because it becomes us to imitate God as much as we can and it is good for us so to do This I say is the whole Law naturally written in our Hearts and legible by the Consideration of God what he is in himself and what he is to his Creatures viz. The most perfect or Self-sufficient Being and our most wise good and powerful Author and of our relation to him and our Fellow Creatures 15. Now from this fountain of Love proceed all the orderly streams of our Thoughts and external Actions If we love God as we should or desire as he desires we shall hate to do otherwise fear to do otherwise our aversation and avoiding that which is not right is determin'd by our loving that which is right and when we once truely love God we shall be willing to study his Will that we may not ignorantly act contrary thereto Having found God our Cause Self-sufficient and All-perfect in himself we cannot but acknowledge it fit and proper to be true and acknowledge him such as he is there can be no reason that we should deny what we know to be true it is apparent that he is the Most High the Greatest Being and we are things infinitely less nay nothing of our selves we are but the Effects of the Will of the most wise good powerful Cause on which consideration it is most evidently fit for us to submit to his Guidance and Direction as confiding in his Wisdom Goodness and Power that he knows and wills and can do that which is best for us and to confess the Shortness of our Understandings as we are but Creatures and know infinitely less than he and consequently our Wills cannot be so good as his Hence also it naturally follows that if God has made us good or as becomes the Best Being to make and capable of Good or Pleasure we should be thankful for our Being and rejoyce or take pleasure in considering God's Wisdom Goodness and Power so should we be ready to comply with his Will as Instruments in manifesting and communicating his Power Wisdom and Goodness to our selves and our Fellow Creatures and hate fear and avoid being a Hinderance in any of these Again We are rationally obliged from the Consideration of God and his Will to us in relation to those parts of the Creation he seems to have made for our sakes and use to use them so as we may see most of God's Perfections through them and as we may receive most Good or Pleasure by them and how this is to be done he has made us capable by a little reasoning and attention to find out as his Will which we have all reason to submit to trusting his Wisdom as the absolute Rule wherein he directs us he knowing best how these Ends may be attained and his Goodness that he is willing they should God has made all things to shew his own Perfections to those Creatures he has made capable of seeing them and to make them happy or pleas'd whom he has made capable of Happiness or Pleasure in the use of them We are ready to believe these Creatures have nothing in themselves that can affect us with pleasure but it is the Will of God we should have pleasure in the use of them that thereby we might be brought to him the fountain of all Satisfaction 16. If this Account of the Will of God be not particular enough yet a little farther First It is apparent that having found our Author or Cause that only Self-sufficient and All-sufficient Being we call God the Father of all things we should not only take him for such but that we should have no other in the like esteem or let him have any Corrival in our Thoughts That One single Supream Being must have no Fellow in our Hearts The most exact or perfect Image of him that which he hath made most like unto himself must not be by us exalted into his Throne He is not an Image and whatever is a Representation of him he himself hath made such We must not think therefore of any Second as we think of him the First nor desire Another equally with him He must have the highest place or be the only God both in our Judgments and Affections who is Highest First and Best or we shall be unjust untrue and ungrateful Secondly Nor must we if we are obliged to think aright of him and duly esteem him presume to make of our own fancy any thing as an Image or Resemblance of him we must have no other Representations of God than what he himself hath made He must not by us be misrepresented nor must we reverence bow to or honour any of our Fictions that we may fancy to resemble him no nor whatever does indeed most resemble him with any such honour as is due to him We cannot rationally think any Image exactly like him nor in our Acts of Worship have the same Thoughts of him as we have of any thing his Representation because there can be no Image of him but what he hath made a Creature infinitely distant from him and so far unlike him Nor must we be so foolish as to think that we can offer our Homage more acceptably or to better purpose through any of our devised Mediums than if we come to the Fountain himself of all Goodness and Beneficence Thirdly Neither if we are obliged to prosecute the Ends and Designs of God in the Manifestations of himself must we mention any of his Attributes or Properties whereby he is known to no purpose or idlely For God is no vain or trivial Being nor is there any thing small or of little weight belonging to him who is the Supream or Self-sufficient Being or a Matter lightly or boldly to be play'd with by his Creatures who are even the highest of them unnecessary Beings or nothing in themselves and compar'd with God infinitely beneath him Much less may we dare to take his name into our Mouths who is Goodness and Truth in wishing Evil or asserting Falshood Fourthly And as God always ought to be had in most honourable esteem in our Thoughts and be by us acknowledged to be what he is so consequently we ought to set apart some time for the Profession of our Acknowledgment of our Maker to others that thereby they may be taught stir'd up to and strengthen'd in the same Acknowledgment and due Homage to their Author And that at the same time we all may enjoy the necessary Benefits of a Cessation from the Fatigues of Bodily Works which commonly take up six times as much time in proportion as our mental and more noble Exercises Besides that our whole time is rather numbered by Sevens than by Eights or any other numbers may be seen by the Natural Scale of numbers in Harmony wherein God hath created all things which perpetually runneth to a Seventh and no farther the Eighth being a new First or the First but doubled and which of the seven is
by any Man no nor by all Men nor can a Man enjoy what he is capable of enjoying altogether and at once So that where ever God forbids what we could desire it is but where a smaller Enjoyment will hinder our having a greater one frustrate our having many a small Present and short one disappoint us of a future great and lasting one And what Folly is it to be displeased because God some way forbids a Bodily or Sensual Pleasure that we may have a better a Rational or Mental one or a Joy in a Creature where it would hinder our Rejoycing in the Creator himself I believe if we had time to trace in particular the Disorders of Men we should find that all and every of them even their most beloved ones do but abate their Felicity Where is any that does not tend to destroy our Health or Peace or Wealth or Ease c. and so bring upon us some Mischief or other by which the little Pleasures in them are very much out-ballanced Is it not highly reasonable as well as for our Interest that God who is most wise and good should be our Chooser if he condescends to choose for us Is it not the greatest Presumption and Affront to our Maker who is the Cause of all our Good that we should act as if we knew better than he what is best for us Is it not the greatest Injustice not to love him and study his Will to obey it who has no profit by us but does all for our Benefit If we may receive all the Profit shall we deny to give him all the Honour For God indeed cannot be profited by his Creatures he sees his own Excellencies in them as Shadows but in himself as in the Substance but there can be no increase of his Perfections who is Self-sufficient necessarily Nor can Man's Disobedience take away any thing from his Happiness or affect him with the least Infelicity Sin does indeed obscure his Glory but not from himself but only from the Sinners who thereby loose that most pleasant and happy Vision And a cause of that great dislike of Sin in God which hath been sometimes express'd by the Symbols of Anger and Wrath is that he loves his Creature so well that he cannot approve any Action that in the least hides his Glory and Goodness from his beloved Works And as God neither looses nor gets any thing by the Creatures Sin or Obedience so in particular his Justice or Righteousness cannot be impaired He is not unrighteous or unjust tho' he suffers Man to be unrighteous and unjust The Creature cannot possibly bring any change upon God or lay him under any necessity or obligation God alone can oblige himself by his Promise and that is not properly an Obligation in God for 't is but the Declaration of his constant and free-will To say God cannot in Justice break his Promise is no more than to say he will not If he leave the Creature to reap the fruits of Sin he does him no wrong if he perswade the Creature to leave his Sin and be happy he wrongs not himself He can neither loose nor get any thing by the Creatures Sin and Unhappiness or Repentance and Happiness God is essentially righteous or just before Creatures had a Being and his Essential Righteousness or Justice as I have else-where said is to love and approve himself and to do his own Will His Justice in relation to the Creatures is his Approbation of them so far as they are his Work and according to his Will what he has made he shews his Approbation of by upholding and continuing the Being of He approves not the Creatures denial of him in disobeying his Will but shews the greatest Testimonies of his Dislike of its Disobedience So that if the Creature goes on in willing or acting contrary to God's Will God will not or which is all one he cannot make it happy and joyous in its continuing so to do unless he could make it to be God and cease to be God himself For the Creature cannot be satisfied with willing Good while it wills Evil nor can it be pleased in having its Will while it wills that which is impossible and while it leaves God's Will or willing that which is good and possible it must be miserable more or less according to the strength of its Evil Will and if it for ever goes on seeking Pleasure in vain or