of God as he hath made known himself in his sufficiency and in his efficiency 1. This Faith is the first part of Religion because to live unto God a principle of life is firstly necessary and this is Faith Gal. 2. 20. 2. The special nature of this appeareth 1. A trusting in God called a resting Psal 37. 7. a staying upon God Isai 50. 10. a looking to God Isa 17. 7. 2. For life Deut. 30. 20. and thus this Faith is distinguisht first from Historical Faith which is an assent to the Truth of the Word of God 2dly from temporary Faith which is a trusting for temporary things 3. From miraculous Faith which is a trusting for a miraculous power these do not come to God for life Joh. 5. 40. Proceeding from a grounded knowledge of God for there can be no desire of an unknown God no believing on him whom we do not know Psal 9. 10. hence it followeth 1. This Faith is wrought by knowledge 2. Hence it is not knowledge nor properly any virtue of the understanding life it self is its Object hence happiness and goodness it self and this is properly the Object of the will 3dly Hence this Faith is seated in the will And thus this Faith is distinguisht from Fait ' in vocation there we consider the framing and making of it here the general act and use of it 2dly Hence distinguisht from Faith required in the Law the first Command there Faith looketh to God as the rewarder of them who do well and live unto him here it looketh to God as the author of life and of a principle of well doing 4. As God hath made known himself in his sufficiency and in his efficiency for Faith apprehends in the way of Reason such a portion of the beams and glimmerings of God as are sufficient to make a believer live unto God 1. Faith apprehends in the way of Reason for God hath made man a reasonable Creature hence he understands in the way of Reason hence Faith apprehends by Reason otherwise man should go without his guide and see without his eye sight Isai 1. 18. Job 40. 7. 2. A portion of the beams of God not the Sun it self not as God is in himself 1 Tim 6. 16. Job 26. 14. 3. So much as is sufficient to make a believer live unto God Exod. 33. 19 20. hence it followeth 1. The act of Faith is higher then the act of Reason for Reason in man acts upon and is conversant about only that Reason which shineth in divine Truth but Faith is taken up with looking upon the divine goodness in them 2. Hence Reason in a believer is a means to let in a light and good beyond Reason that as the senses are means to present the Reason in things to the Reason of man although Reason is above Sense so Reason is a means to present a divine good unto Faith though that divine good is above Reason but as Reason can use the Prattomenon of the Rule of Sense namely that which is effected by it so Faith can use the Prattomenon of the Rule of Reason that which is effected by it and yet these are distinct arts and have distinct Objects and distinct lights And that which God hath made known of himself is in his sufficiency and in his efficiency for more we cannot see and live and more we need not see and live Rom. 4. 21. Exod. 33. 19 20. Quest What is the sufficiency of God Answ The sufficiency of God is that whereby he hath â—nough in himself for himself and more then enough â—or us which consists in his Essence and Subsistence 1. He hath enough otherwise there would be a want in him which can not be Psal 50. 12. 2. In himself for himself otherwise he could not be happy in himself 3. More then enough for us 2 Cor. 9. 8. Eph. 3. 20. he hath enough for himself as he is an Infinite Being and therefore more then enough for us who are finite beings His sufficiency consists in his Essence and Subsistence 1. His Essence that is his Being absolutely considered 2. His Subsistence that is his standing under some manner of Being of these two Reason may conceive but beyond these Reason can not imagine of the sufficiency of any thing first what belongs to the Essence and Being as such 2dly what belongs to the Essence besides its Being 1 Joh. 5. 7. Prov. 8. 30. Quest What is the Essence of God Answ The Essence of God is that whereby God is absolutely the first Being and doth not exsist of causes nor consist of parts and his Being is absolutely pure without composition and is made known to us by his divine Attributes 1. There is a Being he that denyeth that doth deny his own Being and makes a nothing of his understanding 2. Being is either first or arising from the first so that there is a first Being Isai 43. 10 11. 3. Absolutely the first Being therefore no causes of his Being 1. No efficient causes of his Being hence not created cannot be annihilated and hence Independent and Supream 2. No material cause of his being hence invisible and impalpable 3. No formal cause of his Being hence Ingenerable and Incorruptible 4. No final cause of his Being hence no art to guide him to his end and thus he doth not exsist of causes And hence it followeth he is not an integrum or intire thing made up of members nor part of any entire thing 2. No genus or general nature exsisting in species nor special kind of being for these imply matter and form and thus he doth not consist of parts 2. And hence he hath not Accidents or Adjuncts arising from matter or form hence he is first without quantity and hence no augmentation nor diminution 2. Without qualities arising from the form acting upon the matter hence immutable without passion or suffering and unresistible And thus he is far above all our Logick and Reason Psal 139. 6. 4. He hath made known himself by his divine Attributes what ever is excellent being attributed to him in an eminent and inconceivable manner Rom. 11. 35 36. Quest What are the divine Attributes Answ They are as they are in God that one most pure Essence but diversly appearing to us 1. His Essence is pure without any composition as we heard before 2. Hence whatever is in God is God himself Exod. 3. 14. Isai 44. 8. 3. Hence his divine Attributes are God himself 4. Hence he hath these not by participation but he is every perfection it self he is wisdome it self holiness it self c. 5. Hence he hath these in the highest degree they can not be augmented nor diminished in him 6. Hence they are equal as they are in him not more of one divine Attribute then of another for they are God himself But these do diversly appear to us 1. By different effects as the same Sun softens some things and hardeneth other things so God hath mercy on some
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
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