My meaning is That there are some Idea's whose habitude is such to one another that they may admit of composition there are others again whose habitude is such that they cannot admit of composition but stand necessarily divided The first of these I call Possible the second I call Impossible Possible therefore in this sense is the same as that which involves no repugnance And therefore to avoid all Ambiguity setting aside the Word Possible I shall chuse rather to express the Omnipotence of God by calling it a Power of doing whatever involves no repugnancy or contradiction IV. Now that God is thus Omnipotent not to seek out after other Arguments I thus demonstrate from the Idea of God. Being it self is the proper full and adequate cause of Being for whatever is so far as it is it partakes of Being it self as was before proved Now if Being it self be the proper full and adequate cause of Being then its effect must extend to all those things which are not repugnant to the Nature and Reason of Being For if it did extend only to some certain Ones then Being it self would not be the proper full and adequate cause of Being as is supposed but only of this or that particular Being And if it extends to all things that are not repugnant to the Reason of Being then it must extend to all but not being For not being only is regugnant to the Reason of Being God therefore who is Being it self can do all that does not involve in it the Reason of not being but these are only contradictions God therefore can do whatever does not imply a contradiction and is therefore Omnipotent Which was the thing to be proved The Vse of this to Devotion FRom the Omnipotence of God we may take occasion to make these Conclusions First That we ought to revere and fear him above all the things in the World and endeavour by the utmost services of a well-order'd life to make him our Friend considering what a fearful thing it is to fall into the Hands of an Omnipotent Enemy I will forewarn you whom you shall fear says our Saviour fear him which after he has killed has power to cast into hell yea I say unto you Fear him Secondly That when once we have made God our Friend and engaged him on our side we then fear no Created Power whether Human or Diabolical For if an Omnipotent God be with us what need we care who is against us We ought rather to say with the Psalmist tho' I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for thou art with me thy rod and thy staff comfort me Lastly We ought upon Consideration of this great Attribute of God to repose a firm trust and confidence in all his Promises tho' never so contrary to the Ordinary Laws of Nature and to the common Measures of Human Probability Since our concern is with him who is the God of Nature and with whom as the Angel tells us nothing shall be impossible The Aspiration WIth thee O
is that he was made something and is what he is by and from God. This will be thus Demonstrated All Being is either Being Essentially that is Being it self or Being by Participation Now Being it self is God as has been shewn before And there can be but one Being it self as was also shewn before Therefore all Beings besides this one Being it self besides God are Beings by Participation Now whatever is in any thing by Participation is caused in it by that to which it Essentially belongs Man therefore being a Being by Participation must necessarily be from and by Being it self that is from and by God. VIII Should it be here Objected that Nothing hinders but that a thing may be found without that which is not of the Reason or Essence of it as a Man suppose without Learning And that this Habitude of being caused by Being it self or God is not of the essence of Beings because they may be conceiv'd without it And that therefore nothing hinders but that there may be some Beings that are not from God. To this I answer That tho this Habitude does not make any part of the Idea or Essence of those beings which are caused yet it is necessarily consequent to it For to be a Being by Participation does as much vertually involve its being caused as a Triangle involves this Affection that any two sides of it taken together are greater than the third So that such a Being can no more exist without being caused than a Triangle can exist without this Affection But whereas the Habitude of being caused is not of the Reason of Being Simply or as such therefore there is a Certain Being that is not caused which is God. IX The same Conclusion that Man has his Being from God may be further proved from this Consideration that none can possibly Create but God The truth of which Proposition is generally founded upon the Distance that is between Being and not Being which they say is infinite and therefore it must require an Infinite Power to educe a thing from one to the other But this is an obscure way of arguing and I must profess that I do not so clearly understand it as to be satisfy'd whether it be conclusive or no and therefore I shall rather chuse to say that the most universal effect must have the most universal cause But now among all Effects to make a thing to be Simply is the most Universal And this is Creation which implies not only a production of this or that Being or of a Being according to this or that Nature or Quality for this is also done in Generation and Alteration but also of Being Absolutely For the immediate Terms of Creation are from not being to be and then afterwards comes in to be this or that thus or thus Creation therefore is the most Universal Effect that is and consequently it must be reduced into the most Universal Cause that is which is God. Therefore God only can Create therefore all Creatures are from God and consequently Man receives his Being from no other but God. X. 