Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A Word B Word C Word D Occurrence Frequency Band MI MI Band Prominent
cause_n effect_n necessary_a voluntary_a 1,389 5 11.0339 5 false
View all documents for the selected quad

Text snippets containing the quad

ID Title Author Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication) STC Words Pages
A30855 Religion and reason adjusted and accorded, or, A discourse wherein divine revelation is made appear to be a congruous and connatural way of affording proper means for making man eternally happy through the perfecting of his rational nature with an appendix of objections from divers as well as philosophers as divines and their respective answers. Banks, R. R. (Richard R.) 1688 (1688) Wing B671; ESTC R23639 152,402 381

There are 8 snippets containing the selected quad. | View lemmatised text

end to make the Earth so barren as that without the Sweat of their Brows it should not yield them necessary Maintenance And then forasmuch as God works not Miracles where natural causes are sufficient to effect his Purpose 't is most reasonable to think that the Earth was made less fruitful in the way which in the Objection it is supposed that it might fall out to wit by causing that Motion of the Earth or Course peradventure of the Sun it matters not whether which makes difference of Seasons and alteration of the Air whence also Sicknesses and Diseases would be apt to grow and so constant causes of Misery and Mortality be in all Ages ready at hand to put Men in mind of their frail and sinful Condition and thence become not tormentive Revenges but connatural Means Motives and Inducements to make them fly with sorrow of Heart and full purpose of amending their Lives for Wickedness even in the apprehension of the very Pagans was the Cause of the Calamities which befel Men to God for Succour Help and Comfort and so to build their Hopes and put their Trust in him and consequently to love him as their Sovereign Benefactor If it be replied that what has yet been said falls short of resolving the main difficulty which is how the eating of the Fruit could be the connatural Cause or a necessary Motive to God for altering either the Course of the Sun or the Motion of the Earth by which the Air became distempered for the Sin of Man My Answer is first that admitting there was a Change either of the annual course of the Sun or of the Motion of the Earth from what it was at first it will I think be hard to give any other good account why the Change was made save only that which has been given already namely for embarrening the Earth and bringing Distempers and Diseases on Mankind to drive them in a manner to have a sense of their sinful sad Condition to the end they might cast themselves upon the Mercy and Goodness of God and place their Affections on him for the same But I answer secondly that there is in truth no necessity to grant there was any different Course of the Sun or Motion of the Earth from what it was annually afterward for the Omniscient eternally comprehending at once what will ever be the Effects as well of all voluntary as necessary Causes could not chuse but know that Adam would voluntarily fall from the State wherein he created him and exactly at what time and therefore ordered from Eternity such a successively various Course of the Sun or Motion of the Earth as would be congruous both to the Estate of Mans Integrity and of his lapsed Condition for helping him on towards Felicity For that Adams Continuance in Paradise was but short may be rationally inferred from hence that the crafty Serpent could not be ignorant that the longer our first Parents persevered in the Practice of Obedience and frequent pious Duties seriously performed to God the harder still it would be for him to overcome them by his designed Temptation in that Habits are evermore strengthened and confirmed by the iteration of Act and therefore questionless he would not omit especially considering his violent restless Desire to do Mischief the very first opportunity of assailing them and we do not read of any more Temptations of his offered to them but only one so that their Fall might very well be before the Airs Distemper could happen though the annual Course of the Sun or Motion of the Earth was never different from what it is at present If it be alledged that such Knowledge in God as has been mentioned must either be the cause of Adam's Fall and consequently of Sin which would be Blasphemy to affirm or else it must proceed from and depend upon the Fall as the Object whence it is derived which would be absurd to assert I answer there is no necessity of granting either for as to Sin since it is a meer Privation Sect. 8. Par. 3 4. 't is impossible there should be any efficient cause thereof And in that every Man knows his own Thoughts and Actions without a Monitor or receiving notice of them from any thing besides himself is it not evident that if God be as primarily intimate to a Man's Thoughts and Actions as the Man himself is he 'l as primarily know immediately of and from himself the Man's Thoughts and Actions as the Man himself doth from himself And that God is as primarily intimate to every Man's Thoughts and Actions as the Man himself is appears from hence that in whatever any of them is distant from pure nothing it has the same by the Divine Power Will or Mind intrinsically concurring to the Production of it and so God must of necessity as primarily know it and as intimately as the Man knows it himself Nor is the mentioned Divine Concurrence let Man's Thoughts and Actions be what they will any cause at all of Sin for Thoughts and Actions are never sinful as such they are only sinful when and as they are directed and tend to a wrong end and such Direction and Tendency proceeds wholly from Man and not in the least from God by which the Mind is alienated and turned away from the Object of Felicity for in the Alienation and Aversion of the Mind from God in whose Fruition Felicity is placed doth Sin formally consist Sect. 8. Par. 3 4. Objection 11. You assert Sect. 4. par 14. That if Man had once enjoyed the Beatific Vision he could never have fallen from Bliss for which though you produce there such reason as to me I confess appears sufficient to make it out yet the plausibleness of the Praeexistentiarian Hypothesis makes me somewhat doubt of the certainty of the Truth of your Assertion especially considering your agreement with it in this that God does what is best for his Creatures and that it seems reasonable to think that such a praeexistent state as is described in Lux Orientalis Chap. 14. p. 113. was best for Rational Souls Of which Opinion I greatly desire to know what your Sentiments are Answer You put me upon a very ungrateful Task for I love not to intermeddle with other mens Writings yet to afford you what satisfaction I can in a single Sheet I will give you my Thoughts concerning the mentioned Hypothesis so far as relates to my Assertion That the Beatific Vision once fully enjoyed can never be deserted or lost in pursuance of which it will be convenient to transcribe the place you direct me to which contains these express Words The Eternal and Almighty Goodness the blessed Spring and Root of all things made all his Creatures in the best happiest and most perfect condition that their respective Natures rendered them capable of and therefore they were then constituted in the inactuation and exercise of their noblest and most perfect Powers Consequently the Souls of men a