to satisfie its Will so as it cannot be satisfied it must for ever be unhappy and reap the Natural Fruit and Work of its own Doings unless and until it acknowledge God's Will Sovereign just and good and its own Will as disagreeing with its Maker unjust and evil and that it ought to be subject and be perswaded to change its foolish Will and desire to know and do the Will of God for the future that is unless or until the Sinner repent 28. But the Creature having once chose its own Will against the Will of God having committed one Act of Rebellion against its Maker is or seems much more inclinable and propense to go on and persist in its Sin than to repent and will well again For having once affected to be its own Lord and Arbiter or to be independant which is the greatest Perfection and best Manner of Being tho' impossible to a Creature it goes on with a strong Desire whose perpetual Acts perfuing so great a Thing hinder its Understanding to judge and reflect on the Impossibility Absurdity Injustice and Consequents of such an Attempt And every fresh act of Sin does but strengthen its Disobedience in which perhaps it would go on for ever if God did not upon its mistake give it abundant Arguments by one means or other to bring it to a stand cause it to consider convict it of its Folly and Disorder and so change its Will Till which change is effectually begun it is always and only endeavouring the Impossibility of separating the unpleasant or bitter effects it finds either in or following or fears may find the fruits of its disorderly Actions So that it would not be saved from its evil Will the Cause but from the Displeasure it finds attending it the Effect 29. But when it is once throughly convinced that its own Will disagreeing with the Will of God is an impossible way or means of Happiness or lasting Pleasure and sees the Unreasonableness and Badness of such an Attempt the Soul is very unapt to believe that God will forgive And considering it Self and its Sin more than God and his Goodness the sight of its most irrational Acts which it hath committed with the Tendency thereof often makes such a horrid Impression on the Soul and takes up its Thoughts so much that tho' God has given Arguments enough to perswade that he wills all Men to repent with various and clear Notices that he is ready to forgive and yet make happy those that by persisting in Rebellion do not render
if we want something which we see we may possibly have and cannot at our pleasure have it we could much less have Being of our selves if we cannot know or do without being beholden to some other even things we may so come to know or do Want some other cause than our own Wills for a small addition to our Perfection we could much less have Being itself unbeholden to any other Again he that wants something he that knows but some things and can do but some things but may know and do more has but so much Knowledge and so much Power and may have more might have had less and less and consequently the least yea none at all and so no Being and where Being might have been wanting there cannot be Self-existence Moreover whoever is not the cause of all other Beings is not necessary to the Being of other things we are certain that there are other Beings besides our selves and we may be as sure that we are not the cause of their Being For we do not know our selves to be so nor experience our Production of them but whatever is the Cause of the other Beings cannot be suppos'd to be ignorant of its being so or to have produced them at unawares an act of Will being necessary to the effecting of a thing of which none can be ignorant Now if we are not necessary in order to the Being of other things but that they may be and are and that unbeholdâ—â—â— to us we are not absolutely necessary and if not necessary we might have wanted Being but we have Being we know by Experience or Conscience tho' we are such imperfect Beings such unnecessary Beings Now if we are and are not of our selves we must have Being from another and that other Being must be perfect necessary self-sufficient or it would be in-sufficient to give Being to me or any other and this perfect necessary self-sufficient Being is God 5. Again Besides the Consideration of our selves as in-sufficient Beings that of necessity must have a sufficient Cause which by Reason proves the Being of God There is another way whereby we may be certain of the same Truth which for some reason I omitted as Order requir'd to speak of first and that is a certain Sense or Experience of God which we may find in our selves if we will attend unto our own Thoughts Thus we find several things done in us which we do not nor can do we have Thoughts wherein we are merely passive as in Sensible Perceptions or Thoughts we have by the Occasion or Means of Body if we are not the cause of them as we may well conclude when we find we cannot alter them if we cannot but see and hear c. while the Organs are rightly dispos'd and that so and so and the Bodies that we have the Perceptions or Thoughts of cannot be the cause of those Thoughts being more imperfect and impotent than our own Minds having not so much as Wills or any power to effect Reality or cause Being but are caus'd themselves and cannot create Perceptions as we find our selves affected or sensible of those Thoughts we shall if we consider find our selves forced to acknowledge our Sensibility of the Cause of them If I see or hear and so suffer a Thought and am not the Cause of this Sensation nor can the Objects of these Sensations cause them in me there must be some Agent or Gause of this Passion and that can be none but God And as we believe God and he only is able to create or cause Thoughts or Perception in us by the means of other our fellow-Creatures and Thoughts or Perceptions of them so it is not less reasonable to think that he can cause Thoughts in us and apply an Object to our Understanding without the use of those means even by an immediate Act of his Will and present himself as the Object of our Understanding We may farther suppose God could have created one only Mind then that Mind must have had an Object besides it-self it being not self-sufficient and there being nothing else but God it must have thought on God and without any means God's immediate Will being sufficient which would have been a a Sense of God And that there are other Minds and other things besides Minds does not hinder but that God may cause a Sensation in the Mind immediately And some Persons perhaps of considerate Judgments will not think me far out of the way if I say I have known such immediate Sensations and think others have or may have the like Experience if they attend to their own Thoughts especially in divers Passions tending to the rectifying the disorderly Will where perhaps they cannot be said to be more sensible of any thing than of God's acting strongly upon them and that not barely in making Impressions on their Understandings and no more where they merely suffer the Objects but by those Impressions giving the clearest and mightiest Arguments to perswade and change their Volitions and better determine the Acts of their Wills their own proper Actions Again Every Man if he considers will find he has a Will as it were disproportionable to any thing in himself or in other Creatures a mighty Desire feeling as it were after something that can satisfie and fill it with a kind of Perfection of Satisfaction This boundless and unwearied Desire that cannot fill it-self with any imperfect thing must have another manner of Object and must have a Cause and none but that Cause can be the Object sufficient to satisfie it Whence could there be such a Desire if there were no Object suitable and if the Cause of this Desire had not made it to be satisfied or capable to be satisfied he had made it in vain but he is suppos'd perfect and so can do nothing in vain or to no purpose for so to do is an Imperfection Now if this Desire be to be satisfied when ever it is so it cannot be insensible or want Experience of its Satisfaction for so to suppose would be to suppose it not satisfied and none can satisfie it but its sufficient Cause that is God therefore there is possible yea sometimes actually in those who have been convinced of the Insufficiency of imperfect Beings a Perception or Thought and that a sensible one of God if Sensibility be not unduely confin'd to the Reception of those Thoughts we have by Occasion and Means of Body That all Bodily Nature is insufficient and must have a Cause or Beginning I need not urge when we our selves what-ever we are find our selves imperfect and so that we cannot be without one 6. We are come so far as by considering our selves as Imperfect or Insufficient Beings to find that we cannot be of our selves Uncaused but must of necessity have a Sufficient Cause which is all one as to say that there is a God our Author and in doing this we have also found in some measure what we are and
are of and by the means of external things let in by the Organs of the Senses which are as Conditions in this life at least of our receiving such Cogitations the Indisposition of the Senses or want of those Conditions leaves us without those Thoughts if wholly indispos'd but if only in part the Thoughts are weak and pass unremembred and not reflected on and so are by some inconsiderately suppos'd not to have been But tho' our Eyes are shut in sleep and we then see nothing we have visible Ideas sometimes from the Remembrance of things seen tho' confused for no one born blind and so continuing ever dreams he sees yet the other Senses are not quite laid by we feel hear and smell c. tho' but remisly and our Thoughts or Perceptions are but faint and so it is no wonder if we forget them as fast as they pass and so suppose we had none And which to me makes the matter past doubt I have discours'd with a Person fast asleep who hath answer'd me distinctly to many Questions without so much as dreaming of any thing that was said But moreover if we do not think when asleep we do neither understand nor will or which is the same have no Understanding or Will but every Morning or perhaps twice or thrice every Night a new Mind for Understanding that understands not or Will that wills not is no Understanding or Will but an Absurdity And it is the same as to say I am Thinking and yet do not think But we remember we think sometimes in sleep and that strongly and though most commonly it is but weakly yet it is Thinking And such weak Thinking we may suppose a Child in the Womb may have none