'T is now further to be consider'd that as man receives his being from God so he depends upon God's continual influence for the continuation of it insomuch that should God never so little withdraw it he must necessarily fall back into his First Nothing For besides that to continue in being is as much an Vniversal Effect as to make to be and consequently must be resolv'd into the same Universal Cause which is God. I further consider that Being by Participation is wholly and intirely from Being it self Now every Effect depends upon its Cause as far as it is its Cause If a Partial Cause then it depends upon it Partially if an Intire Cause than it depends upon it Intirely Since therefore Being by Participation is wholly and intirely from Being it self it follows that it must depend wholly and intirely upon it and if so then it must depend upon it for every minute of its Existence as well as for the very first Instant of it otherwise it would not depend upon it wholly and intirely as is supposed there being something in reference to which it would be Independent XI I further consider with Cartesius that since the Time of our Life consists of innumerable Parts every one of which does by no means depend upon that which went before from our existing a little before it does no way follow that we shall exist Now. I say it does no way follow that because we existed a little before we shall therefore exist now or that because of our existing now we shall exist afterwards there being no necessary Connexion between the Moments themselves whereof our Duration is made up If therefore we do exist in several Instants or Nows of Time this must be from some Cause which conserves us and as it were gives us being in every one of those Nows or Moments But this cannot be our selves first for the reason alledg'd by Cartesius because we are not Conscious of any such Power which undoubtedly we should be if we had it And Secondly because we might then have given our selves the First Now or Moment of existence as well as any of the Rest. For the First Now of Existence differs no otherwise from any of the rest but only as to Novitas Essendi or the Newness of existing which is only an extrinsical Relation and such as adds nothing to the difficulty or greatness of the Effect which being the same on both hands the Cause must also be of equal Force and Vertue But we could not give Being to our selves as was before proved and therefore neither are we able to Conserve our selves in being The Cause therefore by which we are Conserv'd in being must be the same which gave us Being that is God without whose continued Influence we can no more go on in our Existence than we could at First Be. XII This I cannot better illustrate than by that dependence which an Image in the Glass has upon the Face whose Reflexion it is The Image is not only caused by the access of the Face to the Glass but does also so necessarily and substantially depend upon and subsist by its Presence that at the first removal of it it immediately vanishes and disappears And so 't is with us we are not only at first brought into being by God but do also all along so depend upon his Influence for the carrying on our being through the several Distinct Moments of time that should this Influence but never so little be withdrawn or intercepted we should immediately sink down into our First Nothing XIII And were it not thus 't would be impossible that God should ever Annihilate For Annihilation cannot be done by any Positive Act because the Term of Annihilation is not being Simply But now every Positive Act tends to being So that even Physical Corruption is not a Positive Motion but only in as much as at
Light not unto me but to thy greatness and goodness be the Praise and the Glory For 't is thy Word thy Eternal Word that is a Lantern unto my feet and a light unto my paths The Lord is my light and my salvation and it is he that reacheth Man Knowledge I will therefore thank the Lord for giving me warning my reins also chasten me in the night-season Lighten my Darkness thee I beseech O Father of Lights and shine upon me more and more with the Brigthness of thy glory O send out thy light and thy truth that they may lead me and bring me unto thy holy Hill and to thy dwelling Shew the light of thy countenance upon thy servant and teach me thy Statutes O let the Angel of thy Presence go always before me in this my Pilgrimage and grant that I may always attend and give heed to his Counsel and Direction that so walking in thy Light here I may for ever live and for ever rejoyce in the full and open Light of thy Countenance hereafter Amen Contemplation III. Of Man consider'd as an Amorous Creature I. TRuth and good Employ the whole capacity of Man who seems to be purely designed and made for the contemplation of the former and for the desire and fruition of the latter Having therefore consider'd Man as an Intelligent Creature or as he