the World who shall leave it with such an habitual Affection at length to Beatitude Sect. 12. Par. 1 2 3 4. But if the Choice be made against Right Reason in valuing the Enjoyment of the Creature above the Enjoyment of God or in fixing the Hearts Desires on earthly Vanities as the chief Delight thereof 't will bring upon every one departing this Life habitually so affected everlasting Misery yet such as is nothing else but an effect or necessary Result immediately flowing from the continuance in and persuance of their own foolish Choice made in their Life-time Sect. 7. Par. 1 2 3 4 5. and how plainly equitable is it that their Condition should not be less miserable then the Measure of their own Desires whether for Degree or Duration shall make them So that considering the ineffable endless Joys which myriads of glorified Saints and Angels will have and that the damned Souls and Devils by persisting in a perpetual eager Thirsting after those things they shall ever be frustrated of not only wilfully deprive themselves of Bliss but are also thereby their own eternal Tormentors for the sin of the Devils whereinsoever it particularly consisted was for certain the desire of something they earnestly wished and preferred the obtaining of before the Fruition of God and which they shall ever affect seeing they will never repent of the Wickedness of their Thoughts and yet shall always be disappointed of it is apparent that it is much more agreeable to Reason that it is much more agreeable to Reason and suiting also with the Divine Attribute of Gods eternal Goodness that upon the Account now given the World should rather have been created then not though diverse of the noblest part of the Creation undergo perpetual Misery then it is upon their Hypothesis who say that God justly inflicts eternal violent Pains on Reprobate Men and Angels for the vindicating of his Glory which in truth can neither be encreased by all the due Performances of the best of his Creatures nor diminished by the Disobedience of the very worst of them Add to this for a still more clear manifestation of the Reasonableness of God's creating the World notwithstanding the endless affliction which befalls part of the Creatures that the State of the Damned is in their own Thoughts so much more preferable to Non-existence as that their Minds are so set and fixed upon their ardently beloved Objects that they would not forgo and part with the longing desire and Love they have to them for the possession of Bliss it being impossible that they whose Affections are totally bent on Riches Honour Luxury Revenge c. should have any real desire to be united to God with the entire affection of their Spirit in which Felicity doth alone consist If it be objected that since the Reprobate for fear only of the Judgment of the last day shall call upon the Mountains to fall upon them and hide them how much more is it probable that they 'l desire to be annihilated and cease to be when they feel the intolerable Pains of Hell I make answer that albeit the Wicked are terribly afraid of the Day of Doom and that the Damned rage for the extremity of their Torments yet it is not consequent thereto that they 'l desire Non-existence to avoid them For though it were granted to be really in it self more eligible not to exist than to suffer exquisite Torments yet since the Reprobate do not desire what would be better for them but what they judge to be so unless it be true that they are actually willing to desert and for ever to forgo the love of those things which they have absolutely and fully fixed their Affections on it cannot be that they should steadily desire not to be because a permanent adherence of Mind to the Objects of their Lusts and a real desire of Non-existence are inconsistent together And that the Damned will never desert the Love they have to the Objects of their Lusts may be apprehended from this that seeing they have adjudged them to be absolutely good and necessary as without which they cannot think of any satisfaction to themselves to suppose their Affections taken off the Objects of their Lust were in effect to suppose them to love and not to love the same thing at once And therefore though the Damned should have such Thoughts as these we wish we had never been born we wish we were annihilated yet in regard they nevertheless continue their strong and pressing desires towards their coveted Objects it is an argument that the latter are their fixed Affections and the former only incompleat wishes since they cannot be cordially possessed of both at the same time an absolute unbridled lusting after their beloved Objects and an absolute fixed desire of Non-existence being utterly inconsistent together Objection 13. Some Sinners are taken away in their younger years others permitted after a long and wicked Life to die in their Sins some great Sinners converted and eternally saved other less Offenders left to eternal Misery whence it seems to follow that the Almighty acts as in unsearchable Wisdom so most freely therein for his own Glory and that consequently everlasting Woe and Misery are not necessary Results and Effects of Sin but Punishments inflicted by God for the same Answer That some men die sooner some later is generally from the Power and Force of natural Causes which are ordained and ordered indeed by God yet not on purpose to bring this or that particular Person to his End at this or that appointed time and after this or that precise manner but they have their natural Influence and set determinate Course in the Universe to contribute every one of them in their Kind and Station to the bringing to pass the most comprehensive and excellent End which whatsoever could be created should in its amplest Extent be possibly able to produce or arrive at Sect. 3. Par. 8. under the Influence and Course of which Causes manifoldly different as every single Person falls he comes accordingly to the Period of his Life whence it happens that this Man dies in his Infancy another in his Youth a third in his Middle-age and a fourth in his Old that some are drowned by Water some burt by Fire others perish by Cold c. and yet who can soberly think that the Causes which bring these things to pass were purposely ordained and had their Natures and Courses given and appointed them for that very end especially if we reflect that some men poison others some themselves for none will sure be so wicked as to affirm that God either instigated the Murtherers or gave the Poison its venemous Nature out of design to destroy the Persons murthered That Men therefore die at different Ages and after different manners proceeds not generally speaking from the determinate Council and Will of God and if sometimes he purposely destroys any flagitious Persons as he did Korah Dathan and Abiram he