perhaps but what comes by Feeling or Tasting I speak according to the common Meaning for all Senses are but different ways of Feeling and yet the very Ideas that come by the grossest of the Senses are Thoughts still it being the Mind that perceives not the Body From these Considerations to name no more we may be perswaded that we always think tho' we don't always reflect and remember our Thoughts and so that Thinking is real and constant But to the second Objection That Thinking is but an Act of something else the Agent or an Attribute of something else the Subject I answer First by demanding what this more real and noble Agent is What Notion have we of it I have long try'd and can find nothing an Object of my Understanding but either Thinking or Body what others may chance to do who never try'd and are resolved they never will I know not Let them tell us what thought they have of it different from Body and Thinking if they can But if neither they nor we have any notion of such a third Being we cannot with any reason affirm any thing of it or that such a thing is If they have any thought of it they have some knowledge of it and so need not acknowledge themselves at such a loss as they commonly do when this Question is put them What is the Soul or expose themselves as they commonly do by talking of that whose Essence they acknowledge themselves wholly ignorant of But if any suppose Thinking an Action or Attribute of Body or that it is Body some way or other posited or moved how they cannot tell that is Thinking or that as they rather would say thinks they must suppose Body more noble as the Cause or Agent which I believe they will hardly do But we can suppose Body not to be we may be ignorant of it and yet think which could not be if it were Body that thinks besides if Body thinks it knows it self to think and so the Dispute is at an end but Body does not know it self to think because it is doubted whether it thinks or no Whatever thinks cannot be ignorant of its Thinking nor can any thing be well thought to be an Agent that is ignorant of its being so or does not will to be so If Body could be suppos'd to think and know it self to think it would be Thinking consequently not Body for of Body and Thinking there are wholly different Notions But Body we affirm to be no Agent of any thing or Creator of Ideas or Thoughts God alone must be supposs'd with good reason to be the Cause and Contriver of our Thinking As we find our Thoughts do not cause our Body much less can we suppose Body to cause our Thoughts or act any thing in us our Body is moved according to our Will and our Will and Understanding is often affected by means of our Body but Body is not the Cause or Agent of either Besides one half of our Thoughts are Passions nothing but our Desires or the Application of our Will about Objects seems properly our Action And tho' Thinking be look'd on as an Attribute requiring a Subject different we may as well suppose an essential Attribute or Attribute that is Identical the same with the thing it self in the created Mind as to say what-ever is in God is God or that there is not another thing which is not Wisdom Goodness Power c. which is God in which Wisdom Goodness Power c. reside as things accidental Nor is it so strange an Expression as that it may not be admitted to say Cogitatio est cogitans or Thinking thinks for in truth I take it to be the same as to say Thinking is Thinking which is no worse than an Identical Proposition But to leave this Question with these few touches to give others occasion to consider as besides my main purpose I shall pass to that Knowledge of our selves which most concerns us and even that Knowledge is the Knowledge of our selves as Thinking and that as Thinking well or ill If our Thoughts are well in order that something else that some fancy is the Agent of the Action Thinking in us that unknown Soul that Chimera or that Body whose Particles are very far from one another or friggle about very nimblely such is the common Notion of a Spirit is of little value If my Thoughts are duely apply'd to their due Objects I care not for that unknowable Soul for it is in the right order of our Thoughts that Happiness consists and whereby we come to attain the End of our Being 8. Having thus found our selves to be imperfect Minds variable limited caus'd or created Cogitations let us consider our Cause or Creator and that First as he must needs be thought to be in himself and then we shall the more fully discover the Second thing which hath been partly discours'd already What he is to us And the first notion that occurs to my Mind of God or the Cause of caused insufficient things as consider'd in himself is That he is Self-sufficient or Self existent Having found my self insufficient and consequently that I must have a Cause sufficient to be so which he could not be were he himself caused
had a first and may have a last Nor can Fatherhood or Creatorship be thought an essential Attribute in God because whatever is in God's Nature is a necessary Perfection and he cannot be suppos'd to receive any such Perfection from the Effects he hath produced which he had not before which would be in effect to deny him to be a Self-sufficient Being Nor can we with any consideration say God might have made things sooner or later for when he did make then began the first moment there being no fore and after in God from which time could be named Now tho' the Attributes of Creator Cause or Father began with Time resulting from things related to God as Products and Effects there cannot be said to be any alteration in God or increase of his Perfections the things that are made are but the Images Pictures or Characters of his Perfections and he is not any thing more since he has painted out some of his Excellencies than he was before Nor can God be suppos'd ignorant for not knowing what is not mere not being is no Object of Knowledge God knowing himself only knew all when there was nothing else to know and knowing all that now is he can't be said to be ignorant for not knowing more than all yet we dare not say he cannot produce more Creatures when he alone was he knew himself the Original and Fountain of all Perfection and knew himself able to paint out or make Pictures of his Perfections and when he will'd them they were but before he will'd them to be they can't well be thought Objects of his Understanding Now tho' God may be suppos'd solitary or singlely in himself without any real relation without so much as the Thoughts of Creatures in himself the Creatures cannot possibly be suppos'd to be without supposing their relation to God as their Creator or Father As it is our experience that we are and that we find by consideration that God must be or we could not be it presently appears what he is to us viz. our Cause our Maker Producer or Father and consequently that he is our Owner Sovereign Lord and Ruler He that knows us perfectly both as to what he hath made us and what his Ends are in making us He cannot be suppos'd to make any thing of which he is ignorant in either of these respects he must also be suppos'd to have Will and Power yet Will and Power in God are properly but two words for the same thing and his Power or Will to make must be agreeable to his Wisdom or Knowledge how or what would best become him He could make nothing but what would be an agreeable Representation of himself fit for such a Being to make such as would represent him as he is and that must needs be good He could make nothing ill there could be no disorder in his Works It cannot be said that any thing might have been done better than he did it either as to the manner or end of being 11. The final Cause or End for which God made things if it be not Presumption to enquire seems to be no other than the Manifestation of his Wisdom and Power and the Communication of his Goodness to his Creatures for in respect to God there can be no final Cause God being all perfect and happy in himself that is Self sufficient there can no good or end come to him from any thing but we would rather say he acted as became him when he pleas'd to make Creatures and some of them such as were capable by considering themselves and other things they find to be made by the same power to acknowledge and admire him and to move one another to acknowledge and admire his Wisdom Goodness and Power so conspicuous in the curious and mighty System of the Creation and in so doing to be pleas'd or happy God being in himself absolute Goodness and so perfectly happy or pleas'd with himself was pleas'd to make Creatures capable of Happiness or Pleasure by the Communication of his Goodness who is not only good or perfect enough in himself to be altogether happy or pleas'd but his Goodness is also enough to make a world of Creatures happy or pleas'd also by having Him the Object of their Understanding and Will The Creature experiencing God's Wisdom Power and Goodness being duly affected with it and endeavouring to affect its Fellows is said to glorifie God not to make him glorious that is shewing forth Perfections but to see him such and be an Instrument to cause him to be seen such God being essentially Wise Good and Powerful that is Knowing and Loving himself and able to make Representations of his Excellencies if he please to make any things cannot but make them such as become him viz. good and for good that is such as are capable of being pleas'd with being what and how he hath made them and wills them to be that is Knowers and Lovers of him So that there appears in God as considered in relation to us chiefly Power in producing us Wisdom and Goodness as to the what and to what end he hath made us What God is and will be found to be to us considered as otherwise than he wills us may come to be considered better hereafter in another place nor shall we here enlarge these Considerations having laid them but as Foundations or Principles 12. We shall now come to consider what we ought to be or how we should behave our selves to God and for God's sake to one another And this Obligation is that which is properly call'd Religion Man having by considering himself found God or his own Cause having found what God is and does in himself and in relation to us what he has caus'd us to be who are nothing of our selves the great Question that concerns us is What we ought or what it becomes us to do And that is in short to exercise our Wills aright that is suitable to or becoming the Relation we stand in to God and one another so as becomes such Creatures of such a Creator We are sure he cannot be or act towards us but as becomes him that is best And that we may do this our Duty aright we ought first to seek God that is study to know him more and more that the regular Acts of our Wills may be stronger and stronger for the more truely and clearly we behold him the Object the more orderly and the more strongly will the Acts of our Wills be about him Now God being an absolutely perfect Being and consequently one who can have no Acts of Will but such as become himself or are pefectly good in relation to himself and his Works our willing suitably or orderly is determin'd and made such by the Conformity of our Wills to the Will of God willing as he wills we should Now to will what God wills us to will is the Essence Sum and Substance of all Religion I do not say