is a Contemplator of Truth I shall now proceed to consider him as an Amorous Creature or as he is a desirer of Good. II. The management of this subject ingages me upon the consideration of these four things First What love or desire is or wherein the general Nature of it does consist Secondly That Love or Desire is in Man or that Man is an Amorous Being Thirdly Whence Man has this Affection or what is the proper cause of it Fourthly and lastly After what manner this Affection has it self or how it stands proportion'd to that cause III. Now as to the First I say that the general nature of Love consists in a motion of the Soul towards good But this I have sufficiently explained in a distinct Treatise upon this occasion to which I shall chuse rather to refer my Reader than to trouble him or my self with needless repetitions IV. As to the Second That there is such a motion in Man I need say no more but that we are intimately conscious of it as much as we are of the motion of our Heart or Lungs or of any other Physical Impression in or about us All therefore that I shall further insist upon shall be the two last things First What is the proper cause of this motion in Man. And Secondly After what peculiar manner this motion has it self or stands proportioned to that cause To these two Enquiries I shall confine my present Contemplation V. As to the cause of this motion in Man which we call Love or Desire I consider that it must be the same that is the cause of all the Physical motion in the Universe Now Physical motion is resolv'd into a double cause an occasional cause and an efficient cause The occasional cause of Physical motion is emptiness or vacuity For in that which is absolutely full there can be no motion because of the Impenetrability of Bodies The efficient cause of Physical motion is either particular or universal The particular is the pressure or impulse of particular Bodies one against another The universal is no other than God himself who in the Creation of the World as the Cartesian Philosophy rightly supposes dispenced a certain portion of motion and rest to matter which he still preserves the same by his Almighty Power So that if one part of matter cease to be moved so much motion as was in that is transferred to another part And if the motion of one decreases or be diminished it is compensated in another And so the same measure of motion is always conserved in the Universe And unless God be supposed to be the Author of motion 't will be impossible to give any account of the Original of it For neither can Bodies move themselves nor can they be moved by one another on to Infinity We must therefore at last come to a first Mover unmoved which is God. And so Aristotle calls God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first Mover unmoved VI. And thus in the same Proposition the motion of Love is also resolvable into a double cause an occasional cause an an efficient cause The occasional cause of this motion as of the other is emptiness or vacuity For Love or Desire is founded upon Indigence and Self-insufficiency of the Soul which having not within it self enough to content it is forced to go out of it self for supplies And so Aristotle in his Ethics 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Desire is the fulfilling of Indigence And accordingly we find that the more weak and indigent any Person is still the more abounding in desire Thus Children are more profuse in their desires than Adult Persons Women than Men and the Sick more than those who are in Health This is well shadowed forth in Iotham's Parable wherein the Bramble is represented as more ambitious than either the Olive-tree Fig-tree or the Vine For he presently accepted of that Empire which they had all declined Where there is no Indigence there is no room for Desire and accordingly God who is an absolutely full Being can no more admit of desire than a place that is absolutely full can admit of motion VII As to the efficient cause of this Moral motion it is also double as in Physical Motion It is either Particular or Universal The particular efficient cause are particular goods whether Sensual or Intellectual Which act upon the Soul and answer to the pressure or impulse of particular Bodies in Natural motion The Universal efficient cause is the Universal Good or God whom we suppose to have imprinted a certain stock of motion upon the Intellectual World as he did upon the Natural Which he also conserves and maintains by his Omnipotence as he does the other VIII For I consider that there is the same necessity of a first Mover in Moral as there is in Natural motions And upon the very same grounds But now t is impossible that there should be any other first Mover besides God. And therefore whatever intermediate causes there may be of this motion it must at last be resolved into an impression of God upon our Souls whom therefore I call the Vniversal efficient cause of Love. IX And so much for the cause of this motion in Man. I come now to consider the last Enquiry namely after what peculiar manner this motion has it self or how it stands proportioned to its cause I do not mean its occasional cause that being not so properly a cause as a condition but its efficient cause Now this being double Particular and Universal Good the question in more explicite terms will be after what