designs it to be a Warning to others not to imitate them in their gross Impiety and at that time when he knows the Offenders will rather grow worse than ever after come to amendment And as Man's Condition here for any Decree of Gods to the contrary is as good as can be considering the Causes Natural and Moral which render his Condition what it is so will his State hereafter likewise be the necessary and voluntary Causes considered which bring him to it of which Causes the Variety in respect of all Mankind is so great at all times and so differently circumstantiated in their Influence and Application and the Subjects to be wrought on so contrarily often disposed one to another that it is easie to conceive that they may very well become effectual Means of Conversion to some great Sinners while other less Offenders are not moved to a thorow Amendment by them so that the dying of men in their Sins cannot justly be so attributed to the Divine Will and Pleasure as if the Almighty suffered them to perish out of pure design for the manifestation of his Glory the infallible Word expresly declaring to us the contrary God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. And again who will have all Men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the Truth 1 Tim. 2. 4. To which knowledge though they do not all attain yet is the Word of God no less firm and sure Why all Men in the World have not heard of God's infinite Love manifested in the Death of Christ many Causes may be assigned all grounded on Gods infinite Justice and Mercy Of Christ's Death many which heard not might have heard many which are not might have been Partakers save only for their free and voluntary Progress from evil to worse or wilful refusal of Gods loving Kindness daily proffered to them in such Pledges as they were well content to swallow foolishly esteeming these good in themselves being good only as they plight the truth of God's Love unto them which he manifested in the Death of his Son. With this manifestation of his Love many again out of meer Mercy have not been acquainted lest the sight of the Medicine might have caused their Disease to rage and made their Case more lamentably desperate Dr. Jackson in his Treatise of the Divine Essence and Attributes Cap. 17. Paragr 3. All which I mean that hath been said in the whole Answer to the Objection considered together with this that it was not only better to create than not to create but also that no other World could be created save only that which doth exist Sect. 3. Par. 8. 't is clear that the Almighties Wisdom and Goodness are justified even to the Eye of Human Reason notwithstanding the different times and ways of men departing Life either in respect of Age or of dying more or less in Sin. Objection 14. From the Instances given in the explanation of the Seventh Commandment sect 19. you seem to hold that there can be no external Sin in the Body of any one denomination where there is not an internal Sin in the Soul of the same kind from which alone the exterior Act as being produced by it can be called sinful Against this Opinion I offer it to your Consideration whether there may not be external Idolatry where there is no internal as suppose an Idol be commanded by the Magistrate under pain of Death to be worshipped by bowing down before it and a Christian to save his Life bows his Body towards it but at the same time abominates the Idol in his heart so as that he is far from giving any internal Honour to it and yet surely you will not say but that he commits the Sin of Idolatry and may be justly censured by the Church as an Idolater Answer Since the Christian instanced in does what is commanded so far forth as that the Lookers on have sufficient cause to believe he has committed Idolatry the Church ought to esteem and censure him as an Idolater for what he has done by reason it cannot judg of the Heart but by outward Signs and inappearance he has committed Idolatry But yet if you 'l go to the exact definition of Idolatry you 'l find the Fact comes not within the compass of it and that Sin which will not come under the definition of Idolatry you must needs grant cannot be truly speaking the Sin of Idolatry for Idolatry is a Crime which exhibits the honour due to God alone to another Object and therefore since the bowing down of the Body is not an Act appropriated to the Divine Majesty for we lawfully and laudably bow unto our Prince Parents and others in Authority over us of which there are several Examples in Holy Writ it is evident that the mentioned act of bowing towards the Idol is not Idolatrous according to the definition of Idolatry To make this more plain by an Instance let 's suppose another Christian to be brought before the Idol and commanded to bow unto it as the other did which he likewise in appearance does by stooping down that he may catch it by the feet to overthrow it and according to his intent casts it with scornful indignation to the ground in doing of which he gives full satisfaction to the Beholders of his abhorrence of performing any manner of Worship to it notwithstanding that they all see him bow towards it as low as the other did judg him an Idolater till the Reason of his incurvation becomes apparent to them by seeing the Idol so contemptuously used at the length Is then you 'l say the formerly spoken of Christian who is granted to deserve the Churches Censure as an Idolater no more guilty of Idolatrous Worship according to the strictest Notion of Idolatry than the latter I refer you to the definition of Idolatry which cannot delude you for answer Is he therefore you 'l peradventure reply only sinful in the sight of Men and not also in the sight of God Yes undoubtedly he is a very grievous Offender even before God as well as men for he not only scandalizes Christianity in giving the Enemies of it an occasion to triumph in hardening them in their idolatrous Worship and in encouraging them to proceed to persecute Christians with hope of desired success but also in disheartning of the weaker Brethren in making them to stagger in the Faith and in grieving all the Members of Christ in general to do any one of which is a great Sin but to do all of them together is a Crime of complicated Scandal to the Gospel of Christ which at once instructeth and exhorteth saying Be not afraid of them that kill the Body and after that have no more that they can do But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into Hell yea I say unto you fear him