that it can't have Satisfaction in and by its own foolish Will not being able to get it it not becoming God to comply with its disorderly Desire or that it was so foolish or wicked to seek Satisfaction that way The Creature can no more be satisfied in its own Will as independent than have an independent Being It is the Property of God alone and only possible to him who is self-sufficient and all-perfect to be pleas'd in himself But as for the Creature so far and so long as it continues in its private and self-will so far and so long it must be unhappy that which it wills cannot always or long be done unless God wills the same and to will what one can't have is the ground of all possible Unhappiness And tho' a Creature may be suppos'd uneasie sometimes in willing Good it may be because another for whom it is concern'd wills Evil against its Will and this springs from its Creature Nature that it is not sufficient in it self as God is who therefore cannot be affected with Uneasiness because of any thing another does And this Uneasiness of the Creature on the account of another's Evil may be grounded even in love to God and be because God's Will is disobey'd by others it being a Property of its imperfect Creature Nature to have Passion when what it wills is not done Which may be permitted also to stir the Creature up who would otherwise be more negligent to seek and endeavour its Fellow Creatures Good Creatures being mightily carried on to things by Passions Pleasure and Uneasiness just as there is a troublesome Sense of things hurting the Body that we might be thereby presently drove to avoid them But this good Sorrow or Discontent because Evil is done where-ever it happens will end in and be out-ballanced by Joy either in having done the Duty of Love viz. of endeavouring that God's Will may be done in and by others as well as in and by one's self or also that the Person hath by his endeavours brought another to Good to Happiness in willing as God wills as he would have him Nay this Sorrow is seldom void of its present mixture of Joy and Satisfaction in doing one's own Pleasure as conformable to the Will and Good Pleasure of God On the other hand though a Creature may possibly some time rejoyce in willing otherwise than God wills as having for a time its disorderly Will it cannot be so always but will some time or other find it has cross'd it self by the loss of a greater Satisfaction And every such Joy will but add multiply and lay up a greater Ground or Stock for Discontent and Anguish in as much as if the bare willing otherwise than God wills is so very unreasonable the rejoycing in such Unreasonableness is still a greater Disorder and will yield uneasier Reflections when-ever it comes to be justly thought upon But that God made Intelligent Creatures capable of continual Pleasure or Satisfaction is evident because it cannot be thought that God could make or create a Desire how large so ever greater than he can satisfie who is infinitely greater than it and yet satisfied with himself or that he would make a Creature with such a Desire and design it should not be satisfied because such a desire would be to no purpose But that the Creatures Desire should be satisfied with it self is impossible because the Creature is not Self-sufficient or God But the Creature may possibly err and suppose its Happiness to lie in doing its own Will as its own and otherwise than God wills 19. To will otherwise than God wills is the only true and bottom Notion of Sin And to will is always an Act and there is no Act where there is no Will and it is as much an Act to will one thing as it is to will another If I will an Absurdity or a Contradiction a Disorder a Defect such as is to please my self in all my foolish Imaginations it is as much willing or an Act of the Will as if I will a Truth a Good or what is convenient orderly and suitable to my nature And there can be nothing culpable in the Creature but an Act of the Will must bear the blame all other Thoughts of Created Minds besides Volitions and all Motions of Bodies are rather Passions and wholly blameless but where an Act of the Will disagreeing with the Will of God hath determin'd them amiss in which Act of the Will the Fault lies So that Sin can be nothing but an Act or Volition that is contrary to the Will of God and consequently there can be no Sin but actual Sin Sin in other words is said to be a Transgression of the Law of God that is a doing something contrary to the Law or Will of God and Doing is an Act and nothing acts but what wills Sins that are properly call'd Sins of Omission are not without Acts of the Will even Acts of Will to omit what ought to be done the not willing a Good is never without willing something else even Evil. It is from Ignorance and want of considering that some Men talk of Original Sin as distinct from or other than Actual Sin and it is an idle Notion as they understand it for where-ever there is a Thinking Being or Mind there is a Will willing something or other and if that Will be contrary to the Will or Law of God it is Actual Sin Where there is no such Act of the Will there is no Sin The not knowing the Will of God is an Alleviation of the Sin but though the Creature ignorantly wills otherwise than God wills that Ignorance if at all the Creatures fault does not make it cease to be the Creatures disorder or what ought not to be Nor is God ever the Cause of the Creatures inevitable Ignorance of what he would have them do He cannot be suppos'd to cause any thing he wills not that would be a great Imperfection therefore he cannot be said to cause the Creature not to know what he would have him do that would be all one as to will what he wills not which is a Contradiction But he has made the intelligent Creatures capable of knowing and doing his Will those Beings that have no Thoughts are incapable either of Sin or Obedience Original Sin if we must use such a term is nothing but the first Act of Will contrary to the Will of God the first disorderly Act of the first Creature that so acted is the Original or Beginning of all Sin the first undue Act of the first Man is the Original or first Sin of Men the first Act of Will contrary to the Will of God of every particular Creature is its Original or first Sin and the Creature is never guilty of Sin or acting contrary to God's Will till it has so acted Most absurd therefore is it to suppose me guilty of that Sin which was the Act of the Will of
be and shall be hereafter But of this I shall speak more when the Order of my Discourse brings me to it again By the Knowledge of God and our selves which we may have these three ways we are rationally led or perswaded to will well by conforming our Wills to the Will of God The Knowledge of God howsoever attained may be divided into Two Heads First That he is or that there is a God Secondly What he is The Knowledge of our selves likewise will bear the same division The Knowledge of what God is may also be divided in two parts First What he is in himself Secondly What he is in relation to his Creatures 3. Now that we may find out and prove to our selves the Existence of a Divine Being or God let us descend into our selves the nearest step we can make and plainest way we can go and that which I here shall choose to take leaving those other more commonly traced paths and see what Arguments we can find within us for the being of a God yea by what necessity we are compell'd to acknowledge that he is First Every Man hath a Sense or Experience of the Reality of his own Being certain beyond all demonstration so that none can doubt of his own Existence or needs to have it proved and if any could here doubt that very doubting would certifi◠him that he hath a Being or is For if there be a Doubting an Enquiring a Supposing a Will to know c. there is something Actions and Passions cannot be without Being or where there is no Being of nothing nothing can be suppos'd affirm'd or denied So that it would be but time lost to go about to convince a Man of his own Being of which he cannot but be certain and what he cannot deny but he will at the same time affirm himself a wilful Lyer 4. We shall therefore consider in the next place so far as our present business in finding a Divine Being requires what we are And because I have but now made mention of Doubting and Considering and find Men so apt to doubt question and consider what we are as to our Essence or Being as well as of other things I say we are Doubters Questioners Considerers and Supposers But what is Doubting Questioning Supposing and Considering It is Thinking and that an imperfect Thinking Thinking that wants something in which we find an incompleat defective Understanding and a Will or Desire of something we have not Now where-ever is found any thing of Ignorance in the Understanding or any want of Power in the Will it appears that that Being cannot in any wise be thought to be of it self or self-sufficient but must consequentially be acknowledg'd to be dependent having some other Being its cause For he that finds himself insufficient to himself can in no wise be thought to be sufficient of himself He that not only wants something he may have but moreover cannot give himself what he wants is dependent on something else for some addition when a Being that is independant and self-sufficient in its Essence cannot be supposed to need another than its own Understanding and Will on any account We all find in our selves a want of Knowledge we know but a few things and we know but a little of those few things we know and moreover of those things we do know we come to the Knowledge of one after another so that we are sometime ignorant of what we afterwards know yea in all our Thoughts we find a constant succession of one Thought after another we cannot think of all we think together but we forget one thing while we consider another and we do not see it possible that it should ever be otherwise with us which Imperfection of the succession of Thoughts one after another in spiritual Natures or Minds is the notion of Time and that for which they are said to be in Time or Timous Beings and would be so if there were no motion of Bodies or Body at'll and while there is any Mind having this succession of Thoughts afore and after Time is and will be and that Mind in Time or Timous Notwithstanding the Fancy of those who talk of Souls going into Eternity or being eternal à parte post on the after half half eternal which is a whole Contradiction Now where there is a succession of Thoughts one after another there was a precedure of them one before another till we come to a first or beginning Thought which with us is past and what is past was present and future and what was future was not then in actual being the same must be said of Men or other things that are before one another as well as of Thoughts there must be a first and where a thing was not but only might be if it be or begin it must be begun and what is begun must have a Cause or be begun by another it cannot be its own efficient for so it would be suppos'd to be before it is which is a Contradiction Now if there be something that began to be as we must conclude of our selves there must be a Cause of our beginning which Cause did not begin to be for if it had it had been alike insufficient and it-self wanted a Cause and so must be caused and so we must run on tell we come to a first Cause which is sufficient and necessary of it-self always the same and this first Cause is God And as we find our selves from our imperfect Understandings and successive Thoughts necessitated to grant our selves caused and that the Cause of our Being must be sufficient of it-self or perfect if we come to the particular Consideration of our Wills we shall find two things there denoteing Imperfection and Insufficiency First Variableness Secondly Impotence As to the Variableness of Will we all find our Wills changeable sometimes willing one thing then another yea sometimes one thing then the contrary in which Variableness of Will is also seen a farther Imperfection of our Understanding For we will the thing which at the present appears best to us but what at one time seems good or best at another is not so in our Judgment but bad Now at one of these times the Judgment fails and errs Secondly We find the Impotence of our Wills in that we will things we cannot effect This every one is sensible of he that affects to be an Atheist himself We see a Defect in our Knowledge often we would know somethings we don't know and what we cannot cause our selves to know when we would likewise we would sometimes do the things we find we cannot do so we still find our selves insufficient so that there may be something added to our Knowledge nay we find there daily is which we at our pleasure cannot add and that there may be some increase of our power which we of our selves cannot cause How will this prove a God may the Atheist say I answer most evidently For
the Seventh is determined from whence we begin Fifthly As God is to have the Supream Honours and Worship as our Cause infinitely above us so even those Creatures God hath made the Instruments of our Being or before us in Excellency and and Dignity should be acknowledged as such and so more worthy than our selves and being honour'd by us this Honour should be shewn and testified by proper Submission to them with other Testimonies whereby we may shew our due esteem Those that we are immediately beholding to tho' but as Instruments for our being or well being those we have been necessitated to depend upon tho' but as means for the continuance of our Being in this life have in all reason due to them from us a debt of Honour Esteem and Regard and those that in any respect are better and more excellent than us can with no Justice be denied the Acknowledgment as we find occasion of what they really are Nor is the giving all our Betters especially those we have had our Dependance on as Parents their due Regard without a natural Tendency to our long and happy Continuance in this Life as they are thereby farther encouraged and provoked to contribute the more to our Felicity and we may also hope for as our Desert the like Honour from our Off-spring or bear the contrary with the less Regret Sixthly And as God has made us all the means of manifesting his Excellencies to one another the Representations or Images of himself it is the highest Presumption and Boldness that we should attempt to put an end to or spoil or put out of sight so excellent an Image of God as he hath made Man And this is first most unreasonable and culpable if practis'd on Self it being every Man's Duty and Interest to be as God would have him and a high Affront and Rebellion to refuse the Gift of Life and Duties thereof and as it were a bold revenging the Crosses of our foolish Wills on the Author of our Life spoiling as much as we can his Work And tho' we may be perswaded that possibly there may not be so much Excellency in some others as in our selves yet we should have so great a Love and Respect to the meanest Man as he is the Image of God an Epitome of the Creation a Lord of the Corporal and a Bond of Corporal and Spiritual Nature wherein God may be seen as in a Map of all his Works that we should not desire or presume to blot out so great a draught of the Divine Painter or deface so great a Representative of his Majesty And as Man is a Lord over the inferiour Creatures under God to put him as much as possible out of his Office his Stewardship or Viceroyalty is an Affront to his Sovereign for which he that does so ought himself to be put so far out of the same capacity tho' he ought not to put himself out which he himself vertually acknowledgeth since doing as one would be done by is a most apparently equitable Rule For if a Man loves Life as a Good as every man in his right mind does and would not that another should take that from him on which as well or ill used depends so much of Happiness or Misery consequently he ought not to take it from another whom God has made a living Man as well as he capable of as much Good as another and in this at least better than he that would break this Rule that he does not purpose like him to be a declared Enemy to his Kind and thereby adjudge his own Life ought rightly and also necessarily to be taken away to prevent a greater Mischief viz. the loss of another Life more valuable than the Life of this declared Despiser and Enemy of God and Man which Reasons do not only convince us that we should do nothing tending to hurt the Life of another but that we should do what in us lies to preserve it as well as our own Seventhly As it is most reasonable we should Esteem and Honour particularly and in especial manner those that have been the means of our Being and not slight and despise them that we should do as we would be done by and do nothing tending to destroy any of our Fellow-rational Creatures but labour to preserve them So also that we may avoid the said Mischiefs and perform the opposite Duties it is reasonable and necessary that in the business of the Propagation of Mankind Man should observe the Laws of Order and Conveniency that is that one Man and one Woman should be joyn'd together in free Love and Constancy and become one in that matter never leaving one the other to joyn with a third That one Man should not use more Women than such a one as a Wife while she lives nor one Woman more Men than her Husband before he is dead is most reasonable from many Considerations tho' Men are so inclinable to Disorders in this Matter and so willing to be blind and not see them As if the promiscuous use of Men or Women be practised it will be the unavoidable Confusion of Relations and Cause of the many evil Consequences thereof Relative Duties cannot be perform'd where Relations are not known As for instance A Child will be sometimes ignorant of his Parents and so will not only omit the Honour Gratitude and Reverence due to them but may sometimes be liable to slight despise contemn or even abuse them or do those things to them which tho' lawful to others not at all to be done to Parents which if ever they come to be known might cause great disquiet of Mind Again By the promiscuous use of Men or Women the Right of Inheritances will often be perverted and confounded one Man's Child will enjoy another Man's Land or Goods the true Heir being unknown a Man shall labour for another's Children and not for his own Again As all Children of Men are more helpless than any other Animals if both parents are not concern'd for them they will many ways be expos'd to Misery in the want of that Care and Love and all the Effects thereof which orderly Parents have for their Children And the Women who are not able to go through their Bringings forth and Breeding up of their Children alone as other Animals would be often exposed with their Children to great Miseries without the constant Help and Care of such a Relation as a Husband and Father ought to be Again if one Man should have divers Women tho' he were as a Husband to them all divers Inconveniencies would follow The Man would love one better than another and so not be equally just to them all for which cause they would not agree or live in Love and Content together they would have Jealousies and Strifes against one another and have many Temptations to Inconstancy when one Man is not enough ordinarily to satisfie the natural Desire of more Women some must be defrauded so on