within us doth justifie us and deserve our Justification for that were to count our selves to be justified by some Act or Vertue within our selves The Act or Vertue here mentioned being set in opposition to the Merits of Christ which are an efficient Cause 't is in effect as if it were said The Merit of Christ only and not any Act or Virtue of our own whatsoever is the efficient Cause of our Justification But the true understanding and meaning hereof is that although we hear Gods Word and believe it and although we have Faith Hope and Charity Repentance Dread and Fear of God within and do never so many Works thereunto yet we must renounce the merit of all our said Virtues of Faith Hope and Charity and all other Vertues and good Works which we either have done shall do or can do as things that be far too weak and unsufficient and imperfect to deserve remission of our Sins and our Justification and therefore we must trust only in Gods Mercy and that Sacrifice which our High Priest and Saviour offered upon the Cross Lo here again Christs Merits and Mans are set one against the other which would be impertinent if they were not spoken of the same sort of Causes but of Causes different in kind and a meritorious Cause is an efficient Cause as was seen above The Merit of Christ then in the 11th Article of our Religion is not to be understood of the Formal Cause of Mans Justification or Righteousness but of the efficient Cause thereof in respect of which I assert it to be most truly said that We are justified by Faith only because by it alone Christs Merits are applied to us SECT XII Neither by the Light of Nature nor by the Law of Moses without Christ could ever any either Jew or Gentile be eternally saved and come to Glory but through him both of them might The Christian Religion is in many respects preferable to the Law of Nature and the Law of Moses The Injunction of the Judaical Ordinances Rites and Ceremonies had a farther Tendency then the exacting of meer Obedience 1. SInce the ultimate End of creating Man was that he might be eternally happy through the perfect Love of God for ever Sect. 4. it plainly follows that inasmuch as no man since Adams Fall can attain to the perfect Love of God but through Christ Sect. 9. and 11. There is none other Name under Heaven given among Men whereby we must be saved Acts 4. 12. 2. For though some few do by nature i. e. the Light of natural Reason the things contained in the Law viz. the Moral for the Gentiles could not by the Law of Nature observe the Ceremonial Law of the Jews Rom. 2. 14. by being brought through a serious Consideration of the glorious Structure of the World more especially of Man himself and of Gods Providence in preserving and governing all things to adore the Divine Majesty to pray to him and to praise him as the Author of all Good and thence contract an habitual Love to him above the Enjoyment of the vain Pleasures of the World. And albeit many by the Law of Moses have not only obtained the habit of Charity but have also acquired an high degree and measure thereof yet in that neither Jew nor Gentile could ever without Christ attain to the perfect Love of God Sect. 9. and 11. 't is clear that through Christ they must do it if ever they arrive at eternal Bliss 3. Which most blessed State forasmuch as God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth God and worketh righteousness is accepted with him Acts 10. 34 35. and that he who habitually loves God above all things is Righteous Sect. 11. every one who departs this Life with an habitual Love to God shall at length obtain For seeing all must appear before the Judgment Seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in his Body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad 2 Cor. 5. 10. 't is plain that every righteous man whatsoever shall receive a righteous mans Reward at the last day which Reward is everlasting Bliss 4. For since nothing is wanting to one endued with sincere Charity but something to perfect the same in him to make him for ever happy and that the glorious appearance of Christ coming to Judgment will throughly purge out of the Soul of every one habitually possessed of Charity all the Relicks of worldly Affections Sect. 11. Solut. of Object 4. and thereby entirely disposed and ultimately and immediately prepared to obtain the Beatific Vision 't is evident that the Reward which every righteous man shall have at the last day is everlasting Bliss Object 1. If every one of all Mankind from the beginning of the World to the end thereof that habitually loves God above all things and consequently his Neighbour as himself Sect. 11. Solut. of Object 2. when he leaves this World shall at length be eternally blessed through Christ what need men concern themselves so much as they do what Religion they be of Solut. It concerns every one so much as his Salvation is worth to be solicitous to be a Member of the Catholic Christian Religion not only because there 's small hopes that he who is not desirous to take the best course he can to be saved will in sincerity of heart observe the Rules of any Law whatever but also because if notwithstanding the Divine Excellency of the Precepts Motives and Discipline of the Gospel-Dispensation thousands perish within the Bosom of Christ's Visible Church through the strong Temptations of the World the Flesh and the Devil wherewith they are overcome the perdition of Souls will be certainly much greater and more general where those potent Adversaries of man's Bliss find small Resistance made against them Wherefore since no man ever attain'd to live a virtuous Life in order to the End for which he was created but in regard he was directed and inclined thereunto either by the Law of Nature or by some Revealed Law of which later sort there are only two the Jewish and the Christian 't is apparent that if the Christian Religion be in many respects highly preferable for the obtaining of Felicity by it to them both it alone where it can be had is to be chosen and embraced And that the Christian Religion is in many respects highly preferable to them both for that End is evident For First It doth exceedingly much more fully and clearly reveal to the World the Nature of God the Immortality of the Soul the Excellency of the Fruit of a virtuous godly Life after Death and the intolerable Torments of the Wicked in the World to come Secondly It gives far more perfect Rules and shews abundantly more efficacious Helps and Means of leading such a Life as must bring men to Felicity if ever they attain thereto Thirdly It propounds infinitely more convincing and powerful Arguments
it be accompanied with frequency of Prayer issuing from an affectionate Heart will in a longer continuance of time effect as much as an higher degree thereof in a shorter so that all devout Prayer constantly kept to will at length though some sooner than other procure the Habit of Virtue prayed for Object 3. Very few are so intent in Prayer but that their Minds are often distracted and turned away from their due Object to thoughts of Vanity and how then should Prayer be of that efficacy as either to beget in such an Habit of Virtue or to preserve and strengthen it if it be obtain'd Solut. He that when he goes to pray unfeignedly desires and really strives to pray without distraction and yet finds his Mind carried away to Objects not intended will certainly be troubled in Spirit thereat which shews that that distraction is against his Will and caused by the agitation of the Phantasms in the Brain which he can neither prevent the motion of there nor the vision of them in the Soul no more than a man can hinder or avoid the sight of a thing passing by him directly before his Eyes So that such distraction as is here mentioned is involuntary and nothing that is involuntary is sinful But to take away all scruple that it is involuntary let him that is distracted in Prayer repeat over such passages at least where his Thoughts wandered which in private Devotion any one may well do till he mind their Sense and then he may be assured his preceding distraction will prove no prejudice to the prevalent effectualness of his Prayer Object 4. Forgiveness of Sin is a thing necessary to Salvation but what absolute certainty is there that every one that begs the pardon of it how unfeignedly fervently and constantly soever he doth it shall obtain remission thereof when it is wholly in God's power and pleasure whether he will pardon the same or no Solut. Since Sin is an Aversion from God and a conversion to the Creature sect 8. par 3 4 5. when the Heart is truly converted to God from the Love of the world and really and sted fastly prefers the fruition of him before the enjoyment of worldly pleasures Mortal Sin is expelled out of the Soul and taken away and consequently the penalty thereof eternal Damnation is quitted and voided the forsaking of Sin and the pardon of Sin going always of necessity together sect 11. par 6 7 8. Whence it is manifest that since he who in sincerity of heart craves pardon of his Sins and strives in Prayer to God with fervency and constancy of Devotion for the same will continuing so to do abhor his former Transgressions and leaving off his sinful manner of Life turn by true Repentance unto God and take delight in him as his sole supream Good it is manifest I say that unfeigned fervent and frequent Prayer doth evermore obtain Remission of Sin. Nor doth this at all gainsay that absolute Verity that God only forgiveth Sin seeing he alone both instituted the Means which take away Sin and gives them also Virtue to do it But to think that God ever withholds his Mercy and Kindness when men are immediately disposed by due preparation to receive them is a gross Opinion vilifying the Nature of God who is essential Goodness and repugnant to plain Scripture which assureth us that when the wicked man turneth away from his wickedness that he hath committed and doth that which is lawful and right he shall save his Soul alive Ezek. 18. 27. Yea we have Truth it self verifying and sweetly insinuating unto us from his own sacred Mouth how ready God is to embrace men returning to him by the comfortable Parable of the Prodigal Son whom repenting of his riotous wicked living the Father received with as free and kind an heart as if he had never in the least gone astray nor once done amiss Luke 15. But nevertheless it is very dangerous to defer the use of Means which lead to Repentance even omitting the Consideration of the hazard of sudden Death and that Habits the longer they continue stick the closer not only because without that there is no Repentance unless miraculously wrought which it is great impiety to presume upon but also because when men lie sick and in pain their Affliction though it may cause remorse for Sin will not especially if it be smart and pungent permit them to exercise Prayer as it ought to be and consequently the habit of Charity not got thereby they will die in their Sins Object 5. By the account that has been given of Prayer it should seem to be a vain thing to pray for others because our Prayers for them work not on their Affections as they are apt to do on our own and yet it is a Duty injoyned us to pray for a Neighbour as well as for our selves Solut. Although we do not always profit others in praying for them yet we constantly benefit our selves in the hearty doing of it for whilst we earnestly desire their spiritual or eternal Good the only things to be absolutely prayed for Par. 4. we cannot chuse but be affected thereby towards that which we wish for them And therefore the Commandment given to pray for our Neighbour is not in vain albeit our Prayers should do him no good For if every man in the World should often and cordially pray for every other man as he ought to do every one alive would have benefit in praying for his Neighbour by augmenting his own Love both to God and Man thereby But besides the Prayers of the Faithful do alway profit their Neighbour in due Circumstances for in case he be truly penitent and earnestly crave the Prayers of some holy Person or of the Church the Prayers offered to God for him will undoubtedly do him good whilst his Opinion of their Piety and consequently of their Favour with God will encourage his Trust and Confidence in God's Mercy for their Prayers sake and thence elevate his Affection to God for the hope of Mercy and Kindness from God and Affection to God go still hand in hand and mutually of necessity strengthen each other Yea though there be no Request made by the party prayed for the Prayers of the Godly when performed with very great ardency constancy of Devotion as the Prayers of the pious Mother Monica for her Son Augustine were will undoubtedly obtain their desired event because in that they are for certain the effect of the special Grace of God they cannot fail of an happy issue lest otherwise God's own Work continued in should not have the event which it designedly by the Divine Favour tended to Object 6. Miracles have been obtained by Prayer which because they interrupt the Course of natural Causes instituted by God seems to import a Change in God's Mind which has been said to be immutable or however that the influence such Prayer had was wholly upon God and not at all upon Man.