another committed before I had so much as any act of Will or Being it self 20. So far we have considered Creatures as coming from the hands of God and Good or possible to be changed and become evil in their Actions We now come to consider them as actually evil And it is or may be apparent to any Man that will descend into himself and consider that Man has not always and exactly done as he should but has sometime will'd or does will otherwise than God wills Of this I say we may be soon convinced by our own Experience or Conscience the surest of all Convictions If it be true that as God is all perfect or sufficient in himself so that he hath created things to manifest his Wisdom Goodness and Power c. to the Intelligent Creatures that they may be as happy as they are capable of Being it is most certain First that if I have not considered my self being once capable of Reasoning and so found my Cause and enquired and found what he is admir'd and lov'd him and had thankful Thoughts of him it is not because I was incapable of doing so but because I would not and I have not will'd as becomes me as God wills I should but have sinned Secondly If I have will'd any thing that does not tend to make me as happy as I can be or as much pleas'd with God in himself and in his Works as I should I have will'd otherwise than God wills and so have sinned But I find even after I have found God and somewhat consider'd him I have very much forborn or neglected to consider him and considered other things unworthy such consideration more than him nor have I loved him as the Self-sufficient Being and my Cause ought to be loved but have loved my self or other things unworthy such Love more than him while I am convinced he is better than me or any thing and the Cause things are and are any way condusive to my Good or Pleasure and in so doing as well as in other Instances I find I have sometimes will'd those things which at other times I have found not tending to make me as much as may be happy I have will'd things before I have consider'd or inform'd my self of the Nature and Tendency of them slighting those Directions God has made me capable of receiving from him and so acted or will'd disorderly or otherwise than becomes me I have not always been pleas'd or glad in contemplating God in himself and in his Works and therefore I find I have not always will'd as God wills I know or may soon do that God's Will is best in relation to himself and his Creatures I have been convinced such and such a thing is according to God's Will yet I have done otherwise and chose that which my Judgment informs me is not God's Will thereby asserting my own Will therein better than God's or my Judgment truer than his Again I am convinced when I seriously consider that God's Will is that wherein I can best be pleas'd but I find I have been displeas'd and uneasie in mind many a time either because I have found I chose something not best for me or because for want of Consideration I have thought something good for me and will'd it which I could not possibly have Thus I find infallibly I have will'd otherwise than God wills and so have sinned Here we have from the Light of Nature or our own Reason an evident Conviction of Sin or of Man's Fall and Degeneracy every one may see it in himself and the same we may observe tho' not some ways so apparently in others And all Mankind in general how dark soever their Light and how little soever their Reason is having once attain'd to the use of Reason have been sometimes ready to confess themselves indeed guilty of doing amiss and forced to accuse others as guilty of Evil. What Man is there but that if I do any thing to make him less happy is sensible I do not as I would be done by and so do not my Duty but am a Sinner Now God cannot be suppos'd to make Man thus evil and out of order because he can do nothing but what is good tho' he made Man capable of sinning or going out of order And as Man must needs be suppos'd to come out of God's hands good and orderly but is become evil acting a miss Man must be suppos'd to be fallen and degenerated from his Primitive state 21. The Greatness of Man's Sin in willing otherwise than God wills the Grievousness of his Fault in falling from what God made him is apparent or may be so if we but consider That Man is nothing of himself but is beholden to God for his Being and All. It is therefore most highly unreasonable that Man should deny to acknowledge such a one his Author or dare to contradict or disbelieve his Wisdom and Goodness in acting as if God did not know or would not do what is best for his Creature How unreasonable is it that Man should foolishly and with an ungrateful Stubbornness refuse the Good yea any Good God offers him Had God made him less capable of Good he had been bound to be thankful for any capacity had God denied him some Good he had made him capable of he had been endebted to Love and thank his Maker for any Good he had given him It is a high Slight of the boundless ever-overflowing Fountain of Goodness for Man to refuse any or the greatest Happiness God offers him and whoever does not study God's Will as a Director to Happiness will certainly miss some Good It might be Love to refuse what the Giver would loose or want by giving it or could not well spare but a Slight not to take where the Giver has abundance and will have never the less by giving For Man to refuse any Happiness God offers him is so far to desire not to be beholden to God But he that is most beholden to God is most happy and he that is most happy must consequently be most beholden to him This will remain an everlasting Truth while God and Creatures have a Being Is it not the height of Folly yea Madness as well as Injustice to choose Misery rather than acknowledge one's Maker as the Author of Happiness To desire not to be beholden to God our Cause our Lord and Soveraign is the highest Affront to the highest Majesty and no less than an absurd Endeavour to dethrone him and be of our selves that is be God To substract our selves from our Dependence on his Will and to prosecute our own in Distinction from and Contradiction to his is so unreasonable bold and mad a Presumption as to endeavour to overcome and destroy him so great a Folly and Absurdity as to endeavour the Impossibility of adnihilating the Being of all Beings and consequently our Selves and All. So great a Treason Boldness Perverseness Madness and Injustice is contain'd in Sin
that he hath deceiv'd himself but also the Unreasonableness of his Disbelief slighting disbelieving and affronting his Maker in not studying but rejecting his most wise Order and Direction So that if a Man wills that which is good but impossible to him or what belongs not to him that which is but little good and takes away more good hinders good to another is but an appearance of good his Will is evil He that desires his Neighbour's Wife wills Evil tho' she be the best Woman in the World for tho' she be good she is not his he invades another's Property and so wills an Injustice nor can he have his desire without abating the Happiness of his Neighbour and the Woman 's too in her becoming Evil and finding its Consequences And here I cannot but take notice of the a foolish Abuse common among Mankind that is they confidently call the Desire One Man has to Another's Wife or a Woman to Another's Husband with all such disorderly Desires by the name of Love meaning Love to the Person desired when it is nothing less being always that which so far as it is satisfied divers ways effects the Unhappiness of the Person said to be beloved which such a Lover can hardly be so blind as not to see Yea farther that it is but a Self-love if it can be call'd Love at all and a grosly mistaken one too rendering the Lover himself more unhappy than he would have been had he never so affected tho' he enjoy the Object of his Love I would say his Lust for that is the proper name on 't But to draw towards a Conclusion of this matter I say whatever a Man desires the Act of desire is free to suppose otherwise would be all one as to suppose Volition not to be Volition or a Will not a Will A Will cannot be said to be compell'd for tho' it cannot but Act or Be it is freely or willing Compulsion and Volition are contrary and incompatible But the Will is led by Arguments and at least Appearances of Good If there could be suppos'd but one Object of the Will it could not but apply to that yet it would be freely but where there are many Objects it chooses by appearance But Man having the Faculty of Reasoning as well as Desiring ought to suspend the Acts of his Will by a kind of Indifferency at least as to their Effects till he is sure his choice will be good The Will is led by Arguments I say whether the Act of Will be according to God's Will or no and Volition is Volition or to be willing is to be willing And a Man is in short more properly said to will or desire Evilly than to desire an Evil I mean to himself for that a Man may be so wicked as often to will and consequently freely yea and knowingly an Evil to another Man and sometimes effects it and would also affect God with an Evil or a real Displeasure if it were possible that Man's foolish Will could be so done is daily apparent and true beyond all dispute And that Sinners may be said to will Evil continually is not to be understood as if they never desired any thing that is good but that every act of their desire tho' they desire Good hath some Evil Circumstance or other as an Evil Manner Evil Means or Evil Ends c. Now God as abovesaid cannot will either an Evil or Evilly his Will being the Rule of Good and to suppose God to will Evil would be all one as to suppose him to will what he don't will Nor is it for want of Power or Freedom that God can't will or do Evil but it is rather a Note of Power that he cannot be deceived but can know all things as they are and cannot be suppos'd ignorant of any Truth because he is the Exemplar and Cause of all Truths He cannot be suppos'd to do amiss because he is All-perfect He cannot will one thing now another anon because he is unchangeable always knowing what is best And as God in whose Being is no now and then cannot will contrary to his own Will so he cannot be suppos'd without the height of Contradiction to will that the Creature should will contrary to his Maker's Will this would be to suppose God to will contrary to his own Will or will a thing and yet not will it Besides if God please to make known his Will which he must be suppos'd to do one way or other or the Creature cannot well obey it or be determined to its Duty when the Creature knows it or has reason to believe God wills so and so he can have no reason to suppose God can have a Secret Will or Determination that the Creature should do the contrary This would be to suppose God a Lyer and to deceive his Creature yea to deny God to be either true or good I have the greatest reason to believe God would have me do what he commands me that is any way causes me to take for his Will and that he commands me what is best for me to do I cannot err here if I am sure he commands If God could be suppos'd to will one thing and command the contrary he would contradict himself for the Commands of God can be nothing but his Will made known to the Creature and he cannot be supposed to frustrate his own Will Such an Absurdity foolish Man would hardly be capable of as to will his Child to do what he commands him not to do or to command him to do that which he wills he should not do Yet I have known some so bold or inconsiderate or displeas'd with the good Will of God as to affirm in plain words so unreasonable a thing of God as that he will'd Man should do what he commanded him not to do But God has done very great things both within us and without us and will do to vindicate his Wisdom Truth and Goodness against all those that are so hardy or foolish as to deny them either plainly or in consequence 26. And tho' God may oblige his Creature to a thing for a time especially in that which seems an Arbitrary Command which he may not will him to do always but afterwards something else it is no Contradiction or Change in God's Will who wills that which is first and last in respect to the Creature altogether but the Creature being changeable what is best for him or his Duty under one Circumstance is not so under another Which Will of God the Creature comes to know part now part anon As for instance God wills me to do that when I am a Child or a Servant which is not my Duty when a Father or a Master and that when I am a Father or Master which is not or ceaseth to be my Duty when I am in no such relation An Arbitrary Command of God I call that which Man sees not or not clearly the reason of to himself nor
a more particular and express more clear and convincing Manifestation of God's Will a second Witness of the same Truths confirming what is testified by the natural Light of Reason which alone were enough to leave all without excuse who do not hearken to its Dictates and sufficient to lead all to the way of Obedience were it hearkened unto But Revelation being added dictating and enforcing in a manner plain and clear enough for any Capacity whatever is absolutely necessary for Man to believe and do in order to Happiness is enough to inform and convince any of their Duty that do not strongly resist For the clearing of which matter let us take these Considerations As God is the Fountain and Cause of all Truths so he is the Giver or Discoverer of all Truths that come within the reach of Created Understandings But he doth not make known things to his Creatures always the same way He hath given us Sense and Reason by which with his general and common Assistance we most commonly come to know things for some time unknown to us But whensoever it pleaseth God to discover some Truth in an express particular or extraordinary manner then there is that which we call Divine Revelation Now this Revelation may be considered two ways In relation to the thing made known And in relation to the Manner or Measure of the Manifestation But before we come to consider it these ways let it be noted that as we have said Revelation is some Truth discover'd or made known to the Creatures so we at the same must necessarily suppose it a Truth knowable to the created Understanding For to suppose a thing that is above our Understanding to be revealed to us is to suppose a Revelation and yet no Revelation whatever is made known to us we know and what we know is not above our Knowledge The Capacity of Man's Understanding we readily believe may be enlarged so that he may hereafter know what at present he is not capable of but till he is capable of knowing such or such a Truth or at least seeing it knowable it can be no Revelation to him As for instance None can pretend that the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is revealed while it is that which is inconceivable That all the Properties wherein the Nature and Essence of Bread consists should remain and yet the Bread be changed into Flesh is that which is unintelligible and not a Revelation Nor can they well say that tho' the manner how this unseen Change can be is not revealed yet that it is indeed changed into Flesh and yet more strange the Flesh of Christ is revealed For how this Change can be conceived to be made and that it can be conceived to be made is the very same thing or at least as unintelligible Nay such a supposed Change is a Contradiction and a Contradiction can with the least reason of all be suppos'd a Revelation For Man is not only unable to know how it can be but is able to know yea clearly sees it is impossible to be With as good a pretence might a Man say that tho' to any Man's Understanding two and one make three yet God has revealed to him that in God's Understanding two and one is but one or is nine or what you please But as to Divine Revelation it may be as I said considered either as to the Thing revealed or the Manner of the Revelation As to the Thing revealed it may be either that which is or can be known no other way viz. a Truth God has reserved to such his Peculiar Teaching or that which might be known without Revelation but not so clearly easily or soon and in both it may be of a Truth past present or to come As to the Manner of Revelation a Truth may be communicated either immediately to the Understanding supposing only that it is God's special Will that I or he thus immediately know such or such a Truth we knew not before or yet to the Understanding mediately by the Ministry of some superiour Intelligent Creature that God first made know the thing or yet still more mediately a Truth may be made known in way of Revelation even by our very Senses by means of some Bodily Object as a Voice Vision or the like Again as to the Manner of Revelation it may be more general or particular more partial or full or in other words fewer or more Truths may be thus made known at the same time Now that God can and may in a particular and express manner make a Truth known to his Creature or to one and another and yet not to the third or to every one that he may give a Revelation to some immediately and command them to tell it others none but those that disbelieve the Power Goodness and Sovereignty of God can deny It cannot rationally be suppos'd but that the Author of Truths can make a Truth known He who has made Creatures sensible and capable of Reasoning and finding out Truths by way of Induction and Argument may if he please sometimes give Men the Knowledge of some Truths a nearer and easier way or cause them to understand Truths not knowable by Sense and Reason alone and this immediately to whom he pleaseth and to others by them Creatures that can come to the Knowledge of many things by their own Industry or Application of Thought may either know the same things or things they would never have found out so by a special Instruction As a Man unassisted by a Master may find out many things in Arts but by the Instruction of a skilful Artist he may come to know the same and more and in far less time than he could have known without such a Teacher Now it cannot be thought unbecoming the Wisdom and Goodness of God or unsuitable or unnecessary for the present Condition of Mankind if we consider it that God should have had some special Scholars of his own particular instructing and have commanded them to teach other Men in things most profitable and necessary to them or that he should have sent some particular Messengers to the rest of Mankind to teach his Will to those that through their own Negligence or others Hinderance knew it not or to teach it more clearly and fully to those that knew it but in part and to urge it upon all that were negligent to do it That God may do thus I think is now undoubted That he has done so seems to me the only thing needs farther to be proved to any rational Man And that we may rationally be perswaded that God has thus instructed or sent some particular Men either to teach others or urge them to do their known Duty let us take these Considerations It is most evident to all those who have took notice of the Actions of Mankind conveighed by the most unquestionable Tradition from Generation to Generation that now and then in the Ages of this World there have been some
Lord of all other Beings That at his Word the Heavens and the Earth and all things in them were made and are upheld That he is Good Wise Just True Benign or Merciful c. Besides this Instruction what God is it teacheth us what we are viz. Sinful wretched Fallen Creatures that can have no Good or Happiness in our selves It informs us how we should behave our selves towards God viz. as Dependent things and that we should love him obey him fear to do any thing contrary to his Will trust him or believe him c. and how we should carry it to one another viz. to do as we would be done by that is every one to confer as he is capable towards another's Happiness Having propos'd things to the Understanding Secondly It addeth the Perswasive Part to the Will moving us to behave our selves suitably in the Actings of our Wills to such Truths known by setting before us Good or Evil Profit or Disprofit Pleasure or Displeasure Seemliness or Unseemliness accompanying or consequent on our orderly or disorderly Behaviour Now these things propos'd and urged in these Books as the main Scope and Design of them appear to be of God as they come with evidence of Truth and Goodness such as are agreeable to the Reason of a considerate Man and are seen proper and convenient for the Creatures Will to comply with things beseeming the all-perfect Being to teach and command convenient and profitable for the Creature to learn and obey Which if we consider with our selves and compare with what has been said in the former part of this Book will appear to be the very same Principles and Practice of that we call Natural or Rational Religion which is knowable by the Light of Nature to all Mankind But that these same things may and how far they may be call'd Revelations will appear by considering the Times and Circumstances and Manners of their Delivery Thus if when Men had given up themselves chiefly to the Consideration of sensual Objects and bent their Wills to the disorderly Satisfaction of their Bodily Appetites neglected the due Consideration of their Author and the End of their Being Began to fancy God too much like themselves Had low mean gross Conceptions of him and too high Conceits of Creatures Confounded the Properties of God with those of his Works Gave Divine Honour to Men or any thing they fancied excellent or useful Made Bodily Representations of God and as some represented him by one thing some by another their various and disagreeing Images could not be reconciled so as to be taken all so different for Images of one and the same Being but they began to fancy as many Gods as their differing Conceits had made Images So that Divine Nature was mistaken even as