Solut. That God is immutable has been proved Sect. 1. Par. 8. and therefore his changing the Course of Nature can truly import no Change in him that which may rightly be inferred from thence being only this that God from eternity determined the same should be done in time when occasion required which because it could never happen on God's account for any good that might redound thereby to himself when ever Miracles are wrought they are always done for the good and benefit of Men. And in regard nothing is truly good and beneficial to them but Holiness and the Fruit thereof everlasting Life Sect. 14. the intent of working Miracles is to cause Holiness in their hearts in order to the bringing them to Eternal Bliss And forasmuch as Holiness is not wrought in the heart but by Instruction and Motives Sect. 9. par 4. Miracles are intended for the confirmation of the Truth of some Doctrin requisite for directing the Understanding or for affording Motives to incline the Will to Virtue or for both at such certain times and on such occasions when the constant course of Providence and usual Series of Causes appointed by God to draw Men from the Love of worldly Vanities and sinful Lusts to the sincere Love of himself generally fail of effecting it not only in those who through perverseness of Will but in others also who by reason of the imbecility of corrupted Nature cannot be won thereby For as to the former sort neither the ordinary nor extraordinary workings of God unless in a juncture perhaps of some pressing Circumstances use to work a Reformation in them as is apparent by the Examples of Korah Dathan and Abiram opposing and reviling Moses and Aaron and of those Jews who heard Christ's Doctrin saw his holy Life and beheld his Miracles of Wonder and Mercy and yet would not receive him but barbarously and ungratefully prosecuted him to Death As Miracles we have seen are done for the benefit of Men so was it likewise out of design for their good that the Wisdom and Goodness of God ordered them to be done at the Instance of some or other holy Person or with reference to him For that Men whose holy Lives were known and observed by the People should be concerned about the working of Miracles was requisite on this account that notice might be taken of the great and special regard the Almighty had to Holiness which otherwise they would not have understood however not by far so well and by consequence the Miracles done would have had small or no influence on them more than to have caused astonishment or admiration and so have missed of their due and designed end of being instrumental Means of leading Men to the Love of Truth and Virtue for the gaining of everlasting Bliss Object 7. There is nothing said in all this Discourse of Prayer or the other mentioned means of Beatitude of the Power of the Holy Ghost without which notwithstanding all other Helps are not able to work a through Amendment of Life to Salvation Solut. It is readily granted that without the Power of the Spirit of God all Helps and Means whatsoever are ineffectual to the obtaining of Felicity but in the right use of the Means the Power of the Holy Ghost is evermore supposed to be present For since Christ's Ascension into Heaven all the Aids and means of Salvation are ordered and applied by his Holy Spirit whom he promised to send after his departure to abide with the Church But to assert that all the Means which God the Father appointed God the Son prepared and God the Holy Ghost makes application of to particular persons should really work nothing would be too absurd to suppose any rational Person guilty of For in case they work or effect nothing to what purpose is their use or wherefore did Christ undergo what he did both in Life and Death to prepare them and cause his Disciples also to publish them to the daily hazard and at length the loss of Life But if any thing be effected by them in what is their effective Virtue terminated Do they not reach the Understanding to convince it nor the Will to incline it if not whence is Man's Conversion wrought If you say that the Spirit of God comes after the Means used and causes by his own immediate operation the Conversion made in the Soul you attribute that to God which cannot be truly affirmed of him for since he is a pure essential Act and that whatever is in God is God Sect. 1. Par. 9. and 11. it is not possible that he should effect any thing save only by willing it without any physical action operation or emanation issuing from him and terminated in the Object whether the effect be to be brought about with or without means for if it be to be brought about without means it unavoidably follows from God's sole willing of it as the Creation did there being no need nor use of any thing besides to produce it But if Means be appointed by God to be used then will not the effect follow without the use of the Means appointed they immediately yet but instrumentally producing it by virtue of the principal Cause which employs and invigorates them to that End or wills that the Effect should be brought to pass by them If it be urged that Christ himself saith None can come unto me unless the Father which hath sent me draw him John 6. 44. I answer by granting the infallible truth thereof but withal deny that it can be gathered from thence that whom the Father draws he draws them not by Means there being no mention made of the Manner of his drawing Yea is it not plain that the Father drew men to Christ by means of a Voice from Heaven when he said This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased hear ye him Matth. 17. 5. And what were the Works but Means to draw men to believe in Christ which he speaks of to the Jews saying If I do not the Works of my Father believe me not but if I do though ye believe not me believe the Works John 10. 37 38. In a word since God sent his Son into the World that whosoever believed on him should not perish but have everlasting Life it is manifest that every thing our Blessed Saviour either taught did or suffered whereby men are induced to believe and trust in him for Salvation is a Means by which the Father draws them unto Christ Object 8. If the Means of Salvation through the Power of the Spirit of God assisting them be the Cause thereof why are not all men saved to whom Salvation is tendered and the means conducible thereunto applied Solut. As a material Instrument cannot effectually work on matter not qualified to be wrought upon as for Instance a Knife cannot cut Brass or Iron asunder but a Straw or Stick it can so the means of Salvation held forth by the Gospel though being
therefore said to nourish the Body because being digested by the Stomach they afford Chyle which sanguified immediately refresheth and strengthens it so the Body and Blood of Christ crucified are there said to nourish the Soul because being applied to it by Faith they confirm it in Charity which is the Spiritual Nourishment and Strength thereof being that which immediately unites it to God Sect. 11. and in the Souls Union with God is the Spiritual Life Strength and Vigor thereof 6. That then the Sacrament of Baptism is the Sacrament of Initiation and introduces Charity into the Soul and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper the Sacrament of confirming and strengthening the same is in general made manifest And how each of them in particular effects what it was instituted for shall be briefly seen 7. Baptism which is the initiating Ordinance is not to be administred to any that are capable to understand to what intent it was ordained till they give an account of their Belief of the Articles of the Christian Faith and make a serious and solemn profession of their unfeigned desire and stedfast resolution to forsake the World the Flesh and the Devil and to lead a godly righteous and sober Life in which if they be sincere and understand as they ought to do that the external washing with Water or dipping therein denotes the inward cleansing of the Soul from Sin or a dying to Sin and rising again to newness of Life and is a Seal likewise and Means thereof how can it be doubted of but that the Sacramental Action of Baptism being duly performed should to one so prepared have the Effect it was intended for and improve his holy purpose and resolution of leading a new Life into a real performance of the same For to suppose the Soul rightly prepared and immediately disposed to receive Baptism and Baptism duly administred and yet the Effect of Baptism or Res Sacramenti not to follow were to suppose an entire adequate Cause actually causing without its proper Effect ensuing or a thing actually to cause and yet nothing answering thereto actually caused which is impossible 8. And as to the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which is an Ordinance for Confirmation and strengthening of Grace in that it represents unto us the bloody Passion of our Saviour in a more solemn sacred and venerable manner by Christ's own intendment and designation than any other divine Institution doth it must certainly to him who comes with due Reverence and Devotion to that august Mystery and stupendious Token of God's immense and endearing Love to Man be the most effectual Means possible to cause a deep impression of Charity in his Soul and even ravish and transport him with the Love of so good and gracious a God and Benefactor Object 1. If the expulsion of Sin by the accession of Charity be the Effect of the Sacrament of Baptism then can no man be justified without being actually baptized with Water although he really repent and be truly converted to God. Solut. If so be that external Baptism were the only Cause of the Remission or taking away of mortal Sin the consequence would be good but the desire of Baptism for the washing away of Sin may be so ardent and operative in some that Charity will be obtained before the actual administration of the Sacrament and whensoever and by what means soever Charity is introduced into the Soul Mortal Sin is necessarily cast out thereby sect 11. par 6. But few without the Sacramental washing with water though piously disposed have the habit of Charity compleated in them Neither is Baptism given in vain even to those whose mortal Sin is expelled out of the Soul before it be administred for since there are as many degrees of Righteousness as there are of Charity sect 11. par 8 9. the actual receiving of that Sacrament will cause in them an encrease of Charity and so of Righteousness which is never perfect till the Love of God be so ardent that it wholly burns up all the dross of carnal and earthly Affections in the Soul Sect. 11. Object 2. If the Belief of the Articles of the Christian Faith and an earnest desire and a stedfast resolution to forsake Sin and to lead a godly Life be Dispositions necessarily required in those who are to be baptized then is Infant-Baptism a fruitless and insignificant thing Solut. It is evident as well by the Office of Baptism as by the Church-Catechism that Infants through their Sureties are engaged before the Church will admit them to Baptism except in imminent danger of Death in which Case the Church enjoyning speedy Baptism becomes it self Surety thereby and therefore orders that the Child if it live be brought into the public Congregation and that the Godfathers and Godmothers undertake for it like to what is done in public Baptism to believe themselves the Articles of Christian Faith and to renounce the World the Flesh and the Devil when they come to Age no less than such as are of ripe years are obliged to declare they already do unfeignedly all those things by which it appears that the Benefit which accrues by Baptism to both has a reference to and proceeds on their part upon the account and ground of a true profession of Faith and a real endeavour after Holiness of Life So that although Baptism be administred to Children before they understand it yet the effect and benefit of it more than this that they obtain thereby the grand Privilege of becoming Members of the visible Church whence they are brought to enjoy the great Blessing of Christian Education takes not place nor is reaped till they do And thus it is easie to apprehend as to those Children that live till they have the use of Reason how Baptism becomes profitable to them whilst if they get benefit thereby they must perform what their Sureties promised for them which if they unfeignedly do by cordially believing the Christian Doctrine and by taking a firm resolution through the Grace of God to live a godly Life the Consideration of the gracious Design of Christ's instituting of Baptism to take away Sin and of the solemn Celebration of it by the Church for their sake to that end will if the Consideration be such as it should be cause a loathing of Sin and a real forsaking thereof for the Love of God. For why Baptism already past should not through a serious reflecting on it especially when Confirmation is duly according to the great importance of it administred be an effectual Means of cleansing the heart from Sin as well as it is by the earnest desire thereof before it be had will not be easily I believe resolved The main difficulty to unfold is how Baptism can profit Children that die young Those who say that Grace is immediately infused by God will be hard put to 't to give a tolerable Reason to what good purpose the Use of Means is when the Effect receives