to number uncertain without end And even those who by long Instructions had been brought again to the Belief and Worship of but One God had so far mistaken his Will as to fancy their good Behaviour to him consisted in external Ceremonies supposing that he would be affected with the Slaying of Beasts and pleas'd with a Custom of little Observances as wearing of odd fashion'd Garments keeping of certain Days using divers Gestures c. when at the same time they neglected Justice Judgment Mercy Truth Goodness c. grew corrupt and unreasonable in their Actions even to one another had brought themselves into divers present Miseries and laid a foundation for future Unhappiness to themselves after this Life and to their Posterity yea lived as if they believed there was no future Life If then in such times of Ignorance and Corruption God sent or particularly instructed and sent some one or more to the rest expresly to teach the Truth and command his Will here was a Revelation and a time for the Goodness of God to shew it self in supplying the necessity of blind miserable Sinners when nothing could be more profitable for Man or becoming God than such gracious Discoveries But if these Men also declar'd some things that could not be otherwise known to them than by Divine Inspiration as certain future Events If there accompanied them a Supernatural Power effecting things could no otherwise at least by them be effected here is enough to be call'd Divine Revelation and Miracles And there can no more Scruple remain if we can but be perswaded to believe that the History of the Bible it self is true which is the Second thing to be consisidered And in order to which I think it not unnecessary to lay down some general Considerations about Faith as following Faith is an Assent to a thing as a Truth on the Word of another which we our selves don 't know or see according to that compleat Diffinition thereof Heb. 11.1 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the evidence of things not seen or known for Knowledge leaves no room for Faith any more than it does for Hope which is the Desire of what we only believe will be Faith being its only Basis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Faith is the foundation or ground of things hoped for for where we have no Faith of the real Futurity of a thing there Hope has no ground But Faith if it hath its due Circumstances it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Convictive Argument And tho' Faith and Knowledge are so different that we can no longer properly say we believe a thing when once we can say we know it yet Faith if right is as near to Knowledge as that which is not Knowledge can be and far from that doubtful Supposition call'd Opinion That which is to be believed or assented to as a Truth on anothers Word is either First an Assertion or Affirmation that such or such a thing was is or will be Or Secondly a Promise when the Person on whose Word we rely for the real Futurity of the thing makes us expect it from him as the Cause Now that Faith may be as it ought an Assent indeed to a Truth tho' we don't know it and not the believing a Lye these things we ought to be certain in First that the Person that hath asserted or promised the thing we are to take for a Truth could know it or were not lyable himself to be deceived or can or will be able to do it it being in his power Secondly that he be Trusty or one that will not deceive us As to the Knowledge and Power of the Person that we may be sure he could or might know the thing or can or will be able to do it we must see that the thing is in it self knowable or that it may possibly be a Truth for that which I see absurd contradictory or absolutely impossible to be suppos'd I can never well believe on any one's Word nor could I do so would it be of any use to me Whatever I am to believe must at least seem possible to be a Truth for nothing else can challenge my Faith or be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉
Immediate Work of God as the first Man was Whatever comes immediately out of the hands of the Creator cannot be thought to be other than pure but out of an unclean thing cometh that which is unclean That Christ might be a Second Man in Innocence he must not be begotten by the sinful Will of Man as other Men are Conceptions of Self Will and Erring Understanding so determin'd to Evil rather than to Good that their at first weak Understanding or Reason is not sufficient to counter-ballance the manifold Temptations by occasions of Evil within and without Instructions and Examples to sin they meet with very early from Parents and others whom they little suspect such Enemies to them who use them to those Actions which tho' Ignorance makes innocent Reason when they come to know what they do makes culpable and use determines to But Christ besides his pure Original doubtless had the special Grace of God keeping him from Temptation so long as God saw fit that he might have at least the same advantage of strength of Reason the First Man had who was to undergo far greater Temptations But tho' he might not be a Soul derived from Man's corrupt Soul yet his Body might well be taken from the Matter of Mankind without his being thereby sinful or the more inclinable to sin For the Body is not the Subject of Sin or that which infects the Soul it may be an occasion of Temptation to Sin but Sin entirely resides in the Mind being but a disorderly Act of the Will That a Soul coming pure out of the hands of God should become a Sinner by using a Body taken from a Person that was a Sinner is unreasonable to be thought while Matter has nothing in it but Quantity Figure and Motion which howsoever disposed or modified has nothing of the Notion of Sin in it We might as well suppose a Man must needs become a Thief or a Murderer if he dwell in a House given him by one that was such Christ we all acknowledge received the Body God prepar'd him from the Virgin Mary whom all suppose a Sinner except some of the Roman Church yet we suppose him not made a Sinner thereby It was convenient Christ should receive a Body from Mankind that he might be a Real Man and a near Kinsman or Brother A Rational Soul using an Organical Body such as a Man's is really a Man tho' the Soul do not begin mediately by Generation as much as if it did otherwise the first Rational Creature using an Organical Body would not have been a Man the same in kind as others The First Adam's Soul could come no way but by Inspiration and his Body was a more Immediate or Special Work of God than the Bodies of others his Off-spring therefore he is called the Son of God in a nearer respect than they And that Christ's Soul was produced by the Immediate Power of God and his Body by a Special Work of the Most High he is the more properly said to be the Second Man or Adam God forming a Seed in a Woman a Virgin that we might be sure he was not a common Man when a Woman is naturally or commonly a Creature whose Seed is not in her self originally but in the Man or perhaps to speak more properly that hath no Seed This Seed of the Woman inform'd with this Holy Soul this One Exception from the common Order of the Production of Men is therefore with good reason call'd the Son of God eminently as distinct from others who on any lesser or more common Accounts are said to be his Children And the same reason for Subsistance we have given us in the Gospel Luke 1.31 The Angel said unto Mary thou shalt conceive in thy Womb and bring forth a Son and shalt call his name Jesus Ver. 32. He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High and the Lord God shall give him the Throne of David 〈◊〉 his Father Christ is said to be the Son of Abraham the Son of David only according to the Flesh because Mary from whom he received his Body materially was of the Off-spring of Abraham and David Ver. 34. And Mary said unto the Angel how shall this be seeing I know not a Man V. 35. And the Angel answering said unto her a Holy Spirit shall come upon thee and the Power of the Highest shall over-shadow thee therefore also that holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God And to strengthen the Virgin 's Faith he tells her ver 36. Her Cousin Elizabeth who was old and accounted barren had conceived For v. 37. with God nothing shall be unpossible 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 every word shall not be unpossible viz. whatever can be said in reason to be a thing to be done shall not be unpossible with God He brings her from the less to the greater he that has caused the Old and Barren to be with Child a thing above the power of Nature can do more even cause thee a Virgin to conceive without the means of a Man Thus Christ that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that holy Soul Spirit or Mind that received his Body from Mary and so became the Compositum call'd a Man was truely call'd the Son of the Most High as God the Father of all was in a special manner his Efficient Cause and the Son of Mary and her Progenitors as she was the Material Cause of what was material in him And least any should think the Holy Ghost the Efficient Cause of Christ's Conception and so rather to be called his Father from whence would arise a great difficulty from those Expressions ver 35. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Math. 1.18 and 20. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 let it be considered that the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Spirit is put without the Article and is rather to be rendered a Holy Spirit and of a Holy Spirit then the Holy Spirit A Holy Spirit shall come upon thee or into thee Signifying thereby either that she should have a Holy Disposition in order to the over-shadowing Power of the Highest viz. of the Father coming to effect such a Conception or that she should receive a Holy Conception in her or both So she was found with Child of a Holy Spirit That which is conceived in her is of a Holy Spirit that is she hath a Holy Conception in her was found with Child of a Holy Conception neither a Spurious as Joseph thought nor a Common Conception The Particle 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 does not denote the Efficient Cause any more here than it does when spoken of Mary Luk. 1.35 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of thee in thee or by thee and Matth. 1.16 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of Mary or in Mary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was born or conceived Jesus not that she was the Cause