other World will by being eternally separated from its Pleasures convert into a hopeless desire and upon that account grow more furious impatient For of all the torments of the Mind I know none that is comparable to that of an outragious desire joyn'd with despair of satisfaction which is just the case of sensual worldly-minded Souls in the other Life where they are full of sharp and unrebated desires and like starved men that are shut up between two dead Walls are tormented with a fierce but hopeless hunger which having nothing else to feed on preys and quarries on themselves and in this desolate condition they are forced to wander to and fro tormented with a restlefs Rage and Hunger and unsatisfied desire oraving Food but neither finding nor expecting any and so in unexpressible Anguish they pine away a long Eternity And though they might find Content and Satisfaction could they but diver their affections another way and reconcile them to the heavenly Enjoyments yet being irrecoverably pre-engaged to sensual Goods they have no Savour nor Relish of any thing else but are like Feverish Tongues that disgust and nauseate the most grateful Liquors by reason of their own over flowing Gall. Lastly if in any thing I have writ about Christ's meritorious Satisfaction I peradventure fully accord not with some Divines the difference when the Matter is duly weigh'd will prove I hope to be only verbal For I assert sect 11. First That Christ's death on the Cross was of infinite value and merit Secondly That by and through the same Remission of Sin Justification and every other Good whether of Grace or Glory are obtain'd Thirdly That Christ's Crucifixion was as real and proper an expiatory Sacrifice for Sin as any under the Law of Moses but of infinitely more value ever was Fourthly That God's Justice is de jure prevented thereby from being exerted agaist Sinners in their everlasting Destruction The only difference then if any remaining is in this That I cannot apprehend what some others perchance think viz. That Christ's Merits operate upon God and work an Effect of Mercy and Favour in his Will whereas I humbly conceive them to be a secondary efficient Cause subservient to God's Love to Man for conveying and applying the same unto him by being an effectual Means of converting his Affections from the Vanities of the World unto God that he may be eternally saved for which I offer to serious consideration these following Reasons inducing me thereto 1. That Christ's most gracious doings and sufferings for Man are held by all Christians to be a Meritorious Cause 2ly That a Meritorious Cause is an efficient Cause 3ly That it is the Property of an Efficient Cause to work some real Effect 4ly That it seems plainly impossible that any real Effect should be wrought in God who is impassible and immutable sect 1. par 8 9. for otherwise seeing whatsoever is in God is God sect 1. par 11. such an Effect would be God himself and so the Merits of Christ would be the efficient Cause of the Deity 5ly That Christ's Merits therefore are not an antecedent but a subsequent Cause to the merciful-lovingkindness of God to Man by which the eternal Goodness actually confers all the happy Effects of divine Favour and Grace on him whereby he is delivered from Sathan Sin and Damnation and brought to everlasting Bliss If it be replied that however plausible yea certainly true this arguing be yet there is something more in Christ's Suffering for the Sin of Man than what hath hitherto been said namely the satisfying Divine Justice I answer that strictly speaking neither Justice nor Mercy nor other Attributes of God are formally distinct either from one another or from the very Essence of the Deity Sect. 1. Par. 11. and therefore albeit I willingly grant that Christ died for all men even the Reprobate as to me seems plain from these Words of the Apostle But there were false Prophets also among the People even as there shall be false Teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift Damnation 2 Pet. 2. 1. yet it was not to this very intent and purpose that he should undergo those Pains and Punishments which were allotted for Sin the everlasting Torments of Hell but to put Mankind thereby into a Way State and Condition that not any one should finally perish save only such as embraced not the Mercy of God in Christ manifested to the World in his Holy Gospel for what Justice is it that the Damned should suffer the Pains of Hell in case Christ had as truly and fully satisfied for them as if they had already undergone them themselves If it be answered that the actual Benefit of Christ's Satisfaction only reaches to those who believe in him and obey his Word so as that they shall not perish but have everlasting Life I readily own that Christ's Merits and more especially his bloody Death and Passion did in this sense abundantly satisfie Divine Justice for by these he really affected that none can justly be damned to whom they are applied by a lively and efficacious Faith Sect. 11. so that at the last day it will be equally just for God to render some for and through the Merits of Christ eternally blessed as it will be to give up others for their Sins to be for ever miserably afflicted and contrariwise it would be alike unjust to save the Wicked in that day who do not believe in Christ and obey him as to destroy the Godly who believe and put their Trust and Confidence in him whose Death on the Cross was as real a propitiatory Sacrifice for Sin but of infinitely more value as the annual expiatory Sacrifice under the Law as by the explanation of the Nature and Efficacy of it will appear The Sacrifice of Expiation was never compleat and perfect nor had the designed and due Effect of its Institution by the sole slaying and offering of the Beast however rightly and solemnly performed both by the Priest and People unless they added thereto the afflicting of themselves as is plain by Levit. 16. ver 29 30 31. In the seventh Month in the tenth Day of the Month ye shall afflict your Souls and do no Work at all whether it be one of your own Country or a Stranger that sojourneth among you For on that day shall the Priest make an Atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean from all your Sins before the LORD It shall be a Sabbath of Rest unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls by a Statute for ever And again Chapt. 23. ver 27 28 29 30 31 32. On the tenth Day of this seventh Month there shall be a Day of Atonement it shall be an holy Convocation unto you and ye shall afflict your Souls and offer an Offering made by Fire unto the LORD And ye shall do no work in that